Generic Journeyman Career Title

[ToMexico!!]

Surprised to see the Jets up there, normally predicted lower half of the table, had they strengthened much? Not that teams in Oz can strengthen that much, is it still correct if you don't register a player that automatically releases them? 

Good luck in the Grand Finals!!

[andychar]

8 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Surprised to see the Jets up there, normally predicted lower half of the table, had they strengthened much? Not that teams in Oz can strengthen that much, is it still correct if you don't register a player that automatically releases them? 

Good luck in the Grand Finals!!

Yes that’s the case. I offered a youngster a new contract then 3 days later had to release him. Whoops. 

Yeah they had a very strong second half of the season. Some interesting teams have missed out on finals. 

Im not confident. We seem to have hit a little bad patch of form at the worse possible time. The financial blackhole is also worrying me!

[ToMexico!!]

42 minutes ago, andychar said:

Yes that’s the case. I offered a youngster a new contract then 3 days later had to release him. Whoops. 

Yeah they had a very strong second half of the season. Some interesting teams have missed out on finals. 

Im not confident. We seem to have hit a little bad patch of form at the worse possible time. The financial blackhole is also worrying me!

Well hopefully the A-League win has restored your reputation a little and you could maybe just ship. Money is a worry, does the title see you into the Asian Champions League or do you need to win the grand final? 

[andychar]

14 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Well hopefully the A-League win has restored your reputation a little and you could maybe just ship. Money is a worry, does the title see you into the Asian Champions League or do you need to win the grand final? 

No Champions League at all. As we are a New Zealand team playing in Australia we are not allowed to qualify for both the AFC and OFC Champions League.

Pretty rubbish really. My reputation is now 1 and a half stars. I wasn't getting many interviews with 2 stars on 18 but I hadn't won the A League Regular Season so my plan is to stay with Wellington Phoenix for another season but apply for any job I like the look of. I'm even open to going to North America or South Africa as there wasn't any rule stating I had to start in Asia!

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, andychar said:

No Champions League at all. As we are a New Zealand team playing in Australia we are not allowed to qualify for both the AFC and OFC Champions League.

Pretty rubbish really. My reputation is now 1 and a half stars. I wasn't getting many interviews with 2 stars on 18 but I hadn't won the A League Regular Season so my plan is to stay with Wellington Phoenix for another season but apply for any job I like the look of. I'm even open to going to North America or South Africa as there wasn't any rule stating I had to start in Asia!

Ah yes I remember reading that now. That is rubbish.

So its either a switch to an another team in the league or new country altogether, maybe a step to make two steps forward. 

 

[andychar]

16 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Ah yes I remember reading that now. That is rubbish.

So its either a switch to an another team in the league or new country altogether, maybe a step to make two steps forward. 

 

Yeah it never occurred to me when I took the job but it was a blessing in a way because its given me a good chance of proving myself at a decent level.

 

Gladiator

More record before the playoffs. Lots of goals and not a lot of losses. I like it.

It was Adelaide or Melbourne Victory in the Semi final. Two teams I've faced a lot already this season.

Don't know if this is a bug or what but my training is set to rest and I can't change it. Seems like everybody has actually forgotten we got to the playoffs. We haven't trained for days before probably the biggest game in the clubs history.

So here we go...my boys are all 100% condition which is hardly surprising!

Cagey opening but we got the break through.

Dream few minutes!

2-0 at half time. I find this to be one of the most dangerous scorelines on FM.

That's it. No more training...ever!

Dreamland.

Saves me forking out for clean sheet bonuses.

Absolute domination. 

It will be Newcastle Jets in the final. The money you would have got on that if you put a quid on before a ball had been kicked this season.

I think it deserves its own post.

[Sebastian Szlenkier]

Good point about the clean sheet bonus, maybe always make sure they concede at least 1 if you're really worried about your finances?  

[andychar]

A Million Ways to Die in the West

As the most Eastern team in the A League I thought this title was apt for the game game in the history of the club.

Just in case you needed proof.

3 wins but all narrow games.

We actually trained in the build up. Fingers crossed this won't affect our performance.

Well I've had worse 80 seconds.

A VAR penalty puts is in a great position just before the half. I was 3-0 against them last time we played so I'm not counting my chickens just yet.

2-0 at the break. We were 45 minutes away...

Worst possible start to the second half. We needed to keep our heads.

A VAR penalty brings them back level and with 25 minutes to go there is only one winner at the moment.

Unbelievable! A third VAR penalty and we are 15 minutes plus stoppage time away. I imagine with all this VAR there will be a lot of stoppage time.

Heartbreak. Absolute heartbreak.

SCENES!!!

Sometimes no words are needed.

[ToMexico!!]

Fantastic, well done winning that crazy game! 

Will do your rep a world of good! 

[andychar]

3 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Fantastic, well done winning that crazy game! 

Will do your rep a world of good! 

Thank you very much. I went from gutted to elated in 30 seconds. I love this game.

I'm just below 2 stars, before I was just above so its there or thereabouts!

Oscars 2019

So it was award night for Wellington Phoenix. And time for the annual, post everything that happens no matter how random it is post!

Signing of the season surprised me, it really could have been anybody, not that my keeper didn't have a great season *cough conceded 3 goals in the final cough*.

Oh yeah now the players believe in me!

Hardly surprising really.

Don't know the difference between the two but I like the bottom one, we have more players.

Not going to lie I thought these were empty promises but should be I worried its not turned green yet?

I'm not getting my hopes up but this will be huge.

This is normally followed by "Application unsuccessful"

This one was a long shot to be fair. North America know nothing of my work.

Like a book.

Looks like I will be staying in New Zealand for the time being, I may need to repeat what I just did in order to bag a job at a club who has a chance of winning the Champions League, either that or lower my standards.

How is this okay!?

A curve ball and my first interview. Wasn't expecting anything from this so lets wait and see...

I waited and I saw.

Happy to get an interview and its encouraged me heading into the preseason...

[andychar]

The Interview

So many interviews in the off season. I even applied and thought I was going to get the Newcastle Jets job but was unsuccessful.

I was settling in for another season in the A League.

Just look at the difference between us and Melbourne Victory there. No Champions League won't help.

Loads of Phoenix's there. Very happy with the season and such a shot in the arm for my career, exactly what I wanted.

Another shot in the arm. Glad I got in before the finances took the biggest nose dive in human history.

I was going to struggle getting any new faces in this season as our finances were so poor. We aren't going to be as good on paper as we were last season.

A big shock came in the Cup draw.

We were at home! That should be a simple tie...should be.

One thing I've noticed is everybody being scared of Work Permits. When players go into the last year of their contract they come to you wanting to leave. We have just sold Steven Taylor to QPR for 75k for that very reason.

But it was all academic because one of my interviews was successful...

[andychar]

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning

Now out of all the film titles I've used I'm most proud of that one so far.

So I was leaving New Zealand and Australian football. I would have loved to stay but the purpose of this save was to win the Champions League on all Continents available to me out the box (stupid OFC). But where was I going to end up?

I had interviews at Newcastle Jets, New York Red Bulls, Sporting Kansas City and Montreal Impact, I even had one at LA Galaxy before settling on my new team.

Pohang in South Korea. 

The team were predicted to finish 4th which is the final Champions League place but have fallen on hard times recently. That being said they were only 10 points off 3rd and 7 off 4th and with 16 games left to play Champions League was still a dream. Although I am aware how close they are to the drop as well.

Financially they were on sound footing although they are over spending on wages by nearly 10k a week.

The team had talent and its hard to think why they have struggled so much.

For the first time this save I think this is it. This is the team I will win the Champions League with, not matter how long it takes. Strap yourself in, we are in South Korea for the long haul (sackings pending).

Back to square one with Managerial Support. I do have to agree though. If I can hit the ground running like I did well Wellington Phoenix then I reckon I've done well getting this job.

With Champions League and South Korean cup both out the equation I had no distractions. I wanted that top 4 spot but truth be told this season was just about consolidation. The hard work would begin in the off season.

 

[ToMexico!!]

Great move, good team, good finances. Recipe for success! 

Couple of older foreigners there you could move on and replace with younger models too. Good luck!

[andychar]

South Pacific

Yeah I know that film had nothing to do with South Korea, as links go its very threadbare.

Two games already played this month.

They went well, my first game in charge was an away fixture against bottom then a home fixture against the team currently in 10th. Perfect chance to get a great start and to stamp my authority on the team.

Well your half right I suppose.

Its an exciting league!

I also decided it was time to dip my toe back into International Management and attempt to qualify for the World Cup in 2022.

Wasn't expecting that.

African Cup of Nations has just passed which is why the job and many other African jobs were avaliable. My first game? In South America, against Chile. Its getting spooky. 

Anyway it was time to make my "managerial debut".

