The FM08 Career Thread

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by NepentheZ:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gilbster:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by NepentheZ:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gilbster:

After having another half season where I was making no progress with Dnipro Cherkasy, I applied for the Rapid Bucharest job. The press noticed and then my board gave me an ultimatum - Resign or be sacked. I resigned.

Currently now looking for a new job.

What a choice..!! IIRC, I had this once, told them I wouldn't resign, and they didn't sack me anyway.! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was getting restless given I just wasnt making progress with the club. And there are only so many seasons of relegation battles.

So far I have been approaced by 1 club and its a Hungarian Div 2 side that I stand no chance of spelling, so have rejected it. Will accept either a mid table or better second division side, or any top division side in my available leagues. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What leagues do you have runnings? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

All leagues in these countries:

Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia

[aaberdeenn]

Croatia. Happy memories. :*)

[Gilbster]

Id never managed in any of those leagues before I started this career game. I just know that taking on a club I cant spell that is languishing in the relegation zone, isnt my idea of fun.

Would rather holiday til league reset days and pick up a brand new small club instead if I cant get anything larger.

[ToMexico!!]

Good idea, Gilbster! you may even get a team that have preivously been relegated from the leagues, that would be a good challenge to bring take them up the leagues.

[Gilbster]

In March I decided that 3 months of unemployment was enough so I took Smedervo's kind offer of a job.

They are a club currently in 17th out of 18th place in the Serbian First League. If I can't manage to save them from Relegation, then I can go back to my original plan.

Otherwise, I have been offered a transfer budget of £2.1M and they want a respectable league position within 2 years, so there is at least some ambition.

[Gilbster]

2016/17 Season Update

Was given less transfer budget than the past 2 seasons and with my odds at the start of the season being the worst for a few years, I knew I was in for another long season.

By the mid season interval, Dnipro Cherkasy were hovering above the drop zone, and my inspiration for managing them had gone.

As a result I applied for the Rapid Bucharest job, which I didnt get but did get me an ultimatum from my board. I resigned.

I took a 3 month break from management, and eventually decided to take the job offered from Smederevo in the Serbian First League. They were 1 from bottom, but were offering me a transfer budget.

After assessing my new squad it looked like we stood a chance at survival as was evidenced by a 5 game unbeaten run that took us to 10th in the table, where we stayed til the end of the season.

Have already arranged some bosmans to come in and currently cant see any foreigner rules at all in Serbia, so I'll be quite happy managing here for a while.

I hope to take Smederevo back to the Superleague and possibly onto further glory, if I get the chance.

Career So Far

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Season Team Country League League Finish Achievements

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007/08 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 5th

2008/09 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 4th

2009/10 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 5th

2010/11 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 4th

2011/12 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 2nd Promotion to High League

2012/13 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 10th

2013/14 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 11th

2014/15 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 11th

2015/16 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 14th Narrowly avoided relegation

2016/17 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League Resigned after applying for another job

2016/17 Smederevo Serbia First League 10th Took over with 12 games to go.

</pre>

[happy slappy]

Life is good at FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin, top of the table after 7 games, with 16 points out of a total 21 and we are 5 points clear of the team in 4th, I think if we can keep up this kind of form then promotion should not be too hard, yes it may be early in the season but we are playing so well in the League that I feel I have enough quality in the squad to take us up, the only downside is that 2 of my star players' contracts expire at the end of the season and they don't want to renew, so I will need to replace them at the end of the season, but who knows, maybe they will sign new contracts at the end of the season.

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

2016/17 Season Update

Was given less transfer budget than the past 2 seasons and with my odds at the start of the season being the worst for a few years, I knew I was in for another long season.

By the mid season interval, Dnipro Cherkasy were hovering above the drop zone, and my inspiration for managing them had gone.

As a result I applied for the Rapid Bucharest job, which I didnt get but did get me an ultimatum from my board. I resigned.

I took a 3 month break from management, and eventually decided to take the job offered from Smederevo in the Serbian First League. They were 1 from bottom, but were offering me a transfer budget.

After assessing my new squad it looked like we stood a chance at survival as was evidenced by a 5 game unbeaten run that took us to 10th in the table, where we stayed til the end of the season.

Have already arranged some bosmans to come in and currently cant see any foreigner rules at all in Serbia, so I'll be quite happy managing here for a while.

I hope to take Smederevo back to the Superleague and possibly onto further glory, if I get the chance.

