FM15 'Big' Euro Challenge

[PaulHartman71]

Pau FC - Youth Academy

Ahcene Ziane, 19, D/WBRL

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9"]End of Season 2 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=13"]End of Season 3 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=21"]End of Season 4 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   National      31           4       0      0
2018/19   National      37           2       1      2
2019/20   National      33           5       0      0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                  101          11       1      2    

International: 
Algeria U20: 2 caps, 0 goals

Summary: Another good season for Ziane who got 5 assists this season, the most he's ever got for the club. The main highlight of his season will no doubt be picking up 2 caps for the Algerian U20 team, aside from a couple of suspensions for two many yellow cards, he missed another game or two due to his international commitments.

Sami Denis, 19, MRC/AMRC

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0"]End of Season 2 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=13"]End of Season 3 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9"]End of Season 4 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=24"]End of Season 5 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   National       8           1       2      0
2017/18   National      27           2       0      0
2018/19   National      33           5       1      0
2019/20   National      19           1       2      0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                   87           9       5      0    

Summary: Still hasn't properly kicked on and he has no chance of dispossessing N'Gadi as first choice CAM. He missed out on more games through injuries, with 2 of his 3 starts coming in Cup games against lower league sides. He also kicked up a fuss about his lack of first team opportunities which I found pretty irritating considering he's not good enough to be first choice, he may well leave at the end of next season as that's when his contract runs out, perhaps Ligue 2 football will make him change his mind, but if he wasn't good enough to start in the National, he's definitely not going to be good enough for Ligue 2 games. Not looking good for him really.

Kevin Haller, 19, DC/DM/MC

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=10"]End of Season 2 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=11"]End of Season 3 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=22"]End of Season 4 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   National      12           1       0      0
2018/19   National      39           2       0      0
2019/20   National      26           1       1      1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                   77           4       1      1    

Summary: His lack of games compared to last season is only a consequence of him picking up injuries. He had a pretty good season at DM and i'm hoping he can make the step up to Ligue 2 level next season.

Abderrahmane Aichour, 16, DM/MC

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0"]End of Season 1 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=10"]End of Season 2 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=20"]End of Season 3 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   National      1            0       0      0
2018/19   National     25            2       4      2
2019/20   National     36            2       0      0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                  62            4       4      2    

International:
Algeria U20: 1 cap, 0 goals

Summary: Another impressive season at CM for Aichour who firmly placed himself as one of our first choice CM's. Likewise with his compatriot Ziane, no doubt his biggest achievement of the season with his call up to the Algerian U20 side, who were the only reason he featured in 33 league games, not 34.

Vincent Jardin, 16, AML/ST

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=14"]End of Season 1 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=14"]End of Season 2 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19   National      18           0       4      4
2019/20   National      37           7      31      7
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                   55           7      35      7    

Summary: A pretty unbelievable season really. Ended up Top Scorer and Best Player in the entire league, his goals firing us to our promotion. I gambled on making him a first choice striker this season and boy did it pay off! Hopefully he can make the jump to Ligue 2 level football.

John Tagoe, 18, CAM/ST

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=14"]End of Season 2 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=17"]End of Season 3 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=27"]End of Season 4 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   National      13           4       1      0
2018/19   National       8           2       2      0
2019/20   National      15           2       0      0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                   36           8       3      0    

Summary: Was used very sparingly, isn't good enough to be our back-up striker in an ideal world but due to a lack of resources and Bouscarrat being plagued with injury all season I didn't have much choice really.

Gerard Vincent, DRC/DM, 17

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=15"]End of Season 1 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=25"]End of Season 2 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19   National      4            0       0      0
2019/20   National     21            3       1      1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                  25            3       1      1    

Summary: Got an unprecedented amount of starts this season, thought not at his preferred CB position. I did play him at CB in the 2 cup games against the crapper teams, but his run in the first team came at RB as a result of our first choice RB picking up a long term injury and the fact we had no other senior RB to come in and fill in, I retrained Vincent to be a RB as he was our next best defender and he did well enough. He's got potential to be first choice CB if he gets enough first team experience, but I don't really want to be giving an inexperienced CB games in Ligue 2 if he's out of his depth. Hopefully a National side will take him on loan.

Karim Amroune, 18, DM/MC

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=12"]End of Season 1 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=18"]End of Season 2 Profile

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=23"]End of Season 3 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   National      2            0       0      0
2018/19   National      3            0       0      0
2019/20   National     18            1       3      1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                  23            1       3      1    

Summary: He finally got his break into the first team mainly as a result of injuries to Haller. I also started playing him at MC in games where I would've played Sami Denis mainly cause Denis was being a bit of a dick about his contract. Amroune has improved this season, its unlikely he'll be first choice with Haller and Aichour ahead of him its unlikely he'll break into the first team. Good squad player if he's happy to be that though.

