FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[Lower Leagues Rule]

aldojags - That's pretty harsh, hopefully the takeover comes out with bonuses for you, and you still make the promotion. Also makes you remember for future to make sure your African starlets have ample back-up in African Cup year, not as likely, but remember to do the same with Oceanian ones.

I am having an issue in my game, Bumbera spent 6 months injured from November to April, his contract expires in July, he wouldn't agree to one before his injury, so I was waiting to try again in early December and then sell him, of course with a major injury he wouldn't sell. Now he has returned from injury, but still won't sign a contract so it looks like I am about to lose a player on a free that could've been sold for about 1 million euros. Also I desperately need to get promotion, this season has been hell on my finances, the Stadium loan + transfers + wages are all really set-up for Liga BBVA levels and as such the income is not enough to sustain us.

Also 3000 posts.

[aldojags]

Superb on the 3000 posts!

Yeh LLR it was a bit of an error on my part that I overlooked that! The fact that the Central American Cup robbed me of my back up striker from Costa Rica was a right kick in the nuts!

[Romanista1994]

Good luck for the second leg PRDH, getting an away goal is always good. You've been really unlucky again though in conceding that late.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Good Luck PRDH, hopefully you can take advantage of that away goal and finish them off at home.

On the Parla front we have now guaranteed at least a playoff spot with 8 games to go, and to top it off we are now 14pts clear in first after Cartegena suffered another loss and we defeated Mallorca 2:1 after going behind early on. My boys have got pretty good at turning around that first goal deficit lately something I am very proud of.

[Romanista1994]

Barakaldo 2014 Preseason Report

Club Situation

Media Prediction: 7th

Captain: Inaki Astiz

Vice Captain: Joseba Zaldua

Season Ticket Holders: 3571

Finances: -£140k

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £13,687 (£15,470 in use)

Transfers

After hectic summer transfer windows in the first two seasons the situation has stabilised somewhat with most of this year's signings joining early on. The squad now looks like this.

Key Players

Inaki Astiz - The captain will be leading from the back and hopefully help the youngsters around him.

Inigo Eguaras - Some tough negotiating got him to join after his agent offered him out. He's another reason for having to get promoted as he wouldn't join without a non-promotion release clause of £0.

Joseba Beitia - An offensive minded midfielder that is expected to shine alongside Eguaras.

Mikel Orbegozo - The topscorer from the first season joined permanently and is a great targetman.

Juan Dominguez - Last season I thought we lacked a top class striker, now we have two with two very promising youngsters behind them.

First Choice Lineup

GK Jon Ander Serantes

DR Joseba Zaldua

DC Inaki Astiz

DC Jon Gaztanaga

DL Jon Manuel

MC Inigo Eguaras

MC Joseba Beitia

RW Daniel Suarez

LW Gorka

ST Mikel Orbegozo

ST Juan Dominguez

Aims For the Season

Promotion

Continue to give youth players a chance

[aldojags]

Season Review - 2016/17 (5th Season)

Ligue 2 - Predicted: 13th | Finished: 2nd | Table | Graph | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

Unbelievably nervy season! Delighted to say I managed to win promotion to Ligue 1 after a really tough campaign! Started well enough 1st 5 games or so, got in a good position, and barring a few weeks mid season, was in promotion places for most of the time. As you can see from the table and my fixtures, I lost my fare share of games for a team that won promotion, but I was actually about 10 seconds from winning the league - but Cannes scored a 93rd minute winner to steal it from me at the death, but I can't say I was that bothered, would've been great, but I went into last day with 4 teams: Cannes, ourselves, Stade Bretois 29, and Guingamp all able to win promotion, and we were all at home on the final day. Guingamp drew, the rest of us won, so they missed out. Look here at Guingamps fixtures 1 + 2, they were in a commanding position for most of season, but went on a spectacular meltdown that allowed Bretois to sneak up in front of them. What a nervy season!

So many points I thought we were losing our nerve, lost games at home to bottom of the league etc, couldn't get on a run of any sort. I've picked out 2 games that were key, as you'll see, we had 2 away games in a row toward end of year, to Stade de Reims and Lemans, and stole 4 points when we losing both games going into last 5 minutes, that was unbelievable! Have a look at the LeMans game - stuff of heroes! Stade de Reims was a lucky one too!

Largely the same team that won us the National league 2 years ago, my squad is really young and is maturing together, anyone whose read my previous updates will notice the improvement in some of the players over the seasons.

On last seasons review, I said at the end of it, if I sign a 15-20 goal man, I'll be in with a shout, I spent my entire transfer budget on Diagne, from Hungarian side PAKS, and he was the man that played the most important role, although there were plenty of strong performers.

Period in January was vital also, still picked up a few precious points down to the bare bones of squad - I lost Abidoun, Abiola, Affo, Diagne, Kessou, Videgla all to the African nations. I also lost Alvarado to the Central American Nations. So be wary of this if, like me, you've a team full of Africans.

All in all, superb achievement to get up, again with one of the lowest wage budgets and average attendances.

French Cup | Fixtures

Went a good bit further this season, eliminated to Ligue 1 side Nice, I played my reserve squad as it really wasn't a priority.

League Cup | Fixtures

Good season in this competition also, eliminating Ligue 1 side RC Lens. Went out to PSG away, although embarrasingly they were full of 16-17 year olds, but beat me quite easily.

Players

GK

Quentin Beunardeau continues to improve, got him tied down long term now without a release clause, as big clubs were looking at him. He's my highest paid player but worth it for me. Won goalkeeper of the year, deservedly so, best defence in the league.

Abdel Adjahouinou is back up keeper. 3rd choice for Cameroon too.

Defence

Sophiane Boussebaine did well when called upon but is very much my 2nd choice left back.

Christophe Lowinsky had a great season alongside Lienard at centre back, not sure whether he'll be up to it next season?

Jerry Affo is my 2nd choice right back. Capped by Cameroon - don't ask why, he's pretty average (Cameroon are ranked 7th in world and he gets a game, strange!)

Stephen Junglas was a young german right back I brought in as Affo started season poorly, and this guy slotted right in and looks to be a prospect for the future.

Abou Diallo is 2nd choice centre back, good back up.

Thorgan Lienard continues to improve, and I think he's already a Ligue 1 defender, he's one guy I won't need to worry about making the step up. Solid as a rock in his 4th season with me. Already racked up 95 appearances which is quite good for a centre back of 20 years old, considering he's started most if not all of them.

Dalibor Lidac was brought in to give competition to Boussebaine, and he ended up my first choice left back, impressive debut season.

Claude Videgla is the oldest member of my entire squad at 27, struggled to get in team but reliable back up.

