Prince of North Macedonia [FM23]

[DrChristopher]

Welcome! My name is Daniel.

I have been screaming at the FM gods since FM 17. This game is always best survived with a journal to keep for going mad. So I hope everyone will enjoy my musing as I play this year's newest version of the game.

I will be posting save updates for this save for each in-game month. This FM I wanted to go back to North Macedonia. (Thank you Timo! I love your databases.) Furthermore, I really love the building-a-nation saves. So this season we will be trying to make North Macedonia into a footballing powerhouse.

So like 7 European qualification places, and a world cup win by the end is the goal. (Lofty, almost to the point of a lunacy commission, but that's the fun.) I fully expect this to take 30 seasons. However, I really look forward to making some serious inroads to that goal. On a club level hopefully we can win a Champions League. 

However! We are starting out as FK Skopje...

We are currently a semi-professional side in the Macedonian First Football League. This country's top flight. We are predicted 11th which would make us automatic relegation candidates. So the first real goal is to stay afloat in the top league.

With none of our players gracing the league's best XI that will be a hard sell. Furthermore only 2 of our players even get a vague mention in the key players tab. Speaking of the lads...

We have some decent youth coming through. Many of which are wanted. Luckily it is just loan requests so far. David Kalpacki leads the team are our best player with some potential still ahead. According to our coaches he seems as though he could be a starting player on a European qualifying side for this league, but right now he would be a squad guy for a team like KF Shkendija Tevovo this league's whale. They have not fallen out of the top 3 in 8 seasons and they have won the whole thing on 3 of those occasions. As well as winning the Kup Na Makedonija (the country's major cup) twice in the last 6 years.

My silver-est of linings is Bozidar he is a DM/DC combo guy, which is perfect because I like to play with defensive midfielders. He is unfortunately injury prone but many staff actually find he could be a leading player in this league. We just need to start working on the facilities so he can reach that kind of quality.

You might be asking at this point but what do the board and supporters want, those unrealistic titans!?!

They want a 9th or 10th place finish cleanly. The fans are just like please for the love of god stay in the division. This is our quest this season, but what about the finances...

The wage is actually not bad. 20% wage budget still unused. A decent transfer budget as well to pay all loyalty and signing bonuses, but not much more.

We head into a few friendlies the rest of this month and I will give you an update on what our transfer landscape looks like in our next installment.

Thanks to anyone reading. May the FM Gods be ever in your favor.

Cheers!

[Muttley84]

2 hours ago, DrChristopher said:

Furthermore only 2 of our players even get a vague mention in the key players tab.

That tab always present 2 players from each side, so it isn't positive or negative.

Anyways, good luck in Macedonia, should be a really long journey...

[Sheriff7]

Good luck mate. A very interesting  country who made big steps in international football last 5-6 years. If you want use some logos and kits pack because clubs and national team there have beautiful colors. 

[DrChristopher]

2 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Good luck mate. A very interesting  country who made big steps in international football last 5-6 years. If you want use some logos and kits pack because clubs and national team there have beautiful colors. 

Thanks mate. Any you would suggest?

[DrChristopher]

10 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

That tab always present 2 players from each side, so it isn't positive or negative.

Anyways, good luck in Macedonia, should be a really long journey...

Oh no, that makes me even more scared lol.

[DrChristopher]

July 2022

New Squad

We had a great transfer window. We pulled off 4 starting signings for free and even managed two reserve sales that netted us nearly 50k over the next season or two. The best signing among these took a serious push to get the board to let us sign this guy and his high salary.

Klaudio Hyseni

Playing in Albania's second division. Hyseni had everything we wanted. Big match intensity, vision, workrate. I wish he could have had a better personality, but he is now far and away our best player at the club. Let's hope that salary doesn't come back to bite us if we fall on hard times. We even had to loan out 4 guys to make enough room for his salary alone.

Souleymane Coulibaly

Next is Malian Frenchman Coulibaly. We had a black hole at left back, and luckily found a great defensive wingback. He originally had 4.5 star potential, but now down to 4 since Hyseni came in. I hope he can still achieve that level in the next few seasons. Also lucky for us he has played in North Macedonia before so he should earn his citizenship soon. Giving us another foreign spot.

Kristijan Trapanovski

Next is our loanee from one of the best teams in the league, Shkupi. Amazingly they let him come to us for zero wage. The consistency and fitness were the big sellers for me as we need a player really running up and down that left wing. 

Prince Amponsah

Last but not least is the striker I managed in FM 20 at Pelister. I saw him available on a free and snapped him up since Pelister is back down in the 2.MFL. He will start at striker, but I really appreciate he can play almost anywhere up top. Always helpful when we start to deal with injuries. He is another that should receive citizenship soon. If I haven't mentioned already. No teams in this league are allowed more than 7 foreigners in the match squad. Right now we are sitting at 6 foreigners. 

Outgoing 

Petar Mitev

Our big sale was to Korabi looking to make a promotion push in 3.MFL. After signing Coulibaly it really pushed him to 6th at left back and at 27 it seemed like the best time to sell. Unbelievably we managed to sell him for $28,000. He will immediately be one of the best defensive midfielders in that division.

Mergim Dani

Next Sale was still a great one to Osogovo looking for a talented striker to keep them in the 2.MFL. Sold for $16,000, he really had no shot at the first team after acquiring Amponsah. Plus at 28, the staff agreed he wouldn't get any better.

Updated League Preview

That brings us to the new media preview. We now officially have a league player in the best XI in Hyseni. Also we have been elevated to 8th thus projecting us outside the relegation playoff. Hopefully we can match that preview as with so many new personalities we need to concentrate on getting off to a good start.

Schedule

First up is a 3 home game stretch against media's projected 5th, 9th, and 2nd in Bregalnica, Pobeda, and Shkupi respectively. Hopefully we can pull out 3 maybe 4 points over this next month. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this update. I will be giving positions pipeline updates each month once we are outside the transfer window.

Cheers!

Edited February 5, 2023 by DrChristopher

[DrChristopher]

August 2022

Competitions

3 games down and 4 points. Not great, but as good as I could have hoped. Unfortunately Hyseni and Amponsah have both been averaging about a 6.4~6.5 average rating. I'm hoping a easy cup draw against New Stars in the 4.MFL will help shake them out of their lethargy.

Medical Centre

Coulibaly also pulled his groin and is projected to be out for another 2 or 3 more weeks. Luckily we have decent depth at left back, but 3 of 4 new starting talent not clicking hurts.

Goalkeepers

This month we are covering our keepers. We are running a 4-2-3-1 with sweeper keepers right now. (Shout out to FM Base and DeliciousStory. I am tactically inept and they have given me a good blueprint to start from.)

Our starter and captain is Andreja Efremov, our backup is Filip Ilic, and our player for the future is Vele Velkovski. Vele is currently out on loan to Napredok in the 2.MFL. He might struggle a bit there. As they are easily the worst team in that division, but as their star player he will most likely play every game.

Andreja Efremov

Efremov started for us last season and will do so again this season. Unfortunately he really is only barely capable at this level with most staff agreeing he is a leading 2.MFL player. Nonetheless with 3 games down and a clean sheet already in the bag. We will have to see how he does. 

Filip Ilic

My last signing of this window most likely is Ilic. I was able to steal him on a free. He was formerly with Vardar and was released after they were unable to bounce back after relegation last season. Most staff thinks he is 3.5 star potential which would hopefully give us a better keeper going forward after Efremov. I'm nervous about his first touch though especially if we have him on sweeper keeper. Something we will need to work on.

Kenwyne Jones

Our final signing was among the staff. Kenwyne Jones formerly of Atlanta United in the MLS was willing to take a small contract and a dual role as player and Reserve's Manager. (He comes in as our 5th striker in a single striker formation so he will likely never play, but I love bringing foreign managers into the country.) So hopefully he can do a job for us and then move to another side down the line managing in the North Macedonian pyramid. 

Schedule

Next up we play away against first place and media predicted 3rd Akademija Pandev. We are away from home all month and I don't see us getting more than 3 points against relegation prospects Rabotnicki and a win against New Stars.

I'm thankful for the great match spacing thus far. October looks busier so I want to turn our form around by then.

Thanks for reading. Best of luck in your personal saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

September 2022

Schedule

2 incredible draws against two of the best teams in the league followed by a 5-1 win in the cup and capped by a 3-0 smoking of relegation favorites Rabotnicki. Giving us 5 points in 3 games when we only expected maybe 3 at best. Could not being happier with our form going into October.

Competitions

We lucked into another sympathetic draw in the cup and will be facing 4th tier team Flamurtari in the third round. We also are flying high in 5th place in the 1.MFL. I doubt we will be able to sustain that, but we need to get the points where we can.

Squad Stats

Prince has really turned his form around. He is now 6 goals in 6 games for the team. Coulibaly has now officially returned from injury so hopefully he can give us another weapon out wide. The second string haven't got much playtime yet. I certainly hope they can continue their cup form next month.

Xg Table

I found a fun graphic combing through the data hub. We currently have the highest expected goals per game in the league. We are 7th in expected goals against. Thus we have the highest expected points and the biggest negative comparison to that points projection. Hopefully meaning we are actually missing out on another 3 points compared to the chances we have created. Meanwhile Struga TL are way overperforming in 2nd. Perhaps they are a team that might come down to earth later in the season.

Right-backs

This month we will be looking at the right back situation. Our starter is Filip at 25 years old. He became the regular starter half way through last season and has remained so far this season. He is has some wiggle room in potential, but I don't see him making huge jumps.

Our backup is Kristijan Curlinov 21 years old with 4.5 star potential the only blemish on this upper trajectory may be his potential injury proneness.

Last is Bojan Gjorgievski 30 years old and having fallen to 3rd on the depth chart. If we can find a replacement for him he may be one of the first on the transfer market.

Filip Stojanovski

Stojanovski has been vocal about a better wage over the last 2 weeks, but nearly wants his wage doubled which would make him the second highest wage in the squad. He ability wise does not reflect that on the field. The players seem to back him though so if I cannot find a replacement in the winter window I may have to bite the bullet and give into his demands.

Kristijan Curlinov

Speedy and a great crosser. Curlinov has been a rotational guy for the last two seasons for us. He hasn't got much game-time to shine for us thus far, but he needs it if he is going to realize his potential.

Right back isn't our first need in the winter window, but if we still have money we may get a chance to address it. 

Samuel Eto'o

Last but not least is our final staff acquisition. I could not believe we were able to capture the former Barcelona and Inter striker. He was still without a staff appointment after nearly 3 years out of football. I didn't want to take a chance he retires. So, hopefully he is another that will thrive for us as U21 Manager. Then move on to greener pastures managing somewhere in the Macedonian pyramid.

We have a tough game next against Struga TL. Hopefully you find us still hanging out mid-table next update.

Thanks to anyone reading. Best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

10 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

https://www.fmscout.com/a-standard-logos-megapack-2020.html and https://sortitoutsi.net/graphics/style/2/ss-kits.

Bummer that "Download link has been removed due to licensing issues."

[DrChristopher]

October 2022

Schedule 

What a month! Outscoring our opponents 20-2. We move on to the the fourth round of the Kup. Next month is a light month with only 2 games. I don't know if I will rest the lads or play a friendly somewhere in there as almost a month between figures is tough.

Competitions

We have done really well securing half of the 38 points needed to secure 8th place and a spot outside the relegation places. We also draw a favorable 3rd tier team in BVK Konjare. They are currently 1st in the Group B of 3.MFL. So, our second teamers will have to carefully when playing them in December.

Club Vision

As for the board and Supporters... everyone is thrilled. The board want me to nip the locker room contract disagreement in the bud. Whereas the supports are just mad the win streak came to an end. High class problems.

Centerbacks

This month we are reviewing our centerback pipeline. It may be the last great month, but our starters Dimov and Mecinovic are playing lights out. Dimov will most likely be a starter for at least the next 3 seasons. Mecinovic having just turned 32 years old. Means we may have to look at replacing him next January. Right now though he is not being dropped for anything.

