Gundo's FM08 Small club from a small nation European adventure challenge

[Suma]

I am GUTTED!!!!

I saved my game and restarted my computer and now.... its says save game corrupt every time I try to load the game.

****... I am going to restart with another nation and another league....!!!

[pjtopor]

Ouch. Unlucky Suma.

[Suma]

I am currently holidaying in Turkey....

it looks like this is going to be a tough challenge...

[Suma]

Originally posted by Suma:

I am currently holidaying in Turkey....

it looks like this is going to be a tough challenge...

all the promoted clubs and the clubs already there are professionals... I dont think that would be that big of a challange so I am going to another league and another nation. Turkey seems to have a lot of rich 3 league teams

[pjtopor]

The challenge in Turkey is more breaking the Istanbul monopoly. Turkey is in the group with Russia and Ukraine in this challenge where when you get promoted, there are some legitimately big teams with big resources you have to dethrone. Every league in this has its own unique challenges. For example, I'm in Poland. Average attendances are in the 15-18k range for the top teams and they have no European success to speak of. It was very easy once I built a strong enough squad to not only break through, but dominate. The challenge here is to take a team from a league that is very weak and will not get better, and somehow get my reputation high enough to compete in Europe.

Anyway, didn't mean to make that sound like a lecture, just wanted to illustrate what attracts me to this challenge - we're all trying to do the same thing in theory, but in practice - very different.

[Taunton]

Good luck in the final, coachflu.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by poolman321:

Out of interest, how many people have fully completed the overall Challenge?

Just one person has completed this years challenge and that was cookie15 who completed it with Skjetten Fotbal in Norway. He's abit of an old pro at these type of challenges.

[Gundo]

Congrats on promotion Scab, I'm sure you'll do well in the Allsvenskan.

Coachflu Best of luck in the final.

[Truegunner]

Gundo can we try this with Estonia, as I found an estonia league patch online:

Patch

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Truegunner:

Gundo can we try this with Estonia, as I found an estonia league patch online:

Patch

I'm afraid not Truegunner, just official leagues that are in FM08. Sorry.

[dafuge]

Season 2013/14 Review - Sirocco Works in the Northern Irish Premier League

Now that the dominance of the league has started, it is all about my performances in Europe.

League Table

League Positions Graph

Made easy work of the league, although things got harder towards the end of the season as the fixture congestion started and my players started getting exhausted.

CIS Insurance League Cup - lost on penalties to Linfield in the quarter finals.

County Antrim Shield - won, beating Glentoran 5-0 in the final.

Irish Cup - lost 1-0 to Armagh in the 6th round.

Setanta Sports Cup - lost 1-0 to Cork City in the final.

The European Adventure

CL 1st qualifying match leg 1

CL 1st qualifying match leg 2

Made pretty easy work of Levadia Tallinn from Estonia to make it past the hurdle I failed at last time.

CL 2nd qualifying match leg 1

CL 2nd qualifying match leg 2

Bezanija of Serbia provided much harder opposition, with a late goal from Martin Green to send us through on away goals.

CL 3rd qualifying match leg 1

CL 3rd qualifying match leg 2

The first leg was probably my greatest result at Sirocco Works, sadly it was not enough as I was just not good enough to win in front on 57000 fans at Celtic Park. It was a shame not to make it to the group stages, but Celtic were tough opposition.

UEFA Cup 1st round leg 1

UEFA Cup 1st round leg 2

What a way to go through!

UEFA Cup Group H

Was actually a bit closer than it looks, with narrow defeats against Boavista and Beitar Jerusalem. Marseille and Torino battered me though.

Squad

Transfers

Decided not to bring anyone in to make sure my fringe players got a few games, this turned out to be a mistake. With the extra European games it turned out to be a long season and my small squad just couldn't cope. I blame my only league defeat and the Setanta Cup final defeat on the tiredness of my players, I'm going to have to strengthen the depth of the squad for next season.

