Jon Harrod - Comments

The situation at takeover

LA Galaxy - I've started the game on 1st July, so the MLS is mid-season. Galaxy are currently 4th in Western Conference (9th Supporters Shield). Also, upon taking over, the Galaxy board opted to give Bruce Arena the DoF role rather than sacking him.
Transfer Budget: £22.5m
Wage Budget: £400k
Expectations: Reach Conference Final (Top half Supporters Shield)
Best Players: dos Santos, Keane, Gerrard (All designated players)
Youth Prospects: Rimando (DC), Jamieson (AMR)

Argentinos
Transfer Budget: £1.5m
Wage Budget: £65k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 1st)
Best Players: Rolon, Romero, Machin
Youth Prospects: Batallini (MR), Colman (AMC), Gonzalez (AMR)
There are also many decent looking youth prospects in the U20s.

Oldham
Transfer Budget: £3.2m
Wage Budget: £55k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 17th)
Best Players: Dummigan, Green, Clarke
Youth Prospects: McLaughlin (DR), Brown (AML), Hamer (DR)

Monster SG
Transfer Budget: £3.2m
Wage Budget: £148k (Only spending £20k currently)
Expectations: Top half finish, 7th round of cup
Best Players: Faure, Massengo, Rajsel
Youth Prospects: Nothing to speak of

Busan - Also mid-season here. Currently 4th (final play-off spot)
Transfer Budget: £1.1m
Wage Budget: £80k
Expectations: Reach Play-Off Final
Best Players: Popp, Nilson, Im Sang-Hyub
Youth Prospects: Kim Jin-Gyu

Tasman
Transfer Budget: £1.4m
Wage Budget £17k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 8th)
Best Players: Ifill, Smith, Abot
Youth Prospects: Burns (MC), Maisey (MC)

Sfax
Transfer Budget: £1.4m
Wage Budget: £11k
Expectations: tbc (Media Prediction 14th)
Best Players: I didn't take the option to add players to playable teams, so currently just 1 player here, Lachkham, a 30 yr old winger

I will start the game with the leagues for all our clubs running, plus the following additional leagues.
Australia, China, Japan, South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia

Meet the Mangers
I've decided to manage of the clubs as a normal manager. This will be Oldham as I feel much more comfortable in England. For the other 6 clubs, I will add a manager for them but I will only look after transfers/contracts/staff and leave all team duties to the assistant manager. I've just used a random name generator for the teams other than Oldham, and a random number generator for their age. All managers will take the nationality of the club and will have badges/experience based on league.
LA Galaxy - Keiran Snider (USA), aged 32
Argentinos - Abel Ubina (Argentina), aged 50
Oldham - Jon Harrod (England), aged 34
Monster SG - Mathias Sartre (Belgium), aged 44
Busan - Sung-Jin Mun (South Korea), aged 50
Tasman - Clayton Truman (New Zealand), aged 46
Sfax - Riaz Bellerose (Tunisia), aged 58

Cheers.
I've run a few seasons this morning without any real issues. Galaxy and Oldham are under performing, but I'm hopeful I can correct that by being in charge.
The thing I hadn't realised, is that Algeria do not allow foreign players in their leagues. So I am going to revise my choice of African club.
As I want to get playing this save soon, I've gone with the only other country I have available (barring S. Africa) which is Tunisia.
The only former champions in Ligue 2, is Sfax Railways Sports, so this is my choice. And they have been edited as follows:
Sfax Monster Sports
Current Rep - 2100. 10% Boost = 2310
Starting Balance - Currently £1. The biggest in the league is only £280k. Ligue 1 teams vary up to £1.7m. So I've gone with £1m which is level with mid-table teams
Facilities - Everything here is quite low, so I've gone 10s for everything.
Debts - None
Sponsorship - None currently. So a basic £100k each for kit and stadium should suffice.

This now becomes our lowest rep club, so affiliations have been adjusted accordingly.

Time to get playing!

Now that everything is set up, I'm going to run a test save for a few seasons to make sure nothing strange happens, and then I will begin playing.

