corinthiano

November 2023 The draw against Old Bradwell U-21s was really frustrating, we were never able to pull away from them and they pegged us back twice. That being said, Hanslope drew twice this month and we open up a nice 4 point lead at the top at the halfway stage. Next Fixtures A critical set of fixtures as we face 2nd and 3rd in the league, we could put ourselves in a really good position if we get positive results.

October 2023 We were terrible against lowly Wing Village and that has seemed to wake the team up as we have been excellent since and go top for the first time this season. Next Fixtures The fixtures dry up now as we only have two games a month for most of the rest of the season. Based on recent performance I would like two wins in November.

September 2023 Not a bad start to the league, drawing away and winning at home. The last two games of the month were not as strong and we got some late goals to give us the required results, but the team is still getting used to the tactics so the fact that we have started unbeaten is great. Next Fixtures We spend most of the month away, where we have not been convincing yet.

2023/24 Season Preview The media have us favorites to go up and the board only wants a top half table + I don't think we'll have many cup distractions and a very short season with only 22 games. All sounds good on paper and we have a decent squad, problem is the best players are wingers and I am stubborn so will not steer away from my narrow 4-1-2-1-2 Best Players by Current Ability First XI So we have a few decent players but when you put it against our formation it does not look as great, could come back to haunt me especially as this tactic is not really suited to lower leagues, but I will stick to my principles and try to make passing football work at this level. Top Rated Players Not bad for this level other than physicals. He will be the creative force of the team, which does not fill me with confidence. Luke and Chimaobi are interchangeable as AP and Mezzala so might see where each one fits best. Initial Fixtures No idea what to expect, in theory we are playing some of the stronger sides but who knows how it will pan out.

Thanks, great to have you along! I watched the MK Dons at the Hockey Stadium too, that was the West Ham game and a very weird setting, definitely felt like a very improvised venue. Newport Pagnell Town is one of the clubs I played against and they are less than 5 mins away from where my parents live

Made a great first impression, we lost our only season ticket holder

The Premise I moved to Milton Keynes (and England) in 2002, which was around the time it was announced that Wimbledon would relocate to Milton Keynes. That caused outrage in the football community, with the team being branded "Franchise FC". But I don't despise them as to me Milton Keynes and MK Dons have pretty much always existed and I have even watched them a few times, once when they were still playing in Selhurst Park down in London, once when they just moved and did well to get a draw against West Ham when they were back in the second tier and once in the shiny new Stadium MK when they were awful in League 2. They have bounced up and down but are languishing in League 2 again and most people would argue that the whole move has been a failed experiment. Milton Keynes is a new city in itself, only being built in the 70s as a way to move business and some of the population out of London. The city is very un-British, with a grid of Horizontal and Vertical roads connecting the neighborhoods and a big shopping centre in the middle. That already does not make it popular with the rest of the country, some claim it has no "soul". This probably explains why there hasnt been a strong club that rose from the lower divisions, but I have always been a little surprised at the fact they did not even make it close to the Football League. Today MK Irish are the highest placed club outside of MK Dons down in Tier 9 and I think there is a lot more potential in the city. MK Wanderers MK Wanderers are an Amateur club in Milton Keynes, but there are others. So why did I pick them? Because I actually played for their u-16s and u-18s, so when I saw that they are available in Tier 12 database it raised a lot of interest. I have played against the youth teams of a lot of teams in the area so it will be an interesting experience to go against them in FM. They are currently playing in the North Bucks & District League Premier Division, down in the 12th level of English football. They play at Kents Hill, which is where I used to play too. FM says it has a capacity of 300, which is probably based on how many people you can comfortably get around a field, because Kents Hill is literally a bunch of fields with a pavilion in the middle The club has a solitary season ticket holder, which is probably one of the players mom. Facilities are terrible as expected, but at least the pitch is in good condition Save Expectations I am managing as my now favorite alias Kojo Danquah, so it will be interesting to see if we get some Ghanaian players coming through. Ultimately it would be nice to get to the level MK Dons is at, but quite honestly I am not setting too many expectations. This is because I will be playing this as a youth only save and I am terrible at it. But I felt that it fitted with the theme of the save and at this level youth only is more forgiving so I may even do OK. Ultimately I am just looking forward to play against some familiar teams I don't have any staff yet, so once I do I will post some sort of Season Preview, updates after that will be monthly with a Season Review at the end, but keeping things simple.

It’s what I thought but he doesn’t seem to have Bolivia. I found one set from someone called MasterIgor which seems to have all of them, but Bolivia only has the first tier.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for South American databases? Ideally looking for down to Level 2 on all countries.