Bastian Bonnel, 15, MC/CAM

=61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=26"]End of Season 1 Profile

Season    Division   Appearances  Assists  Goals   MOTM  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20   National      7            0       1      0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Total                   7            0       1      0    

Summary: I gave the technically gifted young CAM a couple of starts in our cup games against lower league sides, during which he scored and became our youngest ever goalscorer in the process. Definitely has the potential to make it at the club one day, with Sami Denis potentially leaving his rise to the first team could come quicker than expected.

Others: This season saw 1 start for defender =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=30"]Mamadou Diouf during a defensive crisis, 1 start for =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=31"]Jonathan Lebrun at DM, and then sub appearances for versatile defender/midfielder =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=28"]Yves Gilbert, defender =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=29"]Maxime Huguet, defensive midfielder =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=32"]Louis Lavie, =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=33"]Lillian Gauthier, attacking midfielder =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=34"]Yanis Bats, striker =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=35"]Sirina Rouault and defender =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=36"]Dijalali Mokrani.

Youth Intake: =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=37"]Jorge Pereira is a promising CB who may make it at the club given time and development, =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=39"]Pierre Bertrand is another one of many DM's at the club and finally iacovone's boy =61590018&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=38"]Noe Roche who has some pretty nice mental stats.

[PaulHartman71]

Romanista: We have basic Youth facilities, basic Junior coaching and Fairly basic youth recruitment. I'm not really sure why they players that have come through have been that good, though I did find in my FC Libourne save in FM10 that despite having unimpressive youth facilities we did get a few players come through who were pretty good at Ligue 2/lower Ligue 1 level.

[iacovone]

BIG fan of Vinny Garden Paul! Our first cult figure in this year's thread?

Congrats on promotion too, great work to cling onto third

[iacovone]

AD Machico | Season 2017-18 |

Campeonato Nacional: 3a Divisao

| Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Squad Stats[/url] |

First Phase |Table

We really kicked on this year, sneaking into the promotion phase despite a late drop off in form. Full report here.

Promotion Phase | Table

So this was totally new territory for us and although I went in apprehensive I didn't expect us to be turned over with such regularity. It ended up being a painful 14 games for us but I felt like we learnt a lot. I managed to develop a solid defensive tactic, which will come in use for our tougher games in either phase of the season.

Squad

We stepped it up this year and the signing of Kevyn really kicked us on - shame that he only wanted one year at the club. Still though, Kevin da Silva once again topped the goalscoring charts within the club and was subsequently named Fans' POTY (which, interestingly has a voting breakdown in this year's FM, I like that!).

Elsewhere Paulinho did a great job in the final third, racking up the goals and assists in the DLF position, while Ricardo Brandao continues to thrive in midfield.

Admin

Our financial situation is deteriorating but not badly enough to worry me yet. The board are still providing me with a £20k-ish budget and that's proving very handy!

Also - should add, I think because of our run to the promotion phase, we're a bit more attractive now. The big club on the island of Madeira are Maritimo (who I hope we'll overtake one day) and they're also our parent club. This summer, for the first time, a lot of their C team players want to join us so I've grabbed a couple. Update to come

Best XI

[rlipscombe]

PaulHartman71 - well done on promotion! bit too tight for comfort at the end but you've done it which is all that matters. As has been said it's good to see you playing so many youth players too. With technical development Gardin could become a beast of a striker.

iacovone - well done on making the promotion stage - i'm sure your experience will help you going forwards.

As for Siena, i am into October now. slow start as i continued to develop the squad from a pretty poor starting point. We're like a revolving door of trialists still and i am finally seeing improvement in the team. goalkeeper and central defence has bene improved, as have the wide areas. Just need to find a couple of full backs, a central midfielder and another striker and i'll be fairly happy.

[iacovone]

AD Machico | Pre-Season 2018-19 |

Campeonato Nacional: 3a Divisao

| Transfers[/url] |

Triumphant Announcement

So, the key signings from this summer:

Rica (DM/MC)

Dhiego (M/AMC)

Joao Pinho (D/DMC)

Amaro Neto (AML/R/ST)

You'll see I spent some serious cash on Neto, who has every chance of becoming a star here. I just need to work out where to play him (think he's going to be the advanced forward in a three up top.

