FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[wardog]

I wasn't going to post until mid-season review, but had to share my first ever European result. Nothing compared to beating Benfica, but still pretty mouth watering

[DodgeeD]

Lenzar and wardog - well done on reaching Europe.

Troy Damage - Stayed safe and improved the squad. Nice job, nicely done

marty78 - Unlucky again in the Europa League! Regular European football should see a nice financial boost.

I'm into the second half of the 2029/30 season and despite numerous changes, we're looking strong. I have to admit that sometimes I wonder why I spend so many hours on this game and these challenges.... but then you get results like this - bring on the quarter-finals!!

[Troy Damage]

Overall

League: Table - Graph - Results 1 - Results 2

Really unexpected, my aims coming into the season were to finish in the top half and potentially have a tilt at a Europa League spot or match last seasons decent cup run. We had a strong first half of the season, the highlight being a deserved 1-0 at the Allianz Arena, aswe went into the winter break in 4th position I was hopeful of maintaining a European spot. After the winter break everything just seemed to fall for us and we lead the pack all the way home, we won 13 and lost 4 and in all fairness about half of those wins could have been draws, we just seemed to nick goals in all the tight games.

It also helped that no-one else put up a decent fight. Bayern beat us at home in late Febuary to come within a point of us and subsequently went on a horrible run not winning in seven to drop right out of contention. Similarly fairly recent champions Gladbach beat us in early april to draw level on points with us and then went about drop points left, right, and centre. Stutgart and Kaiserslauten were also closing in at certain points before throwing away points at every opportunity. It also helped that champions in 4 of the last 5 seasons Dortmund were nowhere to be seen all season, finishing down in 8th place. In the end we sealed the title in stunning fashion against the champions Dortmund, thumping them 3-0 in front of a sell out 23,000 crowd at the Moselstadion, seven years after taking the job it was a throughly satifying campaign.

Cup: Results

The 9-0 was a nice way to start the season, but I wasn't happy to exit the cup in the third round after last years run to the final, I thought that the cup represented the clearest way into Europe for us, needless to say by the end of the season I was no longer too concerned however.

Transfers - Ins and outs - p2

We were intensly busy as usual, making a 10.5m net profit overall, and bringing in some top draw talent which represented another great year of business for us. Sad to see Yekini and Petersen go for 7.5m and 7.25m respectively as both are quality players, but neither wanted to be at the club thinking they were moving on to bigger things, bigger pay packets at least. Musa was brought in as a straight replacement for Yekini, as well as being cheaper he proved himself the better player, it was a similar story for Paul Hughes brought in to replace Petersen.

Finances - Balance - Facilities

We continue to be successful financially, and chairman continues to be much more willing to invest in the facilities than the playing squad. Just after the screenshots were taken he agreed to a 9m revamp of the training and youth facilities, despite initial reluctance, it seems my new found legend status at the club allows me to force through any board request by simply using the argument 'after everything I've done for the club you could at least grant me this request'. In this vein I got the chairman to agree to purchase our stadium outright so as to be able to expand it more quickly, mystifyingly this will take 14 months however, apparently he is a really slow negotiator.

Squad - Overview (curiously quite a collection of Welshmen we are accumulating)

Notable Players:

Ledio Ademi - Arrived at the club from Bayern last January with a broken leg so got his first real chance to impress this season. Such was my confidence in him I agreed the sale of last season's main frontman Anthony Lozano in a 5m deal. The young German did not let me down he ended the season the second top scorer in the Bundesliga netting 18 times, although he bafflingly is continually overlooked for the National team in favour of players with much more modest records in front of goal.

Rune Andersen - The Dane is getting towards 150 games for the club over his two spells, he had a very solid year as he was ever present at the heart of our defence. In the long term he is a player I will look to replace, as his inability to pass the ball leaves him a little exposed in the style of football I like my team to play, but his replacement is far from urgent and will only happen when I identify a real top class centre back.

Donavan Andre - I love it when this sort of thing happens, he was brought in with a host of other free agents on a trial at the start of the summer, over the course of about 3 weeks he did just about enough to convince me to sign him up as cover at left back. Our first choice left back got injured at the start of the season leaving me to reluctantly throw Andre in. He was excellent and remained first choice all season, I am currently fending off 5m+ offers for him from several clubs. The stats in the screenshot are wrong, not sure why, but he actually played 31 games averaging 7.25

Kieran Andrews - I couldn't resist signing him in January for 1.8m from Man United even though he wasn't strictly required, I thought he looked excellent, and great value at the price. He did a good job of proving me right giving me a real selection dilemma competing with Ademi for the lone striker role, and even had me experimenting with swtiching to 442, with limited success.

Lefteris Giovanopoulos - The Greek international had another fine season, one of the longest serving players at the club, long may it continue.

Luke Gray - Finally a solution to my woes at right back arrived in January, the Englishman is the most talented player ever to play for the club, the only worry is the 9m release clause which he insisted on having in his contract.

Paul Hughes - The Welsh international is the best centre back at the club by a mile, he had a strong season and I'm desperate to hang on to him.

Edouardo Lavigne - The Frenchman was made club captain after Kevin-Prince Boateng was sold in January, he does a fine job anchoring the midfield and continues to improve at the age of 26.

Greg MacCarter - Another Welshman, this guy has been at the club for three years now, he was signed from lowly Sligo Rovers for 500k and has developed into a throughly decent player, provides excellent back up in midfield.

Conor Morgan - The American remains the number one and I no longer have any plans to replace him, his fine displays have gradually killed them off since being brought in as a short term option three years ago.

Javier Musa - He was brought in to take Yekini's place in the team, but he is a more offensive player, so his arrival made our midfield slightly more attacking and was the catalyst behind the improved goal haul of the side which undoubtedly brought us the title.

Hugo Salva - Continued to look a very fine player in his second year with the club, contributing 9 goals from the left wing.

Next Season: I guess after winning the title you can't really aim for anything but to defend it. Having said that we don't have the strongest squad in league, and the chairman has been very tight with the budget once again as I will have only 5.5m to spend, added to that is the fact that I feel we may struggle to hold on to key players in the summer, paticularly the ones with release clauses, as they have got a rep boost from our success, and as the squad gets stronger affordable improvements are becoming harder and harder to come by, also we will have the distraction of Champions League football to contend with, for however long we manage to stay in it of course, as the club has never been in Europe before we will be in pot four and can expect a suitably hard draw in the groups. All that considered realistically I will be delighted if we finish in a Champions League spot (now top three after a coefficient improvment) and satisfied with a Europa League spot.

[wardog]

Troy Damage fantastic season. Like the looks of Slava. May i ask what flags are you using.

