The Rise of Wales - Carmarthen Town

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European League

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Despite being completely dominated by the World Champions, we managed to come away with a point. We actually found ourselves in front twice throughout the match but Portugal managed to peg us back on both occasions and probably deserved more than just a point.


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We followed up our point against Portugal with a victory over in Kiev. The stats again didn't appear to be in our favour, but a brace from our young 20 year old striker Sam White got us the 3 points. The squad is generally starting to age, so is always good to get a decent youth player break through the ranks.

The table is looking pretty good and another result against Ukraine should ensure we avoid relegation and can hopefully try snag top spot.

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Europa Group Stages - Game 1

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Mogens Christiansen rounded off an extraordinary game of football with a late penalty to complete his hat-trick and decide the match! The entire game was end to end and could honestly have gone either way. Even the match report has quoted a pundit as commenting that "this match should be taped and shown to any doubters of the beautiful game". I might have been viewing things differently had we lost but it was vital to pick up 3 points in our home game.

Man Utd could only manage a 2-1 away to Ludogorets, so we sit top of the table after the first round after netting an impressive 4 goals.

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Europa Group Stages - Game 2

Man Utd vs Carmarthen Town

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The Theatre of Dreams proved to be just that as we pulled off a massive upset by holding Man Utd to a draw in front of a bumper 72,000. I adopted a new, narrow compact 4-3-2-1 formation to try give us the edge in midfield and it worked to great effect. Although they dominated much of the game we limited them to mostly long-range speculative efforts. We nearly sneaked the win late on as Christiansen turned his marker on the edge of the area before striking the woodwork.

Unfortunately the result was slightly marred by the serious injury to Ryan Mason, as he had to be stretchered off following a strong challenge in midfield.

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We remain top of the group after the second round of fixtures but have Utd and PAOK hot on our heels. We head over to Bulgaria for our game against bottom side, Ludogorets and will be targeting at least a point from the game.

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International Friendly + European League

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We opened the international break with a draw against Egypt. I fielded a pretty mixed side and made regular changes to rest our key players for the match against Portugal. It was a debut goal for 17 year old, Tom Williams scoring off a corner. Centre back is a bit of a weakness for us in terms of options so I have no issues in giving some of the young prospects a game or two in friendlies. Unfortunately we switched off towards the end of the game allowing Egypt a late equaliser.

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Karl Darlow was in inspired form in goal as we pulled off a shock win in Lisbon over the World Champions to secure our place in the European League semi-finals. Whilst we defended resiliently, Gareth Bale produced a moment of magic to give us the lead in the first half. Samedo's early second half dismissal allowed us to exploit even more space in behind as they pushed for the equaliser, which enable Roberts to sneak in and seal the victory in the 81st minute.

So we have qualified with a game to spare against Ukraine as we go in search of our first piece of international silverware although will still need to beat 2 quality sides before that can happen.

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Europa Group Stages - Round 3

Ludogorets vs Carmathen

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We managed to produce a late fightback over in Bulgaria to put us on the brink of knockout qualification. I had expected a slightly tougher match, but we managed control large aspects of the game and fully deserved the 3 points. This 4-3-2-1 formation has been my go to in the Europa League this season and has been extremely effective against the so called "bigger" teams!

We host Ludogorets in the next round and should we beat them and United also beat PAOK then our place in the knockout stages will be confirmed with 2 games to spare.

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Europa Group Stages - Round 4

Carmarthen vs Ludogorets

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The return game against Ludogorets reaped the same outcome as we put in another dominating performance. Christiansen's early strike was enough to earn us the 3 points today, but we missed numerous opportunities to put the game to bed. If we are going to beat the big teams, we cannot afford to squander our clear cut chances.

Man Utd beat PAOK in the other game to officially secure our place in the knockout stages! We have never been beyond the group stages in Europe and to do it with 2 games to spare shows the progress we have made as a club. I expect Utd will beat us to pole position, but we did manage to hold them at Old Trafford so know we can get a result against Europe's top teams on our day.

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European League - Round 4

Wales vs Ukraine

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We proved to be the more clinical side in what was a pretty tight game against Ukraine. Having already qualified for the Semi-Finals it was good to see the players still give 100% in a match which didn't have any implications for us. Ramsey and Bale continue to show their importance on the international stage as both got on the scoresheet.

We finish the Group Stage undefeated and have been drawn against Belgium in the Semi-Finals. Having got 2 results of the World Champions in our group we will be confident we can get the better of Belgium, especially with the home advantage.

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International Friendly

Wales vs Serbia

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Serbia had just topped their European League Group and will be another Nation heading into the Semi's so was a good friendly to have. Obviously there was a lot of rotation in the squad because it was a friendly, but we did look slightly overrun. We did manage to hold them to a draw thanks to Gareth Bale's equaliser but Serbia definitely looked the most comfortable.

The Euro 2024 Qualification Groups have now been drawn. We were a second seeded side due to the Nation coefficients, so have been drawn alongside the likes of Spain. I am extremely confident that we will qualify for the Euros but will have to really battle it out with Spain for the top spot.


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Europa Group Stages - Round 5

PAOK 2 - 0 Carmarthen

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We headed over to Greece with the comfort of knowing we had already qualified for the knockout stages. Unfortunately the complacency was pretty evident and most of the players looked like they would rather have been in the changing rooms than out in the freezing, snowy conditions. Morsey seemed to take that to the next level, getting sent off inside 30 minutes of the game.


