jaysdailydose
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Posts posted by jaysdailydose
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jay sorry to hear that, hope you get better soon. Looking forward to hear about your progress.
Thanks, buddy. It is just unfortunately part of getting older.
I think I have six fixtures remaining in my 2022 season, but we won't be making achievement progress for the challenge. Jose Mourinho's Manchester City dealt with our Stevenage boys 2-0 in the Capital One Cup Final, and we were bounced in the quarters of the FA Cup to Liverpool this morning as well... along with getting bounced from the Europa League at the Second Knockout Round to frickin Dnipro from the Ukraine as well.
It hasn't been a good morning. I've got quite a few games in hand on the league to where Champions League qualification is still a possibility, but it is looking more and more like I'm going to be playing the Europa League for at least one more season, in my opinion.
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Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well!
I've been dealing with some health issues and hadn't touched my save in probably close to a month... just didn't have the energy to get on the CPU and even post.
I'm running my same save still, and will be posting a new update at the close of my season. Just wanted people to know I'm still hanging around, and sorry I fell behind with your updates! I'll get up to date soon and see how everyone's clubs are doing!
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A very solid start, Offen!
Very rare is the person that gets promoted in the first season, but you were very close to the playoffs right off, that's a very promising sign!
I don't know if you're interested in any names of players, I know some people don't like it -- but if you'd like I'd be able to post a few guys that panned out for me in England.
EDIT: Also, congratulations to mayIhavecookie for his conquest of the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup!
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Going to have to start this again. Despite getting international offers from the likes of Morocco and Nigeria, I now can't get a job even at the bottom club in the Korean second tier which I won with Gyeongnam. Even resigning from my international job doesn't improve my prospects. Not sure if this is because I started on the beta, but will probably go down the Europe-first route next time around.
I know having an international job while you were still a fairly young manager and trying to get a club job definitely played an impact in FM15. I wouldn't have figured you wouldn't be able to find work in a division you'd already won, but it sounds like you are already restarting. Definitely no shame in that, I restarted a few times last year.
I've had a ton of fun with the Europe-first route, and I'm sure you will as well! Best of luck to you, Offen94!
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Offen
JDD - I've never had a good experience of affiliate clubs. Just sucks away a promising player for three years and returns a crap one in their place.
Usually, the first affiliate club you get, you aren't allowed any input into the process. Once you've been at the club for awhile to where they give you input on the affiliate is when you've got to make the right move. In almost every save I've played in Europe to where I need an EU work permit feeder, they tend to give you a club with horrible facilities to where in almost all cases you see happen what you have described in your post.
I have both a Bulgarian and a Serbian affiliate for work permits, and both have very solid facilities, and more importantly, the players I send them slot in as key players for the side to where they get significant playing time to help the development.
I've only developed a few "very good" (we'll say) talents, but it HAS made an impact on my first team, and it has also been a very good source of money. If you are sending your players to good playing situations with solid facilities they can make you a good deal of profit even if they don't impact your first team.
Obviously YMMV, but you definitely CAN be successful with it! I have two players in my current squad for the Premier League and Europa League that I developed through work-permit feeders, and I have a striker who all of my evaluation staff feels will be at least a leading player in the Premier League that has developed to what he is in Bulgaria. I'm just waiting for him to finish his citizenship or actually pass the appeal waiver granting him the work permit and I'm sure he'll be a great addition to my squad. I picked this player up on a free, and his valuation is now £11M.
I know you are still playing FM15, so maybe this will be something to consider for your next club... seeing if you can have more success than previously with it. I know you're always looking for a new challenge within the challenge or other idiosyncrasies, so maybe something you can have some fun with!
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Excellent start, boojar!
My save was also an England start with Stevenage, and I was also allied with Arsenal up until I entered the BPL and couldn't be anymore.
Most of my most impactful loans came from Man Utd, but Norman Webb and Zelalem were players of mine for a time via my Arsenal affiliation, and Webb was very impressive.My biggest advice, once you are able, is to try to get a Croatian (best-case) or a Bulgarian or Serbian affiliate club. That way, once you are able, you've got either a 2-year, or at worst a 3-year, loan club to get your work permits! It took me a while to get mine established and it was a big regret. My club would be a lot richer/better if I'd had them in place earlier.
