Big Euro Challenge (FM17)

[SuperSubFM]

Voetbal Vereniging Sint Bavo

Jupiler League 2017/18

I Club Overview I Club History I Manager I Finances I Squad I

 

Founded in 1931, VVSB are a professional Dutch club currently playing in the Jupiler League.  The club play their home games at de Boekhorst and possess basic training facilities. The club also have a basic junior coaching and recruitment network.  Although they have never won a competition, the club are enjoying probably their best spell of sucess in decades.  In line with their promotion to the Jupiler League at the end of the 2016 season, VVSB decided to seek the services of Anglo-Dutch manager Supersub FM to help them fight bravely against relegation.

Fans of VVSB are cautious about the appointment of SupersubFM but can't help be excited by remarks from his first press conference claiming "I am in this for the long haul, as long as I am wanted, by the time I leave this club anything less than becoming a top force in European football shall be deemed a personal failure."

Club captain and product of the club, Vladmir Jozic, is keen to work kick off the new season with VVSB and no doubt he, and fan favourite Raychelo Fecunda (Formerly of ADO Den Haag) will be instrumental in any success SupersubFM is to have in his maiden season.

[rlipscombe]

LLR  -  unlucky with the late goal.  here's hoping for better luck this time round....

SuperSubFM  -  good luck with VVSB

[SuperSubFM]

TACTICS

One of my favourite LLM tactics is a 5-2-3 Wingback system.  So far I have decided to go with two Ball Playing Defenders both set to cover duty- the aim here is so they can be ready to intercept throughballs and their PIs are short passing (Ideally to the Wingbacks). The wing backs are set to be fitting into a CWB role, looking for direct passes to launch the attack.  Their crossing duties are set up to provide to the targetman striker.  The TM is set up to roam, and his duty is to supply the poacher or box to box midfileders goal scoring opportunities.  As im not using inside forwards or wingers (I lack the speed in my winger options) I have a defensive forward, who is there to hassle the defenders, and try and win back any balls with his tackling prowess.

I am going to be tweaking this formation quite a lot, so i've neglected to go into depth on my PIs, but my aim is to play direct football against teams with higher odds, and throughout the season start toying with a winger formation if we grow in stature and player skill.

 

TRANSFERS

1. Vinicius Bongaertz - 27 - Dutch - TM - Free Agent
2. Ken van Mierlo - 30 - Dutch - BPD - Free Agent
3. Enrique Emerencia - 20 - Dutch - CD - Free Agent
4. Marco ten Bolscher - 22 - Dutch - Poacher - Free from Excelsior 31
5. Jesse Wijnen -22 - Dutch - BPD - Free from ECH/Heuts

Upon taking control of VVSB I noticed there was a need for speed in the league.  Out of the strikers I scouted the most appealing were Bongaertz and Bolscher.  At 27 years old and 6'1" Bongaertz has decent speed (A 12, P 12) for the league, but what really caught my eye is he has decent composure and first touch (12 and 12) as well.  He lacks Anticipation and Off the ball, which was the start of me deciding crosses from wingers isn't for me (yet)  He has put away 4 goals in 4 games preseason which has me very excited for what is to come.  Bolscher, who will be the poacher is only 22; yet with 14 Finishing, Acceleration and First touch with solid composure I have high hopes from him, also he is a massive 6'2"; pre season he was used as a TM andd he baged 2 goals, at 22y/o I have high hopes his development will see him at the club for the promotion push when it happens.

At the back I took a gamble, for LLM, I bought in a 22 and 20 year old, so it is on my to hope they can be solid, and develop at the same time.  Usually trying to develop young player in LLM is a gamble, however Emerencia is a massive 6'3" with 13 Jumping, 12 Position, 12 Marking and Heading, yet 10 Tacking (this will be his tranining focus), he will do nicely as my CD - For the league that puts us above the average. Joining him in the back are my 2 ball playing defenders.  Wijnen is only 22 but also at 6'3" he has 12 Jumping, 13 position, 12 tackling, and 13 decision - which makes me very excited for his potential to cut out the through ball game.  It is worth noting his Heading is 8 and Marking is 7 - so these are areas I will be focusing his training on.  Finally I decided I needed to bring in an experienced defender too.   I bought in Ken van Mierlo; 6'1" and 30 years old.  He has decent Positioning and Tackling, but what really had me covet him was his mentals. 11 Comp, 13 Conc and Dec, 14 det.  He will be used as a BPD but also as a tutor for the younger center backs I bought in.

Preseason

Fixtures by CPU - Pescara (ITA Serie B), Everton (ENG Prem), Chievo (ITA Serie A)

Fixtures by Me Jong PSV (Netherlands -Jupiler League), Forum Sport (Local - Lower League)

Pescara was a scary game, I used a 4-1-2-3 system with no trasfers made, we shipped 2 goals in, and were utterly impotent going forward; losing the ball mostly to crosses.  This made me scrutinise my winger options, and I decided the tactic wasnt going to be viable for me. 

Everton came to town, and still without signings, I decided to try the 5 2 3  WB tactic above, and we didn't do too teribly bad, we looked much more focused going forward, and we managed to snag a goal for which I consider to be a respectable 3-1 loss.

Jong PSV was the friendly I watched on comprehensive. My signings were made and my system was ready to be tweaked.  We managed to walk away with a 2-2 draw, against a team in our division - which made for the excitement to creep in - especially after this nicely worked team goal

We managed to put in a lovely 1-1 draw against Italian Serie A outfit Chievo, which suprised me, and further excited me for the season to come.

My final pre season was against a minow club Forum Sport. I wanted a game where my players could express themselves with little risk.  We won 6-2 however I was not best pleased with the conceeded goals.  There were some lovely goals scored for us, however the alarm bells are definately ringing for my back line.

