Hello friends! It’s been quite a long time since my last post, I know… It’s not because I’ve lost interest in the game, I think I’m getting more and more interested since I had to go a full two weeks without playing :) Anyway, back to the game. As you well know I have finally clinched the UEFA Champions League trophy at the end of last season, my 12th season in charge at Viitorul Constanta. My goals for the 13th season were to win the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Championship and maybe repeat the good Champions League run. I expected our reputation to go above «national» this time but…
…that wasn’t the case! Our reputation remained unchanged, don’t ask me how or why.
However, we moved further up the European club rankings, we are now 6th and that is just wonderful.
The same can not be said about the league though, the Romanian top flight dropped 5 places in the European Competition Rankings and I guess that could be an explanation for our club reputation as well.
But we retained the qualification places, which means we will go straight into the Champions League group stage if we win the domestic league. And, as you well know, we will win the domestic league :)
I received a pretty good transfer budget this time but with the reputation remaining unchanged I didn’t have too many players to spend the money on.
I did bring in a few lads but only one of them will go straight into the first team: Dutch midfielder Hennie Paauwe from Feyenoord. There were no important sales this time, just a few loans and a few fringe youngsters going out.
And now, the first big test of the season, the UEFA Super Cup against Europa League winners Sporting Lisbon. We had no previous meetings with the Portuguese side but we did have some history in the Super Cup as we lost it in 2018 to AC Milan.
Sporting Lisbon vs Viitorul (UEFA Super Cup)
Starting Line Up: Nicolas Salva — Tomislav Djurdjek, Xavier Dumont, Georgica Dicu, Sebastien Verdier — Hennie Paauwe, Mike Broadhead, Nahuel Lopez — Rastislav Benko, Juan Cruz Argenti, Dramane Sow
This time we got off to a perfect start as Benko opened the scoring inside the first minute after receiving a perfect assist from Sow. Our joy turned into sorrow after seven minutes as Xavier Dumont was forced off the pitch with an injury and Sporting took advantage of his absence right away as they converted a corner kick. Then we took control of the ball as we often do and the reward came on 25 minutes when Dicu half-volleyed home on a corner kick. But things just couldn’t get quiet: Benko made a reckless tackle on 32 minutes and the referee showed him a straight red card.
Things remained quiet for a while after the break and Sporting only came close on 66 minutes when they threw away their first big chance of the match. But they managed to make it all square 10 minutes later with a fabulous shot from distance… They even came close to denying us the chance to fight for our lives in extra time as they smashed a long shot against the crossbar in the fifth minute of injury time.
The game went into extra time and lady luck finally smiled upon us six minutes into the supplementary time as Sow was tripped inside the penalty area and substitute Alin Dicher coolly converted from the spot. We ended the match with just nine men as Argenti had to be taken off two minutes from time but the sacrifice was worth it as we clinched one of the trophies that were missing from our cabinet: the UEFA Super Cup!
Match Highlights:click here to watch
Dumont was sidelined for a month after that injury but that didn’t have an impact on our league form as we won 17 out of the first 18 games, conceding only one draw and three goals overall in the process.
Yeah, I know, we’re heading for another league title :)
The Romanian Cup was a relaxing ride as well, I guess we’ll win another one of those too.
On to more difficult things now: the Champions League.
We were seeded first again for the group stage draw and we managed to confirm our status as we ended the group unbeaten. We recorded some nice results too, including a 4-2 beating of Valencia.
We finished top of the group but that didn’t give us an easy draw in the first knockout round as we will face Arsenal. We have beaten them before though, so I guess we can hope to do that again.
Last but not least, the Club World Championship. We took on a rather weak side in the semi finals and we went through easily, with Manoel and Jerome Vrignaud bagging a brace apiece.
The final saw us taking on Mexican side America, a team that Kevin might know a lot more about after facing them in the North American Champions League a few times :)
America vs Viitorul (Club World Championship Final)
Starting Line Up: Nicolas Salva — Tomislav Djurdjek, Xavier Dumont, Georgica Dicu, Sebastien Verdier — Hennie Paauwe, Mike Broadhead, Yasen Zlatinski — Rastislav Benko, Juan Cruz Argenti, Dramane Sow
The opening 20 minutes in Yokohama were boring as hell, the Mexican were keen on keeping the bus parked and we were unable to break through. Argenti managed to create a first good chance after 22 minutes but his good shot from the edge of the area was diverted onto the post by the goalkeeper. We kept the pressure on their defence and we finally broke the deadlock just before half time thanks to a spectacular low drive from Zlatinski who had the courage to take his chance from 20 yards out.
We were a lot less convincing after the break and the Mexicans nearly punished us on a corner kick on 64 minutes but we were rescued by the crossbar. We regained control after that scare and nearly doubled the advantage on 71 minutes when Sow‘s header bounced clear off the post. There was no threat in sight though, the ball was in our control most of the times and substitute Manoel had the chance to wrap things up two minutes from time but he ended a good run with a disgusting finish. The trophy was ours though!
