Folarific

oo just abouts stayed up well done ! Especially with all the off field problems as well.

Only ten days after leaving Air India I have found a new job, this time in China. I have taken the job at the Chinese Division One side Chongqing FC. The Division One is the second division of the two in China and I have been given a six month contract to keep them in the league. The league has 19 matches to go. However, despite our poor standing, we are meant to finish 7th so the side has some quality.

In terms of quality of league, it's the same as India (1 and a half stars) and after downloading the Megapack pretty much all of my players have faces which I always like. Like India, I am allowed 4 foreigners in my side and we currently have one, another Argentinian but he actually looks really impressive so expecting big things from him.


It is now the 4th May 2014 and the transfer window doesn't open until June for a month then re-opens for two months from January to March so for the time being, I'll have to make do with the squad I've got. From a personal point of view, at the start of the game I did say that I would be aiming my game around personal wealth- however I have taken a drop from my £1.1k a week at Air India to only £625 a week here at Chongqing.


My budget here at Changqing is a lot less than what I had at Air India. For example Libonatti and Diaz alone would of taken up my whole transfer budget at this club.


When the transfer window re-opens, I will be looking at bringing over some of my former players from Air India, fully taking advantage of their financial difficulties. I will be making bids for the Indians- goalkeeper Riad, defender Dalim and the Indian David Beckham Patil. Was going to make a bid for Libonatti and Diaz but they're on £3k a week at Air India, no chance I can afford them.


Really looking forward to this challenge as I've never managed in China before. My contract here is only for 6 months so may decide to leave when the season ends, really not too sure. Thanks to everyone whose commented so far and hope you continue to read and comment as my journey continues, this time into China.

good luck at your new club !

My plan of keeping one assistant manager with me throughout my career has gone tits up as he's not even prepared to listen to what I have to offer.

This guy will be my new right hand man and hopefully stick with me for the long haul. I will invite him to live in my house, might even let him go on the top bunk of my bunk bed, moving Mrs. Fola onto the lower bunk with me.


Fola Changhong

Or she can lie on the floor in a sleeping bag.

Good luck at Chongqing pal.

Just found out it's against the law in this league to have a goalkeeper that's not Chinese. That rules out my deal for Riad from my old club, Air India.

Right, my first match is in six days so here's a look at my squad. They aren't the greatest but hopefully we can stay in this league. Going to try and create three formations and hope they work in China.

Goalkeepers

Guo Wei will be my first choice goalkeeper. May look to bring in another keeper when the transfer window opens in a few months but he has a face so I'll probably keep him.

Defenders

The defence are nothing special. They have no faces so will look for new Chinese defenders who have a face.

Midfielders

Only Xue stands out for me.

Strikers

Olguin is my star man. Looking at bringing in another Argentinian to partner him, may look in the free agent market.

STAR MEN


China's number one who hasn't played for China yet.


My centre back who also plays upfront.


China's very own one cap wonder, Francis Jeffers esque.


Brave and determined but sadly, shit at football.


Chinese Rory Delap but can't throw it as far.

Will update in ten matches, wish me luck. Cheers Shedender!

An update a little earlier than I expected as it is now the 19th June 2014 and the Chinese transfer market has re-opened. I had signed eight players on pre-contract agreements who have now all joined the club. Importantly, now I have downloaded the megapack, I have decided that all of my squad need to have real pictures for their faces. Because of this, I have released any player who doesn't have a face and brought in players who do.



Firstly, if we look at my results in my first month or so as manager in China. My first two matches probably couldn't of gone any worse. We we battered in both matches and found ourselves in the relegation zone, I was slowly starting to regret my move to China. Then, with a change of tactics, we managed to get three wins on the trot (albeit one of them in the cup). However we now sit in 13th position and higher than we were when I joined, only two points off ninth.


At Air India, I left the club due to their financial difficulties, mainly due to my own doing. After purchasing eight new players I got this announcement from the club...

Maybe I'm about to ruin another club? Looking at the finances, we are pretty fucked already so I'm not taking the blame for this one. Quite enjoying it though so far.


I will post my transfers in the next post.

INCOMING TRANSFERS (All free agents)


Tricky winger Ricardo Villar Rodriguez joins the club on a deal until the end of next season after failing to find a club after his release from Indian side East Bengal. After the success of my Argentinian's at Air India, I'm hoping this guy can follow the trend and do well for me. Olguin (who I posted a screenshot of a few posts back) is also Argentinian so he should help him settle into the side.


