D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Welcome to the principality of Andorra, high up in the Pyrenees mountains, sandwiched between Spain and France. This will be the venue for a three part football manager challenge. Part 1 Playing in the 3rd tier of the Spanish footballing pyramid, FC Andorra have dreams of one day competing with La Liga's elite and the continental giants of the game. The goal here is to take the club as far as possible, only signing Andorran nationals and Spanish u21's. Part 2 Sitting at 156th in the world with only 5 European nations ranked below them, the Andorran National Side are true minnows of the game. Understandable, given that the microstate has a population of roughly 77,000, equal to Paisley. Dreams of qualifying, never mind winning an international tournament, seem far off. Part 3 With just a handful of part time and semi pro teams, and ranked 54th out of 55 leagues in the UEFA Coefficient table, can Andorran club sides ever hope to make an impression in European competition ? This part will be a strict youth development save. Taking over the club newly promoted to the 2nd tier after the 1st season and relying solely on the clubs youth system, with absolutely no signings allowed. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 15, 2021 Author Share Posted November 15, 2021 (edited) Challenges, Achievements and Honors board. FC Andorra Challenges Spoiler Promotion from tier 3 2022 Promotion from tier 2 Survive in La Liga Qualify for Europe Win La Liga Win Copa Del Rey Win SuperCopa Win manager of the year Win a European trophy Win the Champions League Club youth product to win player of the year Club youth product to be La Liga top scorer Club youth product to play 200 La Liga games Club youth product to score 100 La Liga goals Win a La Liga game with 11 Andorrans Win a Champions league game with 11 Andorrans Win a cup final with 11 Andorrans Honors Spoiler Andorra National Team Challenges Spoiler Beat a top 100 ranked side Beat a top 50 ranked side Beat a top 10 ranked side Beat a previous WC winner Beat all 8 previous WC winners Reach the top 100 Reach the top 50 Reach the top 10 Reach no.1 in the world Qualify for a Youth International tournament Qualify for a major tournament Gain promotion from Nations League D Gain promotion from Nations League C Gain promotion from Nations League B Win Nations League Win a Youth International tournament Win the European Championship Win the World Cup Have a new gen break the goalscoring record (11) Have a new gen score 50 International goals Have a new gen reach 100 caps Have a new gen break cap record (131) Have a new gen win an individual honor Honors Spoiler Andorran League Challenges Spoiler Win promotion from tier 2 Qualify for Europe Win the League Win the Cup Do the double Win a European game Qualify for a European group stage Qualify for European knockout stages Win a European trophy Have a youth product win player of the year Have a youth product finish top scorer Honors Spoiler Mr & Mrs Piqué Challenges The Hips don't Lie Produce an Andorran wonderkid. Whenever, wherever Beat Piqué's record and win a competitive game for club or country in over 34 different nations. current total = 3 The Key to Shakira's heart. Beat Piqué's trophy haul. 9 Championships 7 Copa Del Rey 7 SuperCopas 4 Champions Leagues 3 UEFA Supercups 3 Club World Cups 1 World Cup 1 European Championship 1 International Youth tournament Edited November 18, 2021 by Tommy Carcetti 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Moonster Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Didn't realise Gerard Pique owned them. Looking forward to this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 15, 2021 Author Share Posted November 15, 2021 5 hours ago, The Moonster said: Didn't realise Gerard Pique owned them. Looking forward to this. He's not listed, but his dad Joan is listed as a Director/Chairman. I'm getting media stuff along the lines of "FC Andorra favourite Gérard Pique believes, blah blah" I'll try to get him in as a coach when he retires. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 (edited) 2021 Still not sure what type of format and so on I'm going to do for this, so here's a couple of updates to start with. Hopefully it settles into an interesting journey and not a shambling mess. FC Andorra Starting in the Spanish 3rd tier alongside the B sides(boo) of Real, Barca and Sevilla etc. A 50 grand transfer budget and little room to move with the wages. The board aren't too demanding, a top half finish required and a challenge for the play offs next year, but little cash means all requests for facilities improvements have been rejected out of hand so far. Squad wise, we compare ok to the rest, top half should be a pretty comfortable task. With the self imposed transfer policy of Andorrans and Spanish u21's, we'll probably make do with what we have. The key men this season. Ruben Enri the former Espanyol man will carry my main goal threat. Spoiler Roger Riera my rock upon which the defence will be built. La Masia graduate. Spoiler Mark Pedraza The main man. Has played at a higher level than everyone else, but mid 30's now and out of contract in the summer. Spoiler Hector Larrubia Exciting youth prospect, the 16 year old is already looks the best left back option for club and country. Spoiler Edited November 16, 2021 by Tommy Carcetti 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 2021 FC Andorra We made a couple of signings before the season kicked off. 2 promising 18 year old Spaniards discarded by La Liga sides, I'll be looking to get them some game time here and there throughout the season. It's a market we're going to have to get it right in more often than not to make progress. Alvaro Marin Spoiler Ismael Escobar Spoiler And away we go. P|aying a bold, attacking 4-3-3, we very much adopted a 'we'll just score one more than you' approach. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 2021 FC Andorra Back to reality in December, but through into rd2 of the copa. . Just short of halfway and we sit 7th, par for the course and a potential shot at the playoffs, but we're a fucking shambles at the back with 0 clean sheets since week 3. Despite not really adding much to the outgoings, we're losing a fortune in the lower leagues. Huge Sevco vibes. Youth intake preview is here and it's underwhelming. Fingers crossed the promising full back is a) a right back and b) Andorran 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 2021 National Side The national team is certainly experienced. 7 players 33 and above can consider themselves starters or 2nd choices, including probably our best CB 42 year old Ildefons Lima. We need a major overhaul and some young players coming through. Because of this, I decided to give the auld timers one last qualification campaign, like one of those movies where they do 'one last job'. I've got 1 or 2 young ones on the books that could have come in, but 3rd tier sides play on International breaks, so they will make the jump to International football next year. Pretty standard stuff results wise, had a man sent off in each of the last 4 fixtures there, the auld yins going out with a bang, so the 0-2 Albania result, where I was reduced to 10 after 8 minutes, was pretty pleasing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsimButtHitsASix Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 What skin you using there? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM. Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 It looks like Rensie 2022 as that's the one I'm using and that's very similar if not the same. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 4 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said: What skin you using there? 3 hours ago, C. Muir said: It looks like Rensie 2022 as that's the one I'm using and that's very similar if not the same. Yeah, it's Rensie 2022 from the Steam Workshop. I'm terrible at adding logo's, strips, facepacks and skins that aren't in the workshop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 2022 FC Andorra Brought a couple guys in on loan in January. I'm not a fan of developing players for other clubs, but they came in as squad fillers to give us a bit extra depth. They weren't taking any game time from my youngsters and they were also completely free, so all good. December's sticky patch continued in to January. 5 without a win and out the cup to La Liga side Elche. We were 3 up and in dreamland before an arse collapse of epic proportions saw us lose 3-4. But since then, the boys have been on a tremendous run, 15 unbeaten and sitting in the play off places. Spoiler Barca B strolling to the title, looks like we'll probably have to beat both Albacete and Real B to go up, a tough ask. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 2022 FC Andorra The youth intake was ok. A couple will probably make it as club squad players and gain full caps, the rest should fill out the u21 and u19 national team squads before being released by me and making their way back to the Andorran leagues. Signed everyone at 2 and a half stars and above. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 2022 National team A couple of friendlies and a couple of wins against teams ranked higher than us, we're 157th Faroes are 127th and Kyrgzstan are 98th , keeps the momentum going, that's 3 wins in a row. Nations league draw. Aim is to be competitive and grab 4 points. Brought a few young uns' into the squad for those friendlies, which seems to have pissed off the veterans, with 3 calling it a day. Not fussed about the other 2 as they're pushing 40, but Vales is only 31, plays in Scandinavia and is probably my best player. The p***k. Still, we have to look to the future, and it's bright, my beautiful boy Hector. The "Andorran Tierney". Spoiler 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 2022 FC Andorra Ended up 18 unbeaten before defeat on the last day. Full credit to the lads, 4th place and into the play offs. The Spanish 3rd tier is split into 2 groups, I think ours was the slightly stronger imo. We play former La Liga outfit Racing Santander in the semi, win that then it's the winners of Extremadura v Sabadell for a place in the Segunda. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 Spoiler They dominated for 70 odd minutes, we barely laid a glove on them before a long ball over the top caused panic. Scored straight after and seen it out comfortably. Look at the crowd, it was played in Tenerife at a neutral venue. They took 21000 over to see their side bottle it, what a terrible wee shame. I can imagine the rest of Spanish football taking the piss on Chorizo y Gazpacho. Spoiler Lets go. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 Spoiler Spoiler An horrific game of football with barely a decent chance between us. Some of the worst xG numbers you'll see. Who gives a f**k. WE ARE GOING UP. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 (edited) Spoiler DON’T YOU KNOW, PUMP IT UP ANDORRA’S GOING UP. Edited November 18, 2021 by oneteaminglasgow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 19, 2021 Author Share Posted November 19, 2021 2022 Youth Development So, the plan was to take control of the team newly promoted to D2, but it appears that Andorra is a closed shop. so, I've taken charge of the worst team that wasn't a B team CF Atletic America. Boris Skossyreff is some boi. International spy and playboy who tried to claim the throne of Andorra, also a Nazi collaborator, so it's difficult to tell whether he was good or not 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 2022 At. America So, here we go, a bunch of absolute jobbers, who also have no youth recruitment. Probably not a great thing for a youth development save. Aye, cheers lads, sons' crying. We'll see how it goes for now, but I might have to jump ship if there's not going to be any youth intakes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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