TinakoFM - Comments

014:

Carles Carmona has now concluded his second full season (third overall) with Croatian top-flight side Istra. The prior campaign, 2025-26, saw major positivity after Carmona guided the club to a historic 2nd place finish, into the cup final and into the UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round for this forthcoming season. There was a good feeling around Stadion Aldo Drosina, so the only question was: would it last? Let's find out.

No, in short. Well I say that, but it's all relative as the supporters and board are both happy with that season that just took place. Mr. Carmona, however, not quite so much. It's been painful to sit through and play this campaign if I'm totally honest, the team lost everything great about them in 2025-26 and transitioned into a very bad side to manage throughout 2026-27. Istra conclude the campaign in 7th, somewhat harshly as they sat 6th from Match 11 to Match 32; two matchdays aside midway through.

Simply put, Istra were nowhere near as good as those above and basically too good for anyone below them, for the most part. That brought with it inconsistent form, so not much enjoyment could be generated. I was delighted to see the end of the season arrive. Away from the league, we went from runners-up to second round departers in the Croatian Cup but positiveness did come slightly in the UEFA Europa Conference League - in the club's maiden European campaign, we reached the fourth qualifying round after beating Tirol (Austria) and Boavista (Portugal) before exiting at the hands of German Bundesliga side Union Berlin. No shame in that at all.

The plan is for Carles Carmona to remain at Istra in the off-season, though - depending on what happens in 2027-28, of course - the Spaniard will very likely depart at the end of his current contract in June 2028. As for this next season upcoming, the squad needs a tremendous amount of work once again - just like at the beginning of 2025-26. That rebuild went very well, let's hope this one does too.

Thanks for reading!

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// Save Recap \\

Job 01: 2023–2024 | Orijent | (🇭🇷 Croatia/2) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | contract expired

Job 02: 2024– | Istra | (🇭🇷 Croatia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 3 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | 

// Noteworthy Events \\

013:

A simply unexplainable 5 days at Istra.

From losing 6-1 to promoted and 3-out-of-3-losses-to-start-the-season Hrvatski Dragovoljac in the HNL on 9 August 2026…

…to overcoming a 3-1 first leg defeat by beating Liga Portugal side Boavista 6-1 in the UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round on 13 August 2026.

Two truly bizarre results, with practically no changes in line-up or tactic.

My head was on Mars after that first result 😂, I even avoided the game for a couple of days as I was so demotivated by it… I return to then see my team do basically the same thing to the AI. awkward

012:

Carles Carmona has completed his second season with Istra, meaning he has belatedly completed a full season with one club for the first time in his managerial career; after half seasons with Orijent and Istra. And I must say, it has been an absolutely ridiculously bonkers campaign - Carmona had Istra looking incredibly good, almost too good if I'm being totally honest. Nevertheless, it's been a lot of fun… here's a rundown:

Incredible. What a campaign from Carles Carmona's Istra. From staying up last season by a single point via a dramatic final day to finishing 2nd and reaching the Croatian Cup final. Sadly, the cup was not brought back to Stadion Aldo Drosina for the first ever time but UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round action will be coming to Pula in 2026-27 - it will be the club's first-ever escapade in European competition. Back in the league, it's their highest top-flight finish; previous best was 5th in 2022-23.

Our form towards the end of the season was insane, especially in May - look at all those goals scored… 20 in 6 games! Before that, Mr Carmona's boys lost just once from January to the end of April - a run that included a 4-0 success at home to Hajduk Split, a 2-1 win at Stadion Maksimir versus eventual champions Dinamo Zagreb and a cup semi-final win away to big rivals Rijeka. To finish 2nd is unreal, 4 points clear of Rijeka & Hajduk and ‘only’ 12 points off top spot; around March or April, at one point Istra were just 4 points off Dinamo.

It's a shame Hajduk beat us in the cup final 4-3 on aggregate, for obvious reasons but also as it meant UEFA Europa League football was denied; due to the cup winners getting that instead. I can't complain though, the season as a whole was nuts (Carmona won Manager of the Month twice and then Manager of the Year) and we got given a silly run of form… I even stayed up until the very early hours of Thursday (safe to say I've got the FM bug back) so I could finish the season, such was my enjoyment but also as I didn't wanna risk the classic FM conspiracy theory of reloading the save and therefore resetting form. 😂

So, what next? It's May 2026 and Carles Carmona has signed a new two-year contract with Istra, meaning he is set to be attached to them until June 2028. Despite that, I will keep an eye out on the job market in case any interesting jobs pop up. The plan is very much to remain with Istra to lead them into European football for the first time and also to hopefully keep them flying high domestically, but if an obvious step up job becomes available Mr. Carmona may throw his hat into the ring for it… we'll see. For now, this great season will be lapped up.

Thanks for reading!

Side-note: As of now, Carles Carmona still holds zero coaching badges - both Orijent and Istra have been extremely stingy in letting him take a course. Thankfully, Carmona has now just started his National C Licence course. Hurrah!

