[FM22] Viagem

As much as I've enjoyed my beta save with PSG, I cannot wait to jump into a journeyman save so I've put that Ligue 1-centric save on the back-burner for the foreseeable future to start the following.

Introducing: Viagem

“Viagem? The f@#k is that?" Well, it's Portuguese for “Travel”. Listen, you've come to the wrong place if you want creativity!

The Portugal aspect does come into the save slightly, as my initial plan for this journeyman is to only have the two Portuguese-speaking leagues open for managing at the beginning (will add/remove as time goes on, all South American leagues will still be loaded as back-up options) and my manager will be a nobody (no badges, experience etc.) born in Maia; birthplace of one Bruno Fernandes. These early playable leagues will be Brazil and Portugal - unfortunately the São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste leagues aren't in FM… yet.

The overall plan will be to go wherever the journey takes me and my manager - I just wanted the start to have a little sense to it. This will (hopefully) be my seventh journeyman save on sortitoutsi but my first since Football Manager 2020. That last one was a flop trophy-wise, yet I still enjoyed it. My favourite journeyman save came on Football Manager 2017. So, I guess, technically I'm not due another good save until Football Manager 2023, but fingers crossed!

As I always say with my career posts, do not expect any success. It's unlikely, frankly. I don't mind either way though, as long as it's a fun save I'm all for it - it being difficult just makes it more realistic, to be honest. I plan to set the save up and get cracking with it on 10 November 2021, possibly earlier on release day (9th) but I'm set to be busy on that day so the 10th is most likely. Hopefully all will go well, I did have a few save/crash issues with my first FM22 career so I'm hoping they were beta/FM related rather than due to my own (admittedly run down and seen better days) PC - it could be a short, short save if it's the latter. Time will tell.

Thank you for reading! Still a few days away, but I'm already excited.

Past Saves

I very rarely (almost never) do journeyman saves, but I can't wait for this. Good luck!

Thanks!

They can be frustrating saves so I can understand when people don't do them, but personally I just love seeing the unique career paths you can take from the bottom level of the game. That's where FM is great, as you can play the game a number of different ways.

The time has come to get this journeyman save underway! Very intrigued to see how it plays out.

First things first, here's the set-up of the save. As noted before, Brazil and Portugal are the ‘intended’ initial destination(s) and the rest of the leagues loaded are the other South American nations in Football Manager 2022: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. I'm also using a custom setting for the player database, with all players based in South America (and I think I clicked Europe too, for the future) iirc - I don't usually do that latter part, but know many others do so thought I'd see what difference - if any - it makes.

As for my my manager, I've named him “José Nunes” - a 41-year-old born in Maia, Portugal. He has the lowest presets available, meaning no coaching badges whatsoever and ‘Sunday League’ past experience. I had to wait until October 2021 for a job interview, as none of the clubs without a manager (around four or five) in Brazil wanted me and every club in the Portuguese four tiers had managers in place.

I did receive at least three job interviews from Chilean second tier clubs, e.g. Santiago Morning, but I declined as I wanted to start in Brazil or Portugal. Come October, I finally got an interview from Real of Portugal's Liga 3. They subsequently offered me the job, though I initially delayed as I was interested in openings at Sporting CP B and Vitória Guimarães B. Sporting, though, rejected me, so in the end I responded to Real…

Founded: 1951 | Nickname: Realistas | Stadium: Estádio do Real SC, Queluz (Cap: ~3,600)

2020-21: promoted from Campeonato de Portugal via the play-offs.

2021-22: fight bravely against relegation, currently bottom (12/12) of the South Division by 4pts. Top 4 go into promotion play-offs, rest go into relegation play-offs.

Highest Division Reached: LigaPro (tier two) (2017-18, relegated in last). never played in the top-flight

Best Taça de Portugal Run: Fifth round (2016-17, lost to eventual winners Benfica).

Famous Ex-Players: Nani (Manchester United), Ricardo Vaz Tê (Bolton Wanderers).

So Far In 2021-22:

They initially lost six out of six to start their campaign in Liga 3 and were dumped out the cup by second tier Feirense, though Real have since won 4pts from a possible 6pts in their most recent fixtures. My first match in charge will be in the league away to fellow promoted team Vitória Setúbal; though they were top-flight regulars as recently as 2019-20 (were relegated to tier three due to behind the scenes issues).

