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Season 2 (2024/25) - May Miedź Legnica Title Decider Can we really do it? The next game against Zagłębie Lubin will be crucial. It is our biggest local rival too so it couldn't be more interesting... As they won the first game and results between teams will decide if we got same amount of points, we cannot really loose there.

Season 2 (2024/25) - March & April Miedź Legnica We keep dreaming Although March started with a home defeat to Arka Gdynia, we managed to win the next three games, including the severe ones versus Raków and Legia. April was pretty good too as we collected solid 7 points out of 12 possible which means that after 30 games we are on the top of the table. Coming soon in May... Behind the scenes, it was time for our yearly youth intake. Nothing special I must say. AROUND THE WORLD NXGN 2025 have been announced, here is top 10.

Season 2 (2024/25) - January & February Miedź Legnica Winter break During the mid-season break we arranged friendlies against some strong teams, including Celtic, and we performed quite well. The start of the league was even more impressive as we won all the three games. We also had a solid performance in domestic cup against Pogoń Szczecin, losing only in the horror penalty shootout (6-7). Transfers Our only signing for here and now is a loan of Brazilian striker Joao Pedro (not the one from Brighton, unfortunately). We needed more depth in that area as our only quality striker is Marcel Mansfeld and cannot rely only on him. Additionally, we have already finalized two free transfers for the next season. Firstly, we offered a permanent deal to goalkeeper Kacper Trelowski who's been with us on loan this season performing fantastically. Then, we approached winger Mateusz Młyński whose contract was also expiring on June 30th. Meanwhile, I finished another part of my coaching course and now I have the National A License badge. I immediately asked the board for permission to start the next level and despite original refusal, I managed to get the final approval.

Season 2 (2024/25) - November & December Miedź Legnica First crisis Unfortunately, the fact we didn't win our last two league games wasn't a coincidence, but a sign of bigger problems. In November we played three matches and collected only two points. Overall, we had a seven-match winless run that was ended only on the last game of the year against Lech Poznań. We showed a great mentality there as we came back from 0-2 to win 3-2. Also, we progressed to the next round of Puchar Polski. To sum up, I've very happy with how the first part of the season went as we are no longer included in the relegation battle; however, the crisis we had proved that we need much more quality and squad depth to be able to contend on this level. Here is how our players performed so far. We also have assessment of our next youth team intake. AROUND THE WORLD I owe you some info about player awards and situation in other European leagues. GOAL50 2024 - Top 10 places FIFA Ballon d'OR FIFA Best Other European Legaues - December 2024

Season 2 (2024/25) - September & October Miedź Legnica It's end of October and we are still on top, although the front-runner teams are staying close. We could have had more advantage, but a couple of days before the game against ŁKS Łódź our centre back Jan Ziółkowski was recalled from loan by his parent club due to not playing enough. Ironically, soon after that our two main defenders caught minor injuries and another one was suspended for yellow cards, meaning we had to play with completely different and inexperienced defensive unit which resulted in losing two silly goals (one in the stoppage time). The situation came back to normal for the next game versus Cracovia; however, it was not enough to avoid our first defeat. The positive news is we progressed to the next round of the domestic cup. In the meantime, the board offered me new contract worth €7k p/m, which means more than 100% increase from the previous one. Knowing I've been doing a great job I still tried to negotiate and ended with new agreement valid until 30/06/2026 and wage €8,250k p/m. I've also started work on a coaching course for the National A License.

