32 replies to this topic

[Terminal]

So here is the premise for this little adventure, I have set myself one rule, I can only remain at the club if I equal or exceed the media prediction given to me. If I finish below my media prediction I must resign, I’m just too proud to stay! But I can resign at any time if I get better offers or fancy a change of scenery.

So I started a new game, loaded up a lot of leagues, set myself to unemployed and began the search for jobs.

I had a pretty varied selection of clubs to choose from, all the way from Norway to Turkey. But in the end Croatia was the destination, or more precisely Split, and even more precise than that Hajduk Split.

Hajduk Split are arguably one of the biggest clubs in Croatia, but their last league title was in 2005 and the club seems to be nose diving. They are predicted to finish 2nd. Here’s hoping I can live up to those expectations, or I’m on the next plane out of Croatia.

[localhero]

Sounds like a cracking idea, if it goes well I might have a go. KUTGW. What was your starting rep btw?

[JackHammer]

I'm doing something similar atm with about 50 odd leagues loaded and just changing job every year or so
Good luck in Croatia, never managed there yet but hope to soon

[AlexBRFC]

Nice idea mate. I'll be interested to see how far you can get with this!

[Terminal]

2009-2010

HAJDUK SPLIT

Hajduk Split is a big club in Croatia and they are qualified for the Europa League as one would expect, but they have a couple of grave problems. Firstly the squad is pretty similar and pretty average. They have a huge squad but have lots of the same sort of players, so really there is no real advantage to changing things at half time.

Secondly because of their huge squad they are over their wage budget and it’s not like clubs are jumping at the chance to take these players from you.

Thirdly the last manager took the view that sending players out on loan was the only way he could reduce the wage budget. You start the game with about 6-7 loaned players, and its not going to solve the problem of the wage budget anyway. It would have been much better to simply cut the wage budget permanently and put the money to good use investing in some players who can make an impact on the squad.

Fourthly, the media prediction is not impossible to achieve or even extremely hard to achieve but the media hasn’t taken a few things into account, this is a team lacking morale and they need to win a few games to get that back up, which creates the classic chicken and egg scenario. I need motivated players in the first place to perform well.

Fifthly Dinamo are miles better than us! Pure and simple, in almost every single department. They are the best team in Croatia by a mile and they should win the title easily. This makes it extremely hard to overachieve.

SO HOW DID THINGS TURN OUT

Media Prediction and Target – 2nd place

Finished – 5th (when I left)

Well I only made one signing in the summer. I had money to spend but the wage situation at the club was bad enough that I didn’t want to antagonize the board by bringing in too many players. The only signing was Senaid Kulkacic, a young Bosnian player who was out of contract and seemed to be a good bet to score goals in this league.

We dropped out of the Europa League in the qualifying stages as we lost to Heerenveen after a crazy two legs which ended 6-5 as we imploded away from home.

We also dropped out of the cup in the first round after an atrocious display against a second division side of no repute. But all this didn’t really matter, as to me it was all about doing as well as possible in the league and really that’s all that mattered to Hajduk fans anyway.

League form up until the winter was patchy to be honest, we were up around our target but nowhere near Dinamo as they stormed ahead in the league, what I predicted had come true and Dinamo were a class above the rest of the league.

In January I looked to get in a left-back to play to my system, a position which wasn’t working for me. I looked around and decided on a cheap Italian called Giovanni Bruno from Como, who was coming in for £20K. The goal here was to have the left full back be a guy who could be attacking and take some of the set pieces which I felt I needed to rely upon. He wasn’t much in defence but I knew that now I had go for broke to try and reel in Dinamo if I was going to deliver a title, which even winning every match from now on would be a daunting task.

I also managed to sell a couple of players who were on big wages and just had not featured in my season so far. I felt that would help substantially the wage budget problem, even if one of them could turn out to be pretty good in the future. Anyway it was not my concern, my concern was the here and now and we need to drop the wage budget and try and get closer to Dinamo.

We also got a huge offer (£1.5m) for Mario Maloca from Krylja Sovetov in Russia, the chairman accepted and I agreed to be honest, no time to be holding on to big part players who may turn out to be good in the future, we need to invest now in some talent.

Even with a lot of the wage budget reduced we were still over budget and so it made bringing in quality players extremely hard. My first signing was Renan Filipe of Anderlecht, who would replace outgoing Moloca. He came in for £80K but had high wage demands, so it required some adjustments. After Filipe, and all the adjustments, there was no room to go and get anyone else of real quality so I cut my losses and got on with the job of trying to get Hajduk up the table to at least reach my goal of 2nd place.

As we approached the final run in, we really played poorly losing matches to crap sides in the league, and I began to think that Hajduk were pretty much a poisoned chalice. We played away to Dinamo and were handed a big 5-1 defeat which only confirmed to me in reality how poor we were in comparison to Dinamo. I began thinking of leaving the club as I now knew that no league title would be coming to Split. But I felt I had to stay just to say that I saw out the season and we were pretty close to our target despite our poor form.

