(FMT19) Fallen Empires Are Ruling (or is it running? Still can't work those lyrics out!:) A 30-year plan to depose Bayern & PSG

[withnail316]

https://binged.it/2rHHyUo

EDIT: Check the link out above if you need the title explaining. Cracking tune, but I've seen both lyrics posted all over the internet!)

Afternoon all. 

It's been a while, I hope all is good here on FMCU.

After a bit of a break from FM as part of my efforts to deal with the black dog, I'm back in a position to enjoy the game once again. In order to ensure the pesky mutt doesn't keep turning up at my door, I've had to make a few changes in my lifestyle, the most important of those (at least for me) is to sort my sleep pattern out. Considering my main FM time used to be between 10pm and 1am, that means I need to change the way I play the game to help me get a good night's sleep each night. As a result, I'm embracing technology and the iPad, so I can find time here and there during the day for a game or two, without having to get out the way of the family to play on my usual system. It therefore looks like my days of playing full-fat FM have come to an end, at least until the kids are a bit older!

I've been stuck on FM13 for a long time, and despite starting saves on FM15 & 16 I never really got into them, mostly because my computer found the games a real struggle. That means FM19 is brand new to me, so this will be a real learning experience. I shall however be using the cross save function on Touch, and so far on the technical side, things seem to be moving along just nicely.

OK Withnail, so what is the plan with the save? 
Simple enough. While I normally find myself playing in a smaller football country, the restriction of only being able to use three nations has made we think I need to play in more mainstream leagues, and with Germany now being officially recognised on the game, it seems the ideal place to play. The goal is simple enough - to remove Bayern from their position of dominance, and then grind them into the muck. I shall be starting in the third tier, but I am happy to move on when it is the right time to do so, and I'll even cross borders into France or Holland for a while in order to attract the attention of bigger German clubs if required. While I have no intention of managing other German sides with a recent tradition of success in order to beat Bayern, I won't rule it out if they are in a weak position or if I'm getting to the end of the 30 year period (which is the career limit on the iPad) without having achieved my goal.  

EDIT: My career took a different path than originally intended, so I added taking down PSG to the save's goals. 

Game details:
FMT19
Leagues loaded from Germany (3.Liga and above) Holland (Keuken Kampioen Divisie and above) and France (French National and above)

The manager
As ever in my saves, it's Johan Andersen. This time, the Norwegian is 38 years of age, and with German heritage. He spent most of his playing career with Celtic, who are his favourite club, and he can also speak Dutch and French if he is required in future. Andersen was a solid holding midfield player, and he likes his sides to play at a high tempo and on the front foot, without having possession for the sake of possession. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by withnail316
Grammar

[Carambau]

Good luck! 

[withnail316]

TSV 1860 München
(With thanks to Wiki)

Turn- und Sportverein München von 1860, commonly known as TSV 1860 München or 1860 Munich, is a football club based in Munich. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members of the Bundesliga in 1963, and won the title for the only time in their history in 1966. The club has played a total of 20 seasons in the top flight to date. The club has won the German Cup twice, in 1942 and 63/64, while they also got to a European final in 1965, when they were beaten by West Ham United in the Cup Winners' Cup. 

From 2005 to 2017, 1860 Munich's home ground had been the Allianz Arena, which they shared with cross-city rivals Bayern. The club previously co-owned the facility with their illustrious rivals, but sold their 50% share to Bayern on 28 April 2006 to help resolve a serious financial crisis that saw TSV facing bankruptcy. On 12 July 2017, Bayern Munich announced the termination of 1860 Munich's rental agreement for Allianz Arena, and they returned to their traditional home, the 15,000 capacity Grünwalder Stadion for the start of the 17/18 campaign. 1860 had played there from 1911 until 1995, when they left to join Bayern at the old Olympic Stadium, and in 2004/05 while they waited for the Allianz Arena to be built. 

