FM23 - Climbing mountains with FC Wacker Innsbruck (2002)

[Jogo Bonito]

Fußballclub Wacker Innsbruck 

FC Wacker Innsbruck is an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck. The club were formed in June 2002 as FC Wacker Tirol, and play their home games at Tivoli-Neu. The club regard themselves as the spiritual continuation of the team FC Tirol Innsbruck, which went bankrupt in 2002, and the original FC Wacker Innsbruck, which was founded in 1913. In honour of this heritage, FC Wacker Tirol was renamed FC Wacker Innsbruck in 2007. However, legally, it is a separate club and not entitled to claim honours won by its predecessors.

For the 2022/23 season they will start in the 4th tier regional 'Hypo Tirol Liga' after being refused a licence to continue playing in the second tier of Austrian football (Bundesliga 2) and thus ending their professional status. So for FM23, I have used the 'Austria (D6)' file created by Tenshi (available on Steam).

So why go here, and what was the source of inspiration? Well, I had considered going to Vienna - either to the green side (Rapid) or violet (FK Austria) - and I do still fancy this destination in FM24.

But FCW have a modern and reasonable size stadium - and with these glorious mountain views, it has to be considered one of the absolute best football locations of Europe. There will be some years of hard graft, but it will bring immense pride if I can get this club back in to the top flight of Austrian football - and if time permits, perhaps even get them in to European competition. The caveat is that the board insist on back-to-back promotions, so the pressure will really be on to deliver and keep my job.

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[KristianT]

Cool! Managing Austria Wien myself currently, 4th season. Will follow!

[Jogo Bonito]

Unusually for me, I have decided to complete the first season (2022/23)  before doing my intro at this club. I wanted to be sure I could see out the season, and at times it was a tough one due to the Qatar 2022 World Cup which saw an excruciating break from November 2022 to March 2023. In a normal season, the winter break would be hard enough, but this extended one after 15 league games did seem to take an eternity.

The league has 16 teams, and the format is that you play 30 games (15 opponents home and away) with the top two sides automatically promoted to tier 3 (Regionalliga). There are no play-off matches, so it was top two or the sack basically. 

I won't do the usual game-by-game results review or even the blocks format that I usually use. I'll just tell a bit of the story and show you how it unfolded. Then we will be in real-time and the story will continue. 

With the aim being the Admiral Bundesliga, it made sense for the manager profile to include a suitable reference. And so, the club welcomed 'The Good Admiral' to Innsbruck. There were, of course, new club kits designed and produced to mark the start of this mountain climb. The 900 season ticket holders were no doubt pleased to see the local university introduced as the new shirt sponsor.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

15 minutes ago, KristianT said:

Cool! Managing Austria Wien myself currently, 4th season. Will follow!

That's great. I really was close to going there as the only two stories I read about them in FM23 ended badly - sacked in one, relegated in the other. But I am keen on going to Vienna in FM24.

Are you telling your story anywhere? I'll read if you create a thread.

[Jogo Bonito]

There were rumblings of club takeovers through February and March 2023, but nothing came of it (yet). Whilst we had a transfer budget of around 49,000 Euros and a tiny bit of free wages, the reality was that we couldn't even sign most of our free transfer targets as there was a wage cap of 350 Euros per week. Non-EU players must be paid a minimum of 650 Euros per week, so we were really looking to boost the squad with affordable free transfers and the occasional loan. The summer moves were not that great, but the squad was strengthened significantly in January.

Transfers Out

Transfers In

Club Performance Stats 2022/23 

Here are the stats of the 16 contracted players at season end (the four loan men had gone before the image was captured)

Lucas Scholl had played a number of games before leaving in the winter as his weekly wage of 650 Euros was too high for his modest output

Our four loan players (below) were dramatically unavailable for the last two fixtures as their loan contracts ended on 31st May

Luckily we scraped a squad of 16 players together for those two June fixtures and the title had been secured just before then anyway

Loan Players

Nico Löffler was effective as an attacking central midfielder, and he should be back on a permanent basis next season (free transfer)

Thomas Burghuber was a regular starter at left-back and was occasionally pushed in to midfield, he should be coming back on a free transfer next season

Tobias Schott was a left-sided central defender who didn't start much as the season went on, almost half of these outings were from the bench

Ognjen Jeftenić was a useful winter loan acquisition and the Serbian played mostly at left-back and sometimes as a left-sided central defender

Top Scorers

Our striker partnership of Hamza Ech Cheikh and Enrico Schubert were first and second in the Tirol Liga top scorer rankings

Edited July 31, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[KristianT]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

That's great. I really was close to going there as the only two stories I read about them in FM23 ended badly - sacked in one, relegated in the other. But I am keen on going to Vienna in FM24.

Are you telling your story anywhere? I'll read if you create a thread.

