Big Fat Gypsy Manager

[Niebiescy]

I am very sad to have to say that I have given up on my previous career. It was the most fun I'd had playing FM and the only time I'd ever managed multiple clubs in one save. The game became far too slow due to adding and removing leagues and the bug relating to this. Because of this I have had to start again. Once again I am aiming for a career where I can move around to a few different clubs and leagues. I have removed quite a few leagues that I have played too much of on the game and have added lots of fresh ones to give me some new challenges and experiences. Here are the leagues that I have loaded:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

In my last game I managed to get into season six and managed Sleszka Opava (CZ), Ruch Chorzow (PL) and Steau Bucharest (RO). I have decided to keep the Czech league in the game this time but have not included the others. The reason is that I feel like I have some unfinished business here because it's the only country I didn't win a top division league title or cup in. I only managed the second tier title. In that game I started with a team I selected myself from every club available to manage on the game.

On this save I am going to restrict myself far more. My plan now is to go on holiday for one whole season and to then choose from only the newly promoted teams in the bottom divisions playable nations. I will once again start as a manager with Sunday League experience and will have to work my way up. I hope that it will be my final save on FM12 unless I have any technical issues that make me have to quit.

I have come up with a few rules and aims/goals that I have set myself for the game.

Rules:

- I must start the game as a newly promoted team in the lowest playable division. I will post the available jobs soon once the game has got to that point.

- I must start with a Sunday League reputation. A manager with a better reputation would want no part of the type of clubs I am going to have to manage

- I cannot leave any team without either winning a trophy or a promotion first unless I am fired. The promotion aspect covers me for managing tiny fish in a massive pond where progression to winning trophies would take a decade (if it ever occurred) such as in the Ukraine, Russia or the Netherlands where the big clubs are so far ahead of the rest. Hopefully I am not stuck with too many awful teams for too long

- I can't leave for a job in a higher league until I have spent two seasons at a club. This avoids constantly running off to bigger clubs and getting me to the top too quick, which in real life would be totally unrealistic.

Aims/Goals (in English alphabetical order of all playable leagues):

- CZ Win the league title with a club that isn't from Prague. I am also banned from managing Pilsen or Mlada Boleslav as they are both far too good in the game.

- FR No specific goals. I would like to play in France though as I have never done so on this version of FM.

- DE No specific goals once again. I would like to try and take a smaller club up through the divisions and eventually win a title with them, but I don't have particular feelings for any German team other than Dortmund (Polish connection) but to manage them would be too easy and I've already done it for five seasons on another game.

- NL To win the title with someone other than Ajax, Twente or PSV. Would quite like to try and take Feyenoord back to greatness after their recent problems. Managing a smaller club from a city with a major team such as Excelsior, Sparta or FC Eindhoven could also be potentially interesting.

- IT I don't support an Italian club but I would like to try and take over one of the formerly big clubs and take them back to Serie A. The best candidates in terms of past success include Torino (7 Serie A titles), Verona (1 title and well supported club), Bari & Vicenza (30 seasons each spent in Serie A). Italy is also very interesting because it's so much tougher to be successful than the other major European leagues due to the lack of TV revenue and prize money.

- RU Win a league title with a club not from Moscow or St Petersburg. This doesn't include Rubin as they've done it recently and Anzhi as they have too much money for it to be a challenge.

- ESP Would love to manage Atletico Madrid as they are my favorite Spanish club and their ultras group (Frente) have a friendship with ours (Psycho Fans) and we attend eachother's games. Would be fun to overturn the dominance of the big two. There's lots of other clubs in Spain who I have lots of respect for who would be a massive challenge due to the lack of finances in the league there. Am thinking of the likes of Sporting, Betis, Espanyol, Osasuna and Real Zaragoza.

- UA This is the big challenge that I wanted in my last career before the speed issues arose. I don't think any league in Europe has such a massive disparity between the top and bottom as the Ukrainian top division. Shakhtar have as much money as any club in Europe while Metalist and Dnipro are wealthy while Dynamo are a massive club with an awesome youth academy. At the bottom however there are clubs with stadia that hold less than 5,000 people, where they have no transfer funds and tiny wage budgets. I would love the long-term challenge of trying to turn one of these clubs into a title contender. My only concern is that it would take so many years to do and would distract me from the whole "career" aspect of the game. Maybe this would be great to do in 5-10 seasons when I've had my fun of playing as a few different teams and am happier to stay somewhere in the long-term.

In a minute I am going to post the promoted clubs that I can potentially take over. I would like to hear some feedback from anyone who reads this as to which job I should take initially.

