GreenTriangle

So the idea is that would be needed blank roles in the WB L/R, AM L/R and ST positions, similar to those already existing for the FB L/R, DM, MC, AMC and M L/R positions ? Or that would be necessary a "generic role creator" to include even more subtle instructions ? Because, for example, allocating "roam from position" to an M(C) having the "support" duty, you don't get a BBM but a kind of BBM whose movement on the pitch is slightly different compared to that of a BBM.

It's locked on defend duty only. Just for my info, why a player on defend duty should roam from its position ?

Thank you. Hatzipanagis was an exceptional player. Unfortunately, he was not lucky enough to be known in Europe as he would have deserved. ********** April - May 2031 11 points out of 18. Not bad. We managed to rank 8th, which is quite good after a rather bad first half of the season. Of course, an 8th place is a reasonable, but not a remarkable performance ... especially since even the AI was capable to get a better performance (3rd place) than the current manager. First three matches played / Last three matches played Configurations used Player stats are quite useful, especially when it comes to deciding which players deserve to be offered a contract extension and which ones should be given "the chance to play for other clubs". Regarding the team statistics, 6 all over. That means we are in 6th place from all points of view, both in terms of defense and attack. *** Good news : for the first time after countless (more precisely, four) seasons in which the team played well in the first half of the season and badly in the second half, now the ratio has reversed. We played better during the spring than during the fall. But any good news must necessarily be accompanied by bad news. This is the first season in which we've had serious difficulties in winning matches played on our stadium. Until now, we were winning quite easily at home and were struggling away. What does this means ? It means something rather unpleasant. That I'll have to develop a tactical configuration (or more) for the matches played at home and one (or more), different from the first one, for the matches played away. In addition, we possibly need an adequate configuration for the games against any team that have not beaten anyone so far, but will certainly beat us. I'm already tired even before starting to develop these countless configurations ... *** The club's reputation has increased a little during the last year. Now we're the 10th club in the second league and the 25th in Greece. At the European level, I have no idea and I'm not even interested. It would be far too depressing. *** Finances. For unclear and unknown reasons, our Board decided to give me another chance. That is, he decided to increase the wage budget from 110,000 p/m (about 1,300,000 p/a) to no less than 180,000 p/m (2,150,000 p/a). This would allow us to increase the salaries we can offer to a level similar with that of the best teams in the league. Beautiful and interesting, only that, unfortunately, I saw this movie two years ago. The chances of being able to fight with the "bad boys" of the 2nd league are very small, no matter how much money we have on paper. However, there would be one more detail : the president (or chairman or whatever else he is) decided to sell the club in the future. This thing can happen at any time, and it's not known if the new president will be as willing to finance the huge deficits that the manager (myself) generates every year. As a result, I should try to achieve a remarkable performance this season. If not a promotion, then at least a 3rd place. But since I'm not a very good manager, I'll temporarily give up the rule regarding transfers. I'll be allowed to transfer any kind of players, including foreigners, with the only condition that they can be evaluated by our scouts. I'll not bring a player that the scouts cannot watch.

Of course. But let me provide additional details : defenders / midfielders / strikers, respectively physical / mental / technical. Which of the two teams won the league ? That team represented at the top of the images or the one represented at the bottom ? Of course, there is no point in hiding the answer : that team represented at the bottom of those images. The one that someone could say it doesn't have very good players. By the way, that team is managed by AI. What do I mean by this? I do not claim to be an expert in terms of the game and especially the match engine, but I assume that the visible attributes are only part of the factors used to determine the various events that will occur. Attributes are important, but results also depend on many other factors. Of course, in the present case we are talking about two teams whose attributes differ by 5-10%. If the difference were greater, then probably the difference between the attributes would become more and more restrictive in terms of the possibility of obtaining good results. And now, regarding player statistics. I may be wrong, but these statistics can provide information on two aspects: the hidden attributes (the player's adaptability, the level of consistency, maybe others) and the player's ability to adapt to a certain tactical configuration.

Let's talk about two teams. One of those two teams won the competition, the other team finished the competition in a much lower position. Can somebody tell me which of the two teams won the league ? That team described at the top of the picture ... or that team described at the bottom ?

That would mean not buying any more games. Because I don't have to work too hard to discover countless flaws even in games that are highly appreciated by gamers.

In fact, the main problem is not the existence of conferences and meetings in FM, but the insufficient information about their effect. Worse than that, there is a feeling that these conferences and meetings can have only a rather negative effect, and that makes them boring. In fact, absolutely any such interaction should involve possible advantages and possible risks, and the FM player should be informed about most of these advantages and risks. For example, what effect does the fact that a manager has good relations with the mass media ? In real life there are some advantages and also some risks, but are there also in FM ? And what if the manager would be in rather bad relations with the mass media ? Would the game be more difficult ? From what point of view ?

