[FM15] Avenir Beggen - a Luxembourg Youth Challenge (take two)

[Ceching You Out]

After the personalities in the last couple intakes, I decided it was time to mix it up. I replaced my previous HoYD with this guy:

He's weaker at JCA and JPA but better at WWY plus he's Spirited and Evasive, Reserved. So how'd he do?

I'm underwhelmed. It's worth remembering that 4.5/5 star potential now means the type of player who may generate interest from Austrian or Greek teams, but still... These personalities need work. Thankfully we're getting close to having a few more tutors so maybe we can do more there than previously.

[Ceching You Out]

Avenir Beggen - 2035/2036

Squad / League / Transfers

How was the league?

Back to 2nd.

 

Regression.

Well, yeah. I knew I was punting our chance at repeating the title by prioritizing making EL Group Stages; I just didn't realize how close we'd still end up.

 

Whatever. Anything else noteworthy?

We beat Jeunesse Esch twice plus they also lost to Dudelange and drew a midtable side. We still were a point behind them going into the last day despite perfection in the second half of the season. That tells you anything about how badly our European adventures weakened our light squad in the first half of the season. At least we didn't go trophy-less, claiming the League Cup including another defeat of Jeunesse Esch.

Europe must have raised my reputation as I received two invitations to interview for bottom mid-table French National sides. Obviously I turn them down.

For the first time in this save, I'm considering whether my goals are achievable. We should win the league from here on out (so long as we prioritize it); that's not the issue. At the very beginning of this season our reputation dipped with the reset to 1.5 stars despite our title. When we sneaked into the Europa League Group Stages after a delightful run, it rose back to 2. Now at the beginning of the upcoming season, it dips back to 1.5. Our league reputation fell like a stone. Our commercial sponsorships dry up to the tune of $172K.

Apparently I need other sides to consistently progress in Europe. I'm not sure how to go about that. I'll be pondering this next season.

 

Recordkeeping:

[Ceching You Out]

Luxembourg - 2035/2036

 

Full ECQ results:

Nations League draw:

Slovakia?!

[Ceching You Out]

Heroes and Villains - 2035/2036

 

Lima La Vida Loca:

Lima joined yet another 2nd division side last season. They were promptly relegated to the unplayable 3rd division. Happy trails, aging agent of dumb destruction.

 

Piskor Get Off The Pot:

Remember the two French National jobs offering me interviews? Monsieur Pierre took one of them. They were 4-5 spots behind his current team but perhaps they make better wine there.

 

Grandjean Goes Fishing

Dudelange's manager decides to call it a day. My fingers are crossed that a new man in charge will actually grow the club. They're not a threat for the title so it'd be nice if they could advance a round or two in Europa League.

[tyler16]

All that time just to get a National job offer? That might be my favorite bit of info from this thread. 

All in all, a good season. Like you mentioned, I'm interested to see what shape this takes now that you're closing in and have possibly surpassed Esch.

[noikeee]

I reckon this is still progression, given that last year's title felt like a lucky break, and yet you still came close this season which indicates you've now got the genuine quality to keep up at that level. Plus you made a lot of extra money in Europe this time - any chance of being able to invest that cash in something?

[Ceching You Out]

12 hours ago, tyler16 said:

All that time just to get a National job offer? That might be my favorite bit of info from this thread. 

All in all, a good season. Like you mentioned, I'm interested to see what shape this takes now that you're closing in and have possibly surpassed Esch.

Like an ant struggling with a particularly large twig . If we've truly surpassed JE (and I think we have), that shape should start to take form pretty quickly.

 

8 hours ago, noikeee said:

I reckon this is still progression, given that last year's title felt like a lucky break, and yet you still came close this season which indicates you've now got the genuine quality to keep up at that level. Plus you made a lot of extra money in Europe this time - any chance of being able to invest that cash in something?

I agree -- it's definitely progress on a practical/club/micro level. It's the signposts at the strategic/world/macro level that are a little concerning to me. For example, I really didn't expect our league reputation to fall despite our European adventures. That in turn hurts our club reputation and could limit the quality of our youth intakes. I'm scheming on how we might address that in the future. Or maybe it's all resolved by a few runs in Europe and I'm worrying for naught!

After our run we ended with $2.5-3M in the bank. I thought about holding the money to retain players (and maybe raise reputation?) but after seeing the league reputation drop reduce our club rep, I decided to splurge on updating training facilities. I believe that will give us an easier, (mostly) permanent bump to our reputation plus help develop players more quickly. For the moment I've held off on using the rest to update youth training or expand our stadium -- the last thing I want is a player fire sale or contract negotiation limits.

