CM 01/02 NEC 2028

[Christomir]

Hi everyone

I'm still a novice here and I'm not even sure if I will have time to post regularly, if at all I start this dynasty report in the first place. A lot of it depends on whether there is anyone interested to read it.

The thing is it's a strange dynasty to say the least.

First of all - I've noticed almost everyone here writes about FM 2005 or FM 2006 dynasties. In my case it's the good old Championship Manager 01/02, which I never got past, cause I didn't really like the following versions of CM. I haven't seen much of FM, but, from what I've seen, it looks like a logical successor to CM4 etc. So it inherits the several frailties I found there, which, despite the 2D match engine, made me stick with CM3. I won't go into those several things I don't like, cause that could start a whole new discussion on the topic and I don't want to argue.

I'm just interested to see if anyone will wanna read about this strange dynasty of mine and, if so, I will try and report everything that happens at my Dutch club NEC and the Dutch national team from the summer of 2028 onward.

Yeah, you haven't misread it - it's 2028 already! And I feel that might make it a different and somewhat interesting read, since everyone else here starts from the very beginning, which is usually 2004 or 2005.

In my case the beginning was in 2001 and, considering the game wasn't updated, the dynasty didn't develop realistically (i.e. resemble the real world of football) for the next 10 or so years. That was natural, since many of the new stars that had emerged in real life football between 2001 and 2005 were either not included at all or at least not credited with as much as they deserve in terms of potential ability in the database (and that meant they didn't emerge as stars in the game, as they did in real life football).
There were also a few "bug" players, quite influential on the game, like the infamous To Madeira (who is proven to have never existed in real life football).

All of these things are no longer an issue in this dynasty though, since in the year 2028 all real players have long retired and so have all real coaches that started the game as such. Some real players of the past are still around as non-playing staff, but some of them are about to retire in a few years time even as such. For example on the coaching staff at NEC I have people like Christian Vieri (assistant manager, 55 y/o) and Ronaldo (coach, 51 y/o). I also have scouts like Edgar Davids (55 y/o) and Dejan Savicevic (61 y/o). Another scout - Gheorghe Hagi - has only recently retired at 63 years of age. For those that might have not heard of them, the latter two were already retired as players in 2001, but were arguably the greatest stars of Balkan football throughout the 80-s and 90-s, alongside our own Christo Stoichkov.

I (aka young Dutch manager Chris van de Kreeft in the game) started this dynasty managing one of the big clubs in Holland - PSV. I easily became champion of Holland in the first season, with a 12 point margin at the top of the table (note that I'm not saying I "made them champions", cause even without any new signings they had by far the most talent in their squad, compared to rivals Feyenoord and Ajax, so it wasn't such a heroic achievement). But then I got dramatically beaten to the title in two consecutive seasons: first by Feyenoord, who I lost to in the championship decider 3:4, after having had a lead of 3:0; then by Fortuna Sittard, who were managed by another human manager, as it was a network game at the time. That human manager, unlike me, used to heavily rely upon "bug" players like To Madeira, Abel Salami and a bunch of Belarussians, as well as his "bug" tactics - playing with all ten outfiled players in the centre, with no left and right full backs, wing backs or wingers.
I got disappointed by all of that, so I pulled out of the network game. But then I copied the saved game file to my own PC and I retired the other manager (the one of Fortuna) to continue Chris van de Kreeft's career. But no longer as the manager of PSV - I resigned in May 2004. I was not only disappointed by the two second placings in the league. I had also continually been stopped at the quarterfinal stage of the European Champions Cup, despite beating quite a few great European clubs in the group stages. I.e. in each of the three seasons I had reached the quarter final no less and no more, losing out respectively to Juventus, Lazio and Bayern.

I needed a new challenge. That new challenge was called NEC - a club from the city of Nijmegen that had just been relegated from the Dutch Premier Division. I took over with the task to guide it to promotion back up.
Well, I did that by winning the Dutch First Division by a margin of 29 (!!) points and the rest is history - under me NEC became champions of Holland quite sensationally and dramatically in their very first season up in the Premier Division in 2006 and have since become champions another 17 (!!) times. So it's now no longer a case of "the big three" in Holland (Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV) - it's now the big one - NEC! We have also now won the European Champions league a record breaking 10 times (Real Madrid have 9 cups) and the Intercontinental cup 9 times, including an amazing 8:0 win against Boca Juniors in December 2017.

An interesting fact has been that we've played Barcelona at exactly the same quarterfinal stage of the Champions Cup no less than 7 (!!) times. There seems to be something about me and quarterfinals, doesn't it? Of course, unlike my PSV days, it's not a "quarterfinal curse", since on all of those 7 occasions I've been the winner against Barcelona! So it's more like a "Barcelona quarterfinal lucky charm", isn't it?

Now it's the summer break of 2028 and last season we lost the Dutch Premier League title for the first time in 7 years - even more worryingly, we trailed 15 points behind champions Feyenoord at the end.

The club's financial status is extremely healthy. But the current balance of more than $122 million (was $142 million at one point!) has come at the expense of decreasing our famed squad depth (we've sold players for more than $160 million in only 2 years).

"Famed" squad depth I say, because the most interesting feature of my management of the team throughout those 20+ years has been the most extreme squad rotation - I've had more than 40 (!!) players in true first team rotation at times and I have barely ever fielded the same team in consecutive matches.

Now that I have sold or released a total of 28 players throughout last season and this summer break, it will be interesting to see how the team fares in the new 2028/2029 season with a smaller squad (but not necessarilly less talented).

If anyone is interested in reading about it, please, let me know by posting here. If no one responds, I won't even start reports and will probably delete this thread.

[Emiliano]

Hey Christomir welcome to the board!

CM 01/02... How many hours...!!!

I read your story, very interesting. Keep going!!!

[Christomir]

Thanks
What do you mean "How many hours"?...LOL

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by Christomir

Thanks
What do you mean "How many hours"?...LOL

i have to assume hes referincing to how many hours he spent on that game...all of us actually spent a lot of time on that game

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

i have to assume hes referincing to how many hours he spent on that game...all of us actually spent a lot of time on that game

Yeah, I thought so too, but I wanted to be sure what he meant. And it's not surprising - the game is ultra-addictive. I cannot even imagine how many hours in total I've spent on it myself. For one session my record was 22 hours non-stop at an internet cafe (before I even had my own PC).

Thank you for dropping by too

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by Christomir

Yeah, I thought so too, but I wanted to be sure what he meant. And it's not surprising - the game is ultra-addictive. I cannot even imagine how many hours in total I've spent on it myself. For one session my record was 22 hours non-stop at an internet cafe (before I even had my own PC).

Thank you for dropping by too

Always a pleasure to meet new folks, best of luck with the dynasty and all. Would be real interesting to hear where the world is so far into the game.

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

Always a pleasure to meet new folks, best of luck with the dynasty and all. Would be real interesting to hear where the world is so far into the game.

Well, since I have a second potential reader already, I guess I should buckle down to writing about it.

OK, right now I will start with an review of my team and current situation, which will be in my next post. I suspect it will take me a while to complete, cause I am somewhat deliberate and pedantic with these things.LOL

[Lonnie]

Yes, continue. I am very interested in your story. I am sure many of us could learn some things from following along.

[Christomir]

OK, let's see what else I can say about my current situation, other than what I said in my first post.

Last season I had my poorest ever Dutch League performance as a manager of NEC in terms of total number of points - 60. Since we won promotion to the Premier League 23 years ago, we've only 4 other times failed to win the league title - 2-nd in 2009/10 and 2011/12 and 3-rd in 2016/17 and 2020/21. But even in those two 3-rd placings we totalled more than 60 points in the league and had better GD - in fact our GD of +16 (46:30) was our worst ever and it was both among our worst attacking and defensive performances in the league for those 23 years (the worst attacking perf. being 44 goals scored in 2015/16, but we only conceded 14 goals that season to win the title, and the worst defensive being 32 goals conceded in 2016/17, when we scored 59 to finish 3-rd in the league.)

All that statistics comes to show that I have some work to do to stop the decline. But then, can I really call last season's performance a "decline", considering we won the Champions Cup for a record breaking 10-th time?...LOL True we didn't do that in quite the same dominating style as we've done in the past. But, funnily enough, our players sweeped almost all the individual European awards for their performances in the Champions Cup last season. I feel on other occasions in previous years some players of ours have deserved those awards much more, but haven't been given them. Anyway, I don't mind the awards, thanks I'll list the top 3 for each award right after I do the review of my current squad... Which I think I will do in separate posts starting with my keepers.

But first let me tell some news about the start of the new season. Holland national team manager Hans Koning was sacked by the Dutch FA, despite guiding the team to the European title in Greece'2028. However strange it might seem, I thought it was high time that happened - Koning had held the position ever since Louis van Gaal retired in 2014. Back then I missed the opportunity to apply for the job, cause the game didn't tell me in the news that Van Gaal had retired Since then I have always been torn between wanting to root for my second favorite nation Holland (first one being Bulgaria, of course) and secretly hoping Hans Koning slips up so that I can replace him as national team manager.

Anyway, this time I applied for the job and, naturally, was offered it.

Now I've already picked the squad for the first two World Cup qualifiers vs Faroe Islands and Hungary in September. I've named 12 players from NEC in the squad, but that doesn't mean I'm biassed (not much anyway) - Koning himself was consistently picking 10 or 11 of our players in his squad and there usually was at least one out with some injury. I will mention which NEC players are Holland internationals within their short profiles.

I'm going to list those profiles right now, starting from the keepers.