Star Player

He had a close run with Phil Butterworth for my star of the season, but he managed to play over 50 games this season.

My finances are starting to look good, with over £2m in the bank. Hopefully this will persuade the board to invest in the clubs infrastructure as it is pretty basic at the moment. I still haven't turned pro, my stadium only holds 750 and I can only scout in NI. These things are going to have to change if I am going to get any further in Europe.

Club Coefficient: 0.219

Nation Coefficient: 0.667

League Titles: 3

[rlipscombe]

good luck in the final coachflu - who are real madrid anyway??

[dafuge]

New Stadium

It is due to hold around 5900 people, which is a step up from my current 750 stadium. It will be interesting to see how this affects my finances, a £5m bank loan is quite a risk for a club like Sirocco Works.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by dafuge:

New Stadium

It is due to hold around 5900 people, which is a step up from my current 750 stadium. It will be interesting to see how this affects my finances, a £5m bank loan is quite a risk for a club like Sirocco Works.

Original name for your new stadium then.

[dafuge]

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 dafuge:

New Stadium

It is due to hold around 5900 people, which is a step up from my current 750 stadium. It will be interesting to see how this affects my finances, a £5m bank loan is quite a risk for a club like Sirocco Works.

Original name for your new stadium then. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was a bit of a shame that, exactly the same thing happened in my Prescot Cables game.

[Gundo]

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 Gundo:

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

New Stadium

It is due to hold around 5900 people, which is a step up from my current 750 stadium. It will be interesting to see how this affects my finances, a £5m bank loan is quite a risk for a club like Sirocco Works.

Original name for your new stadium then. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was a bit of a shame that, exactly the same thing happened in my Prescot Cables game. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a little silly isn't. I mean new stadiums irl I know are mainly named after a current club sponsor or along those lines. While I now it's not possible to do that in FM due to licensing, still you would of thought they would of been more imaginative with the naming?

[DodgeeD]

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 dafuge:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">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 dafuge:

New Stadium

It is due to hold around 5900 people, which is a step up from my current 750 stadium. It will be interesting to see how this affects my finances, a £5m bank loan is quite a risk for a club like Sirocco Works.

Original name for your new stadium then. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was a bit of a shame that, exactly the same thing happened in my Prescot Cables game. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a little silly isn't. I mean new stadiums irl I know are mainly named after a current club sponsor or along those lines. While I now it's not possible to do that in FM due to licensing, still you would of thought they would of been more imaginative with the naming? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It would be cool if you could pick a name, either by typing it in or from a list of options. This would be especially good if you have 'legendary' status at the club.

P.S. I've been a bit slow starting but I'm currently still working through my first season with Blsany (I was slightly side tracked by a good run with San Marino). Will post a season review soon.

[jameslowe]

Originally posted by Taunton:

Jameslowe, bad luck. But I am sure you will do the business next season.

Ørn Horten is a club with great traditions, even though it is many years since they won something.

Sure you can bring them to a new era.

Their most famous player is Per Bredesen. He went on to play for both Inter and Milan, and other clubs in Italy as well.

He is still a legend in Italy.

Coachflu: Good luck, cross my fingers that you will do it this year.

Thanks for the info Might Call one of my stands the Bredesen Stand or something.

Am finding it very hard to sign players of any quality so I won't waste money when I can loan good players for free.

http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gondoseason2bd6.jpg

There is the league table of last year.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - May 22nd 2030

I'll be playing the Champions League Final soon. But first, like last season, a bit of a preview post.

The venue: Oriel Park, Dundalk (Republic of Ireland.)

Not exactly the most inspiring venue, to be honest. The wiki-page says 6.000, in the game it's 12.000 capacity (2.000 seated). Surely a more appropriate venue could have been chosen.

On the other hand, we haven't been a "big team" for very long, so maybe our small club heritage makes us cope with this tiny stadium a bit better than our mighty opponents.

