Category: Football Manager

FM26 – In the Year 2325

Having looked a bit at the data base before posting, I will say that in a couple of countries, were are starting to see a “New Normal” Develop, in that while some teams have fallen, in many case other teams have stepped up and replaced them, and even in competitions such as the Champions League, there is rarely a surprise. I am not sure if this is “Something under the hood” that hasn’t changed, but I am still quit interested to see what this Universe of FM looks like down the road.
As always, we check Crystal Palace first:

They’ve been in the EFL Championship for awhile now, and were promoted to the Prem at the end of the 2297/98 season, but came right back down the next season…one of these days….

The English Premier League

The “Big Six” as we know it no longer exists by 2325, but this screenshot is also a look into how fast a team can rise, or fall. Crewe, Colchester, Bolton and Lincoln are not unexpected really, there’s always teams from the lower leagues that rise up and have success (Wrexham as an earlier example), but how long they can maintain iot has always been an issue. In previous versions of this sort of save, the English Prem has always had a lot of teams moving up and down the pyramid, but it’s rare for any of those teams to “stick” at the top for an extended amount of time. Could this version be different?

From the 2225/2226 to 2239/2240 season, in all but one year Tottenham won the League. Wrexham came back to win it in 2242/43, and the Bolton had a very good run, winning in five of the next seven years. But the “New Team on the Block” to make a splash was Crewe, who first won the league in the 45/46 season, then from 51/52 to 59/60 won every year save 52/53, when Bolton pipped them. Tottenham, Preston, Chelsea and Wolves all won again, but starting in 2270/71, Arsenal won 8 of then next 9 seasons. Bournemouth won three in a row starting in 2284, then Crewe again won 7 out of 10 seasons, with Presont and Bournemouth breaking their streak. Preston then went on a mini run, winning 7 of 8 seasons, the Chelsea and Wolves spent the next decade trading the spot at the top, the Bournemouth and Chelsea were fighting each other, and then to close this last 100 years out, Chelsea and Wolves.

But 20 years ago Preston was the class of the Prem, and now they are not exactly struggling in 10th place, but it’s still a bit off from where they used to be. Unless I missed something (not improbable) there has yet to be a team from this years (2025) Prem fall all the way to the National League. Leicester fell down to the National in the 2150’s, that’s the biggest drop I have seen thus far.

Ligue 1, France

Some things take a little while longer to change, if and when the do:

What I will say from past experience is that while Ligue 1 does have a decent amount of churn when it comes to teams moving up and down, it’s also not uncommon for PSG to stay is the top spot for a long time. The big takeaway for me on this is that France has really fallen off Internationally/Continentally in competitions, and holy heck:

22nd, behind Moldova?

Ligue winner wise, Marseille won nearly every year from 2225 to 2240, the exception being 2228/29 when Rennes beat them. From 2240 to 2266 It was Marseill or Lyon winning, with the occasional Rennes win, then in 2266/67 Lens, which the past decade had been on the outside looking in won the Ligue. And until the 2289/90 season the top 2 spots were either them or Marseilles. PSG came roaring back to the top in 2292 after a decade of trying, traded with Lens for a few years, then starting in 2298/99 won the next 12 seasons until knocked off by Monaco, who had a decent 5 year run until PSG retook the top spot.

The Bundesliga, Germany

This is another League where the top teams have changed somewhat, but until recently(ish), one team still dominated.

From 2230 to 2250 Bayern took the crown. Then from 2251 to 2257, Hertha and Bayern fought back and forth, until Hertha went on its own run from 2257 to 2265. Then it was Bayern until 2283, a streak marred by two BVB wins. Koln and BVB fought the nbext decade or so, the it was BVB and Bayern, with a 2303 Hannover win. Since then, with the exception of a lone Bayern and RB Leipzig win, BVB and Hannover have been trading off. If you want a variety of result, the Pokal is where it’s at, as teams like Kaiserslautern, Schalke and Armenia Bielfeld have all won recently. In past version of this type of save, Bayern has fallen off. I don’t think that’s going to happen here though.

Serie A, Italy

Another Ligue where change is gradual at the top, but there is a decent amount of movement at the bottom. I *think* I know why, I’ll have to do some investigating in previous versions of the save before coming to a conclusion though, which I will do at the end of this post.
Palermo started to fall of in 2232 after winning the league three times in a row and finishing Top 3 back to 2225. The Inter went on a run that saw them winning it all until 2249, excpet for the one year they fell of and Palermo reclaimed the top spot, 2241/42. Bologna, which was a top 6 team, finally won it all in the 2249/2250 season, then it was Inter, Juve and AC Milan all trading off Inter won the League in 2261/62, and kept winning until 2283/84, when Juve knocked them off and went on their own 5 year streak. Then it was Inter, Milan, Juve, and finally Lecce, which had been crawling up the League, made a huge leap. Having Finished 3rd in 2275, they remained in the top half until they put it all together, and won back to back Scudetto’s in 03 and 04 seasons. Then it was back to the Inter/Juve/Milan rotation, with Lecce interrupting another Inter decade run. Roma, after decades of top half finishes, and more than a few seasons where they finished 3rd, then 2nd, finally won a Scudetto in 2321, then Inter and Lecce finished this century out.

LaLiga, Spain

I think La Liga is a good example of what to expect from Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, I am just not sure when (if) those leagues might see a similar change.

What you have is essentially a very established League, with established teams at the top. The Prem to an extent also follows this model, where you have 3 teams usually dominating the top spot, the next 7-10 teams are League regulars, and the remaining teams are fighting relegation, falling out eventually, and maybe making their way back in.
How do the top teams fall? They lose their rich tycoon, or if not tycoon owned start making bad business decisions, usually related to bad player moves, and while that’s happening, other teams are doing the opposite, spending money and making good player moves. In some leagues, IE Not the Bundesliga, money is a big factor, as several small bad decisions, or a few big ones, can mean a slow spiral into mediocrity, or a fast spiral into relegation. While the Bundesliga does have money, they team ownership structure makes it harder for bad decisions to have an immediate impact on them as teams in other leagues. Not that it doesn’t happen, it’s just not as common.

La Liga is a great example of this at the moment. Barcelona has continued to make good decisions for the most part, and speniond money wisely. Any bad decisions it has made have been few and far between. Athletico on the other hand, has made a series of smaller, bad decisions related to players that saw them go into administration more than once, the last time being 2138, then every once and awhile a tycoon comes in, spends a lot of money for a couple of years, fails to get the return they expected, and cuts funding. Girona on the other hand, started this save midtable, spent wisely, climbed the league until it won it all for the first time in 2050, and since then they’ve won La Liga over 100 times, the Champions League 26 times, and while they have spent big, they have also sold big. Other squads, such as Real Betis and Mallorca, are doing the same thing.
Do I expect Real or Barca to fall off? No, but then I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

In La Liga, from 2225 to the current year, there weren’t any very long runs of 1st place finishes. Giron won the league 11 out of 12 years for a stretch starting in 2250, but more often than not, it’s been Barca winning it a few times, Real winning it a few times, with to occasional Villareal win. Levante has become a perennial top 5 team, I suspect we will see them win the La Liga in the short term as well.

The Liga, Portugal

Liga Portugal has fallen off a bit as well, down to 18th place, which is why only the top 3 teams are getting any sort of European Football. But they are also a great illustration of what I outlined above with Spain, some teams have kept making good decisions (Sporting) while others have fallen off as a result of them making bad decisions (Porto, Boavista, Benfica) while other teams have made better decisions and climbed the table (Gil Vicente, Braga, Alverca).
From 2225 to 2237, with one exception (the 33/34 season), Gil Vicente won the League. The from 2237 to 2260, with three exception when Benfica won, the last being in 2265, Porto won the league. Since then the highest Benfica has finished has been 3rd, in 2295 . But starting in 2266, more teams started finding their way to the top. Yes, Ports was still winning, but Alverca’s first win took place in 2270, Belenenses won a few times, then in 2282, Alverca started a run that saw them finish 1st or 2nd until 2298, and when they weren’t 1st or 2nd, Braga was. Since 2300, it’s been Alverca or Braga winning the League, with the Sporting breaking into the top spot twice, and Gil Vicente once.

BRAZIL & JAPAN

Teams have moved up, teams have fallen off. In Brazil, Fluminese, San Paolo, and Botafogo have given way to Palmerias, Avai and Guarani. In Japan, there has been a variety of teams winning the top spot, Hiroshima, Niigata, Yokohama until the 2100’s, when Shonan and Niigata were winning quite a bit, then you had some one off winners like Sendai and Fujieda. Then in 2187 Matsumoto Yamaga won, Omiya won a few times in the early 2200’s, Ryuku had a 5 year run, then starting in the 2254 season Matsumoto Yamaga started to dominate. Until the 2293 they won the league all but 4 times, then starting in 2297 it was either Matsumoto or Okayama winning the League, with the occasional Kagoshima win.
Japan looks like a fun place to play…I may have to do a save there once the game gets settled down, so probably FM27…

CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS

EUROPE

The Conference League

The Competition where you see the most diversity in winners, and 2nd place teams if we’re being honest. I am not going to list them all, but will point out a few of the highlights:
Dundee beating Levadeiakos in Dublin, 2314.
Başakşehir F.K beating Man U in Istanbul, 2296.
FC Botoşani beating Universitatea Craiova in 2293
Universitatea Craiova beating Linfield in 2265
Breiðablik winning again in 2245 and 2248
Dinamo Minsk Back to Back wins in 2240 and 41

The Europa League

Here, at least as far as I am concerned, it’s not about the “Usual Big Six” teams winning, it, but teams from countries you don’t have loaded winning it.
ML from Belarus winning in 2245, Zalgiris from Lithuania winning it in 2265, Winterthur beating Korona in 2289, KR from Iceland in 2292, Liepaja from Latvia beating Koln in 2305. There haven’t been any teams who have won it in back to back years, but several teams (SJK, Crewe, Malmo) have won one year, goen to the Champions League and lost out, then won the Europa league again in the 3rd year…

European Football Championship

No new surprises here, Wales beating Spain in 2280, Slovakia beating Norway in 2256 and Finland beating Germany in 2252 are the only outliers of the Big Six I have loaded not winning

The Champions League

This is around the time when teams from nations you don’t have loaded start making more appearances. Maybe not regular, but more than expected.
KAA Gent beat Girona in 2261, then the next year Molde beat Galatasaray.
Sparta Praha beat Inter in 2267, the KAA Gent won again the next season, beating Villareal.
In 2271, KAA Gent beat Bayern, then the next year Sparha Praha beat Real Madrid, then Sparta won again, beating Inter. In 2296 Sparta won again, beating Barca. Then they won a fifth time in 2317, again beating Inter. They’ve also finished 2nd 3 times as well. Last but noit least, in 2321 Galatasaray beat Chelsea.
On a tangent, Sparta Praha is currently the 16th ranked team in the world, they have won the League 160 times, and while their finances are pretty opaque, they have the ability to buy this Striker from Alverca for €210M, and then sell him 5 years later for €166M:

Sparta Praha is definitely a case of the game doing things “Under the Hood” to help them, as these are their facilities:

And this is the 20 year old, greyed out Striker:

I’ve never had that sort of luck in any of my saves. Their Youth intakes have to be massively goo year after year…and looking out their greyed out players…they are. Although I will say Agg 3, Det 3 and Fit 3 seems to be the default for all of them…

The World Cup

Nothing again out of the ordinary, until 2262, when Uruguay beat Japan; then again in 2266 when Croatia beat Japan. Japan then beat Argentina in 2294, and Tunisia in 2306, but the biggest surprise so far is Israel beating France in 2318.