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// Save Recap \\

Job 01: 2023–2024 | Orijent | (🇭🇷 Croatia/2) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | contract expired

Job 02: 2024– | Istra | (🇭🇷 Croatia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 3 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | 

// Noteworthy Events \\

011:

It won't last I'm positive, but it sure has been fun thus far!

010:

A summer of upheaval was desired, and a summer of upheaval happened.

From last season's line-up, just 2 players were selected to remain as starters - meaning 9 new faces have arrived.

Here's the difference:

Before Signings:

After Signings:

All snapped up and ready to go ahead of pre-season. Sadly Márk Koszta picked up a few week injury literally in his first training session.

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It'll either be a masterstroke from Carles Carmona, or a disjointed mess… it'll be fun to find out!

Next update will either be mid-season or season's end (assuming Mr Carmona is still in a job) - I'm not sure yet.

09:

As seen previously, Carles Carmona somehow led Istra to a dramatic final day salvation from relegation. It was all looking incredibly dark… and then sheer craziness occurred. Here's a rundown, at least the best one I can provide because I'm still stunned to be honest!

First of all, let's take a look at Istra's fixture list since Mr. Carmona arrived.

That unbelievable debut victory (3-0!) over Dinamo Zagreb actually turned out to be somewhat of a poisoned chalice, given Istra subsequently went 11 encounters without a win. It was originally only 2 defeats in 5 after the Dinamo match, though things quickly went absolutely dire as the club then lost 3-0 back-to-back, 2-0, 5-1, 4-1 and 5-1 again. At that moment, I was expecting relegation - especially as, at around that point, Šibenik managed to find a win so stretched the gap between them (9th) and us (10th) to 4 points.

At that moment, I switched to a new tactic that I've always tended to play down the years on Football Manager - 4-4-2 (or 4-2-3-1) with basic instructions of being expressive and ‘standard’ mentality. I had previously listened to my coaching staff as to what tactics to use, which worked well at Orijent but here - Dinamo aside - clearly wasn't working. My own tactic instantly produced a 3-1 victory over mid-table Gorica, so I was happy. However, that didn't last long as Istra then lost back-to-back - which is damaging whatever way you slice it, but even more so as one of those defeats was to nearest challengers Šibenik.

So with 2 games left, we were 4 points off safety… and with title challengers Hajduk Split on the final day, I had mentally checked out. I even switched to text commentary only, such was my lack of belief and eagerness for the campaign to end. I stuck with my ‘new’ tactic, though, and we miraciously beat Lokomotiva next time out. Better news followed elsewhere, as Osjiek beat Šibenik 1-0. That meant we were 1 point off Šibenik with 1 game to go. Still, I wasn't moved at all given we'd play Hajduk Split last. Yet, as you've seen - mental scenes ensued.

The outcome of the final day is ridiculous enough, but what went on during that day's two matches is way more unbelievable. Here's the best way to describe it:

16 minutes:

Istra 1-0 Hajduk Split

Slaven Belupo 0-2 Šibenik (Slaven had missed a penalty!)

= Istra relegated.

55 minutes:

Istra 2-0 Hajduk Split

Slaven Belupo 2-2 Šibenik

= Šibenik relegated.

69 minutes:

Istra 2-2 Hajduk Split

Slaven Belupo 2-2 Šibenik

= Istra relegated.

90+4 minutes:

Istra 3-2 Hajduk Split

Slaven Belupo 2-2 Šibenik

= Šibenik relegated.

That is just insane. After we had thrown away the 2-0 lead, I was on 'text commentary only', on 'very attacking' and just staring at the Šibenik scoreline on the right hand panel of ‘latest scores’. And then, all of a sudden, I notice the text commentary flash but the match instantly ended - so I didn't see the table update, nothing. Then it hits me that we've probably survived, which is confirmed by the team talk options. I've never been so stunned by Football Manager, genuinely shocked.

Ivan Dolček, our left-back who can't even properly play left-back (1½ stars!), is the Istra hero - what a man!

One other piece note, Carmona's Istra defeating Hajduk Split meant Dinamo Zagreb won the league title by 1 point! If not for us, it would've stopped Dinamo winning their 8th title in a row - and Hajduk woulda had their first title since 2004-05!

My apologies to Šibenik, but isn't that a beautiful thing to see.

Carles Carmona still has 1 year left on his contract, the plan is to stick around to try and build upon this season with Istra. With ‘secure’ finances, I feel like it could be a team to stick with for a few seasons - but next season must be better. The board aren't best pleased with the squad morale and have set a ‘promise’ to improve it by the start of next season, so Mr. Carmona may fall foul of that. And there are also takeover rumours, so a new regime may not want Carmona. So his future is not totally certain… time will tell!

The squad needs a major rebuild, though. So many players not good enough and the senior squad size is heavily bloated - at the moment, and more-or-less since Carmona joined, the team has 39 (!) first-team players. The staff needs a revamp too. A summer of change is coming, one way or another.

