On a quest to be the best. [FM15]

I've finally reached the winter break here in Germany and it hasn't been a bad campaign over the four competitions that the football club will be competing in this season. I've a good chance to secure trophy #1 as the club are competing in the German Super Cup against reigning champions Koln, a tough game though while the board also expect me to win not just the league but the German Cup as well, the pressure is on!

German Super Cup:


Wow. This is how you start the 'competitive' action with an emphatic German Super Cup success against the champions Koln as a hat trick from Chris Sturzenegger helped us towards a 6-1 win at our home venue - Murat Veli, Ole Hansen and Sokol Xhixha also scored in the rout.



German Cup:


The side still remain in the German Cup and will face second tier side Hertha Berlin at home in the quarter finals, a winnable tie and I expect progression to the semis. We had beaten Wuppertal, 1860 Munich and Berlin-Kopenick Dammfeld in the previous three rounds.

Champions League:


After advancing through the group stages of the competition, needed to beat Inter Milan in the final group game to confirm our passage we will be facing Portuguese side Benfica over two legs in the first knockout round and I'm under no illusions that this is going to be a tough game for the side and we'll need to be on the 'top of our game' if we're to progress.

League - First Division:


I suppose I shouldn't complain at how the first half of the league season has gone but we've lost five games so far this season (the side only lost five times last season) but they've been the only points we've dropped as we've won the other twelve games even though we haven't been playing overly well at times.


Just look at how tight that league table is at the moment as only five points separate leaders Schalke and fifth placed Werder Bremen and I've got a feeling it's going to remain that tight up until the 'business end' of the campaign and maybe right through to the final day. We are second place after seventeen games and I know it could have been worse.

It hasn't been a bad season to date for me at Dortmund as we still remain in the three competitions (League, German Cup and Champions League) while we demolished Koln to win the German Super Cup back in August but we're now in the year twenty fifty eight and I get to wish 'everyone' a Happy New Year and I'd love us to win both domestic trophies this season.

German Cup:


I've wrapped up trophy #3 here in Germany and my second since being appointed manager of Dortmund as the side lifted the German Cup, beating Hamburg 5-2 in the final as three late goals avoided extra time, which we needed to beat Leverkusen in the semis. It's mental that we scored 4+ plus goals in all of the six German Cup ties.



Champions League:


This is a trophy I've yet to win in this long and epic career and it remains that way after a first knockout stage exit to Portuguese side Benfica, which frustrated me as I thought we could've advanced but a five goal first leg defeat made it virtually impossible - we'll try again next season.

League - First Division:


We failed to win only five games in the second part of the campaign (three draws and two defeats) as the form was quite consistent as we looked to wrap up the league title and then I could have resigned as Dortmund manager with immediate effect but, were we crowned Bundesliga champions come the end of the season?


The answer would be no. After thirty four games in the league, my Dortmund side have finished the campaign in second place and a single point behind a Schalke side who have wrapped up their first league title in ONE HUNDRED YEARS which is pretty mental but I'll go again next season in a hope to win the league for the first time in three seasons.


This is the final piece of news, I have agreed a one year contract extension at the club (thought they'd offer me a longer deal?) as I only had eight weeks remaining on my current deal and I was hesitant to accept as I didn't know whether we were going to win the league or not, but we didn't, I'll try and win it next season and if we don't then I could see myself getting the chop.

Oh and clutching at straws much, media? They had to mention a humiliating Scottish Cup exit at the hands of East Fife.

Surprised to see you didn't clinch the league title!

So close. But with 7 losses its hard to win the title. Good luck next season!

We were in the 'driving seat' heading into the final day Dan, unfortunately we had a tough trip to Hamburg while Schalke welcomed already relegated Dresden to their home so it was always going to be tough, we'll try this season though.

Yeah the seven loses cost me in the end Benniewijs.


After narrowly missing out on the league title last season, my second campaign in charge of Borussia Dortmund MUST have league success this time around but I know it won't be easy as Schalke will want to retain their crown and Koln will expect a better campaign this season while Bayern haven't had much success to cheer about.


