Adam "Le God" Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Cheers rlipscombe. I have just made my first two signings as manager. A much needed left back and a left winger who i hope will offer a bit of quality at this level. Quick question lads, Is it ok for me to do more frequent updates than just once a season? i was thinking that i would do 3-4 a season. Would that be ok? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Adam Le God - Welcome aboard! I think I speak for all of us in here that we never complain about 'too many' updates. Post as much detail as often as you want. We love to know what's going on! Edit - Well. That's a bit of a relief. After some nervous moments at the start of this year's Champions' League campaign - I drew Barcelona, Juventus and Wisla in the group and then promptly lost to Wisla in the first game - I have qualified. Largely thanks to a dreadful showing from Juve who finished rock bottom of the group with only one point. Also encouraging were our performances against Barcelona. We lost 0-1 at home courtesy of an own goal, but snatched a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp. We were in both games. Encouraging if we can play the same way in the knockout stages. I still think it'll take a decent draw and a bit of luck for us to get to the real business end, but surely we must get a bit of luck soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 LLR and rlipscombe - both slightly disappointing seasons - hope you can turn it around next year and come back stronger As for us, I predicted it right - we hammered Galatasaray 8-0 on aggregate! This could be the year...Bayern Munich in the quarters Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 A pretty epic 9-5 aggregate win over Bayern takes us to the semi-finals. I'm delighted to be facing Porto, who knocked out our nemesis Barcelona in the quarter finals... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 We're in the final!!! Another epic win over Porto. A real nerve-jangler. We face four-time European Cup winners Manchester City in the final Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam "Le God" Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Congratulations iacovone, good luck in the final. On a side note i have just brought in a couple of decent strikers and a right winger with quality dribbling and technique. Hopefully i will get my first update out later tonight otherwise it will be tomorrow. Also does anyone know where i can get hold of some kits and badges for the Italian league teams? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Adam "Le God" - i get all my kits from sortitoutsi.net. all the italian kits are there plus lots more. you might even get a kit made for you if you ask the right people. And as PRDH said, feel free to update as often as you like. helps us get drawn into your game. iacovone - was a little frustrating but i am over it now. one of those things. good luck in the final. i feel that we might have our next completion very shortly. seem to be scoring goals for fun which will help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Vikeologist’s 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 End of Season Reports [/color][/size][/font]Season League Pos Cups Europe Award2012/13 Sc Div 3 1st No comment n/a Manager of the Year 2013/14 Sc Div 2 1st Challenge Cup Finalists n/a Manager of the Year 2014/15 Sc Div 1 3rd CC Winners & SC Final qual None 2015/16 Sc Div 1 2nd CC & SC Winners, LC R/U EC 3Q Manager of the Year 2016/17 Sc Div 1 1st Challenge Cup Winners EC 4Q Manager of the Year 2017/18 Sc Prem 5th LC Final qual None 2018/19 Sc Prem 7th LC Winners EC R2 Manager of the Year 2019/20 Sc Prem 1st SC Winners, LC R/U n/a Manager of the Year 2020/21 Sc Prem 1st SC & LC Winners EC Winners Manager of the Year 2021/22 Sc Prem 1st SC Winners cc Q/F Manager of the Year 2022/23 Sc Prem 1st LC R/U CC R1 Manager of the Year 2023/24 Sc Prem 1st LC R/U, SC Winners CC R1 Manager of the Year 2024/25 Sc Prem 1st SC R/U CC Q/F Manager of the Year 2025/26 Sc Prem 1st SC, LC CC Q/F None 2026/27 Sc Prem 1st SC, LC CC Q/F Manager of the Year 2027/28 Sc Prem 1st LC CC Q/F None [font=Times New Roman][size=3][color=#000000] 2026/2027 Squad League Transfers Pretty much unbeatable both at home (109 points from a possible 114 and every record imaginable) and Europe, until we were beaten 7-0 away by Man Utd in the Quarter Finals, (having won 3-0 at home) 2027/28 Squad League Transfers More of the same, except the team is now on the decline, and this time we lost 2-1 on aggregate to Utd in the quarter finals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 One day before the Champions League final I get this message. Quite cool Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lower Leagues Rule Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 So if you win the final you will have completed the challenge after exactly 1000 matches in charge...WOW! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 So if you win the final you will have completed the challenge after exactly 1000 matches in charge...WOW! Exactly! Such a coincidence! I'll be updating later this afternoon on the big game... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 iacovone - it is SURELY destiny that completion will come on your 1,000th game.... good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Agreed. It's written in the stars iacovone! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Good luck Iacovone! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 My 1000th game in charge...The Champions League Final 2034 Line-ups: |---------------------------------------| |MANCHESTER CITY | NOVESE | |---------------------------------------| |Soler | Corno | | | | |Schmiedel | Iglesias | |de Graaff | Schultz | |Pecarov | Andreuzza | |Liu Shuai | | | | Omer Yoney | |Sedani | Caro | |Hanninen | | |Qin Zhenglei | Velazquez | | | | |Cardena | Della Corna | |Emerson | van Roosmalen | | | | |Mostafa | Steve | | | Ripa | |---------------------------------------| We were pretty much at full strength. The only concern was Steve, who had just come back from a 3 week layoff and Pasquali who had been out for four weeks and could only make the bench. Pre-match: I told the players to go out and impress me. Kick-off. 1st Half: 1min: Mostafa finds room wide right to dribble to our byline. He cuts the ball back to Hanninen who sees his shot hit the side netting. 3mins: Emerson's free kick from wide is headed onto the crossbar by Cardena from 6 yards out. 4mins: Qin Zhenglei rolls the ball into Mostafa but his shot from the edge of the box is caught by Corno. A worrying start... 12mins: Emerson beats Andreuzza too easily and sends a deep cross that Cardena nods just over the bar. 16mins: Velazquez collects a corner on the edge of the box and gives it to van Roosmalen. His right-footed strike thunders against the crossbar and away to safety. 19mins: Ripa gets his head on a Della Corna corner but it sails over. 24mins: Schultz meets Della Corna's front post corner and somehow nods over the bar. It looked in! 27mins: GOAL!!! Sedani's corner to the back post is met by De Graaff and he slams it past Corno for the opening goal. MAN CITY 1-0 NOVESE 32mins: Ripa weaves past two defenders on the edge of the box but his low drive is tipped round the post by Soler. From the resulting corner, Caro sees his shot from the edge of the box tipped behind. 37mins: Mostafa and Cardena link up well but the latter's shot is just over the bar. 41mins: GOAL!!! Omer Yoney finds van Roosmalen on the left corner of the box. He spots Velazquez's run and puts the ball on his head. The Mexican flicks it backwards and into the top corner! MAN CITY 1-1 NOVESE 2nd Half: 47mins: Della Corna's wide free kick is met by Schultz but his shot is saved at the near post. 56mins: Steve breaks from the halfway line and charges into the box. His initial shot is parried and his follow up effort is also turned away. We lose the ball on the edge of the box and City break. Iglesias loses a crucial tackle on the halfway line and it's 3 on 1...Mostafa switches play to Cardena who pulls wide before hitting an early cross to Russell Cameron...GOAL!!! the forward slams home the cross at Corno's near post. MAN CITY 2-1 NOVESE 61mins: Velazquez wide free-kick is tipped behind for a corner. 69mins: Emerson drifts inside and feeds Cameron who slips behind our defence. His shot is beaten away by Corno though. 70mins: van Roosmalen cuts inside and slides the ball into Della Corna. His shot is fiercely struck but Soler again matches it, turning the ball away. 76mins: PENALTY!!! van Roosmalen takes the ball from Andreuzza and turns Schmiedel in the box. The full-back swivels and slides, tripping van Roosmalen. He's shown a yellow card...and it's his second! RED CARD for MAN CITY. ......Velazquez steps up to the penalty spot and smashes it into the top right corner! GOAL!!!! MAN CITY 2-2 NOVESE 80mins: Mostafa takes a throw and gets the return. He puts a great ball in and Cameron heads...just wide. 88mins: Cardena corner to the near post is met by Turner. It looks to be heading to Corno but takes a nick off Schultz and...GOAL!!! City score. MAN CITY 3-2 NOVESE 90mins: van Roosmalen's cross from the left is heading in but for the fingertips of Soler. The ball ricochets into the air and is hacked off the line by de Graaff! From the resulting corner, Schultz attacks the near post and his header is heading in until Soler parries it to safety! Drama! 93mins: Liu Shuai fouls Della Corna on the edge of the box. The crowd hold it's breath...van Roosmalen's effort cannons off the wall for a corner...Della Corna whips it in...Schultz heads it...OVER! Full time - Manchester City 3-2 Novese Gutted Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 iacovone - Bad luck pal! Gutting. I was sure you were going to do it. To come back from behind twice just to concede another with an extra man must have been soul-destoying. You'll just to have to do it next season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Thanks PRDH, I won't lie I was rather peeved by that result! I felt certain we'd win it, especially after they went down to ten men End of Season Report - Novese - 2033/34 (Season 22) - Serie A Serie A - 1st The league felt like a bit of a cake walk this year. I finally had a big enough squad to really rotate my players and it meant we mainly avoided big injuries. We won the title by 11 points in the end - half the distance we won it by the year before, so perhaps team's are closing the gap on us. To be fair Lazio