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

[gaijin]

Well I gave up in Finland. The gap between pro and semi-pro is too big.

I'm now managing in Sweden with Gullringens. A village of 560 is about to become the hottest team in the CL. Hahaha. I won the second division title by a large margin and am now dominating the First Division South. Awful facilities, low reputation, a small village. They seem to embody everything about a team I want to create into a superpower. My run of late has been down to having some loan signings from the Allsvenskan. Only 4 of my starting lineup are on my wage bill. Hehehe.

[Mike_Cardinal]

I am coming to the end of my third season, and it has frankly been incredible. I will go into details and tell you the outcome in my full update later, (I promise it won't be nearly as "full" as the last ones!), but I am sitting pretty in 3rd place with 4 games to go. Amazing considering my aim was survival. Me and the other top two teams, Landskrona and GIF Sundsvall are so far ahead of the 4th placed team that we have all qualified for the playoff at least.

The top two teams are promoted to the Premier Division automatically, the third has to do a play-off with the third-bottom team from the Premier Division over two legs to determine who will be in what division next season. The interesting thing is that although I am a couple of points behind them both with far worse goal difference, I still have to play both of them at home! So this is about as make or break as it gets, with 3 or more points, I could be looking at automatic, with 2 or less, I'm basically consigned to the lottery of the play-off.

Thought I'd give a little taster to build up the hype over my next update.

[Razer82]

Good luck for the final few game Mike, looking forward to seeing an update later.

[GazTheDoood]

Go on ghostwriter.

Fingers crossed for you.

[Mike_Cardinal]

Cheers Razer. And come on ghostwriter! You deserve success for all of your efforts, here's hoping you can get some soon!

And, season is now finished, there's just the annoyance of the 5-6 week wait before the Best Eleven etc is announced, but I am currently writing up the season update. I think I'll look through some other people's to see how they do it, but as I'm writing at the end instead of as I go along, it will be invariably shorter.

[spotg]

Just about to update again, but wanted to lend support to ghostwriter. Good Luck!

And to Reclaim The Kop, keep going. You can get far in Slovenia. Promise!

[spotg]

Sencur End Of Season Review 2017/18 - Slovenian First Division

Media Prediction: 1st

Board Demands: Title

I promise: Title

Think I'll retire this feature of the report now. Won't change much...

Players Interested: 2165 (up from 2133 the previous season)

Youth facilities to be upgraded, and 658 seats to be added, which will take us to 4000 or so capacity. 4.5m transfer budget and 80k p/w wage budget should be plenty to allow us to get where we need.

CL Campaign is frankly crap. We squeeze past Metalurgs on away goals, and then get the mother of all pastings by Liverpool. 5-0, and we don't have a shot. The 3-0 win in the home leg is impressive, against a side who have won three of the last five champions league trophies, but ultimately futile.

Still, our past exploits mean we are seeded for the UEFA Cup first round, and as such end up with a tie against Falkirk, instead of running the risk of meeting Barcelona. Doesn't help much, as they beat us 2-1 in Scotland. But a nervy 3-1 home win sees us through. *phew*

Marseille

Bayern

Middlesbrough

Udinese.

The reserves are dumped out of the cup 6-4 by a full strength Rudar side. The board are quite cross!

A 17 year old CB, being played out of position at right back scores from 25 yards as we get a point in Italy to start group H very nicely indeed. Although we are soon brought down to earth by two quickfire goals after half time to give Marseille a win at Sportni Park, a 2-0 win at the Riverside leaves us nicely placed.

Winter Break arrives with us 12 points clear of Livar. We've lost a couple, but all is good. A quick check shows that we still have a losing record against Rudar (V)! We'll need to get that sorted pretty bloody soon!

Final UEFA Cup group game is home to already qualified FC Bayern. We need to match or better the result of Udinese at the Riverside to qualify. Bayern are pretty formidable, and it's going to be a tough ask.. Boro go one up after 25 minutes \o/ And get a second two minutes later \o/. Udinese have equalised by half time /o\ . We get to half-time goalless. Then in the 79th minute, Lukes scores! 6 minutes injury time Cvijanovic, in his last game for us, scores a second! We beat Bayern Munchen, 2-0, and qualify from the group in second place!

Which gives us a draw against FC Kobnhavn in the First Knockout round. A much better draw than it could have been... Winners will face Brescia or Getafe, which again could have been much, much worse.

2-1 at home to Kobenhavn is good, and a ridiculous 4-4 at their place sees us through. Top work! Less good is the post-match analysis, which claims that both keepers were the key men, and both had quiet games! I think not... Getafe await in the next round.

And are 4-1 up by half time of the home leg. ****ing terrible. And I tell the team so. We finish 5-5 But a 1-1 in Spain is not enough, and we're gone.

We win the league by 20 points, scoring 111 league goals in the process and getting most points since our unbeaten season.