Also regards to my game, we destroyed Derry, Out powered Slovan Bratislava and won a tough fought battle against Dynamo Kiev to reach the groups stages,

The bad news is, we have no chance:

[Troy Damage]

Really tough group wardog, unlucky mate, you seem to be making steady progress as well though. The flags I'm using come from B' logos megapack which can be found here: http://www.fmscout.com/a-blogos-megapack-for-fm2012.html

[wardog]

Thanks Troy Damage although I'm unlikely to sign up to the download site

The group is tough but I never expected to get through the 4th qualifying round, we won 2-0 at home then went 3-2 down in the first half away. Gave the lads a good shouting to and they woke up in the second half scoring 2 early goals meaning they had to score twice to go through. Can't wait for my new training facilities though, young group of players would benefit from better training. Getting 88% capacity aswell this season, so any more improvement means we should either buy our stadium or build a new one. hoping for the latter.

[Lenzar]

Well, like Wardog, I have a tough group...

I drew FCP, Schalke and Olympiakos in Group G of the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!

I somehow got past Valencia, beating them on penalties at Galabank.

[brettney1980]

Dardanelspor A.S - Season 2019/20

League Table|Championship Group

I finished this season on the 19th before going away so the report will be short. I'll just say we were a little lucky to make it into the Championship Group and then massively lucky to actually win it! 3 draws in the first 3 games and i thought it was over but then we beat Besiktas for ther first time in my time in charge, followed that up with an hammering of Trabzonspor (who like us overachieved to make it here) then we ended the season with a victory over Galatasaray and Trabzonspor beat Besiktas to hand us the top spot and a Champions League place (and i think the Turkish Title).

Transfers|Finances

Turkish Cup saw us actually try a little more this year and we managed to make it to the Q-Finals losing to Galatasaray.

Squad|Team Report

Season    Division     Pos   Turkish Cup     Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   Second       2nd    Third Round    Promotion!
2013/14  First Div.    10th  Second Round    Mid-Table - Check!
2014/15  First Div.    8th    Third Rd.      Just below Playoffs
2015/16  First Div.    Top!  Second Round    Champions!!!
2016/17   Premier      5th    Fourth Rd.     Made it into Europe!! Somehow.
2017/18   Premier      4th    Fourth rd.     Champs Group.
2018/19   Premier      5th    Fourth rd.     Snuck into Europe via Fair Play!
2019/20   Premier      4th     Q-Final       Champions League!!!

So that was last update 9 months ago and i've decided to pick up where i left off (yes i know it's been awhile i'm just determined to finish one of these challenges before FM13 and i think i was closest with Dardanelspor).

I wasn't sure i was going to re-post in here or not so i didn't take many notes (plus i cant remember half the season since you know it was done 9 months ago ...) so tiny update for 2020/21.

Table|Champions Group

Transfers

Squad Stats

Europe;

Lost in the Champions League Q-Final 3-2 vs AC Milan after Finishing 2nd to Chelsea in the Group.

Season    Division     Pos   Turkish Cup     Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   Second       2nd    Third Round    Promotion!
2013/14  First Div.    10th  Second Round    Mid-Table - Check!
2014/15  First Div.    8th    Third Rd.      Just below Playoffs
2015/16  First Div.    Top!  Second Round    Champions!!!
2016/17   Premier      5th    Fourth Rd.     Made it into Europe!! Somehow.
2017/18   Premier      4th    Fourth rd.     Champs Group.
2018/19   Premier      5th    Fourth rd.     Snuck into Europe via Fair Play!
2019/20   Premier      4th     Q-Final       Champions League!!!
2020/21   Premier      2nd     Semi's        Beat Barca in Champs League!

[Lenzar]

Interesting question for those who may know: With leagues which have playoffs for Euro places, do those playoffs change in size or who qualifies if a country starts getting more CL slots.

Will be interesting to see the SPL with 7 euro places one day...

[wardog]

Co-efficents should change that, in my save we currently have 4 teams in the Europa League draw (including Scottish cup winners, and just promoted from Div 1 Aberdeen) and i believe celtic made the group stages of the champions league. should be a good boosting year for my lot.

[wardog]

Decided to take a small break from this just for a day or too as i've puffed myself out with this save at the moment.

[aldojags]

you're doing fantastically well wardog but i know what you mean, you can get sick of looking at this game sometimes! I'm playing well just now so I'm right into mines, just won at the Nou Camp 2-0 so I'm right up for it!

lenzar - fantastic progress made since I last logged in.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats Rlipscombe on completion, Great Work there...awesome to see you finishing up. Has been a while since I looked in here, so have a lot to catch up on

[AlexLightsaber]

Predicted - 10th

Board Epectation - Consolidate

Transfer Budget - £0

Wage Budget - £973 per week

Current Wages - £661 per week

Overview Screen (Club)

Profile (Manager)

Information (Club)

Squad (Club)

I've never managed such poor club before so im probably going to struggle for the first few seasons but im sure it will be fun

[Almondo]

Not been around for a fair while but it's good to see more completions. I may even have another crack at the challenge again before the new game

[AlexLightsaber]

Finished - 6th - Graph

Transfers

Best Player - Richie Barr

This Season

Lost in the first round of all the cups and spent most of the season in last place until the second half of the season when my team decided they actually wanted to win some games and then managed to work my way up to 6th place somehow.

Next Season

I've let nearly all the original player leave on frees and i am going to rebuild the whole squad with free transfers and aim for promotion (hopefully)

[Lenzar]

That's after 4 games, 3 of which are wins. Beat Olympiakos home and away fairly easily, but the shock was beating Schalke 5-1 in Germany. Schalke are obviously having problems as they are bottom after 4 games with 1 point.

[PRDH]

Pedro Cardoso has just made his 400th league appearance, in somewhat typical fashion he marked it with a goal, his 330th league goal.

In other news, I've got the new youth intake happening in a week in game. Will we have a new superstar to see me through to FM13?

[wardog]

Lenzar running good. Keep it up mate. Huge income boost I'd imagine.

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - Youth Intake - 2046

Here they come, the new players to be privileged enough to wear the famous green shirt of Lusitânia Açores. Of the 16 players to emerge from our youth set-up this season, 10 have a meagre half-star potential, a further two have one-star potential, there will be little said of them. The players that matter though, we have two two-star players, one two-and-a-half, and one three-and-a-half.

So, it's my honour to introduce:

Pedro Moreira - GK - 2 star - Born in Ponta Delgada, an island to the south east of my island, Terceira, he is a goalkeeper. He has reasonable potential to be a back up, with the number one slot tied up by Dias, and his natural successor (Davies) progressing nicely when he gets a chance. As a number three goalkeeper he is useful to have around.

Nuno Miranda - DC - 2 star - Not convinced by local lad, he will get a chance to impress, but there is a pretty long queue at centre half at the moment and so any game time will be restricted to the youth teams for now.

Hélder Vilhena - ML - 2.5 star - Heralding from the birthplace of Cardoso raises expectations somewhat and, despite his extra half star of potential, I can't see this lad getting anywhere near that. He has good flair and determination which at least means he ought to get somewhere, but I think the best he can hope for is to learn his trade with me before finding a career for himself at a lower club. I am prepared to be proven wrong though.

