(Unofficially) Having a crack at 'The Giant 70 Challenge' (plus extras!)

[winterburnsilva]

After the save game corruption of my Oceania save I was severely tempted to try the 'The Giant 70 Challenge' a link to which will be posted below-

I say 'Unofficial' mainly because there is no gaurantee I won't be distracted by some other challenge in-game (I tend to get fixated with a country and spend decades there, but I will keep that to a minimum!). There are also a whole host of international tournaments added by Claasen's Mega Pack that I want to try and win as well. Oh and on top of that, Ideally I'd like to do it in alphabetical order by Nation, but we shall see how successful that is!

But the general gist of the save will be to win the following (as per the Giant 70 Challenge)-

CLUB TROPHIES

- 25 Domestic Top League. (There is a minimum of 3 leagues from each of the 6 continents, so 18 of the leagues are somewhat bound.)

- 25 Domestic Cup Competitions (Where minimum 10 clubs enter) , from a minimum of 20 different nations. This could be anything from a Checkatrade Trophy to the top FA-Cup of the nation though. 

UEFA Champions League

UEFA Europa League

Copa Libertadores

Copa Sudamericana

CONCACAF Champions League

African Champions League

African Confederations Cup

Asian Champions League

Oceania Champions League

Club World Cup

INTERNATIONAL TROPHIES:

World Cup

Confederations Cup

Olympics

UEFA Euro Nations

Copa America

Gold Cup

African Cup of Nations

CHAN

Asia Cup

Oceania Cup

The EXTRAS that I would quite like to win too-

Arab Club Championship

Central American and Caribbean Games

Francophone Games

Islamic Solidarity Games

Lusophony Games

Mediterranean Games

Pan-American Games

Pan-Arab Games

Supercopa Euroamericana

u20 World Cup

Along with the various Asian, African, European, North American Oceania and South American club and international tournaments added to the game by claasen's Mega Pack

Only then will I really be able to say "Football Manager 2017? Yeah, completed it mate!"

 

[winterburnsilva]

Career Progress

 

2016 - Toofan Harirod (Afghan Premier League)

Afghan Premier League Group A- 1st

Afghan Premier League Playoffs- WINNERS

*UNBEATEN SEASON*

 

2017 - Toofan Harirod (Afghan Premier League)

Asian Confederation Cup- Group Stage (4th Group D)

*Resigned before start of league season*

 

 

2017 - Afghanistan u23 Manager

Friendly Results- 1 W, 0 D, 0 L

*Resigned after leaving the country to manage in Albania*

 

2017/2018 - KS Egnatia Rroghozine (Albanian Kategoria e Pare)

Kategoria e Pare League Stage Group A- 8th

Kategoria e Pare Relegation Stage- 4th

Kupa e Shqiperise- 1st Round

 

2018/2019 - KS Egnatia Rrogozhine (Albanian Kategoria e Pare)

Kategoria e Pare League Stage Group A- 1st

Kategoria e Pare Promotion Stage- 1st

Kategoria e Pare Champions Playoff- Runner-Up

Kupa e Shqiperise- 1st Round

[winterburnsilva]

The Adventure Begins!

Club #1 TOOFAN HARIROD F.C.

Afghan Premier League

Club History

Toofan Harirod is a football team in Afghanistan. They play in the Afghan Premier League. It was founded in August 2012, by the creation of the Afghan Premier League and its players are chosen through a casting-show called Maidan-E-Sabz (Green Field). They represent the western region of Afghanistan. Toofaan Harirod F.C. became champions of the first season of the Premier League, defeating Simorgh Alborz F.C. 2–1, in the final of the 2012 Afghan Premier League.

The Harirod River starts in the center of Afghanistan, fed by the winter precipitation in the western Hindukosh mountain range, and flows all the way to the Iranian  border where it becomes the  dividing line between Iran and Afghanistan, as well as Iran and Turkmenistan further northwest.

The Harirod River is over 1,100km long and absolutely essential to the agriculture in those provinces it crosses through on its way to Turkmenistan. Toofan means typhoon or storm.