Two seasons, two clubs saved from relegation. ‘The Spanish Sam Allardyce’ nickname has been heard around Croatia…

Thanks for reading!

--

// Save Recap \\

Job 01: 2023–2024 | Orijent | (🇭🇷 Croatia/2) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | contract expired

Job 02: 2024– | Istra | (🇭🇷 Croatia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | 

// Noteworthy Events \\

08:

I'm genuinely speechless. I have no idea how, but: Istra. Are. Staying. Up!

The craziest final day, and fixture run-ins, I have ever experienced on Football Manager - and it actually went in my favour, for once. Flabbergasted.

I'll explain further in a ‘proper' post later, but my word.

07:

Have a guess how many times we've won in the 11 games since that 3-0 debut win over Dinamo Zagreb?

I'll give you a clue: it rhymes with oh-dear-o. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5 matches left to save one's bacon!

06:

Erm… Excuse me?!

An incredible first match in charge of Istra for Carles Carmona.

Literally me after each goal went in:

05:

Carles Carmona has found his next club. But where will he be heading this time?

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Mr. Carmona remains in Croatia 🇭🇷 as he joins top-flight basement boys Istra!

Carles Carmona's previous experience of saving Orijent from second tier relegation has evidently impressed those at Istra, as they've given him a chance at a top division club to try and save them from dropping out of the top-flight for the first-time since 2006-07!

It's a relatively big step up! The transfer budget (~600k, use it well DoF!) is a sign of that. Carmona must also have something against Rijeka, as he has moved from one of their rivals to another one of them! It's quite an interesting read in regards to their rivalry, which apparently stems back to the Kingdom of Italy days of the 1920s!

Nogometni klub Istra 1961 find themselves, at the back end of December 2024, bottom of the SuperSport HNL, two points adrift of promoted Šibenik and therefore safety in ninth place. 19 matches have been played, so Carmona has 17 games to fulfil and hopefully save Istra from relegation; which is the board expectation. It will likely not be easy though, especially with leaders Dinamo Zagreb (home) and third place Osijek (away) as his first two opponents in charge!

Check behind the spoiler wall for further screenshots:

Show Spoiler

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Let's see what happens! Thanks for reading!

Idemo zeleno-žuti!

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// Save Recap \\

Job 01: 2023–2024 | Orijent | (🇭🇷 Croatia/2) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | contract expired

Job 02: 2024– | Istra | (🇭🇷 Croatia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | 

04:

Season 1 of Carles Carmona's managerial journey has come to a conclusion. Here's a rundown of how the Spaniard got on in Croatia's second division with Orijent, who he joined mid-season in November as they sat in the relegation zone in 10th after 13 games.

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Safety guaranteed! Avoid relegation was the goal, and it's one that thankfully came to fruition.

Orijent end up placing 7th, missing the drop by 6 points and the relegation play-off by 5 points. The former didn't happen until the penultimate matchday though, with play-off avoidance not rubberstamped until the final day. With that said, I felt safe for a decent while to be fair - we had enough about us I felt, while the teams below kept dropping points and taking them off each other.

If you look closely, we actually won a match 8-1 versus Dugopolje (who won the relegation play-off) in March which was quite astounding; especially as we then lost our next three and only won twice more all season. Elsewhere, special mention to Jarun. Remarkably, they were bottom for something like 23 matchdays but after game 33 they were 8th!

Check behind the spoiler wall for further screenshots:

Show Spoiler

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…and that's all she wrote for Carles Carmona at Orijent.

Contracts-wise, we were in trouble as we were set to lose a number of key players and the finances (varying from okay to insecure) weren't, in my opinion, strong enough for the director of football to be able to fix things and revamp the squad sufficiently. The club also took away it's professional status too, so I thought this was a good time to depart having achieved what the board wanted originally - safety. I enjoyed my time there though, a few very fun players. As per, we wish 'em all the best!

Where next? Even I don't know yet, but I'm very interested in finding out! No changes in the leagues, so it'll be somewhere within the ‘ABCCHRSSS’. Time will tell.

Thanks for reading!

--

// Save Recap \\

Job 01: 2023–2024 | Orijent | (🇭🇷 Croatia/2) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | contract expired

03:

01:

Here lies the beginning of The ABCCHRSSS Journeyman!

You'll likely be able to guess what “ABCCHRSSS” stands for based on the lead image, but in case not - It is to do with the starting leagues (plan is to add/remove later) that I have loaded, which are:

Austria 🇦🇹

Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Croatia 🇭🇷

Czechia 🇨🇿

Hungary 🇭🇺

Romania 🇷🇴

Serbia 🇷🇸

Slovakia 🇸🇰

Slovenia 🇸🇮

…I know, oh so creative. I am very talented. /s

To be serious, though, I decided that I wanted to pick an area of countries close together to add to the realism, so I decided on the aforementioned portion of Central Europe-ish; having narrowly decided against starting within the United Kingdom and Ireland.

