Move aside, Barcelona (version two)

Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona, otherwise known in English as Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona and often just abbreviated to Espanyol, are a Barcelona based sports club currently plying its trade in Liga BBVA.

On the 28th of October 1900, an egineering student from the University of Barcelona would find Sociedad Española de Football. In the subsequent years, the club experienced several name changes starting with Club Español de Fútbol in 1901, Club Deportivo Español in 1910, Real Club Deportivo Español in 1912 after being granted patronage of the Spanish crown, Club Esportiu Espanyol in 1931 after the prohibitation of royal symbols and eventually back to Real Club Deportivo Español after the Spanish civil war which is the name it still uses today... sort of. The spelling was changed in 1995 to Catalan, hence Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona.

Success for Espanyol has been sparse, to say the least. In it's 111 year history, the club have only won the Copa del Rey four times, one as recently as 2006, and their only league title was the Segunda División in 93/94. They almost won the UEFA Cup in the 06/07 season, but lost in the final on penalties to fellow Spanish club Sevilla. During that cup run, they became the only side to go through the whole tournament without losing, but not take the trophy home.

This is where I come in. As a young manager who formally played at a semi-professional level, I have made it my mission to make Espanyol a highly successful club. The challenge probably won't be a particularly difficult one, since Espanyol have an excellent foundation to build upon, but I'm doing this less for the challenge and more for the joy of taking a club that I like, filling its somewhat empty trophy cabnet and breaking up the domination of Spanish football by Real Madrid and Barcelona.

...Of course, all this should be very familiar. The first time I did this, I got that dreaded "save game could not be loaded" message and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to work. So I'm doing this again.

I will update on my progress after pre-season, every in-game month and after the season ends.

Career Summary

Year          La Liga     Copa del Rey     Europe         Sp. Super Cup
2011/2012     4th	  5th Round	   N/A                N/A
2012/2013     2nd         5th Round        UEL QF             N/A
2013/2014     2nd         Winners!         UCL Last 16        N/A
2014/2015     1st         Runners-up       UCL QF           Winners!
2015/2016     1st         Winners!         Winners!         Winners!

Most Goals

Player		Total
Carlos Fierro   99
C. Villanueva   58
Vladimir Weiss  57
Fernando Torres 39

Most Assists

Player		Total
Vladimir Weiss   64
C. Villanueva    51
Juan Albin       49

The above image is off the recently open Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, built on the outskirts of Cornellà and El Prat de Llobregat. With a capacity of 40,500, it cost approximately €60,000,000 to build. This stadium is a big part of the excellent foundation I mentioned earlier, as with it come top corporate facilities, top training facilities and good youth facilities. With such good facilities already built, I can invest more money into the squad.

The Backroom Staff

The bedrock of any successful club is the high quality team of staff that work behind the scenes. As one might expect with a club of Espanyol's stature, the staff here isn't particular good, putting it kindly.

Usually, I would terminate the contracts of all the staff I was unsatisfied with and replace them with higher quality staff. However, on this ocassion I will be doing things differently. Taking into account the club's reputation and limited finances, hiring the best possible staff is not possible at this moment in time and rather than just hire some decent guys and replace them later, I'm going to leave things mostly as they are. Hopefully within the next two to three years the reputation of the club will have improved enough for me to hire some really good staff.

Of course, that doesn't mean I won't sign anyone at all. Upon evaluation, the only two coaches that I'm happy with are the assistant manager and goalkeeping coach. The five other coaches (two of which were youth coaches) have all had their contracts terminated and will eventually be replaced by a decent fitness coach and one jack-of-all-trades coach. This may not allow me to develop this young, talented squad of players to their highest potential, but for now it shall suffice. Squad turnover will most likely be high in two to three years, in any case.

Scouting wise, I've fired three scouts, all of whom had contracts to 2014, in order to make room for better scouts. I've not one good scout at the club, unfortunately, but, again, this will change in two to three years when all their deals expire.

Finally, I have left the physio's be for the time being.

The Squad

** Player on loan at the club

Goalkeepers

Carlos Kameni, Christian Alvarez, Kiko Casilla

Defeners

Ernesto Galan (DC/R, WBR), Hector Moreno (DC), Raul Rodriguez (DC), Jordi Amat (DC), Juan Forlin (DC, DM), Javi Lopez (DR, WBR, DM, MC/R), Didac** (D/WBL), Felipe Mattioni (D/WB/MR), Wellington (D/WB/ML)

Midfield

Javi Marquez (DM, MC/L), Christian Romaric** (DM, MC/L), Raul Baena (DM, M/AMC), Joan Verdu (M/AMC)

Attacking Midfield/Wingers

Vladimir Weiss** (MC/R/L, AMC/R), Jesus Datolo (AMC/L), Juan Albin (AMC/L, ST), Rui Fonte (AMC, ST)

Strikers

Sergio Garcia (AMC/R/L, ST), Walter Pandiani (ST), Alvaro (ST)

Overall

I pretty happy with the initial squad. I've only identified two or three players that aren't good enough, and their sales should give me enough extra money to sign two or three players to improve the depth of the squad. I have set the season expectations to mid-table finish, giving me a budget of £4.34mil. I think we can do better, but better to be safe than sorry.

