[FM 20] Tiger, Tiger burning bright

[Moonshine]

 

 

Sod it. I'm in quarantine, I haven't played masses of FM this season, and I'm looking for a way in. I loaded up every European League (some are on view only – though I missed a couple, and don't seem to be able to turn them to view only in add/remove leagues…) as well as China, USA, Argentina and Brazil (first divisions, all also on view-only) and plunged in.

 

A random number generator told me to go to Denmark, and there in the 3^rd Division south was a team called Middelfart. How could I not take them on?

 

 

 

 

Crap facilities, good squad. The board expect promotion.

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

[If anyone knows how to embiggen images from Gyazo, above, please let me know]

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

Pre-Season

Board: Promotion

Cup: Third Round

Media: 2nd

Odds: 6-4

 

Fixtures:

 

Some of these were against teams above me. I've no idea which. SOme games were played. They seemed OK. I tested my new asymmetrical 4-1-1-2-1. It seems to work. Why are my pictures so small?

 

Transfers In:

 

Those on 17/06/19 were already in the game. Some of the others were my DoF signing for the second team. Luckily, they were all amateurs, so no money changed hands. My signings were: Alexander Molberg; Noah Iversen; Mathias Christensen; Jacob Reus; Kaspar Poulsgaard; Rasmus Nielsen.

 

Basically, some backups, some youngsters, and a first choice DC in Mollberg.

 

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

August

 

Fixtures:

 

Overall, a pretty sexy start to a new career. Seven games, six wins, one spanking in the cup (against lower league opposition) and plenty of goals, shared around the team. The VSK Aarhus defeat was a stinging return to reality, but, with the a tweak to our defence of indirect freekicks (I conceded 4 of my 5 goals this month from them) we look quite tasty.

 

Table:

 

Sitting pretty at the top... The top 6 go through to a 'promotion' phase, while the bottom six drop into a 'relegation' phase. No idea what that entails, mind.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

September

 

Fixtures:

 

A decent loss to first division opposition in the cup was followed by a near-perfect month. We're not scoring many, and certainly the goals are coming from across my team, but we're doing well.

 

Table:

Still top. By some margin.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

October

 

Fixtures:

Not quite as good. The result against Aarhus Fremad isn't as edgy as it looks - we were 2-0 up until the 92nd minute, and our 94th minute 'winner' actually made it 3-1. The loss to Thested and draw with AB were questionable, as both are midtable. Our strikers aren't doing much with Casper Johansen only scoring 4 to date, and his backup just 2. My top scorer is Petersen from the IW(L) position, followed by my Mezzala, Kim Elgaard...

 

Table:

Sitting pretty...

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Moonshine

[Mr_Demus]

I played as them. You get paired with the top 6 from the Eastern division, and there you find FC Helsingør, who are way too good for this level. With only one team promoted, you need to win as much as possible to promote.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

November

 

Fixtures:

 

 

The very definition of scraping in before the mid-season break... We were, officially, ****.

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

The World's Best 2020:

Ballon d'Or: Cristiano Ronaldo

FIFA Best: Kylianne Mbappe

World Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo

Kopa Trophy (best u21 Player): Kylianne Mbappe

 

FIFA best XI

[Moonshine]

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

March/early April

 

Fixtures:

 

Quite nice - a draw against as-then undefeated Jammerbugt, a victory away at Dalum, and some actual goals scored, albeit from a lot of free kicks, corners and long throws.

 

Table - Preliminary Phase:

Huzzah!

 

Table - Promotion Phase:

Not bad, all told. We're 2nd to Helsingor, who are a bit good. We all play each other once, and, despite 3 teams getting relegated, only one seems to go up. I'm mildly confused. Maybe they are rejigging the league structure?

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

Youth Intake:

 

 

Yeeaaahhh... no. I signed everyone down to 'l' anyway.

 

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

April

 

Fixtures:

 

Apart from scraping a draw against HIK, the month couldn't have gone much better. A draw against the best team in the league in Helsingor, and a solid victory against the next best in Jammerbugt set me up nicely. That Jammerbugt then proceeded to beat Helsingor was the icing on the cake, and I sit top of a tight 2-horse race.