Match Highlights:click here to watch
So, I have won the last two possible trophies in this career, it only took me 12 and a half seasons :) But I guess I won’t stop here, I’m just 16th in the world-wide hall of fame and Mourinho still is ahead of me :)
Before wrapping up, I want to share something that makes me really happy: Manoel, the team’s veteran at 29 years of age, is leading the charts with his awesome average rating so far. He was one of the first important signings that I have made at this club and seeing him still performing well after so many years is quite enough to make me a happy manager, mainly because I was patient enough to keep him at the club even though he was almost constantly injured during the first couple of seasons. He was signed on a free transfer in 2013, this is his 11th season at the club so far, making 180 league appearances for Viitorul and bagging no less than 115 goals. Oh, and he just got an award as the Club World Championship Best Player.
That’s about it for now, thanks for going through this update, I hope you have enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to your comments but please don’t ask me about my future career in Football Manager 2012 :) I’ll remain at this club for now and I guess I’ll just play it by ear and see what happens.
Bhargav
6 августа, 2012 at 05:23
A solid accomplishment! It’s been a while in the making and it’s good to see how you brought a club out of the lower tier of a less prestigious football league to the pinnacle of the World. Awesome job! I look forward to seeing what you’re planning next.
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:50
Thanks mate. As for what’s coming next, I don’t really have a plan, I’ll probably go with the flow and see where that takes me.
Malhar Bhadbhade
6 августа, 2012 at 06:32
Hi Johnny,
It’s a real pity that your reputation has not improved. I wonder whether it ever will? I mean, there is nothing else left to win. It’s shocking that your reputation is stil at ‘national’. Well anyway, leaving that aside, wel done in the first half of the season! The league and cup were easy as usual, and I don’t have any doubts that you’ll go far in the CL as well. Congrats on your maiden Club World Cup victory. It’s always Club America or Santos in the final against me as well :D good luck for the rest of the season!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:50
Thanks Malhar, I really hope that we will get that reputation increase at the end of this season, it would be absurd not not.
CsAtlantis
6 августа, 2012 at 06:57
It’s been amazing how a decade of solid progress and astute signings can transform a lower league Romanian club into Champions League/ Club World Cup winners, it’s been particularly pleasing that Manoel has repaid your faith, despite not being the best player in terms of potential ability (probably reduced growth due to all those injuries)
Anyway Johnny, congratulations and I look forward to seeing your reputation increase (if it will ever increase!)
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:51
Thanks mate, Manoel has been a wonderful servant and I really don’t care about the number of stars next to his name as long as he keeps delivering the goodies on the pitch.
CsAtlantis
7 августа, 2012 at 10:20
Yeah definitely something for me to keep an eye out for, having less stars does not mean that a player can’t do a great job for the team
Calin
6 августа, 2012 at 07:18
Great winning streak, Johnny! It’s really nice to see you continuing the dream at Viitorul Constanta and I am sure that it won’t be long before Mourinho (and the managers above him) will all go behind you.
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:52
Thanks Calin, I hope I will sneak past Mourinho one day ;)
Lye
6 августа, 2012 at 08:04
Great to secure two trophies ahead of the Champions League. That should be a perfect catalyst for another shot on the CL trophy. Well the domestic league doesn’t command any mentioning as it is in your bags before the season starts. It’s nice to see you stay loyal to a player for such a long time but i guess Manoel certainly repays your faith with him banging him the goals for you.
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:53
Thanks Lye, I have already reached my goals this season so a good CL run would be a nice bonus.
Kevin
6 августа, 2012 at 08:57
Welcome back Johnny, I know we’ve all missed not having an update from you recently. Of course this was the one we were waiting for and you duly delivered capturing those last couple of titles.What an incredible feat when you consider how this all started 8 months or so ago. Good luck for the remainder of the season!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:54
Thanks Kevin, it’s been quite a journey indeed. I think I’ll prepare a retrospective post soon, looking back at the important moments of the career so far.
Darren Smith
6 августа, 2012 at 12:04
Great work Johnny, yet more silverware added to your cabinet and I think reaching the top 3 for European rankings and beating Jose in the hall of fame may be a nice target…I know how much you hate him :)
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:55
Thanks mate. But I don’t hate Mourinho, he hates me :) I just dislike him ;)
Laxeyman
6 августа, 2012 at 12:04
Congrats on the trophies Johnny! 12 seasons is actually a pretty quick time to accomplish all that you have in my opinion, so well done :) You’ll defo win the league and I reckon you’ll beat Arsenal too, so hopefully you can defend your CL crown. Good luck!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:55
Thanks buddy, we’ll take it one step at a time in the Champions League and see where that will take us. There’s no pressure this time :)
Acss
6 августа, 2012 at 12:05
Well done johnny, congrats on the achievements. looking forward to see if you can defend your CL title, so good luck! ;)
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:56
Thanks mate, I hope we will reach the final again but, as I mentioned before, there’s no pressure this time as we have already won it.
TheZiggy
6 августа, 2012 at 12:32
You’re on another domestic stroll, scoring at an insane rate. :)
Congratulations on winning the last two remaining trophies, the European Super Cup and the CWC. The only real challenge this season is now whether you can defend the Champions League title. I’m sure you’ll overcome Arsenal in the first knockout round, and soon overtake Mourinho in the hall of fame.
