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

[rlipscombe]

it's a brave new world for my Caerleon team... we've signed our fisrt non-nritish & Eire player, and spent money on a player for the first time... £8,000!! both are rated as great prospects.

Ben Joyce - "record signing"

Hristo Panayatov - "Bulgarian 'Magician!!' "

let's hope they make the difference. had a less-than-amazing start to the league...

[Gundo]

Strange thing in my game in 2011, Everton reach the Champions League final! Only to lose 3-1 to Real Madrid. The toffees also knocked Liverpool out of the competition in the quarters too!

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

it's a brave new world for my Caerleon team... we've signed our fisrt non-nritish & Eire player, and spent money on a player for the first time... £8,000!! both are rated as great prospects.

Ben Joyce - "record signing"

Hristo Panayatov - "Bulgarian 'Magician!!' "

let's hope they make the difference. had a less-than-amazing start to the league...

not a great result by any stretch, but check out the double scorer on his debut....

Llanelli 5 - 2 Caerleon

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick - CL Group Stage Update

Downpatrick 1 - 2 Celtic

Scored within the first minutes and then couldnt hold on.

CSKA Moscow 5 - 2 Downpatrick

Well that was almost identical to my first match against Spartak Moscow, so not too surprised.

Downpatrick 4 - 1 Olympiakos

What a result and about time we got a win this year in the groups.

Olympiakos 3 - 1 Downpatrick

Well after the home tie against them I was hopeful, but wrongfully so.

Celtic 0 - 2 Downpatrick

Fantastic win at Celtic Park to keep us in with a chance of finishing in the top 2.

Needed a draw or a win going into the last match to get the second spot.

Downpatrick 0 - 1 CSKA Moscow

So close, it was a 90th minute winner for CSKA. Oh well there is still the UEFA cup knockout stages.

Final Group Table

[Quacky]

Békéscsaba Elöre 2014/15 The Manager is Annoyed

After 3rd place in Champions league group stage we draw the incredibly rubbish and bad team Spartak F***ing Moscow. So anyway we goto some horrible Russian stadium and play the useless muppets off the park only to concede a totally lame 93rd and half minute goal against the run of play and after the allotted 3 minutes injury time.

I guessed I would be overturn this at home against such a horrendously bad team at home and again we destroyed them all game long and managed to finally score our own 93rd minute goal that we desperately deserved. A fantastic save on 96th minute (of 4 minutes injury time) kept us in for extra time. In which I concede one of those joke own goals from a passback under no pressure from outside the area, interestingly from 1 of only 2 players in my team that speaks Russian (a very good Latvian defender). I can't believe I lost to such a bad team and nor can the fans even though they seem happy at the 1-1 draw because they are weird.

Next time I play a Russian team I'll bribe the ref to give us extra time and their defenders...

[Jimbokav1971]

iacovone. McIlmurray scored a couple of penalties, but most of them were free-kicks. He actually managed to score a hat-trick in 1 match, (all free-kicks).

I though I was going mad about that missing feature. Glad to see that someone else missed it too.

emgergo. Ultimatums suck .

Gilbster. Not too bad a group .

You win at Celtic Park .

But still just miss out in the dying minutes .

Having said that, maybe the UEFA Cup is better than the next round of the Champions League in terms of chances of progressing .

[Gilbster]

UEFAF Cup 1st Knockout Round Leg 1

Leg 2

Away goals FTW! Next up Palermo.

Between those two legs I had my first All-Ireland match of the season, and I was beaten 6-3 so not convinced I can retain that trophy.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - May 18th 2019

Boy, this felt like a long season. And it was, partially because I had a busy week, but also because of the team's performances.

Quick UEFA Cup recap, from way long ago at the beginning of the season: eased through the Qualifying Rounds, then got drawn against ManUtd and hence failed to reach the group stage, which annoyed my board.

Media Prediction: 2nd

Board expectation: win the title.

Mid-season table

Everything still pretty much under control at that stage, though I already voiced my concern in the mid-season update about a few matches in which we just refused to hit the net. The concern turned out to be justified.

Then again, here's the final table:

End of Season

So what am I nagging about, right? We won the title. True, in a sense. But it was still a frustrating second half of the season.

