Emulating (Surpassing) Red Bull

Monster Energy have seen what Red Bull have been up to and feel that they could do a better job. Red Bull currently control 4 clubs (NY, Leipzig, Salzburg and Brasil), they were also involved with a failed club in Ghana and are rumoured to be looking at an English club they can add to their portfolio.
Monster have decided to take a controlling stake in one club from each of the 6 FIFA confederation, plus an English club, in order to grow them and eventually conquer the world!

I will edit the database before starting this save to affiliate the 7 clubs together, changing their names and the names of their stadiums to incorporate the brand. I plan to give each club a small reputation boost (as being taken over by a global brand would have some effect), wipe any debts, and give each club a foreground sugar daddy, as Monster want success! Each club will also sign a kit, stadium and general sponsorship deal (figures tbc).

Stay tuned to see which clubs are getting a Monster makeover

OFC
Since Australia left OFC, New Zealand have dominated both the Nations Cup and Champions League. (Auckland having won the last 6 O-League titles). So it seems that New Zealand is the place to be if I want the club to be a success at a continental level.
Three new clubs have recently been accepted into the New Zealand Premiership (There is no relegation here, similar to Australia/MLS). So I felt that these would be a good option for us. A new club, with a new sponsor. These clubs are Eastern Suburbs (From Auckland), Hamilton Wanderers (Hamilton) and Tasman United (Nelson). As Auckland City are so dominant, I decided against taking on the other Auckland team. So I'm between Hamilton and Tasman as neither of these cities have another team.
I opted to go for Tasman United, mainly due to the fact that they have the larger stadium of the two.
The club will now be know as Tasman Monsters and they will become the only professional team in the league with the exception of Wellington Phoenix reserves.

(Edit)
I should have added that I will be using some additional leagues for this. I have a New Zealand file that I downloaded from the Steam workshop to test with. Hopefully Claasen will have some African leagues ready by the time I start!

Very cool idea. Will be following along.

CAF
Africa gives us a similar problem to Oceania, in that there aren't enough leagues available as default. As South Africa are currently the 15th best ranked African nation, I don't feel that this is the best place to put our club. But I know there will be more leagues available once Claasen get's to Africa, so let's get the planning done.
The top 3 ranked nations in Africa are Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana. While the African continental club competitions are usually dominated by clubs from Egypt, Tunisia and DR Congo. So our club will come from one of these 6 countries. Of our top 3 nations, Algerian clubs perform best in the Champions League. Having produced the runner up in 2015 and the winner in 2014. So I feel this is where our club should be.
A quick look at the database shows that Ligue 2 clubs would have a much lower reputation that we would hope to start with, so we are looking at a mid-low Ligue 1 club. My aim is to pick a team that has never won the league but has a decent size stadium. This appears to give only one option...
JS Saoura
The club was only formed in 2008 and since reaching the top division have finished 9th, 9th, 13th and a very surprising 2nd (Meaning champions league football in our first year).
The club will now be known as Monster Sportive de la Saoura. or just MS Saoura for short.

Next up... Asia

AFC
Asia gives us some interesting opportunities. The easy option here would be to take a team from the Australian A League, since they are franchises and there is no relegation. However, I want to explore all options before deciding.
The highest ranked nations in Asia are Iran, Australia and South Korea, But there are also high ranked clubs in China, Saudi Arabia and Japan. This gives us 6 countries to consider. Looking at high ranked nations that have clubs performing well in continental competition, it would appear that our best choice would be a team from South Korea.
There is much difference in reputation between the teams at the lower end of the Classic league and those near the top of the Challenge league. As the Challenge league only features 11 teams, we should have a good chance of promotion early on if we choose a half decent team here.
Looking at teams in this division that used to be much better, Busan IPark stand out. This club was originally owned by Daewoo motors and last won the league back in 1997, they even won the Champions League way back 1986! They have struggled since and were eventually relegated in 2015. Last season they only managed a 5th place finish.They look prime for a takeover.
I'Park are a Korean construction company that currently own the club. So we will be renaming them Busan Monsters. Their stadium holds almost 56,000, which is huge for the division, and was built for the 2002 Asian Games and also used for the World Cup that year.

