DaneBramage

FC BESCHLING - SEPTEMBER 2020 Ouch. Three losses in a row. The SC Tisis 1b game was a real kick in the nuts, as we pulled ourselves back from a three goal deficit, only to concede in the 95th minute. We're only in the second month of the season but I can think we can already write this year off. SV Ludesch 1b look pretty unbeatable at the top. AUSTRIA Austria are the early pace-setters in their Nations League B group, with a win over Serbia and a draw with Bulgaria sending them top.

FC BESCHLING - JULY + AUGUST 2020 Not much happened over the summer. There were rumblings of a takeover, but nothing came of it. With no money to play with we're not able to invest in our facilities at all, so we probably could use a takeover sooner rather than later. We started the season against a newly relegated side, and got a decent result from them. Two wins followed and we were looking good, but things went badly wrong against FK Koblach 1b. The game was much tighter than the scoreline suggested, but they took their chances and we didn't. The league has seen a slight re-shuffle and there's now only 12 teams rather than 13, so we have two games fewer this year. Meaning we can't afford to give up too many losses like this, and SV Ludesch 1b already have a good lead over us. 20b Christian Appelrath is the first of our academy graduates to make an impact, with a goal and an assist against SK Burs 1b. AUSTRIA Friendly victories over Wales and Belarus prepared the national side for Euro 2020, but it didn't lead to a very good showing. Losses to Switzerland and Croatia were somewhat redeemed by a win over Denmark, which meant Austria just about squeezed through as one of the best 3rd-placed finishers. In the second round though Germany awaited, and Austria couldn't pull off an upset.

FC BESCHLING - APRIL 2020 Three games left to decide the season - could we clinch top spot? It was still possible, but it required VfB Hohenems 1b to slip up, so we had to keep our fingers crossed. And ultimately, it didn't quite happen. They dropped two points, but so did we. And even if we'd had a perfect month, we'd still have been behind them on goal difference. It was our games against VfB Hohenems that sent the title their way. If we'd got even a point from one of them we'd have been champions and promoted. But the two losses (1-0 and 8-2) tipped the scale in their favour. AUSTRIA Red Bull Salzburg won the tipp-3 Bundesliga, making it seven in a row and 11 in total. They then made it a double with a 2-0 victory over Rapid Wien in the OFB-Samsung-Cup (two in a row, seven in total).

FC BESCHLING - 2020 YOUTH INTAKE This group was referred to as a golden generation, which I'm going to assuming is a massive over-exaggeration. That being said, 20a Robert Besenic looks better than my current first choice goalie. We can't register any new players at this stage of the season, but he'll be straight in next year. The top few personalities actually look fairly decent. Everyone's been signed apart from 20k Marijan Djukic, who we can't give a contract to as he's non-EU.

FC BESCHLING - FEBRUARY + MARCH 2020 I hate this fixture scheduling. July to April is way too long for just a 24 game season, and we end up with months holding just one match. I've had to add plenty of friendlies throughout the year to keep fitness levels up. After the recent dodgy run of form I changed from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-5-1 instead, so I suppose at least the friendlies helped with us getting used to the new shape. And so far it seems to have paid dividends, as we gathered full points from February and March. We remain behind VFB Hohenems 1b with our results mirroring theirs, but have slightly pulled away from 3rd place with a game in hand. David Falkenhain is one half of my centre-back pairing, and he acquitted himself nicely with his first goals of the season (including the late winner against SC Tisis 1b), while also guiding us to consecutive clean sheets for the first time in several months. AUSTRIA The March international break saw Austria pick up a pair of victories, over Kazakhstan and New Zealand.

FC BESCHLING - JANUARY 2020 After beating FC Ratia Bludenz 1b I thought we could really take it to VfB Hohenems 1c and open a little gap over them. Instead, we were absolutely demolished and allowed them to regain top spot. A shameful, embarrassing showing saw us ship seven goals by the 60 minute mark, and the two late goals we scored meant nothing. Nine players were fined.

FC BESCHLING - DECEMBER 2019 A bit of a disastrous month. Against FC Lustenau 1907 1c we were missing a couple of important players through suspension, and without them we were abysmal. Seven players earnt themselves a week's fine for this performance (I mean, they're not actually being paid anyway, but it's the gesture that counts). My AssMan was then stolen away by a 7th tier side, leaving me as the sole member of staff at the club. I'm using that as the excuse for the defeat away at SK Meiningen, which made it three losses in our last four games. The only consolation is that VfB Hohenems 1c had a poor month as well, so didn't pull away from us. But on the other hand, the two sides directly below have caught up.

