[FM 18] Conquer the World... maybe

Hello and welcome to my first save on FM18 in which I'll try to become a successful journeyman manager, make a name for myself and win some trophies along the way. This is only a second "serious" save I've started over two years of FM experience, the other one being in FM17 where I started as Dynamo Moscow, trying to climb back to the Russian Prem and claim the title. Then I was offered a job at Burnley and a year later found myself at Liverpool. But this is all irrelevant here.

As with all journeyman saves, I'll be starting unemployed with minimal reputation, no coaching badges and Sunday League experience.



I've decided to start my adventure in Asia, so I've loaded up all the available divisions from that region + South Africa because it's the only African league available in the default database obviously and I feel that it fits here nicely.



And here's yours truly. As you can see, I'm 20 years old, the youngest available age in-game, and actually not too far from reality (except I'm exactly one year younger). Arsenal and Zenit are the clubs I support, I speak fluent Russian (and also English, which I forgot to add), and this screenshot also confirms my experience and lack of coaching badges. Let's see where this save takes me, eh?

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Now, before I go on, you will notice a few censored sections in the screenshot above. That's because I've already properly started the save and I actually have a (almost) whole season of managerial experience in Indonesia. So I have a question for all who decide to follow my career - Should I:

a). document thoroughly my season in Indonesia, highlighting each month and game (probably in a single post), before moving on to real time?
b). document briefly my season in Indonesia, highlighting only the games that decided the club's (and my) fate, as well as generally big matches?
c). ignore my season in Indonesia entirely, only showing the reason I'm no longer there, and 'starting' with wherever I currently am?

I'll be waiting for your replies regarding that for about a day, and if there are no replies, I guess I'll pick one of the options myself.

Thanks for the reply r96Skinner. I'm liking Asia so far, we'll see how it treats me in the future. And yeah, I was going to go for B as well.

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UPDATE 1 - Unemployed but not for long

So, my journey has officially started. I've looked at the clubs that currently don't have a manager and applied for all those available jobs to see who shows interest in me, an unknown lad with no experience or badges whatsoever.



These were all the jobs available across Asia and South Africa. Looking at all those spots in Indonesia I was 90% sure my first time managing a football club will be there. And as it turned out, it was.





I received interview invitations from almost every club that was available, but decided to go for the first one that approaches me with a contract. And that was Sragen United - an Indonesian side from the second division, or Liga 2.



This is the squad I've inherited. Quite a mixed bag with some standouts, like Reza, a young goalkeeper who became a Under-23 international; Ramadhan Saputra, an experienced full-back; and Lucky Permana, our best player hands down, and what a name too. What I've noticed is a poor number of wide players, even in defense, which I looked to change as soon as possible.



Here are the transfers made mostly by me in the transfer window that came soon after my appointment. 3 of them were full-backs since we had a problem in those positions. None became good for me in the end however, besides Detius Muni, a young right-back that proved game after game that he was very capable of doing a job defensively, while also providing assists. I mean, look at his stats by the end of my stint here:

Incredible I say, especially considering the level he played on.



This was the team's record before I was hired. Fair run, which I was looking to extend.



My first game in charge... wasn't pretty. We were 3-1 down after 30 minutes, and conceded one more before full-time. This was before I decided to develop a tactic that turned out to be almost unbeatable, and obviously this result called for that change.



The next run of games was quite mixed, with two personal highlights being that narrow and disappointing defeat at home against Persekap, where we could have gotten at least a point but failed ultimately, and a glorious win against Persekam in the cup straight afterwards. We didn't quite pick up our form yet but we were getting there.



The end of August and September turned out to be the start of something special during my time here. Ignore the big results in friendlies against Blora and Persikas, both were non-league opposition. The team got through the second round of the cup and ended the month of September with another cup win against Lampung Sakti. I didn't expect such a run there, but if that could bring me a trophy, hey, I wouldn't mind. League form was ok as well, but not spectacular.



October was our busiest month so far due to an international break, which we had to fill with friendlies to retain our fitness. We won our last league game but that wasn't enough so we were placed in the Relegation Play-offs, where we drew two out of three games as you can see and had to win the last one. Cup run continued, and we surprisingly beat Persih in both legs in fourth round, which meant that we were through to the Quarter Finals! I certainly didn't expect that from my team, but I wasn't complaining. We did have to win our next and final game of the Relegation Play-offs and the season as well against PSS at home before that though.