Career So Far

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Season Team Country League League Finish Achievements

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007/08 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 5th

2008/09 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 4th

2009/10 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 5th

2010/11 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 4th

2011/12 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 2nd Promotion to High League

2012/13 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 10th

2013/14 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 11th

2014/15 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 11th

2015/16 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 14th Narrowly avoided relegation

2016/17 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League Resigned after applying for another job

2016/17 Smederevo Serbia First League 10th Took over with 12 games to go.

</pre>

i have managed briefly in Serbia, and as i remember there aren't any foreigner rules....

[Peljam]

Awesome thread! I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's stories so far. Congrats Ivocone on getting the spurs job as well! That 3-3-4 could be interesting...

Anyways, I started a career game a while ago as generally I normally stick with one team and wanted a change. A bit more freedom.

So.....

Leagues Loaded

England (league 1 and above)

France (CFA and above)

Italy (Serie C1 and above)

Spain (Second Division B and above)

Sweden ( First division and above)

Australia (A leauge only).

Started with automatic rep.

Rodrigo De La Vega

Took the manager name of a player/hero/god from an 05 career game of mine. I started unemployed and was offered the Forward BK job in the Swedish First Division North, half way through the season.

Expectations were low, debt was present and transfer fund were nowhere to be seen. In the first season I concentrated on getting the team stable and getting used to the team (and sweden). I only signed a couple of players and eased them into the team.

At the end of the first season we finished 6th, a full six places over where we were expected to come.

Next season I brought in a few more players and shored up the defence with a loan signing. We had a steady and very decent season but our form dropped towards the end. We lost out on the playoff place on the last day and ended up 3rd. One single point off.

Spurred on a few more signings were made in a 'make or break' fashion. Our debt was getting bigger but I ignored it hoping a promotion next season would off set it. Again a good season was had, we even had 1st place for a bit, but again our form dropped off and we ended up 3rd. The same position would have been bad enough but once again we were only one point off the play off place.

Teeth were gritted, debt mounted up, and I went into the next season. The team completely imploded though and midway we were not only seventh but a huge amount of points of even the play off place. With mounting debt I threw the towel in and decided to let someone else have a stab at Forward (without me they went on to finish 6th).

After only a couple of weeks unemployed I was offered a job in the Serie C1A with Pizzighettone. And so the De Le Vega saga continues afresh...I shall update soon

I did notice though that my rep went from Regional in Sweden to unknown in Italy. This makes some sense to me really as being regional in Sweden would mean being unknown in Italy. Has anyone else had this? And, if I return to Sweden will my reputation return to Regional?

Career

Season Team Country League League Finish Achievements

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007 BK Forward First Division North 6th

2008 BK Forward First Division North 3rd

2009 BK Forward First Division North 3rd

2010 BK Forward First Division North Resigned

2010 Pizzighettone Serie C1A -

[Peljam]

Bah...didn't copy and paste properly. Not only is the 'table' not formatted properly but it's missing info. Sorry

[Gilbster]

2017/18 Season Update

First full season in charge of Smedervo. Managed to sign lots of good players, and the team definitely looked and felt stronger than last season. Had a great 10 match unbeaten run in the middle of the season, and finished only 4 points away from a playoff place.

Really need to figure out what formation I want to play, and stop buying players that dont match it.

Goals for next season:

Dont buy too many more players

Get into playoff places

Career so far

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Season Team Country League League Finish Achievements

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007/08 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 5th

2008/09 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 4th

2009/10 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 5th

2010/11 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 4th

2011/12 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine First League 2nd Promotion to High League

2012/13 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 10th

2013/14 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 11th

2014/15 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 11th

2015/16 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League 14th Narrowly avoided relegation

2016/17 Dnipro Cherkasy Ukraine High League Resigned after applying for another job

2016/17 Smederevo Serbia First League 10th Took over with 12 games to go.

2017/18 Smederevo Serbia First League 8th

</pre>

[numero_uno_gunner]

End of season review - 2007/08 - Nigeria and Tranmere Rovers

Well, I finally got a club job. Tranmere Rovers, in League One. A bit higher than I was expecting to get my first job, but this is probably down to the fact that I was managing Nigeria at the time.

I took over with them in 19th, only 3 points above the drop zone. The squad looked very weak, and the fist thing to do was bring in some loan players. 12 games to go to assure the club avoided relegation. 4 wins in my first 4 games meant mission accomplished, and I actually ended up taking 20 points out of a possible 36. Not breathtaking form, but certainly good enough to stay up. We finished 15th, so not too shabby.

Aim for next season in my mind is to rebuild the squad and push for the play-offs. I'd possibly settle for a top 10 finish though, as that is what the board want. The financial situation isn't good. We are £650k in the red, and running over £10k a week over the wage budget. As I said, major rebuilding to be done.

