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Welcome to Poland Poland resets on 20 June 2018 Gwardia Koszalin Club | Squad 1 2 3 | Manager Let's see what we can do. The wife and I spent a few days a couple months ago in Krakow and really enjoyed it. It gave me the idea to try this challenge in Poland this year. I had a decent run with Dalvik/Reynir in Iceland last year, but ultimately getting any sustained European success was difficult with a small country and the opposite league calendar. I'm not all that great at the game, so I'm not expecting too much, but who knows maybe we can pull off a miracle.

Well as soon as we started, our story as come to an end. I couldn't turn the team around. The sad part is we weren't playing horribly. In our last 5 games we had a higher average rating than our opponents in 4 of the 5 games. Kinda disappointed that my first shared career couldn't even get out of the first season, but I'll be back.Thanks for reading and I'll catch up with you guys next time.

As far as I know there's no relationship between the clubs. My thought is that they just replicated a successful and well known logo to base their own logo on. According to wikipedia the Consolat logo differs from Barca in that you see the Marseille city flag in the top left, and the bottom of the logo is yellow and green to represent the clubs kits. The top right shares the red and yellow like in Barca's logo which in their case represents Cataluyna, and in Consolat's case it represents Provence. Season 1 (2016/2017) 2/3 Season Recap Well our season is crashing and burning. After having a very strong run of games, including 7 games unbeaten across all competitions. This run came to an end with a Ninth Round Coupe de France lost to Ligue 1 Montpellier 2-1. We came out flat in that game, and went down 2-0 in the first half. We were great in the second half, and had a 1on1 with the keep in the 90th minute that was saved before we lost by a goal in the end. This loss started off a drop in form that has not stopped to this day, in our past 6 matches we've only had 1 win. This leaves us in 13th now, 4 points safe of the drop. Unfortunately our finances have been rough which has prevented me from bringing in some new faces to improve the squad. We did get some offers in for some younger players, so we had two players leave for a combined €130,000, plus some future fees. Looking at the final 10 games of the season and the table, we still have a solid chance at finishing top-half, but we have out work cut out for us. Relegation, is sadly still possible but I'm hoping to get a solid run of form to get us out of this mess.

Season 1 (2016/2017) 1/3 Season Recap We're just about 3 months, and 12 games into the season which closes out roughly the first third of the season. It's been an up and down start to our campaign so far. As you can see we've had a bit of everything. We played quite well for our first 4 matches, even though we dropped 2 of them. We lost to Paris FC after playing down a man for a good 40 minutes in the second half, giving up the winner in dying moments of the match. Against Belfort, we went up 2-0 in the first half before giving up one in the second half. Perhaps naively I switched to a defensive 4-1-4-1 formation hoping to kill off the game, and gave up 2 goals in a 5 minute span right before the 90th minute. A couple slight tweaks to the tactics helped us to a 6 game unbeaten run. While the results were decent, excepting the 3-0 win to Boulogne we didn't play very impressive football. I've been having trouble having my wingers play well in conjunction with my striker. It's very rare I can get all 3 to have a 7+ match rating. Usually at least one of the attacking 3 is stuck around 6.5. Speaking of our striker, Abdoul Diawara is our current leading scorer. He's netted 7 goals in 11 matches, adding in 5 MotM awards and an Avg. Rating of 7.38. The problem I find with Diawara is that it seems like we're overly dependent on him. If he plays well we're likely going to win. He also has had a few matches we're he's utterly terrible (sub 6.0 ratings) and our team takes on his form and can't do anything going forward. Thankfully we have Jérémy Nicodème in central defence, who's been solid stepping up when we can't get anything going in the attacking third. So far we're right about where the media predicted we'd be, smack dab in the middle of the table. We've also advanced to the 6th round of the Coupe de France where we'll play Saint-Maxime who play in the 6th-tier Ligue de la Méditerranèe. Hopefully we can survive long enough in the Cup to get a date with a Ligue 1 team which could help the finances, which aren't yet an issue but could be doing better. We'll catch you next time with the 2/3 Season recap, which will include the Winter Transfer Window where we'll look to strengthen our attack.

