Constantine

Jedinstvo Ub September and October 2022 Mozzart Bet Prva liga Cruisin'... Karikari and Avric seems to hit a bad patch of form but Viktor Zivojinovic willed us to victory quite few times. The purge has begun. Arkady, our backup of a backup was first out of the door. Mirko Andric and Milos Marinkovic are set to follow, after signing for Worms and Smederevo. At one point I did consider terminating Viktor's loan, since his salary is a bit too rich for my blood but he's been playing his heart out. I don't know what to do...

Have no memory of that. If that's true, I take it all back. Cheers.

A national tragedy. I was six, seven years old when this happened and I still remember watching this disaster on a TV with my grandad. One of, if not the most talented squad we had, maybe ever. Football in Serbia stopped after this.

I'm sorry but Walker couldn't keep Mbappe quiet if somehow there were three Kyle Walkers guarding one Mbappe. Pace or no pace.

Heavenly people, I beg your pardon. Pretty much as expected. I'd perhaps take Mihailo Ristic over Filip Mladenovic/Uros Racic but that's about it. And we aren't getting past the group stage. As usual, **** always hits the fan before every big competition (if we qualify at all) and it's already started. We should have had elections in FA, to choose a new president, since our former president/smuggler from the good old days got removed from office. Officially, at least. Bjekovic, ex president of Partizan tried to fix it up so only he could be elected and few days ago he was supposed to be confirmed as new president but Crvena zvezda intervened so it all stopped. And who's supposed to be new presidential candidate? A former footballer? Former coach, someone who has ties with football? Nope, a former minister of agriculture and close pal with our overlord, Aleksandar Vucic. It's all laughable and some cruel, bloody joke. I'm so tired of this ****, man...

Jedinstvo Ub July and August 2022 Mozzart Bet Prva liga Unbeaten month(s), as great start as one can wish for. Could've been tiny bit better, had we not dropped points and lead v Radnicki. Subbed in Rajovic and he got sent off ten minutes later. Bless him. Kup Srbije Out!! Failed at first obstacle. We were unlucky to draw against Super liga side, plus I rotated a lot... Yeah, we were never getting past GAT. Squad Since we're playing such a turgid, boring football in RL, I've decided to go the other way in FM. We're aiming for champagne. It's a riff on Arsenal recreation I've used in 22. It's sexy and exciting to watch. Whether when we're on a counter and just swarm the opposition box or when shambles ensues as we try to defend. Key word: try. But it's not boring. That's the whole point, I guess. Still tweaking stuff as we go but I like it. Avric had a blistering start, scored five in two and went silent. On the other hand, my boy Karikari started slow but is catching up. Ivan Jovanović Kristijan Bošković - Lazar Marković - Aleksandar Bogdanović - Nenad Sević Nikola Ristovski Marko Adamović - Nikola Radojičić Filip Avrić - Kwaku Karikari - Viktor Živojinović Can't wait for January and transfer window to open. We need couple of CD's, pronto. Old man Rajovic is jumping in to cover but... We really, really struggle when even one of Markovic/Bogdanovic is missing. As for the rest... Can't complain. We're doing good so far.

Knowing Deschamps, Giroud will start every game. On topic, Serbia's squad will be announced on Monday.

For all that talent up front, your back line leaves a lot to be desired. Pretty much everyone has shambles written all over them.

I know that I've said before that I wouldn't be getting new FM just yet, that I'd wait till after Winter Patch... I'm a weak man. And comparing to the previous version, this team fares tiny bit better. It's still way off in some cases but it's better than it's been. For starters, our second best player in RL, Nikola Radojicic has his natural position (MC) added. Got a nice par of central defenders in Markovic and Bogdanovic. Doderovic and Andric remain totally wrong. Yet biggest disservice has been done to my man Karikari Kwaku. He's been easily our best player. It's not even up for discussion. He's a calm finisher, quick, strong, with a great first touch, great feeling for space yet you wouldn't know it if you see him ingame. My favorite though is Filip Avric. He plays in tandem with Karikari and while the Ghanaian scores most of the goals, Filip does the dirty work, pressing like a man possessed while also serving as a great decoy and dummy runner. If only he would put some work into finishing, he'd be a complete player. Still, I love him. Finances are alright. No space to manoeuvre in Wage Budget, sadly. We desperately need some cover in the heart of the defense but even if we had some money to burn, we wouldn't be able to do so since I've turned off first transfer window. So... No fun stuff till January. Still, we've got a preseason to go through. Media predicts us to finish 14th and... I don't know, man. Yes, we lacks some depth but we've also got couple of really decent players. I guess we'll see when season start. Back to the Prva liga...