Season 2 (2024/25) - July & August Miedź Legnica New season begins This is the squad for the upcoming season. Will this be enough for avoiding relegation? I hope so. Please see our captain Nemanja Mijuskovic and best player Iban Salvador. First league results As you can see, we are in a magnificent form at the start of the campaign. Top of the league after seven games? Wow. Still, I don't get my hopes up as the aim is to avoid relegation. The new signings already contribute as Przemysław Wiśniewski and Pedro Vite have already scored twice each, while the Ecuadorian even won the Ekstraklasa Young Player of the Month award. I was named the Manager of the Month too. The bad news is that one of our core midfielders Tarsi Aguado suffered a hip injury and will be out for 2-3 months. On a good note, I completed the National B License course. The board refused to agree on me taking part in the next level at the moment, though. AROUND THE WORLD Transfers Look who is going to play in our beloved Ekstraklasa - the one and only Mario Balotelli! When I saw that Wisła Kraków is approaching him, I decided to offer him contract as well, he was slightly interested and his salary expectations were not too high (he wanted €29k/pm), but it was still too much for our budget and he rejected the proposal. It's a shame as his stats still look more than decent, plus he's a great penalty taker and we lack somebody like this in our team (last season we missed 4 of those). Here you can see the most important transfers of the 2024.

AROUND THE WORLD Euro 2024 Netherlands defeated Germany in Euro 2024 final, after Frenkie De Jong's goal.

Season 2 (2024/25) Miedź Legnica Preseason The preparations for the upcoming season started on Monday 17th June at the training camp in Międzychód, Poland, where we spent 10 days working mostly on physical fitness. Then, we arranged some friendly games. Summer Transfer Window Meanwhile, we were also working hard on signings and outgoings to be sure that our squad is capable of meeting the target, which is to avoid relegation. After some modifications, our budgets look like below. Although it seems like we have around 1 million euro to spend, I still believe we need to focus on finding free players or loans as the wage budget is quite limited. Last season the players like Jakub Mądrzyk and Filip Rejczyk who were loaned from Raków Częstochowa and Legia Warsaw were a big help in securing our promotion. We tried to extend the agreements or sign them on permanent transfers, but it was not possible due to different reasons. So, we looked in their clubs' youth teams to see if we can find similar prospects who could help us this year. The first signing is a young goalkeeper loaned from Raków - Kacper Trelowski. If he meets the expectations, he should become our regular GK . Next, we finalized a loan of a promising centre back from Legia - Jan Ziółkowski. Other players that will help us this year are wing backs Łukasz Gerstenstein from Śląsk Wrocław and Kaiki from Portuguese side Braga. Obviously, we cannot base our squad only on loans so we also had to sign some players on permanent contracts. The most important one seems to be a 22 years old Ecuadorian Pedro Vite who can secure a couple of positions for us. We had him on trial and he really impressed so we instantly offered him contract. Having €25k/pm he will become the highest earner in our team, but we all hope he's worth it. Another free transfer is 28 years old Damian Węglarz whose contract at Chrobry Głogów expired and he joined us as a backup goalkeeper. Last but not least, Przemysław Wiśniewski. He's the only signing that costed us transfer fee (€185k), but I am really happy with him as he's got experience not only in Ekstraklasa, but essentially in Serie A where he made 14 appearances and even scored 1 goal. His first months in Italy looked very promising but then, unfortunately, he got a serious injury that ruined everything. We all want to help him to restore his career. Aw, one more thing - we cannot forget that our Spanish playmaker Chuca came back to us from his loan, he seems to be a good player and I look forward to seeing him play. Summary The transfer window is still open for another month, but I feel comfortable with our squad depth and I don't think any major changes are necessary.

Season 2023-24 - Summary My Team - Miedź Legnica Poland Top Tier - Ekstraklasa Top European Leagues Champions League Europa League Conference League

