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andychar
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Delighted. Dec 2026

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We're in contention near the top of the table and are in the Semi's of the National Cup. 

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Our form is decent, but we still trail Osijek on our head to head record against them. We play them away in the 1st game after the Winter break so that game will be key. We have lost 1 and drawn 1 against them so far this season. 

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Player of the Month

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Goal of the Month

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Manager of the Month

I think I'm right in saying that's the 4th occasion we have won this award this season. 

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10 hours ago, Kingofcm03 said:

hahaha Croatia, I had 6 season save there already this FM. I enjoyed it....  depending how your season goes if you get the job then I might take us off to another league :lol:

 

5 hours ago, andychar said:

I would be 100% down with International management along side domestic. 

 

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Oh yes but surely only small nations like Jamaica, Sudan etc lol

I didn't apply for any job. It's a bug. I absolutely did not apply for anything at all. :lol:

 

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Next on the production line. Feb 2027.

In Croatia you are not allowed to play 16 year old in league games, although they can be offered a Pro contract at that age. We currently have 2 players at the club who are on pro contracts but who have not been able to contribute to our campaign because they are under the minimum age of 17 years old. 

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I think I'm correct in saying that I signed, (or rather the DoF signed), Sime Kalinic (CRO) on a free at the beginning of this season, but (26) Zezelj (CRO) * was already here. 

(26) Zezelj (CRO) * is looking pretty decent and would certainly have made his debut now if I were allowed. I obviously don't use a DM, but I'm very aware that I'm only here for 1 season and this bloke could well become key over the next few years. He's current deal expires in June 2030, but I plan on offering him a 4+3 year deal on his birthday in June, (will I still be here in June?)

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Sime Kalinic (CRO) isn't quite as good as (26) Zezelj (CRO) * but remember he was signed on a free and will offer us depth if needed. 4.0 PA should be plenty good enough to get to 1st team level if we continue to develop him. 

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I don't know when the Youth Intake happens in Croatia, (but I'm guessing it's soon), but at the moment these are the only 2 U17's at the club. 

This is pretty pleasing. 

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This, not so much. 

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I don't mind selling players, in fact I quite like selling players and seeing them go on to bigger and better things, but we have to get something out of them ourselves. With most players that might mean a season or 2 or even 3 if we are lucky, or as was the case with Fopossi (CMR) *, we had him for a short time before PSG made us a ridiculous £9M cash offer that was impossible to turn down. We may not have had the benefit of the player playing for us for long, but the cash injection was hugely significant so it's all good. 

Then we had Branimir Milic (CRO) * who also went to PSG, (for £1.2M, 50% of re-sale value + a friendly). He signed in Jan 2026 and left in Jan 2027 and we got £1.2M out of the sale and will likely make a killing when he leaves PSG. That's fine too. We got the player for a year, we get a lump of cash and then we likely also get another lump of cash later on. :applause:

Largely because of those 2 deals, and the financial situation that we inherited, we are in a really good financial position now. 

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Not only have we got £8.7M in the bank, but we also have a healthy transfer kitty and are significantly under our wage budget. 

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So with that in mind, and the fact that we have lots of saleable assets, why would I want to sell a player who is so young that he has never even played for us? 

Don't get me wrong, everyone has a price, but with our current financial position, I don't even think £10M is a reason to sell. It might be a reason to sell when he has 18 months or so left on his contract or we think he might not be developing as we would like, but at this stage we don't need the money, (I'm honestly finding it hard to spend), and he has 3 years left on his contract.

So my instructions are to auto-decline any offers of £10M or less. :eek:

I don't really know how good he's going to be, but one of my "FM things" is that you just don't sell a 5.0 PA player unless there is a good reason. There is no good reason to sell this player now, even for very good money. 

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Just for the record, I know it looks like I am bringing in a poor intake this season, (sods law), but we have quite a few 5.0 PA players at the club to keep us moving in the right direction. 

We have 11x 5.0 players at the club, (which is great), and I should point out that because (26) Zezelj (CRO) * is at the top of the list, that means that his PA, (it's actually perceived PA or PPA really), is thought to be higher than the other 5.0 PA players on the list. It's not entirely accurate. This is the Ass Man's opinion and not an accurate numerical taken from the inner workings of the game.

So we've got some depth in PA here, bit I'm a little concerned that off the 11 players, we don't have many positions covered. 

GK. none.
DL. 1 player.
DR. none.
DC. 2 players.
MC. 5 players.
ML/AML.
MR/AMR.
SC. 3 players.

What I'm trying to do at the moment is identify 5.0 players in these other positions to even things out a little. 

