Career Mr.Manager Tries the Best League In The World Challenge

[Jeroenvk94]

We're kind of in the same boat. I didn't manage to qualify ( with freaking Ajax ).

From this point on, once the squad is built, you'll get there!

[Mr.Manager]

8 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Try having a worse run next season I kinda mean to say things can only get better from here on. Disappointing Europe run and it feels like there was no progress made on that front. Let's hope all the Welsh teams have a little more experience now and are strong enough to progress to the group stages at least.

Losing a player on a free sucks. Nothing we can do, other than looking for freebies yourself to soften the pain. Hope next season brings a brighter story.

Ha, you're right, the only way is up!

I know man, it's pretty much out of our hands. I actually did try to be a bit sneaky - I put him on a very intensive training schedule in the hope that it would injure him and that Accrington would cancel the transfer... My hope then was that he would sign a new contract when his current one expired. Didn't work in this case, but I wonder whether it could have...

[Mr.Manager]

14 minutes ago, Jeroenvk94 said:

We're kind of in the same boat. I didn't manage to qualify ( with freaking Ajax ).

From this point on, once the squad is built, you'll get there!

I saw man, unlucky! Still, that's only season 1, I'm sure you'll get there. Race you to the top!

[Jeroenvk94]

Well, FMM is thoroughly screwing me over, making me draw for at least 6 weeks in a row now

[Mr.Manager]

Season 4

 

New Rankings

 

We go again for season 4. 

 

 

Although we had a shocker in Europe last year, we still managed to climb another place. Liechtenstein fell from just ahead of us to bottom of the class, as the game doesn't let them compete in Europe.

 

Preseason

 

I actually spent some money this season!

 

 

£12k for an Irish winger. And the standard bunch of African loanees.

 

Europe

 

I'm all in a muddle about what we should achieve in Europe this season - are we the same team that reached the EURO knockout rounds two seasons ago and beat Lyon and Anderlecht? Or are we the team that was easily swatted aside by Celtic last time around?

 

Our first tie was against Bohemians and, true to form, we made a right mess of it.

 

 

Nearly threw away a 3-0 lead!

 

The second opponent was a bit more straightforward

 

 

And we were better than the scoreline suggested in the Champions League playoffs

 

 

We’ve qualified for the group stages again! Great!

 

How about our compatriots? Well, Connah's Quay and Bangor City didn't put up much of a fight…

 

 

…But TNS made progress against Progres

 

 

Europe - Group Stages

 

 

We were given a fairly straightford group this time around - A.Madrid will be tricky but I'd hope to nick a result against Dynamo Kiev and SK Rapid Wien.

 

We made a bit of a slow start, going down to Dynamo in Ukraine and at home against Atletico

 

 

But we always knew our double header against Rapid would be key. We wanted 6 points, but could only manage 4:

 

 

However, a good win against Dynamo put us in second in the group with only a game to play.

 

 

Unfortunately we could only draw that last game and Dynamo just pip us into second place thanks to our head to head record.

 

 

Europe - Knockout Rounds

 

Not to worry, as we still finished third and could continue our adventures with the Euro Cup knockout rounds.

 

First up, were the Portuguese heavyweights Porto:

 

 

Our hopes were damaged when our star striker Carlos Fai picked up an injury. But we're turning into a pretty resolute side, and two impressive draws saw us beat Porto on away goals:

 

 

So this is the furthest we've ever been! Can we beat Shakhtar and make it to the quarter finals?

 

 

Unfortunately not, but we gave it a good go.

 

At Home

 

I haven't yet devoted any time to improving the standard of the rest of the league, so my rivals are all pretty weak. With that being the case, another Welsh treble isn't quite as good as it sounds…

 

 

Summary

 

Stage: Season 4

Aim: Qualify for the Champions League group stage

 

If last season was a disaster, this one was a triumph.

 

We qualified for the group stage with ease, was only a couple of goals away from finishing second in our group, and we beat Porto over two legs in the Euro Cup.