The B Team

Playing in Spain presents the unique situation of having a B Team, as opposed to a reserve team. Espanyol's B Team aren't in any of the playable leagues, but has some okay young players in there that could be sold for decent money. I am considering releasing every one in there, since it's pretty much useless to me and will just be unnecessary weight on the wage bill. That, though, depends on how much compensation it'll take to do so.

The Youth Team

Espanyol have a good academy and have produced some fine players. There are one or two in there that could make the step-up, but otherwise it's a pretty average bunch to start off with.

Good luck again

Transfers

First of all, let's take a look at the staff turnover for this window:

A lot of those names will probably mean very little to you, so I'll explain: all of the outgoing staff members were all deeemd not good enough. By not good enough, I mean not having a single attribute higher than 12. Even for a mid-table club, that's pretty bad.

The staff who have come on are by no means exceptional, but good enough to give each training category at least 2.5 stars (3.5+ in the case of fitness and goalkeeping), as well as detailed scout reports.

Now, onto the players:

Let's start with the outs. All of the players that went on a free were members of the B Team that weren't good enough for the first team or even to fetch some form of profit. Remarkably, it only cost the club £550,000 in compensation to release 20 players.

Getting rid of certain players was near impossible. I had tried selling Raul Rodriguez, but no matter how low I went with my asking price, clubs "didn't see buying him as a viable option". Another player, one of the B Team members, refused to sign a contract with his would-be suitors due to low basic pay, which is incredibly frustrating since the guy has not acheived anything in his career and should be thankful someone is willing to take him in.

So the plan to raise a couple million from selling players didn't come to fruition, and as a result I was a bit restricted with how many I could bring in. Henrique is an experienced central defender that offers much needed height and aggression in my backline, while Lucas Andersen is a 16 year old attacking midfielder with exceptional starting attributes and a whopping 5 star potential for this level. Needless to say, he'll be a pivotal figure in any future success... provided I can keep him for that long. His release clause is only £6,000,000, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that nobody activates it within the next couple of years.

I did want to bring in another player, but the board were very tight with how much I could offer players in terms of wages. For example, they wouldn't let me pay the necessary £6.5k p/w wages to take a promising youngster on loan for a season. It's understandable, but irksome all the same.

Continued in next post...

YES! Kudos for starting again, dude!

Squad and Tactics

This is the squad for the season, along with their assigned squad number:

1. Carlos Kameni

2. Filipe Mattioni

3. Raul Rodriguez

4. Javi Marquez

5. Jordi Amat

6. Rui Fonte

7. Raul Baena

8. Alvaro

11. Joan Verdu

12. Christian Romaric

13. Kiko Casilla

14. Ernesto Galan

15. Hector Moreno

16. Javi Lopez

17. Vladimir Weiss

18. Juan Forlin

19. Sergio Garcia

20. Walter Pandiani

21. Henrique

22. Didac

23. Jesus Datolo

24. Juan Albin

25. Christian Alvarez

26. Lucas Andersen

27. Victor Alvarez

And the formation and likely starting eleven:

The main formation this season will be a 4-3-3. It's a pretty simple tactic which involves a flat back four, a holding player, a water-carrier (so to speak), four creators and three goalscorers. The APs sits in midfield, spreading passes to the players with more creative freedom i.e. the APa, the two Inside Forwards and the Trequartista. I wouldn't call it a free-flowing tactic, but it can be pretty fluid, with quick, more direct passing down the flanks (in contrast to our Catalan buddies Barcelona and their "tika-taka").

On top of this, I have a backup formation, which will be 4-4-2 which works on similar principles. In essence, it'll play out more like a 4-2-3-1 with the wingers being quite offensive and the second striker dropping deeper.

I'm also considering using a 4-2-3-1, but then I've never seemed to get it to work well on this game.

I do not tend to get bobbed down trying to play one way and do like to mix it up from time to time if I have the players to do so. If need be, I can throw on Pandiani and utilise Albin's excellent delivery into the penalty area, as well as the strength and work rate of Romaric and Marquez.

Three at the back is another viable route to go down, with Didac and Mattioni having the right attributes to be effective wing backs and Forlin, Moreno, Amat and Henrique covering everything you'd want in a defence.

So overall, I think my squad is quite tactically versitile, which, in my opinion, is something every decent sqaud needs to be.

Friendlies

We played just the four friendlies. I'm quite picky when it comes to this; I dislike playing friendlies with just a couple of days rest in between, so I cancelled a couple in order to ensure my players got adequate rest.

