Rise Of The Phoenix: A New Zealand Story

kandersson said:
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Welcome to Wellington & New Zealand, home of my brand new FM story! You might remember (or not...) my old series of San Marino Challenge and http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-stories/87029-not-another-san-marino-story.html well I still like me some good, unconventional club & country challenge, what can I say New Zealand is the new San Marino!

As my FM persona, former football great Alberto Rossini (a tribute to Dino Dini's Player Manager, for those who remember) I'll take charge as deus ex machina of whole New Zealand football, controlling Wellington Phoenix (both of them... see below) and coordinating all the international set-up, from senior team, to U23 to U20.





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Wellington Phoenix operate in a quite unique scenario in world football: they play in the Australian A-League but belong to OFC, which prevents them from being eligible for Asian continental competitions. At the same time, they do not enter O-League (the Oceania Champions League) which makes life a bit miserable for them (and for my save). Starting this year though the Phoenix are entering their B team into the ASB Premiership (the New Zealand league, made by editing master Claassen), which is certainly good news for my development plans for both club and country - and for the freshness of my save too.


If you remember my old stories, you might know I'm not the most gifted story-teller, nor I have particular eye for graphics (lets face it my graphics and layout are ****!), though I try to make up for this with detailed development strategies and focus on players and NT growth.

Here are the key parts of Alberto Rossini's agenda:

- Establish WPFC as the top club of both A-League and ASB Premiership
- Consolidate New Zealand National Team status as undisputed king of OFC
- Be competitive in major international tournaments (Confederations Cup, Olympic Games and hopefully World Cup)
- Become a top class football academy as a club (improving reputation, youth facilities and junior coaching), and produce the best possible NZ prospects
- Use club(s) and NT to promote/develop the country's young talent
- Import young foreigners who can potentially join the NT after obtaining citizenship (5 years)
- Secretly hope that the B team can actually qualify for O-League (and later Club World Cup) via ASB Premiership


That's it for the introduction to this story, hopefully this thread will generate some interest!


Thanks a lot to editing virtuoso Claassen for his New Zealand and OFC database - which includes NZ leagues and cups, O-League correct format and U20 Oceania Cup. This save wouldn't be possible without his work, check out his world pack if you haven't already
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He was terrible but it was still really nice to see)
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Is there anything you can do about the rubbish candidates? i.e. release them? or would it cost even though they are on youth contracts?
 
lmooney95 said:
Is there anything you can do about the rubbish candidates? i.e. release them? or would it cost even though they are on youth contracts?
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yeah it would cost 7.5K euros to terminate each youth contract, and I'd say there are at least 10 useless prospects signed by my generous head of youth development. Normally I'd pay those 80K to get rid of the deadwood but club finances are tragic and I'd rather keep those hopeless youngsters as they're on a 3.8K per YEAR contract and they don't really harm my wage budget. At least until next youth intake...
 
Oceania Classic 2015: New Zealand VS Australia

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First edition of the Oceania Classic, the annual New Zealand VS Australia match-up arranged to revive the old OFC rivalry.

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Another success for NZF after Wellington Phoenix heroics in the A-League: usual suspects Michael McGlinchey and Tyler Boyd were the scorers in a deserved 2-0 win for the Kiwis. Centre back Tommy Smith (Man of the Match) led a very solid defence as New Zealand recorded a memorable victory.

Haka time!

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(anybody knows who's the beast with No.17? I need to call him up for NT asap!)


After recent A-League domination and Oceania Classic result Australia finally starting to reckon New Zealand relevance in the country:

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A-League now admitting Wellington Phoenix youth team to National Youth League! Yay! Don't care too much for this tbh, though it's still nice to fight for our rights...



I'll skip World Cup U20 update as I had to replay the whole competition (I rage quitted after the youth contracts bug and latest save point was in June right after A-League finals...) and was annoyed that we didn't do as good as first time (the 7-0 against Australia became a 4-4 for the joy of CJ Lippo), losing to South Korea in first knockout round.

Up next: Wellington Phoenix first youth intake.


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Wellington Phoenix: Youth Intake 2015

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First youth intake from our renowned Football Academy, always a very important moment for the club and the future of whole NZF project. As you already know my Head of Youth Development has green light to handle every signing from youth intake, and he apparently felt every single candidate was worth a contract. Don't necessarily agree with all his decisions, though I don't have much choice...

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Pretty happy with this class, we have a couple of standout prospects with very good potential which is more or less what I was hoping for. The rest of the youngsters, well... let's just say they're two years away from being two years away, and then we'll see... Interesting to see that several of these players have a second nationality sometimes from unusual countries (for example I have a keeper with South African heritage, or a half-Japanese striker that doesn't look Japanese at all!), certainly our extensive youth recruitment is working in some ways. All the players will stay at the club on very cheap youth contracts for 5 years (i.e. they don't count against salary cap or roster registration), which is great news for my development plans.

