The Ultimate Football Manager

[burtur]

Incidentally I don't remember how many times in a row you said PSG had won the league, but Bayern just notched up their 20th in a row with well over 50% more points than us. They beat us 10-4 in the second league fixture, which I think is pretty much my heaviest league defeat in football manager ever, and we were one of the better sides in the division.

LOL...20 times in a row. That is ridiculous and quite frankly something SI need to take a look at. PSG won the league 5 times in a row...that is 2016-2020. Juventus are dominant in Italy at the moment but to be fair Sampdoria has won it once and AC Milan once, and usually the league has been tight. Bayern are also dominant in my save, having won every sesaon except once.

But yeah, my plan is to go S. America after Europe...the big clubs there do have decent money...so I will descend in baby steps. But don't forget, I started at the bottom in France where grapes grow on trees...not money!

EDIT: Page 4!

[Super_Gord]

vikeologist - Great start in Europe with Hertha, UEFA cup should be an interesting ride!

And indeed fourth page, we are trucking!

[BustaRaymes]

RENHE

2019 report

League:

http://imgur.com/3sGIlIH

We didn't do well as the board expected us to challenge for the title. However, there are two gaps in quality: Guangzhou and Shandong are out of everyone's league, after that there are 4 teams that can give them a hard time during matches, and the rest is rubbish. Last season Renhe belonged to the rubbish group (10th), now we've challenged the group above us seriously. Slip-ups against Hangzhou and Henan prevented us from getting an even higher position.

Star players:

Samy Kehli (from Metz, burtur!) http://imgur.com/3zWAYLR

I knew him from the Tunisia national team and I wanted to spend one of my 3 foreigner spots on a winger, preferably for both sides. He was available and man, did he deliver. Although I'm a fan of the oldschool wingers (right-footed on the right side, left-footed on the left), I had other options for the AMR spot so he played most of his games from the left. Kehli won both Best Foreigner and Player of the Year this season.

Song Tao http://imgur.com/PQAQUD6

At first glance he seems like a decent young player but he's quite mature for an 18-year old. Because of a lack of options I appointed him captain at the start of the season. Being a pacey guy, he dribbles from midfield a lot, getting in front of goal quite regularly.

Summary:

Although the board was not extremely happy, I get to stay for now. I've sold foreign DL Manu Torres and replaced his spot with Emmanuel Yeboah, a 19-year old beast for DR. Furthermore, I'm trying to offload top goalscorer Ndouassel as I have a very talented Chinese guy for his spot, and I'm looking to fill the last foreigner spot with a good DMC. The rest is quite ok and if I can hold them at the club I might have a shot at the cup next season, but I'm hoping to get a few better Chinese players to the club (this means shopping in the top 2 reserve squads), or get another shot in South Korea.

[Super_Gord]

Beijing Guoan & Jamaica Season Review 2021/2022

Beijing Guoan

League Table - Champions

Basically a two horse race between ourselves and Guangzhou, despite a late push from Shandong, we were very much the 2nd placed side out of the two for most of the year, but managed to pip them to the title during the final 4 games. Pretty happy to defend our title, but this year was all about my debut in the Asian Champions League!

I was unsure as to the difficulty of this competition, I figured the Saudi Arabian teams to be the strongest, with the South Koreans not too far behind them and everyone else tagging along for the ride, coming in at the group stage we drew Bangkok Glass (Thailand) Suwon (South Korea) and Okayama FC (Japan) was pretty confident about our chances, with possibly only Suwon being the biggest threat. We topped our group easily, losing only once to the weakest side Bangkok Glass, Suwon crashed out and ultimately sacked their boss.

Long story short, our ACL run! (Agg scores)

ACL 2nd Round

Saitama UTD 3 - 4 Beijing

ACL QF

Jeonbuk 2 - 6 Beijing

ACL Semi

Chunnam 2 - 7 Beijing

ACL Final

Al Hilal 3 - 6 Beijing

Asian Champions League - Champions

Turned out to be a lot easier than I anticipated, we often struggled away from home in the later stages, but dominated at home which basically carried us over the two legs, really happy with this ACL win on our first stab at it!

Jamaica

World Cup year and I was actually gearing myself up for this to be my last tournament in charge of The Reggae Boyz, did we have one hell of a tournament!

We had a tough group to contend with, Germany, Ghana and Albania, all ranked higher than us in the rankings, we lost our opening game to Germany 1-0 in a game which we were tanked, no complaints, we then edged a tight 4-3 with Ghana, going into the final game with Albania we needed the Germans to take points off Ghana and for us to at least get a point to qualify, we closed out a tight game with Albania 1-0 and Germany did us a solid and won 1-0 also, onto the knockout stages!

World Cup 2022 - Group E - 2nd

2nd round drew us against current World Champions Denmark, we got off to a flyer, 4-0 at half time and we'd barely let them have a kick of the ball, second half was a disaster, Denmark flew outta the blocks and banged 5 past us, it looked like our journey was over until we notched a late equaliser, 5-5 and into extra time Rolando Arrons snagged us a 120+1st minute winner! Jamaica - Denmark Overview

Quarter Final our opponents were Belgium, this turned out to be one of those games were we really rode our luck at times, 1-1 at full time we had to go through another 30 minutes of extra time, this time we scored twice, taking the game 3-1 Jamaica - Belgium Overview

Semi final, France, we were finally brought back to reality against a dominant French side, I blame the two previous matches in which we had played 240 minutes of football! we were never in it and lost out to a classy French side 2-0. I'd actually forget that we had a 3rd place playoff to go through, my exhausted players had one more game in them and rather luckily beat the Italians 1-0 thanks to an own goal in the first half. 3RD PLACE IN THE WORLD CUP

I simply couldn't believe our run, I played this late one night and woke up wondering if I had dreamt this entire sequence of results, I was going to finish my time with Jamaica here but there is no way I'm leaving after this performance, I want to stay and at least take that elusive Gold Cup I've been after!

