The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive

Danny_H22 · January 11, 2017

9 hours ago, vikeologist said:@Danny_H22 Good luck getting a good new job. Like you, I take pride in leaving my clubs in a good state. I am proud that Jeonbuk have won the Champions League nearly every year post-me, and even the World Club Cup. I was disappointed that I didn't get to play them at the last WCC with Orlando Pirates. I also left Pirates in a good state, but probably undermined that a bit by signing 3 players for my new club. I'm still disappointed that when I left Lahti, they had the players and enough money to dominate Finnish football for several generations, and my successor did ridiculously badly.

I I have taken pride in leaving my teams in a good enough position to push on in my absence. Newtown remained in the 3rd-5th position after I left and TNS are on course to retain the league this year. Before I left TNS I secured the contacts of all the top stars, but I must admit that in my current job (stay tuned for my season review within the next day or so) I have gone back and ended up signing 5 of their best players. I feel bad for that but I did make sure I paid well enough to help them out as they seemed to be struggling financially without me. Plus, my successor just wasn't using the likes of Ugwu (who was scoring 40+ a season under me) correctly.

Kaiserwatman · January 11, 2017

Currently 18 months now into my Hoffenheim career and things are starting to take shape though my latest progression may hinder me with the additional European football on the cards next season. The season started with bewilderment amongst supporters as German International Striker Enrico Bonk was sold to Wolfsburg for €25m as funds were needed to bolster the squad who had previously finished 7th.

With the money invested Hoffenheim spend most of the season battling it out with Cologne for the final champions league spot. The final League table is not really a true representation of the league itself as it looks closer than it actually was . Borussia Dortmund won the league pretty much at a canter and took the foot off the gas towards the end, Bayern failed to muster a challenge but pretty much always sat in second place throughout.

In the Pokal following a 12-0 win in the opening round , Hoffenheim struggled to beat Armina Bielefeld and Red Bull Leipzig before been drawn at home to Bayern. A resolute defensive performance lead to a 2-1 win in front of a packed house and setup a draw against second division side Bochum. After disposing of Bochum Bayern Leverkusen awaited in the final with goals from Haider Gonzalez who came in to replace Bonk been the hero

kernunos · January 11, 2017

@vikeologist It is a gamble indeed. Currently I am not allowed to go on a coaching course because of the financial situation but I do have a good chance of winning my first top domestic league.

Season 3 : 2018/19 Dundalk FC topping the table

I kept watching the results of Leyton Orient and hoped they would be able to stay in the Championship. They had a difficult period since I left the club but at the end they finished at 19th spot and so they were save. Since I left for Dundalk FC they only managed to collect 13 points in the remaining 19 matches. So it looks like they have to invest in the team if they want to survive another year in the Championship.

As Dundalk won the title last season, we had to play in the President’s Club against Sligo Rovers. And so I did win my first price with Dundalk FC at the start of the season.

The Board only expected our team to win the Premier Division, so all other prices won was extra silverware for the Trophy Room. In the Premier Division, Dundalk was seen as favourite to win the title. Currently we were half way in the season as we played 16 of the 33 matches and we were topping the table with a gap of 8 points. So we were on the right way to win the Premier Division for the 6th time in a row.

When looking at the Cups played in Ireland, we were still participating in 2 of the 3 competitions. In the League Cup we lost in the second round because we lost with the penalties. In the Leinster Senior Cup we had reached the finals and in the Senior Challenge Cup we had reached the 2nd round. So we still had a chance to win 2 cups this season.

Silverware Season 2018/19

England : Champions: Arsenal English FA Cup: Manchester United

Germany : Champions: Bayern German Cup: Bayern

Spain : Champions: Real Madrid Spanish Cup: Atletico Madrid

Holland : Champions: Feyenoord Dutch Cup: FC Groningen

European Champions Cup : Atletico Madrid

Euro Cup : Inter

Euro Super Cup : Juventus

Club World Championship : Atletico Madrid

CHALLENGE PROGRESS

Season	Team			Position					Notes
2016/17	Leyton Orient FC	1st	English Sky Bet League 2		Joined in January after 25 matches / Won promotion to Sky Bet League 1
2017/18	Leyton Orient FC	2nd	English Sky Bet League 1		Won promotion to Sky Bet Championship
2018/19	Leyton Orient FC	10th	English Sky Bet Championship	        Left Leyton Orient after 27 matches for Dundalk FC
2019	Dundalk FC							        Won President’s Cup

PERSONAL PRICES

Season	Team				Personal Price
2016/17	Leyton Orient FC		Manager of the Month (February/March)
2017/18	Leyton Orient FC		Manager of the Month (October/March) / Manager of the Year
2019	Dundalk FC			Manager of the Month (March/April/May)

Season 2019 PLD WIN DRN LST FOR AG

Team: Dundalk FC

League : 16 12 4 0 37 12

Other : 8 6 1 1 21 7

Manager: Pat van Dijk

Career : 129 72 36 21 230 120

Edited January 15, 2017 by kernunos

Danny_H22 · January 11, 2017

Danny_H22 2021/2022 Season Review

After achieving all I could at TNS, I decided to see out my contract and walk off into the sunset. Maybe enjoy some well deserved time off before the next perfect role becomes available. My self-imposed exile lasted two weeks before an offer I couldn’t resist came up. So I packed my bags and traveled 280 miles to Belfast to start my reign at Linfield.

I inherited a decent squad that should challenge for the top three, but one that lacked any real depth. I went back to Wales to raid TNS and Bala to sure up my squad with players I trusted, and added other various loans and transfers to help us really challenge.

We were favourites to win the league and I had no doubt in my mind that I would also pick up a cup or two, too.

On a personal level, I achieved my Continental B license, started work on Continental A and learned basic Arabic. My reputation remains at 35%.

Danske Bank Premiership- It took being unbeaten for 34 games before we were declared league champions. We went top early and stayed top, although we did draw too many games for my liking. Cliftonville was nipping at my heels all season but with 5 games remaining, we lifted the title. We ended up leading the way by 16 points and remaining unbeaten all season.

Irish Football Association Challenge Cup- We met Carrick in the semi-final after an easy run that saw us concede none and score 6. After a dominating 1-1 draw over 90 minutes and a goalless extra time, we were beaten 1-3 on penalties. A really tough loss to take as we were by far the better team. Also my first loss in 48 games dating back to my loss to Crvena Zvevda in my first game.

Northern Ireland Football League Cup- After easily dispatching Ballinamallard, Dungannon, Glentoran and Glenavon, we set up a final against semi-professional team Warrenpoint. They put up a valiant effort, dragging the game into penalties before losing 5-3.

County Antrim Shield- My first cup win as Linfield manager. A tough semi-final against Cliftonville saw us fight for a 4-2 win after extra time. We followed this up with a 2-0 victory in the final against Crusaders.

UEFA Champions League- Sadly, I took over just after the first leg of the 2^nd qualifying round which my predecessor lost 3-1 to Crvena Zvevda. I would go on to lose my first game in charge 2-0, thereby dumping us out of Europe.

Top Goalscorer- Top goalscorer was Brandon Oddy, who haunted me when I was TNS manager and he played for Bala. I paid 4.2k for him and he repaid me with 25 goals.

Most Assists- Jordan Stewart takes this award with 16 assists. He also scored 20 goals.

Highest Avg Rating- Another ex-TNS player wins this as Brandon Griffiths finishes the season with a 7.36

Most POM- Another one for Jordan Stewart with 7.

International- QATAR ARE GOING TO ARGENTINA! We have qualified for our first ever World Cup! I will post a further update detailing how we get on.

Well, another season and another notch towards completion of the challenge. I am in the same position I was in two years ago where I have won everything I can win here already. If I hand my notice in then I am going to look at moving away from Europe and towards Asia or Africa to make a start on winning a continental trophy.

Next up, though, The World Cup!

Season       Team             Position         Continental       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Newtown          8th                  -              Took over in November
2017/18      Newtown          3rd                  -             
2018/19      Newtown          3rd       First Qualifying Round    Won theWord Cup and Manager of the Year
2019/20      TNS              1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won theWord Cup and JD FAW Welsh Cup. Retained the Manager of the Year
2020/21      TNS              1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won theWord Cup
2021/22      Linfield         1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won League Cup and County Antrim Shield. Unbeaten league season. Won Manager of the Year

Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues (TNS- Welsh Premier League 2020, 2021, Linfield- Danske Bank Premiership 2022)
 2/10 domestic cups (Newtown-theWord Cup 2019, TNS- theWord Cup 2020, 2021, JD FAW Welsh Cup 2020, Linfield- Northern Ireland Football League Cup 2022, County Antrim Shield 2022)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018/19      Togo             Appointed manager of Togo
2019/20      Togo             Knocked out of World Cup Qualifiers in second round
2020/21      Qatar            Won WAFF Championship
2021/22      Qatar            Qualified for The World Cup

Edited January 16, 2017 by Danny_H22

Brads-Wigan · January 12, 2017

Hi, I find these long term challenges really interesting, but just wonder how much time you spend playing the game? do you select the team for each match and watch the match in match engine? or do you generally go on holiday for periods of time??

whenever I play FM, I slowly plod through the game and maximum get through 5/6 seasons per version of fm

TheEarl · January 12, 2017

4 hours ago, Brads-Wigan said:

Hi, I find these long term challenges really interesting, but just wonder how much time you spend playing the game? do you select the team for each match and watch the match in match engine? or do you generally go on holiday for periods of time??

whenever I play FM, I slowly plod through the game and maximum get through 5/6 seasons per version of fm

Of course each players has his own style of playing, some use skins that gives instant results, but I guess the "normal" way is to play every match that counts by yourself. Holidaying is perhaps used in times you are without a club/nation and especially tend to happen at the beginning and a late stage of the challenge. For my self I generally consider 1 season to take about 10 hours of gameplay. So considering this challenge will take 20+ seasons yow are looking at a good bit above 200 hours of actual gameplay.

vikeologist · January 12, 2017

I think each season for me takes at least 25 playing hours, but in this challenge it really depends what stage I'm at with a club. Rebuilding takes a lot of time.

I find that having the instant result skin is very helpful for pre-season and international friendlies. If at the end of the challenge you only have an international job, then lots of holidays.