 

First Game of the Season and prospects

All in all I was pleased with pre-season, but it is now time to focus on the season.  My first game home tie against VVV-Venlo (predicted to finish 4th) was a mixed affair, we went up 1-0 very early but didnt take too long to go 2-1.  With this in mind I instructed my team to press more and run at defenders - and we managed to rescue one point.  With this in mind, I have high hopes for the season.  I would like to finish mid table, and with that I can attract players who will hopefully be able to make a pormotion push the following season.  If I do get promoted in my first season, it will be an epic struggle to stay up, so I would rather take a slower build up so when I do go up (if) I will be able to build a stable team and cement my place in the division.

 

It was a really long post, and I appreciate those who invested in this story, Many thanks - Also I am considering doing a comentated video diary of this journey - not sure if anyone would be interested in that.

 

PS Thank you for the well wishes rlipscombe

 

[wynter]

Transfers

So one of my personal favorite strategies for securing survival is to use a blend of youth and experienced players. Ideally I want a team with about 3-5 quality youngsters getting regular gametime backed up by a core of older players that are able to get results on the pitch immediately.

The main reason for this is that by January with exposure to First Team Football you can fast track a lot of development and rather than splash out 400k on the finished article you can make an even better player and still have time to avoid relegation. Or if things are going better than expected, climb further up the table.

The Youth

Anatoliy Obivalin, Daniil Stepanov, Anatoly Kudryashov

In Russia Youth players only provide 1k compensation, and can be signed for frees with no compensation required. My scouts started scanning the U18's immediately after Intake day and we came up with these options with two on frees and Kudryashov a measly $875. The main appeal for Step and Kudry were their high Det Stats before the scouting was fully finished. Most players in the Russia First Div were hovering at 1-7 in the Determination scale so I figured it would be good to create some more drive in the squad over the coming seasons.

Obivalin was a more curious case with his low Det, so I waited longer than I did for the other two, he does seem a genuinely good prospect though, so hoping to drag his Determination up to around the 10-12 mark and play him off the bench at certain times this season.

The First Team

Vladislav Levin, Maxim Belyaev, Dmitry Abakumov, Martin Rodriguez, Artur Kovalik

Our main signings were improvements to our midfield and defence. Levin gives me a genuine BBM which I struggled utilising fully in the First Div due to a lack of options. Belyaev and Abakumov both drop straight into the first team kicking out our previous players while Rodriguez and Kovalik could have been counted as youth, but seeing aas they're on loan I decided to drop them here as they don't have long term futures here like the 3 above and were brought for their CA in place of their potential.

So with that done, on to the season!

[rlipscombe]

good luck @wynter

[wynter]

A continuous case of so near yet so far, definitely have the quality to compete, we just have that lack of a killer edge to fully climb off the bottom.

[SuperSubFM]

I Transfers I League Table I Squad I Finanace Summary - Income - Expenditure I

 

Season 17/18 is now concluded and the players are on a well earned break.  Looking at the leage table I can say I was pretty much spot on for my predictions at the start of the season, my forwards did very well indeed - Marco ten Bolscher scored a whopping 24 goals to finish 1st in the player stats, and 2nd in the AV rating with 7.26.  Vinicius Bongaertz who I bought in with him as a TM did OK bagging 7 goals and 4 assists, but a 2 month injury crept in and he didn't really restart his engine when he returned.  The real suprise package up front was VVSB's own, Maikey Parami who bagged 9 goals, 7 assists and 3 POMs as well as playing his socks off in the reserves; certainly doing another to earn a contract extension.

The experiment with defense proved to be the sticking point in achieving a play-off worth season as I ended up with the worse defensive record in the league (68), however I managed to avoid a disaster season by having the best attacking record (61)

All in all I can say it was mission accomplished, I finished mid table (my personal goal) when the board expected relegation, I got rid of a LOT of players who were earning money with little potential to improve (Budget 16.5k, used 7.25k) and I didn't spend any money on transfer fees, the 5 or 6 that came in all Dutch free transfers.  My frugality allowed me to finish the season with £1.43m in the bank, signing free players is going to be my objective next season.

Goals next season: Finish Mid table - Challenge for a Play-off spot, Try to get a data analyst spot from the board

Fan's Goal of the season - An absolute thunderbolt from Younes Seghrouchni vs Almere City FC

 

Fan's Game of the season - 1-4 Win over Achilles '29 - #1 Van de Beek (1-0), #2 Ten Bolscher (1-1), #3 Bongaertz (1-2), #4 Ten Bolscher (1-3), #5 Ten Bolscher (1-4)

 

 

[GoalieManPat121]

Half way through my first season at Electrico. Just do a quick update. Ill do a full write-up at the end of the season. Portugals bottom division is very interesting. With their being 80 teams split into 10 groups and then midway through the season they regroup so the top teams are fighting each other for promotion and the bottom teams fighting each other for relegation. We finished the first phase in 9th out of 10 teams. We started decent but then went on a 12 game streak where we only picked up 2 points. We only carried over 3 points into 2nd stage. During the month off though I was able to make some signings that I feel will make the team compete the second half. We opened against the two top teams and drew 1-1 and had a hard fought 0-1 loss away. I did make one big misstep in bringing in a very good striker but not noticing that it was set to End of Contract instead of Immediately so we wont see him until next year.

[fabreth]

11 minutes ago, GoalieManPat121 said:

Half way through my first season at Electrico. Just do a quick update. Ill do a full write-up at the end of the season. Portugals bottom division is very interesting. With their being 80 teams split into 10 groups and then midway through the season they regroup so the top teams are fighting each other for promotion and the bottom teams fighting each other for relegation. We finished the first phase in 9th out of 10 teams. We started decent but then went on a 12 game streak where we only picked up 2 points. We only carried over 3 points into 2nd stage. During the month off though I was able to make some signings that I feel will make the team compete the second half. We opened against the two top teams and drew 1-1 and had a hard fought 0-1 loss away. I did make one big misstep in bringing in a very good striker but not noticing that it was set to End of Contract instead of Immediately so we wont see him until next year.

