Travelling around the world (Journeyman save)

Good to see English teams doing well in Europe. Hopefully 1 day you'll be there doing well too

@Dan @bigmattb28 Yeah, complete English dominance despite me having it on view-only.

So the month of June was another good month for us with our perfect record still being intact for the time being as we pass the half-way point of the season. In the opening two games of the month, we continue to play our 4-4-2 Wide formation with some good results over KTP and FF Jaro. After a draw against JJK, Antti Ulmanen scored a hat-trick in the 4-2 win over KPV Kokkola which was actually our first hat-trick of the season. Getting a draw against FF Jaro made our team fall behind in the race against AC Oulu and the worry became real when we went two-nil down after only 11 minutes against AC Oulu. But a goal close to the half-time whistle and full-time whistle saved our bacon and kept us in the hunt especially when we defeated JJK 1-0 at home.



This means that after 14 games we are two points behind AC Oulu and the hope of them making a mistake needs to happen if we hope to get automatic promotion to the top flight. We are clear of third place JJK by 12 points which at least is happy that we have breathing room. But as the board wants the title, that will not do. Also, TPV Tampere has now fallen into the relegation zone by goal difference over Kemi Kings while Gnistan Helsinki is on the bottom with a better GD than the two teams above them.



This month I am hoping to go five from five with the draw that we have been given for this month. While we do well, let's hope that AC Oulu slips up this month so that we can regain top spot in the league.

Unbeaten month Shame to see you're not top being unbeaten in the league to date!

Good month, unlucky to not be top but hopefully AC Oulu slip up and you continue this form.

@Dan @bigmattb28 It is unlucky that I am not on top and only hope that AC Oulu does slip up so I can gain the lead.

So looking at the fixture for this month I thought this is properly the best way to use the instant result on my FM skin to get through this month without so much as a breath. That idea though really didn't work with the game against KTP giving us our first loss of the 2019 season as a look at the match and that was really a game that we didn't deserve to win. Another bad match during this month was the game against Gnistan Helsinki as looking the stats at that game and we couldn't seem to finish them off.


The standings after 19 games and we have shrunk the gap between us and AC Oulu to a single point. The worry is that AC Oulu has not lost this season but they did struggle during this month with two wins and three draws so there is hope that they could lose a match and we can take the lead back (as we did have it for three matchdays before losing to KTP). On the opposite side of the table, we have Gnistan Helsinki moving out of the relegation spot as they hold a two-point advantage over TPV Tampere while the Kemi Kings might be dropping down to the third tier at this rate.


The critical match is properly going to be the game against AC Oulu because if we win it, we properly take a massive step towards the title and promotion to the top tier.

The next matchday and they lose and with us winning our match, we go back to the top of the league.

Great result against Oulu mate just need to ensure you stay top of the league now!

Ah, I had a spell with HIFK in a previous journeyman save, decent little setup! Good luck

That wasn't our team who defeated AC Oulu as it was FF Jaro who did it. I just did my job and knock off KPV Kokkola in my game (4-2).

Ahh what a dumbass, sorry man!

Good that you're top, now can you hold onto it

Before giving out my August results, we had our first youth intake of the save and looking at the intake, it's not something that screams out good in my eyes with only a couple of decent enough players that could go into my squad.

One of those players being Jaakko Paappa who is good for this division with high balance and natural fitness which doesn't really want a central defender need. He does have good bravery with 14 but their is something to work on in the future.

The only good thing about this player is the finishing with an attribute of 13 but the rest does need work on.

At least the physical stats are good (bar stamina) and he is at least work well with teammates but again nothing really more than that.

The month of August was a good month with that only blemish being the game against JJK which we couldn't seem to get anything past their keeper as we conceded a goal in the second half to endure our second loss of the season. But that was balanced with the game against AC Oulu in which we got a critical win as our team completely outplayed them to get a 3-0 win and have one hand on the title with that win.

I say one hand on it as we have a four-point advantage over AC Oulu and if we somehow stuff up, we properly confirm a playoff spot with our team being 12 points ahead of third place KTP. On the other side of the table, you would have to think that the Kemi Kings are properly going down with eight points being needed in the last four games and hoping that TPV Tampere and Gnistan Helsinki stuff up along the way.

The final four games of the season and the only real game to worry about is FC Haka but surely we have the won the title with these final four fixtures that we have got. But saying that, anything can happen in these four games.

Staying at HIFK for another season

Very kind fixture list, hopefully it will be as simple as it looks on paper. Best of luck!

We have done it, we have taken out our first title for this save with the 1-0 win over the Kemi Kings sealing us the title with a game to spare but it could have so been two games as we made an error against FC Haka to increase the tension that was in the league but in reality it didn't matter with AC Oulu going close to missing out on a playoff spot if it wasn't for the draw against KPV. To celebrate, we had our final match be a complete fun time with another four or so players debuting for the team in the 1-0 victory.

The final standings didn't seem to look like a cake walk with the 10 point margin separating us and AC Oulu as they really lost form and almost gave the playoff spot to KTP. On the other side of the table, TPV Tampere and the Kemi Kings will be heading into the non-playable leagues.

The final four results for us as we will start celebrating our title. For me, I just got two firsts with this title. The first was winning a league title while playing the default database (my other titles were using classen megapack) and the other one being that it's hopefully the first of many titles in Europe.

Congrats!

Well done mate!

@r96Skinner @Dan Thanks for the messages there.

So the awards for the end of the 2019 season has been revealed with Antti Ulmanen sweeping the awards that he played throughout the entire year with the player getting fans player of the season (64%), young player of the season (both club and division) and goal of the season (both club and division). While Tatu Varmanen was our signing of the season.

Congrats on the win. You staying for another season or leaving while your stock is high?

