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JoseRR's FM09 Big Euro Nation Challenge!


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I think we should allow anyone on the thread to nominate a player or game or goal or whatever to the first list of nominations. Then we could possibly have a sub comittee to decide a final list, personally I would suggest Rlipscombe, Iacovone & Myself :o to cut the lists down to say 4-5 final nominees and then we could hold a vote on the winners of each award. So first we probably need to organise a lost of what we want in it. I like the above list, but there is a possibility for a few more awards out there. :)

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Alrighty,

Australian manager David Machine has taken over newly promoted Portuguese club Clube Futebol Benfica. Located in Lisbon, like 2 of the Big 3 clubs, Fut. Benfica where founded in 1916. Theirn 2 biggest rivals are Oriental and Casa Pia.

Machine joins a club that currently only has 2 players in it's squad, though Fut. Benfica is a professional club so new players won't be difficult to attract. They currently play Estadio Francisco Lazaro, a stadium that can hold 2500. The club chairman is currently looking to leave the club, so Machine could face a difficult first few months.

I think it's obvious why I chose this team ;) imagine in the top flight: "Benfica v Benfica":D

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Good luck in Portugal d-machine:thup: Is Radakovic described as a world-class striker or was he previously a wonderkid? You've taken the previous season report idea to a new level, but it's great :D

Haha I just thought I should show all my reports, but I am going to include each Seasons end of year report in my EoS report from now on, along with a couple of extra aditions including reinstating the AD Fafe Hall of Fame. Radakovic is not World-Class and has never been a Wonderkid haha.

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Haha I just thought I should show all my reports, but I am going to include each Seasons end of year report in my EoS report from now on, along with a couple of extra aditions including reinstating the AD Fafe Hall of Fame. Radakovic is not World-Class and has never been a Wonderkid haha.

How has he not a world-class striker now?! I bet there's some world-class Italian or Brazilian not as good as him..

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**End Of Season Update - Domegliara - Serie B - 2014/15**

Transfers

The transfers for the new season were remarkably restrained. I thought I had the core of a team that could challenge for the play-offs. For that reason the players coming in were split fairly evenly between those to go into the first team and those bought for the future.

Those brought in to challenge for a regular place were (unfortunately I forgot to take screenshots of them when they came in, so screenshots will be later in the update)-

Martial Konate - an Ivorian central defender, who though slow has excellent defensive attributes. He was expensive - costing £900K

Silvano Ferraro - a versatile defender who can play as a centre-back or, as I saw him predominantly, a right-back. He had been co-owned and cost a total of £500K

Stefano Okaka - athletic striker who you'll all know. He arrived on a free.

Marius Dinu - a left footed Romania central midfielder arrived from Swedish club Helsingborg for a fee of £650K - He was brought in as back-up for Di Mauro and Casisa

Robert Feczesin - strong, tall Hungarian striker brought in to replace Gianluca Palmiteri (sold by the chairman) was the glamour signing of the season. £1.2m transfer fee was a new record for Domegliara and Pastore had an experienced partner.

The players brought in for the future were-

Marco D'Avanzo - young goalkeeper brought in for £45K.

Ernesto Balducci - striker with excellent technical stats who needs to concentrate on the physical and mental sides of the game.

Alfonso Villa - left winger who has a good range of skills and, I think, has the potential to be a top quality performer.

League

So the new season came round with a few comings and goings into the squad that I had at the end of the last season hoped would challenge for a play-off place in 2014/15. The media thought they were onto something this season with their prediction over my league position. Having finished 11th in the previous two season they predicted a third successive finish there. So, full of hope of bettering our predicted finish we began the season. However, the first few games went as they had done in the previous few seasons. The first 10 games saw a fluctuation starting off at the bottom of the table, followed by a climb up to 8th and then a drop down to the relegation positions again. At this stage it was becoming clear that it was going to be another season like before of what I saw as underachievement culminating in a mid-table finish. Coupled with this was the fact that all my strikers were misfiring. Feczesin was proving to be a big disappointment following his hefty price tag, and Okaka and Pastore were faring no better.

I thought my prophecy was coming true when over the next 10 games we improved our form and climbed up to the middle of the pack, within striking distance of the play-offs but not really threatening them. After 20 games we were in 11th, precisely where the media thought we should be come the end. The season was taking the same course as the last couple of seasons despite having a better squad and I thought playing better football too.

The next 10 games saw us consolidate in the middle and even move up a few places - after 30 games we were sitting in 8th, only a couple of places outside the play-offs. All progressing as normal, I was hoping to equal my first Serie B season of eighth place. But then something happened and over the next few games Il Nuovi Rossoneri leaped up the table entering the play-off places. After 35 games the Domes were sitting in 3rd just one place off automatic promotion, but still someway off in terms of points.

The next 5 games saw us consolidate this position in the play-offs - after 40 games we were still in 3rd but closer to 2nd place.

Two games remained and they were both at home to lower table teams. But Salernitana also had a couple of easy games. Away at 22nd and 21st place of the 22 teams. Now I hate play-offs and generally have as much success in them as the Bandits. You cannot imagine my glee when in the 41st game of the season with me 3-0 up against Brescia, I looked at the latest scores to see that after 80 minutes Cagliari (bottom of Serie B) were holding Salernitana at 0-0, putting me into 2nd place as results stood. Cue a nerve-wracking last 10 minutes watching the results more than my own performance, Chievo, were also winning (4th place team) meaning that they would still be equal with me on points but behind on results between teams. The final whistles went and the results hadn't changed. I was in 2nd ahead of Chievo but level on points, Salernitana had dropped down to 4th.