It seems that FM will have to be the most complex game on the market. It will have to have very good graphics ("not quite like FIFA, but close to it"), a very complex and realistic match engine, a very complex system of transfers and development of players / other characters, an extremely customizable GUI and various other elements that could allow the game to be transformed, at will, into something very similar to any other game that the user likes. All these very complex systems will have to be able to be used at their maximum capacity in a very simple way, in such a way that the user can fully use them only by making a maximum of 2-3 clicks.

January 2031 Only 3 points out of 12. We played a bit better than we did it last month, but it seems that the "4-3-3 wide" configuration is not exactly what we need. I wasn't able to find the roles and duties appropriate to the instructions and the players we have. Since the team's reached a dangerously low level, a team meeting was necessary. I hope it will have a positive effect. Matches played in January Configurations used The transfer window closed on January 31. We didn't bring any new player and, fortunately for us, no one left. Our only activities on the transfer market were 4 future "transfer halves". That is, we signed contracts with 4 players who were already playing for us, being loaned from other clubs. There was no point in paying a transfer fee, no matter how small it was, so we didn't insist on an immediate transfer. All four will be 100% our players starting July 1. Our squad on February 1 : An interesting detail : in media prediction our odds are now somewhat better (from 20-1 to 16-1). Which means, probably, that some of the teams in the 2nd league lost important players during the last month. Probably this aspect will help us a little, although it is clear that, if we want better results, we must play better and not rely on the possibility that the opponents have weaker teams now. *** Finances : as before, we spend a lot and our debts grow more and more. Fortunately, the Board is (still) patient and supports us as much as it can. ***** February 2031 Well, yes, it's much better now : 8 points out of 12. We were lucky in the last game, but even so, the team's play seems to have been much improved by the new configuration used (4-4-1-1). By the way, I chose this configuration not because of my great managerial skills, but because the most important players of the team had a high familiarity with this configuration. Matches played in February Configurations used Something very strange happened : at the beginning of the month the Board was being pleased with the way I lead the team. Then, on February 8, we achieved a very good result, 1-0 against Levadeiakos (leader of the 2nd league). I thought that this result would improve my image in relation to the Board. Wrong ! The next day I noticed that my rating dropped from C+ to C and that the Board is no longer pleased but only "satisfied". Should I assume that we made a mistake by defeating the leader of the 2nd league ? ***** March 2031 Yes, that 0 - 5 in the first two games was not very fun, but, overall, the 7 points we got this month are satisfactory enough, especially considering that we almost reached our objective, that is, we practically avoided to be relegated. Of course, there are still 6 rounds to play, but it is hard to believe that a difference of 11 points would not be big enough. Matches played in March Configurations used Great news ! For the first time after 9 months, our players' morale is no longer affected by the fact that "there are too many contrasting personalities throughout the club". So, there are no more unsuitable personalities, which means, probably, that there will be no divorces at our club in the near future. But wait, now we have another serious problem : "we have too many nationalities across the club". Honestly, I have no idea if the mismatch due to nationality is a reason for divorce. But I know for sure that there are just two foreigners at our club. Ribeiro, the right back ... and me, the manager. We also have two Albanians, but both were born in Greece and both have dual nationality, Albanian and Greek. Honestly, I don't really understand this problem. *** Youth intake 2031. As usual : "excellent, terrific, golden generation". I sincerely appreciate my assistant. He tells interesting stories and, if he started writing, he would have a serious chance of winning the big prize in any fiction contest. As a personal opinion, we received some pretty good youngsters, it's even possible that three of four of them will end up in our senior squad one day. On the bench only, of course, because I don't think any of them have even the slightest chance of becoming a player in our first eleven.

FM is like a Rubik's cube. The different components are closely interconnected. Did you modify one side of the cube ? You changed the others as well. I suppose that the most difficult thing is to interconnect the match engine and the graphics engine. I'm not saying it's not possible, but the change probably requires much more than a year. The trouble is that if someone from SI were to announce: "look, we intend to improve the graphics engine, but this will probably take two years", dozens of "experts" would immediately appear and express their dismay and anger, immediately claiming that "it's not worth we buy the game until then" as well as that "in the meantime, countless other important improvements should be made". The thing is that any other improvement would in turn increase the time required for drawing and interconnection, and if after 2 years SI would say "unfortunately we need another year" these "experts" would immediately proclaim that "SI does not keep its word and it doesn't respect its customers". Unfortunately, sometimes some of these vocal experts who claim to represent all the other users are the ones who damage the cooperation between users and developers.

Are you saying that players who prefer games with very good graphics are tempted to "migrate" more quickly from one game to another ? Well, the gaming market is full of games having very good graphics.