 

ECC - Bala Town (GS)

EURO - Bala Town (R2)

EURO - TNS (Q2)

EURO - Connah's Quay (Q1)

EURO - Bangor City (Q1)

 

What do you think guys? How much longer ‘til we win a European trophy?

[Taff]

3 maybe 4 seasons, you're progressing slowly but you are progressing, getting to the 2nd knockout round was impressive as well as a win over Kiev and holding A. Madrid to a 0-0 draw is a great result

[BatiGoal]

Exciting CL run. You'd think Shakhtar are beatable especially after putting Porto aside prior to that. Not your night but surely Bala are making headlines around Europe.

Me thinks the big clubs are coming for your best performers come summer

[Mr.Manager]

44 minutes ago, Taff said:

3 maybe 4 seasons, you're progressing slowly but you are progressing, getting to the 2nd knockout round was impressive as well as a win over Kiev and holding A. Madrid to a 0-0 draw is a great result

I'd take that mate! It is slow progress but I think there's going to be a point soon where I can start buying better player and attack teams a little more and then it'll all snowball from there.

[Mr.Manager]

39 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Exciting CL run. You'd think Shakhtar are beatable especially after putting Porto aside prior to that. Not your night but surely Bala are making headlines around Europe.

Me thinks the big clubs are coming for your best performers come summer

Thanks mate. I know, I did think I was quite lucky to get Shakhtar at that stage but it wasn't to be.

Haha good call, I'm having to fend them off now!

[Mr.Manager]

Season 5

 

New Rankings

 

Our best season yet saw another nice rise in the rankings:

 

 

Europe

 

We're starting to get in to a bit of a rhythm now, and we eased through our first tie against Lincoln of Gibraltar.

 

 

The next match up was with Dinamo, a fair step up from the Gibraltaeans but still within our ability. We overcame them thanks to a second leg thrashing.

 

 

In the playoffs, we held to a pair of 0-0 draws against Panathinaikos before getting the win we deserved with penalties.

 

 

That win takes us to the Champions League group stages yet again.

 

Unfortunately the other Welsh teams crashed and burned, none of them making it past the first qualifier.

 

 

Europe - Group Stages

 

 

Our previous two groups were relatively kind - we were massive underdogs, but we could still target a couple of games for results. Not so with this bunch. I guess we were bound to get drawn in a group of death sooner or later…

 

We made a decent start, drawing with Liverpool in our first game (no screen shot, sorry!). But after that the big boys decided to put us back in our place.

 

 

 

6 games, 1 draw, 5 defeats. Brutal.

 

At Home

 

It was a bit easier back in Wales, where we went undefeated in the league again and picked up the JD Welsh Cup. We were beaten in the Nathaniel MG Cup semis, but hey, you can't win them all.

 

 

@BatiGoal predicted after my last update that the big clubs were going to come raiding my players. You have to hand it to the guy, he knows what he's talking about!

 

We had two clubs activate the big club release clause for my young centre back Clucas.

 

 

With the clause in place, we were powerless to reject it.

 

Bizarrely however, when it came to the day he was due to move, we were asked to confirm transfer…

 

 

Nope! We're keeping him! The £425k would have gone a long way for us, but he's an excellent player and I can only see his value increasing.

 

Summary

 

Stage: Season 5

Aim: Qualify for the Champions League group stage

 

So, for third time in four seasons, we qualify for the group stage. We may not have got any further this time, but with a kinder draw I think we're in a position now to move on.

 

Time to shift my targets, the aim for the next few seasons is to make it out of our group in first or second place.

 

ECC - Bala Town (GS)

EURO - TNS (Q1)

EURO - Connah's Quay (Q1)

EURO - Haverfordwest (Q1)

 

Thanks for reading. Feel free to drop me a comment or suggestions

[Taff]

Another good season, but that group was ridiculous dude, but you qualified for the group stage and maybe next season, maybe the group draw will be a little kinder to you

[Jeroenvk94]

Lol that group was gonna kill you. With a lucky draw next season you'll make it to the knockout stage!

