LazyBandit

SC Kriens Season 3 (2025/26) League Table Another pretty uneventful season in the league, but at least we still managed to stay up. We only had the second worst defense this season, so that's somewhat improved, but our defending remains our biggest weakness. We didn't really get far into the Swiss Cup either, only managing to make it to the second round. Overall I saw things I liked from the team, but quality-wise we just aren't ready yet. This was also the first year that youth players got significant playing time, so I imagine that may have had something to do with it as well. Intake This year's group is a good one in terms of potential, with 5 of our newcomers being listed as Elite Talents. The only downside is most of them are DMs, so some might not to be retrained for other roles. A solid midfield prospect, I think he'll start getting games soon. Good tackling and the highest workrate of the bunch, along with his high aggression, makes him seem like the best contender for staying as a DM. The tallest of the bunch, he might end up being retrained as a CD. We added no new nations in this year's intake. Countries: 18/227 (7.93%) Transfers We had no transfers out, but we did receive news that 2 of our youth team players were poached away by other teams. We'll be keeping an eye out for them. Upgrades During the season I managed to convince the board that we needed to invest some money into upgrading our youth facilities, as well as upgrading our youth recruitment. I've been very fortunate that the board has gone along with almost all of our requests. I also convinced them to get an affiliate club, Zug 94, to send our young players on loan to. Review This was another really solid year for us to build upon. Major upgrades have been nice, and our attendance has also been rising, which means more money. On a personal level, I was offered the job at St. Gallen at one point during the season, which shocked me considering they were 3rd in the top division at the time. There's also been some rumors of a takeover, but so far they're just rumors. We will see what the summer break brings.

SC Kriens Season 2 (2024/25) League Table We finished a few spots lower than we did last season, but that was too be expected as we lost a few key players. We once again had the worst defense in the league, thanks in part to the overall quality of our defenders. A couple more of our first team players have decided to leave at the end of the year, so I anticipate we'll take a few seasons to recover. Intake This year's intake produced some quality players for us in positions of need. Some more decent players in means I can start to experiment with different tactics next season. Mazalovic to me is the top player in this year's crop. Tall, good in the air, and a decent base level of technical ability. An Unambitious personality and a low natural fitness is my only concern, but he's still young. If star ratings are to be believed, he's already arguably our best natural CB. Before the end of the season he received a call up to Bosnia's Under 21's. A talented attacking midfielder, Redaelli looks like he may be leading our midfield for years to come. Physicals are a bit low for my liking, but they'll improve in time. Gomez is a solid winger who can start competing for starts soon. Probably a bit too slow, he may be moved to a more central role. In this years intake we added Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the USA Countries: 18/227 (7.93%) Season Review We had a few different areas of improvement. I convinced the board to expand our recruitment from Average to Good, and raise our youth coaching from Average to Adequate. Unfortunately our training facilities have also been downgraded from Good to Average. I've also finished my National B License. Fortunately for me, the board seems to be very patient and understanding, as I believe it will take a few more season before we can start really pushing for promotion.

After having been away from the game for a while, I tried to return to my save with Wacker Innsbruck, but I just didn't feel the same love for the team or players that I once did. With that in mind I have decided to start anew, in a place I have tried to conquer before, albeit unsuccessfully. I have returned to Switzerland with: SC Kriens Stadion Kleinfeld Facilities We have a pretty decent level of facilities to start with. I hope that our Good training facilities can give us a good starting point for player development. Starting Squad A decent squad to start with journey with, but a little bare-bones for my liking. Only having one natural CB will prove to be a challenge. Based on what I have available, I decided to play with a 4-2-4. League Table Going into this season we were only expected to fight bravely against relegation, and I would argue we very much overachieved. The 4-2-4 formation we used led to us having the most lethal attack in the league, but also the second worst defense. I'm pretty satisfied with what we able to accomplish, and I hope that our incoming reinforcements can help us improve our defense next season. Intake Not bad for our first intake. A couple of the new boys have some decent potential, but the rest are probably just youth team filler. I'm not super impressed with the amount of negative personalities we have, but we will work on improving them. We brought in players of 9 different nationalities in this intake. Countries: 9/227 = 3.96% End of Season Review After the conclusion of the season I managed to convince the board to upgrade the youth recruitment from Average to Above Average. I want to get this upgrade as much as possible, as we have top division team FC Luzern, only 5 minutes away from our stadium, to compete with locally. Going into next season, our expectation is only to avoid relegation, so we can afford a little bit of breathing room. Some of our players have decided that they would like to leave at the end of their contract, so ideally we are able to replace them soon.