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I'm having some huge trouble in away games with Ajax at the moment. I think we've won every home game so far but lost away to teams we should beat easily. Just won 3-0 at home against PSG in the CL, then lost away to the 16th in the league. I've had the same problem last season with Real but the team was so strong it didn't matter so much.
Any advice on how to handle this? In my impression, playing more cautios makes it worse and playing more attacking makes it alot worse
Maybe they are just on to your tactic and having the extra pressure on your players being on the road is firing the opponents up to where their plan starts working a bit and cancels out your talent edge?
I don't really alter my tactics much home/away, I've only just recently started making sure I had a counter tactic that I'm sometimes implementing against Arsenal, City, and Chelsea in my save, but that is only relative to their side strength and not to the home/away... but depending on how much pressure you use in your instructions, I might just turn the pressure up on those home teams and press them more.
The home/away issues, when they do rear their head, almost make me think they are more motivation/morale/fatigue on a lot of occasions rather than a tactical problem.
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Thanks for your quick and comprehensive reply! Certainly there are many ways to go about it, maybe South America is a good bet!
I just know that I had great success taking teams from the lower leagues to CL-glory, but I want to compete with others and have a massive challenge like this is great!
So when you start the game, you dont add the leagues at all, you bring them in afterwards?
Some do add the leagues at the start, and some don't. That really just depends on your computer power. If you're looking more to compete and challenge yourself, going lower leagues to CL isn't a bad way to start at all, because as he said, if you're successful, you can get your reputation up there quite quickly.
It's happened after my most recent update, but I'm almost to the New Year 2022 and I just declined an interview with Liverpool (5* rep) because I have my Stevenage in a better spot.
If you want to truly compete, try to take the path that you think will lead to the highest reputation the fastest... I think that is the best piece of advice I can give, even if I'm on full-fat and haven't gotten my achievements yet, I've got the groundwork laid for a career within 5 to 5.5 seasons, starting from League 2 in England.
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I agree to this to a certain extent offen94. I tried a few starts on FM15 for fun (not going to reveal them) but obviously with these starting conditions you can't just start english Premier League and expect to get a job, as one more example I can say that I started only Germany down to Tier 3 and never got a job for 2 years of applying (as German nationality) so the league you start need to have a low reputation, but if you load Tier 6 in England I guess you will not be offered a Tier 4 job.
This is incorrect, at least in 15. I got the job at Cambridge in L2 loaded down to the Conference. The only factor that truly comes into play is the reputation of the club and their current situation. When I took them over they were a 1.5 star club.
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JDD - You're showing admirable loyalty to Stevenage. I mean, I know you've shown interest in the top clubs, but you must have been approached by some in-between. Are you going to poke your toe into international management at some point?
Honestly, I only loaded Spain and Germany during the last campaign, and I think, since the game is still running super-fast, that I'll probably add France and Italy in today for more choices. I've been approached by I believe 9 clubs now at different points, but at no point would taking the interview have been at a "better" position. For example, when I was in the Championship, I was approached by Blackburn, Fulham, Leeds, and Forest, but they were all in far worse shape in the Championship at the time of the interview offers.
I declared interest at Liverpool during the season last year, but they went Ramon Diaz instead and they're now reaping the joy of 15th in the table after 12 fixtures (slightly worse than Man U.)
I've not been offered a job at anywhere that would even be considered a "lateral move" at this point. I was honestly shocked that I wasn't at least offered an interview at United after they stated how much my interest flattered them -- but at this point I think odds are better that we see Stevenage as PL/CL doublers than I see myself moving. Oh, and for some reason, I seem to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to win the Europa League this year.
I do intend to start internationally soon, but I was more or less waiting until my reputation gave me a choice of jobs where I don't feel I need to build much to win challenger trophies. I was offered the Australia senior national position (30th in world at time) in either 18/19 or 19/20, but its the only offer/interview I've received from an international side at this point -- and I want to take my first international job in Europe.
I may have dropped my "big plan" from the earlier failure saves, but I've definitely still got one. I think I can have a World Class rep in a year or two possibly, and then travel the world like a Hall of Famer.