 

In Portugal with that many teams, i have the cpu at 100% for some minutes while processing all these matches. Do you have the same problem?

Apart from that annoying problem(at least for me), it's an interesting division indeed. Good luck!

[GoalieManPat121]

58 minutes ago, fabreth said:

 

In Portugal with that many teams, i have the cpu at 100% for some minutes while processing all these matches. Do you have the same problem?

Apart from that annoying problem(at least for me), it's an interesting division indeed. Good luck!

I havnt seen much of a slow down at all. Just maybe the last day or two of a month. It gave two stars when setting up the game but still moves fairly quick. I am playing on a decent desktop though. If I were on a laptop it might be different.

[SuperSubFM]

Deleted (was incomplete)

[Amethyst21]

@SuperSubFM Nice first season! The dutch leagues are a good place to accumulate talent, but that first year can be rather difficult - interesting tactic too - I'm sure your games were never boring!

 

 

[Lower Leagues Rule]

1 hour ago, Amethyst21 said:

@SuperSubFM Nice first season! The dutch leagues are a good place to accumulate talent, but that first year can be rather difficult - interesting tactic too - I'm sure your games were never boring!

 

 

The first season is insanely difficult...In my third attempt now....Doing much better this time around though.

[gb2003]

Stuttgarter Kickers

Season 1 -  2016/ 2017

I wanted to start the challenge with Waldorf Mannheim but after 50 reloads, i give it up ( maybe a bug?)

Stuttgarter Kickers is a nice challenge too. They have no really history in the 1. Bundesliga, was most of the time in the 2. Bundesliga. The last years they played in the third and fourth leagues in germany.

Also they never won a title, so i have an aim.

Always be the number two in Stuttgart, i have another target beside the main goal :).

Here are some Screens:

Season Summary

History

Team Profile

Manager

Squad

The team need some central midfielder, i only have three for three positions. Also some defenders as backup would be good. The only area, which i can ignore is the offense.

So let's start the challenge!

regards

gb2003

 

[rlipscombe]

good luck @gb2003

[rlipscombe]

in shock news coming out of France, manager Richard Lipscombe has resigned as boss of Grenoble and has hopped into a delorean to travel back in time.  his intended destination: - Germany

 

(i couldn't get into my Grenoble save so i am returning to Germany, where i have completed the challenge previously.  team TBC...)

[gb2003]

@rlipscombe thank you, good luck in germany

Had a good start so far. The only defeat was the first game against my hometown Kiel ;).

[rlipscombe]

team chosen....  for those 'veterans' of the challenge, you could say i am 'going home'.........

[GoalieManPat121]

First preseason game of season 2 and my team decided to have an in game crossbar challenge

 

[SuperSubFM]

Horay! The PC has be TronScripted and is now running like a dream

I Tactics I Transfers I Manager Profile I Squad I

Transfers In

1. Alejandro Navarro Keeris - Dutch - 20 - WBL - Free Agent - Purchased for back up/rotation
2. Bowedee Burleson - Dutch - 24 - WBL - Free from Achilles '29 - Purchased for WBL First team (canprovide cover for WBR)
3. Mohamed Mahmoed - Iraqi - 23 - MC (B2B) - Free from Quick Boys (NED) - Purchased for first team, set to train up for B2B MC
4. Maarten de Lange - Dutch - 22 - MC (B2B Free from Volendam - Purchased for first team, set to train up for B2B MC
5. Mauro Minnaard - Dutch - 23 - GK/SK - Free from Quick Hoofdklasse Zondag B - My goalkeepers were a mess
6. Ümüt Sezer - Dutch - 26 - MC (B2B) - Free from Dijkse Boys - A more exeprienced MC to help rotate, Will be 1st choice
7. Floris van der Linden - Dutch - 22 - Poacher - Free from Telstar  - I lacked depth in attack especially as I opperate 3 stikers
8. David Brown - Papua New Guinean - Poacher - Free agent from Jong FC Groningen - More depth in attack

The Story of Preseason

Because my chairman is an absolute misery he neglected to yeild to my crying about relaying the pitch (He did let me get a data analyst though), so my preseaon matches were all away; save one game

As you can see the goals against are much better than they were last season while still scoring a nice amount, Ur Namur (Belgium), Telstar and MVV are similar in stature so it is very encouraging. Oostende being in the Belian Pro A beating us 4-2 is a good bench mark I feel for our capabilities in the top teir (should we go up)

 

All in all a lot to look forwart to this season, I shall report back in July

-SSFM

[SuperSubFM]

On 16/11/2016 at 23:28, Amethyst21 said:

@SuperSubFM Nice first season! The dutch leagues are a good place to accumulate talent, but that first year can be rather difficult - interesting tactic too - I'm sure your games were never boring!

 

 

Thanks @Amethyst21; I managed to brute force some results thanks to my whacky 5-2-3WB formation; the following is a typical goal I seem to score, very nice on the counter ; the second goal was from the same game, a realy sweet nut of a corner

 

On 16/11/2016 at 19:16, GoalieManPat121 said:

 I did make one big misstep in bringing in a very good striker but not noticing that it was set to End of Contract instead of Immediately so we wont see him until next year.

@GoalieManPat121 - I've done that fat too often myself in this game.... often

 

Good luck to all else who are trying to make the little fish fat fish

[rlipscombe]

 

They say that you should never go back....  i say "why not?? Bring it on!!"

[SuperSubFM]

Best of luck to you @rlipscombe

[SuperSubFM]

I Team Stats I

 

After leaking many goals with a 5-2-3WB system and some injuries in my attack I decided to rethink my tactics.  Here I am still not using wingers.  I am still experimenting with the Mid FIeld and shouts.  Generally I will go wider with work into boss, if I am trying to draw out stubborn defences, and narower with early crosses if I am attacking more adventerous teams.  I am still stuggling  to kill games, but not to the degree I was last season.  I have made no signings on top of the pre-season; and I am doing okay in a very very tight league.  I need to be seeing out games better if I want top five, I do not expect I have the squad depth and quality to make a 3rd or 4th Period surge (if you are not familiar with Dutch football, the play off system is really quite strange, look it up, it's unique.)

