The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive

[JoeLapira]

@SavoNFFC, best of luck with the ACL, hopefully you can avoid Seoul. What reputation are you on, its seems strange that you havent been able to secure any of those International jobs.

@Fadedaf; congrats on the Norwegian double. Its always nice to see people winning things in different leagues. Any preferences on your next destination?

[SavoNFFC]

7 hours ago, JoeLapira said:

@SavoNFFCbest of luck with the ACL, hopefully you can avoid Seoul. What reputation are you on, its seems strange that you havent been able to secure any of those International jobs.

Reputation is 55%. Like I say I've had international jobs before, but I even went for the Mexican u23 side job and was laughed out the building. I did have a one-game brief stint in charge of Nigeria that I never bothered to disclose on my posts as it seemed so insignificant (decided I didn't want another African job and resigned). I wonder if this is going against me...

[kernunos]

I decided to give this challenge a go and created a save game and a manager.

These are the Nations I loaded:

 

Playable Nations

Europe

                England - (League 2 and up)

                France - (National Division and up)

                Germany - (Second Division and up)

                Italy - (Serie B and up)

                Spain - (Second Division B and up)

Asia

                Australia - (Hyundai A-League)

                China - (First National Division and up)

North America

                America - (MLS)

                Mexico - (First Division A and up)

South America

                Argentina - (Second Division and up)

                Brasil - (Second Division and up)

South Africa

                South Africa - (First Division and up)

When a season has finished I will update.

 

[Tó_Madeira_2]

I'll give it a try this year again. These are the Nations I loaded:

 

 

  Europe

                England - (Championship and up)

                France - (Ligue 1 only)

                Germany - (Bundesliga only)

                Italy - (Serie A only)

                Spain - (La Liga only)

                Portugal - (Liga PRO and up)

Asia

                Australia - (Hyundai A-League)

                China - (Super League only)

North America

                America - (MLS)

South America

                Argentina - (Primera Division only)

                Brasil - (Brasileirão only)

South Africa

                South Africa - (First Division and up)

Edited November 13, 2016 by Tó_Madeira_2

[vikeologist]

@Tó_Madeira_2 & @kernunos Welcome to the challenge. A lot of leagues loaded. You're both about to get turned down more often than a hotel bed, but don't give up. Eventually you'll be able to get a job in a couple of those leagues. Really, literally a couple in the case of Tó.

 

@SavoNFFC Maybe it is that day in Nigeria. It's a problem. If we stay in an international job, we may not be able to get a fresh club job. If we quit, we may not be able to get another international one. There should be another Brexit option where the UK actually literally leaves Europe and goes on a world tour of other continents so that we don't need to move clubs or nations.

[kernunos]

@vikeologist Thanks. It took me till November to find my first managing job. Just finished my first season, so an update will follow soon. Tried to convince the board to send me to a trainer course but the first time I asked, they said "No". Now that the season is over and I did sign a new contract at that club, they finally allow me to take my first course.

My plan is to do a few courses while I am at this club and then I will try to get to a team at a higher level. Not sure, but I do expect that once you have followed some courses, it will become easier to find a new job. Well, I do hope that it then will get easier.

[pug 407]

9 hours ago, kernunos said:

@vikeologist Thanks. It took me till November to find my first managing job. Just finished my first season, so an update will follow soon. Tried to convince the board to send me to a trainer course but the first time I asked, they said "No". Now that the season is over and I did sign a new contract at that club, they finally allow me to take my first course.

My plan is to do a few courses while I am at this club and then I will try to get to a team at a higher level. Not sure, but I do expect that once you have followed some courses, it will become easier to find a new job. Well, I do hope that it then will get easier.

Your Club If Lower Rep Sometimes Won't Let You Take To Many Courses.

 

[pug 407]

Pug's Update FM 2017

Here We Go For The 3rd Time On This Challenge

Wanted To Start In China So Start Date Was Preseason. At The Begin My Age Is 18 Years After Loading 3 Times

 

[TheEarl]

The Earls Ultimate Quest (FM17)

AS Saint Etiénne 2023/24 Ligue 1

 

Once again I came to a rather empty club and had a lot to do to strengthen the squad before the new season. Saint Etiénne where qualified for Europa League, so it was a first time in European continental competition for my manager.

Pre-season transfers:

IN:

Gilberto Olguin - 5M from Cruz Azul

Elias Alejandro Landeros - 6,25M from Cruz Azul

Romario Doesburg - 11M from Liverpool

Franco Escobar - 4,7M from CF Monterrey

Antonin Berger - loan from Paris SG

Michael Sharpe - loan from Crystal Palace (terminated mid-season)

David Goncalves - loan from Bayern München

OUT:

16 players in total, 4 of those on loan and 4 on Free Transfer. Most notable transfer income:

Bryan Dabo - 1,5M to Middlesbrough

Jean Armel Drole - 4,7M to Udinese

Thomas Delaney - 2,7M to Wolves

Europa League:

We where handed a group with Maccabi Haifa, Villarreal and Olympiakos. We where in amazing form during the first part of the season, and wrapped up 6 consecutive wins in the Group Stage and qualified with 2 games to spare. In the First KO Round we where drawn against Standard Liege from Belgium

1st KO Round

Standard Liege - Saint Etienne 0-3 (Doesburg, Berger, Olguin)

Saint Etienne - Standard Liege 3-1 (Kapustka, Maupay, Roux)

2nd KO Round

Saint Etienne - Juventus 5-2 (Doesburg 3, Olguin 2)

Juventus - Saint Etienne 5-4 (Doesburg, Olguin, Maupay, Berger)

Quarter Final

Saint Etienne - Athletic Club 1-1 (Doesburg)

Athletic Club - Saint Etienne 2-1 (Maupay)

By the time we reached the Quarter Final I was hoping for a miraculous quadruple with Saint Etienne, but this was the time where our season started to fall apart. We lost out, but still it was the competition that bothered me the least so I was happy to be in for the three domestic titles.

Coupe de la Ligue

The first chance to grab a title for the season came in the League Cup. We beat Brest in the 4th round before knocking out Monaco in the Quarter Final away by a solid 3-0. Lille was beaten just as soundly 3-0 away in the Semi Final to set us up against Paris SG in the Final. PSG took the lead 1-0 and 2-0 in the first half, but Olguin came back and scored twice to tie the game at 2-2. It went to penalties, 9 of them and we scored on 7 occasions while PSG only could convert 6. A win on penalties, the only time we could take something from PSG in internal matches for the season and a first trophy in France!!!

Coupe de France

We faced Lyon already in our first match in the FA Cup, but at home. And this was during our good period. We won 3-0 and where handed Ligue 2 side teams fro the next three rounds. 6-2 against Le Havre, 6-0 against Valenciennes and 4-2 away win over Creteil-Lusitanos sent us to the Semi Final. A nice 3-1 win at home to Monaco set up a Final, but not against Paris SG. They lost to Nice in the other Semi Final. In the Final game of the season we won at Stade De France by 4-1 against Nice, and double cup champions in France!!!

League

Before the season I never thought we could challenge PSG. The board wanted Europa League qualification, I raised the bar and assured them of Champions League qualification. I guess both me and the board didn't understand just how good and talented this squad was. We where top of the league for most of the season, as PSG drew far too many games in the beginning. Because PSG played in Club World Cup our first internal match was postponed for long time, and not played until the 29th game of the season. A 1-1 draw at home meant we had 10 points to spare over PSG (and all other teams out of contention) with just 9 matches left to play. It looked easy, but thats when we ran out of form. We lost 3 games in the next 5 matches, and suddenly PSG was only 1 point behind. a games to go and we drew our match, but so did PSG. Then we lost again in a catastrophic match and PSG managed a draw again. Equal on points with just 2 matches to play. But not really equal at all. PSG had 9 goals better goal difference and we needed a slip up. It didn't happen and both teams won their last two matches.

Final league table:

Paris SG - 38 - 25 - 12 - 1 - 87-21 - 87

Saint Etienne - 38 - 28 - 3 - 7 - 100-43 - 87

Monaco - 38 - 21 - 13 - 4 - 73 - 27 - 76

So close for memorable league win, and a first of those 5 mandatory leagues. But still an amazing season. Olguin and Landeros whom I bought from previous team Cruz Azul starred and jumped right into my overall Best XI.

Club Career:

2016 - Unemployed

2017 - Dalian Yifang (China) - 1st in First Division - 2nd round of FA Cup - Promoted to Super League

2018 - Dalian Yifang (China) - 2nd in Super League - Quarter Final of FA Cup - Qualified for Asian Champions League

2019 - Dalian Yifang (China) - 1st in Super League - Winner of FA Cup - Winner of Asian Champions League - Treble only loosing Super Cup

2020 - Unemployed

2020/21 - Nordsjælland (Denmark) - 7th in Super Liga - Already out of Cup - Took over 3 games from end, lost Euro Place play-off

2021/22 - Nordsjælland (Denmark) - 1st in Super Liga - Winner of Danish Cup - The Double season

2022/23 - Cruz Azul (Mexico) - 1st in Clausura Stage - Winner of NACL - Won league stage in Apertura but lost in Quarter Final of play-off, 2nd in Clausura but won play-off.