Our second teamers are Paul Henri age 25 and Marko Ando 21. Marko could definitely make the leap into the first team, but most of the staff think he is 4 star potential rather than 4.5 star.

Dino is 30 and despite starting the last two seasons has not played a single minute for us so far this season. We will most likely sell him in January.

Gordijan is my favorite youngster. 19, consistent, and solidly always 5 star potential to all staff. Plus, I think his ability to run and play left-back will help him get game time. 

Jasmin Mecinovic

Macinovic. 11 appearances, 4 goals, and 7.53 average rating. Arriving from Bangladesh this off-season on a free. He is a consistent every day starter. His stamina is a little low, but right now he looks to have the position locked down until next year. A little side note is that Jasmin is the single best aerial defender in the league right now. With 26 headers attempted per 90 and 84% header won ratio.

Hristijan Dimov

Hristijan doesn't have the intangibles. A little more foul prone. However still averaging a 7.12 rating from his 9 starts so far this season. This will be his 2nd season as a starter and 4th with the club. Nonetheless he has resigned through 2025. Therefore our defensive future most likely rests upon how well he realizes his potential.

Finances

Also nicely a few older players resigned at slightly reduced contracts meaning we have room to make one or two big signings if we can find the right guys available. I think first position of need is AMC. Kone is holding it down right now, but he has not been developing despite all the game time and form you could dream of.

Next month we are home against 1st place and away against 4th. 

Thanks for reading as we take stock of our defense. Best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

November 2022

Schedule

Another month where we shocked the critics. We managed to beat Akademija 5-0! They rotated and had some injuries, but it was a real stomping against the 1st place side. All of a sudden, I got raptured and that win made me think. "Hey we might really have a shot at an European place."

Competitions

Lastly, a draw against Shkupi, which was not a bad result away from home, finds us ending November in 3rd. Making us officially in the driver side to hang on to an European spot. This was bittersweet as the club are now in the negative balance-wise. On top of consistently losing 40k a month. With the winnings in this division probably around 60k. I think we really have to push for Europe with all we got.  

Outgoing Transfers

The upside to 3 weeks of no matches is I had all the time in the world in find this two magically twilight deals for 3rd stringers Bojan Gjorgievski and Dino Najdoski they both leave to Lokomotiva Gradsko and Kadino respectively. Bringing in a desperately needed 90k to help stem the financial bleeding.

Agim Ibraimi

So we did it. We saw former two-time North Macedonian Player of the Year. Somehow released by Dinamo Tirana in the Albanian Superleague. He was a star player for Shkendija as recently as 2020. Where he was part of the 2019 1.MFL winning side. He comes in as another immediate projected media best XI signee. We had to talk to the board into letting him match our highest earner, but after some back and forth we secured him for 2 seasons. I think he gives us some really fire power to compete at the top of the table.

Frank Ondoa

Next was a Cameroonian right winger. He had just turned 18. We were terrified some bigger fish would come snap him up. So, despite being a little green and potentially injury prone we had to grab a backup for our 37 year old aging right winger. Our starter Blagoja, formerly of the Albanian Superleague himself has regressed a half star already since September. I think Ondoa could be our answer at that position for the foreseeable future.

Best Performing Attacking Player

A nice article came in telling us that our loanee Kristijan Trapanovski is currently the best performing attacking player in the league. Dominating in open play expected assists and non-penalty goals per 90. He is not getting any cheaper, but if we get a decent budget next summer we may have to look at bringing him in on a permanente deal.

Best Attacking Team

Furthermore our staff informed us that we are the single best attacking team in the league. Averaging 20 shots a game and 2.44 expected goals. If you have not tried DeliciousStory's "Simple Positive Headache" tactic it is definitely carrying me so far this season. 

Crossing Stats

Last cool stat I wanted to post before returning to the position pipelines next month is this crossing statistic. The biggest boost to our shooting and our offense is our lights out crossing. The wingbacks on attack and the Inside forwards on attack have given us the most consistent and accurate crossing attack in the league. Despite still being projected by the media as barely a 6th place side. 

I know this was kind of an early winter window, but I got greedy and wanted these new guys in to get adjusted before a big run of fixtures came up. 

Next up we play against 11th place Rabotnicki who we have been needling in the press. Hopefully I haven't angered the FM gods in doing so.

Look forward to updating everyone again next month. Thanks for reading and good luck in your saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

December 2022

Schedule

4 games, 3 wins, and a draw. Prince is nothing but net the last two months. The win against BVK has us moving on against an even weaker team in Vrapciste who are currently fighting a relegation battle in the 3rd tier of Macedonia. We pass them and we are in the quarter finals. Which was the board's initial demand. 

Competitions

This brings us to our tremendous league form and our great point differential which right now has us eclipsing Akademija and slotting into 2nd.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

Prince is leading the league with 16 goals in 16 games. Mecinovic is still nearly leading the league in average rating from the center back position. Blagoja despite his continued loss of skills is tied for most assists in the league with 6. The only downside is we have all three top yellow card recipients on our team.

Leftbacks

This month we are covering our young leftback pipeline.

Starting is Coulibaly averaging a 7.13 rating in his 12 starts this season. He has recovered well after his injury. Still only 24 years old I suspect barring any further injuries he will have that starting job for another season or two.

Backup is Filip Kostovski he was another late free transfer during the summer from Makedonija Gjorce Petrov.

3rd is Gorast, as Gordijan is more of a centerback prospect. Gorast is currently on loan at Vellazerimi in the 2nd division. He is averaging a 6.55 rating across 25 matches for the side. It looks like he and Vellazerimi are set to be relegated. So we will see if he can make a name for himself in the second half of the season.

*Side note: 2.MFL plays a 57-game season. So he has plenty of game-time to turn it around. This was our main reason why we did not start out below the top flight.

Filip Kostovski

Kosto has been a fringe guy in the top flight since he 17 years old. He is getting more competitive time with us, but I really need him to play more minutes if we hope to see his potential. Painfully it seems like half my team has a staff report con of injury proneness. 

Starting Squad

As we are at the halfway point. So, I wanted give everyone an updated look at our starting squad and the top 20 players on the team. Leonid appears to be star player, but most of that talent is in a position I don't utilize often. Also his small cup game sample form seems to have inflated his star status with the staff. Nonetheless we will be giving him more matches since as you can see Trapanovski is out.

Medical Centre

A pulled hammy has him out for a solid two and a half weeks. Which means we get him back for the latter two games this coming month. 

With a four point lead on 4th place we have to shoot for nine points from our next four league fixtures. I think that goal will give us a safe cushion going into the usually tough winter fixtures, and provide us some breathing room to perhaps make a bit of a kup run.

Thanks for following along. Best wishes in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

January 2023

Schedule

Even better than expected. Another unbeaten month, giving us 11 unbeaten matches in a row. As we've drawn the only Division 3 side left in the Kup, facing Rosoman 83, this is by far the easiest run to the Quarter finals we will ever have or can expect to ever have again.

Competitions

We now also see ourselves as 1st in the league. I don't think we are gonna be able to hold onto that, but with 13 games left to go we have undoubtedly surpassed our goal to avoid relegation. Our biggest hurdle going forward is to ensure an European place finish. In other words, win the Kup or get top 3.

Transfers

We also had a terrible quality projected youth intake. So, we attempted to raid the lower divisions and found some talent that will hopefully be squad players one day. We also managed to sell Mario Nastevski (our backup midfielder) to a floundering Renova and bring in 2 impact players. Another thing to note is that we are the only side spending at all this window. So if we can keep stomping the league. We may have a real shot at staying at the top of the table.

Siddick Aboubakar

First is rotational 18 year old Cameroonian Siddick. Consistent and good in the air hopefully means he can learn well from Jasmin, and replace him in due time. He was available on a free and we were able to get him on peanuts for wages. Note a couple players are starting to make waves wanting bigger contracts so we may see the wage bill inflate as we continue to do well. 

Behar Feta

Our new record transfer signing is Behar Feta. He was really thriving at Voska Sport in the 2.MFL with a 7.01 average rating across 37 appearances this season. He was being dangled for nearly a 100k, but we were able to sign him for the entire transfer budget available in $75,000. He is so versatile and after scoring on his debut. I can't wait to use him.

Best Performing Defensive Player

A nice article came through the inbox as our right back Stojanovski is the best performing defender in the league at the minute. Top percentiles in dribbles, key passes and open play expected assists among defenders. My favorite stat of his is 3.53 key passes per 90. Awesome!

Club Vision

This lead me to the single greatest board and supporter feedback I have ever had. I immediately requested a new contract upon seeing this. If allowed, I intend to resign through 2025. 

Next month will be one of our hardest tests as we face Sileks, Akademija, and Shkendija. 3 team anxious to turn things around.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own save!

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

February 2023

Schedule

An unlucky loss brings our run to a close. We still remain 4 points ahead of Akademija in the league. We also move on the semi finals of the kup against Shkupi.

Competitions

We have had great form, but that has come at the cost of very minimal rotation. Furthermore Feta got injured almost immediately after coming in. As well as Hyseni being out for a majority of last month. 

Squad Stats

In retrospect we still have the lowest number of injured players in the league. Nonetheless we are running pretty bare bones with 23 players in the first team. Agim has been incredible. 7 goals and 7 assists from 14 appearances. We really couldn't have asked for a better asset gained last window.

Medical Centre

Feta had a serious damaged spine mostly likely keeping him out for the next 8 months. We were able to spring the money for a specialist so hopefully no reoccurring injuries develop. I think the cumulative affect of playing 38 games by February were just a little too much to handle. Moral of the story, when staff says a player needs rest. Rest them!

Defensive Midfielders

This month we are covering Defensive midfielders as we had no new signees. 

Starting is Hyseni and Kalpacki both of which are signed through 2026. So we hope to keep them around for at least 2 more seasons. 

Next our second teamers are Paul-Henri and Bozidar. Paul-henri is foreign and will get his citizenship some time in late 2024. Which will help greatly. He and Bozidar both have played well averaging around 6.9 ratings for ~20 games thus far. No shake up needed, but I want to give Bozi more game-time next season as he has gone from 4.5 stars to 4 stars of potential. (This might mostly be due to new great talent coming in.)

Lastly, are Hristijan and Stojan slotted in as loanees and reservists. Hristijan is doing well currently on loan at Varder Negotino in the 2.MFL, but despite his great potential he has not grown since the beginning of the season. Stojan was one the young prospects we snapped up on a free during the January window. He had 5 stars potential when scouted, but once he was signed that dropped to 4 stars. Still one for the future to keep an eye on.

David Kalpacki

Kalpacki our former best player is now sharing the spotlight well, and seemingly rising to the occasion. He is even currently in the 70th percentile for progressive accurate passes among midfielders in the league. Still young, I think he can help the team for the next three years at least.

Stojan Ademi

Very young, and a raw prospect to be sure. Most impressive to me was Ademi's great positioning and decision-making at such a young age. He comes in for free from Eurosport in the 4th tier. I'm hopefully he can do a job for us, but that is likely 3 or 4 seasons away.

Finances

That brings us to where we sit financially. We are in better shape. The board is still thrilled we are able to stay under budget. We still have 7-8 contracts we need to resign before next season. I'm hoping we get these deals done at season's end as next year's projected budget is around 375k on the wage. Which would put us up to fourth in the league in wage. It is clear though without this good kup run or European competition, we would have to be a selling team to survive. (Once we have a financial backbone we will need to become a free loaner of talent to the rest of North Macedonia if we want a true building-a-nation save.

We have a easier 3-game month next month hopefully we can rest the squad adequately in order to be ready for the last 10-11 games of the season. 

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your own saves. 

Cheers!

Edited February 8, 2023 by DrChristopher

[DrChristopher]

March 2023

Schedule

A perfect month, sees us stay in 1st place in the league. Alongside Prince making a serious effort to claim the golden boot for the top flight.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

6 more games to go and 10 points clear. Three more wins and we have secured the title. Two more wins and we officially seal 3rd and an European place. We definitely have two winnable games this next month so we got to capitalize and rest up for the Kup ties.