Next up... North America

CONCACAF
North America is dominated by USA and Mexico. Although, Costa Rica are actually ranked above the States at present. The Champions League here has been won by a Mexican club for the last 11 years, and in 8 of those they had the runner up spot too. Last season the final 4 clubs were all Mexican.
So here's a dilemma... It seems that taking on a Mexican club gives us the best chance at doing well in the Champions League, but Monster is an American owned company, and just as Red Bull has Salzburg, Monster would want a home based team (Red Bulls headquarters is in Salzburg).
If we use this logic, we should take the club closest to Monster's headquarters in Corona, California. However, that would be LA Galaxy. I'm unsure as to whether they would be too big for our venture. As Monster are part owned by Coca-Cola, money isn't really an issue. So I'm going to purchase LA from AEG and make them the main parent in our affiliation.
As Galaxy have a rich history, I feel it would be unfair to rename them. However, the StubHub Center will be renamed the Monster Arena.

Next up, South America

CONMEBOL
As with North America, 2 countries dominate here. Argentina and Brazil (Although Colombia are ranked higher than Brazil currently). Last years Libertadores final was betweens teams from Colombia and Ecuador, but generally, teams from Brazil or Argentina win this too. So it looks like we will be looking at a club from one of these two countries. My preference here would be Argentina, as the teams are properly licensed.
Looking at Primera B, one team stands out as a struggling former champion. That club is Argentinos Juniors. They actually won the league as recently as 2010. It looks a good team to resurrect. They even play at the Diego Maradona Stadium.
I'd like to keep the stadium name here, so the club going forward will be known as Argentinos Monster.

Just 2 more clubs to go... Next up, our European team

UEFA
Our club in continental Europe needs serious consideration, as there are plenty of options. Ideally, we want to be a country that produces a decent amount of good young talent, so we are looking at some of the top ranking nations. We'd also like to use this club to send players needing work permits too (this rules out the dutch Jupiler league as teams can't sign non-EU players). We also want to be able to compete once promoted to the top division.
I would immediately rule out Spain (due to the Barcelona/Real Madrid dominance) and Germany (Bayern/Dortmund) and Netherlands for the reason above. So realistically, we are looking at France, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.
We would probably need to throw in a lot of money to compete with PSG and Monaco. So that probably rules France out. Italian Serie B teams tend to have a higher reputation than we want, as it is better to have a club with lower rep than our English club. So... Portugal or Belgium?
Portugal has a big 3 (Porto, Benfica, Sporting), but a team with a decent bank balance should be able to force their way in. The Portuguese Segunda tho, has 22 teams, which may make getting promotion difficult.
Belgium's 2nd tier, the Proximus league, has only 8 teams, which gives a much better chance at promotion. Finishing near the top of us, gives us a chance to qualify for the Europa league, an opportunity you don't normally get outside of the top division.

Comparing the two, Belgium's offer is more appealing. So now to choose a team...
Half the teams in the division have previously won the Belgian league, but Union Saint-Gilloise have done this 11 times! Thing is, they haven't done this since 1935. Sounds like a challenge. They'll need to be renamed tho, so it's now Monster Saint-Gilloise, or just Monster SG.

Just England to go

England
For our English club, I would like to choose a former Premier League team currently playing in League 1 or 2. This gives the following options.
Blackpool, Bolton, Bradford, Charlton, Coventry, Oldham, Portsmouth, Sheffield Utd, Swindon and possibly MK Dons (if we class them as the old Wimbledon side)
Bolton and Bradford have recently been taken over, so it's unlikely they would face another takeover so soon. Blackpool, Charlton and Coventry have all been in serious trouble recently related to their ownership and, although the fans would probably approve of a takeover, these clubs would need too much help to turn them around. Portsmouth are owned by the fans, and after previous troubles, it is likely to remain fan owned. As for MK Dons, I personally don't class them as the old Wimbledon side.
We are left with Oldham, Sheffield Utd, Swindon. Swindon are rumoured to be one of the clubs Red Bull are interested in, so lets leave them to it, while Sheffield United are getting heavy investment from Saudi Arabia currently. So it looks like our team will be Oldham Athletic, currently struggling to stay in League One