2023/24 - Saint Etienne - 2nd in Ligue 1 - Winner of League Cup - Winner of FA Cup - Quarter Final Europa League - Lost league title in Goal Difference

International Career:

2019 - DR Congo - Took over 22nd in World Rankings

2020 - DR Congo - Qualified for ACON, 2nd in CHAN

2021 - DR Congo - Winner of ACON

2023 - Ecuador - Lost 1-6 to Chile in Quarter Final of Copa America

Challenge Landmarks:

Club:

3/10 Domestic Leagues (China 2019 with Dalian Yifang, Denmark 2021/22 with Nordsjælland, Mexico 2022/23 with Cruz Azul)

3/10 Domestic Cups (China 2019 with Dalian Yifang, Denmark 2021/22 with Nordsjælland, France (both cups) 2023/24 with Saint Etienne)

2/5 Club Continental Championships (Asia 2019 with Dalian Yifang, North America 2022/23 with Cruz Azul)

0/1 Club World Cup

International:

1/5 Continental Championships (Africa 2021 with DR Congo)

0/2 World Tournaments

9/33 Total Landmarks

Best XI:

Goalkeeper: 

Wang Dalei (China) - Dalian Yifang - 63 appearances

Right Back:

Herve Ndonga (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 16 caps.

Centre Backs:

Marcel Tisserand (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 17 caps and 3 goals.

Yu Yang (China) - Dalian Yifang - 101 appearances and 1 goal.

Left Back:

Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 18 caps and 2 goals.

Midfielders:

Fabian Abril (Colombia) - Cruz Azul - 46 appearances and 5 goals.

Elias Alejandro Landeros (Mexico) - Cruz Azul/Saint Etienne - 101 appearances and 11 goals.

Cui Ming'an (China) - Dalian Yifang - 81 appearances and 5 goals.

Strikers:

Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 20 caps and 23 goals.

Gilberto Olguin (Mexico) - Cruz Azul/Saint Etienne - 100 appearances and 90 goals.

Christian Gaxiola (Mexico) - Cruz Azul - 44 appearances and 52 goals.

 

 

[Shankly84]

HARBIN YITENG

2022 - SEASON 7

CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE

 

So after winning the league for the first time in the previous season, I was hoping to defend the title and have a good crack at the Asian Champions League. We started the season playing in the Super Cup against Guangzhou Evergrande. Unfortunately we were never in the game and eventually lost 4-2 even though we had managed to get back level from 2 goals down.

CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE

So I was basically hoping to walk the league this year after winning it the year before. How wrong was I!! We opened the season with a 1-0 loss at home to Guangzhou R&F and things didn't really improve for a while. After 9 games we found ourselves in 12th position and already 13 points off top place. For some reason things just weren't clicking into place. And the worrying thing was that although we had started perfectly in the Champions League (my main focus), the board didn't have any interest in that competition and were getting agitated with league results. Things started to change after the tenth league game. A 6-2 win away at Beikong seemed to give the squad a lot of confidence and we went unbeaten in the league for the rest of the season. The league was once again very close and we didn't manage to get into top spot until 4 games from the end. Once we got there though we was never looking back and we sealed our 2nd title in 2 years again on the last day of the season.

CHINESE FA CUP

I don't seem to have much luck in this competition. We entered at the 4th round this year due to being in continental competition, but once again fell at the first hurdle. This time losing on penalties away at Henan Jianye.

ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

This was the one where it mattered for me. I didn't have a clue what sort of expectations I should be looking at but I was determined to get as far as possible. For our first ever group stage we was drawn against Sydney FC, Chonburi and FC Seoul. Despite my reservations, we walked the group winning all 6 games including an impressive 2-1 victory away at FC Seoul. In the knock out stage we were drawn against Ulsan Hyundai. And again we walked it. The tie was over after a 3-0 away victory in the first leg. We followed this up with a 1-0 home victory. For the quarter-final we were paired against Guangzhou Evergrande. A definite test! The first leg was away from home and we were never in the game losing 2-0. Surely the dream was over. Not so! We played them off the park in the 2nd game and should of had the game won by half time. A 2-0 victory after extra time meant penalties which we won and deservedly progressed to the semi final where we would meet Quanjian.  This time the first leg was at home and we played really well securing a 2-0 win and getting one foot into the final. For the 2nd leg things weren't as plain sailing as had been planned. After 46 minutes we found ourselves 3-0 down. I can't tell you how devastated I was. We were on the verge of throwing this chance away. We had played terrible and barely had any shots. Then in the 80th minute a long punt up field from the keeper put Song Yifeng through on goal who smashed it past the keeper. We seen the game out after that without too much discomfort and had scraped our way through to the final somehow. For the final we would be playing Iranian side Persepholis Tehran. The odds were heavily stacked in our favour and once again I thought it would be a doddle. But once again I was wrong. A 1-0 defeat in the first leg had me very worried. But for once we managed to do things an easier way and we strolled to a 3-0 win away from home to win the Asian Champions League!!

CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

After winning the Champions League we were straight into the Club World Championship. I wasn't expecting too much and wasn't really that bothered about it to be honest. But I did expect the results to have been slightly better than what they was. We played Al-Ahly in the quarter final and lost 1-0 in a disappointing performance. After that we were paired against Vancouver Whitecaps for the 5th place play-off and managed to lose 2-1. I wasn't happy!!

Results 1 Results 2

My Current Profile

CONCLUSION

I think my time in China is now done. Despite not winning the cup we managed to win the league and champions league so I think that will do for me in Asia. I applied straight away for the Bidvest job in South Africa but the vacancy was literally about to be filled. Next I applied for the Le Havre job in the French 2nd tier. Despite getting an interview I failed to get the job. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be spending another season in China when FC Bari in Serie B came calling after a successful interview. So introducing the new manager of FC Bari and the next step in my journey.

Season     Team             Country	League                   Pos	Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Jia League	 9th	Took over after 24 games in 13th pos.
2017       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Jia League	 5th
2018       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Jia League	 2nd	Gained promotion to Super League.
2019       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 9th
2020       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 5th	Won manager of the year award.
2021       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 1st	League Winners. Won manager of the year award.
2022       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 1st	League Winners. Asian Champions League Winners.
                                                                        Won manager of the year award.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues - Harbin Yiteng (China)

0/10 Domestic Cups -

1/5 Club Continental Championships - Asian Champions League (Harbin Yiteng - China)

0/1 Club World Championship -

International

0/5 Continental Tournaments –

0/2 World Tournaments -

 

[kernunos]

Season 2016/17 : Review

 

It was very hard to get a job as a manager as a young and inexperienced starter. Most teams believed they had much better candidates for the jobs. I was glad that a few teams did invite me for an interview but those were unsuccesfull.

 

It was at the end of November when I was approached for the first time ever in my career. Carlisle United had sacked their manager because of the results. When I took over the team, they were at 19th spot in the English Sky Bet League Two. The expectations at the club were a spot in the top half but now the were struggling against relegation. Carlisle only had a 2 point gap with a relegation spot. And now it was my job to turn things around and climb the tables. Of the 19 matches played this season the the League Two, Carlisle only won 5 matches and 10 matches ended in a defeat.

 

Carlisle United participated in 3 cups. In the FA Cup they managed to qualify for the second round. In the EFL Cup they lost in the first round after extra time. In the Checkatrade Trophy Carlisle also managed to qualify for the second round.

 

The Sky Bet League Two

When I analyzed the squad of Carlisle United, I believed this team was underachieving. There should be enough quality around to maybe fight for a play-off spot. So I decided not to make any chances and use the current players and not bring new players to the team. This was also because I wanted to keep an eye on the club’s finances.

 

After taking over the team, we started excellent with wins in the Cups and also in the League. The month December and Januar was were we lost to many matches and at the end that probably was the period that we have lost a play-off spot. We finished the season at the 9th spot at the table. If we only had 1 more match, we would have reached the play-offs.

 

We managed to end the season at a top half spot. So I had been able to turn around a fight against relegation into fighting for a play-off spot.

 

The Cups

In the FA Cup we were able to win matches against Wycombe Wanderers with the old manager and Bristol Rovers. The match against Norwich City ended in a defeat as was to be expected as the Championship.

 

In the Checkatrade Trophy Curle managed to get Carlisle through the groupstage. With me as the manager we managed to reach the Final at Wembley after winning matches against Scunthorpe United, Fleetwood Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers U23 and Sheffield United.