(Sorry if I am a bit too slow)

[Christomir]

Here are my goalkeepers:

Bjorn Cornelissen (29 y/o) - my superstar keeper, captain of the team for several years now, also a star and captain of the Holland national team with 70 caps to date! Makes me proud to announce he is a product of the NEC youth academy (I talked my bosses into building that as soon as we had the money). He has never played for another club and has been my first choice between the posts ever since the 2018/19 season. In the 2018/19 season, aged 21, he won the European Goalkeeper of the Year award and hasn't looked back (he's won the award 3 more times since then). He is a true team leader, has brilliant positioning and decision making, great handling of the ball, good reflexes, agility and anticipation. He is also very fit for a goalkeeper and has high determination.

Roy Westerhof (28) - my backup keeper I signed 2 1/2 years ago from AZ Alkmaar. Has very good keeper skills (esp. handling and agility) and has been solid on the 10 occasions I've rotated him into the starting line-up. He is also the second keeper in the Dutch squad (originally called up by former national coach Hans Koning). He has no caps though, since Cornelissen has been 100% regular starter for the last few years.

Jan Spronck (22) - signed him 3 years ago from his home club Heerenveen. The young Frisian (former Holland U'21 international) developed nicely during the first year at NEC, but his development stopped at that point and never continued, although I tried to aid it by playing him in 25 matches to date. I.e. much more than Westerhof, who is really a better keeper. Won't probably give him any more opportunities and will keep him as 3-rd or 4-th keeper until (if ever) he gets unhappy at the lack of PT, which is when I will try and get rid of him.

Michel Arts (18) - young Dutchman came through the club's youth system. In the 2 years, since he has played in the reserves, he has developed somewhat, but needs to develop much more to become first team material. If he does, he is a potential successor to Cornelissen, whose skills 10 years ago didn't look that different to what this kid's look right now. I hope the story can repeat there.

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

i have to assume hes referincing to how many hours he spent on that game...all of us actually spent a lot of time on that game

Yeah, absolutely! Sorry for my english, sometimes it's a little too "translated"...
Anyway, just to clarify, CM 01/02 was the last Championship Manager version I played because then I got pretty sick of real-life soccer and I abandoned soccer videogames also (back this year with the masterpiece that is FM2006). I played hundreds of hours, I think. Yeah, maybe it was the more addictive CM ever, with the 97/98 right behind. I remember a 30-year career in Italy managing Juventus, Lazio, Inter, Napoli, Perugia... Good memories .

Sorry for the threadjack!

[Christomir]

Here are some of the defenders now:

Edwin Doesburg (24, SW/DC) - young Holland international (with 14 caps till now), who I acquired in December 2024 in a $3.7 million deal from Excelsior (which is now a top club in Holland and even in Europe, winner of the UEFA Cup and then semifinalist in the Champions Cup). Doesburg is now valued at over $9 million and has good to great skills in almost every area. He is especially brilliant in his positional play (20) and his jumping to head the ball, but what is quite rare for a defender is his great technique. Maybe because of that he was surprisingly used by Holland manager Hans Koning as a midfielder during the European Championships this summer in Greece, but I don't plan on switching him to that new position, due to his relatively low flair (9). I like my midfielders and forwards with at least a rating of 15 for that.

Hans Verbeek (21, SW/DC) - immensely (and naturally) talented defender has everything going for him, except his total lack of determination. Otherwise he has no real weaknesses in his defensive, physical and, indeed, even his attacking skills. Has brilliant tackling (20), anticipation (20), passing, decisions, marking, agression and bravery. Could only ideally be a little bit taller to make the perfect centerback, but makes up with perfect positioning and heading skills (both rated with 20s). Already has 3 international caps for Holland.

Peter de Jong (20, SW/DC) - not (quite) as talented as Verbeek overall, but has great positioning too (20) and is taller, as well as a free kick specialist. But, just like Verbeek, lacks determination. Had a poor last season, before peaking for the biggest occasion of all, winning the Man of the Match award in the Champions Cup Final itself! Has already notched up 10 international caps for Holland, since he has been a regular starter under Koning, despite his age (and I'm planning him to be one under me too). Seems that all his managers have liked him and so do I. Enough so to spend $7.5 million for the 18 year old two years ago. The reason I favour him is he's left-footed and I like to pair a left-footed with a right-footed player at central defender, central midfielder and striker (not always possible).

I am still debating who I should pair him with in the long term at both club and national level to form an "iron wall" partnership in central defense - Doesburg or Verbeek. The former looks more solid ATM, plus he has determination, but the latter is a more naturally skilled defender and is almost the same age as De Jong, which means they can potentially play together throughout their careers and end them at about the same time one day. Suggestions anyone?

[Christomir]

The rest of the defenders:

Ron Tuinstra (23, D/DM C) - an absolute star, not only in terms of ratings (several 20s and all the rest 15+), but performances too! He's not just a centerback or a midfielder. He's simply a great talent overall and he's worth $21.5 million, which is amazing for a non-striker (having in mind that $23 million is probably the most I've ever seen a player being valued at in Holland - the Dutch league will simply never have quite the financial strength of the Italian, Spanish and English leagues)

Tuinstra is also a star of the Holland national team with 25 caps, averaging a solid 8 for form throughout the whole of last 4 years, including regular starting appearances at a World Cup and a European Championship! I've been rotating him at centerback last season, but, since he has scored an amazing 8 goals and made 4 assists from there, and considering the depth of talent I have at centerback anyway, I am debating moving him forward to central midfielder. At international level I will almost certainly use him there, since I have a shortage of good right-footed Dutch MCs.

Pieter de Haan (27, D C) - a backup centerback, who I haven't used at all for at least 2 years and I hope he doesn't become unhappy. Like all the centerbacks I've listed, he has a 20 for positioning and is very good in the air, but not much else is impressive about him. I guess I'll have to let him leave, when his contract expires at the end of this season. Former U'21 international, never really made the A team.

Danny Lourens (22, D/DM LC) - after I sold Brazil international Gitinho (who never lived up to his reputation playing for me), I needed new blood at left back, so I recruited this former U'21 Holland international for the job. I like his versatility and his great balance, creativity and positional play (all rated 20). He could do with a bit more pace and acceleration for a full back. He might be useful in a more forward role with his great flair, good dribbling and decent first touch.

Sisi Oliveira (26, D L) - I was rotating the Brazilian last season at left back with his fellow countryman Gitinho, but they've both disappointed me and, along with the poor form of Peter de Jong, have been the main reason for the team conceding so many goals in the league. Will consequently be a backup this season. Like many Brazilian full backs, is actually better pushing forward than defending, although he is another defender on the roster with a rating of 20 for his positional play.

Joop Weeling (18, D L) - Dutch teenager already looks good enough for first team football, especially after his performances in 2 of the first 3 games this season, which I've already played (I'll do a report on those later). I was planning to keep him developing behind Lourens and Oliveira, but two solid 8-s for form in those games have made me change my mind and consider him at least equal in rotation to Lourens now. I've also promoted him from the Holland U'21 team to the A team and might get critisized for that decision, considering his tender age.

Gianni Graziano (25, D RC) - Italian defender I signed for $3.8 million four seasons ago has been excellent for the first three of those seasons playing for me and not so excellent, but still the most solid part of our defence at right back last season. He is now worth around $15 million and, amazingly, is now a star of the Italian national team (they don't usually call up people playing outside of Italy and especially less so in leagues like Holland!).

Tibor Tamasi (29, D DM RC) - a versatile Hungarian. Naturally, a star of their national team, who I use at right back, since he is one of only two players I have under contract, who can play there. Good in almost all areas of his game, though not sensational in any of them.

Aurelien Rodriguez (24, D RC) - Frenchman has been on trial with us for the last 5 days. All my coaches insist he lacks the quality to succeed at this level... But I myself somewhat liked what I saw in training from him, so I've offered him a deal to sign him on a free transfer as a backup player. I want to have a third right back in case of injuries and/or bans to Graziano and Tamasi.

[Christomir]

Before I continue with the roster of my midfielders I have to clarify what tactics I use.

For a couple of seasons now I've been using a quite simple, but effective tactics - an almost classic 4-4-2 formation (with only a few wee tweaks) as a defensive tactics to hold on to a lead etc. and a 4-2-4 (which is actually an attacking variation of 4-4-2) as my main tactics. In fact I use the latter almost all the time - it's quite rare that I switch to defensive mode these day, since there are few team that can intimidate me with the wealth of talent I have at NEC. So against most teams I just keep on attacking even after I get a lead. Of course, in some cases I've lost my lead as a result, but I've never regretted it, cause I think it's more important for the team to have its own style and that style to be an attractive and attacking one, rather than win one or two extra games and points at the expense of boring its own supporters all season long. I am truly like Johan Cruijff, am I not?

Talking of that great Dutchman... Until a couple of years ago, I used to deploy a much more interesting 3-1-4-2 tactical formation, which included a defence, built much like Cruijff used to do it in his famed 3-1-3-3 formation! When I occasionally switched to 3-1-4-1-1, with the wingers pushing forward it looked so similar to Cruijff's formation, that I actually named it after him: "Johan Cruijff.tct"

I'll try and post screenshots later to show you what all those tactics looked like

Now back to my midfielders. In both my 4-2-4 and 4-4-2 tactics there are basically four midfielder slots (though in 4-2-4 the wingers count as forwards, they are still de facto attacking midfielders): a left-footed MC, a right-footed MC, a left winger and a right winger.

So the roster for people, playing in those four positions, is to follow in my next post...

