FM 13 - From Minnows to Champions!

[JerseyShoreDave]

Inspired to make Teams who never made it to the Top Flight of Football and make them Champions...

My Rules so to Speak are simple:

I can only choose teams who never made it, lower the better, discretion based on offers at the time. Or if a Barcelona gives me a deal I can't refuse, like a 1/2 billion budget lol.

I move on from the Team when:

It gets a new Stadium under my management.

In one season wins all the Silverware it can, also need to win the World Club Cup, obviously will be exceptions if necessary.

Going to hang out in Europe, and the First team who did nothing who wanted me for the job is:

Torhout is a small Belgium club whose great feat is winning the 4th division title twice in the 2000s. I have a 2 year contract for 500 pounds a week.

Torhout 1992 KM - 2012-2013 Season thru Christmas Break

We have 305 season tickets sold.

2012 Fixtures - Doing damn well, made it to the 5th round of the Belgium Cup before getting booted by a second division club, also a ton of ties happened, which are better then losses.

Table - Third Place going into Christmas!

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2012-2013 Season Results

Belgian 3rd Division - We got first Place!!

Fixtures - We won the 3rd Division playoff in what was 2 wild games... we could of lost those matches and not be promoted...

Belgian Cup - A tree view of our short stay in the tournament

Stadium Expansion - Expansion is a reqiurement for the Second Division, financially it doesn't make sense and only fill up our stadium about 33% of max...

Transfers - Brought in a lot of guys to prop up the team, got rid of just one so far.

The squad - Great for the 3rd Division... time will tell how they Hang in the 2nd Division.

Key Players

Rubin Dantschotter - 7 clean sheets in 39 matches... even decent goal keepers are hard to find here in Belgium.

Dieter Yde - Best original player at the club, been at the club since 2007. Also 2nd best striker and top assist leader. Should work well in the 2nd division.

Sebastien Dorizon - Top striker from France, never did well ANYWHERE till I got him. Should do decent in the 2nd Division.

Sergio Hellings - Best player skill wise and our best defender.

Goals for next season, get enough good players to win promotion!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Why would you want to move on if a new stadium is built?

[JerseyShoreDave]

I just thought that a new stadium will provide the club with more means to stay up in the League rankings, then if they have the same small stadium. Maybe I'll end up staying, nothing is set in Stone either way, depends how things play out.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2013-2014 Christmas Standings

Manager of the Year in the Third Division A!

Season ticket sales are up from 305 last season to 706 this season.

Season Expectations - Went with mid table finish due to some of the free talent i was coming across.

Table - Solid Third place, promotion isn't a sure thing.

Fixtures - Can't complain surpassing expectations are good, lost in the 6th round of the Belgian Cup to a Pro League side. Not many losses, I have a decent team.

300K in debt, trying to get a parent Club, hopefully in another country just for extra cash.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2013-2014 Second League Results - Full Season

Change of Season Expectations - Changed the Expectations to top half to take advantage of more money.

Our Youth Recruitment is now rated at a basic level.

Our Stadium is successfully upgraded to 5000 people with 1000 seats.

Belgium Cup - Out in the 6th Round

League Table - Finished 5th, not what I expected, its competitive.

Second Period - The season is split up into 3 Periods, the winners of the periods go into a playoff against one of the relegated teams from the Pro League. I won the Second Period... Barely.

Promotion Playoff - Top 2 go into a final match to advance...

Promotion Match - 2-0 win over Vise.

Fixtures - All our matches from the second half of the season.

Transfers - Cleaned up the lower level players in favor of better ones.

Squad - Our Promotion winning team.

Key Players

Eric Yopa - Top Goal Scorer and assist Leader for the Club. Our 25 year old Cameroon Striker may find it hard in the Belgian Pro League, only time will tell.

Sebastien Dorizon - Our second best striker, the 33 year old french striker will have a chance at greatness in the Belgian Top flight

Joris Jehan - He has an average rating of 7.61 and has 14 POM honors. He's our best defender if not our best player, it'll be good if the 24 year old french defender can keep it up.

Laurent Henkinet - We got him from Standard de Liege on loan when they became our parent club in January, he had 3 clean sheets in 21 matches... I expected better of him but he's leaving so it doesn't matter.

I am just looking to survive the new season, as there is a 100 place difference in ranking between the Belgian Second League and the Pro League so I'm setting my sites low the first season, we'll see who'll want to join up and help me make history.

[JerseyShoreDave]

2014 World cup Results

Belgium got third Place at the World Cup

Germany won the World cup

Torhout 2014-2015 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

Belgian Pro League rose 4 spots to 12th.

I am the Second Division Manager of the year from last season

Torhout is now a Professional club!

Season Ticket Sales are up from 706 to 1996

Our Scouting Range went from just being in Belgium to all of Europe.

Season Expectations - We went with mid table finish for the extra money.

Fixtures - Some upsets in there including the 3-2 victory over Gent who won last season.

Table - 7th place... for how long, I don't know.

Past Positions - Been a rocky ride so far.

New Stadium announced! Its only 10,432 seats, with undersoil heating... it costs 35k a month in payments which is making four budget tight.

Wage Budget is 2k p/w over. Might have to sell some players. Only those players who were going to have their contracts expire in 2015 are full time at this point, no money to change the others yet. Was a pain to get good players to the club. At least I don't think I'll get relegated.

[deltablue]

Excellent concept.

[JerseyShoreDave]

We'll see how it works out Deltablue

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2014-2015 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

Belgium Cup run - Lost in the 7th round to one of the top teams.

Belgium League Table - Finished in 11th Place.

Past Positions - Rollercoaster ride in the League.

