RS Challenge Prize Announced

Hello there i have decided with the success i have had on FM Style with my challenge its only fair i have a prize for the winner. The person most likely to win at the moment is Armageddonash as he is the current leader with an insane amount of points but its not impossible to catch him!! The prize will be either a brand new Real Sociedad home or away shirt from the 2008/09 season - the winner can choose. The reason i'm not offering the new centenary shirts as a prize is 1) Im a cheapskate and 2) I don't personally like them and think last seasons shirts are much better and 3) None of your mates will know since i have been wearing the 2007/08 season one recently and everyone who has commented think its the latest one!! The closing date for this is 4th September in order to give people plenty time to finish it! I will be taking over the points table and updating it over the weekend. To be able to win the shirt you must update your progress on the official Real Sociedad Challenge thread and keep me up to date with your progress i.e. screenshots of trophy wins etc. Good luck - Aupa Real!!!

Jack Franklin Finishes Challenge

Hi folks, with nearly 2 months gone by and not a peep on this blog i felt it was time to break the silence. Due to a change in my personal circumstances i have had to put the game on hold for a while and as yet i'm still unsure when i will be able to continue with season 3. With this, i also had to step down from my moderator role over at FM Style but coincidentally my absence has also seen the official Real Sociedad Challenge thread dry up also. Hopefully when i return to action the thread will kick off again as i'm looking to improve on the 2,268 post that are already on it!

The only person that has battled on and finished the challenge is Jack Franklin a member of the site admin at Style. He raked in a very impressive 400 points after winning 2 league titles, 1 spanish cup and 2 Super Cup's so congradulations are in order. Unfortunately for Jack, ArmageddonAsh is still in his 5th season and currently on 645 points so is the hot favourite to take the coveted title this year!! Jack has also decided to play on and created a thread to follow his progress from his 6th season and beyond as he battles for European Glory - something that eluded him in the 5 seasons of the challenge.

Well done again to Jack and hopefully i will be making a comeback soon. For anyone who has been converted into die hard Real Sociedad fans as a result of taking on the challenge don't forget you can keep up to date with the latest news and scores at my very own Real Sociedad News!

Adios for now amigos! Aupa Real!

Start Of Season 3 Update

Pre-season 3 was one of the most difficult i have had on the game as i knew i had to step up the quality to improve on my 8th place last season.

With only one recognised striker in the squad my first task of pre-season was to sign a few strikers as we were far too lightweight in attack last season. A player i'd seen do very well for others was Mallorca striker Oscar Trejo so he was signed. I also signed Danial Aquino but the biggest gamble came in the form of Bogdan Stancu. On FM2008 he was the best player i signed but his stats this time paint a different picture. If he scores half as much as he did before though i will be happy. The most expensive signing came in the form of DMC Carioca. I'm sure he will be a star for me. I also bolstered my defence with the 1.4 million signing of Celta Vigo CB Lasarte. I'm sure you will agree he looks an amazing prospect. There was constant speculation regarding Laval's future with Real Madrid and Inter Milan rumoured to be planning 20 million bids but nothing materialised. If they were to bid that amount i would probably sell him. Here are all the comings and goings.

Pre-season was busy for another reason as i was busy negotiating the Euro Cup qualifying rounds but as you can see from the results i cruised through and am safely into the group stage.

As usual i have played my first league game of the season at home to Espanyol and beat them 2-1 but unfortunaltely my star midfielder Wagner is out for 3 months so hopefully Alvarez will fill his boots.

I will update again at the start of January where mmy target is to still be in the Euro Cup and hopefully in the top 6 in the league.

I would also like to mention the fantastic news that a friend of mine i have mentioned a few times on this blog Jack Franklin has started a new FM Blog called FM Expo and is currently descibing his trials and tribulations as he takes on the Real Sociedad Challenge.