Most promising prospects:

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Tim Turnball was introduced as one of the brightest players ever coming through the youth ranks, he's a technically accomplished playmaker with bags of potential; physical attributes need some work but he has plenty of time to fully develop. Full back Jim Murray also looks very interesting, he has slightly lower upside but should become a useful player; he's half Scottish so I'll have to keep an eye on his international career to avoid any interference from his 'other' country, I'll probably give him a full cap much sooner than I should just to tie him to NZ.


All in all a pretty good youth intake, and certainly we have room for improvement: youth recruitment is 'extensive' indeed, but junior coaching is still listed as 'average'; also despite A-League success Wellington Phoenix are still the lowest reputation club in the country (Australia...), while our HoYD is pretty poor. Improving all these areas will likely improve future youth intakes, my goal is to make WP Football Academy one of the finest in whole Asia/Oceania.



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If only there were a "Dislike" button for that Oceania classic result :'(
 
Lippo255 said:
OMG! The embarrassment!

Every save I've done the Aussie national team just plummets down the rankings. Surely we are not that bad we just drew with Germany, which in my books makes us Co-World Champs!!! :p
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sounds legit :)

I did watch the game and was actually quite impressed with 'my' Nathan Burns! James Troisi also did very well and is now unattached in my save, keeping an eye on him...
 
Wellington Phoenix: Start of Season 2015/16

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Wellington Phoenix will start new season as A-League defending champions and are determined to repeat themselves and achieve back to back titles. Despite recent success the Nix are still the club with lowest reputation in the A-League and this needs to change soon, maybe a treble (Regular Season, Finals Series & FFA Cup) will do...


Key Signings

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Matthew Spiranovic should be a fantastic replacement for Michael Boxall, and actually might even be an upgrade over our former Kiwi star: Spiranovic is first choice for Australia and arguably the best centre back in the league, I was shocked to sign him so easily as a freebie, and on such a low contract; will form a great CB pair with fellow Aussie international Alex Wilkinson. Hard working midfielder Steef Nieuwendaal is another quality free signing, should be a star player for A-League standards and hopefully will dominate midfield alongside fellow Dutchman Roly Bonevacia.

Loanee Stars

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We also managed to sign a couple of young stars on loan from the English Premier League, and both will join without any cost of loan or wages! Australian full back Brad Smith joins from Liverpool and should be automatic first choice at left back for the Nix, and probably for the Socceroos as well. Everton's George Green will stay in Wellington for two full seasons (wages entirely payed by the Toffees) and will be a key player both at striker and attacking midfielder positions. Touted as the next Paul Gascoigne, Green is an exciting young player with amazing skills and huge potential, and should be a bonafide superstar for this standard of football.

Transfers & Projected First Team

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Despite very limited financial resources we managed some excellent signings and really improved the quality of our first team. I also had an agreement to sign James Troisi as our first Marquee Player but the deal collapsed as I had no funds to pay the agent's fee - about 20K euros. Young Kiwi attacker Cameron Howieson joined on a free (I feared he might retire as he had been without a club for months, he's still a useful player for the NT) while sadly I had to cut loyal Fijian striker Roy Krishna to meet A-League foreigners quota. I feel we have a much stronger roster than last season, when we still dominated the league so I'm expecting MORE dominance this year.


In other news I received confirmation that Wellington Phoenix will never have a chance to play continental football as we weren't admitted to O-League despite having won NZ Championship regular season with the WP Reserves. This was to be expected, though I was secretly hoping for an O-League spot - and most of all a chance to play in Club World Cup. From now on I won't control the Reserves team directly as it's clear that our ASB Premiership results are not particularly relevant; I'll make sure our most promising prospects will get adequate playing time and oversee youngsters' development and performances but will now hire a manager for the Reserves and will also stop making first team players available. I still value the NZ Championship as an excellent way to develop our local young players, and we'll keep working for this.



Up next: things get serious for the National Team with the first matches of OFC Nations Cup.​
 
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As a Bradford City fan i hope George Green will do good for you! He was bought off us by Everton as a 15/16 year old :D
 
lmooney95 said:
As a Bradford City fan i hope George Green will do good for you! He was bought off us by Everton as a 15/16 year old :D
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Started slow due to a pre-season injury but has been amazing since he regained match fitness and form:

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After he won a Young Player of the Month award he professed his love for the club and the personnel here and now has Wellington Phoenix as a favourite club alongside Bradford City :). Easily the best player in the A-League, dubbed the next Gazza but he's more of a Lionel Messi for this standard of football, and we don't even have to pay his wages for two full seasons!
 
New Zealand National Team: OFC Nations Cup & Yearly Review

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First competitive games for the senior national team under Alberto Rossini with the start of OFC Nations Cup. Under new format the tournament will also double up as World Cup qualifiers for Oceania, with the winners proceeding to the inter-confederation playoff, and also qualifying for next Confederations Cup. We're obviously heavy favourites to win the whole thing, this is our pass for major international tournaments (WC, Conf. Cup) and failure is not an option.