All I know right now is that my universe's Jurgen Klopp needs a new challenge... and even though it is still early, even with Kloppy not being top right off rip (after 4 PL titles in a row), City hires a World Cup winning Mourinho to poop in my corn flakes. It's definitely interesting.
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Thank you, I guess I thought I'd do it this way around having risen through the ranks in Britain in my FM15 save. Already at my first real hurdle as my only goalkeeper has been called up for national service for two years! It's going to be one heck of a ride...
I had a few previously failed attempts at this challenge, one because of a crash costing me silverware and making me hate the save, and another when CPU that caused the crash finally took a dump... and I actually had one other save that I just got totally frustrated with when I first picked up 15 after a few years away from the series.
I've played in South Africa and Australia to start saves, and I totally understand why you'd "get away from the norm" and we all need the obscure to progress regardless.
There's only been one completion and one other who is very close, and their paths are so completely different, you'd have no idea they played the same challenge if they didn't tell you!Glad you are along for the ride, we've gained so many (but lost a few as well) along the way, and it is always good to have fresh blood to discuss the challenge with!
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Welcome to the challenge, Offen94!
Definitely one of the fun things is the variety between where everyone starts. I only tackled England first because I had a feeling I could really pretty up my CV for the future and have my pick of jobs once I get done in England, but others have definitely been successful down the route you are headed! Best of luck to you, and welcome!
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jdd congrats on a good performance in PL.
Thank you! I've just got to keep raising the wage budget at every possible opportunity. I think I can keep competing, and indeed I chose Champions League qualification for my expectation... but I think we will need to spend a bit more before we can truly think about winning it. Then again, I thought this when I won L2, L1 and the Championship as well...
Things are definitely getting exciting.
Appreciate you and others following my progress!0 -
An American Werewolf in Football!
http://AmericanWerewolfFootball.wordpress.com
Stevenage F.C. - 2020-21
All Competitions | Manager ProfileWelcome back, Boro fans! While it is yet another year without silverware that qualifies for the Ultimate Manager Challenge, I can’t help but be proud of our club’s accomplishments this season, and as a whole. We continue to make credible progress towards being a big and great club, and all of our hard work feels as if it will start paying off in silverware very soon!
The media personalities and pundits felt we would solidify and consolidate in the Premier League, staying up for sure, but coming in at a disappointing 14th. At the beginning of the campaign, the board would have been more than happy with a mid-table finish and making sure we continued to be financially prudent.
Instead, the lads challenged for a Champions League spot all campaign long, probably partially due to the fact that our cup performances were absolutely atrocious this season, as we crashed out of both the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup at the first time of asking. We qualified for a Europa League berth fairly early, but it went down to the final day of the season, with Tottenham handling their business and forcing us to the Third Qualifying Round. This was still an obvious success for us, as a Top-7 finish in our first year of Premier League play has to be viewed as a decent job. Doing it on the lowest wage budget, spending less than half of what our next closest competition spent, and with the 2nd lowest net transfer spend, just feels very, very solid.
Ed Smits has continued to stay on loan, and will be staying at least through next season, but his loan fee is getting prohibitive — but Manchester United know as well as we do what they have, and that is a world class centre forward. When I check with my talent evaluators, some days he’s world class, some days he’s a leading player for the Premier League. He had a couple minor knocks, but he’s right there at that world class level now, and has starting banging in goals as a full international for Holland now, so the word is out on the young Dutchman.
Speaking of young Dutchmen, we also found another stud of a player in young Theo Huisman, a left back we got for a steal off the transfer list at PSG. We paid only £1.9M for him from PSG, and his value has already tripled to over £6.5M and he is also now viewed as a world class full back. We got a great season out of Michael Folivi, who again scored 20 goals, but my staff feel he has peaked as a player. He’s still decent-to-good for the Premier League, but we have to begin to look for competition if not a flat-out replacement in the future.
The club accomplishments moved us up the reputation and the “rich list” with us now coming in as the world’s 25th most valuable club. The club was worth between 600 and 800K when I began my tenure, and Stevenage F.C. is now worth £358M at last look, with absolutely zero debt — and that includes purchasing a renovated and expanded Broadhall Way, which while it still only has a capacity of 12,500, has almost doubled in size. Owning the stadium will allow us to renovate, expand, and profit off of our stadium, so I felt it was very important to get it done as soon as possible. We are now viewed as a rich club, and we have over £25M in the balance.
