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

[mista T]

Albert Foundry 2009/2010 season

position: 3rd

Micro Update. Pretty good season, qualified for the EURO cup. Not too good in any cups entered

more on this tommorow.

[Razer82]

I'm at the stage now in Northern Ireland that my season is as follows

1) Win League easily

2) Win one or all domestic cups

3) Struggle in Setanta Cup (last season saw me reach final so maybe this has changed)

4) Get knocked out in 1st or 2nd round of Champions League

I managed to sign a few Eastern Europeans from my annual Champions League 1st round opponants - Debrecen. Should make me a little cash when they decide they are too good for my league.

Not found an Islander for a couple of seasons now, although have two 17 year olds with 7 star potential. Cannot wait to see how they do. Think my whole team is now 6/7 stars and with an average age of just 20 I think I need to now let them progress. Perhaps this is where I am going wrong and need that bit of experience an older player brings. Additionally (I cannot confirm this - perhaps someone else can) players develop their physical attributes as they reach their peak. Should help them become stronger on the ball

I'll post an update soon - Cookstown Olympic - season 2018/19

Progress will come in Europe and the All Ireland Cup now that you're signing Eastern Europeans, they had a similar effect on my team's performance as the Islanders did at the beginning of the game.

A couple of favorable draws in Europe will give you a boost too.

[Sazchu]

One thing that annoys me about N. Ireland(on 2nd season doing well in the league, first with few games to go) that is all those damn cups, if you do well in them there is alot of cup games and then league games inbetween and the players get awfully tired, and it does not help having alot of tired players when all your ST/AMC players are injured and U19 england is calling the main gk for a game, which he does not get to play in, not even on the bench.

[Razer82]

One thing that annoys me about N. Ireland(on 2nd season doing well in the league, first with few games to go) that is all those damn cups, if you do well in them there is alot of cup games and then league games inbetween and the players get awfully tired, and it does not help having alot of tired players when all your ST/AMC players are injured and U19 england is calling the main gk for a game, which he does not get to play in, not even on the bench.

Wait until you've got Europe to contend with too. Now that I'm making the group stages of the Champions League I've got a huge backlog of fixtures, made worse this year by further progress (more about that when I've finished my season).

This year it was nearly December before I played my first league game and by April we'd only managed 15 league games.. My first 18 games of the season were cup games of one form or another. The fixture backlog means we're playing games every other day and have had a run of 3 games on 3 consecutive days twice.

So I'm afraid that it's only going to get worse, so a deep squad is required to do well.

[Sazchu]

Wait until you've got Europe to contend with too. Now that I'm making the group stages of the Champions League I've got a huge backlog of fixtures, made worse this year by further progress (more about that when I've finished my season).

This year it was nearly December before I played my first league game and by April we'd only managed 15 league games.. My first 18 games of the season were cup games of one form or another. The fixture backlog means we're playing games every other day and have had a run of 3 games on 3 consecutive days twice.

So I'm afraid that it's only going to get worse, so a deep squad is required to do well.

Woah, i'm not looking forward to europe then, i was actually happy when i was out of all the cups since i could see my team performing worse and worse as games went on luckaly after being out of all the cups my players have gotten back into form and we're on a 6 win streak now 8 point lead with 6 games to go, pretty sure we're going up this season, just hope we can do well next season aswell, since we gotta get up to where we can make money, and fast.

[Sazchu]

Seems like i'm not all out of cups, thought i had lost the game in the Irish cup 4th round, seems not.

[Charlesbeams]

i know im very late on this, but i really want to give it a shot. ill edit this post with a profile screenshot when ive found a team and what not.

Profile

Team Info

wtf i can only buy u-19s, i cant be doing with that, i think im going to end up restarting, ill see how it goes in the league for a few games first.

[Charlesbeams]

after my initial doubts over the u-19 thing, i think ill just stick to it, if i get relegated, ill start over, it could be quite fun.

one thing i dont understand is why i have an u-19 and reserve squad, when my main team are u-19.

also after 5 leagues games im 12th, which i didnt expect, i expected to be 14th. i know im going to struggle, but hopefully ill avoid relegation.