After the League is over, one gets to challenge for a Euro Spot through 2 play off groups... I was in Playoff Group B... and went on a sweet winning Streak that saw me advance to the Playoff Semi Finals

I played a tough team in Zulte Waregem in the Semis... At home we tied it 1-1 and away we won 4-2 in a solid win which led us to the Play off Final against Gent which should of been a hell of a match and we ended up somehow winning both matches 3-0.

The Fixtures - the bad and the great. Sometimes I think pep talks are out of balance, but maybe not.

2.25 million payout for the Pro League! We needed that!

New Contract 2 years 800 pounds...

Finances - Could be better, could be worse.

Transfers - Not getting much money for selling, but getting good players in replacement, though some were duds.

The Squad - The makings of a superstar, and another player are highlighted in the Key Players section. Most of the rest of the team are below the standards for the League. Could get rid of 1/3 to 1/2 the team based on their performances.

Key Players

Eric Yopa - Our 26 year old Cameroon striker got 3 awards for his performances. He won the Ebony boot. His 7.39 average rating is second best in the league. And he topped the League in assists. He is the team at this point. 23 goals in 39 matches and 17 assists. Easily our best performing player.

Joris Jehan - Our best defender and second best player on the team. Last season in Division 2 he was the only player in the team of the Year. He's also the fans player of the year for last season. We need more like him.

Ruben Pyck - Overall our second best Striker. 32 matches with 14 goals and 8 assists. He should keep on improving considering he's only 20.

Jeremy Dumesnil - He doesn't deserve to be the top goalkeeper, we need a new one, he's played in 41 matches giving up 69 goals, with 6 clean sheets... hopefully we can attract a better keeper.

Nathaniel Lagrou - Due to injuries he's becoming a starter. Has potential to get a bit better, could be an important player in the short term.

Season Obstacles

1. Money

2. See #1

3. Getting a better goalkeeper

4. Getting in better players, midfield is lacking currently.

5. Selling players for more money

6. Make some Europa League noise.

7. Improving our League Position, better Belgium Cup runs...

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2015-2016 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

News Briefs

Belgium Pro League went up 1 spot to be the 11th most competitive League.

Our title odds are 2000-1 and we're predicted again to finish last in the league...

Season Ticket Sales went from 1996 to 2204

The Club earned 2 million in Profit.

Ipswitch and Mainz are "parent clubs" no loans have happened yet

We have our youth facilities and training facilities being upgraded.

A look at our new Stadium, Torhout Stadium.

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee245/beckswarsteiner/Torhout2015-2016SeasonExpectations.png - We picked mid table expectations to be safe.

First job offer since I've been managing comes from German Third Division Team Sandhausen. My base pay would be 5x then what it would be where I am.

Midseason Results

Pro League Table - 6th place. Past positions just show I've been average all season.

Fixtures - Most Notable things here are my near losses in the Belgian Cup to 2 different 3rd division clubs. And I'm still in the Cup, I have 1-0 lead going into the second leg against Anderlecht in the Quarter Finals

Europa League Results

We were in the Europa League 2nd Qualifying round vs. Zalgris a Lithuanian Club. We went there and battled back from 2-0 to make it a 2-2 tie, at home we won 2-0.

In the 3rd Qualifying round we played CFR Cluj and won 5-2 in Romania and winning 4-3 at home... we can battle.

In the Playoff Leg we faced Vit. Guimaraes from Portugal... I was worried until we beat them 6-0 at home... away it was a tighter 3-2 for us.... which mean we made it to the Group Phase...

Group Draw - Our group was us, M. Haifa, Besiktas, and PSV.

We beat Haifa and Besiktas rather easily and surprising to me. However we lost both times to PSV, in Holland 6-1 loss and lost 2-0 at home. We qualified out of Group C in second place.

Europa League Results

Our next Opponents are Monaco... if we beat them then we get to play the winners of Stade de Reims or PSV...

We haven't been able to renew Jehan's contract, he wants 2x our max salary, and his contract is up in 6 months... unless I get lucky and sell him now, he'll go somewhere on a free transfer. He's valued at 850k at this point, so trying to get something for him seems the best course of action.

[Wonderkid36]

Nice idea, very challenging

[JerseyShoreDave]

Might add becoming a Club Legend as well... not sure how long that takes in FM13

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2015-2016 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

Change of Season Expectations - Put in top half finish

Youth and Training facilities to be upgraded.... but we're not finished with the youth and training facility upgrades we already paid for, does this mean we're getting another upgrade when this upgrade is done?

Pro League Season, we finished third before the Championship Group...

In the Championship Group we finished last...

Fixtures - The season wasn't well. We lost to Anderlecht in the Belgian Cup due to away goals. We lost at home 3-2 to Monaco before tieing 0-0 in Monaco to get kicked out of the Europa League at the first Knockout Round. And the Championship Group of the domestic league saw just 1 win. No European Soccer this coming season.

Belgian Cup - Was tough from the get go, all tight matches regardless of opposition.

Euro Cup Tree Self Explanatory

Finances - Aren't bad, worried about next season without Europe...

Got an offer from Karlsruhe in the German Third Division, easy turn down.

Transfers - Brought in some potential Youngsters for the academy as well as for the first team. Brought in many new faces some of which I'll highlight otherwise cleared out the riff raff.

The Squad - Larger and stronger... though 2 stars are probably gone sooner then later...

Key Players

Sergey Khiznichenko - The Kazakstanian Striker is our second best striker 49 matches for us played, 25 goals, with 12 assists. Nothing but a bright future here.

Xavier Mercier - Our 26 year old french striker is overall our 3rd best striker. 33 appearances got 14 goals with 6 assists. He's going be more a back up player next season as it looks now.