The opponents: Real Madrid

A few posts up, the question "Who are Real Madrid anyway?" was asked. Funnily enough, it's not such a silly question as it may seem.

Real Madrid's Champions League history.

Amazingly, this will be Real Madrid's first Champions League Final appearance since the start of the game. They did win the UEFA Cup a few times (twice), but still, this isn't the type of record one would have expected from the mighty Real.

Obviously they haven't been exactly crap - they made it to the Semis quite a few times. But their performances of the last few years may give our fans some hope. We were in the final last year, Real went out in the group stage.

But obviously, no matter what their recent history was, this is still going to be a tough opponent. Their results this season make that quite clear:

- Real finished top of their group, ahead of Juventus, Arsenal and Hertha BSC - beating Arsenal twice.

- Their First Knockout Round opponent, FC Kopenhagn, may not have been a top team, but they did beat them 11-0 aggregate.

- Deportivo in the Quarter Final, 2-0 agg.

- And they demolished rivals Atletico Madrid in the Semi Finals with an 8-1 aggregate score.

Note that they only conceded one goal since the Group Stage. The goalkeeper we'll have to pass: Spanish nr.1 Juan Antonio Diaz. 31 clean sheets in 47 matches. We'll have our work cut out for us.

With that in mind, it's extra painful that our best striker is injured. Donato Galante, not only the Meldert topscorer, but also breaking the Champions League topscorer record this season. And he's been injured since March, so hasn't even played since the First Knockout Round.

He could've made the difference in the Final.

A brief summary of Meldert's route to the Final:

- Finished second in the Group Stage, with equal points as Valencia, and before PSV and Legia.

- First Knockout Round: defeated Rangers 7-4 agg.

- Quarter: defeated Valencia 5-4 agg.

- Semi: defeated Inter 5-3 agg.

Per comparison: Group Stage and knockout rounds included, we scored one more goal than Real (32 vs 31), but they conceded 8, we conceded 19.

Still, I feel that our defense has improved compared to last year. Not counting Galante's injury, the only change in the first 11 compared to last year's Final are the two DCs.

We're still conceding a few too many though. Not quite "scraping through with an injury time goal" like we had to do a few times last season, but still several high-scoring games from both sides.

Hopefully our defenders - and our goalie - play the match of their lives today.

[DodgeeD]

Good luck with the final CoachFlu. In my 'normal' (ie non-challenge) game with Blackburn, I also had a Champions league final v. Arsenal at Oriel Park. It must be some strange coding in the game

Quick question for anyone else who has managed in Czech Republic - did you have any New Caledonian nationals appearing in your search lists? Looking at unattached players, several regens from New Caledonia appear... I checked and none of my scouts, coaches or feeder clubs have knowledge of that region . I can't get scout reports on them but I can get them on trial. A few of them are quite good actually although I suspect I may be taking advantage of a bug if I sign them. Anyone else found anything strange like this? If not, I may have to pay a visit to the bugs forum...

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - May 22nd 2030

Real Madrid – Meldert (Champions League Final)

Line-ups

13’ – slow start to the match. First chance is for Real. Good cross from the left, their Brazilian striker (Marcos) heads wide.

15’ – Marcos again, with a shot from the edge of the area, just wide

18’ – Their other striker (Helguera) almost goes past the defense with a nice one-two, but a great tackle from Adame clears up a dangerous situation.

21’ – Meldert’s first appearance in Real’s penalty area, but the defenders do a good job of shielding the path to goal of everyone who gets the ball. Eventually Carrasco attempts a shot, blocked and cleared.

23’ – we get another not-quite-chance, but the Real defense manages to scramble the ball away before we get a shot off

27’ – another solid display by our defense, Vargas with a great tackle before Marcos could slip past him inside the area. So far we’re holding out well.

35’ – indirect free kick Real, from the left side. Marcos with a header from VERY close range at the near post, great save by Pavlovic!