José Santos - DC - 3.5 star - The home-town boy is reckoned to have the potential to be one of the best players of his generation according to my assistant, I remain unconvinced, but then who am I to question him, I thought world-class defender Joao Paulo would amount to nothing more than a decent squad player. I am willing to be made to look stupid again and with decent physical and mental stats for his age he might be able to do just that. He's definitely the best of this intake, though it's not going to go down as one of the greats. He will be given a role in the first team to try to get him progressing towards his potential.

[Twellman24]

First things first--well done rlipscombe!

Wth, I'm starting the challenge right now. I did in the past have two really good runs, with Algeciras and Zamora...but in both instances, I got to the 2020s and got bored after hitting mid table in La Liga.

The idea is to surpass that and actually achieve the challenge this time.

After the announcement about FM13 and a couple of things that really haven't gotten me too excited, I can see myself playing FM12 all the way into the beginning of next year, so I'll go ahead and get started right now.

Holidaying as we speak!

T24

[PRDH]

More news from the Azores, the twenty years in my old stadium is up, and my board have agreed to a new one. Harmer Park, as it'll be known in honour of the club's greatest manager, looks pretty great. 69,173 capacity, retractable roof, undersoil heating. Lovely.

[wardog]

AlexLightsaber steady first season. just had a quick look at your transfers and am I seeing right that you released Ryan Frances as in the center back? Normally a decent defender till you get to division one, was a huge signing for me with a created team on Fm11.

Anyways good luck, first season is the hardest.

[Dr Poods]

DR POODS - USL DUNKERQUE SEASON REPORT 2019-20

End of Season Report

4TH FRENCH LIGUE 1

205%202016-17/End%20Of%20Season%20report/CLUBLEGEND.jpg'>Club Legend

THE SQUAD

The Squad (1)

The Squad (2)

A great cup run and league finish of 4th masked an awful start where Dunkerque went winless throughout their first 9 league games. Interestingly, biting the bullet and bringing in a sweeper based tactic that I had made but was previously unwilling to risk. Again, too much is left for too few, but now we have brought in improved attacking players who I am sure will help us thorughout the next couple of seasons.

Qualifying for the EURO Cup again, we are now considered the 47th best side in Europe which is nice. But all this will be for naught if we don't get off to a good start.

THE RESULTS

Results (1)

Results (2)

Results (3)

4th in Ligue 1

League Position Graph

THE TRANSFERS

Transfer activity was muted this season with only 4 players coming in (1 of them coming after the league season had finished). As will be obvious, by bringing in Golan and Ruffier, I was trying to solidify the goalkeeping and after a rocky start it certainly worked! As regards the outs, it's clear sentimentality has no place in football with Kim Won-Jae heading to Depor and Flamini plus Paulo Jorge also heading out the door throughtout the year.

Transfers

THE DR POODS' PLAYER AWARDS

As usual, I will be giving four players special recognition for their achievements this season.

Toni Kurtovic, doesn't really even need a report, was brilliant at RB again. Schalke have joined the hunt as well!

Kurtovic

I keep looking for opportunities to move him on, yet he keeps surprising me. A good return this year playing mainly on the left wing.

Ivani

Durand is really finding his feet as a goalscoring threat and he more than holds his own in European competition. He's making noises about moving to a bigger club, but I think we can keep him.

Durand

Ruffier came on a free and was a sensation between the sticks. His form may have dropped off at the end of the year, but by and large he was fantastic. Could be interesting this year as my assisstant is claiming that Golan is better. We will see...

Ruffier

THE DUNKERQUE TEAM AWARDS

Kurtovic - Fans' Player of The Year

Best XI

Overall Best XI

THE FINANCES

The Finances

Average Attendances

Average attendances are a real issue. If you don't believe me have a look. We have finished 4th, 6th, 4th and 4th and we have seen attendances drop!

Still, onwards and upwards!

Wish us luck!

ALLEZ DUNKERQUE!!!

[Dr Poods]

More news from the Azores, the twenty years in my old stadium is up, and my board have agreed to a new one. Harmer Park, as it'll be known in honour of the club's greatest manager, looks pretty great. 69,173 capacity, retractable roof, undersoil heating. Lovely.

I am a legend at Dunkerque, and I hope one day to have a stadium named after me. Luckily, it will only have to hold 10,000 as I hardly ever get over that (average attendance going down).

[PRDH]

I am a legend at Dunkerque, and I hope one day to have a stadium named after me. Luckily, it will only have to hold 10,000 as I hardly ever get over that (average attendance going down).

I really need to be able to fill it regularly to start making money, or at least breaking even, again. Since I stopped signing players (and therefore really selling them) my finances have collapsed. My balance is going to be negative for the first time in about twenty years at the end of this season.

[marty78]

Troy Damage- Congratulations winning the Bundesliga already. Good luck in the Champions League.

AlexLightsaber- Good start to the challenge, good luck.

PRDH- Very nice having the stadium named after you, I have never managed that and it always gets named after the Town/City.

Dr Poods- Good season, hopefully you can push into the top three and secure Champions League football next year.

On a personal note I have decided to quit my challenge in Spain. Since the football season has started and I've been going to games again I really wanted one more save with the team I support (Leicester City). I will still be keeping an eye on this thread though and looking out for some more completions before FM13. I will be looking for this thread when FM13 comes out and will certainly take part in next years challenge. Good luck to everyone and thanks for making me feel so welcome when I joined in.

[Lenzar]

dr poods - are you saying that there is perhaps an issue with average attendance? I'm getting a full house for every league game, but as the seating capacity is only 1200, that's not saying much! My new stadium, which will be open for the 18-19 season, will hold over 16k. Hoping I fill it....

[Dr Poods]

dr poods - are you saying that there is perhaps an issue with average attendance? I'm getting a full house for every league game, but as the seating capacity is only 1200, that's not saying much! My new stadium, which will be open for the 18-19 season, will hold over 16k. Hoping I fill it....

My average attendance has dropped to 8,300. Stadium was extended thanks to a forced improvement. So, 8k in a 21k stadium

At least we own it!

[wardog]

My average attendance has dropped to 8,300. Stadium was extended thanks to a forced improvement. So, 8k in a 21k stadium

At least we own it!

Dr poods was the stadium just expanded this year? If so reduced capacity for a little while would impact on average attendance. Keep an eye over the next 2 or 3 seasons.

[Twellman24]

Well, here we are.

Cristian Sirera takes over UD Merida. This team was in La Liga de las estrellas (BBVA) back in the 90s, but after a couple of years struggling up there went down all the way to the Tercera.

The club

The finances

The opposition

I fully intend to finish this challenge with this version. I may be the only one in FM2012 by the end of the year but I'll be here.

Saludos!

T24

[rlipscombe]

been a few days since i was last in here so.....