 

The final at Wembley was against Millwall. We played an excellent game and gave Millwall a hard time. We were able to take a lead in the game twice but at the end we did lose the match. In the last minutes in the game, it was Millwall taking a lead. People expected a bigger difference in score but we only lost the match with a 2-3 score.

[kernunos]

CHALLENGE PROGRESS

Season	Team				Position		Notes and Achievements
2016/17	Carlisle United	(England) 	League Two - 9th 	Took over after 19 matches and just missed the play-offs

PERSONAL PRICES

Season		Personal Price
2016/17		Manager of the Month (2x)	February / March

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by kernunos

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's Jeonbuk (& DR Congo) 2021 Season Report

 

Overall a disappointing and frustrating season purely because of crashing out of the Asian Champions League in the semi-final against Busan (another Korean team). There was no excuse because each leg was over two legs, but we lost the first leg 5-2, and couldn’t overturn their advantage at home. It was only the semi-final, but really it was the final. All the good teams are on our (Korean / Chinese / Japanese) side of the competition.

We also managed to only finish 2^nd in the league. We went into the last day of the season needing a win against our title rivals Pohang, but managed to lose. I suppose in the big scheme of things it doesn’t matter. My board seemed ok with it, but I was upset not to extend my run of league wins to 4 in a row, but with 62 points from 38 matches, we in no way deserved it.

We did however manage to win the FA Cup, with a 2-legged victory over newly crowned Champions League victors by a cakewalk, Busan. This time it was our turn to win the first leg 5-2, but the second leg was a stressful 3-3 draw with Busan leading 3 times. It did seem possible throughout the match that we could screw the pooch, but we held on.

So it’s going to take another season. We’re losing our captain Ian Jei-Min on national service for 2 seasons. Thankfully he’s joining Ansan Mugunghwa FC, and not the normal army team, Sangju, who were promoted last season and nearly won the league in their first season in the top flight, until failing to win their last 6 matches, including 3 absolute spankings by Pohang and ourselves.

A couple of our better players are getting old. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a young squad. At one point we had 12 players unavailable for 4 matches because they were with the national U23 squad, including 5 of our first team.

Top Goalscorer – Carlos Ibargüen – 39. Had a great season. Admittedly 9 of his goals were penalties, including 5 penalties in our first 4 matches as I said on the last page. Not just about the goals though…

 

Best Average Rating – Carlos Ibargüen – 7.47

Man of Match – Carlos Ibargüen – 11. Ok, Carlos, I get it. You want to be in my Challenge XI. Another season like this and you’ll be in, although the only Jeonbuk pler to have a place so far is…

Most Valuable Player – Spiderman. My young goalie is getting better and better. He’s the national team goalie, and despite the fact that it isn’t reflected in his stats, I think on balance he’s probably more important than Carlos. Still just 19. If I ever manage South Korea, (and they probably are the best bet for winning the Asian Cup) I hope that it will be when Spiderman is still around so I can manage him at club and national level.

 

My Challenge XI is ongoing, and only has about 4 spots taken up. Realistically I’m going to manage at least 20 clubs and nations, so I’m trying to limit myself to just 1 space per team even for the provisional / ongoing one. Nobody from Nigeria got considered, but there is someone from DR Congo.

 

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Took over Dr Congo after being sacked by Nigeria. We’ve qualified for the 2022 World Cup and we’re ranked in the top 20 in the world, but I don’t think we’re that great. I have no good goalies and only 1 good central midfielder. Their skillset probably doesn’t fit into my 442 formations @TheEarl – What formation did you use when you managed them and won the ACON?

 

Domestic
Season	Team					Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2016	FC Lahti				10th		Just 9 points from the 10 matches remaining after I took over
2017	FC Lahti				3rd		Qualified for Europe
2018	FC Lahti				1st		First domestic title
2019	FC Lahti				1st		The double. First domestic cup
2020	Jeonbuk					1st
2021	Jeonbuk					2nd		Knocked out of CL in semis


International
Year	Team					Achievements	
2019-21	Nigeria					None
2021-	DR Congo				Qualified for 2022 World Cup


Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues 	(Finland, South Korea)
 2/10 domestic cups 		(Finland, South Korea)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

 

[TheEarl]

@vikeologist I managed DR Congo around the same time line as you. As I always favor a wingerless 4-3-3 with 3 central strikers, I try to play that formation with any team. DR Congo had 1 really good winger and a few decent ones, but I went with my usual formation and had great success with it. Bakambu, Assambalonga, Afobe and Kakuta all could play upfront so it suited me nicely.

[Fadedaf]

@JoeLapira Thanks, and I was pretty open to a move anywhere so applied for jobs worldwide and very nearly went to Korea, Italy or Australia (twice!) but ended up getting the job at KRC Genk in Belgium and it's going really well so far. Had to resign internationally again though.

@TheEarl great work in France, do you think you'll be able to win the title next season or are PSG as dominant as usual?

@Shankly84 congrats on the champions league, going all the way with Harbin Yiteng is quite an achievement! good luck with Bari

@kernunos sounds like a solid start, sounds like you're in with a good chance of getting promoted next year.

@vikeologist sounds like not too bad of a season overall, you should be able to really challenge for the CL next year. And yeah I just managed Nigeria at the 2022 World Cup and we went in ranked 13th in the world. Ended up going out in the group stages narrowly despite getting a pretty easy group unfortunately. Good luck though and I hope you fare better than me!

[TheEarl]

@Fadedaf watch out for my next season update (hope I have time to write it tonight)

[dkouv]

Have been away a bit so haven't really caught up with the updates, but good luck to those starting the challenge and congrats to @Shankly84, @Fadedaf, @SavoNFFC and @TheEarl on the respective league, Asian CL and cup successes, and best of luck to @vikeologist in the Asian CL next season.

I made a promising start in my Volgar fourth season, but decided to start a new game because the "newly added leagues having no managers" bug really started to annoy me (clicking "add key staff" and starting on the full game seems to fix the issue). Plus it feels nice to start the challenge on the full version. I intend to follow a similar strategy to my first attempt: start at a small club in a high-rep nation, get promoted, and probably go to a big club in a lower-rep nation to start winning trophies. Only difference being that I want to start in one of the big European leagues, probably England, rather than Russia. Let's see if it works in practice as well as in theory!

Here's my set up and initial stats:

Leagues loaded | Extra players | Manager profile

[JoeLapira]

Good to see some new faces starting the Challenge, will be interesting to see how ye get on and good to see others making good progress. How has FM17 been for those who are playing it?

In my own game, I won the Confederations Cup with Italy and resigned a couple of days later. I'm gonna miss Italy, I've essentially had the same squad since I started WC qualifying so it sort of felt like a club team. Speaking of clubs, we're joint top of the Brazilian League with 21 games gone, we were already out of the Cup but we have got the Copa Scudamerica to compete for, although it doesn't count towards the Challenge, its a cup nonetheless. 

[Shankly84]

FC BARI

2022/23 - SEASON 8

SERIE B

 

So this one is just a quick update. After leaving Harbin Yiteng i took over FC Bari who was sat in 5th place after 23 games. Despite losing two out of the first three games we managed to go on a very good run and finished the season in 2nd place achieving promotion to Serie A. We could of won it if we hadn't hit a run of 4 draws in a row.

So that's all really. I don't really want to post star players and things as it doesn't really feel like my team yet. I did make one signing on the last day of the window in Miroslav Hudak. He could have a big future. I finished my continental pro coaching badge and I am looking forward to having a blast at Italy's top league next year.

Season     Team             Country	League                   Pos	Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Jia League	 9th	Took over after 24 games in 13th pos.
2017       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Jia League	 5th
2018       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Jia League	 2nd	Gained promotion to Super League.
2019       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 9th
2020       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 5th	Won manager of the year award.
2021       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 1st	League Winners. Won manager of the year award.
2022       Harbin Yiteng    China	Chinese Super League	 1st	League Winners. Asian Champions League Winners.
                                                                        Won manager of the year award.
2022/23    FC Bari          Italy	Serie B         	 2nd	Took over in 5th pos after 23 games. Automatic
                                                                        promotion to Serie A.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues - Harbin Yiteng (China)

0/10 Domestic Cups -

1/5 Club Continental Championships - Asian Champions League (Harbin Yiteng - China)

0/1 Club World Championship -

International

0/5 Continental Tournaments –

0/2 World Tournaments -

 

[numero uno gunner]

Career overview

So, after having a few manic days at work, I've finally got a chance to write an overview of my challenge, as promised.

