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Post by dalenichol on Sept 6, 2020 19:41:45 GMT
Good stuff lads!
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Post by chaodck on Sept 7, 2020 13:08:09 GMT
Great to see you still playing and posting Dale. Activity has been on the low as of lately (I include myself, as I've been playing a lot of other games) and to see more saves posted will surely make me play more often and post more often as well. Congrats on the title and the terrific UECL run as well, great to see the hard work has paid and you'll be getting a better seeding in Europe as a result. Keep at it, my dear friend.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 7, 2020 18:28:30 GMT
Great to see you still playing and posting Dale. Activity has been on the low as of lately (I include myself, as I've been playing a lot of other games) and to see more saves posted will surely make me play more often and post more often as well. Congrats on the title and the terrific UECL run as well, great to see the hard work has paid and you'll be getting a better seeding in Europe as a result. Keep at it, my dear friend. Thanks my friend! I've been playing, but between work and other games (CK3, DayZ, Skyrim and Rocksmith amongst others) I'm mainly only playing a couple of games per session as opposed to half a season a day Still really enjoying the save and loads more to accomplish
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 10, 2020 19:12:26 GMT
Widzew Lodz 2029/30 Season (Apologies for the large logo and no kits, I'm just too lazy to go back and grab the kit urls) 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd... I'm beginning to sense a pattern here. We should've won the league. We won 8 of our 10 games before the league split...we won 2 of our 7 games during the league split. We completely shit the bed once again and it's just becoming a bit of an annoyance at this point. We were top from game week 10 to game week 30 pre split, we'd beat Lech at home during the regular league, put 7 past Legia before the split and then completely forgot how to play football once the split happened. We were short of goals this season, that's one thing at least...however out of those four scoring 10+ goals, only Pavlovic is a striker. The rest are AML/R and MC. £2.5M signing Rostislav Kratky was almost outscored by a centreback whilst Jaroszek had a poor season and got shitty when I dropped him. Most of my better players are wanted by mid level french, italian and chinese clubs. They're not interested in leaving, but a few of them having minimum fee clauses and the constant bids get a bit frustrating. It's going to be a struggle repacing most of them though, as there just aren't as many good eastern european prospects coming through. I've not even mentioned an intake in this thread because we haven't had anything better than a 2.5* prospect in about 6 seasons...it's really depressing, especially when I have fantastic facilities. European Football: We did, however, have a very solid European run this year. Lost in the Champions League to the always overpowered Celtic, but then had a solid run in the Europa League where we picked up wins against good sides in Lille and Zenit before going out to Sevilla. We end the season with £22m in the bank. Facilities are upgraded and we're still awaiting news on the new stadium. I imagine there'll be some movement in and out of the club over the summer, if I decide to progress that far, as something has to give with this side. I'm honestly not sure now though. This year marks 10 seasons and after being so happy with our performances and everything last year, to see us regress so much this season is really disheartening. I know 2nd place isn't exactly a massive failure, but everything good about our performances last season seem to have disappeared this year and that annoys me. Between the frankly shit poor bids for our players (£3m or so at most), lack of Easten European talent available to us, and the general piss poor performances, it's one of those seasons that make you want to just give up and start somewhere else. I'm not going to do that just yet, I'll see if I can push on into next season and see where we go...but we'll see.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 10, 2020 19:22:52 GMT
Named after club legend Ludwik Sobolewski, who was apparently the club president during the 70's and 80's, taking the club from lower league nobodies, to a Ekstraklasa winning, Manchester United beating European football club. It's not Boniek, but it'll do. However...look at that cost. Fuck me... that's £475k per month for the next 10 years
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 10, 2020 20:26:18 GMT
Our European form has started to count for something! So we go from 1 CL spot and 3 EL2 spots (which are useless financially) to 2 CL spots and a Europa League spot, as well as 2 EL2 spots. That's more like it!
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Post by Marshdweller on Sept 10, 2020 21:03:04 GMT
Good stuff Dale, progress off the field even if it feels like half a step back on the pitch.
What do you think causes the drop in form each season? Do you have a lot of players who struggle in big games? Low Determination in the squad? Is it a mental thing or possibly tactical?