Upon relegation from the second tier in 2016/17, 1860 were denied a license to play in the third tier for the 2017/18 campaign. However, they were promoted back to the third tier at the first time of asking. 

(From FM)

The club has 9,000 season ticket holders, the third highest in the third tier, and has great training and superb youth facilities. Unsurprisingly, the club's biggest rivals are Bayern, while it also has local rivalries with fellow Bavarians FC Augsburg and Unterhaching. For the 18/19 season, the media expect 1860 to finish as high as 6th. 

[withnail316]

3 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Good luck! 

Thanks, chief. 

[deltablue]

Trying to topple Bayern is always a worthy cause

[john1]

Good luck!  

[withnail316]

2 hours ago, deltablue said:

Trying to topple Bayern is always a worthy cause

 

52 minutes ago, john1 said:

Good luck!  

Cheers both.

[withnail316]

First impressions at the club are pretty good. There's almost €6m in the bank, and although I don't have a transfer budget to achieve the board's goal of a top-half finish, I do have almost €20,000p/w in wages available for squad building. Although the romantic in me would love to take Bayern down from within their own city, that's very unlikely to be an option here as the club have an eye-watering debt of €62m. Fortunately, €60m of that is only due to be repaid once the club is established in the top flight, but it's certainly a problem. 

In terms of the squad, we don't look too bad.

We could do with some cover at left back, but it's not a huge issue.

Further forward, we also need some options at AML, but I'm starting with a solid squad. I really can't grumble. 

[scott92507]

I hope it is not blasphemous to mention FIFA (EA Sports) here, but Barfieboy did an 1860 career mode that you can see on his YouTube channel. His commentary is typically fun, and he does a whole season in one 15-minute episode, so you are not committing a ton of time to watch it.

[withnail316]

4 hours ago, scott92507 said:

I hope it is not blasphemous to mention FIFA (EA Sports) here, but Barfieboy did an 1860 career mode that you can see on his YouTube channel. His commentary is typically fun, and he does a whole season in one 15-minute episode, so you are not committing a ton of time to watch it.

Edited October 4, 2019 by withnail316

[deltablue]

That was precisely what my response was going to be

[withnail316]

TSV 1860 München
3. Liga (18/19)

Media expectation: 6th (out of 20)
Board expectation: a top-half finish

Transfer budget (remaining): €0
Wage budget: €67,449p/w (currently €250p/w over budget)

Almost ready to go then for the first season, and I'm quite happy with where we are. After our first pre-season game ended in a 3-2 win and two red cards each (!) the rest of the summer has gone fairly smoothly. I've now adopted a control possession style to our 4-1-4-1 (which is more of a 4-1-2-3) and so far I'm happy with how it is working. I'd like to get a little more quality in our back four, especially at full back, but I think I'll struggle to generate the funds for that. 

All in all, I'm happy with the board's expectations for the league. For those who don't know, the play-offs in Germany are a two-legged affair between the side who finishes third and third-bottom in their respective divisions, with the top two going up automatically. If we had more traditional play-offs, I'd be targeting squeezing into them. As it is, I'd be happy with matching the media's expectations. As for the cup, the board aren't interested in it at all this year. 

In terms of transfers, I've been able to make four additions to the squad and I'm quite happy with that. The board made €550,000 available for us to spend, and we used €125,000 of that to bring in left winger Marc Lorenz from fellow 3.Liga outfit Karlsruhe, while centre back Christopher Handke arrived for €100,000 from 2.Bundesliga side Magdeburg. Polish midfielder Sebastian Tyrala comes in on loan for the year from Mainz's second team, and midfielder Timo Gebhart arrives on a free. 

I have a slight morale issue in the dressing room (and haven't yet figured out how I can solve that on FMT) but other than that, things look pretty decent at the club. 

[withnail316]

This is perhaps my system(s) but I'm not convinced the match engine is better on 19 than it is on 13. That said, we have scored a couple of quality goals. 

First update expected tonight. 

