Gundo's FM11 European Adventure Challenge™

Cookie147 · December 27, 2010

Spartak Myvala – Slovak Second Division – 2012/13

As mentioned in my previous update, I released some of the older players, and brought in some younger replacements. With the pick of the bunch being 28 year old winger Milan Bezak, 27 year old striker Tomas Bartos, Martin Nadansky, a 26 year old central midfielder, Martin Kosut, a right midfielder still only 19, and Miroslav Harsanyi an out and out striker of the same age. I wasn’t sure how much of the new season some of these would play, especially the younger ones, but I am sure they will all play a vital part.

After only just avoiding the drop last season, the aim was to show progression by moving up the table away from any danger. Sadly the media and board were right for the second season in a row, and another relegation battle ensued. Hopefully the faithful Myjava fans come back next season, as the season ticket sales remained the same as before for this difficult season.

As I mentioned above, the league was a struggle as we flittered between the relegation zone and one place above. Fortunately the two promoted teams of the year before were the victims of relegation this season with Spiszka Nova Ves surely securing a very unwelcomed league record by losing all 33 league matches. In fact it was against them that we recorded our own club record in a 6-0 victory in which new signing Martin Kosut scored his second hatrick of the season. Amazingly the first coming against the same team, in an excellent away 6-2 win. Sadly we couldn’t play them every week, and the other teams were far stronger, which is showed in the final standings.

Final League Table

Somewhere where we did make some progress on before was the Slovak FA Cup. Whereas before, Spartak Myjava had never progressed past the first round, it was the third round where we departed the competition this time around. It was no disgraceful exit either, as we battled through a tough 3-1 defeat against First Division outfit Presov. Not a great achievement I guess, but a small slither of progress.

The manager and board alike were very pleased that one of our newest signings Martin Kosut was voted as the Fans’ Player of the Season. The right winger scored two hatricks during the season, and is one of the few positives of a very difficult season.

[b]Season[/b]      [b]League[/b]               [b]Placing[/b]     [b]Slovak Cup[/b]
2011-2012   Slovak 2nd Division  10th        1st Round
2012-2013   Slovak 2nd Division  10th        3rd Round

Aim for next season

Really it would be to finish higher than 10th in our division. I am finding this a tough save, and hopefully something will click next season and get some momentum going throughout the club. Another ‘mini’ cup run would be nice as well.

Quatrazerov · December 27, 2010

Víkingur Ólafsvík

Icelandic First Division 2011

Here I am, proud to take charge at Víkingur Ólafsvík in the Icelandic First Division. Here is the screenshot of the Managers Profile. First time since FM'09 that I'm trying a challenge like this, I hope I'll enjoy it! I'll update in a few days. Wish me luck.

Twellman24 · December 27, 2010

Sirera's Afan Lido

Wales - 2027/28

Transfers - Brought in severa, players including the only decent goalkeeper i could find in the entire world...from a Welsh team, and overpaying. Oh well.

- Champions League

We went onto the group stages again, not without suffering, and were drawed with Metalist, Liverpool and Olympique Marselle. We did not have much chances to do anything in the group, but ended up getting three points out of France, beating Liverpool home, to then lose 2-4 to Metalist home and see our dreams to continue in Europe vanish. Group Stages.

League

- Won our sixth consecutive title with 6 games to spare. No news here, except that we beat the record (our own) of most goals, 91 to 94.

Table

Loosemores Cup

- Won the title with the reserve side.

Welsh Cup

- Lost on semis to Bridgend, an absolute shocker, so much that after they went on to win the title, its manager won manager of the year.

In other news

Stats

- We continue to not be able to improve as our best players want to leave since we're not good enough for top-flight football. If this goes on, we'll just stay where we are. We also have £18m in the bank but no stadium expansion yet.

- Season passes - 40, one more than last year.

- Attendance - 412 in average, 20 more than last year.

- Club's value - £13m - £2m more than last year.

- Sponsorship - £85k per year, same.

- Match/Season ticket - £10/£82 - Same as last year.

- The league was down 9 places, to 59.

- The club is up now 19 spots, to 69!

- The league is snow 23th, in coefficient. 15th is the first place that would mean an extra Euro spot.

- Aims for next season:

- Try to keep the better talent. Not gonna happen though.