No doubt about it though, it's a time-consuming challenge.

vikeologist · January 13, 2017

Vikeologist's Back in Rosario Reminiscing Report

Near the end of the 28/29 season, I took over Rosario Central.

Rosario (in Argentina) holds good FM memories for me. I completed the small club to big club Americas challenge with Tiro Federal (from Rosario) in FM13.I struggled for 3 seasons to get promoted, but once in the top division, won the league, Libertadores and World Club cup at my first opportunity. (I quite liked the city when I visited for a few days in real life as well. I wonder if my fortunes in FM are God’s way of telling me I should move there). I’ve been looking at some of my posts from that challenge.

I’m going to quote some excerpts. I realise that this is basically an exercise in self-love, and that’s something I usually restrict to those intervals when I’m not playing or writing about Football Manager, but here we go.

Quote

One of those 2 signings was my star midget, Brian Sarmiento. But God, is he a prima donna. Despite his performances I was tempted to transfer list him so I didn’t have to put up with his wingeing, over-sensitive, trouble-making BS any more. He tends to be completely knackered by half time, probably because he's worn himself out flouncing around the ground all week bitching about me. However he seems to have calmed down now. My guess is he's finally getting laid.

One of my 4 foreign players I was allowed to register was

Quote

a Croatian called Drazen Palic, who has been with us for 3 years and speaks 4 languages; none of them Spanish. Not even Basic Spanish, which means that he can't apply for Argentine citizenship. So I've told him, 'Adios' and since he doesn't even know that word, I got someone to break into his house and pack his suitcase which we'll give him when he blindfold him and drive him to the airport once I have a loan or transfer deal sorted out.

Quote

In my latest youth intake, someone with the same surname and nationality (Scottish) as me appeared. Also he was born in the town that my team is based in. Neither of us has the other as favoured personnel, (and he looks nothing like me) so he may not pass the 'DNA test', but screw it, I'm going to claim him as my son.

He has 2 star potential, so let's be honest he's never going to play for Tiro Federal, but side challenge alert, hopefully I develop him and get him a career, and maybe even a role in the lower echelons of professional football known as the Scotland international team.

So introducing, Billy Vikeologist

His only strengths are consistency and determination, so we may run into some problems in training when I try to get him to actually kick the football, but nothing ventured....

I asked the poison dwarf Brain Sarmiento (yes, he's still with us) to mentor him, and he refused. Sarmiento appeared on the report screen as an ideal mentor, possibly because my son is even shorter than Brian. I figured they could have bonded over drinks at the bar (if they could manage to climb up on the stools).

However my recent Nigerian signing, Hilary Johnson, (who is turning out to be a great signing) is delighted to have someone at the club that he can speak English with. Frankly, my son is kind of like a goat that I'm keeping around to calm down my thoroughbred racehorse, but at least he's not moping around the house playing computer games all day. I mean, the kid's no genius. He wasn't going to be spending the next two years deciding which University to attend. It's Professional Footballer or part of the chorus line as a Munchkin in 'Wizard of Oz - The Musical', so let's give it a go.

For the Libertadores final

Quote

Our goalkeeper had been called up for the Chile World Cup squad. Our next best goalkeeper was unregistered, (having been sent off on loan at his request). Our third best goalkeeper was injured. That left two young lads that frankly I’d never even noticed before. I’d always assumed they were hanging around the ground trying to get autographs or on some sort of Youth Experience toilet cleaning scheme. Now I was going to have to put one of them in goal for the most important match in our club’s history.

Quote

The icing on the cake is that I’ve found someone to buy Brian ‘Poison Dwarf’ Sarmiento. I’ve had four and a half seasons of underachievement, sulking, negativity and complaining. The final straw was when I substituted him because he twisted his knee in a match (badly enough to be out for two weeks) and he complained to the press. Next (after I’d found someone to take him off our hands) he was absent from training. I’ve never hated a FM player before, but this guy has been a nightmare.

The thing is he’s a real person. Whoever codes the Argentine players must really hate this guy. He has a hidden player personality of A-hole. I hope he doesn’t play Football Manager in real life because he could sue Sports Interactive for defamation of character; he’s that awful a person in the game.

vikeologist · January 13, 2017

Vikeologist's 2029/30 End of Season Report

At last I’m on the leader board; for the first time ever since it only came into existence after I completed the challenge. It’s getting a bit crowded there now.

Anyway my tenth landmark was the Argentine Primera, (like my aforementioned spell in the city, I won the league at my first attempt, though the format has changed a lot), and I think this is the greatest turn around in one season I’ve ever had in FM.

I took over with 2 matches left in the 28/29 season, and they were dire. We finished with just 30 points from 38 matches and third from bottom of the season table. Luckily, relegation is determined by average points over the last few seasons, so we were always safe.

Still, the side was terrible, no doubt about it, and some of the players who weren’t terrible were on very high, and unjustifiable, salaries. I took an axe to the squad like I never have before. For the first match of the new season 8 of the starting XI were new players.

I brought in 3 players from Orlando Pirates. One was my mainstay central midfielder, José Oliveira, who has now played a lot of games for me. The other two had been backups at Pirates, even though they were as good as the players they were handcuffs for. I promised them first team football at Rosario, (and then during the season signed players that were, in star ratings, better than them). I also signed 2 South Africans, who were reserves, and I needed a lot of new staff, many of whom were South African.

I had some reservations about whether taking over the club was a good idea anyway. They’re not one of the top Argentine clubs, and the last 7 Libertadores have been won by Brazilian clubs. Half way through the job at Sao Paolo came up, and I applied even though we were actually top of the table at that point. I was conflicted about whether I should jump ship, but I wasn’t even offered an interview. I really can’t see myself enjoying Brazil. It wasn’t much fun there before (because of the number of matches you have to play), and I’d imagine it’s even less fun now that all the clubs have their confusing 3 letter abbreviations.

I didn’t think that we stood any chance of actually holding on and winning the league, but it turned out that there are no good teams in Argentina, and as the sole mamahuhu team, we won the league quite easily, and very flukily, with 3 matches to spare.

I rested 3 first teamers for our first cup match against a lower division side, and we crashed out. It’s a bit of a pain, because the cup sort of runs in a mid-season to mid-season pattern like the African Champions League, meaning we have a long wait. It will be a pain if I don’t manage to win the Copa Argentina at some point.

Also like the African Champions League, you have to hold on to your players. This is because the game has a huge bug. In the mid-season transfer window, you are limited to only 2 transfers, but this is 2 transfers of any kind, including releasing a rubbish youth player on a free transfer. We couldn’t even sign our youth players during the transfer window, though thankfully we were able to once the window had closed. If it’s 2 transfers of any kind, you can be damn sure that they’re going to be transfers in, and not out. Nobody is leaving during that transfer window. This meant that I had a lot of unhappy players for the second half of the season, but hopefully they’ll be happier now. The World Cup is this summer, and I'm ready to give it another try, (having turned down many slumping nations over the last year and a bit, including Uruguay who finished bottom of World Cup qualifying). Ideally I'll be offered a job by an African side who I can take to the next African Cup.

Top Goalscorer – Gustavo ‘Gus’ Torres – 21

Bear in mind that we only played 40 matches, so this wasn’t too bad, especially since Gus only played in 35. He’s 30, and although he’s Argentinian, he’s in the preliminary Mexican squad for the World Cup, and could potentially pick up his first cap for anybody.

Best Average Rating – Claudio Noce 7.21

Not a great A.R, but Noce is fairly typical of my team; young and improving. We should be even better next year, even if we weren’t to sign new players; and we will be signing new players.

Man of Match – Gus – 7

Most Valuable Player – Gus, although when thinking about this award, I usually think about who is likely to end up in my challenge XI, and that would be Mozambique midfielder José Oliveira, who followed me from Orlando Pirates.

Domestic
Season	Team					Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2016	FC Lahti				10th		Just 9 points from the 10 matches remaining after I took over
2017	FC Lahti				3rd		Qualified for Europe
2018	FC Lahti				1st		First domestic title
2019	FC Lahti				1st		The double. First domestic cup
2020	Jeonbuk					1st
2021	Jeonbuk					2nd		Knocked out of CL in semis
2022	Jeonbuk					1st		League / FA Cup / Champions League Triple. CWC 3rd place
2023	Minnesota Utd				14th
2024	Minnesota Utd				7th		Lost on penalties in Western Conference Semifinal
2025/6	Orlando Pirates				3rd		Knockout Cup Winners, failed to qualify for Champions League
2026/7	Orlando Pirates				1st		League, Super 8, Knockout Cup, Nedbank Cup. Won everything basically.
2027/8	Orlando Pirates				1st		League, Super8, Nedbank Cup. Confederation Cup losing finalists.
2028/9	Orlando Pirates				n/a		African Champions League. Left mid-season with the team on track for the threepeat.
2028/9	Rosario Central				18th		Took over for last 2 matches of the season.
2029/30	Rosario Central				1st		


International
Year	Team					Achievements	
2019-21	Nigeria					None
2021-23	DR Congo				2022 World Cup - R2, 2023 African Cup Losing Finalists
2023-25	Chile					None
2026-27	South Korea				Asian Cup winners
2027-29	South Africa				Lost in African Cup Q/F

Challenge Progress

Club
 4/10 top domestic leagues 		(Finland, South Korea, South Africa, Argentina)
 3/10 domestic cups 			(Finland, South Korea, South Africa)
 1/5 club continental championships 	(Asia)
 0/1 club world championship

International
 2/5 continental tournaments 		(Asia, Africa)
 0/2 world tournaments

vossmaj · January 14, 2017

I love to follow your trips around the world and the community taking part actively and I plan to give it a go in the near future, too. As a pretty slow player with little time and a limited notebook I will use FMT16 (pc version) and the plan is to keep the game quick by limiting myself to 3 leagues loaded at a time. After some progress I will eventually add a league with higher rep and remove another. That's limiting flexibility but keeping the game speed as high as possible, I hope. And it seems to be in line with the challenge's rules...

I think about starting with countries where the lowest tier has a 1star or 1.5star rep (e.g. China, South Africa, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, Iceland (all 2^nd tier) or Hong Kong or India (both 1^st tier)).

