Crusaders F.C. - The European Crusade

Wayne Rooney joins the Crusade!

After recently being released from Manchester United, Wayne Rooney, once the Golden Boy of English football, has signed a contract until the end of the season as a Player/U18 Assistant manager with Crusaders FC!

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I was shocked he even considered us an option, which was probably down to the U18 assistant role he takes. His staff stats are very poor, but lets be honest the main reason we signed him is his ability on the field:

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He's got the highest star rating in our squad already, and his attributes are still fantastic despite some physical decline due to age and injuries. Unfortunately he wasn't signed in time for the Group stages but you don't get a much bigger name and at 6 grand a week (plus a ton of clauses), he should help boost our reputation!

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December 2019 - Champions League Group stages + round-up of season so far

The group containing Tottenham, Bayern and CSKA was a tough draw indeed. Rooney isn't available for any of the games either because he was signed after the registration window closed.

We started our group with CSKA at home, arguably the most winnable match and we really controlled the game like the bigger team! 60% possession bore fruit as our big-game player Jordan Jones scored the opener by converting a cross from McGeady. McGeady then won a penalty in the second half which was converted by prolific spot-kick taker Laird! We won the game 2-0 and deserved the victory!

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Onto the away match against Bayern and we gave a decent account of ourselves but the class difference told and we lost 2-0.


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We went into Tottenham at home with revenge on our minds following last seasons Europa League Quarter Finals! It was a very even game and while we both had good chance, the 0-0 scoreline was fair. 4 points from 3 games isn't a bad return from such a tough group!


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The second game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane was looking exactly the same as the first leg as we played the balanced 4-5-1 Standard/Fluid formation, but very late on Paul Henry struck the winning goal just 2 days before his 19th birthday! The young and in-demand NI international smashed into the far post from a tight angle to exact revenge on Tottenham for last season and send us into the Qualification places with 7 points from 4 games!


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We went for it with our 4-5-1 Control/Fluid formation away to CSKA after how we dominated them in the first game. We bossed them again and Khouma Babacar did exactly the same as Henry in the Tottenham game, scoring an 88th minute winner which saw us qualify with a game to spare!


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The last group match against Bayern would determine the group winner, but they were much the better side and deserved their win although we ran them close.


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It was a tight group in the end. I was pleased that we only conceded 4 goals, and they all game against Bayern too!

Here's the final group table:


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Having finished 2nd, the first knockout round draw was going to be hard either way, and we got City. Hopefully we can pull it out the bag with Rooney available!

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Here's our fixtures so far:

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We top the league with 16 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat.

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That defeat came at the hands of Linfield, who are certainly improving. They even dumped us out the County Antrim Shield 4-2 to ensure we wouldn't do a clean sweep of domestic trophies!

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So we made it through to the Champions League Knock-outs for the first time, it's taken 7 years but I honestly thought it would take far longer. Hopefully with a few young players already reaching their peak, this isn't the pinnacle of our achievements.

Next update I'll post will include the club overview and another high profile signing!
 
Another big name joins the Crusade!

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That's my man, James Milner finally enters (reasonable) negotiations with us following his Manchester City release and joins his pal Rooney on the U18 coaching staff. Milner has taken up a player/U18 coach role until the end of next season and brings 3 star attacking coaching to the youth ranks also (also meaning all areas are 3 star+ for the youth side) :D

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Here's his screenshot and like Rooney he hasn't declined completely as a footballer. He comes in as our best rated central midfielder according to the assistant, and mental stats like his are exactly what we need when it comes to European football. His personality is also very desirable with 17 determination, Professional/Evasive/Reserved. He's also rated highly for Consistency and I can only assume he's a big game player from watching him in real life! (6)

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This concludes transfer business for now. Our 3 signings this season in McGeady, Rooney and Milner have a combined age of 100 and all the experience we need to help guide our younger players on and off the field!

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Barring major injury, I can't see any January signings imminent unless a very good Centre Half becomes available.
 
Club Overview + Northern Ireland's first Euros

Here's the club overview and as you can see, we're now almost worth ?20million, and still in the Champions League!

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Facilities are now Superb/Superb, while our Junior Coaching is still at a very high level. Youth Recruitment is still Average and I don't know when I'll be able to upgrade that.

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Finances are looking healthy, I hope to keep the balance over ?5million from now on so we always have a cushion.

