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August 2026

The 26/27 season is close to kick-off and I am pleased to announce the latest signings for South China.

After last season's success in the Premier League and Senior Challenge Shield, I am hoping for a repeat or better this time around, I want to show the people of Hong Kong that South China are back at the top for good and that last season was not just a fluke. 

Over the course of the post-season period, I took a good look at our senior team and identified the right side of the pitch as our weak point, because of that, I have signed several players who can operate on that side of defence and along the wing.

• George Beaumont at AMR is one of our most important signings this season and I aim to make him a key member of our starting XI. Bradley Richardson comes in at right back and right away, should be among our most talented players. 
• Alex Jojo is a versatile player that should be equally adept at either right back or right wing, though he can also play to some degree, almost anywhere on the pitch, though primarily I see him on the right unless covering for injuries. 
• Lau Ka Man is one of our younger signings this season, already he is on par or better than our right wingers last season, but with Beaumont and Jojo in the squad now, he is likely to be rotation option this season with more games likely in the Sapling Cup (which requires a certain number of youth players). 

Aside from the right side of the pitch, I also felt the left back position needed strengthening and with that in mind, I signed two new players Yung Hui To and Chan Hoi Pak. Both players will play primarily in the left back position, though both seem capable of pushing up into the wings if needed.

The final players I'm going to mention in this post are goalkeeper Raymond Steegmans and central midfielder Lo Chi Kong. 

Steegmans is a young Belgian keeper we signed initially as a backup/future prospect but due to an injury to our first choice keeper, he will play in the first game or two. Lo Chi Kong is another young player, we have him on loan from Biu Chun Rangers and he was brought in specifically to give me another domestic player in the position as we have three British players in the central midfield position and with a limit of six foreign players per match squad, it gives me more options now for fielding different line-ups throughout the season.
 

At the time of writing this update, I've already actually played the first game of the season but I'm saving that and the draw for the AFC Champions League for my next update.

May 2026

The 2025/2026 season has now come to an end and what a season it was, I am delighted to announce that South China are once again, champions of Hong Kong. Aside from the league title, we are also pleased to have secured the Senior Challenge Shield as well this year, giving us a domestic double.

While we have tasted success this season, things have not gone perfectly by any means, we did, as I mentioned in my previous post, get knocked out of the HKFA Cup in the first round, that was probably the worst thing to happen to us, beyond that, we also failed to win the Sapling Cup, though we did however reach the semi-final in that competition and that was more than sufficient to meet the expectations of the board and the fans. One final point to raise, something that irked me a little, was that we were unbeaten in the league all season, right up until the final game, we lost the game and to make matters worse, the game fell on my birthday and both goals were scored by Antoine Viterale, the striker who was part of my FM20 Happy Valley side. 😢

As of right now, I am still under contract with the club for another season so the plan is to stick around for another year at South China and see if we can better our performance the this time around. I think the primary goal is going to be to try and win the league again but I would like to see us lift more silverware and it would be nice if we can pick up one or both of the two trophies that we didn't win this season. Right now, talk of winning the league and cups next season is a little premature, sure we managed it this season, but we did so with one of the weaker teams in the division, next time might not be so easy if teams start to take us seriously. Over the course of the post-season period and until the next window ends, the plan is to strengthen the side somewhat, this will not be limited to just the players, I intend to also improve the backroom staff as well. Strengthening the side is going to be very important to our immediate plans not just to help us in the league and domestic cups, but also in the AFC Champions League, we don't have much hope of success in that competition, but if can get beyond the preliminary rounds, that'll be good for our bank balance even if we do get thumped every game in the group stage.

So that's what's happening right now and over the coming weeks and throughout the next season, but what of beyond that? My plan is not to manage in Hong Kong forever, at the end of the season I'll be looking over the job market and seeing what options are available. As far as where I want to manage, Japan, China and South Korea are all possibilities, as are Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia if I plan to remain in Asia, but there is the possibility that I might take up a job in Europe if something catches my interest.

January 2026

I've mostly been playing other games since the start of January, but for the last couple of nights I've been back on FM and I can now reveal how things have been going in my third season in Hong Kong.

As a quick recap for how I reached this point, I started unemployed and was originally hired by the Kowloon City District Recreation & Sports Council. During my time at KCDRSC, we won back to back promotions by winning the Third and Second Divisions. Before starting what could have been my third season there, South China came in with a job offer and it really wasn't a difficult decision to join such a reputable side. 

At the end of my second season at KCDRSC, as we claimed the Second Division title, South China finished top of the First Division and gained promotion to the top level, the manager responsible for their success stepped down from the role and moved into the position as the new director of football, making way for me to join as the new manager. 

