[FM 20] Turtle Race Journeyman (COMPLETE)

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (March, April & May 2036)

It has been a good start to the season for us. We got a draw away to Bodo/Glimt which is a graveyard for us over the past few season, but that was followed up by a disappointing draw against Tromso. At the end of the month we did lose to Valerenga, in a game that to be honest we probably should have won by at least a couple of goals, but that was our luck. Valerenga have started the season like a cruise missile, winning every single won of their games, and for that reason we are already under immense pressure in the league if we want to retain our crown. In the cup, it has been pretty standard stuff as we got through the first three rounds without much drama. We shall see how the season shapes up. Valerenga have already gone to Rosenborg and our place and won, so it's looking ominous from our perspective from the early stages.

We sit in 2nd place, already 7 points behind leaders Valerenga. Rosenborg have been sluggish out of the traps and with Valerenga already having a 13 point lead on them I think they can kiss any chance of lifting the Eliteserien goodbye at this early stage.

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We sign the final contract that we will sign with Lillestrom, which will take us up to the end of 2039, the year the 10 years will end and when it will time to move on...unless they sack us of course.

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Norway loses a Champions League spot, which will make things a little more complicated in the future.

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A huge sale for us, sad to see him leave but I think I have to be pragmatic and I think we have a pretty decent replacement. What makes it difficult is that it is a Norweigan talent so we have to replace him with another Norweigan player. Still I think I have found a player who will do a decent enough job, since Kalvenes had become this season a rotation options with the amazing Paraguayan Vento.

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We broke the Norweigan record transfer fee paid with that sale, and by the way Valerenga spend and receive money on players that is quite an achievement.

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Our replacement for Nicolai Kalavenes is Martin Wormdal. Kalvenes was sold for a deal that could approach £59m plus add ons. Martin Wormdal cost us £1m from Malmo. I will go on record as saying that I think Martin Wormdal is probably as good a player.

[Guest]

39 minutes ago, TerminalPortugal said:

Our replacement for Nicolai Kalavenes is Martin Wormdal. Kalvenes was sold for a deal that could approach £59m plus add ons. Martin Wormdal cost us £1m from Malmo. I will go on record as saying that I think Martin Wormdal is probably as good a player.

Am I crazy for thinking Wormdal is twice the player? Great business 

[TerminalPortugal]

11 minutes ago, Fudal said:

Am I crazy for thinking Wormdal is twice the player? Great business 

That's what I was thinking, seemed a no-brainer to me once I knew he was available. I swear the star system is there to make it harder to assess players, and not easier!

[TerminalPortugal]

Comas no longer really fit into our plans. He is approaching 30, takes up a foreigner registration spot and was nowhere near first choice with our new attributes based approach. We made a nice profit of just over £3m on him. I am trying to get someone in that will improve us before the transfer window ends.

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We get Man City again in the Champions League along with Galatasaray and Basel.

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Early on transfer deadline day we pick Tristan Perrin, whom should fit very nicely into one of the two starting central defender spots, we sign him from Vitoria de Guimaraes for £5.75m

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom (June, July & August 2036)

The middle part of the season is in the books and we have been very good. We have had to be because Valerenga are just pretty much unstoppable, they are still undefeated and then look like they are going to win the title this season. Had we not drawn to Rosenborg and lost to Molde we might have been within touching distance, but I can't really complain to be as consistent as we have been has been pretty amazing to me. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say, that the other team is just too good some years. We did exit the cup, it was no surprise to me as soon as we drew Bodo/Glimt at their ground. They are real bogey side for us in the past few season and they gave as a shalacking. As mentioned previously we have made some moves in the transfer market and I hope it improves the side. Based on my analysis of the attributes of the players we brought in they should.

