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

supersaint · July 18, 2008

Totally bored with every other save i have, I decided to join in.

I guess its gonna be fun to have a squad like that, rather than a world beating At.Madrid...

ghostwriter · July 18, 2008

Look at it this way, when you do go up you know the table will be close and a win could lift you a few places
On your defensive woes, I play differently to you it seems. I find a good tactic and then get the players to fit it even if it means a couple of guys who aren't up to it playing. Unlike real life, in FM the tactic really is king.

What tactic does the opposition usually play or are all the teams playing different formations?

I am normally like that as well; I had no intention whatsoever of playing the 3-4-1-2 tactic, it just so happened that at the end of the transfer break I had 2 dodgy DLs, 1 dodgy DR and 2 dodgy DMCs. I can't remember too much but I am sure I turned down some fullbacks because I did not think they were good enough. That was my mistake, I wanted to play the tactic (or at least close to it) I had at UGS but that involved a back-4 which I did not possess! I possibly should have played the dodgy players I did have because the tactic I played combined with the defenders I had was just suicide. I shan't be making that mistake next season.

Nearly everyone else plays a simple 4-4-2, although a couple fiddle around a bit, I can remember Winterthur regularly playing some wing-back variant whilst another team played 3 up front a few times.

daemonic · July 18, 2008

Everyone playing 4-4-2 sounds like my game. I play a back 4, 2 MC, AMR, AMC, AML and one up front against that and it works well. Only Grasshopper play another formation, they play 5-3-2 and having read a few guides on the tactics forum i've worked out a nice 3-5-1 that they can't handle.

On a side note, just about to start the World Club Championship

Gilbster · July 18, 2008

Gilbster - Pontardawe - 2010/11 Welsh Premier League

Well I got my wish and I got some new islanders this season. As mentioned previously I was also in the FAW Premier Cup this season, but I lost in the first round to Methyr Tydfil.

Progress was made in the Welsh Challenge cup where I made the quarter finals, only to lose 3-0 to TNS.

In the league more progress was also made finishing 5th in the table

All in all a good season, although will still need improvements to make it into the top 3. Pretty happy with the season, and cant wait for the new one.

supersaint · July 19, 2008

Eskilstuna Södra 2009

It wasnt exactly my best season in FM history, but at least we stayed clear of relegation

My heaviest defeat in FM08 came this season, 9-2 away to Gröndal

End of season stats

mocko666 · July 19, 2008

Joined this challenge for the umpteenth time, with Clough Rangers i forgot to post my profile at the begginning of the season but is it okay if i post it now, i started with auto rep.

Im still unproven.

Heres my personal screen : http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/3176/personalar7.png

And heres my profile : http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8350/profilesd6.png

And heres the league table: http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7664/leaguetableseason1tc3.png

Im not going to give any long update on this season as nothing spectacular happened and i narrowly avoided relegation playoffs however next season is looking better as ive already secured the contracts of two promising youngsters but ill report more on that at the beginning of the season.

If theres anything else you need ill be glad to supply it.

Mikel LUFC · July 19, 2008

Is it okay if my assman takes charge against the 'grey' teams in the cups? Because I just get ****ed off with how good they are. (1st season)

Razer82 · July 19, 2008

Razer82 – Clough Rangers – 2019 / 2020 – Northern Irish Premier Division

League – 1st Champions!

Champions League – Finished 4th in Group G

Northern Irish Cup – Winners! Defeated Donegal Celtic 9-0

League Cup – Winners! Defeated Glentoran 3-0

Antrim Cup – Winners! Defeated Cliftonville 3-0

All Ireland Cup – Winners! Defeated Shamrock Rovers 2-0

As usual the season began with Champions League qualifiers but for this season we’d be seeded in the first two rounds. Which would make our path to the group stage a whole lot easier.

The first round saw us draw with Shakhter Soligorsk ofBelarus, these guys were our opponents back in 2016. We began with the away leg and a nervy 2-1 victory followed, but I was glad of the away goals that we scored. The return leg turned out to be an equally nervy affair but we were again victorious by a 2-1 score line, allowing us to progress 4-2 on agg.

Our second round opponents were KF Tirana from Albania, we’d been drawn at home for the first leg and used this to our advantage securing a 3-0 victory. The away leg was again a tight game and ended in a 1-1 draw so our first leg performance became even more important. A 4-1 agg victory putting us through to the 3rd round.

It was here that we were given our toughest opponents in this years qualifying campaign, Italian giants Fiorentina. I had visions of the result ending in the same was as when we faced Porto back in 2013. We began with a trip to Italy and much to my surprise we managed to take an early lead but unfortunately the opposition was just too strong and we eventually fell to a 2-1 defeat. I was upbeat for the home leg, knowing that we were able to cause some problems for the Italian giants and hoping that playing at home would spur the team on. An amazing performance saw us level at 3-3 on agg at the end of normal time. We were into the second half of extra time when we were awarded a penalty, the initial shot was saved but we managed to slot home the rebound to take a 3-1 lead. Which is how the match ended sending us through to the group stage for the 2nd year in a row.

We were drawn into Group G along with AC Milan, Marseille and Slavia Prague. The games with Milan and Marseille went the only way they could have done – 4 defeats. The games with Slavia Prague were a slightly different case though and in the home match we were able to secure a surprise 1-0 victory and secure our first ever points in the group stage. We lost to return fixture in Prague but still things are on the up as we’ve shown that we’re able to play well against some of the big boys.

The domestic season was the same as always, another clean sweep of trophies for the eighth year running. Highlights of the season included a record 8- 0 defeat of Crumlin United in the Irish Cup, back to back 7-0 victories in the league and also a 9-1 demolition of Linfield. These results led allowed us to secure the league title on match day 21 for us on our way to scoring a record 107 goals in the league and a massive 218 goals overall, whilst conceding just 46 in all competitions.

As always we were drawn into Group A of the All Ireland Cup along with Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda United, this year we were joined by Glentoran. We easily secured victories against Glentoran in both matches and we able to split the games with Shamrock Rover and Drogheda, each team taking a victory. This put us into the Semi Finals to face Bohemians for the 3rd year running, the game didn’t start well as Trojan was sent off after just 33 seconds. Despite this we were able to hold out for all of normal time. It was in extra time that we managed to break the deadlock to secure a surprise 2-0. Our opponents in our first final would be Shamrock Rovers, the game itself turned out to be a rather nervy affair, no goals being scored until the 73rd minute. Any injury time own goal allowed Shamrock to equalise but we still managed to fight back and grab a winning goal in the 106th minute to take home the trophy 3-2.

Ales Svoboda (19 Goals) spent the majority of the season injured so we needed others to step up and score the goals that he would normally provide. As the clubs all time leading scorer Chris Blackwell had also left for Everton in the summer, Laszlo Tolnai (58 Goals & 23 Assists) showed that he was certainly up to the task, as always Jonathan Downing (14 Goals & 14 Assists) provided some great back up. The highlight of the scoring table would have to be Vaclav Lukas (42 Goals & 7 Assists) in just 31 appearances after joining from Banik Ostrava in the January window. I’m looking forward to seeing how he fairs over a full season. Midfield dynamos Tom Redmond (27 Assists) and Francis Martin (12 Assists) will both be missed next year as they leave on free transfers to join Parma and Charlton respectively. Yaw Tetteh (9 Goals & 15 Assists) will certainly need to step up next year to fill the gaps left behind, Lukas and Romanovs will also be on hand for added support.

Additional upgrades to our Stadium and Facilities will continue to allow us to attract the sort of players to help us improve.

Main aims for next season are to make the group stage of the Champions League again and to successfully defend the All Ireland Cup.

Gundo – For your table – 9 Domestic Titles

Coefficients

Club – 11.244 – 207th (Up 114 Places)

Country – 6.167 – 35th (Up 3 Places)

daemonic · July 19, 2008

Good season Razer. Hopefully you can win a few more group games next season.

Razer82 · July 20, 2008

Thanks daemonic. I've got to get to the group stage first, but hopefully we'll be able to keep improving. Our improved coefficient might make for an easier group this year.

daemonic · July 20, 2008

FC Bulle - Swiss Super League 2021/22

Switzerland

Again we dominated, winning the league with 7 games to go. We finished 31 points clear and undefeated for a third season in a row. In all the previous wins the average squad age was 24, this year it was only 23. This is a team that can dominate for years. Again the only disappointment was in the Swiss cup where Grasshopper punished a poor performance in the quarter-final to dump us out.

Europe - Champions League

Champions League Group Stage

We were seeded 1st for the draw and got a pretty easy group. 6 wins out of 6 and we were in the Knockout stages.

Fenerbahce 0-1 Bulle

Bulle 3-2 Lyon

Bulle 2-1 Slavia Prague

Slavia Prague 1-3 Bulle

Bulle 3-2 Fenerbahce

Lyon 3-4 Bulle

Champions League 1st Knockout Rnd

We were group winners so I was hoping for a relatively easy draw and assumed thats what I had when we got Rangers. they ran us close and we only went through on away goals. The players were read the riot act after both matches. Abysmal performances.

Rangers 4-3 Bulle

Bulle 3-2 Rangers

Champions League Quarter Final

Onto the quarters and the opposition was Chelsea who'd beaten us in out first Champions League Final. It was close but we went through on away goals.

Bulle 2-1 Chelsea

Chelsea 3-2 Bulle

Champions League Semi Final

Bayern Munich stood between us and our third final. We played poorly at home in the first leg, only drawing 1-1. We got off to a flyer in the second leg racing in to a 2 goal lead meaning Bayern needed 3 to go through. They piled on the pressure but could only get 1 goal.

