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Post by Nick on Apr 29, 2020 10:56:24 GMT
Club Social, Cultural y Deportivo Blooming, or just Blooming as far as we're concerned. The club plays in Bolivia's top division are based in Santa Cruz, the largest city in Bolivia. The club have won the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano a total of five times, the most recent being the 2009 Clausura. The four title previous to that were won in 2005, 1999, 1998 and 1984. The club has played in the Copa Libertadores, but not since 2010, and have only been past the first round once - in 1985 when they reached the semi finals. Medium term challenge: Qualify for the Copa Libertadores. Bolivian football is largely unspoken about in across the FM community. I don't think I've ever seen anyone manage here. The Bolivian league starts as the 14th most reputable in South America, and the least reputable of the top divisions from the 10 nations based here. In fact, the Argentinian and Brazilian third tiers are more reputable than the league I currently play in. That probably goes a long way to explaining why no-one wants to play here. Long-term challenge: Grow the league's reputation. In the first season, the club is predicted 9th (out of 14) so expectations are low initially with the board wanting a mid-table finish. The club vision page is a great new feature and shows that there is very little pressure to succeed from the off. Naturally, I'll be sticking to my youth orientated style of play throughout the save and improving the club's facilities will be imperative over the coming years, but we don't start off too badly in that department.
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Post by ttgb on Apr 29, 2020 11:57:42 GMT
Nice to see you playing again Nick. Always enjoy reading your saves.
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Post by Nick on Apr 29, 2020 12:01:32 GMT
Thanks, ttgb. It took a while. I didn't even buy FM20 until lock down started and I had days to spend at home. I've had a play around with a few of the bigger teams, but it's time to settle into something long term.
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Post by chaodck on Apr 30, 2020 4:26:03 GMT
Good luck Nicko, you're gonna need it mate, this surely is a huge challenge. Here's hoping for a long term save in Bolivia, do you have plans of turning it into a C&C at some point if you're successful?
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Post by Nick on Apr 30, 2020 8:14:19 GMT
Good luck Nicko, you're gonna need it mate, this surely is a huge challenge. Here's hoping for a long term save in Bolivia, do you have plans of turning it into a C&C at some point if you're successful? Thanks mate. It's definitely going to be a challenge, especially in the Libertadores, but that's half the fun isn't it? I imagine domestic dominance will come a bit easier, but hopefully the youth driven way of playing will mean we don't steam roller everyone from the off. I definitely want to make it a C&C game eventually. I had originally planned to do it from the off, but played through pre-season and re-started with just the club team. I'll leave it a couple of years, get settled with Blooming and then see what happens.
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Post by ttgb on Apr 30, 2020 8:19:22 GMT
What is the size of the league? So many games puts me off South America. I am in 2042 in my current save and for the last 6 years been solely managing Brazil, the shear amount of wonderkids coming through is driving me to playing a save there but the 60+ games a season is crazy. I guess a CL side in the premiership isn't far off that though.
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Post by Nick on Apr 30, 2020 8:23:19 GMT
What is the size of the league? So many games puts me off South America. I am in 2042 in my current save and for the last 6 years been solely managing Brazil, the shear amount of wonderkids coming through is driving me to playing a save there but the 60+ games a season is crazy. I guess a CL side in the premiership isn't far off that though. It's actually one of the more manageable leagues in South America. 39 league games, plus one more if you finish 1st or 2nd and have to play the Champions Playoff. Then there's a domestic cup with a maximum of six matches if you get to the final. Add in a handful of Libertadores/Sudamericana games at the start because any Bolivian team isn't going too far and it's not actually that bad. Certainly not a Brazil or a Colombia put it that way.
