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One Man, One Dream and Five Champions Leagues

Azeryk`

By Azeryk`,
in FM Career Updates

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Azeryk`

Azeryk`

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Am I the only manager that misses out on these high scoring matches? It seems to be happening a lot on these forums!

entertaining yet very stressful - I've had a few now and occasionally I end up alt-tab'ing to the forums until it is all over :p

Nearly at the end of season so should be able to update soon.

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Azeryk`

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Season 16

With how my games went when I took over towards the end of last season I was hoping to do well in my first full season. I made five more signings though, a new first team GK, ML, MR and ST and a sub MC - all of which were a vast improvement on what was already in the squad. We ended up being consistent all season because of it - consistently inconsistent - we just could not get a run of wins together to go top of the table, although this did also mean we didn't get many bad results in a row so we were usually top 4. I also couldn't figure out who our best two strikes were out of a the four in the first team squad which I don't think helped matters but none of them took charge and scored enough to keep their place. However with just 5 games to go we went top and even with a shaky last few games managed to stay top and win the regular season.

As those who have done the A-league before will know, you then go into a two leg Major Final, where we faced Brisbane Roar, the first leg was away and a very close contest which ended in a 1-1 draw. A week later came the home leg, again it was a close match and at 1-1 it was starting to get quite nervy until we got a penalty, scored it, and then defended like made. that then put us in the Grand final - where I would face............. Brisbane Roar (again!). After beating them in the major final I was confident and then after seeing that I hadn't lost to them in 8 matches (5 wins and 3 draws) I was even more confident. And this is how it ended (picture especially for deadfncat)

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So with domestic success under my hat it will be the Asian CL for me next season but I will need to strengthen the first team, generally in the defence area so plenty to do over the summer. I also have the Confederations Cup with Brazil to occupy me.

Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners
2017/18    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         FA Cup Winners
2018/19    Arsenal             English Premier League       2nd         Champions League, FA Cup & Community Shield Winners
2019/20    Arsenal             English Premier League       1st         League, Champions League, World Club Cup & Community Shield Winners
2021       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division     1st         League Champions
2022       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division     1st         League & Copa Libertadores Champions
2023       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division                 Copa Libertadores & State Champions
2023/24    Puebla              Mexican First Division       5th/7th
2024/25    Puebla              Mexican First Division       4th/7th     Champions League & Open Season Champions
2025/26    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          4th         KO'd in Minor Final
2026/27    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          1st         Grand Final Winners

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Azeryk`

Azeryk`

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Fantastic win

Thanks - we didn't deserve the league win but can't complain at a trophy

Brilliant Grand Final win :thup:

Thanks :)

Asian Champions League next season? :)

I doubt it, both Australian sides did bad this year so am not confident but if I get past the group stages I'd be happy.

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Azeryk`

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Copa America

This was the reason I stayed with Brazil, the chance to win trophies instead of going to new countries and this was going to be tough, there were a lot of strong opponents and this would test my squad all the way. We had the USA, Ecuador and Chile in the group stage and we didn't get the start I was hoping for. We had a 3-3 draw with the USA when I was hoping for 3 points, although we were 1-3 down at one stage. We won against Ecuador and then only managed 1-1 against Chile, but that was somehow still enough to top our group - with a measly 5 points.

So into the knock-out we went and first up was Bolivia in the Q-Finals, probably one of the easiest teams we could of faced and we showed that with a convincing 5-0 win. The S-Finals were much tougher though as we faced Mexico, it was a fairly even match but we took our chances and won 3-1. The final was a rematch from the previous Copa America - Brazil vs Argentina - and this was one match I really was expecting to lose. And at half time with the scores at 0-0 we looked the least likely to score, they had all of the possession and all of the chance. The second half was generally the same but Carlos (ML) scored a classic smash and grab goal and then we went on the defensive until the final whistle. So another Copa America for me but one of the least convincing victories I've ever had and we could have so easily been knocked out at the group stage.

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So the future for Brazil might not have been as bright as I was expecting, but we have a few friendlies coming up so I think it's time to test the 20-22 year olds and see if any of them can help.

