My OSFP story!

Hello people!
Just registered, although I 've been reading the forum since last year.

I'm playing FM several years, since I was 10 years old, back to FM '01 which was then named Championship manager if I'm not mistaken. I took a huge break then since I had school to cope with, playing again at '04 edition, and started taking "seriously" the game since fm '09.

From fm '09 to fm '11 I was always starting unemployed. At last years edition, York (BSP team) picked me up, and after almost one decade and a half we won 2 consecutive Champions' Leagues.

This year I 've decided to start with my favourite greek team, Olympiakos SFP. (Although I'm planning to start an unemployed run later). I was expecting this to be fairly easy compared to my York run. Unexpectadly, I was wrong. Managing a greek team and attempting to establish it as one of Europe's best teams is really hard so far. Compared to the english teams I used to manage, you are having big troubles both economic side and signings side. Winning greek league (aka Superleague) or greek cup is really easy. You can literally hit continue and just win most of the matches, with no tactics, no signings etc. However, winning rewards and TV revenue are really low, usually ending up with negative or slightly positive season revenue, especially if you 've made expensive signings. Talking about signings... Good players will consider it a lot (even worse, not at all) to join a league with such low reputation.

Therefore, if you really want a challenge I advice you to pick up a lower league team next time!

Back to my story now... Unfortunatelly, by the time I'm writing these lines I am already at at the second half of my second season with OSFP. I will try to sum up my last season at this post.




When I took charge, I realised that the team was based a lot on old players. I decided (due to my limited budget) not to make any important first team transfers but to sign young, exceptional players.

Therefore, I signed Ivan a 17 year old DR from levante, hoping he will be valuable in future for a fee of 190k euros.
My last signing was Vitinho an exceptional brazilian striker, being only 17 years old too, with amazing talent, (I believe he is listed in wonderkids at this site) at a fee of 900k. If I can recall correctly, I snatched the deal out of Barca's hands, because they offered less money to Botafago (his team at the time). Currently, at my second season Vitinho is playing for my Senior squad and he is my ST sub, so he can blend in and gain experience. He is performing well, and develops really fast.

Regarding competitions I got the double in greek competitions(board, media and fans expected me to win both) and finished 3rd at ECC group stage. So, I continued in UEFA Cup and got thrown out at the second qualifying round. Not what I wanted, since I 'd prefer to reach the 16 of ECC, but my board was really happy.

I also persuaded my board during January to buy our stadium (It was loaned for 15% of tickets) and it was done by summer. Unfortunatelly, that added a 55mil outstanding loan.

At next post, I 'll describe my exciting, with many ins and outs transfers, summer!

Perhaps I should first explain my tactics and current team depth, so you can better judge my transfers.

I decided to use tactics that best suit my current squad and not my preferance, so I 've ended up playing a 4-1-3-2 with one DM, and 3 AMs.

My squad had as I said before a lot of aged key or first team players: Marko Padelic, Ariel Ibagaza, Olof Melberg, Francois Modesto, Ludomir Fejsa. Padelic, Ibagaza and Melberg also had really expensive contracts, so I had to either persuade them to accept a lower contract (which they didn't) or manage to sell them (which I didn't).
So I let them on a free transfer, which gave me a great deal of available budget, allowing me to catch and exceptional signing.

Squad also had two important first team players loaned. Ivan Marcano (DL) and Jean Makoun(DM). By January of first season I 've realised they would never sign for my team, so I had to look for replacements.


I snapped a deal with Jonathan dos Santos a really good MC and DM, who is now a key player for my team, playing DM. He was playing for Barcelona, and his contract was approaching to an end, so we agred at a pre-contract and he joined at 1st of July.

Same story with Willians (AMC) from Sports Recife, who was to replace Ariel Ibagaza, and he lives up to the high standard setted so far and Lorenzo Criseting a 18 year old Italian DMC (Inter) with bright feature ahead of him.

So basically those three transfers are from previous season, but since they joined on July I posted them here.

On july Marko Padelic, Ariel Ibagaza, Olof MElberg and Francois Modesto left on a free transfer. A hard and perhaps wrong decision, but I had to reshape my team and it ought to be hard. In my mind I had the model of Arsenal (it's the most realistic way of establishing our team europe-wide) so I looked for young players, and having already Excellent youth facilities and coaching and an extensive youth recruitment system I hoped I could manage it.