The final game rolled up and I had to equal the result of Chievo to get promoted. Chievo were at home to Pisa, themselves challenging in the play-offs whilst I was at home to Ravenna (16th) I steeled myself to need a win from this final game. I was nervous. Nerves were settled fairly early however, when Pastore scored in the 9th minute. He then scored again in the 15th to effectively win the game and seal promotion. If Pastore wasn't already a club legend he was now. His goals had promoted us. Chievo won their game against Pisa 1-0 but it was not enough. Il Nuovi Rossoneri would next season be taking on the other Rossoneri! A final league position of 2nd was obviously the clubs highest ever, and the graph shows the progression of the season, a steady rise up the league culminating in hitting second at precisely the right time.

Star Players

There were many stars of this season and I intend to show you all of them! ;)

First up was Novello - the right-winger, who last season fought of competition from Wilhelmsson to be first choice, this season really justified his place. He got assists by the bucket-load (20) - the second most for the Domes and for the league.

Next up - Borghese - who had been with me since Serie C1 took back his first team place this season, having last season played second fiddle to newcomers. He really took his chance and defended well, but also proved a huge threat from corners - scoring 7 goals.

Now, regular readers will be expecting this next player to feature and sure enough here he is - Giuseppe Casisa, club captain, and the one player to have been here since the beginning of the new era again had a good season. As reward for captaining the Domes from Serie C2/C to Serie A I am going to post his history.

His regular partner in the centre of midfield was Di Mauro again. Last season he began to show his promise and this season he showed even more.

The new boy in midfield - Dinu - got a good number of games too, rotating with both other midfielders and performing very well in the games he played. He started off at lightning pace - scoring 4 goals in his first 5 games.

The next star of the season is another new boy - Silvano Ferraro came in at the start of the season, took on the right-back role, and excelled all season.

Another new face in defence - Martial Konate - had a good season, he player plenty of games and got his fair share of goals from corners too.

Next up is my left-winger - the Angolan Steven Willems who had a good first season in Italy last season and managed to better it in his second. He was vital to the team for the number of goals he created. Eventually he managed to get 21 assists - the most in Serie B.

Honourable mention goes to my goalkeeper Tanguy Vignau - not because of his average rating, but because he was very definitely my number-1 and he didn't disappoint once.

Last up come the star strikers. Stefano Okaka after a disappointing start to the season really found his feet and was a revelation for 2/3s of the season. He was top-scorer for me and also in the entire Serie B with 24 league goals.

Last but by no means least is the club legend Diego Pastore. He got an honourable mention last season because of him being home-grown. This season though he gets in purely on merit. He scored 21 goals added 9 assists and picked up 6 man of the match awards. A great for the season for the 18-year old. The biggest thing for him though was that he turned 18 in time to celebrate promotion with a drink!

Awards

Top Scorer - Stefano Okaka - 24 goals

Fans Player of the Season - Marco Novello

Highest Average Rating - Marco Novello - 7.27 (40 apps)

'Can we Play you Every Week' - This year's award goes to Empoli who we beat 3-0 away, and 2-0 at home.

Flop of the Season - Robert Feczesin

Cups

Again nothing. Knocked out in the Second Qualifying Round of the Italian Cup.

Youth Player Watch

Pier Luigi Farinelli - Another move for the young centre-back. I'm not disappointed he left.

Aldo Mazzini - He continues to develop well, but made even fewer appearances this season as he lost his place as 3rd choice central midfielder.

Diego Pastore - What more can I add? A great season for an 18-year old and he'll be playing Serie A football next season.

Fabio Calabrese - the latest youth academy prospect is alright, but I can't see him making much of an impact at the club.

Aims For Next Season

Aim for next season is definitely just survival. Oh and I'd like a cup run for once!

New Records

There were a few records broken this season.

Highest League Position - 2nd Serie B (previous - 8th Serie B)

Highest Attendance - 17,288 v Ravenna May 2015 (previous - 14,564 v Pescara 2014)

Highest Gate Receipts - £250K v Salernitana April 2015 (previous - £210K v Salernitana 2014)

Average Attendance - 12,528 - 2014/15 (previous - 10,443 - 2013/14)

Top Goalscorer - Stefano Okaka - 24 - 2014/15 (previous - Gianluca Palmiteri - 21 - 2012/13)

Top League Goalscorer - Stefano Okaka - 24 - 2014/15 (previous - Gianluca Palmiteri - 21 - 2012/13)

Most Assists - Steven Willems - 21 - 2014/15 (previous - Gaetan Tomas Guzman - 18 - 2011/12)

Most League Apps - Giuseppe Casisa - 201 (previous - Giuseppe Casisa - 164)

Highest Transfer Fee Paid - £1.2M Robert Feczesin - August 2014 (previous - £240K - Bent Hansen from Brondby - July 2013)

Highest Transfer Fee Received - £2.5M Gianluca Palmiteri - August 2014 (previous - £1.7million - Benito Nicolas Viola to Chievo - Jan 2014)

Total Transfer Spending - £3.3M - 2014 (previous - £275K - 2013)

Total Tranfer Income - £4.7M - 2014 (previous - £2.1million - 2013)

Fastest Goal - Marco Novello - 43 seconds v Cittadella - Dec 2014 (previous - Ibrahim Maaroufi - 45 seconds v Pavia - Oct 2010)

Best Elevens

14/15

Overall

Story So Far

Season			League			Position			Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10			Serie C2/C		1st				Champions!
2010/11			Serie C1/B		1st				Champions!
2011/12			Serie B			8th				
2012/13			Serie B			11th
2013/14			Serie B			11th
2014/15			Serie B			2nd				Promoted!