Our final list of Monster clubs listed by current reputation
LA Galaxy - USA
Argentinos Juniors (Now Argentinos Monsters) - Argentina
Oldham Athletic (Oldham Monsters) - England
Union SG (Monster SG) - Belgium
Busan Ipark (Busan Monsters) - South Korea
JS Saoura (MS Saoura) - Algeria
Tasman United (Tasman Monsters) - New Zealand

Finances, Reputation and other boosts
Each club in our new alliance will receive a small reputation boost (as you would expect when being taken over by a multinational company). I have chosen 10% as an acceptable increase. Monster will also increase the starting bank balance of each club as well as funding some facility improvements and arranging a sponsorship deal. Each of our clubs will also be given a foreground sugar daddy.

LA Galaxy
Current Rep - 6500, 10% Boosted Rep = 7150
Starting Balance - As Galaxy's balance is already more than double that of any other MLS club, I have not changed this. I have unticked the Transfer and Wage budget boxes so that these will be set in game. I will do this for all our clubs.
Facilities - Training is already at 20 here, but I will give a 1 point boost to each youth category meaning they are now: Youth Coaching - 13, Youth Facilities - 19, Recruitment - 15.
Debts - The club has no current debts.
Sponsorship - Galaxy already have lucrative Stadium and kit sponsorship deals, so I have just made sure that these will be renewed.

Argentinos Monsters
Current Rep - 5400. 10% Boost = 5940
Starting Balance - Currently, the club has a balance of £0. The largest balance in the division is just under £1m. The biggest balance in the top division (Velez) have a balance of £10m. I have given the club a balance of £2m, which should help them get promoted and be competitive in the Primera.
Facilities - Again, I have gone for a 1 point increase across each facility (don't want to be too unrealistic!). Meaning we have the following: Training - 13. Youth Coaching - 14, Youth Facilities - 14, Recruitment - 12
Debts - The club has a half million debt to the state, which Monster have repaid.
Sponsorship - Most of the revenue in Argentina appears to come from TV money. I have added a stadium and general sponsor of £1m each per season, as well as increasing their kit sponsorship deal from £100k to £500k, to put them on par with most Primera clubs.

Oldham Monsters
Current Rep - 4350. 10% Boost = 4785
Starting Balance - Currently, they have £50k. The highest in the league is £3.6m, while a mid-high Championship team has £10m+. I've chosen to give them £9m, and then the sponsorship should make them competitive once promoted.
Facilities - I was considering the usual +1 that we have used before, however, Oldham's youth facilities are really poor and I want to concentrate on youth where possible, so I have made sure everything is at least double figures.They now read as follows: Training - 11, Youth Coaching - 11, Facilities - 11, Recruitment - 12.
Debts - The only debt here is a £5m gift to the chairmen, repayable on departure, so this has been cleared.
Sponsorship - They have a £1m stadium sponsorship, so I have increased this to £1.5m. I have also increased their kit sponsorship from £100k to £500k. This should help with the challenge after promotion.

Monster SG
Current Rep - 4000. 10% Boost = 4400
Starting Balance - Currently £85k. Highest in league is £260k. In the Pro League, balance varies from £275k to £47m! To match them with a decent mid-table team, I have given them £7m starting balance
Facilities - Once again, there are poor youth facilities here (only 1 for recruitment), so I have given them 10 for everything to get them going.
Debts - Almost £5m here, mainly from the chairman and a gift repayable once promoted. All cleared
Sponsorship - Currently, there is no sponsorship here at all. Most top league teams have sponsorship totalling £10m+. So I want to get close to that. I have given them a £2m stadium sponsorship, £2m Kit sponsor, £5m General Sponsor and £500k Back of Shirt. These will all be renewed

Busan Monsters
Current Rep - 4000. 10% Boost = 4400
Starting Balance - Currently £1.5m, while the highest in the division is £4.5m. A mid Classic league side has £7-8m, so I settled on £7.5m.
Facilities - Not bad here, so +1 to everything, except youth coaching that is boosted to 10. Now Training - 11, Facilities - 11, Recruitment - 13.
Debts - No debts here
Sponsorship - Just a small kit sponsorship here, which seems to have expired in 2012. Looking through other Korean clubs, a lot have no sponsorship, while some bigger clubs have kit sponsors of up to £5m. I've gone for a £1m Kit and £1m Stadium deal.

