Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...

Career Scratch Tries: A China 1KC [Packing it in]


Scratch
 Share

Recommended Posts

北京欢迎你 - Beijing Welcomes You...
 

Days after being recognised as world class superstar manager, I got the call that would change my life...

Was it Real Madrid? Bayern Munich? Juventus? No... it was Guo'an:

3.jpg.6b81f5f2123544118b761b200875ed81.jpg

They were inviting me to the Gongti (The Workers Stadium):

1.jpg.79d2747becf06167aa74a0b4cc9b04c2.jpg
Credit: Benoît Prieur - CC-BY-SA

2.jpg.c06b3c435b6e8d332b9f95b2cd70d747.jpg

How could I say no! No sooner was the ink drying on my contract, than I was scouting around to find a striker to build the club around. I landed on this man:

4.jpg.a6413b626652cd02a76d1eebacdc76e7.jpg

I have a feeling that he'll be scoring a LOT of goals for his club... I wouldn't be surprised if ended up getting a thousand or more!

 

Why China?

A new league! One that I've never played. One that will hopefully yield a lot of goals. And the chance to be the first 1KC in China (I think?).

Also, I lived in China for three years and go back to visit every couple of years.

 

Why Beijing?

One of the places I lived was just outside Beijing. I was actually closer to Huaxia Xingfu than Beijing, but they didn't exist yet when I lived there and I used to walk past the Workers Stadium when I'd go into Beijing on the weekends. I know where I'm going to live and I know where I'm going to eat!

Also, Beijing should be successful (it's the capital!), but Guangzhou Evergrande has left them in the dust. I can help put that right. I lived not far from Guangzhou as well at one point, but Beijing just feels right to me.

 

Why Pedro?

Honestly, Pedro was the only young player with any talent who I could get to come to China. Most are just plain not interested. I'd like him to be a little younger, but 20 is fine and I think he has goals in him. 

My only worry is he may move want to move away after a few years. But that's all part of the fun of trying a 1KC in China. I don't know if it's possible. It might all fall to part in a season or two.

This is not going to be a simple: 'buy regens and build the club up to being unbeatable and score 100 goals a season' sort of 1KC... There's every chance I'll fail. Or even get frustrated with China and walk away (like I did with Holland a few years back). But it's going to be fun trying.

 

The Original Post Content (so the post below this make sense)

Scratch Tries: To put this guy back in his place:

than-the-guoan-can.JPG.2c3863286a7bc1d881af8ad5e7aa8d9c.JPG

Coming soon...

Explanation: Hinting at the club, also going to make the Guo'an famous! The screenshot is from the Beijing State of Mind parody (of Empire State of Mind), which always makes me homesick for China. 

 

Edited by Scratch
Link to comment
Share on other sites
15 minutes ago, Scratch said:

@Rob2017 @Nucleus - You don't need to know the singer (you can't possibly know him), but ... the club name is right there in the lyrics... 🙂

 

Oh yeah I got the Beijing bit 😂 I assumed that was a footballer who made a rap about them 😛

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Just now, Nucleus said:

Oh yeah I got the Beijing bit 😂 I assumed that was a footballer who made a rap about them 😛

Nah, its not a footballer, it's from an Empire State of Mind parody called Beijing State of Mind. The clue was simply the club name... And I liked the line, as in "if he thinks the club's not famous, well, I'm gonna fix that, they'll be famous enough when I'm done"... I guess I suck at setting clues! 😄

Now, as for what I'll be doing there... Well, I mentioned elsewhere I'm going to do a 1KC... so... China 1KC!

Gonna be risky though. What if I can't keep the player? No backup leagues... If he decides the leave, I'm done... Can I do it in a 30 game league? Yeah of course I can. Can I find good enough players to build around him? Maybe? But they'll mostly be old right? Lots of questions, but I'm gonna find out the answers...

One more question for you guys... Any guesses on the player's nationality? It's not Chinese...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
19 minutes ago, Nucleus said:

I’m guessing Brazilian as they love that league. Money grabbers 😛

Spot on. 20 year old Pedro. Who as far as I can tell is the only non Chinese youngster willing to play in China. Wouldn't have been my first pick but I couldn't find anyone else suitable.

Should make @BatiGoal happy as he's not on the wonderkid list. 😁

Link to comment
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Spot on. 20 year old Pedro. Who as far as I can tell is the only non Chinese youngster willing to play in China. Wouldn't have been my first pick but I couldn't find anyone else suitable.

