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Torpedo Maloy - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 3 - Season 08/09 Report

Table

Media Prediction: 14th

Final Position: 8th

Played:26 Won:10 Drawn:5 Lost:11

Goals For:40 Goals Against:42 GD:-2

Well, it had the makings of a nightmare season to be honest. With a squad very poor in terms of general quality I was living in general fear of a complete whitewash but the boys pulled it off pulling away up to fifth by the mid-season break and after that we were never in any real danger.

Apart from one good run that saw us go 7 games unbeaten and beat all of the teams down at the bottom, we did struggle at times, I am generally pleased and relieved to have survived.

Players of the Year

When I have any players of my own with any ability I'll actually post some...

However, a special mention does go to this guy who singlehandedly gave Sandnes Ulf the title. I think they may struggle next season! Well, I can hope.

Prospects for Next Season

Hmm, consolidate, consolidate and consolidate some more. The squad needs more strength in depth and hopefully I can start playing a better brand of football than a 4-1-4-1.

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Konquest & 442to445 You are both in the same Second divisjon group that I started out in. I know that region of Norway well. Konquest Vigør where the team that I had a titanic battle with for promotion way back in my second season. They're a neat little club, I think you can lead them onto greater things. 4442to445, good first season, good luck with next season. icon14.gif

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Originally posted by bnek:

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

Annihilator - you've got to see this..!!

After all those comparison's, all those similarities, I have found the mother to kill them all.

Annihilator - Ben Kenny

NepentheZ - Ben Kenney

But wait, it doesn't stop there. Oh no.

Really, you could not make this up.

Ben Kenney 1 - D.O.B - 21.2.1994

Ben Kenney 2 - D.O.B - 21.2.2003

icon_eek.gif

It's like my eyes are lying to me. How is this possible..!!

The Legend thats is Ben Kenney again! icon_biggrin.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

icon_biggrin.gif

Look at his D.O.B too. 21st of Feb, anyone ?? icon_smile.gif

I'm shocked, and amazed, and a little disappointed that a regen is pre-programmed. Gonna open up a thread in GQ about this, and see how many Ben Kenney's there are in the world.

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Slavonija Champions League Update - 24/25

We're back, everyone's favourite Croatian side return to the Champions League once again...icon_wink.gif

In the 3rd Qual Round we took on Malmo:

Malmo (a) - Not much trouble in the away leg. Outgoing striker Sahin Murat has begun this season superbly, already netting 3 hattricks, including the one here. Shame to pick up 2 injuries, although the Grubisic injury is only a bruised head.

Malmo (h) - A simple home tie and a convincing performance sends us into the group stage. Not sure why we still have to go through qualifying though...

Group Stage Draw:

We were 1st seeds for the first time

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Slavonija

Celtic

Zenit St.Petersburg

Dinamo Bucharest</pre>

Well that is as good a draw as anyone is likely to get. Barring any ludicrous results we should make the knockout stage with ease. icon_cool.gif

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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 CoachFlu:

Ben Kenney looks quality in my game.

Haha obviously forgot to pre-program his facegen though! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Someone mentioned an Olly Kenney earlier - have one here!

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Slavonija Champions League Update - 24/25

Group Stage

Celtic (a) - On paper our hardest game in the group. It was definitely a tough match, and I'm delighted to take home 3 points. They had a lot of chances but that man Barlecaj was in fine form once again and picked up the MOM. Zenit up next.

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Hmmm, this is going to be an interesting season.

The board don't seem particularly ambitious, offering me another contract one year in with the same aim, 'survive after two years'.

The media prediction isn't too kind either, with 13th out of 14.

The squad is stronger, certainly defensively and in the centre of the park so we'll see.

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Thinking of giving this challenge a go since i've got bored with my current save and have got way too much time on my hands! I realise i'm a bit of a late joiner, but hopefully it won't matter. Any advice, particularly regarding leagues, would be gratefully recieved.

