ChaosClive

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2045/46 Pre-Season With all of the transfer excitement out of the way, Geroskipou still had friendlies and Champions League qualifiers to play. The friendlies all went by according to plan, including a 3-2 win against AC Milan. Favourable draws in the Champions League also allowed Geroskipou to coast through yet again, with a fully rotated side losing narrowly inbetween the rounds to Alki. Champions League Group Draw The draw for the group stage was not the easiest, yet not the hardest. Inter being the hardest game, and Villarreal also posing a threat to making it past the groups. Odds It was no shock that Geroskipou were now billed as favourites. Fixtures A heavy looking opening month lay in store, with with only a 3 or 4 day break inbetween games, so a rotation system was put in plan.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2045/46 Summer Transfer Window With another season looming, Clive delved into the transfer market yet again, although the incomings for the season were slim compared to other seasons, just 5 players were bought in, with more outs than ins for the first time in a while. In Merling - A bosman signing from Denmark. The 16 year old Dane has the potential to grow into a big presence at the back. Stangnes - Another Nordic signing. With an initial £7m and another £4.5m in add ons, Clive was hesitant to sign the 16 year old, but his attributes for such a young player were promising. If he could develop as Clive thought, he could grow to be one of the best midfielders in the world. Rodriguez - A 20 year old Argentinian from River Plate thanks to a £10.5m release clause. He will be in the first team rotation from day dot. Kovac - For £600k, Clive could not turn down the oppertunity to sign another young and talented defender. Mncube - The first South African that Clive ever signed came in for an initial £350k from Orlando Pirates with a bucket load of pace and potential. There were some future transfers agreed for when players turned 18. Lopez - A 16 year old Mexican winger who would be utilised on the right flank. Ramirez - Another 16 year old Mexican, who would be trained as a left winger. Out Again, Clive only let a few players go, but notably: Bohorquez - Who refused a new contract, so was snapped up by Newcastle on a Bosman, and immediately worth £36.5m with the Premier League tax. Rao - A constant whimer, and as a 2nd stringer, Clive wanted him gone. Araneda - The biggest loss of the outgoing players. Bournmouth activated the £12m clause in his contract. Karagiannis - His contract at Benfica came to an end and he wanted £30k p/w.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2044/45 Season Review After some impressive games in Europe and another season of domestic dominance, the Cypriot First Division was turning more heads and was creeping into the top 10 leagues in Europe. Cyprus had also moved up to 11th in the coefficient table, meaning that league winners would go straight into the Playoff round. Geroskipou's club coefficient was now best for 21st in Europe. And in a big shock to Clive, while negotiating the new club vision, the board announced that Geroskipou now had the best youth system in the WORLD. Money Nearly £10m coming into the club at the end of the season thanks to Champions League revenues. Clive's Cuttings Another season of heavy rotation due to the early fixture congestion. 3 players managed to bag over 20 goals, with Mulligan just shy on 19. 5 players registering 10 or more assists was also a massive positive. There was still no breaking the all time records, although Priso is edging towards breaking van Looy's record and Mulligan is only a few off Leiva's record for assists.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2045 With no more European action, May was a quiet month. A Nuti brace helped secure a morale boosting win away at Omonoia before the cup final against them 1 week later. In the final, it was Priso's turn to grab the headlines, grabbing all 4 goals in a 4-2 win to lift the cup yet again. In the final game of the season, 4 different Geroskipou players were on the scoresheet, including Karagiannis, Bohorquez and young Jacobsen on route to another 4-2 win against Nea Salamina. Final Table For a second season in a row, Geroskipou had gotten past the 100 goal mark, beating their own record by 7 to total 109 goals for and only 23 against, and running away with the league by a massive 26 points.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2045 April was an up and down month. APOEL were downed thanks to 4 goals in the final 10 minutes from Nuti and San Roman to win another league title. Then in the Europa League QF, Wolfsburg won the first leg 1-0 in a tightly contested game, before also winning the second leg 2-1 despite Geroskipou being on top for the majority of the game to send the Cypriots crashing out. Back in the league, the Geroskipou attack was dominant, scoring 4 goals for each of the final 3 games of the month on route to a maximum 9 points from 9. The budgets for the 45/46 season were in, and £23m was enough for Clive. Table 16 points clear with 2 games to go and the league already won. Fixtures The final games of the season would be Omonoia in the league and then the Cup final, followed by Nea Salamina to finish the season off.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou March 2045 After snatching a 1-1 draw against Wolves in the first leg of the Europa League, a fully rotated side came second in the first leg of the cup against Alki, losing 3-1 and the chances of another domestic treble looked slim. The rotation pulled through though, as a rested side then went out and narrowly beat Wolves 2-1 in the return leg, sending Geroskipou through to the QF of the Europa League for the second time in 4 seasons. A nearly full strength side then managed to turn the Cypriot Cup tie on it's head, as they beat Alki 4-0 away from home to reach their 7th final in 9 seasons. In the league, Geroskipou scored 5 second half goals to win 5-0 against Apol. Limassol, before beating Nea Salamina 3-1 away from home 3 days later to finish off the fixture congested March. Youth Intake There was just one player signed from the youth academy in March, the young English holding midfielder Lee Y45. Even if he would not be of use to Geroskipou in the future, he would be well on his way to being a star player for a number of mid table clubs in the division. Table With every other team either dropping points to each other or Geroskipou, there was now a 15 point gap at the top with 5 games to go, although Geroskipou had a match in hand over Alki in 2nd. Fixtures With the league almost wrapped up again, all attention would be on the Europa League QF against Wolfsburg.