Looking at the two tables, it might seem as if we juuuust managed to hang on to our top spot. It wasn't quite like that, as the position graph will show.

We went into a spiral of inconsistency, winning 4-0 one week, then losing the next despite getting umpteen shots on target. We only managed to stay in touch with the top of the table because all the other teams were pretty carp as well.

With a handful of matches to go, there were seven teams within 3 points of each other at the top. At that stage though, I was no longer thinking of the title. With my team's independable form I'd be long pleased with a UEFA Cup ticket.

A surprising, awesome win against leaders Club Brugge on MD31 saw us temporarily rise into the lead alongside them, but then a draw against relegation battlers made us drop to 3rd place again.

So, going into the last match day, I really wasn't even thinking about the title. We were 2 points behind Club Brugge, and they were playing rock-bottom Mouscron. We, on the other hand, were facing 4th-placed Genk, who were just two points behind us. So it was a direct confrontation for a UEFA ticket for us - we needed a point to be certain.

Needless to say, we won against Genk, but I hadn't even been checking the Club Brugge score, so it came as a bit of a surprise when we were crowned champions after all. With a bit of help from relegating Mouscron, who held Brugge to their fifteenth draw of the season.

And so we win our second title, and as with the first one, it was again a matter of who was the least crappy this season. 63 points from 34 matches is hardly impressive. Not that I mind, though. With the board at "you should be performing slightly better" for a few months, winning the league came at the right time.

We had a chance at the double, since we snuck our way into the Belgian Cup final inbetween the fluctuating form, and with the moral boost from winning the title I thought we had a good chance. But Club Brugge made mincemeat of us - the 0-1 score was highly deceptive, my goalie got the MoM award. Ah well.

The team

Mixed feelings about the team. Sure, we won the title, but we got lucky. On the whole, we underperformed.

Not sure why, exactly. Perhaps it had something to do with the high amount of nagging for first team football. The team's morale went all over the place, and was dreadfully low at the end, until we won the title.

Nevertheless, a few of the star performers:

- Santiago Sierra: One of my new Spaniards, who replaced an aging DM. Absolute quality, except for his low pace, but in midfield that's a bit less crucial than at the back. My new highest earner as well.

- Alex Lambrechts: Already put his profile up a few seasons ago, but it deserves repeating. My all-time top scorer, with 102 league goals in the five seasons he's been at the club (and 49 assists). His stats don't look quite as impressive as those of the two Spanish strikers in my squad, but he's by far the most consistent scorer, and has a much better mental attitude.

On the shopping list for next season: a striker, because I'll be selling at least one of the two unhappy Spaniards, and the hot prospect I had lined up refused to extend his contract and will be moving to Newcastle instead. I'm quite disappointed with that.

Other than that, we're pretty much set, though I'd prefer to replace some of my unhappy backup Belgians with happy backup Belgians.

Main goal for next season: qualify for the CL group stage and count the money.

History:

2008/09: Third Division A - 6th

2009/10: Third Division A - 2nd (P)

2010/11: Second Division - 6th

2011/12: Second Division - 1st (P)

2012/13: First Division - 17th ®

2013/14: Second Division - 3rd

2014/15: Second Division - 1st (P)

2015/16: First Division - 6th

2016/17: First Division - 1st

2017/18: First Division - 2nd

2018/19: First Division - 1st

[Gilbster]

UEFA Cup Knockout Rd 2 - Leg 1

UEFA Cup Knockout Rd 2 - Leg 2

Well it is still the best we have ever done in Europe. One round further. Slight shame though as we would have had Shalke in the next round, who had beaten Juventus, so I would have perhaps fancied my chances.

Always next season, and more European Coefficient points for the club can only be good.

[iacovone]

Well sad to say that my chairmans ruined things again. Topic our star keeper is off to Kobenhaven for 3million.

It means we need someone new asap, with 4 days left in the transfer window I need to act fast. By the way first leg against CSKA was lost 2-0 at home.

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by iacovone:

Well sad to say that my chairmans ruined things again. Topic our star keeper is off to Kobenhaven for 3million.

It means we need someone new asap, with 4 days left in the transfer window I need to act fast. By the way first leg against CSKA was lost 2-0 at home.

good luck finding a new keeper and in the secong leg - remember, miracles do happen.....