And then this happened... I don't know how we managed to bottle it, being unbeaten in 12 games prior to this and losing at home as well, but we did it. Infuriating to say the least, but I guess nothing lasts forever.



It did mean however that I was getting the sack. Sad moment for me, I actually started to like the team at this point, and if not for leaky defense, I think we would've been safe, maybe even from the Relegation Play-offs. This also meant that I wasn't going to manage this bunch in the upcoming Quarter Finals of the cup (and they've lost the first leg at home without me already).

So, after about 4 months of managing an Indonesian Liga 2 club and successfully relegating them, I was back to being jobless. What will happen next? You will soon find out.

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This update turned out longer than I expected and probably not as brief as you thought, but since this is my first time documenting my progress in a save, cut me some slack will ya? Next update will probably take some time,
since I have exams next week, so naturally I'm going to be quite busy. Hopefully I can get one out before New Years. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in a week (maybe)!

UPDATE 1.5 - New job on the horizon

So I was unemployed again after my disappointing yet satisfying stint at Sragen United. Naturally, I wanted to get back into managing a club as soon as I possible could so I looked at the Job Centre to see who was available. Several clubs were looking for a manager at that point, including Persebaya in Indonesia, who successfully got through their relegation group and stayed in Liga 2, I wasn't keen on staying in the country for another season after my sacking,
but attended the interview nonetheless; Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor, or PKNS for short, from Malaysian Prem, or Liga Super Malaysia, also were available, as well as Hougang United in Singapore. The latter two jobs seemed more interesting to me, but ultimately Hougang took too much time to invite me for an interview, so...



That's right, I took the Malaysian job. PKNS is not an old team, established in 1964, and so far they don't have many trophies to their name. Two-time Liga FAM (third Indonesian tier) champions in 1979 and more recently in 2003,
they also lifted 100PLUS Liga Premier Malaysia (second Indonesian tier) cup in 2011 and have been the runner-ups there as recent as 2016. This is their second consecutive season in Liga Super Malaysia and fourth overall since getting relegated back to second division in 2014.

Regular season starts in February 2018, so seeing that I'm still in November 2017, I'm okay with this long wait, since it'll help me evaluate all the current squad members and see who I can bring in and move on. And believe me,
this squad needs quite a lot of work.



The team doesn't offer much in terms of domestic talent, besides a couple of odd players like Muhd Zamir Selamat, our best goalie currently in his prime years who was actually on loan when I was hired; and M. Mohd Sali,
an experienced choice in the midfield who has 73 international caps to his name. Other highlights include Abdou Jammeh, our Gambian centre-back and probably the best player here; Fabio Ferreira, who looks too good for this team, which is why he wants to play for a bigger club and is running his contract down to move somewhere on a free, a shame to lose him but I can't do anything about it; and Patrick Wleh, our definite first-choice striker from Liberia who for some reason was in the Under-21s when I came.

Now, you'll probably notice the poor morale that most of my team has at the moment. It turned out that my players took a strong dislike of me right after I was appointed their new manager, apparently because their reputation is higher compared to mine. "Fair enough, maybe I'll convince them with my managerial skills", I thought. Well...



Patrick Wleh, my first-choice striker, came complaining to me about wanting to move to a bigger club. Naturally I tried to convince him to stay but my effort was futile. It didn't end there though, Wleh whined about this to his team-mates, and they came knocking at my door demanding explanations. I reasoned with them, telling how Wleh is important for my plans and losing him may be a bitter blow to our chances of success, however they were having none of it. Surprisingly, team leader Jammeh, along with a couple other influential players, took my side, but it didn't matter in the big picture, and so now I have an angry striker who doesn't want to play at our level and a team behind him that probably wants me dead. Or out, at least. Quite a pickle...

PKNS - February 2018

The season in Malaysia has finally started. We had 3 games, one of them a cup draw against a reserve side, but first, let me take you through pre-season and transfers.



Quite a prolific pre-season, scoring a lot while conceding only once in 5 games. However, only two of those teams - Selangor and Polis DRM - are in the same division as us. Ban Hoe Leong, who we absolutely demolished,
and Felcra were non-league opposition, and PJ Rangers are playing in the second Malaysian division, so most of these results shouldn't really be accounted towards the upcoming season.