Also, I think I'm going to resign as Nigeria manager. I took them to the final of the ACN, but have now lost interest.

I am considering restarting though, and altering the leagues I have running. I've been reading some of your careers (am up to page 9 atm) and those of you who started in the real depths (BSN/S or equivalent) seem to have really enjoyed your games more. Something to ponder perhaps. What would you recommend? Continuing as Tranmere, or restarting as a lower club?

[ToMexico!!]

completely up to you numero...out of interest what leagues are you running?

[happy slappy]

I started as manager of Nigeria, won the African Cup of Nations then got the Bradford City job who were in League 2, got to the end of the season before I quit, also quit as Nigeria manager, then I got the job wherever the hell I am.

Who coincidently got relegated to the third tier in France, top of the league, with no money to spend and with the club 20k p/w over with wages, and I'm loving it!!

[numero_uno_gunner]

Umm, england to league 2, SPL, and the top 2 leagues in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. I've just been told by my board that they are disappointed in me, and that our performance in the league was terrible. Bit harsh I think. I avoided relegation, and finished in mid-table.

Think I'll continue, but may jump ship if a better prospect comes along. Even if that does mean a step down somewhere.

If I do restart, what leagues would you recommend running?

[ToMexico!!]

If you were to restart i would look at varying the nations you chose, for example, reputation wise a set of poor, medium and top leagues running, this gives you a wide array of clubs to manage and take through their leagues, yeah its alright having all the top leagues but it gets a little boring.

For instance the league i have running..

Poor= Slovakia/Slovenia/Hungary

Mediorce= Austria/Switzerland/Czech Rep

Top Leagues= Germany/Italy

I started in a poor league, moved to a top one, dropped to mediocre and have since gone back to the top divisions but it has taken time, before i end my career i hope to have managed in every league i have running and possibly win every league.

[NepentheZ]

Just finished my first season with Chimney Corner (Update to come shortly) - and something has come up that I'd never have expected.

A team has been promoted from an unplayable division, that go by the name of Torjans - In all my 40 odd season in N. Ireland, I'd never even seen these guys get as far as the promotion / relegation play off, let alone make it into league football. They have no previous history, and only 2 player in the entire squad that aren't "grey"

Now, while I intended to stay at CC for a while, a club like this is exactly what I aim for. They wont have a manager when the new season begins, (As all promoted clubs from non playable leagues don't) - and the fact that my finishing position with CC was so good, I'm pretty sure I'd get the job.

What does everyone think?

[Gundo]

Go for it Nep, sounds like a great club to manage.

[NepentheZ]

Originally posted by Gundo:

Go for it Nep, sounds like a great club to manage.

I think I might. As soon as I saw them in the play offs, I said to myself, "If they get promoted, I'll apply to manage them" - thinking that they would never get promoted.

[ToMexico!!]

i would too, you seem to know n'ireland inside out and having a chance of managing what would seem such a low rep club if you haven't seen them before would/could be interesting for your career...good luck

[NepentheZ]

Chimney Corner End of Season Update (2007/2008)

Intro - So I was offered the job at Chimney Corner, and accepted due to my love for N. Ireland. I had, and now still have full intentions to take this club into the Champions League group stages before considering leaving.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

NI2 Media Prediction - 9th

NI2 Final Posistion - 1st (Promoted) \o/

Irish Cup - 4th Round

Antrim Trophy - Qtr Final

Intermediate Cup - 1st Round

Intermediate League Cup - Qtr Final

Antrim Cup - Semi Final</pre>

Competition Summary

Very happy with the way the cups went this season, and was unlucky not to get further in quite a few. 2 "grey" teams knocked me out of two of the cups, and I took down 2 NIP teams in the Irish Cup, before getting knocked out by Linfield.

N. Irish Second Division: Table | Graph

Club Best Elevens: Season | Overall

Other Info:

Club Information Screen

Finances

Manager Info

Manager Oerview

Manager Profile

Player Records

Team Records

Squad Overview Screen

Players of the Season

Darren Hobson - 16 when I signed him, but had advanced mental attributes. Played very well all season, filling in the "Gilberto Silva" role for me at Chimney Corner.

Peter Miskimmon - midfield partner to Hobson, and also had a great season. Another 16 year old signing (now 17) with mental attributes beyond his years. A great midfield pairing.