led the way early on very impressively. The middle of the season saw us set a new club record of 28 games unbeaten. The unbeaten league season is still evading us and an early loss away at Lazio ended this season's hopes. We sustained two more losses but the league was already won by then. Overall it was a fairly easy league win. Results 1 | Results 2 Progess Champions League: The group stage saw us pitted against Lech, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. We won all our games except the home tie to Liverpool to qualify top and draw Galatasaray in the first knockout round. This was easy and we won 5-0 and 3-0 to set up a rematch with Bayern Munich in the quarter finals. Despite losing 3-2 away, we took them back to the Pastorino Stadium where we thrashed them 7-2! In the semi-finals we were paired with Porto. This was harder than I thought and we lost the away game 2-1. It could have been worse. Back at home, a Bernardo Velazquez hat-trick settled the tie 3-1 and sent us to our second final. As you'll have seen, it was my 1000th game in charge. The script was written but Manchester City refused to comply, beating us 3-2 with a late winner. Sad times. The Cups: I played our reserves for the whole tournament and they triumphed, winning our 3rd TIM Cup. I will continue using it to blood youngsters and keep reserve players fit. The Squad: Defenders Kevin Schultz (DRC/WBR) - back to his best with a largely injury free campaign. Scored an impressive 11 goals as well. Pirulito (DC) - you may remember I had him on loan a few years ago, well he's here permanently now and had a great time as back-up to Schultz. May be first choice next year if I move to 4 at the back. Midfielders Bernardo Velazquez (MRC) - beginning to turn into the world-class player I'd hoped. At times he single-handedly pulled us through games. Contributed goals and assists. Peter van Roosmalen (AMRL/ST) - another excellent year on the left as he grabbed goals and assists in abundance. Luca Della Corna (M/AMR) - Fans player of the year and superb in his second year at the club. Forwards Sebastian Pasquali (ST) - phenomenal second season for us as he scored exactly a goal a game. Set a new club average rating with 7.93. Probably would have shot us to the CL had he not got injured a few weeks before. He won a host of awards too. Best player in the CL, CL golden boot and best player in Europe. Steve (ST) - difficult year for the naturalized Pole (!). He tore his calf in pre-season so missed 3 months. Came back well enough but then suffered another injury right before the CL final. Carlo Ripa (AMRC/ST) - has taken the role of backup striker but is beginning to slow down now he has hit 30. Just completed his tenth year at the club and grabbed 19 goals and 19 assists. Another great return. Eduard Dobrovolny (ST) - young Bulgarian striker was blooded this year and did very well. 11 goals and 9 assists is not to be sniffed at. He will likely move ahead of Ripa in the pecking order next year. Squad Stats Finances Club Information Facilities Transfers Our training facilities will be improved again but the packed out stadium still won't be touched. I managed to get the youth recruitment network expanded again to above average. Unfortunately it's had no effect yet. With the 2034 World Cup, I thought I'd post a list of our attendees - it was quite impressive. Objectives Complete? Win Serie ASuccess! Yep. Easy enough. Make the CL quarter-finals at leastSuccess, but not quite as great as it could have been. Continue to find Italian playersFailed! I actually ended up selling one of them so it's really not going too well. I may just delay it until my academy starts producing players. New Objectives: Win Serie A Win the CL Have an unbeaten league season CL is still the main focus and we are on the pinnacle of succeeding. I like some of my youth prospects but I'm beginning to think to get success in Europe I need to alter my tactic. We were too exposed against the very best sides and I may move to four at the back. I'll tinker in pre-season and see how it looks. Joining us in Serie A this season are: Empoli, Alessandria and Verona. Departing Serie A are: Reggina, Bari and Salerno. Seasonal Best Eleven Overall Best Eleven Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Sebastian Pasquali just scored the winner in World Cup 2034. We have a world cup winner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 unlucky iacovone... gutted for you. still it was a good experience and i'm sure you'll complete within a couple of seasons... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostwriter Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 unlucky iacavone. hopefully 3rd time lucky... was that 2 Chinese players i saw in Man City's line-up?! presumably they are pretty good players. do China have a good side then? my game with Lyon Duchere has got off to an insanely slow start. not had a huge amount of time plus the 1st season always seems the most difficult. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 unlucky iacavone. hopefully 3rd time lucky...was that 2 Chinese players i saw in Man City's line-up?! presumably they are pretty good players. do China have a good side then? Good spot, yeah the two Chinese players at City are very good. 120 caps for the CB and 93 for the midfielder. China did well in the world cup just gone, losing to Nigeria in the quarter final Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 iacovone - so unlucky against Man City in the final, you are amongst the best of Europe though so CL success will come around soon surely. siLKEAPE - well done on winning the Serie A G-Wiz - great job on promotion! StellaF1 - Solid first season with Vendee Luçon rlipscombe - dissappointing season in the Bundesliga there, but a good CL campaign, hope you can get back on track next season domoestically. vikeologist - You seem to have hit a stalling point in the CL, hope you can find that extra edge to make it further! I am almost finishing another season and it has been a steady one, no threat of relegation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 vikeologist your game is immense mate!! I don't know what I'm more impressed with, the fact you've won the SPL with East Stirling, or that my beloved Partick Thistle are also in the league and doing well! Ah if only! This thread is brilliant, I'm downloading fm12 as we speak and will join up tomorrow, had a look at various challenges, but the support and goodwill on this thread far outweighs the others. Plus, I honestly don't think I've ever played a single league in all my FM's in the past outwith Scotland and England, so will be interesting to try another country. Will update you tomorrow with my first steps into European club management! Edited to add, could you indulge me and have a look at Thistle to see how they've fared since you started. Like maybe a star player or two, if they've played in Europe etc? If you can't be gassed it's cool, but I'd love to see it on screen the jags in europe! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 vikeologist your game is immense mate!! I don't know what I'm more impressed with, the fact you've won the SPL with East Stirling, or that my beloved Partick Thistle are also in the league and doing well! Ah if only! This thread is brilliant, I'm downloading fm12 as we speak and will join up tomorrow, had a look at various challenges, but the support and goodwill on this thread far outweighs the others. Plus, I honestly don't think I've ever played a single league in all my FM's in the past outwith Scotland and England, so will be interesting to try another country. Will update you tomorrow with my first steps into European club management! Great stuff, look forward to your input aldojags Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 cheers mate. meant to mention, i'm a big fan of your posts too iacovone, already dreaming of signing a player like Schultz! Your dutch winger is dynamite too! Look forward to sharing my story with you gentlemen! fm12 currently at 83%, it's 1.46am, I want to wait up to holiday, get my club, then head to sleep, start my season tomorrow! download taking an absolute age, just watching some of my arrested development to tide me over Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Ok here goes nothing...decided to join this challenge after reading a few pages and getting kinda hooked on some of your seasons, thought I'd give it a go myself... Profile| Personal Have taken on the post of Entente Sportive Viry Chatillon in the French National League. As you can see, media predictions have us finishing 20 out of 20, so survival must be the main aim this season. I have a 9k per week wage budget, of which I am currently spending 6k, so I've got a bit of room to manouvere. Have had a quick look through my squad, seems one or two decent players there, but I'll undoubtedly have to strengthen. Heading to bed now, will tackle pre season when I get up, will update you when I've got something (hopefully positive) to report. P.S. apologies if this page turns out a mess, I tried to make it as professional as some of yours, but I don't think I got close! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Great opening post aldojags, best of luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Thank you, glad to be on board! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 aldojags - Welcome aboard and good luck in France! I have not seen the word 'outwith' used since I left Scotland, love it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 aldojags - welcome to the challenge - always good to see new people starting the challenge, particularly when it is their first foray into the dark waters of lower league European football!! hopefully you enjoy your game with Viry-Chatillon and get great success - it might take a few seasons mind! sure you'll get the support you need here to help you through the dark times!! and as for your opening post, it all looks fine to me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 vikeologist Edited to add, could you indulge me and have a look at Thistle to see how they've fared since you started. Like maybe a star player or two, if they've played in Europe etc? If you can't be gassed it's cool, but I'd love to see it on screen the jags in europe! Thistle are a fixture in the Premier League in my save, and often finish in the top half of the table. the closest they've come to actually winning anything was the Scottish Cup Final in 2024, where they played us and lost 4-1. Sorry about that. They've been in europe a few times, and failed to make it to the Euro Cup Group stage by one goal a couple of times. Their star player has been a Scottish International mainstay who's scored 209 club goals, but unfortunately in my save his international status doesn't mean much. I've given up on Scottish players for my club as they're never good enough to get into the first 11, so their potential goes unfulfilled. The only Scottish player in my senior squad is my reserve cental midfielder who picked up a couple of caps at the end of last season when I played him in the first team after I'd won the league by the customary country mile. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
