FM22 - Dare to dream

[franja]

Hello everyone. I'm franja, passionate Football Manager player and I'm here to share my story with you. I've been playing Football Manager for about 15 years. It's a stress relief and relaxation after work for me.

Currently I'm playing journeyman/DoF save and I would like to share it with you. I hope you'll enjoy.

P.S. Sorry for my bad english lol.

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Let's get started.

MANAGER DETAILS
Manager name: Franja Franja
Age: 35
Nationality: Croatian
Favourite club/s: Hajduk Split, Liverpool

Save rules:

- I can only apply for available job if I'm jobless
- I can only ask to study for a coaching badge 2 times per season (once in the first half of the season, once in the second half of the season)
- I can't manage a club and a national team at the same time
- DoF is in charge for all transfers and contract negotiations (I can only suggest players I would like to buy/sell etc.)

Leagues:

- Austria (second division and above)
- Belgium (first division - only for now)
- Croatia (third division and above)
- Czech Republic (first division - only for now)
- Denmark (first division - only for now)
- Holland (first division - only for now)
- Norway (first division - only for now)
- Poland (first division - only for now)
- Slovenia (first division - only for now)
- Switzerland (second division and above)

So, that's all for this short intro. As I'm already 4 seasons into the save, I'll show you my progress soon. After that, I'll update you on monthly basis. Thank you all for reading, see you soon!​

 

[franja]

SEASON 1 - NK Omiš​

I started my career without a coaching badge and as a Sunday league footballer. After several weeks of job searching and various interviews, an invitation from the local club Omiš arrived. Omis is a small place not far from my city and the only logical thing was to accept that job. It was a great opportunity for me to continue living in my hometown, and by car I go to trainings and matches in Omis.

Omis competes in the Croatian fourth league, amateur football rank. At the beginning of the season, I knew that we were among the strongest teams in the league, and that with a few smart moves in the market, we could fight for the title. I had a good relationship with the football director from the first day, so we quickly found a common language. In amateur football, players can leave the club at any time, so it was very important to follow market events and react to them. We put together a great team for the fourth league, which we won in the end with a 6-point advantage.

Croatian lower league clubs play their local cups. This season, the cup was extremely stressful for us, because we won the first two rounds on penalties. However, in the quarterfinals we were defeated by Uskok, who were in the third league at the time.

To conclude the first season, it was successful for us. We won the league and thus achieved a placement in a higher rank, in the Croatian third league. The first trophy of my career, let's go! Now is the time for the president, the football director and I to discuss transfers to the third division. Talk to you soon.

 

[franja]

Season 2 - NK Omiš

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After we won promotion to the third Croatian league last season, I knew that this season would be harder. Still, the football director did a really good job over the summer in terms of transfers, so we quickly built a respectable team. The teams were tied throughout the season, and everyone could beat anyone. We had a lot of good games, but also a few bad ones, so at the end of the competition we took fourth place. Since we have just been promoted to the league, this is a very good result for us.

When it comes to the local cup, this has been another very stressful season for us. Again, we won 2 games on penalties and one game on overtime. Still, the semifinals were a lot easier and we recorded a routine 2-0 win. The final was very dramatic, and we secured the victory with a goal in the 86th minute of the match. Second season and second trophy on the bench Omis, great result.

But...

"So, what do you think?" the president asked me.
"I don't know ..." I replied.
"We can do even better than this, you know that. Stay with us." he insisted.
"Okay, another season." - I accepted the offer and extended the contract until the end of next season.

 

[franja]

NK Omiš - Season 3

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We entered our second season in the third league encouraged by last season's results and we wanted to win at least one trophy this season as well. The football director brought in several quality players, so we knew we were among the strongest teams in the league.

We showed that on the field, and with a 4-point advantage we won the third league and for the first time in the history of the club won promotion to the second Croatian league. The biggest success of the club and the third trophy in three seasons for us.

As defenders of the title in the cup, we wanted to win the second trophy this season. The competition started great for us, with a convincing 4-1 victory in the first round. However, it ended faster than expected, because we were defeated by Junak Sinj in the second round. Too bad!

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I knocked on my assistant's office door. "Teo, can I come in?"
"Of course." - he replied - "What is it?"
"A few minutes ago I turned down a new contract."
"You did?"
"Oh come on, don't pretend to be surprised. We've talked about this before."
"I know, I know. So, what now?" he asked.
"It's up to you. I'm going to get some rest, and then new challenges await."
"Resting will help me too." he nodded
"Excellent." - I knew what that meant
"Did you tell the players?"
"I think they know, but I'm just going to them."
"All right. I'm going to tell the president. See you later."