We sit 6 points behind leaders Valerenga. Rosenborg are nowhere to be seen sitting 11 points behind us and 17 points behind Valerenga. Their manager Domenico Tedesco has got the sack already this season and they replaced him with Aaron Mooy, so we will see if their fortunes improve, I hope they don't, especially since there are now only 2 Champions League places up for grabs each season.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (September, October, November & December 2036)

We were pretty good for the remainder of the league season with only one draw, but it was never going to be enough to catch Valerenga with the form they were showing this season, even a win at their ground to give them their only loss of the season was only enough to stop them going undefeated for an entire league campaign. At least we took that off of them. But sometimes you just need to give credit where credit is due, Valerenga were the best side in Norway all season and we did well to be anywhere near them this season. In The Champions League we gave a good account of ourselves, but not enough to get through to the next round, instead we drop into the Europa League First Knockout Round, which to be honest I will take.

Confirmation that we finish in 2nd with 76 pts, 3 behind Valerenga. Rosenborg finished 19 points behind the leaders this year and they will be playing in Europa Conference League next season.

The final group sees Manchester City and Galatasaray qualify fort he next round, we get the Europa League spot and Basel are eliminated.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (Pre-Season 2037)

Pre-season has gone very well as we booked our place in the Europa League Quarter Final, by beating Rapid Vienna and Marseille, to book an encounter with Danish titan Kobenhavn. Elsewhere the friendlies went to plan as we won all but a game against Helsingborgs. This is our 8th season at Lillestrom SK, and I am now very happy with the balance of the team. I think we have a good starting 11 and pretty good quality off the bench. We even have a few very interesting youngsters waiting in the wings as well. Valerenga are going to be a tough ask to dethrone and certainly if they are anywhere near their form from last season it will be a big ask, but I believe in this team and I believe we can get back to the summit of Norweigan football. I am less worried about Rosenborg but you never know.

We have now reached 37 years old and have over 700 games under out belt.

The transfer policy again was to improve where we could. Picking up Roger Kvernstuen from Benfica, who is a Norweigan meant we had a real opportunity to strengthen another position with a foreigner, so it was time to say goodbye to Peter Vestergaard, who I already had earmarked to move on anyway, as he just wasn't quite a defensive midfielder, it was just where he fit on the field and we had no one better to play there without compromising other positions. The deals broke even as we signed Kvernstuen for £15m, a record fee for us, and we sold Vestergaard for £15m also potentially rising to £18.5m. The spot freed up by Vestergaard as a foreigner we invested in what I think is the most imporant position for us on the pitch, at fullback, and specifically at left back where we have an aging Thorberg, who has been a great servant to the club but Hugo dos Santos is just a cut above. We signed the Portuguese from Vitoria de Guimaraes for £11m. Interestingly he played for our former club on loan Hudiksvalls after we left for Lillestrom, so there is a nice little connection there. The other two signings were younger cheaper improvements in depth at centre back, as Teksum and Oien were leaving the club. They are not first choice and are really there as decent cover in an injury crisis. Apart from that all the other business was getting good loan moves for our key youngsters. Deak and Claus particularly look great. Claus went on loan to Rosenborg last season (got injured), but they want him back, so it shows the kind of quality he has. Deak went on loan to Sweden last season and did well enough to be called up to the Croatia National Team. These guys are waiting in the wings should be lose Bajalica, or if they surpass him on the attribute modelling.

This shows the quality of the players against the attributes in each position. Obviously for some positions footedness and being comfortable playing there are also taken into account. I explained in a previous post what the numbers mean.

From that we get this "depth" chart so to speak on the players at the club.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (April, May & June 2037)

Well the title race is already over, Valerenga are going to run away with it, and you may be asking yourself what went wrong. Two things together were responsible for this in my opinion, a horrible number of injuries, at one point we had 7-8 players out pretty long term at the same, we had to shuffle the pack all over the place, and at first it worked, but as time went on and the second contributing came into play which was the fixture congestion that the Europa League run created, as we beat Kobenhavn and lost to Barcelona in the semi finals pretty handily which damanged morale, the fatigue set in and the only thing I could do was rush in the guys who were close to coming back injury and the fringe players. The one shining light in all of this is that we did book a semi final place in the Norweigan Cup, which seems like our only realistic path to silverware this season.

Valerenga have a huge lead already, Rosenborg have not been particularly good, like us. We can overtake Rosenborg with a win in our game in hand. As things stand we are 14 points back on Valerenga, and they just don't drop 14 points in a season.

