Hercules Alicante (ESP) - FM 23/FM24

[g1nh0]

Hercules Alicante - FM 23/FM24

Greetings all, I’ve decided to get cracking on my personal save to go until the end of FM23/FM24.

Historically I’ve tended to struggle in my saves to be a one club manager, and naturally like to move around a bit like a journeyman. However I feel I’ve been playing the game long enough to try and give a one club career a shot.

Finding a club I feel like I could achieve this with especially with the difficulties FM now brings was quite tricky. I like the idea of starting in the lowest tier, but finding a club with the capabilities of progressing and having the infrastructure in place is important for it to remain enjoyable.

Hercules Alicante is the club I have decided to go with. They appear to be within a province in Spain where there are a few football clubs, and has a fairly decent population size. Currently they compete in the Spanish Federation Second Group 3.

They have had some history in the top flight a bit over a decade ago, and play at a stadium with a 29,500 capacity. They also seem to have a fairly decent fan base too. But when it comes to winning things, the highest trophy they've earnt are a couple of Spanish Division 2 titles.

How far can I take them? Well my aim I guess would be to try and take them back to the top flight, and eventually try to compete for a Europa Conference League spot with a degree of regularity.

I can’t see us ever getting to the size of the big 3 in Spain, but being able to simply compete would be nice. Finances in Spain aren’t great either, and the big two clubs will be un-moveable.

There is also the tricky foreign rules to contend with, that will only make it harder to build a great football team at a reasonable cost. So it might be a painful ride at times, but I guess for a solo long-term save it ticks a lot of boxes, so I will see what I can do and try to become a club legend!

But if things go wrong and I get sacked for whatever reason, I will continue the save - but I guess I could end up somewhere completely different.

 

Given I’ll be putting a lot of seasons in, I will just do a post for each season with a brief rundown on how the season has gone.

I’ll be starting this in FM23, and if things go to plan, will continue in FM24 once the very final patch has been released. I am also using the updated database for the start of the FM23/FM24 season.

Seasons Progression

S1 -  Spanish Fed Second Group 3 - 1st, Winners (New Record 81 Pts) | Spanish Cup - NA | European - NA

S2 - Spanish Fed First Division B - 1st, Winners (New Record 87 Pts) | Spanish Cup - R2 | European - NA

S3 - 

S4 - 

S5 - 

S6 - 

S7 - 

S8 - 

S9 - 

S10 - 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by g1nh0

[g1nh0]

Season 1

(Spanish Federation Second Group 3 – 1^st Place, Winners)

“Mourinho Steers Hercules to Expected Promotion”

I went straight in with the squad that I had available at my disposal this season – we didn’t have any money to spend anyway.

Things started off well and there were signs we would as expected, push hard for promotion this year.

But unfortunately my best player and star striker Coscia had a nasty injury that kept him out for four months. We were only about 13 or so games in with only a 6 point gap at the time, so I was very worried this would derail our season.

We then had our best central midfielder Michel also injured for four months too first game back after the Xmas break. FM really did try to make things tough this year.

However after a couple of poor performances from our natural backup striker Mendes, I knew immediately we wouldn't cut it with him starting. Experimenting, I then found one of my wide men Velazquez that seemed to be prolific when played up top. Along with drafting in a couple of youth players to replace our missing central midfield spot, I finally felt comfortable with the team again.

And so for the remainder of the year we had enough bite going forward to comfortably see us win the league 13 points ahead of second placed Badalona, breaking the record number of points winning this division ending with 81. And I feel it was certainly deserved, with our consistent performance reflected in the xG charts where we were best both offensively and defensively. We also didn't compete in any cup competitions this year.

Financially, as expected in Spain things are not great. We are in the red, so all my dealings this year will be freebies and if struggling on that front, some loans. A lot of players this year were due to have their contracts expire. I've been able to renew the players I wanted to keep, whilst getting rid of a few that I don't think will cut it in the next tier.

Edited August 26, 2023 by g1nh0

[g1nh0]

 

Season 2

(Spanish Federation First Division B – 1^st Place, Winners)

"A Solid Window"

Had a pretty decent Summer window with the sense of bringing some good quality in all areas. However wage budget restricted us in bringing in sufficient depth to mount a title challenge.

The main area for concern is all midfield positions, and we also never replaced Michel who retired as BBM, relying on youth players as the direct placement and backups to a few first team spots. That said, they are capable, and if they are able to do a good job this year then with a bit of luck we can still push for a back to back promotion.

We also improved our backroom staff to a level where we are on par with where we are predicted to finish, being 4^th spot.

I still believe the squad needs improving to get promoted to the next level, but football at this level is quite tight. Malaga are the strongest side in the division, but if they have a poor year then it’s anyone’s title for the taking.

“Back to Back Promotions”

Well I was surprised how well this year ended up going in the end. We started off very well, but Malaga the very strong favourites to win the division came back strongly and at one point overtook us at the top of the table with a little under half a season left to go.

But for whatever reason, they ended up faltering and we kept on plugging away, and highly consistent for the most part. That is what eventually saw us over the line this year. We ended up 7 points clear of second placed Real Madrid B, and again broke the points record total in this Division achieving 87 points. Again it was deserved, performing best both in offensive and defensive xG statistics.

Coscia who was our star striker last season was quite poor this year, and the signs were there quite early on that I didn’t think at this level he could catapult us up a division. The signing of Bulgarian Kun Temenuzhkov therefore proved to be a critical transfer move, and was a huge reason why we were able to achieve an automatic promotion along with Velazquez who over the course of the year, proved himself and became a first team regular on our left flank - and our best average rating player.

In the Spanish cup, we made it through the first round tie to then lose 0-2 at home vs Granada.

Although a great season, a lot of scout reports indicate most of my squad will not cut it in the Spanish Second Division. We are miles in debt, and I expect there won’t be much room to manoeuvre in the market this Summer.

So yes, next season promises to be a difficult one and a transfer window I'm very worried about, with survival undoubtedly my primary objective.

Edited August 28, 2023 by g1nh0