Pentagon [FM14]

It's the halfway point of the season, and we'll need a new form book, because it seems someone accidentally turned on the paper shredder:


Don't ask me how, because I can't fathom this either.
Essentially, we've somehow found an ability to grind out wins in games where complacency normally sets in - yet we've also been distinctly unable to put games to bed.
I've no idea what happens next - this is uncharted waters, and Al Mokawloon are still scoring and lurking, as well as Al-Ahly and Zamalek (as if you're able to write them off in any situation).


Al Mokawloon have scored 10 more and toop the scoring chart with 2 others, but the shit steam engine keeps going.


... However, I'd exchange some of those wins for some TV money,


Of which we have virtually none.
We've only had 1 televised match all season, and as a result that source has spectacularly dried up.


It means that we're currently staring into a financial abyss.
Sacrifices will have to be made, as Gibson and Yao (whose combined wages take up more than a quarter of the total wage bill ($37k) will see out their contracts this season - I can neither afford nor justify any raises to their current pay.

And a new signing:


Arrives in January, $450 p/w for 3+1 years, so he's quite low-risk.
Here's the kicker: he's replacing Yao as my future centreback.

THE RIDE'S NOT ENDING (yet):


We got back from a mid-season break with a win against Haras El-Hodoud, then suffered a blip away to El gouna, where what is probably the league's speediest attack tore apart our pressing game.
We made up for that - and how! - with victory at home to Zamalek, where we benefited from a Zamalek sending off.

The team went back to the winning ways they had at the start of the season (albeit with a hard fought draw at Ismaily).
The Ah-Ahly match was the icing on the cake, reaffirming our title ambitions whilst effectively pushing them out of the title race.
Our pressing game was rewarded with 2 early goals, though we sought to let the opposition restore parity with a couple of gems:



We hung on in the 2nd half for a priceless win.


Al Mokawloon have (as usual) blown their opponents completely out of the water with some incredible attacking displays, but they have been prone to the inexplicable as well - cases in point.
Which leaves us with probably the most improbable title success of all my FM saves.

What else can we thank Al Mokawloon for, I wonder?


Our hottest prospects, gone to them to play in the reserves.
But I've got to thank their Canadian bosses, coming in to fund the club once again - we've got nearly $3.8 million in deals involving them.


We've blown half the cash already, which shows the importance of the TV money, which seems to have completely disappeared (still only $3k this season).


It's like we're made for each other.


Anyway, the transfers were agreed with half a mind on the upcoming youth intake, where with the improved facilities would replenish the talent lost.


Is patience the answer, or should I replace my Head of Youth Development?

Wow! Go on win the league.

I love that goal when the Keeper hits his own defender and lets the striker walk the ball in

Gameweek 33(i.e. the penultimate matchday):

We really don't want to win this.

So we want to win it?



Or we do want to win it, but have to do it the hard way because that's how football sells.

Also, Al Mokawloon are currently drawing, so as it stands we're champions.

Turns out we do,



And we have.

Nice! Great work there, any plans for a further move or are you hoping to win the African Champions League with Smouha?

I'd considered jumping ship (there's no way I can reproduce this next season especially if the TV money continues to disappear), but I've put too much into the youth system (2 upgrades already) so I might stay to make it more longterm.

I'll probably get sacked though

The end of a brilliant league campaign and one of my most unlikely achievements in FM:


We tripped up at home to Petrojet, unable to put to bed what was supposed to be a home banker.
The uncertainty continued against Tersana, where we were subject to an aerial bombardment, survived it and got the winner through a dubious penalty.
Yao was a colossus in defence, dealing effectively with the multitude of crosses.

Then another home banker against a relegated side, and we did as expected, in time for closest challenger Al Mokawloon.
Going for a pressing game clearly didn't work, as they annihilated us with their constant threat in attack - but bear in mind we still had a 3-point lead post-match, so I could afford to lose this.

Then came the penultimate weekend where they dropped the ball, only for us to do likewise and capitulate in spectacular fashion.

Then it was the final day, and as you'd known by now, we are champions:


Still 'only' Favoured Personnel, mind.


Yay.


2nd from bottom in goals conceded, but only 10th in goal scored.
And a special mention to El Gouna's Mamadou Doumbia who took them to a very good 5th with 41 goals in just 33 games - he even got a cap for the Ivorians.


Key players:

(Well in a title winning season there's bound to be more than just a few, but here's some of the better ones)


Finally back on form, Mabrouk might not be the captain, but he's definitely the face of the team.


Our top scorer this term, definitely surpassing Yehia's achievements now.


I was saying that I couldn't justify giving him a raise - I might have to retract my statements, and not only because many in the team have called for him to stay.