[TerminalPortugal]

Interestingly I may have discovered why Valerenga appear to be so overpowered, it appears that while the rest of the league appears to need to follow the registration rules when it comes to the number of foreigners. Valerenga for some reason are allow to register 7 Norwegian's and not leave the 9 squad spots they would need to leave open. 

Someone needs to call the Norwegian police, their's match fixing going on here.

[TerminalPortugal]

We confirm another massive departure from the club, as Alfredo Vento, who joined us for £1m from Olimpia in Paraguay is sold on for £58m (although £15m of it will take some time before it comes into our bank account). We already have his replacement lined up and he looks at least as good, and more importantly much better on my modelling. So with a heavy heart we wave goodbye to our Paraguayan friend as he leaves for Borussia Dortmund.

[TerminalPortugal]

So welcoming the newest addition to Lillestrom is Jitson Parra, signed for £2.6m from Atletico Nacional in Colombia, and outgoing is our previous main man Alfredo Vento who just cost Dortmund £58m. Again I have to say I think I have played another blinder when it comes to the transfer window, although the proof will be in the performances.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hahaha!!!! It's as if FM new that I was talking about transfers, and we find out that Nicolai Kalavenes whom we sold only a year ago for £59m to Inter Milan, has apparently not made the grade in Italy and has been sold to Spartak Moscow for £17.5m

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (June, July & August 2037)

It has been a good few months for us in the league, we dropped one point in 3 months, not that it makes one iota of a difference. Valerenga don't lose because they cheating pricks! However we gave a nice bloody nose, which I thoroughly enjoyed smashing them 5-1 in their backyard with three injury time goals. We did exit the Champions League, we were very unfortunate however we outplayed Krasnodar both home and away and only squeaked by on away goals. The same thing happened against Feyenoord, I think teams just try and hit us on the counter attack especially at our ground. Anyway we fall into the Europa League this year and miss out on the big pay day from the Champions League, but we sold Alfredo Vento for £58m so that will make up any shortfall.

It's a 10 point lead for Valerenga at the top  of the league, we have no hope of catching them, I would not be surprised if they got 29-0-1 this season, because they are cheating by having like 25 foreigners in their squad, while I have to make do with just 9.

[NB: I assume they are cheating or for 8 years I have not understood how the registration process in Norway works]

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (September, October, November & December 2037)

As predicted Valerenga barely dropped anymore points for the remainder of the season and were crowned champions. We decided after a pretty indifferent September and a loss to Hertha Berlin at home in the Europa League to go back to the variant of the Hudiksvalls 4-3-3 and that worked very well. I am presuming as we have improved the side the more attacking formation is now a little more reliable. We will need to amend the formulas on our spreadsheets but so be it. I think we will enter the new season reverting to that tactic, as we are a lot more dangerous. In the Europa League we did recover well to end up winning our group, after dropping 5 points in our first couple of games. So we will be involved in European football in the pre-season and early season next season. We also got our hands on some silverware as we upstaged Valerenga searching for the double (treble if you count the Super Cup) as we beat them in the Norwegian Cup Final. All in all probably not much of step forward. Since I discovered that Valerenga and most of the league cheat in their registration for the league I am a little more comfortable in my abilities, as I was really stumped for a few good seasons on why they were so dominant.

That is how the league finished, Valerenga romped away with it, and we finish in 2nd place for more Champions League football next season, hopefully we qualify for the group stages this time around.

This is how our Europa League group finished.

 

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (Pre-Season 2038)

We reach our penultimate season in charge, and the board have told me they want to win the league this season, so that is not good because as we know Valerenga are pretty much unconquerable at this stage. In pre-season we were pretty good, with the odd blip here or there. We did lose the Super Cup to Valerenga at home 3-1, in a pretty even contest. The results between us are just a bit strange, it seems they are far better when they visit me and we are far better when we visit them. The Europa League draw for the First Knockout Round has been made and we will face Valencia.

Not much change here apart from our age.

Despite having a warchest of almost £60m to spend I decide I will only bring some rather ordinary cover at right back. Frank Claus, whom never actually played for us but was out on loan at Rosenborg, was sold to Manchester United for just under £30m. Our bank balance is now up towards the £90m way.