The others bring strength and depth to the spine of the team.

I couldn't bring Claudio Martins back in on loan which was a real blow. It means the centre of my defence is terribly short of quality and I'm pretty concerned. But...fight fire with fire! We'll stick to our 4-3-3 and try to Kevin Keegan the lot of them. I'm hoping we make it to the promotion stage again - any boost to our reputation will help.

I cut pre-season down by a week and only went for four friendlies this summer. Not entirely sure why thinking back to it...

Oh and I received my first job offer from a team at the same level as us. REJECTED.

[PaulHartman71]

Always nice to get a contract extension during pre-season

That would explain the transfer budget I have been given...

But the biggest news by far...

Massive news for the club and I was expecting it to happen given the promotion to Ligue 2. The extra TV money has given us a much bigger budget than before, but the first thing that needs addressing is to change the part-time contracts to full-time contracts, which will surely see significant pay rises for pretty much everyone at the club. We should still have a pretty healthy transfer/wage budget after all these changes are made, at least i'm hoping so anyway. With the news that we'd turned professional and with the fact we're now in Ligue 2, my scouting screen for players that would realistically be interested in joining went from "360" to "3,600" Certainly got a lot of scouting to do! We can now also scout anywhere in Europe as opposed to just France! Due to the rules on not many non-EU players i'll probably avoid Eastern Europe for now and hope I can find some cheap quality elsewhere in Europe. A big pre-season for me though that's for sure!

[rlipscombe]

All going swimmingly with promotion... Happy scouting in Europe - i hope you've got your passport!

[Romanista1994]

Season 2 Preseason Report

Summer Transfer Window

Transfers

Lots of players in, several player leaving for fees. Our finances are currently £474,713 (player wages currently £6,516 per week), boosted by the league giving us £360,000 for our league position. We also received £136,000 for our fair play, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Friendly Results

Friendlies

Some good results, some less good. Our win against our new Superleague parent club Urfaspor easily the most pleasing. The board got us this link without me intervening, and they'll be giving us £27k every year.

Current First Eleven

GK: Ufuk Ceylan - Eray Birniçan was the best player at the club when he joined last year, but with the signing of Ceylan we now have two very strong goalkeepers at the club competing for this spot.

RB: Hakan Ateş - Last year Ateş played at RM. Due to a lack of good attacking rightbacks, and his ability in the position I decided to move him into the backline, which should give us some nice overloads on his flank.

CB: Civar Çetin - Çetin is now fully capable of playing at centreback, so hopefully he can improve on the good season he had last term.

CB: Cemil Vatansever - I had trouble finding quality centrebacks, but Vatansever has nice mental and technical attributes for the most part, so he should be a good complement to Çetin.

LB: Hüsnü Başkurt - I think he's slightly better than our other leftback, not much in it though.

DM: Cihan Yildiz - Was brought in on loan twice, because the first time round I felt like I was getting in too many midfielders. However, we had a bit of an injury crisis in preseason and I decided to bring him back. I'm glad I did, because he is probably our best midfielder in terms of ability.

RM: Serkan Şirin - I think we'd be deadly if he was a left-sided player, but he should be able to offer a threat on the right side as well.

CM: Sebahattin Usta - Usta was the star of the show last season, hopefully his brilliant form continues now he's got better players around him.

CM: Abdülkadir Kayalı - He has some very good attributes for this level, and gives us a different option either here or in defensive midfield.

LM: Emin Yalın - He was our topscorer in 2015/16, so I'm hoping he can carry on his goalscoring form. If he doesn't I have a very good player to take over from him, who probably would have featured here if I wasn't unable to screenshot his profile.

ST: Ergün Çakır - Our new star striker, Çakır has all the right attributes for the defensive forward role and showed in preseason that unlike our previous striker he doesn't lack the goalscoring touch.

Our first eleven is much improved from last year, with most of the players rated as good/leading players for our league. We also have a few who are rated as decent/good for the league above, which is very promising. Additionally, our strength in depth is much improved, as we have options of a similar quality in several positions.

[Romanista1994]

We just won our first game of the season with Ergün Çakır scoring a hattrick on his debut (granted, two were controversial penalties, but still).

[IOA]

We just won our first game of the season with Ergün Çakır scoring a hattrick on his debut (granted, two were controversial penalties, but still).

Good luck mate, I also managed to get the same amount of money last season from the fair play.

Also, Ufuk Ceylan is a good GK played for Galatasaray for a while!

Edit: Kayali was once one of the most promising players in Turkey as well!

Its ridiculous how players can drop from the Super Lig to the lower leagues...that's what happens if you don't meet your potential!