The Ballon d’Or Winner

There hasn’t been a standout players this last 100 years, in that only a couple have won the Ballon three times. Le, a Brazilian striker for BVB won it in 2281, 2283 and again in 2289; Roman Fabry won it 3 years in a row starting in 2254, Eduardo Pena won it 3 times in 4 years, but that is not who I am going to highlight.
In 2325, Hull was a Top 6 team in the Prem, re-entering the League in 2216, fighting relegation the next few seasons (17th, 16th, 17th) before starting a climb that saw them fight midtable for 15 years, before finishing 2nd in 2231. In 2232 they fell down to 6th, back to 2nd in 2333, then a series of 5th and 4th Place finishes until 2239, when they finished 10th. Two more 3rd Place finishes followed, then it was a midtable fight until 2255, when they were relegated to the Championship. They came up again a few years later, and were lower table until from 11th, to 4th, to finishing 2nd in 2272, then dropped off, quite fast, getting relegated again in 2278. They came back in the 2290’s, again as high as 6th, were relegated in 2394, had a brief stay in the Prem at the turn of the century, and since then, any promotion has seen them relegated the following year, the last being 2319.
In 2235/36, they made it to the Quarterfinals of the Champions League, beating Tottenham and Real Madrid on the way, before losing to Girona; lost to West Brom in the 5th Round of the FA Cup, and lost to Tottenham in the Semi Final of the Carabao.

Sohei Sata was a Japanese International who played Striker for Hull. After helping FC Machida get promoted to the J1 League, Hull paid €2.8M for him in 2221. In the 2230 season he had 30 goals, 6 assists, and a 7.42 rating, which saw him finish 2nd in the Ballon voting. In 2236, in an injury filled season that only saw him play 29 games for Hull, he had 24 goals, 4 assists, and 3 POM’s in the Prem, and 6 goals, 2 assists, and a PoM in Continental competition. Having looked at other players who were up for the award, Beaurain had more goals and a higher Average playing for Inter, the same is true for Matumona playing for Marseilles.

This is Saito in 2235, right before his award winning season:

And I for one, think it’s vbery cool that his peers thought highly enough of him to give him the best player in football award, despite his not playing on the best team or winning anything else of note.

And that is the third 100 years down!

If you have a specific question about a specific year, you can hit me up on twitter @fm_jellico
In the meantime, feel free to poke around at you leisure:

FM26 – In the Year 2225

Two Hundred Years in, and this is about the time, usually, you see those teams that dominated their league the first 100 years starts to fall off, and newer teams start to rise. It’s all the time, especially in the “Lower Competitions” you start seeing teams you have probably never heard of winning things. As a reminder, the Nations in this years save are:

  • Brazil
  • England
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Portugal
  • Spain

As always, first thing to do is check and see where Crystal Palace is:

Relegated from League One, blivet. But there are other teams who have fallen off as well…

The English Premier League

The “Big Six” had started to fall off by 2125. Teams like Wolves, Brighton and Sunderland had worked their way up the table and into prominence, while more than a couple of teams on the outside were trying to claw their way in. In 2225, some things have changed, some things have stayed the same:

The story thus far has been Wrexham, who worked their way into the Premier league in the 2080’s and 2110’s, and then had a very good run in the 2170’s and 80’s not only winning the Premier League 6 times, but coming in 2nd Place in the Champions League 4 times as well.

Wolves were the dominant team until 2131, and the Liverpool went on a run that saw them finish no lower than 4th for the next 33 years. Brighton, Tottenham, and West Brom all won the league, then starting in 2165 Wrexham and Wolves traded 1st and 2nd place the next decade. Bournemouth had a bit of a run, and then the “usual” unusual event occurred: Preston winning the League. This is the 5th time I’ve done a 1000yr save, at some point, Preston always win the League…

In addition to winning the League 6 times, Wrexham also has a most undesirable honor: In the 2187/88 season, they lost 33 games, and finished with -2 points due to going into Administration. Ignore the date, its FM26 doing FM26 things:

Honestly that season was more notable for what was going on at the bottom of the table than the top. But here’s the 2125 to 2225 English Prem League Winners:

And the Records thus far:

Ligue 1, France

Somethings do not appear to change, because they are gradual, and this is the case for Ligue 1. Yes, the usual suspects are there, but the first switch may have occurred

From 2125 to 2176, with a couple of exceptions PSG was winning the Ligue. The tarting in 2178, Rennes won the Ligue, and then kept on winning it until 2215 (with 4 exceptions when they finished 2nd or 3rd). In 2216 Lyon won 3 in a row, PSG had a brief 2 year renaissance, then Marseilles and Rennes split the other years. The key to PSG’s slide? Starting in 2178, a series of Tycoon owners have gradually sclaed back their investments in the club. In fact their most recent wins have to do with a small surge in spending (if €332M in transfer fees for one year, 2219), can be considered small.

I’ll forgo the League results here, it’s literally just page after page of PSG and Rennes until recently.

Records wise, this is a bit odd when you look at it:

Montepelier had 4 draws and 30 losses, but Laval had 12 draws and 22 losses, while Bourg-Peronnas had 2 wins, a draw, and 31 losses…

The Bundesliga, Germany

There has been a decent amount of change here. As someone who did a save with BFC Dynamo, I will say it’s a bit gratifying to see tems like Carl-Zeiss Jena and Holstein Kiel in the top League, and it is also very nice to see Kaiserslautern finishing top 6 as well. But several teams have fallen out as well, Bayer being the biggest one IMO:

Freiburg had broken the grip Bayern had on 1st place, and kept it until 2138, when Bayern roared back, and after some back and forth with Freiburg the first couple of years, won the League from 2144 to 2153. From 2155 to 2163 it was Hoffenheim winning the league a total of 5 times, Bayern winning it 4, with Freiburg and BVB winning single years. Then in 2163, Hoffenheim went on a very long run, until 2201 it only lost the League 5 times, and since then it has been Hoffenheim, Freiburg and Bayern battling it out for the top spot, with the occasional one off winner, such as Koln in 2208. Staring in 2212 Bayern again went on a winning streak, winning the League 10 times, with Hoffenheim and Koln breaking their streak. The team to keep an eye on? Stuttgart, who have finished top 4 since 2216.

Bayern beat Hoffenheim 3-2 to spoil their invincible season in 2167/68. At some point, Like PSG in Ligue 1, but they do not have the ownership issues PSG does, and while there are years they spend quite a bit in the transfer window, more often than not they do not go overboard (no €332M in and €14.5M out years in Munich…), it will be up to other teams to improve to where they are consistently better than Bayern to keep them out of the top spot. Several teams are close, but not there yet.

Serie A, Italy

Another League where not a lot has changed thus far.

2125 to 2177 was about 2 teams: Inter and Parma…but mostly Inter, as they won it all but 13 times. Parma had a stretch from 2162 to 2169 where they won every year except 2167/68. Then starting in 21778/79, Napoli had a lock on 1st place until 2203/2204, when with the exception of a lone Juve win in 79/80, and a lone Inter win in 86/87, the Scudetto was theirs. Parma, and then Inter won it all again, but starting in 2211 AC Milan made it’s way back to the top, and with the exception of 2212/13 and 2217/18, the Scudetto stayed in Milan, as either AC or Inter won it.
Again, another League where it’s going to take other teams, like Napoli, rising to the top and kicking the Inters, Juve’s and the like down. At one time it seemed Parma would have some staying power, but they have fallen off.

Records wise not a lot has changed:

Inter went ‘Invincible’ in 2150/51, the only blemishes on the season were draws at Lazio and Parma. They won the League by 30 points, in fact it was the battle for 2nd thru 4th that was probably more interesting to ‘casual’ fans.

LaLiga, Spain

The top teams are slowly starting to change here, as the Big Clubs were are used to winning it all are starting to fall of. This is not because the Madrids and Barcelona’s are getting worse, but your Girona’s are getting better. That said, this years winner was a surprise

Mallorca has been a ‘Top 6’ teams for decades, and unless I missed something (entirely possible) they’ve never finished higher than 3rd. This year though, they won the league, maybe not handily, but it was out of left field. They’ve been on a spening spree recently, and it’s starting to pay off. Julian Ludwig, the 24 year old AM(L)/Striker, had 30 goals and 4 assists; 31 year old Konstantyn Bondar, whose been with the team for 12 years now, had 26 goals and 12 assists, and 22 year old Silvi Escabros, a product of Girona’s Youth system, had 14 goals and 16 assists. They have a World Class keeper in Takuya Kaneko, who they paid €42M for. They have the building blocks for the future, and I am interested to see in what happens.

Until Mallorca won, it was a 3 Club League for the most part: Girona, Barcelona, Real Madrid. Occasionally a Real Sociedad or Athletico might win, but for the most part it was Girona’s League to lose, especially during a run from 2139 to 2181 where they won the League all but 10 times.

Girona didn’t lose a game in 2151/52, their goal differential was +80

The Liga, Portugal

Again, to my untrained eye, nothing out of the ordinary here really, other than SPorting dropping off to 10th place:

There hasn’t been the single team domination we’ve seen in other leagues, that is one team ripping off 20 plus years of 1st place finishes. Gil Vicente, Braga, Boavista, Porto, SPorting, Benfica, and at the end of the century Alverca SD traded back and forth, one team might go on a five year run or so, but more often than not it came down to the last few weeks. Starting in 2204 though, it’s been Gil Vicente’s Century, as the only years the haven’t won were in 2220/21 and 2221/22, when Porto won by 5 points and 1 point repectively.

Not a lot has changed records wise, it will be interesting to see if/when Benfica loses the record for most League wins:

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and The J1 League, Japan

I’m going to be honest here, I included the leagues to give the game more diverse results. I know next to almost nothing about either Countries Leagues, and the fact my real name fix didn’t work for Brazil has be all over the place trying to figure out who’s who and whether or not they are winning is good, bad, or both. The Leagues are still playable, so if your interested in how they are going, please download the save and see for yourself, because anything I come up with will most likely be wrong…

CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS

EUROPE

The Conference League

“I believe in Breiðablik Superiority” – Zealand

Breiðablik won the Conference League in 2221, a Semi-Pro club in Iceland with no transfer budget to speak of. The more things change…

I love this competition, not because the “Big Teams” win it, and they do, but because there are so many teams from smaller leagues that do win it, and no team has won it multiple times in a row:

Honestly, the only thing more fun than seeing a Panetolikos or Zilina winning, are some of the Stadium names. Mousa Dembele Stadium in Liege? Hugo Lloris Arena in Nice? I’m pretty sure he got that for being a coach though…FM26 is horrible at saving histories so I would have to go back to be sure.

The Europa League

Tottenham has the record for most wins, with 13 thus far. The “Bigger” teams do win this more often than not, but there is the occasioanl surprise, Dundalk Streda in 2143/44, Puskas Academia in 2171/72, PAOK beatin Bayern in 2202/03, Konyaspor beating Parma in 2220/21 or Ujpest beating Rennes in 2223/24

European Football Championship

Belgium won in 2128 and 2132, other than that, the usual suspects of England, Germany and Spain, and France occasionally. More interesting? Scotland in 2nd place in 2204, losing to Germany, Bulgaria losing to Spain in 2196, and North Macedonia losing to Wales in 2156.

The Champions League

I’m not going to screenshot every result, but take the opportunity to point out a few occasions where the expected “Big Team” didn’t win. A Big Team still won though, as a prime example Preston winning in 2204/05, 2201/02/ and 2197/98. They beat Zilina that year, the Slovakian team had a very good run. I suspect we have another century or two before the smaller league big clubs start winning.

The World Cup

Tunisia beat France in 2202. Ghana beat Germany in 2154. Senegal beat Syria in 2142. France Beat Ivory Coast in 2170. Again, as the save goes on, expect more results like this, just not all the time…

The Ballon d’Or Winner

Polydoros Panakoulias won 4 Ballon d’Or’s. 2137, 2139, 2140, and 2143. and those years he didn’t win, including 2138 and 2144, he came in 2nd place. At the end of the 2140 season, he was 27 years old. When he was 19 Inter paid €51M to get him from Olympiacos. In 34 appearances, as primarily an AM(R), he had 14 goals, 13 assists, 12 PoM’s, and an 8.12 rating.