Right Wingers

This month we are looking at right attacking midfielders.

Starting would normally be Feta, but with his long-term injury Kone has been covering that position alongside Blagoja. Neither are a permanent option there as Kone is needed in the AMC spot in the future and Blagoja has requested a transfer.

Second team is Ondoa he has not got to play for the side yet. As with well spread fixtures to has made rotating fairly unnecessary and thus he is currently extra utility. He will be first off the bench next season though.

Third is Abazi. Currently in the running for Kup player of the year. He is playing well in the minimal appearances thus far. Depending on how the summer window shakes out. He will most likely be out on loan next season to get more playtime.

Last is jack of all trades Kolev. Young with plenty of potential, he was another free winter signing from a 4th tier side in FFM Academy.

I don't think we will sign anyone next year at right winger, but we may look into a loan in the summer.

Blagoja Todorovski

Blagoja has just handed in a transfer request. I doubt we will get anyone to pay for him at his age. He was originally a regular starter, but even with injuries he has regressed so mightily this season he is only able to be utilized as a super sub. He will be gone in the summer. He holds to much locker room power to languish here.

Gjorgji Kolev

Kolev was a great pickup. Very raw, but has the ability to slot in across the attacking midfield. He will definitely have a place with us, but that will still likely be 3 seasons away. I hope to hire some more youth staff with good personalities to help his off-the-field development.

Best Attacking Team

Two great articles came in. We recaptured the best team attacking form league-wide. 2.67 goals per game! Outstanding. We have got to milk this form for 3 more wins. I think the league will get better next season. So this appears to be the most winnable I think this league may ever be.

Best Performing Attacking Player

Prince also takes the mantle of best performing attacking player in the division. 1.14 goals per 90 mins. With 0.82 non-penalty goals expected per 90. He previously only scored 1 goal across two rotational seasons with Pelister in the 1.MFL. He has absolutely come alive in this tactic.

The next most important match is against Shkupi in the semi final of the Kup. If we win the Kup we add another 210k in prize money to our balance. We need that money to maintain the talent we have been able to bring in.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

April 2023 

Schedule

We got a little case of nerves at the end there. Nonetheless we officially sealed the Macedonian First Football League title! As well as a champions league berth. The only thing left is to go and do the double by winning the Macedonian kup final against Akademija!

Competitions

This is probably one of the lowest point total for a champion in recent memory. So we really got to count our blessings that we were in form all season long against a lackluster league in opposition. As for the golden boot Prince is still ahead by 3 goals with 2 games remaining. 

Attacking Midfielder Center

This month we are covering the central attacking midfielder position. 

For starters we have Agim Ibraimi who had a magically half season for us. 10 assists, 6 goals, 7.36 average rating in 19 appearances. He appears just shy of player of the year voting. He is dropping a little bit skill-wise, but I think we can milk one more season out of him.

Backup is Seydou Kone, with another solid performance. 10 goals, 7 assists, 7.25 average rating in 28 appearances. Yet no big jumps in skill despite 5 stars of potential. Something to keep an eye on. 

Third but not least is...

Dimce Terziev

Terziev was a free fourth tier signing from New Stars this last summer. Still 16 years old he has already grown a half star. With gobs of potential I hope he can turn into something special in 3-4 seasons. We may have to bring in a loan until he is ready in the meantime.

Outgoing Transfers

We also found a free transfer for Blagoja. Sad to see him go but he is continuing to have unrealistic expectations while he is regressing skill-wise.

New Budgets

That brings us to the sparkling new budget for next year. We have new room for probably another signing or two. As well as the transfer budget to start scouting perhaps outside of North Macedonia.

Wish us luck as we try to go grab a double trophy year for FK Skopje.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[Hanys]

Congrats on the first title and good luck in Europe. Macedonian league is not the easiest, couple of decent clubs there (even after Vardar's gone) such us Akademija Pandev, Shkendija. I also wanted to mention my favourite Rabotnicki but oh Lord, what happened to them?

 

Young Terziev definitely looks promising! 

[DrChristopher]

Thanks! The tactic is really carrying me. @Hanys

Rabotnicki really did have a strong showing early. In the first 5 games or so. It was the main reason I distrusted our early form, because we were both doing so well.

Their manager was trashing me every media day every time we faced them. So, maybe if he would have been nice would would have gone easier on them but probably not. He's been fired now though so maybe the next guy I can be buddy buddy with.

If I can loan them talent over the next few seasons I will. I'm hoping some big named managers start taking jobs in North Macedonia.

Best of luck in your save mate! 

[DrChristopher]

May 2023

Schedule

Nothing but wins through the end of the season. Magical! Sealing a terrific season with a Macedonian Kup win! We do the double beating Akademija with Prince closing the door in the 83rd minute. 

Competitions

Going down are Pobeda, Rabotnicki, and Renova. Promoting up next season is the resurgent Vardar, Pelister, and Kozuf. All former 1.MFL teams. So, we have loaded top flight that will come out swinging against us next season.

Trophies

Both first wins ever for our side in the 1.MLF and Kup. I'm anxious to see if we are even projected in the top four of media predictions when the league table updates.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

Prince wins the golden boot. I would give you some award winners, but those articles haven't rolled in yet.

Financial Update

The money has rolled in though! We are now in the green, but like I mentioned before. We need prize money next year if we hope to sustain our elevated wage budget.

Club Vision

All these accolades! Yet the board and the fans still only request for us to avoid relegation. I think that goes to show how much we over performed.

League Reputation

Before the league update I also wanted to show you the current reputation of the the North Macedonian league pyramid. Mainly for posterity, but hopefully we can make this league into a top ten league in Europe one day.  

Coaching Carousel

Since we also care about the reputation of our comrades here is the current coaching outlook for the top 19 teams in North Macedonia. I'm hopeful some reputable managers will come take over some reputable sides. Creating some fun rivalries and story lines.

Left Wingers

We are also taking a look at our left attacking midfielder position.

Starting we have expiring loanee Trapanovski. He was incredible 29 appearances, 7 goals, 7 assists on a 7.23 average rating. 

Second line is Leonid, he was super reliable when Trap went down with an injury. Overall averaging a 7.33 rating for all 23 appearances last season.

Third is Mustafa. 23 years old with plenty more to give the club. He played well in the 7 appearances for the senior team this season averaging a 7.34. He will most likely have a bigger role next season if we don't resign or replace Trap.

The last two prospects are Alpaj and Antonio both on loan in the second and third division respectively and haven't impressed enough to secure playing time with us going forward. They will probably both be sold next season.

Kristijan Trapanovski

Trap is definitely a regular starter for the club. I'm hoping we can sign him on a free because Shkupi had yet to resign him for next season, but right now we are both competing for his signature.

Leonid Ignatov

Leonid was solid all year, but may have less upside then you would think. Our best judging ability/potential coach actually gave him a 3 star potential (yikes!). After an incredible year with minimal skill increases. I'm worried he is halting a little skill-wise. I hope his young age and overly-ambitious agent don't give us an ultimatum because he is unhappy. Despite being a really consistent squad player that I really want to keep.

Team Seasonal Best XI

One award we do have is our team's season best XI. 7's across the board for almost all the starters. Abazi's crazy kup form will always be a fascinating storyline. As he was a big reason we were able to rest the starters and play backups for the first 5-6 rounds of the kup. Invaluable!

Arda Kilic

Our first new signing was our first look into scouting outside domestically based players. Kilic is a 18 year old turkish U18 international who struggled to make the leap up in skill as Giresunspor promoted into the Turkish Super Lig last season. He comes in on a free as a potential backup to Coulibaly in maybe 2-3 years time.

I look forward to having a good transfer update for you all next month. Until then best of luck in your saves and thanks for reading.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

June 2023

Sponsorship Money

Our first full off-season with the club and we get a magical 756k from sponsorship. Which makes us the best sponsored team in the league by far. This will be a big comfort as we try to build a team that will continually be able to qualify for European competitions.

Club Vision

The Board have also updated their demands to a top-half finish. That sounds more accurate, but it reflects that on the whole our team is still probably a cut below. The "best of rest" so to speak.

Samuel Eto'o

I saw messages about interest in him throughout last season, and it finally happened. Eto'o was hired at Pobeda who just relegated to the league below. They are media predicted first in 2.MFL. I hope we can see him up with us again next season. Until then we wish him luck managing another side.

Kenwyne Jones

Jones officially retired as a player and he became our new assistant coach. He has way better skills then our old assistant did. If you are keeping track that opens up both the reserve and U21 manager positions.

Jorge Villafana

So we found fellow American, Jorge VIllafana to be our new U21's manager. He actually was born in the town neighboring my hometown just a few months previous. So, that will be exciting to watch.

Schedule

We officially got our new fixture list and even managed to draw a talented Lincoln Red Imps team of Gibraltar to face in the Champions League. They may still be a cut above us, but barring playing TNS or something they were probably the closest matchup skill-wise we could hope for.

Transfers

A lot of signings. The big one is that Trapanovski is back. He officially joins us after letting his contract run out at Shkupi. As for the outs... Blagoja left on a free to Voska Sport, and 37 year old striker Hristijan Kirovski goes to Svetkavitsa in Bulgaria to be player/staff for $5,000.

Goran Todorovski

We had to bring in a mix or future talent and first teamers this window. First up is Goran, the 17 year old right winger from New Stars. His potential regressed a little upon signing, but with him already being fairly professional. I think he will reach his potential sooner rather than later.

Jean-Eric Moursou

Mourson is a answer to Jasmin's old age most likely taking him out of the starting rotation this season. We were able to snag him for $8,000 from Coton Sport in the Cameroonian Elite One league. A total bonus, he also provides great cover at DM.

Shota Apridonidze

Apridonidze was another U19 international I found intriguing. Coming in for another 8k. He will most likely be a few seasons away, but hopefully he will earn his citizenship by the time he is competing for first team spots. The hardest part will be finding him a lower league side for him to go to on loan.

Vladimir Eftimov

Eftimov was the speedy wonderkid of my dreams (as least wonderkid by our standards). I really want him to play that right back spot. Just flying up and down the wings. He was a great free find at Eurosport in the 4th tier.

Muhammed Arikan

We continue to search out internationally as we signed Arikan the Kayserispor Turkish Super Lig prospect. He was consistent, versatile, and had lots of potential. With us now verging on 8-9 foreigners around the first team. We have to be mindful as only 7 can be in the match squad at one time. So one or two of these guys may go out on loan.

Miguel Angel Herrera

Our last signing had been in the works since last winter. We noticed Herrera was running down his contract, but still had a lot left in the tank skill-wise. He refused to accept anything as a player. However, once Eto'o and Kenwyne moved on, we had an opening for a manager. He agreed to consider a manager/player position. We had to pay him almost as most as ourselves to even consider it, but we finally signed him. He comes in as a coup of a signing and the single best star player on the team.

Media Prediction

That makes Herrera and Ibraimi are only two players in the media dream eleven. Despite some of what I think is our best transfer work. The media still have only given us a predicted 5th place finish. Wildly Vardar are predicted to finish 6th. So we will have to keep an eye on our new opponent.

We have one more friendly before taking on Lincoln in the Champions League Champions Path First Qualifying Round. As North Macedonia's spearheading team, we would like to have a good run in continental competition.

Wish us luck! Have fun in your own saves. 

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

July 2023

Schedule

A massive sweep of Lincoln and we are on to the next round against a giant in Molde FK of the Norwegian Premier Division. They literally have a 20 in youth recruitment. They are massive. Amazingly Trap managed a cheeky goal before halftime in our first leg against Molde away and our new defense held them to just 2 goals. We have a shot if we can keep the score a 1-0 win in the second leg, but it is really tough to break them down.

Transfers

We didn't bring in anyone else, but we were able to sell 4 guys for a combined $185,000. Eclipsing our record sale of last season. We also were able to find loans for 5 guys. Giving us some incredible wage room. 

