Career Changing The Landscape Of Modern Football Taffs Go Comp

[Taff]

Hello my fellow Vibers, I'm back with another attempt at what I believe to be a great Challenge/Career this one brought to you courtesy of @liam1872

Here's a link to the OP which is well worth a read

 

What follows is my attempt at the career set out by Liam, so without ado lets begin

 

Season 1

So to begin our journey I chose to start in Portugal where the two main objectives are to end the dominance of the big three Sporting, FCP and SLB by winning back to back league titles, and then to claim the highest league points total ever achieved in the Portuguese premier league which stands at 88 points.  A bonus objective of beating the 56 game unbeaten run set by Benfica (but this will be a bonus and not something I will be too worried about)

So with the big three not an option I chose who I think (not really sure) the fourth best side in Portugal

 

Braga

So I start my journey here, and look to take on the big 3, we start by evaluating the squad and then hitting the transfer market

With very limited funds available I decide to hit the free agent market looking to score some bargains

Four players brought in to help the squad, Menendez was brought in to help out at the CD, Koc was a good find for RW, Rossi for CM and Tavares as a backup GK

Some unwanted youngsters and older players to free up some squad space

So with my shopping done we crack on with the season, we open with a tough game against SLB in the Supertaca,

We miss out after a late winner from Grimaldo but a very even looking game, gives me some confidence going in to the season

So onto the league and it went well a few bumps but....

We lift our first league title and just hope we can repeat it next year, we had a bad run of games towards the end which left us only 4 points clear and no where near the 89 points we need

We also manage some success in the domestic cups

We gain some revenge on SLB by beating them 3-0 in the League cup final

We rely on a penalty shootout to win the Taca de Portugal after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Maritimo

I also chose Braga due to their involvement in the Euro Cup

After drawing the first three games we go on to win the next three which is enough to see us top the group and progress to the knockout round

Where our European dream dies after a bad second leg against Celtic

Here's our full season fixture list

As you can see a bad run at the end of the season almost took our title away but we held on and managed to have a very good first season

Here's my player stats (Goals and Assists)

My two star players Nikola Stojilijkovic (PCR) and Wilson Eduardo (LIF) both top there respective tables with the former netting a very decent 39 goals this season but Eduardo netting 19 and with 24 assists gets my vote for POTY, speaking of awards

The boys grab 1st and 2nd in the Portuguese POTY

And I claim the MOTY award after helping Braga to the League title

So now we move onto a season 2 and hopefully a second league title (and 89+ points)

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2017 by Taff

[danovic78]

Good start Taff, impressive league win too.

Just need to turn those draws into wins to top the 88 points.

[Taff]

Season 2

So straight into our second season and we need that second league title and 89+ points before we can move on

We hit the transfer market once again to help strengthen the squad

We start with Strobl and Munoz both very decent players who came in to sure up my defence (Strobl also helped out in midfield when required, then Chavez was brought in as a good option at either IF or PCR, Azeez was origionaly a backup CM but after some great performances made his way into the main squad, then N'Jie was brought in as a loanee striker just in case

Some unhappy players going out to make some profit then just unwanted graduates and older players who's contracts had run out

So with our business in the transfer market finished we crack on with the season and start as we did last season with the Supertaca this time facing Maritimo...

Wilson Eduardo shows his class with a hat-trick to clinch the Supertaca 

So with a good win to start the season we move onto the league and hopefully our second league title...

So we win the league and with one game to go we need victory to see us pass the 88 point mark to finish our time in Portugal...

And we manage a 2-0 victory to see us through to the next faze of the Challenge 

with a great 28-5-1 record we clinch our second league title and pass the record set by Benfica of 88 points

We didn't fare as well in the cups this year

Sporting knock us out of the League cup in the semi finals after a decent penalty shootout

We do find success again in the Taca de Portugal thanks to a brace from our main man Stojilijkovic

Pretty much the usual story in Europe at the moment

We qualify from the group stages coming 2nd behind Arsenal then beat CSKA Moscow 4-1 over two legs to make to the Quater finals where unfortunalty PSG are waiting and the French Giants are too much for us (although I think we did well keeping it as close as we did)

Here's our full season fixture list

A much better season this year, loses across the season but all in all a very good season

We manage a few awards again this year

With a repeat of last years Portugese POTY

And Danilo claiming 2nd place in the YPOTY, but sadly no MOTY award for me this year

Here's some player stats

Only managed to get the goal screen shots this year and not as many for my two main guys this year, but they shared a lot of time with Chavez in both positions so not too bad

So I have now completed my time in Portugal once the new season starts I resign my post and begin looking for some new work

See you all soon

added 0 minutes later

23 minutes ago, danovic78 said:

Good start Taff, impressive league win too.

Just need to turn those draws into wins to top the 88 points.

Cheers dude, as you can read the second season went much better and I am currently working on the next part of the Challenge which is going very well at the moment 

[danovic78]

Yeah, that was a tight finish in the league but you got there. Strobl is a solid signing, he always gets unhappy at BMG.

Hope you pick up a new job soon.

[Taff]

5 minutes ago, danovic78 said:

Yeah, that was a tight finish in the league but you got there. Strobl is a solid signing, he always gets unhappy at BMG.

Hope you pick up a new job soon.

