Ostbahner - Austrian Road to Glory

Congrats on promotion in your first season!

Has it come too soon though?

Fantastic work on promotion. Lets hope the budgets for next season are nice for you.

@Suffolk Seasider Thanks! And I was thinking the same, so I'll have to make some good signings
@Fola We don't have a transfer budget, which is fine, however we got £14k p/week for the wages, which means we can pay of the debts I made last year. Thanks as well

Goalkeepers

Joe van der Linden - First choice keeper. Looks solid, and is only 20 so will progress well *New Signing*
Berhard Dotter - Just a backup. Only 18 and was at the club to begin with
Daniel Wolf - Won't play. Is only 15 too

Wing Backs

Raphael Mathis - The starting right wing back, and he looks very promising. Signed on a free transfer, after he was released by the club that we relegated last year *New Signing*
Daniel Jank - The 24 year old is the starting left wing back. Hasn't progressed much since joining last year, but is a good player
Tomislav Kantolic - A utility player. The Croatian can play almost anywhere and is the backup left wing back *New Signing*
Phillip Schoberl - Backup right wing back. Can also play centre back, and centre midfield which is useful
Yusuf Sayin - Only here for the 'just in case' moments

Centre Backs

Daniel Gramann - He is still here, and still the best defender at the club. He is on quite high wages, and I could probably bring in someone better for that money, but I'm not too concerned at the moment.
Jesse Wijnen - The Dutch centre back is only 21 and will partner Gramann in central defence. Looks very good and can definitely improve *New Signing*
Maximilian Berghold - He was a rotational option last year, but really improved over the summer, and earned a starting spot, but will be competing with...
Kristopher Da Graca - ....this guy. Is only 18, and was released by Arsenal. Unfortunately he has been nerfed from last year but is still good *New Signing*
Faris Hammouti - Formerly of Feyenoord this guy adds the the height of the defence, with it averaging at 6'3" *New Signing*

Central Midfielders

Florian Uhlig - Will be the new defensive midfielder, following the departure of Kevin Hacker. Has good tackling and decent distribution, so should do well. *New Signing*
Ercan Kayhan - Has been a starter since I arrived. is 32 though, so I may have to start thinking of a replacement for him
Stefan Bergmeister - On loan from Nurnburg, and is a backup defensive midfielder. Is out injured for 3 weeks at the moment *New Signing*
Noah Sylvestre - Was released from West Ham, and is a backup centre midfielder. Scored on his debut, but got injured as well. *New Signing*
Lukas Umprecht - Won't play very often, due to the arrival of Sylvestre, but is decent backup *New Signing*
Dalibor Derviservic - Wants gametime but isn't very good. Will probably leave soon

Attacking Midfielders

Youandi Renfurm - We no longer use wingers, I'm having to re-train Renfurm to be an attacking midfielder. Has grown and inch and also has gained 1 strength stat. Also he is 1 game away from 50 league appearances at only 19
Sinan Turkmen - Can play in a range of positions and can do a job in centre midfield too. Is a backup to Renfurm
Ziajan Sharifi - He still hasn't got a cap for Afghanistan, and won't play as much this year as there are two players ahead of him. Is only 18 though

Strikers

Benjamin Koglbauer - He left for a brief 3 day period, but rejoined us. He is an incredible player, and could probably, if he develops right, play in the top league
Zoltan Horvath - The Hungarian was somehow playing at a lower level than us last year, but is the best player at the club this year. Will start along side Koglbauer *New Signing*
Roman Makearevych - Was decent at the times last year but is on a 13 game goal-less streak at the moment
Bruno Souza - Is naturally a winger, but I am training him to be a striker. Can also play attacking midfield *New Signing*
Romano Denneboom - For some reason, he decided to delay his retirement until next year. He has 1 goal in 23 games for us, and at 35, probably won't play again.

I seem to be getting a lot of transfer offers for Schoberl, but I don't want to sell him as he offers a lot in several different positions



I also got this which is worrying. A Bundesliga side are interested in Renfurm. I knew it would happen eventually but I didn't think it'd be this early. Won't accept anything a lot less than £100k, however I can't promise the board won't sell him for £15k as they did with Kevin Hacker

Taking away no credit from you, but the pyramid you are using is clearly very different from the real life one(there are 3 landesliga promoring to each regionaliga) so could you maybe share a screenshot of the league structure?

Congratulations on your Promotion! Great achievement! Lets hope you can kick on and challenge in this league!

@Sankalan I didn't know about this so thanks for letting me know. Obviously the top league is the tipico Bundesliga, and then it goes to the Sky Go Erste Liga, then to the one I am in, the Regionalliga, then there is one Landesliga below that, then there is a 2.landesliga which has 3 groups (which may be what you're thinking of). After that there are several leagues all containing around 5-15 groups, called the Landesklasse. If this doesn't make any sense, tell me
@tongey Thanks! It's looking promising so far, and its also a bonus that the other promoted teams haven't had the best starts.


I've been short of time recently, so I haven't managed to play too far forwards, but one of the few games I have played was this:


A 3-0 win against Allerheiligen, who completely destroyed every team last year, and were predicted to do the same this year, however have endured a tough start and are in the relegation zone as it stands. But instead of slating them, I think the team should get a lot of credit for the way they performed. Zoltan Horvath grabbed a brace, and Benjamin Koglbauer scored another goal taking this seasons tally up to 10, as we demonstrated the strides we have taken in improving the team from a mid table side last year to where we are now

Unfortunately, due to a lack of time, I have been unable to do as many updates as I'd like to, but I have done another 11 games:

I changed the skin back again and it'll probably stay as this one now

Its pretty clear where our problems are. Bruno Souza has one goal in 20 games, Koglbauer has really struggled of late, Makarevych hasn't scored in 12 this season, Denneboom doesn't score at all anyway, and has 1 goal in 25 games for the club. The only consistent goalscorer is Zoltan Horvath, who has 12 in 29 as a target man, and has overtaken Koglbauer as the club's top goalscorer this season. May have to go out an find a new striker, because a change of tactic didn't work at all

Roman Makarevych has left the club on a permanent basis for £1k. He failed to make the step up to this division, and doesn't score or contribute as much as I needed him to. He lost his backup spot to Bruno Souza and his departure means there is room for a much more capable replacement....