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

Slovenian First Division 1st

Slovenian Cup - Quarter Final

Champions League Campaign

2Q

Metalurgs (LVA) 3 - 3 Sencur

Sencur 2 - 2 Metalurgs 5-5 On Aggregate. Sencur win on away goals

3Q

Liverpool (ENG) 5 - 0 Sencur

Sencur 3 - 0 Liverpool 3-5 on Aggregate

UEFA Cup

R1

Falkirk (SCO) 2 - 1 Sencur

Sencur 3 - 1 Falkirk 4-3 on aggregate

Group H

Udinese (ITA) 1 - 1 Sencur

Sencur 1 - 2 Marseille (FRA)

Middlesbrough (ENG) 0 - 2 Sencur

Sencur 2 - 0 FC Bayern (GER) Sencur finish second

Knockout R1

Sencur 2 - 1 FC Kobenhavn (DEN)

FC Kobenhavn 4 - 4 Sencur 6-5 on aggregate

Knockout R2

Sencur 5 - 5 Getafe (ESP)

Getafe 1 - 1 Sencur 6-6 on aggregate. Getafe win on away goals.

End Of Season Awards

Danilo Spotgic

Best Eleven

Transfers

Hopes for next season - Same again in the league. Champions League group stages. I've now said this for three seasons in a row...

                                                         P   W   D   L   F   A    GD   Pts
2008-09 Slovenian Second Division 2nd (play-off loss)    27  16   7   4   63  32   31   55
2009-10 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!             27  18   5   4   65  31   34   59
2010-11 Slovenain First Division 9th (play-off loss)     36   7  12  17   55  80  -25   33
2011-12 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!             27  23   3   1   95  16   79   72
2012-13 Slovenian First Division 6th                     36  14   6  16   75  70    5   48
2013-14 Slovenian First Division 2nd                     36  24   4   8  104  42   62   76 
2014-15 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!              36  29   7   0   80  19   61   94
2015-16 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!              36  22   8   6   88  39   49   74
2016-17 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!              36  24   8   4   98  39   59   80
2017-18 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!              36  27   6   3  111  51   60   87

Sencur Honours Board

Slovenian Division Two

2010, 2012

Slovenian Cup

2013, 2017

Slovenian Division One

2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

European Co-efficients

Club - 35.555 (83rd) +50

Nation - 19.875 (16th - 1-3-1) +1

Domestic Titles

Four

[Sazchu]

After a couple of years in Hungary I have been sacked again but this time due to a relegation, After no team came up to the Division II i decided to abandon Hungary and I'm gonna go back home to Iceland, hoping i do better this time around.

But first a small overview of the last season in Hungary.

As has been stated before i was Relegated down from the Division II - East in Hungary with Nagykáta.

The player of the season for us and the Fans Favorite by a large margin was István Horváth who for the second year running was our highest scorer, It's too bad that there were only two proper players in the team this season as i wouldve loved to continue with Nagykáta, but I might give Hungary another shot in the future.

After many years in Hungary i've gone back to Iceland and got Hvíti Riddarinn.

Here I am

[rlipscombe]

After a couple of years in Hungary I have been sacked again but this time due to a relegation, After no team came up to the Division II i decided to abandon Hungary and I'm gonna go back home to Iceland, hoping i do better this time around.

But first a small overview of the last season in Hungary.

As has been stated before i was Relegated down from the Division II - East in Hungary with Nagykáta.

The player of the season for us and the Fans Favorite by a large margin was István Horváth who for the second year running was our highest scorer, It's too bad that there were only two proper players in the team this season as i wouldve loved to continue with Nagykáta, but I might give Hungary another shot in the future.

After many years in Hungary i've gone back to Iceland and got Hvíti Riddarinn.

Here I am

unlucky Sazchu. good luck back home.....

[Mike_Cardinal]

Boo FF – Season 3 (2010) – First Division Elite

Media Prediction: 15th

Final League Position: 3rd (Promoted through Play-off!)

Swedish Cup: 4th Round

A great season. At first though, things were not boding well. This season we were severely written off more than ever before, the media predicting a relegation battle and I couldn’t help but agree. I started off by releasing some dead wood, and a decent bid came in for last season’s goalie so I accepted it and replaced him with a slightly more experienced keeper on a free.

The big transfer coup was getting Victor Bergstrom, recently released from Djurgarden, on a free. This was a coup as he’d been very good as our Defensive Mid last season on loan, and I was surprised that he’d wanted to come permanently, largely due to having both me and the club on his favoured personnel presumably. Anyway, I made some more loans, and signed Mikael Bengtsson back again. He’d been my centre back/captain for the first season, after which I’d sold him for 9k. Now he was back to be captain once more, adding some vital experience to a side with an Average Age of just 21, and he only cost 1k!

The team was still not looking complete though, as evidenced by my “friendly” 14-0 thumping by CSKA Moscow. I asked for a parent club, and was delighted when the board came back with Helsingborg, as it meant that I could sign Rasmus Jonsson back on loan again, who’d previously been rejecting my advances. Now that he was back though, the 31 goal sensation of last season meant my team was a threat to be reckoned with. Here are the Transfers in full: http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/3025/bootransfers3ru2.jpg

Cups

There’s just the one in the Swedish Cup, and this time our expectations had been raised, we needed to reach the Third Round. The season opened up with a nervy 3-2 Extra Time win over Hogaborg, but we followed it up with a 6-0 thumping of Kristianstad. In the third round we got lucky again, drawing the lowest ranked team left in the competition, a 3-0 walkover against an Infjarden team notable only for the fact that they had a certain Tonton Zola Moukoko in their midfield, if any of you remember that CM(99/00 was it) legend. He managed only to get booked though, as Rasmus Jonsson whupped them with a hatrick.