[Christomir]

Midfielders at NEC:

Gelson Neto (21, DM RC) - a talented young Brazilian, who seems to have something to offer (think ratings of 15+) in almost every aspect of the game. But doesn't quite hit the 20-s and will never probably do, unless he suddenly develops by two or three points his several 17-s and 18-s. If that happened he might become really great... But I don't expect it and I like him anyway. The only thing that bothers me is his flair - at 12 it's relatively low for a midfielder and might mean he will always be just a hard worker, rather than a Brazilian magician.

Silvio Correa (22, DM C) - diminutive hardworking Argentinian has the potential to be true argentine in his glitter. Cause when he's good, he's brilliant. Last year I rotated him 10 times into the starting line-up and one time, in the World Club Championships semifinal, he notched up a 10 for form. But then he was quite mediocre in the next 9 games he played throughout the season, which makes me think that either he is very inconsistent, or I need to play him more often to get his form going... The latter option I can't afford though - the quantity and quality of talent on my team means you need to impress right away and keep it up to have a chance of any kind of a run in the first team and you're still not guaranteed it. (Let's hope this season we prove to have decreased in quantity but not in quality) Otherwise, young Silvio has a similar set of skills to his South American friend as described above here. Except, with his Maradona-like stature, he will never be able to win a battle in the air, unless he uses "the hand of god" He already has 2 caps for Argentina.

Tresor McAdden (28, M RC) - the skilful midfileder is a real treasure from the Caribbean island of Dominica - exquisite touch and flair on the ball, combined with great teamwork and determination, make him quite a bargain to have been signed on a Bosman free transfer from Sparta Rotterdam a couple of years ago. He is also a brilliant free kick taker and has very good stamina and acceleration. On the down side, he's not agressive enough. He also lacks accuracy in his long shots - he only seems to have practiced putting a curl on the ball from set plays, but hasn't learned how to hit it from open play.

Melvin van der Haar (32, AM C) - this experienced midfielder has been in and around our team ever since he was a teenager (bought by me for $4.6 million from Excelsior back then) and has picked up 70 international caps for Holland in the process (making his debut when he was only 18). Now that I am in charge of Holland at last, he's already aging and won't be able to use him at the capacity he has shown in the past Yet, I've called him up to the national squad again as a backup for a position where I don't have many options, as I said earlier.

Melvin is the ultimate passing player - with his great teamwork and creativity, helped by good technical and passing skills he has been able to completely control the midfiled in the past. After a season, when I had too many players in his position and didn't play him much, last season he came back with a bang, eager to prove that he was still a top class playmaker. He turned in several amazing performances, completeing more than 100 passes in some of the games!

Luis Miguel Villanueva (21, AM LC) - my big star and record signing! He somewhat reminds me of the two other great Spanish left-footed midfielders/wingers that spent most of their careers in my team, playing together - Juan Luis Delgado (AM LC) and Josep Villanova (AM/F L), both of whom reached estimated values of over $20 million in their time. Only, IMHO, this kid is better than the combined talent of both of them in their prime!! He is already a star of the Spanish national team with 9 caps to date. He has no less than 8 ratings of 20 on his profile, those being exactly the ones I look for in a midfielder! When I bought him for a club record of $26 million, he also had a 20 for stamina, but it's now down to 17.

In fact, I've noticed for a long time now that in this game players on my team have problems with their stamina - they either gradually lose it, or at least are not able to develop it as much as other skills. Whenever one of my players joins another top team, he starts gaining in stamina. I don't think the problem is in my training schedules, which are fairly simple in this version of CM - I set them to one "Intensive" and three "Medium"s, one of the three always being "Fitness". I've also tried installing new fitness coaches and still haven't had it going better for me. So I have to assume it has to do with me rotating first team players so much and not giving them enough playing time in a season to maintain their stamina? Or maybe just another bug? Any other ideas??

On with the roster:

Arnold Leferink (27, AM/F LC) - playing equally well at all of his listed positions, he is the second of three great prodigies of NEC Youth Academy in our first team (out of a total of six players in the team, who have graduated from it). He has been a star (with 58 caps and 8 goals) of the Holland national team too, playing superbly for both club and country, respectively for the last 10 and 8 years (he's never played for any club, other than NEC; his first international cap came at the age of 19). Not only extremely talented, with natural great technical and mental attributes, but also very dedicated in training to improve physically - he was the only player, who gradually developed his stamina over time and thus defied the strange bug or whatever it is that is causing the training problem in our team - he built it from 8 to 16 in the course of a few years. Ah, yeah, I almost forgot - at $22.5 million he is the highest valued player in our team and in the Dutch league as a whole! (Has been valued up to $23 million in the past and I believe that is as high as it gets in Holland)

Mario Rodriguez (24, AM LC) - a Uruguayan international (34 caps/9 goals) and
Giacomo Pratesi (23, AM LC) - an Italian former U'21
- two players with similar skills and qualities, both capable of playing well in both listed positions, Rodriguez being slighly better as a winger, while Pratesi - as a midfielder. I will rotate them in as backups to Leferink and Villanueva in the two positions.

Cees Hermans (32, AM L) - came through the club's own youth system, but, despite showing promise in his early years, never made it as a top class player, due to his lack of flair and work rate at the same time. A player of a small stature (though quite speedy) as him can hardly afford that and, as a result, he has spent his entire career on the bench at NEC, serving as a (not so reliable) backup.

Paul van Dijk (20, AM/F L) - another product of our youth system. The kid developed nicely during the four years since being promoted from the Academy. I've rewarded him with quite a lot of playing time last season, which resulted in his value rising to $6 milllion. I hope he doesn't become complacent and stop doing his best in training - he needs to develop some more if he wants to continue playing regularly.

Jack Berger (22, AM/F R) - the right winger is a product of arguably the greatest youth academy in world football - the one of Ajax! He has lightning pace and acceleration - the best on our team, combined with great first touch and dribbling ability. He also has very clever in his movement off the ball and is capable of doing great things on the pitch. All of that has raised his value to over $20 million! But he is also capable of complacency and bad attitude on the pitch - is quite lazy, when the ball is with the opposition, and quite selfish at times, when he has it. He never learned how to cross properly and how to keep his balance when challenged by strong defenders. Despite his weaknesses though, I plan on rotating him as first choice at his position for both NEC and Holland.

Marc Berger (22, AM/F R) - another Berger, playing at the same position. This one lacking the pace and acceleration of his namesake... But prepared to work much harder, as well as a far better crosser. Unfortunately, just like Gelson Neto, not looking like he is capable of doing magic on the pitch in a football game. Winner of the UEFA Cup last year with Dutch club Groningen.

(Note - Dutch clubs have really dominated the European scene in recent years, since even former nobodies like Excelsior and Groningen have emerged to win European trophies.)

Leonardo Villarreal (19, F RC) - Argentinian youngster can play both as a right winger and a striker. He already has silky-smooth technique and several other star qualities. I only snapped him up for $600 000 and I hope he developes even more to either achieve great things with our club, or bring me lots of millions of dollars profit, when I sell him.


That is all about our midfield - geez, it's taken me a long time
I need some rest now, so I'll post the list of our strikers later...

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Emiliano

Yeah, absolutely! Sorry for my english, sometimes it's a little too "translated"...

I find it funny to see a non-native English speaker apologize for his English in a thread started by another non-native speaker. One, y'all are able to communicate in multiple languages which is more than can be said for a number of us. And, two, even as a non-native speaker, y'all frequently have far better technical skill (grammar and spelling) than a number of native English speakers. I hope you guys appreciate how cool that makes you guys in my book.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Christomir

First of all - I've noticed almost everyone here writes about FM 2005 or FM 2006 dynasties. In my case it's the good old Championship Manager 01/02, which I never got past, cause I didn't really like the following versions of CM. I haven't seen much of FM, but, from what I've seen, it looks like a logical successor to CM4 etc. So it inherits the several frailties I found there, which, despite the 2D match engine, made me stick with CM3. I won't go into those several things I don't like, cause that could start a whole new discussion on the topic and I don't want to argue.

Too bad. I went from 01/02 straight to FM '06 and I rather like it. I would love to read your opinion on why you have not liked recent incarnations of the game.

Originally Posted by Christomir

Yeah, you haven't misread it - it's 2028 already!

That's spiff! My 01/02 game, which I seem to open once a month and play for a day, is now in 2033. Cool to hear other folks playing so far along, too.

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by daedalus

I find it funny to see a non-native English speaker apologize for his English in a thread started by another non-native speaker. One, y'all are able to communicate in multiple languages which is more than can be said for a number of us. And, two, even as a non-native speaker, y'all frequently have far better technical skill (grammar and spelling) than a number of native English speakers. I hope you guys appreciate how cool that makes you guys in my book.

That's super-appreciated !!! Thanks for the kind words daedalus. Glad to hear my (our) english is decent. Well, I admit it, I learned a lot on FOFC...

Ok, enough with the threadjacking!

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by daedalus

I find it funny to see a non-native English speaker apologize for his English in a thread started by another non-native speaker. One, y'all are able to communicate in multiple languages which is more than can be said for a number of us. And, two, even as a non-native speaker, y'all frequently have far better technical skill (grammar and spelling) than a number of native English speakers. I hope you guys appreciate how cool that makes you guys in my book.

I thank you for that compliment too.

I do realize though that mistakes in what I write are inevitable and, when I make them, they sound funnier. While the mistakes you native English speakers make are more natural, common English mistakes... if you see what I mean.

