Gundo's FM11 European Adventure Challenge™

[Fastbasher]

Income should be greatly increased with the promotion too Quackje.

How much in debt are you?

Also, will Udvari stay in the team?

If not, will you ditch him or keep him on the staff if possible?

[Mr_Demus]

I have to restart again...forgot to rename my save from autosave, so it was overwritten by by another save :/ Jesus christ my stupidty impresses me

EDIT: Going for Romania this time

[Gilbster]

Now after 6 games of the season, we are still on 0 points, and looking less and less likely of managing a win. B.W.G how are you making Wales look so easy?

[Quackje]

Gilbster Maybe things will pick up

Fastbasher I haven't seen the income yet because theres a league cup first with really small attendences. Right now I'm losing about £15-20K a month at -£130K balance. As for Udvari, I've sold him he just wouldn't cut it in this league and he would be a bit expensive to have hanging around. My new assistant manager (old one retired) is actually a striker I had at the club in the first season but was a bit rubbish, retired at 30 and became an assman, I think it was a good move hes much better assman than striker.

[the greyham]

salthill update comming soon i hope, been getting some crash dumps thanks god i auto save

[Mr_Demus]

Here we go again. You can't start as sunday league footballer in Romania, so chose Semi Pro, as that was the lowest possible.

Profile

[B.W.G]

The greyham - I would have money but I keep using it on improving facilities.

Gilbster - Have you tried 4-1-4-1 and lumping it up forward and using a target man, thats what I did 1st season. Although now I'm using 4-2-4. What I know for the division is you need pace and someone who can finish.

[the greyham]

End of Season Report: Salthill Devons Irish First Division, 2012

League Table, League Graph

Irish League Cup – KO 2nd Round

Irish Senior Challenge - Finalists

Ticket Price: €9.00

Season ticket price: €135

Season ticket holders: 73

Average Attendance: 237

Squad

Transfers

A very difficult season yet again but defiantly an improvement. A youngish squad with very few transfers made this season and a few players out to try and decrease wage budget, Which we were still about €600 over, greedy players. I will be awaiting my scouts for decent players only, will be aiming for mid table next season. O and reaching the final in the cup means EURO CUP LOL

Player of the Season

much better overall but only 1 who stood out again.

Thomas Hyland (DC) - Our best player by averaging rating, he was very solid at the back and is with the club for another season with no intention of leaving, even if we lost 3-4 nil (which we did) he was still our top player.

Youth Players

none shone out

Finances

Very happy with finances, organised plenty of away friendlies to generate as much as possible, with only a average attendance of 237 and wages of 3400 i knew i’d have no chance. The main income otherwise had to be in the cup which generated a massive 227k. Hopefully they will agree to increase the youth facilities

Aims

Try and finish mid season, strengthen the team, mainly the full backs there fairly weak. Do well in the cups again as that generated so much income, upgrade facilities as i prefer trying to bring through my youth.

Season  	League   	   Position  		 Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011	     Irish First Division     12th	            n/a
2012	     Irish First Division     10th	            ISC Finalists 

[Gilbster]

The greyham - I would have money but I keep using it on improving facilities.

Gilbster - Have you tried 4-1-4-1 and lumping it up forward and using a target man, thats what I did 1st season. Although now I'm using 4-2-4. What I know for the division is you need pace and someone who can finish.

Did you happen to save that tactic, and could I please borrow it if at all possible. Doesn't seem to matter what I do, the other teams are better. I have 4 points out of 14 games, and a 7 point gap to safety.

[Quackje]

Pretty industrial tactics there but I agree in principle, get a quick guy or a tall guy or anything a bit extreme for the league and then go with it.

[B.W.G]

Did you happen to save that tactic, and could I please borrow it if at all possible. Doesn't seem to matter what I do, the other teams are better. I have 4 points out of 14 games, and a 7 point gap to safety.

I didn't save the original tactic, I didn't actually think about saving it. Only got the 4-2-4 saved.

[Gilbster]

The inevitable... Table

FM11 seems miles harder to get anywhere without a real tactical knowledge. I can normally bluff and make marginall edits to the default tactics but this year seems to not really be working so well. Really not sure where to go from here.

[Nightowl]

Vikingur Olafsvik 2011 Season Update

Apparently the Icelandic season begins with the Icelandic Upper League Cup including all 24 teams from the top 2 divisions, starting with a group stage of 8 teams. Not a great start to the season, as we finished 7th in the group with a 2-1-4 record. My first league season in Iceland was distinctly average. No real fear of relegation, but never close to the promotion places either, we were mid-table throughout the season. We had a surprising run in the Iclandic Cup, reaching the semi final, knocking out Premier Division squad Vikingur before losing to fellow Premier team Fram.

