2014 Daddy Issues - Peely Scores With Some Old Men

[Peely]

There's nothing more satisfying than scoring again and again with an old man :lol:

[PriZe]

Well it looks like Mr lukaku performed for you as he currently is doing at the WC. Feel bad for you mate! A season with his ups and his downs, but then again that is what makes this game a lot of fun although we all like to trash the opposition  :cool: but for now i must say, awesome overall performance during your career mate! KIU

 

 

PS: Muhahaha got to love crotia :wub: 

[Peely]

Indeed. Just as is the case with Belgium at the WC, Origi probably would have been a much better option. Sadly the lazy blighter retired at 32, so I never had the chance to use him.

 

Thanks for the support

[anfieldsquirrel]

You're going well in the overall challenge which is the main thing.

I'm gonna guess Ferreyra (sp?)

Wait has the striker been revealed? :Lol:

[Peely]

You're going well in the overall challenge which is the main thing.

I'm gonna guess Ferreyra (sp?)

Wait has the striker been revealed? :lol:

 

Thanks. The striker hasn't been officially revealed, but there has been a correct guess (clue:it's not yours )

[Lee-Roy]

*edit - here's Lukaku in designer trainers, covered in make-up holding some alloys :lol:

Great work again Peely, I don't care to hazard a guess tho

[Ashez]

Updating tonight?!?! I hope so

[Peely]

Season 16 - Luciano Vietto

 

Losing the Belgium job was heartbreaking, but part of me wouldn't miss the stress and demands of international management: I get plenty of stress from managing Hertha. Germany was really starting to wear me down and I was keen to leave, but with my repeated faiure to secure a European trophy for the club, it would feel too much like running away with my tail between my legs.

 

I needed European glory sooner rather than later for the sake of my sanity, and I was pinning my hopes on my new forward:

 

He certainly looks good for his age.

 

Transfer Activity

 

My transfer dealings were more or less non-existent, with plenty of old or unsuitable players leaving, but only one signing, other than Vietto. He was a biggie, though:

 

 

Imense.

 

The Season in Review

 

DFL-Supercup

A close scoreline, but the right result and the right goal-scorer.

 

 

DFB-Pokal

 

We had a better run in the Pokal, getting to the Quarter final, where we faced Schalke:

 

Boo for penalty shootouts. It really shouldn't have got that far.

 

 

The Champions League

 

We faced Chelsea in the quarter finals and went into the second leg 1:1. We did all the damage we needed to do in the first 17 minutes, but couldn't break through the defence from then on.

 

The semi final pitted us against Bayern:

 

We had the better of the first leg, but somehow managed to lose 3:1. Our goalie had a terrible day. We've beaten Bayern heavily in the league on many occasions, however, so I was still hopeful.

 

Another pathetic performance by goalie, Joao Agra saw us dumped out of the Champions League, yet again. He got an earbashing in the press and a couple of weeks in the reserves as punishment.

 

 

The Bundesliga

 

A match against Aue saw us encounter a familiar face:

 

What? Just how old is he?

 

Oh. Sorry, I thought you were someone else.

 

The league matches against Bayern went rather better than the Champions League games:

 

Very even in every respect.

 

If only we could play like this all the time.

 

Union Berlin had managed to stay up, so we had a couple of derby matches, too:

 

I don't seem to have a screenshot of the other, but I think the result was similar.

 

Another comfortable league title.

 

Player Awards

 

Our new signing gets some recognition.

 

Who says Ronaldo is self-centred and narcisistic?

 

Luciano and Leon bring home the bacon.

 

Season Review

 

 

The Veteran

 

Vietto managed to get Player of the Year, so he must have done something right, even if he didn't bring me any luck in Europe:

 

Still looking really decent. Can he live up to his billing as the next Messi?

 

By the halfway point thinks were looking really good, but Lukaku had taught me not to count my chickens.

 

His best match

 

Very nice indeed.

 

My Player of the Season

 

Vietto probably deserves it after his goal-scoring antics, but I tend to view my striker as ineligible for this:

 

So instead, it's Leon again, for another great all round performance. In case anyone's wondering about his heritage, I'm reasonably certain he's spawned from the DNA of Kevin de Bruyne.

 

 

My Stats

 

Dragging myself back up the rankings.

 

Meh.

 

 

 

 

Job watch:

 

Liverpool seem to have lost interest for the time being.