I signed 3 players from the youth intake, Michalis Kiourkos, Stelios Mavridis and Kostas Chalaris. This year's intake was really pleasing, all 3 of them big talents and Michalis Kiourkos a really big hope. I believe he will turn into a wonderkid soon.
http://i39.tinypic.com/n46sm0.pngMichalis Kiourkos

I 've manage to sell Balazs Megyeri (my 3rd GK) to Aston Villa for 120k, LJubomir Fejsa at Valladolid for 600k, Andreas Tatos at Huddersfield for 400k and Kostas Mitroglou at Albacete for 525k. Last one was a hard decision, but I need the extra wage budget and money so..

With all the moving outs, my budget was now really huge for a greek team, and I had to make 1 or perhaps 2 really big transfers - at least for greek standards.

I therefore signed Jack Robinson 18 years old DL from Liverpool for a fee of 8.5mil euros. Jack is amazing, key player for my team so far this season and he is due to become a lot better. Unfortunatelly it will be really hard to keep him in later years, such a talent is bound to attract interest from big teams.
http://i44.tinypic.com/2i8dgso.png

After all the outs, I also had problem at DC position. So, I signed Kostas Manolas(3.4m), bright 20 year old talent from Rivals AEK. This displeased a bit my fans but I had faith in him, and indeed now they are excited about this transfer. Nevertheless AEK fans got more dissapointed than mine
http://i39.tinypic.com/iw3qk1.png

Then I 've made once again one more transfer move for the feature. Signed Vasilis Orfanidis, 16 years old Striker from Xanthi for a fee of 2m.
http://i40.tinypic.com/vde3wo.png


That sums up my transfers this summer, along with a complete rework on my teams coaching staff.

Looking forward for your comments, especially if you know any players of those mentioned!

Tactics & the road so far!

As I said before, I'm using a 4-1-3-2 with one DM and 3 AMs.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2ajuc1u.png
Our philosophy is fluid - second half of the pitch players, have good enough creativity to allow this.
So, creative freedom is set to More expressive too.

The team is always expected to win greek matches and competitions, and due to our huge class difference with most other clubs, I 've employed an Attacking Strategy. Most of our matches finish with high scores which really pleases the fans. Last superleague season we 've scored about 100 goals. Our constant attack also tires out the oppossing team and adding to that our really good defence, we rarely concede in greek matches. (about 15 last season at superleague)

My players have quite a temperament, which ended in earning a lot of yellow cards, so tackling is more cautious set.

Passing style is more direct, and crossing is set to float crosses.

Defensive line is a bit higher than normal, to cover the gap of not having cenral midfielders. This results to a fair amount of goals scored from the defence. Most of my players are fast, so backing up is not a problem. Therefore, our tempo is set to quick, and along with our decent stamina we tire out opponents really fast, and outrun them at most phases.

Player instructions are chosen according to individual attributes mostly, so I'm not going to recite them.



So far (5 Jan 2013) we are fullfilling expectations at national competitions and do even better at ECC.(However we conceded more than last year and scored less. I believe this is happening due to a lot of squad changes. Also our younger players might get anxious before big matches, but this is something I am prepared to cope with, since my goal is to make a squad of exceptional young players. Experience is bound to come, and we will improve a lot.)
Greek superleague table:
http://i42.tinypic.com/6r3sax.png
We 've managed to qualify to 1st qualifying round of ECC, and our draw was to face Stuttgart. Draw was really good considering what the other teams are, and I hope that with a bit of luck we might win our way to the next round.
Group stage table(we started with a defeat against SLB and then a home draw, and since every team of this group was much better than mine, I believed we were ruled out. However, team improved, and we did the unexpected! Not only we qualified for the next stage, but we also finished first, above Man Utd!):
http://i42.tinypic.com/e5sq2x.png

So far, thankfully, we only had minor injuries. Our squad depth is not what I would like, and one big injury of a striker or a defender, might endager our goals.


Fixtures till now:
http://i44.tinypic.com/nbwx8m.jpg
The matches that need to be highlighted are our decisive home win with 4-1 over Panathinaikos (our fierce rival) an amazingly high scoring game away against Man Utd (4-4) which slightly displeased our fans since the equaliser was scored at 90+2 and a depressing away defeat with an embarassing score (2-6) against our rivals PAOK which really angered the fans.

Next update will be after my first match against Stuggart!

An early update since Greek Cup Qrt final draw have been made. We are to face Panathinaikos, our fierce rival, and second best greek team at the moment. The upcoming schedule is a real pain, since we are expected to play 4 derbies in 10 days, against all of our rivals(which are also the best GSL teams) and Stutgartt for ECC.
http://i39.tinypic.com/k4f2vo.png
OSFP info screen

http://i39.tinypic.com/sgsnq1.png
Top 4 teams at GSL. Following matches might be decisive for winner and ECC/Uefa Cup qualifications.


