Ostbahner - Austrian Road to Glory

EDIT:

It's been a little while since I last updated you, but I am still in the transfer window, and I have made some more transfers:

Out:



Noha Sylvestre has left on loan to SAK 1914, as he wanted more gametime. I gave him some, but it wasn't enough in his opinion, so I felt it best to loan him out. At 20, he needs more gametime


Ins:



This guy was offered to me, by his agent. He looks good and will be a backup, at the moment. He is only 18 and has a bright future



Ogbonna Adeleye's mate, Alex Ibrahim, comes in on a free. He is a Nigerian international, and looks incredible. Can play in a range of positions; anywhere in midfield as well as left wing and attacking midfield. He is 18 and will start most games. Due to the arrivals of him and Arthur, Marcus Maier was no longer needed so I terminated his loan



The Dutchman, Johan de Jong, is only 15, and came in on a free. Has gone straight back out on loan and will have a bright future here



Wow. The signing I am most excited about. We use a target man in our tactic, and this guy, at 18, is 6'7". He has also improved substantially since I bought him, and now has the ability to start. I can't wait to see what he'll do for us. His arrival also spells the inevitable departure of another player; Zoltan Horvath. He is in the process of leaving, but hasn't done so yet. Has has a decent year and a half but is 28 and Yousfi has done better this year. As well as this, Johan de Jong will probably be in the picture next year so it will help the squad progress.

There has been 3 more movements, which could be the last ones of the window

Outs:



As I mentioned before, with the arrival of Barnett, Horvath was the 3rd choice target man, and with him complaining anyway, I felt it was best to shift him on. He will rejoin with former team mates Jesse Wijnen and Kevin Hacker at Kapfenberger for £8k



Kristopher Da Graca has left on loan. He wasn't getting enough game time, and Faris Hammouti has had a really good year out on loan, so he'll need to start progressing, otherwise he will lose his place

Ins:



Robin Walsh is in on loan from Anderlecht. Daniel Jank was the backup right back, but he wasn't good enough, really, so I brought in someone who is better than him, and also can play a range of positions.

We're mid-way through the window, and I haven't updated you with the fixtures in a while



And this is why! We have been on such an incredible run, and I was waiting for it to end, but it hasn't. We haven't lost in over 3 months in the league, and it's down to this tactic. I'll start off with the cup. We have destroyed every team, other than Klosterneuburg, We managed to lose 2-0, which is our only defeat since the 14th of November. We roared back in the second leg, however, 5-0, and Jhoao Rodriguez got his first goals for the club as he scored a hat trick. In the next leg we beat 'Hard', which is their actual name, 9-3 on aggregate, which puts us through to the quarter final, where we'll play... Rapid Wien who are top of the Bundesliga. The two most crucial results was the 3-1 victory over St Polten, who were top of the league at that point, and the 6-2 victory against Wiener, who were 2nd when we played them. The star players who have helped me win 2 consecutive manager of the month awards are the strikers; Benjamin Koglbauer, Jhoao Rodriguez, Jermaine Hylton and most particularly Abderrahmane Yousfi, who was only meant to be a rotation player, but I gave him a chance, and he has taken it. Also, with the absence of Njongo Priso, Enrico Bearzotti has also stepped up and now has 11 goals this season.



And with that, we have moved up from almost relegation, to promotion candidates. We are 5th, and with a game in hand. If we get a win by more than 2 goals, we can go up to 3rd. Promotion is now genuinely a possibility. I can't believe it considering the start we had, but with the squad we have, it's what I'd hoped.

I don't believe it! After our incredible form, the unbeaten run comes to an end emphatically. 3 defensive mistakes gifted Vocklamarkt the win, in a game which they had no right of doing so. Firstly, Augustine Loof got a red card 6 minutes in, forcing me to shuffle the team, and lose an attacking player. Then the substitute, Ogbonna Adeleye, had a typically poor game, getting a 5.8 match rating despite only being on the pitch for 42 minutes before I took him off again. Finally, Adbou Rahman Dampha, gave away a ridiculous penalty, and gave them a 3 goal advantage. Adberrahmane Yousfi scored late doors, but it was too little too late. This defeat sees us slip to 6th, but with a game in hand; one win and we will be back to 4th.