2011/12 - Welsh Premiership - 9th 39p - 4th round Welsh Cup - Loosemores Cup Champions!

2012/13 - Welsh Premiership - 6th 44p - QF Welsh Cup - QF Loosemores Cup - Manager of the Year!?!

2013/14 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 70p - Semis Welsh Cup - QF Loosemores Cup - Manager of the Year!

2014/15 - Welsh Premiership - 2nd 61p - 3rd Round Welsh Cup - QF Loosemores Cup

2015/16 - Welsh Premiership - 2nd 65p - Finalist Welsh Cup - Finalist Loosemores Cup - Manager of the Year...yay.

2016/17 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 61p - 4th Round Welsh Cup - QF Loosemores Cup - Manager of the Year

2017/18 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 65p - QF Welsh Cup - 1st round Loosemores Cup - Manager of the Year

2018/19 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 68p - QF Welsh Cup - Final Loosemores Cup

2019/20 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 78p - Welsh Cup Winner! - Loosemores Cup Winner! - Manager of the Year!

2020/21 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 82p - Welsh Cup finalist - Loosemores Cup Winner! - Manager of the Year!

2021/22 - Welsh Premiership - 2nd 62p - Welsh Cup semifinalist - Loosemores Cup Winner! - Euro group stages

2022/23 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 69p - Welsh Cup finalist - QF Loosemores Cup - Euro 4th round - Manager of the Year!

2023/24 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 62p - QF Welsh Cup - QF Loosemores Cup - Euro Group Stages

2024/25 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 73p - QF Welsh Cup - Loosemores Cup Winners! - Champions League Group Stages

2025/26 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 72p - Welsh Cup winners!- QF Loosemores Cup - Euro Cup group stages

2026/27 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 75p - Welsh Cup winners!- QF Loosemores Cup - CL group stages - Euro Cup round of 32

2027/28 - Welsh Premiership - 1st 79p - Welsh Cup semifinalists- Loosemores Cup Winners - CL group stages

Marky Mark! · December 27, 2010

Dunloy 2021/22 Season Update - Northern Irish First Premier Division - Marky Mark!

2011/12 - Second Division - 2nd, Promotion!

2012/13 - First Division - 1st, Winners of Intermediate, Steel & Sons Cup - Promotion!

2013/14 - Premier Division - 1st, Winners of Irish Cup, League Cup

2014/15 - Premier Division - 3rd, 4th in CL Group Stage, Winners of Irish Cup, League Cup

2015/16 - Premier Division - 1st, 4th in Europa League Group Stage, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, Co-An Shield

2016/17 - Premier Division - 1st, 3rd in CL Group Stage, 1st Knockout Round of Europa League, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, Co. An Shield

2017/18 - Premier Division - 1st, 3rd in CL Group Stage, 1st Knockout Round of Europa League, Winners of Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield

2018/19 - Premier Division - 1st, 1st Knockout Round of CL, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

2019/20 - Premier Division - 1st, 3rd in CL Group Stage, Europa League Runner up, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield

2020/21 - Premier Division - 1st, 2nd in CL Group Stage, CL Qtr Final, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

2021/22 - Premier Division - 1st, 1st in CL Group Stage, CL Qtr Final, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

38 Pld, 32 Won, 6 Drn, 0 Lst, 88 For, 16 Ag, +72 GD, 102 Pts

League / Domestic Cups: For the 5th season in a row I took out the league without losing a game, stretching my unbeaten league run to 192 games! I also took out all 4 domestic cups for the 2nd season in a row, despite rotating my side heavily to rest players for Europe.

2022 League Table

Despite the other Northern Irish losing all of their European matches, Dunloy still single handedly increased the League Reputation / National Coefficient

League Reputation: 32nd (-10) - between Denmark Superliga and Romanian First Division

Club Coefficient: 13th (-5) - between Liverpool and Roma

National Coefficient: 11th (-1) - between Scotland and Ukraine

Europe: For the first time, I started in the Champions League group stage, and was drawn against Man City, Fiorentina and FC Kobenhavn - not a bad group as far as CL groups go.

