tongey - Comments

After celebrating reaching my 1000 game in management, I was also rewarded with a brand new contract here at Philadelphia Union which I gleefully accepted. I've been building something here and it's right that I get the chance to continue that. I'm really enjoying my stint in America, after not enjoying it at the start. Anyway, I'm now earning £22.5k a week, and I'm here until December 2047.







Look at that fixture list! No reds in the middle, but one at the beginning of this section, and one at the end. I'll call them the bookends. They came at the hands of Sporting Kansas City & Seattle Sounders. I'm over the moon with how we've pulled things back and have improved on the form we had last season. The best result we had was the 3-0 victory against Minnesota United! Our unbeaten run stood at 15 matches, which I think is the longest of the career so far. It would've been nice to go unbeaten for the whole second half of the season, but it wasn't to be. Maybe next year?

Our record for this half of the season was: 9 WINS, 6 DRAWS and 2 LOSSES.



We won the Eastern Conference with a total of 63 points, a massive 7 points ahead of Inter Miami in 2nd place. I'm delighted that we've managed to climb 3 places to the top after that impressive run of form! What an excellent performance by the lads! It's a nice title to have, but it's not a competition we need to win, as we need to win the MLS Cup which requires the playoffs to be navigated successfully. Did we manage it?





By winning the Eastern Conference, we were rewarded with a 1st round bye, which meant we enter the playoffs in the semi-final stage. We drew Colombus Crew who had given us some pretty tough games in the regular season. It was a frustrating afternoon, as we went down to a hard-working Columbus, who secured the passage through to the final after a dramatic penalty shootout. It's a gut-wrenching feeling for all involved when you lose via a lottery system like the penalty shootout. It's progress, however, as we have gone one round further than last season.





It's a 3rd place finish for us in the overall table involving both conferences. The MLS Supporters Shield is given to the top team from both after the regular season. Seattle Sounders win this honour, with Minnesota United taking the runners-up spot. It's a massive improvement on last season, so hopefully, next season we finish top of the pile.





Another US Cup, another successful outing. It wasn't the overall result we wanted though, as we made another run all the way to the final, beating Colorado Rapids, D.C United, Real Salt Lake, & New York Red Bulls on the way. In the final, we were up against Seattle Sounders, who demolished us in a pretty disappointing day. They were the better team by far, and it showed in the 4-1 scoreline. No trophy to add to the collection this year.





GOALS
1 | Juan Pablo Fernandez | 20
2 | Fabio Jose, Mike Yates | 9
3 | Austin Lewis | 8

ASSISTS
1 | Fabio Jose | 17
2 | Mike Yates | 10
3 | Austin Lewis | 9

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Fabio Jose | 7.25
2 | Juan Pablo Fernandez | 7.18
3 | Barry De Jonge | 7.16

Next Post | Mid Season Update 2046

It's that time, I've finally reached 1000 games in charge in my managerial career. The date is 23rd August 2045. I'll just post a few little bits about my career, with some stats so people can see how I've got on throughout my career.



You can see that I am now 52 years old, and prefer the 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress formation, and fluent in English, Romanian, Greek, Ukrainian & Korean, and I also know basic Slovenian. I'm known for laying a possession-based game at a high tempo and also signing younger players for the first team, and for the future.


I've had 11 jobs, with the longest being 1553 days at Caernarfon Town in Wales, and the shortest being 368 days at ND Ilirije in Slovenia. I've earnt £3.1m in my career which is not too shabby at all.

My 1000 game record: 519 WINS, 235 DRAWS & 246 LOSSES. This is a 51% win ratio

I've watched my teams score 1625 goals, and seen them concede 1076, so my overall goal difference is +549.

I've done it! I figured out the draft system and I figured out how to buy players from the same division! It's much the same as a normal transfer but it's called a trade instead, and the money comes out of a general allocation fund. On a personal note, I'm heading up towards the magic 1000 game mark. It's been a long time coming, but it's only the start. I think at this point, I'm only 14 games short of the milestone, so the next update will more than likely be the 1000 post update, going through a few stats so far this career.



I've managed to bring 2 players in via transfers from other clubs this pre-season, and I'm really happy with the quality we've got. The first player brought in is from Orlando City and goes by the name of Juan Pablo Fernandez. The Bolivian striker scored 25 in 31 games for them last season and was the perfect player to come in and lead the line for us. His physical skills are outstanding and he's making progress on his technical skills week upon week. The second player in through the door is from my old club Pohang Steelers. He's the second player I've brought in from them after the arrival of Hwang Ki-Bok last season. Cho Jung-Yong is a hell of a midfielder that can play in an attacking role or in a more neutral role. The 24-year-old is a bargain signing at only £475k

My 2045 draft class, consisted of 4 players: Andy Lopez (AMR), Daniel Garcia (AML), Heath Harrison (GK), Jacob Garcia (ST)

Juan Pablo Fernandez | ST | Orlando City | £4.2m


Cho Jung-Yong | CM | Pohang Steelers | £475k






It was a pretty tricky start to the season, where we only won once in the first six games. That lonely win came against NYCFC on an opening day, before losing Toronto FC & FC Dallas. After those first 6 games, our form drastically improved, as we won the next four on the bounce against Inter Miami, D.C United, Cincinnati & Atlanta United. Our form dipped once again after that as we struggle to find consistency, as we won once in the next 5 games. This win was against NYCFC once again. We managed to regain our form at the end as we won our final two games against New England Revolution & Colorado Rapids. Overall, I'm happy with our form, and it just needs to be a little bit more consistent. A massive improvement so far on last season.