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I'm also determined that whoever comes after me will have a better intake than I'm going to have. 

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Yes I know that the £4.2M is going to significantly reduce our spending power, but I think we have enough saleable assets at the club to be able to do this. 

Another bidding war has just kicked off. This time for (26) Zezelj (CRO) *. 

Arsenal £4.3M

Man City £7M

Arsenal £5.25M

Man City £9.25 (This is ridiculous, I'm going to have to up his valuation to £20M)

Ok, so I've upped his asking price to £20M. Let's see if that slows things down or just speeds it up and makes someone make a ridiculous bid. I don't even know when the transfer window closes. I haven't seen a message so it can't be today. 

It closes on the 15th Feb, so we have 2 more weeks of this. :lol:

In other new, my DoF has just turned up at the training ground with this bloke. 

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I've never heard of him. He hasn't even been on my radar. £7.5k per week is £390k per year, so this is a significant deal. There is no deal involved because he has been released by Juve, and although I don't like unused sub fee clauses and usually remove them, this doesn't seem completely unreasonable. I suppose it depends on how good the player is. 

We only have a very vague scouting report, but there is a suggestion that we might have paid him less that the deal on the table. 

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Now I am interested. He's 6'2" and I'm on the lookout for a 2nd TM. Strength might be a little low.

He;s scored 6 goals in 24 appearances for Juve, but many of those appearances are likely to be from the bench. I think I might just sign on the dotted line. 

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This is a little underwhelming. :(

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If only I could delay this and get him in on trial to have a look at him. Decision, decisions decisions.......

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Incoming. Feb 2027

I still don't know what Elia Petrelli (ITA) looks like, but I have decided to trust the DoF, (he's been decent so far), and sign on the dotted line. 

The club like the player because he is only 25 years old. 

I like the player because he has 3.0 CA and 4.0 PA. (That's not bad at all. Remember he was signed on a free). 

The fans reaction is a C+. They are happy about his "calibre" and also comment on his "winning presence". Not seen that before, but then again I don't usually sign players like this and don't pay any attention to this screen because I usually know exactly who I'm signing. 

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The big reveal... (I haven't looked at him myself yet so this is quite exciting). :lol:

You know this bloke isn't too shabby at all. He's not quite the TM I was hoping for, but he's a decent AF and will...... OMFG have you seen what he's valued at! :eek:

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I'm stunned. £3.8M just like that. :lol:

[Edit]

I think we are going to have some fun with Mr Petrelli. :cool:

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Edited by Jimbokav1971
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Jan 2027.

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Nobody cares about the Winter break friendlies. They are simply to get us fit again. 

The win against our rivals Osijek was huge though and you mind remember that our previous games were a draw and a 2-0 loss against them. Well 3-0 beats 2-0 baby so we are back in the driving seat!

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Jan - Feb 2027 Transfer window

For those of you up next, the Winter window is a little longer than the main window I'm used to in the UK and elsewhere that runs from 1st Jan to 1st Feb. 

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I bought 6 players in during this window, (to make it a whopping 19 over the course of the season). 

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Kontos (AUS) * was my "marquee signing" at £500k during this window and I was really excited about him, but I've been underwhelmed by his performances since his arrival. That being said, he doesn't speak the language and I'm asking him to play a significantly deeper role that he might be suited to, (DLP), so we will give him time to work it out. I quite like that he is a fellow Aussie and a link to not just our Nationality, but also where be started our career. I really want him just to sit very deep and spray the ball about. I like his PPM and I think it suits what I have in mind for him and I also think it compliments some of the players who he will be playing with who's PPM's encourage them to get further forward. When I scouted him he was going to be a 5.0 PA player, but when he arrived it was only 4.0 PA. Either way I was happy with the deal and hope that he will come good. 

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Mostafa (EGY) is just what I was looking for at right back. I snapped him up for £425k without hesitation when I saw he was available and I'm happy with what I have seen so far. Since Fopossi (CMR) * left we've been down to just 1 proper right back, and it's great to be able to rotate them. Language is an issue again which isn't ideal, but I'm sure it won't take him long to fit in. He's not quite still a teenager, but he has already become a regular International for Egypt. While he's not quite a 5.0 PA player, he's not far off it and there seems to be significant room for development. 

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Enbija Shehu (KVK) was signed for a nominal fee of just £51k and while I'm not expecting him to be a World-beater, I wanted to avoid the issues I encountered earlier in the season where I was really short of depth. He will be a decent back-up if needed. I would have been happy to never see him play, but he has already started twice in the Cup, (allowing me to rest other players), and also come off the bench in the league. He's also a seasoned campaigner at International level, capped 40 times for Kosovo.

