Dany's world tour

[Myrror]

On 07.09.2024 at 05:31, phnompenhandy said:

I've loaded a monstrous 360 editor data files. The full list of nations and obscene amount of cup competitions along with other files is here:

My deepest thanks to all the brilliant people who create these files. FM would be nothing without you.

The gazillion cup competitions are to ensure teams from tiny leagues have enough fixtures. It also aids Dany in piling up the pots, although  it might mean she needs larger squads to cope. We'll see.

To keep things manageable, I'm loading up a few nations at a time, and will add leagues ahead of Dany seeking to move on to a different continent or region.

I'm starting with all the Oceania nations (minus New Zealand as they've been in the World Cup) plus a few extremely minor nations just to monitor them.

So, starting with 47 leagues from 21 nations, and 45,000 players.

Hello, I wish you success in your journey, I will follow you with love, I ask you, could you share your editor data folder completely, I really like it

[phnompenhandy]

27 minutes ago, Myrror said:

Hello, I wish you success in your journey, I will follow you with love, I ask you, could you share your editor data folder completely, I really like it

Count them! That the whole folder I posted right there.

 

Glad you're enjoying the yarn. I'm waiting to see where she ends up next. no idea right now!

[phnompenhandy]

Dany’s optimism soon dissipated. Those managers in precarious positions all suddenly went on good runs and the only jobs she was linked with were racing certainties for relegation in Andorra and Gibraltar.

At the end of the year, possibilities arose. On Christmas Day, San Marino Academy held an election for president. Dany knew the manager’s job was on the line anyway as they were bottom of the league. Like the Andorran club she had interviewed for, it has a serious youth development policy. She knew San Marino has three or four perennial contenders for the title and European money and the Academy would struggle to get near them. The academy-only policy and the fact that only Sammarinese players could be signed made it a no-no for Dany.

Cosmos, with no restrictive policies, elected a new chairman in August, and he didn’t like the manager. A midtable club that hadn’t won anything since 2001, it looked feasible. Fiorentino seemed similar but the board lacked any ambition. Dany was ready to accept an interview with Cosmos when contact was made from Gibraltar. She’d already sounded out Hound Dogs, who failed to reply and appointed someone anyway. She was invited for an interview at the Royal Gibraltar Regiment but they were the club all-but relegated. But then she heard word of Lynx. They were doing well, lying in third place, but it turned out there was huge upheaval with the players, fans and board all hating the manager, the astonishingly named Albert Parody. You couldn’t make it up.

Dany immediately set in her application before noticing that only men with very silly names get to be the Lynx dude.

[phnompenhandy]

Nevertheless, Dany was determined

[phnompenhandy]

Dany didn't put all her eggs in one basket, of course.  She was poised to pounce as soon as any reasonable offer came from Europe. Here's the state of play in the leagues she targeted:

GIBRALTAR

 

SAN MARINO

 

VATICAN CITY

[phnompenhandy]

Yiyi won his first two games, leading people to suppose he’d get the full-time gig. They beat another mammalian predator,  Lions, to get their manager sacked. Dany pounced – only to discover that was an insider job.

Their loss, because ....

I was looking forward to meeting Mr. Noble, but it wasn't he who interviewed me - it was the club's owner himself.

 

Wait, WHAT?????

 

Alright, this is beyond parody.

Seriously folks, i have not made a word of this up. gotta the the craziest thing I've ever seen in FM!

Edited September 10 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

GET IN!

Dany haggled him up to £1200 per month. Lovely (until she checks the property prices anyway)!

 

Giving it the eyebrows

Dany doesn't understand why Yiyi wasn't kept on. She jsust hopes he doesn't resent her appointment and is happy to work together. Look what he's achieved while Dany was biting her nails -

There's four gamesleft, and just look at the last day:

 

This is already a heap of fun. Dany hopes to let Yiyi continue his good work uninterrupted while she gets acquainted. She hadn't even met Yiyi or theplayers yet when the Head of youth Development burst into the president's room with his preview

She nodded at the president, "So that's why you've given me a decent transfer budget!". He winked.

Two weks until her first fixture. Plenty to do. She'll catch you later.