I started my campaigne very well, with a surprise 4-2 away win against Man City, and followed this up with a 2-2 home draw against Fiorentina, and two comfortable wins against FC Kobenhavn. I was then unlucky in a 2-2 home draw against Man City, and a lucky 1-0 away win against Fiorentina, which saw me secure top spot in the group for the first time in Dunloy's history, and into the knockout round for the third season in a row.

2022 Champions League Group Stage

CL 1st Knockout Round v Deportivo: 0-0(A), 3-1(H): The away leg was quite even, with both sides having good chances, but ended 0-0. The second leg at home was much more comfortable, and despite Deportivo getting the lead after 10 minutes they never looked like winning, and Dunloy goals in the 26th, 35th and 90th minute saw them come away with a deserved win.

CL Qtr Final v Olympique Lyonnais: 2-2(H), 0-2(A): The home leg against OL started badly, and after 63 minutes the French side were 2-0 up. However, then a red card to OL turned things around, and goals to Dunloy in the 68th and 79th saw Dunloy come away with a somewhat lucky draw. The away started in a similar fashion, and again on the 63rd minute OL were 2-0 up... however there was no red card or Dunloy fightback to follow, and that is how it ended, Dunloy getting knocked out 2-4 on aggregate. OL went on to reach the final and lose to Porto in extra time.

Team Summary / Star Players: I made an astonishing 21 signings this season, mostly young players on bosmans or who were released. However, of all the signings, it was 29 year old vetran Andrew Wisdom who was the pick of the new players:

Andrew Wisdom: Having been released from Middlesborough after having made 260 league apperances for Middlesborough, Burnley, Huddersfield and Liverpool, his signing was a coup for Dunloy, and whilst he demanded a staggering $33,000 per week (as well as a Match Highest Earner Clause), he had a great debut season, getting 5 goals, 3 assists and 5 MoM at 7.42 from 42 apperances - not bad for the oldest player in the squad! He also took out the Supporters Player of the Season

My pick of the youngsters, and Northern Irish Player of the Season, was midfielder Kevin Lee:

Kevin Lee: Playing his second season at Dunloy after a $8.25m move from Celtic, the Scottish midfielder has finally cemented his spot in the first XI, with 2 goals and 13 assists at 7.14 from 39 games, and whilst those stats aren't super impressive, his attributes have noticably improved from last season, and hopefully will continue to do so. Also took out the Northern Irish Young Player of the Season

2022 Seasonal Best XI and Overall Best XI

Unfortunatly though, ever since installing the 11.2 patch, most of my senior squad refuses to sign a new contract, and due to this I have lost 8 first team players at the end of this season (of which 6 had played over 150 games). Sadly, of these 8 players, 3 of them were key players, and between them had played 592 games, scored 122 goals, and hold a lot of the Dunloy team records

Dunloy say goodbye to...

Rene Bisson: The English / French keeper joined Dunloy 5 seasons ago after being released by Man City as an 18 year old and imediatly made the 1st choice keeper spot his own. He went on to play a Dunloy record 154 league games (287 total games), and after a lot of interest from different clubs, decided to join Blackpool, where he is now worth $5.25M. Will be very hard to replace.

Moses Jagne: The English / Gambian striker joined Dunloy after being released by Tottenham 4 seasons ago, and his debut season at Dunloy as a 21 year old was one to remember, with Jagne breaking Dunloy records for Top Leaguscorer (26), Top Goalscorer (37), Most MoM (11) and highest average rating (7.48). He has since gone on to score a record breaking 66 league goals and 101 Dunloy goals in total. He has also managed 6 caps and 5 goals for Gambia after giving up on waiting for an English call-up. Being able to chose from many offers, he chose to move to Toulouse in France, and is now worth $9.5M! Thankfully I have several decent strikers to chose from, but none with the scoring record of Jagne.

Stephen Holland: The Englishman has been at Dunloy for 5 seasons after leaving Liverpool as a 19 year old, and for 4 of those seasons he was the Dunloy captain. Whilst he didn't win many awards (just one Supporters Player of the Season), it is interesting to note Dunloy has not lost a league game under Holland's leadership - hopefully it can continue in his abscence. He ends up with 21 goals from 159 games at 7.19 - not super stats, but he will be missed in the middle of the field. Decided to join Ipswich at the end of the season, and is now worth $5.25M

So, whilst it was another good season, I will need some more quality signings next season to replace the 8 players I have lost this season - interstingly, all of the players who's contracts expire next season also refuse to sign a new contract - not good!