In the Fourth Round, we got our first real test, being drawn away against Norrkoping, who at the time were struggling in the Premier Division. In a bizarre game, we came back from being 3-1 down early in the second half and dragged the tie into Extra Time at 3-3. Sadly we seemed worn out, with their brilliantly named sub winger “Elvis” bagging two before Rasmus got a late consolation and his second. We lost 5-4. Still, good progress in the Cup once again.

League

The League was a different matter. We took everyone, including myself, by surprise and with some great results stormed to the top half of the table and looked there to stay. We had our share of early season fortune while the team gelled, with a few fortunate late winners and comebacks, but then we also drew a couple of games we ought to have won. Our fortune came to its peak when we came back from a goal down away at title challenging GIF Sundsvall (who’d won 11 out of 12) to beat them 2-1.

Soon after that we lost in the cup and then lost our unbeaten record in the league somewhere around the middle of the season away at Landskrona. At that point they’d conceded only one goal in their 8 home games, and they were just a class above and eased past us 2-0.

However, the back of the Landskrona game saw us hit an incredible run of form, winning 10 games in a row, obliterating the club record from our title win in the First Division South last season. In this time the players had gelled well, and Rasmus Jonsson was on fire throughout, becoming the clubs all time top goalscorer. I was equally impressed that we had fought through some terrible injury troubles, with a couple of fringe players proving themselves more capable than I thought.

Rasmus’s loanee strike partner injured himself for the rest of the season in this time and was promptly replaced by the rather good Nicolas Escobar, who I changed our system for, putting him in the hole where he made good runs and had some lovely link up play with Rasmus and our midfielders.

Our 4-2 win over 4th placed Enkopings SK saw them off in the title race really, and it was down to us, Landskrona and GIF Sundsvall. We had been in 3rd place for the majority of the season, but we played both of them at home in the last 3 games, in what would make or break our season. Sundsvall were up first, and they like me were in great form, with seven wins on the trot. Landskrona had been a couple of points ahead for a while, but the game before they had dropped their only home points of the season, drawing 1-1 with Vastra Frolunda.

The game with Sundsvall started off evenly, with our left winger cancelling out their opening goal, and it looked like 1-1 would be how it was at half-time. However, out of nowhere they hit a 43rd minute 25 yarder to put them ahead, and then from my kick-off I was dispossessed; they charged down the wing and a good cross was headed home by their striker for his second. My boys went into the changing rooms shell-shocked, at a loss as to how they were 3-1 down. But if the first half was Sundsvall’s, then the second was ours. I got a great reaction from the players after questioning their passion to win the game in the break, and Jonsson and Escobar respectively both popped up with goals to level the game. Our pressings for a late winner got nowhere though, and it ended in an entertaining 3-3 draw. I was worried that might be the end of our automatic promotion hopes, being a couple of points behind.

Astonishingly though, fourth placed Enkopings did me a great favour and inflicted Landskrona with their only defeat of the season so far on the same day. This was followed by a round of matches which all 3 teams won comfortably in, and it was down to the last day. It stood with both Landskrona and Sundsvall on 76 points, and me on 74. Sundsvall’s excellent goal difference basically ensured their promotion, and I would have to get a win for automatic promotion. My only slight comfort was that Landskrona’s outstanding central midfielder had been poached by AIK in the Transfer Window, but nevertheless it was a very strong side. We did have the advantage of being at full strength for the first time in over two months though.

Things couldn’t have started much worse, as in the second minute they scored. A soft goal too, our captain’s poor clearance was taken advantage of and Anton Holmberg lifted it over the advancing keeper. With ever brilliant timing though, Mikael Bengtsson made up for his mistake 20 minutes later, heading a corner in for his first goal of the season! I was doubly surprised, as I think we’d probably scored only 2 or 3 from corners all season! This is how it looked to be as we went into half-time, before left-back Marcus Danielsson got himself sent off. It was a stupid double booking, which could have easily been avoided, but nonetheless we faced an uphill struggle in the second half. I sacrificed forward Escobar for a defender, and told the lads to essentially play keep-ball and try and get one on the break.

Astonishingly, it seemed quite effective, their chances were restricted and we looked like we had half a chance. Heartbreakingly, we couldn’t hold on and Gustaf Crona headed home a free-kick. Needing two goals in fifteen minutes, we seemed resigned to the dreaded play-off. But three minutes later, a fantastic team move saw Rasmus Jonsson burst away on the half-way line, taking on three defenders and smashing it in the top corner for an outstanding trademark goal. We huffed and puffed, but no winner was to be found, and 2-2 is how it stayed, leaving us in third place with the play-off to look to. I was still rather proud of our valiant efforts having stayed in the game with probably the best side in the league (even though Sundsvall won it) with 10 men for most of the match. In the end, there were two other teams in the league that were simply too good.