When I begin playing this save, I will take control of all 7 clubs. However, the aim is that I will occupy more of a director of football role. I will do this by hiring good assistant managers and then holidaying match days. I may step in and take control of matches if it starts to look like I might get sacked! Having control of all clubs will ensure that full use is made of the affiliations, with players being developed worldwide, enabling all teams to develop.
The ultimate aim is for the World Club Cup to be run with only Monster clubs taking part, meaning we have conquered all 6 continents and the World!

Affiliations
Any current affiliations (with the exception of B teams and such like) will be removed. Each club will then be Parent club to all the clubs with a lower rep.
The following options will be ticked for all links:
Players go on loan
First option to buy
Play friendlies
Financial help
Permanent deal
Youth players training
Help with facilities
Marketing relations
Scouting knowledge shared
Loan players from sub-team

In addition to this, players may move freely from Tasman to Galaxy, Argentinos and Oldham and from Saoura to Galaxy and Argentinos.
SG and Busan have the same rep, but as Europe is generally rated higher than Asia, SG will be the parent club here

Finances, Reputation and other boosts
Each club in our new alliance will receive a small reputation boost (as you would expect when being taken over by a multinational company). I have chosen 10% as an acceptable increase. Monster will also increase the starting bank balance of each club as well as funding some facility improvements and arranging a sponsorship deal. Each of our clubs will also be given a foreground sugar daddy.

LA Galaxy
Current Rep - 6500, 10% Boosted Rep = 7150
Starting Balance - As Galaxy's balance is already more than double that of any other MLS club, I have not changed this. I have unticked the Transfer and Wage budget boxes so that these will be set in game. I will do this for all our clubs.
Facilities - Training is already at 20 here, but I will give a 1 point boost to each youth category meaning they are now: Youth Coaching - 13, Youth Facilities - 19, Recruitment - 15.
Debts - The club has no current debts.
Sponsorship - Galaxy already have lucrative Stadium and kit sponsorship deals, so I have just made sure that these will be renewed.

Argentinos Monsters
Current Rep - 5400. 10% Boost = 5940
Starting Balance - Currently, the club has a balance of £0. The largest balance in the division is just under £1m. The biggest balance in the top division (Velez) have a balance of £10m. I have given the club a balance of £2m, which should help them get promoted and be competitive in the Primera.
Facilities - Again, I have gone for a 1 point increase across each facility (don't want to be too unrealistic!). Meaning we have the following: Training - 13. Youth Coaching - 14, Youth Facilities - 14, Recruitment - 12
Debts - The club has a half million debt to the state, which Monster have repaid.
Sponsorship - Most of the revenue in Argentina appears to come from TV money. I have added a stadium and general sponsor of £1m each per season, as well as increasing their kit sponsorship deal from £100k to £500k, to put them on par with most Primera clubs.

Oldham Monsters
Current Rep - 4350. 10% Boost = 4785
Starting Balance - Currently, they have £50k. The highest in the league is £3.6m, while a mid-high Championship team has £10m+. I've chosen to give them £9m, and then the sponsorship should make them competitive once promoted.
Facilities - I was considering the usual +1 that we have used before, however, Oldham's youth facilities are really poor and I want to concentrate on youth where possible, so I have made sure everything is at least double figures.They now read as follows: Training - 11, Youth Coaching - 11, Facilities - 11, Recruitment - 12.
Debts - The only debt here is a £5m gift to the chairmen, repayable on departure, so this has been cleared.
Sponsorship - They have a £1m stadium sponsorship, so I have increased this to £1.5m. I have also increased their kit sponsorship from £100k to £500k. This should help with the challenge after promotion.

Monster SG
Current Rep - 4000. 10% Boost = 4400
Starting Balance - Currently £85k. Highest in league is £260k. In the Pro League, balance varies from £275k to £47m! To match them with a decent mid-table team, I have given them £7m starting balance
Facilities - Once again, there are poor youth facilities here (only 1 for recruitment), so I have given them 10 for everything to get them going.
Debts - Almost £5m here, mainly from the chairman and a gift repayable once promoted. All cleared
Sponsorship - Currently, there is no sponsorship here at all. Most top league teams have sponsorship totalling £10m+. So I want to get close to that. I have given them a £2m stadium sponsorship, £2m Kit sponsor, £5m General Sponsor and £500k Back of Shirt. These will all be renewed