I was looking at my career statistics, and there's some pretty interesting ones in there. Here are a few of them:

Game time: 19 days, 7 hours, 51 minutes

Games played: 1,060

Games won: 625

Games drawn: 202

Games lost: 233

Goals scored: 2,210

Goals conceded: 1,227

Number of clubs managed: 14

Number of nations managed: 10

Players bought: 80

Players sold: 65

Total money spent on transfers: £297m

Total money received from transfers: £361m

Net transfer spend: £64m profit!

Highest fee spent: £25m (Anthony Weston for Schalke)

Highest fee received: £57m (Ljubisa Babovic from Schalke)

 

I'm quite surprised I've made a profit on transfers over the course of this career, as this challenge isn't exactly about long-term stability at a club. Its been an interesting journey! Interestingly, I'd probably say that my more expensive transfers weren't necessarily the players that performed the best for each team.

Highlights:

Managing on all five continents - It might seem obvious, but its something I've never done before on a game of FM.

Winning in China - I think it was important to get a league win on the board early doors, and it was nice to do it in a league I'd never played in before.

Classy Colombia - Winning back-to-back international tournaments was pretty special in itself, but doing it with a team that played beautiful football was the icing on the cake.

Champions League glory...eventually! - If you've been bored by my updates throughout my save, you'll know how utterly happy I was to win this trophy after 4 years of going out in the last 16 with both Juventus and Real Madrid.

 

Moments to forget:

Being sacked by Mexico - Yes, I'm bitter. Even after beating them with USA in the Gold Cup final, I'm still bitter.

Congo, Ireland, Poland... - I've decided that I wasn't great at international management. My stint in charge of Poland is hands down my worst period of this career. We were absolutely appalling.

Leaving Colombia - I really enjoyed managing Colombia. We punched well above our weight, and the football we played was a joy to watch at times. I had to leave for the sake of completing this challenge, but I do wonder if I had stayed in charge if I could've won back-to-back World Cups or Copa Americas with them.

Everton - Awful. Just plain awful.

 

Turning points:

Taking charge at Yiteng - The money the club had enabled me to get all of my coaching badges done in a fairly short period of time, which I think was crucial to getting the job at Jiangsu so early on in my career.

Managing at a World Cup - Not with Colombia, but with Cameroon. I saw my rating shoot up after reaching the second round, which allowed me to access better jobs, which is key in completing this challenge.

Winning the Champions League - This was the moment where it felt like I could really complete this challenge.

Winning the Copa America - I think this was a bigger turning point than winning the World Cup, as it meant beating Brazil. I think managing to win this without being in charge of Argentina or Brazil was the push I needed to get moving with my international career.

 

I'm not sure what to do now. I've been looking at other challenges, but can't make my mind up. I'm tempted to have a go at Dafuge's challenge, which would be completely different to moving clubs every couple of seasons! Have any of you had any experience with it? (Apologies if this is too much off topic for in here!)

[TheEarl]

@numero uno gunner when and if I can complete this challenge in FM17, I am planning a new challenge very similiar, but that requires downloading @claassen extra league pack. Don't know if such a challenge would be interesting for you?

[Spookism]

Giving this Challenge a crack.

Mixing it up a bit.

Found a job with Stirling in Scotland's League Two.

 

Just a question with the Add/Remove league function as I've never really played around with it before.

I started the game with 6 or 7 leagues to open my options for a job and then dropped it back to 2 or 3 to speed up the game.  When I start to look for a job further along the track, what actually does adding and removing leagues do to the game?

[TheEarl]

6 minutes ago, Spookism said:

Giving this Challenge a crack.

Mixing it up a bit.

Found a job with Stirling in Scotland's League Two.

 

Just a question with the Add/Remove league function as I've never really played around with it before.

I started the game with 6 or 7 leagues to open my options for a job and then dropped it back to 2 or 3 to speed up the game.  When I start to look for a job further along the track, what actually does adding and removing leagues do to the game?

When you add/remove league it enables or deactivates a league from the next season reset date of that specific league/division. Leagues that are not activated, you can't manage in them. There will not be generated domestic results from inactive leagues, but champions will be crowned. Teams will play in continental tournaments though.

[streety]

FC Gute season – 2017

 

 

So my first full season in charge of this team and a few transfers and I had got the squad I wanted for the season ahead. I had decided on the 4-3-3 that the team looked really good with and a bit of tweaking and we played the whole season with it (only deviating once due to injuries). It was a bit of a mis mash of Liverpool fast paced possession football..well when they didn’t hoof the ball 40 yards to the opposition

 

Tactics for the season

 

Transfers 

 

League

 

After scrapping survival in my first quarter of the season when I was employed I had more loftier ambitions . Looking at the teams and the general formations in Sweden I reckoned I could get top four, The board set my goal as fight for the playoffs..which suited me fine. In the end it was all a bit to easy for the team only losing once in the season finishing 10 points clear and my FIRST League Championship of FM17.

 

 

 

Best Player: Markus Kettler - 19 goals in 21 games and he was the leagues leading goalscorer

 

Best Buy: Nicola Zivkovic – Very versatile midfielder was a creative force in the team he made things happen with 7 assists

 

 

Overall: Great season for the club however with the board takeover and the owner getting re – elected and taking out a loan  I still have not been offered a contract yet, I’m still not sure I will be here next season it’s all a bit up in the air for me.But i have my first coaching badge thanks to the chairman

 

Quote

Season     Team             Country			League                 			  Pos			Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016     	FC Gute			Sweden			Second DIV South Svealand			8th			None
2017		FC Gute			Sweden			Second DIV South Svealand			1st			Champions!!!!!

 

 

[Shankly84]

So I'm 15 games into our first season in Serie A and so far it's the maddest season I've ever been involved in. We were priced at 1000-1 to win the league at the start of the season. After 6 games we had picked up a depressing 1 point and I was fearing for my job. Then from nowhere a 5-0 win over Bologna kick started the season and we are now sat in 2nd place after 15 games!!! Obviously I'm not holding my breath about staying at the top but I've never experienced such a swing in results. My new striker was missing for a few of them games and his 13 goals in 15 games has definitely made a big difference.

 

[Spookism]

7 hours ago, TheEarl said:

When you add/remove league it enables or deactivates a league from the next season reset date of that specific league/division. Leagues that are not activated, you can't manage in them. There will not be generated domestic results from inactive leagues, but champions will be crowned. Teams will play in continental tournaments though.

Okay, thanks for that

[SavoNFFC]

Season       Team             Position         Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015         Goyang HI FC     5th
2015/16      Vasco CT         14th             South African Divison 1
2016/17      Vasco CT         1st              Promoted to South African Premier League
2017/18      Vasco CT         7th             
2018/19      Vasco CT         1st              South African FA Cup
2019/20      Vasco CT         1st              African Champions League/South Africa Super 8 winners
2021         Shandong         3rd              Chinese FA Cup
2022         Shandong         1st              Chinese FA Cup and Chinese Super League
2023         Shandong         1st              Asian Champions League, Chinese FA Cup and Chinese Super League

International Management
2017 - Mali
2018 - Mali
2019 - Mali                                    African Cup of Nations winners
2023 - Honduras
2023 - Chile


Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa 2019, China 2022, 2023)
 2/10 top domestic cups (South Africa FA Cup 2019, Chinese FA Cup 2021, 2022, 2023)
 2/5 club continental championships (African Champions League 2020)
 0/1 club world championship

International
 1/5 continental tournaments (Mali AFCON 2019)
 0/2 world tournaments

Shandong Luneng - 2023

 

My last update saw me attempting to win the Asian Champions League after being knocked out the previous season by Seoul in the quarter-finals. We made a few adjustments to the squad and comfortably made it into the quarter finals again where this time we met South Korean side Jeonbuk. After easing past them with a 5-3 aggregate win we met yet another South Korean side in the semis in Jeonnam. A 4-0 aggregate win then took us into the final where for the first time we met a western Asian side in Iranian side Sepahan. Now it seems that the Asian Champions League separates the Arabian and Central Asian clubs from the East Asian and Australian teams until the final so the final is not necessarily the hardest game you'll have in the competition. And so it proved with an easy 7-0 win over two legs including a 4-0 away victory in front of 75,000 fanatical Iranians in the first leg, making the second leg a mere formality. We were the Asian Champions League winners!9

On the international stage, after being rejected from every international application from the Colombian job to the Australian u23 role I finally got a break and got the Honduras position, who were 114th in the world rankings and had just been knocked out of the Gold Cup in the group stage. It was a way back into international football so I was grateful for that but had to be realistic that my chances of striking off any of the challenge's objectives were slim and after two routine friendly victories against Montserrat and Cayman Islands (5-0 and 4-1 respectively) I went for the Chile job and got it. So I'm now manager of Chile and managed to persuade a 34 year-old Alexis Sanchez to come back out of retirement (Vidal was having none of it). I've had 4 games now, 2 wins (Ecuador away and Bolivia home) but lost 2 (Brazil away and Argentina home). Chile have a reasonable squad of players at the moment so I'm optimistic about qualification to the 2026 World Cup in the USA and maybe a decent performance in the next Copa.

