Neo_Geo

I swear @XaW you get the most varied intake nationalities I’ve seen on here. Congrats on the promotion

I had a terrible time getting coaching courses in Denmark (didn’t get 1) but in Israel I’ve had every one I’ve requested in 2 seasons (3 in the first season and 2 in the second). I do think there are massive flaws in the logic used, if your objectives were to avoid relegation and you are mid -table then the reason given is garbage. Also I tested out some dynamics in another save and one of the things that made me laugh the most was the line about losing the manager to a better team, I gave the ultimatum a]that I couldn’t continue to work unless granted and they say “maybe you should resign then”

You’ll be back it’s always about finding the right save, the one that just hooks you…..if you don’t find it then it’s hard to be motivated for this challenge as it’s all about the club you choose and the league they play in. For me I always struggle in the close season, no idea why as you just generally need to continue to progress

@JLAB unlucky with the sacking and interesting to see how the dynamics with the board (especially from the press conference) can have a direct impact on your tenure. I’d have been the same wanting them to get relegated after that

Hapoel Ra'anana Season 2 (2025/26) Israeli Premier League Survival......with style! Anyone that has been following the save will know I had been playing a 3-2-5 formation with the 4 attacking players crowding the final third behind one striker and my big decision was whether to stick with this going into the top league or to be a bit more conservative. I started the save wanting to show no fear and attack so I stuck to my guns and continued to play the attacking formation (still with attacking mentality as well).....Live by the sword, Die by the sword! Well as you can see from the league standings we didn't get embarrassed, if anything we embarrassed a few of the established sides as we not only didn't get relegated, not only did we finish in the championship group in the split but we finish a close 4th to qualify for the Europa Conference League for Season 3! Maccabi Tel-Aviv are a cut above the rest, I was surprised at the dropped points right at the end as one point they were 10 clear with a 30 game unbeaten run (we didn't end it by the way) and we scored the second most number of goals behind Tel-Aviv however you can see our defence is undoubtedly costing us points. In the cups we did fairly well in the Premier Cup, narrowly finishing second to Beitar Jerusalem so we qualified for the Premier League Cup Classification Group Playoff 2 (no idea what this is for!) and beat Maccabi Netanya 3-0 in that. In the State Cup we made the semi final once again and once again were put out by Maccabi Tel-Aviv, this time 6-4 on aggregate (1-1 at home then 5-3 away). The semi final probably cost us finishing 3rd as the team were tired with some injuries building up as well and we just didn't have enough depth to continue the rich vein of form that saw us sit 2nd in the league for 18 game weeks! The future is really positive here, we have money, I have maxed youth recruitment and junior coaching and there are good players coming through with a seemingly working formation (I have now decided I have to completed the challenge with this as my main tactic!) Absolutely loving the league and the crazy scorelines, will see how the tactic translates into European competition next season. Youth Intake Key Players Admin Bingo Card Next Season Aim

Surely not

Wow I literally posted my message when you did yours I was lucky I had 2 people that had good personalities and I was able to play them for long enough to develop

So there is a glimmer of hope regarding promises..... I have 2 youth players that play regularly in the DM position and 1 has retrained and is really showing massive improvement, so it can be done

Should have gone to Israel

Didn’t mean it to come across argumentative, sorry if it did.

Quicker to sim a month than save scum every game of the season god knows how many times. I think it’s unlikely Victor San Marino will ever be playable for this challenge

I'd suggest it would take longer because you'd have additional games to sim to get through the normal league. It's just highly unlikely that you can get the really small reputation teams into the playable leagues via any legitimate method.

Load up Liga I and Liga II as your playable leagues, sim a year and reload as required to get a team promoted that you like the look of. The fact Liga III isn't playable makes no difference to the rules if you have it selected as viewable only or not (though you will be able to see who is going to be promoted before the new season start date)

I am seeing slight improvements for a couple of players (heading, marking, passing, dribbling, finishing). I think the biggest improvement was 2 but generally its just 1 at the moment.

Might be a bit dense here if I'm missing something, but how will this help get them promoted? Only way I can see it helping is save scumming every one of their games so that they win the league.....which I would have thought isn't in the spirit of the save

Ah ok, maybe a few of us could sim for you and then if they come up send you the save…..I’ve never targeted a specific team for this challenge but I always feel,bad for those that can’t get that team they really want.

