FM2021 - Litex Lovech

[Ronaldo Beckham]

                                               

I was inspired to do a Bulgarian league save after watching this Youtube video where they went into the future on FM2021 and Bulgaria had become one of the best leagues in the world. 

I wanted to do a joint save as a Bulgarian club and also the Bulgarian national team.

Why Litex Lovech ?

Well the reason for me managing Litex was a thread on here from 10 years a go.

 

I remember this being a very popular thread back in the day and I thought I would bring this back and see how many of us can take on the challenge of making Litex Lovech one of the best teams in the World and making Bulgaria a top nation.

I thought I would start by tagging some of the people.

@ronaldo_1978@SMPL @Buttk0 @TomTranmere @EvertonianChriss

@Lewis007 @burak700 @col_nufc1 

Now to tag people I think might like the challenge of taking Litex Lovech back up to the top league in Bulgaria or would be good at reccomending players.

@Jogo Bonito @Welshace @Hootieleece @karanhsingh @strangerthankindness @Matt_1979 @Makoto Nakamura @john1 @Mackem742 @Gungner @warlock @Jamesbfc1887 @robterrace

I will be starting my save as Lovech over the weekend. 

It would be good if a few of us joined in to see how we all get on. 

Here is a brief history of Litex Lovech.

 

Litex (Bulgarian: Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club.

The club's home ground is the Lovech Stadium, which has a capacity of 8,100 seats, electric floodlights and permission to stage European matches. As one of the successful Bulgarian clubs outside the capital Sofia, Litex have won the domestic championship four times and the Bulgarian Cup on four occasions. Together with CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia, Litex was also the third football club to represent the country regularly in the European Club Association.

However, the club was expelled during the 2015-16 season for administrative reasons to become CSKA Sofia which sparked controversy, being relegated to the Third League. The club has lost its status as a top club in Bulgaria since then, and has largely been a mediocre side in the second tier in the following years.

 

 

[Hootieleece]

@Ronaldo Beckham This is a thought for FM22. Bulgaria would be ripe for a save since it is often underplayed even if I was thinking Russian Save for next Summer.  Yes, the most important save for me will be the during the summer of '22 that is when I will post to this forum. I will play other saves before if for no other reason than prepare for it. I know I played 3 saves this FM, but I realize I just don't really have the time except for during the summer.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Hootieleece said:

@Ronaldo Beckham This is a thought for FM22. Bulgaria would be ripe for a save since it is often underplayed even if I was thinking Russian Save for next Summer.  Yes, the most important save for me will be the during the summer of '22 that is when I will post to this forum. I will play other saves before if for no other reason than prepare for it. I know I played 3 saves this FM, but I realize I just don't really have the time except for during the summer.

 

Yeah feel free to post in here when you are ready. Even if it is when FM2022 comes out.

[Hootieleece]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah feel free to post in here when you are ready. Even if it is when FM2022 comes out.

I will. I just won't be posting save results! I am posting my Slovakian save this summer.

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Hootieleece

[karanhsingh]

Interesting! Will definitely follow. 

I am guessing you will be bringing in some players with a view to naturalize them eventually? 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

17 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Interesting! Will definitely follow. 

I am guessing you will be bringing in some players with a view to naturalize them eventually? 

Maybe if possible but it takes 5 years to get Bulgarian nationality. My first aim is to get Litex Lovech back up to the top division and then take it from there. 

Feel free to join in when you get bored of your other saves @karanhsingh

[Jamesbfc1887]

I'll try and give this a go, should time allow.

Is there any particular database to use? I'm not too au fait with the european leagues on FM, much more of a Football League kinda guy .

But it's the kind of save I'd like to give a go, especially as we are at the tail end of the FM 21 life cycle now.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

I'll try and give this a go, should time allow.

Is there any particular database to use? I'm not too au fait with the european leagues on FM, much more of a Football League kinda guy .

But it's the kind of save I'd like to give a go, especially as we are at the tail end of the FM 21 life cycle now.

