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

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

Could someone explain to me how the teams are picked for the All Ireland Cup?

According to what I saw on Wikipedia, its top 2 league sides, plus winners of the League and "FA" cups from both Northern and Republic of Ireland.

However I played Shelbourne (Rep) in the Champion's League Qualifying 1st round this season, and they dont appear to be in the All Ireland cup.

Is that possible or am I going to attempt to explain this in the bugs forum?

I *think* that is possible...

So you played Shelbourne in the CL in 2013 right? That means they will have won the league in the 2012 season (the league in Ireland runs from March to November). If they then had a rubbish domestic season in 2013, ie. finished outside the top 2 and won neither cup, then they won't be in the All-Ireland Cup in your 2013/14 season.

Presumably they will have been in the All-Ireland Cup in your 2012/13 season?

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:

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

Could someone explain to me how the teams are picked for the All Ireland Cup?

According to what I saw on Wikipedia, its top 2 league sides, plus winners of the League and "FA" cups from both Northern and Republic of Ireland.

However I played Shelbourne (Rep) in the Champion's League Qualifying 1st round this season, and they dont appear to be in the All Ireland cup.

Is that possible or am I going to attempt to explain this in the bugs forum?

I *think* that is possible...

So you played Shelbourne in the CL in 2013 right? That means they will have won the league in the 2012 season (the league in Ireland runs from March to November). If they then had a rubbish domestic season in 2013, ie. finished outside the top 2 and won neither cup, then they won't be in the All-Ireland Cup in your 2013/14 season.

Presumably they will have been in the All-Ireland Cup in your 2012/13 season? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Didnt realise the Irish league ran differently.

What you have said does just about make sense apart from I have just checked the group stage of the All-Ireland Cup for all the seasons and Shelbourne have never taken part in it, inclusive of that 12/13 season.

[johnnyquest409]

That is very strange then, and does sound like a bug.

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:

That is very strange then, and does sound like a bug.

That's what I suspected and have posted in the Bugs forum here. Just hope my topic makes some sense.

[rlipscombe]

am holidaying at the moment to see whether to manage in romania or Austria..... it's 50-50 at the moment where to go... it might come down to team names and kit colours!

[emgergo]

NK Slovan, 201415 winter update

15 rounds gone from the 27.

1. NK Slovan 12-3-0 39

2. Livar 11-0-4 33

3. Mura 9-3-3 30

God wills it this year

[yababo]

Messiniakos 1st Season - Promotion to Greek Superleague

Squad League Table Finances - Oh Dear

We started the season with a small squad that needed some depth and we managed to add that through free transfers as there was no money in the bank and no transfer budget. There were no staff at the club so some searching was required. The lack of budget hurt here as the coaches that were available for nowt, were waft. Indeed I think some of them must have had limbs missing to have attributes as bad as they had.

After getting an assistant and working out who were my strongest players we set about the season. The first obstacle we came up against was registering players. My 4 best players were all non EU nationalities, only 2 were allowed to be registered so I had a tough decision to make. I decided to go with a right winger and a central midfielder. Bruno Paes was the MC and he was our best player all season bagging 13 goals. * these non EU players were already in the squad*

We lost in the cup at the first hurdle to non-league Chaidari on penalties. The board were delighted We started the league campaign with 2 defeats we then went unbeaten in 8 games finding ourselves 5th in the table. we continued to pick up points and in February were still in the promotion hunt. We then won 6 games on the bounce including a 7-1 thumping of Ethnikos (all goals on the counter and I have never seen the AI play so badly) at this point we wee 2nd in the table and just needed a few more wins. The next 4 games we drew 3 and lost 1. We needed a point or better against the 3rd placed team. My players were so pumped the oppo didn't get a look in we beat them 3-1 in front of a massive 723 crowd to gain promotion.

We managed to get Panathanaikos as parent club which helped to add some depth with a few loan signings. However they did not really have an impact on the pitch. We avergaed around 700 for our home games, which leads me to think t will be almost impossible to stay in the superleague. As you can see we are already 600k in debt and will probably have to pay some higher wages to stay in the division.