Already underway in a new league will update once the season is over 

[danovic78]

26 minutes ago, Taff said:

Already underway in a new league will update once the season is over 

Good to hear, a few tough challenges coming up.

[Real_Random]

Just caught up mate and very impressive results, hopefully you can repeat the success in the next part of the challenge. KIU.

[Kavver]

Hi taff, i love to follow your treads. I'm curious about your tactical approach. Do you still use your 4-4-2 attacking from your man utd tread? 

[BatiGoal]

"..the Minho derby against rivals Vitoria de Guimaraes is a match that both sets of fans eagerly await. This match is more than football – it is a way people from the North view each city. The derby is one of Portugal's most intense matches, and children under 13 are restricted from entering unless an adult is with them. This rivalry goes back to when the City of Braga was the ancient capital of Gallaecia and the largest Portuguese city.."

 

I always love to include a bit of history. Gives it that extra flavor. So let's see how you fared in the derby against your rival, mate.

Season 1

• Vit. Guimaraes 1-3 Braga
• Braga 2-2 Vit. Guimaraes

Season 2

• Braga 2-2 Vit. Guimaraes
• Vit. Guimaraes 0-1 Braga

Not bad. 2 wins 2 draws. Important not to lose derby matches. But the Braga fans will never be fully satisfied not having crushed your rivals in your own Estadio Municipal de Braga in front of your home fans

[Taff]

On 25/01/2017 at 04:27, BatiGoal said:

"..the Minho derby against rivals Vitoria de Guimaraes is a match that both sets of fans eagerly await. This match is more than football – it is a way people from the North view each city. The derby is one of Portugal's most intense matches, and children under 13 are restricted from entering unless an adult is with them. This rivalry goes back to when the City of Braga was the ancient capital of Gallaecia and the largest Portuguese city.."

 

I always love to include a bit of history. Gives it that extra flavor. So let's see how you fared in the derby against your rival, mate.

Season 1

• Vit. Guimaraes 1-3 Braga
• Braga 2-2 Vit. Guimaraes

Season 2

• Braga 2-2 Vit. Guimaraes
• Vit. Guimaraes 0-1 Braga

Not bad. 2 wins 2 draws. Important not to lose derby matches. But the Braga fans will never be fully satisfied not having crushed your rivals in your own Estadio Municipal de Braga in front of your home fans

Never mind I've had to leave the Braga fans behind anyway and we won 2 league titles so they can't have too much to complain about 

[Taff]

Sorry for the wait guys but I'm back with three full seasons to share so lets crack on

Season 3

So I ended my time in Portugal having achieved the two main objectives with Braga (two consecutive league titles and beating the 88 league points)

So I resigned as manager and starting looking for jobs in the three remaining leagues (Holland, Belgium and Turkey) and thanks to it being the end of the season there were a few to chose from but I had my eyes immedietly set on one job as it would give me the best chance at the objectives for that league so I applied and was snapped up by

So I manage to grab one of the top two teams in the Turkish Super League, which gives me a very good chance at acheiving the objectives for Turkey

Objective 1 - Bring European Success to a Turkish Team

Objective 2 - Win more than 29 league games in a Season (which considering they only play 34 league games is a big task)

Bonus Objective - beat the record for youngest player to score a league goal (which stands at 16 years and 107 days, the math on this one gave me a headache)

So with our objectives in place we take a look at the squad and they boast some big names (older names but still) with Robin Van Persie being the one who stands out but the avg age of the squad is 31 so needed to bring in some younger players, but with only £4.5M to spend I decided to hit the free agent market hard

But got some very decent players here, Habran and Benezet for the W/IF positions, Wouters and Olivas for CD and Yuste and Memisevic for the CM, then spent my entire budget on Juanma to give me a good TM upfront

Managed to get some good money straight off the bat, but after all the players I brought in I had to adjust the budget for wages

So with some thrifty shopping done we began our season, with the team already entered in the European Champions Cup qualifying round I looked ahead to see what we could achieve 

We had an up and down season, but in the end it was excellent

I took Fenerbahce to the league title in the first season, but couldn't manage to win the required 30+ games, but finishing 20 points clear of our rivals was excellent and gives me hope we can push further next season

We also manage to bring home the Turkish Cup thanks to a 91st minute winner

now as for our European Journey please follow me

We start with a third round qualifying game against FC Red Bull Shalzberg

Which we win quite comfortably over two legs after a 2-1 win away we go onto to win 3-1 at home to see us through 5-2 on Agg, then we are drawn against A. Bilbao 

We lose the first leg 0-2 and my European dream seems over before we can really get started....

but a 3-0 win at home sees us through to the group stages 3-2 on agg, so we wait to see who were drawn against

We end up with SK Rapid Wien, Shakhtar and Roma which I thought wasn't too bad but we failed to make it out of the Group stage after winning, drawing and loosing 2 games but GD was the factor which saw us finish third in the group and we end up in the Euro Cup instead (which I think is better for us)

So we get to the Knockout rounds of the Euro Cup and our first opponents are AA Gent of Belgiumand another loss in the first leg puts us on the back foot....