Midfield

Ray Herbert is a young American talent, mainly substitute appearances, not ready for first team yet.

Alex N'Doumbou had a decent season, another one who is quite versatile and played well in a number of positions.

Rhys McCabe was brought in after being released from Rangers. Really versatile, and can also do a job up front, was my utility man, done a decent job.

Servet Ak has a lot of promise, but didn't produce, so he was dropped. Then moaned about this and subsequently demanded a transfer. Definitely some promise there but he doesn't want to be here anymore.

Valentin Eysseric had a really good season. I had him on loan last season, he didn't really impress but his stats told me to take him on a bosman and there was more to come. Really important player for me this year.

Tony Juma was a young midfielder I got in bosman, stepped in admirably for one so young when Abidoun and Abiola left for African Nations, one for the future.

Dominique Abioula had a crackin season played as advanced playmaker, technically excellent, and his physical attributes are catching up. Think he'll do well in Ligue 1.

Dominique Abidoun had a good solid season also, should be good enough for Ligue 1.

Forwards

Mohamed Diagne was the star man this season. Great piece of business pre-season (£550,000), was in outstanding form early season, went to African Nations in Jan, came back and didn't hit the same form but still scored important goals. Top scorer in league. Knocked back £2m from Bordeux in January (who missed out on Ligue 1 title by a point) so that shows what good form he was in.

Mondor Kessou has developed his stats well, but he struggled to compete with Diagne, and wasn't first pick all season. Still think he can be an important player for me. Called up to senior international squad too.

Dramane Koffi had a good solid season, equally adept on right wing or up front.

Kenneth Alvarado was brought in for his potential, gave him a hefty wage as I had a hunch he'd turn out a gem. Was pretty average all season, but as you'll see from further up the post, he came off the bench and scored 2 goals in the last 3 minutes to win at LeMans with a few games left to keep us in the hunt, also scored a couple when Diagne was on international duty.

Club Info

Had to build yet another 10,000 seats in my stadium to comply with Ligue 1 rules, which has put me £12m in debt. This is the 2nd time in 3 seasons I have been bankrupted by stadium development, absolute nightmare, the board have kept my budget (wage) at what it was, and all my promotion pay rises have yet to kick in, so I'm basically going to be unable to sign anyone, really REALLY frustrated with this!! I have an average crowd of 2000 but I've spent 12m to take my capacity to 20,000, torture, has basically snuffed out my chances of staying up this season.

Finances

Had a good year outwith the stadium development, made some money and sat comfortably in the black.

Transfers

Diagne was the main one, few youngsters came in and done well.

Next Season

My lack of finances means I'm basically screwed for next season! Just going to try and make it through the season and keep my star players so if/when I do go down, I can come straight back up.

Hope you enjoyed the read, it was some season!

Season     Division        Pos    French Cup      League Cup         Europe        Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7705369&viewfull=1#post7705369"]2012/13[/url]     National      4th      8th round        N/A                            Survived Relegation
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7713320&viewfull=1#post7713320"]2013/14[/url]     National      8th      7th round        N/A                            N/A
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7722456&viewfull=1#post7722456"]2014/15[/url]     National      1st      8th round        N/A                            Champions
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7734045&viewfull=1#post7734045"]2015/16[/url]     Ligue 2       6th      7th round        2nd round                      Consolidated
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7741822&viewfull=1#post7741822"]2016/17[/url]     Ligue 2       2nd      11th round       4th round                      Promotion

[Romanista1994]

Iosu Saiz didn't have a half bad start to the season. New Segunda B3 record as well.

[PRDH]

Great job aldojags! Ligue 1 awaits, great effort.

The away goal turned out to be unnecessary. We brought Milan back to Terceira and beat them 3-0 to take our place in the quarters.

[Romanista1994]

LLR - Should win it at a canter, especially if your players are clawing back wins from a goal behind.

aldojags - Congrats on the promotion. I think you could easily stay up next season without making too many transfers. Your board really are idiots though.

PRDH - Good luck for the quarters.

[aldojags]

Well done LLR you sound like your home and dry.

Hope you get up this season Romanista, if you can keep Astiz fit at the back you should keep it solid. Dominguez up front too should do the biz if you keep him injury free! Solid spine to your team, good luck mate.

Edited to add well done PRDH on the 3-0, this could be the year...

aldojags - Congrats on the promotion. I think you could easily stay up next season without making too many transfers. Your board really are idiots though.

Tell me about it!!!!T The stadium stuff is really getting me down! 2nd season out of 3 we'll be playing at someone elses ground whilst we build seats we don't need! I thought they'd get a loan, not put us in that much debt!

Iosu Saiz didn't have a half bad start to the season. New Segunda B3 record as well.

Outstanding mate, great omen for rest of season...

[Romanista1994]

Hope you get up this season Romanista, if you can keep Astiz fit at the back you should keep it solid. Dominguez up front too should do the biz if you keep him injury free! Solid spine to your team, good luck mate.

Outstanding mate, great omen for rest of season...

Cheers man, I definitely share those hopes of promotion. Saiz has now exceeded his goals total from last season after just four games by bagging a brace in the Cup against Llagostera which brings him up to eight goals scored.

[aldojags]

A consortium of local businessmen are planning a takeover within weeks, involving a high profile former professional. I'm always worried for my job they sometimes punt the manager don't they? But hey they might also clear the debt and give me millions! Is that allowed in the rules of the challenge?

By the way, on somethin completely unrelated, what is the resource archiver?

[PRDH]

aldojags - They sometimes threaten to get rid of the manager, but if you've just got promoted it's pretty unlikely. Tycoons are allowed, luck of the game, hope you get someone with sacks of cash!

Edit - Quarter finals have just been drawn. After defeating AC Milan in the last round, I'm back there to play Inter. Not the easiest draw, will need two good performances to progress.

[aldojags]

Can someone explain to me how I get offerred and sign contract extension on July 2nd, then few days later I'm being touted for the sack...if I get binned then honestly think there will be nothing for it but to snap my laptop into a thousand pieces!!

edited to add....

well that was a close shave! at least on the bright side i got the achievement "takeover survival!".

really thought they were going to punt me, got a message about how all along they planned to appoint their own man etc. But then I got a message saying they were impressed by me (given that I've got them 2 promotions in 5 years they should be!) and I was being kept on.

They got a loan out, cleared the debt from the stadium redevelopment, and we currently have £3m in the bank at the minute. But I'm 14k a week over my wage budgt and they won't let me increase it. Seriously going to struggle this season. Can't see where I'll get enough wins to get 40 points. But hey who cares at least I'm still in a job!