Gavin "NepentheZ" Kee - Theres a number of reasons I've dubbed him "NepentheZ". First and foremost, I picked him up scouring the "Grey" players in my U-18's team, and signed him for his great attributes spread over his profile, for a player in this division. I didn't initially intend him to play, but after a lot of consideration, I found he was the better of my Left sided midfielders. He didn't disappoint one bit, Scoring 13 goals, and chipping in with 8 assists from the wide left. Also my highest averagely rated player over the season in his 31 games, he really made an impact this season. The fact he scored so many from a position that in this team, isn't supposed to score from, I'm training him to become a striker, to see if he can ply his trade upfront, and still bang in the goals, as the current forwards I have are pretty poor.

Season summary

A fantastic season. I really couldn't have asked for more. Just 2 losses all season in the league, and promotion, which, to be honest was expected in this division. Great cup runs too. The only downside is the financial situation the club is in, but should be rectified with the increase in gates next season.

Manager History

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Chimney Corner 2007-

Season 1 (2007-2008) - N. Irish 2nd Division Winners (Promoted)

Chimney Corner Games Stats

League Wins : 1

Cup Wins : 0

Games Played : 38

Games won : 21

Games drawn : 9

Games lost : 8

Goals Scored : 91 (2.4 p/m)

Goals conceded : 54 (1.4 p/m)

Goal difference : 37

Awards won : 0

Time at Chimney Corner : 337 Days</pre>

[NepentheZ]

Breaking News

Manager Craig Douglas' job application for NI2 outfit "Trojans" was amazingly unsuccessful, as the club opted for a lesser known, out of work manager.

This left Douglas bemused, and confused, and hanging on to his Chimney Corner job by the skin of his teeth, after the Chimney Corner board became outraged at Douglas' application. The offered him resignation, to save the embarrassment of being sacked, which was declined by Douglas. 1 week on, and the manager still has his job, but doesn't know how long for.

[ToMexico!!]

22/23 - Eintract Frankfurt - Bundesliga

Media Prediction - 1st

Transfer Budget - 21mil

Wage Budget - 26mil per annum

Another fantastic season, my 2nd full season at Frankfurt and I've done the quadruple whilst being unbeaten in all competitions. Ridiculess i know, even i'm amazed. The unbeaten run comes down to the ability of substitutes i have at my disposal.

With a hefty transfer budget i thought i could strengthen one or two areas with some quality players. I made Goncalo my biggest transfer deal for Frankfurt, 15mil from Braga, at only 22 he will hold down the 2nd strikers role for years to come. My only other value signing was Raul Gaitan for 575k as back up to Bajza. I signed 3 freebies, Macedo who slotted into ML with ease and was a major part of the team. Tafaj and Burak were 2 squad players signed for their possibly potential for the future. Transfers Please note the highlighted team who were relegated.

My second league triumph in succession, unbeaten makes it even more special. It wasn't a straight forward league win, we managed to open a 4 point gap quite early on and thankfully maintain that, but draws here and there allowed Hannover to gain a few points on us at times. We were resilient and managed to fend them off. League Table

Champions League again this season and yep we won it. Unbeaten again, somehow we managed to win a group with Man Utd, Bordeaux and PSV. Beating Man Utd 4-1 at their place. First KO Round we were drawn against Liverpool beating them 6-2 on aggregate. Man Utd were up next again and we squeaked through on away goals, 5-5 the aggregate. Valenica in the semi's, finished 5-4 to me on aggregate a 4-3 win at home putting us through. Of all teams we were up against Gianluca Vialli's Ascoli side, who finished 3rd in Italy. A comfortable 2-0 win at De Kuip in Rotterdam. Champions League Brunner ended up as the competitions top goalscorer with 12 in 12(1) games. Felix Fuchs was named the tournaments best player with Dantas, Pereira, Macedo, Fuchs and Brunner named in the dream team.

We also won the League and German Cups, beating Hertha BSC and Gladbach in the process. League Cup German Cup

My squad is looking very good at the moment and have gelled very well. Only signing one or two players a season to bring into special positions has helped vastly. Unlike other saves where i've signed what seems a whole squad and them not playing well. Squad+Stats

My best 3 players below:

Pereira another great season with 33 assists and 9 goals.

Brunner voted the player of the season in Germany, he scored another 34 goals and assisted in 13.

Goncalo my new 15mil signing, impressed very well with 20 goals and 24 assists, averaging 7.4 in his first season isn't bad.

Finances looking very healthy through Champions League revenue

Club Info squad average age is very low for double league champions.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

22/23 Eintract Frankfurt Bundesliga 1st Champions, Champions League Winners, League Cup Winners, German Cup Winners

</pre>

So a very successful season for Frankfurt and myself as a manager. I am now sitting on 8 league wins and 9 cup wins. Moving me into 18th in the continental rankings. A personal high for me.