Bulle 1-1 Bayern

Bayern 1-2 Bulle

Champions League Final

The final saw us drawn against Inter Milan, the venue, their home ground, the San Siro. A tight game yielded 0 goals in 90 minutes. Into extra time and we went 1 up after 94 mins but Inter equalized 10 minutes later. No further scoring meant another Champions League penalty shootout. The first 2 penalties were slotted home. Up stepped Inter's Proietti to try put them 2-1 up, but Ginobili saved it. Mehmet put us 2-1 up beofre Oleksiak slammed Inter's 3rd againt the post. If da Silva Santos could score we'd have a big advantage, but it was saved. 3 penalties each and we were 2-1 up. The next 3 were scored to leave it 3 each giving Souza the chance to win it for us. Back of the net and we'd retained the Champions League but for the second year in a row it required penalties.

Inter Milan 1-1 Bulle AET

Bulle win 4-3 on penalties

European Super Cup

We met Inter Milan in Monaco. A tight game during which Inter had the lion's share of the chances ended 1-0 to Bulle. A nice early addition to the trophy room.

World Club Championship

We drew Chivas of Mexico in the Semi. a 4-1 hammering and we were into the final where I expected to play River Plate who were up against Saitama Utd of Japan in the other semi. But Saitama pulled off a shock (to me anyway) 4-0 win. In the final we found out why they were in the final as they went 1 up in the 53rd minute. It looked like our dominance would be in vain but in the 85th minute we equalized. Extra time was needed and eventually we wore them down scoring in the 110th and 120th minute. Bulle were World Club Champions.

News Summary

On the 20th June 2022 came the shock news that after 5109 days and 632 games in charge, Bulle's world class manager was to leave the club and retire from football.

European Co-efficients

FC Bulle - 121.711 (6th up from 14th)

Switzerland - 38.750 (Stayed in 9th)

FC Bulle Trophy Room

Champions League X 2 - 2020/21, 2021/22

World Club Championship X 1 - 2021/22

European Super Cup X 1 - 2021/22

Swiss Champions X 6 - 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22

Swiss Cup X 2 - 2017/18, 2019/2020

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So that's the end of this save. I'm off to Ireland next. Will post up my profile later. Thanks for sharing the adventure and thanks to Ghostwriter for inspiring all us Swiss managers.

daemonic · July 20, 2008

This is the new me. Sporting Fingal are on their way...question is, where? Obscurity or Success?

mocko666 · July 20, 2008

Well done on retaining the Champions League daemonic, hopfully a few of us can emulate your success. Again Congrats

ghostwriter · July 20, 2008

congratulations daemonic. it is definitely good to see 2 managers succeed in Switzerland, it gives hope. i am hoping that one day (in 2040s perhaps) i can emulate your success!

good luck in Ireland.

ghostwriter · July 20, 2008

Baulmes - Challenge League - 25/26 - Winter Break

After the awfulness of last season, young and defensive was the order of the Summer. Things started well with the signing of 3 of the breed, including a fullback :o. Added to that there were a couple of strikers, admittedly one was a bit old but the other was not only young but looked a great player as well. After the second release of players from other clubs a few more came in, wingers, DCs, another ST and above all a DR. I somehow managed to beat off UGS to sign a great young GK while a great MC (leading star in the Super League apparently :thup: ) came in. Apart from an elderly DL I had tried to sign 5 years back for UGS and an ex-UGS MC (from 10 years back), the other incomers were loanees, and loanee defenders mainly, 2 of the Neuchatel ones from last season along with a back-up DR, another DC and an MR.

We had made the most signings in the division, and we had more or less a totally new squad....

....which got off to a losing start, although 1-2 in Delemont is never a bad result. There followed 5 straight wins including 4 clean sheets, MUCH better. We were 2nd. We then visited Basel, expecting a thrashing. Instead we took the lead, and only conceded a last minute winner despite playing a quarter of the match with 10 men. That performance evidently shocked us as we promptly were dreadful in a home defeat to Wohlen. Another 7 unbeaten was good (including 2 wins over UGS, 1 of which was in the cup). An away defeat to Etoile-Carouge was awful though as the heights we had reached (4th and not a million miles from top) were scaring us; 4 games without a win. We beat Delemont in the return match but the 3rd round of the Cup brought us a 0-6 thrashing by Young Boys . We finshed off 1-1-1 in the final 3 games to enter the break in a pretty good 6th place.

Well, this is going better than I thought it would. In fact, I can even say that I am a little disappointed, looking at some of the games we have lost, to not actually be closer; games against Wohlen, Etoile-Carouge and Wil should be being lost...

Our defense has resolved all of its problems of last season. One goal a league game conceded. There is a problem though and that is that only the DR of my first choice defense is actually mine, and very occasionally the whole back-4 contains loanees. In any case, that is a problem to be resolved in the Summer.

Upfront the new STs are great albeit scoring less than last season.

So, looking at the gaps, anything less than 8th would be a disappointment. Anything higher than 6th would be fantastic...

DodgeeD · July 20, 2008

Chmel Blsany, Czech First Division, 2017-18

Another season has passed in the Czech Republic as Blsany looked to continue their recent domianace of the league there and take a few steps further in Europe. Pre-season was the usual business of trying to hang on to players. The main loss was my first choice keeper of the last 7 seasons, Darko Djokic, who very suddenly announced he wanted to leave and couldn't be persuaded to reconsider. I also lost my right-sided Serbian midfielder, Novakovic but I felt I had players good enough to take their slots so I wasn't too concerned. The lack of departures meant there was little need to bring in new faces. The only first teamer in was a Slovakian defender, Marek Michalik.

First Division

This season was our most comfortable yet as we established a lead of about 5 points after ten games and never looked back. Slavia Prague were our closest challengers and they eventually finished 10 points behind us. I still feel we could step up a gear in the league as we lost too many games for my liking but, nevertheless, we got the title for a third year in a row and it looks like my team of youngsters is developing nicely.

Final Table

Czech FA Cup

For the first time, we won the double! A straightforward run to the final meant we were favourites for every match and we lived up to our billing on each ocassion, beating Mlada Boleslav 1-0 in the final.

Europe

This season we had quite an adventure in Europe with some big-scoring results (though not always in our favour!). We started in the Champions League 2nd Qualifying round and duly dispatched KF Tirana 5-2 on aggregate (though we cut it fine in the first leg with a last gasp 3-2 home win). Hamburg SV stood between us and the groups stages but we stunned Europe by winning the home leg 4-0! A 3-3 draw away wrapped up a 7-3 aggregate win.

Our group was tough with Chelsea and Inter Milan clear favourites to qualify. I had to hope I could beat FC Twente to get into the UEFA Cup. The matches against Chelsea ended in two predictable defeats, though I had a moment at Stamford Bridge when I thought w could get a result as my boys scored with 10 mins to go to tie the game 1-1. Chelsea had other ideas though an won 3-1. We suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss away to FC Twente but more than made up for it by beating them 5-0 at home. The result that helped us pip the Dutch buys to the UEFA Cup spot was a highly credible 0-0 at home to Inter. Going into our last game in Italy, we had to match FC Twente's result to stay in 3rd. Chelsea took care of it for us, winning 3-1 in Holland. Just as well as we went down 5-2 in Italy. So, as I expected, we finished 3rd in the group and dropped into the UEFA Cup. Happy enough with that though I would have liked to have given the top two more of a run for thier money.

Into the UEFA Cup then and Mallorca were our 1st knockout round opponents. In one of my greatest FM games ever, we stuffed them 6-1 in Spain!!! :eek: I was cocky enough to field some youngsters in the return match, which was won 4-3 for a 10-4 aggregate win. Fenerbahce were up next. A late goal in Istanbul got us a 1-1 result with an invaluable away goal. We scored early in the next match and the Turks crumbled as we ran out 4-0 winners on the night, 5-1 on aggregate. Our quarter final opponents were Marseille. We lost 4-2 in France but the away goals gave me hope. An early goal at home for us set up a great match but ultimately Marseille were to win, hitting us twice on the break for a 2-1 win, sending them through 6-3 on aggregate.

All in all, a success in Europe as we qualified for the group stage of the Champions League for the first time and progressed further than before in the UEFA Cup. Our performance was good enough to earn an extra Champions league spot for Czech teams next season, which means as champions we go straight into the thrid round!

Round-up and a look ahead

My stirkers were the star performers this season as we banged in the goals in all competitions. Here's a look at the two best:

Karadag Fuat - the Turkish striker set a new club goalscoring record this season and won the 'Best Foreigner' award. Another encouraging point is that he hasn't attracted any interest from European teams yet despite two good season with me. Let's hope it stays that way.

Laszlo Orosz - missed the start of the season through injury but that's why I was able to keep him as he recovered after the transfer window had closed. Signed a new contract too but offers started to come in at the end of the season and I'm not sure I can hang on to him for much longer. Runner-up in the 'Best Foreigner' and 'First Division Player of the Year' awards and Fans Player of the Year.

Blsany Best XI (2017-18)

In other news, our new stadium has been delayed by 5 months (no idea why as we are extremely rich these days) so we won't move there until November (February effectively due to the winter break). The club have given me a new 4-year deal and we are now listed 68th on the world rich-list.

Time to make it 4 in a row and go further in Europe!

For your table Gundo:

Domestic Titles: 3

Club Coefficient: 33.914 (83rd)

Nation Coefficient: 23.992 (14th)

Razer82 · July 20, 2008

daemonic - Another great season in Switzerland and congratulations on retaining the Champions League. Good Luck for the new save in Ireland.

ghostwriter - Glad to see that you're still going. I think I would have given up after about half the amount of time that you've put into getting out of the Challenge League. Really hoping that you're able to get there.

DodgeeD - Fantastic European run there, would love to be able to make it as far as you have. Instead we're just the whipping boys of the group stages at the moment.

spotg · July 20, 2008

Sencur End Of Season Review 2016/17 - Slovenian First Division

Media Prediction: 1st

Board Demands: Title

I promise: Title

Players Interested: 2133 (up from 1962 the previous season)

Training and youth facilities are to be upgraded again. Also, another 11 seats are being added. WOO!

Kaunas come in the CL 2Q round, and are roundly dispatched. 5-0 at home and 4-0 away. And finally some Slovenians with some potential are generated. All three join up from "rival" clubs.

