apchivers
-
Posts
306 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Articles
FAQs
Online Manual
Support: Blocks
Support: Games
Bug Tracker
SIGames Manual (beta)
Profiles
Posts posted by apchivers
-
-
I've narrowed my shortlist down to 9:
AUSTRIA VIENNA - Break RB Salzburg's recent dominance and then look to overtake Rapid Vienna as the most successful Austrian team of all time
KRC GENK - Focus on academy & youth scouting to win first title since 2010-11 and look to become first Belgian side to win Champions League. Academy products include KDB, Courtois, Origi, Benteke and Carrasco.
LITEX LOVECH - Won the Bulgarian top division as recently as 2010-11 but were expelled to the third tier in 2015. Now playing in the second tier, the challenge would be to gain promotion and then win the title for the 5th time before becoming the first Bulgarian team to progress to the Champions League knockout rounds
FC RED STAR - Gain promotion to Ligue 1 for first time since 1974/75 season and then look to overturn city rivals PSG's domestic dominance
PUSKAS AKADEMIA - Focus on youth to win first ever league title and then become first Hungarian team to qualify to KO rounds of Champions League
LAZIO - Bigger team than the others on this list. Aim would be to break Juventus dominance and win back to back league titles for first time in clubs history before chasing down AC Milan's 7 European Cups
GUIMARAES - Break the big 3 dominance in Portugal and win league title for first time in club's history before attempting to become most successful Portuguese side in Europe. Can use good youth facilities to develop youngsters to sell or play part in plans
VIITORUL CONSTANTA - Aim to use the great facilities in place to win back to back league titles with Gheorghe Hagi's team for first time in their history. Big challenge would be to match Steuau's European Cup win of 1986
DYNAMO MOSCOW - One of the oldest clubs in Russia, but hasn't won a top division title since the break up of Soviet Union despite spending 26 seasons in the top division of Russia
0 -
@vikeologist Thanks - hopefully I won't be the first!
@numero uno gunner Congratulations on the league and cup double and the Copa America. I have decided to move away from Europe for my next job so hopefully it will bring me better luck!
0 -
Vaasan Palloseura 2019 updateA pretty disappointing season overall saw VPS narrowly avoid relegation by winning the relegation play off (11th in Premier League vs runners up in First Division). We started the season well with a decent showing in the League Cup, finishing 2nd in our group. However, the league campaign started dreadfully with 1 win and 1 draw from my first 12 games. A mixture of not being able to defend and attacking players not quite clicking was always a recipe for disaster. Things picked up a bit in the second third of the season before tailing off again in the final 11 games.
A lot of my players wanted to leave at the start of the season and a few of my star players left due to their minimum fee release clauses being activated. The board only gave me 5% of transfer revenue so replacing them was a challenge and not one that I passed!
However, two players did shine. New signing Denzeil Boadu was on fire in the attacking midfield role and won the league player of the season award - not bad playing for a team who finished second from bottom. Fellow African Emile Tendeng also performed well in the box to box midfield role, scoring 11 and assisting 5 in 35 games.
I won't be renewing my contract at the end of the season and will resign once the contract comes to an end. I may be more picky with my next team as I don't fancy managing a team in as poor a financial situation as VPS.
Former Club Watch
Linfield haven't won the league since I was in charge, but have won the League Cup another time. They sold my star regen Robbie Davidson to Sunderland for 98k + future incentives. After one decent and one good season in the Championship, Premiership side Burnley signed him for £7.5m!
Season Team Country Pos Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Linfield N.Ireland 3rd Won European Places Playoff 2016/17 Linfield N.Ireland 1st CHAMPIONS! LEAGUE CUP WINNERS! 2018 VPS Finland 10th Took over with 11 games remaining 2019 VPS Finland 11th Won relegation playoff to stay up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year Nation Ranking Achievements 2017 Canada 78th Qualified for World Cup 2018 Canada 67th 4th in Group G Challenge Progress Club 1/10 top domestic leagues (N.Ireland (Linfield)) 1/10 domestic cups (N.Irish League Cup (Linfield)) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments
0 -
Anybody got any recommendations for leagues to set up at the start of the challenge?