Domegliara Trophy Cabinet

Serie C2/C - 2009/10

Serie C2 Super Cup - 2010

Serie C1/B - 2010/11

Serie C1 Super Cup - 2011

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hello lads just want to check-in and say that I am still taking part but I am currently on a training course for work. As a result I have not been playing much but hoping to get stuck in a few nights this week. Pleased to see people making good progress. :)

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PRDH - Congrats on promotion, well done! Can't wait to see Pastore progress in Serie A. Are you getting lots of co-own offers for him already? I remember when playing with San Marino we'd be getting those co-own offers several times a week on anyone remotely talented.

d-machine - Can you mabye juggle your transferbudget versus your wagebudget? I do that alot when I'm in that situation, but the first few seasons there's not much to work with.

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d-machine - I like to think the squad is good enough to do alright. Hopefully avoid relegation. But really I have no idea!

Ohanzee - Yes, yes I am! Have been getting about 4 a week in every transfer window for the last 2 years! The same for plenty of other players too.

In other news, the board have agreed to improve training and youth facilities! :)

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Real S.D. Alcalá - Spanish Second Division B1 2010/11

Transfers - A lot of players were signed, all on frees. All played a part during the season but the highlights were:

Cristian (MC) - Great season in the middle chipping in with 5 goals and was picked as the Fans Player of the Year.

Isidre (AMR) - Brilliant on the right wing as he set up 9 goals for teammates and scored 6 himself.

Israel Collantes (MC) - Signed in January he had a decent season for us but has the stats to be a star at this level.

Spanish Second Division B1

Predicted: 15th | Final Position: 2nd | Graph | Playoffs: Second Round

A slowish start as we hammered teams at home but couldn't even score away from home. But the home wins were convincing, games we would have drawn last year so the losses didn't hit as hard and we were always in the top half.

As November started we began to gel and by the new year we were in a group of 4 teams fighting for the 3 playoff places with Pontevedra a long way clear in first. Mainly through our home form we found ourselves in 2nd with 10 games to go and secured a playoff place with 3 games to spare but we never had a chance of 1st as Pontevedra were relentless.

Our first opponents in the playoffs were our parent club, Atlético Madrid's B team. A 2-1 win away should have meant an easy home leg but complacency set in and we were 2-0 down inside 10 minutes before Ángel stepped up and smashed in a superb hat-trick to put us back in control. A late goal for Atlético B was too little too late as the home leg ended 3-3 and we progressed 5-4 on aggregate.

Next we faced Lorca and again the first leg was away. Despite 0 shots on target we managed a 1-1 draw thanks to an own goal. The second leg was close as well ending 2-2 to send Lorca forward on away goals.

Spanish Cup - 1st Round - Embarassing

Spanish Federation Cup - Qtr-Final

Other News

Finances are still healthy as we got better attendances as the season progressed as I've stayed well within wage budget.

Club Records

Stars

Miguel Ángel Saavedra (AML) terrorized right-backs all season creating 14 goals and scoring 11.

Ángel (ST) had some competition for his place this season and set about proving his worth with 23 goals to maintain his position as our leading ST.

Youth Watch

Summer 2010 - Juan Antonio (ST) | Initial Profile | Current Profile - What a season. Brought into the first team during an injury crisis he scored 2 on his debut. Went on to provide stiff competition for Ángel all season as he finished with 17 goals and 10 assists.

Summer 2011 - No one worth bothering with.

Best Eleven: Season | Overall

Real S.D. Alcalá Trophy Room

N/A

Career History

Season   League              Pos.   Cup         Europe         Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2009/10  Second Division B1  7th    N/A         N/A            None
2010/11  Second Division B1  2nd    1st Rnd     N/A            None

Next Season...

After going so close this season we have to be hoping for promotion next year although the playoffs mean a single bad game can destroy an entire seasons work.

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I just noticed that we only have 7 french nationals left in our first team squad of 33 total. And only 2 of them are playing regulary (Costil and Itoua). And Itoua is 99% sure to go on a free this summer. We have 18 different nations in our squad atm.

So I've decided to start searching more in my own backyard, which would be France and Germany. For a club that's been german twice in it's early days not having a single german player is also kinda sad. I have just 2 players in the French under19-23 squads, that's just even more sad. Gonna send another couple of scouts out in France and have one do Germany regulary aswell. Hopefully we can turn this trend around in a few years. Right now the quality from France and Germany are to expensive and doesnt wanna play for us anyways, so we'll have to rely on the foreigners to compete.

daemonic - Unlucky beeing so close, but great season. I'm sure you'll get there next year.

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Right, the Serie A season has begun.

I've not made many signings, but have managed to keep hold of all my important players. Though I did accept a co-ownership bid for Silvano Ferraro from AC Milan. They bid £8.25M. Robert Feczesin also left for £725K, but it was no great hardship to see him leave. I had offered him to the clubs.

As for the incoming players:

Daniele Braca - a good young Italian centre-back not as dominant in the air as I usually like but makes up for it with his other stats. He is the most expensive player in Domegliara history costing £2.4M.

Juho Johansson - a youngish central midfielder from Finland, brought in as back-up for Casisa and cost £825K.

Fedir Kandaurov - the striker I was talking about last season has arrived. He set me back £425K but I can see him being worth it. Good in the air and with the ball at his feet.