Aims for next season

> Retain as many titles as possibly

> Continue the unbeaten run

> Bring in a new GK and DM/MC

> Improve facilities

[Gundo]

Originally posted by NepentheZ:

Breaking News

Manager Craig Douglas' job application for NI2 outfit "Trojans" was amazingly unsuccessful, as the club opted for a lesser known, out of work manager.

This left Douglas bemused, and confused, and hanging on to his Chimney Corner job by the skin of his teeth, after the Chimney Corner board became outraged at Douglas' application. The offered him resignation, to save the embarrassment of being sacked, which was declined by Douglas. 1 week on, and the manager still has his job, but doesn't know how long for.

Well it was a risk worth taking I suppose, I just hope you keep your job now.

[NepentheZ]

Originally posted by Gundo:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by NepentheZ:

Breaking News

Manager Craig Douglas' job application for NI2 outfit "Trojans" was amazingly unsuccessful, as the club opted for a lesser known, out of work manager.

This left Douglas bemused, and confused, and hanging on to his Chimney Corner job by the skin of his teeth, after the Chimney Corner board became outraged at Douglas' application. The offered him resignation, to save the embarrassment of being sacked, which was declined by Douglas. 1 week on, and the manager still has his job, but doesn't know how long for.

Well it was a risk worth taking I suppose, I just hope you keep your job now. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Should do now. Its been 2 weeks, and not another word mentioned.

[dafuge]

From experience, if they offer you an ultimatum you can stay on at the club, if they are going to sack you for applying for jobs they will do it straight away. I found out the hard way

[NepentheZ]

Originally posted by dafuge:

From experience, if they offer you an ultimatum you can stay on at the club, if they are going to sack you for applying for jobs they will do it straight away. I found out the hard way

Gutted

So it looks like I'm going to keep my job.. \o/

[happy slappy]

5 games to go and we are currently 8 points ahead of the team in 4th, so 3 more wins and we are promoted to Ligue 2, but I'm not aiming for 3 wins, I want to win all 5!

going up as champions is more important than just being promoted.

[ToMexico!!]

Greece wanted me bad last night, so i accepted and have to get them to the next finals, have an aging squad but with a key awesome youngsters that can help no end...so my second stint in international manage begins today...

[happy slappy]

Yes!Yes!Yes!Yes!

The picture says it all.

[happy slappy]

Happy Slappy's Career Update. 2008/2009.

YES!!!!

Promotion!

Here's the table, as you can see not only did we win promotion, but we also managed to go up as champions, all in all it was a very easy league, losing only 3 games all season and also managing to stay unbeaten for 21 games which helped us a lot, the team itself were relegated from Ligue 2 last season but were only predicted to finish 6th by the media, bet they're kicking themselves now huh?

Squad, and here are the lads that helped me achieve my goal, admittedly most of them are good enough for Ligue 2 even Ligue 1, defence was strong, midfield was creative and the strikers were clinical.

Player of the Year, no question about my choice, this lad was immense, yeah he stuttered at the beginning, but when he did start, he never stopped, also would like to mention his namesake, if it wasn't for his goals we wouldn't be in the position we are now, just a shame he's leaving.

Transfers, dunno why I should bother adding this, we sold a few players to balance the books, but couldn't sign any because we were £20k p/w over budget, this needs to be improved.

Finances, nearly £5m in debt when I arrived, if it weren't for the board pumping money into the club we would have been doomed or near enough, so I have to thank them for that.

Team info, not much to say really, 10k capacity so hopefully we can draw in some big crowds next season.

Finally, me, National rep and after this season's promotion I have been linked to quite a few jobs but only one offer and that was Millwall in League 1, yeah! Like I'm going to manage them.

Aims for next season.

1.Get a new keeper, defender and striker.

2.Establish the team in Ligue 2.

3.Try and get further in the domestic cups, a final would be nice but I'd settle for a quarter or even semi final.

[alexgary]

Loving the thread!

Have decided to start my own 'career' game. I am setting my experience to 'Professional' and am running the following leagues:

Belgium (1st Division)

England (League 2)

France (Ligue 2)

Germany (1st Division)

Holland (Premier Division)

Italy (Serie B)

Russia (1st Division)

Scotland (1st Division)

Spain (Liga BBVA)

Wish me luck!

[Peljam]

Pizzighettone - Rodrigo De La Vega - 2010/11

It was an interesting move from Forward to Pizzighettone. I went from a club with maybe 500k of debt to one with over 3mil debt. Hmmm. Perhaps a bit of a mistake there. Within a month of so of being there the 15k per week budget went down to a ridiculous 190 per week. And of course, no transfer budget to speak of.