[kccircle]

Cookstown Olympic - Season 2018/19 Review

As already posted we are at the stage where the league is getting quite easy. The cups are also normally winnable bar the Setanta Cup. In addition we get knocked out of the Champions League in the 1st round (usually by Debrecen)

In addition my finances always hover around the £1m mark

Aim for next season

Scout like mad over the summer in Eastern Europe

Reach 2nd or 3rd round of Champions League

Win Setanta Cup

[rlipscombe]

another good season kccircle - good luck foinding those eastern europeans that will get you into the champions league

[Razer82]

Well done on another good season kccircle.

Hopefully you'll get some talented Eastern Europeans to boost your squad.

Have you turned pro yet?

[mista T]

Uefa cup ended badly, Knocked out in the first qual round by Red star Belgrade. Mind you, the 50k I got for competing took me close to getting out of debt.

[kccircle]

Well done on another good season kccircle.

Hopefully you'll get some talented Eastern Europeans to boost your squad.

Have you turned pro yet?

Yes, turned pro the summer after I had £1m in the bank. Training is much better now so hopefully kids progress better

[Charlesbeams]

Pirin 2001 - Bulgarian Western 'B' Division

Media Prediction: 11/14

Season Expectations: Avoid Relegationi started the season with the expectations of being totally dominated in every game i played, mainly because, i could only sign players that were under 20 years old. i was pretty confused by this, and i thought it was the whole league, but it was, it was only Pirin 2001.

i signed quite a few players before the start of the season too, one player would prove to be very important indeed. if i didnt have him, i would have been relegated for sure.

unfortunately i forgot to take a screenshot when he was still at the club (he was on loan), but i took a screenshot of his history.

Georgi Petrov - he agreed to sign for me for free aswell, so he'll be there next season. he also got Top Scorer in the league.

pre-season didnt go well, i went on a tour of poland, and lost all my games, by many goals, which made me think my team was going to do even worse in the league.

it didnt start well at all, but i started winning a few, and drawing, but overall i thought i did quite well, avoiding relegation on the second last game.

Final Table

Squad - forgot to screenshot, and it only shows the current players, not the loanees

Transfers

towards the end of the season i had an offer for one of my players, which i was REALLY happy with, his value was 2k, and they offered me 100k for him, i had to accept it, as 100k for a team like mine is really good, and i was 15k in debt, also im pretty sure i could get a replacement for him easy enough.

Offer

my last game was really good too i wasn't faves at all, playing the team in 4th place, i was 2-0 up after 37 minutes, but then found myself drawing 2-2 at half time , i started the second half the same way, and 2mins in i found myself losing, but got back on level at 52mins, it stayed like this for ages, i made a sub around 87mins to waste more time, and then they had another chance, 4mins stoppage time, and i thought, ill make another sub, because I'd like a draw, around 91mins, i made the sub, took my striker off, and then 94:17, the sub scored to get me the win i was so happy.

Match

i also got knocked out of the cup in the first round, on penalties

Next Season:

see if i can buy players that are over 19

sign a couple of players

finish higher than last yearget further in the cup

hope this is ok, if you want any other screenshots, i can most likely get you them.

[Razer82]

Yes, turned pro the summer after I had £1m in the bank. Training is much better now so hopefully kids progress better

Looks like you got lucky there then, I didn't turn pro until I had over £5m in the bank. Although all my players were on full time contracts long before that, the boost in training was still noticable.

Charlesbeams - Well done on staying up in your first season, especially seeing as you're only able to sign 19 year olds. Were there any players over that age when you first started?

[Charlesbeams]

Charlesbeams - Well done on staying up in your first season, especially seeing as you're only able to sign 19 year olds. Were there any players over that age when you first started?

thanks, and no all the players were 19 or under, there is a few 20yr olds now, but only because their birthdays have passed haha.

[daemonic]

Sporting Fingal - Irish First Division 2012

Transfers

A quiet January transfer window saw DLC, Ian Smith leave for 220k and be replaced by Ken Kenny for 1k. Thomas Hewitt also left for Derry after refusing to sign a new contract.

The Summer transfer window saw some big offers come in. 350k from Bohs for Jamaican DR Anthony Allen was turned down, but a 750k offer, also from Bohemians, for top scoring Anguillan, Nick Moore was accepted by the chairman and off he went. We were over loaded on forwards anyway so no replacement was needed. Of the players released by other clubs, a number were scouted or offered trials. Only Slovenian MC, Goran Gavric was offered a contract and he joined a wealth of midfield talent. A couple of Islander were signed in September but I doubt they will make the step up.