Not telling it anywhere, unfortunately. But it is a very fascinating challenge for two reasons: a. it is a part of Europe I have very little knowledge so I encounter many new players and b. A. Wien start out with a net debt of about €70-75 million. I have managed now, halfway into the fourth season, to get it down to about €5m thanks to CL and a couple of great sales. Won the league in the 3rd season, Salzburg's financial muscles are beyond anyone's in Austria. The success on the pitch is mainly due to careful picking of loan players (restricted to six per season), mainly from Bayern II and Inter.

Edited July 31, 2023 by KristianT

[Jogo Bonito]

Club Performance 2022/23

We won't show each result as we had 30 league games, and several regional cup games on top of the proper cup. We got drawn against RB Salzburg for the latter in the first game of the season so we didn't last long there anyway! There were also six or seven mid-season friendlies played during the long winter break and it all looked a bit messy. 

As you can see, we did manage to win the league, but considering how short the odds were, it was by no means as easy as I had expected. We had a bad habit of conceding first and if we didn't, we often threw away leads of two or three goals to draw games as we entered the last few minutes. In attack we were exceptional, so at least we entertained! Next season we will need to be more cautious and respectful, as we are expected to be promoted again and failure will probably see me sacked. There were three other Innsbruck sides in our league, and SV Innsbruck were deservedly promoted with us as they pushed us hard all the way.

Returning to Professional Status for Season 2023/24

At the end of June 2023, the club announced that we would be turning Professional again for the 2023/24 season. That is fantastic news as we should be able to eventually attract slightly better players to our lovely mountain side venue. Unfortunately, the majority of the squad has been formed by the time this news was delivered, but we still have about five places to fill as we seek something like a 23-man squad. The financial change between the image above and the position on 1st July 2023 is significantly different - maybe it is down to competition payments but it seems like a big sum for a tier 3 regional league club to be given.

Edit: According to the image, it seems it was 1.88 million Euros of sponsorship money. That makes more sense than competition funding.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

20 minutes ago, KristianT said:

Not telling it anywhere, unfortunately. But it is a very fascinating challenge for two reasons: a. it is a part of Europe I have very little knowledge so I encounter many new players and b. A. Wien start out with a net debt of about €70-75 million. I have managed now, halfway into the fourth season, to get it down to about €5m thanks to CL and a couple of great sales. Won the league in the 3rd season, Salzburg's financial muscles are beyond anyone's in Austria. The success on the pitch is mainly due to careful picking of loan players (restricted to six per season), mainly from Bayern II and Inter.

Yes it was their hardship that really tempted me. Along with the finance issues, they had the three point deduction so definitely a real test - but they do have some useful players at least. RB Salzburg are like the PSG of Austria, so to win the title in year 3 was an amazing achievement.

[Rikulec]

Great to see another save in Austria, and great to see you're off to some success already! I remember analysing Wacker Innsbruck's last game in the 2. Liga, the quality they had was decent, and the view was marvellous.

Best of luck mate!

[Jogo Bonito]

4 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Great to see another save in Austria, and great to see you're off to some success already! I remember analysing Wacker Innsbruck's last game in the 2. Liga, the quality they had was decent, and the view was marvellous.

Best of luck mate!

Welcome along and thank you. 

I saw that photo when doing my research, amazing view indeed. In either this or the next version, I definitely want to try one of the Vienna teams - with FK Austria levels of hardship making them the biggest draw at the moment. Also I want to see whether I can do better than you 

Regarding the work you did for/on FC Wacker, was it coaching analysis or team analysis rather than player scouting? Feel free to recommend here or by PM any real-life options (not FM sourced) suitable for free transfer moves to 'my club' for the new season. Any of their 2. Liga side that impressed you perhaps?

I had some player targets in my head that I know the club could afford, but most didn't fancy the 4th tier of semi-pro Austrian football. I doubt the 3rd tier carries much more pull. For example, I negotiated a great transfer offer for Jamaican league top scorer Collin Anderson last summer of no fee and 30% future profit which his club accepted. Unfortunately, the player didn't fancy the mountain air even on higher wages than he earned at home and would not even open talks 'under any circumstances'. Has he never watched the Cool Runnings film?

Edited August 1, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[wearesporting]

They usually appear in the 2nd tier in the vanilla game fairly quickly so the pressure is definitely on. Good luck.

[Rikulec]

6 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Regarding the work you did for/on FC Wacker, was it coaching analysis or team analysis rather than player scouting? Feel free to recommend here or by PM any real-life options (not FM sourced) suitable for free transfer moves to 'my club' for the new season. Any of their 2. Liga side that impressed you perhaps?

It was just a match analysis for a company I work at, nothing directly related to Wacker themselves or even the short gig I had with Admira. I don't really have the knowledge to do any scouting for you, sorry. Also the work we do is mostly centered around team statistics and a very general assessment of the way they play as a collective, so we don't focus on individual players too much.