Great performance and we weren't troubled in the slightest. Important not to get to excited however, it was against the worst team in the league. There will be much harder challengers ahead.

The league actually splits after 33 games so I need to be in the top 6 by then to even have a chance of Champions League.

Here are the many many many many rules for South Korea.

I kicked up a massive fuss at the start of this save about foreign rules in China. I'm happier in South Korea manly because the talent of home grown players is so much better than in China.

There is also the National Service rule which I'm sure could potentially bite me in the butt in the future.

Anyway onto my first home game. We faced Jeju who have also had a disappointing season.

Not the greatest of results to be honest. We missed a sitter in stoppage time to grab all 3 points. I'll take a point but its a case of 2 dropped.

6 games to get into 6th otherwise the highest we can finish this season is 7th...which would be the boards expectations but not mine. 

 

 

 

[andychar]

35 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Great move, good team, good finances. Recipe for success! 

Couple of older foreigners there you could move on and replace with younger models too. Good luck!

Well I'm looking to replace an old Brazilian with an old Japanese player so almost right!

I wasn't aware the transfer window is still open so I'm frantically trying to get players. Will probably end up panic buying!

[andychar]

Little Shop of Horrors

So it turns out the transfer window was open and I was willing to buy!

I went in for a FA Japanese player who would really help the team and a new LB as I felt it was the weakest part of the team.

We needed players for the busy August ahead.

It will be a make or break month if we are going to reach top 6 and it started with a very hard game.

First signing in the bag and we got our man. Signed from Jeju he took a chunk out of our budget but he ticks a lot of boxes and will improve the team greatly.

Very happy to pick up Shinji on a free. He's asked for a lot of wage but he should be worth every penny.

We lost our best CM because he wanted to play at a higher level and I offended him greatly when I tried to throw money at him and we didn't have enough time to bring anybody else in so we were left in the lurch a little bit. Annoying but we will survive!

Two new players. Hopefully it will be enough to shoot us as high up the table as possible.

We have no more transfer budget and we are still 6k over wage budget. I will be having a lovely spring clean at the end of the season but there just wasn't enough time to do that before the transfer window closed.

So Suwon away, a point would be a good result.

But before the game I realised something. There is a rule that states at least 1 player under the age of 22 in the starting 11. I just sold that guy...oh god.

Get in! We fell behind early and I was fearing the worse but we managed to grab a goal just before half time. We were the better team the second half but it was a VAR awarded penalty that was the difference. Huge 3 points, we need to back it up with another win now.

Huge game next against the team currently in 6th. We are only 2 points behind them so a win will actually lift us up above them.

A loan report has come through. Everybody at Sangju is on National Service. I have some decent players coming back next season, hopefully they are under the age of 22!

We were 2-0 down at half time and playing terrible. I aggressively gave them a piece of my mind and wow what a second half. They showed fire and came back brilliantly then held on brilliantly as well. Huge, massive 3 points.

We followed it up with a strong home performance and we are flying up the league at the moment.

Next was a 3rd straight home game and it was a big one. 6th v 3rd going into it and the gap between us and the Top 4 is closing rapidly.

Stalemate and stale is the perfect word. They will be happier with the point than we are. Missed opportunity.

The final game of the month was an away trip to the team currently in 2nd place. They probably can't be caught but I needed a result to maintain a top 6 place. It was going to be far from easy.

Brilliant result! We took the lead early on thanks to a shocking defensive error. They equalised with 10 minutes to go but I was happy with the point, into stoppage time we went and a deflected shot trickled by the keeper to give us a massive three points. Maybe a bit lucky with the goals we scored but I won't be complaining.

The league table looked like this after the month finished.

League splits after 33 games so we have a nice little cushion. We are 6 points off 3rd but our game in hand is against top of the table and future champions so I'm counting it as 6 points. 4th I believe is a Champions League place depending on the winner of the FA Cup. Fingers crossed its one of the big boys.

 

[ToMexico!!]

Two great signings, especially Okazaki, love a Japanese player in a squad. Both Perfectionists as well. 

Some great results in your first month in charge there, onwards and upwards. 

[andychar]

5 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Two great signings, especially Okazaki, love a Japanese player in a squad. Both Perfectionists as well. 

Some great results in your first month in charge there, onwards and upwards. 

I couldn't believe it when he popped up as a free transfer. Lot of wage but 100% worth it. 

I wanted to push for the top 6 and get to the split but didn't think I'd be able to claw my way back into the Champions League race. Its going to be a very exciting finish to the season!

Double Impact

You're in luck. I'm going to merge 2 months into one.

Because the league will split after that Seoul game. We start with a next to impossible game away to the perennial champions. 

And in true FM style. I have my first game with Cameroon on the same day as the Jeonbuk game.

Only just noticed I haven't had a report regarding finances, job security or dynamics. Lazy Koreans.

Ooooooo youth intake.

I could be here a good few years so I better take an interest.

He's our best prospect but he is best in a position I don't play and with a finishing of 6 I cant see him being a striker any time soon.

Triggered. We were 1-0 up at half time before the ref took over. My personal woes in South America continue but we were much better than the scoreline suggests.

Meanwhile!

Not the best of games. Neither side really creating anything substantial. It could be a very valuable point come the end of the season in our bid for Champions League.

Just an update now everybody has played the same amount of games. It couldn't be tighter. We are 2 points off a Champions League place, 3 points off missing out on the top half split and only 5 points off a very lowly 10th. In fact its the same points between finish 3rd and finishing 10th!

We have a kind final 3 games, all 3 I'm classing as winnable. If we aren't in the top 6 split then it will be deemed as a massive failure.

Jeonbuk, Seoul, Jeju and a 2nd division team make up the semi final of the FA Cup. Looking at it I'm banking on Jeonbuk winning or Seoul winning as long as we both finish in the top 4. I'll be keeping a close eye on it.

Fairly straight forward win. Could have been better but not going to complain.

Big gap between games now as the race for that top 6 and the good split intensifies. 

Typically solid performance doesn't guarantee top 6 but it means we will need to be thrashed to miss out.

So one game before the split and we were home against the team currently in 6th. We could knock them out of the top group.

Before that game however I got some updates.

Finances are very steady and that makes me very happy.

Board happy apart from me selling a player I didn't want to sell in the first place. Sounds about right.

Average...I'll take average.

So the last game before the split.

A defensive mistake cost us a point but truth be told we were poor and didn't deserve anything from it.

So we got there, only just. We still have a good chance of finishing 3rd and making sure of Champions League.

We needed to remain strong despite such a disappointing result.

 

 

[andychar]

Countdown

So here we were. 5 games between us and the Champions League, it was going to be close.

This was the run in. I think its fallen favourably with the home ties and the away ties but only time will tell.

Before it all got underway I had two more friendlies with Cameroon. I was happy with the 4-1 loss against Chile when you consider the 3 goal gap were all penalties!

My first home game in charge was an all African tie against Algeria this was followed by a trip to Cyprus.

One thing I have noticed in the beta is the kits clashes, I was in the middle of shouting at a player for letting somebody just run past him then he blew for half time.

It was by far not the greatest performance you'll ever see and when we were 1-0 it was all Algeria. We got a second in stoppage time to add gloss on the scoreline. At least its a win.

Next up we travel to Cyprus for a great night out...and maybe a football match as well.

We were 1-0 down with 15 minutes to play. We were dominating and managed to turn it into goals. Good performance but lets face it, its only Cyprus.

We got our first World Cup Qualifying fixture.

Its two legged so there shouldn't be any problems really.

Now that pointless International Break was finished it was time to concentrate on the league.

First up was home to 4th. We could overtake them but still be behind Seoul depending on results.

Awful game. They killed it from start to finish. It was like watching a team managed by Mourinho, really frustrating and not good enough for us.

A top 3 place looks like it will escape us, its 4th or nothing but even that has been taken out of our hands.

Seoul away next. Must win!

We went into the game knowing Ulsan lost go we could close the gap to 3rd with a win but we need to remember how poor we were against them.

Garbage, absolute hot garbage and that's the season pretty much over. I'm keen to move on now and fill in these gaping holes. I need a big season next season and that starts with a good off season. Some dead wood needed to go.

Suppose considering where I took over I'll have to accept 6th as a success, its all the board were expecting.

We hosted the champions next. Just the game you want on the back of a 3 game slide.

Jeonbuk will play a second division team in the final of the cup. It means 4th will probably be enough, shame we are 6 points off that!

If we can go into the final week with an outside chance I'll be happy.

This is really really frustrating, we did so well to get ourselves into the top 6 and since then its like watching a completely different team.

At least that's what I was thinking 1-0 down at half time but a brilliant and sometimes lucky performance in the second half changed that. We grabbed the winner with 5 minutes to go and it could turn out to be a new lease of life if results go our way.

I think results went our way.