Facility upgrades have been frequent and ongoing. One youth facility upgrade finished already at the start of the new season, and we have both a youth and a senior team facilities upgrade finishing this December as well. As of right now (September 2021), our training facilities our Impressive, our youth facilities are Good — and again, both of those have another further upgrade finishing in less than 90 days. We also now have an Established youth recruitment network and Exceptional junior coaching, and have actually started producing academy players with a real chance. 16-year-old Wayne Richards may be the first fruit of our upgraded academy, as he is seen as having the potential to be a leading attacking midfielder in the Premiership. We’ve also produced a few other youths that could be solid in the last season and a half, but the work is just now starting to bear fruit, and its something to watch for in the future.
That is, if my future winds up being at Stevenage. I declared interest in both the open Manchester jobs at the end of this season, with Manchester United being so flattered by my declaration of interest that I went as far as to actually apply while still being employed at Stevenage. They didn’t fire me (how do you fire a club legend?) but United wound up giving the job to Hamza Hamzaoglu after firing Roy Keane. Hamzaoglu had some success with Galatasaray, winning 3 Super Leagues between 2014 and 2018, but won nothing at Roma between 2018 and 2021 before being given the United job. The hiring didn’t make a ton of sense to me, and the early returns for the next campaign do not bode well for Hamza OR United… they may rue the day they gave the job to another man. The City job went to Jose Mourinho, and obviously I don’t have much to say about that hire, especially since after he left Chelsea he led Spain to a World Cup, so his CV is awfully impressive.
But, for now, we stay at Stevenage and start looking to make serious runs at silverware that counts for this challenge. I’ve also added Germany and France as playable in case things go well (or badly) in a hurry, as I want to stay in the big European leagues for the start of my career. I just think it will help greatly with reputation issues down the road and even though it may take a little longer to get silverware rolling, I think it will help keep it rolling in down the road.
We’ve advanced to the Group Stage in the Europa League and have started solidly in our Group, and we are again challenging for the Champions League places early in the next season. Also, even though he is also a left-back, I couldn’t help but add another world class one in Angel Blanco. I’m of the opinion that if you have a chance to land a world class player at a true bargain, you get that player and you sort it out later. We also signed our first truly “veteran” player in a 32-year-old Theo Walcott — both to add to our attacking options as he still has blinding pace — but mainly for leadership and mentoring of younger players. Even after his release from Arsenal, he’s more than worth the wages.
We also made our first truly “big-money” deal, as we signed England’s #1 goalkeeper, Gary Groombridge, away from Chelsea. He had become unhappy with the Blues, and even though he was still very expensive, he was an undoubted upgrade and cheaper than he would ever be again as I was lucky enough to have him unsettled. Klopp finally gave in, and we got our man. Not that Klopp cares, with four straight Prem titles to add to his CV, not to mention a Champions League along with many other nice trophies.
We hope you will keep following our progress, and, as always, thank you for reading American Werewolf Football!
Progress
Club
0/10 top domestic leagues
0/10 domestic cups
0/5 club continental championships
0/1 club world championship
International
0/5 continental tournaments
0/2 world tournaments
[b]Club Career:[size=2] [i]2015-16: England - Sky Bet League Two - Stevenage FC:[/i] Above mid-table finish was expected, we crashed out in the Playoff Semi-Final to miss promotion. [i]2016-17: England - Sky Bet League Two - Stevenage FC:[/i] Expected to win title, won League Two with record point total of 104. Promoted. JPT Finalist, great cup performances. [i]2017-18: England - Sky Bet League One - Stevenage FC:[/i] Initial expectation of Playoffs, won League One Title with five fixtures remaining. JPT Finalist 2nd straight season. [i]2018-19: England - Sky Bet Championship - Stevenage FC:[/i] Above mid-table expected, finished 4th position and lost in extra-time of Championship Play-off Final to miss promotion. [i]2019-20: England - Sky Bet Championship - Stevenage FC:[/i] Expected to challenge for the title, won title with four fixtures remaining. Capital One Cup Finalist. [i]2020-21: England - Barclay's Premier League - Stevenage FC:[/i] Predicted to finish 14th, finished 7th and qualified for Europa League. Horrible cup performances.[/b] [/size] [b]International Career:[size=2] [i]2015-Present:[/i] Unemployed internationally. [/b] [/size] [b]Minor Trophies:[size=2] [i]Sky Bet Championship (2019/20), Sky Bet League 1 (2017/18), Sky Bet League 2 (2016/17) [/i] [/b] [/size] [b]Personal Accolades:[size=2] [i]Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Year (2019/20) [/i] [/b] [/size]
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Why must the manager be 20? Does the age make the game harder?