Cheers mate, I did keep playing (Currently 2048), but just didn't post any updates, so made a bit more progress which I will update in hopefully a few days, just need to sort out screencaps ect. Yeah, these challenges are very frustrating, especially when progress is slow and steady, but I feel like it would only be a few more seasons before things turned a corner and inertia kicked in, so who knows, I might come back to it, especially after the dev update was put out regarding FM25 yesterday.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2045 Not a 100% month, but a very positive one. Due to fixture arrangements, APOEL were back to back in the league, with a full strength side winning 3-2, before a rotated side drew 1-1 between the Europa League games. Alki were also beaten 1-0 at the tail end of the month. In the Europa League, Dynamo Kyiv were knocked out easily 7-2 on aggregate to send Geroskipou through to the R16, where they would face Wolves. Fixtures A tough start to the month lay in store, with Wolves and Alki in the Europa League R16 and Cypriot Cup SF, before Apol.Limassol and Nea Salamina rounded off the shortened month in the league.

I read that same thread on reddit. Although I did some digging on his previous posts about the save and he mentioned that he changed the youth rating up to 200 out of 200, maxed out the clubs facilities, and I assume (I might be wrong) that he also changed the game importance up in the pre game editor too. This would have made the challenge a lot easier on all fronts. There are a few main reasons I didn't manage to start up a loan farm in the save, at the time I didn't have a great understanding of league reputations, how to set a loan farm ect. Another reason was just my personal rationale on long term strategy: Keep wages low to maximise profits for the club - Upgrade facilities quicker - Get better standards of players through youth intakes - Eventually start loaning players out. There were players that came through, left at the end of their initial contract, and were taken by other 1st Division clubs, but they would not have made a massive difference when it comes to continental competition, but I think if I carried the save on it might have happened. I still have the save file, so who knows. It really depends how long and realistic you want to be. On one extreme, you can do what the reddit poster did, max out facilities, change the youth rating to 200, game importance to the highest setting ect. If you want to try on the default settings that your database is loaded with, you don't need changes. If I was going to start the save again, I would probably bump up prize money in continental competition. I would also check the in game editor to see if youth ratings could be changed. In an ideal world, I would change the youth rating/game importance as the national side improved in the world ranking, but I dont know if this is possible, as I dont play with it on. For instance, I managed to improve the ranking to 133, but I assume that the youth rating/game importance is still at the same level at the start of the save, somewhat breaking the realism for me.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2045 Another 100% month, 4 in the league against lower half opposition, and a tight 2-1 win against APOEL in the cup to send Geroskipou through to another semi final. Table The lead at the top was now stretched to 8 points. Fixtures The final pre-split game in the league would be APOEL at home, before Dynamo Kyiv were in the 1st KO round in the Europa League.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2045 Transfer Window The January window is usually a quiet time for the scouting team and Clive, as he preferred to sort out transfers in the summer months, but this season was different. With the money seemingly burning a hole in the club's pocket, Clive delved into the market for some young talent. In Palamino - A holding midfielder from a deal that was arranged previously, but who could also operate as a centre-half. Fabian - Szabo's replacement, and a decent backup to Priso. Jacobsen - A 16 year old Faroe Island U21 striker, who would be used in the U19 squad for a few seasons. Fredheim - A pacy 18 year old DC, again, a player who would ply his trade in the youth team. Mathiasen - A good all-rounder who would be a 3rd choice right winger. Morin - A similar player to Jacobsen, 16 years old, but French. Carlos - A steal for a 3rd choice left winger, Skrijelj - A 16 year old Serbian U21 goalkeeper, who was the bookies choice to replace Lukic both at club and international level. Lopez - Another 16 year old, this time a Mexican youth international, who would join the club at 18 years old. Out Some notable outgoing transfers also occured. Szabo was unhappy at the club due to being behind Priso in the pecking order, so a £4m offer from Burnley was accepted. A similar fate occured to Milisavljevic, who was sold back to Red Star for double what Clive paid just a few seasons previously. The biggest sale emotionally was Max Diaz. He was now 3rd choice behind San Roman and Nuti, and not getting younger, so Clive decided to move him on to Notts Forest for £3.8m, a massive increase from the £50k odd that he was bought for.

