Die Königsblauen

In meinem Spar Savic ist auch bei United. Gute Unterzeichnung in Caravjal. Perth sind Scheiße wie hast du nur ziehen ?!

Hehe, Joseph...

Perth are shit for sure, but like I said; I played with most of my youth-team to give them senior football experience. But you're right; no excuses. A draw to Perth City isn't good enough. It's 1 in 10, and that was the one...

As you can see in my last post; the update of February 2015; it doesn't seem to have affected the team much

Hansen looking brilliant Maybe training him on jumping reach?

I have a huge problem with my players not coping well with extra load of individual training. Any tips? Everytime I have a staff-meeting and I have players from the first team on individual training-setup, I get feedback from my staff that the players involved is unhappy with the training-load.

I just can't figure out how to get it done without upsetting them. Tips?

fuck them. You're the boss, you tell them what to the do, the lazy bastards

I put them on heavy training load and I do get complaint now and again about it but I ignore them.

Haha!!




Well, it disrupts the harmony within the squad, no? Out of all that you can control on FM, training is not one of the things I bother with, I leave it up to my staff usually, and I've got a pretty good staff at Schalke...

Rarely happens. I do tends to listen to backroom staff advice on players on what area they needs improving on or tutoring the youngsters.

The month of March, 2015:



The game vs Mainz has already been covered. It proved to be a great start to an eventually great month for us. Only two days after beating Mainz away, we beat Kaiserslautern 2-0 at home in the German Cup and we were through to the semi-finals where we will go up against:



Then two straight 3-0 wins, home & away vs two of the league's worst teams; Augsburg and FC Köln. Comfortable wins, I'd say. The victory at RheinEnergieStadion in Köln would mean we'd be a shoe-in for the CL for next year as well:



Then came time for the second Revierderby of the season:



The build up to this game was as always hot and we were proving to be the favorites, at least in the press:



To make things worse for the Borussia Dortmund fans, it seemed as if their beloved BVB09 had started cracking at the worst timed part of the season, just look at their results from January and up until today:



And then came time for kick-off. For once Carlos Bacca had a bad day at the office; not scoring and going out with a 6.90 avr. Luckily for me, the remaining ten players on the pitch had a solid day of football in them:



The victory came with a cost, though. Lars Bender got injured early on and will be out for 5-6 weeks with a bad ankle. Not good, but hopefully Romero, Xavi, Höger and Goretzka will step it up in his absence.

Because of a international break, the Bundesliga's on a break and that leaves the table looking like this:



Our form combined with Dortmund's decline would mean that it would take ALOT for our two main contenders to rob us from the BL-gold this season. I'm very pleased.

Bayern needs to really start looking out for Eintracht Frankfurt. In fact, I really hope Frankfurt can rob them of third. Would be sweet. HSV ended up sacking their manager and replaced him with an old familiar face for the Schalke-fans; Huub Stevens. Despite being in 9th, it's clear to see that the HSV-board is aiming higher.

Braunschweig, Hoffenheim, Leverkusen, Augsburg and Köln are the teams most likely to battle it out on who's to stay put in the Bundesliga.

Champions League:

Time for the second leg of the first knockout stages against Shakthar Donetsk:



A 2-1 win and 4-1 on aggregate; we're through. The draw is made and:



With all due respect, PSG will be a much tougher challenge than Shakthar. I believe we should be a better team over two legs, but it's gonna be a close one...

Transfers in & out:

I've made some signings for the next season:





I've had success with bringing in players from local rival Duisburg before in Marcus Stein. I'm hoping Wunderlich will turn into Wonderful.





Alex Guerreiro is a big talent from Brazil. I'm thinking that he could be a major player for me in our midfield for years to come, but I'm thinking of having either Höger or Bender tutoring him when he arrives, perhaps even loan him out to one of my affiliates to help him adjust to German football. He was wanted by three other clubs, including Real Madrid, so I'm happy he chose to come to Gelsenkirchen.