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Here's the squad overview:

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Also an unexpected bonus as Northern Ireland's national team qualified for Euro 2020 via the playoffs. They finished 3rd in the 5-team group with Holland, Croatia, Slovenia and Israel before beating Iceland in the playoffs!

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When I get round to playing City, I'll post an update on it along with Youth intake and the End of Season review! Thanks for reading and if you want to, please leave a comment (6)
 
Champions League Last 32 + Youth Candidates!

We gave Man City a **** of a game in the home leg of the tie, but they edged us. Rooney had 2 clear cut chances as well.

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We went to City having to win and to be fair it was never on the cards. 3-0 flattered them but we had to chase the game later on with the growing need for away goals. Still, we received nearly 3 million pounds for losing and it won't do any harm to our coefficient.

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Onto the Youth Intake and I'm pleased with the batch of players. Some good potential that will help line the squad in the coming seasons as I look to phase out a few of the guys who've fallen out of favour with homegrown talent! (6)

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Onto the season summary:

The League cup became our first trophy-

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Next we wrapped up the league, with Linfield running us closer than ever before under Barker, and Cliftonville also improving under former NI boss Nigel Worthington. A defeat and a few draws meant we wouldn't match our previous points record. To break that now is a big goal since the league seems to be improving somewhat!

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We beat second tier side Carrick to win the Irish Cup, and I raged at my players after for the unconvincing 3-1 victory. We dominated the ball but to concede against them is a bit embarrassing!

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The All-Ireland Cup was our final match and piece of silverware as we beat Linfield 4-1 (after beating Dundalk in the semi's). We met Linfield in every domestic competition this season, losing in the County Antrim shield and beating them the rest of the time. They are definitely a decent side now and have the highest average attendance in the league

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It's hard to argue with the best XI, some household names on there too!

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McGeady won player of the year:

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Here's the squad for Northern Ireland's Euro 2020 adventure, with no fewer than 12 Crusaders men making the final cut!

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I'll post the ranking changes very shortly along with some squad updates for the upcoming season. Please ask if you want any screenshots posted of players! Thanks for reading (6)
 
Hows Rooney doing for you since you signed him? Doesnt look like he has scored much but Boubacar has been in good form KIU
 
Rankings + NI at Euro 2020!

Northern Ireland went from 18th to 16th in the UEFA nation rankings. Breaking the top 15 is the next target, while top 12 (CL group stage berth) looks achievable. I really want to enter the top 6 long term, only then will I feel like my job is done! (6)


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The league is nearly 3 stars in reputation now. If we can overtake the Scottish Premiership soon I'll be very happy!

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Not sure if we will be anything but 4th seeds in the Champions League, but we continue to move up the club rankings:

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NI National Team​

They National side finish 3rd in their group, and qualified for the next round where they lost narrowly to Croatia 4-3. Quite a few of my guys were involved, especially in defence. Whiteside and Jones both scored in the tournament.

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The good performances at the Euros have boosted Northern Ireland to 27th in the FIFA rankings:

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coolmcool said:
Hows Rooney doing for you since you signed him? Doesnt look like he has scored much but Boubacar has been in good form KIU
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Rooney is getting some crazy ratings especially domestically, and I've extended his contract by a year since he has only declined slightly. You're right about his goalscoring, his finishing is going to pot though, I think need to bring him into a much deeper role as the creator.

Babacar is a great player and I think I might have made a mistake in selling him this summer, I'll post about this in a minute!
 
Pre-season 2020/2021 - Transfers/Squad/Formation changes

Firstly, here is the new formation to be used domestically:

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I want a very attacking brand of football with 1 striker and supporting attackers, along with full backs bombing on, so we've gone to a 4-2-3-1 with inside forwards and an attacking midfielder for added threat. Attacking/Very Fluid should be pleasing on the eye and carry a big goal threat!

Here are the transfers:

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I don't intend on bringing in any players, unless the odd genius or great tutor becomes available.

Josh Robinson is a utility player and the last from the team in 2013, but great cover from younger players means he was expendable. We received ?700k which removed any doubts.

Khouma Babacar was a great player for us and his departure was poorly recieved from the fans. As a high earner though. I really don't want to keep Paul Henry out of the limelight any longer either, as he is very capable at any level IMO. Rooney can also take the lone striker role, as can a couple of youngsters. He joins Kopenhavn for 1.8million with a 50% sell on clause.