I only analysed a handful of 2. Liga games last season, I can definitely recall enjoying watching St. Pölten's possession football and I vaguely remember that SV Horn also played quite well. In general there seemed to be a significant disproportion between the teams hovering around the top of the table and those in the relegation dogfight, the former opting for a more patient, dominant approach more often than not and the latter usually being much more direct and physical.

[warlock]

10 hours ago, Rikulec said:

the view was marvellous

Incredible backdrop to a game of football . If we could get something like that in FM...

[Jogo Bonito]

2 hours ago, wearesporting said:

They usually appear in the 2nd tier in the vanilla game fairly quickly so the pressure is definitely on. Good luck.

Thanks for dropping in to comment. Pressure indeed! But if the AI manager can do it, there must be some hope for me! Hopefully they will show some leniency even if we fail to make it up to the 2nd tier immediately.

36 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

It was just a match analysis for a company I work at, nothing directly related to Wacker themselves or even the short gig I had with Admira. I don't really have the knowledge to do any scouting for you, sorry. Also the work we do is mostly centered around team statistics and a very general assessment of the way they play as a collective, so we don't focus on individual players too much.

I only analysed a handful of 2. Liga games last season, I can definitely recall enjoying watching St. Pölten's possession football and I vaguely remember that SV Horn also played quite well. In general there seemed to be a significant disproportion between the teams hovering around the top of the table and those in the relegation dogfight, the former opting for a more patient, dominant approach more often than not and the latter usually being much more direct and physical.

All understood, I did think it was more of a team focus and analysis, so nothing to be sorry for. I'm quite good at squad-building generally and like that side of the game. I would have considered anyone you may have had knowledge on to add a different twist, but it's good to take my own responsibility! In fact I do have numerous players in mind, I just can't get them to buy in to the project yet.

We are in pre-season now and all I need is a starting right-back, another (4th) central defender option and a couple of solid/defensive central midfielders. I may also add a right-winger but no big deal if funds run out as I didn't use wingers last season anyway. I say funds, we had no transfer budget at all this year, so I'm talking wages for loans and free transfers.

And I need to off-load the worst two strikers after analysis as I have used two of my six loan spots on a couple of young strikers. I'm fairly sure neither of them will ever have been mentioned on these forums (but that's probably true of all my signings here).

Edited August 1, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

3 minutes ago, warlock said:

Incredible backdrop to a game of football . If we could get something like that in FM...

Indeed it is. And the stunning view is basically the reason why I ended up at this club. Although I would charge fans about 100 Euros for a seat facing that direction, and 10 Euros for those with their backs to the mountains!

With a modern all-seater stadium with generous capacity already in place, the foundations are there for me to drag this club back to the top tier (if not sacked first).

[Rikulec]

Speaking of incredible views, nothing beats Iceland:

 

[Jogo Bonito]

A lovely view indeed @Rikulec

It's taken ages, but I have finally reached the end of the summer transfer window. The entire squad was out-of-contract other than a couple I extended just before the end of the last season. So my job was to oversee a ridiculously high turnover of players in order to justify the 1-16 odds to achieve a second successive title & promotion. 

I released those I didn't feel would be up to tier 3 football, and even some I didn't feel would be up to tier 2 football (as it's where the club needs to be next year for me to keep my job). At least I could cut loose anyone I didn't want to keep, so had freedom in that respect. My decisions included releasing the Captain and Vice Captain of last season, ruthless decisions but I felt they were not good enough to be part of our future.

No transfer budget was given for new arrivals, but I was now able to pay more than 350 Euros per week on wages. On one or two occasions I did probably pay more in wages than I wanted, but have kept within the budget. Apart from a starting-quality right-back I just about managed to fill out all our vital positions, after a deadline day scramble for loan players ended with the final two arrivals.

Due to the strength of certain new recruits and weaknesses of depth in other areas, I have changed from last season's 4312 formation to a 5212 formation in order to get more defensive stability. In pre-season it went OK, and I'll bash through a few more league games before doing a squad and results review.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

My decisions included releasing the Captain and Vice Captain of last season

Ruthless, indeed . Good luck with the second promotion hunt - I have every confidence

[SixPointer]

Great choice of club, gives a great narrative along with the great views! Topple Salzburg the end goal? If so that should give you some longevity in the save 

[Jogo Bonito]

21 hours ago, warlock said:

Ruthless, indeed . Good luck with the second promotion hunt - I have every confidence

I don't thrive under the pressure of odds at 1-16, ruthless was the only option!

9 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Great choice of club, gives a great narrative along with the great views! Topple Salzburg the end goal? If so that should give you some longevity in the save 

Thanks very much. Yes, cannot disagree with that analysis. Failure to be promoted again will halt the longevity, but let's not be negative yet!