Back to Shandong and the Champions League victory ran alongside another comfortable league and cup campaign so we completed the so-called 'quintuple' with the Super Cup and the annual victory over the Chinese Super League All-Star XI which seems to be a trophy in China. The Champions League victory conveniently came a week before the Club World Championship so I thought I'd give it a go before trying to move to the Americas. We beat Perth Glory in the quarter final 2-1 at the MCG which took us into a daunting semi-final with Man Utd. We did ourselves proud but unfortunately went down 4-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Martial. It was 0-0 at half-time and we'd had the best chance of the first-half so I was pleased in a weird way. The overall quality of United paid dividends in the end.

I'm now looking for attractive positions in either Mexico or South America, I have no idea if I'll get a good job with a 60% reputation and I don't fancy the MLS and it's complicated structure.

[streety]

Update

So after my quick success in Sweden with FC Gute my Future was up in the air. No new contract on the horizon and players not resigning contracts plus the re-election of the chairman and his moves to buy the stadium with a second loan made my decision clear. Time to go, But my second job was going to take time to materalise. Having thrown my many hats in to many rings and being rejected on all fronts Honved included and 4 Finnish teams, Realistically it was either Wales, lreland or Northern Ireland. Bray Wanders and Bohemians jobs were up for grabs so i applied for both 

 

And my next job is?

 

Bohiemians!

 

 

 

Quote

Season     Team             Country			League                 			  Pos			Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016     	FC Gute			Sweden			Second DIV South Svealand			8th			None
2017		FC Gute			Sweden			Second DIV South Svealand			1st			Champions!!!!!











-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Challenge Progress

Club

0/10 top domestic leagues 

0/10 Domestic Cups -

0/5 Club Continental Championships 

0/1 Club World Championship -

International

0/5 Continental Tournaments –

0/2 World Tournaments -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by streety

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's DR Congo 2022 World Cup Report

One day I move love the team, but I will always hate the shirt design.

 

As ever I am writing this report as I go along through the competition. Normally this means that you can all draw masochistic pleasure out of watching my hopes and dreams cruelly extinguished, more often than not via  penalty shoot-out.

On this occasion though, I have no hopes and dreams about DR Congo’s chances in this World Cup. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not bad. We’ve qualified for the World Cup and African Cup of Nations. Admittedly, despite not losing a match in our World Cup qualifying, (2 wins, 4 draws), we did need a bit of luck in the form of a South Africa win over Mali in the final match. Really that sums it all up. We can usually just about beat bad teams, but I think we have no chance in this World Cup. I know that TheEarl won the African Cup with them, but I have no natural wingers, and only 1 good central midfielder, (who helpfully got himself sent off for a very impressive attempt to break the legs of a Namibian player in our African Cup qualifier warm up to this tournament, and is thus banned for our first, and probably decisive, match against Croatia).

 

Group Stage

Spoiler

 

Vs Croatia 2-1.  With about 10 minutes to go one of their players had to go off with an injury leaving them with only 10 men. We pushed everyone forward, got the go-ahead goal, and then went to 5 in defence and 5 in defensive midfield. Uh-oh, it’s the  intoxicating stench of hope.

Vs Canada 0-0  A cagy match with few chances. A snore-fest in other words.

Vs Brazil 1-1  

England in the second round, and as a Scot, honestly, that’s my World Cup Final right there.

 

Second Round
 

Spoiler

 

Vs England 2-3. Well, it wasn’t to be. England always looked like winning, but we weren’t outclassed.

 

 

 

 

 

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Semi Final (if applicable)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

3^rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Final (if applicable)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

After The Tournament

Spoiler

 

After this tournament I’m more optimistic about Congo’s chances in the African Cup. The squad is quite old, so even the 6 month wait isn’t exactly helpful. 6 or 7 of the first team will be 30 or over by then, but Algeria were the only other African side to make it to the second round. Now I think we stand a fighting chance. Those 6 months in game are a long time away though, because now there’s a lot of domestic footie to be played.

I might apply for bigger international jobs after the World Cup of course. This run in the World Cup was great, but if I’m honest it was due to Croatia picking up an injury, and a sizzler of an equaliser against Brazil by a player who was only in the team because of an injury. The 0-0 draw against Canada is probably most indicative of the team’s true potential.

I have applied for the jobs at Brazil, Spain, Holland and Mexico. I know I have to win the African Cup eventually, but if I get offered any of the jobs above, I have to take them because the reputation bump, or at least the potential bump if I win something big, is too big a lure. Plus those nations don’t have such ugly football shirts.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by vikeologist

[kernunos]

Season 2017/18 : Review

The board allowed me to follow some courses this season. And so I managed to get both the the National C Licence and the National B Licence. I was not allowed to follow a third one, this will probably happen during next season.

 

The Sky Bet League Two

We had an excellent season as we were found in the top 4 from the start. We played 46 matches and managed to win 26 of them. Only 7 matches ended in a defeat and so 13 matches ended in a draw. The gap with the champions was only 2 points.

We surprised everyone bt winning promotion this season as the expectations was a finish at 8 spot.

 

The Cups

In the FA Cup we only played 1 match as we lost against Plymouth Argyle

 

Also in the EFL Cup we played only 1 match. An unlucky draw saw us facing Nottingham Forest. And thogh we had our chances to win the match, it was Forest winning by 2-1.

 

In the Checkatrade Trophy we had to face Preston North End, Blackpool and Manchester City U23 in the qualification group. We finished first in the group as  we won against Preston and Blackpool. It was not an easy competition but like last season, we again were able to reach the Finals at Wembley. Rochdale, Walsall, Stoke City U23 and Notts County were not able to stop is.

 

In the Finals we had to  play against Southampton U23 and were seen as the underdogs. The match ended in a 2-1 victory after goals scored by Jones and Devitt. Instead of being the Runnersup (like last season), we now were the winners. My first prize as a manager.

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by kernunos

[kernunos]

CHALLENGE PROGRESS

Season	Team			Position				Notes and Achievements
2016/17	Carlisle United	(England) 	League Two - 9th 		Took over after 19 matches and just missed the play-offs
2017/18	Carlisle United (England)	League Two - 2nd		Promotion to League 1. Winner of the Checkatrade Trophy

PERSONAL PRICES

 

Season	Personal Price
2016/17	Manager of the Month (2x)	February / March
2017/18	Manager of the Month (2x)	August / April
	Manager of the Year

 

[dkouv]

Season 1 – 2016/17 – Accrington (ENG)

Season Review

Realistically with my reputation I was aiming for the bottom leagues in England, Germany or France. It turned out that I only had a chance in the English League two really, after some bottom-division German and French clubs rejected me.

So there I was, newly-appointed manager of Accrington Stanley, a team that has a non-league sounding name but actually plays in the bottom league of the English professional ladder. They sat in 20^th when I took over, and initially our form was inconsistent, so we were still 20^th come early February. But then tactics got sorted, the players gelled, and I went on this amazing run, winning 11 in 13, and entering the play-off spots with 4 games to go. We promptly lost the next game at home 4-0 to another team with a non-league name – Crawley – but two wins in the last 3 games ensured we finished 4^th and qualified for playoffs. It was actually a bit of a crazy league table at the end, one more win (damn you Crawley!) and I would’ve got automatic promotion, but a few less goals and I would’ve finished outside the playoffs on goal difference.

We dispatched Blackpool with ease in the playoff semis (6-1 on aggregate didn’t flatter us). The final against Wycombe was a tense and nervy affair, lots of possession and chances for us but I was aware that Wycombe could hit us on the break any time. Goalless after 90 minutes, we went into extra time and I got my hopes up when my midfielder Jordan Clark scored in the 106^th minute. Alas, Wycombe equalised 4 minutes later and went on to win the penalty shootout, AND the only player who missed was my highest-rated penalty taker that I brought on as a sub with 1 minute to go specifically for the shootout Irony indeed…

On other fronts, we actually did pretty well in the FA cup, surviving until a 4^th round tie away at Man City gave us a much-needed cash boost.

League Table | Playoffs

Player review

Top scorer: Billy Kee, 25 in 44(7) apps. Was also top scorer in League 2.

Top assists: Adam Phillips (MC) 12 in 38 (4). The Liverpool loanee was one of my better players

Highest impact player: Jordan Clark (AM RLC) scored 17 and assisted 5 from his shadow striker role, including some very crucial goals.

Manager progress

Half a star rep, but the club still wouldn’t fund a coaching badge. First no money, then they need me in training.