My board objective is to fight bravely against relegation, so even if we get dropped to the fourth tier I could keep my job; with the fourth tier being a playable league in FM22, of course. They also wish to sign U23 players and to work within the wage budget. My contract runs out at the end of this season. I haven't looked deeply into the squad yet, but on the face of it they don't look terrible. Their ‘team cohesion' is described as “Very Poor”, as is the ‘managerial support’ - ‘club atmosphere’ is “Average” (green) though. Staff-wise and finances-wise, the club looks alright.

So: Real are a club in decent shape, not amazing but not in dire straits either. No idea how it's going to go, but I am excited to find out!

Next Update: End of November 2021.

The first month or so of my tenure in the Portuguese third tier with Real has come and gone. Here's how José Nunes' boys have got on.

A loss in match one but Vitória Setúbal - as noted in my last post - are too big for this level and should be aiming for promotion despite being newly-promoted themselves. They merited the win undoubtedly, but we actually played fairly well - 10 shots shows that.

I actually had to replay this match as my game crashed in the original 1-0 loss; long story short, my PC is not in the best shape so I've had to sacrifice any sort of match engine - playing via text commentary only, which seems (fingers crossed) to have solved the crashing. It'll take some getting used to, but honestly I'm fine with it as I don't have the best relationship with the ME anyway.😂

This one hurt. Not a great performance again, but it was a very even match against an Amora team that was also struggling at this point. We took an early lead through Jeriel De Santis, but Amora hit us with two goals in three minutes late in the second half to snatch the three points. Disappointing.

A point! I'll take it. Santarém probably edged us but we showed good resilience to get a draw, though again could've had more after going a goal up via Tiago Morgado.

A friendly win - I'll also take that! It's a nothing result as we played regional outfit Marinhais on home soil. This was just to keep player fitness in check due to a two-week gap in the schedule; it also raises morale slightly and gets them used to the tactic(s).

A totally deserved defeat away to Sporting CP B. Rubbish display, albeit against a strong opponent.

Well, not the most promising first month or so in charge of Real. I do sense some potential in our performances, but we need to pull our finger out for sure. In other news, Mr. Nunes has started an all-important coaching course.

Next Update: End of December 2021.

Good luck dude! This'll be a fun one to follow lik  usual

Thanks, Dan! Hopefully it'll be a good save!

Any chance we might see yourself return with a career? 👀

Ah yeah, this'll be good!! Good starting point mate. 

Cheers!

I hope so! Last time I was in the Portuguese lower leagues it went well with Pinhalnovense on Football Manager 2014, won promotion to the second tier - I could do with a Ronaldo Monteiro regen!

I've reached January 2022 and I'm still in a job with Portuguese Liga 3 outfit Real, so that's good. Here's how December went under the stewardship of José Nunes.

A narrow home defeat to divisional leaders (at the time) Torreense. They deserved the three points, but we played alright against a promotion-chasing opponent.

I'll take any point(s) that come! Cova da Piedade are another team aiming for the promotion round (not play-offs like I wrongly noted before; it's basically like the Scottish Premiership split between pro/rel I believe) so to hold them to a draw away from home is a positive result I'd say.

Another tie, but that made it two unbeaten. Romário Carvalho with a fairly late equaliser. A win was needed here though, as Alverca were/are the team directly above us in the South Division - so not a great point, but I'll take it.

A victory! Three actual points! A terrific performance on the road against Oriental Dragon saw us grab a deserved 3-1 win, as goals came from Gustavo Moura and the previously unused Mika - we may have won, but we cannot under any circumstances Relax, Take It Easy… That's my first competitive victory of the save, which makes it three undefeated too!

Some tangible positives this month. We remain rooted at the bottom of our division, though are now 6pts away from those above us; it was a 7pt gap previously - small improvement. Elsewhere, the club elections were held in December and we've seen the arrival of new chairperson Nuno Pinto. He hasn't changed much, with the exception of a new addition to the “5 year plan” - which is a maximum of one-year contracts for those over-33.

Next Update: January 2022.

Unlikely mate, i dont have as much time these days but we shall see!

Understandable - would be great to see though!

I had a save in Portugal I put on here a while ago it's loads of fun, I bet the fourth division is fun too.

Looking forward to seeing how far you go on this one mate.

Hopefully it'll be a save that lasts!

Just three competitive fixtures occurred in January, as we had Liga 3 encounters with Caldas, Oliveira do Hospital and Leiria - alongside two friendlies. Here's how we got on to kickstart 2022:

Back-to-back wins for the first time, as we stretched our undefeated streak to four matches. Marcos Barbeiro got the big goal in the 69th minute against Caldas.

The first of two exhibition matches to fill the gaps in the schedule. Here, we put seven past lowly Mansores on away turf. Good to see us scoring that many, even if it is meaningless result-wise.