The play-off saw us against Oster, and preparations were looking as well as possible, when disaster struck. Tommi Vaiho, my first choice goalie, managed to break his ribs in training, putting him out of action for a month, meaning he’d miss the play-off games. The duty fell to 19 year old Niclas Eriksson, set to make his debut for the club. His only match he’d played in since joining was the friendly against CSKA Moscow where I’d lost 14-0, but at that time there were only 10 players in the squad (early pre-season) and he’d been forced to go on the left wing. He got a 3.

Still, I took heart in the fact that we had far superior team morale, and their nifty looking Brazilian striker Quirino was suspended for the game at their place. The first half was a dull affair, notable only for the soft goal we conceded. They lumped it up to their big Estonian bloke, Eriksson didn’t move and he headed home. 1-0 at Half-Time. Two minutes into the second half, they doubled their lead with basically a carbon copy goal. This time there was a bit more creativity with an actual run down the wing before it was hoofed into the box, where the same guy scored again. I had a slight change of tactic, we had a couple of chances, and in the 56th minute Rasmus Jonsson dispossessed their hesitant left back on the half way line, played a great one-two with Escobar then buried it.

2-1 down, it could be worse considering we still had the second leg back at our place. Shortly afterwards though, it was worse. We were harmlessly playing the ball around when it came to our right back, who was put under pressure. He panicked, and played a 30 yard ball back to the keeper. 19 year old Niclas Eriksson was caught totally off-guard and out of position, and it somehow rolled straight past him and into the bottom corner. One of the better comedy own goals I've seen on FM08, but I wasn't really in the mood to enjoy it! We marched back up the other end though, and made up for it with Escobar scoring with a smart finish after a long ball upfield by our left midfielder. 3-2, a couple of away goals, I’ll take that I thought, so I shut up shop for the last twenty minutes. But in the 91st minute, they got another, their substitute striker picking up a good through ball for a simple finish. 4-2 was a long way back for the second leg. But somehow, in the 94th of 95, Rasmus Jonsson scored yet another outstanding solo effort aganst Oster’s tired legs, picking up a good through ball, rounding the keeper on the edge of his box and blasting home. So, 4-3 final score, and we took 3 away goals back home with us!

The home game wasn’t nearly as entertaining, but much more enjoyable for me to watch. We controlled the game from start to finish, and goals came in the shape of firstly an excellent 25 yard free kick by Emil Salomonsson and then a header from a free kick by centre back Oskar Gustafsson. Oskar got another chance in the second half from a corner but this time he hit the crossbar, and Joakim Persson scrambled it home. This left us 6-4 up on aggregate with 20 minutes left, and we coasted through the rest of the game. I really wasn’t bothered in the slightest when their Brazilian Striker poached a late consolation goal because we'd done it anyway!. 3-1 on the night, 6-5 on aggregate. Against all odds, Boo were going up!

Boo Squad: http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1751/boosquad3iy8.jpg

Final League Table: http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1535/finalbootable3wa8.jpg

Play-Off: http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8660/playoff3ff4.jpg

Season Progress: http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/8122/seasonprogress3iw7.jpg

Board Confidence: http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/2262/booconfidence3jv2.jpg

Awards

Rasmus Jonsson won the First Division Elite Top Goalscorer award with 31 goals in 25 games (As well as two more in the Play-off!)

Joakim Persson (Loanee centre mid) won First Division Elite Goal Of The Season with an outstanding 35 yard free kick. I don’t think I’ve ever won this award before!

I came second in the Manager of the Year, pleased enough with that!

Joakim Persson and Rasmus Jonsson made the First Division Elite Team of the Year.

Emil Salomonsson won Player’s Player of the Year for the second successive season since being at the club.

Seasonal Best Eleven: http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9725/seasonbesteleven3an2.jpg

Overall Best Eleven: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2987/overallbesteleven3vb0.jpg

Oh yeah, and the marvellous Rasmus Jonsson, striker extraordinaire! Over 40 goals is utterly ridiculous to be honest, I can’t believe this young man. He’s only just turned twenty as well! I sincerely hope that this isn’t the last I see of him in my Boo side, as he is genuinely a joy to watch. http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9555/rasmusjonsson3pn2.jpg

Next Season

I'm not sure whether that was a more manageable length, was it? I think it was a bit shorter at least. Well of course, for the fourth season a row the aim will be survival! Every other time I have far surpassed my expectations, and I guess that’s because I had no idea what calibre of player I could attract, but the Premier Division certainly looks like a huge jump up in quality, and staying in it would be a massive achievement in all seriousness. I don’t know whether Helsingborg will cancel the feeder link due to my being in the same league, and that might affect my hopes of getting Rasmus back on loan.

I’ll want to get as many former loanees who’s contracts are running out on frees as possible, as I seriously doubt there will be any transfer budget again. Still, both mine and the club’s Reputation has gone up to National, and I really hope we turn pro because we’re by far the poorest club to ever grace the Premier Division. Oh well, being younger than most of you chaps probably, I am on my summer break and so have a fair bit of FM time, so lets hope that I can reach Europe some time in the next few weeks! But first up, getting a bucket load of players, and staying up.

