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[FM 19] 1. FC Kaiserslautern - Awakening a Fallen Giant

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
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Once a Bundesliga giant, the club, playing at the 2006 World Cup venue Fritz-Walter-Stadion, has spend most of the last decade in 2.Bundesliga before taking the hard way down to 3.Liga before last season.
With their two German Cup trophies, a regular Europa League contestant between 1992 and 2000, I will have the history to back me up as I take on the challenge to get 1.FC Kaiserslautern back to where they belong.
It won’t be an easy challenge for sure, as the squad I have to work with is the third youngest within the league (except from Bayern Munich II), and there won't be a wealthy transfer budget either.

Why Kaiserslautern?
Kaiserslautern is a team rich with history and success. As with so many clubs in modern football these days, the financial situation and the fall of a football club has its roots in Stadium upgrades and transfers sprees going wrong.

One club who have surely been hit by financial troubles due to being forced to upgrade their stadium and not being able to pay for it, is 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Formed in 1900, Die roten Teufel is one of the founding members of the German Bundesliga. They kept their place in the top division for over 33 years before they were relegated in the same season as they won their second DFB-Pokal. With 33 consecutive seasons in the German top flight and having won the title 4 times with the most recent in 97/98 where none other than Michael Ballack, who would show glimpes as to the player he would later turn into, Kaiserslautern were one of only four teams who had never been relegated from the 16 clubs who formed the Bundesliga. Yet due to the aforementioned abysmal decision making and financial mismanagement the club now find themselves, for the first time in their history, relegated to 3.Liga, Germany’s third tier.

The aim of the save is to return Kaiserslautern back to where they belong, challenging as one of the finest teams in Germany, with a view to becoming one of the finest in Europe.

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Aims of the save
Ah, but how do we get there?

Youth Development – Germany is a hotbed of talent with many many fantastic young players coming through each year, I plan to use my academy system to promote from within where possible, as well as cherry picking some of the finest talents from the country. The medium-term plan will be to invest heavily in our Youth Development structure to improve the coaching and recruitment network and give us the best chance of success. Roster Limit of 2 free signings per season.

Dominant Football – I will try to create a style of play at the club where we use our superior technical players to dominate possession on the pitch and use clever movement and passing to create openings for the forward players to wreak havoc.

Buy Young – Where we cannot use players trained at our club for the team, I will look to complete the squad with young physically and technically gifted players who can become mainstays in the team themselves or can be sold on to bankroll the youth development at the club. Of course, there will be the odd experienced, wiser head at the club to help the young players a little, but these will be the exception, rather than the rule. Roster Limit of 3 old vets.

National Pride - This sort of ties into the Youth Development tack. Our requirement is a restriction of German nationality after the initial round of contracts expire.


Next up: Coach introduction
 

goblue96

Disney and Curling Expert
We about three weeks from FM21 beta dropping. I'll be rolling from day one of the beta with ma'save. Good luck with FUCK!
 

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
We about three weeks from FM21 beta dropping. I'll be rolling from day one of the beta with ma'save. Good luck with FUCK!
Am hesitant with a new Match Engine release that it be buggier than your std roach motel. It'll take til the 3rd or final update to smooth things out, if we can judge from their record. And who knows if that is March or May with how fly by night the schedule is everywhere.
Regardless, I'll be sitting here with envy. Faster/snappier UI, sprinkling of new animations and roster updates/league tables. Tho the 'choose your own adventure' randomness of the last handful of years surrounding Brexit and the WC schedule has made for some entertaining saves in the early years.
 

goblue96

Disney and Curling Expert
Am hesitant with a new Match Engine release that it be buggier than your std roach motel. It'll take til the 3rd or final update to smooth things out, if we can judge from their record. And who knows if that is March or May with how fly by night the schedule is everywhere.
Regardless, I'll be sitting here with envy. Faster/snappier UI, sprinkling of new animations and roster updates/league tables. Tho the 'choose your own adventure' randomness of the last handful of years surrounding Brexit and the WC schedule has made for some entertaining saves in the early years.

The crappy match engine only makes the first couple seasons of a save more random. You could go a few weeks with something that works. SI updates the game and BOOM! nothing works anymore and you start from scratch. I'm usually at some bumfuck team or early enough in the save that it doesn't make a huge impact as the shit I care about youth development, scouting, etc. goes untouched during the year.
 

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
Let me introduce you all to the man, the myth, the LEGENDARY
Hazel 'Howlin' Hank' Murphy
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Captain Hazel "Hank" Murphy is the ostensible leader of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Unfortunately, he is also the most deranged member and quite unfit for service; instead of providing any real leadership, he's either running a pirate radio show, ordering crew-members to steal cable so he can watch his favorite show "Chopper Dave", complaining about his missing Happy Cake oven, or playing golf near the station's reactor core. He once became addicted to scorpion venom.
He's easily amused and displays many symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. His placement as Sealab's Captain may possibly be an experimental measure for an unknown purpose, as hinted by Dr. Virjay in the "Brainswitch" episode before being remotely incapacitated by labcoat-wearing sharks. He's bitter about getting beaten up as a child, so he likes to sucker punch people when he can. He is prone to having blackouts during which he has dreams that Sparks is out to get him and that he is obsessed with either Imogene Coca or Michael Caine. His most hated enemies are Bizarro Murphy and Evans (whom he calls "Eggers") from Pod 6.
He seems to have a fixation on actress Adrienne Barbeau, making reference to her several times, including calling his robotic form the Barbeaubot. He is a fan of Bruce Springsteen and has labeled the crew as "phillistines" for being unfamiliar with him, and also owns every Rush album due to his misuse of credit cards. He despises every aspect of Pod 6 and always has since the "I Robot" episode, showing no reaction to it's initial destruction.
His drinks of choice are brandy, White Russians, and bourbon. He also enjoys Bebop Cola (Mingus Dew, Mango Reinhardt), Shaved Ice, and kobe steak. Murphy was voiced by Harry Goz until his death on September 6, 2003 from Multiple Myeloma. It can be speculated that the final stages of Goz' cancer were the reason why Murphy's voice was masked in his final appearances, as the Barbeaubot and regarding his choice to wear a scuba helmet indoors during Beck Bristow's visit to Sealab. After that, Murphy was described as having left Sealab to fight in the "Great Spice Wars". This save is dedicated in Goz' memory. Thank you for all the hours of laughter throughout the years.
 