Anyway, I'm pleased that we won all of them and only conceded one in the process. They weren't stellar opposition by any means, but the wins are still good for morale.

The next update will document the rest of August and the whole of September. And if you're getting a sesne of de ja vu here, you should be. I've kept pre-season almost exactly the same as last time. Things are likely to be different from here on, though.

La Liga

20th August 2011

Malaga 3 - 2 Espanyol (Ruud van Nistelrooy 51', 56', Solomon Rondon 87'; Juan Albin 42', Francis Coquelin 80')

This was a bit of a kick in the teeth. We actually played quite well, and got the lead through a fantastic lobbed goal by Albin. However, Malaga's firepower proved too much as that wily old striker van Nistelrooy scored two poachers efforts. Coquelin, who I secured on a season long loan, levelled the game with a few minutes to go. Just when I thought we were going to salvage a point, Rondon blasted one it after a mistake from Moreno. Disappointing result, considering the circumstances in which we lost.

28th August 2011

Espanyol 1 - 0 Real Sociedad (Mikel Gonzalez OG 59')

A very scrappy game, where we only created six chances. An own goal was enough to give us our first win of the season. At this point, I'm not bothered about the how.

11th September 2011

Espanyol 2 - 0 Getafe (Juan Forlin 11', Javi Marquez 16')

Incredibly, we had four shots the whole. Four. 40% possession, too. Fortunately, Getafe were pretty dire.

17th September 2011

Atletico Madrid 0 - 1 Espanyol (Sergio Garcia 82')

Just the six shots for us this time, but in this instance it was a good thing. We kept Atleti at bay for the whole game and snatched a goal towards the end to get a great win.

21st September 2011

Espanyol 1 - 0 Valencia (Sergio Garcia 40')

13 shots this time! We were pretty comfortable throughout the game, and got the winning goal after a good passing move finished brilliant by Sergio Garcia. Unfortunately, the man himself has done his hip and will be out for three months...

24th September 2011

Real Betis 0 - 2 Espanyol (Javi Lopez 27', Christian Romaric 49')

And Los Periquitos go marching on. Unlike in my first attempt, we dominanted Betis and got a good win despite not having any fit strikers. I also lost two players to injury after making all my subs, just to make matters worse. Think I may need to tone down my training workload a bit.

Five wins and five clean sheets in a row have resulted in this message appear in my inbox:

I don't know about our football being a joy to behold part (four shots in one game good football to anyone?), but I have been tinkering around with the tactics. The 4-3-3 wasn't creating much, so I took a gamble and switched to 4-4-2 for the Atletico and Valencia games and got two very good results. For the Betis game, I matched their 4-2-3-1 formation and again got a good result. At the moment, my changes are working. For how long we can get away with not creating much, we'll see. I can't imagine our run will last for too much longer.

Here's the league table:

Can we end the season now?

Player of the Month

There have been three stand-out players this month. Juan Angel Albin has been our main creative outlet with Weiss out injured, and he's done well with a goal and two assists (7.24 average rating). Juan Daniel Forlin has been a rock at the back (7.22 average rating) and would've gotten my player of the month, if not for the performances of Didac, who has been top notch at left back.

Judging by his grin, he's pretty pleased about it, too.

La Liga

3rd October 2011

Espanyol 1 - 0 Racing Santander (Walter Pandiani 67')

The run continues with a comfortable win over Racing. We dominated the game and created some good chances, but could only score after a mistake from a Racing defender. That's a little worrying, but at least we're still winning.

16th October 2011

Espanyol 4 - 0 Rayo Vallecano (Alvaro 4', 26', Arribas OG 47', Juan Albin pen 76')

Now this is more like it. We used the ball well, created plenty of chances and scored some goals. Only downside is that Alvaro, after bagging a brace, got injured for a month, thus continung this trend of in form strikers getting injured.

23rd October 2011

Granada 1 - 3 Espanyol (Dani Benitez 79'; Javi Marquez 7', Jordi Amat 59', Juan Albin 65')

Shock horror, we conceded a goal! That aside, we had to work for this result, since Granada had more of the ball and applied a lot of pressure. This result highlights the advantages of being able to score from set-pieces.

30th October 2011

Espanyol 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao (Walter Pandiani 45+1')

I had to play a different formation for this game. Bilbao play 3-4-3 on this game, so I countered it with a 5-3-2 with two wing backs. This resulted in a cagey game, but that seems to suit us this season.

Still joint top and somehow eight points clear of third and Real Madrid in fourth. It probably won't last very long, but it's been a great start to the season. Even better than the first attempt at this.