He might have conceded more than 1 per match, but who in the league hasn't?
And his average rating might not be the best, but it's surely no mean feat having 14 clean sheets - joint best in the league.


Selling Waild Fathi is made better by seeing his younger colleague blossom into a key part of the defensive structure.


Captain, and still an integral part of the central midfield.

-----

Now, who's up for the cup?

They scored straight from kickoff at 44 seconds, , and that set the tone for the match.

Oh well, time for the pragmatic side of club football - contract renewals.


Most of this lot will leave by virtue of being failed youth teamers, but there are a couple others that will require reconsiderations...
(Note - the renewals will take into consideration that fact that we spend a million a year paying these guys, and we lost $200k per month this season, nearly bleeding out without the TV money and only saved by Al Mokawloon.)

1st off, Gibson will leave - I'd promised him that.

Iheanacho wants $4k p/w, I have Ahmed Mostafa lying in wait, so he might leave if we don't secure the funds.
Not to mention freeing up a foreign player slot.

Ezz Elregal wants $5k, and despite his performances and value to our backline this season, his age (31) means it's a dealbreaker.

Ramadan and Abdel Aziz both want $2k, and while it's not exorbitant, paying that to what are essentially squad players are a bit excessive.
Perhaps if thy lower their demands, but not at the moment.

As previously mentioned, Yao could well stay, and the multiple departures might free up the money to re-sign him.

I'm going to regret this, aren't I.

A postscript for the season, before the start of the next campaign:


It's the board who has proposed this competition, so they must have the confidence that this'll bring in some cash.

I've also renewed deals for Yao and Ramadan, after the latter agreed to take a 25% pay cut.



Best signing was a winger I sold in January and was loaned back, while despite winning the title the players didn't play to their expectations.

Says a lot really.

Preseason's done, now to defend the title (somehow)!

But first off, some recognition:


Massive, massive overachievers.


Not him though, fully deserved.

And money matters:


2019 was our 1st season back in the top flight, fyi.


Essentially we get taxed for not driving ourselves to financial abyss.

Now for preseason:


Not exactly the best way to start the season, albeit coming up against half-decent European sides was always going to be a struggles.
Losing to Sokar El Hawamdia didn't help though.


An insipid performance where wee were very, very wasteful with our chances.

Transfers now:


True to my word there was a cull, and as a result the wage bill fropped by $15/k p/w.
Unfortunately renewals to the likes of Mabrouk and Adel pulled it back up to $26k.

Only transfer in:


Covers a variety of positions, particularly the left-wing spot, where Amr Saleh has returned to his (now)-parent club.
Can play up front though, so this might be the season where I have sufficient reason to play with strikers again (4-6-0 having been the template for this side since the promotion season).
He's apparently inconsistent though, so not much hope with regards to that.


Al Mokawloon really are funding our financial survival here.

---


The fear now is that we'll not even be able to secure a top-half finish!

1st January 2023, and this is the mid-year report:


We're really like Arsenal - an ability to put away (for the most part) weaker sides, but capitulations against bigger sides and teams with some exceptional strengths (see El Gouna).

The consecutive winning runs are still there, as are the performances, but we've already lost the same number of games as we did last season.


We've dropped 17 points already, compared to 19 for the whole of last season.
Of course, last year's points total as a record, so it's not likely to be repeated, but it's a bit too tall of an order for us to defend our title - top 4 is attainable though, so long we beat one of the giants.


They're not quite a bogey side, but we've been drawn with top-flight sides for 4 seasons now, and as has been seen we don't do well with that.


And what's a season without a financial crisis?
We've managed to blow all the sponsorship cash at the start of the season, and we face ending January in the red - again.
The Champions League starts in February, where the prize money and gate receipts might help alleviate the problem.

There is, however, a tried and tested solution:

Obviously I don't want to continually strengthen my rivals, but it's been an assured source of income and will like be the same this time round.
If I'm honest my asking price is $2 million, if they can meet that then he can go.

A short transfer window update:


As usual, choking -big time- against a giant, and again with Yao the main culprit. Might have to leave him out of the big games at this rate.
At least we alleviated the potential issue by winning against Suez Cement.


Big teams dropping points gave us a chance to keep pace, but we're gonna need to stop capitulating if we want to get a continental spot.

My stock seems to have risen considerably as well:


They beat us a day before, scoring the 1st goal despite El Sayed lying injured for over a minute.
I'm not managing unsporting scum.


Both teams are financially worse off than Smouha, and struggling in their respective second tiers as well.
I'm also looking forward to a good bunch of youngsters this March, so no go.


Regarding the transfers - Ibrahim didn't leave, but other things happened:


A reserve GK who wasn't likely to dislodge Mostafa, he left with our best wishes.
Damanhour was bought over by a Slovenian tycoon and are now the 2nd richest side in Egypt, so they've been splashing the cash this season.