We sit 4th position so far in the Eastern Conferencen, which is the highest we've been since I took over. I'm happy with that, but can we challenge higher? We are on 30 points from 17 matches, and have a few games in hand on those at the top of the league. Colombus Crew lead the way in then Eastern Conference, whilst NYCFC & New England lead the challenge behind them.





In the MLS Supporters Shield, we are in 8th position overall. That's as high as we've ever been and I think we can go even higher if our form hits a bit more consistently. It's Colombus Crew who lead the way once again, which shows the Eastern Conference is the stronger of the two divisions.





As we won the US Cup, we qualified for the North American Champions League which is a different format to the one I'm familiar with in Europe. It's just a straight knockout competition. In the 1st round, we were up against Panama side San Francisco but easily beat them over the two legs with a 9-0 aggregate score. In the Quarter-Final, we scraped through via a penalty shootout against Orlando City, but didn't deserve to at all. A lucky victory but one I'll take. Mexican side Leon were our semi-final opponents, and we edged them out 2-1 on aggregate to set up a final against Mexican champions Cruz Azul.

The final was a mismatch apparently, but we held our own and only lost 2-1 on aggregate. The first leg was the killer as we went 2-0 behind. A nice victory in front of our own fans was nice to see but it wasn't enough. To be honest, I didn't expect us to get anywhere near the final so it shows we are making progress as a team.





GOALS
1 | Juan Pablo Fernandez | 13
2 | Fabio Jose | 6
3 | Mike Yates | 5

ASSISTS
1 | Fabio Jose | 12
2 | Ausin Lewis | 6
3 | Mike Yates | 5

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Juan Pablo Fernandez | 7.29
2 | Fabio Jose | 7.27
3 | Juan Manuel Politano | 7.14

Next Post | End of Season Update 2045

I've had a little bit of a read up on the draft rules, and the whole buying of players rights and things like that I think I've got a better handle of it now that the season is up. We should be ready for next season. I've had fun managing this season, and I do like managing here in the USA, but it's not an easy place to do well in. Only one league, with a lot of teams, and only one glory spot to take.





Well, it's been an interesting second half to the season, and one that's been filled with my sworn enemy: the dreaded draw. We actually went on a run of 10 games, where we won 2 but lost only once meaning we drew a staggering 7 times in 10 games. That's insane. It's also really, really frustrating. Our end of season form was really impressive, as we won 4 on the bounce and went unbeaten in September. We beat New York Red Bulls, San Jose Earthquakes, Atlanta United & FC Dallas. The last match of the season wasn't anything spectacular, as we drew 1-1 with Colorado Rapids. It's been a strange old season here in the US, with a lot of draws, but also some good performances and results dotted in there for good measure.



We actually climbed 5 positions in the Eastern Conference, meaning we finished in 5th position, which is a hell of a rise for us. Orlando City won the Eastern Conference with Inter Miami, New York Red Bulls, & NYCFC all finishing above us. We ended up with 48 points which is fairly good considering where we were at the halfway stage. I'm happy with the fact that we managed to slip into the playoffs in my first year in charge. How did we get on in them?





In the 1st Round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, we were drawn away at NYCFC. A tough ask considering we couldn't beat them in the regular season. We couldn't find a way through in a tightly contested game, and we were knocked out after a 1-0 defeat. There endeth our playoff adventures.



In the MLS Supporters Shield, we finished in 12th position which is around half-way. It's up on where we were predicted to finish this season, so I'm happy with that. Vancouver Whitecaps ended up winning the entire thing.





It was an unexpected run in the US Open Cup, and I'm really proud of the lads on what they were able to achieve. We were drawn against the league leaders at the time, Orlando City, who we managed to beat in the 4th round with a 3-1 victory. In the 5th round, we knocked out NYCFC, after a dominant 2-0 display. We had an easier draw in the Qtr-Final, and beat Nashville, 1-0. It was back to the hard matchup, as we faced an inform Inter Miami team, and sent them packing as we reached the final in my first year here.

In the final, we were up against Sporting Kansas City, and it was a close enthralling game. It came down to extra-time, and Mike Yates, fired home in the 95th minute to send 'The Unionistas' into bedlam. The trophy was ours, and it's a hell of a feat for a team like us.







GOALS
1 | Chris Rios | 15
2 | Mike Yates, Austin Lewis| 10
3 | Martinho Birnstingl | 6

ASSISTS
1 | Fabio Jose, Mike Yates | 6
2 | Ausin Lewis | 5
3 | Jake McCarthy, Chris Rios, Martinho Birstingl, Hwang Ki-Bok | 4

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Mike Yates | 7.01
2 | Barry De Jonge | 6.96
3 | Samuli Laine | 6.94

Next Post | Mid Season Update 2045

God the US league system is a tough one to get your head around. I wasn't long into my reign in charge of The Union, and I was thrust into the draft, not knowing a thing about the players involved or how many picks I would have. It turns out I occupied about 75% of the 1st round picks for some reason or another, and not knowing how much they are worth, I kept them all like a King with all his gold. I chose my players and tried to keep them all in my squad registration, but failed to do so with 1/4 of them. What a weird system, that I'll need to read up on a bit to get my head around. It'll come, but it'll take time.