Tom Eastman simply hasn't shown enough reasons to keep him, plus I have now 4 homegrown Northern Irish centre halves from the academy who I want to be getting gametime. He was the highest earner also, and I gratefully received 1million for him from Rangers (a 300k loss)

Matt Ball is a good NI international on low wages, but simply wasn't getting into a very strong midfield so I took the ?400k from Wycombe for him which will allow more youngsters a route into the first team.

Jamies Knowles had been farmed out on loan for 2 seasons now, and his 2k-a-week contract finally finished.

Paul Beattie was once a promising youngster but injuries hampered his progress. Good luck to him.

Mackie and Spooner go out on loan to get more experience, wages paid.

Peter Rice is a young player who hasn't really broken through yet but LA Galaxy bid 1.7million for him, which with the 50% sell on clause is good business. He had 3 1/2 star potential, and I have plenty of replacements already here.

Contracts​

Rooney and McGeady signed 1-year-extensions, as did Brittain. Digby even took a small paycut (although with a large loyalty bonus) and this all means my top earner has gone down to 5k-a-week (from 6.75k). I don't want to exceed this limit for the next few seasons as try to be sustainable and build the bank balance for a new stadium.

Here's how the streamlined squad shapes up:

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Reserves:​

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U18's:​

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Here are our pre-season friendlies, with the aim of building form and fitness going into the new season. We play Moldovans Sheriff in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

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Just ask for a screenshot, cheers for reading! (6)
 
2020/2021 Pre-Season Part 2

Key men:

Donal *** is still yet to make a breakthrough to the starting XI after 3 full seasons. This is mainly because he plays AM, and we previously didn't. With the formation change, I intend to make *** a key cog in the supporting AM role as he has some of the best potential at the club.

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Henry is the main reason I sold Babacar, he will be the main man for many years (hopefully). The scavengers are always swarming though...

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McGeady was a great signing, hopefully he can perform at a similar level again this time round!

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Same with Rooney, I'm going to move him into the AM role to share with Donal *** since his finishing is falling and he isn't mobile enough. Still can't believe he plays for us!

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Paul Henry looks a beast! Did he come through your academy? You're reaping the rewards of a great youth system, is your plan to have a fully home grown team in future? Do you ever look for talented youngers from elsewhere?
 
cps100 said:
Paul Henry looks a beast! Did he come through your academy? You're reaping the rewards of a great youth system, is your plan to have a fully home grown team in future? Do you ever look for talented youngers from elsewhere?
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Yeah Henry is a complete animal, he came through the youth system around 2015 and seems to have plenty of development left in him too. City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Southampton and Newcastle are pretty much always interested and bid up to 5.5million but he's the future of club and country so I'm not letting him go!

I'd love to have a fully home grown team in say 10 years time. Guys like Brittain, Digby, Milner, McGeady and Eastman were brought in to tutor the current batch of Crusaders Northern Irish talent, so that they in turn can provide the same service to the next generation. Rooney was brought in as a great player rather than tutor, since his personality isn't the best.

I haven't really looked elsewhere for young talent, all of ours have come through the academy :)
 
2020-2021 Champions League Qualification + more!

We started our European campaign with a 2nd qualifying round tie against Moldovan side Sheriff, and easily beat them home and away. The first leg was away and we dominated them, winning 3-0 and not even letting them have a shot!

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With 3 away goals, the tie was already over and we finished the job with a 1-0 second leg victory. The surprise was we converted only 1 of our 32 shots! The next round drew us against Norwegians Molde.

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We once against dominated the first leg away from home, and won 3-0 effectively ending the tie.

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We finished the job with a 4-0 second leg victory. We went through to the play-offs 7-0 on aggregate, where we we face Finnish side RoPS.

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The draw was kinder than previous years, and despite absolutely dominating the first leg, we lost 2-1. It was at home as well so the 2 away goals are very damaging to our chances of going through.

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Luckily we turned on the style in the second leg, and got an early goal to build on. The game finished 4-0 with a couple of great solo goals from Henry and Law. We went through 5-2 on aggregate to the Champions League group stages once again!