And that is the second 100 years down. If you have a specific question about a specific year, you can hit me up on twitter @fm_jellico
In the meantime, feel free to poke around at you leisure:
https://www.mediafire.com/file_premium/1pkrpq0brfzpirg/1000_yr_2225.06.26.fm/file

Thanks for reading!

FM_Jellico

FM26 – In the Year 2125

How far can we go?

In what has become somewhat of a tradition in the FM Jellico household, when the new version of the game goes out of Beta, I start a save, with a throw away manager and 6-8 Nations loaded. Usually the “Big 6”, one Asian and one South American country.
This year, the Nations are:

  • Brazil
  • England
  • France
  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Portugal
  • Spain

In each Nation, the top league is playable, the leagues below are view only, which gives us a 72K size player database. On a tangent, the game is still running very well, every once and awhile there’s a memory issue, and I have to restart it, but that’s not a huge deal. One thing I have noticed is that this year is that when I compare the size of the save files from the FM24 version of the save I did, the FM26 save is bigger. In the past, the game refused to go on after the save file size hit 5GB, right now it is 2540 in game and the save file is 3.3Gb, with each save adding about 30MB to the file size. That means if the save file size is consistent, we will get ~166 files at 5GB, which is 830 years. Which while not a bad result at all, is not that close to the 1120 years we got in the FM24 version of the save.

So, we are going to try an be a bit more…structured with this review this year. The plan is to go 100 years at a time, Review each country, then the Continental competitions, the then World, and along the way, point out a few of the good and bad things we come across.
So with out further ado, let us start where I always start: Where is Crystal Palace, and how are they doing?

Relegated to League Two…moving on…

The English Premier League

From the 2025/2026 season, it was a 1 team League: Man City. Of the last 100 years they have won it 51 times. Arsenal won it a few times, Man United finally won it all in the 39/40 season, Liverpool in 40/41, Tottenham in 41/42 and 43/44, then it was back to the Man City train until 2062/2063, when Brighton finished 1st 4 of the next 5 years. Villa had a good run from 71/72 to 75/75, winning it all at the beginning and the end, and finishing 2nd the other 3 years, then it was back to Man City, who won the league almost every year or placed top 3 until 2096/2097, when Wolves kicked them to the curb. From 2096 to 2125, Man City has only won twice, with Wolves, Man United (5 times in a row starting in 2102) and Liverpool dominating the top spot, with Brighton competing and winning a couple of times as well.

This was the table at the end of the 2124/2125 season:

What some of you will notice right away is that Wrexham has indeed made it to the Premier League. They were first promoted in 2081, came right back down, bounced back and forth every few years afterwards, finished 2nd in the FA cup in 2114, were promoted again in 2121, and have stayed around so far.

Records wise, nothing too shocking really:

In looking thru the results the 2111/2112 season Liverpool scored 103 points, 29 ahead of City, going 33-4-1, their only loss against United. The best season, competition wise? In my opinion, it’s a tie.

The finish of the 2035/2036 season:

And most recently, the 2123/2124season:

A Note before Continuing

  • The more leagues you have loaded, the more diverse results you will get, eventually, because
  • It’s takes a couple of hundred years of simming to see those teams that dominate now fall off
  • In many Continental and International competitions, the game is’weighted’ towards the countries you have loaded. Case in point, I did a version of this I called the “Small Country” save, where I loaded China, South Africa, Israel, Latvia, Scotland, Peru, and I want to say Slovakia, and about 300 years in all of those countries had teams winning international and continental competitions. It the smaller competitions you will start seeing some more diverse winners, the European Cup for example, before seeing things like Breiðablik winning the Champions League 3 times in a row as a Semi-Professional club…

So, the next few sections may be a bit…short.

Ligue 1, France

As expected, PSG has won the league, a lot. In fact, it would be easier to list when they didn’t win it after 2025/2026.

2076/2077, when Lyon won; and again in 79/80 and 80/81; Marseille winning it every other year starting in 81/82 until 88/89, and Troyes winning it in 2122/2123. I believe Marseilles has come in 2nd more than any other team in the League.

Weirdly enough, at least in my opinion, the most recent table wouldn’t look out of place today:

Beauvais being the one outlier really, they are a CN 2 Group B squad presently.

PSG ran the table in the 2028/2029 season, with no losses, but Pau had a woeful 2075/2075 campaign:

1 Win, 10 draws, 23 losses…PSG has won the league comfortable every year it won, and when it lost, it was close more often than not. The most exciting finish to the season? the 2123/2124 campaign:

Monaco drew 2 of it’s last three games, and PSG won on goal difference.

The Bundesliga, Germany

The most recent table:

If there’s one thing I have been surprised with so far, it’s the state of the Bundesliga. Usually it’s another version of what’s going on in France, 1 or 2 teams dominate, with the occasional outlier winning as well. Not this simulation, although there have been some teams on some nice runs.

Bayern won the league every year except 2033/2034, when RB Leipzig pipped them. the from 2037/2038 to 2047/2048, with the exception of 2 seasons where RB Leipzig and Bayern won, BVB ran the table. With the exception of a lone Hertha win in 2055/2056, the next years were Bayern, BVB and RB Leipzig going on runs. In 2069/2070, and then three times in a row starting in 2074/2075 Stuttgart won the league, another Hertha outlier in 2085/2086, the RB Leipzig winning it 11 times in 13 years, and then the 22nd Century started, and in 2101,2101, Freiburg has won the league every year 2104/2105. For me, what’s more exciting is you have teams like Hoffenheim, Kaiserslautern, and Koln in the mix as well, that’s usually not the case.

As a Kaiserslautern fan, I actually went to a couple of games there in the 80’s when my dad was stationed there, the less we say about the 2049/2050 season, the better.

With the exception of a couple of season where the top 2 teams were tied points wise and they went to the tiebreak, there haven’t been any real seasons of note in terms of close finishes. In terms of overall results though, I believe the 2080/2081 season was the roughest, most exciting one:

You have to go back to 2003 to see 65 points win the league, and the lowest ever was 43 winning it all in 97-98 (The Kaiserslautern miracle run). But the difference between Champions League Football and Conference League was 3 goals…

Serie A, Italy

Another league of the “Usual Suspects” early on, as Inter won every year from 2024/2025 to 2040/2041, except the one year Juve won it in 2032/2033. Napoli had a couple of wins, then it was Inter again, with a lone Juve win in 2047/2048, and then again in 2053/2054 and 20/56/2057. Lazio had a good run starting in 2060, winning it all six of the next 7 years, then Inter won it all again until 2081/2082, the loan break being a 3 year period starting in 2076/2077 when Milan won it.

Then it was Juve, Inter, Milan and Palermo making itself known, then another inter run until 2106, with lone Palermo and Juve wins scattered thruout. Since 2107/2108, Palermo and Inter have been duking it out, whoever isnt winning is finishing 2nd, the lone excpetion being Juve in 2122/2133.

Again, the most recent table wouldn’t look out of place today I think, just the top team really:

Palermo almost went ‘Invincible’ in 2112/2113, a loss to Como being the only thing that stopped them:

In 2075/2076 Milan was running away with the League until April and May, when it drew 6, won 1, and lost 1. The one loss to a midtable Bergamo team that that put them out of contention for good. Inter finished the season with 6 wins and 2 draws, Juve with 6 wins, a draw and a loss as well.

LaLiga, Spain

More Italy than Germany results wise, but not unexpected either: It’s been mostly Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, Athletico has won it a few times, as has Real Sociedad. Girona started popping up with the occasional win in in 2049/2050, and thereafter was a fxiture at 2nd or 3rd place more often than not, then they started winning more often, and starting in 2112/2113, they’ve won LaLiga 9 of the last 13 years.

Nothing out of the ordinary here table wise I believe:

Barcelona lost 1 game in 2093/2094, but to be honest I am more impressed with Sevilla 19 draws…

A 1-0 loss to Real Betis was Barcelona’s only blip in an otherwise very good 2093/2094 season.

Season wise, there have been more than a few times when the teams at the top have ended up on the same points,

The choice for the most exciting season so far in La Liga boils down to 3 seasons, but the participants and results are all the same: heading into the last week, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Girona are either tied on points, or one team is separated by one point from the others. All three teams draw, and the fans are probably disappointed as a result. I am choosing the 2017/73 season though, because all three teams had a chance of outright winning La Liga, instead they all drew, leaving Barcelona to win it all:

The Liga, Portugal

Speaking personally, I have not played a lot in Portugal. I had a banger of a Santa Clara save started when the country database I was using decided to bork everything, but of the “Big 5” European leagues, it’s the one I know the least about. Other than the fact it usually has three teams dominating it.

That’s has changed very little in this timeline.

Sporting, Porto and Benfica have pretty much dominated the last century, with Porto going on a run from 2044/2045 to 2078/2079 where they “lost” the league just four times. Gil Vicente and Boa Vista start winning titles every once and awhile, Gil Vicente had a run at the turn of the century where it won 5 out of 7 years, but both Porto and Sporting have started to fall off, as Braga. Gil Vicente and Boavista step up.
The current table:

Again, other than a few names at the bottom, nothing out of the ordinary here.
Records wise, no real Surprises here either, not a lot has changed since the simulation began:

Porto went 32-2-1 in it’s 95 point season, Sporting beating them 2-1 to ruin the ‘Invincible” season.

With regards to the most exciting season so far, it has to be the 2109/2110 campaign. Heading into the last week, Rio Ave was top of the League with 63 points. Gol Vicente and Boavista were also on 63 points, Benfica was on 61, so all four teams had the ability to win the league. In the end:

Rio Ave was the only team to lose, as a result going from 1st to 4th, while Gil Vicente ended up winning. Although in looking at the tables and fixtures, I am not sure why, as Boavista won and drew, and now the data is jacked up when I go back and look because of course it is…the results in the table don’t match up with Gil Vicenctes fixture schedule…sigh…

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

I will be the first to admit I do not know a lot about Brazilian football, and what I do know has been thru Football Manager more often than not. But I always try and include them or another South American Country because it leads to more diverse results down the road. I could have also sworn that I used the real name fix, but either SI is doing FM26 SI things, or I used the wrong name fix, because I am still getting 3 letter abbreviations for the team names…but onwards we go!

There has been a decent amount of diversity in the winners of the league the past 100 years. Flamingo dominated early on, but then fell off, with Botafogo , Santos, São Paulo, Vasco de Gama, Fluminense all winning titles, then in 2081 Cortiba (currently a Serie B team) won it all. Bahia has won the league, Cruziero has a title as well, so for the time being Brazil isthe place to be if you are a good team, because there are other good teams but no one team is dominating.

Even a bit more on the ‘odd’ side of things:

Not a lot of new records in the last 100 years, except for Figueirense (Currently a Serie C team in 2025), losing 32 of 38 games…

Season wise, the 2105 season was probably the closest so far:

Atlético Mineiro, if the fixture data can be trusted, went L-W-D-D-W it’s last 5 games. The Fixture schedule for Cruziero has the same result, just in a different order (W-W-L-L-D), and the Fluminese results don’t match up at all.

I suspect this part of the review may not be present in future posts…

The J1 League, Japan

Until recently I never added an Asian team to the countries, the primary reason being League depth. South Korea, Indonesia and China only go 2 leagues down, so as a result, you tend to get the teams winning it all in the 21st Century winning it all in the 27th Century. Japan though, with it’s 3 Leagues and Regional Leagues, is a very good country to add, not the least of which is the knock on effect of very good Japanese players going to European teams and being world Superstars.