The final transfer of the window:



Florian Uhlig left on loan, as he wanted more gametime. Cy Goddard is also complaining which is more concerning because he has performed better, but there just ins't space for all of them, especially with the arrival of Arthur



And we also lost AGAIN. We went 3 months unbeaten in the league, and now we have lost 3 on the bounce; two of them against teams in the relegation zone, and one of them was against the team rock bottom in the league. However, all three games, I don't have an excuse for. We just can't seem to finish our chances, and in all three games we have had 20+ shots and more than the opposition. Bill Barnett, unfortunately hasn't performed despite me bigging him up, Jermaine Hylton has been inconsistent. Not sure why or how we are going to turn it around, but we're in 7th without a game in hand. So annoyed; we could have been safely in 3rd.

Well we're out. We dominated on the stats front, but, yet again, finishing was our downfall. They dominated in the first half, but didn't have a chance in the second. Bill Barnett missed two golden opportunities, and I am starting to get really frustrated with him. It also didn't help that our centre back pairing got a 5.9 and 6.1 match ratings. The class obviously showed as they had 4 clear cut chances to our one. I don't know what I can do to reduce the number of chances we are squandering. We dominate every game, but just can't score, and nothing has changed in the past 3 months when we were scoring for fun and were unbeaten

Wow. Game of the season contender for sure. We went two nil up early on, but when they scored, the entire game shifted. Jhoao Rodriguez scored his second of the game, which proved to be an important goal, as they capitalized on their dominance, scoring two more. At that point I was staring our fifth straight defeat, square in the face. However, Jhoao Rodriguez completed his hat trick, his second for the club, completely against the run of play, and sealed the victory. We held on for the whole of the second half, and clinched 3 points which could prove vital, come the end of the season. We're now in fifth, however, we have played one or two games more than most of the teams around us, but it puts us back in with a shout. It is also worth mentioning, this is the first game we haven't dominated in AGES, and we win, against top of the league, scoring 4 in the process.

EDIT:

We have dropped down to 6th, however we could move down to 7th, as the team there currently has a game in hand

Didn't expect anything from the game, but we only lost 2-1, away at Rapid Vienna. Yet again, we dominated them, but the class difference showed as they managed to score twice from limited chances. We got the goal we deserved from the performance over the two legs, from Jermaine Hylton but it proved to be little more than a consolation goal

And the following game, we lose 3-2. Completely FM'ed. Don't know how much longer I can put up with this but we have lost again. WITH THESE STATS:



It's at points like these where I really don't want to play the game, there is nothing I can do to change it, none of my strikers can finish, and my defenders don't do defending. The midfield don't know where they are most of the time

One of the best comebacks I have ever been a part of on FM. We were 4-0 down after 50 minutes. And in just under half an hour, we were level, 4-4, with Cy Goddard scoring a screamer to save the point for us. Promotion looks out of the question now, automatically anyway, but the target was 7th, and we're meeting that currently. We should have beaten them as they're 20th, but still a good game nonetheless.



Benjamin Koglbauer ended his 11 hour goalscoring drought, with a brace from the bench.

And here are our final three games. We play bottom of the league first. We have to win. We then have 2nd placed, which could determine if we get promoted or not. And the final game is against the mid table side, Linz, and if we win the St Polten game, we need to win that to almost guarantee it

Should be fun... not

A good start, made even better by the fact the First Vienna only managed to draw. We had 4 different goalscorers. It's looking more and more promising, but the next game is the crunch one...

A very nervy game, but we won. If First Vienna lose to top of the league Austria Salzburg, then we are promoted!

PROMOTION

Despite our troubles throughout the season, we have reached the promise land of the Bundesliga, in the minimum time possible, after 3 consecutive promotions.



The board were obviously pleased, but I will do a more in depth overview soon. But we actually did it! We will be facing off against teams like Austria Wien, Rapid Vienna and RB Salzburg to name a few. But we will also face former players like Youandi Renfurm, Borja Galan, Kevin Hacker, Jesse Wijnen and Zoltan Horvath. It's going to be interesting to see how we do

Here is the final league table. Liefering had a very poor season, and narrowly avoided relegation via the play-offs, and First Vienna also missed out on promotion after losing to Wacker Innsbruck through the play-offs. For the first time, we have been promoted without another newly promoted side, with Lafnitz being relegated.



