I came here to win the pentagon and drink vodka [FM12]

Easy victories

Another season/romp over, how did we do?







All in all, a terrific season. Started at blistering pace and never looked like slowing down for long, apart from right at the end where FM thought it'd be fun to test an injury hit squad with 6 games in 10 days. Nice.

Real Salt Lake in the Playoffs, lets do this thang

A pretty barmy tie tbh, but once more our unstobbable strike force drag us through. Been immense all season. New York up next.



Gutted, but that's football. Blown away the league all year and come up short in this game, would've been nice to end with a hattrick of MLS titles Screw you New York.


Miscellaneous shit








(We had four players in the running for this, and i'm fairly annoyed we didnt get at least two into the top three)


(Gutted for Alvarado as he had an amazing season, but Montero was awesome(again) and it might be greedy asking for 6/11 in team of the year)

Star Performers

Tim Ream - The big free transfer come good, a key contributor to a almost impregnable defense and his random hattrick in the final of the US Cup made his first season back in the states a resounding success.

Dick Alvarado - I said last year I wanted more goals and boy did I get them. Dicky scored 42 in 44 games, as well as 11 assists and 13 MotM awards on his way to a 7.7 average rating. Not bad for a 22 year old free agent signing from Costa Rica.

Taufic Guarch - More than repaid the faith shown by his rather large transfer fee, Big T notched 43 times in all competitions, with 16 assists and 13 MotM to boot. Deserving winner of the MVP award and his form earned him a first call-up and cap to the Mexico team. I'm like a proud father :'

CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP



Up first, some team from Iran named Sepahan. The bookies had it down as an incredibly close tie, with penalties being the most likely decider, though I have no idea why, the Iranian's first shot on target came in the 92nd minute..

Up next, European giants and CL holders AC Milan. Could the revs pull off an astounding upset?



Alas, it wasnt to be, with the likes of Erick Torres, David Luiz, Kevin Prince Boateng and Pato (who is unbeleiveably good in this FM) proving one hurdle too high to jump

And with that...



All good things come to an end, and i've vastly enjoyed (most of) my time in New England, and looking forward to wherever this career takes me next. What I'm not looking forward to is the inevitable scavenging of the talent in New England when the new (and probably inept) replacement takes over

That being said, after a few years where finances were very bleak the club is now financially sound (and actually back in the black), and i've left them champions of the Cup and with a relatively simple NACL qtr final against Cruz Azul. The future's bright.

So, after holidaying for a remarkably short time (only around 20 days iirc) I was offered a job I couldn't really turn down...



Champions of last year, not sure why theyre not in the continental competition though, but struggling in the league in 2nd to last place means I get the chance to restore glory to Melbourne.





Form and thus morale are shit atm, but the league looks quite tight in regards to the last few playoff places so we may be able to mount a late comeback.



The squad, unfortunately, looks pretty shit too, not helped by the fact the previous manager let loads of contracts run down, so our best 2 players are leaving on frees at the end of the season

Signiiiiiings



Had looked into signing him for New England but he wasnt near as good as our current CMs there, where as here he's immediatly the best we have. Notched twice on his debut too.



The only New England striker i could realistically get, provides much needed firepower up top.



Here's our CL group, no idea how strong this is

Suwon are big in Korea, Okayama (Kashima Antlers iirc) are big in Japan as well, Changchun.... Surprise package AFAIK.

Cheers for the intel mate, never really managed in Asia before so its all guesswork for me

The Ivory Coast manager was fired after a shitty African Cup of Nations where they failed to get out of their group, I applied aaand



Ranked 29th in the world, but with a talented squad with the likes of Bony, Doumbia, Coulibaly and a few regens. Not quite sure how the african qualification works, but we're halfway through this qualifying group..



Surely even I can't balls this up

No idea what i've done so right, or what the previous manager was doing wrong, but this team is waaaaaaaaay better than I could've imagined looking at that league table coming in. Naturally my signings had A LOT tp do with it, but the other 9 players were decent enough too. Sydney FC were ahead on the last day, but bottled it to ensure we won the title.



That form is astonishing. Those two wins against Sydney and Brisbane were when they were league leaders too. I dont reckon even if i'd cheated it would be quite as good as it is. Everything just seems too easy, like I'm about to fall into a Scooby-Doo esque trap.

Now the "regular season" is over we've got Sydney in the semi final playoff thing, still not entirely sure how this whole A League thing works tbh

Good move to Melbourne Victory

I think it's based on clubs finished in top 6 and 1st and 2nd gets bye to the semi final.

