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

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2019/20 End of Season Update

As I may have already mentioned, Downpatrick turned professional this season. With this we are now able to scout the whole of Europe, and the win bonuses offered to the whole squad are generally a lot higher than they were before.

Scouting Europe definitely has its uses, but I am still only allowed 3 scouts, and they seem to have gotten lost on their current assignments, so I havent even scouted as much as I would have liked in a season. But never mind since they have found me some good players already.

The title, league cup and Antrim Cup were all as normal, won by me. Notice the stupidly large amount of goals we scored in the league this year.

The Irish cup was another story and Clough Rangers beat us 1-0 in a shock result in the Semi Finals.

Europe

Champions League Qualifying Round 1 vs Valur (Iceland)

(h) 2-1

(a) 3-1

A nice 6-2 aggregate win, setting up a tie against Sparta Prague.

(h) 2-1

An amazing first leg saw us actually beat a Czech side, however that was always going to be too good to be true.

(a) 3-1

Their last minute goal in normal time, meant that we wouldnt go into extra time. All I would have needed was one more goal in the second leg and we would have been fine. Maybe next season.

All Ireland Cup

Group stage saw us go undefeated into a semi final against Derry City. Somehow we thrashed them 6-2 to set up a final against, yes you guessed it our arch nemesis again Drogheda Utd.

All Ireland Cup Final

A win at last. Wow the money is amazing for winning in this cup. First off is the £130k you get when the group stage is drawn. Then there is £180k for winning the cup and then finally another £120k for my final position in the cup. That is a lot of money!

Rest of the Screenshots

Table

Finances

Info Screen

Downpatrick Squad - yes one player did get 70 goals in all comps and another did get 55!

Transfers

[Annihilator666]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

Congratulations Annihilator666 on your first league title. May it be the first of many

Thanks, and well done on your last season. So close against Sparta Prague...

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2019/20 End of Season Update

As I may have already mentioned, Downpatrick turned professional this season. With this we are now able to scout the whole of Europe, and the win bonuses offered to the whole squad are generally a lot higher than they were before.

Scouting Europe definitely has its uses, but I am still only allowed 3 scouts, and they seem to have gotten lost on their current assignments, so I havent even scouted as much as I would have liked in a season. But never mind since they have found me some good players already.

The title, league cup and Antrim Cup were all as normal, won by me. Notice the stupidly large amount of goals we scored in the league this year.

The Irish cup was another story and Clough Rangers beat us 1-0 in a shock result in the Semi Finals.

Europe

Champions League Qualifying Round 1 vs Valur (Iceland)

(h) 2-1

(a) 3-1

A nice 6-2 aggregate win, setting up a tie against Sparta Prague.

(h) 2-1

An amazing first leg saw us actually beat a Czech side, however that was always going to be too good to be true.

(a) 3-1

Their last minute goal in normal time, meant that we wouldnt go into extra time. All I would have needed was one more goal in the second leg and we would have been fine. Maybe next season.

All Ireland Cup

Group stage saw us go undefeated into a semi final against Derry City. Somehow we thrashed them 6-2 to set up a final against, yes you guessed it our arch nemesis again Drogheda Utd.

All Ireland Cup Final

A win at last. Wow the money is amazing for winning in this cup. First off is the £130k you get when the group stage is drawn. Then there is £180k for winning the cup and then finally another £120k for my final position in the cup. That is a lot of money!

Rest of the Screenshots

Table

Finances

Info Screen

Downpatrick Squad - yes one player did get 70 goals in all comps and another did get 55!

Transfers

One of these days I will actually finish an update before hitting submit!

Just to recap I am now up to 8 league titles and the coefficients are as follows:

472nd Downpatrick 0.879

40th Northern Ireland 2.667

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Annihilator666:

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

Congratulations Annihilator666 on your first league title. May it be the first of many

Thanks, and well done on your last season. So close against Sparta Prague... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, it has to be only a matter of seasons before I can get to the 3rd qualifying round. I wouldnt necessarily mind losing in that round because it would give me a go at UEFA cup football at least.