2015 was the second consecutive year that  the 2012 RAPL champions failed to advance beyond the group stage of the Main Event. They were able to secure only one win, which came against Simorgh Alborz to finish their season with four points.

Honours

National

Afghan Premier League - 2012

 

Home Ground

Afghan Football Federation Stadium

Kabul, Capacity- 5,000

 

Ghazi Olympic Stadium (Used for Playoff Games)

Kabul, Capacity- 25,000

[winterburnsilva]

2016 SEASON- Toofan Harirod

Afghan Premier League

 

Rookie manager, can't speak the language(s), no pressure!

As you can see I pretty much rebuilt the team from what I inherited when I first got the job. I raided Kabul Bank of the 'Afghan Lower Divisions' for almost every player, a couple of which were already in the full Afghanistan National team. Technically speaking seeing as the club is completely amateur, there was no need to release anyone but I still decided to release the complete dross who wouldn't get anywhere near my first team. De Maiwand of the Premier League also suffered, losing three players thanks to the efforts of my scouting department.

 

Pre-Season / Mid-Season Friendlies

It's always the way with Football Manager, you spent hours tinkering with your team to get the tactics just how you want them. You scour through the stats of all your starters, think you've finally got everything ready to click continue..... then the u21's smash you in the intra-squad friendly. I was somewhat worried through most of pre-season, as the team that was supposedly going to be heavy favourites to win everything was scraping results out against lower division sides and the only friendly against fellow Premier League side De Abasin Sape finished with a defeat.

There was a gap of three weeks between the playoff semi-finals and the final, so I arranged a few friendlies inbetween just to keep fitness levels up.

 

Afghan Premier League Group A

I got credited with achieving an unbeaten league season, which seemed a little bit generous with the league being only 3 games long. The first two games were a lot closer than the 'media' were expecting, as Toofan Harirod should have had far too much for the opposition. As it was, we had the most chances in both games but seemed a bit wasteful up front. The third game was the only one-sided encounter as we dispatched De Abasin Sape 4-1.

 

Afghan Premier League Playoffs

So, the only game of the season not to be televised was the Playoff Final? Oooook.

The playoff games were pretty similar to the Premier League Fixtures, we had the upper hand in every single game but they were all close games. Central Midfielder Wais Saadat managed to earn a place in my bad books after getting sent off twice, first late on in the Semi-Final 1st leg to rule him out of the 2nd and again 35 minutes into the final. Despite all that we still managed to win and claim my first title as a manager, The Afghan Premier League!

 

End of season Squad Statistics

I've only included those players who made an appearance in the league for me this season, as the squad was quite large thanks to not having to actually PAY anyone. The two standouts were the strikers, Hashmatullah Barakzai and Hafizullah Qadami. Both players finished with 5 goals and 1 assist in 6 games.

 

Season Summary

Mission accomplished, thanks to being able to raid the Afghan Lower Leagues in their entirety I was able to assemble a squad strong enough to win through the entire (short) season. Seeing as Afghanistan must have one of the shortest league seasons on FM17 and no knockout cup competition, I was keen to try and move on from here as soon as possible. I didn't fancy having to spend ages waiting for the new season to start. Having said that. I AM tempted to stay one more season to see how Toofan Harirod do in the Asia Confederation Cup next year.....

 

[winterburnsilva]

2017 SEASON - Toofan Harirod

Afghan Premier League

 

Transfers

So, rather deviously my transfer activity this season seemed to be aimed at decimating De Maiwand and Simorgh, who were arguably the two strongest teams in the Premier League besides Toofan Harirod. I didn't release anyone before the transfer window shut, because I didn't make it that far MORE OF THAT LATER.

 

Asian Confederation Cup

I wanted to at least have the opportunity to manage Toofan Harirod in the Asian Confederation Cup, just to see what sort of level the team were at compared to the other 'lesser' nations competing. We were predicted to lose every game heavily, with the odds of getting a result against Al-Riffa Sports Club (Bahrain) as high as 50/1! Despite all of that we more than held our own against all the teams in our group and massively overachieved compared to what we were predicted to do.