By the way, much respect to you boys who are in Champions League every year, getting to top League is the easy part, the challenge has well and truly started!

[PRDH]

Argh! I don't know what to do. This is surely my Champions' League campaign over for another season. I'm 3-0 down in the San Siro.

Edit - Make that 4-0 down. So frustrating. I've just about managed to resist smashing my computer with any nearby heavy objects. When can I catch a sodding break!

[18Rabbit]

Salerno Calcio

Italian Serie C2/A

Salernitana Soccer 1919, Salerno, Campania, Italy

End of 2012/2013 Season Report, Salerno, Italy, June 18th, 2013

I finally have internet access at the dinky little place I call home! Yay! I'm not going to say that winning Serie C2/A had any influence on that finally getting done or not, but it totally did. Believe me, if I had sucked as much as everyone expected me to, I would have to connect to the internet via smoke signal from my place still.

Now, in spite of all that, of my staff, only my dear assistant Roberto Bandirali has agreed to sign on for next season with me. That may be because the rest of my staff were so horrible that I didn't offer any of them new contracts. I just wish I could get Roberto to lose his internet access. He emails me almost every single day with the same goddamn message and, no matter how much I yell at him, "I don't want to hear another WORD ABOUT MATCH PREPARATION!!" he just ignores me. Even when I yell it in Italian!

On average I get one email like this about it at least every match:

I can't tell if he thinks I'm too drunk/incompetent to handle the match prep or if he just has horrible match preparation anxiety and that's the only way he can address it.

So anyway, we won that and we won the Serie C Super Cup like a bunch of bosses 5-2 on aggregate. Hah! Suck on that Perugia!

Overall it was a pretty amazing year. No one expected us to do anything this year after crawling out of Serie D. The media expected us to finish 9th. Shows what they know.

Yearly Transfers

Here are the transfers we made this year: Transfers

I tried like hell to get someone, anyone worth a damn really, to come on loan at the beginning of the year but no one was even remotely interested in playing for us. By mid season, we had almost topped the table and finally, after harassing the board into signing a new parent club agreement with Udinese, we were able to pick up three very handy players on loan for the end of the season. Our backfield is still pretty woeful and some of these guys are too old to even extend their contracts on but with them leaving, I'll have more cash available for transfers for next year. Overall the best transfers in were the three loaners, Stefano Olivieri and Giuseppe De Luca. De Luca snagged top goal scorer for Serie C2/A with 20 goals. The last kid I picked up, Florian Müller looks like he may be very promising. My scouts found him out free from the youth system at FC Bayern. Time will tell as it always does. I think he'll do ok but the fans think he was a bad signing.

2012/2013 End of Year League Table: Yes, we won by +1 goal difference, we still are the champs though!

Promoted Serie C2/A: Salerno©, Bellaria (P), Pro Patria(PL)

Promoted Serie C2/B: Perugia©, Feralpi Salò (P), Virtus Entella (PL)

Promoted Serie C1/A: Varese©, Benevento (P)

Relegated Serie C1/A: Spal, Reggiana, Carpi

Promoted Serie C1/B: Piacenza ©, Spezia (P)

Relegated Serie C1/B: Portosummaga, Paganese, Aprilia (That's what they get for knocking us out of the Serie C Cup)

Promoted Serie B: Torino ©, Novara (P), Cagliari (PL)

Relegated Serie B: Triestina, Avellino, Juve Stabia, Livorno

Relegated Serie A: Siena, Brescia, Padova

Serie A top 3 teams: Roma (77pts), Juventus (76pts), Inter (76pts)

Here's my current squad: SQUAD

Here's my Profile and my Personal info.

And here's the Salerno information, nice to see I'm one of their favored personnel. Our rep went up (duh) and we're 55th in Italy financially @725k value.

Plans for next year

Playing our home games in Serie C in a stadium that seats about 37,000 people where our average attendance was about a tenth of that it was a reminder of how low the club had fallen from once lofty heights. Hopefully we can bring that attendance up next year and sell more than 4,000 season tickets. In all honesty, the skill jump from Serie C2 to Serie C1 is almost negligible so I'm going to push these guys to try and get promoted two seasons in a row. I doubt we'll be able to directly trump whoever gets relegated from Serie B and win but we should be able to at least hold our own in the playoffs and edge out victory in the end. In any case, I should be able to afford some better wine next season, I'm sure they'll offer me a raise...

Previous updates:

June 28th, 2012

December 31st, 2012

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Good job on avoiding the sack aldojags.

The ongoing frustrations must be getting to you PRDH, but you will get there sooner or later.

Congrats on the league victory 18Rabbit, good luck in the new season.

Parla have made it back to the Liga BBVA, with 6 games remaining we hold a 12pt lead over 2nd, and have got 19pts clear of third. Bumbera has now agreed to at least talk about a contract extension, I am going to sign him on with the hope that if he doesn't beat out Tayfun Sen then he will be able to be sold in the Summer for a large sum of money. Then the next plan is to stay up and avoid getting knocked straight back down, hopefully the improvements to my team over this season will give us a better overall shot.

[aldojags]

tough luck PRDH, I don't know what to say that's not been said? It is a solid competition I wouldn't be too annoyed, you'll figure it out.

Well done 18rabbit on the promotion. Someone recently won back to back promotions in Italy on the forum I'm sure so hopefully you do the same. I'm sure your assistant means well!

Well done LLR on the promotion so soon.

[PRDH]

18rabbit - Excellent season there. Yeah, the jump between C2 and C1 isn't that big, good luck next time out.

aldojags - Glad to hear you've kept your job, sounds like you've got a tough season ahead though. Keep scrapping though and hopefully you can get the points.

Just played the second leg against Inter, lost 0-1. Why do I save some of my worst performances for the most important games, so frustrating.

[Romanista1994]

aldojags - Glad you got rid of your board without the next one getting rid of you. I'm still confident that you'll stay up this season.

18Rabbit - Good luck in C1! Glad that in your Roma won the Serie A.

LLR - Promoted in style, excellent bouncebackability.

PRDH - Real shame that you went out that way. Reckon it'll soon be yours though.

Edit: In Barakaldo news we've been drawn against Real Madrid for the Spanish Cup Fourth Round after we were given a bye from the Third Round. This means we'll be headed to 80,354 seat Santiago Bernabeu, while Los Merengues will have to make a trip up to Estadio Lasesarre.

[aldojags]

Do you split the gate receipts in the Spanish cup Romanista?

That'll be a handy wee payday.

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - Season Summary - 2036/37

Finances

Key figure - £40,636,477 | Summary

Right, finances stayed fairly stable, I spent more money, but still tried to keep a handle on wages and not go over the top. The rotation of the old big three around the remaining CL places has seen their finances improve and my wage expenditure is now lower than all of them, it's obviously still miles ahead of the rest of the league.

