Started a game unemployed...been playing it for quite a while now (I'm in 2012).
Anyway, a second division German team called 1.FC Koln (Lukas Podolski's old team) hired me. They were tipped for promotion, but their previous manager was doing bad, so they gave me a chance and I barely saved them from relegation.
The next season, I had a good start. I was in the promotion places for the first half of the season. But after the January break, the team kept losing and morale was down and I ended 9th or so. Not good.
Nest season, my team seemed to have learnt from their mistakes and I kept first position throughout the whole campaign and gained promotion. I also led the team to the German Cup, which surprised me. I think that achievement, gained me National reputation.
I done quite well in my first season in the Bundesliga. I didn't have a best start, but towards the end of the 1st half of the season, I had a good winning run around a few teams who like me was battling for their lives. This gave my team morale and the second part of the season, was mixed with wins, draws and losses. I finished in a respectable 8th. I had poor cup runs though. Stuttgart knocked me out of the German Cup in the second round, while Hearts knocked me out of the UEFA Cup (I got this spot by winning the German Cup) in the last minute!
It was 2010 now and England had a poor World Cup campaign (not making past the group stages), so McClaren got sacked and as it is so easy to get the job to manage your Nation, I applied and got the job. I thought this season would be good for Koln too...but I was wrong. Had a good start beating League Champions HSV (Hamburg), but then it all went to pieces and I was more interested in England. So after a 3-0 loss against 10 men Hannover, I resigned. I did well for the club though, got them good financially and some good players - Martin Jol took over and they got relegated :huh:
So I was left with 2 years of boring Euro Championship Qualifyers. I cruised through them. In the actaul tournament, I drew 0-0 with Romania, beat France 2-1 and beat Austria by the same score. I topped the group. In the 1/4 Finals I had a 90 muinute 0-0 draw with Germany. I murdered them in extra time, scoring 3 in the first half and then just cruised the second half. Defeated Spain in the Semi Finals, 2-1 to advance to the Finals where I met Holland...I lost 1-0 :realmad: I actually felt heart broken. I wanted to turn it off and start again, but that is cheating and I don't like to do that.
The good Euro run gave me Continental reputation though and I got the Sampdoria job and I am still managing England. And that is where I am at right now. My aim is to get to the Chelsea job, which shouldn't take long as Dennis Wise is a shit manager