Clueless Kaarto manages Hednesford Town F.C.

Yeah you get the last EC spot for winning the cup however if Man City had won because they are in the CL the last EC spot would go to 6th place finisher in the PL. Well done mate and hoping for a good season next season!
 
I think the EC next to my name is meant to mean I’ve qualified for the Euro Cup because I won the Capital One Cup?

Yup, that would be it. England and France have special permission from UEFA to let the winners of their secondary (league) cups take an EL spot. So as a general rule, it will be PL 5th + FAC winner + LC winner in the EL. If one or both cup winners finish in the top 5 of the league, no. 6 and possibly 7 will qualify for the EL.

It should be great for Hednesford to get some European experience! If you get into the group stage, it's also a fair bit of money to help develop the club further... :)
 
2024/2025 SQUAD REVIEW

View attachment 229162

Despite a long scoring drought, Paulinho still hit the net 25 times throughout the season. Roberti was our next best, hopefully showing Juventus that he is needed. Janssen, Noubissie, Festa and Hanousek were all surprisingly good, none of them are supposed to be good enough for the premier league. Verratti put in a solid campaign, but it might be all downhill from here due to his age. Our January signings of Foucalt and Kula both performed below expectations, but hopefully a full pre-season of cohesion will solve any issues.
 
2025/2026 (Season 12)

MANAGER STATS
View attachment 228017
It is almost annoying being this good at management. Every day my inbox is clogged with clubs like Real Madrid and PSG clamouring for my services.

TRANSFERS
View attachment 228016
The board coughed up 50 million to spend and I used the majority of it. Svensson and Festa have continued the trend of my players leaving to go and rot at "bigger clubs", who will probably finish below me this season. Jordan Pickford, my goalkeeper who demanded a move to Liverpool, has not played once in 2 years at the club since leaving us. Mohamed Sylla, our outstanding championship striker, moved to Olympique de Marseille, played twice, demanded a move again and left for 2 million. I think it's quite clear that forcing a move to a bigger club doesn't tend to work out, just stay with me. Mick Christie (DM) is still here on loan from Arsenal, for a 5th consecutive year. Cristian Roberti (DR) is also here for another season.

TRANSFERS IN

Pacato (AMR)
View attachment 228015
I managed to bring in Pacato for a bargain basement price of 3.6 million, and he looks like a quality premier league player. Hopefully he will putting in some quality balls with his 18 crossing for Paulinho to nod in.

Leandro Caitano (GK)
View attachment 228014
I was quite happy with Neves’ performance as our first choice stopper, but if there is an opportunity to improve the squad I have to take it. Caitano is another talent from Brazil, a nation which is absolutely churning out top quality players in this save. Hopefully Caitano can make a difference of 12-15 points for Hednesford this season.

Hector Villagra (DC)
View attachment 228013
Hopefully with this signing I have locked down my first choice centre back partnership for years to come. The 23 year old Villagra has been signed to partner Sebastian Kula and he looks extremely solid. I looked for someone with outstanding heading, to foil Kula who has below average aerial ability. Apparently he is playing at his full potential but I think he has a little more in him.

Adrian Kwiatkowski (DL)
View attachment 228012
Kwiatkowski was initially rated as a 3.5 star player when he first joined, but after our first friendly he dropped down to 2.5 stars. I don’t see why, at least I still think he looks like a quality player. He will be our definite first choice left back for this season.

Bertrand Traore (AML)
View attachment 228011
I have paid 4.8 million for a 29 year old, which is not a piece of business I’m particularly proud of. However, I needed a left midfielder and there was nothing particularly appealing on the market. Traore will lock down the left wing, but I will probably be looking for a better player in a season or two.

Alexandre Campos (DM)
View attachment 228010
At the suggestion of Paulinho, I have signed Campos for a bargain basement fee. He looks ideal for a Box to Box or Anchor Man role. He will be in the first team in either of those positions.

Stephane Prevost (AMR)
View attachment 228009
Prevost is another signing at right wing, who will probably rotate with Pacato. He only wanted to be a backup player, which is ideal as Pacato will be first choice.
 
Its amazing to see how much your coaching stats have improved in 12 years, from a useless hack to a football god!
 
Its amazing to see how much your coaching stats have improved in 12 years, from a useless hack to a football god!

I'd love to know how to improve my Determination and Discipline though, just to give my attributes a better look..
 
I'd love to know how to improve my Determination and Discipline though, just to give my attributes a better look..

Might be able to improve your discipline by fining some guys & just generally being a hard *** :p

Not sure about determination though.
 