 

More disappointment at club level, but at least Vietto did his bit. I struggled to find a well known player for the following season, but hope that the Latvian I settled on will be able to live up to the standard that Vietto has set. He's the first stirker that I've used that wasn't even playing when I started out in management. Makes me feel old.

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:   Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

Season 2:   Claudio Pizarro - 38 Goals

Season 3:   Ivica Olic - 42 Goals

Season 4:   Samuel Eto'o - 37 Goals

Season 5:   Javad Nekounam - 28 Goals

Season 6:   Vagner Love - 63 Goals

Season 7:   Fernando Llorente - 63 Goals

Season 8:   Radamel Falcao - 66 Goals

Season 9:   Lionel Messi - 94 Goals

Season 10:  Luis Suarez - 53 Goals

Season 11:  Yannick Sagbo - 16 Goals

Season 12:  Kleber - 36 Goals

Season 13:  Danny Welbeck - 37 Goals

Season 14:  Nelson Oliveira - 42 Goals

Season 15:  Romelu Lukaku - 36 Goals

Season 16:  Lucian Vietto - 67 Goals

 

Total: 751 / 1,000

 

Over three quarters of the way to my target. I just hope that I can move on from Germany soon. I really don't want to end the challenge here.

[Danne]

Great season by Luciano! Unlucky with the results against Bayern in the champions league, I've experienced something similar with Real Madrid in my AMC career, beating them easily in the league but losing to them in Spanish cup finals and the champions league.

I hope that you get your European trophy soon so that you can move clubs, it looks like you might follow your fathers footsteps and manage in England.

[Peely]

Thanks. I certainly hope it diesn't take too much longer. The next season has been fairly horrible, so far, so I'm getting to the stage where I'm seriously considering ditching Hertha regardless.

 

It certainly seems to be the English clubs that are interested in me and the alternatives are back to Protugal or slumming it in Wales.

[dirtboy]

Almost done, you should get this in 7 seasons

[Peely]

Almost done, you should get this in 7 seasons

 

Hopefully a little faster, but the strikers are being so inconsistent, who knows

[Ashez]

I knew you'd update

Damn the game is screwing you in Europe!! I really hope you get it soon as you can tell the stress Germany is causing! At least it's not Brazil .

Another fantastic season goal wise, super impressed

[Peely]

I knew you'd update

Damn the game is screwing you in Europe!! I really hope you get it soon as you can tell the stress Germany is causing! At least it's not Brazil .

Another fantastic season goal wise, super impressed

 

Thanks very much. It has been getting me down a bit. The season I've just finished was really awful at times, but at least it's over now. I'll try to update tonight.

[Lewiitom]

Great season mate

[Peely]

Season 17 - Vladimirs Fjodorovs

 

As I started another season in Germany I was feeling thoroughly depressed. Despite Vietto's heroics we had missed out on the Champions League in a disheartening way yet again. It was begining to feel like we were going nowhere as a team.

 

Quality, old strikers were thin on the ground, so I had to make do with a largely unknown Latvian:

 

Nope, me neither. Could be worse, I suppose.

 

Transfer Activity

 

I didn't do a lot in the transfer market, once again:

 

 

The only major signing was Vazquez, who added a bit of depth to my midfield options.

 

The Season in Review

 

DFL-Supercup

A great result in the Supercup, but it was one of the few bright spots in the first half of the season.

 

 

The Bundesliga

 

The league got off to a poor start with some truly terrible performances, primarily from my goalkeepers:

 

 

 

 

This result says it all.

 

By the mid point of the season we were floating around 6th in the table and the board were getting distinctly grumpy. There was no consistency to our performances: I would think we had turned things around, after a couple of wins, only to throw away the next match. When Manchester United came in with a job offer I seriously considered ditching Hertha and running away to the Premier League, but that's the sort of thing that Niels Van Frankenwalk would do!

 

With a bit of tactical tinkering we started to get things back on track:

 

 

Good old Arjen.

 

 

 

It took us until the last match of the season, but we managed it in the end.

 

The closest finish I've had in a while.

 

DFB-Pokal

 

Despite our poor performace in the league, we managed to maintain better form in the Pokal, despite a series of tough draws:

 

Satisfying. I'd played them in the league a few days before and beaten them in that match, too.

 

Arjen really does deserve a career of his own.

 

We faced Dortmund in the final:

 

And ran riot.

 

 

The Champions League

 

As with the Pokal, our lackluster form in the league didn't carry across into the group stage of the Champions League:

 

 

The first round saw me face my old team, Sporting:

 

And it was Marques, a product of Sporting's youth set-up that helped put them out.

