SavoNFFC Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Fluminense FC and Chile 2025 season report After winning the Brazilian title in 2024. We now entered 2025 as my first full year managing in Brazil began. I looked at the schedule and couldn't quite work out the point or the logistics of all the competitions we were due to enter. First up was our Rio State Championships campaign, which saw us up against the usual foes of Vasco da Gama, Botafogo and Flamengo, but also smaller clubs whose full names were actually visible in the game so I was expecting a walk in the park after the dominant way we won the league last year. And so it proved with us going through to the second stage with a 100% record and only conceding one goal. Alongside this was the 'South-Minas-Rio Cup' which was yet another competition putting us against 'local' sides. And yet again we walked through to the latter stages. Now these competitions were mere formalities for us at the beginning and as a result we were really racking up some silly scores and therefore silly stats for our players, more on this later. As far as the Copa Libertadores was concerned, we were making steady progress. We were drawn in the same group as River Plate, Olimpia of Paraguay and Club Deportivo Lara of Venezuela. We comfortably made it through to the next phase with a 6/6 record. I was enjoying the Copa and the diversity of the opposition but the standard was lower than that of our domestic football - a fact made poignant by the fact that 10 of the previous 12 semi-finalists in the competition had been Brazilian with Corinthians winning it the previous 2 seasons, both in all-Brazilian finals. Our record signing Emerson tore a calf muscle and was out for three months, not the best of timings as we'd already agreed to let striker Ramon sign for Sporting Lisbon for £15m plus add ons. We won the South-Minas-Rio Cup final against Athletico Paranense 4-0 and beat Botafogo 9-1 on aggregate in the Rio State Championships final. So that was 2 'titles' in the bag already. In the Copa we won an all-Brazilian 2nd round against Atletico Miniero and went through to play Universidad Catolica of Chile in the quarters. At this stage we were fielding some calls from Europe for some of our players. Fiorentina made a derisory offer for defender Chumbinho of around £2m which was instantly rejected. Whilst two sides, Benfica and Inter Milan came in for our academy product Joao Paulo, a promising right-back but both were rejected and luckily the lad didn't kick up a fuss too much. Right, rant mode coming up. Firstly, the South American schedule is extremely strange and tends to work against the clubs competing in its competitions. The transfer window for Brazil ties in roughly with that of Europe, which makes sense. However, it is smack bang in the middle of the Brazilian (and continental) calender. So the side you start your league and Copa Libertadores with can become decimated once the European vultures have taking their pick, leaving you to make do with whatever at the end. So you pay the price for being a success around here. Secondly, and this surely doesn't happen in real life, is that sometimes League or even Copa Libertadores games were in the middle or a day after international games. So once again if you are good enough to have international players then you won't be able to play them in some important games as they are either with their national sides or travelling back. Our second leg against Universidad Catolica was an example of this where Richarilson, Cardona and Alexandre in midfield were all missing. Luckily we'd done enough in the first leg to see us through and went on to meet Cruziero in the semis. We went through on away goals after a 1-2 defeat at home and met Corinthians in the final. It was a cagey affair and the first leg finished 2-2 in Sao Paulo. Roared on by nearly 80,000 at the Maracana, we stumbled into extra time following a 0-0 score, as apparently away goals don't count in the final. Some of our players were dead on their feet by the end at around 30% condition. We had a young Uruguayan striker called Manuel Ruiz Diaz who had signed from Penerol for £3.3m and was proving his worth stepping in for the departed Ramon and the injured Emerson. We also had the fantastically named midfielder 'Baggio' come through the youth system and go straight into the first-team squad as he was 'one of the best players to come through in recent years'. The game went into penalties and I selected 5 takers, of whom the maximum of 13 penalty rating didn't make me feel confident. However, we managed to scrape through in sudden death. We had won the Copa Libertadores!!!! As Chile manager things weren't so rosy. The top 4 of the South American qualifiers had been decided so we fighting it out for the 5th spot that would put us against Australia to qualify. We were inconsistent, at times incredibly poor, and at others sublime. Our squad was frankly average and our results reflected this. I hope to qualify for the World Cup, perhaps bring a youngster or two through to the squad. Maybe scrape into the last 16 and bow out and apply for jobs elsewhere. We beat Australia 3-2 in Melbourne in the first leg, and brought them back to Santiago and dispatched them 5-2 to qualify for USA '26. In the league we continued to dominate despite the loss of players and won the league at a canter. In the end we won by 18 points and had it wrapped up about 8 games before the finish. Now earlier I mentioned the silly season stats we were ending up with, take a moment to digest these... This season: Jorge Alexandre on the left of midfield played 71 games and scored 52 goals with 33 assists with an average rating of 8.29. Richarilson hit 49 goals in 53 games. We went 57 games unbeaten in all competitions before a 1-0 defeat at Internacional. 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 2024 Fluminense FC 1st Brazilian Serie A winners. 2025 Fluminense FC 1st Brazilian Serie A winners. Copa Libertadores winners. South-Minas-Rio Cup winners. Rio State Championship International Management 2017 - Mali 2018 - Mali 2019 - Mali African Cup of Nations winners 2023 - Honduras 2023 - Chile 2024 - Chile 2025 - Chile Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa 2019, China 2022, 2023, Brazil 2024, 2025) 2/10 top domestic cups (South Africa FA Cup 2019, Chinese FA Cup 2021, 2022, 2023) 3/5 club continental championships (African Champions League 2020, Asian Champions League 2023, Copa Libertadores 2025) 0/1 club world championship International 1/5 continental tournaments (Mali AFCON 2019) 0/2 world tournaments Now earlier I mentioned the silly season stats we were ending up with, take a moment to digest these... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 @SavoNFFC Congrats on the Lib. Just 1 trophy away from the justification for spending so much time on FM that is the leaderboard. Got to say, there are too many games in Brazil for my liking. I played about 10 matches there when I completed the challenge, (and won the Lib in my second match in charge), so if I were to manage there this time, I would feel that I had served the time for the crime of doing a vike with Corinthians. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 1 hour ago, vikeologist said: @KaiserwatmanCongrats on the Spanish league win. Nice graphic of your progress. You sticking around another season for the cup, and also I guess a viable shot at the Champions League? Are you planning on getting into international management soon? @vikeologist Yeah I am involved in International Football , currently qualifying for Euro 28 with Czech Republic. I'll update my graphic when another role comes up . In truth the Alavés side is close to breaking up with players wanting larger contracts which is simply beyond the clubs capacity given Estadio Mendizorrotza only holds 19k. Stefan Savic and Nicolae Stanciu have also retired. The Big clubs are here now to pillage waving large amounts of euros so I'll probably leave Spain at this stage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavoNFFC Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Fluminense FC and Chile 2025 season report Quick update: We won the Brazilian Cup beating Sao Paulo in the final which completed a domestic quadruple. My Chile side beat Australia to qualify for the World Cup and were drawn against 2022 winners Belgium, Holland and Costa Rica, so a pretty tough draw which I'll do very well to get out of the group with. I've decided to wait until after the Club World Cup before I start to look for other jobs. Originally my plan was to manage in Europe last, but I've had about enough of getting my head around foreign league rules and transfer regulations. So for familiarity's sakes, I'll be heading to Europe next and hopefully with an 80% reputation I'll be able to land a good job straight away before I head back to the Americas to manage in Mexico at a later date. It's the international stuff though that will hold me back. I'm striking off domestic competitions year on year but so far in nearly 10 years in management only have the AFCON to my name internationally. The vultures are circling too. Cardona is a target for Real Madrid, Emerson is wanted by Benfica and Jorge Alexandre is being watched by Atletico Madrid. So far none of them have kicked up too much of a fuss about leaving. Porto are in for our young South African defender Thabo Mashele too who was named Serie A young player of the year. In the Club World Cup we drew Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia in the semi-final while Monterrey of Mexico played PSG in the other semi. Goals from Emerson and veteran Gabriel Silva put us through 2-0 in front of 72000 in Yokohama. Actually looking back over the previous 10 years of the save. The Club World Cup hasn't been dominated by the European clubs like you'd expect. Internacional and Corinthians have won it the previous 2 seasons respectively and Cruziero and America (Mex) have both won it too recently. Anyway, PSG won their semi 2-1 so we met in the final. PSG had a very good side as you'd expect including current players like Breel Embolo, veterans Eden Hazard and Marco Veratti, Ante Coric and Che Nunnelly. There were unbelievable scenes on the Copacabana as Emerson fired us in front after 16 mins. Emerson then sent the South American fans into raptures in the 65th minute with a close-range poacher's effort. PSG couldn't find a way back and we won the game 2-0. Fluminense are the Club World Cup champions! It completes a season that has been almost a year long and has resulted in 4 domestic cups, a Copa Libertadores win and a Club World Cup. I never thought I'd have a side more dominant relatively-speaking than my side at Shandong but this Fluminense side are ridiculous and it pains me to say that it will most likely be my last game in charge as I look to Europe for pastures new. 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 2024 Fluminense FC 1st Brazilian Serie A winners. 2025 Fluminense FC 1st Brazilian Serie A winners. Copa Libertadores winners. South-Minas-Rio Cup winners. Rio State Championship, Brazilian Cup, Club World Cup International Management 2017 - Mali 2018 - Mali 2019 - Mali African Cup of Nations winners 2023 - Honduras 2023 - Chile 2024 - Chile 2025 - Chile Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa 2019, China 2022, 2023, Brazil 2024, 2025) 2/10 top domestic cups (South Africa FA Cup 2019, Chinese FA Cup 2021, 2022, 2023, Brazilian Cup 2025) 3/5 club continental championships (African Champions League 2020, Asian Champions League 2023, Copa Libertadores 2025) 1/1 club world championship (Fluminense 2025) International 1/5 continental tournaments (Mali AFCON 2019) 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Not much time so cant do a full report but progress has been slow over the last few weeks. I won both the Brazilian LEAGUE and the Copa Sudamericana with Santos but I wasn't happy at the club and left after Suda final to take over at Galatasary in Turkey. Galatasary were 4th after 17 games, 7 points behind top spot. They were also still in the Turkish Cup and the Europa League. I know I had a chance to have a crack at the Copa Lib. with Santos but I don't think i could have endured another season at the club, whereas now I have 2 more Challenge trophies to aim for. CLUB CAREER Season Club Pos DC1 DC2 Cont Notes & Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015/16 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 1st R.4 R.1 n/a Champions and promoted to League 1. 2016/17 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 2nd R.4 R.2 n/a Promoted to Championship via playoffs. 2017/18 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 3rd R.5 R.3 n/a Reached playoffs but lost out on chance to go the Premiership. Challenge Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Berwick. 2018 Suwon FC(KOR) 3rd n/a n/a n/a Took over with 12 league games remaining. Promoted to K-League Classic via Playoffs. 2019 Suwon FC(KOR) 9th R.5 n/a n/a Favourites for relegation but survived. 2020 Suwon FC(KOR) 11th R.5 n/a n/a Left Suwon for Swallows(RSA) with 9 games to go. 2020/21 Swallows(RSA) 7th R.2 WIN n/a Took over with one game played. KO Cup WINNERS!! 2021/22 Swallows(RSA) 6th n/a R.2 n/a Left after 10 games to join Vancouver Whitecaps. 2022 Vancouver(USA) 1st n/a n/a Q.F MLS CHAMPIONS!!! Won Canadian Championship. 22/23 NACL still ongoing. 2023 Vancouver(USA) 3rd n/a n/a WIN NACL CHAMPIONS!!! Left for Busan. 2023 Busan(KOR) 1st n/a n/a n/a Took over with 22 Games gone in 5th. League Champions!!! 2024 Busan(KOR) 7th WIN n/a WIN Very poor league performance. Korean Cup Champions!!! ACL Champions!!! Resigned from Busan. 2024/25 Roma(ITA) 3rd WIN n/a R.1 Took over with Roma in 4th position, 22 games gone. Italian Cup Champions!! 2025/26 Roma(ITA) 1st WIN n/a S.F League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Champions League in the Semi Final. 2026/27 Real Madrid(ESP) 1st WIN n/a R.2 League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Europa League in the Second Knockout Round. 2027/28 Dortmund(GER) 1st WIN n/a WIN Fantastic season, completing the TREBLE!!! 2028/29 Dortmund(GER) 3rd Q.F n/a R.1 Won Club World Championship!! Left during Winter Break for Chelsea. 