1. FC Union Berlin - Capital Domination


1. FC Union Berlin
December - 2021

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Fixtures:

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We picked up in December where we left off last month, winning 2-1 away to Hoffenheim in the German Cup, although we had to come back from behind and score an 86th minute winner to do so. A regulation 3-0 away victory at relegation battling Karlsruhe followed before the big Champions League game against Anderlecht. At half time in the Anderlecht game it looked as though we may be heading out as we were getting beat 1-0 and Shakhtar were winning 1-0 at home to Liverpool. Luckily we managed to turn our game around and beat Anderlecht 3-1 courtesy of goals from Muller, Schroder and Yepes. As it happens, Liverpool got a late equalizer against Shakhtar so our result didn't matter as we would have qualified anyway! We then managed to beat Hannover comfortably 4-0 at home, before finishing the month with a 0-0 draw away to Stuttgart, made even more disappointing considering they were sent down to 10 men after 2 minutes!

League Table/Champions League Group:

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Heading into the new year we are 6 points clear of both Bayern and Schalke. We qualify for the next round of the Champions League in 2nd place, meaning we are in for a hard draw in the 1st knockout round.

Player Stats:

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Didn't bother with a player of the month this month as no one player really stood out. Schroder and Muller had pretty solid months though, as did centre back Nils Weber. Both Schroder and Brandt's unhappiness about the squad depth has disappeared, although Brandt is still refusing to sign a new contract as he believes he needs a new challenge as he has already achieved all he can at the club. Anyone know a way around this?

Other News:

1) The Champions League 1st knockout round draw was not very kind on us, drawing us against the team who has knocked us out in 3 of the past 4 seasons, Barcelona. Looks like we may be heading for an early exit from the Champions League again!

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Next update will be a January update. I don't expect to see any transfer movement, but we may loan out 1 or 2 youngsters if the situation arises...​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Janjuar - 2022

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Fixtures:

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The winter break gave us a chance to refresh our batteries and we came back flying after the break. We started off with 2 relatively straight forward home games against Augsburg and FC Koln, both of which we won 3-0 in comfortable fashion. However, it was the third game of the month away to Mainz which provided the excitement. Just 10 minutes into the game we were reduced to 10 men when centre back Nils Weber got his second ever red card for the club. I decided at that point to take both full backs off for centre backs to allow us to go to a 3 at the back and things stayed pretty tight until just before half time when Torsten Schroder gave us the lead with a fine individual goal. Just 6 minutes into the second half and Schroder had himself another 3 goals, with a goal in the 46th minute, the 50th minute and the 51st, highlighting just how happy I am that he is back to being happy at the club and that I managed to extend his contract for a further year. Just 3 minutes later Mainz scored an own goal to extend our lead to 5-0 and then Brandt scored in the 64th minute to unbelievably put our 10 men 6-0 up. They got one back late but we ran out 6-1 winners, an incredible result and one which is making me adapt my current tactic to make a backup 3 at the back tactic.

League Table:

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Bayern are now 9 points behind us but do have a game in hand. We have a tougher schedule ahead in February with away ties against Dortmund and Wolfsburg to contend with, so if we keep our lead at the top or even extend it I'll be very happy.

Player of the Month - Torsten Schroder

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It had to go to Schroder after his 4 goals when we were down to 10 men against Mainz!

Other News:

1) Unfortunately we could not get a 3rd winner of the European Golden Boy in a row and further to that we didn't even have a player in the World Team of the Year or the substitutes!

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2) We never did any real transfer business this month apart from loaning out a couple of youngsters who'll likely never play for the first team. We did however secure quite a few players down to extended contracts such as Fofana, Muller, Weber and Schroder to name a few.

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3) I also want to take the time here to highlight the development of 3 youngsters we signed in the summer. Trajkovic has been first choice in the DM role and has been developing quite well, whilst Mladenovic and Milosevic have both seen plenty of game time despite being backup options on the wing. Milosevic is arguably the better player/prospect but Mladenovic is the more important player for us at the moment as he will likely have to take over as first choice in the summer if Brandt continues to refuse to sign a new deal. What I also like about these two is that they can easily cover the roaming playmaker role in the centre of midfield and Milosevic could even play up front if needed, making them great options to have off the bench!

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Next up will be a February update, with away ties in the league against Dortmund and Wolfsburg as well as the 1st leg of our Champions League tie against Barcelona at home...​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Februar - 2022

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Fixtures:

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A busy month started with our backup team taking on Mainz in the German Cup. We had beaten them 6-1 with 10 men just days before, however this was a much more even contest. Luckily we managed to get an early goal through a Noto penalty and held on for the victory to put us through to the semis. We followed that win with a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Monchengladbach before the two big away games against Dortmund and Wolfsburg. Both games were very competitive and strangely we won both games 4-2! Dortmund twice fought from behind to level the game but a Richard brace in the second half gave us our win. The next game was the first leg of our Champions League 1st knockout round tie against Barcelona. On the whole a 3-3 draw is a disappointing result due to the 3 away goals conceded, but it's even more disappointing considering we battered them and they scored a hatrick with 2 direct free kicks and a penalty from Neymar. On the other hand we did fight back from 3-1 down, but we'll probably have to win at the Nou Camp to go through. We finished the month with another comfortable 3-0 home win in the league, this time against Freiburg.

