Legendary Players make Great Managers... don't they?

[Roberto10Baggio]

Hey all. So my Sparta story came to an abrupt halt when my laptop died so I've decided to start a new story on my new one. This time I'm not alone as I've managed to rope my brother into doing a network game story with me.

We will be assuming the roles of Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero, two of the greater players to appear for Gli Azzuri. Both players played a similar style of football and were brilliant in the number ten role, both played for their country numerous times, and weirdly both scored 27 goals for Italy at the highest level.

Game Type: FMClassic - Mainly due to the length of time it takes to get through the season on the full game what with work restrictions/hours etc.

Database: The latest official update through steam and Susie's Real Name fix.

Leagues Loaded: England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain (all down to their second tier).

Aim: We're aiming to be realistic with our starting teams. I believe that both players with the coaching badges could get a job in charge of a second division reputable side purely on their playing reputation but would have to live up to expectations inside the first season so that is the short term.

Long term, we are hoping to guide our respective sides to their top divisions, regular european qualification, then eventually league champions.

We won't apply for any other jobs, but will consider any offers that are forthcoming as there could be certain teams that crop up that you just can't say no to if the circumstances are right.

All in all our intention is to be in this for the long haul and see what legacies we can build, and our aim is to get through a couple of months a week. (whilst trying to play around working lives and myself having a newborn).

I hope you follow if you're interested and feel free to contribute towards anything that might make this a better read for you.​

 

[PaperClipFMer]

Good luck mate! Any ideas which teams you'll start out with?

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

We're just looking through the available teams now. And due to capacity of some of the second tier sides in Germany we're tempted for there. Purely so stadium expansion isn't an obstacle if we get some success early on. Italy don't have the greatest capacities in the Serie B lol.

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

Roberto Baggio appointed 1860 Munich Manager

Reasons: 1860 Munich are the oldest club in Germany and were once one of the forces in German football but have since fallen from grace. I want to be responsible for the rise of the Lions once more and bring them back to the pinnacle of German football.

They share a stadium with local rivals Bayern Munich and their youth facilities are phenomenal. Unfortunately they have a very limited and strict budget so it looks like the current squad will have to do the business, give or take a few loan signings.

Club Info
View attachment 302577

First Team Squad
View attachment 302576​

 

[GlenYid]

Alessandro Del Piero takes the Red Bull Leipzig Managers post

Reason: By contrast, Red Bull Leipzig are the youngest team in German football and are in the midst of a meteoric rise through the divisions. Founded in 2009 they have a ten year plan to get promoted into the top flight and I want to be the one to get them there.

Their stadium currently houses 44,000 plus and they have great facilities all round. Thanks to the current owners we have a good few million to invest in some new players to improve our current squad.

Club Info
View attachment 302575

First Team Squad
View attachment 302574​

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

Loan Transfers In

Due to the lack of funds I am having to rely on the loan system, and I think I have really improved and added depth to the current squad. Especially with current long term injuries going into the start of the season.
View attachment 302564
Jairo Riedewald looks like a superb signing for this division. The young centre back is almost certain to play a huge part in our journey this season.

View attachment 302563
Adama Traoré is already known by the majority of Europe thanks to impressive performances for the Barcelona B team. Whilst the majority of teams were trying to attain the contract of the winger, we went for the loan option which was accepted and as soon as he agreed a new contract with his parent club we were his only transfer option luckily. Hoping he can light it up this season.

View attachment 302562
Steven Moreira is a young full back who is adept to playing on both sides of the pitch. He has been signed more for backup purposes but no doubt he will definitely get a bit of game time.​

 

[GlenYid]

Transfers In

Whilst I said I wanted to sign a few players in my division it was difficult due to the leagues reputation and the standard of player I was trying to attract. So in the end I only made two loan signings.

View attachment 302561
José Maria Gimenez is already capable of walking into my first team so we have improved straight away. I tried to negotiate a transfer fee at the end of the season but his parent club see him as a valuable part of their future.

View attachment 302560
Despite not being my first choice right winger (a certain team in the league got Traoré ahead of me), Jack Grealish is already destined to walk into the right wing role. His natural fitness, first touch and dribbling are among the best in the league and I'll look to make him a focal point in my attacks.​

 

[GlenYid]

Start of Season Press Conference

You sit here about to embark on your first game as a Manager, any nerves at all?
I wouldn't be human if I didn't have any. But I'm more excited than nervous. We have a great set of young players who are ready to go out and show that they belong in this division and more.

