Ana, FM 2012 : Season 1 Seoul 2022 -2023

Hi everyone!

So first of a huge apology for not being around for a while but I really havent been that well. You may remember me saying that I had an ear infection however it seems it was a little more serious than that.

I had a big infection behind my eye and it actually spread to my ear, the way I can explain it is, if you look at the sun by accident then you get those sort of purple dots I had those all the time. It made me feel really sick and dizzy and I struggled to even see and write.

I went to the doctor who then sent me to the hospital, I spent a few nights there but eventually they diagnosed me and gave me some pretty horrible tasting medicine to take along with some pills. The pills made me drowsy so for a few days I felt terrible.

However it worked and now I feel back to my old self again!! I must say I’m very relived as I hate having anything wrong with me and I hate taking medicine so for the past few days I have been frantically playing to try and get an update up!

I have to thank my boyfriend as well for helping me out in playing a few games/hours for me and for getting my pics also!

He has been a real star also, looking after me as its the worse I have ever felt in my life.

But enough of all that and on to my feeling better update!

So last time which seems so long ago I left my job at the New York Red Bulls having claimed my second champions league title. I was also sacked from the USA side which were knocked out in the first group stage of the world cup with a far easier group than I had last time!

As the title suggests its off to Korea! A place I like but hate at the same time, I like the league and how it works but its playoff’s to decide the winner and I hate them.

Seoul was a team I manged to the Asian champions league last year so I really like the team, I could have managed some other Korean teams but I have a real like for Seoul. :)

Managerial C.V

— Black Aces (June 2011 – June 2018)

African Premier League : 2016

Super 8′s Winner : 2015, 2016

First Division : 2012

South African Knockout Cup : 2016

The African Champions League : 2017

— New York Red Bulls (January 2019 –December 2021)

U.S. Cup : 2019

MLS : 2020, 2021

North American Champions League : 2020

International Career

— U.S.A (May 2017 – July 2021)

Nothing. :(

————————————-

So first up was my contract and its pretty good. Budgets are really good with over £4 million to spend and a decent wage budget, the rules are quite simple in Korea you are allowed three foreign players and anyone outside of Korea are classed as foreign.

It takes around 8-9 years for citizenship so it will be young players I do bring in from abroad along with as many promising South Koreans I can find.

So Seoul are hugely successful and as you can see are four time Champions league winners and are the current holders having won it last year. :)

So financially and everything looks really good, with £7.5 million in the bank we have a bit of money to play around with.

So we are predicted first but our biggest threat is that of Ulsan who have won the K-league three of the last four years. Jeonbuk one of our rivals actually offered me that job just before I accepted Seoul so I was practically Jeonbuk manager until a late approach by my new club! :)

Wow! Massive investment by my board in the wake of £5.5 million, but that should push our facilities to five star standard.

Seoul’s Best Player — Edwin Cardona

So in my opinion my best player Cardona, he is a wide player who can score goals he is 29 but has only been at the club for two years so along way to get that Korean passport, will take one of our three foreign places.

Transfers In and Out — First Window

So a massive clear out! In all honesty my team was very old with loads of plus 30+ players I guess I felt that team has had its day time for a brand new look.

I sold all of my non eligible foreign players, who were on quite high wages also and replaced with some talented South Korean players.

Edison West!! (My favourite player on this game so far! :))

Kim Jae-Hyung

Malam Mane

Bae Yong-Jin

So signing of the season is defiantly Edison West! He was a real star at my New York side and it seems his contract ran out so I picked him up for free! He may be my new captain also. ;)

Mane will be my final foreign star so with West and Cardona that’s my allocation of foreign talent. Kim Jae is pretty promising forward and Bae Yong is a good defensive minded midfielder.

K-League Results 15 Games Gone

So an almost perfect start! Only two draws as we have hit the ground running destroying teams with our beautiful attacking football!

Our defense is obviously amazing thanks to Edison West! :)

Top six qualify for the playoff’s for the K-league title so we should at least achieve that!