[rlipscombe]

a little mini-update on my early season. seven games in and we sit 11th out of 18 teams, which i'm happy with. our first 4 games were 0-1-3, but a change in fortunes has seen us unbeaten in 4 in all competitions (inc. 1 cup game) and our last three league games as 2-1-0, which is quite a turnaround. i made a few more signings before deadline day, and although the team is a little makeshift, it'll do for now. i've signed up some decent youngsters for the future of the club.

off to bed now. more tomorrow.

[johnnyquest409]

Just reached the mid-season break in our first year in the top flight. Ten games played, and I'm quite pleased with how things are going, but there's still a lot of work to be done. We're in 11th place and only 3 points above the relegation zone, but playing some decent football and look capable of beating the other teams around us in the table.

Best results so far have been a 1-0 victory at home to Torpedo Moscow and a comeback from 2-0 down to draw away v Rostov.

Our striker Alexandr Yevstafjev has got 6 goals in 9 games (not bad at all when the team have only scored 9).

[iacovone]

Well we valiantly ducked out of the Champions League at the third qualifying round - missing a pen in the last minute to get a 3-3 draw in Moscow. 5-2 on agg - not too disheartened.

[aaberdeenn]

Unlucky.

Good luck in the Uefa Cup though.

[iacovone]

Well I completely forgot we would be in the Uefa Cup - last out of the hat and facing Lille.

Nice trip to France

[iacovone]

Ah aaberdeenn, where've you been? How's your latest game coming?

[aaberdeenn]

Well my 360 Elite that was for Christmas came on Thursday afternoon so I've been kinda sidetracked.

I've deciding I'm definitely going back to Croatia and I'll properly get my game up, hopefully in the morning.

I think that I'm going to Novalja again.

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2024/25 End of Season Update

All-Ireland Cup was a waste of time this season, we went out in the group stages, but the fixtures were interlinked with latter stage UEFA Cup games that I was giving priority to.

My European attempts can be seen higher up on this page. In summary, we beat 3 teams to get to CL group stage (including Anderlecht). Then lost out on qualifying for next round by a late goal for CSKA Moscow. We instead got a tie against Fenerbahce in the UEFA cup knockout that we won on goal difference and then the second leg against Palermo in the following round put us out of Europe comprehensively.

League table was about the same as usual, as were the cups. Wins all round.

A large number of my first choice players for European games, I sold for profits in the January window since they woulnt extend their contracts. At least this way I got some money for them.

I still have a squad of players that is too large though.

Table

Info

Transfers

13 Titles

134th 21.288

N.I 28th 13.000

[iacovone]

Originally posted by aaberdeenn:

Well my 360 Elite that was for Christmas came on Thursday afternoon so I've been kinda sidetracked.

I've deciding I'm definitely going back to Croatia and I'll properly get my game up, hopefully in the morning.

I think that I'm going to Novalja again.

I don't blame you, its a hospitable place Croatia.

On an O/T note - what did you get with the 360? If First Person Shooters are your thing - Call of Duty 4 is outrageous, and I've been playing a fair amount of Tom Clancy Vegas lately. Both top games

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2024/25 End of Season Update

All-Ireland Cup was a waste of time this season, we went out in the group stages, but the fixtures were interlinked with latter stage UEFA Cup games that I was giving priority to.

My European attempts can be seen higher up on this page. In summary, we beat 3 teams to get to CL group stage (including Anderlecht). Then lost out on qualifying for next round by a late goal for CSKA Moscow. We instead got a tie against Fenerbahce in the UEFA cup knockout that we won on goal difference and then the second leg against Palermo in the following round put us out of Europe comprehensively.

League table was about the same as usual, as were the cups. Wins all round.

A large number of my first choice players for European games, I sold for profits in the January window since they woulnt extend their contracts. At least this way I got some money for them.

I still have a squad of players that is too large though.

Table

Info

Transfers

13 Titles

134th 21.288

N.I 28th 13.000

Slight update, have just noticed that Linfield has at some point turned professional. Not sure when since I never saw any news article about it. They are now the second professional club in Northern Ireland.

