Mini-Challenges - A series

[Jambo98]

A couple of years ago, there was a really good series of "one season" or "half season" challenges in a thread. As always, i cant seem to find it, but i do remember one of them was to win the dutch league with FC Twente (must have been around the time McLaren did it with them?).

I found those type of things to be great fun for a short term game - for when you dont want to dedicate weeks to one of the long term huge challenge.

I figured why dont we give it a try again. The forum is pretty dead so might not get much interest, but as we wind FM14 down, its something a bit different.

The principles

• I will upload a series of different save games, roughly one a week (disclaimer - i am somewhat unreliable so dont hold me to the exact times......)
  
• Each save will have either a full season or part season "challenge" - You will be told which team to take charge of, and what the aim of the challenge is.
  
• The DB will clearly be set, since its a challenge based on a single save file. I will try to keep it to a reasonable size so people can play it without an uber PC.
  
• No other rules really - Nothing on signings etc. Obviously no use of save game editors etc,
  

Will try to give it a bit of variation - Sometimes saving a side from relagation, sometimes pushing an unexpected team towards Europe, sometimes maybe a title challenge, perhaps turning round a poor season for a big club. Varied countries, maybe throw in some less well known ones. Possibly some full seasons as well as "jumping in mid season"

Will get the first one up shortly for anyone who fancies a crack. Will also collate them in this post once each is up

[Jambo98]

Challenge one - Saving the Trotters

The Club - Bolton Wanderers

The Division - English Championship

The time-frame - Second half of 2013/14

The database - Standard 14.3, English leagues only (down to Skrill Prem), large DB with around 19,000 players loaded

Backgound Details - The once somewhat mighty Bolton have fallen on harder times. Relegated from the Premiership by a single point at the end of a turbulent 2011/12 season, including the horrific Fabrice Muamba situation, the also failed to make the playoffs in their first season in the championship by a single point. Which brings us to the start of the 2013/14 season.

The first half of this season (simulated in this save), has been a disaster. On Christmas day, they sit bottom of the Championship, with a measley 12pts. 10pts from Safety, albeit with a game in hand. Although the club already changed manager in game, and appointed Zola, instead YOU will take on the mamoth task of sorting out this mess.

The squad - The squad is, frankly, a bit of a mess. Still too many players who failed in the perm, on big wages. For example you have 4 Centre Halfs who together earn a combined £63K per week. You have ageing players on big money, and not too many hungry young players. Even in the reserves, you have Pratley on good money, and Davies and Sordell eating up £10k per week between them whilst out on loan.

Transfer Details - The previous manager(s) didnt make a single signing, and the only notable sale is Lee being shipped off to Russia, so pretty much the starting squad. Few players are on loan to you, and Liam Trotter has a pre-contract agreed.

Transfer/Wage Budget - Based on the board initial expectations, you have £2.02m free to spend on transfers, and you might need it....... Wage budget is £325K per week, and you are nearly £50k (!!) over it to start with....

Club Philosophy - "Sign young players for the first team" and "Develop players using the clubs youth system" are both in place, although of course you can try to negotiate this.

The Challenge - Your challenge is simple, over the course of the second half of the season, you must save Bolton from relegation.

Additional (Optional) Challenge - For those who fancy a bit more longevity, there is an option second season challenge, which is to get Bolton promoted in season 2014/15, having completed the first part and kept them up

The Link - https://www.mediafire.com/?ostipfih8w1cyoa

The instructions - Download the save game to the relevant folder, fire it up, add yourself as the Manager of Bolton (any past experience you like, although clearly the higher this is, the easier the challenge) and off you go!

[Jambo98]

Challenge two - Breaking the Dutch Monopoly (Again)

The Club - FC Twente

The Division - Dutch Eredivisie

The time-frame - Season 2014/15 (Second season in game)

The database - Standard 14.3, Dutch Leagues down to Juliper League + English Leagues down to League 2. Large DB with around 19,000 players loaded

Backgound Details - 5 years ago (including the one simmed in game), FC Twente became the second consecutive team (After Louis Van Gaal's AZ) to break the great monopoly of Ajax/PSV/Feynoord. Prior to AZ's title win, it had been some 28 years since anyone outside "the big 3" took a dutch title. However in the years that followed, the monopoly took over again. Ajax won the next 4 titles, after the FC Twente success, before PSV took the 2013/14 title (simmed in game).

Whilst FC Twente have not been able to repeat the glory of that title season, they have remained relatively succesfull and regular european qualifiers and challenge

The squad - FC Twente have a fairly good squad overall. Dusan Tadic is the stand out player, ably supported by the likes of Felipe Guttierez and Luis Castaignos. Its also a young squad, with the obvious exception of the 43yr old back up keeper Boschker (due to retire). The wage bill is also under control, with only 4 players earning over £10Kper week.

