In today’s post, I’ll explain the various steps that lead my team the Luxembourg Soccer Club (LSC) to early successes in its first seasons, including a cup win, promotion to division 1 and reaching the 2nd place in the country.

First, of all, for all of you who are thinking that their teams are created far too late to compete with the top level teams, I have to say that I understand their feelings. When I started hattrick, it was not easy to start half a season after the other main teams, who had benefited from high selling prices for all luxembourgish players and who also had experience in the game before.

For 3 seasons, the LSC had to fight to close the gap until it reached its golden age, vice champion, top 4 in the nationaldivisioun for 3 straight seasons and of course 3 cup wins in 4 straight finals.

Although the times and global economy are different now, one advice I received still is true:
Do not lose hope! With time and good management you will close the gap to the top teams!

The receipe I used in the first seasons was to:
1) learn the game
2) chose defensive training (3 seasons)
3) started skill trading (was a great combination with defense training)
4) switched to playmaking training, training players that were around 19-21 years old(who could help me compete, which would not have been the case with 17-18 years old)

Some aspects helped me in getting familiar with the game more quickly:
- past experience in management games
- having an experienced manager who could help me, when I had questions (at the time it was Morsure)
- reading a lot of the conference, and selecting the good posts to read (economy, training, tactics)
- reading all available webpages on hattrick, including forums
- chatting on IRC #ht-france with the experienced people out there bolide, armi
- prepare well for skill trading (using spreadsheets)

Among the things I avoided in the early days, I say 2 coming to my mind which should still be relevant:
- I never bought a 17yo for training as they were and still are too expensive
- Never overestimate a player, always question what it can bring and how he could be replaced