[BatiGoal]

Great you managed to keep the squad together, that's crucial at this point. And that CL group pfff it's good to test your team against the best but that was harsh. Now let's hope the other Welsh teams start picking up some Coef pts.

[mcandrew003]

That group was brutal! Unlucky mate, you managed a good run last year though so progress is clearly being made. Good to see you kept one of your better lads aswell, will be crucial. 

[Mr.Manager]

6 hours ago, Taff said:

Another good season, but that group was ridiculous dude, but you qualified for the group stage and maybe next season, maybe the group draw will be a little kinder to you

Ha tell me about it man. I wish I'd got a screenshot of that draw against Liverpool because that was the only good thing we did! Next year...

added 0 minutes later

6 hours ago, Jeroenvk94 said:

Lol that group was gonna kill you. With a lucky draw next season you'll make it to the knockout stage!

Thanks man, it'll all happen next year!

[Mr.Manager]

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Great you managed to keep the squad together, that's crucial at this point. And that CL group pfff it's good to test your team against the best but that was harsh. Now let's hope the other Welsh teams start picking up some Coef pts.

Yeah, even though I'm progressing further than I expected at this point, we're still really at the team building stage. Those other Welsh teams are awful though... If I keep moving up the rankings we'll have an extra team in Europe in a couple of seasons - that'll be half the league!

[Mr.Manager]

33 minutes ago, mcandrew003 said:

That group was brutal! Unlucky mate, you managed a good run last year though so progress is clearly being made. Good to see you kept one of your better lads aswell, will be crucial.

It got a bit messy didn't it? I'm still happy with the progress being made, but we definitely aren't ready to face the very best teams yet. Lucky I've avoided Barca, Real or Bayern so far...

[Mr.Manager]

Season 6

 

New Rankings

 

Another jump in the rankings puts us in the top 30 leagues for the first time. We're getting there guys!

 

 

Pre-Season

 

Last year I eventually rejected a bid of £425k for one of my centre backs, and I'm glad I did as this year bigger clubs came again and offered me triple that.

 

 

For the first time, I have a decent wad of cash to spend. And I went on a splurge.

 

 

That strengthened me right across the team, and the obligatory loanees were of a very high standard.

 

Europe

 

Just qualifying for the group stages is no longer my aim, so I'm going to spend a little less time talking through the qualifying process from now on.

 

We still have to fight through three rounds to get there, but teams like HB, Brondby and Dinamo hold no fear for us anymore. 17 goals scored across the 6 games proved that we had more quality than they could handle.

 

 

The rest of the Welsh contingent were still struggling to get out of first gear though, with only TNS making any progress.

 

 

I know I need to address that, but it isn't time yet. 

 

Europe - Group Stage

 

The draw for the group stages was tricky:

 

 

Valencia and Leverkusen are always strong, and Shakhtar knocked me out of Europe two seasons ago.

 

Our start had me dreaming

 

 

 

Before Valencia and Leverkusen brought us back down to Earth

 

 

Defeat to Leverkusen away was a real pain. We could still qualify, but we'd need to beat Shakhtar and hope the other result went our way.

 

 

We held up our end of the bargain, but a draw in the other game saw us finish third yet again. I think that was the only result that could have done that to us!

 

 

Europe - Knockout Rounds

 

So, we find ourselves in Europe's second competition once more.

 

First up were Ajax, who were tougher than I had thought. We battled through, but it was close:

 

 

Next were Lazio.

 

 

Again, they were better than us in the first leg, and that away goal meant that we were in real jeopardy of going out.

 

Worse still, some dodgy scheduling meant that half my team were away on international duty for the second leg.

 

 

What the hell?!

 

My patchwork second string team nearly pulled it off, but we just couldn't nick that last goal to get us through.

 

 

At Home

 

It was a nice season back in Wales, where we broke our own records for points and goals scored, and we won everything.

 

 

Summary

 

Stage: Season 6

Aim: Make the Champions League knockout rounds

 

We didn't quite make the target this year, but we couldn't have come much closer. 10 points in the group stage would see you through 9 times out of 10, so I can count myself a bit unlucky.