Goals scored are the tiebreaker, they have scored 6 goals more than us so we need to pretty much thrash somebody. We actually play Gyeongnam still so they are catchable. 2 games to go, please let me take it to the final day at least.

 

[andychar]

Destiny

There actually was a film called this in like the 40s so I'm counting it!

2 games left and we needed a lot of help, more importantly we actually needed to win. We beat the Champions in the last game but I don't think it was impressive. We have 2nd place away next and anything less than 3 points will probably see the end of our journey to qualify for the Asian Champions League next season.

We have 2 World Cup Qualifiers either side of the game against Ulsan. Botswana shouldn't give us any trouble.

The Champions League concluded with an Iranian team beating a Chinese team in the final. Korea had 3 representatives in the quarter final, the only one missing? Us. Pre me obviously!

So it was time for us to open our World Cup Qualifying Campaign. Any other than a big win would be deemed a failure.

We finished with 10 men thanks to an injury after using all 3 subs. Annoying but its job done before the second leg.

So this was it. Away to Ulsan. 1 point will probably not be enough. 0 points will mean its all over.

Jeonbuk beat Suwon so a win here would put us level on points with them heading into the final day. It means a point would still be enough to give us a chance on the final day if the other result goes our way.

0-0 at HT and its anybodies game.

With scores as they are a point really wouldn't be the end of the World. Next goal is huge.

An entertaining game that really could have gone either way. On paper its a good point...

Its 4th or nothing. We play Gyeongnam at home in the last game. If we win and Suwon lose then we are amazingly 4th. We have taken it to the final day of the league season so no matter what happens I'm happy with that. 

Second leg against Botswana first then its our date with destiny.

It will do. 

I don't think we could have hand picked a harder group.

So here we go. We needed to win, any win would do and hope that Suwon lose either that or Suwon draw and we score 7 more goals than they do!

Offically we only need 2 goals to go our way...

This was one of them.

We are getting the help but we needed to help ourselves.

It Suwon come back then screw it they deserve 4th.

Much more entertaining than my game.

At half time the table looked like this.

One goal was all we needed.

Meaning nothing unless we score.

100% against the run of play. **** this game.

Didn't deserve to lose that game.

Final league table. Am more annoyed than I've been in a long damn time. I will aim to crush every single one of these teams next season.

 

[King Cactus]

Shame to miss out, but clearly at a team headed in the right direction now. You're at the kind of club you can definitely pick up your first CL at, good luck pushing on.

[andychar]

3 minutes ago, King Cactus said:

Shame to miss out, but clearly at a team headed in the right direction now. You're at the kind of club you can definitely pick up your first CL at, good luck pushing on.

Cheers mate. I was just very salty. Would have preferred to get spanked. We weren’t good enough after the split which was disappointing. 

I’m happy where I am. Ready to right some wrongs. I’ve got a fairly good transfer budget and no distractions. I’ve got a good shot next season of hopefully challenging for the title or at least not worrying. About Champs League qualifying. 

Is it wrong to want the division 2 team to win the cup so Seoul in 4th miss out or is it just petty 

[King Cactus]

We've all been there, man. Like you say you can kick on now though! Just because it's petty doesn't mean you aren't right

[andychar]

Jeepers Creepers

Basically it feels like I've spent the off season picking up young Koreans so I felt that title was applicable.*

So I was given a healthy 1m transfer budget. I didn't want to go crazy but I wanted to improve certain positions.

The big purchase was this guy. Cost me 325k but I think he will be worth it. My 2 centre backs this season are going to be 17 and 18 both with 5 star potential. I'm going for the long game here as I think it might be a few seasons before I can win the Champions League.

This guy cost me less at 65k. I liked him because he can play numerous positions. MR was a weak spot last season and although this guy isn't great he will be a good squad player.

Another cheap player on the right and another attempt at filling out the squad.

One final player was a gamble. I needed a new DCM. He was listed and I needed to have the deal done before I could scout as other clubs were circling.

He's not a massive improvement on what we have already but he will do.

I'm done for now but that's not to say if the right player falls into my lap I won't snap him up.

Heading into friendlies the odds looked like this. It has the potential to be close.

I also found out that the loser of the FA cup final get the Champions League place so 4th wouldn't have been enough either way and Korea have a representative from the 2nd division. This pleases me.

So unless I sell or add this is the squad I'll be taking into the new season.

Its a big squad so more than likely I'll need a cull soon. I'm fairly happy with the squad. I think with the right attitude we should get top 3 or at least give the FA Cup a good go.

The board 100% match my ambitions. I don't think we are anywhere near challenging for the title but you never know.

Financially we were looking good.

With something left in the tank in case the right player comes along.

I think I achieved the bare minimum last season with finishing 6th, this is the season I need to prove myself. Otherwise my career could take a massive step back.

Lots of concerns and worries that I will need to keep an eye on. I've not made any promises that I feel I can't keep...yet.

Just needed my assistant manager to fumble through the friendlies. 

*Disclaimer. I'm not actually eating them.

 

[Sebastian Szlenkier]

Can you provide some updates over next season of how that Korean second division side do in the CL? I'm just quite interested in how they'd fare

[andychar]

14 hours ago, Sebastian Szlenkier said:

Can you provide some updates over next season of how that Korean second division side do in the CL? I'm just quite interested in how they'd fare

Absolutely. No problems. 

Begin Again

So the odds were in for various awards.

These were the odds for Top Goalscorer. Our best shot is a guy at 40/1...he's out back up striker...I don't fancy his chances too much.

Top Player odds. They seem to like Jeonbuk. Our best chance at 20-1 was Cescinha, our AMC. He is one of our best players so I'm not one to argue there.

Top young players see us with 2 entries.  One being our back up keeper. Once again I don't fancy his chances.

This is our best chance and I have high hopes for him.

Friendlies were a mixed bad, as always I didn't take charge of a single one. We picked up a few injuries but nothing majorly serious.

The game against Suwon is showing as February even though its in March, this game is literally unplayable!

The African Cup of Nations Qualifying Group was drawn.

That shouldn't be a problem as its top 2 who qualify.

Before the season started we got the reports. Finances looking good.

Kim Young-Ki I didn't want to get rid of but I got a good price for him and his contract was running out so it seems like a bad decision but I was fairly happy.

I need a good start, the last thing I need is a revolt!

So here we go the start of the new season. We have a tricky opening but I'm fairly happy with the squad. Even if they aren't happy with me!

Fair result. We bossed the first half they bossed the second. They looked more dangerous with their chances but overall its not a bad point to start the season with.

Disappointing performance and result. We were 1-0 down at half time so at least we came back but we just haven't gelled as a team yet. Much needed improvement needed.

Well I was 3-0 up and looking very good then 2 goals (both corners) in 3 minutes really put us on the back foot. It wasn't a fun watch at all and I'm really delighted to have held onto our first win of the season.

Before we played our final league game of the month we were caught up in an International Break, including a pointless friendly against Albania (that I arranged.) It isn't all bad I have some competitive Cameroon games as well.

Nothing like a dull 0-0 where they miss a penalty and you have a man sent off. Good to get these results against European Powerhouses!

Back to Domestic issues and we had a big game at home to FC Seoul to end the month. We are 0 for 2 against them so far in my tenure.

Good performance and a good start to the season really. We were 2-0 up at half time and did a good job in the second half to nullify their attack. Very happy.

We are on track will plenty of room for improvement.

The African Nations Qualifying got underway with a very easy win. 

I don't know what happened, we scored a goal with 5 minutes to go that was disallowed. I have no idea why! Poor result but it won't affect us qualifying. Just disappointing.

By any means.

Fair dos!

 

[andychar]

Yes Man

So to start a quick update on the Division 2 team in the Champions League.

They got a good draw and are doing well so far. On track for qualifying for the Knockout Stages.

Finances aren't changing much and I won't post these any more unless something drastically changes.

They really hated Oh Chang-Hyun!

I think that's the best my managerial support has been.

Enough crap lets get this month going.

A decent performance, we scored late to add some gloss on the scoreline but I think we deserved the win. 3 in a row and the season has gotten going.

Another good win. It was more comfortable than the score suggests. We were 1-0 up when they equalised against the run of play but we grabbed the winner with 15 minutes to go. We are playing some good football.

Next up we were away to Ulsan, a tricky game were truth be told I'd be happy with a point.

But I'm happier with that win. It was 2-1 after 5 minutes. 3-1 at half time but we never really looked troubled. Whisper it quietly but we are looking good.

So you know what happened next game right?

We won. What else?

Wooooo.

We started our FA Cup adventure next with a home game against a 2nd division team. I would say it will be fairly straightforward but one of them are in the Champions League so I'm not taking anything for granted! 

Well I was put through the mill there. We scored early and it looked like it was going to be an unspectacular win. On the 91st minute they equalised from a corner and I wasn't best pleased. In the 93rd minute Shinji went down the field and fired home a winner. Great win but it was skin of the teeth stuff.

