Hey guys! Hope you don't mind me posting a small Football Manager Handheld Challenge Story on here before I begin a full version story. This challenge is built into the FMH 2015 app and is described as follows - 'The club has turned to you in their darkest hour. The midpoint of the season has passed and the team are mired in a relegation battle. Can you guide them to safety before the end of the season?'
The aim of this challenge is obvious, don't get relegated. However, this is easier said than done as I took over the reigns at a struggling SBV Excelsior in the Dutch Eredivisie.
I took over at Excelsior in late January. They were sitting in 18th place in the Eredivisie, rock bottom of the league, with only 12 points from 20 games, 7 points behind 17th placed SC Cambuur and 10 points from making it out of the relegation play-off places.![]()
Taking over on the 29th of January gave me very little time to bring in reinforcements and so I decided to get hold of a couple of loanees to tighten up the leaky defence. Both Mike Van Der Hoorn and Kenny Tete joined on loan from league leaders Ajax.
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February's Matches:-
Exclesior 1-3 FC Utrecht
Ajax 4-1 Excelsior
Exclesior 2-1 Heracles
Heerenveen 3-0 Excelsior
Life at Excelsior started off very poorly with a home loss to Utrecht followed by an expected defeat away to Ajax making me realise just how big a task I had on my hands. A home win against Heracle boosted my hopes for a bit before Heerenveen dampened the celebrations by beating us comfortably 3-0.
March's Matches:-
Excelsior 1-1 PSV
FC Dordrecht 3-1 Excelsior
Excelsior 1-1 Vitesse
ADO Den Haag 1-1 Excelsior
Excelsior 0-0 FC Twente
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March saw a change in tactic and a change that payed off as we managed to pick up 4 draws out of 5 games. Not the best but it was hopefully a start to better things to come and every point is valuable when you're at the foot of the table. The gap was closed from 7 points to 4 points with the next game being against relegation rivals SC Cambuur.
April's Matches:-
SC Cambuur 1-2 Excelsior
Excelsior 2-2 Zwolle
AZ Alkmaar 3-2 Excelsior
Excelsior 3-1 Willem
Winning 2-1 away to SC Cambuur was a massive win closing the gap to just the single point before going on to pick up a point at home to Zwolle. AZ Alkmaar managed to survive out best efforts at coming back from 2 down. We finished the month in a high with a 3-1 win at home to Willem.
May's Matches:-
GA Eagles 2-3 Excelsior
The final game of the season saw us come up against GA Eagles away from home. All we would need was to match the result of SC Cambuur and we would stay clear of relegation, however would have to go through the relegation play-offs. A 3-2 win saw us survive for now on goal difference after finishing level with SC Cambuur on 29 points, however we must go through the Relegation Play-offs.
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The Relegation Play-offs:-
Round 2
1st Leg - Excelsior 5-2 FC Den Bosch
2nd Leg - FC Den Bosch 0-0 Excelsior
A first half hat-trick from Jordan Botaka in the first leg put us in the driving seat from the first whistle. The second leg being slightly more dull but still seeing us through to the 3rd round.
Round 3
1st Leg - Excelsior 1-1 VVV
2nd Leg - VVV 0-1 Excelsior
VVV proved to be tougher opposition than FC Den Bosch and held us to a draw at home in the first leg. A first half goal in the second leg was enough to win the game and the tie overall, keeping us in the Eredivisie. Since another Eredivisie team, FC Dordrecht, won the other 3rd round tie there is no final to the playoffs. I believe this is how it works and if I'm wrong please let me know.
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So a quick and successful FMH challenge which turned out to be a lot of fun. We managed to pick up a few good results along the way such as draws against PSV and FC Twente and more importantly, we kept Excelsior in the Eredevisie.
If you have any feedback on how I could improve my stories please let me know.
Thanks for reading this story. See you soon.
The aim of this challenge is obvious, don't get relegated. However, this is easier said than done as I took over the reigns at a struggling SBV Excelsior in the Dutch Eredivisie.
I took over at Excelsior in late January. They were sitting in 18th place in the Eredivisie, rock bottom of the league, with only 12 points from 20 games, 7 points behind 17th placed SC Cambuur and 10 points from making it out of the relegation play-off places.
Taking over on the 29th of January gave me very little time to bring in reinforcements and so I decided to get hold of a couple of loanees to tighten up the leaky defence. Both Mike Van Der Hoorn and Kenny Tete joined on loan from league leaders Ajax.
February's Matches:-
Exclesior 1-3 FC Utrecht
Ajax 4-1 Excelsior
Exclesior 2-1 Heracles
Heerenveen 3-0 Excelsior
Life at Excelsior started off very poorly with a home loss to Utrecht followed by an expected defeat away to Ajax making me realise just how big a task I had on my hands. A home win against Heracle boosted my hopes for a bit before Heerenveen dampened the celebrations by beating us comfortably 3-0.
March's Matches:-
Excelsior 1-1 PSV
FC Dordrecht 3-1 Excelsior
Excelsior 1-1 Vitesse
ADO Den Haag 1-1 Excelsior
Excelsior 0-0 FC Twente
March saw a change in tactic and a change that payed off as we managed to pick up 4 draws out of 5 games. Not the best but it was hopefully a start to better things to come and every point is valuable when you're at the foot of the table. The gap was closed from 7 points to 4 points with the next game being against relegation rivals SC Cambuur.
April's Matches:-
SC Cambuur 1-2 Excelsior
Excelsior 2-2 Zwolle
AZ Alkmaar 3-2 Excelsior
Excelsior 3-1 Willem
Winning 2-1 away to SC Cambuur was a massive win closing the gap to just the single point before going on to pick up a point at home to Zwolle. AZ Alkmaar managed to survive out best efforts at coming back from 2 down. We finished the month in a high with a 3-1 win at home to Willem.
May's Matches:-
GA Eagles 2-3 Excelsior
The final game of the season saw us come up against GA Eagles away from home. All we would need was to match the result of SC Cambuur and we would stay clear of relegation, however would have to go through the relegation play-offs. A 3-2 win saw us survive for now on goal difference after finishing level with SC Cambuur on 29 points, however we must go through the Relegation Play-offs.
The Relegation Play-offs:-
Round 2
1st Leg - Excelsior 5-2 FC Den Bosch
2nd Leg - FC Den Bosch 0-0 Excelsior
A first half hat-trick from Jordan Botaka in the first leg put us in the driving seat from the first whistle. The second leg being slightly more dull but still seeing us through to the 3rd round.
Round 3
1st Leg - Excelsior 1-1 VVV
2nd Leg - VVV 0-1 Excelsior
VVV proved to be tougher opposition than FC Den Bosch and held us to a draw at home in the first leg. A first half goal in the second leg was enough to win the game and the tie overall, keeping us in the Eredivisie. Since another Eredivisie team, FC Dordrecht, won the other 3rd round tie there is no final to the playoffs. I believe this is how it works and if I'm wrong please let me know.
So a quick and successful FMH challenge which turned out to be a lot of fun. We managed to pick up a few good results along the way such as draws against PSV and FC Twente and more importantly, we kept Excelsior in the Eredevisie.
If you have any feedback on how I could improve my stories please let me know.
Thanks for reading this story. See you soon.
