[FM20] TSV 1860 Munich – “Dethroning the Impostor”

[BJT]

TSV 1860 Munich – “Dethroning the Impostor”

TSV 1860 Munich: Founded 1860 (The Real Munich)

FC Bayern: Founded 1900 (The Impostor)

Foreward

With the final patch out and probably a long while before a new FM comes out with everything going on, I’ve decided to launch a Story on this year’s version.

I’ve come up with the objective of trying to dethrone the Kings of Germany who in fact aren’t the real club in Munich at all.

1860 Munich were founded that year, 40 years before Bayern Munich ever existed. It all seems too wrong that 1860 Munich are the club that got booted out the Allianz Arena and in common times enduring huge financial difficulties with insolvency a real continual danger.

So this save looks like a good challenge. Money is always going to be extremely tight. We’re stuck in the 3rd Division, and with no funds to improve the current squad.

I’ve not a clue where I’m going to end up with them. Lacking any foundation I could already be on a suicidal mission – but I’m going to do my utmost to firstly stabilise the club’s financial conditions, and slowly but surely try and improve things on the football pitch…and maybe just one day, have a match which rivals the magnitude of the Inter / AC Milan derby in its prime.

The Bundesliga seems oh so very far away – but will give it my best crack at the whip!

I'll probably go in a format of providing half-yearly updates, with general analysis wherever appropriate.

 

[Crayth]

Good luck mate! Will follow your story from now on

 

[BJT]

Cheers mate! Think I am going to need it....I always need the money whenever I manage. Unfortunately this club is already in danger of going bust lol.

 

[BJT]

Season 1 Preview

Expectations

Media Prediction 7th

Board Aim: Mid Table

My Aim: Playoffs


It’s hard to judge at the moment what a realistic goal is for the side. I can’t say I like the overall balance of the squad at the moment, as they don’t appear to have the ability to play in a distinct style.

However I’ll trust the media prediction on this one. Never want to aim too low, but as long as we can achieve expectations at the bare minimum I’ll be content....for now.

Depth & Squad Imbalance

Well after having a look at what is available at my disposal, there already appear to be some imbalances. Very short in numbers with our centre-backs and wide players. And all we seem to have available up front are big lumps to launch the football to. Not really my cup of tea - but certainly one of Big Sam's.

The wide players in my reserve squad seem quite slow. So offensively we are going to have some issues with quality depth, a lack of pace, nor a creative forward / clinical finisher. Not a good combination if you're looking to win football matches.

Zero Funds / Wage Budget

Additionally, there are no funds available and the wage budget is tiny. Attempting to sign a couple of free wide players with pace, both gave me the thumbs down in my quest to have them join. Lucky for me I wasn't in the Colosseum at the time.

Well it looks like the writing is already on the wall. I’m already hoping to a rich owner to see the potential we have as a club and take us over!

Tactics – 4141/ Counter-attacking the Emphasis

Fortunately I have created a target man tactic to try and utilise. It is a 4141 system I’ll be looking to play this year. We have some solid ball winners that like the DM strata spot, and we do have some central midfielders that at this level of the game, will do for now.

However my system relies on having pace on the flanks, and most football sides require this sort of option to have any degree of offensive strength to them.

Nevertheless, again relative to the division ,playing in a negative formation but in an offensive counter-attacking way is going to be my approach, playing off our target man up top.

Squad /System

Here’s a screenshot of my first 17 and system which just about fits onto one page:

Transfers / Staff

Given the financial predicament of the club, neither is an option at this stage. Targets ideally would be pace down the flanks, and also centre-backs as we only have two natural CBs. Our next best player is predominantly a right back.

It's going to be a case of having a painful experience this first season but also learn about the squad a little bit more and see who will fit into my plans next year already.

 

[BJT]

Xmas Season 1

It will be a very happy festive period for the boys. Exceeding board expectations by far sees us just about top of the tree after 21 games.

More importantly the gap to third place is a good nine points. Given the top two sides gain promotion it’s a nice buffer to have, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

We have also had our fair share of injury problems, having to dip further into our reserve squad especially when a central midfield crisis hit.

