SBR - Comments

That is unlucky.Its a shame heidenheim were unstoppable as this is no shame whatsoever in your record.

Yeah it was a good first season and to finish around the same area will be another successful season.One of my main problems is the board are now expecting that sort of position so I will have my work cut out for me.The more I look at the regens I got the more I am starting to think it was a decent youth intake.Mutombo still stands out for me both in attributes and coach reports.





Not a good couple of months for us.Way too many draws and certainly not enough wins.Started off at home to nantes and it was the same old story where we couldn't keep hold of a lead.Both the lorient and Marseille games were poor and basically the same.We got battered and couldn't create a thing.The next 4 games I am reasonably happy with.We didn't win any and barring the nancy Lorraine and Montpellier games I wasn't expecting anything.Another great home draw against PSG and saint etienne are looking pretty stong this year.After all these matches though it was 8 games without a win and morale wasn't great at all.Luckily for us troyes aren't the stongest and we managed to muster up 3 points in a close game.



I am unsure what to make of all these draws.They are costing us a bit but we do seem hard to beat.13th at this stage is very good but we do need to turn a couple of the draws into wins otherwise we could find ourselves closer to the relegation zone or worse.



Disaster.This came 10 minutes into the lorient game and I do think this contributed to our lack of goals these last few weeks.Gullaume currently has 5 goals in 6 games and has been our stand out player.Hopefully we will have him in our team in our next league game.

2nd to last game of this update and this was massive.Not only did it get us to the 4th round (The minimum the board wanted in the coupe de la ligue) but also gave us our first win in over 2 months.Morale went up a bit before the troyes game and had we lost here I think the troyes result would of been different.



Managed to get myself a new contract.The board are still very pleased with me but I think that is in no small part to last season and me not spending any money but for signing fees of staff and contract renewals.

It was a decent youth intake ill admit but I think I was hoping for too much too soon.Only Louis mutombo really stood out to me.With the challenge being what it is im going to need a couple more players coming through capable of challenging for a 1st team place asap.Besides I think the potential stars is relevant against players I already have as opposed to league standard.Hopefully I am wrong.





Just the one extra player out to update on.Ludovic baal while being versatile and a decent player had a poor first game and after having a poor season last wasn't wanted.I have Yanis si mohammed coming through and a Madagascar international I am not going to try to write as back up so I put baal up for sale for 1.7m.When I got the 1.4 offer I decided to accept.



Got a few more backroom staff in this summer.While all being pretty good at their jobs the main reason I got the majority in was to improve my scouting knowledge which is now up to a very decent 38%.All scouts are out scouting regions around the world so that will also surely increase the knowledge too.



A very tough opening month saw me lose at Monaco in a match which could of been much worse but for rudy riou performing heroics.Lyon look a very different team to that of last season.They smashed me 4-1 and deserved more but again riou was in good form despite the 4 goals.The nice win was much needed and despite them having a lot more shots and the lions share os possession they couldn't convert any of their chances and we did to secure the 2-0 win.A very lucky win against our rivals lille followed.For the 4th game running we were dominated but come out with a good 2-1 win.Reims away finished the month off and a very credible draw for us.We went behind but managed to get the equaliser despite being the 2nd best team again.Baptiste guillaume is in good form whereas our defence have been poor so hopefully our 2 senior cbs can pick it up a bit as we only really have gbamin and mutombo who are capable of playing there otherwise.



A very poor start to the season was rescued and after 3 games unbeaten we are in a decent position going into the international break.As I said before if our defence can find some form we could be going much better but an injury to either kantari or landre could be terrible for us.

After a very good first season which included a semi final appearance in the coupe de la ligue and a very decent 12th place finish I am optimistic my squad is stong enough to stay in ligue 1 but I am not expecting another 12th place finish.That was above my expectations but the board want mid table so I will need at least 15th I think to stay in the job.





Getting a new licence in the coming months.Surely this will help in the task of improving players at the club at least a little.



Great news with the junior coaching budget getting increased.I cant seem to ask for the youth recruitment to be improved for some reason but I have asked the board if I can change the philosophy and see if there is somewhere there I can ask for it to get improved.



Very happy with how pre season went.Decided to start with a tour of Ireland where we won all our games before 3 trips to Italy to face milan,fiorentina and roma.These were primarily set up just for the money but we did good with a win against milan and close defeats in the other games.Decided to end pre season with home games against nearby teams to get morale as high as possible for the start of the season which opens with 4 tricky games.