I've now handed in my Beijing resignation and have loaded the leagues in Brazil and Argentina in anticipation, apologies for the long rambling review!

Management Career - League
2014/15 - Jomo Cosmos - South African National First Division - Champions
2015/16 - Ajax CT - South African Premier Soccer League - Champions
2016/17 - Ajax CT - South African Premier Soccer League - 5th
2017/18 - Ajax CT - South African Premier Soccer League - Champions
2018/19 - Ajax CT - South African Premier Soccer League - Champions
2019/20 - Ajax CT - South African Premier Soccer League - Champions
2020/21 - Beijing - Chinese Super League - Champions
2021/22 - Beijing - Chinese Super League - Champions

Challenge Landmarks
Top League Title - 2 - South African Premier Soccer League - Chinese Super League
Domestic Cup Wins - 2 - South African KO Cup - South African FA Cup
Champions League - 2 - African Champions League - Asian Champions League

[BustaRaymes]

My god, Super_Gord, what a run! I knew stuff was possible with Jamica but this excedes everything. Nice steal at the Belgium game too!

[threelions1goal]

EDIT: Page 4!

Super_Gord

And indeed fourth page, we are trucking!

Page 4 indeed.......Gundo & Dafuge - be afraid, be very afraid....!!!!

Super_Gord great work!! both at club and international level.

Now you've conquered Asia, where are you heading to - you not having a stab at the World Club Championship with Beijing??

[vikeologist]

Supergord - Congrats on Asia, and doing so quite comfortably by the look of it. It's a pity if you didn't even have a shot at the WCC, as it's so close to the end of the Asian CL. can't wait to see what happens at the Gold Cup.

Busta - Do you find it easy to offload (foreign) players? I found it impossible in China, but maybe the ones I inherited were too overpaid for anyone else's budget. It's the same everywhere to an extent.

My experience of China is that things can turn around very quickly because the likes of Beijing and Guangzhou tend to live beyond their means, and have both gone deep into financial trouble in my save. (Guangzhou before me). I don't think that there's a lot of money either in the CL or Chinese Cup.

Even though we won't be competing with Gundo and Dafuge any time soon, I am really enjoying our little community here.

[BustaRaymes]

vikeologist It's hard yes. They mostly have huge wages so sacking is not an option and you need to find a club that can pay them. One of them was already at the club and I was just forcing him to leave all season long. Could've used him but I needed his spot so didn't play him and he was really unhappy at the end. I sold him for next to nothing too. But the other guy I'm trying to sell was last years top goalscorer, so clubs that can afford his wages already have their spots filled, and the ones with less foreigners are below us. It's just hoping for a club outside of China.

[burtur]

Don't stop believing in Journey!

burtur's 2021/22 end of season report

Inter - Serie A

League Table | Positional Graph

Not a bad season! We managed a Serie A win on the first try. We started the league really well, going the first 7 games unbeaten. In the following 9 games we hit a bit of a slump losing three and drawing two in the process. After that everything clicked, we went the rest of the season unbeaten and won 17 out of the final 19 games. A great run!

We racked up a record number of points, scored a record number of goals, I was voted manager of the season, Mateo Kovacic was voted player of the season and 5 of my players were in the team of the year.

In the FA cup we knocked out Novara and Sampdoria befor losing out in the semi-final against Juventus 3-4 on aggregate. Bitterly dissapointing.

In Europe we were drawn in a group with Chelsea, Dortmund and AZ. We finished runners up and drew Real Madrid in the 1st knock-out round. After a convincing 1-0 home win we conceded 3 in the reverse fixture and got knocked out. No shame getting knocked out by Real Madrid but I felt we could have snatched it.

During the summer (yes, in the summer) the 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar. England managed a second consecutive World Cup win (as if!!) after a penalty shootout win against Italy. After the competition the managers of Brazil, Argentina, France and Spain were all sacked and I subsequently applied for all four positions. As it turned out I was offered the Brazil job, and the France job. Given that I am working in Europe, I felt it was only natural to accept the offer from France and try to take on the European Championships!

Tecnically I can leave Inter now and head on to the next country. However, in the spirit of the challenge I want to win 10 cup competitions in 10 countries, not just 10 different cup competitions...so I am staying put at Inter for a little while yet. Also, the Serie A win made me officially a World Class manager so I think the world is my oyster now and I can basically wait for the right job to come along.

In other news, Timothy Boonen (not bad!) became the first regen to win the European Player of the Year award and David Moyes sparkling career is set to continue at Burton!

Managerial career:

Season           Club                League        Pos       DC1         DC2      Continental        Other
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15  EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël  French National   3rd    7th round      n/a          n/a             n/a
2015/16  EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël      Ligue 2       1st   11th round   3rd round       n/a             n/a
2016/17  EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël      Ligue 1      14th   semi-final   semi-final      n/a             n/a
2017/18         FC Metz              Ligue 1       3rd   semi-final   3rd round       n/a             n/a
2018/19         FC Metz              Ligue 1       2nd     winners    4th round    ECL 1st KO         n/a
2019/20         FC Metz              Ligue 1       3rd  quarter-final runner up     ECL Q/F      Champions Trophy, runner up
2020/21         FC Metz              Ligue 1       1st  quarter-final  winners      ECL S/F           n/a
2021/22          Inter               Serie A       1st    semifinal      n/a       ECL 1st KO         n/a


Season           Nation              Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18        Costa Rica            World Cup Group Stage
2018/19        Costa Rica            Copa Centroamericana - Winners

