libbyshuss

France - FC Fleury '91 2028/29 (Season 5) Season Summary League: France National (Tier 3) Predicted Finish: 17th Actual Finish: 2nd - Promotion! Again, the predicted finish was based on the strength of my admittedly paper thin squad and not a reflection of the first XI, which I knew were stronger. And so it proved. We were amazing from the get go, going on long winning runs at a time. By February us and Paris FC were running away with it and the latter part of the season looked like it was going to be a procession. But then our form collapsed and we really struggled, losing as many as we were winning and just unable to put a run together. luckily, we were so far ahead that we managed to just stay in automatic promotion spots - by 2 goals! So, this save is anything but boring:- 3 promotions and 2 relegations so far in only 5 seasons! Players Player of the Season: Florent Esor 25A - Still not entirely sure how I've held on to him. Played all season slightly out of position at central midfield. He's a much better AMC but my squad is so thin and threadbare I have no other choice but to play him there. He was great - 19 now and just signed a new non-release clause 5 year (+3 optional extension) contract. Woo hoo! Top Scorer: Saiba Dabo - my perennially underachieving striker finally comes good! well, scores over 20 in a season for the first time. A legacy player, the only reason he's anywhere near the first team, let alone the squad, is my relatively poor youth intakes so far. Most Assists: Andrea Berti - my Belgian legacy youth, now 20 and a really important member of the team. Can play on either flank, which is enormously helpful, and can chip in with goals as well. Asked to leave just before I triggered his 3 year contract extension, so he's not the happiest of bunnies right now. Maybe he shouldn't have signed it then! Youth I am so desperate for a good youth intake right now! I dream of one of those where it's elite talents as far as the eye can see but they are eluding me this save. I need more improvements, which is why getting promoted again was so important. It's all about the money! This years preview was encouraging.... apart from all the descriptions! The intake didn't look great, but the elite talent is called Virgile Christ so that's alright with me! Other than that, unambitious personality and fairly run of the mill. Only 2 top talents as well - it's a pretty meagre bunch all told. Career Can I stay up is Ligue 2 this time? Unlikely with our squad it has to be said, but the youngsters are coming on well so you never know.

France - FC Fleury '91 2027/28 (season 4) League: Ligue 2 Predicted: 18th Actual: 16th After a draw and a win in our first two games I was cautiously optimistic that we could upset the odds and stay up. But although we kept playing well, we just couldn't get enough victories. But by mid-January, after a 2-1 win against against Bastia we were sat 13th and looking pretty good. 12 games and no victories later we were rock bottom. 2 wins out of the last 3 games lifted us off the bottom, but not high enough to get us out of trouble, and we finished 16th in the relegation play-off spot. The relegation play off saw us playing QRM - and a poor first leg saw us relegated. Players Player of the Season: Florent Esor 25A - Made the step up to Ligue 2 with ease. He is now easily our best player and played half the season at centre midfield, but it's at AM where he really excels. He wants to leave and I've had to agree to sell him should we get an offer for £1.1m. I suspect someone will get a bargain! Top Scorer: Florent Esor 25A - top scorer from midfield again, highlighting just how paltry our options up front are. He's a full international for Martinique now! Top Assists: Loup Hervier - One of my decent legacy players. He was a pretty good full back but since I moved him into midfield he's been a revelation. At 28 he's also going to be hugle important as our team gets younger and younger Youth Not a good preview to be honest, and the intake wasn't great either. But it was pretty good for average, and makes me a little excited about what a 5 star intake might give me! I'm always happy to see an elite talent! Career Can we get back up? I have no idea to be honest! It's been a crazy first 4 seasons though - it's definitely not been boring!