Næsby aside, league seems tight, everyone's beating each other. So with a good run or two, anything's possible. Good luck.

Jedinstvo Ub November and December 2023 Linglong Tire Super liga Red wave's coming, baby!! Two tough losses but screw that. Look at that green!! Such a sight for sore eyes. We haven't changed anything. Our striker(s) started scoring, we started winning games. Such a novel concept, I know... Such a shame we aren't playing for two months now, now that we're finally picked up some form. And one late correction/addition. Forgot to mention it last time. Sorry about that. After Gudelj broke his toe, we shipped in a replacement. Cukaricki was kind enough to let us loan Mirosavic without paying a dime. I forgot about him because he got injured after week or two after joining and haven't featured til middle of December. Just slipped my mind. Won't happen again. We've got a transfer window to deal with. Radojicic, Sajic, Andric and Stojakovic all came to me, seeking a new challenge (aside from Luka Stojakovic, who wanted a loan move to secure a permanent move for himself). Radojicic, Sajic and Stojakovic already signed for other clubs and now we're just waiting for window to open to say goodbye to them. Won't be getting a replacement for Radojicic since we already have forgotten Mirosavic available to us. As for Stojakovic's, there's a bunch of players on trial with us, two of them are really promising so I guess that's sorted out too. Not yet, but soon. So, basically, deals are nearly done but a lot can happen during January. We'll see...

Might've overrated Croatia little bit. Also, I don't think England will go this far, Southgate will muck it up in QF, IMO.

In my experience, three or four years shall be enough for that. English clubs are picking their talents up and knowing this game, they won't spend that money wisely. Though Zvezda somehow ended up signing Marko Pjaca... A glitch in the matrix, surely...

Jedinstvo Ub September and October 2023 Linglong Tire Super liga We've had horrifically unlucky streak of games that rivals current one Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool's going through. Just one big unending series of unfortunate events. It's exhausting. Had the lead at half time v Napredak but having two players with knocks and another one apprehensive with yellow card to his name, I've made all three subs at HT. Not even a minute in the second half, I kid you not, not even a minute, Gudelj broke his toe and we were with 10 players with 45 minutes to play. We were losing against Vozdovac, overturned their lead near the end just to be denied our deserved victory after Hajdin scored a screamer from 35m. Metalac equalized from a free kick they've got from one of their rare trips to our half. TSC beat us fair and square but Crvena zvezda... I dislike them in RL but they're just as scummy in the game. In a true Red Star fashion, they were given a penalty and had one of our players sent off, an usual occurrence in RL when they can't break an opponent in domestic competitions. I stand by my opinion. We aren't this bad. We just can't convert our chances properly. Both Vesic and Djordjevic are shadows of their former self and I still cry in my sleep after losing Spasojevic. Fun stuff. Well, I did ask for a challenge... Careful what you wish for. Kup Srbije Our Liverpool v Bornmouth moment came in the cup where we just utterly demolished poor IMT. Everything and their cat are going in. Just with we could've repeated some of that against Vozdovac. Had two goals overturned, one of which was really, really dubious.