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Toni Kolega (CRO) is probably the pick of the bunch in terms of performances since his arrival, scoring 2 and creating 2 in 5(4) appearances. We were absolutely desperate for someone to come in on the right, and he fits the bill nicely at the bargain basement price of £8.5k too. 

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Elia Petrelli (ITA) I have already introduced you to and I can take absolutely no credit/blame for his signing because the first time I even heard of him was when I was asked to confirm the deal. When I saw him I was happy and when I saw his valuation, (£3.2M) I was ecstatic, but his performances haven't lived up to the hype yet. We will give him time and maybe future manager will get more out of him after he has settled in. 

Dejan Marin (CRO) * is another who was signed on a free after been found by the DoF. The scout report said 5.0 PA and when he arrived it suddenly dropped to 3.0. Time will tell whether the scouts or the Ass Man were right. Either way, signed on a free it's no risk. 

4 more players went the other way, (although 1 was on loan).

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I think I've already mentioned that Branimir Milic (CRO) * had a £1.4M release clause and when the big boys started to get close to that I negotiated deals that were more to my liking. He wouldn't sign a new contract so I resigned myself to him going, but was determined that we would get more than £1.4M for him. In the end he joined Fopossi (CMR) * at PSG and we got £1.2M up front for him, plus a friendly and a cheeky 50% re-sale clause. :cool:

(26) Edi Zivulic (CRO) and (24) Dejan Gerencer (SVN) are obviously both products of our Academy and while they are decent players with decent potential they weren't quite of a standard that we need. I thought their development would be stunted by staying at the club so I let them both go for nominal fees, but also included a friendly and 50% re-sale clauses in both deals. These 2 aren't rubbish players and I expect them to go on to have decent careers.

[Edit]

With regards to (26) Zezelj (CRO) *, I can't remember what the biggest offer was that we turned down, (£12.5M maybe), but he has turned 17 and is now available for Senior football. Frustratingly he doesn't want to sign a new contract, (which expires at the end of next season), and Arsenal are still particularly interested in him. Let's see what starting a few league games does to his "want away" attitude and even if he still wants away in the Summer, maybe European football might be enough to change his mind. It would be a real shame to lose him, but I don't feel I have to sell him on my shift. @Kingofcm03is up next and I think he will have to either get him to sign a new deal, (if I can't), or just flog him to one of the big boys. 

Edited by Jimbokav1971
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Feb 2027.

I've left out 3-4 friendlies that we played this month, (just for fitness). 

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The big result there was the Dinamo game. Irrespective of where they are in the league, they are the big guns and the only reason we squeezed them out in a 5 goal thriller is because the game was sandwiched in between the 1st Knockout round of the EURO Cup, (where they beat Dynamo Kiev comfortably). These were there 13th and 14th European games of the season and that's what is having a big impact on their league form. They have Real Sociedad in the next round and it will be interesting to see how they get on. (I will be cheering them on).  On a related note, we don;t have a Reserve Team, but Dinamo's Reserves play in the Second League. It would be good if that situation changes. 

Our rivals over the 1st half of the season Osijek have started to fall away, losing 4 of their last 6 games and failing to score in 3 of them, but Hajduk are on a charge and other than defeats to ourselves and Dinamo, have won 11 out of their last 12 games. 

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Youth Intake Day. Mar 2027.

Here is what the preview said. 

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So what exactly does this tell us. 

  • We have at least 1 decent GK coming through.
  • If the best GK isn't from Zagreb, look at the 2nd GK too. 
  • There are lots of full backs, (which does not mean any of them are good at all).
  • We might not have any strikers at all. 
  • The full backs are not very good (see point 3).

All in all, it's not a great intake. 

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Well it's not good, but then again we knew it wasn't going to  be good. 

What exactly have we got though. 

Well for a start we don't have 16 players like usual. We have 17 players. (I've seen this before). A lot of the players look awful and although I have signed all 16 players to youth contracts, I have also marked the following players with a . after their name to indicate that they should NOT be offered professional contracts. 

g, j, m, n, o, p, q.  

Although I have offered them youth contracts, these 7 players shouldn't be offered Pro deals. 

From the other players, who do I like? 

