Career The $1BILLION Chairman's Challenge - DAMWON Edition

[d e m a r a i]

Hello everyone!

 

Having thought of doing another career attempt (tried to do one but just got bored before it ever got to run ), the timing was coincidental that a really fun challenge just came about to give me some intrigue and motivation to want to attempt. Also kudos to @DanEnglish for also inspiring me to do this with his own attempt which you guys can definitely check out for yourselves right here (spoiler alert: it's a genuine fun read ).

 

Before we start however (or rather i do lol), some important guidelines that i would like and try to implement in order to create a self-sustaining, successful footballing brand which also what's going to drive my decision-making throughout this career attempt

 

> Play possession-based football.

> Emphasis on a talented and balanced squad, both in terms of age and ability,  current and potential-wise.

> Ensure that the club has a stable flow of income, making sure that the manager has the required funding available to help build a title-winning squad.

> Help the club's standing in world football, allowing it to attract the world's best talents both present and future

 

Without further ado, let's get into it then

[DanEnglish]

Good luck transfer buddy! Will be following this with interest Still see how you get on!

[broodje kip]

Good luck, you’d probably want to buy Mikey Johnston 

[d e m a r a i]

4 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Good luck, you’d probably want to buy Mikey Johnston 

Thanks ☺️, dunno if I can sign Mikey with only $2M left in the budget tho lol

4 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

Good luck transfer buddy! Will be following this with interest Still see how you get on!

Thanks man! Will post S1 update progressively, right now about to start s2

[d e m a r a i]

SEASON 1 PREVIEW

DAMWON will be the team I am going with for this journey. Same like usual tho with a little bit of ™ action going on XD

As for the squad...

This is what I've managed to assemble with the $1B budget I've got. Seems okay, nothing special I know but hopefully will get us atleast knocking at the door of top 4.

This of course is what I prefer if I was the manager but considering the fact I'll be playing behind the curtains, safe to assume whoever is in charge will make some tweaks here and there.

Speaking of who's in charge btw..

Honestly, being a student of Pep's school of football, it just couldn't be anyone other than him (tho tbqh ten Hag/Bielsa provided some interesting prospects that I might revisit down the line )

With that I will leave you guys with our pre-season results.. See you guys on the next update 🙏

Edited September 27, 2021 by d e m a r a i
Forgot to screensave the midseason progress so it'll be straight to End-of-Season results for s1 :(

[d e m a r a i]

SEASON 1

End-of-Season Results

So this is how the table looked after 38 matchweeks. We've achieved my personal goal of reaching the top 4 but given that around midseason we were top of the pile, I must say I'm abit gutted but ah owh well..

We didn't had anyone taking individual season awards just yet but I'm happy that the TOTY nominations has been generous enough to nominate three of our players in Lucas, Ramos, and Messi 🙏

In terms of EoS stats, Messi definitely has been shouldering much of the burden. Luck really wasn't on my side with key players constantly injured (looking at you Grealish and Memphis). Hopefully next season it'll be different 

So a $20M 4th place finish bonus aside, let's hop into season 2

Edited September 28, 2021 by d e m a r a i

[DanEnglish]

Great job @d e m a r a i!

Congrats so far - I look forward to seeing who you get for your $20m!

[d e m a r a i]

6 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

Great job @d e m a r a i!

Congrats so far - I look forward to seeing who you get for your $20m!

Danke!

 

For now i feel like saving up would be the wise option, especially with the limited budget. Might "move out" some players after s2 is done to free up budget

 

Grealish giving mixed feelings atm tho. Makes me miss Sane even more, but i'm not ready to give up on him just yet

 

s2 update should come soon

[DanEnglish]

As a heads up, in a 41221, typically AI managers play 2 IFs out wide + a TM up front.

If that’s what your Guardiola is doing, then Messi is not a traditional TM and the team may do better with him cutting in from out wide as an IF.

Therefore for $20m can you get an old traditional TM? Giroud, Manzukic, Dzeko (!!!), or maybe Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic? Might fit the manager’s system better for 1 season only (to win you more money / a free player!)

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by DanEnglish

[d e m a r a i]

SEASON 2

End-Of-Season Results

 

TRANSFERS

 

So far... no activity and it will persists till S4 (I'm from the future btw ). But don't worry there will be signings down the line, also quick question to @DanEnglish, technically i have two free transfer option but i didn't opt to use the one from the season before, is the option still available for me to use or is it a one season kind of thing?