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 10, 2020 21:30:45 GMT
Yeah, I think the off the field progress is definitely the thing that's keeping me going. Every time I think about just starting something else, the progress we're making in Europe and in getting the stadium etc sorted is making me want to continue. I'm really not sure on the form drop, that's the thing that's bugging me the most. Look at our form below... That's our form from October to April, I believe it's the 4-0 win over Motor that sends up top of the league and we don't drop from there until the Championship group, which starts after the 3-0 win at Piast, which is kind of cut from the bottom there (I stand corrected, it's the Cracovia game in this next picture) And here's our form immediately after: So we draw with relegated Cracovia, draw with a Piast side we beat 3-0 two weeks prior, draw with Rakow (admittedly our bogey team), lose to a Lechia side we beat 3-0 in February and draw with a Pogon side we beat in March. We lose the league by 3 points due to dropping 13 points in that last run...we'd only dropped 16 points all season prior to that run. A 91st minute equaliser by Cracovia, Piast scored their only shot on target, Lechia scored their winner with 7 minutes to go. We just seem to switch off. I don't feel it's tactical, because we still dominate games we don't win. Mentals and personalities seem to be fine for this level. I can only assume it's either a lack of fitness/squad depth towards the end of the season, or some weird complacency that kicks in. But it's fine, because the pattern suggests that we'll win the league this year...so it's okay, right?
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 11, 2020 11:54:50 GMT
Well, this is getting a bit boring now. Think this is the 8th or 9th time I've had this...
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Post by chaodck on Sept 11, 2020 12:25:06 GMT
Shit son, those intakes a hard thing to watch... Still this has been a very interesting save mate, it's amazing to see you go 10+ seasons in the game! Maybe if you shift philosophies midsave and try to get a bit of foreign talent? That might make you more competitive at a broader scale, despite losing a few good players and might make up for those shitty young players in your intakes. I know it's a bit of a cop out, but I think that's better than to start anew, specially when off the pitch you've done wonders with the team. Keep at it mate.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 11, 2020 12:35:31 GMT
Shit son, those intakes a hard thing to watch... Still this has been a very interesting save mate, it's amazing to see you go 10+ seasons in the game! Maybe if you shift philosophies midsave and try to get a bit of foreign talent? That might make you more competitive at a broader scale, despite losing a few good players and might make up for those shitty young players in your intakes. I know it's a bit of a cop out, but I think that's better than to start anew, specially when off the pitch you've done wonders with the team. Keep at it mate. The intakes are a nightmare and i've kinda given up hope of them every getting good...it feels almost bugged, but here we are. There are plenty of fantastic Polish regens playing in Europe now, just that none of them spawn here! Yeah, I'm going to just keep going for now. Despite the frustrating season, I'm enjoy almost every other aspect of the save both on and off the pitch. Opening up the signing policy would change things dramatically and, most likely, make things too easy if I'm honest. We can have 6 non EU players and between Africa and South America, we could bring in some fantastic talent...I'm not not sure how I feel about opening it up like that. I could maybe limit myself to one a year or pick another continent like North America or Asia and limit myself to those. The thing is, last season was great until we fell apart at the break and this season is going the same...17 games in, we've only lost 1 game, conceded 7, we're 11 points clear and we've made it through our EL2 group finishing top. So I really,really shouldn't be as negative as I am being...
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 12, 2020 20:22:40 GMT
I'm in the middle of a movie so I'll do a season review post when it ends, but I just wanted to leave this here because I'll forget. Automatic group stage, bitches!
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 12, 2020 21:12:09 GMT
Widzew Lodz 2029/30 Season Review (I erroneously put my last update as 29/30, it was infact 28/29) 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd....1st! The pattern continues. I knew we could do it, I knew we were good enough, we just needed that little bit of consistency and the ability to just not fuck things up in the league split. We didn't this team and we end up winning the league by a pretty fantastic 22 points, with a +55 goal difference to go along with it! I think you'll agree that's a much better way to end the season than last years run! Player performances were much improved this season and there was a much better spread of goals, with 5 players all scoring double figures and a few close behind that. Nikola Pavlovic was once again the top league scorer with 14 goals. I really need to find a way to get more goals from the lone striker role, but then maybe I should just be grateful that the midfielders are capable of chipping in with so many?
Due to our league and european form, a lot of our players are now wanted so it's going to be tough to see how we can hold on to so many or replace some that go. We already lost arguably our best young player, Kamil Blascyzk to Crystal Palace for £1.9m, but at least we'll see 50% of his next fee. There's a few players with worryingly low release clauses in the side, though.
European Football
Well...well...welll...
So we maybe didn't have the hardest run to the final, but I never thought I'd get this save far enough along that we'd be able to win a continental trophy. So it's the weakest of the three, but I'm not holding that against myself. It's a fantastic achievement, the highlight of the save so far and yet another reason why I need to keep this save going until FM21 eventually comes out.
