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

[Quacky]

How are Switzerland doing on the coefficients on your games, on mine they've slipped down to 30th and generally sucks, seems a long way from the first couple seasons where they got 3 UEFA cup slots.

Max, one of the teams that qualified has a great shot of winning

[daemonic]

Originally posted by Quacky:

How are Switzerland doing on the coefficients on your games, on mine they've slipped down to 30th and generally sucks, seems a long way from the first couple seasons where they got 3 UEFA cup slots.

Max, one of the teams that qualified has a great shot of winning

Weeeeird, they're down to 30th on my save aswell.

4 wins in 22 games. My Super League stay is gonna be short lived

[kccircle]

Originally posted by kccircle:

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

Cookstown Olympic 2012/13 Update

Not a lot to report.

Last season 12th.

This season 9th

Started well, finished poorly.

Player of the season once again Lee Wells - now scored 116 goals in 160 starts.

I've decided to offload some of my team this season in an attempt to get out of debt. I need to increase the ground from the present 500 capacity. I did bring in Leon Cort late on but he has done nothing, expecially with a pace stat of 3!

League Graph

League Table

Squadlist

Lee Wells

Cookstown Olympic Season Update 2013/14

Once again, another average season. My aim is to get out of debt each season, selling off a couple of players but after doing that I spot a couple of gems and I'm back at square one again.

2011/12: 12th

2012/13: 9th

2013/14: 9th

We struggled for the 1st half of the season and after a complete formation changeover we managed to move from 13th to 9th by the time the season ended.

I am still £100k in debt which is frustrating, although I've agreed to sell one of my strikers for 50k this summer (+25% sell on)

Squad

Profile

Next season I must break into the top 6 and hopefully win a cup. I achieved two quarter finals this year and feel I'm progressing as a team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Two games to go and I'm in second. I have an away game vs Cliftonville who are top and then a home game vs Aards who are lower mid table. Win both and I'm Champions.

I beat Cliftonville quite comfortably leaving me top with a game to go. I start the last game and nip to the loo. Come back and am 0-2 down at HT. Gutted, absolutely gutted.

Portadown are the other team who can win the league and they are winning away 2-0.

I managed to get two back and finish with a 2-2 draw. All eyes on Newry (vs Portadown)

Newry score three in quick succession leaving me sweating on the in vision table, especially when Portadown get the equaliser. Cliftonville are drawing with Ballymena too. A goal for either will see my season disappear.

It doesn't happen. All three games end in a draw - quite remarkable really

So thats it - Cookstown Olympic - Norther Irish Champions 2014/15

Oh, we won the County Antrim Shield too.

Update with screenies to follow

[Quacky]

GG kccircle, on with Europe

Maybe its best to go pro in challenge league then daemonic rather than a superb semi-pro promotion. Although I expect you'll turn pro and go right back up again.

[kccircle]

Cookstown Olympic 2014/15 Season Update

Following up from the above

Nigel Dixon

Striking Threesome

Lee Wells

Luke Moore

An update on Lee Wells tells me he has scored 148 in 218 starts

[kccircle]

Table

Graph

Squad

Profile

Gundo - for your records - 1 x N Ireland divisional win

(apologies for messiest update ever)

[Mark Snellink]

Originally posted by max1994:

cheers daeomonic

mark were and who you managing

more on my update it should be done when i get home from school as ive wriiten it but i havent got the screenshots.

im sorry if this is off topic but who do u think will win euros

max

Hapoel Kfar-Shalem in Israel

[Quacky]

Mendrisio-Stabio 2013/14

Europe didn't last to long this season, going out in 2nd round of intertoto to Groningen. We made it to the quarter final of the Swiss cup again before losing out to St. Gallen. The real drama came in the league, after a good season hovering around the top of the league we reached the final game of the season 1 point behind St. Gallen. We were both playing bottom teams and only a win would do. By the 90th minute we were up 2-1 and heading for the championship with St. Gallen drawing 0-0, disaster struck as Grasshopper equalised, I threw everyone forward and Franck David scored a 94th minute winner. I leaped from my chair in full on celebration mode which dissapeared the moment I clicked continue to see two late goals by St. Gallen to leave me 2nd in the league. Star new signings for this year are both from Scandinavia, Magnus Kvam and Jesper Nielsen.

Domestic

2008/09 Challenge League 5th

2009/10 Challenge League 5th

2010/11 Challenge League 2nd

2011/12 Challenge League 1st

2012/13 Super League 4th

2013/14 Super League 2nd

Europe

2013/14 EURO Vase 2nd Round vs Groningen

[kccircle]

Good news or the bad news?

[kccircle]

My first jaunt into Europe ended in defeat against Belchatow.

We lost 7-3 on aggregate.

A little disappointed but the £70k I received cushions the blow slightly.

I'll get plenty of cash for being in the All-Ireland cup later in the season too.

My bank manager has never been so pleased

[daemonic]

Maybe its best to go pro in challenge league then daemonic rather than a superb semi-pro promotion. Although I expect you'll turn pro and go right back up again.

You're probably right. Only being able to scout Switzerland means any players I brought in were to add depth rather than quality.

Only saving grace is, while we're having a shocker of a season, we're not the only ones. We're currently 10 points adrift at the bottom of the table with Sion & Thun. If I can stay ahead of one of those and stay up in the playoff I'll be happy. Guess who my last 2 games of the season are against

As for going pro, the bank balance is currently at 3.5m thanks to trebling our attendances and the 1m for TV rights. One more season in the SL and I'll be past 5m. Go down and it'll take 2 seasons unless I can sell a few players.

[kccircle]

Scouting is a problem for me in N Ireland too. Despite qualifying for the CL I can still only scout locally

[daemonic]

Originally posted by kccircle:

Scouting is a problem for me in N Ireland too. Despite qualifying for the CL I can still only scout locally

I played in N.I. for a while. After I turned pro I could scout the UK & Ireland. One season later I got to scout all of Europe.

