You're not gonna believe this. He killed 16 Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator IV

[noikeee]

How the f- do you play the game this quickly? Almost can't keep up.

Congrats on the league titles in Kazakhstan and Poland. Don't think I've seen a Polish thread in here in a while. Never managed there myself neither, maybe one day.

[AlexSizemore]

I love where this series is going! I am a big fan of Poland and Polish teams. On FM13, I took Sandecja Nowy Sacz from the First Division to Champions League group Stage in about 5 years and 5 more years of domestic success after that. Poland is really fin to manage in! Have fun in Poland!

[Dexter_Morgan]

How the f- do you play the game this quickly? Almost can't keep up.

Congrats on the league titles in Kazakhstan and Poland. Don't think I've seen a Polish thread in here in a while. Never managed there myself neither, maybe one day.

I've had a broken leg and with the weather here pretty crap not much else to do Hopefully getting the cast off next week so things should slow down soon

TBH In Poland all I had to do was keep going for the rest of the season, now i've been promoted things aren't as easy. Poland isn't a bad nation to manage in, only 30 games in the top flight so you can get through pretty quickly and as you only play each other twice unlike some of these Eastern leagues it doesn't get too repetitive so if you get a chance on your save it may be worth a look

I love where this series is going! I am a big fan of Poland and Polish teams. On FM13, I took Sandecja Nowy Sacz from the First Division to Champions League group Stage in about 5 years and 5 more years of domestic success after that. Poland is really fin to manage in! Have fun in Poland!

Cheers I don't think since my sacking with Jagiellonia on the FM13 version of this I have been back to Poland on FM so it's good to get back there, with finances as bad as they are at Wisla (in game at least) I am staying true to my word and just going for it with what I have and promote youth players and see where it takes me. The fact I don't have much pressure to do anything also helps a little and if money does become available i'll invest it in more youth.

[noikeee]

Oh. I didn't realise you were in the second division.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków July - October 2017/18

Transfers



Fixtures



Table

I'm pretty happy with things so far, we're a bit unpredictable as we can turn up against a decent side one week and then struggle against a weaker one the next but that's part and parcel of how it can go when playing a young side so can't be critical of them as they have been picking up points and have been playing reasonable well.

I have 2 full backs in Smith and Jovic that is attracting attention from other sides and with Bartosz being given the chance at right back (and doing well) I think it is a good time to think about selling as I do think a few of these players won't make it long term at the club so the chance to cut down the wage bill a little and give us some money to invest elsewhere as there's no potential talent in either the LB, RW, CF or keeper roles.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Oh. I didn't realise you were in the second division.

Yeah they were relegated in 2015/16, they were deducted a point in that season otherwise they'd have stayed up If they were in the top flight I wouldn't have took the job tbh, I felt I had to earn a top flight job in the bigger nations (Latvia or somewhere would be different due to the ranking). After Wisla I probably won't be as picky if I do well but a club like Pirin in the 2nd division with good facilities will always be of interest to me because the save isn't just about me trying to win everything but building clubs up too that have potential to be decent and i'll probably go down that route for the next 2/3 clubs before I start looking for a side like Sparta Prague/Red Star ect;

There's a job in the Georgian 2nd division that I would really love to have a go at for 5 seasons or so purely for facilities and they have a few decent kids at the club i've been keeping an eye on for example.

I've never had a proper go there so i'd love a bash there at some point

[Dexter_Morgan]

This could be the biggest tycoon takeover in any version of this thread

Really hope this one works out, having one of the higher Iron Curtain nations with a tycoon at an already big club could mean real progress if the AI doesn't mess it up

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków November - December 2017/18

Just a short update due to only 6 games before the winter break but things haven't gone too well with no win in 5 now, injuries have played a part but I would have expected to win 2 of those games. I'm not planning any transfers in this window but I do expect a few to go unfortunately so that may change but hopefully I can keep this squad pretty much as it is and maybe look to add in the summer rather than disrupt things too much this window.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków Winter Break 2017/18

Transfers

As a bit as happened I thought i'd do this rather than fit it in the end of season report. We lost Smith and Friesenbicher very late in the window which was disappointing, especially Smith as I had absolutely no time to get a replacement in, Keane was approached before the big for Friesenbicher came in so that wasn't too much of a blow, especially as Keane was going to be first choice anyway. On the plus side we now have over £4M in the bank which is handy as we were roughly only breaking even each month even with a low wage bill so some extra cash from those deals plus clauses has come in handy.

