[FM12] Now You Do Not Punish Someone, English Or Otherwise, For Being Rubbish At FM...

[HotChocolate]

Reem? Is this some sort of new slang the kids are using? I'll assume it means he's good...

Reem is from that crap, The Only Way Is Essex. (I think)

It basically means like 'well fit' 'bang tidy' etc but I used it to describe his stats

[Dejay]

Excellent season

[SnakeXe]

Well done on an excellent season! All your old clubs did pretty well too!

Cheers! Well apart from Darlington they all should have done really. Arguably Southend should have gone straight back up easily being a Championship stalwart for so long.

Excellent season

Great going mate. Excellent season .

Cheers guys!

Very nice SnakeXe. Very nice!

I see the Brazil manager bug has gone then!

I guess it must have! The FA didn't even bat an eyelid over losing to Germany when I was expecting a bollocking at the least.

Reem is from that crap, The Only Way Is Essex. (I think)

It basically means like 'well fit' 'bang tidy' etc but I used it to describe his stats

I'm glad I didn't understand that then! Even seeing those awful people on other programs just makes me cringe.

Updates may well slow down for the next few weeks - I've finally got a decent PC in my office so I should actually go up to campus and use it, which means no more casual FMing whilst waiting for simulations to solve, and my evenings are fairly busy due to a few gigs I've got coming up. I'll try to keep plodding along at least!

[Flamers]

Ok Mr I Have A Real Life

Good luck bronie

[Nobby_McDonald]

Reem is from that crap, The Only Way Is Essex. (I think)

It basically means like 'well fit' 'bang tidy' etc but I used it to describe his stats

You freak fancying Football Manager players.

[HotChocolate]

You freak fancying Football Manager players.

I'm sure the bit after etc saves me from that

[noikeee]

So you're in charge of Brazil now, nice. Good luck for the Copa America, and by that I mean win the bloody thing so you avoid the sack. In the club side, things are starting to get a bit boring there with Santos, no?

[Motherlover]

Enjoying this

[Deisler26]

Nice work. Fingers crossed for the third Copa Libradores!

[SnakeXe]

Just going to gloss over HC's perversion...

So you're in charge of Brazil now, nice. Good luck for the Copa America, and by that I mean win the bloody thing so you avoid the sack. In the club side, things are starting to get a bit boring there with Santos, no?

Haha thanks! Well I wasn't bored last season, because I was going for the record points/goals, so we had to keep up a very high level of performance to do so. I could certainly see myself being bored at times next season though. It's not as bad for me because I'm basically playing fantasy football for a bit - we're so much better than everyone else that I can concentrate on playing good football most of the time - but I can understand it's not as entertaining in terms of the thread.

Enjoying this

Good

Nice work. Fingers crossed for the third Copa Libradores!

Thanks! It'll probably be a bit more of a challenge this time with the Copa America falling in the middle of it, especially as I'll have to take Junior and Evandro, and perhaps Macarrao and Marinho, with me to try and avoid being sacked as Brazil boss.

I literally haven't had time to load the game up since the last update, it's ridiculous. I've got a gig on Thursday and a gig on Saturday, hopefully after that it'll calm down and I can play a bit more!

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'm sure the bit after etc saves me from that

I chose to ignore that bit.

[PaulHartman71]

really good read, especially enjoyed since I like managing Southend, Bremen and Arsenal myself.

[SnakeXe]

Cheers, glad you enjoyed it! I've finally gotten round to starting the next season, will get an update knocked together when I've got a spare 15 mins or so - between getting back into my guitar practice routine, exercising and my PhD I've just got no significant down time at the moment.