We finished the month with an away game against bottom. Although they are bottom they beat us last game of the season last year to beat us to the Champions League. So once again we need to take it seriously.

That is probably the most complete 90 minutes we have put in and its 7 wins in a row in the league. Its a great result because we had to make quite a few changes.

Would you look at that. Its been a great start. Long may it continue!

 

 

 

[King Cactus]

Could tell this would come with the way you started your reign. Great to see you pushing on now you were able to put your own stamp on it! Keep it up.

[andychar]

8 hours ago, King Cactus said:

Could tell this would come with the way you started your reign. Great to see you pushing on now you were able to put your own stamp on it! Keep it up.

Cheers KC. I'm worried at how we performed when the league split so in my eyes I need a big lead over 4th by then just in case it happens again!

The Young and the Reckless

My 18 year old CB picked up his first red card of the season, it then popped up after the game saying he was jaded and needed a rest...all he had to do was ask!

Tight heading into the final game for the second division team. They play Persib away knowing a win would be enough.

Another 2nd division team in the cup. If we win this odds are we will be away to Seoul in the 1/4. Tricky.

Just in case you didn't believe me or accused me of witchcraft.

Very busy May with lots of home games. We need to take advantage and kick on starting with a huge home game against the Champions.

I didn't know I had to make high profile signings. 

Oh...

Dynamics are heading in the right direction.

Wow. We dominated this game for 75 minutes. They scored 2 goals with their first 2 shots of the game and suddenly it was away from us. Could play this game with that performance and win 99 times out of 100. This game was the 1. It happens but its not a nice way to lose your first game of the season. We need to bounce back.

Not good enough. We had a chance here with home games to really take control instead we are throwing games away by terrible defending and the inability to kill teams off when we are on top. Its been a frustrating two games to watch. We have a third home game in a row and I demand a win.

Not only did they get through but they topped their group. 3 out of 4 South Korean teams topped the group with one finishing 3rd. I'll keep you updated on the knockout stages.

The big question was could we turn around this mini panic? Its hard to be critical because we have dominated both games we haven't won.

Good performance and a good win. I would have liked a 2nd to make it more comfortable but considering our opponents its a good win.

The frustration continues. 1 bloody shot on target 1 goal. Its really starting to annoy me now.

Next was the cup. I really needed the back up of the cup as its so close in the league at the moment. We were against lower league opposition so we were favourites but once again I was weary of a cupset.

Disappointed not to keep the clean sheet but it was job well done. We were into the Quarter Finals.

No surprise there, its a very tricky draw.

We had a winable game in the league next before travelling to Seoul in the league to finish the month. I wanted 4 points from these last two games starting with a win.

2-0 up and blew it in the last 10 minutes, this team is p***ing me right off.

We don't stand a chance against Seoul and after this month I can see Champions League slowly slipping away.

So we spent the month dominating every game to only win one in the league, was it more of the same against Seoul?

Before we go into that an update on the Champions League. The dream was over for Gwangju who did really well to get as far as they did. Only Jeonbuk left to represent South Korea.

Once again we were 2-0 up in this game. Once again we saw the lead disappear. And with the luck we were having you knew without a shadow of a doubt when we were awarded a penalty with 5 minutes it was going to be saved. 100%.

Luckily the rebound was smashed in and we grabbed all 3 points. Get in!

So after a mixed bag of a month the league table looked like this.

Oh so very close! With only 1 defeat all season we needed to find a way to turn those draws into wins.

[andychar]

The Exorcist

I need to exorcise the demons of dominating games and not winning them. I wanted to do that ASAP. 

Honestly there is absolutely no reason why we can't win all 5 of these games.

Finances stayed the same, although we sold our back up striker because...well...he was rubbish. Missed loads of sitters and worn my patience thin.

There is also 2 friendlies this month. They will no doubt get in the way and make me think I don't know why I bothered!

Steady as she goes really.

Support continues to grow and I'm very happy to have turned that around.

Even though I'm 2nd in the sack race!

A deal has been done to bring this guy to the club. It will mean we will have to free up a foreign spot. My CB is 36 and wasn't going to get a new contract he will be sold in the next transfer window to help me out. This guy can make a difference in an area of the field we have good player but not great players. At 675k he's expensive but I feel he could be the difference. We also probably need to improve our RM and LM positions. Oh and he's currently injured but oh well eh.

Good start to the month. I'm not going to complain with 2 goals and a clean sheet.

We now have the always excellent International mixed with Domestic week.

Starting with Cameroon and a friendly against Iceland. After our performance against Albania I'm expecting a spanking.

Actually quite a good win and a good performance to match...I'm in shock.

So we lost 3 players to International Duty for the next league game which was highly annoying, the first time its happened and hopefully the last! My hope was if its affected me then its bound to effect everybody else playing so maybe we could see some surprising results.

Another win for us and another 2-0. Keep them coming.

It was time for my annual f*** you China game! God I hope I don't lose.

4th 2-0 in a row and I'm not complaining about any of them. A successful international break...albeit a pointless one!

Frustrating day back in the league as Ulsan did a good job of smothering the ball. Made things difficult for us. We were missing a few key players but still would have wanted 3 points.

Stoppage time VAR penalty. Its fine. Just have a shot against us, as long as its on target it will go in. Every game.

We have bottom of the table next. Looking at our next 3 fixtures this is as must win as they come. Any dropped point here would be disastrous. 

Its very frustrating because it seems we have 1 step forward 2 steps backwards.

Would you believe we were 1-0 down at half time. What a brilliant 45 minutes and maybe just maybe the kick start we needed ahead of a massive month.

I think Jeonbuk will kick off now and secure the title but we have a nice gap over Seoul in 4th with their game in hand being against Jeonbuk. Its a win win either way there. Obviously I want to try and challenge for the title for as long as possible but its important to remember the aim is top 3. Champions League Qualification.

 

 

[andychar]

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

I mentioned a tricky month ahead. This is how tricky it is.

We have 1st, 6th then 2nd away following by a nice easy home game against 5th. Its truly make or break month I think before an absolutely ridiculously busy August.

Best get it over with!

It's worth noting that new signing joins this month but he's still dead for another month so he won't be registered until the last second.

Just pleased, we will see what its like after this month!

Things looking good here, won't post again unless there are drastic changes!

Good point, we were outclassed for periods of the game but came into it. We conceded after 5 minutes and I was thinking "here we go" luckily we grabbed an equaliser against the run of play and managed to hold them off. Very good point.

So onto part 2 of the hardest month of the year. It was the "easiest" away game we have this month.

We had a big 14 day gap after this game so fitness didn't come into play. If you could stand and you were the first choice you started. My first choice LB started with a knock and 78%. I needed this win.

89th minute penalty which surprise surprise was their first shot on target. This is after I've missed a penalty as well. This isn't good enough. No way near good enough. This is probably the saltiest I've been after a game in a long damn time.

Suwon away next and I go into it with 0% hope or expectation. I just wanna get through it to be honest.

It was a long 14 days between fixtures. I decided to try out a new tactic and stick 2 up front. I've only had 1 and I'm getting annoyed at not grabbing goals.

The future is bright.

I don't know if its the new tactic or if it was just meant to be but a massive 3 points away to Suwon. I'm not sure weather to stick with this tactic as it means splashing out on a new player and completely going against what I was building towards. I spat my dummy out but the end of the day we are losing and drawing games but we are dominating them.

We played the first game at home and the last of the month. We have 4 players suspended for it.

We stayed strong. A 94th minute 2nd put some gloss and there were a few moments I thought it was going to be one of those games but we got the win. It was a great way to bounce back following that horrible result against Ulsan.

It left the league table looking like this.

Despite all my negativity we have opened up a brilliant 9 point lead over 4th place. 14 games to go, a long way to go yet but 5 points behind Jeonbuk seems so much more, we actually play them twice yet so you could argue the title is still there but I'm more than happy with where we are.

Make or break month neither made or broke us, lets see what the next month will bring!

 

 

 

 

 

[andychar]

Re-Animator

Cop out with the title as I got halfway through this post when my laptop crashed and I had to start again. Oh well eh. I get the relive this anger...

So the story of this game doesn't even involve the game...and I've calmed down a lot since earlier so I can explain without lots of swearing. It was a f***ing disgrace...hey I didn't say no swearing. Turns out there is a match between the best XI from the top division and the best XI from the second division. Fair right? Well it was played exactly the same day as this fixture which meant I was missing quite a few first team players. I was not happy.

Then this happened.

We were 2-0 up and cruising before they grabbed a goal out of nothing then equalised on the 92nd minute mark. Just as I was about to launch my laptop when grabbed a 97th minute winner. I like to think it was FM shrugging its shoulders and saying "yeah our bad" regarding the previous fixture. 