[aaberdeenn]

On an O/T note - what did you get with the 360? If First Person Shooters are your thing - Call of Duty 4 is outrageous, and I've been playing a fair amount of Tom Clancy Vegas lately. Both top games

I got PES2008, Halo 3, and PGR4. My mum ordered it though, it wasn't my choice so I was pretty chuffed with what I got considering she's not really in the know. I also got an extra wireless controller.

I wanted PES and COD4 but I was happy with what I got.

My birthday in January though so shall get COD4 then.

[Quacky]

Békéscsaba Elöre 2014/15 Final

The end of another long, very long season 75 games worth with all the cups. I won the treble even though it says I didn't I did win the league cup too, I won both halves of the competition so the overall final was not played and there appears to be a bug in this. League success again involved a fantastic defence. The almighty Poleksic with 20 clean sheets in the league and playing in his 50 thousandth season with me. Other key players new central defender Smirnovs and the continued improvement of Sudanese right back Al-Mutairi who is becoming a truly superb player.

In Europe we made it to 3rd in champions league group stage with a win over rangers and 2 draws with Arsenal leading to a thoroughly whinable defeat to Spartak Moscow, I've already reported these and can't be bothered to repeat myself. The troops did well again.

As for the offseason, half my first team want to move to western Europe and the board is effectively doubling the stadium capacity from 18000 to 34000.

Hungarian League x4

Hungarian Cup x4

Hungarian League Cup x3

Champions League - Group stage 3rd

UEFA Cup - 1st Knockout

Békéscsaba ranking 154th 16.223

Hungary ranking 26th 12.000

[aaberdeenn]

Well I've got my game back and running and I have decided to stay in Croatia although I'm not managing Novalja this time, instead I've joined iacovone in managing Slavonija.

Profile.

[Fire Bracelet]

Slight update, have just noticed that Linfield has at some point turned professional. Not sure when since I never saw any news article about it. They are now the second professional club in Northern Ireland.

Well that's promising, good job on the 30-0-0.

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by Fire Bracelet:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Slight update, have just noticed that Linfield has at some point turned professional. Not sure when since I never saw any news article about it. They are now the second professional club in Northern Ireland.

Well that's promising, good job on the 30-0-0. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It has just been announced that Downpatrick have made it onto the rich list. We are in 86th place.

Thanks Firebracelet. That was my 4th 30-0-0

[iacovone]

Originally posted by aaberdeenn:

Well I've got my game back and running and I have decided to stay in Croatia although I'm not managing Novalja this time, instead I've joined iacovone in managing Slavonija.

Profile.

aaberdeenn you swine! Good luck with them, hope you climb the league faster then I did!

[iacovone]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

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

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Slight update, have just noticed that Linfield has at some point turned professional. Not sure when since I never saw any news article about it. They are now the second professional club in Northern Ireland.

Well that's promising, good job on the 30-0-0. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It has just been announced that Downpatrick have made it onto the rich list. We are in 86th place.

Thanks Firebracelet. That was my 4th 30-0-0 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Showoff.

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - European Qualifying Update 2025/26

Qualifying Round 1 vs Ekrana (Lithuania)

Leg 1 (h) 4-0

Leg 2 (a) 0-1

Qualifying Round 2 vs HJK (Finland)

Leg 1 (a) 1-3

Leg 2 (h) 2-1

Nice 5-2 aggregate win to guarantee me either a group stage CL season or UEFA cup football. Amazingly Downpatrick were seeded for the third round draw, which meant we avoided the big boys.

Qualifying Round 3 vs IFK Goteborg (Sweden)

Leg 1 (h) 3-0

Leg 2 (a) 2-2

Nice comprehensive aggregate win over another Scandinavian opponent. That takes us to the Champion's Leauge Group stage draw.

Downpatrick are going up in the world since we were announced in the 3rd seed pot.

Group Stage Draw

[iacovone]

Nice one Gilbster - you've got yourself a nice 'Battle of Britain' lined up there with Hearts. Good Luck

[Gilbster]

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 Gilbster:

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

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Slight update, have just noticed that Linfield has at some point turned professional. Not sure when since I never saw any news article about it. They are now the second professional club in Northern Ireland.

Well that's promising, good job on the 30-0-0. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It has just been announced that Downpatrick have made it onto the rich list. We are in 86th place.