Lenzar - congrats on 2^nd and CL football – great achievement so quick! Great result against Benfica and then Valencia. Enjoy the group stage of the CL – I see you did! Fantastic achievement.

Troy Damage - solid start in the Bundesliga there. The prize money is sure helpful isn’t it. Strange seeing the German league going backwards though – does fine on my save. Hopefully it doesn’t hinder you too much. EDIT: Wow – stormed to the title there – guess Germany’s European coefficients don’t matter after all!! J

Marty78 - be a shame to see you go from the thread but been great participant this season. Look forward to seeing you back next season.

Gundo - thanks mate – appreciated.

LLR - cheers mate – it was a relief to get it done! Good to see you back in here.

Wardog - tough draw in the Euro Cup but good experience nonetheless.

Brettney1980 - good luck back in Turkey. Hopefully can see a completion in Turkey which would be a rare feat!

Twellman24 - welcome back and good luck with Merida

PRDH - great to see you getting a stadium named after you – much deserved.

Dr Poods - good season there mate – good luck next year.

[Lenzar]

The draw has come in for the Last 16 of the Champions League. We will be facing off against Arsenal, who I fully expect to utterly trounce us.

Still, the money means I should get better budgets for next year.

[rlipscombe]

Lenzar - Arsenal is a tough draw but to be fair i thought that with Benfica and Valencia too..... good luck.

[Twellman24]

Right.

So, I gotta get off my comfort zone. I'm going to France and see where I land.

T24

[Twellman24]

AS CANNES

- Cristian Sirera takes charge of this once famous side which now just resurges from the French Fourth division.

- AS Cannes was once known at a continental level--the team enjoyed a very successful spell in the 90s, where the French were top half of the Ligue 1 for a few years, as well as having an amazing list of world class players, such as Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, or Johan Micoud. However, these players did not last long in the club, eager to play at a more competitive level, and without them, the team suffered.

- After spending the past ten years in the Nacional, the French club was relegated to the CFA last season. Promptly promoted once again, AS Cannes are expected to stay in the National division with ease. I have decent resources and I will be using them to try to survive first, and to get promoted second. Cannes, even though is a recently promoted club, has the potential and reputation to be in the Ligue 2 soon. Or so I hope. So far we've already signed on a free Mario Melchiot, ex-Chelsea RB, who we will be using as CB.

T24

[aldojags]

PRDH well done on the stadium, it sounds a cracker! Nothing immediate jumps out from the youth intake but we'll see how it goes. I've given up reporting on my intakes had not much to report in last few.

Welcome to challenge alex lightsaber.

Making great progress lenzar.

My game is going along as it usually does, absolute domestic domination this season (won all 4 trophies -10 in a row Ligue 1 titles), got to semi's of CL, got a perfectly winnable tie against Porto, absolutely battered them over the 2 legs, lost on away goals!

Really struggling with an update here, can't face another one! I'll try and force myself to do it next few days!

[PRDH]

PRDH well done on the stadium, it sounds a cracker! Nothing immediate jumps out from the youth intake but we'll see how it goes. I've given up reporting on my intakes had not much to report in last few.

My game is going along as it usually does, absolute domestic domination this season (won all 4 trophies -10 in a row Ligue 1 titles), got to semi's of CL, got a perfectly winnable tie against Porto, absolutely battered them over the 2 legs, lost on away goals!

Really struggling with an update here, can't face another one! I'll try and force myself to do it next few days!

Cheers aldo! I'm chuffed with the stadium. Along with finishing Cardoso's career, playing in it is one of the things keeping me going.

I've skipped past another review on my game too. Might do instalments 'features' during the season of my players just to keep people in the loop. Maybe separate ones on the first team, the bench and the next generation or something. A big update with loads of stuff about the actual season (always the same - win league, kids perform admirable but lost in the cups and I get out of the groups and not much more in Europe) doesn't seem particularly exciting for me to write or for you guys to read, and the players and project are the interesting things at this stage.

Really hope you get some luck in the CL soon, you so deserve to win it and get completion before FM13 comes out.

[Troy Damage]

Overall

League: Table - Graph - Results 1 - Results 2

We achieved my minimum aim of getting ourselves one of the three Champions League places on offer, though I would have liked one of the automatic places as we will have to go through qualifying almost certainly unseeded. Overall I'm pretty satisfied despite the fact that we failed to defend our title, we had a bit of an injury crisis in the second half of the season,a really poor October, and our first year in Europe to contend with, on top of that the team took a little bit of time adjusting as I decided to change the tactical system from a countering attacking 451 to a more possesion based 4231. It was basically a four horse race all season as us, Bayern, Gladbach, and Dortmund are clearly the top teams at the moment, in the end Bayern pulled away to win thier first title for seven years, we essentially never really recovered enough ground after losing three on the spin in October.

Cup: Results- Our poor October form saw us crash out of the cup in our first loss to a team in a lower division than us under my management.

Champions League:

Group Stage - We were handed a frightenly tough group of Inter, Man Utd, and Benfica. My initial aim was to try to pip Benfica to third and get into the Europa League knock-outs, which meant our opening game at home to Benfica would be crucial. A slight dampner on the club's first ever European night was the fact that as only around 16,000 of the 23,000 capacity of the Moselstadion is seating it could only be roughly two thirds full. We rid ourselves of such concerns however with a deserved 1-0 win. We followed that up by blowing a 3-1 lead at Old Trafford to go down 5-3, we then blew another 3-1 lead at the San Siro, but this time came home with a valuable point the game finishing 3-3. The Italian champions endured a really poor campaign the low point of which was the 5-2 hammering we gave them at the Moselstadion, which put us in a great position to get out of the group, however we gave Benfica a chance to reel us in by losing 2-0 deservedly, away in Portugal in the fifth game. Benfica beat Inter in their final game which meant we required a point at home to Man Utd to go through, somehow we produced this result. I was furious as we had two men sent off in the first half, both for elbows in the face (needless to say both Hughes and Correia didn't see any wages for two weeks), yet remarkably we still twice took the lead in the second half before holding on for the draw.

Knockouts: We were handed an tie with Barcelona in the last sixteen, which would be quite a baptism of fire in our first ever European knockout game. The first leg started terribly, defensive injury problems forced me to start a left winger at left back and Messi eased past him twice in the first tweleve minutes to give them a 2-0 lead as I feared the worst. We grew into the game magnificently however and in the end could easily have won it. The second leg was quite frankly one of the most exhilarating games I've ever experienced on FM. Messi and Fierro going off injured in the first half helped as massively as when they were on the pitch we looked unable to cope with Barca, their first half missed penalty was also a key moment. The youngster Bruhlmann, on as a sub, scored a absolute wonder goal to level the score, picking the ball up on the half way line, beat two men, before chipping Valdes from 30 yards, and it got better in extra time, after they took the lead I thought it was all over after Ademi missed his 114th minute pen, but he made up for it scoring the lastest of winner, and in a funny way I'm not sure we would have won had he scored the pen, as Barca would have had the time to throw everything at us, and with seriously tired legs in defence I'm not sure we could have kept them at bay.

