2013 Peely's Golden Oldies World Cruise

[Peely]

Yup, I'm using the 4.2 database and, as far as I know, there's no difference between iOS and Android. I just searched for all attackers, sorted by age and looked at the oldest player of the relevant nationality. It's feasible that there are older players who are classed as midfielders, but can play up front, since I only checked those in Brazil, to get Rivaldo.

 

As far as the team is concerned, I've generally gone for the team that won the league in the previous season, to maximise the likely number of matches and, in leagues that I have no knowledge of, to make sure that I get a decent team. You should probably choose whichever team takes your fancy, although in some leagues it's a no-brainer to select the only team with access to continental competition.

[Archie Graveluth]

Sorry for hijacking your topic, but we're still talking about your challenge

 

But how did you search for each player? You did the search for each loaded country or did you, as an example, load England and checked all the players in that database that was loaded?

[Peely]

No problem

 

I started a career in each playable league and searched that database, so it should be the oldest striker available.

[Archie Graveluth]

Game on!

[Peely]

Season 4 - Ireland

So I was back in Ireland, albeit south of the border this time, and I set my sights on the Sligo Rovers job. Luckily nobody thought to check the dates on my references from Anderlecht, Linfield and Brisbane Roar, since it would have been hard to explain why they were all dated several months in the future.

 

Eamonn Sheridan was playing for Fanad United, who were happy to me have him for free; they clearly didn't rate him very highly. Looking at his stats I could see their point:

 

 

It's hardly the most competitive league, though, so he should be fine.
 

The Irish league starts in January, so I didn't have a hope of winning anything in Europe within the space of a single season, but at least I could look forward to a bit of Euro action towards the end.

 

Hit the spoiler for Sheridan's highlights:

 

 

32 Domestic goals - 32 points
4 Domestic assists - 4 points
3 Continental Goal - 6 points
1 Continental assist - 2points

 

1 player of the month - 10 points

 

 

 

 

3 Domestic cups - 60 Points

League champions - 20 Points

Grand total - 134 points

I was absolutely gutted at missing out on a perfect season in the league. I won every other match easily, but I just had to slip up in one. It was largely down to this sort of fixture congestion:

 

Nine matches in one month. Madness!

I worked Sheridan pretty hard and you could see the effects by the end of the season:

 

I use them up and toss them aside.

 

It was time to say goodbye to Ireland for the second and last time. I was growing a little tired of terrible players in tin-pot leagues, so I kept my fingers crossed as I set the time machine for a random destination. I was almost blinded by the sunlight when I arrived, but when my vision cleared I started to smile. Holiday time!

 

I'm not the biggest fan of the Brazilian league, but I don't mind a season there when I'm going to be working with:

 

 

 

Still a monster at 40. I have high hopes for this season.

 

My progress so far:

 

Belgium - Jochen Janssen - 103 points

Northern Ireland - David Rainey - 181 points

Australia - Nathan Day - 54 points

Ireland - Eamonn Sheridan - 134 points

 

Total - 472 points

 

Your comments make me happy. You wouldn't want me to be sad, would you?

[MerlionMaple96]

Great Season Peely. KIU

[Obika]

Very nice!

[J-savage]

Looking forward to the next season

[Peely]

Thanks all. Just finished the Sao Paulo state, so still a fair way to go.

[Peely]

Season 5 - Brazil

 

 

Brazil - probably the biggest slog in FMH: the season seems to last forever, but after both Irish leagues and Australia it was nice to be managing players who actually know what a football is. I'd invested in hypnotism lessons during my time at Sligo Rovers and they proved very useful in securing the job as manager of Santos.

 

My target this season was the legendary Rivaldo, still playing at the ripe old age of 40. Sao Caetano weren't going to let their star OAP go for cheap, so I had to shuffle the finances around a bit to stump up the £1 million that they demanded. When I saw Rivaldo walk onto the training ground it all seemed worth it:

 

Oooh! Green and shiny.