But in the end I had had enough a 1-1 draw at home to NK Zagreb seemed like a fitting time to cut my ties with Hajduk Split and book my ticket out of Croatia.

THE EXPERIENCE

The experience of managing Hajduk Split in the Croatian league was not a happy one. They are a club whom I feel are in severe trouble. They don’t seem to have much direction and it’s hard to manage a club when you’re strung up financially because of an inability to reduce the wage budget and a squad who are extremely similar and lack pretty much any quality. Even worse Dinamo would win the league if the fielded 10 players every game.

Overall I would say, I am better for the experience, I added Croatian to my repertoire of languages but that’s about all I got out of it. I doubt I will be returning to Croatia, much less Split.

WHERE TO NEXT?

Who knows?! All I know is, it’s not going to be in Croatia.

localhero, on 30 June 2010 - 08:10 PM, said:

Sounds like a cracking idea, if it goes well I might have a go. KUTGW. What was your starting rep btw?

Automatic rep and cheers mate, yeah go for it!

JackHammer, on 30 June 2010 - 08:29 PM, said:

I'm doing something similar atm with about 50 odd leagues loaded and just changing job every year or so
Good luck in Croatia, never managed there yet but hope to soon

Yeah I saw, you had a huge game on the game, may have even subliminally influenced me! I found Croatia pretty boring, or just Hajduk impossible or the other! LOL!

AlexBRFC, on 30 June 2010 - 10:16 PM, said:

Nice idea mate. I'll be interested to see how far you can get with this!

Cheers mate!

[Terminal]

2010

Well after pretty much failing at Hajduk Split, it wasn’t easy to get a job, I had a job application to an underperforming NAC Breda side rejected. But I got a break when reporting from Argentina were suggesting that Estudiantes de la Plata were looking to replace their manager. So I declared my interest in the job and before I knew it Sabbell had been sacked and I was on the next plane to La Plata, Argentina.

The major problem that Estudiantes suffered from and that really plagued the whole of Argentinean football was that club was £7m in debt and it was only likely to increase with time. In time I would need to sort out this situation to avoid a catastrophe.

ESTUDIANTES LA PLATA

The season had not finished yet and overall in the league, the club were in 9th place, when they had been predicted to finish 5th. The target philosophy would have to wait to the following season as I doubted my ability to bring Estudiantes to finish in 5th where the media had predicted them.

Estudiantes were still in the Copa Libertadores with a good chance of qualifying from the group and there still had the Recopa final against Fluminense to look forward to, plus five games left of the league season, and I would be looking to prove myself to board, by getting the players organized and ready.

Having taken over, the situation in the Copa Libertadores was as follows; there was one match remaining and if we won it, we would win the group. We did so in style with Juan Sebastian Veron running the show. Despite having a man sent off we won 3-1 in Mexico against a good Pumas side. We now faced fellow Argentinean side Banfield in the Second Round and no doubt it would be a tough tie.

After winning 2-1 at Banfield it was never in doubt as we progressed to the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores 6-1 on aggregate. Estudiantes had won the Copa Libertadores the year before, so I was looking now to win it again and in so doing cement my place in Estudiantes folklore.

Meanwhile in the league we were generally winning, the only blip coming away to Colon in 4-1 drubbing we received.

The quarter finals saw us against stiff opposition in America (MEX). The day before the draw we managed a 1-0 win against our bitter enemies from La Plata, Gimnasia much to our fans delight.

The first leg in Argentina against America turned out to be a crazy one, we at one point led 5-1, but when talisman Veron got injured, America came back and the game ended 6-6, in what can only be described as an extremely disappointing 30 minute comeback from America. It gave us all to do in Mexico as we new realistically we now had to win out there. What was worse Veron would now be out for 2 months and would miss the rest of the season.

It was around this time that I decided to blow what transfer budget I had on a Brazilian striker Amilton. He would be joining the club in June for £220k from Ipatinga. I felt he was slightly better than what we already had and had skill and pace which would trouble defences next season. I just hoped that the Brazilian could adapt to football in Argentina’s top division.

We finished the Clausura stage of the Argentinean Premier Division in 3rd place which had been some improvement on where the club had been going before my tenure. We almost won the league in fact up until the final few minutes we were in the playoff match against Boca Juniors for the title. But it was not to be as Godoy Cruz managed a goal to knock us out of it again.

The second leg against America (MEX) was again another good game but for different reasons, America scored early, so we had it all to do. We kicked up a gear and bombarded the America goal, but just couldn’t beat Ochoa who was amazing all game. The game ended 1-0 and we were out 7-6 on aggregate rueing the mistakes in the first game.

It remains to be seen whether I can defeat Fluminense to get my first trophy in the form of the Recopa, which will in fact be played around the time of the next season starting.