France - FC Fleury '91 2026/27 (season 3) League: France National (tier 3) Predicted Finish: 18th Actual Finish: 3rd What a season! After relegation last season I was told we had the weakest squad in the National division. I could believe that, most of the squad was padded out with 1 star youths to make up the numbers, but our first XI was still pretty strong for this level. As long as we could avoid injuries we'd be fine. And we were, almost getting automatic promotion! we had to settle for the play-offs though, which is still more than I figured we'd get Play-off final saw us play Amiens in a 2 legged affair. We managed to win both 1-0, thus getting promotion again! If the last 3 seasons have taught me anything, it's that the gap between the French third and second tiers is huuuuuuuuge. But worth it for the extra money, even if it does mean another relegation for us. Players Top Scorer: Florent Esor 25A - 14 goals The most pleasing thing about this season was that my best two players were youth players I promoted out of sheer desperation. Esor 25A played all season at AMC and the fact he finished top scorer says way more about my options at striker than it does him, sadly! Top Assists: Andrea Berti - 18 Assists The only legacy youth player that had any potential at all still wouldn't have got near the first team if I wasn't so desperate. And yet, he was a revelation. Playing left or right wing he chipped in with 11 goals as well as the 18 assists. For stand in while i waited for something better to come along, the lad did alright! Top Average Rating: Floren Esor 25A - 7.34 Such a good first season from the lad I've already given him a much better, longer contract with an optional 3 year extension. He should be around for a few years yet as there's still a dearth of talent in the youth squad. Tactics I built a new tactic around my strengths - the fact that my best 3 players were all centre backs, and I had no full backs to speak of. It worked quite nicely! Youth So, would my youth improvements make any difference? Well, the preview suggested it would although the actual intake was a disapointment. I still signed 8 - anyone with a potential of 2* or above basically - just so i could have a youth squad rather than a youth couple. Could I finally have a half decent striker? 4 determination and casual personality means I'm not banking on it! Career Another attempt to stay up in Ligue 2! I won't mind relegation tbh, as long as I don't get sacked and can use the money to get some all important upgrades

it would be an amazing achievement though! how are you finding the speed of seasons/games? When i tried a tier 10 save it clogged my machine up so much it took hours to generate any results!

France - FC Fleury 91 Ligue 2 - 2025/26 (Season 2) Season Summary After our unexpected and unlikely promotion last season it was always going to be a challenge. We were favourites to go down by a long, long way but our first game gave me hope with a 4-3 home win. But then we only won once in the next 21 games! In truth we were hopelessly out of our depth and were relegated with two games to spare. As soon as relegation was confirmed I got this message.... They weren't happy but gave me a chance. 7 points from the next 5 games to save my job. Which would be fine, except we'd still got two to play in Ligue 2! we drew and lost those so it means I need 2 wins from the opening 3 games of next season to save my job.... Finances and Upgrades It might have been a complete abject failure on the pitch but it was a huge win off the pitch. Going pro and the TV revenues meant we made a nice profit and were able to invest in some infrastructure, so we go down in a much stronger place than when we went up. they even raised it at one point! Not had that before! Youth So our squad is limited, aging and small. I really could do with a decent intake this season! That looks a lot more like it! Well, it's better than nothing. Being how desperate I am those top 4 will more than likely be first teamers sooner rather than later. Top prospect Riviere doesn't look great, but I have hopes with that work rate and determination. Career So I'm on the precipice! 2 wins needed from the first 3 games of the season to save my job!

weirdly, it doesn't make it that much weaker. I'm a L:uton fan as well and we've been using that tactic in real life so I tried to copy it a bit! The further I go though the more defensive my full backs tend to get

France - FC Fleury 91 French National (Tier 3) - 2024/25 (season 1) Season Summary Well, I wasn't expecting this. I liked the look of the squad when I took over - nicely balanced, lots of experience throughout the team - but never did I think we'd go and get promoted! Not only that, we were within a whisker of the title! We won the first three, lost the next three, so I didn't really thin it was realistic until we hammered league leaders Orleans 5-0 mid-season. And from that result we went on a fantastic morale/form run to push us all the way to second place! Our goal difference was mad - we were scoring goals from all over the place! Tactics The squad was ideal for a 4231, with lots of cover throughout despite the smallish squad. Most players rotated throughout the season but here were the main ones Player of the Season Best player was Theo Bloudeau, but he probably also is symptomatic of our main problem. The squad is pretty old, and the youth players/set-up is appalling. So the team is likely to get weaker in the next few seasons. Bloudeau has been around the lower divisions for years but playing as a mezzala he used his experience brilliantly well. Being top scorer from midfield also shows our other main issue - no decent striker! Youth So we really needed a good intake, but given our youth levels I was prepared for the worst. And it isn't too bad all told. Only one worth signing but with any luck he'll be a first teamer He looks ok, nothin special at the minute. But with a bit of coaching who knows? Finances and Upgrades I spent the first half od the season worrying how I was gonig to solve our financial problems. We were projected to lose around 750k which meant we weren't going to get any upgrades. But without upgrades, I wouldn't be able to improve the team! luckily, in the short term, promotion solves that. First thing the board did? give me a coaching badge course and this:- The board also announced... we've made huge leaps forward in this first season. Trick is to now maintain it! Career Can we stay up? it would be a minor miracle i think but at the same time critical as it means we could maintain professional status and make a bit of money