[Romanista1994]

Good luck mate, I also managed to get the same amount of money last season from the fair play.

Also, Ufuk Ceylan is a good GK played for Galatasaray for a while!

Edit: Kayali was once one of the most promising players in Turkey as well!

Its ridiculous how players can drop from the Super Lig to the lower leagues...that's what happens if you don't meet your potential!

I didn't know that about Ceylan, but nice to know that he has experience at the top level (a couple of others also do iirc). I did get a news item saying pretty much the same as you did about Kayalı though, so FM is right on the money in this case.

How is your squad looking atm, who's your best player?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hahahahaha Well I must've cursed myself, it went badly, we lost three straight and fell to third meaning it's the relegation stage once more. Now I need to decide which contracts to extend...

[ArranoBeltza]

And finally the one you have been waiting for ArranoBeltza, a 16 year old Chilean who came out of nowhere being offered to me by his agent before he came in on a trail, Marco Pardo.

That kid looks excellent! Especially diggin' the 18 determination. How do your scouts rate him?

Also- such a shame that he can't join you right away- I really hate those South American rules...but I always thought it only applied to players with a club already?

[iacovone]

Urgh, bad luck LLR. Such a killer when you come so close with this league format because you're practically guaranteed to stay up, yet have nothing to play for!

In Machico news...it's not going to plan at all. We're bottom of the league after four games and the fans are staying at home! Kevin da Silva's lost his scoring touch too

Changing the formation...

[ArranoBeltza]

Honestly, neither my board or myself cared much about this competition, but Portugalete has won the Spanish Federation Cup:

Meanwhile, we are sitting in third place (and a promotion play off slot) with five matches left in the season........but, for now, it's bed time.

[PaulHartman71]

that's terrible luck LLR!

[IOA]

I hate this game.

[IOA]

Gaziosmanpaşaspor

(Season 4) - 2018/2019

Transfers

Transfers In - Similar to last season, loan as many players as I can and then sign players on a free transfer to fill up the squad depth, as there are no decent players who want to join us on a free and can make it to our first team, unfortunately.

Transfers Out - Two former first teamers left along with youth players.

Squad

GK - Each season the GK performance and average ratings are going lower and lower, may look into the market for a replacement.

DEF - Another good performance from the CB's and another season where the fullbacks haven’t been up to scratch, I'm really struggling to find decent fullbacks in the lower leagues.

MID - Another good season from the lads in the midfield, although squad depth was a problem this season.

ST - Burak Atik was incredible and then he went and got injured for 5 months and we really struggled, thankfully Ercan arrived in January and helped us a bit.

Player of the Season - Oguzhan Ozturk - Consistent performer for the team throughout the season.

Team Report - A young strong team who can't pass, whom concede before the first half and can only score in the last 15 minutes!

League Table

I don't know what to say, we lost the first two games and then from then until February we only lost one game and then from February onwards we only won twice! I went from hoping not to get relegated to aiming to win the league or get an automatic playoff place to being devastated that we ended up worse than last season!

Turkish Cup

Another defeat in the first round at home...however, this time we actually lost to a league team, wahey!

Finances

Another profit from last season, despite the poor league position.

Next Season

Each season I've been trying to play a defensive tactic by trying to hit teams on the counter attack, after 4 seasons I give up...next season its going to be all out attack!

[Romanista1994]

LLR - Ouch, that sounds like devastating way to end the first stage.

iacovone - Hope you turn it around despite the fickleness of your fans.

ArranoBeltza - Doing well there, and even if it isn't an important trophy, the Federation Cup win could help your players with nerves in big matches in the future.

IOA - Unlucky. I guess the positive is that you've definitely consolidated your position in the league now, as well as the club's finances. Have you tried trialing players released by the clubs higher up in the pyramid? That's how I managed to snap up the likes of Ceylan and Kayalı (don't terminate their trial early if they're good though, as I lost out on several players due to the transfer being leaked), so it might help you find some quality players who are interested in joining you (be prepared for a lot of rejections though). Hope your new tactical approach will help you fare better next season.

[IOA]

IOA - Unlucky. I guess the positive is that you've definitely consolidated your position in the league now, as well as the club's finances. Have you tried trialing players released by the clubs higher up in the pyramid? That's how I managed to snap up the likes of Ceylan and Kayalı (don't terminate their trial early if they're good though, as I lost out on several players due to the transfer being leaked), so it might help you find some quality players who are interested in joining you (be prepared for a lot of rejections though). Hope your new tactical approach will help you fare better next season.