Jedinstvo Ub July and August 2023 Transfers First thing first. FFS!! I've expected it. Still sucks, though. One player out. Well, four, if you count in loanees going back to their parent clubs. So four new players came in. I don't like bloated squads, especially without euro comps on the table so we'll keep the squad nice and lean at 22. Dušan Stević - First of the two right back signed this summer. I planned to had them fight it out for the starting role but Bojica picked up an injury just two days after his arrival so Dusan became instant starter. Bojica Nikčević - Unlucky fella. Currently getting back up to fitness after spending entire preseason injured. Stefan Šormaz - Our new striker. Not as fast nor tricky as Spasojevic was but seems to have greater understanding of the game. Dejan Kuzmanović - Released from AS Monaco. Serbian u19 international. He'll be great fit for us. This is how our squad currently looks like. Gudelj has been moved to the left to accommodate Kuzmanovic in the starting lineup (league rules, you must have one u21 Serb in the XI at all time) and Sormaz got the leading role up front. We're currently having bit of an unrest. Because FM. Jankovic got mad literally the second Vujic and Mitrovic left on July 1st, started moaning how we have no cover or any right backs at all. Which was true, if you don't count in the fact that we already had two of them lined up on Bosman. And since transfer window in Serbia opens few days later (6th of July), we've got into this mess that still hasn't been resolved, despite my promise to him about us strengthening been fulfilled couple of days later. It was fulfilled. I've got a green circle on Promises tab. It's gone from there. Yet the bastard is still unhappy. Transfer window's open til late September. If he doesn't come to his senses soon, I'll move him. He's not that good for me to tolerate him that much. Finances It's alright. Renewed almost all player contracts and still kept it under the budget. Got another Junior Coaching upgrade. And we're currently overhauling our staff so expecting further losses down the line but nothing serious. Linglong Tire Super liga Our Superliga debut isn't exactly going as planned. But IMO, it looks worse than actually is. We shat the bed vs Surdulica at home and away at Radnicki, we really should've won those. No shame in losing to Spartak, who's leading the pack at the moment, and Cukaricki, they're currently stronger than us. We were never getting anything from Partizan so I've sent out our second string, like lambs to slaughter, just to build up their fitness. We have to build up our fitness levels because we haven't had full preseason to prepare. Only got two weeks for it, because reasons. So I'll give it some time. We have some easier games in the next couple of weeks so we'll see. I'm not panicking. Yet. Kup Srbije Got past first hurdle. IMT's next.

Jedinstvo Ub April and May 2023 And Season Review, I guess Now we're getting to the fun stuff... Prva liga Not gonna lie, it was a chore getting through this part. With a win against Mladost in a first match post split, our title was all but guaranteed. So I've had bit of a fun with lineups and played around with setups. Deductions. That sounds a bit pompous, this is just obvious stuff. We need fitter fullbacks. All four of them broke down after January. Our defense falls apart without Gudelj. And we need to do everything in our power to keep that attacking trio, Djordjevic, Vesic, Spasojevic together. They've been ridiculous. Squad I genuinely wouldn't mind keeping all of them for our debut season in Superliga. Step up isn't that great, we've played few sides in the Kup and... Yeah, I think we would survive rather comfortably somewhere around the middle. Vujic is a goner, obviously, since he signed with some Slovakian second league side which name I won't even try to pronounce, but, yeah, I'd keep the rest. Since we've just turned pro, like, literary, second ago, a bunch of new contracts will be handled. And there's Spasojevic. I'm fearing approaching Cukaricki to ask for another loan. He's been ridiculous for us and I dread that "we're looking to give him a chance in first team" pop up. We'll see. Finances are alright. Lots of space to fill in that WB. And TB doesn't matter, in Serbia, as long as you're not called Partizan or Crvena zvezda, you ain't paying transfer fees. Best Players Obviously subjective list. Aleksandar Janković - Janjic might've scored more but Jankovic has been our main creative force this year despite not exactly looking like a creator. Uroš Vesić - Consistent presence on a matchday chart, whether it is for a goal or assist. Mihajlo Spasojević - This list wouldn't be fair without having our top scorer on it. It wasn't even close. Last, but not least... Finally!! Stubborn bastards, took them a while. But they did it. So, good bastards.

What did Iran do? I'm out of the loop... Oh, drones, war, invasion. Got it.

Jedinstvo Ub January, February and March 2023 Transfers Only one out, shipped off to Belgrade. Never really fit our vision, signed by previous management, it was never gonna work. Kup Srbije First game post winter break. I swear to you, played this game last night and I have no memory of it ending up with this result. What I remember, we also lost on penalties but it was 1-1 after 90 minutes. Bizarre. Either it was this game or my memory, someone is screwing with me. Prva liga Considering we barely had one fullback fit during these two months, it's a miracle we did as well as we did. Sajic, Gudelj and Andric did a lion's share of work covering for those injured. Two more games till league's split. All points remains, no halving them. Works for us. Also, we've upgraded Junior Coaching. It's considered Adequate now. But the board won't budge on Recruitment. I've asked two times now.