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Off to a good start with comfortable wins against Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. We shouldn't have problems qualifying for the final round robin and eventually win the tournament with ease, though injuries to key players are a concern considering our limited pool of talent.


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A positive year for the NT between decent results in friendlies, the famous Oceania Classic triumph and the OFC Nations Cup games; only wtf moment was an embarrassing 1-8 defeat against Honduras (not sure what happened tbh, I actually used my first choice eleven...), here hoping this was just a freak result. We're making slow but steady progress as we closed the year at 86th place in World Ranking - btw why the **** striker Tyler Boyd appears at right back in the yearly Best Eleven?


News From New Zealand:

- Wellington Phoenix and New Zealand playmaker Michael McGlinchey won Oceania Footballer of the Year award, again. That's two in a row for Mike, no one man should have all that power!

- NZ skipper Winston Reid joined Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon, then broke his leg and will be out 6-8 months. Young full back Storm Roux keeps having serious knee injuries (torn ACL, 10 months), he's basically been out for last 18 months I think his career might be over.

- Speaking of that, back up keeper Jake Gleeson's career is indeed over as he retired at 25 after staying for months without a club. This is really bad news for NZF, he was second choice behind Glen Moss and a player I was counting on for the future, I tried to keep him on trial at WPFC for a few weeks but apparently wasn't enough. First choice midfielders Jake Butler and Dan Keat have now left their clubs and I'm very worried about their careers - I'd sign them at Wellington, Keat in particular is a pretty good player but I don't have roster spots available at the moment and most of all I have no budget to pay for even minimal agent's fees.



Up next: Wellington Phoenix half season update (A-League, FFA Cup)

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:S Retired at 25! Hope that doesn't become an ongoing issue. Which other leagues do you have loaded?
 
Lippo255 said:
:S Retired at 25! Hope that doesn't become an ongoing issue. Which other leagues do you have loaded?
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only have Australia, New Zealand and american MLS (in previous patches lots of good NZ regens were created there; on 15.3 zero though I still have hopes...) which might cause this issue, though actually a player like Gleeson (NZ nationality, last played for Portland in MLS) should/would probably find a club in one of these leagues. Team Wellington and Auckland were interested but never offered him a contract, I would have and I did have cap space but I just don't have a penny to pay 1k agent fee!

I see most A-League clubs have terrible finances in my save after less than two seasons (same happens for us), and transfers activity is almost non-existent. On the other hand I noticed pretty funny things with Asian clubs finances - an amateur korean club worth 100M? Indian (yes Indian!) clubs around 80-90M? A-league All-Stars and J-League All-Stars listed as major clubs and worth 100M?

Hopefully a new patch will come - I think SI games should really fix the third GK kit of Manchester United.
 
Wow, those Asian values are Bizarre to say the least!

Have not played the A-League this year but there seems to be very little cash floating around Asia in general, unless of course you are in the middle east getting backed by some oil tycoon.
 
Lippo255 said:
Wow, those Asian values are Bizarre to say the least!

Have not played the A-League this year but there seems to be very little cash floating around Asia in general, unless of course you are in the middle east getting backed by some oil tycoon.
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Lack of transfer activity is really making the A-League quite boring to play, clubs can't really sign or sell any player to any club even outside Australia (I can't sell either). Supposed rich Melbourne City (same owner as Man City and NYFC) are worth 8K euros after one year, what the ****...

Asian clubs finances look quite baffling:

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kandersson said:
Started slow due to a pre-season injury but has been amazing since he regained match fitness and form:

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After he won a Young Player of the Month award he professed his love for the club and the personnel here and now has Wellington Phoenix as a favourite club alongside Bradford City :). Easily the best player in the A-League, dubbed the next Gazza but he's more of a Lionel Messi for this standard of football, and we don't even have to pay his wages for two full seasons!
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You really have bagged a bargain there! hope to see him progress even more, his stats are looking incredible at the moment for a 20 y.o :O
 
Wellington Phoenix 2015/16: Half Season Update

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Strong start of the season for Wellington, as the Nix are enjoying great form both in A-League and FFA Cup.

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First FFA Cup title for the Phoenix, with a dominating run culminating in a 3-0 triumph in the final against Melbourne Victory at the end of January. Melbourne V. are also our main rivals in the A-League at the moment, somehow managing to keep up our pace in regular season play.

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New Loanee Signings

A couple of trademark WPFC loan deals during January transfer window:

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Defender Cameron Burgess joins from Fulham and provides great depth at CB position for next two seasons, he's actually first choice for Australia alongside our own Matthew Spiranovic at the moment. AS Roma trequartista Daniel De Silva will be a great fit for our tactics and style of football, the 18 year old is one of the brightest Australian talents and has the potential to be an immediate game changer at A-League level. Both players join WPFC with our typical formula: on loan for two seasons (through 31/5/2017), no fee and all wages paid by their clubs. These loan deals are absolutely vital for present and short term future of the Nix, as we simply cannot sign ANY player at the moment, not even free agents as we can't afford to pay the smallest agent fee or bonus at signing - and I mean 1K fees...


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