Finances

This in total gave us a huge transfer, wage, and balance. If we can win a few more games in Europe. I think we can officially go professional at the end of this year. We have maybe 1 or 2 more guys we think we might bring in, but with no foreign spots left available we really have to wait for a few guys to get their citizenship.

Squad

Here is the squad as it stands. Lining up in our tentative starters and their respective seconds. The full 22 as it were. The wait on citizenship is long as we have to wait till next summer to have maybe 3 players get their citizenship. So if we want to bring in talent it will have to be through foreign youth or the big price tags on domestic talent.

Strikers

We will be covering our striker pipeline this month. 

Starting is current golden boot holder Prince. He has already scored 2 goals in the last three games against greater opposition. 

Second is Izet Ajrullahu he was our 3rd string option last season. He really doesn't have the potential to continue to be in the team long-term so if our reserves Bujar and Aleksandar can impress on loan. We might recall them in the winter and capitalize on Izet's transfer stock next summer.

Bujar was on loan at BVK last season where he helped get them promoted to the second division. With 9 goals and a 7.08 rating through 18 appearances. Now he is back on loan to Detonit Plackovica this season in the 2.MFL.

Prince Amponsah

Prince is 36 goals in 37 appearances all time in competitive games for the club. He is a really joy to have in the side. I'm his favorite personal, and I hope one day he stays to serve in the club staff in some capacity.

Aleksandar Ristovski

Risto is awesome! I have been salivating over his potential since he arrived last winter. He also managed to help Rosoman 83 promote to the second division while on loan with them last season. However, he only played 8 games in which he scored 5 goals and kept a 6.84 average rating. Not bad, but not better than Bujar. He is now on loan to Karaorman in the 2.MFL. 

You got  to love this competition for places.

Our next match it at home against Molde. If we win we secure some kind of group stage I think, but if we lose we may have to duke it out in the Euro League or Conference League.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[Jellico73]

I did a save last year with Vardar, it was fun, until I found out I could only sign players with Macedonian Nationality.  Then it became really hard, but still fun.  Good luck in your journey!

[DrChristopher]

43 minutes ago, Jellico73 said:

I did a save last year with Vardar, it was fun, until I found out I could only sign players with Macedonian Nationality.  Then it became really hard, but still fun.  Good luck in your journey!

Yeah I'm starting to feel it in year two. Luckily this database tweak has a little more sympathetic accumulative citizenship process. So with the right forethought hopefully I can actually have some foreign talent come through gain citizenship and play for the national team.

Thanks for following. Best of luck managing in England and France.

[Jellico73]

Varrdar was a Team philosophy, and I couldn't overturn it unless I wanted to edit the database, but where would the fun in that be?  :-)

Although I did get a Brazilian youngster somehow, I am still trying to figure that out...

 

[DrChristopher]

August 2023

Schedule

A hectic 7-game month ensued. Losing every round and being bounced from Europe one round shy of a group stage berth. Meaning we narrowly missed out on like 3 million in prize money for making it that far.

Competitions

Luckily we dropped zero game in the league while suffering from numerous small injuries, suspensions, and only 21 playable players due to no players "trained in club".

Finances

Nevertheless we gained almost 2 million in prize money which board willing will help us go professional next season. Also I would be shocked if we didn't add 100k to both wage and transfer budget again next year.

Stefan Despotovski

We finally found a Macedonian player that would come in as a starter. Arrived from Makedonija GjP for $60,000. Stefan will slot in at right back. Taking over for Filip who through no bad form or regression just fell out of the starting lineup via upgrades throughout the squad.

Goalkeepers

This month is the keepers.

We only have 4 left. Starting is of course our captain Efremov. 

Backing him up is Ilic. Picked up before we arrived from Varder two years ago. He has only played 7 games since we took over. Only conceding 5 and having a 7.4 rating. He has been a worthy backup, but seems to have plateaued in the backup role.

Third is new signing Shota. He is currently down with newly relegated Vellazerimi in the 3.MFL. Hopefully he can secure a role in the first team with a helpful campaign with them this year.

Last is Gjorgji. 

Andreja Efremov

Despite a decent campaign last year. He let us down a little in continental competition. Also, he is now officially one of the lowest star rated starters. If any national team keepers final say yes to signing with us. We would most likely move him to the bench/cup squad.

Gjorgji Mitrevski

Gjorgji is an unambitious 16 year old I got on a free from Borec last winter window. He is still at maybe even a 4.MFL standard keeper according to some staff. I hope he can realize his potential soon. As most teams that low are amateur and I don't think a loan to them would help his development.

Upside is we are finishing a upgrade to the youth facilities so hopefully some better talent will be coming through in the near future.

We have double away matches against Vardar this month so we will get a real in-depth look at how good our new opponent really is.

Thanks for reading, and good luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

33 minutes ago, Jellico73 said:

Varrdar was a Team philosophy, and I couldn't overturn it unless I wanted to edit the database, but where would the fun in that be?  :-)

Although I did get a Brazilian youngster somehow, I am still trying to figure that out...

 

Neymarovski lol.

[Jellico73]

Heh.  No, his name was Carlos Gabriel, and he was a world class DLP.  Played three seasons for me after a season on the bench after he came in thru the youth intake.  When I went to renegotiate his contract he said "No Thanks" and ended up going to Arsenal for 1.9 Million because thats what the board sold him for...I was quite sad.

[DrChristopher]

1 hour ago, Jellico73 said:

Heh.  No, his name was Carlos Gabriel, and he was a world class DLP.  Played three seasons for me after a season on the bench after he came in thru the youth intake.  When I went to renegotiate his contract he said "No Thanks" and ended up going to Arsenal for 1.9 Million because thats what the board sold him for...I was quite sad.

That's the struggle, making enough money where the board won't sell these guys out from under you. The board hasn't made that threat on any of my saves this season thus far. i wonder if the incidence is lower this game.

[DrChristopher]

September 2023

Schedule

A good start in the league. Our only win against Vardar luckily came in the Kup. They certainly are a tough side to beat. If they are in the running come the end of season table. I do not look forward to those fixtures.

Competitions

Struga TL are off to another impressive start like last season. This is the first season of a more proactive rotation of player for us during league play. So I hope our good form continues.

North Macedonia 2022: Continental Competition Summary

We found a specific look at how the European qualified sides did last season. It was not a great showing. Leading to us now having only two Conference League spots allotted this season, rather than the previous season's three.

European International League: Division C

We also did alright in the Euro League play with the national team last season. Managing to hold on to Division C. Hopefully we can push for Division B in the coming years.

Right Backs

This month we are reviewing our right back pipeline.

Starting is Stefan, only 2 game in so far. So not much to report, but so far he is holding his own.

Second is Filip, now 26 and watching his role taken by a younger player. Depending on how Curlinov plays he may be on the transfer list by next season.

Third is Curlinov. Still only 22. He has really dropped in potential as we have picked up better and better talent. I look forward to seeing him in the odd game this season. To see if he can finally work his way into the squad proper.

Last is Eftimov. He is the young gifted wingback I think will light the league on fire in 3-4 seasons. Unfortunately he did experience a "major" injury to his knee ligaments. He will be back soon, but I hope it hasn't effected his dynamism. 

Filip Stojanovski

Filip is not going down without a fight as he has 4 assists in 3 games in the league thus far this campaign. His continental form during those big games leave a little to be desired. Making our decision to replace him tough, but probably necessary.

Kristijan Curlinov

Curli is has been a great servant over the last 4 seasons, but is still a cut behind. That dribbling has refused to budge. Nonetheless his ability to recover defensively makes him feel really capable off the bench in a pinch.

Defensive Efficiency Graph

This is all to say that we have had a much better defensive showing this season. Currently standing as a top 3 team in defensive efficiency in the 1.MFL. 

Next up is a home match against Sileks to kickoff a slow three game month. The rest will be a welcome after a busy European campaign.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

October 2023

Schedule

Shkupi, came out swinging to end the month. The fans were pissed. Maybe Shkupi still are mad about Trap signing with us? Tough to tell. Anyway, I think we are showing more signs of being fallible this season.

Norther Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

Luckily we have hung on to 2nd place, but we are only a game up on 4th. Also, none of our people are really populating the leader boards like last season.

Xg Table

We are also currently way outperforming our expected points total. However, we are expected to be in 2nd so no change there. We are letting in more goals then we should  which is troubling because everyone has been healthy. We continue to be the number one offense for expected goals, and we will need to sustain that if we intend to reclaim the title this year.

League Reputations

The Macedonian leagues taken a drop across the board this year. Which does negatively affect prize money. We need to hope some other sides can win in Europe and help us bring in more talent.

Centerbacks

As for the centerback pipeline we have a great group.

Starting is Herrera and Moursou. They aren't setting the world on fire like Jasmin did last year. Hopefully time will breed synergy this season between the duo.

Backing them up is Dimov and Jasmin. Last year's starters, are playing well 7.1 and 7.4 respectively in average rating. They have been playing against lower division sides, but their combined 4 goals to the starters 1 goal says a lot about their production.

In reserves are Gordijan and Kosto. Both in their early 20s. They have good upside and are both versatile in being able to play out on the left. Neither have differentiated themselves yet, so we may have to send one of them out on loan in the summer to see if we can create some growth through experience. 

Jean-Eric Moursou

18 with well rounded stats for a ball playing defender. Jean-Eric has struggled thus far this season. There are a few factors working against him. Can't speak the language, retrained to the position within the last 3 months. Low-ish stamina, strength, and heading. I think he is definitely capable of better, but I'm not sure how to catalyze that this season.

Gordijan Hristovski

Gordi is a cool prospect. Great technically in marking and tackling. Nearing a 6.9 rating in his two appearances this season. Just not enough body of work to tell what we have with him. 

I'm mentoring him with a player high in adaptability in case we send him out on loan this season. Perhaps that will aid his development there.

Next up is a chance to see the reserves while playing 3rd division Madzari in the Kup. 

Wish us luck as we attempt to not let this bad loss cause us to backslide.

May your own saves be thriving, cheers!

[DrChristopher]

November 2023

Schedule

A perfect month. Both Kozuf and Struga TL were aggressive in the media, but luckily th boys didn't make me eat my words when I fired back. We might be getting a bad boys reputation. (As we are consistently the highest in cards/fouls.)

Competitions

Still a win off 1st, but we are slowly widening the gap between ourselves and 3rd place.

Pending Transfer

I had an interest conversation with Leonid. Where he demanded to be sold as he did not believe he was first team quality anymore. This is wild because last season he felt the exact opposite. Either way he made us promise to sell him so we found a Gostivari team right outside the automatic promotion places in the 2.MFL happy to snap him up. He will be leaving in the winter window.

Professional Status

We also finally heard back from the board. We will officially be professional next season. We also finally had our youth facilities upgraded, but only by one level. Still waiting to hear about our request for increases to junior coaching.

Squad Stats (Sorted by Current Ability in Stars)

Here is the stats of our current best 20 players. Trap and Prince have been the best recently being unstoppable in attack. Stefan is also back on the injury list this time with a moderate ankle ligament ding. No reports show injury proneness, but we may have to just always bring him back very very slowly.

Left Backs

This month is our left back situation.

Starting is Coulibaly with a 7.06 rating thus far this season over 17 appearances. He is still 3 months away from citizenship. Meaning we will have to wait for the summer to bring any foreigners in.

Second is Aboubakar, averaging a 7.25 in 11 appearances. He appears to be a good replacement for Coulibaly down the line, but the skills aren't there yet.

Third Filip Kosto, he might be a centerback, but his versatility helps us to not have two 3rd stringers on the bench. So, for now he is the one staying rather than being loaned out.

Last is Gorast and Arda, both have some upside, but have gone on loan to Vardar Negotino and Drita Bogovinje respectively in the 3.MFL. Both are averaging a 6.9 rating in their 9 appearance thus far. 

Souleymane Coulibaly

Coulibaly has played well the last two seasons. Never being caught out by his poor big match trait. His speed has also been incredible in helping him maximize his "gets forward whenever possible" trait. I think I would like to keep him for at least another 2-3 seasons. Especially because he was my first ever signing.

