S02 – Lowering the bar

Welcome back to Sandy Sabotage – the destruction of Barcelona

Intro, S1, Christmas?, Part 3, Season 1 Closing

The end of season review.

I’ve entered season two after finishing 3rd in my debut year as Barça coach. This campaign is going to be all about bringing the bar lower and hopefully missing out on UCL football altogether.

The summer is all about rules 2 & 3. Spending the entire transfer budget and maxing the wage budget on some average, older players.

In comes big money signings Charlie Austin, Alex Telles and full time shithouse, Mario Balotelli.

Now this is a long term project, so getting the sack isn’t on the agenda. It’s how can I slowly turn the knife on Barcelona until it becomes too much and they can’t recover.

Lower coefficient points will do something towards that and by not winning trophies, I’m achieving.

Let’s dig into the season. Classic 5-3-2-1 formation.

September and October go annoyingly well. Not winning is tough with this team, and so even starting Austin over Suarez doesn’t get me the losses I’m looking for.

To be continued….

See you next time

---

FM17 Pentagon Challenge  ||  FM18 – Benevento  ||  FM19

S1 – Closing It Out

Welcome back to Sandy Sabotage – the destruction of Barcelona

Intro, S1, The Opening Salvo, Part 3

Welcome back to the destruction of Barcelona.

April is a disaster (stroke excellent). We pick up just four points from a possible 18 using our ultra defensive strikerless 5-2-1-2-0 formation.

Now for an #ElClásico that I must try to win. Playing a fairly regular 4-2-3-1 we go down 2-1 and the board are distinctly unhappy. As per the guidelines – #6 – I am trying to miss out on Champions League football. Currently in 3rd, the board are not happy with me. I’m officially ‘under fire’.

I need a couple of wins in the final two games to even have a hope of season 2.

We shake aside Eibar 4-0 and then lose to Valencia! This could be it. Just 7 points from the final 27 available.

P49-W25-D10-L14.

3rd place – which fails my 6th guideline, and gets me into the Champions League. But overall I’d say that the season has been a success vs the guidelines. Hopefully I have reduced the reputation of the club, and I’ve definitely put a dent in financially.

The results in Europe. Getting knocked out in the first knockout rounds would have been damaging to finances – excellent.

What have I learned?

Luis Suarez ends the season top goal scorer, with 17 in 46 games, Messi with 16 goals and 10 assists – getting the leagues Player of the Year. Ter-Stegen wins Goalkeeper of the Year with 30 clean sheets. He came on as a sub 18 times and only conceded 12 goals!

Looking at the squad, over the summer I need another centre back, a left back to cover Jordi Alba and a centre forward to challenge Suarez.

An awful deal comes in for Rafinha from Burnley. He played just 3 games last season so off he goes. In return, I bring in Charlie Austin from Southampton for big money to put some pressure / take Suarez’s place.

Somehow I seem to have made it through season 1. The board are roundly disappointed to finish 3rd, and with 28% support I think I’m clinging on.

Join me next time for the summer transfer merry-go-round and season 2.

Cheers

---

FM17 Pentagon Challenge  ||  FM18 – Benevento  ||  FM19

S1 – Part 3

Welcome back to Sandy Sabotage – the destruction of Barcelona

Intro, S1, The Opening Salvo

Welcome back.

A quick reminder of the guidelines that I set myself to destroy Barcelona, long term.

1. Get to Christmas
2. Spend the entire transfer budget
3. Max the wage budget – on some average squad players
4. Offload a few first teamers – hopefully to La Liga or UCL rivals
5. Always try to win the #ElClásico
6. Miss out on the Champions League
7. Come 4th in La Liga

Unfortunately, I keep winning. Tricky to lose with Messi, Suarez and Coutinho.

January’s games are off to a flyer, including a spanking of Real Madrid, gaining my first win in the #ElClásico. I’m still not conceding many which is a concern when I’m not actually trying to win the league.

My search for a talented, eccentric central defender in the January Transfer Window results in a successful signing of David Luiz. Big name, big cash, big wages. Just what I want.

Finances are taking a battering.

Seeing as thought I have made it to Christmas and had an awful transfer window, February kicks off with a couple of wins. Playing five at the back with a holding midfielder gets me clean sheets, but I keep scoring (with Messi et al I guess that’s not a surprise). Let’s have a formation switch up, and have Xavi starting more.

I swap the striker for another holding anchor midfielder. 5-2-1-2-0

A few loses in the month is just what the doctor ordered. We lose a bit of pace and move below Real Madrid in the table. Surprisingly, on the back of that, the Board have given me a new 3 year contract! Excellent news that hopefully means that its harder to sack me. Hopefully.

March actually is the sort of month I want to consistently have. Inconsistency. Two wins, a draw and a loss. That’s beautiful mid-table form.

Somewhat disappointingly though, I’m level on points at the top.

My end of March form is actually pretty poor, but I can’t seem to get below Real Madrid. Only 5 loses in the league. Not bad enough.

Join for the last two months and 9 games of the season where ideally, Celta Vigo gain 9 points on me. Plus, one more #ElClásico.

See you next time

---

FM17 Pentagon Challenge  ||  FM18 – Benevento  ||  FM19

S1 – Can I Make Christmas?

Welcome back to Sandy Sabotage – the destruction of Barcelona

Intro, S1

Please check out the previous episode for some of the ‘guidelines’ to this project.

The aim to stay in the job for as long as possible means that I have to keep up ‘there or there abouts’. Current scene is P7-W2-D3-L2 at the end of September.

October comes and goes. My very defensive 5-1-1-2-1 formation seems to be working vs the poorer teams, but as you see, Real Madrid took us apart. 

