Frizzy hair and scorpion kicks. A Colombian Story.

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After watching a recent documentary about drugs in Colombia and its effects on the Colombian national team I was struck with the idea of managing a side in Colombia. Then whilst reading about the San Marino challenge I considered why not attempt that with Colombia. Therefore I have set out to take the team predicted to be bottom of the Colombian second division to become the best team in Colombia and hopefully the best team in South America. As an added extra I will try and take the Colombian National team to the World Cup for the first time since 1998 and attempt to win the tournament. I’m not that amazing at this game, in all honesty the only trophies I have won are the Blue Square South and the League Two titles. Therefore this plans to be an interesting and ambitious quest. Buy hey, I have the whole summer to do it. :D. I apologise beforehand about the length of this first post, I would advise you to make a cup of tea before diving into it. ;). I also apologise about the poor quality of the pictures. I put them on a Word document before transferring them on to here and it didn't go to well.
So without further ado I welcome you to:
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They are a new club to the division having been founded in 2010 and they have very basic facilities all round. Their finances are not brilliant but at least they are not bankrupt.
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The team report is not too promising but it is definitely something to build upon. As you can see the team is short of decent left backs and needs more cover in the AMR and AML roles. This will be crucial as I will be using wingers in my tactic. The Colombian Second Division only allows five foreign players (with only four allowed in the match day squad) so I will have to focus on finding the best talent available in Colombia.
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Here is my best player according to my assistant. He is old but still possesses quality and will be an integral part of my squad.
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This is the formation I am going to play during the season. I believe we are good enough to play attacking though I do have a back-up tactic in case things start going bad ;).

So onto the transfers, the transfer budget has been set at £37.5k with the wage budget at £4.2k however after some adjustments the transfer budget is now £16,218 and wage budget £4,616 per week. The club are currently paying £3,918 a week on wages. Luckily Colombians do not ask for too much wage money :D.

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My Key Signings were:
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All in all he seems a solid left back. I’m looking forward to his performances. He will be my main left back this season and his young age means he can surely only get better.
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A very decent AMR who will challenge Cicilliano for a place in the first team. He will also be a possible replacement for Cicilliano as he is getting old and may only have a season or two left.
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Looking forward to this mans impact. He will be my main choice advanced playmaker. Again he is young so will develop nicely into a star for the future…hopefully.

When looking at players out I was unaware that some of my decent players had really low release clauses so my main right back Vargas has gone on loan to deportivo cali with an option to buy as well as my striker Alvaro Saenz and main left winger Victor Perez. Needless to say I was swearing at my laptop but maybe I should have paid more attention to the contracts of the players. Regardless, every one of my players are now unavailable to loan. Hopefully that will stop the problem :D.

Robinson Munoz and Elvis Rivas were brought in to fill the void at right back which was created by Vargas’ departure. I did overdo my search for a left winger with Velandia, Cruz, Rodriguez and Merchan all playing left wing. They are all about the same ability so I’m not too worried to rotate them around to keep them all happy.
All in all we made a £9k profit which should help us financially though I have been a bit naughty and gone £124 over the wage budget :/.


On to the pitch then and here is how we faired in our Friendly matches:
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I’m very happy with the players during our friendly matches. The wins against America de Cali and Atletico Nacional were very pleasing as they are a division above us. Also Barranquilla FC and Union Magdalena are in the same division as us and despite the 2-0 defeat we gave a good account of ourselves and maybe should have won if we had taken our chances.

This is the end of the first update. Sorry it has been very long winded but we are now in the business end of the game and the next update shall bring you the results of the first half of the season where we look to break into the top eight of the league. This would qualify us for the group stage which I guess will be a type of play-off to gain promotion.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments. Any advice on tactics or players to sign will be greatly welcomed along with any constructive criticism about how the story is structured etc.

Michael.

P.S This is my first post so go easy on me :P.
 