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We have narrowly edged our way into the 3rd seed from the group draw, meaning we aren't the weakest team anymore! Our group contains Real Madrid, AC Milan and Feyenoord however, meaning we will still do very well to qualify but I remain hopeful of a 3rd place finish if we can do well against Feyenoord!

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Here our the fixtures so far, and you can see we've already had a draw against Arsenal in a friendly, but also against Cliftonville in the league. Some other stomping wins in the league will hopefully see us break the goalscoring record this season!

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Finances are looking great, with our balance stood at ?17million following several big-money sales, a lower wage bill, Champions League qualification and no facility upgrades this season (for the first time since the start of the save). Hopefully we will have enough money for a fantastic new stadium in a few years time, if we can continue to slowly but surely grow the fanbase!

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Here's the club overview; Paul Henry and John Byrne are now of legendary status at Crusaders. Both came from the academy which is particularly pleasing! A few others are working their way towards that as well. The club is also nearly worth ?30million, a massive growth on last year.

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Our facilities are still Superb/Superb, and will hopefully both get an upgrade next summer given our large balance. Junior Coaching is still at its highest whilst I really don't know why Youth Recruitment is still "Average". I'm still unable to improve this feature, can anyone tell me why?

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My manager profile stands at 500 games now, and World Class Reputation. I don't seem to get many job offers of late though, although the occasional relegated Premier League side do come calling. Hopefully when the Northern Ireland manager leaves, I'll be first choice to take over.

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Finally, here is the final squad for this season ordered by position:

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Thanks for reading, and I'll be back with the Group Stages next!
 
Hopefully your club build a new stadium after you in the near future. Looks like you need it as your current stadium is tiny.

King Arena has a nice ring to it :).
 
For me, this is my favourite save on this website ever, especially since I am Northern Irish myself. Great to see how much you have improved the team and the league so far. Any chance of a screenshot of what Giants Park is? Can't say I have heard of it. Keep up the great work!
 
Curtis21 said:
For me, this is my favourite save on this website ever, especially since I am Northern Irish myself. Great to see how much you have improved the team and the league so far. Any chance of a screenshot of what Giants Park is? Can't say I have heard of it. Keep up the great work!
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Thanks mate, I'm really enjoying building the club, league and national team over the long term! Who do you support (in NI) out of interest?

I think Giants Park could well be made up, and is used alongside Windsor Park for Champions League games (although mainly Windsor Park) due to the 3G surface at Seaview. Hopefully in a few years we can eliminate the need to share for Europe by building a nice new stadium!

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Everything right now in this save is quality, but longer term I'm gonna need 3 things:

1. The Northern Ireland international job
2. Youth Recruitment improvements so I get more Paul Henrys
3. More season ticket holders which will lead to the need for a new stadium

Trust me I will play this save till all 3 happen, Crusaders/Northern Ireland will (eventually) go all the way :D
 
Kerguelen said:
Hopefully your club build a new stadium after you in the near future. Looks like you need it as your current stadium is tiny.

King Arena has a nice ring to it :).
Click to expand...

Tiny and we can't fill it for league games! Season ticket holder growth is so slow, we're only just over 500 which for a Champions League team is unheard of!
 
I'm a Linfield fan, you've signed some good players from them like Mulgrew and Burns during the first few seasons! Nice to see them go full time too. I do hope you get a new stadium soon, finances are in good shape and maybe add in the to do list of winning the champion's league? Just so the save continues on a little longer :p
 
Good going mate!

In terms of the youth recruitment I got to 2037 with Aberystwyth on FM13 and even after 5 Champions League's and 1 Europa League title I don't think we were ever able to get our youth recruitment above average. It doesn't really matter though because it seems you are getting some of the best Northern Irish youngsters anyway and increasing it would only increase the chances that you would start bringing in foreign youngsters in your youth intake.

Also, the attendances problem was my biggest annoyance with the save! We eventually got a new stadium after winning the CL a couple of times but I think it only held 9,000 people and we didn't fill it for most home league games and some CL games, even though we were one of the top 3 most reputable clubs in the world! I assume it was only because Aberystwyth is such a small town though, whereas Crusaders are located in Belfast so there should be loads of room for improvement for your attendances once the club reputation improves a bit more.

Anyway... good luck in the Champions League this year. Think you can steal 2nd place but it will probably be better to get 3rd as you'll have a better chance of winning the Europa League at the moment, which would give your reputation a great boost. Keep up the good work :D
 
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