[mocko666]

Cheers Jimbokav1971 i did finally win against bottom of the table, im trying to fine tune it but i just cannot figure how i definately cannot play with high tempo because ive tried it and we got battered for 75 minutes of the game (the other 25 minutes was the time the ball wasnt in play or when my team actually strung a couple of passes together, yes my team can pass amazes me too).

I play either a 4141 with one of my centre mids farrowing to AMC or a 41221 with one of my centre mids with forward runs often, im thing of trying to play a little wider but i might just attempt to play out this season survive and tweak it pre season and play about it in Friendlies against my division teams.

But i will still tweak a little here and there lets hope i can go on another unbeaten rum with a few wins in and around their.

P.S part the reason i drew all those games was down to my keeper hes been in superb form so it seems i just need to tweak the attack

Cheers

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

- yes one player did get 70 goals in all comps and another did get 55!

Yikes. I'm happy when my strikers get more than 20.

And yeah, I've been frowning at my scouts a bit as well.

Scouting one nation seems to work ok, but if you assign them to a region, it seems like they do one nation in the region after another, which can lead to very long trips. My Eastern Europe scout was off for 2.5 years. But at least he found some players, my scout in Western Africa hasn't found anyone yet in 11 months and counting.

Ah well, I have too many foreigners already anyway.

[Gilbster]

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 Gilbster:

- yes one player did get 70 goals in all comps and another did get 55!

Yikes. I'm happy when my strikers get more than 20.

And yeah, I've been frowning at my scouts a bit as well.

Scouting one nation seems to work ok, but if you assign them to a region, it seems like they do one nation in the region after another, which can lead to very long trips. My Eastern Europe scout was off for 2.5 years. But at least he found some players, my scout in Western Africa hasn't found anyone yet in 11 months and counting.

Ah well, I have too many foreigners already anyway. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I dont have foreigner rules to worry about thankfully, just homegrown things for the Champions League.

My scouts were previously taking about 48 hours to come back with a scout of Northern Ireland, so the sudden jump on these are scouting trips has scared me a bit.

I seem to be restricted to 3 scouts which isnt helping much either.

Another possible problem is that I am only being allowed 2 feeder clubs. Before I turned pro, I had 3, was being told I couldnt have any more, but could at least request what type I wanted. Since turning professional, I am being restricted to 2 feeders (1 link was cancelled at the start of that seaseon), and can no long say what type of feeder I want. I need a work permit feeder. I would have had 3 or 4 more good players if I had one of those!

[Barca4ever]

For some reason I decided to restart it in Sweden with Kalkmar. I miss that place. Profile

[CoachFlu]

I'm not complaining about the foreigner rules, really. Six "home grown / nation" players in a match squad of 18 players (or 15 for cup matches) isn't too bad at all. Rather this than deal with work permits.

No problem with feeder clubs here, we have six of them so far. And there's one I can cancel if needed (a Belgian no-league club, that link was established a day before I took charge of the club).

We even have an American feeder club for "financial benefits". Though I haven't found those benefits yet. No notable change in our merchandising so far. but on the other hand, I don't think we've paid them their annual 940k yet either. The link was only established 10 months ago though, so maybe it takes a while to get active.

[Jimbokav1971]

- yes one player did get 70 goals in all comps and another did get 55!

My top goal-scorer last season had 4 (four), for the whole season .

That's got to be a record in a team that wasn't relegated .

And the reason we weren't relegated.........?

01300000202000

Goals conceded in recent games .

We only lost 1, (the 3 conceded in 1 game), and that was in a Cup against Premiership Glenavon.

We aren't top of the league though, (we trail Wakehurst by 1 point), despite us still being unbeaten and them having lost 1 and drawn 2. I'm delighted though.

[Fire Bracelet]

Fire Bracelet - Sirocco Works - Season 11/12 - Northern Ireland Premier Division

Table - Table

England Result in Euro 2012 - Disappointing

Euro 2012 Final - Germany Victorious

So in the 11/12 season the team was rather improved, scoring some wins against solid teams in the Premier Division finishing 9th and never being in contention for a place in Europe or relegation. Made some small improvement in finances trying to claw my way up from being 200k in debt, and now hovering around 150k. Finished 3rd in my four team group in the Irish League Cup which was an improvement over fourth last year. Finished in the 6th round of the Irish Cup which was a step back, and knocked out in the very first round of the County Antrim Shield because of a draw against giants Linfield. The Premier Division has been dominated by Portadown the last 3 years and it will be hard to knock them down.