There are a lots of ways to start the challenge, which is the beauty of this challenge. If you're looking to get a trophy ticked off the list quickly, I can recommend Northern Ireland. Managed to get the Linfield as my first job.
0 -
Do you have some sort of plan for your route??
Not really to be honest, I will probably leave the English Premier League until last as England is the country I have played most in previously and I am enjoying playing in different countries to normal. Other than that, I am going to just plan the next step each time. For example, I am hoping to move onto Asia after my current stint in Finland. Although, having said that, I like the fact that this challenge is flexible in the sense that you can take various different journeys (which is one of the things that made this challenge stand out to me in the first place) so who knows what will happen next!
Harsh sacking from Tigres there. Hope you can get a new job soon.
Edit: Like you vike, I would like to manage clubs that I follow in real life (or have seen play live). I would like to manage Golden Arrows when I come to Africa for example.
0 -
Vaasan Palloseura 2018 updateI decided to leave Canada after the world cup to go back to club football. Vaasan Palloseura (VPS) from the Finnish Premier League offered me an interview, which I went for and accepted the job offer. The team were 10th in the Premier League, just outside the relegation zone with 11 games remaining in the season. The board stated they wanted me to obtain a mid table position this season. The squad looked average really, with two or three pretty decent players. Sadly one of these was unhappy and wanted to move to a bigger club. I couldn't change his mind with the player interaction so I have resigned myself to losing him at the end of the season.
The last 11 games were a mixed bag with 3 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses. Not the best, not the worst. This meant that our league position didn't change and we finished the season in 10th place. Next season I want to improve on our defensive record (2 clean sheets in the last 11 games) and aim to finish in the top half as a minimum. I'm going to try to offload a fair few players in the close season as our squad is a lot bigger than needed and the finances aren't in the best shape.
Congratulations on the success with Tigres 3L1G and good luck in the NACL against Columbus - hope you can win it.
Good luck with Anderlecht butts and also to everyone else competing in this challenge.
A quick question for everyone - do you have an idea in your head about what route you take in this challenge? Or do you just play it by ear and see what jobs are available?
0 -
Canada 2017 & 2018 updateI decided not to renew my contract with Linfield at the end of the last season as I had won the league and cup and felt there was nothing more to achieve there. This left me hunting for a job. I tried one or two SPL teams and a couple of Championship teams but didn't get an interview (probably setting my sights too high). Then a few international jobs came up. Canada was the most intriguing of these as they were in to the Playoffs for the World Cup and were due to face a similarly ranked China team. Key players for Canada include Besiktas midfielder Atiba Hutchinson and Burnley's Scott Arfield.
We sneaked through against China 3-2 on aggregate thanks to two goals from regen midfielder Boris Marjonovic, who was only playing due to an injury to Jonathan Osorio. This meant that we were going to the World Cup for the second time (first for 32 years)! However, our hopes of recording the first victory for a Canada team at the FIFA World Cup were made slimmer when we got drawn against Burkina Faso, Poland and Argentina, all of whom were ranked over 50 places higher than me.
The March friendlies were a bit disappointing with a 1-1 draw vs Venezuela and a 1-0 loss to Qatar. However, we bounced back with two wins in the pre World Cup friendlies against a strong Ivory Coast side and a weak Torpedo Moscow. The win against Ivory Coast gave me a bit of hope that if we could nick a win against Burkina Faso in our opening game and then steal a result against Poland, we might sneak through to the next round. I can't fault the performance against Burkina Faso - the lads gave it everything they had, but the African side were solid in defense and took their two chances for a 2-0 win. Poland dominated the game against us and the 2-1 loss put us out of the World Cup. We took the lead against Argentina in our final game, but Dybala scored either side of half time to put Argentina ahead. David Edgar then brought down Aguero for Messi to make it 3-1 from the spot. Jonathon Osorio scored a consolation goal at the end for the match to finish 3-2.