Finances / Facilities

Another good European run, another tidy profit, this time $7.5M to bring my total balance to $52M

2022 Finances

Training Facilities: Good (downgraded during the season - I didn't know this was possible!)

Youth Faciliites: State of the Art + Academy

New Club Records

Average Attendance: 378

Most Games Without Losing: 68 - 10/4/2021 to 2/4/2022

Most League Apps for Club: Rene Bisson - 154

Most League Games for Club: Moses Jagne - 66

Welsh Wizard · December 27, 2010

After finishing dafuge challenge with Colwyn Bay I return to the my favourite challenge as I can be a team in Wales . Hopefully I can complete it this season(Without it blowing up my laptop ) and make it my longest running save/final one on FM11.

After a reloading a few times and seeing the same teams come up I decided to go for Barry Town as they came up the least. Was tempted to go Afan Lido but felt it would take away some enjoyment having been them the last 2 years.

Hopefully I can help them return to be the best in Wales and take them further than before in Europe.

Profile

Well done to B.W.G and good luck to everyone who is doing the Challenge.

B.W.G · December 27, 2010

Thanks Welsh Wizard :thup: Good luck with Barry Town, on my save their chairman is Welsh Legend Ryan Giggs.

I think once you've done this, you should do the extended English with Merthyr Town

noikeee · December 27, 2010

NK Olimpija Osijek - 1.HNL (Croatian Premier Division) - 2018/2019 Season review

Pre-season

Not much was going on here. We bought a bunch of egyptians and that was it, basically. No major money injections like last year when we had got promoted.

What I was afraid from was actually a technicality. I had just installed patch 11.2.1 and was afraid my tactics would stop working. I play an highly offensive 4-4-2/4-2-4 which is a tad outdated for modern football and I'm frankly baffled that it works so well. If the match engine had improved, chances are it would start being outplayed by better formations.

The championship

Not the greatest of starts again. We got some wins but also some bad defeats and couldn't find much consistency. Struggling to better our board's minimum objective of 4th place, I decided to do some tactical changes, trying out a few wild formations with wing-backs and pairs of attacking midfielders. It got worse, we dropped to 6th and I went back to the 4-2-4.

And then the team got straightened out. We'd only lose a single league game after November. We climbed into a tight fight for 2nd place with Zagreb and Dinamo, which lasted for most of the later stages of the league. And then, just like last year, the leaders Hajduk slipped and we were suddenly in contention for the championship for the very final part.

Hajduk, Olimpija and Dinamo were all tied on 62 points coming into the final game - Hajduk however having a better direct confrontation record were with an advantage. They'd receive Rijeka at home, while I'd visit my old team Granicar away. And we scored early, by our young centre-back Dario Vulic. We spent the rest of the game trying to defend from Granicar's dangerous attacks and listening to the radio waiting for any Hajduk goal that would spoil the party. Nothing ever came out of either game - Hadjuk tied 0-0, we won 1-0, and were croatian champions!!!

Europe

The chance to participate in the Europa League was highly exciting, but we unfortunately got PSV Eindhoven as our first ever european opponents. They arrived to Croatia to beat us 2-0 in a game where we actually were the better team but got unlucky, then in Holland we scored just before the break and threatened to tie the leg for the rest of the match. The goal never came and we were kicked out of the competition, but with our honour intact.

Cup

Having always flopped in the domestic cup in the past, we set out to try do to something in this. And we did! Early opponents were fairly easy in theory, nevertheless we got a few scares but did manage to get past them. On the quarter final we beat local rivals Osijek, then on the semis we were paired against Croatia's top team, Dinamo Zagreb, and beat them too.

The final was against the 2nd division side Varazdin but would prove to be much tougher than expected. We first drawn away 2-2 then at home conceded a goal before half-time. Substitutes Torbic, Olivares and Kamel would settle it our way but only in extra-time. Anyway, a trophy is a trophy.