You picked a great couple of teams

I have really enjoyed the save so far so would encourage you to pivot instead of giving up, but understand if you want to try something new. Have you thought about Central America instead of the Caribbean? Don’t think a team from Panama has won the NACL and I think you’ll have much more structured calendar there, as well as teams that are more competitive vs US and Mexico from the off.

@JamLUFC - Nicely done on the J-League win, I found that 90+points is really hard to get as the league is so even. Hopefully you can make a good run in the ACL!

2026 Season Review I was rejected for so many jobs I think I need to review how I handle interviews...this meant another season with Roasso Kumamoto which ended up not being too bad. We made more improvements to the first team and now have money to sign younger Japanese talent instead of players in the late 20s. We were up there all year in the J-League and in the end only 7 points from the top and with qualification to the Champions League secured. We also did amazingly well in the cups and managed to get ourselves a double and the first competition towards this challenge. We also played in the Champions League knockouts and lost out to South Korea's Jeonbuk in the Quarter Finals. I am going to be picky with jobs again as we are close to the title in Japan and will be back in the Champions League. Even if a job came up I'd trust myself to mess up the interview, but I will only go for top clubs now that are playing continental football. Star Player - Christy Manzinga yet again but he is getting on now and wasnt an automatic starter, think it is time to move him on to open up a foreign slot for a younger star, 2026 World Cup I joined with the team already qualified and the expectation was to make it to the Second Round which should be easy as we got a lucky draw. Group Stage A draw against Austria in the first game despite dominating was frustrating, but we then comfortably beat Saudi Arabia and Canada to finish top of the group. Knockouts We kept getting favorable draws but still did excellently to beat Jamaica, Turkiye and Ecuador on the way to the Semi Final. We put up a brave display against France there but collapsed in extra time. The best performance of the tournament was save for the Third Place game where we convincingly beat Spain to go one better than Morocco in 2022 and have the strongest performance by an African team in World Cup history! Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers Comfortably qualified for next year's tournament. If we keep current form we have a real good shot at winning it next year. Progress Club Nation Challenge Summary

@goonergez well done on the trophies picked up in the US at club and international level, is it South America next for you?

So Yokohama F-Marinos decided not to hire me, going with the manager of Fukuoka instead, who finished in mid table last season...first game of the season is away to them in the Champions League Last 16...think I made my point clear

2025 Season Review I was picky on the jobs I applied for considering we made some good signings and were in the Champions League, but got rejected for the Kashiwa Reysol and Kaizer Chiefs jobs. This meant staying with Kumamoto for another season, where we made a decent start and threatened to mount a challenge for the title, but fixture pile up with us getting relatively far in the cups and a serious injury to Christy Manzinga which put him out for 3 months derailed our campaign and we fell short in all the cup and finished the leageu just outside the Champions League qualification places. In the Champions League we had an easy group with Beijing, a team from Bangladesh and one from North Korea. We qualified as one of the best second placed teams but were dismantled twice by Beijing which makes me believe we have little chance to win the tournament. I am going to cast my net a little wider and currently have applications at Yokohama F-Marinos and Ulsan in South Korea, lets see if they bear any fruit. Star Player - Christy Manzinga again - amazingly he was top scorer of the J1 League despite only playing in 21 games and we missed him a lot when he was out injured. Africa Cup of Nations We were terrible in the World Cup Qualifiers, finishing third behind Morocco and Congo, and I did not have high hopes at all for this tournament. Group Stage We started against hosts Morocco who had beaten us comfortably in the WQ qualifiers and it didnt go very differently here as we lost 4-2. We then easily beat The Gambia to leave us just needing a draw against Guinea-Bissau to secure second place in the Group. We were on course for that until the 85th minute when we conceded two goals to drop down to third and put qualification to the knockouts at risk. Luckily we were one if the best 3rd placed teams and just about scraped through to the Last 16. Knockouts Finishing third meant we played Nigeria instead of Equatorial Guinea and I thought this would be our last game, but we produced the performance of my tenure to knockout the favorites convincingly! This set up a Quarter-Final against Uganda who had also shocked Egypt and we went through them relatively comfortably despite the narrow score. In the Semi-Final we faced DR Congo, not a power house but 40 places above us in the FIFA Rankings. They scored in the 82 nd minute and I thought that was it but Musonda scored in the 93rd minute to take the game into extra time. We just about managed to scrape through to penalties but won those for a very surprise appearance in the Final! Ivory Coast were our opponents in a repeat of the 2012 final, which Zambia one. It was hover not meant to be in a thrilling final where Ivory Coast pegged us back three times before scoring a winner 5 minutes from the end of the game. A shame not to have won the tournament but it was unlikely to happen so I am just happy for the experience. After the tournament a number of roles popped up and I joined the team we knocked out and whom I think we have a really good shot at winning the next Africa Cup of Nations. Progress Club Nation Challenge Summary