But one particular good patch of form seeing us rack 10 wins on the bounce is ultimately what has placed us in a position where promotion in fact just may be possible however far-fetched it seemed initially.

The Munchen Beast

One reason our form has continued to be consistent is our target man up top. Currently on loan from Armina Bielfield, this Owusu bloke is doing a **** fine job up top. He’s a beast of a man, very quick, tall, and can jump.

FCB 0 – 3 1860 Munchen

A pleasing scoreline was beating Bayern Munich 3-0 away – of course it was their 2nd team. But seeing the crest defeated has already given me a taste of the vision I have, however far away or unrealistic that goal may seem.

Winning “IS” what matters

My approach of doing what it takes to win like my hero Jose although has delighted the board with our club vision objectives, has met a lot more scepticism and discontent from our own fans.

Despite being top and with board expectations of mid-table mediocrity far exceeded, they are complaining about the entertainment on display?? Winning is entertainment, and losing is not entertaining at all…

What can I say, they’re football fans for a reason – haven’t any footballing knowledge whatsoever.

Let’s just hope the board don’t start to stipulate needing to play entertaining football – to make the save even harder!

Contracts

There must have been around a dozen of the squad with their contracts / loan spells due to end by the end of this season.

Having managed the team for a little while I had a good idea of who I want to keep and who needs to be offloaded. But the problem is with such poor finances, how capable we’ll be able to recruit in the Summer may end up determining if I renew contracts that really I don’t want to.

I really do need to keep our striker on loan again though if we can. He’s played the role so well for us thus far and has become an integral part of the side, our Didier Drogba. Otherwise I've been able to arrange most of the key men I want to stay at the club next season.

However the renewals have come at a great wage cost, with all players bargaining hard. It's meant we are only just above the wage budget with no funds left to spare...which could make Summer investment highly problematic.

 

[BJT]

Fives Games to Go

Pole Position

What appeared to potentially be a nail biting finish for either the playoff spot or outright promotion, our lads have done amazingly well to maintain the consistency we showed during the first half of the season.

Maintaining our defensive solidity combined with less injury issues this half of the season has meant we have been able to pull away from the chasing pack.

A key result was away to second place Braunschweig who were one single point off us at the time. Coming away with a 1-1 draw, it was at that point they started to stutter whilst we kept on putting in a shift.

Owusu Stars

Owusu has kept hitting braces, and will most definitely be in the running for player of the season. Scoring goals, average rating high and currently has most of the MOTM awards in the league, we've been very fortunate he's only missed a few games all season.

I expect we should be able to hold on from here and finish Champions of the 3rd Division, unless the most unthinkable of collapses happens....

 

[BJT]

3.Liga Winners + Record Point Holders

No Capitulation

There was no surprises in the run in. Comfortably winning the league in the end by a dominant 19 points ahead of Ingolstadt.

But a special ending to the year saw our Die Lowen surpass the previous 85 points record of this division, whilst ending the year on a 16 game unbeaten run.

We now hold the record with 89 points.

Season Stats

Reviewing our statistics for the year, we scored the second most number of goals from corners, which is always a pleasing statistic as set pieces are crucial in deciding games.

Owusu ended up top goal scorer with 25 goals, the most league MOTM awards with 11, along with the highest average rating of 7.40.

Our keeper notched up 22 shut outs, only missing one game all year with appearances, with Bekiroglu our most creative player providing 11 assists.

As a team, we scored the second most goals with 60 and conceded the least with 22 giving us the best GD in the league of +38….and our fans are still complaining at the entertainment!

A shout-out goes to our centre back Felix Weber. He was good for us at the back this year, and also contributed with 6 goals and was a real threat from our set plays.

Financial Overview

It looks like the club are currently having to pay a total loan of 1.7 million, with 1.6 million now left to pay off. Tough times.

However our promotion will hopefully improve things from both a sponsorship and gate receipts levels. Our budget for next year already looks set for an increase to 87k per week. This may also increase with a number of players contracts due to expire – this is something I’m going to have to review this off-season.

Currently our attendance figures aren't too bad. However now out of the Allianz arena the current stadium only holds 15,000...this could be a real problem in our development for many many years to come.

