Building Belgium

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TheMasterTactian

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What is this save? What are the aims?​

This is a medium/long term save in which I will start as the worst club in the third tier with no coaching badges and a Sunday league experience. I will be aiming to to gradually work my way up the Belgium whether it's with the first club I chose to be with or I chose to move up and work my way up by moving teams. The aim of the save is to make the Belgium league where every player wants to play in with Belgium producing top quality youth players every year and eventually winning the World Cup with them (myself managing Belgium)

In this save I will be trying to boost my reputation so I would be able to manage the top teams within Belgium then slowly integrate Belgium youth and build up the reputation as a league and a country and will do so by focusing on players from Belgium and hopefully develop them into world class talents. In the long term future, I would like to have implemented a philosophy in which people from belgium and all over the world look up to, just like the Spanish with their tiki taka football and the Italians with their grinding out results.

About Belgium
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Belgium are currently in the middle of their so called 'golden generation' which includes the likes of Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Thibaut Courtois and many more world class talents... So far they have been underwhelming in the major tournaments as they haven't had the best managers to lead them to glory... especially now after hiring Roberto Martinez who has in many peoples opinions think he is most certainly not the man who could win Belgium the World Cup, Euros etc.


Why I chose Belgium?
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I decided to chose Belgium as a country I want to develop as they aren't one of the best leagues in the world but they have the potential to become one of the best leagues and countries in the world. Having taken this into account and with FM 16 slowly coming to an end, this will be my last save till FM 17 and this will be my biggest challenge to date which excites me as I don't usually manage lower league, especially not in the top 5 countries. This will be by far the most challenging far I have ever done.



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I think Belgium is a good Nation choice with a number of competitive teams at the top to keep things interesting domestically. I am currently doing a very similar challenge with Wales and despite starting with one of the weakest top flight teams, it really doesn't take very long to outgrow the domestic competition once European prize money starts trickling through, which makes the majority of the season pretty dull when you are just winning every match.

Good Luck!
 
Nomadic said:
I think Belgium is a good Nation choice with a number of competitive teams at the top to keep things interesting domestically. I am currently doing a very similar challenge with Wales and despite starting with one of the weakest top flight teams, it really doesn't take very long to outgrow the domestic competition once European prize money starts trickling through, which makes the majority of the season pretty dull when you are just winning every match.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wanted to chose a country which wouldn't take so many months due to FM16 dying so a medium to long term save which occupies my time was the plan, I was planning to avoid countries like Gibraltar, Malta etc as they would take too long to build up in order to satisfy me before FM17. It'll take a bit longer to start winning every game as there are multiple quality teams already challenging in the league and in europe which thankfully would help build up the leagues reputation quickers. I have read your Wales save and it is incredible how much you have grown the league in such a small space of time. Thank you and good luck to you!
 
Building Belgium: The Rules & Revealing the Club

The Rules:
- No over 25 non Belgium players are allowed to be signed.
- Unlimited 15-17 year old signings
- Look at youth academy before signing players.
- Sign Belgium players over non Belgium Players if possible

The Club:

View attachment 133498
Walhein FC:

Royal Wallonia Walhain Chaumont-Gistoux is a Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Walhain, Walloon Brabant. They have played in the third division since 1997–98. However, in 2006–07, the club could not avoid relegation to the 4th level of Belgian football, i.e. the Promotion.

The club was founded in 1941, and currently plays at Stade du Boscailles.


View attachment 133497
No exactly a great history for the club but it is something to build on during my tenure, I will try to progress the club to the next level and not to do so by ruining the finances of the club. I will try to improve the history of the club by winning as many trophies as possible so Walhein FC fans can be proud and excited to support the club. I will be aiming firstly to become a professional club as it'll allow us to expand and attract higher quality coaches, scouts, physio's, playing staff etc and this will be my priority.

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As expected, the facilities aren't exactly state of the art due to being a semi professional club in the 3rd tier of Belgium football but like many clubs in the 3rd tier, we have poor training facilities and basic youth facilities, this gives us a platform to focus on youth due to being a 3rd tier semi professional club. I am very pleased with the condition of the stadium as it means when we get resources, we can focus on improving other areas of the club.