Oh, and if anybody knows what code I have to put in so that I can link to screenshots from just one word or a phrase e.g. Clicking on the text “League Table” links to the final table screenshot, then that would be handy for my next update to make things look less messy.

[rlipscombe]

congrats Mike!! great job. good luck in 'the big league'

[Mike_Cardinal]

Thanks rlipscombe.

Next season is looking somewhat brighter now, as the one and only Rasmus Jonsson has join the Mighty Boo(sh) permanently! His Helsingborg contract ran out and they decided not to retain, so I swooped quickly, and beat Hacken and Landskrona to his signature on a free! To celebrate, I am trying to put a picture of him I've found into the game.

[Frazza Pee]

Restarted this in Sweden again. My other save got corrupted. Decided to go Sunnana this time. Here is my profile.

[gaijin]

Good luck in the Allsvenskan Mike. The thing is, even if you go down use the experience and money wisely. Its all a learning progress, because you are probably two or three years ahead of schedule. I would say don't be too disheartened if you see yourself struggling.

The gap between professional and semi-pro can be huge at times, although its not impossible. Although the board have set me a goal of avoiding relegation this season, I am more than able to stay up and possibly sneak into the top 3. Nearly all the teams who come down from the Allsvenskan, immediately go back up.

Hopefully at the end of this season, I shall get some upgrades - because I'm selling out my tiny 750 capacity stadium out every week now. Although I would love promotion, I'd rather keep on building my rep and infrastructure, rather than risk the potential nightmare of getting hammered week in week out. My bank balance is -71k but for some reason the board keep on eating the TV money. I imagine, a stadium upgrade would help a lot, considering I'm well within the salary budget allowance.

Does anyone know what you have to do to go professional in Sweden? How long does it take?

[Mike_Cardinal]

Hmm thanks gaijin. I've also noticed that, its basically a cycle of the same teams going up and down. The 300k in TV Money is nice though. Due to a fair few loans every year, I've managed to stay well under the wage budget and have made a slight profit every year. The club is now worth somewhere around 500k, but there are still teams bigger than that in the Second Division!

My stadium is odd, because it doesn't exactly exist. On the Club Information screen it just says Unknown, and is called Boo Stadium on matchdays. I asked the board for an expansion out of curiosity, and they "reminded" me that we don't own our stadium, so we can't. Odd though, because although it doesn't have an actual size, last season we were filling it out at 1.3k odd on average, which is very good considering we got about 400 a week in the Second Division. One game in the cup we managed to fit 5k in there, so certainly there is room!

It seems to be a funny league though, the Allsvenskan, there are some quality players, I'd say that the top teams are definitely high Championship - Mid/Low Premiership standard, and I'd say I'm at best a strong League 1 side. Like I said, survival would be great if I can get the players but the board only wanted me to battle bravely to which I've agreed, and I've got there in half the time I expected. And as for going professional, I have no idea, but they've not done it yet! I'm trying out things that have made me go pro in other leagues, such as getting all my staff to sign on Full Time contracts instead of Part Time etc (Try it, it really helps) but to no avail. Oh well, I am sure that at some stage I will go pro and by then I can probably launch a challenge for Europe.

[Razer82]

Well done on promotion Mike and good luck for next season.

If I remember correctly, Tonton was a star of CM 01/02.

Also good luck to Frazza and Sazchu for your new games.

gaijin - I don't know what it will take for Sweden, but in most other games that I've seen, you need a bank balance of £5million or more in order to turn pro.

It may be different in Sweden and you may have be forced into turning pro upon promotion to the top division. I'm sure that someone else will be able to give you an exact answer though.

[rlipscombe]

KFUM Oslo - Season 2010 - Norweigen First Division (Adeccoligaen) - Season Review

Media Prediction: 16th

Actual position:

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it would be fair to say that our first season in the Adeccoligaen was a success. with us tipped to struggle to avoid relegation, it was never really a possibility and we spent most of the season in the top half. coming into the final quarter, we had an outside chance of making a play-off place until cruel luck (and me mentioning it on the forum ) caused a few injuries and a loss of form. we eventually recovered, but by then it was too late.

Squad (GK & DEF)

Squad (MID & ATT)

once more, we had to rely fairly heavily on loan signings to ensure our squad was of the required quality. i managed to secure a few of our promotion winners on loan once more, including the goalscoring machine that was Odion Ighalo. the man was once more a goal scoring predator, and scored just over a goal a game. his injury brought our promotion charge to a shuddering halt. Odion was definately my player of the season.

the fan's player of the season was Stian Ringstad. Stian had another steady season, weighing in with some important goals. he did however have two periods where he went more than 10 hours without a goal.

OTHER PLAYERS OF NOTE:

Are Soderlund Are was, behind Ighalo, our best performer. moved into the AMC position in pre-season, he excelled and never looked back. the press have been raving about him and suggesting he's ready for greater things. maybe he is, but it'll be with the Kaffa!

Jamil Fearrington another good season from our Danish rock. not much more that i can say really, other than i hope he stays for many seasons with us.

Goksal Guvenc this young winger had a large part to play in our season in his loan season with the club. i tried to get him for the new season, but he went elsewhere. fool.

