The Pride Of Basque Country

"The Pride of Basque Country" is an exciting new feature i am delighted to be adding to this blog. Its a soms currently featuring on FM Style by one of its members Liam. He goes by the username "The Magik Prat" and is from Cambridge in New Zealand. For those of you who don't know what a soms is it stands for "story of my season" and aswell as taking on the challenge he is doing a story on it. His past efforts have been of very high quality and i am personally very excited he has chosed to do one on Real Sociedad. The first 2 installments are below.

The Pride Of Basque Country Part 1

Sunday 17th June 2006, 5:30pm

Deflation. Pure and simple deflation. I was in despair. My beloved Real Sociedad had been relegated. I didn't think this was possible. I thought we were better than this. Throughout the season there had been flashes that we may be able to stay up. Thoughts came rushing back to me of such games. The thrilling Three all draw with Valencia where there were Three goals in the final ten minutes. Including a stunning last minute equaliser from Nihat. But it just wasn't consistent enough and the club was dragged into the relegation zone for much of the season. It came down to the final day where we needed a win at all costs against Valencia. But we couldn't do it. Again drawing with the Valencians three apiece. By the time the third own goal of the game hit the net I was already out of the stadium. Tears streaking down my face. I couldn't face up to the team when they did their lap of honour, knowing they had let the fans down at having been cosigned to Liga BBVA. It wasn't good enough. The club knew they had to fight back and claim their rightful place in the promised land of the First Division. Promotion is a must for next season I thought. Heads would roll if this wasn't achieved.

The Pride Of Basque Country Part 2

San Sebastian. My House. Later That Night.

I walked in the door. Shocked. Devastated. the whole city seemed to have been plunged into sadness after we exiled to the depths of Liga BBVA. It wasn't only the fact that we were down. it was the fact that Athletic had stayed up. How had they. They employ a Basque only policy and they still stay up. Its amazing how they do it. Heart breaking to know that they can actually produce results from it. We used to be the same, a basque only policy. Now look at us. Exiled to Liga BBVA. I spat. I walked over to my windows and looked out over the neighborhood. There were little kids playing football in the street. One of them was wearing a Kovacevic Number Nine tee shirt. I wonder if they knew that their hero had played his last game for the club. Probably not. looking at the kids faces, the enjoyment etched on their faces, they didn't know that Sociedad had been relegated. I longed for that youthful bliss. Unaware of the troubles our beloved club was going through. I turned my head away from the game on the street and cast a glance around the rest of the neighborhood. Thats when I saw just how much the relegation of the team had hurt the people of San Sebastien. I saw a man of no-more than twenty drinking straight from a bottle of vodka, staring absent-mindedly at the Nihat tee shirt he was holding in his hand. Tears streaking down his face. That was when I realised that the team was much bigger than just an excuse to get away from work, away from reality for ninety minutes. Real Sociedad was a way of life. It meant so much for the fans to be able to say that they had survived the Howard Kendall reign. Or that they had seen John Aldridge play. In the first division. Now we were in the Liga BBVA I didn't know what was going to happen. One thing was definite however. I was going to put everything in my body into turning the fortunes of Real Sociedad around. Whether that be by contributing money. Cleaning boots of the players. I don't know. But I will be there to help the team. In one way or another.

Coming soon - My mid season update, The Pride Of Basque Country Part 3.

Season 1 With Real Sociedad Started!!

Yesterday i officially started the FM2009 Real Sociedad Challenge so here is an update on how i got on.

After being really disappointed by the demo that was released i was more than a little nervous about how the main game would be but i have to admit - I LOVE IT!!!
I considered having a game first with another team to get used to it but then thought "what the hell" and jumped straight into the hotseat of Real Sociedad.

The first thing i checked before anything else was the transfer budget - 80k!! Not good so i immediately analysed the squad to see who i could sell for a quick buck as my assistant said the squad needed strengthened if we were to challenge for the title. I was then thrust into my first press conference which was much more enjoyable than i thought it would be.