Am I supposed to understand that 4 out of 10 players got bored (after only a few weeks) of a graphically fantastic game ? It seems to be logical, considering the fact that fans of advanced graphics do not have much patience. It remains to be seen if they would be attracted to a game (FM) in which, however, patience is strictly necessary.

Rule number 1. "A game can be a good game only and only if its producers keep the players up to date with absolutely all the changes they have made, are making or will make. Possibly with explanations and justifications". The fact that in reality no game follows this rule can be ignored.

This can also be a method to check how many of the customers are attached to the game itself and how many play an iteration only because of "new features". The resulting conclusions will be useful for the future. I'm not saying that this was the explanation. but that it could be an explanation. It was known that the "new features" fans will be extremely vocal, but they will be equally vocal no matter how many new features they see because these new features will never be satisfying enough.

November 2030 7 points out of 15. We were lucky in the game against Xanthi, but we probably deserved more than zero points in the next two games. Matches played in November Configurations used ***** December 2030 A point. Only one. I can't complain, the team plays poorly. In fact, in the 3 games, we played really well for only 45 minutes (the second half of the game against Kavala). Unfortunately, I experienced one of the most humiliating defeats in my managerial career. We were clearly defeated by Ergotelis, a team that, before this game, had barely managed to win 2 points out of 42 and score only 5 goals. It's true, before this game, the Ergotelis' manager had been fired, the team being temporarily taken over by the former assistant manager. Probably the morale of their players was much better now than in the previous days, but that does not excuse our catastrophic "performance". Matches played in December Configurations used According to the player stats, most of the players in our defensive compartment performed well. The (only) 14 goals conceded seem to confirm this assessment. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the offensive department. Unfortunately, the problem here comes from the difficulty of choosing the appropriate roles and duties for each player in relation to the team's tactical configuration. Even so, the attack somehow manages to work quite well, probably due to the fact that our many of our players have very good skills (compared to those of other players in the league) Team stats - attack. Team stats - defense *** My team's morale has been deteriorating for the last two months, and now it has reached directly into the "red zone". It's interesting that the main reason for this low morale is not "we were humiliated by a team ranked last in the table". No, this is not a serious reason. Instead, our problems are that "we have 3 unhappy players" and, above all, that "there are many contrasting personalities". I suppose that for about three months my players had no idea how contrasting their personalities are. Then, instantly, they realized that they don't fit at all. I, being naive, thought that such an explanation could only be valid for newly married couples ...

The same guy, three years ago : "Everything is same, from FM 19 to FM 20. Watch the live stream and see for yourself. They just extended the old screens, NOTHING IS NEW, Even the ME is from FM 19 You guys are worse than FIFA this year, selling same old game from last year! #BoycottFootballManager" https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoycottFootballManager?src=hashtag_click