@bigmattb28 I will properly do another season and see how it will go. From there I will properly try and work out where to go.

In the international scene, four continental tournaments were held during this year with Asia, Africa and the two American competitions all competing during this year and we will be going from the earliest to the latest here.

First up it was AFC Nations Cup held in the UAE and it was the South Koreans who after losing the final in 2015 to Australia, they got revenge as they defeated Australia 3-1 in the final. The host nation made it all the way to the semis before losing to Australia. Next on the schedule was North America with Mexico defeating rivals the United States in the final by a single goal in what was a boring tournament. Over in South America, Brazil knocked off Argentina 2-1 in the final while over in Africa it was Nigeria who would take it out as they defeated Egypt by a goal.

So here we go, our second attempt in the Veikkausliiga with our last attempt being between 2015 to 2017 where our best result was a seventh-place finish on our first attempt back in 2015. First the good news and most of our annual revenues are going up with us gaining an extra sixty-nine thousand pounds in the bank compared to the previous season and despite us losing a little bit of a general sponsorship, that will at least be an improvement compared to last season.



Now the bad news, that is because of the first odds that have been revealed to us and we are predicted to finish in the play-off spot which is a little bit worrying but nothing we can't handle as that means we have to sign up some players to try and get us out of the relegation spots. Secondly, we have to the face the fact that the defending champions in HJK Helsinki went unbeaten last season and might be a challenge for the other teams in the league to stop this form from possibly going unbeaten for a second year in a row.

Congrats on the promotion, fingers crossed you can defy the odds this season!

Well done on promotion mate, hopefully you can strengthen the squad in the right areas and make a good mark in staying up in what's bound to be a much tougher division but I'm sure you'll give it a good go! Got my fingers crossed for you mate!

@AdamRK @Brick Tamland Thanks for the comments and yeah it's going to be a tough journey for this season (that is if I last a season)



So the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship has been played with our national U-23 team being drawn in Group B with three western teams in that group. In the opening game, we went behind early against Kuwait. After that little stumble, we came back hard by scoring six goals to dominate the game and take that match out. The second game saw a better performance with us not giving an early goal this time. This early confidence led to a 4-1 victory over Iraq and after knocking off Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the last match of the group, we would finish top where we would meet China. After a good first half, we got demolished in the second half with their striker scoring all four of the goals which would see us crashing out of the championship. For me, that was time on my journey as the Hong Kong U23s as I will now focus on HIFK and trying to get out of this situation that we are in.

Congrats on winning the league! That's ace! Nice to see Hong Kong on the side too!

@tongey Thanks for that and yeah and leaving Hong Kong wasn't something that I wanted but I wasn't going to wait four years to have another shot at it.

So the third season of the career and the first in a top division of Finnish football. For my thoughts, I am properly thinking of staying for a season before maybe moving on or if I can get a job in one of the higher tier teams in Finland (aka a professional club as ours is semi-professional). So after looking through the market, our main goal was to try and scope out the frees and hope they would be able to come to us. This meant a lot of people on trial to see if they can fit in and we got five new players into the squad but there could have been so many more with a couple of players not accepting or being way too much for us to sign. But we did break the transfer record for the club so there is that.


The player that we bought with money and looking through the stats, I think this might be a player that we can get behind with his physical stats being really good for this type of level. He did play in Finland last season for Inter Turku so the rule about players playing in the country does apply here. I reckon he would properly be part of our main 11 to hopefully survive the drop.


Looking through the lower leagues I saw this player playing in the third tier and will bring experience while also strengthing the defence which will properly be a key to surviving the drop into the second tier.


The other player of note was another play from Inter Turku, this time being a loan player with us not paying anything in terms of wage and will hopefully be a good backup for Ultmannen who is another year older from playing here at HIFK.


Looking at the media table and we are still predicted to win the title at 650-1 odds. So yay for that, I think especially when HJK Helsinki are favourites at 7-2 odds with KuPs and IFK close behind. For us, we are predicted to fall into the relegation play-off by these predictions which is hopefully where I won't be going.

The pre-season has been completed and for us it was an alright one I guess for us with our team winning some nice easy friendlies but the Suomen Cup was a disappointment as we seemed to struggle throughout the entire group. For me the loss against FC Ilves was probably a game that we should have won and seen how close we were, it was a real disappointment for us to be eliminated.

The group stage and we finished in 5th by virtual of goal difference which does suck in a way as a point from the last game against HJK, we might have qualified through to the second-round. But that wasn't to be.

Our first five games of the season and I think its a good start for us with two of the lower ranked teams in terms of odds as our first two matches before a test against Inter Turku. But all and all, that is a reasonable opening for our season.

So the first month in the top league of Finnish football was an ok month as I was hoping for a couple of wins to get us off to a great start. After an nil-all draw with FC Honka to open the season, we seemed to concede some stupid goals which I couldn't quite understand with the tactic. This meant that I switched the 4-4-1-1 tactic that I developed back into a 4-4-2 Wide tactic that I had last season with some success. With some more tinkering with the inner workings of the tactic and we got our first win over VPS in injury time to get us off the bottom of the table after the month of April.

The first month sees no surprise with HJK Helsinki on top of the table by goal difference over second place Inter Turku. IFK Mariehamn is third with the biggest surprise being AC Oulu in fourth place (they were predicted to finish last). On the other end of the table, we have FC Lahti in 11th place with FC Honka bringing up the rear because of them only scoring one goal from five matches.

Next month is going to be a reasonable one with the biggest game of the month having to be the game against HJK Helsinki with the first rival match of the season. Before that its a game against IFK Mariehamn which is a game which I would like to take a point from.

Not the best start but with those 3 home games closing out May hopefully you'll get some points out of them.