Well as expected, Germany were just too good. They edged us 2-1 in a tight game, and our World Cup dream was over. We can hold our heads high, having given the eventual champions a tough game.

Gitschier and Asensio were unlucky to miss out on the Player of the Tournament to Bernardo Silva, who only played 4 matches next to their 7 apiece. Asensio snagged the Golden Boot however, and 19 year old Prins took out the Best Young Player after a superb tournament further cemented his position in the world class bracket.
 
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You're still alive! Now seriously man, welcome back... This subforum is not the same without having you and your works around ^^

Impressive campaign with the Saints this year, you already managed to claim every major trophy... You turned them into a force to be feared and not only at domestic level.

Shame about Sweden though, you did really well in a group that could be considered as the group of death hands down (Spain and Colombia in the same group? That's pretty harsh) and I'm sure you could have made much farther in the World Cup if the draw was nicer to your guys, but even then the Mannschaft had to break a massive sweat in order to knock you out.

Keep up the great work ^^
 
You're still alive! Now seriously man, welcome back... This subforum is not the same without having you and your works around ^^

Impressive campaign with the Saints this year, you already managed to claim every major trophy... You turned them into a force to be feared and not only at domestic level.

Shame about Sweden though, you did really well in a group that could be considered as the group of death hands down (Spain and Colombia in the same group? That's pretty harsh) and I'm sure you could have made much farther in the World Cup if the draw was nicer to your guys, but even then the Mannschaft had to break a massive sweat in order to knock you out.

Keep up the great work ^^

Thank you for the kind words!

It wasn't necessarily our best campaign in terms of wins against losses, but in the end we won the games that mattered, and picked up every trophy so it's definitely our most successful so far.

It was a real shame, I was hoping to get a lucky draw and scrape through to the later stages but it wasn't to be. Still, when I took over Sweden they were ranked outside the top 30 I believe, now we've just hit 10th. Unfortunately things aren't getting any easier though, as we've been drawn with Holland and France, both ranked above us, in the Nations League Div A, which should be a real struggle.

Thanks mate, I'll get around to posting an early-season update soon :)
 
View attachment 126799

Season 2022/23 Update #1

So this will be divided into three parts. The first, Southampton; the second, Sweden; and the third, Sochaux. Who? The team predicted to finish 20th in Ligue 1 following their promotion last season, I decided to take on a challenge and add a second manager, to play simultaneously. I felt like something more challenging but at the same time, I’ve become quite attached to my squad, and therefore I decided I’d just manage two teams. I’ve considered resigning from Sweden and may yet do that, but right now I want to see how we can go against France and Holland.




So Southampton. Let’s look at the transfers, including a couple of January additions from last season. It’s worth noting that not much has changed in my first team squad. Every one of those signings has gone into one of my youth teams, or out on loan, with the exception of Cumher Yücel, who is a backup member of the squad with the potential to be something more.


There have been three further changes to the first team, as Brazilians Gustavo, Luiz and Joāo Pedro have returned from loan and taken the places of Daniel Burtic, Niclas Larsson and Tobias Andersson in the squad. The two Swedes, along with compatriot Linus Persson, all departed for big money in the off-season. Burtic, on the other hand, has spent two years as Dragowski’s understudy, so I want him to get a year of regular football this season. I expect Luiz to really push for Gasperoni’s place in my Starting XI.



Other big sales include the 40m departure of extremely talented Frenchman Mehdi Bouchet, along with his compatriot Bertin and Mexican International Flores, neither of whom were likely to make the grade. Bouchet I would have liked to keep around, but there was no space in the squad for him, particularly after my only significant signing of the window arrived in the shape of Gautier Fontaine. Fontaine is spending the season at Hoffenheim, despite his monstrous fee, and completed 116 passes in his last game for them. Woodman, Hennen, Corominas and the two Swedes have joined the Under 18’s squad, whilst van der Laan has gone out on loan.


As for results, we’ve started the season like a house on fire. A 90th minute goal from Moritz Gitschier saw us lift the Community Shield, before we dropped the UEFA Super Cup just 3 days later to a handy Inter outfit. So no chance of a perfect 7 this season. Other than that, we’ve steamrolled just about everyone we’ve played. Our only other blip was a 3-3 draw with Chelsea, in a match where we found ourselves 3-0 up at half time, but fell asleep in the second half to hand the Blues a potentially vital point. Fortunately since then we’ve dished out thrashing after thrashing. Liverpool were handed a 5-1 pounding at Anfield, with Marco Asensio picking up the first of back-to-back hat tricks (12 goals in 10 games). We followed that up by pounding our Champions League Group rivals Atletico 4-0, before Gitschier produced a 4 goal masterclass to wipe Norwich off the park.

