Football Manager 23 [Archive] - Page 6

Dan

09-04-2023, 08:48 AM

Ventspils & Latvia 2028 Update

The best news of all, though, is the double whammy of our new stadium (https://imgur.com/8056TQM) being ready for next season & the news that we're going back to professional status (https://imgur.com/3IWVnrQ), which should hopefully help me keep the guys who were going to be out of contract after next season. Another good run in Europe next season & we might even be able to afford to upgrade our facilities!

We pretty much achieved all of the above this year, securing another third place finish (https://imgur.com/mNzsTGa) in the league, although we were in the title race until the final month of the season, so we're definitely still making progress. We made the second qualifying round of the Conference League (https://imgur.com/Dx7coNm), beating Maltese side Hamrun Spartans before getting seen off by Hibernian. I think we're at the point where we should be able to consistently make the third round as long as we avoid a brutal draw, so I'll be hoping things fall our way next season.

Just to give you a proper run down of the side, it's very Brazilian heavy! We have Adailton (https://imgur.com/Hn4Ee8V) in goal with Alemao (https://imgur.com/h4vhBoM) at RB, Aleksejs Bite (https://imgur.com/FYAll4v) at LB, and Rodrigo (https://imgur.com/ncPwRfH) & Guilherme Anselmo (https://imgur.com/L4Ro7cR) at CB. In midfield we're rolling a 4312 with three from Paulo (https://imgur.com/3rKAU2J), Adriano (https://imgur.com/Ho47PIC), Alisson (https://imgur.com/UUPLTdY) & Tonci Soldo (https://imgur.com/lmznvD6) and club captain Rodrigues (https://imgur.com/ApLuvgW) playing in behind a front two of Kleber (https://imgur.com/Hg78xl7) & Daniels Smitins (https://imgur.com/6SVwR1w), who has now overtaken Aleksejs Davidenkovs as our record goalscorer (https://imgur.com/XEfRAsW).

We have a few more Latvians on the bench, including a couple of good young strikers, and I've been raiding the rest of the league already to bring in some of the better young Latvians for next season, so we should see the squad depth continue to increase. We have massively jumped our wage budget from £5k p/w to £15k p/w though, so the European money is going to be more important that ever next year - if I've worked things out right then the money from getting to the second qualifying round should completely cover our wages for the year, so hopefully we won't lose too much money from everything else.

We did also get a small upgrade from the board, but it was only to our academy coaching (https://imgur.com/hlOS5dm). I think we'll still need another year or two of good European money before we can really afford to start upgrading the facilities, especially now we've tripled our wage bill. The league is hovering around 26th-29th in the coefficients, so we'll need Riga & RFS to pick up some unexpected wins so that we can sneak up to the next jump in European places.

It's still going to be a while before we have any chance of making a tournament, but we can pretty much put out a competent side now & I'm optimistic we can solidify our spot in Nations League C, and maybe even win a friendly in 2028!

We ticked both boxes this year, finishing third in a competitive Nations League (https://imgur.com/H4H9EFY) group & winning all four of our friendlies (https://imgur.com/MbuuiDS), although I made sure we had some winnable games. It would be nice to get a World Cup qualifying group where we could at least pick up a few points, and I'll be trying to arrange some more winnable friendlies to keep morale up. I'm sure we'll also get some more nationalised players popping up to help us out too, so fingers crossed someone gifts us a CB with some speed, as we're generally pretty lucky to get more than 10-11 pace out of anyone competent.

Yevrah

09-04-2023, 01:03 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2024/25 - Exeter City

Halfway point of our first (and probably only) season with Exeter and things are going much better than they did in Slovakia.

https://i.postimg.cc/XY3VBXvx/League-Table.jpg (https://postimg.cc/VdGy3fnb)

We've led the league for most of the season and while there's a decent cushion to 4th place I really want that title, but Wrexham can probably add to their squad in the window whereas we can't.

Yevrah

10-04-2023, 03:37 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2024/25 - Exeter City - League Two End of Season Update

Expected to finish 2nd by the media and top three by the board, in the end we romped home and beat Swindon Town's near 40 year old points record. Particularly pleasing that as normally the team's form drops right off once 1st place in the league is secured.

https://i.postimg.cc/4Ny17vSf/League-Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

So many good performances, but these two in particular stand out.

https://i.postimg.cc/FF7pC5jb/Mo-Faal.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Hj1bjNvj)

32 goals in 39 starts in the league, the massive Gambian was instrumental in a cracking season.

https://i.postimg.cc/3rvpDKXq/Kinnear.jpg (https://postimg.cc/c6d6pG57)

At the other end of the pitch was Kinnear, who becomes the first player I genuinely want to sign at another club. He kept saving penalties, just over and over again, which I assume is down to his ludicrous agility for a League 2 goalkeeper, but when you look it's actually almost as good as any keeper in the game. Dying to try him at a better club and particularly in a shootout.

Future Plans

Securing promotion pushed our rep to two stars and then winning the title pushed it to two and half, which is excellent news. We're nowhere near good enough to mount a promotion challenge in League One and even if we were, I'm not sure I can hack another 46 game season, so off we go with the target to get a job in a top division (in any European country really) where we can challenge for the title and hopefully win one.

CV looking much better now after the Slovakian aberration.

https://i.postimg.cc/fRc76M2F/Career.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cvJ83GNM)

John Arne

10-04-2023, 09:02 AM

Signed this kid from ASEC for $280k....

https://gyazo.com/1901d9cef2179a76d2138f78a65c3d59.jpeg

198cm :drool:

Yevrah

10-04-2023, 06:41 PM

:drool:

So we left Exeter in July and holidayed a bit before getting a new job.... at Shamrock Rovers

https://i.postimg.cc/0y5xwbHq/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

6 games to go so we have an outside chance of getting 4th and Conference League football, but this is my first club with actual money and I think we're going to get a transfer budget of over £1m in the off season. :chief:

Only downside is taking the job has dropped my rep back to two stars.

Adramelch

10-04-2023, 06:56 PM

How's the latest patch compared to the previous ones (match engine wise)? Been thinking of getting back to it but can't really be bothered if it's more of the same.

Yevrah

10-04-2023, 06:57 PM

I didn't play that much of it before the patch but I quite like it in the state it's in now. Nothing too annoying happening on screen and the variety of goals/outcomes is good.

Adramelch

11-04-2023, 01:54 PM

10 (or however many it's been) versions later and I still haven't understood why they decided to change a perfectly working manager reputation system and proceed to mess it up.

Yevrah

11-04-2023, 02:32 PM

What did they do to it? This game does feel a bit different from Journeyman games of yesteryear.

Adramelch

11-04-2023, 02:42 PM

What did they do to it? This game does feel a bit different from Journeyman games of yesteryear.

Back then there used to be the "Automatic" option, which would set your reputation at a level matching the lowest league you had loaded. They changed that to what we assumed was the average of all leagues loaded (and later removed it altogether). In the same version, they must have messed something up in general, since we started seeing clubs with much higher reputation than your own offering interviews (without you even applying for the jobs). They seem to have toned that down somewhat at least, but in those first few versions it was ridiculous. Something like me managing Steaua and getting offered the Arsenal job (which might of course happen once in a while, but it was a very regular occurrence).

Yevrah

11-04-2023, 02:45 PM

Ah, I see. They've sorted the ludicrous job offers out now I think. I certainly haven't had any in 4/5 seasons of this save.

Adramelch

11-04-2023, 10:14 PM

So I did end up starting a Journeyman save. I loaded the top division from the big, say, 7-8 nations, as well as an assortment of lower leagues from the eastern bloc, and set out to find a club. A few months went by without even a peak at an interview, but by October, a couple of clubs sacked their managers and came knocking my way. I would like to pretend that I had a hard choice to make, but in reality I was only offered one job, so I just went and accepted it. That was in the Slovakian second division, at a club called Povazska Bystrica, from what is apparently the 13th most populous city in Slovakia. The club was expected to finish 7th, but found themselves at 14th place, with 14 points in 14 games, just 2 above the relegation zone. The players at the club were mediocre at best, but with the club in the red and above the wage budget, there wasn't really any room for improvement during the season.

https://i.gyazo.com/189010aa78278436f720314d4b6828b5.png

We weren't amazing by any means, but we were firmly in control in most of our games. In fact, I would go as far as to argue that we shouldn't have lost a single game, but sadly the low quality of the squad prevented us from doing that. The xG table (I know) had us finishing third in fact. Nevertheless, 29 points from 16 games under my reign is a great return.

https://i.gyazo.com/7f8af86e63a8184aef100327f77208b2.png

In fact, if we had the same yield over the whole season, we would have finished a comfortable 3rd, so things look promising for next season. Speaking of next season, however, there will be a decent amount of problems. Half the squad is on contracts that are expiring in the summer and it's not like we have a lot of money to spend. We could probably come to an agreement with most of them, but the question is if that's the way to go. Maybe it'll be better if we just let them go and start rebuilding the squad from the ground up.

Dan

12-04-2023, 10:47 AM

Ventspils & Latvia 2029 Update

We have a few more Latvians on the bench, including a couple of good young strikers, and I've been raiding the rest of the league already to bring in some of the better young Latvians for next season, so we should see the squad depth continue to increase. We have massively jumped our wage budget from £5k p/w to £15k p/w though, so the European money is going to be more important that ever next year - if I've worked things out right then the money from getting to the second qualifying round should completely cover our wages for the year, so hopefully we won't lose too much money from everything else.

Well, it turns out I was very wrong about us not losing too much money other than wages - we were losing about £100k a month this season, so we were eating through our European money pretty quickly. We did top it back up with another second qualifying round elimination (https://imgur.com/oLQdn3G), but I've already started trying to move a few fringe players on now our players have decent transfer values.

The Virsliga was the same as usual, with us finishing third (https://imgur.com/MqqFirm) behind Riga & RFS, although we did take a bit of a step back towards the chasing pack thanks to a combination of injuries & inconsistency. Our main man Daniels Smitins (https://imgur.com/1now3zN) missed four months with a broken foot & then got another injury that took him out of the last few games, but luckily Kleber (https://imgur.com/qYrgl1B) continued to bang them in & our two young lads - Marks Pulis (https://imgur.com/Upvema3) & Maksims Jakovlevs (https://imgur.com/3kTm341) - both chipped in with double digit goals to help take some of the pressure off.

It still feels like we've got a bit of work to do to overhaul the big two, so I'm expecting more of the same again next season, but hopefully we can get a nicer draw in Europe & make the third round. Luckily Riga & RFS are both in the ECL league phase & have picked up a few points, so we should hold our spot in the qualifying places table, and maybe we'll even sneak up a few spots if they pull off a few more results.

We ticked both boxes this year, finishing third in a competitive Nations League (https://imgur.com/H4H9EFY) group & winning all four of our friendlies (https://imgur.com/MbuuiDS), although I made sure we had some winnable games. It would be nice to get a World Cup qualifying group where we could at least pick up a few points, and I'll be trying to arrange some more winnable friendlies to keep morale up. I'm sure we'll also get some more nationalised players popping up to help us out too, so fingers crossed someone gifts us a CB with some speed, as we're generally pretty lucky to get more than 10-11 pace out of anyone competent.

We had a pretty successful campaign in WC2030 qualifying, finishing third in our group (https://imgur.com/A4iB9Xu) & getting double digit points. We pushed both Serbia & Croatia close at home as well, so I'd say this was our best year so far with the national side. We could still use some pace in defence, and probably a couple more central midfielders, but hopefully we'll be able to build on this year & stay competitive through the Nations League.

Baz

12-04-2023, 11:11 AM

Mike, The Reid and I will be starting an FM save later. Arsenal, United and Liverpool, as always. Will probably put it on Twitch but with zero interraction cos it'll be full screen on the living room TV.

Yevrah

12-04-2023, 12:36 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2025 and 2026 - Shamrock Rovers

So we joined Shamrock Rovers in 2025 with six league games left and them sat in 6th, sadly we couldn't improve on that position so no European football achieved, but with a decent window behind us I was reasonably optimistic of being able to take the title and bed in for a good 2/3 years with a club, racking up the Hall of Fame points and Rep along the way. Oh how wrong I was.

https://i.postimg.cc/7YwPGym7/Shamrock-Rovers.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Hjv1RFGs)

The season started badly with two defeats but we played alright so I remained optimistic. We then had a cracking March to move into title contention, but April was plagued with xG horror shows as we drew three games and lost one having created a bucketload of chances. After the St. Pats game I saw an option for a team talk with the squad, so I thought "why not?". This was why not...

https://i.postimg.cc/3NWB9qZZ/Shamrock-Rovers.jpg (https://postimages.org/)[/url]

:sick:

Absolutely battered in the three league games and the cup loss was against a tier 2 side. Any further attempts to talk to the squad did nothing and with both the club atmosphere and support for me seriously in the red I felt the only recourse left was to resign before being sacked. Fucksticks.

The only positive is that the board had agreed to fund my continental pro license before I jumped ship (which completes in 7 months), but even then my rep is back down to 2 stars/40% now.

https://i.postimg.cc/SRjB8D2B/Shamrock-Rovers.jpg (https://postimages.org/)[url=https://postimages.org/]

State of play after 4 seasons, average at best I would say, which is obviously disappointing. Next job is crucial for me to succeed at.

Adramelch

12-04-2023, 01:43 PM

I don't think I've ever had a positive experience out of those team talks (or the ones where you're meant to rally the squad ahead of a crucial game). I just avoid them like the plague.

wullie

12-04-2023, 01:54 PM

Nearly every interaction seems likely to backfire. You do something as innocuous as congratulate someone on playing well and they shout WE HAVE DIFFERING OPINIONS ON PLAYING WELL DAD IM GOING TO MY ROOM and their form dives off a cliff for the rest of the season. That one where you're to gee up a team ahead of a big game is an instant skip.

Yevrah

12-04-2023, 01:55 PM

Yeah, I've always skipped the one before a big match. Well, at least since I used it and it fucking sucked.

Yevrah

12-04-2023, 03:15 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2026/27 - New Job Time

So, after the disaster in Ireland I holidayed for a bit and after unsuccessful interviews at 3 Championship clubs an opportunity with Istra 1961, in the Croatian 2nd Division, arrived.

https://i.postimg.cc/43VqMc4j/Istra-1961.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Having just been relegated we're huge favourites, but nearly all of the first team squad want to leave. What could possibly go wrong...

wullie

12-04-2023, 03:16 PM

The bookies really don't fancy anyone to win it, blimey

Jimmy Floyd

12-04-2023, 09:39 PM

1/90 and then 12/5, that bookie must have queues going out the door.

Mike

12-04-2023, 10:28 PM

Yevrah

12-04-2023, 11:53 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2026/27 - Istra 1961 Mid-Season Update

Wouldn't say we're quite performing at odds of 1/91, but this league is absolute bilge and we're well set as we head into the Winter break to make an immediate return to top flight football:

https://i.postimg.cc/X7wbb5YK/Croatia.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

The dropped points have mostly come on international breaks, which in the Croatian second tier, aren't breaks and half our first team is missing as a result.

What has been top class though is our performance in the cup:

https://i.postimg.cc/t4SmQRWt/Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/TKbcn6kp)

The first round was pretty routine against some non-league shite, we then knocked out Hajduk Split (which was less impressive when I realised they were somehow bottom of the top flight), but the win against Dinamo Zagreb is comfortably the best single game in my 155 game managerial career.

The draw isn't made until the middle of Feb for some reason, but it'll be one of the three sides highlighted below that we'll face.

https://i.postimg.cc/tJ4xjbhW/Croatia.jpg (https://postimages.org/)[/url]

Osijek will probably be a step too far, but I'd fancy my chances against the other two sides, particularly at home.

A couple of other things to note:

My board have been selling players out from under me, which this time is very much welcomed as the cuts haven't been too deep and it's given us a decent WARCHEST for the transfer window. The other is this guy:

[url=https://postimg.cc/XrvbvsxH]https://i.postimg.cc/rw1FQb4k/Delic.jpg (https://suwalls.com/games/gum-jet-set-radio)

An Istra youth product and was sat in the under 19s when I joined. He has 5 star potential (which might not mean that much at this level), has played for the Croatian under 20s already and perhaps most importantly of all has absolutely ripped it up when I've played him, which would have been more if this league didn't have a bizarre rule about not playing players under 17.

Yevrah

13-04-2023, 01:51 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2026/27 - Istra 1961 End of Season Update

January Window

With some players (that were miserable and whinging anyway) sold on, I had a fair few quid to spend (by Croatian tier 2 standards anyway) in the window and we brought in the following:

https://i.postimg.cc/nczVyQsT/Perisan.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Dm9Ks0Pb)

With my first choice keeper sold for his minimum fee release clause we needed another one and Perisan seemed to fit the bill. Potential bargain too at a mere £50k from Angers.

https://i.postimg.cc/pXz9GF37/Sztylka.jpg (https://postimg.cc/F7Fs17rg)

£71k from LKS Lodz, another bargain in the offing.

https://i.postimg.cc/xT5Q1jm8/Kalman.jpg (https://postimg.cc/WhdC9vXc)

£375k from a team in the Slovakian 2nd tier with a very hard name to spell, so I shan't even try.

https://i.postimg.cc/3JvGs60t/Kingstrom.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ppPy8sZj)

£600k from Kalmar, Kingstrom became my record signing so far on the save. My board hated the fee but didn't try and block it so for once at least when it comes to transfers, I win. Or at least I will if he's any good.

The League

So with first season in Croatia having drawn to a close we ran away with the league title in the end, securing it and promotion back to the first tier with 7 games to go.

https://i.postimg.cc/c1XZs4wH/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Not much to say on this other than the rest of the teams were dreadful.

The Cup

Having reached the semi-finals before Christmas we had a long wait to see who we'd draw and we hit the jackpot, in both avoiding Osijek and getting a home tie.

https://i.postimg.cc/rzX96LVL/Cup-Semi.jpg (https://postimg.cc/301GpV0L)

We played brilliantly and the 2-1 scoreline probably flattered them a bit. So with the league wrapped up it all came down to the final of the cup against Osijek to see if I could win my biggest trophy to date.

https://i.postimg.cc/sgBZYLsY/Cup-Final.jpg (https://postimg.cc/QF3ts0BC)

:chief:

They rallied a bit towards the end which had me somewhat nervous, but being as objective as I can we were the better team and boy, that Bosko Delic kid is something special. An amazing end to a thoroughly satisfying season, with the icing on the cake being I've finally achieved a 3 star reputation and the cherry being Europe:

https://i.postimg.cc/Qt6XnXqH/Europe.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

I have to stay now, right?

Adramelch

13-04-2023, 02:15 PM

Povazska Bystrica 2023/24 Season

I've just finished my first full season at the team with the unpronouncable name. To set the stage, we had a lot of loanees and expiring contracts at the end of last season, so that left me with a big rebuilding job ahead of me. Seeing as the club doesn't quite have the scouting resources to go out and get the best of players, most of our signings were, let's say, an educated guess. On that basis, no fewer than 12 people joined the club, with 5 of them going straight into the first XI and another 3-4 being key squad players. The board expected us to finish in the top-half, which based on last season's performance was more than reasonable, while the media expected us to finish 10th out of 16 teams. With our wage budget being the 7th highest in the league, it all pointed towards a top-half finish indeed. But that wasn't the case.

https://i.gyazo.com/b7bd32af00cefa3846eff399663c7788.png

Let me start by saying that we were the best team in the league, so our promotion is more than deserved. And we did play good. But we were also fortunate that everyone else around us was just mediocre at best. Dubnica were ahead of us for most of the season, but they ran out of steam towards the end with just 6 points out of their last 7 games. We finished the season with the best attack and defence, with 49 goals scored and 22 conceded.

https://i.gyazo.com/044943518791bbbdc10edec7931916cd.png

Looking at our first eleven, undoubtedly the stand-out player was Kucharchik. I can't even recall the last time I had a central defender with that high an average rating without it being down to several goals/assists from set-pieces. He was just a beast defensively and honestly single-handedly carried our defence. Sadly, many first division club put in offers for him at the start of the season and after I rejected them, he (deservedly, mind you) threw a fit, resulting in him opting to run his contract down, so he won't be with us next season. The other player I want to mention is Vosko, who joined to be our backup striker, but grabbed the opportunity to shine when our main striker picked up a 3 month injury in just the third game of the season. He was quite consistent and won us quite a few games on his own.

With all that said, I had planned to leave the club at the end of the season, but with us getting promoted and the board offering me a relatively hefty wage budget, I opted to stay for one more year. I don't think the squad is anywhere near good enough to stay up, especially with our two best players leaving. But I do have a decent bit of money to rebuild, so I will take my shot and see where it takes me.

Adramelch

13-04-2023, 02:29 PM

I have to stay now, right?

I would still apply to any proper opportunities, but ye, bar something big coming your way, I'd say you stay until the winter at least.

Jimmy Floyd

13-04-2023, 02:31 PM

Presumably you get a rep boost if you win a few European games.

Adramelch

13-04-2023, 02:37 PM

Like a decade back or so I did ran a Journeyman game where I tracked the changes in my reputation via the editor and even just participating in European games gave your rep a boost. It's been a while since then but I'd expect that to still be the same. It does depend on what your reputation is already though I would imagine and at 3 stars you might indeed have to win the games.

Baz

13-04-2023, 02:48 PM

No idea how you fly through seasons, Yev. Mike, The Reid and I played for around 3.5 hours last night and progressed approximately 2 weeks in game.

Adramelch

13-04-2023, 02:54 PM

Adramelch

13-04-2023, 03:56 PM

Something I don't think I have ever come across before: We have a hefty wage budget, but the board won't allow me to shift any of it towards transfer fees. Which is all good and well, but they won't even let me cover signing bonuses of like 1k euros, meaning we're locked out of great players. Quite annoying I must say.

Baz

13-04-2023, 07:41 PM

I would assume multiplayer is inherently a lot slower and summer transfer windows are also quite slow. I've gone through 2 seasons in 12 hours of gametime, though I did have a tactic created in an old save so I didn't spend any time fiddling around with that.

Yeah, we do seem to be especially slow.

Mike and Reidy are trying to sell players, with the latter hoping to raise enough money to buy Harry Kane. He’s so far sold nobody.

I even did all my stuff while I was meant to be working, to save time in the evening when they came round (sorted my back room staff and scouting jobs) but still took forever to progress. I’m kind of glad though, I’d rather we took our time and set everything up right so we hopefully get way into it, like some of our old saves.

I think a side game of whose centre half can score the most goals will keep me most interested, with corners still being a total joke.