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 6 (2028/29) Squad As you can see based on who I've picked, defense is by far our weakest spot on the field. Hopefully our intakes can bring us the we quality and depth we desperately need. Table We finished lower in the table this year than we did last year. Because of some sales our team is much weaker than last years, so I decided to focus on defending more so than attacking. Ultimately it didn't seem to make too much of a difference, the teams at the top are just so much better than ours. Because of that I'm considering going with a more attacking tactic next year, hoping we win by just outscoring the other team. We also made it the Quarter-final of the Austrian Cup before getting smashed by Austria Vienna. Transfers Our only major transfer this year is Christian Ache, who happens to be our best player. Once Juventus started to show interest I knew there was no stopping it. Christian and I agreed on a $6.5 million transfer fee, but the board decided $5.5 million was enough and accepted it. We wish him the best in his future, but this sale is a huge blow. Intake Lots of potential, and some decent players already. Too many bad personalities for my liking. Bartsch and Kohler look like they are ready to begin challenging for bench spots. Upgrades We took some money from the Ache sale and reinvested it into the academy coaching. I had been asking for this to be upgraded for a while, so I'm pleased it finally happened. The board decided one day that what we really need is a senior affiliate, which they found in Benfica. Too bad we can't make use of the free loans, because we need them. On the plus side its basically a free $120,000 every year. Maybe this is the beginning of the Austria to Portugal talent pipeline. Season Review Another solid year of growth, but the Ache sale set us back in terms of overall squad quality. A lot of our star players are hitting their early to mid 20s, so it seems like their hitting their peak. I'm hoping the increase in Junior Coaching will bring us some good defenders going forward.

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 5 (2027/28) League Table Before the season I thought we would be up for a challenge, and my prediction ended up coming true. For our first season in the top flight, 7th is a good start. We had a couple of good wins throughout the year. I employed an attacking style of football that led to us scoring a lot of goals, with us having the league's top scorer. That also meant we were very susceptible to conceding goals, which we led the league in. Ultimately we showed we're capable of playing in this league, and I'm proud of the boys for that. Austrian FA Cup We made our deepest run in the FA Cup yet, reaching the Quarter final round. We were drawn against the one team I didn't want to play, and it went as I expected it would. International Everyone at the club is incredibly proud of Mihály Nagy, who became the first youth player to reach his country's national team. He has developed well and worked hard, and his efforts are beginning to show off. Transfers Unfortunately FC Porto was paying attention and were clearly impressed. About 2 months after being called up, he became our record sale. I tried convincing him to stay, but in the end I couldn't stand in the way of his career. With Nagy leaving we are now incredibly thin in defense, which is concerning. Intake Lots of talented players in this intake, but terrible personalities overall. The crown jewel of this intake, Enio Buić is already good enough to challenge for our starting spot. He also has already been called up to the Croatian U20's, before even playing a game for us. RB Salzburg are already showing interest, so we've tied him down with a long contract. I believe he can be our GK of the future. We added Afghanistan and Croatia in this year's intake Countries: 11/227 (4.85%) Season Review A good first season in the top flight for us. The board agreed to expand our youth recruitment to Exceptional, and take funds from the Nagy sale to upgrade our training facilities. I think it will take a few season of building up before we can really start to challenge RB Salzburg.

