Home
FM Discord
YouTube Channel
FM24 Data Update
FM26 Data Update
FM26 OOP Player Roles
Downloads
Graphics
Challenges
Blog
Forums
Videos
Tactics
FM26
FM26 Real Name Fix
FM26 Shortlists
FM26 DB
FM26 Men's Wonderkids
FM26 Women's Wonderkids
FM26 Men's Club Finances
FM26 Women's Club Finances
FM24 Update
FM24
FM23
FM Saves
FM Database
FM Guides
Installation Guides
Records
Search
#359473 FM 2017 - Blackburn Rovers RTG
r96
#359468 Gibraltar - A Country On The Rise
r96
#359467 Building a Nation: Northern Ireland
r96
#359465 Life On Campus (The Prelude)
r96
#359366 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Yellow/Red circle indicates my current job.
Orange/Green circle indicates my past jobs.
Approaching Halfway:
After an excellent first couple of months with Persib, we headed into July 2018 and nearing the halfway point of the Super League season. A further fourteen fixtures in all competitions are coming up in this update.
Our first match of the month was the first leg against lower-league Bintang Jaya as we got our Indonesian Cup run going in the First Round, the first of two ties ended in a 2–0 victory for Persib. After that we faced then-fourth place side Sriwijaya, the game ended in stalemate as both sides were happy with a point. The second leg of our Indonesian Cup tie came next and we advanced after winning 1–2 on the day and 1–4 on aggregate. The following weekend saw us play our rivals Madura United away from home, we gave our fans the greatest of gifts as he defeated the hosts 1–4. The scoreline flattered us but still deserved to win. Our second loss of the season came next as we were convincingly beaten by Bali United 1–3 despite Atep giving us the lead.
We hit back strong in our next fixture as we eased by Persela 3–0, Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan notched a brace. The Indonesian Cup resumed with a second round tie against Kwarta, we suffered a shock first leg loss as we were solidly defeated 2–0 by the lower-league team. Thankfully, a week later, we put things right with a 3–0 home win to progress to the third round. In between those two ties, we faced a huge fixture against then-third place Barito Putera. We smashed the away side 4–0 at Jalak Harupat Soreang Stadium with Zulham Zamrun grabbing an impressive hat-trick. In Joon-Yeon also got a goal.
August 2018 continued as we met mid-table Arema, we came away unhappy though as we lost 2–0. Things didn't get much better a game later as we scraped to a 1–1 draw against Persiram Raja Ampat. On 26 August, we came up against our Persib debut opponents, Pusamania Borneo, and beat them again after goals from Zulham and Kurniawan. We drew yet another lower-league outfit in Persewangi in round three of the cup. We hosted the first leg and dominated to win 3–0. That should be the tie done and dusted, but you never know in football. Note: In the Indonesian Cup, I've used a shadow eleven with no players from the league eleven playing and so far, the reserves have not let me down majorly but tougher tests will likely come.
Results:
League Overview:
As you can see above, we are still top of the table and still three points clear of our nearest challengers, not Bali United but reigning champions Persipura who have raced up the table from 8th (in the last update) to 2nd (now). Behind them it's rather tight, so any dip in form from us could drag us into that fight for second. We are officially at the halfway point with 17 down and 17 to go.
The squad is doing well still, impressed by a load of them. Zulham is obviously the stand out man with 12 goals in 17 appearances, while Shôsuke Ishida, Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan and In Joon-Yeon have also been very good.
Squad Statistics:
Tactics:
In other news, we were named Manager of the Month for June on 1 July 2018, the first personal accolade of my career. Also, on the same day, we appointed a new assistant manager in Wan Mustaffa Wan Ismail from Selangor PKNS of Malaysia (a team I managed on Football Manager 2016, see: r96skinner: Whatever happens, happens.). Lastly, we will not be on our next coaching course anytime soon as the Persib board rejected my request, stating they need me on the training pitch more. Fair enough, I guess, will try again soon.
Manager of the Month:
New Assistant Manager:
No New Coaching Course:
A busy few months! My next update will be on November 1st, nine league games from now. Let's hope we can continue the form and get closer to a first Indonesian Super League title. That's a long way off though, we must keep focused. Again, thank you for reading!
Cheers,
R96Skinner.
Career so far:
2016–2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) | (Singapore/1) | Trophies: 3 / Awards: n/a / Promotions: n/a / Relegations: n/a. resigned
2018– | Persib | (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 1 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0.
Trophies won:
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) S. League.
2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
Awards won:
2018 | Persib -- (Indonesia) Manager of the Month, June.