Thanks Firebracelet. That was my 4th 30-0-0 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Showoff. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry, I barely pay attention to my league games any more. Just make sure I dont play any of the top players if there is a European game next.

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by iacovone:

Nice one Gilbster - you've got yourself a nice 'Battle of Britain' lined up there with Hearts. Good Luck

Hope I come off a bit better than my Battle last year with Celtic. We lost at home and won away.

Any ideas how I can stop buying players that I dont really need? I seem to have a compulsion and I have my scouts out the whole time hunting for them.

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

Any ideas how I can stop buying players that I dont really need? I seem to have a compulsion and I have my scouts out the whole time hunting for them.

It's impossible. There are no patches or chewing gum that help against that.

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by Gilbster:

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

Nice one Gilbster - you've got yourself a nice 'Battle of Britain' lined up there with Hearts. Good Luck

Hope I come off a bit better than my Battle last year with Celtic. We lost at home and won away.

Any ideas how I can stop buying players that I dont really need? I seem to have a compulsion and I have my scouts out the whole time hunting for them. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i'm the same... i love to buy players and i always have a bigger-than-necessary squad.

[aaberdeenn]

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 aaberdeenn:

Well I've got my game back and running and I have decided to stay in Croatia although I'm not managing Novalja this time, instead I've joined iacovone in managing Slavonija.

Profile.

aaberdeenn you swine! Good luck with them, hope you climb the league faster then I did! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, well I'm still unbeaten at the end of August.

[Jimbokav1971]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

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

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

Nice one Gilbster - you've got yourself a nice 'Battle of Britain' lined up there with Hearts. Good Luck

Hope I come off a bit better than my Battle last year with Celtic. We lost at home and won away.

Any ideas how I can stop buying players that I dont really need? I seem to have a compulsion and I have my scouts out the whole time hunting for them. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i'm the same... i love to buy players and i always have a bigger-than-necessary squad. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I had over 100 players at Lisburn Rangers in FM07.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Quacky:

Békéscsaba Elöre 2014/15 Final

The end of another long, very long season 75 games worth with all the cups. I won the treble even though it says I didn't I did win the league cup too, I won both halves of the competition so the overall final was not played and there appears to be a bug in this. League success again involved a fantastic defence. The almighty Poleksic with 20 clean sheets in the league and playing in his 50 thousandth season with me. Other key players new central defender Smirnovs and the continued improvement of Sudanese right back Al-Mutairi who is becoming a truly superb player.

In Europe we made it to 3rd in champions league group stage with a win over rangers and 2 draws with Arsenal leading to a thoroughly whinable defeat to Spartak Moscow, I've already reported these and can't be bothered to repeat myself. The troops did well again.

As for the offseason, half my first team want to move to western Europe and the board is effectively doubling the stadium capacity from 18000 to 34000.

Hungarian League x4

Hungarian Cup x4

Hungarian League Cup x3

Champions League - Group stage 3rd

UEFA Cup - 1st Knockout

Békéscsaba ranking 154th 16.223

Hungary ranking 26th 12.000

75 game season!

That's almost as long as the Northern Irish league season, what with all their excessive amount of cup comps.

Here in Norway we get just one! domestic cup competition.

[Jimbokav1971]

Quacky. a 75 game season is certainly impressive. I think the most I had was 84 in N/Ireland last season, but that was only with me reaching the Qtr Finals of the champions League so the likes of Johnny and dafuge will have had more than that.

Congratulations on your treble .

ps. Have you told them about the bug in the bugs forum? It's likely that this hasn't been encountered before.

[dodged up]

im going to try this on fm 2007 (gettin fm 2008 for christmas hopefully) in northern ireland im holidaying it now, I hope i get lisburn rangers cause i live there lol

[Quacky]

Békéscsaba Elöre 2014/15 Champions League

Well its over already this season

1st Qualifying was a simple victory 3-1 agg. over Rudar of Montenegro and then the same score over MyPa of Finland. This set up the draw for the hard game to get into the group stages, previously I had beaten Werder Bremen and Leverkusen here but this time I drew Real Madrid. By far the hardest game I had to face but to make it worse and to make me completely and totally this was all I had to face them in Spain. I annotated it to show just how bad it really is with the pic taken just after the game that I lost 4-1. They had a bunch of guys on international too but with their much larger team it didn't matter. My reserves (4 players) were either injured or on loan too. With a full team we lost 2-1 at home and head off to UEFA cup a bit early.