Youth Intake

Quite a handy intake for us with 4 decent players coming through, i'm quite excited about Kowalczyk who looks like a handy striker if he improves on his finishing a little.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków February - June 2017/18

Fixtures



Tables

Overall



European Group

A solid season for us with a really good 3rd placed finish at the end of it all. Even with such a young side we've been hard to beat and the only really disappointing result was in the cup quarter final where in 175 minutes of the 180 we hammered Zabki without actually hitting the net somehow By the time we scored in the 2nd leg (85th min) it was obviously too late even though we added a 2nd 3 mins later. Apart from that i've been happy.

This upcoming season is going to be a tough one especially if we do well enough in Europe and we are going to lose yet another left back in Jovic which is the position we are weakest in so there are a few new faces to come in to boost the numbers as the players from the youth intake are back up level at best at the present time so I need to make sure we aren't really weakened when we need to make changes. I'll do a pre season review once I feel all the ins and outs are done as I do expect a few bids for other players to come in over the next month or so.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

Nation          2014  2015  +/-  2016  +/-  2017  +/-  2018  +/-  2019  +/-  2020  +/-  2021  +/-  2022 +/-  2023  +/-  2024  +/=
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albania         65    62    +3   58    +4   55    +3   58    -3
Armenia         88    83    +5   73    +10  77    -4   67    +4   
Azerbaijan      40    40    0    45    -5   44    +1   50    -4  
Belarus         22    25    -3   24    +1   30    -6   26    +4
Bosnia & Herz   47    53    -5   54    -1   54    0    62    -8
Bulgaria        26    23    +3   28    -5   21    +7   20    +1
Croatia         20    18    +2   20    -2   16    +4   13    +3
Czech Rep       15    14    +1   14    +2   11    +1   12    -1
Estonia         90    96    -6   87    +9   82    +5   76    +6   
FYR Macedonia   67    63    +4   66    -3   72    -6   79    -7
Georgia         44    44    0    48    -4   52    -6   54    -2   
Hungary         30    36    -6   38    -2   45    -7   49    -4
Kazakhstan      45    47    -2   37    +10  36    +1   31    +6
Latvia          57    65    -8   74    -9   76    -2   81    -5
Lithuania       66    77    -11  76    +1   67    +11  71    -4    
Moldova         39    38    +1   39    -1   37    +2   39    -2
Montenegro      60    66    -6   67    -1   69    -2   73    -4  
Poland          21    20    +1   25    -4   23    +2   21    +2
Romania         16    16    0    15    +1   13    +2   16    -3
Russia          7     7     0    7     0    8     -1   8     0
Serbia          29    29    0    26    +3   24    +2   25    -1
Slovakia        36    33    +1   33    0    34    -1   34    0
Slovenia        35    32    +3   32    0    25    +8   23    +2
Ukraine         9     8     +1   8     0    7     +1   7     0

Risers 8/24

Droppers 13/24

Non Movers 3/24

Biggest Risers +6 Estonia (76) Kazakhstan (31)

Biggest Fallers -8 Bosnia & Herz (62)

Former Club Watch

FC Kaisar 3rd in table, cup winners. As expected the squad was torn apart after my departure and things are even worse this season as they sit in 6th at the halfway stage

Tycoon Watch

Mezőkövesdi - Spent £1.2M won the league cup but finished 15th and relegated. (Hungarian Division I)

Szolnoki - Spent £1M Finished 6th (Hungarian Division II)

Borac - Spent £7.35M Finished 3rd (Serbian Superleague)

Donji Srem - Spent £500k and promoted as champions (Serbian First Division)

CSKA Moscow - Spent £12M (Since takeover) Finished 4th

[AlexSizemore]

Good finish to the season! Keep up the good work!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków July - August 2018/19

Transfers

















Fixtures



Table

A lot more activity than planned but the squad was so thin I had to do something as the youngsters in the reserves and youth sides aren't good enough at the moment and this may be my last year as my contract runs out in the summer and the temptation to move has already been tested over the summer with some decent jobs available but I decided against it as I want to set the foundations here and though progress has been made in a short space of time already there's still work needed at the club and it is better done under my management than the AI. Martiashvili is the first of 2 Georgians i've snapped up the other, Demur Lobzhanidze from Dinamo Tbilisi joins in January so i'll link him later.

There's also the fact that Legia and Lech are by far the best 2 sides and the rest is much a likeness so if I can get Wisla in a stronger position then long term it is only good for the purpose of the save. The club is finally making some money now too and not all of it is down to player sales so depending how the season goes it may end up that I stay a little longer.

The board have allowed me to go for the national A license which is what I wanted before I even start to think about going for nations in the top 20 (not that this necessarily means it is my next move) so at least with that in the bag it means I am sticking to the path I intended at the beginning.

Junior coaching has also got a 2nd upgrade which is good as the academy here has been bringing up decent prospects even before I joined the club and anything that helps it to keep delivering is only good news.