The attribute gradings with the amended positions taken into account

Our expected depth chart not accounting for Oma, who is effectively 3rd choice left back.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (March, April & May 2038)

Well I cannot ask for any more than what the team are producing. Starting off with the Europa League, we faced off against Valencia and beat them pretty easily over two legs to set up a tie against Manchester United again. It seems like every year we draw them in the European competitions. After a heavy 3-0 away defeat, we gave them a hell of fright in the 2nd leg, with the game finishing 3-1 and dumping us out 4-3 on aggregate. In the cup, we have played a rotated team and it has been no issue at all for us to manage the games against lower league opposition. The league at the moment is my pride and joy, we have one loss and that was a game we dominated against Valerenga, but they always seem to find a way to get the win. Elsewhere we have been immaculate, sweeping team aside with dominant performances along the way. The main highlight didn't even come in a game we played in, Valerenga were at home to the enigma machine of the Norwegian Eliteserien in Bodo/Glimt, and they could not crack the code, as Bodo came through 2-1, to give Valerenga I believe their first league loss to a team that was not us in 2 or 3 years. That means that with the three months complete you can't seperate us at the top of the league. The World Cup is about to take place in South Africa for 2038, and we will have to negotiate some games without some of our main men, but then again so will Valerenga, who may even be more affected on account of them cheating the registration, I expect they have more players out for these games.

We are in 2nd place from Valerenga on goals scored, as our points and goal difference match, and it is only 1 goal scored difference between us. We have a slightly better defence, they have a slightly better attack it seems so far this season. The rest of the league is getting left in the wake of both us with Rosenborg already 13 points back on us both. There are still very hard games to come, but so far so good.

[TerminalPortugal]

A great servant to our club at left back retires. This season his legs had gone and he was just never going to play a game for us, but still sad to see the guy retire, a Lillestrom legend in our eyes.

[TerminalPortugal]

We will play IFK Goteborg in the Best Placed Third Qualifying Round for the Champions League

[TerminalPortugal]

Another big transfer movement as Juan Pablo Lopez moves to Real Madrid for £52m + add ons. We signed him for £4m from River Plate only 2 and half years ago. So that is a huge profit on him. When it comes to selling the foreigners I am little less concerned as I can replace them often with a better player for a fraction of the cost, and we already have such a transfer lined up.

[TerminalPortugal]

We replaced Juan Pablo Lopez, with another Lopez, specifically Bruno Lopez for £6.75m from Boca Juniors. In my opinion Bruno is probably about as good if not slightly better than Juan Pablo. So very happy with that bit of business.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (June, July & August 2038)

We have been in quite frankly ridiculous form, and we have had to because of Valerenga. We won every game in the league and in the cup and the only real bleamish is somehow we managed to exit, the Champions League before the group stages again to IFK Goteborg, obviously we have to look at it in the context that both the Norweigan and Swedish are much stronger after almost 20 years of game time ranked 7th and 8th in Europe, so it is not really too surprising that it would be a tough game against one of Sweden's best, however we were the better team in both games and somehow did not manage to win. In the league the competition is very much in our hands, although Valerenga have been ridiculously good they did draw to Viking unexpectedly and the fixture before this update they drew away at Rosenborg. We still have to play them at home, that game could have a real bearing in where the title ends up this season.

We are 4 points clear in the league from Valerenga. We are now 20 points ahead of Rosenborg showing the absolute chasm between us and Valerenga and the rest of the league.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (September, October, November & December 2038)

Well the season ends and we have been absolutely brilliant, as we lift the Eliteserien again after a wait to win it, with Valerenga's amazing performances over the last couple of seasons, but finally we have our hands back on the league crown again. Really the win against Valerenga early September, set us on our way and we never looked back as we just swept away the opposition. Valerenga however did get a measure of revenge as they beat us in the cup final at the end of the season, to the Norwegian Cup as consolation. In the Europa League we quite easily won our group, despite a loss to Anderlecht in the final group game. It has been a wonderful season and the next one will be our last one in charge of the club, so I would very much like to repeat the Eliteserien win if at all possible. The squad has a wonderful balance now, although we got reasonably lucky with injuries, although we had injuries we managed them well.