Jedinstvo Ub November and December 2022 Prva liga Perfect run sandwiched in between two blunders. Though, to Zlatibor credits, they pushed us to the brink. We barely got it going. Well deserved points for them. Backa away was just bad luck. And now we wait till February. It's not just the upcoming World Cup, every winter break in Serbia is like this. So freaking annoying to go through...

Jedinstvo Ub August, September and October 2022 Prva liga Furious start and flawless August then bit of a struggle as soon as midweek games got into the mix. I started (unnecessarily) tinkering with lineups and we dropped some points. Like we're playing in England, two, three games each week so players need rest. I often forget these guys are more resilient. Alas. C'est la vie. It's football. It'll happen from time to time. And just to brag a bit, I'm doing bit better than our RL manager. We're at the same point in time. He's 5th right now. We're 2nd. He couldn't beat Loznica yesterday (0-0), in a dullest game I've watched in a long time, we did it in spectacular fashion. Kup Srbije So far, so good. Got through the qualifiers, even knocking out top tier side, Metalac. Lovely stuff.

Jedinstvo Ub Catching up with the world. Transfer Window. Preseason. What I meant with first, catching up bit is to just show you what happened in the other leagues during first season, which I simulated to get Jedinstvo into Prva liga. So here's a quick recap. England. Liverpool won again. Pep had a horrible December and it cost him the title. Still kept his job. Despite not winning anything. Bald Fraud Fulham, Sheff Utd and Hull got promoted. France. PS****ingG. Dijon and Auxerre back in top tier. Germany. Boring, even more than usual. Schalke and Darmstadt got back in. Italy. Juve's competent only in FM. Parma, Monza and Benevento this year's arrivals from Serie B. Serbia. It was close but Red Star came first. Javor and Macva are back in the top tier. Again. It's the same couple of sides each time. Dull. Spain. I... I have no idea what the hell happened here. I'm speechless. But I love every ****ing bit of this. Almeria, Zaragoza and Rayo Vallecano, welcome to the madhouse. As for ourselves... We were busy. Only one I wanted to keep was Pirgic. But as soon as TSC came sniffing around, he threw a fit so I threw him out. For a price. This might seems bit much but it's pretty on point, considering number of players we signed in real life ahead of this season. Only difference is, RL Jedinstvo signed a striker from Nigeria and midfielder from Ghana. Our ingame scouting reach game isn't that great. But I feel we did alright. Couldn't always land our #1 target per position but we're in much better shape than we were few months ago. Nikola Njamculović - Straight up replacement for Pirgic. Arton Zekaj - With a move that couldn't possibly cause any sort of controversy in real life, we've got ourselves (most likely) starting DMC from Kosovo. Having been released from Lille, he's back in Serbia, after spending couple of years in both Partizan and Red Star's affiliates. Nemanja Marković - Prearranged transfer. Not exactly the best player in our club. Great name, though... Đorđe Jovanović - Zekaj's main competition for a place in the starting lineup. Stefan Mitrović - Considering how limited Vujić is, we needed a player of Stefan's profile. Ilija Miodragović - He's more than capable of filling in when Radojičić needs rest. Dragiša Gudelj - Dragiša used to be one of our greatest talents but Netherlands and Spain hasn't been kind to him. Nikola Jadranin - My third choice but will become our new #1 nonetheless. Dragan Vukotić - Despite some of the obvious flaws in his game, Dragan will start beside Gudelj. We had other targets in mind but Jedinstvo wasn't first pick for either of them. Milan Janjić - Milan should start often for us. Experienced at this level, having spent years and years at Buducnost Dobanovci, who got relegated just last year. Mihajlo Spasojević - Will lead the line for us. Great talent but without place in stuffed Cukaricki side. Andi Hoti - Prepare for trouble and make it double. Another Kosovan signed with Jedinstvo. Stumbled upon him after getting Zekaj in, randomly checked Kosovo NT and there he was. He's got pedigree, having spent time at Zurich and Inter. Vukotic got himself a proper rival for a place in the starting XI. In the end, our squad looks like this. All but Andric ready and raring to go. We will line up in 4-3-3 formation. Base of which have been shamelessly stolen inspired by Rashidi's recreation of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal for FM 23. It's not 100%, I've made couple of changes but most of the stuff are picked up from there. Check out his channel, it's treasure trove of information and his latest streams with Aston Villa feature a ridiculous number of tactical instructions, in all kinds and shapes. As for preseason fixtures, as is always the case with me, opponents don't matter. It's all for whipping us back up in shape and building morale. Our season officially starts tomorrow, as we travel up to the mountains, where we'll play against Zlatibor.