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Post by Nick on Apr 30, 2020 14:37:10 GMT
I had planned on updating much before now, but got a little too involved in the season, so will just update at the end. For the time being, we've had the youth intake and it's thrown up three players that I think could play for the club in the long term, all with varying levels of importance. It's worth noting that our youth facilities are currently rated as good and our youth recruitment is average. Fernando PericMy first issue is that I'm not currently using a formation with a defensive midfielder, but that's not set in stone for the long term, so it's only a small concern. Second issue is that he's only five foot six, can't jump to save his life and his marking ability is trash for someone in his position. However, he has some potential, some good mental attributes and is seen as a leader, which can only be a good thing. Francescoly GomezHe's listed as fairly injury prone, which is an obvious issue, but if I can control that, there's definitely a player here. Needs work on his passing, but has good technique and vision, as well as work rate and first touch. He's said to be physical and consistent and a balanced personality could see him easily mentored. Alvaro NinajaNinaja is definitely the most developed of the three, but also the one with least potential. His team work, first touch and technique are already good, but his decision making and work rate are already excellent. I think he could do with six months in the youth team to see how he develops before we take a look at first team opportunities for him.
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Post by Nick on May 1, 2020 10:56:35 GMT
The proverbial rollercoaster of a season. We started the season reasonably well over the first third of matches, fighting amongst the big boys at the top of the league, scoring some goals, but also capable of keeping clean sheets too. We never really steam-rollered anyone, even in the 4-0 win against Destroyers, but we were doing enough to have a successful season. We lined up in a narrow 4-2-3-1 formation with minimal team instructions. The simplicity seemed to suit the players, but our form nose-dived over the second period of matches. Morale was at an all time low and we never really recovered. We struggled to keep clean sheets and score goals - a recipe for disaster. We crawled over the finishing line, only scoring seven times in our last eleven matches (four of those in one match). I'm pretty disappointed with finishing seventh, especially after the positive start, but it seems I'm the only one. Our top half finish is a year ahead of schedule, which the board are happy about, and finishing seventh also qualifies us for the Sudamericana qualifying rounds, which is a small bonus. As you can see from the previous screenshot, we also met expectations in the domestic cup, the Copa Aerosur. I think this is a competition we can focus on in the early years of the save in a bid to win some silverware. Financially, we've pretty much broken even this year. We have £1.5m in the bank, but making money from domestic prize money is going to be pretty impossible. We currently bring in £180k per year in sponsorship - the fourth highest in the league (Bolivar - £225k). Another struggle was team cohesion. Despite being here for a year now, team cohesion is no better than average and only just gone to positive. Is there anything I can do to hurry that along? I've been doing a bit of team bonding in training in a bid to improve it, but it doesn't seem to have done much at all. Tactical familiarity is also trash, despite playing the same formation all season long. Gustavo Fernandez top scored this season with 14 and looks a good player for the level we're at. Joselito Vaca was the creative force, playing as an enganche, but has announced that he'll be retiring in a years time. It doesn't look like I'll have loads to spend in the transfer window, but I'm on the lookout for a more attacking right back and a defensive minded central midfielder.
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Post by Reiver on May 1, 2020 11:53:22 GMT
For team cohesion, try scheduling some team bonding training a few times per month until it goes up?