Dark Soldier

13-04-2023, 07:47 PM

Adramelch

13-04-2023, 08:11 PM

There's a streamer I watch and he takes about 7 or 8 hours just to advance the first day in a new save. He does load every single player in the game though and spends fucking forever finding targets.

Which I find oddly enthralling.

I do that a lot later into saves. Going through tens and hundreds of clubs and checking player by player.

Yevrah

13-04-2023, 08:28 PM

Cheers for the input lads, I've decided to stay with Istra for at least one more season. The chance of guaranteed European football for the first time was too much to turn down.

Adramelch

14-04-2023, 10:51 AM

Povazska Bystrica 2024/25 Season

Powered through another season in Slovakia. Having been promoted to the top division, our task would be massive. We had to try and survive the drop, with a squad that was massively below the standard of the league. This was made even worse by the fact that we had no transfer budget whatsoever, to the point that we weren't even able to go through with some high profile free transfers, courtesy of not being able to afford the sign-on bonuses. All that said, the league format is quite forgiving. Firstly, after the 22 games of the regular season, the league is split into two groups, a championship and a relegation one. That meant that even if we took our sweet time to get going, we would have enough time to turn things around in the last 10 games, against more reasonable opposition. Even then, only the last spot would lead to automatic relegation, while the one above that would lead to a relegation playoff against the runner-up of the second division. So I was cautiously optimistic.

Much like the season before, we had to go through a massive overhaul, as when the summer transfer window started the squad had a total of 12 players, with no strikers nor goalkeepers. We signed no fewer than 14 players, with 6 of them going straight into the first eleven. I would go through individual screenshots of the key signings, but the level of the league (or rather that outside the top 3-4 teams) is so low, that I don't think there's much point in that. So, how did all that go I hear you wonder?

https://i.gyazo.com/e02a7e036a47a4c119f0ff7b7089d1d9.png

In the end it wasn't that hard. We did struggle in the first few months, as we only managed our first win 9 games into the season, and we had only amassed 10 points after 14 games. I wasn't extremely worried as we weren't the only ones, and even at that point, we were outside the relegation zone, but still, we needed to start getting more results if we wanted to survive. And that's exactly what happened. We gained 13 points from the remaining 8 games of the regular season and went into the relegation group with a rather commanding lead over the bottom two teams. There we gained 14 points out of a possible 30, which, while a bit disappointing all-in-all, was more than enough to keep us safe. For the first season under my tenure, we also entered the Cup, where we beat two amateur teams, before losing 0-3 at home, to a team that had just gotten promoted to the second division. Embarrassing, but oh well, it's not like we would be going much further anyway.

https://i.gyazo.com/7b2a40154983d79269a15dfb5eafc10e.png

As you see, not much to write home about. Murko was our only actual scorer and even he was very hit and miss. Jerolimov was actually our marquee signing and he ended up being the best player in the squad, so no surprises there. As a whole, our defence was fairly impressive given the large gulf in class in the league, with 37 goals conceded in 32 games. The same can't be said about our attack though, as we only mustered a total of 28 goals.

I could stay on for another season, but our finances are horrendous and I don't see us doing any better any time soon. But that would make for a miserable and boring experience, and something I don't think would have much of an impact on my reputation, so I've decided to move on. Where will I find myself, I don't know, but I am thinking what makes the most sense is to either stay at Slovakia, move to a neighbouring country (say Austria or Czech Republic), or maybe Greece if an appropriate position becomes available. In any case, I think I'm quite content with what I've achieved here and I most definitely think it's time for me to move somewhere else.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 11:57 AM

Baz

14-04-2023, 12:10 PM

get Salah back to Basel :drool:

Adramelch

14-04-2023, 12:19 PM

Mid-season update to come, but I think I've made it, clubs are actively coming in for me now. Hull City (bottom of the Championship, told them to do one) and now Basel, which I thought was appealing until I realised that they aren't what they once were.

Those are a career maker in my opinion. They have good facilities and the likes, a still (I assume) reasonable reputation to attract good talent, relatively easy access to European football, yet the expectations are somewhat tempered. That said, they are typically a 3-4 season long project, so you'd have to be up for that kind of commitment.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 12:21 PM

I turned them down too. :eyemouth:

Although it may make more sense when you see the update.

wullie

14-04-2023, 12:30 PM

One of my favourite teams on an old journeyman game was a relegated Montpelier, together we rode a wave of euphoria back to the lower top half of the table before I then fucked off to Everton. Had a soft spot for them ever since even though it was a very brief spell.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 12:51 PM

Why would the option to apply for an available job be greyed out? The club in question has a caretaker, but the job is available according to the Job Security screen.

Adramelch

14-04-2023, 01:08 PM

Maybe they've already agreed with someone? Or finished with the interview process.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 03:01 PM

Yeah, that might well be it. Someone who'll join at the end of the season perhaps.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 03:42 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2027/28 - Istra 1961 Mid-Season Update

I fucking love this club.

Summer Transfers

We needed to get business done early as at the beginning of July we were straight into the Croatian Charity Shied, the league and European qualifiers, so we did with four players arriving for a combined £1.4m on 1st July.

https://i.postimg.cc/YSYTJcTf/Gaye.jpg (https://postimg.cc/yJ6fZG1k)

Another one in from Angers, this time on a Bosman. Only really expected him to be a backup/sub and that's how things have turned out so far.

https://i.postimg.cc/TY1FT5ZP/Amaral.jpg (https://postimg.cc/qzfjLqBf)[/url]

£200k from UD Oliveirense. One who looks like he'll be an absolute beast in the future but also good enough to compete for my spot at right back now.

https://i.postimg.cc/9MSTTSFK/Herrero.jpg (https://banks-nearme.com/atm-near-me)

Overpaid for this one but I was sort of forced as we needed a striker and he was the best I could get. £875k from Atletico Malagueno.

https://i.postimg.cc/CKcj6xSf/Bull.jpg (https://postimg.cc/bG2DZ8Gz)

And saving the best until last... £350k from Hamilton, the budget Paul Scholes who looks like he could well end up being as good as the England Man. That finishing combined with that off the ball, combined with that trait is just ridiculous at this level.

Charity Shield

I didn't realise Croatia did one of these so it was a pleasant surprise to see our first game of the season presented an opportunity to win another trophy. Sadly we lost 2-1 to Dinamo Zagreb with the scoreline flattering us.

Europe

A massive disappointment this.

[url=https://postimg.cc/p59X6JDP]https://i.postimg.cc/Rhd6qPhJ/Europe.jpg (https://banks-nearme.com/bellco-near-me)

We gave Sparta Prague a really good game and while I was disappointed to lose on pens I then set my sights on Conference League football as we dropped into the qualifying for that. Any notion of that was quickly disabused however when I saw the list of teams that we could face in the draw and we ended up getting Sporting Lisbon (I mean, how the fuck are they in this?) and we were soundly beaten.

The Cup

https://i.postimg.cc/B6VZzdjg/The-Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/dkGKkNmk)

This is rapidly becoming my favourite cup competition ever. After winning it last year we haven't had to face a single side from the top tier in Croatia to get to the last 4 this, with my 2nd string getting some decent minutes against absolute goat herders.

Dinamo Zagreb are the only team left in at the semi-final stage that I wouldn't have us as favourites to beat, but as last year I need to wait until February for the draw.

The League

And this is where it gets really interesting, as I'm in contention for what I think might be one of my greatest achievements ever on CM/FM. We started slowly with two laboured draws, but the wins then came and didn't really stop, with us seemingly getting stronger and stronger as the season went on.

https://i.postimg.cc/Nj66wx7T/League-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/5XtYBLrN)

Bull and Delic (more on him later) have been sensational and the win against Zagreb in the final game before the break was absolutely huge and moved us 5 points clear at the top.

https://i.postimg.cc/k4vMJBYT/Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

It's as I type this that I realise going out of Europe was a blessing in disguise as we're basically only playing one game a week and barring injuries everyone is always in top condition when we go into these games. Zagreb meanwhile are embroiled in a Europa League charge, sitting 7th after 6 games. Their last two are away at decent sides so I'm praying they drop into the playoff spots and drop more points in the league as a result, but the win against them really made me believe we could just do this. There is however, one potential problem beyond Dinamo Zagreb that may stop that happening.

Bosko Delic

I've now seen enough and this kid is seriously legit. Stepped up to Croatian top flight football with no problems at all and is only getting better as the season goes on, he's playing and scoring for Croatia, is courted by a load of clubs and now wants to leave. Balls.

https://i.postimg.cc/JhbHX7dk/Delic.jpg (https://postimg.cc/KK8YSbbG)

If I can somehow hold onto him through the winter window then I make us favourites for the league. If we can't then I'm not sure, he really is that good.

Me

At some point during our ascent to the top of the table my rep ticked up. Not enough to shift the stars but it moved from 55% to 60% and that seemed to open the floodgates from offers. Hull, Basel and St. Gallen have all been turned down. In hindsight I may have been a bit hasty with the last two as I probably should have set something up for the end of the season, but I didn't consider that at the time. Another interesting angle is that for this season Croatia gets one team straight into the Champions League Group stage, which may be enough to keep both me and Bosko at the club for one more year. Either way and after many seasons of toil and failed jobs, things are finally looking excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkHOVJINRD8

Baz

14-04-2023, 04:02 PM

Looking forward to the sea of red results in next years Champions League.

You better get 50% sell on fee for Bosko.

Adramelch

14-04-2023, 04:06 PM

Bull also looks ridiculous for that level and age.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 04:07 PM

I suppose I should in respect to Istra, but I definitely won't be there long enough to benefit from it. The one I really want the most is a loan back clause.

He's just bitten the bullet and asked to leave - I've agreed he can go for £8.75m. Whether I honour that is another story, but I suspect for that sort of money (it would pay the entire club's wage bill for over three years) my board won't give me a choice in the matter.

So gutting if he does go now, just six more months and we can win the league together. It is his boyhood club and all.

Yevrah

14-04-2023, 04:11 PM

Bull also looks ridiculous for that level and age.

He's so fucking good. Scored 11 goals in 20 games so far this season.

Dan

14-04-2023, 05:51 PM

Ventspils & Latvia 2030 Update

It still feels like we've got a bit of work to do to overhaul the big two, so I'm expecting more of the same again next season, but hopefully we can get a nicer draw in Europe & make the third round. Luckily Riga & RFS are both in the ECL league phase & have picked up a few points, so we should hold our spot in the qualifying places table, and maybe we'll even sneak up a few spots if they pull off a few more results.

It turns out I was wrong about our chances of catching up to the big two, as we managed to secure our best ever finish (https://imgur.com/oYupgqB) this season, passing Riga for second place & somehow only missing out on the title through goal difference. It sounds great, but the reality is less encouraging. We did manage to be more consistent this year, and actually beat champions RFS three times out of our four league meetings, but they were always at least three points ahead until we played them on the final day, and thanks to the FM big team cheatbot kicking in when they played the shit teams (including a 10-0 win where they got four penalties, which is how many we had all season) we would have had to have beaten them 16-0 on the final day to have won the title.

Riga, meanwhile, randomly decided to fall off a cliff this season, losing nine times when they most they'd lost in a season before that was six games. I'm expecting them to get their shit together next season & maybe if we're lucky we'll be able to keep pace with them both.

I also have to mention the Latvian Cup for the first time in a few seasons, as stuff actually happened this year. Normally we just win our first game & get knocked out in the quarter finals, but this season we actually made it all the way to the final. Unfortunately, we had to play RFS.

https://i.imgur.com/8I1bU7k.png

:cry:

We had the best of the game & should've won in normal time, but as soon as it went to penalties there was only ever going to be one winner.

Lastly, Europe, where we rounded out our best season ever by making it all the way to the fourth qualifying round (https://imgur.com/QvzfAkB), and even more surprisingly didn't even get smashed by Fenerbahce. That run made us about £1.8m, which is obviously huge. I think we're still a bit off having a realistic shot of making a league phase, but on the bright side we did have the others pull their weight, with Riga in the Europa League (where they're getting beat every week), and RFS in the Conference League (where they're running wild). It looks like we're going to move up to about 24th in the coefficients for next season, and we should be able to continue to creep towards the group above over the next couple of seasons, so things are still slowly moving forward.

We had a pretty successful campaign in WC2030 qualifying, finishing third in our group (https://imgur.com/A4iB9Xu) & getting double digit points. We pushed both Serbia & Croatia close at home as well, so I'd say this was our best year so far with the national side. We could still use some pace in defence, and probably a couple more central midfielders, but hopefully we'll be able to build on this year & stay competitive through the Nations League.

Things are slowly moving forward with the national team too, as we put together a good Nations League campaign, finishing second in our group (https://imgur.com/N0NuKfo) behind a Scotland side that were obviously way better than everyone else. We've also broken the top 100 in the FIFA rankings for the first time, and currently sit 96th having been about 125th when I took over. We've also started to be able to nationalise the Brazilians I've been signing at Ventspils, with the first three - Rodrigo, Rodrigues & Mendes - now all Latvian internationals, and we should be able to get some more through the door next year too.

In sad news, however, I think we've probably seen the last of record goalscorer (https://imgur.com/b2ArOGI) Roberts Uldrikis (https://imgur.com/3ygCGSW). He's 33, doesn't play much since he moved to Almeria & has started thinking about life after football, so with no shortage of options up front I'm planning on moving on from him next year. Hopefully he'll join our staff at some point in the future though.

We've had our draw for Euro 2032 qualifying (https://imgur.com/evrmwCU), and it actually seems like we could have an outside shot at making the tournament. Croatia are clearly going to win the group, but I feel like we can probably compete with Belarus & Georgia, assuming Kvaratskhelia doesn't just destroy us on his own.

Adramelch

14-04-2023, 06:28 PM

I joined a new club on a one-season contract and they've offered me a new one 2 months into the season. I think that's the first time I've seen it happen that early.

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 12:22 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2027/28 - Istra 1961 - The (not quite) end of season update

The Bosko Delic Situation

Last update was that the absolute legend wanted to leave as soon as we hit the January window. Hoffenheim then came in with a bid for him, which I can't be sure of the exact composition of (as my dickhead chairman just accepted it), but it was somewhere in the region of £10m. I then moaned to the chairman and he un-accepted it. This pissed Bosko off as he felt I'd broken his agreement to sell him if a bid of £8.75m or more came in, when in reality I'd not even spoken to Hoffenheim.

Fearing I was fighting a losing battle I decided to take matters into my own hands and offer him out to clubs with a loan back clause for the rest of the season and a non-negotiable one at that. £20m + that clause and we had no takers, the same with £15m. I then tried £10m and Chelsea came in and they also agreed to the loan back clause. Great, I thought, this is now done and I get to keep him (of sorts) until June. Two days pass and Bosko hasn't wrapped up the terms with Chelsea yet, but enter from stage left my dickhead chairman who decides to enter into an agreement to sell the club and while the negotiations are ongoing all active but uncompleted transfers and cancelled.

At first thought this was great news as Bosko now can't leave, but in reality it wasn't as I have an unhappy player (my best player) on my hands that is stuck in limbo and still pissed at me for breaking a promise. There's also 3/4 weeks of the window left and if this takeover is wrapped up or fails by then I might be back to the Hoffenheim situation and the risk again of losing him now.

As it turned out the takeover failed with about a week of the window left and with Bosko's value set at £10m (by me from the failed Chelsea deal) I decided to remove that and set it back to automatic before deciding what to do next. You can imagine my surprise when his value then defaulted to £37m-£53m and stayed like this for the rest of the window, completely deterring anyone from making another bid. Window closes, Bosko is still here.

Fast forward to a bit later in the season and our qualification for the Europa Conference League via our league position is secured and he announces that he no longer wants to leave as a result. What a kerfuffle.

His form's not been as good as it was before all this shit kicked off, but at least I've kept him and with no deal done to date I'm also in the frame to sign him at whatever club I go to next - his value is now down to a more sensible £10m-£16m, despite being named in that xG top 50 youngsters thing, at number 39. But I'm definitely leaving at the end of the season after all of this, I need to be at a club that isn't so small time.

The Cup

I'll keep this brief but we drew Dinamo Zagreb in the semi's at home but they beat us quite comfortably, which was annoying. Shit or bust with the league now....

The League

...which has been a struggle. We're still winning a fair few games but nowhere near as much as before Christmas and Dinamo Zagreb have been relentless since exiting the Europa League.

https://i.postimg.cc/zGH45M3v/League-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Wdj5w5Gc)

The loss against them in March hit hard, we battered them all game but no matter what I tried we just could not score. The dropped points against Varazdin were enough for Dinamo to take top spot in the league and I feared at that point it was all over as for the first time this season it was out of my hands. However, Zagreb have just lost in their last game to Rijeka and the table looks like this with three games to go:

https://i.postimg.cc/x1WZxRfm/Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Our run in (fixtures above) is a bit shit, but we have the better head to head against Zagreb and as that's the first league separator used, two wins and a draw from those three matches will guarantee the title. Squeaky bum time.

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 12:53 PM

Hold me.

https://i.postimg.cc/HxMN5vfn/Game-1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/bDzLfgYf)

https://i.postimg.cc/L5LhcSGS/Game-2.jpg (https://postimg.cc/gLcYhCYt)

One win or two draws from the last two games and the title is ours. Osijek up next at home (with no Bosko as he's suspended for getting six yellow cards), then Rijeka away.

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 01:17 PM

https://i.postimg.cc/d04Y0Vz6/game-3.jpg (https://postimg.cc/8FJ3KNkf)

:jayjay:

I genuinely punched the air when Kalmar rocketed the second in from 25 yards.

Adramelch

15-04-2023, 01:54 PM

Just a casual promotion into title win. Child's play. :D

Baz

15-04-2023, 02:24 PM

How many goals from corners?

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 02:27 PM

How many goals from corners?

Just the one. I don't have any particularly tall players.

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 02:36 PM

I may have ballsed up in not trying to set a job up with Basel or St. Gallen at the end of the season. I'm now in June and of all the available jobs that are around my rep there is only one I'm interested in, which I may well not get anyway.

I was expecting a rep boost if we won the Croatian title, but having done so nothing happened and given Croatia is the 11th highest ranked league in the game there aren't that many leagues to go to now that represent even a sideways step, let alone a forward one.

Nothing interesting available now in any of Switzerland, Ukraine, Holland, Turkey, Greece, Portugal and whatever else I'm forgetting about.

I may well be stuck here for another season.

Adramelch

15-04-2023, 02:36 PM

Levadeiakos 2025/26 Season

So after deciding to leave Slovakia, I had a few options available to me, mostly coming from my home country and I thought that was a reasonable next step. The best opportunity that came my way was that of Levadiakos. A perennial yo-yo club between the top two tiers, they have just found themselves relegated to the second tier. It felt like a pretty safe bet really, as it is an established club, with the appropriate infrastructure in place to allow me to bring them some success and grow my career. After a first look at the squad, I found some really good players but also positions where the quality just wasn't there. Starting from the players already at the club, two immediately stood out:

https://i.gyazo.com/e9437e7e0584167d2fc1f250918ebf3c.png

Tsapras has been at the club since he was 16 and comes with a lot of experience in both the top league and the league we would be playing in. Him being Greek is also quite massive. On the other hand, he was already unhappy at the club getting relegated and wanted to leave.

https://i.gyazo.com/f66bf31a02f757bca2240aa3ef127dac.png

I'll admit, while quite solid, Doumbouya is not quite all that, but I thought he deserved to be here based on how he performed this season, so here you go.

As is tradition in my career by now, there was a significant overhaul of the squad, with 12 players joining us in the summer. I also tried to offload a handful I didn't need but to no avail. Among those who joined us, the following 3 were undoubtedly the star signings:

https://i.gyazo.com/e57928c979c15b336d5b677ad8c7f7ca.png

Midfield was by far the weakest part of the squad and I was elated that I found a Greek player that looks like he might well be of Superleague standard should we eventually manage to get promoted. Comes with tons of Superleague 2 experience, as well as one season of top flight football under his belt.

https://i.gyazo.com/26b27ac6caa8b7c3e99ef94711015643.png

Our sort of "marquee" signing if you will, Azaz joined to also fill the midfield void. He hasn't had the best of careers mostly playing for League One and League Two clubs, but he looked like he would be a level above the rest of the league so it was no-brainer.

https://i.gyazo.com/ce01161377f0a910a007ece0e91c1cf6.png

Another great Greek player that came to play on the left wing, where our alternatives were subpar at best. He's had 3 consecutive seasons of top flight football, which helped him develop into a well-rounded winger (apart form his finishing, but oh well).

So with all the transfer business done, let's get on with the action. Superleague 2 is a 20-team league with two automatic promotion spots. As is somewhat common with smaller nations, it has a few of the big club reserve teams in it, but, seeing as they can't actually get promoted, our task really is to be the best of the rest. The board actually didn't even expect us to get promoted and they would be content with a top-3 finish, but obviously that just wouldn't do it for me. And even though we had a shaky start, we made it to the top 2 after just 8 games, and then occupied the top spot from the 12th game until the end of the season.

https://i.gyazo.com/25430b1931e70c5620f9317be17fadff.png

In the end we got promoted with 4 games to spare, and 2 games later we also won the championship. We were by far the best team in the league, only let down by how easily we conceded. Or well, we actually had the second best defensive record in the league, but we conceded 8 goals more than the all-accurate xG metric, which felt a bit annoying at times. We did it make up for it by scoring 15 goals more than we were statistically expected to and you'll soon see why. In other news, we had an ok run in the cup, as we made it to the last 16 where we were drawn against Olympiakos. We actually won the home game and were just 4 minutes away from going through at their place, but they grabbed a late goal to sent the tie to extra time, which was eventually just too much for us and we were eliminated. Nevertheless, a massive set of performances and nobody can actually be disappointed.

https://i.gyazo.com/4f2698e083e97f08a67bfd33234ddcc4.png

I said you'd see why we overperformed our xG and here it is. 44 goals by Doumbouya, with 40 of them coming in the league. What an absolute beast. He wasn't the most consistent player, but when he was good, he was bloody amazing. The downside of that being that we somewhat struggled when he didn't have a good game, but what can you do. The other outstanding performer was Pilios who was the creative genius behind Doumbouya. Between them the broke the league\s scoring and assist records. Just incredible.

And with that said, the coming summer is bound to be interesting. Given how dominant we were in the league and how well we held our own against Olympiakos in the cup, I'm more than confident that we have what it takes to survive in the top tier even with the current squad. But I'm of course not going to settle on that. Our wage budget has almost been doubled going into the new season so I'm expecting quite a few additions, to replace some of the players that won't be seeing their contracts renewed. All in all, a great first season that just makes me excited about what comes next.