So yeah, there you have it. You can argue that Bilbao were the only really tough team we faced, but Hibs got to the final by beating Gent, Rangers and Sampdoria, whilst Bilbao had already beaten Gladbach. There were some tough teams, and we got a bit lucky, but we deserved it. We should've beaten Hibs in normal time, but I wont complain too much.
So yeah, that explains the massive jump in coefficient points, meaning the league winners go right into Champions League group stages after next season, which is huge for the league even if it's not us. We've also moved up 20 places to become the 32nd ranked team in Europe which is really cool!
Off the pitch:
Not a huge amount to note here, although our success on the pitch coupled with nice new sponsorship money has put us in a great financial position. The stadium is two years from completion, the loan isn't impacting us much at all and I have some money to maybe request some more facility upgrades...things are looking good.
It's a far cry from considering taking a break/shelving the save after the frustration of last season, so let's hope it's a good summer and we hit the ground running next year!
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stouters
New Member
@stouters79
Posts: 117
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Post by stouters on Sept 13, 2020 9:21:36 GMT
You won the Europa Conference League in the same year i won the Europa League, congratulations! 2030 is a good year. A jump of 7 places is massive, how are the other teams performing in Europe?
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 13, 2020 17:30:21 GMT
Cheers Stouters! Yeah, it's a significant jump so I'm super happy with that. Other teams are doing alright, yeah. So obviously we won, but Lech got to the QF's and Legia got to the 1st knockout round (all conference league) Lech had dropped down from both the CL and then the EL (apparently 3rd place in the EL group now gets you conference league?!)
So it was a pretty decent season for Polish sides in Europe. I hadn't even thought to look at what other teams were doing, but I'm going to try and be more aware of that going forward.
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Post by Marshdweller on Sept 13, 2020 18:29:34 GMT
Any trophy is a success! Congratulations!
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 15, 2020 17:07:08 GMT
We're not playing exceptionally well this season, but this is a lovely wee run going back into last season...
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Post by chaodck on Sept 15, 2020 18:27:17 GMT
Fantastic work so far mate! Winning the UECL is an amazing achievement, unfortunately in my save I moved too quickly to the UEL and have faced big european sides there preventing me from an european title as of yet. You're looking great on the financial state of things, any potential big spending down the road? Any high PA eastern european kid who would want to move to an european champion side?
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 15, 2020 19:59:51 GMT
Fantastic work so far mate! Winning the UECL is an amazing achievement, unfortunately in my save I moved too quickly to the UEL and have faced big european sides there preventing me from an european title as of yet. You're looking great on the financial state of things, any potential big spending down the road? Any high PA eastern european kid who would want to move to an european champion side? Thanks buddy! I'm so notoriously tight fisted with money on FM, because I always feel that one bad season could hurt us, but yeah, given that we made the CL groups this season, I've got £45m in the bank. Whilst we can't compete with the wages of some teams in the region such as Dinamo, Red Star etc, I might see about splashing the cash on one or two players if I can find the right ones! Only in September now and we're doing okay, so when the January window comes around I'll take a good look.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 18, 2020 8:04:40 GMT
I kept rejecting offers, they kept coming back with bigger offers. I did wonder how far I could get them to push it, but decided to settle on this. Arguably the best player I've signed, he's been at the heart of our defence for the best part of 6 seasons, but I couldn't turn down this for a player I spend £275k on!