Thanks mate, really appreciate it. Unreal that you've actually managed to find this thread! This is going to be a big of a longwinded post fyi. This was the most challenging save I have attempted for a few reasons: Foreign players limit in the Champions League/AFC Cup - If my memory serves me right there are only 4 spots available for the continental competitions. Lack of quality in the youth intakes for Mongolian players - This is mainly down to the youth rating of 15/200 coupled with a low game importance. I think I had one non-Mongolian, but as they were Australian, he would have counted against the foreign player rule. Lack of money in Champions League/AFC Cup - This was a big one. Without money, it was taking around 7 seasons to upgrade facilities near the end of the save, so progress was very slow in terms of producing quality youth intakes. Scouting - As there was little in the way of spare cash, scouting was also a struggle, and finding players that were willing to make the move and were good enough to fill the 4 spots were hard to come by. Citizenship rules - I dont know if this was correct on the database I was using, but there is no dual citizenship allowed, so players could not become Mongolian, even if they had been at the club for 10 years (Ben Salem is a prime example) TLDR - If you wanted to give the challenge a go yourself, I would definately try and tweak some bits and pieces before hand to make it more managable. I have a thousand and one questions about football in Mongolia too! I've spoken to a few people on different websites about it but I might pm you with some questions, especially about the experience you had at FC Ulaanbaatar. I was going to leave the thread dormant, but I will give a final update in a few days with what happened for the last few seasons of the save. Again, thanks for the post.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2044 A great month on the domestic front, but not such a positive outcome in Europe. A Priso hattrick helped Geroskipou beat Alki 5-1 to send them top of the league. 3 days later however, a 4-2 defeat against Man City dumped them out of the Champions League and into the Europa League. Ypsonas were then beaten 4-0, before tight 2-1 victories against Omonoia and APOEL on either side of the international break helped both tighten their grip on the top of the table and put them in the driving seat of the cup tie. Finally, AEL went down 4-0 in the league. Table Fixtures

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2044 The first game of November was a shock, with Geroskipou managing to beat Barcelona 2-1 thanks to goals from Priso and San Roman. In the league, APOEL were beaten 2-1 before a heavily rotated side beat Othellos 3-1 in the cup. Nea Salamina were battered 6-1 before the same fate was set upon Shakhtar, with Mulligan and San Roman both grabbing hattricks. Back on the domestic front, Apol. Limassol were beaten 3-0 before Othellos were dumped out of the cup after losing 4-2 on the night (7-3 on agg.). With some spare money in the bank, the powers that be finally decided to grant Clive's request to max out the youth facilities in order to try and bring through some more prosects from the academy. Tables Alki were keeping up their form, but had dropped points to let Geroskipou start to catch up. In the Champions League, Geroskipou would have to beat Man City by at least 4 goals to progress. Fixtures Two huge games would open December, Alki and Man City away. APOEL were also drawn in the QF of the cup.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2044 With 0 goals conceded and an 80% win ratio in the league, Clive considered October a success. A 5-0 win against AEL was followed up by a 3-0 win against Anorthosi. After a predictable battering against Barcelona in front of nearly 100,000 people at the Camp Nou, it was back to league action, and consecutive 4-0 wins away at Ermis Aradippou and Othellos set up a potentially perfect league month. It was against AEK Larnakas that Geroskipou became unstuck. The lack of clinical finishing resulted in a 0-0 draw, and was the first time since the CL R16 that Geroskipou didn't register a goal. Tables Alki, by contrast, had won all of their games in October to sit top of the tree. Fixtures The return fixtures of the Champions League were underway, with Barca visiting Cyprus and the squad travelling to Ukraine. In the league, APOEL, Nea Salamina and Apol. Limassol were next up. Finally, Othellos were drawn in the cup.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2044 After a nearly full strength side could only draw against Apol. Limassol on the first day of the season, Clive's rotational players gave him hope in the second game, winning 3-1 against Nea Salamina. The regular starters then battered Shakhtar around 4-1 in the Champions League, before Alki were beaten 5-1 at home 5 days later. With a few injuries to handle before Omonoia and Man City, Clive threw out a side that was verging on being 3rd string in some positions. The gamble failed on the scoresheet, the one place it mattered, as despite dominating, lowly Ypsonas ran out 2-1 winners. The frustration of the loss was quickly forgotten about against Omonoia though, as 7 Geroskipou goals went in on route to a clean sheet victory. Man City however proved a step too far, and they side ran out 4-0 victors. Tables After 5 games, Geroskipou sat in 5th. If they had managed to beat Ypsonas, they would be top, so it wasn't panic stations yet. And the Champions League group looked as Clive had predicted. Fixtures

