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If You Count Your Chickens Before They've Hatched, They Won't Lay An Egg


AK22

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Looking good on both the domestic and international front :thup:. Good to see Forest back in the Prem...Watford have to get more than 11 points, please! We can't have Watford taking the prize of the worst team in Premiership history! ;)

Um, you might want to look away soon, I might have some very bad news for you! ;)

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It is a tough group but it could have been worse. Then again, Algeria vs Egypt, everything goes out of the window.
Haha yeah, good point. Remember the last WC Qualifying Playoff IRL? All hell broke loose.

AK22 - whatever happens, do not, under any circumstances, lose to Algeria. If you do, hire some security guards for your own safety. :D

I'm quite up for a bit of post-match fisticuffs, the Egyptians do it so well!

[video=youtube_share;o0kKLxU7WKY]

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Doing really well at Fulham mate. And good luck with Egypt too. :thup:

Quite a few of you, including you too AK22, are signing very good Turkish talents, I could use some of them at GS...

Cheers, I've found there to be a bit of an abundance of decent Turkish regens in recent FMs. The only problem is, they normally have a bit of a temper on them too! ;)

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Great job with Fulham so far! But what's going on with Tottenham?? Ouch...

Spurs are back to being a distinctively average mid-table side, finishing no higher than sixth in the past seven seasons. It appears that since 'Arry left, it's all gone a bit t*ts up at The Lane!

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Thanks for all the other comments too! :thup:

Been away from the forums for the past few days; having a rather hectic pre-Christmas real world at the moment. Roll on December 22nd, my last day of work this year!

Should get an update or two up tonight, but will also aim to catch up on everybody else's threads too, over the next couple of nights :)

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Thanks for all the other comments too! :thup:

Been away from the forums for the past few days; having a rather hectic pre-Christmas real world at the moment. Roll on December 22nd, my last day of work this year!

Should get an update or two up tonight, but will also aim to catch up on everybody else's threads too, over the next couple of nights :)

I was genuinely just asking myself what was happening with your save. :)

I finish work on Friday and wont go back until January 3. :D

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African Cup of Nations 2019

Hosts: Tunisia

Holders: Senegal

Group Stages

OrangeAfricaCupofNationsOverview_Stages-3-1.png

Egypt Results

EgyptFixtures_Fixtures-1.png

All-in-all, quite a disappointing show by us. We should have comfortably beaten Algeria, and we were 2-0 up against Togo before throwing the game away, so quite conceivably, we could have qualified for the knockout stages as group winners. Unfortunately, our good qualifying form and defensive record deserted us, meaning that third was the best we could manage; the FA didn't expect us to do much anyway, and were delighted by our performance!

Knockout Rounds

OrangeAfricaCupofNationsOverview_Stages-2-1.png

Final

South Africa 1-0 Ghana

No huge shocks in the tournament, but considering how similar in ability the major African nations are, the trophy could have been won by any of the final eight teams. In the end, it was World-Cup quarter-finalists, South Africa, who walked away as champions. According to the FIFA World Rankings, they are now officially better than Brazil! (SA 8th, Bra 9th!)

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And so, with that poor display, I decided to jack-it. Egypt was a good place to start international manager, but I just don't have the dedication, or affiliation, to the nation, to do this job long term.

Overall record with Egypt:

AndyKingHistory_Overview-1.png

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South Africa is a highly ranked nation in my save too. In fact, all of Africa is doing well :) Cameroon was even ranked first in mine for a while.
Came 4th in the 2034 World Cup in my game and KO'd some big teams along the way.

There's currently eight African nations in the top 20 of the World Rankings, with Cameroon the highest in 5th place. I don't think it's that realistic; I know the African nations are improving, but I can't see many of them being consistently better than Brazil, England or Holland by 2019 in real life. One of the quirks of FM, I suppose!

Oh dear, getting dumped out in the groups by your big rivals. Not good!
Should really have done a bit better, but it was a tough group.

The Africans took over on FM11 for me, each World Cup it was almost guaranteed that 3 African teams would be in the Semi's.

Yeah, I agree, it was all a bit of a shambles. I thought we'd comfortably qualify from our group, especially considering one of our players is a Real Madrid star now. I definitely want another pop at the Cup of Nations in the future, although I'm quite happy to wait for a while. Later on in the save, I might add the South African league, and then see if the SA national job comes up.