Copa del Rey

26th October 2011 - Round Four 1st Leg

Alcorcon 3 - 5 Espanyol (Reina 27', 39', Saul 90'; Albin 8', Andersen 12', Fonte 60', 67', Marques 63')

Mental game against the team that once stuck four past Real Madrid. It started off well, but then Alcorcon somehow pulled level. Fortunately, we had enough firepower on the day to score three more. Hopefully, five goals - all of them away - should be enough to see us through, but you never know.

Player of the Month

An easy choice for this month. Juan Albin has been fantastic, scoring three and assisting twice.

Next month is where things will probably go down hill a bit. We've got Barcelona away, and then inevtiably a week after we have Real Madrid at home. Without fail, no matter which Spanish team I manage, those two always come back-to-back.

La Liga

2nd November 2011

Mallorca 1 - 1 Espanyol (Tomer Hemed 19'; Ivan Remis OG 37')

A tough match on the island. A draw was a good result on the day, though I'd have liked to have won.

5th November 2011

Barcelona 2 - 0 Espanyol (Lionel Messi 11', 20')

A comprehensive defeat in ther derby. Barcelona are simply too good, and us gifting them goals really doesn't help. I must admit, I switched to damage limitation tactics after we went 2-0 down, so the scoreline remained respectable.

19th November 2011

Espanyol 4 - 2 Real Madrid (Joan Verdu 11', Vladimir Weiss 71', Jose Marques 83', Juan Forlin 87'; Kaka 15', Pepe 31')

What a way to bounce back! Verdu got us off to a flyer with a powerful drive, but Madrid stormed back after some sloppy defending from us. Madrid then went down to ten men in the second half, so I went for it and it ultimately paid off. Two goals from close range and one from a set-pieces at the end gave us a great, great win.

26th November 2011

Levante 1 - 1 Espanyol (Jose Barkero pen 45+2'; Walter Pandiani 75')

Back down to earth with this result. We were battered in the first half, only mustering two shots to their fifteen. A bollocking in the second half resulted in a much improved performance and got us a draw. There's not much shame in the result, since Levante are doing really well in 6th.

Still going along well in the league, having done better than initially expected. Europe is a realistic goal, though we still have some tough away games to come.

Copa del Rey

9th November 2011 - Fourth Round, 2nd Leg

Espanyol 2 (7) - (3) 0 Alcorcon (Rui Fonte 47', Jordi Amat 90+1')

We finsihed the job off at home with a good performance.

Player of the Month

Joan Verdu gets the monthly award this time, doing well with the first team football I promised him.

La Liga

4th December 2011

Espanyol 1 - 1 Sevilla (Alvaro 29'; Alvaro Negredo 68')

A very even game with a draw the fair result.

11th December 2011

Osasuna 0 - 2 Espanyol (Joan Verdu pen 6', Juan Forlin 15')

A relatively comfortable victory over a struggling Osasuna.

18th December 2011

Sporting Gijon 2 - 0 Espanyol (Sebastien Eguren 24', David Barral 90+4')

This was a pretty shocking performance. Couldn't keep the ball, couldn't create chances, couldn't defend properly... just one of those games where everything seems to go wrong.

Copa del Rey

21st December 2011 - Fifth Round 1st Leg

Real Betis 1 - 0 Espanyol (Roque Santa Cruz 77')

Another disappointing defeat. The performance was better, but still not really good enough in the end.

Transfers

Just like last time, the board came to me at the start of the month, asking if I would like to change the season expectations since we're performing so well at the moment. Again, I did change them and with that change comes some extra funds for me to use in the January window.

The order of business in this window was to find me a striker that could score goals. Yeah, those can be pretty hard to find when you're essientially a mid-table club with £3mil to spend. I had to pretty much scour the transfer and loan lists for anyone decent. Daniel Sturridge would've been a great addition, but the board would not allow me to pay the necessary 50% (£30,000 p/w) of his wages to bring him to the Cornella for the rest of the season. I found that to be really disappointing, since we had the cash available to pay that amount of money.

In the end, I signed Jorge Molina, a prolific goalscorer in the Segunda Division and with some nice attributes. He was transfer list by Real Betis, so I swooped him and got him for £4.3mil over 48 months. A bit expensive, but hopefully he can provide the goods.

He wasn't my only forward signing. Teemu Pukki, a Finnish striker playing for German side Schalke, was offered to me after he expressed his disappointment at Schalke's poor league performance. £2.6mil was a good deal, and one my board were quite happy to sort out for me since I had exhausted the budget on Molina.

Nobody left the club after I beat off several clubs with a stick. The likes of Carlos Kameni, Juan Forlin, Juan Albin and Lucas Andersen all attracted interest from big clubs, but the former three all signed new deals while the latter had no qualms continuing his development with us.

The squad needs a bit of a trim in the summer, as does the wage bill, but for now I think I have a good enough set of players to finish in the top six this season.