2028/29 Chelsea(ENG) 1st WIN n/a R.1 Took over in 11th after 18 games. League and Cup Champions!!! 2029 Santos(BRA) 1st R.1 n/a n/a Took over after 6 games. Won the League and the Copa Sudamericana. 2029/30 Galatasary(TUR) INTERNATIONAL CAREER Year Nation WC Cont. Conf. Notes & Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 2016 Scotland u19 n/a n/a n/a Qualified for European U19 Championship. 2017 Scotland u19 Resigned as Scotland u19 Manager. 2018 2019 China u23 n/a n/a n/a Resigned as China u23 Manager without playing a match to take over Tunisia 2019 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a Qualified for 2020 CHAN. 2020 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Qualified for 2021 ACON. 2021 Tunisia n/a WON n/a ACON WINNERS!! Secured 2022 World Cup Qualification. 2022 Tunisia 3rd n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Finsihed 3rd in World Cup. Left Tunisia for Costa Rica after World Cup. 2022 Costa Rica n/a n/a n/a CAM WINNERS!! 2023 Costa Rica n/a WON n/a GOLD CUP WINNERS!!! Left Costa Rica. 2024 Brazil u23 n/a n/a n/a Olympics WINNERS!!! Resigned from Brazil u23s. 2025 Italy n/a n/a n/a Qualified for World Cup. 2026 Italy WON n/a n/a WORLD CUP WINNERS!!! 2027 Italy n/a n/a n/a Qualified for Euro 2028. 2028 Italy n/a WON n/a Euro 2028 Champions!!! 2029 Italy n/a n/a WON Confederation Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Italy. Club 7/10 top domestic leagues (USA,KOR,ITA,ESP,GER,ENG,BRA) 6/10 domestic cups (RSA,KOR,ITA,ESP,GER,ENG) 3/5 club continental championships (N.America, Asia, Europe) 1/1 club world championship International 3/5 continental tournaments (Africa, N.America, Europe) 2/2 world tournaments (World Cup, Confed. Cup) 22/33 Total Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowy Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 (edited) Macclesfield Town 2017/18 So after my first season I had a lot of work to do to get wages down and improve the club's finances, we were around £250K and so my challenge begun. I made full use of the loan system as there were no limits in place as to how many I could have or how many could play, my main focus was on quantity not quality as I knew fitness can be a real issue in the lower leagues, thankfully we were able to get some quality as well! My Transfer Window was a very successful one, the signing of Jake Hessenthaler on loan and Tom Hitchcock on a free, the highlights of my transfer window in my opinion, along with being £1K p/w below wage budget majority of the season. So that geared me up for a long season I was feeling confident as I had 22 decent players and it gave me an opportunity to rotate my squad as and when I felt neccessary and still be competitive, it wasn't looking to promising for automatic promotion early on as Lincoln were storming the leage after the first 12 games or so. In the end though it was an excellent season, we were very consistent even with all the squad rotations, at one stage I think I had a 25 game unbeaten run in the league at one stage. In the end we won The League quite comfortable although a few poor results towards the end of the season made it a bit nervier than it needed to be. In terms of cup runs we got to the first round of The FA Cup, I was disappointed to lose to Lincoln as I was hoping to build my finances through the FA Cup, even more so as we beat them 6-0 a week or two later. We also had a good run in The FA Trophy, quite frankly we should of gone on to win it with the teams we had beaten to get to the final, AFC Fylde had one shot on target, it was a cracker of a goal to win it though. Season Stats Leage Table Results + 2 ~ Squad Stats ~ Home + Away Tactic As for next season I have no idea whether to move on or stay, I've managed to get finances to £230K and feel I could give survival a real go in League Two, I have an urge to manage abroard now though so I will see what is available. If there is not a job that I fancy then I may have another year at Macclesfield, my contract runs out this season though and I'm not going to sign a new deal till the last minute just in case something comes up that I feel I can take the next step. Ideally I want my next job to be outside of Europe but not in Asia so it gives me plenty of options, let's see what happens! CLUB CAREER ----------- Season Team Country Position FA Cup League Cup Champs League Others & Notes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Macclesfield England 11th - - - Took over in 22nd after 13 games 2017/18 Macclesfield England 1st Rd1 - - Promoted, Manager of the Year, Gained National C Licence ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL CAREER -------------------- Season Country Tournament Finished Others & Notes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CAREER STATS ------------ Macclesfield - P 95 W 53 D 20 L 22 GF 165 GA 95 GD 70 WR 55% Days in Charge: 605 Overall - P 95 W 53 D 20 L 22 GF 165 GA 95 GD 70 WR 55% Days in Charge: 605 Edited December 4, 2016 by Crowy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny_H22 Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 (edited) Quick mid season update. After 22 games I am sat in 2nd place, with four losses all season. My main gripe was that I had a difficult start where we drew far too many games. TNS have won 22/22 and will storm the league again. At this point the league splits into two so I'm going to be battling for a European spot. Our finances are, for lack of a better term, ****. Because of this, I am yet to start my coaching badges. I have been offered four interviews recently, but rejected them all. Two were Welsh teams who are below me in the league and two from Irish teams. Anyway, a full update win follow within a couple days Edited December 4, 2016 by Danny_H22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 @vikeologist I have not given up here, but will try Dafuge Challenge at the same time. My frustration here is not getting the "correct" clubs/nations I want to manage. But there will be another update hopefully within this week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny_H22 Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 (edited) Danny_H22 2017/2018 Season Report So, my first full season in management is over and it was quite an exciting one. Our season started slowly before picking up considerably during the middle of the season. Sadly, we fell apart during the Championship Conference stage. All in all, a massive improvement upon last season and a lot of positives going into the next. On a personal level, my requests to be sent on training for my first badge has constantly been denied due to finances. It is looking like I am going to have to wait quite a while longer as we have finished the season 100K in the red. I was offered five interviews throughout the season- 3 in Wales and 2 in Ireland. I rejected them all as I didn't consider any a step up. in fact, I signed a new contract at the end of the season so I may end up staying for another year Welsh Premier League- We started off the season slowly, drawing far too many games. In fact, we won just once in our first 8 league games. We followed this up by winning 10 out the next 13 league games, finally finishing the first part of the season in 2nd place. A terrible run in the Championship Conference followed and we picked up first 3 wins from the final ten games, ending the season with a 2-6 and 3-5 spanking to the 2nd and 1st placed teams respectively. This was enough to finish in a very respectable 3rd place. Once again TNS ran away with the league finishing the season 33 points ahead of Bala in 2nd place and going unbeaten all season. JD FAW Welsh Cup- A strong run was halted in the QF to Port Talbot - the same team who knocked us out the previous season. I considered this our best opportunity to win something after a shock extra for TNS in the 3rd round. theWord Cup - We were unfortunate enough to draw TNS in the 3rd round who convincingly beat us 5-1. Top Goalscorer - Once again Jason Oswell finished the season top of the scoring charts. He scored 6 more goals than last season, finishing the season with an impressive 28 from 34 games. in second place was Luke Boundford with 24 from 28 games. Boundford was well on his way to finishing the season as top scorer before being ruled out for 5 months in February. Both guys finished as the top two scorers in the league. Most Assists- Oswell also finished top assister with 12. Highest Avg rating - Highest rating goes to Oswell with 7.37 followed by Boundford with 7.35. Very pleased with the seasons these guys had. Most POM - A tie between Oswell and Boundford with 6 a piece. As you can clearly see from above, Oswell and Boundford really carried us this season and unsurprisingly, both broke club records. If my defense was as sound as these two then I probably would have had a much better finish to the season. I actually only used 22 players all season, a league low, so I think my lack of depth really affected me. Goals for Next Season - It is going to be nigh on impossible to break the monopoly TNS have on the league, especially with my current finances. My goal is a simple one and that's to win something. Anything. TNS losing early in the cup this season proves that anything could happen and next season I need to be prepared to take advantage of that. Failing that, I will consider moving on should the right opportunity comes along. I have enjoyed my season and a half at Newtown but it is going to be a struggle to take them much further. I am not willing to spend 5 years here to build them up before winning anything, especially when I have a challenge to complete! Season Team Position Continental Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Newtown 8th - Took over in November 2017/18 Newtown 3rd - 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 International: Season Team Notes and Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: THE ROBINS ARE GOING TO EUROPE! So I forgot about the Euro Place Playoff and after beating Llandudno 3-0 in the semis and Cefn Druids 9-8 on penalites in the final, we are going to Europe! Oswell also added 3 more goals to his tally to make him our top scorer of all time. Edited December 5, 2016 by Danny_H22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Saint Etienne Season 2025/26 Report So after leaving Genk I was hired by the small but overachieving club of Saint Etienne, my first club so far that does not play in blue. Here's how my season went. Trophee des Champions (Supercup)- My first match in charge we faced PSG for the Supercup. We were able to snatch a 1-0 win and get a trophy with my first game in charge! A great start to the season. League- We started slowly and inconsistently, but gradually improved and moved up the table. PSG were unstoppable at the top and won their 7th successive title with ease. Monaco were also very strong and while they were nowhere near PSG, they secured second place pretty comfortably. We were able to be the 'best of the rest' and beat out Lille and Marseille for third spot and a place in the Champions League next season. Overall a good performance and probably the best outcome I could reasonably have hoped for. I won manager of the season for my efforts. Coupe de la League- France's secondary cup competition was another good one for us, as we made it all the way to the final beating Angers SCO, Nancy Lorraine and FC Metz along the way. We faced PSG (of course) in the final and they were just too strong for us this time, winning 3-2 with a goal in the 85th minute. I was pretty gutted but we played well. French Cup- Not as good a performance in this cup. We were excellent in the first round where we thrashed Marseille 4-0 but we then succumbed to my traditional weakness of lower league teams and we went out 2-1 after extra time to Montpellier from Ligue 2 in the next round. Disappointing performance in this competition. Europa League- Saint Etienne had qualified since they won the French Cup last season. We were drawn into a group with Tottenham, Sampdoria and APOEL Nicosia. We performed very well, finishing with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss and qualifying behind Tottenham. We faced Lazio of Italy in the first KO round and went down 2-0 at home in the first leg and I thought that might be the end of the road for us. However, we went into the second leg all guns blazing and managed to pull off a 3-1 win away putting us through on away goals when it finished 3-3 on aggregate! The second KO round saw us face Athletic Bilbao of Spain and we dispatched them 5-1 in the first leg to secure a 6-3 aggregate victory. The Quarter final saw us drawn against powerhouses Athletico Madrid. We lost the first leg 2-1 at home and this time I was really convinced we were out. However, somehow we pulled off the performance of the season and smashed them 5-2 in their own stadium with a hat trick from 19 year old Yoann Moulin! Their coach Pep Guardiola may have been a bit complacent and played some backup players, and we were there to capitalise! So into the semis we went, where we were drawn against Bayer Leverkusen of Germany. A crazy 5-3 win at home put us in good position for the away leg, but those 3 away goals proved costly. We went up 2-0 in the away leg and I thought we were through for sure, however they then destroyed my defence and scored 4 goals unanswered to send them through on away goals after it finished 7-7 on aggregate. A very disappointing end that I was extremely frustrated with, however overall a great performance in this competition by my team. Best Players: Top Goalscorers- Sandrinho (28 goals, 14 assists) a young Brazilian brought in this season to lead the attack and he did well, and Yoann Moulin (28 goals, 23 assists) a youngster who made the step up to play all season as Sandrinho's partner and did extremely well. These two had a great partnership up front when they were both available to play. Highest Avg Rating- Sandrinho (7.52) Most Assists- Yoann Moulin (23) Most POM- Sandrinho and Rafael Ramirez (7 POM, 22 goals, 9 assists) a Mexican wide player who was voted signing of the season. Overall, while we didn't win anything I'm reasonably happy with how the season went. I don't think I'll be able to break PSGs dominance of the league but if I am still here next season then I will definitely target the cups as there is some potential there. I have also taken on the job as manager of Ghana, my 5th different African nation! the ACON is less than a year away so I am keen to have another crack! They did not qualify for the World Cup unfortunately so I won't be managing there. My reputation is still at 60% at the moment so no progress on that front. Season Team Position Champs League Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Royal Eagles 2nd - Promoted to South African Premier League 2017/18 Royal Eagles 1st - KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2018/19 Royal Eagles 2nd - FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing 2019/20 Royal Eagles 1st Semi Final KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2020/21 Royal Eagles -- Semi Final KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through the season for Molde 2021 Molde 1st - Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2022 Molde -- - Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk 2022/23 Genk 1st - Europa League Semi finalists 2023/24 Genk 2nd Group Stage Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, Europa League Quarter finalists 2024/25 Genk 1st Playoff Cup winners, CL qualification 2025/26 Saint Etienne 3rd - Cup runners up, Europa League Semi finalists, MOTS, CL qualification Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk) 3/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments International: Season Team Notes and Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------- 2018 China U23 Won Asian Games 2019 Cameroon Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria 2019 Algeria Resigned after 2 games 2021 Nigeria Qualified for world cup, ACON qualification ongoing 2022 Nigeria Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned 2023 Ivory Coast Started World Cup and ACON qualifying. 