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England are vastly overrated in FM too, so they're on equal footing in that sense. Personally I think it's great when 'small' nations do well in World Cups and such, but of course if it's not just the odd time but the norm then it stops being a fun happening. A bit like England in FM :D

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England are vastly overrated in FM too, so they're on equal footing in that sense. Personally I think it's great when 'small' nations do well in World Cups and such, but of course if it's not just the odd time but the norm then it stops being a fun happening. A bit like England in FM :D

I agree, for ever since I can remember, England do tend to win everything on FM (except when I'm managing them :D). However, on my FM12 save, the best they've done is reach the QF of Euro 2012; they didn't even qualify for the 2014 World Cup. So, it appears they've been tamed down somewhat :D

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On my save, it was the Finals of the Euro 2012 before failing to not qualify for 2014 World Cup! But its been pretty regular stuff for me - Brazil are World Cup champions, and Spain just won their third Euro Championships in a row against a talented Belgian team.

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As stated by others was a tough group but should have done better. Hope you get another shot at the cup of nations, definitely appears to be some talent in Africa and it's easier to spot when you manage there.

African nations doing well on my save too. 6 in the top 20 incuding Cameroon being ranked 2nd in the world behind Argentina. England are down to 11th, Spain 10th, Germany 8th. Some strange things happening.

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Fulham F.C.

654.png

Season Review 2018/19

Competitions

Barclays Premier League: 5th

Position Graph | Fixtures

BarclaysPremierLeagueOverview_Stages-2-1.png

FA Cup: Semi-Final | Carling Cup: Semi-Final

Season Summary

Match of the Season Highlights:

Finally, I have finished my first season with Fulham; it feels like I've been playing this year forever! :D

If anyone would have offered me fifth place at the beginning of the season, I would have definitely bitten their hand off. However, finishing just one point off Champions League qualification has left me with a slight bitter taste in my mouth, on what was, overall, a very successful season. Up to the end of February, things were going swimmingly, we were scoring for fun, and putting together decent strings of results, consolidating a comfortable third position in the table. We were never in the title race, but had a nice six point buffer over fourth place Chelsea, everything was looking rosy. Then March happened, which signalled the start of the biggest collapse of my career so far. April was even worse, we didn't win a single game that month! By the time we won our penultimate game of the season at home to Blackburn, we had stopped the rot, but had slipped down to fifth, and had to rely on results going our way in the final round of matches. They didn't; we lost again, as did Man City, so had to settle for a Europa League place.

I can't really complain too much about our cup performances either. Fair enough, we fell short of reaching either of the two major finals, but getting to the final four of both major cup competitions is still a good achievement for us. If we hadn't been in such a bad run of form in April, we might have even beaten Arsenal in FA Cup Semi-Final, but I suppose that's all academic now.

Financial

Bank Balance: £19.7m

Average Attendance: 25502 | Season Ticket Holders: 14655

There's money in the bank, but it's disappointing that we'll be missing out on the Champions League revenue next season. We will still get a bit of extra cash from the Europa League, but that won't be enough to make any major difference to the club's finance. Currently, everything is ticking over nicely, but neither are we in any danger of making any serious profit. Unfortunately, there's not a lot we can do about it either, considering the limitations of having such a small ground as Craven Cottage, we're never going to cash in on large gate receipts.

Squad

Squad Overview | Transfer Summary

Team of the Year | Overall Best Eleven

Fan's Player of the Year: John Itubu

Manager's Player of the Year: John Itubu

Top Goalscorer: John Itubu (31 goals)

As you can probably tell, we're a team all about one man. John Itubu has been immense this season, contributing with 31 goals and 13 assists, and winning PFA Young Player of the Year; I still can't believe I got him on a free transfer! The main task for me now will be to build up the rest of the squad to his level, and more importantly, make sure no-one pinches the main man off us. I'm sure to be getting offers too, considering his goalscoring record, and the fact he's only 21, but unless someone makes a block-busting offer, he will remain a Fulham player for the near future. In addition to Itubu's great performances, our centre-back partnership of Domagoj Vida and Aleksander Milosevic has exceeded my expectations. On paper, these two don't look that special, but they have formed a solid unit, which on their day, are difficult to play against. The other stand-out player from this season was Néstor Ortigoza. He's getting on a bit now at 34, but still has a Beckham-esque right foot, making 19 assists, mainly from his set-piece delivery.