These are the league's player statistics. Abderrahmane Yousfi came 3rd in the goalscoring charts, with 16, 10 behind the top scorer. JaMonAl got the highest match rating, at 7.53. Bruno Martella was runner up in the assists chart, and, unfortunately, Verona want to give him first team football, so he will not be returning to the club as it stands. Augustine Loof also made an appearance except he was in the yellow cards chart; he came 2nd.



These are the team awards. JaMonAl was the fan's player of the season, followed by Bruno Martella and Raphael Mathis. Jermaine Hylton got the goal of the season, and Alex Ibrahim won signing of the season. Finally JaMonAl won young player of the season. I do have a cheap buy out clause however our budgets were announced, and at the moment, we don't have the funds to pay the £19.5k.



This is the overview to the season. Despite all of what is on here, the thing I am most pleased with the the past positions. We started off the season really poorly, but the second half of the season, as you can see, we shot right up the league, and despite a shaky month or so, we held on and finished the season in style



Finally the club's player stats. Abderrahmane Yousfi was our top goal scorer with 19 goals. He was only meant to be a backup, but took his limited opportunities he got and earned a starting spot. Bruno Martella was also the top assister with 17 and he is going to be a big miss for us next year. JaMonAl obviously got the highest average rating. Abdou Rahman Dampha got the highest pass completion despite losing his first team spot to Alex Ibrahim in the second half of the season, and Jhoao Rodriguez got the most PoM awards with 5 despite only being here for the second half of the season. Augustine Loof has the worst discipline at the club with 10 yellows and 2 reds.

Season Squad Overview:

Goalkeepers

Sokratis Dioudis has been our first choice, and did have a shaky start, but has recovered. Tobias Schutzenauer hasn't played since he whined to the media, and is on the transfer list. Tim van der Linden signed a new contract, and has played the most games out of the three.

Centre Backs

Augustine Loof has been the first choice centre back, making 46 starts. Ogbonna Adeleye was meant to be his partner, however he has been so poor, so I have rotated him with Daniel Gramann who has unfortunately been at the same sort of standard. Lorenzo Matarrese has been rotated after losing his place in defensive midfield. Maximillian Berghold only made 3 starts but came off the bench 30 times. Philip Schoberl is leaving on a free at the end of the year

Full Backs

Bruno Martella was the first choice left wing back, but Sergi has been a adequate backup, and he will be starting this year, if we can't find a similar player to Martella. Raphael Mathis is the starting right back, having made 50 appearances. Robin Walsh shouldn't be returning to the club. Daniel Jank is still here but I will be looking to move him on this year

Centre Midfielders

Alex Ibrahim and JaMonAl were the starting centre midfielders, and they were incredible. JaMonAl, unfortunately, won't be coming back, as we can't afford the £19.5k buy out clause. Cy Goddard and Rahman Dampha are the backups to the starting two, and Arthur is cover for them. Goddard still has the quality similarly with Dampha, however Arthur still needs to improve. Ercan Kayhan is finally leaving for free, now possessing no quality which would mean he wouldn't get into the squad in the first year...

Right Wingers

We don't play a left winger, so we only have right wingers. Njongo Priso started the season very well, but got a 4 month injury, so Bearzotti came in and proved himself very well. Koglbauer and Barnett can also play there if needed. Bruno Souza is leaving on a free at the start of the season, and Ziajan Sharifi is not good enough unfortunately, so I will be looking to move him on for the good of his career.

Strikers

I am still unsure who I want to play. The complete forward position is either Jhoao Rodriguez or Jermaine Hylton. Rodriguez will have 5-10 games where his unstoppable, and then will be invisible. In the poacher position it is either Benjamin Kogbauer or Jermaine Hylton again and it is the same situation as the complete forward position. Finally the target man position. Abderrahmane Yousfi is our top scorer with 19 goals, but is doesn't have the potential that Bill Barnett does, but Barnett passes up 2 chances, on average, a game, which Yousfi would score.