But a hat-trick from Sanogo is enough to see us clinch a 4-2 agg score and move us through to the next round 

Where we face Olympique Lyonnais, the first leg is drawn 2-2 so all to play for in the second leg...

we run out 3-1 winners (5-3 agg) and continue our great European Journey, next up to Holland to face the might of PSV in the Euro Cup Quater Finals

The first leg is a tight contest with us running out 1-0 winners, then to Holland for the second leg 

Which sees us though to the semi finals thanks to a 2-1 away win, the semi finals pits us against Italians Fiorentina, the first leg again is lost 2-1 but can the team rally once more to see us through to the final....

Yes we can thanks to a 3-1 away win and we progress to the Final thanks to a 4-2 agg score line

Now the opposition for the final have smashed their way through knocking opposition aside, and I'm worried that we have fought and clawed our way here to face a team we have no hope of beating, but the day of the final arrive I call my friend @Massey127 to give the boys a pep talk and we stroll onto the freshly cut grass to face the mighty reds LIVERPOOL FC.

So could we manage to lift a European trophy in my first season in charge....

WHY YES WE COULD  

The team rallyed and we enjoy what can only be described (by anyone other than @danovic78 (19-0!!!!!!) to a great win

Sanogo once again proved to be the best free signing ever (OK a bit of an exaggeration) but what a game

So Fenerbahce are the Euro Cup Champions and I manage to cross one objective off my list in the first season

Here's the teams full season fixtures

Not the most commanding season winning most games by a goal or two but we did enough and clinching the Euro Cup was just the chocolate icing on a great season

Here's some player stats and some end of season awards

My three main strikers combining for a total of 71 goals (and Sanogo clinching top spot is great considering he was third choice for the first half a season, but once I put him in he had some great performances)

And he claims a well deserved POTY to boot

My young CD Wouters clinches the YPOTY after some steller defensive performances 

So we have completed one objective (I tried the youngest goal scorer but couldn't find anyone below the mark so I'll try again next season)

So onto season 4 and hopefully more form the team

See you all soon

 

[Taff]

Now before I begin with the fourth season I wanted to share the tactic I have been using, it's basically my Attacking 442 from last years game but with the right players in the right positions, it's proving pretty successful, here's the tactic and instructions

A balanced mentailty helps the team in most situations, and commited tackling means plenty of cards but helps the team maintain a strong defense.  The DF position is only played when Sanogo is there as he seems to do better when he plays that role, but Van Persie or anyone else is usually played as a PCR, the keys are really a decent IF, a W with good pace and crossing and a TM with good Strength and Ariel abilities 

Just wanted to share in case anyone was interested

enough jabbering now we fight!!!!! 

Season 4

So after a great season that saw us crowned Euro Cup Champions the team was flying high, but I tell them that this is a new season and we need to get ready, so after a few of my (more advanced) players leave the club we once again (with a bit more capital) hit the transfer market

A lot of business this year bringing in so many players as new first team members and others for backup due to most of my squad now eligible for bus passes (in football years), the best buys were Sabitzer as a new starting IF, Saveljich for my CD and Bauer as a great RB/BBM player, but also keep an eye on the name Pedro Barbosa 

Lots of goings out for next to no profit, most were unwilling/not offered a new contract so they cleared some space for all my new inbound players

So the squad is re-hauled and we are ready for another season in the Turkish Super League

Now to begin our season we have to face Bayern in the Euro Supercup, after the teams heroics last year I just wanted them to go and have fun, next to no one expected us to achieve anything here.... 

Oh how wrong they were, a single goal from last years YPOTY is enough to see off the Giants of Deutschland and clinch yet another European trophy for the boys from Turkey.

Next up we head back home for the Turkish Super Cup (honestly starting to feel like Superman here everything is SUPER) 

Two first half goals are enough to see us victorious and claim another piece of silverware for the collection

Now before we get onto the rest of the season, I wanted to show you this, remember Pedro Barbosa, well he was bought for the sole reason of being a young enough candidate for the Bonus objective here in Turkey, I just needed him to score before mid October, so every league game I put him in as an AP in a 4231 formation and set him as the primary attacker trying to give him every oppertunity to claim the title of Youngest ever Goal scorer in the Turkish Super League.....

....and on 21st September 2019 he grabbed his first (and only) goal to claim the Youngest Goal scorer Crown

Here's his Info page

This goal comes while at the age of 16 years and 89(ish) days (Math is not my friend, please by all means check I'm not wrong)

So we have completed one main Objective and the Bonus Objective, we just need to win more than 29 games in the League to complete our time in Turkey, so with that in mind we crack on with the season

We once again claim the League title with 7 games to spare and a nice cushion over our nearest rivals, but we have to win a minimum of 5 of those remaining 7 games to complete the second objective and complete our time in Turkey, I go in high on confidence seeing how well we've done to this point, but was my confidence premature......

Not at all we win 6 out of 7 and complete both Main Objectives and the Bonus Objective

The team adds one more bit of Silverware to the Trophy case this year...

Thanks to two early goals we once again list the Turkish Cup

Winning the Euro Cup last season meant we were qualified for the Champions Cup this year, and while Europe was not a priority this year I wasn't too concerned with how we did, but the boys went out and still gave it their all

We begin with the group, and boy what a group

Chelsea and PSG, "what have I done to offend thy Lord" so with that in mind we begin and the boys really didn't fair too bad.