Good finish to the season! Keep up the good work!

Cheers Alex, it probably looks closer than it was though due to the league split after 30 games meaning everyone's points tally was split in half so our good campaign there meant we really did cut in to the deficit but in reality we never got higher than 2nd at any stage

[Rikulec]

Well done reaching Europe.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Well done reaching Europe.

Cheers Rikulec we got a really tough unfortunately so didn't get out of it but there were good performances in it and we weren't embarrassed by anyone so there's positives from it

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków September - December 2018/19

Fixtures



Tables

Until late November I was delighted with the way things were going, it looked like a 2 horse race between us and Legia but suddenly we went on a run of draws (granted Lech and Legia were included in those) and it has allowed the sides below to make up quite a bit of ground so the winter break has come at the perfect time for us really as we have gone from looking unstoppable to nervous.

Pleased with the European campaign, home draws and narrow defeats against Sampdoria and Everton show the club is heading in the right direction and may just be enough to tempt to stay for one more season, i'll make my final decision on that once the season is over but I am leaning towards 1 more year though that may change depending on the outcome of this or any other form of takeover and the support I get in terms of facilities ect;

[Dexter_Morgan]

After 3 months of on and off speculation we finally got the takeover

Pointless even considering my future as the very next game this happened

[abulezz]

So I guess you are sticking it out with Wisla?

[Dexter_Morgan]

So I guess you are sticking it out with Wisla?

Very tempting as the board seem to be willing to invest in facilities which are already very decent anyway and especially with the last youth intake and this one (below) the club could be really strong even if only a handful fulfil their potential but I am leaning towards moving on this summer maybe to another mid ranking side with a decent base and work on foundations of another club or maybe a top side in a poorer division and see if I can get any movement in Europe with one.

At the moment we have a good chance of winning the league, the league split will even things up a little but if we do win it then i'll definitely be off as there'll be nothing left I can do for the club as this isn't a side anywhere near ready for winning the CL if we did enter as our Europa campaign showed and it would take a busy summer just for us to have any hope of making the group stage which isn't something I really fancy doing.

If anything finishing anywhere but top and being in the Europa again is more likely to make me want to stay as I think with the extra year under our belt we can improve on the last Europa showing and help build the league's rep which is more important than me winning stuff so a dud CL campaign (even though the money would be good short term for the club) is what would likely happen is nowhere near appealing to me as an improved showing in the Europa and helping Poland rise in the coefficients.

Happy with the intake and there seems a few that maybe stand out a little more than the others but like always i've signed everyone 3 stars or over in the hope they turn out decent players for this level at least. I only noticed by accident that Konrad Cheba has the rare attribute of being either footed, don't think i've had that in a long time until this save where I have bought an either footed striker from Dinamo Tbilisi who came in January (signed last year though but as Georgia isn't EU had to wait until he turned 18). It could be more common than I thought though as it isn't something I look at in all honesty apart from wingers

[Dexter_Morgan]

Another tycoon takeover in Russia

Seems to be a case of every time a country gets a tycoon another follows in the same country and then another country will get one and the sequence repeats which is odd (though do remember 3 in Czech Republic on FM14). Can only be good for Russia though with CSKA's tycoon and the traditional strong clubs like Spartak, Dinamo and Zenit. I wouldn't mind shaking things up there at a club like Lokomotiv or Rubin (who have struggled in this save). Maybe even Krasnodar who may be looking for a manager soon could be an option as i've decided to definitely leave in the summer now.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków February - (1st week of) May 2018/19

Fixtures



Table

March looked like we were doing our best to throw any title chance away in what can best be described as a horrible month. We should really be going in to the European group needing 9/10 points from the 7 games in reality but now go head to head with Legia on level points having to play them first. Thankfully we have home advantage in that tie as I think that will end up being the decider as we are both much better sides than the rest of the division this year.

[deltablue]

Good luck beating Legia to the title.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Wisła Kraków May - June 2018/19

Fixtures



Table

After our March/April wobble we recovered superbly to take control of the division. I feared the worst when Legia had caught us up going in to the championship round but beating them 4-0 and then scoring 4 again in the following 2 games restored my confidence in the side. Will Keane was excellent with a better than expected goal tally.

What pleases me most about the season was it was done with a mostly all home grown starting XI with Andreas Pereira, Israel Puerto and Saidy Janko being the only regular non Polish starters in the XI and with the amount of youngsters waiting in the wing Wisla could be a force for years as long as players don't get snapped up by bigger sides. That said I have had 6 months of constant moaning and being forced to renew contracts to try and keep the current 1st team happy so it may be easier said than done keeping the squad together.

