VillaSmith

2024 Season Allsvenskan Table / Fixtures 1 - 2 Back to back titles! Going out of the Europa League to Palace ended up allowing me focus solely on domestic competitions, and I got off to a flying start in the league, with only a defeat to Djurgardens being a major blot on the record, although that was in part thanks to a first half red card. We went in to the summer clear of the hunting pack allowing me to rotate when the Champions League qualifiers came around. A couple disappointing defeats to Varnamo and Brage we worrying, but fortunately we had built enough of a lead that we could still limp to the title with just 2 wins in the last 7. This team is really starting together, and I feel I may just be a few pieces away from making some really progress in Europe, along with further development of the young players I already have. Svenska Cupen 22/23 - 23/24 We comfortably topped the group again and this time managed to get all the way to the final and win the Cup, beating three rivals along the way too! I'm delighted to have won the Cup after failing last season, especially when using a heavy rotation for it. And then into the group stage for next seasons edition as my backup side made easy work of the lower league opposition, Sollentuna. Champions League League Phase / Fixtures 1 - 2 It ended up being a breeze to get to the League Phase this season, coming up against Astana again and beating two fellow Nordic sides en route. It was a tough start to the League phase losing to Celtic and then drawing with Porto, two games I had aimed to win in the hopes of sneaking a playoff place, so I ended up abandoning my possession focussed tactic from the league and go with a more counter attacking, defence first approach and boy did it pay off! First a well earned Draw in Munich and then 3 back to back wins including a special win against Arsenal. We played some fantastic football throughout these games and really deserved the wins we were getting. The draw at Anfield was a little more fortunate, a late own goal against the run of play knicked us a point, but then we followed it up by outplaying Ajax at home to secure 10th place finish with results going against us the following day to see us slip out of the top 8. For the Knockout Playoff we've been handed a winnable draw against PSV, I just need to keep morale and fitness up until then with just one competive game between them. Transfers / Out 2 The money flowed a bit more this season as the transfer budget saw a big increase with the bank balance hovering around the £50m starting balance. I may have slightly overpaid for Haksabanovic, but being a HG player he was still worth it and good enough to rotate with Moleiro to keep things fresh for the bigger games and allow a quality option from the bench in the league. Bellingham and van Sas were pre-contract turned buy-now players, hence the low fees, and I'm really happy to have two high potential players come in. Van Sas isn't young enough to become HG but he'll be a more than capable deputy for Ronning, although he ended up being loaned out to get first team football. Bellingham isn't as world class as his brother, but he still looks a very tidy prospect (this sentence hurt me as a Villa fan...), especially for such a low fee, plus joining at 18 he will be able to become HG eventually which is a bonus. I also addressed two problem areas I saw with the squad which was first CB, spending big money on Gila to have a big upgrade there and getting Relvas on loan with a view to a permanent deal. As good as Klavan has been, his age started to show this season, and he retired at the end of the season, so it was imperative that I sorted out the succesion quickly, and I'm not sure Peric will be good enough to be a starter for much longer unfortunately. The other problem are was up front. like with Klavan, Zlatan was starting to show his age and would retire at the end of the season, and Salifu hadn't quite kicked on enough to take the starting spot full time, so I brought in Ali Akman on loan again with a view to a permanent deal, which I exercised in November as I suddenly panicked that I would be left with no strikers for the Champions League when Zlatan retired in mid-November (turns out players just delay their retirement a few weeks). Turnbull was a good pickup on a free transfer, although I do worry about his poor physical attributes. Bergvall was simply a loan to fufill the league's HG requirements. When I saw I had a shot at Bardghji, I threw everything I had to get him, not just HG in Sweden, but at Malmo too, young, with huge potential, and good enough to challenge for a starting spot immediately. It's a risk to break the transfer record like that, but I think it's worth it. No changes this season, with the 23/24 final seeing Liverpool win their 7th trophy against the previous years winner Man City.

23/24 Europa Conference League Round of 16 First Leg A tough away game where Palace's pace caused me real problems and their Premier League quality saw them edge a game that I was probably the better side in overall. It was a frustrating game to lose, especially with Fofana scoring off a last second set piece to double the deficit for the second leg, but I was encouraged by the performance and how we reacted to going 3-0 down, it gave me a lot of hope we could win the second leg and maybe turn the tie around. 23/24 Europa Conference League Round of 16 Second Leg Well, **** Another game I thought I was the better side in, another game where Palace's pace caused me issues and won them the game. Edouard was unplayable for my defence and seemed to score every chance he got. Every time we took the lead, Palace immediately put us under pressure and managed to score, and Edouard ended up getting his hat-trick as I pushed to win the game. Again it was an encouraging performace, and I felt I should have progressed over the two legs, but we couldn't make our chances pay or shut down Palace well enough.