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Cheers mate. Going to be a tough challenge but I'm looking forward to it. The next update will be coming soon so you don't have to wait to long to see how we fared :).
 
Welcome back to my Colombian Challenge.
This update will bring you up to speed with how the first half of the season went. Our friendlies showed us that we were capable of challenging for a top 8 finish but did we live up to expectations??...
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In short yes we did. A few slips ups on the way but we performed exceptionally well. Slightly worried about our form come the end of the first half of the season. It’s at this point where most of the teams I manage seem to get second half syndrome and our results start to drop. Hopefully they will not but we will see. One game to point out is the 5-4 victory over express rojo. At that point express were fourth in the league and looking strong and I was slightly worried about the outcome of the match. The screenshot below shows you everything, take a quick glance at the score at half time.
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So yeah probably the best game I’ve ever witnessed on Football Manager. I went through the lows of being 3-0 down at half time to the highs of going 5-3 up and then the nervy anticipation when express made it interesting with just 6 minutes to spare.

All in all our performances and results were very pleasing and I don’t think I need to tell you that they led us into the top eight. The question is where in the top eight are we??...
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So, second in the table which is a spectacular achievement for the club. You can see that those late slips ups have cost us a place at the top of the table but I do feel that we should finish in the top eight unless something terrible happens over the next seventeen games. Cortula seem a very strong side and we were very fortunate to beat them in our game this season. Still we performed extremely well against pasto which makes me believe that we can handle ourselves in the play-offs, if we make it that is ;).

So the league sorted we now have the cup competition. The Colombian Cup is made up of six groups from teams in the top two divisions. The top two in each group qualify for the second round and the best four teams in third position also qualify. I believe from then it’s straight forward knock-out rounds where teams play each other over two legs. What I do like about the tournament is that you are allowed to play your trialists which is always good as you can see how they play instead of relying on the stats in the reserve games. It also allows me to bring in a load of players on trial who I can play in order to rest my players for the league.

So how did Uniautonoma do in the cup??...
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So not too bad considering this competition has involved me playing trialists and fringe players. The win against Real Cartagena and the results against Junior were pleasing as they are First Division teams so my fringe players were showing they were good enough to compete in the top division. The final table looked like this.
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So we won the group. A very good achievement and we’re into the second round where we will face First Division side Envigado who have the top goal scorer of the competition so it promises to be a tricky encounter.
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Finances are looking promising at this early stage. We’re getting more money from gate receipts than we are spending on wages so we make a decent profit each month. We only get around 1800 fans a game so the more success we have hopefully will attract more people and gain even more profit. Plus our successful cup run will hopefully fill our coffers a bit more come the end of the season.

Well this is it for the first half of the season update. Hope you enjoyed the post. Hopefully we can push on and win the league this season, though that is a very tough ask.

Join me next time as Uniautonoma reach the climax of the season and hopefully secure a play-off spot. Look forward to your comments.

Michael.
 
Cheers mate. Going to be a tough challenge but I'm looking forward to it.
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Since the top 8 is now pretty secure I would focus a lot of your energy on the cup so you gain extra rep and money for now and the long run while still fielding good sides in the league. If you get in the top 8 do you get promoted or placed in a play-off thanks.
 
gogogo golem said:
Since the top 8 is now pretty secure I would focus a lot of your energy on the cup so you gain extra rep and money for now and the long run while still fielding good sides in the league. If you get in the top 8 do you get promoted or placed in a play-off thanks.
Click to expand...

Cheers for the tip. There will be a lot of rotation throughout the team in the second half of the season. It says in the rules for the Colombian Second Division that the top eight go into a group stage. I expect that it might be two groups of four as there will be a lot of games if it turns into an eight team league. Hopefully we'll find out at the end of the season :D.
 