Is there a particular style of play you are going to adopt?
I'll approach the game as I would if I was playing. I want to excited, I want to control, and I want to score goals. We do those three things and we'll be at the right end of the table come the end of the season.

In preparation for this Season, you only had two friendlies in the pre-season. Was this enough?
It wasn't ideal I admit, but we worked with what was arranged. We had some behind closed doors games and our match fitness is pretty much there. I have a young fit side and they will show how ready they are against Greuther Furth in the opener.

Greuther Furth have been touted as promotion favourites along with a media prediction of second. What do you think of your chances against them?
It's the opening game of the season, there is no form and we are just as capable as Furth at finishing top of the league this season. It's all to play for.

Your confidence is admirable, good luck for your first game in management.​

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

Deadline Day Signing

View attachment 302472
What a steal! (It feels like one anyway). We sign Bentaleb with minutes to spare on a loan deal to the end of the season, no contribution to wages, no monthly fee and after a poor start to the season* we need our midfield bolstering up after numerous injuries in that position.

*Monthly reports will be posted ASAP
​

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

August

View attachment 302335
We were left wondering what might have been after completely dominating and creating a number of chances. The goal we let in was calamitous with the Keeper Ortega punching the ball into the back of Weigl's head before it rebounded into our net.

View attachment 302334
I was hoping this would be our chance to redeem ourselves but it wasn't to be. Again we created numerous very good chances but just couldn't capitalise. Hopefully when our injured players return at the end of the month we can make good of these missed opportunities.

View attachment 302333
Complete and utter domination, a great win which was mobbed with the opposition players more interested in kicking us than playing football. Unfortunately, 30 minutes into his debut Adam Traoré had to go off injured and won't be back until the start of September.

View attachment 302331
We threw this away as St. Pauli turned it on after the break. Going in at 3-1 I was ecstatic and I asked for more of the same, but in hindsight maybe I should've tried to shut up shop early on. St. Pauli got by us on the counter attack and we really had no answer for them.

View attachment 302330
Finally we got our first win in the league this season right at the end of the month in a tense and nervy match.
____________________________________

Overall this month was a slow start from what I was expecting and what I thought we deserved. I don't know why but teams seem to enjoy kicking my players from start to finish and it seems to be affecting our end product. We will prevail though as we kick on into next month.
____________________________________

Player of the Month

Daniel Adlung - Ever present and ever consistent. He is the gem of the team right now.
​

*I'll leave the League Table to be posted by GlenYid

 

[GlenYid]

August
*I will only be showing the RB Leipzig scorers.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 768714Florian Trinks (Greuther Furth)
View attachment 768716FT 0-2
Awful, awful start. We weren't creative enough and just couldn't get anything going, where as Furth were brilliant and deserved the victory. Not the greatest way to start your managerial campaign.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76871231' Ante Rebic
View attachment 76871245+3 Jack Grealish
View attachment 76871280 Zsolt Kalmár
View attachment 768714Rani Khedira (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 768719FT 0-3
A great way to respond to a shoddy display at the start of the season. Rani Khedira with three assists from a deep lying role and shows that he is a top quality player. Let's hope he shows it consistently.

DFB-Pokal 1st Round

vs.

View attachment 76871229' Yussuf Poulsen
View attachment 768714Charlison Benschop (Fortuna Dusseldorf)
View attachment 768716FT 1-3 aet
I thought we deserved more than this but it just wasn't to be. We more than matched our opponents in all areas of the pitch but we just couldn't find the target with the opportunities we created.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76871254' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 76871265' Joshua Kimmich
View attachment 768714Joshua Kimmich (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 768719FT 2-1
I'm glad we saved this performance for the league rather than the cup. The scoreline looks a lot closer than it was and we really should of had three or four more goals. But a win is a win.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 7687124' Yussuf Poulsen
View attachment 768714Reinhold Yabo (Karlsruhe)
View attachment 768716FT 4-1
Well... we were no where near as bad as the scoreline suggests. We played well, attacked well, even defended well but it just wasn't to be. The opposition were a lot more clinical and we'll just have to move on to the next match and not let it eat at us.

Overall it wasn't the worst start to the season but it could have been so much better given how we played. But on a bright note, we're at the right end of the table and there is a long way to the end of the season and I am confident that we will progress from this mediocre beginning.

Rani Khedira - Player of the Month
No goals yet but his pass completion has been high and he has been involved in a lot of great passing moves and providing a few assists.