Just saw the new stadium screenshot...sucks that its smaller than the current stadium but if your crowds are good you should get increases every season.

[Vipertitan]

I am going too try belgium for this challenge

[Quacky]

I saw the good news and thought my word thats a cheap stadium expecting the bad news to be the loan for it and that it really wasn't a problem. That is the smallest new stadium I have ever seen though.

[max1994]

It is off-topic so use the thread that says 'OFF TOPIC THREAD' on it please.

Thank you for your cooperation.

calm down

[aaberdeenn]

Where is the anger in that and what is the need to calm down when I'm not in any way angered?

It was a simple statement put across in a respectful manner. You know what you posted is of no relation to this thread so why bother. Use the thread specific to your questions in future.

[max1994]

FC Baulmes challenge league 08-09

Challenge League: 11th

Swiss cup: 3rd round vs. wohlen .

I’m a bit sad we finished in 11th as we were looking good for a top 10 finish but considering I was predicted to come 17th that was a good achievement.

Pre-season: Was disappointing loosing 4-1 to young boys and 3-1 to Thun, a win however came in my 3rd game against Yverdon a 3-0 victory with Zari grabbing 2 my other striker Webber rounded off a Stella display as we wiped are opponents of the park.

So we went into or first Challene League game also against yverdon in pretty poor form. We managed to claw back a 1 goal deficit at the break to clinch a drawer when Nicola Zari’s 79th minute effort got us my first league point whoo. However the joy of our first league point evaporated as we were steam-rolled by Concordia BS 4-1.

We won our next game 4-0 with zari nabbing 2 and chedly and yoo wonk-jin my Korean goal poacher.

This was followed up by a thrilling 3-3 draw with Bellizona which saw us come from behind twice as we looked certain to secure the win the hope of securing the win were destroyed as Bellizona were awarded a penalty (the blind twat ref who needs f**k**g glasses) in the 90th minute they converted and I loose my faith in the defence.

However my best results were a 5-0 murdering of Vaduz and a 7-2 thrashing of league whipping boys Stade Nyonnais with 12 different players scoring in these games it certainly shows that the team have gelled and have learnt to play proper football which shows great signs for the future

League Table

Transfers: my most notable signing was frank madou from young boys for ,wait brace yourself , a free transfer what a signing. Perhaps he didn’t like there funny named stadium. But he gave up a future in the super league for a challenge league struggle. I also managed to secure Brian McBride on a free.

Transfers

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk150/maax1994/baulmes/besteleven.jpg]Best Eleven [/url]

Fans player of the season: Mikael Duperret

My player of the Season In my opinion the player of the season should have been my goal keeper

Next Season’s expectations

. Finish in the top 8

. Win more games

. Concede less sloppy goals

. Do better in the cup

. Try and get more money so that I can go by

I hope that you have enjoyed my EOS as much as I have had writing it.

Wish me luck for next season

Max.

[daemonic]

We SURVIVED...full report tomorrow most likely. I'm knackered at the moment. Bloody FM has been giving me heart attacks for the last 2 hours.

[max1994]

i told you u would congratts

[Quacky]

Sommer is indeed a brilliant player, Scherer was a squad player for me for a couple years should be good in challenge league. The other name I recognise is Madou, I hope he suffers a season ending double leg break he is not one of my favourite players.

[Quacky]

Quick player love on the day, it seems like my long serving Armenian right winger in his 7th season with me has decided to transform from a pretty decent player into world class. I give you Vahe Ghasabyan the man who has been single handedly winning games for me

[daemonic]

FC Bulle - Super League 2012/13

We had a quiet transfer window, not through a lack of searching but because good players just aren't interested in a part-time club. So we started the season pretty much the same team that got promoted. 2 wins in the first 3 games made me hopeful but after that it was all downhill.

We got mired in 8th and stayed there all season. Luckily for us, 2 other teams were even worse than we were. I was expecting at least one of them to get a run together and climb above us but it never happened.

Going into the second last game of the season against bottom placed Thun we were 3 points clear of Sion in 9th. I told the team I expected a win and with the additional pressure of it being a fan day (thanks board) we managed a 5-2 hammering of Thun. A Sion win meant that we were still 3 points apart going into a final day decider. Luckily for us our goal difference meant Sion had to beat us by 10 clear goals to go above us on goal difference. We lost, but only 1-0 and survived in 8th place on goal difference.

Such a lucky escape, Our points total of 30 would have had us automatically relegated in 2 of the 6 seasons so far and in the playoff place the other 4 years so it seems my luck in this save is holding.

One hopeful sign is my youngster, Peron, snapped up on a free and who only signed as a professional on his 17 birthday in February was the Swiss young player of the year.

We also got a new parent club who I hope to get a few loanees from to tide us over until next season when we should go professional.

Screenshots

Finances are looking good thanks to SL tv money, prize money and gate receipts which more or less cover the wage bill.

Best Eleven

[DodgeeD]

Reading through the posts from the players in Switzerland, I guess the 'Challenge League' must be the nost aptly named league in Europe!

I'm seriously tempted to give it a go but I've still got lots to do at Blsany... I'll be giving the Swiss leg of the challenge serious considersation for FM '09

[Quacky]

Mendrisio-Stabio 2014/15

First up on the chopping block was Tobol Kostanay of Kazahkstan who were calmly despached 4-1 agg. setting us up against Slavia Prague. This porved to be an easier game that I anticipated winning 3-1 at home and drawing 2-2 away to leave us facing Racing Santander for a place in the group stages. Again this seemed straight forward as we went 2-0 up at home before conceding two late goals to tie it up. In Spain all hell broke lose as Luka Papez and Jimmy Briand both grabbed hat-tricks before I was dumped out by Bruce Djite's winner to make it 4-3. The Swiss cup was nothing special as we lost to St. Gallen (again) but in the league we dominated leading us comfortably to the title with three games remaining. However, we are a team that enjoys to play football as proved by Luka Papez's double hat-trick in the last game of the season to set another Mendrisio-Stabio record and win him his second Super League golden boot award. The key signing this season was Swiss left back Rolf Feltscher which helped ease the loss of star defender Magnus Kvam to Schalke. Our superiority lead to an interesting team of the season which is particularly strange since I consider my central midfielders to be a real strength of the team.