Now in the Premier League, the aim for the club was simple, survive the drop, the only problem with that is that I'm not just a survivor, I do not settle for scraping by, I do not go into games hoping to pick up a point, I play to win and that is the mentality I aim to bring to all my clubs. In the pre-season transfer window, I strengthened the squad with thirteen new players including two on loan from Italy, one permanent signing from Northern Ireland, three from the Welsh leagues and one from the Ukraine, and that was as well as bringing in a number of local buys as well.

The pre-season friendlies we played helped to mould the squad into the kind of outfit I was looking to create and our signings have played an important part in realising my plans. In the league we have outdone all expectations and at the half-way point, we sit top of the table and unbeaten.
 

In the Hong Kong FA Cup, we were unfortunately knocked out in the first round, that was quite disappointing, however, we have done much better in the other two cups. 

For the Sapling Cup, we currently top our group with four wins and a single loss, while it is possible we might see success in this competition, and that is what we are working towards, we are not favourites by any means and by simply not disgracing ourselves, the board are already reasonably happy. Whatever happens from this point onwards, I will be generally pleased with our performance in this competition but especially so if we can remain top of the group and reach the latter rounds. 
 

Finally, in the Senior Challenge Shield, we are through to the final, a magnificent achievement given that the competition is only for top league teams and we are the newly promoted outfit (even if we are technically the most successful club in Hong Kong, historically speaking). For the final, we face Southern District, it could well be a close match, but we have already beaten them in the league this season, so I give us a reasonable chance at lifting the trophy, though there is no shame in coming runner-up this season.
 

Coming up in the next couple of days, I will hopefully have an end of season report to reveal how we fared.

August 2025

Pre-season is over in what will be my third season in Hong Kong and first at South China since moving from the Kowloon City District Recreation & Sports Council.

When I took on the South China job, the team had just won the First Division and gained promotion to the Premier League, the reason for the position becoming available was down to the manager being moved into the director of football role, a position in which I agreed to let him remain during my interview process.
 

Despite the former manager still being at the club, it has not caused any issues between us yet, and if anything, we have actually started to build up a good rapport, already a number of our most recent signings have come off the back of his recommendations. Whether those signings will help us remain in the division or not has yet to be seen, but at the very least, I feel like they have strengthened us in some of the key areas I felt we were lacking and there is still plenty of time to make additional signings.
 

May 2037 – Ivory Coast

'Always the bridesmaid and never the bride' a phrase that I feel could almost describe us after we finished runner-up in the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire for a second year in a row and also runner-up in the CAF Confederation Cup this season, the only reason why the phrase is not a true match for us, is that we did manage to win our second league title in a row and we also came home with the Coupe Houphouët-Boigny at the start of the season.

In the league this season, our performance was generally excellent, while we did lose one more game than during last season, we managed scored more points overall thanks to a higher win percentage. Where last season we beat ASEC Mimosas by one point, our sixty-nine to their sixty-eight, this time around we beat them by eleven.
 

As I mentioned in my previous post, we reached the semi-final of the Coupe de la LPF before getting knocked out, that was a big improvement over the previous season, though our performance in the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire was only the same as last time, still, reaching the final was more than reasonable and losing to ASEC Mimosas was not totally unexpected, though we have beaten them in the league on several occasions, they are still the bigger team in terms of reputation and the quality and depth of their squad.
 

As far as continental football goes, I think we had a good year, though we did get knocked out of the CAF Champions League in the first round, we were never really expected to progress far, still, getting bumped down to the CAF Confederation Cup was probably a good move for us and we generally fared well against most teams that we came across, only losing out in the final to ES Tunis, a team that is not only one of the best in Tunisia, but also one of the best in Africa, currently rated 3rd on the continent.

Now that the season is over, decisions need to be made, on one hand, my contract runs for another season, on the other I am ready to move on, as per my plans to try and make my way back home to the UK (and based on the movement rules I'm following), Mali looks to be the next step, the only problem I have is waiting for a suitable job to come up, right now there are four clubs in Mali looking for a new manager but all of them are third tier teams and that would mean dropping down to a semi-professional level once more after now three seasons at professional clubs. I'm in two minds as to whether to just go for one of the jobs in Mali and work my way up, or wait and see if anything at a higher level becomes available down the line, though doing that is why have been at Issia Wazi for two years now and why I didn't just leave at the end of last season.

 

April 2037 – Ivory Coast

The 2037 season is drawing to a close with only four league games left to play, however, because I never did a mid-season post, I'm going to hold off revealing the current table for now and focus just on the cup competitions.

In my previous post, I revealed that we managed to win the Coupe Houphouët-Boigny, the Ivorian equivalent to the Community Shield, beyond that, we also entered both the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire and the Coupe de la LPF, the equivalents of the FA and League Cups. Last season we came close to winning Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire, only missing out thanks to a penalty shootout in the final, in the Coupe de la LPF, we reached the third round, this time I hoped to do better.