Michael Clepkens - Is our current Goalkeeper 51 matches giving up 81 goals... with 13 clean sheets... still looking for a better one...

Christopher Verbist - The 24 year old right winger has become a better player this year noted for his 10 assists in 39 matches.

Geoffrey Ghesquiere - is one of our better midfielders, the 26 year old Belgian also had 10 assists and 3 goals in 40 matches.

Joris Jehan - The 26 year old French right winger has fallen from a value of over 750k down to 150k. He refuses a new contract and his contract expires at the end of the month, Ipswitch our parent club will probably snatch him up. Bon Voyage!

Eric Yopa Our 27 year old Cameroon striker is our top scorer and assist leader. In 55 matches he scored 33 goals, had 16 assists and 7 POM honors. He was the Fan's favorite player from the previous season. Won the Ebony Boot for the second straight Year. We may lose him at any time, he has a release clause of 500k... and he's worth 1.5 million. We technically should of lost him due to this... But thankfully they didn't have the money!

Season Obstacles:

1)Renew Eric Yopa's contract ASAP

2)Qualify for a European Competition

3)Clear up and renew the Squad

4)Pick up youth for the 19 and unders

5)pick up better staff

6)Live Long and prosper

[Animosama]

How any chance of getting a stadium upgrade ?

[JerseyShoreDave]

My Stadium holds 10,432 people and my average attendance this season right now is only 6328 vs 8161 last season. I don't expect a stadium upgrade for 2 years at the earliest.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2016-2017 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

In unrelated news, England won the 2016 European Championships!

Joris Jehan was our fan's favorite player last season, he refused to resign and is now at our parent club Ipswitch.

We're currently the 120th club in European Rankings

Signed a 2 year contract extension and my wages went from 800 a week to 5250.

Season Ticket Sales dropped slightly from 2204 to 2192.

The Pro League Competition Ranking is down 5 spots to 16th.

Season Expectations - Top Half finish is what I went with.

Pro League Standings - 3rd Place and doing quite well.

Fixtures - 2 Defeats in the league says it all. Beat Anderlecht in the 7th round of the Belgian Cup and in the first leg of the Quarter Finals of the Cup in my 9th try I finally beat Standard de Liege 3-2 away.

If I win the Belgian Cup, it gets me into the Europa League, and doing well the Championship Playoff at the end of the Pro League season is critical to our success so its not going to be easy. We're also broke at this point thanks to no European Money.

Eric Yopa broke his ankle in October, and we're still doing well, so at this point if I'm stuck selling a 1.5 million guy for 500k so be it. If we can keep him sure, but I think he's wanted over 10k and I at best can do 5k. New signings are doing well.

[deltablue]

Well done on such quick progress.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Thanks Deltablue its mostly buying at lot of players and see who is good lol

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2016-2017 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

Millwall gave me a contract offer. I did look into the club to see how they were doing, they were getting demoted to League 1 from the Champioship. They're broke, losing a lot of players due to relegation, wasn't leaving either way at this point but Millwall isn't going to bounce back easily imho.

Change of season expectations, went for top half finish which I knew was possible.

Belgian Pro League Manager of the year!

Yes we won the Belgian Cup in stunning fashion. In our second match with Standard Liege we won the match 6-5 in the second leg of the quarter final. In the second leg of the semi final away from home we defeated Lokeren 7-1. The final was an anticlimatical with a 2-1 win. We made it back to the Europa League.

In the League we finished 5th, but ended 2nd after the Championship Group Phase... which means welcome to the Champions League Torhout!

The fixtures - We didn't get to the best of starts after our Standard Liege Quarter final game we were hurt physically and our moral was down... we had a great team meeting that spurred the 7-1 thumping of Lokeren and once the Pro League Championship Group Phase started there was no looking back and after winning the Belgian Cup we were playing the best football of the season.

The Finances - We're broke, plain n simple. We need to do well in the Champions League... end of story.

The transfers - looks deceiving. Lots of youth going on loan, and players not good enough are leaving. We brought in new young talent for now and the future.

The Squad - Easily our strongest Squad ever, need to make some tweaks and add a few back up players unless we're stuck selling 1 or 2 due to unwillingness to resign their contracts.

Key Players

Sergey Khizhnichenko - Our best striker, the 25 year old Kazakhstanian scored 29 in 41 matches. He's signed thru 2021, we're thrilled.

Manuel Arteaga - Third best striker, top Assist leader. In 32 matches he scored 17 with 11 assists.

Hiroshi ibusuki - Our 26 year old Japanese striker had to go home cause he was homesick, then he came back and scored 21 in 40 matches along with 9 assists.

How far will this strikeforce take us, I dunno but its the best we have at the moment.

Mikael Barreto - Our 26 year old Portuguese playmaker had a great season 40 appearances with 6 goals 7 assists. He is a leader at the club and is negotiating pretty tough with us, we might lose him which would be ashame, but with the club's finances as bad as they are, there might not be anything I can do about it.

Simon Decuypere Our 21 year old central defender is only going to get better. 7.51 average rating in 44 matches with 6 POM honors speaks for itself.

Edin Colic Our new 19 year oldBosnian goalkeeper is one for the future. He started at the end of the season only 9 appearances giving up 13 goals and had only 1 clean sheet. It can only get better, especially with 20 in determination!

Eric Yopa After he broke his ankle he's been pretty bad on the pitch and so I'll most likely sell him for 500k given the clubs bad finances, unless I can resign him and then sell him in January for a million... seems kinda of gamey to do that though.