Sevilla in the 3Q are too strong. We need to build our coefficient in the UEFA cup again then. And it's against Hertha. Arse.

4-3 to Hertha in the away leg, mostly down to their 14m rated mega-Mexican striker, who gets three. But the return leg is completely dominated by us. And a 3-1 home win takes us through to the group stages. Great result!

Lazio, Shakhtar, Nurnberg and Athletic Bilbao form the group.

It's almost not worth talking about domestic matters. Progress is smooth, and we only fall behind other sides when the games in hand become great.

Bilbao give us a beating, thanks to the sending off of our captain and centre back when we are 2-1 up. But we get a good win over Nurnberg which is sealed with a 60 yard winner after their keeper came up for a corner. Shakhtar turn us over after a shocking first half in which we go 3-0 down, leaving us needing a win at home to Lazio to progress. As it turns out, a draw would have been enough, but a 2-1 home defeat and our goose is cooked.

Being able to scout the world is starting to show dividends. A "golden" generation appears in Tahiti. Three players all show up on a scout of Oceania with decent potential, and all have French dual nationality! So they join, along with a Panamanian international who looks good and a couple of Argies. We also look to sweep up any Slovenian that shows any sort of potential at all.

4-2 home win over Koper secures the title with three games remaining, and a 1-0 win over the same opposition secures the double!

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Slovenian First Division 1st

Slovenian Cup - Winners

Champions League Campaign

2Q

Sencur 5 - 0 FBK Kaunas (LTU)

Kaunas 0 - 4 Sencur

3Q

Sevilla (ESP) 3 - 1 Sencur

Sencur 0 - 0 Sevilla

UEFA Cup Campaign

R1

Hertha BSC (GER) 4 - 3 Sencur

Sencur 3 - 1 Hertha BSC

Group A

Athletic (ESP) 3 - 2 Sencur

Sencur 4 - 2 Nurnberg (GER)

Shakhtar (UKR) 3 - 2 Sencur

Sencur 1 - 2 Lazio (ITA)

Hopes for next season - Same again in the league. Champions League group stages.

2008-09 Slovenian Second Division 2nd (play-off loss)

2009-10 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!

2010-11 Slovenain First Division 9th (play-off loss)

2011-12 Slovenian Second Division CHAMPIONS!

2012-13 Slovenian First Division 6th

2013-14 Slovenian First Division 2nd

2014-15 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!

2015-16 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!

2016-17 Slovenian First Division CHAMPIONS!

Sencur Honours Board

Slovenian Division Two

2010, 2012

Slovenian Cup

2013, 2017

Slovenian Division One

2015, 2016, 2017

European Co-efficients

Club - 21.773 (133rd) +20

Nation - 17.500 (17th - 1-3-1) -1

Domestic Titles

Three

mocko666 · July 20, 2008

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how many seasons they spent in the N.I third division i was wondering how long it should take me to get out of the division

Cheers

supersaint · July 20, 2008

Mini-update, Eskilstuna Södra 2012

Havent written any updates yet - Ive been so in to the game that I have actually forgotten about it:(

So what has happened with Eskilstuna since the start in 2009? Well, nothing particularly tbh. After 2 seasons in 2nd division, we finally got promoted in season 3 (2011).

With only 9 players capable of taking the step up to 1st div, it was time to do some changes.

Unfortunately, the clubs economy aint exactly great, apx £300K in the red - so no money to buy players for. In addition to this, the board restricted my wage budget to almost the same as already was spent, so I needed to get rid of players before getting new ones in.

Thankfully the long winterbreak made it possible to scout the country up and down for players, and now just before the start of the season I have managed to get together a squad that hopefully should avoid relegation.

The first competetive match was a cup match(my first in 4 seasons!!) against IFK Eskilstuna, which I won easily 4-1. The 2nd round will hopefully bring in some much needed cash, as we are meeting premier league team Hammarby. Wont be good for morale though:D

One thing that concerns me about my squad is that my best striker is only 16 years old. My scout found him on one of his journeys thinks he has the potential of being a "leading First Division Elite striker", and I really have faith in him.

How can I make sure that he develops to his full potential? Since he is my best striker he will get a lot of matches, but Im afraid to use him too much. So whats the best way to go?

Oh well, Ill just have follow my gut feeling.

Roll on season 2012!

supersaint · July 20, 2008

The cup adventure is over, after a 2-1 defeat. Held Hammarby to 1-1 until they went 4-2-4 in 80th minute. One player was unmarked on the right wing, and that was one man too much - A precise cross to one of Bajens strikers and my participation in the cup was over.

Only comfort though was a crowd of 1700 and £6K less in the red.

mocko666 · July 21, 2008

Clough Rangers 09-10

After finishing just a point above relegation play off zone last season i couldn't have hoped for what happened in a season full of emotion, joy, pain, sorrow and finally elation. The season was a real edge of your seat one, where last minute penalties, goals and saves really came in handy. I once again told the board we would finish mid-table, boy did i underestimate fate, because for me thats what it came down to.

First of all the beginning of the season saw me take in some good youth players one of which would play a bigger part in my season than he could ever have imagined and played in a match i think he never thought he would have played in, in his first season but more of that later.

So beginning of the season came the usual racing through the free-transfers to find any half decent mug who would play for a part time second division side who nearly got relegated the season before. But it turns out there were some players who decided to take a chance on the club and they do not regret it, trust me.

Transfers: http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4326/transfersug6.png

All players who played a large part in the season will be shown later, however a little spoiler there are a couple of young players in their with big futures in the N.I leagues.

Cup Competitions

Intermediate League Cup

We managed to finish two places higher in 4th which for the beginning of the season im quite proud of. But i will hope for better next season.

Antrim Trophy

We got to the 4th round in this before becoming unstuck against eventual first division champions by about 20 points Larne on penalties may i add, however once again i am hoping for better next season

Intermediate Cup

We fell at the first hurdle against non league side Riverside Colts after fielding a weakened side, thinking we could win without even trying however i think i deserve to lose for being so cocky.

Irish Cup

Now heres where one of the highlights of the season came, we won the competition after coming through three premier teams, including Distillery, Armagh and runners up Glenavon: http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/9921/irishcupfinalct8.png. I can safely say im delighted with this win, as i never expected to get this far in the competition till i hit the big time. Im also glad that Adam and Mark were the palyers to win it for me as they played fantastic throughout the season also, my 17 year old right winger played left wing in this game, a final in his first season fantastic.

Thats the cup competitions done now onto the league.

N.I League Division 2: http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4568/leaguezn5.png

The most i was hoping for was a 5th place finish, however come around half way through the season we found ourselves 2nd in the league just a couple of points behind the leaders, but the come with 6 games to go, we took top spot and began to pull away and won the league with a game to go, and thus played a week team in the last game to save my palyers for the final.

So it was onto the next season and our first in the first division after my cup exploits and our overall domination over teams in the second division, i think i can hope for at least a mid table position, all i need is a little more consistency and a few players at the back to tighten up and i should be able to push for promotion.

The team: http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/851/cloughteamqq6.png

Fans Player of the year: http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/2175/markxi8.png

Round up

Overall an excellent season i have far overachieved my expectations, ohwever this couldn't have been done without the early signings who i expect will carry on their great form my otp scorer was Mark Miskimmons (sp?), above, and the future Ireland no.1 'Keeper, Adam Bradley:http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1945/adameh5.png ,and also young striker Adam Burns:http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4751/mrburnsqx9.png , who both played fantastic through the season.

To the Future

To the future i go and i am hoping for an automatic promotion straight to hte top division not sure if i am dreaming here but i think it may happen. Although i am getting so many offers in for my players that i can only beg that they don't leave however im in luck as none have begun complaining about not leaving yet so i can only hope that if they do leave i can get as much money for them as possible while hoping that i can find replacements and my young players improve also.

Can i give special thanks to Daemonic and Nep for their special help regarding the Islanders it helped me to no end. Bermuda is a very nice place i must admit. :thup:

If there are any further screenshots you require then i will gladly submit them.

mocko666 · July 21, 2008

Just realised after winning the cup i've found myself in the 1st qualifying round of the Euro Cup and ive got Israeli Team Maccabi Petach-Tikva, wish me luck

Ridleys · July 21, 2008

Rasharkin - Northern Irish Premier Division - 26/27 (Season 19)

Media Prediction: 1st

My Prediction: 1st

Final Position: 1st

Cups

Champions League:

Euro Cup: Not Entered.

Northern Irish League Cup: Runners Up.

Irish Cup: Winners.

Antrim Cup: Winners.

All-Ireland Cup Winners.

Dean Evans: - I think Dean is nearing the end of his career at Rasharkin now. He is no longer in my first team plans and he is slightly concerned at this.

The Career So Far..

