SkiIIs

totally agree with the Japanese regens, seem to be an abundance of super talented 18 year olds when i was managing there! Might be a good option for the youth academy challenge but not sure how the financials would go though...

I was thinking of sticking around to win a cup unless there was a perfect opportunity that arose in either South Africa or the Americas. A couple months later and this opportunity popped up which i had to take. Mamelodi just finished second in the league and have qualified for the Champions League.

Season 2028 - Vissel Kobe - J1 League After winning the league last season, this season was all about winning the Asian Champions League which is played in the first half of the season. If that went to plan then we would probably look to move on instantly, if not the aim would be to win a domestic cup and look to go again as I'm enjoying the stay here. The J1 is quite brutal with lots of games within 3 days of each other. For the second round, its a draw and so we were given Suwon Bluewings who we had in our group stage and evened out 2 - 0 home wins for both matches. We were at home first up and scored in the 85th minute to make it a 3 - 0 handy win going into the away leg. We drew the away leg 2 - 2 to make it to the QF where we would play Korean opponents again in Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors who had been in the last 3 finals winning 3 years ago and coming runners up the last two years. We played the first leg at home again and again we won 3 - 0 scoring in the 85th and 90th minutes to all but get us through to the semis. We backed up the first leg with a solid 2 - 0 win in Korea to put us through against local opposition in Nagoya Grampus who were doing ok in the league. We were away first up this time and we started extremely nervous as they had two goals disallowed in the 13th and 15th minutes. We then settled and started dominating and opened up the scoring in the 66th minute. We then found ourselves down as the home team scored in the 74th and 82nd minutes but we scored a vital equaliser in the 85th to end the game at 2 - 2 noting that away goals count in this competition. Need not to worry as we scored the only goal in the 61st minute and had two goals disallowed ourselves this time. In the final we play Sharjah FC of the UAW in what would be a somewhat favourable tie. The final is played over two legs and the first leg was at home. We copped a goal early on in their first attack but managed to equalise just before the half time break. We created quite a few chances in the second half but couldnt find the go ahead goal until the 94th minute. I was too busy celebrating to notice we then scored in the 96th minute again to give us a very handy lead going into the final leg. In the return leg, we scored in the 22nd and 27th minutes to all but seal the deal. Sharjah scored a couple in the second half but it wasnt enough and so the Asian continent has been completed! In my short team, I recorded this win in the Emperor's Cup which is my largest ever competitive victory and most goals in a game for a single player of 8:

2027 AFCON - Ivory Coast My first AFCON tournament and one that absolutely killed me in the FM23 save. The expectation is to win it so i fear if I dont get a tick for this challenge, it will result in getting the sack. Was very lucky not to get sacked after the World Cup so have to make most of this opportunity in what is probably the best squad amongst Africa. Group of Cameroon, Cape Verde and Mauritania meant that the result against Cameroon would be vital. We beat them first up 2 - 0 and then cruised to two victories amongst the others to top the group. Up next is Congo. Second Round QF (if applicable) SM (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

I've got a bit of catching up to do so apologies for the spam. Season 2027 - Vissel Kobe - J1 League Some of you might know the club as the Japanese destination club for the likes of Iniesta and Mata (currently still there) but before the save began they had never won the J1 in their history. The won it for the first time last season but found themselves in 9th position after slightly more than a quarter of the league games in but had 2 games in hand. The talent was still there and had a decent transfer budget to play. I won the 2 games in hand which put us in the top 4 and not too far away from first. We ended up breezing through the league quite easily not losing a game for the rest of the season and only drawing 3 games in about 20. In the AFC group stage, we topped the group and qualified directly winning all games apart from losing to Suwon Bluewings of Korea away from home 2 - 0. These were ominous signs that we can compete well in Asia and hopefully we can reach and win the final next season. In the J-League cup we made the round of 16 where we faced Gamba Osaka. At home we were up 3 - 0 at home in the 64th minute but then conceded 3 late goals in what was a rare capitulation. We then conceded two early goals in the away leg to practically kick us out of the cup. We fared better in the Emperor's Cup. We cruised through to the final where we faced Kyoto Sanga. I had only managed against them once and beat them 2 - 0 at home. It's a little strange that the final is played on New Years day which is a full month after the last league game. It also coincides with an u21 tournament that was on and I stuffed up and didnt recall 4 starters that I could have pulled away for the tournament. We dominated the final and it was telling that we missed the quality and we ended up losing 2 - 1.

so bloody close!!!!