Domestic

2008/09 Challenge League 5th

2009/10 Challenge League 5th

2010/11 Challenge League 2nd

2011/12 Challenge League 1st

2012/13 Super League 4th

2013/14 Super League 2nd

2014/15 Super League 1st

Europe

2013/14 EURO Vase 2nd Round vs Groningen

2014/15 EURO Cup 1st Round vs Racing

Coefficients

Mendrisio-Stabio; 320th, 4.509 Switzerland; 32nd, 8.342

[daemonic]

Congrats Quacky

[Gundo]

Apologies for my quietness in this thread during May, I've been moving house and dealing with that mostly while juggling about a thousand other things.

I've enjoyed reading peoples progress though. Hopefully I'll be more active from mid-June onwards, fingers crossed.

[daemonic]

Originally posted by Gundo:

Apologies for my quietness in this thread during May, I've been moving house and dealing with that mostly while juggling about a thousand other things.

I've enjoyed reading peoples progress though. Hopefully I'll be more active from mid-June onwards, fingers crossed.

Good time to move really, try doing that in October/November when a new version is out and you'd be lynched

[ghostwriter]

Congratulations Quacky on the title, next stop the Champions League

And congratulations on the impressive feat of somehow staying up as a semi-pro club. Thing is you have to do it all over again next season . Good luck.

[Quacky]

Mendrisio-Stabio 2015/16 µEurope Update

Champions League 1st Qualifying

Mendrisio-Stabio 2-0 Sheriff

Sheriff 1-3 Mendrisio-Stabio

We drew Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol, a potentially tricky matchup against a side with world class training facilities and ambition to match. We managed to stroll in with our own ex-Sheriff Nigerian/Moldovan defender and grab a good result.

Champions League 2nd Qualifying

Mendrisio-Stabio 2-0 Panathinaikos

Panathinaikos 0-1 Mendrisio-Stabio

I expected a tougher match here than I got from the greeks who frankly looked slow and uninspiring thoughout both legs and were comfortably beaten in the end.

Champions League 3rd Qualifying

Mendrisio-Stabio 1-2 Rosenborg

Rosenborg 2-3 Mendrisio-Stabio

Having already beaten the greeks I expected this to be a simple game for group stages. Unfortunately they stepped out on the Mendrisio pitch with the sort of intensity my team usually has and banged in 2 early goals before I pulled one back in the 90th minute. Off to Norway I went needing to score twice, things looked bad when I conceded in the first half and so by 50th minute I changed up the tactics to insanity madness and we clawed back 2 to tie the game up. Disaster struck in the 88th minute with an own goal but Luka Papez to the rescue again with 91st minute £3M goal to make it 3-2 and send us to the group stages where will be royally spanked.

Group H; Barcelona, Arsenal, Spartak Moscow, Mendrisio Stabio

Wish me luck

[daemonic]

Damn that's a tough group, but the reputation increase for making it that far should mean better players will be available to you.

Best of luck.

p.s. where the hell did that tactic come from? If you dreamt that up yourself your head must be a scary place

[Quacky]

It was the most attacking formation I could think of with the players I had on the pitch/bench. Bozovic can play DM/DC, Dlusztus is an out an out DM with some good attacking attributes. The two wingers always have that arrow in my normal tactics but usually with only one stiker. Bouyain is AM/FC and seems to have a thing for scoring late goals off the bench when I'm desperate. Puri is CM but with a heck of a left foot and can play attacking midfield well and has good tackling. When I need a goal I throw everyone forward

[ghostwriter]

Cool tactic, must try it out one day

Congratulations and good luck in picking up at least a point from somewhere

There don't seem to be many people with Swiss sounding names on that screenshot. Is your squad mainly foreign (Eastern European by the looks of it) now?

[Quacky]

Yes its very very foreign ghostwriter, this normally happens on my games. At Christmas of the previous season having agreed to sell my last remaining Swiss player I decided to try and bring back the Swiss a bit. I bought two guys in, excellent left back and backup right/left winger who is better than I thought he would be.

I will try to get more Swiss players in but the problem is all my youth players are rubbish except the Italian one I got from my feeder club and its hard to find quality in Switzerland.

[spotg]

Wotcha.

Just a quicky to say that I'm back from a bit of a jaunt to Austria (sadly couldn't make it across the border to Slovenia to visit Sencur myself ) and will be updating with a couple of seasons worth shortly (probably after I get back from the Test tomorrow), which include thrills, spills, and something that has never ever happened to me in something like 14 years of playing SI games.

Also, just want to add my to ghostwriter, who has been an absolute legend in this thread so far. I don't think anybody else has even come close to having your level of mediocrity for so long in a game without giving in, and whilst maintaining such excellent updates. I really really hope you make it mate.

Also, Quacky, LMAO at your player being called Feltscher

[Quacky]

I didn't notice that about the name at all. I'm going to Slovenia in 3 weeks, maybe I'll take a look around for you

[spotg]

Sencur End Of Season Review 2010/11 - Slovenian First Division

Media Prediction: 10th

Board Demands: Battle Bravely

I promise: Battle Bravely

Players Interested: 1678 (up from 1236 the previous season)

We have a transfer budget! We have a new feeder club, and explain this to me, they are an Albanian lower league side, who just happen to have quite extensive knowledge of Brazil, and a good amount of Africa!