The new Season

It'll be interesting to see how much we get in terms of money for players. We don't need much, just make sure we have enough bodies to rest players when necessary and to account for injuries. We have to qualify for the Continental competition again as well as make at least the group phase yearly in order to grow the club and its revenues most importantly. We can upgrade facilities or youth programs without it. A year out of Europe I think sets us back 1-3 in the long run. We're the Champions League we need to make the most of it. Making the group phase would be incredible, even if we end up in 4th... Yopa and Barreto either sign or are sold by January, its that simple.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2017-2018 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

Getting more notice as St Etienne in French League 1 was after me, Dynamo Kiev and Dusseldorf all approached me. Gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

We're ranked as the 132 top club in Europe

Season ticket sales rose from 2192 to 2520.

Even though we're broke, now my scouting range is unrestricted.

14-1 odds of winning the the league.

Belgian League moved 6 spots to 10th.

Season expectations - went with Euro Qualification as I don't think I can do more, with so little.

Belgian Pro League Table - Third place, which I think is legit, as Standard is best as far as I'm concerned followed be Anderlecht.

Domestic Fixtures - Started out with the Supercup vs Standard that went to Penalties and we lost. Belgian Cup has been easy so far, vs weaker competition. The League saw normal losses to Standard and Anderlecht as well as Cercle Brugge due to European Commitments.

Friendly and European Fixtures - Our friendlies were a mixed bag. We got to play in the Champions League Best Placed Qualifying round 3 vs. Portugal's SLB. At Home we won convincingly 3-0 and lost the away game 4-2 but still qualified to play in the Best Placed Playoff vs... Manchester United who beat us at Old Trafford 4-1 and in Belgium 4-2. We got into the Europa League Group I where we got Elfborg from Sweden, Newcastle and Leverkusen. Elfborg was easy for us, especially when we beat them 7-0 in Sweden. We beat Newcastle 3-1 at home, lost 1-0 in England. we tied Leverkusen at home 1-1 but lost 3-1 there. Even though we got Third Place we did get 10 points which I'm proud of. Nice to see we almost qualified, but it got us a bunch of money which at this point is very necessary.

Here's Our Group I final standings

We'll see what's going to happen, got myself a decent striker coming in the new year, and getting a good versatile defender. Going to sell a whiney french striker, and our old boy Eric Yopa got off his high horse and should sign in a few days a long term deal for good money. As well as our Portuguese midfielder did before the season. We're just consolidating and making the secondary line stronger cause its all we can afford at this point. I think Qualifying for Europe is going to be a done deal unless massive injuries happen or we get into real bad form.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Torhout joining the big boys...

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2017-2018 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

League Results - Second place again. Anderlecht is just slightly better...

Championship Group - Ended up second after the Championship Group, yes Anderlecht is still on top. Yes I'm Back in the Champions League.

Belgian Cup - Quarterfinals and semis were close... the final... 1-0 win over Anderlecht was a consolation prize ... not to mention Belgian Cup Champions!

Fixtures - Started off slow in the new year leading up to the second leg lost at Charleroi but thankfully we had an extra goal from the first leg to see us thru. Did Quite well, during the Pro League Championship Group I only had 2 losses, both to Anderlecht.

AZ Alkamaar offered me a job, wasn't worth the paper it was worth on...

Transfers - Brought in 5 decent guys, got rid of 5 decent guys and had a ton of guys out on loan... hopefully some will be good enough for the first team.

The Squad - The young squad is getting better, their values sky rocketed and I can lose a few if clubs notice they reached their minimum release clause values.. not sure if I can counter any offers as some of them are wanting to go to bigger clubs, we'll see how it turns out.

The Finances - 5 million in the bank, unsure how much of that I can use to beef up the squad...

Key Players

Edin Colic - Our 21 year old goalkeeper has gotten better. In 58 games he had 17 clean sheets, with 71 goals given up and 2 POMs. Still getting better and we're keeping as long as we can. Unfortunately Bosnia didn't qualify for the world cup.

Christopher Verbist - Our 26 year old right wingback had a great season 43 times he played and gave us 15 assists. He's up for a contract renewal that I'm unsure I'll be able to achieve, but if I can't I think I can get over 700k which offsets acquisition costs.

Sergey Khizhnichenko - Still complains about going to a bigger club but thankfully we has no minimum release clause on him. The 26 year old Khazakhstanian played 54 times scoring 22 goals, 2 penalties, and 19 assists. Great season considering he got 7 goals in European play.

Marco Stark - our 25 year old Austrian midfielder has the most value of any squad member at 2.7 million but has a 2.5 million release clause... he's injury prone though so if I were to get 2.5 million it wouldn't be the end of the world. He played 41 times, 5 goals with 9 assists. He's a great box to box midfielder.

Hiroshi Ibusuki - Hasn't complained yet about going to a bigger club, he's worth 2 million and has a 1 million release clause... so its possible we could lose him, he likes me and loves the club so never know. He played 53 times for us, scoring 29 goals with 13 assists and 7 POM honors. I really don't want to lose him, but maybe we can win a bidding war if it happens.

We have 2 players in the world cup, who are worth highlighting.

Simon Decuypere - Our 22 year old Belgian central defender is our second highest valued player at 2.6 million, his release clause is 5 million. He's still complaining about going to bigger clubs, hopefully we can keep him. He played 52 times for us, scored 7 goals, had 6 POM honors. He could get an even bigger head if he ends up playing and does well for the country.

Paul Hunt - Paul is the one new acquisition who became a starter in January. The 20 year old American Striker is looking good, and representing his country thanks too me, even if he doesn't say it. He played 23 games, scoring 13 goals, making 4 assists with 2 POM honors. He's young still and I think can get better, I'm counting on it.

The next year

If this past season taught us something, we're a few players away from being able to win the Belgian League title and start building a team thats capable of the Champions League. We need success to make money, same as always, if some players need to leave and I can make some money off of it, so be it, there's plenty of other possible replacements especially since they let me scout the whole world.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout joining the big boys...