Other News

'The Special One' has taken over as the England national boss; four wins out of five so far, and top of their Euro 2020 qualifying group, they are now back on track to become a top ten nation once again.

Kingstonian - Very stable mid-table League Two club now, finishing 17th this season.

Hull - Made a decent fist of things in the Premier League, but only managed to finish 19th with 30 points. Scoring goals was their main problem, only finding the net 27 times.

Career Summary

[size=2]Season     Team              League                   Finish    Cups                             
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12    Unemployed
2012/13    Kingstonian       Blue Square Bet South    3rd       FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, FA Trophy 2nd Round
2013/14    Kingstonian       Blue Square Bet Premier  3rd       FA Cup 1st Round, FA Trophy 1st Round
2014/15    Kingstonian       npower League Two        16th      FA Cup 1st Round, Carling Cup 1st Round, JPT 1st Round
2015/16    Kingstonian       npower League Two        17th**    **Resigned 19/12/2015
          Hull City         npower League One        6th       FA Cup 4th Round
[/size]​2016/17    Hull City         npower League One        1st       FA Cup 1st Round, Carling Cup 1st Round, JPT Winner
2017/18    Hull City         npower Championship      2nd       FA Cup 5th Round, Carling Cup 2nd Round
2018/19    Fulham            Barclays Premier League  5th       FA Cup Semi-Final, Carling Cup Semi-Final

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Not a bad first season :thup: although as you say, despite the success it's a bit disappointing to miss out on Champions League football next season. Still, looking at the bigger picture you've got to be happy. Itubu had a fine season for you; a strange name for a French man. I presume he's got some African joint nationality? Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian?

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On my save, it was the Finals of the Euro 2012 before failing to not qualify for 2014 World Cup! But its been pretty regular stuff for me - Brazil are World Cup champions, and Spain just won their third Euro Championships in a row against a talented Belgian team.

Three in a row for Spain is impressive, especially considering they couldn't even win a raffle five years ago!

As stated by others was a tough group but should have done better. Hope you get another shot at the cup of nations, definitely appears to be some talent in Africa and it's easier to spot when you manage there.

African nations doing well on my save too. 6 in the top 20 incuding Cameroon being ranked 2nd in the world behind Argentina. England are down to 11th, Spain 10th, Germany 8th. Some strange things happening.

I'd like to go back to Africa eventually, but I'm in no particular rush either. If a good opportunity comes along, I may well take. Ideally, it would be roughly two years before a World Cup, so I get to do the WC Qualifying campaign, one Cup of Nations tournament, then the World Cup itself.

Not too bad, perhaps on the cusp of some success.

Possibly, although I feel winning the Carling Cup will be our best chance of any silverware. Mind you, I wouldn't mind repeating Roy Hodgson's success from a couple of seasons ago, and reaching a Europa League final.

Not a bad first season :thup: although as you say, despite the success it's a bit disappointing to miss out on Champions League football next season. Still, looking at the bigger picture you've got to be happy. Itubu had a fine season for you; a strange name for a French man. I presume he's got some African joint nationality? Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian?

Good guesses, but he actually has a Reunionese second nationality, although born in France. He's already got continental reputation too, he's going to be a star!

I'm still more than pleased about the overall performance, but there's still plenty of room to improve too. We got quite a reasonable spine to the team, but the wide areas are particularly weak, and need some investment. May need to spring a change in formation next season if I can't bring in anyone in the summer.

It must be disappointing with your form at the end of the season but overall you did well to get into Europe. With a solid goalscorer like Itubu you can keep building the squad and you'll be successful.

Thanks rancer, hopefully I can keep him.

However, I've just noticed there's a £15m minimum release clause in his contract... and Lyon, PSG, Spurs, Sevilla and Villarreal are all sniffing around. I'm going to have to break the bank to offer him a new contract or risk someone poaching him off me :(

It has to be said, that is a quality season with Fulham.

Oh and LOL @ Watford :D

Cheers Daz. There are no other words for it; Watford were p*ss poor! Eight points in an entire Premier League season, that breaks Derby's 'record'! :D

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It must have been incredibly frustrating to collapse the way you did, but a brilliant season overall :thup:

Definitely get Itubu signed up to a new deal as soon as you can. I can't imagine it will be too long before someone offers £15M for him.