[Flamers]

I forget you do a PhD

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Career - Season 19 Preview - Santos

Board Expectations:

Campeonato Petrobras Brasileiro da Serie A - Win it (Predicted 2nd out of 20)

Campeonato Paulista Serie A1 - Win it

Copa Libertadores - Final

Recopa Sudamericana - Win it

My Expectations:

Campeonato Petrobras Brasileiro da Serie A - No problems

Campeonato Paulista Serie A1 - A win would be nice but not bothered so long as the kids get some good experience

Copa Libertadores - The one I really want this season

Recopa Sudamericana - We should win it, but won't be garment-rendingly annoyed if we don't

Budgets:

Transfer: £9,360,000 (£6,640,000 remaining)

Wages: £509,258/week (£481,276/week currently)

Balance: £20,733,983 (-£1,932,324 since last season)

Squad:

A couple of hopefully decent signings will strengthen the previously-weak fullback areas, whilst Barata, who never really reached his potential, was moved on to allow a fresh bunch of youths the chance to break into the first team squad.

Key Men:

Goalkeeper/Defence

Jonathan Seijo - GK - With our goalkeeping situation in a bit of a state of flux due to me wanting to blood some youngsters over the previous, declining, reserve keeper, Seijo will need to stay fit and on form if we're to have another good season.

Eduardo Fernández - DLC - Sheer class.

Midfield

Marinho - WBR/DM/MC - Plays every role in midfield from anchor to box-to-box, and is probably better at each of them than anyone else available to me.

Strikers

Júnior - AML/ST - See Fernández.

[SRL88]

Last season with Santos do we think?

[SnakeXe]

Almost certainly. I won't take another club job til I'm done with Brazil, though.

[HotChocolate]

I like managing Brazil teams but sometimes the seasons just drag on that little bit to much.

How have you found it?

[MattSpurs94]

It's been a while since I posted here, what have I missed?

[SnakeXe]

I like managing Brazil teams but sometimes the seasons just drag on that little bit to much.

How have you found it?

They do get quite long and dull, I now play games on full speed, key highlights only, and once I'm a couple of goals up I usually tab out and do something else. The exceptions are crucial games in the Copa Libertadores and away games against the better than average Brazilian sides. It's my first proper FM experience of South American football though, so it's definitely held my interest longer than it otherwise would have. I'm considering the prospect of managing in Germany again I have to say - the seasons will almost literally go twice as quickly!

It's been a while since I posted here, what have I missed?

What haven't you missed! What was going on last time you remember?

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Career - Season 19 Preview - Brazil

FA Expectations:

Copa América - Win it

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers - Qualify with ease

My Expectations:

Copa América - I'll be happy if we don't lose to anyone other than Argentina, but I don't think that'd be enough to keep my job

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers - The FA have this one about right

Other:

World Ranking: 4th (-1 since last season)

Squad:

This is the squad I chose for the Copa América. You can see there is only 6 players between the age of 21 and 30, which is just ridiculous. Presently there's just not the same ability coming through as the 30+ players though, so in order to fulfil expectations I have to keep using them I think.

Key Men:

Goalkeeper/Defence

Júnior - DC - The Real Madrid centre-back is a wonderful defender.

Midfield

Adriano - DC/DM/MC - Should provide a nice blend of craft and graft.[/url]

Strikers

Júnior - AML/ST - As important to Brazil as he is to Santos.

- ST - Relying on his young legs to make space for veteran legend Tainha.

[SnakeXe]

Season 19: Copa América Update

Hosts: Bolivia

Holders: Argentina

Group Stage:

We were drawn in a pretty easy group - Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica. I was pretty much expecting to win all three games quite comfortably, so chose the attacking 4-2-4 system perfected with Santos for all three games.

v Colombia (1-1)

First up were Colombia. We suffered an early setback as Colombia grabbed a goal, but responded well and dominated the rest of the game. Unfortunately we were struggling to find the back of the net - a massive creative deficit on the flanks could not yet be solved by the Santos pairing of Evandro and Júnior. Still, Patrick came on to nod home for a goal on his international debut to save our blushes.

v Venezuela (4-0)

Next up were the first of the two anticipated whipping boys of the group, and we finally seemed to throw off the shackles, racing into a 2-0 lead after just over 20 minutes thanks to Lucas and Patrick again. Júnior (the Real Madrid one) and Lucas again rounded off the victory nicely in the second half.

v Costa Rica (1-2)

We faced Costa Rica with confidence of a simple win that would top the group for us. I also decided to rest a few players. Things started excellently as Evandro's cross was put through his own net by Santana, but Aperibé felt obliged to even things up 5 minutes later. Montero gave Costa Rica a shock lead, and unfortunately we never looked like taking it back. A really terrible display.