What’s next

I’ll apply for a few jobs in the summer because the lack of progress with badges is annoying, and I forgot to edit my staff preferences, which resulted in my HOYD signing the full youth intake at £100p/w, adding something like £2k per week to the wage budget, which is also, erm… annoying!

Chances are I’ll end up staying though, to push for automatic promotion next season.

 

Club Career:
  
Season     |   Team        |     Division      |   Position     |    Cups  |   Notes & Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    |   Accrington  |  League 2 (ENG)   |   4/24         |   n/a    |   Took over in December (team in 20th), lost on penalties in playoff final
	 
International career:
 
no jobs
	Challenge Progress:
  
Club
 0/10 top domestic leagues
 0/10 domestic cups
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship
 
International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

[vikeologist]

I'm pleased to tell you that an injustice has been averted. Still, even though you now know that this has a happy ending, the tale I have to tell is still one that may chill you to your marrow. I warn you, don't read on if you're on your own. You may need someone there to cradle you in their arms and reassure you.

So here's the deal. When you start a save on the beta, you have to face the fact that there are going to be things that happen that are going to be frustrating. Rather than think of them as bugs, it's better to think of them as features of the game that you have to cope with as best you can.

Earlier in the season I had about 11 players, (7 first teamers) called up to the World Cup and had to play 3 matches without them. That's fine, especially as we won all the matches without them anyway.

But now in August is the Asian Games. 11 of my players were called up (let's say 6 first teamers). They're going to be away for more than a month and miss about 8 league fixtures. It's frustrating, not least because 3 of those fixtures including against the teams in 2nd and 3rd, were before the tournament even started. But honestly, not that big a problem, because frankly we're AWESOME!!!!, and at that point were about 15 points clear in the table.

The problem is that at the end of that month away was the quarterfinal of the Champions League against Pohang, the reigning Korean league champs, and the players were going to miss both legs.

You may say, it's the same for both sides, and Pohang will have players missing as well, but that's not true. They would have 1 player missing. It was the same with the World Cup. Our rivals were missing only 1 or 2 players. (Mind you, that one player would have been their goalie, and their backups are laughably inept).

For the league we had to give games to a lot of our backup players, and were stretched pretty thin, but you have to register players for the Champions League pretty early, and there was a good chance that we wouldn't have even been able to field 11 real players given the odd injury and suspension; We are a bunch of rabid psychos, so we get suspended a lot.

However, justice has prevailed. South Korea shockingly lost a penalty shootout in the second round. My boys are coming home, and despite missing about 8 league games, our lead has only dissipated by about 4 points. The left back in my team for the month, I didn't even know he existed. I still don't know his name. He's about the 6th best left back I have, although he's done ok.

Of course, Pohang may beat my first team in the Champions league anyway. It is theoretically possible, and if it happens, fine, but at least I won't have been eliminated by something so completely unfair.

Edited November 21, 2016 by vikeologist

[Pieyanthikos]

I'm in the pre-season for my third season of this challenge, having just promoted Hapoel Ramat-Gan from Liga Leumit. What do I need to upload to be registered for this challenge? 

[pug 407]

2 hours ago, Pieyanthikos said:

I'm in the pre-season for my third season of this challenge, having just promoted Hapoel Ramat-Gan from Liga Leumit. What do I need to upload to be registered for this challenge? 

You Don't Have To Be Registered. Just Take Part And Post You're Progress If You Want To Take Part

[TheEarl]

2 hours ago, Pieyanthikos said:

I'm in the pre-season for my third season of this challenge, having just promoted Hapoel Ramat-Gan from Liga Leumit. What do I need to upload to be registered for this challenge? 

In page one, it suggests some stuff you can update season by season, but it also says its totally up to you as the participant how often you want to update us.

My suggestion: Just take it from where you are now, and inform to some part how you progress, big or small update doesn't matter.

[vikeologist]

@Pieyanthikos There's no registration as such. You just need to participate, by which I guess I mean give us a report each (or nearly each) season.

Sometimes people post their initial profile so that we can see that their manager stats at the start were the correct age and experience, but it's not essential. (I didn't, but then hopefully I know the rules).

Just participate as much as you can. To be honest, English isn't everybody's first language, so some people might not be able to participate as much as others, so all we can really ask is that people post as much as possible. I'd hope that anybody who reached the 10 trophy / leaderboard mark would have posted at least fairly regularly about their progress. Including tables about your club career / achievements would be great.

@Everybody - On the subject of stats and experience at the start of the challenge, @michaeltmurrayuk recently wrote some interesting advice on last year's Dafuge challenge;

Quote

I haven't really had a chance to look at FM17 yet, so I don't really know what has changed.

One thing I would add if it hasn't changed is if you want your manager to be a coach then put what points you can into determination and level of discipline as these hardly increase and affect your coaching ability.

He may have a point. I put what points there were into adaptability, and that may well have helped, but it is noticeable that some attributes never seem to go up, so our only real chance to give them a boost is at the start. I've noticed that most of us / you have kept a flat initial profile.

 

I appreciate that adaptability can be increased by managing in different nations, as we all will eventually, but I did feel that increasing it would help me get jobs at the start.

[Pieyanthikos]

Thanks for all the answers. Here's a small recap of my first two seasons, just starting the third at Raith having promoted Ramat-Gan to Ligat Haal.  

 

EDIT: Does Betfred Cup count as a domestic cup?

Edited November 21, 2016 by Pieyanthikos

[vikeologist]

2 hours ago, Pieyanthikos said:

EDIT: Does Betfred Cup count as a domestic cup?

Yes, any competition where all the top division clubs enter.

[Kaiserwatman]

Only a short introduction as well nothing has actually happened yet as I venture back to this challenge once again .  This is Bob , a former part time ski instructor who is now trying his hand at Football Management . Bob has 20 in patience and will not move about much but has 1 in ambition to manage the so called big clubs / nations . I will see if I can at least get on the leader board following last season's completion and outside the compulsory new leagues will be visited.

Bob is now 22 having failed to seek employment within the first season though has now completed his education season in the footballing mad city of Barcelona.  A solid 6th place for the Catalans. Will update fully on my location once the second season is complete and sort the history table out . Current leagues open  - Spain , France , Poland , Serbia , Croatia and Russia

[TheEarl]

The Earls Ultimate Quest (FM17)

Newcastle United / Spartak Moskva 2024/25 English Premier League / Russian Premier League

 

I left Saint Etienne after the season with mixed emotions. For sure this was a great team coming just goal difference away from an amazing the treble. But the club could only afford a wage budget of some 15-20% higher than last season. Most of my first team players wanted a pay rise in the region of 50-100%. If not they wanted out of the club, and was constantly target by higher reputation clubs. So I would end up with a weaker side. Looking back I can say that next season PSG took 104 points going unbeaten, so I would most likely have failed to gain other trophies.

I was keen to stay in the Top 5 leagues, and got a job at Newcastle. A club that could offer a wage budget almost 4 times as high as Saint Etienne. But the club had failed miserably the last seasons almost dropping out of Premier League. I was off to an awful start loosing 2-7 to Man.City in the first game, then loosing to Fulham, Arsenal and Chelsea. After 10 games we where still 19th and in relegation, the board aim was top half of the league. My job was under treat. We won and drew a few games, but then lost again. After 16 games we where just above relegation when we faced Man.Utd. away. We took the lead, but eventually lost 1-2 after a goal in stoppage time. The board approached med (for the third time) and asked what the h*** was happening. I tried to blame it on strong opposition and bad luck, but I was faced with the ultimatum of either stepping down my self or getting sacked. 

I resigned to keep my honor and reputation as high as possible. It would take me almost 4 months to get another job, when Spartak Moskva sacked their manager. I took over the club in 9th position with 10 out of 30 games to play. There was not really any chance of title or Champions League qualification, but with a solid display we might catch up on Europa League qualification. We did just that by winning 8 games and playing 2 draws. Just enough for 5th spot, and since 2nd and 4th spot played the Cup Final, we got the last place for Europa League next season.

I will not post the usual season by season update this time, but will be back with it for the next season, coming up soon....

[TheEarl]

The Earls Ultimate Quest (FM17)

Spartak Moskva 2025/26 Russian Premier League

 

As I took over a bit before the end of last season, I had plenty of time to scout for new players, and assess which players I wanted to keep in the squad. For the first time I felt I had to play with wingers in this save game as some of the best Spartak players where 2 wingers one on each side. Also I had to keep in mind that a maximum of 6 foreigners could be in the first eleven in any domestic fixture. And foreigners in Russia is any other nation than Russia.