Table

Had a couple big transfers before the season began, who should be familiar to people in this thread. Agents offered me Cristiano and Ibrahim Shikanda, who I proceeded to sign, even though I'll be paying for Christiano for 4 years. Hope he's worth it. He had a solid debut season, being voted fans player of the year, and forming a solid strike partnership with Serbian import Igor Plesic, a holdover from the previous manager.

Ibrahim Shikanda

Cristiano

Igor Plesic

Transfers

We had a takeover during the season, unfortunately the new chairman did not provide any funds, but at least I was allowed to keep my job.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the team's performance, especially some of the players who I thought wouldn't be able to cut it at this level. They'll hopefully be gone soon, so let's give them one last moment of glory:

Best 11

Goals for next season:

1. Hopefully bring in some better players to get promoted, starting with a new keeper, and hopefully a new DC and DL. A couple new midfielders wouldn't hurt either...

2. Do a better rotating the team, as some players who played in Icelandic Cup games were unable to play in the next league game, something that hurt me a few times.

3. Keep tight control of finances. Even using only half my wage budget, we consistently lost money each month, with no real sponsor/TV money to look forward to. Hopefully making the Premier League will help.

PS Thanks to those above who provided some background information on the club. Interesting stuff!

[Quackje]

Interesting, everyone regardless of country seems to get offered Shikanda and Cristiano, they're going to be the two players everyone ends up with at this rate.

[Twellman24]

Panachaiki FC - 2012/13

- Our first season in the First Division was definitely a struggle. The transfers were disappointing for a top division, but the fact that we were not allowed any money for them definitely was a hit right in the face, right at the start. We managed to sign some people, and keep the ones who wanted to leave us for better teams. Transfers

- The board did not even act like they didn't know what was waiting for us. They told us they expected us to do our best, and that was it. We were over one mil in the red by the start of the season, and it only got worse throughout the year.

- The year was frustrating, infuriating at times, and in other days I just felt powerless. In some matches, we won deservedly; in others we lost the same way...but there were tons of matches were we lost by one goal and making the exact same effort as to shots on goal, possession, etc. Those points were the ones we would need at the end of the year.

- Even though we were conceding lots of goals and not scoring enough, we even got five points above the relegation zone by the beginning of the last third of the season. We had Ismail Abdul more worried about getting to the WC qualifiers with his country, than about the team, scoring a mere seven goals all year. That definitely hurt us, but not more than the weak defense we had.

- Gregg Belhatler, a north-american defender at 39 years of age joined us in January to try to lift the spirit of the back...and ended up with three yellow cards and two straight red cards in nine games. He definitely screwed up more than helped. We were mistreated by the refs, being the worst team when it comes to red cards...seven in 30 games, or one every 4 games.

- In February, we lost four in a row, and got ourselves back in relegation spots. The end of the season approached...and what was coming would be tough.

- Of the last four games of the season, three were against PAOK, AEK and Olympiakos, or three of the top five teams in the country. In week 27th out of 30, we were leading AEK by 2-0 at home. We had it in our pocket...and one red card by Belthalter had us finish the match with a 2-3 loss. At week 28th, we were a point away from salvation...but with a home game against Olympiakos (1st) and the last match against Ergotelis (7th), away. We needed to beat the champions.

- And we did it! It was an amazing game, too. Over 7,.000 people in our stadium (record so far) saw us beat the best team in Greece 1-0, with a goal in the 88th minute by Spaniard Juan Jose Diaz, who became a legend right then and there. All that, after Olympiakos had a red card after one hour of game and missed a penalty in the 80th minute. Amazing.

- So, with one game to play, we were two above relegation!. We couldn't believe it. We were playing Ergotelis, a team which play for nothing, since they could not qualify for European spots anymore. Iraklis played Aris at home, a team who was playing to keep the 2nd spot in the league...surely they wouldn't be beaten just like that.

- With one point, we were saved.

- The table after 45 minutes of play looked like this.. A team playing for nothing was rolling us over, and on top of that, Iraklis was beating Aris 2-0, like it wasn't even a hassle. We were relegated unless we did something about it. We couldn't relay in Hector Cuper's team.

- But we never got there. we got scored once more at the beginning of the second half, and with a 3-0 loss and Aris looking like they weren't going to do much more, we went all in. We scored twice in the last ten minutes of the game. We had a couple more. Four minutes of extra time. We needed one goal to avoid relegation.

One single goal.

It never happened.