Legia had won the previous 5 titles so whilst it is a year earlier than I thought we'd challenge (didn't expect Lech's poor season in all honesty) it is probably a good thing for the whole division that that run has come to an end.

[deltablue]

Good one!

[Dexter_Morgan]

No sooner had the season ended then all the rigmarole of players asking to leave started.....

......I've just spent half a season going through all that and wasted at least an hour playing time either talking to players/offering new contracts/rejecting offers for players and whilst I accept in the poorer nations this will happen it's frustrating that within a week I had 5 players wanting to join bigger clubs after initially promising them Champions League football within a year... a promise I obviously kept. If the players hadn't have started again I may have carried on another year but with not fancying a whole summer of moaning and trying to replace players I had a look at the available jobs list and as you can see there are plenty of interesting jobs for me to apply for ....

There's some really obvious ones there but there's also one or 2 not so obvious. I'm currently going through the interview process with a couple of sides so i'm going to tease a little and not reveal the considered clubs until i've gone through a few

[Dexter_Morgan]

Good one!

Cheers delta, shame that's where it ends as i'm missing out on the Polish Cup where I felt hard done by on the previous season but it was going to be summer of silliness that in all honesty I don't have the patience for after just going through 4 months (in game) of complete aggravation of dealing with players moaning. Maybe in hindsight I should have stopped playing for the night once I got to the European stage of the season but i'm only half watching the PSG - Chelsea game so decided to carry on

[AlexSizemore]

Ouch! After a great season, your players bail on you. I would have done the same thing, it does get annoying when you are want to start building up your side for a challenge in Europe and everyone wants to go to a bigger club! Ugh, I feel you! Tough choices in terms of next employer, a few good looking teams in Serbia and Russia. Keep up the good work!

[Rikulec]

£25M would be an absolutely massive bank balance for the Polish league though. I understand why you chose to leave though, and I have to say I'm kind of happy to see you do that.

[withnail316]

Great to see this back, fella. Good work so far.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Where Next?

These are the options available so need to make my mind up.

Dinamo Brest

Pros

Decent facilities.

Want to sign young players for the future.

Will be a challenge breaking in to top 3/4 sides.

Cons

Only 5 foreign players allowed in squad and already 4 at the club which means I don't have much room to move with especially with such a low budget.

In a relegation battle though it isn't desperate as there's 5 sides only 3 points above us so a couple of wins would move us mid table if we went on an early run.

Dukla Praha



Pros

Can run club without board philosophies (though I would be doing the same as at Wisla)

Decent budget

Good facilities

4/5 strong clubs to break past

No major trophies or expectations so chance to make history

Seems to be a decent amount of youngsters (how good they are is another matter though as I obviously can't see their attributes )

Cons

There really isn't any apart from it's probably in a slightly bigger league than I intended but the competition in the division more or less wipes that out in fairness

Zorya Lugansk



Pros

Strong league

No real pressure

No philosophies

Cons

Facilities aren't great

Low funds

Olimpic Donetsk



Pros

No real pressure

No philosphies

Cons

Low funds

Average facilities

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk



Pros

Great facilities

Decent budget

Wants to develop young players

Cons

Like Dukla stronger league but probably a lot easier to get in to Europe and compete there

I've saved for the night whilst I make my mind up so any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm leaning towards Dukla as it does tick all the boxes I want apart from maybe a bigger league than planned at this stage.

Brest is 2nd choice but it will probably take more than 3 years to get them to a standard I would accept as ready to challenge if i'm lucky as funds and league rules go against us a little and i'd prefer one of the Minsk clubs as i've never got round to either even though i've wanted to.

Dnipro would be my 3rd choice at the moment (if it was 5 years further down the line they'd be 1st) I feel i'd have to do a 5 year stint at the club to have a proper crack at either European competition and also challenge for the league.

Zorya and Olimpic are good challenges but the finances mean it will take a while to compete, in reality these 2 are the sort of side I would look for after a European trophy win as they are in a top 10 nation already so when I do make that step in to the top 10 i'd ideally be going for a stronger side with trophies in mind at this stage rather than build another club to compete as there is enough there to keep it in the top 10 ATM. So a club more like Metalist or Dnipro is more suited to what i'd look to do at this stage as both these on offer are 5+ year challenges.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Ouch! After a great season, your players bail on you. I would have done the same thing, it does get annoying when you are want to start building up your side for a challenge in Europe and everyone wants to go to a bigger club! Ugh, I feel you! Tough choices in terms of next employer, a few good looking teams in Serbia and Russia. Keep up the good work!