Overall, not a bad effort from the team. I really thought we could have beaten Burkina Faso, and on a different day we might have, but it wasn't to be. Germany beat England in the final to retain their title with another extra time winner. I'm undecided whether to stick it out with Canada and give the Gold Cup a go in 2019, or to resign and focus on attempting to get a club job.
Season Team Country Pos Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Linfield N.Ireland 3rd Won European Places Playoff 2016/17 Linfield N.Ireland 1st CHAMPIONS! LEAGUE CUP WINNERS! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year Nation Ranking Achievements 2017 Canada 78th Qualified for World Cup 2018 Canada 67th 4th in Group G
0 -
Thanks vike. I've got quite a few of the Asian Leagues loaded now so looking at moving over there. Also have some of the lower reputation European leagues loaded like Iceland and Finland. So will keep a lookout for jobs. In the mean time, I have taken oven the as Canada national team manager and face China in the World Cup playoffs as my first two games in charge. Hopefully we can get past them and make the group stage in Russia.
0 -
2016/17 Season ReviewAfter a good end to the previous season, I was pretty confident that if I improved the squad slightly I could challenge for the title. The bookies and board thought similar with me being made favourites and the board pretty much demanding the title and cup double. In the end, the only player I signed was a regen striker called Robbie Davidson on a free from Limavady United. My first choice goalkeeper, Ross Glenndining, had expressed his desire to leave and there was no changing his mind. However, no clubs put a bid in and I was quite happy to keep him for the season (although this does mean I'm now losing him on a free as his contract is expiring).
The optimism I started with took a little knock as I went out of the EURO Cup at the first hurdle against Batumi from Georgia. However, the lads responded well winning their first 5 league games, scoring 13 and conceding 3. This form continued as we won the Country Antrim Shield in November. The final against Crusaders was decided on penalties after a 91st minute equaliser from Robbie Davidson in a 3-3 draw.
Our good run of form continued as we went into the new year unbeaten. The first domestic loss of the season frustratingly came in the Irish Cup 5th Round to Belfast rivals Glentoran. However, this was a temporary blip and we went on to win the league cup in February with a 3-0 win over second tier Portadown thanks to a second half hatrick from winger Ross Clarke after coming on as a sub in the 62nd minute! With no more cup football to focus on, I had aspirations of finishing the league unbeaten. However this was just a pipe dream as Knockbreda inflicted a shock 1-0 defeat on us 4 games later. Despite this loss, we won the title 2 games later with a 4-3 win over Dungannon thanks to a 91st minute winner for Robbie Davidson to seal his hatrick.
With the title won, I started playing a couple of back up players as both my goal keeper and right back have decided to leave on free transfers at the end of the season. We finished the league on 94 points, 23 clear of defending champions Cliftonville in 2nd place. We scored the most goals (75) and had the best defence (27) over the course of the season and Robbie Davidson finished top scorer in the league with 27 goals at 82 minutes per goal.
Fans Player of the Season - Seanan Clucas. The Ball Winning Midfielder was a monster in the middle of the park and chipped in with a few vital goals. He made on average 4 tackles a games, which was second best in the league and had pass accuracy of 85% (best in the league).
Managers Player of the Season - Ross Clarke. The winger was a constant threat down the right hand side, but also filed in well on the left when needed. Mr. Consistent with his worst rating in a game still being a respectable 7.34. The second half hatrick to win the league cup also helped my decision here! Honorable mentions must also go to main creator Andrew Waterworth and top scorer Robbie Davidson.
Edit: Got a clean sweep in player of the year with Davidson top, Waterworth second and Clucas third!