MS Saoura
Current Rep - 3500. 10% Boost = 3850
Starting Balance - Currently £28k. The biggest in the league is only £700k, so I bumped it up to £500k. After all, we still need some challenge.
Facilities - Everything here is quite low, so I've gone 10s for everything.
Debts - None
Sponsorship - None currently, and seemingly none elsewhere in Algeria. So a basic £100k each for kit and stadium should suffice.

Tasman Monsters
Current Rep - 3250. 10% Boost = 3575
Starting Balance - Currently £390k. Only Aukland have more (except for the Phoenix reserves). so I have given them £500k to put them on par.
Facilities - Currently all 11, so a +1 boost to 12 will do.
Debts - None
Sponsorship - As I'm using Claasens update, most New Zealand clubs have the same Sponsorship set up. So I've just given them a small boost of £50k shirt sponsor and £100k stadium

Affiliations
Any current affiliations (with the exception of B teams and such like) will be removed. Each club will then be Parent club to all the clubs with a lower rep.
The following options will be ticked for all links:
Players go on loan
First option to buy
Play friendlies
Financial help
Permanent deal
Youth players training
Help with facilities
Marketing relations
Scouting knowledge shared
Loan players from sub-team

In addition to this, players may move freely from Tasman to Galaxy, Argentinos and Oldham and from Saoura to Galaxy and Argentinos.
SG and Busan have the same rep, but as Europe is generally rated higher than Asia, SG will be the parent club here

Now that everything is set up, I'm going to run a test save for a few seasons to make sure nothing strange happens, and then I will begin playing.

When I begin playing this save, I will take control of all 7 clubs. However, the aim is that I will occupy more of a director of football role. I will do this by hiring good assistant managers and then holidaying match days. I may step in and take control of matches if it starts to look like I might get sacked! Having control of all clubs will ensure that full use is made of the affiliations, with players being developed worldwide, enabling all teams to develop.
The ultimate aim is for the World Club Cup to be run with only Monster clubs taking part, meaning we have conquered all 6 continents and the World!

Good idea to run a test save! Looking forward to keeping up with this.

Cheers.
I've run a few seasons this morning without any real issues. Galaxy and Oldham are under performing, but I'm hopeful I can correct that by being in charge.
The thing I hadn't realised, is that Algeria do not allow foreign players in their leagues. So I am going to revise my choice of African club.
As I want to get playing this save soon, I've gone with the only other country I have available (barring S. Africa) which is Tunisia.
The only former champions in Ligue 2, is Sfax Railways Sports, so this is my choice. And they have been edited as follows:
Sfax Monster Sports
Current Rep - 2100. 10% Boost = 2310
Starting Balance - Currently £1. The biggest in the league is only £280k. Ligue 1 teams vary up to £1.7m. So I've gone with £1m which is level with mid-table teams
Facilities - Everything here is quite low, so I've gone 10s for everything.
Debts - None
Sponsorship - None currently. So a basic £100k each for kit and stadium should suffice.

This now becomes our lowest rep club, so affiliations have been adjusted accordingly.

Time to get playing!

I will start the game with the leagues for all our clubs running, plus the following additional leagues.
Australia, China, Japan, South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia

Meet the Mangers
I've decided to manage of the clubs as a normal manager. This will be Oldham as I feel much more comfortable in England. For the other 6 clubs, I will add a manager for them but I will only look after transfers/contracts/staff and leave all team duties to the assistant manager. I've just used a random name generator for the teams other than Oldham, and a random number generator for their age. All managers will take the nationality of the club and will have badges/experience based on league.
LA Galaxy - Keiran Snider (USA), aged 32
Argentinos - Abel Ubina (Argentina), aged 50
Oldham - Jon Harrod (England), aged 34
Monster SG - Mathias Sartre (Belgium), aged 44
Busan - Sung-Jin Mun (South Korea), aged 50
Tasman - Clayton Truman (New Zealand), aged 46
Sfax - Riaz Bellerose (Tunisia), aged 58