I have all of those noted country's leagues fully loaded, which is two levels deep in all but Romania; which is interestingly three levels deep. I also have ‘the big six’ leagues on view only. As for advanced options, I only ticked ‘Do not Add Key Staff’ and ‘Prevent use of the In-Game Editor’. I've selected a ‘large’ database, with a start date of 10/07/2023 (Austria, latest starters) and the ‘original’ game mode.

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Now, meet the manager: Carles Carmona!

Mr. Carmona is a 42 year old Spaniard born in Huelva, where he naturally grew up supporting Recreativo. He is fresh off a full blown career in the deep depths of sunday league playing and managing a team close to his work as a data analyst. Following a few decades of success with his mates, he has now decided to jump into ‘proper’ football management.

Carmona speaks Spanish, of course, and English. Such was his eagerness to get started, he currently holds zero coaching badges so will need a club to help him out in that regard. Managerial style-wise, Carmona holds the default 1s and 2s across the board.

Here he is, a very stylish geezer if you ask me.

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Most importantly: The First Job!

Carles Carmona has had to wait patiently for his first management opportunity, all the way to November 2023 in fact. Interest came and went from Solin (Croatia) and Horn (Austria), but in the end the Huelva-born manager is off to…

Croatia 🇭🇷 with Orijent!

The Croatian second tier will be where Carles Carmona makes his official debut as a serious football manager.

Hrvatski nogometni klub Orijent, to give them their full name, were originally founded back in 1919, going through various guises before eventually ceasing operations in 2014. However, a phoenix club of sorts was instantly formed and they've been on a mini up ever since. In 2014-15 they sat in the sixth tier, so to be in tier two since 2019-20 is a very good achievement. Counting that old history, Orijent have only ever played top-flight football once - in 1996-97! Their big rivals are Rijeka, which is not a surprise given they are based in the Sušak part of the city of the same name.

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How Orijent currently stand: They sit 10th (of 12) after 13 (of 33) fixtures with 15pts after W3 D6 L4. They are out of the cup.

1st gets promoted, 2nd-8th are safe, 9th goes into a two-legged relegation play-off with a team from (unplayable) league below, 10th-12th get relegated. The board expectation is to avoid relegation, the season preview had them 7th at 25-1. Just 8 points separate 1st to 10th.

First match for Carles Carmona's team: Bijelo Brdo (h, 11th), 6 days away. Big match!

Check behind the spoiler wall for further screenshots:

Show Spoiler

Carmona will be working under a director of football, one Marinko Koljanin; who has previously managed in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman as well as in Europe, a fellow journeyman I see! 🤝

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I'm looking forward to getting started! As I always say with my saves, it's best not to expect any serious success in the save - I'd be lucky to win more than a few trophies in truth! I'll try my best no doubt, but I just try to enjoy seeing where the journey (man, ha! get it?…) takes me.

Idemo Orijent!

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// Save Recap \\

Job 01: 2023– | Orijent | (🇭🇷 Croatia/2) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0 | 

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00:

Yep, back again with yet another new career to share. Long story short, I embarrassingly caved and purchased Football Manager 2024. I know, I'm just as disappointed in myself as you ought to be… but we move.

Why the aforementioned tone? Well, this was me literally on this very site a mere three weeks ago:

…and yet here I am. 🙃

It is not without a positive spin, however. Although I actually didn't even load that previous save again after my one (and only, sorry!) sortitoutsi post, I still had a nagging feeling to play Football Manager but with the downloaded extended database it felt too far astray from FM in itself - I do quite like being ‘limited’ (hardly, plenty of leagues on the game after all) rather than having a cobbled together (if still impressive and respectable) database with barely any limit. I'm weird like that!

Final tid-bit, I also did say the following last time out… so I did predict my future self!

That could always happen again I guess, but I don't actually foresee myself dropping this on this attempt… at least no where near as quickly. I've already had a mini escapade on FM24 with my team, Manchester United, and really enjoyed playing the game again - and that's despite very poor form; I got around 9 or 10 league matches in and the media were already predicting trouble for my future so… yeah! Still, despite that, I gained enjoyment from FM so that can only be a good thing. I never used to overly like ‘big team’ saves anyway, journeyman saves are my absolute favourite.

…and that segues perfectly into where we reside now: The ABCCHRSSS Journeyman. // tumbleweed \\ Yah, I know, it's a bad name… give me a break!

I'll explain more in my next post, talking about the save a bit more and belatedly revealing what club my manager is managing first, which is the most important thing from this whole overly wordy and not at all concise post. Thanks for reading!

It did cross my mind to buy FM24 as, as usual, SI & Co. do tend to market it well and there's always a buzz about it being ‘the best game yet’ and I have caved in the past (FM22!), but held firm after watching a few YouTube videos of the beta and seeing the match engine still having the same issues that annoy me; despite a few promising changes seemingly with positioning and set pieces.

I've kinda earmarked (maybe) buying FM25 given the change to the Unreal engine, which will hopefully make the match engine act more realistic and won't just be an improvement in graphics only.

Best of luck with this!