THE EXPERIENCE SO FAR

Very enjoyable, I got the team playing good football, but Estudiantes are very reliant on one man; Juan Sebastian Veron. He is brilliant, but when he’s not around, the team does suffer. It has to be something that I will look to sort out during the Apertura championship next season. Needless to say Argentinean football offers a bit more than Croatian football, and once you understand it, it all seems to make perfect sense, of each regular season being divided into two championships. Having said that you can’t beat just having a league system, it kind of makes it much easier.

I guess for Argentina I need to amend my rules, for each half of the season, which has a championship for itself, I will need to attain at least my target to remain in the job. Targets must be upheld and standards must not be dropped.

[Terminal]

Just thought I would mention which leagues I have loaded as I forgot to say this in my first post. Should have another update coming up soon!

Leagues loaded

Belgium (Pro League)
Croatia (First Division)
England (Championship)
France (Ligue 2)
Germany (Second Division)
Greece (Superleague)
Hungary (Division I)
Italy (Serie B)
Holland (Jupiler)
Norway (Premier Division)
Portugal (Liga Vitalis)
Russia (Premier Division)
Scotland (Premier Division)
Spain (Liga adelante)
Switzerland (Super League)
Turkey (Premier Division)
Ukraine (Premier Division)
Argentina (Premier Division)
Brazil (First Division)

[Terminal]

2010 APERTURA

ESTUDIANTES LA PLATA

So we started off the season with the Recopa first leg against Fluminense in the Maracana. We played out of our skin and managed a great and historic 2-0 win against our Brazilian foes, which gave us a very good chance of winning silverware in the return leg in La Plata. But catastrophe hit as we had a man sent off, we completely lost our game, we couldn’t handle the pressure as Fluminense came forward and made things hard for us, in the end we capitulated in front of our own fans 3-0. By far the worst performance I have seen from this team and the most annoyed I have been in football management.

Estudiantes past manager had placed a fair few players on loan, so when they came back many of them were no good to me and I looked to move them on from the club.  Out went Maximiliano Nunez to Brasov (£180k), Diego Galvan to Hertha Berlin (£1.4m), Ramon Fernandez to Unirea Urziceni (£2.5m), Gonzalo Saucedo to Modena (£60k) and Cristian Cellay to Mainz (£2m). In came Andres San Martin on a free, Diego Corla on a free, Carlos Marinelli from Aldosivi for £275k, Diego Ruiz on loan from CFR Cluj and Aninias on loan from  Bahia for a loan fee of £300k.

Just when the season was starting, Wanderly Luxemburgo was sacked as manager of Atletico Miniero a big club in Brazil and I was the favourite to take over. It caused me to think about it, do I move on to a country where my native Portuguese would come into use or do I stay at Estudiantes who I haven’t even managed for a season, but impressed me quite a lot more than Hajduk during my tenure. The press wanted me to comment and I felt the best option was to say nothing as I mulled over the job and my life in Argentina.

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Media Prediction and Target – 5th

Finished – 1st (CHAMPIONS OF THE APERTURA)

We started the Apertura extremely well, after eight matches we were in 1st place having won seven of them and drawn one. We had already done some of the hard tasks of the Apertura we went away to River Plate and won and we went away to Boca Juniors and won. We were looking good and had opened up a 5 point lead at the top of the league.

Our first loss came against Huracan, ninth match of the Apertura and a team who had really struggled all season last season, but this season were resurgent and now were our closest rivals in the league in 2nd position after their 2-1 win against us. Teams like Lanus, Racing and Velez were also there or there about and I knew it would be a hard fought title.

Veron had been running things for us on the pitch, and new signing Marinelli was also doing as well in the midfield. It was funny, two 30 something year old men, without any pace or physicality, but they were running the show in almost every match we played. It just goes to shows, physicality is a necessary part of the game, but sheer class is permanent and in Juan Sebastian Veron we had a man who was rolling back the years with goals and assists.

It was around this time that San Lorenzo de Almagro another club in Argentina sacked their manager and again, all the media thought that I was Almagro bound, but with the fine start to the season, I wasn’t about to throw it all away to go to a club that was near the bottom of the table. I called the press and told them that there was no truth in the story whatsoever.

The second half of the season seemed a lot harder as teams began to take notice of the way we played but we still managed to keep top spot as Racing Club became our major rivals for the Apertura title. We managed to pick up big points time and time again as we turned draws into wins and Veron continued to run the show for us. When we drew disappointingly against Atletico Tucaman, with their equaliser coming in the injury time, we looked to see whether Racing could go to an underperforming Boca side to close the gap, but they could only manage a draw which gave us the advantage and the momentum. In the end the gap grew and we could wrap it up against Argentinos Juniors, to win our first league title since 2006, and only our second since 1983.

We were too much for an Argentinos side that had pretty much suffered all season with poor results as we won 3-1, to win the title with one game to spare.