[withnail316]

Early season - 2018/19

I'll try and do monthly updates going forward, but just wanted to get something in here so the thread gets started. Really happy with our start so far. The defeat against second tier Hamburg in the cup helps to keep our feet on the ground in terms of where we are, but it's nice to be nestled in with the top clubs at this early stage of the season. 

I've also brought in a couple of players on loan to add a little depth to the squad, and all of them are in without any impact on the wage budget.

[Carambau]

Gebhart still got it it seems. And he is an 1860 veteran as well. Nice you could get him on a free.

Edited October 6, 2019 by Carambau

[withnail316]

2 minutes ago, Carambau said:

Gebhart still got it it seems

He's made a solid start. The board weren't impressed with the deal originally, but since I switched to a 4-2-3-1 from the original 4-1-4-1, he's certainly starting to shine. 

[withnail316]

We're creating so many chances. 26 shots in the last game. Just not quite clinical yet. 

[withnail316]

August/September

Still unbeaten, and generally I'm really happy with how things are going. We aren't converting as many chances as I feel we should be, and we have an issue conceding goals from deep crosses, but it's a solid start. I am a little frustrated that I can't talk to players to address a few things in Touch (I have a couple of players with slight concerns over match time, and I want to be able to warn players over poor training) but I'll just have to get used to it. 

[withnail316]

October/November/December

Somewhat incredibly, we get to the winter break having lost just one league game all season (I lived in Osnabrück for three years as a kid, it's typical they'd beat us) and things are looking good in the league. The winter break has come at just the right time, as injuries are really starting to bite, so four weeks off to allow a few to get back into contention is brilliant news. 

I can't have any complaints over my first six months at the club. I'm expecting to be active in the next window to bring in a little more quality, but if we can retain this kind of form we've every chance of playing in the 2.Bundesliga next season. 

One deal has already been agreed for €100,000. 

Two of my centre backs are in one loan and another one is almost 34 and out of contract at the end of the season, so this deal made a lot of sense to me. 

[withnail316]

January/February

Very tight in the top three, but we're pulling away from the rest of the pack. No complaints. 

A little transfer update, striker Blaz Kramer will join us on a permanent deal after his contract expires at Wolfsburg at the end of the season, while I've also been able to extend a couple of loan deals until the end of next season. 

[withnail316]

Having played Touch for a while now, I think my biggest issue is the lack of player interactions. I like to use it generally to boost morale, or to warn players who are slacking off in training/in poor form, or even to sort small issues out, like player status in the squad.

I can't do any of that in touch, so I have several players who have slight concerns I can't addres, players who are out of form I can't motivate, and several players stats dropping through the floor who I can't threaten with a transfer. 

It's definitely frustrating.

[withnail316]

March

All going well on the pitch, and we're almost secured of a top 3 finish with seven games to go. 

Off the pitch however, we've had an election at the club:

 

[withnail316]

The press are reporting I will be sacked if I lose my next game...which I have just lost. 

[wynter]

9 hours ago, withnail316 said:

The press are reporting I will be sacked if I lose my next game...which I have just lost. 

New Board want to change Managers?

[withnail316]

7 hours ago, wynter said:

New Board want to change Managers?

Yep, the new president promised a new manager and a new stadium. We'll have to see if he delivers on either promise. 

[withnail316]

Apologies for the week delay, but I'm back. And thankfully, the press were wrong: I kept my job. 

So we haven't picked up the title, but second is an outstanding achievement. 