Slowly... I'll say that when we get out of the Champions League Group Phase!

[Animosama]

When doing your updates you also take pictures of your facilities and staidum also ?

[JerseyShoreDave]

No But here are my facilities pic...

[deltablue]

Hope you don´t get beaten too badly in Europe.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Hope you don´t get beaten too badly in Europe.

We'll see I'm in a tough group w/Real Madrid among others, but I'll reveal that I made the Champions League Group Phase, and 3rd place is attainable so I'll see how I can do in the Europa Cup, but I haven't played it out, so never know.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2018-2019 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

World Cup 2018 Brazil beat Argentina to win the World Cup.

Olympic Lyonnais - Best offer ever from a rival club, didn't take it but appreciated it.

Season ticket sales went from 2520 last season to 2816 this season.

We are the 89th club in Europe.

Belgian League fell 3 spots to 13.

Season Expectations - We went for title challenge 7.5 in transfer loot, and 10k more per week salary.

Title odds in Belgium, we're ranked 3rd best odds wise and the media predicts third place finish.

Belgian Pro League Table - Difference between us and Club Brugge is 2 points, I have 1 more tie then they and they have 1 more win. the Title is in our Grasp.

Fixtures part 1 - Started well until the end of the friendlies, got killed in the Super Cup by Anderlecht since we were more worried about Dinamo of Croatia in the Champions Cup Best Placed... we tied away from home but won solidly 2-0 at home to continue on to face... Spartak Moscow. before the first leg we tied to Gent... then tied Moscow 2-2 in Moscow and then on the return Leg we tied them 1-1 to get to the next round... The Group Stage...

We got stuck with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-German, and Shaktar Donetsk...

We got real lucky and tied PSG at home 1-1. won an easy Belgian Cup match vs weak competition... tied one many matches in the Belgian League but beat Shaktar 4-3 away before losing to Real Madrid in Madrid 3-1.

Fixtures Part 2 - After getting back on track in the league, we got to play Real Madrid at home for a lucky 1-1 tie. We lost to Standard Liege at home in a lame match, followed by beating PSG in Paris 2-0 and a few days later beating Standard Liege in Penalty kicks in the 7th Round of the Belgian Cup. We ended our European Group adventure with a 3-3 tie with Shaktar then a 1-1 tie at home in the first leg of the quarter finals of the Belgian Cup.

Champions Cup Group E final Standings - I'm baffled too...

My chances of winning the Champions League are 200-1

Yes Anderlecht is also in the Knockout Stage with me, they get to face FCP the current Champions of Europe... I get stuck with even harder competition... Barcelona.

Rest of the Season

I'm thinking the Belgian League title is mine, might lose the Belgian Cup, and I think my European Adventure is finished. I've got about 1.5 million to play with in regards to transfers. I lost a few players at the beginning of the season, especially Stark for 2.5 million, my right back and other fringe players but i went over them in replacements and it shows. Just going to fight out results and hope for the best!

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2018-2019 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

Pro league Regular Season - Finished Third mostly thanks to concentrating on doing well in Europe.

Championship Group - We won the title on the last day, we got Lucky. Club Brugge beating out Anderlecht for the Champions League sucks considering Anderlecht went further then we did, however they're a good outside chance for the Europa Cup then.

Belgian Cup - Seventh round and Quarterfinals were worse then the Semis and final LOL... shows how much tougher Standard and Anderlecht are.

The Fixtures - We started well after Christmas break. 10 days after knocking Anderlecht out of the Belgian cup they hand us our only League defeat 3-0 in the New year 3-0. Pretty much normal happenings until we got play Barcelona at home. They scored on us early, we tied it late and amazingly ended up 1-1. We rested players and it cost us domestically, then we went to Barcelona. They took the 2 goal lead in the first half, we got one back before half time and the second half was just a midfield battle. It knocked us out of Europe. We Rebound in the Championship bracket domestically and preformed well, had a fun match in the Belgian Cup final that wasn't a fair match.

I found this extremely amusing leading to the second leg of our Barcelona series. I figured a lost of anything under 5-0 was a victory.

European Champions League Results - Anderlecht Knocked out FCP who were the defending champs of the ECC.... then they almost had a shot to take out Manchester United who lost to Bayern Munich in the finals in Penalty kicks.

The Finances - The best we've ever been, 16 million in the bank!

The Transfers - With all the youngsters getting sent out on load, this was the best way to highlight the clubs business. We lost Marcus Stark to CFR Cluj of all clubs, he signed up with them for 6500 per week, he was demanding over 15k from me. He has a 6,750,00 minimum release clause too oh well. We lost Verbist as well, sold for 800k to Aue who just got promoted to the Bundesliga and they got demoted back to the 2nd level. He wasn't willing to deal with us so I wonder why he went there... The other transfers out were all on the fringe... Incoming we got Van de Walle for 750k to replace Verbist. Got 2 nice midfielders in Jan Mertens and Ignacio Garay who cost us 4.5 million. Our 2 low end strikers got replaced with another Japanese striker Ono.

The Squad - With success comes respect and higher values for uber talent. With our left over budget we've resigned all the existing talent we wanted to. When our star goalkeeper whined about going to a bigger club, we signed a new long term deal considering he was making 1500... now he makes 7500 a week. Great players cost big money, so its getting tougher to replace talent.

Key Players

Hiroshi Ibusuki - Our 28 year old Japanese Striker is helping us out a lot. In 51 matches he scored 17 and assisted in 18 goals... he's our assist leader. He helped us win critical matches. Hope his form continues!