The two are linked well, as we sign a promising looking Nigerian striker for a club record 7k + clauses, along with a smorgasbord of players from around eastern Europe. Two Serbs, a Bosnian, a Romanian and a few more SLovenes, until we are at the point of readiness for our league campaign. No position below four stars. Question marks over the defence and the strike force, but a midfield five to be reckoned with.

The town was abuzz as game one pitted us against solid, but unspectacular Gorica. The sort of game we should be getting points from, and a game which turned out quite dour and with few chances, until, in the 87th minute, my Romanian, on as a sub, steps up with a twenty-yarder! 1-0, and we are under way...

Sadly, that was a false dawn, as match day eight passes and we scrape our fifth point of the season with a 3-3 home draw with Domzale, relying on them missing a penalty. We're scoring plenty, but 21 conceded in 8 games shows exactly why we're bottom of the league. The defense needs bolstering, and quickly.

The cup third round comes around, and we're paired with Nafta, with whom we swapped places last season. If they weren't good enough to survive, a game against them is surely a decent test of if we're good enough to survive. What's that? 0-2? Oh.

We're four points adrift at the bottom after twelve games when Drava come to town. We're slightly buoyed by the agreement to sell our reserve (soon to become third) keeper for a record 40k, and the seemingly positive talks with an ace central midfielder to join in January. But despite that, I certainly wasn't expecting to be 4-0 up at half time! A dodgy penalty sets us on our way, but it's the hat-trick from Romanian Gheorghe (only playing up front as our Nigerian striker is on international duty) that does the damage. A turning point? 5-2 at full time suggests it may be...

Halfway through the season, and the picture is a depressing one. We are a point adrift at the bottom, with 8th place a further ten ahead. The only saving grace is the sheer woefulness of Interblock. If we can recruit properly, and they stay as bad, we might get ourselves a play-off to stay up. Bloody hell this is a difficult league

But then Gorica come to town again, and prove just as compliant as before. 3-1 sparks dancing in the streets of Sencur until news filters through that Interblock have won too. We've now been bottom of the table for 14 games.

The winter break arrives and we are 9th! Courtesy of Interblock's rubbishness and a point at Maribor. Now the hard work begins. A new keeper and three new starting defenders sign (there are no decent right backs in Slovenia. At all), and an excellent looking Russian AMC joins too. We can only hope that will make a difference...

Seven points from nine directly after the break are very welcome indeed, and I can now start to concentrate more on catching 8th placed Drava than being caught by 10th Interblock, unless they can beat us at their place. a sending off when we are 1-0 down really puts us up against it, but somehow we recover, and a last minute header from a corner gives us all 3 points and a 9 point cushion. Relief!

Three wins on the trot for Interblock, combined with three defeats for us, and suddenly that relief is gone. One point and one goal better off, with five games to go. The penultimate day of the season is home to Interblock. Could be huge. I should go to bed. Can't. Bastard game.

We go into that game two points behind. We simply must win, or I will be relegated for the first time in my 14 years of playing SI games. And typically my starting CB is playing in the Euro U19 championships . 23 minutes. My captain fires in a free kick, which deflects off their CB, leaving the keeper stranded! 1-0! 74 mins, lovely ball finds one of my midfielders loitering on the edge of the box. 2-0! Come on! Our first win in nine, and our destiny is back in our own hands. We are home to 8th place Primorje in our last game, and need to at least equal Interblock's result away at 4th(and chasing Europe) Rudar (V).

Last day. Ears glued to radios. Rudar score! Interblock score! Rudar score twice in two minutes! Our game is tedious, almost an irrelevance as the score elsewhere goes our way. Half time, and I exhort the boys for one last big effort. Try to ignore the crowd. Our captain heads over from half a yard! Interblock pull one back! Then on 78 minutes we go behind. Deflation. We are begging the boys to equalise. Begging Rudar to score again. NO! Interblock equalise with three minutes to go, and as the final whistle goes on Sencur's top flight status their manager slumps to the ground in despair.

Wait! A cheer from some fans over in the main stand. Rudar have scored a winner in the last second of their game! They will finish third and play European football for the first time, and Interblock are relegated! Unbelievable. Just completely unbelievable. We have a playoff against Nafta to keep our First Division status. But it's ten to midnight, and I must sleep. Play-offs are for another day. WE ARE NOT YET DOWN! SING WE ARE NOT YET DOWN! (not quite as catchy I'll grant, but I don't want to tempt fate...).

Erm. My players have gone on holiday before the playoff. This doesn't bode well. Nor does four of my team going to play for the Slovenian U21s instead of staying for the playoff. Too nervous to type much. Penalty! YAS! 1-0. HT. And indeed full time. A lead to take back to Nafta. But now another player is off to a U21 game! Only two outfield subs available. They injure my captain. One sub used. Half time 0-0. For the fans! No! They score. 1-0. 1-1 on aggregate. Extra time beckons. And arrives. We clear a free kick off the line! Our striker goes off injured and has to be replaced by a GK, as there's noone else available! No. NO. NO! They score again. We're down.

After all that. We're down. :mad

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Slovenian First Division 9th

Slovenian Cup - 3rd Round

End Of Season Awards

Danilo Spotgic

Best Eleven

Transfers

Elsewhere in Slovenia

Back to the old routine of everyone losing at the first possible opportunity in Europe. Domzale are champions, with Maribor second. Livar and Nafta will replace us and Interblock in the First Division.

Hopes for next season - We have to win the league. Nothing else will allow me to continue in the challenge I suspect.

2008-09 Slovenian Second Division 2nd (play-off loss)

2009-10 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!

2010-11 Slovenain First Division 9th (play-off loss)

[spotg]

Sencur End Of Season Review 2011/12 - Slovenian Second Division

Media Prediction: 2nd

Board Demands: Win it

I promise: Win it

Players Interested: 1553 (down from 1678 the previous season)

The board aren't happy. Relegation was not part of the plan, and I am told to win the league this season, or **** off. I'm not happy. I signed some players for the new season when we looked safe, and now we're only allowed 1 non-EU player, I'm going to have to ditch some high earners ASAP as I can't play them. 287 extra seats are to be built, which may bring capacity close to 1000, and welcome extra income.