Pre-season transfers:

IN:

Matias Iglesias - 9,25M from Cruz Azul

Jurica Udarevic - 6M from NK Osijek

Alexey Filimonov - 2M from Norwich

Luis Anderson Carabali - 12,5M from Cruz Azul

Tom Millen - Loan from Tottenham

Aaron Ramsey - Free Transfer

Jan Pavelka - Loan from Man.City

OUT:

11 players in total, gaining around 10M transfer fees

Europa League:

We qualified with some stress. Winning comfortably against Hapoel Be'er Sheva 6-1 on aggregate in the Third Qualifying Round, we faced AIK Solna in the Play Off Round. Only 1-1 at home, meant we had to win away which we managed barely 3-2 for a 4-3 aggregate win.

This gave us a Group Stage against CFR Cluj, Roma and Lille OSC. 2 wins against Cluj was not enough as we lost both away games against Roma and Lille and only managed a draw at home against both teams. 8 points gave third spot and knocked out of the competition. This was a stage shorter than expected from the board, however they understood we had a difficult draw.

Kubok Rossii (Russian FA Cup)

We entered in the 5th round against FK Tyumen from First Division. It looked easy on paper, but became anything but easy. It took until the 119th minute for Ivan Valchev to score the winning goal. In the 6th round another First Division club away. This time Chita, and we won more convincingly 3-0 after a hat-trick from Valchev. In the Quarter Final we got Krylja Sovetov away. Another 3-0 comfortable win after goals from Zobnin, Udarevic and Nazarov. Semi Final was a derby match at home against Lokomotiv Moskva. 4-1 against our arch rival was a great win. Nazarov, Jakovlevic 2 and Iglesias scored our goals.

The Final at Luznikhi Stadium looked to be a difficult one. Zenit St. Petersburg on the other side of the pitch. No goals in the first half, but we had the strength in the second half winning a clear 4-0. Udarevic, Korobov 2 and Carabali scored our goals.

League

CSKA would normally be a very difficult opponent in the league. And when we took a winter break after 17 matches we where 1 point behind in second place. But after loosing just twice in the first 17 games, CSKA failed heavily in the spring loosing 6 of 13 matches. In the end we won very comfortable indeed with 70 points, 14 points clear of CSKA who had another point to spare over Terek Grozny in 3rd with Zenit in 4th.

Our main players where Carabali in defense, Iglesias in midfield, Nazarov and Jakovljevic as wingers and Udarevic up front.

Club Career:

2016 - Unemployed

2017 - Dalian Yifang (China) - 1st in First Division - 2nd round of FA Cup - Promoted to Super League

2018 - Dalian Yifang (China) - 2nd in Super League - Quarter Final of FA Cup - Qualified for Asian Champions League

2019 - Dalian Yifang (China) - 1st in Super League - Winner of FA Cup - Winner of Asian Champions League - Treble only loosing Super Cup

2020 - Unemployed

2020/21 - Nordsjælland (Denmark) - 7th in Super Liga - Already out of Cup - Took over 3 games from end, lost Euro Place play-off

2021/22 - Nordsjælland (Denmark) - 1st in Super Liga - Winner of Danish Cup - The Double season

2022/23 - Cruz Azul (Mexico) - 1st in Clausura Stage - Winner of NACL - Won league stage in Apertura but lost in Quarter Final of play-off, 2nd in Clausura but won play-off.

2023/24 - Saint Etienne - 2nd in Ligue 1 - Winner of League Cup - Winner of FA Cup - Quarter Final Europa League - Lost league title in Goal Difference

2024/25 - Newcastle - NA - Left club after 17 matches (if not I would have been sacked)

2024/25 - Spartak Moskva - 5th in Premier League - Already out of cups, took over in 9th with 10 games to go.

2025/26 - Spartak Moskva - 1st in Premier League - Winner of Russian FA Cup

International Career:

2019 - DR Congo - Took over 22nd in World Rankings

2020 - DR Congo - Qualified for ACON, 2nd in CHAN

2021 - DR Congo - Winner of ACON

2023 - Ecuador - Lost 1-6 to Chile in Quarter Final of Copa America

Challenge Landmarks:

Club:

4/10 Domestic Leagues (China 2019 with Dalian Yifang, Denmark 2021/22 with Nordsjælland, Mexico 2022/23 with Cruz Azul, Russia 2025/26 with Spartak Moskva)

4/10 Domestic Cups (China 2019 with Dalian Yifang, Denmark 2021/22 with Nordsjælland, France (both cups) 2023/24 with Saint Etienne, Russia 2025/26 with Spartak Moskva)

2/5 Club Continental Championships (Asia 2019 with Dalian Yifang, North America 2022/23 with Cruz Azul)

0/1 Club World Cup

International:

1/5 Continental Championships (Africa 2021 with DR Congo)

0/2 World Tournaments

11/33 Total Landmarks (one third of challenge completed)

Best XI:

Goalkeeper: 

Wang Dalei (China) - Dalian Yifang - 63 appearances

Right Back:

Herve Ndonga (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 16 caps.

Centre Backs:

Luis Anderson Carabali (Colombia) - Cruz Azul/Spartak Moskva - Only new entry this season champion both in Mexico and Russia - 80 appearances 8 goals.

Yu Yang (China) - Dalian Yifang - 101 appearances and 1 goal.

Left Back:

Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 18 caps and 2 goals.

Midfielders:

Fabian Abril (Colombia) - Cruz Azul - 46 appearances and 5 goals.

Elias Alejandro Landeros (Mexico) - Cruz Azul/Saint Etienne - 101 appearances and 11 goals.

Cui Ming'an (China) - Dalian Yifang - 81 appearances and 5 goals.

Strikers:

Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo) - DR Congo - 20 caps and 23 goals.

Gilberto Olguin (Mexico) - Cruz Azul/Saint Etienne - 100 appearances and 90 goals.

Christian Gaxiola (Mexico) - Cruz Azul - 44 appearances and 52 goals.

Manager stats

Games played - 384

Games won - 255 (Win percentage 66%)

Goals scored - 1081 (2,8 goals per match)

Total career earnings - 2,1M pounds

Players bought - 59 for total value of 175M

Players sold - 56 for total value 70M

Reputation - 50%

Languages spoken - Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English, German, French, Chinese (all fluent), Russian (good)

[vikeologist]

@TheEarl Congrats on being the first to make it on to the leaderboard for FM17. Looks like a couple of challenging seasons, but you've managed to keep up your excellent progress.

Interesting that Bakambu is in your challenge XI. He has been an all-present for me as well, but has only scored 6 goals in 19 matches. Given that we mostly play much poorer teams (and do usually win) his inclusion in your challenge XI may well cause him his place in my first XI. I mean, I do have other options. I just hadn't been monitoring individual performances at international level. Perhaps I should have been.  Matsuaku has played very well for my DR Congo team though.

 

@Kaiserwatman - Not sure what the Barcelona side is that you got a job with. Barcelona B. I suppose I assumed that there were only Barca and Español there. I guess there must be lots more. I'm not even sure about Español.

@dkouv Bad luck in the playoff final, but hopefully you're now set up for success next season.

@kernunos Congrats on promotion in your second season. Are you staying with Carlisle, or do you have itchy feet and are looking for a new club?

@streety GL in Ireland.

@SavoNFFCWell done on your Asian triple. I hope my reputation goes up to 60% once I do it this season (notice the hubris-inviting level of over-confidence). Like you, I've never been keen on the complications of the MLS, but that has changed with the introduction of Minnesota. Mind you, that's the only job there I'd ever consider, and the timing is probably somewhat unlikely.

[TheEarl]

@vikeologist Bakambu was awesome, and I just feel sad I never manged to sign him for a club job.

As for my Leaderboard entry for FM16, your choice but if you want to delete it, go ahead as I will not go back to FM16 again.

As for the future of my manager, I really struggle to get into teams who can win the Top 5 and I struggle to get international jobs outside Africa. New season will be played this week, and its an interesting change of jobs....

[pug 407]

Pug's Season Update 2016-17

So The Date Is 23/01/216 And A 20 Year Old Started To Try His Luck At Management. As He Couldn't Make It As A Footballer

After Been Unemployed For 6 Month He Got A Job In China Contract Offer, With 2nd Division Side Hunan Xiangtao. Bottom Of The League After 12 Games With 6 Points.

Stewart Promised To Avoid Relegation League Table ,So After 12w 2d And 4l We Ended Up In 6th Place LeagueTable. Also Got My First Badge, Biggest Shock Was The Amount       ,

debt Finance . Plus They Were Building A New Stadium, Looks Like I'll Be Looking For A New Club.