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Azeryk`

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Yup - will probably stay until after the next World Cup and would only be persuaded to stay longer if I retain it which is unlikely.

and as for the Asian CL - I've just seen some of the teams in the current CL semi-final....... who have individual players worth the same as my starting 11........ I really don't see how I can compete against them from Australian, or even Korea and China.

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Azeryk`

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I stopped selecting a couple of the older players and I don't think the ones who replaced them are quite there yet, but I think my the next World Cup we'd be quite strong again. I have 3 decent youth strikes being tested right now as well to replace Lucas so I have three years still to get that right.

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Azeryk`

Azeryk`

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Asian CL group stage I will be facing:

Higashiosaka Rosa from Japan

Incheon United from South Korea

Shandong Luneng from China

The news feed says this is going to be a tough group which doesn't sound good :p Although then again it says Shandong Lungeng is "injury ravaged" when they only have 1 person injured. But it will give me a chance to test my team against the other two playable Asian leagues that I have loaded so I can see if I have a better chance of succeeding elsewhere.

On the plus side we are currently unbeaten in 20 league games and have such a big league that I can rest players if required now so at least that is in my favour.

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rancer890

rancer890

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Asian CL group stage I will be facing:

Higashiosaka Rosa from Japan

Incheon United from South Korea

Shandong Luneng from China

The news feed says this is going to be a tough group which doesn't sound good :p Although then again it says Shandong Lungeng is "injury ravaged" when they only have 1 person injured. But it will give me a chance to test my team against the other two playable Asian leagues that I have loaded so I can see if I have a better chance of succeeding elsewhere.

On the plus side we are currently unbeaten in 20 league games and have such a big league that I can rest players if required now so at least that is in my favour.

The fake Japanese name should be Kawasaki Frontale IRL. They shouldn't be too hard if they only got fake players. Incheon United shouldn't be too hard to handle. At least they're aren't Suwon, Seoul, or Pohang. Shandong are one of the big clubs in China, with Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou Fuli, and Guangzhou Hengda. I never managed against them in the A-League though so good luck...

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Azeryk`

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Season 17

After winning the league last season I wanted to strengthen further and hopefully retain the league title but with a bit more dominance this time. However I only managed to sign one player, a DC/R who despite having a low value plays for the New Zealand national side - and then he went and got injured for most of the season so I basically had the same side and the same tactics. Not really the improvement I was after. The results on the other hand did improve, so much that we went the entire season unbeaten! 22 wins and 5 draws saw us smash most club and league records, which included striker Ben Hughes scoring 30 goals in 28 games, and that is despite not looking like he has the quality to either. The finals series went the same, we hammered Sydney FC in the first leg and then still managed to win the in second leg despite resting several players for an Asian CL game. The final was against Gold Coast United and ended in a 2-0 victory in which we never looked like losing. So a very happy season for me, there were plenty of times when we were behind in games and the players had to be shouted at to drag it back to a draw but I couldn't really ask for more.....

...... well I can, like the Australian league title to be added to my bibliography :p

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This season was also my first time in the Asian Champions League, in which I have doubts we can come close to competing for many seasons, but we were going to give it our all and see what happens. We went in at the group stage we mentioned in a previous posting, and done well, 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat - which was a 2-3 lose to Incheon, a very close game which could have gone the other way and that was my only defeat this season. In the second round we faced Guangzhou Hengda, the Chinese champions, at home, a good chance to test my team against the best China can offer, and it turned out to not be much of a test at all. A 2-0 win which saw us have all of the action and should have scored more tbh.

So into the Q-Finals I go and this is where I am expecting to face one of the hard Asian sides, but I have to wait several months before I find out who I will face and by then the new season will have started.

Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners
2017/18    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         FA Cup Winners
2018/19    Arsenal             English Premier League       2nd         Champions League, FA Cup & Community Shield Winners
2019/20    Arsenal             English Premier League       1st         League, Champions League, World Club Cup & Community Shield Winners
2021       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division     1st         League Champions
2022       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division     1st         League & Copa Libertadores Champions
2023       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division                 Copa Libertadores & State Champions
2023/24    Puebla              Mexican First Division       5th/7th
2024/25    Puebla              Mexican First Division       4th/7th     Champions League & Open Season Champions
2025/26    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          4th         KO'd in Minor Final
2026/27    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          1st         Grand Final Winners
2027/28    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          1st         Grand Final Winners

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Azeryk`

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Very dominant A-League season :thup:

Staying unbeaten, and winning the league by 25 points, is impressive stuff.