La Liga

8th January 2012

Espanyol 4 - 0 Real Zaragoza (Didac pen 26', Juan Forlin pen 34', 45', Jose Marques 90')

After a couple of recent poor results, this win was really needed. The scoreline flatters us here as three of the four goals came from set-pieces and our play in general wasn't that great. Zaragoza were just awful.

15th January 2012

Espanyol 2 - 2 Villareal (Juan Forlin 40', Hector Moreno 60'; Miku 28', Alberto De la Bella 56')

Can you see why I need a striker now? Corners and free-kicks seem to be the only way we're scoring. Still, I think we should've won this, since apart from Miku scoring a wonder goal and De la Bella a free-kick, Villareal weren't all that threatening.

22nd January 2012

Espanyol 2 - 0 Malaga (Vladimir Weiss 11', Hector Moreno 32')

A pretty easy win over a Malaga bereft of form and confidence. The undoubted best moment of the game was Moreno's goal, which was a chip from his own half into an open goal. I would upload the goal to show all of you, but I'm having some difficulty with agreeing to Youtube terms of service (as in, I'm physicall unable to agree).

29th January 2012

Real Sociedad 0 - 0 Espanyol

A bore draw between two evenly matched teams. Not a bad result in the grand scheme of things.

Barcelona are running away with the title and should win it with no problems whatsoever. I suspect Real Madrid will consilidate second, while us, Athletic, Villareal and Valencia duke it our for the remaining two Champions League places.

Copa del Rey

4th January - Fifth Round Second Leg

Espanyol 2 (2) - (2) 1 Real Betis (Juan Albin 21', Walter Pandiani 81'; Benat 90')

We need to win by two clear goals to progress. We managed to get the two goals, but conceded in heart-breaking fashion right at the end. This means we're out on away goal.

Being knocked out the cup isn't necessarily a bad thing. The scheduling for the Copa del Rey is pretty bad, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals all being squeezed together in January. A bit of extra rest certainly wouldn't hurt our chances in the league.

Player of the Month

El Capitan Juan Forlin has been fantastic this month, scoring goals and being a rock in defence. His performances for us have contributed greatly to our excellent defensive record this season.

I was so wrapped up in the season that I completely forgot to do updates for Febuary, March and April. It's been a great season and there's plenty to talk about, so let's get started.

La Liga

Look out Champions League, here we come! It's been a stellar season for the club and a fourth place finish completely surpasses all initial expectation. With the early seasons expectations being to finish mid-table, my status at the club in unsurprisingly "untouchable".

Upon reflection, our form before the winter break was the reason why we ended where we are. After an opening day defeat to Malaga, we won eight games on the trot, keeping clean sheets in seven of them. The team to eventually stop our run would be Barcelona at the Camp Nou. During this period, I often changed formation to counter my opponents - rotating between 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 - and it worked magnificently.

After the winter break, our form became a lot more inconsistent. We would win a game, then draw the next one, then win the next one... and so on. We struggled to create and score, and I stopped swithcing formation so much in the hopes that some tactical consistency would help. In the meantime, clubs like Atheltic Bilbao, Valencia, Villareal and Atletico Madrid were all starting to find form and consistency, which made a top four finish that much more difficult. I had my doubts we would finish that high up, but what helped out in the end was that we weren't losing games. Drawing and not scoring often, yes, but not losing.

When we got into April, I realised something. I had the Match Preparation set on Defensive Positionign from the very beginning of the season. Usually, this doesn't hinder my teams ability to score, but in this instance, without having particular great striker, it was a hinderance. When I changed it to Attacking Movement, we suddenly started to bang the goals on. We stuck seven past Levante and went on a four game winning streak that solidifed fourth place.

Overall, the success was down to having a good, solid defence to accumulate the necessary points. As you can see in the table, we had the second best defenisve record in the league. The only teams to beat us were Malaga (away), Barcelona (away), Sporting Gijon (away), Valencia (away), Real Madrid (away) and Villareal (away). Out of those, Sporting are the only team we probably should've gotten a result from. The Cornella was a fortress.

We had some really good results in this run, too:

17th September 2011: Atletico Madrid 0 - 1 Espanyol

21st September 2011: Espanyol 1 - 0 Valencia

30th October 2011: Espanyol 1 - 0 Athletic Bilbao

19th November 2011: Espanyol 4 - 2 Real Madrid

31st March 2012: Espanyol 0 - 0 Barcelona

3rd April 2012: Espanyol 7 - 1 Levante

11th April 2012: Sevilla 0 - 3 Espanyol

Pre-Winter Break Fixtures | Post-Winter Break Fixtures

There have been, of course, some awards handed out at the end of the season.