In the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire, we have managed to reach the final once more and we face ASEC Mimosas, it'll be a tough match but we have a chance, we have managed to beat them on several occasions since I took charge at this club. For the Coupe de la LPF, we did unfortunately get knocked out, but we managed to reach the semi-final so whatever happens from this point, we have at least made an improvement on last season as far as domestic competitions go.
 

Now while we've had a shot at three domestic trophies (not counting the league), we also took our place in the CAF Champions League, it was a relatively short campaign and after beating AS Otôho from the Republic of Congo in the preliminary round, we were knocked out in the first round proper by Wydad Casablanca. Wydad being the bigger team, I fully expected them to beat us, though in actuality it was a close affair, they beat us at their ground 1-0 and we beat them at ours 3-2, unfortunately that meant going out on goal difference, annoying but those are the rules, we can still take pride in the fact that we game them a good match and we were not in the least bit outclassed by the bigger team.

Being dumped out of the CAF Champions League, we see one door close, but another opens and we found ourselves in the CAF Confederation Cup instead, the second tier competition in Africa, there we emerged in the second round, a round in which we managed to fend off a challenge from Wiliete de Benguela, I club I once faced during my time in Angola. Having found our way to the group stage, we came up against last year's champions MAS Fès from Morocco, WAFA SC from Ghana and Sundowns of South Africa. At the start of the group stage, I was unsure how we would fare but any doubts soon went out of the window when we managed to win the first three games, scoring eleven goals in the process. The final three games did not go quite so well but we did manage to win one of those three and draw another, so a single loss in six games is more than reasonable.
 

Having reached the quarter final, we now face WAFA SC again, though we have a chance of progressing here as we did beat them in the group stage, nothing is certain and there are still some good teams in the competitions should we manage to get beyond this round, and I would not put us among the favourites, still, anything is possible and we may yet pull off a few upsets.
 

The next update will be an end of season review so expect the final table and the results of the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire final and final three rounds of the CAF Confederation Cup.

July 2024

As one might imagine, living in Hong Kong can be an expensive endeavour, while managing the initially amateur and later semi-professional Kowloon City District Recreation and Sports Council, I have not received a wage at any point over the last two seasons, I have survived on the money I already had before arriving into the territory and what I could make working part time in the 7-Eleven on Woosung Street, the thing is, I don't just want to survive.

Over those two years in Hong Kong, I was able to make some progression with my coaching qualifications, achieving the National C and then the National B licenses, I really wanted to undertake the National A course but my team has this season, been reluctant to see me make any further advances in case another team should come along and poach me. I can understand the team's point of view, they don't want to lose what it surely a valuable asset to them, I did after all win back to back promotions for the team, seeing them up to the First Division, but especially after having invested money in my prior qualifications at a time when finances were tight.

The problem for me, is that while I do want to repay the backing the club has given me to date, I also feel as though they are starting to hold me back, and with the cost of living ever increasing, the lack of any kind of monetary benefits from working at the club makes the idea of moving on all the more appealing, especially as now that the season is over, jobs have started to become available.

In the first week of the post-season period, I did eye up the Albirex job in Singapore, I never applied for it in the end and the favourite for the job was hired, freeing up the Hougang Utd manager position. I did apply for that job but I was unfortunately not shortlisted. Having failed to make a move to Singapore, I contemplated applying for the manager job at Central & Western District, they were in the First Division, which while not a massive step up from being at a team promoted to that level, they are a slightly stronger outfit. Patience is a virtue as I discovered, the Eastern Athletic manager resigned and South China's manager moved into the director of football role, I ended up applying for both but when I managed to pass the interview with South China, I jumped at the chance to take them up on their job offer.
 

Between Eastern and South China, Eastern are the bigger club right now, they finished third in the Premier League last season while South China managed to win the First Division. Though trying to keep South China in the Premier League might be the tougher challenge, with the firm job offer on hand, I didn't want to wait to hear back from Eastern in case I was only waiting for disappointment. South China will see me manage at the top level in Hong Kong and on day one, they confirmed that they were willing to allow me to undertake the National A course, if that wasn't already great news, they're actually paying me a wage, now I don't have to keep working part time in the 7-Eleven and I can focus on the football.

My next update will focus on my new team and reveal my early dealings in the transfer market and the results of our friendly matches.

May 2024

And that's it, the 2024 season is done and dusted, Kowloon City District Recreation & Sports Council are crowned champions in the Hong Kong Second Division with a massive twenty point lead over second place Sun Hei. Interestingly, the team that joined us in promotion to this division at the end of last season, Kui Tan, ended up finishing dead last and will head back down to the Third Division while we move on up to the First.
 