Yeah, if I was planning staying longer more than one year after then i'd have dealt with it but it was never going to be more than 3 full seasons, the fact it was mostly players i'd promoted from the youth and reserves who would have probably been left to rot (Dominik Koscielniak, Jakub Bartosz, Przemyslaw Porebski, Lucas Guedes and Piotr Zemlo being big examples) if it wasn't for me coming in and given them a chance so that really wound me up in all honesty (I know it isn't real and they'd probably not act like it in real life but still frustrating )

£25M would be an absolutely massive bank balance for the Polish league though. I understand why you chose to leave though, and I have to say I'm kind of happy to see you do that.

I did have a few targets that I was waiting on when budgets came in but i'd have had to either give in to players and build a whole new side with the harmony as it was or upset them, make them stay and go through wasting a couple of hours talking to them again when in reality I just wanted to add 2/3 faces and get through the next season I don't mind a big scouting mission in the first 2/3 windows but not 2 and half years in to a job when i'd just delivered them what they wanted To make you happy i'll try and fit a different Polish club at some point and go back to haunt Wisla

Great to see this back, fella. Good work so far.

Cheers mate, hoping to get a few of the more obscure leagues/playable leagues i've not done in the series so far during this save (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Moldova and Macedonia should be interesting as I have absolutely no clue about any side from any of those nations apart from Sheriff so i'll be going in to those totally blind )

[Rikulec]

To make you happy i'll try and fit a different Polish club at some point and go back to haunt Wisla

I'd recommend Cracovia or Lech for this job.

[noikeee]

Go for Dukla. Plenty of history as a fallen giant type club. The alternative of the Ukranian league will be boring as there's too much money. I'm not too sure about Brest, never managed in Belarus.

[withnail316]

In case you didn't know, Russian players don't count as foreign in Belarus (certainly don't on 13 anyway) so that gives a little more wiggle room when building a squad.

[hungoth]

I'd recommend Cracovia or Lech for this job.

don't listen to him take Jagiellonia or Lechia

of the choice you've got I'd go Dukla or Dinamo Brest.

[Dexter_Morgan]

I'd recommend Cracovia or Lech for this job.

I'd probably go for Cracovia unless Lech turn really bad

Go for Dukla. Plenty of history as a fallen giant type club. The alternative of the Ukranian league will be boring as there's too much money. I'm not too sure about Brest, never managed in Belarus.

Really? I thought apart from Kiev and Shaktar they'd be pretty much skint as there wasn't prize money?

In case you didn't know, Russian players don't count as foreign in Belarus (certainly don't on 13 anyway) so that gives a little more wiggle room when building a squad.

That's handy to know cheers withnail.

don't listen to him take Jagiellonia or Lechia

of the choice you've got I'd go Dukla or Dinamo Brest.

Cheers hungoth it's what I was thinking and it is down to either of them now so all to be revealed in the next post....

[withnail316]

You can add Metalist to the big two in Ukraine for having good budgets, fella. In general there's not much cash though, but with the league's solid rep you can make plenty in the transfer market.

[Koetzer]

You can add Metalist to the big two in Ukraine for having good budgets, fella.

Not anymore (at least IRL, not sure about FM). Dnipro is much closer to top 2, but still there is a big difference between Dynamo/Shakhtar and all other teams.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Chapter III: Dukla Praha



Club

Thought i'd highlight this as at first when I noticed the chairman was from South Korea I thought i'd missed a tycoon. However that isn't the case but this chairman seems to know how to make the club a bit of money with just over £4M a year in various sponsorships which isn't at all bad in this division and hopefully with a bit of success he'll be able to get even more money in to the club. I've yet to be with a club on the stock exchange so will be interesting to see what happens with this in terms of finances.

I think the ground was one of the things that swayed me to take this job (well the name too amongst a few other things) just a shame i'm going to try and ruin it by expanding or moving at some point.

I like this chairman already, hopefully he'll carry on giving in to me.

Reasonable amount of money in the bank there so no real need to be overly careful with spending.

Squad

Not a bad squad to begin with, we are in real need of a DM and a striker though. If a suitable DM isn't available then any kind of CM/AMC and i'll revert to a 4-2-3-1 which i've been thinking about anyway as been playing the same 4-3-3 during the save so fancy a change anyway. We have 2 wide players that can play as strikers but that would still probably mean another new face for the wide positions though we do have this lad in the U21's who is highly thought of but I don't think throwing a 15 year old in at the deep end is ideal in a league like this unless absolutely necessary

Staff

Didn't expect us to be so light in terms of coaches and scouts at the club and though it is to be expected to bring a few in when taking a new side over it's quite a lot to be sorting out so i've put ads in the job centre and this is everything we need.

I'm going to fast track 2/3 scouts as we need faces and only have a week until the next game so i'll filter them in the staff search but anybody else will come through the adverts as it will take too much time otherwise.