Busan Monsters
Current Rep - 4000. 10% Boost = 4400
Starting Balance - Currently £1.5m, while the highest in the division is £4.5m. A mid Classic league side has £7-8m, so I settled on £7.5m.
Facilities - Not bad here, so +1 to everything, except youth coaching that is boosted to 10. Now Training - 11, Facilities - 11, Recruitment - 13.
Debts - No debts here
Sponsorship - Just a small kit sponsorship here, which seems to have expired in 2012. Looking through other Korean clubs, a lot have no sponsorship, while some bigger clubs have kit sponsors of up to £5m. I've gone for a £1m Kit and £1m Stadium deal.

MS Saoura
Current Rep - 3500. 10% Boost = 3850
Starting Balance - Currently £28k. The biggest in the league is only £700k, so I bumped it up to £500k. After all, we still need some challenge.
Facilities - Everything here is quite low, so I've gone 10s for everything.
Debts - None
Sponsorship - None currently, and seemingly none elsewhere in Algeria. So a basic £100k each for kit and stadium should suffice.

Tasman Monsters
Current Rep - 3250. 10% Boost = 3575
Starting Balance - Currently £390k. Only Aukland have more (except for the Phoenix reserves). so I have given them £500k to put them on par.
Facilities - Currently all 11, so a +1 boost to 12 will do.
Debts - None
Sponsorship - As I'm using Claasens update, most New Zealand clubs have the same Sponsorship set up. So I've just given them a small boost of £50k shirt sponsor and £100k stadium

England
For our English club, I would like to choose a former Premier League team currently playing in League 1 or 2. This gives the following options.
Blackpool, Bolton, Bradford, Charlton, Coventry, Oldham, Portsmouth, Sheffield Utd, Swindon and possibly MK Dons (if we class them as the old Wimbledon side)
Bolton and Bradford have recently been taken over, so it's unlikely they would face another takeover so soon. Blackpool, Charlton and Coventry have all been in serious trouble recently related to their ownership and, although the fans would probably approve of a takeover, these clubs would need too much help to turn them around. Portsmouth are owned by the fans, and after previous troubles, it is likely to remain fan owned. As for MK Dons, I personally don't class them as the old Wimbledon side.
We are left with Oldham, Sheffield Utd, Swindon. Swindon are rumoured to be one of the clubs Red Bull are interested in, so lets leave them to it, while Sheffield United are getting heavy investment from Saudi Arabia currently. So it looks like our team will be Oldham Athletic, currently struggling to stay in League One

Our final list of Monster clubs listed by current reputation
LA Galaxy - USA
Argentinos Juniors (Now Argentinos Monsters) - Argentina
Oldham Athletic (Oldham Monsters) - England
Union SG (Monster SG) - Belgium
Busan Ipark (Busan Monsters) - South Korea
JS Saoura (MS Saoura) - Algeria
Tasman United (Tasman Monsters) - New Zealand

UEFA
Our club in continental Europe needs serious consideration, as there are plenty of options. Ideally, we want to be a country that produces a decent amount of good young talent, so we are looking at some of the top ranking nations. We'd also like to use this club to send players needing work permits too (this rules out the dutch Jupiler league as teams can't sign non-EU players). We also want to be able to compete once promoted to the top division.
I would immediately rule out Spain (due to the Barcelona/Real Madrid dominance) and Germany (Bayern/Dortmund) and Netherlands for the reason above. So realistically, we are looking at France, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.
We would probably need to throw in a lot of money to compete with PSG and Monaco. So that probably rules France out. Italian Serie B teams tend to have a higher reputation than we want, as it is better to have a club with lower rep than our English club. So... Portugal or Belgium?
Portugal has a big 3 (Porto, Benfica, Sporting), but a team with a decent bank balance should be able to force their way in. The Portuguese Segunda tho, has 22 teams, which may make getting promotion difficult.
Belgium's 2nd tier, the Proximus league, has only 8 teams, which gives a much better chance at promotion. Finishing near the top of us, gives us a chance to qualify for the Europa league, an opportunity you don't normally get outside of the top division.