Landmarks

* Challenge landmark

[b]France:[/b]
[u][i]Ligue 1[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2021 (FC Metz)
Runner up (1)     2019 (FC Metz)
Third place (2)   2018,2020 (FC Metz)
[u][i]Ligue 2[/i][/u]
Winner (1)        2016 (EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël)
[u][i]Championnat National[/i][/u]
Third place (1)   2015 (EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël)
[u][i]Coupe de France[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2019 (FC Metz)
[u][i]Coupe de la Ligue[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2021 (FC Metz)
Runner up (1)     2020 (FC Metz)
[u][i]Trophée des Champions[/i][/u]
Runner up (1)     2020 (FC Metz)

[b]Italy:[/b]
[u][i]Serie A[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2022 (Inter)

[b]International:[/b]
[u][i]Copa Centroamericana[/i][/u]
Winner (1)        2018 (Costa Rica)

The journey so far:

Prologue

Season 2014/15

Season 2015/16

Season 2016/17

Season 2017/18

Season 2018/19 Part 1, Part 2

Season 2019/20

Season 2020/21

[Luis99gr]

Beginners Luck

luis99gr 2014/2015 Season Report

Competions | Confidence | Transfers

League

When I arrived to this club i had no idea tha i could do this at first try, because of zero knowledge of the league and the players but with the money i had i knew i could achive more that they predicted so i right away ask my scouts to do a bit of work and i put together a team of freebies and quality players from other clubs and it was domination since the first match with that domination i managed to secure 1º place since the season started. In the end i was champion with 6 games to go and also winning against the 2º placed team to secure the title. I finish the season with almost 30 points ahead of second.

Cup

In cup side of things i want to give the reserves a chance to shown their talent and by god they did show because i clinched easily with a lot of luck mainly because i was put up against second tier teams. Execpt in the 4 round and the quarter finals, when i faced teams of my division, but overall it's a hell of a cup run.

Awards:

Manager of the Season, MVP of the League, Golden Boat of the League, MVP of the Cup, Team of the Season.

Best Players:

Muhammad Agus Salim, ST - Played 31 games scoring 31 goals and 10 assists. That's an average of 1.0 goals per game, at first he wasn't my firtst choice striker but then my assistant manager told me put him because the other guy is rubish and can't play more than 45 minutes so from then on he was first team chice till the end of the season.

Tonnie Cussell, RW- One of my best freebies he played 37 games scoring 17 goals and 14 assist. But what's most impressive was not the fact he scored 17 goals, the fact that matters to me the most is his ability to win games he himself won us games by an assist or a goal.

Near the end of this season i aplied for the Seoul job, this happened. I'm thinking of leaving because there is not much i can do with this team i'm thinking going to China or South Korea.

Career:

2014/2015-(Persela)-Indonesian Super League-Champions|Indonesian Cup-Champions

Trophy Cabinet:

1-Indonesian Super League
1-Indonesian Cup

P.S: Also i won the under 21 cup , but that does not count so.

P.SS: Sorry for the long post

[vikeologist]

Luis - Well done in Indonesia, although as others have discovered before you, your success there isn't worth a bucket of warm spit to the likes of Seoul. It's worth 2 cups of warm spit in the challenge though. Hopefully you can get a top division job in your targeted China or South Korea. I don't believe it's beginners luck, though I suppose when I think about it, every person who's done the challenge in Indonesia has had similar success to yourself. Maybe it's hardcoded into football manager that all the other managers in Indonesia are the equivalent of monkeys randomly hitting typewriter keys.

Burtur - Congrats on Serie A and the job with France. I was hoping that I could get a decent national job after the 2032 Euro Championship, but England and a few other top nations laughed at me, and I didn't apply for my own nation, Scotland. I really want to get a job with a nation with a good chance of the Gold, African or Asian Cups, but they aren't becoming vacant.

Busta - The fact is that China has a lot of over-paid laowais with mediocre skill sets. Yippee.

[burtur]

Luis: A proper first season, well done. Two questions though. 1. Any idea what's with most of the teams starting with P in Indonesia? 2. Can you recommend any Indonesian players? My chairman is Indonesian and want's me to sign Indonesian players :/

Super_Gord: Are you kidding me. A third place for the Reggie Boys is ridiculously impressive! Feeling pressured now with France.... On a side note. Am I the only one who sings in my head the Cool Runnings song when I see the Jamaica logo/name?

Busta: I didn't have the pleasure of working with Samy Kehli, he was released the season before I took over. He is having a underwhelming career in the French Nacional in my save

Vikeologist: Yeah. Those top international job don't come along to often, it usually after the World Cup that they become vacant in my experience. Super_Gord is just a lucky duck to have landed the coveted Jamaica job so early!

[Luis99gr]

Vikeologist:Thank you, Yeah i found that the hardway, by being laughed at job offers. I also think a bit that way because the top teams who were tipped to win had terrible seasons and teams who were tipped to go down managed to get top 10 positions.

Burtur:Thank you, i don't have a clue but it's really hard to identify them because the names are too similiar. Indonesian players that i liked the most were Tonnie Cussell (free) , Ian Kabes (Persipura), Muhammad Aguas Salim (Persela), N. Nashua (Free??), Andik Vermansyah (Selangor). But for a team like Inter they are 0 compared to your academy.

[burtur]

I know. They are rubbish. But it was one of the "philosophies" the board was insistent on...really annoying. I bought one regen for next to nothing and he is maybe going to be a decent Serie B player. But I guess they won't sack me if keep bringing home the bacon. And if I did get sacked, it wouldn't be the end of the world as I would just enter "Vikeologist's big sacking challenge".

[threelions1goal]

And if I did get sacked, it wouldn't be the end of the world as I would just enter "Vikeologist's big sacking challenge".

