Its been a while. But we are back in the footballing unknown of Asia as we hop back on board The Far East Express.
Lets refamiliarize ourselves with the save and the rules we have to manage by.
The Save revolves around the managing career of Asian footballing legend Cha Bum-Kun. As a player he spent his primes years terrorising defences of German football for Frankfurt and Leverkusen.
He also made over 136 appearances for South Korea scoring 58 goals.
The rules of this save are as follows.
A trophy must be won at the current club before moving on to a new club or league.
To keep the next player guessing, no direct updates regarding results or moves can be given outside of each players chosen way of broadcast.
When you take over on your turn, you can do whatever you want with the squad. Buy/sell who you want, change the tactics, the staff…treat it like your personal save!
We find ourselves at a landmark season, our tenth in charge of South Korean K League 2 team Gangwon FC.
This will be our second season in charge at The Gangwon Stadium after DP-FM's Louis decided this was to be our next challenge.
Despite recently being relegated and with mounting debts he very narrowly missed out on the playoffs last season.
Lets see if we can go one better this season. The preview puts us up in the promotion places.
The club is in serious financial difficulties and there will be no transfer budget at all. In fact the club is in such perilous financial standing that we are in debt to the tune of £13.8 million pounds.
With no money we are required to sell players to try and balance the books and sign players for free or on loans. It was a difficult transfer window but we made some good signings as well as some money in sales.
Lets start with the outs.
Hwang Kim was our most promising player and the one I actually didn't want to lose. However we secured a loan back as part of the deal seeing him return immediately to the squad.
The others I saw as squad players really and raising £170,000 is a very small chunk out of the debt.
Now for the In's
We already know about Hwang Kim but the other key signing was Park Sang-Jun, who was let clubs top goal scorer last season whilst on loan from Busan.
A great signing for our prospects this season. The rest will offer strong competition for places.
Tactics
I decided to go for a very simple 4-4-1-1 formation. Focussing our play through our two best players.
Pre Season
I arranged friendlies against teams based on the financial return hoping to improve the state of the clubs books.
Not the greatest set of results but it did the job to lean the new tactics and gain fitness.
So lets get to it.
March 2030
Match 1 - Anyang (A) 1-0
Perfect start to the season as we secure three points with a clean sheet. Left winger Park Sang-Min with the goal.
Match 2 - Asan FC (H) 1-0
Back to back 1-0 wins as our solid defensive work sealed the win. Park Sang-Jun, his first goal since joining permanently in the summer.
Match 3 - Daejeon (A) 2-2
In a true back and forth affair we fell behind after 13 minutes to a dubious penalty. Park Sang-Jun restored parity immediately. We went in at half time 2-1 down after conceding late in the half.
We played better in the second half and equalised early. Probably deserved more than a point.
Match 4 - Bucheon 1995 (H) 1-0
Another 1-0 victory as Park Sang-Jun scored for the third consecutive game. My excitement about his signing was justified by the looks of it.
Match 5 - Ansan (A) 1-1
Park Sung-Jun has been a match winner for us a couple of times this season already, in this game he rescued it in the 90th minute after we went behind in the 75th minute.
Its his fourth game in a row with a goal too.
Match 6 - Daegu (H) 1-3
We were handed our first defeat of the season as promotion rivals Daegu deservedly secured all three points. Central midfielder Cho Sang-Hoon with the goal in first half stoppage time.
It was going to happen eventually and its been a strong start to the season but i am still disappointed with the defeat.
FA Cup Second Round - Jeonju Citizen (A) 1-0
Our favourite score line so far as Hwang Kim grabbed his first goal of the season to send us through to the third round of the cup.
A pleasing set of results as the new tactics' simplicity proves effective.
April 2030
Match 7 - Seol E-Land (A) 2-1
It was a late late showing as two goals inside the last 10 minutes secured another 3 points.
We had fallen behind in the 75th minute but a remarkable turnaround like that deserves the points.
Match 8 - Suwon FC (H) 1-0
Park Sang-Jun put his mini goal drought behind him as he scored for the first time in three games.
The goal was enough to secure all three points.
FA Cup Third Round - Gwangju (A) 1-2
In the first of a double header with the league favourites Gwangju we faced a tough task to make it through to the next round.
We fell behind early and really didn't get going until after half time. Park Sang-Min got us level in the 50th minute and we were looking the better side until we were sucker punched in the 92nd minute to be knocked out of the cup.
Match 9 - Gwangju (H) 1-2
Same opponents, same score line. This time we started the faster of the two as Park Sang-Jun scored in the 5th minute.
Our cause wasn't helped as we were reduced to 10 men after 27 minutes.
Gwangju capitalised and turned the game around to secure victory twice in a week.
Match 10 - Anyang (H) 1-1
Not our best performance as we struggled to break down the defensive set up of Anyang. In fact we relied on an own goal to seal a point.
Match 11 - Asan FC (A) 2-0
This game was over almost as soon as it started as we grabbed 2 goals in the first 6 minutes. In truth it was a simple victory and could have been by a much larger margin.
Match 12 - Daejeon (H) 1-0
Another 1-0 victory and another Park Sang-Jun goal. This score line and scorer is becoming a running theme of the season so far and if I'm honest long may it continue.
Disappointed to be out of the cup but the rest of the results were strong. Our two defeats came against top of the table sides and although beating these teams will be vital in the future to get out of this league.
Table
Its a really positive start to the season. Our goal difference and goals scored is reflective of our 1-0 successes.
What a great start to our turn on the Far East Express i have a feeling this season could be an interesting one.
Cheers
Panda
If you have enjoyed this episode and want to read or main save as we embark on a Wycombe Wanderers Journey you can start way back at the beginning here -
We also have an fascinating International save going as we attempt to take Jamaica to Gold Cup and World Cup glory after acquiring some new recruits who have been ignored repeatedly by England
