A New Greek Force

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stourbridge

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As someone who has rarely managed outside the top countries i,e England, Italy and Spain I was looking for a new way to go....

It was a toss up between going to one of my holidaying destinations as a child, Turkey or Greece... I have fond memories of Turkey, walking round with a bright yellow Fenerbahce Fc top on which I had got from the local market that morning, then while wearing it on that night, getting given a bright red Galatasaray Fc top for free just because they wanted me to support them....

After much thought though I have gone to Greece, the reason being there is one team that dominates Greek football, Olympiakos!! They have won the Greek Superleague no less than 39 times...

So I have gone with a team that I thought were a big side in Greece, but when I looked them up they have struggled in recent years. My hope is to make them into a side who are constant title contenders and with a bit of luck a team that does well in Europe, my new home...

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Yes I have taken charge of AEK. We are ranked the 6th best team in Greece, have no transfer funds, no European history, a media prediction of 6th. We have not won the league since 1994!
We are currently worth £5 million as a club with debts of £15 million. However at least 4 repayments are due to end in 2 years time.
We do though have a stadium that holds nearly 70,000!!!


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As you can see Olympiakos are the team to beat!

My aims are simple, make AEK a good solid team with security money wise and compete for the title. It will not be a quick fix one feels and may take a couple of seasons to get my team up to title contending again, let alone winning it!

Lets get this party started....
 
Good choice! AEK Athens always seem to produce amazing youth players.
 
PRE SEASON

Well pre season went well as you will see. I have started with a 4-3-3 tactic with a lot attacking. As you will also see it seems to be working against most teams. Might be luck more than judgement though!!

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I lost to Juve but was holding my own til my right back got sent off in the 50th min, plus they started with a weakened 11...

TRANSFERS

Due to not having any money to spend you will see I have only signed 1 player, a right back from Argentina(who got sent off in the Juve game). Backroom staff wise, I wanted it to stay the same for the time being, so no real moves there, but I did sign a couple of coaches and 3 scouts to help out.

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I loaned out a few to try and reduce my wage bill, it has worked a little but still £2k a week over.
I hope the season runs the way pre season has.
Media think I can put up a title bid making us third in the betting at 10-1!!

Lets roll on with the season....
 
I have just noticed that in the fixtures and goal scorers screenies I must have clicked on a button and altered the running order so they dont match up, sorry about that!!! Will be sorted for next post.....
 
SEPTEMBER 2013

W 1, D 2, L 2

Not the best start for the season, my 4-3-3 tactic it would seem is only worth an outing against lower league teams as you will see..

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Due to the bad start I swapped my tactic for the last two games to a 3-5-2, picked up 4 points with it and my team are already accomplished in most areas of it. Whereas with my 4-3-3 they are still at competent, so looks like I will be going forward with my 3-5-2.

The league table does not make for happy reading at the moment...
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Still a long way to go yet so I am hoping form will turn around.

I am losing money though, already into the red and only just started the season. Think it is the stadium! We have to pay £1.05 million in rent a year + 10% of gate receipts! We are only getting 14,500 to a match, so the stadium is way too big for us at the moment, wondering if the fans will start to come if we climb up the table??
 
Nice start, this should be quite a tough challenge. I wouldn't worry about the finances t the moment too much, get the team gelling and plan for the long term. Following this with interest.
 
AEK is my team and i have to say you picked a tough challenge my friend,Bougaidis,Fountas and Petropoulos will be the surprises of the team but yhe essential for the first season is to accomplish a place in europe,finishinf in top 5 positions !!
 
GGGG75 said:
AEK is my team and i have to say you picked a tough challenge my friend,Bougaidis,Fountas and Petropoulos will be the surprises of the team but yhe essential for the first season is to accomplish a place in europe,finishinf in top 5 positions !!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up! I know Europe is a must otherwise it will become even harder to accomplish when you just losing money all the time.:(
I believe I can get it to work though.... well hope I can hahaha :)

What about Katidis? He seems to have the potential but in the few games I have played him, he just hasnt performed yet? Im playing him as a CM?
 
I find that the best way to do it with a club in debt and losing money is to:

keep a small squad until you are in a stable enough position to have a larger one and risk youth when you are in need of back up.

Play loads of high profile firendlies with clubs that will bring in a fair chunk of money for pre-season games, this will boost your bank balance a good bit.

Don't buy players over the age of 25 either, make sure you can sell them on.

And find a parent club for extra funds and players on loan for back up.

Once you are consistently in Europe, competing for the league and getting larger attendances, you'll be more stable and comfortable enough to spend money.

AEK seem like an ideal team to do a youth only challenge. Decent youth players always seem to come through there in FM and it's ideal considering the finance situation.

Good luck!
 
OCTOBER 2013

W 0, D 3, L 0

Well I am still in a job! .... Thanks for the input peeps. :)

Amazingly we are on bit of an unbeaten run at the moment just we have only won one of them! But the team all seem happy and I am getting good reactions to team talks so think it is only a matter of time before the points start to come in!