Oh yeah - I forgot the sacking challenge within this challenge!!

Now I'm even more razzed off my other save went wrong, cos I'd been sacked within that.....lol

Burtur Brilliant work at Inter - you must be in with a chance of winning the Chumps League with them??

Luis Good work in Indonesia too, thats a good first season for you and as Vikeologist states, it all counts with trophies toward the challenge

Vikeologist

Even though we won't be competing with Gundo and Dafuge any time soon, I am really enjoying our little community here.

This is, indeed, a great little community we have established

[LetsGetReadyTo]

Guys i'm so happy you are all enjoying the thread and challenge I came up with I never expected as many people to attempt the challenge as they did and wow, thanks guys

To clear up confusion a couple pages back regarding domestic cups, As long as the top division teams can enter, (For example, Capital One Cup and FA Cup, NOT Johnstones Paint Trophy or FA Trophy) - They can count towards your domestic cup total.

[Luis99gr]

threelions1goal: Thank you, i'm hopping that you're doing well with your new save.

LetsGetReadyTo: Thanks for the confusion about that.

[burtur]

Like Pheonix, LetsGetReadyTo has risen from the ashes! Good to see you back buddy and I have to say I thoroughly enjoy this challenge.

To clear up confusion a couple pages back regarding domestic cups, As long as the top division teams can enter, (For example, Capital One Cup and FA Cup, NOT Johnstones Paint Trophy or FA Trophy) - They can count towards your domestic cup total.

That is all good and well. However, I think I speak for most of us when I say that all we really want is the answer to the film question!!

[vikeologist]

LGRT - Welcome back. There's still one big question about the cup thing. Does it have to be cups from 10 different nations? Some of us are interpreting it this way, some another.

There has also ben discussion about the eligibility of some individual cups (South African Super 8, Mexican Cup). Although I think we came to a consensus about that, it is your decision.

Are you going to partake of your own poison and have another go at this challenge?

[burtur]

Don't stop believing in Journey!

burtur's 2022/23 end of season report

Inter - Serie A, France - UEFA

League Table | Positional Graph

Inter:

We were dominant in Italy this season, leading the Serie A for most of the season. If it wasn't for long term injuries for a few players playing the same position I think we could have reached the 100 point mark with relative ease. Not only did we win the league but the Supercoppa Italia and Coppa Italia also came our way this season, beating Juventus in the final on both occasions. In Europe we finished top in our group, leaving Bayern behind in second. We then managed to knock out Tottenham before being played of the park by Man Utd in the Quarter Finals. The teams in England and Spain along with Bayern are simply one step ahead at the moment.

At the end of the season nearly every award came our way and the team of the year consisted of seven Inter players. Confirming our dominance this season.

After the cup win my work in Italy was done. I subsequently resigned from my position and looked through the job-ads. As it turned out, most of the big clubs in England, Germany and Spain are doing quite well and if not they had just recently hired a manager. One position was vacant though, the one in the blue half of Manchester. I applied, the offered me an interview and almost immediately the job. As you can see the transfer and wage budgets are fairly ridiculous. Man City finished the season in 7th place and thus no European football next season. Their squad is obviously a strong one, they have for instance one Lionel Messi playing for the reserves! They went all the way to the CL final this season were they lost against Barca. It is a ageing squad though and much rebuilding is to be done. Oh and by the way. Fulham won the league!

France:

Not a whole lot to say. We won our group in the European League of Nations Division 2, thus winning promotion. I have no idea what significance this competition has, I'm guessing none. We were handed a relatively easy group in the Euro 2024 Qualifying section with the media suggesting that Gibraltar would be our toughest opponent! We are off to a great start and I expect us to qualify quite comfortably.

Managerial career:

Season           Club                League        Pos       DC1         DC2      Continental        Other
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15  EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël  French National   3rd    7th round      n/a          n/a             n/a
2015/16  EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël      Ligue 2       1st   11th round   3rd round       n/a             n/a
2016/17  EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël      Ligue 1      14th   semi-final   semi-final      n/a             n/a
2017/18         FC Metz              Ligue 1       3rd   semi-final   3rd round       n/a             n/a
2018/19         FC Metz              Ligue 1       2nd     winners    4th round    ECL 1st KO         n/a
2019/20         FC Metz              Ligue 1       3rd  quarter-final runner up     ECL Q/F      Champions Trophy, runner up
2020/21         FC Metz              Ligue 1       1st  quarter-final  winners      ECL S/F           n/a
2021/22          Inter               Serie A       1st    semifinal      n/a       ECL 1st KO         n/a
2022/23          Inter               Serie A       1st     winners       n/a        ECL Q/F       Italian Super Cup, winners

Season           Nation              Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18        Costa Rica            World Cup Group Stage
2018/19        Costa Rica            Copa Centroamericana - Winners
2022/23          France              Promotion to League of Nations division A

Landmarks

* Challenge landmark

[b]France:[/b]
[u][i]Ligue 1[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2021 (FC Metz)
Runner up (1)     2019 (FC Metz)
Third place (2)   2018,2020 (FC Metz)
[u][i]Ligue 2[/i][/u]
Winner (1)        2016 (EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël)
[u][i]Championnat National[/i][/u]
Third place (1)   2015 (EFC Fréjus St. Raphaël)
[u][i]Coupe de France[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2019 (FC Metz)
[u][i]Coupe de la Ligue[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2021 (FC Metz)
Runner up (1)     2020 (FC Metz)
[u][i]Trophée des Champions[/i][/u]
Runner up (1)     2020 (FC Metz)