Estudiantes La Plata had won the Apertura title!
EXPERIENCE SO FAR

Well, finally I get a winners medal of some sort and I achieved my target with interest. It was an awesome season; everything seemed to come together at the right time so that we could finally deliver this title to the Estudiantes fans. I have been linked with a couple of jobs recently but at the moment I am quite content to remain as Estudiantes manager at least until the end of the Clausura. I think the most important thing is that I finally got things right and the team responded to my management style, and there is no doubt that we overachieved, but I think with our ability and cool heads we can win the Clausura championship as well.

MANAGER CV

1 x Argentine Championship (Estudiantes La Plata)

[gkennedy]

This is a great thread, enjoying reading it. Almost makes me want to try leagues outwith Europe. Hell, I've not managed a club outside of England, Scotland or Italy in... well... not in FM10 anyway...  

Keep up the good work

[JackHammer]

gkennedy, on 03 July 2010 - 11:15 AM, said:

This is a great thread, enjoying reading it. Almost makes me want to try leagues outwith Europe. Hell, I've not managed a club outside of England, Scotland or Italy in... well... not in FM10 anyway...

Keep up the good work

Give Argentina a try, that's quite a fun league to manage in

[Terminal]

2011 CLAUSURA

ESTUDIANTES LA PLATA

I started the season by bringing in a couple of Paraguayan youngsters after a short scouting trip over there. I felt both were good enough to possibly start  in the coming season, they were seriously very good young players and they didn’t cost much money especially as the club had made quite good money from player sales and renegotiating  shirt deals and TV deals.

There was about a month and a few weeks in between the end of the Apertura and the start of the Clausura, so I had to keep the players focussed during this period. But the break was welcome considering our team was reliant on Veron and his age was making it hard to keep up fitness levels all season, so I had to wrap him in cotton wool whenever possible.

HOW DID WE DO?

Media Prediction and Target – 5th

Finished – 1st (CHAMPIONS OF THE CLAUSURA)

We started the season in the same fashion that we finished the first, with guile and a talent for scoring goals. Again we were top, but by the eight game mark we had already lost away to Racing, who was a team that were always near us in the league, but we had won all the rest of the games and we were top of the league.

The Copa Libertadores group draw was made and we knew we had a hard task in trying to overcome America (MEX) as they were drawn in our group. They had inflicted one of the most disappointing defeats on us since my tenure began, so I was wary. The other two teams seemed to be pretty straightforward in Bolivar of Bolivia and Cienciano of Peru. Both teams were not to the same standard as us and I expected us to win both home and away. We started the group stage with two wins, a big 6-1 away in Peru to Cienciano. We then welcomed America to our ground, a place which last time hosted an amazing 6-6 draw. This time we were more solid and despite Veron being out with injury which cost us last time, we defeated them 3-1. We were in pole position in the group and now looking forward to advancing in top spot.

Huracan struck again, as they beat us at home 3-1 and now we were only a point clear of Lanus in second place, it seemed that Estudiantes would not be getting another league title the easy way. If we were to win the title this season it would be only the second time a team had won the Apertura and the Clausura in the same season. The first being River Plate in 1997, only a year after the format to the Apertura/Clausura format.

We lost again with about 8 games remaining of the league season. This time a visit to Velez saw us lose narrowly 1-0 in a game which now saw us go behind Lanus in the league. I was still positive about our chances. I felt as long as we played well in the coming matches that we would probably be able to outdo a Lanus side who I felt would go through a dip somewhere along the season. I really wanted to win this championship as part of my legacy at Estudiantes.

By the time we went to Mexico to play America we were already qualified and even a loss, would mean that we were in with a great shout of finishing top, by virtue of us battering Bolivar both times we played them. We did indeed lose in Mexico 2-1, as the Mexican outfit found a winner with just a few minutes left to go in the game. Regardless of the fact I was still very happy with our form overall in the Copa Libertadores and even in the match against America it could have gone either way.

We did indeed win the group with a final group game win over Cienciano 3-1, and that set up a Second Round game against Universidad Catolica of Chile. I was confident we could overcome them.

In the league with four games remaining we were 3 points clear of Lanus in second place, but now we had 3 straight away matches and so the target was to be at least level on points with Lanus come the final match. We needed realistically two wins from the three games, and things would be in our hands, anything less than that and there was the real possibility that we would be reliant on the Lanus final game of the season to see whether we could take home the Clausura championship to add to our Apertura championship. The run in would test our players to the extreme but I was confident they could cope.

Following a tough 2-2 draw in Chile against Catolica, we welcomed them to Argentina, with all the tools to get through, but we were expecting a very hard match from what we had seen of Catolica in Chile. But there was no need to worry as we completely controlled the game and gave the Chileans a right good drubbing the game ended 6-0 as we went through 8-2 on aggregate. In the next round we would face the tough Brazilian outfit Palmeiras.

There were two games left of the season and Lanus played the day before us against Banfield. Lanus piled on the pressure on us with a 2-0 win. This meant that Lanus went level on point but they remained 2nd because of our superior goal difference. We now needed to win against Argentinos Juniors and hopefully win big, so as to make the task for Lanus almost impossibility the final day. The boys responded as we won 5-0 at Argentinos and for all intents and purposes we were on the brink of being champions again. Lanus required a feat of goal scoring brilliance in their final match to take the title from us. They lay 10 goals behind us and required a 10 goals swing on the final day of the season. Only mathematical possibility was holding us back from winning the Clausura.