I was watching Lupin last night and he mentioned being in prison in Fleury and i got all excited! Thanks for the stadium explanation - i'm not complaining SI messed up this time

I'm so addicted to this challenge i'm jumping straight back in again. I've always wanted to complete it in France for some reason, and have never come anywhere close, so here we go again! I like playing with a couple of other playable leagues - makes it a bit more challenging in continental competition but also gives more options for sales. France gives you a few choices to pick from, and I went for:- They're based in the southern suburbs of Paris and were formed in 1991. They've never been higher than the third division either so it's quite nice to see if I can complete their journey. They're starting stats are pretty good too:- The board and supporter culture appeals as it's the sort of football i enjoy creating, mainly due as it's fun. Plus, the stadium is mad. In real life their stadium holds about 2k! Semi-professional is a pain in the butt though - definitely adds a whole new level of difficulty to the challenge as well. Here we go!

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda 2042 Objective: win the Champions League a d complete the challenge Season Summary so, how did it go? well..... I decided to focus entirely on Champions League, to the extent where I rested all the first choice XI for league games before the CL games. So our league position suffered but..... Having a fully fit first choice XI really does make all the difference. Who knew? We rode our luck a little bit, but in the final we were emphatic. Weirdly, for the second leg I followed my assistant's advice and played cautious with a slightly different XI as he suggested. Usually I completely ignore him, so no idea why I did it for the most important game! anyway, it worked! CHALLENGE COMPLETED!!!!! WE WON!!!!!! @darren1983 Weirdly, I thought it might be our last chance as our finances were such a disaster but then this happened the week before the final They immediately stuck 76m in the bank so we would have been fine! J1 title winners: 2032, 2039, 2040, 2041 AFC Champions League winners: 2042

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda Division J1 - 2041 (season 18 i think) Objective: win the champions league! Season Summary So, the really frustrating thing with Japan is our season always starts with the knockout rounds of the Champions League, which also happen to be inside our transfer window. I get so many offers for my players, which I turn down, that inevitably morale suffers as a result. So many players unhappy with the way I manage things because I won't sell Maicon 34A for £1.5m to Eintracht Frankfurt (when he'll be worth £60m+ in Germany!). It means we start pretty much every season badly. And this season was no exception Champions League 1: knockout rounds! 2nd round saw us play Incheon United of South Korea, not an easy game. We played well in the first leg to get a draw and then got lucky in the home leg when they had a man sent off in the 22nd minute. So into the quarter finals we marched! Quarter finals we got fellow Japanese side Vissel Kobe, who we had been dominating against for the last few seasons. It should have been fairly routine win but our morale was low, injuries and fatigue played their part and we limped out. League: The poor morale from refusing to sell all my player on the cheap impacted our league start as well. Only 2 wins from the first 7! but once the transfer window shut and the players packed their toys neatly away back in their toy box our season came alive. we went on big winning runs and were miles ahead by the final stages. we lost 2 of the last 3 so it looks closer at the end than it really was Oh, and lol at Hiroshima getting relegated! they still beat us, mind.... Champions League 2: The group stages of the next Cl always coincide with the title run-in, when we tend to be high in morale and form, so they're always a breeze. this one was slightly more tricky than usual but we still qualified easily But who do we have in the next round? Only Suwon Bluewings again, who we couldn't beat in the group stages! Aaargh! Youth I can't tell how good these intakes are anymore! Our best players are so good that it skews all the predicted ratings. But the personalities are good for the best prospects so I'm quietly hopeful Career Onwards and upwards! only without two of my most experienced players who both had enough of my refusal to sell them and left on a free. Katsumi Wada 31D announced his intention to leave with 2 years still on his contract! His leaving might force me back to a 4-2-3-1 formation for next season