As far as the league went, there was never any doubt that we would finish as champions, we lead the league from start to finish and our two losses only came about in the last four games when we started to rotate the squad more to give some fringe players more game time.
 

Away from the league, we played once more in the Junior FA Cup, last season we reached the semi-final but this time around, we could only manage to get through to the second round and we were knocked out by Sai Kung from the league above us. Obviously losing to a bigger team is reasonable, but we played fairly well during the match and we certainly made them work for the victory, the fact that we managed to beat them on possession and shots was certainly promising and maybe we should have been a little disappointed to not get the win ourselves.

Moving onto next season, I have agreed an extension of my contract, the plan is to remain at the team for now, but as my wage is non-existent and the team has refused to allow me to take the National A coaching course on the last two occasions of asking, I am open to moving on to another team.

Right now there is an opening at Central & Western District who are in the league above, but also there is a vacancy in the Singaporean Premier League at Albirex, could be worth applying for, but failing that, if the favourite for the job actually gets it, the Hougang Utd job might well become available down the line. I think ideally, I would like to remain in Hong Kong for another season or two but depending on the job market and if any interesting jobs come up, I might consider moving to Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia, possibly even India, though who knows how things will go, perhaps a lower league team in Japan, China or South Korea might be interested in hiring me, or I might even consider a move to Europe, surely some second tier Welsh side will jump at the chance at hiring me.

Whether I remain at this club or move on, that'll likely be the topic for my next update.

February 2024

The January transfer window slammed shut last night and I am pleased to be able to announce the five players we have signed this month.

Starting off on the 2nd of January, we brought in Wong Pun Ming, a versatile midfielder who will play primarily as an attacking central midfielder.

While it looked like it was going to be a fairly quiet window for us, a late flurry of signings saw four players joining us on the 29th. 

Ma Chun Hei - A young centre-back, joins us on loan from Sham Shui Po, right now I see him as a rotation option, but should he perform well in his first couple of games, he could well see himself into the starting XI as we see out the remainder of the season.

So Yau Tin - A midfielder/forward signed from Wofoo Social Enterprises, So Yau Tin seems at home either in an attacking central-midfield role or on the right wing, though he is evidently versatile enough to play up front or as either a central/right midfielder.
 

Yung Ho - A central and attacking central-midfielder who we signed on loan at the start of the season, he had departed already due to his loan not being for the full season but he now re-joins us for the final eight games of the season, this time on a permanent deal. Prior to his departure, he was a key player in our starting XI, it is my hope he can jump straight back in. 

Lee Chun Him - Our final signing of the window sees us recruit another striker. Lee Chun Him joins us on loan from Hong Kong U23s. While the plan is to play him primarily up front, he may well see action as an inside forward depending on the continued form of my existing strikers/wingers.
 

Now that the window is shut, it is time to see how these signings do for us on the pitch, hopefully they do well but given the large lead we already have in the league, I don't think there is going to be too much pressure on them to succeed and I will be quite patient with them over the next couple of games, I am confident we can see out the season as champions even without them.
 

November 2024

We've reached the halfway point in the second season here in Hong Kong, after gaining promotion from the Third Division to the Second, we were predicted to gain a back-to-back promotion and right now, we are on course to do just that. After thirteen games, we are currently top of the league with a lead of fourteen points over second place Sun Hei.

While we are doing very well in the league right now, our performance in the Junior FA Cup this season has been somewhat disappointing when compared to last year. We managed to beat Tuen Mun in the first round but we were then eliminated by Sai Kung in the second round, a shame considering that we managed to go all the way to the semi-final last time around.
 

Since my previous post, we have done a little extra business just prior to the closure of the transfer window, brining in midfielder/striker Barak Braunshtain and defenders Ng Wa Seng and Kwok Chun Tung. Barak Braunshtain on the surface looks to be a fairly mediocre signing considering we have slightly better options in the first team squad right now, but looking ahead, our loan deal for Yung Ho is due to expire in a couple of games time, at which point, he should find himself in the starting XI more frequently. Ng Wa Seng and Kwok Chun Tung bolster our defence and provide cover for all defensive positions, Ng Wa Seng can play in either full back positions and Kwok Chun Tung is a natural at centre-back, but can also play as a full-back as needed.

Looking ahead it is fairly likely that we will go up, hopefully as champions but as long as we go up, that's all that matters, that said, we certainly have a rather comfortable gap right now but we still need to do a professional job and ensure we can maintain it for the remainder of the season.

The immediate goal is to gain promotion to the First Division and who knows, perhaps the Premier League the year after if we can keep up our momentum for another season, while I would like to stick around to ensure that happens, at the end of the day, I am not being paid for my services and that means, should a team come along that is willing to offer me a paid contact, I would seriously consider it, even if it means leaving this team behind for another at the same level, I think at this point however, I would not drop down a level for paid work, unless the team offering the contract is Happy Valley Athletic, unfortunately last season, they did not manage to gain entry into the Third Division thanks to Lung Moon getting the only available spot upon Tsuen Wan's relegation.