League Table
View attachment 302321​

 

[GlenYid]

September
*I will only be showing the RB Leipzig scorers.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76893131' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 768933Anthony Jung (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 768936FT 1-0
A great win against first place and a clean sheet to boot. We played a bit more cautiously with our approach this time and it really paid off.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76893118' Rani Khedira
View attachment 768933Rani Khedira (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 768936FT 0-1
Khedira absolutely ran the show today. We continued with our more reserved cautious approach and it paid off catching them on the counted with a breakaway finished off by one of the more defensive midfielders in an all action display. He was everywhere, tackling, passing, intercepting. Beasted it today.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76893145' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 768933Adama Traoré (1860 Munich)
View attachment 768984FT 1-3
The cautious approach just didn't work for us in this game and we just weren't able to cope with the movement on and off the ball by Traoré. We were not played off the park however and there were some positives from the performances of Kaiser and Jung.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 7689318' Ante Rebic
View attachment 76893113' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 76893136' Jack Grealish
View attachment 768933Dominik Kaiser (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 768936FT 0-3
Back to winning ways and in style. The game was wrapped up before half time and we cruised through to the final whistle, but were capable of much more.

Overall apart from the blip at home to Roberto Baggio's 1860 Munich we have had a great month climbing the table. We are starting to gel as a team, a very young team at that and as we mature through the season and hopefully continue this form I don't think it will be too long before we show that we are contenders to win this division.

Dominik Kaiser - Player of the Month
An easy choice for the award this month as he shows he can score goals and create plenty for his team mates. It's looking like we have a real gem of a player and a 26 years old he still has some good years ahead.
​

​League table will be shown in Baggio's post.

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

September

View attachment 302193
A topsy turvy game that was a bit of a heart stopper until we settled it towards the end. It's great to see Rodri finally able to make his debut after getting injured in pre-season for 6 weeks with a torn groin. And what better way than to score two and set two up, bagging the man of the match award.

View attachment 302191
Another good win against a team I'd expect to be towards the top of the league come the end of the season. A bit of a dull affair until it came to life 15 minutes from time. That man once again with a goal, Rodri this time on his home debut.

View attachment 302190
The match where Adama Traoré finally decides to turn up, but what a time to turn up. Del Piero's men didn't have an answer for his magic and again Rodri bagged himself a goal. Great win.

View attachment 302189
Traoré was injured in training and missed the game (his third injury since signing on loan) but his replacement Wood proved his worth within the first ten minutes. Bentaleb got a rare career goal and we seen out the rest of the match with ease.
_______________________________

What a month! Played four, won four and considering we were fourteenth at the start of the month we have climbed it dramatically. Two of the four teams we defeated I would consider title challengers and it was brilliant to get a result over them early on in the season.
_______________________________

Player of the Month

Rodri - Played four, scored four and with three assists you can't ask for much more. Considering he's not match fit due to missing pre-season I'm looking forward to the damage he could do at his peak.
_______________________________

League Table
View attachment 302187​

 

[roberdooo]

Enjoying this. Dunno who I'm going to root for yet. KUTGW

 

[elyybourgess]

looking good so far

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

October

View attachment 301957
A solid start to the month where we limited the opposition to only 4 shots and all of them from long range. Adlung scored a quality free kick early on and we really should of had more. Six wins out of six now in the league and that is what matters.

View attachment 301956
What a disappointing way to end our winning run. We really couldn't get going as the match went back and forth far too often for my liking. A point though and we continue to pick up points even though I would have preferred all three, especially at home.

View attachment 301955
Back to winning ways! But we left it late. Three goals in five minutes to secure a massive 4-1 victory against a promotion rival. It was Adlung and Rodri on form, both players have been outstanding for me the past couple of months with goals and assists alike.

View attachment 301952
From the euphoria of last weeks win to this. We played so well but just couldn't find the back of the net. It wasn't a loss but it kind of felt like one.

View attachment 301951
Erm... yeah. I'm really not sure how we managed this. Worried that I'd be on the end of a thrashing I set out more defensively and on the counter but I didn't think it would work this well. Five clear cut chances, five goals, five nil. Amazing. Adlung never stopped running, and Traoré managed to get a goal too.
_______________________________

Another absolute stormer of a month topped off with a 5-0 victory over HSV from the 1. Bundesliga (currently 13th) in the Cup. If we could improve our home form which seemed to be lacking this month we'd be sitting pretty at the top of the league right now. But at the end of the day we are unbeaten in our last 9 league games with 7 victories, unbeaten in 10 if you include that massive victory in the cup.
_______________________________

Player of the Month

That man again, Daniel Adlung has been outstanding. Six goals and two assists in five games making him an easy choice.

