Career The $1 BILLION Chairman’s Challenge - My 1st Attempt

[DanEnglish]

Yes! Your favourite failure* of a career is BACK!

* because - let’s be honest here - it’s not really going well so far 😞   
 

Annoyingly, I saved over the latest version of this save, so had to reload from the start of season 5 + simulate that season again. Urgh. Now the historic league positions + cup wins don’t match. BUT the manager, squad, etc are all the same 👍 

Am starting to holiday through season 6 now ... we had a great start in the league!

 

Spoiler

 

[DanEnglish]

The $1 BILLION    
Chairman’s Challenge 

SEASON 06:
Mid-Season Update    

   
Jan 1st

6th?!

Urgh. Look at this recent form...

Spoiler

5 games. 3 losses. 2 draws.  

Plus another manager has already become available ... may we need to consider him as a backup option?

Spoiler

 
So could this get WORSE?!  
 

Edited October 6, 2021 by DanEnglish

[Titjes]

To get a player back from loan using editor, can only be done by releasing the player and re-signing him for your team. If I'm not mistaken 😉

[DanEnglish]

30 minutes ago, Titjes said:

To get a player back from loan using editor, can only be done by releasing the player and re-signing him for your team. If I'm not mistaken 😉

Thank you - that makes sense! 👍 

[DanEnglish]

The $1 BILLION    
Chairman’s Challenge 

SEASON 06:
End-Season Update
 

So ... er ... just how bad was it ... ?  
 

Fixtures

Spoiler

A brilliant run from Jan to March...

... ruined by an awful finish (again)

 
Cups

You’ll notice in the spoiler above that we lost the FA cup final + was knocked out of Europe at the ECL quarter finals.

‘And the Carabao Cup?’ you ask ... urgh. We’ll ignore that - it was bad. 
 

League

1st? 6th? Worse?!

3rd.

Not bad. But not good. Thankfully we qualify for the ECL next year + get $30m. But we got only 71 points AGAIN. That’s below my 2 pts/game target. Poor.

• League 😞 3rd
• Community Shield ✅ won
• Carabao Cup 😞 knocked out
• FA Cup 😞 lost final
• ECL 😞 knocked out

Wow. Only $40m extra. That takes our transfer budget to $149.5m. Where do we need to spend it? 
 

Squad

You can see our first XI + all squad stats in this spoiler...

Spoiler

With the exception of an injured Mbappe, that’s our first choice team who got beat 5-4 (after extra time) in the FA Cup final.

• De Ligt + Kamara disappointed, both with <6.9 ratings over the season.
• Lukaku + Mbappe scored at similar levels to last seasons, while Haaland scored + performed a little worse.
• Deli Alli is contributing much more than Foden, even though they are both swopping between the MC + AMC positions.
• Left back Gaya got 2 red cards! Argh!

• Fati is neither playing, nor contributing, enough 😞 
• Barella + Merino contributed to many goals, but like all our midfielders, their ratings remain quite average.
• Merino equalled our club’s season record with THREE red cards! 😡 
• So many players had average ratings <7, which is quite worrying.

 

Next

A poor season. We must improve. Both in the league + in Europe. Is it the manager, or the players? 

Let’s figure it out in the season 7 preview! 
 

Edited October 6, 2021 by DanEnglish

[Victor77]

2 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

The $1 BILLION    
Chairman’s Challenge 

SEASON 06:
End-Season Update
 

So ... er ... just how bad was it ... ?  
 

Fixtures

  Hide contents

A brilliant run from Jan to March...

... ruined by an awful finish (again)

 
Cups

You’ll notice in the spoiler above that we lost the FA cup final + was knocked out of Europe at the ECL quarter finals.

‘And the Carabao Cup?’ you ask ... urgh. We’ll ignore that - it was bad. 
 

League

1st? 6th? Worse?!

3rd.

Not bad. But not good. Thankfully we qualify for the ECL next year + get $30m. But we got only 71 points AGAIN. That’s below my 2 pts/game target. Poor.

• League 😞 3rd
• Community Shield ✅ won
• Carabao Cup 😞 knocked out
• FA Cup 😞 lost final
• ECL 😞 knocked out

Wow. Only $40m extra. That takes our transfer budget to $149.5m. Where do we need to spend it? 
 

Squad

You can see our first XI + all squad stats in this spoiler...

  Hide contents

With the exception of an injured Mbappe, that’s our first choice team who got beat 5-4 (after extra time) in the FA Cup final.

• De Ligt + Kamara disappointed, both with <6.9 ratings over the season.
• Lukaku + Mbappe scored at similar levels to last seasons, while Haaland scored + performed a little worse.
• Deli Alli is contributing much more than Foden, even though they are both swopping between the MC + AMC positions.
• Left back Gaya got 2 red cards! Argh!