To not get started wrong footed already I would like your advice on the database size. At a setup with China, Hong Kong and South Africa the player count is 9,400 (small db), 12,400 (medium) or 15,400 (big)).

When loading and unloading leagues throughout the save – what impact does db size have especially on GAMEPLAY (not talking about speed in the first place)? The same goes for detail level which I would set to minimum for both, international and club competition. (For FMT there does not seem to be any chance to add international players or alike by the way.)

All help much appreciated.

vikeologist · January 14, 2017

@vossmaj Not many players have done it on Touch. As you say, completely allowed, but it does mean that things that are true on the full fat may not be for FT. Unfortunately, if there are differences between the 2 versions, I don't know until someone tells me. There were quite a few people did the challenge on FM15 FT or Classic. I'm not sure anybody on FM16 or 17.

I think the key thing with database size, if you plan to complete the challenge, is checking that there are international jobs available in each continent, especially Asia. Hopefully there's a job vacancy page that identifies all the 'managable' nations.

On full fat, it is possible to get a job at a 2.5 star club or a 2.5 star league, so it may be worth loading up a new game with those kind of leagues / divisions, as this might cut down your database size. You might be able to get a job at a top division Chinese or South African side, although it will be very touch and go. There certainly have been times and versions where you could. Hong Kong would be very easy to get a first job I'd imagine.

As for DB size on gameplay, I suppose a small DB will have some effects, for instance on how many domestic players you have to choose from in some international teams, but it should be possible to complete the challenge with even the smallest db size, (as long as there is 1 Asian nation, as discussed). I'd find a smaller database hard work, because I think whatever success I have comes from finding good players, and it would be tricky if there weren't any good players to find.

The adding and removing of leagues seemed to work fine on FM16, especially by the final fix which no doubt you'll be using.

Also, as mentioned, I don't know the FT version of the game. As far as I'm aware, everybody active on this challenge at the moment is on full fat. I hope that you will try the challenge, and if you do run into problems, let us know.

@Everybody doing the challenge now; Are any of you doing it on Touch? Did someone once say that you no longer need to unlock national management now? is this something I need to change in the post 1 instructions?

Edited January 14, 2017 by vikeologist

vossmaj · January 14, 2017

@vikeologist: Thank you for your thoughts! I know, we Touch players are more the occasional kind and this challenge naturally addresses those digging deeper into all details. Still, I was happy to see that there were some FMT completions.

I don't think I will get close to anything like completing but that won't keep me from having a fun save.

Will all the things you mention I now tend to use the large db. And maybe use more of the nations with slightly more than 1.5stars, I haven't decided yet.

Although playing FMT I never use Unlockables, so I actually do not know right away how unlocking national management works. I'll find out though. I did manage Spain in my current save so it should be possible (if needed at all).

Adding and removing of leagues works fine technically but I wonder how it affects gameplay. I will find out.

I didn't quite get your point why especially an Asian national team needs to be available for management. Is that because Asia is the natural start (as being easiest to get hired)? When I start with e.g. China, India and Hongkong, would only these NT be available for me? (BTW, I think these things work the same in Full Fat and FMT mode)

I will let you know in case I run into certain specifics with FMT but please be patient... as I said, casual gamers are slow in their progress... :kriss: My plan is to Instant Result through most of the seasons when Tactics are settled. I am definitely looking up to the fast folk like Makoto Nakamura. Unbelievable AND always a pleasure to follow. :applause:

vikeologist · January 14, 2017

@vossmaj In order to complete the challenge, you need to ensure that an Asian nation will be available for managing at some point. It may be that it's only South Korea, which isn't ideal. Not all nations can be managed. It's to do with the number of players of that nationality, and running a small database runs the risk of having too small a number of nations. Adding a nation's league doesn't automatically make that nation available to manage straight away, or maybe ever.

kernunos · January 14, 2017

Season 4 : 2019/20 An European miracle with Dundalk FC

As was expected, we did dominate the Irish Premier Division. Once we reached first spot at the table, we did never leave that spot anymore. After 33 matches, we did have a gap of 15 points with the team at second place. Though we did dominate the league, it was not always easy as we had to deal with a lot of injuries this season. If we had not had to deal with this many injuries, I believe the gap would have been bigger and we probably would not have lost a single match. But the important thing was winning the title and that we did, my first season at highest level and I managed to win the title. So for now it was a wise choice to leave Leyton Orient.

In the Leinster Senior Cup we managed to reach the final and as we did win the final, we added the Leinster Senior Cup to our Trophy room. In the Senior Challenge Cup we were not that successful as we lost in the quarter final on penalties. So of the possible 4 Cups that could be won in the Republic of Ireland, we managed to win 2.

As Dundalk FC won the title last season, Dundalk was entered in the qualification round of the Champions Cup. This meant we had to survive 3 rounds to reach the group stage, so to do this a miracle was needed. And this year a miracle happened as for the first time in the history of Dundalk FC, the Champions Cup groups stage were reached. After beating Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Legia Warszawa and Celtic during the qualifications, Dundalk FC was found in the 4th pot of the drawing.

During the drawing Dundalk FC was entered in Group A together with Juventus, S.L. Benfica and Olympiakos. So this was going to be difficult group for Dundalk FC and every point won during the 6 matches was a bonus. Important was that the financial position of Dundalk FC was very much improved as we received several millions to reach the group stage.

After 6 matches in the group of which 5 ended in a defeat and 1 ended in a draw, we failed to qualify for the next round in the Champions Cup or the Euro Cup. We managed to play 1-1 against SL Benfica, the winner of group A. Still this was a good experience for me and the team and sure we all want more matches like this.

As the financial position of Dundalk FC was improved a lot, it was not difficult for me to convince the Board to send me on a Coaching Course.

CHALLENGE PROGRESS

Season	Team			Position					Notes
2016/17	Leyton Orient FC	1st	English Sky Bet League 2		Joined in January after 25 matches / Won promotion to Sky Bet League 1
2017/18	Leyton Orient FC	2nd	English Sky Bet League 1		Won promotion to Sky Bet Championship
2018/19	Leyton Orient FC	10th	English Sky Bet Championship	        Left Leyton Orient after 27 matches for Dundalk FC
2019	Dundalk FC		1st	Irish Prenier Division			Won President’s Cup, Leinster Senior Cup
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Club
1/10 Top Domestic Leagues (Rep of Ireland)
0/10 Domestic Cups (Rep of Ireland)
0/5 Club Continental Championships 
0/1 Club World Championship 

International
0/5 Continental Tournaments 
0/2 World Tournaments

PERSONAL PRICES

Season	Team				Personal Price
2016/17	Leyton Orient FC		Manager of the Month (February/March)
2017/18	Leyton Orient FC		Manager of the Month (October/March) / Manager of the Year
2019	Dundalk FC			Manager of the Month (March/April/May) / Manager of the Year

Season 2019 PLD WIN DRN LST FOR AG

Team: Dundalk FC

League : 33 23 8 2 66 26

Other : 12 8 2 2 26 8

European: 12 4 3 5 16 20

Manager: Pat van Dijk

Career : 162 89 44 29 280 155

Edited January 15, 2017 by kernunos

vikeologist · January 15, 2017

@kernunos Congrats on your success. I'm not sure that either the Presidents Cup or Leinster senior Cup are eligible landmarks for the challenge though, because not all top division teams are in it. Think it would just be the FAI Cup and league or Ireland Cup, though I could be wrong.

kernunos · January 15, 2017

@vikeologist The President's Cup sure is not eligable as I think that is something like the English Community Shield. tthe Leinster Senior Cup, I saw a lot of Premier Division teams, so thought they were all in it. But it is no problem, I will not count that as a domestic cup then. (Already took it away)

dkouv · January 15, 2017

Season 8 – 2024/25 – Ajax CT (RSA) / Jamaica

Season Review

After doing a Vike in the African CL, I had some hope for the league and cup. In the league we were playing catch up with Kaiser Chiefs who were very dominant. It got to a point where if I won my games in hand I would be level on points with “the Chiefs” and ahead on goal difference. But once I got my hopes up my form slumped horribly; in fact I drew 5 and los 1 out of the last 6 games of the season. And what about the cups? I agonisingly went out on penalties in the semis of the SA KO Cup (to Baroka FC, who aren’t any good really), but got revenge in the semis of the FA cup by beating “the Chiefs” 3-2. Then came the final against Sundowns, at the end of my 6-game winless streak and with several key players away at some random U20 championship. But the boys did me proud and we won 1-0 in extra time, after a rather tense game. Oh, and we managed to finish 3^rd in the Club World Cup, beating my old team Jeonnam in the 3^rd place playoff.

League Table | Cup

Player review

No standout players these season, but here we have:

Top scorer: Lennox Whittle (ST) – 22 goals, 7 assists in 30(6) apps

Top assists: Prince Xaba (AMC) – 11 assists, 2 goals in 28(8) apps

The main takeaway is that it’s nice to have a player called Prince.

Manager progress

55% rep, Continental Pro license

International

In charge of Jamaica but it’s not going that well. Managed to lose in the final of the Caribbean Championship to Curacao, which doesn’t fill me with optimism for the summer’s Gold Cup. Still, I’m plugging away…

What’s next

I’d like to win the league with Ajax CT, but will just give this one more season. I got fed up playing with just one striker, and the football in the second half of the season was pretty dire, so a change of tactic is on the cards.