League

[color=black][font=Verdana]Year   Division                                      Pos Pld Won Drn Lst For  Ag  G.D   Pts[/font][/color]

[color=black][font=Verdana]08/09  Northern Irish Second Division       2nd 22  11    5   6    40   26  +14  38[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]09/10  Northern Irish First Division           4th 22   9     7   6    37   21  +14  34[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]10/11  Northern Irish First Division           1st 22  13     4   5    39   18  +21  43[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]11/12  Northern Irish Premier Division       5th 30  14     6   10  49   30  +19  48[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]12/13  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  24     3   3    79   33  +46  75[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]13/14  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  24     2   4    79   32  +47  74[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]14/15  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  20     3   7    65   33  +32  63[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]15/16  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  24     4   3    84   28  +56  73[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]16/17  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  28     2   0    108 18  +90  86[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]17/18  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  26     3   1    101 21  +80  81[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]18/19  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  24     5   1    94   27  +67  77[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]19/20  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  29     1   0    101 13  +88  88[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]20/21  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  28     2   0    116 18  +98  86[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]21/22  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  29     1   0    131 18  +113 88[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]22/23  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  27     2   1    125 11  +114 83[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]23/24  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  29     1   0    140 13  +127 88[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]24/25  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  28     1   1    113 7   +106 85[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]25/26  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  29     1   0    143 14  +129 88[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]26/27  Northern Irish Premier Division       1st 30  27     3   0    141 21  +120 84[/font][/color]

Europe

[color=black][font=Verdana]Year  Tournament              Round                      Total Coefficients  Rank [/font][/color]

[color=black][font=Verdana]12/13 Euro Cup                 1st Qualifying Round    0.054                 461st[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]13/14 Champions League    3rd Qualifying Round [/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]        Euro Cup                 1st Round                 0.439                 437th (+ 24)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]14/15 Champions League    1st Qualifying Round    0.439                 450th (- 13)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]15/16 Champions League    1st Qualifying Round    0.495                 457th (- 7)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]16/17 Champions League    1st Qualifying Round    0.550                 459th (- 2)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]17/18 Champions League    2nd Qualifying Round    0.934                 437th (+ 22)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]18/19 Champions League    1st Qualifying Round    0.548                 456th (- 19)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]19/20 Champions League    3rd Qualifying Round [/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]        Euro Cup                 1st Round                 0.550                 446th (+ 10)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]20/21 Champions League    1st Qualifying Round    0.055                 453rd (- 7)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]21/22 Champions League    3rd Qualifying Round[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]        Euro Cup                 1st Round                 0.715                 419th (+ 34)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]22/23 Champions League    2nd Qualifying Round    0.384                 420th (- 1)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]23/24 Champions League    Group Stages             7.802                 242nd (+ 178)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]24/25 Champions League    Group Stages [/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]        Euro Cup                Quarter Final              26.222               105th (+ 137)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]25/26 Champions League    1st Knockout Round    37.256                72nd (+ 33)[/font][/color]
[color=black][font=Verdana]26/27 Champions League    Group Stages             42.666                59th (+13)[/font][/color]

Competition Honours

Northern Irish Premier Division

Winner - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027

Northern Irish First Division

Winner - 2011

Northern Irish Second Division

Runner Up - 2009

All-Ireland Cup

Winner - 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027

Runner Up - 2019, 2021

Northern Irish League Cup

Winner - 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Runner Up - 2011, 2027

Northern Irish Cup

Winner - 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027

Northern Irish Antrim Cup

Winner - 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027

Northern Irish Intermediate Cup

Winner - 2011

supersaint · July 21, 2008

Eskilstuna Södra 2012

League

After finally getting the promotion to Division 1 South last season, my goal was to stay there. Unfortunately, I knew this meant a total revamp of the squad. 13 players left the team, and 13 new ones joined.

The first season in Division 1 South, was a real rollercoaster ride: 3 straight losses, followed by 3 straight wins, then 5 matches without a win, then 8 matches unbeaten, etc. Every match was a nailbiter, and kept me on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

In the end, we managed to battle into 2nd place, which meant play-off matches against Falkenberg. After drawing 0-0 at home in front of 2484 fans, hope for promotion was more or less gone. In the 2nd leg, the boys fought as hard as they could, and managed to hold on to a 1-1 draw until the 67th minute.

Falkenberg went up 2-1, and my hope of a sensation was gone. Just 3 minutes later though, the lads fought their way into the the penalty box, where Robin Söder was tripped and awarded a penalty.

Unfortunately the pressure got to Syla, who blazed it over the bar. After this, the lads lost their energy and Falkenberg ran out 2-1 winners.

Swedish Cup

We managed to get through to the second round, after beating IFK Eskilstuna(our rivals) away with 4-0. 2nd round draw us home to Premier League team Hammarby, which we didnt stand a chance against. 2-1 loss in front of 1784 fans.

Round up

Bookmakers and media tipped us for relegation battle, the board wanted to avoid relegation and that was my main goal. Lack of experience throughout the squad was the main problem, as the rollercoaster ride clearly shows. With an average age of 22 years, you are bound to get into trouble some time.

Therefore Im extremely happy with the season overall.

One thing that concerns me (and the board), is the financial state of the club. I now have good squad, and I keep well within the budget. But the club continues to loose about £80K per season, which means that I either have to just accept the downward spiral - or replacing the high-earners with low-earning youngsters. But that means I have to rebuild the squad once again, which can disrupt the balance within the squad.

Decisions, decisions...

Player of the year(fans): Super talent Thomas Hagström

Player of the year(manager): Captain Signell

Pre-season 2013

Transfers

Just before transfer-deadline, and I have managed to keep almost all players from last season, despite the interest from all other clubs. I think the clue has been to up their asking prices to £250K, even when they are valued at 0, AND put them on "reject all offers".

This means that most clubs have lost interest in my players, but some clubs never gives up and keep upping their bids. In the end this means that the Chairman has to accept some bids, because of the financial state of the club.

So far he has only sold two players: One left-back and one Left-winger, for the total sum of £70K, over 24 months.

Unfortunately it looks like Im loosing my Captain though; Gefle (Premier League) has made a shocking bid of £97K :eek: So it seems like he is leaving after 4 good seasons

These three players, I have decided to replace with some free youngsters recommended by my talent scout - hopefully they will provide sufficient cover for the first team.

Squad and quality according to Max Hansson(AssMan)

Name                          Pos   CA    PA    Age
----------------------------------------------------------------
Rikard Hallin                 GK     2     6     21
Dennis Schöld                 GK     5     5     23

Max Clauss                    DR     2     4     23
Stig Hammari                  DR     2     7     16

Miiko Albornoz                DL     2     4     22
Henrik Hansson                DL     2     4     18

Joakim Signell                DC     6     6     26
Johan Palm                    DC     4     5     23
Konrad Andersson              DC     3     4     22
Thomas Lindborg               DC     2     3     21

Viktor Niklasson              DM     2     4     23
Joacim Jonsson                DM     1     3     23

Muamet Asanovski              MR     1     3     22
Ludvig Malm                   MR     2     3     24

Mattias Wahl                  ML     2     4     23
Sebastian Olausson            ML     2     2     19

Sebastian Ali                 AM     3     4     18
Martin Gustafsson             AM     3     4     24

Thomas Hagström               SC     4     6     17
Robin Söder                   SC     3     4     21
John Guidetti                 SC     2     4     20
Fidan Syla                    SC     1     1     30

Predictions

Bookmakers: 6th

Media: 7th

Expectations

Board:Minimum 7th (Top half)

Manager: Minimum 4th

ghostwriter · July 22, 2008

Baulmes - Challenge League - 25/26

The unexpectedly good situation at the Winter Break

I managed to flog one of my reserve wingers for £20k (better than nothing I suppose) while a relatively familiar face came back. You may remember Matthias Schmitt who raped various DRs during my last 18 months at UGS. Well, after 2 years at Aarau and half a season at La Chaux-de-Fonds he became mine. Not too sure how much of his ability he has kept but we shall see. He is the best ML at the club in any case.

First up we had Basel to visit. Not exactly the ideal game to start with. But we, err, managed to thrash them 3-0 :eek: . But we followed this match with Basel in exactly the same way as we followed the one earlier in the season, by playing awfully against Wohlen :/. We recovered well enough from that to put together 8 unbeaten including victories that completed the double over UGS, Schaffhausen and Sion :thup: . We were 5th and very close to 4th. We promptly lost to La Chaux-de-Fonds but we were still 6th and only 1 point behind 4th with one game to go. A game that 4th-7th all won so we stayed in 6th place on goal difference. 4th-7th is where we were for 3/4 of the season.

Now clearly I can't be disappointed with that, especially after last season, but in the matches against the top 4 clubs we won 7 and were very unlucky to lose the 8th (we led in it as well). That is pretty impressive, and if we had managed to not to lose to the likes of Wohlen (twice :rolleyes: ), Etoile-Carouge (one of their 3 victories all season ) and Wil we could/should have been much much closer to the top 3.

Our defence was rock solid, best outside the top 3 and would have been even better but for conceding 7 in games 32 and 33. Upfront we scored the least out of the top 8 which I can't really call a problem but I'd preferred a few more thrashings of the lesser clubs rather than the ground-out 2-1 wins we got....

Final Squad

Final Summary

Transfers - a lot of them; basically very good, Zobel + Hottiger the strikers were great, Gastien good, Noll a great GK while the loanees are why we did not concede very much

More players to note this season:

Best GK - Sven Noll - very good, did not really realise how good he was when he joined but I'd say he is one of the best in the division, a clean sheet every 3 games, as my back-up is leaving I need a new keeper so it is not impossible that I manage to get someone better than him, we shall see but in any case I wish him to avoid the usual 2nd season **** syndrome that struck many a UGS GK

Best Defender - Jens Vetter - on-loan but then again most of my defence was, the 3 regular loanees were great so I basically the one with the highest rating, he was very solid but he is nothing special and won't be a star or anything but will be just great for any CL club whenever he moves on, would not mind that club to be mine

Best Midfielder - Anthony Gastien - supposedly a good signing for any SL club and to be honest I can understand, is a great playmaker in the middle of the pitch, could have done with a few more goals / assists but I am hoping that after a year of settling in he will be even better next season

Best Winger - Sascha Roth - another loanee, and the best one, this guy might turn out to be a star, or at least a solid SL player, improved a load while here, scared many a DL with his pace and his crossing was ace as well, if I was Luzern I would offer him another contract, I hope they don't and he gets released

2nd Best Winger - Matthias Schmitt - the answer to my query about him still being good winger is yes, yes he is, has not lost much ability in the 3 years since I last saw him apart from pace, still very tricky, gets a good cross in, signed him up for another season and he should be my first choice this year, to be honest it will probably be his last year as he will be 33 in a few months but if he keeps it up, who knows...