Manc

15-04-2023, 09:19 PM

2039 with Ajax and I've led them to a long awaited fifth European Cup, beating Barca, City & Madrid en route. Two seasons ago we were playing the likes of VVV Venlo & NAC Breda in the KKD. Has to go down as one of my greatest ever FM feats. Now to build a dynasty.

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 09:21 PM

I'd love to manage Ajax on this save and bring them some European silverware.

Gray Fox

15-04-2023, 09:28 PM

Adramelch

15-04-2023, 10:15 PM

The problem I've always found with those type of saves, is how you cope plugging away with those years where you have the league wrapped up before it starts, yet aren't yet capable of a deep CL run.

It's definitely sort of a struggle. I don't do them often (I typically do either a Jman save or take a small team in a big nation and go for a long-term save), but when I do I just tend to set side-goals for myself. Usually youngster/academy related goals.

Luke Emia

15-04-2023, 10:15 PM

I started a game unemployed but with a decent reputation and after 18 months I’ve pitched up at Lyon.

I have to say though the AI does an impressively shit job of signing players. A 31 year old Lucas Moura on 80k a week for 3 years was not what I was hoping for.

igor_balis

15-04-2023, 10:20 PM

Adramelch

15-04-2023, 10:52 PM

Adramelch Doumbouya! he was my lucky charm at livorno on fm22, just about good enough for the Italian fifth tier, but ended up hanging on to him for serie D and even serie C for a bit cus he had a good knack for getting late goals off the bench. good lad

He's still holding his own in the top tier. Nowhere near last season's numbers of course, but more than 1 in 2, which is all I can ask for really.

Yevrah

15-04-2023, 11:49 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2028/29 - New Job Time

With the season having drawn to a close I was keen to see what options we had. From the available jobs it was clear we've reached the stage where only 3 star clubs are now of interest, but not sure we have enough rep to get a gig at a 3.5 star one. As it happens I didn't get to find out as the available jobs were almost non existent after a month of continuing the game through June, which left this lot as the choices:

Istra 1961 - With a month left on my contract the board had been offering me a new one almost every week, which up to now I'd been routinely rejecting, but there was a time when staying on to play in the Champions League did appeal. By this point though I was rejecting bids left, right and centre for my players and despite automatically qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League we only had a transfer budget of £800k, and the thought of fending off clubs through two more windows with my idiot chairman and his scattergun approach to accepting bids was too much. It'll be a sad to leave, but that is what shall happen.

Dynamo Moscow - I didn't ever actually apply for this job but as a 3 star rep club I fancied getting it had I done. After looking at the state of play in Russia it was clear there were three teams all better than Dynamo Moscow (with Zenit being miles better), so I ruled this one out on the basis of not wanting to be stuck in a league for a few years before I could realistically win a trophy that didn't even include European football in the ride.

Blackburn - Relegated from the PL the season before last, IIRC they did interview me at the time but decided against hiring me. 12 months (and an idiot who got the job delivering an 11th place finish) on they were gagging for some Yev Binman action and as the season drew to a close I was bang up for it. Interview done they then came in with a decent offer accompanied with a £101m transfer budget and a £1.3m wage budget (with £400k p/w spare). Now this on face value sounds like amazing fun, spending all that money on the players I've added to my shortlist over the years that up to now I could neither afford nor attract or both is the stuff of :alan:

But as I was doing some last minute due diligence it dawned on me that there were some problems with this:

Firstly, no European football. I really want to experience that properly and ASAP. The failed qualifying round attempts with Istra clearly don't count so as far as I'm concerned that's a hole in the CV.

Secondly, managing in the Premier League with a newly promoted team sucks arse (had I been promoted, which let's face it would have been quite hard not to achieve in one season with their squad and that budget). I just find it quite tedious unless I'm doing a long term project, which in a journeyman save this job is never going to be.

Thirdly (or secondly b), if things in the Premier League did go well I'd be an established Premier League manager, which would realistically bypass jobs in a load of the leagues that I'd still like to manage in.

Fourthly, I kinda want to avoid the Premier League until I can get a job with a big club there. Joining the British Managers Lunch Club doesn't appeal, but nailing it across Europe and coming 'home' definitely does.

Fithly, that leaves the option of a one and done season. I'd almost settled on going for this but then it dawned on me that if I did that I'd be locking a whole host of talent on my shortlist into contracts with a Premier League club that I was now no longer managing.

That all might sound a bit mental, but for a combination of those reasons, I rejected the offer and instead went with....

https://i.postimg.cc/QdXF7znM/FCSB.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Just ticked all the boxes. For those that don't know this club is basically Steaua Bucharest, renamed due to a dispute. Except it isn't as due to the dispute there's now another Steaua Bucharest team who got to keep all of the history of the old club (the European Cup win and the million league titles), so I don't really know what this club is. But, I don't care, as all I can see is an excellent opportunity to win some more trophies and maybe even some European action.

https://i.postimg.cc/RVCmLz92/FCSB2.jpg (https://postimg.cc/14dby28K)

£8.2m transfer budget and £25k p/w spare on the £140k p/w wage budget. We enter the Europa League at the 2nd qualifying round stage. Desperate to at least make the Conference League group stage.

Adramelch

15-04-2023, 11:59 PM

I might or might not also be heading to Romania at the end of the current season. At Rapid Bucharest. :poke:

Yevrah

16-04-2023, 12:11 AM

Yevrah

16-04-2023, 12:15 AM

Oh and they have that thing where "All African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States nations" count as EU, so despite there being a limit of four non-EU players that's no problem whatsoever.

Despite having a Nigerian and a Ghanaian in my squad I think the only player I have that counts as non-EU is a Serb.

Yevrah

16-04-2023, 12:17 AM

https://i.postimg.cc/nL1M0fM5/Compagno.jpg (https://postimg.cc/f3JwRFcj)

This guy, that Mancini called up to the Italy squad in real life, is still here. :cool:

Adramelch

16-04-2023, 12:38 AM

The structure of the competitions is absolute arse (a league that splits with 50% of points retained and a group stage in the cup, which is just the worst), but despite this I am quite excited to get going. Intrigued to see how it goes if you take the Rapid job.

They are bound to have a mid-table finish this season so it's gonna be a challenge for sure. They are actually in the relegation group (which consists of 10 teams, what absolute madness) so if things go really shit, my "transfer" will be cancelled even.

Yevrah

16-04-2023, 12:43 AM

There's a Supercup, which I'm in as we won the FA Cup, but it's held on 1st July. What in the actual fuck?

Adramelch

16-04-2023, 01:18 PM

Levadeiakos 2026/27 Season

After a quite dominating performance in the previous season, we found ourselves in the top division. Most of the times that I've found myself in that position, it was with a club that seemingly didn't belong there (like in my previous job at Slovakia). But this time it was a different. We are a semi-established (for lack of a better word) Superleague club and therefore we had the infrastructure and reputation to have a go at survival. On top of that, with just two clubs going down and the league format leading us to a relegation group, I was quite confident we could survive the drop. The club gave me 70k euros p/w to spend on wages, a notable increase over the 37k we had the season before. In what I could pretend was my plan all along, but in truth was just how things work in those divisions, most of our players were on season-long contracts, so I had the option to keep the players that I wanted, while removing all the dead wood from the squad with no effort. In the end, we had 14 players in the squad and something like 45k p/w of wages left to spend. We signed 10 players with 5 of them going straight into the first XI, and we still were under budget which was nice to see. When the transfer window closed, I was actually quite content with the state of the squad.

The Greek Superleague consists of 14 teams, leading to a regular season of 26 games. After that, the league splits into a 6-team championship group and an 8-team relegation group, with teams playing each other twice. From the get go, it looked like we would be relatively fine. We didn't really set the world alight, but we were significantly ahead of the bottom two teams and in the end of the first round we had amassed a very respectable 18 points from 13 games, sitting at 8th place. The general consensus is that any team that surpasses the 30-point mark is considered safe and we were on track to reach that milestone, before the league even split into the two groups. But then something changed:

https://i.gyazo.com/5e201a04a0436c45d82c12fc47124c7a.png

To save you from doing the math, that's us gathering 31 points out of a possible 39 in the second round. I don't know exactly what happened, but things just clicked and we looked unbeatable. We only lost away to Panathinaikos and Olympiakos and had a draw against PAOK at home, which was already one point more than I would have expected out of those three games. On the back of that incredulous run, we not only ensured our survival, but somehow made it into the championship group. There I generally expected us to struggle, but with Atromitos being a quite massive 10 points behind us and 5 out of the 6 clubs getting European football, I thought our chances were quite good.

https://i.gyazo.com/f6dcafdc94f9cf0db5543226107df6f9.png

That's 17 points out of the 10 games against the elite of Greek football, with only PAOK gathering more than us. Just insane. Mind you all of the points were very hard-fought and for the most part we just had to hang on for dear life towards the end of the games, but I'll take that situation every day of the week. In general I think we showed that not only do we belong in the league, but we can butt heads with the best of them. Our positive goal difference even shows that we just weren't often outclassed as one would expect for a newly-promoted club. In fact we only lost two games by more than 2 goals, a 3-0 loss at AEK where they were actually quite lucky and an inexplicable 5-0 loss at Panathinaikos, when we had already guaranteed 4th place and just seemed to switch our minds off.

We also played in the Cup but once again we only made it to the last 16, going out in a very similar fashion to last year, conceding a late equaliser and ending with an extra time loss, this time at the hands of Asteras Tripolis.

https://i.gyazo.com/eb40cc2b365242be8944d655f284c127.png

This time around it was more of a team effort compared to last season. Doumbouya still held his own, finishing second on the goalscoring charts, but we had a lot of people carrying the torch at different points of the season. I was also quite content that 7 out of the 11 players are home-grown, something that is actually very rare in Greece, since the Superleague only has restrictions for non-EU players, so you're not even forced to have a single home-grown player.

Normally, I would be a bit disappointed that I had already agreed to leave the club, especially seeing as we will be in Europe next season, however it was a well thought-out decision. Even though I stayed within the wage budget and spent no money on transfer fees, the club lost more than 2 million euros this season, and with there not being an end in sight, I just didn't fancy continuing here. As I've already mentioned, I'd already agreed to join Rapid Bucharest at the end of the season. The club was expected to finish 4th (following a 3rd-place finish the season before), but found themselves in the relegation group, after finishing 10th in the regular season. Thankfully, their quality was more than enough to keep them up, as they finished top of the group. And that's where I come in. Could I have waited for a better opportunity to show up? Sure. But you have a club with great potential, lowered expectations, financially stable, in a league that will allow me to advance my career quickly, so what's not to like?

Adramelch

16-04-2023, 06:46 PM

The structure of the competitions is absolute arse (a league that splits with 50% of points retained and a group stage in the cup, which is just the worst), but despite this I am quite excited to get going. Intrigued to see how it goes if you take the Rapid job.

At a first glance it would appear that's not working properly either. I'm in a group where all 6 teams are expected to finish in the top half and there's another group where there's only a singular first division club (who are expected to be in the relegation fight), 3 second division clubs and 2 third division clubs.

Yevrah

16-04-2023, 07:07 PM

I was literally just about to post the exact same thing. :D

My group has 6 of the current top 8 in it.

This country is a complete shambles. I'm at the end of September and I've played 19 competitive games already. :nono:

Jimmy Floyd

16-04-2023, 07:10 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022%E2%80%9323_Cupa_Rom%C3%A2niei

What a format that is. Makes county cricket look sensible.

Dark Soldier

17-04-2023, 09:10 AM

Yevrah I went watching Rapid Bucharest early this year, missus' family live right next to the stadium. They're fuckjng rabid for the game over there despite it not being much better than League One, should be a fun save.

The one you are with is the 'fake' Steaua btw, if you want more info just ask.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 12:21 PM

Cheers DS, it's a ludicrously long season and I suspect SI have got some things wrong with it, but I am enjoying it now. Update to follow shortly.

Adramelch

17-04-2023, 12:46 PM

The formats seem correct, it's only the seeding for the Cup groups (which only got introduced this year in real life) that seems wrong.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 01:32 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2028/29 - FCSB - The (not quite) end of season update

Long season is long was never a more accurate description of events here. We've reached early March and I've already played fifty-three competitive matches and there will be at least another thirteen to go.

Summer Transfers

The squad wasn't bad and possibly had enough about it to win the title without any major moves, but there was hardly anybody who stood out and worse still we had a number of older players who were either homesick or flanging out for various other reasons. As a result, we needed to go shopping.

https://i.postimg.cc/R0fG7w2R/Joksimovic.jpg (https://postimg.cc/v1YWMxYg)

£3m from Red Star Belgrade (or whatever they're calling themselves now). Echoes of my Man Bosko, but unlike Bosko this chap is an arsehole. Constantly falling out with teammates and getting upset with me praising his good performances, both on the pitch and in training, of which there are many.

https://i.postimg.cc/dQTdLqP2/Lopez.jpg (https://postimg.cc/6TtTPxQq)

£775k from Olimpia, this guy has been cracking value.

https://i.postimg.cc/Dw54t0LT/Marton.jpg (https://postimg.cc/QF9M7Xf4)[/url]

£2.5m from Chindia (a title challenging rival in Romania). He's been very solid and also has the added benefit of being Romanian under the hood and therefore meets the criteria of the one u-21 Romanian I have to play in every match.

https://i.postimg.cc/Fz1TJwvf/N-Diaye.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

I felt I needed to be more of a threat on set pieces as almost every job I go for cites my teams as being shit at them. This chap has 5 goals to date, so some improvement.

Armed with these signings and some departures we got straight into the games, which in Romania just do not stop.

The Charity Shield

https://i.postimg.cc/wMdh9Pv8/Supercup.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

We were in complete control of this game at 1-0 and clearly my right back didn't like that as he proceeded to hideously mis-control the ball under no pressure whatsoever, before adopting a two footed lunge at the oncoming opposition player to get it back. Down to 10 men we lost solely as a result of that, which pissed me off. The two footed lunges would become a theme as I watched no less than five of them play out over the first two months in Romania, which was just absurd. I joined the club too late to set the code of conduct so I don't know if this played a part, but fuck me it was ridiculous.

Europe

https://i.postimg.cc/9QJ5ZH5b/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/VJrVPTN0)

We started in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League where we surprisingly (given the calibre of their players) fairly comfortably beat Dnipro. We then played AEK Athens and took a slender lead to Greece after the first leg. We were hanging on, so may have lost anyone, but another one of the aforementioned two footed lunges made sure we didn't and to the Conference League we headed. We drew Dnipro again, which was fairly comfortable for a second time and my first taste of group stage European football was secured.

https://i.postimg.cc/MHvv2m02/European-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/FkX90cnD)

On face value that seemed a bit of a harsh draw, but I remained confident of at least accruing the eight or so points it would take to finish in the top 24 of this 36 team shitfest.

https://i.postimg.cc/MHN0hTQ5/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/0KGJS9ZK)

The win over Toulouse was a brilliant start to the group and probably the most high profile win of my career so far, we followed that up with an expected loss in Holland and an incredibly disappointing 2-1 home defeat against some goat herders that put paid to any hope I had of finishing in the top 8 of this group and easing the fixture congestion. In the end we amassed seven points and finished 19th to secure European knockout round football. Upon taking this job my rep had dropped from 60% to 55%, but I think qualifying for the knockout playoff put it back up again.

The Cup

https://i.postimg.cc/1XhYLsNp/Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/R6dRtrdF)

Domestic cups with a group stage must be the most unnecessary thing in football and this one is no exception. It also comes with the added bonus (as Adra pointed out) of being broken in game - the five teams I faced are all title challengers, leaving the other three groups full of absolute shite. On the plus side, I guess if you qualify (as we did) it takes a lot of the competition out of the equation.

The League and Winter Transfers

I don't have a screenshot of the position in the league at the winter break, but IIRC we were about 4th and struggling for any sort of consistency due to Europe, the never ending cup and a sea of red cards for two footed lunges. Our form had picked up towards the end of the year so I was hopeful we could still win the title, but reinforcements were needed and with some more whinging oldies leaving we had another £8m or so to spend in the window.

https://i.postimg.cc/Nf4bs1H9/Marcucci.jpg (https://postimg.cc/jLDyvnvt)

We needed some more strength at centre back and I finally got to snap this chap up who'd been on my shortlist for ages. A bargain at £350k, he also comes with a second nationality of Italian.

https://i.postimg.cc/bJZNJHrz/Petrovic.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Another winger from Serbia. £2.5m, rising to £3m.

[url=https://postimg.cc/JsBvwn7W]https://i.postimg.cc/2SHDZbP3/Tyunis.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

£2.5m, rising to £3.7m from Istra. Tyunis came in towards the end of my reign in Croatia and I think is the first player I've bought having managed before.

https://i.postimg.cc/9MZKJrNd/Uldrikis.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cg1FJ4WC)

With Campagno homesick I needed another striker and I just couldn't resist going for the massive Latvian.

The League Part 2

With the new signings in, our form from Nov/Dec continued and we managed to claw back to second in the final table of the first stage.

https://i.postimg.cc/L6x9zbPH/League-Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

The league now splits, with the top 6 moving to the Champions section and the bottom 10 moving to some relegation thing. Weirdly and surely this is another SI mistake, you can still qualify for Europe from the relegation section, so it'd almost be better to deliberately tank into that if you think you'll finish no higher than 5th/6th in the championship group - if you finish in those positions there is no opportunity to qualify.

Europe Part 2

Our first taste of knockout football and it's gone very well so far.

https://i.postimg.cc/PxBCmFv3/Europe.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Luzern was close but we were always in control and the win against Vitesse was a cracker. Massive Latvian doing his thing to see us through.

These are the teams left in it:

https://i.postimg.cc/VNmBt5Pr/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Mn3Q26Tq)

Jesus this update was long. TLDR is, we're still in the hunt for three trophies.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 01:36 PM

The formats seem correct, it's only the seeding for the Cup groups (which only got introduced this year in real life) that seems wrong.

Is the European qualifying correct then? Seems batshit if it is.

Adramelch

17-04-2023, 01:37 PM

The league now splits, with the top 6 moving to the Champions section and the bottom 10 moving to some relegation thing. Weirdly and surely this is another SI mistake, you can still qualify for Europe from the relegation section, so it'd almost be better to deliberately tank into that if you think you'll finish no higher than 5th/6th in the championship group - if you finish in those positions there is no opportunity to qualify.

"European play-offs
In the semi-final, the 7th and 8th-placed teams of the Liga I typically play a one-legged match on the ground of the better placed team (7th place). In the final, the winner of the play-out semi-final will play the highest ranked team of the play-off tournament, that did not already qualify for European competitions. The winner of the final will enter the second qualifying round of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League."

Nope, just Romania things.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 01:41 PM

:D That's one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in football.

thommo

17-04-2023, 01:47 PM

It's the same in Wales. League splits after 22 games into a championship and relegation group. 10 more games are played and the top team in the relegation group enters the playoffs for a European spot.

Jimmy Floyd

17-04-2023, 01:48 PM

Qualifying for things from a lower tier has become quite in vogue, see also Asian Cup qualifying and nowadays even Euro qualifying (from the Nations League). It's a great way of getting clubs/nations to vote you back in as President if you're giving everyone a shot at glory no matter how shit they are.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 01:57 PM

https://i.postimg.cc/Nj8D0SPx/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/v4Bfqqy1)

I don't know much about this Portuguese team we face in the quarter-finals, but if they don't knock us out (which I assume they will) we're in with a shot of making (and obviously losing) the final.

Dark Soldier

17-04-2023, 02:02 PM

Mate minimum wage there is about 400 quid a month if you win in Europe you'll be slathering yourself in five quid hookers.

Baz

17-04-2023, 02:15 PM

TTH Meet in Bucharest?

What's that film where Shia LaBeouf goes? Let's do that.

Dark Soldier

17-04-2023, 02:18 PM

Go Cluj. Bucharest is a shithole.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 03:49 PM

https://i.postimg.cc/XvBdGnFR/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/LqRnGKxD)

The five quid hookers are a step closer...

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 04:39 PM

Sadly we lost the 2nd leg at home 4-2 and we bow out of Europe. In better news though a huge turnaround in our 5th game in the Championship Playoff sees us move top for the first time all season. The league and cup double is on!

https://i.postimg.cc/Sx8FdtBw/League.jpg (https://postimg.cc/PCtRrKr4)

Dan

17-04-2023, 05:22 PM

Uldrikis :cool:

Adramelch

17-04-2023, 05:43 PM

Rapid Bucuresti 2027/28 Season

I've already talked about my decision to move to Romania. A great basis to build upon and very low expectations from the board was just too good an opportunity to pass up. In fact, the board only expected a mid-table finish, which in itself was bonkers. The squad had some really good players, but was also clearly lacking in certain positions, so I set out to correct that. I can't quite recall the exact numbers now, but we were given around 4m to spend on transfers, together with a 90k p/w wage budget of which we were spending around 75k. In the end I shuffled the money around and ended up with a 120k p/w wage budget, which gave me a bit more room to attract good players. Speaking of players, let's see the three more important ones that joined us in the summer:

https://i.gyazo.com/e9be8033369ba0b198b7ff7901fadc2d.png

Left wing was one of the positions that needed strengthening. Radulovic joined us on a free to provide backup in that position, but very quickly showed that he should be starting and so he did for the rest of the season

https://i.gyazo.com/46744ab9716f281d4c6235e431de3c40.png

Likewise Gboho initially joined as a squad player, but taking advantage of injuries broke through the first team and showed his quality. Great value for another player that joined us on a free.

https://i.gyazo.com/4ae7a264a74a16626bd480c67ee355a4.png

The big signing of the season. He cost little more than 2m euros, but boy is he worth every penny. Sadly, the only way he'd join is if we agreed to a ridiculously low release clause of 3.3m, so chances are we're only getting a single season out of him. There's a small hope that he stays at the club, as the clause is only for clubs in continental competitions, but I'm just prepared to lose him next summer.