I don't think your travel agent has been honest with you though, they've sent you to Uruguay but have seemingly made you believe that you are in Chile.😁

We've both had some interesting saves on here! I think this is my first revisit to FM17 since those other saves of mine, so I'm hoping it'll resurrect my feeling towards FM as I do miss the idea (if not the actual physical process) of playing the game regularly,

I've annoyingly been busy since I started up the save so haven't had the opportunity to play it again yet, which is quite ironic given I actually (albeit minimally) want to give it a go at the moment. I'm going to try and squeeze some game time in over today/tomorrow, which should be enough to finish the season with North Tarawa given it's at its quarter-final stage - especially as we'll probably get knocked out immediately! 😄 We'll see, though.

Memos From Oceania & Beyond

A journeyman save on Football Manager 2017 using claassen's world database. No plans, no ambitions, just pure vibes from a low skilled FM player.

(NB: my username is now TinakoFM, used to be a variety incl. ‘r96skinner’ + ‘Skinner_’) 

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Info: FM17 was the last FM game that had a save that was actually a relative (!) success, as I went from Singapore to England, via a whole host of other countries, from 2016 to 2061. I shared that story via sortitoutsi here. Since then, I had a couple of decent-to-good saves but nothing that has quite reached that far into the future. I've also fallen out of love for Football Manager in general completely, given I never purchased FM18, FM21 or FM23… and I will not be buying FM24. Also, at the time of typing, I haven't even played anything FM for almost one year (nb: ~04.11.2022).

Based on all that and a small reoccurrance of feeling to play FM, I decided to crack open FM17 and download a world database - something I've always wanted to do but was concerned about save-killing bugs or crashes, but as I don't have great desire at the moment it wouldn't be such a disappointment if a save was to be killed. I can't guarantee if I'll do anything with this save and thus this career post, I wouldn't be shocked if I dropped it next week, but I have previously enjoyed sharing stories on sortitoutsi so by doing so again it'll give me the best possible chance of playing FM regularly. As of right now, progress will likely be limited as I'll only be playing the save when I get time to; likely only to be a few hours a week, but I'm able to increase that if I find it worthwhile of my time. We'll see!

I've no idea how reliable the database is (I assume good) or if my current PC can handle it, so I just going in and hoping for the best. I haven't downloaded anything else, so team names, logos etc. are all default to FM17. I did tick the ‘add players to playable teams’ just to fill out the squads. I usually avoid that as I like ‘true’ squads, but given this is an old game and the level I'll be managing at I don't think it'll make a difference.

Any posts here will be short and sweet in short recap form of any events. If I were to get super deep into the game again (doubtful), then knowing me I'd start doing deeper depth posts.

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Memo #1: Getting Started.

From the aforementioned database, I've decided to start off in Oceania with American Samoa, Australia (technically part of AFC of course, but added them as it made sense geographically), Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis & Futuna Islands loaded. My manager holds zero coaching badges or prior experience.

My Manager: Meet 29-year-old Argentine (born in Ushuaia) named Juan Martín Castellanos. A Peter Crouch-esque forward, he played in the youth ranks for Deportivo Camioneros, Club Parque, Argentinos Juniors and River Plate before serious injury forced him to retire aged 15. Since then he has been planning a coaching career and, after getting his foot in the door via contacts of a former River teammate who plies his trade as a player in New Zealand, has found his start over in Oceania… but where exactly?

The Job Search: Upon starting the save, I went about finding Castellanos his first job. Numerous clubs returned with an interview as chairmen from Australia, Kiribati, Micronesia and Wallis & Futuna Islands became interested. I decided to pick Kiribati (pronounced KIRR-ih-BASS fyi, not ‘Kirybatty’ as I used to call them many years ago before finding out 🤦 ) as their season had already reached the knockout stage with quarter-finals; and three of the four teams to offer interviews remained in the hunt for the title.

Juan Martín Castellanos' first club is… North Tarawa (aka ETC)! The bookies' 9th (of 20) favourites in the season preview at 14-1. They went unbeaten (W2 D2) in the group stage before winning in the first knockout round to secure a place in the quarter-finals. 🇰🇮

Season's end has been reached, as my manager's three (or four, as it was) game start with U Craiova has been completed.

Based on league rules I thought we had a continental football spot secured after W1 D1 L1 and 3rd place, but the game found a way to take it out of our grasps (à la back in Indonesia with Madura United…) as we had to face a play-off with mid-table Rapid București and, to no-one's shock, we went and lost. So no Euro footy for our supporters next season, we always wanted to concentrate on the league anyway… 

Let's see what 2030-31 brings!

The Save So Far:

Show Spoiler

2020-2021: Persiba (Indonesia/2+1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 1 | Awards: 3

2022-2024: Madura United (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2025-2026: Newcastle Jets (Australia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

2027: Shanghai Port (China/1) | Trophies: 2 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2028-2029: Maccabi Haifa (Israel/1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

2030-: U Craiova (Romania/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

 

'tis now May 2030. Effectively 1 year on from leaving Maccabi Haifa in Israel, my manager has found himself a new job - but where?

