djchapsticks Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 The Asian journey continues as I have accepted a one year contract in a new nation. My Next stop on the journey is Thailand...a land of natural wonder, beauty, amazing grub and a natural magnet for creepy British da's to go on holiday whilst finalising their 3rd divorce to pursue their dodgy fetishes. Thailand is a country of 70m people and a rich, storied history. Football in the country has always threatened to become huge and along with Muay Thai, is the most popular sport in the entire country. A country who has always threatened to become a bit of a force in Asian football, they are still yet to reach a World Cup but have several AFC Cup appearance to draw on and a 3rd place finish in 1972 when they hosted the tournament. In terms of actual footballers in the team though that British and European audiences might know - WE FINALLY HAVE SOMEONE!!! Leicester City player Thanawat Seungchittawon. There are two other Thai footballers that I know of - both through FM (Well CM) and both legends. CM97/98 and CM3's Natipong Sritong-in who was a total goal machine: And CM03/04 wonderkid Supat Rungratsamee: So onto the club who appointed me next... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 I have been appointed manager of Port FC. Formerly known as Thai Port (which sounds like a Brummie saying Tayport), I have actually heard of this side as they signed Steven Robb from St. Mirren about 10 years back. They are the football club of the Thai Port Authority (PAT) based in Bangkok and are one of the bigger clubs in the country having finished 3rd in the league many times. They play out of the PAT stadium which looks compact and pretty tidy: Their strips are also a Rangers supporter's wet dream: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 So what have I inherited? Well, Port FC are currently sitting mid-table. 10th in the league after 12 matches. The squad is decent and there's a bit of a mismatch between probably too old and probably too young. Definite improvement needed on the right but apart from that, we're not too bad actually! Georges Leroux is my best defender: Spoiler Midfield - definitely George Awudu Spoiler Up top - Yutta Toobthiasong Spoiler And what do I have to improve this side? Well it turns out the Thai League is pretty goddamn rich. I have a transfer budget that could be modestly described as 'healthy' and knowledge of a lot of players who could improve us. There are currently 4 foreigners in the squad and we're allowed six, so I'm going to be hunting down strong local talent. Also, check out this monster playing for Rangers. Pler! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsimButtHitsASix Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 I've seen a few Thai players turn up in the NextGen thing the game has now. If they also have guys at Rangers I presume the game importance has been raised since previous versions 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 21, 2022 Author Share Posted February 21, 2022 World Cup qualifiers: Down to Indonesia's last two games of the 2nd section of WC qualifying. I have a home tie against Australia and a visit to Guam to round the group off. Two wins will take us into 2nd place and through to the final group stage, so could we do it? Australia (H) Spoiler Nope, we were 2nd best throughout and hit the inside of the post with 5 mins left but I'm still happy with managing not to lost either game against the Aussies. That makes the Guam game a dead rubber - Australia's campaign is done and they can't finish lower than 2nd and UAE have Yemen in the last game. Guam (A) Spoiler Tidy enough win. That's leaves us with a very respectable one defeat in 8 qualifying matches but disappointed the dream ends here. I'll assess whether to carry on at the helm of Indonesia depending on what other roles come up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 21, 2022 Author Share Posted February 21, 2022 May 2028 So the club campaign begins and it has done so in some style. Four wins, four clean sheets. And the club finds itself in the Asian CL places: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 June 2028 So the midseason June transfer window has come and gone and it turns out the Thai football is actually quite an attractive prospect for many players. There's been plenty of comings and goings. Firstly - OUT Over a million quid in transfer fees pulled in. Balci and Guerbson leaving are the two main ones but I've replaced them with some real quality. IN Trevor Hall is a talented young Guatemalan international who becomes by first choice AMC. A very well rounded player who is going to get even better. Spoiler Wutthichai Subso - In a league that relies heavily on foreign talent, good Thai players who don't want to go to Europe are hard to come by. Susbo is a rare example of a talent who is OK moving domestically, so I was happy enough to shell out £500k for him. Good all round option at CM or AM Spoiler Lucas - I had to. The lad followed me from Persebaya and he's definitely going onto bigger things from here. I had tried for Hari Setiawan from Henderson Eels but he's already agreed to join Bournemouth. Spoiler Nanthachai Mingkwan - Shelled out a bit much but was interested to see him coming through the ranks at Hoffenhein and felt £450k was a decent investment for the future. Spoiler Mateo Portales - I needed a CB partner for Lecrox after selling Balci and what I got was a significant upgrade for a fraction of the price. Spoiler Carlos Garcia - Signed as a first choice goalie but although Thai squads are allowed 8 foreign players, only 4 are allowed in the matchday squad, so he'll need to wait his turn which is a shame, because he's really really good! Spoiler Saranyoo Oampornwiman - Nearly a million quid for the 18 year old but I reckon he's definitely going to be worth the spend. Want to play him as a RB rather than CH (because he's a wee tiny man). Spoiler Ahmad Deeb - wasn't my signing, was already arriving on a PCA when I took the job. I mean he's decent etc but I've already got too many foreigners, especially as I went OTT with my last signing. Spoiler Roberto Gutierrez - Listed and leaving his club in Panama due to not signing a new contract. My scouts came to me with him and he had about 15 of the biggest club in Europe sniffing about. I gave it a bit of a Hail Mary and went for it, expecting a Porto or Chelsea to trump me. But the bids never came. And it's just as well because I've won a watch. Spoiler So there they are, the class of mid-2028. I am going all out to try and win the CL with Port. The current holders are Buriram who are currently top of the league - the first ever Thai winners. So I'm out to make us the second. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 22, 2022 Author Share Posted February 22, 2022 As for the football in June - It's been another strong month with a league and cup win keeping us in the CL hunt: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 July 2028 The unbeaten start continues. Buriram are going to be champions this season and deservedly so. It took a very late goal very much against the run of play to stop us falling to a defeat but the Asian Champions are rampant. They are a right good side. In terms of the league, with 7 games left, we've tucked ourselves right into the CL slots. I don't think we'll f**k it up from here but stranger things have happened. I'm going to have a wee look through my transfer history next - see if any of my signings have gone onto bigger and better things since I gave them their break. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 From Awesome Utd, I signed a fucking ridiculous 39 (THIRTY NINE) players in my season there as we had no-one on our books. Of those 39, 29 have already retired and moved on. Of the 10 remaining, only my star striker Eduardo Velasquez is playing at a much stronger level and that's premier league in his native Bolivia. He's very decent. Spoiler Others are playing Japanese 3rd division, Moldovan non-league and Ukrainian second tier so yeah, not exactly a treasure trove of hidden gems. Onto Paradise...the 27 players I brought in over my two years have largely also shuffled off to their mortal coils (in game at least) with only 5 remaining. 4 of them still playing in Barbados and Peter Dennis making the step up to Jamaican mid-table football. Spoiler Henderson Eels - A much better outcome for some of the 34 Eels players I signed in my spell. Irakly Titov got a move back to Chernomorets in the Ukrainian PL Spoiler John Ajani and Amidou Sane are both playing in the Chinese Super league Spoiler And of course, Hari Setiawan made the move to Bournemouth in the Premier League: Spoiler As for Persebaya, well I only left 6 months ago so no-one has really moved on apart from the bold Lucas who followed me to Thailand (and has recently decided to turn his back on Japan to seek Brazilian national team fame the rotten wee b*****d) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 End of season 2028 So we went on a bit of glory run since I took over, with an unbeaten run of 20 matches. This left me in the league cup final but more amazingly, only 5 points behind with two games left. And two games against teams we should be looking to beat. First up was 9th Placed Suphanburi. A win and a defeat for Buriram keeps it alive: Spoiler Ah well, never mind - we didn't just lose our first game in 20, we got absolutely rode. Only two late consolations adding a wee bit of respectability to the score. Not to worry, CL qualification is assured. We have the league cup final against the Champions, Buriram coming up. So onto the LC final - the main cup in Thai football. The path to the final has been relatively straightforward but the team between us and a bit of silverware are currently the best team in Asia. CL holders and well on their way to retaining their continental title. So how did we get on? Spoiler Yeah. Far too good for us. We didn't really show up at any point save for a disallowed goal after about half an hour. We've got a bit of a rebuild to do to rein in this team, they are pretty legit. The final league fixture played out with a 2-1 win and secured 2nd spot for us. A good finish and comfortably ahead of last seasons champions, Bangkok. So next season, to help with the rebuild, I'd say that the board have been pretty generous. I'll be going for decent Thai talent as I've more foreign players than I need and all of them are good so I'm happy to rotate - being in the champions league will help us pull in any good local players I hope. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 26, 2022 Author Share Posted February 26, 2022 On the nation team front, Indonesia have been drawn in the SEA Championship group stages due to take place in December: We've undoubtedly been drawn the harder of the two groups. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaspianChris Posted February 26, 2022 Share Posted February 26, 2022 Is VAR active in the Thai league? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 18 hours ago, CaspianChris said: Is VAR active in the Thai league? In the one I downloaded, yeah. Not sure if that's the case in reality. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 The youth intake this year threw up a new one. My boy showed up...and he's pish! Also, not sure why he's part Thai though I like that he's picked up the lingo on his journeys with his auld da. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 2028 SEA Championship. Definitely my most realistic shot at winning anything with Indonesia, December sees us playing in the South-East Asian Championships. Indonesia has an unenviable record of playing in 7 finals and losing all 7. Hopefully we'll change that. Spoiler Group stage. We're away to the holders and the country where I currently take up residence, Thailand. At 47th in the world, they outrank us and outgun us by far. We can lose this though and still qualify. Spoiler But we fucking didn't. We done them on their own patch and deservedly so. We've got a bit of a reputation going for punching above our weight. Spoiler Second game at home to Malaysia and a straightforward enough win, especially when they went down to 10 men. Spoiler A horsing of Philippines followed and we were through with a game to spare Spoiler I rested a few players for the last game with Vietnam as by that point, we'd won the group. Thailand out on their arse as well so it's all to play for now. Spoiler Onto the semi-final first leg. We are stronger than Singapore and I expect no dramas in getting to the final. Spoiler And no dramas provided. Looks like a repeat coming up against Vietnam. Spoiler Second leg - even less issues! Spoiler Final first leg. Spoiler A very even-steven game but we come away from Vietnam with a huge advantage. The return fixture, I'm expecting it to be tight like the first two games. What's it going to throw up? Spoiler We conceded early to level the tie up and from there, just fucking hounded them. It wasn't even close in the end. I deliver a first piece of international silverware to Indonesia and my first International trophy to boot. OK it's not a continental championship but I don't honestly think I'm going to win the AFC cup as Indonesia gaffer, so I'll take this! Spoiler 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 2029 Season Going into the new season and we kick right off with the ACL draw. I think it's relatively kind and gives us a decent shout of a top two finish. Ulsan probably my main rivals here. As for squad reinforcements. I said we'd be going mostly for Thai talent and I've (mostly) stuck to that. Seungchitthawon arrives from Oxford. The lad who is currently a Leicester player in real life, arrives as a good squad player and will be getting used quite a lot in the league. Spoiler Weidersjo is a Swedish centre mid who is a naturalised Thai so fits the bill pretty well. Another with international experience. Spoiler Salae is one for the future, probably won't be featuring unless really needed. Spoiler Nanthawichianrit - good player, regular for our rivals, strengthening in a position I needed filled, current international. Ticks plenty of boxes! Spoiler Thongkaew - Brought him back from Korean football. Will be first choice centre half beside one on the three foreign lads in the squad, who are all better but bound by the rules. Spoiler Mendouga - I didn't want to go foreign. I really didn't but I had to because he's good. Spoiler Keleba - I didn't want to go foreign. I really didn't but I had to because he's FUCKING good. Like looking at the stats he's potentially world class - really something special. Spoiler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted March 4, 2022 Author Share Posted March 4, 2022 Start of season 2029 The season got off to a stormer of a start. Roasting my way through everyone in front of me until we hit mid table nothing side Nong Bua Pitchaya. They gave us a bit of a lesson and suddenly my good start looks, well not great. Buriram are good. Really good. They score for fun and are just blowing teams away. I just need to keep pace and hopefully get the edge on them in head to heads. The champions league is painting a rather rosy picture though: Almost guaranteed to be through to KO stages. And on the international front there's a bit of news, I was a day away from Indonesia's friendly with Macau when... Spoiler That's right - I had already mentioned that I'd taken Indonesia as far as possible. Winning a maiden SEA championship was always going to be the only realistic goal, AFC championship qualification was more or less a given without actually troubling the latter stages and there's not another World Cup for 4 years, so it was time to move on. I applied for Thailand and surprisingly got a knock back so when Les Éléphants (that's French for 'The Elephants') job came up, I chanced it and they approached. So what do I have at my disposal and how are Cote d'Ivorie doing on the international stage? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted March 4, 2022 Author Share Posted March 4, 2022 (edited) Ivory Coast overview One of Africa's major players in the last 15 or so years, Ivory Coast are a side who, on paper, have always had big game players. Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou to name just a select few. There's always a right good player or two in the Ivory Coast side. So what have I inherited in 2029? Well, no WC qualification in 15 years at this point and they finished 3rd in AFCON 2027. But on the flip side, they are a top 20 in the world side and improving. The best players in the squad are definitely Amad Diallo and Hamed Traore. Spoiler And really excitingly, there's a ton of young talent breaking in. Look at some of the players under 21 in the full squad. Spoiler In terms of qualifiers, were in decent shape to make it to a first world cup in four attempts. Edited March 4, 2022 by djchapsticks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted March 5, 2022 Author Share Posted March 5, 2022 Straight into international action. We have two friendlies with a squad I didn't select. How did we get on? Yeah, this is going to be a bloody entertaining team to manage. I've already lost more games in charge of Ivory Coast than I did in my whole spell with Indonesia. Played well in both games, we threw it away against Nigeria and came back from the dead twice against Mexico before falling to a late goal. All in all though, happy enough. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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