Originally Posted by daedalus

Too bad. I went from 01/02 straight to FM '06 and I rather like it. I would love to read your opinion on why you have not liked recent incarnations of the game.

As I said, let's not go into a discussion on that I'll just tell you a couple of the things I didn't like in CM4: the complicated training system with a goofy default schedule and, especially, the lack of "With Ball / Without Ball" options within the tactics...

But the main thing is I just don't want to get into any more trouble - I have my hands full with CM 01/02 and this dynasty already As you can see, I get addicted not so much to the game itself, but rather to a particular dynasty! I'm not even starting a new CM 01/02 dynasty, let alone an FM oneLOL

Originally Posted by daedalus

My 01/02 game, which I seem to open once a month and play for a day, is now in 2033. Cool to hear other folks playing so far along, too.

Wow! Do you have a report for that one too? It would be interesting for me to read and learn from

[Christomir]

Here come the strikers (all of them - SC):

Cristian Valdes (23) - I've been craving for the signing of this Argentinian gem for several years now and I had to put up with him playing for rivals (though my favorite club in real life) Ajax. Luckily, he had a fight with his manager there and was transfer listed, so I was able to snap him up for just over $9 million at the end of last season. Whatever I say about him will not be ehough. Has all the qualities of world class striker and is equally brilliant with both his feet. If there's anything I don't like about him, it's his lack of determination. But I'm sure that, in spite of it, he will have a glittering career and score tons of goals for us. Already has four goals in the first four games this season. Also has 11 in his 24 international caps for Argentina.

Arjan Vaessen (22) - the third great prodigy out of NEC's Youth Academy, the other two being Cornelissen and Leferink - naturally, all three of them fans' favourites at the club. Vaessen in particular has for 3 consecutive years been voted Fans Player of the Year at NEC! He deserves it with already having scored 72 goals in 181 appearances for the first team. He also has 7 in 18 caps for Holland A national team, where he was rated as a star, before I took over the management (hence I can't see which players are the "official" stars any more). In terms of skills, the only thing he lacks is agility.

Martin Rosales (26) - the third of my Argentinian star strikers is a real mountain of a target man, yet, with not bad pace either. Whenever I give him the opportunity to play, I expect him to overpower defenders and score goals with both his head and his right foot. Has 9 caps and 1 international goal for Argentina.

Fernando Rojas (24) - I have been nursing this talented former Spain U'21 international as 3-rd or 4-th choice striker for quite a few years now, until last season he finally got a bit more first team playing time. He played well then, although I would have liked him to have scored more than 3 goals in 27 matches. But has made a flying start (2 in 2, 8.5 for form) to this season, keeping even Vaessen on the bench for now.

Karel Brasseur (30) - experienced Belgian international (33 caps/15 goals) has only become famous as world class player after coming to play for us late in his career. But he truly deserves the acclaim he has gotten. Like Vaessen, not very agile, despite being the shortest of our strikers (but being short doesn't prevent him from scoring brilliant goals with his head, whenever the cross is low enough for him to reach). He has a total of 7 ratings of 20 on his profile and most of the rest is 15+!

OK - that completes the roster!

My next post will be about the awards my players received for their efforts last season and then I will get to the real game playing reports at last.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Welcome to the board. Interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to following along.

Your English is very easy to understand, by the way. Makes for nice reading.

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

Welcome to the board. Interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to following along.

Your English is very easy to understand, by the way. Makes for nice reading.

Thanks

BTW, I'm still waiting for people's advice on who I should play at right-footed centerback

[Christomir]

Here are the international awards for last season (2027/28). I am quite sure that all of them, except the first one, are given for the players' performances in the European competitions (in our case - the Champions Cup) and their league form isn't taken into consideration, when deciding them:


FIFA World Player of the Year (decided on votes by national team managers):

1. Ariel Batista (Inter)
2. Cristian Valdes (NEC)
3. Arnold Leferink (NEC)

(A player of mine has never won this one and I hope we have a real shot at it next year. I have at least 3 or 4 world class players, who I believe are contenders)


European Footballer of the Year:

1. Arjan Vaessen (NEC)
2. Renzo Fabris (Inter, currently at Leeds, former Feyenoord)
3. Arnold Leferink (NEC)

(This is the first time ever a player of mine has won this one! I believe in previous years Arjan deserved it more than this year, since he only scored 4 goals in 22 appearances in the CC and the CWC last season and I expect more from a striker. But then, he did have 7 assists in those competitions and, anyway, as I said, I don't mind the awards for my players).


European Goalkeeper of the Year:

1. Bjorn Cornelissen (NEC)
2. Luca Gabrielli (Inter)
3. Graeme Liddle (Milan)

(Bjorn did deserve this one! All year long he played really great in all competitions, especially the ones that count for this award. As I already said, this is already the 4-th time he has won it, after 2019/20, 2024/25 and 2026/27. I believe that makes him the greatest goalkeeper in the world ATM!)

European Defender of the Year:

1. Gianni Graziano (NEC)
2. Ron Tuinstra (NEC)
3. Edwin Doesburg (NEC)

(A clean sweep! And the second time a player of mine has won it (both times the same one, the Italian rock in our defense). Last season wasn't Gianni's best season, but he did win the award once before, when he played the best football of his career, in 2025/26. I hope this season he can return to that kind of form and I hope his colleagues in the defense can help him much more than last season, when I suspect his relatively low average rating was more due to the poor efforts of the defense as a whole, rather than entirely his own fault.)


European Midfielder of the Year:

1. Arnold Leferink (NEC)
2. Jack Berger (NEC)
3. Francisco Silva (Inter, former NEC)

(This is the second time ever we win this one, after Dutch right winger Gerard Coolen won it in 2021/22. Coolen is now 32 y/o and I sold him to Roma for $16 million at the beginning of last season. As for 3-rd place man, Portuguese right winger Francisco Silva - after having bought him for only $800 000 3 years ago, I sold him for a club record of $49 million a year ago! Just in case someone was wondering where those $122 million in the coffers come from... )


European Striker of the Year:

1. Arjan Vaessen (NEC)
2. Renzo Fabris (Inter)
3. Fernando Rojas (NEC)

(I've already commented on Vaessen's (in this post) and Rojas's (in the team roster breakdown) performances last season. I am still very happy at them being 1-st and 3-rd for this award though Another explanation for them scoring few goals is that we have so much talent on the team, that everyone is capable of scoring, not just the strikers, and almost everyone does score.)

I am very happy to note that all of that "big three", who are a product of our youth academy have gotten awards - Cornelissen/Leferink/Vaessen

In my next post I will finally get it on with the match reports for the 4 games I've already played this season.

[Christomir]

Our first official match of the season was the Dutch Premier Division opener on 13 August at home against RKC. It's a club from the small town of Waalwijk in the south of the Netherlands. It is consistently lingering in the bottom part of the league table, but very rarely being relegated, which is doing really well for a club from such a small town.

The weather was dry (very rare for Holland LOL) with a temperature of 26C.

The starting line-ups were as follows (in Dutch opposition teams I will only note the nationality of non-Dutch players, unless it's a Dutch international):

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen DR: Tibor Tamasi DC: Ron Tuinstra DC: Hans Verbeek DL: Danny Lourens MC: Tresor McAdden AMR: Jack Berger MC: Luis Miguel Villanueva SC: Arjan Vaessen SC: Cristian Valdes AML: Arnold Leferink

RKC Waalwijk (3-4-3) GK: Wilco Smits DLC: Bart Hofstede DC: Cedric Petit (French) DMC: Lucky Tsotetsi (South African) DRC: Wei'en Liao (Taiwanese) DMC: Cesar Matias (Brazilian, former NEC) MR: Ailton (Brazilian) SC: Michael Kooistra (c) (Dutch int., 7 caps/4 goals) FLC: Ruud Adams FRC: Erion Prenga (Albanian, 9 caps/4 goals) ML: Alfonso Cuellar (Spanish)

11 min:Lourens with the forward run, Lourens played it past Ailton, he put a low cross into the far post... Jack Berger had some space and took it in his stride... GOAL! Jack Berger scored! We lead 1:0.

26 min: Valdes with a solo run, Valdes beat Tsotetsi, he got into the box, he shot hard in the top corner... GOAL! Valdes scored, it was his first ever goal for us and it was a sensational one! 2:0 us.

Great passing game from NEC until half time.

48 min: Lourens hit the ball towards Leferink, who was to the left in the area, Leferink put a low cross into the far post, with one touch Jack Berger searched out Valdes to his left, Valdes shot on the volley... he SCORED! Another sensation goal by Valdes in his debut with the club! 3:0.

RKC had some chances in the second half...

87 min: Villanueva was tripped by substitute Ton de Jong. Free kick and yellow card for de Jong. McAdden tried to curl the free kick over the wall, but it defected off it. Corner kick. McAdden took the corner, short to Tuinstra, back to McAdden, he was forced back, but played another one-two with Tuinstra and hit it forward to Leferink, who passed it into the area for Vaessen, he lost his marker and sent a low shot... GOAL! Arjan Vaessen scored!

The game ended 4:0 for NEC
We had 55% of the ball possession, 9 shots (6 on target) vs 6 shots (3 on target) for RKC.

MoM: Cristian Valdes, 10 for form, 2 shots on target out of 3, both into the net, 3 runs, 32 of 43 passes.

Vaessen and Jack Berger both had 9 for form, with 1 goal and 1 assist each.
Leferink had 8 for form, with 1 assist.
Ron Tuinstra had 8 for form, with 5 of 5 tackles, 3 key.
Bjorn Cornelissen also had 8 for form with his 3 saves.