These are the people I've brought in. Ryan Griffiths is an obvious standout here - an experienced 36 year-old striker with 5 international caps to his name, with decent finishing, heading and strength for this level. Definitely on par with our other star striker, Patrick Wleh, which led me to play both of them in a 2-man partnership. I've paid approx. 12 thousand dollars for both Mohd Syawal Nordin and S. Veenod. While both of them are nothing spectacular, they do bring a level of quality compared to other players in their positions - Nordin is one of our better center-backs with a bit of potential, while Veenod fills the Ball Winning Midfielder spot. Mohd Faiz Suhaimi
is probably the worst of the bunch, adding some depth to the full-back position.



I did raise some money by selling one of our backup strikers, Bobby Gonzales, to PJ Rangers. His standout attribute was finishing, but since we already had accomplished finishers, and since Bobby is 34, I decided to move him on. I also loaned out some players who probably wouldn't have played a single game under my rule.



Regular season started with a delightful 4-2 against Kedah at home. Both of my star strikers, Wleh and Griffiths, got their first goals of the season, as well as Jammeh, who scored a penalty, and Amirizdwan Taj Tajuddin,
my other starting center-back who secured our victory with an 89th minute header after a free-kick.



Next came an away game against Polis DRM, who we've already beaten during pre-season and, well, the result speaks for itself. A borefest with quite a dominating performance from our opponents, who managed 10 shots and 2 on target against our 3 with 1 on target.



Next up was the Piala FA 2nd Round game against Johor DT II, a reserve team that plays in the second Malaysian division. We were absolutely destroyed by them, with Nicolas Fernandez opening the scoreline as early as the 2nd minute. We then conceded two more before finding the back of their net through Muhd Syahidan Rajak's shot on the 77th minute, however they added insult to injury on the 95th minute, with their right midfielder getting a brace.



A shaky start to the season, but haven't lost in the league yet which matters more on a bigger scale of things. Hopefully our loss in the cup doesn't hit the team's morale too hard.



A bit pointless to show the league table just yet, but we sit second with 4 points, while PBDKT have won both of their games and lead the table currently. Johor DT surprisingly find themselves in 10th with just 1 point after two games, despite being predicted to finish as champions this season.



We have three more games next month, first at home against a newly-promoted ATM side and then two away trips to Felda Utd and Kelantan.

THE MONTHS OF MARCH AND APRIL

The next couple of months have been quite interesting to say the least.



To start things off, we embarrassingly lost to newly-promoted ATM. Up until the first goal we didn't look convincing at all, failing to keep possession and find their goal. We finally cracked under constant pressure on 70th minute before conceding two more, and that was that. Devastating and disappointed but these results happen. Besides, we were predicted to battle relegation so I knew it was going to be tough.



However the board and the players were having none of that. I haven't fixed the dressing room atmosphere in the end, and after fining most of my squad after that last result the board wanted a meeting. I tried reasoning with them and asking for some faith but as you can see, they already made the decision, and so I was sacked again. Great.

Two jobs became available at this point - Dreams FC in Hong Kong and Sydney FC in Australia. I was never going to get the latter job since I virtually have no reputation, but I applied for both anyway. While I was waiting for the interviews, Bloem Celtic in South Africa became available as well so I applied for it too.

Sydney FC rejected my application after all, but Dreams FC did offer an interview, and so...



I was hired by Dreams FC. What I forgot to check before even applying for this one was the league table. And after checking it I realized I was about to get sacked again in a matter of weeks - Dreams were dead last with 6 points and 3 games to go till the end of the season. They were also 9 points off safety, which meant the impossible - not only did I have to win all 3 of the upcoming games, I also had to pray to all Gods that whoever was above us slipped so we could close the gap. Our inferior goal difference didn't help as well.



This is what I got into. They managed exactly one competitive win for the whole season, and even then, not only was it a cup game, they had to drag it to penalties. And of course they were knocked out in the very next game, albeit on penalties again. Other than that, only 6 league draws were salvaged by them prior to my hiring, and they only scored 7 times. Amazing.

The squad looked fine, but I don't think there's any point of showing it here, and you'll soon see why. I organized a couple of friendlies, one of which we won and the other we lost. My center of attention was the next league game at home against a fellow relegation candidate Yuen Long, who were 8 points clear off the last place which was occupied by us.



And lo and behold, we actually managed to steal all 3 points. Our loan striker Hirokane Harima scored what turned out to be a winner on the 33rd minute and we had a couple chances after that, including a missed penalty taken by our star striker Arkaitz. Ultimately it didn't matter, since we won the game.