Should make @BatiGoal happy as he's not on the wonderkid list. 😁

It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds. I’m yet to try China, at first I was excited about it but the whole work permits issues put me well off. It could turn into a goal fest 😛 I hope it does 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
4 minutes ago, Nucleus said:

It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds. I’m yet to try China, at first I was excited about it but the whole work permits issues put me well off. It could turn into a goal fest 😛 I hope it does 

Yeah I was much the same: excited, then gave up on the idea. Then I had the crazy idea of an Andy Carroll 1KC in China, before realising he was 29. If he'd been a year or two younger I would have tried it, because I think it very well may be a goal fest.

But that got me thinking about China again and I found Pedro and ... it just seems so much more interesting that the other 1KC I was contemplating. Might very well crash and burn but that's part of what makes it interesting... Quite excited right now!.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Just now, Scratch said:

Yeah I was much the same: excited, then gave up on the idea. Then I had the crazy idea of an Andy Carroll 1KC in China, before realising he was 29. If he'd been a year or two younger I would have tried it, because I think it very well may be a goal fest.

But that got me thinking about China again and I found Pedro and ... it just seems so much more interesting that the other 1KC I was contemplating. Might very well crash and burn but that's part of what makes it interesting... Quite excited right now!.

Andy Carroll wouldn’t last a month with those injuries! 

I’m excited for you! 😂

Link to comment
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, Nucleus said:

Andy Carroll wouldn’t last a month with those injuries! 

I’m excited for you! 😂

Haha, yeah, you're probably right. And at 29 he'd have faded pretty quickly. I did some math and he'd have to be hitting 2 or 3 goals a game every game, just wasn't realistic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noticed this. Gonna watch now. Yes, work permits are a pretty shitty thing while playing there but if luck is with you, you can get some very good players if you throw money at them as i learnt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
41 minutes ago, Kanegan said:

Noticed this. Gonna watch now. Yes, work permits are a pretty shitty thing while playing there but if luck is with you, you can get some very good players if you throw money at them as i learnt.

So I used to live in China and I know how things work there. Want a work permit, just gotta take the right person out to dinner... At least that's how my employer got my work permit on more than one occasion... :D 

added 0 minutes later
29 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Surely the title should be "Made In China"

Nice one! I'll pay that! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Woody said:

The title should of been ' Big trouble in little China'.....

Good luck Scratch.

Bizarre film that, I watched it few years ago as the HappyConsoleGamer always bangs on about it and it's just bizarre lol. 

He looks pretty decent @Scratchmate, good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, Woody said:

The title should of been ' Big trouble in little China'.....

Good luck Scratch.

Thanks mate! Big trouble indeed! 

By the way, here is a bonus photo of our goalies turning up to the first training session:

Spoiler

Image result for big trouble in little china

Not sure why, but they just make me think of goalkeepers! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, Titjes said:

Good luck mate ;)

Lets hope he stays with you in China.

Thanks mate. Yeah, this is my big worry... Turns out I can sign plenty of foreigners. Not top notch, but good enough that I think I should be able to crush this league. But if he decides he's off to Europe in a couple of seasons it'll all be for naught..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, Ashez said:

Bizarre film that, I watched it few years ago as the HappyConsoleGamer always bangs on about it and it's just bizarre lol. 

He looks pretty decent @Scratchmate, good luck!

Thanks mate. But that movie is a cult classic! That's the 80s right there...

Mind you, it's probably been 20+ years since I watched it, wouldn't be surprised if it didn't hold up well at all.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, Foxy said:

Interesting looking player that Pedro lad and a nice original choice.

Good luck mate.

Yeah, he looks okay, not sure how much development is left in him - some I'm sure, but I'd have rather got him younger. But I was stoked when I saw he wasn't on the wonderkid list (although maybe that's a bad sign!). Anyway, the choice is made now and we'll see how it turns out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Rob2017 said:

Going to be an interesting one this, especially based on your ability to get a good supporting cast over there.

Thanks mate. Still in pre-season. It's definitely harder to sign top notch players, especially anyone under 25 or 26, but I'm getting some decent players.

My normal 1KC approach is: "sign up all the best youngsters in the world and keep them for a decade". This one is going to have to be: "Find good solid players 30 or under that can come in and do a good job until they get too old". This team won't ever be the dominant unbeatable team I like to build, but I don't think I'll need it over here in China.

Going to be a quite different sort of save for me. 🙂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update - Season 1

Here we go, heading into the unknown: a China 1KC. Is it even possible? The first season was an eye-opener... There are some things that worked out better than I expected, and others that worked out worse...

Let's start with one of the positives (sort of), then look at some of the problems.

 

Transfers

My big worry was that I wouldn't be able to sign good players in China. Turns out it was easier than I thought, with a few caveats:

  • They are all going to be foreigners. I'm trying really hard to find some Chinese players that will be able to hold their own in the team, but they are few and far between.