Transfers In and Out — Second Window

So my boyfriend took over for this part! He went and sold Cardona! But he did get a good price but when I said try and sell of all our foreign players I should have guessed he wouldn’t understand! :)

He also sold Yoon Bit, our best defensive midfielder but he was 33 so I felt he did really well to get that price for him. He spent big money on Toure but he did well in bringing in a couple of free Korean players.

Hon Chul

Amadou Toure

So Toure will replace Cardona on the left of our attack and Hon Chul is a pretty good signing to be honest, we had a central defender playing left back so to find someone so good for free he did pretty well! :)

National Service…..

So this is something that can be very annoying when in South Korea, national service seems to be compulsory to young people and if called up you can lose them for up to two years!

They do pay half of his wages I think but any player can be called.

The K-League Results Final Games of the Season

Yay unbeaten!! :)

The first time I have ever achieved that I think but its hard to argue as we scored freely and defended brilliantly.

The points gap between us an Ulsan is staggering!

Now onto to my favourite thing the playoff’s…..

K-League Playoff Final First Leg vs Ulsan

Wow, your kidding right!! :)

Cant explain it really it was like watching a different team, we couldn’t pass couldn’t defend and couldn’t score I guess my playoff curse got to my players!

We have a massive uphill task to over haul this scoreline.

But never say never right??

K-League Playoff Final Second Leg vs Ulsan

OMG!!!

Playoff’s hate me its official.

We were outstanding easily our best performance of the season as we took apart a very good Ulsan side. West scored in the 90th minute to give me hope that I may turn this around only for us to fail in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

Amazing we lost the K-league after winning it by 16 points the part of Korea I really hate. :)

Cup Competitions

The Asian Champions League

So our group was quite tricky as we failed to beat Chinese champions Guangzou and finished second behind Japanese side Rosa but that put us into the knockout stages.

The Final

:(

What can I see, we were fantastic. We created lots of chances infact it was all Seoul as we had chance after chance but we couldnt score and their keeper walked off with a 9.7 rating which should easily have been a ten!

I think we had 9 clear cut chances so bad finishing or an inspired keeper? With over 30 shots and over 68% of the ball I guess its the latter just unlucky I guess. :)

Korean FA Cup

The Final

So a win! We won the FA cup with a fairly routine victory two goals inside of twenty minutes was enough for my first trophy at Seoul.

Korean League Cup

The Final

Eugh…

Hate games like this, three chances three goals and we had all the play. Frustrating to say the least but if we dont take our chances we wont win any games that simple I guess. :)

Final Player Ratings of the Season

I couldnt be more happier with my team, how we came through the season only winning the FA cup I will never know but I guess thats life, sometimes you just dont get what you deserve!

The players in red are my three foreign players Toure got injured practically when we got him so he missed most of the season. West was amazing and Kim-Jae was also very impressive and just to clear that Warren Donald is on a Korean passport having completed his desired amount of years so is classed as a South Korean.

Star Man of the Season — Edison West

End of Season Finances and Save Game Status

So we lost a lot of money due to the upgrade to our training facilities but all in all in still looks pretty good. We did make a bit in transfer money so am not sure where all that money went!

Hopefully our chairman is putting it back into the club. :)

End of Season Round-Up

Phew we are finally here!

I know there is lots of pics and lots to read but to be honest its just nice to be able to read and write without having that dam eye infection! I dont feel dizzy or sick anymore. :)

I must admit I was a bit frustrated losing two finals and losing the K-league title on those playoffs!

We could have won everything but just not meant to be I guess, we will have to re-group and go again next season with hopefully a little bit more luck on our side.

I feel this could be a few seasons of mass frustration, as you can see I cant shake my playoff curse no matter what I try. But wining the FA cup put us back into the group stage so be thankful for small mercies I guess. :)

A massive thanks for reading this post, I know its absolutely crammed but with four cup competitions and the league and playoffs its always going to be tricky to bring it to you! I do like Korea just hate playoff’s which is the main reason I stayed clear of Mexico this time around so thats that as they say!

I am feeling so much better and I promise I will read everyone’s story when I get time, will try and get my next season done as quickly as I can and again thanks so much for reading.

Bye bye! xx :)