OK they did great we manage two wins against Slovan Bratislava, a draw and a loss against PSG and a draw and a 3-1 win over Chelsea which saw us top the group and progress ("Take that Lord" LOL)

So we progress though to the knockout stage, where our first opponents are some old friends 

Olympique Lyonnais, the first leg goes great and we come away from France with a 5-1 lead going into the second leg,

which we lose after deciding to rest some key players, but we still progress to the next round thanks to a 6-3 agg score 

We move on only to face Man U in the next round, the first leg just goes their way and we head to the second leg at home 2-3 down

But at home my defence stands firm and thanks to a first half penalty we progress thanks to our 2 away goals in the first leg, so onto the Quarter Finals where the Giants of Europe FC Barcelona are waiting 

Our home form holds true in the first leg we manage a 2-1 victory over Barcelona but then we face the daunting task of visiting the Nou Camp...

Where we're overrun and our second trip through Europe ends in Spain, but I'm incredibly proud of the team for all they achieved this season

Here's the full fixture list for the season

After a terrible pre-season which saw us lose all our games the team went on to preform very well this season, with plenty of big wins

Here's the team stats and some more end of season awards

Sabitzer proved his worth this season topping both tables with 30 goals and 22 assists he was our stand out performer, but Sanogo once again hitting the mark with 29 goals had a great season also

They combine for 1st and 2nd place in the POTY

Wouters claims his 2nd YPOTY, once again proving to be a defensive power-house 

So Completed my time in Turkey, so now I once again resign my post and move on looking to take on the challenge in either Holland or Belgium.

I'll see you all on the other side

Edited January 27, 2017 by Taff

[Taff]

So with Turkey now complete it's time to move on and find myself another Job, now one of the Objectives with both Holland and Belgium is also European Success, so with that in mind I resign my post in Fenerbahce and start looking, keeping the European objective in my mind, I start looking at the beginning of the season but nothing remotely close to what I need comes up, so I keep looking and keep looking August melts into September which in turn becomes October, but then two clubs (one form each league) become Very Insecure so I monitor them closely, one becomes available, but it's the other I really want, but can I afford to wait to see if the job opens, in the end I chose to go with the club that is available and so I apply and am ultimately hired by.......  

KAA Gent (or is it AA Gent I'm confused)

So I find myself in Belgium (for the first time in my FMM career) and having looked I once again inherit a rather old squad, but there is some promise, now having joined the Club in October I find them 13th in the league, still in the Euro Cup Group stage so I dive straight in (having to wait until December before I can make any additions to the squad).  The team does well and we finish the regular season (that's right it's another Australia type situation where the league is split into two halves) in 3rd place a decent finish considering my starting position

We then move on to the Championship round with the remaining top 5 teams

Where we carry on our good run and end up winning the League, so a great start to my career in Belgian Football

as for Europe well I failed to get the team past the group stages (only had two games left and I lost and drew them which wasn't enough)

Here's the transfers I made come December

Fernandez came in to sure up an aging CD, Kolbeinn and Anderson were brought in to replace a very old front line the rest just fillers

One player out at the end of the season after his contract expired

Here's the fixtures from when I took over (used a mix of my 442 and 433 this year)

  

Started off slowly but came good in the second half of the season

Here's the player stats (a bit squiff due to my late start)

My two new forwards coming good for a combined 22 goals and 7 assists 

Now onto next season and a decent budget and a chance at European football under my management 

See you next season

[Massey127]

Hi Mate, geez I just caught up on all this now and you're already in your third country lol.

fantastic work mate and it makes for very interesting reading!

I'm glad my pep talk brought you European success! Inch by inch ?

[BatiGoal]

Damn. You're not sitting still are you

Great to see some Belgian action in here too. Great stuff! Kiu mate.

[Taff]

14 hours ago, Massey127 said:

Hi Mate, geez I just caught up on all this now and you're already in your third country lol.

fantastic work mate and it makes for very interesting reading!

I'm glad my pep talk brought you European success! Inch by inch ?

Your Pep talk made all the difference as we demolished Liverpool

12 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Damn. You're not sitting still are you

Great to see some Belgian action in here too. Great stuff! Kiu mate.

Yeah this and the WWT have been a nice excuse to use leagues we wouldn't normally use

[Taff]

Season 6

So after a so so first season we march straight ahead into my 6th season of this challenge 

None of the objectives have been achieved (and to be honest I think there going to be very hard to get, especially 113+ league goals) but none the less we march on

We start as we always do by hitting the Transfer Market (I must admit doing this and the WWT challenge has shown me how to manage my budget and find bargains in the free transfers)

Bought two new wide players in Trincao and Majed, a very decent LB in Mancuello then just squad boosters and graduates

Unsuccessful graduates going out 

So we press on hoping to do a little better this year, especially in regards to Europe 

We begin the season with the Belgian Supercup

Which we win thanks to the oppositions terrible penalty abilities 

We then crack on with the league, and after a good start and some rocky portions we finish the regular season top of the table 

We then have ten more games in the Champions portions to make sure our second league title is secure 

We had a rough ten games but we end the season 9 points clear of Anderlecht and secure our second Belgian League Title 

We also manage to add a second trophy of the season

Thanks to a very late winner 

Now onto our European portion of the season, we Qualify for the group stages after a 10-1 agg score over Shamrock Rovers in the second round and a 3-1 agg score over Rosenburg in the Third round, then we receive the dreaded message of who our group contains...