Paul Hunt - Our 21 year old American had a great season, in 46 appearances he scored 23 and made 13 assists!

Ignacio Garay - Our new uber purchase, the 19 year old Uruguayan is our midfielder of doom. In 42 matches he scored once, had 11 assists, and most impressively 13 yellow cards. Also one of the most fouled players in the Belgian League.

Sergey Khizhnichenko - He's our top striker, and is our most valued player at 5.75 million. Our 27 year old Kazakstanian made 50 appearances for the club, scoring 31 times, 3 penalty kicks, and 10 assists!

The Final player we're highlighting is the Belgian Pro League Goalkeeper of the Year.

He dedicates his award to me, which is after all the only reason he's as good as he is today.

Edin Colic - Our 21 year old Goalkeeper played in every match. In 60 matches he conceded 60 goals, and had 23 clean sheets. He'll be a home grown player this coming season too. Just resigned him to a 5 year contract so we're all set with him at least.

This coming season

I doubt this will be the season we do the triple. We can hang a bit with the big boys, but we're not able to control play enough. We're young and working up a team. I'm really going to try to up our domestic game while competing well in Europe and that takes good players. And they're expensive. Also have to make sure we keep a good number and acquire new home grown talent, as well as creating our own like we are. I think within 5 years we'll be able to compete for European Titles, unless we get a lucky run, which is possible given the young talent. I'm thinking we may get a 10 million transfer budget which would mean perhaps a great striker coming or even 2 great defenders coming in to shore up the defense. I don't know yet. Things are going well.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2019-2020 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

Manager of the Year - Belgian League Manager of the year!

Belgian League is still ranked 13th

Our club is ranked 54th in Europe

Fan Player of the year is Nicolas Van de Walle...

Belgian Pro League Title Odds - Second best after Anderlecht with 3-1 odds, European Odds are 200-1.

Season Ticket Sales from 2816 to 3369 this season.

Zenit St Petersburg sought me out, but I said no.

Season Expectations - Went for winner.

Pro League Christmas Standings - 1st place, no losses so far. We're dominant domestically.

Fixtures Part 1 - We kicked but with our friendlies and won the Belgian Super Cup finally. We dominated the league and found out our Champions League Group opponents... Schalke, Spartak Moscow, and Barcelona. We ended up beating Schalke at home 1-0... Then we encountered some ties in the league and had a Goal fest in the 6th round of the Belgian cup.... Then we got Spartak Moscow and got a 2-2 tie away in moscow, followed by a 3-3 tie at home with Barcelona followed by a 3-2 defeat at Barcelona... while keeping my Domestic fixtures relatively good.

The 3-3 tie at home vs. Barcelona - no cards, just solid game play from both teams, 6 goals in the second half...

Fixtures Part 2 - After Barcelona we still did good in the League, but in the Champions League we tied Schalke 2-2 in Germany, and then lost to Spartak Moscow at home... the only match all season we didn't score at least 1 goal in... then in a huge shock we lost to Gent in the first round of the Belgian Cup...

Champions League Group E results - 3rd place.

We're in the Europa Cup so... we get Valencia next, the club our new big player came from... and if we win we get to play either Ajax where our other new big player came from or CSKA Moscow... We'll see what happens.

Possible Takeover Looming - Since September we've had a takeover looming where the potential new Chairman said they'd eliminate the 35k a week loan for the new stadium...

Otherwise we have 2 new guys coming in January, and we'll see how things progress in the 2nd half of the season.

[cerud]

I just started a Torhout career as well! Nice to see another.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Of all clubs! Got a new chairman a few minutes ago... no new investment! When you get to the Pro League you'll get a new expensive stadium to bog you down awhile too, fun! Good Luck, its fun once you see the rules of promotion and eventually qualifying for Europe

[Nobby_McDonald]

Great job in the Champions League previous season, and a great effort against Barcelona.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Great job in the Champions League previous season, and a great effort against Barcelona.

Thanks Nobby_McDonald in some ways we did better, in some ways worse! Barcelona is tough anyway anyone looks at it.

[deltablue]

Good in the CL last time. Pity you didn't get past the group this time.

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2019-2020 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

Pro League Table - Finished first with a bit to spare, could of done better but we were quite injury ravaged for a bit of the season.

The Championship Group - Too close to call, 1 more loss and I wouldn't of won the Division. And I hate that Anderlecht isn't in its 2nd place where it should be, but thats life. Club Brugge didn't even make it to the Group Stage of the Champions League

Belgian Cup Tree - Way too close calls but we managed it which is all that counts.

Europa Cup

First Knockout Stage we played Valencia and things went alright at home we had an uninspired 1-1 tie, but when we went to Valencia we went kicked some butt and won it 3-1.

In the 2nd Knockout Stage we got to play CSKA Moscow. We got the home draw again and beat them 2-0... away in mosco we lost an incredible match 4-2 but got thru on away goals.

In the Quarterfinals we got Dnipro of the Ukraine. We dominated them at home for a 3-0 win, in the Ukraine they battled us to a 3-2 win.

In the Semi Finals we got Dortmund... At home we survived with a 1-1 tie... in Dortmund they were destroying us in everyway... but we lost 1-0 and got kicked from the Europa Cup.

Napoli wins the Europa Cup Anderlecht made it to the 2nd Knockout Round losing to Arsenal 6-3 on aggregate

Europa Cup Fixtures

The rest of the Fixtures

The Squad - The season of injuries almost cost us, it was a bad season but managed by having a larger team then most. The recognition of our players continue to rise especially this season with our great showing in the Europa Cup.

Transfers - We got in some great talent. Alexandro Ricardo is a great young defender, Dick Adams was a bargain as was Gaston Ramirez. Spent good money and without these new guys we wouldn't of won anything except maybe the Supercup.