Iraklis won, we lost, and we were the relegated ones. Heart-breaking, but the board is still happy that we fought down to the very last day. Now, onto the bad (worse) news. We received 600k E for our position, which leaves us with 1,5m Euro in debt...and back in League 2. We are not going to have money for players, and three key players are already being sold as we speak, since they do not want to go back to League 2. As of today, we have 13 players in the first tea, who are staying for next season. We'll try to find quality players and go from there.

In the nation's Cup, we got to the quarter finals, where we lost against a Superliga team home, 0-2, shooting more and deserving more. Oh well.

Somehow, I think a possible return to League 1 will be way, way more difficult than it was a year ago.

Maybe I should have accepted this offer after all.

Stats 12/13

Final Table

Money books

Edit: Ismail has just asked me to leave; he wants to more forward. Definitely a new page being written in this team starting next year.

______________

2011/12 - Greek 2 Football League - 6th place - 56 p - 1st in Promotion group stage - PROMOTION!!! - 4th round of Greek Cup

2012/13 - Greek 1 Footbal League - 14th place - 27 p - Relegated - Quarter finalist in Greek Cup

[Twellman24]

The board wants me not only to get promoted, but to win the league--with no money for transfers and 0.5 million Euros less than what I pay right now for annual wages. This is going to be tough.

I've also just renewd my contract--to 60 euros per year. Whatever I can do for the team...

[BWZ_Tomek]

Start Otwock - Polish Second Division - 15 Games In - 11/12

So then, our first match with a player missing out through injury – and it’s the influential forward Michal Bala. We were to face Dolcan Zabki at home. They currently sit 17th in the table, that’s one off bottom. Oh, and they haven’t won in 16 matches, dating back to last season. No pressure, then…

Game #13: (H) Dolcan Zabki 1-1

Very, very disappointing game and result for us. They controlled possession, which is nothing too surprising, considering my tactics don’t exactly place an emphasis on ball retention. However, what was really disheartening was the lack of chances we fashioned. Krzysztof Trela scored his first for the club with a sliding effort, but other than that, it was a game bereft of any real quality from both teams. Considering Dolcan’s form, I really expected much better from us. Hope playing down to the competition’s level doesn’t become a habit.

Game #14: (A) Pogon Szczecin 1-1

Well, if I had any lingering doubts as to whether we’d be able to shrug off the home draw with Dolcan of 4 days ago, they were dispelled in great measure early, as we scored from the opening kickoff with a great team goal – the little creative spark Bartosz Kozakiewicz this time applying a deft finish for his 4th league goal in 12 starts. Most of the Pogon fans amongst the 2,998 in attendance hadn’t even managed to settle in their seats before their side fell a goal behind. We had the upper hand against our 13th placed opponents, until Bartosz Lawa scored a wondergoal from what had to be 30 yards just before the half hour mark, that is. Pogon easily passed it through our midfield and our 4 defenders stood like statues in unison, failing to close down the onrushing midfielder. From that point on, we held on for dear life, it seemed. Wave after wave of Pogon attack came at us. They simply seemed faster, stronger, more technical – we were being played off the park. Still, we had an decent opportunity just before the half, and a golden opportunity at about the hour mark. Both on the counter attack, both spurned. On another day we might have taken those chances. At least that’s why I keep telling myself, anyway. Ironically, despite the opponents hitting the woodwork 3 times and carving out 4 clear cut chances, it was our Kozakiewicz who was deemed Man of the Match.

Game #15: (H) Rakow Czestochowa 1-0

For our 3rd game in 8 days, we entertained fellow promoted side Rakow Czestochowa. Like ourselves, they were defying expectations, sitting prettily in 13th place. The first 20 minutes of the match belonged to us. We were the only team creating chances. Unfortunately, our finishing seems to have deserted us. We couldn’t capitalize on our chances, and as the half wore on, Rakow started to get a foothold in the match, even hitting a crossbar. I introduced Wocial at the break as a replacement up front, and he made me look like a genius, capping off a classic counterattacking move with a cool finish. Though not for lack of intent, we failed to increase our lead, and this led to some nervy moments. Rakow whipped in a cross from the right late on that caused panic and disorder in our penalty area, but our defense manfully blocked about 3 consecutive attempts before the danger was averted. A deserved victory on the balance of the game.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, our first win in 4 matches leaves us in 4th place after 15 matches, 5 points off second, and thus, a promotion place. Our most important matches are the next 4, which will take us into the winter break. In my opinion, they will serve as the best litmus test for the team yet. In that 4 game stretch, we’ll be playing the league leaders away, 7th and a strong 9th at home, followed by 10th away. Whether or not we have the quality to get results before the winter break will tell me a lot about the team and if we do, I’ll go in confident that we can secure promotion. Failure to do so will probably lead me to think about playing another year in the division and consolidating.