The Domestic Season

All-Ireland Cup

Again we started the season in the All Ireland Cup, We drew the same teams as last year, Bohs, Cliftonville & Portadown. We best Bohs at home, they beat us when we visited and we both hammered the N.I. teams. We finished 2nd on GD so faced the winners of the other group, Galway Utd in the semi-final. Galway went 2 up by the 21st minute but we fought back to win 3-2. In the final at Lansdowne Road we (almost inevitabley) faced Bohs again. Bohemians were better than us throughout the match in every area, but luck was on our side. An own-goal gave us an 89th minute equaliser and then in the 7th minute of extra-time Bohs were harshly reduced to 10 men. And still they continued to outplay us until we broke away in the 118th minute and clinched a very lucky All-Ireland Cup victory. Best part is the prize money, 120k for taking part, another 180k for winning and 120k for our final position...420k for 8 matches

League

Despite the league starting with 4 away games due to fixture cancellations we started like a team on a mission. 10 games played we were 6 point clear and had a game in hand on the chasing pack. 7 wins and 3 defeats in the next 10 games extended our lead over 2nd place Cork to 9 points. We were winning games at a canter and by game 30 we were 14 points clear of arch-nemesis Bohemians in 2nd. Next game was against Bohemians at home. We only managed a draw but a loss for Bohs in their next game meant it was enough for us to be CHAMPIONS all with an average squad age of just 21.

Irish Senior Challenge Cup

In the Irish Cup we faced Premier Division Drogheda in the 2nd Round. We only drew 1-1 at home but won the replay 1-0. Next up was a trip accross Dublin to play U.C.D. which we won comfortabley 2-0. The Quarter Final at home to Division 1, Waterford Utd saw us limp to a 1-0 win. Next up in the Semi-Final were Derry. We had home advantage and made it pay with a 4-2 win. The final was against Cork City and we had the better chances but it ended 0-0 so we got to do it all over again 3 days later. Again it was a close game but we scraped 1-0 win and had completed the double with our second Irish Cup win.

Star of the team was Fingal's Player of the Year, Irish League of Ireland Player of the Year, Irish Player of the Year & Irish Young Player of the Year, Alan Walsh who scored 27 goals from the AMC position. Honourable mention goes to Irish U-21 Player of the Year, Alan O'Donovan who was on the transfer list until Nick Moore was sold by the chairman. He responded brilliantly by scoring 14 goals in the second half of the season.

Europe

Uefa Cup - First Qualifying Round

We were seeded for the draw and were paired with Zalgiris of Lithuania. We won the away leg 2-1 followed by a comfortable 3-0 win in the home leg sent us through 5-1 on aggregate.

Zalgiris 1-2 Sporting Fingal

Sporting Fingal 3-0 Zalgiris

Uefa Cup - Second Qualifying Round

The second round meant a trip to Denmark to face Aab. A fantastic 3-0 win in the home leg meant we could go to Denmark full of confidence. Mirroring the previous rounds results, we won 2-1 in Denmark to again go through 5-1 on aggregate.

Sporting Fingal 3-0 Aab

Aab 1-2 Sporting Fingal

Uefa Cup - First Round

A tough trip to Prague stood between us and the group stages. Sparta Prague's class showed in the away leg as we lost 1-3. In front of a capacity 4000 crowd in the home leg we raced into a 3-0 half time lead but Sparta fought back, scoring twice. We won 3-2 but went out 4-5 on aggregate.

Sparta Prague 3-1 Sporting Fingal

Sporting Fingal 3-2 Sparta Prague

European Co-efficients

Fingal - 3.309 (352nd up from 370th)

Ireland - 7.500 (30th up from 32nd)

Sporting Fingal Trophy Room

Irish Premier Division - 2012

All-Ireland Cup - 2012

Irish Senior Challenge Cup - 2010, 2012

Irish First Division - 2008

[kccircle]

Well done Daemonic - 352nd best in Europe. Makes my 500th best look pretty poor. Have you turned pro yet? Makes a big difference also when you can scout players from Poland and Hungary, although eventually you (like I do) struggle to get a squad of home grown players to create a European squadlist

[kccircle]

Managed to sneek into the 3rd round of the Champions League with Cookstown. Up against Sporting Lisbon and whilst they are not the side that they start out as on the game it will be a miracle if I get anything from either leg never mind the overall tie.

[kccircle]

Cookstown Olympic - season 2019 / 2020.