That brings us up to now.

This is our fixture list in a very busy August and next up is Seoul v Pohang II Electric Bugaloo.

Easy come easy go with this.

So it turns out my save file was corrupt, luckily the back up file means I only lost the 3-2 miracle win. I will obviously keep reloading until I win the game. We won the first game 1-0 but lost our starting LB for 3 months...next...2nd go around we lost 1-0...next...3rd time lucky? Nope 2-2 draw...next...love spending my precious little time trying to get back to the place I was 3 hours when I simply closed my laptop...4th time won 3-1 but lost Shinji for 5 days...it will have to do!

It was time for my new signing to finally make his debut. Could he make the difference I was hoping for?

Great win, into the semi we go and it was our new boy who fired home the winner. Life is good.

The Semi Final was the expectation of the board so I'm happy with that but we are potentially one game away from guaranteed Champions League football next season, depending on who we draw in the Semi and who we would potentially face in the Final.

Good win in the league, wasn't a brilliant win but it was a good performance. At this point in the season 3 points are 3 points.

Tricky away game against Ulsan next. We were on a good run and needed to keep it up. We are in a good position but it could easily change.

Under the circumstances it was a good point. I made my 3rd and final sub when we had an injury and finished with 10 men. I don't think we did enough to deserve the win. Decent point really although it sees our title challenge disappear. Although we have a nice lead over 4th place. Champions League is in our grasp. We need to make sure we don't let it slip.

Two more games this month, both winable.

We lost our GK in a training ground injury but we have a decent back up so its not the end of the World. That LB who was injured in a game when I was trying to holiday a win...hes injured as well now...seems you cant escape fate!

Once again we let a 2-0 lead slip and once again it was a stoppage time equaliser. Maybe I'm being too nice when they are 2-0 up, well not any more I'm going to start sticking the boot in because I'm getting sick of blowing good leads now.

Last game of the month sees a home tie against Jeju, we better win after that poor result against Gangwon.

So I had an immediate chance to put my "sticking the boot in" plan. We were 2-0 up at half time, normally I give them the old thumbs up and say I'm happy. This time however I warned them against complacency.

The old treat them mean to keep them keen approach worked. We finished with 10 men thanks to an injury to the new guy (he's out for 5 weeks) and they scored after that but other than that flawless performance.

So after a long hard month the league table looked like this.

12 point gap over 4th and Champions League is looking very good. We still have to play Jeonbuk twice so we are more than capable of closing that gap but I don't think we are consistent with the wins enough. Its been a great season and if we could have found a way to hold onto one or two leads we would be challenging for the title, as it is we will happily settle for a Champions League place. After all its why I'm here!

 

 

[andychar]

The Break Up

Don't worry its just an International Break. A much needed one as well. We have two competitive games this month with African Nations Qualifying in full swing. We need to improve from the last result. We are away twice and need to avoid complacency.

Ethiopia first then Zambia.

Still just pleased. I suppose I'm just doing the bare minimum of what they expected and nothing more.

Finances and Dynamics weren't changed much.

It was always going to be this easy. Would have liked more goals but beggars can't be choosers.

Next up the return fixture against Zambia.

We got the youth intake inbetween matches and it really wasn't anything to shout home about.

The best of a bad bunch.

Zambia were a tough nut to crack and it wasn't until an 80th minute own goal we found the lead. A stoppage time goal added gloss. We deserved it though.

And absolutely nobody was shocked.

Zambia look set to join us. The next set of International games are World Cup Qualifiers.

So Internationals were over for another month it was time to think domestically. Only the 2 games this month (unless the Semi of the cup finally gets drawn).

0-0 at half time but we really stepped it up in the second half. Great win.

We finish the month with a home tie against Jeonbuk. 1st v 2nd and if we will we will still have an outside shot of the league title.

We drew Busan in the cup which I think was a good tie. It means there is still a chance of a Final against Suwon which would guarantee Champions League regardless of what happens in the league, or gift 4th place a spot.

A huge win against the top team will make the last 6 games of the season very interesting indeed.

As you can see its a 3 horse race heading into the split. One more game then the pressure gets cranked up.

[andychar]

Halloween II

Its October again and I'm going to be shameful with my movie title for this post. 

We had World Cup Qualifiers, league splits and the semi of the cup so it could easily be a horror month.

Very pleased now. They are upset I've sold an ageing Alemao so I could sign a young DCM (who fair enough has spent more time injured than playing).

Busan at home was the final game before the split and I wanted revenge for the last time we played them. More importantly I wanted the three points.

Embarrassing, pathetic, limp, lifeless, insert your own adjective there. Easily the worst 90 minutes I've seen this team put it. It means we haven't beaten this newly promoted team once in 3 games this season. We play them a 4th time and in the semi final. We better win them both or there will be hell to pay.

Not the sort of performance you want to take into the split but we did and these were the remaining fixtures.

It was at this stage we self destructed.

We can't have the same here. If we win our next two games we will be top with 3 games to go. I don't want to give up on the title just yet.

But before all that we had two World Cup Qualification games starting with a home tie against Ivory Coast.

So that's his season over. And honestly it could be our title chances, he was such a big member of the team. He will be a massive massive loss. I've been torn between keeping him or selling him, this has made my mind up I think.

Huge opportunity missed. We were 2-1 down when they were reduced to 10 men with 35 minutes on the clock. We dominated the second half and pulled ourselves 3-2. They had one corner and manage to score from it. From then we had chance after chance but couldn't find the winner. On paper its not a horrible result but its 2 points dropped rather than one point earned.

Libya next, they should be the groups whipping boys and I'm fully expecting a win.

Good win, good amount of goals in case it comes down to GD.

Am amazing 4-4 draw in the other game leaves the table looking like this after 2.

Next lot of fixtures won't be till September next year! A full 11 months away. At least it means I should keep my job that long.

So back to Domestic issues and the small matter of playing the top 2 back to back in attempts to keep the title challenge alive or at the very least ensure Champions League football next season.

The injury has given this little gem a chance to shine.

Fingers crossed he can continue to improve and make a name for himself.

What a brilliant game of football. We were ahead 3 times with the youngster above grabbing the winner. I thought this injury could be the end but looking at this guy (who was just sitting in the reserves) it could be the start of something.

We needed to build on this result and a win against Jeonbuk next and we would be top with 3 games to go.

Two brilliant performances on the back of one of the worst. We were 3-0 up before they made me sweat a little bit.

The month isn't over but here's the league table.

3 matches to go and amazingly its in our own hands. We have one more game this month, an FA Cup Semi Final against Busan. I hate playing Busan.

Delighted!

Champions League updates

Jeonbuk sailed into the Semi Final with it having a Middle East flavor.

They got through into the final thanks to a brilliant 2nd leg. It might go a long way to explain their drop off in the League. 

I will be cheering them on in the final.

So here we are the Semi Final of the Cup against a team we haven't beaten in 3.

31 Minutes - We have a glorious chance to take the lead but the Penalty has been saved!

4 Minutes later the penalty taker makes up for his miss and we are ahead.

1-0 at Half Time. We can smell the Final.

Icing. Cake. Done. See you in the Final.

 

 

[andychar]

Thriller

3 games in the league and a cup final. Lets go!

First game of the month is a direct repeat of the final game of the previous month. Busan again, we haven't got a good record but we needed a win.

Jeonbuk played the day before...

And shockingly lost. If we win we go 7 points clear of them and officially knock them out the title race. 

We were dominating before having a man sent off just before half time. New guy...straight red...nice. Amazingly we managed to grab a goal just before half time to give us something to defend and we did brilliantly!

3 became 2 with 2 games to go. Suwon have to play Jeonbuk yet...

A 14 day gap now until the next game. Plenty of time to rest up ahead of 4 games in 6 days (2 are International games, now pointless African Nations Qualifiers).

He has played a fair bit since the end of the last transfer window so he will be a loss. Our back up keeper got exemption because of duel nationality...which is nice.

We will be without our new Zambian midfielder because of International Call Ups...luckily he was suspended and will miss the rest of the season anyway!

So pointless (competitive) Internationals.

Acceptable result.

For whatever reason our K League game has been postponed but everybody else played...

We need 1 win out of the last 2 game to win the league, something I would have thought possible a few weeks ago.

But first another International game.

Again it will do. Nothing special. 

Absolutely no shocks throughout all qualifying and this is how our group finished. Not perfect but will do.

Next games are gonna be pointless friendlies that I will arrange. One of which will be a South America team away as I want to win on their soil!

So here it was...a win and we win the league. A draw and the league will be ours unless Suwon can score 8+ goals in the final game. A defeat and it will go down to the wire. Oh and Suwon play at the same time...I figured it was my game in hand but I was wrong...

Anyway here we go...

