Another Champions League Challenge!!!

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

Breaking News

Reports are surfacing that Laurentiu Reghecampf has been relieved of his duties at Steaua Bucharest. An apparent bust up with the clubs owners is being cited as the reason for this surprise sacking. Furthermore the boards disappointment with a third place finish had not been well hidden and now the search for a new manager begins.

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[Klippybo]

Welcome aboard lol - good luck!

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

Backlash in Buacharesti:

The shock news that unknown manager Calum MacDonald has been appointed as the new head coach of Steaua Bucuresti has not gone down well with fans of the club. The fans have been quick to question whether this man can bring success and the league title back to Steaua Bucuresti. It is after all his first venture into managment, having worked as a coach in Scotland previously. The appointment has provoked some angry protests and talk of boycotting, one thing is for certain MacDonald faces the unenviable task of winning over both players and fans.

 

[MaximumPower]

That picture, anyone notice the flags are blurry? Anyway, good luck. Steaua aren't exactly favourites to win it

 

[MattLUFC]

Welcome aboard and the good luck!! will be interesting to see how you do with Steaua! Its interesting how everyone has started with a different team as well!

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

June 2012:

June saw no friendlies being played, although the Steaua team did go away on a training cam for a week or so. June was all about evaluation planning and then action:

My plan of action is obviously to eventually win the Champions League as this is the focus of the challenge. Unfortunately due to the 3rd place finish Bucharest achieved last year my first season in charge will see me competing in the Europa League. Therefore my targets for the coming year are:

1. Win the League
2. Win a domestic Cup
3. Avoid a bottom place finish in the Europa League group

I have inherited a squad that overall is not too bad.

Ideally I would like a new GK, RB, CB, CM and one top quality marquee signing on which I would spend the majority of my budget. Whether or not this is achievable remains to be seen.

With a budget of £1.1 million in return for the league title I set about finding my players:

I brought in 3 free transfers, Luigi Bruins, Bobo Balde and Habib Beye:

Luigi Bruins was one of my favorite players on FM10 if I remember correctly and so when I noticed he was a free transfer I just felt the need to sign him. Technically he is very astute, and I have high hopes for him. He will certainly be capable of picking apart many Romanian defenses.

A very experienced player who will certainly do a job this season, he might need replacing next year. In terms of short term relief he is an excellent acquisition.

Two reasons for this signing really, the man is an absolute tank and even at 36 I think he will be able to put in an excellent shift as a cover defender, the one who sits deeper. Furthermore as a die hard Celtic fan I have some fond memories of this man so I thought I should sign him.

So far I have acquired good players, nothing special. I said I wanted a marquee signing and I am happy to say I got one in the form of Brazilian wonderkid Adryan. It has been well documented by many people that this boy turns into a world beater and having him is a huge boost. He will certainly be able compete in the Romanian league immediately and his potential resale value could be crucial further down the line.

There you have my first month in the job and I am very happy with my signings, and I am looking forward to the coming season. My hopes for July are to sign a few more players and to have my tactics all at 100% familiarity for the start of the League.

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

Welcome aboard lol - good luck!

That picture, anyone notice the flags are blurry? Anyway, good luck. Steaua aren't exactly favourites to win itWelcome aboard and the good luck!! will be interesting to see how you do with Steaua! Its interesting how everyone has started with a different team as well!

Cheers folks, it certainly will be a challenge with Steaua but starting at the bottom could be fun. Finances will be the issue, but this challenge was never supposed to be easy!

 

[White army]

yeah gd luck and i echo..welcome aboard

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

July 2012:

Unfortunately I could not find a cheap goalkeeper that was better than the current crop. Having spent the bulk of my transfer budget on Adryan I will have to make do with Stanca. I did not add to the squad throughout the whole of July.

Friendlies:

Friendlies are more often than not a mixed bag, in which you face a different quality of opposition in each game, and it gives you a chance to test out new tactics, formations and players.

As you can see the friendlies started off well against lesser opposition as I would have expected. We came up against a talented Dinamo Moscow side and that result made it clear just how far we are from the Champions League and how vulnerable we were from set pieces. The Sturm Gratz game was encouraging in that we kept a clean sheet, although some easy chances were squandered by the backup strikers, which did not impress me.

Liga 1:

My managerial debut was fantastic, an exciting and ruthless display made for a pleasing result. Raul Rusescu helped himself to a couple of goals and Alexandru Chipichu set up 3. I was more than satisfied with this win.
The Otelul match was always going to be more difficult for a few reasons, playing away from home and also they had better quality players. The players actually did well and created numerous chances, unfortunately too many were squandered. We took the lead on 20 mins and held on until in the 70th minute Otelul scored from a corner. Then in the 87th minute an Otelul penalty fave them an undeserved win, a draw would have been far fairer.

The two games did raise concerns over defending corners, and I have accordingly shifted focus to that pre-match and furthermore tweaked by defedning instructions slightly. Hopefully the results are positive.

Liga 1 Table:

Two games in and we sit 7th. It is obviously too early to read into the league table but I can already tell it will be a close fought battle, with so many teams capable of challenging for the title. It should become clearer over the coming months whether or not I was being overly ambitious when I said I would win the league.


Player of the Month:

A creative force over the first two league games and he also popped up with a goal. I hope to see more of the same over the coming months:

Summary:
Not the perfect start but by no means a bad one. I know where I can improve, and I will certainly be striving to do so. August will see Adryan join the club, important league fixtures and a difficult Europa League qualification tie with Hajduk Split of Croatia.

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

Alright guys, having a bit of difficulty here. Never had a crash dump or anything like that but my game keeps on closing down as soon as it comes to the 6th of August. Anybody experienced this and any solutions for this problem???? I tried holidaying past it but it doesn't work.

 

[cam0136]

Does it say anything as it crashes?

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

Does it say anything as it crashes?

I got it working mate this afternoon mate, had to verify some files or something but it's working anyway. I should get an update done tonight!

 

[Celticthroughandthrough88]

August 2012:

August was certainly a bad month in the league. Some frustrating defeats and the reemergence of my achilles heal, defending set pieces. On a brighter note we qualified for the Europa Cup group stage.


Results:

The league form is already extremely concerning. My team seem capable of creating chances yet when it comes to finishing them off we are just not there yet. I might try a change of tactics in September although it is already looking like a make or break month. The win over Cluj was encouraging, but we did not score nearly enough goals.
In the Europa Cup we navigated a tricky tie with Hajduk and then easily brushed aside Sheriff over two legs. I am hoping to carry that kind of form into September and I would like to see us climb up the league. The league table at the end of August makes for some uncomfortable reading:

There needs to be a change quickly, otherwise I might not make it through the year. I'm actually concerned that the Europa League may have a detrimental effect on the already atrocious league form. Some big fixtures await this month although I am hopeful that the players will begin to work better as a team.

Player of the Month:

In a bad month my starting striker was impressive enough, bagging some nice goals. Although they did not always end up in a positive result I can tell he will be an integral part of the team this year.

Summary:
By no means a great month although a few positives were on display. Clearly my team can play football and dominate possession yet we are not yet clinical enough. September is shaping up to be a crucial month in which I will have to begin my league campaign properly and hopefully have a good start to my Europa League campaign.

Europa League Draw:

This is what I will face in the Europa League, I can't say that I'm awfully confident however a result against Anderlecht would make things interesting and perhaps give me a chance of qualification.