I also only realised halfway through the Liverpool game that Asensio, having left the club and rejoined, would no longer be listed as my number one set piece taker. I changed it during the match, and he promptly scored a free kick that very game, and followed it up with another one against Atletico. So things are looking rosy on the South coast of England, though not so much for Liverpool, who have struggled so far.


On to Sweden, and we’ve split our first two games. We produced a hugely impressive performance to see off France in our opening game, picking up a narrow win at home, which was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Unfortunately we followed that up by being picked off by Holland, and the Oranje showed no mercy in piling on 3 goals, to leave us in a tricky spot. Hopefully we can beat them in the return match - we’ve beaten them before, an epic 4-3 come-from-behind earlier this year - and hold France on the road, that should be enough to ensure our survival in the Group of Death. We’ve lost one of our key players, fullback Linus Wahlqvist, to a 4 month injury, so it won’t be easy.


Finally, the new challenge, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. A club I’ve liked ever since in FM13, my first ever game, when they came runner-up in my first season to my own PSG side despite being predicted to struggle. As I’ve mentioned, their media prediction for this season was to finish 20th, and it was easy to see why. Results so far have been mixed, but certainly much better than expected. After conceding 7 goals without reply across our first two competitive matches, I truly feared the worst. However, a couple more signings and some tactical tweaks, and we’ve done pretty well since.
The highlight was undoubtedly a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win over Marseille, where the only goal of the game was scored by 19 year old striker Francisco Martinez. The Spanish talent had joined us only a couple of days previously on loan from Marseille themselves. He may not be the most popular man in town when he returns to his parent club, but he was a hero in Montbéliard that day! The outstanding player so far has been Alexis Zapata, who leads the Sochaux charts for both goals and assists, playing from the right wing.

There have been two arrivals from Southampton, though both of them joined Sochaux before I created the new manager. Brice Arnaud I was happy to give away for free with just a year left on his contract and no less than 5 keepers ahead of him in the long-term pecking order. Brazilian playmaker Canindé has joined on loan for the year. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t tempt any other Saints, such as Alexandru Deac and Aldo van der Laan, to France to join the fight. If we do well enough this year then perhaps there will be more interest in future, and I’d like to see a relationship develop between the two clubs, even unofficially.

As for the other transfers, the majority of the budget had been swallowed up by the previous manager before I decided to join. I was only able to bring in two players for fees, one of whom cost just 40k, though the loan of Schuster includes a monthly fee, as well as a 500k option to buy, which I hope to activate at some point. I raised a little cash with player sales though, and definitely feel the squad is strong enough to survive. Results so far would suggest we have enough, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. Our results against Monaco (5-0) and PSG (3-0) suggest it could take a while!


If you guys would prefer I just stick to updating Southampton and Sweden, please just say so!
 
Think the Sochaux story is a good addition and I am curious to see if you can survive and then increase relationship with Southampton!
 
FC Sochaux have a good build for regen. In my game each year 1 or 2 regens are incoming with potential between 170-200
 
I can't say I'm a big fan of French football... But you managed to pick a choice that makes me feel extremely nostalgic (I played as them during a short yet quite succesful spell back on FM 2k6... Man... I feel so old sometimes...x_X).

So you kinda won me over with that alone.

Besides, it would be nice as both a change of pace and and an affiliate of sorts for Southampton (since you'll be controling Sochaux, you know the kids you send there will get plent of game time and develop properly).
 
Think the Sochaux story is a good addition and I am curious to see if you can survive and then increase relationship with Southampton!

Thanks mate, I'm glad you like the idea :)

FC Sochaux have a good build for regen. In my game each year 1 or 2 regens are incoming with potential between 170-200

That would be quite welcome! They do have a number of 4.5* prospects in the youth squads at the moment, although based on the first team, that doesn't mean much :p

Keep on with the French team.

Will do :)

I can't say I'm a big fan of French football... But you managed to pick a choice that makes me feel extremely nostalgic (I played as them during a short yet quite succesful spell back on FM 2k6... Man... I feel so old sometimes...x_X).

So you kinda won me over with that alone.

Besides, it would be nice as both a change of pace and and an affiliate of sorts for Southampton (since you'll be controling Sochaux, you know the kids you send there will get plent of game time and develop properly).