Best AMC - Norman Albert - very quietly and efficiently went about his business, which was scoring and creating loads of goals, had not intended to play an AMC but he was too good to bench, 2 goals / assists ever 3 matches, was very influential, more of the same please

Best Striker - Alexander Zobel - simply magnificent, much much better than I thought he would be, nearly a goal / assist a game, and can also fill in at ML in an emergency, only qualm is that a few more goals would not go amiss, not too sure how well he combines with my other ST either, some of the bigger CL clubs are sniffing around but I have no intention to sell

So, basically I need defence again, last Summer's solution was very good but also very temporary. Not too sure how many of the loanees I can get in again, the defensive players I have are not bad, just not as good as what I had in on loan. Speaking of loanees, I will need another MR with Roth leaving, the one I have is young and improving but not yet as good. Also, an out and out goalscorer would be nice if either of my current STs don't turn into one.

I have decided that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that I could promote whilst still semi-pro and seeing as we are still below £1m it might be the only option. Hence unless I get offered or negotiate silly money I don't intend on selling any of the star players.

Basically I would like more of the same please, top 6-8 but much less losing to Wohlen and the promoted sides...

Best Eleven

Overal Best Eleven - loads in and some of the trash out

UGS

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

Baulmes

23/24 - Challenge League - 5th

24/25 - Challenge League - 15th

25/26 - Challenge League - 6th

Mike_Cardinal · July 23, 2008

Hey guys, good to see how well everyone else is doing. Just thought I'd pop in and say that I haven't given up on my Boo game, I actually finished the second season a couple of months ago at least, but just haven't gotten round to posting it. As I'd wrote it as I went along though, I thought I'd pick up the baton again, post the update and get on with it! It's quite likely to be littered with mistakes and I am sorry about the length...

Boo FF – Season 2 (2009) – First Division North

Media Prediction: 7th

Final League Position: 1st

Swedish Cup: 2nd Round

Right then! We began the season without much going on. Our goalie made it into the clubs favoured personnel as he left to go to a First Division Elite side, but I replaced him with 17 year old Dejan Garaca, who was very consistent. In pre-season, it was once again much a case of getting loans in, as there were not many players on frees willing to come. Mikael Bengtsson was sold for 9k, which greatly improved the finances and cheered the board up a bit. I was given a big boost by our season ticket sales though! (http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8678/seasonticketsales2ql3.png)

I tried to get as many of last seasons players as possible, but wasn’t too successful. However, coming back again on loan were centre back Marcus Nilsson, right back Henik Nilsson and more importantly attacking midfielder Stefan Zarkovic and striker Moses Sewankambo. These were probably our two best players last season, and so I had a strong base. Fredrik Jensen, Moses’s lethal strike partner had Boo FF in his favoured personnel, as did all my loanees. However, he was released by his club Trelleborg, and was willing to negotiate terms with me! Sadly, despite me offering as much as I could he was whisked away to once again, a team from the league one up. Loans were made for every other position to cover things up nicely, and one coup I was particularly pleased with was Rasmus Jonsson, an excellent looking young striker, who with right mid Emil Salomonsson was in the Sweden U19s. Helsingborg didn’t actually want Jonsson to be loaned, but I tricked/persuaded them into doing by adding on a future fee of £2.5m, that obviously I was never going to pay. We also had our loaned centre back in the Sweden U21s, so I supposed he might miss a few games through international duties.

Our pre-season fixtures went reasonably well, only disaster struck, with star striker Moses Sewankambo breaking his collarbone. He would be out for a couple of months, likely missing the first Swedish Cup match(es) and the first few league games. The first round of the Swedish Cup saw us drawn away at Bolinas, a non-league team full of greys. We eased past them 3-1, Rasmus Jonsson bagging two on his debut and Stefan Zarkovic getting his 10th long ranger for the club, picking up where he left off last season. The second round saw us drawn at home against Gefle, recently relegated from the Premier Division. At 10-1 we were given no real hope, but in fact we were very unlucky. We lost 2-0, but we dominated possession at 57% and had plenty of chances, the only difference between the teams being their lethal striker Michael Mensah’s finishing, we simply couldn’t cope. Their keeper was also outstanding, but the board were pleased with our first ever cup adventure regardless.

The league season kicked off with what promised to be a difficult game, where we played last year’s runners-up Angelholm at home, who as a result of coming second had made the Promotion/Relegation Play Off, which they lost 6-5 on aggregate to Mjallby. The game wouldn’t be helped by the absence of my goalie, who’d managed to get himself suspended at the end of last season! On the up-side, they had just lost heavily in the Cup so morale was low. I was also 2-5 favourites, with the pundit claiming he thought I had enough quality to see of their challenge!

As with last season, we didn’t get off to the ideal start. 6 minutes in, their striker found the top corner with a bullet from the edge of the area. Great. 3 minutes later though, a corner was cleared feebly by their keeper, and my Swedish U21 international centre back found the net from just inside the box! It was pretty much a carbon copy of the goal that Cardiff centre back scored in the Cup final, only without the hand ball! 15 minutes later, a deep cross from our left back met Rasmus Jonsson’s head! 2-1. With three goals inside 25 minutes, we were certainly picking up where we left off last season on the entertainment front! That man Rasmus did it again just before half-time, extending the lead to 3-1, and meaning he had 4 goals in 2 and a half games for the club! After the break, he added two more goals to his total, either side of a Stefan Zarkovic strike. Angelholm went 4-2-4 and got a consolation goal, but it was too late. 6-2 final score, now that’s an opening day rout! We stormed to the top of the table, and Rasmus picked up a 10, equalling the club record of four goals in a game.

We continued that good form, with 2-1 wins away at Kristianstad and at home to Smedby, with first goals for the club coming from Emil Salomonsson and Victor Bergstrom, and Albert Trestena bagging a goal in each. Rasmus Jonsson didn’t score in either oddly after his 4 goal blitz of Angelholm, but did come up with 3 assists. My coach informed me he was an inconsistent performer anyway. After this third game, some good new came; Moses Sewankambo had returned to full training after his injury. I was pretty glad that we had managed without him, and that he hadn’t missed anything major. His first game was hardly a triumphant return, a 2-2 draw at Qviding. The media reckoned I should be distraught, but I always to seem to do rubbish against 4-3-3 teams, on every game on FM, and their two goals came from a 30 yard free kick and a 25 yard strike, obviously from players whose stats wouldn’t have you believe it. Plus, Jonsson got back in the goals, and I was top on goal difference still anyway. One game later, and my boy was back in the goals, Moses Sewankambo helped himself to a brace in a 4-1 win over Norrby, putting me a couple of points clear of Lindome, who I was to play away next match. As always in big games, we went behind early on, but came back through Moses and a Jonsson double to stick us 3-1 ahead. The two of them were showing signs of combining well, and very possibly the potential to be an even better strike force than last season’s. We saw the game out in the second half for the same scoreline, and would have edged 3 points clear instead of 2 had it not been for Varnamo’s incredible comeback from 3-0 down at half time (some bloke got a hatrick).

The game lied! It informed me that Dennis Boskalio would be out with Sweden U21s for four games, but happily he wasn’t included in the squad, though Rasmus Jonsson annoyingly missed one game thanks to Sweden U19 duty (he’s only 18!). But regardless, the run went on, with me picking up wins consistently, staying on top of the table and scoring lots of goals. It is also worth bearing in mind though that I was still yet to pick up a clean sheet, 8 games in. A game later and we had still only dropped 2 points in the draw at Qviding, and were 5 points clear of Varnamo. We had a fairly tricky run, playing Varnamo and Limhamn away, where I reckoned the title would oddly be pretty much safe at the halfway stage barring a major choke if we picked up 4 or more points.

Limhamn were taking part in a little Gundo’s Challenge of their own, having come from being promoted from a non-playable league, to winning their division and were currently 5th but tipped for promotion in the First Division South. I think some people have taken this challenge up with them. Anyway, the game was essentially over when they had a man sent off in the first half, and we ran out 4-1 winners, with that man Rasmus Jonsson getting 2 more, bringing his season total to 14 in 11, making Moses’s total of 5 in 7 look bad.

Varnamo didn’t play until the next day, but we were now 9 points clear, as it turned out, they only managed to draw their game in hand for the second time in succession, meaning I was 8 points clear after only 10 games! Next game, they drew again as I scraped a last minute winner in a 2-1 victory, they ended the game up with 8 men, but two were sent off in the last minute. One for a professional foul, the other picked up a second yellow for arguing about it and then when I scored from the free-kick’s rebound I’m sure that a few more could have gone from anger!

So anyway, this put me 10 points clear after 11 games, and I felt a bit ridiculous. I didn’t think my team were really that much better, we just seemed to have a lot of luck. We hit our eight straight win as Varnamo hit their fifth straight draw, meaning they dropped down to 4th, and there was now a chasing pack of Qviding, Lindome and Varnamo. The difference was now 11 points though, and with 14 games left it was a bit silly to think I had only dropped 2 points. I also noticed around this time that our attendances were picking up significantly. The unknown (Boo) stadium could clearly hold a few peoples, with an average attendance of 1167 compared to last year’s 345. This, coupled with the fact that I was only spending about half my wage budget due to loans, meant that the finances were rising and rising. I proceeded to stuff Varnamo 3-0 away, thanks to a wonderful Rasmus Jonsson hatrick. At the halfway stage of the season, I had played every team, and beaten them all apart from second placed Qviding, 11 points behind whom I had drawn 2-2 at away from home. We had also already played the season’s hardest games already, having played the top 3 away. I checked my team report, and the majority of the loans were now apparently “Good signings for most Premier Division sides.” and generally were meant to improve significantly, so frankly the more I managed to get onto a favoured personnel the better.

However, the next game against Angelholm ended our 9 game winning streak. We somehow couldn’t get past their defence, despite scoring 6 in our other game at home. It took a last minute header from Dennis Boskailo to get a 1-1 draw, his second for the club. But still, I wasn’t particularly worried at the lead being cut to 9 points.