[withnail316]

TSV 1860 München
Season summary 2018/19

League (3.Liga)
Media prediction: 7th
Finished: 2nd (promoted to the 2 Bundesliga)

Cups
DFB-Pokal: eliminated in the First Round

Europe
N/A

Top scorers
Osei Owusu: 13 goals in 31 appearances
Phillip Steinhart: 9 goals in 35 appearances

Top assists
Marc Lorenz: 12 in 33 games

Positives
Much to be happy about then in my first season, not least because I kept my job! I thought we'd have a good shot at finishing higher than the expected 7th in the early weeks of the campaign, but going up at the first time of asking is brilliant. The club is in a decent set of circumstances off the pitch, there's over €2m in the bank on the last day of the season, and with 9,000 season ticket holders at this level, we should get a decent chunk of cash for next season too. The early indications are the board have given me an increase up to €90,000p/w in wages to play with, so I'd expect to do a decent amount of business over the summer. All in all though, I really can't complain. 

Concerns & disappointments
I think there's possibly a risk that we've gone up too soon considering the squad contains several loan players, so I'll have some work to do to ensure we're competitive at a higher level. I'd prefer to build a little more slowly, but so be it. Other than that, the only real problem I can see is the stadium capacity, but I'm sure we'll cope. 

Manager's player of the season
Easy. Full back Phillip Steinhart has scored 9 goals and put in some outstanding displays this year, so he gets this award by a distance. 

Attendances
Highest: 15,000 (sell-out)
Lowest: 13,557
Average: 14,101

[withnail316]

[withnail316]

Youth intake 2019

These boys like pretty useful, and the phrase "golden generation" was used on the day of the intake. I'm not sure about that, especially as we'll be playing at a higher level. but hopefully a couple of them are good enough to break into my thinking for the first team in the next few years. 

[kidthekid]

Congrats on promotion 

[Carambau]

Congrats and what an intake! 

[withnail316]

TSV 1860 München
2. Bundesliga (19/20)

Media expectation: 17th (of 18)
Board expectation: a mid-table finish

Transfer budget (remaining:) €0
Wage budget: €105,644p/w (currently €400p/w over budget)

Apologies it's taken me so long to get the new campaign up and running, but I think I'm about ready to go. It's been an interesting summer so far, which has included the announcement of a new stadium, although I don't know much about it yet other than it'll have a capacity of around 21,000. I'm grateful I haven't had to ask for any upgrades in terms of our facilities, and hopefully we'll see some development from within the youth ranks this season. I'm also happy enough with the board's expectations this year too, even if the media think we're going to struggle. Thankfully, the board have no interest at all in terms of the cup. 

In terms of the new season, I'm not expecting too much of a change tactically this year. We'll play with a 4-2-3-1 some weeks, and with a 4-3-3 with a DM in others, but our general tactics won't change from week to week. I'd hope we can add a few more goals and we'll certainly need to replace the 13 of Owusu, who has returned to his parent club, and although there hasn't been much in terms of our budget to work with, I'm pretty sure we're stronger now than we were in May. 

In terms of transfers this summer, I'll start with players leaving the club. I'm in no means done moving players on, but FIFTEEN members of the squad have been released at the end of their contracts (all of whom were in the 1860 II squad last season) while midfielder Allesandro Abruscia joined Catanzaro in Italy for €50,000. Two big losses were midfielder Sebastian Tyrala and Osei Owusu, neither of whom I could convince to extend their loan stays. 

I've been busy bringing players in though too, and without spending a penny. Striker Blaz Kramer was on loan with us and his contract was expiring, so we picked him up from Wolfsburg for free. Midfielder Rene Klingenburg was picked up from 3.Liga side Munster after a good season with them and offers cover both in the middle and just behind the striker. Gino Dekker offers fantastic cover in the AML role, so his signing made all kinds of sense from Go Ahead Eagles (and he can speak German too, so there shouldn't be any issues in terms of getting him settled.) Timo Kóningsman looks to be an excellent addition in goal, especially as he's predicted to be a good top-flight keeper in future. Former St Pauli man Jean-Marc Schneider should get lots of match time up front in competition with Kramer, and hopefully he'll get plenty of goals at this level. Eroll Zejnullahu may be our best signing this summer, and will start every week in midfield when he's fit. Martin Koblyanski was mainly signed as cover for the AM role, but he also looks a good addition. And finally, Chris Fúhrich is in for a 2-year loan and should provide real depth for the AMR role. 