Siddick Aboubakar

Siddick is great! 18 years old, gobs of potential, fantastic in the air. Can play anywhere cross the back three. Unfortunately he has regressed heavily in the last month or two. Not sure why, but his athleticism is letting him down a bit. Hopefully it rebounds a bit as he really need more speed to stay on the wings.

Our next match is against Tikves who are currently in 12th and have fired their manager. Then on to Teteks in the Kup. 6 games this month. After this we will be past the half way mark. Looking forward to it.

Best of luck in your own saves. Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

December 2023

Schedule

We have had our roughest month of the save probably. We played the second team against Teteks and they punished us by taking us to penalties and winning. Leonid was given a red card before extra time. So despite leading in stats in the game we couldn't put it away. Then as we purchased some new free transfers. The team started to lose consistency in the league.

Competitions

So we are out of all cups. Which means we can probably go down to 22-23 players and send the rest out on loan. Since we only have 16 games left on the season.

Transfers

We have brought in 3 guys so far. All on free transfers. 

Jani Atanasov

First is a former Akademija youth prospect who spent the last 3 seasons with Hajduk in Croatia's first league. He will take over at shadow striker. The only bummer is he is not a great finisher. So we may have to utilize him as a defensive midfielder down the line. If he can't help well in attack. Love the work rate though. 

Ljupce Doriev

Doriev was a former champion with Shkendija in 2021, and now with us on a free. His perfectionist personality will be a huge boost for the team's mentorship. Also his ability to play anywhere in attack is a huge boost. He may have to be a super sub until he can synergize with the squad though.

Rodrigo Formento

With the pervious two starters being both Macedonian we have opened up another spot for a foreigner. Which means we can bring in Formento who played most recently with Coquimbo Unido in the Chilean First Division. Unfortunately the reason most of these players are free is that they do have some bad traits. Like Formento has injury proneness.

Squad

Here is our best 20 players. Our former number one Efremov is all the way down at the bottom now. Hopefully the new starters can gel soon as we have a hard month coming up against the top of the table.

Finances

We also are now pretty close to our wage budget, and maybe have room for one more signing in the winter window.

Next up is an away match against Shkendija.

Hopefully after this month we can seal our right to the top of the table again.

Thanks for reading. Best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

January 2024

Schedule

We had two swings at the first place team and missed both times. We just could not put the game away. Despite a big expected goals lead in both games. Next game against Shkupi is the last chance for a 6-pointer before the end of the season. We need to win to give ourselves some space.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

We are still within striking distance with Struga, but destiny is not in our hands anymore so we have to be flawless if we want to retain the title.

Board and Supporter Feedback

The board and the fans are not thrilled with our struggles and I'm waiting for another uptick to ask for an extension on my contract.

General Performance - Statistic 

We are above average statistically, but as you can see the shots per game is down over last year. Shots on target has also dropped a bit.

Transfers

So I panicked a little. Managed to sell $285,000 worth of player. While bringing in two stud Macedonian lads.

Bojan Dimoski

First is 22 year old Dimoski from Akademija. Big Match king. Also he can play in the DM spot or out left where we will slot him in right now at left back. Covering for a struggling Coulibaly.

Dashmir Elezi

Elezi is Shkendija's great scorer. We managed to sign him for just $130,000. He is also available across the front four. He will most likely be place as an advanced forward or shadow striker depending on who is in form. 19 years old though, you can't get much better. Especially with that speed.

League by Wage 

That brings us to the wage bill that has been raised to around 450k a year. Putting us in 4th in the league. It's wild Vardar are still 1st despite just promoting back to the top flight this season.

Media Prediction

The media are still hesitant about our chances and only place us in 3rd. However, we do have 3 league projected best eleven players. Herrera and Dimoski in the back and Elezi up front.

I may have to do a team talk to get us back on track. Another 4 games this month, means are window is closing to capitalize on any slip ups from Struga.

Thanks for reading. Good luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

February 2024

Schedule

The team talk worked! We are back to winning ways. Our defense is also back to clicking on all cylinders.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

Which finds us in 1st on a healthy goal differential. Destiny is back in our hands with 8 games left on the season. Two games against Makedonija GjP this month. We got to stay focused and not allow ourselves to miss out on points even against competition lower in the table.

Manager Contract Extension

The board also resigned me for two more seasons. Hopefully we can make a group stage in Europe by that time. 

Squad Stats

Here is the top 20 players' stats sorted by current star rating. Ibraimi and Atanasov are playing the best on 7.6 and 7.3 average rating respectively. Prince is just below this top 20 with 19 goals in 26 appearances.

Defensive Midfielders

This month is the defensive midfielders.

Starting is Klaudio and Kalpacki, both holding their own on a 6.8 rating, but if they can't rise up to meet the quality of some of the rest of the team. We may have to address the position with a loanee next season. 

Backing them up is Paul-Henri and Bozidar. Bozidar still has the most potential to work his way into the starting rotation, but right now these players are starting to fall behind the quality of our new incoming players. 

The third pair is Marko Ando and Ademi. Ando is out on loan at Kadino in the 2.MFL. He was actually originally from there when the club signed him back in 2021. He is currently getting a 7.1 rating across 5 appearances. Ademi is our best "potentially" of the bunch. Still young at 17. He will go out on loan next season to see what we have and what level he is competing at.

David Kalpacki

Kalpacki has been with us since we arrived, and has done well. He hasn't had the growth we have wanted to see, but that is mostly due to our poor training facilities. If he wasn't playing so well defensively he may have been out of the starting rotation by this point.

Bozidar Mitrevski

Bozidar has been here almost the same amount of time, but has played half as many games. He hasn't had much injury concern, despite a bad trait. He just appears closer to a leading 2.MFL caliber player in his performances. Even once topped out. Especially in the kup games the stamina lets him down.

I hope everyone is enjoyed the pipeline looks. 

If there is anything else you want to see or would prefer I highlight, let me know.

Good luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

March 2024

Schedule

I brief slip against Vardar had us terrified. Luckily Struga have taken a draw and a loss which officially gives us a 3 point advantage at the top of the table with 4 games to go.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

Those games are against Bregalnica home and away, Kozuf home, and Pelister away. The easiest fixture list of any of the top 3 competing for the title. Unfortunately, everyone but Pelister has something still to play for.

Right Wingers

This month we are taking a look at our right wingers.

 Starting is Ibraimi. Unfortunately he is beginning to regress a little. Which means despite his great form. This is most likely going to be his last season with us. Or at least the last season starting.

Second is Behar, he has been chomping at the bit for game time, and I may need him off the bench in these last four games. The touch and dribbling have been a real comfort off the bench this season. He just needs some refinement.

Third is Ondoa, 19 years old with still some potential. I might have to loan him out to get him some more play time next year. Its just always hard getting a Macedonian team to take a foreign player on loan.

Fourth and Fifth are neck and neck in my mind. Bujar is the more finished product. Despite that product being division 2 quality. Todoro is the cool 17 year old with tremendous upside. Todoro will go on loan this next season. If he makes a name for himself Bujar may have to find playing time in another position or be transfer listed.

Lastly is the jack of all attacking roles, Kolev. We have had a lot of interest for him from other Macedonian sides, but his potential has continued to dwindle as we brought in talent. I would hate to let him go before we know what we have in him, but we need him to realize his potential.

Behar Feta

Behar is roughly top 70 percentile in passes per 90 in the league. Unfortunately he is also bottom 10 percentile in accuracy. He has good passing so I'm not sure what is letting him down. Is it the vision, anticipation, or teamwork? Something we hope his individual training can address before next season.   

Frank Ondoa

Frank is a shooter. He has an impressive 50% of shots being on target in European competitions this year. I think if he can raise that stamina, positioning, and composure. That will give him a real shot at the first team. 

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your own saves.

Let us see if we can secure back to back titles!

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

April 2024

Schedule

Two clean-sheet wins. Giving us the highest point total we have ever achieved in this competition. Dashmir continues to be clinical. 

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

Oh did I forget to mention... we won the league! Two times in a row fellas! You may be asking yourself, but how Struga were right there...

League Form

They had one of the worst collapses I have ever seen. 3 straight losses took them out of the title, and placed us comfortably number one. Looks like we can play the backups for the last two games. Especially since Dashmir is 4 goals up in the golden boot.

Shadow Strikers

This month we are covering our attacking central midfielder pipeline. 

1st Jani - Leading the team every week. He has risen to a 900k transfer estimate. We aren't selling him for anything. He is contributing left and right these last two months. Still only 24 years old.

2nd Kone - Continuing to play well despite zero increases in skill in nearly two seasons. Two and a half months until he receives his citizenship too. He will be here until we upgrade again at AMC and with how Jani is playing that may be a while.

3rd Arikan - Setting the world on fire at BVK on loan in the 2.MFL. 7.2 rating with 4 goals and 1 assist in 14 appearances. Every week the media are asking, "when are we gonna increase his caliber playing competition". Maybe we can find him a loan in the top flight next season. Still just 19 years young.

4th Terziev - Under constant interest from the entire 1.MFL. Our current U21s captain, where he has scored 17 goals in 44 appearances and averaging a 7.41 rating. He will also go out on loan next season. Unfortunately it appears like most loan interest is in the third division.

5th Nikola - Our newest and only standout from the youth intake. 16 years old, decent technique, but still a long ways off the first time. Maybe he can help our struggling U21 team win some silverware.

Jani Atanasov

What an incredible free transfer. 3 goals, 6 assists, 5 player of the matches, and 7.34 rating all in 16 appearances. His work rate is the most impressive part of his game and when watching he seems to be involved in everything.

Muhammed Arikan

74% pass completion, with 32% of shots being on target. Muhammed has all the makings of a capable shadow striker. The composure is terrifying though. Also I hope to work on his finishing and anticipation a little more before he makes that last jump up to the first division.

Finances

The board were thrilled we won the league again. They released 1.3 million in transfer spends, and another 100k in wage. I think we can bring in 2 big foreign talents this offseason. I also want to address our home grown situation so if we can bring in some capable 18 year olds. That would be the best of both worlds.

What a rollercoaster season. Thanks for reading, and as always best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers! 

Edited February 14, 2023 by DrChristopher

[DrChristopher]

May 2024

Schedule

Two heavily rotated matches, and two wins. Dashmir secures the top flight golden boot.

Macedonian First Football League (1.MFL)

We win with 81 points. 12 points clear, a dominate last 3 months of the season. Ibraimi a dominate performance, but ultimately he has decided to retire next month. After achieving back to back titles with our team.

Left Wingers

This month we are checking out our left wing situation.

1st Doriev - A great free transfer. 5 goals and 5 assists in 15 appearances really helped us secure this title. Showing a little regression at 28. Currently with a big transfer value. So depending on if that regression continues we may think about accepting any great bid that comes in.

2nd Trap - 8 goals, 6 assists, a 7.03 rating in 28 appearances. He had a great season here as a permanent signing. Not a lot of potential left, but enough to be a spot starter or first name off the bench next year.

3rd Mustafa - On loan a Kosuf. Our only loanee capable of procuring a top flight loan move. Not a great showing 6.41 rating in 9 appearances. Nonetheless he has upsides with 81% passing accuracy, almost 4 dribbles per 90, and 42% shots on target. 

Ljupce Doriev

I think Doriev just had a bad month. However, that is a lot more red arrows then you want to see on your starting left winger. Lets hope that injury proneness doesn't crop up now that we are professional.

Mustafa Jusuf

Jusuf has decent potential, but will likely only be a rotational player in the future. He may be on the transfer list if we pick up another player that can provide a little cover at AML.

Agim Ibraimi Retires

When a great servant of the club officially retires we like to give him a proper send off. If you care to read his bio you are welcome to. The only thing missing is this year's title accolade. 40 caps with Macedonia, I'm glad the Northern Macedonian pyramid was able to secure his talents for 8 years over his illustrious 21 year career. 