That hardly mattered though as few people were willing to join the recently promoted 'Pice' as the fans called them on a permanent basis. It was a season, and team, full of loan signings.

In the end we finished 9th. Midtable, and well above the media predicted postion of dead last. For some parts of the season we even flirted with the play off spots. We could have done much better if we had had a decent defence. Whilst we scored more than any other team in the Serie C1 (A and B) we conceded more than almost any other teams.

For the next season I managed to cut out alot of the dead wood that was present to free up some money, and tempt some of the loanee's back. Either as free transfers when their contract came up or as loans again. Many love the club after their first stint.

Noteworthy first season loanee's include Goran Slavkovski (he was already there on loan when I arrived) and Matthew Lepiller. They did great work. Managed to get Goran back for a second season to partner Simone Dell'Agnello.

Also throughout the season the board kept injecting cash to keep us afloat. Now (half way through next season) the debt stands at around -600k rather than over -3mil!

Halfway through the next season so new update should be on the way soonish

2007 BK Forward First Division North 6th

2008 BK Forward First Division North 3rd

2009 BK Forward First Division North 3rd

2010 BK Forward First Division North Resigned

2010/11 Pizzighettone Serie C1A 9th

[smithers08]

just joined this challenge .

loaded the followin leagues on a large database :

playable:

england - bs n/s

scotland - div 3

view only:

top league from france , spain , italy , germany , holland and portugal .

started with a reputation as sunday league footballer , as i wanted to start right at the bottom .

follwing jobs were available :

hearts , coventry , southampton , morton , stafford and stranraer .

as i only had a reputation as sunday league i decided to only apply for the stafford and stranraer jobs as i felt the other teams were too big for me atm .

the following day stafford approched me with a 2 year contract on £300 pw . i accepted the challenge , with the aim of keeping the team in the bs prem . however with no youth academy , my sqaud size is only 23 , therefore i have snapped up a scout who was unemployed with a jpa of 13 , and quickly searched all players without a team and searched the transfer market. just about to begin my pre season friendlies , starting with portsmouth reserves at home

wish me luck .

[dafuge]

2011/12 Season Review

After losing in the playoff final last year there really only was one aim - get promoted.

League Table

League Positions Graph

Had a poor start to the season but eventually managed to secure a decent playoff spot.

Playoff semi leg 1

Playoff semi leg 2

Had a bit of bad luck in the first leg but finished the job of at Clarence Park.

Playoff final

Did the job and took St Albans to the football league.

Squad

Transfers

Kept the same squad again, Fulham provided a couple of useful loans again.

Star Player

Wasn't his best season but he was still the nest player in my squad again.

Career so far

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Season Team Country League League Finish Achievements

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007/08 St Albans England Blue Square South 15th Took over in March

2008/09 St Albans England Blue Square South 3rd Lost in playoff final

2009/10 St Albans England Blue Square South 2nd Promoted via playoffs

2010/11 St Albans England Blue Square Premier 4th Lost in playoff final

2011/12 St Albans England Blue Square Premier 3rd Promoted via playoffs

</pre>

[happy slappy]

Congrats on the promotion dafuge, big reputation boost that not to mention the ability to scout the UK and Ireland, I suppose you had a lot of quality players being picked up by your scouts?

When I got promotion I had the likes of Kevin Phillips, Jason De Vos, and Richard Naylor turning up in my scout reports, if I had the wage budget I would have snapped them up.

[Colorado]

Originally posted by Colorado:

My South American Career

This is my first post in this thread but I'm currently enjoying my career game so much, I want to include it in here.

I'm running all the North & South American leagues each to the lowest possible level. In addition, I've added data from Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuala to make as much data as possible available for the entire continent. The aim of my career is to start off unemployed, and work my way through the leagues with the aim of one day managing one of the big South American clubs like Flamengo, River, Boca etc.

2008 Season

I began my career in Brazil(rep semi pro)with Serie C side Uniao Rondonopolis who also compete in the regional Matogrossense State Championship which is one of the lower rep state competitions.

State Championship:

The league format see's 14 teams (3 relegated) play each other once to decided the winner. Shortly after taking over at the club I was able to create a parent club link with Rio giants Fluminense. With Flu providing me with four quality players and a 33 year old playmaker arriving, to which my team would be built around I was quietly confident of making an immediate impact in a competition where I was expected to finish just behind the front runners. Unfortunatly a W7 D2 L4 record saw me finish 13 points adrift of the champions and finish 5th. Onto Serie C, the national competition.

