Start Of Season 5 Update...

After having a wee break from the game its back up and running and season 5 is under way. I have decided to use Kimz tactics for season 5 as i aim to get more silverware in my final season of the "Challenge". The friendlies went well with a tour of Scotland providing a useful run-out for the squad.

I was absolutely delighted to get another trophy under my belt with an unexpected victory over the European Champions Barcelona winning 2-1 in the European Super Cup where the hero again was Bogdan Stancu. This was followed by a crushing 4-2 defeat at home to Betis where they scored twice in the 90th minute.

As usual the transfer situation was a bit of a disaster with the only player to join me being Ruben De La Red from Getafe for 8.5 million. This wasn't due to the lack of trying but every player i went for refused to join me after a contract was offered.

The transfer saga of the summer was that of Bogdan Stancu where his minimum release clause of 20.5 million was nearly met on many occasions as he continues to reject contract offers from me and Chelsea and Juventus continue to probe with bids. If i can hang onto him for the rest of the season i will be very happy.

Cameroon have a new manager - me! I took the job after giving it some thought although i'm not sure at this stage how much focus or effort i can put into the job as i have always found it hard to juggle two jobs in the past. My main objective is to qualify for the World Cup so will keep posted on my progress with this aswell.

My next update will be in the new year so until then adios.

UEFA Cup Winners And Finished 6th

I am going to start this post with an explanation of something. At the end of the last post i was plodding along nicely in the League and still in the UEFA Cup. Then headshotbg won everything with Kimz tactics and it got me thinking.... For the 2nd half of season 4 should i give it a go and see how i get on or should i stick with my own? Well i changed it to Kimz and here is how i got on.....

I finished 6th in the League again and as you can see from the results in the 2nd half of the season they changed dramatically with high scoring games flowing!

After a dodgy start where i lost some stupid games i stuck with it and it brought some unbelievable results. Good examples would be the 8-5 victory over Betis and the semi-final 2nd leg againt Valencia. I got beat 3-1 away from home and in the home leg return i won 6-1!

The UEFA Cup final was an incredible match with Bogdan Stancu being the hero scoring the winner in the 90th minute to win 3-2. Another one for the "punch the air" hall of fame. Other highlights of season 4 are below:-

Bogdan Stancu scoring 46 goals in 50 appearances!
Marius Niculae having his best season yet with 25 goals and 14 assists!
Arshavin getting 13 goals and 34 assists!
Kenan Kodro improving again and getting a man of the match award after only 20 minutes on the pitch. (Never seen that before)
Riquelme in disbelief saying he doubted i could win the UEFA Cup.
Supporters saying the supporters club will be named after me. (A nice touch ha ha)
Nordtveit getting young player of the season ahead of Bojan.

I have made 3 bosman signings for season 5. Oscar from Fiorentina, Vasilis Tosoridis from Olympiakos and Celsinho from Sporting Lisbon.

So i'm left wondering what to do next. I have one season left of the challenge and i'm caught in 2 minds whether to continue with Kimz 8.0.2 no tweaking or not. If i hadn't changed the tactics i know i wouldn't have won the UEFA Cup. I suppose i still can't decide whether using someone else's tactics will give me any real sense of achievement because although i'm happy i won the UEFA Cup i know i would have been a million times happier if it was with my own tactic. Please feel free to leave a comment on your thought on the subject and whether i should go back to my own tactic for season 5. Adios for now and thanks for reading.

League And Cup Won In 3 Seasons!

