Marsh - A Helping Hand For Clubs In Small Nations In Europe.... Hopefully

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stourbridge

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This is my story...

Over the years I have managed some of the big teams in Europe, Chelsea, Man Utd, Barca, West Brom :O!


In FM14 I have struggled to really 'get into' a save... Hopping from one save to another.
But while doing so have become more and more interested in the smaller nations, clubs in Europe.

In this save I am going to go into the smaller nations, take over a team and try to get them competitive in Europe, in either Cup, but hopefully the Champions League. Once I have, then I will move onto the next nation, club that needs my help...

I am not saying I need to win the Champions League (although that would nice ^^))...


So where to begin??

Well after much thought I have gone to Israel...

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Yes I have taken over at Beitar Jerusalem.

They have a very colorful background to say the least!! They have won the Israeli Premier League 6 times, but not since 2008. In fact in the last few seasons they have struggled to finish in the top half of the table!! (only 14 teams)!!

I will be aiming to get into a Europa League spot as soon as possible (3rd/4th place required). Expectations from the board are a mid-table finish. Media expectations are a finish of 7th.

So here goes nothing...
 
PRE-SEASON


Well I have played three games and won them all! Not sure how good that means we are, but I will take the positives. (H)

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We do as a club have about ?860k to spend on transfers. However I haven't signed anyone yet and have only let a couple of young lads out on loan.

Looking at my team I have okay player's and think we should do well, I am worried about injuries though as we don't a great lot of depth!

This is one lad I think will hold the key to our season, try and keep him fit and happy.
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Although he is already attracting interest from bigger clubs... AS Nancy Lorraine are taking a look! :O

So on to the start of the season... lets see how it goes....



ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
On another note, I have got this chap in me squad and what a name!​

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AUGUST - OCTOBER


Well we are off and running in Israel.

We had a good start to the season, 3 games played 3 games undefeated! Then it's gone so wrong!

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I'm not sure what has caused this. Playing well and competing then = nothing... I may have to address my tactics see if changing them may help us out.
Still, despite the results we are okay in the league

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The transfer window in Israel doesn't close til mid September, I took advantage of this and captured two players on the last day of the window.

First off this young lad I got for ?425k
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I then got this lad on a free
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Neither have set the world alight so far but lets give them time...


As I predicted, bigger teams have come and offered me 'big' money for my 22 year old starlet. (well big for us)

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We were offered ?500k from AA Gent and AS Nancy, I refused both bids and neither came back with an improved offer. I thought this may upset the player but when I checked out his personal info I was very glad to see that he is playing for his favorite club! So at the moment he is very happy to stay!


Come on Menorah, lets see an upturn in form...​
 
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER



COME ON YOU LIONS FROM THE CAPITAL!!!


What a great couple of months for us! We are undefeated in 2 months..

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A great run of form has seen us really come into our own, lets hope we can maintain this now. I didn't alter the tactics in the end either, thought I would see how they went in another couple of games and they proved me right.


OUTSTANDING RESULT

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Couldn't believe this result, game of the season for me at the moment.


OUTSTANDING PLAYER

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Bangura has really come into form in the last few games, he has now netted 11 goals in 14 games for us... only problem is that he is on loan, so already starting to worry about next season.


LEAGUE TABLE

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So now we must move to January and beyond... In February we enter the State Cup at the 8th round!
We only have 10 games left til the end of this part of the season, at which point the league will split into two.

Keep Calm and Carry On​
 
JANUARY - MARCH '14



THE LIONS ROAR AND EVERYONE TAKES COVER


Yes it has been a wonderful two and a bit months as Beitar manager!
We are now at the point where the league split's in two. We sit a top of the league with ten games to go! We have gone 18 games unbeaten, as a team we are beating record after record for club and the Premier league.

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We have also advanced easily into the 9th round of State Cup

PLAYER OF NOTE

It's that man BANGURA again. Okay he isn't going to be attracting the attention of any 'super' clubs, but for us he is doing a great job!