We're off to Romania! U Craiova (1948 CS, not to be confused with U Craiova 1948 SA - it's complicated!) are my manager's sixth club of the save.

It took a long while to find a new job, initially there were some interesting jobs available. Panathinaikos, although struggling in recent years in the save, was one I wanted but they rejected my manager after an interview. Dinamo Zagreb was also open, though they didn't even allow us an interview. Those two were within a month or two of leaving Israeli football, in the many months since there's been a real lack of good jobs - with only relegation-threatened clubs giving interviews. I turned them all down as I felt I could end up getting a higher up club - and U Craiova are certainly that.

I'd recommend reading up on the situation between this club and their namesake on Wikipedia, though in short: An original U Craiova went away decades ago and two newer clubs claim to be the official rebirth of the first club. The LPF, Romania's governing body, support our club as the official successor, though the other club continue to claim that they are the rightful heir, so to speak. In real life, the two are in Liga 1 together - though in-game, the other club are in Liga 2… but do sit top with a few games left, so we could be meeting them next season.

Talking of this season, I join with just 3 matches left to play. U Craiova sit 4th in the post-season split in the Champions section, though are 7pts off of European football qualification via the league. However, I believe 4th place will get a UEFA Europa Conference League spot for 2030-31 as the Romanian Cup final is set to be FCSB vs. Sepsi - both of whom are already in the top three. The battle for 4th should be between us and Voluntari, who are currently 3pts off us but we play each other in my manager's first match in charge. Baptism of fire and all that.

U Craiova have had good times in this save. They won the Liga 1 title in 2021-22, 2025-26 and 2027-28 and have finished inside the top three in every other season. That streak will end, unless FCSB collapse above us, this campaign so it'll be my manager's job to raise them back to the top table of Romanian football.

The Save So Far:

Show Spoiler

2020-2021: Persiba (Indonesia/2+1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 1 | Awards: 3

2022-2024: Madura United (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2025-2026: Newcastle Jets (Australia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

2027: Shanghai Port (China/1) | Trophies: 2 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2028-2029: Maccabi Haifa (Israel/1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

2030-: U Craiova (Romania/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

 

It has been an absolute slog of a season with Maccabi Haifa, definitely the longest-feeling campaign of the save thus far, so that probably gives you an indication of how it has gone.

To say I've barely ‘played’ the game from just after the season's midway point would be an understatement, by that point I was literally spamming the continue button and giving matches the bare minimum amount of attention whilst doing non-FM things on a different monitor just to get to the season's end and hopefully a cup final - did that happen? See below!

I'd usually save/quit and return to the save at a later point if I lose interest but such was my near boredom of the game here, I decided it was best to just get through the season and start afresh at a different club next season; otherwise I may have lost the hunger for the save as a whole, which I don't want as I like posting on here. The feeling has nothing to do with Maccabi Haifa at all, just a change of scenery will help peak my interest again… and it is a journeyman after all. So, we go again at club number six!

 Anyway, here's a recap of 2028-29 in Israel's top division.

Premier League:

The Prem season actually started brilliantly with 5 straight wins, though Maccabi Tel Aviv quickly turned into prime Barcelona to usurp us and they never let up once - hence why I effectively gave up on the season at near enough the midway point. I've played the game long enough that it becomes clear when the AI is on a mad one, already seen the same scenario in this save in fact with Persib whilst with Madura United. By the season's end, we finished 3rd which is actually one better than where they finished before I arrived. The next boss will, like me, have third tier Euro footy with Maccabi Haifa. The media predicted us 1st, though board only wanted UECL.

Toto Cup:

We coulda had a trophy right near the season's start, as we completed the (admittedly short) run to the Toto Cup final but lost out predictably to mid-table Maccabi Petah Tikva. So, no trophy there unfortunately.

UEFA Europa Conference League:

In Europe's third tier, we actually did well - though could only effectively repeat what the club have achieved last season - elimination at the first knockout hurdle (admittedly second knockout round rather than first, as we won the group unlike last year's team). As for this season, we started in the second qualifying round and reached the groups after defeating Sloboda Tuzla (BIH), Nordsjælland (DEN) and Malmö (SWE). In the GS, we finished atop ahead of Legia Warsaw (POL), Asteras Tripolis (GRE) ad Sheriff (MDA) with W4 D2 L0. In the knockouts, we lost 5-2 on aggregate to Dinamo Zagreb (CRO).

State Cup:

The pride and joy of the season? Our final chance for silverware. Did we reach the final? Yes. Did we win it?

Incredibly, we actually did! i'm leaving here with something!

We defeated mid-table rivals Hapoel Haifa. That's something, at least. A trophy added to the cabinet from this forgettable first stint in UEFA.

The only other major thing I'll remember from this spell will be striker Ben Malango. I picked the DR Congo international up on a free as soon as I joined and he ended the season with a tremendous 35 goals. Not quite Tyrese Campbell levels, but good enough!😆

My reign at Maccabi Haifa in a GIF:

Let's see where the save takes my manager next!