We got rid of players who just don't play with the big boys anymore. Some purchases by some of these clubs make me chuck but we still made some decent money off the sales. Was nice to get a bit of cash for youth talent not good enough.

Finances - !2 million in the bank so far

Best Manager ever in Belgium - Surprising but true!

Key Players

Edin Colin - Our 22 year old keeper is kicking butt, he whines about going to a bigger club, but I still manage to keep him happy. He played in all 62 matches this season, conceding 68 goals with 23 clean sheets. Not sure how good that is but he's still 22 and are successful.

Anderson - Our 27 year old left winger had a banner year. In 51 matches he scored 4 goals, did 2 penalty kicks, had 17 assists with 1 POM honor. He's doing better but isn't always consistant.

Paul Hunt - The 22 year old American wasn't the best he could of been... In 41 matches he scored 17 goals with 14 assists. He was injured a bit so that did hamper his season.

Hiroshi Ibusuki - I was going to make his role less this season but with the injuries he did well until he got injured... Our 29 year old Japanese striker played 42 times scoring 24 goals with 11 assists. Giving our squad issues, he could still be a top striker next season.

Ignacio Garay - Our 20 year old Uruguayian is in his second season with us, he got his first cap as well. Our Midfielder is underrated and his stats don't tell the whole story. In 36 matches he scored 6 goals with 10 assists.

We also have 2 players who I want to keep but are asking way too much money, once I get my new season budget we'll see if I can keep these 2, but I don't think I'll be able to financially do it. It'll be tough to keep 'em cause they're asking for crazy money. My current salary cap is 15k. Sergey's agent wants 32k as a starting number, Simon's want 25k as a starting point for negotiating.

Simon Decuypere - He's a Home grown Belgian 24 year old defender who made a few appearances on the national team. In 49 matches he scored 4 times with 2 assists with an average rating of 7.36. I will try to sell him for 5-7.5 million. His stats aren't that great, the only pro for him is his homegrown status.

Sergey Khizhnichenko - Our 28 year old Kazakhstanian striker had a banner year. In 53 matches he scored 33 goals, converted 6/7 of penalties and on the penalty he missed he scored off the rebound... and had 17 assists with 7 POM performances. He's hard to replace but I can do a lot with the 13-21 million I can get off him. Might be worth it, lets see if his agent becomes reasonable. Sergey was also the Assist leader in the Pro League with 12.

The season ahead:

Our domestic performances wasn't the best granted. We barely won the league and the Cup while in the Europa Cup its understandable to win barely at that level but the injuries piled up to a bad point. Its really up to how many star players are out there and whether or not they're reasonably priced or not whether we'll advance in the quest to win the Champions League.

[JerseyShoreDave]

@Deltablue yeah it sucked that we got out of the Champions League but it made for a great run in the Europa Cup

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2020-2021 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

Belgian Pro League is ranked 11th up 2.

Torhout is ranked 31st up 59 spots.

Season Ticket sales are up too 3760 up from 3369 last season.

Both Olympique Lyonnais and Monaco approach me, funny how so many french clubs are after me.

Under new management we broke our ties to Ipswich and Mainz but now have AC Milan as a parent club.

We are co favorites to win the League along with Anderlecht, at 5-1

We're at 200-1 to win the Champions League

In terms of reputation we're 2nd best only behind Anderlecht now.

Stadium Expansion - Figured might as well ask for it, considering how the new Owner didn't give alot of loot to play with.

2020 European Champions are Spain Belgium made the semi finals.

Season Expectations - Give me more money! But now they expect me to win every season.

Fixtures Part 1: We started slow on the friendlies but then we picked up nicely, beat Club Brugge in the Super Cup 3-0. We did great in the Pro league until we played our backup guys before our first Champions League Fixture against the current Champions League winners Tottenham.... we won in London 3-1 . Domestically we were shakey for a few games, but dominated in an easy 6th round Belgian Cup match. before beating Valencia 3-2 at home. We won all the way up too playing FC Twenty and winning 3-1 away before winning all domestic matches thru our home match vs FC Twenty that we barely won 1-0.

Fixtures Part 2 - After mixed results at home we tied Tottenham at home, before winning everything in our path including Gent in the 7th round of the Belgian Cup 3-1 and a solid 3-0 win at Valencia. We had a tight 2-1 win in the Belgian Cup Quarter Final Leg. And we've been quite dominate in the Pro League for the rest of December.

Belgian Pro League Standings - First place, doing quite well. Notice Anderlecht is in 9th place 4 points off the relegation zone, they lost the first 4 out of 5 matches in the season and were in last place. They constantly hire/fire managers as well as sell off their better players but seemingly I think their quality the last few seasons has slumped.

Group E Champions League - Can't believe the current Champions League holders are relegated too the Europa Cup lol.

Next Up in the First Knockout Round of the Champions League is.... Barcelona. Given how well the team is playing in general and vs Continental Competition never know till we try.

[Animosama]

How are your youth facilities ?

[JerseyShoreDave]

None of my facilities are good, management use to blame money...

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2020-2021 Final Standings Belgium Pro League

Stadium Upgrade - Saw it took money but it was already in the works before this so I don't know whats up...

Pro League Results - First Place by a few. Notice Anderlecht in 10th.

Championship Group - One by a point and a huge goal differential.

Belgian Cup - Pretty straight forward, solid win in the final.

Champions League Knockout Stage -

First Knockout Stage we faced Barcelona. We lost the first match 1-0 in Barclona, we won at home 1-0 and pushed for penalties that ended with us winning 3-1 thanks to our Goalie.

Next in the Quarter Finals we faced Intermilan. We beat them 2-1 away and tied them 1-1 at home to advanced...