Managers Thoughts

I'm convinced even though there's a lot of behind the scenes work to be done i've made the right choice here, in my head I had made the decision last night but didn't want to rush in to it but the comments have pretty much echoed my thoughts. There's a mix of youth and experience in this side so i'm not pinning all my hopes on youngsters straight away, obviously my transfer policy is to bring young players in but this is something I'll focus on once the current window shuts as a striker of any kind and midfielder is what we are in desperate need of. I've added an extra million to the kitty after cashing in on clauses so we do have room to pick up some bargains now.

The club is predicted to finish 7th but the sequence in the last 4 years is 11th, 10th, 7th, 5th so 5th is the aim again.

Finallly.......

I can't play as Dukla Praha and not play this!!

[video=youtube_share;eBmFuySb_Qw]

You can add Metalist to the big two in Ukraine for having good budgets, fella. In general there's not much cash though, but with the league's solid rep you can make plenty in the transfer market.

Metalist are a possibility later on down the line along with Dnipro, i'm going to try and avoid the biggest 2 sides in the better leagues (apart from Red Star if that ever becomes available as they are the only team in Serbia I will manage)

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

Nation          2014  2015  +/-  2016  +/-  2017  +/-  2018  +/-  2019  +/-  2020  +/-  2021  +/-  2022 +/-  2023  +/-  2024  +/=
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albania         65    62    +3   58    +4   55    +3   58    -3   61    -3    
Armenia         88    83    +5   73    +10  77    -4   67    +4   58    +9   
Azerbaijan      40    40    0    45    -5   44    +1   50    -4   43    +7  
Belarus         22    25    -3   24    +1   30    -6   26    +4   19    +7
Bosnia & Herz   47    53    -5   54    -1   54    0    62    -8   62    0
Bulgaria        26    23    +3   28    -5   21    +7   20    +1   25    -5
Croatia         20    18    +2   20    -2   16    +4   13    +3   11    +2
Czech Rep       15    14    +1   14    +2   11    +1   12    -1   13    -1
Estonia         90    96    -6   87    +9   82    +5   76    +6   76    0     
FYR Macedonia   67    63    +4   66    -3   72    -6   79    -7   80    -1
Georgia         44    44    0    48    -4   52    -6   54    -2   63    -9   
Hungary         30    36    -6   38    -2   45    -7   49    -4   51    -2
Kazakhstan      45    47    -2   37    +10  36    +1   31    +6   36    -5
Latvia          57    65    -8   74    -9   76    -2   81    -5   81    0
Lithuania       66    77    -11  76    +1   67    +11  71    -4   75    -4    
Moldova         39    38    +1   39    -1   37    +2   39    -2   40    -1
Montenegro      60    66    -6   67    -1   69    -2   73    -4   70    +3  
Poland          21    20    +1   25    -4   23    +2   21    +2   16    +5
Romania         16    16    0    15    +1   13    +2   16    -3   20    -4
Russia          7     7     0    7     0    8     -1   8     0    9     -1
Serbia          29    29    0    26    +3   24    +2   25    -1   24    +1
Slovakia        36    33    +1   33    0    34    -1   34    0    26    +8
Slovenia        35    32    +3   32    0    25    +8   23    +2   23    0
Ukraine         9     8     +1   8     0    7     +1   7     0    7     0

Risers 8/24

Droppers 11/24

Non Movers 5/24

Biggest Risers +9 Armenia (58)

Biggest Fallers -9 Georgia (63)

Former Club Watch

FC Kaisar 3rd in table again which isn't bad as they were 6th midway through last year (currently 2nd)

Tycoon Watch

Mezőkövesdi - I had to double check I got this right but you may remember they were relegated the previous season? Anyway they spent just short of £10M They walked the division and won the Hungarian Cup so have managed European football for their 1st season back (Hungarian Division II)

Szolnoki - Spent £1.1M Finished 3rd (Hungarian Division II)

Borac - Spent £12.5M Finished 6th and won the Serbian Cup (Serbian Superleague)

Donji Srem - Spent £16.75M and finished an excellent 3rd in their first season back in the top flight (Serbian Superleague)

CSKA Moscow - Spent £28M Finished 3rd (Russian Premier League)

FC Kuban Krasnodar - Takeover after window so no money spent. Finished 11th (Russian Premier League)

[deltablue]

The Czech Rep in great to play in.

[Dexter_Morgan]

The Czech Rep in great to play in.

I remember your Slavia from the International Rescue thread you had a few years back and that was growing in to a good one with some talents before you moved on to Juve The best Czech side i've seen in this series is Sparta Praha whom I had a season with, the talents in there was unreal and probably would have had a few CL's to their name if I hadn't built strong Spartak Moscow and Red Star squads They had a new stadium (poorly named The Pavel Nedved Stadium ) that was around the 60k mark so it shows you can build good sides in this division.