[b]Italy:[/b]
[u][i]Serie A[/i][/u]
Winner* (2)       2022,2023 (Inter)
[u][i]Coppa Italia[/i][/u]
Winner* (1)       2023 (Inter)
[u][i]Supercoppa Italia[/i][/u]
Winner (1)        2023 (Inter)

[b]International:[/b]
[u][i]Copa Centroamericana[/i][/u]
Winner (1)        2018 (Costa Rica)

The journey so far:

Prologue, Season 2014/15, Season 2015/16, Season 2016/17, Season 2017/18, Season 2018/19 Part 1, Part 2, Season 2019/20, Season 2020/21, Season 2021/22

[threelions1goal]

Guys i'm so happy you are all enjoying the thread and challenge I came up with I never expected as many people to attempt the challenge as they did and wow, thanks guys

To clear up confusion a couple pages back regarding domestic cups, As long as the top division teams can enter, (For example, Capital One Cup and FA Cup, NOT Johnstones Paint Trophy or FA Trophy) - They can count towards your domestic cup total.

LGRT - Just to echo the sentiments of others, it's good to see you back. At last we can all thank you for this challenge you created.

We've all commented at some stage how much we are enjoying this challenge, it's created (albeit twice!!) one of my favourite ever saves in all my years in playing FM.

Now.......just tell us what the bloody film reference is.......lol

[vikeologist]

Burtur - Congrats on Italy. Looking forward to hearing how things go with Man City. Do you think you'll get the Champions League there? Euro 2024 with France might be a first challenge international trophy. Interesting that as yet, none of us have managed one, despite various other international trophies and successes. Anyway after Euro 2024, you'll be able to get a better international job, should you so wish.

[dap1987]

This thread is one of my favourites, some great stories and just wish I still had the drive and time to try and compete in something like this.

Being a die hard Man City fan, i look forward to seeing how you do with City, Burtur, hopefully you can bring the Champions League and another League title back to the Etihad!

[burtur]

Vikeologist: Thanks. I think Man City is a real candidate for lifting the champions league. However after England there is only Spain and Germany left in Europe for me to conquer and if Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern are changing managers I won't be sticking around the Etihad for too long. I don't know if you have anything against France, but I definately consider them a top International job. We are currently in 5th place on the FIFA rankings so I think I will be sticking around after the Euros to have a go at the World Cup.

dap1987: Great to see an "outsider" commenting and enjoying the thread. I will do my best with your beloved Man City. Just don't look at my profile in the "prologue" post...you won't like the teams I support....

[ryanlion28]

I'm an 'outsider' too! Been following this challenge since the start, may even join it if it's still a big in a couple of months time. (although i only have FM14)

[Cardiovascular]

Another follower, I think I may start a save like this soon! Although I'll probably enter the sacking challenge as I'm pretty awful at FM.

[threelions1goal]

Ajax CT End Of Season 2015/16

Competitions

Confidence

Transfers

Firstly, I didn't bother doing a review for the 2014/15 season as I only got the Ajax job with half a dozen matches to go.

When I took over, they were in 12th position and after two wins, two draws and two defeats, I managed to guide them to a final position of.........12th position!!

Unsurprisingly, at the start of the 2015/16 season, I was predicted to finish 12th.

Told the Board I could achieve a mid-table position, so finishing 6th more than satisfied them and I've had my contract extended for another couple of years - luckily the Board didn't take the cups too seriously, which was lucky for me as neither did my players!! We bowed out in the first round of both competitions.

The set up at Ajax is a good one, although I don't know if I'll emulate Burturs achievements with them - plus the Orlando Pirates job is coming up in a matter of weeks so I'm half tempted to apply for that, I'm unsure at the moment.

The one good thing about having to restart this challenge is that I know a few of the players develop into good ones, so I've signed Dexter Masunda at 20 years old and Phakamani Mngadi at 21.....hopefully I'll be able to aid their development and not ruin their careers!!

One thing I'm uncertain if I've done the right thing or not is this

Upgrade Training Facilities

It's gonna cost £2,000,000 and although the club is healthy financially at the moment, it's alot of money.

Good to see so many City fans around this thread, hopefully Burtur will do us proud!!

[CiroP]

If I start with no coaching badge and sunday league reputation nobody wants me....even in SA or China. It's only me?

[threelions1goal]

If I start with no coaching badge and sunday league reputation nobody wants me....even in SA or China. It's only me?

No mate, it isn't / wasn't only you.

We all had to go through numerous rejections before we got a job.

Hang in there, you'll get offered one soon and your adventure will begin.

And you'll love every minute of it (well, apart from the painful defeats and sackings!!)

[burtur]

CiroP: First off. Welcome to the challenge. As you can see, we are not just a active few but there are some lurkers as well which is great! Not only that, the creator is a devious one. He planted a sneaky film reference and refuses to comment on it. Frustrating since he only shows up once every 6 months or so. But that is only one of the things that make this thread great and in my humble opinion it is the best one on this sub-forum.

In terms of your first job then I agree with 3L1G said...it takes a while. For me it wasn't until late January (France).

3L1G: YES! Finally a update from someone. I thought maybe everybody had started their summer hiatus already. A solid first proper season with Ajax CT. Only 9 points off that 2nd place which is not bad. Looking forward to your next update.

Thanks for the shout out by the way. Although it probably wasn't deserves since it was Super_Gord who is the king of Ajax. I will try and do my best on the Man City front even though goes against everything I stand for.

[CiroP]

No mate, it isn't / wasn't only you.

We all had to go through numerous rejections before we got a job.

Hang in there, you'll get offered one soon and your adventure will begin.

And you'll love every minute of it (well, apart from the painful defeats and sackings!!)

I added the most important third level leagues and I finally got a job, even if it's already July 2015 .