League Table:

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12 points clear but Bayern do have 2 games in hand, so they could narrow the gap to 6 points if they win them both.

Player of the Month - Lorenzo Bertolani

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The German played a more advanced role than usual this month and rewarded us with a brace against Wolfsburg and the equalizer against Barcelona.

Player Stats:

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Schroder has hit the 20 goal mark this month, whilst Richard, Brandt and Noto are not far behind with 12 each. I'm a little surprised that Fofana has only got 1 goal this season, however it has not affected his overall performance.

Other News:

1) The best news in this update is that I noticed Julian Brandt was no longer unhappy at the club and therefore I managed to extend his contract for a further 4 seasons after this one is completed! A £75,000 a week wage is very decent as well given his talent!

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The next update will be a March update, with the away leg of our Champions League tie against Barcelona, a title clash against Schalke in the league and a first ever Berlin derby at our new stadium...​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Marz - 2022

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Fixtures:

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Just the 4 games this month, and we got off to the perfect start with a heavily rotated team smashing Hoffenheim 8-0 in preparation for the 2nd leg of the Champions League tie against Barcelona. Unfortunately, we couldn't carry on that form into the game as we went down 3-1 in Spain. We had every bit as much of the game as they did, but just like the first leg individual brilliance ruled out for Barca as they have now knocked us out of the competition in 4 of the 5 seasons we have been in it! This was the first time to my memory though that I believe we were definitely the better side over the two legs and deserved to go through. We did bounce back from that disappointment by winning 3-1 away to Schalke and then 3-0 at home in the Berliner Derby. The most impressive fact about the derby was that we didn't allow them to take 1 single shot in the entire game!

League Table:

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The league is all but won with 7 games left for us to play. One more win and Dortmund won't be able to catch us and three wins out of the 7 would mean that Bayern can't catch us, that's assuming that Bayern win all their games, including beating us.

Player of the Month - Miodrag Milosevic

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The 18 year old winger put in two man of the match performances this month and is already rated as a world class player by my staff. His form has convinced me that I would get by selling Marvin Muller in the summer if I got a crazy offer, but I'd rather keep him and use Milosevic as a rotation option and a game changing substitute for the time being.

Other News:

1) I wasn't too keen on the youth intake we received this season to be honest. There is one lad whom my coaches to have leading Bundesliga potential, but he needs a lot of work and tutoring.

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Since it's very likely we are going to win the league comfortably, I'll likely combine the April and May updates for speed and then do a separate update for the cup final if we get there...
​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
April und Mai - 2022

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Fixtures:

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Look at all that green! We needed just the 3 wins to retain our league title and we did just that, dispatching of Leverkusen, Werder Bremen and Hannover 96. In between those games we also beat 2nd tier Kaiserslautern in the German Cup semi final thanks to goals from Noto x2 and Bertolani. We are set to play Dortmund in the final. The final 4 games of the season were pretty meaningless and allowed us the opportunity to rotate the squad and keep players fit for the cup final. I do need to point attention towards the win in Munchen over Bayern where Schroder had us 2-0 up inside 1 and a half minutes. He completed his hatrick just 20 minutes later and added himself a 4th in the 84th minute to give us a 4-1 win.

League Table:

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We not only exceeded our points tally from last year, we also set a new record for the number of points gained in a Bundesliga season and for the number of goals scored in a Bundesliga season. Marvin Muller topped the average ratings, whilst Schroder finished as the league's top goalscorer.

Player Stats:

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Not much unusual to discuss here as it's the usual suspects who did the most of the damage for us. Julian Brandt recovered from a mediocre start of the season to average a goal every other start from left wing, Schroder got 34 goals in 35 starts and Muller made 21 assists and got 7 MOM's in 33 starts. Miodrag Milosevic had an outstanding first season for the club and at just 18 years old, he could be a future club legend in the making.

Other News:

1) Our under 19's won their league yet again this season, highlighting that winning mentality is spreading throughout the club (well at least domestically!).

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Next up will be a German Cup final update against Dortmund, can we win it back after losing out last season or will it be a repeat of the Super Cup final earlier in the season?​
 
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Fantastic year mate! 31 wins from 34 games, outstanding! Good luck in the German Cup!
 