I’m a little concerned with 2 things. First, the fact that, despite still being third in the division in goals, we just aren’t scoring the way we used to. I could put this down to Bala’s absence, but it’s that’s really no excuse. And secondly, and arguably importantly, I am having a bit of problem with unsettled players. A few have demanded new contracts, as they’re unhappy with the current level of their wages. I’ve managed to talk a some into proving they deserve new contracts, a couple were more bullish in their approach. Given that I’ve promised them new deals, my failure to do so ultimately results in them handing in transfer requests. Now, I’ve given in to the demands of most, offering bumper deals to my more important players. However, I’m really worried that if this keeps happening, it could ruin the squad’s morale and end up sending a promising season down the tubes.

NEXT UPDATE: The aforementioned important matches prior to winter break.

[BWZ_Tomek]

Great writeup, Twellman24. I like your style. That sounded like a really monumental victory against Olympiakos. I almost felt like I was there with you and by the end of your post, I was rooting so hard for you to find that one goal you needed. Looks like next sseason will be an eventful one for sure. A new chapter in Panachaiki history will be written, but let's hope that despite the financial state of the club, you can strengthen properly and bounce straight back up!

[TIR669]

Great writeup, Twellman24. I like your style. That sounded like a really monumental victory against Olympiakos. I almost felt like I was there with you and by the end of your post, I was rooting so hard for you to find that one goal you needed. Looks like next sseason will be an eventful one for sure. A new chapter in Panachaiki history will be written, but let's hope that despite the financial state of the club, you can strengthen properly and bounce straight back up!

I agree, that really was an epic end to your relegation battle. Too bad you didn't have a little more luck. Maybe next time?

Tomek, well done on the 4th place. Good luck in those season changing games.

Awful start to the season, I doubt I will stay here until the end... In friendlies, we play great, pure, fluid football with minimum mistakes and lots of shots/goals. In the league, we mostly don't play... Three or four shots on goal is a maximum for us.

If I don't see any positive stuff more often, I will be glad to leave Gorodeya.

Table and fixtures after 8 games played.

As you can see, we did great in friendly games, but then lost the touch. After that, I did some tweaks to the tactic (i.e playing with DM-MC instead of MC-MC) and it worked! We played some friendlies to see if it's working.

Table and fixtures now. In the league, we haven't lost a single match in three months (8 games unbeaten). League fixtures. We also won the away match against league leaders Gomel by 2-0. Now it's getting better.

[Icelander83]

This is going to be a long, hard season Played the two worst teams in the division (apart from us, that is) and lost one 4-2, drew the other 1-1. Will have to rethink my tactics a bit... Finally remembered match preparation, set it to defensive set pieces, been conceding an absolute shedload from those

[Mr_Demus]

Oh god...this is going to be tough. 5 games in, only 1 win against the worst team in the league. My strikers can't score, and we're playing awfully bad.

[Icelander83]

Change of tactics from a 5-3-2 dm to a 5-3-2 am = A WIN \o/

Expenditure being way higher than income = Oh ****...

[Mr_Demus]

Money is pouring out, but needed to try something out. Found a tall, strong guy and is now going to hurl balls forward and hope that he gets some of them

[Mr_Demus]

I see where this is heading. Yet another thrashing, my team failing to score and even play at an acceptable level. Morale is really low, and my squad is ravished with injuries and bans.

[Icelander83]

Defensive Set Piece Match Preparation (DSPMP for short) is working! We are finally getting a touch on corners! Too bad they have now twice ended up in our own goal...

[Tomaldinho]

Bohemians Prague - Season Review 2012/2013

Yet another busy summer for us in the transfer market as I let a lot of players go in order to replace them with a group who I felt would serve us better in a chase for a top half finish. A few mistakes but on the whole things went well. The signing of Cristiano turned out to be inspired and he propelled us up the table as a poacher alongside another new signing Jan Rezek who acted as a target man who we launched balls up to from all angles.

My main mistake was worrying about bringing some money in during the January window from players who would be out of contract in the summer. I sold a striker who wasn't getting much of a look in to the team who eventually won the league and he scored 11 in 15 for them in the run-in which potentially lost me the title but in all honesty I was sat in 2nd for almost the entire second half of the season so no complaints from me.

I really don't know what to do this summer. Four players are retiring and two return from loan to their clubs but the rest of the overpopulated squad stays intact. Not a massive amount of quality so I may have to bring in a few new players to beef up the first team but we'll see who is around. My scouts are completely useless and regularly come back to me saying that they have finished scouting a certain country and found nobody so my prospects are bleak.

It's also just been announced that a new stadium will be built with a 5000 capacity so that's all very exciting, let's hope we have First Division games there for the forseeable.