I really don't have any luck, Arsenal and AC Milan await us in the group stages

We manage a decent performance in all with a Draw and a Loss against Arsenal, a Draw and a Win over AC Milan and two draws against Sparta Prague, but once again we finish the group stages in third

So we progress into the knockout round of the Euro Cup, and I'm hoping for another good run as I had with Fenerbahce, unfortunately the scheduling gods saw different and our first round opponents are none other than PSG (seriously I must have ticked off the FMM gods for some reason)

We manage to hold them to a 1-1 draw in the first leg, then the second leg saw us visit Paris

Where a single goal from Embolo sinks our Euro Cup dreams before they can really take off

So Once again I don't achieve either of the Main Objectives but there was some silver lining with the bonus objective of beating the 40 goals in a single season with one player

My talented Brazilian forward de Matos manages to bag himself 45 goals over the course of the season thanks to a fantastic start that saw him net 20 goals in 14 games, he slowed off towards the second half of the season but still managed to break the record.  So a little silver lining in completing my second bonus objective in 3 leagues, but got a bit annoyed with the job offers this season

Both Dutch teams there were also two form Turkey and one form Portugal but I still have a lot of work to do here in Belgium 

Here's the full season fixture list 

Some decent results, most notably the 5-2 and 4-0 wins over Club Brugge coming at the beginning and end of the season, but not scoring anywhere near enough to top the 112 goal target, (note to team must try harder)

Here's the teams stats

De Matos manages to top both tables with a great season scoring 45 goals and grabbing 18 assists to boot, Coulibaly came good towards the end of the season netting 8 of his 16 goals in the Champions round of the league

We also grab a few end of season awards to top things off

de Matos clinches the Belgian POTY award 

My CD signing from last year proves his worth grabbing the YPOTY

and for only the third time in this years game I clinch the MOTY award 

So a good season for the team but not for the challenge and we will have to do much better next year

See you all on the flip side

Edited January 28, 2017 by Taff

[BatiGoal]

Tough CL group and then PSG in th EL. Very unlucky there. Matos had a good season tho. Keep going!

[Taff]

On 29/01/2017 at 00:14, BatiGoal said:

Tough CL group and then PSG in th EL. Very unlucky there. Matos had a good season tho. Keep going!

Spoiler

Cheers dude, but it all works out this season

 

[Taff]

Season 7

So after a decent but ultimately disappointing season last year this year we cracked on, sticking to the formation with some altered tactics now and again we marched on looking to improve our European acumen and our goal scoring ratio in the league

We begin as always looking to strengthen the squad, with a limited budget, but a keen eye for free talent we went shopping

So three purchases and 6 free agents the one who stood out from the off was a now 32 year old Andriy Yamolenko who has been a fan favourite in the past and he delivered.  All three of my purchases were brought in for the defence with Fejsa was brought in to be my new RB and Doria to assist in CD and Klose as a backup LB/LW, Assis and Vesga also shone this year both playing a big part in my CM, and Adriano came in to help de Mato up front

Managed to make some decent profit this year clearing out players who wanted more time, but had more talented players in their positions so I let them go and didn't miss a single one

So with my team bolstered we begin the season with the Belgian Supercup

Yarmolenko opened his account with a goal in a tight contest against Anderlecht but we prevail thanks to the gods of penalty shootouts

As for the league we started very well aiming for that 113 goal target here's the table at the half way point (20 games in)

20 games 20 wins and just shy of the half way mark in goals

we end the regular season once again way clear at the top

A bit of a dip and this leaves us needing a whopping 31 goals in 10 games

The boys do a fantastic job drawing all but three games all season but we come 9 goals short of the target so it's another season in Belgium for me

We also once again claim the Belgian Cup

An easy victory in the end against Standard, and another trophy for the case

Now falling short of the 113 goal target and the form the team was in I was hoping we could push for European honours so the season isn't a complete waste 

We start with the group stage and when I see our oppositin and my heart sinks

COME ON!!!! Real and Bayern, I don't let the team see me falter and I tell them they are like any other teams (but I'm hoping for a third place finish and a decent 1st round in the Euro Cup knockout stages)

But the team had other ideas, topping the group thanks to an opening game 3-1 victory over Real, then a 1-0 win over Bayern and a 2-0 win over Zilina (who also beat Real 4-1) then a 1-1 draw with Bayern a 2-3 loss against Real and a 3-0 win over Zilina and we head to the knockout round

Our first round opponents Fiorentina, the first leg saw the team run out 2-1 victors away from home then we bring them back to Belgium for the return leg

We manage to hold them to a 0-1 loss but the away goals mean we go through to the quarter finals to face Dortmund

We have the home advantage in the first leg and we go on to win 5-3 in an amazing game, we then travel to Germany hoping to hold them...

Another amazing game sees another 8 goals shared between us and we progress through to the semi finals after a 9-7 agg win (what a couple of games for the boys)

The semi Finals pit us against Roma, where we once again have home advantage in the opening leg where we run out 4-3 winners in another amazing display, we then travel to Italy with a slender 1 goal lead...

Where two of my free agent signings grab two away goals to see AA Gent through to the European Championship Final where we would once again come face to face with the German Giant Bayern

I rally the team tell them that this will be the third game we have played against Bayern this season and we have beaten them once already, "Go and play your hearts out boys".......