[Adonalsium]

Let's hope for an equally long period of dominance over those dastardly Jeunesses. Such a wimpy name, too. It's the sort of name you just wanna shout at and tell them to eat a god-damn stake.

[Ceching You Out]

We are seeded so the draw possibilities are all abut the same. Should cruise this.

An absolute crescendo of rage. Keeper slaps a cross into his own net. DC leaves a pass back to the keeper well short. Striker misses three consecutive chances from close range.

[sets self on fire]
[is an improvement]

[Ceching You Out]

On 9/16/2016 at 13:22, Adonalsium said:

Let's hope for an equally long period of dominance over those dastardly Jeunesses. Such a wimpy name, too. It's the sort of name you just wanna shout at and tell them to eat a god-damn stake.

Fingers are firmly crossed. Perhaps we can rip their hearts out and take a big bite -- that counts as manly red meat, right?

[Black and Yellow]

Ouch, 3 shots, 3 goals. Nightmare!

[Ceching You Out]

A much better second intake under Pichler as HoYD. This was the personality spread I expected to see. Very excited by the top two prospects.

[tyler16]

On 9/20/2016 at 00:34, Ceching You Out said:

[sets self on fire]
[is an improvement]

This is art.

[noikeee]

I quite like Paixão; Klapp needs serious training to his crossing if you want to use him as a classic winger, might be better fitting to a AML inside-forward.

[shimera]

I'm definitely following this thread!

[deltablue]

That was painful in Europe, especially given you expected to win comfortably. 

[Ceching You Out]

18 hours ago, tyler16 said:

This is art.

Cheers! Hopefully the good kind, not like pantomime (apologies to any mimes following along).

 

12 hours ago, noikeee said:

I quite like Paixão; Klapp needs serious training to his crossing if you want to use him as a classic winger, might be better fitting to a AML inside-forward.

You're spot on and that's why I'm excited about him. My tactics use a WM on either side that I ask to play like IF; very little crossing but the real impetus behind our attack.

 

12 hours ago, shimera said:

I'm definitely following this thread!

Glad to have you!

 

10 hours ago, deltablue said:

That was painful in Europe, especially given you expected to win comfortably. 

I'm not one to fume at video games; that result made me genuinely wanted to punch something. I didn't, but mostly my fiance was asleep next to me in bed and I can only imagine how stupid that explanation would've sounded.

[Bedese]

46 minutes ago, Ceching You Out said:

Cheers! Hopefully the good kind, not like pantomime (apologies to any mimes following along).

 

*Angrily gesticulates from inside his box*

[Ceching You Out]

16 hours ago, Jupjamie said:

*Angrily gesticulates from inside his box*

Brilliant! 

[Ceching You Out]

Avenir Beggen - 2036/2037

Squad / League / Transfers

How was the league?

Return to glory.

 

Yawn.

Agreed. I expect us to be the dominant force going forward, so these updates may take a more streamlined form in the future.

 

Whatever. Anything else noteworthy?

I received a few requests for interviews from Ligue 2 sides which is an improvement. Improved Likewise, this happened, unrequested, because of consistent sell-outs:

On the other hand, things that are Not An Improvement Whatsoever -- club rep, league rep, and league rank. Incredibly frustrating to see such precipitous drops and I'm not sure how to improve short a couple miracle European runs.

 

Recordkeeping:

 

[Ceching You Out]

Luxembourg - 2036/2037

 

How do people stay interested in managing national teams? It's boring me to death. I've been tempted to quit half a dozen times.

 

Full NL results:

World Cup Qualifiers draw:

Harsh, not that we had any chance anyway.

[Ceching You Out]

Heroes and Villains - 2036/2037

 

Lima La Vida Loca:

Lima continues despite his advancing age. He's even becoming a bore in his old age; his most exciting highlight from this season was forgetting to tie his shoes.

 

Piskor Get Off The Pot:

Well, Piskor has failed to make any waves in France. Since reporting on his monotonous stay lacks any drama, we'll ignore him for a bit. A watched pot doesn't boil after all.