  • They are not going to be youngsters. I did sign one or two good youngsters, but most youngsters will not even consider coming to China.

  • They are not going to be top rung. You can get players who are very good for this level, but they aren't the same top rung players you'd get in a bigger league. Think players who'd be squad players in the EPL, but not enough to win anything.

  • They need to have international experience. I've had a few successful work permit appeals, but not for players with no ITN games.

  • What you see is what you get. Don't count on them developing much (more on this later), so make sure you'd be happy playing them as they are before you bought them.

  • You are going to get turned down a LOT - get used it and set aside a lot of time for trawling through players.

So what sort of players should you be looking for? I'm glad you asked...

  • Players without a club: They seem more open to moving to China (but not players with expiring contracts).

  • Players based in South America, Africa, etc: They are more open to moving to China than players from better leagues.

  • Players already in China: Your opponents normally don't mind selling to you and you have more money than you can spend.

  • Players in the 25 to 30 age range: I originally thought I'd only be able to buy 30+ year old players, who'd crumble in a season, then need to be replaced, but actually you can get players who will last 4 or 5 years.

I found those in order of appearance, which lead me (once again) to buy too many players. Each time I found a new pattern, there were players I had to have, even though I'd already got enough.

So with all that in mind, lets look at our actual business.

Spoiler

china1kc-season01-47.jpg.1e3651fafbd44ee5a0713f6a1bb0f5b0.jpg

china1kc-season01-48.jpg.cc2e9b0ebb215fa533834eb073d6bbb8.jpg

china1kc-season01-49.jpg.829a5b89e61114a8d890c278fce204b2.jpg

china1kc-season01-50.jpg.cd866a0206750f14e07b24b16aa648a3.jpg

china1kc-season01-51.jpg.f17427953d4026be3a440734bff025a8.jpg

The out column is made up of Chinese players who were never going to cut it, existing foreign players at the club and some of my earlier signings who were superseded halfway through the season.

The In column is much more interesting:

  • Pavon! I've signed him for every 1KC I've ever done, so couldn't believe he'd sign. He was based in South America, but players that young almost always say no.

  • Pavlenka, a very good keeper, who's only 25 years old (I used him in the latter stages of my Long Way To The Top career).

  • Rajkovic, another excellent young keeper, who I picked up mid-season when scouting out players in the lesser leagues.

  • Chen Shilong, the best Chinese player I can find. Unfortunately he's a striker too. More on him below in the Chinese Players section.

I could go on. Kampl, Luan, Romero, Barrios, Lima are all very good players in their mid to late 20s. The result is a very good team who can dominate China.

 

Chinese Players

As I've alluded to up above, the Chinese players are not very good compared to the players you can bring in. I always try to play a couple, but it's hard to fit them in.

I thought I could just go buy the best Chinese players in the game, but ... they're not that good. One guy who does look good is Chen Shilong:

china1kc-season01-05.jpg.72015f1d6fb63bbb98b6ffa491044de5.jpg

Unfortunately, he's a striker so will only get limited game time in a 1KC. It also looks like he is already fully developed, so what you see is what you get. I did consider swapping to him as my 1KC striker, but in the end I stuck to the plan.

Beyond him, there are some decent players, but none that would hold their own in the team. I now have some good Chinese youngsters who will hopefully develop and push for places in the team, but I think this will be an ongoing struggle.

The other teams are starting to buy more foreign players, so it will be interesting to see how many Chinese players are getting a game in a few years.

 

Development

There have been a few hints above about this, but this is a real problem for me. There is an awful lot of this going on:

china1kc-season01-43.jpg.3cd369e3f6ed5d464beded88e1730012.jpg

The majority of people with those orange bars have the "Needs to play at a higher level to improve" message. Yes, including our main man Pedro and his trusty sidekick Pavon.

I got one level up out of Pedro after he arrived (+3 Movement, +2 Pace, +2 Arial), but he's done for now:

china1kc-season01-16.jpg.a038b7eb7fb4768c53c45e9420ad6aa2.jpg

I know there more development in him and he could become a truly awesome player, but I'm never going to see it. He's good enough to complete the 1KC, but that's terribly disheartening, especially when it's happening for the whole team. I can buy great players, but the majority will never improve.

For Pedro, I thought I had the answer: Get the Brazilian job and then he'll develop via the ITN games. However, that brings us to the next problem...

 

Scratch Who?

I started as a World Class coach, ranking number 1 in the world! However, spending time in China has caused my rank to slip:

china1kc-season01-36.jpg.ad0be2d0cdeef05eaf9a72ad30279c7f.jpg

When I checked after winning the league, I've slipped to Continental.