Challenge XI

[ will fill this up as I go along ]

GK: Lee Ki-Ho (Jeonnam)

DR: Sergi Palencia (Sheff Utd)

DC: Adama Fofana (Jeonnam)

MC: Leonardo Capezzi (Sheff Utd)

MC: Josh Harrop (Sheff Utd)

ST: Thomas Trujillo (Sheff Utd)

ST: “Birdman” Kwak Hee-Seong (Jeonnam)

ST: “Bruce” Lee-Sang Joon (Jeonnam)

Subs: Emmanuel Kwaku-Duah (AMC/ST, Jeonnam), Kim Jong-Hyun (DR, Jeonnam)

Club Career:
  
Season     |   Team           |       Division      |   Position   |     Cups       |   Notes & Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    |   Accrington     |  League 2 (ENG)     |   4/24       |     n/a        |   Took over in December (team in 20th), lost on penalties in playoff final
2017/18    |   Accrington     |  League 2 (ENG)     |   1/24       |     n/a        |   Promotion; League 2 points record (104). Moved to Sheffield Utd at end of season
2018/19    |   Sheffield Utd  |  Championship (ENG) |   1/24       |     n/a        |   Promoted
2019/20    |   Sheffield Utd  |  Premiership (ENG)  |   7/20       |     semi       | 
2021       |   Jeonnam        |  K League (KOR)     |   5/12       |     n/a        |   Joined when 10th in the league, after a one-year job search
2022       |   Jeonnam        |  K League (KOR)     |   1/12       |     won        |   Domestic double   
2023       |   Jeonnam        |  K League (KOR)     |   1/12       | won ACL + cup  |   A historic quadruple
2023/24    |   Ajax CT        |  South Afr Premier  |   9/16       | won AfCL       |    A champions league win with an super-thin squad (joined in CL group stage)
2024/25    |   Ajax CT        |  South Afr Premier  |   2/16       | won FA cup     |    
 
International career:
 
Season     |   Team           |  Tournament         |   Notes & Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    |   Greece         |  Euro 2020 quals    |   Took over in Autumn
2019/20    |   Greece         |  Euro 2020          |   Quarter-finals; lost to France
2021       |   Egypt          |  WC 2022 quals      |   Qualified by beating Nigeria in final group game
2022       |   Egypt          |  WC 2022            |   Quarter finals; lost to Poland on penalties
2023       |   Egypt          |  ACON 2023          |   Lost in semis (Ghana, extra time)
2023/24    |   Jamaica        |  WC 2026 quals      |

Challenge Progress:
  
Club
 1/10 top domestic leagues: KOR (Jeonnam)
 2/10 domestic cups: KOR (Jeonnam), RSA (Ajax CT)
 2/5 club continental championships: Asian CL (Jeonnam), African CL (Ajax CT)
 1/1 club world championship: Jeonnam 2023
 
International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments

Edited January 15, 2017 by dkouv

vossmaj · January 15, 2017

@vikeologist I think I might go for a medium db (changing plans every other day...). Should keep the pros and cons in the balance.

BTW, using the official SI winter update for starting is fine, isn't it?

shirajzl · January 16, 2017

@vossmaj @vikeologist

I was doing the challenge on FMT 16 and it works just fine. The whole dynamic of the save is ok, adding/removing leagues, new job openings, reputation, international management. It all works the same as in full FM, so no worries.

vossmaj · January 16, 2017

@shirajzl Do you remember whether you used a medium or large db, by any chance?

scubasteve2017 · January 17, 2017

Hey guys. Well I've spent the whole of my nightshift at work reading as many posts in this thread as I can and I have to say I love this challenge. I'm a sucker for a long winded Journeyman challenge and this kinda one suits me down to the ground so in the next few days I'm gonna get cracking and then start posting once I know I'm gonna stick with it. Don't like to start posting without at least 2 or 3 seasons under my belt.

Is it best to post on this thread or create my own?

vikeologist · January 17, 2017

@scubasteve2017 Welcome to the challenge. It would be great if you posted here, so that we can all engage in a discussion of challenge strategy, moaning about the African Champions League and occasionally suggesting possible rule changes, which mind you will never, ever be adopted. The rules for this challenge are now holy scripture, only marginally more important.

scubasteve2017 · January 17, 2017

Just now, vikeologist said:

@scubasteve2017 Welcome to the challenge. It would be great if you posted here, so that we can all engage in a discussion of challenge strategy, moaning about the African Champions League and occasionally suggesting possible rule changes, which mind you will never, ever be adopted. The rules for this challenge are now holy scripture, only marginally more important.

Thanks for the reply @vikeologist.

I will definitely post in here then, just formulating a set layout for my posts so they dont get too long. I'm more for pictures and small amount of text so I hope that's OK. Now I just have to work out what leagues to load up from the start!

shirajzl · January 17, 2017

21 hours ago, vossmaj said:

@shirajzl Do you remember whether you used a medium or large db, by any chance?

Large.

dkouv · January 17, 2017

Jamaica 2025 Gold Cup report

I didn’t rate my chances very highly before the tournament: USA have an amazing team at the moment, with Pulisic and my former Sheff Utd striker Trujillo in their prime. My Jamaican squad, on the other hands, mainly consists of ageing English journeymen playing for their second nationality; even though it’s good to see that Demarai Gray, Rolando Aarons and Jerome Sinclair all opted to represent their second country Still, I was confident we should at least make it out of the group that contained Guatemala, Haiti and Canada B.

Group stage

Spoiler

Jamaica 2 – 0 Guatemala. Goals: Aarons, Hinds
A comfortable win.

Canada B 0 – 4 Jamaica. Goals: Wolfe, Roberts, Hinds(2)

Routine.

Jamaica 3 – 0 Haiti. Goals: Roberts(2), Louis own goal

Second string got an outing.

Quarter final (if applicable)

Spoiler

El Salvador 2 – 2p Jamaica. Goals: Sinclair, Bailey.

Oh the drama. I rested a couple of players , but was busy bringing on subs when we were 2-1 down with 25 minutes to go. It worked, as my best player and sub Leon Bailey equalised. We missed a penalty in extra time which didn’t inspire confidence ahead of the shootout, but we won that very comfortably, with Coventry City keeper “Pilau” Reice Charles-Cook saving the first three penalties for us. I think it’s the first time I’ve won a penalty shootout in this challenge so my man Reice deserves a big pat on the back.

Semi final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Honduras 1 -2 Jamaica. Goals: Gray, Sinclair.

It really is never boring in these tournament knockout stages. My man Demarai Gray opened the scoring with a header, only for the Hondurans to equalise with a 30-yard “unbelievable howitzer”. I definitely didn’t share the excitement of the commentator when that went in. Then my leftback got sent off, but somehow Jerome Sinclair popped up with an 85^th minute winner. Meanwhile USA and Mexico B slugged it out in the “real” semi final, and I face the mighty USA next. With both my leftbacks out, one injured and one suspended.

Third place playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Jamaica 2 – 0 USA. Goals: Roofe, Sinclair.

Ah, the sweet taste of success. Finally. The game got off to an unexpectedly good start when Leeds and Oxford Utd legend Kemar Roofe bundled in a close-range header 37 seconds after the kick-off. USA weren't mucking about either, and hit the post from the free kick almost immediately after that. I then decided to go all in, and changed to a super-defensive 5-at-the-back tactic for the remaining 85 minutes of the game. It actually worked, and we saw the game out rather comfortably. Jerome Sinclair celebrated his recent free transfer from Reading to Lechia Warsaw with a goal, and Kemar “the roofer” Roofe missed a sitter in stoppage time after a series of wild long-range efforts from Pulisic that only served to exemplify USA’s desperation.

After the tournament

Spoiler

Don’t really care, just going to savour the victory This and winning the Club World Cup with Jeonnam are definitely the high points of the challenge so far.

Edited January 17, 2017 by dkouv

Danny_H22 · January 17, 2017

Danny_H22 2022/2023 Season Review

I faced an uncertain summer after last season's league and cup successes with Linfield, but finally decided to stay at my current club and wait until an opportunity at a “perfect” club comes available. I applied for several jobs over the course of the season at clubs that I felt were not too far off challenging for success, but unfortunately, I was rejected by everyone.

It turned out to be a very successful second season at Linfield where we retained all our trophies from last season, as well as adding the one domestic cup that eluded us. On top of this, we broke all league, club and player records along the way.

On a personal level, I achieved my Continental A license, became fluent in French and kept my reputation around 40%

Danske Bank Premiership- A fantastic start to the season saw us win our first 13 league games, breaking the win record in the process, before droppings points in a 1-1 draw with Ballinamallard. We followed this up with 4 more league victories before finally succumbing to defeat to 3^rd placed Dungannon. This loss ended a 60 game league unbeaten run and signaled my first league loss as Linfield manager. This minor hiccup wasn’t enough to distract us from our goal and after just 30 league games, we were declared the league champions, again. In the end we won 35 out of 38 games and lost just once.

Irish Football Association Challenge Cup- The one domestic cup that I failed to win last season and my number one goal outside of retaining the league. Easy victories against Bangor, Lurgan Celtic, Coleraine and Glentoran lead me to a final against rivals Cliftonville. Three first half goals from Ugwu sealed another cup for Linfield and another victory over our fiercest rivals.

Northern Ireland Football League Cup- After beating Queens University 3-0 in the 2^nd round, we were dragged into extra time twice in the following two games. We despatched Institute and Glentoran before pairing against Dungannon in the semi-final. What followed was an impressive 5-1 win setting up a final against Crusaders. The final went exactly as we had planned and Linfield were crowned champions for the fourth year in a row after a convincing 3-1 win.

County Antrim Shield- Easy draw in the first round and quarter finals saw us score eight and concede one before a tougher draw against rivals Cliftonville in the semi-final. What followed was a tough fought but deserved 2-1 victory after extra time. We followed this up with a routine 5-0 victory over Ards to lift the cup for the third year in a row.

UEFA Champions League- A tough draw saw us paired up against Anderlecht in the second qualifying round. We managed an impressive 0-0 draw at home in the first leg before succumbing to a 2-0 away defeat. We were always going to struggle to beat Anderlecht but all in all I am not too disappointed.

Top Goalscorer- Carrying straight on from last season, Brandon Oddy finished with 29 goals in 32 starts, breaking the clubs league goal scoring record in the process. Perhaps more impressively, Ugwu finished with 22 goals in 22 starts. Honourable mention to Matthew Neale who finished with 21 in 40 starts from the wing.

Most Assists- This award goes to Jordan Stewart with 19 in 43 starts. Closely followed by Benjamin Garre with 15 in 37 starts.

Highest Avg. Rating- Summer signing Jordan Costa-Carlotti with a very impressive 8.09 from centre back. He also chipped in with 6 goals and 7 assists.

Most POM- Costa-Carlotti takes this one, too, with 9 awards.

International- After taking Qatar to their first World Cup and losing all three group games, I applied for the vacant Senegal job. When the 24^th ranked team came knocking at my door, I jumped at the chance. Qualification was the African Cup of Nations was pretty simple; winning 5 out of six games, losing only to Gabon.