Failed on rule #5 – Always try to win the #ElClásico at the first attempt. Hopefully not my last.

Although even when trying to lose, I seem to be winning – a definite problem.

The slow burning of expectations is not going to plan as the next two months show in their positive results.

November …

The board think I’m doing OK. This is perfect. Maybe I will make Christmas!

Due to the maximising of rule #2 – Spend the entire transfer budget, with signing Xavi and a load of coaches named Tom, the board give me another £70m to bolster the squad. Balls.

December follows suit – four wins in the league. My formation is so defensive, I just can’t concede. I think  its time to give my new goalkeeper, José Mourinho, a one star prospect a few runs in the team.

The #ElClásico challenge again gets away from me. Although we are very unlucky to lose as we miss chance after chance. The stats say the same. Not being in the league means out of the cup nice and early – just as we would like.

I’ve easily made it to Christmas though so I’m please with that. Lots of big contracts are signed up, maximising the wage budget and a January transfer window approaches with £73m in the kitty. The squad wants to see me strengthen the defence so I go searching for an experienced centre back.

Join me next time for the next installment of the destruction of Barcelona.

 

S1 – The Opening Salvo

Welcome back to Sandy Sabotage – the destruction of Barcelona

Intro,

In this episode, I will share the setup, introduce my plan for the season, how the club is shaping up, and the first friendly matches under my leadership.

So a few initial ideas as to what I need to ‘achieve’ in season one.

1. Get to Christmas
2. Spend the entire transfer budget
3. Max the wage budget – on some average squad players
4. Offload a few first teamers – hopefully to La Liga or UCL rivals
5. Always try to win the #ElClásico
6. Miss out on the Champions League
7. Come 4th in La Liga

I’ve loaded up the top tier leagues from England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Portugal, so that the Champions League clubs have all the resources to get ahead of me.

So here we go.

I have joined up with the Barça squad for preseason and at every turn, I am looking to spend a load of money.

What I don’t need, is loads of coaches. Well, good coaches. Crap expensive ones on huge contracts are where it’s at. Paying off the current batch should kill some cash too with payouts. They’re already paying me £150,000 p/w so a few coaches on £15,000 should be ok.

In come 3 fitness coaches, 1 goalkeeping coach and an Assistant Manager, all under 26.

I also bring in 9 scouts, 4 physios, 3 data analysts and 3 sports scientists, all called Tom.

And then a goalkeeper called José Mourinho. He’s going to start a fair few games.

One thing I can’t do is sell Lionel Messi. So lets give him a huge long contract. Woah! He’s on £1.2m per week already!! Even the board won’t let me extend that!

Straight away, I can see that I have a couple of lads who are keen to leave – lets try to move them on. Malcolm, Alena, Arthur are all offered out on loans for two seasons.

The plan is to keep the players I transfer out within La Liga so that my rivals become stronger quicker, hopefully pushing Barça further and further behind.

Now to spend some budget – an offer for Xavi and Fabregas go in – lets get the old band back together. I wonder whether Pedro and Dani Alves fancy it?

Up come the board expectations – I lower them as much as I can:

• Semis of the UCL
• Win the La Liga
• Final of the Copa del Rey

Not easy to keep them happy I feel.

My preferred formation is going to be 5-2-2-1, hopefully leaving Messi out in the cold up front on his own. Yes he might bend a few free kicks into the top bins, but that’s ok. The board have asked me to play attacking football, so I’ll go all out, and somehow try to  keep possession too. Because of that, I’ll add add to my ‘guidelines’ that all players must have passing of 10+.

In comes Xavi! 38 years old, and past his best, but what a reunion. He’ll start in the middle. £5m and £350,000 a week on a 5 year deal. Bargain. Neither Alex Song, nor Dani Alves fancy it the gits.

Let the friendlies commence.

Not a great start. Now for September.

 

Well that kind of went to plan. Lost the Super Cup, lost the opener and ended the month on a high.

Even Xavi got in on the action.

See you next time

---

FM17 Pentagon Challenge  ||  FM18 – Benevento  ||  FM19

S1 – Sandy Sabotage – An Introduction

Hi FMers

After a year hiatus from blogging my FM17 Pentagon Challenge (5/6!), a long Benevento save, and a solid 10 seasons on FM18 with Hampton & Richmond, I stumbled across an interesting post on the SI forums that I thought might make a bit of a different series.

The name might give it away, but the aim is to sabotage Futbol Club Barcelona.

Not just a quick fire sale of key players, huge signings of old non-league players, but a systematic destruction from the ground up.

Without getting the sack.

Suggestions are welcomed for the ‘guidelines’ I should adopt, and I have a few ideas which I’ll discuss in the next post. Get me here or on twitter: @ajaxU19s

See you soon

#WeAreTheCommunity

---

FM17 Pentagon Challenge  ||  FM18 – Benevento  ||  FM19

9.2 – Idler’s Dream

Welcome back. Bill Shankly, one Champions League trophy down, enters his Cape Town City FC team in the African Champions League. Its the middle of the 2023/24 season.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1

We left you last time after 14 wins for the opening 17 games to start the season as the major force in South Africa, also keeping hold of the Super 8 Cup for the second year.

It’s February and this is where the little boys kick off the African Champions League campaign, in the Preliminary rounds. First up, and easily dispatched was Costa do Sol in a 9-0 aggregate destruction, continuing the winning form that sees CTCFC dominate domestically.

It also sets a club record for a six game shutout at the back.

Personally, I’ve hit the 100 game mark in South Africa, quite some time since I picked up the continental trophy in China. We’re halfway through the season in SA and cruising along nicely in the league, clinching the title at the beginning of May.