The day before the ligue 1 season starts and bad news with Pablo Chavarria getting an injury.



None of the outgoing players were either in my team or not good enough.Adamo coulibaly had a poor season with 2 goals in 17 league games so I will only have 2 main strikers with baptise guillaume having a good season last as my main striker and Julien leghait as the backup striker.I do have others who can play there if needed.

A slightly more improved last couple of months.Still lost more than I would of wanted and a few of them didn't seem like the right result but hopefully I can cut these runs out next season.



Very happy with the 12th place finish.Was hoping for around 15th so anything higher was a bonus.My challenge next season will be pretty much the same aswell as blooding in 1 or 2 of the regens from the annual youth intake.



Just managed to get myself a new affiliation.I could of gone with an Italian or Spanish team but I already have coaches of those nationalities so didn't think it would help as much if I chose them.

A very decent month mate.Can see it being a good title race.Hopefully you can stay on top.

Yeah I always knew a bad run was going to happen sooner or later.Outside the starting xi the squad is very weak so it will be a struggle for a few years.Thats why I wanted set the first few seasons target as just survival.





















3 wins from 9 isn't all that bad really but all 4 defeats were terrible in different ways.Morale isn't all that great so hopefully we can pick it up a bit and not lose so many.



Still not doing too badly in the league.If we could out those bad runs we seem to be having every now and then then we could be a few places higher.11 points off the relegation zone and I think we are safe already now.I just don't see bastia picking up another 11 points and certainly not us to lose all our matches.



First match of the year and a great win even if it was against lower league opposition.



Not too happy with this but I did rest a few players so its most probably my own fault.At least we can have more of a rest as my squad isn't in superb condition fitness wise.



Not the best of performances but a wins a win and were through to the semis.



Wasn't aiming for a trophy this season but still gutted about this.They dominated the match and deserved the win but I hate losing on penalties.



Decided to sell a couple of players not performing.Needed free up the funds for renewing contracts anyway.



Asked for funds to get my next licence and they accepted.Quicker I get all of them the better.



Biggest date in my calendar.The new recruits look ok but not great.One in particular looks very decent and one I have high hopes for.



Louis mutombo.The best youth candidate by a distance.Probably going be getting a chance in the 1st team fairly soon.

Good start to the season mate.Like the others have said that's a ridiculous group.Good luck mate.

I think they are both long term challenges but I have never been one to move around so I doubt id ever try a challenge like you,dan and shedender.Unlucky against kaizer chiefs.It looked a close game and any team could of probably won it.

Cheers lads.Yeah I just wanted a new challenge I have never had before.Basically if you know the right players to buy and where to play them it only really takes a few seasons to turn them into title challengers but with this challenge I have to rely on the blind luck of the annual youth intake and the only way to influence that is improving facilities,affiliated clubs and backroom staff.





Just wanted to upload my latest injury.I have actually only had 3 so far and 1 was my best player Pablo Chavarria out for the rest of the year.This guy is my 2nd best player and in one of my weakest positions so while I have done ok with injuries in terms of numbers the ones I have had have crucified me.This one is from mid November so I wont be having him available until next year too.



This match was a frustrating one to watch.They may of had more shots but we had by far the most big chances and theyre equalising highlight alone had 4 shots in it.Very bitter about this match.



After the rennes match I was fearing the worst going into this match but a point is a great outcome.Leading at half time I will admit I was hoping to cling onto the win but pastore broke our hearts with a stunning finish.



This was soul destroying.We never got going and they fully deserved this 4-0 win.Some terrible defending helped them on their way and we got everything we deserved.



Another defeat this time to Monaco.Again we didn't get going and didn't deserve anything but a defeat.Cypriens late goal was amazing with a 35 yard volley but that was the one thing that was good in this match.



Going into this one I thought this was the match we could turn our bad fortune around and when we went ahead I thought we was on our way but true to our form right now they ended up winning with a late late winner too.With metz and evian being cut adrift a bit from the rest of the league this was a very bad result.



Finally a win.Evian are the only club in worse form than us so this was a perfect game for us.It was scrappy and we won with a penalty but this was needed.



After a poor couple of months we have slid down to 12th.Still 11points above the drop zone but that's down to other teams playing poorly too.If we finish anywhere above 15th I will be happy but we really need to buck our ideas up and fast otherwise we could still be fighting relegation.