Lippo255 said:
Fantastic year mate! 31 wins from 34 games, outstanding! Good luck in the German Cup!
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Cheers mate, we're pretty dominant now but we still can't seem to trouble the very top teams in European football. It's keeping the save a little more interesting though so I can't complain too much.

I'm thinking of doing a progress so far update and a meet the squad update over this summer, although I may wait a couple of seasons until I've been at the club 10 seasons...
 
Safc-mad-scotty said:
Cheers mate, we're pretty dominant now but we still can't seem to trouble the very top teams in European football. It's keeping the save a little more interesting though so I can't complain too much.

I'm thinking of doing a progress so far update and a meet the squad update over this summer, although I may wait a couple of seasons until I've been at the club 10 seasons...
Click to expand...

How long have you been at the club now? 7/8 years?
 
Lippo255 said:
How long have you been at the club now? 7/8 years?
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This was my 8th season, suppose it makes more sense to wait until 10 seasons.

In other news, this has just happened for a second year running...

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I think we're probably never going to be able to expand this stadium which is a shame as I feel like our fanbase has the potential to be a lot more than the current 36,250 that it holds now.
 
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FC Union Berlin do the double!

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Man of the match Marvin Muller lifts the trophy high above his head after Berlin dominate Dortmund in a one-sided final at the Olympiastadion.


Fans of FC Union Berlin were once again celebrating on the streets of the capital city last night after the watched their team win back the German Cup by demolishing Ralf Ragnick's Dortmund side 5-1 in a very one-sided affair. The win for Union made them 4 time German Cup winners, with the 4 wins coming across the last 6 years.

Having tied up the league title a little under a month earlier, Berlin had the privilege of resting numerous key players in the weeks leading up to the game and this showed in their bright start to the game. It took Berlin just 5 minutes to open the scoring as Brazilian Richard picked up the ball inside the Dortmund half and drove at the defence before slotting the ball through onto the perfectly timed run from Berlin talisman Torsten Schroder, who lifted his effort above Dortmund's cup goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. Just 6 minutes later it was 2, as Richard went from provider to goalscorer, thundering a 20 yard effort into the top corner.

Whereas most teams may then have decided to sit on the two goal advantage, Berlin were still piling forward and they made it 3 in the 13th minute when Julian Brandt cut in from the left and played in Frenchman Marvin Muller to strike the ball back across goal and into the bottom right hand corner. After the third goal went in the game subsided for a while, with Berlin content with the lead they had built up and Dortmund not wanting to embarrass themselves by conceding further goals, and the score remained 3-0 as the half time whistle blew.

The start of the second half saw the best period of the game for Dortmund as they came out of the blocks flying and managed to pull the game back to 3-1, courtesy of a well worked Enes Unal goal. However, they couldn't make further inroads into the deficit whilst they were on top and when Marvin Muller made it 4-1 in the 68th minute from a low Kurzawa cross, all hope of a Dortmund comeback was dead. Julian Brandt added a 5th goal in the 75th minute after a slick passing move and the score finished at 5-1.

Next update will be a pre-season update for my 9th season in the German capital...
​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
Pre-Season - 2022/2023

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Transfers:

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3 sales and just the one incoming transfer in a relatively quiet transfer window for the club so far. Firstly, we decided to try our luck by offering out centre back Niklas Sule for his release clause of £49,500,000 and Man City were happy to take us up on that offer. He had fallen to 3rd choice centre back anyway and I thought it would be a good opportunity to make the club some money whilst bringing in a young replacement. I also moved along Dusan Krstevski for £5,000,000 + 50% of his next fee to Hamburg and Matthias Ostrazolek to Malaga for £2,000,000. Both players were moved along to open up space in the squad for youth academy graduates.

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In replacement for Sule we brought in Benjamin Karg from Malaga for £8,500,000. Whilst he's not quite at the level of Sule ability wise, he was the best German defender available for that sort of price and I feel he is more than good enough to be our 3rd choice.

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Squad:

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The backup this season may be of a slight less quality in certain areas but it's important that we keep trying to blood youngsters and especially ones from our own youth team. The first 11 is as strong as ever though and if it manages to stay fit then surely this is our year to at least make it to the Champions League final. Here are the two we have promoted from our youth squad to the first team this year...

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German Super Cup:

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That's two years in a row that we have now lost the Super Cup and 3 out of the past 4 years. It seems like the fact the game is played in the middle of pre-season acts as a bit of a leveller and makes it a bit harder for our class to shine through.

Other News:

1) Our finances are looking very healthy this year after the sale of Sule and getting in prize and sponsorship money. Just before the season finished we were over £40,000,000 in the red and now we are £60,000,000 in the black! I don't plan on bringing anyone else in but nice to know that the money is there is anyone becomes available.