Sounds good mate, might have to stop being so tight on finances and actually spend some money!

[Romanista1994]

Sounds good mate, might have to stop being so tight on finances and actually spend some money!

That definitely made a huge difference for me. What's your wage budget atm? I think mine was £3,000-£3,500 in my first season in both attempts (dropping as the season progessed due to getting rid of the deadwood). Then in the first attempt it stayed at around the same level, while in this attempt I allowed it to go up to £6,500 (max wages £500 p/w up from £200, usually with high performance bonuses and various clauses) and the quality of players I've been able to sign has vastly increased.

[iacovone]

Gulp. I've got the last five games of the first phase to save my job. After all I've done for them. I don't know where it's all gone wrong this season. In fact, I do, we don't have a single decent defender, but what am I supposed to do!? We have a pool of 158 players to choose from and the best DC is a 1-and-a-half star player! The best in our squad is two stars. I have no option here at all

[iacovone]

AD Machico | Season 4 -- 2018-19 |

Campeonato Nacional: 3a Divisao - First Phase

Well I've seen better seasons! Just as I felt we were making upwards progress, we go and blow it all in an awful first phase that ended with me clinging on desperately to my job. Despite being told to win 8 points from the last 5 games and only winning 6 points....I survived! I'm not entirely sure how or why but perhaps it was the win in the last game of the season.

Anyway, where did it all go wrong?! I've got my suspicions and I'm pointing the finger at every central defender at the club. They're just so far off the average quality of the league that we're always struggling. Says it all that we conceded at almost two goals a game!

The eagle-eyed amongst you might notice the name Joao Aveiro popping up in the goalscorers list. He's the highest-rated prospect from last year's academy intake and has done a great job on the right wing.

As for this year's youth intake...well it aint great. Here are the best two prospects: Antonio Olim (DM) & Seidy Ribeiro (DC). I doubt Ribeiro will ever be good enough but as a centre-back I've got to hope because the scouts aren't finding anything for me yet.

[Muggert]

Piacenza Calcio 1919

Piacenza - 2016/17 - Italian Serie C/A

Squad | Table | Transfers | Finances

Final position: 1st - Promotion

Serie C Cup: 3rd Rnd group stage exit

Best result: 5-0 home win against Venezia

Worst result: 0-1 home loss to Cotrone

Top goalscorer: Falsal Bangal, 15 (11 in the league)

Most assists: Nicola Della Pena, 12 (11 in the league)

Highest Average rating: Nicola Della Penna 7.52(7.47 in the league)

2016/17 Quick takes:

- Promotion! The financial benefits will help our troubling finances.

- 85 total goals. Nicely spread out on the team.

- Pretty much all players performed to or above expectations.

Players of the season:

D RC | Antonio Caracciolo | We depended on Antonio to offer width also in attack. He provided.

M C | Nicola Della Penna | We bought some players for the MC position, and he just outperformed them all.

AM L | Frederico Ricci | Fast-paced winger with wizardry dribbling :-)

2017/18 Quick takes:

- We'll be looking to employ a more defensive tactic for Serie B

- A bunch of our players have the ability to continue their succes in the serie B

- We need some upgrading in defense.

[IOA]

That definitely made a huge difference for me. What's your wage budget atm? I think mine was £3,000-£3,500 in my first season in both attempts (dropping as the season progessed due to getting rid of the deadwood). Then in the first attempt it stayed at around the same level, while in this attempt I allowed it to go up to £6,500 (max wages £500 p/w up from £200, usually with high performance bonuses and various clauses) and the quality of players I've been able to sign has vastly increased.

It is £8,463 with £145,015 to spend on transfers

The board have also agreed to upgrade the training and youth facilities

Well done Iacavone and Muggert on not getting sacked and getting promoted respectively!

[iacovone]

Ha thanks IOA! Great season there Muggert

[Romanista1994]

iacovone - Damn, glad to hear you survived despite the pressure. Hope Ribeiro will somewhat help your centreback troubles.

Muggert - Fantastic season! Also nice to see Roma youth player Federico Ricci in your team. \o/

IOA - How much of that are you spending? The facilities upgrades are great news though.

[IOA]

IOA - How much of that are you spending? The facilities upgrades are great news though.

£0 on transfers, I'm in my 5th season and I still don't think I've spent a penny on transfers.

I'm currently spending £4,005 on wages and have £4,450 left to spend on wages.

The youth facilities are going to cost £85,000 and the training facilities £400,000, both are ready in October of Season 6! However, the board still wont let me go on a coaching course but thankfully most of my staff have been going, in fact my Fitness Coach is about to start his 3rd course in 3 years!