I'm going to have big troubles in deciding which players to rest and when; I might need to decide to sacrifice our hopes in one of those matches, in order to win an other one, not to mention that since we are getting closer to the end of season, we will have many players with one or two yellow cards away of ban.

Schedule:
http://i39.tinypic.com/288mxf.png

Looks like my team is made for derbies! Things went far better than I expected!

AEK v OSFP (2-2)
Both of my first team DLs were out. One injured, and one suspended. So Michalis Kiourkos (last years youth intake) took their place for the starting line up. Unfortunatelly, a mistake of his (penalty) put AEK on the lead. Half time was at 2-0, and I 've abandoned hope. However, we 've managed to equalise, and match ended at 2-2. On the side, this was a pretty dirty match, with 10 yellow cards.

OSFP v Panathinaikos(4-0)
7 players away on international duties - 6 of them valuable first team players. Panathinaikos though had full squad available. Every sign was ominus! Quarter finals are knock-out in Greek cup, so this match had to be won. Unfortunatelly the line-up consisted mostly of U20 team players. Surprisingly, we won with 4-0(our young summer transfer star Orfanidis scored on his debut!), and fans made me their god! Winning our fierce rival with this score was awesome! However, it was an other dirty match, leading to the injure of Yeste.

OSFP v PAOK(3-1)
With our DR star Torosidis suspended, Holebas and Yeste injured I sure had to made some changes on my regural line-up. This match was really important; OSFP occupied 1st spot of the table with 50 points and Panathinaikos was behind us, also with 50 points. Team showed character, and we won this match pretty easily.

Stuttgart v OSFP(1-3)
Here comes our first match for ECC. A good result -even if that was a defeat with enough goals scored from our side- could help a lot because I have extreme confidence in our home venues, our fans always drive us to the needed result! We finally had our regural squad available, a bit tired though. None expected us to win: pre-match odds were to loose, and the journalist at the match screen was for a draw. We surprised everyone by winning with 2 goals margin; Mirallas scored twice, he was awesome!

Then came two GSL matches with bad performances - one defeat and one draw. However, we 've played first match with U20's squad to rest our Senior squad and we just got unlucky at the second one. Thankfully, followers Panathinaikos also lost and drawn their two matches.

By that time year's youth intake came up. Check this kid:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2u9u4uu.png
Ylli Hajdari

OSFP v Stuttgart (2-2)
Leading 3-1 on aggregate was a huge asset. Unfortunatelly we were loosing by 0-2 at half-time and I got kinda stressed. HT team talk though worked; we 've managed to score twice, and win this draw.
Finally, Olympiakos is at Quarter finals of ECC after 13 years! We received 3mil appearing bonus; adding to that the 3.4(?)mil we will receive for appearing at Quarter final, that was a huge breath for our bad finances this year. They are "Very insecure", 4th worst in GSL. Then the board gave a 1mil injection to help with the financial problem and I finally have a little bit hope!

Osfp v Panaitolikos (1-0)
Semi-final match! Looks like cup matches are not rescheduled when there are international fixtures. 7 players were away at Panathinaikos match, and now even worse:
http://i44.tinypic.com/20itfsx.png
11 internationals!
However we scrapped a narrow 1-0 home win.

ECC Quarter final was made, and we are to play Marseille. Once again, a lucky draw; this was the easiest draw that could have been made, and if we get lucky once more, we might achieve to reach the semi-finals. (v Liverpool or Barca )

Here is a screenshot of the fixtures I described you, plus the upcoming ones. A tight schedule once more, with difficult matches ahead of us!
http://i40.tinypic.com/qounma.png

I like your presentation mate (proper use of formatting), very well done!

Your tactic is quite offensive, which is probably good thinking, considering you're managing my favorite team. How is J. Dos Santos doing at DM on his own? I'd like to see a screenshot of the whole team with average ratings, and other stats.

Good luck vs Marseille!
I'm following your story

Hey stam! Thanks a lot for your kind words! Usually I do not play so offensive, but looking over my GSL opponents this style looked ideal for me. And indeed, many goals, and jubilant fans for the "quality football" we offer
Unfortunatelly I didn't manage to qualify for semi-finals, but that's an other story, coming soon!