Info

League: CHAMPIONS (League Table) (Progress)

Europa League:

3rd qualy round - 0-2 (H) / 1-0 (A) vs PSV

Cup:

Preliminary round - 5-1 (A) vs Podravina

1st round - 4-2 (H) vs Inter Zapresic

2nd round - 3-2 (A) vs Jadran

1/4 final - 3-1 (H) / 1-1 (A) vs Osijek

1/2 final - 3-1 (A) / 1-2 (H) vs Dinamo

Final - 2-2 (A) / 3-1 ET (H) vs Varazdin

(Transfers)

(Squad and stats)

Best eleven

GK - Gérson Coimbra - More clean sheets but worse average rating than last year.

DR - Nikola Tkalcic - Again the undisputed owner of this position.

DL - Marcel Novko - I hired Papp and Ferreira which were very good left-backs but neither impressed and I stuck with Novko again.

DC - Vladica Vasic - A ridiculous goalscorer. At a point I decided I was exploiting the AI a little bit with my corner routine (aim far post, have a giant guy there) and started playing it mixed yet the ball would still go in.

DC - Dario Vulic - My new other giant goalscorer defender, amazing at the age of 19.

MC - Edgardo Garro - An extremely promising argentinian.

MC - Oumar Ettien - I think he's stalled his development but is still the best option for the place.

AMR - Nicolás Olivares - Better on the left as an inside forward, decent season anyway.

AML - Igor Acimovic - Has had better years, but I still trust him. 174 apps for the club, current record holder.

ST - Ante Gavrancic - This new signing was surprisingly the best attacking player this year. Lots of assists both upfront and as a winger.

ST - Dario Torbic - I'm having problems picking strikers again, this was our most reliable goalscorer.

Conclusions

The domestic part of the challenge is finished, now comes the hard part. I'm hoping for a little financial growth from the Champions League, as we're still only the 10th richest club in Croatia. Reaching the group stages would be a very big boost.

Also, I finally filled the 5000 seats of the stadium in the cup final, and came near to it in one or two other matches, but our fanbase is still not enough to expand it.

[b]Season     League           Cup          Europe             Notes[/b]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]NK Granicar Zulanja[/b]
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6187670&viewfull=1#post6187670]2011/12[/url]    2.HNL - 15th     1st round    ---                Relegated; tycoon takes over but too late
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]NK Olimpija Osijek[/b]
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6195698&viewfull=1#post6195698]2012/13[/url]    2.HNL - 11th     ---          ---                Avoided relegation
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6212679&viewfull=1#post6212679]2013/14[/url]    2.HNL - 4th      2nd round    ---                Fought for a promotion playoff spot
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6226936&viewfull=1#post6226936]2014/15[/url]    2.HNL - 4th      1st round    ---                Fought for a promotion playoff spot
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6243633&viewfull=1#post6243633]2015/16[/url]    2.HNL - 3rd      1st round    ---                Missed promotion by 1 point
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6276421&viewfull=1#post6276421]2016/17[/url]    2.HNL - 1st      1st round    ---                Promoted, 2.HNL champions
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/234223-Gundo-s-FM11-European-Adventure-Challenge%E2%84%A2?p=6288934&viewfull=1#post6288934]2017/18[/url]    1.HNL - 2nd      ---          ---                Fought for the title, qualified for Europe
2018/19    1.HNL - 1st      Winners      EL 3rd Q rnd       Domestic double

Marky Mark! · December 29, 2010

I am about to post my 12th season update for my Dunloy side's 2022/23 season in Northern Ireland, but before I do, a little teaser...

(I never have been able to figure out how to post pics on here properly)

noikeee · December 29, 2010

I'm not sure what's more unrealistic, a northern irish side playing the Champions League final or it being held at the Jamor. That stadium has very big trouble handling the portuguese cup final in real life!

Congrats on reaching the final but I already know what happened after randomly reading a post of yours in the General Discussion forum.

Marky Mark! · December 29, 2010

Dunloy 2022/23 Season Update - Northern Irish Premier Division - Marky Mark!

2011/12 - Second Division - 2nd, Promotion!

2012/13 - First Division - 1st, Winners of Intermediate, Steel & Sons Cup - Promotion!