Three straight wins! Superb stuff. Goals from Jeriel De Santis, Marcos Barbeiro and Gustavo Moura meant we eased past promotion-chasing Oliveira do Hospital!

Another simple friendly victory, as Ribeirão were this time the opponent on the end of a dominant display. 3-0, could've been 4-0 if not for the penalty miss.

Straight back down to earth, though that scoreline was very harsh on us. We had taken a 1-0 lead via an own-goal and were leading until the 67th minute, which was when Wilson Kenidy got himself sent off and from there we just collapsed versus a good opponent in Leiria. If not for the red, I don't believe we would've lost that.

A month I'm happy with, despite the finale to it. We still remain at the foot of our division, but are now just 1pt off Alverca above. Most importantly, the points gap isn't as bad as it was ahead of the relegation round… which is just three games away now.

Next Update: End of First Stage.

February would see the ‘First Stage’ come to a conclusion in Portugal's Liga 3 with Real. We secured our place in the ‘Relegation Stage’ some time ago, meaning our aim was to try and finish above last place - which we had three fixtures to try and do so. Could we? Let's see:

What a victory that is! Bottom beats top, as Gustavo Moura netted to give us a big three points leaders Vitória Setúbal - the big props, though, go to goalkeeper João Godinho, who made a superb ten saves. As a result, we moved off last place for the first time!

Just one friendly this month, as we put three past Mondinense away from home.

No idea what happened here. Despite the statistics being fairly close, Amora just destroyed us to win 5-1; and it was only that due to Gustavo Moura's late consolation. I can't even explain this result to be honest, Amora were just on fire I guess.

Robbed, just look at that xG. Santarém gained an entirely undeserved three points at our stadium, meaning we ended the First Stage with back-to-back defeats… and also fell back below Alverca, obviously.

I do feel like my manager is on borrowed time at the moment. The board aren't happy, though haven't been at any point since I took charge to be fair, and the squad dynamics aren't pretty. The media have also begun questioning my future as boss, as such I was actually expecting to get the sack before the Relegation Round but thankfully that didn't occur.

Despite all that, I'm actually pleased with what the team is doing. Sure we aren't doing anything great, but our performances - that 5-1 L aside - have actually been decent-to-good… we sometimes look like a mid-table side, rather than a basement relegation-threatened side. Speaking of relegation, the next stage has been set.

We've been put into a group with Oliveira do Hospital, Cova da Piedade and Sporting CP B; 6th, 8th and 10th respectively from the First Stage. Each team starts with “bonification points” that are calculated based on your performance in the previous phase; we, Real, start at 1pt while leaders Oliveira do Hospital begin with 7pts. It's a UEFA Champions League-style format, as we face each other twice with the bottom club getting relegated to the (playable) fourth division.

I think we have a decent chance, though admittedly of the three teams we only beat Oliveira do Hospital (twice) in the regular campaign. So we'll see! One last note, unused striker Ballack has left on loan to Pinhalnovense for the remainder of the season.

Next Update: End of Relegation Round

The season's end has arrived. Six matches to save ourselves from relegation to the Campeonato de Portugal. Could we do it?

Bad start. A merited two-goal loss to Sporting CP B.

To the 43%, I appreciate you!

Not looking good, eh? Back-to-back defeats, as Oliveira de Hospital put three unanswered goals past us.

I managed to convince them to give me one more month, which runs until just before the final Relegation Round fixture. It wasn't all bad though, as they - after a plea - allowed me to go on another coaching course.

Much needed three points! A bit smash-and-grab over Cova da Piedade, but I'll no doubt take it - Jeriel De Santis and Gustavo Moura with the goals.

Some optimism, at last. A very good win over Oliveira de Hospital puts us to within 2pts of safety; didn't move out of the drop zone, as conveniently the other result didn't go our way. A bit of hope, though.

Back to normality, as Sporting CP B ease past us at the Aurélio Pereira Stadium.

I managed to bring the board around with the form, so I passed their little test which allowed me to stay as manager for the final group game - a final day decider against Cova da Piedade. They held a 3pt advantage, but all that was needed from us was a victory as the tiebreaker is head-to-head results. Just needed a tiny little victory, not too much to ask… right?

Well…

Job 1: Relegation 1. Start as you mean to go on, as they say. A woeful display on the final day sees us drop to the fourth division. Real were a newly-promoted team so it isn't a surprise per se, still frustrating all the same.

