A Different Kind of Champions League Challenge

[seanhrfc]

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SeanHRFC's Champions League Challenge
The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious club competition in the world and as such is sought after by Europe's elite. In all over 20 different clubs have managed to get their hands on the trophy and have had the honour of being able to call themselves the best club in Europe. However, there are also 17 clubs that have managed to reach the final only to lose out. There is probably no worse feeling than getting to a final and losing and becoming the nearly boys. Inspired by the Klippybo and Stonecold's Champions League Challenge, I aim to win the Champions League with as many of the 'nearly boys' as possible, including:

Stade de Reims (x2)
Valencia (x2)
Fiorentina
Eintracht Frankfurt
Partizan Belgrade
Panathinaikos
Atletico Madrid
Leed United
St Etienne
Borussia Monchengladbach
Club Brugge
Malmo
AS Roma
Sampdoria
Bayer Leverkusen
AS Monaco
Arsenal
Paris St. Germain*


*2018 Champions League runners up

Meet the Manager
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'Ronaldo' Luis Nazario de Lima
For those in their 20s and older, they will remember this man as the ''Phenomenon" in his younger days where he scored goals for fun picking up the Ballon D'Or in 1997 & 2002. He scored 62 goals in 98 games for his native Brazil and won the World Cup with them in 1994 and 2002. However, despite playing for 5 clubs that had won the Champions League in their history (PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid & AC Milan), he's never attained a Champions League medal himself.

It's the 22nd December 2013 and football legend Ronaldo has announced his entrance into Management, stating his ambition to win the Champions League as his motivation.​

 

[TheWriter]

Sounds like an interesting prospect, I'm looking forwards to this! I'm guessing Malmo first due to the start date of December!

All the best!

 

[seanhrfc]

Cheers, I've started Unemployed and hoping a job comes up, though for now I may just take any team if they'll have me and build up my managerial reputation. Start date was Brazil

 

[AldoKemp-1]

Good luck mate, liking this idea.

 

[White army]

Good luck was actually thinking of doing something like this myself

 

[seanhrfc]

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Having spent 4 months searching for a job, Ronaldo was finally asked to an interview. However, he was rejected by lowly AEL Kallonis that as recently as 2008 were in the Lesbos Local Championship, the 5th tier of Greek football. It's a tough climate to get a job and it seems even world legends such as Ronaldo will find it difficult to secure their first job.

This comes after a string of rejections from clubs such as Valenciennes, Napoli, Lazio and Valencia. Plugging on!​

 

[TheWriter]

The Lesbos Local Championship, now that's the kind of league I'd like to be watching!!

Er-herm!

Unlucky with the job hunting so far, but hopefully Mr Ronaldo can find a beginning somewhere, and soon

 

[seanhrfc]

The Lesbos Local Championship, now that's the kind of league I'd like to be watching!!

Er-herm!

Unlucky with the job hunting so far, but hopefully Mr Ronaldo can find a beginning somewhere, and soon

Yes Lesbos Local Championship sounds good to me too! I've had further interview rejections from Panathinaikos, Partizan, Bolton and Lierse. Surely someones going to want the Phenomenon soon...

 

[seanhrfc]

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I've got to the end of the season and still no job. Further job interviews at Reading, AIK and Atromitos and several outright rejections at bigger clubs. I've decided this save will be dynamic in the challenge and if a club were runners up in the CL and had never won it, I will add them to the list. The 2013/14 Final was contested between heavyweights Bayern and Man Utd, with the English getting one over the Germans on penalties!

Which club is going to take the risk on Ronaldo....​

 

[TheWriter]

Interesting win there for United, but I think you've made the right decision in terms of your dynamics with this challenge! Will make it very interesting for sure!

 

[seanhrfc]

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Right, I thought it strange that no one wants Ronaldo, but this has confirmed my game is Crazy Japan win the World Cup!​

 

[TheWriter]

Oh wow, now that is weird! New game please

 

[stevetrunks15]

doing the same thing! but my teams are
bate borisov
shakhtar donetsk
olympiacos
psv
lyon
sevilla
sporting lisbon

good luck

 

[seanhrfc]

I had JUST been appointed the manager of Osters IF who were bottom of the Allsvenskan, but then my game Crash Dumped and I'm back to the 20th June. Lets see what happens now!

 

[Tyler Berry]

I had JUST been appointed the manager of Osters IF who were bottom of the Allsvenskan, but then my game Crash Dumped and I'm back to the 20th June. Lets see what happens now!

Think Ronaldo needs to go down to his local job centre.

 

[seanhrfc]

Its now September 2014, 9 months without a job. Any chance of a job please? My chances are depleting by the minute as I have been comfort eating through the rejection and I now look like this....