We broke the record for the most points and wins in a season, as we drop 4 points all season to seal a very memorable title win for Lillestrom.

We finally become a recognised legend at Lillestrom after our ninth year as manager.

Confirmation that we breeze through our Europa League group.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (Pre-Season 2039)

It's our last season at Lillestrom, and we want to go out with a bang by winning the league, but I am sure that Valerenga will have a response for us this season. We have already picked up silverware by beating Valerenga in the Super Cup on penalties. In the Europa League we drew German side RB Leipzig in 2nd Knockout Round and we dispatched them with ease over two legs to set up an encounter with Tottenham Hotspur in the Quarter Finals.

We are now 39 years old.

A very quiet transfer window for us, no one in, no major exits, just some loan moves for youngsters.

The attribute analysis of the players.

The depth chart for the season.

[Guest]

You are absolutely bossing the business side of FM!

[TerminalPortugal]

2 minutes ago, Fudal said:

You are absolutely bossing the business side of FM!

Cheers. I go by the mantra of "buy low, sell high!"

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (April, May & June 2039)

It has been a strong start to the season for us. Not as crazy as last year, we have already dropped more points that the whole of last season in the league, but it looks like their is going to be a little more inconsistency this year both in our team and in Valerenga's. All in all the only poor result was the away draw to Viking, as we should really be beating them. The away draw at Bodo/Glimt at this point is about as good as it gets for us and Brann away is always a tough tie. In the Norwegian Cup it has been plane sailing as we advance to the Semi Finals without much trouble, where we will face an away tie against Bodo again, so that might not bode well for us. In the Europa League it ended at the tie with Tottenham. They were a bit lucky, the win in London, set them up but we missed a penalty that would have made it 2-0 on the night in the return leg is Norway. Had that gone in Tottenham might have been on for a long night and would have had to at least open up a little to try and find the away goal. Alas we missed and exited the competition. Regardless it has been a few good months and we look good value potentially to retain our league crown in our final season.

Valerenga have a game in hand, and could move to within 3 points of us, but currently we sit top and 4 points ahead of Haugesland who are having a very good season. Rosenborg are not totally out of it yet, but I don't think they will be around come a few months.

[TerminalPortugal]

Champions League groups don't get much harder than the one we got drawn.

[TerminalPortugal]

Another huge transfer out of the club. Jitson Parra whom we bought out of Colombia to replace Alfredo Vento, is going to Paris St Germain for £56m, which may eventually rise to £62m plus add ons. We already have our sights on the replacement and again I think I have found a better player.

[TerminalPortugal]

New signing Patrick Nsiala joins us from Belgian side Genk for £11m. Again looking at him I think he looks every bit the player that Jitson Parra is, and at a sixth of the cost. Although again the proof will be in the performances on the pitch.

When I joined the club we had something like £1m in the bank. Now we have £158m in the bank, mostly financed by player sales.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (July & August 2039)

The mid part of the season is over and we suffered our first loss of the season as Rosenborg came to town and turned us over, and to be honest it wasn't even like we dominated the match. Rosenborg look to be getting much better this season and they are in the title race, which has coincided with a mini downturn for Valerenga. Elsewhere in the league we have been perfect taking 7 wins out of 8. The title race is our hands, we would need to mess up to not be champions this year. The win against Valerenga final game of the period cementing that. Funnily enough new man Nsiala had barely come off the plane to sign his deal with the club and put him in for the departing Parra and he scored the winner. What a way to introduce yourself to the Lillestrom faithful.

It's a 4 point lead over Rosenborg, and Valerenga look a bit off the pace at this point, although with 10 games still to go things can definately change in that time.

[TerminalPortugal]

We let the club know that this season will be our final season in charge of Lillestrom.

