Oh hello, having taken some time away from Football Manager I've rekindled my passion for this great game and this will be my last crack at a save and story until FM17. Hopefully it goes well, now onto the details of this story!



This story will follow the journey of my FM alter-ego, Posep Mercillon. He's a 40 year old Belgian man of English, Dutch and Mexican descent. His name was born of three of my favourite managers in the game. Josep 'Pep' Guardiola, the combination of Pep and Josep to create Posep, Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison, creating his surname Mercillon. I've decided upon making him a past player, with 76 caps for Belgium, scoring 21 in the process.


Born in Drongen, Posep Mercillon grew up a die hard Anderlecht and Manchester City supporter. A naturally gifted attacker he was signed by KVE Drongen at the age of 6, and was at the club until the age of 13. When he given the dream move of Anderlecht, making his debut at 17 in a match against KV Mechelen, he became started to become a regular starter in the team and ended his time at the Pears-wit with 71 goals in 158 appearances. In 1997 he moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £3,500,000 scoring 39 goals in 72 appearances. Just two years later he moved to Newcastle for £6,800,000 scoring 79 goals in 192 appearances. In 2005 he moved to Manchester City, for £2,000,000 after falling out with Graeme Souness scoring 19 goals in 46 appearances in his two season at Eastlands. His final destination was to move back home to Anderlecht on a free transfer this time scoring 8 goals in 35 appearances before retiring in 2009.



The rebels choice. St Pauli FC will be my choice of team, I'm using the FM Whizzkids 16/17 database meaning Hannover 96 and VFB Stuttgart will be in the 2nd division with us, as well as Dynamo Dresden and Erzegbirge Aue. I'm aiming to overthrow Hamburger SV as the biggest team in Hamburg and then Bayern as the dominant force in Germany.

Always loved St Pauli so will 100% be following!

Good luck, shame about his choice of teams though United and Club Brugge are much better

BeanyUnited: Thanks Beany!

ninjaskill: Haha, thanks ninja!

Good Luck man, it seems very interesting

Phoenixx: Cheers mate, hope you enjoy!




InterContinental hotel, Berlin

St. Pauli FC have just finished 4th in the Bundesliga 2. manager Ewald Lienen has resigned.

In the lobby of the hotel sits St Pauli president Oke Gottlich and director of football Thomas Meggle. Despite it being early June, there's a heavy rainstorm outside.

The doors swing open, holding a yellow umbrella is Posep Mercillon. Wearing a grayed pea coat, with a stonewashed blue shirt and black jeans.

''Sorry I'm late, the traffic was dreadful.''

''No matter'' said Meggle ''you haven't missed anything''

''I trust you've had sufficient time to decide upon your decision?'' asked Gottlich

''Yes I have, I think it's the right choice. But before I sign I want to discuss objectives and policies of the club.''

''Remember this isn't something small, we want to build something at St Pauli. You'll be allowed time to implement your style and tactics. We also want to place emphasis on on our academy. We have a collection of promising young players and want to make sure you utilise this.'' Meggle explained.

''I can do that.''

''We also want to notify you that careful financial management and a solid wage structure is very important.'' Said Gottlich

''I agree, we don't want the club risking its financial security and future.''

''In terms of league objectives, promotion would be ideal. But we don't require you to get promoted yet, a top half finish seems a reasonable expectation from our point of view.'' said Meggle

''That seems reasonable, I'm happy to accept.''

''That's excellent, we'll see you next Wednesday. To begin your title as manager of Hamburg St Pauli.''



Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I'm going to do a season update for the first season, so I'm playing the save as much as I can. I'll rejoin for the season one (2016/17 - see first post).

Good luck mate, love the Bundesliga and German football so will follow with keen interest

mgriffin2012: Thanks griffin, regular updates will follow now!

Our German Cup run was another highlight of the campaign, we started by knocking out Germany's most hated club, RasenBallSport Leipzig in extra time. Then we managed to edge past Schalke despite battling for over an hour with ten men, Marvin Ducksch provided the winner in the 82nd minute. Wolfsburg were the next side we knocked out, Haris Kolicic scored what proved to be the winner in the 28th minute as we survived a barrage of shots to progress to a quarter final meeting with Bayer Leverkusen. This was where our run would sadly come to an end however, the BayArena proving a step too far, goals from Julian Baumgartlinger, Karim Bellarabi and Javier Hernandez from the spot put us to the sword. But it was still a cup run to remember for us.