We clear some players out, and are in good shape to start the season away to Mura. After hitting the woodwork four times, and shipping three goals despite our overall dominance, I am frankly thinking of quitting. And the board and fans seem like they'd be quite happy to acquiesce. But a 5-0 home win next up cheers things up a bit, and hopefully sets more of a tone for the coming season.

A repeat of that scoreline against Interblock is particularly pleasing next up, and completely dissipates the air of gloom and doom after the Mura result. We are on the case, and our Montenegrin international striker is off the mark with a hat-trick. This lad is going to be special.

Four wins later, we get Mura away again in the cup, and take sweet revenge with a 5-1 win. Our squad is a little threadbare, but it will be a real disappointment if we can't win this league now we're in our stride.

October comes and we start to get the dreaded round of player enquiries. One midfielder has requested a transfer. Our central defensive rock is refusing to sign a new deal and may leave for free in the summer, and I'm having to fend off enquiries for half of my first team. It had better not affect our performances.

Our cup adventure looks to be coming to its traditional end at the first sign of a First Division club as Primorje take the lead, but with four minutes to go, a 16 year old striker just out of the academy pops up with a goal, and an injury time header from a corner takes us through! Semi finals await...

Game two against Interblock comes with both sides showing 9-0-1 records. We are ahead by 13 goals with a GD of +35 from ten games. But this time we are away, and missing our keeper and our captain. It's a bit fraught as we go behind, but a lovely equaliser and a dodgy penalty give us the 2-1 win, and a bit of breathing space at the top.

We hit the winter break having won 14 straight games, and with a six point gap at the top. Just need to replace my DM who is going to Drava, and we should be fine...

Maribor qualify from their UEFA Cup group, which will be a huge boost to their finances (again ) and the Slovenia Coefficient (should I ever need that...). Feyenoord and Genoa finish below them

We come back from the winter break 6 points clear and instantly waste two of them with a draw at Triglav. But a draw with Interblock puts things firmly in our favour, and we can concentrate on the cup. Drava are the team we face over two legs, who include our mercenary midfielder who was "too good for the second division". Let's see how he feels after the away leg finishes 1-0 to us, eh? The other semi finishes 2-0 to Koper, who are 2nd in Div 1. If we and they go through, our chances of Europe are very good!

Second leg, and within two minutes we're another goal to the good! And within five they've equalised. Gheorghe gets a second just before half time to restore the two goal advantage, and we're starting to dream of. Erm. I wonder where we do dream of. I'm playing offline so I can't even check. Gheorghe completes a hattrick after half time and SENCUR ARE ON THEIR WAY TO (THE SLOVENIAN EQUIVALENT OF) WEMBLEY! A fourth from club captain Tisnikar just rubs it in, and a fifth from Gheorghe (again!) is clearly a **** take. We will indeed face Koper in the final, who are now top of the league with 6 games to go.

Cup Final day rolls around, and we're playing at Bezigrad in Ljubliana apparently. Very exciting. Koper are 2nd in the top flight, and have only a worry about their keeper, whereas we are missing our striker, main midfielder, and FOUR players who are with the U19 squad - luckily none of them first teamers. Koper take the lead on 35 minutes, after an even start to the game, and get a second four minutes later. This is clearly a game too far for us. In the second half chance after chance is beaten away by their reserve keeper, who is having a blinder, and it's no surprise when the third goes in at the other end. We get a consolation late on, but we'll be cheering on Koper in the last two games of the league season. If they finish top two we're in Europe. Top 3 and we might be.

We still have a job to finish in the league, remember. Four points clear, two non-troubling games to go, but we need to concentrate. 6-0 home win will do nicely. Thanks. Champions of Division Two again! We finish with 95 goals, and a GD of +79, with 72 points from 27 games. We utterly obliterated the league.

And Koper finished as league champions! Their double puts us in the UEFA cup next season! Get in!

And we've been awarded a "grant" of 250k. No idea what that is about, but it's helping towards another 368 seats to take capacity up to 1500 or so.

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Slovenian Second Division 1st

Slovenian Cup - Final

End Of Season Awards

Danilo Spotgic

Best Eleven

Transfers

Hopes for next season - Steer well clear of relegation, and frankly, challenge for the top half. We should be good enough, and Europe should help us attract players.

2008-09 Slovenian Second Division 2nd (play-off loss)

2009-10 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!

2010-11 Slovenain First Division 9th (play-off loss)

2011-12 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!

Sencur Honours Board

Slovenian Division Two

2010, 2012

European Co-efficients

Club - 5.28 (307th)

Nation - 11.917 (28th - 1-2-1)

[ghostwriter]

UGS - Challenge League - 22/23 - Winter Break

With the strike=force sorted out months ago and me more or less happy with the midfield I focused my Summer attention on the defence. First of all in came a Bosnian international defender for £50k from Thun, not entirely sure why they sold him as he was their first choice last season in the SL but I was certainly not complaining. Next up was an Italian DR from St Gallen. I then started to panic about DL, neither of the current 2 had been offered pro contracts as basically they aren't good enough but there was nothing special out there wanting to join me, so I offered Bourillon (the better one) a contract, which he refused and left. Oops. One thing I did not want to do was start the season with bloody Jovanovic again so I panic-bought a young Brazilian from Luzern and actually offered Jovanovic a contract in desperation. Thankfully before the season started I stumbled across an elderly Belgian in Holland looking for a club so he strolled down to be first choice. The only other additions were the same MC on loan again and a very reserve AMRC as I was a bit lacking in back up for the wings.