(27a) Kristian Fumic is ok and tops the list but that;s it. 
(27b) Frane Zrinscak looks good. :thup:
(27c) Noel Kepcija looks ok but I don't like his physicals. 
(27d) Viktor Medic looks ok.
(27e) Ivan Mikulic doesn't look great, but if we like (27b) Frane Zrinscak and he might be offered a Pro contract then this bloke should stay in the U19's.
(27f) Nebojsa looks interesting. Not as a winger but not sure where......
(27h) Marin Tadejevic could be ok.
(27i) Benjamin Kepcija is very raw but jumping at 16 and tacking at 15 on day 1.....
(27k) Luka Matic could have something about him too. 
(27l) Benjamin Milutinovic I like, but again he's a lefty who plays on the right. I know some of you love that but not me. 

The players in bold I am probably going to offer pro contracts to. In fact I might offer pro contracts to all of them. 

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Edited by Jimbokav1971
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Mar 2027.

(26) Zezelj (CRO) * stays! :applause:

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It's a miracle. He makes his Senior debut on Sunday 7th March, and 4 days later he's willing to sign a new deal. I could only offer him a 2 year contract for some reason, (so he signed for 2+3 years). :lol: 

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I take it that this means that we lose the next one right? 

Maybe not, but it wasn't the proper message. It's usually after the next type of message that we lose. 

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We didn't lose, but we didn't win either. 

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We were in good form again this month and much as I'm disappointed that the winning streak is at an end, I'm personally happy with the draw against Hajduk.

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Goal of the Month

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Manager of the Month.

We've won 5 of 8 MotM awards this season. :cool:

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Apr 2027

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I've just checked and it's up to 17 now. 2 Cup games and 15 league games. 2 draws and 15 wins. 

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Elia Petrelli (ITA) has been looking a little awkward in his time with us but maybe I was expecting a little too much. He certainly delivered on that initial promise against Inter Zapresic with a 4 goal haul that sets a new club and league record. 

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Manager of the Month

We've now won 6 of 9 MotM awards. :cool:

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2 minutes ago, andychar said:

Absolutely smashed it. I'd hate to be the one following this.....

I've still got the last month to go. Would really like to go unbeaten over the remaining league games and the Cup Final to make it 21 games unbeaten being passed over to the new Manager. 

We play Dinamo next in the league and then the Cup FInal is against Hajduk. They are the 2 best teams in the league and we are only beating Dinamo because of their European exploits. 

On that note, here is their European campaign. 

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May 2027

DoF retires. He has been nothing short of excellent and a Coach joins him.

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The Chief Data Analyst also seems intent on going out on a high and I can't blame him. 

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The reason we don't have more than 3 players in the squad is that I effectively played the whole season with 2 different teams and just rotated wherever possible. We have basically won games because our players were in a better condition than the opposition. Well, that, long-throws, and corners. 

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Manager of the Year.

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Facilities

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Finances

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GK's(18) Pandur (CRO) was obviously the star here. He played every single game this season, scoring 10 goals in the process, 8 penalties from 12 attempts and 2 free-kicks. 

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DL'sLovro Peric (CRO) * and Petar Mamic (CRO) rotated throughout the season where possible. Michelotti (ITA) alternated between filling in at full back and covering centre-half. 

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DR'sJoão Escoval (POR) was on his own here after Fopossi (CMR) * left for PSG and it wasn't until I signed Mostafa (EGY) that he was able to be rested. 

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DC's. This is a real area of strength. It started off with Joseph (NGA)Dario Zuparic (CRO) who were my 1st choice pairing with any of the youngsters pairing up when needed, but as the season progressed, the youngsters started to play a more important role to such an extent that Dino Sesar (CRO) * started the Cup Final.

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MC's. I really struggled at the start of the season to find a proper DLP and it was Brescianini (ITA) who started the season in this role before I was able to bring in *** Zvonimir Dobric (CRO). I strengthened the squad in January with Kontos (AUS) * and that meant I had 2x DLP's who could rotate. Paired with them were Murati (CRO)Tibor Halilovic (CRO), and they were supported by (26) Zezelj (CRO) * after his 17th birthday. 

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ML. Although I don't like a righty playing on the left, I had no option but to start Jesús Vargas (VEN) there. I had 3 youngsters supporting him, but early in the season they weren't really good enough. As the season progressed Marijo Petrovic (CRO) * really started to develop to such an extent that he was selected to start the Cup Final. he is going to be a hell of a player. Ilija Simunec (CRO) and Luka Romic (CRO) * are decent back-ups who will improve given playing time.

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MR. This was another real problem area at the beginning of the season while I retrained (19) Denis Busnja (CRO), (who was brought back to the club to fill this gap), to play on the right flank. Previously he had been used on the left in an inverted role. What with the unfamiliar position/role and not having any proper support, it seemed a hard slog on the right flank at times. When I signed Toni Kolega (CRO) he made an impact himself, but more importantly allowed (19) Denis Busnja (CRO) to rest and then be at his best for the next game. 