 

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

May

 

Fixtures:

A couple of disappointing snore-draws, and a thumping 5-0 win are the highlights (lowlights?) here. I've switched to 19 y/o targetman Noah Iversen upfront, and the change appears to be paying dividends.

 

 

The draws are enough to see me drop to second, with a game to play. I face 11th placed Vanlose away. Helsingor face 10th placed Ringkobing, also away. I'm not so sure that we have a chance, but we'll have to take whatever we can get.

[Moonshine]

We lost. 2-0.  Bugger.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

Season Summary

 

Final Position: 2nd

 

 

The Squad:

 

 

The Awards:

 

 

Best XI:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casper Radza

Peter Jul Nielsen      Alexander Molberg     Magnus Pedersen     Nikolaj Hagelskaer

Kristoffer Gjaetterman

Kim Elgaard

Lucas Moller Jensen      Esben Petersen     Emil Lyng

Noah Iversen

[Moonshine]

Around the World: 2019/20

 

Top 10 European Leagues by coefficient (and Denmark):

 

1. Spain - La Liga Champions: Barcelona (x3)

2. England - Premier League Champions: Chelsea

3. Italy - Serie A Champions: Inter Milan

4. Germany - Bundesliga Champions: Bayern Munich (x8)

5. France - Ligue 1 Champions: PSG (x3)

6. Russia - Premier League Champions: Zenit St. Petersburg (x2)

7. Portugal - Liga NOS Champions: FC Porto

8. Belgium - Jupiler League Champions: Club Brugge

9. Ukraine - Favbet Liha Champions: Shakhtar (x3)

10. Turkey - Super Lig Champions: Galatasaray (x3)

16. Denmark - Superlig Champions: FC Kobenhavn (x2)

 

Champions League:

 

Europa League:

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

Euro 2020

Hosts: 12 countries

Holders: Portugal

 

Out in groups: Bosnia, Russia, Greece, Israel, Georgia, Turkey, Ireland, Austria

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

Pre-Season

Board: Top-three

Cup: Third Round

Media: 2nd

Odds: 2-1

 

Fixtures:

They seem OK?

 

Overview and Transfers:

 

We didn't need a massive overhaul in the Summer, with a few overpaid and/or under played players leaving on a free. In come a couple of young strikers to spread the load in Mikkel Lejbowicz and Erik Vage, and help build up my u-21s (we need to have three u21s on the bench in every game - it doesn't matter how many are on the pitch, 3 must be on the bench. At the start of last season, this stopped me from playing Noah Iversen upfront as often as I'd have liked) We've also got a couple of new defenders to strengthen there, and a young GK for the future. We'll be looking for a DR in January as the massively overpaid Nikolaj Hagelskjaer will be out of contract. His £1k p/w is fully 11% of the clubs wage bill.

Those not below were signed by my B team on Amateur contracts

 

 

 

We've also been given a pretty terrible side of the draw for the preliminary stages, with the teams predicted 3rd thru 6th on our side.

 

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

August

 

Fixtures:

 

As is now traditional it seems, goals come from everywhere, but not very many of them. Mind you, we're playing bloody well and are near-perfect.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

September

 

Fixtures:

 

Well... that was a good month. My strikers still can't score, but perfect in every other way. And victories in the cup against Dalum in my division, but, more impressively, AGF in the Superliga.

 

Table:

[deltablue]

Nice going so far this season.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

October/Novenber

 

Fixtures:

Not quite so sexy anymore. The strikers still aren't scoring, but its costing me now. 2 points from a potential 9 was followed by a 3-1 spanking of 2nd place, 10-man Jammerbugt, with actual goals from attackers in Johansen up front and young inverted winger Lejbowicz (only playing because he whinged at me about his squad status).

 

Oh, and this happened in the cup. Nordsjaelland are 2nd in the Superliga. We FMed them:

 

Table at mid-season break:

 

 

It's ours to lose. We're 8 points clear of the top team in the other division.

[Moonshine]

1 hour ago, deltablue said:

Nice going so far this season.