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 18, 2020 16:20:25 GMT
Widzew Lodz 2030/31 Season ReviewAnother season, another title...we're getting quite good at this lads! We were on course for an unbeaten season too, but managed to cock that one up during the Championship split, losing to both Lechia and Wisla, but such is life. The league was already wrapped up by this point, so I guess the players just took their feet off the gas a little. We were a lot more consistent once again this season and whilst it would've been nice to not lose (and turn a few of those draws into wins) we really are comfortably the best team in Poland right about now. Champions League: Any time we make it to the group stages is a good season, especially as we get that £13m for just being there, and our coefficient means that we'll go straight there next season too. We had some tough opponents in Malmo and Plzen en route to to the group stage and we were given a veritable group of death when we got there, but it was all a learning experience. Getting that 3-1 win against Atletico was absolutely lovely too! Transfers:I don't normally have a transfer section as we're usually quite low key as far as business is concerned. We've relied heavily on free transfers and cheaper players, both as a result of my geographical recruitment restrictions and my unwillingness to spend money. It doesn't help that we get priced out of most domestic deals and can't compete with some clubs when it comes to wages...but we're slowly getting there. We did spend £10m back in 2026/27 but this season has been even more active in terms of both buying and selling... So we'll start with sales: First off, Nicola Pavlovic, who was signed 6 and a half seasons ago for 500k from Dinamo went to Guangzhou R&F for £5m plus clauses. He was a solid player but he was getting less game time, moaning about looking to move and just being a bit of an arse, so when the right money came in, I couldn't say no. He was soon followed by Rafal Wawszcyk who, despite being overall fairly solid, never quite hit the ground running and £8.5m ( +50% which we've already cashed out for £6m) was too good to turn down. The came the big one mentioned in a post above, Alexandr Shishlov. The giant Belarussian was talking about leaving, getting cold feet about signing a new deal and Wuhan just wouldn't give up trying to sign him and for £26.5m...I just couldn't say no. In terms of incoming, we were mostly signing extra depth, as well as strengthening some key areas such as the centre backs, but I think we did some good business. Pero Vukovic joins from Dinamo but having been on loan already this season, wasn't able to actually play for the club. I have high hopes for him, though, at 6'4 with good physicals and mentals. Exactly what I like in my defenders. Karol T joined from Pogon and will likely be the long term replacement for Shislov and has the added benefit of being Polish and young, which is a great combo. Miroslaw Nowicki is a talented young left back who is first team ready. Technically understudy to Adrian Orzga but he's potentially the next player to leave the club, so we'll see what happens there. And finally, Maciej Stolarczyk was really the replacement for Wawszcyk and will/is the rotation option with Czech international Jan Mares. I should note, we've also agreed a bosman deal with Olexandr Novak from Vorskla. We maybe could've spent some money to get a better quality striker, but I think Novak looks decent and he doesn't expect to start (which he wont) so I'm happy with that. Player Stats:Some solid performances across the board. A few less goals from the midfield, with the exception of Mujkic and Beglerovic once again popping up with the goals, but it was great to see a striker finally break 20 goals in a season, with Kratky having a really fantastic season. We relied on him more with Pavlovic gone and Jaroszek not making an impact off the bench. So I think between Nowak coming in and Jaroszek likely leaving, I might see about spending on a decent striker. Off the pitch:
£52m in the bank, another £8m being spent on facilities, £45m to spend and £500k in spare wage budget is a pretty lovely position to be in. The new stadium is just one more season away, new facilities will be done in 6 months. We look likely to stay in the same place as far as league coefficients are concerned, so that should mean that we'll keep our CL Group Stage place. I'll update if things change, but that's how we're looking right now. (edit, as i'm looking right now it actually appears that we'll jump above Scotland as we're on 49 to their 48. It still puts us about 5pts behind Holland before we gain anything else, but from next season I'm going to have to pay a lot closer attention to how other teams are performing in Europe. As always let me know if you have any questions as I'm terrible at knowing what to include in these updates!
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Post by chaodck on Sept 18, 2020 16:32:15 GMT
Great update mate, you always worry about what to include but still make a great read, so keep at it. First league re-peat right? That must feel good and surely to see the team being more and more consistent is amazing as well. I think you're doing a terrific job on this save, slow and steady upgrades, cementing yourself as the top Polish side and growing the league in the coefficients each year. You only need to produce (or well, steal from another Polish side) Lewandowski type of newgens and you'll be fighting for europe soon enough. Good to see you decided to spend in the summer, all those players look quality and should they develop, become a good piece to have at your side or at least a nice cash cow. I really like Trzeciakiewicz (god that was awful to spell) and Novak. You did great on your UCL group, that was a terrible draw. Would you have preferred to be eliminated in the Playoff and drop to the UEL group phase?
I'm loving this mate, super happy for you!