 

[deltablue]

'Golden generation' does tend to be thrown around by the game rather casually even if there isn't anyone that special.

[withnail316]

4 hours ago, deltablue said:

'Golden generation' does tend to be thrown around by the game rather casually even if there isn't anyone that special.

Really? Only ever remember seeing it once in all my time on 13. Will keep an eye out.

[withnail316]

First link away from the club, apparently I'm on the shortlist for Bochum. Great club, top flight too. 

[withnail316]

August

Firstly, I'm still at 1860. The link to Bochum came to nothing, I wasn't even approached for an interview. No huge issue. 
We've made a solid enough start to the new season, two home wins with a clean sheet is great, although we're very leaky away from home. Too many errors and not enough protection for the back four, so I'm going to have to tweak us tactically away from home. 

Also, the board have refused a request for a new contract, so I'm fairly insecure in my position at the moment. That's a worry, especially as our morale stat is currently at 18%, and with this being Touch, I can't even speak to players in an attempt to lift that. Hopefully things will change now the window has closed. 

[deltablue]

15 hours ago, withnail316 said:

Really? Only ever remember seeing it once in all my time on 13. Will keep an eye out.

I haven't really seen it on 13, but it seemed to come up at least every other year on 18.

[withnail316]

Winter break

Must say, I'm really surprised by how easily we have adapted to life in the second tier. I suspect our position is a little false, especially as we are only 8 points clear of the relegation play off spot, and I can easily see us falling down the table in the second half of the season. With that being said, dare I look at the promotion play off spot as a new target? It really isn't that far away from us. 

The board have finally offered me a new deal, too. I'm now tied into the club until 2022. Hopefully the board will offer me a bit of money to boost the squad in the summer, especially as a finish of 11th and higher is worth at least €10m in prize money. 

[withnail316]

A *hugely* tempting offer during the winter break. 

From 6th in the 2 Bundesliga to 13th in the top flight. The club are only three points clear of danger, but it's such a tight league that the European places are within 7 points. 

On paper it looks a no-brainer, but I'll sleep on it tonight. 

[withnail316]

7 hours ago, withnail316 said:

A *hugely* tempting offer during the winter break. 

From 6th in the 2 Bundesliga to 13th in the top flight. The club are only three points clear of danger, but it's such a tight league that the European places are within 7 points. 

On paper it looks a no-brainer, but I'll sleep on it tonight. 

Easy decision. I'm taking it. 

[withnail316]

Hertha BSC
(With thanks to wiki)

Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e.V, commonly known as Hertha BSC sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German football club based in the Charlottenburg locality of Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football. 

Hertha BSC was founded in 1892, and was a founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900. The team won the German championship for the only times in their history in 1930 and 1931. Since the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, Hertha's stadium has been the 74,649 capacity Olympiastadion. The club is known as Die Alte Dame in German, which translates to "The Old Lady". 

As well as the two national titles, the club has reached the final of the German Cup on three occasions, most recently in 1993, but have never won the trophy. In Europe, the club's best run was in 1978-79, when they made the semi-final of the UEFA Cup. They were beaten by Red Star Belgrade on away goals. 

The club have 17,000 season ticket holders, superb training facilities and great youth facilities. The club has rivalries with fellow Berliners Union Berlin, while there is also a traditional rivalry with Schalke. 

I've been given an 18 month contract worth €18,000p/w (a pay rise of €7,000p/w) and a transfer budget of €24.3m - an increase of €24m! The club are expected to finish in a safe midtable position, but I'll be pushing for the top half. 

[withnail316]

Some very positive first impressions. The club has over €50m in the bank, so I might just make a dent in that €24m for transfers over the next few weeks. We also have around €125,000p/w available in wages to play with. 