Jimbokav I reported that bug along with another bug in the same competition, I don't think they tested it too much

Gundo I wish there were less cup games, I played quite a few of them with a complete team of reserves that still won the games.

[Jimbokav1971]

dodged up. Save the game the day before the day that the relegation playoff is played and if you don't get Lisburn Rangers then you can just go back 1 day and try again until you do get them promoted.

If you look through the early pages of this thread you should be able to find the exact date.

This thread might help you a little.

Good luck .

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - August 29th 2019

Four matches into the new season, nine points, decent enough start - but the European progress is what this update is about.

Due to an unexpected last day title steal last season, I got another chance at the Champions League. If I could make the group stage again, like two years ago, that would be a very welcome financial windfall.

Albanian team KF Tirana was the first hurdle, in the Second Qual Round. Not a very high hurdle though, and a 5-1 aggregate score took care of that.

We were unseeded for the Third Qual Round draw, but when we drew Zenit Peterburg as opponent, I figured we were in with a chance.

When we won the away leg 1-0, it was really looking good. It was a lucky win though, with my goalie getting the MoM award. So I was still not fully confident for the second leg.

And rightly so, it turned out. But again, we got lucky.

When my new Spanish striker (yep, yet another Spaniard) put us 1-0 up by half time, I thought it was in the bag. But stupidly, I followed my assistant's advice and told the team that I was 'pleased' with them.

Big mistake that was. My players completely switched off, and Zenit came out guns blazing. Two quick goals put them through on away goals, and only another great performance by my goalie limited the damage. Meanwhile, we didn't get a single chance in the entire second half. Not one.

Until the 92nd minute, that is, when we finally launched a good counter attack, and Mark Byrne had the goal at his mercy on the rebound.

Since I was already resigned to having another go at the UEFA Cup, this was a nice air-punching cheering moment.

Mark Byrne, incidentally, for those who paid attention to the last update, is the young English striker who had been in my U21 team for a few seasons, but refused to extend his contract last season. He signed for Newcastle instead, and then came back for a season long loan two weeks later.

The vital injury time goal was his first goal of the season as well.

So we're into the CL group stage again. Objective achieved. 4.4mil euro deposited into our account, another chunk of money at the end of the season for tv-rights, and three nice home matches for a bit of extra income. There's money for every point we get as well, but I don't think we'll see much of that.

Group Draw.

I have a feeling we're gonna get a few severe pummelings.

European coefficients:

Club: 216th 11.059

Nation: 22nd 18.357 (1-2-1)

[iacovone]

Euro Update

Despite a splendid 4-3 away victory at Lille, we were dumped out of the Uefa Cup in the first round 7-5 on aggregate. Proud of the boys, all focus on the league now - which is good seeing as we've begun our campaign so poorly.

We're 4-4-2 in our first 10 games. Need to improve and catch Dinamo.

[iacovone]

This has to be the best match I've had on FM08!! They were 3rd we were 1st. We're also at the stage where the league isn't a guarantee (these games are still important )

Just look at the scoring pattern

3-0 down

4-1 down

4-4 at half time!

last minute winner for 6-5!

True punch the air stuff.

[Coasterkoa]