2013/14 - Premier Division - 1st, Winners of Irish Cup, League Cup

2014/15 - Premier Division - 3rd, 4th in CL Group Stage, Winners of Irish Cup, League Cup

2015/16 - Premier Division - 1st, 4th in Europa League Group Stage, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, Co-An Shield

2016/17 - Premier Division - 1st, 3rd in CL Group Stage, 1st Knockout Round of Europa League, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, Co. An Shield

2017/18 - Premier Division - 1st, 3rd in CL Group Stage, 1st Knockout Round of Europa League, Winners of Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield

2018/19 - Premier Division - 1st, 1st Knockout Round of CL, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

2019/20 - Premier Division - 1st, 3rd in CL Group Stage, Europa League Runner up, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield

2020/21 - Premier Division - 1st, 2nd in CL Group Stage, CL Qtr Final, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

2021/22 - Premier Division - 1st, 1st in CL Group Stage, CL Qtr Final, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

2022/23 - Premier Division - 1st, 1st in CL Group Stage, CL Runner Up, Winners of All-Ireland Cup, Irish Cup, League Cup, Co. An Shield - Clean Sweep!

38 Pld, 33 Won, 5 Drn, 0 Lst, 97 For, 11 Ag, +86 GD, 104 Pts

League / Domestic Cups: Another season undefeated in the league and domestic cups - now brings my unbeaten league run to 230 and counting, plus the 3rd season in a row I have won all 4 domestic cups. I managed to set a record 104 points this season by only drawing 5 games out of 38 - will I be able to have a perfect 100% winning season next season?

2023 League Table

Once again the other Northern Irish teams fail to win a European game, however Dunloy still managed to increase the League Reputation / National Coefficient

League Reputation: 21st (-11) - between Denmark Superliga and Austrian Premier Division

Club Coefficient: 9th (-4) - between Man Utd and Benfica

National Coefficient: 11th (0) - between Scotland and Austria

Europe: Once again started in the group stage, and was drawn against Sevilla, OM and St Johnstone from Scotland (in their CL debut).

As per last year, I had very little problems in the group stage, and again ended the group stage undefeated and in first place with 5 wins (the highlight being a 5-1 away win against St Johnstone) and 1 draw (1-1 away against OM). It is quite promising to see how my team has developed from not being able to get past the CL group stage 5 seasons ago to now topping the group without too many problems.

2023 Champions League Group Stage

CL 1st Knockout Round v Sporting CP: 2-2(A), 2-1(H): The away leg started well, with Dunloy racing out to a 2-0 lead by the 35th minute... however a Dunloy red card shortly afterwards changed that, and Sporting managed to make their extra numbers count with goals on the 41st and 76th minute - thankfully I was able to not conceed any more goals and leave with a draw heading into the home leg.

The home leg started much like the away one, and again by the 35th minute I was 2-0 up. Sporting did manage to fight back and get one back on 54th minute, however it wasn't enough, and at the end of two very closley fought legs Dunloy got through 4-3 on aggregate.

CL Qtr Final v Inter: 0-2(A), 3-0(H): The away leg was very close, with Inter having 14 shots to my 12, and possession around 50-50. However, a small lapse in concentration saw them score in the 30th and 31st minute, and to top it off, Dunloy were then awarded a penalty in the 44th minute which they missed! So, despite a close game, I leave with a 0-2 away leg and a lot of work to do at home if I am to progress.

The home leg was again quite even, and in the 36th minute midfielder Ricky Jones managed to score a screamer from the edge of the area to give me hope, but I still needed to find at least one more. As time was ticking away I threw men forwards in desperation, and then in the 86th minute substitute striker Josh Hunt scores to tie the game 2-2 on aggregate! That's how it stayed at 90 minutes, and was also how it was after 120 minutes... however in the 122nd minute (ie 2nd minute of injury time), rose above the pack and managed to score from a corner to make history and send Dunloy through to the Semi-Finals! Amazing finish to the match!

CL Semi Final v Chelsea: 2-2(A), 0-0(H): The away leg started great, with Dunloy converting from a contreversial penalty in the 6th minute, however Chelsea struck back on the 14th and 38th minute to give them the lead. This remained for most of the match, until Chelsea had a player sent off on the edge of the area for a second yellow, and captain Andre Wisdom managed to fire in a great shot from the free kick to tie things up again. Chelsea then had a 2nd player sent off in the 89th minute, and whilst I didn't have time to take advantage of my 2 man advantage, it did mean two Chelsea players who couldn't play in the home leg!