• Fati is neither playing, nor contributing, enough 😞 
• Barella + Merino contributed to many goals, but like all our midfielders, their ratings remain quite average.
• Merino equalled our club’s season record with THREE red cards! 😡 
• So many players had average ratings <7, which is quite worrying.

 

Next

A poor season. We must improve. Both in the league + in Europe. Is it the manager, or the players? 

Let’s figure it out in the season 7 preview! 
 

Definitely the fault of the players 

[DanEnglish]

The $1 BILLION    
Chairman’s Challenge 

SEASON 07:
Preview + Transfers   

  
There are two types of failure in life.

Back at school, some realise they’ve failed only as they’re finished the exam. We are not that type.

We are the other type. The ones who know they’ve failed before they’ve even seen the exam questions. This is how I feel about this squad.

1 Champions League wins in six seasons. We need 4 more ECL wins. Can we do it ... ?!
 

Manager:

Nikolic. Succeeded beautifully in winning our 1st ECL in his 1st season. BUT two disappointing league seasons + a poor European finish last season means his job is at risk.  

With his (revolutionary!) 442 diamond, can he do better?
 

Transfers:

We have 3 retirees + a 4th (elderly Varane) who should retire - so they need to be replaced.

Spoiler

We can recruit up to 4 players - 3 retirees plus a 4th for our league finish.

With limited funds, we immediately get these 3 guys (plus save the 4th transfer slot for a later season!)

Spoiler

Dest (DR)   
The most expensive of this summer’s buys + the only one who will be in our starting XI. Last year we promised the manager a new DR + here he is.

Thomas (DL)   
A backup replacement for the retiring Ismaily. Will be a younger backup DL behind the ageing 31 year old Gaya.

Kambwala (DC)   
The ex-Man United youth center back replaces the retiring Koulibaly. We need someone younger than 25 right?! 

 
Just $40m left?!

Hmmm. We have 3 more players retiring next season, but we won’t have much budget to replace them. Just $40m. Need to win some trophies 🏆

Spoiler

Was $109.5m last season...

• +10m from domestic Cup Wins.
• +30m for 3rd place in the League.
• +3.5m in player sales (bye bye Gabriel)
• minus 113m for buying these three defenders.
• TOTAL $40m left

 
Squad:

Here’s the squad now...

 
Is this a good top 4 side? Or maybe title challengers? Or ECL winners? You can stop laughing now 😞

• ST - Great 👍 Mbappe, Fati, Haaland + an ageing Lukaku.
• MC - Mixed. Great first team players, but needs better quality backups / depth, as some backup players are relatively poor.
• DR/LB - Improved 👍 Should be good for another 1-2 seasons.
• DC - Dangerous. We really need another world class CB alongside De Ligt, for when the ageing Zouma inevitably declines. The others are backups only.
• GK - Solid 👍 thank goodness for Onana. He’s been great. 

 
Next:

We are failing.

Only ONE European win in six seasons so far. We need FOUR more for this challenge.

What’s that? Is that laughter? Are you laughing at us?! AGAIN?! *Sigh* You probably should be 😞  
 

... but will Nikovic have the last laugh?!   
Can he win in Europe again?!

Edited October 10, 2021 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

We have just lost 2 of our first European games. Could this be another Europa League season?! 😮

Edited October 10, 2021 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

The $1 BILLION    
Chairman’s Challenge 

SEASON 07:
Mid-Year Review   

   
Just how bad could this be ... ? 
 

Transfers:

Who is this?

Spoiler

Wonderful! 

While he can’t defend, a 26 year old Sessegnon will be our starting DL for the next ~5 years!

 

Along with our summer purchase of the American DR (Dest) - now both full back positions have been upgraded! It’s great news + really improves our first XI ... which now looks like:

Spoiler

Why is Mbappe the Target Nan, while Haaland is the Poacher?! Urgh.

Other than this plus an injured Deli Alli - this first XI looks great!

Thankfully we now apply our twice a year heal + morale bonus (on Aug 1st + Jan 1st) - that helps! 
 

Europe:

After losing two games early on, we squeezed into the knockouts - after a crucial narrow 1-0 win away from home at Real Madrid. Phew!

 

Cups:

Knocked out of the Carabao Cup ... *sigh* ... let’s just move on ... 
 

League:

Jan 1st.

Nikovic = 😄 

You beautiful, beautiful manager. 46 points in 20 games is exceptional. We are almost guaranteed top 3 (and ECL qualification). But could we win the league?! I dare not hope.

Also - look how far rivals Liverpool have fallen! 
 

Next:

Europe. The League. Both are still to play for. Perhaps we haven’t failed that exam after all. Maybe guessing (A) on all the multiple choice questions WILL succeed?! 
 

What will happen ... Glorious success?! Or is this just giving us hope, before our cruel + inevitable failure ... ? 
 

Edited October 10, 2021 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Spoiler Alert

Europe didn’t go well *sigh* and now we are out of all the cups...

 

[broodje kip]

Man City 🔥