[Christomir]

Sorry for messing up the table in my previous post. I'll try and make sure I do it better from now on.

On 20 August we traveled to Doetinchem, another small town, to play De Graafschap. The team is very similar to RKC in terms of its achievements since the turn of the century and everything I said there applies here as well. I can only add that the team is easy not to lose against, but hard to beat - last season they narrowly avoided relegation, but drew 15 of their 34 league matches.

Weather was wet, 26C.

It was a full house of 10900 spectators. (I forgot to mention in the previous match we had 16 000 people, which is average for our stadium, which can take almost 37 000)

Starting line-ups (I think I'll start telling the age of the opposition players):

De Graafschap (4-5-1) GK: Adriano (29, Brazilian, I will be trying to sign him) DR: Jack Marbus (20, Dutch U'21 int.) DL: Christian Razin (32, Belarusian, 51 caps/4 goals) DC: Marco Antonio (19, Brazilian) DC: Rene Manders (21) DMC: Darron Eldridge (30, Lesothoan) MR: John Thijssen (30) MC: Roberto Hofstede (20) SC: Ebenezer Addo (32, Ghanaian, 42 caps/7 goals) MC: Bert Langeveld (22) ML: Roberto Aimar (19, Argentinian)

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen DR: Gianni Graziano DC: Ron Tuinstra DC: Peter de Jong DL: Joop Weeling MC: Tresor McAdden AMR: Jack Berger MC: Luis Miguel Villanueva SC: Arjan Vaessen SC: Cristian Valdes AML: Arnold Leferink

From the very first minute they had more of the possession, but never really created anything upfront. We had all the openings and, despite several misses by Vaessen, we did take two of our chances in quick succession:

23 min: Tuinstra passed the ball to Villanueva, he lobbed it forward to Leferink, who headed it down for Valdes. The Argentinian had ran ahead of his marker and took the ball on the bounce, shot... GOAL! Valdes scored his 3-rd in two matches! 1:0 for NEC.

28 min: McAdden found Vaessen in the area with a clever pass. Vaessen lost his man, hit it low, Adriano could only parry it... Villanueva was first to the rebound, he struck it with fury... GOAL! Luis Miguel Villanueva scored! 2:0.

They looked to try and hit back, but we never let them anywhere close to our goal. At the other end we had more chances and, if Vaessen had been more accurate, we could have score more than two.

The match ended with a 2:0 win on the road for us.
We had 11 shots (6 on target), De Graafschap only had 2 long range attempts, neither of them on target.

MoM: Cristian Valdes again! He had both his shots on target, one of them a goal. He also had 26 of 36 passes, one of them key.

His partner in our attack, Arjan Vaessen, was active, but didn't have things going his way, with 4 of his 6 shots going high or wide, so he only got 6 for form.
Graziano, Tuinstra, Weeling (18 y/o kid) and Leferink all had 8 for form.

[Christomir]

25 August

The European Super Cup game was to be played, traditionally, at the Stade Louis II in Monaco. It matched the Champions Cup winners (us) against the UEFA Cup winners (Groningen) from last season, hence an all-Dutch affair.

I already said how impressive and how good it was for Dutch football that the last two years the UEFA Cup was won by teams like Groningen (used to be considered average) and Excelsior (used to be the third team from Rotterdam after Feyenoord and Sparta, ever languishing in the lower division).

But it was actually won by Dutch teams no less than 4 times in a row! Here are the last 4 winners of the UEFA Cup:

2028: Groningen
2027: Excelsior Rotterdam
2026: Ajax Amsterdam
2025: Feyenoord Rotterdam

The second club from Rotterdam, Sparta, also won it a few years back, in 2017, so the win by Excelsior made it a sort of a UEFA Cup hattrick by clubs from that city!

For the Super Cup match I decided to bench Vaessen, despite him being a favorite of mine, and give an opportunity to Rojas to show what he can do. I also decided to rest Tresor McAdden.

Weather was dry, 20C.

As ever in the tiny principality, the stands of the 25 000 stadium were a sad sight with only 4500 people attending, which I suspect had mostly come from Holland.

Starting line-ups:

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen (c) DR: Gianni Graziano DC: Edwin Doesburg DC: Ron Tuinstra DL: Joop Weeling MC: Gelson Neto AMR: Marc Berger MC: Luis Miguel Villanueva SC: Fernando Rojas SC: Cristian Valdes AML: Arnold Leferink

Groningen (4-4-2) GK: Stefano Monaco (20, Italian, with a fitting name for the occasion ) DR: Dennis Roeken (29, Dutch int., 12 caps) DL: Dick Thijssen (24) DC: Asif Portway (32, St Kitts & Nevis, former NEC) DC: Jan Hartman (24, highly rated) MC: Vincent Pover (33, Lesothoan, former NEC) MR: Barry Elzinga (22) MC: Wagner Teixeira (c) (25, Brazilian) SC: Marquinhos (21, Brazilian, in my shortlist) SC: Marcos Roberto (22, Brazilian) ML: Shane Farrugia (30, Australian)

We had a bright start...

4 min: Villanueva gathered up the loose ball from a clearance by Portway, then dribbled past Portway, but was closed down by the other defenders. That left Rojas unmarked though, so Villanueva wisely fed his compatriot, he shot.. he scored! GOAL by Fernando Rojas, who made an immediate impact! 1:0 NEC

We had all the chances in the first half, but it remained 1:0 at half time...

Both teams had some opportunities after the break, but it was we, who killed off the game 10 minutes before the end:

79 min: Tuinstra passed the ball to Graziano, the Italian flicked it out left to Neto, Gelson Neto headed it upfield to Villanueva, he sent it into the area for Valdes, who outjumped substitute Joost Bond... Valdes with the header: GOAL! Cristian Valdes scored his 4-th in 3 matches!

Marcos Roberto had a real chance in injury time, but shot wide. It didn't really scare us anyway, since it'd only have been a consolation goal.

The match ended with another 2:0 win for us and we won yet another European trophy - the Super Cup! It was a record extending 9-th time we won that particular one! (We had already broken the old record in one of the previous times we won it.)

The few fans that had traveled to Monte Carlo were jubilant and our board was delighted with winning the trophy too!

At the age of 18 Joop Weeling was the youngest ever player to have appeared in a Super Cup game!

MoM: Luis Miguel Villanueva - 9 for form, 33 of 38 passes, 2 of them key, both assists, 7 interceptions and 3 runs.

Cristian Valdes also had a 9 for form, 4 key passes, 5 of 9 headers, 2 of them key, 1 goal (averages a goal per match).

Three of my defenders had 8 for form, including young Weeling (second game in a row for him). Doesburg was particularly impressive with 11 of 13 tackles and 5 of 5 headers.

[Christomir]

28 August

We hosted Cambuur from the Frisian capital Leeuwarden.

They are similar to our first two league opponents in what they have done in recent years, excepted 2 seasons ago they creeped into the top half of the table (9-th).

Despite the pouring rain we had our regular 16 500 in the stands

I only made 2 changes to the line-up this time - Tresor McAdden and Jack Berger were back in it after in the Super Cup game I rested the former and benched the latter in favor of Marc Berger (giving Marc the chance to play aginst his former team he won the UEFA Cup with last season). Sorry if the two Bergers are confusing.LOL

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen (c) DR: Gianni Graziano DC: Edwin Doesburg DC: Ron Tuinstra DL: Joop Weeling MC: Tresor McAdden AMR: Jack Berger MC: Luis Miguel Villanueva SC: Fernando Rojas SC: Cristian Valdes AML: Arnold Leferink

Cambuur Leeuwarden (5-3-1-1) GK: Johanne Hitton (28, New Caledonian, added him to my shortlist after this) DR: Glenn Oosting (c) (24, on loan from AZ Alkmaar) DC: Johan van Veghel (22) DC: Facques Ferry (33, Senegalese, 27 caps/4 goals, former NEC) DC: Job (32, Cameroonian, 84 caps/3 goals) DL: Jeran McDougall (27, Jamaican) DMC: Henry Bogers (28) DMC: Wim van Putten (21) DMC: Frank Lopes (20, very talented U'21 int., already on my shortlist) FC: Dennis Nijhuis (22) SC: Bryan Tettero (25, Surinamese)

They played very defensively and we bombarded them with shots, but Hitton was really solid. They even had an early opportunity on the counter, but Cornelissen was solid on that one too. Hitton kept on saving everything in the second haf, until in the
65th min Jack Berger jinked past two Cambuur defenders in a row and was tripped by the second one (MacDougall) for the penalty. He took it himself and SCORED! That was Jack Berger's 2-nd of the season! 1:0 us.

67 min: A long ball from Cornelissen was intercepted by Nijhuis, who immediately lifted it forward over the head of our keeper, who was still drifting forward. Substitute Eugeny Gormash (veteran Belarusian forward) had made the run into the box (stayed onside) and tapped the ball into the empty net: GOAL What a mistake by Cornelissen and what a quick shock response by Cambuur! 1:1

70 min: Cambuur were forced back to defend again. Graziano headed forward to Rojas. Fernando Rojas muscled off substitute Ron Roelofsen, then took the ball past MacDougall!... Then past Ferry!!... Rojas hit a fierce shot... GOAL! An amazing individual effort and a magnificent strike! Second goal in two matches by Fernando Rojas!! And an almost as quick response from us to the equalizer! 2:1 lead for us.