Dennis Aogo will be transfer-listed at the end of the season, I don't feel he's a good enough fit in the long run. I really wanted to bring in a young German, but none of the one I scouted had a big enough potential to bring out the big money on them. Luke Shaw was on my radar, but with an asking price of £30-35 mill, he's too expensive. Never had Ben Davies before, but he's got a great potential and he's playing regurlarly in the PL, so I feel confident that I've made the right choice.

Other news:



I asked the board to establish a link with a team with a successful youth-system so that we could have first-options from them. The board is always happy to oblige any requests that could improve our own youth-system, so the request was granted. They came up with four teams to choose from: Dynamo Kiev, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow and SC Braga. I chose Spartak Moscow.



I've already signed 7 of the youngsters to the youth team. I have high hopes for them.



I'm a really big fan of Allione and with the form he's been in lately, it'd be foolish not to tie him up for the long run. His original contract was set to run out in 2017. He's been reluctant to sign a deal that's over 3 years before.

Next month: Can we leave Dortmund in the dust for good? And will PSG be too strong in the Champions League?

Destroying Dortmund and the league! Some promising signings, I like the looks (and the name!) of Wunderlich. Wunderschön!

Good to see you have linked up with Spartak Moscow They tends to produce cracking regens.

Fantastic to see you have signed Allione for another 4 years

The month of May & April, 2015; Curtain calls:

So, here we are; the final two months of Bundesliga football for the 2014/15-season:



First game after demolishing Borussia Dortmund is a very tough away-game at Freiburg. They're holding a good position in the BL and they won't give us anything for free, and that goes to show in the game itself. We're down 3-1 going into half-time. I'm furious and let my players know all about it. They get it together and comes back from two goals down, but in the 87'th minute, a personal error from Dennis Aogo proves to be crucial as Freiburg don't think twice to score the winning goal. A tough loss, but from a neutral standpoint it would have to be an amazing game.

Then we face Hoffenheim at home. They are struggling for their Bundesliga-life, and we do nothing to help them. 3-1 after a Bacca-hattrick. That means we'd need one point from our remaining games to mathematically secure our second title in two years. Our first chance would come at Fritz-Walter Stadion in Kaiserslautern:



A 3-3 game gave us the one lone point we need to secure the Bundesliga title. Unfortunately, I wasn't too pleased, though. We were up 3-1 until 72 minutes gone when they pulled two back. Not a good start to the month of April for our sake, but hey; we're the champions, right?

In our three last games of the season we face Eintracht Braunschweig (H/3-1), Wolfsburg (A/1-1) and Werder Bremen (H/4-2). We were up 1-0 for a long period of time vs Wolfsburg before they managed to salvage the draw, so it should've been three for three, there.

That would leave the table for the season looking like this:



We won the Bundesliga a massive 13 points clear of Borussia Dortmund. That's amazing! I'm so proud of the squad! Eintracht Frankfurt showed an amazing form almost all season long, whilst Bayern Münich didn't. Bayern was robbed of the 3rd spot in the final round, kudos to Markus Babbel and the work he's done at Eintracht Frankfurt; I'm a really big fan of both him and his team. Just an amazing feat. Freiburg ends up in 5th and their manager Christian Streich get's the Manager of the Year award, just ahead of myself.

HSV sacked their manager, hired Huub Stevens and it seemed to work; they ended up in 6th. Nürnberg had a tough season at the start of it, but pulled it together and ended up safely in 9th.

In the relegation battle; FC Köln pulled of an amazing feat in the final round. Up against it, they turned it around, won their final game away and ended up in 15th, the safe spot, 1pt. clear of Hoffenheim who would end up playing qualification vs one of my affiliate clubs; Fortuna Dusseldorf. They ended up losing that battle 3-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg at home 1-0.

Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen have to take a trip down to 2.Bundesliga next year after being relegated.

Champions League:

After a strong 1-1 result away at Paris Saint-Germain, we're ready for a spectacle at VELTINS-Arena and full of confidence. Unfortunately for us, two comeback-goals from Zlatan after Max Meyer and Mirko Vucinic respectively gave us the lead 1-0 and 2-1, would mean we'd have to win the game in order to progress to the semi's. We're pushing on and getting our chances. I even bring on Carlos Bacca and play with two strikers to grab the crucial third goal and then; disaster strike:

Dennis Aogo gets sent off after receiving his second yellow card. Aogo's been sent off before this season and has collected lots of yellow cards. No wonder I I was getting rid of him at the end of the season, but this red card turns out to seal his fate sooner rather than later.