That said, my knowledge of the J1 League is less than that of Brazil’s Serie A…

I can’t say anything looks out of the ordinary here, I don’t know what “ordinary” in Japan is. Hiroshima winning the league though, I know they are a good team, they have won the J-League more than any other team. They pretty much dominated until the 2050’s, Kawasaki-F managed to pip a few years from them, then came Urawa, Shimizu, and others. Tokyo-V dominated the 2070’s, a lone Sapporo win in 2073 the only blip there, then it was teams like Niigata, Yokohama F-M, Shonan and Sagamihara winning titles, which I think is a good thing. The last thing a person wants to see, having encountered it before, is one team dominating for the entirety of the save. Which happens more than you think.

CONTINENTAL COMPETITIONS

EUROPE

The Conference League

This is probably, for me anyways, the most enjoyable competition to look at early on, because most of the participants are clubs from smaller nations that we do not have loaded, so the variety of clubs is quite good.

Obligatory Breiðablik appearence made…

What I like about this competition is yes, some of the bigger clubs (Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Parma, Bayer) do show up and win, it’s clubs like FC Blau-Weiß Linz in 38/39, OH Leuven in 57/58, LASK in 76/77, Goztepe in 92/93, Puskas Akademia in 98/99, or Hapoel Be’er Sheva in 2116/2117 winng. And as the Sim goes on, yes you will still see big teams win it, but a lot of smaller teams as well. Look at some of the teams coming, those could be the potential powerhouses next centruy.

Your Young Player of the Conference, 2125. Georgian Striker Zurab Telia, on loan from Porto to Torpedo Kutaisi:

The Europa League

As expected this early in the save, a lot of the “Usual Suspects” here, with a couple of outliers every now and again. Ajax in 34/35, Mallorca in 49/50, Derby in 68/69, Servette in 2105/2105, SK Sturmgratz in 2110/2111. This is where up and coming teams in the loaded leagues will start making their appearances on a regular basis. Oddly enough, and since I am wearing the bifocals it’s not impossible, there hasn’t been a repeat Europa League Winner since I started the save:

Your Europa League Young Player of the Season: Luke Anderson-Peters, from Chelsea:

European Football Championship

I’m not going to post the winners, because for the most part it’s the “Usual Suspects”, the Big Leagues I have loaded. The outliers though, will raise a couple of eyebrows.

Denmark beat France in 2044. Belgium Beat Germany in 2088. Romania beat Italy in 2112. Netherlands beat Spain in 2120. Every other competition was England, Spain, Germany, with the lone French win coming in 2052. England did “Three-peat” from 2028 to 2036.

The Champions League

Again, this early in the save, there aren’t going to be very many surprises. The newer winner reflect their own climb to the top of their respective Leagues (Girona and Freiburg), and while some winners may look like an outlier, Wolves in 2094/2095, they were the class of the English Prem then.
No, the outliers are going to be those clubs you wouldn’t be expecting to win it, SK Strum in 2116/2117, and Lille in 2109/2110, whose best finish in the save so far has been a series of 2nd place finishes early in the save, and a few second places since. They lost to Chelsea the previous year in the Europa League final, finished 3rd in France that same year to grab the last Champions league spot, and won it all the next season.

Your Champions League Player of the Season: Bruno Reisinho, Man United Striker:

The World Cup

To be honest, the result from this are a bit more diverse than I expected, with a couple of surprises as well:

The Ballon d’Or Winner

One hand, the screen for this is nice. On the other hand, it’s to small to be useful. You get, at best, 13 years of players in, that’s a lot of screenshots. So what I will do is this:

This is the current Ballon d’Or winner, Javier Mesias from Wolves:

Still going strong at 34.

However, from 2070 to 2079, Alejandro won the Ballon 7 times, including 6 in a row while playing at Athletico Madrid:

And because I am saving every 5 years, here is Alejandro from the 2069/2070 season:

The idea is to do updates every hundred years, hopefully we do get 1000 years out of the save. As I type this it’s currently, 2663 and the file size is just over 4GB, so we will see what happens.

For those of you who want to poke around, just be aware the data doesn;t always match up, but here is the save file for 2125:
https://www.mediafire.com/file_premium/80eysorkrz0hkm2/1000_yr_2125.06.20.fm/file

When the save concludes, that’s when I’ll upload all the 5 years files to my Mediafire. If there are other competitions you want me to look at, or other player categories, let me know.

Thanks for Reading!
FM_Jellico

In the year 3145…

Luton Town won the Prem. Swindon, who have won 10 out of the last 12 years, has fallen to 10th, while Dani Salavert was fired after just 288 days in the job. The former Man United coach may regret leaving…

In the Bundesliga, TSG Hoffenheim continues it’s dominance. Since winning the league in 2982, Die Kraichgauer have won 127 times. There are several teams nipping at it’s heel though,

In Italy, Juventus is again top of the league, for the 15th consecutive year. This also makes the 13th year the scored 100+ points in winning the league. Indeed it has been the batle for 2nd and 3rd place that has been more exciting to watch recently.

In Ligue 1, it appears that PSG has indeed broken the QRM dominance of the 32nd century. Having won the Ligue from 3099 to 3137, has consecutive 3rd place finishes meant the beginning of the end for Les rouges et jaunes?

In La Liga, Barcelona won 35 games, drew 1 and lost 2, for 106 points. They came in 2nd, to a Real Madrid team that went Invincible, with just 2 draws and no losses in the 38 game season. To be honest, the big surprise is when Real doesn’t win La Liga, having won it 810 times since 2024. The still hold the record for most matches without losing, 249 (from 2263 to 2370), but Levante still holds the record for most wins in a row with 63.

In the J1 League, Veroskronos Tsuno is trying to defend it’s title, but long time rivals Shimizu and Urawa are currently ahead of them.

In Argentina, Arsenal (Sarandi) and River maintain their 110 year rivalry of winning the league.

World Cup fever is again gripping the world, as just over a year remains until it begins again. Will Italy be able to defend it’s title? Can Belarus step up to win again? Ireland again has a solid squad, as does Japan.

People are still talking about Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar’s Champions League win in 3044. The Icelandic Semi-Pro’s team improbable run, including a penalty kick win against TSG Hoffenheim in the Quarters, are what legends are made of. That they lost to eventual winners Hoffenheim in this years Champions League, on penalty kicks even, was heartbreaking, and not just to the people of Iceland.

Manuel Esposito won his 2nd World Golden Ball, but Jonathan Webb was a close 2nd in voting. However, it seems that Gorka Prieto’s record of winning the award 9 times is not in Jeapordy.

And those are just the highlights. There’s plenty of lowlights as well, but the database is 1125 years in size, that’s to be expected.

Start a new game, load a few countries, top division playable, the rest view only, and go on vacation. Until the game crashes. When it does crash, load the last save and keep going.

Why?

Well, why not?

I’m not sure when 1000 year saves first started showing up on Youtube, I know Jack and Kev both did them, but those were 1 country saves, and the game always favors the countries you have loaded. A few years ago, I wanted to do something different, so I Fired up the laptop, added seven countries (The Big 6 and Brazil), simmed out 1000 years and put the results on Reddit. It was pretty popular, enough that Johnny did a video for it for FM Scout.

I kept doing it, for my own fun I guess, and the next time I did, Johnny reached out to Zealand, and we all participated in a video for it. Granted, we only got 847 years in, but there were some surprising results, and it was fun to do.

But, one of the takeaways from that video was that I did not have the ability to go back and look at some outstanding results and players. Mickey Higgenson fans will know what I am talking about.

So this year, I resolved to do things a bit differently. I loaded up the seven countries this time, and saved the game every year. Then every once and awhile, I’d go in and pull out all the 5 years saves, and move them to a different folder, and delete the saves in between. At one point in time, I planned on doing a video, but life and other reasons intervened, and the video never happened.

But it’s the doldrums of the FM cycle. FM25 was just announced, many players are a bit burned out on it, so why not give them the opportunity to poke around and possibly play in a time frame they find fun and interesting.

So, I give to you the following:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/ko491n2lg42gv/FM24_1000_Year_Save_on_Beta

To assuage any fears, the game is a small database, with at most ~60k players. Attribute masking is off.

The issue is going to be latter saves, as shown:

The file sizes increase because of data stored. And the game always crashes, at least for me, when it goes beyond 5GB in size. Larger saves will just take a few seconds to move, but nothing to egregious. However I say this as a gamer who started playing in the late 80’s, when a few minutes of waiting was fast…

So, poke around, have some fun, maybe see if you can score more points with Mansfield in the 2379/80 season than they did originally (which was 0 by the way), or go to 2500’s Italy and try to break Juve’s grip on winning.

Oh, and for those wondering:

Have fun poking around!

Jellico

The Kids Are Alright Season ∞

It’s the manager that has problems…

First of, I have to say I love the idea of this sort of save. It can be fun, and interesting, and a lot easier if you choose a country with really good youth recruitment and a bevy of decent teams to choose from. There are a couple of problems inherent in this sort of save though.

  1. The game doesn’t know you are doing a Youth Only save, and the feedback and actions of the board and fans can be detrimental
  2. If you aren’t playing in a big country, or a big team in a small country, the path to success is longer, and that where we are in Romania.

I last posted season 11. I have played up to season 22. And I can tell you right now what the next 30 years in the save are going to look like should we keep playing: More of the same.

There are a few problems we are dealing with, that with time and the application of a little application, can be overcome. But all of these problems are a series of interlocking, overlapping circles, some bigger than others, with less overlap, but they all have to be done at or near the same time for us to be going forward.

Case in Point:

We have more academy graduates playing than any other team in Europe. Are some of them Elite talents? Yes, Rocky Jivan (Class of ’34) had the potential to be one of the best M(C)’s in the game IMO. He went to PSG for €3.4M, never broke into the 1st Squad, had a season with PSG 2 where he had 3 goals and 16 assists, went on loan to Rapid Bucharesti, then left on a free to go to Ludogorets. Is he still a good M(C)? Yes, I would bet he’s in the 130 range as a player, but his potential was probably 150-160.

Nikolay Tuntev came thru as a 2 star PA Strike in the Class of ’35

Three years later, he left for PSG at €3.2M. Had 3 good seasons on the PSG 2 squad, had a season on the first team where he scored 8 goals in 7 appearances, but he’s their 4th option.

Radu Aldea (Class of ’35) went to Inter, so did Alin Munteneau and Dennis Mocanu (Class of ’35 as well), Andrei Voice (Class of ’36) went to Juve, Iulius Tarcea (Class of ’38) went to Milan, and that’s just internationally. I’ve had several player move within smaller clubs for decent money as well, although quite a few have ended up staying in Romania.

The reason for all these good young players moving are interlocked.

  1. The minimum Fee clause is set by the agent, and they are very attainable for other clubs. I tried setting Jivan’s clause to €20M, and his agent countered with a locked offer for €3.2, which I had to accept or he could have left for a lot less. I could have taken it off and tried to get more money, but that’s a shake of the dice I am not willing to take.
  2. We are one of the best clubs in Romania, Top 3 even, and while our reputation has grown, it’s still Regional. While we have been performing well in Continental Competitions, a Semi Final loss in the UECL, Europa League Knock out Round Losses, Europa League Group losses, and a couple of UECL Round of 16 losses, there have also been years we haven’t qualified.
  3. The Country rating as a whole has improved, going from 65th to a high of 32nd before falling back recently to 40th, as the other clubs in Romania have not had the success that we have had.

This sets up a cycle that is particularly troublesome to deal with:

  1. Good player comes thru Youth intake
  2. Good player gets Senior Team starts Early, sometimes when 17 y/o, also gets International appearances on the Youth Squads
  3. Good player develops, signs new contract with minimum release fee locked by agent.
  4. Team plays in Europe really well, Player gets noticed
  5. Team with Better Reputation makes offer to player, meeting release clause, Player leaves, often sits on 2nd team, and then leaves for another club.