The highlight of the competition was undoubtedly our 2-0 away win at Al-Riffa Sports Club, a team who had soundly outplayed us in the first game of the group. Despite going down to ten men in the 54th minute the team managed to somehow claw out a 2-0 win, despite only managing to have 39% possession and 3 shots on target all game

We even had a chance to qualify from the group going into the last round of games. All we had to do was beat Shabab Al-Khalil (Palestine) at home and hope that Al-Riffa Sports Club beat Hayre Vahdat (Tajikistan). Sadly, despite beating the Palestinian team 5-0 away from home earlier in the group, we chose that moment to put in our worst performance of the competition and bowed out after a tame 3-1 loss. So close, but so far....

 

Afghanistan U23 Manager

I applied for the Afghanistan u23 manager, as I thought it might be a good way to fill the huge gap between seasons in Afghanistan, and I knew there was a qualifying tournament for the u23 Asian Nations Cup coming up too, the groups for which were drawn not long into the new year.

I expected Iraq and Saudi Arabia to be far too strong for the Afghan u23's, but felt fairly confident that I might be able to get something against India and Nepal. The first order of business was a friendly fixture against Pakistan u23's, sandwiched inbetween the Asian Confederation Cup group games.

By this stage I had pretty much acquired the entire starting eleven of the u23 side for Toofan, but the gaps in the squad were filled with players from other Premier League squads.

 

Pre-Season Friendlies

I managed three pre-season friendlies, with mixed results. Thanks to the Asian Confederations Cup I didn't need to schedule as many friendlies to fill the time this season, relying on the group games to build the squad's fitness instead.

There was time for two more things to happen before events took a turn for the unexpected, first I got the board to agree to upgrade the youth facilities, as by this point the club had a balance of about £250,000 and could easily afford the costs. Second I finished my first coaching badge, a National C Licence, to bump my reputation up slightly.

 

THEN, some job opportunities came up in the Country I wanted to work in next, ALBANIA. The two Kategoria Superiore jobs were obviously a step too high and I was swiftly rejected for both. However, there were also a few vacancies in the second tier and after a few interviews I received an offer for one club-

 

[winterburnsilva]

Club #2 - KS EGNATIA RROGOZHINE

Albanian Kategoria e Parë (1st Division)

Club History

 

Klubi i Futbollit Egnatia Rrogozhinë is an Albania football club based in Rrogozhinë. They play their home games at Rrogozhinë Stadium, which has a capacity of 4000 spectators. The club was founded on 15 September 1964 under the name 22 Shtatori Rrogozhinë, and in 1991 the name of the club was changed to Vullneti Rrogozhinë, before renaming to its current name KS Egnatia Rrogozhinë in 1998.

The passion and desire for the game of football was integrated into the hearts of local citizens and patriots since the early years of World War I. Rrogozhinë, being neighbours to Kavaje, a city with a long tradition in football on a national level knew how to use this experience to its own advantage by initially forming an amateur level team which would later go on to compete in the second division of Albanian football. The very first match in club history was a friendly against Besa in 1934 which ended in a 1–7 loss. Mustafa Cara, a student of agronomy in Bari, Italy who had returned home for vacation (he was a player for Fidelis Andria, a Seria B club in Italy at the time), scored 5 goals for Besa. Following the liberation of the country after World War II, the league structure changed by allowing only district level teams to compete in the top two divisions. This made it difficult for Rrogozhinë, a locality at the time, to compete on a national level.

 

Honours

National

Kategoria e Parë - RUNNER UP, 2003

 

Home Ground

Rrogozhinë Stadium

Rrogozhinë, Capacity- 4,000

 

[GryphonFlick]

Nice work so far! That is an incredibly short season in Afghanistan.

I've been toying with the idea of trying out this challenge myself, might have to have a look into it...

I'll be following this thread for sure. Best of luck in Albania!