League | Squad | Transfers

  Season           Division            Position    FA Cup       Europe  Other 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/2012     Czech Second Division     11th     Third Round     N/A     N/A
2012/2013     Czech Second Division     2nd      Second Round    N/A     Promoted

[Icelander83]

Just hope you won't get what I had on FM10, board built a new stadium and I was struggling with the debt for the next decade

[Tomaldinho]

Looks like we're paying 10k a month until 2028 which doesn't look too bad as we've just had a bumper sponsorship deal announced for next year so hopefully we can pay it off.

Just noticed that my parent club Slavia Prague have been relegated so the link has been terminated. I thought they would be one of the powerhouses I'd be trying to topple but seemingly not \o/

[Icelander83]

I'm lost for words, quite literally

5 games, 3 (!!!) own goals from set pieces, the latest one in the final minutes of a game, lose 3-2. Un-effing-believable

[Marky Mark!]

Dunloy 2011/12 Season Update - Northern Irish Second Division - Marky Mark!

2010/11 - Second Division, 2nd, League Cup Qtr Final, Steel & Sons Cup Quarter Final - Promotion!

30 Pld, 15 Won, 12 Drn, 3 Lst, 52 For, 28 Ag, +24 GD, 57 Pts

My first ever season in Northern Ireland, and I decided to pick the manage the smallest, crappiest team I could find, and make them world beaters... enter Dunloy, with an obscure reputation, a stadium of 625 people and no facilities, no staff at all, a team full of ametures playing for nothing, and very little money to pay for wages... this certainly would be a challenge!

The first thing that struck me was how bad my players were - after reviewing them, I moved them all into the reserved, and proceeded to sign 15 players (10 of which were over 30 years old!) and a staggering 17 loanees (15 of which were under 21 years old) - not very sustainable long term, but the board wouldn't allow me to pay half decent wages!

The team played well from the start of the season, and I spent most of it top of the table, but never more than a point or two from the rest of the pack. However, coming into the last game of the season I was 2nd, I point from top spot, but with 4 teams vying for the top 2 spots - A win would do it, anything else and results would need to go my way.

Things were looking good early in the last game of the season, with Dunloy going 1-0 early, but then with 10 minutes to go it became 1-1, and suddenly I dropped to 3rd on the live league table! I was ready to cry, but thankfully a late goal in one of the other games saw first drop down to third, and I managed to sneak into 2nd place on goal difference! Very lucky, but I'll take it!

2012 League Table and Graph

As well as the performance in the League, we did well in the Cups, making two Quarter Finals, one Fifth Round and one Fourth Round, and funnily enough every team that knocked me out of the cups went on to win them!

Of the players I did bring into the squad, there were probably two stand outs:

Bob Malcolm, 31yo M/DM/D ©: The scottish vetran, with history at Rangers and Dundee, was by far the best player in my team, and I'd say the best player in the league! (and the coaches think he is more than twice the player of our 2nd best defender or midfielder). Although he was quite injury prone, he managed 37 games at 7.12, and picked up fans player of the year... altough his $875 a week wage was by far the highest in the division.

Richard Walker, 31yo, D ©: An Englishman who came from League Two side Macclesfield, he was another that was too good for this league, and the coaches all agree he would be a leading star for most First Division sides. Whilst he has a lot of low stats, his key stats of Jumping, Heading, Tackling, Marking, Positioning, Strength, Anticipation, etc are ALL in double figures, which at this standard is unheard of. Managed 37 games at 7.11

As far as the loanees went, they all did ok, but the best of the lot, and top scorer, was 18 year old William Davies from a First Division Club. Whilst again a lot of low stats, the main stats are all decent, and managing 16 goals, 7 assists and 6 MOM at 7.15 from 32 games isn't bad either!

2012 Best XI

As far of finances went, I was over the wage budget from the start of the season, and an average attendance of 31 (by far the lowest in the league) at $9 a ticket didn't raise much money, but thankfully the board kept pumping money in when needed - of the $330k total income generated this season, $225k was through investments by the board!

2012 Finances

Anoyingly, no youth prospect look to have joined the club (is this normal?), and the new wage budget for First Division is still under the actual wages, so it looks like I'm going to have to go looking for more loan players in order to get a competitive side on the park - wish me luck!