May 2024 - Miedź Legnica End of the season Yeah! We secured the promotion with three games in hand, and clinched the winning of the league with two games in hand. As the situation was already cleared, in the last three games I gave a chance to some youngsters who really impressed me. First of all, Paweł Łuczak who's been with us only for a month, made three appearances and scored a fantastic goal outside of the penalty area. Having scored at the age of 16 years and 141 days he became the club's youngest goalscorer. What a start! The next young prospect who showed potential was an Ukrainian goalkeeper Vitalii Diachenko. I didn't plan to use him but in the last two games our first choice GK got injured and his backup asked to leave the club due to not playing enough, so it was fair to give a chance to somebody who actually wants to be a part of the team. The young lad made some good saves and let only one goal in. Last but not least, Wiktor Bogacz. He's a 19 years old striker who also benefited from his colleagues' injuries and was given some minutes. He repaid scoring a goal. (by the way - Bogacz is considered a great talent in real life, reportedly Juventus wanted to pay for him 2 millions a couple of weeks ago, and there was also high interest from MLS, but he decided to stay in Miedź to keep developing. He's not that good in FM24, but I believe he will be much improved in FM25). After winning the league I received a lot of praises from the board, supporters, local journalists, club legends, and others. My reputation has also grown a bit and is one star now!

April 2024 - Miedź Legnica Almost there! Four games to go and we have almost secured promotion to Ekstraklasa. Actually, we should have already done it in Gdańsk as draw would be enough, but we conceded a goal in the stoppage time and lost that game. I guess the team prefers to celebrate the success at home rather than away, so no problem, we can wait! I have to remind my players though that 2nd place is not enough as I want us to win the league. Behind the scenes, our annual youth candidate intake has arrived for assessment. To be honest, I can see only one promising player in this group. Besides that, we already started working on new signings. Firstly, we offered a permanent contract to our first choice goalkeeper this season - Jakub Mądrzyk, but unfortunately he decided to extend the agreement with his parent club Raków Częstochowa. It's a shame really as he did a solid job for us this year and he's got quite impressive skills for his age. Signing a goalkeeper is supposed to be our main target in the summer transfer window. On a good note, we finalized a free transfer of 27 years old Brazilian centre back Marcel.

March 2024 - Miedź Legnica March was a fantastic month as we managed to win all our games! Play-offs are pretty much secured now, but I must admit that now I dream about winning the league! AROUND THE WORLD International Football In the background, the March international break was the time when Euro 2024 Qualification Playoffs took place. As I'm Polish, I was very disappointed that our national team lost the semi-final on penalties to Iceland. Soon after this, the manager Michał Probierz decided to resign from his role. It's my dream to manage my country one day, but obviously I wouldn't have the slightest chance to get the job now so I didn't send my application. A couple of days later a big name like Ernesto Valverde was named as the new coach. It seems to be a great appointment and I wish him best of luck. Other European Leagues There are no surprises so far as Man City, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern are all on the way to win their leagues. On the other hand, in Italy the table looks very tight and there should be big emotions until the last game week. Champions League Here are the quarter-final pairs. Kudos to Feyenoord! Players The top 50 of the World Best Wonderkids has been announced, too bad we cannot afford to sign any of them...

thanks guys, I appreciate!

January & February 2024 - Miedź Legnica Mid-season break Between December 18th and January 8th our players had a well-deserved winter break. Then, we started preparations to the second part of the season. We managed to organize some difficult friendlies against foreign teams as I think this is the right way to improve the skills, and I'm generally happy with the outcome. As per above, we collected 4 points in the first two league games after the break. I'm satisfied. Regarding transfers, I wasn't given any funds so I didn't aim to make any major squad improvements. We did, however, manage to loan a young prospect from Legia Warsaw named Filip Rejczyk. He's a player who I've been monitoring for some time now as he's pictured as one of the most talented Polish wonderkids, He's a creative midfielder who can play as an advanced playmaker and we lack quality players of this kind. In the meantime, I completed my course for a National C License and already started working on the next badge.

December 2023 - Miedź Legnica Next month started poorly as we suffered our first defeat, even though we scored first. Next we had a difficult encounter in domestic cup against a higher division team Radomiak Radom, and they showed us that we still got a lot of work to do before we can contend on the higher level. Still, the local sports journalists are impressed by the way how the things at Miedzianka go, and they compliment me in their articles. Unfortunately, another league match was frustrating too as we had a comfortable lead 2-0 which we wasted in the last 10 minutes. I must admit I am responsible for this as I started to sub off our best players too early in the game. The last game of the year, however, was much better as we beat Wisła Kraków again, who were on the top of the table at the time. Thanks to the win we got ahead of them and finished the year as leaders. Now it is the time for mid-season break, we have two months for preparing for the key part of the season. In the meantime, our Head of Youth Development shared with me an early assessment of our youth team intake for this year.