Some say miracles don't happen! They do for Cookstown

Despite losing the third round 1st leg (home) to Sporting Lisbon 1-2 we managed to sneak a spot in the group stages with a 3-1 smash and grab raid in the 2nd leg. Sporting dominated the 2nd leg but two late 1st half goals gave us a half time lead. Sporting peppered our goal in the second half and after going 424 we snook a breakaway goal in the last minute. Quite relieved as I dropped my new laptop in celebrating (imagine the pump fist / come on / get in feeling) Probably my best achievement on any FM game (going back to CM2) to date

Bank balance swelled by £3m - think my game will change now

[Razer82]

Congratulations kccircle, the money for making the group stage does come in rather handy.

You did better than I did the first time I met a Portugese side, go hammered 14-3 by Porto at this stage.

[mista T]

how do I find these Eastern Europeans everyone seems to be talking about? I am in 2011/2012 and I haven't found any.

[daemonic]

Good job in CL Kccircle. I'm looking forward to our first bash at it this year.

We turned pro as soon as we got promoted to the Premier Division so have been full-time for 4 seasons now.

@ mista T - You need some Eastern European knowledge on your scouting page. My nationality is Irish which gives me knowledge of Poland. I have a German GK Coach who brings knowledge of Germany and the a few other Eastern European countries. This means some Eastern Europeans turn up on my player search screens so if I can trial them I can sign them.

[mista T]

well, I have signed a German coach who was contracted to the german national team but a free agent. How long does it take for me to get the Europeans on my player search page?

[daemonic]

Should happen pretty quickly.

Go to your scouting page and see what countries you have knowledge of. If your German coach only has German knowledge then thats all you'll get. I found that none of the German players showing on my search are interested in joining so you may need to untick the "Ask Assistant to filter unrealistic targets" to see any additional players listed.

[Mike_Cardinal]

Haha awesome stuff kccircle. Amused me to see the young lad Rabiu Ibrahim is still going. He'd be getting on by then but my, the boy is quality!

[spotg]

I see DodgeeD has thrown down the gauntlet somewhat with that update. Well. Here we go...

[spotg]

Sencur End Of Season Review 2018/19 - Slovenian First Division

Training facilities to be upgraded to top, and 3401 seats to be added, which will take us to 7500 or so capacity. 6m transfer budget and 96k p/w wage budget should be plenty to allow us to get where we need.

Zeta of Montenegro are first up, and are easily dispatched to set up a 3rd round tie with Besiktas. Doesn't feel as prohibitively difficult as Liverpool last year.

A 3-2 defeat in Turkey could have been much better, with a last minute disallowed goal and our former keeper Bouchard keeping us at bay. But we hold on for a 2-1 win at home, and we're through to the group stages for tihe first time on away goals! YAS!

Lyon

Inter

Celtic

:/

Home to Celtic is first up, and surely our best opportunity for points.... A first half hat-trick from a 19 y.o. Slovenian who picked up a goal on his international debut does the job. It finishes 4-1 and we're off to a flyer!

The distance we have to travel is amply illustrated by the next match though, which ends in a 6-1 hammering by Lyon.

We go 2-0 up at the San Siro! \o/ They then put 6 past us. /o\

We do better at home, but still not well enough, and go down 4-3. If we're to get anything at all from the group we're going to need results against both Lyon and Celtic.

So when Celtic take us 3-1, we are condemned to fourth and no Europe after christmas. A 3-2 home defeat to Lyon send them through. We actually do better than most of the other 4th placed sides, but that's no real consolation.

We go to the winter break unbeaten and 13 points clear, as well as in the Slovenian Cup semis. All is well on the home front.

Until suddenly Maribor decide to win ten straight matches, and the gap is down to 3 points with 3 games left. I'm starting to worry here.

Luckily, the third last game is Maribor at home, and a 4-0 thrashing gives us a 6 point cushion and a GD advantage of about 40. The league is ours again. And the cup follows, with a 2-1 win over bogey team Rudar (V).