[phnompenhandy]

Learning of the history of the club, Dany realises that Albert Parody is a legendary, larger-than-life character who is pretty much a personal disaster. The club has muddled in midtable and gets knocked out of cups early for its entire short history, its current position being unprecedented. Despite Albert, or maybe because of him, the backroom staff are a close-knit lot. Here they are:

Albert insists he's retiring at the end of the season in May. He has retired and return before, though, back in 2017 when he returned to fire the manager and take over again.

Dany was relieved to learn that the club subsidises her rent to the tune of 50%, leaving her to fing £450 out of her monthly wage to afford a one-room flat in the far sideof the territory.

outside

inside

At least she doesn't have to share this time.

Edited September 10 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Dany assessed her squad and quickly ascertained that a few immediate changes were required. A few factors were relevant – with four matches to go, some of the senior players were due to retire, and no obvious replacements were in place. This particularly applied to the goalkeeper. Dany felt she needed some ideas in place for the coming season. Secondly, news of Albert Parody’s retirement and probable boardroom takeover raised the risk of a transfer embargo over the close season.

It turned out to be Parody's least chaotic act in his life, though

No embargo, now change to expectations of Dany, nothing of consequence at all for Dany. For now.

Thirdly, there was no transfer window, so new players could be added at any point. Lynx’s recruitment department had contacts in South and Central America, and Dany had her own amongst the obscure nations she’d been making her presence known. By offering fairly generous wages, she was able to entice no less than six fresh faces over the fortnight before her opening game, with three of them ready to start the next game.

That first match, and the following game were both easy introductions for Dany, against minnows Glacis and Gibraltar Regiment. There were tactical errors, but the six points were banked, and from her cosmopolitan squad, a Burundian, Sierra Leonese and Finn got 7+ ratings (no Gibraltarian as yet). Overall, the new players were bedding in well and looked like wise - not panic buys. The test of that would be in the final two matches though.

Magpies slipped up at Europa Point, putting themout of contention. Lynx meets them next, aheadof th potential last-day showdown no one was expecting.

[phnompenhandy]

Dany had to wait a full month before that next crucial match. She'd failed to realise that at the same time, Lincoln Red Imps would be taking on Europa Point, so the Top 4 were all about to hit each other. She didn't waste a day of course, intense drill and tactical instructions wee delivered as new players were integrated into the squad.

By the time the Magpies clash was due, she was ready.

Rivals Europa were out of the running and Lynx was guaranteed a top two finish. Could they go one better?

Further nationalities were added to her rapidly increasing list - Somalia, Burkina Faso and, finally, Gibraltar. Here's the whole squad:

We'll zoom in for a closer look in the preseason. Might even check out that Vatican City kid!

Edited September 11 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

It was a further three weeks before Lynx were to play the biggest game in their short history. There were few nerves, although Fernandez, the club’s legendary goalkeeper who’d announced he was retiring at the end of the season was so miffed that Dany had blooded the future keeper in the Magpies tie that he threatened to quit immediately rather than sit on the bench for the crunch match. Dany actually displayed a rare sense of compassion in agreeing to allow him one last hurrah. “He’d Peruvian”, she mused to herself, maybe he’ll go out with a 7.”

Dany resisted advice to plan to play more cautiously – Lynx were clear underdogs, but only a win would make a difference, so they had to go for it.

 

Well well well,

the outcome was possibly the greatest shock in domestic Gibraltarian football history -

 

Dany had achieved her objective - a trophy - in a mere four matches!

With Vatican City added to her list, she'd played seven relevant nationals in those four matches, and that's excluding the Spanish, English, Peruvian, Guatemalan, El Salvadorean and Ghanaian players. Technically, she could walk away into a new job in a new continent now, but there's this:

A good ten or twelve years ahead of schedule for her career, but hell, she'd have a go!

See you next year!

Edited September 11 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Dany had a three month summer break to truly relax. Maybe that was too long because after a few weeks she began overthinking. There’s no domestic cup to compete for, and the league has already been won – so, the only fresh challenge is the Champions League. The aim would be to get through one round, or maybe two as the Imps had achieved that this season.

Dany didn’t know the dates of the qualifying rounds, but guessed they might start in July and Lynx would be out before the league season started. However, Imps’ first round was in September and their second round match in was as late as November/December. Whatever happens, she’d be resigning as soon as Lynx were out. She began researching her options.