Congradulations To ArmageddonAsh

I would like to say a massive congradulations to FM Style member ArmageddonAsh for winning the Liga BBVA with Real Sociedad in only his 3rd season! This capped an amazing season where he had earlier won the Spanish Super Cup at the start of the season on penalties and also the Spanish Cup at the end of the season so the treble was done! He kindly provided screenshots on the oficial thread of the four tactics he currently uses. Tactic 1 - 4-1-2-1-2, Tactic 2 - 4 - 3 - 3, Tactic 3 - 4 - 4 - 1 - 1, Tactic 4 - 4 - 5 - 1. He has even made them available as a download which is fantastic.

Below is the current trophy haul for the challengers taking part and as you can see Ash is way out front now (click the table to enlarge) -

With 2 seasons left of the challenge for him he still has the chance to rack up many more points and i'm sure his target now will be the European Champions League after getting knocked out by Barcelona last time. For anyone still thinking of doing the challenge i say - go for it!! Its never too late to begin and over the last few days i have had another three people declare an interest so good luck to gavros, Sean and rktmn.

Season 2 Finished And 8th In The League

Well after a break from The Real Sociedad Challenge i'm happy to reveal its back up and running for me. I have just finished season 2 and what a finish it was coming a fantastic 8th in the league!! As you can see from the results i had a very strong finish to the season and had i not lost on the final day of the season i could even have finished 7th but had to settle for finishing a place behing Zaragoza for the 2nd season running. As a result of this i will be in the Euro Cup next season which i'm delighted at.

Without doubt the star of the season was my Brazilian genius Wagner who scored a brilliant 20 goals and got 20 assists! My other great player who contributed alot was Ben Sahar on loan from Chelsea who got 9 very important goals but its unlikely i will be making the move permanent as i have other targets in mind.

In the end of season summary i was voted the "overachievers" of the season which shows how good a season it was and i also got "most improved club".

I have already made two signings on free transfers - Julio Alvarez who was arguably my favourite player on FM2008 and Jack Wilshere who was released from Arsenal. Already these two have made their debuts as i played the first leg of the Euro Cup Qualifying Round 2 and they both played brilliant as i swept Lithuanian side Zalgiris aside 5-0. The first round was a walk in the park as i beat some berry picking team 4-0 in both legs.

Targets for season 3 are to have another strong season and get in the top 6 and bring in some quality players. I definitely need at least 2 strikers and my defence needs strengthened as i have released Van Bronckhorst and Gerardo as they are too old now.

I am delighted to announce the official thread on FM Style is going from strength to strength, with the latest count being 1100 posts which is amazing! We now also have a member called ArmageddonAsh updating his progress on his FM Style Blog which is brilliant and already he has won the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup twice and the Liga Adelante (the only one so far to manage it) and is currently top of the league in season 3 and doing great in the European Champions League. Another member doing great is YNWALFC as he has won the Euro Cup and the European Super Cup and came 3rd in Liga BBVA. Another sign that FM Style is buzzing with the challenge is Jack Franklin has started a soms on his Real Sociedad game so looking forward to seeing how that works out.

I will update again as usual when i have played my first league game of season 3 where i will reveal what signings i made and hopefully i will still be in the Euro Cup. Adios for now amigos.

Halfway Through Season 2 Update

Well normally i would do my mid-season update at the start of January but this time November and December went so badly for my team i decided to see if January went any better as this post would just be filled with some colourful language and talk of the sack! Thankfully for me January couldn't have went any better and seen me climb up to 8th in the league and an incredible 10 points from the top! This is after a seven game run where i couldn't buy a win!

Key to my change in fortunes was the arrival of strong Czech Republic full back Martin Jiranek and a change of tactics. The bain of my life and the cause of many shakes of the head was Kikin Finseca. I have loaned him out to Napoli with an agreed price of 2.6 million after failing to adapt big style. I lost count of how many times he blazed over the bar from 6 yards out so his stats simply lie!! To bring some firepower to the 2nd half of the season i have brought in 2 loan signings. Ben Sahar from Chelsea and Guto from International in Argentina. Players to leave in January were Aranburu to Wigan for 4 million and Estrada to Malaga for 1.5 million.