 

The brazilian league is a mixed bag for this challenge: the Sao Paulo State Championship is a goal dispensing wonder machine, but the league itself is surprisingly hard to score in. Continental competition is available, but Santos don't get any domestic cup action and there are no domestic player awards, removing several point scoring opportunities. With all this in mind, I was hoping for an impressive goal tally to rack up the points. Rivaldo started in fine form:

 

Seven goals in the first game. This could be good.

 

So lets see how Rivaldo did:

 

 

 

32 Domestic goals - 32 points
8 Domestic assists - 8 points
8 Continental Goal - 16 points
4 Continental assist - 8 points

 

Sao Paulo State - doesn't count as a league or a cup, so nothing

 

League champions - 20 points

 

1 Continental cup - 30 points

 

Club World Championship - doesn't count for this challenge, but I won it anyway

 

Grand total - 114 points

Not so very bad, but after such a great start, what could have possibly gone wrong:

 

 

 

Take note of the message immediately below this one in my inbox. Back to back injury fun

 

 

 

It turns out that, as brilliant as Rivaldo is, he's made of eggshells and fine porcelain, glued together with kitten tears. His injuries meant that he missed almost the whole Sao Paulo State, massively reducing his goal-scoring potential.

 

Neymar was fine, though:

 

At the end of the Sao Paulo State

 

Inevitable

 

At the end of the season.

 

Not bad considering he spent a lot of the season proper, playing as a deep-lying forward.

 

In summary, Rivaldo is still an amazing talent and, if someone gets lucky with him and avoids injury, he could chalk up some serious points. Sadly it didn't quite work out for me. Here's how the old man looked at the end of the season:

 

Still looking good, if you ignore the stamina.

 

Another random time-leap later and I was once again emerging into bright sunlight, this time with a distinctly Mediterranean feel. The smell of pizza hit my nostrils while the sound of Vespas and wolf-whistles assaulted my ears. It could only be a hopelessly stereotypical version of Italy. That meant that I'd be lending a helping hand to Riccardo Innocenti:

 

 

 

Not too bad.

 

My progress so far:

 

Belgium - Jochen Janssen - 103 points

Northern Ireland - David Rainey - 181 points

Australia - Nathan Day - 54 points

Ireland - Eamonn Sheridan - 134 points

Brazil - Rivaldo - 114 points

 

Total - 586 points

 

Let me know how what you think of my journey so far through the magic of comments

 

[anfieldsquirrel]

Going well .

[Ashez]

Great season, I still wish his son was added though

[madowell77]

great challenge and doin very well kiu :-)

[Obika]

You write with wit and it's great to read! Good job

[Peely]

Thanks AS and Ashez.

 

I want to like Brazil, but I still find it painful. Italy should be interesting. I'm not sure I've ever done a full season there before

 

*edit*

 

And thanks to Madowell and Tobinho, too. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[Archie Graveluth]

Hmm...did you use intensive training on him?

[Peely]

I started of with lITe training, but quickly reduced it to an even lighter schedule. Once the Sao Paulo was over he stayed pretty injury free, but I still reduced the intensity of the training further, since he was struggling to get above 90% condition.

 

If I was going to do it again I'd start him on very light training and then keep my fingers crossed

[Archie Graveluth]

I didn't mean just for Rivaldo though. But you probably did the same for others.

[Peely]

Everyone else who could handle it was on IT. Those who complained got dropped down to lITe. That's my standard approach unless I'm at a club with really dreadful training facilities.

[Peely]

Season 6 - Italy

 

 

I found myself in Italy, home of pasta and corruption, faced with the task of making Riccardo Innocenti into a star. I'd need a good team to support him, so I headed to Turin; a few fat, brown envelopes pressed into the right hands and I was being announced as the new manager of Juventus.

 

Innocenti cost me a lot less than the job had, but looking at him I couldn't help but feel a little short-changed:

 

I suppose he'll have to do.