Transfer Details - Few transfers in, or out of note by the previous manager in season one. Belarussian Centre Half Filipenko the only new first team player, and he looks useful. There is a pre-contract agreed with an 18yr old South African who looks a nice prospect.

Transfer/Wage Budget - You will take over on 1st June, at the end of season one, with £4.7million still in the transfer kitty but only £9,500 free in wages. There are however, a few players coming out of contract ,with decisions needing to be made.

Club Philosophy - None in place to begin with.

The Challenge - This challenge is a bit of tribute to the original thread i got this idea from, because the only challenge i remember was to take Twente to the dutch title! So that, in a nutshell, is your challenge. To win the Eredivisie in season 2014/15.

Additional (Optional) Challenge - You are also in the Europa league, so for the ambitious player, you might strive to make Twente the first Dutch club from outside "the big 3" to bring home a european trophy.

The Link - https://www.mediafire.com/?5z6huttgd45p3e6

The instructions - Download the save game to the relevant folder, fire it up, add yourself as the Manager of FC Twente (any past experience you like, although clearly the higher this is, the easier the challenge) and off you go!

[Jambo98]

Challenge three - El Submarino bounce back

The Club - Villarreal

The Division - LIGA Adelante

The time-frame - Second half season 2014/15 (Second season in game)

The database - Standard 14.3, Italian, Spanish and German leagues loaded each down to the respective second divisions. Around 24,000 player DB

Backgound Details - El Submarino Amarillo burst onto the spanish and european scene in the early to mid 2000's when the regularly challenged at the top end of La Liga, and were a force in the champions league, being only a missed penalty away from a chance of reaching the CL final. They played exciting football under Manuel Pellegrini and latterly Ernesto Valverde. They boasted exciting talents like Nilmar, Riquelme, Sonny Anderson, Belletti, Nihat and others.

In a disastrous 2011/12 season, which included a managerial death, Villarreal were relegated. However they quickly bounced back by winning immediate promotion back to La Liga at the first time of asking. Unfortunately, in the simmed 2013/14 season, Villarreal were again relegated. The 2014/15 has not started brilliantly, and as at the turn of they year they sit in a lowley 15th in the Liga Adelante.

The squad - Although the squad has been hit by the relegation, there are still some good players smattered through out the team. Gabriel Paulista at the back, the likes of De Guzman and Cani in midfield, as well as the talented youngster Moi Gomez. Up front the experienced but expensive Uche remains in place.

Transfer Details - Relegation meant that much of the best talent is gone. Dos Santos, Aquino, Musacchio, Bruno, Triqueros are all gone. Replacements have generally been of a lower standard, with the 2 biggest names being Victor Sanchez, a versatile full back or midfielder from Espanyol and Alex Galvez, a centre back or midfielder from Rayo. There are no pre-arranged transfers, but Uche has declared he will leave on a Bosman at the seasons end.

Transfer/Wage Budget - You will take over on 29th December, just in time for January transfer window. Luckily there is a nice transfer bounty available. £9.8million transfer budget and £175k free wage budget. However the price for this, is a minimum expectation of making the playoffs

Club Philosophy - None in place to begin with.

The Challenge - Simple - Your challenge is to return El Submarino to La Liga this season. It will be a difficult challenge, given how far back you start, and realistically the playoffs are your best hope, although there are a lot of games left.

Additional (Optional) Challenge - For more longer term challengers, you can try to return El Sumarino to European competition, where they have oft shone within 3 seasons.

The Link - https://www.mediafire.com/?pb41udrj6uf1qo1

The instructions - Download the save game to the relevant folder, fire it up, add yourself as the Manager of Villarreal (any past experience you like, although clearly the higher this is, the easier the challenge) and off you go!

[Jambo98]

Challenge four - Restoring a Balkan Giant

The Club - Red Star

The Division - Serbian Superliga

The time-frame - Season 2013/14 (Season One in game)

The database - Standard 14.3, Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian leagues down to second division of each (these are the only ex Yugoslav leagues playable without an editor). Around 20,000 players in the DB

Backgound Details - "Restoring" maybe a little bit much, since Red Star remain by far one of the biggest clubs in Serbia and in Eastern Europe. However they have failed to win a league title since 2006. They are a club with a rich European history and some famous past players like Dejan Savicevic, Darko Pancev, Robert Prosinecki and Sinisia Mihajlovic. Of course they won the European Cup in 1991.