August 2024
 

We are now minutes away from kick-off in our first match of the new Hong Kong Second Division season and I can reveal three additional signings we have made as we work to make this team the best it can be. 

Firstly we have Chung Wai Ho, recently of Kowloon City but who also once played for my favourite Hong Kong team, Happy Valley. We actually signed him on as a backup but he looks to be better than our first choice keeper so it could be an interesting battle between our two keepers to see who can claim the number one shirt.

Our first choice attacking central-midfielder from last season, So Loi Keung, retired at the end of the season, his intended long-term replacement, Leung Kam Fai, a player we signed at the start of last season and who had played fifteen times for us in total last season, was poached by Swiss XI, that left us with a distinct lack of talent in this position, to remedy this issue, we brought in Yung Ho on loan from Southern District and Ho Lung Ho on loan from Hong Kong Under 23s.

With Yung Ho having joined the team now and with us already having signed Wan King Yiu earlier in the pre-season period (coupled with our signing of Fu Ka Ho last season), you might think I am just signing players with amusing names, if you think that then you would be correct, though I do believe they have plenty to offer us on the field as well, certainly I would have no concerns throwing any of them into the starting XI for our first game of the season.

After the mass retirements at the end of last season and with the new players we've brought in, I am pleased to see where the media predicts us to finish, despite being promoted into the division only last season, they have us a 1-91 favourites to win the Second Division and move on up to the First Division, I am very hopeful that we can prove them correct, winning the league is going to be the goal and anything less than the runner-up and second promotion spot will be unacceptable.
 

Now that most of our transfer business is complete, save for maybe an unplanned, last minute purchase on deadline day, we can move onto the results of our pre-season friendly matches. As you can see from the choice of teams, I did not put my team up against any serious opponents except for Fu Moon, another team from our league, the rest of the opposition were non-league teams that I knew we would beat easily, the main aim was fitness and morale and smashing a bunch of fruit and veg merchants 10-0 certainly left the boys in a good mood.

Pre-season is now over, my next post is likely to be at some point during the season, most likely at the half-way point but it could be earlier if something interesting comes up.

May-July 2024
 

At the end of the 2023/2024 season, we said goodbye to a number of our senior players, now with the challenge of playing in the Hong Kong Second Division quickly approaching, we have begun in earnest, strengthening the side and plugging any gaps in the squad left by those departing.

Joining us for the forthcoming season are two new strikers, Robbie Stamp (from Maccabi HK) and Conrad Szymański (from St. Joseph's). Stamp has impressed for us in a couple of friendly games while on trial while Szymański was the second highest goalscorer last season in the Third Division.
 

In the middle of the park, we have so far added Wong Hin Sum, a centre-midfielder, in the coming days, we are hoping to bring in another centre-midfielder or possibly a central attacking-midfielder as well.

In defence we are pleased to announce the arrival of the amazingly named Wang King Yiu at left-back, Leong Ka Lok at right-back and Stefan Antonić at centre-back.
 

Finally, we have a new goalkeeper in Chin Siu Sum, formerly of Wofoo Tai Po.

With so many new faces, and likely more to come, it may take a while before this team is firing on all cylinders, but we have plenty of time during pre-season to begin moving in the right direction.

The next update will be at the end of pre-season with any additional signings and a look at our pre-season results.

This site has most of the logos I believe, as for the kits and faces, I'm not sure, I saw a link to them a few years back when somebody uploaded a Hong Kong leagues database but I couldn't tell you which site it was on. If there not on here, you could try FMScout, FMInside or FMSlovakia, they tend to have a good selection of kits and facepacks.

May 2024

The 2023/2024 season is over, though we were confirmed as champions with several games still to play, we can now reveal the final table, as you can see, we finished well ahead of our nearest competitions, leading with a gap of eighteen points. Joining us in the Second Division next season will be Kui Tan, the team we knocked out in the Junior FA Cup First Round.
 

As you can see from the results, we have done well for most of the season, just suffering a few setbacks towards the end, including in our Junior FA Cup match against Kowloon City District Council, where we lost the game 1-0 in what was the semi-final. Despite the loss, we did very well to reach the round we did, and the media considered us to be the biggest overachievers in the competition.

Looking ahead to next season, the plan, for now, is to remain where I am, we have lost or will soon lose a good portion of the squad to retirement, my job is going to be to rebuild the side ready for the new season and the challenge that awaits in the next division above, that said, should Happy Valley gain promotion to the Third Division and consider me suitable to lead them, I would jump at the chance, also should a team from the Premier Division come along, it would take some persuading to keep me around, especially as they would be offering me a paid position where as right now, my contract is still amateur and unpaid (though that might change as the team is in the process of going semi-pro).

