Conquering Europe

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2093

A crucial win courtesy of a last minute goal to start the month of, and it continued on a similar vein throughout. Astana beat us, and it was probably more comfortable for them than the 3-2 scoreline would suggest, but other than that we've picked up points in every game. I couldn't really have asked for much more than that.

And it sees us in a great position going into the final two games. We're probably just one win away from safety, and we've got Aqjaiuq to play so I would like to hope we'll get it. 

But before that, we've got the cup final to contend with.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Kazakh Cup Final 2093

It's time for the second Kazakh Cup Final in the history of the club, and the first since 2000. We're playing Astana, a team who've already won the league title and Supercup this season, and have won the cup a total of 45 times in history. It comes up a lot in this save, but we're up against the big boys here. 

Can we do it?

Spoiler

Nah, we got horsed. We barely created a thing until we were already four down, so it's all really fair enough.

Oh well.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

November 2093

Some terrible games of football to end the season, but ultimately...

It's job done. I'm not sure how to evaluate it from my point of view, we've finished in the same position as we were in when I turned up, but we've had some great form recently, admittedly after a dreadful start. Who knows, we've got plenty of improving to do for next season regardless.

And there's the final table for the season.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Transfers 2094

Some outgoings, and almost none of these players are anything approaching a loss.

And here we have the new boys.

Gordon Bruce is a central midfielder, who can also play at right midfield, and I think he looks pretty good. A lot of energy, works hard and is decent enough on the ball, he should do well. 

Spoiler

Armin Hadzic is a goalkeeper, who I signed because my two existing goalkeepers were asking to leave but then neither did in the end so it probably wasn't necessary to bring him in to be honest. That said, he's a little bit better than my others so he'll be number one.

Spoiler

Artur Eremenko is a striker, and I very much like the look of him. Should be excellent in and around the penalty box, and if we can create chances for him he'll score goals.

Spoiler

Maros Straka will play central midfield alongside Bruce, and he's a slightly better version of the kind of player that Bruce is. Which, now I think about it, might not be ideal if I have them playing beside each other but we'll see how that pans out.

Spoiler

Dmitry Larionov is my left winger, and he's not brilliant. He's still a fucking massive improvement on what I had last season, but not great. He's a hard worker, and should do ok but I don't think he'll be my long term choice there.

Spoiler

Sergey Chekhovskiy joins up with me again, having player for my Energetik-BGU side. He's an attacking midfielder and I think he's a skilled technical player, and also has a bit of flair about him too. I like him.

Spoiler

Vladimir Klimkov is a left back, and he's a physically good player, but not much on the technical side. I'm hopeful that at this level, that'll be enough.

Spoiler

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2094

Well, that start went far better than I expected it to. Especially thumping Astana away from home. Wonderful stuff. All the new players have started pretty well, with quite a few of them grabbing goals, so we're in a good place. 

And we sit top of the table, at this early stage. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

April 2094

Well, it seems that I may have overestimated the strength of the other teams in this league. I thought I'd assembled a group who'd be good enough to be comfortably in the top half, but it seems that we might piss the league.

Genuinely, every single one of these games was a breeze for us, the only slight worry being the Tobyl game but even then we were 3-0 up before they mounted a bit of a comeback.

And we've opened up a five point gap at the top of the table already.

Still loads of games to go, but it's looking promising.

[oneteaminglasgow]

May 2094

A few draws thrown in there, but we continue to be unbeaten, and we're still scoring an awful lot of goals. We missed an absolute load of chances against Oqjetpes and really should have won that game, while the Astana game was a bit more evenly matched. We bounced back pretty well following both games though, so that's good stuff.

With that we're still five points clear at the top.

[oneteaminglasgow]

June 2094

Quiet month, not sure why. The World Cup is on, but it's not finished yet and we have games scheduled well before it ends so not sure. Anyway, two wins, both pretty straightforward.

Unchanged at the top, although Astana are out of the cup which is nice. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

See efter trying this game, but in Scotland, I cannae begin to understand how yer gonnae dae this 50+ times. I get that different countries have different rules and standards and stuff to mix it up but I find the first few seasons such a dull effort. Like ye know yer getting better, ye know ye'll get there eventually, but muddling through is such a ball ache

[oneteaminglasgow]

6 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

See efter trying this game, but in Scotland, I cannae begin to understand how yer gonnae dae this 50+ times. I get that different countries have different rules and standards and stuff to mix it up but I find the first few seasons such a dull effort. Like ye know yer getting better, ye know ye'll get there eventually, but muddling through is such a ball ache

I dunno, I find winning it after a few seasons of being shite is more satisfying. Plus I used to do the youth academy challenge, so after that anything's a breeze.