End of season in Europe : European Cups / The most important domestic leagues / The most important domestic cups / World Cup 2030 (and the most surprising results in the group stage) Important competitions in Greece (League 1, League 2, League 3 Playoff, Greek Cup) ***** As I said, this season I intend to check how the game (FM) reacts to significant changes in the tactical configuration. So I'll modify not only the positional configuration, roles and duties, as I have done so far, but also the templates used. So far (in the 9 seasons I've played) I've only used gegenpress, modifying when needed only one, two or (rarely) three instructions. Now I'll replace one entire template with another (and I'll use gegenpress from time to time only). To begin with, I'll specify that I use two tables that include the main characteristics of the different roles and duties, respectively of the different templates. Also, I'll not use all the existing templates, but only 4 (according to this table), those that contain sets of instructions that I think are appropriate for the players I have. I'll therefore use the "control possession", "gegenpress", "direct counter-attack" and "fluid counter-attack" templates. Of course, during the season I'll modify certain instructions if I find that they are inadequate. ***** June - September 2030 Our U19 team won (again) the "North" group of the 2nd league. Moreover, it also won the final of this league. Apparently, this team is full of talented and valuable youngsters. In reality, it's full of 3rd league players, i.e. players who will never be useful for us. *** Since in the recently finished season we didn't get any significant performance, and since the Board decided to significantly reduce the wage budget (from 2,000,000 p/a to 110,000 p/m, i.e. 1,300,000 p/a) I decided to not spend the club's limited financial resources for players who either ask for very high salary increases, or do not have the minimum necessary abilities, or are of a certain age and it's improbable that they'll be able to keep their current abilities. As a result of this approach, we lost no less than 20 players (6 transferred to other clubs and 14 free of contract). In the "new players" chapter, we brought four players, but only one of them (Barbas) is really "new", the others being either players who played in our U19 team until last year (Kikeridis, Rakavinas), or players who had already been loaned to us during the season previous (Mouroutis). Also as a result of this approach, I found that on July 1 there were only 26 players at the club (20 in the senior squad and 6 in the U19 squad). 20 players seem to be enough, but, according to the assistant's report, their positional distribution was not appropriate at all. At that moment we had enough (even too many) central players, but we also definitely needed additional defenders and midfielders on the flanks. A positive aspect was related to the fact that, after the departure of so many players, salary expenses had decreased significantly (from 110,000 p/m to 67,000 p/m). We had almost 140 players on the scouting lists, of which approximately half were willing to discuss a possible transfer to us. ***** September 24 (the day before our first official game this season) We brought in five new players. Unfortunately, the left flank remained a bit exposed, but there's nothing I can do. It seems that all the good players who can play there have talked to each other to transfer anywhere, but not at Iraklis. In addition, one of our "famous" youngsters, Kikeridis, played so badly during friendlies (and complained so much that he wants to leave on loan) that I decided he would be useless for us, which is why I agreed to be loaned to a 4th league club. Newly arrived players' profiles : Barbas, Rakavinas, Kikeridis / Kostoglidis, Apostolopoulos (both being defenders) / Koutsias, Bozinis, Tsivginidis (midfielders). The squad : We still have 4 players who were not born in Macedonia, i.e. Ribeiro and the three Athenians (those born in Kallithea), but I am not so suicidal as to give them up because, according to the assistant's report, the team is already weaker than it was in the previous season. *** From other points of view, the situation is very similar to that of the previous season : the media prediction considers us the 12th favorite (almost the same as last season), although now our odds are worse (20-1 compared to 13-1). The Board only asks me to avoid relegation and the club's reputation has remained almost as low as it was (however, we have moved up one place, we are the club with the 11th reputation in the second league). As for our staff... they are good, maybe some of the best in the league. *** Financed. As usual: negative balance, huge debts, high expenditure, low income. The Board helps us as it can, but its help is insufficient. *** Friendlies. The team plays quite well (better than I expected) and its morale is quite good. I would have preferred it to be even better, but... ***** September - October 2030 First three matches played in September - October / Last five matches played in September - October At the end of September, the press officer drew my attention to two mentions in the mass-media, namely that Iraklis has not scored a single goal the last 6 games and has not won any of the last 9 games. Of course, I knew that. But I also knew that in the last 6 games Iraklis had 91 shots (23 on target) and that it had more than 7 xG. That we didn't score any goal ? It's about FM. In fact, this series was extended in October as well, the first game ending with 0 - 0 even though we had 16 shots (10 on target). Then ... boom ! Instantly we became an efficient team : 9 points out of 15, no less than 9 goals scored, only 5 conceded. How, why? Mystery ! The forces of darkness and their evil influences were defeated by the forces of light. I didn't change anything, but it turns out that in FM you don't even have to change anything. It's enough to pray to the positive forces to protect you. *** And, as a variation: prayers to the positive forces seem to be effective not only in terms of results, but also in the managerial career. A French 1st league club offered me an interview, plus a long list of reasons why they like me. However, the positive forces decided not to be excessively positive, since it was about the last ranked team.

Of course I was referring to college "kids". Do you know what the problem is ? There are countless games very advanced from a graphical point of view, but which do not require navigating among so many myths to be played. The FM community is full of myths, most of which are confirmed strictly in a certain combination of factors. Is the combination no longer respected ? The myth turns out to be not true, and the "kids" realize it immediately. What will they do ? They will buy the game strictly for try end, eventually, for some achievements. And there is something else. FM takes time. Why would they spend 300 hours on a save when they could get the same satisfaction (or even more) playing two or three other games ? Even the most super advanced graphics will not attract countless "kids" in the long run. They will buy the game once, see what it's all about, find out how they can get the achievements quickly (as quickly as possible) ... then they will abandon this game. Why ? Because they don't have time either, but they want to have fun. And they will rather have fun playing a game that requires a quick learning curve and offers maximum satisfaction after only 50 hours of play. And FM is not such a game.

In this case, SIGames will have to simplify the game. Kids are not attracted to games that have very good graphics but an unattractive gameplay. Maybe they will try once, then ignore the game (the next iterations). And simplifying the game means completely redesigning the match engine.

Well, yes. A flight simulator can only be good if you can visualize 22 planes at the same time, plus the pilots faces (and possibly also the passengers, if any) at takeoff, during flight and landing. Also, the landscapes (high quality !) should be animated in such a way that you can visualize not only plains, mountains and rivers but also moving cars, trains, ships or other planes, and even people. These would be the minimum requirements and I am really surprised that someone could play a flight simulator that does not respect these conditions.

