So for the first time since god knows how long (My Amica Wronki game - CM 01/02?) I decided to actually play a career game on FM. So I selected a random team and it sent me on my way to Argentina to manage San Lorenzo.
Season 2008/09
Expectations
The board didn't expect to much from me they just wanted me to gain qualification to the Copa Libertadores which is achieved by finishing in the top 5. I was also expected to make it to the Quarter Finals of the Copa Sudamericana.
Transfers
When I joined I had no scouts so signed up 4 very average scouts and sent them off around South America so that by the time the January transfer window opened I would be able to get in some new players.
In the first window I only bought myself 4 players. Borges and Gimenez who both slotted into my first team immediately and the other two who were good money making prospects for the future.
In the second window I was recommended Aislan from Sao Paulo and Camillo from Cruzeiro so I decided to give them both a chance and they turned out pretty well for me.
Tactic
I decided to go for a more defensive approach than I usually take so I employed a 5-3-2 formation
League & Cups
I managed to make it to the Quarter Finals of the Copa Sudamericana but was knocked out by Atletico Mineiro on away goals.
Because I finished 4th in the first half of the season I qualified for the Copa Libertadores but was drawn a pretty tough group including Cruizero and Colo Colo but I managed to top the group, just abouts. I was drawn against Flamengo who at the time where top of the Brazilian league and I managed to put them out via the away goal ruling. My quarter final tie was another tricky one against Palmeiras. I won the first leg 3-1 but a first half hatrick from Ronaldo in the second leg killed off my hopes and I went on to lose 5-3 on aggregate.
I was pretty proud of my league finish, media prediction was 3rd but the quality of Boca, River, and Velez was just way ahead of anyone else.
<hr />
Season 2009/10
Expectations
Same expectations given to me by the board again so shouldn't be too difficult to achieve again.
Transfers
My major signing of the season has to be Eduardo from Botafogo who at £750k is going to be a bargain. He can play as a DLC\WBL\AMLC so he should come in useful all season when players begin to get tired and I pick up a few injuries.
Sadly the one thing I have found I don't like with the Argentinian League is the ability to only field 4 foreign players in a match day squad. In the window I lost a lot of my good Argentinian players (Orion and Torres being the most important) and finding good replacements who wanted to come to me was really difficult so sadly my first team squad only consists of 12 Argentine Nationals so my reserves and u20's are going to be called on a fair bit this season as they have been in the first 4 games because I began the season with 7 injuries.
Tactic
I was planning on switching too a new more attacking tactic, reflected by most of the players I had brought in during the close season but because of the shock sales of Orion and Torres, two of my most important Argentinian players I'm left playing another fairly balanced tactic because I don't have the same confidence in my new keeper as I did in Orion.
League & Cups
So after 4 league games of which I had won 1 and drew 3 it was time to participate in this years Copa Sudamericana. I recieved a tough draw in the first round against bitter rivals Independiente, which sadly I lost 4-3 overall. My board and fans obviously weren't impressed and sacked me. I can't state how disappointed I was with their lack of patience with me and my new squad.
Finding a new Job
So looking for a job didn't go to well. Plenty of jobs available but my reputaion was too low for most of them. The only job that I was offered was the Ecuador manager which wasn't for me, international teams are kind of boring.
After 3 months of looking I became a little fed up of not doing anything so decided to apply for the position at Instituto de Cordoba who were sitting nicely at the bottom of the Argentine Second Division. Thankfully only 7 days after joining them Carlisle offered me the job so I decided a trip back home would be a lot nice so agreed to join.
Carlisle
It was mid-December when I joined and they were sitting 14th in the league. With no money available for transfers and a large wage budget it looked like I had my work cut out if I was to try and turn things around.
As soon as the transfer window opened I offloaded a lot of the dead weight in my squad. The only player of any ability at all who left was Danny Graham, his contract was up at the end of the season and he was refusing to sign a new one which was understandable so all that was left for me to do was to try and make some money from him. I managed to sell him for 750k, meaning I had £150k to sign some players now.
Franco Razzotti was probably my best acquisition during the window, a solid defensive giving me some stability to my squad. David Martin, Dutch (Martyn Waghorn), and Martin Kelly were all brought in as backups to my first team. Daniel Pacheco however went straight into my first team and did really well.
Due to my lack of quality & depth upfront I decided on a formation with just the one striker. The formation worked fairly well, my defense and midfield played well and I created 2-3 good opportunities in each game but sadly most of them went to waste and because of this I found myself slip down the table and I ended up 17th, only 8 points above the drop zone.
<hr />
Season 2010/11
Expectations
After my fairly poor first season in charge the board didn't expect too much from me and just wanted me to achieve a top half finish. Shouldn't be too hard, I don't think I'm bad enough to get a team relegated.
Transfers
First things first, after going a season without a scout due to my tight wage budget I finally signed a nice young fellow and set him trotting off around Central Europe.
I also asked my board to find a good Parent Club in the hope of getting some decent loan signings from them. Luckily for me I was given the choice of having Man Utd, which was brilliant because apart from Arsenal they have some of the best youngsters on the game. Plus the £86k a year they would be paying me was nice.