efrumttr Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I too have decided to give this a go after being inspired by reading through this thread. It was between France and Russia for me and I landed in France with... Here goes, hope this works:D SO Romorantin 2012-2013 The Beginnings SO Romorantin hire Thelander as coach Profile Manager Info In what may be seen as a surprise appointment, the SO Romorantin board has named a virtually unknown Canadian head coach as their new boss. Andrew Thelander, who turns thirty-three next birthday, was introduced to fans and journalists alike at Stade Jules Ladoumègue this morning. Background I couldn't find a ton on the club. It was founded in 1930 and they've been back and forth between the National league and the CFA since the early 1990s. Their stadium seats about 6k (and about 2k seated). I admit I primarily chose them because I really liked their logo and kits:p Preseason Board expectations: Avoid relegation. I'm still a fairly new player at FM in general so I'm also just hoping I can stay up. Media prediction: 15th (to just stay up, then) Wage budget: $24k, currently spending roughly $19.4k Transfer budget: $101k (not bad at all actually, much more than I was expecting) Squad Overview Information Squad Team Report So as I mentioned earlier I've only played FM for a few weeks, I've found some pretty good sites that describe what attributes to really look at for each position. Player roles are still a little shaky though, so this could be touch and go. One thing that I have come to appreciate is having a rock solid keeper in the back. It's one of the first things I really look for in pretty much every game I've played so far. I think I've gotten pretty lucky with this team, though, as Cattier seems to have very nice atts for this level (he's my only 4* player as well). Hopefully he can hold things down and maybe snatch us an extra point or two now and again. Other than that my squad looks decent, but not great. I'm really wondering where the goals are going to come from, as my attacking mids leave plenty to be desired and I seem to have one lone striker who has halfway decent atts. We might have to adopt a more defensive style initially until I can get some finishers in here. Oh well, I guess that's the challenge of managing in a lower league, eh? The good thing is that I do have money to spend, so I can bolster the squad quite a bit. Goals for 2012-13 1) Avoid the drop. 2) Judiciously use the transfer budget to bring in new talent. I want to do this gradually so that the squad cohesion isn't completely thrown off, so it'll be a balance. 3) Be financially responsible and help the club stay in the black. I think that's everything...off to France I go! Good luck everybody! P.S. Hope this post was solid, let me know if there's something I missed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Thistle are a fixture in the Premier League in my save, and often finish in the top half of the table. the closest they've come to actually winning anything was the Scottish Cup Final in 2024, where they played us and lost 4-1. Sorry about that.They've been in europe a few times, and failed to make it to the Euro Cup Group stage by one goal a couple of times. Their star player has been a Scottish International mainstay who's scored 209 club goals, but unfortunately in my save his international status doesn't mean much. I've given up on Scottish players for my club as they're never good enough to get into the first 11, so their potential goes unfulfilled. The only Scottish player in my senior squad is my reserve cental midfielder who picked up a couple of caps at the end of last season when I played him in the first team after I'd won the league by the customary country mile. Thanks for that mate! 209 club goals, legend! Already that guy is my favourite FM player of all time! hahaha. In the past, when I was Celtic in a save, I found Scottish players to be decent back up, but no-one ever really got up to standards of playing in Champions league. But they were good squad players, give them a game at home when your resting your stars. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Pre-season report 2012/13. Well I've been playing this save for hours already, but yet to play a competitive match. Just wanted to get used to changes from FM11, hired a whole new backroom team, and I gutted out my squad, moving on 21, bringing in 26, so pretty much an entire new squad, although a few of my signings were 16 year olds for my under 19s with decent PA. Struggled in my first match in pre-season, mainly as I was getting used to changes in match engine from fm11, and getting used to my team doing a bit of tinkering. But I recovered to have a pretty decent pre-season, the bigger teams I played, I actually competed well, although Toulouse thrashed me, we actually played well and dominated possession. The Lille game was great, they had a good team out, not 1st choice, but still good team, and we were unlucky not to win. Pre season fixtures. As you can see, my first game of league season is at home to Guingamp, who are favourites to go up along with FC Metz, both clubs squads look light years ahead of the rest, so I think my first game, although at home, could well be a tough one. I'm still getting used to tones you can use in team talks, any of you found a good motivational speech? I've been pretty calm mostly, telling them to get fitness sorted, and it worked ok, but a few bodies "appeared disinterested" etc. Happy with squad I've assembled, got a good blend of youth and experience, plenty of pace up front, need to see how I'll fare, as I'm a complete novice regarding French football, this could be good enough to keep me up, or I could bomb to bottom of the league. Media prediction is bottom of league, so I'm guessing I'll struggle. Here's a few players I've highlighted, who have either impressed me in pre-season, or who I think will be key in me staying up.. Vincent DiBartolomo, steady centre half, along with Mikal Gamondes, will form a part of what I think is a steady back four. My main focus in FM is always to make my team hard to beat, get the keeper and defence sorted, you will never be successful without clean sheets, so I'm happy with the defence I've got. In midfield, I've got a blend of steady strong central players, and got young exciting pacy wingers to supplement the steel in the middle. Got a few centre mids, Noui Lafa, Pierre Goazoui, unspectacular but steady players with decent physical attributes, hopefully winning and keeping possession for my creative players like Ziri Hammar, young winger, still got a bit to learn, but going forward I think he'll do well, and could get a few assists for me. Also will be depending on Aboubacar Guindo, more experienced than my other wingers, he impressed me in pre-season, especially against the bigger teams. I might get him to tutor on the younger ones actually. Also worthy of a mention are Brahim Zenafi, may not start too many games, but my assistant fancies him as a 4.5 potential, so worth giving him a few appearances and he could do well in years to come. Fawzi Ouaamar also looks a decent prospect, as does Otman Djellilahine. Got some decent pacy strikers, hoping if I give them the service a few of them can nick double figures this season, need goals to stay up. Nicolas Crus, and Abdou Dieye are just 2 of my 4 strong centre forwards. Signed a few youth prospects, get them match experience at some point hopefully, although a relegation battle is no place for blooding youth, so they may need to be patient. Here's the pick of my youths...Bereket Teklehaimanot, Steve Vincent, Christophe Casabianca, Clment Diop-Degout, Enis Benzarti. Got most of them on free transfers, but apparently they've all got good PA according to my assistant, so I may have some good players for the future. Plan for season Avoid the drop at all costs. Lose some more of the dead wood in the squad, identify some good players for next season. Give the youth a chance when appropriate, bring the CA closer to PA of some of the prospects. Wish me luck! Edited to add, best of luck to efrumttr, will be good doing the challenge same time as you in France, we can compare notes! All the best buddy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Does anyone know if there's a badge/kit download for lower league france? If not, I've downloaded the badge, how do I put it in the game? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lower Leagues Rule Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 Does anyone know if there's a badge/kit download for lower league france? If not, I've downloaded the badge, how do I put it in the game? I believe the badges should be in the Metallic Pack, or Button logos, check the front page of the thread, on that 2nd post there should also be kits for all our leagues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 efrumttr - So happy to see you taking on Romorantin! I had a great time with the back on FM10. I wish you all the best. I hope you can oversee a fantastic rise to glory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 effrumttr - welcome to the thread. good to have another newcomer. hope you enjoy your game. good opening post too. aldojags - good update there. sounds like a typical first season in the challenge, clearing out the deadwood and scouting around for a new squad. hopefully they settle quickly and you make a good start to life as manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Best of luck with Romorantim effrumttr! Pretty busy pre-season there aldojags, I especially like the look of Abdou Dieye. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Real Sport Clube – 2020/21 Liga Zon Sagres Liga Zon Sagres Media Prediction: 12th Board Expectation: Mid-Table My Target: Avoid Relegation League Table: 7th ǁ Position Graph I was very happy with our solid performance this season. We started off looking like we were going to struggle, but once we hit our stride we never looked back. We even had a shot at European Qualification in the last game if we had won against Nacional da Madeira at home, but it wasn’t to be. The highlight of the season has to be our 2-0 away win against Porto, the first win against them in my career! Taça de Portugal Millennium Fixtures After dispatching two easy teams we were unfortunate to lose out to eventual winners Moreirense on penalties. Bwin Cup Third Phase Group C: 3rd ǁ Fixtures We almost made it to the Semi Finals this time, if we had managed to hold Porto at Estádio do Dragão, but they were too strong on that occasion and ended up beating us 4-2 and advancing to the next stage. The Royals Transfers 1 ǁ Transfers 2 ǁ Squad 1 ǁ Squad 2 This is the first window were we managed to make more money out of sales. All of the players were back-ups and easily replaceable, apart from Ahmed Fawzy, who just wouldn’t sign a new deal. I managed to bring in quite a few good players on frees again and had by far my best squad so far in terms of depth. GK: Buick – Another great season by Buick, played in all games, was concerned about wanting to go to a bigger club again, but I convinced him to stick around. DR: Raymundo Gutiérrez – Came in on a free and was given the task of replacing the ever present Antônio. Did well. DC: Carazinho – Bringing this guy in January meant I could cash in on Menno Koops. Hasn’t been brilliant though and could be one to lose his starting place. DC: Eid Sayed – Had a good season. I was scared of losing him, but a week before his contract was supposed to end he finally agreed a new deal. DL: Seyithan Bilir – Keeps producing amazing performances at such a young age. Kayserispor have been annoying me with constant € 2.4M bids, but I am having none of it, mainly as he has just signed a new deal. DMC: Bruno Fazio – I was honestly a little bit skeptical about him replacing Fawzy, but he convinced me with solid performances and got better as the season progressed. MC: Esteban Cardona – Another good season by the Colombian, he has broken his leg though and will be out for 6 months. MC: Emil Nowak – Also had a good season and rotated well with Esteban and Cléber. MC: Cléber – Had to put in three guys there this season as they were equally good and played roughly the same amount of matches. Cléber also played as Advanced Playmaker when Elia Agnesini was out. AMC: Elia Agnesini – Snapped him up from Roma on a free and he was a great signing, just a shame he got injured quite a bit this season. ST: Yukinori Sugimoto –Tried playing the Japanese international as a supportive striker at the start of the season, as soon as he was given the poachers role he flourished, scoring 11 league goals in the season. ST: Milton – Less effective goal ratio as he played a supporting role, but as important as ever. Other News Finances – A new chairman came and he decided it would be a good idea to take out a massive loan, so we are further indebted...on another piece of bad news, the local council blocked our stadium move. This Season Targets 1. More comfortable survival Definitely, a much easier campaign 2. Score more goals Not a big yes, but we looked a lot more fluid and comfortable in the division 3. Try to improve the finances Big fat no, even with all the sales we barely made a profit, and only because of a massive loan taken out by the new chairman. Next Season Targets 1. Challenge for a European place 2. Do better in the Taça de Portugal I think we definitely belong in the division now and look like one of the better sides outside the big 3 + Braga. If we can keep our key players I believe we can get European Qualification, be it through league placing or a cup run. Career Overview Season League Pos Taça de Portugal Bwin Cup Europe Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 2. Divisão - Zona Sul 7th First Round N/A N/A None 2013/14 2. Divisão - Zona Centro 3rd Second Round N/A N/A None 2014/15 2. Divisão - Zona Centro 1st Third Round N/A N/A Promotion 2015/16 Liga Orangina 10th Second Round First Phase N/A None 2016/17 Liga Orangina 10th Fourth Round Second Phase N/A None 2017/18 Liga Orangina 8th Runners-Up First Phase N/A Europa League Qualification 2018/19 Liga Orangina 2nd Third Round Second Phase EL Group Stage Promotion 2019/20 Liga Zon Sagres 9th Fourth Round Third Phase N/A None 2020/21 Liga Zon Sagres 7th Fifth Round Third Phase N/A None Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
efrumttr Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 aldojags: Good luck to you too! Hopefully we'll wind up as Ligue 1 and European rivals:cool: rlipscombe/corinthiano: Thanks for the welcome! PRDH: That's awesome! How far did you manage to take them? And thanks for the warm welcome too:) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Pretty busy pre-season there aldojags, I especially like the look of Abdou Dieye. I'm 8 games in and he's been dynamite mate, I'll post a mid-season update later tonight, the good lady has a works day/night out today, so it's FM and Gilette Soccer Saturday all day as of 3pm when she leaves! So I'll get a good chunk done today! But yeah Dieye has been undoubted star whether played as poacher in a front 2, or I've played him as lone striker and he's still scoring from the scraps he's getting. I only signed him on 1yr deal and he won't speak to me about extension at the minute so I'm panicking big style! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Good season there corinthiano, definitely got a good young side there, hope you get into Europe this season and the finances don't mean you need to cash in on the assets. I especially like the look of the young full back Bilir, he'll be solid if you can hold onto him for another few years and further develop him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 corinthiano - Excellent season pal! You've definitely proved you belong in the top flight and you've got the makings of an excellent squad there. How are the qualification places in your game? Finances are tricky in Portugal certainly, I'm still only really making money because I'm being incredibly strict with myself about wages and transfer fees. efrumttr - It went pretty well, completed it in the 2026/27 season. Makes me realise how slow my progress has been in this version. Really need a proper break in Europe soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 aldojags - thanks, yeah I dont think I need to sell any of my best players as I think I coud get into Europe with the current squad and make money from that. Bilir's improvement in the last couple of seasons has been amazing, he seems pretty loyal as well as he hasnt been unsettled at all by all the transfer talk, as well as being pretty undemanding in durng the contract renegotiation. He is my favourite player at the moment alongside Sugimoto so I hope he stays for a while! Great to hear that Dieye has started well, his acceleration and pace must be hard for defenders at this level to cope with! Eager to see how you did in your mid-season report PRDH - Thanks! Portugal are currently 7th in the coefficient ranking with 2 CL and 4 EL spots, but we are some way away from 6th placed France and that 3rd CL spot. Our league is also the 7th most reputable in Europe (3 and a half stars). How is the Portuguese league in your save doing? I imagine quite well seeing you have had plenty of decent campaigns in Europe. Have the big 3 achieved any success? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 PRDH - Thanks! Portugal are currently 7th in the coefficient ranking with 2 CL and 4 EL spots, but we are some way away from 6th placed France and that 3rd CL spot. Our league is also the 7th most reputable in Europe (3 and a half stars). How is the Portuguese league in your save doing? I imagine quite well seeing you have had plenty of decent campaigns in Europe. Have the big 3 achieved any success? It's incredibly close in the rankings at the moment. Especially for that third Champions' League spot. Portugal currently have sixth place and the third spot after we leapt up fro, 7th this season but we're also quite a long way off France in 5th. It's pretty close between Portugal, Turkey, Holland and Russia. We've stretched a bit of a gap in the last couple of seasons after Porto had a good season. They've not done anything this year though, not getting through the qualifying rounds. It's been tricky for Benfica and Sporting because Porto and my team have locked up the top two spots for the past 10 seasons. Sporting snuck into the qualifying places last time we nabbed the third spot, but achieved nothing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam "Le God" Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Should be able to finally get going with my save now. I had essays coming out of my nose this past week but now it is the Easter holidays I can get cracking with a bit of FM. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I dont actually know how well Portuguese tams have done in Europe in my save, I will check when I get home. Out of curiosity, at what detail level do people have their games playing? Ideally I would prefer having every club competition in Portugal and Europe in Full detail, but my laptop is getting on a bit and the game slows down too much if I do that. Do you think it makes a difference to the development of your gameworld? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam "Le God" Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I dont actually know how well Portuguese tams have done in Europe in my save, I will check when I get home.Out of curiosity, at what detail level do people have their games playing? Ideally I would prefer having every club competition in Portugal and Europe in Full detail, but my laptop is getting on a bit and the game slows down too much if I do that. Do you think it makes a difference to the development of your gameworld? Just out of interest what does changing the detail level actually do to your game? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
corinthiano Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 It changes the detail at which matches between the AI are processed. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think that at full detail the matches are calculated entirely, like the games the human players play, whilst if they are not in full detail only a quick sim is done, and results are based mainly on reputation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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