Thanks for reading

[Niebiescy]

I have now worked my way through the playable leagues and seen which playable teams I am eligible to manage under the rules that I have created. The only problem is that I have stopped the game on July 1st and the Dutch and Spanish leagues haven't yet decided on who will be promoted for next season. I can't wait any longer because for other leagues I would miss the preseason and transfer window if I clicked continue. Therefore I must sadly rule out all Dutch and Spanish clubs from being my first managerial post on the game. The newly promoted clubs are now as follows (in league order):

CZ

Kladno

HFK Olomouc

FR

Rodez Aveyron

Stade Plabennecois

US Dunkerque

US Raon l'Etape

DE

RB Leipzig

RW Essen

(third promoted team was a larger club's reserve team)

IT

Serie C2/A:

Cosenza

Ravenna

Teramo

Serie C2/B:

Brindisi

Mezzocorona

Novese

Salerno

Seregno

Viterbese

RU

FC Chelyabinsk

Metallurg Lipetsk

Rotor Volgograd

Salyut Belgorod

Volga Tver

UA

FC Poltava

Stal Dniprodzergyns'k

From the available clubs three stand out to me. I like to manage clubs that I can identify with and have at least heard of in real life. I have also being playing Eastern European leagues for the last couple of months and would therefore prefer to start at the bottom of a Western European nation and see where it takes me although I haven't played in Russia.

1. RB Leipzig http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RB_Leipzig - Football in Leipzig was strong in the former East Germany and the city and club still have very good fans. They are very strong for a newly promoted side, which gives the club long-term potential rather than a struggle. I think they are a club I could stick with rather than wanting to jump ship ASAP. My main concern is that I am opposed to the commercialisation of football and the fact that Red Bull own the club is a huge turnoff for me.

2. Nuova Cosenza Calcio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuova_Cosenza_Calcio - Typical Italian club formed over and over again because of economic problems. Not huge potential but have a good sized stadium which is important in the long run. Have limited potential but could be fun for a few years. Also far more challenging than Leipzig because you can't buy players from outside the EU and their initial squad is tiny.

3. FC Rotor Volgograd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotor_Volgograd - I still remember them being strong in the mid 1990s when they knocked Man Utd out of Europe in the good old days before money made things like that impossible. I have huge concerns over taking this job however. Their squad is tiny and they don't have enough players in certain positions to put out a full team. Because of the limit of three foreigners in starting lineups in their league I am not sure I'd be able to sign enough players to have a team because there are not many Russians available on free transfers and their squad already has two foreigners.

Right now I am thinking of taking the Leipzig job with the aim of taking them to the 1.Bundesliga in consecutive seasons and then seeing what happens, but I'd like to hear other people's feedback and opinions on this. Maybe this is too good or easy for a first job? I will start the game tomorrow evening and will check the forum before selecting my team. Also if you have suggestions from any of the other available clubs who I have not posted please write something and I will research them. It's just right now none stand out to me but maybe they could do after a little digging!

[deltablue]

I think maybe Leipzig

[cerud]

I'd look towards Leipzig as well. It would be good to grow a club without feeling like you have to leave once you do.

[Niebiescy]

After thinking about this for a long time (big decision for the start of a career) I don't think I can take the RB Leipzig job. The reasons for this are that firstly I completely disagree with Red Bull buying out football clubs, removing their identity and alienating their fan-bases like what has happened in Salzburg where the fans have had to re-create their old club thanks to Red Bull removing their history from the original one. Secondly I think that the job is too high profile and too easy for a new manager with a Sunday League history. I didn't realise how big this club's potential was, but now I've seen they for example are paying their star player £7,750 per week while Essen who are the other playable newly promoted club are paying their highest earner £1,100. The disparity makes the game too easy for a first job rather than being something ultra tough and challenging, which most new managers start their careers with. I am therefore going to increase the amount of clubs I can go with. I think it's best to rule out Rotor also because there are just over 400 Russian players available on free transfers (including those way above and below the club's level) and I'm not sure I could build a squad in time for the season starting, especially seeing as I'll start my new job in July rather than June. I have instead come up with a new list that I'd like feedback on. Cosenza is a terrible enough looking job to still be part of it

1. Nuova Cosenza Calcio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuova_Cosenza_Calcio - Typical Italian club formed over and over again because of economic problems. Not huge potential but have a good sized stadium which is important in the long run. Have limited potential but could be fun for a few years. Also far more challenging than Leipzig because you can't buy players from outside the EU and their initial squad is tiny.

2. SK Kladno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SK_Kladno - I used to work for Lego in Kladno and know the club well. Have been to their stadium a few times and had some beers with the guys from their fan group. Quite like them. They are a tiny club (IRL will most likely be relegated to the Czech 4th tier this season and are currently in relegation zone), from a tiny town with a tiny fan base that is unlikely to grow due to their proximity to Prague. It's the type of crappy job that a Sunday League player could get. It would also give me the chance to make up for quitting Opava after getting them promoted in my last Czech save and would allow me to then move on and forget about the Czech league. My main concern is that it could take a while to win anything in the Czech league with such a small club.

3. RW Essen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RW_Essen - The German alternative to Leipzig. As stated above they have barely any money and pay out tiny salaries. On the other hand I liked what I read on their Wiki page about their history and support. Here's a really cool fact that I had no idea about "The following season, Rot-Weiss became the first German side to qualify for the European Cup." This must also be a pretty well supported club to have rivalries and friendships with clubs like these "In the past, the local derbies versus Schwarz-Weiß Essen were big events, sometimes followed by more than 30,000 fans. The club's fiercest rivalry is with FC Schalke 04, from nearby Gelsenkirchen, with whom they contest the Ruhrderby. The RWE followers have a strong fan friendship with SV Werder Bremen, while another with Borussia Dortmund ended very badly and now Essen and Dortmund's supporters see themselves as enemies. RWE supporters have a very bad reputation in Germany." I can live with the bad rep as lots of lower league German clubs have hooligan problems. It's a fact of their leagues sadly.