A penalty and the worst possible start.

We have been the better team since going behind and grabbed a deserved equaliser.

Terrible defending from a free kick and we are back to square one.

So at HT we were behind but Suwon were only drawing, as it stands we were Champions.

Get in! Lets just hope we stay level for longer...like 35 minutes longer. Suwon still 0-0. Knife edge.

Suwon doing what they needed to do. If scores stay the same then the title is still our potentially on goals scored.

Its down to us to hold on.

Screw holding on!

Hold on For the love of God hold on!

We held on! Normally the last minute equaliser would have annoyed me but right now I don't care!

There has been no fanfare saying I've won the league...

I'm not worried. The title has been won. Lets win our game in hand and make sure! I can wait for the fanfare.

So our last 3 games of the season are all against Jeonnam 1 in the league and a 2 legged cup final. It means they bag the final Champions League place.

Its been a good season despite my moaning.

I made a hat full of changed confident the league was won, I wanted a full strength team ready for the Cup Final. I really hope I've not got this wrong...

It doesn't matter we were Champions but the old fashioned "points" method.

Final table. From Champions League to Relegated in a season. Brilliant season and completely unexpected.

Fanfare!

The Season wasn't over though. We had a Cup Final to Win!

 

 

 

[andychar]

Tin Cup

Slightly harsh description for something I really want to win!

We have just beaten the team we face, over two legs I fancied our chances. We were favourites heading into it.

Record breaking season for us. Interestingly if Jeonbuk has the same season as they did last season we would have been 10 points off the pace.

The African Nations Draw threw up some interesting games.

We should get through that group no worries. Hopefully top to make the knockout stages easier.

Here is the Group of Death.

It takes place in June 2021. Roughly right bang in the middle of the Korean season.

So it was Cup Time. Home tie first so we had a chance to gain an advantage.

Brilliant start!

As you were.

Half time 1-1 and truth be told its a 100% fair scoreline.

Retaken the lead it could still go either way though.

It wasn't pretty but it was a win. This cup final is still delicately poised.

Record breaking game.

Money money money!

More great news for South Korean football.

Jeonbuk won the Champions League giving me hope for next season. If they can do it so can we!

It was award time before the second leg.

This came as a shock but well done to him!

That was it for us.

3 players isn't a lot for the Champions but oh well.

So it was time for the second leg.

Another fast start.

And that's how it was at half time after a half we dominated.

A penalty and one hand on the cup!

Consolation goal.

Two 2-1 wins and the double was ours. Perfect season beyond my wildest dreams.

Bring on next season and the Champions League! 

[King Cactus]

Fantastic first full season, knew it'd be a good one. Now onto the big prize next year! Good luck!

[andychar]

11 minutes ago, King Cactus said:

Fantastic first full season, knew it'd be a good one. Now onto the big prize next year! Good luck!

Cheers mate! Looking forward to the Champions League. Hoping we can challenge!

[andychar]

Oscars 2020

And the award for most pointless award of the season goes to...

Surely that will just also go to the winner!?

My reputation rose I now sit at 2 and a half stars. I'm hoping winning the Asian Champions will open me to pretty much any job in North America or South Africa. Not that I want to get ahead of myself too much. I still have a competition to win.

It was a long off season. I have an idea which positions I wanted to improve and I had a healthy transfer budget in order to do it.

I was keen to do my business early this season so I could concentrate on the Champions League. I had my eye on 2 players who would slot into the first team. And here was one of them.

He will replace Shinji up front up who will turn drop to AMC which meant Cesinha would be leaving us. He just had a serious injury and was 31, his time was up. I needed his Foreign slot.

He wasn't very happy at all with my touting his services. I think he's a good player but I have to look to the future.

Saying that here's my next signing...

Old but can still do the job in my opinion. He will be our first choice RB next season. It means we have improved 2 positions. I really want to improve our RM and LM positions. I have my eye on one player but he says we can't match his ambitions. I think we can and hopefully I'll get him!

Ouch!

Champions League win just isn't enough anymore. I had to deny rumours I was heading there. It would probably make things easier but I've built something here and want to see it through.

It was time for my favourite part of the year the odds!

This was taken before my 3 new signings. I'll fill you in on the 3rd in a minute.

I should also mention I rejected an Interview from Jeonbuk.

This was our 3rd signing. Young and already good enough. I'm tempting to play him and drop Chapman which would leave me free to get another Foreigner in. I'm not decided yet.

Our odds actually dropped with these new signings but we weren't favourites last season and look what happened.

Another new signing and I think I better explain this one.

I tried to sign this guy 3 times last season but each time I had a bid accepted he didn't even open contract negotiations because he didn't want a play for a rival.

And no I won't be removing the nickname. 

I've annoyed a few players recently including a young CB who could potentially be a big player, I don't want to sell him but don't want to lose this good feeling around the club.

Unless anybody falls on my lap that will probably be it for new signings. The team is looking good. I still want a new LM and RM but I don't think it will happen.

Ok one more.

A free transfer brought in just to boost the numbers up front with an impending sale.

So with a quick update on transfer activity...

It was time for the Ass Man to do the friendlies and try not to kill anybody.

 

[andychar]

Just Friends

All I ask is for the Ass Man not to kill anybody. I don't care about the results.

Finances took a little hit after the transfer period but I'm not worried in the slightest.

Board happy. A few criticisms with selling players but I've done everything for the future. I don't expect to win the Champions League first year so I need to build for future.

Despite the upheaval I'm still loved. 

To be honest I'd be happy with top 3 in the league and I hope if push came to shove the board would think the same thing! Jeonbuk will want the league badly with a new manager at the helm. Quarter Final for Champions League, id be happy with this, I wanna give it a good go but have to be realistic. FA Cup is also a good back door to the Champions League so I will always take it seriously.

It begins!

The Champions League Group Stage was drawn. We were seeding 2nd...

Buriram Utd should be the whipping boys. Any team from China will be a threat. Saitama UTD are an unknown entity for me but because they are Japanese I'll assume they are going to be tricky. Overall I think I can be happy with this draw.

Our season actually starts with a trip to Japan and then a trip to Busan for a tricky start. It would be a shame to go through all these with the goal of winning the Champions League on every continent only to be knocked out at the Group Stage!

Last season he wasn't even listed for Top Goalscorer and finished 2nd, this time they reckon he will do it again. Nobody told them he will be playing AMC this season I guess.

Expectations high for our CB. I'm excited by our 3 CB's this season. But I'm not changing my tactic so it will be 2 at the back for now.

Two youngsters predicted to have a good season and I hope they are right. There are some good youth players in most positions. If this season doesn't go well then I might give them a chance and start blooding them ready for a few seasons time.

I've chosen a High Bonus for all 3 competitions because money talks and I wanna win!

Reasonable preseason. It was time to go to work.

Away in Japan, I'd take a draw to be honest.

That. I'll take that! Great performance and I'm more than happy with it. Puts us in a good position already in the Champions League. Hopefully we can start the league the same.

No shockers in this early stage.

Important to remember our first game of the season is tricky and to not get carried away, we haven't got a great record against Busan.

It was as a convincing 1-0 win you'll ever see. Good start to the season. Big month next to really kick start this new year.

 

 

[andychar]

The Lucky One

My computer is annoying me at the moment, I decides randomly to shut down when I close the lid instead of just going to sleep. So I had this month all written up apart from the final game and lost everything so this will be a shorter post with the basics. 

Luckily nothing got corrupt this time.

The board were happy, the finances were stable and the Dynamics couldn't have been better. It was time to build on a positive start and really kick on.

I'll start with the only International game we had half way through the month. It was home against Wales. I wasn't hopeful to be honest.

It wasn't a bad match! We were 4-1 up but were pegged back to 4-4 after all the subs. We snatched a winner near the end. Great result despite it only being a friendly.

1-0 against the worst team in the group is fine. 1 goal or 8 its 3 points. The other win in the Champions League was a brilliant one, although they did play with 10 men for 60 minutes. We took full advantage and put one foot into the next round. Hopefully as group winners.

We rode our luck and it took a 95th minute penalty against Sangju and our own loan National Service man got sent off! The draw in the league annoyed me as it came in the middle of an International Break and we were massively depleted, 3rd choice keeper depleted. We bounced back with a brilliant 1-0 away win to Suwon.

Tables look like this, 2nd only by goals scored and looking great in the Champions League.

Sorry for the stripped back post. Normal service for next month after I sort out my pigging laptop!

 

[Minuy600]

This is an absolutely brilliant save by the way, I know of this challenge but have barely seen anyone actually do it. It's great fun seeing leagues like the Hong Kong PL and K-League being put to good use.

[andychar]

10 hours ago, Minuy600 said:

This is an absolutely brilliant save by the way, I know of this challenge but have barely seen anyone actually do it. It's great fun seeing leagues like the Hong Kong PL and K-League being put to good use.