[oneteaminglasgow]

I think this is the second time this has happened in the save - I'll be playing my own reserves in the next round of the cup.

[oneteaminglasgow]

July 2094

Another decent month, and we're still unbeaten so that's all absolutely lovely. Only scraped past my own reserves in the cup, but we did manage it which is the main thing. 

And we're now up to seven points ahead. There's still a fair amount of games to go, but we're in a very good position. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

August 2094

More of the same. This whole season has been a walk in the park for us, and not conceding a single league goal this month really underlines that for me. We're also still on for the double as a last minute winner sees us through to the semi, where we'll be playing a lower league side. The only other top flight side still in the cup are fourth placed Irtysh Pavlodar, so I'd like to think we're favourites for that too.

And we're now 13 points clear, although with games in hand that can be cut to seven.

It'd take a ridiculous collapse from here. 

[black sapper]

On 06/07/2022 at 17:58, oneteaminglasgow said:

I dunno, I find winning it after a few seasons of being shite is more satisfying. Plus I used to do the youth academy challenge, so after that anything's a breeze.

I've just started playing this. Somehow won the Scottish Championship in my first season (on goal difference). Still really struggling with a lot of it - transfers in particular. I used to play Champ Manager years ago, but this is a different world.

Really enjoying your posts.

[oneteaminglasgow]

September 2094

Our worst run of form of the season with three draws in a row. We did, however, recover at the end of the month, and that win against Astana has put us on the brink of the title. And we're through to the cup final for the second year in a row.

It's now 12 points clear at the top, although that's likely to drop down to six with their games in hand.

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2094

Obviously, the thing that stands out here is that we won't be going the full season unbeaten. A real, real shame.

However, despite that it's still a mostly very decent month, and we're still ticking over towards the title with 13 points from 18. 

Two games to go for us, three for them and the gap is seven points.

Our next league game is against them. where a draw will do it for us. But before that, we have the cup final.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Kazakh Cup Final - 2094

It's cup final time, and we're playing Irtysh Pavlodar who won the competition once in 1998, and will be playing in their first final in almost 70 years. We've beaten them three out of four times this season, drawing the other. Amusingly, both of us played our own reserve teams in earlier rounds of the competition, so that's something. Anyway, we're pretty heavy favourites I'd have thought, and should be winning our first bit of major silverware here.

Spoiler

Well, we've done it despite being behind at half time. 

We were very poor in the first half, but after half time sorted our act out and were quite far ahead. We should have finished it before the need for extra time, but fortunately we weren't made to pay for it.

And with that we're on for a double. Need to try to see it through.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Game 39 - November 2094

Spoiler

f**k.

We were completely and utterly outplayed, and that's thrown the cat amongst the pigeons a bit here. We can still secure the title with a win in our remaining game, but anything less combined with two wins for them and we'll have monumentally fucked it.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Game 40 - November 2094

Spoiler

And we've gotten ourselves over the line, in a reasonably comfortable manner. That opener in the seventh minute really settled the nerves, and we were never in any real danger of not winning the game after that.

And it's a good thing that we did get the win, because Astana won both their games. We're champions though, and with that I can say goodbye to Kazakhstan. Next in line - Norway.

[oneteaminglasgow]

It's been a succession of knockbacks in Romania, Hungary and Poland but at long last...

Spoiler

I'm off to Romania, with AFC Botosani.

Founded in 2001 after the old clubs from Botosani all went bust, none of whom had ever played in the top flight in Romania. FC Botosani made their way to the top flight by 2013, and generally have been a midtable side. In game, they came second and third early doors, with another third placed finish in 2046, but have been a midtable side other than that, with a couple of relegations and swift promotions thrown in there. They also reached the Romanian cup final in 2035, where they lost, but other than that it's been a bit of a boring, nothing existence throughout the save.

For a bit of Scottish context, Scott Robertson, of Dundee, Dundee United and Hibs fame, played one league game for them in 2015, but only last three months in Romania and later described the whole thing as a "nightmare." So that's promising. They also had that Deivydas Mateluvicius boy who played for HIbs for a bit, and as I recall he was an utter diddy, so maybe the standard of Romanian football is a little bit shite.

Botosani, as a town, is the 19th biggest settlement in Romania, and is in the northeast of the country near to the Moldovan and Ukranian borders. The wikipedia for the town claims that "Boasting a rich cultural life, the city of Botoșani has long produced major personalities in science and culture." So that seems like a good thing. Mihai Eminescu, who appears to be Romania's version of Rabbie Burns, was from there as well. No, I've never heard of him either.

Anyway, this season is well underway, and we have two games left until the split with the table looking like this:

So that's looking pretty good. I haven't really worked out how the league works yet, but I think we have an outside shot at a European spot. Which is a much better starting position than I usually get.