We were drawn against Libya, Algeria and Guinea in the group stages and I was confident of advancing to the next round. My confidence was proved correct when we won our opening game 2-0 against Libya and followed this up with a 1-0 victory over Algeria. We ended the group stage with a surprising 1-0 loss at the hands of Guinea. Two wins was enough to see us through to the quarter-finals where a match with Burkina Faso awaited us. What followed was nothing short of embarrassing as Burkina Faso scored 3 first half goals in a 3-1 victory. The second half was agonising as I watched shot after shot come painfully close to hitting the back of the net. I really felt that we had a great shot at winning the tournament so I was really unhappy about our performance. The inevitable followed and I was removed from my role as national team manager.

My next step will be to run down my contract and test the unemployment market. I want to aim for the right clubs instead of just being at a club for the sake of it, so I am prepared to wait around for the right opportunity.

Season       Team             Position         Continental       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Newtown          8th                  -              Took over in November
2017/18      Newtown          3rd                  -             
2018/19      Newtown          3rd       First Qualifying Round    Won theWord Cup and Manager of the Year
2019/20      TNS              1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won theWord Cup and JD FAW Welsh Cup. Retained the Manager of the Year
2020/21      TNS              1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won theWord Cup
2021/22      Linfield         1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won League Cup and County Antrim Shield. Unbeaten league season. Won Manager of the Year
2022/23      Linfield         1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won League Cup, County Antrim Shield and Challenge Cup. Won Manager of the Year.

Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues (TNS- Welsh Premier League 2020, 2021, Linfield- Danske Bank Premiership 2022, 2023)
 2/10 domestic cups (Newtown-theWord Cup 2019, TNS- theWord Cup 2020, 2021, JD FAW Welsh Cup 2020, Linfield- Northern Ireland Football League Cup 2022, 2023, County Antrim Shield 2022, 2023, Irish Football Association Challenge Cup 2023)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018/19      Togo             Appointed manager of Togo
2019/20      Togo             Knocked out of World Cup Qualifiers in second round
2020/21      Qatar            Won WAFF Championship
2021/22      Qatar            Qualified for The World Cup. Knocked out in first round
2022/23      Senegal          Lost in quarter finals of African Cup of Nations. Fired

EDIT: AFTER NEARLY TWO MONTHS OF BEING UNEMPLOYED, I HAVE MY NEW JOB. AND IT WILL CERTAINLY BE AN INTERESTING CHALLENGE...

Edited January 17, 2017 by Danny_H22

vikeologist · January 18, 2017

@Danny_H22 Congrats on your further success, at least domestically. The African Cup is a heartbreaker, no doubt about it. So many teams that can win it. In my save there's been 8 African Cups, and 8 different winners; none of them me obviously. So I wonder if you're finally leaving the British Isles. If not, you might end up achieving a chunk of the British steel Challenge without even meaning to. I'm envious of your unbeaten season the one before last. I haven't even come close in my save. Have you got into the UK & Ireland hall of fame. Maybe all your titles have low points values, but you have enough of them now. Of course, this challenge provides only a small possibility of getting into the worldwide hall of fame, because once you win stuff, you tend to move on. Also, if you change computer during your career, you lose your hall of fame progress.

@dkouv The fact that your legend is a Leeds and Oxford Utd one just shows what a great achievement your Gold Cup was. Your first international title then. I must admit the only N America jobs i'll even apply for are USA and Mexico. I mean, I did manage Jamaica early on one time, but that was just to build up my rep with the little competition they take part in. So, respect. I have to say though that just having 5 at the back doesn't compete with my 5 at the back, 5 defensive midfielders I often resort to when my sides are not good enough to hold on to fluky leads.

@Ethan_X_02 Hard luck missing out on promotion. Ballsy move leaving Wigan. I have a Zymer Bytyqi (who must be a real person) in my save. That would be a high scrabble score. Anyway, I hope your remarkable fear of commitment continues to serve you well. If you can land a top division job, and I would have bet against you being able to, you'll be making extremely good progress in the challenge. A lot of us are sort of doing this the 'old-fashioned' way of winning in smaller nations and working our way up, but if you can win the Premier league (or equivalent) and then all the other mandatory European nations early on, that can enable you to pick and choose your plum jobs in the 'second half' of the challenge. In theory at least. Unfortunately the necessary jobs rarely become vacant when you need them.

GloryFan2002 · January 18, 2017

Giving this a go, just got a job interview with Selangor FA in Malaysia who are currently top of the league. Can I get the job

GloryFan2002 · January 18, 2017

Boo-yeah got it, got half the season to stay on top hopefully I can get my first license along the way, before moving on to bigger and better things

Danny_H22 · January 18, 2017

2 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@Danny_H22 Congrats on your further success, at least domestically. The African Cup is a heartbreaker, no doubt about it. So many teams that can win it. In my save there's been 8 African Cups, and 8 different winners; none of them me obviously. So I wonder if you're finally leaving the British Isles. If not, you might end up achieving a chunk of the British steel Challenge without even meaning to. I'm envious of your unbeaten season the one before last. I haven't even come close in my save. Have you got into the UK & Ireland hall of fame. Maybe all your titles have low points values, but you have enough of them now. Of course, this challenge provides only a small possibility of getting into the worldwide hall of fame, because once you win stuff, you tend to move on. Also, if you change computer during your career, you lose your hall of fame progress.

I was really proud of my unbeaten season, although I must admit it wasn't that difficult with the team I had. I only lost four games in all competitions over two seasons with Linfield and two of those were champs league qualifiers.

I am in the hall of fame in Wales and in Ireland but I'm some way off the national hall of fame yet. I assume I won't even come close to that until I start winning the big five leagues.

My next move is a big one and takes me away from Britain and into a new continent. I've taken over a club mid way through the season who are struggling slightly but still have a decent chance to get top four and are still in with a chance of winning a cup. I've also gone from a £30k transfer budget with linfield to a £22m transfer budget.

Also the African cup was heartbreaking. In my 20 odd years of CM/FM I don't think I've been sacked and then Senegal give me the boot!? There's definitely some unfinished business there

Edited January 18, 2017 by Danny_H22

vikeologist · January 18, 2017

@Danny_H22 You've never been sacked before! Well, you might get sacked a lot in this challenge. I used to have a thing with one of the other guys doing the challenge called the Vikeologist Challenge, which was basically to see who would get sacked the most times. We were both comfortably into the twenties about midway through the challenge. This time I haven't been sacked by any of my clubs, (not even close) but sometimes the top South Korean clubs will sack you at the drop of a hat. I think maybe SI have cut down on the number of sackings. It doesn't exactly boost customer satisfaction. I finished 2nd with Jeonbuk, and they didn't sack me, and they didn't have that kind of restraint a couple of versions ago.

The international teams though, at least the African ones. They love them some sackings.

scubasteve2017 · January 18, 2017

ScubaSteve's UFMC Attempt

The Start & First Job

Leagues Loaded

I decided to load a few Nations up just to give me a better chance of a job, numerous Nations from different continents. My aim is to win the majority of the Champions Leagues then head onto winning the 5 big Leagues afterwards.

The Manager Stats

I put as much as I could on Adaptability as I feel that gives you the best chance of a job. Other than that it shows you I have no badges and Sunday League rep.

I started the save in January 2016 and it has taken until December 2016 for me to get an offer which excited me. I turned down a few 2nd tier Chinese clubs but I really wanted to start in South Africa as I feel winning the African Champions League is the easiest and will increase my rep quicker. Witbank Spurs came calling and they were in a right mess, I love a challenge!

The Job Offer

We are currently mid-season and Witbank are languishing in 15th place in the South African 1st Division (2nd Tier), the bottom is quite tight and a few wins will push us out of the relegation zone.

Here is the current playing squad, it's rather large so will look to move a few of the high earners on as finances aren't the best:

And here are the profiles of who I think are our 3 key players:

Marius Hamed Assoko - Central Defender

Thobani Kunene - Striker

Peter Moyo - Central Midfielder

Wish me luck!

Edited January 18, 2017 by scubasteve2017

Danny_H22 · January 18, 2017

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

@Danny_H22 You've never been sacked before! Well, you might get sacked a lot in this challenge. I used to have a thing with one of the other guys doing the challenge called the Vikeologist Challenge, which was basically to see who would get sacked the most times. We were both comfortably into the twenties about midway through the challenge. This time I haven't been sacked by any of my clubs, (not even close) but sometimes the top South Korean clubs will sack you at the drop of a hat. I think maybe SI have cut down on the number of sackings. It doesn't exactly boost customer satisfaction. I finished 2nd with Jeonbuk, and they didn't sack me, and they didn't have that kind of restraint a couple of versions ago.

The international teams though, at least the African ones. They love them some sackings.

Yeah I don't ever recall being sacked previously. Maybe I did by some nonsense international team in the past, not sure.

I tend to be a one club type of guy and I often start in the lower leagues. Less pressure for immediate success I guess.

Well im trying to pick my moves wisely so hopefully no sackings for me.

I'm very interested to test the waters at my new club, as I feel it's going to be very interesting.

Fadedaf · January 18, 2017

Tigres Season 2029/2030 Report

I have finally finished another season although it feels like it has taken forever to do so. I've been traveling a lot in real life, much like my FM alter-ego so haven't been able to play as much as I usually do. When I left Jeonbuk, I definitely wanted to head to somewhere in the Americas to tick off some more trophies and when the Tigres job came up I took it immediately. Tigres are a good Mexican club but not quite at the elite level of some of the other clubs such as Monterrey and Chivas and we were not involved in any continental competition when I took over. Nevertheless, I thought we were in with a great chance of winning some trophies this season and achieving continental qualification.

Liga MX Opening Stage- A great performance here as we finished in 1st on the table, 8 points in front of Atlas in second. In the Quarter final we faced Pumas and dispatched them 4-2 on aggregate with 2-1 wins both at home and away. The semi final drew us against Cruz Azul, and we lost the first leg 1-0 away. Thankfully we came back and won the second leg 3-1 including 2 goal of the season contenders from my wide midfielder Paul Quinonez, the second of which was a screamer into the top left corner from about 35 yards out near the sideline in the 81st minute to send us into the final! The final saw us face Morelia and a much more comfortable 3-1 aggregate win gave us the title and my first trophy with Tigres! This also meant we qualified for the Copa Libertadores.