CTCFC finished the season losing just once to Kaizer Chiefs to ruin the run in, but still managing to win ten of the final thirteen games to romp the division including spanking second place rivals Sundowns, 6-0.

Picking up my first Manager of the Season in Africa for finishing top of the league for the second year running, winning an impressive 24 games from the 30.

A clean sweep in the more important Champions League group at the end of the 2023/24 season meant next season would surely see us into the knockout rounds.

 

Join us next time for a go at the African Champions league, on our quest for 5 major continental titles.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

9.1 – Bonehead’s Bank Holiday

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. Season 9 and Cape Town City FC take on the 2023/24 season as Champions of South Africa.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2

Its my second full season in charge of CTCFC and I’m expecting great things from this campaign.

We finished with a 16 game unbeaten run to end the previous season so I think with the new signings, we can kick on and retain the title with a decent shot at the African Champions League. As South Africa is the only playable league on the continent, and we won the league by 13 points, I fancy my chances to close off the second prong of the Pentagon Challenge.

Whats very odd about the African Champions League is that it doesn’t sit in line with the South African Premier League. This basically means that although we’ve qualified, our Preliminary Round games won’t kick off until February 2024, halfway through the league season. The first six months are basically a holiday.

So let’s crack on with the league campaign, and retaining my first domestic title.

Six really decent signings are brought in.  Three, Ouattara, Amamoo and Zwane are for the future, with the others ready to slot into first team football. Minimal outlay for them all means there is also minimal risk to the club. I like to leave a legacy.

First up in South Africa is always the Super 8 Cup. The top eight teams from last season compete for the cup before November.

The defending champions win again! Bill Shankly picks up his sixth career trophy with another win against the old rivals Ajax CT in extra time. They must hate me.

The first half of the season in the league starts off as we ended 2022/23 with three high scoring wins.

The next twelve games to take us to the halfway point in the seasons end in W10-D1-L1 to keep the domination of the Premiership table.

Ajax CT did get their revenge on me though, by beating me in the SA Knockout Cup final 1-0. Pretty annoying as I dominated the game and missed a hat-full of chances.

Please join me next time for part two of the season. Coming soon.

 

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

8.2 – Force of Nature

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. Bill Shankly is in charge of his 3rd team of the Pentagon Challenge. Season 2022/23 in Cape Town and its mid-season break time, January 2023.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 8.1

So left you in 8.1, top of the table after nine games. A great start and a seven game winning run that ended straight away with a 2-2 draw against SuperSport Utd. Three wins and a draw from the next five games took us into the winter break in a great spot atop of the South African Premiership.

After this great start in South Africa, the national team came calling.

Sorry chaps, I’m not taking it – Cape Town need full concentration.

So in January 2023, after a superb start (W10-D3-L2) I have the second half of the season to secure the African Champions League qualification.

Time to go on a run.

Twelve wins and three draws in the final half of the season and I smash the division by 13 points from rivals Ajax Cape Town. Champions League qualification is ours! I did lose in the SA Knockout Cup somewhere along the way though.

---

I was still in the South African Cup, with a second final beckoning vs SuperSport. On for the treble. Now this is luck:

A very close game, in which you could say I deserved to lose. In extra time, their boy Mayo missed a penalty, and then he also bottled it in the shootout.

So a ridiculously successful first full season in Africa, securing the domestic treble and qualification to the continental tournament I need next for the Pentagon.

Full League Season Results

 

Join me next episode continuing my journey with Cape Town City into 2023/24.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

8.1 – Full On

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. One ACL Cup win down. Season 2022/23 begins in Cape Town – my first full season at the club.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1

A respectable 8th after six months at CTCFC last season and time to put a Shankly sized stamp on the team.

Straight into the transfers. I knew we had some good players from last term, but they could so easily be improved. Limitations on foreign players are a maximum of three, so the scouts had been given the last six months scouting the local area and had unearthed a few boys I wanted to bring into the squad.

Mashishi, Percy Kunene and Jones looked like future gems.

As the league season kicked off, in South Africa, the top eight teams from last year compete in the Super 8 Cup – very early on in the season. I’d been drawn against local rivals Ajax who were suitably dispatched 1-0 before I destroyed Orlando Pirates (best kit ever in real life 2017 by the way) 4-0.

A final was set versus my new foes, Kaizer Chiefs. I’d lost to them last time around in the SA Cup final so I asked the players for immediate revenge.

We got it, winning comfortably 3-1 with Kunene, my new summer signing closing the game out in the 83rd minute. My first trophy, by October, in South Africa and third overall for Bill Shankly – great for the reputation!

Nine games had elapsed in the league campaign, nearly 1/3rd of the way through and after an awful start, losing vs Ajax and drawing with the Sundowners, I am on a seven game winning streak. Goals from everywhere is helping this as I’m regularly scoring three or four a game – usually in the first half which is killing teams.

Top of the table after nine, with a game in hand.

Join me next time for the rest of the season.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

7.1 – A Quick Peep

Welcome back. 2021 ended with Bill Shankly’s Chongqing lifting the Asian Champions League trophy, step one on this immensely interesting Pentagon Challenge. Check out the previous episodes below.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3

Looking back, it’s taken two seasons to build the squad needed to compete in the league, one to gain entry to the ACL and then one to win the ultimate continental trophy. I’m still short a league title but for this challenge, who cares!?

Life so far, just the two manager of the month awards!

Now my time with Chongqing comes to a natural end – where to next?

2021 ticked into 2022, and after I got over my New Year’s Eve hangover, I decided to scout South Africa for jobs. Only a couple were on offer – Baroka FC and Cape Town City FC. Neither looked to have a decent reputation, but CTCFC did offer a 64,100 seater stadium, as well as, well, being in Cape Town. Who can turn down that beautiful spot?

