Career FC Forty United

[BatiGoal]

Hello Gentlemen, welcome to my Birthday Challenge!

Tomorrow is my birthday. Yes, it's true, it's my birthday and I'm going to be four and oh. Yep 40!! But you know what, I'm feeling as young as ever and I'm going to prove it. I'm going to show that we 40ers aren't too old to play football. What's that nonsense? That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. One is as fit as the mind perceives it to be (probably an expression in a far away land) so I've decided to take control of a Dutch team, call a few buddies of mine and take on the naysayers in their prime. Tho we're realistic and not entirely stupid so we've taken charge of a Jupiler League team (Dutch 2nd division) and demoted the entire squad to sign nothing but 40ers or 39ers soon to be 40ers. A challenge with a group of "late bloomers" I'm gladly taking on. See it as my FMM Birthday party

The Team

Helmond Sport. I doubt many of you have heard of this club, well, even better.

 

The Squad

Look at this pretty squad. 40 RULEZ! just waiting for a few 39ers to turn 40 and then we're going to teach those kids how to play football. Old school!

 

Best Players

40 and solid! Not many Goalkeepers are this good at this age. No better confidence boost than having a reliable dude between the posts.

14 pace for a 40er. Oh man can't wait to show those kids what a group of 40ers is capable of doing. This guy looks awesome!

How's this for an att. midfielder. Bummer he's not 40 yet but as soon as he hits four and oh he'll be thrown onto the pitch to wreak havoc!

 

Test Games

Taking on a top division team in Heerenveen and what a scoreline. Oh yes these "oldies" are going to smash this challenge.

 

Another top flight team and it's a win for FC Forty United. Can't wait to start the campaign and surprise the world.

 

Challenge Objective

 

So the objective is simple, play 1 season with a group of 40-year-olds and finish as high as possible. So I'll just do my best with a squad of 40-year-olds and see where the journey takes us. It really isn't so much about winning it all etc I'm just enjoying playing with an elderly group of football players who are one kick away from retirement and try to hit it big one last time for all those football fans around the world. I doubt we're going to finish anywhere near the top but for every team that finishes below us I'll drink a nice little shot of good whiskey to celebrate I hope you'll enjoy this unusual ride with me. It's just an idea that popped in my head and I went with it. The season will be over before you know it so if it's total disaster the suffering won't last long hehe!

Thanks for reading and I'll bring the one and only following update as soon as I have completed the challenge. Any guesses where you think FC Forty United will finish? Cheers lads!!

Edited December 8, 2017 by BatiGoal

[Titjes]

Sounds like a fun challenge 

I'm sure under your control, they will play like they are 25-year-olds or so 

[BatiGoal]

7 minutes ago, Titjes said:

Sounds like a fun challenge 

I'm sure under your control, they will play like they are 25-year-olds or so 

Thanks, hope so. Altho at this point priority is to entertain the crowds one last time

[FuddledFox]

Happy birthday for tomorrow mate. I hope Betty has something special planned for you?.

Interesting challenge and team but I am surprised your not aiming 1k from one of the strikers.

[BatiGoal]

4 minutes ago, FuddledFox said:

Happy birthday for tomorrow mate. I hope Betty has something special planned for you?.

Interesting challenge and team but I am surprised your not aiming 1k from one of the strikers.

Thanks, yeah she got me a Jack Daniels which I'll open tomorrow

1KC with a 40yo? Hmm I'm still too sober to consider that

[Taff]

Happy Birthday old man

[BatiGoal]

7 hours ago, Taff said:

Happy Birthday old man

Thanks mate 

[Titjes]

Happy birthday Batigoal  Make it a great day 

[Taff]

5 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Thanks mate 

Maybe @samhardy is in a giving mood and could throw his H2H so you could reach the Final for your Birthday (I'm not looking forward to facing either of you so might as well be Sam)

[Seth Anacondas]

Happy birthday!

[BatiGoal]

12 minutes ago, Titjes said:

Happy birthday Batigoal  Make it a great day 

Working on it, thanks biggie! 

 

4 minutes ago, Taff said:

Maybe @samhardy is in a giving mood

Stop stop stop... 

 this had me roflmao! 

 

2 minutes ago, Seth Anacondas said:

Happy birthday!

Not my team but I'll have one of those, thanks

[PriZe]

[BatiGoal]

3 hours ago, PriZe said:

[BatiGoal]

- FC Forty United -

 

(my birthday challenge)

Really busy week ahead of me but I need to get this out of the way. Let's see what I managed to do with a group of 40ers.