 

 

LEAGUE

 

 

3rd shows steady progress, which considering the fact i didn't invest anything into the existing squad is something good to see and hopefully it'll stay like this as try and bid for our 1st league title ever

 

 

4 PLAYERS FOR TOTY! Absolutely proud of the boys, Messi continuing to defy logic but tbh our star for much of the season was Alaba. Man can do nothing wrong be it on the left or as the centerpiece of the defence, the austrian truly deserved to be in the conversation for being one of the best defenders of his generation, both in game and irl

 

 

 

Messi leading the charge for our team is both good and bad. Good because well frankly he's Messi and he can do these sorts of things. Bad because where in the world are the other attacking players?? Why is Messi at 34/35 still leading in both goals and assists charts sadge

 

 

CUP RESULTS

 

 

Our first foray for the holy grail of Europe was cruelly ended at the hands of Messi-less Barca in the round of 16. Feels sad ofc, but there's a first for everything so i'm sure the Champions League will soon come (hopefully..)

 

As for domestics competitions..

 

 

 

Further heartbreaks. Carabao cup isn't really fancied these days, tho $20M in the coffers would've been nice, but the real gut-kicker was the FA cup. A beautiful, hard fought run came to an end, in such brutal fashion i might add, at the hands of Chelsea. So once again a trophy-less season. Surely the titles will for Pep and co. (right? RIGHT??)

 

 

PLAYER PERFORMANCES

 

 

Seeing this i'm abit fearful for my team somewhat. Depay is growing into his role and that's good, but Grealish is massively underperforming given my expectations of him going into this career run. Foden is a star turn and 35yo James Milner is somehow making a case for being an integral part of the team (Pep signed him btw so that's that)

 

 

So... with $52M now in the bank and the team showing further signs of life, let's get onto S3 shall we?

Edited September 29, 2021 by d e m a r a i

[DanEnglish]

16 minutes ago, d e m a r a i said:

technically i have two free transfer option but i didn't opt to use the one from the season before, is the option still available for me to use or is it a one season kind of thing?

Great question. Sure - why not. Yes you can save the cash + use it later. So same thing applies with transfer opportunities - yes you can save them + use them later. Will update the challenge thread later on to clarify that.

Messi, Milner + Ramos. They are quality aren’t they 😄

Good job so far - 3rd + a final! That’s progress 👍 

[d e m a r a i]

Also to provide more of a colour aswell as a bit of variation from Dan's career, first i would like to show you guys this..

 

 

The red square is the total expenditure for the original 22-man squad which cost us a cool $998M. The box in orange shows the current budget we have atm (in S6 right now as we speak) which currently stands at a moderate $138M. The green box is our expenditure after the draft, which like i mentioned earlier in the prev update something we didn't really do till S4 while the blue square shows our net profit after expenditures has been accounted for.

 

Why show you guys this? Well in order to add some stakes and a touch of realism, i've decided that FFP rules should exist in this save. Now mind you, i haven't yet bothered to read the entire article for it but essentially, i need to make sure that the club has a minimum of $60M net profit every 3 seasons, whilst pertaining at the very least a transfer budget of $50M-70M every season thereafter

 

Sounds like a fun target to continually reach as a sort of side-quest, am i right  

[DanEnglish]

That is a nice side-quest!

[d e m a r a i]

1 minute ago, DanEnglish said:

That is a nice side-quest!

Danke my friend

33 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

Great question. Sure - why not. Yes you can save the cash + use it later. So same thing applies with transfer opportunities - yes you can save them + use them later. Will update the challenge thread later on to clarify that.

Messi, Milner + Ramos. They are quality aren’t they 😄

Good job so far - 3rd + a final! That’s progress 👍 

Yeah the story of what could've been for my draft league team. Honestly haven't liked what Pep has added by himself for the squad but the Milner acquisition gets him a pass. Still gutted about the FA cup tho tbf we were riding our luck at times in previous stages so i guess our luck ran out exactly at the most inopportune times lol

[DanEnglish]

I’m guessing you are quite a few seasons ahead of this update - how is your European success? Is it really getting harder, or have you managed to win your 1st ECL?

[d e m a r a i]

9 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

I’m guessing you are quite a few seasons ahead of this update - how is your European success? Is it really getting harder, or have you managed to win your 1st ECL?

Starting S6, and I've gotta say, after my 1st UCL final my team have crashed out in the round of 16 and the quarters the following seasons. Abit rough 😅 so hopefully yours is abit successful