2023 Season Allsvenskan Table / Fixtures 1 - 2 / Squad My first title I took the lead early on in the season, then didn't give it up for the rest of the year, although I was never really comfortable. Frustrating draws meant I couldn't quite put some distance between me and the chasing pack, but the final run of games plus some slip ups from Hammarby saw me bring the Allsvenskan trophy back to Malmo. The depth brought in during the transfer windows helped me fight on two fronts, and we were much stronger in the league for it, but I would still like to be able to save my starting XI for Europe more often. That being said, I think I have a good core of young players and some older heads that I think I can build around long term, but the HG rules are frustrating me, I need to look for more to bring in, ideally ones that would improve me, but decent bench players would be good too. Svenska Cupen 22/23 - 23/24 No issues in the Svenska Cupen whilst heavily rotating until I came up against BK Hacken, who are quickly becoming my bogey team, I lost all three of my first meetings with them, only managing to get my first win against them towards the end of the league season. It's a disappointing first Cup run as I hoped I'd I could get my first trophy here, but a league title only will have to do. On to the 23/24 campaign (what an odd system by the way, why not have it on a yearly calendar like the league?) and a comfortable win against Trollhatten to get to the group stage. Europa Conference League Group Stage / Fixtures A brilliant European campaign, losing just one game (and that was a bit of an undeserved one, I'll blame the jet lag from flying to Kazakhstan). We comfortably got through to the group stage and then managed to top the group with some blistering football at times. I'm really hopeful that this can be my first taste of European success, but I have a tough test in Crystal Palace in the next round, though they'll be a great benchmark to see where my team is. Transfers / In 2 / Out 2 / Out 3 A big outlay but I managed to bring in quite a bit through sales. Some good young talent through the door, Arenal and Katinic are young enough that they'll become HG, whilst Moleiro and Diomande fill some pretty big gaps on the wings and could be fixtures for a while hence the big fees, both repaying that investment with great seasons, especially Diomande's 15 goals. Salifu looks a decent pick up for £400k but he may need some time on loan to get some game time. I was really happy with my two free transfers for the first team, with Navarro slotting in to my DM position nicely and creating a strong midfield trio alongside Jorgensen and Zeidan, and Klavan may be one of my best ever signings on FM, he was brilliant! He was seriously impressive for a 36 year old and immediately improved my defence, filling the large Nielsen shaped hole after he requested a transfer. A short term fix, but he has the physical attributes to keep playing a few years yet. Zandén and Ronning help with the HG quotas, and I'm really happy with Ronning for just £100k. I tried to get him last season when he was at Elfsborg, but he turned me down to go to Ajax instead and proceeded to make just 2 appearances for Jong Ajax before being put up for sale at a cut down price, and I had to snap him up. He will defintely be my long term replacement for Dahlin. Oh, and Zlatan made his long awaited return to Malmo! Far too good for the league, I managed to agree a pre-contract after a couple of attempts, he's by far my best paid player, and I then had the option to buy him immediately for just £450k which I had to do. He was fantastic, slotting in to my tactic perfectly and linking up well with the players around him, and I'm sure 27 goals is enough to get a new nose forged for his statue. Another winner claimed by the AI, this time Man City taking the 2023 Champions League title.

22/23 Europa League Knockout Playoff First Leg An unsurprising first leg result, I managed to keep the ball well, but that was about it. We were under pressure from the first minute, I'm just no way near Juventus' level yet. 22/23 Europa League Knockout Playoff Second Leg A closer game in the second leg, but still not good enough to lay a finger on Juve, and then Christiansen's red finished off all chances of even getting a result. Oh well, was always going to be a long shot to progress past Juve, so I'm happy with the rep and co-efficient boost of reaching the knockout rounds.

2022 Season An inauspicious start to the challenge, losing my first game in charge to Mjallby, followed by a draw at Hammarby, although easing past Hibernians in the Champions League did give some hope. Hope that didn't last long as I got dumped out by Lech Poznan in the Second Qualifying Round. Fortunately, I managed to turn things around in the league, which put me in with a shout of catching Djurgardens who had shot past me to the top of the league, and a 3-0 away win against them gave me hope I could still win the league, however whilst I stumbled with some frustrating losses in a stuttering end to the year, Djurgardens won every game to win the league with a record 70 points. From when I took over Djurgardens dropped just 5 points, meaning I needed to lose only 4, far less than the 18 I ended up dropping. Things went better in the Cup and Europe though. A high scoring win for my backup side got me through to the Cup group stage and a kind draw got me into the Europa League group stage, which had another shaky start, but I managed to pull out two big home wins against Rangers and Midtjylland to edge through the group on 8 points and onto my first knockout games against Juventus. Yay... My main takeaway from this season is depth. I have a good squad for the Allsvenskan that can get the odd result in Europe, but I need far better rotation players to cope with the long route in to Europe during the summer. I also need to bring in some young prospects. There aren't many good homegrown players willing to come back to Sweden (yet...), so I need to bring in some players that can become HG later on and can bring the potential to take us further in Europe. Allsvenskan Table-Fixtures/Svenska Cupen/Champions League/Europa League Group-EL Fixtures We have our first Bride as the Netherlands beat England on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the World Cup final, which means they are no longer eligible. Frustrating as they were my best shot at a World Cup, but it was always a risk they would win one before I got the chance to manage them.