 

The quarter final saw us face the other side of Lisbon. The away leg ended 0:0, despite our best efforts, setting up a tense second leg:

 

Once again, Riziki and Marques were the heroes.

 

The semi final was against Barcelona and the first leg ended 3:1 to us. Surely the second leg would just be a formality:

 

Yup.

 

So, for the second time, Hertha were through to the Champions League final and this time we were facing the giants of European football, Real Madrid. This would be tough:

 

Or so you would think. At long last!

 

 

 

Player Awards

 

Marques once again the bridesmaid.

 

He had to play second fiddle again in the Bundesliga Player of the Year Awards, too.

 

Season Review

 

Beautiful.

 

The Veteran

 

I wasn't expecting much from Fjodorovs:

 

Some decent improvement.

 

Very impressive for a relative nobody.

 

 

My Player of the Season

 

My award goes to the same player that kept Marques away from the Bundeliga PotY award:

 

 

Nifty.

 

 

My Stats

 

On the Podium.

 

 

 

Clean and sweepy goodness.

 

 

Job watch:

 

It was tempting at the time, but I'm glad I stuck with Hertha.

 

Belgium at the World Cup

 

Even though I was no longer manager, I still took an interest in Belgium's performance, after all my son was still very much part of the team. I have to admit that part of me was hoping for dismal failure, though:

 

A great start for the Hertha boys.

 

They would have won if I was still in charge.

 

A poor result against footballing minnows, but enough to get through to the knockout stages.

 

Okay, I admit this was a decent result.

 

A lucky draw for the quarter final and a strong performance from the Hertha contingent.

 

Joey's son ends Belgium's hopes.

 

Third place on penalties.

 

64 years of hurt come to an end.

 

At the halfway point of the season I never could have imagined how it would end. It really was shaping up to be the worst season of my career; in the end it turned out to be one of the best. Now that I had conquered Europe with Hertha I felt free to move on, but at the same time the lure of taking them to the European Super Cup and Club World Cup was strong. I'd have to see what opportunites next season presented.

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:   Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

Season 2:   Claudio Pizarro - 38 Goals

Season 3:   Ivica Olic - 42 Goals

Season 4:   Samuel Eto'o - 37 Goals

Season 5:   Javad Nekounam - 28 Goals

Season 6:   Vagner Love - 63 Goals

Season 7:   Fernando Llorente - 63 Goals

Season 8:   Radamel Falcao - 66 Goals

Season 9:   Lionel Messi - 94 Goals

Season 10:  Luis Suarez - 53 Goals

Season 11:  Yannick Sagbo - 16 Goals

Season 12:  Kleber - 36 Goals

Season 13:  Danny Welbeck - 37 Goals

Season 14:  Nelson Oliveira - 42 Goals

Season 15:  Romelu Lukaku - 36 Goals

Season 16:  Lucian Vietto - 67 Goals

Season 17:  Vladimirs Fjodorovs - 52 Goals

 

Total: 803 / 1,000

 

Less than 200 to go. This could be over in four seasons with a bit of luck.

[Ashez]

What an inspiring and incredible season, i'm delighted for you . I want to read more right now, please? A true "under dog" story , the striker was awesome as well, can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter!!

[Peely]

What an inspiring and incredible season, i'm delighted for you . I want to read more right now, please? A true "under dog" story , the striker was awesome as well, can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter!!

 

Thanks I'm glad you liked it.

 

I'm afraid there's not much else to write now. I'm only a few months into the next season. May have an update of sorts tomorrow.

[Ashez]

Well you turned down United so you can't go down hill from here in my eyes , eagerly awaiting the next installment

[Lee-Roy]

Damn, two updates for me to read, guess it pays off lol.

I'm hoping you get an offer before the season starts , you've paid your dues in Germany, time for new pastures. Liverpool looking?

[Danne]

Great season cup wise, and congrats on winning the league despite a bad first half of the season.

Let's just hope that you get some interesting job offers so you can leave Germany at last.

[Peely]

Season 18

 

As the new season drew closer I was still at Hertha, still torn between taking the team that I built from nothing to their first World Club Cup and moving on to a new challenge. So far there hadn't been any enticing job opportunities, but I was still on the look out.

 

I couldn't allow my indecision to affect my management of the team, however, and I needed a new striker. In the end I settled for a player who had been little more than child when I started out at Sporting, but whose quality had been obvious even then:

 

He was a bit older when I got my hands on him.