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Thanks for all the comments, looking forward to leading the club in my first European campaign :thup:

I've had quite a productive pre-season period (update to follow), and thankfully I've been able to tie down Itubu's contract. I did have to make him the highest paid player at the club (£50k p/w), but without a natural goalscorer, we would probably struggle over the course of the season, so I didn't really have much choice. He still does have a minimum release fee under his new terms, but this figure is now at £30m. If someone comes in what that kind of offer, they're welcome to him. Even though it would be a shame to lose a World Class talent, that kind of money would benefit the club no end as I'd be able to bring in 2/3 quality names.

I do also have a couple of other news nuggets too:

Surprising Craven Cottage is being expanded.

AndyKingNews_Inbox-10-1.png

I thought the capacity was maxed out there, as there's little to no room to expand the stadium (unless they've moved the Thames since I last looked :D), but the extra gates receipts will really help balance the wage bill, and take the capacity up to 30000 mark.

Also, after a short break, I've decided to head back into international management.

AndyKingNews_Inbox-3-1.png

Similarly to Egypt, this will be a challenge into the unknown; having never managed a Asian/Oceania national side previously, I'm quite looking forward to playing in the Asian Cup. First up, though, are the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup (more to follow on this too).

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Shame you just slipped away at the end but I would say that was still a very good season. Itubu certainly looks quality, amazing to think you picked him up on a free. I may have missed this somewhere in the thread previous but what club released him? Also great news that you have him tied down to a new contract as he's the sort of of player you can really build a team around.

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Fulham F.C.

654.png

Pre-Season Summary 2019/20

Wage: £19750 per week | Contract Length Remaining: 3 years

No revised contract over the summer, not that I was expecting it anyway, considering the length of time remaining on my existing terms.

Board Expectations

Barclays Premier League: Respectable Position

Europa League: Second Knockout Round | FA Cup: Sixth Round | Carling Cup: Quarter Final

Transfer Budget: £9.97m

Wage Budget: £675k per week | Current Player Wage Total: £611k per week

Media Prediction: 7th | Title Odds: 40/1

It's apparent that everyone thinks that last season's high finish was just a flash in the pan, not that I'm complaining either. It suits me to have reasonably low expectations, as this allows me the opportunity to slowly continue improving the team before being ready for a serious top four challenge. I'm sure nobody would mind us having a decent cup run, though, and I reckon we'll have a good chance in the Carling Cup too. However, it will be difficult to fight on all four fronts, so may need to sacrifice the FA Cup if we're still in Europe after Christmas.

Transfer Activity

Transfer Summary

Club Signing of the Window: Mohamed Ismail

Total Amount Spent: £13m | Total Amount Received: £8.5m

I have thinned the squad slightly over the course of the summer, allowing several fringe players to leave the club. The majority of these were decent footballers, but with such high wages, it wasn't in the club's best interest to keep them.

The short stint I spent in charge of Egypt has proven very beneficial, as I've been able to sign two of my former players. Mohamed Ismail was my main man in between the sticks for Egypt, and having signed him on a free transfer (after being released by New York Red Bulls), will slot straight into my Fulham team too. At 22, he's got a lot of time and talent on his side, and could prove to be a brilliant piece of business. The second Egyptian international I signed was young defender, Tarek Ashrat. I'm certain he will turn out to be a leading centre-back in a couple of years time, but for now, he'll play back-up and get an occasional run out in cup games.

My other stand out signings include holding midfielder, Victor Rodriguez, and attacking midfielder, Rasmus Falk. Signed for a combined £9.8m, these two took up the majority of my transfer budget, so I'm expecting some kind of instant return from them.

Tactical Outlook

This is my initial formation and team instructions:

FulhamTactics_TeamInstructions-2-1.png

FulhamTactics_TeamInstructions-2-2.png

I thought that at times last year we were far too open at the back, so it's a complete change to our formation and mentality this season. To help improve our defending, I felt it was vital to get a holding midfielder into the team, but by keeping the two strikers, we should still retain our offensive threat. Obviously, he will be important to get the best out of Itubu; as our star player and danger man, any formation will need to play to his strengths. Last season, I played him as a target man, but this has now been amended to a poacher role. As he will be playing next to a deep-lying forward, there should be plenty of room for him to use his strength, pace and agility to get in and around the box. I'm also hoping that the midfield will be able to create lots of chances for him to run on to.

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