So from my partnership I managed to bring in four players, all of which would be strong contenders for places in my first team. I also brought in Kadlec and Mazza, both players who i had my eye on since my San Lorenzo days, to act as my new strike force. Koroma the Gambian international was brought in from Pompey to act as a backup to those two new strikers while El Zhar and Basey were both pretty big signings for me and they would hopefully slot into the first team straight away.
Although I only brought two people in during the January window both signings were brilliant. Hosain Kaebi is an attacking fullback with 90 caps for Iran to his name and he's still only 25. Boucher is a young goalkeeper who is only 18 but already closing in on my current goalkeeper in terms of ability.
Tactic
After my failure last season I decided to switch to a formation with two players upfront. Hopefully having two strikers who hardly score would be better overall than one lone striker who hardly scores.
A fairly attacking formation but I felt like my CB's and DM could handle the extra responsibility they would get when the FB's go forward.
League & Cups
I made it to the second round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy but was then drawn against Hartlepool away from home. Thankfully the board weren't too disappointed with the loss as they didn't see the trophy as a priority.
Things didn't go much better in the League Cup either. I was drawn against Doncaster who were flying high in the Championship at the time. Although I was the better team I lost 1-0. The board weren't too happy with me for going out in the first round of the competition but had some sympathy with me for having a tricky tie.
The FA Cup however, went pretty well. I knocked out Gillingham and Southend to earn myself a match against Norwich in the Third Round. First match was a 0-0 draw with their goalkeeper picking up the man of the match. The replay was taking on a similar pattern until a 75 minute goal from Darel Rusell from 30 yards sent me crashing out with nothing to show for my efforts.
My start to the league didn't go so well. My form from the previous season continued, even after my fantastic performances in pre-season, I was dropping easy points and my strikers couldn't buy a goal. Thankfully as my new recruits got used to each other my results started to pick up and I started scoring taking my goals per game from 1.1 up to 1.7.
I ended up finishing 4th in the league, thanks to a strong second half of the season, with only one team having a better goal difference and goals scored. In the playoffs I was drawn against Barnsley who in 4 games against them previously I was yet to win so things didn't look good for my promotion chances. Add the fact my three best players were all injured things were never going to work out for me. I ended up losing 4-2 on Agg so was consigned to another season in League 1.
Thanks to my good business in the transfer window and good performances in the cups and league I managed to stabilize my clubs finances for the first time since I took charge.
Overall I'm really pleased with my players performances and hopefully I can keep hold of them next season to lead me to promotion.
<hr />
**LAST UPDATED 04/12/2008**
Season 2008/09
Expectations
The board didn't expect to much from me they just wanted me to gain qualification to the Copa Libertadores which is achieved by finishing in the top 5. I was also expected to make it to the Quarter Finals of the Copa Sudamericana.
Transfers
When I joined I had no scouts so signed up 4 very average scouts and sent them off around South America so that by the time the January transfer window opened I would be able to get in some new players.
In the first window I only bought myself 4 players. Borges and Gimenez who both slotted into my first team immediately and the other two who were good money making prospects for the future.
In the second window I was recommended Aislan from Sao Paulo and Camillo from Cruzeiro so I decided to give them both a chance and they turned out pretty well for me.
Tactic
I decided to go for a more defensive approach than I usually take so I employed a 5-3-2 formation
League & Cups
I managed to make it to the Quarter Finals of the Copa Sudamericana but was knocked out by Atletico Mineiro on away goals.
Because I finished 4th in the first half of the season I qualified for the Copa Libertadores but was drawn a pretty tough group including Cruizero and Colo Colo but I managed to top the group, just abouts. I was drawn against Flamengo who at the time where top of the Brazilian league and I managed to put them out via the away goal ruling. My quarter final tie was another tricky one against Palmeiras. I won the first leg 3-1 but a first half hatrick from Ronaldo in the second leg killed off my hopes and I went on to lose 5-3 on aggregate.
I was pretty proud of my league finish, media prediction was 3rd but the quality of Boca, River, and Velez was just way ahead of anyone else.
<hr />
Season 2009/10
Expectations
Same expectations given to me by the board again so shouldn't be too difficult to achieve again.
Transfers
My major signing of the season has to be Eduardo from Botafogo who at £750k is going to be a bargain. He can play as a DLC\WBL\AMLC so he should come in useful all season when players begin to get tired and I pick up a few injuries.
Sadly the one thing I have found I don't like with the Argentinian League is the ability to only field 4 foreign players in a match day squad. In the window I lost a lot of my good Argentinian players (Orion and Torres being the most important) and finding good replacements who wanted to come to me was really difficult so sadly my first team squad only consists of 12 Argentine Nationals so my reserves and u20's are going to be called on a fair bit this season as they have been in the first 4 games because I began the season with 7 injuries.
Tactic
I was planning on switching too a new more attacking tactic, reflected by most of the players I had brought in during the close season but because of the shock sales of Orion and Torres, two of my most important Argentinian players I'm left playing another fairly balanced tactic because I don't have the same confidence in my new keeper as I did in Orion.