 

Season Review

 

Pre-Season

 

Arjen shows his quality

 

DFB Supercup

 

I have a confession to make. I went into this thinking it was another friendly, so Werner started the match on the bench. He came on in the second half, but Sevilla had already done all that was required.

 

As we were busy celebrating the Supercup win, I heard news of a job that piqued my interest. I had wanted to manage in England for a while and had received numerous offers from top Premier League sides in the past, but they had always come at the wrong time. Now I was ready to move and wasted no time in firing off an email expressing my interest.

 

It didn't take long for the chairman to respond, saying that he would be honoured and over-joyed to offer me the job. I wouldn't be able to take Arjen with me, but I felt that it would do him good to step out from under my wing. I'd be keeping an eye on his career, of course, and would always be looking for an opportunity to manage him again.

 

 

The next day, as I left Berlin, the news of my new job was all over the papers:

 

 

 

You've got to love that strip.

 

A bit of a change of pace.

 

[Ashez]

Haha, awesome! This should be interesting

Is the CL target still the plan? Or would you move at any time?

Actually could you run a test for me? Obviously your one of the best managers on the game, but i'd be interested to see if you could still get a top job from your current position. Basically if a Chelsea type job becomes available apply just to see if they accept. It would be interesting to see how this works over time too, for example after a few years at that level does the game forget your previous achievements? See i've just gave you a great article idea

[Peely]

I don't really have any firm targets for Dulwich, although Premier League and European glory would be nice I may well complete the challenge before I make it to the EPL, though.

 

I've already got a bit of data for you, halfway through the first season, without actually trying

[Ashez]

Well maybe moving clubs would get you there, i can't wait to see how this unfolds

Sounds good, i await with interest

[anfieldsquirrel]

Just caught up.

Interesting move, should spice up for you well done

[Peely]

Season 18 - Lawrence Connor

 

 

The football world thought I had lost my mind: ditching my job at Hertha just as they reached the pinnacle of club football to take control of one of the lowliest teams in England. I could have had my choice of jobs in the Premier League, but after the stresses and strains of Germany I needed a fresh challenge and Dulwich would certainly give me that.

 

Despite appearances, Dulwich actually have a slightly illustrious history. Back in the 1920s they had two full England internationals in the squad and, until it was torn down to build a Sainsburys, they had a 20,000 seater stadium. These days they played at the 3,000 capacity Champion Hill Stadium, but on the plus side, there's a nice big Sainsburys right next door for half-time snacks.

 

 

Some notable players, such as Ian Wright, Peter Crouch and Alan Pardew have played for Dulwich in the past, but the club had never really distinguished itself. I hoped to be the man to change that.

 

I was acutely aware that great things were expected of me: I'd taken two clubs to the Champions League title, surely managing in the Skrill South would be a doddle. The reality was that I was miles out of my comfort zone and had no idea whether my experience at the top level of football would translate to the lower leagues at all.

 

At my first meeting with the board, in the back room of the Vale Bar, they assured me that they weren't expecting much more than a brave fight against near inevitable relegation. It may have been the lager and lime going to my head, but I felt I could manage more than that, promising them a play-off place.

 

They gave me a wage budget that wouldn't cover a single Hertha reserve player's salary and the sort of transfer budget that you could find down the back of David Beckham's sofa. This was going to be fun.

 

With so little money to work with I needed to ditch the dead wood and get some half-way decent players in on free transfers. The first to join was, of course, an aged striker:

 

He makes Yannick Sagbo look like a footballing god, but he's the best I could get.

 

Transfer Activity

 

My other transfer dealings looked like this:

 

 

 

Keen eyed readers will notice an ex-Hertha and Sporting player amongst the freebies. Danny John, who had been competent, but no more at my previous clubs, was going to be a key part of team.

 

Ridiculously good for this level.

 

The Season in Review

 

FA Cup

 

Our first match in the FA Cup saw us face Chorley, of the Evo-Stik Northern League Premier Division. We took advantage of this rare opportunity to play a club that was even worse than us.

 

Another easy victory against Southport saw us through to the fourth qualifying round where we faced tough opposition in the form of Skrill Premier club, Walsall. The bookies expected us to take a beating:

 

But instead we handed one out

 

This "giant killing" netted us some extra funds, which I ploughed into the wage bill.

 

The first round saw us go up against Lowestoft from League 1, They may have been four levels above us, but we prevailed, nonetheless.

 

 

The second round saw us face another Skrill Premier club, St Albans. The first match ended in a hard-fought draw, setting up a replay at Champion Hill:

 

Where we gave St Albans a damn good walloping.