Season Overview / Targets

Surpassing Expectations – with more Jose help

I didn’t expect to get promoted first season. Fortunately before the year began, I spotted Lex considered our best player as a pressing forward, was also capable of playing on the left as an Inverted Winger.

He may not have been most suited positional wise, but his attributes of pace and work-rate were very important to how the system played.

I guess you can liken how I managed him as of that with Jose to Samuel Eto at Inter. Moved him out wide for the team – and it worked a treat here.

Two Key Players Lost, 1 Replaced

However from our squad two major players leave from their loans. Owusu the man who solely got us the goals and really made the offence tick, and our ball-playing defender Tim Rieder.

I was able to snap up a guy whose contract was due to expire in January. Jesper Verlaat I have my reservations about as I don’t like a lazy player. However his height, strength and composure still makes me believe he’ll be an asset.

There wasn’t a lot else available at the time, so given the circumstances hopefully he will be a decent signing that will help try and maintain our status in German 2. Bundesliga.

Next Season

I’m not sure yet what the gap in quality is going to be like moving up a league. It’s going to be very very difficult to replace Owusu up top. I believe that is going to be the key to our fortunes of staying up, or falling back down.

Consequently if our budget is going to be placed heavily in finding an adequate replacement, with the number of players due to leave our squad may be quite small.

Looking forward to the Summer!

 

[BJT]

Season 2 Preview

Expectations

Media Prediction 17th

Board Aim: Fight bravely against relegation

My Aim: Avoid a relegation scrap

--

Henk Veerman - the new big man

Going into uncharted territory, our squad have had a number of changes. The one big one is up front, where unfortunately his current club Arminia Bielfeld weren’t willing to discuss an extension to the loan. So my worst fears came to fruition – finding a replacement.

The man with all the pressure on his shoulders is Henk Veerman. Transfer listed by St.Pauli, he was deemed surplus to requirements and listed at 750k.

At 29 years of age, there’s probably a few years I can get out of him. There were no other options available to us due to various reasons of interest and wage budget.

Significantly Weaker Up Top

But he is a significant step down from Owusu, because the fella has little pace to him. So we will be weaker on the counter – and I was unable to bring in a quick right inverted winger to the squad too.

Unfortunately not having the budget and finances following this signing meant my hands were tied. But on a side note, we were able to get another striker on the free in Nils Quashner. Can play the target man role, although he's not so tall and not the strongest - he does have a little more pace and work-rate.

So he can play a part off the bench giving us a slightly different dimension in attack when the opponents are perhaps starting to tire, or to help the side defend when holding onto a lead.

I did what I could to make the best out of a bad situation.... I just hope I have done enough.

Better Depth

On a positive note, Tim Rieder also on last year we were able to have an extension to into this year. We didn’t have a lot of depth last year, so with this along with the new signing Verlaat there is better depth here.

We have also strengthened in the middle of the park with additional quality brought in. Mirnes Pepic is a Serbian International, so hopefully we’ll be strong in this area for this year.

I was also able to bring in an Inverted left winger Osei Kwakado to replace the ageing Stefan Lex. I just hope he and the rest of the guys brought in can settle quickly, as a bad start could make things very tough for the season ahead.

And although ageing, a decent freebie in Diego Contente. Having experienced football at the Impostors, he should bring in some much needed experience and calm to the back line.

A Summer of Content

With the funds available and the number of players that I believe would not have cut it in this division, it’s been a decent window.

I can only say decent though, because Owusu who fired us into this division wasn’t replaced. Without that additional threat of pace up front, this isn’t too bad if you have adequate offence on the flanks.

However our right flank is not up to standard in this division – and so we will struggle to score goals.

I also wished I could have invested in a better keeper. But with all of our other problems in getting a competitive squad, he'll have to make do this year. Hopefully he can perform reasonably well, and with last year's 22 shut outs provide him with confidence to have another good year.

One area I did also have a review of was our staff. We actually have some decent guys at the club. But I decided to bring in a new number 2. Highly experienced he seems to be capable in judging a player along with some motivational skills. Hopefully this will help in games we're not quite at the race in from the off.