And my main man de Mato scores a 91st minute winner and brings home the most coveted trophy in Europe

AA Gent are the Champions of Europe!!!!!!!

What a run and what a season for the little team from Belgium, we took on the might of Germany, Spain and Italy and came out on top.

 

Here's the full season fixtures and you can see how well the boys did

Amazing, they trailed off a bit in December winning by 1/2 goals but some games creaming the opposition 5/6-0

Here's the all important team stats 

a combined 79 goals between my three main strikers and not to mention 38 for Yarmolenko and amazing job for the whole team combining for a total of 148 goals on the season in all competitions, and the assists came from all over the park as well with plenty of my new free signings showing their true value

We grab a few end of season awards as well

Once again de Mato claims the POTY, but after a steller display this season I'm pleased to see Yarmolenko claim the runner up spot 

Adriano claims the top spot in the YPOTY thanks to some great displays, with my young LW Trincoa coming in 2nd

So a fantastic season for the team, shame about the league goals but now I have the European title i can set the team to concentrate on the 113 league goals

So onto another season and please stay tuned 

Edited January 31, 2017 by Taff

[Taff]

Season 8

Here we are back again enjoying the sight and sound of Belgium

Our only remaining objective is to pass the 112 league goals set way back in 1946/47 by Anderlecht, a big task but we came just 9 short last season so I'm hoping with a little push this year we can break that record 

We start as we do every season looking to improve the squad in any way we can, so we hit the transfer market

We went to IKEA and came back with a couple of Swedish Meatballs in the form of Petterson (CM) and Nilsson (PCR) then brought in Busch (RB) and the homegrown legend of Eden Hazard (LW/LIF) and Sirigu (GK)

Adriano although brilliant wasn't getting the game time this year due to the performances of Nilsson so he went out (made £3.8M in profit on him so not a complete loss), same goes for Barragan then the rest were unwanted and sent on their way

We start the season as we mean to go on in the Belgian Supercup

Nilsson grabbing two in his debut to help secure our third consecutive Supercup

Thanks to the teams heroics last season in Europe we go to the Euro Supercup to face Chelsea 

They edge us out in a very close encounter, but with the Champions league crown last season this isn't a huge disaster for the team

We also bring home my fist Club World Championship Trophy

Another dominant display thanks to a Yarmolenko brace (the guy is still a beast)

and we win our third trophy of the year in the Belgian Cup

the master de Mato once again proving why he's the teams MVP

With our success in Europe last season the plan was to take it easy, fielding weaker teams as not to injure any one important for the league campaign

We are drawn in the UCL group stage alongside Sevilla, Sporting and Dynamo Kiev we manage to finish third in the group to progress to the Euro Cup Knockout round where we brush aside SK Rapid Wein 4-1 on Agg but then come up against Napoli who beat us 2-4 in the opening leg then we manage a 2-2 draw in the second leg

we are out of Europe and can no focus solely on the league

So onto the league and again we started very well, here's the table at the half way point

20 games and 56 goals putting us exactly half way to the 112 goals, here we are at 30 games

we manage a further 30 goals in 10 games leaving us with 27 goals to reach the 113 we need to take the record

for the remaining 10 games I decide to go all out and alter the roles and instructions on my 442 

Giving the team a much more attacking outlook going into the last 10 games, and it works wonders 5 games in

and we are just 8 short knocking in 19 goals in 5 games

also at this point as you may have worked out we are once again the Belgian Pro League Champions

two games later and we have matched the 112 goal record and still have three games to go

and 7 minutes into our 38th league game my new Swedish Striker (possibly Ibrahimovic regen) scores the all important 113th league goal of the season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And so with the record in the bag we head into the next two games for fun and end the season......

8 goals clear of the previous record scoring an amazing 119 league goals

Well that ends all the objectives for Belgium so once the season is over I will be moving on to Holland (as soon as a job comes up)

Here's the full season fixtures

 

Just an absoulte beast of a season all around

Here's the player stats

de Mato once again proving what a formidable force he is (and all this without a single call up to the Brazil squad), but very impressed with Nilsson scoring 37 goals and managing to lay on 22 goals for his teammates (and the scout reported he was selfish) and Yarmolenko (even though he missed 2 months) netting 24 and providing 19 assists what a machine of a man (now almost 34)

The end of season awards go to....

Who else COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!

And i did well enough (apparently) to warrant runner up in the MOTY (seriously 4 league titles, UCL Champions, 3 Belgian Supercups and three Belgian cups) but 2nd will do 

Notice I'm not bitter at all

Anyway back on track so

Objective 1: Bring European success (OH YEAH)

Objective 2: beat the league goal record of 112 goals (DOUBLE OH YEAH)

Bonus Objective: Score more than 40 goals in a single season (THREE YEARS ON THE BOUNCE) de Mato you wonderful beast

So my time in Belgium is over now it's over to Holland to see out the Challenge (and maybe a quick visit to a coffee shop or two while I'm there  )

See you later

 

Edited January 31, 2017 by Taff

[Nick11]

What match engine you use ??

[Taff]

EME all the way

[veerus]

Man, you're making this look easy. That stoppage time goal to win the European Cup must be an epic feeling! 