With those three players, and another three that joined to bolster the squad depth, we set out to make our mark in the league. It became evident quite early on that we were more than good enough to make it into the 6-team championship group, and, in fact, before too long we were fighting it out for top spot. And that's exactly where the end of the regular season found us:

https://i.gyazo.com/9372b647dbf56fc1e477c30f0772a684.png

A pretty massive lead to take into the championship group, but sadly teams only carry 50% of their points, meaning our lead would be cut in half, or rather cut to 4 points since numbers are rounded up. Nevertheless, I would confidently say that we were the better team in every single game we played, so I was feeling more than confident that we could keep our lead and claim the title. And claim the title we did:

https://i.gyazo.com/f55e3193a0fdd514eab2101ec239dcec.png

In fact, we claimed the title with 3 games to spare. Props to Farul Constanta who beasted the group, and in fact beat us in both games, even if undeservedly so. Talking about undeserved results, we went out of the cup in that weird group stage, where we dominated every single game, yet somehow only mustered 7 points in 5 games. It might well have been a blessing in disguise though as we had a very relaxed schedule compared to every team around us, especially Cluj who went all the way in the cup, while also progressing into the knockout stages of the Europa League.

https://i.gyazo.com/27cc2a6d7d0e76ee55fb4e6ef666c1f4.png

What's there to say. You can't but be happy with the squad performing like that. Our defence could surely be better, as could our goalkeeper, but in general I'm very happy about my squad. And of course, Delibasic. What a beast he was. He scored 40 goals in the league, with the second in the charts having 28 goals. Class.

So with that done, and my first proper title won, we start looking at bigger things. I expect us to lose Delibasic and I also expect us to get knocked out of the big European competitions, but surely we will make it into the Conference League or something. That means the squad needs strengthening. I'm quite happy with the midfield and the attack, so I don't expect big changes there (bar possibly a replacement for Delibasic), but the back half of the team could sure use some improvements, starting from the goalkeeper. Sadly we don't quite have the money to go for many changes (3.3m for transfers and a 140k p/w wage budget), but we'll do our best.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 06:25 PM

Well, we clinched the league in the end. I thought we were going to fuck it as we lost at home with three games to go but then beat Rapid to secure the title in the penultimate game.

Onto the cup final where this utterly monstrous bullshit occured.

https://i.postimg.cc/Hk4SHBxy/Cup.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Seriously gents, when it's obvious you're having one of those games (and this was obvious) what do you do to change it? I set passing to work the ball into box but that only made the chances we were missing even easier ones. :moop:

One trophy from the three we should have won is annoying. Worse still the league win did nothing to move my rep, which is firmly stuck at 3 stars. I don't know whether the cup would have made a difference had we won it but it's clear, I think, that we need to get out of this league to push the career on.

Scores on the board to date:

https://i.postimg.cc/SsDFsmxc/Career.jpg (https://postimg.cc/CBB6rTDK)

Adramelch

17-04-2023, 06:28 PM

Weirdly enough I'm at 3.5 with a lot fewer achievements. What level is your coaching license at?

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 06:38 PM

I'm continental pro now, with Sunday League footballing experience. If it isn't the latter, it must be the two jobs I fucked that did it.

Adramelch

17-04-2023, 06:40 PM

I'm only just studying for Continental A, also starting at Sunday League level so not that I guess. I wonder if it's off the back of my stint in Greece where I regularly played (and beat) more established clubs like Olympiacos? Who knows.

Baz

17-04-2023, 07:07 PM

How did Istra and Bosko do in the CL?

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 07:17 PM

They got a draw against Celtic and Shaktahr, losing their other 6 games. That was enough to see them finish 34th in the group mind, ahead of Galatasaray and Young Boys.

The team was torn apart after I left with all the good players being snapped up, so much so they ended up being relegated.

Bosko went to Paris, but Paris FC rather than SG.

https://i.postimg.cc/hv5gtKtf/Bosko.jpg (https://postimg.cc/hQTNCWxB)

He played a lot, but badly in a team that were relegated. He does have a £33m release clause now though.

Adramelch

17-04-2023, 08:21 PM

Wasn't quite planning to move, but Slavia Prague just offered me an interview (and subsequently a job) and it really looks like a no-brainer, 10 times the budget of Rapid, higher reputation, a dominant team in a higher reputation league and guaranteed Champions League football, so I just went for it. For what it's worth, we'd started the season with 4 wins out of 4 at Rapid, and drawn in the CL third qualifying round against Shamrock so things looked really good, but onwards to better things I guess.

Yevrah

17-04-2023, 09:20 PM

Only one job I wanted that had come up by the middle of June, so it was looking like I was in Romania for another year. However, having applied for said job, I got it.

https://i.postimg.cc/7Y4WQmSj/St-Gallen.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

My rep now matches the club I'm at too. :cool:

Dan

19-04-2023, 10:00 AM

Ventspils & Latvia 2031 Update

To quote Bad Boys 2, shit just got real.

Riga, meanwhile, randomly decided to fall off a cliff this season, losing nine times when they most they'd lost in a season before that was six games. I'm expecting them to get their shit together next season & maybe if we're lucky we'll be able to keep pace with them both.

We'll do this in chronological order, starting with our journey into the Europa League qualifiers. We drew CSKA Sofia, and a 2-1 away win was enough to see us through with a goalless draw in the return game. Our next opponents were Slovan Bratislava, and an entertaining couple of games saw us emerge 7-4 winners on aggregate. That meant we'd made it all the way to the playoff, where we were drawn against PAOK. A 1-0 defeat in the first leg put us in a bad position, however we won by the same score at home to send the tie to extra time, which soon turned to penalties...
https://i.imgur.com/iybd73T.png

I'm not actually too disappointed about us losing this one, as we'll have a much better chance of picking up results in the Conference League, which has indeed turned out to be the case as we've managed to sneak our way in to the knockout playoff with 2 wins, 2 draws & 2 losses (https://imgur.com/RpAAxSF) from our six games. We'll see who we get in the playoff, but I can't imagine we'll be going much further than that.

On to the Latvian Cup, where we once again cruised through to the final, this time facing Riga:
https://i.imgur.com/pnDN0Pw.png

We claim our first trophy in dramatic style with an equaliser in the sixth minute of five added minutes, then a 121st minute penalty to avoid having to face another shootout. I don't think we deserved to win this one as much as we did when we lost last season, but i guess that means we're even.

Lastly, the league, where Riga did indeed get themselves together following their slump last year. We had a proper three team race for the entire season, with none of us dropping a whole lot of points, so it pretty much came down to the games between each other to determine who would come out on top...
https://i.imgur.com/tTIvMnj.png

:dance:

We beat Riga three times & drew once, then drew with RFS twice, beating them once. Riga helped us out by beating RFS three times, and RFS were the only one of the three who lost more than once against the rest of the league (they lost 1-0 to METTA & 6-0 to Valmiera in probably the two biggest shock results in the league).

In the end we won the title with a game to spare, but we had to break records to get our hands on the trophy, with 94pts & 30 wins both setting new benchmarks. We're still not scoring at the same rate as the other two big teams, but we're on their level defensively, only conceding 23 goals, of which a mere five came against Riga & RFS. We've had basically the same team for the last 3-5 seasons, although I did change things up at CB this year, and with our guys coming into their peak whilst Riga & RFS have a lot of their best players coming towards the end of their peak, we do look like we're in a good position to start taking over the league, especially as we've been able to start investing some of our European money into the training & youth facilities this season.

I think we might start overhauling the squad this offseason to try to take things to the next level, although we still don't have a lot of value for the players in our side, so I'm not sure how many players will end up selling. I also don't really feel like there are too many areas that we need to improve on, so it might just be a case of bringing out good players regardless of where they play & seeing who ends up becoming obsolete. Should be an interesting couple of months...

We've had our draw for Euro 2032 qualifying (https://imgur.com/evrmwCU), and it actually seems like we could have an outside shot at making the tournament. Croatia are clearly going to win the group, but I feel like we can probably compete with Belarus & Georgia, assuming Kvaratskhelia doesn't just destroy us on his own.

Well, it turns out that Kvaratskhelia retired from international football in July 2030, so immediately we got a nice big boost to our hopes of making our first major tournament. In the end Croatia actually tried their best to throw it all away, but they did end up squeezing through as the group winners, and it came down to a final day game between ourselves & Georgia to see who would join them at the tournament:
https://i.imgur.com/gUOkVYD.png

:cool:

We had a one point advantage (https://imgur.com/Aqek8XX) coming in to the game thanks to Georgia losing 4-0 at home to Luxembourg, but FM handed this one to us on a plate as both of our goals were from the game engine completely shitting itself - the first one was a header that hit the bar then magically spun itself into the net while the keeper stood & watched, and the second one was a defender just passing it into his own net from about five yards out under no pressure at all.

I'm not going to complain about that, although I have just realised that the tournament is going to take place right in the middle of our league season & just when European qualifiers start to begin, so this could actually be a bit of a problem for me :D

We'll be looking to continue to build next year & hopefully we can keep on bringing through a steady supply of nationalised Brazilians whilst we slowly try to upgrade the facilities at home to start churning out better Latvian youngsters. I'm also still desperately trying to convince the 18 year old American lad (https://imgur.com/sXOTskd) with Latvian eligibility that he should come play for us instead, so hopefully they just never bother to cap him & he finally agrees to switch as he's the exact type of player we're missing.

John Arne

19-04-2023, 10:06 AM

Baz

19-04-2023, 12:30 PM

Mike, The Reid and I played for around 3.5 hours last night and progressed approximately 2 weeks in game.Back at it tonight. Hopefully get to play the Community Shield. :baz:

Adramelch

19-04-2023, 12:50 PM

Dark Soldier

19-04-2023, 01:02 PM

They need to remove broken, useless features and focus on actually fixing the myriad of shit bugs that have persisted for many, many years.

I fucking despise SI these days.

Gray Fox

19-04-2023, 02:11 PM

FYI, been reading some stuff and as expected FM24 is basically going to be exactly the same game as FM23, but with the women's database added. Bit of a piss take.

Having said that, the game has basically been the same as the previous version for a good few years now.

Does anyone use the squad planner?
I visit the scouting screen perhaps once or twice a season
I don't even bother with training anymore.

It'll be interesting to see the "influencer" reaction to this if it is true.

The introduction of women to the game is great for those who want it, but in general adding women into something stereotypically male tends to lead to toxicity and overly toxic overreactions. See the Ghostbusters film remake. It wasn't shit because it had a female cast, it was just shit, but the studio and actresses involved decided that if you didn't like it, the only reason possibly is that you're a sexist(if you're male) or you dont support the feminist movement(if you're female).

I could see SI releasing the game with no real features added bar this and then taking that kind of defensive approach. But taking this back into the influencers point, they almost universally canned this years release for adding nothing but a squad planner and changing the scouting. Both to objectively worse versions of what we already had.
Would they universally can it this time?

DS is right. What most players actually want is to see the things in the game actually work properly. Problem is most games like this tend to run on a 2-3 year dev cycle. Even now it would be too late to add anything in to make this years release. and things wanted in off the back of FM23 are likely not going to be in until FM25. So we'll see how far dissatisfaction goes. But in the end if the same people who buy it every year do it again regardless, then does it really matter?

Jimmy Floyd

19-04-2023, 02:20 PM

I don't see what could be argued to be bad about putting female football in, particularly if you can cross from tuna to sausage and vice versa during a save.

However I hope they make the women's stats scale properly - which isn't to say I want them compared to male players, but women's football has a different profile with pace and power less to the fore, and I'd like to see that reflected somehow.

Yevrah

19-04-2023, 02:26 PM

However I hope they make the women's stats scale properly - which isn't to say I want them compared to male players, but women's football has a different profile with pace and power less to the fore, and I'd like to see that reflected somehow.

Absolutely no chance they do that - the best females are obviously going to look like legends of the male game.

That said, it's a sport that hasn't yet been compromised or ruined by money, so it could be quite fun to have a crack at.

Ben

19-04-2023, 02:30 PM

The women's game might end up being a nice addition but you just know they're going to spend all their development time on that instead of fixing the stupid bugs that makes the game ridiculous at times.

Jimmy Floyd

19-04-2023, 02:55 PM

Absolutely no chance they do that - the best females are obviously going to look like legends of the male game.

That said, it's a sport that hasn't yet been compromised or ruined by money, so it could be quite fun to have a crack at.

I don't mind if Vivienne Miedema (is she still the best?) has pace 20 and finishing 20, but I hope they find a model where the finishing is worth much more than the pace compared to the men's game.

Yevrah

19-04-2023, 03:37 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2029/30 - St. Gallen - Mid-Season Update

The first season at what feels like a proper club in a civilised league, with the added bonus of the squad we inherited not being too bad. Despite that we had some money to spend, so shopping we went:

Summer Transfers

https://i.postimg.cc/3Ncyj3QV/Al-Malek.jpg (https://postimg.cc/4HpNskdQ)

£84k from Maccabi Nazareth an absolute bargain. Sadly I had to loan him out due to home grown quota issues.

https://i.postimg.cc/rmWcZc47/Estrada.jpg (https://postimg.cc/TLRZhzCc)[/url]

We had nothing at left back so this chap comes in as first choice. £2.2m from Club America.

https://i.postimg.cc/qMp0wPvZ/Jevremovic.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

£4.8m from Red Star Belgrade, he's improved hugely since we signed him and is now a first choice staple in the team.

https://i.postimg.cc/vTHqgtGX/Sergio-Costa.jpg (https://postimg.cc/34VCzp4D)

Free transfer in from Everton. Squad fodder mostly so far.

https://i.postimg.cc/TwQQ65nb/Delic.jpg (https://postimg.cc/G88vP273)

Was interested having been relegated to the French second tier it just had to be done. Sadly he has a meagre minimum fee release clause which I couldn't negotiate out (as does Jevremovic for that matter), but fuck it, Bosko is back!

https://i.postimg.cc/15bBsQVv/Heule.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ykXcy2PR)

Back up left back. The board and my fans hated his signing, but competent stats and at a £120k fee I was satisfied.

https://i.postimg.cc/zv6CzCvy/Bull.jpg (https://postimg.cc/gLyX46vp)

Another staple at my Dinamo Zagreb killing Istra side, Bull had since moved to Liverpool only to rot a bit in the reserves as they looked to loan him. With no takers up to now I jumped at the chance and the band is getting back together.

[url=https://postimg.cc/67GQYvXP]https://i.postimg.cc/VNKbsqHz/Russo.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

£4.4m from Nacional, one I've had eyes on for a while but could never afford him to now.

League

https://i.postimg.cc/m2hBz02x/League-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/KRXdCpMQ)

We've been excellent from start to the mid point and the win over Young Boys with my 16 year old youth prospect getting the winner in injury time was huge. Bosko mk. II in the making.

https://i.postimg.cc/FKF76TVh/Ngung.jpg (https://postimg.cc/hXwDzbYY)

Here's Ngung. 7 goals in one start and four sub appearances is very promising.

https://i.postimg.cc/2y1jDJ1f/Lopez.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9wjHPLPx)

A word too for this chap, who is scoring a goal a game in all comps.

https://i.postimg.cc/2ShpnYst/League-Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

A decent lead with games in hand, our 3rd league title in different countries in a row should be on the cards.

Cup

https://i.postimg.cc/kMKhjs1V/Cup-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/dDQB32Kv)

Cup has been pretty routine.

Europe

https://i.postimg.cc/XYz8NB1S/Europe-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/RWwfXhzX)

We smashed the group stage and therefore don't play again until March, but it nearly didn't happen as we were seconds away from being knocked out in the playoffs by Antwerp.

Me

Anything less than a domestic double here will not be good enough and I really fancy taking the Europa Conference League as well. No huge hitters in it and we are absolutely purring. Galatasaray came calling in November, but it was too early to arrange a move in the Summer so I decided to reject it. A shame as that would have been a brilliant next job but I have unfinished business in Switzerland.

Adramelch

19-04-2023, 06:17 PM

Slavia Prague 2028/29 Season

I mentioned in a previous post that right as I was starting my second season at Rapid, Slavia Prague came knocking and it was too big of an opportunity to say no to really. It might sound like a relatively small jump, but Slavia Prague have started building sort of a dynasty in their league in real life, having won 4 of the last 6 titles (finishing second the other two seasons) and this trend has continued in-game, where they've won 5 out of 6, bringing the total up to 9 league titles in 12 seasons. With Czech Republic being fairly high in the standings, that has also meant guaranteed Champions League football and guaranteed money, leading to a big gap between them and the rest of the clubs. Last season they won the league by 14 points for reference. That was also reflected in the budgets laid out before me: 33m for transfers and 650k p/w for wages (in Rapid that was 3.5m and 140k p/w respectively).

The squad was already very strong, to the point where I was quite confident I would walk the league even with no signings. In order to avoid bloating this post with screenshots, here's the two that I would label as the stars of the team:

https://i.gyazo.com/dee672a71135c6e674bc9ba8acab6f27.png

A player that's great in both defence and midfield and he actually ended up playing in both positions at various points in the season. Also an incredibly well-rounded player, which is a trait I really like.

https://i.gyazo.com/4e2ae21cb305b80d4899893fbfe89afc.png

Now my tactic uses traditional wingers, so I was planning to play this guy on the right wing. But seeing as we struggled finding a proper left winger, but found a good right one, I decided to somewhat adjust my tactics and have him play as an inverted winger on the left and boy was that a good decision.

Good squad aside, nobody in their right mind would expect me not to spend all that money that was thrown at me surely? Even the board required me to spend the whole budget, so I decided to do them a favor. Under my tenure we spent a total of 46 million on 7 different players, while offloading players that didn't quite fit my plans for a nice 20 million. Out of the 7 players, and having gone through the season and seen how they evolved, I've decide the following three deserved a special mention:

https://i.gyazo.com/199de25414eebb967cdacb321fc91960.png

Let's start with a familiar face. The squad did already have a promising striker, but he really failed to deliver in the first few games, so I decided to go with something tried and tested. He only cost us 5m after all so even if he struggled to make the jump, it was a relatively small gamble.

https://i.gyazo.com/c6f482b571956ebe0d81e7a0df0bbb9a.png

A player that admittedly didn't quite meet my expectations, but one that at his age could still become a key player for the club. Cost 6.5m, so not that cheap, but we did have the money to burn, so burn it I did.

https://i.gyazo.com/4313c6f5403cfa0dba804e6e65824f5f.png

One position the club was lacking at was the center of the defense, where our third best option was a 36 year old Mings, so this lad joined us for a hefty 10m (club and national record). He's a rather well-rounded defender though, so I think the price was justified.

With all that out of the way, let's take a look at our performance. Let's start from the league format. The league consists of 16 teams, leading to a 30-game regular season, after which the league splits in two (as is typical in most eastern countries really). The championship group consists of the top 6 teams, which, unlike, Romania, keep all of their points from the regular season, and thankfully, also unlike Romania, only play each other once, resulting in a 35-game season. The cup structure is also much better than Romania, as there's a total of 7 rounds in the cup proper, and the big boys only enter the competition in the third round. That, coupled with the fact that there's no two-legged ties, means that we would only ever play a maximum of 5 games, bringing us to a total of 40 domestic games in a season. A nice change of pace compared to the madness of Romania. With the formats explained, let's go straight to the league table at the end of the season:

https://i.gyazo.com/77061f6078f3ece502d3065a232a8f91.png

The gulf in class was just ridiculous. We actually won the title with 8 games to spare, so the "championship" group was only that in name. And it's not only that we were amazing, breaking pretty much every record in the league and only recording a singular defeat (lost 2-3 at home in this abomination of a game (https://i.gyazo.com/e572b86410be7eaa3e1f114ed435b826.png)), but also that the rest of the field was atrocious. 62 points for the second placed team is just abysmal. Given that level of dominance, it should be no surprise that we also won the cup, completing the double:

https://i.gyazo.com/859a15cdced3d682b079dc51622e585f.png

We almost got in trouble against Banik Ostrava early on, in a game that we should have won by like 3 goals in regular time, but we beat them on penalties, and from there on it was just smooth sailing. The same cannot be said about Europe unfortunately:

https://i.gyazo.com/86cdde7780ea06c2d50d726c3ca56788.png

Now I have to say that we were unexpectedly competitive (yes, even in the Chelsea game), and I reckon, based on our performances, we should have picked somewhere around 6-9 points, but the game just didn't agree. In the end, it wouldn't have been enough to see us through to the next phase, but I wouldn't have said no to the sweet sweet prize money.

https://i.gyazo.com/930b730675b819912c9bbe3c35ec1dfd.png

Many great performers really, but it's just hard to look past Delibasic. He had a somewhat rough start with just 3 goals in the first couple of months, but later he started settling and eventually was back to his old self from last season. When he faltered, Enes Sali was there to pick up the slack. Mind you 7 out of his 18 goals were from penalties, but that in itself is still magnificent, seeing as he didn't miss a single one of them. Add his 12 assists on top of that and you can see why he was the first name on the team sheet (even Delibasic was more replacable than him considering the alternatives).

So closing this season, the conclusion is an obvious one: On the domestic front we have nothing to worry about really, and I will be quite disappointed if we don't repeat the double next season. However, we must do better in Europe. Or rather, I would be somewhat satisfied with similar performances but better results. With that in mind, I can't quite see myself staying at the club next summer. I'd rather look for something bigger, possibly in Holland/Portugal, or else I will just get bored I reckon.

Dan

20-04-2023, 12:11 PM

I'm also still desperately trying to convince the 18 year old American lad (https://imgur.com/sXOTskd) with Latvian eligibility that he should come play for us instead, so hopefully they just never bother to cap him & he finally agrees to switch as he's the exact type of player we're missing.

https://i.imgur.com/8GtTmBh.png

Ladies & gentlemen...we got him :cool: I didn't even get an email about it, just happened to notice it on the social feed.

Baz

20-04-2023, 04:22 PM

Seems to be a lot of goals in this version. I’ve previously only played with TTH so figured them being overpowered for their leagues meant goals(!) but Man Utd’s (The Reid) first three matches were a 7-0 win against Chelsea, a 5-5 draw with Leicester, and a 5-1 demolishing of Arsenal (Mike). And I’ve just beat Leicester 7-1. Arsenal’s first league game was a 6-0 win. Goals!

Mike

20-04-2023, 05:07 PM

He only beat me because the skin we had wouldn’t let the away team in a player vs player game make subs and stuff. Or it would have been an epic 5-6 to the Arsenal for sure.

Adramelch

20-04-2023, 05:32 PM

Ben

20-04-2023, 05:37 PM

I patched CM01/02 a while back to have tons of goals (even more than usual for that game, like top AI strikers getting 50 in a season) which was a bit of fun for a bit but I can imagine it gets quite annoying eventually if it can’t be scaled back.

Adramelch

20-04-2023, 07:12 PM

Half my squad is becoming unsettled because big clubs are coming in with bids at like a third of their value. How great.

wullie

20-04-2023, 08:19 PM

I didn't realise until now that my current star man is actually a real player in real life

https://i.imgur.com/r5Pwhlm.png

106 goals in 107 starts so far, plus plucked from the Chelsea reserve team which is also just like our real transfer strategy.

