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!

If Real Life Is Anything To Go By...

With FM2009 due to be released this month i am now looking forward to taking on The Real Sociedad Challenge again and getting this blog back on track and back to its original purpose. I was delighted by the amount of people that took on the challenge for FM2008 and hope to see many more doing it for FM2009.

If real life is anything to go by its gonna be very difficult and much harder than last time. Below are all the pre-season tranfers comings and goings.

Transfers in: Rivas (Cádiz - loan period ended), Sergio Rodríguez (Alavés), Marquitos (Villarreal - one year loan), Moha (Espanyol), Necati Ates (Galatasaray - one year loan), Boukary Dramé (Sochaux - one year loan), Zubikarai (junior teams).

Transfers out: Delibasic, Víctor (Mallorca - loan period ended), Fran Mérida (Arsenal - loan period ended), Martí (Sevilla - loan period ended), Nacho (Getafe - loan period ended), Garitano (Alavés), Uranga (Castellón), Vaughan (Blackpool), Riesgo (Recreativo - one year loan), Larrea (Levante), Mikel Balenziaga (Athletic Bilbao), Skoubo (Utrecht), Novo, Víctor López (contracts ended).

The signings that have stood out for me are midfielder Mohammed El Yaagoubi (Moha) signed from Espanyol and Turkish Striker Necati Ates who has been brought in from Galatasaray on a 1 year loan deal. Moha is a combative midfielder and Ates is a powerful striker.

Things haven't started well for Txuri-urdin though and after 9 games played they are in a very disappointing 14th place with only 2 victory's in the league so far. Their plight hasn't been helped by the fact their Turkish striker Ates has been injured and only played 1 game so far for the club. Hopefully now though he can form a lethal partnership with Iñigo Díaz de Cerio afer the latter managed a healthy 16 goals last season.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Kenan Kodro is on FM2009 and if he has improved since 2008. If he is half decent i will no doubt have another crack at trying to groom him into becoming a superstar.

Thanks for reading and i hope this has possibly wetted your appetite to take on the challenge for FM 2009. A few of the lads on FM Style including Vincent have already said they will be taking on the challenge so a thread will be started on there if you want to discuss signings, tactics etc and post your progress on there. I have decided i won't be starting the challenge on the demo thats released but will wait for the 14th November official verion instead however for anyone who is starting it on the demo feel free to update me as usual by posting comments on this blog or on FM Style. Adios for now amigos.

*Edit* Screenshots are from the latest FM2009 Demo and can be downloaded by visiting the News Of The Word Website.

FM Style Member Of The Month

Haven't updated this for a while so i thought i'd let you all know what i've been up to in the world of Football Manager. Firstly i'll explain the gold medal to the left. This is the actual (yes actual) gold medal i received from FM Style for winning the member of the month award - click here to see.
On a more disappointing note my attempts to take Newport County from the Blue Square South to the Premiership ended in misery when i was relegated back to the Blue Square South on the last game of the season. I had to beat Burton at home and lost the game 2-0 at home. I also suffered a heartbreaking defeat a few games earlier when i lost the Setanta Shield final 4-3 to Northwich so after the relegation i did the honourable thing and resigned. I have one more game in me before the return of The Real Sociedad Challenge on FM2009 and will fill the gap between now and then by going Fenerbahce. A recent holiday to Turkey for a week has got me in the mood for playing the Turkish league.

If you haven't already get yourself registered on FM Style and see if you can bag yourself the newcomer of the month award! Tell em Kovacevic sent ya! Adios amigos.

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.

The Poll Had To Go!

After getting 167 votes for my poll i pulled the plug on it because i was getting a bit bored of it.

There was no real surprises in the results with most people saying they would rather go the top 4 teams. Barcelona nicked it with 33% of the vote just ahead of Real Madrid.

As yet i have still not heard of anyone being able to win anything in 5 seasons (other than the 2nd division) but thanks to everyone who has been updating me of their progress so far. Apologies also for anyone who e-mailed me and never got a response. I had my e-mail account deleted when i cancelled the contract with my hosting company but a new one will be set up soon.

Promotion Missed On Final Day!

With all the attention on Euro 2008 at the moment i have been keeping one eye on the Spanish 2nd division which finished yesterday. Going into the last game my beloved Real Sociedad, sitting fourth, needed to beat Cordoba and hope either Sporting Gijón or Malaga slipped up. Unfortunately we could only manage a poor 1-1 draw with Cordoba but both teams above them won anyway so wouldn't have mattered. Gutted! I fully expected them to bounce straight back after their relegation last year and was looking forward to seeing them on the television again next season. Maybe i should e-mail the screenshots of my promotion season on fm2008 to the chairman of Real and he might give me the job!

Time For A Rant! I Can't Sell A Player!

I have just about to play my first league game of season 3 and have about a week left of the transfer window but am at my wits end! How do you sell players??? I have tried offloading several under performers and got nowhere! I have tried changing the tranfer status to "not needed by club" and placing them on the list. I even offered a player who is valued at 3 million to teams for free and still no-one was interested. If anyone has any suggestions or had the same problems please leave a comment. I'm wondering if its because we had such an average season but its unusual for me not to even have anyone wanted.

My next post will update on how pre-season went and unless i sell someone to get extra money there probably won't be any big signings unfortunately so another season of struggling is on the cards.

Need To Get Back Into This....

Hi folks, with no posts in the month of April i thought i would update to advise of the reasons for my silence. The beginning of the month seen my computer die on me so had to get it fixed then in the last week i have had the joy's of moving house to deal with. The challenge will be resuming soon where hopefully i can continue my quest to bring silverware to the mighty Real Sociedad. I know no-one will have been losing sleep over it but thanks to those who have kept me updated on your progress with the challenge and keep them coming.

Berbatov Scores 120 In A Season Apparently!

When bored at work i sometimes find myself passing the time by visiting various fm2008 related forums and commenting on various topics but today i came across a post from someone on the Football Manager Portal forum where someone has claimed Berbatov scored 120 in one season for his Chelsea team! Is this possible?!?

Thinking of all the teams i have managed over the years i can remember a game years ago when i was Fiorentina and Gabriel Batistuta scored over 50 goals in one season but 120 seems unbelievable to me especially when the thing that makes me enjoy the game so much is its realism.

If anyone reading this post has had a player score an unbelievable amount of goals in a season please let me know and obviously screenshots would be great to back up your claim.

The Real Sociedad challenge is now into January and will be posting how my season is going tonight but until then adios.