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OFIR KRIAF once again in the transfer window attracted the most interest. Was offered ?1million for his services from Grasshoppers and Rostov. Rejected both and so far he is happy with that, not even asking for an improved contract, which always helps!

So on our way we go into the next ten games, we were looking to hopefully get into a Europa spot at the start of the season, but at the moment we want that only Champions League spot!!
Yes it will only be at the Qualifying round but it will be a good gauge for us..




ON ANOTHER NOTE
For the last few months I have noticed that we don't seem to be playing our games in the right stadium! Beitar play their home games at Teddy, which is on the club overview screen, however for the last couple of months we are now playing our home games at Ramat-Gan?
Does anyone know why this be?​
 
APRIL - MAY '14


THE LIONS ARE KINGS AGAIN


Yes Yes Yes
After going 22 unbeaten Beitar Jerusalem are top of the pile and claim their first League title since 2008

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We did great in the State Cup but fell at the final hurdle..

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PLAYER OF THE SEASON

TETTEH BANGURA

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Has to be this lad, his fantastic 26 goals helped us on our way to the title no doubt about it!! Wish I could keep him or afford to buy him but it's not mean't be :'(... I have a young lad in my reserve team who has been out on loan all season who looks like he is making good progress, hopefully he will replace the great Bangura

I won Manager of The Year (H)

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So now we move on.

This season we had 4 pretty decent players on loan at the club, 2 CBs, 1 AMR and of course 1 ST (Bangura).
I tried to see if they would renew their loan contracts but each club said no... forced to try and buy them them I asked each club how much they wanted... all but one were out my price range, however I managed to snap up one of the CBs up for ?0k!!

Niso Kapiloto
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He was a rock at the center of our defense.. and was shocked he was allowed to leave for nothing and from M. Tel - Aviv!!!


Now with the prospect of a Champions League Qualifying game in our grasp I am hoping that I can attract some other slightly better players to join, either transfer or loan...

Can't wait to see who we get in the draw...

Roll on the new season...​
 
SUMMER/PRE-SEASON '14


So the new dawn is upon us...
Pre-season has been okay
Played a couple of big boys. 1, to see how good we really are and 2, to garner some funds!!

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As you can see we lost to Chelsea but I thought we played really well, they showed us a lot of respect and put out a strong team! Juan Mata getting the only goal!!
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SIGNINGS

As I said in the last post one player I already signed was Niso Kapiloto. The board gave me 1million for transfers. This is a fair bit of money for us, but there were areas of team that needed strong improvement and so 1million wouldn't go that far.. I went looking for loans..

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I have signed them all on a season long loan.. along with Niso though my wage budget soared and as a result I had to make adjustments to cater for this, so now we have no transfer funds and are still over spending on wage's!! My hope is that with these players at the club, I can go as far as possible in the Champions League... It would be a dream if we could make the group stage's, although as this our first attempt it may not happen, we are having to start in Qualifying Round 2!!

Our first game in the Champions League will be against Neftci Baku.. I am sure we can get a good result away in the first leg and win at home in the 2nd leg.


YOUTH

As we don't posses great youth training at the moment it is limited. However I have pushed these two lads up into the first team to try to fill the gap Bangura has left.

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So the fun begins in a couple of days...
We are also now in the Toto Cup? Not sure how this works! We have been drawn into groups at the moment and the games will start before the League games start, but will also be played once the League has started, so keeping players fit may be an issue!



OTHER NEWS

Look who won the World Cup in 2014!
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Think Cavani will be our next signing...:D


Also we are now back playing games at our home Teddy

​
 
Good to see you are getting stuck into a smaller club. I really struggle to find any passion for a club if I can't at least buy a 'name' player.

Looking forward to how you get on and where you go to next.
 
