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Contents Post 46: 5-Year Recap: 2006 - 2011 Post 88: 5-Year Recap: 2011 - 2016 Post 140: 5-Year Recap: 2016 - 2021 Post 210: 5 Year Recap: 2021 - 2026 Post 1 (this post): Intro Posts 2-12: Baptism of Fire - Salyut-Energia Belgorod, Russian First Division (second tier), 9th July 2006 - 20th October 2006 - Relegation - Sacked Posts 14 - 37: Free Transfers Only! - Varese, Serie C2 (Italian 4th tier), 13th November 2006 - 18th July 2010 - Serie C2 title and promotion to Serie C1 - Midtable Serie C1 security Posts 19 - 29: Rebuilding a team in the Wilderness - Tunisia, 14th October 2007 - 9th November 2008 - Loss to Faroe Islands - Resignation Posts 37 - 68: Prince of Persia - Iran, 18th July 2010 - August 2015 - 2011 Asian Cup runner-up, beat hosts Australia away. - First Olympics appearance since 1970s, first ever as Under-23 tournament, in London 2012. - Best ever World Cup performance in Spain 2014, despite group stage exit, beating Scotland 3-1 and drawing 0-0 with France - 2015 Asian Cup quarter-finalists Posts 75 - 90: Excessive use of the Alt Gr Key - Chile, August 2015 - 10th September 2017 - Failed to qualify for 2018 World Cup Posts 93 - 111: Like Pep at City (if City had no Money and Pep was Crap) - BSC Young Boys of Bern, Swiss Super League (top tier), 25th January 2018 - 6th January 2019 - Avoided relegation, finished 5th - Sacked after a year with no improvement Posts 112 - 150: The Cursed Club - Valenciennes, Ligue 1 (French top tier), 13th January 2019 - 1st March 2023 - Relegated in most frustrating and cursed season ever - Destroyed Ligue 2 to win title and immediate promotion, breaking over a dozen club and league records - Qualified for Europe for first time ever, topping table for 3 months, in first season back in Ligue 1 - Rejected England job - Reached Europa League group stage in European debut Posts 155 - 170: The Beautiful Job - Busan IPARK, K League 1 (South Korean top tier), 11th June 2023 - 28th June 2025 - Won dramatic title playoff final thanks to a last-second equaliser and last-minute extra time winner from my first signing - Won a unique 'Simultaneous Double' on the way to 'The Quintuple' in my first full season, reached semis of Club World Cup. Posts 174 - ?: The Job of Dreams - Manchester United, Premier League, 28th June 2025 - ? - Returned club to Champions League, then won it at the first attempt! =========================================================================== Intro I completed Football Manager 2007. It only took close to a decade in real time, three decades in game time. The Backstory They didn't just do Pick 'n' Mix. £25 from Woolworths in 2006/2007 began my so-caled 'canon career'. The career only took in two clubs (and quite a few countries as well). A lot of trophies, promotions, drama, records and history. You know how it is. When I took my next job in 2035, it hit me: the game has finished itself, through chaos. The football world had imploded. Internationally, Japan, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Peru, Canada, to name a few, were either former champions or had reached the business end of the World Cup. Germany, Netherlands, Italy were all perennial failures. In club football it was the same; giants had fallen and been replaced by the likes of Charlton, West Ham, Nantes. Austria, the most feared team in world football. It felt like too many teams had lost their identity. While some had created a wonderful new history in the game, the vast majority kinda merged together. There was no longer a challenge, because every club could reach the top and every league was open, there for the taking. (Ok, except Scotland, where Celtic had won by 30 points as the only team with positive goal difference!) So it all ended in 2035, 2014 in real time. I moved on to FM14, but it hasn't grabbed me, despite all the new features I always wanted. I thought I really had retired from FM altogether. But the urge has returned... The Gimmick And My Approach Portugal, British Virgin Islands, Britain, Russia... So I shall return to the game that stole my heart, and see if we can make another canon career. Even more canon than the first! Because I have a confession: I'm not really a former international, I can't just get a Premier League or international job. I've no footballing experience whatsoever. So what's an André Villas-Boas to do? Get your badges and get out there! But I don't even get my foot in the door by bumping into Bobby Robson or being an assistant manager. I'm going in cold (unless I also take my first steps in the British Virgin Islands, which sounds quite sunny). The scope is massive as I can load every league, country and player. I'm open-minded, have no baggage, and seem to be pretty good at learning languages. I could go anywhere. But it's not just location I have to consider in real terms, but personal things, and how to treat others. Can I turn down the transfer offer of a