And that was how it ended - 2:1 win for NEC Whew! That was a scare...
Especially after having TOTALLY dominated the game - 72% ball possession, 13 shots (9 on target) against 3 (all 3 on target) by Cambuur.

MoM: Fernando Rojas, with a 9 for form

Jack Berger, Tresor McAdden, Ron Tuinstra and Gianni Graziano all had 8-s for form.
Cornelissen made 3 great saves from Cambuur counter-attacks, but, due to his blunder, only had a 7 for form.

[Christomir]

Today it's 29 August 2028

Trialist Aurelien Rodriguez has accepted my contract offer. Now I hope I have a reliable backup right back behind Graziano and Tamasi.

4 other trial boys have left the club, after having shown no talent in training.

31 August

The Holland squad for the Olympics - U'23 - has been named (it's not me who will be managing that team - I left the honour to the U'21 coach). Three of my first team players have been selected in it and will be unavailable to play for me for almost a whole month: 20-year old left winger Paul van Dijk, 22-year old right winger Marc Berger and 22-year old keeper Jan Spronck. Luckily those are not key players in our team, so will be able to survive without them

1 September

Feyenoord have made a bid for my Argentinian midfielder Silvio Correa. They are offering $6.75 million in monthly installments over the course of a year. I know he is talented and I am not sure I want to sell him, especially since he is my only DMC, who can play with his left foot some...

Oh well, I am tempted - I tell them I want that money right away and they can have him.

In the monthly board confidence update I am told the bosses are only generally satisfied with my performance as manager. I guess they want me to win everything these days

The board also believe Luis Miguel Villanueva is an invaluable member of the team. I bet they think so - after they had to let go of 26 million bucks last February.

BTW, are there people still reading this? If so, do you, guys, want me to post a screenshot of my tactics? Although my current tactics are a quite simple 4-2-4 with back arrows for the wingers (which is exactly the same as if they were ML and MR with forward arrows; I just thought with AML and AMR it looked prettier) so it's actually more about the style of play and the team instructions, rather than the positions.

I could rather post a screenshot of my former tactic with the unique Johan Cruijff type defense, if anyone is interested

If you want screenshots of other things from my dynasty, just say so and I'll try and show you

[Emiliano]

Nice style Christomir, keep going!

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by Emiliano

Nice style Christomir, keep going!

I'm glad you are still following I tried to add you on ICQ, BTW.

Did you notice I have a great compatriot of yours in my defense?

[Christomir]

Sorry for having frozen my dynasty, but here is one of the reasons (I'll just quote the discussion from another thread):

Originally Posted by Christomir

Well, it's me who needs some advice now...
In this post - http://fof.sportplanet.gamespy.com/...ad.php?p=993905 - I said I had negotiated the sale of a certain player of mine by the name of Silvio Correa (you could check him in the roster breakdown above there). But then, after I saved the game and slept on it, I started to doubt my decision. Luckily, CM 01/02 allows me to re-negotiate at every time, unless I've already accepted or they have made a final offer. But I still haven't decided what to do...

Should I just go with my initial decision to ask for what they offer, but all of it upfront (which they are likely to accept, cause they are "rich"; but, if Silvio becomes a star playing for them and they sell him for some big money one day, I would kick myself; plus they are a rival team and he could help them beat me)?

Or should I ask for the same, but with a 25% share of his next transfer to make sure I get something, if his career flourishes? That could easily make them give up on him, if they don't want him so badly and, if he continues to be inconsistent playing for me, I might regret not having taken the money and run. Or maybe it wont make them give up on him - dare I even think of asking for more than $6.75 + 25%? The trouble is I don't know how badly they want him

Originally Posted by daedalus

Just me but, if he's not going to turn out to be of use to you, I'd just as soon sell him and re-use the fund. [Although, obviously, money is not a big deal to your club at the moment.] I like the idea of getting the next sale share since he's young enough that he will likely fetch quite a sum, although, back in 01/02, asking for the 25% share seems to kill a lot of my deal.

My only actual concern would be the fact that it's a rival and the fact that he'll likely rise up and play better against you. But, eh, that's just 2-3 games per year!

[Christomir]

Thanks for the advice, Daedalus I've already gotten some from RL friends of mine as well and the say the same - "sell"!

Yet, I really want those 25% on next sale - in training I can see the kid has all the potential, so he is sure to show it sooner or later, once he has moved away from my squad rotation hell Heck, he has already shown it in a match or two for me, but just hasn't been able to get on any streak of good form (and I know it's primarily my fault with my crazy rotating). The question is if he is ever going to be sold by Feyenoord, so that I get those 25%. It's always, even if he becomes a star, possible that they let him go on Bosman. It's even possible that he stays with them till the end of his career and continually harasses me.LOL

There's even one other possible outcome, which has already happened to me - 7 years ago I sold Melvin van der Haar to Ajax, but he just lost more than a year, wasting his time sitting on the bench there (even in my rotation he would have had more PT), so I had to quickly bring him back. I don't like that happening to my players. If I let Silvio go, I would be happy to see him do well for his new club (just not against me).

Oh well, here is what I've decided - since I have lots of money in the coffers right now and don't need to be petty about half a million, I will re-negotiate asking for $6.25 million + 25% on next sale (I would ask for even more than 25%, if it were possible in CM 01/02). If they accept, I'll never know if it was possible to get much more, but that's the beauty of the game, isn't it?

[RPI-Fan]

I do like CM 01/02 very much, and in fact last night started up a career on it in the English Conference.

Things I like about it:

1) Much, much faster than the newer versions
2) Simpler interface
3) Fewer long-term issues

Then, I started up a WWSM06 career and realize how far the series has come

1) Training is pretty damn good right now (nice balance of simplicity and control)
2) Transfers are more realistic (since there are more teams in the database, even at lower levels you can move players at times)
3) 2D engine just makes such a huge difference in terms of being immersed

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

I do like CM 01/02 very much, and in fact last night started up a career on it in the English Conference.

Things I like about it:

1) Much, much faster than the newer versions
2) Simpler interface
3) Fewer long-term issues

Then, I started up a WWSM06 career and realize how far the series has come

1) Training is pretty damn good right now (nice balance of simplicity and control)
2) Transfers are more realistic (since there are more teams in the database, even at lower levels you can move players at times)
3) 2D engine just makes such a huge difference in terms of being immersed

Addendum:

I'll probably continue playing both careers for a little while, until I feel I'm imersed in one or the other.

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

I do like CM 01/02 very much, and in fact last night started up a career on it in the English Conference.

Things I like about it:

1) Much, much faster than the newer versions
2) Simpler interface
3) Fewer long-term issues

Then, I started up a WWSM06 career and realize how far the series has come

1) Training is pretty damn good right now (nice balance of simplicity and control)
2) Transfers are more realistic (since there are more teams in the database, even at lower levels you can move players at times)
3) 2D engine just makes such a huge difference in terms of being immersed

I know that there are many improvements in the newer versions, but there are also some things I never liked, as I also said in my reply to Daedalus above here - especially the lack of "With Ball / Without Ball" options within the tactics. The complex construction of the "Johan Cruijff" defence in my previous tactics was only possible with using those options.

I also don't want to start any new dynasties, let alone new versions or updates of the game, cause I get addicted.

[Christomir]

2 September 2028

Today I travel with the Holland national team to play Faroe Islands in a World Cup qualifier from Group 5 of the European section.

Other teams in Group 5 include Hungary, Northern Ireland and Sweden. Out of the four I only expect Sweden to give us any trouble, but our players shouldn't get complacent when they play the others.

The Faroe Islands only have 5 professional players in their squad and 4 of those play for local clubs, so I won't bother listing the names of the clubs. 32 year-old back-up goalkeeper Kari Olsen plays for Irish club Shelbourne.

I also won't list the age of the Holland players that also play for NEC, cause you can check it in the team roster.

It's drizzling today and it's +7C.

Faroe Islands (4-5-1) GK: Kari Nielsen (c) (27) DR: Uni Joensen DL: Finn Hansen DC: John Hognesen DC: Jan Hansen MC: Olavur Nielsen (27) AMR: Kari Jacobsen (30) MC: Runi Joensen (25) MC: Allan Petersen SC: Eydun Johannesen AML: Allan Hansen

Holland (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen (c) (NEC) DR: Michel Hendriks (23, Feyenoord) DC: Edwin Doesburg (NEC) DC: Peter de Jong (NEC) DL: Danny Lourens (NEC) MC: Ron Tuinstra (NEC) AMR: Jack Berger (NEC) MC: Frank Simons (28, Utrecht, former NEC) SC: Arjan Vaessen (NEC) SC: Danny Knopper (22, Roma, former PSV) AML: Arnold Leferink (NEC)

[Christomir]

They have a packed full house of 8000 people here today! Impressive, considering the town of Thorshavn only has 19 000 inhabitants.

In the first half we have several chances, but the guys seem to play with no concentration at all, as they probably think the Faroes will beat themselves

On half time I tell them to get their asses out there and work hard for the victory, if they don't want to get embarrassed by this lowly team I also pull out Danny Knopper, who has been lacklustre, replacing him with Juan Manuel Aguirre of Feyenoord. If you wonder about his name, Aguirre was born in Argentina, but has played in Holland for 7 years now, last season being his best ever, as he was instrumental in Feyenoord winning the Dutch Premier Division (and he became the top goalscorer of that in the process). This is going to be his first cap for his new country.

We start to pile up the pressure much more in the second half, as the guys realize they might easily have to do with a single point, if they don't score very soon. But they keep missing clear-cut chances until...