To break this cycle, we need to

  1. Grow our reputation, and countries reputation
  2. By getting good, young players, and developing them
  3. Holding onto them for more than 3-4 years to build up a quality squad that will get us the wins we need
  4. While sending out other players to other teams in the country to get them inproved as well so the country rating can improve as well

Which we can’t do because teams with a better reputation currently get all of the good, Young Romanians.

Is it a cycle that can be broken? Yes, I believe so, but it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, it’s a 30 year project, at least.

And I don’t have the interest in hitting the ‘Auto Resolve’ button for the next 30 seasons while playing the European games. That doesn’t hold any interest for me. I haven’t touched this save in almost a month, and when I loaded it back up again, I saw the familiar names, and just…eh. I knew this was going to be a challenge when I started it, I just wasn’t aware of how big a challenge it was going to be, and that’s my fault. It’s been fun, but near the end it was getting frustrating, and that’s just no way to play FM, so I am going to set this save aside.

I appreciate all of you who have followed along, and for the foreseeable future I will have some more content coming, mostly related to screenflow and scouting.

Thanks,

Jellico

Bonus content:

Teodor Drăgan, the best Romanian Player in the game. CFR Cluj, Class of ’30, to Porto for €5.25M in 2035, then PSG for €72M in 2038. First International Experience, Romanian U21 squad at age 17, where he won goal of the tournament. 2036/37 Champions League Young Player of the Season, FIFA Best U21 Men’s Player the same year. Blue is 13-16, Green is 17+, and I would bet most of those blues are 15 or 16

The Kids Are Alright Season 11

Chin up, old boy, it could be worse…

As much as I love this save, I have to admit we are in the phase where our performances are going to vary wildly, and there are multiple reasons for this, but the primary reason is that we are a young team, our average age is 21, and the Ability Curve of the ability of the squad is a bit…pronounced. We are good enough to win the League in Romania, and beat some other European clubs, but we aren’t in a position to compete with the bigger European Clubs on a consistent basis because we do not have the team to do so, we are waiting for the Youth Academy to produce it. Which means going forward, instead of the medium to big leaps we used to get to where we are now, the next few years are going to be only incremental improvements, or no improvements at all, or in some cases, stepping back a bit.

This season was one of those cases…

There were some bits of good news though:

And some Middling News:

The biggest loss here was Fieraru (Class of ’31). He has the ability to be a solid striker, either a #2 on our squad, if I ever switch to a Two Striker Formation, or a good player on a lower club. He had one year left on his contract, and Rapid pushed hard for him, and he wanted to go, and nothing could keep him here. Secreteanu (Class of ’26) was a solid option on the left side, but I have equally capable younger players who can take his place. Butoiu (Class of ’31) I had high hopes for, as did the Youth Coaches. The next 4 years he barely improved. Stancu (Class of ’25) has had a solid career for us as our D/WB(L), but Sepsi’s offer was too good to pass up, and I have younger capable replacements.

I was hoping for a good European run this year. I knew we weren’t going to go far in the Champions League, and also felt pretty confident that if we fell to the Europa League, we could do a credible job there, and if for some reason we fell to the Conference, thats fine, we could do a credible job there to. The preseason started well, the friendlies were good, the season kicked off, and we shat the bed.

I played mostly rotated sides in the friendlies, especially once I saw who we were playing in our CL Qualifying game. I needn’t have worried. Midtjylland’s quality was apparent from the first whistle, they scored their 1st goals in 10 minutes. And if beating us 4-1 wasn’t bad enough for our home crowd, they beat us 4-1 in front of their home crowd as well…where they scored in the 1st minute. If you take into account the 6-2 drubbing Cluj gave us, also at home, we lost by a 14-3 aggregate score in those matches….to face Mechelen in the Europa League. I don’t have Belgium loaded, but they fished 4th I think, because they didn’t show up in the 1-3 slots, and while we did well to hold them to a 1-1 draw, 16 y/o Rocky Jivan (Class of ’34) clawing the draw back for us in the 81st minute, a Stancu own goal and all around poor effort meant we lost in the 2-1 away match. So we fell to the conference league, where we met our new nemesis: Austria Wien. A 4-3 aggregate loss late, and we were out of Europe.

It has been our worst European performance to date…

I would like the think our lackluster efforts in Europe, with a heavy dose of yelling by me, spurred the guys onto start doing well. Or maybe they just didn’t want to play in Europe, I am not sure.

We went the entire month of September without conceding a goal, which was a good accomplishment. A close loss followed by a last gasp win was too exciting for me, I called it a night after those two matches, as we find ourselves part of a group of eight or so teams that could finish 4th or 12th, and noone would really be surprised with either result. Not losing in November was also nice, but the wheels wobbled in December, and we went into the break mid table. It was going to take quite a bit for us to make our way back into the Top 6.

And we stumbled just enough at the end to finish 7th, and go into the Relegation Group.

So Of Course we turned it on, lost only the one game, six shutouts and PK’s against FCSB see us finish 8th, and claim another European spot. We’re going to do better next year.

The Youth Intake

Last years Intake was really good, Jivan, Oprea, Mif, Vieru, Croitoru could be a Golden Generation. Jivan at 16 is already playing for the Romanian U21 squad, which is both good and bad. This years intake preview got my hopes up, but then:

Alin Munteneau

His Bravery is the standout attribute, but his Aggression, Tackling, Fitness and Work Rate are nothing the laugh at either. I suspect a lot of his “Average” scores are in the 9-10 range, and if he doesn’t meet his 4 1/2 star potential, he should still become a very solid midfielder.

Dennis Macanu

How a person with Good Determination and decent Teamwork can be Unsporting is a mystery, I am pretty sure it means his ‘under the hood’ attributed are pretty meh. He has a good foundation to build on, the problem is I have quite a few players that can play at D(L). At this point the best course of action is to get him into a good mentor group, then get him as many games as possible, maybe a loan spell or two, and see where we are in 5 years. But his potential isn’t enough for me to outweigh the Personality.

Alin Oltean

If he improves his Stamina, Strength, Concentration and Positioning, I think Oltean could have a long term future at the club, despite the Injury issues. What I am hoping is that he’s not another one of those players who comes in with their CA at 70, and their PA is 85. Another one to keep a closer eye on.

Nikolay Tuntev

The question isn’t “How Good is Tuntev going to be?” but rather “How good is Tuntev going to be before he leaves for ‘Gr€€n€r’ pastures. He’s only been eligible for a few months, yet already has a Bulgarian U21 Call Up, and a goal. I think he has wonderkid (160+ IMO) potential, and we are going to do what we can to get him there. I strongly suspect he will be getting first team playing time next season, and honestly, with his physicals and Ball Control attributes, and his overall Attacking Attributes, I don’t think we would be hurting the squad. Clearly the best of this years good intake.

Alexandru Olteanu

His Attacking and Possession attributes are already on the right side og good for the most part, if his defensive skills pick up, to where he is merely ‘Average’ as opposed to ‘Bad’, I think he’ll be a great DLP. As it stands, he has a couple of other players ahead of him on the depth chart, but they bring more issues to the table than Olteanu does. And having to many good players for a position is a problem I think a lot of FM managers would love to have.

Vlad Bălan

At 6′ 2″, he already has the height for the position, and while his Fitness is currently lacking, his solid physicals and defending means he has a good foundation to build on, and the Fairly Determined personality will help him there. He has a little bit of an injury problem, but that doesn’t worry me. What does is that he’s currently 8th on the D(C) depth chart, and how do I shepherd his growth to try and make sure he gets a chance at starting for us?

Teodorescu had 17 assists. 17 Unambitious assists to go with 8 Unambitious Goals and 3 Unambitious Player of the Match awards. If only her were a bit more ambitious…

Despite the teams overall performance, the players as a whole did really well IMO. I love that were aren’t relying on one or two players to do everything for us, and we had quite a few youngsters get some playing time, and contributing. It’s something we need to keep on doing, especially if we want more success. Our European campaign this year was a disaster, I am hoping we will do better next season. The last couple of Youth Intake have also been very good, I am hoping that’s a trend that’s going to continue.

Until then, we’re going to keep plugging away, and hoping and praying we keep the rock in front of us.

Thanks for reading!

The Kids Are Alright -Season 10

A TIPPING POINT?

Ten seasons in, and I would be hard pressed to argue were aren’t exactly where we want to be. In addition to moving up 134 places to the 132nd position in European club ranking, we have improved behind the scenes, with secure finances, State of the Art Training Facilities, Excellent Youth Facilities, the best coaching group in Liga I…the only thing really holding us back is our reputation as a club, which currently sits at 2 1/2 National. That means we are still missing out on some of the better coaching options out there, especially at the youth level, because they do not want to come here. Don’t get me wrong, what we have is pretty good, but I know there are better out there. But we have a good, young, capable roster, and even though the pundits don’t believe in us (Again, the predicted a bottom half finish, this time 11th), I think we are poised to start doing some good things.

Selling one of our better youth prospects was not part of the plan though.

Vasile Ion (Class of ’30) is probably the first legitimate wonderkid (140+PA) player we’ve had come thru the ranks.

If I am being honest, I don’t think it’s his play for us that caught everyone’s attention, but his International and Continental play. 7 appearances as a 17 year old, 11 as an 18 year old, he’s easily the best young Romanian DM in the game. A few of the local clubs started asking about him last season, then some of the neighboring clubs, but in this years winter transfer window, a lot of big clubs started getting involved, when Napoli came and made an offer that I couldn’t refuse. Could I have gotten more money for him? At the time, probably not. And they offered him on a loan back until the end of the season which came in handy. I suspect the 40% sell on will as well…or it would, if we were buying players. A lot of the extra money is tied to international appearances, and I don’t think we will see a problem in getting them.

Transfer wise, the only real surprise was Rareş Florea going to Chindia for as much money as he did. I don’t think he worth anything nearing that amount, but never interrupt another club when they are making financial decision that are in your best interest. The only other ‘Out’ of any consequence was Rareş Florea, but Voluntarii can afford to eat the fee should he not pan out. Given the recent injury rating he’s picked up and his underwhelming loan spell last year, I don’t think he’s going to get much better.

Schedule wise, I think we actually did ourselves a favor by not qualifying for Continental football this season, as it means fewer games, and lets us concentrate on League play. And Holy Hell, did we get off to a really good start:

We played horribly at Arad, so a draw was not an unexpected result. The draw at Craiova was expected as well, the loss against FCSB not so much, but everyone in a Politehnica kit had a bad day that day. Our victories though, 4-1 against U Craiova, 2-0 against Rapid, 3-0 against Cluj, these are all solid to very good teams, and we handled them quite well. We are still using the 4-1-4-1 DM WB Asymmetrical, everyone knows it, is comfortable and familiar with it, and teams are still having issues dealing with it. I wanted to do well in the Cupa României this season, the board wanted us to get to the latter stages, and being in a somewhat weaker group certainly helped. It allowed me to rotate for some of the matches, and start some very promising youngsters.

Other than the loss against Craiova, at home no less, we kept up our winning way. Hlinca in particular is having a very good season as the DLF, well on his way to another 20+ goal season. Voicu (Class of ’26) has settled into the AM(C) role quite well, and Alexandru is having an excellent season between the sticks, well on his way to averaging less than a goal a game. Wins against Dinamo and Cluj, shutting out Arad in the return match, and a Quarter Final win in the Cupa României, we went into the winner break on a high.

That high continued until the League split. If not for the fact Universitatea Craivoa had an even better first half of the season (13/2/0 to our 10/4/1) we would have been in first place. But this is Liga I, and sometimes, the are strange things afoot.