What I was more concerned about was Moses Sewankambo’s recent form. He still had a decent return of 6 in 11, but it was nothing compared to last season’s total of 24 in 22. Maybe it was the better quality of defenders, but he seemed to have no problem in getting past them, it was just his finishing in front of goal that had let him down of late. Odd, as he had 13 for both Finishing and Composure. He still picked up decent ratings due to us winning and a few assists, but a morale drop to Good and no goals in 3 wasn’t the best sign for a team in our position. I decided to just stick with him, and hoped a couple of encouraging team talks saying I had faith would spark an improvement.

It worked. 20 minutes into the next game against Kristianstad (about 20 minutes away from my house in Sweden), he made no mistake from a Stefan Zarkovic through ball. Annoyingly, in the second half he had another trademark miss, but Marcus Nilsson managed his first goal in his two seasons for the club with a header from another Zarkovic free kick. They got an offside consolation back, but we played the game out.

Mr. Inconsistency himself picked up his second 6 rating in a row, Rasmus Jonsson, his worst form of the season. This was weird, because the media and I had just praised his recent form, and he’d been delighted. However, coach reports said he was inconsistent, so I just hoped he would have another of his days where he is utterly unplayable soon, as we had a few games against top half opposition in succession coming up. In particular, I was to play second placed Qviding the game after next, and their form now stretched to a five game winning streak, putting them seven points clear of 3rd placed Varnamo. With 11 games to go, they were the only remaining threat that needed heading off in all honesty. I would have called it a two horse race, but 9 points difference remained, it was ours to lose, rather in reverse of how things went last season.

Our less than impressive recent form continued, as both us and Qviding required late equalisers to claim draws, but away at Smedby was not a poor result for us really. I was confident that we could beat Qviding, and as we were still unbeaten, despite 2 draws in the last 3 games both of them had been away from home and not easy games. We had played two more away games than home, and so as a result before the last day there was 3 consecutive home matches. If we beat Qviding and stretched the lead to 12 points, I was confident we could seal the title in that period.

The media expected me to record a comfortable victory, but I wasn’t so optimistic. The early stages were lively and end to end, and they looked very dangerous, probably more so than we did, but we had the majority of the ball. 27 minutes in, their striker broke free and put them 1-0 ahead, but then going behind in big games was something we were used to. I made some tactical adjustments, telling our defenders instead to knock it long for our forwards to run onto. It worked. Just after the half-hour mark, Moses Sewankambo received the ball with his back to goal near the halfway line. He turned quickly, leaving his marker for dead, then proceeded to go on a mazy 40 yard run and found the bottom corner. Seconds before the half-time whistle, our goalie knocked a long clearance which caught the defence flat footed, Rasmus Jonsson slipped in behind them and found the top corner, putting us ahead at the break, as well as giving him his first goal in 3. Surprisingly they made no changes, and so we carried on as before, and a few minutes after the whistle a long ball from our left back was there for the taking. Moses Sewankambo once again outstripped their slower right back, cut inside and gave us a two goal lead to defend for about 40 minutes. We set about to play keep ball, and they weren’t touching us, the win looked in the bag.

But then, with ten minutes to go, they found a way back into the match. Their left midfielder managed his first goal in two seasons, a wonder strike of a 30 yard free kick, which made me think about when the last time Zarkovic had scored from a free kick had been, they had been virtually all his goals last season, but this year he’d got them in open play, and scored more! Anyway, they switched to 4-2-4 and gave us a few scares, but Dejan Garaca made 5 or 6 excellent saves, bringing his rating up to an 8 and winning us the match. Moses Sewankambo obviously got the MoM, but Dejan deserved it imo, he had 12 shots on target to deal with! So, this left us 12 points clear and with nine games to go. Qviding had an easier run-in, but I couldn’t see us giving it away now. Lindome at home would be tough as they were likely the next best team in the league after Qviding, but we’d only lost one home league game in our history. Apart from Lindome and Varnamo, we were up against the entire bottom eight, bar Kristianstad who we’d already played. We had beaten all of them in the first half of the season as well. 6 wins was the target, we would break the league’s points record, and win it without any doubt.

We started well, undeservedly thrashing Norrby 4-1 away, punishing them for their first minute goal. We got 2 in the last 5 minutes on the break, Zarkovic ended his five game goal drought (a while for him), and Rasmus Jonsson grabbed a brace to bring his season total to over 20. Lindome were full of confidence though, as the game before they played us they surprisingly thrashed Limhamn 5-0.

We started well. 51 seconds in, that man Rasmus put us ahead, and Moses made it two after just 10 minutes! However, on the half hour mark they took advantage of us having a first choice centre back suspended and equalised, leaving it at 2-1 half time. In the second half, we played as well as we have in my time at the club. Rasmus got two more to help himself to a hatrick, both of them were excellent team moves, and Lindome didn’t get a sniff. I really didn’t see a 4-1 final scoreline coming in a match the media expected to be a draw and it lifted morale up to Superb across the board. Jonsson had now eclipsed Moses Sewankambo’s total for last season, equalling his season record of 24 goals, but amazingly he had reached the total in two games less, after just 20. With seven games remaining, I was wondering if he would become the first Boo player to make 30 goals in a season. A game later, and he’d beaten Moses’s record, with both Moses and Rasmus scoring in a second half comeback, as we beat Osterunds 2-1 after trailing at the break. It was now mathematically impossible for us to come lower than second, and even then we would get a promotion playoff. The game against bottom club Grondal was odd, as I had 1-33 odds to win it, they were 50-1. After a stormer at their place which we narrowly won 4-3, we managed a comfortable 3-1 victory, notable only for Emil Salomonsson amusingly scoring from a 40 yard cross by a complete fluke.

The game away at Limhamn was strange. They were predicted to win, as they had been pre-season title favourites, but I think it was just based on their reputation, as they were in reality struggling with relegation. Our defence had a complete mare, all ending up on 6s apart from one centre back who got a 5! Luckily, Rasmus Jonsson was on fire, and his double meant it ended up 2-2. Qviding won their fifth straight game since we beat them, they had also managed to score 22 goals in that time. They had now cut the lead to 10 points, but it was irrelevant with 4 games to go in all honesty. A nice home game against Larje/Angered was up next, a win would seal the title. Due to internationals, we even had a two week break to prepare for it. They were a decent side certainly, but nothing more than that. Here I started to wonder if I could go a season unbeaten, which would be an insane achievement in such a short space of time. I’ve been looking at the First Division Elite teams though, and it seems to be a huge jump up, and then another big one to the Premier. I’ll be happy to stay up next season, domestic domination still seems a million miles away currently.

The game didn’t have the best of starts, with left midfielder Petter Lennartson getting himself injured inside the first ten minutes. However, three minutes later, an awful clearance fell right into the path of the most lethal player on the pitch, Rasmus Jonsson. He raced forward, and found the top corner from the edge of the box, incredibly he had now scored in the last 7 consecutive games, in which time he’d managed an incredible total of 11 goals. Larje weren’t out of it though, and 2 or 3 great saves from Dejan Garaca meant we passed their spell of dominance unscathed. 10 minutes before half time, a long team build up of possession culminated in Stefan Zarkovic hitting the post with a 20 yard swerving post, which was followed by that man Rasmus Jonsson reacted quickest and tapping it away for his 30th goal of the season, in a mere 24 games. With Qviding being held 2-2 at Smedby, I could feel the title in my grasp. It was wrapped up with five minutes remaining, Dennis Boskailo our centre back found himself oddly deep in the opponents’ half for a thrown, and hit an absolute scorcher for a 3-0 win. We needn’t have bothered, as Qviding lost 3-2 anyway. Bizarrely, I noted that it was only our second clean sheet of the season, despite having the best defensive record in the league.

Confirmation of our title win: http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2030/1dstitleconfirmationus5.png

Off the field, I was busy tying up contracts but then realised that Emil Salomonsson, my 19 year old captain, was wanted by a host of First Division Elite clubs. I’d offered him a very good contract, and he had both me and the club in his Favoured Personnel and Clubs, but I still wasn’t optimistic, despite in the space of the season our reputation having risen from Obscure to Local, and very recently to Regional. The meaningless game against Vasalunda was to be only the second that Rasmus Jonsson had missed, he was on Sweden U19s duty again, but likely to only be unused as a sub. Regardless, added time goals from Albert Trestena and Emil Salomonsson meant a 3-1 win, and we had broken the Division 1 South’s points record. Annoyingly, whenever Emil played well a bunch of sleezy managers would say how wonderful he was, trying to prise him away. The buggers. He was still considering three other contract offers as well as mine. But haha! After another week of deliberating, he signed a one year contract with me! That’ll do for now. However, I started to get money offers soon after, and so I looked resigned to having to figure out what I thought was an acceptable fee, because you never know when the chairman will unnecessarily step in!

In other news, Lindome beat Qviding 3-0 to catch them up on points, meaning the promotion play-off place would go down to the last day, though Qviding’s goal difference was superior by 8. The last two games passed by without incident, with a 2-1 win over Varnamo, and then on the last day we were away at Torslanda. They needed to win and for Vasalund to lose, but even then they would only be level on points, and they had 10 goal difference to make up, so they were pretty much doomed. Still, I expected them to be well up for it. Unfortunately for them, Rasmus Jonsson and Moses Sewankambo both grabbed simple finishes, and they didn’t manage a single shot on target. Vasalund drew anyway, so it didn’t matter. Regardless, I’ll shut up now, it’s screenshot time:

Final League Table: http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7113/finaltableboo2ng7.jpg

Boo Squad: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8605/boosquad2ci2.jpg

Transfers: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4664/transfers2oz1.jpg

Season Progress: http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/8738/seasonprogress2yh2.jpg

Season Fixtures: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9158/fixtures2ji8.jpg

Confidence: http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/729/boardconfidence2vh3.png

League Player Stats: http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4407/playerstats2vx4.jpg

Season Best Eleven: http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/40/boobestseasoneleven2vz7.jpg

Overall Best Eleven: http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/5364/overallbesteleven2ag4.jpg

Worth noting that we mopped up the Division One South records. We hold Most Team Goals, Most Team Points, Most Games Without Losing (A WHOLE SEASON UNDEFEATED!), oddly we got the season’s highest attendance, though previous seasons have seen higher. Our average attendance is up around 400 from last season, which means the finances are looking very healthy, but we’re not even a fraction of what you get in the Premier Division. The TV Money is presumably huge.