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SC. We're REALLY strong in this area and the only thing that stopped them scoring more goal was the poor quality out wide in the 1st half of the season. My favoured 1st choice partnership was Sadiq (NGA) on the left as a TM(s) with Popovic (BIH) * on the right. Ivan Prtajin (CRO) SELL performed well when given the opportunity, but at 30 years old now and valued at £800,000 I think the time has come to cash in on him. Letting him leave will allow more playing time for Ivan Brnic (BIH) * who had a torrid 1st half of the season with injuries, but finished strongly and now tops the strikers ranked by CA. If I was playing next season then he would play a FAR more important role. Elia Petrelli (ITA) is going to be a decent player. He just needs more games. (25) Hosman (CRO) * has been out on loan at Dugopolje who finished 8th of 10 in the league, and I would say that scoring 11 goals for such a rubbish team warrants him being given an opportunity next season. Remember that we are going to be playing in the Champions League and will need to rotate even more than I have done this season.

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Transfers

Centre-half Dario Zuparic (CRO) is leaving on a free. He is 35 and had a great 1st half of the season, but his legs have gone. 

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I have done a few deals who have not arrived yet. 

We have 2 full backs on each side and I wanted this to be up to 3 for the new manager. That way he could hit the ground running and not have big holes that needed patching. 

27 year old right back Adam Benic (CRO) is a REALLY good signing at just £105k and will provide good support to João Escoval (POR) who, while brilliant, is also in his 30's now. 

17 year old left back Al-Hourani (JOR) * is still very young, but shows excellent promise and will just need minutes on the pitch to develop.

24 year old centre-half Ante Bosancic (CRO) * will become our best centre-half when he arrives on a free from Middlesbrough.

I haven't signed any midfielders. We have 4 capable of playing on the left but we only have 2 on the right and we probably need to sign another righty, (unless Jesús Vargas (VEN) is released from his inverted role on the left). We have plenty of players capable of playing in the middle of the pitch in different roles. 

Up front we have 2  teenage strikers arriving on a free.  

Ticak (CRO) looks  decent, but he might have problems with injuries. 

Vlatko Tomic was found by the DoF and I just followed his lead. He looks like a real speed-merchant. 

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Tactic and reason for my success

The tactic is decent, but it's not the only reason for my success. We were hugely strong in the set-piece are and it's this that pays such dividends. 

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We scored 16 goals from corners in the league. The next highest scored only 8.

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Goals from direct free-kicks are not good in comparison, but obviously this will be skewed by our GK taking them. Indirect free-kicks might be similarly skewed, but this will be because I haven't put the same effort into my attacking free-kick routines that I have with corners and long throws. 

There are no stats for goals from long-throws, (and even if there were they would be wrong), but this is an absolutely huge area for me and I would guess we scored 20+ goals from this over the course of the season. 

GK (18) Pandur (CRO) converted 7 of 11 penalties taken in the league. The next highest squad had only 5. 

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I can't tell you how hard it has been to not continue the save. I absolutely loved it. 

Well done to @andycharfor getting this up and running and for everyone else for being involved. 

Apologies to @Kingofcm03for the nicknames he has inherited. Of course you should feel free to remove them. I just can't play without it now. 

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9 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I can't tell you how hard it has been to not continue the save. I absolutely loved it. 

Well done to @andycharfor getting this up and running and for everyone else for being involved. 

Apologies to @Kingofcm03for the nicknames he has inherited. Of course you should feel free to remove them. I just can't play without it now. 

Glad it’s really took off! It’s been interesting to see how people play the same game and the same team so differently 

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Just now, andychar said:

Glad it’s really took off! It’s been interesting to see how people play the same game and the same team so differently 

It really is. I know a few of the lads doing this quite well from following their saves, but I hardly know @Kingofcm03at all for example and I'm really interested to see what he does. I hope he stays at Rijeka personally, but as I did the double I think it's perfectly reasonable for him to move on, (and whatever anyone chooses is fine by me. It's completely up to the man in the charge at the time).

Oh by the way @Kingofcm03I never got around to adding/removing leagues so you might want to do 1 at the start for me and then 1 at the end for yourself. 

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Just while @Kingofcm03is away, (I promise I will stop after his 1st post as new Manager), here are some little titbits from my time as manager. 

Long Throw goals.

I'm sure some of you are thinking, how on Earth did he score 20+ goals from long throws? I actually just plucked that figure out of the air so let's have a look at them. 

