Rick87

March 2024 The season is now in full swing as we compete for three competitions, we are off to a flyer in the Copa Libertadores, not so much in the league; Beating Bolivar was a great result, but not as great as beating seven times Libertadores winners Inderpendiente! We stormed into a two goal lead at half time but it looked as if the Argentines were going to pull off a comeback when they got back into the game 2=2. However a late goal by Nino gave us a historic win. Unfortunatley that momentum dind't carry over into our game against Guabira, who beat us convincingly 3-2. Through to the third round of the Copa Aerosur, a heavily rotated side made light work of Wilsterman Co-operative on our way to a tie against Real Potosi in the last 32 round. I have no idea how we didn't win against newly promoted San Jose, we dominated from start to finish but they scored two nice long range efforts and we could only manage a draw despite our clear authority in the game; Loooking good so far in the Libertadores, Deportes at home next in what will be a massive game in our bid to get through to the knockout rounds, it won't be easy was they also beat Independiente, suprising as I had expected the Argenties to boss this group. It's not looking quite so encouraging in the league however, something of a slow start to our title defense. With a good run of results we will be right back up there though.

February 2024 All good things must come to an end right? Our incredible 34 match unbeaten run in the league came to an end this month as we suffered a slow start to the 2024 campaign. It looked as if Blooming would be the ones to end my perfect record as Aurora manager, however we battled back from 3-0 down to earn a point as I detailed in my previous post. This was followed by a heavily rotated side easing through to the second round of the Copa Aerosur against Segunda side Ciclon. I don't much care about the cup and will use it as a chance to give my fringe players and brightest prospects some playing time for as long as we are still in it. A draw with The Strongest was a respectable result, though the manner in which we lost to Santa Cruz was not, the first half was all one way traffic as the visitors surged into their two goal lead. We improved after half time and went close repeatedly, however we just couldn't put it away. The league table doesn't mean a lot after just three games, but here it is anyway; I've been a little disappointed with my new signings so far; Cesar Menacho hasn't played yet as he broke his toe in the friendly against Universitario del Sucre, Eduardo Demequil hasn't slotted in at the back as seamlessly as I would have liked, he has mad a couple of costly mistakes alongside Nelson Amarilla at the back, Harold Cummings will hopefully be back from injury soon, who is the partner I had in mind for Demequil, hopefully that lifts his game. Striker Willian Alvarez did get a brace in the cup but I don't think I've quite decided on his best role, he has the attributes of a target man and is a threat in the air. I've told my team to try floating more crosses for him but being a very ground based possession Hungary team it's not working so well at the moment. Left back Mihyel Ortiz has performed ok, solid if not spectacular, I signed him to gradually replace 37 year old Jair Torrico, but so far it looks as if Jair will remain my #1 left back for now. I'm beginning to wonder if I should have splashed some of that £13M transfer budget rather than relying on free's. The transfer window doesn't open until the end of July so my team need to pick it up until then. The Copa Libertadores starts next month, I'm excited to lead Club Aurora in only their third appearance South America's biggest club competition. They went out in the first round in 1964 and 2009. Can we make it past the groups this year? I don't have much hope of beating Independiente, but I do think we can get through second, games against rivals Bolivar could get feisty, Our meetings last season finished 6-0 to us and 1-1 so they will have a point to prove. I'm looking forward to the trip to Buenos Aires to face Independiente, it is one of my ambitions to manage in Argentina so it will be good experirence.

Good luck at Universidad, they are one of the clubs you could well aim to establish as the best on the continent outside Brazil and Argentina.

Congratulations on your debut win, Fornels will be a hoid signing I think. Beautiful graphics and articles as always

I love this team! A cracking game to start to the season off, I felt sure our unbeaten run was coming to an end when blooming went 3-0 up after just 33 minutes. But some tactical jiggery-pokery changed things completely and given the amount of chances we had, we should probably have won comfortably. Still, I'll take the point given the position we were in at half time. Onwards and upwards.