Final Standings

We finished 2nd in our group after all, which meant a tricky date against Argentina. I wasn't too upset as we'd have to beat them at some stage to win the trophy, but if we lost I could probably expect the sack.

Knockout Stages:

Quarter Final v Argentina (e2-1)

I went for a more conservative 4-5-1/4-2-1-3 against the old enemy, and was rewarded with a much better performance than the one against Costa Rica (although that wasn't hard). Peter gave us the lead with a smart finish from the edge of the area after 23 minutes, but Argentina were causing us all sorts of problems in defence, Caballero's determined running paying off with the equaliser. The second half petered out somewhat, so extra time it was. Bacana struck just 4 minutes in to give us the lead, which we didn't relinquish to secure probably my best result as Brazil manager.

Semi Final v Peru (e1-0)

I cautiously stuck with the 4-5-1/4-2-1-3 against Peru, hoping that our individual talent would grab a goal whilst remaining strong at the back. It worked in the end, but took far too long, Mazinho's winner coming after 115 minutes. Another fairly shonky performance - we'd only really looked good against Venezuela all tournament - but we were in the final.

Final v Mexico (0-2)

We'd stuffed Mexico 5-1 away from home in a friendly last year so I was pretty confident in going back to the 4-2-4 to hopefully put in at least one more good performance to show we deserved the trophy. In the end that was a catastrophic mistake. We were overrun in the first 25 minutes to I had to make a substitution to reinstate the 4-5-1/4-2-1-3. We were still rubbish, but at least curtailed a few of the Mexican forays a bit better. Our abjectness going forward finally caught up with us, though, as when Mexico nicked a goal on 70 minutes we had to go for it. If an equaliser ever looked possible it was certainly never probable, and in the end Mexico simply piled on the misery with an injury time second.

Post Tournament:

The FA surprisingly said that despite the poor performance they still wanted me. I, however, could see the writing on the wall for this team. Headless chickens in defence, creaking veterans in midfield, unproven kids on the flanks, and an unreliable strikeforce add up to career suicide. I jumped before I was pushed.

[AK22]

Major tournaments do funny things to even the best of sides, but losing to Costa Rica is quite an epic fail! Looked quite an even game too :confused:

[City2000]

Shame you couldn't find your best form particularly in the in the final, nice win over Argentina though.

Good luck for the new season with Santos

[SRL88]

Weird things are major tournaments. Any plans to jump back into International Management?

[HotChocolate]

International management is so much fun but only with small nations in my opinion.

[Flamers]

Or England if your me

[SnakeXe]

Major tournaments do funny things to even the best of sides, but losing to Costa Rica is quite an epic fail! Looked quite an even game too :confused:

Yeah their workrate and passing was very good, they played the game of their lives. We were useless.

Shame you couldn't find your best form particularly in the in the final, nice win over Argentina though.

Good luck for the new season with Santos

Thanks, yeah it's a shame we couldn't have just muddled through that one last game. I already knew I was probably going to call it a day after a tournament full of the same sort of anaemic performances, but would have been nice to leave with a trophy under my belt. Would have been the first Copa for Brazil since 2007 as well.

Weird things are major tournaments. Any plans to jump back into International Management?

Perhaps, I'll take whatever the first interesting job that comes up after I've finished off the season with Santos is. Although that's unlikely to be an international one seeing as they all change hands in the summer usually.

International management is so much fun but only with small nations in my opinion.