CiroP: First off. Welcome to the challenge. As you can see, we are not just a active few but there are some lurkers as well which is great! Not only that, the creator is a devious one. He planted a sneaky film reference and refuses to comment on it. Frustrating since he only shows up once every 6 months or so. But that is only one of the things that make this thread great and in my humble opinion it is the best one on this sub-forum.

In terms of your first job then I agree with 3L1G said...it takes a while. For me it wasn't until late January (France).

Thanks for the welcome. I'm not sure but probably I've seen him (the creator) on fm-base, we can try to contact him. As I said at least I got a job, I'll post a summary of the first season when it'll be over.

[threelions1goal]

. But that is only one of the things that make this thread great and in my humble opinion it is the best one on this sub-forum.

it was Super_Gord who is the king of Ajax..

Ooops!! You're correct - it was indeed Super_Gord who was King of Ajax - sincere apologies to you both!!

The first part of your quote - I concur fully, this is the most enjoyable thread on this forum (in my humble opinion) and the mini community we have built is a pleasure to be part of.

When I win the lottery, I'll fly us all out to China so we can all have a beer with Vikeologist!!!

In all seriousness, I've partaken in Dafuge's challenge many times, but mostly as a passive lurker, I could never be bothered with updates etc. after I'd posted my initial screenshot - being honest, I used to find it a bit of a chore.

This thread / challenge is just different.

In Dafuge's and Gundo's challenges (and they are great challenges) there seems alot of competitiveness and "one upmanship" amongst people, whereas here, I honestly feel that we are all genuinely rooting for and supporting each other

[vikeologist]

CiroP - Welcome to the challenge. It can take a long time for suitable job vacancies to open up, both at the start and during the game. I did a test to see how easy / difficult it is to get an initial job with the latest version, and I had no problem getting a couple of offers from Chinese Super League teams, but I'm not sure any jobs at all in South Africa became available in the first 8 months. (maybe Orlando Pirates did, but if it did I ignored it as I knew there was zero chance of that job).

It's possible, for each league you start off with, there may only be about 3 or 4 jobs become available before the end of the season, and the ones that do become available may not be ones you should take. Of course sometimes a top club sacks their manager and there's a bit of a cascade effect.

I've probably spent between 2 and 3 game years without a club job. I'm worried that will come back to bite me on the arse when I get old in the game, but starting at 20, hopefully we have at least 50 years of employability, which should be enough, at least for the club achievement side of things.

So, if it takes 6-9 months to get a good first job, (or if you start again to see which jobs come up early, which I personally wouldn't regard as cheating, anymore than reloading in the other challenges to get the initial club you want) it's better than accepting a job in haste and repenting at leisure.

3L1G - Congrats on your 6th place. I hope Dexter and Phak-Attack (both ex-players of mine) don't disappoint. I bought Masunda at Swallows from Kaiser Chiefs, and then bought him back when I was at KC. Probably my most important player to date in the challenge, because of the length of time he was with me.

The thing about this thread is that there's few enough people that I can kind of keep up with everyone else's progress, though I admit the changing of clubs (and nations) makes if difficult. If it becomes incredibly popular, I'm going to get very confused. I mean, I alone have had 15 club and international jobs in 18 and a half years. 15!!!!

[Hatton90]

Long time lurker while trying to get my head around the 'Youth Academy' challenge. Decided that i like to buy players so am giving up on that.

I will be starting in Europe like burtur as I think that once Europe has been cracked then I should be able to just pick and choose the best jobs in the other nations.

Am holidaying now and will update when I find a job. If I get half of the success that you lot have had then I will be happy!

[vikeologist]

hatton90 - Welcome. I also came to this challenge after disillusionment at the Youth Challenge. Like you I like buying players, but the truth is that I really sucked at the Youth Challenge. I must have tried about 8 times.

At first I thought Burtur's Europe and then the world policy was a bit counter-intuitive, but, as you point out, now he can basically pick and choose his jobs for the rest of the challenge, and while the rest of us are picking up scraps internationally with the likes of China, Costa Rica and the like, Burtur is already the manager of France and possibly getting a head start on the international cups. Maybe the Burtur way is the best.

I'll be interested to see what level of first job you can get in Europe, and to what degree it will compare to the French National. Are you loading the big 5 leagues (lower divisions) or starting in a smaller nation? Oooh, the anticipation.

[Hatton90]

hatton90 - Welcome. I also came to this challenge after disillusionment at the Youth Challenge. Like you I like buying players, but the truth is that I really sucked at the Youth Challenge. I must have tried about 8 times.

At first I thought Burtur's Europe and then the world policy was a bit counter-intuitive, but, as you point out, now he can basically pick and choose his jobs for the rest of the challenge, and while the rest of us are picking up scraps internationally with the likes of China, Costa Rica and the like, Burtur is already the manager of France and possibly getting a head start on the international cups. Maybe the Burtur way is the best.

I'll be interested to see what level of first job you can get in Europe, and to what degree it will compare to the French National. Are you loading the big 5 leagues (lower divisions) or starting in a smaller nation? Oooh, the anticipation.

Thanks vikeologist I have decided not to load England at the moment as I know that getting out of the Vanarama Conference and below is hard work and that would be the only jobs that i would get. I have loaded France, Belguim, Holland, Portugal and Russia.

I based this on what countries have teams in the Champions League each year but are not expected to win it. Therefore the teams have less reputation and therefore I am more likely to get a high job quicker. I might be wrong, but finding out will be fun!

[Hatton90]

My first job given to me is with Oriental in the Portuguese Second Division. They are currently 24th (bottom). 10 points from 17 games (36 game season. Seven points from safety. Predicted to finish 16th so i hope that i have no problem in keeping them up. Looks like the old manager only knew how to win games in the cup though as we are in the 5th round of the Taca de Portugal, against lower league oppo. 3 wins and we are in the final!!! I don't hold out much hope of doing that though!!