November 2023 - Miedź Legnica In November we kept the good work and the board didn't hesitate to offer me new 2-year contract. I tried to negotiate for bigger wages but all they accepted was a small increase from €2.9k per month to €3k per month. Still better than nothing! Also, we are eighteen games unbeaten now which is the club's new record.

October 2023 - Miedź Legnica In October we had only three games ahead of us due to the international break. The first one was very important as we encountered the second best team in the table - GKS Tychy. We played really well and we took the lead in the first half, but the rivals managed to equalize. We could have scored 2nd goal but one of our most important players - Kamil Drygas - didn't score the penalty. What a shame! Drygas redeemed himself in the next match when he scored a goal outside of the penalty area. Unfortunately, we also only draw this game. Luckily, we ended our two winless run next week thanks to a home win against Lechia Gdańsk. The table still looks very promising! In the meantime, the board have finally agreed on funding my first coaching badge. ---------------------------- Around The World Here is how the situation in top European leagues looks like at the moment.

September 2023 - Miedź Legnica In September we continued our good form as we earned 10 points out of 12 possible in the league, plus we progressed to the next round of the domestic cup. We landed at the top of the table as GKS Tychy, who is also performing fantastic so far, finally lost some points. We are already 11 points ahead of the 6th place which is the last one guarantying play-offs, so we definitely meet the board expectations so far!

July & August 2023 - Miedź Legnica My first game in management was supposed to be a tough encounter against Wisła Kraków who is predicted to win the competition. Surprisingly, we played magnificently and beat them 3-0. What a start! The next game we should have won as well as we were leading 2-1 until the very end, but unfortunately the home team managed to score the equalizing goal in the stoppage time. August was fantastic though as we completed four wins, thanks to which I was named the 1 Liga Manager of the Month. I wouldn't expect that my first honor will come that fast!

July 2023 - Miedź Legnica Preseason July was a month of hard work. First of all, I met the players and explained them my expectations on how I want us to play football. We need to develop our own style that will be cultivated by the first team and the youth team as well. I don't like direct and defensive tactics which are used by most of the teams in our division - I want attractive football. My tactical approach can be described as Vertical Tiki Taka, which focuses on dominating possession, relentless pressing, and moving the ball vertically rather than side-to-side. It is a basic Vertical Tiki-Taka with some minor tweaks. Then, I had to do a lot of recruitment as the club lacked people in several departments. Finally, it was time to work more closely on our tactical setup and play some friendly games. We lost 3 out of 5 matches, but to be fair we played some much bigger opponents, so I'm not too worried, especially since we still scored a nice amount of goals. The only thing that bothers me at the moment is the fact that the board doesn't let me start my coaching course yet, and their reasoning is a bit abstract...

July 2023 - First Club The place where my managerial career begins is my local team Miedź Legnica. It is a professional football club founded on September 14, 1971 in Legnica, Poland, as the successor to MZKS Legnica. In 1992, the team won the Polish Cup and played in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, being eliminated by the French side AS Monaco. In 2018, Miedź was promoted to the Ekstraklasa for the first time in its history, but did not manage to stay there. In 2022, after a three-year break, the team was promoted to the highest division again, only to be relegated to the 1 Liga in its first season at this level. The club boasts its cozy but nice-looking stadium which is located in the middle of the park. ---------------------------------------------- I signed a 1-year contract and I will be earning €2.9k per month. The main target for this season is to reach the play-offs and be competitive in the domestic cup. Let's see what we can do!