We're 17 games into the MLS season, and it's a tough slog I tell you! I remember managing Philadelphia in FM17 I believe, and it was really enjoyable. It seems different this time at the moment, but it'll click one day. We didn't manage to win a game until the 10th attempt, notching up 6 draws and 3 losses before that elusive win. Our first scalp was Inter Miami, who we beat 2-0. We've been unlucky in a lot of games, and draws are plaguing our season. They are a real momentum killer. We managed to win 2 in 2 when we faced Montreal Impact & New England Revolution. I thought we had started a bit of a run but we then went on a run of 3 games where we didn't win and only picked up 2 points. A win on the final day before we start our second half of the season was a lovely way to end things though. Houston Dynamo was on the end of a 2-1 scoreline. Our record so far is:

4 WINS, 8 DRAWS & 5 LOSSES



In the Eastern Conference, we are sitting down in 10th position on 20 points. We sit above Cincinatti, Colombus Crew & Toronto FC, but are outside of the playoffs at the moment. New England Revolution occupy the final playoff spot at the moment on 23 points, so we aren't too far off. It's doable.



In the MLS Supporters Shield, we're well off the pace and are in 19th position. We are 27 points off the top spot, so it doesn't look like we will be winning this one this season haha!





GOALS
1 | Chris Rios | 8
2 | Mike Yates | 5
3 | Austin Lewis, Martinho Birnstingl | 3

ASSISTS
1 | Fabio Jose | 4
2 | Chris Rios | 3
3 | Austin Lewis, Martinho Birnstingl, Hwang Ki-Bok, Julio Cesar Rios | 2

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Chris Rios | 7.06
2 | Mike Yates | 7.01
3 | Julio Cesar Rios | 6.89

Next Post | End of Season Update 2044

It's only been a short time that I've stepped away from management in South Korea, which is exactly the way I wanted it to be. I didn't want to be out of management for too long as it starts to affect your standing in the game. I applied for one team, and one team only. I knew where I wanted to head and they offered me the chance to take over immediately. I'm moving from Korea to the United States of America, and more specifically, to the land of Philly Cheese Steaks & the place where the USA was born. The city of brotherly love is where I'll be calling home for the foreseeable future. I think this will be a big challenge as they are just a mid-table team at the moment, and I have to get my head around the registration rules and the draft system. It's going to be a fun one that's for sure.





Philadelphia Union, known as 'The Union', are a professional team playing in the MLS in the USA. Formed in 2010, they have a few rivals in the form of DC United & New York, both of which are because of their locality. They are yet to win any silverware, which needs to change soon, so hopefully, I'll be the one to spark that change.

They call the Talen Energy Stadium, their home, which has a capacity of 18,500 which are all seated. It's a relatively small stadium for the US market, so maybe we can improve that someday. They have Excellent training facilities andExcellent youth facilities which bode well for building the squad using the youth.







The squad is a very decent size and one that I like working with. We have 21 players on the books at the moment, and ideally, I won't go too much over this amount. We need to invest in a few positions to improve the depth of the squad. We need defenders, as the quality there is low, so I'll be looking at investing heavily here soon. It's also a fairly old squad with the youngest player being 21. Usually there are a few youngsters hovering around so I'll look into the youth team for players to promote.

The best player at the club is Italian left-back Graziano Belfiglio. He's 4* and 4 1/2* potential. He's determined and has unreal stamina so can get up and down that left wing to provide support whe we attack, whilst being defensively sound with his good defensive stats. Diego Barbona, the goalkeeper is also up there amongst the best players so it's nice to know we have confidence and quality between the sticks.

Next Post | Mid Season Update 2044

Absolutely nothing of note has happened at the club since my last update, apart from the fact that I have passed the 100 game mark at the helm of Pohang Steelers, and passed 900 in my total career. I can't wait to reach 1000 and post a little update of my stats so far. It's been one hell of a journey so far, and there is still loads to come...





As you can see from the fixture list above, we went on a really good run of form to kick off the second half of the season. We actually didn't lose for 9 games, and racked up 6 wins and 3 draws along the way. Looking back on that run of form, they were all against teams we should be beating so it wasn't a surprise to not lose against them. When we faced the teams above us and around us, it was a different story and were often on the losing side of things. We didn't manage a win against Seoul or Jeonbuk in this half of the season which is really, really disappointing. It's been a good season, but not a special one in terms of the league and I think the fans will be disappointed with us.

10 WINS, 6 DRAWS & 5 LOSSES.



We dropped a position from where we were at the half-way mark, and finished the season in 3rd place. We were comfortably in 3rd and finished in the Champions League place which is good for the club in terms of stature and money, but it isn't where they should be finishing is it? Jeonbuk carried on their form and won the league at a canter, whilst Seoul overtook us and finished 4 points ahead of us in 2nd place. Sangju were relegated from the league.





I tell you what, we've had some luck in this cup this season. We sent Seongnam packing in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win, and set up a semi-final tie against Jeonbuk who were flying in the league. We got so lucky against them as a draw in the first leg, meant that it was all to play for in the second leg. A late equaliser in the 72nd minute meant that we advanced to the final on away goals after being battered all game. The goal came after a poor backpass led to us intercepting and slotting home. I can't believe we got through, as we definitely didn't deserve to.