THE YEWT

I think this Intake has the potential to be the best one of the save so far, not in terms of how many players we recruited, but how many of them are better than 120PA

Rocky Jivan

The only reason(s) Jivan might not get some starts next year are because he’s 16, and he’s 127 pounds soaking wet. After that, whats not to love? A left footed BBM DM/M(C), with Good Balance, Work Rate, Flair, Technique, Finishing, and a Bravery (17 minimum) that speaks of a Napoleon complex of “I don’t care I am 5’7″ I’ll kick you ass every day of the week and twice on Game day” attitude. And he’s got a Professional Personality. The question isn’t how good a player will Rocky be, the question is considering what we see is the basement, how high cam we go, and how long can we keep him before other teams come calling?

If Vasile Oprea‘s Possession and Physicals can catch up to his Attacking skills, he’d will be a very good attacking option. As it stands, at the moment he’s one of several in a somewhat large pond looking to take over if/when Hlincu leaves. Being Fairly Professional will certainly help.

I am not sure how to pronounce Mădălin Mif. If he and Oprea were combined into one player we would have a very good AM(C) on out hands, as it stands Mif has DLP written all over, Decent Attacking skills, Good Possession skills, and not that mobile. If his Defending skills were any better, or at least had the potential to be much better, he would be a great D(C). However, the lack of defending skills, his physical deficits, and the Unambitious personality mean he probably wont reach his potential, no matter what positions he’s playing.

As If Cristian Vieru joining the large pond that is our striker depth, the Low Determination is an additional anchor around his neck. Which is a shame, because I think after Jivan, he has the best base in terms of starting skills. I think if he does develop, it will probably be at an AM(C) sort of player. Cosmin Croitoru is in the same boat, but something tells me that the difference between Croitoru’s CA and PA is not that great. That said, other than Jivan he’s probably the one player from this intake who’s going to get first team playing time sooner rather than later.

Rocky Merişanu will probably forever be known as “The Other Rocky” from this years intake. He has a solid foundation to build off of, the question is how high. His personality says “Not as High as it Could be.” I suspect he will be a squad player at best, but the potential to be more IS there. Vasile Mihai is a player I think is undervalued by my scouts and coaches, even with the Unambitious personality. His Good Defending skills, Good Physical skills, Technique and Passing are intriguing, at least to me. Part of me suspects that he’s rated as low as he is because they believe the areas he’s already low then are not going get much better than they are now. Tudor Ungureanu is a decidedly average player at the moment. That is not a bad thing, as I suspect all of his Orange skills are on the low end, but should his Fairly Sporting personality not be a hindrance, he could be a serviceable squad player.

I’ll be honest, I am not sure whats going on when it comes to the League phase. Craiova went in 1st place, lost two games, drew one and won the rest, while we drew 4 and lost 1, while winning the others. That put them 5 points ahead in the Playoffs, yet somehow, in the League table, we pipped them by 2 points to win 1st place and a UCL spot, but Craiova are the Champions(?)

Granted, we needed some luck to win/not lose a couple of these matches:

But the good news in all of this was not winning the League (possibly), or qualifying for Champions League Football again, it was winning out first Domestic Trophy by beat Craiova in the Cup Final! Woohoo, something tangible to hang our scarf on!

Dumitru Hlinca has a fabulous season, Player of the year, new average rating record, 35 goals across all competitions, he’s really hit his stride, and he’s not the only one.

Răzvan Teodorescu set a new record with 24 assists across all competitions, Voicu had a solid season with 19 goals and 7 assists, Neagu and Alexandru had fine seasons as well, and I really think we’ve turned the corner with regards to where we can finish. Admittedly, finishing top third is good, but as we have seen in the past, so is finishing top of the relegation group. Going forward, European football has to be the goal, no matter what competition it ends up being, no matter how we qualify for it. The other thing I am interested in seeing is how well our next few Youth Intakes go. If they are the same…quality as this one, I think we will be very happy. These “lower” personality profiles are still disturbing though. Although we have seen some players grow out of them, the fact they are showing up with them, especially in the number of players that have them, is still disturbing. Until we can bring in a better HOYD though, we are stuck with the one we have.

Thanks for Reading!

The Kids Are Alright -Season 9

Stepping back to take a step forward.

I will admit, everything lined up well for us last year. Getting to the Round of 16 in the UECL was quite the accomplishment, but as optimistic as I am, and overly so at times, I wasn’t expecting a repeat performance this year. I wanted us to do well, place well, and try and qualify for European Football again, but it was going to be tough.

This is Jaroslav Verdal. U Craiova 1948 spent €19.25M in transfers, he was €9.5(12.5)M of that.

Nassim Chefra, a very good deal at €350K for Farul:

Universitatea Cluj paid €1.3M for Milan Precupanu (Class of ’25):

and they paid just €49K for this fellow:

And UTA Arad paid €500K for this young midfielder:

Will I have players this good? Eventually, I mean, I HAD Precupanu, but he left for greener pastures, and then left again for even greener pastures. The issue is, we are a good, young team who is getting better in incrementally small steps. I’d love to use my €7.1M Transfer budget and 1.1M in available salary to improve the squad with some great younger players, but I can’t. What I can do is develop what I have, sell them for a goodly sum, and keep getting in Youth Players to replace them, which is possible, but is it probable? I think so, even when the decks isn’t exactly stacked in our favor.

The team literally had 10 days of vacation before having to report back, then it was friendlies, and before we knew it, the season was upon us. The only ‘loss’ in the transfer window was Lucian Ilie (Class of ’28), who went to Voluntari for €175K. I think he is the type of sale that is going to be common going forward, a good young player with potential buried on the depth chart, like 9th on the depth chart:

He’s a 3 1/2 to 5 star Potential player, and he had a good loan spell last season. The issue is I have Five players ahead of him who are 2-3 star CA, and 4 to 5 star PA already ahead of him. I was trying to loan him out again when Voluntari made the offer, and a somewhat larger salary with the promise of 1st Team playing time beat out my offer, and he left.

They season got off to an…well, it started.

We absolutely bodied Sloboda Tuzla in the Qualifying Round, but then drew with an Average Sepsi squad. Losing to botrh Cluj and Farul isn’t unexpected, but one of those games should have been a draw, and losing to Dinamo Bucureşti 4-0, as much as I want to blame it on the number of games we have been playing, was just a gut punch. They are a solid squad, but we’re better than putting up a donut on the scoreboard. We were 3-0 down after 18 minutes, i think the overall average for the club was a 6.2…just bleh. The upside was that while we were doing our best to crap the bed in the Domestic games, in Europe we were doing unexpectedly well again. Beating BATE Borisov on aggregate was very nice, and I thought we were going to be out when I saw we were playing Guimarães. However, we held them to a 1-1 draw at home, and an unfortunate own goal by a young newgen player gave us the 2-1 win at their house, and we made it to the League Phase, where honestly, we got a bit of a gift draw:

Rapid Wien and Celtic were the only two teams I Was worried about, luckily they were both traveling to us so that was a bit of a leg up…

Galaţi and Csíkszereda are teams that are going to be fighting relegation. The fact we beat one and lost to the other with the exact same squads that were well rested and preapred is a statement as to how the season was going. And again, our Cupa României group was a bloodbath, as we won just one game, drew 2 and lost 2 with a negative goal differential….

The UECL was going as expected though. In real life, Shkupi is a decent North Macedonian Squad, and Pyunik is a decent Armenian squad, in the game they are full of greyed out newgens that didn’t really have a chance, and it was reflected in the scoreboard.

November and December was….frustratingly good.

Drawing with Celtic and Molde, who with Rapid Wien were the three teams in the group I was worried about, was very good, especially as both player their best starting XI. Gorica is a decent Croatian squad, yet they went 7-0 (against Semi Pro Breiðablik, who has to achieve supremacy (IYKYK), the 0-0 at Brighton, 0-1 at St. Gallen, 1-0 at Maribor, 0-0 with us, and 0-0 at Viking…and they finished 16th(!). We finished 5th, but the other Romanian Squads in the League also did very well:

5th, 7th, 10th and 12th, that will surely help the Country rankings at the end of the day, I hope.

As frustrating as November and December were, January and February was worse:

Eleven games without a loss is nothing to sneeze at, but 4 wins and 7 draws might be worth a sniffle or three. And some of those game we deserved to lose, Cluj in particular. It seemed as if once we equalized we were content to play for the draw, and no matter how much I yelled, threw bottles, and berated them, their “Give a Damn done broke”. We staggered into March needing to put our best foot forward to avoid being in the relegation group, but we tied our own shoelaces somewhere along the way:

I knew after playing the the first time around Rapid Wien was a good squad, and the obviously studied us because they picked us apart in the 2nd game, and we tumbled out of the League. The goal was now to tray and get to the top of the relegation group and fight for the European spot again, but losing to U Craiova put that thought to bed. The rest of the season was us trying not to lose and to avoid a relegation scrap, because honestly, I am not sure which team would have shown up had we been in that position.

We did just enough to avoid the Relegation battle. You would have heard my sigh of releif, if not for the wailing and gnashing of Voluntari fans. They not only lost 6 of their Relegation Group games, winning and drawing two apiece, they were forced to play in the Liga I/II Relegation Playoff, where they drew 1-1 the first match, they were 3-0 up, gave up 3 goals in 12 minutes, and then lost on Penalty Kicks. And the coach still has his job, so far…

Final Standings:

And the remaining Romanian clubs did pretty well in the Conference:

And that should help a bit.

The Youth Intake was deceptively good. I say deceptively because while we have some great potential, I suspect at least one, if not more of these players is already near their PA. Oddly enough, this was not considered a “Golden Generation”:

The Best:

PAUN is…intriguing. He’s probably destined for a AM?IF role, but his strength and Work Rate being in the red are worrisome, as is his Decision Making, Composure, Anticipation and Finishing. If I can get him some U19 game time and some loans spells, he should develop enough to cosnider some starting XI time, but that’s getting to be a tougher task to juggle. The Injury Proneness is a worry as well.

BEZERCU is everything Paun isn’t, and that’s a bit worrisome, because of all the players in this years intake, he’s the one I think is the Chimera. I hope I am wrong, as his Physical and Possession attributes are a solid foundation to build on, and his Attacking Attributes aren’t that bad either. If he develops, he will be quite a solid player.

I can’t pronounce his last name, but ANDREI looks to be the best of the bunch, until that glaring “UNAMBITIOUS” personality jumps out at you. Granted, we already have a few players on the starting XI turning in good performances with that personality type, but that just tells me they’d be even better players if they were at least, say, Balanced…Andrei is probably the best all around youth player this intake, I graded him lower because of said personality, and I don’t think he cares…

MILAN and Andrei might be cousins, given how I can’t pronounce either of there names the same way twice. He has the making of a prototypical D(C), but again that Low Determination personality is a killer. You can’t teach height though, so maybe some mentoring and the like can get it improved, and he can become a quality contributor.

The Rest:

Again, Personality dragged these two players down the scale. Of everyone who came in thru this years intake, Drăguşin is the most ready to play, with good Defending Skills, Good Attacking Skills, and Good Technique. If his Quickness was to really pick up, he’d be a great Winger, but as it stands he’s already a capable WB. I think he has one of the highest ceilings in this years intake, but again, that personality…

Bucur is the other player I think is near his PA already. As much as I would love for him to top out as say a 4 star BBM, I suspect his attributes are on the low end for each color, which means improving won’t get him out of that range all that often either. As an example, his Stamina is probably and 8, and it will top out at 12, his Off the Ball is 9 and will top out at 11 sort of thing…

All that said, next years intake had better be pretty good in the Personality department, o my HOYD (Fairly Professional, Outspoken yet Reserved) is going to be looking for a new job.