 

Still, I've managed to improve my team a lot and there's still some money in the bank, so maybe next year will be our year.

 

ECC - Bala Town (GS)

EURO - Bala Town (R2)

EURO - TNS (Q2)

EURO - Connah's Quay (Q1)

EURO - Haverfordwest (Q1)

 

Thanks for reading. Feel free to drop me a comment or suggestion

[Taff]

Another good season, and a shame that half the squad was missing for your return leg, but you held Lazio toa 2-2 draw with a team from the Welsh league and that is still something to be very proud of

[Jeroenvk94]

Great season! With some quite good results

You might want to try scouting in the Dutch league ( Ajax and Feyenoord have lots of cheap young talents ). You could pick some of them op for a 400/500k

[Brenty92]

Great year again bud, such a shame about the Lazio second leg, you would certainly have progressed otherwise! Keep it up 

[mcandrew003]

That's was a tense read in all honesty, thought you'd beat them then! Very unlucky, but with a bit of a cash splash and some more back-ups I'm sure some success is on the horizon.

[Mr.Manager]

5 hours ago, Taff said:

Another good season, and a shame that half the squad was missing for your return leg, but you held Lazio toa 2-2 draw with a team from the Welsh league and that is still something to be very proud of

Thanks man. I know it's a good result for a Welsh team, but I need to start progressing a bit further soon to keep this interesting!

[Mr.Manager]

4 hours ago, Jeroenvk94 said:

Great season! With some quite good results

You might want to try scouting in the Dutch league ( Ajax and Feyenoord have lots of cheap young talents ). You could pick some of them op for a 400/500k

Thanks mate!

 

Ah, I'd love to! But up to now my record signing was only about 150k, and the top wages I can offer are about 1.5k. Plus, now that Brexit is in force, i can't sign most foreigners as they need a work permit!

[Mr.Manager]

3 hours ago, Brenty92 said:

Great year again bud, such a shame about the Lazio second leg, you would certainly have progressed otherwise! Keep it up

Cheers mate! I think we might have done... Hopefully the same thing doesn't happen next season...

[Jeroenvk94]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

Thanks mate!

 

Ah, I'd love to! But up to now my record signing was only about 150k, and the top wages I can offer are about 1.5k. Plus, now that Brexit is in force, i can't sign most foreigners as they need a work permit!

Ah right, forgot about Brexit -_-

Stupid government  however, can't you get some loan signings?

[Mr.Manager]

2 hours ago, mcandrew003 said:

That's was a tense read in all honesty, thought you'd beat them then! Very unlucky, but with a bit of a cash splash and some more back-ups I'm sure some success is on the horizon.

We were close! That's it man, just keep building. Easier said than done though, we haven't got a lot of money and North Wales isn't exactly a glamour location (no offence @Taff)

added 0 minutes later

Just now, Jeroenvk94 said:

Ah right, forgot about Brexit -_-

Stupid government  however, can't you get some loan signings?

Haha yeah! Limited to 4 loan signings a season, i have to choose them very carefully...

[Jeroenvk94]

1 minute ago, Mr.Manager said:

We were close! That's it man, just keep building. Easier said than done though, we haven't got a lot of money and North Wales isn't exactly a glamour location (no offence @Taff)

added 0 minutes later

Haha yeah! Limited to 4 loan signings a season, i have to choose them very carefully...

Roberts from Man City should be a quality player for you. 

[Taff]

7 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

We were close! That's it man, just keep building. Easier said than done though, we haven't got a lot of money and North Wales isn't exactly a glamour location (no offence @Taff)

added 0 minutes later

Haha yeah! Limited to 4 loan signings a season, i have to choose them very carefully...

None taken North Wales is a cesspool (I'm from South Wales, not a fan of the Gogs) 

[BatiGoal]

How unfair missing half the squad for such a big game. And luck wasn't on your side either in the CL group. Still a fine season. Good progress by the Bala Boys