36’ – 0-1!!!! Yessss! Tomas Carrasco scores! The first time we really slipped through their defense. Team captain Peter Slot gets the ball in midfield, and one of Real’s DCs comes forward to cover him, leaving Carrasco completely unmarked at the edge of the area, borderline offside. He rounded the rushing out goalie, and buried it into the empty net.

HT: 0-1

Half time stats.

A low-action first half, with good defending on both sides. Somewhat surprisingly, it was the team with by far the better defensive record who made a bit of an error at the back, leading to the only goal so far. Not that I mind.

It’s far from over though. I expect Real to come out of the dressing room guns blazing. Hopefully we’ll be able to cope.

[dafuge]

So far so good

[CoachFlu]

Real Madrid – Meldert (Champions League Final, second half part one)

47’ – first chance of the second half is for us. Good cross from the left wing, very close to the line. Real’s goalie touches the ball but can’t catch it, and it rolls across the open mouth of the goal, juuuuust out of reach of Alarcon. Ball cleared.

49’ – Central midfielder and Meldert youth product Sami Carlier has to go off injured. Which sucks. My first backup for that position is also injured, and I’m not very confident about the abilities of the player I have on the bench. Still, no choice.

58’ – Oh dear. A great Real through ball,and it looks like Marcos is gonna round my last defender, Vargas. But he fouls him, and I know what’s coming… Red card Vargas, and a free kick just outside the area.

I take off goal scorer Carrasco and bring on an extra defender. Not something I like to do, but against a team like Real, I don’t dare play with three at the back.

60’ – free kick Marcos, wide.

Still in the lead, but this may be a long 30 minutes...

[Taunton]

Come on!

45 minutes from making history!

[jameslowe]

I am getting some Under Soil heating installed as well. All without me asking. Good times. Meana I am skint again though. Expenditure was £500k on Stadium Maintenance last month!!

Season tickets up to 225 from 196. Good progression!

16-1 for Promotion.

[Taunton]

I am getting some Under Soil heating installed as well. All without me asking. Good times. Meana I am skint again though. Expenditure was £500k on Stadium Maintenance last month!!

Season tickets up to 225 from 196. Good progression!

16-1 for Promotion

Took a look at your last season. Isn't there a playoff when you come third, or are the rules different now with 16 teams in the top division?

Who will be your toughest opponents this season?

[CoachFlu]

Real Madrid – Meldert (Champions League Final, second half part two)

63’ – we manage a good counter attack with our lone striker, Alarcon, but he refuses to dribble the last defender and instead opts for a 30 yard shot, which gets blocked. Not dangerous enough, he should’ve tried harder.

65’ – Real get a few corners in a row. We finally manage to clear the ball after the third one. Pressure increases.

66’ – Marcos from 20 yards after an indirect free kick. Good save by our goalie, rebound cleared into touch.

67’ – In the aftermath of the throw-in, Marcos with a header from edge of area, straight to goalie.

69’ – 1-1! Another pair of corners for Real. The second one gets headed in at the near post by one of their DCs…

Blah, not looking good… We're not coping very well with the man down.

[jameslowe]

Yeha I lost in playoffs 2v1 on agg to Tromso.

Lyn and Stromsgodset 7-4

Viking 2-1

Haugesund 5-1

Sogndal 8-1

My old rivals from Div 2 Moss are up this year as well and they will want revenge.

[CoachFlu]

Real Madrid – Meldert (Champions League Final, second half part three)

Twenty minutes to go, all square, but we’re a man down and Real are firmly in control.

Trying to hold on to the draw for the remaining 20 min + extra time seems risky, but I only have on substitution left, so for now I just move my team captain from the MC to the AMC position, in support of my lone striker.

75’ – Slot does great in launching a counter attach through the center and getting the ball to Alarcon at the edge of the area. Despite being covered well, Alarcon gets a shot off. Back off the bar! Dammit!

75’ – Real reply with a counter of their own, 20-yarder blocked and saved

79’ – Our Spansih left winger Yanguas is sent clear along the left on a fast counter attack. He goes all the way to goal, shot from angle saved well. Rebound cleared.

