oneteaminglasgow Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 14 minutes ago, djchapsticks said: I recently started a new job (in the real world) so haven't had any dealings really in this. Glad to say, I am back now and will have in game updates later today as my time in Paradise comes to a hopefully happy end... You really need to sort out your priorities, imo. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 15, 2021 Author Share Posted December 15, 2021 Right - where the f**k were we?! Oh aye!! February 2024 After an extended hiatus, it's back to action. A jam-packed month ahead but the pressure is still on. Defence Force are only a point back and any slip now will be costly with both them and Weymouth Wales still to play us. So how did the boys react to the pressure? How do you fucking think? They keep their noses in front and just as well was Defence Force are pissed off at that defeat and are out for blood - they are scrambling to wins but this one is going to go right down to the wire. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 15, 2021 Author Share Posted December 15, 2021 (edited) March 2024 Or is it? We opened up March with a 5-1 against one of the few 'Non good' teams that have caused us issues since I started - Empire club. Meanwhile over on the streets of Weymouth (or Wales) the soon to be dethroned Kings were having a bit of fun ragdolling one of the pretenders to the throne on my behalf. So a 4 point gap opened up - toffee from here on out you'd think but it was a Defence Force side up next who will either come out scrapping or who have had their heart ripped out... Spoiler Stick a fork in that son, it's done! The rest of the month saw itself out in pretty standard terms though we did drop a couple of points at home to UWI. Could the Defence Force boys capitalise? I do still have Weymouth Wales to come and they've proven in the past they are a dangerous side. Could they f**k, Quasimodo grabbed the winner for Notre Dame with a late diving header that missed his napper and bounced in off his humph. Defence Force have had an absolute snider of a month leaving the table as such with four games to go. We're talking Jean Van De Velde levels of arse collapsery from here. These boys don't want to be JvdV. That's a guy who made $4m in his career, a success by most markers but his default google image 22 years later is still him standing up to his shins in mucky water trying to find a ball as his life and career collapse around him. That's no gonny be us. f**k that. Edited December 15, 2021 by djchapsticks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 15, 2021 Author Share Posted December 15, 2021 Four games to go and 8 points ahead. A strong set of results could see us crowned champions but we'll have to do our bit first against Silver Sands - should be straightforward. Spoiler And it was - never in doubt. And what of Defence Force, can they keep it hanging on for just one more week? Spoiler Oooft - by the skin of their teeth. Leaves us 8 ahead with three to play. A win against my old foes Weymouth Wales will be enough to secure the title... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 15, 2021 Author Share Posted December 15, 2021 So over to Paradise's date with destiny, could we beat Weymouth Wales one more time and secure a first title win in 18 years? 28 mins: Spoiler Spoiler 59 minutes - straight red and fully deserved. What a dick. And that's how it ended: Spoiler Spoiler 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 15, 2021 Author Share Posted December 15, 2021 So given our very first title win in nearly two decades, where does that leave the club and myself with regards to the future? Well, we do still have the cup final to play and hopefully retain and two more league matches but I think I've done all I can with Paradise. Time to move onto pastures new after one final update and quick recap... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 May 2024 Well, the league campaign ended with a bit of a watery fart but I'll put that down to me resting everyone for the upcoming cup final. And so what of the cup final? UWI are probably the best of the rest outwith the big three but they've not really caused us many issues in the past. So we lined up with our strongest side to play them and: Spoiler Drama free as you like really. Great to leave on a high with a league/cup double and I'll be leaving it in similarly good hands as my successor has had with Awesome FC. The board, a far cry from the £7 perv week wage budget and me owing them £250 of two seasons ago, have really gone baws out to convince me to hang about. I'd roast the league forever with that sort of money, could even make a fair crack at getting out of the group stage of the NACL. But then what sort of a journeyman would I be if I settled in for the long term? Plus, what better high to leave on than this? 'Managerial great', read it and fucking weep!! Anyway - Done and on to the next one. Going to start shifting some loaded leagues about, taking some out and adding some in. I am enjoying managing diddy clubs and will continue to do so but I do want to work my way through the ranks somewhat so somewhere like Guam or Bonaire, clear steps back the way might not cut it for me. Especially as it will be more of the same as Paradise was. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 2024/25 season Sound the new job klaxon! I applied for four jobs over the summer that interested me majorly. Waterhouse are one of Jamaica's biggest clubs who have lost their way in a big way in the last two or three seasons, ending as low as 9th in the league last season. I am not done with North and Central America and they would have given a great opportunity to progress but they actually knocked me back the silly b*****ds. Tampines Rovers in Singapore are another who are used to winning the league but have had a bit of a shoddy last 7 years. I was into the idea before noticing the Singapore league has 8 teams in it, so I knocked them back. ABM Galaxy are one of Vanuatu's main sides and the Oceania Champions league is one I definitely want under my belt so it was a straight slip between them and the club I eventually picked... Spoiler The Solomon Islands' premier football team. This one isn't THAT much of a challenge domestically as they are already the best. I'm basically here to try and go for the OFC Champions league as I haven't loaded New Zealand so don't have that easy route to take. I've won the OFC CL before in a previous save with Tafea of Vanuatu, so it IS possible. Squad report and bit of background on the club/country later on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsimButtHitsASix Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Winning the OFC Champions League with a team from Vanuatu is my 2nd happiest FM memory ever. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted December 16, 2021 Share Posted December 16, 2021 Looks like we're going to get some tremendously named clubs in this save. Henderson Eels straight in at no.1 so far. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 Profile The Solomon Islands, a group of 6 big islands and eh, loads of wee Islands off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. This country is not quite the 'middle of the Pacific, nothing but sea for 3000 miles either way' I generally class Oceanic countries as and has a deceptively large population of 650,000 people. They still recognise the Queen as their Monarch but instead of dedicating the national anthem to her, they've went full 'f**k you' to the old cow and called their national anthem 'God Save Our Solomon Islands' - top shithousery. Let's have a listen. Utter rip off, I love it. It's like one of those old WCW themes from the 1990s when they would 'base' theme songs on Smells Like Teen Spirit or Evenflow but just change it enough to avoid paying royalties (scuse the pun). Aside from that, they aren't big on human rights - I thought Pacific Islanders were a chilled out bunch but not this lot. Woman? You're getting battered. Gay? That's a paddlin'. Clean water? f**k off mate, there's a full Ocean around us, take a drink of that. Stick your bum in the water whilst you're at it cos sanitation is frowned upon. 'But enough about that - what about their fitba team Chapsticks?!' Well, although they ARE one of the better teams in Oceania (which is similar to me being one of the better middle distance runners in my slimming world group) they've got literally no-one of note playing for them who'd be known to European audiences. Nor have they ever previously. Truly astounding - the highest levels players seem to make is A league and the odd J-League. In fact the only famous name I can see is Eels' real life goalie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu_(footballer) No relation. Their OFC Nations cup record makes for decent reading though 1996 and winning a bronze with 2 defeats out of 2 sort of sums up what we're dealing with: Next - a bit about the Henderson Eels 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 Imaginatively nicknamed 'The Eels' (Goddamn right it's a beautiful day) - Henderson Eels were formed in 2010 and won their first ever S-League championship in 2020/21. What's not to love about that badge, eh?! Henderson Eels are based in Honiara, the Capital of the Solomon Islands. That's right folks, no more 1 horse town villages for me, I'm in the big time now. Let's have a look at where I'll be playing my trade in a mix of city slicker and island chill lifestyle. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/26/asia/solomon-islands-protest-fourth-day-intl-hnk/index.html ....bollocks. OK, OK. Not a good start, widespread rioting, bodies being pulled out of burning buildings. Civil unrest aplenty. What about the Eels themselves? They play in the national stadium - Lawson Toma Stadium and it's actually pretty fucking cool. 22,000 seater... With about 20,000 of them sitting on the stands made of grass. I love unusual grounds and this'll do me. I started with a team on a cricket park and have made my way up to a team with a grass all-seater. And here's our new heroes, playing in a fetching Hi-vis home strip after a group 2 for 1 offer in Honiara's best barbers. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 16, 2021 Author Share Posted December 16, 2021 So what's the situation I've taken on? We have won 4 titles in a row in game and the finances look pretty healthy leading to a good budget situation. Though my caretaker has fucking blitzed my transfer budget. Onto the squad I've inherited. Small, young and with plenty of potential. I've decided to offer most of the squad contracts, most of them want £5-7 per week which will leave me plenty of wage budget. Raphael Le'ai is my best player. He's got huge potential by OFC standards (and in fact is a name I've seen pop up a few times - My St. Mirren scouts recommended him with 5-Star potential but couldnt get a work permit) but unfortunately he is out of contact, playing week-to-week and refuses to sign up again. Spoiler So what did the budget go on before I joined? This guy: Spoiler Nearly £20k on him. For fucks sake. My second best player behind Le'ai is this lad. Spoiler And finally, we released this guy before I arrived. I hope no-one takes him on as I'm going to have a pop at getting him back when he wants to talk: Spoiler Right, anyway, squad depth. So aye - going to be needing players for nearly every position. We're double fucked when Le'ai goes. Thankfully I've plenty of wage budget, so time to hit the freebies market. See you at the end of pre-season! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsimButtHitsASix Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 Raphael Le'ai is a fucking pler in real life. His goalscoring record in youth fitba is amazing even when the Solomon Islands play against proper countries. If he wasn't a fucking midget he would already be playing in Europe. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 c***s an absolute cheat code 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 Pre-season 2024/25 I shot my shot with Lea'i and tried to get him to stay for a crack at it with myself but he was adamant he wasn't hanging about, so off he fucked on my 2nd day in the job. As of writing, he is still a free agent, no-one has so much as looked at him either so I'll give him 3 or 4 months and if he's still available, I'll be back in for him. Even without him, I still reckon we've a good squad. My Paradise scout loved a summer jaunt to Argentina as we know and the Eels lads choice of destination is clearly Nigeria because they just kept throwing Nigerian amateur players at me, some of whom were surprisingly not that bad. So aye, I checked the rules and apparently it's cool for me to batter on with foreign players. I'm not firing through 17 player profiles, so here's some of the better ones: John Ajani from the Abuja Football college in Nigeria. An under 23 international at 18 years old. This guy is a signing and a half and actually makes me think we could win the OFC CL pretty quickly. Spoiler Akindoyin Nasiru - again, pretty decent. He'll be my first choice AMC Spoiler Jorge Uribe - released by Boca Juniors (Not them! Their 2nd division Colombian cousins). The midfield lynchpin I'll be building a team around: Spoiler Chidera Anih - honestly just some really, really talented players in the Nigerian 2nd division for this level - had to splash the wages on him a bit but he'll be worth the outlay Spoiler Cristian Gutierrez - I got excited by the Central American getting multiple caps for Nicaragua. Paid far too fucking much for him but CB talent on the islands is awful. Spoiler Everyone else is decent or squad players. I definitely think I have the core of a squad that can cause a bit of a wave on the continent. Especially if I get Le'ai back (AML is the main position I need to improve now, so he'd be ideal) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 18, 2021 Author Share Posted December 18, 2021 August/Sept 2024 Opened up the campaign with two straightforward wins and saw out the month in similar fashion. But that 5-0 at home, in front of bumper crowd at start of September? Not a fucking clue. Team were shattered and got completely dry humped. It probably could have been 8 or 9 truth be told. It's enough to give us an early lead but KOSSA have a couple of games on hand on us. Bizarrely, we now have a four week break before the return to two games a week. Mental bit of scheduling. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 Oct/Nov/Dec 2024 Have decided to go a triple whammy here as I ran through quite the cluster of fixtures. October Pretty standard month of fixtures - two comfortable wins and nothing to get excited about. Ajani is far too good a player for this level to be honest. November A rotten month by any top clubs standards. Central Coast and Solomon Warriors are our two biggest challengers and both 1-0 defeats were deserved and could have honestly been worse. I did change to 5-2-1-2 which coincided with my poor run so perhaps that's it. Time to switch back for: December Aye that'll do it. Probably best not to f**k about with a tried and tested formula. Those wins have put me back at the top of the league but it's tight with only 6 left to play: The lad Ajani is really coming on to a game - that's 16 in 16 for him and he's getting better. Spoiler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 January/February 2025 Well, the tactic change seems to have done the trick somewhat. January February More perfect league records and the blip from November seems like a long, long time ago now. I've also signed a couple of new players who have improved the squad. Bryan Dominguez is genuinely excellent actually. Not 'excellent for diddy human rights abuse league' rather just a very competent player to get on a freebie. Spoiler Kenverlen Yasser is also a strong addition to the squad. And look at that regen face. This regen face builder patch is pretty damn nifty. Spoiler The league with a 3 games left is now all but sewn up - but we know that's not really why I'm here in Oceania. The main event - The OFC Cup has begun and to be honest, the group stage should be pretty straightforward. Groups of four are played over a week on neutral grounds. Teams only play each other once as a result and the top two qualify. So let's see who we drew and how the group went... As expected very straightforward and we've sailed through. The quarter finals have drawn us with Rewa of Fiji who got a very respectable draw in their group against title holders and strong favourites Auckland City to be played in April 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapsticks Posted December 23, 2021 Author Share Posted December 23, 2021 O-League quarter final - First Leg A good chance to lay a marker down as we're away in Fiji first leg. We are slight favourites too so *should* be going through. Spoiler Pretty routine and puts us well in control for next week's match. O-League quarter final - Second Leg Spoiler We just about kept our noses in front the entire match but were never really in trouble. On we go! We do seem to be perennial semi-finalists who go onto get pumped at this stage, so fingers crossed. What about elsewhere? Auckland suffered a first leg defeat but came roaring back in the return leg to see off Hienghene. Shock though that NZ's Eastern Suburbs are papped out by Vanuatu's North Efate. So how does that leave the SF draw looking? Have avoided Auckland which means we'll just need to pump them in the final but regardless of what happens: I'll be hanging out in the Solomon Islands for another year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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