I've been updating competition history and Bayern Munich are superb in Europe making 4 of the 5 CL finals so far but only 1 league title in that time which is a bit strange but on the other hand it does seem a really strong division

[withnail316]

Not anymore (at least IRL, not sure about FM). Dnipro is much closer to top 2, but still there is a big difference between Dynamo/Shakhtar and all other teams.

Really? I thought they were absolutely loaded still. Then again, I could be confusing real life for my old FM13 save again... Metalist were a nightmare for my Chornomorets team on that! (DM, I would thoroughly recommend Chornomorets if the job comes up!)

[Dexter_Morgan]

Dukla Praha June - September 2019/20

Transfers













Fixtures



Table

I have royally (insert expletive) up here I didn't change staff responsibilities so the DOF was accepting loan offers for players that would have featured in the squad, me being too keen to crack on with things kept hitting continue oblivious to it happening until the 2nd game of the season where there was only 2 players on the bench Totally my own fault for not paying attention and forgetting about changing the DOF duties and whilst the results may not have been any different I certainly haven't helped myself here as Onendga and Arguello were intended as my only signings this window and as the results got worse (the cup exit was embarrassing) it was obvious I would have to get whoever I could in just to make the numbers up as there is absolutely nobody of use in the reserve or youth team (all the best young players were already in the 1st team squad) apart from the young winger Kilma whom I linked in my last post but wide players aren't where we were short so he was no use anyway

As i've written all that i've had another look at the squad and not one of the players the idiot has let go was loan listed so god knows what he was thinking

Anyway as expected with all that going the results haven't been up scratch and we've left ourselves a lot to do already this season but thankfully the pressure isn't too great so as long as we can start picking up points then i'll happily take a top 8 finish. Though I wanted to take the cup seriously it's probably done us a favour not having the extra games with a squad this size and I can concentrate on the league to sort out the mess up i've caused

Tycoon takeovers starting to make a difference...it will be interesting to see if Mezőkövesdi in particular can kick on now. Great progress, hope you tap in to that away kit market

Mezőkövesdi and Borac seem the likely 2 that will get anywhere with the tycoon, CSKA Moscow don't need it in all honesty and obviously their league is much tougher so not expecting them to dominate their division.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Dukla Praha October - March 2019/20

Youth Intake

This would have been the best intake possible if we'd have got either keeper or striker in it instead of one of the defenders as we already have Voijtisek out on loan who looks a good prospect. That said we could have an entire back 4 from the academy as though Dostalek from this years intake is a natural CB looking at his stats I doubt i'll ever get his heading, jumping and tackling good enough for him to be able to play against bigger sides. As a full back however his attacking stats have a good base to work on so he's on a complete WB role and being retrained to a natural RB and we'll see how he does on that schedule.

Besta looks like he could almost go straight in to this side and it is something i'll seriously consider next season when I change back to a back 4 (i'll go in to my tactics later in the post)

Novotny looks like he could almost make the side right now, i'll assess it at the end of the season but if not i'll be keen to get him out on loan.

It's rare you see a kid with Rada's pace, i'm well stocked on wingers which is a problem so I may consider selling the older ones in the summer and play the 4 U23's we now have.

Fixtures

Table

Thanks to my mess up with the DOF at the start of the season we left ourselves short in defence and the 4-2-3-1 wasn't working at all with having to play Brezniak at LB who along with Dyakov at DM who was complaining about homesickness. Considering Brezniak is 34 and has spent 9 seasons in the country (4 at this club) and Dyakov is 35 with 4 years at the club I found this both strange and frustrating and I felt both players performances were contributing quite a lot to our bad form. The main problem was we short of defenders as it was then I remembered I had a couple of 3 man defence tactics that I had made specifically for a thread i'd made for FM15 a while back that could suit the side. With the squad full of wingers/AMC's the best one to suit the personnel was the Hungary tactic i'd been working on so I went along with that in the hope it would work with this set of players as it was only ever tested with Kecskeméti TE

Thankfully it has worked really well and our results have improved significantly with the switch. With the youth intake and players to come back next season i'll revert to a more traditional tactic next season but having read that thread again yesterday and looking at some of the tactics saved from that thread i'm seriously going to consider the possibility of using some when I move on.

Now we are in the top 5 the aim is to stay there and hope one of the rest of the top 5 win the cup to guarantee Europe next season. I've constantly been trying and failing to bring in a second striker all season, Ogenda is decent for our standards but he was left to rot at PSG so the chances of improving too much at 24 years old are very little so if anything we could do with 2 strikers but either the fees or wages for targets have been out of our reach so far.