83’ – Real with a good attack through the center, which results in a great 20 yard goal, but disallowed for offside. If it was, it was close. Whew.

85’ – deep cross Real, close range header from angle, great save Pavlovic.

88’ – We get another great counter going on the right side. Good cross into the box… but my left winger has to foul someone to reach the ball. Yellow card, chance gone.

I still have one substitution left, but I’m banking on extra time for now and saving it up. We’re reasonably dangerous as we are, right now.

91’ – Yanguas steals the ball and gets another fast counter going. Good cross, but Real defender wins the header duel with Alarcon.

91’ – 30-yard shot Real, saved easily

93’ – throw in Meldert on the Real half. Great sneaky little pass gives Alarcon a chance from close range! Brilliant save by the Real goalie!

94’ – corner kick Meldert, 30-yard shot Munoz doesn’t find a way through the forest of legs.

94’ – Real with a fast counter after that corner kick. Cross from the right, good header, good save Pavlovic.

95’ – 2-1! Noooooo!!!! The same friggin’ DC heads it in again from the corner kick. Seconds away from extra time.

I quickly bring on a striker for a defender, but we kick off at 96:25 of a 4-minute injury time, so I know it’s too late.

Full time: 2-1

Match stats

Dammit. We put up a brave fight after our red card, and were actually the more dangerous team after their equalizer, but they nailed us with two corner kick goals. And the timing of the second one was terrible for us.

Grrr, that was frustrating. Real wasn’t nearly as strong as Liverpool was last year. This really feels like a missed chance.

[dafuge]

Gutted, what a horrible way to lose.

[jameslowe]

Unlucky. That is cruel.

Always next year.

[pjtopor]

Tough one, CoachFlu. Friggin corners.

[gers51]

Season 08/09 Review - Nafkom Brovary in Ukrainian First League

League

Positions Graph Transfers

At the start of the season I managed to get Dinamo Kiev as my parent club who kept offering me players on loan and seeing as my squad wasn't up to scratch I took 10 of them. After trying to get scouts to help me buy some of my own players, I only managed to get one, just three days before the transfer window shut. So I went to the season basically as Dinamo Kiev reserves(which was ironic considering they were in my league), and managed to come third, one place off promotion. Hopefully next season I can buy some players of my own and maybe get promotion. But with the club in debt I think all of my signings will have to be on frees.

[aaberdeenn]

Final defeat for the second year running, maybe it really will be "Third Time Lucky"?

Gutted for you again mate.

[rlipscombe]

KFUM Oslo's latest signing...

finished my first season.... season report to follow once i have best XI.

[Taunton]

Bad luck,coachflu. You were so close.

Next season you will be king of Europe.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - May 22nd 2030

Quick season roundup, but I'll keep it brief, since the important part of our season (Europe) has been extensively covered already.

Mid-season table

End of season.

We had a bit of a poor stretch in March, which allowed KV Mechelen to reduce the gap to 2 points, but we recovered well and were never in real trouble.

Belgian Cup:

Easy early rounds, but we needed away goals against Club Brugge to scrape through the Semi Final, and needed 120 minutes to defeat Charleroi 2-1 in the Final. Still, a good double again.

Euro recap:

Again no treble.

Lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League Final.

The squad.

We've gone all the way to the Final twice in a row now, so obviously I'm quite pleased with this squad.

We made very little changes compared to last season, except in the center of defense.

Pedro Pablo Vargas has been in my squad since he was a youngster (released from Inter), and was pretty much the first backup last year. He didn't really seem particularly better than last year's first choice DCs, but interest in him was high, so I gave him a chance this season.

Jesus Adame: new signing, purchased for 6M€ from Pumas. His stats look good for his age, but he mainly "feels" like a great defender on the pitch. Hope he'll stay at the club for a long time.

Up front, Donato Galante was the star again for the second year in a row. Unfortunately he was injured for the crucial part of the season.