And to close, An amusing incident where I got well and truely, FM'd

 

 

[SuperSubFM]

Hello ladies and gents; I shall probably wait a while before posting my next update because I realise I have monopolised the forums a little with my adventure.  This will be a super in depth post, and I will follow up with a quick preseason post with the vital info.

For now however; Welcome to

Performed well above expectations... and everyone at the club feels awful

 I League Table I Squad I Finance Summary - Income - Expendature I

One glimpse of the league table and you will easily be able to see the reason for my headline.  (Spoiler Alert- We lost in the last game of the play off)  Shoddy defending just proved to be my downfall again.  With this in mind I might consider using a DM - though I am not entirely sure how I would make a DM tactic with no wingers work for me.  The temptation is to go for a 4-1-2-3 DM Wide; a mainstays in football manager, however I would have to entirely change the philosophy of the players- and I am starting to be able to read the game better with my wingerless tactic.

Key Stats

Goals to Shots 16% ; Shots on Target 44%, Pass Success 74%, Mistakes to goals 2% (9 of 531), Arial Challenges 56%, Cross Success 12% (188 of 1572), Tackles Won 70% (713 of 1013), Clean Sheets 25%, Goals Conceded 48 of 38, Goals Scored 64 of 38.

Key Areas of Strength

• Through Balls - 31 of 89 assists
• 44% Strike accuracy (2nd in league)
• 64 Goals Scored (2nd in league)

Key Areas of Weakness

• Poor decision-making
• Team work
• First touch
• Passing (75% completion - 19 in league)
• Crossing (12% Completion - 14th in league)
• Heading (55% Won - 19 in league)

Key Objectives and Targets for Season 3

• My Goal: Challenge for promotion Club Target; Play-offs
• Improve Youth and Hire Head of Youth Dev. (Basic Falities, Minimal coaching budget, Basic recruitment)
• Improve Traiing Facilities (Basic)
• Relay Pitch (Poor) Hahahahaha yeah right, my board shoot me down all the time on this

Get in some good defenders; My midfield and forward proved they could carry the team this year, but my defence is the worst in the league; my young DCs are not developing with the pace of the club (and they probably shoudnt) so if I am to be serious about going for the summit next year I really have to look hard at the market for some CDs.   Also as my game is a ground based game with minimal crossing I really desperately need the  pitch relayed. My board are a very very hard to work with on this save - I always play LLM in FM and while the boards are hard to work with on a basic budget, I have never known one to be so resistant to my requests   Any how, thanks for reading if you got this far, good luck to you all and may you have many successes.

Oh one last thing... Here is how my transfers from both seasons did this time out

Squad Status	Position	Name	Nat	Age	Morale	Apps	Gls	Ast	Ps C	Pas %	Average Rating	Season At Club
Key	DM, M (RC)	Ümüt Sezer	NED	26	Fairly Good	39 (1)	4	1	1,985	80%	6.9	1st
Key	AM (RL), ST (C)	David Browne	PNG	23	Good	25 (7)	10	10	728	80%	6.9	1st
Key	D (RC)	Jesse Wijnen	NED	24	Good	42	1	1	1,011	62%	7.05	2nd
Key	D (C)	Enrique Emerencia	NED	22	Good	43	0	1	949	56%	7.07	2nd
Key	ST (C)	Floris van der Linden	NED	23	Fairly Good	28 (7)	14	5	842	86%	6.95	1st
First	GK	Mauro Minnaard	NED	24	Fairly Good	43	0	0	421	34%	6.85	1st
First	M (C)	Mohamed Mahmoed	IRQ	24	Good	37	1	3	1,764	85%	6.86	1st
First	ST (C)	Marco ten Bolscher	NED	24	Very Good	24 (4)	13	3	676	84%	6.93	2nd
First	D/WB/M (R)	Danny Bouws	NED	25	Good	40	2	13	1,166	69%	7.14	2nd
First	D/WB (L)	Alejandro Navarro Keeris	NED	22	Good	33 (1)	1	6	931	71%	6.96	1st
Rotation	D (RL), WB (L)	Bowedee Burleson	NED	25	Good	12 (13)	2	2	531	71%	6.97	2nd
Rotation	M (C)	Maarten de Lange	NED	23	Very Good	38 (4)	7	3	1,925	86%	7.03	1st
Backup	D (C), DM, M (C)	Ken van Mierlo	NED	31	Good	16 (13)	4	1	656	75%	6.76	2nd
Backup	ST (C)	Vinicius Bongaertz	NED	29	Very Good	16 (12)	11	8	602	80%	7.04	2nd

[rlipscombe]

don't apologise for the in-depth posts @SuperSubFM - we like them here!  helps us get absorbed into your save better...  seriously unlucky there - fingers crossed you go one step further next season!

[SuperSubFM]

@rlipscombe many thanks for that, And yeah, we won the first game too which was more heartbreaking - in a way im not too concerned as trying to recruit for the team for promotion this season would have been a headace, the raise in stature this coming season if we go up will make it much more comfortable.

[GoalieManPat121]

Electrico FC - Season 01 Review

Squad : Fixtures : Transfers : Finances : Table (First Phase) : Table (Relegation Phase)

Team Leaders : Team Awards : League Leaders : League Team Leaders : Team Best 11 : Team Records

It was a tough first season but it was expected. I brought in many players to try and fir the 4-4-2 I was trying to play with. We had an ok start to the season with a couple wins but the final 12 matches of the first phase were horrible and we took few points. We finished 9th out of 10 and were put into a relegation phase group with only 4 points. After taking only 1 point from the first five relegation stage matches I decided to scrap the 4-4-2 and go for broke with a 4-2-3-1. The move worked as that switch and the play of a couple mid season additions helped us lose only two of the final ten matches. We finished in 5th just above the relegation and relegation playoff zone. It was interesting to note that two teams that finished above me in the first phase ended up being relegated. We made the 2nd Round of the Taca de Portugal. We suffered a tough penalty loss to the aptly named Imortal after leveling the match in the 89th minute. Overall while I would have liked to win more the first season was a success as we stayed up and quite a bit of scouting. I have quite a few targets for the offseason that next seasons squad should be vastly improved. 