New Club Records

Highest Attendance: 184 v Glentoran Irish Cup 5th Rnd 11/2/2012

Highest Gate Receipts: $1,500 v Glentoran Irish Cup 5th Rnd 11/2/2012

Lowest Attendance: 11 v Armagh Second Division 14/9/2011

Average Attendance: 47

Biggest Win: 4-0 v Moyola Park (H) Second Division 7/1/2012

Biggest Defeat: 0-4 v Linfield Swifts (H) Steel & Sons Cup Qtr Final 15/10/2011

Highest Scoring Games: 4-2 v Moyola Park (A) Second Division 16/8/2011

Highest Scoring League Game: 4-2 v Moyola Park (A) Second Division 16/8/2011

Most Games Won in Row: 10 - 6/8/2011 to 1/10/2011

Most Games Without Losing: 10 - 6/8/2011 to 1/10/2011

Most Games Without Wining: 5 - 10/3/2012 to 7/4/2012

Most Games Without Conceeding: 2 - 24/9/2011 to 1/10/2011

Most Games Without Scoring: 2 - 30/11/2011 to 3/12/2011

Top Goalscorer: William Davies - 16

Top League Goalscorer: William Davies - 10

Most Goals in a Match: William Davies - 2 (v Armagh City 14/9/2011)

Most Assists: Bob Malcolm - 11

Highest Average Rating: William Davies - 7.15 (32 apps)

Most Man of Match: William Davies - 6

Worst Discipline: Barry Johnston - 3 yellow cards / 1 red card

Most League Goals for Club: William Davies - 10

Youngest Player: Paul Martin - 17 years 75 days (v Ballynure O.B (A) Steel & Sons Cup 3rd Rnd 2/9/2011)

Oldest Player: Davy O'Hare - 39 years 311 days (v Moyola Park (H) Second Division 7/1/2012)

Fastest Goal: Lee Thompson - 2 minutes and 54 seconds (v Coagh Utd in the Northern Irish Second Division 17/12/2011)

Youngest Goalscorer: Paul Martin - 17 years 90 days (v Glenavon (A) League Cup 2nd Rnd 17/9/2011)

Oldest Goalscorer: Dave Cameron - 36 years 94 days (v Tobermore Utd (H) Irish Cup 2nd Rnd 26/11/2011)

Total Steam Achievements: 10/86

New Steam Achievements this season: He's signed, Shrewd Spender, First Victory, Back of the Net, Clean Sheet, Unbeatable!, Your on Fire, I'm the Boss!, You're Up!, Overachiever!

[Mr_Demus]

After 547 minutes without a goal, and 6 matches without a point, we finally got a victory. 3-0 against one of the other promoted teams

[Icelander83]

I'm wondering whether whoever coined the phrase "things can only get better" ever managed my lousy excuse for a football team... Another loss, firmly rooted in the relegation zone and my only left wingback gets injured

[the greyham]

marky mark!

great first season in NI but about your youth players if you check your facilities you will probably find that there is none, most lower league sides in NI dont from my experience

[Marky Mark!]

marky mark!

great first season in NI but about your youth players if you check your facilities you will probably find that there is none, most lower league sides in NI dont from my experience

Huh, there you go, Limited youth recruitment, but no youth facilities... that's a shame, I was really relying on some free youths to add some depth to my paper thin squad!

[Lochside Don]

Most definitely, have been winning games 3-0, 4-1,etc. Have spent about £500k, but wage limit now reached. Missed an opportunity to add a couple of exciting Argentinian midfielders that were offered to me due to wage restrictions being in place. Looking forward to drawing a 1st division opponent in the cup to see how I compare against them.

[Quackje]

Seems this challenge is a bit harder this year by the number of people struggling to get something going.

Unlucky Twellman, a valiant effort there hope Tomaldinho gets a bit luckier in his trip to the top flight.

[mag man]

I am finding it much harder to bring in good players on the cheap. Also finding when a player has been good for me its pretty tough keeping him around.

[Icelander83]

I'm really thinking of starting over in Scandinavia. This Hungarian save is driving me up the wall with frustration and I've not had a single good game or even good passage of play in something around 10 games ffs. My expensive striker has scored 3 goals in 14 games, 2 of those came when we were 4-0 down in the cup. Quite simply fed up.

Actually, I am starting over, just got to decide which Nordic country to choose

[mag man]

So because of the possibility of not playing in Europe with the team from Liechtenstein I have restarted in Switzerland and gone with FC Martigny-Sports.

Manager Profile and Personal Screen.

mag man Season 2011/12 Update - FC Martigny - Challenge League

A pretty solid first season for me, finishing in a comfortable midtable 8th. I am loving how much shorter the seasons are than in England. I am still tinkering with tactics and hope to use my time in the challenge league creating something I am happy to take up to the Super League.

League Table

Squad

Finances

Manager Profile

Star Player - Thomas Mica

Also must apologise for the short updates. I have whizzed through the first couple seasons and so havent taken screenshots/written as have gone along. Something which I will change from season 3 or 4 onwards.

