FC Köln - A New German Powerhouse

[Masoaoki]

Howdy.

Couldn't decide on a team to do a long term save with for ages, had a save with Sampdoria but I've started to get bored of that sooo figured I'd start a new save and in an attempt to make sure I keep up with it decided that I'd make it a story as well.

So here we go, an epic battle between good (me) and evil (everyone else) played out on the football pitches of Germany and eventually.....the world

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What a cool logo

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I rocked up on my first day of my new job in the city of Cologne as the manager of their football team, recently promoted to the Bundesliga, expecting to have a discussion with the chairman about what he expects from me at the club and any philosophies he wanted me to follow. As it turns out he had just one philosophy, a philosophy which is common with most German clubs and one which I also tend to follow naturally, bring young players through from the academy into the first team. I would've done this without him asking probably but to have just a little bit of a push in that direction doesn't hurt I guess.

My Chairman's current ambitions for the club are pretty low it has to be said though:

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I decided to stick with the avoid relegation option, it decreases the pressure on me and with no real financial benefits attached to the higher expectations there didn't seem to be much point in me choosing them.

My personal aim for this season is to finish at least 12th because although the Bundesliga is arguably the most competitive league in Europe (alongside the Prem) there is quite a few weaker teams towards the bottom alongside us promoted teams.

Next update I'll introduce you to the squad and show you what I did in pre-season. I'll give you a hint, not much.​

 

[Masoaoki]

Preseason 2014

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Hi again, just a little warning that updates for this story will likely be very erratic and slow at first because my exams at uni start on Wednesday so (obviously) I can't just play 24/7 :'(

Anyways onto preseason:

Despite being given next to no transfer budget, I noticed that I'd actually been given a rather large wage budget (£140k p/w) which I was never going to use most of so I quickly transferred the majority of it into my transfer budget and lo and behold I now had about £7m to work with. The first thing I did was sign up 2 youngsters to pre-contract deals:

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Both Luka and Jhon will be joining us in 2016 so here's hoping they get a decent amount of game time at their current clubs so they can develop adequately for when they arrive.

Outside of these 2, I made 3 signings for this actual season:

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All 3 are youngsters since that's how I like to play. I wanted Niklas Stark from Nurnberg as well but when I realised it was between him and Zivkovic, I backed out of the Stark deal as Ruben Neves was available for loan and Zivkovic looks like he'll be the more impactful player for us.

Here's their profiles:

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Romagna won't be a starter but he can be a backup at both CB and DM in my system. Although he's only on loan I plan on getting him permanently at some point during or directly after the loan. He looks a top prospect but his concentration and composure are both god awful at this point.
Everyone knows Ruben Neves, I doubt I'll be able to get him permanently at the end of the season but may be able to in the future, that all depends on whether I can find a top notch German Anchor Man. At the moment I think Neves will be a starter but he'll need to perform for me to keep his place.
Zivkovic is an undisputed starter when he's fit. I tried to get rid of Marcel Risse who was our current RW but couldn't find any takers (nor could I for anyone I tried to sell annoyingly). Zivkovic fits in well with my system as a left footer who likes to cut in from the right wing as an inside forward and I'm expecting big things from this lad.

With those 3 signings, here is my full squad:

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I couldn't cancel Deyverson's loan for some odd reason but he won't be playing at all. Helmes is out for 9 months so he likely won't be playing at all. I've actually sent Bard Finne out on loan now simply because no one would buy Marcel Risse. That's about it, pretty happy with the rest of our squad, not very strong yet but good potential in key positions and probably good enough to achieve my aims this season.

With this squad I realised I wouldn't be able to play exactly my 4-2-3-1 style of football so I made a small change in midfield and pushed the 2 back from CM to DM, here's the tactic:
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Likely starting XI when all fit.

Here's a few players who I believe will be key players for this season and the future:

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Timo Horn

The young German goalkeeper is already very good at only 21 years old. I hope he will stay for a long time and be my number 1 for years to come, arguably our best player.

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Kevin Wimmer

Wimmer is our best CB despite also only being 21 years old. He's the highest rated player in our team currently at 4 stars and looks to have a good future with us. Depending on how he develops he could be with us for quite a long time.

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Yannick Gerhardt

The young German is a jack of all trades, master of none type player at the moment in central midfield. I'm going to be playing him as my Regista and just give him license to dictate things, I'm very excited to see how he develops and don't plan on selling him for many years to anyone.

With that I leave you until next time when I'll update you on my preseason results and results for August​