In a way, yes -- as you are seen as very inexperienced, but with room to grow.
It also makes sure that all challengers start from a common place, which makes it easier to compare saves. A lot of people just do it for fun, but there is definitely a competitive factor among challengers, so it is definitely important that we all start evenly.
EDIT: Not to mention, you most likely will need a LOT of years to finish this challenge... and starting this early is one of the only ways to accomplish completion with any sort of "realism."
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For those that may be new to the thread, I do a secondary update for my blog at (http://americanwerewolffootball.wordpress.com) detailing what happened in the leagues I'm planning on managing later on (8 of 10 countries I post from) along with the winners of each of the continental competitions and international competitions -- along with an awards update.
I post this here because Vikeologist can't access WordPress where he lives, so I cross-post both of my yearly updates on my blog and here. I hope you enjoy it, just letting you know there's a method to my madness.
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2019/20 World Competitions Update
Top Domestic Leagues
Barclay’s Premier League: Chelsea, City, United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle
Three straight for Jurgen Klopp’s Chelsea, with Newcastle being this campaign’s surprise package in qualifying for the Europa League.
La Liga: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia
Finally, a huge shake-up at the top as Real’s run of five straight titles has ended, and Atletico has fallen from the podium places. (Spain has now been loaded for play, beginning 2021)
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich, Dortmund, FC Schalke 04
It’s not even fair anymore, as Bayern win their eighth straight Bundesliga. Schalke has revived to knock Leverkusen out of the podium places. I do feel it is important to note, that during this eight-season run, Bayern has failed to make even a UEFA Champions League Final, much less win it. (Germany has now been loaded for play, beginning 2021)
Serie A: Juventus, Inter, Napoli
That is now five straight for The Old Lady, and three straight runner-up performances for Inter. Napoli has joined the revolving door for second-best-loser.
Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Marseille, AS Monaco FC
It is almost getting silly with Ligue 1 and the Bundseliga, as both now have the same champion for eight seasons straight. OM and Monaco flipped places this season. PSG was close to the same indignity as Bayern until they lost in the UEFA Champions League Final this season, their first appearance in the Final in this save.
Eredivisie: Feyenoord, FC Twente, Ajax
Another long-time repeat champion, as the Dutch giants Feyenoord claim their sixth straight piece of league silverware.
South African Premier: Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Sundowns
Three out of four of the last championships have gone to the SA titans. Pirates always still give a good run, and Sundowns make the podium for the first time since 2015.
Hyundai Olibank K League Classic: Suwan, Jeonbuk, Chunnam
A major shakeup on the South Korean podium provides some variety for us. Suwon makes the podium with their first podium finish, not to mention title, in this save. Ulsan spends a season in freefall.