#359365 Life On Campus (The Prelude)
r96
#359332 [FM17] The Career Of Fola
r96
#359331 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Thanks for taking the time to read through! It certainly is, I'm enjoying it!
#359292 [FM17] The Career Of Fola
r96
#359291 Gibraltar - A Country On The Rise
r96
#359290 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Indeed!
#359231 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Yellow/Red circle indicates my current job.
Orange/Green circle indicates my past jobs.
The First Months With Persib:
As 2018 began we started our new job with Indonesian Super League side Persib. This first update will tell all the important aspects of my first few months with the Java-based club. Pre-season, transfers and the opening nine league fixtures were the main talking points.
Expectations:
Let's start with the transfer window, we were a bit busy as we signed four new players; although one was pre-arranged by the previous manager. That player was Indonesian defender Saiful Ramadhan, who is actually a pretty good player. It was lucky too as I initially wanted to play Montenegrin Vladimir Vujovic as my second-choice defender but he retired soon after I joined, so I must thank the previous boss for signing me a ready made replacement. My first signing was a player I know all about: Shôsuke Ishida! A man I signed from my previous club, Albirex Niigata (S). Left-sided player, I know exactly what he brings to the table and managed to get him on a free as he left Albirex Niigata (S) at the end of his contract.
Korean In Joon-Yeon was my second signing, he was signed from K League Challenge side Goyang Zaicro for an initial fee of 8K. He was transfer-listed and we managed to get him for a cheap price; considering his value was higher. He plays in the same position as Ishida which isn't ideal but we did need depth in the position. In Joon-Yeon has been playing more than Ishida. My final signing was Brazilian forward Patrick, he comes on a free from Malaysian club PBDKT. We already have a few pretty good forwards at the club, but you can't go wrong with squad depth; and the fact all my league rivals were after him so I thought I'd take him so no-one else could!
As for outs. Vladimir Vujovic retired (as previously mentioned), M. Natsir Mahbuby (fourth choice GK) was sold to Perserang, Tony Sucipto (initially first choice LB) was released while Yusuf Harjanto (striker) and Robby Saputra (left-back) departed on loan.
Transfers:
As every new seasons does, this started with long pre-season preparations. We began and finished pre-season with a friendly with Selangor MPSJ, won the first 0–3 and the second 0–4. In between we had five other fixtures and came away with three victories and two defeats. I was overall happy with our pre-season, it wasn't the best for sure but we were improving with each game and I could see the players starting to learn my tactics. Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan (right winger) really stood out to me, he was a constant threat as were a few others.
We started the season at home to Pusamania Borneo and got off to the ideal start as we won 2–0 thanks to goals from Atep and the club's top goalscorer from last season Zulham Zamrun. We followed that up with a 2–2 draw away to Bhayangkara, we twice came from a goal down in that one. We hosted PSM Makassar on Matchday 3 and came away with a 2–1 win after two goals in six second half minutes. An away trip to Mitra Kukar was on the agenda next and we returned home with three points after an Atep strike on 59 minutes. June's opening fixture saw us play Persepam and win 2–1, Zulham got another goal while In Joon-Yeon scored his first competitive goal for the club.
In Joon-Yeon was on the scoresheet in the next match, versus reigning champions Persipura, as he won us the points with a fine goal four minutes after the interval. We followed that up with two consecutive 2–0 victories, firstly vs. Persiba Bantul (A) and secondly vs. Persegres Gresik United (H). That maintained our unbeaten start to the season and extended a run of six straight wins, a new club record. Throughout this period we were playing superb football but not scoring a great amount, but credit to the team as we grounded out the wins. After a 5–2 friendly win over Persikabumi, we suffered our first league defeat of the campaign as we conceded two second half goals to third from bottom Persik. Not good enough.
Results:
After all those results, we sit top of the Super League table (see below) with seven wins, one draw and one defeat. We're three points clear of second place Bali United. I'm super pleased with our start to the season, but we have a very long way to go. As I previously stated, our performances have been top drawer (bar the Persik game) but goals have been the issue, yet the team have still found enough of them to win which is always pleasing.
League Overview:
The squad have been doing well, all doing their job so far (see below). Tactic wise (see below), I've been indifferently using different 4-3-3 systems. The one you see I mainly use at home, the other one with less instructions I mainly use away. It seems to working well at the moment.
Squad Statistics:
Tactics:
One last bit of business, I completed my latest coaching course and have gained my National A Licence. I plan to do my next course soon, if Persib allow me to of course.
Coaching Course:
Thank you all for reading. The next update will be at the end of August/beginning of September 2018, we have a load more league fixtures on the way while the Indonesian Cup gets underway very soon.
Cheers,
R96Skinner.
