FIFA 08 Blog | The Blog of the World's Sport

You know, I haven't blogged a lot lately, and I want to tell you about my Manager Mode on FIFA 08. Before I get started, I need to say a few things about my strategy. See, I usually don't play most regular season games because it would take forever. I also like to scout quite a bit. Sometimes, my team talent suffers a little, but I like it. And I always at least try to bring a big-name to my club. Sometimes it doesn't work, but I try. Well, let's get to it.

Season 1- Crystal Palace (English Premier League). Well, I thought I would try a challenge, so I picked this team and started in the Championship. I had to fight all year long and reverse some losses into ties via Visual Sim, but I got it done. (5th place). Won the Promotion Play-offs.

Season 2- Crystal Palace (EPL). Well, I had already gotten through with the hard part, so I might as well go on and play as this team again. I knew I needed a scorer, so I went to look at players, and couldn't get one. So, I got to January alright, but I still needed to reinforce my side. I couldn't get a player, so I ended up relegated and later resigned. (19th place).

Season 3- Melbourne Victory FC (A-League). Well, I didn't have a lot of choices, so I came over to win an easy trophy, and I did. (1st place). Won the Hyundai A-League Trophy.

Season 4- Toronto FC (Major League Soccer). This team was a good one. I had a lot of talent and I thought I would play very well in the Play-offs. That didn't happen though because NYRB knocked me out on a lucky goal. (3rd place).

Season 5- AC Sparta Prague (Czech League). This team was what I considered to be very good and a team that had to chance to be special. In my first year, I keep the team the same and payed dividends. (1st place). Won the Pohar CMFS.

Season 6- AC Sparta Prague (CZL). After the first season, I decided to bring in three big names since my rep. was up. I signed Pavel Nedved, Jan Koller, and Jens Lehmann just to solidify my side. (1st place). Won the Pohar CMFS.

Season 7- Trabzonspor (Turkcell Super Lig). This team really surprised me. I didn't expect much, but they stepped up and won the league, well thanks to the help of an uncostly transfer of Jozy Altidore. (1st place). Qualified for the ECC (UEFA Champions League).

Season 8- Trabzonspor (TSL). This was a wonderful season. I had the highest scorer in the league (Altidore) and I made it to the Quarter-Finals of the ECC, which was a big surprise. (1st place).

Season 9- Derby County (EPL). I went here to try and get that bad taste out of my mouth, and I found a pretty good team. Two left-footed and left-sided players did everything (McEveley and Barnes). They were great, and my team did pretty well in the EPL. (10th place). Somehow qualified for the EFA (UEFA Cup).

Season 10- Derby County (EPL). Well, I expected a good season, and it was alright. I decided to worry about the EFA and not so much the league or the board of directors. I did well in the EFA, but I disobeyed the B.O.D. and got fired. (16th place).

Season 11- Celtic (Scottish Premier League). With my rep. up, I decided to head to Celtic. I got there, and I was in the ECC Qualifying Round. I made it past that and barely past the group stages and I hit my high point. Then, I ran into Bayern Munich and narrowly lost to them. (1st place). Won the SPL Title.

Season 12- Celtic (SPL). This season in the EPL was very tough. In the group, I had Liverpool, Palermo, and Ajax. In the last game, I had to beat Liverpool and I thumped them at Anfield to barely win over Ajax on goal differential. In the Round of 16, I got a bad draw against Chelsea. I had to then go to Chelsea with my 48 skill GK, Andy McNeil. I won at Stamford Bridge 1-0, and then drew 0-0 at Celtic Park to advance. Then I drew the Bavarians again. This time, I won 2-1 at their place and won at my place too. In the Semis, I got a good draw against Olympiakos. I won easy at their place and mine and was heading to Germany to face Real Madrid. In the match, I played well, but I couldn't win. They won 3-1 and I had to settle for runner-up. (1st place). Won the SPL Title, Scottish Cup, and made the ECC Final.

Season 13- Tottenham (EPL). Finally, I got to what I wanted. A big team in England. In my first season, I dominated and won first-place with a whopping 92 points. This qualified me for the ECC Group Stages automatically. (1st place). Won the EPL, F.A. Cup, and the English League Cup.

Season 14- Tottenham (EPL-in progress). This season was and is sure to be great. I already won the Community Shield, and I'm second in my ECC group. (1st place- in progress.

Comments (6) Add A Comment

April 27, 2008 10:00 AM ET

Report Abuse | QUOTE

My Manager Mode Career-

All 9 years with Glasgow Celtic. Not much of a scouter, considering my squad is huge now and I would never play a 17 year old whos a 65. Anywho I've got all 9 Scottish Cups, 9 SPL titles and I think like 4 ECC titles.

My Squad: Artur Boruc (84); Daniel Alves (89), Stephen McManus (87), Thiago Heleno (from th e Brazilian League, 88), Gareth Bale (91); Scott Brown (90), Diego (91), Ribery (92), Jesus Navas (97!); Karim Benzema (95), Samuel Eto'o (91)

Best on the Bench: GK Filipe (88), Lulinha (from the Brazilian League, 94), Rafael Van der Vaart (89), Mark Bradley (84), Ryan Babel (91), Bojan (91), Sunny (84)

I traded Cesc Fabregas, Ivan Rakitic and a few of the original team members to pick up some of the big names (Cesc sold for $60 million!) but Im being forced to take a break because the disc is FRICKIN SCRATCHED so it wont let me progress into the game. Still, though, Fifa is an awesome game. Good stuff.

Stauff Nation

Chicago, IL

Total Comments (1783)

April 27, 2008 10:03 AM ET

What I like to do is buy promising talent at a young age. For example, I bought Carlos Eduardo from a small team in the Brazilian League when he was 19 and was at an impressive 85( Around 85). I picked him up for a relatively low transfer fee and his fee for game was only like $9,000 which is low, and now he's a 94. On the transfer market I usually try to sign 20 and 21 year olds. I bring them to Celtic, they get better and play well, and then they improve the next season and they're worth more.

April 27, 2008 11:21 AM ET

I can never go through an entire season in mananger mode, I've had like 15 different season and I always quit them and start over.

Right now i've started a season with juve and before i went into manager mode i brought all the stars from the past (cannavaro, thuram, henry, zambrotta, mutu, emerson, vieira, davids, ibrahimovic, perrota) and edited them all so they were as good as they were in the past. (Cannavaro's 90, vieira's 88)

the problem is that there all old and next season they'll drop alot overall. I think I'll start as season with Newcastle now after this blog and see how I do.

jeevs BS

Schenectady , NY

Total Comments (4139)

April 27, 2008 01:22 PM ET

I just finished five seasons with Milan the other day, won quite a few trophie. I did have to rebuild the squad one season because half my team retired (Milan 08-09 anyone?). I wanted to switch leagues, so now Im playing as Manchester City. I figured I would still have Elano on the team, but I don't, so I've had to pick up a few midfielders. No big name signings yet, but it's only my first season.