Excitingly we've got a sponsorship deal up for renewal, so hopefully the board will pull out some absurd deal, I've not got too high hopes!

Club News

1/ Training facility upgrade completed.

2/ Youth facilities to be upgraded over the summer.

3/ Takeover went through eventually, no new investment or anything.

4/ As it stands Portugal will move above Italy and France in the coefficients and that means next year we'll have 4 places in the Champions' League meaning the big four will all qualify and also that a quarter of the league will be in Europe's top competition.

Transfers | 9 in (£13m) + 1 loan and 10 out (£36m) plus 15 loans

I wasn't intending to let any of my established players leave this summer but then Real Madrid came in and matched Nicastro's release clause and he left, we then let Pitoco leave leading to the situation where the likelihood was that we needed to replace the entire back line. We went out, spent some cash and found some pretty decent player which have been highlighted earlier. It was also goodbye to a couple of legends as the strike force that won us so many titles departed in one season. Mendes went on a free and Neira found himself sold to Juventus.

League | Predicted - 2nd

Table | Graph

Pretty exciting league campaign for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Benfica pushed me very close this year. We were level on points until about three games from the end when they drew with Sporting. Part of the Portuguese league is that they have a weekend's game spread over most of the week and Benfica played first most of the time which explains the exciting up and down graph.

The second reason for the excitement was that Porto and Sporting had a great battle for 3rd too, and Fatima (my feeder team) stayed up yet again, not making much progress, I'm very tempted to go out and try to sign them a better team to send them on loan.

Cups

The season started well with a win over Sporting in the Supertaça, after this as usual we let the kids loose on the remaining cup fixtures. They got knocked out by Benfica in the 5th round of the Taça de Portugal and they then lost out to them again in the League Cup final.

Europe

Group Stage | Table

Fairly comfortable group, qualified top after beating Chelsea twice and only dropping points in a draw with Rangers.

First Knockout Round | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg

Any hopes of a simple draw were dashed when we were drawn against AC Milan. However a decent performance in Milan and a dominant win back in Angra sent us through.

Quarter Final | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg

We were getting sick of Milan by the time we went back to the San Siro to face Inter in the Quarter final and we were even more sick of it when we left after a 4-0 defeat. It was never likely after that result that we would progress and indeed we didn't. We lost again at home to bring the curtain down on yet another disappointing European campaign.

Squad | Overview

'Keepers | The goalkeeping brigade is really Dias + 2 others, it's a situation I'm fairly happy with.

Pablo García - 4 apps, 9 conc, 1 cln - Back up to Dias in the league and Martins in the cup squad, he's a good keeper and I may let him go this summer and get another decent youngster in as back up.

*Nelson Martins* - 4 apps, 8 conc, 2 cln - Cup keeper, it's very clear he's never going to play in the league regularly, but he's a decent number 3 and cup squad member.

*Ricardo Dias* - 41 apps, 30 conc, 19 cln, 1 MoM - Undisputed number 1 for me and also for Portugal now. Bit of interest from other clubs but I've got him tied down onto a five-year deal, so that's nice.

Defenders | Some heavy surgery on this part of the team over the summer and it was largely successful, I think I've got the makings of a solid unit.

Cláudio - 38 apps, 1 gl, 7 asts, 1 MoM - Excellent first season in Portugal for the right back. He has terrific physical abilities and was a real handful on the right of defence. Very happy with him going forward.

Jonathan Bazán - 32 apps, 6 gls, 3 asts, 1 MoM - Another to excel in his first season at the club. He formed a great partnership with Paulo in the centre of defence and got up the other end to score a few goals.

Juan Ignacio Cortez - 2(2) apps - Useful, versatile defender who doesn't seem quite good enough when he starts.

Abdulrahman Mesbeh Mahmoud - 4(1) apps - After not really impressing me last season he found himself out of the first team this time round and, if I'm honest, we looked better for it. He got stroppy asked to leave, I was more than happy to let him and he's going to Spain when the transfer window opens.

*João Paulo* - 37 apps, 6 gls, 2 asts, 1 MoM - Real breakthrough for the youth product. I decided he was ready for first team football and he proved me right. His physical presence at the back is very handy though he and Bazán are potentially the worst defenders I've had at playing the ball out I've had for a long time. Didn't seem to matter and the rest of the team make up for that.

Shimon Ginzburg - 3 apps, 1 gl - Brought in cheaply from Israel and he looks like he's got potential to get into the first team, at the moment he's a member of the cup squad.

*Rui Lopes* - 9(19) apps, 1 gl, 1 MoM - Added another string to his bow as he learned the DM position which makes him a handy guy to have around the squad. He's wanting to play more regularly, but I'm managing to keep him reasonably happy for now.

Meraneh Descazals - 8 apps, 1 gls - I think last season marked his last as a major force. His abilities still look good but he no longer performs on the pitch, sad to see him fade, he has another year on his contract and will hopefully stick around on the staff at the end of that.

Stipe Pesic - 9 apps, 1 ast - I suppose I'll either have to give him more of a chance or let him got soon as he's starting to stagnate in his current role of back up right back.

Christian Minniti - 26 apps, 2 asts - Rotated with Carranza this season, I think he was just about first choice, as I picked him for the bigger games.

John Carranza - 23 apps, 2 asts - See above. Very even split, I'm not sure either of them are quite good enough, will be looking for a new player for this position over the off-season.

Giannakis Louka - 6 apps - He's progressing well in training, and with the decline of Descazals and the departure of Mahmoud I'm looking to try to get him involved in the league squad next season. He's a very interesting young defender.

Midfielders | Home to some great footballers, and some others who look like they might, with a few years, also find themselves in that category.

*Miguel Teixeira* - 9(19) apps, 1 ast - Continues to be a very able deputy, he played slightly less this season for no real reason other than that I forgot to rotate as much as normal.

Betu Tshimpi - 37(2) apps, 3 gls, 8 asts - Incredibly grateful to PSG for releasing this lad when they did. He's a cracking midfielder and is definitely one player who will be here for a long time if I have my say.

Luis Ventura - 5(3) apps, 1 ast - Interesting young winger. Needs to work on his pace, but apart from that he has a lot of skills.

Hacene Bentalaa - 18(2) apps, 4 gls, 11 asts, 1 MoM - Struggled with injuries this season which meant he missed a large chunk of the second half of the season. He struggled in the league at times but was imperious in Europe and we definitely missed him in the knockout stages.