 

August

• Best result: 2-0 win over Jong PSV
• Worst result: 3-2 loss to FC Volendam

September

• Best result: 3-0 win over Go Ahead Eagles
• Worst result: 5-3 loss to Almere City

October

• Best result: 3-5(e) win over NAC (Dutch Cup)
• Worst result: 2-2 draw vs De Graafschap

November

• Best result: 3-5 win over FC Oss
• Worst result: 1-4 loss to FC Emmen

December

• Best result: 2-1 win over SC Cambuur
• Worst result: 2-3 loss to AZ (Dutch Cup)

January

• Best result: 3-0 win over FC Volendam
• Worst result: 1-1 draw vs Jong PSV

February

• Best result: 3-0 win over Jong Utrecht
• Worst result: 4-1 loss to FC Dordrecht

March

• Best result: 2-4 win over Go Ahead Eagles
• Worst result: 4-1 loss to FC Emmen

April

• Best result: 2-0 win over NEC
• Worst result: 3-3 draw vs FC Eindhoven

May

• Best result: 2-3(e) win over NEC (2nd round play-offs)
• Worst result: 0-1 loss to De Graafschap (3rd round play-offs)

 

Jupiler League Table

I said I expected to finish far off the leaders, and we did with a massive 16-point gap, but I'm so proud of these 40ers. So we reached the play-off spots. Can I actually get promoted with this group? Is it truly possible to get these grandpa's into the Dutch Eredivisie??

 

Play-Off Second Round - First Leg

Playing the team that finished one spot above us in third we felt hopefully to get a decent result. And we did. Advantage is ours!

 

Play-Off Second Round - Second Leg

And a late (tie) equalizer forces an extra 30min. Apparently our ageing squad is fitter and with smart subs we take the win. Brilliant!

 

Play-Off Third Round - First Leg

Delighted facing De Graafschap who eliminated the much stronger NAC from a division above ours. Plus this team finished 9 points below us taking the last play-off spot in 8th. So confident we were so terrible the result. A shock!

 

Play-Off Third Round - Second Leg

Nothing to lose. A more attacking version of my 4-1-4-1 Batigoals formation turning a midfielder for an extra striker and attacking mentality. it's a risk but we're a little desperate to get a result, and it worked with 3! goals in the first half. Second half back to our accustomed formation to consolidate things and drag our beforehand extremely unlikely deemed promotion over the finishline. Now THAT'S one fine birthday gift indeed!

This is quite unbelievable but we've made it! You now can retire boys. Retire with your heads held up high.

 

Confirmation

Kinda started loving this club after this challenge. I'm thinking of starting a new save with this team and bring them ALL the way.

 

FC Forty United

can't stop looking at these oldies and thinking of their achievement. Just goes to show that when we have a few players of 33-35yo in our squad they still have so much value and so much to offer to the entire squad. They're in my opinion an unmissable link in the chain to success. A key component just like youngsters, talent and star players are.

 

The Players - Appearances

Spoiler

 

The Players - Assists

Spoiler

 

The Players - Goals

Spoiler

 

Final Words

A short challenge but I loved it. Perhaps a little too personal being my birthday challenge but I felt more motivated in playing and completing if I posted it here and it could always inspire the next or bring a few ideas to some of you. Will I continue with this promoted group and take on the Eredivisie. No. It's time to retire. If we're realistic they're simply too old now to do even greater things against much stronger opponents so I think it's best to stop at their, or one of their, best achievements in their careers. It's a great start to my FMM18 life and hope there's much more to come. Thanks for reading and hope you stick around for one of my upcoming careers. Cheers!

[PriZe]

Life starts after 40  great achievement and a showcase of your ingenuity when it comes to creating challenges 

[FuddledFox]

Life in the old legs yet, great achievement BG.

1 hour ago, BatiGoal said:

Best result: 2-0 win over Jong PSV

Am I right that Jong PSV is their youth team?

If so it was literally (old) men against boys.

[BatiGoal]

1 hour ago, PriZe said:

Life starts after 40  great achievement and a showcase of your ingenuity when it comes to creating challenges 

Thanks mate, if life starts at 40 I had one helluva intro geez! ? 

1 hour ago, FuddledFox said:

Life in the old legs yet, great achievement BG.

Am I right that Jong PSV is their youth team?

If so it was literally (old) men against boys.

Thanks Fox, yes, it's their youth team which means they aren't eligible for promotion. IRL it's very common tho to see senior players from the A squad get game time in Jong PSV /Ajax etc after injury, or new players to get accustomed to the new playing style, country etc. 

[Woody]

Cracking little challange pal...

Just shows if you keep yourself fit and healthy you can prolong a career!

And having @BatiGoal in charge too.

[BatiGoal]

2 hours ago, Chris Woodward said:

Cracking little challange pal...

Just shows if you keep yourself fit and healthy you can prolong a career!

And having @BatiGoal in charge too.

Thanks. We often look at players that turn 30 as "old" or "way past their prime" , but it really doesn't need to be. Of course it isn't players you can build a future around but there's in most cases still 4-5 good seasons in them left. And in some cases well beyond that.

[1899]

Awesome result and also helps to put things into perspective. I am also too quick to dispose of older assets in favor of trying to groom that 17 year old into the next big thing. 

[BatiGoal]

45 minutes ago, 1899 said:

Awesome result and also helps to put things into perspective. I am also too quick to dispose of older assets in favor of trying to groom that 17 year old into the next big thing. 

Thanks. In general careers I try to give 16-19yo no more than 20-25 games per season. Somewhat the same to players beyond 33 and I try to keep them till at least 35 as a thank you for their services, but also because of their value to the squad.