Lukas Umprecht has left on loan, after only appearing 3 times in the league. Not entirely sure why I signed him in the first place, but I did, and he will probably leave at the end of the year


We are also getting a few offers from tipco Bundesliga clubs for Youandi Renfurm, but I have no intentions of selling him, so I will be rejecting any offers under £160k at least

And here is the new striker!




Signed on a free transfer after being released by Atletico Madrid and then Getafe. The Spaniard will replace Koglbauer in the starting line up until Koglbauer can find his scoring form again. Is mainly a winger but I am retraining him to
be a striker. He also made his debut already...



and he did 'okay'. He got two goals and an assist, in a 4-1 demolition over Feldkirch. Hopefully this will mean the end to our lack of goals.

I have made another signing




He is another Spaniard, released from Atletico Madrid. He will replace Daniel Jank, who isn't improving and hasn't done since he moved. He hasn't done much wrong, but he hasn't learnt the left wing back role even though he has been training there since he joined. Is only 21 so will definitely improve

The inevitable happened



He left to Bundesliga side, Austria Lustenau. It's an offer I couldn't turn down, at £215k upfront, and they were willing to loan him back to us for the remainder of the season. He has been great for us since he joined and at only 19, he has a bright future ahead of him. He managed 73 appearances and scored 14 goals, and will be missed when he leaves at the end of the season.

We have made another signing



This one doesn't come in until next season, but he will replace Renfurm when he eventually leaves. He is 23, and obviously comes in on a pre-contract, from Swindon



Also, I decided to check the Landesliga table (division below us) and then I remembered Union Gurten, the team who were top for the majority of last season and eventually fell away and were relegated on the final day, so I decided to check how they were doing in the new division. As you can see, they are in the relegation zone again! I don't know if they are in financial difficulty but when I checked their transfers, pretty much their whole squad left on free transfers, and they have brought in a whole new looking squad, which doesn't look half as good as the one the had last season. It's sad, but also interesting to see

I have played a lot of games in between the updates, and here are the results



We only lost twice in 4 months, which is a major positive, considering we played top of the league (at the time), Lafnitz, and second (again, at the time), Reichenau, granted we did lose to them. But another interesting thing about us is when we lose, we don't lose by much. All of the 7 defeats we have had this season have been by 1 goal, 6 of them being 1-0's. But other than 2 games in the 4 months, we haven't scored more than twice, which is also disappointing, but if we are winning games, I guess it doesn't matter too much. But since we brought in Borja Galan, we're unbeaten, and his arrival has also given Koglbauer the kick he needed to get back into gear. He ended his goal drought of at least 16 games and has scored 4 since Galan came in. Renfurm's form has improved slightly since it was announced he is leaving at the end of the year. The two best results were the 2-2 draw against Lafnitz, who are having a great season, and the 3-0 victory against Schwaz, who were pushing for the play-off spot when we played them, and to get the win let alone by more than two goals, was pleasing.

With a relatively good four months, we're in:



...3rd! Not quite sure how we have done it, but we are in an automatic promotion spot. It's still very close, as it always is, but we have the joint second best goal difference in the league which will work in our favour. I don't want to make any bold assumptions at this stage, but I am going to go ahead and say that promotion is likely!

A lot of our success however is down to this guy:



He is the unsung hero in the team, and is leading the way in terms of assists, with 17, and with the average rating. He is still only 21, and not only can he do a job going forward, he is also very handy going back.

A big blow



Sergi has only been here for 5 games so far, but it is still a big blow. Hopefully Daniel Jank can do a job there instead, especially at this crucial stage of the season, where we are eyeing realistic automatic promotion ambitions

Another significant injury



Borja Galan has got an injury, coincidentally the same one as Sergi, a back strain, and is out for 5-6 weeks as well. However without a physio I was unaware of the amount of injuries, we have accumulated:



Galan and Sergi are out for 5-6 weeks, Renfurm is out for 2-3 weeks with a sprained ankle, Kantolic has torn his groin muscle and is out for 2-3 months (which means Daniel Jank can't afford to get injured), Sinan Turkmen has twisted his ankle and is out for 4-5 weeks and finally Denneboom is out for 3-5 weeks with a sports hernia. Not the greatest time for these to occur, but we have to manage.

But I didn't want him to be doing any work this early. I don't believe what is happening. In the two weeks leading up to the most important game of our season, we have had 6 injuries. This time it is a centre back, Jesse Wijnen. And yet again it is a back strain. Is there someone purposely straining everyone's back? If there is, it's incredibly annoying.

We lose our biggest game of the season. We didn't just lose, we were destroyed. I'm putting it completely down to injuries. Daniel Jank had a suspension, so we didn't have a left wing back, and Goddard had to play there; we were 4 short on the bench, and Da Graca got a 5.9 match rating, making two mistakes for both goals. We drop down to 4th, but we are 3 points clear in the last automatic promotion spot with 6 games to go. We can do it!



I have also signed a new deal at the club, extending my stay for another year. Yet again, I specifically requested for the lowest wage.