Player of the Year: Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona), David Villa (Barcelona), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Carlos Kameni, Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad)

Top Goalscorer: Fernando Llorente (Athletic, 32), Falcao (At. Madrid, 28), Cristiano Ronaldo (R. Madrid, 24)

Top Spanish Goalscorer: Fernando Llorente (Athletic, 32), David Villa (Barcelona, 21), Gaizka Torquero (Athletic, 20)

Most Improved Team: Athletic Bilbao (3rd, Expt: 8th), Granada (16th, Expt: 20th), Espanyol (4th, Expt: 9th)

Copa del Rey

The fifth round was as far as we were expected to go in this, and ultimately having the extra rest helped us great. The only disappointing thing was that we were knocked out by a team we should've beaten.

Athletic Bilbao went on to win it, beating Real Madrid 3-1 in the final.

Squad Stats

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Strikers

Player of the Season

3. Vladimir Weiss - Not helped by injury, Weiss took a while to get going but came to life during the run-in, becoming my main goal threat from the right wing.

2. Juan Forlin - The captain of this outfit. Defensively, he was very good all year and he chipped in with a surprising amount of goals.

1. Juan Albin - The star of the team. Plenty of goals and assists and we missed his flair and creativity whenever he was injured or suspended.

Youth Intake

In March, the club took in a new batch of youth players for me and my staff to assess. Espanyol have a very good youth set-up and we've gotten some good prospects:

Juan Emilio Moreno Lopez - The best of the bunch. Needs a lot of work but with great Determination and lots of time on his side, he should turn out good.

Jesus Barquin Velez - Great pace for a 16 year old, but very disappointing Decisions and Flair for a winger. Will need a lot of work, but should be a decent winger in the future.

Isaac Ruiz - A bit raw, but again, great Determination.

Plans for next season

My two to three year plan to get into Europe and consilidate that position is still very much on. I'm not sure how much money I'll be getting for the next window, but I will be looking to keep most the current squad together. I want to sell a few players as I have one too many, and of course I want to add a couple of really good players. As good as this season was, I'm not entirely confident that we can do it again.

The main targets at the moment are Didac and Vladimir Weiss, who both had fantastic loan spells with us. It'll probably be difficult to get them on a permanent, but the main focus will be to get these two back at the club for another season at least.

There will also be some changes to the staff, since a few have left. They will need to be replaced.

Next season the goal will be to get into the top four again, go further in the Copa del Rey and get into the Champions League group stages.

Other competitions

Champions League

Winners: Arsenal

Runners-up: Barcelona

Europa League:

Winners: Udinese

Runners-up: Zenit

Premier League

Champions:

Manchester United

Europe:

Arsenal

Manchester City

Stoke City

Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur

Relegated:

Swansea

Wigan

Newcastle

Top Goalscorers: Peter Crouch (Stoke, 26), Bobby Zamora (Fulham, 20), Javier Hernandez (Man Utd, 19)

Top Assisters: Luka Modric (Spurs, 12), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 11), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd, 11)

Serie A

Champions:

Juventus

Europe:

AC Milan

Napoli

Inter Milan

Roma

Udinese

Lazio

Relegated:

Genoa

Lecce

Novara

Top Goalscorers: Eidinson Cavani (Napoli, 22), Sergio Pellissier (Chievo, 17), Alessandro Matri (Juventus, 16)

Top Assisters: Andrea Doessena (Napoli, 11), Maxwell (Juventus, 9), Gaetano D'Agostino (Siena, 9)

Bundesliga

Champions:

FC Bayern

Europe:

Werder Bremen

Stuttgart

Hannover

Wolfsburg

Bayer Leverkusen

Relegated:

Augsburg

Gladbach

Top Goalscorers: Rasmus Jonsson (Wolfsburg, 15), Mario Gomez (FC Bayern, 14), Pappis Cisse (Freiburg, 14)

Top Assisters: Ronny (Hertha, 12), Gylfi Sigurdsson (Hoffenheim, 11), Bastien Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern, 11)

Ligue 1

Champions:

Olympique de Marseille

Europe:

Olympique Lyonnais

Lille

Bordeaux

Stade Rennais FC (Cup)

Relegated:

Caen

Evian TG

Dijon FCO

Top Goalscorers: Lisandro Lopez (Lyon, 24), Lioc Remy (Marseille, 22), Olivier Giroud (Montpellier, 18)

Top Assisters: Morgan Amalfitano (Marseille, 13), Michel Bastos (Lyon, 10), Jimmy Briand (Lyon, 10)

Transfers

The plan was to consilidate most of the squad, trim off the fat (so to speak) and add a couple of quality players to help us maintain the level we're currently playing out.

As you can see, we did spend quite a bit of money, although it wasn't entirely my own fault. The Romaric deal was agreed at the start of the game and without using a third-party editing tool, there was nothing I could about it. I have to say, it sucked when the fans criticised me for spending that much on him. Believe me, I didn't want to sign him permanently and I would've never spent that much on him.