So February came around really quick. When we received the scout report of our opponents Vissel Kobe came through, I knew it was going to be a tough proposition as most of their players came back with 4.5 - 5 star ratings. First game away and my concerns were made to be accurate as we found ourselves down 3 - 0 shortly after the break. We did get some respite tho as they were given a red card in the 72nd minute and we scored in the 77th minute to take an away goal back to the home leg and give us a little bit of hope. That hope was squashed 16 minutes into the home leg as we went 2 - 0 down and 5 - 1 on aggregate. Credit to the team as we managed to level the game at half time. We ended up winning the game 4 - 3 which in reality was a fantastic result but we were simply outclassed. I certainly think with the access to manage in J1 in FM24, that winning the ACL will be much more challenging with the Chinese teams (albeit i didnt manage one of the bigger clubs here). With this in mind, i resigned the next week with nothing left for me to win in China and will look for a club in either Japan or Korea which i have both loaded. It took me 3 months to find my next job and its with none other than...... Vissel Kobe!!! They had been struggling in the league and were sitting in 9th position when I started but did have a couple games in hand. Unfortunately, they were knocked out of the ACL in the Semi Final against Korean opposition, so it's not going to be that short of a stay here. We have already qualified for the next ACL for winning the league last year which should start in the second half of the calendar year.

Season 2026 - Sichuan Jiuniu - Chinese Super League Going into the season I had no doubt that we could challenge for the title after a really solid 3rd place last season. To be fair, the Chinese league seems a lot weaker in FM24 than what i remember it used to being. We made some shrewd signings over the break including a 34 year old Victor Wanyama which i thought was exciting at the time but quickly found out he was a good back up to my other foreign players. The season played out the way i thought it would, we started off well and found ourselves atop of the ladder from round 5 and never relinquished it to win the title by a fair margin. We also breezed through the FA Cup all the way to the 2 leg final which we ended up winning 7 - 5 to retain. In the Champions League we completed the group stage undefeated to top the group. We did draw our first two games against Port Lions of Thailand and Korean giants Ulsan Hyundai which made me nervous as only the top team goes through to the second round directly. I still have my doubts whether we can win it with Sichuan, but with the second round starting in February, we'll find out pretty quick. In the second round we've been paired up against Japanese champions Vissel Kobe. On the coaching badge front, Sichuan have been very kind and I am currently studying for my Continental B licence and have a 2.5 star rating.

That hurts!!!

first job in was with a Super League team?

Season 2025 - Sichuan Jiuniu - Chinese Super League Second season in and first in the big league, I had an inkling that we would be able to compete and hold our own in this league. A couple of good performances against a couple of the opposing teams last year in the Cup and a solid 5 - 6 loss to Man City in a friendly had me quietly confident that we would better the Boards expectation of surviving relegation. The Super League allows for slightly more foreign players which is always fun to shop for, but much would rely heavily on our mate 38 year old Negrao up forward for us. We started off quite well winning the first two games, and Negrao scoring 3 out of the 4 goals, so it was business as usual it would seem. We then only got 1 point out of the next 3 games which brought us back to earth a little. We then found our groove mid right on the midpoint of the year where we went the last 18 games undefeated. In that run there were 7 draws which was literally one too many! Nonetheless, it was a wonderful first ever season in the top league and qualifies us for the Asian Champions League next year. The FA Cup was a competition that we took seriously not only cos its a quick way to get the first achievement of this challenge, but also because the league is only a 30 game season and isnt overly draining on the players fitness levels. There is a nuance that you must start an u21 yo and it was quite noobish of me not to go sign one... i had all year and it still didnt register... I ended up sacrificing my DM position for a one star 16yo from the youth side throughout the competition. We eased through the first two rounds to make the QF. The Beijing Guoan game looks closer than it was, we had gone 3 - 1 up before they scored a consolation game. We then faced Zhejiang who we had lost to at home in the league. We copped a goal in the first minute but managed to turn the game around with a goal before the break and the winner in the 81st minute. The final is played over two legs with the first leg away, we scored in the first 10 minute before copping a horrific own goal by the goalkeeper. A 1 - 1 result without conceding a shot on target had me confident that we could win at home and thats exactly what we did. First tick of the challenge!