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Originally posted by Gypsum:

Thinking of giving this challenge a go since i've got bored with my current save and have got way too much time on my hands! I realise i'm a bit of a late joiner, but hopefully it won't matter. Any advice, particularly regarding leagues, would be gratefully recieved.

Welcome Gypsum, here are the re-set dates for the smaller European nations.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> League re-set dates

Austria - 23rd June.

Belarus - 10th February.

Belgium - 29th June.

Bulgaria - 29th June.

Croatia - 18th June.

Czech Republic - 28th June.

Denmark - 5th July.

Finland - 7th January.

Greece - 19th June.

Hungary - 19th June.

Iceland - 20th January.

Ireland - 5th January.

Israel -

N.Ireland - 29th April.

Norway - 18th January.

Poland - 28th June.

Romania -

Russia - 26th December.

Serbia - 9th July.

Slovakia - 28th June.

Slovenia - 28th June.

Sweden - 25th December.

Switzerland - 18th June.

Turkey - 19th June.

Ukraine - 18th June.

Wales - 18th June. </pre>

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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 Gypsum:

Thinking of giving this challenge a go since i've got bored with my current save and have got way too much time on my hands! I realise i'm a bit of a late joiner, but hopefully it won't matter. Any advice, particularly regarding leagues, would be gratefully recieved.

Welcome Gypsum, here are the re-set dates for the smaller European nations.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks! I was just starting up a game in Ireland and was wondering what date to holiday to.

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Originally posted by Gypsum:

<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 Gypsum:

Thinking of giving this challenge a go since i've got bored with my current save and have got way too much time on my hands! I realise i'm a bit of a late joiner, but hopefully it won't matter. Any advice, particularly regarding leagues, would be gratefully recieved.

Welcome Gypsum, here are the re-set dates for the smaller European nations.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks! I was just starting up a game in Ireland and was wondering what date to holiday to. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

welcome gypsum!! it's never troo late to join the challenge. good luck!! icon14.gif

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Knockbreda - End of season update - 2021/22 (Season 14) - N. Irish Premier Division

Media Prediction - 1st

Final League Position - 1st

Champions League - Group Stage (4th in Group)

Irish Cup - Winner

League Cup - Winner

Antrim Cup - Winner

All Ireland Cup - 3rd In Group Stage

N. Irish Premier Division - [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/NepentheZ/Knockbreda/2122/Graph.jpg]League Graph[/url] | [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/NepentheZ/Knockbreda/2122/Table.jpg]League Table[/url]

Best Elevens - [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/NepentheZ/Knockbreda/2122/SBE.jpg]Season[/url] | [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/NepentheZ/Knockbreda/2122/OBE.jpg]Overall[/url]

Co-Efficients - [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/NepentheZ/Knockbreda/2122/NICE.jpg]N. Ireland [/url] | [http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/NepentheZ/Knockbreda/2122/KCO.jpg]Knockbreda[/url]

Awards -

Craig Douglas - Manager of the Year

Paul Wallace - N. Irish Player of the Year

Paul Wallace - Player of the Year

Paul Wallace - Top Goal Scorer (29 League Goals)

Other Info -

Club Records

Player Records

Finances

Club Info

Manager Info

Manager Overview

Squad Stats

Euro Champions Cup - Group Table

Superstar's -

Paul Wallace - He's hit the big 30. I expected a mass decline in stats, but he seems to be pretty much the same. Another massive season with 80 Goals, and AGAIN he missed the biggest fixture month on the calander with injury, leaving him out of no less than TEN club games.! 3 short of 700, I'll make it my solemn aim to get him to 1000. On a good note too, he wants to coach when he hangs up his boots, meaning he will become a coach at Knockbreda.!

Season Summary

A great season. By far my best. Making it to the Champs League group stages was seismic. Just short of £5,000,000 in total from the T.V and Qualifying money, which has pretty much set the club up for life. 3 of my 9 unhappy players signed new long term deals, and 3 of them got sold. (my first £1,000,000 sale too.) Not so good in the All Ireland Cup this year, which is disappointing, but the CL clearly made up for that. I've got a great squad assembling, and really feel for the first time I can start making waves in every competition I enter. Paul wallace is close to 700 goals now, and if he gets over 850 i will FORCE the 1000th somehow icon_smile.gif (unless he retires).