All greyed-out on their side, so nothing less than a morale-boosting thrashing.

Quite a career you've got going for yourself there. And unexpected success is always the best.

It's great initially, but fucking infuriating when you start fucking up and you don't know where to fix it, since you stumbled to the title in the first place!

Not to mention title-winning wages for a mid-table club.

-------------------




Before the Telephonat match Als Mokawloon and Ahly lost, while Zamalek only managed a draw - so it was only right for us to drop the ball as well.

Basically, 3 losses in 7 is not title-winning form, and it's more galling that our fallen opponents included El Gouna and Al Ahly - seriously threw our chances away.
Oh well, fining players seems to be a good way to balance the books.


Of the challengers only Ismaily await, our our fate is really in our own hands with regards to getting 4th and into Africa's 2nd-tier continental competition.
Obviously we'll lose out to Zamalek, because that's how life works.

We've also been through a couple of CL matches:


We had the 1st leg sealed up, so the return leg featured the reserves who served(an under-par but)sufficient performance.

Next up was a Togolese side with an actual manager and 3 regens, so while it might be tougher we'll still be expected to put them away with minimal fuss.


1st leg went as expected, so the 2nd leg was treated as per the last round.
The outcome was anything but certain, though - we were never really safe from elimination, and our defensive shambles in the 1st half contributed to that.


That's us out then, but at least we'll have some more matchday revenue and $143k in prize money.


Next batch of youngsters came trough as well, time to see if my investments in the youth system paid off:


From a consistently average bunch, to some properly good ones and the rest being youth fodder - give and take, I suppose.
Emam's probably the best of this 4, but I've no real idea where he's going to fit in the team, considering the amount of mentally stronger AMs we already have; might have him trained to play in the left wing.
Really like Abdel Fatah as well, might have him feature prominently in the 1st team next season to try and develop a GK properly for once.

Now for some rather interesting news snippets:


Again, a couple of American sides with an interest - I rejected both, but it's intriguing how there's suddenly so much interest for my services.


Now this is just weird - do they not know that I've only fluked my way to a league title in Africa? Because surely they'd have done their homework about me if they were going to hire a Singaporean who's ever only managed in Cameroon and Egypt.

Will we screw up our season further? Of course we will:


This run would have been okay if the margins weren't so fine - heck, we finished worse last season!
But with an in-form Ismaily written off, it was imperative that we got a win against Petrojet -which of course we won't.
Scrappy all round, as my regular scoldings left the team bereft of confidence.


Zamalek aren't Egyptian giants for nothing, so they duly punished us dearly for the slip-ups we had.
And no continental football next season, which is excellent for our finances.

Al Mokawloon won the title, but my record points haul is still intact, scant consolation.


Players of the season:

Mohamed El Sayed
Despite a couple of niggling injuries, he still managed an average of 2 goals per 3 matches.
Definitely the Player of the Season.

Mohamed Mabrouk
He started brilliantly, chipping in with important goals, but he wilted badly as the season went as we sorely missed his scoring touch.
Still, a double-double is impressive no matter how you look at it.

Mohamed Adel
13 assists is a club record, and goes to show how much he is worth to the team, despite his less than exceptional attributes.

Honourable mentions to Anwar Ragab and Ahmed Hassan Abdel Kader.


Now for the African Champions League, and an impossible must win round, if only for our crippling cashflow:


I was too preoccupied with trying to defend their attacks and forgot to go for goal myself.
1 goal in it though, could we pull it back in the Democratic Republic of Congo?:


But for now, it's the Egyptian Cup to look forward to.

Also,



Perhaps I should jump ship before reality starts to crash down on me and I'm left with another gig at lower-league Cameroon.

Easy enough, somehow.


Ah, so that's why I had it so easy...

And the managerial offers just keep coming:


Now struggling French sides? Still can't get my head around this.

Fuck the Canadian-financed scum.

A new season, and preseason awaits, after which continental commitments resume.


We could've done much better this season had we found any sort of consistency and resilience.


The perks to being a loss-making outfit.


At least the board's doing what it can to help us not hit a financial hell by January - but let's be honest, it'll happen anyway.



Well deserved.


I'd wager that the figure were inflated by the visits of TP Mazembe and Al Mokawloon in the cups.
Nice touch though.


I've still got a continental campaign to look forward to, and they're still Canadian-financed scum, so no.

What I really don't get is the clubs that do want me - some really reputable outfits among them:


Now to the preseason schedule:


Note to self - either handle your friendly schedule yourself, or leave it to your assistant, not both.

Because playing Al Mokawloon and Lokomotiv Moscow in the space of 3 days is going to be real fun.