 

Serie A is a notoriously hard league to score in, so I didn't have particularly high hopes. Lets see what the old chap managed:

 

 

 

16 Domestic goals - 16 points
4 Domestic assists - 4 points
6 Continental Goal - 12 points
4 Continental assist - 8 points

 

That's the first round of the Italian Cup. Frustrating disaster. Nil points

 

It doesn't get much closer than that. League champions - 20 points

 

 

Injured two days before the final, so another big fat zero

 

Grand total - 60 points

Robbed by injury, but he was hardly amazing, anyway. Still, not too bad for an old man in a tough league. I had to tinker around with things tactically, since the Italian style of football seemed quite effective against my favoured formation.

 

By the end of the season, Innocenti ws looking forward to his retirement:

 

Barely and different from the start of the season. I obviously didn't push him hard enough.

 

I waved goodbye to Turin and once again selected a random destination and found myself on top of a windmill in the middle of a field of tulips. It looked an awful lot like the Netherlands and that meant that it was van Meegdenburg time:

 

 

Pretty awful, but I like the Dutch league, so this should be fun.

 

My progress so far:

 

Belgium - Jochen Janssen - 103 points

Northern Ireland - David Rainey - 181 points

Australia - Nathan Day - 54 points

Ireland - Eamonn Sheridan - 134 points

Brazil - Rivaldo - 114 points

Italy - Riccardo Innocenti - 60 points

 

Total - 646 points

 

Not the most spectacular of seasons, but do leave comment based encouragement

 

[Ashez]

Unlucky in the cup but great going , next round looks hard.

[anfieldsquirrel]

Well done mate, must have been a long season!

[Peely]

Well done mate, must have been a long season!

 

It was a bit of slog and very frustrating at times, but I got there in the end. The tension in the last few games was fun, in a way

 

Unlucky in the cup but great going , next round looks hard.

 

Thanks. He certainly doesn't look much good, but at least the Dutch league is quite easy to score in.

[Peely]

I'm still playing this, but I'm being a bit lazy when it comes to updates. I'll try to get something done soon. Promise

[anfieldsquirrel]

We have the same problem Peely lol!

[Peely]

Season 7 - The Netherlands

 

 

My seventh season found me in the Netherlands, knocking on the door of Ajax. The board seemed peculiarly laid back and just grinned vacantly at me when I asked for the manager's job. I took that as a yes and got down to business. Van Meegdenburg was easy enough to get hold of and I looked forward to meeting my "star" striker:

 

Probably the worst yet

 

I got a bit of  shock when Van Meegdenburg walked onto the training ground with his arm and shoulder in a cast. Apparently his leaving party had got a little out of hand and some bright spark had decided that it would be a good idea to surf down a flight of stairs on a tray. One bone-crunching crash later and Van Meegdenburg was set to miss his first three months at Ajax. Great start!

 

Early setbacks aside, what did my accident prone OAP achieve?:

 

 

24 Domestic goals - 24 points
2 Domestic assists - 2 points
3 Continental Goal - 6 points
 

 

One domestic cup - 20 points

 

Easy win in the League - 20 points

 

 

One continental cup - 30 points

 

Grand total - 102 points

 

A few injuries cut into his match time, but cup and league successes mean that Van Meegdenburg managed a respectable score. He was looking pretty knackered by the end of the season:

 

Forget the physio, this chap looks like he needs an undertaker.

 

With my time in the Netherlands finished I fired up the old time machine and leapt into the unknown. I was greeted by the sound of oompah music and the smell of bockwurst. Time to turn Matthias Scherz into a star:

 

 

Not bad for one of the oldest players in the game.

 

My progress so far:

 

Belgium - Jochen Janssen - 103 points

Northern Ireland - David Rainey - 181 points

Australia - Nathan Day - 54 points

Ireland - Eamonn Sheridan - 134 points

Brazil - Rivaldo - 114 points

Italy - Riccardo Innocenti - 60 points

The Netherlands - Dennis Van Meegdenburg - 102 points

 

Total - 748 points

 

Apologies for the delay in updating. I'll try to get the next one done a bit sooner; lots of comments may speed things along...

 

 

[MerlionMaple96]

Great work Peely

[Ashez]

Going great

[Peely]

Thanks you two. More than half way through now. I just need someone else to do the challenge so that I have some competition

[anfieldsquirrel]

Wow great season for him! Did he announce his death? Never mind retirement!