Mexican Cup Opening Stage- with 8 wins in a row we wrapped up this competition comfortably. Weirdly, we seemed to have a harder time against the lower division sides and won most games against them very narrowly while we absolutely smashed the best teams in the same league as us including a 4-0 win over Jaguares and 3-1 vs Morelia. A double with Tigres, great progress and still half a season to go!

Liga MX Closing Stage- We led the table after about 10 games but went on a bad run of form and were only able to finish 3rd. We beat Veracruz 3-1 on aggregate in the quarter final then scraped past Chivas 5-4 in the semis. The final saw us face Santos Laguna and the first leg was a pathetic performance away in which we lost 3-0. Hands down our worst game of the season, likely due to us missing several key players due to injuries and suspension with other starters still recovering from previous injuries. We managed to perform well in the return leg, but it wasn't enough as we won 3-1 which meant a 4-3 loss on aggregate. Still, runners up is not a bad effort.

Copa Libertadores- We qualified thanks to our win in the Opening Stage and we were drawn into a group with Independiente of Argentina, Cerro Porteno of Paraguay and SPO (whichever team that represents) of Brazil. We won the group pretty comfortably with 5 wins and 1 draw including some memorable performances especially against SPO and Independiente. The 2nd round hasn't been drawn yet but I have high hopes for this competition!

I'm not entirely sure how NACL qualification works, so have no idea if we have qualified for that next year. I haven't got any emails about it yet so we shall see I guess.

Best players: Top Goalscorer- Kevin Riquett (32 goals, 12 assists in 56 apps) I've struggled to find good strikers for this Tigres team but Kevin seems to be the best one i've found so far. He's quite inconsistent and seems to score in bunches but is still only 20 and has plenty of room to improve. Honourable mention to Richard Acuna (20 goals, 9 assists in 30 apps) who probably would've been top goalscorer if he were not injured for a significant portion of the season.

Most assists, Most POM, Highest avg Rating- Francisco Matute (18 goals, 24 assists, 9 POM, 7.81) our best player by far. Initially not my first choice, he made the left midfielder position his own and was absolutely incredible. Consistently a great performer especially in important matches, he delivered excellent crosses in from the left constantly and would have many more assists if our strikers were a bit more competent! He's an excellent free taker as well and has scored several of those this season. Looking back at his career history he seems to really have hit another level under my management so I hope he can keep it up next season!

Results Results 2

I have also taken charge of the Brazil national team and have high hopes for good performances in the 2030 World Cup and 2031 Copa America. I just named my WC squad so expect an update for that soon! On the club side, I am most likely going to stick with Tigres to try to win the NACL and maybe even the Libertadores however if I see a team in a better position I wouldn't mind jumping ship, as our finances at Tigres are really terrible. I'm not sure how much squad improvement I'll be able to do due to this, even though the squad is nowhere near where i'd like it to be.

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               Promoted to South African Premier League
2017/18      Royal Eagles     1st                  -               KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2018/19      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing
2019/20      Royal Eagles     1st              Semi Final          KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2020/21      Royal Eagles     --               Semi Final          KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through the season for Molde
2021         Molde            1st                  -               Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2022         Molde            --                   -               Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk
2022/23      Genk             1st                  -               EL Semi finalists
2023/24      Genk             2nd              Group Stage         Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists
2024/25      Genk             1st               Playoff            Cup winners, CL qualification
2025/26      Saint Etienne    3rd                  -               Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification
2026/27      Saint Etienne    3rd               Playoff            Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification
2027         Jeonbuk          1st              Semi Final          Took over in 6th position, CL qualification
2028         Jeonbuk          1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners, MOTS, FA cup best manager, CL qualification, 5th in CWC
2029/30      Tigres        1st + 2nd               -               Cup winners, Libertadores qualification, MOTS


Challenge Progress

Club
 5/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk, Mexico- Tigres)
 6/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne, Korean FA Cup- Jeonbuk, Mexican Cup Opening Stage- Tigres)
 1/5 club continental championships (Asian CL- Jeonbuk 2028) 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018        China U23         Won Asian Games
2019        Cameroon          Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria
2019        Algeria           Resigned after 2 games
2021        Nigeria           Qualified for world cup, ACON qualification ongoing
2022        Nigeria           Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned
2023        Ivory Coast       Started World Cup and ACON qualifying.
2024        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2025        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned.
2026        Ghana             Qualified for ACON
2027        Ghana             ACON runners up, resigned.
2028        SK + France U23   Won U23 Asian Cup, Olympic silver medallists
2029        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2030        Brazil

Edited January 18, 2017 by Fadedaf
won MOTS

Fadedaf · January 19, 2017

br@cbf2.gif

Faded's 2030 World Cup Report

I took over the Brazil team after they had already qualified for the world cup, and was able to guide them to some good wins in the last few qualification games so that we finished top of the standings and went into the draw for the groups ranked 1st in the world. Pre-tournament friendlies were a 5-1 victory over Austria and a comfortable 3-0 win over Mali, so confidence was high leading up to the tournament. We had a good, talented squad that fit my formation well so I was hopeful of delivering Brazil their 7th World Cup title and my first senior international trophy! We were drawn into a group with Australia, Nigeria and Portugal

Group Stage

Spoiler

Brazil 3-0 Australia (goals from Camilo, Chiaretti, Fabri) A pretty easy, comfortable win against my country of birth. I'd love to manage Australia later on in the challenge!

Brazil 4-1 Nigeria (goals from Duarte, Carlao, Maia, Paulinho) Another comfortable win despite some poor performances in midfield. Always good to beat one of my former teams.

Brazil 1-1 Portugal (goal from Roberto) We really should have won this game and we totally dominated, but a draw is an okay result against a good Portugal side and we still finished top of the group.

We drew France in the next round.

Second Round (if applicable)

Spoiler

Brazil 2-1 France (goals from Roberto x2) A fantastic comeback win as we went behind early but fought our way back. A winner in the 87th minute sent us into the next round where we face Croatia!

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Brazil 3-0 Croatia (goals from Duarte, Rinaldo x2) A much more comfortable game that we never looked like losing. Dominated from start to finish in an excellent performance. Onto the semi final against Belgium!

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Brazil 2-2p Belgium (goals from Rinaldo, Carlao) Absolutely devastated. We led 1-0 for most of the game but they pulled back an equaliser. We went more defensive but managed to score an excellent goal in the 87th minute that I thought would surely be the winner. We went full-on defensive but it wasn't to be as they scored a screamer from 30 yards in the 89th minute. This would have been an excellent game for a neutral watching. Extra time passed without incedent and despite my keeper making a save and my centre back Leanderson heroically scoring a penalty on 40% fitness and with bandages all over his head, we lost the shootout 7-6.

3rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

Brazil 0-4 Argentina. I instant-resulted this one and played a slightly weaker team due to injuries and fatigue after the epic game a few days previous. Was a terrible performance and not the end i'd have hoped for this world cup. Anyways, I suppose it is my best effort so far.

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Belgium ended up beating the hosts, Spain in the final 1-0.

Aftermath

Spoiler

Well, not exactly what I was hoping for. Really thought we could have gone all the way but it wasn't to be. International success continues to elude me. Still, there were plenty of good performances throughout and I haven't been sacked so will have a shot at the Copa America next year with a pretty solid Brazil side. I suspect Argentina will be the biggest challenge there. There are several factors in play as to why we underperformed at this tournament, but mainly I'd say that our strikers were not as clinical as they could have been, especially our supposed key striker Duarte who only managed one measly goal. Our 'keeper also put in some notably bad performances and I may think about giving the number 1 role to someone else in the future

vikeologist · January 19, 2017

@Fadedaf I'm manager of Brazil in my save, (coming up to 2031 Copa America), so I was reassured that you weren't sacked, but commiserations. It looks as though we may both be left with a lot of international trophies to get after we finish the domestic side of things, although I do at least have 1 international trophy. Anyway, hopefully the '31 Copa America will be good for both of us. I think once nations sack you, they're reluctant to offer you a job later on. In FM15 Egypt basically cycled through the same managers for about 40 years, but in my save I wasn't offered the Nigeria job for a second time, so it scares me that my time at Brazil may end with me running the table, or leaving with absolutely nothing. Maybe in my save Argentina has the better national team, but the Brazilian league if far superior, which given that I'm the manager of Rosario Central and Brazil is not ideal.

Congrats on Mexico. Yeah, I never understand how that thing works. I wonder if anybody has ever won a Libertadores with a Mexican side. Can't say I remember anyone doing it.

Fadedaf · January 19, 2017

@vikeologist Yeah I do think some countries get a bit salty if they've sacked you before so although we didn't win the secondary goal for the tournament was definitely to just not get sacked. I have been offered the Nigeria job at least 3 seperate times so far though. Seems like us and Argentina are way ahead of the rest in my save so i'd be surprised if that wasn't the final for the Copa America, although the Brazilian league is also most definitely ahead of the Argentinian one in my save also. Surely one of these tournaments i'll be able to get a win!

and yeah, turns out we are qualified for the NACL, so we have 2 shots at continental success next season which i'm keen for. Playing through the league again will be a bit annoying but oh well, lots of instant results I guess.

JoeLapira · January 19, 2017

Not at my computer so no screenshots I'm afraid. Last time i posted i mentioned how my save had gone a little stale. Well i took some time away from it and messed about with FM17, which helped big time as I went back to this Challenge earlier in the week and my hunger has been reignited. My last report was a brief one about my time in Turkey, which ended with me winning a Treble with Galatasary before moving on to PSG. At PSG we won the league without losing a single match and we also won both French Cups bringing my total to 26/33. I also secured the S.Korea national job and my target is the 2035 Asian Cup. We secured the East Asian Cup and are walking through our W.C qualifying group, so things are looking good. After finishing the season with PSG I resigned with the aim of finding a job in either S.America or Africa as they are my 2 remaining club continental trophies. And guess where I ended up, back at Santos. Although I didn't enjoy my first spell there i feel i have unfinished business there. I took over with 13 games gone in 3rd, have won the following 9 games, opening up a 4 point gap at the top and we are also into the semi finals of the Cup. If i can secure the Brazilian Cup and next season's Copa Lib. then i will have only 3 club cups remaining; 1 league, 1 cup and the African Champs Lge. Which means I can secure them all with one club, hopefully.

vikeologist · January 19, 2017

@JoeLapira Good to see you back. Hope you can press on complete this mother.