Thanks, including the end of last season it's 30 games unbeaten, and if you add the finals series and regular seasons together it 36 games unbeaten. Not quite sure how it happened, I don't think I'll be lucky enough to do it again though.

Great domestic dominance! What do you think the long term plan is for the Asian CL if you're not competitive? I'm not sure what the structure of the A-league permits in terms of budgets and youth development.

Am not sure, having played the best teams in South Korea and China I know I am better or equal to the best in those league so I don't think a move to either countries would change much. The A-league doesn't bring much money in and before I reached the CL; I was running my wages £15,000 per week under the budget just to keep the club afloat - only Melbourne Victory has a decent average attendance and they don't seem to spend much.

Now I've reached the Cl I'm gaining money but I think it would be a few seasons before the board would really increase the wage structure enough to bring in better players.

As for youths, most of my players are under 24 years old and still have time to improve which is a good sign. I have a striker called Josh Jones who's value has jumped from £100k to £1.1M since he got into the Australian first team but he's refusing to sign a new contract. The rest of my youths are average but I've improved all of the coaching staff to try and bring more players through the ranks.

and I've been rejecting bids for my players for the whole of last season, I'm surprised I've not had problems with players demanding I accept them.

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Azeryk`

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Olympics

I had a few months to waste in-between seasons and the chance to enter the Olympics as the Brazil U23 side appeared which seemed perfect. It would give me a chance to have a good look at the upcoming youths which could appear in my future Brazil side. Plus it would also give me a chance to win another trophy.

In the group stage we faced Spain first, probably one of the hardest sides I would face in the contest which ended in a 2-2 draw. New Zealand came up next which was much easier and allowed us to get a 5-0 victory. China was our final group opponent and a win here would have us go through to the knock outs - the performance was bad and we should have whooped them but in the end a couple of very late goals gave us a 3-1 win.

We had Italy in the Q-Finals,a close match was in order, and that is what we got until I gained a red card whcih gave them enough possession to get more shots and ultimately the victory. We went down 1-2 in the match - so much for getting another trophy.

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Azeryk`

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Asian Champions League

First Leg: We were home and I was looking to take advantage of that and hopefully get a small victory to then defend in the second leg. We started brightly and althought the skill difference was evident we were giving it our best and matching them for possession and shots. Wonder youth Josh Jones gave us the lead after 19 minutes and then we let them back in it just before half time by conceding an own goal. A few changes were made in the second half and we continued to push forward and was rewarded by a second goal after 80 minutes from centre back Richard Smith. But again we let them back into the game and they equalised in the 91st minute. So 2-2 it ended, which truth be told, was better than I was expecting.

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Second Leg: So off to Saudi Arabia we went and attacked from the opening whistle, I was expecting them to dominate us on their own turf but we fought hard but went in at half time with the scores goal-less. They were first to draw blood when they found the back of the net after 61 minutes which promoted a triple substitutions from me as we looked to get back into the match. We were rewarded in the 80th minute when top scorer Ben Hughes scored. We tried hard but couldn't find the all important goal which would take us into the Semi-finals.

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So the adventure is over for this year, we did better than expected once we faced one of the harder sides, Al Ahli had won the Asian CL a couple of seasons before so I knew they were going to be the team to beat if we were to win the whole thing. A couple of signings would be brilliant but Australian sides cannot make transfers between each other and the league and CL both have foreign player limits which is making it very hard to actually find improvements. I have managed to sign Josh Jones to a multi-year contract so I won't be losing him anytime soon.

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Azeryk`

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Thanks

Been KO'd from the CL at group stage this time around, my squad was big enough to deal with so many long term injuries :(

Need to do a proper update but won the Australian regular season and finals series again, both for the third time in a row. Getting frustrating now as we are doing so well domestically and yet are struggling continentally.

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Azeryk`

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Season 18

How the years fly by.......... and how my PC slows after each one.