The home leg was a much tighter affair, with neither side having many shots on target. Whilst Chelsea managed 6 on target to Dunloy's 3, both keepers had great games and neither side was able to score, so the final score was 0-0, and much to my delight, that resulted in a 2-2 aggregate score from the away leg and Dunloy going through on away goals! Suddenly, Dunloy were only one game away from finally completing this challenge

CL Final v Real Madrid: Of all the sides I didn't want to face in the final, it was Real Madrid, who went undefeated in their group and then smashed CSKA Moscow (2-0), Roma (6-1) and FC Bayern (5-1) on their way ot the final - but I guess to be the best I have to beat the best!

I will be posting a seperate blow by blow update of the final...

Team Summary / Star Players: I brought in 11 players this season, again most on a free but $14.25M on a 20 year old goalkeeper from Liverpool. $9M on a 19 year old midfielder from West Brom, and $5.5M on a stunning 17 year old defender from Rangers to replace those players who left the club last season (couldn't find a decent replacement striker, so I'll have to do with my existing strikers). Unfortunatly, I also have 5 more players refusing to renew their contract and move onto other clubs at the end of this season, so I will again have to look to replace them next season - it is fair to say everyone I sign now is on a 5 year contract, as I can almost guarentee they will refuse to renew their contract when it expires.

The best Dunloy player this season and Supports Player of the Year, as he was last year, was the oldest player in the squad, 30 year old centre back Andre Wisdom.

Andre Wisdom: After a great season last year, he managed to lift his performances even further this season. Despite his many low attributes, every key defensive attribute is impressive (at this level at least), and he again was the best performing Dunloy player, scoring 8 goals, 1 assist and 6 MoM at 7.43 from 45 games. Unfortunatly, when I picked him up on a free I only signed him on to a 2 year contract, so he has decided to join Sunderland at the end of this season, but hopefully he has one more big performance left in him!

The best Dunloy youngster this season, and winner of N. Irish Premier Division Young Player of the Year, was 20 year old central midfielder Tim Edwards

Tim Edwards: Purchased from West Brom for $9M at the start of the season as a replacement for my main central midfielder who left the club last season, and like Andre Wisdom, whilst he has some quite low attributes, the key attributes I look at are all quite decent at this level, and given he's contracted for another 4 years I'm hoping he can improve to his performances. Managed an impressive 13 goals, 11 assists and 4 MoM at 7.26 from 43 games in his debut season, and of course has one game to go.

2023 Squad

Finances / Facilities

Despite spending $29M on transfers, and $515k / week on salaries, I only made a loss of $1M, and still have around $50M in the bank.

2023 Finances

New Club Records

Average Attendnace: 446

Most Games Won in Row: 23 - 26/10/2022 to 14/1/2023

Highest Transfer Fee Paid: $14,250,000 (Jason Stamp from Liverpool - 1/7/2022)

Total Transfer Spending: $29,500,000

Ok, that is season 2023 wrapped up, all that is left is the is the Champions League Final...

Twellman24 · December 29, 2010

Sirera's Afan Lido

Wales - 2028/29

Transfers - A pretty eventful summer. Stuart Redmond came on a free after last year's loan to strengthen the midfield. And Adam Warner re-joined us for a second spell, in which he did not get much playtime either. Martin Bednar, a creative midfielder from the Czech Republic, would prove a good asset, and so would Bouali and Juhasz on the wings. Chris Killen would join us late in the year, and De Santis arrived on a loan from Argentina as a promising midfielder, but got injured twice and was sent back within a month.

- Champions League

- Went past Vilaznia, Rijeka and Slavia Sofia in the previous stages to go onto the group stage, where we were drawed with Real Madrid (historic champions with now 16 trophies), last year's Euro semifinalist Werder Bremen, and Fehervar, who on paper were the worst team in the group (we are now in the third group of teams on the group stage drawings)

- The group started with a 6-0 trashing by Los Blancos in Madrid, in a game where we just did not stand a chance. We turned it around with an amazing win at Port Talbot against Werder 1-0, Martin Bednar providing the goal. We added to the party with a 0-4 trashing of Fehervar in Hungary, but the happiness did not stick around, since we lost 1-2 home to the same team (with 10 man from minute 5, stupid Warner), against Real Madrid at home 0-3, and in Germany 6-2, in an amazingly entertaining game.