Anyway, the big names signings are Didac, Weiss and the evergreen Raul. Didac and Weiss were both here on loan last season and were both fantastic, so I'm obviously delighted to get them both in on permanent deals. The Raul signing happened quite late in the window, when he was offered to me by his agent. £35k p/w is a lot of money for this club, but he's still quality and he will be an awesome tutor for Carlos Fierro. The young Mexican striker had been due to sign with us since the beginning of last season.

Mika is a young goalkeeper I spotted towards the end of last season. He, along with Camaho and Bentley, add more depth to the squad. There's a deal in place for us to sign Camaho for £1.7mil if we want to.

Quite an extensive list of departures. The most high profile one is Joan Verdu, who actually had a really good season but was still complaining about not being involved in enough first team games. Odd, since he played 32 times last season. I decided to just cut my losses, considering his age. £2.5mil is a pretty good deal.

Another high-profile player who left is Sergio Garcia. Garcia never did perform as good as a £30k p/w wage warrants and was declining rapidly after a few injuries. It was another case of my cutting my losses. It's not like we have any shortage of strikers, anyway.

The rest of the outs were pretty much players who I had no plans on playing.

Squad

Champions League

One of the goals of this season was to get into the group stages of the Champions League. Since we finished fourth, we had to go through the qualifying rounds and were an unseeded team, meaning we could be drawn against a pretty strong team.

And that's exactly what happened. We were paired with Lille and, unfortunately, failed to qualify.

Espanyol 2 - 2 Lille

Lille 2 - 1 Espanyol

The team worked extremely hard in both matches, but there were two defining factors: Eden Hazard is an exceptional player and destroyed us in both legs, and Jordi Amat got himself sent off for a reckless tackle in the second leg when the aggregate score was 3-3. It was an almost impossible task after that.

It's not all bad, since we drop down to the Europa League as 3rd seeds. I can't see us winning it, but the extra exposure and cash will do us good.

Cracking result getting into the CL

Also, some interesting signings. I am not aware of Didác so cant comment, but Weiss should prove to be a quality addition and £4m for a CL player is peanuts these days

La Liga

Result Pre-Winter Break 12/13

It seems the La Liga table has returned to a sense of normalcy with all the big clubs bar Sevilla being where you'd expect them to be - or at least there abouts. One obvious exception to the rule is us who, once again, are performing above expectations thanks to, once again, a good defence and an inability to lose football matches. We could have easily been just a point behind second place Barcelona had we beaten Atletico Madrid at home, but they've seemed to have found defensive solidity under the management of Rafa Benitez and have become a very difficult side to beat.

Athletic Bilbao started the season brilliantly but have recently begun declining somewhat now that Marcelo Bielsa has left them to join Chelsea - a job I was also linked to. With them no longer playing the 3-4-3 that worked so well for them last season, they may become easier to play against. Valencia have bucked their ideas up, but seem to be having difficulty scoring goals.

Just like last season, there are at least four teams competing for third and fourth spot in the table, while Real Madrid and Barcelona are the usual title contenders. The anamoly here is the points difference between the top four: a mere five points. The superior quality and consistency of the Big Two will inveriably shine through, but who knows, us and Bilbao could find ourselves in the race for the title with a bit (read: lots) of luck.

There has been a couple of stand-out results. The goaless draw against Real Madrid at the Cornella was a very good result, but the undoubted best result was the 2-1 home win against our fierce rivals, Barcelona. Barcelona typically passed us off the pitch and were deservedly leading. We didn't look like coming back into the game but a mistake from young defender Fontas gave us a penalty, which Raul - who else? - converted with ease. That goal gave us the platform to go on and get the win. David Bentley's corner was converted by Hector Moreno in the dieing moments of the game. Our first win against Barcelona on the third attempt.

I see no reason why we can't achieve a third place finish this season. We've already played at San Mames (Bilbao), Mestalla (Valencia), La Rosaleda (Malaga) and the Ramon Sanchez Pizuan (Sevilla) and the only truly difficult away tips that remain are the Camp Nou (Barcelona), Santiago Bernabeu (R. Madrid), Vicente Calderon (At. Madrid) and El Madrigal (Villareal). If we can pick up two points from those fixtures, then we'll be in a good position to finish in the top four.

Copa del Rey

Round Four

1st Leg: Jaen 1 - 4 Espanyol

2nd Leg: Espanyol 3 - 1 Jaen

Third Division Jaen were pretty easy opposition, with all due respect. I would like a cup run this year, but I have doubts we'll be progressing past the fifth round for the second consecutive season with a daunting tie against Real Madrid. With the away leg first, the hope will be to come away with a draw and then win at home. The expectation is to lose pretty heavily.

Europa League

After the disappointment of not reaching the Champions League group stages, it was nice to qualify from our Europa League group, especially as the group winners. We had qualifcation sealed after five games and a 2-2 draw away to Roma ensured we won the group.