Season 2024 - Sichuan Jiuniu FC - Chinese Jia League With the expectation being a top 3 finish, the aim is to get the team promoted into the Super League as the top 2 get promoted. This leaves us very little room for failure but we're up for the challenge. I entered the fray under huge financial constraints which was discussed during the interview, however as the season began we wiped that debt with the injection of sponsorship money which surprisingly is commercially sound! Thankfully the team I inherited was quite strong with just enough foreign players required, and a good balance across most positions. The wage bill of 48k pounds was taken up by 30% to one player, our main man up top pictured below. Despite my initial thoughts, it was proven to be money well spent! The first game of the season gave me a real scare, losing away to Dalian 7 - 3! Was thinking this beta version is going to be fun with these sorts of scorelines, but we quickly settled in going in long winning periods. It was evident quite early that we had a team that could win the title and that we did relatively easy. Promising signs for the future was that we made it to the QF of the FA Cup knocking out sides from the Super League along the way. This guy is on super wages for this level but was a class above this league so not sure what he was doing here to begin with. The picture below is after I resigned him and he agreed to cut his wages in half . He will lead the line for us next year again

Made the decision to give up on my FM23 effort of just the World Cup short and start again on FM24. Profile below: Waited 6 months for the right opportunity to come along and i think I found it with Sichuan who just finished the campaign in 6th position in the Chinese Jia League which is the second division. The Board's aim is to finish in the top 3 so the expectations will be massive for someone getting their first taste of management. Interestingly, they were only formed in 2017 and were acquired by the Man City group and our partnership means we can loan players from them as an affiliate so will see what i can snap up there.

I dont know about others, but i find the most enjoyable part of this challenge is the start and forging your career someone in the wilderness. It then turns into a real slog towards the end when its about ticking off the league and cup (club and national) achievements. Ive continued my save over a number of years trying to build my rep up whilst still managing USA. I've won 2 Gold Cups since but cant compete in the World Cup and no other major nation will give me an opportunity. In club land i managed to get a job with Porthcawl Town in the JD Cymru South where i stayed for two years. At the time i had a 4 star reputation but that quickly diminished to 2.5 star now. I was then given the opportunity with Farsley in the VNL South and got them promoted in my first season. Survived my first season in VNL and have just started the second season. Still struggling to get other jobs and looks like i've hit the wall with this save just one World Cup short! Just bought the new game last night so might start all over again....

from memory Ive managed just about all the top nations, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, France... I dont think i had a spell with England and definitely not Germany. Most of the times i was sacked from these jobs apart from Argentina and Belgium from memory USA just gave me their job so at least im managing a nation but cant even get an interview for a VNS team lol

just need the world cup now. Reputation is still 4 stars Continental so cant really understand why I cant get a look in at club level with really low reps

I think I have cooked this save! After not managing in club land for who knows how long, i can even get a job in the Vanarama league. Cant even get an interview for the Indonesia second division teams. Im willing to start from ground zero in the hope to save the save, but cant even get a job anywhere!!!

2074 World Cup - Spain So i decided to jump ship after failing with Portugal to world number 3 rank Spain. I just felt that the Spanish team was better equipped to try and win it. The expectation was that we make at least the semis to keep my job so thats always a good sign that the level of players are there. Im pretty sure this is the second time in charge of Spain, but at this point of the save, my memory is becoming a blur! In the Euros, in order to keep my job we had to make the final which we did. I instant resulted the final which we ended up losing to Italy in extra time. We opened up the World Campaign with a 2 - 1 loss to Paraguay and straight away alarm bells were ringing! Our next game against Morocco was vital and we fell behind in the 31st minute and were facing an early exit. We tucked away a pen in the 56th minute and then scored the winner in the 72nd minute but these were bad signs this early on. We were somehow randomly chosen to go through to the next round given our record, goal difference and number of yellow cards were all even. Can you imagine the controversy if that happened in real life!!! So we were given a huge lifeline, can we make the most of it? Up next in the secnd round was Belgium who we beat in the Euro quarter final 3 - 0 two years ago, Second Round Third Round (if applicable) QF (if applicable) SF (if applicable) Final

An unbelievable feat to win the Bundesliga with Hertha in your first season! A competition both Vikeo and I struggled with!

