Ice Man - Comments

Dan - Thanks, I think that I am going to need it.

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Saturday 31st December
Good news came at the end of the month as Mauro Biello decided to step down as interim manager. That is as good as the news gets for me, as I publicly declared my interest in the job, hoping that will somehow give me a chance at the job.

Apparently I don’t have a chance at the job. A day after declaring my interest in the job, Montreal Managing Director has laughed off my interest.

Wednesday 17th February
As expected I wasn’t even considered for the job.

I am seriously going to have to reconsider where to look for a job. I’ll wait a while and see what happens in Australia and then how the MLS starts next season but may have to start looking at new countries.

Sunday 20th March
Still alive, still waiting for a job!

Sunday 10th April
Finally, another opportunity to be rejected for a job. Today Brisbane has sacked John Aloisi. The former Coventry striker was released after failing to make the league playoffs. They were expected to finish 5th in the league and came a disappointing 7th.

Melbourne City parted way with manager John Van’t Schip. Melbourne of course a sister club of Manchester City came a very disappointing 9th. With the link to Man City they were expected to finish in 2nd place. This is a major failure and it is unsurprising to see Van’t Schip sacked.

Monday 2nd May
The A League season is over and it has seen runaway leaders Perth Glory fall at the final hurdle to Adelaide United. The final much like the one in America was settled by the 1 goal. Spanish midfielder Isaias put Adelaide ahead in the 19th minute and Perth couldn’t anything going, only having 1 shot on target the whole game.

Throughout this and nearly a month later I am still to hear from either Brisbane or Melbourne. No news is good news though!!

Tuesday 17th May
It has finally happened…..

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Monday 2nd November
More bad news unfortunately as both New York and Real Salt Lake have dismissed my applications. I am still waiting for a club to take pity on me and offer me a job interview.
Maybe that will be Toronto after they sacked manager Greg Vanney. Although no reason has been given for his sacking it must be due to the fact that they didn’t qualify for the playoffs again.


Monday 9th November
As expected I didn’t make the grade either with Toronto. The wait continues.


Friday 25th December
Merry Christmas!! I am still waiting for a job!


Friday 1st January 2016
Happy New Year! While recovering from the presumable hangover I thought that I would recap the MLS Cup final and show the current standings of the A League.

The MLS Cup will be in Chicago for the next year. The match wasn’t a classic but a goal in the 29th minute from Gilberto was enough for the win.

Man of the Match was Joevin Jones for Chicago and the left back impressed me greatly and I will make it a priority to try and bring him to whatever club I take over, whenever that will be!

Over the other side of the world the massive surprise is that league favourites Melbourne Victory are performing abysmally and are rightfully bottom of the table.

At the other end of the table Perth are basing their success so far on their defense. They have only conceded 6 goals in their 11 games and with a game in hand could open up a good gap on the chasing pack.

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Shedender - Thanks a lot. If I don't manage to get a job soon then your right this will be a complete disaster!

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Wednesday 9th September 2015
Vancouver have sacked manager Carl Robinson. It’s not a very surprising move as Vancouver have only amassed 9 points from 28 games.
Of course I have applied for the job, so we will wait and see what happens.

Saturday 3rd October
Still no word about the Vancouver job, however another job has opened up. New York Red Bulls have sacked Jesse Marsch for a recent run of bad play. New York are sitting in 17th place with 35 points.
Once again I have applied for this job, and would love the chance to manage New York.

Wednesday 14th October
Another club has my job application! Real Salt Lake dismissed Jeff Cassar after feeling that all parties needed a change. Salt Lake sit in 19th between Vancouver and New York on 28 points.
This would be an interesting job, trying to return them to their winning ways having won the MLS Cup in 2009. This job is my least preferred option of the 3 with New York and Vancouver taking priority.


Monday 19th October
I have finally heard back from Vancouver and it wasn’t good news. My application had failed to make the shortlist and this doesn’t bode well for the other 2 available jobs.

