[Peacemaker7]

Ok we managed to get a Semi-Respectable number of entries, lets see if we can get a Semi-Respectable number of votes. You may choose ONE of the listed below challenges to vote for. For this time you may if you wish vote in the thread or if you want to keep your vote secret you may email it to me. Simply state the number of the challenge you are voting for. Do not use this thread for discussion of any kind, use the ideas the thread.

Voting will close on Monday 13th August at midnight.

[Peacemaker7]

[i]Challenge No 1

The Bobby Robson Challenge by Bobbev

My earlier Brian Clough challenge proved to be quite popular initially but many people lost interest because of its inherently linear nature. In constructing this challenge I have tried to keep the elements that worked well in the original but also introduce a lot more flexibility.

Your basic objective is to try to emulate the achievements of the great Sir Bobby Robson, perhaps the most successful manager of his generation. He started his coaching career in Canada with the Vancouver Whitecaps before returning to England to manage Fulham. After being sacked by the London club he took over at Ipswich, making them one of the most successful clubs in the country. In 1982 he took over as England manager and after two successful World Cup campaigns he went back into club management in Europe. He found great success in Holland, Portugal and Spain before returning to take charge at Newcastle, the club of his dreams.

In summary, Sir Bobby achieved the following.
[/b]
FA Cup winners
UEFA Cup winners
Twice runners-up in Division One (now the Premiership)

England
World Cup Semi Finals

PSV Eindhoven
Twice Dutch champions

FC Porto
Twice Portuguese champions
Portuguese Cup winners

Barcelona
Spanish Cup winners
European Cup Winners Cup winners
Primera Liga runners-up

Newcastle
UEFA Cup Semi Finals
Three top-5 Premiership finishes

In order to eclipse the man himself your challenge is to achieve the following.

Stage 1 – Domestic Success
Win the Premiership, a domestic cup and a European trophy with any club from the Championship.

Stage 2 – Travelling The World
Win two Dutch league titles with any club from Holland.
Win two Portuguese titles and the domestic Cup with any team from Portugal.
Win the Spanish League and Cup and a European trophy with any Spanish team.
Take England to the Final of a major international tournament.

The elements of Stage 2 may be completed in any order that you wish.

Stage 3 – Coming Home
Win the Premiership with Newcastle (or optionally any club from the North East – Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Darlington etc.)

[Peacemaker7]

Challenge No 2

The Walter Smith Challenge - by RossDee

The Walter Smith Challenge:

win 7 SPL titles in a row as Rangers (Souness won the other 2 9 in a row titles)

Win EPL with Everton using only £2M for transfers + any money brought in, with average squad age of 30 (reflects his difficulties at everton)

Qualify for World Cup and European Championships with scotland (after a minimum of 8 years, this may be easier than it sounds.)

Return to Rangers, re-invent squad and win SPL in first year, Uefa Cup in 2nd and Champions League in 3rd (the biggie. he probably won't do this, but we can dream. see if you can.)

[Peacemaker7]

Challenge Number 3

The Walter Smith Challenge revised - By RossDee, amended by PM7

Win 10 domestic titles in a row (because 10 sounds better) with any club. (This would be easier or tougher depending on the league and gives a choice of difficulty level and also means the challenge isn't club or league specific).

The move to a club that is outside say the top 12 in a particular country at the point where you end your first club, which has to be after they won 10 in a row. You cannot buy players under 30 years of age, and perhaps a limit of 2-4 signings a season. You need to win the EPL.

Take over any country that has never been past the first round of the World Cup Finals, and guide them to winning that competition.

Return to either your original club IF they have failed to win a domestic title within the last five years or more OR as a rather perverse twist, it they have been successful domestically, or you just want to be perverse, take over their main rivals (that part may be obvious or you may have to decide who they are thats up to you) and guide them to say three titles in a row plus the Champions League.

[Peacemaker7]

[i]Challenge Number 4

Scolari Challenge by RossDee

Build a High Profile while only managing clubs from a single country. (Scolari Plied his trade in Brazil before being offered the national Job)

If and when the managerial slot for the country you have been working in until that point becomes available, apply for it.

Lead the country to success in the first world Cup you play in. then quit job as national coach immediately.

Apply for any other national job, and lead them to Continental and World Finals.

[Peacemaker7]

Challenge Number 5


Pole to Pole - by PM7

Ok here's something I thought of last night when falling asleep not sure of the practicalities, but could be interesting.

Starting at either the North or South Pole, you have to work your way to the other side of the world.

Starting countries could be (From North, for South just reverse it):

Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland or Russia

Take a club from one of these countries, perferably from as far north as possible, and lead them to at least one domestic title.

When you are ready, its time to move south. Choose any country north of France, perferably Scotland, Denmark, Poland or Belarus but thats entirely up to you, its your journey. Win at least two domestic titles.


Time to move further south. Choose a country from France or below, preferably either France, Spain, Italy, or Portugal but again it's up to you. Win a domestic title.

(Note your choice of nations will make this challenge either easier or harder. You could go Iceland, Belarus, Greece if you wanted for a fairly easy ride or Norway, England, Italy for instance for a harder one.)

Time to move further south and your choice is now limited to South Africa or jumping across to any country in South America. Win a domestic title.

And finally you end up at Australia, where you must again win a domestic title.

As a final challenge take either the country you started with, or the country you ended with to the World Cup Finals and try to win it.


Variations

You could of course start south and work north.