Preseason's done, now for the season proper:


A terrible start to our friendlies, but once we got our fitness back it was plain sailing - not losing against Maccabi Haifa and Charteroux are highs.
Holidayed the final clash, so it's not my fault :p

Also got through the pre-group stage round of the Confederation Cup:



A worrying 1st leg meant that a strong lineup was needed for the return leg, and they did a professional job.


AmaZulu, Bejaia and Khouribga are South African, Algerian and Moroccan respectively.

For better or worse we avoided El Gouna and Al Ahly, who I would hope will distract each other domestically.
(Al Mokawloon and Zamalek are also in the same CL group, so it turns out that Egypt has 5 representatives on the continental stage.)

Also, have a look at the prize money for the Confederation Cup and the Champions League - shows how much more significant it would have been if we just held on for 15 more minutes against TP Mazembe.

Also, it has occurred to me that the Confederation Cup doesn't have foreign restrictions, so I ditched my policy of not signing anyone this season to bring in 3 Brazilians on loan:



I couldn't scout any of them, so I had to make do with limited attributes.
I've got 1 foreign slot available, and Vander looks like he'll be taking that, as we do lack quality in full back.
They offer short-term flexibility (4 months) and cheap wages too, so it's not too much of a risk in any case.


Mohamed Hassan was also released last season having broken his leg, so it seems that only Walid Shokry will be the only success from our dealings - despite them spending nearly 3 million for our players.


I'll be disappointed if we don't challenge for the continental spots - the squad's played together for the best part of 2 seasons already, and if they've shown what they could do previously, going from strength to strength is only right.

And a couple of clubs want me, blah blah

Oh, I forgot to mention:



5 games in 15 days - world class scheduling.

The 31st of December 2023, 17 games played, this is The Mid-Season Report:



Couple of things I've learnt this season:

1. Mohamed Mabrouk is the most important player in the team, and for more than just technical reasons it seems.
He's missed about 2 months due to injury, and without him we've really struggled to get going in games - in the above fixtures the games he missed are marked in red, and 4 losses in 8 games do not make for good reading.

2. I've forgotten how to use a striker.
Ever since our promotion season the 4-6-0 has been a staple of our game plan, with Mabrouk providing the central forward runs that a strikerless team would lack, and with him being fit for the best part of 4-5 seasons there'd been no need for a longterm alternative.
However, with his spell in the sidelines we've had to play 4-5-1 and 4-2-3-1 with Mahmoud Ibrahim up top, and despite his quality he's looked clueless in front of goal.


So despite drawing Al Ahly and beating Zamalek, we find ourselves 10 points off top and - more significantly - 4 points off 4th.

Now for the CAF Confederations Cup:


A smash-and-grab opening win followed by a hard fought draw, and that's as good as it got.
It's probably my fault, as the opening win came about from a counter-attacking long-ball tactic, which I implemented for the home matches as well, even though we were more of a passing side.


Also, of the 5 Egyptian sides in continental competitions, only Al Ahly and El Gouna made it out of the group stages, only for both to fall in the semis.
5 sides, no finalist - kinda my fault too, if you think about it.


Couldn't even cover travelling costs to South-Africa.

And the Egyptian Cup draw:


Should be winnable, should, only because they aren't Al Mokawloon.

Mid-March, and I'm headed towards a career-changing twist:


Only 1 loss in 8, but the other side of the coin suggests that we could have had 7 wins, as opposed to having only 4.


The title is an impossibility, but the next match could well bring us back into the top 4 chase (or put a permanent end to those hopes) - Al Mokawloon awaits.

The next batch of youth players has also arrived:



Very disappointing intake. particularly because it's again with the DMs (that's 4 prospects in 3 years - time for retraining of positions again) and that 2 of the above aren't exactly properly motivated to develop.

Now for the twist:


Great news, because the club's well in a financial shithole and it'll only continue in the long term.

Now to reaffirm my status at the club, seeing that I only have 3 months left of my contract to run:

If things do end up the way I think they will, then I doubt I'll be here next season - a lack of commitment to me provides an easy way for the new owner(s) to shake things up without having to overpay, which will likely happen at this rate.

This brings the club back to its (British? ) roots, as the club was founded by Joseph Smouha, who was Egypt's richest Briton in 1949.

Oddly enough, in my FM careers this is the 2nd time that Smouha has been beneficiaries of a large windfall.


GET IN


GET THE FUCK IN

Now to see if the club are interested in letting me on this ride for years to come...


ALL ABOARD THE SMOUHA HYPE TRAIN

Hahaha nice bit of cash there.

Any chance you could upload the save? Fancy a dabble with a Tycoon.

Great too see you get a tycoon! And keep your job