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROGRESS


Just a quick bulletin.. We are through to the 3rd Qualifying Round after beating Neftci Baku with a lot to spare

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This will now mean we have a trickier tie and more opposing team to face in the form of Lech Poznan


All sing along and
Let's roar Beitar through into the next stage..​
 
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROGRESS PART 2


Beitar are through to the Champions League Playoff's

It was heart stopping stuff as we faced a team who are at least our equal's.. We wasted to many chances in front of goal away from and the tie looked to be over until that man Niso Kapiloto popped up with an all important away goal.

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I am now worried that this is a far as we will go this season in the Champions League due to being drawn alongside once winners Steaua....

Will the Lions From The Capital have enough bite or will we be mere kittens????​
 
BREAKING NEWS


BIG NAME JOINS BEITAR

Yes Beitar have named what could be an inspired and huge name on a free transfer

MATEJ VYDRA

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Noticed he was still out there with no club... Didn't think he would sign as at first he wanted 9k a week plus extras... I managed to get him down to 5.5k a week, plus a few extras by telling him he would be a key player..

However the deal again looked on the rocks as I hadn't got enough money spare... The transfer was delayed by a week and I went about asking the board to increase the transfer fund.. they said no!!
Gutted this is a player who could change everything for us.. I asked them to increase the wage budget... they did up to 60k... the deal could now be done, by asking the board to adjust the budget a week later for the transfer to go through and it did!!!

I am one happy manager at the moment​
 
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROGRESS PART 3


THE PROMISED LAND

BEITAR'S PRIDE



We are there!! A wonderful display a very solid Steaua side...

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I am well thrilled feel on top of the world, in some ways better than winning it!!
Groups are yet to be drawn. I hope to just get some experience for the players at this level.

The League season has begun, we have been made rank outsiders for the League this season and the media only thinks we will finish top half!!
Hopefully we will do better than that and once again be competing in Europe..


On the plus side of making the Champions League Group Stage, our finances have soared, although they still wont give me any extra transfer money! We are now worth 16million as a club. Maybe the board are holding onto it til next season...​
 
AUGUST '14 - DECEMBER '14



CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROGRESS


This is our first attempt in Europe and the Champion's League, so when we got drawn along side Chelsea, Atletico and Olympiakos it was always going to be about not becoming the laughing stock. It took us a few games to get into the Champion's League way of football, however I thought we did well and showed some promise. Let's just hope we are here again next season..

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ISRAELI PREMIER LEAGUE

It's been a slow but good start to the league this season, 12 games in and we are keeping pace again..

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We have progressed into the Israeli Premier League Toto Cup Semi - Final too, our opposition have yet to be decided..

In a bid to help our player's compete even more in the Champion League I have asked the board a couple of times now to improve our training grounds, they have so far declined each approach. We have plenty of money with a balance of around ?13million, so dont see why they wont invest in the club...

The transfer window is nearly upon us again, but still no sign of the board giving me any extra to spend... A few of my younger first team player's have started to attract unwanted attention, I have a couple of smaller English Premier League teams keeping tabs on them... will we be able to fend them off?
One good point though is that most of my player's have no agents trying to squeeze every last penny from us or forcing our hand to sell...

Tune in next time to see how Beitar fair....​
 
JANUARY '15


UNBEATEN IN JANUARY

Well it was a good month for as we went unbeaten in January.

Along the way we also picked up the Israeli Premier League Toto Cup and another couple of players.

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I was well happy about my capture of these two players. Managed to get them by being cheeky and asking the board once again to increase the transfer budget. They did and raised it to ?5million!!! Went looking for players, in the league though we're restricted to a max. of 5 foreign players, so went looking for other Israeli nationals.

I have been able to keep all my players, even allowing a couple to leave on loan. Next month sees the start of the State Cup, but otherwise games are becoming more spaced out...

I have lost Vydra though to injury and it seems he will be out for up to 4 months!!!



OTHER NEWS

Avarm Grant has taken over at M. Haifa
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What will next month bring....

​
 
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