I've never particularly liked it personally. It's definitely something I want to check off this time, as I never won an international title on FM11, but I don't really relish it.

Or England if your me

Well so long as you're having fun!

[Nobby_McDonald]

First Scotland, now Brazil.

[deltablue]

So close...

[arinceo]

It's a shame you couldn't win the Copa with Brazil, but if the squad isn't good enough I guess there isn't much you can do about it. Keen to see where you go next though.

[SnakeXe]

Season 19: Halfway House Update

In the Paulista league phase this time I decided to go a little bit more extensively in blooding the young players. As a result, we dropped more points than usual and ended up in 6th place. Not such a bad thing really, it seems to be far better to finish 3rd-6th in the league than 1st, 2nd, 7th or 8th due to the way the knockout rounds are drawn. The knockout rounds went very straightforwardly, smashing Portuguesa 5-0, Palmeiras 2-0, and beating Corinthians home and away in the final.

The Libertadores group stage went really well, as we recorded our best ever performance, winning all 6 games. Our reward for that should have been an easy second round match, which was good news as most of my stars had barely made 5 appearances by this stage of the season and were not anything like match fit. So of course we drew Boca, ranked 3rd in the entire tournament, who had somehow managed to finish with the worst record of the 2nd placed sides. An utter shambles of a traversty of an injustice if you ask me.

Boca added injury to insult, winning 2-0 in Buenos Aires to leave us with an uphill task in the home leg. Ultimately the players just weren't match fit enough to put in the sort of performance required and that was that, Boca completing the humiliation with an injury time kick in the family jewels as we poured forward in search of a goal. A really gutting way to have my last Libertadores campaign with Santos end, but what can you do.

The Brasileiro became all that was left to play for (the Recopa doesn't really count I don't think), and I set about trying to break the record points total again to give some prestige to my final season. We managed a 100% record until my stars went off to the Copa América, and we even kept winning after that, but game 13 was unlucky as Ceará inexplicably smashed us 3-0. Cruzeiro repeated the trick as an injury after all 3 subs had been used plus a dodgy penalty hamstrung us, but 13 wins from 15 isn't bad in my book.

The Good

• Winning the Paulista
  
• Top of the Brasileiro
  
• With players coming back from the Copa América we should only get better
  

The Bad

• The Libertadores second round debacle
  
• Slightly poor performance in the Paulista league phase
  
• The 100% league record going in such irritating circumstances
  

Results 1 - Results 2 - Paulista League Table/Knockout Rounds - Brasileiro Table - Copa Libertadores - Squad

[SnakeXe]

First Scotland, now Brazil.

You'll have to explain that one!

So close...

Inexplicably close given the way we played!

It's a shame you couldn't win the Copa with Brazil, but if the squad isn't good enough I guess there isn't much you can do about it. Keen to see where you go next though.

I really don't understand how there's so little Brazilian talent at peak age. Perhaps with the way the game balances things out, there'll be a big influx once the 33+ year olds have retired? I'm quite looking forward to my next move as well, whilst I've loved managing Santos I think it's definitely time for a new challenge.

[SnakeXe]

Shame it's my penultimate, rather than final game in charge.

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Career - Season 19 - 2031

Story of the Season:

Campeonato Paulista Série A1 - 6th/Winners

A modest league campaign was followed by devastating ruthlessness in the knockouts.

Campeonato Brasileirao da Série A - 1st

Corinthians kept up with us for about 25 matches before falling apart, as we extended our record points total by another 2 to 103.

Copa Libertadores - Second Round (lost v Boca)

I've gone over this in the midseason report, gutting.

Recopa Sudamericana - Winners

Ultimate revenge over Boca was sweet. Shame it's in a slightly irrelevant competition.

Results 1 - Results 2 - Results 3 - Squad

Transfers - £2m spent

Moved on Barata, who never developed to the standard I had hoped, plus a couple of real Santos legends in Martinez and Nadal who were a little past their sell-by date, even for domestic competition. The only ins were a great couple of fullbacks in Welington and Farina who added a real depth of quality in those areas we hadn't had previously.