Next Steps
As I have won both a cup and the league in Northern Ireland, there is nothing else for me to do in Northern Ireland in respect of this challenge (I don't think the Champions League is achievable
). Therefore I am likely to choose not to renew my contract at the end of June and leave in search for another club. I have bagged my National B Licence during my time here, which may help. However, I am tempted to try and retain my title, win the Irish Cup and see how far I can go in the Champions League. Season Team Country Pos Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Linfield N.Ireland 3rd Won European Places Playoff 2016/17 Linfield N.Ireland 1st CHAMPIONS! LEAGUE CUP WINNERS!
Challenge Progress
Club
1/10 top domestic leagues (N.Ireland (Linfield))
1/10 domestic cups (N.Irish League Cup (Linfield))
0/5 club continental championships
0/1 club world championship
International
0/5 continental tournaments
0/2 world tournaments
0 -
WINNERS!One down, 32 to go! I have just won the Northern Irish League Cup with Linfield to tick off one of the domestic cups required for this challenge. I also won the Northern Irish County Antrim Shield, but this doesn't qualify for the challenge as not all top tier sides enter. Currently half way through January in my second season and am top of the league by 16 points after 26 games. I don't want to jinx it, but I am fairly confident in adding the Premier Division to my cup win. If this does happen then I will probably leave Linfield in search for another job.
0 -
Congratulations Kaiser!
0 -
Congratulations on completing pug! Great achievement.
0 -
2015/16 Season ReviewI took over at Linfield in the middle of December 2015 with the team 5th in the Danske Bank Premiership. Linfield had a media prediction of 1st, were in a decent enough financial position and seemed to have a pretty well rounded squad. However the team only had 1 win in their last 9 games and had lost 5 on the bounce. It took me a few games to get used to the players and develop a tactic, but ended up winning 7 and drawing 3 of my last 10 games which led us to a 3rd place finish in the league.
This meant that we entered the European Places Playoff at the Semi Final stage. Our semi final was the Belfast Big Two derby against Glentoran, which we won reasonably comfortably 3-1. Therefore we would be playing European football next season if we won our next game against Crusaders who had finished just below us in the league. We had lots of possession, but didn't create many chances and won 1-0 thanks to an own goal. This means we enter the Europa League 1st knockout round next season.
Player wise, Stephen Lowry impressed in central midfield and came third in player of the season for the division. Andrew Waterworth also played well, swapping between the striker and attacking midfield position in my 4-4-1-1 and ended the season with 15 league goals (one behind the overall golden boot winner). I don't think many signings will be needed to challenge for the title, although my first choice keeper has decided that he needs a 'bigger challenge' so I have offered him out to clubs at over double his value and started scouting for other keepers.
On a personal level, I have been granted a one year extension to my contract which I was happy to accept. Also I have nearly finished my studies for National C Licence. My plans for next season are to 1) Solve the 'keeper situation 2) Challenge for both the league and the cup 3) Potentially invest in a new striker.
Season Team Country Pos Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Linfield N.Ireland 3rd Won European Places Playoff
Challenge Progress
Club
0/10 top domestic leagues
0/10 domestic cups
0/5 club continental championships
0/1 club world championship
International
0/5 continental tournaments
0/2 world tournaments
0 -
It's been debated on here about which route is the best to take.
There's been cases for starting in Europe and enhancing reputations early which will help with decent jobs further down the line......
....or starting in Asia / S. Africa and, well, pretty much the same really!!
I started in N. Ireland and won the league and a cup within 3 seasons, but personally I think it doesn't matter where people start as it still takes a few seasons to get your reputation high enough to pick and choose jobs.
Personally, I've always tried to take jobs in top divisions, with clubs I know I can challenge for things - but people like Pug and Kaiser have taken jobs at "lower" clubs and built them up into winning teams.
I don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" way of doing this challenge.........and thats what makes it so great!!