After a quick formal interview where – as I mentioned in 1.1 – I basically just ask for nothing and agree to everything, CTCFC offer me the role.

Well they would have, had Chongqing not asked for a massive payoff, so I have to ask them to drop their price. Two pieces of silverware meant they were very honest, and let me go.

Into the Cape Town City hot seat. It’s a beautiful area of the world and Bill is excited to try out the wineries in the area on his days off.

 

I land in Cape Town halfway through the season, with the boy sitting in 12th from 16 teams. Their record is W4-D4-L7 and that leaves us with just 16 points from the 15 games.

I bring in a couple of players, including Mopedi (Jan) & Mfodolofo (March) as the window in SA seems to be open for a few months which is great news. My standard process of improving the backroom as much as possible with better coaches and scouts gets underway straight away, and the CTCFC even allow me to expand the coaching team – something I’m always doing at every club – key to improving the young potential stars.

We start the Shankly era in true style, winning the opening two games. The next eight games sees CTCFC pick up 13 points from an available 24, taking us up to 8th with 35 points.

A hit and miss last five games sees just one win and two draws.  I only score one goal which is a concern I’ll need to address going into the next transfer window. We finish a respectable 8th.

The South African Cup run is something to be proud of though. A great few results in the rounds, beating a very strong Wits team, as well as massive Cape Town rivals Ajax in the semi-finals took me all the way to the FNB Stadium!

Lucky Khoza nudges us ahead after just two minutes before the Kaizer Chiefs pull one back just on half time. The game peters out and goes to penalties. We lose.

Not bad for the first six-months though, and a good showing from the mainly inherited squad.

Join me for the next part as we jump into pre-season and a first transfer window for Bill Shankly in Africa.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

6.3 – Pass Me Down The Wine

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge.  The end of 2021 and Shankly has guided Chongqing of the Chinese Super League to its first Asian Champions League Final.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2

As I mentioned in episode 6.2 the league petered out and I finished a very respectable 3rd place, one eye on the main event – the final of the Asian Champions League.

My first taste of continental football on this challenge and I’d made the final. Delighted with my success domestically in China though I am – we’re only here for one thing. We’d had a very solid couple of seasons and this momentum was proving useful in the ACL.

The big one

I’ve drawn the Saudi Arabian League’s best team, Al-Hilal. They are the current runners up of the Asian Champions League – in fact they have been the bridesmaid for the past three years!

The first leg, over in the KSA gets off to a great start. Tan Long slotting home in the 13th minute. We are holding on nicely until deep into the second half, when Argentinian striker Lucas Alario notches goal twelve and thirteen of his continental campaign in six horrible minutes.

I go to attacking, and Mr Jinx steps up to finish a team move to keep us in the tie. Taking a 2-2 draw to the Congqing Stadium would be beautiful.

Then we conceed again in the 90th minute. Disaster. 3-2.

I need a solid home win now, and a full 57,000 crowd are going to be needed to push the boys over the line for my first trophy in this Pentagon Challenge.

Half time – 0-0.

Then. Up steps veteran centre-back Jung Woo-Young, a man I’d inherited, to leap highest and nod in a corner in the 52nd minute. Time to hold on.

Thats it! The first Champions League trophy of this campaign! Woo-Young takes the MOM award and we have stolen the win on away-goals! Massive.

Champions!

Absolutely delighted.

We can’t leave Chongqing quite yet, as the FA Cup final is still to come versus none other than League Champions Huaxia Xingfu in another two legged affair.

Before the Champions League Final second leg, I’d secured a 1-1 draw with Xingfu at home. A 2-2 draw away from home is enough to take my second trophy in four days.

Double trouble.

Still in the Club World Championship we draw Brazilian side Santos (SAN). I surely can’t resign yet with another bit of silverware on offer?

The less said the better. Lost 1-0 to Santos after a penalty just 2 minutes into the game, before then losing the third place playoff to Kaizer Chiefs of all people.

So finally, we complete part one of the Pentagon Challenge.

One and a half years at Xiangtao, jumping ship to Chongqing, where it took 3 years to qualify for, and one year to win the Asian Champions League.

Join me next time to find out what lies in wait for Bill Shankly next.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

6.2 – Up In The Sky

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. 2021 continues with Chongqing sitting fifth in the Chinese Super League, with a Champions League Quarter Final to come.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1

Check out the previous episode to see how we have got to in the league, currently sitting in fifth place behind leaders Hebei Huaxia Xingfu.

First, some transfers, as the window had opened for July and I needed a last push for the Champions League final stages.

In came Hong Yujie from Helanshan and Hong Lijun from Beijing to add some quality depth to the squad as the games piled up.

Also drafted in was top top midfielder Chen Yongsen from Shandong for £750k. All needed, as Liao Lísheng had decided he’d had enough and wanted to move on to Shanggang for £1.4M. Good profit on the £500,000 I had spent on him three and a half seasons ago.

I’d not looked too closely at the league results of the other sides in the CSL over the last couple of weeks, as Xingfu were running away with it, and had only dropped a couple of points all season from what I could see. I was a good way behind them in 5th. My priority was player form and of course the Champions League.

Huaxia Xingfu’s results so far this season!

My season was a bit more mixed. Next up was of course, the league leaders, but I am on my own 6 game unbeaten run.

Take that! Tan Long and Mr. Jinx causing all sorts of problems – the game was over after 18 minutes.

The league petered out and I finish 3rd, nowhere near challenging for the title. Not necessary in the Pentagon Challenge luckily, and with Champions League qualification confirmed for next year, I was fully concentrated on this first attempt at silverware.

Full CSL results

Pushing forward Tan Long had great effect

The real priorities lay ahead. The Asian Champions League 2nd round.

