BMG x2

I've decided to start a season with Borussia Mönchengladbach (BMG) mainly because we share the same initials but also because its somewhere i've never managed before. I will be playing in FMC mode for this one.

Die Klub
- The clubs nickname is Die Fohlen, which translated into English is The Foals.
- BMG were founded in 1900.
- The club has won the Bundesliga 5 times in its history, the last time coming in 1977. It has also won the German cup 3 times and Uefa cup twice.
- Gladbach play their home games at Borussia Park which holds 54,057 people. It was built in 2004.
- Former Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes was a prolific striker for the club during his playing days. He hit double figures in every season he played for BMG, including scoring 85 goals in 97 games over a 3 season period.
- 1. FC Köln are the clubs biggest rivals. The German yo-yo club will also be competing in the Bundesliga this season, after going through 10 promotions/relegations in the last 17 seasons.
- Most expensive buy is Luuk de Jong from FC Twente for £9.75m in 2012.
- Biggest sale was Marco Reus to Dortmund also in 2012 for £13.75m

I'm being optimistic, although its not impossible. The team finished 6th last season and is in the Europa League so naturally the next step is to aim for the Champions League. But they haven't given me much money to play with to achieve this.

Always good to see another Bundesliga career on here. Good luck (but not against Bayern!)

If you use Euros as your currency, it makes the transfer budget look bigger!

Good luck BMG! Got me on board!

GL in Germany

Good luck mate!

Thanks everybody, i'll need as much good luck as I can get!


I fiddled with the players win bonuses to free up a little more money to spend on this guy. His agent was a real pain in the arse to deal with, but eventually we agreed a deal for 5 years and a wage of about £17k less than he originally wanted. That came at a cost though, because he now has 7 bonuses and 5 clauses in his contract. A few of those will probably never be needed though, like the unused substitute fee and relegation release clause.

There weren't any positions in urgent need of new players, but LB, CB & AML were definatly the weakest. I tried to sign Dragovic from Dynamo Kyiv but they wanted £9m for him which was too much for me. Kyiv did sell him to Juve 1 day later for just £5.75m though which is annoying. I also had a look at Giovinco from Juve but he wasn't quite good enough to start and I didn't want to spend my whole budget on a bench warmer.


True, but then so would the players transfer fees!

Europa League play off draw



Some random team from Azerbaijan. Should be able to beat them.

Pre season finished with a home game against Juventus. It was an even game that finished 2-2 with all the goals coming in a 13 minute period. Good result considering Kruse was unavailable and Ayew was injured. First game of the season is away at a semi-pro team in the German cup. Then its away at Qarabag for the EL play off first leg and then the Bundesliga starts with yet another away game at Paderborn.

What the hell, 28,000 away fans?!

Wow?! 28K away fans?

Good luck

Haha yeah i've never seen that many away fans before!

Transfers out
Ayew was the only incoming player. These 3 left though.


Yeah, thats £1 per month on the Dahoud loan. Don't ask.

July - August results
Good results in the first 4 games. I played a reserve side in the second leg of the Qarabag tie as it was already won. We got Leverkusen next in the cup.


Europa League group
Obviously Porto will be expected to top the group, but I think we can give them a good run for it.

Tough group but I'm sure you can finish in top 2.

Solid start, BMG! I reckon you can definitely qualify in that Europa League group too! Top stuff so far!

Echo Johno's comment!

Thanks! I think Guingamp will come bottom and whoever gives Porto the most problems will come second. Thats what I thought before the first 3 group games anyway!

Well, there is that problem...

September - October Results
Well the early good form has continued. Didn't really expect to be doing that well in three competitions, especially with not much depth in the squad. Probably should've lost to Bremen, but they just couldn't find the back of the net despite their overall dominance. 1 goal from Ayew was enough for us to steal a win.


League Standings
Those results have left me top of the table...for now. Frankfurt did have an early lead but have slipped up recently. Hoping that doesn't happen to us next!


Europe
Bit of a surprise in Europe where Porto find themselves bottom. Their only point so far has come from a home draw with Guingamp. Maybe they're not as good as I thought.

Good results Surprised to see Porto bottom

Not too bad so far chum! Porto starting poorly definitely bodes well for you

Yeah Porto could be pretty much eliminated if they lose to Guingamp in their next game. Come on Guingamp!

Next up for me is an away game to unbeaten Hertha Berlin and then home to Standard Liege.

Just had this pop up in my inbox, unfortunately.

That isn't good news Greedy board

When they told me about that, "Greedy" was a word I used but it wasn't followed by "board"

November - December Results
We started the month with a loss to, at the time, unbeaten Hertha Berlin. But after that we suffered no further losses before the winter break. Quite pleased with the draw against Bayern.



League Standings
Another great 2 months in the league has seen us remain in contact with the top. The massively unexpected 6-2 win over Schalke is easily the highlight of the season so far. The first BMG - Koln derby also took place with the scores ending even. Hertha somehow remain unbeaten 17 games in having won against both Bayern and Dortmund.



Europe
Our 4-0 win over Standard helped swing the momentum our way in the group as we went on to top it with Porto only coming 3rd. In the first knockout round we have been paired with Ajax. Not so easy but in the following round, should we progress, we'll face either Trabzonspor or Metalist Kharkiv.




We've got a few friendlies in place in January. Nothing amazing, will be used just to get match sharpness back ready for the league to begin again.

Great work in Europe to top that group mate! Fantastic form in the league too!

Fantastic form in domestic and Europe

Make sure you tie down a new contract for Andre Hahn. The German researcher(s) forgot to remove the £2.5m release clause he had at Augsburg which Gladbach activated during the summer transfer window!

It could be worse...in my Bayern save, Gladbach just got relegated!

Nico, have you sent that in to SI? That's the kind of thing they'll fix in the next database update...