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Trophy Cabinet

2016 - Australian FFA Cup (Brisbane Roar 3-0 v Perth Glory)
2017 - Australian FFA Cup (Brisbane Roar 2-1 v Western Sydney Wanderers)
2017 - Australian A-League Grand Final (Brisbane Roar 4-1 v Western Sydney Wanderers)
2018 - Australian A-League Regular Season Title
2018 - Australian A-League Grand Final (Brisbane Roar 4-0 v Adelaide United)
2019 - Asian Champions League (Brisbane Roar 6-5 v Al-Ahli KSA)

Challenge Progress

Club
1/10 top domestic leagues (Australia)
1/10 domestic cups (Australia)
1/5 club continental championships (Asia)
0/1 club world championship


International
0/5 continental tournaments ()
0/2 world tournaments ()

The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” – Walt Disney

I am giving THIS challenge a go, and hoping that it will last a long time. I have recently been struggling to get into and stick at a game so I am hoping that this game can keep me interested as I go for a really big challenge.

These are the titles that need to be won:
La Liga (Spain)
Premier League (England)
Bundesliga (Germany)
Ligue 1 (France)
Serie A (Italy)
AND 5 OTHER TOP LEAGUES.

Champions Leagues
Champions League (Europe)
Champions League (Asia)
Copa Libertadores (South America)
NACL (North American Champions League)
ACL (Africa Champions League)

International Tournaments
UEFA Euros (Europe)
AFC (Asian Cup Of Nations)
Copa America (South America)
Gold Cup (North America)
ACON (African Cup Of Nations)
FIFA World Cup
Confederations Cup

Others:
10 Domestic Cups required (Where Top Level Teams can Enter)
FIFA Club World Cup

So as you can see I have got my work cut out for me! I have changed a few cosmetic things in the database (Club Kits, Right Stadiums & Managers etc.) so hopefully I should be set to begin. I have had a few problems with updated databases since the new patch came out so hopefully it won’t affect the game.

This is my initial game setup

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Manager Profile & Available Jobs

So as you can see nothing to write home about. I am a Sunday league player with no coaching badges but hopefully I can blag my way into a manager’s job.

I decided to start with USA & Australia for a couple of reasons. Firstly they all speak English so that shouldn’t affect my job chances. (Not sure if this is actually a thing?) Secondly if I can somehow land a job then I am a lot closer to my goal of winning that continents Champions League.

However, as you can see there are no available jobs so I am going to be unemployed for a while. I have applied for the Bermuda job as it will give me something to do and may increase my reputation.

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Due to the fact that I started at the start of the Australian league the MLS is already well underway so here is how the teams are sitting.

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Funny you should say that, I thought that I would save the match highlights. When trying to do this I also suffered a crash dump and had not saved the game so it was all for nothing!

I have just had this comeback win, so I was wandering what is yours?

Does anybody else have a problem extracting the small logo from here? I can only seem to extract the normal logo.

Have only just seen this. Shame really, but will be in for the next challenge.

Here are a few USA logos. The AC Connecticut logo is the wrong one in the FM 2016 database.

AC Connecticut - 20018919



Miami City - 20040262



Palm Beach Suns - 20040264

Thanks for the new update. Ready for the next update here is the new DC United logo (ID: 1913):

I dind't mean it in a bad way at all.

What I meant was will it be overlooked and just stick what has worked so well with the logos, or will it be added.

I probably didn't word it very well.

Spectre - Really enjoyed it. One of the best Bonds if not the best. (I slightly preferred Casino Royale!)

I really hope that Daniel Craig decides to do another couple of movies as it won't be the same without him. He has really changed Bond and made better, relevant and believable.

If it is to be his last though a fantastic way to end.

As you may or may not be aware but in FM16 you can now have individual logos for competition trophies. So I was wandering are they going to be part of a new update or will they be ignored and just leave things as they are?

Here is mine for tonight:

While it is still early in pre season, I am pretty impressed with Jarryd Haynes. I think it's pretty safe to say that he is going to be an NFL player this season. If for some strange reason the 49ers decide not to add him to their roster (why?) then there is no doubt that a franchise will offer him a contract.

I'm also interested to see what Reggie Wayne will bring to the Patriots. I think that it's a decent signing and it is a very typical Belichick pick up. Odds on him scoring the winning TD against the Colts on what could be Brady's first game back???

Would love to see that!

Thanks, I had no idea somebody was already on these.

Some more MLS Kits:

Seattle Home & Away





Colorado Away



FC Dallas Away



Houston Home



Portland Home



Sporting KC Home



San Jose Away



Thats all of the new MLS Kits for the upcoming season I think. If I find anymore if anybody needs any other pics then give me a shout and I'll find them.

