Andria Challenge: Incredible Series of Results

My Andria team certainly finished their first season in the Italian Serie B in style, with 5 HUGE victories in the last 6 matches (and no, I won't tell you just yet if we're still in the Serie B or not :P)

But please enjoy, together with me, the success of our last games: an incredible and anthologized win against Chievo (5-1), the same score recorded in my win against Cagliari and one goal more than the victory against Rimini. Simply awesome results, let me tell you that. I am pleased like I never was until now. Well done, Andria!

Andria Challenge: Season 5, Middle Season Update

As I have promised, I'm updating you again on my ultimate Football Manager 2009 challenge with Andria Bat, the team I managed to bring from the Serie C2/B to the Serie B in the Italian football competition in four seasons (which, to be honest, I consider quite a performance).

Unfortunately, following a great form shown by my players during the previous season, due to new signings (probably) and less overal value, we were not too competitive in our first season in the Serie B. However, we still did much better than anybody anticipated (like the memorable victory against Frosinone, the biggest thus far) and we are now in a somewhat safe position at 17th, but just 5 points away from relegation.As you can see in the table above, we have only managed to win 6 games and lost 9 (out of 20), and only scored 16 goals - which is less than 1 goal per match - and if we think that 6 of the goals were scored in just one game... well... things are not looking THAT great. However, even though I had hoped for a pleasant surprise for the entire world, not relegating can also be considered a good result :)
My best player during this first half, just as suggested by a previous post, was Jacinto Navarro, the Spanish midfielder playing absolutely great football. So did Bostjan Rozman, who took on the helm as the best Andria striker and finally proved his value: scored 10, which is impressive. Except for that, everything works as planned. Hopefully the end of the season will see us still in the Serie B. Wish me luck! Heh.

Football Manager 2010 Features I'd Love

Even though it's still early and I still didn't get enough Football Manager 2009, I think it's time I let you know (and maybe you let me know, too) which features you'd like to see implemented in Football Manager 2010 - a game which we know is in the works at Sports Interactive.

Therefore, on my wish list for Football Manager 2010 are:

- a better, improved 3D match engine with less stupid movement from players and so many misses.
- improved rating system of the players
- More detail in 3D, and more cameras
- Some new improvements to the tactics screen (I don't know what, but I'd like to see something new - but not something to completely change the game)
- less repetitive and boring press conferences and press interaction. Make it as varied as possible!
- Some more "personal life" aspects to our manager lives, but without trying to do too much. A few touches won't hurt, after all.

I can't think of much else right now. What do you say, though? What features would you like to see in Football Manager 2010?

FM 2009 Fun: Stupid Assistant

The fact that assistant managers in Football Manager 2009 are pretty stupid is no longer a surprise - after all, if they don't have the skills, they can't speak right. The same can be said about my assistant manager, a guy I will probably quite employing when his contract runs out.

Until then, Mr. Bertolani considers that, because of some good performances followed by praise from the fans, my star midfielder Jacinto Navarro will suffer. Hopefully he was wrong! :)

It's been a while...

Hello again everybody! It's been a while since I have last updated this blog - I haven't done it because of major time-related problems and I'm doing my best to get back on track with cool Football Manager 2009 updates, but I can't promise anything :) To be honest, I barely had time to continue my Andria challenge either, but I still have some info I would like to share with you. So stay tuned - I'm not dead yet, I have time problems. You'll hear from me pretty soon!

Football Manager 2009 Editor Gets Patched Again

The Football Manager 2009 Editor today gets to version 1.2 since Sports Interactive have released a new update to make it easier and more bug free for you to handle the data in Football Manager 2009.

The The Football Manager 2009 Editor version 1.2 comes with the following changes:

-Corrected Tick Boxes not working correctly
-Corrected Editor automatically setting Agreed Fee to Buy even when not set
-Corrected the bug where changing the 'cause' of an Injury will change the 'cause' of all other Injuries to be given the same 'cause'

In order to download the new patch, check the official Football Manager 2009 site for links!

You can win a Football Manager 2009 Laptop (Personalized!)

Sports Interactive is holding an awesome contest in which all Football Manager 2009 fans can take part and win an incredible Football Manager 2009 personalized laptop! This month the prize is simply amazing. Read for yourself:

FM09 on Intel Centrino 2 technology laptops provides you with a better mobile gaming experience. While playing FM09, you can easily see if you are connected to power or running from the battery. And when you are gaming on the go, the Battery indicator in FM09 ensures that you won’t run out of juice during those key exciting matches! In addition, the processor usage graph, lets you easily see how the power of Intel Multi-core technology delivers you a faster gaming experience!

Notebook Design by Invasion Limited Edition FOOTBALL MANAGER 09 specifications:
Barbone clevo 860-TU 9800M GTS 512Mo
Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor
INTEL PM45/ICH9M
LCD 15” wSXGA+ (1680x1050)
GFx Nvidia Geforce 512 Mo DDR3 9800M GTS PCI-e
DX10 - 1 x HDMI - 1 x DVI - HDCP
4Go RAM So-Dimm DDR3 1066Mhz
250Go (7200RPM) HDD SATA / DVDRw DLIDE
FingerPRINT / WEBCAM 2M
RJ45 1000MBs - 5300 Wifi INTEL
Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR / Modem RJ11 56k
Battery 8 Cell - 4400 mAh
Dimensions 364x270x29mm / Weight 3.2Kg
OS : Windows Vista ULTIMATE SP1 x86

And these sound like some great numbers for me! If they do for you, then head over to the official website of Football Manger to find out more details on how you can become the owner of this wondefrul Laptop! Good luck!

Andria Challenge: Serie B Is Piece of Cake

Of course I'm kidding, it's not actually too easy for my Andria team in the Serie B (for the first time so high since the game started), but at least we are not being beaten by every team in the division, on the contrary.

I was recently surprised to see my guys simply blow away opposing Frosinone and record the biggest victory since I started managing the club! 6-0 for a team which is for the first time in the Serie B is indeed an award by itself. Hopefully more things like this one will happen in the club's future and hopefully my Andria will keep it going and remain in the Serie B for the next season, too. Now, let's start bragging with the "summary" of the result which proves that in Football Manager 2009 for me Serie B is a piece of cake (of course, I'm just joking :P)

Wow, I'm famous!

I am shocked, amazed and thrilled, this is simply one of my best days ever! Everything Football Manager, a blog I never thought will draw any attention was mentioned and talked about at Unigamesity in an article "Next Level Gaming: Football Manager 2009 Addiction". So go read it :D Heh, I'm famous! Who would've believed that? I certainly wouldn't! Here's a quote from the article:

His concern for his players, his desire to do good, his option to invest emotion, to really care about a video game. He writes about players he buys, players he sells, he posts about results and standings, just as you would expect to see on a real sports website. But this is just about his team. His piece of a world, his challenge. And that, my friends, is something which should be appreciated.

PS: I promise I will update the blog more often, as the author of that article said! :D

Psst! Football Manger Patch 9.3.0 Is Out

I have no idea how come I have only found it now, but it's my bad, right? The Football Manager 2009 Patch 9.3.0 is out, adding a ton of changes to the game and making our managing experience even more pleasant, up to date and generally sweeter. Here are some official words about the patch from SI themselves:

The 9.3.0 patch includes all the January transfer window moves, and updates managers’ movement too, as well as a bunch of bug fixes.

It is also save game compatible, so you can continue playing your current games, although to make use of the updated database you will need to start a new game.

As always, there are a ton of changes brought by the 9.3.0 FM 2009 patch. For the full list and lots of addresses where to download the patch, check out the Official Football Manager 2009 Forums.