Stefan Fink - 35(5) apps, 4 gls, 19 asts, 5 MoMs - Another good season for the winger. He's been around for a long time and is still performing well, pressure coming on him now though. We'll see how he copes with that next year.

Bernardo Hoyos - 5 apps, 3 gls - Progress has stalled somewhat, might be time to let him move on, or at least send him out on loan to get first team football.

*Paulo Jorge Vieira* - 40 apps, 9 gls, 22 asts, 5 MoMs - A great season for the midfielder, he is rapidly turning into one of the best players around in his position. Proud that he came out of my youth academy.

*Jorge Mendes* - 2(1) apps - I think it's time for this lad to move on. He's a useful player and might have a career in the top flight, but he's never going to be good enough for my first team. Not before I win a CL anyway.

*Luís Santos* - 2 apps - Latest youngster through the youth academy and I think he's got a cracking future in the first team squad.

*Álvaro Pinto* - 15(12) apps, 7 gls, 8 asts, 1 MoM - A good season for the winger, he made his 100th appearance and got a few goals. His season was improved my Bentalaa's injury woes.

*Sérgio Rodrigues* - 16(8) apps, 5 gls, 4 asts - The right wing department is well-stocked at the moment. He's progressing nicely and has found himself in the Portugal squad.

Lasse Tuominen - 9(12) apps, 1 gl, 11 asts - The young man who is making me consider Fink's place. He's an exciting player with a great left foot and exceptional delivery from set pieces. He's getting better with age and working on his pace and soon I can see him nicking the first team place from the more established Slovenian.

Forwards | Big changes at this end of the pitch as Neira and Mendes, two players with almost 350 combined goals for the club, left. Would they be missed? Short answer - no. Long answer - read on...

Mihajlo Djokovic - 33(2) apps, 24 gls, 13 asts, 7 MoMs - The big Serb continued to repay the faith I showed in him last season and picked up his first international cap as well being named League Player of the Year. A great season as he scored and assisted a huge number of goals. He could be around for a number of years.

Enol - 14(9) apps, 7 gls, 7 asts, 1 MoM - A little stumped on this guy. He started brilliantly after I brought him in on loan as he played wonderfully in the Supertaca. However, after that he fell away slightly. He played well enough in Europe but could not get a goal to save himself in the league. In fact his 4 league goals all came in the last two games of the season. I was ready to let him leave and say no more about him, but then that run at the end of the season when he looked great and now I just don't know. I may see if I can get him back on loan next year, or even launch a cheeky bid.

*Pedro Cardoso* - 41(1) apps, 55 gls, 11 asts, 11 MoMs - Erm. What to say except - Wow! He went goal-crazy this year breaking club records with tallies I can't see being broken for a long time. 36 in the league and 55 overall is a phenomenal return and seems to have alerted a few clubs to his talent. I have however got him tied down for another 5 years which is reassuring.

*Abakar Tigabe* - 3(15) apps, 7 gls, 1 ast, 1 MoM - If I'm honest I was expecting slightly more this season after how he performed last time out. He suffered from injuries which is part of the reason, but also he just didn't look quite as sharp. Having said that he may have, indirectly, won us the league with a quite superb substitute appearance. It came in an away game at Academica, a team we should, frankly, be beating easily. It was 5 games before the end of the season and Benfica were winning elsewhere. We went ahead early but found ourselves 3-1 down after 48 minutes. We got one back through Djokovic in the 70th minute but we looked to be whimpering to a defeat which would have seen us fall three points behind. He came on in the 82nd, scored an equaliser in the 87th and the winner in the 90th+1. I did a lap of my flat in celebration!

Iakovos Papadopoulos - 5(1) apps, 1 gl, 1 ast - Arrived in the summer as an exciting striking prospect. If I'm honest I thought I was buying a useful 18-year-old, I was therefore thrilled when he turned up and I realised he was only 16. He was predominantly a reserve/cup striker this season out, but should glimpses of talent, largely through the goal he scored, an absolute screamer from the edge of the box.

Aims For This Season Were...

1/ Thin out some of the excess players - Yes, ish

2/ Sort out central defence, either decide on a stable pair from what's already at the club, or invest in some new players. - Yup

3/ Champions League progress - please! - No, not really

Aims For Next Season Are...

1/ CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!

Story So Far...

Season		League			Position		Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7202432&viewfull=1#post7202432"]2012/13[/url]		Second Division - South	12th			Avoided Relegation (just)
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7220339&viewfull=1#post7220339"]2013/14[/url]		Second Division - South 1st			Promoted!
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7239921&viewfull=1#post7239921"]2014/15[/url]		Second League		14th			Avoided Relegation
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7249179&viewfull=1#post7249179"]2015/16[/url]		Second League		2nd			Promoted!
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7271085&viewfull=1#post7271085"]2016/17[/url]		Premier League		13th			Avoided Relegation
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7285735&viewfull=1#post7285735"]2017/18[/url]		Premier League		3rd			Qualified for Europa League
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7337490&viewfull=1#post7337490"]2018/19[/url]		Premier League		4th			Europa League again
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7357975&viewfull=1#post7357975"]2019/20[/url]		Premier League		5th			Europa League again
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7384317&viewfull=1#post7384317"]2020/21[/url]		Premier League		1st			Champions!
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7414146&viewfull=1#post7414146"]2021/22[/url]		Premier League		2nd			CL Qualification again
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7430561&viewfull=1#post7430561"]2022/23[/url]		Premier League		1st			Champions!
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7467274&viewfull=1#post7467274"]2023/24[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7480108&viewfull=1#post7480108"]2024/25[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7531647&viewfull=1#post7531647"]2025/26[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7544658&viewfull=1#post7544658"]2026/27[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7553099&viewfull=1#post7553099"]2027/28[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7614242&viewfull=1#post7614242"]2028/29[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7628197&viewfull=1#post7628197"]2029/30[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7639411&viewfull=1#post7639411"]2030/31[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7652794&viewfull=1#post7652794"]2031/32[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7665898&viewfull=1#post7665898"]2032/33[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters and domestic quadruple
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7703596&viewfull=1#post7703596"]2033/34[/url]		Premier League		1st 			CL 1st Knockout Round
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7719374&viewfull=1#post7719374"]3034/35[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279094-FM12-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=7732208&viewfull=1#post7732208"]2035/36[/url]		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2036/37		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters

[aldojags]

PRDH I love looking through your team, I am insanely jealous of your youth products, what facilities/youth recruitment do u have? Cardoso is ridiculous, do you think one day you'll have to go against your financial principles and pay him stupid wages, 40k per week is a bargain for him. Your keeper is ridiculous for someone so young too, he'll be a legend for you. I know you must be frustrated with the european situation, but you must love the domestic stuff and seeing the youth develop.