Pre-season was entertaining as we thrashed every team in sight with the 2 new strikers scoring 18 between them. Unfortunately our first match was a mighty difficult one; La Chaux-de-Fonds away. Their assassion, Volpe, opened the scoring before the new Portuguese striker equalised with a ridiculous 45 yard half-volley lob. He got a second but Volpe equalised. We then absolutely hooned Martigny before impressively brushing aside Delemont. A home draw to Wohlen was bad however even if we were down to 10 men after 30 mins. A victory later and Neuchatel came to town. They totally outplayed us but 2 late goals gave us a 3-3 draw.

We then promptly won 8 in a row including a brilliant 1-0 win over Schaffhausen, 100% thanks to our GK. Following an unwanted draw at Yverdon we won another 6 in a row to go 19 unbeaten and top for the first time ever. Highlights included a win at Delemont (stunning 91st minute Koné 30 yarder), a stunning victory over Servette and a good win over La Chaux-de-Fonds (85th minute Koné 25 yarder).

So, I was getting ready to be very happy to have completed the first 2/3 of the season unbeaten . We then promptly won 1 point from our last 2 (very easy) games . A loss at Wohlen was bad (1 point from them this season will hurt badly, I know) but a draw at home to Wil was just horrible. So we enter the break in 3rd place. As we still have to face Neuchatel, Schaffhausen and Servette (last game) away, the optimism I had 2 games ago has totally disappeared. With our significantly inferior goal difference I need at least one of them to have a disaster (or to sell loads of players in the break).

Player-wise, Kohler is a stunning GK, we would not be in 3rd without him whilst Ernst is just magnificent in defence, the wingers are great and the new ST, Hesse, is awesome. A small problem is that both wingers and Judt (3rd choice ST) are refusing to sign new contracts. Speaking of which, mine runs out at the end of the season and I have heard nothing about a renewal yet :/.

[Quacky]

Mendrisio-Stabio 2015/16 Final Europe Update

Champions League Group H

Mendrisio-Stabio 0-1 Barcelona

Spartak Moscow 1-2 Mendrisio-Stabio

Arsenal 3-3 Mendrisio-Stabio

Mendrisio-Stabio 0-1 Arsenal

Barcelona 2-3 Mendrisio-Stabio

Mendrisio-Stabio 1-2 Spartak Moscow

We drew a tough group that started with a good performance in Spain only conceding to a Lionel Messi penalty and a win in Russia before pulling back from 3-1 down in London to draw the game. Then our luck turned, a 94th minute long range strike from Fàbregas earnt him an offensive nickname, we took the lead 2-1 against Barcelona before losing out late in the game 3-2. Against the Russians we took the lead before a late equaliser and 92nd minute penalty from Roman Pavlyuchenko who has since retired at 34. All of this left us 3rd in the group on goal difference above Spartak.

UEFA Cup 1st Knockout

RC Lens 2-1 Mendrisio-Stabio

Mendrisio-Stabio 4-0 RC Lens

We struggled somewhat in France thanks to a great performance by Gabon striker Eric Mouloungui. After a goaless first half in Switzerland we went out for the second half and burried four in 15 minutes to shock the french.

UEFA Cup 2nd Knockout

Benfica 2-1 Mendrisio-Stabio

Mendrisio-Stabio 2-2 Benfica

An important away goal in Portugal gave us a good chance in the home leg which turned out to be filled with injuries forcing all three of my substitutions and when they scored their second away goal to make its 2-1 on the night my chances were over. Still this should bump me and Switzerland up the rankings quite considerably.

[DodgeeD]

Congrats on getting into the UEFA Cup spotg. In my Blsany save, I found that players were more willing to sign for me (saying the chance to play in Europe was a major factor) after I had played my first season in the UEFA Cup. Hopefully, you'll avoid the big boys and be able to make the group stage then the money rolls in and players want to come.

Great run in Europe there Quacky. In the end of season review, how many places did Mendrisio rise in the rankings?

Don't give up ghostwriter!! I'm sure you can pull it off this time

[Quacky]

Mendrisio-Stabio 2015/16

This will be a quick update since I've already said what happened in Europe all of which caused irritating fixture congestion due to the insistance on a 3 month winter break. Nevertheless by the last game of the season we were level on points with Basel, they lost, we won and so we take home the title. We also made the cup final this season, a game in which my top three strikers were all injured and so it was a pretty dull afair, if anyone knew had to take a penalty we might have won (note: there were only 3 actual saves in the shootout, they really did miss). On the signings front key man this season was Danish/Russian Andrey Nikonov while the team became even less Swiss (just the one in first team) as I negotiated an offer for versatile backup winger Stefan Glarner up to £1.5M and they accepted. For next season, watch out for the Greeks, my scout just got back from his South Europe trek and found some intriguing players for me

Domestic

2008/09 Challenge League 5th

2009/10 Challenge League 5th

2010/11 Challenge League 2nd

2011/12 Challenge League 1st

2012/13 Super League 4th

2013/14 Super League 2nd

2014/15 Super League 1st

2015/16 Super League 1st

Europe

2013/14 Intertoto 2nd Round vs Groningen

2014/15 UEFA Cup 1st Round vs Racing

2015/16 Champions League Group stage 3rd - UEFA Cup 2nd Knockout vs Benfica

Coefficients

Mendrisio-Stabio; 173rd(+147), 14.994 Switzerland; 30th(+2), 10.642

[daemonic]

Good Luck for the rest of the season Ghostwriter, I have my fingers crossed for you

[Quacky]

Mendrisio-Stabio 2016/17 µEurope Update

Champions League 1st Qualifying

Murata 0-2 Mendrisio-Stabio

Mendrisio-Stabio 5-0 Murata

I would have resigned if I couldn't beat the San Marino champions.

Champions League 2nd Qualifying

Mendrisio-Stabio 3-0 Cork City

Cork City 0-1 Mendrisio-Stabio

This was an equally easy draw comfortably won.

