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In the end, we managed to amass 9 challenges, which is actually fairly decent. Thanks to everyone who sent one, nice to see a few new faces, as well as some very old ones!
Still, it would be nice to have only one voting round, and so in the hope that we get get two clear winners, this time we vote for our top TWO challenges.
Votes as always sent to stuartredmond@gmail.com Remember you MUST add your FMS user name to your vote email and you MUST claim your vote in this thread. Closing date will be the glorious 12th of July around 9pm.
#1 Basque Supremacy - [i]Peacemaker7[/b]
This is quite a simple challenge. Spain have never won the World Cup. Your task is to make sure they do. Quite easy yes? BUT - ETA have finally won their battle, and Basque's now rule all of Spain. Therefore you can only pick Basque players for the national side. As a side bonus, take Bilbao (or any other side from the Basque country that only allows Basques) and win the Champions League.
Step 1: Take over MK Dons and lead them into the Premiership
Step 2: Consolodate Premirship survival for at least 2 seasons
Step 3: Take the Dons back to the FA Cup Final (or another major cup final)
(for a bonus take an unfancied Eastern European International Team aka Slovakia past the group stages of a major tournament)
#3 Around Europe in 4 Leagues - Queen of the Stevenage
Starting off in French CFA - A, the challenge is to win the title, then to
get a job in English League One. Similarly you have to win League One and
get a job in Germany's Second Division. Win that and you're allowed to go
for the big one. Serie A, where you have to win it. Easy eh?
You're not allowed to manage any other clubs apart from ones in the
respective leagues (so if Palace got relegated to League One, you could take
that job). However you can, in effect, take the French team to Ligue 1 AND
THEN leave to join a League One side (and the same with all the other sides)
and you have to go up in that order.
The Auld Alliance. In effect it was a treaty that made sure that France and Scotland ganged up on the English. If either country was attacked by English forces, the treaty ensured that the other would invade English territory. Whilst it was first and foremost a military agreement, it brought about more obvious benefits, particularly for the Scots as they sought jobs as mercenaries in the French armies and, quite naturally, a plentiful supply of good wine.
The alliance benefitted both nations, indeed Scottish intervention at the Battle of Bauge in 1421 went a good way to saving France from English domination, but like all good things it had to come to an end. With the Reformation in Scotland, such an agreement between a Catholic France and a now Protestant Scotland was impossible and the alliance was officially ended in 1560 by the Treaty of Edinburgh.
Friendly links between the two countries remained though; the Scots could scarcely do without French wine – even after the Union of the Parliaments in 1707, claret continued to be smuggled into Scotland to avoid taxes. To this very day Scots show their affinity to the French by toasting ‘the King over the water’, whilst the dual citizenship guaranteed by the alliance was only revoked by the French government in 1903.
What, you may ask, does all this have to do with an FMS challenge? It’d be a pretty fair question. Your challenge, in the spirit of the Auld Alliance, is to build a squad full of Frenchmen and Scots and take over English football. Starting at any level outside the Premiership (though I suggest Championship or perhaps League One at a push to comply with the ten year timescale) you must take a squad entirely composed of players from France and Scotland and claim two English Premiership crowns and win both the League and F.A. cups once each.
* You must have players from both nations in the squad, but not weighted more than 70%-30% in favour of either.
* Your Premiership title or cup win only counts if, from the very first game of the season, your squad consisted entirely of Frenchmen and Scots.
* Any players promoted from your youth team who do not comply with the nationality restrictions must be released immediately.
* You may change jobs at any point in the challenge, but you must start outside the Premiership.
You must take over an international side, which according to FM's in-game world rankings, are outside the top 150 in the world. Your aim is simple, to qualify for the World Cup within 10 years.
Only when you have taken your lucky nation to the world's greatest sporting event can you claim the challenge complete. You'll be pleased to find however, a selection of the globe's finest teams, ranging from Pakistan to the Bahamas.
There is nothing worse then the agony of defeat. Especially for second
place. You don't win second place, you lose first. In the history of
football, there have been many teams that have never won certain major
trophies. But there are some that have come painfully close, only to be
denied in the end.
The challenge here is for you to break these cycles. This challenge has a
number of stages, but it is possible to complete more then one stage at a
time.
Stage one: The national/FA Cup.
The cup is notorious for upsets. It doesn't matter what league you're from,
there has always been examples of small teams making shock cup wins. These
upsets are remembered for ages afterwards. Sadly, those small teams that
made it all the way to the final only to lose are usually forgotten by the
time of next year's final. Ofcourse there's also the big teams that have
been contenders, but never quite winners. Take a team that has reached (but
never won) the national cup's final (in any country you please), and right
the wrong that has been done to them.