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 4 (2026/27) League Table We finally did it! Going in to the season we were predicted to finish 10th, but the boys were having none of that. I decided to go with a more offensive tactic this year, and it really payed off. From the start we were seemingly scoring for fun. It seemed a lot of the players started to see a real uptick in their development this season, and began to become more well-rounded players. I have a feeling our attacking tactic probably won't be as effective next year, but you never know. The highlight of the season included this high-scoring match against Austria Klangenfurt. Intake More high-potential players, which is always nice to see. My HOYD seems to love bringing in wingers, when we could really use some central players or just defenders in general. We added Egypt in this year's intake. Countries: 9/227 (3.96%) Season Review We're going up! After gaining promotion the board finally agreed to upgrade our junior coaching from Adequate to Good. I look forward to bringing even better players through potentially. Takeover rumors have begun popping up again, but I'll believe it when I see it. Our reputation also rose from 2 to 2.5 stars. All told, this was a fantastic season. I'm very proud of the team for getting promoted, but I know the next part of this challenge will be tough; taking down Red Bull Salzburg.

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 3 (2025/26) League Table Although we finish in the same spot as we did last season, we actually finished with more points. This season was a frustrating one, as we drew a lot, including 7 draws in 9 games at one point. I managed to work out a tactic that's more stable defensively, but we struggled to score sometimes. Overall I'm satisfied with our progress this year. Intake Another pretty solid intake. Christian Ache looks to be very promising. A couple of bad personalities, which is disappointing. We are reaching the point where the lack of quality defenders we're getting is becoming concerning. Central defenders is our biggest position of need. We added Bosnia and North Macedonia in this year's intake. Countries: 8/227 (3.52%) Transfers We have had our first big money sales of intake players. We also continue to lose quality players who don't want to re-sign with us. Season Review Another solid year of building up the club. We finished upgrading our training facilities and the board agreed to expand our youth recruitment to Excellent. They also agreed to let me take another coaching course. Both the board and supporters are generally happy, but I worry they might be expecting higher finishes in the near future. Towards the latter half of the year rumors of a takeover began to popup, so we'll see if that goes anywhere.

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 2 (2024/25) Squad Our squad for this season remains mostly the same as last year's. We unfortunately had our 2 best players refuse to sign new contracts at the end of last season, so we entered this year a little bit weaker than I would've liked. League Table I had a feeling that the 2nd division would prove to be a challenge, and that was very true. 5 teams get relegated from this league, so survival is going to be the main goal for a few seasons. On a positive note 5 of the 16 teams were B teams from top division clubs, and they can't be promoted, which means it was really only an 11 team league. We struggled to really get any tactic to stick, as our results would vary from game to game. We beat WSG Tirol at home 2-0, and then lost to FAC Wien 4-1 at home, using the same tactic. Finding a plan that I feel confident sticking with is a main priority. Intake Another very solid intake with lots of potential, but more negative personalities than I would like. We added Belgium and Poland in this year's intake. Countries: 6/227 (2.64%) Season Review This season went about as I expected it would. For at least the next couple of season the plan is to survive and continue building up the clubs finances and facilities. The board agreed after the season to improve our training facilities. They also finally allowed me to take a coaching course, so hopefully I can continue building up my profile as well.