[winterburnsilva]

2017/2018 SEASON - KS Egnatia Rrogozhine

Albanian Kategoria e Pare

 

Either the board didn't have much confidence in me or they knew just how bad the team would be this season.....

 

Transfers IN/OUT

Bekim Iliazi was a striker signed from fellow 1st Division side KS Sopoti Librazhd as I desperately needed SOMEONE up front, my only other options either being very young or very useless. Elseid Hysa and Artion Hyso were both centrebacks signed from teams in the division below where they were the standout players. Krenar Ramadani was a goalkeeper signed in the january transfer window to improve on the kid I had been forced to play all season. Lorenc Gega was a defender who wasn't going to get anywhere near my starting team, so I released him.

 

Pre-Season / Mid-Season Friendlies

Things started brightly enough with 10 goals and unbeaten in the first three games, but after that it was very ropey, with a lot of draws and losses. Most of the games were close though, so I didn't think it was cause for too much alarm. There was a bit of tactical tinkering too through pre-season which I thought probably effected things a bit. There was a winter break in January so I filled the time with a few more friendlies, managing a couple of what I hoped would be morale boosting wins.

 

Albanian Kupa e Shqiperise

The only thing I can say about our cup 'run' was that at least it gave us time to concentrate all our efforts on league survival. We never looked like scoring in either game and were well beaten over two legs of the first round tie. At the moment the squad is nowhere near strong enough to even consider giving the cup a serious go.

 

 

Kategoria e Pare Group A

Very poor season, albeit one that surpassed the expectation of the board. We struggled for goals early on, losing or drawing a lot of close games because we just couldn't find the back of the net when we had to. Interestingly though of the 4 games we did win in the main league stage, three we scored 4 goals in, so the firepower WAS there but it just didn't appear enough to make a difference. We conceded a fair few last minute/injury time winners which was particularly aggravating, but in truth we were second best in almost all of the games. It was only the evident ineptitude of KS Ada Velipoje that kept us off the bottom of the table for large parts of the season. There was a major tactical overhaul halfway through the season, which resulted in a mini run of form of only one defeat in 7 games but at times it felt like no matter what the team tried, they were going to lose. There was just a gulf in class between us and the opposition.

 

Kategoria e Pare Relegation Stage

After 18 games the table splits in half, with the top 5 going on to the Promotion Stage and the bottom 5 contesting the Relegation Stage. Any points earned by that stage of the season are halved, so our 20 points became 10 and all of a sudden we were right back in trouble again with 8 games to try and pull ourselves clear.

Thankfully we didn't lose any ground to KS Ada Velipoje, thanks to a draw (that should have been a win, leading 2-0 with 15 minutes to go) and a convincing win that secured our 1st Division status for this season. The rest of the games followed the same pattern of those from the main league stage, with quite a few close games that just went the wrong way from our point of view. It all had a sense of inevitability about it and there was a worrying gap between us and the rest of the teams in the Relegation Stage. We can't rely on a team being as bad as KS Ada Velipoje next season.

 

Squad End-of-Season stats

 

Somehow this mediocre season was enough to convince the board that I was the man they wanted, so they offered me a new contract, giving me a whopping 700% payrise in the process.

 

Lastly, we received the youth intake for the season-

 

Season Review

Well, that was TOUGH. We were outclassed in quite a few games and although we held our own at times, it felt a bit like trying to halt a tidal wave. Some serious work will be needed on the squad in the off-season to avoid another relegation scrap like this. The board have given me a transfer budget of £26,482 and we are currently only spending £902 p/w out of a wage budget of £3,220 so there is some room for improvements thankfully.

 

 

 

[winterburnsilva]

2018/2019 SEASON - KS Egnatia Rrogozhine

Albanian Kategoria e Pare

 

I thought the board were being a bit conservative with their expectations this season, as I did manage to strengthen the squad significantly and my own expectation was to at least make the promotion stage after the league split.

