Jimbo's Thread (aka [FM20] Nordicland - The Northener Diaries.)

[Jimbokav1971]

It's all going off in Sweden. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2032.

We still have 5 games remaining but have already secured a top 2 finish which brings with it Champions League qualification for next season. We have lost our best GK to injury so there is a 17 year old GK who is a product of our Academy starting for the rest of the season. He has scored 3 goals this season, so we might have unearthed a gem. 

Premier Division. We're 3 points ahead with a game in hand and just 2 league games remaining. 

EURO Cup II. We've been absolutely on fire in Europe recently and have smashed 19 goals in only 3 games, conceding just 1 in the process. We have 3 games left and I will be making sure that we finish top and get an easier game in the Knockout stages. 

[Johnny-Trotter]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

It's all going off in Sweden. 

@ManUtd1

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2032.

Premier Division. 

EURO League II. 

5 Signings. 

Swedish Premier Division Top Scorer. 

Premier Division Team of the Season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake Preview. 

I think this is the 1st time that I have seen "Golden Generation" mentioned in the preview. Let's hope that it indicates that we are finally starting to make progress in this area. 

While the overall quality might be better, 2+ decent GK's and multiple full-backs is not really what I want to see. (I want a striker or a centre-half). 

[Jimbokav1971]

EURO Cup II Campaign. Jun 2033.

I was hoping to get to the Final, but we fell slightly short and we probably aren't good enough yet for me to have these sorts of ambitions. A year is a long time in football though and I expect to have be a lot better 12 months on. That might not show in terms of results though as we will be moving from EURO Cup II to Champions League. 

As of next season we will no longer qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, (if we are league Champions). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Leading Development clubs for Swedish Premier Division. Jun 2033. 

Obviously Hammarby IF and BK Häcken are quite dominant in this area, but we are slowly making progress. 

The fact that I am not overly keen to sell to our rivals actually hinders us in this area, added to the fact that I get better money by selling abroad.

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Jul 2033. 

I haven't played for a little while until today, so it's possible that there has been an update that I missed. So with that in mind, let's check the situation with the Facilities again. 

#

It's hard to tell, but this just might be fixed now. 

Alternatively, it could still be broken and we might have just got the real facilities up to what the pretend facilities were being shown as. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 18/01/2020 at 10:53, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake Preview. 

I think this is the 1st time that I have seen "Golden Generation" mentioned in the preview. Let's hope that it indicates that we are finally starting to make progress in this area. 

While the overall quality might be better, 2+ decent GK's and multiple full-backs is not really what I want to see. (I want a striker or a centre-half). 

Youth Intake. Sep 2033. 

The mention of a Golden Generation in the Preview had me excited about this intake,  but again it was much ado about nothing. 

(33a) Hallgren (2033) *.

[Jimbokav1971]

Swedish Premier Division. Season 2033.

Bloody VAR! 

What an absolute shambles this season was, (at least in terms of the league). We were top of the table for most of the season and although we dropped points against BK Häcken, Kalmar FF and Helsingborgs IF, it was ultimately a last day defeat by Djurgårdens IF that saw us drop to 2nd and meekly cough up the title. 

What's interesting looking at the above picture is that it says we have qualified for the Champions League, (by finishing 2nd), but we know it won't be auto-qualification for the Group Stage. There is also no mention of EC qualification. It could be that this goes to the Cup winner

The Top "European Qualification" section is about the current season, (which is about to end). 

The Bottom "Continental Achievements" section must be about the previous season, but why are we not included? I wonder if it's because we were still in European competition by the time the season ticked over so no achievement was triggered. That always used to be a problem and I guess still is. 

I think the graph says it all really. 

Credit where it's due though, Malmö FF took 37 from a possible 39 points over their last 13 games of the season, (12 wins and a draw), including a 1-0 win against us that it could be said was also pivotal.  I still can't believe we haven't won it. 

A pittance in the grand scheme of things. 

Luckily we don't rely on domestic money to keep us going. 

I've spent quite a lot on a number of bright prospects that my staff have found. I don't know how many of them will make the grade, but certainly some of them are already attracting the attention of the big boys abroad. (I'm obviously sticking to my Scandinavians only signing policy). 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Highest profile win of the save so far. Dec 2033.