2024 Ivory Coast Qualified for ACON 2025 Ivory Coast Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned. 2026 Ghana Qualified for ACON Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Here's an update on my Challenge XI: Goalkeeper- Muhammad Nashnoush (Royal Eagles). Great name, pretty solid keeper too. Libyan international who was undisputed number 1 for 2 seasons. Left back- Maurice Sery (Royal Eagles, Ivory Coast and Genk) very talented fullback from Mali who i've coached in 3 teams now. He provided his best performances in the KRC Genk shirt especially in my final double-winning season. Centre Back- Gladwin Shitolo (Royal Eagles). Made 91 appearances before leaving to a big salary in China. Was a key defender since the first season and was one of my first transfers. Centre Back- Keanu Cupido (Royal Eagles). Came of age in my penultimate season with RE, winning his first caps for South Africa and cementing his place in the starting XI. Was rated as the best player in our team by the coaching staff at age 21 with plenty of room to improve. Right Back- Ayoub El-Khaliqi (Royal Eagles). Moroccan fullback who was at the core of the defence for ages providing loads of assists every season. Right Midfield- Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Genk) The Armenian veteran was absolutely superb when brought into my Genk team, fitting my formation perfectly. Central Midfield- Hans Stevens (Genk). Supremely talented youngster who was ever present in the league-winning Genk sides. Central Midfield- Lorenzo Pellegrini (Saint Etienne). Italian box to box midfielder who has been instrumental in Saint Etienne's successes, always there to provide a clutch goal from outside the box as well. Great goalscoring midfielder. Left Midfield- Patrick Roberts (Molde). He usually plays on the right but can cover both sides. Previously a Man City flop who was brought to Molde to play out wide and provided heaps of asissts and goals in a great season. Player of the season winner for both Molde and the Norwegian Premier league. Striker- Jeef Kayembe (Royal Eagles). So far my most prolific striker with 73 goals under my management. Won 3rd place African striker of the year. Once scored 6 goals in a match. Striker- Patrick Garba (Genk). Lethal finisher who was consistently dangerous in a double-winning Genk side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 8, 2016 Author Share Posted December 8, 2016 Vikeologist's Bugs Report Just to let you know about the 2 bugs that seem to be affecting the challenge, though hopefully not in a terminal way. International managers can't get club jobs. I wasn't sure if this was even a proper bug. After quitting Minnesota, I had to quit my international job to get a club job. Anyway Ben Kenney has said on another thread. Quote This looks to be an issue we are aware of where a user who is in charge of an international side will find it more difficult to get a club job. This is something the development team are working on in order to resolve the issue for a future update. Newly added leagues don't have managers (and don't hire them either). Maybe this is only for those of us who started on the beta, and this problem started occurring after the updates / fixes. Anyway, apparently it's caused by having used a name fix file. I haven't done extensive testing, but I removed the file called 'City, Club and Stadium Names.lnc' and that seems to have resolved the issue. I still have a problem where I cannot remove the Swedish league, but I seem to be the only one with that problem. I'm going to spend my entire save with a weirdly high number of Swedish coaching staff. They swarm around all my clubs making the players come in for training on their days off if they put their rubbish into the wrong recycling bin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelions1goal Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 18 minutes ago, vikeologist said: Vikeologist's Bugs Report I still have a problem where I cannot remove the Swedish league, but I seem to be the only one with that problem. I'm going to spend my entire save with a weirdly high number of Swedish coaching staff. They swarm around all my clubs making the players come in for training on their days off if they put their rubbish into the wrong recycling bin. I had that issue when I attempted the challenge on FM16 - just couldn't remove the leagues despite multiple attempts. I'll be loading Sweden as one of my leagues when I start the challenge on FM17 over the weekend - I like Sweden as the seasons are relatively short!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 The International Bug is a bit of a pain alright , had to leave Czech Republic who I thought could challenge in a couple of years given the youth which was coming through in order to get a new job following departing Alavés. Now with Croatia who are inferior in many areas but will see what happens over the coming years. Like Tucumán and Alavés the new club should be picking up their first pieces of silverware unless a spectacular collapse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SavoNFFC Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Stoke City and Chile 2026 season report After guiding Fluminense to Club World Cup glory in December 2025, I decided to bow out at the top and look for a new challenge in Europe. I began looking for jobs and felt that my reputation and standing in football should entitle me to dine at the top table of football management. It kind of worked out like that. I did get an offer in the Premier League, at rock-bottom Stoke once I'd applied. I jumped at the chance and waited for the confirmation to come in. During the wait I noticed that the Everton and Fiorentina jobs became available and applied for both, hoping that either would offer me the job before the Stoke job came in. Neither did and I took over Stoke City, 20th in the Premier League and on a 5-game losing streak. I examined the squad once taking over and realised it was frankly, tripe but it did have a large homegrown core to it that I could build around. I took over in January which allowed me to bring in a couple of players. In came the now ageing Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid for 800k and Patrick Pauwels, a left-sided midfielder from Man Utd for £8m. I sacked off some of the deadwood in the squad and virtually everyone in the backroom staff and started again and it wasn't long before we started picking up a few results. Our league form was patchy but improved and the tightness of the bottom 7 or so enabled me to pull away from the drop zone with a couple of wins. I was pleased with the league form but delighted with the cup run we were having. We beat lower league sides Millwall and Leeds away before coming out 3-2 winners at Anfield in the 5th round. A 1-0 cagey win over Soton at St Marys followed which took us to Wembley to play Chelsea in the semis. Chelsea at this point in the game are a shadow of their current selves and we won with ease, 3-0. We then came back to Wembley for another London side in the final, West Ham. Boasting one of the world's best strikers, Santos, I was a bit worried as they had destroyed me in the league. I need not have worried as a 90th min winner won us the game 2-1. We were FA Cup winners and into the Europa League for next season. I've been given a £90m warchest to improve the squad. More on that in another update... My Chile side began their World Cup campaign with a stunning 4-0 win over current World champions Belgium. We then beat Costa Rica and drew with Holland to set up a 2nd round tie with Scotland who actually have a decent side on it. We beat them 2-1 and went through to face Mexico in the quarters, who beat us 3-1. How, I do not know as we peppered their goal with shots but just couldn't find the break through. I now look at my time with Chile and feel as if this is the end. I suppose the time has to be looked on as a failure and I'm not sure I can take them any further. 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 2024 Fluminense FC 1st Brazilian Serie A winners. 2025 Fluminense FC 1st Brazilian Serie A winners. Copa Libertadores winners. South-Minas-Rio Cup winners. Rio State Championship 2026 Stoke City 13th English FA Cup International Management 2017 - Mali 2018 - Mali 2019 - Mali African Cup of Nations winners 2023 - Honduras 2023 - Chile 2024 - Chile 2025 - Chile Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa 2019, China 2022, 2023, Brazil 2024, 2025) 4/10 top domestic cups (South Africa FA Cup 2019, Chinese FA Cup 2021, 2022, 2023, Brazilian Cup 2025, English FA Cup 2026) 3/5 club continental championships (African Champions League 2020, Asian Champions League 2023, Copa Libertadores 2025) 1/1 club world championship (Fluminense 2025) International 1/5 continental tournaments (Mali AFCON 2019) 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 (edited) Season 3 – 2018/19 – Sheffield Utd (ENG) / Greece Season Review Taking over the Sheffield United side that finished top of the pile in League 1, I had a look at the squad and decided that most of them weren’t really going to cut it in the Championship. So I proceeded to undertake a bit of a summer revamp, shipping out 10 players and bringing 12 in. Together with the £6m transfer budget – after player sales – I could bring in some reasonable quality, even though many players refused to join or demanded ridiculous wages. In the end I mainly relied on young players released by Premiership or Championship clubs, some transfer listed players and a couple of East European players I managed to scout. The season saw me try out a strikerless formation for the first time in FM, and I really enjoyed it – plenty of possession, fast-paced attacks and movements, a bit like Liverpool this season but less good We started off a bit inconsistent, which was expected given the summer turnover, but by January we were firmly alternating between promotion and play-off places. I went out to bring in 4 experienced players in January to push for automatic promotion and it paid off, as we went on a great run in February-April, and despite a terrible drop in form come May, we had accumulated enough points to be crowned Champions! This was partly because no other side really stepped up to the plate, all were inconsistent – we finished top with just 84 points after 46 games, but I’m not complaining! League Table Player review Top scorer: Alexandru Ionita II (AMC), 16 goals and 5 assists in 31(9) apps, 7.17 rating The goals were fairly well spread between all the midfielders, and this guy just edged ahead of the others Top assists; my fav player: Josh Harrop (M/AMRC), 11 goals and 14 assists in 35(8) apps, 7.30 rating My surprise of the season and player of the season. I wanted to loan him while at Accrington but he rejected, and saw that he was released by Man Utd. I wasn’t actually sure if he could cut it in the Championship so dithered a lot over the signing, but he ended up completely exceeding expectations, involved in more goals and chances than any of his teammates. Manager progress 25% rep, studying for Continental B International I took over Greece and we’re currently trying to qualify for Euro 2020. Don’t think we have much of a chance there so I might quit if I look for jobs (that bug is really annoying!!). Oh, and I finished first in my Nations League group, but no idea what that actually menas. In other news, my old team Accrington won back-to-back promotions and will be in the Championship next season, so I’m kind-of proud of my legacy there :] What’s next Two options really, 1). Quit jobs and look for a job in Asia to start winning some trophies, or 2). Stick it out at Sheffied and Greece until Euro 2020 is over and then move. I’ll see if any tempting jobs come up in Asia and then decide. Challenge XI [ will fill this up as I go along ] AMR: Josh Harrop (Sheff Utd) ST: Greg Luer (Accrington) 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 2017/18 | Accrington | League 2 (ENG) | 1/24 | n/a | Promotion; League 2 points record (104). Moved to Sheffield Utd at end of season 2018/19 | Sheffield Utd | Championship (ENG) | 1/24 | n/a | Promoted International career: Season | Team | Tournament | Notes & Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 | Greece | Euro 2020 quals | Took over in Autumn 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 December 9, 2016 by dkouv Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 FK Krasnodar Following my Departure from Alavés I scoured nations for another club with the tools available to mount a decent challenge within their respective league but had not yet been able to win their first trophy. My Initial choice was unsuccessful , due to the bug with International management as I have no doubt a manager who had just won the league in Spain with an unfancied side would walk into a job in Turkey. I will be keeping a very close eye on that club and hopefully will get to manage them in their quest for honours. Towards the end of 2027, the job came available at FK Krasnodar who were in the bottom half despite having the basis of the very good side , 2 young strikers at the club who were both Russian Internationals , a Serb International who was the talisman of the team also . The U21 National Captain - money in the bank - the tools were there with some changes , the lack of a true no 10 for my system and a keeper was needed urgently as the one I had couldn't catch a cold. Things turned round in the second half of the season though wins were turned into draws by my calamitous keeper things were looking promising. Eddy Suarez a player who I had tried sign at Alavés from Independiente Santa Fe was nearing the end of his contract and roubles had to be sent in this direction. We agreed a nominal fee of 325k to take him a few months early . The biggest deal actually happened in Moscow where CSKA seemingly bowed to their Big Name Signings to appease fans by signing an aging Jan Oblak allowing me to knick their other keeper on a free transfer. Yes Oblak did win the clean sheet bracket 15 to Demetradze's 14 but he is now retiring whereas Demetradze is 10 years younger and has just picked up his 4th cap for Russia. FK Krasnodar without European football raced out of the blocks taking the maximum 45 from 15 games beating Zenit 4-0 away though they had travel away to Tottenham a couple of days before . A 12 point gap was opened up , the best offense along with the now best defence , despite a little wobble with three successive draws against low sides following the Winter Break , FK Krasnodar simply obliterated everything in front of them in an invincible season. Internationally I have done nothing as have had dump sides to move club - Currently Croatia though they may need be dumped if another opportunity of a club with 0 success come up , Otherwise I'll sit here in Russia for time being Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarroOxford Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 (edited) FF Jaro - Ykkönen (First Division) 2016 My first (proper) attempt at this challenge! Starting in the second tier of Finland may not be the most ideal way to begin this challenge, but it's a country I've never managed in before so I thought, why not? Finland's domestic season begins in March with Suomen Cup games with the league starting in April and finishes around September/October. I didn't take the FF Jaro job until the beginning of September with only four games of the season left. FF Jaro had been relegated from the Veikkausliiga (Premier League) the previous season for the first time since 2001, but instantly started the 2016 season as favourites to win the league and go straight back up. However, the club's bizarre inconsistency left them in 9th place out of ten with just four games of the season left, with the bottom two positions being relegation spots. Being the pre-season favourites for promotion, I saw this as an opportunity to end their turmoil and deliver on their expectations, as long as I could keep them up first and foremost! It was a risk with only four games left to save the club from a disastrous relegation, but I knew if it could be done there were players here who could help lead this club back into the Veikkausliga. One look at the squad at I was a little baffled as to why they'd had such a difficult season, although for some reason the club's best player Simon Skrabbe was on loan at Gefle IF, a second tier Swedish club. With a preference for a more creative type forward being a part of my approach, I very much look forward to bringing him back for 2017, but first and foremost I had to keep the club in the division! Our first game came away to fellow strugglers Tammisaari and we picked up a 2-1 victory, the club's first win in six games which immediately moved us out of the relegation spots. Our next game was a difficult one away to FC Haka who still had an outside shout of finishing 2nd in the league and we gifted them two goals before picking up a consolation. We remained in 8th, but then suffered an infuriating 2-2 draw against mid-table AC Oulu. After being in full control with a two goal lead with just 20 minutes gone, one of our central defenders got himself sent off and we capitulated, giving up two goals but somehow holding onto a point. I should be thankful that we did, but unfortunately the draw moved us back down into the relegation zone! We had to take on JJK who had already sealed second place and a playoff spot to try and gain promotion and hope results elsewhere went our way. We had our best performance of the season though! While it was only a 1-0 victory, we fully controlled the game despite some morale issues with some of the players and a few nerves! We finished out the season one point above the relegation zone in 8th place. For the most part, the squad should be good enough to contend for promotion next season as long as we can keep our key players. We look forward to welcoming Simon Skrabbe back and I feel the Finnish under 21 international could be a key player for us next season. Our top scorer last season was Papa Niang who scored 6 goals as a winger, so Skrabbe will be a crucial striking addition to the team. We are also struggling a little for depth in central midfield so that's an area that we'll look to strengthen! Club Career: Season | Team | Division | Position | Cups | Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 | FF Jaro | Ykkönen (FIN) | 8th | N/A | Took over with four games to go ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International career: N/A ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 December 10, 2016 by WarroOxford Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Faded's 2027 ACON Report Ghana is the 5th different nation in Africa that I have coached so far yet I have had no success yet internationally, so I was incredibly keen to try to improve my international record by winning this tournament. We went in as the highest ranked African side at 21st in the world and were drawn in a group containing Mali, DR Congo and Togo. Not too bad of a draw and a group I definitely felt we could get out of. I have a pretty decent all-round squad with my best player being fullback Benjamin Henrichs from Tottenham. Pre-tournament friendlies consisted of a worryingly bad performance in a 1-0 loss to South Africa and a better performance with a 4-0 win over Gabon. Lets see if I did any better than my last attempt! Group Stage Spoiler Ghana 4-1 Togo (goals from Yeboah, Mensah and Tekpetey x2) A good performance in this game which was definitely a must-win against the weakest team in the group Ghana 3-1 DR Congo (goals from Frimpong, Boateng and Addo) Another good performance as we beat a pretty good DR Congo side to secure passage into the quarter final with a game to spare. The final game against Mali would decide the group winner. Ghana 2-4 Mali (goals from Baba Rahman and Addo) I thought we had this sewn up at 2-1 in the 75th minute but they came right back into it and it proved to be a pretty disappointing loss. Anyways, we were drawn to play one of my former teams in Nigeria in the quarter final. Quarter Final (if applicable) Spoiler Ghana 3-1 Nigeria (goals from Frimpong, Addo and Tekpetey) Great performance here, as we went 1-0 down but came right back to win comfortably in a game we dominated. Onto Ivory Coast in the semis, another previous team of mine! Semi Final (if applicable) Spoiler Ghana 2-1 Ivory Coast (goals from Odjer and Tekpetey) Another good performance here. We went 1-0 up then conceded pretty quickly, but were able to score again to send us through to the final against Tunisia! We have suffered 3 tournament-ending injuries so far however which is not good news. Final (if applicable) Spoiler Ghana 0-1 Tunisia I have no words... I was so optimistic we would win this and I could finally stop managing every team in Africa. We had 10 shots on target while they scored with the only one they had. Both teams hit the woodwork once. I suppose the injuries and lack of fitness of our first team cost us, but we really should have won this game. Aftermath Spoiler Well, I still have not made any progress internationally. I turned down jobs coaching both Italy and France to try to win this competition... and I still failed. I think I'm going to resign from Ghana now as I'd like to get a new club job (damn bug!) and also there doesn't seem to be much quality in the Ghanian youth players so I don't think I could take the team much further. I suppose it'll be onto another African nation sometime in the future once I get a new club job or maybe i'll give another continent a try, I might have better luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 @Fadedaf I'm gutted for you. I've been there; whether it's having your hopes gradually rise to a crescendo only to be smashed to pieces in the final, realising that your nearly-successful national side is full of geriatrics for whom this was the last shot, or having to quit the national team because you want to have a club job. Above all of course I can sympathise with having won nothing internationally. @WarroOxford I think you were one of the first to start the challenge, right back at the start when I thought, well, nobody will ever complete this challenge. I didn't realise just how many people regularly achieve the Pentagon and other shaped-named challenges. As you may be aware, I started off this year's challenge in Finland myself. Always nice to avoid relegation. @Kaiserwatman Congratulations on another transformation of a club's fortune and history. So, do you have clear rules for who you take over. Do they have to have never won the domestic league? What about teams that have won domestic cups? Or is it just whoever takes your fancy, as long as they're in need of salvation? @dkouv Congrats on promotion. If you stay for another season, it will be interesting to see what you can achieve with Utd in the Premiership. @SavoNFFC Impressive FA Cup win. I don't think your time with Chile is a failure. You certainly did a whole lot better with them than I did, (I left them 5th in the WC Qualifying with just a few games to go). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 @vikeologist thanks, it's definitely pretty frustrating. However, with my reputation a bit higher now I may be able to have a realistic shot at another continent and I have no idea who i'll be managing next season so maybe i'll be able to make some progress. I've been offered the job coaching Australia which I would love to do however I need a new club job and the next Asian cup isn't for 3 and a half years so had to decline. I think I'll be able to get a decent job on the club side though, i've already rejected an offer from Valencia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pieyanthikos Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 (edited) A small update; had a terrific 21/22 season with Raith and broke ten years of Celtic domination. Quitted and took charge of Twente at 17th, finishing 14th. As of March 2024, we're currently in 2nd place six points behind PSV with a lot of talent in the squad, so we should at least be a serious contender for the title in 2025. I must not forget about the domestic cups after not having won anything i now eight seasons. Twente seems to be a sleeping giant after some turbulent years with a average crowd of 28000, so this could be a good platform to build upon. Domestic Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 16/17 Hapoel Ramat-Gan 5th 17/18 Hapoel Ramat-Gan 1st Promotion 18/19 Raith 7th 19/20 Raith 7th 20/21 Raith 5th 21/22 Raith 1st Premiership 22/23 Twente 14th Joined March '23 23/24 Twente ? International Year Team Achievements 2018-19 Jamaica Gold Cup winner (Final: 3-0 vs. Costa Rica) 2020-23 Saudi-Arabia WAFF Championship 2020, AFC Asian Cup 2023 (Final: 2-0 vs. Iran) 2023- Nigeria Challenge Progress Club 1/10 Top domestic leagues 0/10 Domestic cups 0/5 Club continental championships 0/1 Club world championship International 2/5 Continental tournaments Gold Cup (Jamaica) 0/2 World tournaments Total 3/33 Edited December 12, 2016 by Pieyanthikos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Again not enough time for a full season report but I was able to secure another treble with Galatasary by winning the LEAGUE, the CUP and the Europa League. Although the EL doesn't count towards the Challenge its a nice trophy to add to my collection. I've since moved onto PSG in France, taking over with 4 games gone in 4th position. Monaco have dominated recent seasons, but i'm confident we can secure the League at least. Having trouble on the International job front recently though, no countries in either S.America or Asia have had any vacancies since i left Italy. I was hoping some might become available after the 2030 World Cup but only jobs in Europe and N.America came up. CLUB CAREER Season Club Pos DC1 DC2 Cont Notes & Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015/16 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 1st R.4 R.1 n/a Champions and promoted to League 1. 2016/17 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 2nd R.4 R.2 n/a Promoted to Championship via playoffs. 2017/18 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 3rd R.5 R.3 n/a Reached playoffs but lost out on chance to go the Premiership. Challenge Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Berwick. 2018 Suwon FC(KOR) 3rd n/a n/a n/a Took over with 12 league games remaining. Promoted to K-League Classic via Playoffs. 