Show Spoiler

The Save So Far:

Show Spoiler

 

2020-2021: Persiba (Indonesia/2+1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 1 | Awards: 3

2022-2024: Madura United (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2025-2026: Newcastle Jets (Australia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

2027: Shanghai Port (China/1) | Trophies: 2 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2028-2029: Maccabi Haifa (Israel/1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

 

A quick recap of the save so far:

2020-2021: Persiba (Indonesia/2+1) | Trophies: 1 | Promotion/Relegations: 1 | Awards: 3

2022-2024: Madura United (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2025-2026: Newcastle Jets (Australia/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

2027: Shanghai Port (China/1) | Trophies: 2 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 4

2028-: Maccabi Haifa (Israel/1) | Trophies: 0 | Promotion/Relegations: 0 | Awards: 0

O Where Art Thou Now?

Persiba: After I got them promoted into the promised land, I left. In the top-flight, whilst I was with Madura United, they managed back-to-back seasons up there, initially finishing an outstanding 4th before falling down to 16th in campaign two and suffering relegation back to League Two. In the second tier, they placed 2nd consecutively and eventually got promoted back in 2025 for 2026 - though would go back down immediately. After 4th in 2027, they sit 5th in the early stages of 2028.

Madura United: After I guided them to 2nd, 4th and 2nd between 2022 and 2024, Madura United would finish 16th in their first season without me so were therefore relegated (!) to League Two. They got back at the first attempt as champions, though in 2027 dropped back down to the second tier. Quite the fall from grace!

Newcastle Jets: I got Newcastle Jets 7th in my only full season with them, could they manage any better in the one season that they've had without me? No, they placed 8th in 2026-27. Not easy to break into that top six, it seems.

Hello, Haifa!

Job 5 of the save sees my manager head into UEFA for the very time as I take on the job at Israeli Premier League side Maccabi Haifa. I actually had my eyes on the Maccabi Tel Aviv job which was stated as ‘insecure/very insecure’ throughout the end of 2027-28, but that never came about and the Maccabi Haifa one did instead - and that's actually worked out better. This is, I believe, the first time I've managed in Israel.

Maccabi Haifa are 19-time Premier League champions, having most recently won the 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 titles. However, in 2027-28 they fell short to Hapoel Be'er Sheva by 11pts; hence how I was able to get the job. Last season they reached the UEFA Europa Conference League knockouts, losing to Braga (POR), and we'll be in that same competition again this year; Sloboda Tuzla (BIH) await in the second qualifying round.

Let's get it!

Slight plot twist.

It seems Shanghai Port didn't actually get the points deduction in the end - I've been swindled!

No idea what happened, I only went to check in the succeeding April and they're sitting top.

I assume it got overturned on appeal or suspended or something like that? Would've been nice if the game let me know that was a possibility, but hey-ho.

At least my conscience is clear that I didn't screw the club up financially!

Well. I can't say I was expecting my reign at Shanghai Port to end quite so suddenly, though I decided to resign as manager following that brutal points deduction. Part of me wanted to continue to see how much of a hamper that would've been, but I didn't want to risk a sacking or anything of the such. Presumably it was my fault, I'm not used to having big money to spend on FM, but then again the board should not have let me spend the £. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This really is a journeyman, eh? 4 clubs in 7 years.

Where next? I'm aiming for Europe; fortunately, when I joined Shanghai Port I proactively changed the lesser Asian leagues (Malaysia etc.) to ‘view only’ and added some European leagues for the future - evidently, I need 'em now. I added Croatia, Greece, Israel, Romania and Turkey so my next job shall be in one of those leagues; ideally at one of the top dogs.

In entirely, utterly, unequivocally, most definitely unrelated news…

Season 7 of the save and season 1 with Shanghai Port. Here's a recap of how 2027 went:

As already noted, the season ended with expected disappointment as Al Gharafa defeated us in the AFC Champions League final. Our season still went well in that competition, but how did our season in the Super Cup, FA Cup and Super League go?

note: I got a way too talky below, my apologies!

Super Cup:

By virtue of Shanghai Port winning the 2026 FA Cup before I arrived, my manager's first domestic match in charge was the 2027 Super Cup against two-time reigning league champions Guangzhou. It was a nice debut as we ran out 2-0 winners, as I claimed the second trophy of the save; first since season 1 of it with Indonesian (then second tier) club Persiba. New signing Tyrese Campbell scored in that match, the season would only get better for him… and far worse for Guangzhou.

FA Cup:

Erm… less said about this, the better. We randomly got dumped out the FA Cup at the first hurdle by second tier (!) Kunshan, who ran out 3-0 (yes, 3-0!) victors. Barring two full-backs, I played a very strong team too. We'll be seeing more of them next campaign, as they won promotion from the First Division along with Beijing Sport University.