2019/20 World Competitions Update
Club Continental Championships
UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid over Paris Saint-Germain — Leverkusen, Barcelona — Semis
UEFA Europa League: AS Monaco FC over Tottenham Hotspur — FC Schalke 04, Valencia — Semis
Asian Champions League: Okayama FC over Al-Shabab (KSA) — Saitama UTD, Al-Jazira (UAE) — Semis
African Champions League: Kaizer Chiefs over Zamalek — ES Tunis, Al-Ahly — Semis
CONCACAF Champions League: Monterrey over America (MEX) — D.C. United, Chivas — Semis
Copa Libertadores: San Lorenzo over Boca — Velez, Cruz Azul — Semis
FIFA Club World Cup: Real Madrid over San Lorenzo — Melbourne City FC, Monterrey — Semis
2019/20 World Competitions Update
International Tournament Updates
UEFA Euros: Croatia over England (1-0) — Italy, France — Semis
Asian Cup of Nations: Next Held 2023
Copa America: Next Held 2023
Gold Cup: Next Held 2021
African Cup of Nations: Next Held 2021
FIFA World Cup: Next Held 2022
FIFA Confederations Cup: Next Held 2021
2019/20 World Awards Update
FIFA Ballon D’Or: Lionel Messi — (J. Rodriguez, L. Suarez)
World Golden Ball: Lionel Messi – (L. Suarez, J. Rodriguez)
Best Player In Europe: Lionel Messi – (E. Hazard, A. Robben)
European Golden Boy: Julian Etcheverry (Toulouse FC)
UEFA Golden Boot: Federico Bonazzoli — (J. Etcheverry, R. Lewandowski)
World Team of the Year: M. Neuer, P. Lahm, M. Hummels, E. Mammana, J. Gaya, J. Rodriguez, P. Pogba, M. Odegaard, M. Kovavic, C. Ronaldo, L. Messi, J. Rulli, E. Can, A. Perez, L. Suarez, G. Higuain, J. Boateng, D. Costa
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A very interesting year, and there is definitely some fun things being seen throughout the save that we can take a short look at!
Lionel Messi’s Ballon D’Or award is now his eight overall counting this save, and he has now won five of the last six from this save, with the lone award he didn’t win going to Isco. No one has ever taken the World Golden Ball from Leo in this save, either, with him now winning six straight. So much for that Leo/CR7 debate, at least in this world.
Bonazzoli parlayed his amazing skills winning the Golden Boot, mainly with Sampdoria, into a big-money move to Arsenal in the BPL, with his transfer costing £32.5M up front, with addons taking it to £49.5M. They are currently viewed as the richest club in the world, though, so they can afford it.
England continued their strong showings in international tournaments with another runner-up finish in the 2020 Euros. After shocking the world with their World Cup Final appearance and loss to Spain in World Cup 2018, the English have now moved to be viewed as the #1 side in the World Rankings, even with the loss in the final to Croatia at Euro 2020. Gary Cahill captained the team in both the 2018 and 2020 runs, and has just retired the captaincy along with announcing his retirement from soccer at the end of this season at his club, CSKA Moscow, where he has played since leaving Chelsea in June of 2019.
Wayne Rooney, for those interested, was not included in the 2018 World Cup squad, and was released from Manchester United in June of 2019, and never played for another club before announcing his retirement.
The England captaincy has now been passed to Jordan Henderson, who is still captain of Liverpool, with his vice-captain being Harry Kane of Tottenham.
Thanks as always for following American Werewolf Football, and we’ll see you at the conclusion of the September transfer window to let you know how Stevenage FC did in their maiden Premier League voyage!
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Welcome, Gwilym. Can't see what your first job is, though obviously I can see JDD's clue. Looking forward to hearing how it's going.
It's the Wales U19's.. guessing the screenshot didn't appear on your end.
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Welcome to the challenge, GwilymJJames!
I do believe in the short history of this challenge that you are the first to take an international job before a club gig! Best of luck to you when you do find your first club, and of course with the youth of Wales!
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Everyone please note before giving any more serious replies to LeedsUnited99999999999 that he has already been banned from the forums.
Just don't want anyone to waste time typing out another well thought-out post for someone who isn't even here because of obvious misconduct...
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jaysdailydose - That is one hell of a rise with Stevenage! Sticking with them all the way or hoping for a bigger club to poach you?
Thanks very much, I have to be honest and say that this is undoubtedly my favorite save in my entire time playing Football Manager!
I think there are maybe 3-4 clubs where I would realistically consider jumping ship at this point, if they became available. I only have England, Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa loaded as we speak, but I may add one our two other of the "big" European nations in to give myself more options now that my reputation has improved.
In England, I'd only consider moving to Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, or United. It has to be a situation where I'll immediately begin to fight for multiple trophies or I'm going to stick with them all the way.