 

Transfers IN/OUT

I strengthened the midfield considerably during the pre-season transfer window, which was essential as I wanted to use my favoured 4-3-1-2 tactic this year and needed good players (for this level anyway) to hold the centre of the pitch together. I also got Bekim Iliazi some decent company up front with Kleandro Asllanaj, who had managed 11 goals in a woeful KS Ada Velipoje team the previous season. I only had kids playing at right back last year so obtained two slightly-below average replacements in Ilir Matera and Endrit Shehu, who could split time for now until someone better came along. Rezart Meho was nothing more than midfield backup, as he was too old (34) to be a consistent starter but solid enough in a crisis.

These signings were joined by two more in January-

Yes you did read that right, it's not a typo- £50,000 For Goalkeeper Edmir Sali from Beselidhja. This took the form of £22,000 up front and the rest in various add-ons and monthly payments. I know I massively overpaid for him, but he represented an upgrade at keeper yet again and at 21, was one I could keep at the club for quite some time as he developed. Endrit Ferraj was a player I tried to sign in the pre-season transfer window but got beaten to it by Shkumbini. He was originally a backup option should either Asslanaj or Iliazi get injured, but as the season came to a close he ended up edging out Iliazi to become a starter.

My first choice XI and main tactic to open the season were-

 

Pre-Season / Mid-Season Friendlies

Optimism was high during pre-season, as the results were almost entirely positive. The only blemish was a defeat to Albanian Super League powerhouses KF Partizani Tirana, so I knew I could more than hold my own in the upcoming Kategoria e Paze season. Kleandro Asslanaj was the pick of the players in pre-season with 6 goals and he managed to add another 4 in the 4 winter-break friendlies that I arranged just to keep fitness up before the final league stage run-in.

 

Albanian Kupa e Shqiperise

The first blip with more misery in the cup, although two much better performances than last year. We dominated the 2nd leg of the tie, with 19 shots (9 on target) but we just could not find another goal and ended up crashing out of the cup at the first stage again.

 

Kategoria e Pare Group A

I feared my optimism was misplaced after the opening league defeat to Terbuni, but I needn't have worried as before the winter break we absolutely dominated. The final scores were close in a lot of games, but the performances were superior, bossing possession in almost every game and creating at least double the chances. However, after the winter break we looked a completely different team, players losing possession and being caught on the counter attack far too often, silly mistakes leading to goals and nervous players, just how the squad were during the relegation battle last year. We lost 3 out of 5 after the winter break and somewhat limped into the promotion stage, still top of the table but it could (and should) have been by a great margin.

 

Kategoria e Pare Promotion Stage

Luckily we did enough to maintain a slight gap at the top of the promotion table all through the mini-season, with Korabi snapping at our heels but never quite managing to catch us. As the Promotion Stage finished I thought that was the season over, but then it was revealed the winners of Groups A & B in the Albanian 1st Division have a 'Champions Playoff Final' at a neutral venue. The opponents were to be Lushnja, who finished their league stage 2nd, but managed to overtake Luftetari in the Promotion Stage. We were the better side in the game, despite slightly bizarre 10/1 underdog odds pre-match. However, they managed two goals in two chances to take it to extra time. I thought we had finally got our chance to take control of the match when they had a player sent off in extra-time, but despite all that they managed to find a winner from somewhere and no amount of ordering the players to bomb forward desperately could save me.

 

End of Season Squad Stats

Kleandro Asslanaj finished way out in front as top scorer with 16 goals (plus 5 assists) in 27 appearances. I may have made a slight mistake thrusting the new goalkeeper straight into the side and changing a winning formula, as he ended up with a worse player average than Krenar Ramadani with only three games less playing time. Midfield general Shefqet Boni finished with the highest average. I was pleased that generally speaking, all the new signings had made a positive impact on the squad.

 

Youth Intake 2018/2019

A couple of half-decent prospects among a sea of mediocrity. Until I can convince the board to upgrade the youth facilities I doubt I will be able to rely on the youth intake too much in the next few years.

 

Season Review

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to win Group A and promotion at the start of the season! It's a great feeling, once you've spent time assembling a squad and working out ways to improve the team, to see your plans come to fruition in such a spectacular way!