Champions League Group Stage. 

I'm delighted with this performance despite not qualifying for the Knockout stages. 

I think I'm right in saying that 3rd in the Group Stage of the Champions League means that we should drop into the Knockout Stages of the EURO League, but the rules don't say that and to be honest this save is so bugged that anything could happen. 

There has been no media comment or message, but it is definitely happening. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Dec 2033. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2033. Affililiations.

After about a month off, I'm back. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

DoF working his magic again. Jan 2034.

The DoF has just made a bid for 21 year old Swedish right winger Fabian Anderson. he's currently at Juve and is valued at £7.5M. The bid accepted by Juve is £4.8M +30%. That seems like a good deal to me. 

[Edit]

Unfortunately he wanted too much money and we couldn't agree terms. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Another big result in Europe. Feb 2034.

After beating PSG in the Group stages, we have just beaten Monaco in the Knockout stages. 

Frustratingly though, we led 4-0 and even 4-1 after 93 minutes, but conceded 2 goals from corners. 

Claesson *** is player who I found while scouting and he has started to repay the transfer fee of £1.3M already. 

Claesson *** is "labelled the next Ralf Edström whom is a real, (retired), player that I have never heard of. 

[Rikulec]

Nice to see you back.

[Jimbokav1971]

EURO Cup. Apr 2034. 

We conceded from a corner, a direct free-kick and then a 36 year old TAA penalty, so we actually performed well. Chelsea are still a HUGE team though and were just too good for us on the day. 

As well as racking up 183 caps for England, he has had a hell of a career at club level. It's just a shame that he didn't stay at Liverpool.

Unfortunately, we couldn't turn over the first leg deficit. 

It was good while it lasted, and wins against HJK, PSG, Monaco, PSV and draws against R.Madrid and Chelsea suggest that it was a significant step up from previous campaigns in Europe. 

[Thebaker]

I'm impressed by your success as the premier division is very competitive. Managing in Sweden myself this year but had 3 years of not winning the title with Hammarby which meant the end.

[Jimbokav1971]

28 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I'm impressed by your success as the premier division is very competitive. Managing in Sweden myself this year but had 3 years of not winning the title with Hammarby which meant the end.

It's early days yet, but we are becoming more consistent. 

Hammarby have won 6 games out of 6 so far this season and will be hard to reel in.

[Edit]

We on the other hand have already lost 2 of our 7 league games this season, 1 of which was a Sunday game after a Thursday defeat by Chelsea and the other of which was a Wednesday game after a Sunday game. I'm happy with our top end players, but our back-up players are not quite up to speed. We are also really lacking in both full-back positions right now. I have signed players who will strengthen us later in the season at full back, but for the moment we have little/no depth and it's costing us. 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Form. May 2034.

Since Chelsea knocked us out of the EURO Cup our form has been decent. We have kept clean sheets in 6 of the last 7 games which is not something that I usually see. It's far more common to see us score 3 or 4 and concede 1, but that being said I think this is the 1st period of play since the last update. 

Hammarby lost against IFK Norrköping so the gap is only 3 points and that's far less daunting than 6 points at this stage of the season. We play Hammarby in 2 games time.

[Jimbokav1971]

Anyone else noticing that players being called up for International duty are not being awarded Caps? 

(27b) Rinne * has just been called up by Sweden for the 2034 World Cup. 

I wonder how many Caps he has? 

Oh none. That's a surprise. 

I was sure he had been capped already. 

Oh, he has. 

[Jimbokav1971]

National Job. Aug 2034.

Thanks, but no thanks.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake. Sep 2034.

This is such a bad intake I'm not going to bother even showing you any individual players. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Double figures. Sep 2034.

Scoring 10 goals is a significant milestone in a league game. Östersunds FK are in the relegation zone, are a bit of a yo-yo club and had already conceded the most goals in the league before this game, so a heavy defeat might have been on the cards.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Champions League Qualification. Sep 2034.