The situation at takeover

LA Galaxy - I've started the game on 1st July, so the MLS is mid-season. Galaxy are currently 4th in Western Conference (9th Supporters Shield). Also, upon taking over, the Galaxy board opted to give Bruce Arena the DoF role rather than sacking him.
Transfer Budget: £22.5m
Wage Budget: £400k
Expectations: Reach Conference Final (Top half Supporters Shield)
Best Players: dos Santos, Keane, Gerrard (All designated players)
Youth Prospects: Rimando (DC), Jamieson (AMR)

Argentinos
Transfer Budget: £1.5m
Wage Budget: £65k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 1st)
Best Players: Rolon, Romero, Machin
Youth Prospects: Batallini (MR), Colman (AMC), Gonzalez (AMR)
There are also many decent looking youth prospects in the U20s.

Oldham
Transfer Budget: £3.2m
Wage Budget: £55k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 17th)
Best Players: Dummigan, Green, Clarke
Youth Prospects: McLaughlin (DR), Brown (AML), Hamer (DR)

Monster SG
Transfer Budget: £3.2m
Wage Budget: £148k (Only spending £20k currently)
Expectations: Top half finish, 7th round of cup
Best Players: Faure, Massengo, Rajsel
Youth Prospects: Nothing to speak of

Busan - Also mid-season here. Currently 4th (final play-off spot)
Transfer Budget: £1.1m
Wage Budget: £80k
Expectations: Reach Play-Off Final
Best Players: Popp, Nilson, Im Sang-Hyub
Youth Prospects: Kim Jin-Gyu

Tasman
Transfer Budget: £1.4m
Wage Budget £17k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 8th)
Best Players: Ifill, Smith, Abot
Youth Prospects: Burns (MC), Maisey (MC)

Sfax
Transfer Budget: £1.4m
Wage Budget: £11k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 14th)
Best Players: I didn't take the option to add players to playable teams, so currently just 1 player here, Lachkham, a 30 yr old winger

I like this idea alot @Jon Harrod be good to see how it goes, will you be bringing images into context soon?

I imagine some images would brighten things up a bit! I'll see what I can do

I'll begin by looking at the weakest team in more detail and work my up the chain.
As I mentioned, Sfax have only one player

As you can see, his important stats aren't too bad for a winger in our league. He's quick, can dribble and knows how to cross a ball. However, he won't be much use on his own.
I only have 1 scout at present, but the board are allowing me 4. So better find some and send them out!
By the way, Tunisian rules only allow me 2 foreign players. So I will mainly be signing Tunisians.
Reports coming soon

The main issue I am having with Sfax is that all but 4 players within my scouting range (that my assistant classes as realistic) are 16/17 year olds. Thankfully, most clubs in this division are in the same boat. Only a few have full squads. So really, I'm looking for the best of a bad bunch and hope I can grab them before somebody else does

I've been trying to think of the best way of writing updates for this save, and I think it would be better to just write a monthly update for each team. I feel that's probably better than just writing a post every time anything happens. So my July update will arrive soon!
On a different note, I've never managed in MLS before. So, I'm finding the transfers and contracts there a bit confusing and it may take a while to get my head around. If anyone has any tips they'd be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for taking so long to update on this. Work's been busy in the run up to Christmas, so not had much chance to play, but finally I have made it through to the end of July!
I'll give a quick breakdown of how the month has been for each team, starting at the bottom.

Sfax Monster
TRANSFERS

There's still more to come here. As I started with only one player and I needed to fill the team out.
Currently I have; 4 GKs (2 ready for action, 2 with potential), 2 DRs, 2 DCs, 1 MC, 1 AMC and 2 AMRs.
The best of my signings so far is Safwen M'Barek

Nothing special, but he's only 18 and has decent stats in the right places.

MATCHES
No matches this month. Our first league game isn't until 25th September, so 6 weeks of friendlies coming up.
The 1st round of the cup isn't drawn until 16 October.

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
I tried bringing in some players on loan from most of our other clubs as well as attempting a few transfers, but currently, Sfax just aren't good enough for anyone to want to go to. Maybe next season...