Haha well there you go, sounds good enough to me :p

Exactly, it's useful in that regard, although I'm pretty sure there are loan restrictions saying you can't have more than 2 players from one club for a season, not certain though. A shame, otherwise they could become 'Southampton B' :p
 

This may well be the final update for this save, as FM17 has come out and I'm not sure whether or not I'll get to the end of my season here before I give into the temptation to start a new one on 17.



However, I've made it to January, and Gitschier - who is currently injured - has been officially crowned the best in the world, with Asensio just behind him, and young Prins in third. We took out the top three places in the Ballon D'Or and the top two in the WPOTY, with Prins missing out to Boateng on third place there, but becoming the latest Saint to pick up the Golden Boy - after Sindelar and Gitschier (twice). We have 5 players in the World Team of the Year, and Nishimura continues his dominance of the Asian Player of the Year award.

Our title defence, meanwhile, has been an absolute stroll. Unlike last season, where we found ourselves 7 points behind Chelsea at this stage, we have gone unbeaten in all competitions since our defeat to Inter in the Super Cup, and are absolutely cruising. We picked up the Club World Cup along the way, and are dominating the player stats in the Premier League, having won 16 of 18 and drawn just two. Another Premier League title looks inevitable, and we can consider ourselves favourites in each of the other competitions too.

Meanwhile over in France, relegation favourites Sochaux are flying high in 5th place, thanks in no small part to the goals of loan signing Francisco Martinez. We’ve still been on the end of some heavy defeats, including in our last outing against Monaco, but other than that we’ve been superb! P$G kicked us out of the Coupe de la Ligue with a stoppage time winner after an injury left us a man short, with all three goals coming in the last 5 minutes. With another extremely talented striker joining from Bayern thanks to an expiring contract and a “Buy Now” option of just 210k, and a boosted budget thanks to changing Season Expectations, we look well set to finish in the top half, and perhaps even a Europa League place.

Assuming I finish this season, that is.


If I don’t, I’d like to thank everyone for the support you’ve given me throughout this story. With 400,000+ views, it’s surpassed my Malmö story from FM15, and I’m really grateful to everyone who has taken the time to read it, and particularly those who have commented. There’s nothing that motivates my writing more than seeing positive feedback from you guys. It’s been a blast, and whilst at this stage I’m probably leaning towards not writing one for FM17, I’d certainly be willing to consider it if that was something you guys wanted to see. Thanks again everyone, and I hope you’ve enjoyed “Taking Southampton North” as much as I have!
 
If on FM 2017 you make a story like Southampton, no problem !

You are a great player guys !

I hope to read you soon on FM 2017
 
It's been an amazing story if you don't finish!

Will be looking forward to your fm 17 story when you get it!
 
Impressive job you're doing with Sochaux, you're kinda making a miracle with them.
With Soton, no surprises there... As they pretty much are a top force in both England and Europe.

As for the future... Well, it's up to you though. If you want to make a new story project on FM2k17 I'll wish you the best of lucks on it and follow it whenever possible.
However I encourage you to do one only if you feel like doing it though, as the most important part of doing a story (IMHO that is) is that you actually enjoy it (if you don't enjoy what you're doing, how can expect others to enjoy it?).
 
Impressive job you're doing with Sochaux, you're kinda making a miracle with them.
With Soton, no surprises there... As they pretty much are a top force in both England and Europe.

As for the future... Well, it's up to you though. If you want to make a new story project on FM2k17 I'll wish you the best of lucks on it and follow it whenever possible.
However I encourage you to do one only if you feel like doing it though, as the most important part of doing a story (IMHO that is) is that you actually enjoy it (if you don't enjoy what you're doing, how can expect others to enjoy it?).

Thanks, Sochaux have exceeded expectations by far, although I'm considering quitting in order to finish the season faster. Southampton as easy as ever really.

Thanks mate, that's pretty much my reasoning, if I decide to do one I want to be able to commit to it :)
 
For the third time read all story> it's makes inspire me to play FM (17) once again after 2 years break :) sorry for refreshing old topic, but your stories (with Malmo) too ;) are the best on this site. I guess everyone waiting for another story 8-| Greetings Patrick!
 
For the third time read all story> it's makes inspire me to play FM (17) once again after 2 years break :) sorry for refreshing old topic, but your stories (with Malmo) too ;) are the best on this site. I guess everyone waiting for another story 8-| Greetings Patrick!

No need to be sorry, it's a nice throwback! :)

Glad you've enjoyed it so much and that my stories have inspired you, maybe I'll write another one for FM18, who knows?
 
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