Alma Mater

Grazer - preseason and transfers. While the scouts are working hard to identify recruitment targets for our limited budget, I set up an intense pre-season. The matches are a mix between lower level Austrian teams to boost morale, and a few from Bundesliga 2 to give us more of a challenge. Once the first friendlies are close, I bring in a few players on trial - specifically ones who would be available on free transfers or for very little money. I'm looking primarily for mezzalas, a back-up DLP and a back-up striker, although if I find a good cheap winger I'll consider it. In the very first game, against a Regional League team from Vienna, two of our trial midfielders show that they can produce goals. It's David Philip from Germany, who could play as either mezzala or winger, who scores in the 7th minute, and Alem Pasic, potential back-up for DLP or mezzala, who scores in the 86th. Between the two of them comes a goal from our own striker Philipp Ablinger. First Vienna only manage one goal. Two goals come from a header following a cross, and the first from Philipp's wrist finding the ball after a header following a cross. Too early to talke about a pattern, of course, but it's interesting. In the next game, David Philipp once again performs well, although our two goals come from Ablinger and an injury time header by Gantschnig. I start to think about twin mezzalas played by Filip and Philipp, despite knowing that Filip would prefer to be a winger. But I have other wingers, and those matching names are hard to resist. Just think what the fans could do with a set-up like that! Next, we test ourselves against Bochum from Bundesliga 2, and we're completely trounced. Their team was simply much better in every way, while I was trying out teenagers and trialists. After these first three matches, we reach the opening of the transfer window, and I make several hires right away. Aside from Philipp and Pasic, I pick up a potential DLP/mezzala, one mezzala/winger, and one winger/striker. All three are fairly young with good potential, but more back-ups than first eleven players at this point. In our first July game, we meet another Bundesliga 2 team, Magdeburg. I start my double Philips as mezzalas, and my two new wingers Keiblinger and Marte, mostly because everybody else is tired. We somehow manage to come away with a 1-0 win without playing well. Next is a lower-ranked Austrian team, so I rotate quite a bit. Among other things I move Huber into the DLP slot and bring in Fritz as a CD, while Mujkanovic and Ostermann take on the mez roles. Goals come from veteran midfielder Nutz and young striker Kiedl as we dispatch our opposition easily. Then we take on Shalke 04, and they're definitely not what they used to be. We dominate the game throughout, although it's not until the last few minutes that Kalajdzic snaps up a sloppy pass between their defenders and chips the ball into the top far corner, out of reach of their keeper. The final two matches of the pre-season are against Regional League teams, and we have no trouble with either. So we end the pre-season with a team that's won five matches in a row without conceding a single goal. Everybody's match sharpness is high, and there's no doubting our form. The only player I'm still looking to recruit is a back-up striker, and I have my eyes on someone there. We're ready for the season to begin!

From Botosani I travel almost straight west, through Hungary and into Austria, to the city of Graz in Styria. But not to manage the best-known team from there, Sturm Graz - no, I'm taking on their local rival, Grazer Athletiksport Klub, or GAK. They've had an interesting time of it over the past 20 or so years: In the early 200s, they were doing really well in the Austrian Premier League, even winning a double in 2004. Only a couple of years afterwards, financial troubles struck them hard. They went into bankruptcy twice, and in 2012 the club was dissolved. A phoenix club was started by supporters, which eventually took on the old name, and the reborn GAK won a new promotion every year until they reached the First Division, where they've been sitting since 2019. The board's vision is fairly modest - they want to remain in the top half of the First Division for the next five years. I have my own ambitions, which involve a promotion to the Premier League either this year or next, so I can add that to my CV. Last season they finished 9th out of 16. Only one team gets promoted each season, so it's not going to be easy. The squad is on holiday when I arrive, so I start in on hiring staff, organizing friendlies, and looking at what kind of tactic would suit the players we have. There's next to no transfer budget to work with, so any new additions would have to be free transfers or bargains. On the plus side, the rules are very generous - 99 players can be registered, and there are no restrictions regarding nationality or age. Current squad situation: What it all boils down to is that I have eight players ranging from decent to really good in the defense line, and the same amount for midfield/attack. Unless I want to rely on teenagers for rotation, I need to boost our numbers a bit, particularly in the midfield. As a team, we seem to be quick, good with the ball, and with generally high determination and decisions. I'm leaning towards a 4-3-3 with a DLP and twin mezzalas, using underlaps since we're unlikely to see much forward contribution from our FBs/WBs, although I will set up their training to try to work up to at least a supportive role. Something like this:

Yeah, the top three seem to be running away with it. Beating the teams from Riga is always difficult, their resources are simply better.

Great job! Let's see how the Europa League goes.

Hello there! I have enjoyed reading stories here of other people's FM careers, and felt an urge to share my own. I should note that a) I'm fairly new to FM (as in a few months), and b) I'm currently four years into this save, so the story of the early days may lack some detail in places. This is a career in journeyman style more than strictly by the challenge rules, mainly because I haven't yet figured out how to make a amateur or semi-professional club work well, so I decided to start with a National C license and a past as a regional player. I've set some guidelines for myself, but at least some of them could be flexible in the right circumstances - time will tell. The guidelines: * Build for the future. Always try to do right by the club I'm currently employed by, even if I may not be around long enough to see the benefits. This means things like improving youth recruitment and facilities, securing long-term contracts whenever possible, etc. No shenanigans like giving a good player a shorter contract because I want to steal him away for my next club! * See the season out. This may change if a perfect offer comes along at a bad time, but I myself won't go looking for new jobs until a season is coming to its end, and won't leave until everything is wrapped up. * Work with what's there. I don't want to make too much of a change in the team as soon as I arrive; instead, I want to work with the players I have. Obviously, some selling and buying will typically need to be done, especially since I expect to be arriving in or just before a transfer window, but I'm not looking to change everything to suit my system. I'm the new one, I'll have to adjust to what's in place. By the next transfer window, I'll have a better idea of what's working and what isn't. * Integrity. I won't badmouth other managers or teams, blame the referees, or hang my own players out to dry with the press. (Unless they do something to really deserve it.) I will try to keep my players happy or at least content with their contracts and playing time, and I will embrace the club culture to the best of my ability. * Accomplish something. I won't leave a club until I can point to something I've accomplished with them. The obvious thing would be a trophy or promotion, but depending on the situation it could also be something like reaching a certain stage of Champions/Europa/Conference League, establishing feeder clubs on every continent, or improving all facilities to the max. I'll evaluate this as I go. I loaded at least the top two leagues of most European countries, started in the summer of 2021, and applied for all available manager jobs. It took a few months to get one.