[PRDH]

aldojags - youth/training facilities are top of the range and I maintain them there by upgrading them whenever the option becomes available, my junior coaching is exceptional and I have above average recruitment. I've seen higher recruitment levels than that, but I don't even have the option to request mine is increased. I don't know whether that's a Portugal thing or because of the island's population etc. Yeah, it's fun domestically, but I really want to get a breakthrough, I've not even made it to the semi final for seven years.

As for Cardoso, he's ludicrously good, I don't intend on ever letting him leave and that will probably see his wages continue to rise, but I'd be willing to do that just because he's so good.

[rlipscombe]

aldojags - congrats on gaining promotion to Ligue 1. it'll be tough but i reckon you can survive there. good luck.

PRDH - seriously feel for you mate - it must be so frustrating hitting a ceiling like you have. hope for your sanity you break through it soon!

[Romanista1994]

Do you split the gate receipts in the Spanish cup Romanista?

That'll be a handy wee payday.

I don't know actually, I hope they are split.

PRDH - Are there other teams in the top division that started off at the same level as you? I'd also like to echo aldojags' sentiments about your youth players, Cardoso, Vieira and Dias are just incredible players and the new kid is a fantastic prospect as well.

[sebs]

interesting to see a new burst of starts in this thread - a second wave of attempts!

[PRDH]

Romanista - Interesting question. Quite possible, or at least there have been at various stages. Some clubs have been rising and falling ridiculously. Currently of the teams in the league Chaves were in the Second Division - North (bottom playable division) when I was in the Southern section, as were Varzim. Espinho were in the Central section in that same season. I think that's all of them. In terms of the reverse. Of the teams in the Premier League during my first season in charge; Naval, Gil Vicente, Vit Setubal and P Ferreira are in the Second Division.

rlips - It's so aggravating! Also (LLR can help here too) I've been thinking - imagine Cardoso and Pastore in the same side!!

[Romanista1994]

Those are indeed some pretty big changes, PRDH. Where was your feeder club Fatima when you began and when you took them under your wing? It would be awesome to sustain two clubs in the same league and try to get them both into CL places.

[PRDH]

Those are indeed some pretty big changes, PRDH. Where was your feeder club Fatima when you began and when you took them under your wing? It would be awesome to sustain two clubs in the same league and try to get them both into CL places.

\

They got promoted into the Second League as we were getting promoted into the bottom league. Got into the topflight in 2017 but got relegated straight away and were Second League when I started guiding them.

[Romanista1994]

I just played the home leg of the Cup against Madrid.

We lost 2-3 in front of 8,000 spectators at Lasesarre and despite Real not fielding a full strength team (Xabi Alonso was probably the highest profile player and probably also the highest profile Basque to ever grace the grass at Lasesarre) I'm delighted with how we've done getting two goals back when 3-0 down. I also rested some players and set out to contain them so scoring twice and managing eleven shots against the team that is currently dominating the top division is very pleasing and encouraging.

[PRDH]

Hmph! Y'know that thing I was saying above about being very happy with Cláudio, the right back? Well the board have just sold him. Baffling decision. I'm rolling in cash, and they take it out of my hands. I was tempted to walk out. There are absolutely NO good right backs available, it looks like Pesic is going to get that chance to sink or swim. Really, really unimpressed.

[Romanista1994]

Lost the away leg 4-0, but that game brought in £1.7 million in gate receipts (so yes, the money is definitely shared) and we are now a million in the black.

PRDH - Claudio was a beast, board is stupid for selling him. Good luck in finding a suitable replacement for him.

[aldojags]

how long in pre-season do u guys use conditioning training?

also, i'm going away for a week in 3 weeks time, i wont have internet access,can i set this up so i dont need steam or the internet to work fm?

[efrumttr]

As far as I know you don't need an Internet connection to use Steam or play games through it, you just obviously won't be able to use the online features or to unlock achievements.

I've had absolutely zero free time to play FM due to multiple term papers that I'm being forced to work on, but I did manage to play a few hours today and I'm about halfway through my first season with Romorantin. No time for a full report but suffice it to say that this is incredibly frustrating. This team is either hot or cold, we were in the relegation zone after a horrendous start through the first 8 games. A team meeting improved morale and we then went on an 8 or 9 game unbeaten streak and climbed all the way to 9th, where we promptly forgot how to play anywhere near a competent level of football and have since lost 6 straight matches in which we have also failed to score. We are now back in the relegation zone, morale sucks, and I can't motivate the team for *****. If we don't figure it out we're going back down and I'll be out of a job.

[aldojags]

efrumttr just stay patient and persist with things and you'll turn it around. The National is a hard league to get out of. Have you had a look at scouting Cameroon and Ivory Coast? In particular the teams KSA and Brasserie, I have honestly signed approx half my first team from those 2 teams, and most of them are now International players. You can get them quite cheap too, as they are on like £5 a week, they will usually accept £20-£50 a week. Worth having a look mate honestly. But I know how frustrating it can be your hands are tied at that level. What formation you playing? I won that league with 433, if you've anything resembling 3 decent strikers, it might be worth a try?

[iacovone]

Right then, I've not updated for a while so to try and grab some attention away from PRDH's phenomenal youth academy, I thought I'd introduce you to the Novese Wonderkids!

Now to clarify, Klein and Hoxha are not 'Wonderkids'. The others all are. Hoxha, I think, will get that description in the next year and Klein had it previously. Anyway, I'll preface by adding that NONE of them came through my academy. In that respect we're a LONG way off PRDH's success!

Vadim Lyamin (GK) - £1.7m spent to bring him over from Spartak Moscow.

Oier Perez (GK) - taken on a free transfer from Lyon.

Jelle Klein (CB) - signed from AZ for £1.5m.

Antonis Koltzos (CB) - signed for £1m from AEK three years ago.

Enrique Alvarez Ruiz (M/AMC) - a huge £9.5m signing from Atletico Madrid. Yet to make a breakthrough for us.

Emiliano Malbernat (M/AMRC) - signed from River for £3.3m.

Matias Lezcano (M/AML) - signed from Barca for £2.6m this summer.

Marsel Hoxha (AML/ST) - signed for a massive £7.25m from Stuttgart.

Robert Van Gool (ST) - a £2.2m signing from Ajax as a 16-year-old. Look at his youth team record!

Eduard Dobrovolny (ST) - signed for just £45k from Mlada Boleslav as a 16-year-old.

[aldojags]

iacovone those are some exciting prospects! You basically don't need to sign anyone for about 10 years with those guys thats you first team sorted for seasons to come!