Ta! I'm enjoying Denmark.

[Moonshine]

Elections!

 

 

 

Bugger. I need some cash, pretty badly. For the first time ever I saw this:

 

 

And boy are we:

 

[Moonshine]

[Moonshine]

Hmmmmm. We're in dire straights, I fear.

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

March

 

No changes in the January transfer window, though we managed to reduce the wage bill by keeping players and reducing their salaries - including, and vitally, our overpaid DR (but our best player by far) in Nikolaj Hagelskjaer. He's now tied up on £925 p/w for two years - a casual 9.7% of the entire wage bill, and fully £300 p/w more than anyone else.

 

Fixtures:

 

Sadly our cup run came to an abrupt, if unsurprising, end against a team in the league above. But our form in the league continued apace - with goals (shock! horror!). Though the spread of our scorers is ridiculous. We've had 12 different goalscorers, and 14 different assist makers - our top scorer, Emil Lyng, has 7 in 19.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

Early April

 

Fixtures:

A couple of rotated teams doing not half bad here.

 

Table:

So, that's our lot in the promotion phase. We start with a 10 point head start over Naestved. Surely we can't lose that over 11 games?

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

Youth Intake:

 

 

Nope. It's crap.

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

Late April

 

Fixtures:

Not half bad - we're now on seven games without conceding. We're back with Iversen up front.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

May

 

 

WHOOOP.

 

Fixtures:

We tried hard to **** it up, recording our second and third losses of the season against B93 and 2nd place Naested (oh it would have been sweet to have won the title there...). But eventually, it was a postponed game against Slagelse, while no-one else played, that led us to the title. Onwards! Upwards!

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2020/21

Season Summary

 

 

We finished in... well, some kind of style, anyway. Ha.

 

Final Position: 1st

 

 

The Squad:

 

 

The Awards:

 

 

 

 

Best XI:

 

All time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casper Radza

Peter Jul Nielsen      Alexander Molberg     Magnus Pedersen     Nikolaj Hagelskaer

Kristoffer Gjaetterman

Kim Elgaard

Peter Kristensen      Casper Johansen       Emil Lyng

Noah Iversen

[Moonshine]

Around the World: 2020/21

 

Top 10 European Leagues by coefficient (and Denmark):

 

1. Spain - La Liga Champions: Barcelona (x4)

2. England - Premier League Champions: Liverpool

3. Italy - Serie A Champions: Inter Milan (x2)

4. Germany - Bundesliga Champions: Bayern Munich (x9)

5. France - Ligue 1 Champions: PSG (x4)

6. Portugal - Liga NOS Champions: Benfica

7. Russia - Premier League Champions: Lokomotiv Moscow

8. Belgium - Jupiler League Champions: Club Brugge (x2)

9. Netherlands - Eredivisie Champions: Feyernoord

10. Ukraine - Favbet Liha Champions: Shakhtar (x4)

15. Denmark - Superlig Champions: FC Kobenhavn (x3)

 

Champions League:

 

Europa League:

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Pre-Season

Nordicbet Liga 1. [Danish Division 2]

Board: Avoid Relegation

Cup: Third Round

Media: 11th (/12)

Odds: 50-1

 

Friendlies:

 

Some games were played. None were lost.

 

Transfers:

 

I decided to sign the  top scorer from Liga 2, FA2000's Sebastian Lohdahl to attempt to sort of fix my goalscoring issues. 17 in 27 last season was very good. While he looks a bit rubbish, he's also on an amateur contract. Importantly, we also signed a new centre back on a free. Simon Jacobsen immediately becomes my best player, and certainly my most valuable, and is vital as Alexander Mollberg does his ACL in pre-season. Hopefully he will help anchor the defence in what is bound to be a difficult season. A few other defenders and a Norwegian central midfielder come in, to try and bolster the squad.