Champions League 3rd Qualifying

Spartak Moscow 2-3 Mendrisio-Stabio

Mendrisio-Stabio 1-0 Spartak Moscow

Having faced them last season in the group stage we get a couple more games against Spartak Moscow. A game of lots of chances for each side in Moscow where both keepers played very well despite the score left me needing a goal to go through. Franck David scored the crucial goal at home and despite the Russian mafia's best efforts the game ended 1-0 to give us a place in Group C along with Liverpool, Schalke and CSKA Moscow.

[daemonic]

FC Bulle - Super League 2013/2014

So, our second season as a semi-professional team in the Super League. Transfers again were about quantity rather than quality as we kept losing the good players to professional teams offering lower pay so very frustrating. Mostly defenders brought in, but they had a tough job and no one stood out.

As with last season we started with some promising results and then fell away. A tactics change at the Winter break allowed us pick up more draws and move away from the drop zone. It was defensive football with chances few and far between but this season is all about survival. We had some luck again this year with the bottom 2 failing miserably. Which meant we were safe from relegation with 3 games to go and managed to move up a place to finish in 7th place on the last day of the season. We'd hovered around lower mid-table all season so we earn another year in the Super League.

The finances improved all season mainly due to me spending very little of my wage budget and lots of TV money. With 5m+ in the bank at the end of season we finally went PROFESSIONAL .

We can now scout Central Europe and with a 37k p/w wage budget for next season I'll be hoping to attract players that can make season a little more comfortable.

Other Screenshots

Best 11

Squad

Club Information

[ghostwriter]

Congratulations on qualifying for the CL groups again Quacky. At this rate you will finish the challenge before I even escape the Swiss CL .

And with turning pro you should have no problems next season daemonic. The big difference I found was all the good young Swiss players who are suddenly interested in signing who would not look at me before, the ability to scout Central Europe did not change a huge amount in the short term.

[Quacky]

You should race up to the top of super league next season daemonic now you can get better players in. I find scouting central europe very useful in short term ghostwriter, I tend to tell the guy to target smaller countries like Belgium before doing the full scouting mission so I get quick results on players that might well sign for me.

ghostwriter theres a long way from group stage to winning it but I am rolling in money now. I'm trying to take the youth approach now I've got the money. Been poaching the best Swiss youngsters and trying to train them up for a big push, they should train well since my facilities are maxed out now, really want some more local players in the side to make it easier with homegrown stuff in Europe.

[ghostwriter]

UGS - Challenge League - 22/23

Situation at Winter Break

An exceptionally boring Winter break brought new contracts for the MR and Judt (3rd choice ST) and little else.

The 12 game run-in depended entirely upon 3 away matches and the first of those came straight away as we travelled to Neuchatel. It was 0-0 at h/t but that quickly became 0-2 and that was how it stayed. Not ideal, but not exactly unexpected either. 3 straight wins followed, including a GD improving 6-1 win in Vaduz (Maric getting a hat-trick on a rare excursion). Next up in the trilogy was Schaffhausen, a very boring match ended in a fair 1-1. The same day Neuchatel beat Servette so we were back up to 2nd by a point. 3 straight wins without conceding a goal and we well placed; even more so since Servette comically lost at Vaduz, we were 4 points clear in 2nd and only 3 behind Neuchatel. A win in the next 3 matches and we were 2nd for sure.

Things started to fall apart a bit though, a home draw to Yverdon was not good at all, 2 points in it, a 3-0 lead at Fribourg evaporated and we were very lucky to win 5-3, and then 0-2 down at home to Gossau, thankfully we pulled it back and got the win but we were in no way impressing. We were still 2 points ahead of Servette with one game to play which of course was at that exact same team (hence my annoyance at the Yverdon match). Well, they were 2-0 up at h/t, we pulled one back, they got a 3rd, we got another but we could not break thru. So, it was not to be . 3rd place and another season in the CL. We were in the top 2 for long periods but not at the vital moment. Servette went ahead and lost to Aarau in the play-off who I reckon we'd have had a good chance of beating.

We scored a lot (spread around nicely), conceded not that many, but it was all down to those 5 points lost to Wohlen and that bloody home draw to Yverdon. Just to note that we would have won the title with this record last season....

Final Squad

Final Summary

Transfers - Hesse and Lourenco, the 2 strikers were awesome, Bjelic was great at DC, whilst Saigal, Schiavini and Marcos were the capable new fullbacks, only Ferrari was a bit of a failure

Some of the stars:

Best GK - Tim Kohler - seriously very very good, CL GK of the year, we would have been nowhere near 3rd without him, I only hope I can keep hold of him as he is far too good for this division

Best Defender - Kim Ernst - getting better and better, 2nd great season, held the defence together magnificently, another I fear about losing

Best Midfielder - David Schmidt - best season here, very solid in midfield, our penalty taker, hence the goals, only him and Ernst rest 1st choices from our semi-pro days, can't see him leaving

Best Winger - Mattias Schmitt - very very good winger, replaced Brode magnificently, probably even better player, loads of assists, scared many a DR, only problem is that it is highly unlikely he will be here next season, contract is up and he has refused to sign a new one so far

2nd Best Winger - Jochen Hecht - not as good as Schmitt but very good nevertheless, would like more assists but has the added advantage of being able to go up front in emergencies, still would not mind someone a bit better though...

Best Striker - Oliver Hesse - top scorer and player of the year, is a fantastic striker, La Chaux-de-Fonds should have kept him, reaching his peak, should be here a bit longer, more of the same please

So, we should have a very good chance again next season, Servette are probably a little bit better than us tbh but Aarau coming down have not always convinced in this division. It will all depend on the matches against the lower teams, the Wohlens and Yverdons of this world.