Football management = how to win matches (in real life, also money) by applying certain ideas and strategies. You are a director, not a spectator. A movie director will not faint with emotion watching an Oscar film, but will look for solutions to produce better movies as well. The reality is that a manager is not interested in televised close-ups. Why ? Well, because he also sees what a spectator in the stadium or someone watching the match on TV does not see. However, we are talking about a game, and a game can be (or not) a mixture of management and fan experiences. However, in 99% of the world's stadiums, a spectator in the stands has limited visibility due to the distance and the lack of a TV screen. This does not mean that this fan cannot support a team just because "he does not see a match like on TV".

March 2030 Then ... we're only able to win one point. Game over. Goodbye, promotion, it was nice to to see you (somewhere far away from us). Matches played in March *** Youth intake 2030. As usual, I would have been surprised if it were otherwise. So, at the declarative level, everything is wonderful : "a terrific group of players, it has potential to be a real golden generation for the club". In reality : one pretty good player (Touboulidis), about five mediocre and about ten useless ones. How do I know they are useless ? Well, from the previous youth intakes. It doesn't necessarily mean that none of the mediocre ones (or even the useless ones) could have a good potential. But the chances that we can develop him to a level where he can play in the 2nd league are very low. Our training facilities are far too underdeveloped to do this. (By the way, do the reports on youth intake take into account the club's training facilities ?) ***** April - May 2030 3 points out of 18... First three matches played in April and May / Last three matches played in April and May So, we finished the competition in 9th place. A better ranking than some expectations (media prediction : 12th place) but much worse than it would have been normal after we were in the top 3 for about four months. Of course, everything it can be seen from another point of view : the competition was very balanced and, if we had got just a few more points, we could have even ranked 3rd. The teams' stats tell a similar story : in terms of attack we're a 3rd-5th place team, in terms of defense we're a 7th-9th place team. Pretty good, but I would have expected more. *** Finances and miscellaneous. We didn't use up all the available wage budget, but even so, the club's financial situation is - as expected - bad. However, the Board is pleased ... for now. Regarding salaries, now, unlike last year, we are in a much better situation. In terms of salary expenses we're a "mid-table team" and, even in the case of a possible budget reduction, the team will be stable enough because the contracts of most of the important players have already been extended until 2031. *** As for manager John X (that's me) ... the man is progressing. That's a good thing. The less good thing is that he progresses very slowly and, for now, after 9 (virtual) years of his career, he cannot boast of any impressive performance : ***** Of course, I should start preparing for the next season, but there are two small problems related to the recently finished season : The first problem : WHY ? The second problem : WHY ? Additional source By the way, both "problems" can be checked in my previous posts. It would have been interesting if I didn't have to create these tables myself, so these statistics data would have been available in the game (FM). Unfortunately, they are not available. But are they really important ? From my point of view, they are. *** So, the first problem. If at my previous club the results were very "stable" (the difference between the first and second half of the competition was very small), at Iraklis Salonika this difference is extremely large. And always in a negative sense, that is, the second half of the season is much weaker than the first. Why ? At first glance, it seems to be simple : Iraklis Abelokipon was a semi-pro club, Iraklis Salonika is (for the last 3 years) a professional club. So it would be something related to training and the players fatigue. Is that so ? - Are my players very tired ? According to this table ... no, they aren't. (The screenshot refers to the situation on May 13, i.e. the day