Chuffed with the peformance and extremely surprised. The goal for next season is to SURVIVE!!

Wish me luck

Gundo where do I look for the coefficient?

[rlipscombe]

well with regret i have left Norway, and have moved East to Romania. i have taken over as manager of FC Progresul Bucharest.

i will provide info and screenshots tomorrow as imageshack isn't working. in brief, they are a good club for this level, who have a decent history. i could have gone for a less glamorous team, but i went with these as hopefully i can progress a little quicker...

i tend to be a little low on patience if things don't go to plan...

let the challenge begin!! (again...)

[johnnyquest409]

yababo, you won't have a club coefficient yet, you don't get one until you qualify for Europe.

The coefficients are found in World > Europe > Champions Cup (or Euro Cup), then click on the Coefficients tab on the menu on the left.

[yababo]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:

yababo, you won't have a club coefficient yet, you don't get one until you qualify for Europe.

The coefficients are found in World > Europe > Champions Cup (or Euro Cup), then click on the Coefficients tab on the menu on the left.

[endtime]

Well, the international call-ups bug seems to have sorted itself out for the moment, only one 16-year-old in the squad and he's semi-decent. 13 players from Magni have been called up for the match against Andorra.

Also, there's been some activity on the transfer market; Gisli Hinriksson has moved to FC Midtjylland for 1m pounds, Mortan Thomsen went to Viking Stavanger also for 1m, and next year Simon Gretarsson will sign for Dinamo Kiev for 1.6m. Things are looking up...

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by endtime:

Well, the international call-ups bug seems to have sorted itself out for the moment, only one 16-year-old in the squad and he's semi-decent. 13 players from Magni have been called up for the match against Andorra.

Also, there's been some activity on the transfer market; Gisli Hinriksson has moved to FC Midtjylland for 1m pounds, Mortan Thomsen went to Viking Stavanger also for 1m, and next year Simon Gretarsson will sign for Dinamo Kiev for 1.6m. Things are looking up...

Money money money! Let's hope the board decide to go pro!

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm bored out of my bloomin mind in Iceland.

The season seems to last for 5 minutes and then I have to wait about 4 and a half years for the next one to start.

(It feels like that anyway) .

[Dreaming of N.Ireland]

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by endtime:

Well, the international call-ups bug seems to have sorted itself out for the moment, only one 16-year-old in the squad and he's semi-decent. 13 players from Magni have been called up for the match against Andorra.

Also, there's been some activity on the transfer market; Gisli Hinriksson has moved to FC Midtjylland for 1m pounds, Mortan Thomsen went to Viking Stavanger also for 1m, and next year Simon Gretarsson will sign for Dinamo Kiev for 1.6m. Things are looking up...

Isn't that weird .

Have you just patched or something?

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2013/14 End of Season Update

First qualifying round of the Champions league, saw Downpatrick drawn against Shelbourne. Unfortunately they are a much better side than Downpatrick, and we lost 0-6 on aggregate.

The league cup saw Downpatrick beat Glentoran 1-0 in the final. Thats our first time of winning this trophy.

The Antrim Trophy saw Downpatrick beat Distillery 2-0 in the final. Thats the second consecutive win in that cup.

The Irish Cup saw us beat Portadown in the final, 4-0. Second consecutive win and third overall in that trophy.

The All-Ireland Cup saw Downpatrick placed in a group with Bohemians, Drogheda Utd and Portadown. We managed to beat Portadown twice to finish third in the group. The Republic of Ireland teams seem to have complete dominance in this competition.

The League saw Downpatrick go undefeated for the second season, and crowned winners again.

Table

Transfers

GK Stats - 3 goals, 8 assists this season - total in 3 seasons of 12 goals and 14 assista so far. How many more can this goalie get before some other team offers me too much money?

Thoughts

It seems as though national domination can probably be maintained, so the main aims would have to be figure out how to beat teams in the Champions League qualifiers and in the All Ireland cup.