[Taff]

I would have been destroyed to get all the way to the final after two epic games in both the quarterfinals and semifinals to then go out on pens

de Monts is now a God in Belgium 

[BatiGoal]

You destroyed the world with petite AA Gent. Hilarious and amazing at the same time.

Looking forward to seeing you smashing it in my home country

[Taff]

Season 9

So having finished 3/4 leagues I resign my post at a now world beating AA Gent to pursue a career in Holland.  

I keep an eye on the jobs in the Eredivise but nothing worthwhile appears so I decide to holiday for a month between the end of August and the end of September, still no jobs so I keep moving forward then at the end of October two jobs become insecure so I keep a close watch on them, I get offered a Job back in Turkey which I decline then a week later I get an offer off a club which wasn't even on the cards but I snap it up

Ladies (If there are any??) and Gentlemen I present my final team in the Challenge and one who will suit my needs very well for the Objectives in Holland

OH YEAH!!!

I was very surprised when the offer came in, especially since they weren't listed as Insecure.  So I did some digging and the previous manager took the Job in Turkey that I turned down and left me with a very strong squad (all be it with 1 decent CD) and  the team lying in 3rd place in the league

Now here are the Objectives

Objective 1 - Take a Dutch team to glory in the UCL (Ajax being the last team who did it seems fitting)

Objective 2 - Take the team and beat the 19 game winning streak (also set by Ajax)

Bonus Objective - Go more than 13 games without conceding (record set by PSV)

So with the main objectives in mind (the bonus will be a great achievement but not a priority), I begin my journey through the glorious lands of Holland.

I take over the team at the Beginning of November so have to wait until the Winter transfer market, but I have a decent £10M budget so once January rolls in I bring in my new signings 

Sang-Hoon Ki was a great find for the CM, Cambiasso and Herrera were brought in to become my new CD team, Fuentes and Boymans were all ready in the team and Baker and Leroy were decent loan signings

I released Boymans but the rest had been sold before my arrival

So I took over the team put my 442 into place and off we went.  

The team had failed to make it into Europe this year so I concentrated on the league and did my best to try and aim for Objective 2 and the bonus objective

And after a loss in the first game the team went on a rampage

We win the league first time of asking, racking up an impressive 29 wins and leaving Feyenoord 18 points behind us

We also manage to clinch the Dutch Cup

With a very good win over PSV, thanks to a trio of my Dutch talent

But our most impressive feat this season was the run of wins which started in our second game and went through....

and ran for 27 games thrashing the previous record by 8 games, and I was amazed how well the team did with goals and assists coming from all over

The top four scorers all Dutch Nationals and the team just clicked and they got some recognition at the end of the year as well

Zivkovic and Dammers claim the top spots in the POTY and YPOTY with Dammers also runner up in the POTY and Drommel runner up in the YPOTY

So a great first season and already one objective down (had a decent 7 game run without conceding but going 14 is going to be tough

See you next year   

 

 

 

[Taff]

Season 10

We jump straight into our 10th season of this challenge and after a very decent start to my time in Amsterdam I was looking forward to seeing how I could do with a full season 

First onto the transfer market and looking as ever to improve the squad where needed 

Plenty of business this year. Ebecilio was our big signing as my new starting IF Rengifo and de Silva brought in to help out my aging AP's Leroy impressed on loean and was brought back to help the wide areas, Demuth a good TM option Constantin a backup RB and Damen a decent looking gratuate

Dijks wanted a bigger club and chose S. Gijon????????? Menig wasn't playing so got just shy of a Million for him then just unused players

These three are free agents who will sign at the end of the season Bacci is a very good looking GK (as it turns out mine wanted to leave this season so he's a good signing) Ruiz another W/IF option and Aslantas a new LB

So with my new players in place we began the season looking to get off to a good start

Unfortunately our winning streak doesn't continue and we loose out on the Dutch Supercup to Feyenoord in a close game

The rest of the season went much better

Forgot to screen shot the table but we finished roughly 20 points clear and had a great season drawing 2 and loosing 2 

And my forwards on form to clinch another Dutch Cup for the Club

Now our main aim this year was to claim the UCL title, but we had a lot of work cut out for us as the team was excellent in Holland, but as for the rest of Europe I wasn't sure having not had a European game for the club yet.

So we begin in the group stages and are drawn against Besiktas, A. Madrid and SK Rapid Wein, the latter I'm not too worried about but the other two could be an issue.

But they weren't as we clean house winning all 6 games (including a 3-0 win over Madrid and a 6-0 drubbing of Besiktas)

So we progress to the knockout stages and our first opponents are SLB, another tough task but one I feel the team is up to

We head to Portugal for the first leg (and I feel the eyes of the SLB fans on me, most have not forgiven me for denying their team two league titles while i was at Braga).

And now those fans really hate me, what a performance form the team, and a great tally to take into the second leg

We welcome SLB to Holland and know only a catastrophic team failure could deny us progression to the quarter finals 

And we seal the tie with 2-0 win at home to see us through to the UCL Quarterfinals 8-1 on agg

The next round however we face one of the Giants of European Football FC Barcelona, this is where we find out what kind of team we are

Once again we play the first leg away, this time visiting the Nou Camp

And we fight hard to come away with a draw and an all important away goal, now we just need to hold them out..