In between the metz and evian games we had a trip to tours in the coupe de la ligue and we were very lucky to get through on penalties.We really should be beating these but had to rely on penalties to get through.



Despite our recent poor form we have a very good chance to get through to the semi final.The draw couldn't of gone better and maybe just maybe we might find ourselves in a cup final.

good draw for the europa for you.was always going be too tough in that group.good to see you doing well in the eredivisie.

great work mate.kudos to you guys who try and commit to these challenges.just never got the patience myself.

Cheers lads.I have never done this sort of challenge before and to be honest I did get the inspiration from somewhere else.Not francks exact story but I do remember seeing that which sort of made me go with lens so thanks franck for that.Hopefully you wont see this as a copycat thing.





A hard fought game against our local rivals.After going 2 up early on I did think we were going to win it but they pegged it back to 2-2 before half time to share the spoils.I would of took a point before kick off so I am still fairly happy with the 1 point.



I was hoping for a point in this one too but nantes are a decent team and bossed this match from start to finish.



Back to winning ways after 2 without a win.Not the best of wins and we could/should of scored more but for hitting the woodwork a few times and some great saves from the goalkeeper.The longer it went on at 1-0 the more I thought they were going to snatch an equaliser but we got the 3 points.



Another good point away to reims.They were ahead for a long time in this match and I did think we were going to lose but guillaume got the goal to give us a point.Probably undeserved but im not complaining.



I knew Marseille were going to be tough but im not happy with this one.We were clinging on for so long and when they went down to 10 I went slightly more attacking and ended up conceding.I don't know why but whenever I have played against 10 men I have stuggled more than against 11.



After the disappointment of the Marseille game I was a bit nervous about this one but we smashed them.I looked at theyre squad and they are ravaged by injuries so I think that played a key part.Great to get these 3 points.



Still going very strong in the league but we have been lucky with having no injuries but one which I will show you later in the post.Im not looking up the table but seeing howmany points clear of the drop zone we are.The first few seasons are all about survival and seeing if we can blood in any youngsters and staying in the top tier will help financially as I don't really want to sell too many and have to rely too much on youth early on.



Easy game for us in the coupe de la ligue.Was able to give a couple of debuts and rest a few of the big boys.



Here is the injury I mentioned before.Probably my best player in terms of attributes and I doubt he will play again this year.I don't have the best strength in depth so I can only hope to get him back on the pitch asap.



The board offered me a 1 year extension.I did try to push it to 2 but they were only interested in 1.



Not the biggest team in the world but an affiliation that improves my scouting network slightly.

Weird all that in Italy.Good luck in Germany.Im sure you will be ticking competitions off soon enough.

All the best in spain mate.

Good start to your career mate.Be interesting to see who you get in that cl playoff match when you go through to the next round.

Great career so far Jamie.Getting out of jupiler league is always a tough challenge.2nd season couldn't of gone much better.Securing cl football is a fantastic achievement though as you said you couldn't of got a much worse draw.3rd place and dropping down to the Europa is no shame in that group.Hopefully you can secure cl again this season.

Well done on a great career.You and dan have done great and a lot of commitment have gone into both careers.I for one couldn't do it and I doubt most could to be honest.Congratulations on your latest title.

Looks like I have missed a lot since I last posted.Congratulations on your career so far mate.Done brilliantly to complete so many countries.Never seen a game get so far.Good luck at ascoli.

Hi all.After having great success with previous careers mainly due to signing the right (and sometimes the same) players I have decided to give my returning career more of a difficult challenge.Just as the description states I will not be buying or loaning anyone and will be 100% dependant on my youth system.And my chosen team are RC Lens.



RC lens have a good history or developing youth players and do already have great facilities.In recent years Raphael varane and Geoffrey kondogbia have both gone through the RC lens youth system and are now at 2 of the biggest clubs in Europe.Admittedly I have started with the team best equipped in the French league for this challenge though its still a pretty decent challenge.



I started my manager as sunday league experience with no badges and I am now on a course for my first badge.



As you can see the training and youth facilities are both fantastic already.I have already improved the youth recruitment and junior coaching as I fraps wasn't working so I am a couple of months into the game already.As you can see we are due to move back into our own stadium at the start of 2016.