We romped through the qualification stage and carried over our form into the home game against Arsenal in the Group Stage. I was really expecting to either lose against Monaco and be in the EURO Cup, or to just get hammered in the Group games. To score 7 goals against Monaco and then beat Arsenal suggests that we are moving along nicely. 

[Edit]

I wonder if I should try to engineer a 3rd placed finish to get dropped into the EURO Cup knockout stages......

Edited February 23, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[turnip]

Depends how much you need the money. It's another tasty chunk of change to make the Champions League knockout rounds

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, turnip said:

Depends how much you need the money. It's another tasty chunk of change to make the Champions League knockout rounds

Money isn't an issue at all. 

We've got almost £40M in the bank. 

You might remember that we have a self-imposed embargo on signing players outside Scandinavia/Nordicland. As a result, it's not that easy to spend money. 

We made 2 big sales this year. 

(32c) Häggström * went to Bayern for £5M. Some of you might be surprised to see me sell a product of our Academy, but I honestly thought we had better options, (both for the here and now and the future), and it was only after he left that I realised I wasn't able to fulfill the home grown player quota for the Champions League. Time will tell if this was a mistake, (but I'm thinking that it might have been). 

Lundgren (SWE) * went to Bayern, (oh, I didn't realise they both went to Bayern), for £9M up front, £1M after 1 International appearance, 25% of next sale and a friendly. This player is good and is going to get better, but he was 3rd choice at the club so it made sense to cash in on him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

A brief snapshot of the season. Sep 2034. 

We've become rather adept at profiting from long throw-ins, although not usually quite this effectively. 

Some things haven't changed though. 

League update. 

2 of the 3 losses were after mid-week European games and the 3rd was a mid-week game itself after a weekend victory. 

We have games in hand on 2nd placed Malmö FF so I am not concerned about them, but we only have 1 game in hand on Djurgårdens IF and they are likely to be more of a challenge to overcome.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

End of domestic season. Nov 2034. 

We only lost 1 of our last 15 league games, but it still wasn't enough to overhaul Djurgårdens IF, despite doing the double over them this season. I'm happy with our performances these season, even if it means we have only been good enough to finish Runners Up.

We scored 13 more goals than anyone else, (and 23 more than champions Djurgårdens IF, but we conceded 24 which is 9 more than them). We need to be better at the back. We were usually decent at the back, but where we played mid-week after a league game at the weekend, we dropped 5 points, and where we played at the weekend following a mid-week European game we dropped 10 more points. That's a whopping 15 points dropped because our 2nd Team were not as good as our 1st Team. We have a young squad and they are developing all the time, but because I prioritised progress in the Champions League, (first to get to the Group Stage and now hopefully to get out of it), our league form suffered. 

Long Throws have become a bit of as thing recently. 

 

 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Champions League update. Dec 2034.

It's been a really impressive campaign so far and we only lost the last game to PSG because we had a player sent off on 54 mins. 

We would have finished top of the group had we got even a point against PSG, but as it is we will have to settle for a runner-up spot. I considered engineering the results to ensure a 3rd place finish and a pathway into the EURO Cup, but I think I just got carried away.

Finishing 2nd will mean that we play a winner of another group, which means one of R.Madrid, Juve, Inter, Chelsea, Liverpool, Valencia or Milan. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. 

While our facilities look better than decent now, (and the bug has been fixed in the recent update), we are still getting rubbish intakes. 

The reason for the rubbish intakes despite the decent facilities is simply a matter of reputation. 

Even with our reputation getting a boost this season, we are still behind Malmö FF, Hammarby IF and Djurgårdens IF. It effectively means that we are behind these clubs in the queue when it comes to any decent youth products coming our way. 

[turnip]

I'm managing Partizan, have - according to the game - the best facilities of any of the Serbian teams, and I've had 1 player in 3 intakes come through who my coaching staff rated higher than 3 stars for potential. 

A couple of years down the line, there have been a few more showing talent, mind you. I think you've just got to sign everyone(*) to Youth deals and revisit them after a couple of years to see where they're at.

 

* - except the truly crap ones with bad Determination; nothing's saving them.

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, turnip said:

I'm managing Partizan, have - according to the game - the best facilities of any of the Serbian teams, and I've had 1 player in 3 intakes come through who my coaching staff rated higher than 3 stars for potential. 