I immediatley established i was lacking in the left back department so brought in a loan signing - Ravzan Rat from Shaktar. Next target was a striker as i felt if any of my current strikers got an injury, the backup was very poor and not ready for the big time yet. Out of curiosity i typed "Kovacevic" in the search box not really expecting Darko to be available from Olympiakos. To my amazement he was and for a knockdown 300k! Having sold one of my deadwood Markel to Reading for 1.4 million i snapped up Darko Kovacevic and had my first punch the air moment on FM2009! He has been by far my favourite player on the Football Manager/Championship Manager series of games and to have him again will make the game even more enjoyable - especially since he is still really good!! We have already had a minor disagreement however when i suggested he should try and place his shots in future (just wanted to see what he would say).

For my first friendly i chose to watch the 3D action and was really impressed! We won 7-0 and every goal was completely different. It did slow my computer down slightly so will watch in 2D from now on but watch the goal replays in 3D i think. The highlight of the friendlies was an 11-0 victory!

I played the first league game of the season at home to Huelga and managed a 1-0 victory although we created plenty chances and should have scored more.

As usual i will be trying my hardest to turn (the now 16 year old) Kenan Kodro into a superstar and will post my progress on that throughout the challenge.

Overall i'm quietly confident i can steer the club to promotion and i've decided i'm not gonna play any elaborate tactics, just a simple 4-4-2 just now.

Results
Transfers

Real Sociedad News

Well as the readers of this blog will know by now i have a fairly healthy passion for all things Real Sociedad but trying to get up to date info on them in English is pretty much impossible - until now!! I have decided to take the matter into my own hands and have created Real Sociedad News. As with all new blogs its gonna take a while to build up a following of readers and just now i'm not sure how many Real Sociedad fans there are in the world but i'm sure i'll have fun updating it anyway. Any feedback or suggestions for it would be greatly appreciated.

Real Sociedad News

The Challenge Overview FM2009

Hi folks i have decided i'm going to use the same format as i used for the FM2008 Challenge as i feel it worked well. Last time out i managed to get 195 points with my 2 UEFA Cup wins making up the bulk of the points. I will be over the moon if i manage to do as well as that again on FM2009.

The aim of the challenge is to win Liga BBVA in 5 seasons. This is a very difficult challenge to do with Real Madrid and Barcelona being so strong so i have created a points system below so if all you managed in 5 seasons was a Spanish Cup at least you will have achieved something from the challenge.

Below is the points available for winning each trophy:-

2nd Division Champs = 20 points
1st Division Champs = 100 points
1st Division Runners Up = 50 points
1st Division 3rd Place = 25 points
Spanish cup = 50 points
Spanish Super Cup = 25 points
European cup = 150 points
UEFA cup = 75 points
European Super Cup = 25 points
World Club Championship = 50 points

Good luck to anyone who tries it - lets bring some glory to the mighty Real Sociedad!!

Sometimes You Just Fall In Love With FM

Is the name of a blog post on FM Style this month by the co-owner Jack Franklin. The reason its getting a mention on this blog is because of the part i'm currently playing in it. Now I had planned on not updating this again until the challenge starts but recently I started a network game with Jack. With season 1 just finished last night I couldnt believe how dramatic the finale was so felt it was my dutie to update here aswell!!

I am Aston Villa and Jack is Manchester City. With 3 games left before the end of the season he was top by 2 points with Arsenal in second place and I was in 4th chasing a Champions League place for next season. The next game was Aston Villa against Jacks City and with both us needing wins it was Villa that was victorious with a fantastic 3-1 victory although Jack is adamant 2 of the goals were offside!! It was all the sweeter after he beat me earlier in the season 3-2! The next game we both won so going into the final game Jack had Sunderland away and Arsenal had West Ham. To our amazement Arsenal lost so all Jack needed was a draw having superior goal difference. The result - Sunderland 1 Manchester City 0. I demolished Fulham 6 - 0 to consolidate 4th but my eyes were on msn as Jack let rip! Never before had i seen such a painful end to a season on a network game. It was all the more painfull since he had already lost the League Cup Final to Man Utd. To Jacks great relief he got Revenge on Man Utd by beating them in the FA Cup 3-1 so the night wasn't a total disaster.

League Table
Star Player Alvarez (wow!)
Season Summary

You can follow our exploits on Jacks blog he has set up on FM Style. As a member you get your own blog and can tell the world anything you like it doesn't even have to be about FM. The other co-owner Mal has a fantastic blog on his trials and tribulations being a season ticket holder with Stoke City in their debut Premiership season.

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.