Tegevajaro Miyazaki – A Cock & Bull Story

Following years of schlepping about in the Big Five leagues, I’d lost my Football Manager mojo. I felt like I’d seen it all in FM24, and FM26 simply hasn’t landed with me. I was in a funk, a rut, a tactical cul-de-sac.

Look, this says as much about me, and how I play Football Manager (and before that, Championship Manager) as anything. My beloved Newcastle, Roma, and in recent years Valencia all acted as regular save options. Occasionally a big dog like Barcelona would get a look in too. Win the league, win the Cup, maybe win in Europe. Get bored after five or six seasons, and start over (or just wait for the new edition to land). That’s been me for a long time now. Vanilla.

The thrill of leading Union Berlin to their first DFB Pokal in FM23 did little to shake me out of my comfort zone. I went back to the old stomping grounds. Not since FM10, were I lead Ajax to European glory, have I drifted from the Big Five leagues. The highs I felt in Berlin and Amsterdam soon forgotten (not those kinds of high, stop sniggering) as I took a rickety Valencia side and turned them into champions of Europe in five seasons in FM24.

I admit it; I liked the ‘medium’ difficulty saves – overcome Man City, Real Madrid, Inter, whoever. Have some cash to play with. See some nice newgens come through my youth system. Simple, satisfying. Always a bigger team to conquer, but never a long road to doing so.

But that well has run dry (at least for now). And so it’s time to stretch my virtual wings. To really push the boat out. To not just leave the Big Five behind, but Europe entirely.

The Premise

Let’s begin with a little bit of fantasy role play – because Football Manager really is the ultimate form of fantasy football. My in-game self is as a former professional footballer, who played for my home town Peterborough United before a promising on field career was cut short by injury.

I’d gained a Regional reputation by then, but now unable to play I focussed on my coaching career; earning my badges and gaining experience in various coaching roles before deciding it was time to take on my first managerial role in the winter of 2022.

And so we begin our search in December 2022 (Brazilian start date for the DB nerds), with the Brazilian, Argentinian, American MLS, Japanese, and *sigh* English leagues enabled (because I simply cannot leave behind the notion of checking in on Newcastle and Peterborough in FM).

The Decision

But where to go? One of Brazil or Argentina’s historic clubs? Perhaps I could lead Boca Juniors to their first Copa Libertadores since 2007? Or put Corinthians or Santos back on top in Brazil? Maybe it’s time for me to explore MLS?

No, there’s something about swapping a European ‘big club’ for a South American one which feels like it flies in the face of what I am trying to do here.

It’s one thing to leave behind a mid-table La Liga save and waltz into a mid-table Campeonato Brasileiro Série A one; it’s entirely another to swerve South America entirely and sail on, across the Pacific and to the shores of Japan. Because Gary Lineker’s move to Nagoya Grampus Eight in 1991 still lives rent free in my head – how exotic that was to an 8-year-old me! – and I’ve still got that sort of child-like wonder when it comes to ‘the land of the rising sun’, even down to the rudimentary language skills courtesy of Duolingo.

We have our destination – now to find a team.

Vissel Kobe seems too obvious. Same for Kashima Antlers, or Gamba Osaka. Big J1 League clubs. Again, that’s not the point here. We’re going to really build from the bottom. We’re going J3 League!

FC Imabari offer an impressing £8 million(!!!) transfer kitty, YSCC Yokohama look like real underdogs in the league, but don’t quite have the hook I’m looking for.

Then I find them. A club with just 13 first team players, half a dozen reserves, no Under 18s, but a remarkable badge, and a home kit I simply cannot look away from.

It’s decided. I’m taking over at Tegevajaro Miyazaki.

The Club

A brief history of Tegevajaro Miyazaki courtesy of Wikipedia:

Born in 1965 as Kadokawa Club, the club have twice changed their name; first they became Andiamo Kadokawa 1965 in 2004 and then MSU (Miyazaki Sportsmen United) FC in 2007. The current name came only in January 2015: Tegevajaro is a mix formed by tege, the Miyazaki dialect pronunciation of the word sugoi (“cool, amazing”) and the Spanish words vaca and pájaro (which mean “cow” and “bird”). In the logo, you can also visualize the Miyazaki-jingū shrine.

Magnificent. Cool cow. Cool bird. Literally a bull and a cockerel on the badge! This blog series has its name! Albeit you already knew that from the title.

Promoted to the J3 League (note: I’m just going to call it J3 from here on out) for the first time in 2021, the club plays its home games at the 5,354 capacity Ichigo Miyazaki Shintomi Football Stadium, which boasts a nice looking stand along one side, with grass banks behind either goal and…a fence along the other side. Definitely room to grow at any rate.

In terms of where we actually are; Miyazaki is located on the Southern Japanese island of Kyushu. The capital of Miyazaki Prefecture, it’s the birth place of British-Japanese skateboarder Sky Brown (you may remember her winning bronze medals at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics). There’s a fun fact for you.

The aforementioned kit is from the 2024 season, because that just happens to be the kit pack I downloaded for the J Leagues previously. I’m not changing it, at least not yet. I’m too enamoured with this shirt – a hot pink version of the Croatian national team kit. What’s not to love?

If you squint you can also make out the word ‘Happy’ above the main sponsor, Enatsu. I’m delighted mate; this is exactly why I am here. Love a good kit I do.

Day Zero

Into it then. As noted previously, this is not a deep squad; I have a baker’s dozen in the first team – and four of them plan to retire at the end of the season! There’s only half a dozen reserves as well, albeit a couple of them look good enough to be first team squad players at least. The Under 18s offer me absolutely nothing. It’s literally any empty squad right now.

Facilities are basic, and staff numbers are limited – which is to be expected when starting on the bottom rung I suppose. Again, room to grow here.