 

Pre-Season 2023/24

A decent set of results here, only damaged by conceding a late goal against HNK Gorica and then two late goals at Parma 

And a quick reminder of the board targets laid out - a small transfer kitty was created after dropping player bonuses to low

At the end of the transfer window, this is the first-team squad we had assembled

And here is a brief squad review of the players available for selection

Goalkeepers

• Daniliuc (January 2023) will be looking to take the gloves, but it will be a close call
• Gabl has been here since 2018  and is only marginally second choice
• An upgrade would certainly be needed if we reach the second tier

 

Defenders

• Helmberger (July 2023) is on non-contract terms but has made over 200 appearances in Austrian lower leagues so will start at right-back for now
• Petutschnig is a youth-contract teenager and will probably play occasional games 
• The failure to sign a proper starting quality right-back was the big disappointment of the summer, and this must be rectified in the January 2024 transfer window

 

• Burghuber (July 2023, after a loan last season) is the new captain despite being on non-contract terms, and the best left-back choice for now
• Awuni (July 2023) arrived in Austria from Ghana back in 2019, and is more than capable of starting games at this level

 

• Wimmer (July 2023) is a solid central defender who will add better quality here than we had last season
• Lugonja (July 2023) joins as first-choice left central defender and again adds much more ability than we had last year
• Keusch (July 2022) remains after a reasonable first season at the club, and should be fine at this level 
• Turi (loan, August 2023) in an Austria U19 international loaned out by SV Ried where he has played top-tier football

 

Midfielders

• Obinwa (July 2023) is a good defensive midfielder recruited from USA
• Smith (January 2023) has played for WSG Tirol in the Austrian Bundesliga and should be a key player again as he has obvious quality
• Kadlec (August 2023) has also played some top-flight games in this country and has the attributes to do well for the club
• Yankam (loan, August 2023) was a deadline day deal but the Maltese international wouldn’t usually make the match day squad

 

• Josic (August 2022) played well last term as a shadow striker who provides goals and assists
• Löffler (July 2023, after a loan last season) is another who made a decent contribution last year
• Augustin (July 2023) is a left-winger who was on our books from 2012-2017 and has averaged a goal every three games in 200 youth/lower league matches

 

Strikers

• Cheikh was the league top scorer last season so deserved the chance of a new contract
• Schubert was the league's second top scorer last season, so was also given another year
• Geris (June 2023) scored 15 in 26 for the WSG Tirol 1c team in FM season 2022/23 so looks a decent addition for the future
• Karelse (loan, July 2023) has a growing reputation at South Africa’s best club Mamelodi Sundowns with his goal exploits in the DStv Diski Challenge
• Hartwig (loan, July 2023) is a Germany U20 cap from VfL Bochum who was prolific at youth level and scored 12 times in 28 real games for St. Pölten in the Austrian 2nd tier last season
• Hesina (January 2023) is now with our 1b side but the experienced striker has scored 95 goals in 153 career games including 31 in an earlier spell at our club

 

Season 2023/24 - Part 1

So we have (so far) found the higher level a bit easier than last season, although one team has kept pace with us until now

The 5212 system implemented in the summer (in order to improve the poor defensive record of last year) has really paid dividends

The goals-conceded tally includes a number of 'late consolations' so these returns have been the big plus point so far

It's also a bit different in attack, where the goals are being shared around much more as we rotate the front men quite frequently

Edited August 4, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[SixPointer]

Flying! What’s the current system? I seen you said you made an adjustment for the level up. 

[Jogo Bonito]

10 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Flying! What’s the current system? I seen you said you made an adjustment for the level up. 

We are! But the 2nd team is matching us, in fact we are only top after beating them 3-0 away (easily). And from the rules it looks like we play 22 games, then the top six have their points cut in half and then go on to play a further 10 games. So, 32 games in total and only one promotion spot.

In the first season we used 4312 with a shadow striker ahead of a flat midfield three. Since this pre-season started we have gone with this 5212.

 

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

We are! But the 2nd team is matching us, in fact we are only top after beating them 3-0 away (easily). And from the rules it looks like we play 22 games, then the top six have their points cut in half and then go on to play a further 10 games. So, 32 games in total and only one promotion spot.

In the first season we used 4312 with a shadow striker ahead of a flat midfield three. Since this pre-season started we have gone with this 5212.

 

Very well structured. Do the full backs provide enough width? I thought about a flat back 5 for bigger European ties when it’s backs against the wall 

[warlock]

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

a quick reminder of the board targets

Herr Stocker looks like everybody's favourite grandpa, but I bet he's a tough cookie .

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

we have (so far) found the higher level a bit easier than last season

Excellent start, and a lot of clean sheets is always welcome. Early days but you just have to keep it up for the rest of the season

[Jogo Bonito]

On 04/08/2023 at 22:58, SixPointer said:

Very well structured. Do the full backs provide enough width? I thought about a flat back 5 for bigger European ties when it’s backs against the wall 

I've had good success with a five-man defensive line at various clubs in FM23, so agree it looks like the structure is good.

I'd prefer to have the FB/WB with attacking duty, but mine aren't really good enough for that. They do get forward and offer plenty of width though.

22 hours ago, warlock said:

Herr Stocker looks like everybody's favourite grandpa, but I bet he's a tough cookie .