[TerminalPortugal]

Lillestrom SK (September, October, November & December 2039)

And so our final act as Lillestrom manager is complete. 10 years in Norway managing Lillestrom has finally come to an end, and it ended in a fantastic season, a treble of the league, cup and super cup. We also were very good in the Champions League and are extremely unlucky not to make it to the next round, after finishing in an extremely tough group on 10 points. But that ended up not being enough to pass to the next round. It involved some famous wins against Chelsea and Real Madrid at home, showing how far this team has come in the last 10 years. The league campaign in the end was probably one of the most comfortable we have had during our time in Norway, we pretty much breezed to the title, and it was nice also to take the Norwegian Cup beating our biggest foe in Valerenga.

The league table shows us as champions with a huge margin of victory of 13 points to Valerenga. Valerenga and Rosenborg were battling it out for the final Champions League spot but they never looked like they would trouble us for the title, especially as the title was going down to the last few months.

Confirmation that we narrowly missed out on the knockout rounds of the Champions League and went out on a very high points total for 3rd place. We drop into the the familiar territory of the Europa League knockout rounds.

[TerminalPortugal]

Confirmation that we leave Lillestrom as manager. Rosenborg manager Aaron Mooy is currently favourite to take over, not sure he has done that great a job so far at Rosenborg so would be a decent if a little underwhelming appointment in my humble opinion. Next up the review of my time in Norway.

[TerminalPortugal]

Review of Norway

Well our time in Norway is over, and I must say first of all, managing Lillestrom has left me with a strange irrational love of the club. Perhaps it was the fact that we had to work so hard to keep up with Valerenga during our stay, perhaps it was just an enjoyment of seeing our team evolve over time that for whatever reason resonates with me. Norway as a country to manage in was pretty nice. It has the same problem that all the Scandanavian leagues have when it comes to the European competitions, in that the later rounds fall during the pre-season and it makes it a difficult juggling act to get the players fit and all manage the competitive games at that early stage of the season. During our time in Norway we did seem to discover quite a big bug when it came to the league in that it did not appear that the AI was playing fair with their player registrations. Valerenga were the most egregious, but Rosenborg, Brann and others were all at it. It was actually quite strange because at one point, I was completely out of answers as to how on Earth I was going to combat Valerenga, and I could not understand how they had become so unstoppable. It was only when I randomly landed on the squad page that I started asking myself how the hell do they have so many foreign players, and how they keeping the ones that aren't registered for the league happy, and only then did I realise that they did not have this problem at all because they were all registered.

Which brings me to probably the thing that I disliked most about the Norwegian league, the registration system. Most countries have some quota for either their nationals or home-grown players, which while not the same thing more or less does mean the same thing unless you plan far ahead in terms of picking up youngsters. The fact that essentially a 25 man squad has to be composed of 16 homegrown players really does limit how far Norwegian club can get to compete with Europe's elite. When other clubs in Norway don't follow the rules, it definately curbed how dominant we could be in the league. In the end we worked out a way of getting the best balance between the 16 Norwegian's and the foreign element in the squad. It did in the end come down to tracking down and prising away good Norwegian players, especially since despite good youth facilities we never got a stand out youngsters. Only Istvan Schmid really was part of the squad and he was a backup, although in the end a handy one, that was developed through the club.

So the final word on Lillestrom we walk away as the third best manager in Norway during our time in Lillestrom, considering where we picked them up and where we left them, there was some serious progress made. The biggest progress was probably in the financial department. When I left the club they had over £150m in the bank, and that can fund if they wanted to getting some of the best Norwegian players in and also some great foreign imports. We ended 5 League titles, 4 Norwegian Cups and 5 Super Cups to our name, which is pretty good going even if do say so myself. The league standing improved massively while I was there and they are now the 8th best league in Europe, which means that the standard of the players is pretty good all around. I never did work out Bodo/Glimt especially in league games, they were a proper bogey side for us, the best we could hope for from them was a point whenever we visited them, and Valerenga were one of the toughest foes I have ever faced in a league competition.

So we leave Norway with a stack full of medals, next up will probably be one of Scotland or Iceland. Two countries which I am pretty during every iteration of FM I have ever played I have never managed in. So it should be an interesting one.

Edited August 2, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[Guest]

Time to dethrone the Old Firm?

[TerminalPortugal]

5 hours ago, Fudal said:

Time to dethrone the Old Firm?

Either that or if offered an Old Firm job I would probably take that over other jobs. We will see what we get.