Key Players:

• Goncalo Guerra - Was at the club when I came in. He was my pick as the teams player of the year. Many big saves through the season. Missed time during the middle of the year and it showed how important he was to the club
• Hugo Airosa - Brought on a free. Was the fans most valuable player. Lead the team with 9 goals. Solid for most of the season but did most of his damage the first two months before falling off a bit.
• Valdimir - Brought on a free. Really stabilized the defensive midfield role once he came to the team midway through.
• Wang Dong - Bought on a free. A solid fullback who was called the signing of the season. Unsure future with the club
• Tiago Pereira - Bought on a free. Came in midseason and was a good scoring threat. Played the last month of the season as a winger due to injuries. Will be the teams #2 striker next season.

Interesting Young Guys: David Ribeiro and Diogo Gomes. Both guys were with the club when I took over. Not long term prospects but both will be important reserve guys next season allowing me to save some salary.

Goals For Next Season:

1. Go a round or two further in the Taca de Portugal
2. Participate in the Promotion stage of the league
3. Bring in some quality versatile players who can contribute in multiple roles and positions.

Goal of the Year: Christian Araujo with a nice shot to earn the club a very important point in the relegation battle.

Game of the Year: Electrico FC vs ARC Oleiras. It was the 2nd to last game of the season. Clubs within a point of each other in relegation and relegation playoff zone. Big win. Highlights

 

[SuperSubFM]

@GoalieManPat121 Excellent write up mate, and cracking goal of the season.  I think I will nick your formatting for my next season end!  Your finances are looking worrysome though   One thing I do like about the Dutch league is we get 1.7m a year for TV revenue, which of course is not usually in the equation for LLM saves.  I have never been able to happily get a 4-4-2 to work in recent Fms, particularly LLM- so your choice to go 4-2-3-1 is entirely understood!

Best of luck for your next season. -SSFM

[GoalieManPat121]

@SuperSubFM Thanks. I usually add the all time best 11 in as well after the first couple seasons.

Ya the finances are worrisome for me too. I figure if I am going to get the sack it will be for that. Low bonuses this year for the boys lol. Im hoping a good cup run and league performance will offset most of this years debt. You could buy my club with that 1.7 mill a year. Hello Mr Chairman lol

[SuperSubFM]

I Squad I Transfers I Manager Profile I

So season Three is about to start and, well, I am worried, mostly because as you may have guessed looking at the table below, My board did not agree the pitch should be relaid .  I did however ask for a philosophy meeting which means the board are much more receptive towards my requests to improve youth elements of the game.  I am not expecting any good regens at all for a while but hopefully we will get one or two who can delevop into squad players, as I need to start keeping one eye on the home grown players as my player turnover has been quite high (as im sure you will understand why).  Also the table below reveals we had a decent pre-season- Our Belgium tour ended with a lucky 1-1 away to Antwerp, but worryingly against Achilles (who we usualy smash) and Williem II we lost.  Granted Williem II are the league above us, but I dont like going into a season on 2 losses from pre-season.  I always put one "big" game in the preseason more to test me in that scenario, many FM players do not like playing bigger teams pre season.

Date	Opposition	Venue	WLD	Result	Competition	Goalscorers
Sat, 9/7/2019	Albert Sports	A	Win	3 - 0	Friendly	Dylan de Braal (39), Younes Seghrouchni (56), David Browne (59)
Sat, 12/7/2019	Alfter	A	Win	1 - 0	Friendly	Marco ten Bolscher (14)
Mon, 15/7/2019	Berchem	A	Win	1 - 0	Friendly	Vinicius Bongaertz (90+1)
Thu, 18/7/2019	Antwerp	A	Draw	1 - 1	Friendly	Danny Bouws (pen 90+2)
Wed, 24/7/2019	Achilles 1894	A	Win	4 - 2	Friendly	Floris van der Linden (6), Sven Mbikulu (17), Mohamed Mahmoed (24), Rick Dekker (89)
Sat, 27/7/2019	AFC	A	Win	4 - 2	Friendly	Younes Seghrouchni (7), Marco ten Bolscher (27), David Browne (45+1), Maarten de Lange (67)
Wed, 31/7/2019	Achilles	A	Loss	0 - 2	Friendly	None
Fri, 3/8/2019	Willem II	A	Loss	1 - 2	Friendly	Bowedee Burleson (29)

Trasfers in:

I have still yet to spend any money on trasfer fees but to be honest, the free transfers I am signing aren't really all that different to any realistic free transfers within scouting range; and also many players in the dutch leagues seem to be on 2 year contracts at most.  Previously I trialed a bunch of players at the start of preseason then whittle them down as I find the best fit (putting them all in the  reserves and having them follow a different pre-season of friendlies.  This season I highlighted a few players and spent longer fully scouting them, rather than a basic match card and looking at their attributes as they unmask. I did the the first two seasons as I was more desperate to overhaul weaker areas, now I can fine tune and tweak.  Those who follow my posts may have instantly noticed at a glance I have recruited more players who are above the age of  23.  I did also sign a third GK, Van Dorp, who is probably the best GK at the club, but because he is 19 I am going to rotate him and my goalie from season two.  Van Duin is purely back up but I he has good  working with youngsters attributes (but bad coaching stats) so I am going to try and send him on a few courses and hopefully he will become a youth coach down the line.