The pressure, as expected, is on. The boards minimum expectation is for the team to win the league title and after coming so close last season, it's a real possibility. I've been given a transfer budget of just over twenty six million pound and a good wage budget as well, whether I use most of that transfer budget or not remains to be seen.


I ended up signing four players this summer but I only expect two of them to be regulars in the first team - Javi Mayor cost £7.75m from Barcelona's "B" team and Renzo Scavetta was signed from Swiss champions St. Gallen for £4.1m while strikers Tom Thorvaldsen and Kai Haas signed from Stromsgodset and Dusseldorf.

The only real 'major' departure this summer saw striker Uwe Oswald join Barcelona for £7.25m while I let John Nyarko leave for "peanuts', Roman Schmid (Stuttgart) and Ronny Rose (Hamburg St. Pauli) left when they both agreed pre-contracts and I released Christoph Kuche and Anastasios Vlisaroulis.


Just the one defeat in what turned out to be a promising pre season as we won the other nine friendly games including an excellent win at home to a Benfica side who had eliminated us from the Champions League last season.

Always sucks when you lose the title on the final day. But you've got a good transfer budget and i'm sure this season will be better!

Indeed it does bmg033 but these things happen in football and I'm hoping we don't make the same mistake this season.


We finished runners-up last season after losing 2-1 away to Hamburg on the final day, I was distraught and believe I avoided the sack after winning some sort of silverware (German Super Cup and German Cup) but this season I want, demand and expect the league title or it'll be four seasons since the club last tasted league success - and that cannot happen.

German Super Cup:


A late goal from Eric Basile ensured we retained the German Super Cup after a 3-2 success over Bundesliga champions, Schalke.



German Cup:


Our defence of the German Cup is going strong and although it's not important, I'm pleased we haven't crashed out of the competition early - we will travel to fellow Bundesliga side Jena in the third round and we seen off Hauenstien and Frankfurt in the previous two rounds, also away from home.

Champions League:


Now this is disgusting, we have crashed out of the Champions League at the group stages (although so did reigning holders AC Milan) but when you see our group of Saint-Etienne, Manchester City and Celtic, you have a right to be disgusted as we picked up just two wins to finish third in the group and need to settle for Europa League football in the New Year.

League - First Division:


The form in the first period of the campaign has been nothing short of sensational as we've ploughed through some teams, including Gladbach that saw record a 9-0 victory wile we've also hit six against Mainz and seven against Jena also at home. Yes we've lost three times but it's hard to have a perfect season.


And we'll be heading into twenty fifty nine top of the table and seven points clear of Bayer Leverkusen and things are looking good but I am refusing to get carried away as anything can happen between now and the end of the league season. It's been a surprising poor campaign for Gladbach who are the only Bundesliga team to be win-less.

Looks like this is your year to win the league. Surprised at the poor form in the CL, though.

Looks like the league title is already wrapped up mate

We were shocking in the Champions League itchycoo and I can't explain why. The league needs to be won this season.

Yeah, it looks wrapped up Dan but it's still going to be difficult but I'm confident.


It's time for the third and final update of the season and my second season at Dortmund is about to come to an end, but will it be my last? Only time will tell. The league is the absolute bare minimum required for this season, from me anyway and that's the only person that matters while anything else that may be won will be considered a bonus.

Europa League:


After crashing out of the Champions League at the group stages, finishing third, we entered the Europa League after Christmas and it was a competition that I wanted to take seriously and in the end we won the trophy following an excellent 3-1 victory over Italian side AC Milan. I don't know how though as in the second knockout stage (vs. Napoli) and the quarter finals (vs. Athletic), we had to come back from first leg defeats.



German Cup:


It would be heartbreak in the German Cup final as the club failed to retain the trophy that was won last season as Augsburg won 3-0 in the 'showpiece' final and deservedly so, we deserved nil.

League - First Division:


It was a mixed second half of the campaign, losing five times as we got hammered in those four of those games (6-0 vs. Leverkusen, 5-1 vs. Frankfurt, 6-3 vs. Augsburg and 5-2 vs. Jena) while we lost to Hannover on the final day. We kept six clean sheets in the second half of the season which was nice but did we end up winning the league or would I need to spend another campaign at Dortmund?