Alfonso Maggi - a right winger who I've had my eye on for a while, excellent raw talent, could be better mentally, but hopefully he will learn. He cost the club £1.2M

Hamza Tlili - strong defender, replacing the unfortunate Borghese. He arrived for £1.6M.

Honestly, who said there would be a big step up between Serie B and Serie A. I'm storming it. I've played 3 games in the league so far this season and I've lost all 3. Scoring 2 goals and conceding 10. This is going to be easy! :(

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EURO Cup 1st Knockout Rnd

Sampdoria - FC Mulhouse 3 - 4

FC Mulhouse - Sampdoria 2 - 1

First Leg

The game got off to a bad start for us as Bruno Fornaroli scored after just 3 minutes on a easy header from 5 yards. 3 minutes later our own Petr Fojtik missed a penalty and I was thinking "Oh well, there goes our chance". But when the following corner was smashed into the net by Onanga Itoua we where back in it already. After 21 minutes Fornaroli was again left all alone in our box, but Costil saved brilliantly. Sadly Sammarco was faster on the rebound and scored on an open goal. 8 minutes from half time we got a freekick in a dangerous position just outside the 16 yard box. Robin van persie stepped up and hammered it in the far corner. 2-2 at halftime and I was thrilled, and let the lads know exactly that.

4 minutes into the second half we where down again. Another cross hit Cassano who hammered it into the post. The ball hit Winter and he put it into his own net. Horrible start and I feared the worst, but again we fought back. A long ball from Costil found van Persie who held the ball up well. From behind came Egana and hammered the ball in the close corner. Four minutes later we got a free-kick out by the corner flag. Egana again found Itoua in the box and he headed in his second of the game. 4-3 and an amazing victory in Italy.

Second Leg

Having won the away game we set out in the same way at our ground. We dominated the game from the kick off and after 40 minutes Rochina found van Persie in the box. He made no mistakes and put the ball away. There where big shouts for a offside. So big in fact that Sampdorias Milito (who they stole from under my nose last summer) got his second yellow card for protests and was sent off. I was rubbing my hands thinking "everything is going our way". 10 minutes later I was brought down to earth as Konko scored a easy header from a corner kick to make it 1-1 at half time. Still, knowing Sampdoria needed 2 more goals to ruin our evening I told the lads I was pleased.

The second half started with us pressing and after 9 minutes we got our reward. Rochina got to the byline and put a hard cross along the ground to the far post. Saviola popped up and had a easy finish. The rest of the game was much like a training match. A comfortable 2-1 win and FC Mulhouse are through to the next round.

With 2 goals from van Persie and 1 from Saviola in the two matches, I'm happy to see that the experience I was looking for at the start of the season have helped us through. Itoua got another 2 goals from set-pieces aswell, and he'll be sorely missed next season. He's already accepted a contract offer from Schalke. Still, it's happy days at FC Mulhouse as our country rivals FC Bordeaux await in the next round of the EURO Cup.

EURO CUP 2nd Knockout Rnd

FC Bordeaux - FC Mulhouse 1 - 3

FC Mulhouse - FC Bordeaux 4 - 2

Bordeaux proved to be no match, and once again Robin van Persie was on fire with 4 goals in the second leg. Both teams scored 2 goals each on set-pieces over the two legs aswell. I wonder if I should change my defensive routines a bit.

We got extremely lucky in the draw for the Quarter and Semi finals. Missing out on Roma, Man Utd, Fiorentina and Marseille, and drawing Ukraine side Dinamo Kiev. Still a very strong oponent, but by far the easiest draw we could hope for at this stage.

EURO CUP Qtr Finals

Dinamo Kiev - FC Mulhouse 2 - 1

FC Mulhouse - Dinamo Kiev 1 - 0

Dinamo Kiev proved a strong challenge at their own ground, but we deserved to get the away goal, and even a draw would not have been unfair. Back in France we completely ran over them. Their red card came after 87', so we dominated the whole game 11 vs 11. Once again set-pieces turned the tides though as Manuel Paiva got on the scoresheet again. (He's really turning into a great player and should be able to fill the hole Itoua leaves at the end of the season. We just have to find him another partner. Not sure our current backups are up to the task.)

So FC Mulhouse in their first year of European football are into the semi finals of the EURO Cup. Greece side Panathinaikos are waiting for us and they do look slightly stronger than Kiev. We should still be able to give them a good fight for the final spot though. Marseille actually managed to knock Man Utd out in their meetings and Fiorentina beat Roma.

With 8 teams left in Europe this season (EURO Cup + Champ.lg) there's now 2 english, 2 french, 2 italian, 1 greek and 1 spanish side left. Hopefully this will push the French coefficient up a bit for next year. Although I guess the EURO Cup isnt as good as Champions League for that. And Lyon got hammered by Liverpool in the first knockout stage there.

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Des Tiny's Keeping the Fafe

Liga Sagres 2023/24

Mid Season Review

Also Featuring Euro Cup Group Stages

The Set-up

Odds: 20:1 (=4th)

Prediction: 4th

Season Tickets: 1586

European Rank: 52nd

Expectations:

Liga Sagres: 4th-6th

Portuguese Cup: Semifinal

League Cup: Semifinal

Super Cup: Lose

Euro Cup: Group Stage

The Super Cup

Benfica vs AD Fafe (N)

After winning the Portuguese Cup last season the first piece of silverware up for grabs in our new season was the Portuguese Super Cup, now facing Benfica who we had never beaten was always going to be tough. They have won more league titles than any other team in Portugal. I decided to take the game to them, and this paid off early as Tiago scored after only 6 minutes to give us the lead. Our celebrations were short lived as Benfica put two past us before halftime and one while our boys were still warming up. Then a late consolation goal from the young gun Batista saw us end the game on a high.