Season 1 (2016/2017) Pre-Season Our first pre-season at Consolat is in the books, and I have to say I'm feeling confident going into the season. We inherited a fairly strong squad for the season, which meant few transactions. Youssef Mouslih is a winger we brought in on loan from Nimes. He can play on both wings, and is expected to be a bench and rotation option. Derrick Appiah joined us after his contract at Monaco ended. He impressed in two friendlies while on trial at the club and he was signed for €110/week for 1 year. We played 5 games total in the pre-season, winning 3 and dropping 2. We started off with a 4-1-2-3 formation. While we played decently in the first 2 matches, we were missing a bit of bite going forward. Starting at half-time in the third match vs Alessandria, I switched a couple roles to attacking, while asking the full backs to overlap. The results paid immediate dividends, and with this tactic we went on the win the remaining 2 matches without conceding. The media prediction for this year is 9th. Personally I'd expect us to do a bit better than mid-table. I don't know that we have enough about us to get a promotion (1st and 2nd) or the playoff (3rd) spot, but I'd be happy with a top half finish. I always find the first season very hard to predict. We look forward now to our season opener, which will be played at home to CA Bastia. They're predicted to finish 14th, and the oddsmakers have us as evens favourites. This is a game we really should win to get the season off on the right foot. As I mentioned earlier we're going to be running out a 4-1-2-3. I like the Inside Forwards with Wing backs behind them. I find this strikes the right balance between wing play and possession in the middle of the pitch. I'll be back shortly with a season update at the 1/3 mark of the campaign to update you guys on our progress.

World football is built on rivalries. The biggest of these rivalries are the local derbies. Part of what makes the sport so special are these local matches pitting neighbour against neigbour. Look around the world and you will find a massive fixture pitting two local clubs against each other to determine who is the king of their city. However, in France we rarely if ever see 2 clubs from one city meeting in meaningful league matches. During WWII, the Vichy government in France reorganized the football league system along regional lines effectively forcing many city clubs to shut down. Since the fall of the Vichy government, the French league system has evolved into the kind of system we see elsewhere in Europe. Modern France also has some influence on the lack of local derbies in France. The French football system is one of the most heavily regulated in the world. Tight financial regulations mean that many clubs rely heavily on local city and regional councils for cash flow. Because of this it doesn't make sense for cities to support multiple teams who wouldn't be as successful as one single team who can rise to the top of the league. The 2000's have seen a rise of "second" clubs in large French cities being promoted into the higher reaches of the French league system. Red Star (Paris) is currently in Ligue 2, while the National (3rd division) has the likes of Paris FC, Lyon-La Duchere, and the subject of our series; Group Sportive Consolat from Marseille. Consolat is a small club located in the northern suburbs of Marseille. The won promotion to the Championnat National in 2014 after winning their group of the CFA. They play their matches at the tiny Stade La Martine which boasts a capacity of only 2,000 spectators. The club is currently semi-professional and competes in the Championnat National and the Coupe de France where they enter in the 5th round. My ultimate goal with this series is take Consolat to the top of French football. This means ultimately winning the Ligue 1 title. The hope is cement Consolat among the top tier of French football, competing consistently with PSG, Lyon, Monaco and of course Olympique de Marseille. I've set up the game with all the levels of France as playable, and with the top 2 divisions in England, Spain, Germany and Italy as view only. I don't use the game editor in any way, and the only additions to the game are the Real Names pack, and kit packs from Sortitoutsi. Our manager for this journey is Yassine Saadi, a 37-year old Frenchman born in Marseille who also hold Algerian citizenship. He has played in the regional leagues in the past, and holds a National A license. I hope you'll join me in this quest to bring Consolat to the top of Marseille, and of France.