I'm done. We have wrapped up the league title that was bottled last season as we finished ten points ahead of Leverkusen who took the runners-up spot while last seasons champions, Schalke, came third in the standings, our league win was Dortmund's first league success in four seasons and I'm pleased I achieved it with a crazy one hundred and two goals scored in the thirty four games.




This is the final piece of news for this update, I have tendered my resignation as manager of Dortmund and it's been a successful stint at the club and one I'll remember as I guided the club to a league success, back-to-back German Super Cups, a German Cup and a Europa League trophy as well. Good luck to whoever takes charge.

Not surprised to see you scoop that title but a little surprised on the Europa Legaue, great work!

I'm delighted with the league success Dan mate, it now it means I can move onto 'pastures new', the problem is though I have missed the league add-on date for most European nations so I am stuck with Germany and Switzerland for the time being, oh and Finland which I've also added in but don't want to go there . . . yet.


Following the league success at Dortmund, I resigned with immediate effect but what I didn't realise was that I'd be out of work for around six months plus but perhaps that would be a blessing in disguise as it meant I could "recharge my batteries" so to speak before trying to get a 'dream' job that could perhaps see me get success.




As you can see, I have become the new manager of Swiss Super League side Grasshoppers and it's a job that I had been targeting for quite a few years when the (now) previous manager had come under pressure but he was never sacked - he left after over eleven years in the post to become the new manager of Werder Bremen so I've my work cut out, but I'm relishing it.

He leaves them in third place and in the winter break, I don't think the club will win the league this season and I don't want to see them win the league as weird as that sounds because I'd love to put my own "stamp" on the team but we'll see what happens. The league expectation is for the club to qualify for the Champions League and I've only got a deal until the end of the current campaign so not long.

When I became manager of Grasshoppers the club were in the winter break so I only had half a season to try and get the club to qualify for next seasons Champions League or I could find myself under pressure from the board as that was the minimum expectation from them when I took charge but it wasn't going to be easy.

Swiss Cup:


It would be heartbreak in the Swiss Cup final as we lost to St. Gallen after extra time, losing the contest five goals to three and it's a shame. I took charge of the club from the 5-0 quarter final home success against my former employers Lugano and 'masterminded' a 2-0 win at home to Basel in the semis.

League - Super League:


Bar the three games without a win at the end of the campaign, I couldn't complain at how the results went, even though I could have been sacked if we hadn't beat Lugano on the final day and that's a tad ridiculous. The 3-1 win away to Lugano on the final day meant I kept my job . . . for now but I must make a strong start next season.


So there will be no Champions League football next season as the club finished the campaign done in third place and I'm very disappointed with that, especially the ending to the league campaign but I've already agreed several signings (some quality, in my opinion) and I'm hoping we can topple and end St. Gallen's dominance.

I'm about to begin my first full season in charge of Grasshoppers and truth be told, I don't know what to expect from this season other than St. Gallen to perhaps dominate as usual but I'd love to be wrong but fourteen league titles out of the last fifteen (Basel were the last team to topple St. Gallen in 2050) can't be sniffed at.


Once again the minimum expectations from the Grasshoppers board is for the club to qualify for next seasons Champions League through a league position and once again it's going to prove to be difficult, guaranteed. I've been given a transfer budget of just over two million pounds but that can easily be modified by changing the wage budget slightly.


To say I've been busy in the transfer market is the understatement of the century as a staggering thirteen players arrived through the doors this spent and we barely spent a million pound on first teamers and back-ups. I can almost guarantee that shot stopper Victor Manuel Macon, centre back Carlos Garrido, central midfielder Daniel Kwasniewski, attacking midfielder Kemal Dede and striker Nelson Lago will all be starters while the rest will be rotational.

The major departure this summer saw our star striker Ognjen Pavasovic join league champions St. Gallen for thirty million, I had originally turned down an offer for him but then he started gurning and left me with no choice, the other major departure was my decision to release the experienced left winger Alex Sandro - he was on over £100k p/w and was retiring at the end of the campaign while the other departures are players who won't be missed but I do wish them well.