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fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
Setting the Table
1. Screen Flow
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Shoutout to @goblue96 for the hookup last night. Thanks for the link to Ben's Tequila & Mariachi save. I was unaware of what this screen did til now. Usually, I have blinders on and keep to the running of whatever club I'm in charge of. Rarely taking a peek at the outside agme world bar the World Cup years. So this will keep me abreast of those 8 competitions.

2. Interface Color Scheme
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Stealing this bit from Ben: As a huge fan of versatility, I have decided to change the colouring slightly. I have found literally no difference between accomplished and natural on the pitch - so have coloured them the same. It means that, even if just a placebo effect, I feel that I have a more versatile squad. I have also changed competent and unconvincing to the same colour as they both neither show up on the player position indicator but both offer a 'role' for that position, given by the assistant manager.

3. World Scope
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Captain Murphy Profile & Staff

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Wanted to limit myself to 1 capped attribute. Both sides ticked for badges appropriate to FUCK.
Haven't formalized a tactic thus far. Heck, I haven't looked at the squad. Trying to get our parameters ironed out for smooth sailing and maximum immersion.
Defense I'll look to 2-3 coaches to handle. I should be able to take on both Attack and Possession training slots with a :star::star::star: or :star::star::star::star: rating.
Our GK coach has 18's and a DDM of 42. He's been with the organization since signing as a player back in 1984 IRL. (Would be awesome for SI to add an option to import faces; Save so much headache, but likely get hit with likeness lawsuits like EA in the past)

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fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
Once I saw Ehrmann, mind jumped to a Mike Ehrmantraut render. But the 3D creator is only when starting/creating a new head corch. :crying2:
 

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
Smorgasbord of FCK Info

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Both our Captain and Vice-Captain contracts are set to expire in a year. Having ticked the no transfers allowed in first window when choosing the nations and respective leagues, I will be looking to move them on in the Winter Window or risk getting fuck-all for our finances. Both are rated as good for B.2 sides.

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The board have placed a limit of 4 first team coaches. Currently we have 2. The previously highlighted club-lifetimer Ehrmann and fitness coach Bastian Becker; a 17 in FIT but only a total 26 in DDM.
I'll tack on another handicap and place adverts for all backroom staff. No usage of the search tool allowed. That's also going to be put in place for player signings as well.
Fingers crossed on a defensive minded organizer. The Assman Bugera is middle of the road with 9's littered in coaching stats. Decent judge of player stats, though. With a 13-14 in Ability-Potential.

The scouting department has 3 members upon arrival. A GM, Chief Data Analyst and a Scout; another player turned staff lifetimer.
The last big prospect to churn the turnstyles is Jean Zimmer. Having earned his start in the local youth clinics held an hour or so west of his town of Bad Durkeim at age of 11/12 before moving to Stuttgart for 2.2M in the 16/17 Summer Window.
Board will allow a Chief and 3 more Scouts to round us out.
 

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
Season One Preview

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My objective is attacking football. I don't give a damn if we win 7-6. We took the 3 points.
In order to achieve this, I am instituting a 4-3-3 with the FB designed to bomb the wings for our wide support and give some good crossing patterns.
One positive out of this formation is that I don't have to carry multiple specialized tools to get the job done. 8 mid players will do that. Well, 9 if ya include the Keeper.
Bergmann is the lynchpin to linking play between the backline and the contemporaries at the other end of the pitch. To help him in maximizing the greatest chance for success, he is flanked by a BBM bulldog in Fechner on his left and the uber-talented Mads Albaek filling the Advanced Playmaker role.

Goals for this Season

-Achieve Promotion to Bundesliga 2
-Sell on expiring contracts
-Finish the Season with a bank balance of 10M

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If anyone would like to see player cards, feel free to holler.
 

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
This just went down...

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The 61-yarder from Owusu was due to my GK playing at the midfield stripe for some unexplained reason. I'll take a look at set piece instructions, maybe? But this is what I expect from an all-out attacking tactic. A back & forth affair. Leaky defenses. Had a 4-2 lead, too.
 

fignuts

See You Next Wednesday
Quick update. Oct 1.
Books come in. We lost 1M last month. 6.75M in vault.
Have teams and their coaches coming to watch 3-4 of the first side guys. Will need to move 2 to keep our finances in order.


Knocked out in 1st round of the German Cup by Wolfsburg. It wasn't pretty. 0-3 a week before the draw up above.
Squad has gone 3W2L0D since that 4-4 draw vs. our rivals.
5th on table. 5 points back of Unterhaching who have 22.

Oct and Nov have 3 games each. Dec set with 4. Jan a solitary tussle at the end of the month.
Lots of time I'll be hitting the space bar to hurry the fuck up. Might take a peek at who is developing.
And squad selection for both the second half of S1 into S2.
 
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