The team did take a step back this season. I don’t think there is one overarching reason for it, but a lot of smaller reasons that when taken together, show why. A Busy schedule, Injuries in the second half of the season (Alexandru, Teodorescu, Voicu and Hlinca all missed at least 6 weeks), and better competition means we have to work a little harder going forward.

In Other news, we have three left from the starting squad still getting regular game time, how long that lasts I am not sure, but as next season is our 10th, it might be worth it to see who, if any, of the youth players that have left have become contributors on their new teams.

Thanks for Reading!

The Kids Are Alright -Season 8

You Too Can Lose, and Still Be a WINNER!!!

This year, it was a tale of two seasons. The first season we were Brilliant. The second season, less so, as a packed schedule, injuries, fatigue and the like conspired to bring us down a few pegs to midtable mediocrity, but the puppet masters behind the scnes forgot one thing:

This is the Romanian Liga I, and finishing Mid Table is not, as they say, “A Bad Place to be…”

The roster has slowly been sorting itself out the past few seasons. Older players who were here when I started have developed and have a place in the starting XI or on the bench, younger players who have started to develop have earned their place on the starting XI or on the bench, the Youth Team is well stocked, which means the the left over players on the huge roster we have are either:

  • Youth Players biding their time on the U19 squad, improving and getting ready for their chance at the First Team.
  • Older players who are capable backups but not full time starters.
  • Players young and old who will never see the starting XI
  • Players young and old who think we are still too small a team and want to move onto to bigger and better challenges.
  • Players who came thru the Youth System looking like Tarzan, played like Jane because our personnel at the time were not the best judges of Potential, and might never see a starting XI in Liga III…

The players we let go in the transfer window are in the last two categories.

The only real “loss” in this list is Eusebiu Iacob (Class of ’29), a AM(C) who can play the left and up top as striker. Physically Good, Technically OK, Poor everywhere else, his Unambitious Personality didn’t help, but somehow, in 11(6) appearances before he left, he had 5 goals, 2 assists, and a 7.25 rating. I tried to get to stay, but nooooo, Petrolul Ploiești in Liga II was a better option for him. Koszma (Class of ’28), never showed any big improvement, despite being one of the better graded players in that class. I suspect he is one of those Youth players who comes in at 80 CA, and his PA is 95…

UEFA Europa Conference League Football. That’s a mouthful, but it gets even better when you realize that because of coefficients and other things, we start in the League Path Second Qualifying Round, which is like 3 phases away from the Group stage…which means our European Journey started in July, against Zorya.

Man did we get off to a good start. I would love to take credit, but the fact of the matter is, I think it’s the formation. It’s one we have all seen before:

We are Attacking Wide, Overlapping and Focusing on both flanks, passing it into space, playing for set pieces, counter when possession has been won, distribute to flanks, and play a mid block with a standard defensive line. The only additional PI’s are for the positions, the WB’s aim their crosses at the Target Forward, as do the Wingers and the AM(C). The AM(C) runs wider with the ball, and thats really it. I’ll tweak it during the games if need be, but I am also not the sort of guy who watches on extensive highlight to spot such things. My philosophy, on this save anyways, is that if its working, don’t mess it up by tinkering.

Anyhow, we gopt off to a very good start, in the League and in Europe. Beating Cluj in the opener was nice, and although Zorya made a game of it the first leg, we put them away in the second, which meant we were facing CSKA-Sofia in the 3rd Round. Well, goodbye Europe, nice knowing you.

Except we beat them, 3-2 on aggregate. And we celebrated, until we saw POAK as our next opponent. Again, goodby Europe, nice knowing you.

Except we beat them, 6-2 on aggregate. Granted they had a player sent of in the 71st minute in the second game, but we were already 3 goals up at that point. And during all of that, we were winning all of our games in Liga I. Yes, we lost to Farul 1-0, but that was a Marin Own Goal, so technically we scored the winner…just, you know, not for us…

I would have thought we’d have fallen off a bit in October, after all 7 games in 31 days is a hard schedule, almost Brazilian really, but FCSB’s 2-0 against us was well earned, and Arad’s 3-2 was really a 3-0, we just got lucky on two goal late, they were made we beat the in the Cup 3 days earlier.

Beating PAOK got us into the League Phase, and out opponents there were:

  • KF Shkëndija, a good Macedonian Club
  • Nordsjælland, from Denmark
  • Royal Antwerp FC, from Belgium
  • Botev Plovdiv, from Bulgaria
  • Havnar Bóltfelag Tórshavn, from the Faeroe Islands
  • Genk, from Belgium

I figured we would win three and lose three, but if we could win three and draw one, maybe we could eke into the next stage. That plan worked out well in September an October, as we beat Shkëndija and drew with Nordsjælland (they scored in the 88th minute to deny us the win), meanwhile we were doing well enough in the Cup Group stage to get to the next round there.

November the wheels started to wobble. December they fell off…

We didn’t have any injury issues, the squad was just tired I think, and I rotated a little bit more than I should have in some games. The “good” news, if you can call it that, is that in our losses we weren’t getting blown out, which meant our differential was OK.

In all of this, we drew with Plotdiv, beat Havnar, and lost to both the Belgium squads, which meant we had 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses, good enough for 8 points, 22nd overall. Onto the next round! Goodbye Europe, nice knowing you!

Zurich, Bodø/Glimt, Hajduk Split, Molde, Rapid Vienna, and we get…Tobol Kostanay??? OK then…

January and February were rough. The 5-1 win against Voluntari totally set me up, and again we were losing. Close losses, but still losses. The only bright spot, oddly enough, was our 5-3 aggregate win against a pretty decent Kazakhstan team. The downside to that win?

Facing Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16…

We actually got ourselves right in Liga I during March. The only disappointment was the loss to Dortmund, but lets be honest, they are better than us, even with a rotated side. And we did get some luck in the draws to get here, but still getting to the Round of 16 is quite the accomplishment, and can only help us and the league going forward.

Youth Only saves are unintentionally cracked…

On the Youth Intake Front:

Eh, not too bad…

Angel Saizu is Physically solid, his Attacking Attributes are not too bad, an he already has good First Touch and Technique. Also in his favor, he can play up top in 3 of our formations positions.

Adrian Boncoi is going to be a midfielder, he just does not have the Physical attributes (or the size) to be as DLF up top. However, with his solid Attacking and Possession attributes, including the Good First Touch, Technique and Flair, he has DLP written all over.

Dragoş Butoiu is (hopefully) the best prospect of this Intake. From an Attribute point of view anyways, I am not sure how well a 5’8″ 134 pound D(C) works, probably as an M(C) or attacking DM probably, but given that he is brave enough to charge thru a metal door and aggressive enough to keep trying, he could be a good player in the future. He’s a growth spurt away from being very good IMO.

Robert Thoma has the Stamina, Work Rate, Decision Making and Aggression to be a very good Wingback. Everything else says he’s going to be on the end of the bench unless he improves by leaps and bounds the next few years….

If I could somehow meld Harold Tranculov and Butoiu together, I’d be happy. As it stands, Tranculov looks like he’s going to be one of those players who does his job well enough to not get noticed, always turns in a solid performance, and when he does something extraordinary you will be like “wait, he’s on the team? As a Starter?”

Our December thru February run ensured we finished out of the top six, but this is not necessarily a bad thing, because if you finish top of the Relegation group, you get to play for European Football. Totally not a bug…

We blitzed out way thru the group, a loss at Dinamo the only real blip. They then took us to penalties, which we won, and then we crushed FDCSB in the Final, meaning that again, we qualified for Conference League Football.

Some other good pieces of news:

Our Training and Youth Facilities were also improved, and we now have the following:

Our Best XI this year was very good, Hlincu in particular:

And because we aren’t buying any players, our finances are strong too:

On the player side, there were several good performances, and a few surprising ones.

First up, Tiberiu Alexander gained a full star during the course of the season, and he had several great saves, and a lot of good games, and he was injury free thru out. As much as I would like him to be the long term keeper, I suspect he, like many other players, will catch another teams eyes, and be swayed by their reputation, if not their money.

Răzvan Teodorescu again had a very good season, which makes me wonder how much better a player would he be if he had a better personality?

What I do like is that we are not relying on one player to get it done for us. Yes, Hlincu has 32 goals, but we 5 players with double digit goals, and 6 with 5 or more assists. Almost everyone is improving, albeit some more slowly than others, we have a clear hierarchy of who’s who in almost every position, the only thing that can screw that up now (other than me) is other teams coming in and poaching my players. Which is going to happen sooner or later.

For the team being, we are going to enjoy our seven days off, and start preparing for the next European campaign.

Now is when the save is going to start getting very interesting and cool.

Thanks for reading!

‘Icarus’ Clubs

We’ve known about “Fallen Giants”, clubs that were once big but have now fallen back, such as Saint Etienne in Spain, Buraspor in Turkey, Parma in Italy, Coruna in Spain, but what about those clubs who spent a long time climbing their way to the top, only to stay for a couple of seasons or less before crashing back down. Or what about those clubs that have always come close, but have never managed to get promoted to the top flight?

I’ve never seen posts about them before, but the word that comes to mind is in the title: “Icarus”. Given a pair of wings made by Daedalus, Icarus was warned first of complacency, then hubris. Instructed to fly not to high or too low, Icarus ignored Daedalus. He flew too close to the Sun, the wax holding his wings together melted, and he plunged to his death in the sea below.

Icarus flew “Too close to the Sun”, which I believe is an apt metaphor for these teams. All these teams can be found in the base version of the game, but the list of Icarus Clubs across all countries is quite large. This post is going to focus on European Clubs.

GERMAN CLUBS

Fortuna Düsseldorf won the Bundesliga in 1933, then fell all the way to the RegionalLiga levels. The made the Bundesliga in the 2012/13 season, and again in the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons, before being relegated back down to the 2. Bundesliga. They are probably the easiest Icarus team to take to the top.

SSV Ulm 1846 won the RegionalLiga Sudwest in 1998, and then finished 3rd in the 2. Bundesliga in 1999 and promotion to the Bundesliga. Despite a scrappy fight, they could not avoid relegation on the last day, and were relegated back to 2. Bundesliga. Their 2000-01 campaign was a disaster, they finished in 16th place and were relegated to the Regionalliga Sud, but the chaotic state of their finances led to the DFB denying them a license, which sent them all the way down to the 5th Tier Verbandsliga Württermberg. In the two decades since the club has weathered a betting scandal, insolvency issues, administration, but finally clawed their way back to the 3. Liga in the 2023 season.

SC Preußen Münster was a founding member of the Bundesliga, but were relegated after the inaugural season. In the mid 70’s the club’s board took a lot of chances to try and get the club promoted back to the top flight, that effort ended up with most of the board resigning because of the financial difficulties and tax fraud accusations. In 2006 the club again invested significant financial resources to try and climb the German pyramid, but again fell short. They finally made it to the 3.Liga in 2011, and finished 4th the following season, but ensuing seasons saw a variety of changes at the top for no return, and the club crashed back into the RegionalLiga. They earned promotion back to the 3. Liga in the 2021-22 season.

ENGLISH CLUBS

Yeovil Town F.C. is one of the true “Icarus Clubs” on this list, in that they have never played in the EPL or First Division. After spending most of it’s existence in the lower leagues of the English Pyramid, they finally reached the League in 2001. Two seasons later they were promoted to League 2, and in 2007 were promoted to League 1 via the playoffs after a 5th Place finish. The next few seasons despite lacking the financial muscle of other teams in the league, judicious scouting and loan signings helped the team get promoted to the Championship, but despite wins over Forest, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday, they were relegated. Their finances did not get any better, and they were relegated again the next season back down to League 2. In the 18-19 season the club dropped out of the EFL, and since then a variety of management changes have occurred, while the team has fallen down to the National League South.