*League Table to be posted by GlenYid.
​

 

[Roberto10Baggio]

Enjoying this. Dunno who I'm going to root for yet. KUTGW

Support the team with history (and no money lol), none of this manufactured nonstop investment nonsense. Haha, we're rooting for each other to get promoted as it'll be more fun if we stay in the same division though. Thanks for following.

And you should see our projected balances come the end of the season. 1860= £-7.8m and RB Leipzig= £56m.. think he might be able to attract the better players if we get promoted. Talk about a contrast lol.

looking good so far

Cheers mate, thanks for following.

Any extras that you think could improve this overall let us know.

 

[GlenYid]

October
*I will only be showing the RB Leipzig scorers.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76970650' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 76970671' Zsolt Kalmár (pen)
View attachment 76970676' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 76970689' Zsolt Kalmár (pen)
View attachment 769707Dominik Kaiser (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 769710FT 4-1
A dominant performance but we left it nail bitingly late before we burst into action. A great win by a former 1. Bundesliga side and it has propelled us further up the table.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76970642' Jack Grealish
View attachment 76970690'+4 Joshua Kimmich (pen)
View attachment 769707Andreas Ludwig (Aalen)
View attachment 769719FT 2-2
Lucky to come away with a draw despite dominating the majority of the match. It wasn't a loss and we can continue looking forward to the coming fixtures.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 7697067' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 76970640' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 76970644' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 76970645'+1 Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 769707Dominik Kaiser (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 769710FT 1-4
What an end to the first half, there was nothing in it going into the 40th minute then all of a sudden we sprung to life and started picking them apart. The second half wasn't as exciting but the job had already been done.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 76970626' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 76970632' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 76970658' Ante Rebic
View attachment 769707Niklas Hoheneder (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 769710FT 1-3
I think it says a lot when you win 3-1 and your centre back gets the man of the match award. A tough game in which we defended brilliantly. A great win to end the month with.

Overall our best month so far and undefeated too. We have climbed up that table proving doubters in the media wrong and the performances of Frahn and Kaiser have been a joy to behold. Bring on November.

Dominik Kaiser - Player of the Month
An easy choice for player of the month despite Daniel Frahn having a great month too. Kaiser played four, scored four and had four assists picking up the Man of the Match award on two occasions. Let's hope he can keep it up throughout the season.

League Table
View attachment 301916
Nothing in it... but I'm top! :-D​

 

[GlenYid]

Support the team with history (and no money lol), none of this manufactured nonstop investment nonsense. Haha, we're rooting for each other to get promoted as it'll be more fun if we stay in the same division though. Thanks for following.

And you should see our projected balances come the end of the season. 1860= £-7.8m and RB Leipzig= £56m.. think he might be able to attract the better players if we get promoted. Talk about a contrast lol.


Cheers mate, thanks for following.

Any extras that you think could improve this overall let us know.

Not sure how I'm getting that much money projected as we're losing about 300k a month, but I'm not complaining. What a great choice of team to manage lol.

 

[GlenYid]

November
*I will only be showing the RB Leipzig scorers.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 77129720' Jack Grealish
View attachment 77129738' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 77129752' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 77130163' Lars Unerstall (o.g)
View attachment 771304Daniel Frahn (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 771307FT 4-1
A great way to carry on last months form. Dominated from start to finish only conceding in the final minutes.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 771304Enis Alushi (St. Pauli)
View attachment 771320FT 4-0
Back down to earth with a thud! We just couldn't get into the game after going two down early on. Our heads dropped and looked genuinely uninterested. Awful result.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 77129720' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 771304Dominik Kaiser (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 771320FT 1-2
A bit dumbfounded by the result and two on the bounce isn't anything to shrug off easily. We deserved a lot more from this match but just couldn't break through. To top things off after dominating, we conceded the winning goal injury time.

2. Bundesliga

vs.

View attachment 77129720' Dominik Kaiser
View attachment 77129723' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 77129756' Daniel Frahn
View attachment 771304Daniel Frahn (RB Leipzig)
View attachment 771307FT 3-1
Finally back to winning ways and something to cheer about going into December. A great win and we looked like we did last month. More of the same please.

From the heights of last month to the lows of this month. Conceded every match, lost fifty percent of our matches and have given up top spot in the league. I'm hoping the last game of the match will be our change of fortunes so we can push on.

Daniel Frahn - Player of the Month
Not a lot to choose from this month but Frahn was ever consistent with taking his opportunities and laying on goals for his teammates when given the chance.

In other news...
View attachment 301281​