With the beginning of the season just around the corner, I have made some movements in the window

Outs:



Ziajan Sharifi has had to leave the club, as he simply isn't good enough. Had a decent season in the Landesliga, but I decided to keep him as cover last season, which probably hindered his development somewhat



One that I didn't really speak about in the review, but he was out on loan, and didn't progress as much as he needed to. Was not going to develop into anything more than a backup, and even then it would take a few years



Ercan Kayhan was going to leave on a free anyway but he retired. Didn't make an appearance last year, but in the Landesliga and the Regionalliga, was a key player for us. If he gets a face from the picture I have requested, I may look to bring him back as staff

Ins:



After a very impressive season, Bearzotti returns on loan. He will be fighting for his position with Njongo Priso and also another new signing...:



...This guy! Was released by Man United and has bags of potential. Can play either side, and is the long term replacement for Priso with his injury not doing him any good



Finally, Navarone Foor. Released by NEC after over 150 games for them, and has taken the place of JaMonAl. Hopefully will perform well as he is a similar player to him

The media have predicted that we'll come 13th, which is a position I am happy with. However I will obviously be looking to surpass that, as I have overachieved every other year. Floridsdorfer and Austria Salzburg are predicted to go right back down, and St Polten are predicted to come 11th. It'll be an interesting title race as well, with it being very competitive.

And our first game in the Bundesliga is... another 0-0. They edged the game but couldn't convert their chances. I probably underestimated our side also as I went counter from the off, but when we went attacking, we saw more of the game. They only had one highlight however and we had 4/5



The only real thing of note that happened in the game was Jhoao Rodriguez got injured for 7-8 weeks.

We are approaching the end of the window, and the last few deals are taking place:

Outs:



Daniel Jank leaves the club. He had a bit of potential when he first joined the club, but literally made no improvement, therefore making him surplus to requirements, especially at this level. Was one of the first signing I made, but at this level he is really not good enough

Now one of the strangest transfers I have seen



Has had no interest from any clubs, anywhere. I offered him out again, and for some reason, Italian giants, Roma, want to take the stubborn 21 year old 3rd choice keeper from us. Good luck to him, but for some reason, I don't see him playing all that much...

Ins:



Chara is not a definite replacement for Sergi, but he is there to give him some competition for the left wing back position. Also has some experience in the tipco Bundesliga, playing 24 times for Sturm Graz before being released



Despite Benjamin Koglbauer being considered a legend at the club, he is probably the weak link in the first 11, so I brought Floriano Vanzo in on a free. Can play the poacher position well, however his finishing is a worry, so Koglbauer will play quite a lot as well.



The ultimate cover player. Can play anywhere on the left or right, and also up front. A very good utility player, who will mainly be a backup right back, to Raphael Mathis

I am considering stopping this and doing an alphabet challenge, or something similar. Not sure though if it something anyone would be interested, as the interest in this seems to have faded slightly. Let me know

Mate i'm really enjoying this,but if you aren't then you shouldn't continue

I'm still thoroughly enjoying this @Parker26, its very good, annoyingly all careers are dying off slowly and myself and @Shedender are really noticing it having been here for a few years now, they use to be popular all year around, now we're lucky if they are popular upon first launch of the game.

Thanks @Dan and @SugarDaddy69, I am still enjoying this as much as I did when I started it, but I wasn't sure if anyone else was. These take quite a bit of time to do, I was just wondering whether I should continue doing this or start a fresh, because maybe people were getting bored of it. I will carry on doing this then!

Outs:



Kristopher Da Graca leave the club, and returns to Sweden. We managed to get £100k for a 5th choice centre back, which I was pleased with.



Maximillian Berghold left on loan to Weiz. He has been here from the start, but didn't develop as much as Hammouti so hopefull will develop this year.



Abdou Rahman Dampha leaves for £95k to Wiener Neustadt. He was only a rotation option, so to get that sum of money for him was good

Ins:



Diadie Samassekou comes in on loan. Won't play much but is here anyway



Another loanee. Is on par with Samassekou and will have to battle it out for the coveted backup spot



The final transfer of the window is Noel Soumah. He comes in to replace the two departing centre backs, which drops Loof to the second choice. Looks like a quality signing, and hopefully he can do well for us

We earned a vital 3 points at home against Grodig. We went ahead twice, to begin with, and they came back twice eventually going 3-2 up. However a couple of subs sealed the win. Lykogiannis came on in the 71st minute along with Benjamin Koglbauer; Lyko got 2 assists in 7 minutes and Koglbauer latched on to the end of one of his crosses to secure the 3 points. Jhoao Rodriguez also scored on his return from injury, ensuring we got the victory against a team we needed to beat if we want to stay in the league