[FM12] Eskilsminne IF: The only way is up (literally)

First of all, in the past I've said I didn't want to start a new story. First thing you should know about me, is that I don't always keep my word. I'm also doing this on FM12, because FM13 is slow on my computer and not the best for a long-term save such as this.

Now, who are Eskilsminne IF? Copied from Wikipedia:

Eskilsminne Idrottsförening s a football club from the district of Eskilsminne in Helsingborg that was founded on the 18th May 1928. The club runs around 50 teams and has between 1200 and 1300 members, which is the largest youth organisation in Scania. Since 1968 the club has organised on an annual basis the Eskilscupen, which is one of the oldest and largest tournaments in youth football. The club also provides an annual football school for children between 5 and 8 years, with an emphasis on fun and fellowship. Eskilsminne IF received the 2005 award for "Best sports for children and youth" from the Skånska idrottsförbundet (Scanian Sports Association).
Since their foundation Eskilsminne IF has participated mainly in the middle and lower divisions of the Swedish football league system. The club currently plays in Division 2 Västra Götaland which is the fourth tier of Swedish football. They play their home matches at the Harlyckans IP in Helsingborg.
Eskilsminne IF are affiliated to Skånes Fotbollförbund.

It sounds like they have a good youth system. If so, this is not emulated in-game:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/EskilsminneIFInformation_Facilities_zps9c665e56.png.html

There is minimal information about the club in FM itself:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/EskilsminneIFInformation_General_zps46a10568.png.html

I'm confident we can avoid relegation and thus overachieve (11th spot is relegated to an unplayable league)

You can see from this screenshot how many players needed to be brought in:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/EskilsminneIFTransfers_History_zpsdfa0b585.png.html

I have a few worries about bringing in so many players, hopefully they will gel before the season's start and not complain about lack of playing time. (However, I still have around 500 euros p/w available in the wage budget)

First team screenshot:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/EskilsminneIFTeam_Players_zpse349d3be.png.html

Key players:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/SebastianFrickOverview_Profile_zpsd1cde11c.png.html

Sebastian Frick is a great young goalkeeper for this level, and being only 21 he still has plenty of time to improve. His "Rushing Out" value of 4 worries me a little bit, however.

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/LuanRizaniOverview_Profile_zpsa0f11a10.png.html

Luan Rizani is, again, a great young player for a club of our stature. He could be a first team player for a team in the level above, and I can't wait to see how good he will be in the future.

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/FisnikShalaOverview_Profile_zps3067b0c7.png.html

Despite having a finishing rating of only 9, Fisnik Shala should be able to score many goals this season and link up well with my other strikers (Pace of 12 is as good as my other strikers and should serve them well against the slower defenders of the league)

Once the league season starts, there will be an update every 5-6 games as the league has only 12 teams and 22 games. There will also be an update any major transfers taking place throughout the world after August (perhaps part of my end-of-season update?)

Feel free to make any suggestions of how I could make this or any future updates better.

This is good news:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/AndyRussellNews_Inbox_zps0e4a397d.png.html

They're only two divisions above us, and most likely don't have many reserve players, but loan players could help us if we happened to have an injury crisis or players were underperforming when the rest of the team was doing well, etc.

New Signing

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/MarcelSacramentoOverview_Profile_zpsc5a78689.png.html

Marcel Sacramento is a Brazilian 24 year-old central midfielder, formerly of Swedish Premier League side Kalmar FF. He can pass well and take a penalty, but ultimately what stands out is his Teamwork and Work Rate ratings of 15 and 14 respectively, making him one of the better team players on the team.

Andy Russell's statement on the signing: "Central midfield was a bit of a weak spot in our squad, especially since arguably one of our best central midfielders is injured currently. Marcel is a great team player, and can also cover at a centre-forward position."

Good start and good luck That affiliation will help a lot!

2013-08-12 17:00#127487 lwalter66 : Good start and good luck That affiliation will help a lot!

Thanks! I tried to sign two center midfielders from them, but the players themselves rejected it.

Pre-Season

Most of pre-season was played against various amateur Danish clubs, only highlight here was that we beat Malmo 1-0 at our stadium.

Start of League Season

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/EskilsminneIFMatches_Matches_zps98e10c77.png.html

Pretty convincing for a club most predicted to go down.

Table

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/SwedishSecondDivisionSouthGotalandOverview_Stages_zpsab3f64c1.png.html

Currently sitting on top by goal difference.

Player of the Month(ish)

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/AndreacuteMoumlllestamOverview_Profile_zpsbd9a3a8f.png.html

This was a tough one, with Marcel Sacramento and Niklas Löfgren turning in some great performances. but the winner of this award is André Möllestam, who was a rock in defense and also managed to score a goal. He's not that great stats-wise, but was good on the pitch for these five games.

Injuries

Captain and starting right-back Niklas Andersén broke his arm and was ruled out for 6 weeks, according to physio George Nilsson.

Center-back Luan Rizani picked up a concussion and missed the Rosengård game, but should be fit for the next game.

Center midfielder Fredrik Larsson sprained his ankle, but will most likely not play when he returns from injury due to the signing of Marcel Sacramento.

Next Month

The toughest games next month (as well as May 26, will be the games away at 3rd place GIF Nike and 2nd place IS Halmia, which will most likely be the first definite "must-win" games to continue our quest for promotion.

Always nice to see this:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/AndyRussellNews_Inbox-2_zps4a4264a7.png.html

June (sort of) Update

Matches

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/EskilsminneIFMatches_Matches_zps9a5c885d.png.html

Still undefeated, really didn't expect to do this well.

League Table

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/SwedishSecondDivisionSouthGotalandOverview_Stages_zps0f971767.png.html

Halmia faltered, so we took advantage of it. We've been in 1st since the third match of the league:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/SwedishSecondDivisionSouthGotalandOverview_PastPositions_zps1af19d14.png.html

Player of the Month(ish)

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/MarcelSacramentoOverview_Profile_zps8f1ca80e.png.html

Löfgren and Daniel Jovanovic scored plenty of goals this month, and goalkeeper Frick saved not one, but two penalties in the first match (I blame the referee), this award has to go to Marcel Sacramento. What a player.

Injuries

Captain Andersén came back from his injury and will be playing at his natural position of left-back because Kalle Dahlberg, the backup, was performing so well.

Two key players are injured in André Möllestam and Fisnik Shala, who will be our for a month and seven weeks respectively.

Samuel Pont-Laisfeldt, replacement for Shala, will also be out for about nine days.

Next Month(ish)

We seem to be playing better away from home, we can hope this trend will continue against Ramlösa Södra and Kvarnby IK who are third and second respectively.

Uhhh... what?

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/AndyRussellNews_Inbox_zps2a7bb300.png.html

And then:

http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/DarkMatt114/media/AndyRussellNews_Inbox-2_zpsd4d63a1a.png.html