Club Info -

Paul Wallace

Age: 29 (13.4.1992)

Games: 536

Goals: 697

Assists: 220

MotM: 195

History

2010/11 Co-Efficient = 0.109 (500th)

2011/12 Co-Efficient = 0.055 (505th) | Down 5

2012/13 Co-Efficient = 0.000 (531st) | Down 26

2013/14 Co-Efficient = 0.000 (530th) | Up 1

2014/15 Co-Efficient = 0.116 (511th) | Up 19

2015/16 Co-Efficient = 0.165 (508th) | Up 3

2016/17 Co Efficient = 0.275 (523rd) | Down 15

2017/18 Co-Efficient = 0.440 (510th) | Up 13

2018/19 Co-Efficient = 0.440 (519th) | Down 9

2019/20 Co-Efficient = 0.330 (534th) | Down 15

2020/21 Co-Efficient = 0.330 (543rd) | Down 9

2021/22 Co-Efficient = 5.430 (355th) | Up 188

Season 1 - N. Ireland Second Division, 2nd place (Promoted)

Season 2 - N. Ireland First Division, 2nd place (Promoted) | N. Ireland Intermediate League Cup Winners

Season 3 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners)

Season 4 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 9th Place

Season 5 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 7th Place | Irish Cup Runner Up.

Season 6 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | Irish Cup Winner.

Season 7 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners)

Season 8 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | Antrim Trophy Winners, League Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 9 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | Antrim Trophy Winners, League Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 10 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 11 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners

Season 12 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 13 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners

Season 14 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Manager Stats

Games - 705

Won - 506

Drew - 87

Lost - 112

Gundo, for your table

Domestic Title x 10

Club Co-Efficient, 355th

Nation Co-Efficient, 47th

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Knockbreda - End of season update - 2021/22 (Season 14) - N. Irish Premier Division

Media Prediction - 1st

Final League Position - 1st

Champions League - Group Stage (4th in Group)

Irish Cup - Winner

League Cup - Winner

Antrim Cup - Winner

All Ireland Cup - 3rd In Group Stage

N. Irish Premier Division - League Graph | League Table

Best Elevens - Season | Overall

Co-Efficients - N. Ireland | Knockbreda

Awards -

Craig Douglas - Manager of the Year

Paul Wallace - N. Irish Player of the Year

Paul Wallace - Player of the Year

Paul Wallace - Top Goal Scorer (29 League Goals)

Other Info -

Club Records

Player Records

Finances

Club Info

Manager Info

Manager Overview

Squad Stats

Euro Champions Cup - Group Table

Superstar's -

Paul Wallace - He's hit the big 30. I expected a mass decline in stats, but he seems to be pretty much the same. Another massive season with 80 Goals, and AGAIN he missed the biggest fixture month on the calander with injury, leaving him out of no less than TEN club games.! 3 short of 700, I'll make it my solemn aim to get him to 1000. On a good note too, he wants to coach when he hangs up his boots, meaning he will become a coach at Knockbreda.!

Season Summary

A great season. By far my best. Making it to the Champs League group stages was seismic. Just short of £5,000,000 in total from the T.V and Qualifying money, which has pretty much set the club up for life. 3 of my 9 unhappy players signed new long term deals, and 3 of them got sold. (my first £1,000,000 sale too.) Not so good in the All Ireland Cup this year, which is disappointing, but the CL clearly made up for that. I've got a great squad assembling, and really feel for the first time I can start making waves in every competition I enter. Paul wallace is close to 700 goals now, and if he gets over 850 i will FORCE the 1000th somehow icon_smile.gif (unless he retires).