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 1 (2023/24) Squad I forgot to take a screenshot of the starting squad but we had a group of about 20 players in the first team and another 10 in the U18s. So compared to past attempts this was a much more robust base to start from. League Table The expectation from both the board and the supporters was to gain promotion, which meant we had to win the league. Luckily we had probably the best overall squad, but SVG Reichenau didn't make it easy for us. At about the midway point in the season we were only in third, and neither the board or supporters were happy so I was afraid I'd be sacked before the save really got going. SVG Reichenau slipped up and lost in the penultimate match week, at the same time we were finishing on a hot streak. Intake I was very happy when I saw this intake. A handful of players who will provide immediate depth and 1 who could probably start soon. Matthias Cott is probably the best player I've ever gotten from an intake in a youth academy challenge. A bit too slow to play on the wing for my liking, I see him as more of an attacking midfielder perhaps. No matter where he plays, I think he has a bright future with us. Youth Intake Countries: 4/227 (1.76%) Season Review Typically the first season goal in these saves is to simply avoid relegation. This time however our goal was to win the league, so that was a bit challenging. The boards expectation going into our first season in the 2nd division is to simply avoid relegation, so we'll have a bit more breathing room. The board has agreed to increase our youth recruitment from above Average to Good. However our youth facilities has also been downgraded from Great to Good. They also refuse to allow me to take a coaching course, out of fear I'll leave for a bigger club.

My time in Sweden has come to end, as we narrowly missed out on avoiding relegation. Unfortunately that led to me being sacked. So it's time to move on and find a new club. My next attempt will be in Austria and my new team is: FC Wacker Innsbruck Founded in 2002, FC Wacker Innsbruck is a club that has yo-yoed between the first and second division throughout most of their history. After the 2021-22 season the club did not apply for license to the league's next season and were automatically relegated to the 4th division.

Eskilstuna City FK Season 2 (2024) Squad The first team squad is mostly the same as last year. We had a few departures, but no important players. League Table We had a pretty solid first year in the 3rd division. We got off to a hot start, even being as high 1st in the table by match week 12. We then followed that up with a cold streak, dropping as low as 9th. Overall the league was pretty closely fought, with only 6 points separating 1st from 8th for most of the season. If you were to chart our rising and dropping in the table, it would look like a mountain range. I'm pretty happy with 6th, and with our intake coming up hopefully we can continue to build upon this. Youth Intake We got some more squad depth with this intake. I was hoping for a little more talent to complement the real players in the team, but I'm not too upset with this. I have asked multiple times, but the board refuses to allow expanding our recruitment beyond Eskilstuna. Thanks to our good form earlier in the season, they did however agree to increase the level of our junior coaching, so hopefully that starts paying off soon. We added 2 new countries in this year's intake Countries: 6/227 (2.64%) Season Review

Eskiltuna City FK Season 1 (2023) I've been itching to give this challenge another go, so this time I'm taking my talents to the Swedish city of Eskilstuna. Eskilstuna City FK is a club with a long but uneventful history, having only played 1 season in the top division back in 1925. The city of Eskilstuna has proved to be fruitful before, producing several international players including Kennet Andersson, Marcus Danielson, Sebastian Larsson, and Mika Väyrynen. Hopefully we can develop some stars of our own. Squad Pretty barebones squad to start with but I suppose it could be worse. We'll be playing a 442 formation based on the players we have. League Table For our first season we find ourselves in the Swedish Second Division North Svealand, the 4th tier of Sweden. We started out pretty rough, but after a few tweaks to our tactic we began to rise up the table. We had to go through 2 rounds of playoff but we did well enough to see ourselves being promoted in our first season! I'm very proud of this team and believe we should be good enough to stay up next year. Youth Intake Quite a lot of potential in this intake, so I'm pretty pleased. The overall ability is a little low and there's some not great personalities, but we got more squad depth. Unfortunately the intake didn't come through until after the final game of the season, so I haven't got to use any of the new players yet. Season Review I'm very happy with the results of this season. A surprise promotion is always welcome, but I do wonder whether we've been promoted a bit too soon. Another long term goal for this save is to build our own home ground, as we share a stadium with in-town rivals AFC Eskiltuna.