When she was back in Gibraltar and the fixture list came out, there was no mention of the Champions League. They learned that from Red Imps’ experience the previous campaign, the first round would be in October and the draw close to that time. This was subsequently comfirmed by UEFA:

 

The mercenary in Dany figured that, given expectations were only to be mid-table anyway, she’d chalk up more nationals, so got busy in the transfer market, searching out unattached players who’d accept fees to play only. With Gibraltar bordering Africa, she found fertile soil.

Last season's success was a massive overachievement. The bookies and the board recognise that the squad is mediocre by the league's standards. Note that no Lynx player is in the media dreamteam. It meant that no one asked awkward questions when Dany recruited so many average players -

 

There are thirteen potential new nationalities (not all new incomers) to be ticked off her list. She reckons she can start a couple every league game and get a 7.0+ out of most of them before leaving. It's the challenge that most motivates her outside that Champions League draw.

 

Nasty piece of work though Dany is, she does have a sense of humour. She figured you might raise a chuckle at the second-tier league in Gibraltar

Edited September 11 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Dany sold off a number of players who’d lost their starting spots in order to maintain a harmonious ambience, in the full knowledge that she’d hired quite a few warhorses on their last hurrahs, who’d retire by the end of the year. She was perpetrating a cynical short-term measure just to boost her record of playing diverse nationalities.

Preseason went very smoothly – everyone got fit and the new guys blended in well. The opening fixture couldn’t have gone better – a straightforward 2-0 win over Magpies. The second game saw Lynx trounce big-spending Lincoln Red Imps to send out the message that they were serious about defending their title, and were prepared whilst being refreshed by cheap new signings.

The goalkeeper from Botswana turned out to be incredible, but the whole team was responsible for the remarkable defensive record in the early part of the season.

However, as you can see, Dany's abilities were about to b eput to the ultimate test in the next two games -

It was a tough draw - KR have a lot of experience and are a damned good side. The rest of the draw was done at the same time: the winners would play Montenegrin champions Buducnost. Whoever progresses to the third round almost certainly faces Paris St. Germain.

So Lynx look in good shape to retain the title, but Dany gains nothing from that, and all bar two of her new additions have already hit their 7.0 target. Eleven more nations accounted for. Besides, she’d like Yiyi to get the accolades he deserves. She decided not to resign and spend time unemployed, but to quietly apply for posts after being knocked out of the Champions League while continuing to manage Lynx.

Dany felt there was a band of FIFA-ranked nations where clubs might take her application seriously. They were groups in East Africa (São Tomé, Djibouti and the Seychelles), and mainland Asia (Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and Bhutan).

Edited September 12 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Dany's not going anywhere this year. What a result! What an upset!

This was the best team performance of Dany's short career. Goals were conceded, finally, in the return leg, but that was academic.

Jankovic is a Montenegrin on loan to Lynk from Buducnost no less - he asserts that their next opponent is of equal quality to KR, i.e. beatable.

 

Edited September 12 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Despite historic success, Dany has managed to upset many of her key players

It's an inevitable outcome of her policy of recruiting a ton of foreigners and displacing the established players. She'll manage it.

Slightly connected to the above, there's been a hangover from the  Icelanic triumph -

Lynx are still top - just about. As you can see, the first leg of the Champions League second round hangs in the balance.

Lost opportunity here - the xG shows Lynx should have walked away with a 3-0 victory. It will be hard in Montenegro in mid December.

The club pocketed £4 million from the first round win; how much is the next match worth?

 

 

 

[phnompenhandy]

Can you believe it??!!!

A brutal encounter, but Lynx is through; the furthest a Gibraltarian team has ever reached in an international competition, unless you consider the Imps making the group stage of the old format of the Conference an equivalent.

The board bank a further £4 million, and the next round will be a tasty pay-day

Gabonese defender Ondo retired after eight failed attempts to bag a 7.0 rating.  Dany will try again with another player in another team in the future. Meanwhile, she accounted for successes with players from Botswana, Montenegro, Martinique, Bermuda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sao Tome, Malawi and Madagascar. She also got a result from three players at the club, from Andorra, Liberia and, in a surprise, a youth academy kid who’d followed Dany all the way from Montserrat. She presumes she'll be at Lynx to the end of the season now. She decides to get active back in the transfer market.

And despite her mercenary, short-termism reputation, she doesn't take any of the prize money. £8 million and the rest to come is far in excess Albert Parody could ever have dreamed of. She will leave the club with the resources to put down firm foundations for the future.