Thanks mate, Yeah I'm enjoying it a lot at the moment and hopefully this will be my long term save on FM24 after a few false starts. I'm keeping up with yours also. ________________________ January 2024 Preparations for our title defense and Continental adventure are complete (I hope) Will we retain our championship? Transfers In Willian Alvarez - Striker who finished third in the Primera Division scoring charts last season with eighteen goals for Universitario de Vinto, he signs on free for us. Ceaser Menacho - Right winger who can also play up front. Signed on free from Blooming to replace Rodrigo Ramallo who left to join the Strongest. Miyhel Ortiz - Another freebie, this time from Palmflor del Tropico where he impressed me with his performances against us last season. He will provide competition for Jair Torrico at left back. Eduardo Demiquel - My final free signing, from Royal Pari where he was the highest rated defender in the league last term. Transfers Out Of all of the players out, only winger Dario can really be described as regular, he left after I failed in my promise to advance more youth academy players. Bit of a stupid reason to leave a title winning club if you ask me, but hey ho. Full Squad I'm happy with my team, I think we will be up there again this season and can cover all but the worse injury crisis. I've also managed to bring the average age of the squad down from 31 to 28. Nothing too taxing in the pre-season schedule, just lower league oppositions to build up fitness and morale ahead of the opening game against Blooming. In other news we have a new el presidente; And I was approached by the two biggest clubs in Bolivia, on the same day! Needless to say, I turned them down, I love it here at Aurora and have targets I want to achieve, mainly to become the first Bolivian side to win Libertadores. It won't happen this season, but with all the upgrades to facilities we are building a longterm project. This season I would like to get out of our group.

October/November 2023 We did it! What a moment for our club, not only claiming only it's second championship win in it's history, but becoming the first club to ever finish the campaign undefeated. I'm over the moon and genuinely excited for next season as we enter Copa Libertadores, Weird scheduling, but we got through it; we didn't perform at the levels we have shown throughout the season, especially against struggling Libertad Gran Mamore who hadn't won in 17 matches as labored to a draw, and it took two late goals to overcome Tomayapo. Still with the the title already secure I'll forgive a little malaise this once. The final league table This seems a massive amount for Bolivia and suspect is an error in the editor data file I'm using, if I was to hazard a guess I'd say the creator meant to set the money as 25M Bolivino (2.5M£) rather than 25M£. But still it shouldn't affect the fair play of the Bolivian league as there are big prizes all the way down. I'm just worried about Bolivian clubs becoming unrealistically overpowered in the Liberdadores. £13M is more money than I can realistically spend in a season. Most players who would consider coming to us have values up to around £250k, so I have asked the board to use money to upgrade the facilities and backroom staff instead as I try to establish Aurora as a force across South America as well as domestically.

September 2023 Yep! the second Primera division title in Club Aurora's history is secured! Still two games left to play, but job done! we earned a point against Bolivar in the big game but manged to win our other three games to take the title in style. Will we complete the season unbeaten? I believe that would be first here in Bolivia, The Strongest have won the title with only a single defeat but I can't find any information about winning it without any losses. I'm not sure why there is almost a month until our next fixture, and then another two weeks before the final one, perhaps an error in the editor data unless there is something I'm unaware of in Bolivia? Oh well, I will arrange a few friendlies to keep sharp.

Thanks mate, hopefully! August 2023 Plenty going on throughout August, through which we have emerged still top of the table and just six games from greatness! Smashing arch-rivals Jorge Wilstermann to get two points clear was special for the fans, as was a late winner in a very tough tactical game against Blooming who performed well above their relegation battling status and pushed us all the way. Still we are unbeaten, can finish the season that way? and indeed will it be enough even if we do? It would be terrible to have an unbeaten season and still not win the league! We will at the very least be in the Libertadores next season, continental competition was my personal aim this season even if the board were happy with mid table safety. I thought that the Copa Sudamericana was more likely mind you, So I'm really happy to have secured this chance to play with South America's best sides. We have been busy on the transfer front; I'm a little disappointed he decided to go, especially to one of our biggest competitors, but the money has come in useful in my squad planning for next season as I have secured three new players; Cesar Mencacho - A direct replacement for Ramallo on the right wing, he joins us in January from Blooming for £97k Miyhel Ortiz - Will replace Vaca as left-back, signing on free in January from Palmaflor del Tropico Eduardo Demequil - A centre back who impressed me when we came up against Real Pari, another free transfer in January We've also had our new youth intake; I'm not sure how elite he looks at the moment, hopefully with some time in a mentoring group his bravery and determination will improve. We're also going to have to do something about his strength if he's to fit in with my style. As with Taborga, we need to do something about those mental and physical attributes, I prize them more than technical. He does look a prospect though. The rest of the intake; I was gutted to lose my HoYD this month as he moves into management with Segunda side Deportivo FATIC, good luck to him. Next up is an absoloutly HUGE game against second place Bolivar, winning will open up a five point gap with as many games left to play, defeat would see them overtake us at the top. A real make or break game!