We made sure in the final against Gyenognam that we didn't slip up! A 0-0 draw in the 1st leg (I don't think 2 legged finals should be a thing though), and a 2-1 victory in the second leg saw us crowned champions, and saw me tick off the final trophy here in South Korea. Good on the lads!







We were drawn against Seoul in the next round, and I thought we would stand a good chance of advancing. We were blown out of the water in the 1st leg, as Seoul fired 4 past us and killed the tie off immediately. That was that, and we drew the second leg and exited the cup at the quarter-final stage which isn't too bad I suppose.





GOALS
1 | Moon Jung-Hyun | 32
2 | Matthew Nash| 10
3 | Emmanuel Villereal| 6

ASSISTS
1 | Chris Smith l | 9
2 | Kim Jong-Chul, Matthew Nash | 7
3 | Min Dae-Han | 6

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Moon Jung-Hyun | 7.19
2 | Seok Young-KI | 7.12
3 | Hwang Ki-Bok | 7.08

Next Post | Somewhere new?

This season hopefully, will be my last here in South Korea, due to the fact that I'll have hopefully, ticked off all the competitions. I have to tick off the Korean FA Cup first, but things are progressing well in that department as you'll see below. I am loving my time here in Pohang with the Steelers, and I'm building a really good team of youth and experience. I do like trying to develop youth talent from the country I'm managing in, and I think I'm doing that well here. In particular, Moon Jung-Hyun, our 21-year-old striker, has already netted 21 times this season.







We've played steadily in the league campaign this season, and things have been going alright on the pitch. It's been tough for the players as we've been disrupted in the league, due to the Asian Champions League, and the added pressure of the Korean FA Cup which is obviously my target for this season. We actually didn't lose a game until the 5th game in where we ended up going down to Jeonbuk in a 5-2 demolition job. We then won 3 on the bounce against Seoul, Sangju & Jeju, before losing 1-0 to Suwon. May was an unbeaten month for us as we drew 2 games and won the other 4. June, however, hasn't started too well, as we've lost both games so far against Jeonbuk & Seoul. I'm happy with how we are doing though so far...

9 WINS, 4 DRAWS & 4 LOSSES.



We're 17 games into the season, and the title race may already be over. We're in 2nd place on 31 points, but Jeonbuk have raced ahead and are sitting pretty at the top with a 13 point lead and a game in hand on the rest of us. That's crazy, to be honest. I'd like to challenge a bit more, but it is what it is. The race for the 2nd place spot is a thrilling one though as both Seoul & Suwon are pushing hard to hunt us down.





This is the one we want this year, and we're comfortably into the 6th round of the Korean FA Cup. In the 4th round, we dispatched Gwangju with a 3-0 victory, before heading on to the 4th round against Korea University. Again we scored 3 goals, but we conceded this time and ran out 3-1 winners to progress into the Quater Finals against Seongnam.





As we were the winners of the league title last season, we were automatically placed into the Asian Champions League Group Stages, where we were drawn into Group G alongside Melbourne City, Beijing & Higashiosaka Rosa. We comfortably progressed through the group losing only once to Melbourne City on an opening day. We ended up as group winners, with Melbourne City occupying 2nd place and progressing with us. In the Knockout Rounds, we faced Guangzhou Evergrande from China who was always going to be tough opponents. The first leg ended in a 0-0 draw so it was all to play for in the return fixture. We tonked them 3-0 to ensure we progress to the Quater Final, where anything can happen.





GOALS
1 | Moon Jung-Hyun | 21
2 | Matthew Nash| 5
3 | Seok Young-Ki | 4

ASSISTS
1 | Chris Smith l | 6
2 | Kim Jong-Chul, Matthew Nash | 5
3 | Ko Dong-Min, Moon Jung-Hyun, Wellington Felicio, Ko Jung-Min | 3

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Moon Jung-Hyun | 7.37
2 | Chris Smith | 7.19
3 | Seok Young-Ki | 7.18

Next Post | End of Season Update 2043

Just finished this save. I enjoyed the Southampton challenge more, but that's pure because I prefer club management. Was nice for a change of scenery though. Anyway, here's how I get on?

Silver League



I found this quite hard, and form wasn't easy to come by. We had a good run of results near the start though. Draws were a killer for me, as they killed any momentum, we were building! We ended up with:

8 WINS, 10 DRAWS, & 4 LOSSES



We had a 4th placed finish in the league table, with Germany winning the whole thing. Italy came in 2nd, whilst Denmark finished 3rd.



In the playoff, we faced Denmark, and were smashed 3-0 in the first leg, leaving us little chance of success in the return leg. Ironically we beat them but we lost on aggregate. Nevermind.

FIFA CUP OF NATIONS



This was where we excelled, as we reached the final, but lost to Germany in an appalling result. We had some cracking results along the way though dumping out some of the more fancied teams in Spain & Uruguay


TOTAL POINTS
Silver League - 4th placed finish - 35 POINTS
Cup of Nations - Runners Up - 75 POINTS
Top goalscorer - Nope - 0 points

TOTAL - 75 + 35 = 110 POINTS

I'm annoyed, but not to do with the footballing side of things, but the league rules and more specifically the country rules. I lost 3 of my players to National Service, and I'm not sure what it all means. They got to choose where to play their national service, and they moved clubs for some reason. Who knows what the hell is going on, but I don't that's for sure. Anyway, the good news is that I had my contract extended and I'm here until December 2044. It's nice to be able to have the time to build a team, and hopefully, I can cross South Korea off my list. I have a wage of £4.2k a week, which should provide me with a lovely new flat here in Pohang.