Yevrah

20-04-2023, 11:07 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2029/30 - St. Gallen - End of Season Update

So fighting on three fronts, including Europe, how did we do?

The League

https://i.postimg.cc/kGGHCB3D/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

The most dominant league campaign I've overseen so far, we even ended up breaking the Swiss points record - beating Young Boys real life mark set in 2019.

The Cup

https://i.postimg.cc/GtPxZR99/Cup.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

If there's one thing 9 seasons of this save (and previous experiences) have taught me it's that it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter who you're playing, 1-0 is NEVER enough. There will always be some bullshit that comes along and fucks you. In this game it was a massively overhit cross that one of my players decided to divert to the penalty spot by pushing an opposition player who'd have never got anywhere near it.

Europe

I said above a domestic double was the minimum requirement to make this season a success in my mind, so having fucked that up it was all on the Europa Conference League to make up for it. Did we?

https://i.postimg.cc/T12K3vCK/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/JDgrpvw8)

No. :moop:

We battled hard against West Ham, but had to play 30+ minutes of both legs with 10 men due to my players again being idiots.

Me

While all this was going on a job came along in March that (having turned Galatasaray down pre-Christmas) I felt I had to go for. I got it and as of 7th June 2030 I am now manager of...

https://i.postimg.cc/m2Jg09fz/Fenerbahce.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Bit of a rebuilding job required as the club are hugely in debt (structured debt thankfully, but you can't see it until you take over) but I'm pretty excited for this one. Club finished 5th last season so I'm in the Europa Conference League again if we make it through the qualifiers.

Yevrah

20-04-2023, 11:26 PM

The state of this:

https://i.postimg.cc/0QSN52Y5/Finances.jpg (https://postimg.cc/bDzP3PV4)

There really needs to be a way to check this shit out before you take a job. Assuming Turkey has an equivalent of companies house/access to Google, it'd be a realistic thing to be able to check in real life and as we know, SI are all about that realism.

I joined with a transfer budget of £11m, which has already been cut to £3m only two days into the job. I left a club in Switzerland with no debt, £30m in the bank and IIRC, a guaranteed spot in this season's Champions League. :moop:

John Arne

21-04-2023, 12:40 AM

Adramelch

21-04-2023, 10:12 AM

There really needs to be a way to check this shit out before you take a job. Assuming Turkey has an equivalent of companies house/access to Google, it'd be a realistic thing to be able to check in real life and as we know, SI are all about that realism.

I joined with a transfer budget of £11m, which has already been cut to £3m only two days into the job. I left a club in Switzerland with no debt, £30m in the bank and IIRC, a guaranteed spot in this season's Champions League. :moop:

Yeah that's a really annoying part of the game. Nowadays, I will often outright reject interviews with clubs with finances lower than "secure" (once my reputation allows for that, of course). On occasion I will settle for "okay" but only if it's a really interesting job.

As for my save, I almost agreed to join PSV at the end of the season and it was exactly the kind of club I was looking for, but then it fell through because I remembered something: A few versions back, I agreed in January to join a club at the end of the season. When you do that, you lose all control over transfers at your current club. Of course the board proceeded to sell my three best players just days later and I wasn't even able to sign new players to replace them. So in my current save, with a good 8-9 players being unhappy because big clubs bombarded me with stupidly low offers, it would have been a disaster. My plan this time around was to try and delay the PSV deal until after the January transfer window was over, but sadly PSV wouldn't go for it and there's also no way to actually "change" the deal with them so that I take over instantly. So it was a bit of a lose-lose situation and I decided to cancel the deal.

Adramelch

21-04-2023, 08:23 PM

Slavia Prague 2029/30 Season

After a stellar domestic campaign but a somewhat disappointing European run last season, the goal this season was clear. The dominance on the domestic front was all but guaranteed, so Europe is where our focus was at. I wasn't given all that much money to spend, but I managed to offload all of the players that weren't part of my plans, and that left us with a lot of leeway in the wage department, as well as some extra cash to spend on transfers. In the end we spent a total of 33m, while recouping 26m, leaving us with a decent bit of money if need be, which I didn't actually end up spending. We signed 8 players in total, the 5 most important of which were:

https://i.gyazo.com/ba7d20ad75a7b25345afc31c556e3b8d.png

By far the most impressive of the lot and a player that solved probably the biggest issue in our squad, in the center of the defence. And to think that he only cost us 2.5m, such a great piece of business.

https://i.gyazo.com/3e034f9b912da4d4d7291458f9f5a061.png

This lad I signed just because he was young, Czech and had a lot of potential, but over the course of the season, not only did he convince me to sell Lingr (a player that spent 10 seasons at the club), but he also became an important part of our squad. Cost a hefty-ish 6.5m, but on hindsight that was quite the bargain.

https://i.gyazo.com/e6a1a70c0b820257591d4a7ca8f92503.png

The second attacking midfielder to join the club this season. This lad was meant to be the bigger deal of the two, but he didn't quite hit the mark, so ended up being dethroned by Barone. Definitely not a bad move though, at a 4.6m price and with the potential he seems to have.

https://i.gyazo.com/28ae63cea2f6f95e0e858ea4dfe03931.png

Another midfielder and a similar story with Gonzalez. Came with a lot of promise but didn't quite meet expectations. With him being a bit older and costing 9m, he might not be considered a successful signing, but he only had 6 months at the club, so might well come good.

https://i.gyazo.com/786efc4dabd65669721e192a0fed13b2.png

The story with Stojanovic is a bit of a weird one. We didn't need a striker at all, but signing him allowed me to transform my backup striker to a backup left winger, since we really struggled finding a good player there. And seeing as Stojanovic only cost 2.3m, it was somewhat of a no-brainer. He even ended up grabbing 10 goals almost exclusively off the bench so a great piece of business really.

And with all that, let's get straight to the action:

https://i.gyazo.com/a07880a3182e23c9b1cd3953d938ff8f.png

More of the same really. We broke all sorts of records (well the ones we established last season basically) again, with most wins and points. Funnily enough we finished with exactly the same amount of goals scored and conceded. We also had our token bullshit loss again in an extremely similar manner, at home, against relegation fodder (at the time at least) in this silly game (https://i.gyazo.com/79398d009892e6c61a34aa470abacdea.png). As for the cup, we made it to the final and then had the most ridiculous game I've had in this save, with a (seemingly, you can't really quite tell from the 3d graphics) bullshit penalty, and two red cards by the hour mark, to lose 3-1. Oh well.

https://i.gyazo.com/3edf374fd6201d6053ffa0c7067c2381.png

As for Europe, this time around we didn't start straight in the group stage, but we instead had to go through the playoff round. We were unseeded, but had a rather favourable draw, as we were pitted against Young Boys. Both games were competitive, but we just didn't have our scoring boots on and we ended up losing both 1-0. A bit of a punch in the gut, but in retrospect they probably were the better side, however marginally. The good side of that was that we would be playing in a more manageable competition. But I didn't expect us to be quite that good:

https://i.gyazo.com/0f6b566cea1da2c8ac6590faeea8c6a9.png

Recording just a singular loss in 12 games was just incredible, and that came at the hands of Liverpool in the quarters. We were somewhat unlucky getting Liverpool, with teams like Anderlecht, Salzburg, Mainz and Lyon still in the competition, but in any case we brought the game to them and we were eliminated by the slightest of margins. Just a bit better finishing and we'd have gotten them to extra time but it wasn't to be. Still an amazing performance nevertheless.

https://i.gyazo.com/cd46e9fbbd6105cc22c9f110431e9782.png

Similar case as last season. Delibasic and Ener Sali were just incredible throughout the season, but a few others also pitched in here and there with Izquierdo and Padua forming a formidable duo in defence and Veratschnig scoring some spectacular goals that won us games. Olejnik was a goalkeeper that I thought might provide some more stability, but in the end he was just as inconsistent as every other goalkeeper I've had and made no notable difference.

As for what comes next, I've already spoken about my intentions of leaving Slavia at the end of the season, and I've also explained the predicament I found myself in January with the PSV job. In the end, I missed out on that job, but it ended up being the better move, as just a month later I found an even more exciting opportunity:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/59/Bayer_04_Leverkusen_logo.svg/1200px-Bayer_04_Leverkusen_logo.svg.png

wullie

21-04-2023, 10:38 PM

https://i.imgur.com/CdNaWud.png

Match of the Day's edit team had a hell of a time putting this final day episode together.

Baz

21-04-2023, 11:17 PM

Where’s Xabi Alonso gone, Adramelch? Liverpool? :eyemouth:

Adramelch

22-04-2023, 07:30 AM

Where’s Xabi Alonso gone, Adramelch? Liverpool? :eyemouth:

He was sacked in 2023 and is now seemingly retired (not in the game at all), so it must have been rough times for him.

Yevrah

22-04-2023, 03:29 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2030/31 - Fenerbahce - End of Season Update

Our first season in Turkey was ultimately a disappointing one that could have been so much more.

https://i.postimg.cc/JzYN6D5P/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

We went into our last game away at Galatasaray level of points with them but with the better head to head record, so all we needed was a point. 3-3 going into injury time the ref put 6 minutes on the board (FFS) and we conceded shortly after from some proper bullshit and couldn't get an equaliser.

https://i.postimg.cc/wBPSpBgk/Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/CZGvCSZZ)

We then fucked the cup final, despite having home advantage, with an horrific performance.

Last piece of the jigsaw was my third attempt at the Europa Conference League and having reached the quarter-finals with FCSB and the semi's with St. Gallen I was confident of winning with Fenerbache. We didn't.

https://i.postimg.cc/4NQyNDKc/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/TphftHJ2)

The win at home vs. Nice set us up nicely but a red card early on in France saw us capitulate.

The only good thing to come out of this season is at some point my rep ticked up to 75%, which made me a four star manager. I've a year left on my contract here and with nothing interesting available I think I'll at least see that out.

Adramelch

22-04-2023, 05:35 PM

While you came short of everything, you were right there, so a decent first season all things considered if you ask me. Better than how my season is going so far, I can tell you that much. :D

On a separate note, I do wonder when SI will actually figure out how to properly implement "interfering with play". I guess it's completely on brand for them to implement something for realism and have it be completely unrealistic though.

Edit: What a steady character this guy:

https://i.gyazo.com/a406c5b208fedbd7257897bc3f3c15ef.png

Adramelch

22-04-2023, 09:53 PM

Leverkusen 2030/31 Season

As you may have noticed I've been flying through the seasons courtesy of (Orthodox) Easter holidays combined with some good old Covid action, so here's another one.

This season taught me an important lesson if anything: If the board tells you the club makes enough money to afford a 160m transfer budget and 3m p/w on wages, don't actually trust them because they are idiots. Even if the club has 220m in the bank. Mind you I should have known better than to spend 210m on transfers, even if we also brought in 90m from players sold and also were spending significantly less money (2.4m p/w) on wages than our budget allowed. Come January, the club was already around 30m in the red and the board removed any remaining transfer budget (I think it was at around 50-ish million at that point) and slashed the wage budget to 2m p/w. Seeing as the squad was relatively big I decided to sell some players that only appeared infrequently, recouping the 30m we were missing, but we also had to let a star player go for 54m (his release clause), without being able to offer him a contract or find a replacement. In the end, even though our net spending was 40m and we also earned 100m through our league finished, the club still managed to record a 150m loss this season. I am partially to blame of course, but boy is that just pure ineptitude by the board.

With that harsh reality established, let's look at the rest of the situation at the club. Throughout the save the club has basically retained its current real life status, where it fluctuates between 4th and 7th, however last season they only managed to finish 10th, which explains why the post became vacant. The good news about that is that I would have a relatively stress-free first season, since there would be no European football on the table. Upon a first look, the squad was very bloated so I set out to offload the dead wood with middling success. That said, the squad was relatively solid with decent depth. Out of all the players in the squad the following were the ones that immediately stood out (with this one (https://i.gyazo.com/c8b844746c1cddee686894470fca0c54.png) being the player that we lost in January):

https://i.gyazo.com/023b0311636689ce77f127a37dafe9c2.png

https://i.gyazo.com/ee4bcd4e97d06b2c8810942476ff315a.png

https://i.gyazo.com/27468295ef7be917d2ee5ed5b59c3833.png

https://i.gyazo.com/d1da8c36776ffbb075fe57df2c65eab1.png

https://i.gyazo.com/4a7cc77130b9b8c59f9976fb8431f5f4.png

As you can see all of them were in defence or attack, so it was pretty clear where the gaps were, and which positions we had to improve upon. To that end, those are our most important signings:

https://i.gyazo.com/b6d17d22599b727ba4861cca34b2c80e.png

Probably our best signing given the transfer fee (3m) and his importance to the team. I've been generally struggling to find good goalkeepers in my previous clubs, but I think Viola might start changing that trend.

https://i.gyazo.com/4760dd81cef7800df95b44bca6308ba1.png

A physical beast of a defender with some great mental qualities where it matters. He only cost 16.75m as well, so definitely a great buy.

https://i.gyazo.com/f38588900e33b4137be4c4f95cdbe1ef.png

Left-back was a very glaring issue when I joined the club, so in comes our first big transfer, for 48m. I would generally hesitate to spend that much money on a full back, but I reckon it was money well spent, given his abundant talent and young age.

https://i.gyazo.com/12c1f9ec38dc249bb1a51866cc98fa66.png

First of a string of central midfielders that we brought in. Cost a very hefty 50m and while he did well, I don't think he justified his price, but he is young so hopefully it was just a matter of adjusting to the new environment.

https://i.gyazo.com/e2cd2f3d641546ac40be05ddcb6d9f33.png

Another expensive transfer (55m), that might have been a panic buy when I thought we were low on midfielders (but had accidentally moved another one to the U19 squad - oops). He was also quite underwhelming but he's also very young so here's hoping for a better performance next season.

https://i.gyazo.com/81f1378463d878e5213c844b9aae78c1.png

And here's the last of the young central midfielder trio to join us in the summer. Unlike the other two guys, this one was an absolute steal at 17.5m, with great attributes across the board. He wasn't incredible but he was consistently good and defiinitely outperformed the other two.

With no European football, the board's expectations were for us to qualify for the Champions League (which I thought was quite optimistic seeing as the club hasn't finished in the top 4 in the last 4 years) and to reach the quarter finals in the cup. I mentioned in a previous post that my season was going bad, but it would appear that I just overestimated the level of our squad compared to the big boys. Bayern and Leipzig were light years ahead of us in terms of quality, with Dortmund also being quite a bit better than us. So with that in mind, the goal was clearly set at finishing 4th. By the looks of it our main competition would be Wolfsburg, who'd finished 4th in the last three seasons and Eintracht who were there or thereabouts for several years.

https://i.gyazo.com/8be8aad80fbdb912c414fb20225ce434.png

Our start was pretty mediocre and it seemed like top 4 might be out of reach. But with the squad getting more comfortable with my tactics and each other, and the fact that the hardest games were behind us (three of our first four games were Eintracht, Bayern and Dortmund away, things started to pick up and once we reached 4th (15 games in) we just stayed there and increased our gap with the rest, bringing us to a very comfortable finish in the Champions League spots, where we even gave Dortmund a run for their money for 3rd. In fact, 71 points is the second highest tally in the club's history, and the highest in the last 31 years, so the season was definitely a success on that front. I just had higher expectations that I should have had I reckon. Our cup run was also quite successful as we lost 3-1 at Leipzig in the semi-finals, after eliminating Bayern in the previous round.

https://i.gyazo.com/a4c915340c9c78259e268ffb97711e23.png

A bit of a mixed bag if I'm being honest. The only proper stand-out player was Viola who was consistently solid between the goalposts. The rest of them had flashes of brilliance, but also tended to disappear too often for my liking. I guess if I had to single out an outfield player it would have to be Paz, who was the only that generally made things happen on the attacking front, even though I would have liked him to score more, but maybe that's too much to ask.

So looking at the future, my intention is to maybe stay here a couple of seasons and try and make Leverkusen one of the big boys, even if that doesn't lead to any titles. Just being able to hang with Bayern and Leipzig would be a big enough achievement for me to consider my stint here a success. Obviously I'll have to be careful with the money I spend as I don't want to find myself in a similar situation again. Of course that would mean that it will be harder to improve the squad, but hopefully we can do some bargain hunting and find some diamonds in the rough.

Yevrah

22-04-2023, 10:41 PM

Dan

22-04-2023, 10:55 PM

I'm not actually too disappointed about us losing this one, as we'll have a much better chance of picking up results in the Conference League, which has indeed turned out to be the case as we've managed to sneak our way in to the knockout playoff with 2 wins, 2 draws & 2 losses (https://imgur.com/RpAAxSF) from our six games. We'll see who we get in the playoff, but I can't imagine we'll be going much further than that.

Quick update on how our 2031/32 Conference League campaign ended up playing out. Having made it to the knockout playoff we got drawn against FC Nordsjælland, and following a 0-0 draw at home where we dominated we got our rewards in the return game as we smashed them 4-1 to reach the last 16. Olympiakos were our opponents, so a swift exit was the expectation, however we deservedly beat them 3-0 at our place before nicking a goal away & clinging on for our lives to go though 4-3 on aggregate. That would be as far as we'd go though, as by that point we were obviously the worst team left by far & it was left to Everton to do the honours, taking us down 7-3 (https://imgur.com/9ZtxaZa) over the two legs.

That's obviously still a huge run for us, and we're continuing to climb towards the top 20 in the coefficients, so another couple of good years should see us reach the next jump point for better qualification places. We've drawn HJK in the 2032/33 Champions League qualifiers, which seems like a winnable tie, and if we do get through it'll be Rosenborg next, so I feel like there's a decent chance we're playing European group stage football at a higher level than the Conference League this year.

--

I'll do a proper Euro 2032 Latvia update with the main end of year one, but we drew England, Belgium & Denmark, so I'm pretty sure you can figure out how that went for us.

Baz

23-04-2023, 10:40 AM

This feature's funny when it's you lot:

https://i.imgur.com/QL1sR8t.png

Adramelch

23-04-2023, 11:17 AM

It's crazy how retarded the boards can be with the budgets they offer. I've no idea how Fenerbahce fucked things up so much that they needed to take out £230m of loans in 2028, but having done that the board still offered me the ability to spend £800k p/w on wages. I've now got it down to just under £500k p/w which I think is enough for us to make the loan repayments and still break even, but anything more than that and we're racking up more debt without Champions League football.

On top of that madness, one of the board's expectations is for me to increase the club's commercial revenue. Not sign high profile players or anything, just generally increase commercial revenue. How is that the manager's responsibility? On top of that they have the token "make the most from set-pieces" expectation. Surely that's not an actual thing right?

Clunge

23-04-2023, 01:19 PM

You've all inspired me to go journeyman. Got most of Europe loaded. National C badge and Sunday league footballer experience. Holidayed to 1 Dec and then applied for every job. So here we are... at Sund IF in Sweden's something'th tier. Competition reputation – 140. No budget for transfers or wages, club £25k in the red, best player had an arranged transfer before I arrived. Can't bring any players in, and my best player according to stars is a 16-year-old prospect. Oooer.

https://i.imgur.com/C2v1hFk.png

Dark Soldier

23-04-2023, 09:20 PM

Playing this and its phenomenal possession football, rock solid and the front three confuse defences as they're so deep then break:

https://i.gyazo.com/c50ea24d7902b83d40e6f29b9bde3101.png

The four matches since creating:

https://i.gyazo.com/37cb240bd38dfd43a72e73b195d3332c.png

Yevrah

24-04-2023, 01:53 AM

Wayne Rooney has spent the last 6 years running them into the ground:

https://i.postimg.cc/fWg2TR66/Man-Utd-Fixtures.jpg (https://postimg.cc/PNYzSTf4)

But still. :jayjay:

https://i.postimg.cc/B6zTsXXp/Man-Utd.jpg (https://postimg.cc/Q9p9JNgK)

Yevrah

24-04-2023, 02:40 AM

Being approached for the job and then losing out to Malky Mackay. :sick:

https://i.postimg.cc/G3vcY9Cs/News.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

John Arne

24-04-2023, 02:54 AM

:D Proper football man is Malky.

Jimmy Floyd

24-04-2023, 07:45 AM

I lolled hard at that. The good news is that Malky might take them down and make it an even better job next time it comes up.

wullie

24-04-2023, 07:51 AM

I bet Malky's known for making set pieces an important part of the game, which is a very real criteria that decisions are based on in real life

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 04:40 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2031/32 - Fenerbahce - End of Season Update

If I can interrupt the porn links, it's update time.

After the nasty business with Man Utd, I focused on finishing the season with Fenerbahce and unlike last season we didn't fuck up domestically.

The League

https://i.postimg.cc/8zCXftxK/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Wasn't quite as nervy as the table may look as we won it with a game to spare.

The Cup

We then moved onto the cup final and no mistake this time:

https://i.postimg.cc/WzFb4GTh/Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/xNQSxbk2)

Europe

Sadly this was a complete shitfest from start to finish.

https://i.postimg.cc/T24KXwfK/Europe.jpg (https://postimg.cc/t7Fq391b)

Seems I'm destined never to win the Europa Conference League.

The Future

With my contract expiring I was keen on renewing, but a lot of my players had paltry minimum fee release clauses and the vultures were circling. That coupled with a bit of a managerial merry go round after the Euros made the job that became available all the more appealing. They've just won their league so I will finally find out how much prize money you get for the new fangled Champions League group stage and they seem like a decent springboard to either go for the Benfica job when their current manager retires or a chance at a big club in the top 5 leagues (well 4, as I won't be taking any job in France bar PSG and I'll need to be 5 star rep for that I'd imagine). Anyway, in the meantime we are now manage of:

https://i.postimg.cc/WzGpr2qv/Feyenoord-logo-svg.png (https://postimg.cc/SYKpbbGT)

Adramelch

25-04-2023, 10:08 AM

Great choice that. Have quite a few fond memories with them in multiple Jman saves.

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 10:11 AM

Restrictions wise the Dutch league doesn't seem to have any either, which is pretty facking sweet.

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 11:50 AM

I lolled hard at that. The good news is that Malky might take them down and make it an even better job next time it comes up.

He was really trying to...

https://i.postimg.cc/x82xzPgT/Man-Utd.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

...but they sacked him before he could. 231 days in charge.

Baz

25-04-2023, 12:06 PM

Where’s Dirk Kuyt?

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 12:44 PM

Where’s Dirk Kuyt?

He's manager of Atalanta.