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Welcome back to my Colombian Story.
This update will bring you the final stages of the season. Firstly there was the business of the transfer window.
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So a few players who I signed at the start of the season failed to make the grade and I sold them off making a decent sized profit. Angel Cruz was a promising player but got upset when I didn’t play him often so I was forced to sell him.
Victor Palacio was another decent player but I felt I had better players competing for his position so I let him leave for quite a sizeable profit.

As for players bought, Elvis Rivas is a promising Right back who I’m hoping will challenge Victor Vargas next year provided deportivi cali don’t sign him permanently.
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Another very good right back is Kevin Catano who I believe will be my first choice right back for the rest of the season once he is match fit.
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Carlos Sequera is a very good keeper who I will use as back up to Perez next season.
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Also Camilo Masmela is a decent striker who will add to my options upfront.
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The rest are promising youngsters who I will develop in the reserves whilst giving them some games in the League and Cup. If you want to see the profiles of the other players let me know and I'll get the screenshots up for you.

So on to the end of season results…
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So we showed good form for the remainder of the season. Dropped 16 points in our last 17 games but that’s not terrible form for a team predicted to be at the bottom of the league at the end of the season. The weirdest result was the 4-0 defeat at home to universitario as we bossed the game but they had four chances and scored four times. Quite annoying.

So where did this put us at the end of the season??...
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So we managed to top the league. An incredible achievement for us and we managed to score the most goals this season. However, as I mentioned before this does not mean I have won the league. What happens now is the top eight teams are placed into two groups of four where the teams will play each other twice. The top two teams of each group will compete in a final over two legs with the winner going up I guess. However, a tanned line on the team 17th​ in the First Division has made me wonder whether we’ll be going into another final between them if we get through. They don’t like to make it easy in America.

The Colombian Cup results were as follows:
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So we made it to the 3rd Round (A.K.A. Quarter Finals) after a very good home performance in the 2nd round. Unfortunately that’s where our run ended. We put up a good fight but Premier League opposition got the better of us. It’s a shame but we still pocketed £35k for our efforts.
This will be all for this update. The next update will show you how we fared in the Play-offs and the final ratings of my players etc. Thanks for reading.


Michael.

P.S Ignore the attached thumbnails. I don't know how they got there and I'm not sure how to delete them lol.
 
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Cheers for all the positive comments guys. The Season finale will be up either tomorrow morning or early afternoon. Just in time for you guys to have a read before the Euro matches ;).
 
Welcome back to my Colombian Story, where we will finally wrap up the season. Last time I left you with Uniautonoma in the play-offs after topping the Second Division. My eagerness to play led me to forget to take a pre-play-off screenshot of the draw however, we were drawn in Group A along with express rojo, pasto and Fortaleza fc. Quite a tough group but I was confident we could see it through.
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I was right to be confident. We stormed through the group continuing a tradition of scoring five past rojo though the last game we gave them a break and only scored the one goal. This led us to the top of the group and into the final of the play-off.
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In the final I faced cortula who have worried me when I have came up against them in the past. The final is to be contested over two legs with the first leg being away from home.

So onto the first leg. The line-ups were as follows: (cortula on the left, Uniautonoma on the right).
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I went into the match anticipating a close and nervy game and on 45 minutes the nerves really came on as cortula went ahead right before half-time. I passionately told the lads that they could win today. The team-talk certainly did the trick as David Cardona levelled the scoring on 54 minutes then 5 mintes later put Uniautonoma 2-1 up. We began to dominate the game and were rewarded further on 76 minutes when experienced winger John Velandia made it 3-1. Reliable cente-back Orlando Niebles finished off the rout on 85 minutes and sent us back to Marcos Henriquez with a 3 goal cushion.
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Wow!! The past two games we struggled against these so I was not expecting such a brilliant result. A thumping win away from home meant I was full of confidence. Therefore in the Second Leg we lined-up with the same attacking formation but made a couple of changes to rest tired players.
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Machacon came back into the team and top scorer Franco returned to the line-up afer I rested him. Also Geovane replaced Villalobos at left-back. Still we have a strong team and now I’m feeling confident we will win this game (or at least not lose by 3 goals :D).
However was my over confidence going to be my downfall??...
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The answer is no. We didn't play our best football but that could have been purely down to nerves or over confidence from the players. Masmela, who had come on after Franco had picked up a knock put us 1-0 ahead on 43 minutes and this was enough to see us through.