We went on a crazy run of games towards the end of the season that put us in a hell of a spot to challenge for that league title. In the regular season, we only lost 3 more games, this time against Ulsan, Jeju & Sangju, and kept up our unbeaten record against Jeonbuk & Seoul which is crucial if we want to win the league. I'm delighted with how we have performed in both phases of the game. The defence has stood up and has look strong all season, whereas we have goalscoring ability from multiple players. We conceded 14 goals in the second half of the regular season and scored 33 times ourselves which is decent. By finishing 2nd in the league at the end of the season, we qualified for the Championship Group which meant we played the top 6 teams once more.

We carried on our form nicely, only losing the once more, which could've been a crucial loss against Jeonbuk who were our only rivals for the title at this stage. We were comfortable winners in the other 4 games in this stage, as we beat Seongnam, Jeju, Sangju & Seoul. Was it enough to win the title, or were Jeonbuk going to win the double after they had won the Asian Champions League?

16 WINS, 1 DRAWS & 4 LOSSES.



IT WAS ENOUGH! It's a close finish for the title, but we've come out on top! The boys battled all the way to the end and it's paid off! We ended up winning the league by one single point, as Jeonbuk finished in 2nd place. That's what it's all about!







It wasn't to be the double this year, as we bowed out of the Korean FA Cup in the semi-final for the second year in a row. We were knocked out by Jeonbuk over the two legs, but I'm proud of how we performed in this cup. Next year will be the one, I can tell! It's about time we got some luck in the cup!





GOALS
1 | Matthew Nash | 16
2 | Moon Jung-Hyun| 12
3 | Wellington Felicio | 10

ASSISTS
1 | Emmanuel Villereal | 11
2 | Chris Smith, Kim Sang-Joon | 7
3 | Matthew Nash | 5

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Min Dae-Han | 7.41
2 | Seok Young-Ki | 7.24
3 | Matthew Nash | 7.23

Next Post | Mid Season Update 2043

I can tell you now, the position the team ended up in last season, was a total lie. They are a lot better than that and we are showing it this season already. The fact that they had no manager must've played into things a little bit. Anyway, I've had a better time recruiting staff members, as I came into the club with no backroom team with me. I pulled my assistant from Suwon in with me and from there we've added the key members we needed to ensure the smooth running of the team.

Finances have gone down, but nothing too disastrous as we're still well in the positives, and have just over £10m in the coffers. I could do with selling a few players to make us a bit more money but I'll focus on that come to the end of the season.



I set about trying to secure some extra top-quality to add to the first-team depth, and I'm really pleased with what I managed to find. The first player through the door was Chris Smith. The young Australian is an attacking threat who can play anywhere across the attacking third. He comes in from Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Seok Yung-Ki was the next man in. The South Korean U20 international comes in from our rivals FC Seoul, and I'm delighted to have weakened them whilst strengthening our backline. Our second South Korean U20 through the door was Min Dae-Han. He's as impressive as you can get, and can play anywhere in the middle of the pitch. I needed to strengthen the core of the pitch, and I did just that with these incomings. Happy days ahead.

Chris Smith


Seok Yung-Ki


Min Dae-Han






That fixture list looks a lot better than it did last season, and I'm ecstatic with how the players have turned things around. I've employed the 4-2-3-1 formation that focuses on pressing the opposition then wait patiently to create our own chances when we have the ball. It's working well, as we've only lost the 3 games so far this season. Those losses came against Seongnam, Suwon & Jeju. We've had a lot of good results, and the victories against FC Seoul was the highlight for me. They are a huge challenger for the title, and to beat them is impressive. The key for us has been our defence, and it's showing us we've only conceded 11 goals in 17 league games. We ended this half of the season with a brilliant performance and victory against Jeonbuk the current champions.

11 WINS, 3 DRAWS & 3 LOSSES.



As you can see, it's tight at the top and we're right up there challenging for that league title. We've done excellently so far and have 36 points to our name. Jeonbuk lead the way 2 points ahead of us, whilst Seoul sit 2 points behind us in 3rd, with a game in hand. It's all to play for and should be a cracking end to the season.





Only the one round so far in the Korean FA Cup, and we were drawn against minnows Gangneung City. It was a total whitewash as I didn't rest anyone as I want to go far in this trophy. We battered them 7-0, and advance to the next round.





GOALS
1 | Matthew Nash | 10
2 | Min Dae-Han | 5
3 | Chris Smith, Wellington Felicio, Emmanuel Villereal | 4

ASSISTS
1 | Emmanuel Villereal | 7
2 | Chris Smith | 4
3 | Kim Sang-Joon, Matthew Nash | 3

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Min Dae-Han | 7.43
2 | Matthew Nash | 7.33
3 | Emmanuel Villereal | 7.32

Next Post | End of Season 2042

Just a little bit of an update for you all. As you'll know if you read my latest update, is that I have accepted the role of manager at Pohang Steelers, so this post will be a 'CLUB OVERVIEW' and also an 'End of Season 2041 Update' because I decided to holiday through the season so that I could take over at Pohang Steelers after I made the mistake in saying I would join at the end of the next season. As I was still in charge of FC Suwon, they had taken away my responsibilities such as signing players, and staff contracts so it wasn't worthwhile, hence the holidaying until I took over at Pohang Steelers.