Can't wait for the day Viry-Chatillon give me somethin better than 1.5 stars out the youth academy. edited to add can't wait for the day we have a youth academy!

PRDH if you can remember what was the likes of Cardosos potential ability when they came through? Did they have 5 stars ?

[PRDH]

iacovone - Fight! Seriously though, they're some great players, agree with aldojags, you don't really need to worry about signing new players for a good while. Nice place to be in.

aldojags - I think he was 4 stars, same with Vieira and Dias.

[iacovone]

Cheers guys, it's an exciting future I've set-up for Novese. I'm planning on spending much less in the coming years and trying to really build the infrastructure of the club. I don't need to spend tens of millions on players as I have a great squad at the moment with promising youngsters maturing. I'll only spend cash on the very best youth prospects.

As for my file, I finally got round to the 1st Knockout Round of the CL. I think I mentioned we had Liverpool which traditionally is a very hard game. The 1st leg was at Anfield and at half-time we were 1-0 down without registering a shot. Their 3-4-3 was carving our 4-4-2 to pieces. So I risked it all and went back to my 3-1-4-2 and attacked them. With their three strikers occupied by my three defenders we outplayed them and won 3-1! A stunning result really and a hell of a comeback. It should mean, barring a terrible collapse, that we'll be moving to the quarter-finals...

[aldojags]

3 games into my first season in Ligue 1, doing quite well, feeling slightly more optimistic, had Monaco at home first game, I tore them apart, played them off the pitch, they scored with their only 3 efforts on goal! Beat me 3-2, I was fearing for us already after playing so well and losing.

Next up we were away to CS Sedan Ardennes, they were the better team, but we rode our luck on the break to an impressive 3-1 win. Next game the best performance in my time at the club, as Montpellier came to us, we won 5-0, going on 10, an absolute demolition. My midfield has been brilliant, as has my keeper. Still a bit weak in the centre back area for my liking, and the balance up front isn't quite right yet, I've quite a few forwards, and as I play 3 strikers, I'm trying to find who to play, and what role to assign them. My assistants recommendations don't seem to work so well. He thinks they are all poachers, but I've never had too much success with a poacher. But great start, yet to play any of the big guns, but after 3 games I've scored 10 goals, the most in the league, looking around, I think I could survive if I keep up the good form. The better teams in the league, Marseille Bordeux PSG will hammer me, maybe Tolouse aswell, but outside that, I think on my day I could get points off most teams...exciting season ahead!

My new board are getting on my nerves. My wage budget is frozen from last season, but obviously I won promotion and a lot of the team had promotion clauses to get a payrise. So now I'm 15k over my budget, I've got £4m in the bank, and they won't increase my budget "as we don't have faith in your budget skills". They basically think I'd waste the money. Doing my nut in, really going to hold me back if this is there attitude. They could easily double my wage budget and still make a profit over the year, and I'd comfortably keep them up with that cash. See how it goes. How often can you ask for more wages? 6 month?

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - seriously frustrating the board selling in your position... good luck finding someone half decent

iacovone - some cracking signings there - you really are set for a few years there.

aldojags - good start to Ligue 1 there! keep that up. feel your pain on the wage front.

I am hoping to get my season review up tonight. actually through to september now so i'll have to crack on with the season preview soon too!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wow Iacovone, all those youngsters can make me dream, hoping that I can start to do the same with the money in Spain.

Looking forward to heading back to Liga BBVA, hoping to do it with a personal record over 100pts (Will tell you once the season ends). Bumbera did sign a new contract, looking forward to the dilemma of Ferrari or Krasic on the right wing, Ferrari is the guy I bought in to replace Krasic, but then Krasic went and scored 23 goals and counting this season and over 20 assists. A bit gutted as delays mean our stadium now won't be ready until October 2022, so I will have to wait another whole season before moving in, expect a lot of sell-outs of our 6000 seater. Hopefully the season review will make it up over the weekend.

[PRDH]

rlips - Yeah, it surprised me slightly. With £40m in the bank surely they can leave me to it! I've got a semi-decent replacement but Pesic has done well so far. Four league games so far, four clean sheets.

Edit - Not sure whether that was the forum jinx, or just part of playing Porto at their place, but I just conceded my first league goal of the season!

Edit - Just been offered a player who is being touted as the next Nobby Stiles! That's amazing!

[aldojags]

PRDH I've found, particularly in FM11 but also in this 1, that putting ridiculous asking prices on players tends to scare off potential buyers? Have you tried that? Like slap £100m on every player your desperate to keep.

[Romanista1994]

efrumttr - Sounds like you're having a hard time this season. The best of luck for the second half!

iacovone - Great players you've got there, Novese's future looks very bright.

aldojags - I knew you'd do well, some of your players from last season were already way above Ligue 2 level.

[rlipscombe]

SV Waldhof Mannheim – German Bundesliga – Season 2021/22

Season Review

League Finish: 6^th Graph Club Overview Club Information

Pre-Season

After a season of disappointment I was determined to try and bounce back and regain our place amongst the Bundesliga elite. Unfortunately it seemed as though my board didn’t share this determination, giving me about £6 million to strengthen and a marginally improved wage budget. Once the yearly wage rises kickd in, we eclipsed this figure before the transfer window began. This meant a quiet summer by Mannheim standards in terms of transfers.

The League

Another 6^th place finish but this time no European qualification for it, this was a season of massive frustration. Early season struggles saw me decide to drop my 2 CMs into DM roles to tighten the defence and then rely on my wingers for creativity. For a while it worked as performances picked up but into 2022 results started to falter as we suffered with a number of injuries and a lack of form. At the end of the season I switched back to our regular formation and we won the last 5 matches on the bounce. Looking at the table and the fact we were close to the top spot in terms of points frustrates the hell out of me – why didn’t I abandon the formation earlier?!?!? Given the poor quality of the opposition this season I really feel like this was one title that got away….

German Cup

Another disappointing season in the cup. an away win at Bamberg in the 1st round saw us drawn at home to Leverkusen. we managed to get a 3-1 win against our bogey team to see us through to face Werder Bremen. we crashed out of the cup after extra time to once more leave in the 3rd round.

Europa League

3^rd Qualifying Round

Mannheim 2 – 0 Omonoia

Omonoia 2 – 3 Mannheim

A comfortable home win was followed up by a slightly difficult away win although I did play a number of squad players in the away leg. Still progress was made which was the only aim.

4^th Qualifying Round

Mannheim 7 – 0 Levski Sofia

Levski Sofia 1 – 1 Mannheim

A crushing home win where everything clicked saw us take a second-XI team to Bulgaria where we strolled to a draw and a place in the group stage.