Per-Christian Myhre played only a squad role this season, struggling to establish himself in the starting line-up. he still has a bright future at the club, and may get more game time this season.

Bext XI (season)

Best XI (overall)

i haven't included a finances screen, as it doesn't make great reading. we are still struggling with the burden of our stadium expansion, although the debt has been reduced form £4.5m to £2m as a result of board injections. with a bit of luck ,the debt might be cleared this time next season if the injections keep coming.......

THE SEASON AHEAD

since the end of last season, a few things have already developed. i have signed up some of our key players (myhre, ringstad included) on full-time contracts, in order to further develop their abilities. i will certainly be looking for improvement from Myhre. i have also managed to get Odion Ighalo in on another season long loan, so hopefully he can get us 20 goals again. Martin Fermin, our loan signing from last season, and Fearringtons defensive partner, has signed a permanent deal, which has pleased me alot.

TARGETS FOR NEW SEASON.

>>> more of the same in the league. i'd love to maybe sneak a promotion place, but i feel it might still be out of our reach.

>>> be less reliant on loan signings. i have managed to bring in a few more quality players on permanent deals which will help. we are not yet up to the required quality to ignore loan signings however.

>>> perform better in the cup. we have a woeful record in the Norweigen cup, which seems to get worse each season i play. i'd love to make it to the final, thought at this moment in time the 3rd round would do...

Onwards we go...

after being mothballed for about 4 months, i think i am going to dust off my KFUM Oslo game once i've finished my season on the Wallace/Roberts thread. i've been toying with the idea of coming back to this challenge, and why not pick up where i left off as opposed to starting a new game...

looking forward to managing Ringstad and Myhre again......

[mista T]

decided to have a go at this. going to manage in Hungary, just holidaying now.

[mista T]

one thing, am I allowed to use another nations starting point so I can use as little holidaying time as possible? because you can start in march 08' in sweden and then I would only have 3 months of holidaying

[Frazza Pee]

one thing, am I allowed to use another nations starting point so I can use as little holidaying time as possible? because you can start in march 08' in sweden and then I would only have 3 months of holidaying

No, I shouldn't think so as you would get more regens being developed from those countries which would give you an advantage I would imagine.

[Razer82]

one thing, am I allowed to use another nations starting point so I can use as little holidaying time as possible? because you can start in march 08' in sweden and then I would only have 3 months of holidaying

No, because that you involve having more than one country active in the game and you're meant to load all leagues from one nation only.

Just need to be patient with the holidaying.

[mista T]

ok, I have decided to start a new game with semi-pro Hungarian side, Letavertes. They are predicted to come 16th out of 16 in the regional east division. Seem to have a challenge on my hands, the club is worth 55k :O

[mista T]

It seems I'm totally screwed. This club has every single player greyed except 4, no staff, unambitious chairman, and a 2000 (200 seated) stadium. I have fought relegation odds and gotten promoted before with dag & red, but I have no idea how helpful that will be with my only chance being to take a ton of loans from debrecen.

[Mike_Cardinal]

It's probably not quite as bad as you think mista T. A considerable amount of people are without any players or staff when they start out, but they still manage to get by in general. Just get scouts as soon as possible, and get them on the case of finding you players, and sign up as many of the better ones as possible!

[mista T]

thanks for you support mike. One problem with managing in Hungary is the fact that you have about 20 days for signings, then have to wait about 5 months to open again. No free transfers allowed either.

[mista T]

after an extremely dissapointing start to the season, I have set myself a goal. Get at least one win in the next 3 games, or quit this challenge and go to dafuges.

[mista T]

(sorry for double post) some will call me a quitter, but it is infuriating losing 7-2 to a team in the LEAGUE.

[mista T]

or I may just restart the challenge

[mista T]

and so, after 5 straight defeats in Hungary, I'm tin-tacked anyway. Off to Northern Ireland now.

[Mikel LUFC]

Quintuple post ftw?

[mista T]

sorry about that. not trying to post boost, but seems to be little activity in this thread atm.

[joke] currently holidaying in the n. Ireland sun [/joke]

[mista T]

ok, my new team, albert foundry, looks much, MUCH more likely to be succesful. predicted to come 5th, I think I've got a good chance of doing well.

[Razer82]

Good luck in Northern Ireland mista T, it's going to be a lot harder than Hungary.

Give us a shout if you need any advice.

[mista T]

thanks Razer , but I believe I've got a better chance here.

and I could use some help. My scouts all go out on trips for about 2 days, and then come back with very little to nothing to report. What gives?

[DodgeeD]

Cheml Blsany, Czech First Division, 2018-19 Season

This season the club would be looking for it's 4th title in a row along with a 3rd consecutive double (the cup win was now demanded by the board!). Blsany would also be entered into the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round for the first time, where we would be hoping for an easy draw.