78th min: After a great save by kari Nielsen from Leferink's blasting shot, Hendriks takes the corner, crosses... Hognesen heads the ball upfield... Doesburg collects the ball... He has no space, so he passes to Aguirre... he takes it on his right foot... GOAL! Aguirre scores! It's his fisrt international goal in his debut for Holland! Whew, at last we have the vital lead

We continue to attack furiously, going for GD now.

85th min: Lourens collects the ball from a header by Hansen, he shoots low and hard... Kari Nielsen saves, but can't gather it cleanly... it falls to Tuinstra... he shoots: GOAL! Ron Tuinstra scores! Second goal for him in his 25th cap. 2:0

We keep on the pressure. Vaessen tries a spectacular volley in injury time, but Nielsen makes a brilliant save.

The match is over. 2:0 win on the road.

We should have scored more, but, seeing how it went, I'm happy we got the 3 points in the first place.

We dominated them - 16 shots against just 1 (14:0 on target)

MoM: Ron Tuinstra - 8 for form, 42 of 46 passes, 2 of them key, 5 of 11 tackles, 1 goal

Hendriks, Doesburg, Simons, Vaessen and substitute Aguirre all had 8-s too.

[Christomir]

NEC players in other World Cup qualifiers:

Gianni Graziano played very well (8) in the center of defense to help Italy win 4:0 away in Armenia (former Feyenoord star Renzo Fabris helped himself to a hattrick in that one).

Tibor Tamasi was named as captain in Hungary's dramatic 3:2 away victory over Northern Ireland. He played well (7) as a defensive midfielder.

Luis Miguel Villanueva had an assist and an 8 for form in Spain's 4:3 away win over Estonia (current Feyenoord superstar striker Rafael Valeron scored a brace in that one).



37 year-old Roda JC coach (former NEC and Ajax player) Erwin Bos has been appointed assistant manager at Dordrecht.

3 September 2028

Feyenoord have given up on Silvio Correa

Oh well, I took the risk and I blew the deal. Now I guess I'll have to give the kid some chances to play and realise his potential. I think he never learned I wanted to trade him.

4 September 2028

Cees Hermans will be out for 2 weeks with a damged shoulder in training.

6 September 2028

Feyenoord seem to have decided to go after my players until they get one:

they have offered $10.25 million over the course of a year for the services of my talented 19 y/o Argentinian Leonardo Villareal.

This time I have no doubts:

I tell them I want $17 million and 25% on next sale - the kid will surely be worth much more than that one day!

More appearances by NEC players in WC qualifiers:

Cristian Valdes didn't score, but made an assist and was dominant with his head in the opposition box to help Argentina overcome Chile 3:0 at home. He was later voted MoM.

Karel Brasseur scored a goal and had an 8 for form, but sprained his ankle late in Belgium's 2:0 away victory over Latvia. He will now be out for 3 weeks.

Captain Tibor Tamasi played well (7) as a centerback in Hungary's easy 2:0 home victory over the Faroe Islands.

25 y/o former Holland U'21 international Mark Keur has been tranfer listed by Twente at his own request. He had a row with his manager Rodney Davids, after he was left out of the squad for Twente's previous league game.

8 September 2028

I decide to go after Keur, who is a talented left full back, and I make an offer of $2 million.

Feyenoord have given up on young Leo. I wonder who's next

9 September 2028

Wow! Feyenoord have signed veteran Argentinian attacking midfielder Cristian Enrique on a free transfer! It was me who first brought him to Europe 10 years ago for a (back then) club record of $16 million. He also became my (still) record sale, when I moved him to Real Madrid for $34 million. He played for Roma for a year (last season) and now he has returned to Holland. He has been a superstar in world football and he's still very skilful. Feyenoord are building a really strong squad.

[Christomir]

9 September 2028

Today we have a tough away match in the DPD. We travel to Rotterdam to play former UEFA Cup winner Excelsior. I've said a lot about them earlier in this thread, so let's see what I can add:

They've finished in the top 4 of the DPD, hence qualified for the Champions Cup, in 4 of the last 5 seasons. They are in the top 4 now too - 4-th place after 3 games (2 wins and a tie). Their stars are former NEC centerback Johan van Barneveld, keeper Federico Romero, and midfielder/striker Emmanuel Kuffour. They have an exotic, but effective, striking partnership of two islanders.

I decided to rest Cristian Valdes, who is still a bit tired from his international match 3 days ago and the flight back from Argentina.

Starting line-ups:

Excelsior (5-3-2) GK: Federico Romero (31, Argentinian, 8 caps) DL: Gianluca Sergeto (29, Iatalian, 1 cap) DR: Moacir Monteiro (29, Brazilian/Dutch) DC: Mark Tamboer (23, Dutch, 1 cap) DC: Johan van Barneveld (32) AMC: Emmanuel Kuffour (27, Ghanaian, 21 caps/9 goals) MC: Carlos Coronel (29, Argentinian) DC: Ruud Zeegers (24) SC: Domingos Serafim (Cape Verdean) SC: Emmerson Maynard (Grenadan) MC: Marcus Maier (29, German, 9 caps/1 goal)

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen (c) DR: Gianni Graziano DC: Ron Tuinstra DC: Hans Verbeek DL: Joop Weeling MC: Tresor McAdden AMR: Jack Berger MC: Luis Miguel Villanueva SC: Fernando Rojas SC: Arjan Vaessen AML: Arnold Leferink

[Christomir]

They have an almost full house of 5800. Their stadium is too small for a UEFA Cup winner and a top club in Holland, isn't it?

The weather is dry, 17C.

We play better in the first half, but don't take our chances. We also have a goal by Villanueva disallowed for Rojas being offside at the time. Those referees will never learn to implement the new rules about the passive offside

They start the second half brightly though:

46th min: Coronel takes a freekick, Maier and Monteiro exchange passes, Maier hits the ball ahead of Maynard in the area... Maynard with a header. The ball is curving towards the far post... Cornelissen can't get to it... it hits the post!... and goes in!! GOAL! Emmerson Maynard from Grenada scores! We're down 1:0

A few more chances for us, attempting to level the scores at least, and a few more misses. They had several good counterattacks, but couldn't score a game-killer either.

They managed to hold on and the game ended with a 1:0 loss for us Our first loss of the season.

We dominated a lot of the play in this away game, but not the scoring - 8 shots vs 4 (4:3 on target)

MoM: Federico Romero, 9 for form, with 4 big saves and some key interventions.

Their centerbacks Tamboer and Van Barneveld won all the headers in their box today.

Most of my players did well, except my two young defenders: Verbeek had a 6, because of his failure to prevent Maynard from getting to the ball and scoring; 18 y/o Joop Weeling only had a 5 and a yellow card. I guess he is not quite ready yet to cope with the pressure of the bigger games.

Ron Tuinstra couldn't save the day with all his tackles (including 4 key ones) and headers, earning him a 9. Cornelissen and Graziano both had 8s.

[Christomir]

Excelsior leap above us in the league table with this win and they are now 2-nd with 10 points, while we drop down from 1-st to 3-rd with 9.
Ajax are held to a 2:2 draw at Heerenveen, but they go top with 10 points and better GD.

10 September 2028

Yay! PSV lose 2:1 at RKC Waalwijk and are already 3 points behind us and 4 off the lead.

Feyenoord are 4-th with 2 wins and 2 draws (8 points).

12 September 2028

Feyenoord beat Red Star Belgrade 3:0 in the CC today... and Excelsior beat Barcelona 2:0!! Great day for the city of Rotterdam (both were home games).


Arnold Leferink's set value is $23 million now!

[Christomir]

13 September 2028

Today we play at home in our opening match of the CC group stage 1.

Our opponent is Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow. They have quite a few very good experienced players, 4 of them regulars in the Russian national team. The most dangerous one is striker Anatoly Gorbachev. He is on his way back from an injury and is doubtful for this game, so I hope he doesn't play tonight. We shouldn't underestimate this team.

Yet, I decide to give both my left-footed stars some rest and leave Leferink on the bench and Villanueva out of the squad for this game. Valdes is back though and, also Verbeek gets another start - I didn't like hid performance last time around, but his contract is soon to become unprotected and I need to keep him happy and willing to re-sign.


Starting line-ups:

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen (c) DR: Gianni Graziano DC: Ron Tuinstra DC: Hans Verbeek DL: Sisi Oliveira MC: Tresor McAdden AMR: Jack Berger MC: Giacomo Pratesi SC: Fernando Rojas SC: Cristian Valdes AML: Mario Rodriguez

Lokomotiv Moscow (5-3-1-1) GK: Georgi Teterin (34, Russian int., 1 cap) DC: Lev Vinogradov (30, Russian int., 38 caps) DR: Valery Ignatiev (27) DC: Fedor Maiorov (28, Russian int., 13 caps) DC: Pavel Melnikov (c) (31, Russian int., 33 caps/2 goals) DL: Alexey Karapetyan (21) DMRC: Roman Axionov (24) DMC: Vladimir Trofimov (30) DMC: Vitaly Kalinin (31, Russian int., 19 caps/3 goals) FC: Stanislav Sergeev (27, Russian int., 4 caps) SC: Anatoly Gorbachev (30, Russian int., 20 caps/11 goals) - he does play

[Christomir]

We have 19 000 in the stands.

3-rd min: Axionov takes a throw in - to Sergeev. He sends a deep cross from the right... Trofimov rises above McAdden to win the ball... He knocks it down for Gorbachev, who tries a volley: GOAL! Shock lead for Lokomotive Gorbachev is already causing us no end of trouble

We try to respond and have all the
possession, but we just can't create enough chances and we can't take the few we create.