Inigo Alarcon had a slightly disappointing season. His "wants to move to a bigger club" BS had a big effect on his morale, so I'm finally gonna let him go this summer.

Team captain Peter Slot had another marvelous season and is the second highest scorer in the team. Add his assists to that, and it's clear that calling him the "engine" of the team isn't exaggerated.

Honorable mention for our other central mid, Sami Carlier. The best Meldert youth product to date, and one of the few Belgians in my squad who are clear first choice. He's now unhappy and wants a bigger club as well, so he probably won't stay at Meldert for his entire career. I'm not letting him go yet though.

You'd think, reaching the Champions League Final twice in a row would have an effect on the "bigger club" stuff, but that doesn't seem to be the case so far.

No major squad overhaul planned over the summer. I'm quite happy to continue with the same defense and midfield.

With Alarcon probably leaving, I may see if I can pick up a new strong striker somewhere, but I do have a few youngsters who are ready to make the step up, so I may just count on them as well.

Rossi, for instance, will certainly get more play time next year.

I will keep trying (like I have been doing for two years now) to find a new goalkeeper though.

Nebosja Pavlovic, while decent, and while having contributed significantly to the team's progress in the past, doesn't quite feel like "Champions League Final" material. Finding one who's better *and* willing to sign for us isn't turning out to be easy though.

Finally: this year's Belgian Cup win finally saw me enter the European Hall of Fame, in 14th place.

History:

2008/09: Third Division A - 6th

2009/10: Third Division A - 2nd (P)

2010/11: Second Division - 6th

2011/12: Second Division - 1st (P)

2012/13: First Division - 17th ®

2013/14: Second Division - 3rd

2014/15: Second Division - 1st (P)

2015/16: First Division - 6th

2016/17: First Division - 1st

2017/18: First Division - 2nd

2018/19: First Division - 1st

2019/20: First Division - 1st

2020/21: First Division - 4th

2021/22: First Division - 1st

...(ditto x7)...

2029/30: First Division - 1st

Best performances in Europe:

Champions League - Final (x2)

UEFA Cup - Quarter Final

Summary:

12 x First Division Champions

5 x Belgian Cup winners

8 x Belgian Super Cup winners

Euro coefficients:

Club: 14th - 92.802

Nation: 10th - 35.775 (2-2-1)

[CoachFlu]

Thanks for the words of sympathy, guys.

I'll probably take it slow with this game for the next few days. Gonna have a busy week anyway, and probably gonna do the monthly March challenge thing first.

I shall keep trying to win the Champions League until we succeed though. Or until FM09 is out, whichever comes first.

[jameslowe]

Well played! I may use your format of season updates once mine gets interesting.

[Gundo]

Unlucky Coachflu. It will surely be yours next year for sure.

[Suma]

IK Gauthiod- End of Season Report [sorry, no screnies]

After losing my save game in N. Ireland, I started in Sweden and got choose a team based on Current Club Value, Members of the current squad and their status as a club (pro, semi-pro, etc). I choose IK Gauthiod because they had virtually no squad, the lowest club value and were semi pro. I just wanted the challenge of taking a really lowly club to the heights of European glory.

I started off by signing players and the best player I have signed thus far is a Brazilian player who performed really well. the good thing about Sweden lowest league is, you have nothing but the league to play. no cups, no nothing. I started a bit rough but once I started winning (my third game) I never lost again... I virtually dominated the league although I lost to the #1 team, which lost couple of times itself later on the game that it gave me room to take #1 and stay there for the rest of the league games.

And... with 2 games to go, I WAS PROMOTED as the CHAMPION!!!! what a day it has been for me. I lost my Knockbreda game, now I find another team and I was the champion.... WHOOO!!! hopefully this streak continues onto next season..... but that will have to wait for tomorrow.

[catesy2021]

Unlucky Coachflu, two finals now, that cup has got to be heading back to Belgium soon.