Group Stages

We were handed a decent draw in the group stages, being drawn against Vit. Guimaraes, Lierse and Olympique Marseille. Five comfortable wins and a draw away at Marseille saw us cruise through the group and into the knockout rounds.

First Knockout stage

Udinese 0 – 1 Mannheim

Mannheim 2 – 0 Udinese

A gritty away win saw us return to the Carl-Benz stadion with an away goal and we eased to a 2-0 home win to take us through to the next round.

Second Knockout Stage

At. Madrid 1 – 0 Mannheim

Mannheim 2 – 0 At. Madrid

Progress was made to the quarter finals but Atletico made it tough for us and we had to come from behind in the second leg to progress.

Quarter Finals

Mannheim 0 – 3 Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer Leverkusen 2 – 1 Mannheim

We were drawn against our bogey team Leverkusen in the quarter finals and we were outplayed in the home leg losing heavily. We were always going to struggle away and it wasn’t to be as we bowed out of European football in the quarter finals.

The Players

Transfers

Squad 1 Squad 2

Goalkeepers

1. Hugo Anzarda - Hugo continues to be the No.1 for Mannheim but his performances are starting to be a bit erratic. Needs more consistency.

13. Raymond Dekker - Raymond continues to be back-up although he did get a few run outs as I tried him in place of Anzarda. To be fair he did reasnobly well but he isn’t a first choice keeper for me – yet anyway.

Full Backs

22. Andreas Schroder - after playing second fiddle to Escobar, the club captain wrestled back the RB spot in the team back and did well. Much better showing from the Austrian international.

2. Victor Escobar - Victor lost out to Schroder in the battle for RB and his position is starting to come into question long-term.

3. Rafael - Rafael was backup to Rodriguez again this season but did get quite a few run outs. A good squad player.

43. Cesar Rodriguez - Cesar had a good season and is our first choice LB. still heavily courted he has 1 year left to run on his contract.

Centre Backs

6. Amadou Traore - Amadou continues to be a frustrating player. Good on paper, he doesn’t hit the heights on the field and spent a lot of time out of the team. Starting to get a little frustrated with him, he needs to kick on a bit soon.

15. Vasilis Baxevanidis - Valisis had a good season but was blighted by injuries and missed chunks of the season. Hopefully he can stay fit next season.

55. Alexandr Kuznetsov - Alexandr did a reasonable job this season and featured heavily in the starting lineup. A solid centre back

35. Aidar Solosin - Aidar was unhappy with not playing last season so I decided to involve him more. Did well when he played, he ended up pretty much being my first choice CB as he repaid my faith in him.

Marcello Moschini - the young Italian spent another season out on loan but his development is stalling a bit. I may move him on in the summer.

Midfielders

4. Zafer Balikci - Zafer was the one to miss out when we reverted to two DMs but came back in to the team and performed well when I reverted back to my 442 formation late in the season. Performances outweigh the reports on him.

7. Christoph Jung - Christoph got some more game time this season when Cook’s form started to wane in the second half of the season and he did a solid job.

8. Roland de Jong - the Dutchman joined from PSV and did a good job in his first season. We have a lot of depth in the middle of the park.

11. Denis - The Brazilian winger joined us on a season loan from Bayern but a few dodgy early season performances saw him sidelined for the rest of the season.

14. Migen Toma - Migen is the rock around which our team his built – real quality in the centre of the park. Great to see how he has developed since I picked him up as a rookie.

21. Marko Jakovic - Marko signed from Dortmund and did a good job in his first season with Die Buben. Form did tail off a little at the back end of the season though.

23. Carl Cook - Carl joined the club on a permanent deal in the summer and he did pretty well although his form tailed off as the season went on.

24. Mario Teunis - Mario had to make do with cameo appearances and he is a little unsettled. Like I did with Solosin, I may have to integrate him into the team more next season.

27. Luca Oliveti - the young Italian was back up to Jakovic and had to make do with that. Still young though.

28. Omer Ahmetovic - Omer has stalled in his development and the exit door beckons for the Australian this summer.

Szymon Kaplon - The polish defensive midfielder arrived in the winter to strengthen my opyions in that area of the park. His future is up in the air though for the coming season.

Strikers

9. Daniel Axelsson - Daniel had a difficult season blighted by injuries and he slipped a little in the pecking order due to the form of Mofokeng and Freitas.

10. Vladislav Scherbakov - Vladislav got the odd run out and did ok but he is likely to leave in the summer.

19. Ricardo Freitas - Ricardo was the star striker in his first full season at the club and lead the line well. A good target man he will again lead the line next season.

66. Godfrey Mofokeng - In his first full season at the club Godfrey settled in well and did well as a foil to Freitas. Looks likely to edge out Axelsson in the team on this form next season.

Finances

Finances Suffered a little due to our non-participation in the CL, we will suffer further next season with no European football. Some wheeler dealing may be required this summer in order to freshen up the team.

The Future

Have we found our level in the Bundesliga? Two 6^th place finishes in a row would suggest so but we will look to reinvigorate the squad this season in order to make a push for the European places. Going to be a big summer...

Career History

Season      League        Pos.    German Cup  Europe     Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2012/13   3rd Division    12th     N/A         N/A      
2013/14   3rd Division    2nd      N/A         N/A        Promotion
2014/15   2nd Division    3rd    1st Round     N/A        Lost in Play-offs
2015/16   2nd Division    3rd    3rd Round     N/A        Lost in Play-offs again
2016/17   2nd Division    2nd    3rd Round     N/A        Promotion
2017/18   Bundesliga      12th   3rd Round     N/A
2018/19   Bundesliga      3rd    2nd Round     N/A        Champions Leage Qualification!
2019/20   Bundesliga      3rd    1st Round   EUro Semi    Europa League Semi-finalists
2020/21   Bundesliga      6th    3rd Round   CL Q/Final   CL Q/Finals, Europa League Qualification
2021/22   Bundesliga      6th    3rd Round   Euro Qtrs

[PRDH]

rlips - Tricky season there. I don't think you're far away from having a really cracking side. A top class centre back and deeper-lying midfield enforcer and I think you'll be right up at the top of the league again. Really like you're Portuguese lad, Freitas up front - give him the chances and he looks like he should put them away. He's a really beast physically too, should be able to trouble any defence around.

[Romanista1994]

rlipscombe - What PRDH said basically, your team is really good and could challenge with a couple of key additions. Also, you seem to have very bad away form in the Europa League? Is it the same in the league? If it is that could be one thing to look at improving.

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - was a tricky season. i got really despondant in the spring but the summe rhas got me going again. Freitas is a great target man - a little more consistency would make him a star.

Romanista1994 - our away form isn't brilliant to be honest and is an area to improve. something to work on.