Given how unhappy the board have been from start-to-now of my managerial tenure, surely that was the end and I was sacked instantly…

…nope, they are “pleased with (my) management of the team” after relegation - yet whenever we had good runs of form, they gave me D-E ratings. Alriiighty then. My contract does run out, as does practically the whole squad in fact, at the end of June so it'll be interesting to see if they offer an extension - I'll stay if they do.

As noted above, I'm interested in taking control of the team in the fourth tier - if I'm allowed to. With the squad at a crossroads when it comes to expiring contracts, I'd be in a good position to fix up the squad ahead of the new season. We'll see what happens.

Next Update: TBD (end of pre-season, or job centre).

#NunesStays - Real, despite relegation, offered me a new contract, so I'll be at the helm in the club's attempt to leave the Campeonato de Portugal at the first time of asking. A new coaching course was also started. First up, pre-season:

I'd 8 to be an Arsenal fan. Get it? 8 (eight) hate! … … …

Back-to-back wins to start pre-season, both coming against lowly opposition but it was good to see us smashing the goals in with a much changed squad - more on that soon.

A loss, but what a promising performance against Spanish La Liga 2 side Girona. We had more possession, more shots, a better xG, but unfortunately they scored with one of their (few) chances and we didn't. Still, pleased with that.

Another good performance against a better opponent. For a little bit of context, we struggled fairly hard against Sporting CP B last season so it's a decent sign that we matched Porto B; albeit in pre-season. It took a late goal from Hulk, not that Hulk, for them to win.

Two deserved wins against average opponents to round out pre-season, which has been good.

Below are our expectations for the upcoming campaign, alongside the current squad dynamics and board rating:
 

Now, Transfers:

It was an interesting off-season in charge of Real, as I've changed up the squad quite dramatically due to a mixture of players not renewing and, mostly, deadwood getting cleared out. Time will tell, but I'm very happy with how the transfer market went and how the squad looks - hopefully I still think that come the competitive season!

Firstly, I renewed three loan deals from last season in Horácio Jau, Jeriel De Santis and Marcos Raposo. I was pleased with those three, though not with two loanees Clayton and Luca van der Gaag - who have departed, alongside the other part-timer Tomás Castro - who we almost signed on a free transfer, but a higher division team snapped him up instead.

As for new incomings, four have arrived: João Goulart (Sporting CP B), Dylan Collard (Marítimo), Juan Gómez (Boavista) and Tiago Neto (Vitória Setúbal). Goulart is a centre-back, who played for Sporting's first-team once last season. He'll be an instant starter, as will CDM/CB Dylan Collard. Juan Gómez will fight for the only striker spot with Jeriel De Santis, Gómez played last campaign in the French third tier and netted ten times. Tiago Neto, a goalkeeper, was an emergency loan signing, as first choice João Godinho got a decent length injury. Neto will be back-up to Iuri Miguel until Godinho returns, but I wanted a third choice GK.

As for outs, we had a clear-out. Gustavo Moura, Wilson Kenidy, Romário Carvalho, Rúben Marques and Paulinho were key players last season but wouldn't sign new deals; Moura is the only one I'm gutted to lose, though. The rest of the departures are squad players that I wanted to get rid of. All in all, it's ten players out and four in. That left us short in squad depth, but I called up 4-5 players from the Real B team who are more than good enough to be back-ups at this level.

Bring on 2022-23!

Next Update: End of September 2022

Unlucky with the relegation. Am sure you'll boss the league and go straight back up

That's the plan; whether I'll be able to do that is another thing! 😆

2022-23 is here. The aim is to guide Real back into Liga 3 at the first time of asking. To do that, we must do our best to finish inside the top two and then subsequently inside the top two of the next stage. Just three competitive fixtures, coupled with three friendlies due to an unusually spaced out schedule, so the initial objective is get off to a great start in August and September. Could we? Let's see.

Well… great start, lads!

Despite facing a team at our level in Bragança, we were dumped out of the Taça de Portugal at the first hurdle and in embarrassing fashion as Bragança smashed us 3-0 on our own turf. No idea what happened, they just blitzed three goals in effectively a fifteen minute period. The statistics show the scoreline flattered them, but I was concerned nevertheless.

That's better!

Despite the cup woefulness, our Campeonato de Portugal campaign got off to a positive start as we beat Oriental away from home thanks to a goal from Lio.

First of three friendlies, as we won this one by beating Benavente 4-1 on the road; Jeriel De Santis grabbed a hat-trick.

Oriental Dragon were also defeated in an exhibition match, as Jeriel De Santis got our final goal in an encounter between two recently relegated Liga 3 teams.