2025/2026 LEAGUE RESULTS #1

View attachment 227292

We've started our 2nd season in the top flight on fire, only losing against Manchester City away. The form of Paulinho is integral to the success we are enjoying, as always. New right winger Pacato has been outstanding, with 6 assists thus far and one of the highest average ratings in the league.
 
2025/2026 LEAGUE RESULTS #2

View attachment 226917

Paulinho has gone down with a 3 month calf injury, which hampers our teams ability to score enough goals. This injury reveals our lack of strikers, with only Raymond Kameni available to fill the void. I don't rate Kameni highly, but I don't want to splash the cash on a striker that would always be second choice when Paulinho is fit. Not that I have any funds left anyway. Despite our lack of goals our defence has stepped up, with three 1-0 victories keeping the points rolling in.
 
Last edited:
2025/2026 LEAGUE RESULTS #3

View attachment 226331

After another great set of results we are actually sitting around the top 4. Everyone in the side has stepped up from last season, from Sebastian Kula (DC) to Raymond Kameni (ST) to Marco Verratti (MC). We are getting enough goals in despite Paulinho being sidelined, and our defence is slowly improving together.
 
2025/2026 JANUARY TRANSFERS

View attachment 226106

Keeper Guilherme Neves was reduced to backup when Caitano was signed, and only had 6 months left on his contract. 675K is a bargain for City, but they won't play him anyway, and I nabbed him on a free a couple of years ago. Right back Mouhamed Dieme also only had 6 months left on his contract and I decided to cash in on him as well. We made a loss but he had to be sold now. Juan Julian is just some dodgy keeper I signed just to have two in the squad.

TRANSFERS IN

Pako Ngcobo (MC)
View attachment 226078

Ngcobo has been signed for a while, but he's only just been allowed to move to the club. He's a promising young South African with a heap of potential to grow. Going forward in this save I want more focus on Youth, and Ngcobo is the start of this. I injected him into the first team straight away and he has excelled in the box to box role, netting a goal on debut.
 
2025/2026 LEAGUE RESULTS #4

View attachment 225822

Bertrand Traore went absolutely ballistic as stand in striker, scoring goal after goal. At 30 years old I've reinvigorated his career, and he is tearing the league apart. We are part of the title race, sitting in the top two with Manchester City. I think a Champions League spot is guaranteed at this point.
 
Incredible results, if you have to lose to anyone it may as well be Liverpool :p
 
2025/2026 CUP RESULTS

View attachment 225795

A pretty poor performance in the cups, but I rotated in my second side for all of them, so it's not that unexpected. I thought we qualified for the Euro Cup last season, but that never happened.
 
Last edited:
2025/2026 LEAGUE RESULTS #5

View attachment 225665

We finished the season strongly and secured our Champions League place. Paulinho came back for our last few matches and he played well. Even in our last few games when I played some 15 year olds, we still got decent results.
 
2025/2026 PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

View attachment 225653

We've finished up in 2nd place with 77 points, still a long way off title winners Manchester City. I had no idea the squad was this good, but apparently we are good enough to come second in the Premier League. I'm interested to see whether we can back this up next year.
 
2025/2026 SQUAD REVIEW

View attachment 225100

Paulinho just edged Pacato as our best player once again, despite an injury ravaged campaign. Pacato was a revelation at right wing, signed for a paltry 3.6 million, he is now World Class. He picked up the English player of the year and had the second highest average rating in the league. We have reinvigorated both Verratti and Traore, who are both over 30 but have had the best season of their career. Bertrand Traore scored a ridiculous 20 goals, considering he mainly played as a left winger. Pako Ngcobo proved great value for 700K, but I'm not sure about his future. At 19 he has hit his potential, and it isn't quite good enough. We might look to move him on for profit. Roberti had another amazing season on loan, I have no clue why Juventus don't keep him. I'll try to get him back on loan again, but I've got a quality right back coming in so keeping Roberti isn't crucial. Janssen and Campos were the biggest disappointments, both in midfield, so that might be where we need to strengthen going into next season.
 
This story is probably a wrap. I managed to get all the way from the Vanarama North to a Champions League place in the EPL. FM16 is fast approaching, and the amount of interest in FM15 stories is low.

Thanks for reading.
 
the amount of interest in FM15 stories is low.

Whose interest? Yours or the readers'? ;)

I'm still playing FM13, and the only reason I do my career updates on the SI forums instead of here is because they don't have separate forums for older versions of the game. If I did an FM13 update here, no one would read it. Over there, I have plenty of readers...

Anyway, thank you for a good story. :)
 
Top