Crusaders F.C. - The European Crusade

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2014/15 - Season 2 Update

So no sooner had we returned from holidays, we were faced with Champions League qualification.

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A fairly easy first round tie in Armenia, followed by a tough draw against Polish Champions Legia Warsaw.

We only made 2 senior signings this summer,

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Murray, a good right sided midfielder/striker for 95k from Portadown.

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Burns, a NI U21 from Linfield for 125k. He plays on the left side of midfield.

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These guys should give me the width I need to break teams down in certain games.

On to the qualifiers and we tonked Mika of Armenia 7-0 on aggregate! They are about the standard we expect domestically, so no surprise there.

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Onto Warsaw who have some good players, such as Marek Lewandowski but luckily he is out injured! We drew the home leg 0-0 which isn't the worst result, as we avoided conceding away goals. In the away tie we went 2-0 up and I feared for the worst when they drew level, but we saw the game out and went through with away goals! We would face the Lithuanian side Ekranas in the 3rd qualifying round

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These ties were fairly easy, we won 5-2 on aggregate securing our place in the play-offs!

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In the playoffs, we were for some reason seeded but unfortunately against a good side in Red Star Belgrade, the Serbian team which produced Nemanja Vidic. Their best player was Nenas Mjilias, formerly of Wolves and despite giving them a good go in both ties, they had too much for us in truth. A 90th minute winner from a corner in the away leg deflated us, and we got caught again in the 2nd leg as we chased a goal to draw the tie level. 2-0 to them it finished on aggregate, but a valiant effort from the boys!

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All is not lost, we go into the group stages of the Europa League, and have some prize money cheques to collect :D

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I was surprised at how much/many there were! I won't complain though, it can all go towards further upgrades to facilities, and the board plan for us to turn professional next season! Exciting times! As for the Europa League draw, I can only see a similar outcome to last season after being drawn against Inter Milan, Panathinaikos and Spartak Moscow but we will give it our best!

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coolmcool said:
Going really well mate had a a story on here last year with Limerick from the other side of Ireland so have had a few run ins with some of the teams you play against in the All Ireland Cup, love an obscure league did 13 seasons with them and it was one of my favourite saves good luck, and KIU
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Thanks mate, I'm loving it, especially now the domestic side of things is becoming easy so I can holiday the league games! 13 seasons is a good effort, hopefully I can get this one that far. If we could get 2 automatic Europe spots by then, I'd be ecstatic!
 
Arazar said:
Thanks mate, I'm loving it, especially now the domestic side of things is becoming easy so I can holiday the league games! 13 seasons is a good effort, hopefully I can get this one that far. If we could get 2 automatic Europe spots by then, I'd be ecstatic!
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Download the instant result button for the full version of FM so you dont have to holiday and your assistant manager wont take all the glory.
 
coolmcool said:
Download the instant result button for the full version of FM so you dont have to holiday and your assistant manager wont take all the glory.
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Why do I only learn this now! :O Is it steam workshop?

EDIT: Found it now, cheers!
 
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Can you post a picture of your information screen please? I'm interested to see how far the club has progressed under your leadership.
 
TheFalse9 said:
Can you post a picture of your information screen please? I'm interested to see how far the club has progressed under your leadership.
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Here you go mate, those are the facilities after the upgrade was completed also. Big changes are Value (from <1million to 4.3million) and Junior Coaching which we've now got to an Excellent level. ST holders at 209 could do with some growth!
 
Crusaders FC is the team i support. I grew up not far from Seaview and have experienced the pain of relegation and the joys of promotion with them. Will be keeping and eye on your progress. This is my first post since registration and what better way to become involved than in a post about my wee Super Crues. Or The Hatchetmen as they are also known. I have supported them for over 30 years now.
 
MajikD said:
Crusaders FC is the team i support. I grew up not far from Seaview and have experienced the pain of relegation and the joys of promotion with them. Will be keeping and eye on your progress. This is my first post since registration and what better way to become involved than in a post about my wee Super Crues. Or The Hatchetmen as they are also known. I have supported them for over 30 years now.
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That's great to hear my friend, and welcome! Tell me, what are the main rivals, and about the All-Ireland Cup (or Gold Cup, as I think it's called in real life).

I saw you play believe it or not, against my team (Fulham) in a Europa League qualifier at Craven Cottage a couple of years ago. Looked a decent side given the gulf between the two leagues we play in.