Once the stadium exapnsion is completed, we have a ground with capacity of 7500 and are almost on the top 100 in the rich list, being worth 27m. Although if seven of my first team get their way that will be expanded greatly by the transfer fees I get in as they stampede out the door

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

Slovenian First Division 1st

Slovenian Cup - Winners

Champions League Campaign

2Q

Zeta (MNE) 1 - 5 Sencur

Sencur 1 - 1 Zeta 6-2 on aggregate

3Q

Besiktas (TUR) 3 - 2 Sencur

Sencur 2 - 1 Besiktas 4-4 on aggregate. Sencur win on away goals

Group H

Sencur 4 - 1 Celtic (SCO)

Lyon (FRA) 6 - 1 Sencur

Inter (ITA) 6 - 2 Sencur

Sencur 3 - 4 Inter

Celtic 3 - 1 Sencur

Sencur 2 - 3 Lyon 4th place. 3 points. Out of Europe

End Of Season Awards

Danilo Spotgic

Best Eleven

Transfers

Hopes for next season - Same again in the league. Get out of the CL group stages

                                                         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
2018-19 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!              36  25   6   5  112  46   66   81

Sencur Honours Board

Slovenian Division Two

2010, 2012

Slovenian Cup

2013, 2017, 2019

Slovenian Division One

2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

European Co-efficients

Club - 38.500 (71st) +12

Nation - 19.708 (17th - 1-3-1) -1

Domestic Titles

Five

[Razer82]

Well done on making the group stage spotg, the first time always seems to be the hardest. Lets hope that you can make it there again next season.

[spotg]

Thanks Razer, I hope so too.

My Slovenian compatriots really aren't helping me though. Our nation co-efficient is basically static, and won't go anywhere until/unless I can have a REALLY good run in Europe.

If I can get us to the point where we have two teams qualifying for the CL, and maybe get seeded for the CL 3Q, it'll start to get much easier...

[Razer82]

A seeding for the 3rd qualifying round is the ultimate goal at the moment for me too. We managed to have a amazing European run this year so our ranking should be greatly improved.

I finished off another season last night, so expect a report up sometime this evening. Last one before going on holiday.

[daemonic]

A seeding for the 3rd qualifying round is the ultimate goal at the moment for me too. We managed to have a amazing European run this year so our ranking should be greatly improved.

I finished off another season last night, so expect a report up sometime this evening. Last one before going on holiday.

Way to build excitement Razer

[Razer82]

Way to build excitement Razer

Of course! But wait and see my report and hopefully you'll agree with me.

[daemonic]

Of course! But wait and see my report and hopefully you'll agree with me.

I'm thinking it has to be knockout stages at least...I'll bet on Semi-Final's.

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Clough Rangers – 2021 / 2022 – Northern Irish Premier Division

League – 1st Champions!

Champions League – Finished 3rd in Group B

UEFA Cup – 2nd Knockout Round – Lost 9-6 on agg to Barcelona

Northern Irish Cup – Winners! Defeated Institute 5-0

League Cup – Winners! Defeated Cliftonville 4-0

Antrim Cup – Winners! Defeated Distillery 6-0

All Ireland Cup – Winners! Defeated Drogheda United 3-2

Manager Profile

Team Stats

Transfers Summary

Top scorer

We remained a seeded team for the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, this seeding drew us with Ararat Yerevan of Armenia, a comfortable 4-1 home victory left me feeling confident of our progress into the second round. Our place was secured with an amazing 4-0 away to allow us to progress 8-1 on agg.

This season’s 2nd round opponents would by HJK of Finland. We began with a nervy 1-1 draw away, but I knew that we’d be able secure a home victory and the away goal certainly was a bonus. An easy 3-1 home win saw us into the 3rd round 4-2 on agg.

The last team standing between us and a place in the group stage were surprise package Apollon Limassol of Cyprus who had dispatched FC Kobenhavn 3-0 in the 2nd round. We began with a trip to Cyprus and the surprises for Limassol kept on coming as the managed a shock 2-1 victory. I was again glad of the away goal, knowing that we’d put in a much better performance in the home game. I was not to be disappointed as we strolled to a 3-0 win to reach the group stage for the 4th year in a row with a 4-2 agg victory.

We were drawn into Group B with Inter, PSG and Sporting. This was a group that I was expecting to finish bottom of and be lucky not be embarrassed in all the games. We began extremely well with an amazing 3-2 home victory against PSG which sat us top of the group! We came back down with a bump in the second match, an away defeat to Inter but I wasn’t expecting to go to Italy and get any points. The lucky home form continued with another surprise victory, this time Sporting were beaten 2-1 at Young Arena. Sporting got their revenge in the reverse fixture, hammering us 5-1 away, the bad form continued in Paris as we were on the wrong end of a 5-3 score line. This left us in 3rd place with the final game against Inter, knowing that any points would put us into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Cup. In a spectacular game, we managed to secure the points we needed beating the Italian giants 3-2 to secure our best ever finish in a Champions League Group.