Cracking season. Looks like everything is moving forward. Now to march on Bayern!! The added Champions Legue money will be a boost as well I would imagine.

Wow really close at the top. At least there is a 4 point gap over 3rd.

I'm sure you will finish the job off. Win 5, draw 2 and you'll be fine.

Thanks SBR hopefully but not counting my chickens yet!!

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Black Leopards

November

This month was going to be about keeping up the recent momentum and solidifying our position at the top of the table. The disappointing fact throughout this month was players moaning which resulted in one of our best players leaving.

Not a bad first game of the month. Don’t really know what to say here! Highlands park were sitting in 3rd place before this game and were in decent form. We just played them off the park and then some! Here are the goals!

After the 10-0 win it was imperative that we didn’t rest on our laurels and put in another good performance. We did just that. The first half wasn’t the best and we really should have scored more. Thankfully we came out after the break with real menace. 3 goals in 6 minutes took the game away from Baroka and we just saw out the game for the remaining 30 minutes.

If there was ever a game that we needed to win well then this was it. We owed Cape Town for the last game of the season and I made sure to remind the players of this. Yet again we struggled in the first half only scoring the one goal but thankfully in the second half we scored a couple more and the game was put to bed. It was another impressive performance from our defence as we only allowed them shots from 20 yards +.

The final game was against newly promoted Stars of Africa. It was a real poor game with the Stars intent on parking the bus and not attacking us. We found it hard to break them down which was disappointing. A trade mark free kick from Munganga in first half stoppage time gave us the lead. The second half was more of the same. We struggled to carve the defence open while at the other end we could have played without a keeper! We finally scored our second of the game and the match ended soon after.

Another fantastic month. Not only to win a game 10-0 but we’ve had another 4 clean sheets. I really hope that we don’t start getting too far ahead of ourselves and start looking at our start as job done.

Things weren’t all rosy this month. Throughout the last month and a half players have been coming to me demanding to play more football, wanting to move to a bigger club. It is really starting to take the piss a bit.

Munganga wanted to move to a bigger club, which happened to be SuperSport United. I couldn’t believe what he was saying so I told him no way. Of course he kicked up a fuss so to avoid disrupting the other players he was sold to Al-Jaish (QAT) for £64k. It’s a big loss for us as he was playing fantastically well. Oh well time for somebody else to step up and impress!

Finally we had the draw for the preliminary round of the Nedbank Cup. We will play at home to Jomo Cosmos. The main thing was to avoid SuperSport and Ajax and thankfully we have done just that. Hopefully we can beat Jomo and get an easy draw in the 1st round.

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Black Leopards

October

After a good month in September this month was going to be even more crucial. With games against Ajax and unbeaten Santos this was going to be a real marker to see where we are likely to finish towards the end of the season.

Before the 2 important games we had to play Witbank Spurs. At home I was very confident and after 2 goals inside 12 minutes I knew that we were going to win. A 3rd just after the half hour mark ended the game. The 2nd half was very poor to watch with neither teams having any real shots on goal.

The important game of the month. We started the game nervously, which was to be expected playing in a 64,000 seater stadium. Once we got over our nerves we grew into the match and had our finishing been better then we may have come away with all 3 points. As it was it wasn’t to be and we had to settle for a point. I was happy with our performance and still believe that not losing away to Ajax is going to massive at the end of the season.

The final game was away to Santos. Santos had had a horror month having lost their last 2 games this was a perfect time to play them. We made hard work of beating them but thankfully we did. Goals in either half saw us home although I would have liked the third goal to have come a lot sooner.

The massive positives from this month is the fact that we are still unbeaten and that we didn’t concede a goal all month. The defence have looked solid and although we haven’t scored a lot of goals we sit top of the league unbeaten.

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Black Leopards

September

After starting the season well I was very keen to keep our good start going but with a tough game against SuperSport it could be tricky.

We started the month off with a money earning friendly. We had 2 weeks off so I was keep to keep the match fitness of the players up. Although we lost the game to Orlando it was a good measure to see where we are. We’re not too far away from a decent Premiership level I think.

Our first league game of the month was a convincing 3-0 win away to Vasco. After scoring early we looked dangerous and was a little disappointed that we only scored 1 more in the first half. The second half was a procession and we offered very little going forward apart from the third goal.