SalPa, Finnish First Division, 2011 End of Season

Well, I started of the season nabbing some of the best attacking players in Finland, including getting last year’s First Division top scorer, meaning I would have the top two scorers from the First Division last year in my team, not to mention some many other great players. We played quite well the first half of the season, going 7-5-1, landing us second place. The second half of the season, we went unbeaten until the pen ultimate game, against the bane of my existence, Atlantis FC. Not only do I always have trouble beating them, they steal all of my players that I want (well, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but it feels like it). However, my only source of solace is that they have never finished about us in the standings. Anyway, they beat us 1-2 for our first and only home loss of the season. Not to mention we had 17 shots to their paltry 4, and their only two on targets go in. I hate this team with all of me. Losing the game meant we’d lost the title race, but we had clinched a playoff spot a game or two earlier, so we would be guaranteed at least a chance at Premier Division football next year. We tied our last game of the season, which meant we’d be hitting the playoffs in a poor run of form, but this two game poor run of form was coming off of a 20 game unbeaten streak. I waited to see who we would play in the playoffs. To my surprise, it was Tampere United, a club that has been at the top of Finnish Premier Division all of their existence, a club that was favored to take 2nd place in the Premiership, had fallen from grace to 13th place, and now faced First Division football if they couldn’t beat us in a two game playoff. We went into the first leg away, and were firmly beaten 3-1, with a late header giving us a crucial away goal. We jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just before the half, giving us some momentum to come out with from the break. We got our second of the match on the 73rd minute, allowing for nail biting finish. When the dust settled at the end of the match, they had fired 24 shots at our net, most in minutes after out second goal. They only managed 8 shots on target, and had their finishing been better, they would have gotten the goal, but as it stood, we walked out 2-0 winners, and got promoted on away goals! Premier Division football next year and last year’s 2nd place team in the Premier Division would be in the First Division. What a turn of events. I have a very strong squad, made completely of Finnish players, so I hope that my board will allow me to scout all of Scandinavia. Hopefully, my board will also consider an expansion to out 800 capacity stadium, because we need some money if were to succeed.

Final Table

Position Graph

[dodged up]

i got holywood in NI

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Coasterkoa:

SalPa, Finnish First Division, 2011 End of Season

Well, I started of the season nabbing some of the best attacking players in Finland, including getting last year’s First Division top scorer, meaning I would have the top two scorers from the First Division last year in my team, not to mention some many other great players. We played quite well the first half of the season, going 7-5-1, landing us second place. The second half of the season, we went unbeaten until the pen ultimate game, against the bane of my existence, Atlantis FC. Not only do I always have trouble beating them, they steal all of my players that I want (well, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but it feels like it). However, my only source of solace is that they have never finished about us in the standings. Anyway, they beat us 1-2 for our first and only home loss of the season. Not to mention we had 17 shots to their paltry 4, and their only two on targets go in. I hate this team with all of me. Losing the game meant we’d lost the title race, but we had clinched a playoff spot a game or two earlier, so we would be guaranteed at least a chance at Premier Division football next year. We tied our last game of the season, which meant we’d be hitting the playoffs in a poor run of form, but this two game poor run of form was coming off of a 20 game unbeaten streak. I waited to see who we would play in the playoffs. To my surprise, it was Tampere United, a club that has been at the top of Finnish Premier Division all of their existence, a club that was favored to take 2nd place in the Premiership, had fallen from grace to 13th place, and now faced First Division football if they couldn’t beat us in a two game playoff. We went into the first leg away, and were firmly beaten 3-1, with a late header giving us a crucial away goal. We jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just before the half, giving us some momentum to come out with from the break. We got our second of the match on the 73rd minute, allowing for nail biting finish. When the dust settled at the end of the match, they had fired 24 shots at our net, most in minutes after out second goal. They only managed 8 shots on target, and had their finishing been better, they would have gotten the goal, but as it stood, we walked out 2-0 winners, and got promoted on away goals! Premier Division football next year and last year’s 2nd place team in the Premier Division would be in the First Division. What a turn of events. I have a very strong squad, made completely of Finnish players, so I hope that my board will allow me to scout all of Scandinavia. Hopefully, my board will also consider an expansion to out 800 capacity stadium, because we need some money if were to succeed.

Final Table

Position Graph

Congrats on a good season Coasterkoa.

If your Board do allow you to scout all of Scandinavia, then signing Norwegian players is the way to go.

[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 Coasterkoa:

SalPa, Finnish First Division, 2011 End of Season

Well, I started of the season nabbing some of the best attacking players in Finland, including getting last year’s First Division top scorer, meaning I would have the top two scorers from the First Division last year in my team, not to mention some many other great players. We played quite well the first half of the season, going 7-5-1, landing us second place. The second half of the season, we went unbeaten until the pen ultimate game, against the bane of my existence, Atlantis FC. Not only do I always have trouble beating them, they steal all of my players that I want (well, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but it feels like it). However, my only source of solace is that they have never finished about us in the standings. Anyway, they beat us 1-2 for our first and only home loss of the season. Not to mention we had 17 shots to their paltry 4, and their only two on targets go in. I hate this team with all of me. Losing the game meant we’d lost the title race, but we had clinched a playoff spot a game or two earlier, so we would be guaranteed at least a chance at Premier Division football next year. We tied our last game of the season, which meant we’d be hitting the playoffs in a poor run of form, but this two game poor run of form was coming off of a 20 game unbeaten streak. I waited to see who we would play in the playoffs. To my surprise, it was Tampere United, a club that has been at the top of Finnish Premier Division all of their existence, a club that was favored to take 2nd place in the Premiership, had fallen from grace to 13th place, and now faced First Division football if they couldn’t beat us in a two game playoff. We went into the first leg away, and were firmly beaten 3-1, with a late header giving us a crucial away goal. We jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just before the half, giving us some momentum to come out with from the break. We got our second of the match on the 73rd minute, allowing for nail biting finish. When the dust settled at the end of the match, they had fired 24 shots at our net, most in minutes after out second goal. They only managed 8 shots on target, and had their finishing been better, they would have gotten the goal, but as it stood, we walked out 2-0 winners, and got promoted on away goals! Premier Division football next year and last year’s 2nd place team in the Premier Division would be in the First Division. What a turn of events. I have a very strong squad, made completely of Finnish players, so I hope that my board will allow me to scout all of Scandinavia. Hopefully, my board will also consider an expansion to out 800 capacity stadium, because we need some money if were to succeed.

Final Table

Position Graph

Congrats on a good season Coasterkoa.

If your Board do allow you to scout all of Scandinavia, then signing Norwegian players is the way to go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

norway, norway, norway, that's all you go on about Gundo!! ha ha.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">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 Coasterkoa:

SalPa, Finnish First Division, 2011 End of Season

Well, I started of the season nabbing some of the best attacking players in Finland, including getting last year’s First Division top scorer, meaning I would have the top two scorers from the First Division last year in my team, not to mention some many other great players. We played quite well the first half of the season, going 7-5-1, landing us second place. The second half of the season, we went unbeaten until the pen ultimate game, against the bane of my existence, Atlantis FC. Not only do I always have trouble beating them, they steal all of my players that I want (well, that’s obviously an exaggeration, but it feels like it). However, my only source of solace is that they have never finished about us in the standings. Anyway, they beat us 1-2 for our first and only home loss of the season. Not to mention we had 17 shots to their paltry 4, and their only two on targets go in. I hate this team with all of me. Losing the game meant we’d lost the title race, but we had clinched a playoff spot a game or two earlier, so we would be guaranteed at least a chance at Premier Division football next year. We tied our last game of the season, which meant we’d be hitting the playoffs in a poor run of form, but this two game poor run of form was coming off of a 20 game unbeaten streak. I waited to see who we would play in the playoffs. To my surprise, it was Tampere United, a club that has been at the top of Finnish Premier Division all of their existence, a club that was favored to take 2nd place in the Premiership, had fallen from grace to 13th place, and now faced First Division football if they couldn’t beat us in a two game playoff. We went into the first leg away, and were firmly beaten 3-1, with a late header giving us a crucial away goal. We jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just before the half, giving us some momentum to come out with from the break. We got our second of the match on the 73rd minute, allowing for nail biting finish. When the dust settled at the end of the match, they had fired 24 shots at our net, most in minutes after out second goal. They only managed 8 shots on target, and had their finishing been better, they would have gotten the goal, but as it stood, we walked out 2-0 winners, and got promoted on away goals! Premier Division football next year and last year’s 2nd place team in the Premier Division would be in the First Division. What a turn of events. I have a very strong squad, made completely of Finnish players, so I hope that my board will allow me to scout all of Scandinavia. Hopefully, my board will also consider an expansion to out 800 capacity stadium, because we need some money if were to succeed.

Final Table

Position Graph

Congrats on a good season Coasterkoa.

If your Board do allow you to scout all of Scandinavia, then signing Norwegian players is the way to go. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

norway, norway, norway, that's all you go on about Gundo!! ha ha. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What else is there???

Everybody knows that Norway produce the best players this planet has to offer.

[Gundo]

Who said target men weren't as effective in FM08?

Look at the current leaders of our division Haugesund and their star American forward Cameron Weaver and his history page.

The guy is unstoppable!

Next up for us in the League, Haugesund.