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda Division 1 = 2040 (season 17 i think) Objectives: Get back in the Champions League! Season Summary League: We absolutely destroyed the league this season. It was great! Everything clicked and we swept all aside with aplomb. We won the title with months to spare! Emperor's Cup: We're usually terrible in domestic cups but we were so good this season we got to the final without even breaking a sweat. We had a really easy game to win the double as well, Avispa Fukuoka who only narrowly avoided relegation. We'd hammered them 5-2 in the league, and we hammered them in the final too. Only to somehow draw 1-1 and lose on penalties! Champions League: Another nice easy coast through the group stage the added bonus is the next round doesn't see us playing Hiroshima! Maybe this time we'll get through! Players So, our top scorer last season was Ren Ninomiya 33A weith 45 goals. So what do I do? I dropped him! I was never too happy with him as he only had 9 pace, and there were two youngsters chomping at the bit so I gave them a chance. They did well, Ninomiya sulked, and I don't take too well to sulkers, so he ended the season 6th choice striker. Pretty immense fall from grace from the lad. Even when I went back to a narrow 4-3-3 he couldn't get near the team I turned down a £20m offer from Stuttgart for Maicon 34A. A 3 star rating is deemed a star player for J1 league, just to give you an idea how good this team is Youth it kinda explains why these youth intakes look comparatively poor I guess. No elite talents but still an excellent intake apparently Finances It's not all roses however. We're losing an absolute tonne of money due to the wages I've had to splash out to try and keep my star players happy. I cashed in a 50% sell on clause for £12m and still ended up losing £10m over the season. And then the board announced this:- This is gonna really put our finances under pressure! I mean, it's not really sustainable at this point is it? Career I might only have this last chance at the Champions League. Our close season hasn't gone too well - half the team are sulking because I rejected bids for them and Taiga Fujita 32A, arguably our best player, not only did his cruciate ligament but then announced he'll be leaving on a free at the end of the season. Really frustrating!

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda Division J1 - 2039 (season 16-ish) Objective: win the champions league! or failing that, get back in the champions league! Season Summary Champions League: so our last two seasons campaigns were ended in the knockout stages by Hiroshima. For the second round we'd been drawn against..... Hiroshima. So, did we get our revenge? Three seasons in a row they've knocked us out!!!! League: well, it didn't seem to have any effect on us in the league. This was the season we'd been threatening for a couple of years. Everything clicked, injuries didn't affect us, morale was high and we ran away with it Those defeats - t mid-season we lost 3 out of 4, and we lost the last 2 games when the league had already been won. We were great! Players The main reason is half this team are rated as star players in the J1 league, they really should be winning titles! it helps we haven't had to sell a player I haven't wanted to for about 5 years now 3 of them all made their Japan debut at the end of the season as well:- Doi 35A, Wada 31D and Mukai 34D. Youth Good job I'm at the stage where I don't have to sell any players and rely on intakes anymore cos this years was a shocker! The actual intake was so shocking I forgot to take a screenshot! No elites and only 2 top talents. I signed them as they had pretty good personalities but I'm not expecting much from them Career So, no Champions League next season so I got at least another 2 seasons to see if I can complete it. The team is getting better and better so I'm surely not far off. Worrying thing is my wage bill now. I'm losing a ton of money now!

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda Division J1 - 2038 (season 14) Objectives: Champions League glory! Complete the challenge! Season Summary Well, egg and my face are in alignment... Champions League 1: First games of the season was our Champions League 2nd round matches against Hiroshima, who knocked us out at the quarter final stage last season. Time for revenge, right? well.... well, still another chance at the end of the season I guess. League I was worried that those results would have a negative effect on our league campaign but we actually started really well., winning our first 4. But then we had a run of frustrating injuries, coupled with fitness issues, and the fact I only had one DM and one RW meant I had to keep switching from 4123 to a 4231, which never helps. And we kept slipping down the table. We ended up 7th, and being that our media prediction was 4th that's a pretty poor showing really. Also means we're out of the Champions League (well, the one that starts in almost 2 years anyway) Cups - We only went and won the league cup again, which is ironic as its the one trophy I really could not care less about! Champions League 2: Back end of the season sees the start of the next Champions League, which we qualified for last season. And we were brilliant, qualified easily, and who do we have in the knockout draw at the start of next season? Hiroshima again! 3rd time lucky? we'll see.... Players Still quite a young side to be honest, but easily the best side I've had so far. It's really nice that our club rep is high enough that the players are generally happy to stay. I used 4231 at the default tactic this season Mitsuhiro Doi 35A was the real breakthrough star. He can play up front as well so when we went 4123 he played as a striker, hence his 28 goals. Shingo Deguchi 37A made his debut at the end of the season at MC, scored 2 and assisted 1 for a 10.0 rating. very nice! Youth Career