Excellent start, and a lot of clean sheets is always welcome. Early days but you just have to keep it up for the rest of the season

Haha. Like the Austrian Clive Dunn? Yes, seeing a big improvement at the back this term. I'm feeling that the league strength is not that great, so hopefully won't let you down!

Season 2023/24 - Part 2

This is just a short update in mid-November 2023, as we have another painful three month winter break to endure

When we return in March, there will only be three league games left of the regular season, before we go in to the 10-game promotion play-off series

The results in the last two months have been great, with most of the strikers (and shadow striker Jakov Josic) delivering regular goals

So here is where we are at the winter break, and there are no complaints at all

The next update will cover the final 'regular' fixtures and a review of the transfer window, as we will be looking to find our new right-back (probably on loan)

Every pro contract expires in 2024, so we will be working hard on this front as we try to keep the most important players

We will also expect to add better quality on pre-contract deals ahead of the next season, so lots of moves will be attempted

Edited August 5, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[SixPointer]

Certainly a two horse race for the title! What does second get in terms of promotion?

[Jogo Bonito]

Well, the rules were a bit unclear. Turns out that the top two of Regionalliga Tirol (our region) would go in to a promotion group with four other teams (top two in two other regions). So that pool of six teams then play each other home and away. The one winner of this 10 games gets promoted and the other five teams do not.

I thought Austria would be a quick league compared to most, with less matches. But we played 19 regular league games before a four month break November to March (so had 10 friendlies to fill the void). Then played the final three league games and then there was another 10 games in the promotion play-off group. So that total was 42 games plus the Tiroler Cup on top! So both long and tiring, compared to most other leagues in Europe.

Anyway, I just about survived the never-ending season. But was our performance enough to keep my job? An update will follow. The absence of posts this week might give a clue.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2023/24 - Part 3

After the painful four-month winter break from November 2023 until mid-March 2024, we finally returned to serious action

The formalities of sealing our top two finish in the regional league was completed, but we did manage to lose in the Tiroler Cup (was not fussed at all by this)

Here is how the Regionalliga Tirol table looked at the end of the 22-match season - very impressive compared to last year despite being at a higher level

And the reward for this? Nothing. Except going in to a six-team promotion group featuring the top two of three Austrian regions (10 matches)

I was fearful how good these other teams might be, we knew SVG Reicheneau but had no idea about the quality of the other opponents 

Only one promotion slot was available, so we had an all-or-nothing sequence of 10 matches from April to June for me to keep my job

It turns out the quality of the other sides was nothing at all to worry about, and we powered our way through with an incredible set of results

So, promotion to the playable Admiral 2. Liga was achieved, showing the pre-season the odds of 1-16 had not been as crazy as we thought they might be

This season had seen a massive improvement in defensive stability, with the 5212 clearly giving solid foundations to go and attack at will

The player stats below across all competitions show that the two rookie loan strikers Luis Hartwig & Jerome Karelse really came in to their own as the season progressed

Their emergence in fact paved way to the sale of last season's top scorer Hamza Ech Cheikh in January (to Pescara for 10,000 Euros)

When Karelse got injured at the end of the season, Thomas Geris came in to the side and did well, whilst Jakov Josic continued to deliver as a shadow striker

The only arrivals in the winter window were Michael Hochleitner (loan) and Leo Maros (free) to boost depth in the defender pool

Here are the profiles of the three main attacking heroes as I can't imagine anyone has managed them or seen them on FM23 before

Our U18 team had also triumphed in an undefeated league campaign (stats below in order of appearances)

Our star youth striker Nahuel Schadler had scored almost 40 times in his first season as a 16-year old - this season he was even better

62 goals in 33(4) appearances is quite impressive at any level, he also provided a further 16 assists

So, all in all, a very long but successful season for our club - and the mountain climbing expedition has been really positive so far

And we finish this update with another piece of great news

Last summer we turned professional (an absolutely massive step forward), but had no transfer budget whatsoever to play with

This year, the board way exceeded my expectations when announcing the below before the return to pre-season training

I was expecting nothing, so this was shocking even if we do plan to mainly focus again on the free transfer and loan markets

And this funding is tied in with a board expectation of just avoiding relegation (thanks Grandpa Gerhard)

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

(thanks Grandpa Gerhard)

I may have misjudged him

Congrats on a fantastic season, and that back-5 system has been safely tucked away for future reference. Goes to show, you don't need an ultra-attacking system to play effective attacking football.

[SixPointer]

Absolutely ran away with it in the end!! Decent budget for next year as well for the level!! Be able to add a few more Austrian wizz kids with that if you play your cards right. 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

I may have misjudged him

Congrats on a fantastic season, and that back-5 system has been safely tucked away for future reference. Goes to show, you don't need an ultra-attacking system to play effective attacking football.

I do like Gerhard!