The Brazilian Third Division is arguebly the most complicated and difficult championship in FM, with approxamately 100 teams competiting for 4 promotion spots through a series of 4 stages.

Initially in a regional group of 8 clubs playing each other twice, our record of W10 D2 L2 saw us finish first and go through to the second group stage. Having tweaked our tatics after the state championship we were looking alot stronger and were very sound defensively. We won the second stage, again coming first without conceeded a single in a group of four teams. Any dreams of achieving promotion at first attempt however came to a hault when we finished below the two qualifying spots in the third group stage finishing 3rd. A W2 L4 record ended our first season fustraitingly as we were close to reaching the final stage of the mammouth competition.

If I can renew the contracts of my loan players who make up half of my squad then I am confident we can challenge for the State Championship next season and hopefully push onto the final stage in Serie C.

2009 State Championship

Following the disappointment in failing to gain qualification from the exhausting latter stages of Serie C, our aim was to continue our run of form into the State championship- the 2009 Campeonato Matgrossense.

Heading into 2009, I was entering the final year of my contract and having rejected an initial offer of an extension my long term future was undecided. I was desperate to improve on last year’s 5th place finish and give the club their first ever state championship title and given our performances in our extended run in the third division I was confident we could challenge for it.

Despite failing to renew loan deals for our goalkeeper and first choice striker I was able to bring in adequate replacements in time for the new season. Coupled with the resigning of the players who were sent to us last year from Fluminense and the loan signings of a centre back and striker from Internacional, we went into the championship with a strong squad. A combination of a strong defence and attractive football going forward saw us take the Campeonato Matogrossense by storm winning all but two (which we drew) of our 11 games.

União had won their first championship and I had won my first title!

[canvey!!]

Originally posted by NepentheZ:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

NI2 Media Prediction - 9th

NI2 Final Posistion - 1st (Promoted) \o/

Irish Cup - 4th Round

Antrim Trophy - Qtr Final

Intermediate Cup - 1st Round

Intermediate League Cup - Qtr Final

Antrim Cup - Semi Final</pre>

You need to put the bolding outside the code - but I think then you have to put up with a lot of line breaks.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">like this,</pre><pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> this</pre><pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> and this</pre>

[NepentheZ]

Originally posted by canvey!!:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by NepentheZ:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

NI2 Media Prediction - 9th

NI2 Final Posistion - 1st (Promoted) \o/

Irish Cup - 4th Round

Antrim Trophy - Qtr Final

Intermediate Cup - 1st Round

Intermediate League Cup - Qtr Final

Antrim Cup - Semi Final</pre>

You need to put the bolding outside the code - but I think then you have to put up with a lot of line breaks.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">like this,</pre><pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> this</pre><pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> and this</pre> </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I even knew that, and saw it when I posted, but cba changing it, or asking daf to change it. lol.

[happy slappy]

Just been approached by Amiens SCF who are in Ligue 2 (same division as me) and Hamilton who are in the the Scottish Premier Division, rejected them both because I want to see if I can take this club mid table/top 10.

[dafuge]

Originally posted by happy slappy:

Congrats on the promotion dafuge, big reputation boost that not to mention the ability to scout the UK and Ireland, I suppose you had a lot of quality players being picked up by your scouts?

When I got promotion I had the likes of Kevin Phillips, Jason De Vos, and Richard Naylor turning up in my scout reports, if I had the wage budget I would have snapped them up.

I've pretty much kept with the same squad as I can't seem to find any better players. I thought they would appreciate my loyalty but instead they are all starting to complain about wanting to move to a bigger club.

The club is struggling in League 2, 5 games in and I'm in 23rd without a win. I think I can keep the club up as we've had a bit of bad luck with a few games although I would jump at the chance to move clubs. I tried applying for a job at a bottom league Spanish club with no players but they rejected me

[dafuge]

How not to take penalties

[happy slappy]

Originally posted by dafuge:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by happy slappy:

Congrats on the promotion dafuge, big reputation boost that not to mention the ability to scout the UK and Ireland, I suppose you had a lot of quality players being picked up by your scouts?

When I got promotion I had the likes of Kevin Phillips, Jason De Vos, and Richard Naylor turning up in my scout reports, if I had the wage budget I would have snapped them up.

I've pretty much kept with the same squad as I can't seem to find any better players. I thought they would appreciate my loyalty but instead they are all starting to complain about wanting to move to a bigger club.