I'm getting a bit bored now, (and so are you probably too), but that's 8 goals by Long Throws in 20 games by the end of November. I think 20 was a conservative estimate. 

I don't think this is a bug. I think this is a strategy. 

Don't get bogged down with "my player" hasn't got a good Long Throw attribute or by bloke hasn't got a PPM or this or that. Try to take advantage of what you have got. Got 2 or 3 big lumbering brutes at centre-half then stick all 3 of them in the mix. Then think where do you want your other players. If 1 full back is going to take the throw, (I usually leave takers blank), then who do you want defending. Who are your best crossers of the ball and do you want them to show short? What about your finishers. Where do you want them to pick up the pieces. That DM with great technique and long shots. Where should he be? Honestly, give this a go and you might be pleasantly surprised. 

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it wasn't a treble though was it ;) 

in all seriousness, fantastic season! enjoyed the detail and taught me a thing or two about transfer clauses! and set piece technique (not sure i'll be throwing the goalkeeper in the mix straight away though.

Did love the video of the missed penalty where the keeper craps himself and sets off sprinting back to his own goal! 

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9 minutes ago, Mandy42 said:

it wasn't a treble though was it ;) 

in all seriousness, fantastic season! enjoyed the detail and taught me a thing or two about transfer clauses! and set piece technique (not sure i'll be throwing the goalkeeper in the mix straight away though.

Did love the video of the missed penalty where the keeper craps himself and sets off sprinting back to his own goal! 

Honestly, the pleasure was all mine. 

In hindsight I would have taken it slower and done more video's and stuff but I was so engrossed, (especially about half way through where I thought we were going to implode), I was completely forgetting about updating the thread and concentrating on the game completely. 

It's a LONG time since FM drew me in like that. 

No it wasn't a treble, but I'm more than happy with how I did. I love that the GK hit double figures but I also like that he missed his 1st penalty, (and then missed more as the season went on). I think some people just think that my GK's never miss, but he actually missed a penalty in a loss that ended our huge unbeaten run, and we would have drawn had we scored, butI don't care, I love it. I still say that the GK's shouldn't go backwards after having a penalty saved, but I suppose that's pretty hard to code. They dont always go back from free-kicks and I have seen an astonishing assist from a GK getting to the bye-line and crossing for a goal after the ball was returned to him. :cool:

The long throws is something that I wished I had commented more on at the time. I don't think many people pay too much attention to set-piece positioning and delivery.

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I have started the save, I spent a long time reviewing the squad and scouting so that took a few hours last night. I will have an update out at some stage, I managed to offload a number of players and have tried to bring some players in. I stupidly didn't check the future transfers that were arranged before me either .. oops

My early prediction is that we wont be winning the Champions League this season.

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1 hour ago, Kingofcm03 said:

I have started the save, I spent a long time reviewing the squad and scouting so that took a few hours last night. I will have an update out at some stage, I managed to offload a number of players and have tried to bring some players in. I stupidly didn't check the future transfers that were arranged before me either .. oops

My early prediction is that we wont be winning the Champions League this season.

but we are staying!

think the Champions League football will help improve our reputation ready for when we are going to move on? 

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2 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

but we are staying!

think the Champions League football will help improve our reputation ready for when we are going to move on? 

We are staying! There was job interview offers for Real Betis, Villarreal and Stoke but I pushed them all away

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Season 2027/28

Thank You @Jimbokav1971 for having such a great first season in Croatia and giving me lots to follow up on! The 18 games unbeaten run to win the title last season was outstanding and you have left me with something that I find interesting and makes me nervous, the GK takes our penalties and free kicks!! Make me sweaty just thinking about it. Nice getting us into Europe, we have the Champions League Qualifers straight up, its a shame and a surprise there is not a higher automatic place than the 2nd round but we will give it a go!

Lets do this

Expectations

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Transfers

I am quite brutal with squads and transfers, I dont really hold back shipping out current first teamers for the good of the overall plan. So I did infact sell a few of the players @Jimbokav1971 used to win the title last season. The good news is that he left a large squad with some quality at depth, so I decided we would use those players at the start and see what happens. I was also hesitant to spend more money than I could bring in, until I knew what European Competition we would be in and had an idea of the funds we would generate during the season.

All players from and including Alejandro Cuellar (DoF actually signed him) were signed by me, the rest were already arranged.

Nothing really lavish in terms of fees, I will see how the season goes and possibly spend some money in the Winter Transfer Window

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Champions League

In our first run in the Champions league we had the fun task of navigating some qualifying rounds. These came really early on and I was worried because I was trying to get the team into shape and using a new tactical system and I too was trying to learn who is who and who I can count on.