There was the usual battle to hang on to players, which was won on some fronts but lost on others. The main blows were the loss of Laszlo Orosz (although I did get a very good deal from Bayern Munich: 8.5mil up front, 6.5mil in installments and a 40% sell on. I guess he was a real superstar in the making!), captain and heart of the defence Michael Supka and Semir Rasic, who had been my back-up GK for years, only got his chance as I lost my main keeper last year, did well and promptly demnaded to leave. However, I managed to get the Austrian national keeper in as a replacement. Up front, I felt my other strikers were good enough to absorb the loss of Orosz. Defence was a problem though as my other main defender was unhappy about not being able to leave and Vagner (who I touted as a good prospect a few reports back) seemed destined to never reach his potential. This meant I would be putting my untested Panamnian centre back, Luis Ramos in at the deep end (but it paid off as he eventually made it into the 1st Division Team of the Year).

Europe

We faced FC Twente in the qualifying round, whom we had lost to away and thrashed at home in the Group Stages last year. We lost away again, 2-1 but the away goal gave us confidence for the return leg. We did what was needed as a 1-0 win put us through to the Group Stages on away goals. We got a tough group with Bayern Munich (with their new hot striker Orosz ), Valencia and AEK Athens our opponents. I was confident of beating AEK to the UEFA Cup spot and hopeful of doing enough to sneak second. The results were as follows:

Valencia 3 - Blsany 2

Blsany 2 - AEK 1

Bayern 3 - Blsany 3

Blsany 1 - Bayern 3

Blsany 1 - Valencia 1

AEK 1 - Blsany 2

We got the wins against AEK along with a credible away draw with Bayern Munich, in which we came back from 2-0 and 3-2 down. We were unlucky to lose at Valencia to a last minute penalty but the home draw to Valencia was disappointing as we had plenty of chances to win. Had we done so, we wold have got second place but ultimately we had to settle for third and the UEFA Cup.

Our UEFA Cup run didn'T last long as we were paired with Barcelona. We lost 2-0 in Spain and 3-2 at home to go out 5-2 on aggregate.

The Domestic Season

The league was much tighter this season. Up to the winter break, there were 5 teams in contention with only 3 points seperating them: us, the usual challengers Sparta and Slavia Prague and surprise packages Mlada Boleslav and Slovan Liberic. We got lucky in the cup with three non-league teams in the early rounds meaning we wouldn't have to face league opposition until the quarters took place in April. Over the winter break, I managed to bring in a Belgian defender - a good sign as he was being chased by several clubs across Europe but chose to come to us. (I also picked up a couple of South Americans my scouts spotted at the South American U-20 Championship - hopefully, I'll be telling you about them a few seasons down the line ).

Into the second half of the season, we put together a good undefeated run. However, Mlada Boleslav were matching us result for result. When we won, so did they. When we drew, so did they. Our head-to-head match ended level of course and the only thing keeping us ahead of them was goal difference, and even that was close. Mlada Boleslav took a slight advantage towards the end of the season as we were playing in the cup final, causing a match to be postponed and we had another game rearranged somewhat annoyingly as our opponents ground was being used for an U-19 match. That left us with 3 games to play in 5 days at the end of the season. We won the first two to overtake our title rivals on goal difference. Going into the last game, the situation was like this: both sides had 66 points, our g.d. was +34 and M.Boleslav's was +33!! In the final game, we quickly went 2 goals up and it was looking good as Boleslav were only 1 up at half-time. In the second half news came thorugh that our rivals had scored 2 more and levelled the goal difference. We started to chase the game more to regain the initiative. Unfortunately, my players were tired out by the fixture pile-up and we conceded in the last minute just as news came that Boleslav had scored a 4th. In the end, we suffered heartache in a bizarre fashion - we were leading with one game left, we won that game but ended up second!

Final Table

Some consolation came from the fact that we won the cup for the third year in a row. (Actually, this may have saved my job as the board were 'incredibely disappointed' that I had failed to win the league - come on! Cut me some slack!).

It's a good thing then that 2 Czech teams go into the Champions League now, so we can have another crack at that next year.

Other News

The new stadium was delayed three times before we finally moved in in April (although we started to play our home European games there in November :confused:). 25,000+ capacity with undersoil heating but, bizarrely, the board decided to add another 11,000 seats immediately! Training and youth facilities will also be improved over the summer.

We are now 65th on the world rich clubs list (Despite this, our club rep is still only national) and far and away the richest club in the Czech Republic.

The Players

The following stood out this season and received various accolades as a result:

Fan's Player of the Year: Lubos Sedlacek - having been used as a back-up for a few seasons, he stepped up following the sale of Orosz. He was brilliant in the second half of the season, at one point scoring in 7 consecutive games.

Czech First Division Young Player of the Year: Michael Bühler - this young Swiss left back was a revelation but unfortunately ended up attracting a lot of attention from club's around Europe. The battle to hold on to him begins! Overall, my youngsters domianted the award as three of them took the top three spots! (the 3rd placed player, Gottwald, is mine but was out on loan).

First Division Goal of the Season: Ibai Alonso - those of you who follow my reports may remember me labelling him as 'one to watch' a few seasons ago. Well, he came of age this season as my first choice AMC was injured most og the time. plenty of asissts and goals including a screamer from 30 yards to claim the best goal award.

2018-19 Best XI

Overall Best XI - included this season as three players (Fuat, Takovac and Ivanov) were inducted.