Dos Santos is living up to the standard set from Makoun so far; unfortunatelly this is not his natural position but he is working hard in training to learn it. I probably should mention that I sometimes use Lorenzo Criseting in his place or as a sub, my DM hot prospect, and he is doing well too.
http://i41.tinypic.com/5dv0nl.png


Here is the screenshot of the ratings. (or did you mean assistants player ratings?)
http://i44.tinypic.com/6f5smh.png


What other stats you 'd like to see?

Olympiakos v OM (2-2)
ECC quarter final! Excitement! Until half time, we were ahead at score with 2-0. I was so happy! For a moment I thought we 've made it, we are at semi-finals! Second half came to shutter my dreams. OM showed their superior class and they scrapped the draw with a late equaliser. Adding to the bad result, Torosidis was rulled out for 3 months, missing the Greek Cup final.


Later matches were of little interest (either hopless like the second round of Qrt finals, either easy ones) so I will skeep directly to fixtures screenshot:
http://i42.tinypic.com/10fqdsz.png

So, we won the greek double again and made an amazing appearance at ECC this year! (just for extra info Barcelona won the treble)
We also moved 7 places up in european club rankings to place 27.

Here is the final league table:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2iu7yf5.png
I'm sad about Panachaiki, it's my home-town's team:(

And here are the european qualification play-offs:
http://i39.tinypic.com/97pbtg.png
Okay, normally it would be the exactly opposite table, what a huge surprise! Panaitolikos' media prediction was 14th place, and he finished runner-up!

And then the ending player stats:
http://i40.tinypic.com/sq5ocy.png

Sponsorships deals were to end this summer, so I expected much higher sponshorships and a nice Transfer Budget. Unfortunatelly, sponshorships were only increased by ~100k and this is what I got for budget:
http://i39.tinypic.com/wt80o4.png
And no. It can not be altered. Expectations are set to maximum by default

Then I got offered a new contract since mine was expiring, at 12,250p/w until 2017 with my current one being at 14,000 p/w. After hard negotiations, we agreed at 15,000 p/w until next summer.

Slighlty later, I visited their offices: I demanded higher transfer revenue made available (agreed, and made it 65%) and improved training facilities, which they agreed too!

Only after exiting the boards' building, my cellphone ringed: QPR made a 1mil bid for Tasos Papazoglou, my DC sub. I decided to negotiate it (mainly out of interest to see what they were prepared to pay, I wasn't sure if I should part from him) for 2mil. Their counter-offer was 1.6mil upfront, and then my board took matters into their hands and accepted it.

Manolas (last summer's addition) is now attracting a lot of interest: A 3.4mil bid from Newcastle (which I rejected since it was what I paid in the first place and he is really valuable for the team; didn't even bother to negotiate) and then an amazing offer from Ajax: 1.7mil loan fee for 1 year, 100% wadges paid, and 5.75mil buy-out option. I rejected this half-heartidily; having to look for two DCs after Papazoglou's selling would be hard.

Also, Diogo's contract ended - I didn't manage to sell him and to be honest I'm fortunate he left. He was my worst striker and at the same time 4th well paid player in squad at 29k p/w. Probably worst transfer OSFP ever made, although I really liked him when I 've first seen him playing
Other notable departures were: David Fuster, Jose Holebas (they both didn't want to renew their contracts since they were not featured into my first team plans) and Pablo Orbaiz who retired. I also want out Petar Grbic and I'm close to sealing a deal with Sion(Switzerland club).

Nevertheless, my budget is now at 3.4mil with the departures, but it's still pretty low. I need to find a decent DC for back-up, and since I suspect that my GK is close to retirement I want to make a big booming transfer at this position I probably need a back-up winger, but to be honest, I haven't completely decided yet on my transfer targets.

Lastly, I want to add that I ve entered greek hall of fame, and I'm also now continental famous!
http://i43.tinypic.com/2rmpr89.png

Really good managing
Though in my OSFP Game
i sold Torisidis for a bid of 10M thus signing
Manolas,Tzavelas&Thorgan Hazard
in 1st season
hm..Letting Holebas out of First Eleven kinda not nice as he plays Very good

Great read so far mate!

You have done a great job making strides in Europe while continuing to dominate the Greek league. I like the way you have gone towards youth and are brining young promising players through your ranks which will no doubt earn your club a few million euro’s on transfers.

Are you looking to take on another job in a different league if the offer comes? (Which must be soon since you are doing such a good job).

excellent young players coming out of your younger selections, Ylli Hajdari very promising young player, better than all of my Arsenal's young players.

Keep up with good work, like managers who built team on the young future stars.