Club Info -

Paul Wallace

Age: 29 (13.4.1992)

Games: 536

Goals: 697

Assists: 220

MotM: 195

History

2010/11 Co-Efficient = 0.109 (500th)

2011/12 Co-Efficient = 0.055 (505th) | Down 5

2012/13 Co-Efficient = 0.000 (531st) | Down 26

2013/14 Co-Efficient = 0.000 (530th) | Up 1

2014/15 Co-Efficient = 0.116 (511th) | Up 19

2015/16 Co-Efficient = 0.165 (508th) | Up 3

2016/17 Co Efficient = 0.275 (523rd) | Down 15

2017/18 Co-Efficient = 0.440 (510th) | Up 13

2018/19 Co-Efficient = 0.440 (519th) | Down 9

2019/20 Co-Efficient = 0.330 (534th) | Down 15

2020/21 Co-Efficient = 0.330 (543rd) | Down 9

2021/22 Co-Efficient = 5.430 (355th) | Up 188

Season 1 - N. Ireland Second Division, 2nd place (Promoted)

Season 2 - N. Ireland First Division, 2nd place (Promoted) | N. Ireland Intermediate League Cup Winners

Season 3 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners)

Season 4 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 9th Place

Season 5 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 7th Place | Irish Cup Runner Up.

Season 6 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | Irish Cup Winner.

Season 7 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners)

Season 8 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | Antrim Trophy Winners, League Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 9 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | Antrim Trophy Winners, League Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 10 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 11 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners

Season 12 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Season 13 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners

Season 14 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners

Manager Stats

Games - 705

Won - 506

Drew - 87

Lost - 112

Gundo, for your table

Domestic Title x 10

Club Co-Efficient, 355th

Nation Co-Efficient, 47th

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Iacovone Man you were close mate, i'm feeling your pain icon_frown.gif You'll do it this season for sure icon14.gif

As for me and Skjetten...

Our final 2 games in Group C of the Champions League were at home against Palermo and away at Celtic. With only 1 draw from our previous 4 matches things didn't look good.

But, that wasn't the case icon_wink.gif

At home we beat Palermo 2-0, a great game from the boys set up an interesting last match. A draw or vicory was enough to ensure our European campaign continued.

We strolled out at Patkhead in beautiful sunshine knowing our destiny was in our own hands. The boys lpayed out of their skin and we won 3-2 icon_eek.gif

Our European adventure was set to continue. We missed out on the Champions League place on goal difference to Celtic icon_frown.gif but entered the Euro Cup icon_smile.gif

First round - Spartak Moscow

(a) Lost 1-2

(h) Won 3-1 We went through 4-3 on aggregate icon14.gif

Second Round - HSV

(a) Lost 1-3

(h) Won 2-1 We lost 4-3 on aggregate icon13.gif

Well there's always next season icon_rolleyes.gif

It's Pre-season in Norway at the moment and i'll post a screenies of new signings a bit later icon_wink.gif

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So, i've started the challenge and have chosen the Bulgarian league. Had a couple of clubs to choose from. One, Septemvri (Sofia), had a relatively large squad. But their stadium capacity was 500! Although they are moving to a new 5000 capacity stadium in 2010. They seemed financially pretty poor.

The club I opted for is OFK Botev (Vratsa). Their squad was barely big enough to fill the first team, even after promoting all the youth players. However, the most appealing aspect of this side was a 24,000 capacity stadium (17000 seated) which has potential. Although I only fill it with around 1500 fans at the moment. They also have a soldi financial status with a pretty juicy wage budget! Which was all pretty appealing.

The club has no history before this season, so there's not much to report there. However they do have Martin Petrov listed in their favoured personnel. Although I have no idea why!

The club is also 'in the process of a board takeover' but I haven't had any news items about it yet. Here's hoping for a sugar daddy, but I can't see that happening!

I have signed a number of free transfers to strengthen the squad after some good work by my scouts, almost entirely replacing the original line-up. But I have lost a couple of key players to injury early on. Which is probably down to my lack of a physio until recently. I also had little luck getting staff at first. But I managed to sign two good scouts (one for CA, one for PA), a decent new Assistant manager and one coach.