Edited Thursday at 08:26 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Dany was pushing the tolerance of the squad to the limits by bringing in seven new, substandard players. They were from Estonia and Latvia, Moldova and Belarus, Liechtenstein, Mauritius and Zanzibar.  Six of the seven came up with the goods; however, the blending period did cause a couple of points to be dropped, which could prove decisive as the run-in turns out to be a carbon copy of the previous season.

The difference is a small matter of PSG. They're up next.

[phnompenhandy]

 

Dany failed to contain her nerves, and her panic spread to the players. Within the club, pessimism set in. Dany set the boys up to keep the score down.

[phnompenhandy]

Yeah, it was bad. Humiliation.

0-13 

 

On a brighter note, the Imps have stumbled

two games to go. Mind you, if a job comes up, Dany will leave the glory to Yiyi. Too much dead time.

[phnompenhandy]

A future employers tip:  don’t give Dany a month with nothing to do – her brain is too active. She began looking into managerial vacancies and insecure posts, quickly spotting promising looking positions in the Seychelles and Bhutan – she quietly declared interest. She was intrigued by three vacancies in Eritrea, declaring interest in two, but not applying. Offers came from clubs already relegated in Cambodia and other countries.

The discrete news was immediately leaked to the Gibraltarian press. Fans gathered and posted online asking her to stay – which moved her, as in the last two posts she's been all-but chased out of the place.

But her head had to rule her heart - she'd won all the trophies Gibraltar has to offer in her 4^th game in charge! The youth intake was the final straw. She'd left the club a fortune so that they could build the club and nation if the ambition and smarts was there.

 

Maybe she should have seen the last two games through - but it was the Gibraltar FA's fault for scheduling one match per month in April and May. What was the point of that? And what's a restless girl to do? Besides, Yiyi would deliver - of that she had no doubt.

[phnompenhandy]

From Lynx to Snow Leopard

The mother of Dragons had to end up here

 

In a very short timescale, the previous manager, who'd been the only manager of the seven-year-old club and had won five league titles in that time, felt the time was right to step down. 

Dany got the news within days and had expressed an interest. Unlike the three-month hiatus after leaving Rewa, Paro responded fast. As did the Lynx chairman.

Dany had made her mind firmly up, as you know.

A generous salary for a club of this stature.

 

Eyebrows and in (well, the rare omitted eyebrows in this instance) - all in the space of a whirlwind week

 

Edited Thursday at 18:05 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

It was a nostalgic flight for the narrator accompanying Dany. He lived in a Tibetan monastery for a time (Bhutan is a deeply Tibetan Buddhist nation) before moving to Kathmandu. The plane passed over the old city and close to Everest. They made their way to Paro, west of the capital Thimpu,

driving past the famous Tiger's Nest.

 

[phnompenhandy]

Dany couldn't be introduced to the players yet as they were dispersed during the season break. But she was shown a recent photo:

The club and fans are used to this, and expect Dany to continue the success.

Paro isone of only seven part-time clubs in the nation, with a small wage budget that's intended to attract foreign stars. The Bhutanese players are amateur. She was getting mixed messages from the chairman, who seemed to state thatonly three foreigners can be registered (which would be fatal to Dany's project), yet the three Ghanaians, the Japanese striker and star player - the Serbian goalkeeper in the previous season's squad suggested otherwise.

whilst the club is far smaller than Lynx (and Rewa) in termsof resources, infrastructure and standard of football, Dany has moved up the ladder, Gibraltar being rated 194th by FIFA (197th at the beginning of Dany's career), and Bhutan which a few years ago was last, is now 186th.

Edited Thursday at 18:27 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

I don't think anyone's still reading this. Never mind, I have a BETTER idea for a story. Dany has refined her globe-trotting mission and this time begins her career at Rapa Nui (where?, I hear you ask ... just follow the link). It's another double career, with her acquaintance taking on a club in Britain - with a HUGE twist.

 

Come over to "Inverting the Pyramid".    https://community.sports-interactive.com/forums/topic/587901-inverting-the-pyramidrapid-globe-trotting/

[phnompenhandy]

 

[wrong thread!]

 

 

Edited Friday at 15:59 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 16:05 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 

 

Edited Friday at 16:09 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 

No really. Go to the new thread!

Edited Friday at 16:10 by phnompenhandy