As in Europe, all of the knockout rounds are two-legged affairs but this competition also includes a home and away final.

I’d drawn Jeju United, winners of the K-League in South Korea in 2020 and winners of their group. Two quick fire goals in the first 14 minutes meant we cruised to a 3-0 win, away from home in the first leg.

Three goals again in the away leg meant a couple of consolations from the Koreans were irrelevant and we progressed!

Next up were the K-League runners up, Ulsan Hyundai. They’d escaped their group which included Shanggang, and beaten CSL title challengers Shenhua 6-4 on aggregate in the 2nd Round.

Again, two quick fire first half goals in the first leg secured the win and took us into the second leg with a solid lead. Tan Junsheng put us ahead, before I sit deep and flooded the midfield to take a 1-1 draw and qualify for the semi-finals!

Of course – who did I draw? My old foes Suwon. If you remember in 6.1, I had faced them in my group already this season, winning once and drawing the other.  The same this time around would be good enough to qualify for my first final.

Tan Junsheng, my trusty attacking midfielder got us ahead in the 10th, before being pegged back in the fourteenth minute. The Suwon centre-back then took an early bath right on half time to give me a perfect chance to take command. Another from Junsheng before a breakaway 3rd in the 84th minute gave me a perfect platform for the home leg in three weeks.

Suwon came to the Chongqing and were suitably dispatched. A nice 17th minute thunderbolt from Mr. Jinx and the tie was over. We are in the final!

Boom! Into my first continental final.  Join me next time to see how we end the season.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

6.1 – The Turning

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge.  Season 6, 2021 and Champions League football comes to the Chongqing Olympic Sports Center.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

So on 1st January, in came the three new signings with one foreigner, Emmanuel Gigliotti, leaving us on a free (Episode 5.1). We needed the room and he’d only featured once in the previous season.

With the Champions League campaign starting at the end of February, I only had a few weeks to get the squad fit and back in the loop with my formation.

I’d been training up the boys to play 3 at the back for a full season now, to try to be more solid defensively. Strikerless was clearly working in the league, finishing 2nd. Now I had Chenglong Li (4.1) bombing up the left and new signing Chaker flying down the right wing back slot, I felt I could exploit the crappy CSL full backs as well as those on the continent.

This enabled me to play Tan Long further up the field, with devastating consequences, and my new favourite, 17 year old (Zinedine) Zhu Dan sitting in the middle of the park.

In the ACL I’m drawn against Johor (Malaysian Champions), Osaka AC (Japanese runner up) & Suwon (3rd place in South Korea) in Group H. I’d drawn 0-0 with Suwon in preseason so felt ok about the group with Johor and Osaka not actually having any real players in their squads.

We started with three wins from three in the Champions League, Tan Long picking up 3 goals, with the team scoring 10, including a 4-2 battering of my closest rivals Suwon. A great start.

The league campaign got off to a flyer too. 6 wins and just two defeats in the opening ten games. A shame that the one defeat was so bad, our players have given the fans their money back! Not seen that before.

A dodgy 3 games in the middle of the season in the league saw 3 loses in a row against mid table sides. The next 11 matches yielded a solid 18 points, taking my tally for the first 21 games to 38 points. 1 point better off than last year but some way off top of the table Huaxia Xingfu.

In the final 3 games in Group H of the Champions League I couldn’t pick up a maximum and only just topped the table.

Drawing Jeju from South Korea in the second round, I felt a bit nervous, as they’d finished second in their group to none other than CSL table toppers Huaxia Xingfu, who’d they’d got two respectable 0-0 draws with. Reading other blogs about the Pentagon Challenge, it sounded like the South Korean teams were the ones to beat, and these guys were the current ACL champions.

Thoroughly dispatched! 6 goals for and two against, this two legged tie only had one winner. 14 minutes into the first leg and we were two up through trusty Alan Kardec and Liào Lìsheng. Three goals in the second leg gave the Koreans too much to do.

Next up, Ulsan Hyundai, 2020 runners up of the Korean K League, in the quarter finals. Join me next time to see how we get on.

---

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to follow me @AjaxU19s on Twitter. Cheers

 

5.1 – It’s Gettin’ Better (Man!!)

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge.  Season 5 and 2020 begins with my 3rd season in charge of Chongqing Lifan in the Chinese Super League.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2

Predicted to finish in 10th and 35-1 for the title, the press had me down as having a similar season to 2019. I acquired my Continental A Coaching License so I was set for the big time.

Not a single signing needed in pre-season, I felt the team was strong, with all the young prospects finally fulfilling their potentials.

What a season!

After a decent preseason (W3-D4), I started off with a 3-1 win against Shenzhen – predicted to finish bottom of the CSL. Goals from Djenepo and Lìsheng give me the hope that persevering with the squad would prove fruitful.

Two points from the next five games then gave me fear. The fear that another season of mid-table mediocrity would mean qualifying for the Champions League would be further than ever.

However. 13 games later, with only one loss, 33 points catapulted the team up the league. Goals from all over the park, led by Kardec finally finding his form up front, propelled Chongqing to second in the table.

Great run of form to start the season

21 games in – the usual marker – and we sat on 37 points. This was a huge 11 points better off than 2019 – progression at last! I was out of the CFA Cup so singular priority since June had been on the league.

Now for the run in.

7 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw and the Shankly traditional sprint finish brings in a season haul of 59 points.  We take 2nd place in the CSL by one point, losing just two home games all season. Finally, Champions League qualification is ours!

Huge Season

Chongqing in 2nd place

Now to bolster the team over the season break for a tougher campaign on the continent and a push for the title. The squad just needed more quality.  I had a look at the important positions, and felt that each could be strengthened and improved.