Player	Nationality	Age	Pos/Duty	From	Fee	Sqaud Status
Eugieni Valderrama	Spain	25	AMC (SS)	Free Agent	€0	Key
Fidan Aliti	Albanian	25	DWB L	Free Agent	€0	Key
Dylan de Braal	Dutch	24	CD	Oss	€0	Key
Rick Dekker	Dutch	24	CD	Free Agent	€0	Key
Marco van Duin	Dutch	32	GK	Free Agent	€0	Backup
Svven Mbikulu	Dutch	22	MC (BWM)	Volendam	€0	Key
Kyan van Dorp	Dutch	19	GK	Free Agent	€0	First/Rotation

In closiing my season goals will be tricky. I want to replicate last season at  very least - especially now I am spending twice as much on wages as I did in season one.  I am comfortably under the wage cap, but in LLM following the wage cap always seems to put the finances in a sharp dive.  I will lose money this season but it shouldn't be too drastic.  Oh, and of course, Brexit happened- and it was the "Everything stays the same" Brexit... Which figures when I am doing a non UK save

[SuperSubFM]

@GoalieManPat121  Haha, I am expecting my bank balance to go down this season as the players im starting to sign now have agents I am the same way with bonuses to be honest, on my first negotiation I usually remove and ban certain clauses and bonuses and then start haggling them down as much as I can, however now I have agents dealing with most of my targets I am getting away with it much less.  PS If you want my chairman, you can have him, he is totally useless!

[rlipscombe]

 

SVW Mannheim

Season Preview - German Third Division - Season 2017-18

 

So i start this years challenge with a blast from the past...  i managed Mannheim on FM12 and it was the scene of my first (and only) completion of this challenge to date.  I am hoping to be able to get stuck into the challenge this year again after my partial absense last year but we shall see.  here are the essentials:

 

Club Overview

Club History

Manager Profile

 

As is usual i have been signing plenty of free transfers in order to attempt to make the squad capable of achieving their objective of survival in the Third Division.  Below are two of the players i feel may be key:

 

Christopher Gang  -  GK  -  With any team in this challenge, a good goalkeeper is fundamental to any future success.  i have a couple of good goalkeepers but Gang is my first choice.

Ederson  -  DMC  -  We are blessed with a few good defensive midfielders but the Brazilian is probably the pick of the bunch.  He could be key to my teams successes (or lack of) this season.

 

Hopefully the first match of the season is a good indicator of what my season could be like - time will tell.

 

 

 

 

 

[SuperSubFM]

Well dne with Ederson he looks like something of a coup; are you going to set him up to go on courses for a future staff roll? I bet he will become a nice coach when he hangs up his kicks.  Nice to see a club with a little prior history in a higher division, and most importantly, the color blue (I think I am going mad with all the pink/purple)   Good luck!

[rlipscombe]

@SuperSubFM - Ederson was actually at the club when i arrived.  i haven't thought too much about whether or not i'll train him for a future coaching role yet - i think he has a few more years left in the tank first.  As for teams with prior history, i have always tended to look to revive 'fallen giants' if you like on these challenges if it has been possible - see Venezia and Como who were previously top division teams - on previous versions.  my criteria has always been to either restore fortunes to clubs, or clubs who have decent sized stadiums, in order for us to grow in.  As for the blue, it is a bonus for me!!

[SuperSubFM]

Aiye nice, My prefered club to do that with is Ipswich as everyone on youtube etc seems to rag on em.  Granted they are in the 2nd teir of England; but with a healthy loan to replay and a super tight wage/transfer budget it is always one of my favorite shorter saves to play (Usually BETA)

[fabreth]

Dinamo St. Petersburg

2017-18 Season Preview

Profile  |  Team Info  |  The past  |  Squad

 

So here I am. I had a russian itching since my Saturn FM15 adventure, ended badly. In end-season I was expecting them to come up, but they weren't there, but Dinamo was, and got me interested. Small team in St. Petersburg, we are nothing, Zenith's around. So i decided to try this challenge. I remember that russian league is unpredictable and money is tight,we'll see...

I will bring new elements, but some players seems decent for survival. We are affiliated to Dinamo Moscow, which of course got promoted, could be useful for loans.

[rlipscombe]

welcome @fabreth.  good luck in Russia.  Russia is a country i have fancied previously but never really attempted properly apart from a brief attempt with Saturn a few years ago

[GoalieManPat121]

good luck @fabreth . Ive never managed in Russia and it was my other option before I chose Portugal. 

[Amethyst21]

Sv Babelsberg 03

Season 2019-2020 Year End Review

Our second season in the 2.Bundesliga was a building season.  Last year it was about finding players to keep us up.  This year it was about finding players that could help us push on.  We found some good players, while some of the old guard found themselves on the way out.  All in all, a late run of form saw us finish 7th.  It probably flattered us slightly, but we were pretty safely mid table for the whole season without ever threatening to be more than that.

Cup - We beat some rag tag non-league side in the 1st round before bowing out to Hertha Berlin in the 2nd round.

Transfers - A lot of wheeling and a lot of dealing.  No one of note left the team, and we brought in a bunch of players to help us build the foundation of our team for years to come.

Finances - We've got a nice balance.  Board won't let me spend it on players, nor on facilities which is annoying.  Still, we're pretty well off.

Key Players

Vocaj - Fans player of the year and deservedly so.  Took a punt on him as my scouts rated him and I was pretty 'meh' on him.  He was fantastic, popping up with goals out of nowhere, which were usually stunning strikes from 20+ yards.  His skill and versatility made me nickname him 'discount Owen Hargreaves.'

Stulac - Our record signing for a cool 1 million pounds was the midfield playmaker Leo Stulac.  He scored in his first two games and I thought that he was going to take the league by storm.  He didn't.  Still chipped in 5 goals from midfield which is a nice return in 27 appearances.

Stang - Has been at the club since I arrived, but this was the first time he got decent first team playing time and he was...fine?  Never really found his legs and eventually found himself at the fringes of the team.