after the last match played in the league, when it is assumed that fatigue should have been at its maximum). - Did I use certain players excessively and didn't ensure a sufficient rotation? According to this table ... no. Only 4 players played 30 or more games this season. (And, anyway, the question arises how the excessive fatigue of my players can be explained given that the AI is much less flexible when it comes to rotating its players). - But maybe I did something that seriously displeased my players ? This was the team's morale situation on April 20, i.e. after the defeat against Kifisia (and 3 games before the end of the season). As for individual happiness ... the club was full of happy players. I suppose they had just won the Champions League and forgot to tell me this. - However, our performances were getting weaker and weaker, which was reflected in the players' ratings. (This is the reason why I haven't posted the players' stats until now : to be obvious the drop in ratings in the last games). Maybe the players' opinions can suggest some explanations for this performance drop ? What do think eight important players who have had strong drops in form (and rating) in recent weeks ? Positive opinions, 45. Negative opinions, 0. That is, zero, none, nothing. 45-0. Does it have any logic? By the way, some players think that (quote) "the club's league position has a lot to do with John X's influence". Should I assume that this statement is a swear word ? Or is't something good ? - Is there anything that suggests an explanation ? Yes. This table. Countless players are very satisfied with the team's performance. What does this table suggest to me? 1. Complacency is extremely strong in FM. Much stronger than IRL 2. The presentation of the players' personality in FM does not provide enough information to be able to accurately assess the risk of complacency. 3. I did not make serious mistakes regarding the use of players. Our problems come from a completely different source. ***** The second problem. So, we shot more than our opponents. I had more shots on target, more xG, more scoring chances. And yet, in the last 12 games we have conceded 20 goals and scored only 9. How is that possible? - the question can be asked if I really used some goalkeepers. Because the huge number of goals conceded would suggest that I didn't do it. Well (and surprisingly), yes, I used goalkeepers ! They didnt play very good, but that does not explain the avalanche of goals we conceded. And it also doesn't explain my strikers ineffectiveness either. - just like "problem one", problem two cannot be explained by fatigue, insufficient rotation of the players or low morale. The proof has already been done for problem one and it's also valid for problem two. Moreover, in the case of problem two, not even complacency offers a convincing explanation. No matter how complacent the players are, they simply cannot forget how to play football. Of course, a series of weaker games is possible and explainable, but not a complete collapse. IRL, the only situation when such a thing can be reached is when the players are involved in a major conflict (disagreements with management, non-payment of salaries or serious personal conflicts). None of this happened. So, in conclusion : I don't think I made such big mistakes as to be the cause of such a collapse. Honestly, I think there can be only one explanation : somewhere, in the game (FM), there is a trigger. It does not mean that this trigger decides to lose one match, two or twenty, but that this trigger somehow reduces the effectiveness of a tactical configuration. Since the beginning of this career I have used 7 different positional combinations, plus some intermediate ones (MR-AML or AL-AMR). But, at the same time, I used instructions based on a single template, gegenpress (yes, it's over-powered). Of course, over time I modified some instructions depending on players, opponent and match context, but the core of the configuration remained the same. No, I don't think that the game "knows what tactics I use", but it probably knows that I rely on a same template and, in addition, it can "read" the table and media prediction. So, I have nothing else to do but to create some tactical configurations that are not very similar to gegenpress but at the same time are sufficiently effective. I'm not convinced that I can do it, but at least I can try.