Super League:

The Super League was… an absolute cakewalk, to be honest. As noted in a previous post, reigning champs Guangzhou had a diabolical season as they went on to finish fourth bottom! As such, we had no true rival throughout the campaign and ended up clinching the title with 89 points after winning 28. drawing 5 and losing just 1; I don't think I've ever gone unbeaten on Football Manager before, as mid-table Zhejiang (back in May) stopped me from doing so this year. We scored 91 goals and conceded just 13 - domination.

It's Shanghai Port's first title since 2024. Our closest ‘challengers’ were Beijing Guoan, who finished 21 points behind us.

AFC Champions League:

Thankfully we pulled through, despite losing twice to group winners Macarthur; we advanced as one of the best second place teams after beating BG Pathum United and Suwon Samsung Bluewings twice each. In the knockouts, we knocked out reigning champions Incheon United before getting revenge on Macarthur in the quarter-finals. The semi-finals saw us take out a second A-League team in Brisbane Roar, though unfortunately that was followed by the aforementioned loss to the Qataris.

Recap:

So, all in all, a great season. It actually started relatively roughly, though. We only had one friendly match (two in total) before our early start in the AFC Champions League group stages. So no prep was possible and that wasn't even the worst thing, as 4 of my 8 signings were not signed in time so were unable to be registered for the CL groups - so missed all 6 GS fixtures. The squad I inherited was severely lacking too, which didn't help in challenging Macarthur initially; they tore us a new one both times in the groups, though we returned that favour later on; which shows how much our signings changed us.

Transfers:

Speaking of signings, every signing turned out nicely. I did kinda spend £109m…

Memphis: Yep, he of PSV/Manchester United/Barcelona fame. Not going to lie, I gave that guy a disgusting contract with every pound and every clause used to get him in; which I had to do due to the club/league(?) limiting how much wage I could offer a player, so had to make up the difference in clauses etc. Memphis, signed for £19.5m initally, had a good if underwhelming season, not helped by some injuries and his postional rivals smashing it (see below). He only got 5 goals and 5 assists, though only started 12 games with a 7.35 average rating.

Sada Thioub & Li Haoran: Memphis' main problem was these two legends. Captured for a combined £10.1m from Sochaux-Montbéliard and Hebei China Fortune, the pair clocked up 29 goals and 27 assists between them. Sada Thioub netted 13 goals and got 19 assists, while Li Haoran netted 16 goals and got 8 assists. Even when Memphis was fit, I was selecting those two in his positions ahead of him; most of Memphis' games, in fact, came as a CAM - given I wasn't dropping sole striker gargantuan Tyrese Campbell.

Tyrese Campbell: What a guy. Tyrese Campbell, My hero, my mate. This man turned into an absolutely goalscoring machine, the sort I've personally not had the pleasure of managing for years. He cost £39m from Stoke City, but he was worth every single penny as he concluded the season with a ridiculous 47 goals in 45 games! A madness from the 27-year-old Englishman. Time to give him a cap, Gabriele Milano Massimiliano Allegri! 35 in the league, 11 in the Champions League and 1 in the Super Cup.

Xu Jizu, Cui Lin, John Hou Sæter & Guo Tianyu: Less ‘sexy’ signings but four players I like, even if forward Guo Tianyu didn't actually do much. We signed him for £17m but he only started a grand total of once; with 19 sub appearances. He did get 3 goals though. Xu Jizu was a great find for centre-back, I needed a native (Chinese) defender as I had used up all four foreigner spots on other positions. He came in for £7m and played 46 times with an average rating of 7.19. Elsewhere, Cui Lin made for good full-back (can play both) cover, while defensive midfielder John Hou Sæter ended up featuring heavily towards the end of the season when I switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-1-2-2-1.

Of the original bunch of players, Oscar (retiring asap) and Paulinho (not the ex-Tottenham Hotspur one) were excellent. Wang Jingui was our goalkeeper all season long, despite starting the campaign at just 18-years-old! I wanted a new ‘keeper but no-one good was available, so I thought I’d give this kid from the youth team a go and it was arguably my greatest decision. He has been called up by the national team but remains uncapped, with Jean-Pierre Papin seemingly choosing two goalkeepers based in Europe ahead of him.

FFP:

Honestly, I don't have a clue how FFP works on Football Manager but the game has noted we are set to fail the CSL's 2028 FFP. The game mentions how we are at fault, though I haven't seen any exact context as to what the punishment will/might be so I guess I'll find out in the off-season. Transfer ban? Points deduction? Continental ban? Slap on the wrist? Who knows! Anyone do? Lemme know! Likely my fault either way given my spending spree… what can I say, I guess I'm a regen of Harry Redknapp…

Let's see what 2028 brings…

Always next year!*

*unless we get kicked out for failing FFP - more on that in my more in-depth season review, coming later on Thursday - as it's 5am now and I sure need some sleep! 

Shanghai Port's first-ever AFC Champions League final.

…and, aside from a few saves with Manchester United back in the day, this is the (iirc) first time I've ever reached a Champions League final (anywhere) in a journeyman save of mine. Not expecting to win, but I'd love it if we beat them, love it!