The Copa Libertadores was back again and we travelled to Brazil to play Palmeiras. The game was one where Palmeiras dominated possession but didn’t do an awful lot with it. Veron scored a freekick that put us one up, but Palmeiras equalised and they looked more likely to steal it. However they couldn’t find a way through at it ended 1-1, giving a good opportunity in front of our fans, to get to the semi-finals.

So the final day of the season was upon us, Lanus faced off against Argentinos and we went to Independiente. Lanus’ task was simple score goals galore and hope that Independiente could do them a favour by beating us by a good margin. But really the game mattered very little, as I was told that for the close season there would be a playoff match to decide who were the champions. All that hard work and there was still a final game where the league title was up for grabs. Lanus still had to make sure they won to guarantee they were in the playoff match. They won 1-0 with a late goal and we completely disappointed as we went down 4-2 to Independiente, but it didn’t matter, it would be Lanus vs Estudiantes to see who would be the champion.

The return leg against Palmeiras was a complete and utter disaster. We took the lead, but a player each side was sent off and we completely imploded as I looked to try and get that killer second goal, Palmeiras equalised and then the heads went and we were hopeless. The game ended 6-1 to Palmeiras, a shocking, shocking performance in every sense of the phrase. We were out of the Copa Libertadores at the quarter final stage again.

The playoff match came and I wondered whether the despondency of going out of the Copa Libertadores in the style that we went out would affect the team, but I shouldn’t of bothered because we were really good against Lanus as we won 3-1. We even showed great character to come back from behind. Estudiantes had done it and won the league again.

Estudiantes had won the Clausura!

I was very happy with the win, but I also felt in many ways that Estudiantes were not going to win the Copa Libertadores for a while. The mental strength just wasn’t there, and I had done what i set out to do. So to that effect, staying at Estudiantes could begin stagnating my management style. I decided that it was time to leave and announced my retirement with a heavy heart because it had been a club that I had truly loved during my time there. For  as the great Herman Hesse said “Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go”.

THE EXPERIENCE

Well it was another great season in many ways but it was bitter sweet to go out of the Copa Libertadores in the fashion that we went out. In the end it was all too much to take, winning the league did not close that open wound and I knew that I had to leave to flourish as a manager. I left knowing that I had done a lot for Estudiantes and they had done a lot for me.

MANAGERS CV

2 x Argentine Championship (2 x Estudiantes La Plata)

gkennedy, on 03 July 2010 - 11:15 AM, said:

This is a great thread, enjoying reading it. Almost makes me want to try leagues outwith Europe. Hell, I've not managed a club outside of England, Scotland or Italy in... well... not in FM10 anyway...  

Keep up the good work

Cheers, mate! Yeah Argentina is a good league to manage in. I'm not a huge fan of the two championships a year and the continental competitions are little bit intensive as you get to the business end of them. It's a tough league to do well in imo.

[localhero]

You staying on another season now, to see if you can live upto the image you have createed for yourself at Estudiantes?

[Terminal]

localhero, on 03 July 2010 - 04:28 PM, said:

You staying on another season now, to see if you can live upto the image you have createed for yourself at Estudiantes?

Nah at the end of my update I tell you in philosophical fashion that I am resigning. LOL!

[localhero]

Ah yes I see it now, I reckon it would be interesting (not for Estudiantes now obviously) to see if you can live up to what you done the season previously. Make it more of a challenge maybes. Glad to see you doing well though, I ain't.

[Terminal]

Well I've got a new job, but I will let you know who it is when I update again.

[Terminal]

2011 – 2012

My resignation had meant that I sold my apartment in La Plata and I booked my plane ticket back to England. People now knew about me and they knew I was a good manager. News travels quickly and people knew that what I had done at Estudiantes had been pretty special. I looked at various clubs, aiming pretty high; I put pressure on the managers of Sevilla, Real Madrid, Hamburg and Club Brugge. While the chairmen declared that they would consider me as the next manager of the clubs, there simply wasn’t much movement quick enough. So when I got a call from Mohammed Al Fayed to take over as manager of Fulham I saw it as the next necessary step in proving my managerial capabilities. I accepted, and for the first time I stepped into a job with lavish wages. I now earned over £10,000 a week compared to the £2,000 at Estudiantes.

FULHAM

Fulham finished the last season 15th in the Premier League. It had been a hard season and the club had only staved off relegation by 3 points. This disappointing performance had led to the retirement of Roy Hodgson, perhaps he may have retired anyway but the poor season had certainly contributed. I was now there to turn the club around and make them a force in the Premiership. It was foolish to think this would be a quick fix. There were major problems at Fulham. They lacked real quality in the team despite buying in Roque Santa Cruz. Thankfully I had money to spend; a transfer budget of £24m greeted me to make improvements in the off-season, and I needed to move quickly, this was a league that tested the very best in the world and I knew that this would be a sterner test than Argentina.