Our efforts in the group stage were rewarded with a difficult, but winnable tie with Partizan Belgrade in the first knockout round of the UEFA Cup. The tie began with the tough away leg, but a respectable 3-3 draw let us in a strong position to make it into the next round. A dominant 3-0 home victory saw us cruise through to the second knockout round 6-3 on agg.

We were drawn with Spanish giants Barcelona in the second round and I knew that our European run would ultimately end here, but the team got my hopes up in the first leg battling to a tough 5-4 loss at home. The away goals were the worst thing about that score line, especially seeing as the Barca team still contains Bojan, Dos Santos and Messi. The trip to the Camp Nou was a much more routine affair, another defeat 4-2 to send us out 9-6 on agg.

It was business as usual for the domestic competitions as we retained all our trophies. Our unbeaten streak in the league now stretches to a massive 259 games with the last 154 of those being victories. It’s been over 5 years since we’ve been beaten in the league.

We also managed to retain the All Ireland Cup again this season, our 3rd consecutive victory. Although things were not as easy as in previous years, a win in the final group game sent us through top into a semi final with Bohemians. A comfortable 3-1 victory put us into the final with Drogheda who were dispatched 3-2 for us to retain the trophy.

A large number of this year’s top performers will be leaving the club on free transfers at the end of the season, namely Vaclav Lukas (58 Goals & 27 Assists) joining Plymouth. Lubomir Trojan (21 Assists) off to Charlton and Vladimir Kostadinov (11 Goals & 26 Assists) who will be playing for our former parent club Fulham next season. Others leaving on free transfers are Rotariu and Stastny both of who were good squad players who will leave a gap in the squad for the start of the next campaign.

Top scorer Laszlo Tolnai (77 Goals & 22 Assists) set a new club record and will be back next season to lead our challenge. With Bako (11 Goals & 10 Assists) & Tetteh (9 Goals & 12 Assists) will offer support from midfield along with Oldrich Lukas (9 Goals & 25 Assists). This year we picked up all 3 places in the Player of the Year award, and also 1st and 3rd in the Goalscorers standings.

Financially we’re stronger than ever, a nice healthy profit made from our run in Europe, hopefully more of the same next year might see us in a position to be signing some better players.

No further upgrades to the stadium or the facilities, I should just be grateful that I’ve already got the best facilities in the country.

Gundo – For your table – 11 Domestic Titles

Coefficients

Club – 33.214 – 80th (Up 60 Places)

Country – 14.500 – 25th (Up 7 Places)

[Frazza Pee]

Your getting closer to a European final

[spotg]

European Co-efficients

Club - 38.500 (71st) +12

Nation - 19.708 (17th - 1-3-1) -1

It would appear this was enough to get me, not only direct entry to the 3rd Qualifying round, not only to be seeded FOR that 3rd Qualifying round, but also to be third seeds in my CL group.

I'm confident of some progress this season....

[Razer82]

Your getting closer to a European final

It's slow progress Frazza, but we might make it one day.

I'm thinking it has to be knockout stages at least...I'll bet on Semi-Final's.

Sorry to dissapoint, but we're not quite that good yet.

It would appear this was enough to get me, not only direct entry to the 3rd Qualifying round, not only to be seeded FOR that 3rd Qualifying round, but also to be third seeds in my CL group.

I'm confident of some progress this season....

Congratulations on the improved seedings for the group stage, I'm hoping that my new ranking of 80th might give me a 3rd seeding too, anything to make progress that little bit easier.

[Razer82]

How annoying that we can't take an international job until completing the challenge.

The 2022 World Cup has just finished, with Argentina lifting the trophy for the 3rd consecutive time, but two world cup wins wasn't enough for the coach to keep his job. 12 managers have been sacked leaving jobs with England, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Mexico, Russia & Argentina available and me not allowed to apply for any of them!

[daemonic]

Sorry to dissapoint, but we're not quite that good yet.

I'm an optimist

Excellent season, 9 points in the CL group is very impressive...turn one of those away losses into a draw and you'll be through.