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 12:47 PM

And they've realised the error of their ways...

https://i.postimg.cc/7ZMrKmf7/Man-Utd.jpg (https://postimg.cc/xXCZCGGT)

Loving that objective. :D

Adramelch

25-04-2023, 12:54 PM

Real Cinderella story.

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 01:07 PM

Might have to suspend the Journey part of the Journeyman game here for a while, there is much to do and taking this club back to the top appeals a lot. If I can ride out the first few months that is, I suspect there's a very real danger I could go the same way as Malky, the squad is that shit.

Adramelch

25-04-2023, 01:29 PM

Leverkusen 2031/32 Season

Second season here in Germany. I explained the whole process we went through last season in regards to finances, and it isn't quite looking like it'll get much better. The two positives are that we have, for the most part, steadied the ship (I fully expect us to go slightly into the red during the season and then just recover with prize money and the likes) and our squad is quite solid. That doesn't of course mean that I wouldn't go for improvements. But, the players that we would be improving upon will fetch us some decent money so the possibility of that improvement being relatively cheap was high. In fact, we spent 128m this summer, while raking in 100m, so that's just 28 million net spend (obviously that goes up with signing fees and whatnot) in what I thought was massive improvements. We signed a total of 9 players, the most important of which were:

https://i.gyazo.com/cebaf2dc045a9e148ddc09908b5f465c.png

Far and away the most important transfer of this summer. Right winger was a position that we were really lacking on and, even though this guy cost a hefty 55m, he was well worth the money. He had a 4-star evaluation when he joined, but I guess as the squad improved those evaluations sort of normalized.

https://i.gyazo.com/a23f6414106a1aa5bae08e87dbd07d8b.png

A familiar face here, as we signed this lad from Slavia Prague. At just 16m he was a real bargain and he went straight into the first team. It's always nice when you get to carry players with you in those Journeyman games.

https://i.gyazo.com/6ed5bcd9edd92cc3bf087589bc5d178f.png

This is a bit of an odd one, as we paid 35m for him, which for a backup player is a ton. But he is a great player, he is young, he is German and he was willing to join as a backup player, so he was a perfect fit really. He seems to have a tendency to randomly get injured, but at least his injuries are generally fairly short.

https://i.gyazo.com/9d6c0006a42663e15410492e41a12338.png

One that's more for the future, but when you get to sign a player like that for just 15m, he deserves a special mention. Really loving that 20 for Determination.

With the transfer stuff done, let's get on with the actual football. The expectation was the same as last season: qualify for the Champions League. With how strongly we finished last season, and with some noticeable improvements in personnel, I thought we had more than enough to not only achieve that goal, but also go one step further:

https://i.gyazo.com/6c93d2488ae580c7ab93c01cf63ab15e.png

Now finishing 2nd instead of 4th doesn't really lead to anything different, but it shows that we are on the right track and that we can be the ones who battle with Bayern for the title. It wasn't to be this season, as frankly Bayern are one, or even two, levels above everyone else, what with this being their 20th consecutive league title, but it's a step in the right direction nonetheless. We weren't that much better than Dortmund and Leipzig in our head-to-head, but we were more consistent throughout the season and deservedly finished comfortably above them, beating the club's records in games won and points earned. We also scored 14 more goals and conceded 8 less compared to last season, so quite the improvement really. We coupled that performance with another decent run in the cup:

https://i.gyazo.com/0a86ef227d8279a8492a6241d80681a5.png

We reached the semis, where we got Bayern away, the worst possible draw, but we held our own and only lost by a single goal in a rather close game. The other two teams were Dortmund (who won the whole thing) and Leipzig, so it's not like there were any easy draws after all.

As opposed to last season, this time around we also had European football on the table (which makes our domestic achievements all the more impressive to be honest) and we got possibly the most horrendous draw I've seen in this competition under the new format. Yet we actually performed great, winning all but one game in the group stage, a goalless draw against Feyenoord at home, where they were playing with 10men for almost a full hour. It was a tough pill to swallow at the time, but in the end it didn't matter at all, as we topped the group:

https://i.gyazo.com/8f2733740b10a21c2d6957e0fee58c40.png

Sadly as you see we didn't make it much further, as we got a bitch of a draw in the last 16. With possible opponents like Sevilla, Feyenoord, Nice and Benfica we went and drew Leipzig and then got knocked out in extra-time. In fairness, they were the slightly better team across the two legs, and they were knocked out by Real in the next round, so it's not like we would have gone much further had results gone our way.

https://i.gyazo.com/2520e47b3a187f497ef6aa1f7a7f181e.png

That's a much much better image compared to last season's. Quite a few things to talk about here, really. Let's start from Rijkhoff who showed glimpses of brilliance in the second half of last season and just carried that form into this one, finishing with a magnificent 37 goals. The trio behind him were also incredible, with newcomers Marchal and Barone filling the missing pieces of the puzzle and helping create a formidable attack. Lastly, Bruno Jose, with his mediocre 20 for Jumping Reach, had shown some ability in scoring from corners, but this season he took it to a completely next level, I would assume because he had better service, and we also just naturally won more corners. Nevertheless, he singlehandedly won us some games and there's not many defenders that can say that.

As for the future, the Liverpool job is available so I threw my name into the hat, but honestly I wouldn't be too disappointed if I just got to stay at Leverkusen for one more season. I haven't spent more than 2 seasons at a club for quite some time now (only did it at Povazska Bystrica and that was just the 2.5 seasons there) so it might be nice for a change. That said, obviously I'll take my chances at Liverpool if it comes to that.

Edit: And as I say that, Liverpool offered me their job but their finances show as "Okay" at the end of June, which to me means, they are probably in the red after all the prize money have come in, so I thought "fuck that" and said no. Hopefully I don't come to regret it. Hopefully they snipe the manager off of another club that's more suitable for me.

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 02:31 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2032/33 - Man Utd - Sit Rep

Fuck me, where do I start with this...

Competitions

This is the league table as I join:

https://i.postimg.cc/qRP9XMPJ/League-Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Southampton (h), Villa (h), Fulham (a) and Brighton (h) are our first four matches, which is nice, but that's then followed with an horrific six game run, so if we don't pick up points in those first four I could be here for less time than Malky.

FA Cup is yet to be drawn and we lost at Exeter in the 2nd round of the League Cup. Europe? We're not in anything this year unsurprisingly.

The Finances

These were listed as "Ok" when I applied, which worried me somewhat, but the situation is nowhere near as bad as I feared now I've had a chance to have a proper look.

We have £247m left on a bank loan that runs at £1.3m payable per month until 2050 (18 years from now) and are overdrawn by £27m.

The board have given me £21.5m for the January window and we're spending £3.85m per week of our £3.935m wage budget (I've no idea how given the shit we have).

The Squad

The players want to leave the club and they've taken an instant dislike to me, citing a lack of experience. Worse still, the club's transfers and youth have been horribly mis-managed. The squad is ageing as fuck and we have 5 trained in club players and 2 more trained in nation from the 26 there when I joined. Those stealing a living are:

Jadon Sancho (32 years old and on £275k p/w), Antoine Leopoldie (regen striker with 11 finishing, on £225k p/w), Sammy Braybrooke (signed from Leicester for £51m, 28 and on £225k p/w), Antony (32, £190k p/w and still doesn't have a right foot), Giovanni Reyna (29, £185k p/w), Nicolas Seiwald (31, £185k p/w, Sir Marcus Rashford (35, £170k p/w), the list just goes on.

Now ideally I'd get rid of all of the above and more ASAP, but they're all on long contracts and as they do have some ability I think it'll be a sure fire way to get sacked if I cut too much, too quickly. So, we're going to run a policy of "no new contracts for anyone, unless they've both played well under me and are under 33.

On the plus side, I had a rootle through the under-21s and under-19s and found these two bad boys.

https://i.postimg.cc/Bv98Px6t/Myler.jpg (https://postimg.cc/759PpJSy)

https://i.postimg.cc/D0Zm36Cp/Cox.jpg (https://postimg.cc/1nkypG1D)

Who are basically regens of Paul Scholes and Lee Sharpe if ever I saw them. Mission for this season will be to blood them in the first team squad.

The Backroom Team

Full of absolute shite and people somehow still stealing a living off the back of Alex Ferguson. I do however, have a plan for this.

Expectations

The board reckon they'll be happy with just avoiding relegation, but I don't really get what that'll look like - if we don't start getting wins we'll have lost the dressing room well before securing 17th place, so I confidently predict we'll either be safe in mid-table/pushing Europe (a few seasons back the top 10 in the Premier League made it) or I'll be out of a job come March/April.

niko_cee

25-04-2023, 02:58 PM

:cool:

You've taken the Graham Potter leap.

Burn it all down Yev, burn it all down.

Baz

25-04-2023, 03:07 PM

Thanks for not having them as Man UFC

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 03:07 PM

My plan for the backroom team died before it got started when Roy Keane turned me (and £4k more a week) down to stay at Paris FC.

Fuck my life.

Baz

25-04-2023, 03:07 PM

Is Sam Allardyce still in it as a scout?

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 03:08 PM

Thanks for not having them as Man UFC

That name pack you linked to to thank for that Baz, cheers. It really is the nuts.

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 03:08 PM

Is Sam Allardyce still in it as a scout?

He isn't now, was he ever? :D

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 07:43 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2032/33 - Man Utd - Mid Season Update

Very pleased with how things have gone since joining. The task was made easier by the dressing room atmosphere inexplicably being excellent, maybe removing the smell of Malky brought that about...

https://i.postimg.cc/L6csRr81/Man-Utd-Results.jpg (https://postimg.cc/vcvyt29Y)

The win over Southampton to start was far harder than 3-0 looks and we probably created more against Villa in the next game than the first, but the win at Tottenham was enough for me to know we'll be nowhere near relegation come the end of the season. Defeats to Arsenal and Newcastle were expected, but we were hardly outplayed and we really should have scored against a Haaland-less Man City to take the win there.

Most of the old players I suspected were stealing a living have proved me right (special mention to Giovanni Reyna who is a genuine disgrace), but Jadon Sancho has been surprisingly good. Blooding the two youngsters is going nicely and was so good to see Myler rocket his first goal for the club in from 30 yards against Palace.

Firmly mid table as we hit 2033, but I'd be disappointed if we didn't get some form of Europe. A 5th crack at the Europa Conference League would be nice.

https://i.postimg.cc/h4fr53Zm/League-Table-v2.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Transfers

Decided against buying anyone of first team quality in the window, for two reasons really. We don't have the money and I'd rather wait and see if we can attract a better calibre of player in the summer if we're back in Europe. Got my eye on 2/3 youngsters though that would be good to bring in. Given the lack of fixtures left I'm also going to actively try and ship some of the old shite in the window, maybe 3-4 of them, but I don't hold out much hope of being successful. Without European football we lose money during the season (we've shipped another £10m onto the overdraft since I joined), so I'd like that wage bill below £3m per week by the time we start next season.

Raoul Duke

25-04-2023, 08:00 PM

Enjoying the saves Yev & Adra.

Where are Haaland/Mbappe at the moment in your games? What became or Ronaldo + Messi?

Yevrah

25-04-2023, 08:07 PM

Mbappe and Haaland are both still going and both still where they were. I'd put their records up but as I've only just got to the Premier League and never managed in France the results there have been generated on minimum detail until now and they never post particularly good numbers when that's the case. Haaland does have 148 goals in 132 caps for Norway and a World Cup and a Euros to his name though.

Ronaldo took his oil money and disappeared. Messi toyed with being an assistant manager but would never join me and no one else wanted him so he also retired from the game completely.

Dark Soldier

25-04-2023, 08:47 PM

Well then

https://i.gyazo.com/b37795ea8504d905ca096cfcba53b31c.png

https://i.gyazo.com/c4a654bdb8fc57b43e451f351f54a880.png

https://i.gyazo.com/22c1c245b4fa3809531a4d5855d12529.png

https://i.gyazo.com/c022728f338d575da93d2b74bc5779d5.png

Dark Soldier

25-04-2023, 08:48 PM

Also MitroGod

https://i.gyazo.com/2963e315d2721e4d18eb084161b0bb62.png

Adramelch

26-04-2023, 07:35 AM

Enjoying the saves Yev & Adra.

Where are Haaland/Mbappe at the moment in your games? What became or Ronaldo + Messi?

Ronaldo retired in 2024 and got into managing shortly after. Started at Farense in Portugal, then went to AEK in Greece where he won 2 league titles and he's been at United since 2028, where he's finished 6th, 5th, 4th and 5th and has won a League Cup. Messi retired in 2025 and didn't do anything after that.

As for Haaland and Mbappe (keep in mind that only shows the league stats):

https://i.gyazo.com/1feaa6d2cab22672d82c0bebe787666a.png

https://i.gyazo.com/d573186dfb46b4358f181f18eb6bd645.png

https://i.gyazo.com/d196f2c63ccf23a8a3cf556e4a90a9ca.png

https://i.gyazo.com/9382e21f0f464e737bd06b31f71e646a.png

Somewhat underwhelming (and unrealistic) stats to be honest. Haaland's highest goal tally across all club competitions is 41 (in the 2031/32 season) and Mbappe's 39 (in 2022/2023 - in the save that is, he had more a couple seasons back in real life).

France just won the Euros in 2032 and came third in the 2030 World Cup, while Norway made it into the quarters in 2030 where they lost to Mexico on penalties, and have had a string of mediocre to bad Euro performances (never going past the first knockout round).

Baz

26-04-2023, 08:08 AM

What’s your formation like Dark Soldier?

wullie

26-04-2023, 09:05 AM

On my one Christian Eriksen has only just left Man Utd at 39 to go back to Ajax still as a full-time player, so the heart is holding up absolutely lovely.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 12:50 PM

What’s your formation like Dark Soldier?

A simple tactic. Its the corner routine. One third of my 90 goals scored in 22 matches are corner goals.

niko_cee

26-04-2023, 01:28 PM

Sounds like you're making the most of set pieces.

All those AI boards not as daft as they look.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 05:58 PM

Trying this now, 5-1 v United and 3-1 v City, promising start:

https://i.gyazo.com/c2a6fc3b84264c59d47ab4b47e00fbe8.png

Yevrah

26-04-2023, 06:00 PM

What happens in the match engine with the gaping hole in the middle of the park?

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 06:02 PM

IWBs set centrally but will track wide, DWs press like rabid animals, BPDs push up and the AM tracks back to middle of park, so its like a condensed 8.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 06:03 PM

Pass map is wide, full side overload when we have the ball

https://i.gyazo.com/3f7d8f899b7aea9a6a71a3df0a227b65.png

City had two whole shots in the area

https://i.gyazo.com/83fc4944ba5c0ad9ba0d8605e5ebda8e.png

Giggles

26-04-2023, 06:05 PM

This happens every year on the SI forums and then makes its way here, but if you’re using cheat formations that would never be used in real life then there’s no point in playing it really.

Baz

26-04-2023, 06:12 PM

It’s just for fun. Doesn’t need to be a 1:1 simulation.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 06:12 PM

If you can enlighten me how the above is a cheat tactic, im happy to hold my hands up. The prior one was set up for corner weakness, this doesn't have it.

https://i.gyazo.com/c1c0eb78b28385556c50b6020d600509.png

Its just knowing how the game works.

Giggles

26-04-2023, 06:17 PM

It’s just for fun. Doesn’t need to be a 1:1 simulation.

It bills itself on realism.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 06:18 PM

Its never been realistic.

Giggles

26-04-2023, 06:18 PM

7om

26-04-2023, 06:20 PM

Its never been realistic.

Excuse me. Me playing gegenpress and expressive creativity in the Vanuatan third division is very realistic.

Ben

26-04-2023, 06:33 PM

4-4-fucking-2.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 06:46 PM

Think I've genuinely broke it, 49mins in

https://i.gyazo.com/6735920a46dc79c2025b7da1b4107a6e.png

Baz

26-04-2023, 07:30 PM

Add your fancy corners.

And get some kits (http://akr.st/fm) you dirty scrub.

Dark Soldier

26-04-2023, 07:38 PM

nah fuck kits

Yevrah

26-04-2023, 10:41 PM

Bosko Delic just scored against me. :moop:

Sir Andy Mahowry

26-04-2023, 11:01 PM

First game back after my holiday in Poland:

https://i.imgur.com/npzC9jL.png

DS isn't the only one who can score goals.

Yevrah

27-04-2023, 01:21 PM

European Journeyman Game - 2032/33 - Man Utd - Sit Rep

End of our first season at Man Utd reached and pretty happy with how things turned out.

The League

https://i.postimg.cc/W3JvNrVn/Man-Utd-Results.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zb5MpyVb)

The win against Villa was our 8th in a row and at that stage I was hoping for Champions League football, but results tapered off a bit and we ended up 7th.

https://i.postimg.cc/6pLxTwFk/League-Table.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

This would have been enough for the Conference League, but England got one of the two extra Champions League spots for having the best coefficient and we were bumped into the Europa League instead.

FA Cup

I was reasonably confident of winning this given our league form to that point, but the semi against Arsenal brought us back down to earth with a bump.

https://i.postimg.cc/rFTJMr2N/FA-Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/nMd71MzX)

Transfers

I'll do a full update on this when the summer window closes, but I'm striving to get the wage bill down to under £3m and have us start the season in the black. Being constantly in debt is not something I'm prepared to tolerate, even if not being comes at the expense of being able to sort the squad quicker.

Adramelch

27-04-2023, 02:10 PM

Great turnaround that. How's the finances looking now, with prize money and the likes?

Yevrah

27-04-2023, 02:57 PM

They're looking fairly promising now. I'll give a full update when the window's done, but no stone is being left unturned and I'm in the process of disbanding the under-18 set up. :D

Yevrah

27-04-2023, 03:08 PM

Our staff wages and bonuses etc. amount to £19m a year, which is just insane. £9m is getting trimmed off that.

Yevrah

27-04-2023, 04:58 PM

Adramelch

27-04-2023, 06:05 PM

Leverkusen 2032/33 Season

Having improved the squad (and our performances) significantly last season and having finally brought some stability to our financial woes, I set a simple goal for myself really. More of the same, without overspending, while I wait for a better club to come along, pretty much. To that end, the only "important" signing we went for was a right back, as PSG came knocking for our current one, and since he really wanted to leave, his contract was expiring this season, he was the wrong side of 30 and he didn't impress last season, I thought I might as well let him go and find a replacement. To this end, this guy came in:

https://i.gyazo.com/15cab5bb83ca54e771999b084bc32a74.png

Honestly, not too impressed, especially since he cost 42m, but he was the best we could afford really so not much choice there. He ended up being the weak link in our squad, so not too happy about that transfer.

The rest of our signings were either backup players, or promising youngsters, the best of which was this young Romanian lad:

https://i.gyazo.com/c54e300f65d53846cebe6650d276ba0a.png

He joined us for a measly 3.9m from Yevrah's Steaua, but stayed there for the season. He was already looking great but he also improved heaps over that season and I'm sure he'll become a world star eventually.

We also let a significant number of players go, some because they wanted to leave and we had good offers and some because they just wouldn't be able to make it at this club. All in all, we spent 76m in transfers, while selling 107m worth of players, so a positive window money-wise if anything.

With the squad staying relatively the same, I didn't expect any improvement compared to last season. And we didn't really improve. In fact, I'd say we were significantly worse than last season performance-wise, but at least we kept up result-wise. The one positive thing is that our loses came against lesser sides this season. Why is that a positive thing, I hear you ask? Well, this time around we got a lot more points in our games against Bayern, Leipzig and Dortmund, which, more importantly, meant that we prevented them from gaining as many points as they typically did, resulting in this shock result:

https://i.gyazo.com/69658daf2044469b8d2ff0e9c8579e8e.png

If I'm being honest, we didn't really deserve it, even if we did win it with one game to spare. We were lucky that we pulled out some wins out of thin air, we were lucky that Bayern had a very rare bad season and we were lucky that the results in the games between the other three teams always seemingly went the way that would benefit us the most. Lucky or not, we broke a 20-season long spell of dominance for Bayern, while winning the club's first ever Bundesliga. And all that, while earning two fewer points that last season. #efficient

https://i.gyazo.com/0474b9f7159df31cca800bf9ee63479e.png

We could have actually won the double and we had to go through all 3 big teams, but in the end Bayern manage to narrowly (but deservedly) win the final. I was actually gunning for Nagelsmann's (yeah, he's still there) job and I reckon beating them in the final would have been the final nail in the coffin, but alas it wasn't to be.

https://i.gyazo.com/96b98fd6d63799ff766ad95951421d8e.png

A much worse performance in Europe as well. We threw away a lot of easy points at home (same thing happened in the league actually, where our insane away form carried us - 9 points more than the second best), which meant that we would have to go through the playoff system, where we got a rather reasonable draw against Milan. They were stupidly lucky to not lose the first leg, with both of their goals coming from set-pieces, but they took advantage and then dominated the second leg to go through. The board was still happy that we made it to the knockout rounds, but I certainly wasn't.

https://i.gyazo.com/ab63b95b306fcdd9b34eb777f1f8e76a.png

A rather similar situation to last season. Rijkhoff, Paz and Marchal terorrized defences, while Viola and Bruno Jose kept things tidy at the back. The one notable difference was Barone, who was mediocre at best, and possibly the reason for our somewhat worse performances. Oh well, can't have everything.

And as my third season at Leverkusen comes to an end, the Bayern job might not have become available, but another high profile one did and it was a no-brainer:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/Arsenal_FC.svg

I leave Leverkusen, having won their first ever league title, having steadied the ship financially and with a host of young players whose value has skyrocketed, so all in all, a very successful stint. I join a club that has just finished 7th, after being projected to finish 3rd, but a club with a very good basis for growth. Financially stable, not overspending in wages and with a relatively young squad, so things are looking positive.

Dark Soldier

27-04-2023, 07:06 PM

Is there a way I can edit coaching assignments for the under 21s? The under 21 coaches all seem to appear with the first team squad coaches in the main edit coaching assignments screen. Do all coaches work with all levels?

Make yourself training for u21s in responsibilities. First team coaches work with u21s. I think GK and fitness first team coaches work with u182.

Pen

27-04-2023, 07:54 PM

Race to the prem title for you two. I've been reading your updates about your journeyman games and been enjoying them. Keep them coming 👍

Yevrah

27-04-2023, 07:54 PM

Cheers DS and congrats on the league win Adra!

Adramelch

27-04-2023, 08:02 PM

Cheers. I think it might have been one of the luckiest league titles I've ever won if I'm being honest.