lifetime for my young starlet when he's a human being with his own career and ambitions, rather than virtual code? Can I really live in Africa, Scandinavia or Australia with their giant spiders? This goes deeper than it first seems... And since I'll be loading everything, you can consider this to be the ultimate simulation of FM 2007. So I'll be giving details of the goings on in the rest of the game world. Will we see eerily realistic competition winners and transfers? Which now familiar faces of real life 2016 will also rise in FM 2007's predictions? Will the world be clamouring for Guardiola and Klopp, Ronaldo and Messi? Jogging Your Memory: What Was Happening in 2006? "That is not what I meant about winning more headers, Zizou." - Zidane headbutted France out of the World Cup, with Italy winning on penalties to become the second-most successful country in World Cup history, after Brazil. The headbutt was the only real shock in a very routine tournament, no one completely flopped, it was a bit boring really. - Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Champions League final. This Barcelona lot look to be a good team. Thierry Henry's head may be turned... - Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and their mean defence once again destroyed the rest of the Premier League, comfortably winning. Will they ever be stopped? - Claude Makelele is so good he has a position named after him. Thierry Henry, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Eto'o, Shevchenko, Ronaldinho, Trezeguet, Ronaldo (not Cristiano) and Kaka are banging in the goals. - Lyon won their fifth title in a row. Can they turn this into improved European performances? - Juventus win Serie A. Nothing seems peculiar about this... - Juventus are relegated for match fixing, and will start Serie B with a huge point deficit. Other clubs are also punished. - Australia left the OFC and joined the AFC. It'll be interesting to see how they cope with tougher opposition in Asian qualifying from now on. New Zealand will no doubt dominate OFC forever. - The UEFA Cup recently introduced a group stage, 5 teams per group playing each other just once. - Alan Shearer retires. Will Newcastle cope? Of course; they have Michael Owen! - Messi is just another top player, and that Ronaldo shows a lot of potential. Cristiano Ronaldo, that is. (Right now we still think of the Brazilian when we say 'Ronaldo'. It's very confusing.) - Wembley still isn't finished. - England lose on penalties.

(This is the FM Stories text-only version. For the original version, with the pretty pictures, go here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/453632-FM-07-Back-to-2006-as-a-poor-man-s-Andre-Villas-Boas) Contents Post 39: 5-Year Recap: 2006 - 2011 Post 76: 5-Year Recap: 2011 - 2016 Post 115: 5-Year Recap: 2016 - 2021 Post 173: 5-Year Recap: 2021-2026 Post 1 (this post): Intro Posts 2-5: Baptism of Fire - Salyut-Energia Belgorod, Russian First Division (second tier), 9th July 2006 - 20th October 2006 - Relegation - Sacked Posts 8 - 29: Free Transfers Only! - Varese, Serie C2 (Italian 4th tier), 13th November 2006 - 18th July 2010 - Serie C2 title and promotion to Serie C1 - Midtable Serie C1 security Posts 13 - 20: Rebuilding a team in the Wilderness - Tunisia, 14th October 2007 - 9th November 2008 - Loss to Faroe Islands - Resignation Posts 29 - 65: Prince of Persia - Iran, 18th July 2010 - August 2015 - 2011 Asian Cup runner-up, beat hosts Australia away - First Olympics appearance since 1970s, first ever as Under-23 tournament, in London 2012. - Best ever World Cup performance in Spain 2014, despite group stage exit, beating Scotland 3-1 and drawing 0-0 with France - 2015 Asian Cup quarter-finalists Posts 69 - 77: Excessive use of the Alt Gr Key - Chile, August 2015 - 10th September 2017 - Failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup Posts 80 - 93: Like Pep at City (if City had no Money and Pep was Crap) - BSC Young Boys of Bern, Swiss Super League (top tier), 25th January 2018 - 6th January 2019 - Avoided relegation, finished 5th - Sacked after a year with no improvement Posts 94 - 122: The Cursed Club - Valenciennes, Ligue 1 (French top tier), 13th January 2019 - 1st March 2023 - Relegated in most frustrating and cursed season ever - Destroyed Ligue 2 to win title and immediate promotion, breaking over a dozen club and league records - Qualified for Europe for first time ever, topping table for 3 months, in first season back in Ligue 1 - Rejected England job - Reached Europa League group stage in European debut Posts 126 - 140: The Beautiful Job - Busan IPARK, K League 1 (South Korean top tier), 11th June 2023 - 28th June 2025 - Won dramatic title playoff final thanks to a last-second equaliser and last-minute extra time winner from my first signing - Won a unique 'Simultaneous Double' on the way to 'The Quintuple' in my first full season, reached semis of Club World Cup Posts 143 - ?: The Job of Dreams - Manchester United, Premier League, 28th June 2025 - ? - Returned club to Champions League, then won it at the first attempt! =========================================================================== Intro I completed Football Manager 2007. It only took close to a decade in real time, three decades in game time. The Backstory £25 from Woolworths in 2006/2007 began my so-caled 'canon career'. The career only took in two clubs (and quite a few countries as well). A lot of trophies, promotions, drama, records and history. You know how it is. When I took my next job in 2035, it hit me: the game has finished itself, through chaos. The football world had imploded. Internationally, Japan, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Peru, Canada, to name a few, were either former champions or had reached the business end of the World Cup. Germany, Netherlands, Italy were all perennial failures. In club football it was the same; giants had fallen and been replaced by the likes of Charlton, West Ham, Nantes. It felt like too many teams had lost their identity. While some had created a wonderful new history in the game, the vast majority kinda merged together. There was no longer a challenge, because every club could reach the top and every league was open, there for the taking. (Ok, except Scotland, where Celtic had won by 30 points as the only team with positive goal difference!) So it all ended in 2035, 2014 in real time. I moved on to FM14, but it hasn't grabbed me, despite all the new features I always wanted. I thought I really had retired from FM altogether. But the urge has returned... The Gimmick And My Approach So I shall return to the game that stole my heart, and see if we can make another canon career. Even more canon than the first! Because I have a confession: I'm not really a former international, I can't just get a Premier League or international job. I've no footballing experience whatsoever. So what's an André Villas-Boas to do? Get your badges and get out there! But I don't even get my foot in the door by bumping into Bobby Robson or being an assistant manager. I'm going in cold (unless I also take my first steps in the British Virgin Islands, which sounds quite sunny). The scope is massive as I can load every league, country and player. I'm open-minded, have no baggage, and seem to be pretty good at learning languages. I could go anywhere. But it's not just location I have to consider in real terms, but personal things, and how to treat others. Can I turn down the transfer offer of a lifetime for my young starlet when he's a human being with his own career and ambitions, rather than virtual code? Can I really live in Africa, Scandinavia or Australia with their giant spiders? This goes deeper than it first seems... And since I'll be loading everything, you can consider this to be the ultimate simulation of FM 2007. So I'll be giving details of the goings on in the rest of the game world. Will we see eerily realistic competition winners and transfers? Which now familiar faces of real life 2016 will also rise in FM 2007's predictions? Will the world be clamouring for Guardiola and Klopp, Ronaldo and Messi? Jogging Your Memory: What Was Happening in 2006? - Zidane headbutted France out of the World Cup, with Italy winning on penalties to become the second-most successful country in World Cup history, after Brazil. The headbutt was the only real shock in a very routine tournament, no one completely flopped, it was a bit boring really. - Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Champions League final. This Barcelona lot look to be a good team. Thierry Henry's head may be turned... - Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and their mean defence once again destroyed the rest of the Premier League, comfortably winning. Will they ever be stopped? - Claude Makelele is so good he has a position named after him. Thierry Henry, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Eto'o, Shevchenko, Ronaldinho, Trezeguet, Ronaldo (not Cristiano) and Kaka are banging in the goals. - Lyon won their fifth title in a row. Can they turn this into improved European performances? - Juventus win Serie A. Nothing seems peculiar about this... - Juventus are relegated for match fixing, and will start Serie B with a huge point deficit. Other clubs are also punished. - Australia left the OFC and joined the AFC. It'll be interesting to see how they cope with tougher opposition in Asian qualifying from now on. New Zealand will no doubt dominate OFC forever. - The UEFA Cup recently introduced a group stage, 5 teams per group playing each other just once. - Alan Shearer retires. Will Newcastle cope? Of course; they have Michael Owen! - Messi is just another top player, and that Ronaldo shows a lot of potential. Cristiano Ronaldo, that is. (Right now we still think of the Brazilian when we say 'Ronaldo'. It's very confusing.) - Wembley still isn't finished. - England lose on penalties.