At the end of the season I managed to sign the player of the year on a bosman and he has joined my team for the 12/13 season along with a goalkeeper with 17 in both reflexes and one on ones. Another horrible European Championship for England seeing them get 1 point out of their group, and McLaren has been duly fired, four years later than in reality and replaced by a Spaniard who's name I can't recall. Germany won in the final due the winning goal struck in by Tottenham? man Mario Gomez. Truly saddening for losers Spain, beaten by a half Spaniard.

[Fire Bracelet]

winning goal struck in by Tottenham? man Mario Gomez. Truly saddening for losers Spain, beaten by a half Spaniard.

Sorry I don't know why I thought he was in Tottenham, he plays for Stuttgart.

[Gilbster]

Slight spoiler for my next update. Downpatrick have somehow, nerve wrackingly made it through to the third qualifying round of the Champions League. It sees us paired against Olympiakos.

Have a feeling I should go to bed now and play that tie in the morning.

[iacovone]

Well since returning to Slavonija, things have been going well. I spent a lot of time in pre season to make sure things began well in the 6th season (2nd season in top flight for those that have forgotten )

I tweaked my tactics time and time again and spent a lot of effort on set pieces, thinking this could potentially create a lot of chances if done correctly. So far so good, goals have been coming from corners and long throws and we are sitting in a very healthy 5th position after 7 games. If it keeps going like this there will be no danger of a relegation battle like last year.

[rlipscombe]

FC Baia Mare - Romanian Second Division Group 1 - 2008/09

time for an (almost) half season review. although we have now managed to win two games, our record still isn't great and 2-5-7 isn't a great return from 14 matches. our first win (0-2)came away at one of the league favourites, which i delighted with, especially after changing tactics prior to the match from 4-4-2 to a 5-3-2 formation. the papers called it a tactical masterstroke!! i say i was desperate!!

we currently sit 17th, 5 points away from safety, desperately waiting for the transfer window to open in order to strengthen the team further. athough we have a half-decent XI, we desperately need more strength in depth, particularly in centre midfield.

Paul Achim continues to defy velief for someone so young, leading the scoring charts with about 7 in 12. another bright spot is that Dino Eze has just returned from an injurt lay-off.

can i lead Baia Mare out of the drop zone?? we shall see.

[cletus]

Thought we need another danish contribution.

Profile

Trying out with Fredrikshavn.

[iacovone]

Good luck cletus, gutted you didn't join the Croatian revolution...

where is aaberdeenn??

[Gundo]

Originally posted by cletus:

Thought we need another danish contribution.

Profile

Trying out with Fredrikshavn.

Welcome and best of luck. Any fellow Scandinavian newcomer is always welcome.

[freek_teek]

Krokom - 2014 - midseason

Well, emergo was right, Superettan (Div 1 Elite, Swedish second tier) is the real step up. Fifteen games into the season, we only managed to get 2 wins and 3 draws. The first few games it looked like there were 2 camps developing: the ones who were playing for the title, and the ones who were playing against relegation. For a while it looked like the teams in the relegation group were taking away points from each other without one team being better than the rest, so the diference between place 10 and 16 wasn't that big. But now some teams are getting their act together and there's a gap developing between the below average and crap teams. Unfortunately we are on the wrong side of the gap.

For the first time since starting this game, I have a feeling we are hitting a wall. We're just not big enough (yet) to compete at this level. The biggest problems at the momdnt are:

-our attendences: Well below average (3k below) the league average. They actually dropped since last year despite playing a division higher. And it's not even because we are struggling, we sold less season tickets than last year.

-our traning facilities: Because of our lousy facilities (and the fact that I never really understood the training system, all our players lose attribute points. This means that I can buy a decent player, play him for two years, watch him being reduced to an average player and buy a new decent player. And it's not like we have a reputation that decent footballers line up for.