Final Score 2:3

The Portuguese Cup

We enter this competition in the 4th round and we faced off against Leixoes away, drawing another Liga Sagres team is harsh, we dismissed them 2:1 only to draw Academica in Round 5, seems we are going to do this the hard way.

The League Cup

In the league cup we were once again drawn in the Group of Death, with three classy teams in the group it is always going to be a struggle to get out and make it to the top, but we were going to try. To this point we only have one game in the books a 2:0 victory over Setubal, but this has left us on top tied with Porto in the group so far.

Group Table

Liga Sagres

The league season started poorly with us losing 3:0 to E.Amadora who are not one of the teams who should even come close to us, but we followed that by going four games unbeaten. A loss to Guimaraes once more fired us up to thrash Lieria, Maritimo & Leixoes before losing to Benfica. Then followed a Delightful victory over Porto 3:0 which has to be my most memorable moment so far. The rest of the league to halfway was business as usual and we sit in 5th spot 1pt behind Maritimo and 3 behind Sporting, Porto & Benfica have run off again.

League Table

League Awards: Sept GoM, Nov PoM, Nov MoM.

European Cup

AD Fafe had been drawn to enter at the Fourth Qualifying Round, we came in and were seeded, out of the Draw came Slavia (Sofia) of Bulgaria we were away first leg, so at worst I wanted a draw.

Slavia 1:1 Fafe

Maradona

Then heading home I knew a win would put us through and really anything else was unacceptable.

Fafe (6) 5:1 (2) Slavia

Marcel (4), Di Giuseppe

A stunning victory which put us through into Group B, to be seeded second in thsi group behind Atalanta (29th) was a little confusing as I could not see us losing a single game. We would also be making our first trip to Finland.

Fafe 3:0 Litex

Marcel (2), Own Goal

Tampere 0:2 Fafe

Marcel (2)

Atalanta 1:3 Fafe

Radakovic (3)

Litex 1:4 Fafe

Marcel, Radakovic (2), Di Giuseppe

And with all our away games out of the way and only 2 home games left we had already qualified for the knockout stages, and we just wanted to complete our group now.

Fafe 2:0 Tampere

Maradona, Crawford

Fafe 1:0 Atalanta

Marcel

Absolutely delighted to have dominated our group and to have got both maximum points and maximum income from out 6 games.

Group Final Table

Now in the first knockout round we have drawn Panathinaikos of Greece (20th), now this is a tough draw, but if I can steal a goal away from home I believe I can beat them and make it through to face either PSV (16th) or PSG (58th) in the next round.

The Players

Squad stars

Squad stats

Barata - The young Right winger is playing as a great back-up and is one of my two academy stars.

Radakovic - He is clearly not as good this season as previously, but he is solid.

Batista - Fafe Academy product, 7 stars potential, already as good as Rocha and having a stunner.

Tiago - Haveing stepped into the limelight he has performed, with wings like this we are set.

Di Giuseppe - Still the leading assist man in the squad, but he is having a fight with Tiago this season.

Costa - I was really worried that he could not make the step up, I am glad to say he has proven me wrong, but i still really need a star left back.

Rocha - Solid in the AM role and able to keep the play moving, still not spectacular, but AMC seems to get the lowest ratings on the field.

Marcel - This seasons leading goalscorer, he is just coming into his prime and with Maradona chasing him it could be tight.

Pereira - Signed to hopefully be the future left-wing behind Tiago, 6 star potential, I am hoping in a couple of seasons to see my midfield being run by Pereira, Batista & Barata, yes I stole him from Porto.

Crawford - He has managed to step out from the shadow of Juan and take the starting DM spot.

Zafeiropoulos - An 18 year old Defender, he adds to my bench of youth which is now Mauricio, Zafeiro, 'Juan', Barata, Pereira, Batista & Maradona. I am hopeful he can pull his potential and become the next DC in the team. I stole him from Panathinaikos in the January window.

Other News

Taylor retired and joined my staff as a coach.

Tarasenko became a portuguese citizen.

Fafe got called Heavyweights.

Finances are pretty steady good runs in Europe are helping this.

Debut's for our two young Academy products in the U19s.

Batista also became our youngest ever player when he took the field.

Transfers in January

You have already seen my two signings up above for a total of 1.2 million, In the same window so far I have received 2 million by selling Godfrey & Guerra to America (MEX) & Hibernian, I also have bids on the table for Vass who is likely to leave as well. I was pushing my Wage budget and am now comfortably 8k under it by swapping the huge wages of the older boys for lower wages of the youth.

I also am unable to sign Radakovic to an extension as he wants 14,500 per week, but my board will only let me pay him 12,250. The highest I can pay any other player is 8k.

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LLR - Do you feel like you're getting closer or further away from making the breakthrough and finishing in the top two?

Well I feel I am closer to finally knocking Sporting off and taking them out of 3rd, as for chasing down Benfica and Porto I really think it is going to involve a bit of luck in the games and my team being more consistent for me to challenge for the title. I have to say the fact that most of my players are still 4 years from peaking is a great sign, hopefully I can hold onto most of them.