There were a few moments where the wheels threatened to come off, but the squad was able to bounce back and maintain their position at the top when it mattered. One change from last season that I really noticed was the amount of players in the reserves that started to complain about a lack of first team football. 19-20 year olds with terrible stats and barely any potential were knocking on my door frequently, leading to me releasing a few. One player though, Endri Karaj of the senior squad probably had a genuine gripe. His stats marked him out as one of the best players for the team, but as a winger I couldn't find as much game time for him as he would have liked. I tried to get him to retrain as an attacking central midfielder but he struggled all season. I fear I may have to cut him loose next season, as he just doesn't fit with my tactics.

Overall, delighted with the performance and adding another trophy to my collection- ALBANIAN 1st DIVISION Group A Winners!!

Heading in to next season, the squad will need a bit of an upgrade once more if we are to survive in the Albanian Super League. As much as I like my central defensive pairing of Hyso and Hysa I fear I may need to find some alternatives, to ensure I'm solid at the back.

 

[winterburnsilva]

2019/2020 SEASON - KS Egnatia Rrogozhine

Albanian Kategoria Superiore (Super League)

 

As soon as promotion to the Super League was confirmed, the club announced that they would be turning professional with immediate effect, I assume it's a stipulation of joining the top league in the country. As a reward for my efforts I was also given another new contract, this time for TWO years and with a slight increase to £220 a week (£200 after tax).

 

The board expectations came out before I did any business in the transfer window, so were probably fair enough at the time. Having only had experience against Super League teams in pre-season friendlies I didn't know what to expect either. The cup expectation wasn't much better, with the board expecting us to go one round further this time.

 

Transfers IN/OUT

I knew I needed to strengthen the defence if I had any chance of staying up, so the priority was to load up on centre backs. Amri Jonuzi and Bazion Tragaj were signed to be the first choice pairing at the back, with Emilijano Shehu brought in on loan from Lushnja as third-choice cover. I didn't think the loan deal through properly though, as he and his club quickly became disillusioned at not starting every game so the loan was cancelled before he made any sort of impact.

I felt I needed an upgrade at attacking mid, so Ardian Kryeziu was brought in on loan from Flamurtari. Herald Marku was acquired on a free transfer from Terbuni to beef up the options in midfield, however Shefqet Boni immediately became concerned that he was being replaced and his morale plummeted. The squad sided with him and I had to have a team meeting to convince them all that he WASN'T being replaced. However it took until halfway through the season, when he had started almost every game for me for him to drop his concerns.

Lastly in pre-season, I added striker Ruhan Foniqi to give me a bit of extra firepower and ensure that all areas of the squad had been strengthened.

 

I made a bit of a mistake in January, by loading up on more signings and disrupting the team harmony. I ended up completing my overhaul of the defence with new fullbacks and another centreback who I thought would be an instant inclusion into the team due to his ability. I also bought another striker in to partner Ruhan Foniqi, although as with the rest it took him time to properly gel with the team and tactics. In total I ended up spending £104,000 in January and although the team finally felt complete, it was probably the wrong time to buy so many new players.

 

As for outs, Rezart Maho retired at age 34 after making just 5 appearances for Egnatia. Luca Mosciatello was unhappy at being relegated to a backup option so wouldn't sign a new contract, which was a shame as he had scored some crucial goals for the club, but I just couldn't justify starting him ahead of the other midfielders in what was now a strong area of the team. Endri Karaj didn't adapt at all well to being re-trained as an attacking midfielder (partly why I brought in Ardian Kryeziu) and grew frustrated with me, meaning he left also when his contract expired. The other released players were all now poorly skilled backups that wouldn't have got any game time and were too old to be dumped into the youth squads.

 

Pre-Season / Mid-Season Friendlies

An almost perfect pre-season, which gave me great optimism for the season ahead and gave me some idea as to the strength of the team that I had taken some effort in assembling. We only conceded more than one goal in one game, but on the flip side only kept 5 clean sheets in 15 friendly matches.