The draw for the quaters was kind to us, as we got the worst team left in when we drew Marsielle. We played ok in the first leg at home, but failed to kill the game after they had two men sent off in a crazy 65th minute. We did our job in the second leg however, scoring the early away goal, and they never really looked like getting the three goal they needed. In the semis we met Arsenal, at home in the first leg we played well enough, but Arsenal really were poor, lacking in creativity they struggled to carve out any real chances, a fortunate 96th minute Conor Wickham own goal put us in control of the tie. Arsenal may have been bad in the first leg, but we were even worse at the Emirates, it took us just ten minutes to throw away our two goal cushion, but our goal lead a charmed life thereafter, and substitute Keiron Andrews finished our only notable chance on the night to put us, rather fortunately through. Our opponents in the final were AC Milan, and after the way we dealt with Inter in the groups I went into the final thinking we might pull off another upset to end our somewhat miraculous run, however after taking the lead in the 15th minute we never really performed and blew our big chance against a distinctly average Milan side, losing in the end 3-1.

We rode our luck more than a little, but still did briliantly to make the final in our first ever European campaign, but in a way I'm glad we didn't win; implied in the challenge is building a quality team that should be dominant at home and one of the best in the contintent. I have not done this yet, we are not the best team in Germany as this season showed, but only one of the best, we were lucky last season that everyone else fell away, we would have been similarly lucky to win the Champions League this year, and are by no means one of the best on the continent.

Transfers: Page 1 - Page 2 - We were even more busy than usual this season, bagging a net profit of £24m after making a stonking £7m plus just from loaning out players. But on the whole this was a bad year for us in the transfer market as we lost our most talented two players. Luke Gray went for £9.75m to Arsenal, and Javier Musa went for £18m to Lyon, I could do nothing about either as Gray's tranfer met a release clause, and Musa's was accepted by the chairman, I was not able to bring in replacements of similar quality. Losing Musa was paticluarly hard as I was caught completely by suprise, and as you can see he was class. On a side note I slipped into sentimentality as I made the questionable decision to resign club icon Vacklav Dvorak after two years away at Bayern for a fee of £4m. The fans loved it, but it proved an error and he was sent out on loan to Schalke in January, I will try to recoup the outlay this summer.

Finances: Balance - Reaching the Champions League final has our bank balance looking very healthy indeed, hopefully this means I will have my first transfer budget of over £6m, though presumming everything goes to plan we should soon be concluding a deal to buy our stadium and who knows how much that will cost. I will also push for further training and youth investment, and as a club legend I seem to be able to get the board to do whatever I want them to.

Squad: Overview - I am yet to find the central defender I have been searching for for around two years now, but the January signing of Hoogendoorn went some way towards filling the gap the sale of Luke Gray left in our back line, we could also do with another central midfielder and possibly a left back, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the squad, our attacking option are certainly excellent.

Ledio Ademi - The Bayern reject has now found his way into the German squad and followed up last years success with another strong season.

Rune Andersen - He has now played 173 league games for the club during his two stints, he had a solid year though he is still marked for replacement as a first teamer but I would very much like to keep him around.

Donovan Andre - Last summers free signing continued to impress, if I can find a quality left back I will try to sign him, but I would be perfectly content if we go into to next season with Andre as first choice.

Catello Bonanno - Last January's £1.1m signing came into the first team this season, and looked an acomplished player. There are teams queing up to take him back to Italy and we could make a very tidy profit on the midfielder, but I aim to keep him around.

Paulo Corriea - He was our most significant signing during the summer at £5m as we, rather pleasingly beat Dortmund to his signature, and to me he looks a good buy.

Vladimir Georgievski - He was brought in on a free largely as I felt we could easily make a bit of money on him, but when Musa left he came into the first team and did better than expected, he may well be kept on. By the way the stats in the screenshot are nonsense, not sure why that keeps happening, he actually played 33 times averaging 7.22 and scoring 8.

Gabriel Gomila - The Spaniard cost £1.5m from Barcelona B last January and really established himself as first choice this season, he also suprisingly enough established himself in the Spain set up as well. We staved off a £9m bid from Real Madrid in January but he has a £12m release clause so we may not be able to follow suit during the summer window.

Paul Hughes - The Welsh international remains our best defender by a mile, if we can sign someone of similar quality to partner him we may well be able to regain the Bundesliga title next season.

Edouardo Lavigne - The club captain remained solid, as ever there are several teams hoping to offer him a return to France this summer, I doubt we'll let him go, but he is not as key as he has been in previous years.

Conor Morgan - He continued his fine form, he was immense in the Champions League in paticular, his signing on a free four years ago is increasingly looking like one of the best bits of business we've done. He has now made 137 league appearences for the club.

Hugo Salva - Had another good season in his third at the club, but the talented youngster Bruhlmann is now pushing him hard for his place in the team.

Next Season: I don't expect us to repeat our heroics in Europe, but I would like to see us push hard to regain the Bundesliga title. To be honest if we play as well as we did this season I'm confident we will have a satisfying year. I would like to see us move forward with our transfer activity though, not backward as I felt we did this season. I will also aim to condense my update for next season much better, as I'd be suprised if anyone has made it all the way through to here. (serious plaudits to you if you have by the way)

[PRDH]

The man, the legend Pedro Cardoso has just broken the record for league appearances previously held by Descazals by notching his 422nd. In those he's also managed 350 goals (also a record). What a player!

[rlipscombe]

that is a stunning record mate...

[Twellman24]

This is bad. I didn't even play two months. I get bored after a bit. I'm having FM blues.

So, reading through this thread I came across with my first attempt on this challenge, with Zamora, where I left the save in 2024, with the best position in the history of the club (7th) and with the first taste of european football (Europa League quali). So I figured I'd stick with it and try to keep going!

Here's the last season update for the save, back at the beginning of the year:

________________

Zamora - 2023/24

Transfers

- We really didn't spend much money until the winter window, where we felt like we should splurge and strengthen the team to get maximum results. 34 year old Freddy Adu arrived on a free and play little (it was more of a cool signing for me than anything). Racing's striker Joselu, just relegated to the Adelante, signed for a couple of million, but didn't play much and wanted to leave next summer. English Higgins came on a free to better the left midfield along with Wagenaar.

- Lots of people left, though. Hallstrand, Mario Jorge, Sonne, Bernier, Revivo, Ambroguetti, Garnier...all those players who had fell short of overperforming, and they left around 28m in the bank.

_________

- In January, four players arrived--Moldavian CB Petrescu, Brazilian 24yo forward Renatinho, young Scottish AM Kenny, and the next Riquelme (in my personal opinion), 21 year old Lucho, from Boca. They all did well in the few months they played.

- We started the season fully knowing that we were the team with, in theory, the worst team in the league, and also the worst paid one.However, none of my players seemed to care as we started amazingly, with a Top 8 finish by the end of the first batch of matches.