Lu Yan's stats are pretty shit and to be honest, the only reason I brought him into the side was because he has a face. Looking at it, he is quite versatile so he might be good back up for me. He's a player/scout as well so when he's not playing I can just send him off to watch some shitty lower league Asian football.


Gao Dawei is another player who was mainly brought to the club due to the fact he has a face. However, this guy's an aggressive fucker so looking to bring him on late into matches or in derby games to spice things up a bit.


Yan Feng is a signing that I am very impressed with, especially being so cheap. He's been capped twice by his country and has spent the majority of his career, playing in the division higher than this so his experience should be vital for my younger players.


Hu Zhaojun has been brought to the club as a player but also the manager of the club's under 19 side. Despite looking like an old woman, he has played all his career in the top division of Chinese football and has been capped six times. His stats are much better than anybody else in my side so hoping, like Feng, his experience and quality can be vital.


Li Fang was brought in purely because he looks addicted to drugs. He's part of the chinese mafia and looks high as a kite in his photo. Very cheap labour as well.


Ibrahim Kalley is a player that I'm very excited about and I'm sure can have a big future at this club. I found him on the player search option after he had been released from Indian side Mohun Bagan. For some reason, he didn't feature once for them but his stats do look impressive for a twenty year old. I think he's got a bright future and takes the third of my four available foreign spots.


Wang Xinhui is another talented youngster who I have brought into the squad. He's on very cheap labour, versatile and has good stats for a young kid- very happy with his acquisition.

11 days on from the announcement of eight signings, I've made my final foreign signing and it's my best yet. I have had my eye of this guy since my first season at Air India and I'm so glad that I have managed to persuade him to join me in China. I tried to buy him last year on a number of occasions, offering a lot more money than I have now but I've somehow managed to convince him to join me in a player/coach capacity.


Brazilian forward Josimar becomes my final foreign signing of the transfer window, despite there being two more weeks of it to go. I have got a few bids in for a few Chinese defenders which I expect to be concluded soon. I've managed to bring Josimar in on a two year deal and I'm hoping he can be a success here. He was top goalscorer in the Indian Premier the season before last for Salgaocar, bagging five of them against my Air India side. In 24 appearances, he managed 24 goals.

Last season I offered him £1.5k to join me at Air India but at the time, he had a very greedy agent who he has now got rid of. Due to this, he didn't even have a club last season which has seen his stats drop but hoping they can improve with his time here. Good to get another coach on board as well.

Love the Li Fang signing!

Enjoying the read thus far. Makes me miss FM a little.

Absolutely loving the comments and the reasoning behind your signings. Have to admit I laughed out loud at the "Despite looking like an old woman" one haha.

Some good quality players in there though mate!

good signing in the Brazilians and loving the reasons behind the signings !

Shit was well and truly hit the fan.

My starting goalkeeper, Guo Wei has got injured and due to the transfer rules in China, I can't bring in a new keeper, even a free agent until the end of the season. I am now stuck with this useless piece of shit with no face. He's probably one of the worst goalkeepers I've ever seen.

Five games until the end of the season and without wanting to jinx it, I think we should survive now. We are now five points clear of relegation after a great win against top of the table Yongchang. Josimar has impressed since joining and has created a good partnership with Olguin, Josimar scoring 5 and Olguin grabbing 4. My defence and goalkeeper are absolutely shit so if I can manage to keep my job in the Summer, that will definitely need to be strengthened.

However, I then got this piece of news on my newsfeed. After checking, my job status is now 'very insecure' so unfortunately it looks very unlikely I'll be here next season, even if I do keep them up.

'Arial Ability: 4'

Thanks for the comments, glad you're enjoying.

Season finished now and we had quite a successful end to the season with some very good wins. We would of won all of these games if my goalkeeper could actually do his job and not concede a goal after every shot at his goal. I really enjoyed my stint at Chongqing FC and I really hope I can get a new deal. My current deal finishes here in two months time, the new season starting in four months so it's just a waiting game really.

Don't really want to rebuild for next season if I'm not going to be here so will have to have a word with the board.