The squad loos OK, although three of our best four players are only here on loan until the end of the season. I'm planning on sticking with the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 (DM) from 1860, and here's how the squad look:

[withnail316]

So despite the (relatively) huge sums of money available to me, I don't want to do much in the January transfer window. I do need a 4th centre back and combative central midfield player, but I might resolve that with some loan deals until the end of the season. One issue I've immediately resolved though is in our AMC position. The club had four players capable of playing in that role, but two of them were loan players and our own options there were both unhappy. We were paying Ruben Loftus-Cheek €40,000p/w on a year long loan, so I've sent him back to Chelsea, while fellow Blue Kasey Palmer will stay until the end of the season. 

There is one transfer deal I've done in the early days though. Left back Gian-Luca Itter was on the transfer list for €3.7m at Wolfsburg, and that suited me just fine:

[withnail316]

52 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

I don't want to do much in the January transfer window.

Erm, about that. I've made two more permanent deals for €12m, while we've also signed a centre back on loan until the end of the season. 

Lee Jae-Sung was available at second tier Holsten Kiel for a mere €4m, and is a great addition as he can play in numerous roles. He'll probably be our first choice AMC, but we shall see how it goes.

Bazoer was a little more expensive at €8m from Wolfsburg, but it's another good deal for the club, I think. 

Finally, palmer-Brown is only a back up until the end of the season, which gives us time to find a more permanent solution. 

[withnail316]

Early weeks

It must be said that all four sides in my first few weeks have been having a touch time, but my start couldn't have gone much better. Hopefully we can keep up these early performances. 

[withnail316]

It's amazing how compact the table is. Between 4th and 11th there is a gap of just four points. Utterly ridiculous. 

[withnail316]

I'm struggling to keep up with monthly updates when most of my matches are being played on the iPad, so apologies for that. I do have a hefty update coming, though. 

Just two defeat in 17 games, and a 5th place finish is absolutely fantastic. However, it *could* have been even better. We were 4th going into the final away game of the season, but Dortmund tore us to shreds in front of the "yellow wall". Still, from 13th when I arrived in January, getting up to  5th is a serious improvement. It of course means the small matter of European football next year, which is brilliant at this early stage of my career. 

[withnail316]

Hertha BSC
Season summary 2019/20

League (Bundesliga)
Media prediction: 11th
Finished: 5th (qualified for the Europa League Group Stage) - Bayern champions

Cups (DFB-Polkan)
Eliminated in the second round - trophy won by Bayern

Europe
N/A
Champions Cup winners: Manchester City
Euro Cup winners: Atletico Madrid

Top scorers
Davie Selke: 16 goals in 34 appearances

Top assists
Arne Maier: 8 in 24 appearances

Summary
Considering I've only been at the club since January, it's a bit early to talk about positives and concerns, so I'll just say it's been a really good few months to begin with in Berlin, and it already feels like the type of club I'll be happy managing. It's brilliant to find ourselves in Europe next year, even though we are absolutely miles behind both Bayern and Dortmund at the moment. Hopefully I can build on this season and ensure we become European regulars in the next couple of years. A 25 point gap to the leaders is going to take some serious work to close, but I'll look forward to the challenge. The fifth place finish was worth just over €67m to the club, and it looks like I'll have a transfer budget of €40m next season, which is simply spectacular. 

Manager's player of the season
Winger Jaivairo Dilrosun gets the nod here. He's been magnificent since I arrived. 

Attendances
Lowest attendance: 42,255
Highest attendance: 73,845
Average attendance: 52,528 (fifth highest in the Bundesliga)

Former club watch
1860 continued their good season in the 2.Bundesliga, and finished in 5th place. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by withnail316

[withnail316]

[withnail316]

Not even June yet and I think my incoming transfer business is almost done. I now have a winger and a centre back to add to the goalkeeper signed in February. I'd like to find a nasty little central midfielder as we're short of a BWM at the club, but other than that, I'm quite happy. 

Now I just need to shift a bit of deadwood, but not having to worry about money is a huge bonus.