Next Update: Meeting the manager, Meeting the squad and Looking at the tactic.

​
 
Building Belgium: The Manager, The Squad & The Tactic

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Meet Elliott Cosier, a manager who has only played at a Sunday league level who doesn't even have the national C license... I wanted to be more of an attacking manager therefore putting every coaching attribute to 1 except attacking. I also did the same with the mental attributes except determination.

View attachment 133433
Overall, I am very happy with the squad, lots of quality in every area except the RM - it will be one area I will be looking to improve. The squad has a mix of experience and youth which will allow me to utilize the experience of the older players to tutor the younger players and slowly integrate the youth.

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I tried different formations but in the end I had to go with a solid 4-4-2 which works extremely well in the lower leagues. I had gone for a high press game and hopefully win the ball high up the pitch wanting the opposition team to cause mistakes which we would take advantage of.

Next Update: Preseason, Transfers and The start of the season
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So far they have been underwhelming in the major tournaments as they haven't had the best managers to lead them to glory... especially now after hiring Roberto Martinez who has in many peoples opinions think he is most certainly not the man who could win Belgium the World Cup, Euros etc.
Click to expand...

Okay... Listen up Belgium, I'll propose you a little switcheroo then: You hand over Bob to his home country and we'll give you Julen Lopetegui as a replacement... How does that sound? (I don't know why people complain about Bob, compared to our current national team manager he's a tactical genius and savior material).

Interesting challenge you chose here, a tad too easy on the long run though (Belgian youth academies are OP in FM, not as much as England or Portugal (Portuguese regens are surreal on FM 2k16)... but they're still insanely good) but it should make a quite enjoyable run for you to make and for us to read.

I'll drop by every now and then to check out how things are going and I wish you the best of lucks with this challenge. ^^
 
Zlatan Lumic said:
Okay... Listen up Belgium, I'll propose you a little switcheroo then: You hand over Bob to his home country and we'll give you Julen Lopetegui as a replacement... How does that sound? (I don't know why people complain about Bob, compared to our current national team manager he's a tactical genius and savior material).

Interesting challenge you chose here, a tad too easy on the long run though (Belgian youth academies are OP in FM, not as much as England or Portugal (Portuguese regens are surreal on FM 2k16)... but they're still insanely good) but it should make a quite enjoyable run for you to make and for us to read.

I'll drop by every now and then to check out how things are going and I wish you the best of lucks with this challenge. ^^
Click to expand...

But bob will make you physically not able to defend... it'll be like fifa defenders but in real life... People complain because he focused too much on the attack and forgot to actually coach defenders, if he had managed to complement the mix of attack and defend but he didn't and that is why people dislike him and why everton have done so poorly over the last 2 years.

I may have chosen an easy nation but if I had a bit more time for the life span then I may have chosen a country like Albania or Malta if I had the patient and the time to be able to achieve a suitable goal before FM17.

Thank you, I appreciate it very much and hopefully in the end I will have made Belgium a top league and a top country which has it's own philosophy :p
 
But bob will make you physically not able to defend... it'll be like fifa defenders but in real life... People complain because he focused too much on the attack and forgot to actually coach defenders, if he had managed to complement the mix of attack and defend but he didn't and that is why people dislike him and why everton have done so poorly over the last 2 years.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not in Spain that train of thought is actually appreciated and regarded as a positive thing (look at Paco Jémez, an all out attack manager able to beat big teams with its "brave" approach... or losing 10-2 to Real Madrid).
I'm not saying that it's the right approach, but I'd rather have that kind of mentality than the kind that literally doesn't play anything at all like that of Del Bosque (specially on his last 2 years) or Julen Lopetegui.

Anyway... Let's put that aside and focus on story content for now shall we ^^
What are your thoughts on naturalization? Are you going to take advantage of that (getting hold of young African players, which will prove incredibly useful specially in the lower league tiers, in hope they can get a Belgian nationality in 5 years time)? Or you rather focus on home talent only? I ask this due to the sheer amount of Belgian players with African descent in the national teams.
 