Since the creation of the Serbian Superliga, they have won only a single title in 7 years, and none in the last 6 years. Arch rivals Partizan have taken all 6.

The squad - Red Star have a solid squad which should be capable of challenging Partizan. Stand outs would be the 22yr old Darko Lazovic,28yr old Milos Ninkovic and 30yr old former Wolves midfielder Nenad Milijas. Also some good looking prospects.

Transfer Details - N/A - Nothing has been simmed on this challenge

Transfer/Wage Budget - Very minimal. £250K transfer budget and zero free wage budget if you choose the initial board expectations

Club Philosophy - None in place to begin with.

The Challenge - Get Red Star back to there rightfull place as Serbian Champions in the 2013/14 season.

Additional (Optional) Challenge - For more longer term challengers, return Red Star to there former European Glory. Take them out of the group stages of the Champions league within 5 years.

The Link - https://www.mediafire.com/?6b6goayirt3da2l

The instructions - Download the save game to the relevant folder, fire it up, add yourself as the Manager of Red Star (any past experience you like, although clearly the higher this is, the easier the challenge) and off you go!

[Jambo98]

Challenge five - Return of the Rossoneri Dynasty

The Club - AC Milan

The Division - Serie A

The time-frame - January 2020 (Season 7 in game)

The database - Standard 14.3, England (to Skrill Prem), Italy (to Serie B), Spain (To Liga Adalente), Germany (to Second Division), France (To Liga II). Around 60,000 players

Backgound Details - The dynasty that is AC Milan needs no introduction, one of the worlds most successful clubs and brands with a huge domestic and european trophy haul. Home to some of the worlds greatest players over the last 50+ years.

However since 2013 (all simmed), AC Milan have been in decline. There league positions have been: 6th, 4th, 6th, 3rd, 6th, 4th. They have not made it past the last 32 of the CL since 2013 either. In the last 7 years, a single Coppa Italia in 2015 is the only trophy Milan have lifted. Not what this famous club is accustomed to.

The squad - Milan still have a world class squad. The likes of Balottelli, Alex Sanchez, Juan Jesus, El Sharawaay, Ocampos, Poli and many others.

Transfer Details - Over the 7 years there have been lots of in and out of course.

Transfer/Wage Budget - As at the 2020 January window, there a huge £51million transfer budget available to rebuild this dynasty. Also £700,000 free wage budget.

Club Philosophy - None in place to begin with.

The Challenge - Rebuild the Milan Dynasty. This is a longer term challenge. Over the next 5.5 seasons, deliver at least 4 Scudetto's and 2 Champions League's. Challenge ends in the summer of 2025

Additional (Optional) Challenge For an additional challenge, take control of the Italian National team at the same time as Milan. The national team, in stark contrast to Milan, have been hugely successful in game, having won the last 2 world cups. Deliver the 2022 world cup to make it 3 in a row for the Italians.

The Link - https://www.mediafire.com/?qj8t8f2ozpe5brg

The instructions - Download the save game to the relevant folder, fire it up, add yourself as the Manager of Milan(any past experience you like, although clearly the higher this is, the easier the challenge) and off you go!

[Jambo98]

Right, phew............

So rather than upload one a week, i decided just to write up and upload 5 different challenges right away. So i created 5 (the last one came from a different long term save i had left behind a while ago, but made for a good template). IT covers everything from the English Championship, to eastern europe and back to continental europe. Short term and long term.

There is not scoring system, no points, no tables of achievements. No need to attempt them in order, or even to attempt them all. Hopefully a few people can get some fun out of some of these. If you do attempt be great to see a bit of a write up and some screenshots etc of how you get on.

I have had a go at Bolton so far, will write up the outcome of the short version at some point

[Jambo98]

Jambo 98 - Challenge 1 - Saving the Trotters

This really was a tough challenge. The squad is a complete mess of over paid, under performing, under motivated players.

I took the approach of clearing out some in the transfer window, whilst appreciating to clear it all out like it ultimately needs, would ruin any chance of the team gelling in time to stay up. So i sold off some of the high earners and hit the loan market as well as a couple of decent bargain signings.

It was a battle for consistency, we started off using a rigid and tight 451 formation with Lucas Jutkiewicz as a TM. Once we got some signings though we reverted to a short passing, strikerless tactic which i like to employ. We were streaky at times, with runs of 4 wins quickly follwed by 6 without a win, but in the end we had just enough to stay up, securing safety with a game to spare.

The outcome - Finished 19th

The results - Part 1 Part2

The transfers - Details

Lindegard was a nice loanee from Utd who was in and out of the team

Mellis was one of the pics, a reasonable price for a good player who is still young. A regular who performed well

Bostock was a backup and reclamation project on a former prospect. It failed. He was gash

Fernandez an unknown, was one of the few attacking RB i could get on loan from my player search but he was solid for us

Griffiths was the pick of the signings, his goals kept us up.