[brambleten]

well, 4 games into the season, i have my first win in Wales. the fixture list wasnt kind, with TNS at home first, Neath (who won the league last season) away 2nd, then Airbus third. i managed a draw with airbus, but these 2 goals gave me a win against Haverfordwest to kickstart my spluttering campaign

Seargeant freekick

O'Toole capitalises on keeper mistake

[Icelander83]

Started again in Sweden. Going to make a more determined effort this time, including posting an update for every month or two instead of an entire season. To that end, here's the first update, before I press continue so much as once

Daniel Sjölund takes over at Göteborg based Ahlafors IF. The goal is to avoid relegation and do so on a shoestring (or half a shoestring, as it happens)

The assman thinks the squad is pretty good, apart from lacking a good right back. The staff is a bit different to what I'm used to. I have a 28 year old player/assman and a 32 year old player/gk coach. Then I've got another GK coach and a fitness coach. Starting to think this team might be a front for some dirty business!

Checking the rules of the league I see that it's a regular double round robin, so 22 games in all. An interesting rule is in place, the match squad must contain at least 9 players who have been trained in Sweden before the age of 21.

I set up 3 different formations for team training. First is a simple 4-4-2 with everything on defaults, second a defensive 4-5-1 and the third an attacking 4-4-2 diamond.

That'll do for now, next update will arrive just before the first league game, when I've made most of my transfers and such 'mon the agents!

[Gilbster]

Afan Lido - Welsh Premier Division - 2011/12

After my dismal failure with Barry Town, I took my holiday person save game, relaoded it a few times and came up with the idea of being manager of Afan Lido.

They looked a better squad than I was expecting, but given my recent managerial track record I wasn't too hopeful.

My first tasks were to find a scout and assistanct manager that would actually come to the club for the peanut wages I was able to offer. With that sorted, I had to find some improved players.

I ended up bringing in a lot of players on free transfers, and had some hope.

The first few games were overall better than I was expecting, in that I managed to get a point within the first few competitive games. At one point I was even hopeful we wouldnt end up in a full blown relegation scrap, but it turns out the team's weakness was scoring goals. As a result, we could get draws, and only an odd win if exceptionally lucky.

Happily though the final table looks good, in that we are still in the division. Which is all I could have wantted at the start of the season.

My hopes for next season, survive again and somehow find a strikeforce from somewhere. I have quite a few players leaving at the end of the season, including some that had been pre-signed for me, before I had started in charge.

Hopefully we can make some progress next season, and not still possibly be relegated come the last day of the season.

[B.W.G]

Bridgend Town - Principality Welsh Premier League - 2017/18

Transfers - Strengthening positions really. I signed Billy Bodin to see if I could sign anyone from the national team. He doesnt get capped but he still gets called up for the Wales squad.

Competitions

Welsh Premier - Table - 1st undefeated season, next objective is to win everygame. The league shouldn't be too far off of imrpoving to 1.5 * which should help the AI improve the quality of players they are signing to make it more of a contest.

Champions League - Group Stages - A tougher group then last year so I don't care that I came bottom. I got a win in a group stage in any European competition, only took 3 seasons as well The unlucky team who lost were Spurs, the draw was against Valencia.

Welsh Cup - Winners - Edged a close game, but was fielding a slight weakened team as I've started rotating the squads.

League Cup - Winners - I am glad I won this due to the fact that the refs helped TNS get to the final. Justice prevails as I was hoping for a ding dong battle against Airbus, but instead I end up against TNS as Airbus had 3 goals ruled out in the 2nd leg which would had put them through 4-3 on agg instead of losing 3-1.

Players/Awards

I won Manager of the Year

Rob Yates was top scorer with 35 goals.

Alan Williams came top of the assists with 24. He also won Player of the Year.

Scott Mckenzie collected Young Player of the Year

Youth Propesct David Stewart collected Welsh Young Player of the Year with fellow Bridgend players David Hughes and Nicholas King in a clean Sweep.

No real prospects this year but continue to improve the facilites to help improve my chances of the next Welsh wonderkid.

Expectations

Continue to Improve the Welsh Premier League reputation. It currently stands at 208th which is higher then what it started on.

Its a case of same ol same ol, continue domestically and continue to improve in Europe.