I just use Pro1 data updates for the latest transfers etc but you can just use the default database if you want. 

Keep me posted how you do. 

I will be starting it tomorrow afternoon.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am just about to start my Litex save and I am going to manage them as Dimitar Berbatov who was always a favourite of mine when he played for Man Utd.

Here is Litex's best 11.

Here is the board's expectations which isn't that bad as all I got to do is sign Bulgarian players and avoid relegation.

Here is a bit of history to why Litex have gone from being league champions of the top league to having to avoid relegation from the bottom league in Bulgaria.

Expulsion and new beginning (2015–present)[edit]

In the summer of 2015, Grisha Ganchev stepped down from his position as an owner, only to reallocate his main investments to Bulgarian football club CSKA Sofia, which was struggling financially with unpaid debts during the time. As a result, his son Danail took over at Litex, with previous shareholder Bulgarian joint stock company Sport 96 remaining in the club as a subsidiary of Litex Commerce JSC.

On 16 December 2015, the Bulgarian Football Union expelled Litex Lovech from the A Group.^[5] The decision was taken in response to an incident that occurred during Litex Lovech's 12 December tie with Levski Sofia, when chairman Stoycho Stoilov controversially pulled the squad off the field in protest of 2 players being sent off at a score of 1–0 for the Lovech club.^[6] On 20 January 2016 the team was administratively relegated to the B Group for the upcoming 2016–17 season. Litex's players however were allowed to complete their participation in the Bulgarian Cup and could finish the 2015–16 season with the club's reserve squad, Litex Lovech II, playing in the B Group.

On 27 May 2016, the legal firm that represented PFC Chavdar Etropole - "PFC Chavdar EAD" was renamed to "PFC CSKA-1948 AD".^[7] On 6 June 2016 the legal firm that represented PFC Litex Lovech—"PFC Litex-Lovech AD"—was renamed to "PFC CSKA-Sofia EAD",^[8] with "PFC CSKA-1948 AD" being written in as its owner. That legal firm later applied to take part and was accepted into the reformed First League,^[9] as PFC CSKA Sofia. The shift was made because the old legal firm that represented PFC CSKA Sofia - "PFC CSKA AD" did not gain a professional license, and later went bankrupted and ceased operations as of 9 September 2016. PFC Litex Lovech later started playing in the Third League, taking the place of FC Botev Lukovit.^[10]

On 4 July 2016, former Litex player Zhivko Zhelev was appointed as a manager of a team, consisting mainly of academy players.^[11] The renewed Litex team started the new season and managed to win its first official match. The squad also played in the 2016–17 Bulgarian Cup, eliminating First League outfits of Slavia Sofia and Cherno More on their way to the semifinals,^[12] where Litex lost to reigning 5-time champions Ludogorets Razgrad on an aggregate score of 0–11. Litex also was promoted to the Second League, after winning the North-West Group of the Third League.

Their kits are very sexy though and I might look at buying the home shirt sometime soon.

I am also going to be managing the Bulgarian national team as well and my aim is to get them in the Euro's or the World Cup and use the League Of Nations to bed in uncapped players.

Bulgaria are currently 61st in the World Rankings. I might to get them to number 1 nation.

I have not really heard of any of Bulgarian national team players so this will make an interesting challenge for me. Similar to when Sven Goran Erikson or Fabio Capello was manager of England and they called up players like Chris Powell 

As you can see their are 2 Brazilian's in the National team so maybe that is a route I can take but I do feel like that is cheating in a way but we will see.

LET'S GO!!!

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Well I think is the best time to update you with how I am doing 

First of all lets start with Litex Lovech. I am currently top of the Vtora Liga after 12 games played with only 1 league loss so far. 

I am very happy with their progress. 

My best player so far is Iliyan Kapitanov who is a 28 year old Bulgarian winger and my top goalscorer so far with 9 goals in 9 games. 