As for the game, I intend to create a dynasty using young NI players from the academy and improve the league standard over many seasons. "The Crues" is most used in game but "The hatchetmen" is the more apt name given our style of play so far!
 
January Update!

Europa League
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So we dropped into the group stages of the Europa League after being knocked out of the CL in the Playoffs, not a bad booby prize!

Onto our results and we managed to do the double over PAOK of Greece, and even got a point at the San Siro against Inter but unfortunately Spartak Moscow smashed us in both games and Inter beat us at home. We only missed out on the KO stages by 1 point and the 400k prize money for the 2 wins and a draw is a massive unexpected bonus!



Our quest for domestic domination is going well so far, as we are running away with the league and won the County Antrim Shield 4-0 against our biggest rivals, Linfield. Also we won the NI League Cup 2-1 against Coleraine!



Knowles, above, is the main purchase this January. A midfielder and good set piece taker who cost 70k from Linfield. He's a NI U21 and hopefully can improve alot in the future!



The two above are youngsters signed for a combined 16k from smaller clubs. They will hopefully develop into squad players in the years to come!

I'll be posting a report upon the seasons' completion noting our progress as a club, hopefully we can win the 3 remaining competitions into which we are entered!
 
****** **** that was a hard Europa League group to be drawn in! Good going in the league though, hows the instant result button working for ya?
 
coolmcool said:
****** **** that was a hard Europa League group to be drawn in! Good going in the league though, hows the instant result button working for ya?
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Tell me about it! We've actually hit a rough patch just now, and I kind of regret buying the guy with 5 determination now since he refuses to be tutored!

Other than that, very happy with how things are going and hopefully we can see the youth coming through in the next season or two for the first team.

The button is saving me alot of time, and the assistant from getting the credit! I'm only playing Europa games and cup games vs. top division opponents.
 
Youth candidates + League update

Here are the league table and our latest fixtures. Still in the All-Ireland Cup and NI Cup, but the league is a bit closer than I would like.

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We've lost quite a few games and I think a massive change in tactics is required in the summer. I want us to play a passing, possession based game to absolutely dominate matches against our weaker opponents, but at the moment we are still using a rigid direct 4-4-2.

Now onto the Youth candidates, and I'm delighted with this batch. The Junior coaching investment, now excellent, is paying off as we have 4/5 players who are ready to step into our league already. The Goalkeeper especially looks a talent with 2 1/2 star current ability and 5 star potential. While I'm not going to drop my first teamers this season, I'll restructure the first team squad in the summer so that these guys can play regularly for the first team.

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The league splits shortly, and the latter stages of the two cups are to come, so fingers crossed!
 
looking forward to it mate, ill be following. Keep up the good work !!
 
Youth is looking very strong for you there and I'm looking forwards to more of this in the update :) Keep up the good work!
 
TheWriter said:
Youth is looking very strong for you there and I'm looking forwards to more of this in the update :) Keep up the good work!
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Thanks mate, I'm into the new season and having alot of fun playing 15-17 years olds! Alot of them are making the U19 and U21 squads, 7 in total and more will follow. Excellent Junior Coaching is paying off, now if only I could upgrade Youth Recruitment and go professional! (6)
 
2014/15 Season Finale!


Season Roundup

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So we finished the league as champions! although we lost more games in the second half of the season than I would have liked, as you can see below in our fixture list. We also completed the quadrupleby defeating second tier opponents Dundela in the Irish Cup final! Unfortunately we were beaten by a strong Dundalk side, 1-0 in both legs, in the All-Ireland cup to prevent an Irish clean-sweep.


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Here's our best XI from the season:

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The board announced ?2.3million would be invested in both Training and Youth facilities over the summer, although a board takeover (by a local businessman) meant plans to turn professional were scrapped, to my frustration!

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Big plans are in place for next season in terms of squad, formation and playing style! Stay tuned as I'll post this very shortly!
 
Manager of the Year award!

coolmcool said:
****** **** that was a hard Europa League group to be drawn in! Good going in the league though, hows the instant result button working for ya?
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I'd like to dedicate my award to coolmcool, who suggested the instant result button for pointless domestic games and helped to divert glory from my assistant manager to myself! (6)


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Fantastic season there, really top job :) Hopefully you'll be kicking *** in Europe next season as well as on the domestic front!
 
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