Pohang Steelers are a professional club playing in the Hana 1Q K League 1 in South Korea. They are one of the more famous names in South Korean football, having won the Hana 1Q K League 1 on 5 separate occasions. They've also won the highest honour in Asian football, the Asian Champions League on 3 occasions. They have 1 historic rival in Ulsan who provide a derby that has no rival in South Korean football.

They play their home games at the Steel Yard which is based in Pohang itself. It has a capacity of 17,443 all seated, which was built in 1990. They benefit from Good training facilities and good youth facilities. Financially the club are doing alright, having a positive bank balance of over £13m.







I have a decent-sized squad available to me, and it looks to be full of quality. You'll see that they haven't performed well at all this season, but I think that's due to them not having a manager all season thanks to my mistake. Goalkeeper wise, we have 2 options, one experienced, and one youngster which is fine by me. I'll be looking at tutoring the younger one to help him improve to be our number one in the future. We only have 2 CBs in the first team, so I'll be looking at bringing one or two in or using the youth team to find a gem to help fill the gaps. We have an absolute goal-scoring machine up top in the form of Matthew Nash, the Australian who's the club top goalscorer this season. It looks like I'll be having to delve into the transfer market to add to the spine of the squad as we are thin through the middle of the pitch.







I took charge of the first team just as the Relegation Group Phase had kicked off, so I only had 5 games in charge this season. Obviously, there is no way the club should be in this stage, and I'll be hoping that we can kick on next season to challenge at the right end of the league next time around. It's been a disappointing campaign for the fans so I'll be looking at putting a smile back on their faces.

This season, the club finished in 9th, whilst also participating in the Asian Champions League getting knocked out in the Group Stage that contained Adelaide United, FC Hiroshima & SIPG
. In the Korean FA Cup, they made it all the way to the Semi-Finals, but were knocked out by Ulsan which wouldn't have pleased the fans. You can see with the fixtures that they actually started really well, but went on a terrible run of games during the middle of the season where they couldn't find a win for anything.

Next Post | Mid-Season Update 2041

It's been another eventful season here in South Korea, and things are changing for me once again. Midway through this half of the season, I was invited to 3 interviews for job higher up in the South Korean system. Jeju, FC Seoul & Pohang Steelers, were all asking to interview me to be their first-team manager. I didn't get the Jeju or FC Seoul jobs, presumably because I wanted to stay at FC Suwon until the end of the season, but Pohang Steelers seemed ok with this and wanted me anyway. That was that, and I'm now the next Pohang manager, but how did my final season at FC Suwon play out?







It was another mixed half-season for us, with us not being able to get going and keep a run of form going for long enough. To be honest, we weren't good enough to challenge for the title, so a playoff spot would be the aim this season. We had some really good wins against Asan Mugunghwa in a 4-3 thriller. We didn't have many wins altogether though which is disappointing. I moaned about not keeping clean sheets and we turned this around thanks to a little change of tactic to make us a more defensively sound team. We kept 10 clean sheets out of the 18 games so that's an improvement and I'm proud of the defence. We actually didn't concede for 7 games. Our worst performance was against playoff rivals Seongnam when they hosted us an sent us packing after a 6-0 humiliation. I wasn't happy with that one I can tell you.

7 WINS, 7 DRAWS & 4 LOSSES.





We clinched the playoff spot by finishing in 3rd position once again in the league. We were some way off the title again as Asan Mugunghwa romped to the title with a 22 point lead ahead of us. Crazy from them. We finished with a total of 62 points which is down on last season by one point. Up next, the playoffs...





We were to play Ansan Greeners in the first round of the playoffs, as they finished behind us in 4th. As we finished higher than them, we were the home team which was to prove crucial for us, as we ended up going through via the 'home goals' rule. I didn't even know this was a thing until now, and I love the rule! A 1-1 draw was the final score. We faced Seongnam in the next round, and were out to get our revenge after the 6-0 drubbing at the end of the season. We got that revenge with a little 1-0 victory which ensured our path to the relegation/promotion playoff.

We were to face Gyeongam who finished bottom of the K League 1 and were fighting for their place in the K League 1 for next season. In the 2 legged affairs, we took the lead after a 1-0 victory in the first leg thanks to a Jeang Hyo-Jin goal. It was a nervy second leg that resulted in a 1-1 draw which meant that we had done it! Suwon FC are a K League 1 team.