Ohanzee: Interesting to see how we both perform against the best greek side in our games, good luck hopefully you can pull it off, though you have to watch out they are not easy beats. What is their ranking in Europe for you??

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PRDH - Good luck in Serie A! Will be tough by the sounds of it.

It really is proving tough. I have now played 12 games and got 5 points. My last game was my first win of the season. A 4-1 victory over 5th place Fiorentina. A really bizarre result and performance at the end of a run of terrible form. I don't quite know where it came from, but hopefully it will continue! In slightly better news, the rest of the teams at the bottom are almost as rubbish as I am! 17th, 18th and 19th all only have 9 points.

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LLR - They are #63 on the ranking. We're #161. But we already beat them (in some thrilling games) :D

EURO CUP Semi Finals

FC Mulhouse - Panathinaikos 3 - 1

Panathinaikos - FC Mulhouse 3 - 3

Panathinaikos are deffinatly a stronger side than Kiev and we where really quite lucky to win 3-1 at home. We did create more clear cut chances than them, but they dominated the game and had 10 shots more. Nice to be on the winning end of such a game for once though. When we scored first in the away game I thought we might get a easy ride to the final, but they scored twice before halftime and made it a real match. When Rochina scored first in the second half to make it 2-2 it was all but over though, as they would have had to win 5-2.

So we're in the final!! And Marseille was beaten easily by Fiorentina so we got italian opposition. I just hope they dont hammer us to bad. I dont have much hope of beating them, they got so much quality in their squad. But mabye if Costil have a MoM day and we get some lucky breaks and score on the chances we get.

We're also in the French Cup final for the 3rd time. Hoping we can finally win it. Opposition is FC Nantes who we have a 4-3-1 record against in our past meetings. Our best chance of a throphy yet for sure. In the league we're right where we was last year. In between the top 2 (Marseille and Lyon) and the rest. Lyon are simply to good. They've lost 1 game in 35 (27-7-1) and only let in 15 goals. I wish someone would just come and buy Benzema, but he's on a £78,000 per week contract with them, so he's got no reason to leave.

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Ohanzee - Very nice victory there, now interesting to see them so much lower ranked on your game. Where are Fiorentina ranked? And Good luck in the final, I am just compiling a shopping list for what I actually need to compete at the top. if I had money my players would be better, but having to steal them on the cheap is my major problem, and why it'll probably take me longer to complete the challenge.

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PRDH - You have got further than i did with Domegliara, but looks like you may follow Iacovone's example in Italy and go back down in your first Serie A attempt, though he made Europe that season through the Sporting Play Draw.

How far did you get with Domegliara?

I can certainly sense that relegation is on the cards at the moment. Unfortunately, neither would be sporting play draw success. I've racked up loads of yellows whilst losing games too.

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How far did you get with Domegliara?

I can certainly sense that relegation is on the cards at the moment. Unfortunately, neither would be sporting play draw success. I've racked up loads of yellows whilst losing games too.

I only got to Serie B, promoted in the last season I played from Serie C1. And yeah I have a feeling that cracking Serie A is the answer in Italy, in Portugal it is cracking the top three, while in Spain it seems to be beating Madrid & Barca. Not sure bout the others yet.

Shopping List: What I realistically need to be competitive right now is a World Class Goalkeeper, and a World Class Left-back, the rest of my squad are strong enough right now, probably only need small improvements. The future is where I am looking to and I want to following to come all under 20 if possible, GK, DR, DL, 2xDC, DM, MR. I already have an ML in Vanderson coming in Jan 2025. Barata could be the MR, but his potential is only 5, will try to push that though. Pereira & Zafe are likely to be the Defense, but again potential is only 5.

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LLR - I see you can only give £12,5k wages even to your stars, so that's a big handicap right there. We can offer £23k to keyplayers already. And Lyon have their biggest star Sotiris Ninis on a £92k a week, so it's no wonder they are so dominant. Fiorentina are #25 in the ranking atm. AEK is the best greek team in #22. The best non-english/italian/spanish is in fact Porto (#9) and Sporting CP (#10), and Benfica is #18. So I can see why you have trouble breakin into that group. Of the french teams PSG is actually highest at #28, with Marseille #30 and Lyon down to #38. So I guess doing very well in EURO Cup is better than doing decent in Champions League.

Atm we have Portugal, Turkey, Holland, Germany aswell as the big 3 above us in the ranking. Us beeing France.

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LLR - The thing with Serie A is that I can't really see where the easy games are coming from. The £12.5K wage is the same as I'm allowed to offer. It makes luring established players almost impossible. At least I can take hope from the fact that establishing myself in Serie A would get more cash flowing. I've already got regular crowds of 16K people, so thats a good revenue stream.

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Ohanzee: Yeah the low wages is not the best, but thats because Portugal has no money at all outside the top 3 and that is realistic too, I have 6k-7k attendance on average, its just not enough.

Non-ENG/ESP/ITA teams for us are Bayern (4th), Lyon (8th), Benfica (11th), Porto (14th), PSV (16th), Marseille (17th), Bremen (19th) & Panathinaikos (20th). And Sporting are then 24th. So I have three teams still above me (52nd) & Guimaraes (54th) snapping at my heels. My run in Euro Cup last season saw me pick up the 11th highest coeffiecent for the year, you should see a huge jump in your ranking at the end of this season. If I can get a similar amount to last season I could jump into the top 30 because I am wiping one of my previous poor seasons.

Nation-wise we are 6th behind the Big 3 then Germany & France. Both of who are just ahead of us, so if we can make that move it is no gain in spots, but it takes us closer to those big boys.