Group Stages

We still managed to finish third, which meant we were going onto the final rounds of the Euro cup. Mighty Sampdoria awaited in the round of 32, a team with lots of talent but which had not been doing well in Europe at all. We managed to stay alive, by beating them 2-1 home and losing 3-2 in Italy.

In the round of 16, we were sent to Italy yet again, this time to play Palermo. We beat the Italians 3-2 home with a 92' screamer by Spaniard Gallego, but could not hold them away, as they trashed us 5-2 in the second leg. They would go on to reach the semifinals of the tournament, so that made us feel like we had done our best.

League

- We trailed a bit at the beginning, while the European games were more of our concern, but as soon as we were focused in the league again, we had it in the bag. We win our seventh straight title, and our 11th in the past 12 years.

Chris Killen, who arrived 10 games later than the beginning of the tournament, managed to finish top scorer, with 19 goals. Nikolaou ended third, with 15. Everitt earned the max assists award, with 13. O'Donnell and Gallego, the right and left backs, finished as best defenders in the league. Harris (CB) and Killen also finished the league as the best rated players in terms of match ratings.

Table

Loosemores Cup

- No worries all the way to the final, where we trashed Lanelli 5-0, with a hat-trick by Nikolaou. 9th title in our offices.

Welsh Cup

- We won it deservedly, not conceeding a goal all the way to the final, where once again we beat Lanelli by 2-0, to lift the fourth Welsh Cup ever.

In other news

Stats 1 2

- Chris Killen literally Killed it. He arrived in October and 29 goals in 31 games in all competitions. At 24 years old, the ex-Arsenal is looking like our next Angeli. Everitt also looks like he could be world class in the right for our side. At age 18, he managed 8 goals and 22 assists for us this year. He was also in the Top 5 assistants in the Euro cup...even though we only played four games in that competition.

- Three other players also got to double digits: Collins with 18 in 30, even though he missed 6 weeks of competiiton; Nikolaou with 23 in 35, and Bednar, with 10 goals and 11 assists from the midfield.

- The overall European run was very decent, qualifying third in the group of who would be the champion (Real Madrid), and losing to Palermo, semifinalist in Euro Cup.

- We had ten players in the league's best eleven; Killen was named player of the year in Wales, for the fifth consecutive year an Afan Ludo player. Everitt got young player of the year for his second consecutive year. Even though we won all three titles this year, the manager of the year went to the manager of Camarthen Town...who finished sixth in the league.

- We have now a very...well, present presence when it comes to international call-ups; Two first team international in Scotland, RB O'Donnell (who does not want to renew his contract) and CB Wilson. the Brittish U-21 side called Everitt a couple of times, and so did the Check Republic U-21 with Martin Bednar.

- We now have £19m in the bank, but talking about a new stadium or even a stadium expansion is completely useless. We continue to have an attendance of 550 in every European game, which is a shame if you ask me. The board does not hesitate to take dividends every year, though. This year they took home £750k.

- Even though we continue to improve the youngsters and training facilities every year, we still have not seen a single decent player. We might not see anybody at all. Oh well.

- Two players are pretty much done after decades here: Marc Pratt left at the end of the year. The centerback, after 10 years here, wanted more games and at age 34, joined Neath Athletic on a free.

- Angeli is the other one who is done and over with, sadly. He has played here 15 years, but he ust does not have what it takes anymore to score them. We gave him 13 games last year to prove he still had it, but he failed to score. He is not transfer listed in the reserves team.

- Season passes - 41, one more than last year.

- Attendance - 419 in average, 7 more than last year.

- Club's value - £15.25 - £2.25m more than last year.

- Sponsorship - £85k per year, same.

- Match/Season ticket - £10/£82 - Same as last year.

- The league was up 14 places. We are now a Top 50 league, in 44th place.

- The club was up another 15 spots to 54th place!

- The league is snow 16, in coefficient. I am so gutted that we did not make 15th place, since that one was the first league who has an extra CL spots. I would have loved to see what happened in terms of giving it to which team. I don't know if we'll be able to keep up the good European runs to see us past that 16th place for now.

- Aims for next season:

- To qualify for the next CL stage after the group stage.