To do this I suspect I will need better players, and probably facilities/stadium to lure them here.

So my question has to be, when can you get to scout more than just Northern Ireland? When can you turn Professional?

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2013/14 End of Season Update

First qualifying round of the Champions league, saw Downpatrick drawn against Shelbourne. Unfortunately they are a much better side than Downpatrick, and we lost 0-6 on aggregate.

The league cup saw Downpatrick beat Glentoran 1-0 in the final. Thats our first time of winning this trophy.

The Antrim Trophy saw Downpatrick beat Distillery 2-0 in the final. Thats the second consecutive win in that cup.

The Irish Cup saw us beat Portadown in the final, 4-0. Second consecutive win and third overall in that trophy.

The All-Ireland Cup saw Downpatrick placed in a group with Bohemians, Drogheda Utd and Portadown. We managed to beat Portadown twice to finish third in the group. The Republic of Ireland teams seem to have complete dominance in this competition.

The League saw Downpatrick go undefeated for the second season, and crowned winners again.

Table

Transfers

GK Stats - 3 goals, 8 assists this season - total in 3 seasons of 12 goals and 14 assista so far. How many more can this goalie get before some other team offers me too much money?

Thoughts

It seems as though national domination can probably be maintained, so the main aims would have to be figure out how to beat teams in the Champions League qualifiers and in the All Ireland cup.

To do this I suspect I will need better players, and probably facilities/stadium to lure them here.

So my question has to be, when can you get to scout more than just Northern Ireland? When can you turn Professional?

Just wanted to add as I hit submit too fast, that Downpatrick Reserves got to the final of the Intermediate Cup, only to lose 2-1 to Lisburn Rangers.

[Gilbster]

My board have just announced a stadium expansion to increase the stadium by 939 seats. Capacity to start with was 905 (50 seated), so quite nice to see an expansion will be happening.

Have to wonder where the money has suddenly appeared from. Last I had checked I was in the red. Suddenly my stadium expansion is announced, my bank balance is in the black, and I cant see any mention of a loan though, so I am marginally confused.

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

My board have just announced a stadium expansion to increase the stadium by 939 seats. Capacity to start with was 905 (50 seated), so quite nice to see an expansion will be happening.

Have to wonder where the money has suddenly appeared from. Last I had checked I was in the red. Suddenly my stadium expansion is announced, my bank balance is in the black, and I cant see any mention of a loan though, so I am marginally confused.

Ignore that last bit of rambling. Just found a £895k sum of money in my grants section, No news item or anything about it. Does explain why I am suddenly £500k in the black.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - August 10th 2017

Quick early-season update.

Since we're playing in Europe now, I made my squad a bit more international. Signed 8 new players (plus two loans), none of them Belgian. Took a lot of searching to find the affordable gems, but I think I found a few. My assman still advises me to heavily strengthen the squad, but he can bite me - I'm all out of wage budget.

We won the Belgian Super Cup - at least that's one thing for the board to be pleased about.

Much more importantly... we survived the Champions League Second Qual round! Got past Dinamo Kiev, who play half the friggin Ukranian national squad, heheh.

I wasn't very optimistic about our chances beforehand. But that changed after the first leg. We lost 2-1, in Kiev, but should've gotten at least one more goal, possibly two. Though admittedly it helped a bit that they got a red card after an hour, since that kinda stopped them searching for a third goal.

I was still worried for the home match though, because both of their goals in the first leg had come from quality attacks, while mine was a hard-battling scramble-rebound goal, heh. But somehow we ended up demolishing them 4-0 at home. Which was perhaps a bit harsh on them, they had much more possession, but our counter attacks were lethal and got us two goals, the two other goals came from corner kicks. We were ten times more efficient than in the first leg.

We'll be facing Steaua Bucharest in the Third Qual Round. I suppose that's roughly a similar quality team as Kiev, so perhaps I have a chance. Steaua is pretty much all-grey though, while Kiev had a full squad - curious to see if that'll make a difference.