March 2024

Kowloon City District Recreation & Sports Council win the Hong Kong Third Division and secure promotion to the Second Division after beating the Hong Kong Gold & Silver Ornament Workers & Merchants General Union 7-2.

With the title secured, we now have five games left of the season and with little to play for, we might well look to give some of our up and coming players a chance to impress.

In the Junior FA Cup, we face a semi-final game against either Wing Yee or the Kowloon City District Council, our senior affiliate, either way we are going to face a First Division side, and should we reach the final, it will be against either Central & Western District or 3 Sing, both also from the First Division, from this point on, things should be tough, but that said, we did manage to beat Eastern District in the second round and they were also from the First Division so we might have a chance here, if we play to the best of our abilities and have a little luck on our side as well.

February 2024

It wasn't an amazing performance from the team as a whole, but credit to my strikers, they were the two best players on the pitch, despite one being fifty years old and the other being fifty-six lol.
 

With our win over Kui Tan, we are pleased to welcome Detinho and Chan Kam Pui to our squad, they join Colly and Seb Buddle who arrived just prior to our previous game. These four players give us a little bit of a boost as we look to continue our excellent run of form and hopefully see out the season as champions. 
 

Other than the four players mentioned above, we did also sign a few youth players as well, at the moment, these guys are a little way off being relevant enough to bother uploading their screenshots, but they are however important to our future as a good proportion of my senior team is likely to retire at the end of this season, this is because aside from the two guys in their fifties, we also have six players in their forties and twelve in their thirties.

With twenty games played, there are now eight games left of the season, there are a maximum of twenty-four points available in the remaining games but we are currently twelve points clear and with a game in hand, as such, I am fairly confident at this point, that we will be able to cross the line as champions. 
 

In the Junior FA Cup, we are still in the competition and face a quarter final match against Second Division side Kwai Tsing, as the bigger club and from the division above us, they should be favourites for the match though I do think we have a reasonable chance against them and whatever the outcome, I think it will be a close game.

September 2023

Half time in Hong Kong and we've had a great start to the season, a few of our players are yet to find their feet, which is understandable given that I replaced almost the entire squad at the end of pre-season, but by and large, the squad is generally performing to or above my expectations.
 

In the league we started out being predicted to finish somewhere in the midfield, after the bulk of my signings were complete, the media had us up to second, but with our success on the field in the first half of the year and Supreme FC's struggles, we are now 1-4 favourite to win the league.

Along with the Third Division, we are also playing in the Junior FA Cup. We have no real expectations in this competition and the board only expect us to be competitive. We managed to Kui Tan from our division in the first round, but the stand-out performance was a 3-1 victory in the second round, where we beat First Division side Eastern District. For the third round we face Tsuen Wan, also from our division, hopefully we can progress but even if we do beat them, there are still several teams from the next two leagues above us so ultimate success in the competition is not necessarily on the cards.

Ten games into our Division 3 season, we find ourselves, not entirely unexpectedly, in first place in group B. We have dominated the league so far and I am confident we can continue to do so for some time yet to come. With the strength of our squad right now, I would be devastated should we not end the season in this position, even losing a game would be highly disappointing.

September 2023

As the new season fast approaches, I have had to act quickly to improve this side, doing so in dramatic fashion, bringing in twenty four new players and ten members of the backroom staff. The squad as it was when I joined, might have been good enough to reach a mid-table position, but I want us to be the best that we can be, and if that means replacing the entire squad, I will do just that.

The goal, or should I say, my goal, is to get us out of this division, I want to do this on the first attempt as there is no point doing things by half measures, we're going all in, and at this level, with all the players being amateur, there is no wage or transfer budget to worry about, so long as players are interested in joining us and if I feel that they will improve us, I will do the business. 

August 2023

At the point of being appointed as manager, the team had already played four friendly matches, winning the first two and then losing the following two, there wasn't a lot of time until the new season began but I managed to setup two additional matches, which we won fairly comfortably.

August 2023 - Breaking News

Introduction

While I continue my main save from FM23 into FM24, I have decided to have a couple of other saves on the go, created fresh in FM24. While you may have already seen my posts about my save currently in the Northern Mariana Islands with the Thundercats, this one is perhaps the more serious of the two.

In this save, I am as usual, starting out unemployed with a Sunday-league reputation and no coaching badges, the plan is to start out my career in Hong Kong and at a club in the Third Division, from there, the plan is to work my way up, either by taking my first team all the way, or by moving clubs, it really doesn't matter how I do it and unlike my FM23 main save, there are no rules here, I just want to reach the top, though, that's not to say I will not drop down the levels to seek out new and interesting challenges.