The Chinese job was vacant at one point and I thought I'd take that to try to improve the quality of the Chinese players. They didn't give it to me.

The Portugal job became available. I thought I'd take it so I could buy some Portuguese players and develop them via the ITN games. They didn't give it to me.

So, there's no way I'll be getting the Brazil job at this point.

 

Hands Off My Boy!

In the second half of the season, this started to happen.

china1kc-season01-24.jpg.9d0da824f91b4fba086421200810ce35.jpg
china1kc-season01-41.jpg.923fb6ae6030a4cf6583028bc56681ee.jpg
china1kc-season01-44.jpg.63af11363ad6bf2646816d8b0abd826f.jpg
china1kc-season01-58.jpg.46f6242a3d01a2705097ed7bc1cca331.jpg
china1kc-season01-59.jpg.cde8df700fe7cde77d5b4c65d544bb50.jpg
china1kc-season01-61.jpg.1e4cbe0d166d83405fa1c508fb242965.jpg

The first time I rejected the offer and he got upset. I straightened that out with a new contract. After that, I just set the price I was looking for to double their offer and they went away and Pedro didn't get upset.

But this will keep happening now. As he scores more, it's going to be really hard to hang on to him. And if I lose him, my chances of tempting him back are almost zero.

 

The Only Solution

The root cause of many of the problems above is that the Chinese Super League is not great. In the Reputation listing, it only shows up at 23:

china1kc-season01-17.jpg.bab2dfe17a90490ffd822f03e8e5e63b.jpg

If I can improve the Reputation of this league, maybe players will be more willing to come, more likely to develop further here, the local players will be better and my reputation will be higher.

However, improving the reputation of the league is not easy. I've done it before in Scotland, but that was through winning the Champions League. I can do the same thing here by winning the Asian Champions League, but I have to assume that winning that is not as prestigious as the European one.

So maybe this is just going to be the way it is...

 

Competitions

Not really much to say here.

We won the CFA Cup Final 7-4 on aggregate (it's played over two legs):

china1kc-season01-45.jpg.ed3852c7478976e4c9c68359ef8b8774.jpg

We won the league easily, but only 81 goals which we'll want to improve on:

china1kc-season01-46.jpg.3f4572f25e86853312b719412e42a9cb.jpg

And that's it for this year. We should be in the Asian Champions League next year.

 

Assists

One guess for the top assist provider. Yes, Pavon:

china1kc-season01-56.jpg.9633ce248ca4336d22ed7c981fd51afe.jpg

 

Injuries

Pedro missed about 4 games due to knocks and a ghost injury, then he picked up a one month injury:

china1kc-season01-34.jpg.9b2cd27a646197be63bb212f6857d0c9.jpg

I thought it was going to take him out for the rest of the season, before I noticed that he'd only miss 4 games, before a month long gap in the fixtures. Weird, but it allowed him to get back in shape before the final 4 or 5 games...

 

Goal Highlights

Pedro scored 5 goals twice this season (not a bad start):

Spoiler

china1kc-season01-13.jpg.13b29cddb50410b597af4f0f6f594243.jpg
china1kc-season01-38.jpg.befbf9b6400b9505aaf73c3e8b625dea.jpg

 

Goal Totals

Pedro scored 50 goals in 31 games this year:

china1kc-season01-54.jpg.9859994deb5513cafe2da90d42f65925.jpg

That's a pretty nice ratio in his opening season, even though he's a bit older than most 1KC candidates. I think he'll get up to 50 games a season once we're in the Asian's Champions League and the Club World Championship, which should see him hitting 100 before too long.

There's definitely enough goals in him to make it to 1K here, as long as he stays.

 

Progress

21 (EOY) Season Total
Club Goals 50 50

 

The Future

At this point, there's no question that Pedro can reach 1K in China (if he stays). The real question is whether I will keep playing this.

I've been really enjoying the training / improvement of young players in FMM19 but that's missing from this save and it's really killing my enjoyment of this game. I will play at least one more season to see if some of these Chinese youngsters come through, but at some point I'll be bored of this.

The other main problem is whether Pedro will stick around. I don't want to play 6 seasons only for him to not renew his contract. If that's likely, I better just stop now...

But I'll definitely commit to another season, so we can see how it's going after that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah the pain of playing in China. I remember pretty clearly. Yes, holding on to Pedro will be real tough and Shilong is definitely the best Chinese striker you can get in the game. He went to Bournemouth in my pensioner's save and he is lighting up the premier league with his performances. Great tally from Pedro in the 1st season. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...