Overall we finished 11th in the league and well clear of the relegation zone. If I'm still here next season, I'll be looking forward to rebuild my squad and hopefully get some money spinning friendlies to increase finance.

Looks like I'm going to have to wait for a bit longer.

Chongqing FC - Season Two - Player Stats

Goalkeepers

Both are my keepers are shit and need shooting. The law over here is that I'm not allowed a keeper that isn't Chinese and all in all, I've still not seen a good Chinese goalkeeper.

Defenders

Hardly had any defence so this area definitely needs strengthening. With my new attacking formation, I will be looking to play wingers in the full back roles so will only look to strengthen the centre back positions.

Midfielders

Kallay, Mingyue and Hu Zhaojun impressed me greatly. Won't look to strengthen the midfield too much, they all did quite well. Quite a few of them are out of contract in the Summer but not going to offer them new deals until I have sorted out my own future.

Strikers

Olguin is the man. He's a clinical goalscorer and my favourite player in this side. He is another one who is out of contract in the Summer but I'm not offering him anything until I know if I'm going to be here or not. Josimar will have a big part to play again next year, knows where the back of the net is.

Delighted to have signed a new deal here for the upcoming season. The actual season doesn't start until the end of February and it's now the start of November so got 4 months but going to try and get my squad sorted as soon as possible.


I've been sorting him out with a bit of coke.


On the topic, of new contracts and all that- pretty much my whole squad is out of contract in two months time. Will be looking to maintain the majority of the squad together, Olguin and Hu Zhaojun are the main ones that I'm bothered about.

Our top goalscorer, Luciano Olguin has been named as the fans' player of the year. Some good news is that I've managed to keep hold of him for next season and dropped his wages down from £650 to £375 a week.

I've also had a bit of a re-shuffle with my backroom staff, bringing in a new assistant and bringing a new diverse stature to my staff. I've brought in a few Indians who came in on my search, probably there because I managed there with Air India. Mondal was a player of mine at Air India and now becomes my new assistant, despite his shit stats.

The season is about to start and I messed up and forgot to play any friendlies so we're pretty screwed. I've done quite a few transfers but will summarise them in another post.

Goalkeepers

I had great trouble last season with my goalkeepers but now I believe I have somebody who can solve that problem. Liu Weiguo played regularly in the Super League (top division in China) last season and turned down a new deal to drop down the league to join me. Guo Wei stays as my back up keeper.

Defenders

All centre backs as I'll be playing wingers and re-training them in the full back positions.

Midfielders

Pretty happy with my midfield. Expect Kallay to impress for me this season, planning on playing him just off the front men. Rodriguez, Xiaolei and Yi will all be re-trained as full backs/wing backs.

Strikers

Olguin will be my star striker again for the season with new signing, Akram and Josimar playing alongside him. All are proven goalscorers and we should have no problem scoring goals this season.

TRANSFERS INCOMING

Brought in 11 new players for the upcoming season and let 12 leave. Below are the players that stood out for me, if anybody wants any other screenies then just let me know.


Top quality keeper with a wealth of experience for somebody at only 22 years old. Capped at under 21 level for China too.


Young football minded centre back to try and fit in to my 'tika-taka' style of football.


Akram joins the side on a one year deal. He scored 15 goals in this league last season.

Chongqing FC - Season Three (1/3)

I genuinely thought that this season we would be able to push on a fight for promotion, all despite our media prediction of a 10th placed finish. Instead we've been absolutely terrible. I thought my new goalkeeper would be a good addition and stop conceding goals but that's really not happened. We've only kept one clean sheet in ten matches and in the other nine, we've conceded a hell of a lot.

Hopefully the players are just getting used to my tactics as we had no pre season but we'll have to wait and see. My job is under pressure now so we need to get some results if I'm to stay here.

BREAKING NEWS

Financial difficulties has forced me to resign from Changqing FC. The morale of the group is poor and the players really don't seem to be adapting to my tactics. If I'm honest, I shouldn't have reshuffled the backroom staff so drastically as I believe this played a major factor in my downfall. One thing that is pleasing is that Josimar is favourite to get the job- hope they give it him.

Looking to get back into football as soon as possible. Looking at Romania or maybe USA for my next journey. Hoping to stay at a club longer than 1-2 seasons now, I need stability.

Tough. I hope you stay in Asia a while longer. I liked the Indian part.

unlucky mate still enjoying the career !