Even if I don't make the group stage, at least I'll get another chance in the UEFA Cup now. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

[StOnEhEaD]

Profile

I am gonna start out with Zofingen in Switzerland.

They start out with 30M Danish KR in debt. :/

Btw the re-set date is the 18 june 08 in switzerland, couldnt find it in the thread here.

[migwar]

migwar's Big Slovakian Adventure

FC Púchov - Slovian First Division - 2011/12

Mid season update

Just a quickie to let you know how its all going. After the excitement of our first Champions League tie, which we lost 2-1 over 2 legs, we really struggled to find any kind of form. We also got unceremoniously dumped out of the Slovakian FA Cup by a 2nd Division team, much to our fans displeasure. The graph says it all really. About a month or so ago I decided to shake up our tactics and play 1 up front, with an extra guy in the centre of midfield. We were playing a 4-4-2 diamond. We are now on a 6 match unbeaten run and looking good for a top half finish if we can keep up our form...

league table

graph

[endtime]

Skipped another update, but nothing interesting really happened, anyway. 2023, however...

Magni, Icelandic Premier Division 2023

League table

We lost a game \o/ After 41 straight league wins, we were beaten by FH in a mind-numbingly dull game. We still managed to win the league by 20 points. Interestingly, it was the first season since 2007 that saw neither Valur nor FH finish in the top 3.

Europe was interesting. We got a relatively easy draw in the CL 1st qualifying round in the shape of Lithuanian champions Ekranas Ponevezys, and made a terrible meal of it. We lost the first game in Lithuania 1:2 and needed at least a 1:0 win at home to progress. We spent almost the whole return leg camped in Ekranas' half, but the keeper saved everything we threw at him... until a defender gave away a penalty, picking up a second booking in the process. Aron Smarason put away the penalty, and Njall Kristjansson added a late second goal to put us through.

We now faced CSKA Sofia in the 2nd qualifying round. Again we misset a host of chances in the home leg, but a brace from Jón Þór Einarsson saw us triumph 2:1. The conceded away goal was a cause for concern, but a superb attacking display in Sofia saw us beat CSKA 5:3 in a thrilling game and go through to the 3rd qualifying round for the first time in the history of Icelandic football.

The final hurdle on the way to the promised land of the CL was Spartak Moscow, and it proved to be too high; once again we didn't take our chances in Grenivik and this time were harshly punished with a 0:3 defeat; a decent 1:1 draw in Moscow restored some pride.

There was still a chance of continuing our European adventure in the UEFA cup, but any hopes of progressing were quashed when we were paired with Manchester United in the first round. We were by far the weaker team and lost 1:5 on aggregate; still, the match at Old Trafford swelled our coffers nicely.

Some of our players have finally made it to the national team and subsequently decided that Iceland is too small for them; Simon Gretarsson and Jón Þór Einarsson requested transfers and left, signing for Dinamo Kiev and Portsmouth respectively. Jón Þór was an excellent player and probably the best youth product I've ever had, but with Þrastarson and Kristjansson and some bright young players in the reserves his departure isn't that big of a blow; replacing Simon might prove more problematic.

Hopefully, next season, or the season after that at the most, we'll turn full time, which will allow me to scout outside Iceland and sign players capable of taking us to the CL group stage, and beyond

[endtime]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

Isn't that weird .

Have you just patched or something?

I've been playing with the patch for the past 7 seasons or so. The only semi-plausible explanation for this I can come up with is that our progress to the Champions' League 3rd qualifying round bumped our reputation so that my players were finally "eligible" for the national team, which in turn bumped their reputation so that they felt they need to request a move.

And the transfers were just weird. No one was interested in Jón Þór Einarsson until he requested a transfer, and then suddenly offers were flying in from all around Europe - there must have been at least 12 bids. A similar situation was with Simon Gretarsson; Dinamo Kiev made an offer and they were the only team in the "interested" section on his player info screen; since he'd be leaving anyway, I decided to offer him around and, surely enough, again 15 clubs suddenly became so interested that they were willing to pay 20 times his auto valuation.