-our scouts: no matter how many times I send them ou they always seem to come back with the same recomended players, who either don't want to play for us, or are just crap (there's a player that my scout has been recomending since season 1, I didn't sign him than because he was crap, now he's just older and crap).

-our finances: we are not losing money anymore, but at the rate we are making money it's going to take 5 more seasons to get out of the red, and probably 5 more before the board will even consider giving me a transfer budget, or an upgrade of any kind.

2014 midseason standings

Anyway, we're second last, wich means automatic relegation if we stay there, the two teams above us play a relegation play-off against the runners-up from the Division 1 North and South.

[blowcrapup]

Hey I saw this challenge and thought I'd give it ago.

I chose Denmark for my adventure and got a job with Avarta

Avarta Profile

[iacovone]

Originally posted by blowcrapup:

Hey I saw this challenge and thought I'd give it ago.

I chose Denmark for my adventure and got a job with Avarta

Avarta Profile

Good luck

Where did you get that skin from? I fancy a change!

[blowcrapup]

Originally posted by iacovone:

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

Hey I saw this challenge and thought I'd give it ago.

I chose Denmark for my adventure and got a job with Avarta

Avarta Profile

Good luck

Where did you get that skin from? I fancy a change! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was on sortitoutsi.net its called black in or something like that.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by iacovone:

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

Hey I saw this challenge and thought I'd give it ago.

I chose Denmark for my adventure and got a job with Avarta

Avarta Profile

Good luck

Where did you get that skin from? I fancy a change! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Indeed welcome, cool skin too.

[Jimbokav1971]

Unbeaten in 18 league games and I lose at home to a "grey" team in the cup.

[iacovone]

We're having such a weird season. In some ways its much like the last - we're struggling and flirting with relegation but I'm strangely pleased. I've experimented all season with different tactics and other than the odd game we are losing by 1 goal. It is however, getting increasingly frustrating the number of times we have failed to hold a lead. Winter break coming soon, we have to start picking up results...

[iacovone]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

Unbeaten in 18 league games and I lose at home to a "grey" team in the cup.

I hate that Jimbo as it tends to mess up league form. Hope you can pick up that unbeaten run again.

[mocko666]

Can anyone suggest a godd league to start in preferably 18+ teams just in case i get relegated and want to start the challenge again

One that hasnt been used much in this competition or at all that you can recall

Cheers

[mocko666]

Can anyone suggest a <STRIKE>godd</STRIKE> good league to start in preferably 18+ teams just in case i get relegated and want to start the challenge again

One that hasnt been used much in this competition or at all that you can recall

Cheers

Just correcting

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by iacovone:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

Unbeaten in 18 league games and I lose at home to a "grey" team in the cup.

I hate that Jimbo as it tends to mess up league form. Hope you can pick up that unbeaten run again. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I bounced straight back with a league win but I have another Cup match now against Premiership Ards.

I am considering fielding the Reserves and letting us get beat but ensuring that none of the first team regulars have their morale affected .

[iacovone]

Not a bad idea. Let me know how it goes because I've found in past FM's that even by doing that the squad is still affected come next matchday.

By the way where did that head banging smiley come from?

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by mocko666:

Can anyone suggest a godd league to start in preferably 18+ teams just in case i get relegated and want to start the challenge again

One that hasnt been used much in this competition or at all that you can recall

Cheers

i'm managing in Romania... 2 leagues, 18 clubs in each. two promoted and FOUR relegated from second division......

[iacovone]

Well it could be THE pivotal moment in the season for Slavonija. At home to Varteks. They had the 2nd best form in the league, we hadn't won in 11 games. We ground out a narrow 1-0 with my keeper Bartulovic pulling off a superb double save from a penalty. He's getting a new contract if we stay up!

[mocko666]

So it happened i got relegated im not going to do a full season update it was close but i jsut couldnt win a game in the middle to end of the season enjoyed a large part of the game but oh well im not giving up though im going to start again in a new country will get back to y'all with which country ive devided to start in.

Cheers for the help throughout the difficult times.

