Around the World...4m A2Z

Hi All,

I am very excited to post my first story in any FM forums and I am happy to choose FM Scout for posting my story.

Inspired by MrJK's Alphabet Challenge and Dan's Journey Around the World, I took up the challenge of travelling around the world and winning all available trophies there by earning myself some reputation.

Before I move onto the actual story, I would like to keep you all informed about initial setup I choose for this career.

• I am using Claassen's League Megapack.
• I am starting as unemployed with Sunday League Rep and no coaching badges.
• I might not travel around the globe in alphabetical order.
• Must not join a club after December 31st or before May 18th.

Index

Manager Details

About Myself

Hello Fellas...

I am Swaroop Pagidi from Hyderabad, India which as you all might know is the 2nd largest country(may be 1st) in terms of population and is ranked 147 among football playing nations.

I developed a passion for football when I was in UK and played some football with friends here and there. With the same passion, I want to take up a career in football world as Manager and sometime in the future want to stand beside the likes of Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola.

Also I would like to manage my country, make it climb up the Fifa ranking ladder and eventually see it participate in Fifa World Cup.

Leagues Loaded

Manager Info

I know, I have to stop this blabbering and start my journey across the world. So without wasting much of your time, I will unfold the story of my wonderful journey across the world. Hope you all enjoy.

Am I dreaming??? No, I am not...

After I made up my mind to take up manager role in football world, did my research on potential prospects and zeroed on one country "Saudi Arabia" as my first choice.

4th July 2014:
Keeping in mind my lack of exposure to managerial role, I sent my resume across to many first division clubs that have a vacant manager position.

The result was very quicker than I expected.

5th July 2014:
My phone rang and on the screen where I normally see the phone number, I saw "Unknown Number" instead of phone number. I picked the call up and the voice on the other side wished me and introduced himself as Jasim Al-Yagout, chairman of Al-Qadisiyah Football Club.

I was shocked at what I heard as i am not expecting a sugar daddy club like Al-Qadisiyah will even consider my resume. I quickly regained my consciousness and wished him back. He formally reiterated what the call was about and asked me if I can come down to Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium in Khobar for an interview.

6th July 2014:
I packed all the much needed stuff and boarded the plane to King Fahd International Airport which is 50 miles from Khobar and after landing took a room in a hotel nearby to the stadium.

7th July 2014:
I am in his cabin with all my documents and after a series of questions about my past experience, my views about bringing success to the club, he asked me to stay in Khobar for another week before they come to a conclusion.

9th July 2014:
I received call from the chairman's office and asked me if I can come to the office for contract negotiations. When I reached there, I am briefed about the club's vision and what is expected of me if I choose to take up the manager job. I negotiated about the tenure and reduced it to 1 year and asked for a salary of 1.2K Pounds per week.

As the chairman was happy with my requests, I signed the contract, shook hands with him and stepped onto the field to see the ground where I will be working day and night for the next 1 year.

Next post: Start of Season 2014/2015: #1. Al-Qadisiyah Football Club: A Background.

Al-Qadisiyah Football Club: A Background

Al-Qadisiyah FC already bagged the silverware in this league level twice (2001–02, 2008–09), won Crown Prince Cup once (1991-92), Saudi Federation Cup once (1993-94) and Asian Cup Winners Cup once (1993-94).

Next post: Squad depth, Transfers and Pre-Season

Squad Depth, Transfers and Pre-Season

Initial Squad Analysis:

When I stepped into the manager cabin, I saw my assistant Filipe Azevedo's analysis of the team on the table.


Well the team setup here is very strong in some areas and is very weak on other. I made some quick decisions on what positions to look for in the transfer market.

This club is in some serious need of a good goalie, good right back and left back, need some decent players in winger roles.

Looked at the reserve bench and youth team, called up potential candidates to join and train alongside first team squad.

Tactics:

In order to meet the expectations set by the chairman, I decided to play attacking style football and used the best tactic I had in my mind for LLC's.


Transfes In/Out:

Waiting for the transfer window to close before giving the final update.....

Preseason:

The first friendly was scheduled for 12th July i.e 3 days after me taking up the role and so I decided not to have an inter-squad friendly.

As per my tactics, I need the best wingers in attacking positions and we don't have any good players for left winger role, so asked my best striker to take up left winger role until we find a good player who can play there.

We had one month of pre-season to gear up and march towards our league goal of achieving promotion and he is the pre-season schedule and results:

[img]https://fmshots.com/bk/IGPOYFY.p/bng[/img]

The first match aganist Al-Salam which is a lower division team (2 levels below my team), was arranged just to shake off the laziness and warm up their muscles to avoid injuries. My boys delivered exactly what is expected out of them.

Second match was against Qatar SC from Qatar, which play in top league. This team is far better than mine and is a real test for my boys. I also told them that they should bind to the tactics and if they play to their full potential, they can easily beat Qatar SC. This paid off and our team was leading in the match with 3-2 until 80th minute. This is where, I sent my substitute DC and GK and the team got disturbed and gave away the match 4-3. But this gave the boys some hope that they can score and compete with big teams.

Third match is against Al-Rayyan from Qatar and are at similar level to my team.

Fourth match is against Hajer, who play in Saudi Premier League (league above us).

Next Post: My first month as Manager - August 14/15.