Season     League    Cup              C.League      Euro Cup     Achievements
2011/12    2nd      Runners Up        N/A             N/A        Euro Cup Qualifcation
2012/13    1st      Winners           N/A             2nd QL     Domestic Treble
2013/14    1st      Winners           2nd QL          N/A        Domestic Treble
2014/15    1st      Winners           2nd QL          N/A        Domestic Treble.     
2015/16    1st      Winners           Play Off        Group      Domestic Treble.
2016/17    1st      Winners           Group Stage     N/A        Domestic Treble
2017/18    1st      Winners           Group Stage     N/A        Domestic Treble 

I was also thinking of doing a Hall of Fame but I don't really know what warrants a place in it in terms of football. Any help would be appreciated.

[B.W.G]

Gilbster - good job on keeping Afan Lido up. Just have a question for you, are you noticing alot of takeovers in the league?

[Fastbasher]

Eger - Hungarian Division II East - 2014/15 season review

After three seasons of struggle, this season really did seem too easy. As the transfer summary shows, with only four players in, the players really did get a chance to gel together. This is a stark contrast to the previous two seasons where an excess of 20 players each season were signed.

The League

We really did dominate this. After a slightly slow start the team gelled and there was no looking back. At one point we had stormed out to an 8 point lead and were winning games with ease. As this graph shows, there was a slight blip towards the end where we conceded the odd late goal and let wins slip to draws, but it always looked like we had the quality and stormed home to victory.

The Cup

We were somewhat fortunate in this to receive some very easy teams in the draw and avoid all the big guns. After finally facing weakish top flight opposition in the quarterfinal, Diósgyör severely underperformed and we managed to sneak the tie on away goals. Its probably fair to say they were lucky to be that close as well.

The semi final drew us against a surprise package in non league giant killers Veszprém we blew them off the park in the home leg 4-1. I was still wondering how on earth they made it to the semis, when they came back at us in the away leg. We eventually lost 5-2, but went into the final on away goals for the second tie in a row. As a result of this 6-6 aggregate, Veszprém broke the record for most goals scored in the Hungarian cup, and we broke the record for most conceded. Who cares, we're in the final

The final threw up a David vs Goliath clash as we met Hungarian champions Debrecen. The team were not overawed however, after beating Diósgyör once and having a couple of friendly wins against top flight opposition, they proved they could have a go at them.

Things went well in the first half the defence were superb and we even carved out a couple of chances. We were gutted to concede right on halftime and go into the dressing room 1-0 down. Still the boys came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, and were perhaps a bit too exuberant as Cameroonian youth international Francis Manga got sent off in the 60th minute. Debrecen missed the penalty but we unable to breakthough and the score remained 1-0. Still to push them close, only losing 1-0 to the best team in Hungary in a big game is an encouraging sign.

The Team

So many players played well, it is difficult to mention them all. Last years promising defender, Gábor Ludánszki had another good season. He is up to 9 Hungarian under 21 caps and got a goal as well. He also won the young player of the year award for the Division II East. Kornél Fischer, a product of our own youth academy managed to get third in the young player of the season award, despite not being a first team regular.

The goals came from former Barcelona, Celta de Vigo and Norwich City journeyman, Goran Maric and rising Hungarian star Roland Vólent who made huge improvements since last season.

Finances

The board chipped in Ł150k to help the club continue, but it is still a drop in the bucket. We got very little for our league win and cup runner up place. Attendances did rise slightly, but we are still 500k in debt. Hopefully gate takings, sponsorship and television money in the top flight take care of this, but it wont happen overnight.

The season ahead will be a fun one. The club has just turned professional and have given me a transfer budget of Ł2k, and an increase in the wage budget to Ł15k per week. Presumably to turn all the contracts full time.

Tough but exciting times ahead at Városi Stadion

[Gilbster]

Gilbster - good job on keeping Afan Lido up. Just have a question for you, are you noticing alot of takeovers in the league?

Thanks. Yeah have seen quite a few takeovers so far. None with Sugar daddies thankfully though.

[B.W.G]

Good going on getting your promotion Just to let you know, your link for Maric sends me to a picture of Fischer even though Fischer does look good.

[Quackje]

Good job on the promotion Fastbasher

BWG, some of your players actually look like they can play football now a big improvement. Can you add some more detail on the European matches though, thats where the challenge is at for you now (and partly for me too, looks very likely I will be in Europe next season, but not champions league).

[Fastbasher]

Fixed link for Maric.

We are in Europe. Debrecen got the Champions League spot for winning Division one at a canter, so we picked up the Euro League spot as cup runners up.

First round qualifying is against Glenavon of N. Ireland. If we get past them, then a trip to Finland to face Honka awaits. Ahh, truly the cream of European football.

Oh, we are also 2000-1 for the Hungarian title. I'm tempted on a virtual flutter.

[B.W.G]

QuackjeWill put more detail into the European competitions starting with my next report. Nice to see the Europa beckoning for you...good luck

Well played Fastbasher...enjoy the experience