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Post by ttgb on May 1, 2020 20:06:33 GMT
Nice kits
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Post by Nick on May 3, 2020 12:11:47 GMT
It's taken two full seasons, but I'm finally fully invested in the save! This season started like the first one ended - full of tactical woes and a severe lack of team cohesion. It ended with a solid tactical base, players that understand each other and ultimately, silverware in the form of the Copa Aerosur. Mid-way through the season, I made my first signing - Marcos Barrios. I was desperate for a more attack minded right back and my scouts finally found someone that I was happy with. Royal Pari didn't want any money for his services, just a friendly, so that was a bonus too. Before that, our early season form was less than inspiring. Confident after pre-season, we started the season well, but back-to-back defeats killed morale and our performances suffered as a result. After the first round of matches, we'd lost five games and I knew that if this carried on then I'd be out of a job pretty quickly. The tactical tweak produced immediate results and in the next round of matches we had a record of 8-4-1 instead of 4-4-5. The end to the season wasn't great in all honestly, as we ran out of steam a little bit, but as you can see from above we had a cup run on our minds and managed to win the first piece of silverware of the save, and the club's first since 2009. As you can see from the table, The Strongest and Bolivar are a cut above at the moment, as I expected at the start of the save, but if we continue producing players like Alvaro Ninaja then we'll overtake them pretty quickly. I tried to use him sparingly, but his performances in the cup run gave me food for thought. It's fitting for the direction of the save that he popped up in the 120th minute of the final and scored the winner. I went with a smaller squad this season, just 22 players, and it feels like it helped with the cohesion. Morale was kept high, everyone seems happy and is performing to the level I expect. We have our off days, and there are areas that we can improve on, but a fourth place finish is an improvement on last year's seventh. We gained nine more points, lost fewer games and scored more goals. Off the field, we spent most of the season under takeover speculation. That hasn't happened yet, and our usually stubborn board did agree (eventually!) to give us the go ahead for upgrades: Small steps, maybe. But it's in the right direction. Our fourth place finish also sees us qualify for the Copa Libertadores, four years ahead of schedule in the board's eyes. Next season we need to step up again. This year's youth intake was really disappointing, and our creative force Joselito Vaca has now retired, so I'll definitely be dipping my toes into the transfer market for a new attacking midfielder. I still need that tough-tackling central midfielder too, but I'm keen to not upset the balance of the squad so will try and restrict signings to just those two.
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Post by Nick on May 3, 2020 15:21:01 GMT
It's going to be a tough route to the Copa Libertadores group stage. We've already beaten Danubio 5-2 on aggregate. Now we have LaU. If we beat them, we'll likely face Brazilian side, Paranaense. Savage.
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Post by chaodck on May 3, 2020 22:23:23 GMT
Good luck mate, I'm counting on you to beat my boys! As a side note, regarding the potential of converting this save to a C&C, the road is quite paved for any south american side to be successful at least to begin with, with the formats of Copa América and World Cup Quals being super easy. Copa América is 2 groups of 6 teams, top 4 qualify for the Quarter-Final. WCQ's from 2026 on top 6 teams in South America qualify directly to the World Cup, which means only beating the lower rated 4 teams, Paraguay, Perú, Venezuela and Ecuador. Seems feasible for a decent Bolivia side to get into the Copa América Quarter-Finals and Qualify for the World Cup at some point, right?
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Post by Nick on May 4, 2020 10:03:57 GMT
Good luck mate, I'm counting on you to beat my boys! As a side note, regarding the potential of converting this save to a C&C, the road is quite paved for any south american side to be successful at least to begin with, with the formats of Copa América and World Cup Quals being super easy. Copa América is 2 groups of 6 teams, top 4 qualify for the Quarter-Final. WCQ's from 2026 on top 6 teams in South America qualify directly to the World Cup, which means only beating the lower rated 4 teams, Paraguay, Perú, Venezuela and Ecuador. Seems feasible for a decent Bolivia side to get into the Copa América Quarter-Finals and Qualify for the World Cup at some point, right? Thanks for that mate, I didn't realise that at all. I'll 100% be going for the job once my reputation allows and the save is a bit further along. The national team is really struggling at the moment. They've only won 2 matches in 2 and a bit years and only picked up 2 points in Copa America 2020.Despite this, Cesar Farias still has a job, so expectations must be really low.
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Post by Nick on May 4, 2020 10:05:41 GMT
On the club front, I'm really struggling to juggle four competitions. The extra continental matches in the Libertadores and Sudamericana are killing momentum. Of the eight continental matches we've played, we've only won 2 of the following league games. Fitness has become a real worry for a small squad and we're playing catch up once again in the league.
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Post by Nick on May 4, 2020 10:41:27 GMT
This is also happening every month, but nothing ever comes of it.
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Post by ttgb on May 4, 2020 18:25:42 GMT
This is also happening every month, but nothing ever comes of it. I had that in my last save plus it's started happening in the new one.