With ten men, we collapse and PSG scores the third just before the end. A 3-2 loss at home and 4-3 on aggregate means we're out of Europe:



German Cup:

Luckily for us, we're doing better in our domestic cup. A semi-final at home vs Borussia Mönchengladbach is next:



A home 2-1 win secures a place in the finals for the second years in a row. The opponent? Borussia Dortmund - what a final this is going to be. The Revierderby in Berlin (for the occation):





Caaaaaaarlos Baccaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! A domestic double for the second time in two years. I couldn't have asked for more!

Transfers in & out:

Dennis Aogo was going to leave the club after the season, but with his unecessary sending off vs PSG, he sealed his faith. I fined him, transfer-listed him and offered him off to other clubs. Olympiakos and Sampdoria both met my asking-price of £4.9M and he ended up signing for Olympiakos:



Mirko Vucinic will also be sold after the season if everything goes to plan. His form has declined, especially in the second half of the season and I've decided to bring in a new player. I ended up buying this guy:





Kaldec's been the catalyst behind Frankfurt's good season this year. He ended up in second place behind Carlos Bacca on the top-scorers also. For this fee he's going to be a steal (or at least that's what I hope):





Other News:



My U19 squad won the league again and also the cup. I've got so much talent at this club!



Out of nothing, the board have decided to upgrade the facilities. I can't complain!



Well, next season will certainly be interesting with these two on top...

Player of the Season:



Carlos Bacca, who else? 7.69 Av.R., 35 league goals/40 in total, 9 MoM awards. Enough said! Beast!

Season In Review across Europe:

England:
Winners: Manchester United - Won the EPL 1 point ahead of arch-rivals Liverpool. Ole Gunnar Solskjær is king of Manchester for sure!
ECL: Liverpool & Chelsea
EL: Man City, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspurs

Relegation: West Ham, Leicester & Blackburn Rovers.

Italy:
Winners: AS Roma
ECL: Juventus & AC Milan
EL: Udinese, Inter & Cagliari

Relegation: Empoli, Parma & Padova

Spain:
Winners: Atletico Madrid
ECL: Barcelona & Valencia
EL: Real Madrid, Osasuna & Real Sociedad

Relegation: Cordoba, Elche & Alavés

France:
Winners: AS Monaco
ECL: Paris Saint-Germain
EL: Lille, Toulouse & Marseille

Relegation: Evian, Bastia & Nancy

Holland:
Winners: PSV Eindhoven
ECL: Vitesse Arnhem
EL: Ajax, Feyenoord & Twente

Portugal:
Winners: Benfica
ECL: FC Porto
EL: Sporting Lisbon & Braga

Scotland:
Winners: Celtic
EL: Partick Thistle & St. Johnstone

Champions League:
Final: Juventus 3 - 1 Manchester City - Ciro Ferrara's taken over the helm at Juventus after Conte was appointed new Italy boss after the WC, and he's brought back the CL-trophy to Turin.

EURO League:
Final: Manchester United 3 - 0 Swansea - Ole Gunnar Solskjær won two trophies in his first season; the EPL and the EURO Cup trophy; a trophy United's never won. Great accomplishment!

A final word:

Right now I'm undecided wether I'm going to continue managing Schalke-04. I've asked the board for a new contract and they offered me one, but we couldn't agree on salary or compensation if I were to leave, so the talks was withdrawn from the board. I've won everything with Schalke in only two years, my first two at the club.

If I am to continue, it will probably be through next season and I'd call it quits on Schalke. I've built a solid squad with some great talents for the future, so that would drive me for next year, but right now I don't know what to do. There's none of the already available jobs that I'd want, to be honest. I guess we'll see...

Get in \o/ I'd stick with Schalke until you win the Champions League again.

That's a possibility