June 2022 Manager Profile - I don't want to make this challenge harder than it already is, so starting off with recommended reputation and coaching badges for Malmo. It feels about the right level, I'm not going to be chased by big clubs straight away, but I should have a big enough reputation to keep the dressing room on side. Starting Table - Taking over in June 2022, so midway through the Swedish season, and Malmo haven't started brilliantly. Still in the title race, but I can't afford too many slip ups. Plus I'm right into the thick of it with my first Champions League campaign kicking off soon, hopefully I can balance the two to progress well whilst securing my berth for next season. Transfers - A pleasant surprise, Malmo had £50m in the bank I've started off with a decent budget of £3m, so managed to bring in a few new faces in the summer, although the homegrown requirement in the league is already a frustration, fortunately Malmo start off with quite a few homegrown players and a few decent prospects in Larsson, Nanasi and Gwargis. Montoia and Williamsen were brought in to become HG, but they were too old despite being 18. Jorgensen is an old FM favourite of mine, so I had to snap him up when I saw he was interested and that their were a few decent European sides after him. I'm happy to pick up Peric too, transfer listed at Dinamo Zagreb, and looks a good CB, although his positioning is slightly poor.

Whilst I have been enjoying this season's FM, I have struggled to get into a save properly and rarely gotten much further than the second season, so over the Christmas break when I had time off I decided to find a save that I could really jump into, and maybe even one I could do an update thread on as I've always liked posting here or in the challenges threads, but who to pick? My first thought was to take a team that hadn't won the league before and bring them their first title. I didn't want to start off too low down, but I wanted a degree of building in the save. I ruled out England, as I've done that and I get bored easily in England after a few seasons, plus being English, there's always some association I have that makes me not like most clubs that aren't Villa So I looked abroad, and the name that jumped out immediately was Leverkusen. Dominant team to overthrow, good but not ready-made challengers, top league but not the best, the Neverkusen nickname... they seemed perfect, but again I felt I'd get bored with them fairly easily and that the goal of winning the Bundesliga and Champions League with them would be too short term and leave me looking for a new save relatively quickly. I want teams to be all regens and to have battled it out with Pedri or Gavi for managerial dominance when I hang up this save! And then it occured to me, I remembered one of my favourite threads from this forum, ManUtd1's Nearly Men thread! Yes! This stupid, impossible challenge will keep me occupied for a while! Now I'll admit I won't be able to weave a narrative like ManUtd1 did, so I won't try, but I think the journey itself will be interesting enough to warrant a thread here. Plus to add some distinction to this thread instead of just ripping off the idea (it is absolutely just ripping off the idea) I've decided to rename my attempt - The Bridesmaids Challenge! To take every major footballing bridesmaid and give them their big day. If you haven't read through the Nearly Men thread (which I highly recommend you do), then the premise is simple, since the beginning of the European Cup, there have been 20 teams to reach the final but fail to lift Big Ears, whilst for the World Cup, there have been 5* Nations that have played on the biggest stage, only to taste defeat. Always the bridesmaids, never the brides... until now! I will attempt to win the Champions League and World Cup with each of these teams, or as many as possible. Any team that manages to reach one of these finals for the first time but loses will become a Bridesmaid and eligible for this challenge, and the reverse, if a Bridesmaid wins one of these trophies and becomes a Bride, they will lose eligibility. So, to end this preamble, here's the starting Bridesmaids clubs! Arsenal - (2006) Atlético Madrid - (1974, 2014, 2016) Club Brugge - (1978) Eintracht Frankfurt - (1960) Fiorentina - (1957) Leeds United - (1975) Leverkusen - (2002) Malmö - (1979) Man City - (2021) Monaco - (2004) Borussia Mönchengladbach - (1977) Panathinaikos - (1971) Paris Saint-Germain - (2020) Partizan - (1966) Stade de Reims - (1956, 1959) Roma - (1984) Saint-Étienne - (1976) Sampdoria - (1992) Tottenham Hotspur - (2019) Valencia - (2000, 2001) And their National equivalents; Croatia - (2018) Czechoslovakia* - (1934, 1962) Hungary - (1938, 1954) Netherlands - (1974, 1978, 2010) Sweden - (1958) * For the purposes of this challenge, Czechia and Slovakia will both count as Bridesmaids. I've loaded the major leagues as playable, as well as the leagues needed for this challenge, plus some non-European leagues as view only. Also to make sure I was enjoying this save, I played a few seasons to get into it first before starting this thread, so the first few updates will come soon, but may be light as I struggle to remember the seasons. So, without further ado, on to my first Bridesmaid - Malmo!