I also needed to get rid of the deadwood. First through the door was 30 year old Bobby Zamora. He simply was not good enough in my estimation. A quick deal with Real Betis saw him leave the club within a week of my arrival for £1.4m. Incidentally I also noticed an odd occurrence that had evaded me while I was away from England, Zamora was now a Trinidad and Tobago international, clearly playing for England had evaded him and he saw this as his only option to get international football. It was not enough to keep him at the club.

My first big signing was Julio Alvarez from Mallorca for £4.5m. He was 30 years old and he would not be getting any better, but he was my kind of player. He wasn’t quick and he wasn’t physical but he had quality on the ball. This guy would my Veron at Fulham, it was all or bust buy. If we were to do well this guy needed to play well, so I had high hopes for him and his settling into English football.

Second to come in was another Spaniard, this time Alejandro a youngster which came in on loan from Liverpool. The young guy had serious quality and I was glad to capture him before anyone else did.  It did cost us £800k, as a loan fee but it was worth it. He would be the understudy to Alvarez and I needed both of them as the heart of my midfield.

Third to come in was Andrea Poli for £7m a young 21 year old Italian midfielder, who I felt was a great deal and great prospect for the future. He came from Italian outfit Sampdoria.

Next out the door was Bjorn Helge Riise to West Brom for £1.4m. He was followed by Jlloyd Samuel to Mainz for £1.4m.

Next out of Fulham was Clint Dempsey who left to Bayern Munich for £8m.

Ricardo Costa came in from Lille for £1.3m. I needed a centre back and Costa was a good cheap player to bring into Craven Cottage. The squad was shaping up quickly into a mix of experience and young enthusiasm.

Next in was Croatian defensive midfielder Vukojevic from Dinamo Kiev for £7.75m. He would be the ideal man to anchor my defence and allow the Spaniard’s to do their stuff.

Finally Seydou Doumbia came in from CSKA for £11.75m. He is quality striker and we needed a guy to lead the line. I think he will do a good job.

SO HOW DID WE DO?

Media Prediction and Target – 15th

Finished – 5th

The season started in spectacular fashion for us as we found ourselves 3-0 down at Stamford Bridge at half time in the first game of the season. Needless to say the boys got a piece of my mind at half time and we came out a different team as we took the game to Chelsea. Amazingly we managed to equalise the scoreline with 3 good goals and then with a few minutes remaining Santa Cruz popped up with a winner to kick of the season in the most amazing fashion.

In October there was a shock at the club as Mohammed Al Fayed stepped down as chairman and David Turner took over. It seemed to have very little impact on the surface but whether it would have an impact in the future only time could tell.

At about the half way point we were doing much better than any pundit could have ever thought. We were in 3rd place, but any chance of a push for the title was out of the question as Man City made mince meat of everyone in the league and was about 12 points clear of everyone. We were able to beat Manchester United at Craven Cottage in what was a 3-0 win, much to the great jubilance of all our fans.

We could of been a lot closer to Man City but this team seemed to suffer from lapses of concentration towards the end of matches, we allowed wins to become draws when we were comfortable and this was the problem of overachieving with a club like Fulham, ultimately the players just don’t believe they can upset the league and actually push for the title. Regardless of this we were progressing nicely and I think I had built a skeleton of a team which would stand up to the best of the Premiership.

Despite our good league form we had been dumped out of the league cup by Aston Villa 3-2 at Villa Park. The League Cup was a trophy that I felt the club could possibly compete for this year but an early exit put pay to this idea. The FA Cup is also a potential avenue for silverware, but I feel we need a bit of good fortune to get to the final stages.

In January, the Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was under serious pressure to get results. With Manchester United below Fulham in the league, I looked at the situation and the opportunity to move to a club of higher stature. Fulham were not impressed at all by my lack of loyalty to the club and released a press statement about it. Manchester United responded by saying that I was being considered for the job but would only be in the reckoning should van Gaal be sacked. I wondered where this little drama would take us; I hoped it was not a scenario where I was out of my arse at Fulham and van Gaal still at Manchester United, although I had nothing to fear I was guiding Fulham to an extremely good season with no relegation worries in sight.

We beat Tottenham in a FA Cup replay at White Hart Lane to reach the semi-final, which would be against Sunderland. We were getting close to only Fulham’s second FA Cup final appearance.

In March, Louis van Gaal finally got the sacked and the press linked me instantly with the job. Mike Phelan took over as caretaker manager. It remained to be seen whether I would get the Manchester United job or not.

In early April, we went to Wembley to face Sunderland for the right to be in the FA Cup final. After a classic semi final, we had won 4-3 and had booked our place in the FA Cup final for only the second time in Fulham’s history.

Manchester United finally made their minds up about their next manager and that was not going to be myself. Instead in stepped Juande Ramos.