[TerminalPortugal]

WELCOME TO SCOTLAND!!!

Hibernian FC

We left our job at the start of December 2039 and we land the Hibernian job in January 2040, so we were not out of job for very long at all. Our goal will be over these next 10 years to topple the Glasgow hegemony that is Celtic and Rangers, referred to as the "Old Firm". This is going to be quite an undertaking I feel, clearly they will have far bigger resources that we have and the last time Hibernian won the league the year was 1952. The good news is that going by the media prediction, we are the best of the rest at the moment and are expected to have finished this current season in 3rd place in the league.

Hibernian are one of the major clubs from the Scottish capital Edinburgh, playing their games at 20,241 seater stadium Easter Road. The main rivalry is with cross town rivals Hearts in the Ediburgh Derby. We also have a competitive rivalry with Rangers, but interestingly not Celtic.

Currently we sit in 6th place, and there is an absolute chasm between us and runaway leaders Celtic.

The previous manager Julian Weigl must have got some latitude with results as this season the club picked up the League Cup beating Celtic on penalties in the final, but results in the Premiership have been diabolical in the last three months or so and so you understand why the board felt they needed to change the management.

One major positive of the club are the excellent facilities that we have, we should be producing some great Scottish talent here at Easter Road.

I have analysed the squad and we definitely have a few issues. The problem is that the transfer window shuts today so we will probably have to cope for now with what we have until the summer transfer window at the end of the season where we can hopefully improve the starting team.

This is the depth chart. We have a lot of issues in defence. Generally speaking I think there is a need to replace most of the starting team. The fullbacks need to be better, we need more depth at centre back. Defensive midfield is a problem. The inside forwards also I would like better quality there, but we will see how we do with this team for half a season and then we will attempt to slowly assemble a side that do more.

With the league splitting in March, we will come back at that point to see how we have done.

These are the fixture we still need to play.

[TerminalPortugal]

These are the changes we are making to leagues loaded as per the node map. Sweden, where we first started is finally getting unloaded.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hibernian FC (February & March 2040)

The first couple of months are in the books and things did not start well with two league losses. The boys were demotivated and a lot of them are not good enough to play the system we want to play anyway. But a win in the Edinburgh Derby got things in motion and we were pretty good from then on, although we did lose the return derby match on the final day before the league split. We are in Europe, in the Europa Conference League and we negotiated that encounter well against AIK going through 3-2 on aggregate to set up a tie against Bordeaux in the Quarter Finals. We also made it to the Scottish Cup semi final where we will play Kilmarnock.

The league when it split looks like this. We sit in 6th, nothing really left to play for this season when it comes to the league beyond getting a bit more cohesion between the players and tactical familiarity.

Edited August 2, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Hibernian FC (April & May 2040)

We had a good end to the season, but it all ended in heartbreak as we pushed through in the Europa Conference League, all the way to the final following wins against Bordeaux and Dinamo Zagreb over two legs to set up a showdown against IFK Goteborg in the final, and we were very close to winning it, as we took the lead in Seville in extra time, but they pipped us back and then won it on penalties. Very proud of the boys for making it all the way to the final. In the league we performed wonders from where we were to push all the way up to the table to 3rd place and a Champions League spot, that was very helpful to me, as that will give us around £11m transfer budget plus whatever I raise in player sales to rebuild this team to my specifications. We had another bitter note early on as Kilmarnock knocked us out of the Scottish Cup at the semi final stage, a tournament they went on to win. Still it has been a positive season and we hope we can push further next season to perhaps get close to Celtic and Rangers.

The final table sees us capture 3rd place on the final day to leapfrog cross town rivals Hearts and push them into the Europa Conference League for next season.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hibernian FC (Pre-Season 2040)

It has been a good pre-season we have been blooding a complete revolution in players at the club as many left and many arrived. Pre-season included a very nice result against Marseille and I would say we look good for the new season.

We have now reached 40 years old, think our reputation decreased slightly, probably because we are now Hibernian manager, and they have lower reputation than we do.