FC Red Star Zürich - Season 3 (25/26) League Table This season was our first in the Promotion League, the 3rd tier, and I'd say it went pretty well. I genuinely don't know what came over the players this year, but they just decided they should play well above expectations. I didn't change anything about the tactic and it was mostly the same squad as last year, so I have no idea where this came from. Highlights of the year include having only 1 loss in our first 11 games and a 6-2 away win over 2nd place Bellinzona. I feel like we couldn't possibly continue this form into next year, but that's what I said at the beginning of this season. Swiss Cup Our form in the league couldn't be replicated in the Swiss Cup, as we lost 3-1 in the second round to FC Sursee, a team who got relegated this year. I'd like to give a special shout out to our 1 travelling supporter. Intake A pretty decent intake this year. Decent potential on a few players, and some could even challenge for backup spots in the first team. We are still in desperate need of center-backs though. We added Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey in this year's intake Countries: 20/227 (8.81) Intake Map Off The Field We had no changes to our facilities this year, good or bad. I got my National C License in the middle of the season, but the board has so far not agreed to pay for the next course. Now that we'll be in the second division, I think the goal is to spend at least a few years there and repair the finances before we're really able to tackle improving our facilities.

FC Red Star Zürich - Season 2 (2024/25) Squad - Tactic Final Table We did well last season, and the goal for this one was to try and keep that form going. We had sort of a slow start, and I began to worry that this year would be a bit of a disappointment. However we turned it around and managed to stick with the team in first. We kept chasing them, and it took until the final matchday of the season, but overtook them and managed to win the league. It was an incredible effort by the players, but in the end a little bit of luck was what we needed to win. Swiss Cup We managed to make it to the third round of this year's Swiss Cup, where we met BSC Young Boys. Naturally they smashed us 4-2, but I'm proud of the team for at least scoring twice against them. Lets hope next year's draw is more in our favor. Intake Preview Center-back is probably our biggest area of need, so I'm quite glad to see this. But really I'll take whatever I can get. Intake The overall quality of this years intake is much better than the last. I don't feel there are any true standouts in this crop, but there's some potential in a few of the new players. Romain Kübler - Eren Maier - Mirnes Music - Radhamés Pérez Intake Map We added 7 new nations through the intake this year Countries: 16/227 (7.05%) Improvements I finally managed to convince the board to let me take a coaching course in the off-season. All it took to convince them was winning the league. Our training facilities also took a slight hit however they're still Adequate, so I don't think it will make a huge difference. In a strange turn of events our academy coaching, which at the beginning of this save was supposedly Excellent, is now only Adequate. I never received a message saying they were being downgraded, so perhaps the Excellent rating was just a mirage all along.

FC Red Star Zürich - Season 1 (2023/24) I've decided to give this challenge another go, and I once again find myself in Switzerland. This time I'm in charge of FC Red Star Zürich and we start in the Swiss First League Group 3, the 4th tier of Swiss football. Facilities I was surprised to see us have such good facilities for this level, with the Excellent academy coaching standing out. Hopefully this will provide us some good quality players. League Table I opted to play most of this season with a defensively solid formation and it seems like it was the right decision. We spent most of the season in 2nd or 3rd trying to catch up to Eschen/Mauren, but in the end they proved to be the far superior team. Since we won't have to deal with them next year, Ideally we'll be able to take our form from this season and carry on to the next one. Intake Preview We play with a 4-1-4-1 formation so it looks like we'll be getting reinforcements in spots we need. A DM would be nice, but I'm not going to be picky. Intake I like what I see here. We get a few players who are able to play right now, and some players with decent potential. Yannick Vitija is good enough to challenge for a starting role. Antonio Romeo - Simone Angliker - Yannick Vitija - Vullnet Zubaku Improvements So the board decided to form a new affiliation with FC Rapperswil-Jona in the off-season. I didn't ask for them to do this, but I'm not complaining either. We won't be able to take advantage of loaning some of their players, but on the other hand we get an extra $23,000 a year. The board also didn't agree with me that we need to improve some of our facilities, but they're good enough for now I suppose. Intake Map We got 9 countries through our Intake this year Countries: 9/227 (3.96%)