2019 Suwon FC(KOR) 9th R.5 n/a n/a Favourites for relegation but survived. 2020 Suwon FC(KOR) 11th R.5 n/a n/a Left Suwon for Swallows(RSA) with 9 games to go. 2020/21 Swallows(RSA) 7th R.2 WIN n/a Took over with one game played. KO Cup WINNERS!! 2021/22 Swallows(RSA) 6th n/a R.2 n/a Left after 10 games to join Vancouver Whitecaps. 2022 Vancouver(USA) 1st n/a n/a Q.F MLS CHAMPIONS!!! Won Canadian Championship. 22/23 NACL still ongoing. 2023 Vancouver(USA) 3rd n/a n/a WIN NACL CHAMPIONS!!! Left for Busan. 2023 Busan(KOR) 1st n/a n/a n/a Took over with 22 Games gone in 5th. League Champions!!! 2024 Busan(KOR) 7th WIN n/a WIN Very poor league performance. Korean Cup Champions!!! ACL Champions!!! Resigned from Busan. 2024/25 Roma(ITA) 3rd WIN n/a R.1 Took over with Roma in 4th position, 22 games gone. Italian Cup Champions!! 2025/26 Roma(ITA) 1st WIN n/a S.F League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Champions League in the Semi Final. 2026/27 Real Madrid(ESP) 1st WIN n/a R.2 League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Europa League in the Second Knockout Round. 2027/28 Dortmund(GER) 1st WIN n/a WIN Fantastic season, completing the TREBLE!!! 2028/29 Dortmund(GER) 3rd Q.F n/a R.1 Won Club World Championship!! Left during Winter Break for Chelsea. 2028/29 Chelsea(ENG) 1st WIN n/a R.1 Took over in 11th after 18 games. League and Cup Champions!!! 2029 Santos(BRA) 1st R.1 n/a n/a Took over after 6 games. Won the League and the Copa Sudamericana. 2029/30 Galatasary(TUR) 1st WIN n/a n/a Took over after 17 games. Won the League, the Cup and the Europa League. 2030/31 PSG(FRA) Took over after 4 games. INTERNATIONAL CAREER Year Nation WC Cont. Conf. Notes & Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 2016 Scotland u19 n/a n/a n/a Qualified for European U19 Championship. 2017 Scotland u19 Resigned as Scotland u19 Manager. 2018 2019 China u23 n/a n/a n/a Resigned as China u23 Manager without playing a match to take over Tunisia 2019 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a Qualified for 2020 CHAN. 2020 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Qualified for 2021 ACON. 2021 Tunisia n/a WON n/a ACON WINNERS!! Secured 2022 World Cup Qualification. 2022 Tunisia 3rd n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Finsihed 3rd in World Cup. Left Tunisia for Costa Rica after World Cup. 2022 Costa Rica n/a n/a n/a CAM WINNERS!! 2023 Costa Rica n/a WON n/a GOLD CUP WINNERS!!! Left Costa Rica. 2024 Brazil u23 n/a n/a n/a Olympics WINNERS!!! Resigned from Brazil u23s. 2025 Italy n/a n/a n/a Qualified for World Cup. 2026 Italy WON n/a n/a WORLD CUP WINNERS!!! 2027 Italy n/a n/a n/a Qualified for Euro 2028. 2028 Italy n/a WON n/a Euro 2028 Champions!!! 2029 Italy n/a n/a WON Confederation Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Italy. 2030 Club 8/10 top domestic leagues (USA,KOR,ITA,ESP,GER,ENG,BRA,TUR) 7/10 domestic cups (RSA,KOR,ITA,ESP,GER,ENG,TUR) 3/5 club continental championships (N.America, Asia, Europe) 1/1 club world championship International 3/5 continental tournaments (Africa, N.America, Europe) 2/2 world tournaments (World Cup, Confed. Cup) 24/33 Total Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 @vikeologist Yeah I have a little career path in mind though obviously the stars need to align for it to become possible and I already have enough reputation to take over those clubs. Like for example I will manage İstanbul Başakşehir at some point in the years to come providing Fenerbahçe continue to dominate domestic football. I also have clubs in the major nations selected but there is nothing available at moment so will plug on in Russia , my shortest reign currently is still +1000 days . I want to leave legacies in this challenge this time round , Tucumán per example did manage win Copa Argentina again several years after my departure with names I brought trough their youth system. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 The Earls Ultimate Football Manager Challenge Mexico in Gold Cup 2029 After winning the Double with PAOK twice in a row, I left the club knowing the as a manager of Mexico I could not get a new club until I resigned. Anyway it was time to get an international achievement. And for sure Mexico in Gold Cup was a given way to do this right? To top the things Gold Cup 2029 was played partially at the same time as Confederations Cup. With Mexico not winning Gold Cup for 14 years, we where not part of that competition. USA represented CONCACAF and such their B-team participated in Gold Cup. Now this must be easy right? Group Stage Spoiler Mexico - USA B 3-1 - S.Rodriguez, J.Mendoza, C.Gaxiola Mexico - Guadeloupe 4-3 - D.Valadez 2, M.de la Rosa, M.del Palacio Langer Mexico - Trinidad & Tobago 5-1 - F.Estrada 3, G.Olguin, D.Valadez Fairly straight forward group stage. USA B didn't provide any challenge, and we only got challenged a bit by the weakest team Gouadelopue as we put on 10 subs for that game, rotating the squad. My only concern was an injury to my sub left-back, which meant A.Diaz had to play every game, but I would put a centre back out there as soon as the game was decided. Quarter Final (if applicable) Spoiler Mexico - Honduras 3-0 - C.Gaxiola, F.Estrada, O.Romo Still in the quarter final I could rotate the squad a bit without any worries. A comfortable 3-0 win, set up a semi final clash with the toughest opponent Costa Rica. Semi Final (if applicable) Spoiler Mexico - Costa Rica 3-2 - S.Rodriguez, F.Estrada, J.Mendoza By far the toughest game, and after going 1-0 up, we crashed to 1-2 before half time. Gaxiola and Olguin where not hitting the target and I feared an upset. But Estrada turned out to be my key player for the tournament and he made it 2-2 early in the second half. I was preparing for extra time, and thinking heavily how to balance my team as the Costa Ricans seemed fitter and more up for the challenge. Thats when midfielder Jonathan Mendoza scored a long range shote 1 minute into stoppage time to take us to the Final Final (if applicable) Spoiler Mexico - Canada 4-1 - A.Diaz, F.Estrada 2, G.Olguin Canada have 1 really good striker playing for Juventus, but it was not hime but the other striker who put them ahead after 40 minutes. Still we managed to score 2 goals before half time, and in the second half there was never any doubt. Winning a sound 4-1 we brought the Gold Cup home where it belongs for my 14th landmark in this challenge. Aftermath Spoiler I immediately resigned and hoped to get both a club job and an international job (club job first obviously.) Clubs available included Sao Paulo and AC Milan, International job was Colombia with a really nice team that could challenge for both World Cup and Copa America. I got the Sao Paulo offer first and jumped on it, as I need Copa Libertadores and a cup win in Brazil would be nice also, the league is not needed as I only need the big 5 for the remainder of my career. Unfortunately the process took too long time to get Colombia as they appointed someone else not waiting for me. Sao Paulo are 8th with half the season remaining, and thats the position I need to qualify for Copa Libertadores. They are still running in the Copa Perdigao do Brasil also. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 (edited) The latest update has supposedly adjusted the likelihood of getting a club job when you have an international job, so I did a little experiment. On the previous build I quit my international job in order to get the club job I wanted, (Orlando Pirates 2.5 stars). I ran the interview 3 times (as manager of Chile) and didn't get the job no matter what I said. But a few months later I did get a decent club job, (Aberdeen 3 stars), so my limited experiment suggests that having an international job still makes club jobs harder, but far from impossible. This will be a big help in the challenge. This was just an experiment though. I'm the manager of Orlando Pirates. Edited December 14, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 6 hours ago, vikeologist said: The latest update has supposedly adjusted the likelihood of getting a club job when you have an international job, so I did a little experiment. On the previous build I quit my international job in order to get the club job I wanted, (Orlando Pirates 2.5 stars). I ran the interview 3 times (as manager of Chile) and didn't get the job no matter what I said. But a few months later I did get a decent club job, (Aberdeen 3 stars), so my limited experiment suggests that having an international job still makes club jobs harder, but far from impossible. This will be a big help in the challenge. This was just an experiment though. I'm the manager of Orlando Pirates. Nice to know about @vikeologist, I read also that this issue was "fixed" in the new update, but its still harder then in previous FM-versions. And I think hat is kind of good also, as not all clubs around would hire a manager who has a "double task". I have left Mexico and is currently with Sao Paulo. Coming up is World Cup and probably some International managers getting sacked or quitting. So I guess I will take an International job, but that will be mid-season. Interesting to see what kind of club job I can get afterwards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 (edited) Vikeologist's 2025/26 Orlando Pirates Report As mentioned, I quit my job with Chile in order to increase (or at the time create even the remotest possibility) of getting the job with Orlando Pirates in South Africa. It worked. I got the job. We all have to go through South Africa to achieve this challenge, and the nation has its frustrations because of the scheduling of the Champions League. I took over in July 2025, and the Pirates weren’t in the 2025 Champions League, and because of their league position the previous season, weren’t going to be in the competition in 2026 either. That meant that the soonest I would be able to win the CL would be at the end of 2027; a two and a half year wait. That made the priority to finish in the top 2 in my first season; which I failed to do finishing third, which means that I’m going to be here at least three and a half years. (I qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup again). At the moment I don’t mind that, but in a season or two when (hopefully) we’re dominating domestically, it’s might become a bit boring hanging around just for the CL. The other issue is the registration. Essentially you need to have your squad together and registered at the start of the year for the continental competitions’ end stages at the end of the year. This can be difficult given that your top players are very likely to be snatched up by bigger teams. So, South Africa is not without its frustrations if you take over a team which needs a bit of work, as I did. We should have finished 2nd. We were in a good position until a slump near the end of the season coupled with an annoying surge by Sundowns. However I did win one of the eligible cups (the one that all the top division sides enter), so at least I am a little closer to completion. Top Goalscorer – Ntando Ngubane. 24 goals from 26 matches. Halfway through the season we were banging goals in on a regular basis thanks to my front 2 of Ngubane and a promising young Edward Vilakazi. Then Vilakazi was snatched up dirt cheap because of a minimum release clause by a Belgian side and Ngubane picked up a long term injury, and then another season ending injury after being back a couple of matches. I signed 2 replacement strikers, and they seem to be developing nicely according to their star ratings, but there was a noticeable drop in goals, and we lost a lot of matches against the run of play because we couldn’t put the ball in the net. Best Average Rating – Ngubane 7.62 Man of Match – Ngubane 7 Most Valuable Player – Ngubane, obviously, but he’ll be 31 next month, and after his injuries has a lower star rating than my 2 starters. I have reason to believe this season would have ended very differently if not for his injuries, but maybe his ship has now sailed. Hopefully after the 2026 World Cup I can pick up a good international job. 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 2023 Minnesota Utd 14th 2024 Minnesota Utd 7th Lost on penalties in Western Conference Semifinal 2025-6 Orlando Pirates 3rd Knockout Cup Winners, failed to qualify for Champions League International Year Team Achievements 2019-21 Nigeria None 2021-23 DR Congo 2022 World Cup - R2, 2023 African Cup Losing Finalists 2023-25 Chile None Challenge Progress Club 2/10 top domestic leagues (Finland, South Korea) 3/10 domestic cups (Finland, South Korea, South Africa) 1/5 club continental championships (Asia) 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Edited December 16, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Saint Etienne Season 2026/27 Report Before the season our best striker Sandrinho was poached by PSG and a number of our other best players returned to their parent clubs as they were on loan. We invested all the money we could in new signings and they just about did the job, although we haven't made much progress as a club. Champions League- We went in to the playoff round before the group stage, where unfortunately we were drawn against the hardest team we could have gotten in Liverpool, who recently won the CL. As expected we lost 6-1 on aggregate and that was the end of that. Europa League- We were drawn into a group with Leicester, Standard Liege and FC Midtjylland which we won easily with 6 straight wins. The first KO round saw us face CSKA Moscow and the first leg was a ridiculous 5-5 draw away from home that we were 4-0 up in at one point. We wont the second leg 3-1 at home to go through 8-6 on aggregate. The 2nd KO round we played Malaga of Spain and after a 1-1 draw away came back and won the home leg 3-1 to send us through. The Quarter finals saw us draw Club Brugge my old enemies from Belgium, and we put in 2 of our worst performances of the season to lose 2-1 on aggregate. We really should have beat them as we had way more talent but our poor finishing cost us. My strikers missed 3-4 absolute sitters while we also hit the woodwork twice and had a goal disallowed for offside. Oh well, another decent run in the EL i guess. League- Well, Monaco won for a change, beating PSG on the last day. However, 20 points back with the rest of the teams we were crowned 'best of the rest' yet again for another 3rd position finish as we just pipped Lyon and Marseille again. Not much else to say here but I am quite sure that no one outside of PSG or Monaco will be winning this league anytime soon. PSG alone spent over 350 million euros in one transfer window. Coupe de la Ligue- We drew PSG in the first round which I suspected would mean an early exit, but we pulled off a great 2-1 win to knock out the defending champions! We then beat FC Metz and Bordeaux to send us into a second straight final- this time against Monaco. The final was close, but it shouldn't have been. We absolutely dominated, having over 60% possession and more than double their shots, shots on target etc. it finished 1-1 however and ended up going for penalties. Luckily, my 'keeper kicked it up a notch and saved 2 of theirs, meaning we won the cup! A great achievement in beating both top teams to some silverware and another trophy that counts towards the challenge! French Cup- Beat FC Lorient in the first round only to be smashed 4-0 by Lille in the next. A bit of a disappointing showing in this competition. Best Players: Top goalscorer- Morgyn Craig (23 goals, 13 assists) Scottish striker we brought in from Man Utd to replace Sandrinho. He's not as good as Sandrinho and wildly inconsistent. Our other striker Yoann Moulin also had a poor, inconsistent season unfortunately. 