Back to the league, we made it two victories from two with three points over Loures - Lio netted again, as he did on MD1. Interestingly, it was the same three scorers (Amadu Baldé, Lio, Jeriel De Santis) as in the preceding friendly win over Oriental Dragon.

September concluded with a final friendly, as Sporting CP B put three past us at their stadium. They deserved to win, but Horácio Jau's red card at 1-0 made things more worse than they might have otherwise been.

So, just two league matches across two months. Annoying scheduling, but understandable as 14 fixtures have to stretch between August and March - just make us play each other three times instead of two, FPF, you dummies. October has three league matches, thankfully. We sit 2nd going into that month, behind Olímpico who have also won 2/2 - we actually play them next!

Next Update: End of October 2022.

Tough firsts season  feel like that was always going to be the case, always a chance thi  sesson bouncing straight back

Indeed; Real were newly-promoted from the preceding season, after all. 2/2 wins so far is solid, but gotta build on it!

October 2022 would see five matches: three league fixtures, two friendlies. We came into it off the back of a positive September, cup battering aside, as we won two out of two to start the new Campeonato de Portugal campaign. Could we extend that run?

Three for three! Jeriel De Santis got the only goal of the game as we defeated league leaders Olímpico, meaning we took top spot in Serie E for the first time this season.

A simple win away to Setúbal, in a friendly that was scheduled to fill the gap-filled schedule.

Four wins in a row, lovely stuff.

Lowly Pêro Pinheiro were dispatched with relative ease despite the scoreline, as goals from Lio (2) and Rodrigo Moitas put us three goals to the good before they grabbed late consolations.

Another friendly, another win. Jeriel De Santis with a hat-trick.

5 Star Real etc.

A dominant display saw us round out October with a five-goal thrashing of bottom side Crato, with Jeriel De Santis following that friendly hat-trick up with a competitive one - the 20yo loanee is in great form. This also made it five wins from five - we are the only club across all seven divisions at this level to do that.

We look splendid at the moment - gotta keep it going though!

Next Update: End of December 2022.

As noted before, the scheduling at fourth tier level in Portugal is very spread apart. Due to that, we entered November and December knowing we'd be playing just three competitive fixtures - in fact, we'd have more friendlies (four) to participate in. Therefore, these last two months of 2022 were just going to be nice and quiet…

November did begin with a competitive fixture though, as we visited Almeirim and beat them 3-1. Jeriel De Santis netted a brace, either side of a strike from Rodrigo Moitas, as we eased to victory.

Then came the blockade of friendly matches. We actually lost once, though only via #shock horror# a penalty shoot-out - only a friendly and all that, but SI really need to fix shoot-outs - I'd honestly call the emergency services if I ever won one as I'd collapse with shock.😂

During this period, my manager also started yet another coaching course.

Wow… out of absolutely nowhere, Liga 3 (division above) side Vitória Setúbal offer me a job interview. A step up league-wise and club-wise, so I simply had to attend - as much as I'm loving my time with Real, it's a no-brainer. Before any response, we still had two (competitive) matches scheduled to conclude December.

A 3-1 victory over third place O Elvas saw us stretch our lead inside the top two to 10pts and continued our winning streak to 7 out of 7 in the Campeonato de Portugal.

Liga 3, we back! José Nunes is a third tier manager once more, as I take control of Vitória Setúbal mid-season after being poached from fourth tier Real - who I'll miss, I liked the squad that I was building and winning every week was lovely. As I say my goodbyes, here are the final squad dynamics, club vision, results and competitions.

You love to see it - as long as I don't suffer relegation again, that would be awkward.

Vitória aren't in a great place, their finances are described as “insecure” and they sit as close to bottom as they do to the Promotion Round - which is what they reached last season as table toppers, but lost out in the subsequent round. This season the expectation is to “Fight bravely against relegation”, which we should have no problem doing. As I mentioned in a much, much earlier post, they were a top-flight club as recently as 2019-20 and were only demoted due to off-field issues. Basically, they should be a Primeira Liga club - so it's a nice project on paper.

As alluded to, Vitória Setúbal sit 8th (of 12) in Liga 3. W4 D4 L6, 16pts. For the rest of 2022-23, the objective is simply to avoid the drop. A ‘new manager bounce’ is needed as the club are coming off four straight defeats. I'm excited though, very unexpected but very much welcomed!

I was reading along thinking oh wow he's doing great, promotion is only a matter of when not if, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the move to Setubal mate, well done!

Ha! Same for me, I had finally got through the four-match run of friendlies and then the interview appeared out of nowhere.

Let’s hope this stint Liga 3 goes much better!

Am sure you'll be fine bro

Oh……