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2014 Daddy Issues - Peely Scores With Some Old Men

Peely

By Peely,
in Series & Older Games

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Introduction

 

My psychiatrist says I have father issues. By any objective measure my dad's always been good to me; he took me with him on his travels around Europe, he helped me build a successful career and he always remembered my birthday. Even so, I always felt that, deep down, I was a disappointment to him and, while he gave me everything I could want in material terms, he never really seemed to have much time for me.

 

Instead, he lavished his attention on a young protege: nurturing and raising him to the peak of his profession. By any reasonable logic I should have resented this interloper for stealing my father's attention, but somehow he ended up being my closest friend. He was much older than me and, perhaps inevitably, he became something of a replacement father figure to me. He's long since left the profession, but as I set out on the next stage in my career, I can't help but yearn for the old days, when that grizzled campaigner lead us from triumph to triumph.

 

It would be foolish to think that I could recapture the magic of that period in my life, but I've never claimed to be a sensible and well balanced individual.

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A Fresh Start

 

With the retirement of my father I finally had the chance to step out of his shadow and make my own way in the world. Of course, it was inevitable that my family name would continue to colour people's opinion of me: I doubt my new employer would have given me the time of day had they not been hoping that I could bring bit of my father's brilliance to the role. However, by the same token, they would be quick to cast me aside if I it turned out that the apple hadn't fallen sufficiently close to the tree.

 

I had made a conscious decision to pursue my career in a country that my father had never worked in. It was a pretty futile gesture, given his worldwide repuation, but at least it made it feel like a bit more of a fresh start.

 

I arrived for my first day and parked in a space marked with my name. The lettering was a little squashed, but in this country where a lot of people in my line of work go by a single name, the workman could be forgiven for struggling with my multi-syllabic monstrosity of a moniker. As I settled down in my new office I glanced at the newspaper that my assistant had left on my desk.

 

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So, you're playing in Portugal as the son of the guy who completed the 1kc and 30 years :P And you turned real players off so it's like you're 30 years in :lol:

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Thanks for all the comments.

 

@Lee-Roy - you're pretty much spot on, except that I didn't switch off real player names (would have been a good idea though), so you'll have to suspend disbelief a little. Either that or imagine that Leandro has access to a time-machine :D

 

I'll try to get the first update done tonight.

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We need to agree on some Frankenwalk canon before you update :lol:

I like the time machine idea, either that or a multiverse :P

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Lee-Roy's idea is actually very good! But I know you've already played some seasons so it's not doable. Anyway, I believe we can all "look the other way" on that ;)

 

Indeed. In the words of Basil Exposition:

 

"I suggest you don't worry about those things and just enjoy yourself." ;)

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Season 1

 

football_logo29.jpg

 

As I started my first season in management, the whole of Portugal waited to see if I could live up to the Van Frankenwalk legend.

 

Transfer Activity

 

I was fairly happy with the team: there were some promising young defenders in Soares and Rojo and plenty of attacking flair from Capel, Carillo, Labyad, Viola, Montero and Slimani, but I felt that the centre of midfield needed some serious work. Unfortunately my transfer budget was minimal, so I had to make do with some bargain signings and free transfers.

 

Despite all the talent in attack, I felt that something was missing: an old head to lead from the front and be a role model to the younger players. I had virtually no money left, but that didn't matter, because the perfect player was kicking his heels as a free agent:

 

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Nuno!

 

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The Season in Review

 

It was going to be a relatively quiet season. Sporting had failed to qualify for European competition in the previous season and had no super cups to take part in either. I hoped to ensure than next season was a lot busier.

 

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It was only a pre-season friendly, but it felt like a promising start for both the team and Gomes.

 

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A satisfying win against the mighty Porto.

 

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A fantastic display against Benfica brought me my first piece of silverware.

 

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I was overjoyed to lead Sporting to the league title in my first season in charge.

 

My Player of the Season

 

Plenty of players put in strong performances this season, but one stood out:

 

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Capel is one of these players that doesn't look amazing at first glance, but he has exactly the skills that he needs for his role. He had a great season on the wing.

 

The Veteran

 

I had placed my faith in Gomes to be the heart of my team. Had he repaid my belief in him?

 

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Averaging more than a goal per game is good, I suppose.