I still have work to do to get this squad seriously thinking about a Champions League place -- I'm just waiting for the financial situation to stabilize as I get the TV money in. The last time I had really looked things over club wide last season was probably around February and the club was worth £8.5M -- now its worth £105M. That I have become a club legend will definitely make it harder to leave unless I've accomplished what I need to in England, but I won't rule anything out.
I don't really see any of those 4 jobs opening up, anyway -- Klopp has been amazing at Chelsea, Arsenal has Unai Emery and he's done OK since he came in. Roy Keane is at United and won them the Champions League in 2019 so he's fairly secure as well. Liverpool really came on after hiring Argentinian Ramon Diaz last season... they were languishing below mid-table when he came in and he got them to a CL place... I just don't see any real benefit to leaving unless things really go South, as I think I'll be on the financial level of the other clubs soon enough.
Thanks for following!
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An American Werewolf in Football!
http://AmericanWerewolfFootball.wordpress.com
Stevenage F.C. - 2019-20
All Competitions | Profile One | Profile TwoThe hard work is really beginning to show through, and the 2019/20 season will be looked at as the year our club turned the corner and really began to establish itself in the English game. The Boro won the Sky Bet Championship by a comfortable margin, with our lads having the league clinched with four fixtures to play, and scoring over a century of goals for the first time in club history. We also made another cup final, this time the Capital One Cup, but again we were found wanting in a cup final -- this time by Jurgen Klopp and his dominant Chelsea side.
Obviously, the biggest takeaway is that we have made it to the Promised Land of the Barclay's Premier League, and the financial bonanza that it entails! We were led to glory by the leading scorer in the Championship in the young Dutch wonderkid Ed Smits (on loan from Man United), whose 32 goals led the Championship -- and Championship Player of the Year Michael Folivi (on loan from Watford), who had 25 goals and 13 made in the league with an league-leading average rating of 7.72, which was a Sky Bet Championship record. We also wouldn't have done it without our Supporters Player of the Year, Andreas Pereira. Pereira scored 12 goals, but his 19 assists led the Championship, and his 7.63 average rating in the league would have most likely secured him Player of the Year in most seasons.
They don't get a ton of credit, but I wanted to take a moment and give some recognition to my main back five for this season. Goalkeeper George Long was absolutely crucial in a lot of games, and left-back Kyle Walker-Peters, center-halfs Domingo Mateos and Coll Donaldson, and right-back Norman Webb (on loan from Arsenal) were absolutely fantastic all season, helping push us to an amazing +63 goal-differential.
Our meteoric rise has also shown my manager to advance a lot on a personal level, as he was awarded with his first Manager of the Year award, and is now viewed as a club legend at Stevenage FC! I also completed the last of my coaching badges this season, and with the league win and strong cup showing, my reputation is now Continental. Our club is now valued at £105M with only £3.7M in net debt, which is nearly all from the upgrades to bring Broadhall Way up to the required standard of the top flight.
Staying with my club philosophy, we did make a major player sale in the offseason, as we had a side ready to meet Kyle Walker-Peters £13.5M release clause. He was only valued as a £5M player at the time of his sale, and the deal had a clause guaranteeing us 25% of his next sale, so it was a very good deal for the club, and would have been accepted -- release clause or not. I was able to bring in what I feel is a capable replacement in young Dutchman Theo Huisman, who was transfer listed by PSG, for a very fair price of £1.9M. We also purchased long-time loanees Harry Donovan and Michael Folivi with a bit of our newfound bounty. I felt the deal for Folivi was an extremely good one as strikers are nearly always overvalued, and we got him for less than his value after a season like the one he had. Folivi is touted in the media as the next Wayne Rooney, and if he delivers on that promise, we are sure to be able to consolidate in the Premier League.
We were also able to keep Smits on loan for at least one more season, as one of our two allowed domestic loan deals. Those two leading our line give me a lot of hope for our first campaign in the big show -- and indeed, we have started the new campaign top of the table after 3 matches, with 7 points taken from our first three fixtures. We did crash out of the Capital One Cup at the first time of asking -- but that is for next season's update.
For now, we hope you will wish us luck in the Premier League, and we thank you as always for following American Werewolf Football!