@Ethan_X_02 and everybody else really. I sympathise. I back up a lot. I have at least 3 rolling saves going on, and save after every match, plus copy my latest save onto an external drive about once a season. There's such a high risk of things going wrong, especially over such a long save. I once a lot of progress, including my start at a new club, and it did make me feel like there was an asterisk on my FM15 completion when I'd replayed a chunk, including with a different club in France.

I strongly recommend saving onto an external drive occasionally. It looks as though sometimes a security virus scan can corrupt all the saves on your hard drive. Also, don't use the cloud, as that's useless if you have to change computers.

Anyway @Ethan_X_02 Maybe it was a mistake to change jobs so often, (That might be the conventional wisdom because I think it might damage your rep) but you seemed to be doing ok, and managing a club when 95% of your matches are in competitions that you don't need can be a real passion killer. Getting new jobs is not easy no matter what you do. You only have to look at the number of threads on GD from players who expect to be being offered higher profiles jobs that don't materialise.

vikeologist · January 19, 2017

Vikeologist's 2030/31 End of Season Report

One more league win for the road

A fairly non-eventful season for most of it. We’d already been knocked out of the Copa Argentina the previous season by a 2^nd division team, and we weren’t in any continental competition until the Libertadores started in the new year, so it was just about retaining our league crown, which we did. River were a lot better this season, and we needed a lot more points, but we were at least 4 points ahead for most of the season. We also navigated our way through the early stages of the cup, although not without a scary penalty shootout. With matches going to penalties after just 90 minutes, this is always a possibility, especially when clubs park the bus against you.

In the CL group stage we were drawn against reigning holders, Corinthians, and I was interested to see how we would match up against a Brazilian team, given that they’ve won every recent Libertadores. We went a goal in front, and my optimism grew, and then halted, diminished and finally dismantled as they beat us 5-1. That was in Brazil, so I hope to rekindle the flame of hope, but no. We lost 6-2 at home. We comfortably beat the other team teams, so we easily qualified for the next round, but the gap between Corinthians and ourselves was huge in both matches.

In the next round we’re drawn against Santos who won the league by a country mile last season.

Hopefully the performances against Corinthians were just some sort of tactical mismatch. Other Argentine teams sometimes do fare ok against Brazilian sides. However, I might not be able to win the Lib with Central any time soon. If and when I’m out of the cup and Lib next season, I might have to look for alternative employment. Of course, I can try to improve my team over the summer, but unless I sell players for hefty fees, I don’t have a lot of money available.

Top Goalscorer – Santiago Zalazar – 30. He was on course for a very productive season, but the goals dried up a bit in the second half. Still, not bad, given that he wasn’t in the first team at the start of the season.

Best Average Rating – Martín Ferreira 7.72

Man of Match – Martín Ferreira – 14

MVP - Martín Ferreira. Martin is our left winger, and wingers usually do well for me statistically because of the tactics. He takes free kicks (most of the time) and penalties, so this all helps to bump up his ratings, but he’s still the best player in the team.

Domestic
Season	Team					Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2016	FC Lahti				10th		Just 9 points from the 10 matches remaining after I took over
2017	FC Lahti				3rd		Qualified for Europe
2018	FC Lahti				1st		First domestic title
2019	FC Lahti				1st		The double. First domestic cup
2020	Jeonbuk					1st
2021	Jeonbuk					2nd		Knocked out of CL in semis
2022	Jeonbuk					1st		League / FA Cup / Champions League Triple. CWC 3rd place
2023	Minnesota Utd				14th
2024	Minnesota Utd				7th		Lost on penalties in Western Conference Semifinal
2025/6	Orlando Pirates				3rd		Knockout Cup Winners, failed to qualify for Champions League
2026/7	Orlando Pirates				1st		League, Super 8, Knockout Cup, Nedbank Cup. Won everything basically.
2027/8	Orlando Pirates				1st		League, Super8, Nedbank Cup. Confederation Cup losing finalists.
2028/9	Orlando Pirates				n/a		African Champions League. Left mid-season with the team on track for the threepeat.
2028/9	Rosario Central				18th		Took over for last 2 matches of the season.
2029/30	Rosario Central				1st	
2030/31	Rosario Central				1st	


International
Year	Team					Achievements	
2019-21	Nigeria					None
2021-23	DR Congo				2022 World Cup - R2, 2023 African Cup Losing Finalists
2023-25	Chile					None
2026-27	South Korea				Asian Cup winners
2027-29	South Africa				Lost in African Cup Q/F
2030-	Brazil

Challenge Progress

Club
 4/10 top domestic leagues 		(Finland, South Korea, South Africa, Argentina)
 3/10 domestic cups 			(Finland, South Korea, South Africa)
 1/5 club continental championships 	(Asia)
 0/1 club world championship

International
 2/5 continental tournaments 		(Asia, Africa)
 0/2 world tournaments

GloryFan2002 · January 20, 2017

Season 1

I flopped completely coming second in the league and knocked out in the QF of the cup. I did however get my Continetial C Licence. I managed to get the better of Johor Darul Ta'Him but Petak FA sneaked in with an incredible 2nd half of the season. My top player Mauro Olivi was inconsistent and/or injured for most of the season which was a bummer, but what can you expect. I will stay in Malaysia for another year to get my badges and to take out the league + cup.

Top Goalscorer- Patrick Wleh and Mauro Olivi (12) The Liberian and the Argentine both had fairly good seasons. Olivi scored most of his goals before I came so he won't make my challenge XI unless he has an amazing season next year.

Most Assists- Andik Vermansyah (7) The Indonesian will be the first inductee to my challenge XI as he was on fire getting nearly all of his 5 goals and 7 assists in the time after I took over.

Highest Average Rating- Mauro Olivi (7.14)

MVP- This is by my opinion. Andik Vermansyah

Leagues (0/10)

Cups (0/10)

Continental Club Competitions (0/5)

Continental Nation Competitions (0/6) I'll be including the Oceania Nations Cup

Club World Cup (0/1)

Confederations Cup (0/1)

World Cup (0/1)

Challenge XI (to be filled up)

RM- Andik Vermansyah (Selangor FA)

vikeologist · January 20, 2017

Vikeologist's 2031 Brazil Copa America Report

For some reason (probably licensing) the Brazilian team don’t play many friendlies, so I’m going into the competition with just 1 match under my belt, a penalty win over Argentina in last year’s Superclassico. However we have no injuries. I honestly don’t know what will transpire here.

Group Stage

Spoiler

Vs Jamaica B 8-0 I suppose it would have been a bit worrying if we hadn’t won

Vs Chile 2-1 It took an injury time winner, but I suppose a win is a win.

Vs Colombia 2-2 Used my reserves, including an outfield goalie.

Next up is Paraguay, probably just about the weakest team left in the tournament. I don’t really care as long as I don’t have to face Argentina until the final; should we get that far.

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Vs Paraguay 3-0 Pretty straightforward, but some of our play seems a bit slack. However, next up is Colombia again, but this time it will be our first team, who barely had to raise a sweat against Paraguay, against a Colombia side who had to go to penalties in their quarterfinal, (not that there’s extra time in this competition).

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Vs Colombia 1-0 Much tougher than expected. Colombia played very defensively, even when we went a goal up. No surprise that our opponents in the final will be Argentina.

3^rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Vs Argentina 0-1 (aet). A really dull game. Neither side created any chances, even when Argentina went down to 10 men because of injury. Then they scored the only goal in extra time. Really gutting, but we were toothless.

After The Tournament

Spoiler

I hoped I might keep my job, but no. I was sacked. I applied for Chile (who I’ve previously managed in this save; and not entirely successfully) and was offered the job. Some people never learn. What's the phrase, a dog returning to its own vomit, and in this case I am the vomit.

Edited January 20, 2017 by vikeologist

Danny_H22 · January 20, 2017

53 minutes ago, Ethan_X_02 said:

@vikeologist I will start backing up games to an external drive as there is really no reason not too. Also, with your team not having many friendlies, did you try and arrange any yourself, or did you just wait for other team to offer you?

You can back the save up to the Steam cloud if you're worried about completely losing the save

dkouv · January 20, 2017

@vikeologist @Fadedaf commiserations on the Brazillian experience. At least one of you got a second chance, but still... I find losing international games really annoying, there's such a long wait for the right job and then for the tournament, and then it can all be over after a few games.

By the way, are there many international jobs in Asia coming up in your challenge? I still need to win the Asian cup and would like to take over an Asian team, but no job has come up there in years, in fact I think just the South Korea job came up once during the entire save. I'm playing on large database, think also loaded players from Japan, but that didn't seem to help much. Am thinking of adding back the Chinese and Korean leagues, maybe this will improve the job availability.

@Ethan_X_02 That's brutal re corrupted save... I thought you were doing rather well. Good to see you starting over already, best of luck in Denmark!

Mini-update

On my save, the USA job came up after the Gold Cup but I have this strange affinity with Jamaica now so decided to stay with them for next summer's World Cup 2026. Qualified but got drawn against Germany, Spain and Uruguay - didn't realise it was even possible to have such strong teams all in the same group. So I might quit before World Cup to apply for club jobs depending on my Ajax CT progress. But I am really tempted to stick it out and see if we can do a bit of giant-killing Also most of my players are in the 32-34 age bracket, and I'm tempted to give them a memorable send-off into retirement.

vikeologist · January 20, 2017

@dkouv The lack of jobs in Asia can be a problem. I added players from Asia at the start of my save this time, because in FM15 I was in the same position as you; the only nation manageable was South Korea, and it was the last cup I needed, so if you get sacked by South Korea, you maybe need to wait 4 years for the job to come up again, and then another 4 years for the next Asian Cup. That will put some time on your challenge.