 

 

We were through to the third round, when the big boys of English football get involved. We ended up being drawn against Sheffield United.

 

The Championship side proved too much for us, but we gave them a scare and it was a good run.

 

 

The FA Trophy

 

We faced a succession of Skrill Premier sides in the FA Tropy and batted them all aside, making it all the way to the final, where we were to meet Droylsden:

 

Outstanding. My first piece of silverware at Dulwich.

 

 

 

The Skrill South

 

Our first league match was on the day I took control of the club and ended with a slightly disappointing 2-3 loss to Kingstonian. However, with some new signings and a bit of tactical thinking, things started to improve:

 

A great performance from Lawrence.

 

I slowly clambered up the league. My main opposition was Hendon, so when we met the towards the end of the season it was a crunch match:

 

Nervy, but it got the job done.

 

 

We're going to the (Skrill) Premier League!

 

 

Season Review

 

 

The Veteran

 

Lawrence was a pretty terrible player, but he was in a pretty terrible league:

 

He doesn't get any better.

 

 

That's not going to help.

 

All things considered, it could have been far, far worse.

 

Team Review

 

I managed to bring in some quality players over the course of the season:

 

Ghanaian international shot-stopper Adam Chambers was key to sealling up some of the leaks in our defence.

 

Lima joined us on loan, but liked Dulwich so much he decided to stay on. Weird.

 

Fabio Noguiera was another key defensive signing. Amazing quality for the Skrill.

 

My Player of the Season

 

The award goes to a player who was already at the club when I joined and quickly proved his worth:

 

 

Koke? Draxler? Siggurdson? You're nothing compared to Bailey.

 

 

My Stats

 

Still ranked as 5th best manager in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Job watch:

 

 

Still attracting the big job offers.

 

Hertha Update

 

My old job was filled by one of the best in the business:

 

 

Bad news for Hertha.

 

 

Good old Arjen.

 

Slightly glad they didn't win it without me.

 

Still reaping the benefits of my work...

 

An amazing first season in England and a whole new challenge next season as I face the Skrill Premier. I have a few solid players in my team, but many just aren't up to the standard required and quite a few are due to retire in the Summer. Hopefully the board will give me a decent wage budget to attract a bit of quality. Who knows, they may even agree to upgrade the training facilities from a field and a pile of stolen traffic cones.

 

Lawrence didn't do terribly well, but it's enough to keep me on track for the moment.

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:   Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

Season 2:   Claudio Pizarro - 38 Goals

Season 3:   Ivica Olic - 42 Goals

Season 4:   Samuel Eto'o - 37 Goals

Season 5:   Javad Nekounam - 28 Goals

Season 6:   Vagner Love - 63 Goals

Season 7:   Fernando Llorente - 63 Goals

Season 8:   Radamel Falcao - 66 Goals

Season 9:   Lionel Messi - 94 Goals

Season 10:  Luis Suarez - 53 Goals

Season 11:  Yannick Sagbo - 16 Goals

Season 12:  Kleber - 36 Goals

Season 13:  Danny Welbeck - 37 Goals

Season 14:  Nelson Oliveira - 42 Goals

Season 15:  Romelu Lukaku - 36 Goals

Season 16:  Lucian Vietto - 67 Goals

Season 17:  Vladimirs Fjodorovs - 52 Goals

Season 18:  Conor Lawrence - 31 Goals

 

Total: 834 / 1,000

[Ashez]

I checked about half a hour ago and thought damn no update tonight, I decided to check ones more and here it is

Eww you drink lager and lime? Never liked the sound of that haha, I'll stick to my lager spots/tops/dash lemonade thanks

Massive season club wise and as you said taking everything into account your striker did great! That assister looks quality too, I duno if Siggurd was a reference to me but if it was that freaky as I was actually thinking about him today!!!

Cheers for showing the job offers, that is interesting to say the least, I can't wait to see if that trend continues!

[Danne]

Great first season with Dulwich!

It seems that the Germans are as keen on getting you back as you were on leaving them

[Peely]

I don't drink lager and lime, but Leandro does. Crazy Belgians

 

I suppose Siggurdson is partly a reference to you, although it's more that he's a well known provider of assists in FMH.

 

Just starting the next season and I'm not finding it easy to attract decent players. Oh well, maybe when the next round of regens show up.

Great first season with Dulwich!
It seems that the Germans are as keen on getting you back as you were on leaving them

 

Thanks

 

There's no way on Earth I'm going back there any time soon