CLUB CAREER
                                                                -----------

 Season    Club                Leagues        Cups                                     Others & Notes
                               1st  2nd       1st  2nd    Cont    CWC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Hunan Xiangtao                                                              Took Over In 16th Finished 6th
2017/18    Hunan Xiangtao
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                           INTERNATIONAL CAREER
                                                           --------------------

 Nation         Cups                                                                     Others & Notes
                World Cup   Confed Cup   Euro's   AFC   ACON   Gold Cup   Copa America

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Challenge Progress

Club

0/10  Top Domestic leagues
0/10  Top Domestic Cups
0/5   Continentals Cups
0/1   Club World Cup

 International

0/5   Continental Tournaments
0/2   World Tournaments

 

[Fadedaf]

Nigeria World Cup 2022 Report

Realised I haven't done an update in a while so here's one for something that happened pretty recently in-game. As coach of Nigeria we had so far experienced mixed results, but I was happy with my squad and had found a definite first choice XI. I was hoping that our all-premier league attack of Kelechi Icheanacho, Ahmed Musa, Isaac Success and Alex Iwobi could lead us to some memorable wins in the World Cup. We went in ranked 13th in the world, so while I didn't think we would challenge for the cup, I thought we could at least make the second round. Pre-tournament matches all went pretty well so I was cautiously optimistic. We were drawn in a group with Canada, China and Scotland so i thought we had a great chance of making the second round.

Group Stage

Spoiler

Nigeria 2-0 Canada: Goals from Iwobi and Success. This scoreline did not flatter us as we hit the woodwork 3 times and missed a penalty while completely dominating all match. It was definitely much closer than it should have been and there were some worryingly poor performances by key players.

Nigeria 2-2 China: Goals from iwobi and Musa. Not a great result. A win would have put us in great position to progress but now we needed to beat Scotland to go through. Pretty average performance all round in a game we definitely should have won.

Nigeria 1-2 Scotland: Goal from Icheanacho. While Icheanacho finally woke up and played some football for the first time this tournament, the rest of the team did not. Scotland were the toughest team in the group but a narrow loss was still disappointing as it meant we were knocked out of the World Cup.

Second Round (if applicable)

Spoiler

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

After the tournament

Spoiler

A disappointing tournament for us as we narrowly missed out on getting to the second round. Best player goes to Iwobi who was pretty solid in all games and worst unfortunately goes to Icheanacho who just did not show up at all but for one goal in the last match. 

At this point in time I was looking for a new club job so came up with a cunning plan. I would resign from the Nigeria job to have a better chance of getting one of the jobs I had recently applied for, and then try to get another international job once the World Cup had ended and I had a new club job! unfortunately I timed it slightly wrong and while I did get a new club job, I have not yet gotten a new international job.

 

Also my updates will be pretty sporadic for the next few weeks as i'll be traveling a lot, but i'll do my best to get some FM in and update when I have time/internet connection!

Edited November 22, 2016 by Fadedaf
added the end bit.

[Kaiserwatman]

UE SANT ANDREU

The footballing education process in Barcelona is now pretty much complete as I don't think I will be able to take this club any further given the resources of clubs I will now face in the upcoming season.  I will admit to having enjoyed my time with the Catalans and will stay on board until something of interest comes up though the aim is now to head to the lower leagues of one of the Spanish speaking South American countries to continue on the football education. Due to financial reasons I have been unable to gain any badges so will need to seek employment on reputation alone which ain't much outside of promotion from the Spanish lower leagues.

Following a 6th place finish in the opening season within Segunda División B , The side was strengthened for the new campaign . With Lleida Esportiu who had won the league the previous season at a canter elsewhere and Barcelona B failure to put up a challenge , Sant Andreu were able to hold off Gimnastic de Terragona to claim the league title and enter the Spanish playoff system for promotion honours .  In the first phase semi final we played Cultural y Deportivo Leonesa and were hammered and I had presumed that was it , another season in the division but there was a second bite of the cherry and we were put amongst the second phase sides and pited against Castilla who I managed to turn over to go on to play Gimnastic de Terragona for promotion.  Sant Andreu won both legs and will now play in La Liga 123

This is going to be a long hard season as I have no chance , there are players in this league worth more than my actual club - Will have to see how they enjoy visiting my 5k stadium which is falling apart and playing on a plastic pitch . Hopefully next season I will be plying my trade somewhere in South America.

 

Season	|       Club	      |  Position |          League	      |   Country      |   Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|    UE Sant Andreu   |   6th     |      Segunda División B   |   Spain        |   
2018/19 |    UE Sant Andreu   |   1st     |      Segunda División B   |   Spain        |    

Edited November 23, 2016 by Kaiserwatman

[TheEarl]

Nice @Kaiserwatman to see someone start in lower leagues of Spain. Not often seen in this challenge, hope you find a suitable club for your next move.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's Jeonbuk 2022 Season Report

It was nice to have a stress-free league campaign where we were always a country mile ahead of everybody else, even with half our team unavailable for a quarter of the season due to the World Cup and Asian Games. We won the title with 4 matches to spare.

The FA Cup was stress-free as well, because I didn’t care about it. We still won it though.

The whole focus of the season was the Champions League, although for the most part the stressful bit was before the matches. Once we got on the pitch it was pretty much over. I actually wrote that last sentence before we’d even played the semi-finals. I was pretty confident, but that confidence was well-placed. We won every leg (of both the CL and the FA Cup) very easily.

So after winning the triple I was happy that we were off to the Club World Cup as I was keen to see how my boys would fare against better opposition. Could we become World Champions?

No, of course not. Even our crown as undisputed Kings of Asia came under serious threat when we needed extra time to beat our Qatari hosts 2-1. This meant that half our squad were knackered for the semi-final against Man Utd. We lost 3-1, but I think once we were 3-0 down and a man down due to Rocca being sent off, the Man Utd players took pity on us.

We did beat Velez 2-1 in the 3^rd place playoff, so we didn’t embarrass ourselves by any means.

I’m unsure whether to quit Jeonbuk straight away. Obviously I’m looking for another job, and will quit if I am still there come pre-season. I don’t think I stand any chance of getting a new club job while I’m still in charge of DR Congo, so I will quit that international job whether we win or lose next month’s African Cup.

I have lots of leagues loaded; USA, Mexico, South Africa and most of the South American leagues. I also have all the Swedish leagues loaded because they won’t disappear. If a vacancy comes up at one of the top sides, I might take it as the game trying to tell me something.

 

Top Goalscorer – Carlos Ibargüen – 52.

 

Best Average Rating – (Park Min 7.95. Our 7^th string central defender played 4 times, because of all the international call-ups, and played well, but if you discount him because of only playing a few matches it’s) Carlos Ibargüen – 7.65

Man of Match – Carlos Ibargüen – 13.

Most Valuable Player – Johnny Choi. Look, Carlos is great, but Johnny is our best player. His 42 goals were a goal a game given that he missed a quarter of the season playing international football. His goals in the big games were more important. He could go on to become a big star. Really Carlos and Johnny were my most valuable pair, and I’ve had to put them both into my provisional challenge XI. I suppose that Johnny will be the first to be kicked out. Carlos’ 116 goals in 3 seasons were pretty important to my challenge progress. I just wanted to acknowledge Johnny. And my goalkeeper Spiderman is still progressing and close to World Class. Man Utd were using bazookas against him in the CWC. He didn’t stand a chance.

Domestic
Season	Team					Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2016	FC Lahti				10th		Just 9 points from the 10 matches remaining after I took over
2017	FC Lahti				3rd		Qualified for Europe
2018	FC Lahti				1st		First domestic title
2019	FC Lahti				1st		The double. First domestic cup
2020	Jeonbuk					1st
2021	Jeonbuk					2nd		Knocked out of CL in semis
2022	Jeonbuk					1st		League / FA Cup / Champions League Triple. CWC 3rd place


International
Year	Team					Achievements	
2019-21	Nigeria					None
2021-	DR Congo				2022 World Cup - R2


Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues 		(Finland, South Korea)
 2/10 domestic cups 			(Finland, South Korea)
 1/5 club continental championships 	(Asia)
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

 

[Spookism]

SEASON 2016/17

 

 

First season in and things started of well. 4 victories in the Betford Cup and I hit the ground running in the League. 

Lost my 'keeper to a season long injury and suffered my first run of poor form. A couple of okay signings and things were looking good, if inconsistent and half way through January I was 3rd with a 9-4-8 record.

Then it all came tumbling down - injuries, poor form, strikers unable to hit the side of a barn, players getting upset at game time despite being nearly 20 games for the year and playing three out of the last four games, other players getting upset that we didn't increase the squad size despite about 4 signings and the list goes on.

Net result from that was 7 losses and 1 draw in a row and I was unceremoniously sacked.

 

Not the best start to the challenge, but at least I got a badge and can only get better from here... (I hope)

 

Season   Team             Country   League               Position  Notes and Achievements
2016/17  Stirling Albion  Scotland  Ladbrokes League 2   9th        Sacked after 29 games, gained National C License

Challenge Progress

Club

0/10 top domestic leagues ()

0/10 domestic cups ()

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/2 world tournaments ()