55th min: I feel we need more action down the wings, so I sub in Leferink in place of Rodriguez on the left and young Leo Villareal on the right for Jack Berger, who has been totally apathetic.

We keep on piling the pressure...

68th min: Our keeper hits the ball forward to Tuinstra. Tuinstra passes to McAdden. McAdden elegantly holds on to the ball, then chips it left to Verbeek. Verbeek passes to Pratesi. Pratesi passes along the floor for Sisi Oliveira to pick it up. Sisi Oliveira plays a one-two with Verbeek, but Gorbachev is deep back in midfield and gets in the way of the ball ( ). The loose ball is picked up by Rojas, who is back in midfield too. He tries a through ball to Leferink in the area. He is closed down, but plays a one-two with Villareal, Leferink passes it to Rojas... Rojas sets up Villareal in the area... Villareal is unmarked... he shoots: he SCORES! What a magnificent team move, ended with a goal by substitute Leonardo Villareal! That was real Dutch total football for ya - everyone took part in that move, except Valdes, who probably helped too by taking a defender with him!

81th min: Lokomotiv substitute Saenko takes control of a loose ball in our area, he passes it to Gorbachev, who is going to shoot from point-blank range... great challenge by Verbeek to clear the ball for a corner! Whew, that was a scare...

We can't create any more good chances and the game ends with a disappointing 1:1 draw at home But our equalizer will live long in my memory! That is how I like them goals!

We dominated possession (64%) and 7 shots (5 on target) against 3 (2 on target) by them.

MoM: Hans Verbeek - the kid made amends for last game with a 9 for form and 10 of 11 tackles, 6 of them key!

Ron Tuinstra had his usual 8 (he has all 8s till now and a 9 last game).

Leferink and Villareal (the goalscorer)both had 8s off the bench...

Anatoly Gorbachev earned an 8 for his goal and all that trouble he caused us...

[Christomir]

Oops Our fans didn't like the home tie and I was invited by them to a supporters' club meeting to explain the poor result. I went and I told them I thought the team (except Jack Berger) played well, but were unlucky and, also, the opposition were no slouches at all and they closed us down very well. I also urged them to take heart from great style in which we scored our equalizer and they agreed that was the kind of play they wanted to see from the team. But they said they just wanted to see it more often...

37 year-old Marcel Hulshoff, who was once a product of the NEC Youth Academy as a player, has now been apppointed manager at FC Zwolle - he had been sacked from Roda JC a month ago.

14 September 2028

My three guys all played in Holland's opening game at the Olympics. Keeper and Holland captain Jan Spronck, left winger Paul van Dijk and right winger Marc Berger all had an average game in the 0:0 draw vs Italy (who played typical Italian catenaccio, after they had a man sent off early).

[Christomir]

16 September 2028

I notice Fernando Rojas's contract is going to become unprotected in 3 days, so I call him and his agent into my office before today's game and ask them what their demands are for a new deal. They say they want a wage of $36 500 per week and a signing bonus of $1.6 million. I offer that.

Today we travel to the city of Breda to play NAC. They look like a good team this year - they are currently in 4-th place, equal on points with us, having played a game more (we are 3rd) - 2 wins, 3 ties, but worse GD than us.

However, in the last few years they have struggled in the DPD and have always finished in the bottom part of the table. They even got relegated for a year, before they got promoted straight back. The big star of the team, Marcin Kolodziejczyk, is reportedly unhappy at how much he's getting and wants a new contract with a better salary - as a result his morale has dropped and his play has not been on his usual high level in the last couple of matches. Henrik Bjorkman is the key defender for them - he is a former player of mine, who I sent there for $6 million a year and a half ago.

I decide to give Pratesi another start in midfield - he looks in good spirits. That keeps record signing Villanueva on the bench for a second match in a row I also decide to rest Valdes again, since he still looks a bit tired from that trip home and the 90 minutes he played in the CC game a week later...


The team line-ups:

NAC (5-1-2-2) GK: Fred Schaap (c) (30) DMR: Jamal Mocktari (30, Moroccan int., 46 caps/6 goals) DML: Marcin Kolodziejczyk (32, Polish int., 42 caps/3 goals) DC: Maurice Hoogerweij (18) DC: Rogier van der Horst (22) DC: Henrik Bjorkman (30, Swedish, 34 caps/1 goal) MC: Nore Midson (24, Guaman) - from Guam?!?...LOL DMC: Hans Jacobs (31) SC: Wai Lam Wong (31, Hong Kong int., 12 caps/3 goals) SC: Hans Smits (28) MC: Michiel Oulida (34, former Ajax, former Holland int.)

NEC (4-2-4) GK: Bjorn Cornelissen (c) DR: Gianni Graziano DC: Ron Tuinstra DC: Hans Verbeek DL: Sisi Oliveira MC: Tresor McAdden AMR: Jack Berger MC: Giacomo Pratesi SC: Fernando Rojas SC: Arjan Vaessen AML: Arnold Leferink

[Christomir]

We had more chances in the first half and we managed to materialize one of them:

36th min: Leferink with a great run down the left... he goes past Mocktari... he hits a fierce left-footed strike from a tight angle - GOAL!!! The keeper didn't even see that one! Superb individual effort by Arnold Leferink!! 1:0 lead on the road.

39th min: Smits puts a low cross into the near post... Wong is unmarked... Wong blasts the ball towards the top corner and he... misses! The ball skimmed the top of the bar! We were close to letting in a quick equalizer

We don't stop attacking and we do keep the ball well until halftime.

During the break I tell my players to keep on piling the pressure and try to kill the game. I know it's risky, but that is how I like to do it...

The risk pays off! ...Or at least doesn't turn against me - both teams miss several good opportunities in the second half, but no one manages to score another goal and it ends with a 1:0 victory for us! A nice away win against an in-form team

Both teams had about half of the ball possession. We had 8 shots (4 on target) and they had 5 (1 on target).

MoM: Arold Leferink (9), 23 of 37 passes, 2 of them key, 6 runs, 2 shots on target out of 2 attempts, 1 of them a sensational goal!

Both my centerbacks and my keeper had 8-s!

NAC's centerback Maurice Hoogerweij had a 9 and he looks great for an 18 y/o! I decide to send my scouts to watch him further.

[Christomir]

17 September 2028

Captain Jan Spronck didn't have a good day in Holland's 2:2 draw with Mexico at the Olympics - he only saved 1 of the 3 shots he faced and the young Dutchmen had to make do with 1 point, despite having dominated the game. Marc Berger did well at right wing with 8 runs past his man. Paul van Dijk stayed on the bench.

18 September 2028

Twente have accepted my bid for Mark Keur. He only wants $13 500 a week and $525 000 signing bonus to be a squad rotation player. I offer him that.

[Christomir]

Originally Posted by Christomir

I'm not even sure if I will have time to post regularly, if at all I start this dynasty report in the first place. A lot of it depends on whether there is anyone interested to read it.

Well, I think I'll go with my initial decision now and stop my regular and detailed reports for my NEC dynasty here. The main problem is not the lack of readers - I suspect there are still one or two people having a look in here once in a while...

The thing is I am the kind of pedantic person that gets obsessed with things and pays too much attention to their presentation in order and detail. That way my game runs far too slowly, so I'll never be able to even finish this season if I continue writing about it here.

So now I will only report here if anything really interesting happens in my dynasty and I will also post in a new thread at the start of each new season to update my team roster and do a summary of what happened in the previous season.

BFN

[Christomir]

I said I would report, if something really interesting happened in this dynasty. Well, now something really, really interesting (and even shocking!) has happened - it's the 6-th of May 2029 and PSV Eindhoven have been officially relegated from the Dutch Premier Division! OMG! There goes the club with the great history (a former winner of the Champions Cup in 1988 and multiple times champion of Holland), which had by far the best squad at the start of the game 28 years ago and no one could beat them in Holland back then!

I should probably feel a bit sad, since PSV was where Chris van de Kreeft started his managerial career. They were not only unbeatable in that first season, but, after they lost the title in the next two seasons, they came back with a bang in the 4-th season, immediately after I resigned: they used the great selection of players I had gathered (including Simone Inzaghi and Fabio Cannavaro) to win the title by a huge margin.

But then everything started going downhill for them. They began selling their top players for big money and not bringing in equally great players to replace them. Not only my acquisitions, like the two mentioned, but all also the talent they initially had in their squad (e.g. Mark van Bommel), were gone and it was unclear where the big money from those transfers went. From 2005 on PSV only became champions of Holland once more, in 2010, and on that occasion it was a close battle for the title, so they didn't really excel. They were still one of the better clubs in Holland, but no longer a really top club. Almost every time they had to battle bravely just to get into European competition for the next season. Financially they are no longer that secure either, since the Philips Company sold the club to various shareholders and there are no more cash injections from them.

After they had some midtable finishes in the previous seasons, last season, 2027/2028, the 4-th place in the Premier Divisoon made me think PSV were back among the title contenders, especially since that secured them a place in the Champions Cup. But this season, which is about to finish, everything has gone horribly wrong for them not only in the Champions Cup (they did qualify for the 1-st group stage but did really poorly there), but, which is more important, in the league: they have been steadily going down until they hit the bottom, which is the only position that gets a club directly relegated! Now, with one game to go they have a record of 5 wins, 11 draws and 17 defeats, which leaves them 4 points behind the team that is second to last (Haarlem), so they are relegated!

And you know what - I don't feel sad Maybe because that rids me of one more potential rival (for a while at least)