July 2023 Aurora visible on high ground! With ten games remaining, we are still undefeated and now have crested the summit of Primera division, can we keep it going to secure the clubs first title since 2008? We had tough games against The Strongest and Always Ready that were decided by fine margins, but it was Palmflor del Tropico who gave us the biggest scare, they came from a goal down to fight back and take a 3-1 lead, a 95th minute equilizer by substitute Ignacio Poplawski rescued our incredible unbeaten record in the most dramatic fashion. Two points clear of Bolivar, our game against them in September will be critical. I'm disappointed as Luis was my captain and a great defender, however he wasn't interested in renewing with us so rather than lose him for free I sold him,. £70k might be peanuts in the big European leagues, but here it is still a lot of money that could buy me two decent new signings. Though being the prudent manager I am; rather than splash the cash, I went bargain hunting for a replacement, and I think I've found a good one in the form of Panamanian international Harold Cummings, who was a free agent after leaving Mongas S.C in Venezuala. Harold has represented Panama 81 times and has had a club career that has taken him all over the America's; from San Jose in the MLS to Costa RIca, Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay and even a short spell here in Bolivia with Always Ready in 2021.

Congrats on reaching the next rung of the ladder. Onwards and upwards!

Great start to the season, be good if you can qualify for Europe!

June 2023 A three week break for internationals meant we only played two competitive games this month; I organised a couple of friendlies against local oppositions just to keep the players match sharp, which seems to have worked as we are still very much hot on Bolivar's heels; Injuries are starting to pile up a bit, thankfully we have quite a large squad, but it's still not useful as we get into the business end of our unlikely title challenge 38 year old Serginho is almost back to fitness after missing the last two months with a hip injury, he was in fine form before his fall so he will be a welcome return to the team., young Carlos Sejes's recent breakthrough into the first team squad has been delayed by a dislocated shoulder. Hopefully he won't suffer any long term repercussions from that as I have him earmarked as an important figure over the next couple of seasons. The high injury count could be something to do with me tweaking the training routines, if anyone has any advice please do comment! Without many games to worry about this month, I have spent most of my time deciding on my squad going forward. As I've said before, the average age of my team is 31, and whilst it's common for South American players to play well into their late 30's or even early 40's, I would like to build for the future and have begun to decide who to offer new deals to and who I will allow to expire at the end of the season. Ramiro Ballivian - My first choice right back, Mr Consistent. He will remain my first choice in that position with the aforementioned Carlos Sejes stepping up to provide competition Fernando Aguilar will be allowed to leave. Although he's 36, Jair Torrico is still as dependable as they come (I changed the three Torrico's in the squad to first name only nicknames as it was confusing on the pitch) and I don't want to lose his experience, especially with no younger player ready to step up and replace him. Brian Barao has featured in friendlies so far, but with club captain Luis Barbosa considering leaving at the end of the season I will need to break Brian into the team sooner rather than later, my coaches rate him very highly so hopefully he can handle the step up. Barbosa's usual partner in the heart of defense, Sebastian was a no brainier as far as deciding who's contracts to renew goes. He may look like Rishi Sunak's doppelganger, but Nelson certainly isn't afraid of the opposition, he regularly rotates with Zaracho and will probably be his partner next season if Barbosa does leave. That's the defense done for now, I may decide to keep others depending on what targets are available, next month I'll be deciding on my midfield. And talking of renewing contracts, I've just signed mine! Believe in project Cocachamba!

Thanks, I have managed in Bolivia before on an older FM, the format to the Primera is different now though, it was changed from having opening and closing stages and using an aggregate points system to a more straight forward league system. Which to be honest is much simpler to understand. May 2023 Half way through the campaign now, and we are still unbeaten in the league, I don't think there is any denying we now harbor unexpected title aspirations now, trailing league leaders Oriente Pertolero by five points with a game in hand. Dropping points against Nacional Potosi was frustrating, they had stubbornly resisted us for the entire 90 minutes before we finally scored through Dario T, obviously we thought the 92nd minute goal would be the winner, not to be however a long range shot squirmed past goalkeeper Luis Cardenes in the 96th minute. We also struggled with Royal Par, being held to a draw in the league before being dumped out of Copa Aerosur which was massively disappointing as I felt the cup was a winnable competition. With the historically successful clubs; Bolivar, The Strongest, Blooming and Jorge Wilstermann stuttering so far, can we take advantage? Not an encouraging intake by the looks of things, a shame as I really want to help shape the next generation of Bolivian stars. As I've said previously it is one of my career ambitions to take charge of the Bolivian national team in the future and help the reach the Wold cup for the first time in over 30 years.