Are you simming the first season only? I know some other players had success getting different teams by simming a second season, might be worth a try if you really want that team

Hapoel Ra'anana Season 1 (2024/25) Incredible first season Those who have seen my updates over the last day or so will know I was top of the league at the split but the team bottled it in the two biggest games, first losing at home to eventual winners Hapoel Jerusalem 3-1 before also losing away to 3rd placed Bnei Yehuda 2-1. We had the semi final of the State Cup to contend with and injuries started to mount up and we ended up crawling over the finishing line beaten and bloody from the fight but the main thing is we finished second and gain promotion to the top tier! Edit: forgot to mention the cups….we made the final of the national league cup and lost to hapoel Jerusalem even though we were the better of the sides on the day, would have been great to mark this one off the list but it wasn’t to be. In the state cup (FA Cup essentially) we got really lucky with the draws and played one non league side before all national leagues until the semi final where Robbie Keane’s Maccabi Tel-Aviv beat us comfortably 4-1 (I stayed true to my attacking principles). Maccabi Tel-Aviv finished 5th so that gives me an idea of what to perhaps expect for next season if I don’t adjust the formation. I started the save with the notion of picking an attacking tactic and working the players into that tactic looking to go on the offensive in this challenge rather than what I usually do which is sit back and look to counter. It worked a treat in this league with some of the craziest games I've managed in FM and it was incredibly enjoyable (and frustrating at times). Whether I stay true to this or not is my big question, if I am going to role play as a manager with an attacking, fearless brand of football then surely I have to stick to my guns (at least at home anyway). The board have added a number of items to the club culture along the lines of attacking football, entertaining and high tempo pressing so I kind of have little choice On the topic of the board they have been beyond amazing this year with the following: 3 coaching courses approved for me 2 junior coaching budget increases 2 youth recruitment improvements agreeing to adding a set piece coach agreeing to training facilities improvement In stark contrast in my Bronshoj save I had zero requests granted in the first season (but financially things were much different). Financially we are incredibly well off, finished the season at around £4.7m then when it ticked over to the new season the balance shot up to over £10m. Upon inspection of income I found just over £1m in sponsorship and £4.7m in grants (nothing in the inbox around the grants and I have no idea what it is for and whether it will remain in place). This club has a really solid footing for the future I just need to make sure not to screw up the first season back in the Premier League in 5 years. Youth Intake The Squad The Tactic Admin Bingo Card Next Season Aims

Darn work night, going to have to call it there, hopefully will get the season finished fairly early tomorrow evening and get the write up in place. Slight spoiler.....

@officiallydeej FM24 seems to be the FM version where boards go new stadium crazy!

Going into the split (a further 7 games to play) and this is how the league looks (excuse the colours I trim the blank space down and it seems the skin has a gradient background so it looks a bit janky): 2 points ahead but level on goal difference (although I've scored TWENTY more) I've had my intake and unfortunately the league won't let me register the new players (a few would have helped with depth). In the head to heads against other teams I have the following head to head in all competitions Hapoel Jerusalem P3 W1 D1 L1 GF 3 GA 3 Bnei Yehuda P3 W2 D0 L1 GF 6 GA 3 Hapoel Rishon LeZion P2 W1 D1 L0 GF 2 GA 0 Ironi Tiberias P3 W0 D3 L0 GF 10 GA 10 Hapoel Ramat-Gan P2 W0 D1 L1 GF 4 GA 5 Hapoel Kfar-Saba P2 W2 D0 L0 GF 5 GA 3 Hapoel Petach-Tikva P2 W2 D0 L0 GF 3 GA 1 It's going to be a tough ask, top 3 is almost a certainty but not top 2

@OlivierL I'm going to bet that Sigurdsson will be huge for you in the first two seasons, as I've said many times before having a striker that can get the goals usually makes the difference between success and failure in this challenge (or in my case 5 attackers!) Eriksen 23A shows a huge amount of potential for a 16 year old, intelligent, hardworking, athletic and good in front of goal.

This league is a hoot I'm having loads of fun here!

@OlivierL yessssssss! Looking forward to this one

Get in @the_hdk Great backdrop to the save and truly well deserved. Time for a break or for the next country?