Always on the hunt for out of contract players, I had secured the signing of 5* full back Chaker D(RL),WBR from French side Caen a couple of months back. Hugely exciting.

Four star centre back Cheng Jingzhe came in from rivals Shandong for £2m and Wang Jinxian signed for £650K from Shanggang to secure the spine of the team.

Pretty happy with the signings in the winter window, I stepped into the continental unknown.

---

Join me next time for Bill Shankly’s first foray into continental competitions. Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

4.2 – Soldier On

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge.  Season 4 Part 2 and my second season with Chongqing Lifan in the Chinese Super League.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1

21 games in and we sit on 26 points. One point better off than last year at the same time. Hmmm, not too much progression then. Let’s keep on soldiering on.

One point from five games? (4.1) Make that a solitary point from six. Then seven…

Then a 4-0 win (Djenepo 2, Lisheng 2) at home to Renhe kick starts the Shankly traditional end of year run.

Sort of. We pick up 13 points from the last 7 games.

December 2019 and my second full season closes with Chongqing finishing 10th – 3 places and 3 points worse than the previous year. Progression has halted and that all important first Champions League seems a mile away.

2020 does start with a new personal qualification. I now hold the Continental A Coaching License so if anything, I’m on the radar for the better jobs out there. I feel loyal to Chongqing though and am sure we have a decent young side that is progressing in terms of quality and will come good, whether in 2020 or 2021.

Short update this time around, with no cup run to speak of, and not a lot of movement in the transfer window so lets move on to 2020.

---

Thanks for reading. Follow me: @AjaxU19s

4.1 – Just Getting Older

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge.

After a couple of seasons in the Chinese 2nd tier with Hunan Xiangtao, Bill Shankly’s 2018 came to a close with Chongqing finishing 8th in the Super League. Can we kick on?

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2

3 years (2.5 employed) and 70 games into management and a 40% win ratio. Not too bad. I seem to score (and concede) a hell of a lot of goals so at least I must be a fan favourite.

So 2018 ticks over into 2019, I’ve finally learnt how to play these CSL transfer rules. You can only sign 8 players a year, five of which can be over 17. This means buying for the future is basically pointless so I went all out to strengthen my starting lineup with some local talent, before my pre-season tour of Korea.

I’d worked out that I needed a couple of attacking midfielders, definitely a centre back, both full backs, and probably a centre mid too. Hmmmm. Yeah, apart from the imports, I was a bit heavy on the 1* ability starters in my eleven.

All season I had scouted China only, and the individual squads to get a good field to pick through.

I then managed to balls it up completely.

On the day the window opened, in strolled three class new players from other CSL teams. One Mr Djenepro however turned out to be from Male which surprised me. I’m back to having six imports, 3 attacking, one midfielder and two centre backs. One will have to go before the window closes. Chenglong Li looks like a tasty wingback who can cover in centre of defense, so very excited about him.

Another signing, Liào Lìsheng, M(C), comes in from top flight Quanjian for £500K to bolster midfield. Tan Junseng AM(C), ST, is brought in for £140K part exchange for Weidong – a good deal for someone ageing and a potential fringe player this year. Lü Peng went out the door to Henan for £145K to try to balance the books a bit. He wanted away after one season, but good profit as he was a free transfer one year earlier.

Shanks acquired his Continental B License too so I was progressing well stats wise – great for the training pitch, especially when the rest of the coaching team are toilet.

Now on to the season.

I would call 2019 the season of pain. Injury after injury after injury. I switched training to light it got so bad. I hired more physios, a head of sports science, but they kept on coming.

When you only have 5 foreign players in your squad, having your experienced centre back go down with tendonitis for 5 months isn’t ideal. Then your centre midfield, Mr Gangbanger takes a month off. Just the eight first team injuries then.

Considerable work for the medical team

After an indifferent start to the season, like I said earlier, scoring and conceding a lot of goals (so many 4’s!!) I was sitting just under mid table. Time to train the squad in a defensively more solid tactic. I was having to score four to win.

4 goals = 3 points

We then started to gain some momentum through May and June, dropping just two points from an available 18.

Just as Milovic was starting his rehabilitation, three injuries in one cup game compounded what was a disastrous July and August picking up a solitary point from five games and getting knocked out the Chinese FA Cup.

Nine games to go. 26 points from 21 games with Champions League qualification 15 points away. So, so far off the pace, am I making progress? Join me next time to finish off 2019.

---

See you next time – thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

3.2 – Street Fighting Man

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. It’s the end of 2018 – 21 games into the season and Bill Shankly’s Chongqing Lifan are having a tough time.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1

As I avoided telling you in 3.1, getting battered 6-2 in the opening game of the season isn’t an exactly ideal start for a new manager. Although we then pulled off two back to back wins, 12 games into 2018 and our record in the CSL is W3-D3-L6. 12 Points from 12 games is not a record to be proud of – its relegation form – and it was notably down to the lack of goals. We have failed to score in the last four games, conceding six along the way. We’ll sink like Middlesbrough if we’re not careful.

A tweak in tactics and the strikers showed some bouncebackability to score eight in two games to raise the confidence levels. Nothing like a bit of inconsistency. Then true to form for Chongqing, another awful run meant no more CFA Cup and included being savaged by Shanggang 5-zip in the CSL.

Then you can see this game against high(er) flying Changchun, and I finally came across Alan Kardec on form. Ridiculous game.

Time to fight. This team surely has enough quality to be better than 12th.  Without me, they came 10th so I need to improve upon that with the signings I’ve made. 9 games to go and we sit on just 25 points.

The run in is reasonably straight forward.

Last 9 games

Well what a finish!