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda Division J1 - 2037 (Season 14) Objective: win the champions league and compelte the challenge! Season Summary Well, I haven't managed to complete the challenge yet, but i'm getting closer! 2036/37 Champions League - The Japan season runs from Feb - Nov, whereas the Asian Champions League follows a traditional May-Sep calendar so there's weird crossover every year. So this is what happened to our campaign we started at the arse end of last season. We qualified from the group and got a tough draw in the knockout - Seongnam of Korea. We drew away 1-1 and then a narrow 3-2 victory at home saw us make the quarter finals. We got a nice draw - fellow Japanese side Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who we had done the double over in the previous season. So obviously we performed terribly and lost both legs.... Really frustrating - they should have been easily winnable games for us. League - We led the way for most of the season, slipped up at the end and ended up losing it on goal difference on the final day. Bah. 2037/38 Champions League - so the season end always co-incides with the group stage of the Champions League, which can play havoc with your run ins. We got a ncie group, a terrible start, but comfortably progressed in the end And who did we get in the 2nd round? Sanfrecce Hiroshima again! Players Still rocking the 4-1-2-3 as it seems to really suit our players. I do enjoy a 3 striker formation when I can run one as well. Maicon 34A and Ren Ninomiya 33A cemented their places in the first XI and became two of our best players in the process. Ninmiya in particular had an amazing season! 34 goals in a 3 striker formation is amazing. I might go to a single striker formation just to see how he can do.... Youth An underwhelming preview and, on first look, an underwhelming intake. But a closer look revealed a potential future club captain in there! That personality coupled with promising mental stats means i'm gonna try and mould him into a future captain Career

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda Division J1 - 2036 (Season 13) Objective: Top four finish and a good start to our Champions League campaign Season Summary Objective met in some style! This was our best season yet, with us gaining more points than we did when we won the title a few years back. it helped this was the first season i can remember where we didn't lose one of our best players so the team could continue developing really well. We couldn't quite maintain a title challenge but a top four finish was always odds on. The only downside was that Kashima Antlers only won 4 games all season - and one of them was against us! Cups - I'm always crap at cups in this save but I somehow managed to accidentally win the league cup! which was nice. Champions League - So this is what really matters! We got a nice group with the only challenge coming from the reigning champions Ulsan Hyundai of Korea. It was really pleasing to get a victory against them as it shows we're not too far off Players Pretty much same team and tactics as last year. Best thing was seeing how well Ren Ninomiya 33A and Maicon 34A did when they had to step up due to injuries/suspensions. there'sa good chance those two will be first choice regulars next season youth well, not sure if this is a good or bad intake to be honest. It's not obviously great, but neither is it horribly bad. One of those wait and see intakes i guess My HoyD says it's excellent but we'll see...... the two elite talents haven't got particularly good personalities and don't look that good. Another two strikers suggest that 4-1-2-3 tactic is here to stay though! Career On with the Champions League campaign!