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Post by dalenichol on May 4, 2020 20:00:33 GMT
Yeah, I've seen that happen in saves too. Every month or so there's another takeover rumour but it just never happens.
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Post by jawzy on May 4, 2020 20:21:39 GMT
this takeover report news, has been in this years version alot, I almost dont acknowledge this news bit now
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Post by Nick on May 4, 2020 20:38:51 GMT
Normally I wouldn't mind, but my chairman is refusing everything I ask unless it's a data analysis upgrade and I could do with him leaving!
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Post by Nick on May 4, 2020 22:45:32 GMT
Massive spoiler to how our season ended, but one I couldn't help but share. chaodck will be especially pleased at the opponent we beat.
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Post by chaodck on May 4, 2020 23:09:31 GMT
Whaaaaaat!!!!! Man I would've celebrated this game if it would have happened in real life (we still feast about the 2006 Copa Sudamericana Final Colo Colo lost against Pachuca). Congrats on the Continental Cup Nick, you've already got one over me in my La U save as I haven't been able to win either the Libertadores or the Sudamericana (I don't think I've ever participated on Sudamericana, though).
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Post by Nick on May 5, 2020 9:29:22 GMT
Whaaaaaat!!!!! Man I would've celebrated this game if it would have happened in real life (we still feast about the 2006 Copa Sudamericana Final Colo Colo lost against Pachuca). Congrats on the Continental Cup Nick, you've already got one over me in my La U save as I haven't been able to win either the Libertadores or the Sudamericana (I don't think I've ever participated on Sudamericana, though). Thanks mate. I didn't even notice them until the semi final draw and I knew that you disliked them, so definitely wanted to play them in the final. They beat Independiente, so it was always going to be a tough match, but we just about did it. We got a bit of luck along the way to winning the trophy, but it's up there with my best FM achievements.
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Post by Nick on May 5, 2020 9:50:17 GMT
Raul JustinianoOne thing I have noticed with most, if not all, of our youth players is that none of them are very developed physically, especially our attacking players. Raul falls into that category. He does however have a lot of potential. He's also two footed, has good first touch, passing, technique, team work and decision making. His coach report doesn't tell me anything that isn't immediately obvious, other than that he'll fit in well with the other lads here, which I guess is a bonus. Juan Carlos HermozaHere is a striker that is a bit different than what we have already, although there are some inconsistencies to his skill-set. He's 6ft 6" tall and can jump, but can't head a ball. He's got good technique for a big lad, but isn't strong. He's reasonably quick off the mark, but not quick over longer distances. He's aggressive and brave but also full of flair. There's a player in there though and if I can iron out his attributes a little bit, I think he'll be an asset going forwards. Oscar QuispeWe've been crying out for a decent centre mid coming through and we have that in Quispe. First touch, passing and technique are all on point and fit in well with our passing game. Physically he's okay, but again not very strong. His mental attributes need a bit of work, but hopefully that comes with age. Bear in mind that anything around 12/13 is good for the league we're in, so he's ahead of the curve in a few places, but also short in others.
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Post by Dirk Nowitzki on May 5, 2020 11:26:58 GMT
Fantastic achievement to win your first continental trophy Nick! Hopefully it brought in some money to help improve the facilities, but if I remember correctly the Sudamericana isn't very lucrative, is it?
Do you think Bolivians are hardcoded to be rather weak physically, to reflect the majority of the population being not very tall?
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Post by Nick on May 5, 2020 12:30:08 GMT
Fantastic achievement to win your first continental trophy Nick! Hopefully it brought in some money to help improve the facilities, but if I remember correctly the Sudamericana isn't very lucrative, is it? Do you think Bolivians are hardcoded to be rather weak physically, to reflect the majority of the population being not very tall? Thanks Dirk, appreciate it mate. I'd say for 90% of the South American teams it's not very lucrative at all, but for what was an upper mid-table Bolivian team it has been like manna from heaven for us. Getting through each round gives you around £225k, which would have been enough make a real difference even if we only made it through a couple of rounds. In the league, we average around 7,600 people at home games, but in the Sudamericana we averaged around 18,400, which is obviously a pretty big increase. Each home game brought in between £250k-£325k in gate receipts and we got £2m for winning the final, leaving us with around £8m in the bank. It has been the only reason we've made money this season, otherwise we just about break even. I think that's a great point about Bolivians being hardcoded. In the same way that Africans are hardcoded to be tall and physical (in general). I assume each country has their own traits in the game. I'll keep an eye on it over the course of the save.