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[seanhrfc]

Ronaldo Finally Bags A Job

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Ronaldo signs his first managerial contract ironically at the club where he finished his career. Between 2009 and 2011 Ronaldo made 31 appearances for Corinthians, scoring 18 goals before injury forced him to quit the game. Job offers were rejected from Allsvenskan club Djurgarden and Kalmar in order for Ronaldo to turn back to his native Brazil. His eyes are set on Europe at a later date once he has built up his managerial credit by turning Corinthians into a South American Dynasty!

Background
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2013 Season
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Corinthians have a proud history having the honour of calling themselves the best club in the world on two occasions and most recently in 2012. However this success has been sandwiched with a relegation from the top flight and in the 2013 season the team finished in a very disappointing 13th place. It is time to turn these Brazilian Heavyweights into a club that consistently dominate South American football.

Key Players
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The biggest name in the side is most certainly Alexandre Pato, a player who was tipped to become a world superstar. Alongwith Pato, we have Cassio, Gil and Ralf who form a great defensive backbone for the club

​

 

[seanhrfc]

Season 2015 Update


Transfers
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I was surprised to be given such a big transfer budget but after seeing the clubs finances there's no wonder, **** they are rich! Biggest signing is wonderkid Balanta who is destined for greatness. After Damiao picked a long term injury i needed a new target man so I brought in the reliable Maierhofer, he's such a good player on this game!

Starting 11
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I think this is a very good starting 11, a mixture of pace, technical ability and finishing ability supporting the Hof up top we're bound to be able to find the net. However this is balanced out with a very strong back 6 who can out-battle most strike forces I can think of

State Championship
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There it is, Ronaldo's first trophy of his managerial career! We took the state championship by storm but faced stern competition from Santos and Sao Paulo - Palmeiras were ultimately disappointing. We narrowly beat arch rival Sao Paulo in the final after a very good winning run.

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[seanhrfc]

Early Season Woes
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Our Brazilian Championship season did not get off to the best of starts as we failed to pick up a win in our first 5 games and only scored 3 goals one of which was an own goal. We then hit a patch of inconsistent form where some games we were excellent and others diabolical. The board had yet again increased our transfer budget which allowed me to bring in 3 top quality players. However, all 3 signings were from Europe and needed a pre-season under their belt so it would be a while before they could make any more than cameo appearances. We were sitting in lower mid-table just points above the relegation. The board decided enough was enough after our lacklustre 0-4 defeat at home to Fluminense and arranged a meeting. I was given an ultimatum that I must win 3 of the next 5 games otherwise I would be sacked.

Comeback Kings
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After nearly facing the sack, it was time to get this team in gear. There would be nothing worse than having your first managerial job end with the sack due to poor performance. A few tactical tweaks were made, team meetings held, warnings for poor performances and faith given to certain individuals. The reaction from the team was superb as we went on to win 4 of the next 5 games, gathering 3 points more than the board's required total to keep my job. We had a couple of disappointments including the 1-0 loss to relegation favourites Avai and an embarrassing 3-0 home loss to Atletico Mineiro, but we racked up 18 wins from 21 games that lead us from mid-table no hopers to league leaders.

Shock Decision!!!!
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I'm not entirely sure what Mario Gobbi Filho has been smoking or he's just a corrupt ******* but I was left confused and angered with this decision. The reasons given for the sacking were farcical as I had over-achieved in terms of the board's ultimatum of points leaving me to believe that this may be a glitch in the game. I admit I started the championship campaign poorly but I had more than turned this around and by the time of sacking to a 4 point lead at the top. It also came after a credible 2-2 draw away to 4th place Cruzeiro so it was not even a knee jerk reaction to a heavy rivals defeat. Adding insult to injury, I had also guided the team to the semi-finals of the Brazilian Cup meaning that the State Championship, Brazilian Championship and Brazilian Cup treble was a big possibility. Gutted.

Ronaldo's Achievements
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Poor Ronaldo's managerial career has had a pretty depressing start, first with the constant rejection from clubs and most recently the unjust sacking from Corinthians stripping him from the chance of adding two more trophies to his resume. However, Ronaldo has shown determination throughout his career to overcome setbacks. One such example is overcoming his injuries in the late 90s and early 00s. He won the Ballon D'or as a youngster in 19997 but went on to be plagued with injuries. Nevertheless he recovered and went on to become the golden boot winner of the 2002 World Cup ultimately leading to his second Balon D'or. Lets hope the same can be done with his managerial career!

​

 

[seanhrfc]

Further Disappointment

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If things could not get any worse at the moment, another job rejection was fast out the blocks. This time it was Malmo, one of the teams that are part of the challenge. Let's keep plugging on...