[Razer82]

I'm an optimist

Excellent season, 9 points in the CL group is very impressive...turn one of those away losses into a draw and you'll be through.

Easier said than done with that I think. I tend to build teams that play really well in home European games, but struggle in away games, hopefully we can change that over the next couple of seasons.

[kccircle]

I'm an optimist

Excellent season, 9 points in the CL group is very impressive...turn one of those away losses into a draw and you'll be through.

9 Points in CL group is amazing, well against my tally anyway. Still halfway through my Cookstown season but one note to point out is that my 1st ever CL group contained Real Madrid, Werder Bremen and PSV

[kccircle]

Cookstown Olympic - Season 2019/20

Not a season update but the CL Group Stages result

Boys against the men I think

[spotg]

I'm starting to wonder if my tactic is a little too attacking...

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd307/spotg/Marseille6-6Sencur.png

[daemonic]

I'm starting to wonder if my tactic is a little too attacking...

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd307/spotg/Marseille6-6Sencur.png

Nah, 7-7 would be too attacking, 6-6 is just fine

[dafuge]

After a long time I've come back to my Sirocco Works game, I was halfway through the season so the season report might seem a little disjointed.

Season 2019/20 Review - Sirocco Works in the Carnegie Irish Premier League

League Table

Pretty straight forward.

CIS Insurance League Cup - lost 3-0 to Linfield in the semi final

County Antrim Shield - won, beating Linfield 2-0 in the final.

Irish Cup - won, beating Bangor 3-0 in the final.

Setanta Sports Cup - didn't qualify from the group stage.

The European Adventure

Sneaked through two qualifying round against Valur and CFR Cluj.

Group Results:

Schalke       6-0 Sirocco Works
Sirocco Works 1-2 AC Milan
Sirocco Works 4-1 Nantes
Nantes        2-2 Sirocco Works
Sirocco Works 5-2 Schalke
AC Milan      4-2 Sirocco Works

Group E

This was a major achievement getting out of the group.

1st Knockout Round

Just couldn't compete with them.

Squad

Transfers

Taking a bit of time out has meant I'm pretty unfamiliar with my squad and my assman report is all but useless.

Star Player

I remember this bloke though.

Club Coefficient: 46.641

Nation Coefficient: 23.167

League Titles: 9

[Sazchu]

I'm horrible at this update thing, but i'll probably try to get an update in for my seasons in iceland and the first 3 season in n.ireland within the next few days, i managed to get to the premier division without much problem in the first division, picked up two cups on the way which i'm quite happy about as a bonus especially since i didn't have any fitness problems while doing well in most cups though of the 10k i won for winning each of them, the players got 8k of it, so i'm still very much in the red.

[dafuge]

I've just done something really stupid.

Being lazy I thought I'd holiday a league match I didn't fancy playing and to my surprise I lost the match 5-0. Being the dominant force in the league I thought it was pretty odd so I checked exactly what had gone on. My assistant had put out a full team of trialists that I currently had in my reserves.

This has ended a 159 game unbeaten run. Gutted.

What is really annoying is that I think I've seen this happen before, possibly with this game or maybe last year with FM07.

[ghostwriter]

Baulmes - Challenge League - 26/27

Flying high in 2nd at the Winter Break

Was fully expecting loads of offers for some of the better performers but the only ones that materialized were some pathetic and easily refused ones for Gastien the MC. What I was not expecting was lots of offers for my reserves. 4 of the players I signed in the Summer and who had played a grand total of 3 matches so far were sold for a total of £80k.

We also got in a Chinese scout who had played in Switerland for most of his career. He will hopefully be very useful when we can scout in that neck of the woods.

First up was a visit to UGS, it was a dull match enlightened only by some dodgy last minute defending which gifted them a win. Not an ideal start. Much better followed though as we won the next 4 without conceding a goal. And so the nightmarish run in awaited us...