We went into the last game of the season in 4th place, a Champions League place was beckoning but there was a snag to our continuance in this position. Arsenal were behind us, only a point behind and our final game of the season was against Man City, league leaders, But now only league leaders by 3 points and only 1 goal ahead of Chelsea. The final had the potential for great drama and we would see what would happen.

It was always asking a lot to stop Man City, they won 2-0 and consequently the league as well. Our loss meant that Arsenal leapfrogged us into the Champions League spot and we finished a respectable 5th place having amassed 71 points during the season. Ironically our season was not over. We still had to play Manchester United in the FA Cup final. A Ramos led Man Utd side now.

Julio Alvarez the signing that I had hoped so much from won English Player of the Year, a indictment on his outstanding season for us.

The FA Cup was upon us and Manchester United were very much favourites to win the FA Cup again. We however knew that the league had proved that we had been a better team all season and there was no reason not to prove it here, plus Ramos was relatively new to the job and so he would have to really adapt quickly to our attacking style of football. We took the league through Doumbia but were pegged back by Giuseppe Rossi. Then on 60 minutes Hargreaves was sent off and we pushed forward looking for a winner. We got it in Doumbia on 84 minutes as we made it 2-1. Then as Man Utd looked for an equaliser throwing caution to the wind we picked them off to make it 3-1 through Herrem and we had won the FA Cup!!!

The FA Cup win had been a great bonus to a very good season but I was at a loose end. The chairman leaving made me feel betrayed and the squad had a lot of people who seemed to be non-team players and as much as I tried to stamp my authority on the players, there was disharmony. I felt that the club would be going downhill unless I got rid of them, but then I realised that realistically Fulham were not going to be world-beaters and I now had surely proved myself to everyone. I had noted that Manchester United would have to pay Fulham in excess of £3m in compensation had they made me they’re new manager. It was time to move on, I called the chairman and announced my resignation from the club. We had been successful so I left with my head held high.

THE EXPERIENCE
Being Fulham manager was a good experience and I really got the team to overachieve. I was also the first manager to win a trophy for Fulham so in some way I will always be part of their history but I knew it was time to leave as soon as the final whistle went at Wembley. I have bigger ambitions and I must move on!

MANAGER CV

2 x Argentine Championships (2 x Estudiantes La Plata)
1 x English FA Cup (Fulham)

[Terminal]

Small note, I applied to become Le Mans manager and they laughed it off! WTF! I'm hot property and they are shit?!

[JackHammer]

They're twats anyway Termy

[wilso2276]

Fantastic work on this already mate.

I am going to jump on the band wagon, and do this with a lot more then usual leagues.

I love starting unemployed, but normally only have the big 4 Leagues of Europe.

KUTGW on this one Terminal

[Terminal]

2012 – 2013

After leaving Fulham, they went and appointed Stoke City manager Darren Ferguson, consequently this left Stoke City without a club and they approached me to become their manager but I rejected them, it was not the kind of club I was looking for. I then looked around and put pressure on a few underperforming managers.

Standard de Liege sacked their manager and made me an offer to become their new manager; I delayed for a week to see what other offers would come during that week. Nothing else came in, so I accepted the offer and became the new manager of Standard de Liege on a four year contract.

STANDARD DE LIEGE

I got a budget of about £11m to spend and quickly looked to the transfer market. Loan signing at Fulham Alejandro who had been instrumental all season for my season at Fulham came in on loan again for a fee just under a million. I also made a few other signings as I looked to get in some young players who I felt could mix in well with the established players at Standard such as Witsel and Defour. Although I knew instantly that Alejandro would be starting most weeks and with my formation both Defour and Witsel would not be starting every game. It was a gamble to attempt to drop some of standards home grown heroes but I saw some better abilities in young Alejandro and I knew he would provide us with better results despite his very young age.

SO WHAT HAPPENED?

Media Prediction and Target – 2nd

Finished - 1st (BELGIAN CHAMPIONS)

In the league we started imperiously, after 5 games we had 5 wins and had scored 21 goals. The players had really come out of the blocks quickly. We had also qualified for the Europa League group stages after dispatching Hearts 5-0 on aggregate. Anderlecht had been just as good amassing 5 wins but by comparison they had scored 8 goals. I hoped that we could continue our excellent form and keep up the goal scoring efforts. However I worried whether in the tight matches whether we may be caught at times by our relentless attacking play. Regardless of this, I was sure Standard fans were enjoying watching their team play football.

Interestingly in the early season Gio van Bronckhorst a coach at FC Twente was interested in joining the club as a 1st team coach. I obliged and brought him to Standard, hopefully his vast experience would rub off on the players.