- We did feel like we needed a couple of players to keep the form though, and with the January signings, the team kept at it, with European chances all the way to the end. A 1-3 win at Gijón and another one vs Athletic (even with 7 players missing due to int'l call-ups) put us finishing 7th, an amazing finish for us.

- We will be in the Europa League next season! I got Manager of the Year, Zamora got best progression, and Sebastian, in the best team of the league as a sub. I am loving looking at this table right now.

Table

Stats: 1 and 2

*Remember, players with a "D" in front of their name are youth products.

Vieira conceded a bunch of goals, but he did OK overall. Die, Petrescu, Josan and Santos were the starting defense towards the end of the season,with the latter being chased by half of Europe, but he is not for sale at all. Youth product Pavon is by now essential in the defensive mid--he is still very young, but we're going with it. Wagenaar and Pedraza are solid in the left and rid mid, and Lucho did very well to be his first few months in the league and the club.

Renatinho did what we expected form Revivo and he did not do--pace, finishing, perfect complement for a Sebastian Garcia who, this year did even better than his last at the BBVA. Fourth best forward in the league, and second best Spanish after Ibon, of course. Still no national team though.

Finances: We now have over 35m in the bank (although we're paying the 19m for Lucho in installments). Surely that new stadium has to come...8,000 is laughable at this level.

_________________

2013/14 - Segunda B - 2nd, 79 points, lost in promotion playoffs - No Copa del Rey

2014/15 - Segunda B, 3rd, 76 points, promoted via playoffs! - Copa del Rey: Third round vs Sestao

2015/16 - Liga Adelante - 17th, 50 points - Copa del Rey: Second round vs Oviedo

2016/17 - Liga Adelante - 14th, 54 points - Copa del Rey: Forth round vs Athletic Bilbao

2017/18 - Ligha Adelante - 4th, 74 points, promoted via playoffs! - Copa del Rey: Second round vs Elche

2018/19 - Liga BBVA - 19th, 25 points, relegated! - Copa del Rey: fourth round vs Granada

2019/20 - Liga Adelante - 15th, 51 points, avoided relegation in the 78th minute of the last match - 2nd round in Copa vs Sabadell

2020/21 - Liga Adelante - 5th, 73 points, lost in promption playoffs vs Espanyol - 3rd round in Copa vs Zaragoza

2021/22 - Liga Adelante - 1st, 81 points, champions and promotion!!! - 4th round in Copa vs Real Sociedad

2022/23 - Liga BBVA - 16th, 38 points, avoided relegation! - 4th round of Copa vs Valencia

2023/24 - Liga BBVA - 6th, 57 points, qualified to Europa League! - 4th round of Copa vs Getafe

_________________

T24

Ha! New stadium coming up! They just released the news!

"Zamora Stadium" (awesome name...) will by the end of next season, so in 2025 we will have a stadium with a capacity for 23,875 Zamora fans! Roughly three times our current capacity. The stadium will cost around 35m Euro but we're getting around 16m for sponsorship revenue.

An exciting way of FM to welcome me back into this save

PS: As i'm reading all the previous pages, I came accross this:

The Biggest Big Euro Threads

Just thought as we headed to 3000 posts I should point out the size of our previous threads.

FM09 - 6070 Posts

FM10 - 4487 Posts

FM12 - 2905 Posts

FM11 - 2484 Posts

FM08 - 1069 Posts

On 08/04 FM11 had 1662 Posts, so we are almost double that. In FM09's thread there were 2958 posts at this point in time, so we have actually seemingly gone back to the Heyday of our thread unlike the others around.

I am loving the challenge this year, its the first time I have stuck with one club this long and not played with others, and the whole thread is flying as well. Awesome to see, and some great seasons going on as well.

This would make the FM12 thread the second one for now, right?

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - Youth Intake - 2047

Welcome one, welcome all to the latest intake from the club's world famous (I'm assuming) youth academy. After years of training a select few have managed to impress their coaches and schoolmasters to have a chance to impress the club's legendary English manager.

Of the sixteen players this year we have a slightly disappointing crop. Eleven of them don't break the half-star level and will have to rely on a bit of pleading from the coaching staff to get them a spot on the youth side, then two each of 1.5 and two stars with the pupil at the top of the class having 2.5 stars. Let's meet those top 5 who will certainly be offered contracts of some sort.

Márcio Rosa, a two-and-a-half star prospect on the left wing from Montalegre (a small town on Portugal's northern border with Spain), is the most promising palyer to emerge this year, and one who actually fills an important need - back up left winger. As the position with the only non-youth product in, it is nice to know I have someone coming up through the ranks to fill this position and complete the jigsaw. He's got decent stats for a winger, well, for a 15-year-old anyway. I have hopes, that once he gets some tutoring under his belt to improve his woeful mental attributes that he can turn into a decent squad player.

Ricardo Silveira, a two-star defence midfielder from Pedras Rubras, as suburb of Porto, has some decent stats, and looks as though he might become a halfway decent footballer, but in a position with as much competition as the centre of midfield I'm afraid he has the looks of a player to have in the youth teams, then on loan then make some money from him.

Ricardo Nunes, with the best will in the world I don't think this two-star striker from Vialonga, just outside Lisbon, is going to make it at the club. He's got a lot of great players ahead of him and is simply not very good. Admittedly he's only 15, but with limited physicality, poor mental attributes and not much technical skill to speak he's got a struggle to make it. Lower league player I'd guess.

Francisco Duarte, a 1.5 star midfielder looks to be another lower league player to me, decent skills for his age, no physicality, I'm not expecting any trees to be pulled up unfortunately from yet another mainland boy.

Fernando Coentrão, is the final player from the intake. Interestingly, after Rosa, this 15-year-old, 1.5-star left back is the player I think has the best chance. Obviously that depends on how the hometown boy develops, but given some tutoring to sort out the mental side of his game I think we might have a reasonable squad player on our hands.

[Twellman24]

This is why I love these challenge.

First taste of Europe after over ten years of going up the ladder.

Since we trashed our first rival in Scotland 2-6, I went ahead and played all the youngsters I have in my first squad in the second leg.

Starting eleven

Remember--everyone with a "D" before their name is a youth product of Zamora.

We're talking everyone but the RB and LB.

Score

T24

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's

Portosantense

2nd Division South 2012/13

He's BACK

Having read a bit of the thread again, I decided I should come back and have another go before FM13 and get myself back into it. Hopefully I catch the challenge bug once more and am up for this come the new season.

So here I am with a new club, I have signed on as the manager of CD Portosantense, of Porto Santo. So heading out to the Islands, means I have a chance to build up a club and have a great life on the beach as well.

The Start in Brief

Des Tiny: Profile & Info

Portosantense: History, Seniors & Reserves

Biggest Star: Julio Pinto - A 34yr old Striker is our best player

Future Stars: Azeez - A young DM, & Fabio Loureiro - A young right wing

Now I will get into searching for some more players to join this club.