We made the Semi Finals and faced PSG. We beat PSG 1-0 in Paris. But PSG beat us at home... in Penalties 7-6 to knock us out.

The Fixtures - Lots of ties in the League and Championship group... We miss Sergey.

The Finances - 22 million in the bank.

The Squad - Except for the Loss of Sergey, its stronger then ever.

The Transfers - Brought in a few player mostly back up personel. Penameno was a great buy, Janderson for 35k was the best deal. Couple Home Grown players were over priced. Got a great defender for under 2 million from Monaco Adam Ambra.

Also sold a number of players Sergey left cause I couldn't afford him, sadly only 1 club bid for him and that was Southampton in the Premier League. They bought him for what he was worth at the time 6.5 million. He gets paid 27,500/per week... scored 14 goals in 43 appearances. His club finished 7th in the EPL. He gets to play in the Europa Cup this coming season.

Simon left as well, for a little more then what he was worth. 3.3 million. What did he get... FC Twenty Reserve team... Thats moving on up.

Basel came around and offered to buy Mehmed Hallilovic from me for 2.8 million after I refused at 1.4 million which was what he's worth.. so I went for it. I have a lot of mdifielders and they seem to most abundant so heck why not.

Sold 5 million worth then I bought. Got a few free transfers in and out that don't matter much.

Key Players

Paul Hunt - Our 23 year old American Striker scored the most goals for our team. In 47 appearances he scored 25 goals with 11 assists. Not as good as Sergey but he did his business quite well, needs some better partners up front though.

Hiroshi Ibusuki - Our 30 year old Japanese Striker was injured on his shoulder too much this season. Played in 30 matches scored 18 goals, was 3/3 in penalties with 6 assists.

Gaston Ramirez - Our 30 year old Uruguayan striker is on the transfer list, he's 30 now and wants 30k a week and wont negotiate it down so he's off. 48 appearances this past season scoring 16 with 14 assists. Not bad but we can get better

Guillermo Panameno - Our 22 year old El Salvadorian midfielder/striker was one of our new acquisions. Due to injuries he had to play forward more often then midfielder but did well considering. 38 appearances yielded him 12 goals with 8 assists.

Dick Adams - Our 24 year old dutch international had a good year. He's overvalued when compared with his stats but he does well with what he's got. In a total of 37 appearances he scored 10 and had 4 assists. He's a good box to box midfielder for me, so it works out. He's also cheap which is a plus.

Felipe Gonzalez - Our 20 year old Chilian Midfielder was injured a bit much this season but still game thru at critical moments. 28 appearances yielded 3 goals with 13 assists.

Ignacio Garay - Our 21 year old Uruguayian mdfielder has lots of potential to be the best. In 38 appearances he scored 2 times and made 12 assists. Expecting him to get better!

Adam Ambra - Our 27 year old slovakian central defender had a banner season. In 43 appearances he scored 4 goals, had 3 assists and 10 POM honors. He's a great defender and helped make our goalie look better for sure. He was also league golden boot for 2020, beating Sergey!

Edin Colic - Our 23 year old Bosnian Goalkeeper had his best season yet. In 60 matches he played he conceded 43 goals, had 27 clean sheets and 1 POM. His 7.06 average rating is great for a goalie.

This coming season...

Resigning Hunt (I think it hasn't actually happened but his agent accept our terms). Ramierez and Barreto on their way out. Things are looking good. We need a strong striker who'll do better then what we have, a real game changer type of player. I hope we can attract one so we can get thru with things. Upgrading our stadium by 50% in capacity will allow for more financial gains which we're pleased with. If we can get 1 clutch and 1 backup thats good I think we have a chance. Europe is calling and we're at the brink of a Champions League win along with a future World Club Cup victory before I seek a new challenge.

[Animosama]

what formation are you playing ?

[cerud]

So...you had a stadium expansion not finished and another one started? Torhout's got weird stadium issues.

[JerseyShoreDave]

@animosama 4-3-3 total football.

@Cerud yeah it started earlier but there was nothing on my facilities screen, now its there. Right here.

At least by March we'll have 50% larger stadium up to over 15,000 fans

[JerseyShoreDave]

Torhout 2021-2022 Christmas Standings Belgium Pro League

News Briefs

Belgian League moved up 2 places to 9th.

Torhout is now ranked 19th in Europe.

Our debt is Clear.

70th Richest Club now.

Season Ticket Sales went from 3760 last season to 4857!

Best club offer for me so far, from Dortmund. Of course I declined.

Belgian Pro League - First Place speaks for itself.

Fixtures Part 1 - As you can see after the friendlies to start the season I haven't had a lost. Even in Champions League I've had all solid wins except when it came to defending Champions League Champions PSG whom I tied twice. Some of the League ties are in excusable but no losses is amazing.

Fixtures Part 2 - Other than a fairly close 2-1 Belgian Cup victory, things have pretty much been in my favor. Can't believe I beat Liverpool both times by 2 goals as they were rated fairly high.

Group C Results - We topped our Group!

First Knockout Round - Olympique Marseilles is our next opponents.

Things are damn good, it only takes the wrong opponents in the Champions League to spoil things, but who knows right now injuries haven't slowed things down so far. I'm looking forward to see if I can win everything, and stay 1 more season to win the World Club Cup before moving on.

[Animosama]

What caused you to be better financially ?

[JerseyShoreDave]

What caused you to be better financially ?

Easiest is doing well in the Champion's League.

[cerud]

Wow! Torhout is 19th in Europe! You've got to be a legend there by now

[JerseyShoreDave]

Wow! Torhout is 19th in Europe! You've got to be a legend there by now

I am a Legend