Yes that's very true, the back-5 system has really served me well at various clubs in various countries. The issue for next season will be explained in detail, but our new highest earner is a winger so some thought will be given to the best formation. The board want to be defensively solid, so we have to keep that in mind.

27 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Absolutely ran away with it in the end!! Decent budget for next year as well for the level!! Be able to add a few more Austrian wizz kids with that if you play your cards right. 

Thanks, yes it turned out far easier than expected. I feel now the real work begins, it's going to be a tough season.

Struggling to attract good quality due to reputation status, but have been quite brutal in who was to be retained or released. So that meant a lot of incoming players, although still struggling with one or two positions. So far only one loan deal (probably should not have done it, but a cost of 275 Euros per week made it seem sensible). Don't think we have paid any transfer fee yet, as those worth buying are not interested.

Both loan strikers from last year have us as their favourite club but will not entertain the idea of coming back, either on loan or permanently. It's a bit odd because our level is way above where they currently sit. But I hope to pull some rabbits out of the hat before the season begins.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[Carambau]

Just catching up! Remarkable team choice and what a way to get promoted! Congratulations mate  

I do wonder if the rule in austria is still in place that you get a certain sum of money if you play a certain amount of austrian players in your starting eleven? (or maybe I overread this and you already mentioned it in one of your posts, then just ignore me ) 

 

[SixPointer]

12 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I do like Gerhard!

Yes that's very true, the back-5 system has really served me well at various clubs in various countries. The issue for next season will be explained in detail, but our new highest earner is a winger so some thought will be given to the best formation. The board want to be defensively solid, so we have to keep that in mind.

Thanks, yes it turned out far easier than expected. I feel now the real work begins, it's going to be a tough season.

Struggling to attract good quality due to reputation status, but have been quite brutal in who was to be retained or released. So that meant a lot of incoming players, although still struggling with one or two positions. So far only one loan deal (probably should not have done it, but a cost of 275 Euros per week made it seem sensible). Don't think we have paid any transfer fee yet, as those worth buying are not interested.

Both loan strikers from last year have us as their favourite club but will not entertain the idea of coming back, either on loan or permanently. It's a bit odd because our level is way above where they currently sit. But I hope to pull some rabbits out of the hat before the season begins.

It’s striking the balance of what you need and what you want. Sometimes you just have to settle for what you need at the minute. The long term goal is sustainability but the short term is survival what matters most now probably the short term plenty time to solve the long term 

[Rikulec]

Well done getting promoted, keep up the good work!

[Jogo Bonito]

On 10/08/2023 at 10:11, Carambau said:

Just catching up! Remarkable team choice and what a way to get promoted! Congratulations mate  

I do wonder if the rule in austria is still in place that you get a certain sum of money if you play a certain amount of austrian players in your starting eleven? (or maybe I overread this and you already mentioned it in one of your posts, then just ignore me ) 

Thank you, much appreciated. Not sure about that rule on Austrians. It seems like it was sponsorship money, but obviously there are other financial benefits from being in the second tier. The mountain view can motivate me for a while yet, hopefully 

On 10/08/2023 at 12:54, SixPointer said:

It’s striking the balance of what you need and what you want. Sometimes you just have to settle for what you need at the minute. The long term goal is sustainability but the short term is survival what matters most now probably the short term plenty time to solve the long term 

Yes I agree totally. No pressure this season as the board just want us to avoid relegation. But I do want us to be top-half and to improve our squad quality year on year. With two final loan signings on deadline day, we just about got all the right pieces together for a competitive squad at a cost of less than 100,000 Euros 

On 10/08/2023 at 13:42, Rikulec said:

Well done getting promoted, keep up the good work!

Thanks mate. This season should come with much less pressure, I'll aim to win more than we lose, have a positive GD and hopefully finish in the top-half as a minimum. But we will see. Talking of seeing, one of our new signings is Polish so come back and check us out again soon 

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2024/25 - Part 1

So after the long road to promotion last year, we are now in Admiral 2. Liga (the second tier of Austrian football)

And below is a reminder of the initial board expectations and requirements

After two years unchanged, we introduced a new home shirt and home shirt sponsor in the form of Innsbruck-based Olympia World 

We didn't want to cut our links with the local University completely, so kept the current away kit unchanged and saved our fans some cash 

We played some tough opposition in our friendlies, but once the new squad started to be assembled we did quite well

We also progressed from Round 1 of the OFB Cup against weaker opposition

The league opener was a step in to the unknown, but we hammered SK Austria Klagenfurt 6-0 to bring a real dose of confidence to the club

Since then we have won four and lost one of our other five league matches, and the decision to keep our 5212 system has been vindicated

We aren't going to get carried away just yet, but we are really satisfied with such a strong start at the higher level

We are scoring lots of goals but defensively adequate so far, the finances are good (will drop each month), and we are averaging 4,098 as a decent home attendance

There are some new goalscorer names above, but here is the final 24-man squad assembled by the end of the summer transfer window