So there we are. Promoted at the first attempt :D. A great achievement from the lads and I was ever so proud when the final whistle went. Now comes the real challenge where we will test our skills in the Colombian Premier Division. You may remembered I mentioned the team in the First Division who had a tanned highlight across their name. This was because they were involved in a play-off between the loser of the Second Division play-off final. In this match cortula won after two legs and will join us in the First Division next season.

Average Player Ratings.
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We had a very large squad so two screenshots are needed for this part. Martinez was a fantastic player throughout the season assisting so many goals. Franco was also in formidable form bagging 19 goals this season and I expect he will give Saenz a run for his money when he returns from his loan spell. David Cardona was just as clinical up front however I don't think I'll be signing him permanently next season. Niebles was solid at the back and even more formidable in front of goal where he scored a great 14 goals. I would continue to go through how great they were individually but it’s easier to say that most of the players were fantastic throughout the season and deserved their promotion.

Finances are also looking very solid.
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We got £185k for winning promotion which is a massive income boost. Hopefully the promotion will bring increased gate receipts so we should continue to see these finances rise.
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Hate to brag but Manager of the Year :P.
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As you can see our excellent cup run and promotion did enhance our reputation but not by a considerable amount. Still it is an improvement and hopefully I'll be able to attract better players to my club for next season.
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Looking at the end of season summary you can see that we are considered the overachievers of the league which is not too surprising in all honesty. Ricardo Ciciliano led the assists chart and has made me consider him for a first team role next season despite his old age. Martinez's fantastic season was summed up by the fact that he had the highest average rating and was therefore deemed the signing of the season. He is still very young and I have high hopes for him. My only worry is that teams with higher reputations will come after him in the next transfer window and I will have to fend them off and hope he stays loyal.

So there we go for the first season. It was a great experience and achievement for the team. We now begin our journey into the Premier Division where the first few seasons will aim at consolidating ourselves in the league and increasing our reputation. Thank you for joining me and cheers for the supportive comments. I will bring the first update of our pre-season within a few days. Again keep the comments coming and I look forward to hearing from you guys. Any questions or screenshots you would like to ask/see then fell free to ask me and I will see what I can do.

Thanks
Michael.
 
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Welcome back to my Colombian Story. This update will bring you up to speed with Uniautonoma’s pre-season activity as we gear up for our first season in the Colombian First Division. In all honesty I have no idea how this league works. There is a first phase and a second phase and I have no idea what happens if you win the first phase but the top eight teams are highlighted in green in both phases. However the only way I'll find out is by cracking on with the league :D.

First of all the transfers: I saw a promising player called Harold Zapata. My transfer budget at that time was at £0 so I asked the lovely board to do the transfer for me which they gladly accepted. What I was not expecting was this:
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£300K!!!! That’s nearly half our bank balance. Luckily he’s only on £200 a week so his wages won’t put a massive dent in our finances. This may be the last time I trust the board with transfers lol. Anyway here is my first signing of the season Harold Zapata.
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In all honesty he does look very good but in Colombia maybe that price tag is a little too high. He will definitely be expected to perform and I hope the pressure does not get to him. My plans are to fit him straight into my BWM role in the middle of the park as I believe his pace may hinder him at the back.