Tasman Monsters
TRANSFERS

As you can see, we've not spent much of our £1.4m budget. The window only opened on 27th July though.
The best player to come in so far is Kim Kong-Hyuk from our parent club Busan


MATCHES
Just had our first friendly on 30th and lost 2-0 to Melbourne City. I don't think this is too bad as they are favourites for the A-League this season.
Our season doesn't start until 23rd October, so plenty of time to get things right.

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
It's good to be able to utilise the affiliation structure, although a couple of attempt to loan players from SG, Argentinos and Galaxy all failed due to us not being good enough

Busan Monsters
TRANSFERS

Gorzegno was originally signed as the 2nd choice left back, but I'm struggling with the number of foreign players here, so went him to SG on loan. He'll get more game time there anyway, and he's 35, so it was only a short term measure anyway.
I didn't want to sell Im Sang-Hyub, but he kicked up a fuss when I rejected a bid and there's no point having an unhappy camp. Madanchi is his replacement and will be the main Asian foreigner in the team.
The best player signed was also the most expensive, Gu Sung-Yun

We are only allowed South Korean goalkeepers, and he's an improvement on what was here as well as only being 22.
This was the mid-season window and it's now closed. Hopefully we've improved enough for a promotion push...

MATCHES

3 wins and 2 defeats, one of those coming at top of the table Gangwon.
We currently sit 3rd in the table, 5 points off top with a game in hand. 2nd, 3rd and 4th go into a promotion play-off with 2nd bottom of the Classic League.
We are only 22 games into a 40 game season tho...

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
We'd already gone out of the cup before the take-over. So we can fully concentrate on the league.
I did attempt selling and loaning players to Oldham, but work permits proved an issue.
Due to the number of new signings, we are currently £35k over our wage budget. This will need to be addressed once the season ends

I'm sorry for anyone reading this and waiting for updates. Just really busy with work at the moment. Anyway... lets catch up.
Monster SG
TRANSFERS

There's a few free agents here, but they all have their uses. After all, even though we have money, we shouldn't spend if we don't need to.
I had tried sending Mosevich on loan to Oldham but he wouldn't get a work permit. He's a promising 19 yr old DC and should get plenty of game time here.
The best players signed here, is now the best player at the club according to my coaches. And... he was a free agent.

He's no world beater, but useful in the right areas and should do well in our league once he settles in.

MATCHES

Our first league game is coming up on 7th August and, with one friendly left, most first team players are match fit.
The Oldham friendly was the only one arranged between our clubs because of the distances involved.
On a side note, all of our goals so far have been scored by different players. Hopefully that's a good thing...

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
The cup has drawn us against one of two lower league semi-pro sides (13th August)
The board expect a top half finish this season, but as 2nd favourites, I'd be disappointed if that's all we manage!
If I finally get to the point where some foreign players want to join Oldham, I'm hoping to use SG as a work permit workaround (Brexit permitting)

Oldham Monsters
TRANSFERS

Before you say it, yes, I know, Heskey (38) and Upson (37) are very old... But what League One side can say no to having two former England Internationals at the club? I'm sure they will be useful as mentors and possibly coaches in the future. Upson is actually first choice currently, while Heskey definitely makes the bench.
Mossmer has to be my best signing though. Brought in on a free and worth £550k, I'm hoping he'll protect the defence well.

I've also agreed a deal for Jhon Arango to join in January, though work permit issues probably mean he'll be loaned straight to SG.

MATCHES

I should probably have arranged a few more friendlies here, with just one more before the league starts next weekend.
Keep an eye out for Lee Erwin, I have him on loan from Leeds and he's likely to lead the line. He's scored in all 3 proper friendlies.

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
Handed a tough task in the EFL cup against Rotherham, we're at home though, so who knows.
Our trophy group gives us Bury, Carlisle and Stokes U23s
The board want me to sign some more younger players, so I'll be looking into that before the window closes.

Argentinos Monsters
TRANSFERS

Becchio has gone downhill since leaving Leeds and is now 32, however, I think he'll prove a useful backup/impact player here.
The window here closes at the end of August and I still desperately need a DR, but otherwise, there won't be much else going on. It's good to get some of my more promising youngsters out on loan.
My best signing is my new GK, Sanchez. This also allowed Tripodi to head to LA (more on that soon).