Aims for next season: reclaim the title!!

For Gundo's Table:

Domestic Titles: 3

Club Coefficient: 33.158 (84th)

Nation Coefficient: 21.700 (17th)

[Razer82]

DodgeeD - Well done on that season, good to see you making an impact in Europe. I'm longing for the day that I might finish 3rd in a Champions League group.

mista T - My scouts are still coming back after only a couple of days and I'm into 2021, so I can't explain that for you I'm afraid.

To begin with you're probably better trying to get some of the free transfers in on trial, that way you're able to look at them yourself and still get an assistant's view of things. Your best bet for players that will improve the team greatly are the islanders that appear in September.

[mista T]

Islanders? have heard of them, but didn't think I would be able to get their scout report.

[Razer82]

Players generated from nations in N. America, excluding Canada, U.S.A, Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.

These largely revolve around

Monserrat

British Virgin Islands

Anguilla

Bahama's

Barbados

Caymen Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

Islanders? have heard of them, but didn't think I would be able to get their scout report.

I've quoted an old post from Nep just to confirm where the islanders come from for you.

You can't scout them, you'll need to bring them in on trial first.

[mista T]

so how come they come in september? and how good are they in comparison to the complete lack of talent required in N. Ireland?

[Razer82]

I don't know why it's september, that's just the way it is. You should look around about the 20th.

They are amazing in comparison to the talent in N.I.

Blackwell and Downing are two of the guys that I got in my first season and they dominated the scoring tables for a number of years.

[daemonic]

Mista / Razer, I think the scouts will always be very quick at compiling the report for your own country as there knowledge there should be 100%. Only if your home nation is huge will it take longer.

Good look up North Mista, dominating the league is easy but Europe is a nightmare. Of all the eligible countries, only Iceland & Wales have equivalent league reps and they are also very tough compared to Hungary etc.

Also, the Islanders only turn up around 2009/2010 so you won't find any in the first season.

[gaijin]

gaijin - I don't know what it will take for Sweden, but in most other games that I've seen, you need a bank balance of £5million or more in order to turn pro.

It may be different in Sweden and you may have be forced into turning pro upon promotion to the top division. I'm sure that someone else will be able to give you an exact answer though.

Yeah, but there are teams in Sweden with a club value of 500k, who obviously don't have 5m in the bank, but are still professional. I think the threshold could be lower for higher reputation leagues. I'm fairly sure getting promoted to the Allsvenskan doesn't mean automatic professional status. One semi-pro side did go up, stayed semi-pro, amassed 6 points all season and slumped back down to where they belong.

At the halfway point of my debut season in the Elite division, its basically the two who came down last season (what a surprise) who are 6 and 10 points clear respectively. GIFS who are the other professional team in the league (although probably not for much longer due to financial problems) are the only other team challenging me for this 3rd playoff spot.

Its a bit of a joke really. Djugardens are looking likely to come down this season, and no doubt they will freaking dominate this division if they do.

On the notion of islanders, I managed to sign two Trinidad and Tobago players. One a all round centre-forward and the other a lanky defender. Micah Williams (screenies soon) is just amazing at this level. Plus he is in love with me.

[kccircle]

Think I'm back on this with my Cookstown game - season 2018.

Been over two months since last play

[gaijin]

Finished 4th. 20 points clear of 5th place and missed out on a playoff place on GD. This league is a bit of a joke now. Djurgardens did go down, so I anticipate another record breaking season as they'll probably drop about 4 points all season.

The top 3 in the Elite league, were all professional. I am so happy that GIFS lost to Kalmar in the playoffs though.

[mista T]

this league is strange and confusing. I get a scout report on a player saying "leading star for most league 1 sides". BUT he has 2 stars and "avoid signing". What is up?

[rlipscombe]

this league is strange and confusing. I get a scout report on a player saying "leading star for most league 1 sides". BUT he has 2 stars and "avoid signing". What is up?

basically, it will be because the standard of player for the lower leagues in N.I are that bad, that a 'rubbish' player can do a great job at that level. At this early stage, anyone rated good for the league you'r ein, and definately the one above, should be signed really. sign them on a 1-year deal, and see how they go. by all accounts, it's not too difficult to get out of the bottom league there.

[mista T]

I suppose, but I scouted a player with 10 finishing, far above the standard of my other strikers, and he got a pretty bad rating.

[Razer82]

I suppose, but I scouted a player with 10 finishing, far above the standard of my other strikers, and he got a pretty bad rating.

Sign him quick, with double figures for finishing he should do very well at this level.

Also a striker with pace will serve you well.

[daemonic]

The ratings are based on the players (hidden) PA & CA. The player with 10 finishing may be at his peak and therefore rated poorly. That said, scouting reports are VERY dependent on your teams reputation and the standard of the league you're in. I've had a team full of 5 & 6 star players, then got promoted which would have bumped up our rep and obviuosly the league standard is higher...all my players, now 3 or 4 star.

Also worth remembering, scouts get it wrong sometimes

[mista T]

Albert Foundry

well, my start to the season was opened with a poor performance thanks to a completely blind ref. Allowed a blatently offside goal for them, and then disallowed a perfectly good goal for us.