 

Albanian Kupa e Shqiperise

Finally, a cup run worthy of the name! I thought it was a case of 'here we go again' when we lost the first leg of the 1st round tie against Beselidhja, but after that we put in a series of strong performances. We won the 1st leg of the semi-final so convincingly that I decided to play a second string in the 2nd leg and it almost cost Egnatia as they battered us and should have scored at least a couple more. Sadly we just couldn't put in one more good performance to win the cup, as we ran into a Teuta side in the final that had dominated the Super League all season. We actually played them in the final game of the league season and I tried to get one over on the AI by playing a completely different formation to my usual and putting out a weak team of reserves and kids... we ended up beating them 1-0 which then made me think about sticking to that formation. In the end I went back to the tried and tested tactics that I had used most of the season... and promptly lost the cup final to the same team.

 

Albanian Kategoria Superiore

A solid season which saw us comfortably better the initial expectations set by the board, we never really dropped out of the Europa League qualification places (2nd-4th place depending on the Cup winners) all season, although we never really had a chance of catching a surprisingly dominant Teuta, who secured their first league title since 1994. Results dipped a bit after the influx of players in January, but on reflection I'm satisfied with the team now and there was never much danger in sliding too far down the table even with the disrupted team harmony. A good season, but also one in which we finished second in both competitions. Hopefully we can make that final push next year and secure some silverware.

 

End of Season Squad Stats

 

Youth Intake

Not much to write home about in the yearly youth intake, with Sajmir Mustafaraj being the best of a bad bunch. Hopefully with the increased revenue in the club the board will allow an improvement of youth facilities now.

 

Season Review

A successful season on reflection that saw us probably overachieve drastically in the league and come very close to securing some silverware in the form of the Kupa e Shqiperise. The squad is looking much stronger now and should be ok for the next couple of years. It will be interesting to see how it measures up in the qualification round of the Europa League, but I assume it will really all depend on how kind the draw is.

[GryphonFlick]

Nice first season in the top league. 

Hopefully the Europa league draw is kind to you 

[winterburnsilva]

On 24/08/2017 at 03:00, GryphonFlick said:

Nice first season in the top league. 

Hopefully the Europa league draw is kind to you 

Well, it SORT of was, then it really wasn't....

[winterburnsilva]

2020/2021 SEASON - KS Egnatia Rrogozhine

Albanian Kategoria Superiore (Super League)

 

 

First order of business was to complete my next coaching badge, a National A licence, which bumped up my managerial reputation further to 2 1/2 stars.

 

Another bizarrely unambitious set of expectations from the board, despite us now possessing a very strong squad (in the context of Albanian football at least). Personally I was hoping to at least challenge for the league title again and get a little bit closer to Teuta, assuming they were still near the top and last season wasn't a total fluke by them. The Europa League was a complete free hit as any progression would have been a bonus really. As for the cups, the Superkupa was a one-off game where anything could happen and I was hoping to at least match last year's run in the Kupa e Shqiperise.

 

Transfers IN/OUT

Technically I made this signing before the new season came around, but when the captain of North Korea was announced as available I felt like I would have to move quickly to secure his signature. I wasn't really looking to make many major additions to the squad as I felt quite confident in the team we now had, but this was a signing that would improve the centre back positions for sure.

With the departure of on-load Ardian Kryeziu, Gentian Manuka was pretty much a like-for-like permanent replacement who would take the majority of starts at AMC with Serxhio Mukja as the backup.

Endrit Ferraj, Ilir Matera and Artion Hyso were all unhappy at being relegated to backup status, so they left the club when their contracts expired. The rest of the departures were players who became too old for the u19's and weren't good enough to feature in the reserves. Some of them chose to retire from football outfight rather than carry on as free agents, probably for years. Artan Malaj was one of the few young players with a bit of potential, so he was sent out on loan to KF Naftetari Kucove of the Albanian First Category to get a bit of first team experience.