You can find out more here
http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/site/_content/document/00001983-source.pdf

Cheers for the info, from what I've gathered its similiar to the IPL in cricket, where the top 2 teams play each other in a semi and then the loser has another chance against the winner of the other 4 teams, weird but we comfortably beat Sydney in the semi so only had Brisbane to beat in the final...



Nervy game but we just about came out on top, despite injuries to a few key players. Means we should be in the CL again next year, and secures the Victory's 2nd consecutive title and record 6th win overall.

In the CL





What looked a fairly testing group on paper was navigated with surprising ease, and sets up a second round tie against a Japanese team who I cant see how well theyre doing as the Japanese league isnt loaded

Star performers

Giannis Kalyvas - Upon arrival at the club this guy was the top scorer, but for some reason placed in the youth team. A call up to the senior game and the young australian certainly didnt disappoint, amassing a club record 17 goals in 31 games.

Kwesi Braithwaite - The young Trinidad and Tobago midfielder was my first free transfer at the club, and had a sterling first season down under, scoring 4 goals in 14 appearances in all comps and amassing a 7.54 rating in the short time since signing.

Ivory Coast





Extremely routine qualification from an extremely routine group. Bony is a bit of a machine



One of the best draws we couldve hoped for too, so i'm very optimistic about reaching the WC next year. We've moved up from 29th to 18th in the world too over my time here, which is a nice bonus too.

Melbourne Victory

Here's our draws for the qtrs and semis of the CL, repsectively.





Quite pleased with that, we beat and drew with Okayama in the group stages so I'm not too concerned about them.

A quick glance back at New England and, as predicted, their new Finnish manager has decided a comple cull of the squad was needed...



With the sales of Gaurch and Pena (not listed here as hes leaving on a precontract thing) that's basically my entire first team thats been sold. Surprisingly though, they currently sit second in the Eastern with 10 games left

A disappointing loss in the first leg (though with a vital away goal) We had the better of the game but unfortunately couldnt convert our chances whilst they could. Also, check out our god awful flourescent away kit



Got the vital first goal, then (god forgive me) went to counter and shut up shop to ensure we scraped through on away goals, my first away goals victory in years, and we move on to play Qatari outfit Lekhwiya in the semis.

In other news



We're f*cked.

When that late OG went in I actually jumped up, much to the dismay of my mrs and cat who happened to be on my lap at the same time

The final then, a chance to chalk off the 2nd of those 5 elusive big eared bastards. The opponents? Another side from Qatar, this time Al-Gharrafa, who absolutely trounced Guangzhou 6-1 on aggregate in the semis.



Thats that then. We got off to an unbelievably good start, got pegged back, but showed great character to triumph in the end. Once again our opponents ill discipline seemed to have cost them, not that im complaining An unbelievable achievement considering I was only in the job for around 11 months. The squad was so much better than I expected, but a special mention has to go to this guy..



Scored a hatful of goals and broke various records last season, and is well on his way to besting that this season. Was such a key part to our success and, aged only 20, should only get better with time. His values increased by over 2m this year alone, and should command a hefty fee if/when he moves on. Cheers Giannis.

All good things must come to an end, however brief, and so



Already sniffing around for some jobs, wanted the Clermont Foot job as they were languishing at the bottom of Ligue 2, but had agreed to sign Alvarado from my New England side, but I was rejected Brazil or South Africa next i'm reckoning!

Very good results in New England and very good results also in Melbourne. I do not know the players that you have sign, but I hope that they help you to obtain your aims. Good luck.

Thanks pal!



Here's our draw for the world cup, probably between us and Poland to scrape through then...

In other news, the job hunt is over!





Benfica are too established for me, so its off to Guimaraes!





The squad is pretty shit, but with next to no budget we'll just have to make the best of it. Finances are dire too, 5m in the red so i'm hoping for decent tv money/competition money or our transfer kitty may be a pittence for a while yet.



Plenty of time yet!



Weak quarters in the cup too, decent chance of making the final if we avoid Porto in the semis.

In terms of signings, due to the constraints on budgets I only had enough wiggle room to sign this guy on a free



Looks promising, but hasn't really performed in his appearances so far. Should be some resale value at least if our financial situation gets worse.

Anyway, our cup run



Porto got eliminated in the qtrs, meaning the road to cup victory stands relatively unopposed, current holders Rio Ave in the semis though...







Our reward is a league 2 side in the final. Surely we cant f*ck this up...

League seasons over, how did we do? As it turns out, rather well...