[BoxToBox]

Love this thread, very interesting idea and it seems to let you focus on the more for lack of a better term, unusual countries.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Dukla Praha April - May 2019/20

Fixtures



Table

Third place is a terrific finish for us considering the start to the season we had. The tactic change fitted perfectly the players we were left with and with many sides in the division favouring a 3 at the back formation too sacrificing 2 CM's in favour of 2 DM's and having what was basically a front 5 meant we really stretched sides as it showed by finishing the division's top scorers.

Having Europe to juggle next season is going to be a big test for the squad but I am sure with a couple of the players coming back plus the promotion of youth players and the 3 signings i've made we can have another good season.

Love this thread, very interesting idea and it seems to let you focus on the more for lack of a better term, unusual countries.

Cheers mate, i'll certainly be going to some of the custom leagues at some point and try and improve a couple of sides there

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

Nation          2014  2015  +/-  2016  +/-  2017  +/-  2018  +/-  2019  +/-  2020  +/-  2021  +/-  2022 +/-  2023  +/-  2024  +/=
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albania         65    62    +3   58    +4   55    +3   58    -3   61    -3   71    -1    
Armenia         88    83    +5   73    +10  77    -4   67    +4   58    +9   61    -3   
Azerbaijan      40    40    0    45    -5   44    +1   50    -4   43    +7   49    -6  
Belarus         22    25    -3   24    +1   30    -6   26    +4   19    +7   17    +2
Bosnia & Herz   47    53    -5   54    -1   54    0    62    -8   62    0    63    -1
Bulgaria        26    23    +3   28    -5   21    +7   20    +1   25    -5   22    +3
Croatia         20    18    +2   20    -2   16    +4   13    +3   11    +2   11    0
Czech Rep       15    14    +1   14    +2   11    +1   12    -1   13    -1   14    -1
Estonia         90    96    -6   87    +9   82    +5   76    +6   76    0    69    +7     
FYR Macedonia   67    63    +4   66    -3   72    -6   79    -7   80    -1   81    -1
Georgia         44    44    0    48    -4   52    -6   54    -2   63    -9   70    -7   
Hungary         30    36    -6   38    -2   45    -7   49    -4   51    -2   42    +9
Kazakhstan      45    47    -2   37    +10  36    +1   31    +6   36    -5   35    +1
Latvia          57    65    -8   74    -9   76    -2   81    -5   81    0    89    -8
Lithuania       66    77    -11  76    +1   67    +11  71    -4   75    -4   73    +2    
Moldova         39    38    +1   39    -1   37    +2   39    -2   40    -1   47    -7
Montenegro      60    66    -6   67    -1   69    -2   73    -4   70    +3   76    -6 
Poland          21    20    +1   25    -4   23    +2   21    +2   16    +5   12    +4
Romania         16    16    0    15    +1   13    +2   16    -3   20    -4   19    +1
Russia          7     7     0    7     0    8     -1   8     0    9     -1   10    -1
Serbia          29    29    0    26    +3   24    +2   25    -1   24    +1   26    -2    
Slovakia        36    33    +1   33    0    34    -1   34    0    26    +8   33    -7
Slovenia        35    32    +3   32    0    25    +8   23    +2   23    0    21    +2
Ukraine         9     8     +1   8     0    7     +1   7     0    7     0    7     0

Risers 8/24

Droppers 13/24

Non Movers 3/24

Biggest Risers +9 Hungary (42)

Biggest Fallers -8 Latvia (89)

Former Club Watch

FC Kaisar Champions, leading the table this season by 10 points (Kazakhstan Super League)

Wisła Kraków Champions, Cup winners (Ekstraklasa)

Tycoon Watch

Mezőkövesdi - Spent £5.43M and finished as champions (Hungarian Division I)

Szolnoki - Spent £487k and Finished 2nd and promoted (Hungarian Division II)

Borac - Spent £39.2M Finished 3rd and won the Serbian Cup (Serbian Superleague)

Donji Srem - Spent £14.32M and finished 2nd (Serbian Superleague)

CSKA Moscow - Spent £9.31M Finished 4th (Russian Premier League)

FC Kuban Krasnodar - Spent £20.24M and finished 2nd. Cup winners (Russian Premier League)

[BoxToBox]

Looks like there are about to be some amazing battles(and arms races) in Hungary, Serbia and Russia.

[Rikulec]

Borac - Spent £39.2M Finished 2nd and won the Serbian Cup (Serbian Superleague)

Donji Srem - Spent £14.32M and finished 2nd (Serbian Superleague)

Must have been a damn tight season it two teams finished 2nd.