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 18, 2020 16:41:40 GMT
Great update mate, you always worry about what to include but still make a great read, so keep at it. First league re-peat right? That must feel good and surely to see the team being more and more consistent is amazing as well. I think you're doing a terrific job on this save, slow and steady upgrades, cementing yourself as the top Polish side and growing the league in the coefficients each year. You only need to produce (or well, steal from another Polish side) Lewandowski type of newgens and you'll be fighting for europe soon enough. Good to see you decided to spend in the summer, all those players look quality and should they develop, become a good piece to have at your side or at least a nice cash cow. I really like Trzeciakiewicz (god that was awful to spell) and Novak. You did great on your UCL group, that was a terrible draw. Would you have preferred to be eliminated in the Playoff and drop to the UEL group phase? I'm loving this mate, super happy for you! Thanks Chaodck! I'm not gonna lie, the fact that you're always so genuinely excited about how my save is going is often enough motivation for me to keep going! You're right, that's the first time we've managed to retain the title...we're currently sitting on a record of 2nd,1st,2nd,1st,2nd,1st,1st and we've won the league by 22 and 20 points both seasons, so I think it's going to take quite the fall for us to fuck it up from now (famous last words?!). I'm really happy with Trzeciakiewicz particularly, I think he's going to develop superbly, which is great. Poland don't seem to be producing as much talent as I'd have liked, which is upsetting, and it doesn't help that a lot of the players that do leave end up a bit clubs where they just don't play or develop (such as Kamil Blasczyk who we sold to Crystal Palace and he's played about 5 games in two seasons) I'll need to keep a closer eye on talent and not be scared to spend where I need to. Yes and no, regarding Europe. I think my ideal scenario would be to finish 3rd in my group and drop down. That way we get the chance of success the in the EL but the security of the group stage money (although I understand that until our coeff drops, we're guaranteed that anyway)
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Post by chaodck on Sept 18, 2020 16:48:05 GMT
Great update mate, you always worry about what to include but still make a great read, so keep at it. First league re-peat right? That must feel good and surely to see the team being more and more consistent is amazing as well. I think you're doing a terrific job on this save, slow and steady upgrades, cementing yourself as the top Polish side and growing the league in the coefficients each year. You only need to produce (or well, steal from another Polish side) Lewandowski type of newgens and you'll be fighting for europe soon enough. Good to see you decided to spend in the summer, all those players look quality and should they develop, become a good piece to have at your side or at least a nice cash cow. I really like Trzeciakiewicz (god that was awful to spell) and Novak. You did great on your UCL group, that was a terrible draw. Would you have preferred to be eliminated in the Playoff and drop to the UEL group phase? I'm loving this mate, super happy for you! Thanks Chaodck! I'm not gonna lie, the fact that you're always so genuinely excited about how my save is going is often enough motivation for me to keep going! You're right, that's the first time we've managed to retain the title...we're currently sitting on a record of 2nd,1st,2nd,1st,2nd,1st,1st and we've won the league by 22 and 20 points both seasons, so I think it's going to take quite the fall for us to fuck it up from now (famous last words?!). I'm really happy with Trzeciakiewicz particularly, I think he's going to develop superbly, which is great. Poland don't seem to be producing as much talent as I'd have liked, which is upsetting, and it doesn't help that a lot of the players that do leave end up a bit clubs where they just don't play or develop (such as Kamil Blasczyk who we sold to Crystal Palace and he's played about 5 games in two seasons) I'll need to keep a closer eye on talent and not be scared to spend where I need to. Yes and no, regarding Europe. I think my ideal scenario would be to finish 3rd in my group and drop down. That way we get the chance of success the in the EL but the security of the group stage money (although I understand that until our coeff drops, we're guaranteed that anyway) It's symbiotic my dear friend. Reading about your save fuels my hunger to play my own FM save and write about it. In fact, I was decided to play some Madden NFL 21 this afternoon, but after reading this I'm playing FM. I'm finishing my current season and should have a report during my afternoon. Not to try and steal your thunder, but it's a banger.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 18, 2020 16:50:55 GMT