Zlatan Lumic said:
Believe it or not in Spain that train of thought is actually appreciated and regarded as a positive thing (look at Paco Jémez, an all out attack manager able to beat big teams with its "brave" approach... or losing 10-2 to Real Madrid).
I'm not saying that it's the right approach, but I'd rather have that kind of mentality than the kind that literally doesn't play anything at all like that of Del Bosque (specially in his last 2 years) or Julen Lopetegui.

Anyway... Let's put that aside and focus on story content for now shall we ^^
What are your thoughts on naturalization? Are you going to take advantage of that (getting hold of young African players, which will prove incredibly useful specially in the lower league tiers, in hope they can get a Belgian nationality in 5 years time)? Or you rather focus on home talent only? I ask this due to the sheer amount of Belgian players with African descent in the national teams.
Click to expand...

At the beginning I will be signing youth players at cheap prices to save the finances so I can build a solid finances within the club I'm at and dependant on their nationality I will try and get them belgium citizenship but once i've developed the league a bit more, I will be reliant on the youth system to bring in the belgium youth.

Sorry for lack of updates on the save.. I have got family round which means it has been quite hard to play FM but will try to get more regular udates out :p
 
Building Belgium: Preseason, Transfers & Start of Season

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Preseason was quite poor but I thought we were competitive against the sides who were in a division above us and it gives me hope that we may get promoted this season which would be absolutely ridiculous but I want to stay grounded and hope to be around mid table.

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We managed to get a senior affiliate in and we managed to sign 3 Belgium youngsters in which could challenge our current first team players and hopefully improve them at the same time. Whilst Pendini is a RM we needed to get in as well lacked quality in that position and he has unreal physical stats for this level - I would show you but I can't find his screenshot and I am a bit too lazy to open up FM16 to get a screenshot...

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We started the season very good, with 3 wins out of 5 in all competitions. However, I am disappointed to exit the cup so early as I thought it could have been a decent income for us in which we basically have no sponsorship's etc. I we can continue this rich vein of form I think realistically we are going to challenge for promotion but it is too early to say as everyone is separated by a couple of points.

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This is a questionable league format... Hay ho better get on with it and with a decent start I would like to carry on the way we currently are playing.

Sorry for a lack of depth, I had an in depth one ready but FM base wouldn't post it and I feel a bit lazy to redo it...​
 
gome trieste

Building Belgium: September

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It was a close game till the 65th minute in which we started to dominate the game. As soon as we scored our second goal, we kept pilling on the pressure and in the 87th minute we got our 2 goal cushion.

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A tight game in which we didn't take our chances, but on an other day we could have easily won the game or just have taken the draw. It wasn't the most open of games but I learnt valuable lessons on how to improve in future games.

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A convincing win in which I can be proud of as we dominated the game from the 1st minute to the 90+4th minute, however it didn't take us till the 77th to score our first then the flood gates opened. Once we hit the 70th minute I was starting to worry that we wouldn't be able score.

[Insert KFC Oosterzonen Oosterwijk 1-3 RW Walhein CG Screenshot]

Simon Vermeiren x1 - Michael Roulez x1 Jasper Ameye x1 Anthony Benazzi x1

The screenshot wasn't loading here - I'm was very happy we managed to put 3 goals past them but defensively it was a poor display. After conceded, we started to dominate and shut out their attacking players and as the game continued we grew more confident.

[Insert RW Walrein CG 2-1 KVK Tienen Hageland]

Michael Roulez x1 Anthony Benazzi x1 - Tom Blockx x1

I have to say we were lucky to win but we were more crucial in the finishing department. We started poorly but we didn't concede thankfully, they did come close several times in the first half but thanks to my keeper it was kept to 0-0. In the second half we started off slowly by going 0-1 behind, but afterwards we kicked on and managed to comeback and win 2-1.

We finished the month in 1st place with our closest opposition 4 points from us. I m very happy with this as it'll allow us to drop points but not be overtaken which is good as it'll give us some comfort room.

The last screenshots were broken and wouldnt be able to be put it
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