[Jimbokav1971]

endtime. I know it takes a few seasons for some of the fixes to work. They don't all work instantly. maybe that had something to do with this.

It does at least look like your game is moving in the right direction.

Well done on getting to the 3rd Qualifying Round. It does seem that you are not the force at home that you should be. If you can sort that out this season, you're away form should be good enough to see you through to the next round.

Bad news. I had a power cut last night while saving. (Hows that for luck? )

I do have a back-up but it is months and months and months away back after my last league game. I estimate that I have spent longer in close season than I did playing the league. As a result I have lost the desire to continue withy this save. Playing for such a short period of time and then having to go through such a long close season again and again was just too much of a hard slog. I may come back to this one if my next game doesn't work out, but for now I will be returning to the land of my best FM save ever....

N.Ireland here I come .

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

endtime. I know it takes a few seasons for some of the fixes to work. They don't all work instantly. maybe that had something to do with this.

It does at least look like your game is moving in the right direction.

Well done on getting to the 3rd Qualifying Round. It does seem that you are not the force at home that you should be. If you can sort that out this season, you're away form should be good enough to see you through to the next round.

Bad news. I had a power cut last night while saving. (Hows that for luck? )

I do have a back-up but it is months and months and months away back after my last league game. I estimate that I have spent longer in close season than I did playing the league. As a result I have lost the desire to continue withy this save. Playing for such a short period of time and then having to go through such a long close season again and again was just too much of a hard slog. I may come back to this one if my next game doesn't work out, but for now I will be returning to the land of my best FM save ever....

N.Ireland here I come .

convenient that eh Jimbo?? good luck 'back home...'

[rlipscombe]

As promised, here's a few screenshots for my Progresul Bucharest game:

Profile (never knew Romanian roots in the family...

Team Information Screen

Chairman's wishes

Initial Squad

Initial Finances

History

Brief overview from Wiki:

FC Progresul BucureÅŸti is a Romanian football club playing in Liga II. Despite having long resided in the shadow of the three big Bucharest teams (Steaua, Dinamo and Rapid), the club has recently achieved some good results, having thrice finished runners up in the top league (in 1996, 97 and 2002), in each case finishing behind one of its Bucharest rivals.

one thing i did notice is that a former manager is Dan Petrescu, the former Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday 'legend'. i feel honoured to follow in such footsteps...........

[Gilbster]

For those that have played in Northern Ireland before, is it possible to be allowed to scout more than just Northern Ireland? If so, what do you need to do?

I have English clubs coming in for all my good players, and unsettling them, because I dont want to sell, and my scouts are coming up with not much in their scouts of Northern Ireland.

Any ideas?

[CoachFlu]

Looks like I won't have to worry about finances this season, for a change:

Champions League group draw

Can't believe I made it that far. It went much easier than I expected. Well, we needed a late winning goal against Steaua to get there (0-0 in Bucharest, 2-1 at home), but we just plain and simply deserved the win. I just keep getting surprised by how strong my team is.

(And apologies to those who are struggling much harder to get anywhere in Europe. Remember, it's a bit easier in Belgium than in the smaller countries though.)

Juventus, Porto and CSKA... not the strongest group of the lot. Still not gonna expect too much though. I'll just count the money from the home matches, and try to get a point here and there. Then again, if we managed to beat Dinamo Kiev and Steaua, CSKA shouldn't be impossible either.

But that's for later. Time to, reluctantly, close the game for now and get some work done.

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

convenient that eh Jimbo?? good luck 'back home...'

God I wish.

Because of the way I play, (only signing players that I have scouted etc), the close season can be a bit of an onerous time. I spent bloomin ages, (about 7 hours real-time), progressing through the close season and then the flippin lights go out.

I wish now I had just "jacked" after the season finished. To make matters worse, things are not going well in N'orn I'ron.

"A scout, a scout my kingdom for a scout" .

To make matters worse my net connection is playing up .