These 3 are probably my best youngsters at the club at the moment.Gbamin and guillaume in particular have already started the season pretty well.All 3 are starters and hopefully will only get better.




The squad on a whole isn't great.Jerome le moigne, Pierrich Valdivia and Pablo Chavarria are probably my best players.



With this being a youth challenge so much would be dependant on the staff.I decided to upgrade my head of youth development
while broadening my scouting knowledge.I have asked for more scouths,coaches and physios and all 3 were accepted.I am currently working on bringing in brian laudrup as well.He should be here in the next couple of days.



This screen will count for a lot in this game.I think the scouting knowledge was around 14% when I started so I am very happy it is now on 29%.As you all know the bigger the world knowledge the more and further away from france players will join my youth team.



After a decent pre season which included a tough game in rome I was fairly confident going into the season.Started with a tricky game at saint-ettiene where we were narrowly defeated and since then we have been very solid with 4 clean sheets in 5 games.Very good 2-0 wins over Montpellier and away at evian before a home draw to lorient.Got back to winning ways at guigamp before thumping an injury hit Toulouse 4-0.



A very good start for a team predicted to finish 17th.I seriously doubt we will keep it up but the first few seasons are all about securing our status as a ligue 1 club so as long as we do that I will be very happy.We do have some tough games coming up so hopefully we can secure a few points and keep morale high without picking up injuries and/or suspensions.

Apologies for the late post with it being mid September.Updates from now on will be every 2 months with the next one coming at the start of November.

That Bayern defeat was a killer and shows us how far we still have to go before thinking of the league title.The champions league wasn't expected for another couple of seasons but I am happy to of qualified for next season.





Not the best ending to the season but we didn't do that badly really.They did dominate at times but when we equalized just before half time I thought we might of claimed a point but it wasn't to be.



A quality season but for all the goals we scored we did concede way too much.It is something I will have to address in the summer.Bayern ran away with it in the end.Freiburg also got relegated but I took the screenshot before that happened.My aim for next season is qualification for the cl again.



Chuffed to bits for klostermann getting this award.He isn't the best rb in the league but the lad has a lot of potential to maybe be the national teams rb.He is already our starting rb.





A couple of awards for Martinez but that wasn't much of a surprise when you see this...



Easily the best player in the league last season.





A couple of awards for me too.



No real surprise there.Martinez has been my best signing on this game and dominates the fans poll.



Good that the facilities are again getting better.



A new licence will be coming my way soon too.

There will be big changes again to the playing squad.Players who didn't perform are either on their way to being sold or have already agreed a move and there is a fair few amount of players already on their way in.

Next update - pre season games and transfers

Hit and miss tour of Belgium but very good after that.Made some great signings too.Affelay will be a good signing if you can keep him fit.Rulli and Hernandez will be very good signings I am sure.Looking forward to seeing how you do this season.Some very decent looking regens too.

Going strong mate.Those 2 either side of Christmas must of been fun to watch for the neutrals.Good luck for rest of the season.

3 points gained on the leaders in that month.Very solid even with that draw.Keep it up mate.

Yeah we have had a very good season johno.cl is a real possibility.I like setting up the commercial links asap so as to bring more money in quicker.Already got Japanese and Chinese links but its a shame new York red bulls are the senior affiliate as that means we don't get much money from that deal.





A very good month started off with a stunning 4-0 victory over dusseldorf.valdez Chamorro and Martinez got a goal apiece before schrijvers got a double in a great 1st half performance.We did slacken off a bit in the 2nd half but the damage was done and we got the 3 points.

A horrible game for us at the Allianz arena.I never expected to get much out of the game but I didn't expect a 5-0 defeat.The least said about this one the better.

A very good recovery from the Bayern massacre with a good 3-0 win over borrusia Monchengladbach.Schrijvers,valdez Chamorro and klostermann with out goals.

Another decent win to round off the month away to Augsburg.We went ahead early on through Michael keane but they turned the match around and found themselves 2-1 up by half time.After the hairdryer treatment my boys came out and got an equalizer pretty quickly though an own goal by they're gk before schrijvers won it for us not long after.A massive 3 points for us.



On that final match day of the month we won and both schalke and koln lost which means we got 4th place at least and will be playing cl football next season.I thought at the beginning euopean football was a possibility at best but to finish 4th at worst is fantastic.I doubt it will be higher as our 1 remaining game is a trip to Dortmund.