[Muggert]

Newly promoted into the serie B we make a huuuuuge signing. Raing Nainggolan has signed a two-year contact! :-D

[chris11223]

ArranoBeltza my scouts think he has the potential to be a good Bundesliga player and with his high determination and good personality I can't see them being far off the mark because he should turn out to be the best he can be (or pretty close to).

As for the can't move till he is 18 thing I assume it is a legal thing in south america, I know non-EU players and their families can't move to another country under the age of 14 for purely footballing reasons, Barcelona found this out the hard way . It is still frustrating though, but something to look forwards to I guess and at least he can still become a 'home-grown' club player that will be desperately needed.

[Muggert]

iacovone - Damn, glad to hear you survived despite the pressure. Hope Ribeiro will somewhat help your centreback troubles.

Muggert - Fantastic season! Also nice to see Roma youth player Federico Ricci in your team. \o/

IOA - How much of that are you spending? The facilities upgrades are great news though.

He's been doing great :-)

[Romanista1994]

Newly promoted into the serie B we make a huuuuuge signing. Raing Nainggolan has signed a two-year contact! :-D

Radja? If it is I'm starting to really like your team!

[PaulHartman71]

IOA - congrats on the facilities upgrades!

Muggert - congrats on the promotion!

iacovone - congrats on keeping your job! better luck next season, does suck having a player pool that small though, I was lucky in a sense that I at least had some half decent CB's appear in mine

[Muggert]

Radja? If it is I'm starting to really like your team!

Radja of course :-)

[Romanista1994]

Radja of course :-)

Should absolutely dominate at that level, how come he was available? Very impressive to get him in the Serie B.

I've had my second youth intake and Abdurrahman Aksu stands out from the candidates, his report says he is consistent and relishes big matches in particular, which are some charcteristics I look for in all of my players. He also has potential to be a leading PTT 1. League player. I'm really hoping he manages to step up to the first team in the future, as he is also a Batman PetrolSpor supporter.

[iacovone]

How the hell did you get Radja Naingollan in Serie B three seasons into the game?! That's ridiculous/stupid

[Tecmo]

Going to give Turkey a try, specifically Erzurumspor. Should be fun, decent population and large stadium to start out. And it's at high altitude, around 6000 feet. Interested to see if that has an effect and, if nothing else, there should be plenty of snow and cold to deal with.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wow Iacovone, that was lucky, why is your player pool so small? Is it to do with being based on one of the islands?

My Player Pool is 1485, and 199 Central Defenders...I feel bad.

[iacovone]

Wow Iacovone, that was lucky, why is your player pool so small? Is it to do with being based on one of the islands?

My Player Pool is 1485, and 199 Central Defenders...I feel bad.

Well that's upsetting. It must be because we're on the island of Madeira which is incredibly far away from Portugal (over 400km away)! Plus the whole island has been monopolised by Maritimo, who are the one major club here. Basically, the only players who want to join are either Maritimo castoffs or a member of the 250,000 population

[Muggert]

How the hell did you get Radja Naingollan in Serie B three seasons into the game?! That's ridiculous/stupid

Piacenza is a favoured club by him due to him playing 5 seasons there before his time at Cagliari. He played as a reserve for Roma, but yeah... Pretty incredible to be playing him in the Serie B :-)

[ArranoBeltza]

PORTUGALETE

2016/17 SEASON REVIEW

Manager Profile

Manager Info

COMPETITIONS OVERVIEW

LEAGUE TABLE

First Half Results

Second Half Results

Wow...what a season!

We performed at a consistently high level- remaining in the top four through most of the campaign. We were completely unbeatable at home; our only loss at La Florida came to Gimnastic in the first playoff round. I never expected to get past Gimnastic, who are an excellent team, but we showed amazing strength to come back and beat them 3-0 in the away leg. The next round was against Castilla. After holding them 0-0 in the away leg, we returned home and again played well. We earned a 72nd minute goal to go up 1-0, but they drew level in the 88th to knock us out of the playoffs on away goals. Still, I am quite pleased that we even made it that far and, honestly, I still feel it's too early for us to be promoted.

Some top performers this season:

Gorka Laborda (ST)- Last season, I stated a goal as bringing in a new striker or two because I didn't feel like any of my guys at the time could really lead my attack. I was wrong. I did bring in a young striker (more on him soon), but Laborda just couldn't stop scoring, putting in a number of impressive performances.