[johnnyquest409]

Amur, Russian First Division - End Of Season 2008

League Table - 9th place (Media prediction: 22nd, rock bottom)

Very pleased with finishing 9th, especially after we'd only picked up 11 points from the first 15 games. A good run in the second half of the season pulled us well clear of relegation, but promotion was never in the picture after our poor start. Torpedo Moscow ran away with the league, as the media predicted. Pleasingly though, we took 4 points from our 2 games against them.

Position Graph

Our Squad - With no players at all (not even any youth players) when I took over, these are the lads I scraped together. Most of them are rated decent/good players for the First Division, with two or three who look like they might be able to cut it in the top flight.

Transfers - One annoying thing about the Russian transfer system is that you can't even sign uncontracted players when the transfer window is closed. This meant we always had a couple of useless greys on the bench each game, and no depth to the squad at all. With a wage budget of just £4.5k/week, I could hardly afford a big squad anyway.

My star player, at least over the second half of the season, was Stanislav Zhukov, who we signed from non-leaguers Unit for £5k. He started off slowly and struggled for goals, but hit great form towards the end of July, finishing the season with 17 goals in his last 17 games. He's the Fans Player of the Year and runner-up in First Division Signing of the Season.

So onto our Finances. Not a particularly pretty sight. Even with average home attendances of about 6000, we're steadily losing money every month.

I'll be spending the close season trawling the free transfer market to see if I can strengthen the side, looking in particular for a target man and a left winger, maybe a left-back and a centre-half too.

Despite our impressive second-half of last season, I think it's too early to be thinking about promotion. I'm just looking for another top-half finish, and perhaps a run in the cup as well. The media think we'll finish 19th (relegation) this season, let's hope they're as wrong as they were last season.

Oh, and aaberdeenn, you owe me £1

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by CoachFlu:

Looks like I won't have to worry about finances this season, for a change:

Champions League group draw

Can't believe I made it that far. It went much easier than I expected. Well, we needed a late winning goal against Steaua to get there (0-0 in Bucharest, 2-1 at home), but we just plain and simply deserved the win. I just keep getting surprised by how strong my team is.

(And apologies to those who are struggling much harder to get anywhere in Europe. Remember, it's a bit easier in Belgium than in the smaller countries though.)

Juventus, Porto and CSKA... not the strongest group of the lot. Still not gonna expect too much though. I'll just count the money from the home matches, and try to get a point here and there. Then again, if we managed to beat Dinamo Kiev and Steaua, CSKA shouldn't be impossible either.

But that's for later. Time to, reluctantly, close the game for now and get some work done.

I'm pretty sure that in Europe, gate receipts from any game are split equally between the home and away club... so you'll be counting the money from the away matches too...

[endtime]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

For those that have played in Northern Ireland before, is it possible to be allowed to scout more than just Northern Ireland? If so, what do you need to do?

You need to turn full-time, and that requires having around 5-6m in the bank.

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by endtime:

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

For those that have played in Northern Ireland before, is it possible to be allowed to scout more than just Northern Ireland? If so, what do you need to do?

You need to turn full-time, and that requires having around 5-6m in the bank. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So I need to start selling players to be able to try and get some money. My European attempts keep failing, so player sales may be my only way.

Good thing my team is made up regenned islanders and a new batch has just come through. So I may have some good replacements.

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:

I'm pretty sure that in Europe, gate receipts from any game are split equally between the home and away club... so you'll be counting the money from the away matches too...

Really? Thought that was only in domestic cups, but I'm not sure. Hope you're right though. I'll keep an eye on it when I continue playing tonight.

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:

Amur, Russian First Division - End Of Season 2008

League Table - 9th place (Media prediction: 22nd, rock bottom)

Good luck in Russia. I spent a handful of seasons there in an FM07 game last year (managing Salyut Belgorod). Found that it wasn't easy to promote from, as there was usually one team running away with the league, leaving the rest to squabble over the remaining spot. Five teams relegating is tricky as well, if you're struggling.