February 2030 8 points out of 15. It could have been even better, if we had managed to score at least one goal out of the three clear scoring chances we had in the game against Anagennisi. But it could have been worse because, after a very good first half with Panathinaikos B, we were one step away from being defeated in the last minutes of play. For now we're in second place and the team morale is good, but in the near future we'll have to play three very difficult games against Veroia (away), Volos (home) and Kallithea (away). If we'll be able to get at least 5 points in these three games then we really have a good chance to fight for promotion. If not ... Matches played in February

September - October 2029 12 points out of 21. Not bad, but it could be better. We shouldn't have lost against Anagennisi, we deserved at least a draw. We shouldn't have missed the victory in those games played against Nestos and Kavala, in both games we had many chances to score. In compensation, those 6 points won in the last two games (against PAOK B and Veroia) are somewhat undeserved because both opponents played at least as well as us. Our evolution in the Greek Cup is also worth noting, especially that game against Xanthi (a pretty good 1st league team) First three matches played in September - October / Next three matches played in September - October / Last three matches played in September - October ***** November 2029 Wow ! 12 points out of 12 ! It's starting to get interesting, especially because we humiliated the leader (Volos), right on their stadium. It's true, the score is much exaggerated because in the second half Volos crowded us in our box. But that allowed us to play (successfully) on the counterattack. Unfortunately, we were kicked out of the Greek Cup. PAS Giannina is much better than our previous opponent (Xanthi), or maybe PAS used more players from their best eleven than Xanthi. Matches played in November ***** December 2029 9 points out of 12, but in the first game we were very, very lucky. Trikala could easily score 4-5 goals. Matches played in December We are in second place (that place that can qualify us for the promotion playoff), but the general situation is quite complicated. According to the teams' stats, regarding the attack, we are one of the best teams in the league. On the other hand, regarding the defense, we're only a "7th or 8th place" team. This means that if our attackers "forget" how to score, we'll not be able to keep this second place. For now, according to the players' stats, we have two very efficient strikers (Paliatsios and Gaitanidis). However, we don't have efficient enough attacking midfielders, and that is a problem. *** As I expected, the fact that I promised too much playing time has negative effects. In October we have no unhappy players. In November we had 4, and in December we have 7. Too many, especially since two of them (Dimitriadis and Smyrlis) are "highly influential players" and the 3rd (Apostolidis) is "influential player". Of course, I'll have to get rid of some of these players. *** Surprisingly, our U19 team continues to remain in the top of the best teams in the second youth league. Considering the fact that we have mediocre players, it turns out that, probably, there are very few very good players in this league. By the way, speaking of the U19 team : the youth intake preview is, as usual, optimistic. I have nothing to comment on, this preview offers too little useful information and, in addition, it's also extremely inaccurate. *** I received an interesting job interview offer. It's the first time that a foreign team shows signs that it knows about the fact that manager John X really exists. It's true, the offer is not interesting at all (KV Kortrijk, 17th place in the Belgian first league), but, anyway, I think it's something worth mentioning. ***** January 2030 4 points out of 9. We didn't really deserve more because we're playing weaker and weaker. However, we're still in second place because the other top teams in the second league are not playing very well during this period either. Matches played in January *** At the beginning of the year I decided to try to limit the effects of complacency, so I accepted the idea of changing the team's objective from "fight bravely against relegation" to "top-half finish". I was tempted to choose "in the top two league positions", but it seemed to me that it would have been very risky, because for such a thing we need high levels of the attributes "pressure" and "ambition", maybe also "professionalism". And we don't really have players having this kind of levels. *** Finances. I'm not saying anything new : our financial situation is still bad. Low income, (very) high expenses. Fortunately, our Board continues to strongly support us (me). I hope that their support will last as long as possible. *** Transfers. Seven of our players were loaned to other clubs (four of them being unhappy players from the senior squad and the other three being U19 players). I brought three players, one of them being an old acquaintance (Andi Shala) : he also played for Iraklis Abelokipon at the time when I managed that club. Something about future transfers. Two more players will come to our club in the summer. No, they are not new players. Absolutely all the six U19 players who left us in the summer are willing to return to us. Something deeply unrealistic, but ... it's about FM. From these six I chose two, the ones who seem to me to have the best chances of becoming good players for the second league one day : Kikeridis and Rakavinas. In fact, the two players who will come to us in the summer are not two, but three. The third is Stelios Mouroutis, a player who already plays for us, being on loan from Kallithea. Exactly after I accepted the Mouroutis's transfer I realized that I made a dumb mistake. I don't know why, it seemed to me that Kallithea is in Macedonia. It's not. It's a neighborhood of Athens, lol . So, at the moment I have in my team three players born in Kallithea / Athens (Mouroutis, Xenopoulos and Konstantakopoulos). And I'll have to somehow get rid of all of these three players in the summer. *** At this moment, the senior squad has become very spectacular from an aesthetic point of view, being full of players on loan from / other clubs. However, since I'm not a fan of abstract paintings, I'll use a version that doesn't look like a rainbow : Although the assistant's report looks good, the team now being made up of many players who possess a sufficiently high level of speed, strength, ability to anticipate, determination, teamwork, work rate and countless other skills, the reality is a little different. The fact that we were able to bring these players (so they didn't reach teams from the 1st league) suggests that, nevertheless, they also have some problems somewhere. The trouble is that I have no idea where exactly. In any case, I made sure that the team's morale is as positive as possible and also that the morale of the most important players is high. In order to avoid complaints regarding the contracts (and the possibility that the Board will reduce the funding) I hastened to offer new contracts to all players who seemed important to me. And exactly here I discovered something unpleasant : most of them did not ask for significant salary increases. Which means they don't really have ambition. And this doesn't sound good at all.