While there are no rules to my save and no definitive goals, there are a few teams I would like to manage on the way:

• Happy Valley - My favourite team from Hong Kong, should they emerge from the obscurity of non-league football and find their way back to being playable, I would like to take the reigns and put them back where they (probably don't really) belong.
• Hong Kong FC / Lucky Mile - Back on Championship Manager 2001, I tried managing the team but only got a few games into the season, I would like to give them another go at some point, possibly in this save, should the option emerge. Lucky Mile is the B team and while the job is available from the start, my plan is to start out at team in the league below them.
• South China / Eastern District / Southern District / C&W District / Wan Chai - Hong Kong teams that I've never managed but which interest me.
• Islands District / Sparta Asia / Double Flower / Biu Chun Rangers - Teams I have previously used that I would consider managing again. There are other teams in Hong Kong that I have managed or would be willing to manage again but right now they are in unplayable leagues or are defunct. 
• Yokohaka F. Marinos - Favourite Japanese team.
• Shanghai Shenhua - Favourite Chinese team.
• Suwon Samsung Bluewings - Favourite South Korean team.
• Shenzhen FC - My most used Chinese team on CM/FM games.

Beyond specific teams, I would also like to manage in Indonesia as I've never managed there, India as I have never completed a season in that country and Malaysia as I have not used a Malaysian team for a long time (not counting the national team which I managed a few years back).

With this save, I have a number of European countries loaded along with those in Asia, so there is also the possibility that I might not just manage in Asia.

Pre-season is over, we picked up some big wins and one rather embarrassing defeat, the team I've put together will hopefully win us the league, just so long as I don't go with the tactics I used in that last friendly.

Our first team squad for the forthcoming season, on the surface it doesn't look that great going by the star ratings alone, you would be forgiven for thinking we just have two star players and a bunch of mediocre-at-best guys [but when you consider that most of the other teams in the NMI have only greyed-out players, we now have a strong advantage, especially when you also consider that this squad, including the youth team players, is now larger than all the other teams in this territory combined, hell, you could probably throw Guam in there as well, the joys of managing in obscure nations lol.]

Below I have have the profile pages for some of our better players, they won't look like much to most people, but here in the third tier of the Northern Mariana Islands, these guys should make a serious impact as we attempt a rapid rise through the divisions.

Following on from my first post about what needs to be said, well there really isn't much to say about this team, they play at the bottom of the Northern Mariana Island football pyramid, they play on a primary school pitch with room for only five hundred spectators and they don't even have any players. I can't do much about the team's station in life or their facilities just yet, but one thing I can fix, is the somewhat empty roster.

I joined the team at the start of August, I have just two months to assemble a squad and get them ready for the new season, I have every faith in my ability to build this team from the ground up, I have faith that I can mould them into a competitive outfit, and I have faith that we can win our group and gain promotion to the Second Division. 

[The reason I have faith is because this will not be my first time doing this, I previously managed this team back on FM21 and managed to get them up to the First Division thanks to back to back promotions, still, this is a different game and no-doubt, I will have different players this time around, so who knows what will happen.]

Thunder… thunder… thunder… Thundercats Ho!!!!!!

What more needs to be said lol

August 2036 – Ivory Coast

After last season's disappointment of losing on penalties to Africa Sport in the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire, we get our own back in the Coupe Houphouët-Boigny at the start of this season.

With the Ivory Coast's equivalent of the Community Shield out of the way, now we turn our attention to the league, where we hope to repeat our success from last season. At the end of last season, six of our senior team departed due to their loan spells ending, we managed to bring one of them back on a permanent deal but this time, we have three new players joining us on loan, along with six additional players who join us on permanent contracts, most of which were free transfers, but we did sign one player, Georges Doumbia, who at £32,500, is not only a club record signing, but a personal one as well [in this save at least].
 

I haven't noticed any major bugs, the one issue I did come across was simply my finishing position in Liberia wasn't showing up on my job history page straight away, it did however fix itself maybe half way through the next season, this season it has worked fine so I think it might be just down to my season in Liberia being played half on FM23 and half on 24. As for the skin it's OPZ Elite, I'm not sure if the latest version is on this site but I'm pretty sure FM Scout has it.

So with my recent success in the Ivorian MTN Ligue 1, I have been presented with the manager of the season award, this is the first personal award I have been given during my fourteen year journey through Africa.
 

[The lack of awards in my career is mostly down to the database files that I'm using being not detailed enough to include awards for many of the countries, otherwise I would have probably won a few more by now, given that I won the top divisions of Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, São Tomé & Príncipe & Cabo Verde, along with the second division of Angola, and where I didn't win the league, such as Namibia and Liberia, I overachieved enough that I might have had an outside chance at winning the award, if it existed in the game.