[rlipscombe]

LLR is back in Portugal!! \o/

[Lenzar]

Annan Adventure In Scotland - Season 5 - 2016/17

Onwards and upwards once again. For the 5th season in a row we won something...

League (1st)

...this year the win being the SPL! Plucky performances against the Old Firm, including a late season 1-0 win at Ibrox was just enough to carry us over the line. The 6 point margin definitely flatters us, at kick off on Game 38 we needed a win, and were about to trounce Motherwell 4-0, whilst Celtic, despite being 2-0 up against Hearts, threw it all away and lost 3-2. The definite low point was losing 5-0 to Rangers, though a poor loss to Hearts came close as well.

Champion's League (1st Knockout Round)

After somehow beating Benfica and scraping through on penalties against Valencia, we got into a group consisting of Porto, Schalke and Olympiakos, we started off with a brilliant 4-1 win in Germany. Porto were far too strong, but on the other hand, we were too strong for Olympiakos, whose two goals came in quick succession when we were temporarily down to 10 men thanks to an injury to Bowler. Arsenal, though, were simply brilliant at the Emirates.

Winners: R. Madrid (beating Barca 4-0 in the final!)

League Cup (3rd Round)

Embarassing. I rested a few players for this game, but the players who came in were easily capable of performing much better against SFL1 side St. Johnstone. St. Johnstone ended up beating several other SPL teams, losing only in the final. This tournament is now the only Scottish honour we have not won. My aim is to rectify this.

Winners: Hearts

Scottish Cup (Semi Final)

Meeting an inform Celtic side in the semi-final put paid to any dreams of winning the cup three seasons in a row. Performances against Alloa and Dunfermline were utterly shocking at times, forcing me to take a tired side to a second game in the quarter finals.

Winners: Rangers

Squad

Goalkeepers

13. Darren Duncan

Somehow released by Rangers, Darren proved himself a very capable Goalkeeper. Despite his young age, I am informed he will get no better, but he is easily good enough at least for now. He is also on the cusp of being my first Scottish international, as he is currently understudy to an aging Craig Gordon.

(Apps: 38, Conc 32:, Cln: 17, Avr: 7.03)

Defenders

2. Darren Cole

Once again Darren proved a solid, reliable choice as right back, rarely putting a foot wrong.

(Apps: 31, Gls: 0, Avr: 7.26)

3. Chris Fortescue

Despite being technically weaker than others, Chris is still my first choice left back. However, with an injury in the last game of the season, things may change.

(Apps:30, Gls: 0, Avr: 7.19)

5. Lloyd Bowler

Lloyd was once again brilliant. I am predicting I will now have a nasty amount of interest for him, as the Old Firm clubs are both ready to come in - since I took this screenshot I've had to offer him over £4k a week just to keep him! He is definitely worth that, however, as his power in the air saved dozens of goals, whilst also proving useful at the other end

(Apps: 36, Gls: 17, Avr: 7.56)

6. Bernd Meier

Limited appearences for Bernd this year mean I'm likely to try to offload him in the summer, as I have several other centre backs who are equally or more capable.

(Apps: 3, Gls: 0, Avr: 7.03)

12. Marenglen Asllani

Despite not being the best tackler, Marenglen has proven himself to be Lloyd Bowler's main defensive partner, saving our neck on many occasions. He is another who is attracting interest, this time from German Bundesliga clubs.

(Apps: 29, Gls: 6, Avr: 7.51)

14. Marc Schulitz

Having a versatile backup player like Marc is part of why I was able to win the league. Though he mainly covered on the left side, good performances on both sides meant I was even happy to give him a short run of starts when he started to moan about a lack of First XI action.

(Apps: 18, Gls: 0, Avr: 7.22)

24. Volkan Kaya

Tipped highly and touted as the next Jurgen Kohler, Volkan was unlucky in that I was unable to pick him more than I did. I will definitely attempt to give this player more games next year, as he seemed to play better each time he was picked.

(Apps: 10, Gls: 0, Avr: 7.21)

27. Patrick Pourié

Patrick was signed to give me some more depth to the left back position. When he did play, he was occasionally poor, but mostly did a half decent job of covering opposition right wingers.

(Apps: 7, Gls: 0, Avr: 6.90)

29. Scott Allen

My first real cash signing, £350k from SFL1 side Morton, Scott first piqued my interest last year when he was probably Morton's best player. He was still fairly high up in SFL1's average ratings table, so I snapped him up in January, and found him to easily handle the SPL when called on.

(Apps: 4, Gls: 0, Avr: 7.43)

Definitely going to offload a couple of defenders in the summer. Any tips, guys? Meier and who else?

Midfielders

4. Ian Black

Now aged 32, Ian was kept out the side by younger, better players. When he did play, he was another solid, reliable player, and also scored his usual screamer - again his only goal of the season.

(Apps: 14, Gls: 1, Avr: 7.11)

11. Gyliano van Velzen

Whilst still excellent at times, I am beginning to wonder if I can get a better left winger in - Gyliano tended to spurn many chances by cutting inside instead of crossing in to my strike. Even if he is replaced, I am sure his high pace will allow him to find a niche as a late game impact sub.

(Apps: 36, Gls: 7, Avr: 7.29)

15. Lucas Trecarichi

Lucas is starting to show signs that the top of the SPL is not his place. That said, he seemed to have the knack of scoring a vital goal - it was his penalty that took us past Benfica.

(Apps: 16, Gls: 2, Avr: 6.99)

18. Ben Blackwell

One of my stars for the future, Ben has played brilliantly all year, and is still only 19 (though he'll turn 20 in the post-season). With him in the centre of midfield creating chances, I know that we will do well again next year.

(Apps: 35, Gls: 6, Avr: 7.39)

21. Juanma Ortiz

Juanma, despite playing well, started to decline fairly rapidly towards the end of the year. After being dropped as he was no longer pacey enough, he decided that he will be retiring.

(Apps: 27, Gls: 4, Avr: 7.17)

23. Leon Morgan

When a scout report for Leon came in, I thought 'I must alter my formation for him'. Doing so usually paid off, as I now play a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Leon tucking in behind a lone striker. Goals aplenty, though a better player may well have scored even more as many chances were wasted.

(Apps: 36, Gls: 16, Avr: 7.35)

25. Steffen Rietentiet

Signed early on in the league campaign, Steffen is yet another excellent German prospect. He has secured a place alongside Blackwell for the immediate future, even scoring a couple of screamers.

(Apps: 34, Gls: 5, Avr: 7.24)

26. Mathias Nardelli

As I changed my formation, I didn't have any decent cover for Morgan. Mathias slotted in where needed, covering both for Morgan and for the right winger position, and performed well in this role, even earning a start or two.

(Apps: 11, Gls: 2, Avr: 6.97)

30. Joel Blanchard

Perhaps a rushed signing, Blanchard is one of two candidates to replace Ortiz, and is in my opinion the weaker of the pair.