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda J1 - 2035 (season 12) Objective: Get back into the Champions League places! Season Summary League: A really pleasing season in the end. It was one of ups and downs but we managed to finish on an up, and 4 wins and a draw in our last 5 games saw us sneak into 4th place right at the death. Over the moon with that! Cup: Usually in these saves I'm shocking in the domestic cups. Last season I lost to a team in J3! but this season we had a nice little run all the way to the semi final Players Still rocking that 4-1-2-3. I'm not getting any decent wingers through really and I'm quite enjoying three strikers. The DM gives me a nice bit of defensive solidness that i usually don't have at all Really pleased with the improvement of Taiga Fajita 32A and Katsumi Wada 31D. Hopefully I can keep hold of them! luckily my club rep is now at a level where i can sign them up without having to insert a stupid release fee clause. The three midfielders all had to step in when better players got snapped up and have done me proud - i like having a bit of experience in the side somewhere! Even better, at the end of the season Fajita made his national debut, becoming our first ever international (who is at the club!) Youth another nice looking preview! and a nice intake! but I'm not currently using wingers or wingbacks so I might have a choice to make a bit down the road - new tactic or retrain them? Mitsuhiro Doi is a natural winger but with these stats he looks like he'd be a great pressing forward so he will probably get re-trained there. With that bravery, aggression and work rate he could be a right pain in the arse for defences Finances and Upgrades So one of my better youths Ryoma Utsaka 29A had a really low release clause so when Liverpool came sniffing I sold him on with a 50% sell on clause. 4 years later and he has played precisely one game for them so when we re-negotiated the sell-on clause i Jumped at it. Gave me a bank balance of £35m! but do the board give me the option of youth academy improvements at all? nope! not for years! really frustrating!!! Career can we push on after this good season?

Japan - Honda FC/Haneda J1 - 2034 (season 11) Objective: Get back into the Champions League and challenge for the title! Season Summary First two games of the season were our first knockout round in the Champions League against Suwon Bluewings of South Korea. They'd beaten us twice in the group stage so revenge was on the cards. First leg was away, and we were brilliant, winning 3-2. The home leg though..... That home defeat really knocked us and had a huge effect on our league campaign. Only one win in the first 8! but we recovered to win the next 5 and by the time we headed into the mid-season 6 week break (for the world cup!) we were sitting 5th, in form and with cracking morale. So what happened? Our best three players all had their minimum release fee clause activated! I couldn't believe it! So that was our title challenge over! question was how would the youth players I was forced to promote early cope. And to be fair, they did pretty well. But in the end we had to settle for 6th. Since winning the league two seasons ago we've lost 5 of that team! Youth A really nice preview and intake! and our first foreign youth player! Career so we rebuild again! It's proving harder than any other country I've played in to keep hold of your players, but on the other hand the intakes are proving really, really good. So rebuilding shouldn't be too tricky. We'll see!

Congratualtions @the_hdk! i think i'll be quite a way behind you! Japan - Honda FC/Haneda/Machida Corriente Division J1 - 2033 (season 10) So I decided to install the real name fix as the changed names were starting to annoy me. it had the weird knock on effect of renaming us Haneda for some reason. So we're now Haneda! Objective: put up a good title defence, get back into the champions league! Season Summary Well, if i wasn't sure if last seasons title win was a fluke 6 games in I was. we'd lost 4 of them! We recovered quite well from that bad start and got back up to 5th before a terrible finish saw us win only 2 of the last 9. In the end we finished 8th, out of the champions league places Champions League Group stage only in this season! and we qualified, but got our butts kicked by Suwon Bluewings of Korea, which shows just how far we have to go. and guess who we got in the second round? Bluewings! Youth A nice looking preview which makes up for the disappointing intakes last couple of seasons and the intake? pretty, pretty good Another good looking striker means I'll probably be keeping my 4-1-2-3 formation for a little while longer. He looks good too, apart from the pace... Career I need to get back into the CL places but I'm worried that title win was a Japanese Leicester City. We'll see!

Japan - Honda FC/Machida Corriente J1 - 2031 (season 9) Objectives: Just improve on last season and hopefully challenge for continental competition Season Summary well, I didn't see this coming. We only went and won the league! We started really well with 8 wins out of our first 9 games and we were in a title race! We had wobbles but luckily other teams seemed to wobble the same time we did. With 3 games to go we were looking good, 4 points clear. 2 defeats later we were one point behind in second. We had to win our last game and hope results went in our favour elsewhere, which to my total shock they did! to be fair, we were lucky. That points total would have seen us finish 6th last season! Players One of the bonuses of winning the league is it should make a lot more of my players happier and more willing to stay. But not our new star striker - no sooner had we won the league than he announced he wanted to leave for a stronger squad... I've got him on an optional contract extension so he'll have to suck it up! Youth After last years disappointing intake, I could really do with a good one this year. The preview wasn't too promising.... The intake was a lot more promising than the preview despite only one elite talent He's a natural AMC but as i'm playing a 4123 at the minute with a DM and 2 MCs I'm probably gonna retrain him as a natural MC Career Next season its Champions League! which runs on a different season schedule to us so first game won't be until the latter stages of our next season, which will be a bit weird.

