Excelsior (or Humilior)?

retired_burnandshine99 · 05-19-2005, 03:52 PM

Having played CM when it came on 3.5" diskettes on my 386, and later having played EHM (shareware and SEGA version), I bought FM. I fancied having a go at building career from the ground up, so chose to manage Excelsior from Rotterdam in the Dutch First Division. I have been to a handful of their games when I was a lad, and they're the RL feeder club for my beloved Feyenoord.

Now there may be those that worry about being able to use prior knowledge of the Dutch football league; I would like to reassure everybody that having lived in Jockland for nearly 10 years, my exposure to Dutch football of any level has been very limited. I have a job/life, so no way can I stay up to watch Channel 5 coverage at 3 in the morning. And on first seeing my squad, I knew no-one by name or reputation, except one of my coaches (former 5th-choice Feyenoord goalie and he is a rubbish coach now).

It was only into the second season that I discovered this forum, and thought it would be nice to provide you guys and gals with updates. Now I finally have completed 3 seasons, and I forgot most of what happened at Excelsior.

Season 04/05 - Excelsior Rotterdam
Board wanted me to steer the club to top-half of the table, gave me a massive (€450k or so) transfer budget, but didn't give me any money to pay my potential signings, so never signed any. Had a few talented guys on loan from the big brother team, and a bunch of young guys (21-25 on the whole).

Loaned in a few more, flogged a DC to raise some cash, and managed to get to 11th at the end of the season.

In the Cup, hammered some poor amateur side 8-0 in the first round, but got hammered 4-0 myself by fellow first-division side Veendam.

Season 05/06 - Excelsior Rotterdam (Dutch 1st Div)
In an attempt to reduce my wage budget, sold my captain left-sided midfielder, my starting goalie and got in a promising Belgian FC and a Belgian/Congolese 16-year-old GK for the future. Started season ok. The friendly that my AssMan managed to arrange with UEFA Cup winner's Schalke appeared to have workd out fine. But this soon turned and I dropped into the lower end of mid-table.

After getting knocked out in the 3rd round of the Cup by Premier side Roda JC and picking up
a few players on frees, I signed a 300k veteran striker who didn't really set the world on fire, but managed ok. The team went on a bit of a slump, but I had just managed a good away draw with high-flying Telstar when, as a bolt out of the blue, I was sacked. No reason given.

I guess that running over wage budget and not getting the league position to back that up cost me dearly.

So, off to the job centre. I applied for all open management positions of LL clubs, and the day after, I was offered the job by Italian C2/C club Giugliano. It appears my Italian girlfriend
had pulled some strings (just hope it wasn't hers down :eek: ), and as I wasn't too sure if I would be offered any other jobs anytime soon, I moved off to the south of Italy.

Season 05/06 (2nd half) - Giugliano (Italian Serie C2/C)
What I found was a stadium with a capacity of 5000 (no seats), a squad of 15 or so players, all of whom probably deserved to play in division C2, a transfer budget of €80k and again higher wages than they had budgetted for. Board wanted me to keep them midtable.

It took me some time to find a way of playing that would work for this team, so dropped alarmingly toward the playout zone.
3 wins in the last 5 games saw Giugliano in 13th place, one place above the dreaded playouts.

2006/07 - Giugliano (Italian Serie C2/C)
In the off-season desperately looked for players that would want to join me on loan, but no-one
interested. Serie A and B players felt themselves too good. This is really the
bottom of the heap.

I did manage to buy an AM from Castel di Sangro, but that was my only success.

With a new AssMan, and a reduced squad, and three under16s, started the season well. Managed to even be in first after a few weeks, but got swiftly overtaken by Taranto, who looked to be
running away with the title after having been relegated the season before.

Dropped out of the playoff spots only for one week, and in the end managed to end in 3rd, the club's first landmark. Taranto in the end only won by 3 points after having been 11 clear of 2nd place. Got through the playoff semis with a 2-2 away draw and a 2-0 home win, but went down 1-0 away to Castelnuovo. Not brilliant, and with them ending higher in the league we had to beat them by 2 clear goals. Unfortunately, we couldn't score at home and have to settle
for another season in Serie C2. And it won't be easy, as I will have to get rid of
a lot of my high earners without having the funds to hire replacements. I like it here and don't want to be sacked by the Administrators.

Next update could be a wee while as I am going on holiday on Sunday for two weeks.

retired_Wnt2Bamodel · 05-19-2005, 04:06 PM

Nice. I hate updates where LLMs get promoted and win stuff. This one makes me feel warm and gooey and more indulgent of my own pitiful flounderings. KUTGTW

retired_tinkfaeree · 05-19-2005, 04:18 PM

KUTGStringing

retired_julir321 · 05-19-2005, 04:27 PM

KUTGWageTrimming

retired_burnandshine99 · 06-07-2005, 08:03 PM

Season 07/08 - Giugliano (Italian Serie 2C/2)
At the start of my second full season I decide to try and remedy the overspend on wages and (relunctantly) sell my best (and most expensive) two players. Maybe because of that I go on a terrible run. After getting only 1 win and 1 draw in 12 games, I'm seriously thinking of resigning. However, I decide to stick it out to see if I can turn things around.

But, it's injury, injury, they've all got it in ju ry... Top SC out for 9 months (he's my top scorer with 1 (!) goal :eek

Then, finally, slowly the team starts to play better. We're still losing but we're not dropping further down the table (we're second from bottom so hardly surprising that). Then, the team manages to get a good shock win over Sassuolo, who are in 2nd place. It moves us up 2 places to 15th.

And then, bang, out of nowhere (ok, not quite) I get the sack. No reason given. Right after getting 7 points in the last 3 games. Apparently the chairman was fed up with me, and the fact that one of the players became unhappy for me heaping too much pressure onto him may have broke this camel's back.

With the hump, I went off to the job centre again.

I applied for every job going, even for the one which I had rejected about a week before. As always, I accepted the first job offered, and that now sees me leave behind la dolce vita and move to English Conference South, and Grays Athletic.

Season 07/08 - Grays Athletic (English Conference South)

Grays have a 4500 capacity stadium with 300 chairs I have to put out myself every weekend. I get a transfer budget of 65k but another overspend on wages, this time by about 20%. Och well, let's see if I can ruin this club.

They have an ok squad, poor backroom staff (with long contracts) and me. I fear the worst, but I'll have a go.

In fact, using a style based on what I developed in Italy, I manage to get 3 wins and a draw in the last 4 games of the season, ending in 9th. Not really my doing, as they were in 10th when I took over, but nice nevertheless. Bodes well for next season.

Chelsea win their 3rd consecutive EPL title, plus the Champions League, with Hull City taking the FA Cup from surprise finalists Torquay United. In Germany, Bayern win their 3rd title, and Feyenoord wrap up the Dutch Eredivisie with a massive 12 points margin. The Scudetto goes to Roma, as does the UEFA Cup. Celtic break Rangers hold and win their first league since 2004.

Poofland wins the European Championship beating Serbia and Montenegro in the final.