EPISODE 1
Hi all,
Let me start with introducing myself. My name is Gerb and I am a 27 year old Belgian FM-addict. For a long time I wanted to make a blog about my save(s) in FM and with FM23 lurking around the corner and corona forcing me to stay inside after work, I thought it was the appropriate time.
Today’s post will be an introduction to my first save of FM23 which I will start when the beta version of the game is released (hopefully next week). I will tell you what team I chose, who they are, what their current real life situation is and what my goals of this save will be.
So without further ado , let’s meet the team!
GENK, A BRIEF HISTORY:
So as you could guess from the title of this segment, we are starting FM23with Belgian side KRC Genk.
Genk is a Belgian team formed in 1988, after Thor Waterschei and KFC Winterslag (both small villages in the city of Genk) merged together. But the start was not what they hoped for! In their first season they immediately got relegated to the second division. They gained promotion back after one season but the first years back were also very hard with low rankings and a new relegation in 1995. After 2 more seasons in the second division they reclaimed their spot in the top tier of Belgian football and the first successes would not wait that much longer for them. In 1998 they won the Belgian cup to claim their first ever trophy and 1 year later they became champions of Belgium.
Genk would go on and win the Belgian league 3 more times after this.. in 2002, 2011 and 2019. Lifting the Belgian cup happend 4 more times in the years of 2000, 2009 and 2013 and recently in 2020.
European football is also no stranger for Genk. With 3 participations in the Champions League group stage, they are still waiting for that first victory in this competition. But still, draws against Real Madrid, Chelsea, Napoli and Bayern Leverkussen gives the Belgians hope for the future.
In the Europa league it is looking a bit better. Securing their first group stage survival in 2012-2013, they even managed to get to the quarter-finals of this competition in 2016-2017, losing 3-4 on aggregate to Celta de Vigo. But after that, Europa has not been kind to them.
Losing to Slavia Prague in the first round after the group stage in 2018-2019 and having a hard time in the Champions league one year later (a 6-2 loss at Salsburg and only taking 1 point at home to Napoli) made their name in Europa fade a little bit more.
In terms of derbies and rivalries, there are a few!
The biggest 2 for the fans are local ones, with the ‘Limburgse Derby’ versus Sint-Truiden and the game against Walloon neighbours Standard Liege.
This one means the most for the fans since these 2 teams are the only representatives for the province of Limburg in the whole first division.
The other rivals are the other teams of the ‘big 5’ in Belgium. These teams are: Club Brugge, Anderlecht and AA Gent.
CURRENT SITUATION:
The season 2021-2022 was one to forget very quickly!
After a disastrous start of the season Genk decided to fire the head coach John Van den Brom. He was replaced by German coach Bernd Storck, who previously managed Mouscron, Cercle Brugge and Danasjká Streda. His appointment was not what the fans wanted because he was known for his defensives strategies. He couldn’t avoid Genk getting 4th and last in the Europa League groupstage and barely got the 8th place for European Play-offs.
In those play-offs he also failed to get the last European ticket and thus was fired at the end of the season.
OUR GOALS AND PROFILE:
And that is where we come in. Genk wants the next coach to be young and Belgian with good knowledge of the League. And that… won’t be me. HUH?
Since this season, the Belgian Pro League changed a bit of the format (with also extra changes from season 23-24 onwards) and one of the changes included the addition of B-teams in 2nd and 3rd division. The top 4 of the U21 league last season qualified for 2nd division. The rest were placed in the amateur leagues. The under 21 of Genk were champions last season so they appear in division 2.
In the game we will create a profile with a Licence B diploma and the history of being a professional player on the national level. I played most of my career for the club of Genk and after retiring I came back to the club to manage some of the youth teams. Climbing the ranks of the youth teams and getting good results there gave me now the chance to show my worth in professional football.
The goal of this series is to produce great talents for the senior team and when the time comes, take charge of the first team and build a team set for European success and dominate the Belgian Pro League.
For the very first update after this, we will take an in-depth look in the current squad, what our board and fans demand from us and we will be creating a tactic! There will be no summer transfers in the first window. This will be taken from the Beta of the game with a squad review. We will discuss the plans for season 1 and then we wait until the 8th of November to start playing.
In the time being, I am doing a Beta save with Borussia Dortmund live on my twitch! You can follow those adventures on twitch.tv/gerbtheking
Stay tuned for more and if you like this introduction you can show your support by following the topic and replying your thoughts on it!
Until next time!