Thanks Chaodck! I'm not gonna lie, the fact that you're always so genuinely excited about how my save is going is often enough motivation for me to keep going! You're right, that's the first time we've managed to retain the title...we're currently sitting on a record of 2nd,1st,2nd,1st,2nd,1st,1st and we've won the league by 22 and 20 points both seasons, so I think it's going to take quite the fall for us to fuck it up from now (famous last words?!). I'm really happy with Trzeciakiewicz particularly, I think he's going to develop superbly, which is great. Poland don't seem to be producing as much talent as I'd have liked, which is upsetting, and it doesn't help that a lot of the players that do leave end up a bit clubs where they just don't play or develop (such as Kamil Blasczyk who we sold to Crystal Palace and he's played about 5 games in two seasons) I'll need to keep a closer eye on talent and not be scared to spend where I need to. Yes and no, regarding Europe. I think my ideal scenario would be to finish 3rd in my group and drop down. That way we get the chance of success the in the EL but the security of the group stage money (although I understand that until our coeff drops, we're guaranteed that anyway) It's symbiotic my dear friend. Reading about your save fuels my hunger to play my own FM save and write about it. In fact, I was decided to play some Madden NFL 21 this afternoon, but after reading this I'm playing FM. I'm finishing my current season and should have a report during my afternoon. Not to try and steal your thunder, but it's a banger. Haha that's brilliant...I look forward to it! I keep putting off Skyrim and Crusader Kings 3 to play more FM.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 21, 2020 16:08:59 GMT
Widzew Lodz 2031/32 Season ReviewAnother season here in Poland and it brings with it another league title, our 5th in total and third in a row. 18 points between us and 2nd is nice, however we had the title wrapped up before the league split, we were 25 points clear at that point, so I let the assistant take charge of the rest of the games...we only won 1 of the 7 post split games Ah well. So we go from having lost 1 game all season to 6. I kinda want to sack him, but I'll let it slide this time. It was lucky 13 as far as the Puchar Polski was concerned. The only domestic competition that had alluded us so far. It took penalties, and the cup really isn't that big a deal, but still, it's nice to get the victory! European Football:Obviously not our greatest moment as far as European football is concerned, and we really should've beaten Wolfsburg in the Europa League, but it's money and experience at the end of the day and there wasn't much I could do in what was pretty much a group of death...especially considering we were 3rd seeds! Transfers:Really nothing major on the transfer front this season. Novak was covered in the last update. Lusiusz was a squad player who'll never really break into the first team whilst Wozniak and Dudala were signed as future players, and Dudala has done good when given the opportunity. Due to our poor intakes, we've actually struggled with the need to keep an U-21 Polish player in the First XI, so having players like that definitely helps. Kostadinovic was the only player signed for first team football as our previous keeper was released as he was declining in ability and getting homesick (despite this, he signed for another Polish club the prick). At only 21, Dragan is a cracking keeper and will most likely hold that position for the forseeable future. Off the pitch/Any other business: The new stadium is finished, with us now having a 31k all seated capacity which should see a big rise from our 16k season ticket holders. We're also in absolutely fantastic financial health, so it's a win win! We're now the most reputable club in Poland (I think we might've reached that last season). We've dropped one place to 8th in the coefficients, but we don't lose any of our spots as a result of this, so I'm not too worried just yet. A decent showing from the clubs in Europe should rectify that, as we had a couple of poor performances this year, ourselves included. So it's a weird one, but I need to play at least one more season to make use of this new stadium and see where we're at. I think I could be after a new challenge soon, but might see if I can get a nice rounded 15 seasons before stopping. It all depends on the release of FM21 tbf.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 21, 2020 17:36:26 GMT
2032: A World Review
I figured that, seeing as we're now more than a decade into the save, I'd have a wee look at what's going on around the world. It's usually quite an interesting thing to look at, as so much changes between saves and depends on what league are loaded etc. So I'm going to have a look at a few things that I find interesting and if there's anything you'd like to know, or you'd like me to add, please lemme know!
I hadn't even noticed that our fellow countrymen Piast had won the Conference League the year after us! That explains why our coefficients have been rising so well. They even did it by beating a better team in the final than us, the bastards!
World Cup:
The 2022 and 2026 World Cups were won by France, who beat Spain and Italy respectively, whilst the 2030 World Cup was won by Spain...who beat Italy.
European Championship:
The Euro's have been won by Portugal, England and Spain respectively. Portugal and Spain beat Germany, whilst England beat Greece. The 2032 European Championship is about to kick off in my save. Germany look set to go out in the group stage from a group also featuring Kosovo and Finland...
Domestic Leagues:
Not gonna post loads of pictures here as there'd be too much, so I'll just add some interesting notes.
EPL: The EPL has been shared between Liverpool, City, Chelsea and United with City winning 6 of the 13 available titles. Leicester have just been relegated again after only just getting promoted back to the EPL, whilst QPR are back in The Championship after being relegated a few seasons ago.
Bundesliga: It's largely the Bayern Party as you'd expect, however Dortmund did win 3 straight titles between 2020-2023 and Hertha Berlin won both the 27/28 and 28/29 titles. They're much closer to Bayern, and there was only 6 points separating top 3 this year. The most shocking news is that RB Leipzig were relegated in 28/29 but came straight back up the following season when all top 3 2.Bundesliga sides finished on 65 points. They've been a mid table side ever since.