Finances

Should be in good shape for years to come.

5 Most Important Players:

Tough list to choose this year as the entire squad were amazing.

5. Ricardo - DC/DM/MC - Mr. Consistency ever since he joined the club. Almost never injured or unfit.

4. Alessandro - DM/MLC/AMC - A bit of a breakthrough season for the young playmaker.

3. Ismael Farina - D/WBR - Astonishingly good debut season from the Argentine wing-back - shame I didn't find him sooner.

2. Xaropinho - AMR/ST - Really established himself as a key player with goals and assists on a remarkably consistent basis.

1. Júnior - AML/ST - What a player. Destined to be a superstar - unless he does a Neymar and stays his entire career. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, in my Santos biased view!

History:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Season  | Team            | League/Competition    | Country      | Position | Notes                                                 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2012/13 | Weymouth        | Blue Square South     | England      | 2nd      | Playoff Semi-finalists                                |
| 2013/14 | Weymouth        | Blue Square South     | England      | 3rd      | Resigned in October                                   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2013/14 | Darlington      | Blue Square Premier   | England      | 14th     | 15th on arrival in October                            |
| 2014/15 | Darlington      | Blue Square Premier   | England      | 2nd      | Playoff Winners                                       |
| 2015/16 | Darlington      | League Two            | England      | 16th     | Resigned in January                                   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2015/16 | Southend United | League One            | England      | 21st     | Relegated, 24th on arrival in March                   |
| 2016/17 | Southend United | League Two            | England      | 1st      | League Two Champions                                  |
| 2017/18 | Southend United | League One            | England      | 2nd      | Promoted                                              |
| 2018/19 | Southend United | Championship          | England      | 17th     | Resigned in October                                   |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2018/19 | Wigan Athletic  | Championship          | England      | 4th      | 13th on arrival in October, Playoff Winners           |
| 2019/20 | Wigan Athletic  | Premier League        | England      | 15th     | Left in December                                      |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2019/20 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 8th      | 14th on arrival in December, DFB-Pokal Winners        |
| 2020/21 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 1st      | B'liga Champions, Supercup Winners, EL Semi-Finalists |
| 2021/22 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 2nd      | Supercup Winners, CL & DFB-Pokal Semi-Finalists       |
| 2022/23 | Werder Bremen   | 1. Bundesliga         | Germany      | 1st      | B'liga Champions, Champions League Winners            |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2023/24 | Arsenal         | Premier League        | England      | 2nd      | Champ's League Semi-Finalists, League Cup Finalists   |
| 2024/25 | Arsenal         | Premier League        | England      | 1st      | Premier League Winners, League Cup Finalists          |
| 2025/26 | Arsenal         | Premier League        | England      | 1st      | Premier League Winners                                |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2027    | Santos          | Brasileirao           | Brazil       | 1st      | Brasileirao & Paulista Winners, Libertadores SF       |
| 2028    | Santos          | Brasileirao           | Brazil       | 2nd      | Paulista & Copa Libertadores Semi-Finalists           |
| 2029    | Santos          | Brasileirao           | Brazil       | 1st      | Brasileirao & L'dores Winners, CWC RU, Paulista SF    |
| 2030    | Santos          | Brasileirao           | Brazil       | 1st      | B'leirao, L'dores, Paulista, Recopa Winners, CWC RU   |
| 2031    | Santos          | Brasileirao           | Brazil       | 1st      | Brasileirao, Paulista, Recopa Sudamericana Winners    |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2030    | Brazil          | Friendlies            | Brazil       | N/A      | Appointed in July, P5 W2 D2 L1                        |
| 2031    | Brazil          | Copa América          | S. America   | R-Up     | Copa América Runners Up, Resigned in July             |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Season:

Shame to end with a disappointing continental performance, but domestically we were unstoppable, so at least that's a nice way to finish. I'm now a free agent until the next interesting-looking job comes up. I'm not ruling out anywhere at the moment, but Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Spain or France are strong possibilities.