25 points from the first 21 games is followed by 17 points from the last 9 games. Superb haul, only losing twice, to end the season in 8th.

With so many younger players in the squad, keeping them together and giving plenty of first team game time to anyone that has a four and five star potential has been my tactic – and will be with whichever team I end up at moving forward. Playing time and tutoring has always proved fruitful for me in previous saves, so I’ll continue this.

It all boils down to promising signs that the players are developing and closing in on their potential. Still a long way from the Champions League qualification mind you.

Always interesting to know – my old side Xiangtao have finished bottom of the National First Division.

So at the end my first full season in charge of Chongqing, it has been fairly successful. 8th place finish, a bigger and better squad, and a summer to build again. Just the five players mind you…

Join us next time on the pursuit of silverware.

---

Thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

3.1 – Going Nowhere

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. Season 3 and 2018 begins at the helm of Chongqing Lifan. Bill Shankly has stepped up to the Chinese Super League after two seasons with Hunan Xiangtao.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1, 2.2

Let me give you a quick run down of Chongqing. A two star rep team that in FM17 sit in the Chinese Super League, finishing 10th (from 16) in 2017. 36 points from 30 last year, and a budget of just £2 million, this surely has to be my stepping stone to the big boys?

Our star foreigner is ST(C) Alan Kardec from Brazil, but with 13 goals from 24 games last year, he’s no Messi. Our other imports are D(C) Goran Milovic, ST(C) Emmanuel Gigliotti, DM M(C) Jung Woo-Young, ST(C) Fernandinho and ST(C) Adrián Ramos. Four strikers in a team that can only have 3 imports in the XI seems mental, so a couple will have to go. I ship ex-Dortmund forward Ramos to Abu Dhabi for £7 million and pretty much give away Fernandinho.

It does free up room for a 5th import player and I feel that defending vs young Chinese whipper-snappers would be better with some quality. In comes 5 star rating Kim Young-Gwon from Guangzhou reserves for 900k.  The rest of the squad will be given six months to play and show me they deserve to stay in the squad.

Super League pre-season in China is a dream. We took a lovely tour of Japan (W0-D2-L2) before I arranged some lower league opposition at home to try to raise some confidence. Four wins and not a goal conceded. Superb.

Thanks to my ‘spirited’ assistant manager, I now have a friendly against my old team, Xiangtao, from the league below. This could really show how far I’ve come as a manager.

Of course we go one down. And 2-1 down. My old foil Chen Zijiè getting a brace with what turns out to be their only two shots on target. Luckily, I bring Gigliotti off the bench and two friendlies in a row, he wins it on 86 minutes. Wow, look how much I’ve progressed.

So let’s press on to the season. First up, 4th favourites Shanghai Shanggang, with Brazilian trio Hulk, Oscar and Elkeson. Superb.

Elkeson got a hattrick. That’s all you need to know.

12 games into the season and our record is 3 wins, 3 draws and 6 defeats including that opening day defeat to Shanggang. Less said the better, but I’ll pretend that the lads are just getting used to the new system. 25 goals conceded in those twelve games, our keeper isn’t going to be going home with any golden gloves.

The next nine games see just 4 wins, 1 draw and 4 loses (plus we were knocked out the Chinese FA Cup 3rd round)

Shanggang scored another 5 past hapless 19 year old (GK) Wang Zixiang making it 11 goals in just two league games against us. One heroic performance saw a win against top of the table Changchum, 6-4. Heavy complainant Alan Kardec brought back into the side scored four. A hell of a performance with a back four of all one star local players.

Another superb win was against now top of the table, Guangzhou. Jackson Martinez missed a hatfull of chances before super-sub Gigliotti stepped up to bury a 93rd minute winner.

So to the last nine games of the season, sitting nicely in 11th place.

---

Join me next time for the run in and some serious squad strengthening. Thanks for reading! @AjaxU19s

2.2 – Hung in a Bad Place

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. We’re still in season 2, managing Hunan Xiangtao, with 2017 coming to a close.

Episodes: 1.1, 2.1

If you remember from the last episode, Xiangtao are struggling in the Chinese National First Division. Struggling hard. 23 games into the season, and after bursting out the traps like Usain Bolt, we’re starting to go a bit Nottingham Forest and plummet down the league.

We sit on just 24 points and haven’t had a clean sheet since our second match of the season.

I call up my assistant and we run through the squad. I still can’t get a slither of ‘false 9’ out of any of my strikers, and 33 year old Wang Chen is not living up to his £500 per week. Four paltry goals so far. You’re dropped fella. I go to Quanjian and get beat.

Seven games to get out of this mess and keep my reputation growing. A year in the role and unsurprisingly, I’ve not even been sniffed at when any of the big boys have sacked their manager so I don’t think I’ll be looking to sign players like Hulk and Oscar anytime soon.

Then the Polokwane City manager’s job becomes available in the South African Premier Soccer League. I send in my half a page CV in to the club secretary. “Sorry Bill – we won’t even pay for the Skype call to chat to you.”

I let my assistant pick his team by comparison and it’s not dissimilar to my XI, so I run with it. Let’s get out of this mess together I tell him and he looks at me baffled. No idea what the interpreter said. Let’s have a team meeting too I tell him, they always help. With no option to have a proper go at the lads, I decide on: “don’t let our heads drop” and they all nod, before going back to Instagramming their new boots.

Somehow we scrape four wins from the eight games, and the board are pleased. We finish 10th which is very respectable. It’s the end of October and I’ve had a season and a half in Chinese football, what’s Bill Shankly’s plan?

As the season closes out, the inevitable football merry-go-round begins and a few of the Chinese Super League bosses get the bullet. I’ve guided relegation favourites Xiangtao to safety twice in 18 months – surely I’ve caught someones eye?