4. Salerno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salerno_Calcio - Wow I've learned something else that I had no idea about. FM can teach us so much "Salerno Calcio[3], or simply Salerno is an Italian association football club from Salerno, Campania.

The club is not the legitimate heir of the former Salernitana Calcio 1919, but there is however a sports continuity between the two companies thanks to Article 52 NOIF of FIGC[4], and the fact that they restarted from Serie D[5] instead of Terza Categoria." So basically this team has taken over from Salernitana, which used to be a pretty big club when I was a teenager. This could be an awesome challenge considering the club only has seven players on contracts all of whom suck and are worth next to nothing. Building my own team from the free transfers pool could be fun.

Having done the research Consenza doesn't sound so exciting because they lack any real history or fan base. Kladno is there more for personal reasons while the other two could be really difficult and fun challenges.

Sorry to have to ask again, but I don't want to make a bad decision on this. What does everyone think about my new options?

[B.W.G]

I did have a fun time at RB Leipzig in a previous save but as your not going with them,I'd go with RW Essen considering they were the first German side to qualify for the European Cup.It has quite good facilities as well as a decent sized ground for that level.

[iHeadHunta x]

I agree with B.W.G!

[Niebiescy]

Seeing as everyone has told me to go with the German clubs I will start with Essen. I have to admit that I personally liked the idea of taking over Salerno, but to progress with them would've taken much longer in terms of playing more games per season, having to go through more leagues to get to the top, lack of funds in Italian football etc. I do much prefer the German league so it's a good place to start. The only teams here I feel anything for are Dynamo Dresden and Borussia Dortmund. I've managed Dortmund before but could maybe move on to Dresden in the future depending on how I do, how their manager does etc.

I've just added my new manager to the game. I have decided to create a Russian character as my manager rather than going with my real ID. My main aim in this game is to conquer the Ukraine with a small club and I also want to manage in Russia so this type of user makes sense. I named my character after the legendary Rasputin due to a lack of inspiration.

The situation I will begin in my career in looks rather bleak. We have been projected to finish bottom of the league, have zero money to spend on players and a dreadful squad. Looks like I am going to have to sign basically a whole new team on free transfers because right now I have one player who can cut it at this level. The only positive that I can see right now is that every player in my squad has a contract that expires next summer so I won't be lumbered with any bums for years. Think I will try and sell everyone apart from my goalie to try and free up some money for wages.

Here's my budgets:

And an example of a key player from my squad to illustrate how bad it is. The chosen player was my top rated 3.5* centre back:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I've never played in this league before and have no idea how things are going to go so will post an update once the preseason is finished. By then I should have an idea of the strength of my squad and ambitions for the season. As of right now I just want to find a way to survive and build for next season. Things could change though if I can find some good free transfers.

[Niebiescy]

I have no idea what to write about my aims and objectives for the coming season. I honestly don't know whether my team is capable of survival or maybe even more. Because I didn't add my manager to the game until the start of July and the season starts today on the 27th my players are still not close to being properly match fit. I started without much of a real squad and had to basically sign a whole team. Most of them didn't arrive until the middle to end of the month and need games to be ready for the season. We have the same problem in terms of learning my tactics and formations. My players are miles off from learning how I want them to play. The main positive right now is that our opening game is Heidenheim who the media have projected to finish top. Considering we have been projected to finish bottom it is the perfect nothing to lose type opener. I am not even going to write about my players because I honestly know nothing about them after only four pre-season games and don't have a clue what my strongest starting lineup is. All I can do is promise to write a proper report at the winter break when I will know more about my squad. I did sign quite a lot of players, but that doesn't matter because every player I own either has a contract expiring at the end of this season or the end of next season.

My initial first half of the season expectations:

- Get to the winter break clear of the relegation zone

- Pray that some bigger clubs want to buy some of my better players so we don't end up in the red (but not the goalie because my backup is 15 years old)

- Try and put ourselves in a position where we can build on the squad and aim for promotion next season (under my rules I can't leave without winning at least one trophy or promotion so it has to be my short term aim)

Here's my transfers. As you can see I spent money on one player and he cost a whole £50. I managed to raise £25k from selling. Considering that I can bring in £22k in gate receipts from a friendly match the amount of money I raised is pathetic.

The main positive of this season is that a few days after I took charge it was announced that I'd moved into my club's brand new stadium that can hold 21,726 fans (12,726 seated). Looks like this club may actually have some potential. We may have no money, but the fan base and stadium are definitely in place. We need to work on our facilities for the players, but they are in place for the fans. I may aim to take this club into the Bundesliga although I'll have to wait until after the season to make a judgement as to whether that could be a realistic goal.