We are also through to the clubs 1st ever final in the german cup.Diame got sent off but they still managed to go in front.Harsh words were said at half time and our boys turned it around and we got the win through a zakaria bakkali goal and a tomas Martinez double.



And I am pretty confidant we can get the clubs 1st major trophy.Werder Bremen beat schalke to reach the final but they are a team who aren't anywhere near the top of the league.It also might help a bit that we haven't lost against them though that doesn't count for very much.

Next update - May and the season rounup

Not doing too badly.That fs stars defeat must of been hard to take and I hope you get top spot this year.The playoffs haven't been good for you so far.Of course it could be different this year though.Good luck mate.

March started off with a good win against hoffenheim.Tomas necid scored a header on the stroke of half time to ensure we went into the 2nd half in front.Luke shaw scored a nice finish to make it 2-0 and that's how it finished.Given our main problem lies in the defence I may take a look at hoffenheims niklas sule or eder alvarez balanta.Both or either would be massive signings for us.

A decent look point at mainz came next thanks to 2 siebe schrijvers goals.It should of been a win but they equalized with a dodgy penalty late on but I am happy with the point.

A very good win against hamburg wrapped up an unbeaten march with a free kick from Dominik Kaiser and a siebe schrijvers goal shortly after.They pulled one back straight from kick off but there was only going to be one winner and we were unlucky not to add to the goals in the 2nd half.



The league is looking very promising for us now but we certainly have the hardest running of anyone in the top 6 and I think theabove 3 will pull further ahead in the final 6 games.Its just a matter of trying to keep koln and schalke at bay to secure cl football next season.I think a European spot is pretty much secured so we have had a great season.Tomas Martinez is joint top of the scoring charts with Robert lewandowski and tops the assist charts by 5.He has been incredible for us.



Another very good link set up this time with chinas Shandong.Can only be a good thing for the finances.

Next update - April

Cheers johno.Yeah I have had gil romero with both burnley and spartak.It might seem boring going after the same players but I know the players well and how to get good performances out of them so its a case of stick to what you know does well and its always gone well for me so why change it?Admittedly both fellaini and shaw have been poor for us and neither of them are starters.After a few games I now rotate them with the other lads.The other signings have performed pretty well but if I could terminate the man utd lads loans I would.






6 minutes in and a man down thanks to a stupid challenge from fellaini which highlights what I just mentioned.3 minutes later and they went ahead and I thought we were going to be on the end of a drubbing.They were all over us like a tramp on chips and we were surviving.Just after half time denis thomalia got an equalizer and it was game on but they continued to dominate.Anton putilo then put us ahead completely against the run of play and we were on cloud 9.Our defence and gk were holding firm and I went to counter.It backfired and they got an equalizer.They continued to batter us but a sending off of their own changed the game and after that it was more equal with chances for both teams.It went to the dreaded penalties though and after 9 penalties scored they missed and we were in the semi final of the german cup.



A very good draw for us against an underperforming stutgaart coming up.At home too.



Not sure if I am too happy with the draw against schalke.We raced to a 2 goal early lead with strikes from putilo and Martinez but they scored 2 2nd half goals to draw the game.Games against the teams around us are important and it is very very tight around us in the league.

Fantastic win in berlin next.Everything we tried seemed to come off and we took most of our chances.Martinez again impressed with 2 goals and an assist.Rebic and schrijvers with the other goals.

Another fine game this time against Freiburg.Braces from both schrijvers and albin with goals also coming from putio and madlung.Hard to believe a 7 goal match was goalless at half time.

A terrible way to end the month.It was a good month and I was very confidant going into the game against the 2nd bottom of the table who had scored only
18 goals in 24 games but they managed to score 5 against us.This match highlights our biggest problem as our attack is great and up there with some of the best in the league but our defence has been poor.Schrijvers scored 2 early on and Martinez also got another goal.



That one defeat sees us slide down to 6th.Still in a good spot which would see us qualify for Europe.3 points is the difference between us and 2nd place dortmind who I travel to on the final day of the season.

Next update - March

Unlucky again mate.I was thinking you would of got promoted in top spot to be honest but that's another gutting playoffs for you.Are you going to have a 3rd crack of it or move on?I hope you stay and do it next time.3rd time lucky mate.

As ice man said it has been a great season for you.Not every season you see a gk shirt selling so well.