My current contract runs until the end of the season and i think that my plan will be to apply for any job in the league above me, or clubs that are battling for promotion, come the end of the season. Hopefully keeping Oriental up will give me some reputation in Portugal.

Can't wait!

[dap1987]

After lurking for so long, i think I might give this a go, i cant get into any other kind of save so i might as well challenge myself .... where to start though, i'm unsure on that one! I like the Europe first route but I fancy something different, I might try South America first as it seems to be where most have struggled but i'll decide tonight

Wish me luck!

[threelions1goal]

Welcome Hatton Good luck in Portugal - as Vikeologist states, Europe may have been a better starting point with the rest of the challenge in mind

Welcome Dap South America seems to be pretty much unchartered territory on the whole - be interesting to see how you do there!!

Incidentally, the guys who have been playing a while now (Burtur, Vikeologist, Super-Gord, Arbee, Busta etc) What are your reputations within the game?? I'm guessing Burtur could probably be continental at this stage??

[vikeologist]

I've been Continental for a while, I think.

Do those who've been playing for a while have all their coaching badges. What are your attributes like? Another advantage of doing the smaller nations last would be that at clubs with few coaches, your coaching stats will be invaluable.

Let's not forget though that Burtur's method involved guiding a tiny French club we'd never heard of to promotion his first 2 years.

My adaptability, determination and discipline are all still at 3, which I find slightly annoying. My 'working with youngsters' is still at 1. What's up with that? I'm fluent in 5 languages, and I discipline players at the drop of a hat, or for even complaining about having to wear hats during matches. Maybe the working with youngsters is because I don't keep the youth dross around and usually only offer contracts to the top 2 or 3.

Dap - Welcome and good luck

[Hatton90]

Thanks for the welcome 3L1G. I think the problem with Europe though is your starting experience and no badges, means that you will not get a high profile job and have to settle for a relegation battle in the lowest division. Starting in other continents though, other people have found that you could get a top division job straight away, not at a high profile club, but playing against those top clubs will get your name out there quicker.

I think burtur did very well to get successive promotions.

[brettney1980]

Some interesting careers here guys, i think i'll be jumping in with you at some point today.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2032/3 Hertha Berlin (And South Korea) End of Season Report

A good season, but almost a great season. With 2 league games to go we were in 4th (and Champions league qualifying) place in the league and in the UEFA / Euro Cup Final.

Then we lost our last 2 league games and dropped to 6th, (where a single point would have probably secured 4th) and then lost the UEFA Cup final to Celta. Given that we had beaten Liverpool, AC Milan and Sevilla (amongst others) in our 18 game path to the final, it was very disappointing.

We also reached the semi-final of the German Cup.

So in the end we ended up in the same league position as the previous season, and only actually picked up 2 extra points.

I guess the team / squad is better than a year ago (though pretty much the same), with only 1 first team player past his peak and facing an extremely highly paid next season on the bench.

One of the reasons it maybe went pear-shaped with three games to go is that my star striker has decided he wants to leave because I didn't keep my promise to develop our young players, but the first team were playing pretty darn well. Frankly the young players are coming on quite nicely with the odd appearance. 3 of our most promising young players are under 17 and thus are not allowed to play in the league until next season, (or in one case the season after that). Personally speaking, I believe our children are the future, and I aim to teach them well and let them lead the way. I show them all the beauty they possess inside and instruct them to kick the s%@t out of the opposition.

Yeah and my star striker is South Korean, so guess who his national manager that he refuses to speak to any more is. South Korea are a good side. We're going to qualify for the World Cup easily, and we're the top ranked Asian nation. I took the job in the hope of winning the Asian Cup (in about 2 years) even though South Korea haven't actually won it for 73 years. So either they're hard coded to suck at major competitions or they will win the next one (after I get sacked for not getting past Italy and Brazil in the World Cup group).

Season	Team			Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
14/15	Swallows(South Africa)	14th		Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16	Swallows		12th		South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.				1 domestic cup
16/17	Swallows		3rd		Champions League qualification
17/18	Swallows		3rd	
18/19 	Swallows & Kaizer Chiefs2nd		Quit Swallows mid-season. Took over Kaiser Chiefs with 9 games of the season left
19/20	Kaizer Chiefs/ChU23	2nd		Won 2 domestic cups.
20/21	Kaizer Chiefs / China	2nd		Lost in Champions League Final on away goals
21/22	Kaizer Chiefs/China	1st		Lost in Champions league semi-final. Won 36 straight matches and East Asia Cup	1 domestic league
22/23	Kaizer Chiefs/ China	n/a		Won African Champions League. Humiliated nation of China.			African Champions League
2023	Seoul			1st		Won South Korean League								2nd domestic league
2024	Seoul / Brazil U23	3rd		Won FA Cup									2nd domestic cup
2025	Cruz Azul		9th		Won FA Cup (Opening Stage). Then I was sacked.					3rd domestic cup
2026	Chivas			2nd		Manager for one match. Lost title in extra time of 2nd leg of league final.
26/27	Chivas /Ivory Coast	6th/1st		Won NACL. Lost Closing stage final of Mexican 1st Div (again)			NACL
27	Chivas / Ivory Coast	5th		Lost in Opening Stage semi-final and resigned after CWC Q/F
28	Dalian / Ivory Coast	11th		Lost in FA Cup Final / Lost in 2029 ACON Q/F
29	Guangzhou / Egypt	1st		League / Cup double. Qualified for World Cup					4th cup, 3rd league
30	Guangzhou/Egypt/USA	1st		League / Champions League double						Asian Champions League
31/2	Hertha Berlin		6th		German Cup losing finalists. Qualified for UEFA Cup
32/33	Hertha Berlin/S Korea	6th		UEFA Cup losing finalists. 