After my disappointment in Russia, where I was relegated on the final day, I have restarted, this time in Slovakia. After holidaying I have taken over at FK Raca.

Profile

Club Information. I'm hoping that the fact the club falls under Bratislava will help in the future.

My starting Squad is a bit heavy on the youth, and unfortunately I start off with out any staff.

Thanks to a busy weekend (of err, drinking beer and watching dvds ) I am already at the mid season point:

FK Raca Mid Season Update

Table

As you can see, things aren't going too badly. While safety is in no way granted my position is looking good.

I have fleshed out my sqaud with no less the 17 players. The majority of these players are over 30 (well mostly over 35) but they are cheap and seem to do a job. Unfortunately due to physical restraints I am limited to defensive long ball football. Maybe in a few years I can play the attacking football a crave (I'm a Spurs fan, its in built).

I am unfortunately still light on the staff side of things, but i do have a assistant and a scout, who will be busy as I try to build a side with more longevity. Unfortunately i am having no luck in getting a physio. I'm not sure what affect this has on injuries, but I have so far been lucky on that side of things.

Financially its not to bad. I don't get a great attendance, but i don't have high costs. So far I have made 5 grand this season, taking my balance to 21k. I do have 3 month brake from football though, so I'm not sure how that will affect things.

I'm hoping things will keep going along this course and I can give a positive end of season review (or at least give a end of season review).

[Gundo]

Only the second divisjon to concentrate on now after getting knocked out of the Norwegian cup and it has thrown up an interesting schedule of 5 straight games away from home!

[Adam C]

after seeing that this thread has 51 pages, ive finally decided to take a look at it, and It looks very good. Im going to be starting with a side in Denmark. I will be posting updates on my journey soon.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Adam C:

after seeing that this thread has 51 pages, ive finally decided to take a look at it, and It looks very good. Im going to be starting with a side in Denmark. I will be posting updates on my journey soon.

Good choice, Scandinavia is the place to manage.

[pjtopor]

15/16 - Hetman Zamosc - Polish First Division

League Position - Champions

TABLE

Polish FA Cup - Winners (v.Lech)

Polish League Cup - Winners (v.Lech)

Polish Super Cup - Winners (v. Gornik Zabrze)

Champions League - 4th in Group D

Fans Player of the Season - Bozo Tadic

My Player of the Season - Michalis Chailis

Another season, another domestic sweep, and that's about all to be said. The title was much more difficult this year, we won on goal difference, albeit with an uninspired loss on the last day to Lech, Gornik Zabreze were pretty relentless, led by former Hetman vice-captain Vladimir Pesic. Europe was uninspired, as chronicled earlier.

The squad changed a bit, as I tinkered with a 4-4-2 to replace our tried and true 4-2-3-1. Largely this was done because I have a lot of young strikers that my scouts like, and not so many attacking mids. Also, the patch seems to have made Chailis less effective in an AMC role, so I moved him up front, where he was pretty influential. In the close season, I offloaded a lot of my older players, so Hetman will have a new captain this season. Despite our newfound wealth, I just couldn't justify paying a fading Artem Fedetskyi 5k/week just to take the armband, so a new Turkish right-back has been drafted in to take the captaincy from him. We once again did well in the post-season voting -

Hetman's Domestic Awards Haul:

Manager of the Season

Team of the Season

Player of the Season

Young Player of the Season

It was another profitable season for Hetman, though largely financed with player sales, as my wage budget now requires European performance to turn a profit. I continued my trend of not really buying anyone for more than 100k, so basically the Champions League money made up for being down a few thousand seats for half a year, and the transfer made the profit. Worryingly, the chairman made a 1M dividend payout after the season, I've been trying to hold onto that cash for the inevitable new stadium, so we don't get crushed by a nightmare bank loan. For what its worth, we debuted on the rich list at 96th place. Anyway, here's the finance screen:

FINANCES

Here's the info screen:

INFO

Table Info:

Domestic Title x6

Club coefficient 44.791, 54th, up 10

Nation coefficient 22.417, 18th, up 9

Hetman Zamosc

2008/2009 - Polish Second Division - 10th, FA Cup - 1st round

2009/2010 - Polish Second Division - 1st, FA Cup - 3rd round

2010/2011 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - 2nd round, League Cup - Quarterfinals

2011/2012 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Quarterfinal, League Cup - Semi Final, Champs League - 3rd Qualifying Round, UEFA Cup - 1st Round

2012/2013 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Final, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage

2013/2014 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Quarterfinals, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - 3rd Qual. Rnd., UEFA Cup - 1st Round.

2014/2015 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Winners, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage, UEFA Cup - Final

2015/2016 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Winners, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage

[pjtopor]

The Champs League does not get any easier. After navigating Shelbourne and Rapid in qualifying, we're drawn into group E:

Roma

Arsenal

Nurnberg

Hetman

Bleh. Roma throttled us in the UEFA Cup final 2 years ago, then last season won the Champions League. Theirs is a side still largely in its prime, anchored by forum favorites Edison Cavani, Okaka, and Aaron.

Arsenal are not the side of the past, Victor Fernandez is no Arsene Wenger. Still they have a strong side featuring Fabregas still, if not the upfront firepower of some of the other top teams - We did beat them at the OSiR in 2013 in a 3rd round qual, but then they throttled us at the Emirates. Still an outside shot of nicking a point at home.

3rd seeds Nurnburg are decidely the weakest of the competition, having not made the Champions League in 4 years. An overall look at their squad tells me they're old. Still a stronger side than the Muscovites I've faced the last 2 years in the "must win" slot.

I'd say 4th place an a Winter in Poland looks likely.

[rlipscombe]

KFUM Oslo - Norweigen Second Division Group 4 - End of Season 2008

My first season in Norway must be described as a success, although my ultimate goal of promotion after my early form wasn't achieved.

Table - 3rd

We ended up 3rd on goal difference, following a last day defeat. Relegation was never in the equation, and we matched the top team for most of the season before running out of steam at the end.

Squad

as the squad image shows, we were heavily reliant on the goals of Kim Holmen, as most of our other strikers failed to find the net regularly. ultimately, i think it is this which cost us the title, and has been something i have worked on in the close season. other players of note include Kim Andre Madsen who weighed in with a number of goals from corners, and klinge who was named fans player of the season. i would probably have chosen Madsen as my player of the season.

Kim Holmen

as you can see, he was a major influence on our season, and won the League Topscorer award it appears that barring a miracle, he won't be back at the club this season, so we need to find the goals from somewhere else.

Best XI 2008

This season the squad will be boosted by the return of a number of our loan stars from last season, who had such a ball last year that KFUM Oslo are now one of their favourite clubs. A handful of new strikers have been signed, including the arrival of Sir Stian Ringstad, for a transfer value of £40k to be paid over 2 years. (Gundo, his value fell down to £4k at end of first season on my game also...) Per-christian (sp?) Myhre has also been brought in on a free transfer. our GK position has also been strengthened with the loan signing of a great young keeper from Valerenga.

>>> NEW SEASON TARGETS <<<

- To win the league. on last seasons form, i should have a great chance, particularly if i can find a couple of strikers to score the goals...

- To tighten up at the back. ultimately this played a part in us missing out on promotion. my signings should help this.

- to ensure that the long term future of the club remains solid.

On to season 2. my new contract sees the club still wanting us to achieve a respectable position in the second division. i think i can do that...

[Gundo]

Solid season rlipscombe. I recognize a few familiar faces.

[Bluejacket]

With the 8.02 patch out and nothing to do for a week I'll be starting this as well. Last year I made it to the Championship in Dafuge's challenge. On FM08 I can play this challenge with the local team, so my choice was easy. Currently simulating, I'll post my profile etc once everything is done.

I'll be playing with Rakuunat from Finland, it won't be easy.