Japan - Honda FC/Machida Corriente Division J1 - 2031 (season 8) Objectives: consolidation reallly. Too early for anything like a title push I think Season Summary And so it proved. We were a little frustrating this season and it was the first one where it felt like a step back. But in reality we weren't bad, we just kept drawing too many. Players The real problem in Japan seems to be keeping hold of your best players. They either refuse to sign a new contract or insist on a release fee so low you will inevitably lose them anyway. I lost my two best players again mid-season. One snuck up on me by surprise, the other I managed to get a good deal. His release fee was 1.5m, Liverpool offered 1.3m. So i countered and... Looking at his value when he arrived at Liverpool that 50% could be worth a fair bit. Provided they play him that is..... Youth So, with me losing two of my best players each year on average, it makes the youth intakes more important than ever. So did i get a good one this year? Did i flip.... The two elite talents both have balanced personalities which is just Career hit a bit of a bump where it feels like I'm stagnating. I need to find a way of keeping hold of my better players quick!

not sure yet, probably as a central advanced forward in my front three. he's definitely my best prospect in that position in this save, i'm excited to see how he does!

Japan - Honda FC/Machida Corriente J1 -2030 (season 7) Objectives: after losing our three best players at the end of last season just staying up would be a result Season Summary Objective met! and quite easily as well. On paper we had a much weaker side but we performed much better. It did dawn on me during pre-season that the side was much more balanced now but even so, it took me by surprise. At one point we were second! In the end we finished a respectable 8th, which will do me Youth I love having double exceptional for youth takes! Seeing an A grade for wingers got me interested. I usually play 4-2-3-1 but have had to switch to a 4-1-2-3 for this save, mainly due to the lack of wingers. So the promise of my own Mitouma got me quite excited. Only... Where is he!!!!!!??? And 2 more strikers!!!! 2 out of those 3 elite talents had poo brain for their personality, which isn't great, but Hachisuka looks like the real deal lovely personality, determination is ok, pace and acceleration very nice. No doubt he'll get some chances next season in the first team Career Next stage is building on the success of this season and seeing if we can break into the continental spots.

I'm getting exactly the same in Japan as well, and they are pretty low level. Little bit worrying!

Japan - Honda FC/Machida Corriente Division J1 - Season 6 (2029) Season Objectives:- After two successive promotions, just staying up would be an amazing result Season Summary And we did it! It was close, and we were in the bottom 3 for the majority of the season, but we turned a corner in the last couple of months and won 5 out of the last 11. turns out that was enough! A definite result! Players The difference was our three star players, all of whom are rated leading J1 performers, all of whom are leaving... First to go is Mutsuki Sagara 27A. He never looked close to signing a new deal since we first gave him a contract and I had to decide whether to cash in or keep him last season, and I decided with 8m in the bank that it was worth the risk to see if he could keep us up. And he could - 15 goals and 10 assists from 34 games as a CM is a phenomenal return. The only issue was keeping him fit! There was no shortage of offers when he only had 6 months remaining, and in the end he signed for Chelsea. I can't really begrudge him it.... but look at that value now! Yasushi Yamazaki 27B became our first player to represent Japan in this save, has only 1 year left and is determined to leave. Rather than have him sulk I probably will sell him. We'll miss him though - maurading wing back who got 12 assists and 6 goals in only 31 games Third player refused new contract and signed a deal with a middling J2 side! so he is now dead to me. Youth So it became even more important we got a decent intake this season, losing those top 3 players. Preview was.....ok but the intake was better than I hoped for. Ryoma Otsuka is clearly the best of the bunch. So good in fact I'm going to change my tactic to accommodate him next season (I could retrain him as a DC but I tend to change tactics instead) The rest of the intake isn't as promising. the four other elite talents have terrible personalities:- balanced, fickle, unambitious and unambitious Career Next season will be a real challenge. To stay up again, without Sagara 27A, would be an amazing achievement.