Fortunately the Board does not expect too much in season one – just stay in J3, with future campaigns about solidifying our place in the league. Surprisingly low after IRL finishes of 3rd and 9th in the previous two J3 campaigns, but to achieve this simple goal the Board have handed me a whopping £1.2m transfer budget! The excess wage budget is currently £0, but with that war chest there’s room to move about financially here.

The excitement begins to build.

Day One

Having taken over at the Ichigo Miyazaki Shintomi Stadium, it was time to get my hands dirty. Fortunately I have about six weeks to start knocking things into shape before the first preseason game against J1 side FC Tokyo.

Numerous staff positions remain open, so a series of job adverts are posted (note: I won’t be using Staff Search in this save – applications and recommendations only), while I convince the club to let me hire a performance analyst, an extra coach, and an additional scout in order to give us the best chance of achieving our goals for the season. I’m still a little shocked the Board are only seeking J3 survival, but I’ll take it. It feels low pressure in season one.

Tegevajaro Miyazaki’s squad is thin, but not without talent. Left back Hiroki Okuda is the stand out, but centre forward Keigo Hashimoto (right) looks like an effective J2/J3 player, and we have a solid centre back pairing in Shintaro Ihara and Hikaru Manabe – albeit Ihara is one of four players intent on retiring at the end of the season, and we have no obvious candidates to play right wing. This could be a problem given how I think we should line up to begin with, but more on that later.

In a bid to fill the gaps, and bolster squad depth, I begin to scour the transfer market. The sizeable £1.2m transfer budget I’ve been handed feels excessive for the level we’re playing at. I shift a chunk of that budget into wages, as we have no excess there initially. I also open up the scouting range, first to East Asia, but eventually the World.

With league rules allowing up to four foreign players in a match day squad, why not scour the globe? As well as numerous domestic options, there’s a healthy chunk of Argentinian and Brazilian players interested in joining us. While we search for some scouts, I utilise the trial system liberally in a bid to find some gems.

Welcome Aboard

Former Kyoto and Tosu attacking midfielder Yosuke Yuzawa becomes our first signing, on New Years Day 2023 no less, and is quickly followed by centre back Masahito Onoda, and central midfielder Takeru Okada. Three first team squad signings and not a penny spent so far.

We break that streak with the signing of goalkeeper Daiki Goto from Kitakyushu for a fee of £20k (possible rising to £30k), followed by Rei Yonezawa’s arrival from Kagoshima for £22k. I’m hoping the latter can go on to become our starting right wing.

The healthy amount of trials we offered out yield results too. Argentine Lucas Trivino comes in on a free, after a number of years playing in Chile, before fellow countrymen Alejandro Trello and Matias Minafra also sign. At just 19, Brazilian full back Emerson can be slipped into the squad as an U21 player, therefore avoiding the need to register him as part of our squad for the season, though he will still count as one of our four foreign players on match days.

Goalkeeper Yuki Kato is our final capture of the winter window, after he terminates his contract with Kitakyushu. A solid second choice GK without a penny spent! Lovely stuff.

Lots of changes during the window, but we’ve added experience, youth, and depth across the various squads, and appear a stronger outfit for it, with a good first team and some reserve options should we run into any injury trouble.

You’re Hired

Inevitably my list of known ‘candidates’ in FM24 butts heads with in-game reality. Very few established coaches, analysts, and alike are interested in helping a J3 side – I still can’t believe Dennis Bergkamp didn’t want to be my Assistant Manager, but there we go. We’ll just have to see who responds to the job adverts and make some judgement calls.

Spanish goalkeeping coach Jordi Cumelles becomes the first of more than two dozen new hires across our coaching, recruitment, and medical teams for the first team, reserves, and Under 18s. Most of the appointments are FM ‘newgens’, created by the game to help fill roles, but we do secure a few ‘real’ people, including former Yokohama FC assistant manager Seiya Takeuchi, and the recently retired Kosuke Kikuchi (pictured below), who is embarking on his own post-playing career as a coach.

By the time all is said and done, our coaching group is ranked 1st in J3, as is our recruitment team, while our medical outfit is also ranked in the top-eight.

The Tactics Board

I’m content with the squad I’ve inherited, but I’m also conscious this isn’t Pep’s Barca, or the Dutch national team of the 1970s. Keep it simple.

I take what might, fairly, be called a bog standard 4-4-2, but tweak it slightly to leverage the talents of Okuda, and Hashimto.

Daisuke Ishizu is shunted up to AML and deployed as inverted winger to compliment Okuda (right) playing as an attacking wingback, while I set the defence to play with a high line. Hashimoto is utilised as a Target Forward (support) with Sota Sato playing off him as a Poacher to begin with – it’s your classic big man/little man pairing.

Alternative 4-3-3 DM and 4-2-3-1 tactics are created to give us some alternative options should we need them, but the 4-4-2 is our primary tactic, at least to begin with while I familiarise myself with the squad.

Preseason

We lose an 11-goal thriller against FC Tokyo in our first preseason outing. Sure they put seven past us, but we’ve scored four and created a bunch of chances against a J1 side! This is glass half full stuff as far as I am concerned, especially while we’re still seeking reinforcements and a few upgrades at that time.

A 3-2 loss to J2 side Tokushima again highlights our ability to create chances, and that we are pretty good at converting those chances, but we’re conceding too. I drop the defensive high line to a regulation Standard setting. We instantly look that bit more solid, whilst still retaining our attacking edge, as we beat J2 outfit Mito 4-2!

A tie with fellow J3 side Tottori, followed by wins over Kochi Utd of the JFL, and a 4-1 win against Sanuki (another J3 side) leaves me feeling confident as the new league campaign looms over the horizon.