Finally a couple of exceptional player notes:

Stefan Zarkovic: http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5061/stefanzarkovic2rk6.jpg

Second season running, utterly sensational playmaker, his stats keep going up. Definitely can make the jump-up to the next league, as he’s actually scored more/assisted more this season, admittedly in a few more games. He also broke the Division 1 South record for assists, with an awesome 20 in 26. Getting him back on loan is more or less my main priority, along with that man Rasmus.

Rasmus Jonsson: http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6411/rasmusjonssonev9.jpg

Wow. Totally put poor old Moses Sewankambo in the shade, who I don’t think I’ll ever loan back to the club again, but he’s been a good servant of the club in his two seasons here. Onto Rasmus; 31 goals in 26 games. He’s broken the Division 1 South record for top goalscorer by more or less double. (He got 29, previous record was 15.) He’s also broken the highest average rating in that league, with a frankly excellent 7.88 but then props go to Zarkovic, who got 7.81 which would have smashed it as well.

Next Season

Basically, get as many of the good players we’ve had back on loan, look for some new good loans. Even if we got a transfer budget no-one would come. Sadly, my attempts to pick up the now 38 year old Henrik Larsson have fallen through, as he’s opted to retire instead! We’ll be sniffing around other free transfers as well, because frankly an entire new team is needed, with the only first teamers on permanent deals looking likely to go to bigger clubs in the summer. Here’s hoping for survival!

Good lord, I think that was even longer than the last one. If you bother to read it, do tell as otherwise I reckon I’ll just cut things down like most normal people who don’t have far too much time for these things. Its probably better if I write this all at the end of the season, rather than as I go, then it would be much shorter.

Ridleys · July 23, 2008

That was a longggggggggggggggggggg update!

Congratulations on promotion :thup:

spotg · July 24, 2008

Extremely long update, but an interesting read. Congrats!

I've just seen something new, which is nice. Signed a Czech DM with awesome potential, and in his first three weeks at the club didn't pay him a penny, thanks to his penchant for missing training (and indeed one match) "having been seen by the press leaving a bar in the early hours of the morning".

My coaches insist he has the potential to be the best player at the club, otherwise he'd've been out on his ear by now :mad:

daemonic · July 24, 2008

Must still be celebrating his big move to Sencur. He'd have to have some serious talent and 7 star potential to be kept in any of my teams. Did your scouts not warn you about his professionalism? If not they'd be getting an earful too.

Mike_Cardinal · July 24, 2008

Uh-oh. Things aren't looking great for our first season in the First Division Elite. Survival would be nice, as we currently have exactly 11 players in the first team squad. Most of our former successful loanees are now too old to be loaned back again, and are becoming squad players at their Premier clubs. Rasmus Jonsson, last year's outstanding striker is refusing to come back on loan again, and incredibly despite him still being in the Reserves, his value has soared to 400k. Bear in mind that puts him as the 4th highest valued player at Helsingborgs, and he's 19, and it's incredible.

So, now I'm struggling to find new loans and the very rare person good enough to grace this league who will come to me permanently. Certainly, I really can't see a third successive title this season!

ReclaimTheKop · July 24, 2008

Started a game in the slovenian league with NK Kovinar Store

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9620/profileon0.png

daemonic · July 24, 2008

Sporting Fingal - Irish First Division 2008

Pre-Season

Having taken over as manager of Sporting Fingal, I found I'd inherited a few first teamers, an assistant, a coach and most pleasing of all some pretty decent youths. Having found 2 scouts I set about recruiting some players, getting a parent club and assessing the current squad. Pre-season friendlies showed me that my youth players in a number of positions were much better than the seniors. So much so, I ended up with a team containing 2 16 year old MC's, one of whom is rated as 7 star potential, still only "a good signing for a first division club" though. Free transfers were all crap, my 1k budget was spent on a GK. Luckily we got St. Pat's as our parent club, although as the season went on, only the striker I got on loan from them was a first team regular. The media predicted an 8th place finish which reflects the fact Sporting Fingal are not really the usual minnows that come up from non-league obscurity. Finances are good as well.

League

The season started slowly with a loss and 2 draws. As I prepared for a long hard season performances picked up and we slowly climbed the table. Our good form never really fell away and come the end of the season ourselves and Monaghan Utd were clear at the top. With 5 games to we were 9 points behind, but a win over Monaghan reduced it to 6. Our end of season form was poor but with just 1 game to play we found ourselves 3 points clear of Monaghan, but they had 3 games to play due to cup games. If our form was poor, theirs was abysmal as the First Division Stats show. They only managed 1 point in their 2 games in hand meaning a win in the last game and we'd be champions. We fell 2-3 to Athlone Town but Monaghan lost to Longford. Sporting Fingal are First Division winners at the first time of asking.

We are so not ready for promotion. Next season is going to be a struggle as our 1-4 thrashing by Premier Division Derry in the cup quarter final showed the gulf in class.

Sporting Fingal Trophy Room

Irish First Division - 2008

Razer82 · July 24, 2008

daemonic - Congratulations at getting promoted first time. Do you think you'll be able to attach some quality players to keep you up next season?

Mike_Cardinal · July 24, 2008

Good job on promotion daemonic, that 16 year old looks pretty good! Hopefully you'll be able to stay up next season and push on from there... Of course, it all depends on what sort of player you can attract.

Sazchu · July 24, 2008

- Sazchu - Hungary - Szentlörinc SE & Nagykáta SE -

I'm finally able to continue with my Hungarian game after some computer problems, not gonna go into alot of details with all the seasons just a small summary of 2nd season and onwards.

2009-2010 / Szentlörinc SE / Hungarian Division II - West / 13th

2010-2011 / Szentlörinc SE / Hungarian Division II - West / 6th

2011-2012 / Szentlörinc SE / Hungarian Division II - West / 1st Champions

2012-2013 / Szentlörinc SE / Hungarian Division I / 16th Relegated

2013-2014 / Szentlörinc SE / Hungarian Division II - West / 5th

I'm fired from Szentlörinc SE after the 2013-2014 season but get a new team in the 2015-2016 season.

2015-2016 / Nagykáta SE / Hungarian Division II - West / 13th

2016-2017 / Nakykáta SE / Hungarian Division II - West / 11th

2017-2018 / Nagykáta SE / Hungarian Division II - East / 11th

2018-2019 / Nagykáta SE / Hungarian Division II - East / 10th

2019-2020(Current Season) / Nagykáta SE / Hungarian Division II - East / 15th with 12 games to go.

And now to continue , if i get relegated with Nagykáta this season then i'll maby give one more team a go in Hungary before moving to another country.

daemonic · July 25, 2008

daemonic - Congratulations at getting promoted first time. Do you think you'll be able to attach some quality players to keep you up next season?

Thanks Razer & Mike.

Well pre-season is over. We lost our parent because we're in the same division, so no decent loanees. The step up a division means most of the team are now rated as 1 or 2 star players, although Lee Kemp is still 7 star potential. My youth intake included a few players with 4 star potential, but they are only 15 so ineligible to play this season. I have exactly £0 to spend on players and having had my scouts assess every player available on a free, I've found 3 interested players that weren't rated as "avoid signing" or "only sign as a last resort". All 3 were rated as "good signings" and have been snapped up but I'm not hopeful.

And to cap it all, for some reason the lowest expectation I could get from the board was "safe mid-table position". Only saving grace is they gave me a new 3 year contract after the promotion.

Here goes nothing.

rlipscombe · July 25, 2008

good luck daemonic. going to be tough but sure you can do it.

Razer82 · July 25, 2008

Hopefully the players that you've got already will be able to keep you from being relegated.

Good luck for the season, looking forward to hearing about it.

Razer82 · July 26, 2008

Razer82 – Clough Rangers – 2020 / 2021 – Northern Irish Premier Division

League – 1st Champions!

Champions League – Finished 4th in Group E

Northern Irish Cup – Winners! Defeated Coleraine 5-0

League Cup – Winners! Defeated Glentoran 3-0

Antrim Cup – Winners! Defeated Glentoran 6-0

All Ireland Cup – Winners! Defeated Drogheda United 2-1

Last season’s performance in the Champions League led us to be the most improved team in the rankings, jumping up a massive 114 places and I would be looking to repeat that kind of performance this season. This increase in ranking secured our place as a seeded team for the first two qualifying rounds.

This meant that we were drawn with FC Ranger’s of Andorra in the first round and were able to win the home match comfortably 2-0. This home victory set us up well for the trip to Andorra where we really showed our class, winning 5-0 to advance to the 2nd round 7-0 on agg.

The 2nd round saw us drawn with Rapid Bucharest of Romania. We began with the away leg and to my surprise we managed a comfortable 2-0 victory. This win led me to believe that we’d be able to manage a similar score line for the home game. I was wrong and we succumbed to a 1-0 defeat but still progressed 2-1 on agg.

I was shocked to see that our opponents in the 3rd round would be Cork City who had managed to defeat Sparta Prague in the 2nd round. It was a trip south of the border to begin with and a high quality game ended 2-2, although disappointed about conceding two goals I was glad of the advantage that the away goals gave us. Back at the Young Arena we scored early and then did our best to deny Cork and possession. This worked and we were able to secure a 1-0 victory to progress to the Group Stage 3-2 on agg.

We were drawn into our toughest group yet with Barcelona, Benfica and Rangers. The expected results came against Barca, with them winning 3-1 and 2-1. Shock results of the group were the 2-1 home win over Benfica and the 1-1 home draw with Rangers. Losses in the other matches still resulted in our best points tally for a group stage, 4 points in total. Steady progress is being made in the Champions League and hopefully we might be able to get a 3rd place finish to get ourselves into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Cup.

