I have one -- this will be my first save in the new game.

Add all US/Canada pro/semi-pro levels (USL 1, USL 2, CSL, PDL, NPSL, PCSL). Then start out as a Sunday League Canadian or American (single nationality) manager, unemployed.

See how long until you win Major League Soccer or CONCACAF Champions League with an MLS club. Obviously this challenge involves changing teams as there is no promotion route.

this should be a fun one... If I wasn't so excited about played as FCD I would try it out right away :P

I'll certainly give it a go. Hopefully when patch 2 comes out, Aljarov's suggestions will be included and we can actually play with in the correct divisions of the NCAA, because it would be awesome to work from a college coach to MLS. You could even do a Sigi Schmid challenge. That would be fun.

Well, there's many, many restrictions to playing as NCAA unless the entire amateur status thing is solved....plus, no recruiting classes. Which is a shame, that would be fun....

Well as long as players are generated each year, you could consider those your recruits, although you have nothing to do with recruiting them. The amateur status thing would be difficult, but I think we could do a reasonable approximation. I digress, this is not the thread to be discussing this.

I guess I'll just have to start in the NPSL, work up the the PCSL or PDL, then the CSL, then USL-2 then USL-1 then MLS. Its going to be a tough row to hoe.

Started one in the National Training Centres for Canadians...that was brutally boring.

The lack of pro/rel makes the game less fun, unless you're playing the World Cup. Then it's challenging.

So, I started a game on patch 2, as I am Canada nationality, I didn't bother adding NPSL, as I thought I should start at a Canadian club in the bottom tier.

I was offered the job at Victoria United in the PCSL right away, and accepted.

In year one we won the double, the preseason PCSL Challenge Cup and the league. During the offseason I was linked to the job at St. Catharine's (CSL). Originally I figured I'd stay at Vic U for at least two seasons, but it's amateur, I'm not on a contract, so I thought obviously in real-life if I were an amateur manager offered a paid job to manage soccer, I would take it. So I applied for the job and got it. Season 2010 is just about to start. St. Catherine's was a fine mess when I took over. Last place in 2009 and broke. I'll update again after a season or two.

Greetings all,

Figured after playing MLS for ages on FM, i'd give this another go.

I had spent 2 and a half seasons at Maine Sting in the NPSL but despite winning the NPSL playoffs in both seasons, no teams showed an interest and the game got a bit stale.

So i've started another game unemployed, and just like SaintsCanada i've ended up in the PCSL, in charge of Athletic Club of BC.

Squad is poor to say the least, will certainly be a challenge!

Will update at the end of season 1.

I'm interested to follow your progress on this. Its disappointing that you couldn't get a better job after two successful seasons, but maybe this time you'll be able to work your way up to MLS!

After season 2 (2010), my first season at St. Catharine's:

We were expected to finish bottom, but we managed to finish the regular season in 6th, after leading the league at one point (totally fell to pieces late in the season, but got back on track with two wins on the last two weeks).

In the quarter-finals, we played 3rd place Serbian White Eagles. We conceded in the first five minutes, then after about 20 minutes had a man sent off for a foul denying an obvious goal-scoring chance. From the ensuing fk we went two behind. But my team fought back and scored a goal on each side of half-time. Game went all the way to pens and we lost. :(

Oh well, not a bad season. Unfortunately I couldn't unload players and stayed marginally above my wage budget all season. Now that the season is over, three players have left on frees, and wages are under control, but club finances are still a mess. We slipped to "insecure" at one point, but luckily the board injected some cash. We still have a significant negative balance, though.

The board were really impressed, so offered me a new contract doubling my salary. I negotiated it into a 3-year extension, after the original 2-year offer.

Overall, things are looking okay, but we are leaking money and it's going to be hard to fix that with our tiny attendances. Maybe building success will help generate revenue.

More after season 2011...

Here are some kits for the CSL. I didn't make them but they're pretty good.

SaintsCanada, what was your media prediction prior to the season? Keep up the good work and looking forward to your progression through the leagues.

Prior to my first season with St. Catherine's? It was 11th (yes, out of 11!). For the next season, it is 6th.

Season 3 (2011), my second season with St. Catherine's Roma Wolves:

Media prediction 6th, board expectation -- qualify for playoffs.

Still not much room in the wage budget for new players, so I only had enough for one player. Brought in an experienced, journey-man keeper to replace my young (and bad) starting goalkeeper.

Ran rampant in the league. Wrapped up first place with two games remaining (in a season of only 20 games).

However, we lost the quarter-final against the 8th placed team by a score of 2-1. My team were terribly indisciplined, but so was the opponent. The ref had reasonable disciplinary records, not overly harsh, but this game finished 10 v. 10. Unfortunately for me, I was the team down to 10 for by far the longest. It's strange, I believe I've had two red-cards in my tenure at the club -- both in the playoff first-round. Not sure what, if anything, I'm doing wrong. I have treated both games as pretty normal. I wouldn't consider the quarter-final in an 11-team league as a huge game, so my media-interaction/team-talks, etc. were standard for a normal league game.

Anyhoo. The team remains in dire financial situation. We simply don't attract spectators, the CSL is in bad shape. I guess the boards are stupid and all spending way more than they earn. My approach is that I'll spend what the board tell me to. From what I've been reading on the forums, the boards around FM10 are idiots that all run the club into the ground. Oh well, not my prerogative. My job is to take the money they give me and win football matches.

So, after season two at Wolves, my original contract was up (now I still have two or three years left on my new deal), this is sometimes the point when I start sniffing around for jobs in higher divisions, especially as there is no promotion available. During the off-season, unfortunately no USL-1 jobs opened up, though Clark was dangling at Puerto Rico all winter. I'll keep my eyes on the jobs board during the season.

However, I applied and was hired to the Wales U19 job. After two friendlies during the Canadian closed-season, we will be starting the second (and final) qualification round for the European U19 Championship just after Wolves first league game of the season. It's a tough go though, we're in with Rumania, Denmark and the Netherlands, and to go to the (eight-team) tournament finals we must win our group.

During this off-season, I opted for the "title challenge" expectation, so I have some wage-money to spend, I've brought in three players with good potential, and will be bringing in one more player who will be a quality starter right now. All on frees. That will bring me close to my wage budget.

Board Expectation: Title Challenge, Media prediction 2nd.

More after season 2012.

Just a quick announcement: I've abandoned this 10.2 game to start a new game on 10.3 after doing a lot of editing.