Now onto the Bulgarian national team. As you can see at the top of this post I have managed to qualify for the Euros. 

After a 3-1 win Vs Hungary with a hattrick from Attacking Midfielder/Striker Bozhidar Kraev who I recalled to the squad after the previous manager didn't pick him and he returned my faith with the important goals to get us to my first big competition with Bulgaria. I can't wait to see how I do with Bulgaria in the Euros.

I also managed to beat Wales 1-0 and Ireland 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League games.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Well so far so good on my mission to bring glory to Litex.

I finished the season top of the league with only 4 losses for the season.

Kapitanov ended up being the league's top goalscorer with 18 goals for the season. 

I have only played 2 games with Bulgaria national team since my last update. I lost 3-2 to England and beat Kazakhstan 4-1.

My aim for next season is try get top 4 in the league while I continue to build a decent squad.

Finances are very bad but that is expected.

[Mackem742]

Thanks for including me in this. Very interesting, Ive got no experience with the Bulgarian leagues and is outside of my comfort zone a bit but it looks like an interesting challenge. Im on the hunt for an interesting fun save to see me through to FM22.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

7 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Thanks for including me in this. Very interesting, Ive got no experience with the Bulgarian leagues and is outside of my comfort zone a bit but it looks like an interesting challenge. Im on the hunt for an interesting fun save to see me through to FM22.

You should give this a go then mate. Especially if you want to go out of your comfort zone.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Bulgaria's Euro Journey

I started the group games with a 2-2 draw with Spain. I was 2-0 but then Spain come back strong and I just about held on.

I then got thrashed 3-0 by France. I had to win against Georgia to qualify to the next round and luckily I did with a 1-0 win.

I came up against Sweden in the 2nd round and it was a good performance but Sweden beat us in extra time to go through to the next round.

Overall the Bulgarian FA were very happy with the National team's performance and hopefully it will help us build on it for the World Cup.

 

[Mackem742]

Started this save last night. No signings made, so far, I dont really have much of a say in that! Ive renewed contracts for most of the players and signed a few staff members. Started the season unbeaten with 1 win and 2 draws, currently in 3rd place.

This is a massive culture shock, the lowest ive managed on this years game is with Sunderland in League 1 and thats a team I know very well so this is going to be tough.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

42 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

Started this save last night. No signings made, so far, I dont really have much of a say in that! Ive renewed contracts for most of the players and signed a few staff members. Started the season unbeaten with 1 win and 2 draws, currently in 3rd place.

This is a massive culture shock, the lowest ive managed on this years game is with Sunderland in League 1 and thats a team I know very well so this is going to be tough.

Yeah the finances are terrible but that is expected.

You should easily get promoted in your first season. 

I hope you stick with it for a few years.

I have managed to get Bulgaria up the rankings already.

Are you just Litex manager or doing it as a Joint manager with Bulgaria ?

[Mackem742]

6 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah the finances are terrible but that is expected.

You should easily get promoted in your first season. 

I hope you stick with it for a few years.

I have managed to get Bulgaria up the rankings already.

Are you just Litex manager or doing it as a Joint manager with Bulgaria ?

Im just the Litex manager, never managed a National side for quite a few years and didnt want to throw myself in at the deep end too much on this one. Not yet anyway 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Mackem742

[enigmatic]

If your youth setup is anything like it was in FM17, a couple of sales to big European clubs should sort the finances out

[Mackem742]

Thats the plan, Ive never managed a team like this before. Always had a decent bank balance and never worried about it before.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Im just the Litex manager, never managed a National side for quite a few years and didnt want to throw myself in at the deep end too much on this one. Not yet anyway 

Yeah that is fair enough. I like the challenge of managing both teams. Maybe if the Bulgaria job comes available you could go for it after you have done a few seasons.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Bulgaria Qualify For The World Cup

I won 5 out of the 6 games. Only losing to England who thrashed us 5-1.

I am currently 4th in the league with Litex after 14 games played. I am 12 points behind Ludogorets so I don't think I will win the league this year but 2nd place is achievable. 