So I added Asian players, and of course it's the one international trophy I've managed to win, and with South Korea. Presumably I'm now saddled with loads of Asian players who will never be good enough to play for any of my future teams.

Maybe for Japan to even have any players in the international team, you need to have the 'fix' before you start.

Adding nations such as Australia and China can eventually make additional nations become manageable, but it's not as though China are usually that good. In a save that went into the future China went 1,320 years without a win or draw in the World Cup Finals. Also, those nations maybe don't become manageable as soon as you add them as leagues, and don't necessarily stay manageable.

I mean, this is all just based on my experiences, and I think it depends on your database size, which leagues you've had loaded, and for how long, but if you are just getting South Korea, then I'd guess your best bet is to load Australia.

You can check which nations are manageable on the job security page. Wow, that was a lengthy response.

@Danny_H22 I wouldn't trust the steam cloud. If you have to change computers or even reinstall the game, you can lose your cloud saves. It just doesn't work, and there are plenty of people that do have to or choose to reinstall the game on a new hard drive. USB sticks are your friend.

@Ethan_X_02 For some reason, it's not possible to organise many Brazil friendlies. I could have organised one immediately before the Copa America, but that would have been a bad idea, because half the players were jaded anyway.

Danny_H22 · January 20, 2017

Danny_H22 2023 Season Review

After another successful season in Northern Ireland, I handed in my resignation and took some well deserved time off. My holiday lasted all of two months before I decided to pack my bag and head to Beijing to take part in my toughest challenge yet with Beijing Guo’an. The one-time league champions were stuck in 12^th place at the half way point of the season and really falling short of pre-season expectations of a 5^th place finish. I had just enough time to spend some of the £22 million afforded to me before trying my hardest to salvage our season. I spent a large chunk (£10 million) on Ukrainian centre forward Roman Yaremchuk and it turned out to be inspired business on my part.

On a personal level, I have started working towards my continental pro license and my reputation sits at around 45%.

Ping An CFA Super League- I was appointed manager with the club languishing in 12^th place after 15 games. What followed was nothing short of impressive, managing 14 wins in 18 league games and climbing the table to take 5^th place and finish just 3 points behind champions Guangzhou R&F. I am really happy with how my half season in charge went and if I can carry this form into next season, surely the league will be mine. I even managed to tie the record for most league wins in a season with 20. Sadly 5^th place doesn’t qualify for continental football.

Yanjing Beer Chinese FA Cup- I took over the club with them already in the fourth round of the Chinese FA Cup, with a game against Tianjin looming. Although league positions said otherwise, we were actually in slightly better form than our opponent come game day and this was reflected with a comfortable 1-0 win. What followed was a quarter-final against Yongchang which ended in another 1-0 victory and setting up a semi-final clash with Changchun. The first leg went to plan and we earned a well deserved 2-1 victory. Sadly, we didn’t quite show up in the second leg and ended up losing 4-3. Luckily for us the away goal rule exists and we were heading for to the final!

In the final I faced 3^rd placed Guangzhou Evergrande. The first leg, away from home, I lost 3-2 but those two away goals could prove vital. I decided a change of tactics was in order for the return leg. I made my star player Yaremchuk an advanced forward in the hopes of taking advantage of the gulf of class between my forward line and their defence. I also dropped our slow, short game in favour of early crosses into the centre and a more mixed passing approach. This change proved positive when in the first half, a deflected Yaremchuk shot hits Iraqi playmaker Saif Salman to give us a 1-0 lead going into half time. A tense start to the second half with Guangzhou having the better chances, before Lu Meng stepped up and struck a beautiful free kick to put us 2-0 up. The rest of the match was pretty comfortable with the opposition rarely bothering us and us being declared winners 4-3 on aggregate. It was my first trophy in China and Beijings first CFA in 20 years. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

Top Goalscorer- Roman Yaremchuk with 25 goals from 22 games and it was not even close. He broke the clubs record for most goals in a season after just 13 starts and he even chipped in with a further 8 assists. He also finished just one goal off of winning the league top Goalscorer. Not bad for half a season and £10 million. Second to him was Yang Lingtai with 9 goals, non of which he scored under my management.

Most Assists- Right winger Lei Shihao with 11 assists, followed by Saif Salman with 10. Both were fantastic for me and will no doubt play a big part in any success we have next season.

Highest Avg. Rating- Unsurprisingly, Yaremchuk with 8.05 from 22 games.

Most POM- Hat trick for Yaremchuk with 8 POM awards.

International- After a terrible time at Senegal and my subsequent firing, I was again looking for a role as an international manager. After a short while of inactivity, the Jamaica, Honduras and Costa Rica jobs all became available. I applied for all three and was offered both Jamaica and Honduras. I decided to take up the mantel of Jamaican manager in the hopes of ticking the Gold Cup off of the list.

First up, I have the CONCACAF Cup against favourites USA. With several injuries and some tired players, I put out the best 11 possible. After an impressive performance where I won the possession game, I walked away 2-0 winners and added a second international cup to my resume (even if it doesn’t count towards the challenge). I don’t really understand the point behind the cup, but winning it has raised my reputation by 5% so I’m thankful for that.

In the fourth round of the World Cup qualifiers we have been drawn against Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Curacao, in a group that I am confident of winning.

I have high hopes for next season. I think a few quality Chinese signings and a marquee foreigner or two should be enough to push for top spot. I don’t expect much in the AFC Champions League, but hopefully we can put on a good showing and help build for the following season. On the international front, I think we can win our World Cup qualifying group after winning two out of two so far.

Season       Team             Position         Continental       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Newtown          8th                  -              Took over in November
2017/18      Newtown          3rd                  -             
2018/19      Newtown          3rd       First Qualifying Round    Won theWord Cup and Manager of the Year
2019/20      TNS              1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won theWord Cup and JD FAW Welsh Cup. Retained the Manager of the Year
2020/21      TNS              1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won theWord Cup
2021/22      Linfield         1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won League Cup and County Antrim Shield. Unbeaten league season. Won Manager of the Year
2022/23      Linfield         1st       Second Qualifying Round   Won League Cup, County Antrim Shield and Challenge Cup. Won Manager of the Year.
2023         Beijing Guoan    5th                  -              Took over after 15 games. Won Chinese FA Cup. Won CFA Best Manager

Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues (TNS- Welsh Premier League 2020, 2021, Linfield- Danske Bank Premiership 2022, 2023)
 3/10 domestic cups (Newtown-theWord Cup 2019, TNS- theWord Cup 2020, 2021, JD FAW Welsh Cup 2020, Linfield- Northern Ireland Football League Cup 2022, 2023, County Antrim Shield 2022, 2023, Irish Football Association Challenge Cup 2023, Beijing Guoan- Chinese FA Cup 2023)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018/19      Togo             Appointed manager of Togo
2019/20      Togo             Knocked out of World Cup Qualifiers in second round
2020/21      Qatar            Won WAFF Championship
2021/22      Qatar            Qualified for The World Cup. Knocked out in first round
2022/23      Senegal          Lost in quarter finals of African Cup of Nations. Fired
2023         Jamaica          Took over in July. Won CONCACAF Cup

Edited January 20, 2017 by Danny_H22

scubasteve2017 · January 20, 2017

Witbank Spurs - 2016/17 Season Review

The League

16 games left to save the club from relegation, this is gonna be tough. I normally hate taking over a club mid-season but did feel that with a decent start we could do it. We started with a nice couple of wins, the players seemed to have got to grips with my tactical ideas (A 41221 playing it simple but trying to exploit my decent attacking players). As the January window came to a close I signed up one player. I was desperately short of central defenders so signed up Thomas Sweswe, a rather old but decent looking player who should do a good job for me.

Form over the next few months was hit and miss, we would win 1, draw 1 then lose 1, but 4 points from 3 games each time was more than enough to drag us away from the drop zone. We had a really good end to the season winning 3 and drawing 1 of the last 4 games, this was enough to nearly push us into the top half. An amazing achievement seeing how in the mire we were when I took over.

League Table

As for the cups I didn't play any as we were already out so nothing to talk about.

The Squad

End of Season Review

Manager Progression

With the club in a poor financial position (current balance -£700k) I have been unable to persuade the board to let me do my first coaching badge, hopefully if we have a decent season next year I can gain the trust of the board to help me progress

Next Season's Plans

It was a really good run since I have taken over and feel with a few little additions to the squad we can be pushing near the top of the League. The 41221 I have been messing around with seems to be working so will be sticking with that. I need to strengthen my defence a bit more and possibly bring in a new Striker as goal scoring was a bit low and also some better wide players. Hopefully with these few signings and a decent start we can be close to promotion. I don't have low expectations in these kind of saves, I want success and quick so will be doing my all to get promotion which in turn will improve my rep, help the clubs finances and mean I can start doing my badges.

Are these updates ok? Is there anything you would like to me to add to them? I'm always open to feedback if it improves my posts.

Season 	Team    		Position   	Continental		Notes and Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17	Witbank Spurs		9th		N/A			Took over after 14 of 30 League Games

Challenge Progress

Club

0/10 top domestic leagues (Insert nations)

0/10 domestic cups ()

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/2 world tournaments ()

Edited January 20, 2017 by scubasteve2017

ryanlion28 · January 21, 2017

People with Chinese League experience, it says in the rules maximum of 5 foreigners registered, but i'm looking at teams with 8 foreigners registered and all of them having played at least 12 games in the season, is this wrong or can you still register and use them?

vikeologist · January 21, 2017

36 minutes ago, ryanlion28 said:

People with Chinese League experience, it says in the rules maximum of 5 foreigners registered, but i'm looking at teams with 8 foreigners registered and all of them having played at least 12 games in the season, is this wrong or can you still register and use them?

Are you sure the rules say registration, and not just how many can be in the match day squad?

Even if it is registration, you could always rotate for Champion League matches, but the rules should be to do with match day squads.

Edited January 21, 2017 by vikeologist

GloryFan2002 · January 21, 2017

Just moved teams. I feel bad about this, but I wanted to get out of Malaysia soon, but with a trophy and I didn't believe I could of done it with Selangor FA. So I have left Selangor after less than a year to join their rivals Johor Darul Ta'Zim.

JohorDarulTa'zim.PNG

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