Thanks, really appreciate it. I've enjoyed managing in leagues I've not really done before. Not really done South Africa so that will be interesting, not done much in South America so again that will be something different for me. Hopefully I have the legs to finish it!

[andychar]

The Magnificent Seven

7 games this month in 3 different competitions. It was going to be a hectic month.

We started the month with a home game in the league, a good chance to start the month positively.

Very good start. We were the best team and only had 1 wobble when it was 2-0. It does our goals scored column the World of good...just in case (the next day Seoul won 5-1 so easy come easy go).

Jeonbuk away and Seoul away were our next two games, very tricky, if we can remain unbeaten after those 2 games I'll class it as a win.

We lost our first choice keeper for 6/7 days so it was a debut game for my back up keeper, he was also out last time my first choice was .

What a huge win. We played for the counter attack and performed it brilliantly. We always looked deadly going forward. Outstanding result and performance. Makes me for the occasions its gone the other way. When I complain in the future please remind me of this result.

Next up in the league was a huge early top of the table clash with Seoul but before then it was Gameweek 4 in the Champions League and a massive game against Japanese opposition. We won 3-0 away and was hoping for more of the same, a win would put us through.

More of the same indeed!

A surprise draw for Guangzhou puts us in total control of the group.

It came with a price though as we lost our starting striker for 6 weeks. Shinji will go back up front and a promising youngster will go into AMC but it leaves up a bit frail up front and lacking in depth.

Not good just before a big game in the league. Game number 4 of 7 this month.

I wanted 4 points at least and got them. Seoul enjoyed most of the game and I couldn't have complained if they grabbed a winner, they didn't and I'm happy with the result.

Next up in this busy month was an FA Cup game against much lower league opposition. A chance to rest a few players me thinks and hope and pray it doesn't back fire me thinks.

I didn't make drastic changes, just gave a chance to a few youth and some players who haven't been playing as much as they could do.

Games when your 1/16 favourite can only end badly or its "well you were expected to smash them".

It wasn't spectacular but it will do. Young striker bagged 2 which was pleasing.

Next up was a home game against Incheon before we had a chance to cement top stop in the Champions League.

A very good win. We are doing something this season we couldn't last season and that's turn dominance into goals.

We were already through in the Champions League but this was our best chance at topping the group which on paper will give us a better draw. It also drew an end to a busy month.

Job done. Top of the group and we will still play a part in an important final day.

We hammered the Japanese team home and away so its beneficial to us they get through. 

The domestic table looks like this.

Its close and already looking like a potential 3 horse race.

If I thought this month was busy, next month has 9 fixtures in it!

Blimey.

 

 

[andychar]

District 9

I'm keeping up the theme of number of fixtures = film title.

The season started with a couple of home league games. A change to reach the 1/3 mark before the split unbeaten.

Bad month!

"We are disappointed you got an away point against the only other team unbeaten in the league".

Just when I thought we had turned a corner and could start putting teams away. We don't here and they score an equaliser in the last 10 minutes. Sometimes this game is obvious. You could see this result coming a country mile away.

We needed to bounce back and not waste these back to back home games.

So an own goal in the first 50 seconds and 2 injures before 20 minutes didn't set me up with any confidence in the slightest. 

Occasionally FM will drop a game where you know 100% you are going to lose and there is nothing you can do about it. This was one of them. 1 own goal, 3 injuries including one after I made my 3rd and final sub. We grabbed a late consolation but we were garbage throughout. 

I hate Busan with an absolute passion. I hope they go down and I never see them again.

We have a very tricky away fixture next and this season is in danger of coming off the tracks. Our star striker was back but the packed fixture list was starting to take its toll on the players.

Any other circumstances I would have been happy with a point but its another 2 points dropped in the last 10 minutes from a winning position. I'm not happy at all with the way the team is playing. We have gone from top to 5 points off first in 3 very shocking games.

Next up was a break from the league as we played our last Champions League fixture. I was going to play full strength to try and knock the Chinese team out but to be honest we have no momentum at the moment so it makes no odds if I rest players or not. So I will be playing a very weakened team. Had we gone in on form I wouldn't have rested anybody in order to keep the momentum but quite frankly we are rock bottom in terms of this season.

Urge to kill...rising.

I chopped and changed as much as possible and we still won! If only the first team could have done this in the league this month. Hopefully its a sign this mini run of terrible form is over.

Annoyingly...

The Chinese side still got through! South Korea will only have 2 representatives in the last 16 with only us and Jeonbuk qualifying. 

We have another home league game next. Its a must win if we want to challenge for the title this season. Even at this early stage because Jeonbuk are starting to look unbeatable.

Quick turnaround for the draw and it seems there is a bug, after somebody conducted a little bit of research for me it turns out the draw should be still East and West. Not only that I've been drawn against a team who finished top of their group when it should have been a runner up. Its not a save ending bug but my God does it make it so much harder to win the Competition. (It will probably stem from me starting the game from Beta and hopefully its been fixed since.)

0-0 at HT in the next league game and instead of slating them like I normally would I told them to push on and keep performing the way they were...

Job done. I didn't notice they were down to 10 men either. Should have been more but my God I felt good to win in the league again. We needed to stop the rot and with back to back wins I'm hoping we have done that.

Away in the cup next against the team who went down last season. The FA Cup is always a good fail safe for the Champions League, we needed to take it seriously.

I may have also signed a new player...who I gave a nickname too...

I have had my eye on this guy for a while and he was another one who kept rejecting me, hence the nickname. Amazing how quickly a footballer will change their mind when their team is rock bottom. He will be our starting RM when he comes and its a weak point of the squad I've been waiting to fill at 1.1m he is my most expensive purchase and as you can imagine its my budget gone for the season. Hopefully he's worth it!

I made a few changes but we should still win the game...

Good performance and its now 3 wins in a row in 3 different competitions. We have drawn Seoul away in the Quarter Final a repeat of this fixture from last season. Fingers crossed history repeats itself.

Next up a tricky away tie in the league. We will have to do it without our star striker who is out for a few weeks, I'm starting to get worried he's very injury prone. We are still without Shinji so we are lacking fire power up front, and with the Champions League on the horizon I may rest players.

Good win. I did rest players but we had enough about us to pick up the win. I was 2-0 up when they scored and I was fearing the worse but we made the game safe with a goal 2 minutes from time. 

Home leg of the Champions League next and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried.

During this month I had to make a decision regarding the African Nations team a tournament which will already add to a very hectically busy month next month and will take away Sinkala our first choice CDM.

But before then we still had two more games this month. I honestly have no idea if this Iranian team is any good or not. Only time will tell...

We will take a narrow lead to Iran. The important thing here was no goals conceded as the away goal rule comes into play (well it does in real life anyway).

Second leg will open the set of fixtures for next month. (Domestically anyway)

We had a chance to stick the knife in Suwon to close the month but once again with one eye on the Champion League I'm likely going to rest players. I can easily see how Jeonbuk let the title slip last season.

I imagine that will be broken which each new round I get too. Fingers crossed!

Cha-ching!

So how did we fare against Suwon with quite a few changes due to sheer exhaustion?

It was a good game which I felt we edged. Great result and after a very difficult start to the month its good to end it on a positive note.

Distorted table with teams playing either 14,15 or 16 games. We have the potential to pull away from 4th but Jeonbuk are looking unbeatable. We were 7 points behind at one point last season so we need to keep going.

[ToMexico!!]

Great couple of months there on the whole, especially with the amount of games played. 

Beat Jeonbuk again and you'll be right back in there. 

 

[andychar]

11 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Great couple of months there on the whole, especially with the amount of games played. 

Beat Jeonbuk again and you'll be right back in there. 

 

Thanks mate. Yeah I was getting stressed at start of month but we picked it up really well in the second half. We tend to do well against Jeonbuk so I’m not giving up. After the next Champions League game there is a big break so if I get through I can still focus on the League for a wee bit! 

[andychar]

The Prestige 

Annoyingly we start this month with a friendly just before the second leg of the Champions League and probably the biggest game since I took over.

Fairly standard result but a good start to build up to the African Nations.

So a flight straight to Iran for the second leg of the Champions League.

That little red card there was our CB. The unlikely just became the hard.

Its a long long time to hold out. If we sneak a goal the game completely changes but its looking very unlikely now.

This is just unbelievable. 2 red cards for 2 two footed lunges. My team has completely lost its head. The hard just became the damn right impossible.

This is getting ridiculous. The joys of having a fast striker is I've told players to boot and him to chase. He chased one down and finished. We hold an unlikely advantage heading into the break and I have to give the most difficult half time team talk of the save so far.

I'm lost for words.

That stroke of luck means they still need 3 goals. Why am I so nervous!?

Not over yet.