The club is struggling in League 2, 5 games in and I'm in 23rd without a win. I think I can keep the club up as we've had a bit of bad luck with a few games although I would jump at the chance to move clubs. I tried applying for a job at a bottom league Spanish club with no players but they rejected me </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I found that a national job helps, I just got the Poland job, they are 2nd in their World Cup Qualifying group behind France, the other teams are beatable so I'm hopeing for a 2nd place finish, which shouldn't be too hard.

[happy slappy]

Just another little update, decided to quit my job in France, they board refused to give me any money for transfers and so I decided to pack my bags and leave.

Hopefully I can get a job in Spain or Italy.

[happy slappy]

Job Offer - Well it's not Spain or Italy, but it will do, hopefully if I get the team together we can challenge for a spot in Europe next season.

[aaberdeenn]

Aberdeen. :*)

[alexgary]

Well I decided to get straight into management so I accepted the first offer that came my way...from Morton. The Scottish 1st Division seemed like as good a place as any to start so away I go...

Got offered a two year contract but negotiated down to one...just keeping my options open. Got 35k for transfers and a wage budget 10.75k p/w with not much leeway. The board want me to establish Morton in the First Division after two years. Although there's that little voice in the back of my head that keeps saying I could probably get promoted.

I hired just about an entire new backroom staff (one physio survived my culling) and then ploughed into the transfer market to try and have a squad ready for the start of the season.

Transfers

Even though I signed two new strikers for the season http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh124/jerobolod/brianwake0708.jpg Brian Wake has been a revelation so far! Compare those stats to his performance this season!

I've started the season really strongly and I'm in second so far and pushing for promotion, but it's really early days yet. Had a good result against Dundee (5-0) and managed to beat Falkirk in the League Cup (3-2). Also won the first manager of the month award.

Well, am going to crack on, hopefully things will keep going well for me...

[starburst91]

Might do a mid season update with burghausen because I havn't been playing tons and everyone seems to get through there games 4 times as fast as i do, mainly because I've spent so much time searching for good, young and affordable german talent yet only 2 out of 7 of my signings this season have been german because i simply can't find any xD

[Peljam]

Pizzighettone - Rodrigo De La Vega -2011/12

We had an awful start to the season. Despite getting a lot of good quality loan signings and managing to actually sign a couple of free from last year we played poorly. 5 games in we were bottom with 2 points. We managed to pick some up but by about 10 games in we were still scraping the bottom. The board and fans didn't mind too much as this was pretty much what they expected but I was panicking. I was starting to think of jumping ship.

Things started to turn around in the leauge though. I think the poor start was due to the influx of new faces. One of the downfalls of relying on loans but it can't be helped. We started to pull ourselves up and out of the relegation playoffs and firmly into mid table. With 10-15 games left it looked like we might even sneak into the playoffs.

Their was a dip in form though towards the end of the season though and we dropped off the pace. We finished the season in 12th place. Worse than last season but a lot better than the board or media were expecting.

The Serie C cup was a different matter though. We stormed through it. At every stage we outscored the opposition by a country mile. Simone Dell'Agnello helped there. He netted 40 goals, most of them coming in the cup. We weren't very lucky with the fixtures, drawing teams we would have expected to lose to in the league's based on form and position. But we managed to knock out high fliers like Padova, Piacenza and Bari with ease and then demolished Cavese 4 - 0 on aggregate.

My first cup! Not a great one admittedly but one that will hopefully boost my rep a little bit as a manager. I don't forsee leaving Pice just yet though as I'm still trying to build a squad that can push for promotion.

This has been helped by loanee's Goran Slavkovski, Grygory Nikischer and Bidre'Ce Azor all agreeing to join Pice on a free when their contracts run out! They'll slot straight in and hopefully make the squad more settled. Goran has scored 33 goals in 50 leauge appearances for us, Grygory has a lot less but a great many cup goals and Bidre'Ce has a decent amount of goals and assists to his name considering he's spent two seasons playing every position in midfield and up front for me when needed.

Also, if worse comes to worse we've got three great players that could pick up a fee to help the bank.

The plan for the next season is to bolster the squad with a few less loans, but good ones all the same, get a new keeper somehow and push on for a better league position.

2007 BK Forward First Division North 6th

2008 BK Forward First Division North 3rd

2009 BK Forward First Division North 3rd

2010 BK Forward First Division North Resigned

2010/11 Pizzighettone Serie C1A 9th

2011.12 Pizzighettone Serie C1A 12th Won Serie C Cup

[happy slappy]

Just entered January 2010, and I have already arrnaged the transfers of two players that are due to arrive in the summer, Reading Centre-Back Alex Pearce, and Ipswich Striker/Winger Jonathan Walters.