Kojo Danquah - 2024 Season Review The aim was to fight bravely against relegation and we certainly overachieved on that. It took us 5 games to get our first win, but after that we looked really comfortable in the league, hovering around mid-table for most of the season, until a really strong push at the end saw us finish in 3rd place and secure Champions League football for next season! With us doing well in the league I hoped we could go on a good cup run but a Last 16 in the League Cup was the best we could get. I am now in a similar dilemma as @CertFM was at Martizburg Utd - realistically we are not going to win the J1-League with Kumamoto, let alone the Champions League, but would need to take a step back to get to a stronger side. We at least have got a healthy bank balance so I am not desperate to leave and will only do so for the right opportunity. Star Player - Christy Mazinga: Picked up the DR Congo striker on a free after he was released by K League 2 side Seongnam and he was on fire all season, netting an impressive 31 goals in 39 games. FC Tokyo are sniffing around so lets see if his head gets turned. We started our qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations and we'll likely qualify as we easily beat Malawi and Libya, but lsong twice to Mali does not feel me with confidence for the tournament proper. We haven't played any World Cup Qualifiers since I joined but I dont care as we will not be around for those. Progress Club Nation Challenge Summary

Debated this one as we only have an outside chance of winning the Africa Cup of Nations, but there won't be any jobs we can take internationally with a realistic chance to win a cup until the next Africa Cup of Nations so this gives me a good opportunity to get into international management as I havent done that since FM13 I think.

I don’t like messing around with tactics, I have a narrow 4-1-2-1-2 that works well and I just fit players to that. Means wingers either get retrained or sold, which can cause a bit of an upset short term but if you get results all is forgotten a few games in. My best player at Roassi Kumamoto was a winger and I had no hesitation shipping him off first thing when I joined the club .

@goonergez - 2 Champions League already is a great effort, looking anywhere in particular for your next club job? @SkiIIs - what a frustrating season at club and international level, assuming you’ll stay at both Inter and South Korea? @Gammonds - great job you landed in South Africa! Should be adding some trophies to your cabinet in the next couple of seasons.

Great first season! You looking to stay with the Black Leopards or will you try to find a more high profile job?

Impressive how quickly he is getting to the number, what are your plans before you resume this?

Congrats on staying up, do you think you would move outside of South Africa or prefer to stay there?

I said I would only join a top division side and this is borderline a gamble as I sign for Kumamoto who surprised everyone by getting promoted to J1 last season. They are odds on to be relegated but I figured it would be a way to skip a division. Plan for the season is just to survive the drop and see where we go from there.

2023 Season Report I decided to give this challenge a go and waited a season to see if it would stick, which I believe it has! First let me introduce the manager, Kojo Danquah who is the Ghanaian manager I used for my long term career in FM22. I loaded all Nations in Asia that I think have a realistic chance of winning the Champions League, Australia, China, Japan and South Korea, as well as South Africa. I want to win the two Champions Leagues here before moving on to the Americas, leaving Europe to last. I didnt want to start in South Africa since I spent more than 60 seasons in African in my previous save and wanted to see what Japan was like, so ended up getting a job a few of us got in this challenge. I made the mistake of promising the board I wouldnt bring in any staff with me, which meant no scouts ahead of the season start, which made recruitment tricky. Added to that, the team took a while to get used to my tactics which meant we were hovering in and out of the promotion places for the first half of the season. However once the mid-season transfer window opened and we signed some quality players we just went on a ramp and absolutely dominated the division, setting a record for most points, win and goals. In the Emperor's Cup we did OK, getting to the Second Round before being knocked out by J2 opposition on penalties. Star Player - Kensei Ukita: A player that was already at the club and played really well as a DLF for us, scoring a lot more goals than usually a player in that position scores for me. As for next steps, others have shown FC Gifu are a team that can get promoted to J1, so I will stick around unless I get a decent job in a top division in one of the other countries. I will also see if an international job pops up after the Africa Cup of Nations or Asian Cup, although I am not sure if my rep will be good enough to get a decent job. Progress