Inaki Altamira (ST)- Poached from Sestao in the first transfer window, I expected to give this kid a few games here and there and watch his development. After he nearly scored a hat-trick in our season opener, I kept him in and he performed quite consistently. Also, his five assists and 75% completion are damn good for a player with a passing attribute of one.

Unai Calvo (MR)- Five goals and 18 assists in the league. Last year, Luis shined on the left wing. This year, Calvo was our star winger. Hoping that, at his age, he continues to perform well next year.

Jose Carrillo (DC)- Brought in as a free transfer, Carrillo became the rock of my defense. Also developed his attributes well over the year so perhaps worth keeping an eye on.

Aritz Solabarrieta (MC)- My team's workhorse through both of my seasons at the club, Solabarrieta played almost every minute of almost every match and rarely disappointed. He got to play hero against Gimnastic having scored a goal in the first leg before adding a brace in the second.

Diego Gutierrez (GK)- Developed well over the season, and kept us in the fight for so many matches that we perhaps should have lost. My only concern is his high eccentricity, which does seem to cause issues from time to time.

FEDERATION CUP

As mentioned in an earlier post, we won the Federation Cup. I honestly cared about this competition so little, that I holidayed through all of the matches until the semifinal. This trophy means little, but it's still nice to have won my first trophy and hopefully it does something to enhance our reputation.

For some reason, my team did not participate in the Copa del Rey...

TRANSFERS

The biggest pieces of news here involve cash. We had two players go out, bringing in $130K. On the other hand, poaching Inaki Altamira cost us 92K. In the future I'll be smarter about the fees when poaching, but at least we made an overall profit on transfers.

I already mentioned most of these guys in previous posts or earlier in this update, but our most important signing outside of them is probably Omar. I found him in the "Transfer Rumors" link and gave him a trial, then signed him due to midfield injuries and the fact that Carlos Merino will be leaving on top of the fact that I don't feel my younger MCs are ready to go in full-time.

NEWGENS UPDATE

Once again, nothing truly inspiring came through my own youth system. A few of my native newgens might develop into decent players at this level, but I don't see them helping us out too much going forward. Aside from Altamira, here are my two most promising newgens. Both were also poached from other teams:

Zonzamas Garijo (AMC/MC)

Augustin Tabuenca (DMC/MC)

FINANCES

We're just bleeding money. We went through a board takeover and they did bring in a loan, but that cash was gone almost as quickly as it was in the bank, and all it really accomplished was leading to greater losses. I remained well under the wage budget, but overspent on the transfer budget due to Altamira's signing and player/agent fees. Still, I don't see those as the largest issues, but I'll still be more careful moving forward. Hopefully our reputation has increased due to this season's results and attendance will go up. My fingers are also crossed for some new sponsorships. A tycoon takeover would be nice...

EDIT: The club announced a new sponsor just after my post. We're on the right track, but it's going to take more than that!

GOALS FOR 2017/18

- DEVELOP: Same as last season. I'll be looking to bring in young players and I hope that my current prospects continue to do well and show some positive development.

- CONSOLIDATE: I do not know if we can repeat what we did last year, but I'm definitely going to try. I still doubt we're ready for promotion just yet, but I'd like to make the playoffs again.

[chris11223]

Congratulation on the good season ArranoBeltza, hopefully next season you can push on and maybe get promoted! I know you aren't sure if the club is quite ready just yet but it would certainly go along way towards fixing your finances even if you only stayed up for one season.

Also, Inaki Altamira looks like a decent little goal-scorer for an 18 year old too.

[Romanista1994]

Doing well ArranoBeltza, nice steady progress.

Good luck Tecmo with Erzurumspor. They were a club I looked at as well, because of similar criteria when choosing the club to those you used.

[PaulHartman71]

very nice progress ArranoBeltza, can commiserate with you on the terrible finances. we can certainly all dream of a tycoon takeover however unlikely it may be

[iacovone]

AD Machico | Season 4 -- 2018-19 |

Campeonato Nacional: 3a Divisao

| Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Squad Stats |

First Phase |Table

After such a fantastic third season I really hoped we'd kick on and make the promotion phase for the second consecutive season. As it turned out, we could barely do worse.

Full report here.

Relegation Phase | Table

Back to the relegation phase. After a promising start to this phase (five wins in seven), we proceeded just to win one of the next seven, meaning we finished third bottom and were sent to a relegation playoff against Pedras Rubas.

Did we survive?

Squad

First of all, let's address the elephant in the room. After scoring 58 goals in three seasons, Kevin Da Silva drew a complete blank in 29 games this year - a major reason for our bleak season.