I have already signed up a great DL (FINALLY), along with a Dutch ST who is as good as Hesse so might be tempted to flog one of the others, while a stunning Brazilian DMC is in, all on frees. Hence unless there are sales galore I can't see much Summer action. The only dire need will be a new ML seeing as I can't imagine Schmitt staying. Would not say no to another DC, a better and younger DR and maybe an MR as well.

I basically want promotion next season, which provided the squad stays together and ML is sorted should be possible.

That all said, my contract is up in 10 days and the board have still not offered me a new one :/.

Best Eleven

Overall Best Eleven - little change and nor will there be for a bit (except GK) as most the current players are relatively new

08/09 - Challenge League - 14th

09/10 - Challenge League - 15th

10/11 - Challenge League - 13th

11/12 - Challenge League - 11th

12/13 - Challenge League - 11th

13/14 - Challenge League - 9th

14/15 - Challenge League - 13th

15/16 - Challenge League - 4th

16/17 - Challenge League - 4th

17/18 - Challenge League - 7th

18/19 - Challenge League - 6th

19/20 - Challenge League - 5th

20/21 - Challenge League - 10th

21/22 - Challenge League - 7th

22/23 - Challenge League - 3rd

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Clough Rangers – 2012 / 2013 – Northern Irish Premier Division

League – 1st Champions!

Champions League – 1st Qualifying Round – Lost 4-2 to Wisla Krakow (Poland)

Northern Irish Cup – Winners! – Defeated Portadown 5-0

League Cup - Winners! - Defeated Cliftonville 3-0

Antrim Cup – Winners! – Defeated Cliftonville 3-0

All Ireland Cup – Finished 3rd in Group A

Manager Profile

Team Stats<A HREF="http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc157/Razer1982/Clough%20Rangers/Season%2012-13/TransferSummary.jpg" TARGET=_blank>

Transfer Summary</A>

Top Scorer

Our season started with the club’s first ever fixtures in European competition and we couldn’t have been handed a worse draw in Polish side Wisla Krakow, a 3-1 defeat at home meant that we were effectively already out of the competition and we only managed a 1-1 draw away. Still the £70k in ‘prize money’ that was received for losing in the first round was greatly appreciated.

With our European adventure finishing rather quickly we were able to concentrate on the League Cup, we were able to finish top of our group and progress to the quarter finals to face last season’s nemesis Glentoran. We managed our first victory against them to book a semi final place where Linfield were dispatched before we easily overcame Cliftonville in the final to win the trophy for the first time.

In the Antrim Cup we were drawn with Glentoran in the first round and managed to comfortable defeat them 3-0 to progress to games with Larne and Distillery before beating Cliftonville in another final to claim our second trophy of the season.

Our league form this season was nothing short of sensational and we tied up our second consecutive league title on match day 24. We managed to go the entire season undefeated whilst smashing a record 93 goals past our opponents. The biggest surprise for me was the final positions of Linfield and Portadown, two of the bigger clubs in the league. As they finished 8th and 13th respectively. To show our dominance in the league this season, all the Player of the Year played for me.

We had another great cup run in the Northern Irish Cup, defeating Dungannon, Moyola Park, Cliftonville and Glentoran to set up a final with Portadown. The final was a very one sided affair, we were already 2-0 up when Portadown had someone sent off and our quality showed for the rest of the game as we ran out 5-0 winners to lift the cup for the first time.

Winning the league last season allowed us entry to the lucrative All Ireland Cup where we were drawn in Group A with Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers and Glentoran. We were over run by both the Irish teams and were indifferent against Glentoran and our 3rd place finish was probably the best I could have hoped for. At least I know have an understanding of the type of players that we’ll be encountering in the competition from now on.

Club Captain Chris Blackwell (62 Goals) was once again one of the top performers, but this season he was joined by Stefan Williams (48 Goals) who stepped in initially as cover for and injured Jonathan Downing but never relinquished his first team place. This seasons midfield was run by Tom Thomas (10 Goals & 12 Assists) and newly promoted Francis Martin (3 Goals & 18 Assists) with Welch, McGrath and Eyre all provided additional support.

Season Tickets Sell Out For this first time ever on an FM game I’ve been informed that we were able to sell all our season tickets!

Nathan Brown Became the record sale for the club after feeling that he was being treated unfairly – off he went to Hibs for £100k plus clauses.

It appears that we’re spending most of the season at another ground again, due to another expansion of The Hill.

With our first domestic clean sweep complete, my main aims for next season are to make progress in the two big competitions – the All Ireland Cup and Champions League. Performances in these were the only downside to our season.

Gundo – For your table – 2 Domestic Titles

Coefficients

Club – 0.000 – 530th (Down 36 Places)

Country – 0.333 – 49th (Up 2 Places)

[ghostwriter]

Well, guess I won't be getting that new contract then.

Idiots . I am not happy at all. I simply cannot believe they have done that. They wanted a respectable league position after 2 seasons which is more than I gave them. Well, basically **** them .

That is the first time I have ever been sacked in 10 years of FM/CM, and I suspect I will never be so unjustly sacked again in the future. Yes, I have spent 15 years in this division but we would have surely gone up next season. Which I can't see happening now as the new manager will clearly flog Kohler, Ernst, Peschel, Bungert etc. without hesitation . He should be thankful for the free signings I have lined up.

At least 2 of my staff followed me out the door in protest.

BUT......

All is not lost as Baulmes were one of the 2 clubs promoted and are up for the first time ever, and don't have a manager. Well, they didn't, but they do now .

I refuse to give up (although tbh I probably would have done if there had been no position available).

My objective is to go up before UGS manage it (even if it takes 15 years ).

FC Baulmes

They have a better stadium, no debt and above all a parent club (Neuchatel, am quite happy they went up now!) which UGS never gave me. They have feeder clubs as well.

They have a ridiculous number of players; 67 . Hopefully there will be a few gems amongst them, but over half of those will be out of the door. Hope my reputation(?!) will help me sign a few players as well.

And so it starts again....