La Liga: If you'd said Barcelona with a sprinkling of Real Madrid, you'd be absolutely correct. Nothing has really changed in 13 years here, unfortunately. No big relegations, no upsetting the apple cart, just the standard affair. Declan Rice is the Barcelona captain though, so you know, there is that.
Serie A: It feels like the late 90's, early 00's all over again as AC Milan have won 5 of the last 6 league titles. Lazio, Roma, Juve and Inter have some to their names too, but Milan are definitely the big boys of the league now that Berlusconi isn't spending all the money on hookers. Udinese are the only "big" team to go down, but they came straight back up.
Elsewhere: PSG won 12 in a row before Lyon won the title this season, Toulouse are a yoyo club whilst both Nice and Rennes both went down recently. Rennes won Ligue 2 this season. Ajax have won 13 league titles whilst PSV haven't managed a top 3 finish in 3 years. Rangers have won 3 league titles, but Celtic have won every other, as is to be expected. My local side, St. Johnstone, have been a 2nd tier side since 2021/22
That's all for the leagues that I have loaded!
Players:
Luigi Fioretti, above, is the most valuable and most expensive player in the world. Valued at 118m, he cost the club an eye watering £210m from Barcelona after he initially made a £70m move from Fiorentina.
Davereaux Augustien is the highest paid newgen in the game on £425k per week. Only Mbappe (500k) Fabio Silva and Erling Haaland (both 450k) earn more than him.
The Ballon d'Or has been dominated by Barca and Real. Ansu Fati has a crazy record of 98 goals in 123 games for Spain.
Finances:
I'm not entirely sure how the game decides on finances and who's the richest club etc. but according to this, Hoffenheim, Herta and Red Star are the three richest clubs in the world somehow... It does mention that the Hertha chairman could've been a tycoon (it mentions that he "scales back funding" at one point), but no explanation for the other two.
Valenciennes in France had a Korean tycoon who left last season, being replaced by Fabio Baldini led consortium. They went up and down a few times before finally turning into a top 5 club in the league, not sure how they'll fare now that the tycoon is away.
Brentford, who finished 7th in The Championship this season have just had a tycoon takeover, so I'm going to be following them a bit more during the summer to see what sort of acitvity they have there.
Those are the only ones I can see so far, at least that are jumping out, and I don't think I can actively search for tycoons (Please correct me if I'm wrong!)
Managers:
Now the fun part...I've not really looked at this before, so let's see what big names have ended up where.
Xavi is Barcelona manager, Poch is back at Espanyol, Conte at Madrid, Steven Gerrard at Sevilla.
Pep is Arsenal Manager (sacked by both City and Chelsea), Lijnders at Chelsea, Rudi Garcia at Liverpool, Klopp at City!, Valverde at United, Lampard at Soton, Simeone at Spurs, Nuno back at Wolves after spells at Marseille and Valencia.
Erik Ten Hag at Milan, Giovinco is Salernitana manager, Lukaku at Atalanta, Strootman is Inter manager, Vitor Pereira at Juve.
Tuchel at Bayern, Solskjaer at Hertha, Inzaghi at Dortmund.
I was hoping for a bit more after 13 years, but those are most of the major changes at bigger clubs. I'm going to randomly look for big name stars that have likely retired and see what they're doing. If you have any names in mind, let me know!
Messi - Barcelona U19 Coach Ronaldo: FC Twente Manager KDB: Metz DoF Lewandowski: Unemployed DoF Sergio Ramos: Fulham U18 Coach Firmino: Unemployed DoF Mane: Unemployed DoF Sane - Unemployed DoF ...I'm starting to notice a theme here.. Suarez - Guingamp Coach Griezmann - Unemployed Assman Zlatan Ibrahmovic - Unemployed Manager recently sacked by Croatian side Rudes Buffon - Vitesse Goalkeeping Coach Virgil Van Dijk - Unemployed Coach (wanted by Stade Reims) Thiago - Unemployed DoF Giorgio Chiellini - Juve B Team Manager
Dybala - GKS Jastrzebie Manager (Polish 2nd tier) Kingsley Coman - Skra Czestochowa Manager (Polish 2nd tier) Milan Baros - OKS Stomil Olstzyin Manager (" ")
Also in the Polish top tier are: (Philip Cocu (Lechia), Alexander Dragovic (Legia) and Ricardo Rodriguez (Motor Lublin)
Raheem Sterling is 37 and in the Leicester U23 squad...he'll maybe join the guys above soon!
Retired: Too Many to list Sadly, most players seem to be choosing to retire from football altogether, which is a shame, but I'll keep an eye out for any interesting ones.