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I jumped the gun there and thought I had qualified to the World Cup but I have actually got to play Poland in the Play Off Semis 

[Mackem742]

Thoroughly enjoying this save so far. Im waiting till I get to the winter break before doing an update. Got a lot going on at the minute so havent got time to play as much as Id like but im currently 5 games into the season, still unbeaten. 3 wins, 2 draws, all 3 wins have come away from home too which is a positive, one of those wins included a 2-1 win away at top of the table Pirin Blagoevgrad which took me to the top. Zhivkov banged in 2 goals in that game and is proving to be a good player.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of this little gem of a club, Ive already had a tour of the town on Google maps  I was even searching for a replica kit yesterday.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

Thoroughly enjoying this save so far. Im waiting till I get to the winter break before doing an update. Got a lot going on at the minute so havent got time to play as much as Id like but im currently 5 games into the season, still unbeaten. 3 wins, 2 draws, all 3 wins have come away from home too which is a positive, one of those wins included a 2-1 win away at top of the table Pirin Blagoevgrad which took me to the top. Zhivkov banged in 2 goals in that game and is proving to be a good player.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of this little gem of a club, Ive already had a tour of the town on Google maps  I was even searching for a replica kit yesterday.

Yeah no worries buddy. I am glad you are enjoying it.

I am thinking of getting both home and away tops as well.

Good luck for the rest of the season and I look forward to seeing your next update.

[Mackem742]

Any suggestions for what countries to load during this kind of save. Ive started it but only loaded the Bulgarian leagues. I took into account the low finances and the fact the board want me to sign Bulgarian players. But once I start to improve the finances and (hopefully) get promoted Id be looking to sign players from different countries. I was thinking of adding other Eastern European countries in January or even the end of the season.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, Mackem742 said:

Any suggestions for what countries to load during this kind of save. Ive started it but only loaded the Bulgarian leagues. I took into account the low finances and the fact the board want me to sign Bulgarian players. But once I start to improve the finances and (hopefully) get promoted Id be looking to sign players from different countries. I was thinking of adding other Eastern European countries in January or even the end of the season.

I just had a few of the top countries in Europe loaded like France, Italy, England etc.

You could add a few lower nations like Finland, Greece etc. I just wanted to try building my team around Bulgarian players to help the national team.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Bulgaria Qualify For The World Cup

A lovely 2-0 win Vs Russia in the semis

I then had to play Greece in the Play Off final and we managed to beat them on penalties to qualify for the World Cup.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I have got a decent youth intake with Litex.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Amazing progress with Bulgaria

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Litex End Of Season Review

A nice 4th position finish which is good considering my expectations were to not get relegated. I want to get 2nd place or win the Bulgarian title next season but finances are tight and wage budget is even tighter so bringing in players to improve will be very difficult.

[Mackem742]

Heading towards the winter break in my first season and im in the hunt for promotion which is all I could ask for. Suffered 3 defeats so far. ALso managed to progress in the cup.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

43 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

Heading towards the winter break in my first season and im in the hunt for promotion which is all I could ask for. Suffered 3 defeats so far. ALso managed to progress in the cup.

Good start buddy.  I hope you carry on progressing up the league.

By the way if you want a decent scout have a look at Vicente.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Could I get a tougher World Cup group with Bulgaria 

[Mackem742]

11 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Good start buddy.  I hope you carry on progressing up the league.

By the way if you want a decent scout have a look at Vicente.

Cheers mate, Ill have a look at him. Im going to try and get season 1 finished this weekend but im helping out at a competition tomorrow all day. 

[Mackem742]

So Ive reached the winter break and I wish I wasnt as Im going into it with a bit of momentum, especially with a fantastic win away at Ludogorets II who were on a decent run themselves after a disappointing start. Hebar are running away with it.

Results so far, pretty happy. Some disappointing results but im still in the mix for the top 2.