After 4 games so far I have won 2 and lost 2. There seems to be a big of a gulf in ability between the top and the bottom, both of my losses being 3-0 and I haven't had a sniff. But my players are doing ok so far, one striker Hristo Staev bagging 3 goals in the 4 games, while the other striker, Vladimir Dranaliev, has got one for himself with an average rating of 7.25.

All in all i'm pretty pleased with how they've done so far in spite of being a recently put together squad and having a few key injuries. Hopefully we can string together some more consistent results as we progress through the season.

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Meldert, Belgium - September 3rd 2026

10 pts so far, four league matches into the season, so we're off to our regular decent start. The big question this season will be how the team will cope up front, since this is the first season in which Meldert legend Alex Lambrechts, now 32, will take a step back.

A broken leg for our first-choice left-winger is also a bit of a setback, but we should be able to cover that.

Euro update:

The Champions League Second Qual Round has been no more than a formality for us for several years now, and this year was no different. We went past Metalurgs, from Latvia, with a solid 3-0 aggregate win.

The Third Qual Round has been more of a stumbling block at times (we went out against Sevilla last season), but this year we got lucky in the draw again. FC Groningen was a team I really expected us to beat.

And so we did. 2-0 at home and 1-3 away.

The stats indicate much more even matches than they actually were, but we were never in any real trouble. They had loads of long range attempts, and we got the early goals both times to gives ourselves the necessary comfort.

Group draw.

Still 4th seeds, so we're still up against it. Chelsea and PSV will be tough opponents, but Besiktas is not the toughest 3rd seed I could've drawn in the group. We'll be aiming to get the business done against them.

Third place is the goal, fourth place will be a disappointment.

Euro coefficients:

Club: 54th - 43.486

Nation: 15th - 25.725 (2-2-1)

Winning our UEFA Cup group last year gave us a nice boost up the rankings. One or two more good performances like that and we'll be entering the stage where we're no longer 4th seeds.

It also made the nation coefficient rise a few places, and we'll have 2 teams trying out in the CL next season, for the first time. Not that that will matter much, we've been the only Belgian team performing half-decent in Europe.

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Bit of a spur of the moment update. I remembered reporting on a few promising youngsters a few weeks ago. Figured it might be interesting to see how they evolved in nearly three seasons.

Originally posted by CoachFlu:

In that spirit, perhaps a brief highlight of the best youngsters to come out of our youth setup so far:

Rob Lievens: In his tenth season at the club, he came through a youth setup which was still rather crappy. Now in his second season as starting left back. My coaches have never rated him highly (2 stars ability, three stars potential), but he performs well, and gets the occasional cap for Belgium.

Rob Lievens obviously didn't evolve a whole lot more since then. He's no longer first choice left back since last season, but he's still a useful part of the team and gets some play-time each season. Never was a huge star, but considering he came from a "fairly basic" youth setup, he's been good for us.

Sami Carlier: Only the second Meldert youngster to get senior appearances for the team. This kid attracted immediate interest from other clubs, and looks to be developing well. Will hopefully be a solid first team starter in the near future.

Sami Carlier has evolved nicely into a quality player. Due to a high competition at his position he's on a bit of a rotation, but his best years are still ahead of him, so I'm sure he'll play a big part at the club in years to come.

Cees Janssens: Cees looks very promising, and has a few more years to develop before he'll get his shot in the first team. Have big hopes for him.

Cees Janssens. His goalkeeping stats evolved nicely, but he still has a few weak spots. Has yet to make his senior debut for the club, but is first backup now. Not sure if he'll ever evolve beyond "first backup" status, but even so, a decent homegrown backup goalie is useful as well.

Toine Kaya: Part of last season's crop, also attracted immediate attention. His stats look very good for his age, and I might start giving him some senior bench time next season already.

Toine Kaya barely evolved at all in three years. I had high hopes for this kid, but it doesn't look like he'll make it at a high level.

Mario Deferm: Another of last season's crop. He has a few more seasons of loan or youth football ahead of him, but I think he may turn out ok.