We did our transfer business early, wrapping up five transfers within the first five days of the window. The main focus was on strengthening the depth of the squad and adding some young prospects to the ranks. Albanian Mergim Berisha arrived from Austrian side FC Liefering to bolster our attacking options, along with Haris Kolicic on a free transfer having been released from Fortuna Dusseldorf. 37 year old veteran goalkeeper Heinz Muller also came in on a free to add experience to our young squad, however he retired in November due to sustaining a knee tendonitis injury. Sam Telling arrived from Leyton Orient as a long term option at full back and Paderborn centre back Rafa was signed to partner captain Soren Gonther at the heart of our defence.



We started the season by sharing the spoils away at Kaiserslauten in a 1-1 draw, despite taking the lead through Sebastian Maier, Marcus Piossek equalised shortly after. We got our first win in the next game against Greuther Furth, courtesy of a Marvin Ducksch penalty within the opening 10 minutes.





August commenced with a 4-0 mauling of Arminia Bielefeld, we followed that up with a late win over Aue despite going down to ten men after Bernd Nehrig earned to the first of many red cards throughout the campaign. August ended with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Eintracht Braunschweig.





September included four tough games against sides inside the top six, we started against table toppers 1860 Munich. Coming from behind twice to snatch a 2-2 draw, we then dispatched Dynamo Dresden in a routine 3-1 win. Before a pulsating trip to Heidenheim where we eventually ran out 4-3 winners. The month ended with a 1-1 home draw against Bochum.





We overtook 1860 Munich in October with a 100% record in October, it started with a scrappy 1-0 away win over Nuremberg after going down to ten men following Berd Nehrig's sending off. Marvin Ducksch then inspired a late win over Stuttgart in our next match scoring goals in the 76th and 87th minutes. We rounded off October with a resounding 4-2 away win over Hannover.





November continued our excellent run of form, again winning every game. We kicked off November with a 2-1 win over Union Berlin, back to back 1-0 wins followed. Marvin Ducksch the difference against Sandhausen, before we scraped past FSV Frankfurt with a Shawn Barry own goal after Bernd Nehrig (again) got sent off. Enis Alushi and Ryo Miyaichi then got us past Fortuna Dusseldorf, as we ended November ten points ahead of 2nd placed Stuttgart.





A difficult December started with our opening defeat of the season at home to Karlsruhe, despite coming from behind to equalise through Haris Kolicic we quickly went 3-1 down and despite pulling it back to 3-2. We suffered defeat for the first time all season. We bounced back immediately though, dispatching of Kaiserslauten in routine fashion, Haris Kolicic and Nico Empen scoring a goal each without reply. But we slipped up again in our very next match against Greuther Furth, we paid the price for not putting the game to bed earlier and Benedikt Rocker equalised four minutes from time.





We resumed the our league campaign in sluggish fashion, a 1-1 draw away at Arminia Bielefeld set the tone for a frustrating two months. In saying that we did manage a win against Aue, Enis Alushi scoring the winner in the 89th minute. And it was a good thing he did when Nicky Adler pulled one back for the visitors as we endured the final ten minutes with ten men due to (you guessed it) Berd Nehrig being sent off. February ended with back to back 1-1 draws against Eintracht Braunschweig and 1860 Munich.





March saw an improvement in results but it still wasn't an ideal month for us. Hard fought wins against Dynamo Dresden (1-0) and Nuremberg (3-2) either side of 1-1 draws against Heidenheim and Bochum. Despite our run of draws we remained five points clear of 2nd placed Hannover.






April saw us regain our form that had set the league alight earlier in the campaign, April commenced with a 3-2 win over Stuttgart, a crucial top of the table clash against Hannover followed ending in a 0-0 stalemate to keep the title in our hands. The Marvin Ducksch show followed, our top scorer dismantling the Union Berlin defence with a hat trick, our third and final game of the month saw us dominate yet struggle to break down Sandhausen. Ryo Miyaichi provided the eventual breakthrough, meaning a win against FSV Frankfurt would guarantee the title.





We wrapped up the title with two goals in eight minutes after Frankfurt took the lead on the hour mark. Ryo Miyaichi made it level again nine minutes later, then youngster Mergim Berisha sealed promotion and the 2nd Division title in the 77th minute. Weakened teams were put out for our final two games, as we limped over the line with a 2-1 home defeat to Fortuna Dusseldorf and a 0-0 bore against Karlsruhe.







We ended the season four points clear of our nearest rivals Hannover, after an excellent first half of season we struggled to find our form for a while in 2016. But we'd put enough daylight between us and the chasing pack that we were still able to sew up the title with two games to spare.

Great season mate! Bundesliga football is coming!