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 13:57
Thanks for the confidence Ziggy, we’ll see how it goes.
silva
6 августа, 2012 at 14:06
WellDone winning the European Super Cup and the CWC.
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 14:45
Thanks.
saltwater
6 августа, 2012 at 15:31
During the domestic matches do you just sleep in you dugout and tell your asisstant to wake you up at full time? :)
Arsenal should be a challenge I think, but this team has overcome harder obstacles than them. And well done on your recent cup sucsesses, though Sporting put up a real fight. Rodrigues’ long shots almost knocked you out!
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 15:37
Haha, sometimes I tell him to wake me up at half time as well because I often want to make some substitutions at the break :)
Gaurav Chaddah
6 августа, 2012 at 16:48
Great start to the season their Johnny, the league is just a walk through, well done on those 2 trophies, I agree with Darren, the goal should be get ahead of Jose or maybes top the hall of fame? ;)
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2012 at 19:01
Thanks mate. That could be a valid goal, I agree.
Tegar Triemanudigdo
7 августа, 2012 at 04:36
Great start and glad to see you’re still kicking there. It would be interested if you can hold the UCL trophies there. Keep up the good work.
Johnny Karp
10 августа, 2012 at 21:12
Thanks buddy.
TE5711
7 августа, 2012 at 10:31
Congratulations on the last two trophies, Johnny. Now you’ve accomplished almost everything there is to accomplish, although getting to the top of the best managers list would be a great finish for a great career for you with Viitorul. Since you asked, I won’t ask about your future in FM 12, but I do have a question though: do you have any idea on what you’re going to do in FM 13? Personally, I’d love to see you break the Ajax and PSV dominance in Holland, and maybe even restoring Dutch football to its glory from ’70s with a lower league club from. Just an idea.
Johnny Karp
10 августа, 2012 at 21:13
Thanks. Getting at the top of the hall of fame would be quite difficult, Sir Alex is a long way ahead of the others. About FM 2013, it’s quite early to think about that. I might not write a story at all and focus on writing guides and tactical tips posts for instance.
TE5711
10 августа, 2012 at 22:13
About tactics, I was trying to create my own, and I wanted a sort of 4-2-3-1 with two central midfielders, an attacking midfielder, wingers and a striker. So I created it, but it was just terrible, I tried creating a possession tactic, with short passing and lots of passing, but it was a disaster, we lost all the games I played by three goals and more. I tried changing the roles and instructions, but nothing seemed to work. Seeing as you’ve created a few tactics that do what I want mine to do, could you give me a tip? How do you create your tactics to be successful while having short passing and lots of possession and chances?
Johnny Karp
11 августа, 2012 at 10:58
My advice would be to download my Barcelona tactic or any of our tactics and study the settings, then compare them to your tactics and see what’s similar and what’s different. Secondly, you have to have patience with a tactic, most of the times you won’t get results right away.
Tal Elburg
11 августа, 2012 at 11:36
Wow, thanks mate! I checked and re-checked your tactics and tweaked the players’ individual instructions, than I played I a few games and I was finally seeing what I wanted to see. Thanks a lot.
Sears
7 августа, 2012 at 16:00
I’m baffled as to why your reputation didn’t increase Johnny , I wonder would it be a bug or it may just take another CL title or two but in all fairness , your club should have a continental reputation by now! Hennie Paauwe is an excellent addition to an already brilliantly assembled squad of players. As usual the league is wrapped up so I’m hoping too see you win another CL title , now that would be amazing! Best of luck buddy! :D
Johnny Karp
10 августа, 2012 at 21:14
Thanks Sears. The reputation will be updated again at the end of the season, hopefully it will go up now. It should ;)
Ana Garcia
7 августа, 2012 at 19:54
Hi Johnny.
I can really share your frustration with the reputation problem something that really needs to be addressed very soon.
Nice to see you fill up your trophy cabinet! Seems you have them all now maybe try and take over the Romanian national team and lead them to some cup glory! ;)
I also share your ‘dislike’ of Mourinho. :)
Always nice just to play with no real goals to reach for, just keep going and see what happens, best of luck!
Johnny Karp
10 августа, 2012 at 21:15
Thanks Ana. Taking over the Romanian national team is something that I might want to do, even though I doubt I’ll be able to win any trophies with them given the very small number of top quality players in the nation.
vaibhavc
7 августа, 2012 at 22:01
I cant believe that even though you won the CL, your league dropped 5 places, and your reputation didnt increase. Well done so far, you won everything you could have in this save, great job!
Johnny Karp
10 августа, 2012 at 21:16
Thanks Vaibhav.
Victor Baluta
10 августа, 2012 at 19:53
Congratulations for winning these two trophies! I looked at the hall of fame table and you are not far away from Mourinho. I think that if you have a season like the one that passed maybe you will get over him. Good luck and keep going with this save.
Johnny Karp
10 августа, 2012 at 21:16
Thanks mate. Mourinho hasn’t retired yet, so he might keep winning some stuff too ;)