Job Security

One last look at the top 19 teams in the pyramid to see what may be open in the coach carousel. Shkupi maybe or Bregalnica perhaps could part with their managers. Villafana actually received interest from Kozuf late last season, but no takers. Samuel Eto'o immediately got promoted with Pobeda. So we will be playing against his side next season at least three times.

Now to the transfer window! Don't miss out as we try to spend this big sum of money next month.

Thanks for reading and good luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

June 2024

Schedule

We are kicked back all the way to the first preliminary round of the Champions league. So we had a whole two weeks off as a squad and it was  back to work (heavy sarcasm). We beat up on the Andorran and Sammarinese sides. Now we play against top Montenegrin side Sutjeska in the first qualifying round. If we somehow manage to win we play against APOEL from Cyprus. The upside we learned that the entire top division of Northern Macedonia is now professional so hopefully someone else will join me in going deep in European competitions.

Transfers

We had a busy first two week on the transfer window. Only spending 54k while selling 130k. As you can see from the names we raided foreign talent. Hoping to gain a young batch of players who can eventually help the Macedonian National team down the line. 

Antony

However, this first player is not for the future, but our new star winger. Antony, available on a free from Brazil, is our highest salary player at $75,000 a year in wages. Unfortunately once he arrived he was found out to be injury prone and inconsistent. We need a new attacking player now the Agim is leaving us so we went big. (Hopefully we don't regret it.)

Blazenko Situm

Next is Blaze. One for the future, and thankfully we got him a loan at Sloga 1934 hovering in the top half of the 2.MFL table. I had to see what he could be with that great teamwork and work rate.

Boubacar Camara

Camara was a steal only 14k from Spain's third division I think. The touch, the flair, the technique, and totally both footed. He will immediately come into the senior team as a squad player. Can't wait to see what he can do in the league while the starters battle it out in Europe.

Eloi Monteys

Monteys was a little less ideal 24k price tag actually from Girona in the first division. Really surprised they didn't just resign him for more money, but we got him. Unfortunately his signing makes 8 foreigners in the top 16 players so unfortunately being the odd man out he will have to be loaned out to Pelister in the 1.MFL. We can always recall him next window, but it should be nice to see him play against our regular competition.

Oumar Cisse

Damm in the U19 division of Spain was a treasure trove of talent. They have incredible facilities so I managed to also snag 18 year old Oumar Cisse from them on a free. He really is a central midfielder, but I want him in the DM role to push the ball up the field. He is another one that will stay with us in the senior team, retraining position and getting Kup game time. 

Salam Ali

Ali was an amateur playing in the third division of Sweden. He originally had 4 stars of potential, but with all the great acquisition of talent he has been relegated to two and a half stars. Therefore, we found a suitable host team for his talents in the 3.MFL with Ilinden Skopje who were in big need of a right back. He has a great price tag. Hopefully he can make a name for himself selling him on, or perhaps induct him into the Macedonian footballing pyramid long-term.

Silvijo Petrak

Petrak is the last player that will be in the senior team and will slot right into the starting 11. Great physicals! He is used to getting up and down the right as he is a natural wingback. He comes in for a magical $16,000 transfer fee. Also love to be picking up more professional youngsters.

Squad View

Here is the top 20 players on the team as it currently stands. Dashmir, Antony, and Atanasov are our big 3 up front. We are still trying to get a Macedonian national-teamer to join us. If we do we are looking for an upgrade at center back.

Finances

All this wheeling and dealing and we are still in a great financial spot. We have another 10 guys to resign so hopefully next month we will have the wage budget a little closer to what we actual intend to spend on players this year. Nonetheless it is plenty of room to deal with the odd inflating salary.

Media Predictions

The media have finally given us a real ranking after 2 consecutive titles. We are now the team to officially beat, as media predicted 1st. Also we have 5 players in the league best eleven. A huge upgrade from where we were two years ago, but that may be due to the quality of the league going down.

League Reputations

The overall reputation of the Macedonian leagues have continued to go down. Which doesn't help the prize money trickling down the leagues. Hopefully in a season or two time we can start loaning players out to teams in Macedonia for free. Helping to raise the quality of the league across the board. For reference the save started with the league as the 52nd most reputable league in Europe. Now the top flight is 73rd.

Continental Season Summary

Here is last year's continental seasonal recap. All other sides were bounced in their first round of European competition. Hopefully I get more help this coming season. Honestly I think if I make the group stage that would be enough to have a real shot at big money. Thus being able to start to make more sweetheart deals with Macedonian teams for transfers and loans. Spreading the money to the masses as it were.

Thanks for reading this big transfer recap. As always best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

July 2024

Schedule

We did it boys! We are officially in for a group stage. A crazy win where we let APOEL have it. Sealed the deal. If we lose the rest of the way we are in the Conference League group stage. Just lose one game and we are in the Europa League group stage. Win the rest and we are in the Champions League, but with a stacked Bodo/Glimt Norwegian side ahead of us... I don't see that happening.

Squad Stats

Here are the starters stats after the first month. Dashmir is wild with 15 goals in 6 starts. I have noticed more injuries upon going up to full-time. Something we may have to keep an eye on, to insure our best players stay healthy.

Strikers

This month is strikers.

1st Dashmir - He still has a lot of potential at 19 and is starting to get national team call-ups. He will most likely lead our side for many seasons to come. 

2nd Feta - Amponsah is needed at right wing right now. So Feta is playing up top for us for the second team. 21 and versatile. Any way I can get Feta game time this year I plan on doing, as he has upside, but his potential dropped a half star. Most likely due to just not getting enough game time. 

3rd Risto - Now playing in the top flight with Borec on loan. They will most likely be relegated this year, but I am excited to see how he does against our regular competitors.

4th Bujar - Hajdari just has not risen significantly in talent. He was with a division 2 side last season, but could not get a loan back with them. He is now back in the third division with Kadino. Most likely they will be going right back up. So kind of a tweener in quality. If he doesn't show a big jump this season I may look to sell him to a team like Kadino looking to make the step up to the second division.

5th Zivko - One of our first youth intake players. He is an appalling look at what our youth setup produces. He will most likely be sold in the next season or two.  

Dashmir Elezi

Had a rough start in fitness due to being with the national team, but gained match sharpness well and never had any injury/form troubles. His pace is so much fun to watch especially against those Sammarinese and Andorran teams. The phrase "Man among boys" came to mind. 

Behar Feta

Feta is making good strides. Putting in time with professional personalities in mentoring. He looks to pass a little more than I would like, but his dribbling past opponents has been fun to watch with the second team in Kup games.

Club Vision

The board and supporters are fairly happy. They expect flawlessness domestically. So once we are in the group stages we will have to be mindful we don't over rotate and catch some early losses.

Villafana becomes Pelister Manager

Our former U21s manager was hired as manager for Pelister in our own 1.MFL. This is the second of our coaches now competing against us. I'd like to think we taught him everything he knows.

Tom Cleverly becomes U21s Manager

So we had to find a new professional U21s manager. I recall playing against this guy in past FMs when he was at Watford. Hopefully he will stay for more than a season, but if he is another long-term Macedonian manager. I don't mind it. 

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves. 

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

August 2024

Schedule

A magical win against Bodo/Glimt puts us in the Europa league group stage. We unfortunately will face them again in October as the group stage is now one big league table.

Competitions

Unthinkingly we also lost to Pobeda due to letting my players get a little too tired. (Hilariously enough we probably under rotated last month.) Might cause us to have to play from behind in the league for a little while. In Europe, we will be facing sides like Roma, Man United, Benfica, Rangers, and Tottenham just to name a few. Below is the photo of the bottom half of our league table in the Europa League. 

UEFA Europa League

I believe we have to be in the top 24 to make the knockouts. I don't think we have a shot. However, every point in the group stage is an aid to our coefficients. So any draws we can accumulate we'll be going for it. Struga was the only other Macedonian side that made it past the first round this year. They made it to the second qualifying round in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Finances 

We received 4 million from making it as far as we did in the champions league. As also received another 3 million from making the Europa group stage. As it stands if the coefficient points hold we will gain another European spot after next year. Any help and money coming to the league is a good thing. However, now we can start some serious investing in the country. Hopefully our reserves will grow and start to be good enough quality to begin to play for 1.MFL teams on free loans.

Seydou Kone

We had our biggest sale of all time. Kone was wanted by Malian side CO Bamako. They haggled relentlessly, but ended up agreeing to a figure that will eventually net us $450,000 for the young attacking player. Sorry to see him not go to a team in Northern Macedonia, but no way we were gonna get anyone in the pyramid to put up that kind of money. At least not yet.

Zoran Gocevski

So we managed to find some non-contracted U21s in amongst some impressive Macedonian sides. We gave them contracts and they are now either out on loan or training in our U21s. First is Zoran from Shkendija. Shocked he wasn't on a contract that required a fee to be paid, but now he is out on loan to New Stars in the third division.

Igor Bogdanovski

Igor is next from Akademija. A little young to go on loan, but he is easily one of the most talented players now in our youth system. All for no transfer fee.

Albi Abazaj

Last is also from Shkendija. 17 year old Albi can play a hodge-podge of positions, but looks like a real wingback threat for the future. Also coming in on a free transfer.

So a lot of money left in the tank. I don't want to spend too frivolously, but I'm anxious to raise the quality of the league back to where is was.

Perhaps we can help resupply my team with depth in a few positions by paying top dollar for guys from the Macedonian pyramid. I don't know if this would be a waste of money, or our best way of reinvesting in the country. 

First point of business is improving  the club facilities however.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

September 2024

Schedule

A little slip-up in the league lands us in 4th. Trailing Akademija in first by 6 points. Surprisingly we won our first game in the Europa League group stage. Now we face a rematch against Bodo/Glimt away.  

Competitions

Our fixture list in starting to get bigger, more compact, and as such we are running a first team about 30 players deep. We need to get the board to allow more coaches if we are to keep the workload below heavy.

Transfers

We made our first big purchase to help the Macedonian leagues. Pobeda originally wanted 60k for Andonov so we upped it to 100k. It will be interesting to see what Samuel Eto'o will do with the money as Pobeda's manager.

Dimitar Mirevski

The only two players that come in on the periphery of the first team include french based Macedonian lad Mitrevski. He has great defensive skills and we look forward to building him into a decent left wingback.

Nikola Andonov

Andonov was the attacking player in from Pobeda. He can already play across attacking midfield. Also his mentals looked really impressive for a 18 year old. He will start his time on loan at BVK in the second division. 

By the end of next month we will know if we are needing to get back on track in the league or have a real shot at more European success. 

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers! 

[DrChristopher]

October 2024

Schedule

Two losses in the group stage, but luckily we stay flawless in league play this month. We have two big games next month. We are in 25th. One spot shy of a knockout stage berth. If we can take some points from those ties I think we could make it.

Competitions

As for the league we are still in good shape 3 points back of first. Separating the top three from the pack by a little bit.

Sweeper Keepers

This month we are covering our keeper pipeline.

1st Rodrigo - In the last two seasons he has conceded only 16 goals in his 19 league starts. I'm hoping the board will agree to a training facility investment so players like Formento can continue to get better.

2nd Efremov - He was our starter for 2.5 seasons. He still has 1.MFL quality, but most of the interest I have had in him seems to be coming from bottom half of the table teams. Which means we were probably right in upgrading at keeper when we did.

3rd Filip - Filip is similar. He hasn't had much playing time with us the last 3 seasons. However, he still has 1.MFL quality. Once we are out of the group stage of Europe we will be sending him out on loan to see what we still have with him.

4th Shota - The Georgian has been on loan in the 3rd division for the last two seasons, and is about a season away from Northern Macedonian citizenship. Which will make team selection easier. Across those two seasons he has only conceded 14 goals in 22 starts. He will likely make the jump to the 2nd Division next season. 

5th Toni - Is on loan with Vellazerimi is the 3rd division where he is averaging a 6.94 rating. He has the best potential on the team at the keeper position. We hope he can fix his un-ambitiousness over the next few seasons, and find a place for him with the senior team. 