A couple of years down the line, there have been a few more showing talent, mind you. I think you've just got to sign everyone(*) to Youth deals and revisit them after a couple of years to see where they're at.

 

* - except the truly crap ones with bad Determination; nothing's saving them.

Yeah it's a little different to Partizan here though. In Serbia, the 2 big boys probably are on a par in terms of reputation at the top of the tree, and if I remember correctly have pretty similar levels of facilities. 

That means that the best players in Serbia are on average going to be shared out between Partizan and Red Star. 

Here though we're behind both Malmö FF and Hammarby IF  and then even behind Djurgårdens IF after that. I've had some decent players come through, but not many so far. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st game of the season. Feb 2035.

I've had worse starts. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

End of European campaign. Mar 2035.

Yeah we would probably still been in Europe if we had dropped down into the EURO Cup, but you've got to dream big to win big. Right? 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Decent start to the season. Mar 2035.

That fixture list looks pretty reasonable, but if I add in the friendly fixtures used to generate money, (I always add a friendly clause if I can when selling a player), and those to improve squad fitness, then it looks a little more hectic.

I think squad management and "match fitness" is an enormously important part of the game and it's this if anything that I "game". Who cares if the players are unhappy, just so long as they are match fit and good. 

Transfers.

You can see  by the blue bars that there have been multiple reasonable sized purchases in recent seasons and rather than "marquee" signings, these were "investment" signings, made in order to improve us as a side at a later date and then generate income when they are sold. 

Last season we sold Lundgren (SWE) * and Academy product (32c) Häggström * to Bayern for £9M and £5M respectively. Some of you might think it strange that I was willing to sign a decent product of our Academy, but while (32c) Häggström * was certainly better than decent, we have some really bright prospects at the club in the middle of the pitch and to keep him here would just have stunted his growth. The other thing to consider is that by generating £14M in transfer sales, I effectively opened up an avenue to sign 10+ "investment" players for the future. We also made sure that there was so much cash floating round the club that there was little/no chance of the the board accepting ridiculous offers for our players behind my back. 

Our DoF made a cheeky little bid for a Ukranian winger but while he looked rather good, he's not from Scandi-Nordic-Land. 

The DoF did however manager to sign this bloke on deadline day....

I tried to sign him myself in the close-season, but they wanted too much money. The DoF has managed to sign him for an initial £4.8M (rising to £7M), plus 40% of any profit we make on him. It's the profit that I was refusing to share and the reason why the deals I was offered were so expensive in comparison. While it isn't the sort of deal that i like to do, I still think the DoF has done well and Simon Schoop (DEN) *** immediately becomes our 5th best player.

Facilities. 

Because things were going rather well, I decided to approach the board to see what I could get out of them.... 

Usually, after 2 or possibly 3 requests, (on a good day), the board refuse to let you ask for something else. Today I asked for 6 improvements, 5 of which they initially declined until I laboured the point), and after they agreed to the 6th, I am still able to ask for something else. Unfortunately there is nothing else worth asking for. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Late deadline day deal. Mar 2035. 

The *** after the player name, (like the previously mentioned and recently signed Simon Schoop (DEN) ***), indicates that he is a player who was at the top of my list of Scandi-Nordic targets. Again, I was unable to get the deal done so I let it go, despite the fact that he was at the very very very top of my list and I was desperate for a starlet centre-half. I would never have spent this amount of money usually, and I needed the DoF  to splash the cash for me. It's a lot of money, bit he's a lot of player. 

The previous record deal for a Swedish club was left back Sergio Planagumá moving from A.Madrid to Malmö FF in 2031. He's only 25 now so was 21 when he was transferred. It wasn't the greatest transfer I have ever seen. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Unbeaten. Apr 2035.

[Jimbokav1971]

Reliant in set-pieces. May 2035. 

Here are the goals. 

1. Corner. 

2. Corner. 

3. Throw-in (short).

4. Penalty, (taken by GK obviously).

5. Indirect free-kick, (taken by GK obviously).

[Jimbokav1971]

Swedish Cup Final. 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

European Club rankings. Jun 2035.