These are just the fixtures from when I took over, and include some very pleasing wins against Benfica and Sporting, and a credible draw against Porto who, rather predictably, absolutely creamed the league this year. Disappointed to lose to Maritimo in the league cup semi's, but I was concentrating on the league and put out a weaker side, already in the other cup final so its not all doom and gloom.



5th place for us is a remarkable achievement, the battle for 5th came down to the last day but we won and Maritimo and Braga thankfully choked. Benfica completed an abysmal season in 9th, including a 3-0 loss to bottom side Aves on the last day



So we'll be competing in Europe next season, which will be fantastic, not least for out club coffers which are currently 6 million in the red. Theres a few youth players worth over a mil that really might need to get sold just to try and balance the books, otherwise I can see uswith another transfer budget of 154k which probably wont suffice in Europe

Star Performers

Emanuel & Edgar Silva - The two strikers bagged 17 and 19 goals respectively, and are the only reason we achieved such a good position this year (our next best had 8) Neither are really great though, so money permitting i'll be scouring the globe for an improvement up top.

Up next - cup final day...

First trophy at Guimaraes in the bag, and the Taca de Portugal is heading to Estadio D. Alfonso Henriques for the first time in its history. A fairly routine cup run all in all, shows how easy it can be if you avoid the big boys.

More important than our cup triumph, was this



Ca$h moneyz

First trophy at Guimaraes in the bag, and the Taca de Portugal is heading to Estadio D. Alfonso Henriques for the first time in its history. A fairly routine cup run all in all, shows how easy it can be if you avoid the big boys.

More important than our cup triumph, was this







Ca$h moneyz

You'll regret letting Busk go, if only for his epic name.

World Cup tings

Played 3 warmup friendlies, with a win against Paraguay, a loss against Spain and a draw against Serbia rounding out our pre tournament preparation. Here's our group games







A crap draw against Iran in our first game really put us under pressure, especially with Poland drawing with England. We then creeped past the poles and succumbed to an expected and deserved loss to England, however it turns out that goal against England was extremely important as...



It means we sneak through on goals scored to play Uruguay.



And the dream comes crashing down around the tired legs of the Ivory Coast players I did consider resigning as the joys of national management start to wear thin, but the I remembered it'll be Cup of Nations season in January, which I've never managed in before and could cross off my bucket list.

In club news, I was all set for pre-season in Guimaraes when...





No brainer really, Madeira sneaked into 2nd last year and thus will be in the CL this season (first time attempt anyone?) but also arent crippled by finances and have this tank up front



Finished top scorer in the league last season and I'm expecting similar things in the future. Not a bad record for the U21s too

Hello Europa League!

(Funny thing, the PSG and Santos jobs are both currently available and I'm linked with both, shame I took this job now!)

Woah! Hold the f*cking phone, this little club from Portugal with its tiny 5000 seater stadium are heading to great things, knocking out last years runners-up in the..-



Oops. Threw it away PSG were just a class above in the end.



Very doable though!

Erm... Don't want to sound too confident, but I think we might have just done enough

After that drubbing of Tromso, a fairly boring 2-0 win led us through to the Europa League group stages.



As far as im concerned, a fairly routine group. We should (and how often have I said this) be able to qualify with relative ease.

Transfer tings



Chosen to invest mostly in youth, as im hopefully planning on hanging around like a bad smell for a while, and its always nice to develop success rather than buying it.



Fairly cheap from Albacete and is straight into the starting lineup as the best keeper in the club. Was between him and a young Uruguayan but the other required a transfer of >1m and i didnt want to shell out that much on what could be a flop.



Endeared me with his good stats for a winger and versatility to play a variety of positions.



A more grown up version of Schuster, will fill in from the get-go at MR as an upgrade of anyone the club currently had on its books.



Probably paid too much, but for some reason I love young CBs from African countries Served me well on FMs in the past, hopefully Robles wont disappoint.





These two will be coming in Jan, Mamute on a free and Zuloaga for 550k, I could approach to sign him but it actually worked out cheaper just to buy due to the compensation, 4 and a half star potential though so hopefully worth the investment.

Interesting move Some good pre signings already.

Sorry to break it to you, but Bolivia is in South America.

Guess my old geography teacher is getting a strongly worded email then (fuck me im an idiot )

Absolutely destroyed our Europa League group, scoring goals for fun.





Here's our draws for the next two rounds, nothing i'm too scared about there. Good to see 4 portuguese sides in the knockouts (Porto dropped down from the CL) so heres hoping for a good performance from all teams and the league level can increase.



Told you he was a tank. This record was broken mid-December so he is well on the way to a 50 goal season