May - September 2029 As I said in the previous post, I had to decide : either to choose a less risky approach (lower expenses, cheaper players), or choose a more ambitious but riskier approach (higher expenses). I chose the second option. I'll risk it. At the end of the season we had 53 players in our squad (31 in the senior squad, 22 in the U19 squad). Some of these players were going to leave us at the end of June, and also then the contracts of many other players were going to expire (senior squad contracts / U19 squad contracts). Of course, this situation allowed me to choose which players were to stay (if they were interested in doing so) and which players were to leave the club. I needed a comparative analysis to evaluate the players we have and see if and where we need some improvements : So 12 players were going to leave, of which - six players had been transferred from other clubs in previous years (Monastirlis, Tsaousis, Natsiopoulos, Kamakamoudis, Akritidis, Tsinaslanidis). Five of the six (the exception being Monastrirlis) are high potential players ... but all of them played mediocre during the recenlty ended season. - six other players were the best products of the Iraklis club academy in the last 3 years (Boulionis, Karasalidis, Kikeridis, Bakodimos, Marinos, Rakavinas). Unfortunately, our training facilities would not have allowed us to develop these players properly and, anyway, they had not yet reached the necessary level to play in the 2nd league. 20 players from the senior squad were to be available for a possible contract extension negotiation. Among them : - six players were not "born in Macedonia" (Ribeiro, Apostolidis, Gaitanidis, Dingelidis, Xhafa and Voilis). Since I intend to progressively reduce the number of players born outside of Macedonia, I decided to offer contracts for at most three players out of these six. - six other players were part of a group about which I had serious doubts whether to keep them or not (Moraitis, Taskiridis, Vellidis, Chavos, Tselepidis, Dimitriadis). In the end, I decided that Vellidis, Chavos and Dimitriadis deserve an extra chance. - eight players represent what I would call the "core" of the team (Balomenos, Roussos, Makris, Lyberakis, Zarpas, Sapountzis, Smyrlis, Gakos). I would have preferred to be able to keep them all, but in the end Roussos decided that he want to leave. I need this core to keep cohesion at an acceptable level. - and, finally, the youngsters. It was difficult for me to choose because, in short, after the departure of the six, we no longer have really good young players. I still chose some players, but only one of them (Taralidis) deserves some more special attention. The others are mediocre. In any case, none of them is good enough for our senior squad. It's enough ? Not. I also need my assistant's opinion. I don't fully trust him, but he has pretty good skills and probably he can't go far wrong. I'll take into account his evaluations (senior squad / U19 squad), but I'll also take into account other aspects, such as for example the personality of the players (senior squad / U19 squad) and some of the less visible attributes (consistency, important matches). I can't post a screenshot because this info is not available in a single page, but I created a centralized file. By the way, are details such as consistency and important matches really important ? Maybe not, but Seb Wassell says they really are : "Consistency is a hidden attribute rated 1 to 20. It modifies how likely a player is to play "up to" his attributes (/CA) in any particular match. (...) Not exact figures: Consistency of 20 would mean that he is going to play to his best in perhaps 4/5 matches, Consistency of 1 might reduce this to 5% of matches, and so on." (source) *** Transfers. We have over 140 players on scouting lists. Of these, almost 70 are willing to negotiate a possible transfer to Iraklis, and in the case of approximately half of them, their contracts will expire in June. It is therefore necessary to move quickly. I don't want to pay a lot of extra money. ***** End of season in Europe : European Cups / The most important domestic leagues / The most important domestic cups / European Championship 2028 Important competitions in Greece (League 1, League 2, League 3 Playoff, Greek Cup) ***** A detail, perhaps not so interesting, but .... One of the players in our academy was poached by Aris. Surprisingly, however, this player does not seem to be a loss, one could even say that Aris did us a favor because this player seems to be really mediocre. I have to admit, at this moment my interest in our academy is low. We have no money to develop our facilities and, even if the academy can produc some good young players, they would not be able to develop as needed. ***** September 26, 2029 Finances. As usual, our financial situation is bad. However, we can spend - for now - over 2,000,000 p/a on wages (and we actually spend about 1,200,000 p/a). But it's possible that, in the future, the Board will decide to reduce this budget, in which case I have to be very careful because all our players' contracts will expire in June 2030. It's necessary, therefore, that within two months I decide to which players I should offer a contract extension. Obviously, some of them will request significantly higher amounts than what they currently earn. *** The staff. We have a good staff, among the best in the league. We also have a pretty good manager, who is nowhere near one of the best in the league (this is a confidential info, no one should know it) *** Our Board is very cooperative. All they ask me is to "fight bravely against relegation", which should not be a very difficult task. According to the media prediction, we're somewhat better than in the previous season. In other words, last year our odds were 25/1, but now it's only 13/1. This, of course, does not mean that we have anything to do with the first places. The club's reputation remained about the same, that is, low, at least compared to that of other clubs in the league. *** Transfers. We brought in 10 new players. The best ones we found (and who wanted to play for us). We lost 26 players (12 left for other clubs, the other 14 being either players who became free of contract, or young people from U19 that we gave up). What can I say about the 10 newcomers ? That they are very good, most of them being better than the best of those who left during the summer. Anyway, I think the comparison is edifying (the squad report, September vs May) : By the way, at this moment we have only 3 players (Ribeiro, Apostolidis and Gaitanidis) who were not born in Macedonia. The U19 squad is composed entirely of "Macedonians". *** Everything looks great, but I have a problem. I mean, actually, two problems. First : this team will be difficult to manage because I was forced to promise them too much playing time. I have a lot of "regular starters" and, obviously, I don't have room for all of them in the first team. From this point of view, it will be more difficult than it was in the second part of last season, when we had very few players in the team who expected to play many games. The second problem : the team cohesion is low, and this will affect both the match performances and the some players' individual morale. However, I also have an advantage : the team now has fewer players likely to be affected by the lack of consistency or the fact that they are playing an important match. *** Friendlies We met some difficult opponents, an idea which later turned out to be a rather risky. The positive aspect : we won some money (almost 20000) as a result of these friendlies. The negative aspect : I couldn't sufficiently check the roles and duties that suit the newcomers. I was forced to use them in a predefined scheme, which some of them did not really like. Also, because we used many newcomers, the team cohesion was mediocre. Generally speaking, the team played badly, sometimes very badly. Although we won against Panathinaikos, the result is a lie because PAO had enough chances to score at least 4-5 goals. As for the "glorious" victory at Trikala (a 2nd league team) ... the real situation on the pitch can be easily noted here. For now, we have a lot of troubles and I think that I should expect some "surprises" in the following matches. I hope I'm wrong...