 

My Stats

 

My own performance came under the microscope as well:

 

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Like father like son.

 

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I've got a long way to go, but at least I haven't faltered at the first step.

 

My first season had, at least proved that I was not entirely useless, but I still had a very long way to go before people would start respecting me as a manager in my own right, rather than just Niels Van Frankenwalk's son.

 

Next season would see me lead Sporting into Europe, but Gomes wouldn't be part of that. It would be foolish for me to imagine that I could replace Origi, so I decided that I would bring in a replacement veteran striker each season. The next one would be a South American with extensive experience in the Bundesliga.

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:  Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

 

Total: 33 / 1,000

 

I need my strikers to average about 34 goals per season if I'm going to complete this challenge within the 30 seasons allotted to me. Nuno was there or there abouts, but I'd really prefer not to use all 30 seasons. I hope the next striker can pick things up a bit.

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Posted

Great season taking everything into account, i can see this being epic! Capel is such an under rated winger on FMH/Vibe, i used him so many times last year.

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Posted

Great start :D

South American who's played loads in Germany :/ I can think of loads but nobody's standing out....

And I love Soares, literally bought him in every save I have since last game :P

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Thanks chaps. I was intending to use some really big names, but my tiddly transfer budget restricted me to free agents in the first season and most had retired by the second. Players really don't stick around for very long under AI management. If the good ones don't make it to 35 I may have to move to Wales :O

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Season 2 - Claudio Pizarro

 

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In my first season I had shown that I wasn't a complete dud, but I'd need to build on my early success if I wanted to convince the world that I was a worthy successor to my father.

 

Transfer Activity

 

Now that I had a little more cash to work with I went a little crazy on the transfer market:

 

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Within that list you will see my choice of veteran striker for this season, Claudio Pizarro.

 

Most of the rest are vaguely promising youngsters to strengthen the squad in the long-term, although there was also some experience in the form of Djakaride Kone, who quickly became the backbone of the team in midfield.

 

The Season in Review

 

My second season saw my first foray into Europe; I hoped that we would give a good account of ourselves:

 

I'm not sure what happened to the Super Cup screenshot, but we lost to Benfica.

 

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We took a one goal lead into the second leg, but got completely outplayed by the Italian giants.

 

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Pizarro did his best, but Porto were too strong for us.

 

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Once again, Porto beat us into second place.

 

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It was a close run thing, but we couldn't quite defend our title.

 

The Veteran

 

Pizarro had certainly proved that he was a big game player, scoring in most of the major matches of the season, but how did he do over all?

 

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Slightly disappointing, but at least he surpassed his quota.

 

My Stats

 

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I'm a pale shadow of my father.

 

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I need to up my game.

 

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But somehow I still got this.

 

A disappointing season where we were too often left playing bridesmaid to the dastardly Porto. Depite the lack of silverware I had still done enough to keep the board happy and was at least in Europe again next season.

 

I felt that a bit of careful transfer dealing was required if I wanted to turn things around and that would, of course, include an old-timer to lead the attack. I had my eye on a Croatian powerhouse who had, like Pizarro, spent plenty of time in Germany.

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:  Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

Season 2:  Claudio Pizarro - 38 Goals

 

Total: 71 / 1,000

 

I'm still on track to complete the challenge, but it doesn't look like it will be a quick career. Another 30 season marathon may be on the cards :O

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Posted

Nice! At least you're on track.

Now about your next star, is it Ivica Olic?

 

A good guess :)

 

I'm seiously considering altering the rules of the challenge. I'm a couple more years in and no decent players make it to 35. Precious few strikers make it that far, full stop.

 

Carlos Tevez retired at 32!

 

If I drop the minimum age down to 34 I may actually get to play with some interesting strikers. The first few years have been okay, but it's starting to come down to a choice between lower league strikers that nobody's ever heard of or non-strikers with half way reasonable stats. You'll see what I mean when we get to season five ;)

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Decent enough season, when i saw the original challenge i thought 35 was too high, personally i would have made it 33/4.

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You could always sign oldies in advance or just go for the terrible ones to make it an even better challenge. Prove Niels wrong!

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Sadly it just isn't a lot of fun playing with a terrible striker and I'm not sure it makes for an interesting career for anyone to follow.

 

From season six I'm dropping the age limit to 34 and will update the challenge to reflect this.

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