6th Gjorgji - Still a young 17 years old. However, his low potential, poor personality, and bad consistency make him a likely target for sale once he ages out of the youth teams. 

Rodrigo Formento

No longer the league media's best keeper. Formento has still been great for us. Only conceding 17 goals in 17 starts across all competitions this season. In two years time I hope he can possibly gain citizenship and join the Macedonian National team.

Toni Trajkov

Toni has a few seasons to go, but we are already seeing good signs in his loan spell in the third division. I just hope the downward arrows are a phase and don't continue whilst on loan.

5 games to go for next month. Wish us luck as we try to get back on top of the league.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

November 2024

Schedule

This month was a good barometer. We are still a ways off teams like PSV, but we are clearly one of the best teams in our league and fairly good compared to Belarusian team Shakhtar Soligorsk.

Competitions

With the big loss to PSV we stay right in 25th.  There is 3 more European games to play so unless we can get another win I think we are out of continental competition. Meanwhile we are just behind first place Akademija in the league with a game in hand. We play Makedonija GjP next, which have a new face at manager.

Kenwyne Jones (Makdonija GjP Manager)

Jones was given a great offer and he has moved on to new pastures. We got a small compensation, but I look forward to managing against him going forward. So far we have 3 former staff members managing in the Macedonian pyramid. 

Joe Hart

Which gave us the spot to pick up a new assistant manager. Our goalkeeping coaching has been lackluster so hopefully Hart can help out in that arena on top of his assistant manager duties.

Right Wingbacks

This month we will be looking at right back.

1st Petrak - Silvijo is awesome. 7.29 rating across 21 appearances so far this season. With a 80% pass accuracy. In that time he has also accumulated 6 assists. While still being only 18 years old.

2nd Filip S. - Our former starter of the last 3 seasons. He is now the first name of the bench having played 20 appearances already this season. He will most like remain with us for at least one more season, but at 28 years old I want to capitalize on the offers I have been receiving for his services around $100,000.

3rd Bozidar - Our first young stud. He has fallen all the way to the reserve/third string. He is still on the bench occasionally, but not enough. He will be out on loan at the winter transfer window.

4th Salam - Ali is an incredible talent in potential. All the other coaches project him as 4 stars. Prior to Jones leaving he had him projected as 4.5 stars of potential. Currently on loan with FK Ilinden Skopje in the 3rd division. Where he is averaging a 7.32 rating with 2 goals and 2 assists in 9 matches. He is one to watch.

5th Eftimov - Last is Eftimov he is still young at 17 years old, but with Petrak likely holding on to the starting position for the foreseeable future. He has to make big strides to achieve that potential. If he hasn't realize that potential by 19 or 20 we will probably sell him to a team that still feels that potential is achievable.

Silvijo Petrak

He is exactly the kind of professional personality I look forward to having in the side for years to come. Love seeing all those green arrows. I hope he maintains his great consistency throughout the season.

Bozidar Mitrevski

Mitrevski really is nostalgic. We originally thought he was gonna be one of the players to lead the club into the next era. However, he has provided good depth for the last three seasons. He will likely go on loan to a top flight team or title-contending side in 2.MFL. Amazingly he has never been injured in all 3 seasons he has been with us. Despite being injury prone. Not even a cold. I would like to pat myself on the back, but that is probably more likely due to his lack of playing time than anything I've done.

Thanks for following along as we try to reclaim our top spot in the league and face our former assistant manager.

Good luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

December 2024

Schedule

A perfect month. We have 2 more games in the group stage of the Europa League. They look to be 2 losses. So we are most likely out of that competition, but if we can nab more points from one of those ties we could be in with a knockout shot. 

Competitions

In other news, we are back where we belong at the top of the league table in the 1.MFL. With a 15 point chasm between us and 4th at the half way mark. Furthermore, with our impressive showing in the continental competitions we will probably have a 4th European side next season. Thank goodness. 

Ball Playing Defenders

We will be looking at the center backs this month.

1st Herrera - He is still playing well. Slightly regressing now at 35 years old. We will most likely be bringing in a replacement in the winter window, and making him a super sub.

2nd Jean Eric - Still just 20 years old. He has miles of potential, and he currently has a 90% pass completion rate on almost 80 passes per 90 minutes. I think he will safely stay in the starting lineup for a few more seasons. 

3rd Stefan - Despo has been the first name off the bench for the defense. He has been invaluable in Europe when we were dealing with some yellow card suspensions. Averaging a 6.99 rating in 23 appearances so far this season. I'm tempted to list him as he has a roughly 1 million dollar transfer estimate.

4th Dimov - In his 6th season with the club. He is still playing regularly with 31 appearances so far this season. He has been getting some loan offers so depending on if we do upgrade at centerback this winter. We may see him loaned out for the latter half of the season. 

5th  Paul Henri - Officially Northern Macedonian, Paul at 27 years old. As such he may get put on the market as he would be a great pickup for a Macedonian side. He is now reported as leading 2.MFL quality.

6th Arda - Currently on loan at Karaorman in the 3.MFL. He is averaging a 6.7 rating in 11 appearance thus far this season. He was originally 4 star potential, but has slipped down to 3 stars. I hope he can reclaim that while out on loan over the next couple seasons. While he gains citizenship.

7th Gordijan - I think his 3 stars is a little optimistic potential-wise. Most of my staff is saying 2.5 stars tops. He is back on loan to Sloga 1934 in the 2nd division. Where he has played 32 times while maintaining a 6.94 average rating. I'm torn as I think his performances will aid to his value, but at 21 years old this may be the best time to sell. 

8th Zoran - Last is Zoran, 18 years old, Macedonian, great potential. Averaging a 7.03 rating in 11 appearances for New Stars in the 3rd tier of Macedonia. His good speed and tackling will make him one to watch out for.

Miguel Angel Herrera

His personality has been a huge benefit to the locker room. He has dropped a half star though since the season began. I imagine this may be his last year. So I'll be interested to see if he stays on as reserves manager. 

Jean-Eric Moursou

Jean-Eric has been awesome. His decision making and tackling is extremely under-appreciated as he just doesn't make any mistakes. Receiving a third of the yellow cards of anyone else in the defense. We need to keep pushing the board to upgrade training facilities though to help him reach his potential. 

Next up we play at home against Struga TL. All told we have 7 matches next month so we will have a test of our rotation-ability.

Thanks for reading and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

January 2025

Schedule

A little bit of a slip up in the league, but we won not one but both of our group stage games. This puts us in 13th and thus into the knockout playoff round. To see what teams will make the Europa League Round of 16.

Competitions

Luckily our great goal differential keeps us in first place in the league. We also play 2nd division Bregalnica in the Kup Na Macedonia. We are just shy of jumping nearly 12 European qualification places. If we win another round we might have a team qualify straight to the Europa league next year as well. 

Transfers

We made a big transfer. We spend a huge chunk of our transfer budget and got star young Macedonian Amir Jusufi from Vardar for $800,000. We also managed to sign Jose Nkogo from youth talent powerhouse Damm in Spain on a free. Both allowed us to have some surplus at centerback so we parted with Paul-Henri as he went to BVK for $45,000 in the second division.

Jose Nkogo

Just 18 with incredible physicals. Nkogo's teamwork and work rate are off the charts. He was brought in just shy of the Europa league deadline. So, he will be playing with the second team alongside Jusufi for the first few weeks. Really excited to have Nkogo especially since he will likely be homegrown in 3 seasons time. 

Amir Jusufi

Jusufi was the single best player with Vardar, and was lighting us up every time we played them. The mentals were just all there for a 18 year old. He comes in as the second highest current ability on our team and with hopefully lots of room to grow. Also thrilled as he has 5 caps already in his young career for Northern Macedonia's national team.

Wingbacks (Left Defenders)

This week we will be covering left backs.

1st Bojan - 23 and on a really team-friendly contract and salary. He still has room to grow on top of all the intangibles. Consistency, big games, and healthiness. He is a domestic favorite and I hope we can keep him around for at least 2 more years.  

2nd Coulibaly - I might have said the same about Coulibaly 2 seasons ago. He has now become a veteran of three years. Macedonian citizenship. His versatility has been big in continental fixtures as we have no "home grown at club" players so our registered squad is 21 players. He is virtually omni-present due to this. Furthermore he just makes the right decision nine times out of ten, and stays out of card trouble.  

3rd Dimitar - He has just aged out of the youth setup and is now on loan at Detonit Plackovica in the 2nd Division. He comes in as a day one starter for them at left back. Hopefully this spell can help him reach that potential. 

4th Siddick - Hasn't quite grown like we wanted. He is now 20 still with decent potential, but most staff puts him at 3 to 3.5 stars of potential. So he may be a name that finds its way to the transfer list as he now has full citizenship and some teams have already come knocking for 150-200k.

5th Abazaj - Albi is another high potential prospect. Good speed and teamwork. He has been playing well for the U21s averaging a 7.0 rating in 14 appearances alongside tallying 4 assists. He and Dimitar may be competing for the 3rd spot on the senior team by the beginning of next season. 

6th/7th Kosto & Gorast - Both 22 years old. They have both been shown to be wanting. Both are most likely capping out at decent 1.MFL potential. In other words, starting for a relegation battling or bottom of the table team at their peak. Even that peak is still roughly 3 seasons away. Both will be on the sales block in the summer.

Bojan Dimoski

Bojan is the second best dribbling defender in the league averaging to 2.3 dribbles per 90 and getting fouled in good opportunities 1.9 times per 90. I can almost always count on a free kick highlight to come from a Bojan run. Hope he continues to show Akademija what a mistake it was for them to sell him. 

Souleymane Coulibaly

Meanwhile Coulibaly is more defensive. Perhaps that is because we play him at DM and DC occasionally. Nonetheless he wins almost 80% of his tackles with nearly 3 attempted per 90. Combined with his good recovery speed for this level. He is a safety blanket that feels really easy to sub on in the latter stages of any tough or close game. Which is the reason he probably has 38 appearances for the senior team before February.

That was a big update and I appreciate anyone who read through it all. We get our Europa League draw the 4th of February so you won't know until the tie is already over. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

February 2025

Schedule

We were drawn against SK Rapid Vienna and they finished our Europa League run. Now we will have to see how the qualification spots finish at the end of the season. All told I think we made almost 10-11 million in prize money. Very thrilled with that. 

Competitions

Unfortunately we keep falling down with our second team in the league. Hopefully now that its just the Kup and league left we can focus better on recapturing the top spot, but as of now Akademija are on a 20 game unbeaten stretch. With no signs of slowing down. Also Pelister have officially fired our old U21s manager Jorge Villafana. Hopefully he finds in job again soon. 

Jorge Villafana

With that form though who can blame them. This month we are covering our defensive midfielder pipeline.

Defensive Midfielders

1st Cisse - 19 and incredibly consistent. Oumar has secured the starting DM spot. Off the field he is being mentored and his determination and professionalism keep improving. All great things to see.

2nd Klaudio - Our first big upgrade at DM is still starting. 30 years old now he really plays up to the standard of the opposing team in big matches. His first touch is sublime and the passing to go with it is still a joy to watch.

3rd Jean Eric - We spoke about him with the center backs. He has moved to more of DM since then. He has had inconsistent form since moving to the bench. He really has the potential to push past Klaudio for the starting job, but so far his form hasn't secured him that.

4th Kalpacki - Now in his third season with us. He has had 37 appearances this season with a 6.82 rating. He has played well. I don't think he has the potential to compete for the first team, but his speed and tackling make him an easy choice off the bench or against weaker competition.

5th Igor - A brave and aggressive midfielder still only 17 years old. He was part of the Akademija U21 championship team in 2023 at the age of 15. He has the potential to support the first team. We just need to give him the technicals to avoid misusing that aggression and bravery.