 

[franja]

One month later

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"Tony you idiot, where are you, I've been calling you all day?" - I asked when he finally answered my cell phone, but I didn't hear anything from the noise.
"Tony, can you hear me?" I asked louder
"Hello, who is it?" he replied
"Who do you think it is, it's me, you fool. Franja."
"Hey. What do you need?"
"Where are you?"
"On the beach, there's a great party here. It's mostly just men here, but it doesn't matter."
"What a drunken fool you are."
"I can barely hear you, why are you calling?"
"Go home, sober up. We're flying in the morning."
"Where?"
"To Vienna. We have an interview."
"Red Bull?"
"Red Bull are from Salzburg, you idiot. Go home and get ready. See you in the morning."

 

[franja]

Tony, the agent, and I left for Vienna after a sudden call from the president of Austria Vienna FC. At first I could not believe that such a club wanted me for its head coach, but after his insistence, we left for Vienna. Tony didn’t even fully sober up, and our plane landed at Vienna Airport, where we were greeted by a club driver who took us to the stadium.

The conversation went pretty well. The President presented his ideas and goals, I presented mine as well. We agreed that the current director of football would remain in office, as well as that Tony would become my assistant. We left the stadium satisfied.

We had a few more hours until the return flight to Croatia, so Toni, the agent and I decided to go for burgers and beer to celebrate this great success for us. In the middle of lunch, our agent's phone rang and he was surprised by what he heard. The leaders of the second Viennese club heard that we were in Vienna, so they wanted us to meet before returning to Croatia.

"What? It's out of the question! ******* Austria wants us! They're out of the league and they want me and Franja to take them back in the first league. I don't want to talk to these fools." Tony shouted at the restaurant
"What the **** is wrong with you?" - I asked him nervously - "We will go and talk to people. What can we lose? After all, we make the final decision, it will be as we want."
"I agree with Franja, let's hurry to them, so we can get on the plane later." - Surprisingly calm was the agent
"You're not ******* normal." - Tony continued to grumble as we went to the second interview of the day.

Two hours later, we were on a plane and returning to Croatia. Tony was asleep, and the agent was reading the news on his laptop.

"Guys, look at this." - he said softly, and turned my laptop. Then Tony woke up too. I looked at the title of the article where it said: Andreas Wieland leaves Floridsdorfer AC and becomes head coach of Austria Vienna.
At first I was shocked because Austria turned us down without letting us know. But then the shock got even bigger, because I realized that their new head coach was coming from the club where we had our second interview!

Moments later, the agent rang Zoom on his laptop. He responded to the call, and on the other hand was the president of the Floridsdorfer AC.

"You saw what happened. Take a few more days off, and then we see you on Monday at the signing of the contract." he said calmly.

 

[franja]

"I hate Vienna, Franjo. I hate Austria too. It annoys me here." - Toni kept repeating while we watched the Champions League match in a small apartment in the suburbs of Vienna, which we received from the club for use.

"Why?"

"Everything is so tidy. Everything is working exactly on schedule. The trains are not late. The bus drivers are not nervous. Horror."

"What?"

"I speak well. In Croatia, everything was different. Beer was 3 times cheaper. I could scream in the street and no one would look at me strangely. Here you smile a little louder and people think you're crazy. **** this ****. And the cold. I hate snow. In fact, I hate Austria. "

"You're crazy." - I answered him briefly.

In fact, Tony wasn't entirely wrong. In Austria, everything is really done according to schedule. Everyone looks sleek and absolutely everything is expensive. The only difference between me and Tony is that I like this. I ******* like it. Especially since we have trainings every day, twice a day. Professionalism and Austria, perfect.

SEASON 4 - Floridsdorfer AC

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And what to say that the first season at the new club. As much as I love Austria, I love this club as much. It didn't take me long to fall in love. The management and the director of football have shown ambition since my first day at the club. Although the goal was the middle of the table, by investing in the team we wanted to immediately take a step above the middle of the table and try to fight for the top.

We did a fantastic first part of the championship. We recorded only one defeat and all other victories, so we held a convincing first place during the winter break. In the spring we gave up a bit, there were draws and defeats, but in the end we managed to win the title convincingly and immediately in my first season to win a place in the first league. Phenomenal success.

We tried out this season in the Austrian Cup too. We played all 3 games away. After the first two rounds where we drew and passed weaker teams than us, in the third round we draw the strongest club in Austria, Red Bull Salzburg, where we receive a goal only in the 81st minute and are eliminated. Too bad.

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The great season is behind us and I am excited because we will be competing in the Austrian first league from next season. My contract expires at the end of next season, but I hope the board will offer me a new contract that I will be happy to sign.

From now on I will write monthly reports. Thank you all for following.