Career so far:
2016–2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) | (Singapore/1) | Trophies: 3 / Awards: n/a / Promotions: n/a / Relegations: n/a. resigned
2018– | Persib | (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0.
Trophies won:
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) S. League.
2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
#359106 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Yellow/Red circle indicates my current job.
Orange/Green circle indicates my past jobs.
Looking For A Job:
After departing Albirex Niigata (S) at the end of 2017 after winning three trophies and spending one and a half seasons with the Japanese-owned club, we searched for our second job of our career. With only Asia (bar Australia) loaded, we were looking to remain on the continent.
As I said in my previous post, my initial feelings were that I wanted to remain in Singapore and manage Warriors as they can get into the AFC Champions League whereas Albirex Niigata (S) can't. However, the move didn't materialise. Pretty much all the other S. League jobs were available at one point or another, but only Warriors appealed to me. So we carried on to look for a new job, Malaysia (mainly Premier League, tier two) had vacancies as did Indonesia but none got me excited at first. We applied for a few jobs, Malaysian Premier League club Sabah were the first to contact me and eventually offered me the job but I wasn't feeling it so delayed for a few weeks before they rejected my further delays and issued me with a final chance, I rejected their offer.
Sabah Job:
More time came and went as did job applications but no job really excited me, and the ones that did weren't interested in me. On one trip to the job centre, two jobs appealed to me. Bucheon (top-flight South Korean club, but favourites for relegation) and Persib (top-flight Indonesian club, one of the best clubs in the country). I was considering which one to take as they were both interested, the relegation favourites but would give me good big league experience or one of the big boys in a smaller league and hopefully continue like what we did with Albirex Niigata (S).
In the end, I chose Indonesian top division side Persib! I'm excited for my new challenge.
Persib Confirmation:
The recent season has finished, Persib finished second in the league and eighteen points off of leaders Persipura. It seems the board will want us to win the league, so catching Persipura will be the aim. Not looked in depth at the squad yet but it can be seen below.
League Overview (Last Season):
Squad:
I'm looking forward to getting going, first time I've managed in Indonesia I believe. Thanks for reading, the next update will be at the end of June 2018 when around two months of the season have been played.
Cheers,
R96Skinner.
Career so far:
2016–2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) | (Singapore/1) | Trophies: 3 / Awards: n/a / Promotions: n/a / Relegations: n/a. resigned
2018– | Persib | (Indonesia/1) | Trophies: 0 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0.
Trophies won:
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) S. League.
2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
#359093 FMREGEN: FULL CIRCLE
r96
#359091 [FM17] The Career Of Fola
r96
#359085 Mark Tonge: Metropolitan Man.
r96
#359084 From Unemployed To Wherever...
r96
#359010 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Yellow/Red circle indicates my current job.
Orange/Green circle indicates my past jobs.
The Title Race:
After a mixed July to August run of form in the S. League, we headed into the final seven encounters with a real chance to claim our second title in Singapore with Albirex Niigata (S). We faced a title race with Warriors, with Hougang United not out of it yet either. With the Singaporean League Cup in the cabinet, could we go on a run to claim the title?
First we had two friendly matches, Prisons SRC and Dare 2 Dream (D2D), we won 3–0 and 6–0. Balestier Khalsa were our first league opponents of September and we easily dispatched of them to win 4–1, with four different goalscorers. Garena Young Lions came next and we again won convincing as we beat them 0–3. On 29 September 2017, Geylang International visited the Jurong East Stadium and humiliated us by winning by three goals to zero. Terrible result. October began with a friendly won over Persih of Indonesia.
Heading into the final four results, we were losing points on leaders Warriors. Home United were next and we left it late to win 1–2 thanks to a late Koichi Yoshii goal, dropped points would've won Warriors the title iirc. We visited Hougang United on the third to last matchday and crucially won after an early goal. Matchday 23 saw a titanic clash between Albirex Niigata (S), us, and Warriors, them. Second hosting first, our final chance to stay in the title race; we had to win. And boy did we do that, we demolished the in-form table toppers 5–1 at home! Shinnosuke Matsubara, Susumu Kawashima, Emmeric Ong (o.g.) and Fumihiro Fujiwara (x2) got the goals. An astonishing victory, I was filled with delight and knew it would affect Warriors' mentality on the final day. One game to go, we were a point off of them.