Champions Second Qualifying Round

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First Leg

This was an absolute mauling, they will not be rushing back to Croatia anytime soon thats for sure. Our GK actually scored 2 goals here, the first came after an indirect free kick, he picked up the rebound and slotted a nice volley. Hilarious. 

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2nd Leg

A more routine win here, they put in more of an effort this time but we still dominated game, it should and could have been another 10 if not for terrible finishing.

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Champions 3rd Qualifying Round

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First Leg

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2nd Leg

 

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Champions Playoff

So its Club Brugge who stand in our way of making it into the group stages, not sure what to think really but we will certainly be good enough to win if we can play our best and maintain this form.

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Edited by Kingofcm03
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Champions Playoff

So the Belgium giants are our opponents, and honestly we smashed them in the first leg 5-0 and set up the tie for an easy glide into the group stages.

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More of the same in the home leg, we enjoy the occasion and play out a 3-0 win. 

Group Stages....here we come!

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Champions League Group Stage Draw

OK! A Nice and easy draw then? Cool...

Really need to beat Shakhtar in both games, give us a chance to make it into 3rd.

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June and July Fixtures

In June and July we just ran through a whole bunch of friendly games, we had to get the squad up to speed. They appeared to be get a grip very quickly, we smashed everybody. The win in the season opener vs Hajduk Spit is a good sign, they are still a very strong side in this league.

The defence is a little rocky for the moment, those games of conceding 2 goals need to stop

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August Fixtures

Does anybody know how to turn off these colour filters that appear on the schedule page per line as in the above and below? It does my head in.

August was also very easy, we brushed everybody aside apart from bottom side Sibenik as they took an early 2-0 lead and we then decided to get 2 red cards and fight back to win 4-2. Was a crazy game and pretty embarrassing for them to lose to 9 men.

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August League Table

Early days yet but its a good sign at the moment.

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Finances

Were in the money! I would really love to get a win or 2 in the Champions League, that will do wonders to the balance.

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That's it @Kingofcm03Be bold! This is your team now and you do what you want. :thup: I would love you to keep the GK on free-kicks and penalties but you do what's right for you. 

Michelotti (ITA) was one of my inherited players and £1M is good business and Brescianini (ITA) for £700k also decent. We have better Playmakers in the squad now. :thup:

£3M for Escoval (POR) is good business too, (although he was brilliant for me). :thup:

Pratjin (CRO) was coming to the end of his usefulness, but he chipped in with important goals for me. £350k for someone who wasn't going to play for you is a no brainer. :thup:

Sadiq (NGA) is probably the right decision but possibly not one I would have made. I liked the fact that he offered us something different, (a TM), and he scored big goals for me. 

Petrelli (ITA) is a strange one, until you see that we are getting £86k per month for him. An absolute wonder-deal. :applause:

That's good money for both Murati (CRO) and Halilovic (CRO). With the youngster that turned 17 before I left progressing well, certainly 1 of these was going to be surplus. :thup:

Toni Colega (CRO) going for such a small fee is a strange one, (although I like where he went to. He played really well for me when he arrived, but I paid a pittance for him so maybe I just got lucky. 

I would love to see a picture of Mladen Matkovic

3 loan players in, (all Croats by the look of their names is interesting).

2 GK goals on our debut in Europe!!!!! :lock:

But he's missed a couple too. :(

Brilliant start @Kingofcm03 :applause:

[Edit]

Would love to see your tactic by the way. As well as generating loads of penalties, I also see that Joseph (NGA) has continued his goal-scoring form. 

Brnic (BIH) is filling his boots!

Edited by Jimbokav1971
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New Signings

I didnt want to spend too much money, I also tried to focus on bring in Croats in. I often find you need to consolidate the base of local players in the squad to move forward in the long term so I tried to build the base here. There is  couple more that I am watching and will move on those in January if needed. We also have some decent kids at the club, I want to get games into them to help the next few managers down the line.

@Jimbokav1971

 Escoval - You had arranged a better option for transfer for us anyway in Benic, it was decent money and I didn't want to give him one of our 5 foreigner spots

Sadiq - I didn't rate him, his work rate was too low and again didn't want to give him a foreigner spot. I also only play 1 up front and we have 3 better options.

Petrelli - Hes another forward, we have 3 better options again but I did see he scored 6 in 9 for you. The next manager can make the call

Kolega - Yeah I didn't know to be honest, I felt he could have been ok but he also strangely wanted to leave so I just did it. Time will tell here.