Comparing the two, Belgium's offer is more appealing. So now to choose a team...
Half the teams in the division have previously won the Belgian league, but Union Saint-Gilloise have done this 11 times! Thing is, they haven't done this since 1935. Sounds like a challenge. They'll need to be renamed tho, so it's now Monster Saint-Gilloise, or just Monster SG.

Just England to go

CONMEBOL
As with North America, 2 countries dominate here. Argentina and Brazil (Although Colombia are ranked higher than Brazil currently). Last years Libertadores final was betweens teams from Colombia and Ecuador, but generally, teams from Brazil or Argentina win this too. So it looks like we will be looking at a club from one of these two countries. My preference here would be Argentina, as the teams are properly licensed.
Looking at Primera B, one team stands out as a struggling former champion. That club is Argentinos Juniors. They actually won the league as recently as 2010. It looks a good team to resurrect. They even play at the Diego Maradona Stadium.
I'd like to keep the stadium name here, so the club going forward will be known as Argentinos Monster.

Just 2 more clubs to go... Next up, our European team

CONCACAF
North America is dominated by USA and Mexico. Although, Costa Rica are actually ranked above the States at present. The Champions League here has been won by a Mexican club for the last 11 years, and in 8 of those they had the runner up spot too. Last season the final 4 clubs were all Mexican.
So here's a dilemma... It seems that taking on a Mexican club gives us the best chance at doing well in the Champions League, but Monster is an American owned company, and just as Red Bull has Salzburg, Monster would want a home based team (Red Bulls headquarters is in Salzburg).
If we use this logic, we should take the club closest to Monster's headquarters in Corona, California. However, that would be LA Galaxy. I'm unsure as to whether they would be too big for our venture. As Monster are part owned by Coca-Cola, money isn't really an issue. So I'm going to purchase LA from AEG and make them the main parent in our affiliation.
As Galaxy have a rich history, I feel it would be unfair to rename them. However, the StubHub Center will be renamed the Monster Arena.

Next up, South America

AFC
Asia gives us some interesting opportunities. The easy option here would be to take a team from the Australian A League, since they are franchises and there is no relegation. However, I want to explore all options before deciding.
The highest ranked nations in Asia are Iran, Australia and South Korea, But there are also high ranked clubs in China, Saudi Arabia and Japan. This gives us 6 countries to consider. Looking at high ranked nations that have clubs performing well in continental competition, it would appear that our best choice would be a team from South Korea.
There is much difference in reputation between the teams at the lower end of the Classic league and those near the top of the Challenge league. As the Challenge league only features 11 teams, we should have a good chance of promotion early on if we choose a half decent team here.
Looking at teams in this division that used to be much better, Busan IPark stand out. This club was originally owned by Daewoo motors and last won the league back in 1997, they even won the Champions League way back 1986! They have struggled since and were eventually relegated in 2015. Last season they only managed a 5th place finish.They look prime for a takeover.
I'Park are a Korean construction company that currently own the club. So we will be renaming them Busan Monsters. Their stadium holds almost 56,000, which is huge for the division, and was built for the 2002 Asian Games and also used for the World Cup that year.

Next up... North America

CAF
Africa gives us a similar problem to Oceania, in that there aren't enough leagues available as default. As South Africa are currently the 15th best ranked African nation, I don't feel that this is the best place to put our club. But I know there will be more leagues available once Claasen get's to Africa, so let's get the planning done.
The top 3 ranked nations in Africa are Algeria, Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana. While the African continental club competitions are usually dominated by clubs from Egypt, Tunisia and DR Congo. So our club will come from one of these 6 countries. Of our top 3 nations, Algerian clubs perform best in the Champions League. Having produced the runner up in 2015 and the winner in 2014. So I feel this is where our club should be.
A quick look at the database shows that Ligue 2 clubs would have a much lower reputation that we would hope to start with, so we are looking at a mid-low Ligue 1 club. My aim is to pick a team that has never won the league but has a decent size stadium. This appears to give only one option...
JS Saoura
The club was only formed in 2008 and since reaching the top division have finished 9th, 9th, 13th and a very surprising 2nd (Meaning champions league football in our first year).
The club will now be known as Monster Sportive de la Saoura. or just MS Saoura for short.