FC BESCHLING - NOVEMBER 2019 Just as I was starting to think everything was going our way, a 2-0 loss to FC Koblach 1b smacked me back down to earth. An early red card put us on the back foot and we were dominated for the rest of the match, and were lucky not to concede more. Elsewhere in the division VfB Hohenems 1c had slipped up and suffered their first defeat, so a home tie against FC Klostertal 1b gave us a great opportunity to capitalise on this. Three goals in little more than half an hour gave us a comfortable win that sent us top of the table, albeit having played one more game. Andre Dewald had a mixed month. Although his assists from set pieces were the catalyst for the win over SPG Hochmontafon 1b, it was also his sending off in the following game that caused the end of our winning streak. AUSTRIA A loss to Slovenia threatened to disrupt the qualification campaign, but in the final group game a victory over Latvia ensured Austria made it to Euro 2020.

FC BESCHLING - OCTOBER 2019 Just the two league games this month, and our good form continued as we made it six wins in a row. As we approach the halfway point of the season we remain one point behind VfB Hohenems 1c, who are the only team to have beat us. After scoring in the first two games of the season Goran Vargic hit a dry spell, but he got things rolling this month with the opening goal in both matches. AUSTRIA Wins over North Macedonia and Israel have given the national side a two point lead at the top of their qualifying group.

Thanks! In the past couple of weeks I've loaded up FM a few times, ticked a bunch of nations, but then once I got to the team selection stage not been able to see anything that motivated me, and just closed the game down instead. So finding a league with literally only one option to choose from made sense to me at this time. Also there's the (possibly misguided) hope that as the only senior team in the league, they're in a good position to challenge at the top, and an early promotion never hurts.

FC BESCHLING - SEPTEMBER 2019 Lovely stuff. Although the defence had a rare off day against FC Nuziders 1b, they were bailed out by my left-winger grabbing his first goal of the season to make it four wins in a row. This helped us rise up to 2nd in the table, just a point off the leaders. Although he doesn't have a single technical attribute in the double figures, midfielder Matija Ceh deserves a shout out for being my joint top scorer so far, including a scorching effort from the edge of the area to beat SV Ludesch 1b. AUSTRIA There were mixed results in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2020, as a 2-1 win over Poland was followed by the reverse scoreline in a disappointing loss to Latvia. Austria remain top of the group on goal difference.

FC BESCHLING - JULY + AUGUST 2019 We made a hot start to the season with a big home victory on the opening day. A second win put us up in the top spot, but the new manager effect faded quickly. Three games in a row without scoring saw us pick up just two points, and we needed a game against someone rubbish to get back on track. Luckily we were hosting winless SK Meiningen 1b next, and we added to their woes as we got back to winning ways. The star man over the first few weeks has been centre-back Sandro Mathis. He's not very good, but he is tall. And as well as helping us to four clean sheets so far, he's also contributed at the other end of the pitch with three goals, all headers from corners. AUSTRIA The national team picked up a surprise result in their final friendly before the season started, with a 2-1 win over Argentina.

FC BESCHLING We have 16 players at the club, plus a grey goalie. No one's getting paid, which is lucky since we're starting with a bank balance of just £8. And bringing in doughnuts on my first day used up most of that. As would be expected there's a distinct lack of quality, so I'm already looking forward to the first youth intake. Not that it will be up to much, with the facilities at the club also being an issue (poor training facilities, poor youth facilities, basic junior coaching, limited youth recruitment).

I have a large database in use, with current international players and players from sides in continental competition loaded. I only have the Austrian leagues loaded. The reason for that, is that there are so many of them. Although this screen shows 10 tiers, there's actually more than 150 divisions in play here. There's so many regional variations among tiers 4-9, in particular tier 7 (37 divisions) and tier 8 (45 divisions). Luckily, promotion all the way to the top appears to be a straight path, with no play-off nonsense needed. If and when I make my way up the leagues I'll start dropping off the lower levels and replacing them with neighbouring countries, but for now there are no additional nations loaded. There are two divisions in the 10th tier - the Unterland and the Oberland. Both of them are mainly B and C teams, but while the Unterland has four senior teams available, the Oberland has just one. So that made my destination pretty clear, it had to be FC Beschling. Despite being the only senior side in the division, expectations are pretty low. I would be devastated if we finish bottom. I have no idea what the standard is actually going to be, but I'd hope to be competing for the only promotion place.