Watching our GK taking the free kicks freaks me out a little bit, if we concede a goal on a fast counter attack I will be pulling that option out, and your corner routine is amazing, hence why Joseph is banging in the goals. He has 8 goals in 11 games and we knocked back a bid of 6.5 million for him.

Mladen Matkovic

The most expensive signing made, I wanted a player with high work rate to play in the middle, its key to how we set up. We will be training him to play BBM

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Davor Brlic

A loan signing to give us better quality up front, he will be rotating in the AMC postion with Popovic for now.

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Emmanuel Bahi

I was looking to get some more flair and technique in the middle of the park, he was so cheap that it was a no brainer really.

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Ivo Filipovic

I was not a massive fan of the options we had at CB so I set about upgrading those, hes a loan signing for now and will add some decent cover for us.

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Nediljko Labrovic

We only had the 1 senior GK at the club, I dont think hes even that good and Labrovic is not much better but we at least have a middle of the road option to give us cover and hes was so cheap that it didnt matter.

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Bosko Sutalo

Another CB, in my attempt to improve that position. I have had some success with this player on FM20 already, hes won a Champions League with me. I trust him.

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Elvis Kulusic

I admit, hes not that great but hes only on loan and I need pace out wide for my tactic. He wont be a starter for us anyway.

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Mohamed Kibona

Another who I will admit is not that great, I signed him without fully scouting him as the first report made me happy. Signed for "feeling" so lets see what happens here.

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Tactic

Were running with this for the moment, ignore the players as I have yet to decide a few spots. I am also using another version with the AF on the right forward slot as AF and the AMC moves left, it has worked for me before and opens up space a little more but at the moment nobody is playing well for us in the AMC slot so for now its a work in progress.

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September Fixtures

We started our Champions League group stage campaign away to Dortmund, we did pretty well actually. We led most of the game, had a player sent off and they scored a late tap in to make it 1-1. Not the worst result, the other opening game saw Shakhtar beating PSG...  the last game of the month saw our home opener in the CL and we played against Shakhtar who actually have a superb team somehow... Bailly, Nicolas Pepe, Semper, Cancelo, Kovalenko, Batshuayi etc but after my recent 10 year stint as manager in the Ukraine, I am not afraid of them :) we smashed them...

We dropped points for the first time this season, the away draw to Split was annoying but we did beat Gorica in a top of the table clash

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September Table

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Club Matters

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1 hour ago, Rikulec said:

Some promising signings there. :thup:

Some enormous signings there, (and he only paid proper money for 1 of them). Phenomenal work in the transfer market. :applause:

For all the stuff I;m good at, I'm really not good at identifying players for the here and now. 

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1 hour ago, Kingofcm03 said:

 

Watching our GK taking the free kicks freaks me out a little bit, if we concede a goal on a fast counter attack I will be pulling that option out, and your corner routine is amazing, hence why Joseph is banging in the goals. He has 8 goals in 11 games and we knocked back a bid of 6.5 million for him.

 

I'm glad you like the corner routine. :cool:

How are the throw-ins working for you? 

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*I am playing and updating these live at the moment, I am stuck at home due to whole COVID-19 thing so I will probably finish this season today or tomorrow. I have a fast PC and I am enjoying it.  Who is up next on the list?

October Fixtures

Ouch...that had to hurt!

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The rest month went like this, I've not enjoyed any success over PSG on FM20 in all the saves I have played and that trend has continued here. I have no idea why but I've never been able to beat them but it was a close game beat us. Fair play. Sorry lads!

We also dropped points away to Dinamo Zagreb, probably still the best team in the league so its not all bad but still annoying to me.

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October Table

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Champions League Table

After 3 games, its starting to take shape.  PSG beat both us and Dortmund and Shakhtar beat PSG.... all to play for still!

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November Fixtures

You know, I really thought we had PSG and then they scored in the 89th and 91st minute. God dam it. Come on...... We are going to need a better GK to win the Champions League that is one thing for sure. We were also caught with having the GK high up the field on a free kick and conceded on a counter attack.  That's the end of my shift on this experiment sorry @Jimbokav1971 but he can still take penalties for now.

We did however comfortably win all the other games this month, also smashed Dortmund!

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November Table

Looking good at the moment, still unbeaten and scoring goals for fun.

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Champions League Table

So we have 1 game to go, we are looking ok here to make it through to the next round. Assuming we dont lose to Shakhtar and Dortmund beats PSG. We just need PSG to win and all is going to be ok, part of me does think we could go far in the Europa League but nobody cares about that competition really so full steam ahead to Champions League glory!

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