But a single goal and a missed penalty is all it takes to end Our European dream for another season

Here's the full season fixtures

Another good season but the team sort of fell off towards the end of the season and we only managed an 8 game run of clean sheets this year so no closer to the Bonus Objective but with an early exit in Europe another season beckons

Here's how the boys did

Drommel and Casierra turned into quite the attacking threat this season with Ki and Dammers providing the assists from the CM and RW positions

And some end of season awards to top it all off

Drommel and Ebecilio claiming 1st and 2nd in the Dutch POTY award

And they make it double also claiming the YPOTY award (this seems a bit random for me but I'l take it)

And I claim the MOTY award too top off a pretty good season.

Now off to try to conquer Europe 

[BatiGoal]

Conquering Holland yes you are. Europe's clearly a much tougher cookie but you're doing well. Maybe you get European silverware next season. KIU!

[Taff]

Season 11

So here we are once again hoping to finish the series of challenges so without further ado lets get going

With the last couple of seasons not quite going to plan I decided to implement a new 4231 tactic to try and limit the opposition by using FB's and LD's but have major attacking options with two IF's a AP and a PCR up front

With the new tactic in place, we hit the transfer market to try and improve the squad

We bring in some great youth prospects this season with Barragan and De Bruyne coming in to help out my CM position, de Hoon was a great young CD brought in to help out there and Milan came in to give my Attack more potency and he delivered 

Zivkovic just hasn't been performing so opted to sell him, Onana (my main GK) wanted to move to a bigger club and apparently Belenenses count, then the others wanted more game time but I had better players so they were shown the door

So the team and tactic are in place so we get the season underway with the Dutch Supercup

Which we win with ease (keep an eye on Ruiz, one of my free signings at the end of last season as he plays a major part in this seasons campaign)

Now after this game the team went on a great run of games without conceding, so good in fact I thought we could break the record we went 13 games without letting in a single goal (so tying the record)

Then our 14th game was against Chelsea in the UCL group stage and I thought that was us done....

...and it was but what a heartbreaker for the team to hold them all the way to the 92nd minute

We went on another run of 12 games later in the season but I'll just have to settle for tying the record instead of breaking it

The league was as smooth as you like this season 

We win the league with 7 games to go and have only conceded 3 goals at this point (3 in 27 league games)

We finish the season 32 points clear and conceding only 6 goals (our goal difference is more than the next best team scored all season) and we almost had the perfect season but we slipped up only once in a 0-0 draw

The Dutch Cup also came back to Amsterdam for the third consecutive season

Thanks to a hat-trick from Drommel 

Now the main event this year was the UCL, so we keep the new tactic going and look forward to seeing who we draw in the group stages

Chelsea the only real threat here (I think)

We do very well winning 5 and loosing 1 (the 92nd minute one)

So we make it through to the Knockout round and we are drawn against Inter

We take the trip to Italy for the First leg

We do well managing to hold them to a 2-2 draw (thanks to a 93rd minute equaliser) but two very important away goals 

Then we welcome the Italians to Amsterdam for the return leg

Dammers secures a quarter final place for us thanks to a superb dispaly

So into the Quarter Finals and this time we will face Sporting of Portugal 

This time we welcome them as we play the first leg at home

We have a great game scoring 3 and not allowing any away goals

We then make the trip to Portugal with a strong 3 goal lead

And it's a good thing we had such a big lead as we lose the return fixture but hold out to go through to the semi finals on agg 

The semi finals pits us against another Portuguese team in the form of our group mates Estoril

We head back to Portugal for the third time this season

The away leg gives my heart a good stress ride as we find ourselves 0-3 down within half an hour but the team rallies and pulls back a 5-3 win so a great result (even if my heart feels like it's going 1000mph) and 5 away goals to take back to Holland

The Home leg is a much less stressful affair with my new Striker Milan scoring in the opening minute to send us though to the UCL final 7-4 on aggregate

So just one more game and we have completed this wonderful Challenge

The final pits us against Seville, so we get ready for the fight of our lives and the boys do not falter...

Even going down to 9 men we manage to secure a 3-0 win thanks to that man Ruiz netting twice

And AJAX are the European Champions YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So a fantastic season here's the teams full fixture list

 

A great season with only 1 loss and 2 draws in all competitions and some big wins along the way

Here's the player stats

 

Drommel and Ruiz showing there class as my main striker and IF but my hero this year is Bacci, my new GK who along with Ruiz was a free signing at the end of last season and managed to conceed only 23 goals the whole season him and my defence were truly immense this year

The guys managed a few end of season awards as well

Drommel clinches the YPOTY once again but Ruiz clinches the POTY thanks to a beast of a season with Drommel in 2nd place

I only manage runner up in the MOTY but I know what I have done and I have been honored to manage all four of these teams

I resign my post and finish my 11 season spell as the number 2 ranked manager in the world 

Here's my manager profile and trophy case after 11 seasons

I finish with an almost 80% winning record and less than 8% loss record#

So just wanted to say a big Thanks to everyone who has followed, commented and hopefully enjoyed this 

But a special big thanks to both @liam1872 who posted this challenge and I beleive to @BatiGoal who had the OP a few games back (correct me if I'm wrong)

Cheers guys and please pray for me in my Challenge Cup Quarter Final against the aforementioned @BatiGoal

Edited February 6, 2017 by Taff