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LLR - The thing with Serie A is that I can't really see where the easy games are coming from. The £12.5K wage is the same as I'm allowed to offer. It makes luring established players almost impossible. At least I can take hope from the fact that establishing myself in Serie A would get more cash flowing. I've already got regular crowds of 16K people, so thats a good revenue stream.

Yes you will gain money for one, and also if you move up to 4th in the league you will be able to offer a lot more money than i can, I NEED a good cup run to even come close to the money I need, in desperate need of something, I may sell anyone who I cannot see featuring in a title winning side and rebuild, I have cut my squad to the 18 core players now, as I think anymore is a waste, injuries will hurt though.

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French Cup final

FC Mulhouse - FC Nantes 1 - 0

We dominated the game in every stat, but just couldnt score in normal time. Sapara missed a penalty and it looked like the game would go to more of those, but after 120 minutes and 13 seconds we got our 6th corner of the game. Up rose Paiva and gave us our first ever trophy. Hopefully the first of many :)

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French Cup final

FC Mulhouse - FC Nantes 1 - 0

We dominated the game in every stat, but just couldnt score in normal time. Sapara missed a penalty and it looked like the game would go to more of those, but after 120 minutes and 13 seconds we got our 6th corner of the game. Up rose Paiva and gave us our first ever trophy. Hopefully the first of many :)

Congratulations! :thup:

Good victory in a proper cup.

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congratulations on the cup victory and good luck for uefa final.

on the universidad de oviedo front:

good news - we conceded 1 goal in 5 games

bad news - that is 1 more goal than we scored during that period

good news - we scored a goal in the next match

bad news - we conceded 3

12 games to go, 10 points behind the play-offs, currently in 11th, it has gone a bit wrong. think promotion is out of the question this season :(

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EURO Cup Final

Fiorentina - FC Mulhouse 1 - 3

The game started bad for us as a freekick from the far edge of the 16 yard box caused chaos. After a couple of headers Lucas got a easy job putting the ball in an open goal. I thought for sure we where in for a humiliating loss.

But after 28 minutes Paiva pulled us level like so many times before. The corner from Fojtik found Paivas head and he made no mistake. We where back in the game, and it turned out we where gonna dominate from that point in.

After 68 minutes Costil makes a decent save and gets the game going again with a quick throw. 4 passes later the ball is in the back of the net. Saviola plays a brilliant through ball for Coutinho who scores his 14th goal of the season.

After 75 we put the last nail in the coffin. A great team move see us string togher more than 15-20 passes before Fojtik dribles to the byline and puts the ball 45 degrees out to Sapara who's coming from behind. He makes no mistake and places the ball comfortably in the bottom corner.

FC Mulhouse are the Champions of Europe!! Ok, mini-champions, but still. The fans are ecstatic. We won £2,8m and payed £2,7m of it to the players. To be honest I think the money in the EURO Cup is pathetic. They could have spread some of that Champions league money around. But we're champions! I honestly can't believe how we dominated the game aswell. Surely this must give the clubs reputation a incredible boost. Now we just have to break up the big two teams above us next year and get into the big-boys competition :)

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The split personality of my team is getting even worse. It's now manifesting itself in the same game. My last game (away v Sampdoria (3rd)) I went 1-0 up, then 2-1 down at half-time. 3-1 down in the 51st minute. 3-2 in the 55th, 3-3 in the 57th, 3-4 up in the 60th! I'd love to know what goes on in my players heads!

Ohanzee - Even more congratulations!! How close do you feel to breaking Lyon's dominance in the league?

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Thanks :)

I'm pretty far off Lyon. I think the chances of us getting a poor season is far greater than them getting one. They got so much money they can keep replacing whatever they lose with more quality. You can see the league table this season yourself. Not only did they lose just 1 game, they let in 15 goals in 38 matches! That's crazy good. And they also got more than 90 points again. 4th year in a row the winner does that. They spent £57m on new players to, and sold for £23m.

Like I mentioned already, if only someone would buy that damn Benzema I think they might be beatable. But as it stands they are a bit in a league of their own. They also dont really have a old squad. Only Källstrom, Bodmer and Makoun are getting old. The rest are in their prime around 24-28. I guess that's their biggest strenght, and mabye something I should look into. My players are mostly very young or very old.

I also have to beat Marseille though first. They have been just as dominant the last few years. Their star playmaker Rakitic in particular beeing the big man, aswell as their goalkeeper Mandanda who is now worth £18m. He's another one I dont get why noone is buying. If I was Chelsea or Barcelona I would not hesitate to get players like him and Benzema, but there is no interest in them at all. Which can only mean that Lyon and Marseille have a very big reputation aswell.

Anyways, it's great to see us be so far ahead of the 4th team in the league once again. Our only problem for next year is that we're losing Itoua (and most likely Clausen) for no money. And Paiva also really wants to leave. So we might need a completely new centreback-pair. That could be a problem. But I'm hoping Paiva will change his mind and I can force him to stay 2 more years if I want to. Both him and Itoua played 50+ this season, it's hard to replace players like that.

The other worry is attendance. Even with the success we're having our average attendance was only 8000 this season. That's 20th and dead last in Ligue 1. I really hope it's possible for this to grow with the clubs stature? If not we may aswell give up already. There's no way we can win the Champions League with that kind of attendance in the long run.

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Thats not so good Ghost, but it seems that your defense is about right, you just need to get more goals, my problem seems to be the opposite, I am scoring as many league goals as Porto & benfica, but just letting too many in at the other end.