It gets a bit easier in the top flight though, because you can have more foreigners in the match squad then. (8 as opposed to 3, if I remember right)

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by CoachFlu:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by johnnyquest409:

Amur, Russian First Division - End Of Season 2008

League Table - 9th place (Media prediction: 22nd, rock bottom)

Good luck in Russia. I spent a handful of seasons there in an FM07 game last year (managing Salyut Belgorod). Found that it wasn't easy to promote from, as there was usually one team running away with the league, leaving the rest to squabble over the remaining spot. Five teams relegating is tricky as well, if you're struggling.

It gets a bit easier in the top flight though, because you can have more foreigners in the match squad then. (8 as opposed to 3, if I remember right) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

At the moment, I have two foreigners on my books, a Finn and a Belarussian. And yes, we're only allowed 3 in our starting XI. To be honest though, there aren't any other foreigners who are worth looking at (either they are just terrible, not interested or I can't scout them).

In the Premier Division, you can have 5 in the starting XI, so you still have to keep the majoriy of your team Russian.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by CoachFlu:

Looks like I won't have to worry about finances this season, for a change:

Champions League group draw

Can't believe I made it that far. It went much easier than I expected. Well, we needed a late winning goal against Steaua to get there (0-0 in Bucharest, 2-1 at home), but we just plain and simply deserved the win. I just keep getting surprised by how strong my team is.

(And apologies to those who are struggling much harder to get anywhere in Europe. Remember, it's a bit easier in Belgium than in the smaller countries though.)

Juventus, Porto and CSKA... not the strongest group of the lot. Still not gonna expect too much though. I'll just count the money from the home matches, and try to get a point here and there. Then again, if we managed to beat Dinamo Kiev and Steaua, CSKA shouldn't be impossible either.

But that's for later. Time to, reluctantly, close the game for now and get some work done.

A nice easy group awaits you then!

Your trip to Russia aint going be a walk in the park. England anyone???

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by Gundo:

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

Looks like I won't have to worry about finances this season, for a change:

Champions League group draw

Can't believe I made it that far. It went much easier than I expected. Well, we needed a late winning goal against Steaua to get there (0-0 in Bucharest, 2-1 at home), but we just plain and simply deserved the win. I just keep getting surprised by how strong my team is.

(And apologies to those who are struggling much harder to get anywhere in Europe. Remember, it's a bit easier in Belgium than in the smaller countries though.)

Juventus, Porto and CSKA... not the strongest group of the lot. Still not gonna expect too much though. I'll just count the money from the home matches, and try to get a point here and there. Then again, if we managed to beat Dinamo Kiev and Steaua, CSKA shouldn't be impossible either.

But that's for later. Time to, reluctantly, close the game for now and get some work done.

A nice easy group awaits you then!

Your trip to Russia aint going be a walk in the park. England anyone??? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

that hurts.....

[aaberdeenn]

Oh, and aaberdeenn, you owe me £1

[migwar]

I'm pretty sure that in Europe, gate receipts from any game are split equally between the home and away club... so you'll be counting the money from the away matches too...

i can only speak for my own brief experience in the qualifiers, but i definitely got a big fat zero in gate reciepts, merchandising, match day income etc in my away leg. i only made money at home

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by migwar:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm pretty sure that in Europe, gate receipts from any game are split equally between the home and away club... so you'll be counting the money from the away matches too...

i can only speak for my own brief experience in the qualifiers, but i definitely got a big fat zero in gate reciepts, merchandising, match day income etc in my away leg. i only made money at home </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Gate receipts for league games are not shared in the UK either in real life or in the game.

I don't know about elsewhere but I wouldn't have ethought so.

[Jimbokav1971]

Ignore that last comment.

You meant Continental games didn't you .

[nathansxi]

2008/2009 - New Beginnings / Olimpic Donetsk

The reset date for those interested in the Ukraine is 18th June.

