retired_zoe77tb

croatia sounds interesting. is anyone doing that already?

retired_charytine

Croatia. :thup:

retired_help_my_body

I can strongly recomend the football wasteland that is Sweden. Low standards, so it should be rather easy to progress through the leagues (although I'm doing my best to disprove that), a short season (20-30 games per season), some talented youngsters (who don't want to play for you), finances are a real challenge and, I can't remember a Swedish team in the group stages of the Champions League, so you can write history if you actually pull off the challenge.

retired_makaylalldredge

Well despite freek_teek's impassioned plea for Sweden, I'd gone out and left the Croatian Holiday Man doing his thing for me.

Then coupled with migwr and aaberdeenn's backing, it has to be Croatia. :cool:

Profile update to come shortly.

retired_spence1ca

Rakow in the Polish Second Division - End of season update 2009

Firstly, I would like to say, I found my experience one of my most challenging and exciting on Football Manager to date - although not my most successful...

I started the season with a team predicted to finish 17th(of 18) - a team of greys and youth. I made signings, most of who were not very good, the problem being I could not attract 2nd division players to my team, and had to rely on players from non-league Polish sides.

Most noticeably of all, I struggled to find a striker who could finish and had pace - something so vital in these sorts of leagues.

I started the season fairly strongly, being midtable for the first 10 or so rounds. By the middle of the season I was in 13th place - with 15th-18th being the relegation places. I bumped up to 12th, and went on the long winter break.

After winter, we carried on where we left off for a while, before hitting a bad run of form. You probably dont understand this fully. I mean a BAD run of form. We lost, we lost and we lost - even to midtable teams at home. We dropped into the relegation places, before a couple of games against the teams around us dragged us out. We then slid back in and after 31 games, we lay in 16th.

We looked dead and buried. A 0-0 draw away to relegation rivals Warta Poznan was enough to push us up to 15th with 2 games remaining, 1 point adrift of safety.

Our penultimate game of the season was vital. At home. We needed a victory. The problem?
We were playing the newly-crowned League champions!
But something happened - this did!

Unbelievable. We flew up to 13th place.

We went into the final game of the season knowing we needed a win to guarentee our survival, a draw if some results went our way, and we COULD survive on a defeat, provided TKP Torun and Warta Poznan both lost at home.

My captain rallied the troops!

I could tell you now that we amazingly snatched a last minute win away to 4th in the table Arka.
But this isnt Football Manager: Fantasy Edition.

We lost. We lost 4-1.

But TKP Torun drew 0-0 at home. And at half time, I checked and Poznan were losing 2-0.

But to my horror: disaster for me.

There were no fairly tales. No great escapes now. We lost, they won, we went down.

The Final Table
Positions Graph

My question now is. Do I do Poland again? Do I start somewhere new?

And advice appreciated :thup:

retired_makaylalldredge

Great update Supermas2 :thup:

Unlucky to go down though

Don't you feel you have unfinished business in Poland?? I'd stick around and get back into it. Good Luck!

retired_charytine

Croatia. \o/

retired_makaylalldredge

\o/ indeed. Just reloading until a team with a kit to my liking turns up.

retired_makaylalldredge

Well it's underway - Mr Kewan takes over NK Slavonija

For those that like some background info this may intrigue you...Slavonija hail from the Pozega area of Eastern Croatia. The specific area is called the Pozega Basin, or as the Romans knew it - the Golden Valley - for its fertile land. Pozega was the home of a vast 11th century fortress until recent years. The city went through a period of decline in the 14th and 15th centuries due to a series of Ottoman raids - Pozega was seized by the Turks in 1537. It remained under Turkish rule for over 150 years and became a base from which the Ottoman Empire launched into Europe. Pozega was liberated in 1745 and came under the rule of the Austrian House of Habsburg. The county and city were eventually returned to Croatian rule.
1699 - Grammar school opened (only the 5th in Croatia)
1727 - Jesuits built a theatre
1740 - built the city's first pharmacy
1760 - the Academia Posegana opened, placing Pozega along with Zagreb among the first Croatian centres of highest education

In 1847 Pozega was one of the first cities in Croatia to introduce the Croatian language to official use and earned the nickname "Slavonian Athens"

Pozega county was abolished in 1923 but restored upon Croatia's independence in 1993. Pozega became a diocesan in 1997 and a graduate degree college opened in 1998.

The city has an 800-year-old cultural and historical heritage. Its carefully cherished traditions underlie the tourist development of Požega.

The central town square with a number of nice buildings (the church of the Holy Spirit, the Franciscan monastery, the Town House, etc.) and a plague column is one of the most beautiful squares in Croatia


Well there we have it - the only guide to Pozega you will ever need! It seems the city has always been at the forefront of Croatian progress and will be something for me to think about as I attempt to produce their first great football side!

Anyway here's the massive squad I have been blessed with!

And the Information screen

Notice the planned expansion - always a good thing! Sign of an ambitious chairman I hope!

No history to speak of - the only thing they've ever one is the Croatian Third Division in 2003.

Let the good times roll.... :cool:

retired_OrangeOne

Supermas2 Excellent report. As I was reading through it I thought it was building up to a last day of the season great escape, so I was quite surprised upon you relegation. At least you went down fighting. As to what next? Maybe if an eligible team gets promoted then you could try that?