23 is a pretty low tally for a top scorer in one of my teams and i'm pretty disappointed with how badly our strikers were this season, even our backups, youngsters and loanees didn't really contribute much. Most assists, Most POM and Highest Avg rating- Rafael Ramirez (13 goals, 14 assists, 7 POM, 7.52) The Mexican wide man was definitely our best player this season and once we picked up German international Gerrit Amort (12 goals, 10 assists) on a free halfway through the season our wide players were really our strong point. Results Results 2 So I suppose it's been an alright season here, picking up a trophy and another 3rd place finish. We really cannot match PSG and Monaco for riches or talent though and there is no way we will be able to win the league anytime soon so I'm on the lookout for a job. I was offered the job at Valencia but thought that was kind of a step backwards so declined. My reputation is up to 65% so hopefully somebody will hire me! After getting a new club job i'll look at getting back into international management as well. Season Team Position Champs League Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Royal Eagles 2nd - Promoted to South African Premier League 2017/18 Royal Eagles 1st - KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2018/19 Royal Eagles 2nd - FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing 2019/20 Royal Eagles 1st Semi Final KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2020/21 Royal Eagles -- Semi Final KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through the season for Molde 2021 Molde 1st - Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2022 Molde -- - Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk 2022/23 Genk 1st - EL Semi finalists 2023/24 Genk 2nd Group Stage Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists 2024/25 Genk 1st Playoff Cup winners, CL qualification 2025/26 Saint Etienne 3rd - Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification 2026/27 Saint Etienne 3rd Playoff Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk) 4/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments International: Season Team Notes and Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------- 2018 China U23 Won Asian Games 2019 Cameroon Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria 2019 Algeria Resigned after 2 games 2021 Nigeria Qualified for world cup, ACON qualification ongoing 2022 Nigeria Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned 2023 Ivory Coast Started World Cup and ACON qualifying. 2024 Ivory Coast Qualified for ACON 2025 Ivory Coast Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned. 2026 Ghana Qualified for ACON 2027 Ghana ACON runners up, resigned. 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Fadedaf Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Jeonbuk Season 2027 Report Another quick update from me, as I've taken over at Jeonbuk, one of @vikeologist's old teams if I remember correctly. Just before preseason started back in France they offered me the job and seeing as I didn't think i'd be able to make much more progress towards the challenge there i took the job. They were sitting in 6th in the league and had already been knocked out of the cup but were still in the Champions League. League- They were sitting in 6th when I took over but the whole league was very close and there were enough games left that anyone could win it. We ended up doing incredibly well and climbing all the way back up the ladder to win the league with a match to spare! at one point we were 11 points back so i'm very proud of the team for winning it. Another trophy towards the challenge! Champions League- They were into the quarter finals when i took over, where we faced Yanbian of China. We beat them 2-0 at home then 4-0 away to send us into the semi final against Ulsan, another Korean side. We performed very poorly in the first leg, losing 2-1 away then despite winning the return leg 3-2 they went through on aggregate. A very frustrating loss as we probably should have won it but for a red card, missed penalty, hitting the woodwork multiple times etc. I wish I could see how many times my teams have hit the woodwork in important continental games, I bet its more than the goals we've scored! Anyways we'll try again next year. Best Players: Top goalscorer- Park Hong-Sun (30 goals, 5 assists0 pretty solid young striker who was a bit inconsistent but did pretty well overall. Most assists, most POM and highest Avg rating- Park Byung-Min (12 goals, 20 assists, 7 POM, 7.51) wide player who was very good all season and one of our best performers. So another trophy towards the challenge and we will hopefully challenge for the Cup and Champions League next year! Season Team Position Champs League Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Royal Eagles 2nd - Promoted to South African Premier League 2017/18 Royal Eagles 1st - KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2018/19 Royal Eagles 2nd - FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing 2019/20 Royal Eagles 1st Semi Final KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2020/21 Royal Eagles -- Semi Final KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through the season for Molde 2021 Molde 1st - Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2022 Molde -- - Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk 2022/23 Genk 1st - EL Semi finalists 2023/24 Genk 2nd Group Stage Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists 2024/25 Genk 1st Playoff Cup winners, CL qualification 2025/26 Saint Etienne 3rd - Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification 2026/27 Saint Etienne 3rd Playoff Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification 2027 Jeonbuk 1st Semi Final Took over in 6th position, CL qualification Challenge Progress Club 4/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk) 4/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments International: Season Team Notes and Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------- 2018 China U23 Won Asian Games 2019 Cameroon Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria 2019 Algeria Resigned after 2 games 2021 Nigeria Qualified for world cup, ACON qualification ongoing 2022 Nigeria Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned 2023 Ivory Coast Started World Cup and ACON qualifying. 2024 Ivory Coast Qualified for ACON 2025 Ivory Coast Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned. 2026 Ghana Qualified for ACON 2027 Ghana ACON runners up, resigned. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 (edited) Season 4 – 2019/20 – Sheffield Utd (ENG) / Greece Season Review Because of the – hopefully now fixed – international/club job bug discussed on these pages, I was too cautious to quit my Greece job and apply for jobs in Asia etc after my Sheffield Utd promotion. So I stayed for another season and gave the English Premier League a crack. In the end it was a good but very bittersweet season; I should be really happy with the results but I can’t help wondering what might have been. This was mainly about the cups. We were flying in the league cup until a frustrating loss to Everton in the semis. We were the better side in both legs, and were ahead on away goals until the last 5 minutes when they equalised and went through. In the FA cup, we dispatched Man City to get to the quarters. I was preparing for the home replay after the away draw at Leicester but apparently there are no more replays in the FA cup, so we settled for extra time, missed some chances and went out on penalties. In the league, we started inconsistently which was ok given all the new signings, then hit a purple patch pre-Christmas, then the form was a bit up and down before collapsing in the last few games (but that might be because I instant-resulted those). We finished 7th, and were between 6th and 7th through most of the season. The chase was on for the Champ. League spots, but we fell away in the end. So here it was, a successful season but no cigar, and no trophies in the cabinet. League Table Player review Being up in the premier league, I took the chance to recruit some names familiar from past FMs, such as Donis Avdijaj and Leonardo Capezzi, which proved a bit hit and miss (1 goal in 30 apps for Avdijaj!), I guess their ability was changed for this year’s version. After the rep boost in January I could add some better-established EPL names which were either transfer-listed or released, namely Marko Grujic, Serge Gnabry and Phil Jones. But despite all these established new signings, the best player by far – the only properly good player in the squad, I’d say, was the American wonderkid wanted by a number of top clubs, but somehow snapped up by me, Thomas Trujillo: Top scorer, top avg. rating: Thomas Trujillo (AMC/ST): 24 goals in 29(3) apps, 5 assists, 7.67 avg rating I hope I get to manage him again in the future, he really surpassed all expectations and developed very nicely throughout the year. Top assists: Josh Harrop (M/AMRC) 11 in 24(6) apps; 8 goals. Turns out he could still cut it at this level, and continues to surprise. Manager progress 35% rep, studying for Continental Pro International We competed in the Euro 2020 in the summer. Started off well in the group, finishing unbeaten after beating Denmark and Ireland, and snatching a last-minute draw vs Spain. Beat Ukraine in a 3-2 thriller in the last 16, but went out 1-0 to eventual runner-ups France in the quarters. Spain won the whole thing. It was a pleasing performance, and it was too much of a task to win the Euros with Greece, but I’m still thinking what might have been, had we managed to squeeze past France in that game… What’s next Labelled a serial quitter by the media, the talented 24-year old manager K quit both his international and club jobs, and is currently looking for greener pastures in Asia, South Africa or Mexico. Challenge XI [ will fill this up as I go along ] DR: Sergi Palencia (Sheff Utd) – great first season in the EPL for the ex-Barcelona player, but guess he won’t be around the best XI for that long MC: Leonardo Capezzi (Sheff Utd) – the second-best summer signing for us, netting 14 goals in one season from center mid. AMR: Josh Harrop (Sheff Utd) AMC: Thomas Trujillo (Sheff Utd) ST: Greg Luer (Accrington) 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 2017/18 | Accrington | League 2 (ENG) | 1/24 | n/a | Promotion; League 2 points record (104). Moved to Sheffield Utd at end of season 2018/19 | Sheffield Utd | Championship (ENG) | 1/24 | n/a | Promoted 2019/20 | Sheffield Utd | Premiership (ENG) | 7/20 | semi | International career: Season | Team | Tournament | Notes & Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 | Greece | Euro 2020 quals | Took over in Autumn 2019/20 | Greece | Euro 2020 | Quarter-finals; lost to France 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 December 18, 2016 by dkouv Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdavies26 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Kicking things off here... Starting Profile. Have loaded South Africa, China, South Korea, Australia, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Started in January 2016, had a few unsuccessful interviews before taking over at Hunan Xiangtao. We currently sit in last in the Chinese Jia League after 12 matches. With 18 to go, my expectations are to avoid relegation this season. Wish me luck... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oohlala111 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 (edited) I'm joining this challenge this time, as I kick things off with Telekom S-League favourites Solomon Warriors from the Solomon Islands! The competition works as a 9 team league of which the bottom team is relegated. The remaining 8 play a knockout tournament to get a winner, with the top 2 qualifying for the OFC Champions League. My aim is to win the title and qualify for the UCL although actually winning the tournament isn't a priority for me at this club. The badge is very bizarre (see below) and looking at the squad, it's pretty decent. According to the media, the league's dream XI compromises of precisely 11 of our players. However, we are weak down the left with no natural left backs or left midfielders, and with no transfer or wage budget, we will have to make do for now. As for our opposition, odds to win the title are quite close but most of their squads are pretty poor. As long as I find the right tactic and we get the right mentality, we'll be off. Our first match, after over 5 weeks of pre-season, was a 1-0 away win at KOSSA. I will continue to update each season or when I get sacked/get offered a new job! Hopefully, this series will be successful and I will win lots of trophies!! Solomon Warriors FC EDIT: Just been alerted added leagues like Solomon Islands aren't allowed so will continue solely on Earl's Giant 70 thread! Edited December 18, 2016 by oohlala111 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 @oohlala111 Unfortunately added leagues / customised databases such as the Solomon Islands aren't allowed in this challenge. I see that you posted in Earl's Giant 70, and I will definitely follow your progress in that, or any of the challenges that do allow extra leagues. @bdavies26 Welcome to the challenge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oohlala111 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 5 minutes ago, vikeologist said: @oohlala111 Unfortunately added leagues / customised databases such as the Solomon Islands aren't allowed in this challenge. I see that you posted in Earl's Giant 70, and I will definitely follow your progress in that, or any of the challenges that do allow extra leagues. OK that's fine! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlion28 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 6 hours ago, vikeologist said: @vikeologist I understand it's too late to change the rules now but in the future if everyone was allowed extra leagues but only Claasens pack for example than nobody would be at a disadvantage? Only having South Africa to manage in in Africa feels a bit restrictive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share Posted December 19, 2016 3 minutes ago, ryanlion28 said: @vikeologist I understand it's too late to change the rules now but in the future if everyone was allowed extra leagues but only Claasens pack for example than nobody would be at a disadvantage? Only having South Africa to manage in in Africa feels a bit restrictive I'm reluctant to change rules. When the challenge started we thrashed them out, and I confess a few months back I tinkered with a minor rule (the initial spread of manager attributes), but generally speaking I want to leave things alone now. The thinking on customised leagues, and I admit this was all me, was that I wanted a level playing field for everybody. Honestly, in many ways, S Africa is a pain in the arse. This is abundantly clear to me at the moment since I'm currently managing there, but I think if we allow customised leagues it takes away the level playing field. There are challenges for customised databases; not just Earl's G70, but also ones like this and this I think the challenge is a combination of people seemingly being able to choose their own paths, but actually all being pushed in very similar directions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Well, it was a classic case of "grass is greener on the other side" for me :[ Getting a job after quitting Sheffield Utd was far from easy. I got rejected from jobs at mid-table South Korean and bottom-table South African teams (Pohang; Platinum Stars), and a number of European teams after I reversed my grand plan to leave Europe in desperation. In the end it was a bit like those government get-back-to-work schemes when you're meant to apply for everything, but the outcome was allright: I got a job at Jeonnam FC in South Korea in the Summer of 2021, after a year of unemployment. The club is in decent shape financially but the squad looks a bit weak and really bloated, sitting 10/12 in the league. So I envisage a bit of a rebuilding job lasting a few years here. Hopefully I can eventually win the league and compete with the super-rich Chinese clubs in the ACL. Tactically I might switch back to the Accrington-days 4-3-3 to suit the squad better, but let's see. All in all, definitely a lesson for the future - if things are going well early on, it pays to stay and build reputation, not quit opportunistically just because you won't win the league next year! @Fadedaf Impressive stuff at Jeonbuk; this is something I was aiming for with my job search but it turned out a tad more difficult @vikeologist Will be following your progress with interest; South Africa is provisionally next on my list, even though I will refrain from making too many plans from now on congrats to the others on their progress (getting close for @JoeLapira!), and best of luck to the newcomers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysdailydose Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Finally got myself FM17, I'll be rejoining the challenge this year, and likely to start in England. I thought about giving it a late start in FM16, but even with it being a late buy I knew I should just rest up and get ready for 17. I'm in the process of downloading all of my graphics and skins and the like, but I'll have my first club and starting post up tomorrow. Definitely want to try to manage in England first so I can see the Brexit features in action as I thought that was an amazing addition to the game that can really add a ton of emergent gameplay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny_H22 Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Small update before my full season update around Thursday time. We are third at about the half way point, 6 points behind 2nd and 11 points off of TNS who continue to dominate the league. We have only lost twice in the league all season and just had a 12 game unbeaten run which Airbus ended (the team who have beaten me twice in the league this season). As well as this, we are in the final of one cup and in the fourth round of the other. Sadly, we have TNS in the final and have lost 7/7 to them. I achieved my first coaching badge and instantly got accepted for my second badge. And I applied for and got offered my first international job with 70th placed Togo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysdailydose Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 On 12/18/2016 at 23:28, vikeologist said: I'm reluctant to change rules. When the challenge started we thrashed them out, and I confess a few months back I tinkered with a minor rule (the initial spread of manager attributes), but generally speaking I want to leave things alone now. The thinking on customised leagues, and I admit this was all me, was that I wanted a level playing field for everybody. Honestly, in many ways, S Africa is a pain in the arse. This is abundantly clear to me at the moment since I'm currently managing there, but I think if we allow customised leagues it takes away the level playing field. Long time no see, my friend. It definitely wasn't just you on the customised leagues thing... back in the beginning when this challenge took off there was actually a bit of solid discussion about this and a near-consensus was reached that for posterity's sake we all need to start with the same available nations. (And yes, the African nations were a big reason why, I remember that as well!) Everyone has to do their time in South Africa, that is just the way it goes. And back then, there weren't other challenges like the one now that is almost a direct offshoot of this challenge but specifically using Classen's DB's! I was actually very glad that the managerial attributes rules were changed, but I've always been glad that we've been "restricted" to the same pool of available nations. I'm coming back to the challenge, and that's one of the things that feels just PERFECT to me. Are you still in China, Vike? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) 2 hours ago, jaysdailydose said: Are you still in China, Vike? Oh, I was about to say, I've never been in China because I won the Asian Champions League with Jeonbuk, but you meant that slippery little bugger that goes by the moniker of real life. It shows where my head is at. Yes. I'm still in China. Anyway, long-post alert because it's; Vikeologist's 2027 South Korea Asian Cup Report South Korea 2027 Asian Cup Report After the 2026 World Cup, I applied for quite a few of the vacant jobs, but South Korea bit first, and I jumped at the chance. I wanted to manage some of my old Jeonbuk players at international level. Not all my clubs fare well after I love them and leave them, but Jeonbuk have gone from strength to strength, winning the Champions League again multiple times and 2 Club World Cup finals, one of which they won. Of course the national team is hardly the same as the club team I left just over 4 years ago, and many of the top players in the national team were merely promising youth players when I last encountered them. My squad has just 7 of my ex-Jeonbuk players, and only 3 of them were in my first team. The national team itself though has been in the doldrums for ages, and has come nowhere near success in the Asian Cup. They lost all 3 matches in last year’s World Cup without scoring a goal, although to be fair they were in the same group as Italy, Germany and Nigeria. Hardly fair. It’s Japan who have beaten them in the last 3 senior Asian tournaments, so I guess that’s a potential grudge match. I’ve been looking forward to this since taking over. Bring it on. Group Stage Spoiler Vs Palestine 3-0 We didn’t go ahead until well into the second half, and looked toothless in attack, but hopefully we were just shaking off the cobwebs. Vs China 0-2 Oh, this isn’t good. China are ranked higher in the world than us, and we should still qualify from the group, but it looks as though my optimism was profoundly misplaced. Vs Hong Kong 6-0 This was better, I suppose, although most of the goals were due to Hong Kong being bad rather than anything we did well. As we finished 2nd in the group, we could have had a difficult draw for the second round, but luckily we are up against another 2nd place finisher, Thailand, which is about as easy as we could have hoped for. In fact, looking ahead, we have a ridiculously easy draw all the way to potentially the final, where presumably we would be absolutely spanked by Japan or Australia, both top 20 teams and playing in the quarterfinal. I am a lucky, lucky boy, but we are going to have to start playing well. I’m not deceived by those 2 group stage wins. Second Round (if applicable) Spoiler Vs Thailand 3-0 Waiting for Korean goals is like watching paint dry. It will happen eventually, and it’s not as though the wall in front of you is dangerous. Thankfully Iran and China (2 of the top ranked nations) are out. Next up for us is Syria. Quarter Final (if applicable) Spoiler Vs Syria 2-1 Just another slow step towards our inevitable oshidashi by Japan in the final. Semi Final (if applicable) Spoiler Vs UAE 1-0 Not really a close game. Johnny Choi scored a great goal on the counter taking on 2 defenders and slotting it into the corner. That was the only interesting thing that happened in the game. So, now Japan in the final. As I pointed out at the start, we’ve lost our last 3 matches to Japan including failures in the last 2 East Asian Cups and the previous Asian Cup. We’ve had an easy ride to the final purely by being the marginally less rubbish team in every match we’ve won, but it’s going to need a fluke victory now. 3rd Place Playoff (if applicable) Spoiler Final (if applicable) Spoiler Vs Japan 3-2 AET. Oh my Lady Gaga, what a final, and one that has cemented two of the players in my Challenge XI. As in the semi final, from a Japan set piece, Horse booted the ball up the pitch to fellow striker Johnny Choi (ex-Jeonbuk, already on the verge of my CXI, who once again went past 2 defenders and slotted the ball home. Japan were then awarded a penalty, which was saved by the other ex-Jeonbuk / CXI Spiderman. Johnny scored a second. It’s 2-0, and I’m going to park the bus. In the 63rd minute Japan pull a goal back with a deflected shot that Spidey couldn’t do anything about. I was getting ready to celebrate until with 3 minutes of normal time, Japan were awarded another penalty. Again Spidey parried it, but unfortunately it fell straight into the path of the penalty taker who slotted it home. Extra time, and it was clearly going to take a moment of sheer quality for us to win this. Or a moment of sheer stupidity from Japan. That would work as well. Their goalkeeper passed the ball to a defender who gave it away in the penalty area and heeeeeeere’s Johnny, to slot it away for his hat trick. I’ll say this for Choi. He hasn’t often looked like the player who scored 42 goals in my final season at Jeonbuk, but when he’s been given a chance, he was cold as ice. 8 goals in the 7 matches. There’s a long way to go in this challenge, but Johnny Choi and Spiderman have their spots in the final XI locked up. I mean, if I have a goalkeeper who doesn’t let in a single goal all season, or 2 strikers who get over 100 goals in a season, then I’ll have to reconsider it, but basically they’re golden. I should also mention the third ex starting Jeonbukker in my squad; my left back Hello, who was a youth product and named in honour of whoever had a Chinese player called Ni Hao. South Korea’s first Asian Cup for 67 years. When I completed the challenge, this was the last trophy I won, and it took about 20 seasons at the end. It’s a hard one to win because it only happens every 4 years, and because there aren’t many Asian nations that one can manage unless you add key players. I did that, and I thought it was going to make it hard to win, because other sides were so strong. I think the strongest Asian sides are Japan, Australia, Iran and China, but they can all eat my excitement-stained shorts, because we’re the champions. After The Tournament Spoiler The African Cup is finishing now as well, so I guess I need to quit S Korea and give Africa another try. Edited December 21, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Vikeologist's 2025/26 Orlando Pirates (and new international team) Report We won everything; the league (comfortably) and the 3 main domestic cups. We also made our way to the group stages of the Confederations Cup. When you add the Asian Cup I won on my New Year’s vacation, it’s been an ok season. Just a pity that our third place last season meant we were in the Confederations Cup, and not the main continental event. I have at least another year and a half to wait before I can get my next landmark; the Champions League. We didn’t really have a fixture pileup until the end of the season where we had 4 matches in 7 days, culminating in the final of the FA (Nedbank) Cup. Luckily by that point we had already won the league and had a 3-0 advantage from the first leg of our Confederations Cup tie against Ashanti Gold. When I managed in S Africa in FM15, by the time I took over at Kaiser Chiefs, South African sides dominated Africa, and the only thing standing between us and the Champions League was Orlando Pirates, but that’s not really the natural order of things. In my save, Kaiser Chiefs won the Champions League at the end of last year, but they were the first S African side to win it since Orlando Pirates. This season no South African sides have made it to the final 8 / Group Stage. I assumed that Kaiser Chiefs were the biggest team in Africa IRL, but they’ve never won the Champions League. In fact Sundowns have just won it in real life; only the second club from the nation to do so. So it’s great to be in the Champions League, but winning it may not be the foregone conclusion I’d like it to be now that we’re the dominant team domestically. We've easily dispatched everyone we've met in the Confederations Cup. There's a good chance that next season could be really boring. Honestly this league campaign only became interesting when with less than 10 matches to go, we suddenly lost 2 league matches in a row, (then drew the second leg of a Confederations Cup). Our next match was away to our main rivals Supersport. We won 4-0, and from that point the word conclusion was sponsored by foregone. To be clear, this wasn't one of those league wins where we were the best of a bad bunch. Our 72 points from 30 matches was one of the many records we broke. Top Goalscorer – Thando Bartlett 36. One of the strikers I signed midway through last season, and he made hay this one. He probably could have scored a lot more goals if I’d played him in the easy cup ties, and if he hadn’t been injured a couple of times. It didn’t really matter. I had a cadre of 4 strikers who scored 90 goals between them. Best Average Rating – Mokete Gcaba 7.80. 