Progress
Club
0/10 top domestic leagues
0/10 domestic cups
0/5 club continental championships
0/1 club world championship
International
0/5 continental tournaments
0/2 world tournaments
[b]Club Career:[size=2] [i]2015-16: England - Sky Bet League Two - Stevenage FC:[/i] Above mid-table finish was expected, we crashed out in the Playoff Semi-Final to miss promotion. [i]2016-17: England - Sky Bet League Two - Stevenage FC:[/i] Expected to win title, won League Two with record point total of 104. Promoted. JPT Finalist, great cup performances. [i]2017-18: England - Sky Bet League One - Stevenage FC:[/i] Initial expectation of Playoffs, won League One Title with five fixtures remaining. JPT Finalist 2nd straight season. [i]2018-19: England - Sky Bet Championship - Stevenage FC:[/i] Above mid-table expected, finished 4th position and lost in extra-time of Championship Play-off Final to miss promotion. [i]2019-20: England - Sky Bet Championship - Stevenage FC:[/i] Expected to challenge for the title, won title with four fixtures remaining. Capital One Cup Finalist.[/b][/size] [b]International Career:[size=2] [i]2015-Present:[/i] Unemployed internationally. [/b] [/size] [b]Minor Trophies:[size=2] [i]Sky Bet Championship (2019/20), Sky Bet League 1 (2017/18), Sky Bet League 2 (2016/17) [/i] [/b] [/size] [b]Personal Accolades:[size=2] [i]Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Year (2019/20) [/i] [/b] [/size]
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Hopping to the new thread, although I'll be staying with FM15 for quite a while. Still, I was one of the primary posters pushing for a new "never-ending" thread to try to get us up there with the "name" challenges, so I figured I'd better get my American arse here, stat!
I just advanced to the Barclay's Premier League where I'll be starting play in 2020-21. I've one League Two, League One, and the Championship in a four-year period -- and feel I'm on the verge of starting my silverware collection!
Welcome to all new challengers, and thank you Vikeologist for getting things going for the future!
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The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive
in Challenges, Sign-Ups & Experiments
Posted
Well, I applied last off-season at City, but they gave the job to Jose Mourinho, which obviously I cannot complain about, especially as he's added a World Cup, the 2016 Premier League and Champions League, and another Portuguese Cup (he went back to Porto for a season while waiting for a good English club to open it appeared.) Can't really argue either, as he's gone strength to strength, already beating me in the Capital One Cup Final and it looks like City will also win the Prem as well as they have a four point lead with two games in hand over Jurgen Klopp's Chelsea.
Klopp has been an absolute revelation at Chelsea. He took over from Mourinho in July of 2016 and has since delivered 15 trophies to the Blues in that time. They've won a Champions League (2021) and they won FOUR straight Premier League titles (2018-2021) to go with two UEFA Super Cup's, the FA Cup, and two Capital One Cups. They also won the Club World Cup in 2016 and four Community Shield's in that time span.
Arsenal may be my best bet to move clubs after this season as it will be yet another disappointing season at the Emirates. Stan Kroenke left in 2018 and was replaced by another tycoon in Finn Olsen. For all his tycooniness (yes, I created a word.
) Arsenal has only delivered two English domestic honors in the entire save, a FA Cup and Community Shield in 2021. They also won the Europa League in 2018, but for what is now the third most valuable club in the world, its not good enough. Unai Emery may be given the sack as while Arsenal will most likely qualify for the Champions League, they have even allowed Tottenham to pass them in the current league table and sit fourth in England.
I've gotten into a few tiffs with my board as they've stopped allowing me to add scouts (I have 20) and are hesitant to allow me to extend our payroll or give me more transfer funds to really start competing for silverware. For the second consecutive season, it appears I will qualify for the Europa League with the lowest payroll for playing staff in the Prem, and will most likely JUST miss the Top 4, if I don't pull it off. For taking a club that was worth £650K when I took over and is now worth £355M, I am more than a little disappointed that I haven't been given carte blanche to make whatever changes I see fit. I've made our owners very rich people.
I am still on a Continental reputation, but I don't think World Class can be far off. I'm only 27, though, so much to come.
Thanks for following, and its good to be back!