Personally I like mid season, you have to work with the squad you have available and you get a better understanding of the players before deciding who to keep in the summer.

Wonderful articles, glad you continued with it

Great first season in the Premiership, good luck in. The play off!

Well done on reaching 25%, that's a fine achievement. I'm always interested in saves in countries you don't see very often, I always worry about crashes loading many data files at once though. Yours has been stable so far though by the look of it?

Your really flying through this, I guess the small leagues help with that. Well don another Champions League!

April 2023 An amazing month for Club Aurora and our supporters! We are STILL unbeaten and have thrashed our two biggest rivals, giving us a great platform for achieving our goals this season; Sixteen goals in April, we have been fantastic; beating our local rivals Jorge Wilstermann and smashing champions Bolivar, Bolivia's most successful club who make up almost half of the national team, 6-0 were huge results. My pre-season expectations were to qualify for one of the continental competitions, but if we can keep this form going, who knows, maybe we can win the club's second Primera division title. We will reach the half way stage after completing the May fixtures, after that we will have a real idea of what exactly our seasons objectives will be in the second half of the season.

Apologies to those of you who like the graphic heavy style of update, but I'm switching to a monthly update instead as it was taking me more time to do the graphics than I was spending actually playing and enjoying the game. March 2023 Our unbeaten start to the season continues into the third month; The form hasn't be spectacular by any means, but we keep plugging along, whilst of the bigger clubs struggle; The Strongest, Blooming and Jorge Wilstermann all in the bottom half, can we take advantage of their slow starts and close the gap that is already opening at this early stage between reigning champions Bolivar and the rest of the pack? Through to the third round of the Copa Aerosur (the Bolivan cup) This is a title Aurora have never claimed, so it would be nice to lift it this season where I can put out full strength sides as we have no continental competitions to worry about, which hopefully won't be the case next season! 4-4-2 continues to look my best formation, we look really good playing it, much better than we do when I set up with the perhaps more fashionable 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-2-2-1. I'm still learning about my team and Bolivia but here is my preferred line-up so-far; Admittedly it's been slightly confusing having three players all named Torrico in the squad, two of them even have the same initial so both appear as D. Torrico on the pitch. Didi and Jair are brothers, Dario is no relation as far as I know. Defense is quite solid, the only game we looked somewhat shaky in was the 5-3 epic with Guabira when they had very pacy forwards. we found ourselves behind twice due to them outstripping our defenders, I countered this by dropping the defensive line deeper and having Moruno switch to defensive duties which allowed the others to push forward and eventually take take control of the game. I'm trying to retain a solid core of Bolivian's in the line-up as I want to manage the national team someday and anything I can do to help my future prospects can only be a good thing. Next month I will get to experience my first Cocochamba derby as we take on arch-rivals Jorge Wilstermann, with whom we share the Estadio Felix Capriles. Can we keep our promising start to the campaign going?

The unbeaten start continues! Though only just; a stoppage time equalizer rescued a point for us, in fact we actually scored again moments later, unfortunately Rodrigo Ramillo's header was disallowed due to a push on the goalkeeper, much to my annoyance. Still, a point is a point and it keeps our good start to the season going.

This one means a lot to the supporters, The Strongest are twelve time champions of Bolivia, so to beat them convincingly seems a fantastic statement of intent on our part. I'm not insinuating that we are title challengers at this point, my aim this season is to qualify for the Copa Sudamericana or preferably Copa Libertadores. But if we keep playing like today there is no reason we can't be dark horses.

Cup action this time out, we came worryingly close to throwing away a lead again, against an inferior opposition. Still we did get the job done, switching from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 made us look far more solid in the second half. Great to see my new signing Alain Nino de Guzman getting on the score sheet when he jinked through the Universitario defense.

Great going, I particuarly found the Micronesia section interesting as I've recently read 'Up Pohnpei' by Dan Ashworth who is a journalist who took a bet from a friend that he could become an international football manager, he ends up writing to every minor nation asking for a chance, the Pohnpei national/island team gives him one. He has to contend with things like the pitch being infested with bullfrogs. great read! Anyway, keep it up, I shall be following!