That's exactly what I had this year to. I score enough, but let in goals against pretty much everyone. So that when I dont score ijn a game I end up drawing or losing. Lyon and Marseille beat the crap out of all the average and poor teams. On a good day I can probably beat Lyon (I know I can beat Marseille), but over 38 games they'll do better. For now :)

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FC Mulhouse 2015/2016

3rd in Ligue 1 (pred:4th) | Finances | Transfers | Graph

The League

Pretty much a deja vu from last year. We got a few points less, but ended up in the same spot and still far ahead of 4th. I think the reason for the lack of progress (in terms of points) was the amount of games this season. With our great run in Europe and the French cup we played 62 games. At some point I was just putting out players above 90% fitness not thinking about their quality. Great in terms of getting the youngsters experience, but we lost a few points from it aswell. That said, we could not have made it in Europe if we hadnt saved our best players in some games. At one point we had 3 games in 6 days.

The Cups

Another deja vu of last years as we once again went out in the 3rd round of Coup de la Ligue, and once again got to the final of the French Cup. We did not meet any of the top 5-6 teams in the French Cup at all this season and won it comfortably, even if it took extra time to do so.

Europe

Group A comfortable winners

1st Knockout Rnd - Sampdoria (Leg 1 | Leg 2)

2nd Knockout Rnd - Bordeaux (Leg 1 | Leg 2)

Quarter Finals - Dinamo Kiev (Leg 1 | Leg 2)

Semi Finals - Panathinaikos (Leg 1 | Leg 2)

Final - Fiorentina (Winner!!)

Wont go more into details on this, I've commented on each game in posts just above this one. Champions!!! :D

The Finances

Another deja vu. We're stuck on repeat it seems. Once again we lose money all season untill the last month where bonus for league position and cup-runs pay for all the losses and give us a decent profit. Like mentioned before attendance was just 8000 in the league. It's even worse overall at 7,583. It's gone down two years in a row now :( Really starting to worry about this. But it just means I'll have to search even harder for the big talents and sell them for big profit once they grow up. Right now that's the only income I can hope for outside of league bonuses. Euro Cup money was really bad, in fact I think the French Cup give more in the earlier stages. Only the final win gave a good payout, but all of it was lost in bonus to the players anyways.

The Players

So many did good, but I'll pick out a few (mostly attackers)

Javier Saviola - His experience payed off in the big games, but he didnt really blow me off my feet. I'm still expecting more goals from a lone striker. But he did score 11 league goals, which is more than any striker I've had have done in a few years. And he only started 25, so I guess he did his job.

Coutinho - Did exactly what I expected really. 14 goals, 12 assists in the AMC position.

Rubén Rochina - Another good season from the left wing. Wants to leave, but they all do so I dont really think much about that.

Robin van Persie - I expected him to do well on the wing, but I didnt expect 20 goals from him. He (like Saviola) excelled in the big games in Europe, just like I hoped. 9 goals in Europe is more than I could have hoped for.

Ole Clausen - Another great season on the right wing. If he hadnt been injured so much he'd probably be at 20+ goals aswell. He still refuses to sign a new contract, so I'll probably lose him. I can actually give £42,5k in wages to him right now, but I'm not going to do that. I will try offering him around £20k and if he wants to leave he'll leave. Teams like Bayern, Fiorentina, Porto, and Valencia want him, so I dont have high hopes.

Marek Sapara - Record breaking season for him as he got 25 assists. His contract is also running out. He wants to sign a new one, but I dont really wanna offer the £30k he wants. He's 34 soon and his attributes are gonna start getting worse, not better. I also got younger players that need to play more if they are to get better.

Manuel Paiva - He's turned into a brilliant centreback really. Sadly he aswell feels it's time to move on, but if he leaves I should at least get lots of money for him as his contract still have 2 years left.

Pieter Winter - My new favorite at right-back. Finally I found one for that positiong that I feel happy about. He's "enjoying playing for the club" aswell, so I will try offering him another 5 year contract.

The Transfers

Just a quick note as you can see on the transfer screenshot we let alot go on free. That's me clearing out all the crappy youngsters that's come through our youth ranks in recent years. I have neglected that totally, so I let 20+ players go that I felt hadnt progressed at all.

The Future

It looks bright. Only worry as mentioned countless times is the attendance. I really hope the trend the last few years doesnt mean this is as good as it gets. Cause if we're gonna keep having around 8k forever we're never gonna be able to compete with the big boys in the long run. Our only hope would be to get Champions League money and bring some "golden generation" of players through that are good enough to win the Champions League one season before all beeing sold to bigger clubs.

Jean-Marc Brousse (Start | 2015 | 2016)

He's still improving and still only 16. I'm looking forward to him signing a fulltime contract and getting to train with the first teamers.

FC Mulhouse history

	League pos	CdlL		FC		Europe		Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/2010	5th FN		N/A		9th round	N/A		So close
2010/2011	3rd FN		2nd round	9th round	N/A		Promoted!
2011/2012	2nd L2		2nd round	8th round	N/A		Promoted again!
2012/2013	12th L1		3rd round	Final lost	N/A		...
2013/2014	6th L1		3rd round	Final lost 	N/A		No Europe 
2014/2015	3rd L1		4th round	Semi final	N/A		Europe! 
2015/2016	3rd L1		3rd round	Winners		EC winners	Trophies!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

L1 = Ligue 1 | L2 = Ligue 2 | FN = French National | CdlL = Coup de la League | FC = French Cup

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