So yeah, that's a wee bit of what's happening around the world (well, mainly Europe I guess)
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Post by chaodck on Sept 22, 2020 22:50:01 GMT
Great pair of updates Dale, really solid season for your lads great to see you make the three-peat and a good performance in Europe despite being handed that awful group. I think you need to keep it going mate, until you make yourself competitive at a continental level. You're not far. With some manual scouting or a bit of relaxation within your transfer rules I think you're within a couple of seasons from a decent european run. Loved the "World Update" as well.
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 23, 2020 7:42:32 GMT
Great pair of updates Dale, really solid season for your lads great to see you make the three-peat and a good performance in Europe despite being handed that awful group. I think you need to keep it going mate, until you make yourself competitive at a continental level. You're not far. With some manual scouting or a bit of relaxation within your transfer rules I think you're within a couple of seasons from a decent european run. Loved the "World Update" as well. Cheers Chaodck. Yeah it's a weird one, because on one level I'm incredibly happy with the save and the progress and I just want to keep going, whilst on another I'm more inclined to start something new...but I've no idea what I'd even start, so until I can think of something concrete, I may as well keep going. I definitely need to relax with my money and start thinking bigger with transfers. We've got £91m in the bank but I've yet to spend £5m on a player and my highest paid player is on £15k p/w. As far as the transfer rules go, I keep thinking about that. I don't want to get rid of them completely, because we're clearly doing well with the restrictions but I could possibly relax them. I'm thinking of maybe allowing myself 1 or 2 foreign players a year. Maybe restricted to one or two other continents, say Africa and Asia? I also have intake feeders in USA (Sacramento) and South Korea (Pohang) so I could maybe say "allowed to sign one player from each nation I have an intake feeder in" or something like that? I'm not entirely sure. Have you got any ideas?
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Post by dalenichol on Sept 24, 2020 22:12:41 GMT
Widzew Lodz 2032/33 Season ReviewIt was a much more tightly contest season this year, but the outcome was still the same. 10 points clear at the top as we finish season 14 in Poland. We were done in mostly by our own profligacy across the season, we scored our lowest goal total since the 27/28 season...only Rostislav Kratky (15) and Anel Beglerovic (10) finished on double figures, which just isn't good enough. There was no change in tactics between this season or last, and goalscoring has never been our strong point, but sheesh. Transfers:It was another year for transfers, particularly in the winter window. Two big outgoings with Polish international Miroslaw Novicki going to China for a deal reaching £28m (similar to the Shislov deal a few years back, I kept saying no and they kept coming back) and fellow Polish international defender Karol Trzeciakievic joining Celtic for £10m. We could've got more, but there's a 50% future fee deal in there and he'll definitely move to a bigger club than Celtic down the line. However, making £40m from two players signed for under £5m is pretty fantastic. We signed Robert Wilk as a squad player, but he's young and spent the season in the II side. Alen Filipovic is our most expensive signing at £9m and is a direct replacement for Nowicki. We possibly overpaid, but he's young and taltend and we have over £100m in the bank, so fuck it. Despite being a natural DM, Cristian Lemnaru cames in from Steaua Bucharest to replace Trzeciakievic and finally, Damian Zawistowski was signed from 2nd tier side Motor and he's a very exciting prospect. He genned at a bloody 4th tier side, too! Champions League:We entered as 1st seeds this year...somehow...and we still ended up in a group with PSG, Porto and Athletic Bilbao. We struggled, as expected, but we weren't awful and there was progress to be made. We could've got a result at home to Porto and almost did away to Bilbao, but such is life. Off the pitch:We end the season with £102m in the bank and at this point there really isn't much we can do with it. Our facilities are in the process of being upgraded and I'm not allowed to make any board requests as we're in the middle of our 5000th board takeover of the save and none of them have ever actually gone through and I doubt this one will be any different. I think, although I'm not sure, but this might be my last season. I'm going to sleep on it and see if I can think of anything else that interests me, especially now that we know the new game is out in November. There's not much else to do in Poland, and whilst I could just get rid of my signing restrictions, it feels like that would be a cheap way of changing things up. So yeah, I think this is it for the save. If I'm sure of that, I'll do a wee roundup post in the morning with my final stats and that sort of thing before deciding on what to do next. I'm currently tempted by Brazil, USA or Japan as general saves, or something completely daft like Sri Lanka or Bermuda as a sort of development save where I could hopefully just fly through the seasons trying to build them up. I'm just not sure.
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