I will admit this is a sentimental choice for me, I saw a video on YouTube (Probably by HITC Sevens) about the club, and the story resonated with me. A Small club, lacking financial stability, thru good coaching, good scouting, and overachieving players manages to get to the 2nd highest level of competition in the EPL, only to fall short. If that’s not an Icarus Club, what is?

Swindon Town F.C. made it to the Premier League in 1993-94 season, but were relegated after just a year. Their time in the Premier League was notable for two things:

  • One of their 5 wins was against League Champions Manchester City
  • They conceded 100 goals during the season, a record that still stands.

The club also earned the dubious distinction of being the first team in the Premier League to have been relegated to League Two in 2006, but a couple of years later missed out on promotion back to the Championship by losing in the playoffs to Millwall on penalties. After that the club made several appearances in the tile game, losing each time, but again were releagted to League 2 in 2021. Since then financial issue have plagued the team, to the point where the EFL deducted 3 points from them in 2021. Since then a variety of head coaching changes, and CEO changes, have led to the current instability at the club, with the club falling back down into League 2. Can you get the back to the promised land?

Barnsley F.C. finished 2nd in the First Division in 1997, which led to their only appearance in the Premier League in the 97-98 season. In 2002 The fell to League 1, and won promotion back to the ECL, where they stayed for 8 seasons. Relegation and Promotion followed, and again the club was promoted to the ECL in 2019, but relegated again in 2022. Barnsley holds the distinction of having played more games and spent more seasons in the second division of English Football than any other team. Are you the coach to get them back to the top flight and beyond?

Millwall F.C. spent two seasons in the top flight of English football, from 1988 to 1990. The club has been in existence for 97 years, in that time 90 of those years have been spent yo-yoing between the 2nd and 3rd Tiers of the EFL. The FA Cup Giant Killers made it back to the Championship in the 2017-2018 season, and have come close to making the playoffs several times. What separates a club like Millwall from Swindon in this case is good ownership. Under the stewardship of Chairman John Berylson, the club remained financially sound, and the money the won in their various FA Cup upsets certainly helped as well. However, in the summer of 2023, Berylson was killed in a car accident, with his son taking over as chairman. Since then the clubs performance on the field has been less than stellar, and they currently sit in the bottom half of the table. As head coach, can you bring stability to the squad, get them promoted, and help fulfill the previous chairman’s dreams?

Northampton Town F.C. were promoted three times in five years once. Starting in 1960 in the then Fourth Division, they made it all the way to the First Division, where they relegated after just one season. They then had the dubious distinction of being relegated back to the Fourth Division over the next five years, and since 1967 have bounced back and forth between the 3rd and 4th Tiers of the EFL. The last day of the 2023 season, they defeated Tranmere to get promoted to League One. Its quite possible that very few people outside of Northampton remember they played in the top flight once. Can you get them there again?

Leyton Orient F.C. is the second oldest club in London to play in the EFL. Like Northampton they spent just one year in the First Division, 1963-1964, and since then have bounced back and forth between the various EFL tiers. The new century has not been kind to the club, new ownership in 2006 saw two relegation’s and eleven managers over the next three years, ending the 112 years the club had spent in the EFL as they dropped to non conference for the first time in their history. Nigel Travis took over the running of the club in 2017, and since then there has been slow but steady improvement, the O’s won the National League in 2019, then promotion to League One in 2023 after finishing 1st. Slow and Steady may win the race, but fast climbs to dizzying heights make Headlines, can you put Leyton Orient on the front page again?

Carlisle United F.C. spent one year in the First Division, the 1974-1975 season, but then suffered thru back to back relegation’s, starting a journey that saw them go as high as the 2nd Division in 1982, then out of the EFL altogether in 2004 when relegated from League 2. They returned the following year, winning the League two title in 2006, relegated back down in 2014, then back up in 2023. To be honest, they might be more well known to casual fans because they’ve played in the League Trophy final Six times, winning it twice. The club was just purchased by new ownership, can they provide the financial muscle to not only help the club get promoted, but maybe rebuild a stadium that 114 years old and needs some flood barriers, at a minimum?

FRENCH CLUBS

Chamois Niortais FC was a regional club for most of it’s existence, until the mid 80’s when it achieved promotion to Ligue 2. This allowed the club to become professional, and they finished a respectable 10th place in their first season. The next season saw them go on a 17 game unbeaten streak all the way to 1st place, and promotion to Ligue 1. Despite a promising start, the team just did not have the caliber of players required to compete in the top flight, and were relegated after just one year. The club remained a Ligue 2 mainstay for most of the following years, with short stays in the 3rd Division. In 2008 the wheels fell off, with the club going winless in three months of football, and relegation to the Amateur Levels. This also meant they lost their professional status, owing to DNCG rules on the issue. Despite this, the club returned to the 4th tier the following year, and then back to the 3rd tier in 2011. In 20013, after again winning promotion to Ligue 2, they became a professional club again, however they were relegated back to the 3rd tier at the end of the 2023 season. The club has always had a small, regional fan base, but the right coach can lead them to bigger and better things, possibly even unseating PSG at the top of Ligue 1. Are you that coach?

LB Châteauroux, or La Berrichonne de Châteauroux, played one season in Ligue 1, the 1997-1998 season, but they are probably more well known for reaching the 2004 Coupe de France and losing to PSG 1-0. However, because PSG finished 2nd that season, Châteauroux played in the UEFA Cup the following year. The club spent the next few seasons between the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, and has spent the last 10 years in Ligue 2, avoiding relegation the past few seasons.Financially stable, the team doesn’t play in the most populous reason of France, but a good coach taking the team to the top of Ligue 1 and beyond would certainly bring himself, the club and the region quite a lot of honor and attention.

ITALIAN CLUBS

Ternana Calcio reached Serie A twice in the 70’s, staying in the top flight for just one season each time. The first go they only won 3 games out of 30, and the second time was not that much better. Despite a brilliant semi final run to the Coppa Italia in 1980, the club was relegated back to Serie B, then began bouncing between the C1 and C2 divisions of Serie C. Winning Serie C and returning to Serie B in 1993 proved costly, as the team was forced into bankruptcy. After re-entering the Italian pyramid in Serie D, the club again won promotions to Serie B, staying there until 2006. The closest they came to promotion again was in 2004, when they missed promotion by 4 points. A series of relegation’s back down to Serie D, and then Promotions back up to Serie B again in 2021 sees them in the second tier again, trying to break thru back into Serie A. Their fierce rivalry with Perugia is somewhat hampered by the fact that I Grifoni have spent 13 seasons in Serie A at various points in their history, can you take over at Ternana, dethrone the King’s of Umbria, then Italy, and then the world?

AC Trento 1921 is a phoenix club of Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Trento Calcio 1921 S.r.l, which went bankrupt in 2014. The club title was transferred to the current entity, which has been on both sides of the regional leagues and lower tiers of the Italian pyramid. The days of playing in Serie B are long past, as the club has bounced back and forth between Serie D and Eccellenz leagues. Recently though, the club has been on an upward tick, winning the Girone C title, resuming its Professional status, and staying midtable in its Serie C Division since 2021. North of the Trento Autonomous Region is South Tyrol, where FC Südtirol has been climbing the pyramid to the top of Serie B. A Fierce rivalry between the two teams has developed, can you put it to rest by reaching and winning Serie A before they can?

Potenza Calcio is another phoenix club, formed by two amateur squads who claimed the name after reaching professional status in 2018. The original club, Potenza FC, had been founded in 1920 before being de-registered by the Italian Football Federation in 2012. The clubs best years were from 1963 to 1968, when it spent 5 seasons in Serie B. A long decline soon followed, culminating in the 2010 match fixing scandal. Financial problems followed, leading to the clubs de-listing in 2012. The 2018 promotion to Serie C has helped it stabilize, and becoming professional has certainly helped as well. The club and it’s fanbase are looking to reclaim the glories of days gone by. Can you lead them to that glory, while kicking their Campanian rivals (Benevento and Salernitana) along the way?

SPANISH CLUBS

SD Huesca has had some recent success lately, but I am including them in this because the team that should have been here had I done this post two years ago is currently 7 points out of first place in La Liga. Huesca started the century in the Tercera Division, and since then has been gradually climbing it’s way to the top of the Spanish pyramid. 1 year stints in La Liga in 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 have given it a taste of what top flight football is like, and after Fortuna Dusseldorf they would probably be the easiest team to take over. Until recently, they’ve always been second in the region to Real Zaragoza, but that club has not seen top flight football since 2013. Climbing to the top of La Liga won’t be easy (Despite what Girona is doing in real life), but taking over this Huesca squad will certainly help.

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa has a long history and an interesting future. They reached the top flight once, in 1955, but were relegated after that season, and spent most of the decades following in the Segunda Division, with periodic stints in the 3rd and 4th divisions. In 2011 the club was relegated due to financial issues, but since then it has worked it’s way back up to the Segunda until relegation back to the third division in 2021. What makes this club interesting is that it’s almost entirely owned by the ASPIRE group, a Qatari company that also owns Eupen in Belgium, a partnership with Leeds, and an Academy in Senegal. This gives the club an interesting network to work with, in particular the Senegal link IMO. A deft hand is going to be required to pull everything together and get this club back to La Liga, are you the coach who can do that?

AD Ceuta FC is on the list because it was founded as a merger between Sociedad Deportiva Ceuta and Atlético Tetuán. Tetuán played in la Liga for one season, 1951-52, and was relegated, then the merger occurred in 1956. The current club came into being when the original AD Ceuta club was dissolved in 2012 due to high debts. Since then the club has slowly climbed its way back up to the 3rd tier, with a Round of 16 appearance in the Copa del Rey. To make this save even more interesting, the club itself is not in Europe. Ceuta is an Autonomous city on the North Coast of Morocco, and its membership in the RFEF means that not only can you win La Liga, but the Conference, Europa, and Champions Leagues if you desire.

PORTUGUESE CLUBS

AD Fafe had a 30th anniversary to remember, as they won promotion to the First Division. That they were promptly relegated the next season is probably not as well remembered, especially as only a few years after that they were back down in the 4th Division. Since then it has bounced back and forth between the 3rd and 4th Divisions. Getting back to Liga NOS and breaking the stranglehold the Top Three have on the that league will be tough, but doing so with Fafe would be very rewarding.

C.D. Trofense climb to the First Division was one for the ages. After winning their group in 2006, they advanced to the playoff to determine who would be promoted to the Second Division. Regular time, Extra time, and 20(!) Penalty Kicks later, Trofense achieved promotion. After a solid midtable finish the following year, the finished top of the league and won promotion to Liga NOS. Despite some very good games, beating Benfica and drawing against Porto as an example, they could not avoid the drop, and in the years since have fallen back down to the Third Tier. Only 18km away from Porto, can you be the manager that takes them out of the Portuguese giants shadow and to the top?

UD Oliveirense last visit to the First Division was the 1946-46 season, but I am including the in this list because since 2001 they have spent of their time in the 3rd Tier, but in 2008 gained promotion to the Second Tier, and since then they have been trying unsuccessfully to gain promotion to the First Tier. The closest they came was a 4th place finish in 2000-2011, and since then they have avoided a relegation battle. The club is owned by the same group that owns Yokohama FC, and while at the moment the affiliate agreement does not include players, dipping into the talent pool that is Japan could help push the club back into the 1st Tier, and this time keep them there for longer than a year.

OTHER CLUBS IN EUROPE

HOLLAND: Emmen, Helmond Sport

DENMARK: BK Fremand Amager, B93, FC Helsingor, Koge BK, Vendyssel FF

SERBIA: Mladost Novi Sad

CROATIA: NK Dubrava, HNK Orijent

GREECE: Makedonikos FC

POLAND: Miedź Legnica

All of the teams listed in this article should be playable without any downloads. Any errors in the details are mine.

I hope those of you reading can find a team/save you like. I will try an do a South American one in the future as well.

Thanks for reading!