 

Pre-Season / Mid-Season Friendlies

Almost a perfect set of results in pre-season against various lower league Albanian and Eastern European opposition. The attack seemed especially potent, scoring 3 or more goals in 7 of the 9 games played.

 

UEFA Europa League

Well, we certainly didn't disgrace ourselves against higher-rated opposition in either tie. We were well worth our victory over Neftci Pesakar of Azerbaijan in the first qualifying round and although we were well beaten at home by Trabzonspor of Turkey, we made a game of it in the return, even managing to take the lear early on before their superior class took over.

 

Superkupa e Shqiperise

A bit of revenge for losing the Kupa e Shqiperise final last season, although I always feel like it's cheating a bit to be in the Supercup when you didn't win anything last year, finishing runners up in league and cup. However, I will certainly not complain at adding another trophy to the resume! We dominated possession and chances in the final but we were just unable to put them away until the 67th minute when one finally went in. There were a few nervy moments at the end of the game but we were ultimately able to hold on and secure the trophy.

 

Kupa e Shqiperise

We were also able to go one better than last season and lift the Kupa e Shqiperise! We faced an absurd injury crisis before the final, with no less than 6 first team players missing the game. 5 of those injuries happened in the weeks leading up to the game, as FM17 somehow KNEW I was trying to protect my team by resting them so decided to hobble them all in 'training incidents'. Xhuljan Turhani was also out injured a few months before, making it over half my first team out for the critical match. Splendid!

Emilio Kishta was sent off just before half-time which infuriated me, and we had to rely on an extra-time winner from Ruhan Foniqi to lift the cup, but ultimately we deserved the win. Another trophy to add to the collection!

 

Albanian Kategoria Superiore

An Albanian Treble! Ultimately we proved too strong for the rest of the Albanian Super League this season, with Teuta falling back into the pack following their title last year. I thought we would mount a challenge to be honest, but didn't think we would win with games to spare. There were a few wobbles again after the mid-season break despite me not signing anyone and not daring to do anything to disrupt team harmony this time around. I also rested players for a few weeks leading up to the cup final (that backfired, see above!) so results were a bit patchy late on, but by then we had secured the title anyway.

 

End of Season Stats

 

Youth Intake

Pretty dreadful. Didn't even bother doing a screenshot for any of them.

 

The club was taken over during the season, with a cash injection helping to propel our finances upwards. This would have made it fairly straightforward to steal away the best players from our nearest competitors, especially when combined with the £494,748 we earned from just two qualifying rounds of the Europa League and the expected windfall from the Champions League qualifying stages next season. However, with the domestic treble obtained in Albania I decided it was time to move on, so I resigned from KS Egnatia Rrogozhine and immediately embarked on a hunt for my next job.....

 

[winterburnsilva]

So, erm.....I did say I like to wander off on tangents now and then!

[GryphonFlick]

The treble! Nice work. How's the count looking now then?

What competitions do you have in your sights for the French u19s? Should be a good foot in the international management door that one.

[winterburnsilva]

8 hours ago, GryphonFlick said:

The treble! Nice work. How's the count looking now then?

What competitions do you have in your sights for the French u19s? Should be a good foot in the international management door that one.

Well as far as I know the ONLY competition that the French u19's enter is the u19 European Championships. It's not part of the 'Giant 70 Challenge' really, I just fancied a bit of a detour and seeing as how France are up quite high in the world rankings it seemed as good a chance as any to add a relatively obscure trophy to my cv.

[winterburnsilva]

To give you some idea why I went on this tangent, this is everything I am hoping to obtain from this save. If I've forgotten anything let ne know!

[TheEarl]

On 28.8.2017 at 09:59, winterburnsilva said:

To give you some idea why I went on this tangent, this is everything I am hoping to obtain from this save. If I've forgotten anything let ne know!

Great progress so far @winterburnsilva

You write good and big updates, so its mostly ok you keep them here, but would be nice if you did a small comment in the Challenge thread also, just to let us know you are still in the game, could just be a text update with the trophies you have won, which year you are in and what club you are managing.

Keep up the good work though.