http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/4387/pablosmall.jpg

We once again adopt Pablo Castro, the man who wrote history for Chelmsford City. We know of the years he won promotion after promotion. We know of his Premier League triumphs. We know how he conquered Europe. But where did it all begin? Where did he come from when Chelmsford's owner Mansell Wallace took him under his wings after discovering him on the docks right off the banana boat? That's the history we're going to write with this succession game.

I've selected 15 nations: Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Australia, Fiji, China, Hong Kong, North Korea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, India, Congo, Madagascar, South Africa and Egypt.

Every season a new member of the forum will take over the career of Pablo Castro. Because of the different start and end dates of the nations, you'll get to play out the first season if you take a job in a nation with a different league calender. So if you accept a job in a league with a different schedule you will automatically get 18 months. Likewise, if you start in July and automatically hop to a job in the middle of the season, you get to finish that season and play the next one (because half or less of a season isn't fair). Each manager is allowed to accept ONE job in each turn, so no one is jumping leagues to keep playing. Reloading is illegal, as is creating a new manager. Screenshots are mandatory.

Please don't sign up if you don't have time to get a season finished in a reasonable amount of time.

(I hope this is clear enough)

-----------

Pablo's journey will start in his own country Cuba. His first job was offered to him when he was just 25 years old by his hometown club FC Holguín. FC Holguín is a semi-professional club in Cuba's Campeonato Nacional de Futbol. They were crowned champions once in 2006. It was the perfect place for Pablito to start his career. Holguín was his town and it always would be. (I should get kudos for this Woody Allen (Manhattan) reference.)

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7906/holguincuba.jpghttp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5410/holguin.png

The Managers:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/FC_Holgu%C3%ADn.png

2010-2011: Juventino - FC Holguín (Cuba http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Flag_of_Cuba.svg/22px-Flag_of_Cuba.svg.png) - 4th place; lost in semi-finals of the Championship Playoffs.
2011-2012: Mrromaniac - FC Holguín (Cuba http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Flag_of_Cuba.svg/22px-Flag_of_Cuba.svg.png) - 4th place; lost in semi-finals of the Championship Playoffs.

Oh this should be good (H)

My computer can't support that many leagues. :(

Time to go get some extra RAM it seems. Or a whole new computer.

Please tell me you won't be doing that just to participate in this succession game.

Zlatan, running these leagues takes about as much database as running the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A in this game. At least that's what my computer estimated with the little stars (four stars out of five, it's usually lower when I select 6 or 7 European leagues), and the player count is also around the same number (with a large database even). It may work for you.

This should be interesting, seems more daunting than the Chelmsford game.

Time for Pablo Castro to find another Vinet. :smilex:

How Cuba's Campeonato Nacional de Futbol works:
The league consists of 16 teams, each team play each other twice. At the end of the season the top 8 will qualify for the Championship Playoffs (like a NBA conference). The board and the media predict Holguin to end in the mid-table regions, so I'll aim for a Playoff spot.

Holguin is currently in massive debts (over 450k) and is over its 1200 euros p/m wage budget. I couldn't get any new players, rather I had to promote the best 15 year olds from the U19 team. They don't have a contract, but make 25 euros to compensate. The rest of the U19 team were cut by the club.

Part-time players at Holguin make between 10 and 200 euros a month. The veterans obviously make the most (I hope they all have jobs elsewhere). These are by far the best players currently under contract:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/78/driggs.png
http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/3091/quintana.png
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/733/cruzata.png
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3234/cervantesd.png
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2766/delavalle.png

I play a straight simple 4-4-2 formation. It seems to fit this team and as a Juventino I have plenty of experience with this formation...
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/3888/lineup.png

The first results were good:
http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/8833/firstgame.png
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/54/secondgame.png

Ciudad La Habana seems by far the strongest team in the competition so far. They won both their games 7-0. I play them next.

The only foreigner in the entire league is a 21 year old Austrian playing for Villa Clara. Maybe he got lost? (H)

Maybe they don't make that much money, but it's communism bro.

Midseason Report:

First 15 games:
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3716/resultsg.png

Which sees us in 4th place. A playoff spot should be reached easily.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1176/midseason.png

Ciudad de Habana is a goal machine and easily own this league. Their biggest win this year so far is a 9-0 win over Cienfuegos.

Our team relies heavily on the 5 players I already mentioned. The rest are kids. I even have a 15 year old as a regular starter: Mariano Ferreras. It's probably going to be the same next year, but with different kids. All but 4 contracts are expiring and players are reluctant to extend. Thankfully the 4 players with contracts until 2012 are the two top defenders Quintana and Cruzata and our two star strikers Cervantes and Casa de Valle (love those names). Cervantes is currently joint top scorer in the league with 15 goals.

3rd or 6th would be better than 4th or 5th. That way we would avoid Ciudad Habana until the finals.