I'd ended my reign in charge of [b]FC Suwon on a high and it's another trophy ticked off my list which is always helpful. (via the playoffs that is). I'm looking forward to seeing how I can get on with a giant of South Korean football.[/b]





GOALS
1 | Park Jung-Hyung | 19
2 | Park Seung-Gyu | 9
3 | Jeang Hyo-Jin, Kim Min-Suk | 7

ASSISTS
1 | Steffano Stauffer | 7
2 | Woo Hyun-Ki, Park Jung-Hyung | 6
3 | Hwang Ki-Bok, Kim Sang-Soo, Park Seung-Gyu | 4

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Steffano Stauffer| 7.18
2 | Woo Hyun-Ki | 7.08
3 | Park Hying-Jung | 7.05

****I've just noticed that I'm not actually taking over at [b]Pohang until the end of next season for some reason, so it looks like I have to complete a tough season in the K League 1 with Suwon FC before I head to Pohang. Not sure what happened there.[/b]

I'm having a serious problem with the number of staff members available to me in this league, and it's affecting my gameplay a little bit. All of my staff that I managed to bring in last season were poached by bigger teams in the South Korean K League 1. I managed to find myself a coach who wanted to be my assistant, so he came in but that's it. The team around me consists of 1. I'll keep posting the adverts in the hope that someone wants to apply for any job. Literally anything.

On the footballing side of things, I'm enjoying my time here in South Korea, and it's nice to get out of the rigmarole of the European football leagues. Of course, I'll be back in Europe one day, but I'll probably explore what Asia has to offer first. In terms of Suwon FC, our financial side is improving due to the sales of nearly every important player I had. The board accepted offers because they were too good to turn down, even after I had protested each and every one of them. Frustrating isn't the word right now.





We actually made a tonne of money from our outgoing transfers and the board has done well to get this kind of money into the club. The downside is that my key players Kang Hyun-Ho, Ali Kashindi, Yoon Seong-Wook have all left us, and the team is considerably weaker without them here. We made £550k from them leaving the club though, so hopefully, this can lead to long term improvements for the club in terms of facilities or incoming players.

I scoured the transfer market and had to get some Europeans in to help strengthen the squad. I ultimately managed to get 4 new players here to replace the 4 outgoing ones. Park Jung-Hyung comes in permanently after a successful loan stint from Jeju. He had a good season last year and will lead the line this year again. Steffano Stauffer has come in from Switzerland to provide a leadership presence in the middle of the pitch. I have 2 new CBS in the form of Julio Alverez & Goran Magdic. Goran is the better player and will be the main CB alongside Lee Sang-Hoon, but Julio will be the backup and will rotate in regularly.

Goran Magdic


Julio Alverez


Park Jung-Hyung


Steffano Stauffer






18 games into my first full season in charge of Suwon FC. Things are looking up and it's a promising start to the campaign. Once again we struggled against teams at the top of the league which has been a problem for my teams all throughout this save. The two games against Asan Mugunghwa ended with us sharing the points with 1 win and 1 loss apiece. We started ok but then went on a run of 9 games where we didn't lose which is always nice to see. This run of good form in the middle was bookended by some not so good form but I'm pleased with how we are doing so far. I'm a bit worried by our defending, and we have only kept 7 clean sheets in the league this season. We need to tighten up at the back and the results will start coming.

8 WINS, 4 DRAWS & 4 LOSSES.





At the half-way stage, we sit in 3rd position which is where we finished last season. I think looking at this table, it's going to be the playoffs for us again, but there is a lot of football still to play so you never know. We are 9 points off the pace, as Asan Mugunghwa sit on top with 37 points. Gangwon are in 2nd after improving massively from last season. Ansan are piling on the pressure behind us and are trying to make things uncomfortable for us in 3rd.





We did alright in the South Korean FA Cup which is nice to see. We are never going to win it whilst we are lumbering around in the K League 2, so to get to the 5th round is pleasing. We beat Incheon in the 3rd round after a 2-0 win. It was another 2-0 win in the 4th round against FC PCSC. In the 5th round, we were knocked out by Sangju who were promoted last season into the K League 1.





GOALS
1 | Park Jung-Hyung | 12
2 | Jeong Hyo-Jin, Kim Min-Suk | 3
3 | Woo Hyun-Ki | 2

ASSISTS
1 | Park Seung-Gyu | 4
2 | Woo Hyun-Ki | 3
3 | Jeon Hyun-Ki, Kim Min-Suk, Goran Magdic, Steffano Stauffer | 2

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Woo Hyun-Ki | 7.31
2 | Park Jung-Hyung | 7.21
3 | Steffano Stauffer | 7.09

Next Post | End of Season Update 2039/2040

After my switch from Europe to Asia, more specifically to South Korea, I thought things would be pretty easy. I can't get hold of any staff and have only managed to sign one coach up who now runs all of the development teams as I was having to manage every team early on which was annoying and time-consuming. I've loaded up some extra Asian leagues to hopefully add more staff in the game so I can get a full staff in.

I also had a great email from the South Korean FA, telling me all the players in my squad that were exempt from National Service, which I've never had before. It turns out none of my players is exempt from doing it, so I may lose my players if they are called up. Crazy times could be ahead.







Things started off very well for me, as we went on an unbeaten run that spanned 10 games. In these 10 games, we had great wins over Asan Mugunghawa and Jeonman. We couldn't find a win anywhere against league favourites Sangju, but did manage to somehow gain a draw against them. We hit a bad patch in the middle, where we couldn't find a win against anyone, but eventually, our form improved and we finished the season quite strongly by winning 4 of the last 5 games, including another win against Asan Mugunghawa. Our stats since I took over are:

10 WINS, 6 DRAWS & 4 LOSSES.





Our strong finish to the league campaign meant that we finished in 3rd position in the league. We actually finished someway off the pace with a massive 16 points off the league winners Sangju, and 13 points off second place Asan Mugunghawa. Anyway, by finishing 3rd in the league, we had qualified for the playoffs and had been drawn in the semi-final against 4th placed finishers Seongnam.