Top performers

Kapitanov and Zhivkov have been stand out performers for me up front. Dimitrov has been my main man i midfield. Shalamanov-Trenkov has also been outstanding in goal.

Not much to report on the transfer front. Ive basically bolstered the squad with bodies. All on free transfers.

The board are very pleased with my performance so far. Expectations were to avoid relegation.

So pleased in fact that they pumped in 150k to help with club running costs.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 hours ago, Mackem742 said:

So Ive reached the winter break and I wish I wasnt as Im going into it with a bit of momentum, especially with a fantastic win away at Ludogorets II who were on a decent run themselves after a disappointing start. Hebar are running away with it.

Results so far, pretty happy. Some disappointing results but im still in the mix for the top 2.

Top performers

Kapitanov and Zhivkov have been stand out performers for me up front. Dimitrov has been my main man i midfield. Shalamanov-Trenkov has also been outstanding in goal.

Not much to report on the transfer front. Ive basically bolstered the squad with bodies. All on free transfers.

The board are very pleased with my performance so far. Expectations were to avoid relegation.

So pleased in fact that they pumped in 150k to help with club running costs.

Some good results with Litex mate. Yeah the finances are not the best. I am struggling to hit form in season 3 but I will hopefully turn it around.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

My Best Result With Bulgaria So Far

Edited July 16, 2021 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Bulgaria Nation Team World Cup Journey

I can't believe this but I managed to get Bulgaria to the World Cup Quarter finals with us losing 5-1 to Belgium but I am very proud of my Bulgarian Boyz.

It started badly with Bulgaria losing to Argentina 3-0 but I bounced back with a entertaining 4-3 victory Vs Spain and then followed that up with a 3-1 win over a strong Morocco team.

So I managed to qualify to the 2nd round and I would of been happy with that. To get through the group stages of the World Cup was amazing.

I got to play Holland in the 2nd round and to my surprise I managed to beat them 3-1 with an Ivanov hattrick. 

I am really chuffed with this achievement and hopefully things get better and better.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

The World Cup journey helped get Bulgaria to 22nd in the Nations Rankings.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

BulgariaRise Up The Rankings Again

 

Currently top of my Euro's qualifying group as well after wins Vs Moldova and Luxemborg.

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Litex Lovech Season 3 Review

I managed to achieve what I wanted by finishing higher then 4th place but annoyingly I dropped to 3rd place on the last game of the season. I managed to get European football for Litex which will help with the finances hopefully.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Despite my success with Litex I got sacked cos I failed to keep the finances down. I thought it was a bit harsh personally as I was only 500k in the red and about to play Europa League football.

Onwards and upwards and I am going to have a think about my next save.

I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who viewed my posts and good luck with Litex @Mackem742

[Mackem742]

On 18/07/2021 at 09:17, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Despite my success with Litex I got sacked cos I failed to keep the finances down. I thought it was a bit harsh personally as I was only 500k in the red and about to play Europa League football.

Onwards and upwards and I am going to have a think about my next save.

I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who viewed my posts and good luck with Litex @Mackem742

Very harsh that mate considering you went from "avoiding relegation" to European football within 4 seasons. Im going to continue my save, Im still in season 1 and came back after the winter break in great form but that has stalled a bit. Im still 3rd but after going out of the cup to Levski Sofia I havent won in 3 league games, 1 defeat and 2 draws. 

[Mackem742]

Promotion secured on the final day of the season

Final league table

Yeah, thanks to the Litex board for giving me the best chance possible of staying up!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

26 minutes ago, Mackem742 said:

Promotion secured on the final day of the season

Final league table

Yeah, thanks to the Litex board for giving me the best chance possible of staying up!

Well done getting promoted. The chairman are a bit tight. I hope you do well in your 2nd season.

[col_nufc1]

Has anyone done a Litex Lovech save on FM22 yet? I am bored of my current save and have been looking for ideas for a new save and I remember really enjoying Litex Lovech back in FM11.