Finances a real Hindrance

Also really painful was an absolute gem fell out of my grasp. Costing only 100k, he was only available following my other dealings. We had a contract agreed, but with not enough of a transfer budget available and unable to sell 3 players listed for 3 weeks, the transfer fell through.

He was only 22, and would have walked in straight at right back. Bundesliga quality he’s the sort of player we needed if we were going to become playoff contenders or beyond….

So for now it’s going to have to be the slow route of trying to stay up, becoming a stable side in the division before we can then push for promotion – that’s the long term aim.

Here are my transfers, which will give an indication of it being very much a Summer of free dealings.

Board Discontent

Our wage budget has been far surpassed and our board aren’t the most pleased with my management.

However when looking at the prize money of Bundesliga 2 vs Liga 3, you win nothing in the bottom division. If we maintain our league status, we’ll get at least GBP 7.46 million.

With an outstanding loan of 1.6 million still left to pay, I felt it was worth the gamble taking this riskier, but more rewarding approach.

Will this pay off? We’ll see during the course of this coming year. So on to season 2!

 

[BJT]

A Successful Bundesliga 2 Debut

I'm hoping this wasn't a one off, but it was a brilliant start for our new looking side.

A fabulous free kick opened the scoring from our man Bekiroglu, who then with a well taken free kick set piece setup Tim Rieder to nod in close from home for the second. Our third brought our Arjen Robben into play, drifting in from the right to score with a great strike outside of the box - maybe our IWR isn't so bad after all irrespective of poor attributes.

And last but not least, our impact target man for the year came off the bench to feed off from our right full-back cross by Marius Willisch into the box for our fourth.

I'm not going to be silly and think we can achieve a playoff spot from a one off game! - but a brilliant start is exactly what we need in our quest to maintain our league status.

Hare are the highlights of the game:

 

[BJT]

Xmas – Season 2

A Satisfying Season so far

The season started off for us fantastically well, and we were keeping up with the top 3 spots.

However with other teams starting to adapt, the weaknesses I’m fully aware of being our goalkeeper and right back have been exposed much more, and after a patch of bad form we were sliding back to a mid-table position.

But that’s not a bad place to finish, as realistically with what we have it’s about the best we could hope for. Xmas has probably come at the right time, a chance to rid of the poor form and have a break.

With that said, a 94th minute winner from sub Stefan Lex brought us a real valuable 3 points against relegation strugglers Nurnberg in the last match before Xmas. It has made the table look a little prettier again, with renewed hope for when the season commences.

DFL Pokal

Drawing Hamburg away in the first round was a tricky tie. And with the game tied at 1-1 in a closely fought contest, Lex got himself a red card which gave them the one man advantage which told in the end, with them winning 3-2.

I wasn’t too fussed though as there didn’t appear to be any round prize money shown. It just means we can focus on getting the best finish we possibly can in the league where the money lays.

Ensuring we don’t Slide

The rest of the season now is a case of us making sure we don’t do anything silly and finish in the top half if we can.

You can see how our form had waned the last dozen or so games. So let’s hope we can try and have a good patch of some at some point to ensure our safety and with any luck ease our financial difficulties.

I hadn't mentioned I've had two job offers so far....it just chuckled me they are from both the sides mentioned here, Hamburg and Nurenberg.

Onto the remainder of the year we go....

 

[BJT]

Five Games to Go

Safety Secured

With five games left, some good form immediately after Xmas including a 2-0 win against the league leaders VFB Stuttgart has secured our Bundesliga 2 status for next year.

We were also threatening to pinch a 3rd place playoff spot. However defeats in the last two games has derailed our attempts. Additionally both first choice and backup left backs up suffered a 7 month and a 4 month long term injury respectively. So our two full back positions are now extremely vulnerable for the remainder of the year.

At this point I'm really just looking to get the year done, and focus on a very important window if we are to maintain our progress on the pitch, whilst trying to bring our finances back on the right track.

Oh Dear Keeper....

But watching our keeper gift an absolute howler of a goal when 1-0 up in a game serves a reminder that this team still needs players in key positions to bring about that consistency required to gain promotion....darn I have been dealt a tough hand! I'm saying no more....