 

What I don't get is how Randers FC could sign Bjorne Dol (YP1a) on a free... he was on a part time contract for another year. Oh. I forgot to not allow my B team manager to sell players. Bugger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

 

 

 

Well this is bloody upsetting. Given how terrible my finances are, its makes not a lot of a dent (I'm £1.5m in the red). But I thought that it wasn't right, or realistic, to turn down £140k so alas. I'm now sans GK.
 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

August

 

Fixtures:

 

Not a bad start to the season at all. 8 points from 18 is far more than I could have hoped for, and wins against fellow promoted team Jammerbugt as well as last season's promoted team Helsingor is very good. Add to that Johansen with the best goalscoring performance, by single match or entire month, of the save to date and we look pretty good. Though in the cup, too, with a second team.

 

Table:

 

 

Plus, a new keeper:

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

September

 

Fixtures:

 

That's not bad you know. The 4-0 and 4-1 losses obviously stung, as did the 2-0 home loss, but a couple of wins against the bottom club Fredericia and mid-table Fremad were decent. I think the aim here is to be the best of the bottom half. Doable with our decent defence.

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

 

Weird... clearly a bu. We've only played 11 games. Does it think the season is finished because we've played everyone once? Will we get the cash again? WHo knows. Quite nice chunk of change though. Does it help our finances?

 

 

No. No it doesn't.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

October

 

Fixtures:

Well that was... pretty crap.

 

Table:

5 points clear of relegation, mind you.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

November

 

Fixtures:

 

 

A good win against Jammerbugt, and unfortunate late losses (88 mins and 82 mins) against teams I beat earlier in the season... We go into the mid-season break in an OK position.

 

[Moonshine]

 

The World's Best 2020:

Ballon d'Or: Kylian Mbappe

FIFA Best: Kylianne Mbappe

World Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe

Kopa Trophy (best u21 Player): Erling Haaland

 

FIFA best XI

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

Winter Break

 

Transfers:

 

Out went slightly useless, very expensive (£425 p/w!) striker Eirik Vage - also the only player I've spent money on, a whole £220, after 2 seasons, 24 appearances and 3 goals, on a free to Nardo in the Norwegian 1st Division.

 

I signed three future prospects, all on a free:

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

March / Early April

 

Fixtures:

 

Wow. That's... terrible.

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

On 12/04/2020 at 19:47, Moonshine said:

 

Weird... clearly a bu. We've only played 11 games. Does it think the season is finished because we've played everyone once? Will we get the cash again? WHo knows. Quite nice chunk of change though. Does it help our finances?

 

 

No. No it doesn't.

 

Seems to be a bug? Maybe?

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

Youth Intake

 

 

Rubbish. I've signed a through d.

 

 

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

 April

Fixtures:

 

We're in trouble. Another terrible month with sod all scoring, and a loss to our closest relegation rivals Jammerbugt putting us into the relegation zone for the first time. I'm starting to get 'next match may be the last' messages, and my job status is officially insecure. Oh dear. A tweak of tactics is required, as we desperately need to relearn how to score.

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

 

GET IN.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Nordicbet Liga 1

 May

 

Fixtures:

 

10 points from 21 in the latter stages of the season - including an absolutely vital win against Jammerbugt - managed, just, to save the club from relegation, and me from the sack. I tweaked our tactics toward the end, from an unconventional asymmetric 4-1-1-3-1 to a more conventional 4-1-2-3, continuing to play on the back foot - and it worked. Iversen learnt to score again. Lyng was excellent. Even my flop of a signing Sebastian Lodahl scored his first league goal in his last ever Middelfart game (he can bugger off. He's taking up space, and I have an excellent 18 y/o coming in).

Table:

5 points clear, thanks to a good months from me and a diabolical month for Jammerbugt, who gained just 2 points. Phew. Same again next season, methinks.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2021/22

Season Summary

 

 

Final Position: 4th (Relegation stage) - 10th (Overall)

 

 

 

The Squad:

 

 

The Awards:

 

 

 

 

Best XI:

 

All time:

 

 

 

 

Valdemar Thorsen

Adis Spahic    Simon Jacobsen    Magnus Pedersen     Nikolaj Hagelskaer

Kristoffer Gjaetterman

Tobias Bjornebye

Lucas Moller Jensen      Casper Johansen       Emil Lyng

Noah Iversen