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2044/45 Pre-Season Clive had now taken charge of 1,000 Geroskipou games, he was hoping to at least double this before he retired. An easy run of friendly results led into an equally easy run into the Champions League group stage. A 6-1 agg. win against Slovan Bratislava was followed up by a 6-4 agg. win over Celtic in the playoff round. Where Geroskipou's run was relatively straighforward, APOEL made hard work of their tie against Porto, managing to knock then out by playing the system twice in two games. Geroskipou were in between a rock and a hard place with the group draw. Barcelona and City were two of the top sides in Europe, so there was little chance of points against either. At long last, the board had decided to accept Clive's pleas to improve the training facilities. This effectively maxed out the facilities throughout the club. Odds For the first time ever, Geroskipou were now favourites to win the league. Despite winning 6 of the last 7 titles, it was still a slim margin on the odds. At least Clive, who was a betting man, could continue to make a fortune by getting friends and family to put bets on the title once again. Fixtures

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2044/45 Summer Transfer Window Out There were a few notable exits from the club over the summer. Bielan leaving to China was frustrating but understandable. Grendel also wanted to leave, as playing time between himself and Lukic was split, so when Groningen came in with a £2.1m offer, Clive took the option. Vuckovic Y41 became the first academy product to sell for over £1m when he was sold to Milan's youth team. The biggest sale was Vallejos to Fulham for an initial £12m. Clive was happy enough with this deal, as Sabatier was pushing Vallejos out of the starters job, and this gave a boost to the admittedly massive budget to sign replacements for a few positions. In Big money was splashed in the summer window, with 7 of the 8 transfers costing over £2.5m. Nieto - A Mexican DC, who was a like for like replacement of Bielan. Sikimic - A young Serb who could play either DR or DM. Mitov - A Bulgarian prodigy at DC, who Clive was going to keep in the U19 for a season. Oy - The Norwegian #1 at just 19 y/o, a long term replacement for Lukic in goal. Cech - A promising Czech playmaker Hrdlicka - Deep cover at ML, who had a slight chance of turning good. Czapa - A rotational player bought in to bolster the DR position. Graham - A purchase that Clive immediately regretted. The scouts had lied to Clive about the potential of this player.

Also with the players you have and the tactic you have, I would not have a CF, as your striker only has 5 passing. I would play him as an AF. Also switch your BWM and DM as there may be a gap on the left hand side of your defence with your DL being on WB.

How annoying. I can understand the pain.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2043/44 Season Review Despite another league title and R16 appearance in the Champions League, the Cypriot league dropped in the reputation. Other clubs not doing well in Europe resulted in Cyprus dropping in the co-efficient table, meaning Geroskipou would have to play through from the 2nd Qualifying Round if they win the league once again. Money Some big money coming into the club, with a combined £11.33m coming from Co-efficient and TV money from the Champions League. Of course, the government could not wait to get their mitts on some of it. But the extra money helped the board realise they would be able to pay off all debts. Clive's Cuttings

Why did you let your 2 best players leave for a combined fee of £101k? Did they both force moves or did you choose to sell them?

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2044 The final 2 games of the season went through quickly, with Lukic scoring his first goal as it was a ghost penalty in a 2-0 win over Alki. The final game of the season was a tense game, as Nea Salamina nearly fought back to earn a draw, but Geroskipou held firm with a 3-2 win. Final Table Geroskipou won the league by a massive 18 points, with this being the first season of over 100 goals.

Was doing some player searches to see who the oldest player in the database left was, when I came across Arran Mallett. Two things struck me about this guy. 1. Despite his age, he looks like he could possibly do a job in the Cypriot Second Division. 2. He has been first choice for King's Lynn for nearly his whole 24 year playing career. I've attached his stats below the profile, but taking into account 876 apps in the league, if we assume that he was also first choice for cup games (FA Cup + FA Trophy) and played at least 5 games a season in both, this would make him the first player I have seen ever reach over 1,000 games in their career.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2044 With the title in sight after a 3-0 win against Nea Salamina, Geroskipou pulled out all the stops in the next game against Apol. Limassol, hammering them 9-1 and bringing home the title, with Priso and Nuti both grabbing hattricks, Mulligan a brace and Raimundo the icing on the cake. After the international break, Priso bagged another hattrick on route to a 5-2 win against APOEL. News Despite the season not yet being over, another goalscoring record tumbled. A massive wage bill and transfer budget would be in effect for the 44/45 season. The U19 side managed to breeze through Roma to win the U19 Champions League. Hall of Fame Despite managing his whole career in Cyprus (Minus the winter of the AFCON victory) Clive was now seen as one of the top English managers of all time, being on a list that included Clough, Robson and Revie. Table With the league now wrapped up once again, it was now about finishing in style. Fixtures