After last seasons unbeaten season I was looking to see just how long I could go without losing a match again - it turned out not very long at all. We lost 3-1 to Adelaide in the first game of the season; and went on to lose a number of games as the season went on. Despite that we were still able to win the league without too many difficulties and even mid-season when I had no fit strikers I was still getting points in league matches. The finals series went just as easily, as faced Gold Coast United in the major final, a 1-1 draw in the away leg which had many of my first team rested whilst they assaulted the Champions League, the home leg was more convincing, a 3-2 victory where we conceded sloppy goals. The final would be against Adelaide United - where we got revenge for them ending the winning streak with a nice 2-0 win. So domestically we seem to dominate, it's a shame I can't buy the better players off of the other teams in my league.

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The Champions league was a disaster, for us to complete we need a fully fit squad playing at their best, last season we forced two draws from Al-Ahli (who ended up winning the CL) so we can win. So just weeks before the competition we got multiple long term injuries ,my three best strikers were all out for 2-4 months and all missed the first 5 group stage matches - those 5 matches we got only 2 draws and 3 defeats. Knocking us out of the competition, my players returned for the final match and we made sure we went out with a bang, a 5-2 victory which showed just how much I had missed those players. Infact we'd only scored 4 goals in the previous 5 matches.

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On another plus note the board are quite happy with me, enough to improve training facilities, youth facilities and arrange a trial day. The down side is that they won't even let me ask them to increase the transfer budget, the club and league reputation have improved since I joined as we can now attract players much better than my wage budget can accommodate.

Josh Jones:

Now worth more than the rest of my squad combined and is now subject to £4M+ bids

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners
2017/18    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         FA Cup Winners
2018/19    Arsenal             English Premier League       2nd         Champions League, FA Cup & Community Shield Winners
2019/20    Arsenal             English Premier League       1st         League, Champions League, World Club Cup & Community Shield Winners
2021       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division     1st         League Champions
2022       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division     1st         League & Copa Libertadores Champions
2023       Sao Paulo           Brazilian First Division                 Copa Libertadores & State Champions
2023/24    Puebla              Mexican First Division       5th/7th
2024/25    Puebla              Mexican First Division       4th/7th     Champions League & Open Season Champions
2025/26    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          4th         KO'd in Minor Final
2026/27    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          1st         Grand Final Winners
2027/28    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          1st         Grand Final Winners
2028/29    Melbourne Heart     Australian A League          1st         Grand Final Winners

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Azeryk`

Azeryk`

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Congrats on another Grand Final win and reaching 1000 games.Ashame to see things didn't go to plan in the Asian CL due to injuries to your strikers :(

Cheers - I plan a full on assault next season, plenty of new signings in midfield and up front to make sure it never happens again.

I've had a bit of catching up to do, well done on your last two A-League Championships :thup:

Thanks - Australia has short seasons and no domestic cup so am flying through time right now

How have I never noticed this? Fantastic read, hopefully next year your CL draws will do you a bit more of a favour. :)

An easier group would have been nice, rivals Melbourne Victory were also in the CL this season and their group looked so easy

Tough luck in the Champions League, but well done on winning the A-League again.

Thanks, am hoping for better times this season

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Azeryk`

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Beijing of China went on to win the Asian CL - which rubs salt into the wounds as they are weaker than me and I would be disappointed if I lost to them :p

Although proves the Chinese league may be the place to go if I can't achieve the goal in Australia.

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Azeryk`

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My Asian CL Group:

Busan (S.Korea)

Higashiosaka Rosa (Japan)

Shandong (China)

So again I get a tough group but I have a stronger squad this season so should go through. I've also done well enough in the league to rest players for the CL games.

My World Cup Group for Brazil in the upcoming summer, world rankings are in the brackets:

Australia (27)

Mexico (10)

Germany (13)

So an easy enough group in my attempt to retain the gold :)

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Azeryk`

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Group stage went well, 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats (both to Busan) put us through in second place. We faced Jeonbuk from South Korea away from home in the second round and had a very entertaining game which ended in a 7-2 victory.

Now for a 3-month wait to see who I face in the Q-Finals.

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