After ten games we had only drawn one game, away to Club Brugge, which was always going to be a tough fixture. We were still banging the goals in, but there were a few shady characters at the club. Mbokani was a bit of a moaner and wanted to leave the club. The Turkish goalkeeper Bolat got a few games and got a few clean sheets and then came out saying he wanted to move on to pastures new. Half these guys weren’t good enough to shine someone like Alejandro’s shoes and yet they were coming out thinking they were good enough to be at Real Madrid. On the subject of Alejandro he was imperious; he was scoring goals from everywhere and creating assists too. Defour was on top form as well as he had created 12 goals at around the ten game mark. Defences simply couldn’t handle him as he threaded pass through to the main men up front. Up front a young Swede that I had brought in from Goteborg Holmberg was doing a great job, although he was not getting the goals that his performances deserved. Instead he was managing to feed fellow strike partner Seb Fernandez who was top goal scorer in the league and clearly had an eye for the goal. I did however know that we were only top by a point from Anderlecht and that they would be on our tail pretty much all the way to the end. It would be a little game of “who’s going to choke first”.

In the Sixth Round of the cup, the first we were involved in we destroyed lower league opposition (Dikamuide) by 5-0. A pretty standard performance it could of been 15-0, but 5 was enough, needless to say we advanced to the next round.

In November we brought in Tunisian midfielder Tijani Besaid who had last played for Sparta Prague and was released after a serious injury. I felt he would act as good cover for Alejandro, who was completely key to our form. I also hoped that should we not be able to get Alejandro in the next season on loan that he could step up into that position if I could not find anyone better for it.

Our first loss came away to Roeselare in November. It was a poor drab match and they stole a goal. Anderlecht won well and took the lead of the championship. The first choke fell in our throats and I was not happy about it one little bit.

On the 16th of November, it was the big one as we faced off against Anderlecht at their ground. We were amazing as we crucified them 4-0, in a game which allowed us to reclaim our top spot. They had drawn the week before at home so now we were level on points but my superior goal difference meant that we were top and we had a game in hand.

We won our Europa League group which consisted of Hamburg, Tottenham and Tavria. Hamburg finished second and so both of us progressed to the next round. The draw saw us play Bordeaux in the next round. A tough tie but one that I thought the players could overcome. If we got through we would play either Bayern Munich or Sporting Lisbon.

At the winter break we were 10 points clear in the league and it was beginning to look like a formality that the Belgian Jupiler League title would be returning to Liege. Since my management career had started Anderlecht had won the league every year, so it was good to see us doing so well and breaking up their dominance.

While league form was outstanding, we went out of the Europa League to Bordeaux 2-1 on aggregate. We were disappointed as we battled to a 1-1 draw in France but then lost at home 1-0. We dominated but just couldn’t get the goal. I think Bordeaux can consider themselves relatively lucky to have got away with their aggregate win.

We finished the regular league season with only one draw and one defeat having won every other game. We scored 99 goals in the regular league season. We still had the Championship playoff league to play out but already 12 points ahead starting that we were more or less assured the league title barring an absolute catastrophe.

We won our Cup semi final against Lokeren to set up a final against Club Brugge, the double was on and I wanted to make sure we won not only the league but also the cup.

With four games of the Championship group stage remaining we were crowned Belgian champions after a 2-1 away to Westerlo. Part one of the double was assured and we now looked towards the cup final against Club Brugge.

The double was completed as we beat Club Brugge 4-2 in the Belgian cup final. It was quite an achievement to win the double in the first season. I was very happy to have such a successful first season in Belgium. I wanted to continue my success with Standard into the future and build a powerhouse in Europe, unless an irresistible job came up.

THE EXPERIENCE SO FAR

The Standard de Liege team is well equipped to do well in this league. I brought in Alejandro and he was amazing, I just hope I can agree a loan deal for him next season. Winning the league was a major achievement as Standard has been second best in the league to Anderlecht since I started my management career. So also winning the cup was a major achievement as we completed a great double!

MANAGER CV
2 x Argentine Championships (2 x Estudiantes La Plata)
1 x Belgian Jupiler League (Standard de Liege)
1 x Belgian Cup (Standard de Liege)
1 x English FA Cup (Fulham)

JackHammer, on 05 July 2010 - 09:05 PM, said:

They're twats anyway Termy

Yeah, ridiculous! I find that French clubs are well twatty when you declare interest in them. Bordeaux did the same earlier in the game. I put it down to not having much of reputation but they seem to do it even when the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid say that they are considering you for their job! Sacre bleu!

wilso2276, on 06 July 2010 - 09:50 AM, said:

Fantastic work on this already mate.

I am going to jump on the band wagon, and do this with a lot more then usual leagues.

I love starting unemployed, but normally only have the big 4 Leagues of Europe.

KUTGW on this one Terminal

Cheers mate! Yeah go for it, its quite fun! I always find it fun towards the end of the life of an FM to try out loads of leagues that I would never ever try when I was starting a normal game starting at a club. Doing an unemployed game I think is good only if you have loads of leagues. Makes you feel like a proper journeyman and it feels like an achievement as your slowly build up your reputation. It's more rewarding than what I normally do, start at Liverpool or Sporting and just build a crazy brilliant squad!