2070 World Cup - Portugal After winning the Asian Cup, it was a year wait for the Euro & Copa for the next gig that was realistic to win the World Cup. I applied for a few jobs including Spain, England, Brazil however Spain, Turkey and Portugal were the first ones to respond. Neither of these were my preferred nation but wasnt prepared to run the risk rejecting these and then not being offered the others. The choice was a difficult one, but i went with the current Wold Champions in Portugal. The objective was to make the semi finals so that was a good sign that they had belief in the players we had. We were given quite an easy group of Morocco and Jaimaca as we won both games. In the third round, we got Canada in favourable draw. Second Round Third Round (if applicable) QF (if applicable)

2067 Asian Cup - Australia Managing my home country in a time during the save where they are very competitive, despite losing both group games in the World Cup. But thats ok, its the reason why the opportunity came up in the first place. But its probably the fashion of how they lost which got me sceptical, losing 3 - 1 against Denmark and then getting trounced 5 - 0 by Ecuador. The team is quite nicely balanced, some good centre backs, half decent full backs, one gun attacking mid and a decent other and a gun striker and ok wingers. Dont really have a strong DM but thats ok. Our group consists of minnows Sri Lanka and Pakistan but also had China. The strategy is all about avoiding South Korea and hopefully beating them if or when we do meet. We won our three group games 4 - 0, 4 - 0 and 2 - 1 in games where i was able to rotate the team. In the second round we face Japan who came third in their group to Thailand and Syria. We have also avoided South Korea on our side of the draw. Second Round QF (if applicable) SF (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

2066 World Cup - Belgium The team is kind of realistic to nowadays where they have a couple of really top end world class players but then the rest of squad are just decent. In my case, the defence is really lacking any quality and i have 2.5 star quality as my starters. Centre midfield is ok, but rely on a 34 year old PSG midfielder to do most of the grunt work. Front three are ok and dont have anything to complain about the depth there. Not the ideal nation to be managing going into the world cup but didnt really have a choice. Leading into the World Cup, our friendlies were against two nations where i won their continental cups in Argentina and South Africa. I beat Argentina 2 - 0 and drew with Sth Africa 1 - 1. Our group consist of Nigeria and Japan so no real guarantees. First game against Nigeria and we needed to come back twice to eventually score the winner in the 78th minute. That win meant we had already qualified before playing Japan as they drew with each other, Japan needed to better our result against Nigeria to qualify. We pummelled them 8 - 0 lol Next up was fellow Asian country China. Second Round Third Round (if applicable) QF (if applicable) SF (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

Had to wait a year for the euros and Copa to finish for any decent job to become available. Holland, Brazil and France were the appealing jobs that came up and i was unsuccessful for each of them. I kinda understood the Holland rejection as that was still a little fresh but surprised i didnt get the other two. Anyone know why or have any tips on international management? Anyhow, the Belgium manager was poached by France and Belgium offered me the role so i obligingly took it with no other options available. They were knocked out by eventual winners Spain in the Quarters and are ranked 8th in the world. Not sure how to be honest as they seem to be on the decline with a really aged squad. Just adding that I also was just unsuccessful with the England job which suddenly became available as their previous manager took the helm at Benfica. Do i need to managing in club land?

2063 AFCON - South Africa The team I've inherited is quite good, they've won the AFCON twice during the save back in 2045 and 2049 so its been a good 14 years since the last triumph. We've got really good attacking options, a decent midfield and two good central defenders. Our full backs and DM are probably the weak spots. I think im going really close to double figures in attempts to win this trophy so would love to get this one finally completed! Our group consisted of Uganda, Cameroon and Guinea so not the easiest of groups. Up first was Uganda where we won easily 4 - 0. Next was Cameroon where we had 30 shots to 1 but drew the game. We scored in the 86th but they equalised with their only shot of the game in the 88th min. It meant we only needed a draw against Guinea to top the group. I rested a few players and it kinda showed in the first half as we went into the break a goal down. I brought on my main players and went more attacking and so we managed to score 2 to lead. Guinea scored an equaliser in the 92nd minute to draw the game. Cameroon won their game so the 3 of us finished even on 5 points but we topped the group thanks to goal difference. We get Mali in the second round. Second Round QF (if applicable) SF (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

2062 World Cup - Holland Coming off winning the Euros, the International League and the Euro/SAM Super Cup against Argentina, we headed into the World Cup with the majority of the team that won me the Euros. However we did lose our two starting centre backs via retirement and we were a little thin at the back. Our midfield and attacking options were still stacked. We had an easy group of New Zealand and Nigeria who we beat 7 - 0 and 5 - 1 respectively. In the Second round we were given a tricky opponent in Colombia. Second Round Third Round (if applicable) QF (if applicable) SM (if applicable) Final (if applicable)