Mario Deferm evolved a touch better than Kaya, but not enough to call him a success. He may turn out "lower mid-table" quality, but not quite a "title challenger."

Emmanuel Bernard: From two season's ago. Was initially rated highly by my coaches, but they since changed his mind. He's indeed not progressing as fast as I hoped, but still worth to keep an eye on.

Not entirely unexpected, Emmanuel Bernard also isn't reaching the level I had hoped. Good enough to get the occasional cap for Congo, but not good enough for the Meldert bench.

There haven't been many youngsters since then who stood out, but this summer's crop was notably more promising than previous years.

A few of the ones I'll be keeping an eye on - perhaps I'll post progress-reports on them as well in three or four seasons.

Boy Mignolet. Has some of the same weaknesses as Cees up there, but he has plenty of time to grow.

Ben Sampson. From last year's crop. A maybe. His low pace probably means he'll never make it as a Meldert regular, but he could reach a decent quality.

Jeffrey El Idrissi. My assman's 'pick of the litter' this year. Marking and heading are a problem for his position, otherwise I may have agreed with him.

Jean Van Geneugden. That's more like it. A bit more pace would've been better, but still one I'll be keeping an eye on.

Bart Collette. I like my strikers with a bit more pace, but my striker-youngsters have been notably crap so far, so this one looks great in comparison. Even if he just turns into a useful backup, I'd be happy.

That'll do, I'd think. Sorry for the long post. icon_smile.gif

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UGS - Challenge League - 12/13 Winter Break

Was quite active in the Summer. First of all I managed to get the best of last years 4 loanees (ie. not one of the defensive ones) back for another 12 months. Lausanne were then raided for 2 more of their first choice players, a DC I tried to get last summer and a winger. Another player I tried to get last summer, an experienced DR (finally someone over the age of 20 in my defence) followed suit. And then a player I was quite looking forward to seeing play; yet another ex-Young Boys U18. A striker, my scouts had found him a few years back and he caught my eye last season scoring 20 goals on loan at relegated Malley (inc. a hat-trick against us).

Several more loanees followed: a DMC, another attempt to solve the DL problem and a couple of DCs to keep the average age of my defense nice and young.

A young GK came in to challenge the incumbent while I unexpectedly got another striker in; a Dominican who could also play ML and who looked far better than anything else I had. He had been released by Lugano and my scouts stumbled across him and nobody else was interested so I snapped him up.

Anyway, as I mentioned a few pages back, we won our first 4 matches, and then lost the next 3 without scoring, but there was no worry as a) they were teams always in the top 5 and b) we were only outplayed once. A couple of victories followed, then a defeat, then a couple more victories etc. as we lurked around the top 5/6. Only one embarrassment as we struggled to draw at home to the then winless Martigny.

We then hit an almighty injury crisis. I had 3 players who could play at DR in the squad, all 3 managed to get injured at the same time and out for a month. Up from the U18s came a 16yo, 2 games later and this was the situation; a month out icon_rolleyes.gif. Thankfully the U18s had 2 more DRs so another 16yo filled in for a bit. The first choice one has only played 6 games so far due to injury.

We were cruising nicely in 5th after 18 games but then the wheels came off slightly. A draw from 2-0 up, a lucky 2-1 win and then 2 total thrashings 0-3 (1 ST 3 goals) and 0-4 (1 ST 4 goals) in our last 2 matches. As that last one was against 6th placed Delemont, they overtook us on gd so we are 6th at the Winter Break. Which I have to say is better than I was expecting icon14.gif, just one point less than my finishing total last season. My objective is to get that 5th place back and finish there, no chance of any higher, but plenty of chance of lower....

Again the problem is the defence, we are playing nice football going forward and scoring plenty from all positions but conceding too many silly goals and I don't totally trust either of the GKs...

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Howdy folks,

Been floating around this forum for a while, and actually started a game a few weeks back before getting distracted by another save, but I think now is the time to add myself to the pot.

Profile

I'm a screenshot virgin, so apologies if that didn't work, I will persevere if need be.