It was another year of dominance for us as we again retained all of our domestic trophies, securing the league on match day 21 as our unbeaten streak was extended to 229 games. Highlight of the season was certainly the record 10-0 defeat of Glentoran in the league and our run of 19 consecutive games without conceding a goal. We managed to surpass last season goal tally in the league, setting a new record of 115 Goals scored.

As always we were in Group A for the All Ireland Cup with Shamrock Rovers, Drogheda United and Institute. We began this year’s competition with a 7-0 thumping of Shamrock Rovers, our easiest and most convincing victory over them. This was followed with a 5-0 win over Institute and a 3-2 defeat by Drogheda. The return match with Shamrock Rovers ended 2-2 after we managed a last minute equaliser but the next match was a thing of beauty as we destroyed Institute 11-0 to set a couple of records. A battling 1-0 win over Drogheda in the final match set us into the Semi finals top of our group due to superior goal difference. Our semi final opponents would be Bohemians and we eased into our second final with a confidant 3-1 victory to face Drogheda. Seeing as each of us won a group game this game could have gone either way. We took an early lead and were looking good for a victory when the equaliser came with just 10 minutes to go but just a couple of minutes later we scored to take a 2-1 victory.

Top performers this year were Laszlo Tolnai (71 Goals & 26 Assists), along with Vaclav Lukas (56 Goals & 26 Assists). They were supported up front by Ales Svoboda (28 Goals). Top midfielder was Yaw Tetteh (15 Goals & 22 Assists) but he was supported by Trojan (28 Assists), Petr (20 Assists), Bako (19 Assists), Romanovs (14 Assists) and Oldrich Lukas (11 Goals & 20 Assists). We picked up awards in the league for Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Top Goal Scorers.

Financially we’re doing better and better each year due to ever increasing attendances and Champions League revenue.

No upgrades were made to our facilities or the stadium this year as the board believe that they are the best in the country.

Gundo – For your table – 10 Domestic Titles

Coefficients

Club – 18.784 – 140th (Up 67 Places)

Country – 9.833 – 32nd (Up 3 Places)

daemonic · July 26, 2008

Great season Razer.

As for my lot, I don't think they are good enough to keep us up.

A third of the way through the season and the only reason we're not bottom is UCD have yet to win a game. The board are starting to whinge as well but I can't find a decent player willing to sign for us.

The league has the bottom team relegated and the next 2 from bottom go into a playoff with 2nd and 3rd from Division 1. If I can get to September without being sacked and maybe some Islanders are generated I might survive via the playoffs.

Thats a lot of If's and Might's.

Gundo · July 26, 2008

I am alive people!

I'm all moved house now and should have my internet up and running by the end of the week all being well.

Loving the new boards, nice fresh new look. I havn't had time to read through the posts I've missed and with that said the challenge table won't be updated until sometime the following week.

Best of luck to all and I'll look forward to being more active around here soon.

DodgeeD · July 27, 2008

Good to see you back Gundo. :thup:

I've completed another season at Blsany and it was one of the most dramatic I've been involved in on any FM game! I'll get my update in sometime in the next day or two.

daemonic · July 27, 2008

Welcome back Gundo, hope the house move went smoothly.

Sporting Fingal - Irish First Division 2009

Pre-Season & Transfers

Our first season in the Irish Premier Division and the boards minimum expectation was a "safe mid-table finish" and to achieve this difficult task I was given a decent wage budget and the princely sum of £0 to spend on players. The only plus was they had decided to make the club fully professional. I scoured the free players and my scouts came up with a few contenders, none of whom wanted to sign.

A wage budget/transfer budget adjustment made no difference. Even though I had 170k to spend if a bid was accepted the players rejected contract without even hearing what was on offer. So The season started with an abysmal squad, a lot of the players being rated in silver stars rather than gold they were so out of their depth. So lots of players in on the transfers screen including a few mid-season.

League

We started badly and went downhill from there. The only saving grace was UCD didn't register a win until 14 games into the season and Shamrock Rovers were also having a mare. We hovered around 7-8th until June when again I was able to try recruit a few players. During that time the board were disappointed with our League position and the fans were calling for changes if I couldn't turn it around. In June I picked up a few players, no one special, but at least I added some depth and a little more quality. Results picked up slightly, but so did the teams below us so we were always hovering around the danger zone. September brought the Islanders, all Anguillan, mostly crap. A few signings again bolstered the depth but did little for the strength of the team. Our position was precarious until we finally found some end of season form in the last 6 games. We eventually finished 10 points clear of danger in the last safe place of 7th.

Sporting Fingal Trophy Room

Irish First Division - 2008

Mike_Cardinal · July 27, 2008

Good season daemonic, survival is all that matters really! Does it look like you can attract a slightly higher calibre of player now that you've somewhat established yourself and are a professional club, or will it be another season of struggle? Still, I'm sure in 2-3 seasons time you'll be challenging at the top, such is the way with these leagues.

daemonic · July 27, 2008

Good season daemonic, survival is all that matters really! Does it look like you can attract a slightly higher calibre of player now that you've somewhat established yourself and are a professional club, or will it be another season of struggle? Still, I'm sure in 2-3 seasons time you'll be challenging at the top, such is the way with these leagues.

I'm still finding the only players willing to join are of the same quality as the current squad. The few Anguillans I recruited are pretty decent and my youngsters are a year older so fingers crossed I can stay up again. Oddly enough, the board gave survive relegation as an acceptable aim for this season.

It'll take a few years to rise to the top I think. There are a few really good teams in the Irish League who will be tough to dislodge.

Most alarming was finances. Only noticed at the end of the year that we'd lost 400k, of which 360k was "Other"...wtf is other??? How the hell are you supposed to manage a budget when the largest outgoing by a mile is "Other"

ReclaimTheKop · July 27, 2008

Just finished my 1st and 2nd seasons with NK Kovinar in the slovenian 2nd league. 1st season looked like we may push for promotion at stages but we fell away in the end and finished 7th from 10.

2nd season didnt match the highs of the 1st season and eventually finished 8th 1 place above the relegation zone.

season 1 http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/3363/leagueseason1tj2.png

season 2 http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4273/leagueseason2ie8.png

ghostwriter · July 27, 2008

Baulmes - Challenge League - 27/28 - Winter Break

Out went a lot of players at the end of their contracts, nearly all the 30yo+ ones. Plenty came in, an immediate priority was the defence, so whenever an acceptable player was available he got signed up. Some were good some weren't, but I needed numbers. There was little happening in midfield, I got a 32yo MC as a one-season backup and a promising 18yo whilst my search for a better MR failed miserably and I ended up with a 33yo who is not as good as the youth I already had. Got in a couple of teenage STs to replace the 30+yo ones who left and a back-up AMC. Meanwhile I got in Clement, D / WB / ML on loan for the 3rd straight season along with a DC (who like last season will be the best one there) and at the end of the Summer an ML which I did not need but I am not paying a penny for him and he is similar to Schmitt.

In goal I obtained a teenage backup who then became 3rd choice as a very good Italian came in. As good as Noll but will be backup to start with.

So, at the end of all that, I have to say that the squad is a little better than last season, prinicipally as I own more of them than I did and they are younger. Think the 1st team might be a bit weaker though, particularly at DC and MR.

Anyway, one added bonus was the schedule we were given; we did not have to face a 'big' side until the 12th match so there was a great chance to get off to a flying start...

We started off with a visit to Concordia which resulted in a smooth 3-1 victory (there were a ridiculous 14 minutes of injury time!). When we were 4-0 up within 13 minutes against Winterthur I was rather happy. The rest of the first half was even more crazy than those first 13 minutes. We only scored one in the second half but it was still our record victory and high scoring game :eek: . Can't recall ever having a game where 2 of my players scored 1st half hat-tricks.

The rest of the first 10 games went exactly according to schedule excepting a goalless draw at home to UGS. We were top by 3 points, we had only dropped 2 points, we had scored 33 goals and only conceded 6. Everything was going very well. However, it is worth noting that the 10 teams we had played to that point were between 9th-18th place in the table at that stage; all the top 8 awaited us....

That started with a trip to a good Yverdon side and a nice 2-0 victory late, our 4th clean sheet in a row. Then 2nd placed Servette visited. And it was a highly entertaining game (for a spectator!), they led 2-0, we led 4-2 but an injury time winner gave them a 5-4 win . Next up was a daunting trip to Zurich. They has a player sent off and it was our turn to get a last minute winner :thup: . 5 points clear of 3rd. Unfortunately in the next game we were dreadful and lost at home to an admittedly quite good Vaduz side. We then totally and utterly fluked a win over La Chaux-de-Fonds (our bogey 'big' side), they had 3 times as many shots on target whilst we snatched a victory in the 5th minute of injury time via a flukey own goal. Nice. A plucky 0-0 at Schaffhausen (2/3rd of match with 10 men) was followed by 3 straight wins as we entered our easier phase of matches. Then Concordia visited. And we were utterly dreadful and got thrashed 4-2. Awful. But thankfully everyone else around did not win either. We finished off with 2 wins to enter the break in a fantastic 2nd place...

So, could this be the season, the 19th one, to finally get promotion....?

Well, it is between the top 6 and we have a 2 point gap to 3rd but thanks to the easy start we have an absolutely horrific run-in, our final 7 matches are against the rest of the top 7 and Delemont :eek: . But for those 2 awful performances and the unfortunate Servette defeat we'd be miles clear....

Not exactly sure how we are in this position as in my eyes the team is not as strong as last season...

But we are scoring for fun, Zobel has 25 goals and has already beaten Renato's season record, Hottiger missed a large chunk thru injury but has been play catch-up since. Albert (AMC) has been quietly awesome again and our GK is even better than last season.

daemonic · July 28, 2008

Ghostwriter, great season so far, fingers crossed it keeps going. Really reminds me of the season I got promoted because we got the same kind of fixture list.

Razer82 · July 28, 2008

Good start to the season Ghostwriter, fingers crossed that this is finally your year.

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

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