As you can see, as a club, we're pretty basic. Semi pro side, predicted by media to finish at 14th place out of 16. No major honors won, so there's an empty trophy case that begs to be filled. Finances are alright for now but we're bound to see the red before season's end. Facilities basic as you can get though junior coaching and recruitment seems a bit better than I remember it being. Board expectations aren't high, which is nice. We should be able to fulfill this and then more. Squad is a... Well, work in progress is pretty gentle way to describe it. One goalkeeper, and rubbish on at that. Sorry Ivan, you're our captain in RL and I love you but in here, you're rubbish. We've got a 27 years old defender who's retiring. For some reason. And a lot of people that are already retired from football. Like Sajic, Djermanovic, Sreckovic, Zoran Radojicic. Couple of them that are on laughably wrong positions: Andric is a left back/central defender, Doderovic is featured as right wingback and our club's best player, Nikola Radojicic is a roaming playmaker. Then there are folks I haven't even heard of. Long story short, there's a lot of work to be done. Let's get to it.

Jedinstvo Ub Bloody hell, this is annoying. I finally get a game running. Got three seasons out of it. And during it, managing OFK Beograd, managing in Serbia, it just reminded me of a club I'd much rather take on a FM journey. OFK is fun, little club. Brimming with history, begging for a rebuild. But Jedinstvo, or United, for you English speaking folks, Jedinstvo is home. Already had a thread for them, youth only, two or three years back. It has a background info on them, why I like them so I'll just copy/paste that stuff and adjust as necessary. Bold part is the one being edited. Jedinstvo Ub. One of the two clubs from village town where i spent my childhood. Definitively a bigger one since the other, Radnik, is relatively new. I lived 5 minutes away from their stadium. Went on runs there when i was younger, up and down the stairs on their stands. Heck, during their glory days (and i use term glory very loosely here), when Jedinstvo played in Serbia&Montenegro' Second Division, i was a bag boy for Bosko Jankovic and Dusan Basta, former Genoa and Lazio players who were here during their developing years. Ub is where Dragan Dzajic, arguably the best Yugoslavian player was born. Jedinstvo Ub is where he made his first steps into football. If you haven't heard of him, i wouldn't blame you. One of the most underrated players in history. He was ridiculous back in the days. “Džajić is the Balkan miracle – a real wizard, I’m just sorry he’s not Brazilian because I’ve never seen such a natural footballer.” Words said by none other than Pelé, right after the two played against each other in 1968, if i'm not mistaken. Look him up on Youtube, even today he would be among the greatest, his technique, dribbling, crossing, devastating left foot... Out of this world. But he wasn't the only one. Dusan (Dule) Savic, another one born in Ub, started his career at Jedinstvo before going to Crvena zvezda and becoming one of their legends and cult hero. And during his elderly days, a raging homophobe, as well as Serbian nationalist and Russian sympathizer. Maybe I should've just deleted this part but alas. In recent times, we had Radisav Petrovic, current Almeria Zaragoza player, who went from Jedinstvo to Partizan to Blackburn, before starting his merry-go-round loan spree after signing for Sporting Lisbon. And at last, but not least important. Maybe you've heard of him. Current Manchester United AS Roma player. Nemanja Matic. He isn't exactly that much connected to Jedinstvo as some of previously mentioned. At least during his earlier years. We'll get to that soon. Matic was born in tiny village near Ub called Vrelo. He played a bit for their side before going to trial in Partizan and Crvena zvezda. As neither found him talented enough to sign permanently, he went back to Ub, signed his youth contract with Jedinstvo where he spent year or two before turning pro at Kolubara, his stop-gap to Kosice and later Chelsea. Now, how is he connected this story, how is Matic intertwined in all of this and how he got me to start this save? Bear with me and this wall of text, we're getting there. Jedinstvo went through hard times after their former player Dragan Dzajic, back then president of Crvena zvezda, resigned and Jedinstvo's link with Serbian biggest club was severed. With no talent coming from Belgrade on loans, they dropped like a stone as far as current Serbian Fourth Division. They yo-yoed between 3rd and 4th rank, desperately trying to get back where they were and few business practices/couple wrong transfer decisions away, Jedinstvo were at the brink of extinction. Tale old as time... In comes Nemanja Matic. As Manchester United Roma first teamer, he had means and will to help save the club where he spent his formative years. Basically, he took over Jedinstvo, paid their debts, restored our stadium, renamed it from Gradski Stadion to Stadium Dragan Dzajic and since he can't be here full time due to his career, Matic delegated pretty much everything to his brother Darko, now acting chairman of Jedinstvo Ub. Their aims: Financial stability, giving local kids a chance to shine and eventually going after promotion to Serbian top flight. End of the copied bit. I'm currently really high on this club. After coming back home, this season I've missed just one of their home games. It was on my little sister's birthday. And it's nice. Football is mostly **** but everything else around it is nice. Folks gathering are nice. The whole ambient is just... Wholesome. They've been promoted to Serbian second tier, Prva liga after some club (I think it was Zarkovo, I'm really not sure) failed to comply with financial regulations. There were few clubs in the mix but Jedinstvo prevailed, thanks to a rebuilt stadium, clean books (the official reason) and some tiny bit of politics involved, as Ub's mayor is really close to our lord and saviour, our despot and eternal ruler Aleksandar Vucic. So, yeah, not exactly spotless record but they're here. But in this game, we can do things the right way. Get to the promised land on the pitch. Without shady backroom deals. So let's get to work.