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OK, so that was easy, how do people mess that up? Oh, I know, people just plough on without reading don't they?

Anyway, double-posting isn't the best way to start, but I just wanted to make sure the screenie worked.

I'm already up to the winter break, so a mid-season update from sunny Frederickshavn will follow in the next 24 hours, but as a little teaser till then, here is my new keeper performing 16 save heroics in the cup .

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AFC Dodu Burcuresti - 09-10 Season Update

Media Prediction - 16th (out of 18 teams)

Final Position - 3rd (promoted by default)

Romanian Cup - 4th Rnd (last season 4th Rnd)

Other Info:

Club Info

Finances

Player Records

Team Records

I expected this season to be fairly average and thought that i would be able to consolidate my position in the league. Up until the winter break i was happy sitting in a comfortable mid-table place and i expected things to continue like that. How i was wrong!

I started to storm through games getting higher and higher, although we did keep stumbling which i thought was a sign of not being able to keep up the pace, thankfully it wasn't. Going into the final game of the season Poli II 1921 were already champions and the next 3 teams (including me) were sat on 56 pts. I was in 4th and 2nd happened to be going up against 3rd, so all i needed was a win and i could be promoted. The only thing that was a doubt in my mind was whether Poli II 1921 could be promoted or not due to them being a reserve team.

Leading up to my final game a summer signing from the 1st league (and best midfielder) riled up the players, then decided to produce the goods himself in a 1-0 win. The story of the season was that my strikers failed yet again to hit regular form despite this, 8 goals in 22 games managed to secure Alin Dragan Fans player of the season for the third time. He is so much of a hit i also decided to sign his older brother!

Now being in the 1st league i hope that i don't embarass myself, because the stadium still sits at 500 capacity and i cannot get out of debt, meaning that good players won't sign for the measaly fees that i want to give them.

and finally:

The Bucharest Watch

1st League

Dinamo Bucharest

- 3rd

- Romanian Cup Winners

Rapid Bucharest

- 2nd

Steaua Bucharest

- 1st (Champions)

2nd League Group 1

Progresul Bucharest

- 10th

Sportul Bucharest

- 5th

2nd League Group 2

Dodu Burcuresti

- 3rd (promoted)

Juventus Bucharest

- 10th

Another all round good performance from the Bucharest teams, 1st league was dominated by them and the cup was an all Bucharest affair. The other teams in the second tier never looked like getting relegated or promoted, i think that slowly Bucharest teams will be flowing into the top flight because for next year Rocar Bucharest have joined in.

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Originally posted by Benjaminoo:

Stain Ringstad Signs for Randaberg

icon_biggrin.gif!

Do you guys play him upfront?

Up front always for me, even now we are in the Premier. What with his high fin, com, dec and tec. icon14.gif

Originally posted by Konquest:

Ok... I feel like I'm copying everybody...

But, he was the best player available...

You guys will not be disappointed. The guy is a seriously quality player, I mean we are talking 'Burda' type quality here. icon_cool.gif

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Originally posted by dojoneil:

Howdy folks,

Been floating around this forum for a while, and actually started a game a few weeks back before getting distracted by another save, but I think now is the time to add myself to the pot.

Profile

I'm a screenshot virgin, so apologies if that didn't work, I will persevere if need be.

Best of luck in Denmark. icon14.gif

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Hi guys, I'm three seasons into this challenge but I haven't posted because I don't know how to post screenshots yet (I'll get around to it but I usually get distracted by actually playing).

My question is this: At what point to clubs turn professional? Is there set criteria or does it depend on the board?

I've just been promoted to the Swiss Super League (all the other clubs are professional), my entire squad and staff are on full-time contracts, and I have a healthy bank balance - but we're still Semi-Pro.

It's a bit of a problem when attracting players - I'm frequently being turned down by players who are not only going to Professional clubs, but are actually joining Semi-Pro clubs from non-league ahead of me. As it is I'm largely relying on the same players I picked up on free transfers three years ago.

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