EDIT: I must say though, you started this at an awful time for me. Holidays are busy as hell and January will probably be too. I bet a lot of other guys are off school though.

Guantanamo (H)

Please tell me you won't be doing that just to participate in this succession game.

Well, it is yet another reason to.

End of Regular Season Report:

Second round of matches:
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1637/resultso.png

Ehh, sorry for that 2-7 loss. I can't remember ever losing like that in FM. Ciudad Habana is just a little bit too strong...

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3055/finalleaguetable.png

125 goals in 30 games. Crazy. Thankfully our own star striker Cervantes was able to outgun Ciudad Habana's and Vila Clara's strikers. Great year for him.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1488/cervantestopscorer.png

The playoff picture.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8645/quarterfinal.png

+114. :icon_spin:

That's even more than Ajax' goal difference last season.

Post-Season Report:

The Quarter Final vs. Industriales La Habana was won easily by another great performance by the strikers. Without their individual quality we'd be nowhere.

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/8933/firstindustriales.png
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/27/secondindustriales.png

But then, as Nimreitz already pointed out, C.F. Ciudad de La Habana would be waiting in the Semi Finals... The Nazgûl, the Black Riders, the Ringwraiths (Lord of the Rings references here)....... Our biggest fear.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5181/nazguln.pnghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4f/HAB_logo.png/150px-HAB_logo.pnghttp://img816.imageshack.us/img816/3921/nazgul2p.jpg

And man... It was another drubbing.

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/1804/firsthabana.png
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1133/secondhabana.png

A down-beat ending to a pretty great season. Cervantes scored another 3 goals in the Playoffs and ended as the overal topscorer in Cuba with 35 goals. Casa de Valle ended with 14 goals and 15 assists.

Meanwhile, Villa Clara caused a major upset in the final by beating Ciudad de La Habana on penalties. That's what you get for running up the score against poor innocent teams, Ciudad assholes. HA!

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4105/finalupset.png

Back to FC Holguin. Only 8 players currently on the team will have a contract for next season. Luckily 5 are the core of this team. The next manager will have to assemble a new team around them (though some of them are in their very late 30s), but that seems like a fun enough task. Note beforehand: be sure to have euro coins (or dollars) on you while scouting the playgrounds of Cuba. Some kids will ask you for a 1 euro signing on fee, and the club can't afford to hand 5 euro bills without a return.

So, who's next? I don't think we're in much of a hurry here, Nimreitz, but if anyone else has more time?

I saved the game on May 1st 2011 so there's plenty of time for the new manager to assemble a new team (or leave, whatever, you decide Pablito's destiny).

THE SAVE: http://rapidshare.com/files/438961248/Succession_Game.fm

I really just don't think I have much time to play a season right now. Until the new year it's definitely out of the question, and the beginning of January looks like it's going to take up all of my days off too.

It can't load the savegame. You should upload the editor file with the new leagues too.

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for pointing that out. They're all (small) seperate files for each league. I downloaded them from The Dugout and then enabled these files while loading the new game on the 10.2 database. Put them in ''My Documents > Sports Interactive > Football Manager 2011 > Editor Data''. If the Editor Data folder doesn't exist you can create it.

Cuba: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059275/Cuba_-_Single_Table.xml
Egypt: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059296/Egypt.xml
Fiji: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059327/Fiji.xml
Madagascar: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059343/Madagascar.xml
North Korea: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059372/North_Korea.xml
Congo: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059420/Rep_Congo.dbc
Saudi Arabia: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059435/Saudi_Premier.dbc
Venezuela: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059461/Venezuela.xml
Yemen: http://rapidshare.com/files/439059487/Yemen.xml

Could you tell me if you get to load the game with these files?

Yes, it works this time. Would anyone mind if I take over? I should be done in 3-4 days.

Finally another Succession Game to follow. Good luck!

Yes, it works this time. Would anyone mind if I take over? I should be done in 3-4 days.
Cool! Go right ahead.

Sorry for the delay, but as it was Christmas, I was busy with other things. I started the game today ((H)).

Here are the transfers I made:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/1354/transferj.th.png (http://img683.imageshack.us/i/transferj.png/)

As you can see, I brought the first non-Cuban players in the Cuban Championship (if you consider Villa Clara's Austrian Sandro Ebner a Cuban). They are from Congo, they are better than most of the Cuban players available for Holguin to sign and they are cheap (6 euros pw). Richard Lokando is a 28 years old Midfielder Allrounder and he was signed from AC Leopard (Congolese lower divisions). Christel Kimbembe is a 24 years old GK and he was signed from US Saint-Pierre (Congolese lower divisions). Camille Lyoulou is a 26 years old Striker, but I use him as a Left Midfielder. He was signed from Congolese Premier League side AS Cheminot.