[iacovone]

Slavonija - Winter Update - Season 6 - Croatian First Div

Well as some of you may have concluded, Slavonija are in a fair bit of trouble.

This graph shows how we really struggled about a quarter of the way into the season. As said above we went on an 11 game run without a win which has put us in all sorts of trouble.

Our key man Ante Popovic - has said numerous times that he's fed up at Slavonija and requested a transfer. Consequently there are now a few players that dislike him in the squad, adding to our problems.

A small positive is that our training facilities were upgraded to fairly basic from basic.

The club is worth £3.3million now. Although this will all be pointless if we go down. A crucial second half of the season is required! C'mon the Slavs.

[mocko666]

Decided on Hungary:

My main aim of this game is to havem ore patience as i tend to blow up too quickly and "throw the teddy out" which really isnt good for a career game where most your players see two goals on one end of the pitch (usually miles apart) lets hope i can do much better with this game.

[Quacky]

Be warned mocko666, the moment you hit the top division in Hungary you will face the league cup, cringe.

The lower league is pretty tough to be promoted from, only winner, but simple enough to do well in but the league cup is ridiculous and I suggest you just play reserves and lose all games in it until you have a massive squad. The AI however plays all its best players in that too so they get really tired and so its quite easy to compete in the top league if you have rested yours.

Just for the record, my Hungary save is still alive, I'm just on a bit of an fm break you know how it goes . Last action was following 3rd domestic league title I managed to beat out Leverkusen for champions league group stages with a brilliant last minute winner from my new star player.

[iacovone]

2 straight wins and 6 undefeated...things are looking up!

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by iacovone:

Not a bad idea. Let me know how it goes because I've found in past FM's that even by doing that the squad is still affected come next matchday.

By the way where did that head banging smiley come from?

Mosside (Division 2) v Ards (Premiership). Irish Cup 5th Round.

Not only do we field a team of Reserves, but 9 of the 16 players in the match squad were actually members of the youth team and 8 of the squad had never started a senior game before.

After conceding a dubious penalty in injury time at the end of the first half, we equalise with a well taken goal from my right winger, (making his debut), and the same player hits the post as we almost sneak it in injury time at the end of 90 minutes.

The game goes to extra time. I honestly can't believe this, and this is how it finished. We even had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men after our striker was stretchered off having made all 3 subs.

What the hell do I do now ?

ps is seagull if that makes sense.

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - 2020/21 European Adventure

1st Qualifying Round for Champion's League

Leg 1 Buducnost (Montenegro) 2 - 1 Downpatrick

Leg 2 Downpatrick 3 - 1 Buducnost (Montenegro)

Wow we overcame a first defecit to win 4-3 aggregate.

2nd Qualifying Round for Champion's League

Leg 1 Downpatrick 3-1 MSK Zilina (Slovakia)

Leg 2 MSK Zilina (Slovakia) 0-1 Downpatrick

For the first time in Downpatrick's history they made it through to the third qualifying round of the Champion's League.

3rd Qualifier for Champ's league

Leg 1 Olympiakos (Greece) 2 -1 Downpatrick

Leg 2 Downpatrick 0 - 0 Olympiakos (Greece)

Such a shame to be 1 goal away from being in the group stage. Oh well at least it gave us UEFA Cup football.

1st Round Proper UEFA Cup

Leg 1 Maccabi Haifa (Israel) 1 -1 Downpatrick

Leg 2 Downpatrick 1 - 0 Maccabi Haifa (Israel)

What a result. We have made it somehow to the group stage of the UEFA Cup. We were in the bottom pot of seeds, so I didnt expect to get even a point from the group.

Groups were drawn, and Downpatrick got Besiktas, Aston Villa, Hannover and Spartak Moscow. As the media said a very hard group.

Downpatrick 1-0 Besiktas (Turkey)

Aston Villa (England) 1-1 Downpatrick

Downpatrick 2-1 Hannover (Germany)

Spartak Moscow (Russia) 5-0 Downpatrick

Final Group Table

Oh well a win against Moscow would have seen us through in third place. However it was still the best season in Europe that Downpatrick has ever seen, and gives us great hope for future seasons.