 

Cedric Sacras Sacked Despite Secondary Silverware:

Mr. Sacras won the League Cup but when the end of the season rolled around a few days later it wasn't enough to save his job. Jeunesse Esch asked me to interview for the position and I politely told their Oedipal board to roughly explore their orifices. I'm most definitely not bitter about losing Laurent Marques (29D) to them because it is certainly not my fault I forgot to renew his contract earlier.

They ended up with this no-name instead, although he looks remarkably good for this level:

[shimera]

Ain't that the currently famous center-back Javi Martínez though?

[Ceching You Out]

On 9/22/2016 at 20:33, shimera said:

Ain't that the currently famous center-back Javi Martínez though?

Doesn't ring a bell...

Spoiler

Pssss -- that's the joke.

 

[Ceching You Out]

Beautiful!

 

Left it late, but we get the result we need.

[Ceching You Out]

50-50 on decent vs bad draws.

At the risk of being too obvious -- this wasn't one of the decent ones.

Somehow I missed taking a screenshot of the result, but it was a 3-0 loss away and a 2-1 loss at home in a tight game.

[Ceching You Out]

]

Meh, not expecting us to match up well against any of the three.

If we hadn't been missing our best DC for the second leg... The two quick goals killed off the second match. Fairly satisfied that we're not that far from being a consistent EL group stage threat.

[tyler16]

I'm pretty sure everybody who's ever done one of these challenges despises Dinamo Zagreb.

[Adonalsium]

Make that into all of the Dinamos and you might be onto something! *shakes fist at the heavens*

[deltablue]

4 hours ago, tyler16 said:

I'm pretty sure everybody who's ever done one of these challenges despises Dinamo Zagreb.

It does seem to be a recurring theme.

[Ceching You Out]

I couldn't even muster any anger towards Dinamo; from the other threads here I already knew they are the dream killers.

[Ceching You Out]

Decent intake, but look at those personalities! That makes me (mostly) irrationally happy. The GK should quickly become our #1 while the striker will be the first player off the bench; the other three all have a chance if they develop.

[noikeee]

Birsens' attributes look a little unbalanced, but for your level that's a very good youth player indeed.

Have never had many problems with Dinamo myself, in fact I quite like them and might manage them one day - but I've never played in Luxembourg, San Marino, Andorra or the likes, so...

[Ceching You Out]

7 hours ago, noikeee said:

Birsens' attributes look a little unbalanced, but for your level that's a very good youth player indeed.

Have never had many problems with Dinamo myself, in fact I quite like them and might manage them one day - but I've never played in Luxembourg, San Marino, Andorra or the likes, so...

Well I once had a coffee with only two sugars! I mean, I didn't finish it but it was still pretty impressive.   Fair point though on perspective -- if I'm putting clubs consistently in Europe into three tiers, they're probably the best of the worst. But that's enough to feast on us minnows from tiny nations. They do seem a fun choice to manage though!

Spot on with Birsen. His technicals aren't great but if those come around he'll be great at this level. Love his personality too -- Model Professional, high Determination, and solid Ambition to boot.

 

[Ceching You Out]

Avenir Beggen - 2037/2038

Squad / League / Transfers

Repetition bores me. Make it quick.

Well that just makes me feel dirty. No cuddling?

League - won.
Cup - won.
Europe - fell just short of the EL Group Stage.

 

Anything else noteworthy?

Another unsolicited stadium expansion, not that I'm unhappy about it. League rep and league rank rebounded nicely. Having a look at the other Luxembourg clubs' reputations, I'm wondering if part of the recent movement was the relegation and then return of a couple of the better regarded clubs. I wish I was able to find how FM calculates league rep.

I quit the Luxembourg national team so there will be no further updates there. Too much work for the slim chance at success. Perhaps I'll revisit if/when there's enough talent to compete with at least middling nations.

 

Recordkeeping:

 

[Ceching You Out]

Player Spotlight - 2037/2038

 

Now that the standard season updates are more streamlined, I'll add various features here and there. Some will likely be analysis of various things that have caught my eye, others will (hopefully) add more depth to the current game world.

 

Pit Corral (30A):

At 24, Pit is one of the "elder" statesmen of the current team and one of it's top players by perceived CA. His career thus far has been an enigma; while his talents developed early, he hasn't drawn quite the same attention in either the transfer market or via eye catching performances. Ordinarily I'd consider that a mild disappointment, however expectations were set low for his career -- DCs with a high likelihood of injury rarely stay on the pitch, much less develop to the extent he has.