A lot of transfer activity. First let's cover who left. We needed to raise money so that we could really change the squad around. Sibanda, was actually a very good player for us at left inside forward, but we cashed in on him for £36m to Newcastle United. Jeffrey Molenaar was not a first teamer based on my analysis so again we let him move to AEK for a fee that will rise to £21.5m. Landry Toure was a first teamer at left back, but not good enough for my standards and so we let him go to Anderlecht for £6.75m. Kevin Espinoza was the backup right back and we let him leave for £7m. Meaning we raised just shy of £70m for transfers, although the club kept a fair bit of it.

Incoming first was Hasan Darwisho, a Syrian whom was playing in the MLS, he is an upgrade at right back. He arrived for £5.75m. Tore Gjelle we signed from Molde for £2.5m, he will play in defensive midfield a real weakness for us last season. Brayan Arias arrived from Deportivo Cali for a steal at £1.4m, the Colombian will fill in at striker, due to the loanee we had last season going back to Arsenal. He is much better than him anyway. Issue with him is that his agent insisted on a real low minimum fee clause for foreign clubs, so it is possible we could lose him. Lionel Oudin, is a backup striker, but a great one. He is 20 years old and if Brayan does leave he will go straight into the team. The Frenchman is a steal at £1.5m. Santiago Valencia will slot into left centre back another Colombian coming out of Deportivo Cali, he cost us just £1.1m. Muhamed Zurapovic, is a very versatile player but he will ostensibly be Valencia's partner in defence. he cost £5m from New York City. Suzuki is a very versatile attacking midfielder can play anywhere across the inside forward and striker spots. I see him in the left inside forward spot, and he should do very well. He came in for £2.1m. We signed Tom Scrivener on a free from Tottenham and he will be first choice left back this season. Marko Tomic comes in on a free from Milan. We will work on him to play left inside forward, because I think he will be lethal there, but for now he will back up the front starting positions. Kleyr was the most expensive signing from Santos. He can play anywhere, he is going to light this league up I believe. I think I will deploy him in central midfield which might be wasting what he can do from the wings, but for now that is where he will likely play. He cost £19m from Santos. Finally Omar Canchila is another Colombia signed from Portland Timbers, due to my doubts with Tomic, and still needing to feel comfortable at left inside forward, Canchila will start this season there, and he is a very capable player.

The attribute positional analysis is above, it is missing Omar Canchila since he signed pretty late, but he ranks about a 1.0 at left inside forward.

The depth chart will look like this for the coming season.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hibernian FC (August, September, October & November 2040)

Well we have been good without being spectacular. I think the players are still blending together and developing their relationship although cohesion and dressing room atmosphere is good. In the league we suffered a few losses that I rather didn't like away to Kilmarnock and Dunfermline Athletic. But we are competitive against Rangers and Celtic. Celtic knocked us out of League Cup at the semi final stage to scupper a potential piece of silverware for us. In Europe we have been spectacular registering wins in every game. An old foe in Valerenga knocked us out of the Champions League qualifying. Even in Scotland they have to ruin my mood. It is early days yet and we will keep assessing the side, but I think we will come good.

We have a game in hand on the rest, which is against Aberdeen. We sit on 23 points, 10 points behind a rampaging Rangers side. A win against Aberdeen would put us into 2nd place, as Celtic have been a little bit more modest in their start to the season.

Confirmation that with a game to go we are already group winners and have a perfect record in our Europa League group.

[TerminalPortugal]

Hibernian (December, January & February 2041)

I thought we would come good and boy was December a good month for us as we swept everyone before us to record a perfect month of wins. We did suffer a loss the next month against Rangers whom have been in superb form this season. Aberdeen also knocked us out of Scottish Cup after a replay. We should have really beaten them when we were at home but somehow they got a goal with their only real attack of the game and dispatched us in the replay. Never say never but we are not out of the title race. Rangers have a bit of lead in the league. Celtic are nowhere to be seen, so I think 2nd place should be ours at a minimum, but if Rangers slip up and we can continue our form, who knows...

We trail Rangers by 6 points in the league, it may as well be 7 with the goal difference they have amassed. Celtic can go within 9 points of us with a win in their game in hand. But before the league splits we are not out of the title race yet.