Adramelch

29-04-2023, 05:11 PM

Arsenal 2033/34 Season

After 11 seasons building my career around Europe, I finally landed a proper high-profile job at Arsenal. To give you an overview of where the club is at, they'd won the title three times in four years between 2027 and 2030 and more recently finished second in 2031/32 (all under Patrick Vieira who'd been at the club since 2024), however that was followed by a very disappointing 7th place last season, which is why the position became available. In Europe the club has done its best to dethrone Juventus as the perennial losers, having reached the Champions League final 4 times in 6 years between 2026 and 2031, but losing all of them. On top of that they also lost the Europa League final in 2032 and the Club World Cup final in 2029. Pretty rough. On the positive side, all that success means that the club is financially stable with a very solid squad and, to my surprise, seemingly run in a very prudent manner. Speaking of the squad, there's quite a few familiar faces in the club, namely Ramsdale, Saliba, Saka, Martinelli and Odengaard. All of them are the wrong side of 30, but all of them are still great players, which gives me a great base to build upon. Another familiar face at the club was Scamacca, but with him being 35 and already declining, he would be one of the first people to leave the club. Apart from them, the following players are also worth a mention:

https://i.gyazo.com/be1df64c0435e78913d0706ba740e855.png

A player I was looking to build the defence around, who as you see is now at City. With his contract ending in 2035, him not wanting to renew and City coming in with a very lucrative deal in January, I just decided to let him go, especially since he had been solid at best and isn't a homegrown player. City paid 130m in total, so it was an easy decision at that point.

https://i.gyazo.com/f4ffbe3481ed5bd40bfe7df10eeb1d22.png

I'd say full backs have been the position I've had the most trouble with in this save, so I was very happy to have a world class one already at the club and one that has a decade of top tier football left in him.

https://i.gyazo.com/c16720c9884c6140b1ededd1d39b820b.png

I don't generally like midfielders that are not that well-rounded technically, but I reckon this lad's mental and physical attributes more than make for it. Especially since my midfielders are the ones doing the most running, so his natural fitness and stamina will definitely come in handy.

https://i.gyazo.com/ca13fefdedd73e876abaa5673bd7dec5.png

That one's a bit of a weird one. He was considered a fringe player when I joined the club and had spent last season on loan at Benfica. But I took one look at him and thought he is more than good enough to feature at the club, and he ended up playing 57 games for us this season. Just weird that Vieira didn't really give him the time of day.

The one negative point of the squad was that it was very bloated so we did some spring cleaning (in the summer). A total of 15 players permanently left the club, netting us a ridiculous 424 million euros. A total of 11 players came in for 414m, with most of them being youngsters and only one going straight into our first XI. The following were the most high profile ones:

https://i.gyazo.com/ac10e11400febaa84638cb73071af160.png

Our goalkeeping situation was somewhat suspect. Ramsdale was undoubtedly good enough to be our first-team goalkeeper, but with him being 35 and the backup goalkeepers being subpar, it was immediately obvious that we should find a new one, so in comes this guy. He only cost us 30m, which for a young goalkeeper of this quality is more than reasonable and he even got to play 20 games in the cups and in the Conference League.

https://i.gyazo.com/4e81f4334af020883668282de666497f.png

The one player who went straight into the first XI, as he was a direct replacement for Sodiq when the latter left for City. He cost us 130m (the exact amount we sold Sodiq for), but he is younger and he is homegrown so there's something there. Probably not the best option we had, but we were running out of time in January so he also was somewhat of a panic buy I guess.

https://i.gyazo.com/9bf2e027c1663e78cba8e49c51c94ec7.png

A familiar face. When I left Leverkusen I said that I expected Bejinaru to become a world class player and I decided that I wanted to be there for this journey. That said, it was a bit of a stubborn buy as, like Southam, there were probably better options out there, especially as he cost us 100m and he wasn't going straight into the first XI.

https://i.gyazo.com/7c9c4bb9fff596b0d8707d6e08397ac4.png

A player we sort of didn't need, but one that was an upgrade over our current backup winger. Most of the big English clubs were interested in him in January, as he's a homegrown player (was at Liverpool before leaving for Mainz), so it was a bit of a coup for us, even if he cost a very substantial 83m.

With the squad now in place, I was more than confident of hitting all our goals this season. There was very little pressure, as the board only expected a top-half finish (what an unambitious bunch), and the fact that we would be playing in the Conference League meant that our extra games would be against much inferior opposition, giving us the option to rest players a lot more, compared to City, Liverpool and the rest of them. That said, let's start from the Club World Cup, which started 2 days after I joined the club so I was thrown in at the deep end from the get go. The board were expecting us to reach the final, which, unlike the league expectation, I thought was very ambitious, but apparently they were right:

https://i.gyazo.com/61b7d1d57a1dcfa67732c83a8e0bec0a.png

Not a bad way to start my stint, I'll tell you that much. Especially as it was followed by this performance in the League Cup:

https://i.gyazo.com/8a2858ac1bbba5cf64ea5d4c011b6103.png

Sadly, we couldn't make it three with the FA Cup:

https://i.gyazo.com/07fc2a91cd622066c37b871a7da96435.png

A bit disappointing to be honest, especially given how seemingly easy our opposition in the final was, but were complete garbage and they played well so fair play to them. The final was inbetween some crucial games so I guess the players just couldn't keep up and had an off day. But in the end, it wasn't that much of a blow as three days later, we played our final league game and this happened:

https://i.gyazo.com/6f566212d928ac3bb468575dfc6b3b2c.png

It was a lot closer than it should have been, I'll tell you that much. We were 2 points ahead of Chelsea going into the final game, where we had to play City at Emirates, while Chelsea were hosting Reading, who were already relegated, so it wasn't the easiest of affairs. But the positive was that we were playing for two results, since even a draw would give us the title, courtesy of our superior goal difference. In the end we very easily beat City 2-0 to be crowned champions. All in all, I thought we were the best team in the league by quite some margin, and it was only ever that close because of the high amount of draws that we've had, six of which were against bottom half teams. But we didn't stop there:

https://i.gyazo.com/99f382094a9f2b5a22ed51d461cee7bc.png

Obviously we were way too strong for the Conference League, so we ended up strolling our way to the title. That said, we did almost mess it up in the semis against Hertha, where we won the home leg 3-0 and then I fielded a weakened side and they came close to taking us to extra time. It would have been a huge travesty mind you, as we were better at their place as well, but I guess it was a wake up call for us.

https://i.gyazo.com/c952c60a3a4f99e15302d5066f56a21c.png

Obviously you'll have realised by now that my tactic places a lot of emphasis on the striker, and with us also playing in the Conference League there were a lot of easy goals to be scored, but still 55 goals from Hernandez is just incredible. As you'd expect he broke all sorts of records, though he only managed to finish second in the league with his 33 goals, since Haaland scored 35. The three behind him took turns in winning us games, but all three were somewhat inconsistent, so if I had to pick a second star performer, it would be Alentejo, who was by far our most consistent player, filling in the "Xavi" role, where the stats don't tell the whole story, but everything goes through him.

All in all, a magnificent first season at the club, possibly one of the best first seasons I've ever had. There will be some minor rebuilding ahead of us, what with Ramsdale and Odengaard retiring and some positions needing stregthening, but I reckon we're in for some more of the same, hopefully with some Champions League success further down the line.

Adramelch

30-04-2023, 11:30 PM

Some masterful set-piece defending, courtesy of Ajax:

https://i.gyazo.com/a97fad60d40fdb0b361acd8a76278054.jpg

Edit: And another groundbreaking tactic, this time from our own left-back and goalkeeper who are planning to crowd our goal so there's no room for the ball. Hint: It didn't work.

https://i.gyazo.com/32dc7384a402b34067e87df98a8cb8a7.png

John Arne

04-05-2023, 01:53 PM

I won the league with Crewe last season (hoped to finish top 4, so was kind of over-performed)... This pre-season lost 2 of my best players to minimum fee release clauses, and sold another 2 because they were both twats.

Thought I could lean on the younger players....

https://gyazo.com/ebd56112c6b6de524d125156d1874232.jpeg

Adramelch

04-05-2023, 03:05 PM

It seems to me that this version has maybe a little more emphasis on the squad taking some time to gel and players needing more time to perform when they join a club. On average that is of course, there's extremes both ways.

Manc

04-05-2023, 06:05 PM

I've just hit the milestone of 900 games in my current save.

8x League Titles
8x Super Cups
4x Domestic Trophies
3x European Cups
2x Promotions

Hopefully the game keeps ticking along nicely and continues to present interesting challenges.

Quick mention for Vincent Burlet & Lucas Noubi who are still doing the business in 2041.

Adramelch

04-05-2023, 06:39 PM

Arsenal 2034/35 and 2035/36 Seasons

A bit of a twofer here as I went through two seasons in the meantime, so you get one combined update. Getting straight to it, here's the more relevant players we've signed in those 2 seasons:

https://i.gyazo.com/9f2e6ced8c722ca090597832f9597a69.png

Right-back was our weakest link in that first season, so in came this guy to rectify that. He cost a 71m, but we've been operating at a profit transfer-wise, so we can afford paying more for that extra bit of quality.

https://i.gyazo.com/0e6ff3d79a2f6e09ee0d64f9bb7eea3c.png

With Odegaard retiring, we needed some serious strengthening at number 10, which is where Vidal fit. He cost 49m, which I think was a steal for a player of that quality.

https://i.gyazo.com/2b04a89be8291291c9f5da1013eb81fc.png

This guy was our main target in the summer, but Bayern wouldn't accept any reasonable offers for him, so we went for Vidal instead. Eventually, he asked for a transfer (because they weren't playing him for whatever reason), so we signed him for 94m, which I reckon is very reasonable for a player of his quality.

https://i.gyazo.com/d0eae9f4e4565740a64fd6886c63441e.png

This one was the first signing in our latest season. While he was more for the future, I decided he's more than good enough to be a backup striker, which in turn meant I got to sell the other one and even make a profit while upgrading. Over the season he actually came big at various points scoring a total of 16 goals, so I have high hopes for him.

https://i.gyazo.com/17920eff48a39719c49ec1ce4f7ac106.png

A January signing, this guy joined whenever I realized that Saliba's age was catching up on him. He was available for just 42m, so it was a very easy decision to make.

https://i.gyazo.com/b180672fb8a9ec8739519016596468b8.png

The latest of our blockbuster signings, Alvarez joined after a long-drawn process where Gladbach demanded insane money for him. Or rather, they demanded a fair price for him, but I thought they weren't in the financial position to be making such demands. They lowered their price in January, so we signed him for 100m. He's been playing as a ball-winning midfielder so far, which is a bit of a waste really, but I reckon we'll figure out something better for him.

You'll have noticed a theme of us spending rather large fees on players, with the 6 above costing a combined 385 million, but that's off the back of us signing young players, developing them and then selling them for a profit if they don't make the first team. The brightest example was our backup goalkeeper, who we signed for 17m a couple summers back and then sold him for 90m just one and a half years later. He only played 20 games for us, so a 73m profit out of that is just insane.

So how did all that transfer business translate on the pitch? Well let's start that we've added another two League Cups to our collection (making it three straight), although the FA Cup still eludes us to this day, with our defeat in the finals at the hands of Southampton in the first season being followed by another exit to Southampton, this time in the fifth round, and one to Tottenham in the semis the season after. As for the league, to say we've dominated would probably be an understatement:

https://i.gyazo.com/7d7953e5fa976313fd70f2eb65f2a8d1.png https://i.gyazo.com/88f3b344bf5424376846cf07933da3fb.png

That's two league campaigns where we've been top dogs every step of the way, with us breaking a host of records this season as well. Major props to Villa, Forest and Stoke for some amazing campaigns, but also major lols at City who have finished outside the top 7 twice in a row.

What about the Champions League I hear you asking? Well:

https://i.gyazo.com/955a7c921d88781945cab000710d8bcc.png

Not gonna lie, the loss to City hurt last season, especially since they've been consistently dogshit and this game was our only loss to them in 3 seasons. But in truth, we were lucky to reach the final as we had a very easy run-in (Juventus, Liverpool and Ajax) and played horribly in the most important game of the lot. But we made up for it the season after that. We had a horrible draw in the first knockout round as we played Real, but we just obliterated them, with a 7-0 aggregate win. After that we were lucky once again with Leverkusen and Leipzig (although both ties were somewhat close), before playing a third German team in a row, and the only team that had beaten us in the competition thus far, Bayern. I was not very optimistic and it was a hard-fought game, but we prevailed in the end with a 2-1 win, to break a streak of losses in the final (5 in the last 10 years) and win the club's (and mine) first ever Champions League title.

As for the lads:

https://i.gyazo.com/b1940d216a938e5bbf396b8baa905621.png https://i.gyazo.com/4f353c3f18ef92e0a0076424f9b4ca16.png

Hernandez has remained incredible (that's 151 goals in 3 seasons for anyone counting), but the real success stories are those of Bejinaru, Southam and Marinelli. Starting from Bejinaru, you might remember that it was sort of an impulse buy, since I'd signed him at Leverkusen thinking he will make it big, but I never ended up managing him there. His first season at the club was very underwhelming, but I have to say that his last two seasons have been immense, to the point where he might be one of the best players I've ever had in any modern version of the game. Just an insane player. Likewise, Southam was a bit of a panic buy, who was somewhat underwhelming in his first 1.5 seasons here, but he just showed up this last season, scoring a lot of goals from set-pieces but also being incredible defensively. Finally, there's Marinelli who had the tough task of replacing Ramsdale and I can tell you the first few months were very disappointing. In fact he was so underwhelming that our results suffered, but I had already committed to him by that point. Thankfully for him, he found his form right before the January window and has been top notch ever since, to the point where he's one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Great transformation.

So where does that leave me? I've won pretty much everything there's to be won at Arsenal (sans the elusive FA Cup) and I have built a squad that can honestly keep going at the same pace for at least half a decade. During those last two years I have declined a lot of interesting job offers (namely City twice, Liverpool, Juventus, Milan and PSG), as I thought there was great potential for titles at Arsenal. But now that I've done that, I reckon it might be time for a new challenge. I haven't found something yet as I'd rather take my time, so I'll still be at Arsenal in the coming season, but I would definitely fancy a move to Spain or Italy.

Yevrah

04-05-2023, 06:44 PM

Cracking work Adra. I’m still toiling through my first full season at Man Utd.

Baz

04-05-2023, 08:12 PM

Transfer deadline day at the start of the first season and I (Liverpool) am chasing this big lad:

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/mcs/media/images/58479000/jpg/_58479596_hulk_getty.jpg

Baz

05-05-2023, 06:40 AM

Couldn’t afford the 1.2m loan fee. :cab:

Adramelch

05-05-2023, 01:14 PM

Isn't he like proper old by now?

Baz

05-05-2023, 01:17 PM

Isn't he like proper old by now?

36. Still looks a beast though.

Adramelch

05-05-2023, 01:30 PM

Oh, he's very young then (seeing as I'm also 36).

Adramelch

06-05-2023, 07:30 PM

Arsenal 2036/37 Season

One more season done and it was one where we had to show that last season wasn't a fluke. Given how dominant the side was last season, I didn't think there was much need for change. To that end, we just looked to bring in two players, a backup right winger to replace Martinelli and a first team left winger to take over from Saka since the two of them have been rapidly declining. I reckon we did our best and the players we brought were true quality:

https://i.gyazo.com/cf048a2511f283d6908272707ddf4a69.png

This guy likes playing centrally, but I reckon he can more than hold his own on the left flank as well. At just 22 years of age (at the time) and at a relatively low cost for that kind of quality (73m euros), it was a great piece of business.

https://i.gyazo.com/e380e63296253950c955fc8198c2704d.png

A right winger that's not at Bejinaru's level, but then again who is. That said, he's definitely more than good enough to provide squad depth, he's a home-grown player and he only cost 52m.

In terms of results, the only thing I need to say is that we lost a total of 2 games across all competitions, with one loss being in a glorified friendly, the Community Shield. Sadly the second one was in a more important game, as it came against Tottenham in the FA Cup final, to ensure that we once again failed to win this one. But for those not doing the math, that meant that we went undefeated for 9.5 months. Ridiculous really.

https://i.gyazo.com/0a4f147ba667116a0fb0c704f6ad4a94.png

Obviously that also meant that we retained the League Cup, but, more importantly, the Champions League. Unlike previous seasons this time we had to go up against some of the big boys, eliminating Bayern and United before beating Real in the final with an injury-time winner.

https://i.gyazo.com/87e7d2a6c3d44208da14188a7f2ef20f.png

https://i.gyazo.com/a5b82587c4fbffc01b5a78ba5977918d.png

Fucking Hernandez. He's had three incredible seasons and yet managed to perform even better this time around. And if you think 62 goals in 59 games is impressive, let me tell you that he failed to score in his last 8 games (which was of course a bit of a bummer), meaning he at one point had 62 goals in 51 games. Unsurprisingly he finished top scorer in the league and the Champions League. You might also notice Bejinaru isn't even in the list, but that's not because he shouldn't be. He had another incredible season with 12 goals and 24 assists in 41 games, but he broke his ankle in early March and ended up missing the business end of the season. Lanza and Vidal put in some very good performances in his place, but we definitely missed his delivery, resulting in some very close results and our second loss of the season. The last person that deserves a mention is once again Marinelli, finishing with a 7.27 average rating, which for a keeper is honestly bonkers. We had a very solid defence, so there were games where he had nothing to do, but there were also games that he singlehandedly won for us.

And with all that said, I reckon the save is at a crossroads now. I could potentially stay at Arsenal for more of the same, but I don't know what else is there for me to do. At the same time, waiting for the few jobs that would interest me doesn't look all that appealing either and I don't fancy taking too big a step down and managing someone like say Napoli. I'll probably see how the summer goes, especially since United sacked their manager so there will be some reshuffling, but there's a real possibility that that's the end of the save.

Bam

07-05-2023, 01:39 PM

Anyone know where i can get a realistic face pack for regans?

John Arne

07-05-2023, 02:46 PM

Download NewGan, it's great and easy to use, but a fairly big download.

https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/yk25eb/zealand_newgan_face_generator_works_on_fm23_beta/

Yevrah

08-05-2023, 01:44 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2033/34 - Man Utd - Season Review

First full season with Man Utd, seems ages since I've updated so by way of context I joined part way through the previous season where we found ourselves in the relegation zone thanks to some sterling work from Malky Mackay. We turned things around and ended up 7th and with it Europa League football for this campaign.

Finances and Transfers

Mission in the summer was to get the wage bill down below £3m per week and I achieved it, but my God it was a fucking ballache. So much old shit on obscene contracts that continually rejected offers from elsewhere. Giovanni Reyna in particular, who I really quite grew to hate, pissed me about a million times before finally fucking off to Inter.

https://i.postimg.cc/vHyWgXGM/Trf-Out-1.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/FKYc5BVb/Trf-Out-2.jpg (https://postimages.org/)[/url]

https://i.postimg.cc/mrK9bymv/Trf-Out-3.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Other major thing to note there was that Rashford decided to fuck off to Barca when his contract expired. He played well from January onwards, so I possibly would have kept him but he was 35 by that point so no big problem.

In terms of players in, the club was in such a state appealing to established talent was going to be a problem, for two reasons. Firstly, every player we were after that was also courted by a club in the Champions League would reject us in favour of them and secondly the shocking prior financial mismanagement had led to meagre budget for the season (unless I wanted to undo all of the good work on getting the wage bill down) so the decision was taken to gamble on the first team players we had left being good enough to get us into the Champions League this season and focus on buying some promising youngsters to start laying the foundations for the future.

https://i.postimg.cc/Y24BTfF6/1-Hyun.jpg (https://postimg.cc/t7Hcx62J)

£2.3m from Ulsan. The Park Ji Sung of full backs I'm hoping.

https://i.postimg.cc/4yGvv1kD/3-Linton.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cgD80wJh)

£8.75m from relegated Everton. High hopes for him.

https://i.postimg.cc/4x0z2GRb/4-Illunga.jpg (https://postimg.cc/K1nk4dzR)

£7m from Peterborough and that was it for players in during the summer window. However, once we got to January the board recognised the improved financial position and gave me a few more quid to spend without taking it off the wage budget and three more young targets were signed.

https://i.postimg.cc/vZyR1JNh/2-Vukovic.jpg (https://postimg.cc/2V09MKmL)

No work permit yet for this one but at £325k from Efsberg I'll just flip him at some point if he never gets one, which he probably will once I've loaned him out enough.

[url=https://postimg.cc/rR0zTH3y]https://i.postimg.cc/NFbX6qxX/5-Zielinski.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

£2.4m from Lech Poznan.

https://i.postimg.cc/zXtW3NvZ/6-Nunez.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zVh3P9T0)

£5m from Boca.

In addition to that a pretty promising player from Arsenal became available, so I snapped him up too even though I couldn't play him as he'd played for the Gunners and a team out on loan.

https://i.postimg.cc/7PXJQ4gG/7-Occhi.jpg (https://postimg.cc/PNpqPBVT)

At £12m I'll take that.

Backroom Team and Overview

Roy Keane realised the error of his previous decision and finally joined us from Paris FC as Assistant Manager and I culled so many staff people must have thought Elon Musk had rocked up.

With all this trimming I was expecting to stay comfortably in the black all season, but sadly I was very much mistaken. Partly due to £3m per week on wages still being too much for a team with no Champions League revenue but mainly due to ludicrous appearance bonuses in the contracts of the players we did keep and the incessant payments we had to keep making on players who weren't even at the club anymore due to the insane way the previous deals had been structured. You can blame Malky all you like but the real culprit here is Rooney, who must have been made president of the British Managers Lunch club for his sterling work in his 5 year stint. Kept his job due to winning some minor cups but never once had the club above 6th in the league, all the while signing players on deals that would make Peter Ridsdale's goldfish blush.

Expectations

Due to the staggering lowering of ambitions journey the club has been through, the board only expect mid-table, but I want Champions League qualification every year from here on in and anything less this season will be a failure in my mind. A trophy would be nice too, but the number one goal this season is getting the club back in the big time.

Yevrah

08-05-2023, 02:12 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2033/34 - Man Utd - Season Review continued...