[Hatton90]

Unlucky vikeologist. Hopefully everything will click into place next season! How many challenge trophies do you have now?

[vikeologist]

Unlucky vikeologist. Hopefully everything will click into place next season! How many challenge trophies do you have now?

3 leagues, 4 cups (or 5 depending how the initial rules are interpreted), 3 Champion Leagues.

But I've been going longer than anybody else.

Of course the key stat is my Vikeologist's Sacking Challenge tally, which stands at 5, or a third of the 15 different jobs I mentioned a few posts above.

And now I can't that awful 'Greatest love of all' song out of my head

[burtur]

Dap: Welcome! Good luck in S.America.

3L1G: After my second season with Inter I had World Class reputation but after I took charge of Man City it fell down to Continental. The reason is probably that Man City isn't in a continental competition.

Vikeologist: Gutting end to the season mate. You are definitely making progress though. What kind of resources are available to you? Will you be able to strengthen without offloading players?

[BustaRaymes]

threelions1goal I'm continental too. I guess the AFC Cup runs with Kitchee helped a lot with that.

vikeologist Same here, the stats you mentioned are 3. Others like attacking play are 15 already. Don't have any badges though, I always forget that and when I did start one in the off season, I holidayed and after that I got none. Probably failed :') Have to start getting them though.

dap1987 and Hatton90: Welcome and good luck guys

Haven't been playing a lot lately but in the next few days I'll have more time. Will update before the weekend.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist: Gutting end to the season mate. You are definitely making progress though. What kind of resources are available to you? Will you be able to strengthen without offloading players?

It feels as though I have a lot of money, and wage room, but bringing in a player that would be much better than what I already have would probably take about 20 million, and I don't have that big a transfer budget.

I was tempted to apply for the vacant job at Dortmund. Once again Aleksandar Stanojevic beat us in his final match of the season (last year to win the German Cup with Leverkusen, this year to finish one place above us with Dortmund), both times he was immediately sacked.

Dortmund are, along with Bayern, one of the big two. Bayern however have won the league 21 times in a row, so they're not entirely equivalent.

Dortmund have a much bigger wage budget, and average attendance, but I think my individual players are slightly better, and Dortmund's players don't fit the 442 formation I use, so I'd have to offload their highly paid attacking midfielders along with coping with much higher expectations. I did give it some really serious thought.

The fact is that I really want to win something with Hertha, and so I'm going to be loyal to them. I'm not sure what I'll do if the Bayern job becomes vacant. their manager Paulo Sousa has won 4 leagues, 4 cups and an international trophy towards the Ultimate Challenge without even knowing it and is 62 years old. He doesn't have a champions league though.

[Hatton90]

The fact is that I really want to win something with Hertha, and so I'm going to be loyal to them. I'm not sure what I'll do if the Bayern job becomes vacant. their manager Paulo Sousa has won 4 leagues, 4 cups and an international trophy towards the Ultimate Challenge without even knowing it and is 62 years old. He doesn't have a champions league though.

I think this means that Paulo Sousa is in the lead. Seeing as though noone else has an international trophy.

[BustaRaymes]

RENHE

2020 report

Competitions:

http://imgur.com/VaBvCRP

It has been an ok season for us. We were expected to challenge for the title, although I think we're not that far yet, and we pushed them until about 5 games before the end of the season. Guangzhou came in 2nd after 9 championships in a row, their squad is still good but aging quickly. Shandong was there to take over and honestly, they were the only team that actually outplayed us.

Star players:

Song Tao http://imgur.com/DlJp5Ia

Our young but talented captain put in another good season. 6 goals and 11 assists. Guangzhou is pulling his sleeve but I'm confident I can keep him here.

Liu Binbin http://imgur.com/n1bXP4g

Wasn't playing much at Shandong, got him for 300k and he delivered beautifully. I like to have one outside winger and one that cuts inside, and 12 goals and 17 assists are more than I asked for.

Sami Kehli http://imgur.com/0tSEQzI

I did not expect the same impact from him, changing from the left to right wing, but this guy keeps surprising me. 14 goals and 16 assists is great for a winger, and he was playing a role in the same amount of goals as last season.

Xu Shuai http://imgur.com/K684ESa

Has been China's most talented young striker for quite some time, but was never a great goal scorer. This season, he exploded up front. After a weak seond half of the season he ended at 24 goals in 29 games (19 of those scored in the first 18 games) and he's still just 21.

The future:

It's going to be interesting to see what will happen in the off-season. Renhe will play in the Champions League next season, but I feel there's not really a big chance we'll make it very far. Ndouassel is leaving and I'm looking to fill his foreigner spot with an experienced midfielder. 34-year old Finnish international Kasper Hämäläinen is high on my priority list. I can play just 3 out of 4 foreigners, so I'm going to have to choose between him and my DR beast Yeboah in the big games. Other than that I'm not sure if I can further strengthen the squad. I've got good Chinese players at their peak, with either young or experienced backups. Only a DMC from Guangzhou would be a good addition, and a young DC from Shandong. I won't be able to get the last one, so I'm going to push 3 million towards the DMC and together with Hämäläinen that should do. Furthermore, I'm going to try and find a young backup striker. The backup I have now is quite talented and he plays well with Shuai in 4-4-2, so I want to give him a bit more playing time.

I got attached to Renhe, but the Seoul manager is under pressure. I already got a job offer from a South Korean club during the season, and maybe Seoul will come to me too. In that case I'll be off, because Seoul's chance to win the Asian CL is way bigger than ours at the moment. I'm just close to being done in Asia and I'd like to move on soon.