Ana, FM 2012 : Season 2 The Troubles In Belarus

Hi everyone!!

So here is an unexpected post for you all to enjoy!

I was planning on posting this at the weekend but I cant as its my birthday on Sunday am 26 so am feeling very old. :(

So my partner is taking me away for a few days to cheer me up! Nothing too fancy just a nice break in England though he wont tell me where says its a surprise so am pretty nervous! (My guess is Blackpool……..again….)

That’s why I will be bringing you my new update today! Last time I left you I unveiled my new project in the country of Belarus using a team called Livadia Dzerzhinsk to create a home grown dynasty and a team to be proud of!

However I never imagined just how tricky that would be and having just survived my first season and just how poor the team I had was, however the one thing I am is determined and going into season two I was ready to face what was thrown at me and here it is for you to read!

* Note I wont post my C.V anymore as that was just for my Pentagon challenge and its safe to say I wont be winning anything for a good while yet!

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So draw for the world cup first!

As you can see we are drawn in group E alongside Italy, Greece and South Africa I feel that both Greece and South Africa are beatable so am pretty hopeful with the draw!

Before I go onto my world cup results a brief change back to Belarus!

Livadia News

So no surprise I chose avoid relegation, having saw my team I don’t expect anything more than another long and difficult season.

We do have a bit of transfer money to spend its just a shame that there are no players worth buying!

There were a few bids I did get accepted but they didnt want to move to our club, so their loss I guess! :)

A new parent club and the second best team in Belarus!

£5k may not sound like much but to our team that is huge so am very pleased and I might just get some good loan player’s too!

New Assistant Manager

So meet Gonzalo Vargas and for now my right hand man!

Erm….. not much else to say except he is very attack minded like me. :)

Club Information and Finances

So club info wise and nothing much has changed!

Vadim Zhukuv was added to the favoured personal list and our club value did increase by £15k to a nice £75k!

Finances still look very healthy, still in the black and are not losing huge amounts each month so far so good!

Transfers In and Out — First Window

So finding players was a big struggle!

Most of my players brought in were no better than what I had really but I have one golden rule in lower league management, buy one really quick forward which I did!

Vladimir Kononov

Peru — The World Cup!!

As quick as that!! :)

Just another terrible campaign and my terrible record at international level continues without picking up a single win!

We should have beaten Italy in truth as we were leading 2-1 but managed to lose which was harsh and a similar story against Greece which after that defeat put us out.

Just cant do it! Not sure if I will ever take another international job again.

The World Cup Final

Back To Livadia — Results First Half of the Season

Yes, this is as hard as it looks!

Just thankful that Dinamo-2 Minsk are the worst side in the league or we would be in huge trouble!

We just cant defend, watching my defenders trying to dribble out of defense it just laughable as they are easily tackled and then its one on one against my goalkeeper as they wont listen to me and try and clear it!

My team cant pass, cant clear the ball can barely hit the target!

But we are deadly from set pieces! :)

Transfers In — Second Window

Two new faces and I am playing to our main strength which is set plays, as you will see with Gerasimovich!

Oleg Gerasimovich AKA Mr Set Play! ;)

Yury Baranov

Results and Table Second Half of the Season

Survived!

That said it was still a tough run of results but Kononov did work out where the goal was! Then started to score a few goals and help create a few as well, but our main threat was set plays without them we would have been relegated this season this is pretty tough!

But am really enjoying it so far!!

Final Player Ratings of the Season

So our center back was our best player and sadly our second top scorer with six goals! Kononov is quick but after that I am struggling for positives as he cant really dribble so his pace is useless to my team as he cant ever run at the oppositions defense.

Ideally I would like to release all these players and start again! None are really good enough for this division even my signings are not really an improvement but hopefully our reputation has increased slightly allowing me to sign some of the promising looking Belarus players I have scouted and start to improve my squad!

Star Man of the Season — Artem Tarasenko

What I’m Up Against

So on my last post Heresy suggested a really good idea in which I post some of the star players in this division to give you an idea of what I’m up against.

So here is the golden boot winner and the assists leader from this year :

Golden Boot Winner

Assist leader

End Of Season Finances and Round-Up

So at least my finances are still looking ok!

We did lose a little bit but am not too concerned just yet as we are still well above the red so am fairly happy with our bank balance.

And thats that!

Such a tough season but a very enjoyable one surprisingly, we are far and away one of the worst teams in Belarus every game we are massive underdogs so when we do pick a win its such a great feeling as its usually a massive surprise even to me!

This will be a long project as my team is terrible, easily the worst team I have ever managed and even though I have found some more than decent Belorussian players they wont join me, a huge shock I know!

However this is what I wanted! To build something from the bottom up and from the very bottom! Ideally I want to post many seasons of this story and get to the point when we are laughing at the thought that someone like Artem Tarasenko is far and away my star player!! :)

He is though by a mile but in terms of this league and the other team’s defenders he is terrible, half my trouble is just getting better players to join us our semi-pro status wont help that so the sooner we turn professional the better.

So that’s it I’m afraid!

Not exactly making huge strides in this league as of yet, two seasons two almost relegated seasons but am really enjoying it. Progress is slow but I guess it is progress as twice we were predicted to finish 16th and twice we finished 13th with a squad who struggle to pass the ball five yards to a fellow player!

So again I hope you enjoyed this post! I have already played about half of my next season (am so addicted to this game at the moment!) so a newer post should be done hopefully very soon so until next time bye bye for now!!