Cheekybananafm Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 (edited) Good Afternoon one and all, it's been a long time since I've been on the forums, a new child, getting married, it all adds up and takes my time away. Well that all changed when my wife brought me the new FM game for Christmas and after a few days looking about I am absolutely loving it, so I thought what better way to celebrate my first FM playing for nearly two years than starting a new save and telling you lovely people about it. As the title suggests, I'll be doing a Build a Nation save in the tiny nation of Gibraltar. Whilst my time away from FM I've still kept up with the stories on here and in the blogging world and I've seen a few people try this challenge, it looks rather difficult which I love. I'm not one for imaginative stories or tactical or game masterclasses, my updates will be short and sweet, mainly monthly, I've loved following the saves of @Makoto Nakamura and his style of updating suits me. For this save I'll be starting as a club side in the Gibraltar Football League alongside the National side. I'll talk more about the international side later on once the save gets going and we play some games but in this post I want to discuss the domestic side I'll be taking over. I have decided to take the hardest route and that's start with the side expected to end bottom of the League, there's no relegation for this league so there is very little pressure on us to start well and I feel to take the worst side in the League to domestic and European glory would feel all the more sweeter. My club of choice is College 1975. Last season the club ended second bottom, this season they're expected to end dead last. A tough ask Squad-wise we are very thin on the ground, the first-team squad only had 10 players in it, I've promoted all the 2.5*+ players in so at least bulk it out, we have no money to spend and we have no wage budget spare, I currently have no idea how to improve the team, maybe frees on non-contracts or free loans are the way forward for now. We have four decent looking players... A good base to work on. Our facilities also look pretty poor, we obviously use the same ground as the rest of the league but the facilities differ, ours is around the worst in the league, something that needs improving and quick. I hope you follow along my journey in Gibraltar, I'm really excited to get going. Edited December 30, 2023 by Cheekybananafm 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makoto Nakamura Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 Best of luck with this! I've been tempted to do something similar in Malta this FM, but have held off so far! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 40 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said: Best of luck with this! I've been tempted to do something similar in Malta this FM, but have held off so far! Thanks mate. Appreciate you taking the time to comment. Malta sounds like it could be fun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 (edited) Aims and Objectives Before the save starts I thought I better give everyone some kind of idea at what the goals are for the save. Obviously the main idea is to build a nation but what does that actually mean for myself? Club For this save I will be sticking with one club, unless I get to boot of course, the main aims are: 1) Qualify for Europe 2) Qualify for the League Phase of a European Competition 3) Win the League 4) Become the dominant force in Gibraltar 5) After doing that the aim is then to help the other Gibraltar clubs improve, filter down any moneys that we get from our European runs or other revenue streams and that in turn should help the clubs improve on and off the field and therefore do better in Europe 6) The end goal for myself at College 1975 is to win the Champions League 7) The end goal for the nation is to top the UEFA Co-efficient. At the moment the nation sits 50th in the rankings, each win in Europe improves our score so we need the other clubs to win games as well as ourselves (when we get into Europe of course!) Country There are only a couple of aim for me internationally 1) Win a game! 2) Win a Nations League Group 3) Qualify for a major tournament 4) Win the World Cup 5) Eventually top the FIFA World Rankings Currently we sit 202nd in the rankings, we're the third worst team in Europe! So the aims are set, let's do this! Edited December 30, 2023 by Cheekybananafm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 (edited) June 2023 We have no domestic games until mid-September but literally a week after taking over the National club we have two rather worrying ties in the Euro Qualifiers!! First up we face Ireland at home and we actually didn't do too bad, we even scored a goal!! At that point it was 2-1 to Ireland and we looked decent going forward, in the end we ran out of steam after the hour mark, Ireland scored twice more but I'll more than take a 4-1 loss! The we faced France away, I won't lie, I was worried, I'd have been happy to have kept it in single figures, we kicked off and within two minute we'd taken the lead from the penalty spot, it was a false dawn though and as expected France hammered us! 4-1 at half-time, 7-1 at full-time. Once again though we did better that I expected! So who caught the eye? Firstly is Central Defender/Defensive Midfielder Louie Annesley, he scored the goal against Ireland and by far our best performer playing as a DM. He got a 7.1 rating and I excited to see how he progresses at Dundalk and for the national side. Goalkeeper Jamie Robba also held his own in both games, even if he did concede 11! He got a 6.9 v Ireland and a 6.8 v France, very comendable! Here was the opening squad, it wasn't picked by myself, the squad was selected before