Welcome to a brief intro to the start of a new series, as I abandon UEFA for the first time, and head south of the Equator. I’ve been close to doing a save in South America in the past, but what pushed me over the edge this time was UEFA adopting the “Swiss Model” for continental club tournaments. IRL, this change will come in for the 24/25 season, and I assume that will be true in FM22 also.
I detest the idea. Almost as much, but not quite, as having three team groups at the World Cup. Football seems determined to make itself unpalatable right now…or maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy (I definitely am).
FM has six leagues in South America, let’s knock them down until only one remains. Argentina? No thanks, on a completely different schedule to the rest of the continent? Get in the bin. Brazil and Colombia? How many games?! Absolutely not. Chile? Too European, thanks. Peru? No second tier? Pfft. Uruguay it is then. Hope you enjoyed my South American League guide, for a better one, try this from FM Grasshopper.
There are a couple of perfect looking potential starts in Uruguay, with two big clubs relegated into the second tier last season. Both Danubio and Defensor Sporting are down there. However, I’m not choosing either of them, as I see them as too similar a save to what I’ve just done with Toulouse. I also don’t want to manage any favourites, so Peñarol and Nacional are out too (between them, winners of a mere 98 of 117 overall titles), and you can strike City Group’s Torque off the list too.
Enough about what I don’t want, and more about what I’m actually after. A team that resides in to the “Goldilocks zone”, somewhere between piece of cake, and piece of shit. Fair facilities so I don’t have to start from scratch, a small ground so money’s tight (I’m told by FM Grasshopper that this won’t be an issue in Uruguay), and a team likely to finish in mid-table.
One team caught my eye pretty early on, and that was the former home of my Toulouse captain Manuel Ugarte, a club with an easily punnable name, and fortunately they also fit the above criteria. It’s Centro Atlético Fénix for the win.
Other things that appeal; good club badge, purple (again), they’ve never won a major honour, and accordingto my pre-beta research, they’ve got some old hands on board, and at least one pretty promising youngster.
Save Style:
Well, if there has been one pretty obvious undercurrent to my FMing during the last edition or two, it’s that I’ve been finding it all a bit repetitive. Getting TedRedwoodGamingInternational involved as DoF last year was great fun, adding a much needed change to my play style, although if anything, his considerable abilities in the transfer market only hastened our inevitable success.
So it’s time for me to go one step further. Encouraged by Dan Gear (of Bolivia fame), and heavily influenced by this great post on FM20 by Oliver Jensen, I’ll be giving a lot of power to staff for this edition, in particular, in the area of recruitment. I have no idea how this is going to go, I’ve not run any sort of test, and Fénix’ recruitment team at the start consists of a solitary loan manager, but I’m hoping it will be fun finding out how to set-up a new way (for me) of playing.
I’ll go into more detail about my set-up and stuff, once I’ve actually set it up!
Save Aims:
Try some new things, both in terms of gameplay, and writing.
Have our youth academy produce five players who go on to be senior internationals, even if they are somewhere else when capped.
Eventually win something.
Have fun.
Since acquiring the beta, and diving in for a look, I feel quite optimistic about some of the young players already here, although on the other hand, the first team squad looks a little imbalanced to me. They are also not quite as good as I had expected. There will be plenty to do.
Kevin Alaniz is the young player at Fénix that I have the highest hopes for, although he’s by no means the only prospect. His contract being up at the end of 2021 is a bit of a concern, and one that will become a familiar refrain, as about 90% of the players are in the same boat.
If you’ve heard of one player from this squad, it’s likely to be former Uruguayan international, Fabián Estoyanoff. He’s been around almost as long as I’ve been playing football management games, and had a couple of seasons playing in La Liga in his prime.
He’s not the only proper veteran at Fénix, with a pair of 37 year-olds close on his tail. My initial thoughts are that all three will be first team choices, which is very unlike me.
Referring back to the squad imbalance I mentioned earlier, I think the team will be pretty well off for attacking midfielders and forwards to begin with (although there’s a bit of a dearth of pace up top), but there isn’t much in the way of depth either in central midfield or defence. I anticipate a bit of positional retraining in my near future, and coming up with a tactic to work around what we don’t have.
TL;DR? Well, this ain’t gonna be the blog for you, pal. This is as brief as I get!
Centro Atlético Fénix are the 12th best club in terms of both reputation and finances in Uruguay. The top flight is made up of 16 teams, two of whom historically stand head and shoulders above the rest. I’m hoping that this save will feature gradual growth towards an eventual trophy, through the canny use of crafty tactics and intelligent player development, whilst running a recruitment team through AI staff power. Hold on to your butts.
Thanks for reading, stay safe x