Beyond the award, another aspect of this save that I'm happy to announce, is that this save, as of the end of the 2035/2036 pre-season, is now my longest ever save on any Football Manager or Championship Manager game, the previous longest was my save on FM15 which was thirteen full seasons long and then just the pre-season of the fourteenth season. 

Looking ahead, I am planning to keep playing this save through early-access and so I would expect to see at least one more season, once the game is fully released, I am planning to create a new save but I will probably keep this save and run them alongside each other, generally I have two to three saves on each edition of the game so this should work out nicely as I do want to try and get as far as I can towards reaching my goal of one day managing in the UK, at the very least, I would like to reach the shores of the Mediterranean or even cross over to southern Europe.]

June 2036 – Ivory Coast

Jubilation and devastation in equal measure as the 2035/2036 season comes to an end in the Ivory Coast.

After being eliminated on penalties in the third round of the Coupe de la LPF, we managed to reach the final of the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire, only to lose the match on penalties once more.

Losing in the cup final seemed to affect us more than I would have liked and our lead in the league dropped to just three points by the final day as we struggled to assert ourselves in the final few matches just prior to the final day.

Reaching the final game of the season, we knew that a win or draw would secure us the title, though we also knew that should we lose the game and should ASEC Mimosas win by a sufficient a margin, they could steal the title through goal difference.

As the game progressed, I watched as our title rivals scored goal after goal and by the end of the game, they had levelled with us on goal difference, we didn't managed to win the game or even score, but thankfully our opponents, third placed USC Bassam, were in the same boat, with the game ending 0-0, the single point we came away with, was sufficient to bring home the trophy and give the team and all our fans, something to celebrate after the heart break of the recent cup final.

With the season now over, much like last season, I face a decision, stick around for another year or move on. As I stated in my previous post, the aim is to move onto Mali should a suitable job become available, right now there are positions available, but these are at either second or third tier teams, or one top tier team that has already confirmed its relegation to the second tier, these jobs are not really what I am looking for, so naturally staying in the Ivory Coast might well be my best bet, though if one of the top-half teams decides to part ways with their manager, I may well make the move, provided they are willing to hire me.

Should I end up sticking around, which is by no means certain given that as of right now at the beginning of June, I have yet to be offered a new contract, the plan is to build on our recent success, strengthen the side once more and attempt to win our second title, while also hopefully doing better in the two main domestic trophies and also the Coupe Houphouët-Boigny, which we should enter as league champions.

As usual, my next post will reveal whether I have decided to stick around or continue my journey back to the UK.

January - March 2036 – Ivory Coast

This was going to be the mid-season update but time just has flown by, such is the fun I've been having in this new country. Right now we are two thirds the way through the season and things could hardly have gone any better.

When I joined the team, my initial impression was that the team was a fairly solid, mid-table team, I managed to make a number of changes in the pre-season transfer window to strengthen the squad, and those signings have really hit the ground running and the team as a whole, has really exceeded expectations in the league this season.
 

At the half-way point, we found ourselves top of the league, ahead of USC Bassam by three points, but at the two-thirds mark, we now lead ASEC Mimosas by six points. With just ten games remaining, I am hopeful that we are able to maintain our strong performance to date and continue to push for what could well be this team's first ever Ligue 1 title.
 

Away from the league, we also entered two cup competitions, the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire and the Coupe de la LPF, the Ivory Coast equivalents of the FA Cup and League Cup. For both competitions, the board have no real expectations and don't particularly care about the outcome, only that we be competitive, upon entering both cups, I didn't feel as though we would be likely winners, but being a top-half team from the top division, I felt like we had an outside chance at success.
 

In the Coupe de la LPF, we made it to the third round, eventually defeated by AS Denguélé, another team from our division, in the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire however, we are still in and face a semi-final match against AFAD Djékanou. Should we manage to progress to the final, I am expecting to face Africa Sport, also from our division, but should they lose their semi-final, we could face non-league outfit ASC Ouragahio (they're possibly third tier but could be lower, I only have the top two levels playable in the Ivory Coast so I'm not sure), which would be an interesting match-up.
 

In the most recent transfer window, I didn't bring in any new faces, though I did try to streamline the squad somewhat, sending a few fringe players out on loan and offloading a few of the youth players that I don't consider worth keeping around.
 

The next update will be at the end of the season, hopefully we will be league champions by that point and it would be nice to see some success in the cup as well, though as long as we give it our best and are there or thereabouts, I will be happy. Looking ahead to next season, right now, my plans are to either do a second season here at Issia Wazi, or to move onto Mali, should a suitable job become available. Ideally I would like to join one of the better teams in Mali but if there are no jobs of interest come the end of the season, I will most likely stick around.