Petrucci still a bit of a prospect but first team ready(ish) and was free

Jussi was a nostalgia signing. He had a pop at me in the media and i clicked his name and saw he was free. Bogdan had been terrible for me so i signed him up and played him through until the end of the season

Extended Challenge - Season 2

I decided to carry on and try the extended challenge. If i thought season 1 was hard............The board cut the wage bill by almost 100K going into season 2, with no transfer budget worthy of talking about and only 10% of all transfer income. I sold off all the big earners, bringing in £13million in fees. Of that i got less than a mill to spend.

Had to scrabble around in the loan and free agent market a lot, bringing in a load of new faces. Paul Dummett was the only one i paid a fee for, Anthony Stokes came in on loan to replace Griffiths and a boat load of other free's and a couple of loans.

Long and short was i ended up sacked in November with us sitting 14th. Was too big an ask to turn around that squad in one season under such restraints

Ah well, perhaps i will re-try it later!

[Welsh Wizard]

I remember the FC Twente one. I also did a thread the year before with mini-challenges with my favorite one being save someone from Relegation from the Prem in like 5 games vs some very decent teams was a while back so hard to recall.

I would suggest some stricter rules on Rep and a scoring system with leaderboard. People like to out do people and would add more interest to the thread I feel.

[Jambo98]

THanks Welsh, yeah i thought i remembered 2 threads on the theme but couldnt find either on the search. Im sure Nottingham Forrest opened the other one but again no sign of it.

Bit of a shame if people only get involved when its competative. I usually give each of the main challenges at least one go (Big Euro, Gundo's and youth) and the one thing i notice about those is the great focus on enjoying your own game and enjoying the updates of others. OF course the aim is to complete them, but its not about the glory or a league table of "who did best".

I think the forum overall is utterly dead these days, but maybe eventually one or two might get tempted into these. They can be a great way to kill a day or two. I have been meaning to start the second one, but caught finishing a season in my youth challenge save Also have a crazy formation idea in my head to try out before i get down to business in Holland!

[Welsh Wizard]

THanks Welsh, yeah i thought i remembered 2 threads on the theme but couldnt find either on the search. Im sure Nottingham Forrest opened the other one but again no sign of it.

Bit of a shame if people only get involved when its competative. I usually give each of the main challenges at least one go (Big Euro, Gundo's and youth) and the one thing i notice about those is the great focus on enjoying your own game and enjoying the updates of others. OF course the aim is to complete them, but its not about the glory or a league table of "who did best".

I think the forum overall is utterly dead these days, but maybe eventually one or two might get tempted into these. They can be a great way to kill a day or two. I have been meaning to start the second one, but caught finishing a season in my youth challenge save Also have a crazy formation idea in my head to try out before i get down to business in Holland!

I can't find the threads either.

Forums have been going dead the last few years and the careers section has taken some of those that remain. Might have a go with Bolton or try Holland but thinking of have another United or similar give youth a chance save with more youth development as a aim or might try to restore a great, likely a Eastern Europe side or might try a tycoon for the first time or even go tactics mad and recreate or make my own philosophy. Loads of options so little time.

I did a had a decent save with Red Star last year so that's a interesting one also.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

There is something weird going on. I have started several threads that are now no longer showing in my profile, one of which was a short challenges thread, and I definitely remember other short challenge threads as well.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

It is like everything between December 2008 & October 2013 has just gone missing?

[Jambo98]

Yup i had the same issue when i started a tactical challenge/experiment thread in the tactics forum a couple of months back. It was based on one i remembered 2 years ago, and neither me, nor the original OP, who surfaced in my thread, could locate the original one. I have seen threads older than October 2013 being suddenly posted in (where someone randomly posts in something which is years old!) but when you search for them nothing doing.

I will finally start the second challenge later today, just got to get this crazy tactical formation idea tried out with Barca first then i will get serious!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Using the bottom of the forum and choosing "Threads since beginning" I get

http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/31-Challenges-Sign-Ups-amp-Experiments?s=&pp=100&daysprune=-1&sort=lastpost&order=desc

Which seems to work for finding them, but you have to go through 17 pages of threads

[Welsh Wizard]

Using the bottom of the forum and choosing "Threads since beginning" I get

http://community.sigames.com/forumdisplay.php/31-Challenges-Sign-Ups-amp-Experiments?s=&pp=100&daysprune=-1&sort=lastpost&order=desc

Which seems to work for finding them, but you have to go through 17 pages of threads

Found one of mine

FM08 - Gone in 20 Seconds - The Short Challenges Thread - Wow I can't even remember it but I do remember the first challenge as it was pretty epic. Short challenges seemed to be at there peak then and quickly died down as a similar one based on mine by Cardiovascular failed to get any takers on FM09

Also found A Vida Curta can't believe I never saw that as would of took part

Biscotti was the legendary creator of the FC Twente one, CSE Tour, Leg 2 and was on FM11. Milan Badelj, Christian Benitez and Darwin Quintero lead to me glory Those were the days.