League & Cups
So after 4 league games of which I had won 1 and drew 3 it was time to participate in this years Copa Sudamericana. I recieved a tough draw in the first round against bitter rivals Independiente, which sadly I lost 4-3 overall. My board and fans obviously weren't impressed and sacked me. I can't state how disappointed I was with their lack of patience with me and my new squad.
Finding a new Job
So looking for a job didn't go to well. Plenty of jobs available but my reputaion was too low for most of them. The only job that I was offered was the Ecuador manager which wasn't for me, international teams are kind of boring.
After 3 months of looking I became a little fed up of not doing anything so decided to apply for the position at Instituto de Cordoba who were sitting nicely at the bottom of the Argentine Second Division. Thankfully only 7 days after joining them Carlisle offered me the job so I decided a trip back home would be a lot nice so agreed to join.
Carlisle
It was mid-December when I joined and they were sitting 14th in the league. With no money available for transfers and a large wage budget it looked like I had my work cut out if I was to try and turn things around.
As soon as the transfer window opened I offloaded a lot of the dead weight in my squad. The only player of any ability at all who left was Danny Graham, his contract was up at the end of the season and he was refusing to sign a new one which was understandable so all that was left for me to do was to try and make some money from him. I managed to sell him for 750k, meaning I had £150k to sign some players now.
Franco Razzotti was probably my best acquisition during the window, a solid defensive giving me some stability to my squad. David Martin, Dutch (Martyn Waghorn), and Martin Kelly were all brought in as backups to my first team. Daniel Pacheco however went straight into my first team and did really well.
Due to my lack of quality & depth upfront I decided on a formation with just the one striker. The formation worked fairly well, my defense and midfield played well and I created 2-3 good opportunities in each game but sadly most of them went to waste and because of this I found myself slip down the table and I ended up 17th, only 8 points above the drop zone.
<hr />
Season 2010/11
Expectations
After my fairly poor first season in charge the board didn't expect too much from me and just wanted me to achieve a top half finish. Shouldn't be too hard, I don't think I'm bad enough to get a team relegated.
Transfers
First things first, after going a season without a scout due to my tight wage budget I finally signed a nice young fellow and set him trotting off around Central Europe.
I also asked my board to find a good Parent Club in the hope of getting some decent loan signings from them. Luckily for me I was given the choice of having Man Utd, which was brilliant because apart from Arsenal they have some of the best youngsters on the game. Plus the £86k a year they would be paying me was nice.
So from my partnership I managed to bring in four players, all of which would be strong contenders for places in my first team. I also brought in Kadlec and Mazza, both players who i had my eye on since my San Lorenzo days, to act as my new strike force. Koroma the Gambian international was brought in from Pompey to act as a backup to those two new strikers while El Zhar and Basey were both pretty big signings for me and they would hopefully slot into the first team straight away.
Although I only brought two people in during the January window both signings were brilliant. Hosain Kaebi is an attacking fullback with 90 caps for Iran to his name and he's still only 25. Boucher is a young goalkeeper who is only 18 but already closing in on my current goalkeeper in terms of ability.
Tactic
After my failure last season I decided to switch to a formation with two players upfront. Hopefully having two strikers who hardly score would be better overall than one lone striker who hardly scores.
A fairly attacking formation but I felt like my CB's and DM could handle the extra responsibility they would get when the FB's go forward.
League & Cups
I made it to the second round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy but was then drawn against Hartlepool away from home. Thankfully the board weren't too disappointed with the loss as they didn't see the trophy as a priority.
Things didn't go much better in the League Cup either. I was drawn against Doncaster who were flying high in the Championship at the time. Although I was the better team I lost 1-0. The board weren't too happy with me for going out in the first round of the competition but had some sympathy with me for having a tricky tie.
The FA Cup however, went pretty well. I knocked out Gillingham and Southend to earn myself a match against Norwich in the Third Round. First match was a 0-0 draw with their goalkeeper picking up the man of the match. The replay was taking on a similar pattern until a 75 minute goal from Darel Rusell from 30 yards sent me crashing out with nothing to show for my efforts.
My start to the league didn't go so well. My form from the previous season continued, even after my fantastic performances in pre-season, I was dropping easy points and my strikers couldn't buy a goal. Thankfully as my new recruits got used to each other my results started to pick up and I started scoring taking my goals per game from 1.1 up to 1.7.
I ended up finishing 4th in the league, thanks to a strong second half of the season, with only one team having a better goal difference and goals scored. In the playoffs I was drawn against Barnsley who in 4 games against them previously I was yet to win so things didn't look good for my promotion chances. Add the fact my three best players were all injured things were never going to work out for me. I ended up losing 4-2 on Agg so was consigned to another season in League 1.
Thanks to my good business in the transfer window and good performances in the cups and league I managed to stabilize my clubs finances for the first time since I took charge.
Overall I'm really pleased with my players performances and hopefully I can keep hold of them next season to lead me to promotion.
<hr />
**LAST UPDATED 04/12/2008**
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