Hi, First of all, I must admit it's not a first time when I start a topic here and leave it soon after. I've been pretty inconsistent with my saves lately but now I'm really motivated to start another long-term project. I had many ideas but eventually I settled on Zero To Hero/Journeyman type of save. Actually, I would call it simply as "my realistic managerial career". Save Idea When it comes to FM, my dream has always been to create a unique football world within my save, which means to focus not only on what my team does, but also on other players, clubs, nations, and competitions around the world. I've always wanted to know which country is the current World champion, who wins the Ballon d'Or, etc., but then I never really took my time to follow these type of things. This time I really want to give it a go. I'm going to play in a slow pace and make sure to be well informed about what's going on around me. I even prepared myself an excel sheet to keep such data. Obviously, I want you to be on the top of the things too, so I will be including information from around the world in my updates as well. As I want this save to be realistic and immersive I decided to play as myself. I'm a 31 years old Polish guy with no coaching badges and Sunday league experience, and the game will reflect this. For role-playing purposes, I like to believe that I'm a former youth coach who got a chance to become a real manager, hence I added the available manager points to "working with youngsters" and "youngster knowledge" (see screenshot below). The time will tell how much energy I have, but at the moment I hope to have around 35-40 seasons until I retire. My plan is to have a proper managerial career and climb the ladder of the football world so I will be moving to other clubs, but I don't want to rush things - the ideal scenario is to achieve something with my current team and only then, when the time is right, to move higher. I place a high value on loyalty so I'm not going to look for other jobs when I'm under contract elsewhere. Also, each of the decisions I make should be based on what I'd do in real life, for instance I will pay attention to wages, place to live, etc. I will be using only my own tactics, but the training will be managed by my assistant as this is a part of the game that I don't really enjoy. Although the right thing to do would be to start unemployed, I decided to choose my first club as I don't like the idea to get a random job and I would like to avoid loading too many lower leagues from obscure countries. You will learn about my club in the next update. The ultimate goal of the save is to get a chance to lead my favorite club Arsenal London and, hopefully, become the club's legend. Once done, to repeat it with my second favorite team - FC Barcelona. In the meantime, I also want to work with Poland National Team and achieve some success with them. And to become the best manager in the world, of course. Save Structure I have selected 40 leagues from 23 nations, large database, original mode, no editor files. First transfer window is off for realism purposes.

2023 - September & October First transfer, first loss Next month started with 1-1 draw against Warrington, but in the next two games we collected six points. We also passed two rounds of the FA Cup, before unlucky loss to Altrincham (we conceded a goal at stoppage time). Behind the scenes, we were working on improving the quality of the squad and finally we managed to secure our first signing - Caleb Chukwuemeka. He can play as a winger or forward and hopefully he will turn out to be a valuable asset to the team.

August 2023 Start of the season My managerial debut ended with goalless draw; however, we were a slightly better team on the pitch and we could have easily won the game. We didn't have much luck as some of our shots hit the post and the crossbar. In the next games we were more effective which resulted in 5 great wins. A very promising start I must say!

July 2023 Meeting players & staff and Preseason July was a month of hard work as I had to complete my staff and start preparations for the upcoming season. First of all, I decided to keep Jamie Haynes as my assistant manager as he seems to be a guy who knows his job pretty well, plus he is very good with working with youngsters which is something that I want to improve at Brackley. Then, I met the players and I can feel they are excited to start the new season and they are happy to give me a chance, even though I lack of experience at this level. Gareth Dean will continue as our captain as he's got not only great personality and leadership, but is also a great defender and a proper leader of our defense. Another player that I noticed immediately was Alfie Bates, he's the one who I am going to build our midfield around. In the meantime, the board have agreed and funded my first coaching badge. I'm so happy! FRIENDLY GAMES We finished our preseason and while I must say the results are quite worrying, the overall pattern of play was promising as we played against some much bigger teams and we still managed to score some goals and play an attacking football. We must improve in defense though.