 

[BJT]

Sixth Spot – GBP 11.42mil

It’s all about the Money

Well there we have it. A final position of 6th place with 11.42 mil GBP in the bank. We were in debt, but the prize money now leaves us with just over 10mil. So a bit of breathing space finally, and I’m eager to see how much money and wage budget will be available for next season.

This is very much needed to sort our defence out, however excellent the year was. We scored enough goals in the league looking at the final table. But the real solidity we had last year in 3 Liga disappeared coming up against much better opposition.

A bit more depth as well will be needed. So this Summer I’ll need to review all the contracts about to expire and see if I can secure anyone on the free.

The best policy for now would be to perhaps have a season spending as little as possible, to set us up for a real push the following year, hoping we will have a budget capable of attracting the better players demanding a higher wage.

On the Pitch

Enough about finances. With a weaker target man up top and a goalkeeper not good enough for this division we had a great year.

Our star man was our creator in the middle Bekiroglu. 6 MOTM, 12 assists and 3rd highest in the league average ratings he shone for us.

Kwadwo our free IWL in the Summer also performed great in his first season at the Die Lowen. Scoring 14 goals he was our main source.

It will be hard to criticise Veerman our target man up top. He did come up with some important goals for us and did well to bring our wingers into the game. Only if he had the work-rate of our backup target man, he’d be a great fit for the team.

Going Forward

It’s a bit early to pinpoint a target. A lot depends on how much the board are willing to invest in players on the pitch and who ultimately is available.

However we avoided any sort of relegation scrap this year so we have adapted well to the higher level.

Naturally we should try to maintain a top six finish whilst trying to stay within a new wage budget, at which we can then try a riskier strategy to clinch promotion to the big league.

 

[BJT]

Season 3 Preview

Expectations

Media Prediction 11th

Board Aim: Mid-Table

My Aim: Top 6

--

A Poor Summer

My worst fears came to fruition here. Although the wage and transfer budget increased, given the sheer amount we overspent last year it meant our ability to sign players was limited.

This meant again focusing on freebies at the end of their contracts. Which unfortunately meant there was no goalkeeper or right back available to invest in this Summer – which were key key positions that needed to be improved upon.

Consequently we will not improve on last year’s performance, and so we’ll need to try our best to maintain where we finished last season to try and earn some more money.

Slightly Better Depth and first XI

Highly negative in my overall review of our dealings. But with that said, we found a decent target man on the free in Aaron Seydel. I believe he’ll be good enough to start and he’s a real aerial beast @ 199cm and 18 jumping.

David Atanga comes in on the IWR spot. An area I felt we were weak and could be improved upon. Here is the improvement.

Tim Rieder who has been with us the past two seasons on loan has finally signed for us in full. At 27 years old he’s coming into a good age where his experience will hopefully start to show.

Bjarnnson and Pusch also join us in the midfield spots. With a couple of players leaving through retirement and not wanting to resign, we’ve replaced them adequately and in Bjarnnson although now 33 years old, still has something to offer from the bench.

Overview

As indicated, it’s not been the best in terms of obtaining the players needed to have a real push for the top 3. But there has been an improvement in depth and a slightly better first XI, in the main being Atanga coming in on the left.

Top six is my aim for this year….but with luck as you get in football, the slight improvements if good enough in masking our problems areas could see us go that little bit higher.

It will be interesting to see how this season pans out….and other teams will know what we are about as well with our football.

Here are the new guys that will make the first XI, hopefully a small enough improvement to see some good results this year:

 

[BJT]

Xmas – Season 3

Consistently Inconsistent

If you asked me how I felt about our side after the first couple of months, there would have been one word – “Absolutely Livid”. Okay then, make that two.

Things really weren’t clicking at all on the offensive front. Surprisingly not leaking goals as we did like last year has meant we’ve probably not lost as many games as we could have done.

And this includes our keeper thus far already making three howlers.

Am I Bonkers?

And now you look at the league table and think what am I on about? Well the graph indicates how we started off slow and have slowly improved. But in the lower positions of this graph, we were only a few points above the relegation zone.

Looking at the table now, we’re in contention for the 3rd place playoff spot – along with another dozen or so clubs.

A lot to play for

So there is so much left to fight for this season. Top spots are already done and dusted, but I hope that after having half a season together, perhaps our offence may start to find a little bit more cohesion.