Here is the team with the player's ratings after one half of the season:

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1016/squadl.th.png (http://img291.imageshack.us/i/squadl.png/)

News about our star-players: Cervantes got his first caps for Cuba. Cruzata is in the Cuban NT starting line-up. Driggs will retire at the end of the season. Anyway, Cervantes and Yadian make the best attack. Cervantes has the speed and the skill and Yadian has the cutting-edge finishing. He even scored a lobe from 40 yards.

Here is the list of results:

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3275/matches.png

And here is the (almost) mid-season table:

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/8485/tablek.png

Nice job improving on last year. Hopefully you'll be able to stay in 2nd to avoid Ciudad de la Habana until the finals (if you make it). Probably our last shot at a final aswell with all our star players in the last years of their contracts. Do you think any of them will want to extend?

Well I already extended Cervantes' contract to 2015 with the same wage (50E pw). Quintana is not interested in a contract renewal. Cruzata asks for 95E pw and I am hesitating on offering him a deal as I found financial health for our club (we have a balance of 63K euros, our wage budget is covered entireley (289E budget/ 290E used, difference N/A), our main revenue are the tickets, and our main expenses are match day expenses. Driggs is retiring at the end of the season. Yadian asks for 100E pw and I'm thinking of offering him this deal.

I've never seen dominance like Ciudad Habana. Must be Fidel's team.

They must be bribing and doping their way to victory. Like Dynamo Dresden used to.

Final table before the playoffs:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5058/finaltable.png

As you can see, it was a massive drop. We had a bad streak for about 6 matches... They were missing chances a lot. Anyway, let's hope for a good performance in the playoffs. In the first stage, we play Cienfuegos and if we qualify, again it will be Ciudad Habana. ****!

So here we go...

Cienfuegos vs. Holguin: we had the match in our hands but they managed to win. Quintana, Driggs and Mesa were going to miss next match.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6189/ciehol.th.png (http://img98.imageshack.us/i/ciehol.png/)

Holguin vs. Cienfuegos: brilliant performance by our improvised team. Captain Cruzata was going to miss next match.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/3882/holcie.th.png (http://img87.imageshack.us/i/holcie.png/)

Ciudad Habana vs. Holguin: we defended like no other even without Cruzata. Katsudi Amikale, the top goalscorer (35) and top average (7.85), got injured for Ciudad and was going to miss next match.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/6474/habhol.th.png (http://img403.imageshack.us/i/habhol.png/)

Holguin vs. Ciudad Habana: dramatic match. They were leading 1-0, but we managed to equalise thanks to overload tactic. Ayala got sent off. We missed a few more chances in the last minutes. Extra time. Munoz shatters our hope with a lobe, after Quintana was fouled right in front of him. Bloody Fidel! I adopt again the overload tactic. Yadian equalises and we needed just one more goal. We escape on a counter attack with Cervantes and Yadian against an opposition defender and the GK. We were closing in but Soriano scored on a counter attack. End of the match. This is a match to be saved. An extraordinary match. I recommend you to watch the key highlights, especially the extra time.

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/9955/holhab.th.png (http://img541.imageshack.us/i/holhab.png/)

But then again, Ciudad Habana lost in the final: Habana - Isla de Juventude 1-0 ('23 Marten)
Isla de Juventude - Habana 4-1 ('4 Castro, '6 Arrieta, '41 '70 Aguero / '15 Marten)

Here is the list of matches in the second half of the season:

http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/9765/results2.png

SAVEGAME! (http://rapidshare.com/#!download|239l32|439664327|Succession_Game.fm|491 58)

Oh and I managed to extend Yadian's and Cruzata's contracts. They accepted smaller wages than initially asked for. Yadian even accepted a lower weekly wage.

Good luck, next Pablito!

I've never seen dominance like Ciudad Habana. Must be Fidel's team.
They must be bribing and doping their way to victory. Like Dynamo Dresden used to.

Yet they didn't manage to win a title.... Hahaha.

Too bad about the drop in the regular season, but that semi-final is a classic. So close. :(

So, who's interested in taking over next? (Y)

Well, this died rather quickly. No one has interest? No one has time? COME ON! It will only be one season, and it doesn't have to be finished in a week either. I'd love to just see this go forward.

Because I actually really enjoyed my season with Holguin, I'm going to give this succession game another bump!

... Nimreitz, will you beat bullies Ciudad de la Habana for our poor little Soccergaming FM community? I could take over again after that.

Man..... It's sooooo hard to get excited about the Cuban league when I'm having fun at Liverpool.

Yeah, alright.... dammit. ;)

If someone has an idea for an obviously less daunting succession game I'll be up for it. Maybe the summer is the best time to start one too because people will have more time. I guess this one was doomed from the start....

Pablo Castro, suffering from terrifying delusions in the hell of Cuba's Campeonato de Futbol, uttered the same words that had been uttered before by Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now......

aNUr__-VZeQ&

Man, I'm dying to play FM, but just don't have the time at the moment.