[SnakeXe]

Former Club Watch:

Weymouth F.C.:

The exile continues.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13*  Blue Square South       2nd       Playoff Semi-finalists
2013/14*  Blue Square South       9th       I left in October (resigned)
2014/15   Blue Square South       10th      -
2015/16   Blue Square South       19th      -
2016/17   Blue Square South       9th       FA Cup 2nd Round
2017/18   Blue Square South       3rd       Playoff Winners
2018/19   Blue Square Premier     21st      Relegated
2019/20   Blue Square South       14th      -
2020/21   Blue Square South       14th      -
2021/22   Blue Square South       19th      -
2022/23   Blue Square South       18th      -
2023/24   Blue Square South       22nd      Relegated
2024/25   N/A                     N/A       FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
2025/26   N/A                     N/A       -
2026/27   N/A                     N/A       FA Cup 3rd Round
2027/28   N/A                     N/A       -
2028/29   N/A                     N/A       -
2029/30   N/A                     N/A       -
2030/31   N/A                     N/A       FA Cup 1st Round

NB * indicates that I was in charge for at least part of the season.

Darlington F.C.:

The unlikely upturn in fortunes continues!

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14*  Blue Square Premier     14th      I joined in October
2014/15*  Blue Square Premier     2nd       Playoff Winners
2015/16*  League Two              18th      I left in January (resigned)
2016/17   League Two              17th      JPT North Quarter Final
2017/18   League Two              15th      FA Cup 3rd Round
2018/19   League Two              3rd       Promoted
2019/20   League One              22nd      Relegated, FA Cup 4th Round
2020/21   League Two              20th      -
2021/22   League Two              6th       FA Cup 4th Round, Playoff Semi-finalists
2022/23   League Two              9th       JPT North Quarter Final
2023/24   League Two              16th      JPT North Semi Final
2024/25   League Two              11th      -
2025/26   League Two              19th      -
2026/27   League Two              19th      -
2027/28   League Two              18th      -
2028/29   League Two              20th      -
2029/30   League Two              1st       League Two Winners
2030/31   League One              12th      FA Cup 4th Round

Southend United:

So close to some silverware, but ultimately it impacted their league form as they missed out on the playoffs.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16*  League One              21st      Relegated, I joined in March
2016/17*  League Two              1st       League Two Winners
2017/18*  League One              2nd       Promoted
2018/19*  Championship            15th      I left in October (resigned)
2019/20   Championship            20th      -
2020/21   Championship            12th      FA Cup 5th Round
2021/22   Championship            9th       -
2022/23   Championship            15th      -
2023/24   Championship            16th      FA Cup Semi Final
2024/25   Championship            21st      -
2025/26   Championship            19th      -
2026/27   Championship            16th      League Cup Runners up
2027/28   Championship            21st      -
2028/29   Championship            22nd      Relegated
2029/30   League One              3rd       Playoff Semi-finalists
2031/31   League One              7th       FA Cup 4th Round, JPT Finalists

Wigan Athletic:

Finally made it back up.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19*  Championship            4th       I joined in October, Playoff Winners
2019/20*  Premier League          11th      I left in December (job offer)
2020/21   Premier League          18th      League Cup Winners, Relegated
2021/22   Championship            2nd       Promoted, League Cup Quarter-finalists
2022/23   Premier League          17th      FA Cup 6th Round
2023/24   Premier League          19th      Relegated
2024/25   Championship            5th       Playoff Semi-finalists
2025/26   Championship            4th       Playoff Winners, FA Cup 6th Round
2026/27   Premier League          5th       FA Cup 6th Round, EL Qualification
2027/28   Premier League          19th      League Cup Quarter-finalists
2028/29   Championship            6th       FA Cup 5th Round, Playoff Semi-finalists
2029/30   Championship            4th       Playoff Runners Up
2030/31   Championship            2nd       Promoted