Europa Group Stages - Round 6

Carmarthen 0 - 7 Man Utd

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Man Utd came seeking vengeance following the draw at Old Trafford and really didn't hold back as they smashed 7 past us with no reply. It was a record defeat for the club, which has really sent us crashing back down to reality. The gulf in class was evident as Utd were ruthless in front of goal, putting away any half decent chance they got. I had expected us to put up a bit more of a fight and didn't hold back in my post match team talk!

We have been drawn against Inter Milan in the First Knockout Stage. We are now into very unfamiliar territory but with no expectations on us to progress we can go out and try and play our football without fear and hope for the best!

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January 2023

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As expected we have been completely dominant on the domestic front, with just a single draw tainting an otherwise perfect record. The majority of these games have been decided through the instant result as they are becoming increasingly pointless to control as we just have no real competition. Christiansen has already blitzed our goalscoring record for a season and am expecting him to get around 60 come the end of the season across all competitions.

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I have hit my 400th game landmark and am quickly baring down on my half millennium (if thats the right phrase to use). A new 2 year extension has also been made with Carmarthen, as I continue to help the club develop on the global scene.

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The clubs facilities continue to improve through the European prize money, although still have a way to go to match the top teams. I keep pressing for a new stadium, as would be nice to be able to play our European matches at our actual stadium but the fan base just isn't there on a weekly basis to justify it. Our average League attendance is just 376 (12 % capacity) :(

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Hello to everyone who is still following this story,

I have started a number of stories on FM16 and struggled to really get into a save (with the exception of this one of course). As there are only a few months remaining until the new FM release I want to give one last new story a go to run alongside this one.

I have barely done any top flight management on FM16 and would like to win the BPL at least once on this years game, so was wondering if anyone had a suggestion on a good Championship/Lower Premier League side to start with? I will be using the Official Winter Update and will possibly make it into another story on here if people would be interested but if not just a save to crack on with in my own spare time.

Thanks for continuing to read this story and any suggestions you may have :)
 
I've never seen anybody try a save with Birmingham on here, finances are poor I know being a Bluenose, but I'm sure with your incredible talent for FM you'd be able to turn the Blues into a powerhouse! :)
 
This has been a fantastic story, i'd love to see where you can get welsh football in the next few seasons. i think bringing a historically big team (leeds, wolves, forest, ipswich) back to glory would be a good one.
 
Thanks for the good suggestions guys :).

Have never managed any of those teams on FM before so would all be an interesting last challenge. As I can decide I will set up a poll with those suggestions and go from there (also going to add Fulham to the list).

Thanks in advance to anyone that votes! ( I am to indecisive to choose for myself!)
 
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I voted for Forest (it's a team that won two Champions League, the Sky Bet Championship is not tbe place where it should be), I wish I could have given negative votes to Birmingham City though (Aston Villa supporter here) ^^

You've done a magnificent job both with the Old Gold and the Welsh national team and I'm sure that regardless of what team you choose in the end, you're gonna achieve greatness with them.
Be sure to give us a holler when you choose your squad and you start your new challenge in order to drop by.
 
Zlatan Lumic said:
I voted for Forest (it's a team that won two Champions League, the Sky Bet Championship is not tbe place where it should be), I wish I could have given negative votes to Birmingham City though (Aston Villa supporter here) ^^

You've done a magnificent job both with the Old Gold and the Welsh national team and I'm sure that regardless of what team you choose in the end, you're gonna achieve greatness with them.
Be sure to give us a holler when you choose your squad and you start your new challenge in order to drop by.
Click to expand...

Well I am a Leicester fan, so not overly keen on managing Forest either haha.

Thanks mate - I will probably make the new save into another story on here and play the remainder of FM16 between the two, so am you will be able to stay up to date on my progress :D
 
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Europa League 1st Knockout Round (1st Leg)

Carmarthen 0 - 2 Inter

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Despite a really good home leg performance we couldn't finish our chances and paid the price of some clinical Milan finishing. We dominated possession in the game, creating 3 clear cut chances in the process but unfortunately our Danish record goalscorer, Christiansen never really turned up. To his credit, Alex Meret was in decent form in the Milan net but we really should have scored at least one goal. We now have to travel to the San Siro with the near impossible task of scoring at least 2 goals to no reply.

Europa League 1st Knockout Round (2nd Leg)

Inter 3 - 0 Carmarthen

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Inevitably Milan were even more ruthless in front of there home crowd and looked much more convincing as they pt another 3 past us. Again, we squandered a couple of clear cut chances and failed to get on the scoresheet for a second time. Despite the 5-0 aggregate scoreline we really didn't look out of our depth as the scoreline doesn't reflect the true competitiveness of the two games. Ultimately they just had that extra bit more quality in front of goal.

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New Signings

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I decided to splash a bit of cash on German midfielder, Moussa Ibrahim. He looks to be a quality player and at the age of just 20 has years to develop further. Hopefully he can prove to be a useful addition to the side.


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I spotted Paul Dummett on the free transfer list and immediately put offered him a contract. He has a vast amount of experience and is still a regular in my Welsh squad so was a bit of no brainer. At the age of 31 he still has a couple of good seasons in him as we need to build a defence capable of keeping out the likes of Inter and Man Utd.
Thank you to everybody that voted, I have now ceased the poll with the intention of getting underway tonight. It was a closely fought poll in the end, but after 27 votes Crystal Palace just edged it.

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