I didn’t feel any guilt about looking outside of Xiangtao. Learning the weird rules the hard way meant this challenge would be a huge slog with this squad – so jumping ship to climb the relative quality ladder seemed the sensible shout. Time for Shankly to pimp himself out.

I decided that I needed to step up to the Chinese Super League (if they’d have me) to prevent building a team first for promotion before the drive for continental qualification. No qualms about who for now – just one of the teams that stayed up.

Only Dalian Yifang & Chongqing Lifan had sacked their managers. Both had similar reputations, but Yifang had been relegated so I applied for the Chongqing role. They came 10th last year in the CSL in just their 3rd season in the top tier so not all that bad. Let’s see how the interview goes.

On the 28th December 2017, Christmas comes late, and some might say in the form of a lump of coal for the Chongqing Lifan fans as Bill Shankly is unveiled as their new manager. I’ve jumped ship.

Welcome to the Chinese Super League ladies and gentlemen.

---

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to follow me @AjaxU19s on Twitter. Cheers

2.1 – Slide Away

Welcome back to my Pentagon Challenge. Safety in the Chinese First Division for Hunan Xiangtao achieved in 2016 – I am the new Sam Allardyce.

Episodes: 1.1

So in China, most of your players are on one year contracts in the First Division. As I hadn’t got my head round the names in my first team squad yet, I lost 5 first teamers in December 2016. My scouts, rocking a full 10PA & 9CA were not really helping me find replacements to slot into first team football but a few 5 star PA youngsters were drafted in for nothing, or very close next to that. Not just Alex Stewart can play moneyball (and a copper). Also, I only had a £56,000 transfer budget so needs must.

Positive assistant reports

I said I’d run you through the rules as I found them out. Well one of them is you can only sign five players a year who are over 17 years old. Ridiculous. Also not very useful to find this out when you’ve stocked up on 23 year olds on the opening day of the transfer window, and lost a load of players out of contract!

Once the friendlies were over, and my assistant got bored of harping on about how weak we were all over the park, I pressed on to gameweek 1 confident I had improved the squad from last year. My solid new centre back got injured for 8 weeks two days before we travelled to Tianshan but confidence in my young squad was sky high.

Bang! What a start. Two wins from two. The boys were flying! Clearly the summer camp outlined my methods enough, and the boys had finally clicked into my tactic.

What followed however, was getting absolutely pumped 6-1 by Yongchang, and then 4-0 by Zhongyou.

Of the opening six matches, we managed to win four, including high flying Beijing Beikong. You can stick 500-1 for the league where sun don’t​ shine BetFred, those 10 goals conceded in two games were just a blip!

12 points from 18. What a start.

What could go wrong you might ask? Shanks is getting his next coaching badge, the 1,500 home fans keep seeing wins, and the board are looking at helicopter brochures so they can land on the pitch post match.

Well everything.

The next 4 months fly by with just 2 wins in 17 games. You can see, that defensive solidarity was far down on my list. Not a clean sheet in sight.

Just 12 points from 51 available

A proper slump. 12 points from the opening six games followed by 12 points from the next 17 matches. Not so good after 23 games of a 30 games season.

Join me next time to see if we can stay out the relegation battle in my first full season in China.

---

See you next time – thanks for reading. @AjaxU19s

1.1 – Half the World Away

Welcome readers, to the first episode of my Pentagon Challenge on FM17.

Welcome to the Oasis

Getting into my first FM game for circa 5 years (after playing since the early CM versions) after a friend challenged me to take over “the hardest club in the game”, Palermo, I was immersed once again (we all know the feeling). Watching other grown men play FM on Facebook for the FM17Project then brought home how sad we really all are. I loved it.

So after guiding Southampton & Juventus to Champions League glory in a second save, (I’d moved on from Goldaniga and co.), I decided to give the famous Pentagon Challenge a shot.

Sorry Hackney & Leyton Football League, I’m off to Asia.

No job for Sunday League legend Bill Shankly after a good 8 months in China and it was almost time to pack my bags and try South Korea before plucky Hunan Xiangtao, two points from bottom and only three wins in 22 games thought they’d give me an interview. Now I don’t know about you guys, but I started asking for absolutely nothing from the board in the interviews as it never bloody works and I never get invited back. Luckily, Xiangtao had nothing to give and into the Chinese First Division I strolled.

What had I walked into?

I love playing 3 up front. Whether it’s the Keegan “I’d bloody love it” mentality, or the fact that it doesn’t matter how many defenders you play, the opposition will always low cross and score. False 9s and a DM – that’s just the ticket.

Now unfortunately, shoehorning 2nd tier Chinese 19 year olds into my formation doesn’t really work. Or so I feared, when those little circles in the formation weren’t solid green go signs, but instead, very empty Trivial Pursuit pies.

The Chinese Leagues also have a few odd rules. I’ll run you through these as we go, or should I say, as I find out. I didn’t read the fm_adventure guide as you should, on managing in lesser known counties.

Rules aren’t something you need to worry about though, when the transfer window is shut and your squad of children and a couple of their teachers is settled.

So I had eight games to keep Xiangtao from the bottom three and relegation.

Heavy tactics training, and heavy reliance on my luck and Xiangtao had done the unthinkable and won a few games. We’d secured survival with a remarkable 6 wins and a few lovely performances.  30 points from a 30 game season and we were safe.

I wish I could say someone stood out individually or scored the goals I needed, but pure inconstancy and the extra 10% effort for the new manager must have made the difference. I don’t think this is the team to take me to a Champions League final in Asia, so time take my first coaching badges this summer I feel.

Join me in season two right now! Episode 2.1

---

See you next episode. Thanks for reading – @AjaxU19s