Stage two: The National League.
It takes more then a run of good fortune one year to win the league, due to
the ammount of games. A ten-game winning streak might be enough to snatch a
cup, but in the league you'll need consistency throughout the season. Hence
the reason that league-winners are an elite few, with a few exceptions in
between. A few teams, however have managed to come within inches of claiming
their nation's biggest title, once again only to be denied. Take a team that
has finished 2nd place in their nation's highest league at least once, but
has never won, and bring them the title they so richly deserve.
Stage three: UEFA Cup
The UEFA Cup, the cup of the everchanging winner. Also the everchanging
runner-up. No less then 21 teams have reached the final but never won it. A
broad selection indeed. Some big names, some smaller names. Take one of
them, and win this cup, too.
Stage four: Champions League
In a league of champions, there too you will find runners up. Arguably the
biggest tournament in the world, and winning it is a life-changing event.
Which means losing it is doubly bitter, ofcourse. Alas, there is a number of
teams that have come so close they could almost taste it, but never got to
raise the cup over their heads. A tragedy that you must fix for one of them.
Stage five: The world stage
The World Cup and the European Championship are two of the most exclusive
cups around. Only twelve teams have ever reached the final of the European
Championship, and only nine have ever won it. Only ten countries have ever
reached the final of the World Cup, and only seven have won it.
Either take Belgium, Portugal or Yugoslavia (or Serbia and Montenegro) to
win the European Championship, or take The Netherlands, The Czech Republic
or Slovakia (both part of former Czechoslovakia) or Hungary to win the World
Cup.
For extra credit: do both.
If picked, I will post a list of all teams (up till 2001) that qualify for
these challenges.
If during the time you play other teams reach and lose a final, or finish
second without ever having won them, you may consider them eligible. If you
want to take a team that has never won or gotten second place and get second
place first, and then win it all, you're being tedious, but go ahead.
This challenge is based in the world of international football. The challenge begins by taking a team that has not participated in any of the last 5 world cups. (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, which is 'past' for challenge purposes.)
Stage 1:
Qualify for the World Cup in 2010 or later (on the basis that although World Cup 2006 is in the future when the game begins, it is 'past' for challenge purposes.)
Stage 2:
At this World Cup, or another in the future, advance to the knockout stages.
Stage 3:
Win the World Cup (I'm well aware this may be impossible).
Success in Continental competitions is great for story purposes, but carries no weight for challenge purposes.
You are entitled to take any club job offered to you, again this can be worked into your story, but has no bearing on the challenge.
You are entitled to move to another country if offered the job so long as that nation also fits the criteria.
The relevant World Cups are always 1990-2006, if Brazil fail to qualify from 2010-2026 it does not make them eligible. (Unless I'm overwhelmed by popular opinion feeling it should.)
You are a football manager, and a good one at that, but you have one small problem - you just can't help tinkering with your team. Perhaps this habit is caused by insecurity, a lack of self confidence or even some form of mental illness. Whatever the reason, you are literally incapable of selecting the same starting eleven for two consecutive games, let alone allowing them all to play for a full 90 minutes. Quite how much of a handicap this will be to your career remains to be seen.
The challenge is quite simple - take over any club in any league in any country and lead them to top-flight success, but playing within the following restrictions.
1. You must have a minimum of 25 players in your first team squad. If you take over a small club with less than 25 warm bodies on the books then you must sign sufficient players to take you to the magic number as quickly as possible, even if this means taking on some highly-dubious free agents.
2. For each game you must make a minimum of three changes from the starting eleven that you used in your previous game - one defender, one midfielder and one attacker.
3. During each match you must use all of your permitted substitutes, one of whom must be introduced during the half time interval.
4. By the end of the season every one of your first team squad must have made at least eight starting appearances - this does not include coming on as a substitute.
5. All of your existing players, and any new arrivals, must be allocated a squad status of "rotation".
07-05-2006, 10:37 PM
*OFFICIAL* FMS Challenge 2006 #2 - Voting Thread Post #2
voted! Couple of really interesting ones there - and yet again, despite trying to wean myself off the game I feel as though I'm on the verge of wasting my life again
07-06-2006, 03:46 AM
*OFFICIAL* FMS Challenge 2006 #2 - Voting Thread Post #7
*OFFICIAL* FMS Challenge 2006 #2 - Voting Thread 
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