OFK Beograd May 2024 - End of the Season Prva liga Srbije We've... We've actually drawn some games. That was genuinely welcome change of pace. I've never felt we were in a danger of relegation since our squad is bit better than the rest of the fellow relegation scrappers. Which allowed me to play around with setup and lineups. In the end, we ended up setting on a bog standard 3-5-2. Which is less sexy than what we started with but that extra body in the midfield makes for a world of difference. I'm pretty much pleased with these boys. We've got a young core, a sprinkle of experience and I don't think I'll be changing things that much for the coming season. Gotta replace those loanees, gotta find better backup goalkeeper and another striker (since Nikita signed for SKA Khabarovsk on Bosman) but that should be it. Starting lineup will be mostly the same. These folks are great for this level and I might've been ambitious but I do believe we should be pushing for promotion next year. The Romantics deserve the biggest stage. Top 3 players for this season. Because why not. It seems like everyone's doing those. Miloš Vranjanin - Central of the three at the back. If he messes up, we're in trouble. Luckily, that didn't happen that often. Highest rated of our defenders. Lazar Pejčić - Winger that'll be turning into right wingback. Already played three games in there and he was phenomenal. Can't wait to see how he does for an entire season. Andreja Lazović - The Spear of this team and our undisputed top scorer. He just exploded in second half of the year and I'm looking forward to another year of that magic. Finances are fine. Next year's budget has been set and we'll have something to play with. Board has been reasonably ambitious, expecting us to get into top half and work towards gaining a promotion starting from years after that. Let's get started, shall we... That sounded bit better in my head. Nevermind. Keep it.

OFK Beograd April 2024 Prva liga Srbije The league's split after our demolition job on Loznica. All points have been kept (there's no halving points like in some other leagues post-split). We've been doing well. Heck, even great. Perfect month. And of course our defense let in one goal per match after I've commended them in the last report. It feels like a mockery, honestly, as almost all of them we've conceded only after we've scored all of ours. Only exception was match versus Buducnost, when they were first to take the lead. And just how good is Andreja Lazovic? My good man. I wanted to bench him but the arrivals of two Spaniards changed that (we can only play two foreign players in starting lineup). He kept his place and just couldn't stop scoring. Long may it continue. And now that I've said it, he's going on a 10 games streak without getting one in. That's how this works.