I can't complain with how our preparations went for the new campaign as we won all bar one (a 3-3 draw at home to Pumas) of our six friendly encounters and one of them saw us beat German Bundesliga club Koln two goals to one. Ognjen Pavasovic was the star but then he ended up departing the club.

I have reached almost one year in charge at Zurich based club Grasshoppers and thus far I've enjoyed my stay at the club but I also realise that it's potentially going to be tough to try and knock dominative St. Gallen off their proverbial perch and secure the Super League trophy but I'm going to try my best.

Swiss Cup:


After being runners-up last season in this competition, I'm determined to try and win the cup this time around and we remain in the competition after beating Thalwil, Old Boys and Rapperswil in the opening three rounds but we've a tough tie at home to Basel in the quarter finals - a team who we beat in the Swiss Cup semis last season. Can we knock them out again?

Europa League:


Isn't it just as well European trophies aren't that important? For the second season running the club have crashed out of the Europa League at the group stages and this was a pretty tough group to exit as anyone could have advanced and sadly it wasn't us and next season I'm hoping we'll be in the Champions League and not Europa League.

League - Super League:


Despite ending 2060 with back-to-back defeats at the hands of Basel and St. Gallen, it's still been a productive opening eighteen league games for my Grasshoppers charges but if we're ever to try and win the league then we need to beat the likes of Basel and St. Gallen who we've already both lost two twice this season while we also lost away to Young Boys but I can't complain too much with how the other results went.


And we will be heading into the New Year with the club lying in second place but eleven points behind the unbeaten league leaders St. Gallen and another thing that needs to be addressed is the amount of goals that we've conceded this season so far because one clean sheet isn't acceptable.

Wow, St. Gallen spending £30m on 1 player. I'm guessing they've been taken over then!

They have been spending quite a bit of money some seasons bmg033 and I'm not sure on whether they've been taken over or not.


"Happy New Year" folks, we are now in the year twenty sixty one and I've completed my first full season in charge of Grasshoppers Zurich and since I don't think we can win the league title . . . this season, we need to be targeting the Swiss Cup as that's perhaps the realistic trophy we can win, if we can get past Basel in the quarters.

Forgot to mention: I completed the signing of attacking midfielder Marko Tanasijevic on loan until the end of the campaign, the reason why I signed him on loan is because my first choice attacking midfielder came down with a "serious viral infection" and was ruled out for up to eight months.

Swiss Cup:


I'm absolutely delighted to announce that we have won the Swiss Cup after beating rivals Zurich in the final after extra time thanks to an Antony Brusco goal in the first minute of added time at the end of extra time. The competition resumed in late March as we beat Basel 3-1 in the quarter finals and then Young Boys 3-2 in the semis before the success in the final.



League - Super League:


Despite being "slaughtered" away to Basel and losing to bitter rivals Zurich (both away from home) the form in the second part of the campaign has been quite excellent and if we can continue this next season, and strengthen the squad, then I feel we could have a great chance to end St. Gallen's dominance but I know, and everyone knows, that won't be a walk in the park.


A second place finish was secured for the first time in four seasons which meant Champions League football next season for Grasshoppers. We finished thirteen points behind the dominating champions St. Gallen who we beat on the final day of the season and we also conceded twenty goals more than them but scored the same amount.


This is the final piece of news this season, I have agreed a new one year contract extension at the club and one I needed to sign as I've always wanted to spend at least one more season in an attempt to slay the champions and I also only had five weeks remaining on my current deal before putting "pen to paper" on the extension.

Oh, and could they stop mentioning my Scottish Cup exit against East Fife please? No one cares . . .

Seems to be a glitch mentioning that cup defeat. Same thing happens with me in my Asian career. Gets very annoying after a while.

Yeah because I'm sure no one cares what happened like 20 years ago Cymro, ha!


It's that time of the year again, another pre season as I enter my second full season here at Grasshoppers and I'd love this to be the season in which we FINALLY wrap up the league title and topple St. Gallen's dominance but I completely understand that it isn't going to be easy.