Its been a long time since I've played a game that unreal on this game. Amazing result. Absolutely stunning.

Jeonbuk will also join us in the last 8.

After the game I've had the news that 4 players are jaded and in need of rest. After that game I need to sit in a dark room with a wet towel over my face.

Wow very rarely see that.

Never mind two in the same game! I would have been very salty had I gone out!

Finally some sense! I've had the chance to postpone games because of International Breaks. This months domestic fixture list just went down from 7 to 5. Much needed rest for some players after this game.

Before that though we had the second of 2 friendlies before the Tournament starts and I figured if DR Congo why not the other Congo.

Truth be told its nice to play in a game which means nothing after that epic game.

That on target to shot ratio is terrible. Either way we won 3-0. I don't know why I cut the score off!

It means we go into the Tournament 18 games unbeaten under me.

Next we had a potential banana skin in the league with a tricky away fixture, then a little bit of a break both Internationally and Domestically.

0-0 at HT this time I decided to crack the whip and tell them they weren't good enough...Shinji came on to try and change the game, his first action since injury...

Nothing was going to work in what was a lackluster game. Neither side showed any quality and we could have played for years and nobody would have looked like scoring.

I think we are in much need of this International Break just to give some players a rest!

I play 2 African Nations games before Pohang surface again.

We start the tournament against Liberia. We should be winning and winning well...

Just a quick reminder of our group.

3rd 3-0 in a row and again probably could have been more but it will do. Good start.

Cape Verde next, probably our hardest fixture in the group stage.

Bore draw. We were robbed of a chance to win when we had an injury after the 3rd sub. Disappointing not to win but we are still on course to finish top of the group but a loss against Gabon will almost certainly see us crash out.

The injury was Aboubaker who will miss the tournament. We need a new striker to step up.

So it was briefly back to Domestic issue with a small game against Seoul. Thanks to games in hand we are down to 4th do its important to pick up points. The amazing thing was if we won all our games in hand...we would go top. 

We were 1-0 down with 7 minutes to go but 2 Shinji goals completely turned the game around and grabbed us a massive 3 points. With the game in hand we now have the chance to open a bit of a gap over Seoul.

But that being said. I would also prefer the points over the games in hand.

It was time for another 2 games in 1 day scenario. We were at home to Jeju and at the same time Cameroon were playing Gabon in their crunch group game.

Disappointing result and a performance to match. Neither side deserved it. Dropped points.

It wasn't as safe as it looks and I'm just happy we got through and as group winners. With Saudi Arabia finishing 2nd is what finished us.

Just noticed something which surprised me. My aim is to be competitive. I honestly thought I would be expected to win or least get to Semi's. Pressure off?

I'm deeming this winable and Its another fixture at the end of a very long month!

The day finally arrive. How route to the Champions League Trophy...

We beat them twice in the Group Stage. I have to believe we can beat them again over two legs. Knockout football is a different animal.

It will be another trip to China or back to Saudi Arabia in the semi should I get there. Is this building up to a dream all South Korean final?

Back to the African Nations. Should we get through (and we should) it would mean 3 of the our World Cup Qualifying Group will be in the quarters including us just to show the uphill battle we face there.

Absolute joke. I scored an own goal where I'm not kidding the defender turned around and blasted it into his own net. If your gonna completely screw me at least make it subtle eh?

Can't be bothered with it wasting my time.

Last game of the month and after that s**t storm of a game I better win.

1-0 down at half time. Stuck the boot in and the team responded. I'm going to avoid International Management from now on. Its brought me nothing but grief when I'm really enjoying the domestic side.

Still very distorted league table with teams having games in hand. I'm happy at the moment, we can open a 7 point gap over 4th and we are still looking good for a title challenge. 

My God I'm glad that month's over!

 

 

 

[andychar]

The League

Again technically a TV Programme but I'm allowing it.

We had 7 fixtures this month and all of them in the League, a chance to open a nice gap over 4th place and secure Champions League football for next season!

3rd in the league, Quarter Final of the Champions League and Quarter Final of the FA Cup and the board are only Satisfied. I'm worried if I don't hit my goals this season I could be fired which would be quite upsetting.

Luckily we started the month on a high. Good solid performance and certainly something to build on. Next was a home game against Jeonbuk. Not must win just yet but would be nice.

Our new signing arrived on the day of the Daejeon game but came with a little injury. Won't be long till he's in the starting line up.

We went into the game with fitness issues but it was quickly apparent so were they so it couldn't and won't be used as an excuse. Didn't help both players had to use an early sub as a clash of heads meant double injury! We injured another of their players on the 23rd minute mark so fatigue could play a massive factor in the second half. We got our 2nd injury on the 33rd minute mark.

Horrible game of football. 5 injuries, players dead on their feet, no quality from anybody. They got their goal thanks to a corner. Neither side deserved anything. Quite disappointing really.

Hopefully we could bounce back with a tricky away goal against Jeju who were currently 5th in the league.

We huffed and puffed but couldn't find the breakthrough. Another disappointing performance. Its not the worst result in the World. 

For the first time in a long time we have a table where everybody has played the same amount of games. 

Its close at the top with Jeonbuk and Ulsan both having the goals scored advantage over us. Seoul are hot on our tails meaning we can't afford to become complacent. Still a long way to go however.

We need to fight through the fatigue and start picking up wins again, much like last season we are drawing far too many. Next up was another away game against a team we have historically struggled against. Busan. And thanks to another Youth International Tournament we are thin on the ground.

Best could hope for considering the side I had to put out. I'm getting really annoyed with how many times by squad selection is being affected by Internationals.

New winger just signed out for a decent amount of time and our worries are just piling up.

Next up we hosted Ulsan in a top of the table clash. Once again Internationals would be out which will play a big part on the result, I just hoped they were equally as affected...

We had players playing out of position, players playing with knocks, players playing when clearly exhausted. I didn't realise how bad it was. We need more depth for next season if we are to stand a chance of competing on multiple levels.

A brilliant win but it came at a cost, another injury which time to our RB. We are really thin on the ground at the moment and could do with a prolonged period of time off luckily there is a 10 day gap between this game and the final game of the month. 

We travelled to Sangju in the hopes of pushing the gap between ourselves and 4th place even further. Title would be lovely but that top 3 finish is vital!

If its not Internationals its the return of the points All Star vs 2nd Division team which means we are even more depleted than before! What could the vastly inexperienced team come up with?

It wasn't pretty but my God it was a great result all things considering. Hopefully we can play a game with our full strength 11 soon!

So after an up and down month the league table looked like this.

We are right where we want to be. 8 points clear of 4th and right in the thick of another title challenge. Not long to go until the split. 

Next month sees 3 different competitions as the Champions League returns.

 

 

 

 

[andychar]

Platoon 

My squad looks like its been in the Wars ahead of a season defining month. FA Quarter Final away to Seoul, Champions League first leg and some more very important league games. It could easily be make or break.

Oh and the small matter of top away.

The board were very pleased. We lost half a million in the transfer window but I'm not worried about that.

We had a home game against a team near the bottom. This needed to be 3 points. Internationals were back so will only be missing the injured.

Near enough a full strength team, no excuses here...

None needed, a great performance with a great result. 0-0 at HT but team talk obviously worked!

Seoul away in the cup next. If we win and get to the semi it could really take the pressure off a top 3 finish, especially if we could avoid Jeonbuk. Truth be told a loss wouldn't be the end of the World as Seoul currently occupy 4th so a top 4 finish still might be enough.

Another solid performance and a great result away to a good team. They grabbed a late goal to make me sweat but we held on for a place in the Semi Final.

Gangwon at home next, a tricky game as they are on a run of good form. We can't turn up expecting the win.

Another late goal made the game closer than it needed to be but another 3 points ahead of a huge game away to Jeonbuk.

What a result! We played brilliantly the first half and deserved the 1-0 lead. They came out in the second half and battered us. They got level and I was hoping to cling on for a point. I made an offensive substitution instead of sitting back and it worked! Huge result. Huge performance.

7 day rest now before the Champions League First Leg.

Before the game I reached a nice milestone.

We were at home so I feel the most important thing was to not concede.

Dream start.

And that was the score at half time.

A good win and we will take a slender lead to China. We had chances to make it 2 or even 3 but we will have to settle for 1. Will be a tense 2nd leg next month.

4 Chinese teams all of them lost and just look at that Jeonbuk result.

Hopefully more chances to break that in upcoming months.

Final game of the month was a home league fixture and I didn't want us to throw away a brilliant result against Jeonbuk.

And that's exactly what we did. No excuses just a p*** poor performance. We have one of these every now and then and it always seems to come at the worst possible time. International Break and a much needed one for some players.

Means the table looks like this at the end of the month.

Annoying games in hand again for some teams. We won't be top for long but we are starting to open a nice little gap to 4th. Champions League should be secure for next season at least.