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2) Just thought I'd show you our club history so far in the save. I'll do a separate, more detailed, update for this after 2 more seasons when I've been at the club 10 years, but here's a quick overview of trophies won, records, facilities and best 11.

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3) After Germany were knocked out of the World Cup in the semi finals by surprise runners up Costa Rica I again applied for the job only to have my interest laughed off. I was then offered the chance to manage France, so I decided to take that job with the intention of making Germany pay for not giving me the job I wanted! I'm not sure if I'll do updates for France or not since it's not really linked to Berlin but I may do updates for entire qualification periods or tournaments. We have a very strong squad and I expect us to be challenging for trophies from the off.

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Next update will be an August 2022 update as we get my 9th season in charge of Union Berlin under way!​
 

1. FC Union Berlin
August - 2022

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Transfers:

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I said in my last update that I wasn't planning on doing any more transfer budget but at the last minute on deadline day I decided to sign 2 of Dresden's goalkeepers, without any time for them to sign anyone else, in order to ensure one of our young youth academy goalkeepers that we loaned to them gets first team Bundesliga football for at least the first half of the season!

Fixtures:

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We bounced back from the defeat in the Super Cup with a comfortable 6-1 win away to a lower league team in the German Cup with a heavily rotated side. Youth academy graduate Timme got his first goal for the club and Benjamin Karg bagged himself a debut goal. We then took on Bayern at home on the first day of the season with a chance to get some early revenge for that Super Cup loss. It didn't take long for us to get our first goal, with Yepes converting from close range from a flicked on Muller corner. Just 5 minutes later Schroder doubled our lead and Julian Brandt wrapped up a comfortable 3-0 victory just after half time. We then headed to Schalke for the final game of the month and avoided what was a potential banana skin by hammering them 5-1 with 4 goals from Schroder and 1 from Muller.

Other News:

1) I once again convinced the board to expand the stadium. However, since the council have blocked it at the end of the season for the past 2 years running, I am not particularly confident of it actually going ahead.

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2) Our Champions League group shouldn't cause us too many problems this year, with it likely being between us and Man United for top spot. This is the first year we have been top seeds in our group and we also get a chance to finally win in Barcelona as their city rivals Espanyol are in our group!

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Next update will be a September review, including a trip to Old Trafford in the Champions League...​
 
hera said:
Wise move with the goalies hah :)
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Haha, cheers!

The only downside to it is he's playing for one of the worst clubs in the league and may be conceding 3 or 4 weekly but I suppose it's character building! XD
 
How are your feelings about playing in Bundesliga?

I have never liked it as it's too easy to dominate the league just like you have done. However, I'm glad that dominating Europe is still a challenge for you.

Btw, brilliant story mate :)
 
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hera said:
How are your feelings about playing in Bundesliga?

I have never liked it as it's too easy to dominate the league just like you have done. However, I'm glad that dominating Europa is still a challenge for you.

Btw, brilliant story mate :)
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, glad you're enjoying it!

It's the first time to my memory that I've managed in Germany and it's been pretty enjoyable. Whilst we're pretty dominant now I'm always still wary of Dortmund and Bayern so that keeps the league entertaining enough. The most annoying thing is the fact that you're not allowed to play anyone under the age of 17 in the league. I've got this lad from our academy who I would have made my backup right back this year, but he's not allowed to play since he's just 16...

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1. FC Union Berlin
September - 2022

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Fixtures:

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We continued our great start to the season this month with 6 wins out of 6, with 4 in the league and 2 in the Champions League. We started the month with a comfortable 3-0 victory over FC Koln at home, before getting our Champions League campaign under way with a tight 2-1 home win over Espanyol. A 4-2 away win at Hoffenheim courtesy of a Julian Brandt hatrick from left wing followed, before a 3-0 win away at Hannover with a brace from right winger Muller. The final league game of the month saw us take on the then bottom of the league Nurenberg at home and a heavily rotated team managed to beat them 2-0 with a brace from backup striker Noto. The final game of the month saw us travel to England to take on Man United in the most difficult group stage game we have on paper. It was a game where both teams looked very dangerous when going forward, however we were the more clinical of the two teams and managed to come away with a 4-2 win thanks to Schroder x2, Richard and Muller.

League Table/Champions League Group:

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Top of the league and with a game in hand on most of the chasers. We're also in a very strong position in our CL group and with two games against Austria Wien to come up next we may well be qualified with two games to go!

Player of the Month - Marvin Muller

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The Frenchman is a true superstar of world football these days and had a brilliant month for me in September (for both club and country!).

Player Stats:

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The biggest surprise so far has been the performances of usually backup midfielder Gianluca Gaudino, who is averaging 7.94 after 7 starts this year. Whilst this form is obviously good news for us and may lead to a Germany call up, it could be bad if he gets a call up for Italy and then will not count as one of the 16 German eligible players in the squad!


Next update will be on October review...​
 
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