We were totally outplayed by Seongnam and were dumped out of the playoffs at the earliest opportunity which is so disappointing. Who knows what the future holds for me as I'm sure the board won't be happy as I had promised them the title in the interview process. I'd like to continue here as I believe we can get that title next season.



GOALS
1 | Sam Pascoe | 11
2 | Park Jung-Hyung | 9
3 | Kim Ki-Ho, Kim Min-Suk | 6

ASSISTS
1 | Park Seung-Gyu | 9
2 | Yoon Seung-Wook | 7
3 | Ali Kashindi | 6

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Ali Kashindi | 7.23
2 | Kang Hyun-Ho | 6.98
3 | Sam Pascoe | 6.91

Next Post | Mid-Season Update 2039/2040

I've left Greece and my lovely penthouse in the 4* hotel the club had put me up in, and I've uprooted myself out of Europe and into Asia. It was time for a change and this is definitely a change. I've moved all the way to South Korea, in the search for good noodles, and some good football. One team have given me a chance to manage here, and that team is Suwon FC. I think I've managed them before in one of my journeyman saves, but I can't remember. South Korea is famous for K-Pop, so maybe we can blast some out when we win the league?





Suwon FC is a professional team playing their trade in the K League 2, which is the second tier of football here in South Korea. They have no fierce rivals but take part in the Suwon Derby when they take on Suwon. They were formed in 2003, and haven't got many trophies to their name as of yet, but that's about to change as Tonge is here and in charge.

They play their home games at the Suwon Stadoum which is a 24,600 capacity stadium in the city of Suwon. Suwon is the capital of an area called Gyeonngi Province and surrounds Seoul the actual capital city. The team has adequate training facilites, and below average youth facilities so that isn't great. They need upgrading.







It's an average looking squad, with a lot of deadwood hanging around. I'll need to sort through it quickly as we are in the middle of the season, so it'll have to do for now. I have some players here with real quality though and I'll be looking at them to lead the rest of the squad as we challenge for the league title. The best player at the club is South Korean attacking midfielder Park Seung-Gyu who is a born leader. He'll be my captain going forward.







The team sit in 3rd position in the league at the moment, with around 20 games to play. There is still all to play for and the board want me to win the league anyway so we're going to give it a bloody good go. In terms of the domestic cup competition, they were knocked out of the Korean FA Cup in the 5th Round, by K League 1 side Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

Next Post | End of Season Update 2038/2039

We've come to the end of the 2038/2039 season here in Greece, and I'm still enjoying my time here. Who wouldn't enjoy evenings sat on the balcony of your 4* hotel, with some halloumi, feta & sake? There is no club news to update you on, so I thought I'd post my profile for you all to take a look at.







It looks like a very decent set of results, and it is. I'm happy with how we performed but it could've been a whole lot better. We had a lot of long-term injuries, I think at one point we had 6 first-teamers out and we only have a small squad anyway. It was tricky but somehow we pulled out a few results during this time. We only conceded 18 goals in this second section of the season which is mighty impressive for a team disrupted by injuries.

The 3-0 exceptional victory against PAOK late in the season was particularly enjoyable, as well as the 3-2 victory over them earlier courtest of the Daniel Osorio hattrick. I think that's the first time we've completed the Championship Phase double over PAOK. We did lose to Olympiakos though which didn't help our cause. Our record in the second half of the season was:
13 WINS, 4 DRAWS & 6 LOSSES. I'll take that any day of the week.



Look how tight that final league table is! Look where we finished! WE ARE CROWNED CHAMPIONS, but the slimmest of margins. We ended up with 71 points, but finished ahead of Panithanaikos in 2nd, due to the head to head record. If it went on goal-difference then the title wouldn't be ours. That's how close it was! Anyway, the whole league was a close affair, as PAOK finished in 4th spot and were only 2 points behind us. Olympiakos was 3rd with a 1 point gap separating us. MAD!







We had qualified in the last update and we're eagerly awaiting the draw for the 1st knockout round. It came in and I was gutted as we drew former champions Inter Milan. The giant of European Football was a way too good for us and put us to the sword in both legs of the round. We lost 3-0 in the first leg, and 2-0 in the reverse fixture. Oh well, we move on quickly...





We let ourselves down in the Greek Cup this year, as we only managed to reach the Qtr-Finals which is a real disappointment. We beat Olympic Volou in the 6th round before being knocked out by PAOK in the Qtr Finals. A cup we've already won anyway.





GOALS
1 | Daniel Osario | 28
2 | Panagiotis Metallidis | 6
3 | Thananis Ptinopoulous, Illias Terzis, Charlabos Pournos | 4

ASSISTS
1 | Charlabos Pournos | 12
2 | Illias Terzis | 8
3 | Panagiotis Metallidis | 7

AVERAGE RATING
1 | Braian Romero | 7.18
2 | Ricardio Yudica | 7.09
3 | Daniel Osario | 7.06

Well, after ticking off the Superleague trophy, that's my time over here in Greece, and I'll be looking at finding a new challenge somewhere else in the world. I'm not sure where yet but something will stick out to me I'm sure.

Next Post | Where Next?