And the win didn't matter as well, since the board sacked me after just a month in charge. They didn't even let me see the season out and resign on my own, which I found bizarre and disappointing, especially after I actually fucking won a game of football, I got them their ONLY league win. Oh well, guess it's back to the job center.

Again, a couple of jobs were available: Sarawak back in Malaysia and Platinum Stars in South Africa who didn't even look at my application because they've already found their candidate. Sarawak did come with an interview a bit later, which I obviously attended.



And so I'm back in Malaysia. Hopefully this time I can actually win something. Or at least try to, without my players bitching about my reputation.



The squad looks alright, and this time we actually don't have to rely solely on foreign talent, although Sahil Suhaimi is recognized as our best player. M. Andik Mohd Ishak, our loanee left-back, Mohd Nasir Basharudin and Tommy Mada will definitely be key players in this squad, and we also have some quality on the bench. Outside of the main 18, however, we lack it.



A decent run so far if I say so myself, Sarawak find themselves in 5th after 6 games of which they won half (including a decent result against Johor DT and Kedah's smashing), lost two and drew one, the most recent game against my former employers PKNS. Hopefully I can get a win against them next time around. Sarawak have also been knocked out of the cup which means I can concentrate fully on the league and try to finish as high as I can.



This is how the table looks like after 6 games. We're 5 points behind runaway leaders Selangor, who, remember, I've already beaten at PKNS, albeit in a friendly pre-season game, so maybe a repeat of that is on the books.
I hope. We are also 5 points above two relegation spots that are currently occupied by Johor DT and Kedah. A quick reminder - Johor DT were tipped by the bookies to win the league this season. PKNS find themselves in 10th, where they actually finished last season, just one point off relegation but at the same time only 4 points behind us.



This is how the month of May looks like for us. Home games against leaders Selangor and Kelantan, who are 2 points behind us. Then, 3 trips away to PBDKT, Felda Utd and Pahang, all three of whom are right up there with us in 3rd, 4th and 6th respectively. Optimistically, if we can retain the same run of form that the team had before I got here, I can see us getting at least 10 points from these games.

Sarawak - May 2018

Quite a busy month this was, with 5 games to be played and hopefully some points to be gotten. Well, indeed we stole some points from those, but it turned out my prediction was a bit too optimistic.



We started the month with a hard game at home against first-placed Selangor and they proved why they're on top of the table. 3 goals from them followed by a measly fight-back as one of our strikers Abu Hassan got a late consolation goal. I wasn't too disappointed with this result though 'cause while we did lose, I always knew this was going to be a hard one because 1. Selangor have way better players and 2. We were predicted to finish dead last this season.



And our next home game against Kelantan brought back hope that we are not truly miserable. We went ahead on the 38th minute but they got back on level terms right after the second half started. However, our star striker Suhaimi proceeded to bag a brace while another striker, a youngster by the name of Tommy Mada who I identified as one of the key players of this squad, finished the performance off. A delightful victory that meant we were on course to survive relegation this season...



...Or so I thought. A game away to PBDKT started our series of trips to other teams, and we were properly smashed this time. Both of their strikers managed to get a brace while we just watched. A very poor game for us, but I didn't lose hope just then because there's still a lot of football to be played until the end of this season.



Our next away game was at Felda Utd. As you can see from the result, we fought hard to keep ourselves in the game after conceding two in the first half. Suhaimi proved his worth again with another two-minute brace but in the end it just wasn't enough and they grabbed the winner in the 89th minute. A real punch in the gut, but I don't believe we deserved to get a draw here.



Our last game this month was at Pahang, and again, it was a bad day on the field for our team. I knew exactly how this one was going to end after my foreign right-back, Siboniso Maseko, conceded a penalty at the beginning of the second half, and while we did get one back through Tommy Mada, we simply couldn't keep up and proceeded to lose 4-1 overall. Perfect result to round up our disastrous month.



However, we're still 4 points clear off relegation, and while our AFC Cup Play-Offs hopes can well be over unless we perform magically for the remainder of the season, our survival chances are still high. The board wants me to avoid relegation and so far this is exactly what we're doing. We have to start winning games if we want to capitalize on that though. PKNS are sitting in 10th with two games in hand so with the right results they can leapfrog over us.
Selangor keeps on leading the way, with Perak in 2nd and PBDKT in 3rd.



Next month is a lot less busier compared to May, with just two away games to Perak and Kedah. Since our form took a strong hit last month, I hope for at least 2 draws here, though 4 points would be ideal. Transfer window also starts in June, although a lot later.