So the minimum expectation from the board is for the team to win the Super League title but yet we're still predicted to finish in second place and we have been given a transfer budget of just over thirty five million pound but whether I even use that remains to be seen.


I've brought in six players but I only expect one or two to be first choices this forthcoming season and I expect them to be Nurbiy Andreev who came in from Barcelona and Maxim Buldakov arrived from Spartak Moscow - Giannis Kominis (Olympiakos), Matthew Reece (Arsenal), Caleb Cowen (Arsenal) and Edoardo Maggio (Juventus) also joined the club.

The only major departure this summer saw central midfielder Miguel Monasterio leave the club to join German side Bayern Munich for just under ten million pounds, defensive midfielder Fran Cabrera also left the club after agreeing a pre contract w/ Winterhur.


It was an unbeaten pre season friendly program but of course the results don't make a difference as the competitive action - we beat Tom, Norderstedt and Toss while we drew away to both Cambuur and Braga.

St Gallen blowing everyone away there! Glad to see you've ticked the cup off, you can hunt them down this year I'm sure

Despite the board expecting the title I'd be very surprised if you beat st gallen to it after finishing so far behind them last season

Bring some pressure on them and maybe they will suffer more losses than now without pressure. Nice to see all those free signings. Good luck this season!

They've been dominating the league KEZ but now it's time for me to try and end that.

It all depends on if they have a bad season or not (I'm sure they're due one) and if they do then I've to be confident Dan.

I'd love them to lose more games this season Benniewijs and I'm confident they will, we've made ourselves stronger without barely spending a penny, which is nice.


Once again I have reached the winter break here in Switzerland and things haven't been going too bad for the football club as we are still going strong on both domestic fronts but unfortunately we failed to make advancements in a European competition once again and that's a shame, although not important.

Swiss Cup:


Even though we won this competition last season, I'd love to retain it and things are going quite strong in the competition but we haven't played a 'bigger' team yet. Things began with a 13-0 win away to Black Stars Basel before knocking out Dudingen and Gossau in the second and third rounds, we'll face Wil in the quarters.

Champions League:


Unfortunately we couldn't advance past the group stages of the Champions League despite recording two excellent wins over Manchester United, it would be the other games against Ajax and Monaco that would let us down and that's a shame. We needed to go through two qualifying groups to make the group stages in which we dumped out Besiktas and Valencia, failing to win the home leg in both ties.

League - Super League:


With just two league defeats in the opening eighteen games, this has been a terrific first half of the league campaign as we've scored five goals in two games (away vs. Luzern and Wil) and we've scored six in two home games (vs. Luzern and Wil) and the side also recorded a thumping 4-1 win over champions St. Gallen. It's important we continue this form if we want to win the league.


And we will be heading into the second period of the campaign top of the table and four points clear of champions St. Gallen who have had a pretty dismal season so far by their terms but I'm not going to complain. It's just nice to see that we've scored plenty of goals so far and haven't conceded many as well.

Nice to take the lead midway. 4 points and 12 goals is a good margin.

It's a decent lead to have but it's also important that we don't mess the lead up Benniewijs.


Another campaign has been done and dusted but will it be my final season at Grasshoppers? Only time will tell. Sadly we couldn't make strides in the Champions League or a European competition full stop and crashed out in the group stages but remain in both domestic competitions and I'd love for us to chalk off the "big one" this season and then won't need to return to Switzerland until Vaduz return to the Challenge League and the post becomes available.

Swiss Cup:


Our retation of the Swiss Cup fell short as we crashed out in the semi final stage to leave rivals St. Gallen as we failed to have a single home tie in this seasons competition. When the side returned from the winter break they beat Wil 5-2 away from home before our semi final exit.

League - Super League:


Just three league defeats followed in the second part of the campaign but it was still another excellent campaign for the club as Champions League football returned for a second straight campaign but did we do enough this season to secure the league crown?


Brilliant stuff. We have been crowned champions in what has been an excellent season for the club, even if this was the only piece of silverware but it was the trophy I wanted more than anything this season and I'm delighted to have won it. The club finished six points ahead of St. Gallen whose dominance of this league has ended and they had a dreadful season (despite finishing second), losing nine times but it's Grasshoppers' year.