Yverdon were dismissed with considerable difficultly, a late equaliser followed by us missing a penalty before we finally got a very late winner. Next up was the most difficult match, a visit to Servette. We were dealt a blow before as the on-loan ML (who had become first choice) slipped a disc and was sent back to his club. And then 20 minutes in we lost both a DC and an ST to injury, and with 2 33yo in midfield I had been counting on being able to sub both off at some stage; not any more. They took the lead twice, we equalised twice. But then in the 74th minute Hottiger picked the ball up in our own half, waltzed past 3 challenges and slammed one into the net from 25 yards. Wow . Renato then repeated the trick 10 minutes later and we were within 1 point of them. A bore draw at home to Zurich while Vaduz posed no problems before we visited La CdF (who were 6 points behind us in 3rd). A win and we were guaranteed 2nd, and that is what we looked like getting when we were 2-0 up, but we got pulled back and scraped a draw. One point needed for at least the playoffs and we were only 3 points back from Servette. Delemont next and well, we decided to entertain: 0-1, 2-1, 2-3, 4-3 and finally 4-4. We were certain of 2nd but with Servette comically being thrashed by Concordia that was our chance to take the lead...

Schaffhausen were thrashed surprisingly easily but Servette beat an amusingly relegated Kriens so we finished in 2nd...Basel in the playoffs...

1st Leg - I would have accepted 1-0 but that late goal gave me very little hope...

2nd Leg - ... which was justified, their ST got a hat-trick, we got a consolation.

Another CL season then

To be fair, we'd probably have been raped left right and centre in the SL, if their 2nd worst side (awful form, dreadful moral) can do that to us (brilliant form, great morale), I dread to think what the better sides would have done...

I can't really be too disappointed as I was not expecting 2nd at all but if we had managed not to concede late goals to Delemont and La CdF we'd have been up. And as I mentioned, probably straight back down again, but the exposure, the money and increased reputation would have done no harm...

I did win the Manager of the Year Award which is the first I have got.

We sorted out our goalscoring problem nicely, and still were great at the back, and we stopped losing to bad sides. The GK was even more awesome, the defence solid, midfield great, Albert at AMC quiet fantastic again and Zobel and co. upfront got over 60 goals between them.

Final Squad

Final Summary

Transfers - less loanees than previous, Tautenhahn was great along with Ridder at ML, none of the signings really became solid first choices, but the ones that weren't flogged in January became very good squad players

The nearly men:

Best GK - Sven Noll - wow, there is no way we would have finished 2nd without, no way at all, the number of times he saved us from draws and defeat was ridiculous, managed the slightly unusual feat of a GK actually winning a Played of the Month award, was also the GK of the year, but his backup is just as good (if not better) which does actually mean that, despite his performances, I would not be averse to accepting large offers for him...

Best Defender - Manuel Tautenhahn - good, solid, and like last years loanee, probably not a star, although his physical stats are great, got another year on his contract so would quite like to get him back again, but as he is not from my parent club that is not guaranteed

Best Midfielder - Anthony Gastien - just as good as last season, which is fine although more goals and assists would have been nicer, had an occasional moan about bigger clubs, managed to quell them but not too sure if he will be willing to sign a new contract, hence not impossible that he might leave if a large offer came in

Best Old Winger - Matthias Schmitt - was pretty damn good for the first half of the season but the 3 month Winter Break at a large negative effect on his fitness and he got dropped, he can barely run now and if we had gone up he'd be out of the door, but unless I sign a couple of good wingers or get a good offer he will probably stay until next Summer

Best Young Winger - Andreas Frohlich - very good season, nearly played every game which was great as I was kind of lacking in good backups, if I can get someone better in I will be delighted but I would have no problem in playing him as much again

Best AMC - Norman Albert - a carbon copy of the season before, same no. of goals and assists but overall much more consistant, again very quiet, does little spectacular but is very important to the team, more of the same please

Best Striker - Alexander Zobel - I asked for more goals, I got a lot more goals, nearly 1 a game, 2nd highest scorer in the division, played fantastically, I will endeavour to keep hold of him unless really silly offers come in, something similar next season would be great

I still need a defence as again they were dominated by loanees, I have 2 good DRs but that is about it really, the rest are a bit average. A couple of wingers would not go amiss either, but apart from that I can't see any immediate needs except if there are some sales.

After last season I have to be aiming for the same thing again, promotion or at least close to it.

Best Eleven

Overall Best Eleven - it is still evolving, only Tautenhahn managed to get in there on 1 season alone, several of the players here for 2 seasons came in, it should change to the 4-3-1-2 formation I use soon

UGS

08/09 - 22/23 Challenge League - 3rd-15th

Baulmes

23/24 - Challenge League - 5th

24/25 - Challenge League - 15th

25/26 - Challenge League - 6th

26/27 - Challenge League - 2nd (lost playoff)

[daemonic]

So close ghostwriter. Next season will be the one