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Post by ttgb on May 5, 2020 14:43:58 GMT
Great progress Nick. Did the continental success give the league rep a good boost
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Post by Nick on May 5, 2020 15:02:00 GMT
Great progress Nick. Did the continental success give the league rep a good boost Not immediately it doesn't look like it. Are competitions usually re-ranked on a specific date or is it completely dynamic year round? At the moment the top Bolivian league is still 14th in the rankings, which is where it was at the start of the save.
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Post by Nick on May 5, 2020 16:15:55 GMT
It's difficult to know where to start, given that I've already shown you the end. For large parts of this season it was a struggle. It was tough balancing both the Libertadores and then the Sudamericana with the league, especially in the early stages of the season. The scheduling in Bolivia means that for half the year it's wall to wall matches, then the second half of the year is easier to balance, with the end being stretched out so that I can go 2/3 weeks between games. What that meant for us this year was that we played catch up in the league all season long. We eventually rescued our league position by going unbeaten in our last ten matches, but fourth was the highest we reached all season and we didn't get there until game #36. We played 14 games in continental competition this season and only won four of our league games the game after. Of the eight games we lost in the league, five of them came after a continental game and only one came against a team that finished higher than us in the league (away at The Strongest). We were unbeaten against both of the top two. On the plus side, we do play decent football, we had our highest goals and points totals, plus you know, we won the Sudamericana becoming the first Bolivian team to win a continental trophy in the process. The prize money won from that run has seen me upgrade the data analysis facilities twice, increase the junior coaching budget and the youth recruitment network so we're definitely making progress off the field too. As I mentioned previously, we did get a bit lucky along the way in our run to the final. Universidad San Martin (3-2) was tight, with Central Cordoba (3-2) much the same. Vasco in the quarters (2-1) included a backs to the wall away performance where we ground out a 0-0 draw and could barely get out of our half. Only Paranaense in the semi (4-0) was anywhere near comfortable on paper, but we were under the cosh for most of the second leg and managed to get two stoppage time goals when they threw everything at us to make it look more comfortable than it was. Fixtures can be seen here. The best bit about it is that we'll go into the group stage of the Libertadores next year, where we'll be unlikely to get out of the group, meaning only six matches to contend with and no extensive qualification route. Richard Spenhay had the season of his life, scoring some stunning and important goals. He really stepped up in the carrilero role this season, having been on the fringes of the team for the past two seasons. Youth team graduate Alvaro Ninaja had another good season, scoring 5 goals and creating 13 more, but maybe hasn't quite developed as much as I'd initially hoped. Julio Cesar Perez jumped on the chance he was given by Juninho's long-term injury helping himself to 8 goals and 9 assists from left back. The squad in general is in good shape. We have a handful of players over the 30 mark, but none that need desperately replacing. Scouting and recruitment is tough in these parts. We've found it tough to afford the wages of foreign imports, even from places like Peru, while a lot of the domestic based players play for our rivals and/or teams that finished above us and have no interest in joining, hence my small reliance on our youth team until this point. The board have gone on a bit of a mad one after the Sudamericana win. They immediately offered me an improved contract which was signed, then they gave me a transfer budget of £5m! A wage budget of £40k per week is over twice as much as I'm currently spending, while they've also just agreed to upgrade both the data analysis and youth facilities too. My hopes for next season are that we're able to better juggle both domestic and continental competitions and push towards the top two. As mentioned there will be fewer matches so hopefully we can get some sort of rhythm going because on our day we can beat anyone in the league, we just need to do it more consistently.
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