And perhaps our goalkeeper may make less than 3 howlers after half the season – that will increase our chances too….I nickname the fella “Butter Fingers”, as he just lets shots go through his gloves.

 

[BJT]

Five Games to Go

Prediction Spot On

I've always been a realist. And the top 6 aim this year having known our squad and its limitations was probably what we could best hope for. The luck I had hoped we would have never materialised.

Before some big games, we lost our striker and all our full-backs being forced to play a centre back as an attacking full-back. No reserves could even play the full-back position.

A damaging 4-1 defeat in the must win game to close the gap to 3rd spot down to one, meant the momentum swung the other way - the result nothing left to now play for.

I can only hope we get more luck with player availability in the Summer...because another season of no tangible progression will be a painful one.

 

[BJT]

FINAL DAY DRAMA

Moss in Ecstasy - Playoffs Await

I couldn't resist the caps, shoot me!

A shock defeat for VFL Bochum at the hands of Uerdingen gave us the 3rd playoff spot in the last game of the season. Uerdingen had to win that game, as the team above them were 2 points ahead going into the 2nd half of the matches.

Their winner meant they stayed up on goal difference - and with us winning a tight home game 1-0 saw us finish one point above the team that battered us at home 1-4.

More Positive News

After a request by myself to increase our transfer budget, I was successfully able to secure the services of unwanted VFL Stuttgart goalkeeper Fabian Bredlow.

Although our current keeper is very good aerially, this guy is a lot better at sweeping up balls and is still extremely tall. Quicker off his line and a good all round game, it should help to achieve that greater consistency which is what we have lacked these last two seasons.

The icing of the cake this year would be to secure promotion - but we were lucky, and the fact Bochum completely outlcassed us at our own place doesn't bode well if our opponents have anything like the quality they possess.

 

[victorhugo4222]

Good luck in the playoffs!

 

[Crayth]

Good luck in the playoffs mate! Did really well in the first year to get up, stabilised second year and have made a real run at it second year! Well done! Keep it up mate!

 

[BJT]

Bundesliga 2 Playoff - Koln vs 1860 Munchen / Leg 1

Well before we go into the playoff games, let's take a look at the squad values:

KOLN

1860 Munchen

Backs to the Wall

Okaaay then. Definitely a backs to the wall job in both legs. Wasn't really sure what to expect to see when kick off starts. What sort of side, players, style of game they would play.

Kick Off

I had a full first team to pick from, so that made me happy. What also made me happy was when I saw their two starting centre-backs both under 183cm vs my Seydel @ 199cm with 18 jumping. I could smell a potential weakness here there for exploitation.

But then I saw the way Koln were playing from the off....absolutely bossing the football. It was wave after wave of attack....it felt like a Pep Guardiola Man City side vs Spurs earlier this season, and I was hoping just like the Spurs, we would triumph with the knowledge we would need a lot of luck.

And immediately memories of our home bashing where VFL Bochum won 1-4, I was dreading that the tie would already be over before the second leg started.

Resolute, but not enough

We kept repelling these attacks after attacks. But what was really disheartening was the way we just couldn't create anything. All we could do was launch it up top, but were not able to get any control of the football whatsoever.

Despite the battling display from our lads, Koln finally made the breakthrough just after the hour mark. The pressure told, camped around our own 18 yard box their left back crossed the ball to the far post. Unmarked from only a few yards out he nodded in past our keeper who couldn't really do anything about it.

Koln kept coming and coming. After this outstanding performance from them, I thought even with only being a goal down, I can't see us overturning this game. Their squad was just too strong, and they kept the ball so well.

We did well to keep the score to 1-0 in the end. But not one chance to even shout about all game....it looks like we'll be stuck in Division 2 for another year. Which in all honesty isn't the worst thing that could happen, as we are far from ready for the challenge of the Bundesliga.

 

[BJT]

Good luck in the playoffs mate! Did really well in the first year to get up, stabilised second year and have made a real run at it second year! Well done! Keep it up mate!

Cheers mate! Tbh very satisfied already with the progress we've made. Clearly we aren't ready to go up yet....but football is football and anything can happen