In addition to that, we have shifted two of our non-contract youngsters (Gabl and Petutschnig) from the first team squad to the 1b Team

The first batch of new arrivals were Krainz, Mehmedovic, Grujcic & Barbosa who all came as free transfers on 1st July 2024

On the same day, we also signed Nsona from Hertha BSC  for 30,000 Euros and Turi (free, after a loan with us last season)

July also saw Komposch (50,000 Euros from Sturm Graz), Klaas (16,000 Euros from SC Paderborn) and Widlarz & Friedrich (both free transfers) join the club

Early August saw a focus on finishing off the squad, with free transfer deals for Fall & Jaunzems prior to Krienzer's loan move

A few days before the deadline Jaritz also agreed to sign on loan - but we still entered the last few hours of the window needing two more positions filled

It was a big relief to get both done just in time, one was a new approach on the last day and one was somebody we had been chasing almost daily since May

So wrapping up our business was the loan of Giuliani and the deal of the summer - the return of last season's loan star Hartwig (and with no wage contribution too)

The volume of transfers isn't something I usually do, but had no choice as players were only ever signing one year deals and we kept progressing

We released eight of last season's squad and three others left when their loans ended, but 10 of our 24-man squad were playing here last season 

Season 2024/25 - Squad Analysis

The eagle-eyed readers may wonder why we have three wingers in our squad when we don't use them, so let me explain this

First of all, Nsona joined at a time when quality was low and he was a real coup for us - he has pace, skill & finishing so plays here as an Advanced Forward

Widlarz was also at a much bigger club but we feel he can be deployed as a Shadow Striker when Josic cannot play there

Finally, Jaritz has 10+ ratings in marking and tackling and is accomplished at DL & WBL so will play left-back despite being better known as a winger

If you're wondering why Barbosa was signed, it is down to his real life (actual) performances in Austria really

43 goals in 58 games in the last two seasons at regional league level, and two years of 1 in 3 at 2nd tier level some years ago earn him this chance

He is in our main squad but will also be selected for our 1b Team to see if he will plunder goals & force his way in to our 18 on a regular basis 

We now look forward to the re-arrival of Hartwig in attack - if he scores like last year he could really keep us in and around the top teams 

The midfield was massively improved with Klaas & Krainz coming in, and we have some excellent options in all of the roles used here

We have five decent central defenders (two left-footed), much improved assets at both full-back positions, and a better understudy 'keeper too

All in all, we have to be very happy with what we did for an outlay of just 96,000 Euros  (the first two years we didn't spend anything)

Definitely Grandpa Gerhard will be smiling...

Edited August 12, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[Rikulec]

Could you post a screenshot of Widlarz's attributes? I've analysed plenty of games where he featured for the Leverkusen youth teams and I'm very interested to see what he looks like in game.

[Jogo Bonito]

11 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Could you post a screenshot of Widlarz's attributes? I've analysed plenty of games where he featured for the Leverkusen youth teams and I'm very interested to see what he looks like in game.

Interesting, and adds another side story to my game! He hasn't been playing for the last few years at league level, so will probably need some time to show his best for us.

[Rikulec]

41 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Interesting, and adds another side story to my game! He hasn't been playing for the last few years at league level, so will probably need some time to show his best for us.

Looks quite raw indeed, to be honest I'm not surprised given what I've seen of him. Hopefully he can develop nicely for you.

[Jogo Bonito]

On 13/08/2023 at 00:36, Rikulec said:

Looks quite raw indeed, to be honest I'm not surprised given what I've seen of him. Hopefully he can develop nicely for you.

Thanks mate. He will only get limited opportunities and like most of our players he only agreed a one-year contract. We will see how it goes.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2024/25 - Part 2

Unsurprisingly, as a newly promoted team expecting to fight relegation, we have not been able to keep up our blistering pace of early season

The OFB Cup 2nd Round draw against LASK Linz gave us no chance of progression so all our attentions are on the 30-match league campaign

It looks like just one of the 16 teams will be promoted to the top flight and three go down to the regional leagues, so any safe finish will do us fine

We suffered three league defeats in this run from September to the end of November, but SC Austria Lustenau were top and FC Liefering were 2nd

Four wins and three draws in the other fixtures still show we are definitely competitive in the 2nd tier of Austria

We are on 30th November 2024 and now have the winter break until 21st February 2025 (at least it's a month shorter to wait than years 1 & 2)

We're in a very creditable 4th spot in the table, remain league top scorers, still have the best home average attendance & financially are in good shape

The goals have been shared around, but playing winger Nsona as an advanced forward in our 5212 has worked very well until now

It was discussed earlier about the 'Austrian bonus' and this news confirmed the situation with a nice surprise on 28th September

We will get through some winter friendlies and the transfer window, do some skiing, and then report back later as we face the remaining 14 games 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[Rikulec]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that your objective for this season is to finish above Admira.