Manager Profile

Club Information:

Name: Olimpic Donetsk

Value: 200k (Loan Debt 170k)

Capacity: 5297 all seater

Facilities: Average

Media Prediction: 20th (Relegation)

Not much expected of me this season. A small squad, no money, relegation...sounds fun However!, I am quite taken by the club name; sounds grand. To my disappointment though no mention of a rivarly with Shaktar

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by migwar:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm pretty sure that in Europe, gate receipts from any game are split equally between the home and away club... so you'll be counting the money from the away matches too...

i can only speak for my own brief experience in the qualifiers, but i definitely got a big fat zero in gate reciepts, merchandising, match day income etc in my away leg. i only made money at home </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can confirm now that there's no money from away matches in the group stage either.

That's ok, the money from the home matches, plus the prize money just for making it into the group stage, are quite sufficient to make it a good season, financially.

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2014/15 End of Season Update

After 2 seasons of complete dominance, something was going to snap. English clubs were coming in for all my top players and unsettling them. After rejecting bids in the August window, by November I offered a few of those players to other clubs, just to guarantee I could cash in before their contracts had 6 months left. Luckily I had already replaced them with some new upcoming Islanders, so I should be ok.

The league form was pretty good this season, but a few losses was I suppose after 2 complete seasons undefeated, inevitable. I retained the title, the Antrim Cup and Irish Cup. I lost my League Cup title in the final.

The All-Ireland Cup was points wise worse than last season, as all I managed was 3 draws, but since 2 of those were against Republic of Ireland sides I am going to say it was encouraging. The Republic of Ireland yet again completely annhilated that competition.

First qualifying round for the Champions League, saw Downpatrick drawn against Domzale of Slovenia. First leg we were at home and held them to a 0-0 draw. Our first ever draw in Europe! The second leg was 2-0 to them at half time, we got it back to 2-2 and then they got a last minute goal to set up a tie against Celtic.

In the pre-season, my board announced a stadium increase, and we seemed to get a grant so I dont have a stupidly large debt. I do have a 1844 (989 seated) capacity stadium now (905 total before).

Table

Transfers

Aims for new season:

Start trying to raise even more money. Need to turn pro so I can scout more places and get better players.

Hope my dominance doesnt crumble further and that I can win the title again even with a fight.

[cookie15]

Jimbo so now you're back in N.Ireland who you gonna manage?

Will it be Lisburn Rangers by any chance

[rlipscombe]

i have had to sensationally resign as manager of FC Progresul Bucharest (i realised that they were in League 2 in 2007-08 season) and i am now the new manager of........ the mighty FC Baia Mare, from Northern Romania.

Profile

Info Screen

my only concern from the info screen is that the club is in the progress of a board takeover, which may make my rein quite short!! hoever, it MIGHT mean my finances are improved a bit (fingers crossed) i have a healthy sized ground, although i feel it may be an empty ground as we are expected to sell 200 season tickets.......

as you can see from the pictures below, the ground is in a bit of a mess. i am also concerned by picture 2 somewhat - i hope they're not going to add one for me!!!

Ground - Picture 1

Ground - Picture 2

a bit about the city from Wiki:

Baia Mare (meaning Big Mine, pronunciation in Romanian: /'ba.ya 'ma.re/; Ancient name: Rivulus Dominarum, name in Hungarian: Nagybánya, German: Frauenbach and seldom Neustadt) is an important city in northern Romania and the seat of Maramureş County. It is located in the northern part of the county, on the middle course of the Săsar River, at an average altitude of 228 metres, surrounded by the Igniş and Gutâi mountains.

let the challenge begin...... again.

[rlipscombe]

forgot to add... my target for my two-year contract is to stay in the league, and my boards wishes for the season were to attempt to avoid relegation. in return for promising survival, i have no transfer budget but a wage budget of £11k per week. with a decent sized squad, i'm currently spending between £3k and £4k per week, so i have room to play with.

[yababo]

On the subject of Stadia a link to mine is below. I am quite happy with it and it is nice to know a bit about the club. My Messiniakos team has no fiercce rivals in the game but from the info in the link they should have.

Death to Kalamata

Messiniakos stadium

Check out the setting.

Perhaps we could have a rate my stadium best and worst?

[CoachFlu]

Verbroedering Meldert stadium

The stadium we started out with, at least. We've had a brand new 19k all-seater for a few years now.