Werder Bremen:

Enjoyed a season back in the Champions League group stages, but could not requalify this year.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20*  1. Bundesliga           8th       I joined in December, DFB-Pokal Winners
2020/21*  1. Bundesliga           1st       B'liga, S'cup Winners; EL Semi-finalists
2021/22*  1. Bundesliga           2nd       S'cup Winners; EL, DFB-P Semi-finalists
2022/23*  1. Bundesliga           1st       B'liga, Champs League Winners
2023/24   1. Bundesliga           2nd       CWC, DFB-Pokal Winners
2024/25   1. Bundesliga           4th       Champs League, DFB-Pokal Semi-finalists
2025/26   1. Bundesliga           4th       -
2026/27   1. Bundesliga           3rd       DFB-Pokal Winners
2027/28   1. Bundesliga           5th       Europa League Semi-finalists
2028/29   1. Bundesliga           4th       Europa League QF, DFB-Pokal RU
2029/30   1. Bundesliga           3rd       Europa League Quarter-finalists
2030/31   1. Bundesliga           4th       -

Arsenal:

Continue to go from strength to strength.

Season    League                  Position  Notes                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24*  Premier League          2nd       CL Semi-finalists, LC Runners up
2024/25*  Premier League          1st       Premier League Winners, LC Runners Up
2025/26*  Premier League          1st       Premier League Winners
2026/27   Premier League          1st       PL & CL Winners, FA Cup Semi-finalists
2027/28   Premier League          1st       PL, CL, CWC & LC Winners, FA Cup Final
2028/29   Premier League          3rd       League Cup Runners Up, Champ's Lg SF
2029/30   Premier League          1st       Premier League Winners, Champ's Lg RU
2030/31   Premier League          1st       PL & LC Winners, CL Runners Up

[SnakeXe]

[HotChocolate]

Looks like a good season for all your former clubs (apart from Weymouth although they could have won promotion).

[SnakeXe]

Looks like a good season for all your former clubs (apart from Weymouth although they could have won promotion).

They didn't

[SnakeXe]

The Milan job was available pretty much straight after I left Santos, which I applied for but didn't get. Then the Liverpool job was available, but I wasn't really interested in that because Liverpool disgust me (), but they hired in the Bayer Leverkusen manager. That was pretty tempting but I didn't think I could bring myself to manage anyone else in Germany than Werder or Dortmund so I left that too. Then a very interesting job was offered to me:

Off to Argentina I go to continue my South American adventure!

[SnakeXe]

Name: Clube Atlético Vélez Sársfield

Nickname: El Fortín (The Small Fort)

Founded: 1910

Stadium: José Amalfitani, 49,747 (20,640 seated) capacity

Status: Professional

From Wikipedia:

Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield is a sports club based in the Liniers neighborhood of western Buenos Aires, Argentina. Vélez is best known for its football team, that plays in the Argentine Primera División, the top level of the Argentine league system. Vélez has won the Argentine Primera División 8 times, and has also won 5 international cups (including both the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup). The club's home stadium is the Estadio José Amalfitani, in the borough of Liniers. Both the club and its stadium are nicknamed el Fortín (in English: "the Small Fort"), while its fans are called Fortineros ("from the small fort").

Vélez was founded in 1910 in the Floresta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, next to the formerly called "Vélez Sársfield" railroad station of the Western Railway. The club first participated in the Argentine league in the 1919 amateur championship (finishing runner-up), and was one of the 18 clubs that joined to form the Argentine professional league in 1931. Relegated only once (in 1941, returning to the top level in 1943), Vélez is a regular fixture of the Argentine Primera ever since and is positioned 5th in the all-time table of the league.