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The table is very close really and a good couple of wins and we could shoot up the table, if results are kind to us. Everyone seems to able to beat each other at the this point, However Olympiakos have started to show their form...

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STAR MAN

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Yago has been showing some great form these last few games, missed the opening couple due to injury but now has started to make a difference at the back!
 
NOVEMBER 2013

W 3, D 0, L 1

A good run of form and some decent points in November means that my job is now stable again! I have switched back to my 4-3-3 tactic.

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These good results mean we are keeping pace with the teams around us in the league. Not really moving up the league much though due to everyone taking points off each other.

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GREEK CUP 3RND 1ST LEG

Started the Greek Cup with a good win, played very well just couldnt get the ball in the net! Rested a few of my first team and the players that came in did well.

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If you look at the right side of the screen it shows the score as a 1-0 lose!! But I did win and did notice it is the same on some of the league games that I won, shows the score the wrong way round!! Random!


STAR MAN

Again it has to be Yago, he just seems to be getting better, he was hard pushed this month by Stamatis, If he continues his goal scoring rate he might win it next month!

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I am needing to off load some players soon, we are nearly £6k a week over our wage budget, which is hurting us. Will be looking to sell some older players. However I have this lad, he looks like he could be a very very good player.

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We have an agreed price of £220k in place for him(already at the club when I took over). I might terminate his loan though. He isnt playing fantastically, his wage is £1.3k a week and we wont be able to afford the agreed price anyway!

Next month sees us play 4 league games and the 2nd leg of the Greek Cup, lets hope our form runs on...
 
For the eagle eyed of you out there, I have noticed that I have put 2013 after each month, when in fact I am still in 2012!



DECEMBER 2012

W 1, D 0, L 3

Well my form didnt last long! I did terminate Mitropoulos loan to save money on wages and think amazingly that caused my lose of form!

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As a result of this bad form my league standing isnt any better!

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Now my job was stable but I think my time is fast running out with the board unless I can pull off some more good results.

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January is just around the corner and I will be hoping to sell some players to garner extra funds. This will I hope make some of the others perform better from fear of the chop.
I put a request in to find a parent club to gain extra funds which the board agreed would be off benefit, however they returned to me to say they could not find any club suitable!!

STAR MAN

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Although not brilliant form it is the best for this month, even my main man Yago suffered this month!


GREEK CUP 3RD RND 2ND LEG

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This was a must win and I did, the team put on a show as well, dominated the game in all areas. Lets hope that win gives the team a bit of a boost going into our next set of league games!

Will I still be in charge for the next update? .... I am praying I will be!!!!

COME ON AEK.......
 
JANUARY 2013

W 2, D 1, L 1

Well the months are rolling by, I am still in a job and have again got some good points on the board, it was a happy new year for AEK and Marsh...

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We have pulled ourselves up to 9th in the league now as well..

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I have managed to bring my wage bill right down, I have allowed another young talent to go out on loan with the other team paying 100% of his wages. But also I have managed to re-negotiate some contracts, this has brought it right down...

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GREEK CUP 4TH RND

Played both legs in the same month, was up against a strong side and over the two legs we deserved the overall victory!! Quarter Finals here come, we have been pitched against a side we can and should be beating!!

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STAR MAN

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Shocker of a Star Man this month played him due to needing to rest a couple and assistant has been impressed by progress, he has come in and the others are now finding it hard to break back into the team...


So will AEK continue to be a team that could turn up at the match or not, or will they now start a late push for the places for Europe?
Stay tuned.....
 
BREAKING NEWS

Marsh is out!!!!

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Shocking, we had put another few draws together in our last few games, however we lost at home to our rivals and that was enough to send me on my way....
Where will Marsh go next? Will Marsh stay in Greece?

In a statement Marsh said he felt gutted that this part of his managerial story was over and would like to say sorry to all his fans but promised to be back, bigger and better than ever before.....
 
Unlucky, but I hate AEK as they robbed Hearts of a Champions League group spot that had AC Milan
 
MaximumPower said:
Unlucky, but I hate AEK as they robbed Hearts of a Champions League group spot that had AC Milan
Click to expand...


Cheers mate, I think I might start to dislike them now as well!!!

Just an update on my save, I have added the Turkish and Ukrainian Premier divisions.... Want to carry on the theme of being a manager in leagues and countries I have never tried...
We are only at the end of August and as of yet had no invites to join anywhere...
A couple of Brazilian jobs came up, my name wasnt in the running for either of them, so I didnt apply for the jobs and besides I dont think I could cope with the long haul flight at the moment...

Stay tuned each and all...
 
There is a lot of money in the Ukranian league and they produce some god youngsters! Apart from the big two Dnipro and Metalist are brilliant teams to be i had a long term save as Dnipro and they were brilliant! Turkish league has Snejider and Drogba nuff said
 
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