22 year old Gcaba was scoring quite few goals for our chief rivals Supersport, so I signed him for 2.5 million. He soon forced his way into the first team, and was in fact more prolific than Bartlett. My assistant manager, who has decent scouting stats, doesn’t think that he will improve any more, but if he can repeat his scoring rate for a couple more seasons, it doesn’t really matter. Man of Match – Bartlett – 8 Most Valuable Player – Grant Konco My left winger had 18 assists (and 11 goals). I won’t be inducting anybody to my Challenge XI until my time at Pirates is over, but I expect Konco is probably the favourite to get in. Like Gcaba, just 22 years old. Bartlett is 24. All 3 of them are South African and none of them are currently in the national squad, although that may change…. After my Asian Cup success, I was offered 4 African jobs; Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and S Africa, and the latter is probably the weakest nation of the 4, but I still took the South Africa job. After all, having a team mainly made up of my players in the CHAN could actually make the competition fun for the first time. It’s usually a nightmare of greyed out and rubbish players. I don’t currently have that many Pirates players in the squad, but there’s a lot on the cusp, and it probably makes sense to select them as they may be more used to my tactics. I’m not really sure how a nation’s tactical familiarity works. We might not win the next African Cup, but honestly it seems to be a bit of a lottery anyway. In fact we’ve been drawn in the same qualifying group as Ivory Coast, so we may not even be at the next African Cup as only the top team in the group qualifies automatically. However, I hope that as Orlando Pirates improve, the national team will improve as well. 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 2023 Minnesota Utd 14th 2024 Minnesota Utd 7th Lost on penalties in Western Conference Semifinal 2025-6 Orlando Pirates 3rd Knockout Cup Winners, failed to qualify for Champions League 2026-7 Orlando Pirates 1st League, Super 8, Knockout Cup, Nedbank Cup. Won everything basically. International Year Team Achievements 2019-21 Nigeria None 2021-23 DR Congo 2022 World Cup - R2, 2023 African Cup Losing Finalists 2023-25 Chile None 2026-27 South Korea Asian Cup winners 2027 - South Africa Haven't played a competitive match yet. Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (Finland, South Korea, South Africa) 3/10 domestic cups (Finland, South Korea, South Africa) 1/5 club continental championships (Asia) 0/1 club world championship International 1/5 continental tournaments (Asia) 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny_H22 Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 (edited) Danny_H22 2018/2019 Season Report My second full season with Newtown is over and a lot has happened over the previous 12 months. In the league, we remained fairly consistent all season but still failed to pip TNS and Bala into a top two spot. We did, however, pick up our first silverware! Winning theWord Cup. 2018 also saw us make our debut in Europe, in a losing effort to FH of Iceland. Certainly a positive season for The Robins, although I was unhappy with our third place finish in the league. We have a platform to build upon now and I feel like my squad is a lot better than it was 12 months ago. On a personal level, I achieved my first two badges and will hopefully push the board into letting me go for my third during the summer. I also finished the season with a nice Manager of the Year award to place on my mantel. International management also came beckoning after applying for and being offered, the Togo job! Exciting times are ahead. Welsh Premier League- A strong season saw us finish in 3rd place again, with Bala finishing 11 points clear of me and TNS a staggering 35 points clear of me. We actually put together a pretty decent start to the season and had only lost twice by Christmas time. 7 more losses and far too many draws would see us drift away from the leading pack and finish the season in third and on the same points total as last season. This was enough to see us into the semi-finals of the European place playoffs where we beat Llandudno on penalties after a 2-2 draw after extra time. The finals saw us line up alongside Airbus who promptly destroyed us 4-1. A shocking performance to end an otherwise decent season. JD FAW Welsh Cup- We managed to go one step further this season and made the semi-final where a draw against titans TNS awaited us. They beat us 3-1 in a game where we didn't really put up a fight. theWord Cup - The crowning glory of our season! We managed to hold off TNS' attacks and drag out a 1-1 draw for 120 minutes, before beating them 4-3 on penalties. My first trophy and first victory over TNS. The excitement didn't last long as TNS would go on to beat us three more times towards the end of the season. Europa League- The less we say about this the better. What should have been an amazing experience was cut short when I forgot to bring my players back from their end of season break with enough time to get match fit. We ended up losing 15-1 on aggregate over the two legs of the 1st qualifying round against FH of Iceland. Not a mistake I will make again. Top Goalscorer - That man Jason Oswell again. 25 goals in 35 games saw a decrease in last years figures but still very respectable. He also scored our first and only Europa goal! Sadly no one else managed to come close to matching his goalscoring feats with second place being Rob Kinsey with 7goals in 8 starts. Most Assists- Playmaker Jay Gibbs takes the crown with 11 for the season. Highest Avg rating - Surprisingly, my centre back Johnny Spittle with 7.13. We did keep our share of clean sheets and conceded 20 less league goals than last year I guess. Most POM - Oswell with 7. Goals for Next Season - It is going to be impossible to topple TNS without years of reaching the Europa League to raise my finances enough to be able to turn professional. Now that I have my first two badges and have won my first trophy, I may look at moving on and seeing what else is out there for me. Season Team Position Continental Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Newtown 8th - Took over in November 2017/18 Newtown 3rd - 2018/19 Newtown 3rd First Qualifying Round Won theWord Cup and Manager of the Year Challenge Progress Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 1/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments International: Season Team Notes and Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Togo Appointed manager of Togo UPDATE: DUE TO WINNING THE CUP, WE ARE GOING TO EUROPE AGAIN!!!!! Edited December 23, 2016 by Danny_H22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
heatedbread Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 Interesting reading everyones progress. Just downloaded the game and can't figure out what team to go for so I'll give this challenge a go instead. The last Football Manager I had was 2014 and I was terrible at that game so I can't see this going very well but I'll give it a try Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny_H22 Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 2 hours ago, heatedbread said: Interesting reading everyones progress. Just downloaded the game and can't figure out what team to go for so I'll give this challenge a go instead. The last Football Manager I had was 2014 and I was terrible at that game so I can't see this going very well but I'll give it a try Good luck, dude Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
heatedbread Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 1 hour ago, Danny_H22 said: Good luck, dude Thanks mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 Is anyone else noticing a bug that keeps changing the team training to Team Cohesion- very high intensity for every week, even if you switch it to something else? it's very irritating and my players aren't exactly happy with it haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny_H22 Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 If I win the FA cup and League Cup in England, do they both count towards my domestic cup total? Or just one per country? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 (edited) Season 5 – 2021 – Jeonnam (KOR) / Egypt Season Review After a long job search, I joined Jeonnam, the side from the South of South Korea. They were sitting third from bottom in the league, but it was clear that it shouldn’t be too difficult to avoid relegation. Equally, it looked impossible to qualify for Champions League because the top 4 were well out of sight. It took me a while to assess the squad because the team had what felt like close to 40 players, and it was all a bit confusing. But after going through them, it turned out that I had a bunch of brilliant youngsters with 4-5 star potential, covering most of the positions in the team. In particular, my GK and AMC, 20 and 19 respectively, looked really promising. So I decided to focus on youth, since I won’t qualify for Champ League until the end of the next season in any case, and build a young team that will start to mature in 1-2 years’ time to become a force in Asian football. In what remained of the transfer window I tried to clear up some deadwood, sign a few youngsters for the under-resourced positions (basically, full-backs), and taking a punt on a few African players to fill the foreigner slots in the team. We had a very solid season and finished 5th, the first spot outside of the CL places, but with some distance to 4th. Our form makes me hopeful that we can challenge for the league next season, especially as the board are giving me quite hefty transfer budgets of ca £3m. League Table Player review One diamond found in the rough it seems; good stats for his age and hopefully he can develop into a proper player: Top scorer, top assists, top avg. rating: Emmanuel Kwaku-Duah (AMC/ST): 10 goals and 9 assists in 14 apps, 7.56 avg rating Manager progress 40% rep, Continental Pro license International Both Egypt and Algeria jobs were unoccupied since ACON 2021, so I applied for Egypt and got it. The squad looks pretty decent actually, more balanced than my Greek side, and with a nice age balance: most key players are in late 20s, some very promising regen youngsters and a bit of depth in most positions. The trophy I’m aiming for is ACON 2023. In the meantime, we managed to qualify for 2022 World Cup, by overcoming the challenge of Nigeria in the group. The final qualifying game was very satisfying, we needed a draw away to Nigeria to progress, but dominated, they had a man sent off (John Obi Mikel, now much older but still reckless!), and we won 3-0. What’s next Suddenly this save has acquired a youth focus, with both the club and national sides. I intend to stay put for the next 2 years, watch the youngsters develop and see how far I can get in the ACL and ACON. Challenge XI [ will fill this up as I go along ] DR: Sergi Palencia (Sheff Utd) – great first season in the EPL for the ex-Barcelona player, but guess he won’t be around the best XI for that long MC: Leonardo Capezzi (Sheff Utd) – the second-best summer signing for us, netting 14 goals in one season from center mid. AMR: Josh Harrop (Sheff Utd) AMC: Thomas Trujillo (Sheff Utd) ST: Greg Luer (Accrington) 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 2017/18 | Accrington | League 2 (ENG) | 1/24 | n/a | Promotion; League 2 points record (104). Moved to Sheffield Utd at end of season 2018/19 | Sheffield Utd | Championship (ENG) | 1/24 | n/a | Promoted 2019/20 | Sheffield Utd | Premiership (ENG | 7/20 | semi | 2021 | Jeonnam | K League (KOR) | 5/12 | n/a | Joined when 10th in the league, after a one-year job search International career: Season | Team | Tournament | Notes & Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 | Greece | Euro 2020 quals | Took over in Autumn 2019/20 | Greece | Euro 2020 | Quarter-finals; lost to France 2021 | Egypt | WC 2022 quals | Qualified by beating Nigeria in final group game 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 December 24, 2016 by dkouv Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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