6th Blazenko - The best named lad ever. Blaze is on loan to Sloga 1934 in the 2.MFL. Where he has 40 appearances, 6 goals, and 2 assists. With a 6.8 average rating. He still apparently has all the worst traits. Injury prone, inconsistent, unambitious, but he has succeed thus far inspite of them. 

7th Marko Ando - Out on loan again in the second division this time with Golemo Konjari. His average rating and assists have dropped, and he officially fell under 2.5 stars for potential. So he will be transferred during the summer window. 

8th Ademi - Last but not least is 18 year old Ademi. on loan with Males in the third division. He has not made a huge jump up in current ability. I may let him go back on loan for one more year to help aid his development before transferring him on a free to someone in the Macedonian pyramid who needs him. 

Oumar Cisse

Cisse is the best physical sprinter in the league. 12.8 km per 90 and 16.6 high intensity sprints per 90. His work rate really gets him involved in every play.

Klaudio Hyseni

Nothing too flashy skill wise a 7.0 rating across 36 starts so far this season. Tallying 7 assists and 1 goal as well. Klaudio's 85% accuracy is the big reason he remains in the first team. He almost never gives the ball away.

Next month its 4 straight league games. Hopefully we can recapture our form there.

Thanks to anyone who reading. Best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

March 2025

Schedule

A great month is capped by a 4-0 smoking of Akademija that puts us clear of them at the top of table with 4 games to go on the season. We do this to ourselves every season. Now we need to hang on to it.

Competitions

We should be good on goal differential, but unfortunately with how much rotation we had to do. Dashmir will probably miss out on a golden boot this season. Despite his 15 goals in 16 starts in the league this season. Which makes him 3rd in the league in nearly half as many games as his competitors. 

Best Performing Attacking Team

We did get anointed the best attacking team in the league this month. Nearly 17 shots per game, and averaging 2.28 goals per game. Our attack is something to be reckoned with. We just need our defense to come together in this final stretch of games.

Right Inside Forwards

This month we will review of right attacking midfielder pipeline.

1st Antony - Still our best rated player. He has averaged a 7.57 rating in 38 appearances this season. Tallying 28 goals and 14 assists. Hitting the target on 50% of all shots. He isn't going anywhere if we can help it.

2nd Prince - Our former number 9, Prince has fallen off a bit. He has only scored 6 goals in 25 appearances this season. He is now aged 28 and we now have to decide when Frank takes over for him.

3rd Ondoa - On loan for the second season at Lokomotiva in the 2.MFL. He is doing great averaging a 6.92 across 30 appearances for them in the league. Where he had 4 player of the match performances. All the applicable technicals are over 10. He will likely become the designate back up next season. 

4th Arikan - Muhammed is a little shorter and a little less refined compared to Ondoa. He has been a reserve for the senior team all season, but depending on our depth at AMC we may give him a loan to get game-time at the beginning of next season. He should gain citizenship by October. 

5th Vasil - 18 years old with bushels of potential. Vasil is on loan at Osogovo were he has been viritually ever-present. Playing in 41 games for their side. I'm hesitant to send him back there on loan as I don't want him to be over-worked, but he is still a ways off the first team, and the top of the 2.MFL is where he needs to be playing. 

6th Mustafa - Back on loan with Kozuf in the 2.MFL after their relegation. He is averaging a 7.37 rating with 8 goals and 8 assists in 39 appearances. He has the most player of the match awards and 2nd highest rating in the entire second division. Even so, Kozuf will likely miss out on promotion. This showing was perfect as at 25 years old he will be departing our team this coming offseason now that we can make use of his great form.

7th Todo - Last is Goran, on loan at Horizont in the third division. He has some raw ability, but it has just not been transferring to on field performances. He has also dropped a half star of potential since the season began. As much as I would love to think he could be the Macedonian Antony. He will need to really step up his performances if we wants to stay with the club. 

Antony

Antony is all over the leaderboards when it comes to the data hub. Consistently in the highest percentiles for physicality, shooting, goal output, and passing. Also considering he is only 23 years old I look forward to this guy smashing league records for years to come. 

Prince Amponsah

As you can see prince has been regressing already so early. I really hoped his skills would stay peaked until his age 30 season, but despite his talented past. He is simply not producing the way he used to. Which means we may have to make the decision to sell him as early as next winter window, if he can't find a resurgence of form and training.

All big games from here on out, and we need nothing but perfection from the boys to continue to be the kings of Macedonia. 

Thanks for reading as we next play Shkupi in the Kup Na Macedonian Semi Final. 

As always best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

April 2025

Schedule

Three more wins, and now just three games left in the season. All of which are against tough opposition. 

Competitions

We play Akademija in the Kup final, a replay of the 2023 penultimate match. While trying to fend them off of our joint first place position on points.

Finances

We have had an incredible season financially. Making over 10 million all told. More once league and Kup prize money comes in. As you might have seen, next year's wage budget is 4 million. Meaning we can officially be a world wide scouter and still pull in star caliber players.

Shadow Strikers

We have 7 shadow striker prospects in our system. 

1st Atanasov - Jani can playing throughout midfield, but I think his work rate and consistency give him the most threat at attacking midfielder.

2nd Camara - Only 19 years old, with 4 to 4.5 stars of potential. Camara is very technical. With top tier first touch and technique. Alongside his outstanding flair, it always feels like he is a touch away from changing the game.

3rd Eftimov - A speedy attacking prospect he is currently out at Ohrid in the 2nd division. Especially with guys like Feta and Monteys he will have to play much better to secure a position in the first team.

4th Niko Ando - Has the same potential yet far more technically gifted. He is on loan at BVK where is has scored 7 goals and made 5 assists in 47 appearances for the 2.MFL side. Not surprisingly that form has not helped them much as they are still likely to be relegated by season's end. 

5th Terziev - A long shot master. Terziev is currently on loan at Prespa in the 3rd division. He has reasonable potential, but with only averaging a 6.55 rating. He has not risen to the occasion out on loan. Making his single position competency and marginal 1.MFL talent look likely to end up on the transfer list this time next year.

6th Marangozov - 17 years old and a great team player. Marango has still got a lot of growing to do. Despite this he aided our U21 side win the group 1 championship last season at the tender age of 16. Hopefully next year we can get an idea how he does on loan against adult talent.

7th Kolev - Last is of course Kolev. His potential has not been holding since we signed him two years ago. He is extremely versatile, but at this time he looks to top out as a 2.MFL caliber player. So one final season under contract where he will out on loan to give him one last try to prove he is worth keeping.

Jani Atanasov

The best physical performer in the entire top flight in work rate with his distance covered and sprints. Jani zooms around the field and aggressively turns our high pressing ball wins into shots on goal. Having the most shots taken of any midfielder in the league. At 25 we gratefully have him locked in for the next two seasons.

Boubacar Camara

Boubacar may look like he is still developing. However, he is shooting 50% of his shots on target. Tallying 6 goals from 35 appearances on a 6.88 average rating. If we could just help build his concentration and composure. The world would come to fear anytime he has a ball in scoring position.

Thanks again for reading as we attempt to go for the double!

Best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

May 2025

Schedule

A tough draw away at Shkendija was all it took to crush our chances at the double, and for the first time in two years we loss the top flight.

Competitions

Meaning we are going into the Europa conference league. Man it was two horse race with our team having a 20 point gap on third.

1.MFL (Macedonian First Football League)

Akademija really had a flawless season. They only loss to us. They did everything right and thus we have to concede to them the crown. Reeling from that disappointment the leaders of the locker room came to me and chewed me a new one for losing the league. So with promises made, the players are demanding a championship next season or else.

Squad Stats View

Here are the team stats at season's end. Elezi was dominate with 55 goals in 44 appearances. In cool surprising news Dashmir's 19 goals surpassed Ronaldo's 17 goals in 2013 for the most goals in a champions league campaign.

Inside Forward Left

This month we will review our 4 left wing talents.

1st Doriev - Starting is Ljupce, now 29 years old our captain is the wise perfectionist that is in charge of mentoring half the team. He claims to be injury prone but he has only missed 17 days in 2 seasons.

2nd Monteys - 19 years old and our likely contender for claiming the starting spot in the near future barring any transfers. Monteys was very technical in his 24 appearances for the senior team this year. In that time he tallied 3 goals, 4 assists, and a 6.89 rating.

3rd Feta - Feta was former heir apparent, and despite now being 21 years old. In many ways he still is. With his ability to play anywhere in attack. I imagine he will find his way into the team throughout next year's campaign. 

4th Trap - Kristijan is a little different. Now a three year veteran for us. He still appeared in 17 games for us but in those only averaged a 6.49 rating. Also being 25 years old this next season may likely be his last as he is currently fallen to the third team playing in only the odd league or kup games.

Ljupce Doriev

Doriev has done some of his best work in the mentoring field. Tutoring guys like Camara, Monteys, Petrak, and Jusufi their personalities have all started to shade towards the more professional. His total impact on the side will likely keep him on the senior team until retirement despite us probably addressing left winger in the next summer transfer window.

Eloi Monteys

His biggest hole is his teamwork and work rate. We initially had him out at Pelister, but he was just too exceptional and we had to bring him back before the window was even over. I just wish he had more speed, but when he does touch the ball its all clinical.

Unfortunate turn of events, but hopefully the board sees fit to keep us and the supporter/players don't run us out of town.  

Best of luck in your own saves. Look forward to posting some new signings next update as we head into the summer window.

Cheers!

[DrChristopher]

June 2025

Schedule

First match in the new campaign is in the first qualifying round of the Europa Conference against Lithuanian side FK Riteriai.

European Qualification Places

Our great performance last year moved us up from 51st to 35th. We are at a big disadvantage starting in the conference this year, but we won't have a 4th side qualifying until the end of this season. So, we have to score qualification points for two this season.

Lionel Messi (Borec Manager)

Bummer we did not get a rise in reputation and remain one of the top 5 teams in the country. Surprisingly, Messi has taken up coaching and as we are the only playable league he has taken over Borec recently relegated to the 2nd division. Hopefully we get the opportunity to play against him this year or next.

Media Projection

We are still heavy favorites after 6 transfers in. We now hold 9 of 11 players in the media dream eleven. Now that the loanees are all back I will likely be transfer listing 5-10 players. Hopefully we can spread them out throughout Macedonia.

Finances

As you can see money is no object, but with foreigner rules we can't just spend it all. We have to be patient. The biggest bummer is we really just want to spend it all on facilities but the board have turned us down on training facility upgrades for the third year in a row. The facilities even got decreased in the offseason. We have had a couple notifications of possible change of ownership. I hope any new owners would be willing to pay for facilities upgrades.

Abubakar Joseph

Our first transfer came in at the beginning of the window for $65,000 from Enugu Rangers in Nigeria. Joseph is a sweeper keeper with exceptional potential. Nonetheless he will go out on loan this season as he is 4th on our depth chart.

Bojan Stojkov

Bojan was our sympathy buy for the window. Rabotnicki were recently relegated to the 2nd division and Bojan had a release clause of 100k. So we gave them 200k and we will be utilizing him as our first name off the bench or leading the second team at defensive midfielder. 

Qusseynou Soumare

Soumare was just the total package. He unfortunately can only play advance forward so Dashmir may have to play some games at shadow striker so we can play them both. Amazingly we secured him on a free from Generation Foot in Senegal.

Paulo Teixeira

Next is right wing back Teixeira. Another player brought in on a free from Praiense in Portugal's fourth division. He may see a little game time while we remain in Europe, but will most likely go out on loan for the second half of the year.

Vedran Kjosevski

The number one keeper in 1.MFL. He refused to resign with Struga TL so we gladly signed him to a expiring contract. His home grown status will help us a lot and he and Formento will have to duke it out for the number one shirt.

Veton Tusha

Last is Tusha the 22 year old Macedonian that was signed from Ballkani in Kosovo for $4,500. He already looks to be a step ahead of Ljupce, but will have to battle it out in preseason to officially take the left inside forward starting role.

Its European month, so hopefully we can battle into the group stage. Most likely we won't make it there, but we got to go hard for it. 

Thanks for reading, and best of luck in your own saves.

Cheers!