What became apparent quite quickly was just how bad this club is. The Premier League has three big hitters in it now, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City and every time we played them it was obvious how far behind we were in terms of quality. As a result the league season was littered with losses that were obviously going to be so after about 10 minutes of the match starting. Still and on the plus side, we were quite good at beating the shit. We bowed out meekly of the domestic cups, but a good end to the season in the league (including some actuals points, ok a series of single points) against teams we weren't expected to beat we finished 5th. If England got the extra Champions League spot for the coefficient for the year it would mean we've made it. As it turned out they did:

https://i.postimg.cc/rmDWSYPZ/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Which left the Europa League as our only hope of silverware:

https://i.postimg.cc/nLBfCHH3/Europa-League.jpg (https://postimg.cc/f3zrPQSd)

The win against Ajax had me believing we'd win it and PAOK winning their quarter-final and setting up a semi with us was delightful news. The trip to Greece was more laboured than it should have been but we smashed them back at Old Trafford and Wolfsburg would await in the final.

https://i.postimg.cc/P5n4dhRX/Europa-Final.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9r1Tp32K)

:jayjay:

Other Things

My Paul Scholes newgen, club youth product Brooklyn Myler is developing and playing very well. 16 goals and 9 assists from 21 starts and 28 sub appearances this season.

https://i.postimg.cc/Px06ZD2Z/Myler.jpg (https://postimg.cc/7GMMr5vY)

And this chap came through an otherwise terrible youth intake in March:

https://i.postimg.cc/P56QYZqx/Tassi.jpg (https://postimg.cc/pmFjtmzb)

Manager Update

The Europa League win saw me hit a 4.5 star rep for the first time and moved me within about 50 points of the top 10 England hall of fame. My original contract has a year left to run, but I want to stay here for a good while and attempt to make Manchester United great again. They now haven't won the league for 22 years.

https://i.postimg.cc/rstPYjKQ/Manager-History.jpg (https://postimg.cc/8fN47hd6)[/url]

https://i.postimg.cc/63DX3yZb/Ho-F-Points.jpg (https://postimages.org/)[url=https://postimages.org/]

Bam

08-05-2023, 07:17 AM

Download NewGan, it's great and easy to use, but a fairly big download.

https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/yk25eb/zealand_newgan_face_generator_works_on_fm23_beta/

:thbup:

Does it automatically add the faces? Only some of these packs I've seen you have to do it manually.

John Arne

08-05-2023, 07:35 AM

:thbup:

Does it automatically add the faces? Only some of these packs I've seen you have to do it manually.

Does it automatically. You just have to export your squad list (they show you how to do it) and import into the their program and click go.

Bam

08-05-2023, 07:46 AM

All over that blud.

wullie

08-05-2023, 08:00 AM

I use it around April each year when all the new players have appeared, after you've done it the first time you've still got the filters and whatnot in place for next time so there's nothing to it at all

Mike

08-05-2023, 08:03 AM

It’s a fantastic tool

Baz

08-05-2023, 08:07 AM

As bad as the default regen faces look, I like that they're not photos so I instantly know who is and isn't a regen.

Clunge

09-05-2023, 12:41 PM

Got far too bogged down in my previous journeyman in the Swedish fourth tier which killed the vibe. So I've started a new one and I've landed at... Spartaks Jurmala in Latvia. The aim is to stay above water and build the best youth system in the country. Nice.

I've inherited this kid who, by Latvian standards and for a 16-year-old, looks shit hot. He's a natural AMC, and accomplished AML and AMR (right-footed). I was just wondering whether anyone had any thoughts on what his best position might be. I wasn't setting out to play with an AMC, but I could work towards it in a season or two if anyone thinks he might be better as an AMC rather than training him down a wing.

https://i.imgur.com/JN2n8Ji.png

Yevrah

09-05-2023, 02:23 PM

Spartaks Jurmala. :cool:

Adramelch

09-05-2023, 03:00 PM

Could see him doing the job as an inside forward too.

Clunge

09-05-2023, 03:52 PM

Yerr, it's the low dribbling skill that's putting me off having him out wide though...

And Yev, I was sure someone else had been at Jurmala :D.

Jimmy Floyd

12-05-2023, 09:00 PM

I've picked this up for the first time in a few months. Really fancied a save where I attempt some Sam Allardyce-style short term jobs. A different kind of journeyman save, if you will, that will be free of the usual grind of buying youth, playing good football, and so on as I'm looking to do a fireman in-and-out job at troubled clubs, whether it's turning around a shit season, or bouncing back from relegation etc.

First job is in January '23, trying to save Bournemouth. Gary O'Neil has been given the bullet and things aren't looking too fresh, with this the state of play at the bottom:

https://i.ibb.co/6D9d3w8/23-Bomostarttable.png

No one in the squad earns over £50k pw with the curious exception of not-terribly-good Brazilian goalkeeper Neto who earns £100k pw. We are the league's lowest scorers and 2nd worst defence. Top scorer is Dominic Solanke with 5, and no one else has more than 1. I have a January window but no transfer budget, so if I want anyone else in I'll have to sell to fund it and there is very little in this squad worth the price of admission. With most of the little talent available being wingers like Semenyo and Christie, we'll have to set up to play on the counter. Should be interesting and the first task is Man City away in the FA Cup so that should be short-lived. Luckily I have some wise counsel available:

https://i.ibb.co/SytZNDS/cheersjermain.png

Cheers, Jermain.

Adramelch

12-05-2023, 09:09 PM

That's actually a pretty novel and interesting idea.

Yevrah

13-05-2023, 04:42 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2034/35 - Man Utd - Season Review

Second full season with Man Utd and we're moving in the right direction. The summer window was a transformative one, but slightly unexpectedly so as I thought I'd done my business early only for the floodgates to open on players out.

Firstly, another couple of pre-arranged deals for youngsters completed:

https://i.postimg.cc/wMgnkbvP/1-Carrupt.jpg (https://postimg.cc/MM3s651b)

£1.4m from Thun, looking like an absolute bargain after a year in the under-21s.

https://i.postimg.cc/76mnpB9j/2-Da-Silva.jpg (https://postimg.cc/624ZZfDh)

£4.8m from Atletico Mineiro. He rocked up with a bad attitude to training and a stubborn refusal to accept being retrained as a marauding left back, but we made progress on both fronts as the season progressed and he put in a few decent first team performances too.

I then spent my entire budget on the following three players, assuming that'd be it for this window:

https://i.postimg.cc/Pq6M7329/3-Delic.jpg (https://postimg.cc/B8KDLgWB)

Out of favour at West Ham and available for £35m, I couldn't resist getting my boy back. We've been through so much together, at Istra, St. Gallen and now Man Utd. He started badly and I was concerned he was shot, but ended the season with 7 goals and 18 assists so I'll take that.

https://i.postimg.cc/yx6sNNFk/4-Brown.jpg (https://postimg.cc/njW6RpSJ)

£23m from relegated MK Dons, surely a FEC right there.

https://i.postimg.cc/MKcgmRKz/5-Lavergne.jpg (https://postimg.cc/SJhZynMP)

With funds running dry I had to pull a Wayne Rooney with this one and mortgage future transfer budgets to sign him. :eyemouth: £52m in total, with two £15m instalments included.

So, as I said, I thought that was it and then all of this happened:

https://i.postimg.cc/k5X54fqn/Out-1.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/jd4K7P8C/Out-2.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/jdd3MfxD/Out-3.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Vela was good, but a £42m bid for a winger with 5 finishing was too good to turn down. Antonio Silva was one of our two first choice centre backs but didn't want to sign a new deal and with 12 months left on his contract £60m was gladly accepted. I also managed to trouser nearly £50m up front from Chelsea for Braybrooke who was ageing and massively overpaid. In addition I decided to bin off most of the players I'd inherited that we'd been loaning out that clearly weren't going to make it.

All that little lot allowed me to bring this beast in from Monaco for £81m, leaving me over £100m in the bank and a wage spend of £2.6m.

https://i.postimg.cc/8CKLPF80/6-Gonzalez.jpg (https://postimg.cc/GBD4XmmF)

Expectations

The board want a top half finish, a weak showing in Europe and a moderate performance in the cups, but.... fuck that.

Champions League qualification as a minimum, but a trophy, any trophy, on top of that to make the season a success.

Yevrah

13-05-2023, 04:44 AM

And Jim, cracking idea that, I'll be following with interest.

Can you negotiate avoiding relegation bonuses into contracts?

Yevrah

13-05-2023, 05:41 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2034/35 - Man Utd - Season Review Continued

The League

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0m6Ptsy/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

We were never in contention for the title, but a 3rd placed finish shits on anything that chancer Rooney did and represents Man Utd's highest league position for 14 years. Man City and Chelsea too good again, but if that's the new benchmark for points required to win the league we should be in with a shot of a title within a season or two from here.

League Cup

https://i.postimg.cc/Jhvc5yTB/League-Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cK7nsJGs)

It can't go unnoticed that that draw to reach a final might be the kindest in all of human history, but we were there and would face Arsenal. In good form, did we have the minerals?

https://i.postimg.cc/rsQDg38Y/League-Cup-Final.jpg (https://postimg.cc/q66Bvm68)

:jayjay: Get the fuck in. Trophy number two at Man Utd to go with last season's Europa League and revenge against Arsenal for losing to them in the European Super Cup. Sadly you only get 64 HoF points for winning it, fewer than the Romanian Super League.

FA Cup and Champions League

https://i.postimg.cc/NMFS5rK9/FA-Cup.jpg (https://postimg.cc/PpG27JzT)

Tough wins over West Ham and Leeds were rewarded by drawing League One Bromley in the semi's who we coasted past to set up a final with Tottenham. Hopefully the old Fergie adage would prove to be true.

https://i.postimg.cc/vmhDGCn8/Champions-League.jpg (https://postimg.cc/WDDsnWSx)

More kind draws in the Champions League by avoiding the English clubs, but some stunning wins nonetheless. When Dortmund beat Man City in their semi I couldn't have been happier. However, fixtures and injuries were now piling up and we'd be without 4 first team players (including record signing Gonzalez, who was averaging over a goal per start to this point) for both cup finals. First up, the FA Cup final.

FA Cup Final

https://i.postimg.cc/j5d2CK03/FA-Cup-Final.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cK205pJf)

I don't know what it is about Sesko, every time I've bought him I've been distinctly underwhelmed, but against me? There he is, time and time again tearing me a new one. Amazing comeback though and with 121 HoF points our second biggest ever trophy.

So, the big one. Could we win the Champions League well ahead of schedule?

Champions League Final

https://i.postimg.cc/DwsvB0Pb/CL.jpg (https://postimg.cc/k2JP5nZn)

A resounding no then. :moop: Have to admit that I'm gutted. Losing Champions League finals is annoying, but the squad was so fucked by the time we made the game and Dortmund just outclassed and outran us, so I guess I have to take the positive of getting there in the first place which has swelled the coffers, hopefully improved our commercial income (which is about £100m behind the EPL big guns) and also seen us qualify for the World Club Cup.

Yevrah

13-05-2023, 05:53 AM

Couple of other bits to wrap up that I forgot to add above.

The season saw us move into the top 10 of English managers:

https://i.postimg.cc/Gt2gft8C/HoF.jpg (https://postimg.cc/7GFNGxns)

1 point behind Wayne Rooney thanks to the chancer winning the Championship with Everton is jarring, but well placed to hopefully take 4th place soon and then mount an assault on the top 3.

https://i.postimg.cc/X7X7fgv2/Finances.jpg (https://postimg.cc/7f8kD007)

The finances are also in very rude health, with sponsorship and season ticket income still to come on top of the current balance of £124m. A £115m transfer budget and £1m p/w in wages to work with this summer should also hopefully see us get close to a cracking first X1.

Baz

13-05-2023, 06:40 AM

Rhys Gibbs sounds like a PES version of Giggs.

Adramelch

13-05-2023, 06:47 AM

Out of favour at West Ham and available for £35m, I couldn't resist getting my boy back. We've been through so much together, at Istra, St. Gallen and now Man Utd. He started badly and I was concerned he was shot, but ended the season with 7 goals and 18 assists so I'll take that.

I've definitely noticed that in this version players need more time to adjust than previously, so I tend to just give them enough time to prove themselves and it's a strategy that's definitely worked for me.

Cracking season that and you already have more FA Cups than I do, in half the seasons so there's that!

Yevrah

13-05-2023, 07:38 AM

I'd agree. Gonzalez hit the ground running, but much more often than not I get 6 months of bang average at least before a new arrival starts to play well.

Any tips on getting the price of a player down? I'm after a striker in the Championship, but MK Dons want £74m for him, which is insane. They were relegated the season before last and have so far failed to go back up so he should be agitating for a move but he isn't.

Adramelch

13-05-2023, 07:44 AM

I just bombard them with offer after offer. It doesn't work instantly but for the most part I've gotten the player in the next transfer window.

igor_balis

14-05-2023, 10:26 PM

https://i.ibb.co/dgqqfT4/completed-it.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/1JzsVGC/completed-it-2.jpg

Completed it, lads. I even deliberately tanked the league in 35/36 to win the Europa League before I was too good (instead of deliberately finishing 3rd in the group as it served a dual purpose of giving loads of minutes to the academy lads). Slightly ahead of schedule, which is almost bittersweet - my team had obvious gaps and problems, and was looking forward to enacting my MASTER PLAN in the close season to take the final step, and then we went and bloody won the league and champs league anyway.

Does give the save slightly more life - I've won everything, but not all at the same time, so have a general target to essentially perfect the team, with more specific goals of getting league/champs league/copa italia treble and a couple of other bits and bobs.

We also keep producing awesome newgens, so I'm toying with the idea of getting a bit role-playey, and imagining that the board are sick of proud socialist Livorno wheeling and dealing their way to success, and converting it to something of a youth academy challenge (maybe allowing one signing a season or something).

wullie

14-05-2023, 10:35 PM

https://i.imgur.com/kj4reQZ.png

Credit to PSG for getting the inevitable out of the way early this year

Yevrah

15-05-2023, 07:35 AM

European Journeyman Game - 2035/36 - Man Utd - Mid Season Update

3rd full season at Man Utd and it's going very well so feel a mid-season update is warranted.

Transfers

Wisdom Amey (£45m to PSG) and Darko Markovic (£45m to Paris FC) were the latest two players to not understand what we're doing here and want to leave when their contracts expired. No chance that was happening, so off they went this summer. In terms of players in, the usual youth prospects were signed:

https://i.postimg.cc/ZKJqH71S/1-Rooney.jpg (https://postimg.cc/qgZ0MLJb)

£7.5m from Benfica.

https://i.postimg.cc/85VG5sGS/2-Barone.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zLp62z3t)

£7.5m from Braga

Which left 4 other players who came straight into the first team squad:

https://i.postimg.cc/W4NKfrst/3-Radwanek.jpg (https://postimg.cc/YvPbvvGw)

Try as I might, this was the only good right back I could find for under something like £150m. £21m from Eintracht Frankfurt.

https://i.postimg.cc/JnhftXFS/4-Kern.jpg (https://postimg.cc/cKV9bv0c)

With Trubin now 34 a new first choice keeper may soon be needed, so moved to get this chap as back up while I can still get him trained at the club. £10.75m from Admira Wacker.

https://i.postimg.cc/ry75nkqr/5-Price.jpg (https://postimg.cc/NL7yFZ9s)

£28m from Everton.

And hopefully saving the best for last:

https://i.postimg.cc/k5knrfGf/6-Ilunga.jpg (https://postimg.cc/nsG8BKvD)

£85m from Montpellier.

Charity Shield

Having won the FA Cup we'd face Man City and it what I hope to be a watershed moment, we battered them:

https://i.postimg.cc/cLyMHNjS/6-CS.jpg (https://postimg.cc/svmZ6bs6)[/url]

Two things to add here. At this point it feels like Haaland will never retire. I guess he's only 35, but still annoyingly good. Secondly, I got 49 HoF points for winning this one match, breaking the 1,000 point mark with it.

League Cup

[url=https://postimg.cc/HcK4ZRm8]https://i.postimg.cc/C5MP1p67/League-Cup.jpg (https://gasstation-nearme.com/bp)

Pretty routine so far, but was good to beat Spurs away and West Ham will pose a challenge in the semi's.

Champions League

https://i.postimg.cc/jdM5C6C4/CL.jpg (https://postimg.cc/KRgFHMP1)

13 points has us 2nd on goal difference in the group, one point behind leaders Juve. With the two games against shit to come at home I'm hoping I can top the group and sail through to the last 16 proper.

The League

https://i.postimg.cc/pLdBnBCW/League.jpg (https://postimg.cc/svtWk7bq)

Bar the inexplicable defeat away at Derby (and maybe Watford) a cracking first half of the season, we're also amazing at home and have played almost all of the better sides away from home.

https://i.postimg.cc/SR3gGTrb/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Only two points ahead of Chelsea, but I think it's fair to say, IT'S ON!

Baz

15-05-2023, 07:51 AM

You’re never leaving United are you. :D

Yevrah

15-05-2023, 07:54 AM

I must admit, it's going to be difficult. :D

The rebuild job has been so huge and it's finally coming together after three years it's going to be hard to go and have to do it all again.

Yevrah

15-05-2023, 03:49 PM

The fucking state of this:

https://i.postimg.cc/nrBfN79Q/Macrh.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

:sick:

https://i.postimg.cc/rpNJZppF/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Gray Fox

15-05-2023, 03:57 PM

I demand you resign and save Liverpool immediately.

You'd be deeply disliked by so many people too.

Yevrah

16-05-2023, 12:05 AM

After the car crash that was March we rallied and won the league.

https://i.postimg.cc/TYK7pc6Q/League.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Was far closer than that looks and went to the final week due to Chelsea always having games in hand.

Jimmy Floyd

17-05-2023, 07:59 PM

Bournemouth 22/23

https://i.ibb.co/6D9d3w8/23-Bomostarttable.png

You may remember that I took over for a short-term fireman job with the table in the above precarious position.

I settled on a 4-3-3 counter-press, with Useless Dominic Solanke through the middle and the midfield three of Cook, Lerma and Billing likely to prove vital as we have no backup for them at all. For goals we're looking at it going in off UDS's arse, or contributions from the likes of Traore, Christie, Semenyo, Tavernier or wank O'Neil-death-throes signing, 34 year old German Max Kruse, who has pace 9, work rate 8, jumping reach 9 and stamina 10 but otherwise an absolutely cracking recruit into the Premier League. The main aim however will be to shore up the defence and keep things tight. For this it's going to be a combination of South American fouling (Senesi, Vina) and British grit (Mepham, Smith).

First up with our merry band of utter shite was the FA Cup, then it was off into our 19 cup finals to try to stay in the top flight.

FA Cup: Man City 3 Bournemouth 1, a scoreline that rather flattered us.

After this game I had a run-in with Useless Dominic Solanke, who, after being useless and missing a sitter in the above game, demanded a move to a bigger club. I was unable to talk him around and so offered him out despite backup Dango Ouattara being crocked. Everton, 19th and always willing to be mugged off in the transfer market, bid £19.5 million which I accepted largely in the hope it might sabotage Everton. Ben Brereton Diaz, from Blackburn, was lined up as the chosen replacement.

PL 20: Man Utd 3 Bournemouth 1. Keep it tight, I said. Don't dive into challenges, I said. Keep your discipline, I said.

https://i.ibb.co/XSPkg22/discipline.png

As well as the six yellows we also got a straight red for Semenyo, who scored a late consolation and then punted Luke Shaw. Legend. Three points from safety.

PL 21: Bournemouth 1 Fulham 0. I was forced into starting the glacial German and he scored a scrappy shit goal early on. Lerma was then sent off and we had to cling grimly on for an hour playing four-four-fucking-one. Luckily Fulham were shite. Goal difference from safety.

PL 22: Tottenham 2 Bournemouth 2. God bless Spurs, gifting the slowcoach sauerkraut a 93rd minute equaliser. Still goal difference from safety.

PL 23: Bournemouth 2 West Ham 0. 18th v 19th and settled by a missed penalty rebound and then Brereton Diaz's first top flight goal. Three points clear of the drop.

PL 24: Liverpool 0 Bournemouth 1. A legendary performance against the league leaders, settled by a Joe Gomez own goal. Five points clear of the drop!

PL 25: Bournemouth 1 Chelsea 2: Back to earth. Everton and West Ham below us both win. Two points clear of the drop.

PL 26: Brighton 1 Bournemouth 0. Lost it to a penalty. Still two points clear of the drop.

https://i.ibb.co/1GBrr7Y/bomo26table.png

PL 27: Everton 0 Bournemouth 1. Dyche sacked and this is Wayne Rooney's first game in charge but it doesn't go well. Another huge win on Merseyside, gifted to us by a Pickford howler. UDS in the mud. Four points clear of the drop.

PL 28: Nottm Forest 0 Bournemouth 2. Battered a side now managed by Moyes, who might well take two teams down in one season. Three points clear with a game in hand.

PL 29: Bournemouth 0 Arsenal 1. Allardyce would have loved this game. Lost, but lost the right way, keeping it tight and not creating anything. Two points clear with a game in hand.

PL 30: Brentford 1 Bournemouth 2. Brentford have plummeted below us into the relegation fight and this result begins to bury them. Five points clear of the drop with two games in hand, it seems to be coming home.

PL 31: Bournemouth 1 Newcastle 2. Mugged off by Isak. Five points clear with a game in hand.

PL 32: Crystal Palace 1 Bournemouth 2. Yet another away win, four in a row now and seven points clear with a game in hand. Nearly there.

https://i.ibb.co/s3nRHyt/bomo32table.png

PL 33: Bournemouth 0 Aston Villa 3. 'Tough night for the boys, we go again'. Lerma sent off again. Still 7 points clear with a game in hand.

PL 34: Bournemouth 0 Man City 4. City are fifth and the media were speculating about Pep needing a win to save his job, going into this one. Glad to be of service. Seven points clear with four to play.

PL 35: Bournemouth 1 Leicester 3. Now into a full-on death spiral and teams below us win. 5 points clear with 3 to play.

PL 36: Leeds 4 Bournemouth 1. 'Couldn't fault the lads for effort.' Still five points clear thanks to a Wolves defeat. We play them on the final day.

PL 37: Bournemouth 4 Southampton 0. Thank fuck for that. Billing, Traore (2) and Brereton Diaz keep us in the top flight.

PL 38: Wolves 2 Bournemouth 3. Having stayed up ourselves, this sent Wolves down. West Ham were staying up throughout the day but conceded two very late goals to lose 2-1 and go down.

https://i.ibb.co/7KDBCth/bomo38table.png

A very streaky half-season - some great performances and some utter tripe, and a very disappointing lack of Respect for The Point. Still, job done and that was more than enough AFC Bournemouth for my liking, so in went the resignation. The squad is an absolute mess, so good luck to whichever poor bastard has to start a new top flight season with them or attempt summer recruitment.

I, on the other hand, will be hunting for fresh disaster zones to turn around...