We're up to 27th in the European rankings and are now the 3rd ranked Scandi-Nordic club after Hammarby of Sweden (22nd) and FC Nordsjælland of Denmark (26th).

Hammarby won the EURO Cup II this season, (beating Roma in the Final).

Nordsjælland were beaten in the Semi's of last seasons EURO Cup by Chelsea. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Decent transfer. Aug 2035.

AC Milan have come in with an offer of £5M + for Söderström (SWE) that I first negotiated and then accepted. 

The initial offer was for £5.25M but I have managed to get him back in on loan for the rest of the season, get 25% of the next sale, and also get a friendly out of them. I think that's decent business considering I paid £900,000 for him. 

He was an inverted right winger and any regular readers will know I'm nor overly keen on that, so I have re-trained him to play on the left. He's done ok, but considering we are scoring a lot of goals, he is neither scoring nor assisting many. I like that he is really pacey, but his end product seems a little lacking. 

We also have a number of high potential players waiting in the wings to step into his shoes. 

18 year old (33b) Pettersson * is the one that stands out simply because he is a product of our Academy, but 19 year old Haddal (NOR) has caught my eye and 22 year old Axelsson (SWE) is probably the most able to step right in now. Even lower down the list, Kjærsgaard (DEN) * came in with a report of very high PA but as yet hasn't broken into the squad. It could be time to give him a go next season. (30a) Ståhl (2030) is probably the lowest of the options I would consider playing and again, the fact that he is a product of our Academy makes him stand out. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake. Sep 2035.

It's better than last year, but it's really not great. 

The top ranked player by PA is (35a) Guðmundson. (ISL) (2035) and it's interesting that he is Icelandic as we have FH in Iceland as a feeder club with an Academy link. He might have decent PA, but he doesn't look great.

(35b) Haidar Karim (IRQ) * looks decent and has Iraqi as a 2nd Nationality. 

(35c) Fredrik Arvidsson * also looks decent and is a much-needed striker.

Facilities. 

Finances. 

[Edit]

New affiliate club. 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Champions. Sep 2035.

We've won the league with 5 games remaining, we're unbeaten and have only drawn 4 league games this season. 

We eased through Champions League qualifying, but we have been given a tough group with Man Utd, Inter and Club Brugge. On the plus side, it gives me more reason to manipulate the results to ensure a 3rd place finish, (or at least try to). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Long Bombs incoming. Oct 2035.

We are pretty prolific from long throws already. I expect it to take off even more now.  

[Jimbokav1971]

U19's. Oct 2035.

We've won the league before. 

But we have never gone undefeated before. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Premier Division. Nov 2035.

We finished off the season in reasonable form, but the Seniors were unable to replicate the uneaten U19 league season and loss against AIK meant that we missed out on a significant milestone. Going unbeaten in Sweden with a squad of only Scandi-Nordics would have been an impressive feat. Gutted.

 

24 wins from 30 games is decent. 

1 loss in 30 is excellent but we should have gone unbeaten.

20 clean sheets in 30 is really good. 

13 goals against is also decent. 

70 goals scored could easily be improved I think. 

9 clean sheets isn't a new record. It just equals the old record. 

Although Claesson *** has set a new average rating record of 7.74, and the old record was 7.70, I actually think that the old records get rounded down so the new record of 7.74 will be shown as 7.70 next season, so we need to get a 7.80 to properly break the record. 

Claessen *** wins Golden Boot. (Filip Johansen scored 39 league goals in the 1925 season and that will take some beating). 

Only 3 players in the team of the year is ridiculous, at least until I remember that I have rotated the squad almost every game. 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Champions League manipulation. Dec 2035.

I had to field weakened teams in the last 2 Group games in order to ensure that we finished 3rd in the Group, (and we almost got points in both games). In any case, we finished 3rd as planned and will drop into the EURO Cup Knockout stage. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Dec 2035.

I must have missed the message, but it seems as if the board have found a location for the new stadium and are just waiting for planning permission. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation increase. Dec 2035.

We are up to 2nd in the Swedish ranking table which should help our Youth Intakes in the future. It will be better when we are top, but 4th to 2nd is decent progress.