(Apps: 5, Gls: 0, Avr: 6.52)

37. Mario Budic

Yet ANOTHER German, Budic is the better of the two Ortiz replacements, and will probably take over full time next year, thanks to two excellent goals in his games.

(Apps: 4, Gls: 2, Avr: 7.47)

Forwards

10. Christian James

Now our record goal scorer, surpassing David Cox's old record, Christian nontheless has not guaranteed himself a place in the first XI. At times his shooting was simply woeful, especially towards the end of the year.

(Apps: 28, Gls: 17, Avr: 7.43)

17. Franck Traoré

Signed to be my new first choice striker, Franck performed so poorly that at one point he was demoted to 3rd choice. I am seriously considering his status for next year

(Apps: 16, Gls: 3, Avr: 6.79)

Transfers

Progress

Progress

| Year   | Division | Position | Achievements                     |
| 2012-13|   SFL3   |     1st  | Promoted as champions            |
| 2013-14|   SFL2   |     1st  | Promoted as champions            |
| 2014-15|   SFL1   |     1st  | Promoted, Scottish Cup Winners |
| 2015-16|   SPL     |    2nd  | Scottish Cup Winners, into CL    |
| 2016-17|   SPL     |    1st   | SPL winners                            |


100 club
| Player        | Nat | Pos | Apps | Gls/Conc | Status
| Loris Karius  |GER | GK |  131 |    119       | At club 

[rlipscombe]

Great season once more Lenzar. to get your first SPL title so quickly is great and the CL run was incredible to be honest. good luck next season.

[PRDH]

Welcome back LLR, doesn't feel right when you're not in Portugal!

Back in my universe I've been offered the chance to manage Russia in their home European Championship. I've accepted. I've got to eventually have some success with an international team.

[brettney1980]

Dardanelspor A.S - Season 2021/22

We are now at a point where we can beat most the teams in the Turkish Premier with our reserves/fringe players, only the bigger teams can compete with us/ are as good as us, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas and wayy back Trabzonspur to a degree. I played youngsters and reserves every game that fell before a European match (except where a couple of the bigger teams fell there and i put in a couple of first teamers). We fell a little short of what we expected in the Turkish cup losing to Galatasaray in the Q-Final 1-0 (not bad for our U18's and fringe players).

Turkish Premier|Championship Group

Transfers

The big signing of the summer was Mehmet Yildirim (CB) from Trabzonspor £2.9M and he was a massive part of our campaign making 51 starts and 2 Subs in his debut season for the club and at 22 their will hopefully be many more great seasons to come.

Europe;

We qualified for the Champions League Group stages with a 2-1 Agg. Victory over Rangers and a 3-2 Agg. Victory over Atl Madrid a tougher game and we actually lost the first leg 1-0 but GK Schulze put in a Man of the Match performance in the second leg and our counter attacking forwards did the rest.

With Porto, Shakhtar and Bayern in our Group it was always going to be tough and losses Home and Away against Bayern and then an hammering at Porto put paid to our chances of making it out the group (even after the decent start of a draw at Home to Porto and a 2-1 victory in Shakhtar) we finished with another 2-1 victory over Shakhtar which was enoughto see us finish third and into the Europa League we go ...

Champions League Group

First up came the second Old Firm team in Liam Cameron's former club Celtic and we despatched of them fairly easily with 2-0 and 3-0 victories. Fiorentina beat us 2-1 at their place and just when it looked like our European Adventure would come crashing to a halt late goals saw us beat them 3-0 at Home. Into the Quarters and along came Schalke 3-2 and 4-2 and we go through. Our toughest test and we face Fenerbahce 4 times in 3 weeks (twice in the Championship group) 1 win 2 draws and 1 loss .... Both draws came in the league and we beat them 2-0 in the Euro Cup Semi and the 2nd leg of the semi saw us playing with fire and i tried to defend (for once) and we hung on with them beating us just 1-0 and we go into the European Final to face ... Atl. Madrid (yes we get to face them twice in Europe, Champions League Qualifying and European Cup Final).

Right out of the Youth Academy and into the European Cup Final Kamber Totkali (he looks like he could be a start for us).

European Cup Final.

First Team;

Reserves;

U18's

Lineup

GK Heiko Schulze - Had a great season but will drop into 2nd choice next season we have an even better guy coming in on a free.

RB Murat Guray - Played 50 games, a great season should be International RB for Turkey (if he stops holding out for Germany).

CB Hamdi Keskin - New big money signing had an awesome season.

CB Haris Skoro - Awesome CB, also only 22 (we have a great young CB pairing).

LB Ertan Ersoy - 11 weeks in total of injuries limited his appearances this season, hopefully he can shake them off. On the fringe of earning his first cap for Turkey.

CM Tayfun Aydin - A product of our Youth Academy, has now made 190 appearances for the club.

CM Hamdi Keskin - Was in on loan from Dortmund, would love to of kept him but he will be going back. Played great as out Ball Winner.

IFR Osman Ozparilti - He isn't as important as he used to be but still managed over 30 apps, 5 International Caps for Yurkey.

IFL Martin Marx - Can play equally well in the Advanced Playmaker role (CM). Earned his first cap for his adopted nation of Turkey recently scoring on his debut.

CF Liam Cameron - Didn't score as many this season, forms a great partnership though with Katchipwisayla.

CF Afonso Katchipwisayla - To say i nearly didn't sign him all that time ago ... Was named Turkish Footballs CF of the year.

Backups;

Seymur Mustafayev - Isn't going to cut it at the club, as been a good backup for us though, made 10 apps last year.

Hakan Satilmis - Fills in well when needed, can play anywhere accross the back.

Patrick Herrmann - Was brought in last summer from Gladbach, was first choice at IFR at the start of the season but drifted off towards the 2nd half of the year.

Olcay Onder - Can play IFL or CF, scored 8 goals in europe where we often pushed Marx into the center and he played IFL.

Mo Soumare - Would of played manay more games if Katch and Cameron didn't play so well together, a great backup. If Cameron leaves (it's been hinted) he will get more games.

Season    Division     Pos   Turkish Cup     Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   Second       2nd    Third Round    Promotion!
2013/14  First Div.    10th  Second Round    Mid-Table - Check!
2014/15  First Div.    8th    Third Rd.      Just below Playoffs
2015/16  First Div.    Top!  Second Round    Champions!!!
2016/17   Premier      5th    Fourth Rd.     Made it into Europe!! Somehow.
2017/18   Premier      4th    Fourth rd.     Champs Group.
2018/19   Premier      5th    Fourth rd.     Snuck into Europe via Fair Play!
2019/20   Premier      4th     Q-Final       Champions League!!!
2020/21   Premier      2nd     Semi's        Beat Barca in Champs League!
2021/22   Premier      2nd     Q-Final       Won Euro Cup and League Titles!