Good luck with your new start
Thanks 3L1G. I agree with you - the fact that there are many different ways of doing this challenge is one of the factors that stood out most to me. Coincidentally, I also have started in Northern Ireland with Linfield after they sacked their manager. Currently 5th in the table so hoping to spend the rest of this season putting together a tactic and deciding which positions need strengthening the most to hopefully challenge for the league next season.
0 -
I decided to pack in my previous attempt at this challenge, as I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere and made some poor decisions (such as managing Uzbekistan for 2 years without a club). Oh well - some could argue that mistakes are the best way to learn!
Therefore, I have decided to restart this challenge. For this attempt, I have loaded all the leagues from the home nations (England, Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland and Ireland). I will be slightly more picky this time round and am looking towards a team in the top half of the top division in either Ireland, N.Ireland or Wales.
Really enjoying reading everyone's updates. Good to see a couple of others close to completing this - I doubt I will ever be at that level, but I will enjoy trying!
0 -
Club Deportivo Universidad de Concepción 2018/19 updateAfter an unsuccessful Asian Cup with Uzbekistan I resigned from the role to focus on getting a new club job. It took me just under a month to be appointed as the new manager of Universidad de Concepción, so back to the second tier of Chilean football I go! The club was predicted 7th and had finished 4th in the opening stage, but had lost 3-2 on aggregate in the playoffs and had started the closing stage poorly with 4 points from their first 5 games.
The team looked decent and had been in the top division only 3 season ago. At home we won 4 and drew 1 of the 5 games I was in charge of, but away from home it was the opposite (drew 1 and lost 4). Annoyingly this was a similar story from my time at Ñublense. Talking about my former team, they have finished 13th and 15th in the two seasons after I left. Also, two of the players that played for them when I was manager, now play for Universidad de Concepción.
Looking at the squad, I think a striker and left back are needed as a priority and potentially a centre back and goalkeeper as well. With a little bit of investment in these areas I believe that we can push for a playoff spot at minimum next season - especially if we improve on our away form!
Is anyone else struggling away from home by the way? Do you use the same tactic home/away or change? Or does it depend who you are playing against?
Season Team Country Pos Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Nublense Chile 11th Took over with 12 games to go 2016/17 Nublense Chile 4th Lost in playoff semi final; RESIGNED at end of season 2017/18 Unemployed N/a N/a N/a 2018/19 Universidad de Concepcion Chile 5th Took over with 10 games to go
2016 Australia U23 Asia Knocked out of Olympic Games Group Stage 2017-19 Uzbekistan Asia Qualified for Asian Nations Cup; Lost all 4 games
0 -
ap - Taking an international job at the start of my career actually made it more difficult / impossible to get a decent starting club job. I don't think it's reputation. Sometimes it's difficult to get a club job when you're an international manager at all stages of this challenge.
Thanks vike. Have resigned from Uzbekistan after an uninspiring Asian Cup campaign which left me bottom of the table on 0 points. Back to the job hunt!
0 -
Yeah they kept asking how i could manage both a club and international - they don't like it with low rep
Thanks mclarke. That seems a familiar story with me. Will keep trying and maybe resign after the AFC Asian Cup 2019 which is in a few months to focus on club football.
0 -
Did anyone else find it difficult getting a club job when they were manager of an international team only? Or maybe my reputation isn't high enough yet.
0 -
Uzbekistan 2017 updateI took over Uzbekistan in July 2017 and had 5 friendlies and 2 Asian Cup qualifiers during the remainder of the year. I ended the year with a record of winning 5 and drawing 2. I beat Japan 2-1 in my first game in charge, Malaysia 3-0, Nepal 1-0 and Oman 2-1. I had a disappointing 0-0 draw with Thailand in the Asian cup qualifiers, but beat Kyrgyzstan 1-0 to remain on track to qualify for the Asian Cup. A few of my players are retiring soon, so may have to have a rethink of tactics etc. I've loaded up the Russian and Chinese leagues in a hope that this will generate some Uzbek regens. 2018 sees the end of Asian Cup qualifying and I will also try to arrange some friendlies (some easy for morale and some more challenging for ranking points).