the save started. I'll be back at the end of August to go through some of the transfers and any other domestic news. Edited December 30, 2023 by Cheekybananafm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 (edited) 2023/24 Pre-Season Some really good friendly wins including a win over fellow Gibraltar Football League side Manchester 6. A good omen for the new season? I've been really busy in the transfer market as well, with no money or wages I've dealt solely in free loans and non-contracts, I've also had to deal with the homegrown ruling for league games where we have to have 5 players trained in nation in the first XI. That is tough seeing as all our best players are non-HG and our HG players are all rubbish!! The issue I've found is our pool of players to bring in isn't great, it's mainly kids or not very good older players. I do feel I've done some good business though. 12 new signings, I won't go through them all but here are the key incomings. Some decent players, we do have a serious issue with the HG rule, I have to decide which of my best players to leave out, I may have to heavily rotate to get the balance right! As you can see the difference in abilities is mad and most of the HG players are the worst for current ability. It is going to take some time to get this right..... I think! Tactic-wise I've tried to keep it basic and am going with a 41221, it keeps our defence solid but with two forward-thinking midfielders, it offers some decent attacking impetus Now we wait another two weeks for the season to start Edited December 30, 2023 by Cheekybananafm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted December 31, 2023 Author Share Posted December 31, 2023 Gibraltar Clubs in Europe I thought I'd quickly go through how the three clubs have got on that we have in Europe, I have to say I'm shocked!!! Firstly, Magpies who lost in the Europa Conference League 1st Qualifying Round Secondly, College Europa who actually won a tie!! They got through the Europa Conference League first qualifying after beating Albanian side Vllaznia but they lost to Omonoia Nicosia in the next round Finally, Lincoln Red Imps who, as league winners, started in the Champions League qualifiers, I expected them to lose and lose quickly but they didn't! They beat Moldovan side Urartu in the first qualifying round then beat BATE Borisov in round two, they then had a tough task as they faced Ferencvarosi in the third round and lost, they did draw the away leg though. This meant they dropped into the Europa League Playoff, if they won they'd qualify for the Group Stage, they faced Dinamo Tblisi and came out 3-1 winners on aggregate!! A Gibraltar side has already qualified for the Group Stage of a European competition! And they've been drawn in Group C against some big teams. If they get a point I'll be shocked! This means we have already have a co-efficient tally of 2.167 for the season, this should move the nation up a good few places come the end of the season. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 September 2023 A really good start, defensively solid and scoring loads as well. Star man so far has been Left Winger Kadrian Verjaque, signed in the Summer on a free transfer, he's been playing due to the homegrown rule of needing five players in the XI on the pitch, he's been a revelation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 October 2023 A weird month, one really good away result and two poor home showings. If we can just sort out home form out we have a good chance of doing something amazing this season. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 November 2023 A good month ending with a last minute defeat, we eventually won a game at home though. I've only just realised it's a 20 game season, rather short! The Euro Qualifying has also finished and it went as expected # Not great but we move on quickly. We ended with a friendly against Montenegro and did play quite well. Our next round of games are the Nations League relegation playoffs, a good test for us as these are the teams we should be giving a game to. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 December 2023 The best month so far, some good win and even in the draws there were positives as we came back from 3-0 down to claim a point. 7 games left and well in with a shout at winning the title Its been a great month or so for Right Winger Sebastien Callipo with a raft of assists and some top quality performances out wide. The youth intake preview has also come through and even though it says its an average intake the letters don't make for good reading. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 January 2024 Firstly, a new signing, a new central midfielder joins on a non-contract and is homegrown. Welcome 35-year old Tyson Ruiz Three games this month, two fantastic wins in the league but the month ends with an extra time defeat to Manchester 1962 in the Rock Cup. And those two wins put us top of the pile, Magpies do have a game in-hand but with five games left we have a serious shot of winning the league title in season one. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 February 2024 Another two solid results. This is going to go down to the wire, three clear of Magpies but they have a game in-hand We have three games left to do something rather improbable! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 2024 Youth Intake An apparent golden generation The highest rated player in the intake is Mark Burrows, a goalkeeper, not great but better than nothing. Craig Binns is an attacking midfielder, he has some good mental attributes and good natural fitness. Joshua Ashley is a 15-year old defensive midfielder, again not amazing but could do a job as back-up. The rest are crap 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 2024 Nations League Relegation Playoffs I'm not 100% sure what these games are for, I can't see any league tables but I'm guessing it's a playoff to see who plays in Division C or D. We faced Lithuania and did amazingly, one aim down as we actually won a match! In fact we won twice as we beat them 3-2 away!!! "Relegation" survived....I think, I now wait for the next Nations League draw to place. The good news is those two wins have given us a big jump in our FIFA Ranking. A 5 place jump! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 3 Author Share Posted January 3 (edited) March 2024 We needed a good end to the season to win the title and after winning the first game of the month we fell apart, but was it enough to end top of the pile.... Nope! Magpies won their final match to nab top spot, a gutting way to end but if you'd have told me we'd end second in the first season I'd snap your hands off But then this happened, shows you how much attention I pay to what's going on! The season ISN'T over! We still have five games to play! Edited January 3 by Cheekybananafm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 April 2024 Two games this month, it started well but ends with a poor home loss to Mons Calpe The good news though is Magpies have lost both their games meaning we're back on top. Three games to go, can we do it?! In other news our Under 23's have smashed it this season winning the League and the end of season finals. There really isn't any standout player in the squad who I can talk about, the main man for me was midfielder Evan De Haro, he's in our first-team squad but was sent out to play for the U23s numerous times and performed well. Finally the Nations League draw has happened, that relegation playoff win meant we stayed in Division C and we have a tough task ahead of us. Some really hard games there but I have hope we can do enough to not end bottom 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 (edited) May 2024 + End of Season Review Well we totally fell apart, losses to both the teams around us and a crap draw at the end That point meant we scraped second spot and qualification for the Europa Conference League next season, a poor drop-off at the end but to end as runners-up in my first season, I have to take that. THE NEW ARRIVALS There were three stand-out players of those that joined throughout the season. Craig Galliano - Central Midfield Fausto Viegas - Central Defender Andre - Right Back Whether we see the latter two again is another story as they're both out of contract at the end of the season. MOMENTS TO REMEMBER FINANCES Lots of green there, although everything says N/A! Financially though we are in a real mess. Nearly £400k in the red and it's dropping rapidly, this needs sorting and quick. HOW YOU LINED UP The 41221 worked well most of the season, the struggle has been finding decent enough homegrown players to add to the ranks. A lot of those players you see above will be leaving in the Summer. THE ACCOLADES Well I won the Manager of the Year! As you can see it was Craig Galliano who dominated the awards, it's nice to see a Gibraltar player beating all those key foreigners in our squad to the awards. SQUAD PLANNING Next season will not be as good as this one I can guarantee it, why? We are losing nearly every contracted player we have in the squad. There are currently 18 players out of contract at the end of the season and with the finances in a massive state I can't offer any of them the deal that they want. This is going to be a big Summer, a tough season ahead but it gives me chance to reset, we have Europe to look forward to which should bring in a bit of money and if I can pretty much eliminate the wage budget I have hopes we can get that bank balance back nearer to the black, it also gives me chance to bring in some Gibraltar players, I want to try and make this squad as homegrown as possible. CO-EFFICIENT UPDATE With Lincoln Red Imps qualifying for the Group Stage of the Europa League (they did only get one point in their six games), this is has helped our co-efficient massively. Our score for the season is 2.500, much higher than everyone around us and it means we jump around three places for next season, no change in our qualification spots though....for now Edited January 5 by Cheekybananafm 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 (edited) August 2024 - Pre-season A new season and a complete squad rebuild! That is everyone that left the club, it left us with around 10 players in the squad but completely eliminated the wage budget. Now we needed to bring in some players to at least give us a decent first-team squad to pick from, I didn't sign loads of players but enough to keep us going. I won't go through them all but here are the key four players. Whether my signings are enough to once again be challenging is one big question! The media aren't convinced though as we're expected to end near the bottom Now to some of the results and in Europe we actually managed to get through a round! A first round win against Maltese opposition, we then faced Steaua Bucharest and somehow beat them in the away leg but got smashed at home. A good run though and that gave us over £700k in prize money, we are back in the black! This meant I managed to persuade the board to improve the youth recruitment and junior coaching. The other Gibraltar teams in Europe also did better than expected but for this season we will have no one in the League Phases. MAGPIES LINCOLN RED IMPS Edited January 5 by Cheekybananafm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 Apologies, this save is over. I'll be back with another save at some point in the future. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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