Next up... Asia

OFC
Since Australia left OFC, New Zealand have dominated both the Nations Cup and Champions League. (Auckland having won the last 6 O-League titles). So it seems that New Zealand is the place to be if I want the club to be a success at a continental level.
Three new clubs have recently been accepted into the New Zealand Premiership (There is no relegation here, similar to Australia/MLS). So I felt that these would be a good option for us. A new club, with a new sponsor. These clubs are Eastern Suburbs (From Auckland), Hamilton Wanderers (Hamilton) and Tasman United (Nelson). As Auckland City are so dominant, I decided against taking on the other Auckland team. So I'm between Hamilton and Tasman as neither of these cities have another team.
I opted to go for Tasman United, mainly due to the fact that they have the larger stadium of the two.
The club will now be know as Tasman Monsters and they will become the only professional team in the league with the exception of Wellington Phoenix reserves.

(Edit)
I should have added that I will be using some additional leagues for this. I have a New Zealand file that I downloaded from the Steam workshop to test with. Hopefully Claasen will have some African leagues ready by the time I start!

Monster Energy have seen what Red Bull have been up to and feel that they could do a better job. Red Bull currently control 4 clubs (NY, Leipzig, Salzburg and Brasil), they were also involved with a failed club in Ghana and are rumoured to be looking at an English club they can add to their portfolio.
Monster have decided to take a controlling stake in one club from each of the 6 FIFA confederation, plus an English club, in order to grow them and eventually conquer the world!

I will edit the database before starting this save to affiliate the 7 clubs together, changing their names and the names of their stadiums to incorporate the brand. I plan to give each club a small reputation boost (as being taken over by a global brand would have some effect), wipe any debts, and give each club a foreground sugar daddy, as Monster want success! Each club will also sign a kit, stadium and general sponsorship deal (figures tbc).

Stay tuned to see which clubs are getting a Monster makeover

I'm aiming on editing the database to encompass a new global brand taking over a group of football clubs in the way that Red Bull have. And I'd be happy to receive any feedback.
Red Bull currently own/control 4 clubs (NY, Leipzig, Salzburg, Brasil), were involved with the failed RB Ghana and are rumored to be interested in adding an English club to their portfolio.
My plan is to form a group of 1 club from each FIFA confederation (hopefully using Claasens update to add more African and Oceanic clubs), plus an additional English club (7 clubs in total). I won't be taking over the biggest clubs and, where the league is playable, will take on a club outside of the countries top division. For England, I will be looking at a club from either League 1 or 2. Where possible, I would like the clubs to be fallen/sleeping giants or clubs that are still young.

The Company
Monster - Red Bulls biggest competitor in the energy drinks market. Already involved in motorsport and action sports, they are now looking to make the jump into football.

Countries and Clubs
FIRST TEST
For my original test, I will use leagues available in the original database, with the addition of New Zealand to give me a team in Oceania
CONCACAF - FC Juarez (Mexican Ascenso). Their logo and kit already have Monsters famous black and green involved and they were only formed in May 2015
COMEBOL - Torque (Uruguayan Segunda). Also a fairly young team having been formed in 2007 and recently promoted from the amatuer leagues.
CAF - Mobombela United (SA NFD). South Africa is my only option here currently. Formed in 2010 and promoted to NFD in 2015
OFC - Southern United (NZ Prem). Slightly older than the other teams here, they were formed in 2004. However, they have never been able to compete with the best teams in New Zealand.
AFC - Central Coast Mariners (A League). I found it difficult to choose an Asian team, but thought Australia would be best as they essentially franchised teams anyway. Although they won the league in 2013, they have since fallen away, finishing bottom last season.
UEFA - Cercle Brugge (Belgian Proximus). Forever in the shadows of city rivals Club Brugge. They already have the green and black and were relegated from the Pro League last season.
England - Coventry City (League 1). Their owners are hated by the fans, so surely this will be an improvement. Relegated from the Premier League in 2001, they have struggled ever since.

I have given each of these clubs a reputation boost of 10%, as I feel this is reasonable when taken over by a global brand. Monster want success, so I have also doubled the starting balance of each team (which doesn't take anyone over £3.5m) and given each club foreground sugar daddy.
I have set the affiliations as follows.
Order by Rep
Coventry
Brugge
Juarez
Central Coast
Mbombela
Torque
Southern.