Over the last few months people have been taking on the challenge and updating me on their progress via the blog, e-mail, or by posting on forums. A few days ago a guy posted on the FM Updates Forum by the name of "headshotbg" and said he didn't think it was really that difficult. At that point he had made huge changes to the playing staff and was just about to start season 3. Season 1 he cruised the 2nd divison with 111 points then season 2 he finished 4th thus getting into the Champions League. Later that day he posted again with Season 3's achievements. La Liga won, Spanish Cup won and Champions League Runners-up! This pretty much makes a mockery of the word "Challenge" on the blogs title. The below screenshots show the 3 seasons of success:-

Season 1
Transfers
Fixtures Part 1
Fixtures Part 2
Fixtures Part 3
Final League Table

Season 2
Transfers
Fixtures Part 1
Fixtures Part 2
Final League Table

Season 3
Transfers
Fixtures Part 1
Fixtures Part 2
Fixtures Part 3
Final League Table
Squad Performance
Manager Overview Screen
Finances At The End Of Season 3

If that wasn't enough my post called "Take That Barcelona" has also been overshadowed. Take a look at this - Screen 1, Screen 2. I have left a post on the forum asking him to post screenshots of the tactics he used and if he does i will update this post with them.

I doubt if anyone will do better than this and up to now he is the only person i've seen be able to win anything. He says he is stopping at 3 seasons and to be honest i can't blame him. He is probably off to try something much harder!

*UPDATE* headshotbg had responded on the forum and has kindly given the following screenshot of the tactic used to win at Real Sociedad. The screenshot is from his new Real Madrid game and called Kimz. It can apparently be found on most FM websites or by doing a Google search. The version is v 2.1 with v1 layout. Thanks again to heatshotbg for letting me use the screenshots for the blog.

Dundee Utd Vs Barcelona 2008

I'm gonna go off the topic again with this post as i thought i'd share my exitement about this months friendly clash between Barcelona and Dundee United on 26th July. I bought my ticket today and can't wait to see the European Championships best player Xavi and his team mates at Tannadice again. It will also be a chance to see the worlds most expensive right back in the world Daniel Alves up close after he signed from Sevilla for 23.5 million.

I went to the game last year when United were very unlucky to lose 1-0 with Henry scoring a rebound from his penalty after his initial effort was saved. This was moments after Barry Robson (now Celtic) had a perfectly good goal ruled out. Hopefully we can beat them this time and exact revenge for last year! COME ON UNITED!


*UPDATE* 28/07/08 I went to the game on saturday and i was delighted with how Dundee United played. We lost 5-1 to the mighty Catalans but the scoreline didn't really reflect how the game went. Dundee United took the lead after a header from Ghanaian midfielder Prince Bauben but Henry equilased 60 seconds later when i was still celebrating. In the 2nd half they brought on Lionel Messi and he ran the show. He grabbed a fantastic hat-trick and got a standing ovation from the Utd fans. Samuel Eto'o scored the other goal.

Halfway Through Season 4 Update...

Halfway through season 4 and things are going well in the league. I'm up to 7th after going on a great run of victories. I had a major slump where i went 6 games without a win and was listed on the "under pressure managers" list but have turned it around.

I managed to beat FC Zurich no probem in the first round of the UEFA Cup and got Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Dinamo Bucharest and Palermo in the groups. After an opening defeat to Shakhtar i managed to beat the rest of the teams and now have Panathinaikos in the 2nd knockout stage. I am also still in the Spanish Cup and look good to progress after a 4-1 first leg over Gimastic.

The stars of the show so far have been Bogdan Stancu, Andrey Arshavin, Leonardo (who was rubbish last season), Dorian Dervite and Marius Niculae. Stancu has justified my sale of Samaras with 20 goals in 20 appearances.

I am very happy as i managed to sell my striker Yildirim Serkan to Marseille for 4 million. I got him for free and he hardly played in 2 seasons. With the money i am hoping to sign Ilsinho from Shakhtar and Dimitar Makriev from Panathinaikos. Makriev is available for only 275k and i'm amazed at this considering his stats. He will be good backup to Stancu as Kenan Kodro is having another injury plagued season.

I had another "punch the air" moment when i was 2-0 down at home to Real Betis and we scored 4 in the last 13 minutes to win 4-2.

I will update again at the end of the season so for now adios.