So, I had a bit of a break from this game, but started my old save with Örebro in Allsvenskan again. Retained the league in my second season, which led to bigger clubs offering me interviews. Nantes, who were 19th in Ligue 1 in November offered me one, and I decided to go for it since I was already kind of bored with Allsvenskan, since it was becoming too easy to win the league and I was way off competing in Europe. When I joined Nantes I had no pressure what so ever, they just wanted me to stay competitive whatever that means. Finished 6th in my first season, which was decent but still no Europe for me which was a bit boring. Nantes however had serious financial troubles and I couldn't sign a single player on a fee, had to rely on free transfers and even that was difficult since I could barely offer any wages or even do much scouting. Ended up with an aging squad and before the second season even started I was tempted to leave.
After a few games into the season, that's what I did. Was unemployed for a few months, waiting for the right offer, which turned out to be Bolton in League 1 (after I turned down Aston Villa in the PL, mostly for the philosophies they wanted to judge me on). The board wanted me to get to the playoffs, even though we were in 18th place when I took over mid December. In the beginning I struggled a bit, but with a few signings in January on a free transfer since Bolton was in a terrible financial situation, things started to turn out quite good. With 3 games too spare, I was in second place which meant promotion, but 3 losses in my 3 remaining games (after a 15 game win streak, where I also won the Johnstone Trophy) made me go to the playoffs. I won rather easily in the semifinals, and turned around a 1-0 deficit in the final to gain promotion. However, as I mentioned Bolton were in a terrible financial state, and the squad was paper thin with no youth players pretty much. All there was was a decent first eleven. I lost 8 out of my 11 starting players and my best subs due to their contract expiring and no one wanted to extend, which left me in a right mess. I still wanted to continue on this save because it seemed a good challenge. But when the expectations for the next season was to gain promotion straight away (with 3 players in the squad FFS), I kind of lost any urge to continue. Still carried on and signed a few players but the season started terrible and I decided to quit. I would have stayed if the expectations were different but there was no way in hell I could gain promotion with that squad.
I only stayed unemployed for a week though, since Virtus Entella (a team in Serie B, never heard of them) offered me the job. I took it because there were no expectations and I figured I could build a nice little team and gain promotion maybe next season. One thing I didn't notice though was that they literally had no staff, well there was one or two under 18 coaches, but nothing else. So I had to obtain a whole new staff, which to be honest was quite fun and I got some very good coaches in, so I guess that's a positive for the future. Anyway, after two signings on free transfer, Jay Spearing being one of them, who funnily enough didn't find a club after he left my Bolton squad and didn't want to renew. He could probably have got £10k a week for Bolton but ended up signing for me for £3k a week. Started the season brilliantly and went undefeated for 10 games, but I lost my 11th away to Perugia. Still not aiming for promotion this season, but it's a fun team to manage since I've never heard of them and I've had to hire the entire backroom staff. No expectations as well which is quite nice for a change, so hopefully this will be a club where I stick around for a while.
So far then, to summarize a bit I've won the Swedish Premier League twice, gained promotion with Bolton and won the Johnstone Trophy, and I'm onto my 4th season now.
It's been a fun save actually since I've managed clubs I haven't really thought of before, and it's been fun to join new teams who are struggling, and see what I can do with them. Örebro actually were relegated the season after I left them, after winning the league. Bolton are doing terrible in the Championship and Nantes is really struggling and could go down as well.