[Jambo98]

Ah it was Nacer Chadli, Alan Dzagoev and Freddy Guarin on loan that did it for me. Plus De Jong was already there as a class striker. I created one of my best and fave formation in that challenge, but never been able to get it working again since!

Seems to be a bit less cash at Twente these days going by this challenge/save!

[Jambo98]

Jambo 98 - Challenge 2 - Breaking the Dutch Monopoly (Again)

This was enjoyable, reminded me of why i enjoyed Twente a few years ago. It was ultimately too tough to beat Ajax. We gave it one hell of a shot but came up a point short. Our achievement though is shown by finishing 13pts clear of 3rd place PSV. One thing i immediately noticed was how great a group of youngsters FC Twente have between the Jong and U19 teams. 4 or 5 real top prospects and another few useful ones. I tried to give a few a chance but it was crucial to not drop points as Ajax were so relentless. Some mixed form in the early season probably cost us as it was too hard to catch them.

We did win the Dutch Cup, but in the Europa we fell just short. Moneybags Monaco were far to strong for us. They spent 90million last summer which probably means they should be better than us!

I might be tempted to keep this save going, enjoy the youth and the potential to spend a bit money (We had a take over which wasnt exactly a tycoon but put in 9million and upgraded the youth and training.

The outcome -

League - Second Place

Dutch Cup - Winners

Europa League - Semi Finals

The Best Players -

Samuel Longo - Loan signing from Inter was inspired, played as a poacher in a recreation of my FM12 Twente tactic and banged in 32 goals

Jesus Corona - Played as Winger in the AMR slot and 22 goals is better than i have ever had from that position in FM14. Superb first half of the season, a little less effective towards the end as he started to fatigue.

Dusan Tadic - The star man at the start of the challenge, and 31 assists is mental from an IF! Nice goals return as well. He wanted to leave when we lost the league but within a month reversed that decision. One key in this challenge is that you can use the "trigger contract extension" option to secure another year of Tadic.

Rasmus Bengtsson - The experienced centre half was a rock, and also his aerial ability led to a return of 13 goals.

The transfers -

Details

Rundown

Ntuli - Pre-arranged deal, looks a really well developed prospect and actually gave him some decent playing time backing up Corona

Will Hughes - He was transfer listed by Derby at the start and too good a player to turn down. Has world class potential and was a first choice all season

Lukasz Fabianski - Keeper is the biggest weak point at the start of this challenge and he was a great free transfer option.

Luigi Bruins - A nice impact type with some nice technical stats. Also cheap. Was a back up to Tadic so didnt see much starting time, but with heavy fixture list needed someone there

Samuele Longo - Mentioned above, the best signing off all. Loan with a £3million agreed clause which i will take up if i continue

Davy Propper - Great young dutch player who was the perfect rotation option for Hughes. Probably a better player to start out and at free you cant resist

Alfred Duncan - back up HB player, a nice free loan from Inter and he is good enough for the dutch league easily

Gaston Gil Romero - Another brilliant young player, who could be a world class player in a year or so. Played HB for me and was solid if not spectacular

Luca Antonelli - An upgrade at my CWB slot on the LB side, provided a nice amount of assists getting forward

Adrian Stoian - Loan brought in for depth on both wings with lots of cup games to play but he was a small bit part player

Alessio Sestu - A mistake signing, i liked his starting status to be a back up winger but he is 30 and with Ntuli and Stoian and good youth i shouldnt have signed him

Tom Lawrence - Former Man U prospect i took a punt on to improve the Jong team who struggled. Didnt get any first team action

Stefan de Vrij - My big January signing following an increased transfer budget from the take over. Unfortunately missed 2 months with injury but an upgrade and young

Eros Medaglia - A young RB brought in to help rotate with Rosales and he performed well and scouts and coaches liked his potential but would cost £6mill permanent

Ton Kok - apart from being possibly the greatest name in the DB, he also was rated highly by my Dutch U19 scout and was unprotected contract

Overall i would really recommend having a go at this. Its a really nice level of football and nice level of challenge for someone wanting a change.