In more positive news, academy product Joao Aveiro was handed a starting spot on the right wing and returned this faith with a stellar first campaign in professional football. He's gonna be excellent at this level if he keeps improving. With Da Silva in such poor form, Paulinho stepped in and played up top, with Amaro Neto on the left of our 4-3-3.

Dhiego was another good attacking signing and I'm pleased with him. The problem throughout the whole year was our defence, none of whom will be given the honour of a screenshot.

Admin

The financial situation is getting worse and worse but I've not had any messages suggesting the board are planning on selling off the stadium or whatnot so for now I'm reasonably unconcerned. The damage? Losses of £180k over the year.

Oh well. I'm still staying under budget and have been given a small transfer budget every season to work with at least.

Best XI

[chris11223]

Elversberg

Season 2 | 2016/17 |

The League

Fixtures I | Fixtures II | League Overview |

A long and ultimately disappointing season that ended with relegation on the final day but lots of positives to be taken. We had a good start to the season winning the opening 2 games but this was followed by 10 games without a win and it was ultimately our long win-less runs and inability to score that lead us to finishing bottom despite a good run at the end of the season taking 12 points from the last 6 games.

Going into the final day of the season we still had a chance to move out of the automatic relegation spots and into the relegation play-off, we needed to win and the two teams above to lose as well as a 7 goal swing. Although we managed our part of this with a 1-0 win over Dresden who dominated 3.Liga last season FSV Frankfurt also managed to get all 3 points and with that took away any hope of our survival.

The Squad

Team

No-one really performed badly over the season apart from the strikers but they didn't get much service because of how defensive the tactics were. One of the stand out performers was Tobias Feisthammel who was a rock at the back all season with an average rating of 7.05, everyone else got between 6.80 and 7.00 ish so no real complaints we just weren't up to scratch for the league, promotion came too early I guess .

Transfers

History

I didn't make any more transfers in January due to the wage budget being dropped by £12k/pw and the only transfer that was made in the second half of the season was that of Kevin Richie, a promising Scottish full-back with the potential to be a good Bundesliga right back, he will join the club when the transfer window opens again and will probably get his fair share of games next season.

Finances

Overview | Initial Budgets|

The prize money we got has given us a lifeline and just about put us back to a manageable level of debt, the poor finances have however lead to the wage budget being halved to 39k/pw which I'm planning on completely ignoring and keeping the players who are contracted to the club in the hope we can push for promotion straight back into the 2.Bundesliga.

Next Season

As I've already said promotion has to be the main objective, I have a feeling if I don't manage this then I will be finding a new club at the end of the season. I'll need to look to bring in a few players from my youth teams to fill gaps in the squad but the vast majority is already in place and should put up a decent challenge for the league, the finances are going to take a massive hit but personally I would rather take a short term loss and try to get myself established in the 2.Bundesliga as soon as possible and then the prize money will take care of the finances.

Hopefully though a few of my younger players who have lots of potential like Marius Wolf can use next season to develop a lot by having a good season.

[Tecmo]

Manager Information

Manager Profile

Team Profile

Team History

Team Facilities

Erzurum is a large city in eastern Turkey, 367,250 people as of 2010, and at a high elevation of just over a mile. It's location in the mountains has made it one of the premier winter sports cities in Turkey with 61 snowy days a year and average high temperatures that are below freezing from December through February.

Erzurum Buyuksehir Belediyespor was founded in 2005 and plays in Kazim Karabekir Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium that opened in 2010 and seats 23,700.

Should be an interesting challenge, I've never tried coaching in Turkey before but I've wanted to try someplace with some altitude, similar to where I live, to see if we can use it to our advantage. Ideally, wearing down the opposition when we play at home. Playing in some real winter conditions should be interesting as well.

Looks like I have a pretty good team to work with already with a left fullback being my one glaring hole. Need to find some depth though as I don't have much beyond center back. And the team is pretty much devoid of young prospects although my best player is a 20 year old defensive midfielder I'm hoping can anchor the defense.

[chris11223]

Better luck next season iacovone hopefully Kevin Da Silva can find his scoring boots again next season..... Or you can find someone to replace him .

Good luck in Turkey Tecmo, it'll be interesting to see if altitude does have an effect in Fm and it looks like you have a nice club with most of the main things already in place, Big stadium etc. hopefully you can do just as well as the other few people managing in turkey currently.

[ArranoBeltza]

chris: shame to see you go down. But, again, where are those newgens?!?!

Think you can bounce back up?

In Portugaelte news, look who we faced to begin the Copa del Rey.