0 -
I decided to leave Nublense at the end of my contract and after a 4 hour drive to Santiago I jumped on a flight to Tashkent (via Paris and Moscow) to take over the national team of Uzbekistan. The team finished second behind Bahrain in their second round group of World Cup qualifying so won't be going to Russia in 2018. I take over with the team at the top of the Asian Nations cup qualifying after 1 game with Thailand, Kyrgyzstan and Bangladesh behind me. Uzbeksitan are currently 88th in the FIFA rankings and only have one goalkeeper in the player search - better hope he doesn't get injured!
0 -
Nublense 2016/17 summaryWe started the season with 14 players leaving the club either because they weren't in my plans, they didn't want to renew their contracts or the offers received were too good to refuse. After impressing last season, I bought in centre back Washington Torres and striker Osman Huerta. I also bought in 5 loan players from Chilean and Argentine top division clubs to help bolster the squad and provide a bit of quality.
The season started well with finishing 2nd in the opening stage despite only 2 wins in the last 5 games. Sadly this form was a sign of things to come and we crashed out in the playoffs 4-2 on aggregate to Deportes La Serena after a 3-1 defeat away from home. In the mid season break, my best defender stated he wanted to leave after interest from a first division side. Reluctantly I let him go for £11.25k and reinvested this in bringing in a Gambian centre back from giants Colo Colo. I also signed an Argentine attacking midfielder on a free and made the loan of central midfielder Francisco Gaete permanent.
The closing stage started pretty poorly with 1 win, 4 draws and 1 loss from our opening 6 games. We made Bicentenario Municipal Nelson Oyarzún a bit of a fortress with 5 wins and 2 draws, but it was a completely different story away from home. We lost 5 and drew 3 of our 8 away games and ended up finishing a disappointing 11th in the closing stage and 4th in the overall table.
Wing back Matias Guttierez on loan from Colo Colo was voted fans player of the season and rightly so with the second highest average rating in the division and most assists. Venezuelan striker Emilio Renteria also deserves a mention with 16 league goals - the second highest in the division.
My contract is up at the end of the June and (unless they offer me a cracking deal) I don't think I will renew as I was starting to lose interest. I will look for a job maybe in South Africa, or Australia if I'm very lucky.
Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Nublense 11th Took over with 12 games to go 2016/17 Nublense 4th 2nd in opening stage; lost in playoff semi final
Challenge Progress Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 0/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments
0 -
Right lots to catch up on before posting my end of season update!
Congratulations on the Copa America and success in South Africa pug407. Did you get the Milan and South Africa jobs?
Awesome career you have going there Kaiserwatman. That Uruguay team looked quite something.
Hope you can go one better next season in Malaysia Tommy Tusker and good luck in the ACON with Senegal.
Shame about the injuries with Ivory Coast shirajzl. Hope you can turn the finances around at Palermo or find a richer club.
Good two seasons with Roma mclarke1987 - will be interested to see where you end up next.
Crazy sackings in South Korea threelions1goals. Top work winning the African cup of nations with Morrocco to win your first international tournament.
Apologies if I missed anyone!
0 -
@numero uno gunner - I'm enjoying my time in the lower division of Chile. Have had a promising start to the opening stage. Unfortunately have had little time to play and am quite slow at playing when I do have time!
Congratulations on getting 3 trophies ticked off the list in one update. Hopefully you can get a decent international job following the Euros.
0
). Therefore I am likely to choose not to renew my contract at the end of June and leave in search for another club. I have bagged my National B Licence during my time here, which may help. However, I am tempted to try and retain my title, win the Irish Cup and see how far I can go in the Champions League.
[Austria] (Official) League Specific Issues
in League Specific Issues
Posted
Has the RB Salzburg not appearing in cup issue been fixed as part of the update released last night?