Vélez clinched their first title in the 1968 Nacional championship, and spent 25 years without silverware until 1993, when the team won the Clausura tournament. The 1990s were the most successful period in Vélez' history, as they won a total of 4 domestic titles and 5 international. These included both the 1994 Copa Libertadores, where they defeated defending champions São Paulo FC in the final, and the 1994 Intercontinental Cup, where they defeated A.C. Milan. Vélez Sársfield is also one of eight teams to have won CONMEBOL's treble.

Since the start of the game Vélez have added a good few trophies to their already decent record. The 2022 Copa Libertadores was the peak, but they also have won the Copa Sudamericana three times, including doing the continental double in 2022. Domestically they have won four Aperturas and three Clausuras plus one Copa Argentina. Their most recent success was the 2031 Clausura title (played from February to June) but they finished the Apertura (August to December) fairly far off the pace in 6th place. The reason the job was available? Their previous manager, José Saturnino Cardozo, left to manage Santos.

[deltablue]

Shortish journey then, try and find a keeper with a mean free kick.

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Career - Season 20 New Club Update - Vélez

Board Expectations:

Primera Division Close - Win it (Predicted 2nd out of 20)

Copa Argentina - Win it but not judging at present

Copa Libertadores - Semi-final

My Expectations:

Primera Division Close - If the squad gels to my tactics quickly then we should do ok, but I'd be surprised and a little disappointed to win it already

Copa Argentina - It'd be nice to win but not too worried

Copa Libertadores - So long as we don't go out to anyone worse than ourselves

Budgets:

Transfer: £364,000 (£1,460,000 remaining)

Wages: £217,499/week (£222,202/week currently)

Balance: -£4,582,861 (first season at club)

Squad:

The strikeforce is unbelievably good, however it's probably the only part of the team that is up to the same standard as what I've left behind at Santos. The financial difference shows starkly the reasons why, but I'll keep faith with my policy of youth development that served me so well in Brazil and hopefully we'll reap the same dividends over time. The defence lacks height and the midfield lacks guile.

Key Men:

Goalkeeper/Defence

Lionel Esteche - DRL - Probably the one non-striker who would make it into my Santos team.

Claudio Dario Díaz - D/MC - Suffers from the same chronic lack of height as the rest of our defenders, but more than good enough on the deck to compensate. Unlike the others.

Midfield

Diego Villavicencio - ML/ST - I'm retraining him to AML, as I expect he'll be a devastating inside forward.

Strikers

Alan Esmerado - AMLC/ST - Relying on him to score the goals, I'd be surprised if he lets me down, he looks incredible.

[SnakeXe]

Shortish journey then, try and find a keeper with a mean free kick.

Haha I'd love a Chilavert successor!

[SnakeXe]

A suitably insane way to start my time with the club! At 3-0 down I was wondering what on earth I'd got into, but the two goals before half-time gave us some confidence. I had my head in my hands when their fourth went in after we'd levelled it, but we equalised yet again and then finally took the lead which we managed to hold!

[deltablue]

Carrying on a fine tradition of madness I see.

[AK22]

Blimey, you've inherited some talented forwards there!

I thoroughly approve of your move to Argentina! Embrace the madness, it's great fun!

[Nobby_McDonald]

You'll have to explain that one!

Costa Rica's first major shock was when they beat Scotland at the 1990 World Cup when they were complete unknowns in the footballing world.

[SnakeXe]

Carrying on a fine tradition of madness I see.

Noone could accuse me of failing to understand the club...

Blimey, you've inherited some talented forwards there!

I thoroughly approve of your move to Argentina! Embrace the madness, it's great fun!

Yeah they're quite something! Shame the rest of the players are fairly weak, but if I can hang on to them and build the rest of the squad then it should be exciting. I'm definitely having fun so far anyway!

Costa Rica's first major shock was when they beat Scotland at the 1990 World Cup when they were complete unknowns in the footballing world.

Ahh yes! I was 2 years old at the time, so forgive me if my memory of that tournament isn't great.

[TWalsh]

Just caught up with the thread, and what a career you had with Santos! Quite a legacy you built up!

Any plans to manage a national team again or will you concentrate on club football now?