[warlock]

20 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

We're in a very creditable 4th spot in the table

Yes, that's a good place to be at the halfway stage, and well away from the relegation battle.

23 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

do some skiing

Raises an interesting question - do Alpine football clubs allow players to go skiing? I know in England, golf is just about the only acceptable extra-curricular activity, for fairly obvious reasons.

[Jogo Bonito]

11 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Oh, and I forgot to mention that your objective for this season is to finish above Admira.

Absolutely. I have that very firmly on my list of objectives 

11 hours ago, warlock said:

Yes, that's a good place to be at the halfway stage, and well away from the relegation battle.

Raises an interesting question - do Alpine football clubs allow players to go skiing? I know in England, golf is just about the only acceptable extra-curricular activity, for fairly obvious reasons.

Agreed. Mid-table would be very acceptable, and we are confident of achieving this. 

Not sure about Austria, but I know from past experience that in England much of it comes down to the terms of the Group Personal Accident & Sickness insurance that a club holds for it's players. I would imagine something similar in Austria, but I don't have any evidence on that. For the story, it was me going skiing - the players can sit in the stadium and just watch the mountains from a safe distance 

[SixPointer]

4th place are you saying a good spot. I think it’s excellent are your scoring goals for fun!

The fact your keeping any money worries at bay as well is a huge factor for the long term 

KUTGW

[Jogo Bonito]

On 15/08/2023 at 16:32, SixPointer said:

4th place are you saying a good spot. I think it’s excellent are your scoring goals for fun!

The fact your keeping any money worries at bay as well is a huge factor for the long term 

KUTGW

Thanks, yes nothing at all to complain about 

So let us see how it panned out...

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2024/25 - Part 3

During the long winter break from November 2024 to February 2025, we played a couple of friendlies and had the chance to conduct some transfer window business

On 1st January 2025, we welcomed DR Congo right-back Salem M'Bakata (26) and Senegal striker Djibril Gueye (28) on free transfers

Leaving the club were strikers Lucas Barbosa (13,500 Euros) and Martin Krienzer (parent club terminated his loan) as both players were rarely playing

But the big story came on 1st February 2025, when our star striker Kelian Nsona was poached on a pre-contract deal by FK Austria Vienna

Having converted the winger in to an advanced forward, his performances for our club had been exceptional and he fully deserves his chance in the top flight

What was disappointing is that when we had tried to award a new contract, he wanted a rise from 4,800 Euros p/w to over 8,000 Euros p/w

He was already one of two players on massive wages for our club, and we couldn't get there - but his new deal sees him keep the same wages of only 4,800 Euros p/w 

We decided against the 'sell now' option as he was going to be valuable for the rest of the campaign, and we made up that lost money in another way

Here was his profile at the time of the sale, and you will probably see why we decided to play him as a central striker in our 5212

It was mentioned that we made up for not selling Nsona immediately, and below explains how

M'Bakata, who we signed on 1st January 2025 for free had featured in a couple of mid-season friendlies before TP Mazembe offered him a move home

They trebled the wages we were paying so we had no issue with that, but we even managed to get 325,000 Euros by going for the 'sell now' option

Not bad work for a player who never made a competitive appearance for us in his 65 days at the club

Returning to on-pitch matters, here is how the season played out

The last four or five weeks saw just a point or two separating FC Liefering, FC Admira, SV Horn & ourselves at the top of the table

And wins over FC Admira and in the final two games over our other two rivals were obviously massive results

Unfortunately, two 0-0 home draws in April & May turned out to be even more significant - games we had goal attempts & XG data off the scale and over 70% possession

We went in to the final day two points behind FC Admira but with a better GD - they travelled to FC Liefering (4th) and we visited SV Horn (3rd)

So if they drew and we won, we would take that one and only promotion spot on GD (there was no second route to promotion via any play-off)

But as you can see from the final table below, FC Admira also won (1-0) and took the promotion to the top flight by just two points

Here is a brief summary on where we sit as a club at 1st June 2025 

Financially we are in great shape, Nsona didn't drop his performance levels, and neither did strike partner Luis Hartwig

In fact the pair mentioned above were the top two scorers in the league, with Hartwig also picked as the best player in the league

Here are the season stats in all competitions for our first team players (excluding the few peripherals that had moved on during the season)

And finally, here are the provisional budgets set out by the board for the 2025/26 season

The budgets are very generous, but the manager is going to take some time to decide whether he wants to have another crack at this

There is no doubt the project is a good one and last season was a massive success despite missing out by such a small margin

The Alpine air is still lovely, but there are stories circulating that the manager is struggling with the boredom of 3-4 month winter breaks 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

4 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

FC Admira also won (1-0) and took the promotion

Oof... heartbreaker! And @Rikulec isn't going to be happy

Can understand why you  might move - I hate two-week international breaks so a 3-month mid-season break would be hugely problematic.

[Rikulec]

[SixPointer]

Offt heart break! Good business on the transfer front. I think you should give it one more crack to get to the Austrian big time