Ingram - The definition of a hot and cold striker.  Would go without goals for games on end, then pop up and score a brace.  I think I might have run out of patience with him though.  I can only watch chances go squandered so many times before I want to send a striker to Siberia.

Fiumara - Central Defender that I just *wish* would develop that slight bit more.  If he can, he'll be class.  If he can't, I don't think he'll last.

Gutierrez - Star man in the midfield.  A fantastic deep lying playmaker that was capable of taking over games.  There is tons of interest in him from big teams, but he doesn't seem fussed about it, which is nice.  Keeping him at the club is a top priority.

Haas - The steel in midfield.  Older player that is nice to have around the team.

Dardouri - The Moroccan international is one to watch as a rightback/wingback.  He's getting lots of attention from Bundesliga teams and if he continues to develop he's a star in the making.

Caillard - One of the few keepers on this version of FM that didn't drive me absolutely crazy.  His howlers, when he made them, were so hilarious you couldn't help but laugh.  Fortunately, those were kept to a minimum.

Andonian - Good player that I am paying wayyyy too much in wages.  Was hoping for a better season from him, but him and von Piechowski never really clicked.

von Piechowski - The talisman, the legend, the local boy, Laurin is the rock at the heart of the defence.  Truly a club legend, he's the first name on the teamsheet and someone I can't imagine this club without.

Young Players/Prospects

Thomas - With a name like that you'd swear he was English.  He isn't.  However he does look like a decent prospect for the future - came through our youths this year.

Hugo - The young Brazilian came in on a free in January and played well when he went on a loan spell.  Thinking that he'll be on the fringes of the first team next year.

Beck - Another youth product with potential.

Abt - Hoping that this youth product will be a first choice player at some point in goal.  Might have to settle for him becoming a second choice keeper.'

Kostic - If I had to bet on one prospect from my academy making the youth team, it would be him.

Next season - I've got a good squad in place and I'm going back to the 5-3-2 with wingbacks for next season.  Feels like if I can get a striker to fire in 15 goals and we play to our current standard, we'll have a chance at promotion.  I'm going to assume that I'll fall short, so I'd settle for a strong season with a good cup run.

[Wynters]

Sorry about the lack of updates guys. Still very much doing this challenge, just arrived in Europe for a few months though so I'll be a bit more sporadic in terms of updating for a bit. 

[rlipscombe]

good season there @Amethyst21.  some good players there.  good to see, as a fellow German team manager, that someone is doing well in Germany.  hopefully i will be as successful!!

[GoalieManPat121]

Electrico FC - Season 02 Review

Squad : Fixtures : Transfers : Finances : Table (First Stage) : Table (Relegation Stage)

Team Leaders : Team Awards : League Leaders : League Team Leaders : Best 11 All Time : Team Records

It was a season of many changes in our second year. Before the season started I had brought in new starters for over half the team. By the end of the first stage the entire starting eleven had been replaced from the team that ended season one. We had a strong start to the season and for the first half of phase one we hung out in the promotion phase zone. Then we hit a bit of bad form and stayed around our eventual finishing spot of 5th. We did go a round further (3rd Round) in the Taca de Portugal before being humbled by top division side Estoril Praia. As for the relegation stage we pretty much ran through it and finished in 1st by 8 pts. The new signings really meshed and next year looks to have a good shot at promotion. I probably am only looking to fill one starting spot and maybe a backup. The teams finances are miserable right now as there is not much money to come in with this league. We need promotion to inject some cash. The board though dont seem to upset about it yet though. We did lead the league in fouls committed again by far but I like my team to play hard with an edge so I'm ok with it. We set the league record for goals in a season for a minute until Montalegre ended up scoring two more to beat us out.

Key Players: 

• Diogo Braz - Our top striker. Was tipped as a favorite to lead the league in goals. While he didnt do that he did manage 21 on the season.
• Goncaulo Araujo - The fans MVP. Was strong offensively and defensively. 
• Jamil Lucumi - Brought in mid-season. Scored twice as our more defensive minded midfielder including the goal of the season.
• Januario - Was my pick for the teams player of the year. Dominated down the left with 14 goals and 13 assists. Many of his were very important match winners.
• Naka - The other side of our attacking wings. Wasnt as proficient as Januario but had very respectable play. 
• Mateus Fonseca - Played all attacking midfield spots at some point. Before settling into a off the bench spot later in the season
• Diogo Lobo - Brought in  mid season. Locked down the defense during the relegation stage.

Interesting Young Players:

• Cesar Turrillo - Another midseason transfer. He will be the first central midfielder of the bench next year.
• David Ribeiro - Didnt get in many games as I wanted this year but will be the main backup option at LB
• Diogo Gomes - Like Ribeiro he didnt get into as many games due to Januario's great play. He did manage his first two professional goals though. 
• Rodrigo Borges - Brought in mid season. Already has a spot next to Lobo in central defense. 

Last Years Goals: We completed two of our three goals for the season. We went a round further and we brought in a lot of versatile players. We did miss out on the promotion stage goal.

Next Years Goals: There is only one goal next year and thats to make the promotion stage playoff. Anything less will be a massive disappointment. 

Goal of the Year: Jamil Lucumi with a cracking match winner. He scored twice on the year and both were lasers like this.

Game of the Year: SG Sacavenense vs Electrico - This match had little importance in the standings but was full of twists and turns. We go down early. Take a 2-1 lead and then go down a man. SG scored the next two to take the lead. We tied it up in the 75th and then won it with two in the final 7 minutes. Highlights

[GoalieManPat121]

@Amethyst Good season. Your save is kinda going alont with mine. Just survive the 1st and build in the 2nd and expect promotion in the 3rd. Your midfield looks very strong.