The higher club is main club in all affiliation, with the following links.
Players go on loan, First option, play friendlies, Permanent deal, Youth player training, Marketing, Shared scouting knowledge, Loan players from sub team.
I have also allowed players to move freely from Southern to Coventry, Brugge and Juarez. From Torque to Coventry and Brugge, and from Mbombela to Coventry.

I will now run a test to see how these teams are effected.

Any feedback, queries, suggestions are welcomed

And so it begins...
I begin my career unemployed and I am offered the chance to start at Stirling Albion in Scottish League 2.
I currently have 2 non-British/Irish players in my squad, including Mazel, probably my best player, so I'll list them and get going.
I have a budget of £20k and spare wages of £800

This works, but isn't compatible with all other leagues. I've noticed that the 2016 dates are greyed out if I select the USA as a playable nation. Maybe some other nations have the same effect.

A busy January, means I've not played much, but just caught up and finished the season. Defeat in the final 2 games thankfully didn't stop us winning the league!


My 34 year old center back wins fans' player of the season.

October Report
We win the league with 2 games to go! But we are disappointing in the cup final, which goes to penalties after a 0-0 draw.Our final pen is saved as we go down 4-3 in the shootout.

Champions League draw is in and I don't get an easy group!

Auckland have won this for the past 5 years...
However, there are 3 groups, with the group winners and the best runner up progressing to the semis.
As this doesn't start until April, I'm hoping I can add a few improvements to my squad before then.

So after a run of 16 games we finally succombe to defeat, thanks to a late, questionable penalty...
However, September wasn't too bad as we've started to get some wins rather than draws, and had a convincing win in the cup quarter final.

We currently sit 7 points clear in the league with 3 games to go, so one more win will seal it.

Cup semi is up next!

I think I'll try and go with a monthly update. So this is my August review (including my 1 match played at the end of July due to mid season break).

As you can see, we remain unbeaten, but I have a problem with draws...
When I arrived, the club had just let their only striker go. One of the joys of being semi-pro and having players on non-contracts. So with the transfer window about to close, I managed to pick someone up. He's not really good enough, but was the only player willing to come and hopefully will get me through to the end of the season.
Unfortunately, he got injured in his 4th match, but had scored 3 goals along the way. So I'm now play an AMC up front as I'm not a fan of strikerless formations.
Anyway...the club is now on a 16 game unbeaten run, so I'm still on course for Champions League qualification!

Thanks for the good luck!
I'm quite new to posting about this, so I'm not sure on the information and pictures people would like to see, but I'll try and mention anything relevant.

As far as season expectations go, I need to win the league and reach the final of the cup

For those that don't know about New Caledonia, it's a French territory (so all players have French as a 2nd nationality).
It's 750 Miles off the east coast of Australia and has a population of around 270,000
If we win the league, we'll qualify for the OFC Champions League group stage

So I didn't want to stay out of work for too long and wanted to start somewhere that at least gave me a chance of qualifying for the OFC Champions League...
Welcome to New Caledonia!
I apply for, and subsequently offered the job at AS Magenta, top of the Division d'Honneur after 10 games. Unbeaten so far this season

Here's hoping we can keep up the good work they've started.

To start with, I'd like to mention that I'm limited in processing power. So to help speed up the game, I will mainly load leagues from the continent that I am using at the time. My aim is to move through them on a reputational basis, so it's first stop Oceania.
I have leagues loaded from American Samoa, The Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands. Tahiti and Vanuatu.
I've started on 1st July 2015. This means some leagues are halfway through and some have yet to start.
And so it begins...

I got mine from fmforumonline. It's an Italian site, but it translates well. It include the Eccellenza too, for anyone that wants it

Scratch that. Realised that alt+F9 is still working!
This is me taking over

Ive not joined in with these challenges before so thought I'd start here.
I've downloaded a Serie D update along with Claassens San Marino league (which is as accurate as it's going to get!)
I like building up clubs using the youth academy, so I'm determined to to just use Italian and San Marinese players... Could be fun!

However, I can't seem to print screen from with FM... Any ideas?
I've tried using the print screen option and saving as a webpage, but it doesn't seem to work. see attached