You could start in Iceland, go to the USA next, then South America etc. Or, you could start in the USA, then go to Mexico and down that route or you could jump the atlantic back and forth.

At the end of the day, this is just a guideline, its entirely up to you how you get from Pole to Pole and will depend on your patience and PC. The only real rules here are, you must win at least one domestic title before moving and your next port of call must always be further south (or north).

[Peacemaker7]

Challenge Number 6

Cross-Continental challenge by RossDee

Win a trophy from each country in one continent, then take a lower ranked country from that continent to the world cup final.

for example, in europe, you'd go through scandinavia, into the british isles, win a trophy from each country there then head to portugal, then spain. into france, then belgium, Holland and Germany, into austria, then italy, into greece, poland, russia, and then finally, stop in finland, then take your EU country national team seat.

If you're really suave, you'll be able to win a cup in one country then flit to another. but, if you take it at 1 country a year, it'd take...22 seasons, but that's without flitting from team to team mid-way through a season, also, remember that the scandinavian leagues run at different points....

It's a gargantuan challenge, but it's not impossible, but it is perhaps a little too much

[Peacemaker7]

Challenge Number 7

The Bill Shankly Challenge - by Terk

Although his record of honours has long since been beaten – indeed by Bob Paisley, the very man who followed him into the Liverpool hotseat – Bill Shankly still tops public polls trying to find the ‘Greatest Manager’. Whilst he may not truly have the rightful claim to that position, there is no doubt that the man achieved more than enough in his career to be fondly remembered.

After his career at his first clubs was blighted by continually getting on the wrong side of the board, Shankly found his home at Anfield and guided them to three domestic titles, twice won the F.A. Cup and claimed the UEFA Cup amongst it all as well. Your task is to emulate, make that surpass, the achievements of the man who took Liverpool from being a spent force to the top of English football. But don’t worry, you’ll likely not have to go anywhere near Anfield.

Stage 1: Shankly’s managerial career began at Carlisle, staying at the helm for two years before falling out with the board and moving on. In that time, Shankly took them to the brink of promotion from the old Third Division North.

*Your job is to take any club from the League Two and guide them to promotion.


Stage 2: Having fallen out with the Carlisle board over a bonus payment, Shankly moved on to Grimsby, who were in freefall from the old First Division right down to the Third. Shankly’s first season saw the side just miss out on promotion and his second was blighted by an ageing side and a reluctance to give an opportunity to some promising reserve players.

*Your job is simply to move to any side in either League One or Two and stay there for two years. During this time, at least five players of 30 years or older must play in at least 50% of your matches.


Stage 3: Though Shankly spent some time at Workington, we’ll ignore that and move onto his job at Huddersfield. Initially joining as reserve team coach to help out friend Andy Beattie, Shankly was soon promoted to the top job. However, he once again found himself frustrated by his board, who urged him to sell on the club’s better players and regularly refused to sanction the purchase of replacements.

*Your task is to move to any Championship club as soon as possible after your two years at Stage 2 are up. You must guide this club to the Premiership. Given that your board are the frugal sort, you cannot sign more two players in any single season.


Stage 4: Having proven his worth, Shankly now find himself at a club who matched his ambitions when he moved to Liverpool. Floundering in the Second Division when he joined, Shankly soon turned them round and by 1964 they were First Division Champions. Shankly won the league twice more, added two F.A. Cups (the first in the club’s history) and won the UEFA Cup. He never claimed the European Cup, however, coming closest when Liverpool were dumped out in the semi finals in 1965 in controversial circumstance against Inter Milan.

*You must now take over any ‘fallen giant’ in English football. To qualify as a fallen giant, the club must have claimed at least three major domestic honours in its past (at least one of which must have been the Premiership – or old First Division – title) but not won a trophy in the five years prior to your appointment. You must guide this club to three Premiership titles, win the F.A. Cup twice and go one better than Shankly, laying your hands on the European Cup itself.

[Peacemaker7]

Challenge Number 8

The Auld Alliance Challenge – Mk II - By Terk


The first version of the Auld Alliance Challenge, though it got voted to official status, had a fatal flaw for players of FM07 in that, when you reached the Champions League, you would be unable to pick the requisite number of home-grown players in the squad. So now, rather than reforming the Alliance to destroy the English on their own soil, we’ll do it from home ground.

For too long we have suffered the English media drivel that the Premiership is the greatest league on Earth. With Arsenal and Liverpool reaching recent Champions League finals, they seem to believe their point has been proven. We need to show them that the French and Scots are still superior nations.


Stage 1: Starting in either France or Scotland, take charge of any club from outside the top division. Your goal here is to prove yourself and your English hating credentials. You must win each of the top domestic trophies (League, Cup, League Cup) but at no point are you allowed to sign an English player. If there are Englishmen at the club when you join, you must either shoot them like the dogs they are, or sell them at the early possible opportunity.


Stage 2: Now it’s really time to show the English who is boss. If you began your challenge in Scotland, you must now move to France and vice versa. Taking control of any club that will have you, you must not only claim each domestic trophy, but win the Champions League as well. Again, no Englishmen allowed near your squad.


Stage 3: Just in case anyone is in doubt of the English inferiority, it’s now time to stick it to them on the international stage. Land yourself the job with either the French or Scottish national side and guide them to glory in either the European Championships or the World Cup. Extra xenophobia points for managing to win both.

[Peacemaker7]

Oh yeah if you DO vote by email, remember to include your SIGames user name on the mail AND claim it in this thread, otherwise it will not be counted.