When the board announced the transfer and wage budget this season I was pleasantly surprised. I was given a nice wage budget this year and a transfer budget of £45.42K which I may use some of in order to strengthen my team. One of the main reasons for this is that the players contracts expire on 31st​ January and the season starts on the 5th​ of February so I will only have 5 days to look at and sign any players who have been released on a free which is quite irritating.
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Our scouting range was upgraded to allow scouting in South America. However, this doesn’t help us too much as we are only allowed 4 foreign players on match days.
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Here were my transfer for the start of the season:
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He's a very good winger and will act as back-up to Ciciliano and Caicedo but is only on loan so his first-team appearances may be limited.
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Another good winger who will be rotated with Ciciliano and Caicedo throughout the season. I paid quite a price for him but I believe he has the ability to pay it back.
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A good left-back who was brought in mainly because Villalobos injured himself before the start of the season. Again he is a loan signing but I feel he will have a bigger impact than Martinez this season.
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A decent young midfielder who could rotate with Pablo Martinez throughout the season. He's also quite versatile in midfield so he can rotate with any of my midfield three if I need him there.

As for players out I managed to recuperate just over a third of the fee we paid for Zapata. Saenz was pushed to one side after the form of Cardona (who apparently we still have on loan until the end of the season) and Franco so he was sold for a decent price of £95k. Geovane was sold in order to free up a foreign place in my team to allow Ricardo to come in.

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Our friendlies again went well. Apart from the 2-0 defeat from a very even match we did manage to record 4 wins out of 5. The final friendly against once caldas was a great win as they are current First Division Champions. The downside to this game was Villalobos managed to get himself injured (as mentioned before) and he will be unavailable for two weeks.

I was also offered a new £825 a week contract to sign on for an extra year. I am in this for the long run though so I signed a new 5 year contract until 2017 (I must take this opportunity to point out that I started this game in January 2011).
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The Colombian Cup draw was a follows:
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We have three tough teams in the form of cortulua, america de cali, and quindio so this is going to be quite a struggle to get out of but I have confidence in my players to see it through :).

That's the pre-season update complete. I am debating whether to do a month by month update from now on or to keep it the same. Any ideas about this will be greatly appreciated. If I receive no comments I'll continue as I have been :). I look forward to your comments.

Thanks,
Michael.
 
I reckon month by month updates are too cluttered and this is one of my favourite stories format wise (and content wise of course) so please keep it as it is.
 
Cheers for your input mate. I will keep this story as it is then :). Therefore the next update will show how Uniautonoma did during the first half of the season. The question is, did promotion come too early for us??
 
So welcome back to Colombia where Uniautonoma begin their first ever First Division campaign. It turns out that the top eight teams in the First Phase go into a group stage consisting of two groups. The winner of each group qualifies for a final which is played over two legs. I have no idea what happens though if you win the final in the first phase. It may be a way of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores (The South American Champions League).

First of all I shall bring your attention to the World Rankings as you will remember another part of this story is to take over as the Colombian National Team boss and guide them to the World Cup. As things are going, that seems a long way off.
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Back to Uniautonoma and the goal set by the board this season was to stay clear of relegation in both phases of the league.
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In all honesty I think we could make a name for ourselves in the league and push a top half finish and maybe even challenge for the First Phase Group Stage.

I won’t keep you waiting so here are Uniautonoma’s results for the first half of the season, the game decided to be annoying and would not show just the league results so the results show the cup results as well, though I have two games left to play in that competition:
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So a very good set of results for our first season in the First Division. The question is, were the results good enough to mount a top eight challenge??...
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YES!! We made it to the group stage of the First Phase. It’s a fantastic achievement and to finish fourth overall was really pleasing. Hopefully we can push on and do well in the group stages, though I’m not too fussed about how we do. I’m just glad we got this far. We have been drawn in Group B against once caldas, la equidad and america de cali. It's a very tough group but I am not looking to win it, just to enjoy the experience.

This brings an end to this update. The next instalment will show you how we did in the First Phase Group Stage and the group stage of the Colombian Cup as well as wrapping up the first half of the season all together.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.

Michael.
 
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