The second league game was going to be a massive test for us. If we want to be in the top 3 at the end of the season then we need to be beating the good teams at home. Thankfully we did just that. The goal in the 15th minute got us on our way and we could and should have scored more in the first half, but our finishing was poor. The second half started better and thanks to an own goal we were in complete control. SuperSport made things nervy with a 79th minute goal but the points were decided in the last minute thanks to a penalty.

The last game of September was away at Ga-Rankuwa and this was a very easy convincing win. A goal in either half was enough for the win. More impressive was that we didn’t allow a single shot on goal.

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Unlucky about last season. You've absolutely flying this season. Hopefully you can keep it up and get promotion.

LA Galaxy Away



Chicago Fire Away



Montreal Impact Away



Real Salt Lake Away



Toronto Home



New England Away



New York RB Home



Philadelphia Union Away

Black Leopards

Pre-Season & August

After the disappointment of last season and not getting into the playoff places, I was determined to start this season off well so we won’t be in such a tight race for the top 3 as we were last year.

Pre-season went well. Despite the loss to Premiership side Tucks the pre-season was just what we needed. We got the players into match fitness, and although we did suffer 5 or 6 injuries I was happy. The match tactics are now fluid so I was confident heading into our 2 opening league games.

The home opener went exactly like I was hoping. We started at a phenomenal pace and were 2-0 up after 4 minutes. A further 2 goals in the first half including a hat-trick goal for Vilikazi put the game to bed. There were a few chances in the 2nd half but after bringing on the substitutions the game fizzled out and ended a 4-0 victory.

Our last game of the month saw us beat a tricky Maluti team. We were always playing better than them but we just had to concede goals to make it harder for ourselves. We went into half time level at 1-1 after a dubious penalty call gave them their way back into the game. During half time I told the players to believe in themselves but it seemed to fall on deaf ears as we started the 2nd half sluggishly. However the 2nd goal settled us down and the 3rd seemed to finish the game off. Maluti had other plans after scoring straight from the kickoff they made it 2-3 and a nervy last 10 minutes were install. There was nothing to worry about though and we even scored a 4th with the last kick of the game.

Looking at the table there isn’t a great surprise with 4 of the top 5. Highlands Park are causing a few surprises but they won’t be able to last with us. Ajax CT are doing what they need to do to win but aren’t dazzling anybody. Santos however have started like a house on fire and we will need to keep an eye on them.

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Thanks Dan that is what I am hoping for. I really believe that we can.

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Black Leopards

Off Season

So during the off season there wasn’t a great deal that happened. I got a chance to put my stamp on this team by letting go of 26 players. 24 were released after their contracts had run out. This saved us £9.5k per week on wages. The other 2 players that left weren’t by choice. Our right mid Sithole went to Barcelona (ECU) on a free transfer after he refused to sign a new contract with us. The second player to leave was right back Ntloana who wanted to play in the premiership. So naturally he went to CSKA Sofia for £20k.

To compensate for losing so many players I have bought in 17 players at a grand total of £125k. That £125k was spent all on one youngster who I believe could become the best left back in South Africa. Out of the new players coming in only 6 or 7 of them are first team players. The others are a mixture of prospects or depth players.

Key new signings

Reyaad Pietrse will become our new number 1. He was bought in from Premiership champs Kaiser Chiefs. The fact that he is this good at 23 leads me to believe that he can be our number 1 for potentially the next 10 years.

Mthulisi Maphosa joined on a free transfer and will quickly become one of the best centre backs in the league. I’m hoping that he can provide some real quality and hope cut out some of the individual mistakes that we had last season.

Tyroane Mohohlo became the clubs highest transfer when he joined from SuperSport’s Academy. At only 16 he is rated as one of the best left backs in the league, so imagine how good he can be by the time he is 20 let alone 26! I’ll be amazed if he is still at our club when he is 20.

Lawrence Vilikazi has come in as a replacement for Sithole. His stats are just as good and at the age of 22 he has got time to progress and improve. I’m very happy with this signing.



I asked the board to pay for me to get my first coaching badge and after 5 months I finally have one. I am already training for my second one so hopefully around January-February time I will have completed my second coaching badge.

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I realise that it's a short update, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in!. If anybody wants to see a screenie of anything then just let me know!

Things are looking good. Just stay in the top 3 and then find top form in the last 2 months and you will have the league sorted.

Sounds so easy!!

Congrats dude, great effort. Now to win the bundesliga!!