On the final day, we played Tampines Rovers at home while Warriors took a difficult trip to Geylang International. We started horrifically as we were two goals down at the interval, as were leaders Warriors which made it all the more frustrating. Tremendously, we managed to haul it back to 2–2 within twelve minutes of the restart. At this point, we were winning the title on goal difference! However, three minutes after levelling we conceded a cheap goal to make it 2–3. Back at square one. We kept fighting and had numerous chances but couldn't find a way through, Tampines got another goal late on to secure the win. Warriors lost 2–1 in the end but they won the title after we bottled it. Severely dejecting, we should've won the trophy!
Results:
League Overview:
The Amazing Yet Pointless Win Over Warriors:
What Next?
After the rollercoaster ride of the final day, I decided to resign as Albirex Niigata (S) boss. It wasn't a knee-jerk decision, I had been thinking about leaving at the end of my current contract for a few months despite the board wanting me to stay. I wanted to end with the title but it wasn't to be. I loved my tenure as Albirex Niigata (S) manager, we won the league once (should've been twice!
In September 2017, we did start our coaching course aiming for our National A Licence. My initial plans for leaving Albirex Niigata (S) was to stay in Singapore, but to manage Warriors. Their manager's contract was ending soon, and he was favourite for many other jobs; including mine. However, shortly after I left Warriors offered their boss a new contract so that was a no go. The job search will begin imminently!
Resignation and New Contract Attempts:
Coaching Course:
So, we are not longer manager of Albirex Niigata (S)! I'm on the look out for a new job as we speak, no leagues will be added or removed so the new job will be in Asia (except Australia) somewhere. Excited to see where I end up. As always, thank you for taking the time out to read my ramblings.
Cheers,
R96Skinner.
Career so far:
2016–2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) | (Singapore/1) | Trophies: 3 / Awards: n/a / Promotions: n/a / Relegations: n/a.
Trophies won:
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) S. League.
2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
#358995 FMREGEN: FULL CIRCLE
r96
#358965 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Yellow/Red circle indicates my current job.
Orange/Green circle indicates my past jobs.
July to August 2017:
After Singaporean FA Cup disappointment, we had to forget about it and focus on the upcoming Singaporean League Cup and the returning S. League. Let's see how Albirex Niigata (S) got on between July and August 2017.
On 7 July, we faced our rivals Warriors away. A first half goal from Frenchman Jonathan Béhé (who I absolutely hate facing, he's a class striker) condemned us to defeat in our last league match before the League Cup began. In between, we won a friendly over Indonesian club PS Batam. Ahead of the League Cup, we were drawn into Group A along with DPMM, Warriors and Home United. A tough group. We began our campaign with a dominant display in Brunei against DPMM, winning 2–4. We played Warriors on Matchday 2 and won again as we beat Béhé's side 3–1 at home. We finished the group with a 2–0 win versus Home United as we sealed progression to the semi-finals and won Group A with a 100% record.
Just like in 2016, when we won the competition, we were drawn with the Group B winners. That team was Tampines Rovers, we would host them. Goals from Susumu Kawashima and Takaaki Tomiyama sent us through to the 2017 final, which was the club's third League Cup final in a row and, of course, my second LC final in a row. Hougang United vs. Warriors was the other semi-final, Warriors won it 1–3. That set up a final at Jalan Besar Stadium between us and Warriors, our league challengers. The final was a tense and tight affair, with both sides playing well and deserving to score goals but it remained goalless until the 76th minute when, the hero of my tenure so far, Kawashima popped up and scored a goal that turned out to be the winner. Love that guy, a real class act.
So, Albirex Niigata (S) are 2017 Singaporean League Cup winners! Second year running I have won the competition, an achievement I'm very pleased about. The third trophy of our career to date, to go with 2016's League Cup and S. League. Great stuff! We had a celebratory friendly a week later as we played another Indonesian club, PSIB, and won 0–3. Two league fixtures were to come, versus Tampines Rovers and DPMM. We drew 1–1 with Tampines, a pretty poor performance but we salvaged a tie. Against managerless DPMM (Steve Kean left) we were stunned as despite being 1–2 up on 74 minutes we threw it away in the final fifteen as we conceded three times to lose 4–2. Atrocious display.
Results:
League Cup champions, again!
After 17 fixtures, we sit three points behind leaders Warriors. Our league form has been bumpy, despite good League Cup form. Seven fixtures are left, all big games but the penultimate fixture at home to Warriors looks crucial. However, for it to be we must improve our form. As for the competitions overview (see below), there's the league table which also shows our League Cup high and our Singaporean FA Cup low.
Competitions Overview:
Tactics and Statistics:
On a final note, we have completed our latest coaching course so have therefore gained our National B Licence. Progress! I will, hopefully, be starting the next one soon.
The next update will be at the end of the league season, in seven matches time. Can we claw back and win our second consecutive title with Albirex Niigata (S)? Let's hope so. Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
R96Skinner.