Favorite hobbies: using ranch-themed pick-up lines at nightclubs and giving imaginary red cards to the ladies who inevitably don't understand the pun

[Ceching You Out]

Looking at the fellow second round participants, they're one of about four possibilities that would make us clear underdogs.

 

Self-inflicted. One of those classic last-man-back-misjudges-header goals followed by leaving a header back to the keeper short. A surprisingly even tie both matches.

[tyler16]

I swear to god your regens have the most bizarre names I've ever seen. Luxembourg must be wild, just ask Pit Corral.

Quitting the NT is probably a good idea for now, hopefully you're able to make a dent in Europe before, uh, 2050?

[Adonalsium]

Good ol' Pit.

As for making dents in Europe, I think it might take a bit longer than expected. Mr. Wiggums seems to have used up all of his bribes or the higher-ups of the EUROLeague just don't bother accepting them from our dear raving manager anymore.

Maybe the naked streaking after winning the National League had something to do with that, I don't know.

[Ceching You Out]

On 9/29/2016 at 00:44, tyler16 said:

I swear to god your regens have the most bizarre names I've ever seen. Luxembourg must be wild, just ask Pit Corral.

Quitting the NT is probably a good idea for now, hopefully you're able to make a dent in Europe before, uh, 2050?

They're quite an interesting mix of French, Italy, Portuguese, and eastern European. 'Pit' has been one of the more intriguing ones -- almost familiar, but not a name I'd ever come across before.

I wish I could say it was strategic, but quite frankly it just bored me to tears. If you told me the over/under on making the CL Group Stage for the first time was 12 years, I'd take the under. That may be a bit ambitious but I think with the right draw or a few lucky bounces we have a decent outside chance at EL Group Stage already.

 

On 9/29/2016 at 03:23, Adonalsium said:

Good ol' Pit.

As for making dents in Europe, I think it might take a bit longer than expected. Mr. Wiggums seems to have used up all of his bribes or the higher-ups of the EUROLeague just don't bother accepting them from our dear raving manager anymore.

Maybe the naked streaking after winning the National League had something to do with that, I don't know.

It's funny how to the right ears the ravings of a madman sound a lot like hints of bribes to come. Burn them once, twice, three times but that fourth time even the inept UEFA officials start to realize something is just a little off about you.

[Ceching You Out]

All right, after a bit of a hiatus resulting from nearly back to back to vacations, I return to this infernal challenge. Not too much progress to update on (FM isn't really a beach activity), but I'll catch up here shortly.

Not quite apples to apples as I screwed up the initial Joubert screenshot; this one is from about three months later. Nonetheless, he's going to be a star and should begin to replace our ever present captain, Leweck.

Not much depth with the latter two unlikely to ever feature for the first team. No complaints -- I'd rather have one star each year anyway!

[MichaelBrown]

Nice updates, been starting following this recently. Hope to see some more soon.

[Bedese]

Joubert looks fantastic! Two footed as well. He's going to be a star for you.

[tyler16]

Joubert is the chosen one.

[noikeee]

Get Joubert's passing and vision a bit up and he'll be ace for that level.

[Ceching You Out]

21 hours ago, MichaelBrown said:

Nice updates, been starting following this recently. Hope to see some more soon.

Cheers! Glad to have you following along. I've finished out the season so I should have updates soon.

 

19 hours ago, Jupjamie said:

Joubert looks fantastic! Two footed as well. He's going to be a star for you.

13 hours ago, tyler16 said:

Joubert is the chosen one.

11 hours ago, noikeee said:

Get Joubert's passing and vision a bit up and he'll be ace for that level.

I have high, high hopes for him. Great personality and I love a midfielder who can play with both feet. He's already a 3 star at 15 when the best players at the club are only 4.5!

[BoxToBox]

Geez, Joubert looks like he has a bit of magic in his feet.

[LPQR]

how did I miss this thread, amazing work! 

[Adonalsium]

Well, damn. Will Joubert be the Lima we deserved, but the Lima we never received?

[Ceching You Out]

On 10/5/2016 at 16:47, BoxToBox said:

Geez, Joubert looks like he has a bit of magic in his feet.

1 hour ago, Adonalsium said:

Well, damn. Will Joubert be the Lima we deserved, but the Lima we never received?

I never like to put too much pressure on a young 'un, but he's obviously the Chosen One and he's setting up the winning goal in the Champions League final next year.

 

On 10/5/2016 at 16:53, LPQR said:

how did I miss this thread, amazing work! 

Glad to have you join us!