Due to the amount of matches being rearranged and cup ties, we have only played 4 leage matches so far this season so have 7 games in hand!

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

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

Not a bad idea. Let me know how it goes because I've found in past FM's that even by doing that the squad is still affected come next matchday.

By the way where did that head banging smiley come from?

Mosside (Division 2) v Ards (Premiership). Irish Cup 5th Round.

Not only do we field a team of Reserves, but 9 of the 16 players in the match squad were actually members of the youth team and 8 of the squad had never started a senior game before.

After conceding a dubious penalty in injury time at the end of the first half, we equalise with a well taken goal from my right winger, (making his debut), and the same player hits the post as we almost sneak it in injury time at the end of 90 minutes.

The game goes to extra time. I honestly can't believe this, and this is how it finished. We even had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men after our striker was stretchered off having made all 3 subs.

What the hell do I do now ?

ps is seagull if that makes sense. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I forgot to mention that Ards fielded a full strength team.

U21 capped GK

Ryan Blayney. Hot prospect capped at U19 level.

Dion Dublin of Coventry A.Villa & Man Utd fame, (with over 600 league appearances to his name).

Michael Hughes. 71 senior N.Ireland Caps.

U19 capped SC.

Love it .

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

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

Not a bad idea. Let me know how it goes because I've found in past FM's that even by doing that the squad is still affected come next matchday.

By the way where did that head banging smiley come from?

Mosside (Division 2) v Ards (Premiership). Irish Cup 5th Round.

Not only do we field a team of Reserves, but 9 of the 16 players in the match squad were actually members of the youth team and 8 of the squad had never started a senior game before.

After conceding a dubious penalty in injury time at the end of the first half, we equalise with a well taken goal from my right winger, (making his debut), and the same player hits the post as we almost sneak it in injury time at the end of 90 minutes.

The game goes to extra time. I honestly can't believe this, and this is how it finished. We even had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men after our striker was stretchered off having made all 3 subs.

What the hell do I do now ?

ps is seagull if that makes sense. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I forgot to mention that Ards fielded a full strength team.

U21 capped GK

Ryan Blayney. Hot prospect capped at U19 level.

Dion Dublin of Coventry A.Villa & Man Utd fame, (with over 600 league appearances to his name).

Michael Hughes. 71 senior N.Ireland Caps.

U19 capped SC.

Love it . </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't care how big they where jimbo, Hughes and Dublin will have been next to useless with their severe lack of pace (am I correct). Especially against your nippy youngsters. Still getting the better of an under 21 GK is an achievement of it's own.

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

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

Not a bad idea. Let me know how it goes because I've found in past FM's that even by doing that the squad is still affected come next matchday.

By the way where did that head banging smiley come from?

Mosside (Division 2) v Ards (Premiership). Irish Cup 5th Round.

Not only do we field a team of Reserves, but 9 of the 16 players in the match squad were actually members of the youth team and 8 of the squad had never started a senior game before.

After conceding a dubious penalty in injury time at the end of the first half, we equalise with a well taken goal from my right winger, (making his debut), and the same player hits the post as we almost sneak it in injury time at the end of 90 minutes.

The game goes to extra time. I honestly can't believe this, and this is how it finished. We even had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men after our striker was stretchered off having made all 3 subs.

What the hell do I do now ?

ps is seagull if that makes sense. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I forgot to mention that Ards fielded a full strength team.

U21 capped GK

Ryan Blayney. Hot prospect capped at U19 level.

Dion Dublin of Coventry A.Villa & Man Utd fame, (with over 600 league appearances to his name).

Michael Hughes. 71 senior N.Ireland Caps.

U19 capped SC.

Love it . </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nice win you had there Jimbo. Shame the prize money doesnt happen for every round in that cup.

Good luck in the next round.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - December 16th 2018

Mid-season table.

So far so good. A few too many "aaargh! score, dammit!" draws lately though. But at least Club Brugge - who I consider as the main contender - is having even more trouble scoring goals.

With the early-ish exit from Europe, this season isn't gonna be a financial success. Especially since our expenditure seems to have gone up significantly. A small part of that is wages, but the main rise is in taxes.