Career so far:
2016– | Albirex Niigata (S) | (Singapore/1) | Trophies: 3 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0.
Trophies won:
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) S. League.
2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
#358940 Gibraltar - A Country On The Rise
r96
#358934 Gibraltar - A Country On The Rise
r96
#358931 -
r96
#358882 Building a Nation: Northern Ireland
r96
#358880 Gibraltar - A Country On The Rise
r96
#358830 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Yellow/Red circle indicates my current job.
Orange/Green circle indicates my past jobs.
At The Midway Point:
After a fairly good opening to the season with Albirex Niigata (S), we made our way into the midway point of the season as the big games kept coming and the Singaporean FA Cup, the only cup that we have yet to win with the club, quarter-final double-header was coming.
A draw against Tampines Rovers started April off, Takaya Hattori put us ahead before Jordan Webb got the visitors level. Both teams had a man sent off. Next came a convincing 1–4 away victory against Balestier Khalsa, Tomiyama being the main man in that one. A friendly double versus Frenz United came next and we won both, 1–6 and 1–2 respectively. S. League action returned with a 1–1 tie versus Garena Young Lions, new signing Travis Fujii looked to have won it for us but Young Lions found a leveller in injury time. A trip to Geylang International was up next and we came home with all three points after goals from Fumihiro Fujiwara, Shinnosuke Matsubara and Susumu Kawashima gave us a 0–3 victory.
Next came two big matches against top end sides, Home United and Hougang United. On 29 April we managed to beat Home Utd 3–1 at home, a rather good three points against a team I don't enjoy facing. Hougang Utd came to town next and we absolutely walloped them, the standout side at the time, 6–0! We were four ahead at the break after a scintillating first half, two goals in the second half followed as we secured a memorable result against the side who the media were gushing over pre-match. Probably the best performance of my tenure so far.
Then came a pretty unnecessary two-month summer break, we filled the time with seven friendly matches which included a tour to Malaysia and Southeast Asia (well, to Singapore actually, does that count as a proper tour?). We scored 29 goals and won all seven fixtures. After so long off, we returned to competitive football with a crunch double-header with DPMM in the Singaporean FA Cup quarter-finals. We played the first leg on 27 June in Brunei and got torn apart against the home side and lost 3–0, it could've been a lot worse in truth. This got me very demotivated for the second leg, I wasn't expecting a miracle but did hold slight encouragement from the huge win over Hougang Utd in May.
We entered leg two very attacking and chased DPMM straight away, we took the lead through that man Kawashima on 18 minutes; a good start. We then received a penalty on 42 minutes, but Kawashima bottled it and missed a huge opportunity to put pressure on DPMM before the break. We began the second half slow and DPMM made us pay by scoring their fourth goal of the tie and pretty much ending the contest. We did actually score two in quick succession on 50 and 51 minutes but, despite going all out attack (including going 1-2-1-3-3 for the final 30 minutes), we hardly had any highlights (same for DPMM, on extended highlights). These things happen though, no Singaporean FA Cup for us this season.
All Results:
What A Win! vs. Hougang United:
League Overview:
An amazing month of league form, as you can see above we sit top of the table with ten games to go and are two points clear of Warriors. Really happy with that, but it's a big shame we fell out of the Singaporean FA Cup at the first hurdle as I really wanted to win that trophy. Disappointed for sure, especially given how poor DPMM have been in the league.
The squad overview can be seen below, pretty much the same performances as before however Hattori and Matsubara have really performed of late. Tactics (see below also) are still generally the same, with differences in a few games (e.g. vs. DPMM).
Squad Statistics:
Tactics:
In other news, Wataru Satô has finally left to club to join Kedah and youngster Yoshio Morioka has departed on loan to Sfida Hadano. We've also started our second coaching course as we hope to gain our National B Licence.
Updated Transfers:
Coaching Course 2:
Coming up: The final 10 S. League matches! The League Cup starts! My Albirex Niigata (S) contract is due to end! Next update will be in September 2017.
Thanks for reading, much appreciated. Hope you all have a nice day.
Cheers,
R96Skinner.
Career so far:
2016– | Albirex Niigata (S) | (Singapore/1) | Trophies: 2 / Awards: 0 / Promotions: 0 / Relegations: 0.
Trophies won:
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) League Cup.
2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) -- (Singapore) S. League.
#358823 Mark Tonge: Metropolitan Man.
r96
#358822 Gibraltar - A Country On The Rise
r96
#358821 FMREGEN: FULL CIRCLE
r96
#358677 [FM17] Journeyman's Journey I
r96
Thank you! As do I.