My star man by a country mile who has dragged me through many matches all by himself is the Brazillian Wagner. He is the reason i am doing so well at the moment and is fast becoming my favourite player.

As you can see the next 4 matches are gonna tell me if the tactic i have is any good and i'm not expecting much success but my target now is to get into the top 6. This confidence would have been ridiculous at the end of December. I will update agin at the end of the season where hopefully i will have achieved my goal of a top 6 finish.

If you fancy taking on the challenge yourself don't forget you can update me on your progress by commenting on this blog or by posting on the official thread on FM Style.

Start Of Season 2 Update

Well folks thats me done my pre-season duties and my Real Sociedad squad has a completely new feel to it as i have gambled on a mixture of old and young (or experienced and eager to put it another way) to ensure i stay clear of relegation and consolidate my position in La Liga for a higher push up the table for season 3.

The experienced guys i went for were Jorgensen from Fiorentina and Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Feyenoord. I feel these two have at least one more good season in them and have signed 1 year deals. The youngsters are the one's i am really excited about and will hopefully be at the club for a long time. Firstly is Iker Zelaia who came through the youth system at Real Sociedad. Next up is a player i signed on a free transfer from Bordeaux called Jeremy Laval and i will be giving him plenty chances in the first team for obvious reasons. Finally i signed an 18 year old Brazilian youth internationalist called Paulo so all in all the future looks bright.

On to my more serious signings who i hope will make a real impact this season. First up i needed a new first choice striker with the departure of Kovacevic so though long and hard about this one. I finally decided to take a gamble and brought in Kikin Fonseca, a player i have had no experience with whatsoever and only signed him due to his stats. Next up i wanted someone to play in the AMC role behind him so spashed out 6 million to land Brazilian Wagner from Corinthians. I'm hoping he will give my team a creative spark that can hurt Liaga BBVA defenses. Below are my other signings :-
Mikkel Andersen - Danish under 21 internation and backup to Riesgo
Xavi Jimenez - at 30 years of age won't get much game time but back up to Prieto
Ever Banega - On loan for the season and should be a good squad player
Mark Crosas - Signed from Celtic as squad player - will be backup to Banega
Sebastian Leto - Will hopefully make the left wing spot his own
Fran Merida - On loan from Arsenal and will be backup to Wagner

You can see from all the transfers i did i managed to sell and buy the exact same amount so i'm happy with that. Players who left i feel just weren't up to the standard needed for the top league.

As usual i have played my first game of the season and i got hammered 4-2 at home by Valencia. Harsh lessons were learned and its made me -

1) Question whether i should have signed better defenders
2) Wonder why the hell i signed Fonseca cos he had a nightmare
3) Question my tactic for this season. At the moment i play 4-4-1-1 but i'm not sure a lone striker is gonna be best for me as against quality defences he will be outnumbered alot.

Of course i could be reading too much into my first game and hopefully things will improve. Something i am very happy with considering all the changes i made is the squad harmony.

I want to offer my congradulations to a member on FM Style called ArmageddonAsh who has had an amazing first season in charge. He became the first person to win the Liga adelante and even more amazing he reached the final of the Spanish Cup and was unfortunate to lose to Barcelona. This is after beating Valencia and Real Madrid on route. He also picked up his 2nd piece of silverware tonight when he won the Spanish Super Cup beating Barcelona over 2 legs. Keep up the good work Ash! I'm delighted to also announce my thread for The Real Sociedad Challenge won an award on FM Style for "thread of the month" so get yourself over their and get involved!

As usual i will update again at the start of January on the game where hopefully i will be clear of the relegation zone and doing ok. Adios for now amigos.