And because we wrapped up the league title, I have tendered my resignation as Grasshoppers manager with immediate effect and I'm not sure how quickly I'll return to football management but I'd love a quick return as I'm not ready for a break. I lifted both the Swiss Cup and Super League during my stint at the club.

With Swiss Super League success last season, I ended my 2+ year spell at Zurich based club Grasshoppers and decided I needed to move to a new league, one were I've never managed in before and in 'return', I turned down a one year contract at German Second Division side Borussia Mönchengladbach before I found a job in Russia.


The club in question is Amkar who have offered me a two year contract that will see me "earn" seven hundred and fifty pounds per week and I've been given a staggering transfer budget of £47.5m and a great wage budget but I don't know whether I'll use it this season or not, but I may do because the club need some depth but the lack of Russian's is worrying.

Amkar haven't been successful on this career, last winning a trophy in 2035 when they won the Russian First Division title (runners-up in 2060, two years ago), they've never won a Premier Division title and that's something I'd like to change and their last Russian Cup came way back in 2008.


Two league games have been played this season before my arrival, thought I'd mention that and they've won one and drew one. They began the First Division campaign with a 3-1 win at home to Torpedo Moscow before losing 3-0 away to Ufa, I hope inconsistency won't happen throughout the campaign but the club are predicted to finish ninth in the table, no pressure.

Good stuff with Grasshoppers. Looking forward to your stint in Russia. A very interesting league.

Cheers for the comment Cymro. It's the first time I've ventured into Russia to manage on any of the Football Manager series and one thing I didn't notice - in the first division it seems you cannot offer more than £1.1k p/w on wages - frustrating.


For the first time in Football Manager history, I have ventured to Russia to manage for the first time properly (I tried a stint at Zenit on a previous version but quit after a few days, so I don't count it) and with Amkar predicted to finish down in ninth place in the first division, there is no pressure on me this season and that's good.

Russian Cup:


Our run in the Russian Cup came to an end in the sixth round as we lost to holders(?) Zenit St. Petersburg by five goals to two, things did begin in the competition with a hard fought single goal win away to Chernomorets (RUS) before shocking top flight Arsenal Tula 5-2 before our sixth round exit to Zenit.

League - First Division:


Despite going SIX games without a win during the first half of the league season, I can't complain at how productive it has been (I'm not couting the 3-1 win over Torpedo and the 3-0 defeat away to Ufa as they were already played before my arrival) - our two best results saw us hit six goals at home to Volgar and Textilschik Ivanovo and striker Roman Yevseev has been our star player so far as he has scored something like nineteen league goals in twenty two first division games.


So twenty two league games have been played so far this season and we'll be heading into the final twelve league games in fourth place, twelve points behind leaders Baltika but the league is tight as only seven points separate us and eleventh placed Pskov-747. I'd love us to secure the minimum of a play-off spot but it won't be easy.

Tough season to date but sure you'll be there or there abouts come the end of the season!

I'd love to secure at least a play-off spot Dan but it sure won't be easy.


It's been a mixed, frustrating but quite enjoyable season to date here at Amkar and I'm hoping we'll be able to secure at least a play-off position come the end of the league season or I'd feel a little disappointed even though our media prediction is ninth but I always felt we were better than that and it's proven so far. Since we're out of the Russian Cup, it's straight league games.

League - First Division:


So only twelve league games were remaining after the winter break and it turned out to be inconsistent as we lost five and drew one of the twelve games and just two wins from the final seven games wasn't ideal but did we secure an unlikely play-off spot come the end of the campaign? Roman Yevseev continued to prove why he shouldn't be playing in the first division, he's too good in my opinion.


Well, I'm going to admit that I'm a little gutted that we couldn't at least secure a play-off spot as we finished seven points behind Fakel but I also cannot complain too much as we still exceeded expectations this season finishing the campaign four positions above our predicted ninth placed finish.


But I won't be at Amkar next season as I've tendered my resignation with immediate effect.