No cause for alarm bells yet, but at this rate, it looks like I better make sure I get to either the CL or UEFA Cup group stage next season. If not, most of last season's profit will be gone in 18 months.

But those are concerns for later. Getting the title again (and hence qualifying for the Champions League next season) is the first objective.

[Jimbokav1971]

You will not believe this.

All free-kicks .

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

You will not believe this.

All free-kicks .

Wow nicely done

[ghostwriter]

UGS, Switzerland - Challenge League - 08/09

Started off with a respectably sized squad, although half of them were U18. Lots available on the free transfer market here so grabbed the necessary.

Unfortunately most were either unfit or not bought in time for the first match, a visit to Vaduz, where we got battered. 3 draws followed before we got our first victory, a glorious 4-0 over Winterthur. And from then on it was relatively plain sailing, any time we looked like sinking a bit we pulled a victory or a couple of good draws out of the bag and continued merrily on. That was until the halfway point when things went a little wrong, 4 games and no goals but thankfully in the final game before the winter break we got a lucky away victory.

Hence at the 3.5 month break for snow the table looked like this:

Winter Break

Relatively safe it seemed.

It appeared that during the long Winter our players thought the same as they came back playing awful basically. In the final 12 games we picked up 6 points, and were thankful to be so far ahead after the first half. Despite that we only dropped one position. The fact that we were only 5 points above the drop is slightly deceptive as we really were never in any danger whatsoever, it was just Vaduz picked up loads of points in their last 5 games.

In fact we only picked up 10 points in the whole of the second half of the season which is beyond relegation form.

Final Table

The Squad

Some details

Summary

Those figures looked much better after 17 games than they did at the end.

Our 2 best players were Zeneli and Fernandez, both of whom were there when I arrived, which is hardly a ringing endorsement for my transfer policy. Luiz Carlos was not bad, mind.

I basically have no idea which GK is the best, although neither are good enough which makes the question a bit superfluous.

Faria is a good striker, but always injured and there is simply no back up, Rama has several caps for Switzerland in the past, no idea how.

Was losing 10k a month which was not really delighting the board. Got a nice surprise at the end when I discovered that I get 150k prize money even for my lowly 14th position finish. Back into the black and within my wage budget now.

Should be OK next year even with minimal buying, a striker and a GK are necessities though. Let's hope my scouts and the free transfer market come up trumps. Not even thinking about promotion at the moment, unless some incredible players pop up somewhere along the line. They would not be from any parent club though as the board currently refuse to give me one.

[iacovone]

Originally posted by Jimbokav1971:

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

Not a bad idea. Let me know how it goes because I've found in past FM's that even by doing that the squad is still affected come next matchday.

By the way where did that head banging smiley come from?

Mosside (Division 2) v Ards (Premiership). Irish Cup 5th Round.

Not only do we field a team of Reserves, but 9 of the 16 players in the match squad were actually members of the youth team and 8 of the squad had never started a senior game before.

After conceding a dubious penalty in injury time at the end of the first half, we equalise with a well taken goal from my right winger, (making his debut), and the same player hits the post as we almost sneak it in injury time at the end of 90 minutes.

The game goes to extra time. I honestly can't believe this, and this is how it finished. We even had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men after our striker was stretchered off having made all 3 subs.

What the hell do I do now ?

ps is seagull if that makes sense. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

How the hell do I know?!

Perhaps playing the youth team is the loophole in the FM system. Nicely done on the 6-1 too!

[spotg]

The smiley refers to a poster on OTF - displaced_seagull who as having some long and extensive rants about his life on there a couple of years ago which left most readers of that forum wanting to bash their heads against the wall.

Hence a friendly mod finding and adding that smiley.

where's emgergo got to? I need my next fill of his slovenia story to whet my appetite for my attempt at this when San Marino is conquered.

[iacovone]

spotg, cheers for the explanation, great work by the mod! I quite like the smiley, can see myself using it a lot.

[aaberdeenn]

Originally posted by iacovone:

Good luck cletus, gutted you didn't join the Croatian revolution...

where is aaberdeenn??

Here I am, just rather busy at the moment.