[fabreth]

Dinamo St. Petersburg

2017-18 Season Review

League  |  Squad  |  Transfers  |  Finances  |  U19 Team

 

Competitions

It was a good season after all. After some signins and loans we settled on a counter 4-5-1(with DM, AML and AMR), and a fluid 4-2-3-1 ad our to go tactics. First part of the season was a rollercoaster, with many losses and then many victories. It's a strange league, as I remembered, everyone can beat everyone.. almost.

For a moment we were 6 points from the playoff zone, but in all sincerity, would have been too much.. I felt we weren't ready.

 

Key Players

Generalov  - a good goalkeeper for the league, nothing phenomenal but it does give security to the defense.

Babenkov - his low determination brought me to choose others for the role, but when I had to play him, he made me change idea. Zuev is better, but Babenkov and his experience performed better

Puzic - I'll try to renew the loan. He was injured for almost 5 months after a goal on his debut, so I had it only for the second part of the league. But he satisfies me, as a playmaker but also as a defensive midfielder

Nemtinov - A great winger, 0 cost, he improved a lot in the second part of the season, and I have high hopes for next season... but he doesn't want to renew for now, so I'll see..

Markosov - The captain who bring the goals. I hope he doesn't weaken too much phisically, he's also a good tutor.

Other notable players are Midzhikov and his assists, and the strange case of Zhbanov.. stat wise he's not so great, so to speak, but in the few matches he played he delivered. I expected more from Zuev, Saramutin and Obolski(I'll let him return to Dinamo Moscow).

Some potentially good players are in the U19, but I'll have to work on their personality.

 

Finances

Financially, it's a downward spiral as expected.. but the president seem eager to inject cash as needed, let's hope he continues. The problem are the poor structures, and the unwillingness to improve them (and I don't even have the option to improve the youth academy/recruitment, I hope it will comes up with reputation improvements)

 

Next Season Goals

- Improve the league position

- At least one improvement of the facilities? Please?

- Playing time for the young prospects

[SuperSubFM]

@fabreth Exciting season awaits for you next year, great job in turning the early season slump around.  Love seeing the commitment to youth and good luck getting your board to play ball, my board are pains in the tails but LLM is so hard to balance the books, even if you follow the wage structure. - Good Luck

@Amethyst21 Another save with exiting potential! Kostic looks like a tasty prospect for you, and your transfers all look like solid acquisitions; I would be surprised if you didn't have a stellar season next year; you certainly seem to be a man with a plan - Good luck

@GoalieManPat121 Not to discredit anyone else, but I must admit I am REALLY vested in your save and style. I can understand why you are excited for next year as the way your team gelled and performed to rescue your season was remarkable. Januario does indeed look to be the stand out transfer in a really strong crop of transfers.  I would be surprised if you didn't make the promotion phase next time out. Rodrigo Borges  looks like a great catch. Even though you are half a mill in the red it looks like the rate of decline has tapered off from the last time we talked; what are cup runs like financially in Portugal?  A good cup run might bring the books back up to black. Looks like  you could do with Jamal banging a load more of those lasers in!

@Lower Leagues Rule and @rlipscombe Any news for you guy's new saves?  I am routing for LLR to break his curse, and am eagerly awaiting Rlipscrombe's revival of Mannheim

As for @SuperSubFM - I have taken a break from my VVSB save, so I don't clog up the forums (I have been participating in DaFuge's LLM challenge at the same time to balance my forum posts out a bit)
 

[Lower Leagues Rule]

@SuperSubFM Things have got pretty busy for me, home & work, so it has slowed down a bit, but am still above relegation this time around and getting results vs teams across the league.

[gb2003]

Stuttgarter Kickers

Season 1 -  2016/ 2017 - The End

It was a season of up and downs. At the end i was relegated.

 

Had a good start but after 7 games my team doesn't want to win anymore so i changed the tactics to win again.

It runs well  (12th place) until my goalie  injured for 3 months until the end of the season so i could only win 1 game and couldn't avoid the relegation anymore.

 

Against Großaspach my Goalie played the last game. I was always about the relegation spot. Look at the table before the last game!

My last game was against Chemnitz, winner of the 3.Liga. 

 

I played well but couldn't manage to get the winning goal.

A draw would be enough when oldenburg doesn't win their game also.

But this is footman.....

 

The challenge is now over and i'm looking forward to manage the next team.

 

[wynter]

End of Season Update - 2018/19

Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

Start to the season was ridiculously tough, and it didn't quite show signs of getting better from there. The first half of the season had us bottom of the league with only 13 points from 17 games of those games we'd drawn 7, only winning 2 and losing 8. We definitely had the chances to win games but I was still really concerned because our squad just didn't seem capable of getting the job done when needed.

We only made one transfer in January, adding some more steel to our midfield in the mold of Viera Doualla, shifting to a defensive formation that was mainly concerned with snatching one goal and keeping the opposition out at all costs.

Formation

The BWM and DLP both in Defensive roles, both had high tackling to break up play while our DLP still had some good passing range should we be able to make a quick counter. Our BBM linked our front 3 to our midfield. Not my ideal formation but we needed all the points we could grab and draws were crucial in that respect as well as keeping the GD down.

In a funny statistic, we actually had the best possession stats for the year.

After the Winter Break ended we improved our results slightly, picking up some massive wins vs CSKA and Dinamo Moscow. In the end we just avoided automatic relegation, finishing 14th on the table and entering the Automatic playoffs vs Tosno. Thankfully we were far and away better than them and comfortably walked out 4-2 winners after both legs.

We've been given a handy 18k wage increase for next season and are scheduled to move back into our new Stadium in November after building was delayed. We're currently -500k in the budget but in January Kudryashov was receiving 2.5mil bids on deadline day which I ultimately held off on, so we're definitely sitting on some golden eggs if we want to break even relatively soon. Ideally staying up will improve my sponsorships a fair bit though.

 

[rlipscombe]

@SuperSubFM - i am hopefully going to finish my first season with Mannheim tonight.  time will tell.  depends on how much i get through in the next couple of hours.