The season preview names him as the best GK in the league, and he was a bargain.

MATCHES

Not much to show here, as the season doesn't get under way until 27th August, so most of my friendlies are still to come.

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
I seem to have been knocked out of this seasons cup back in February, which is a bit odd, but means I can concentrate on the league. After all, the board expect us to go up as champions!

LA Galaxy
TRANSFERS

As I've said previously, I still haven't really got my head around the MLS transfer system. This is part of the reason not much has happened here. Almost all the players I have been interested in would take me over the salary cap. But it's mid-season, so we'll leave any major rebuilding until the off-season.
Tripodi came in as we really lacked a decent GK. Unfortunately, he played one game and damaged his cruciate ligament, out for 8 months... I'm going to need to find another either on loan or a free agent on low wages to help see the season out.

MATCHES

A bit up and down this month, but Robbie Keane is on fire, scoring 6 goals.
We currently sit 5th in Western Conference (10th in Supporters Shield). We have 3 games in hand over Kansas who are top and are 13 points behind. It's likely we'll have to settle for a Wild Card spot this season.

ANYTHING ELSE OF NOTE
Unlike real life, I'm hoping to keep Gerrard around for another season and I've already got him working on his coaching badges.
We went out of the cup pre-takeover.
Keane won player of the month for July. 5 games, 6 goals and a 7.78 avg rating.

I interrupt my usual monthly round up with some exciting news!

The headline is slightly misleading as Adeyemi got sent off in the 87th minute when we were already 3-1 up. It's good to see new signings Whitbread and Jahraldo getting on the score sheet. Aguemon (the signing from SG) also put in a good performance, grabbing an assist and hitting the bar.
Unfortunately, right at the end Whitbread picked up an injury (pulled hamstring) which will keep him out for the rest of the month.

For our victory, we have been rewarded with a home tie against Everton

August 2016 Roundup
The transfer windows have closed, so lets round up this months action!
Sfax Monsters
Ok, so the window isn't closed here just yet. It closes on 15th September. And I won't post an image of the transfers made as it goes on forever. Remember, there was only one player at the club when we took over. Most of the players we have signed are good prospects, but are lacking in current ability. So, the season ahead could be a tough one.
We have managed to bring in a defender on loan from Tasman, he's not great, but at 22, will add some experience at the back.
It's a little frustrating to have money to spend but have nobody to spend it on. Hopefully we can improve our reputation this season to attract some better players.

We've only played 4 friendlies this month, losing all of them. They have been against stronger opposition tho and we have some easier friendlies planned before the season starts.

The only other thing to note here is that the board have agreed to spend £1.5m to upgrade the training facilities. This will take just over a year.

Tasman Monsters
The window here doesn't close until 15th October, with the season starting a week later. Here's how our August transfers look.

Spoonley will challenge for the goalkeepers number 1 spot, while the other big money signing, Feneridis, will anchor the midfield.
Ferraro is easily the best defender in the squad, and he's already decided to leave Argentinos when his contract expires. Hopefully, he can settle here and we can pick him up on a free when his contract runs out.

We've played a few more friendlies, and we've won some and lost some. The players are starting to gel now tho and we still have over a month before the season starts.

Busan Monsters
The transfer window here closed in July, so no transfer activity has taken place.

Results

1 Win, 3 draws and 2 defeats doesn't make great reading. It means that we currently sit 3rd in the league. 10 points off top but we do have a game in hand. We are also only 3 points clear of Bucheon in 5th, a position that would see us drop out of the playoffs.

Monster SG
A few last minute transfers here to help with our promotion push.

Milanovic is a rock of a central defender, and he was free. Zubeldia and Pepelu will only make the bench while everyones fit, but will add options in midfield that we were short of.

Results

Good wins in two cup rounds mean that we now face Anderlecht in round 6. On top of that we were unbeaten until the end of the month, meaning we currently sit 3rd in the table, 2 points off of Tubize who are top.
Faure is 37 years old, but he still knows where the goal is with 5 in 7. Lets hope he can keep it up

Round up of the remaining teams coming soon!