We've been given a tricky tie in the last 32 against Dynamo Kyiv and should we win that, either FC Twente or FC Kobenhaven will be our opponents in the last 16. I think we can reach the quarter-finals, but with the likes of Real Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli, Chelsea and Tottenham all gracing the competition this year, I don't think we'll be able to further than that.

The Players

Goalkeepers

Carlos Kameni continues to shine as the number one, while Mika has played well in the games he's had. Mika is developing quite nicely and could force his way into beocming the number one keeper, especially if Kameni continues to persist about an improved deal whenever another team makes an offer for him.

Defenders

Juan Forlin is once again in the goals and has been a rock at the back alongside Moreno. Amat has recovered from a poor start to the season to put in some quality performances when Forlin was injured. Didac and Mattioni continue to impress at full-back.

Midfielders

The two stars here have been David Bentley and Vladimir Weiss. Bentley was bought in to be backup, but had to play when Juan Albin picked up a two month injury and has played very well. This, in turn, explains why Albin has yet to get going this season. Lucas Andersen is continuing his development and has made some good contributions so far, while Marquez and Camaho have formed a formidible partnership in the centre of midfield. Romaric has seen very little action and will be sold at the first opportunity, with any luck.

Strikers

Last seasons "worst signing of the year" Jorge Molina has really proved his doubters wrong this season. Heck, he's proved me wrong by scoring a respectable 11 goals. Alvaro is someone who's not performed as he can do, but this year he has improved. Pukki has been blighted by injuries, which is a shame since he started the season well. Raul is quality depite his age. Fierro is a very promising talent and may see more first team action soon.

January Window and Onwards

The plan for the January window will be to, again, keep hold of the star players. I'm currently happy with my squad and see no need to bring anyone in, but one or two - namely Christian Romaric - may leave. If I have the funds, I will be looking to sign Camacho permanently, and possibly Bentley too, though wages will be a major stumbling block in that one.

Beyond that, the plan is to finsih in the top four and get to the Europa League quarter finals. Anything more than that will be seen as a bonus.

Amazing to qualify for knockout, Keep up the fantastic work

really good read this, keep it up mate

I have decided to do my updates a little differently. Whereas before I would do monthly updates, I will now be doing updates for pre-season, pre-winter break, post-winter break, the January transfer window and an analysis of the annual youth intake. So you'll get less updates, but more in-depth reports. This helps me, too, as I can just play and then write in bulk instead of stopping to write updates every couple of hours or so.

INS

Josh McEachran - Loan from Chelsea.

Joan Oriol - £550k from Villareal.

Ricky Bell - £725k from Real Salt Lake.

OUTS

Christian Romaric - £6mil to Norwich.

Victor Alvarez - Loan to Salamanca.

Although one never wants to rest on their laurels, the success of the current group of players disuaded me from making any major purchases in this window. I think I did well to get £6mil for Romaric and although I never liked him as a player, it did leave us a little bit short in midfield. Young Josh McEachran seemed like a good choice, as a decent young talent in the mould of Javi Marquez who I may even decide to sign permanently, depending on how well he plays and develops in the months he'll be with us.

The other out is promising full back Alvarez. Alvarez has been understudy to Didac for a while now and isn't gettung sufficient first team games. Third division Salamanca came in offering to play him every week, and with Alvarez' tuition under Juan Forlin complete, I decided to send him out. Since this left us without a backup left back, I got Joan Oriol from Villareal, who's actually a decent player that was transfer listed. You can't beat a good bargain sometimes. This will also allow me to send Alvarez out on loan again next season.

Finally, Ricky Bell is a young central defender recommended to me by his agent. Seeing as how I only had three centre backs, I thought he'd be worth the risk. He may develop into a decent defender, he may not. Either way, £550k is a good deal.

Thankfully, there were no contract mishaps. Interest circulated around my key players, but not major bids came in and no one else wanted to leave other than Romaric. Overall, it was a relatively productive window for us.

This is a day that's most anticipated by players of Football Manager. On the 28th of March 2013, we took in a new lot of youth trialists, who will play against our U19's. My assistant manager has evaluated them all and going by his ratings, this years intake is not bad at all. Last season, we got three very gifted attackers, two of which have already made a few appearances in the first team, while the other is tearing the U19's apart. This year, we've gotten some defensive talent.

David - The cream of the crop, supposedly. David certainly does look very promising, and is taller than your average Spanish central defender. I see no reason why he can't go on to become a regular for my side in the future.

William Acosta - A promising goalkeeper with some good base stats to work with. Possibly a long term replacement for Carlos Kameni and almost certainly a future backup keeper, at least.

Inigo Zubillaga - As you may have guessed by the name, Zubillaga is Basque, so it wouldn't surprise me if Athletic Bilbao tried to pry him away from us. The kid is an absolutely giant, standing at 6'6 at 15 years of age. That's taller than me! The reports suggest he's not quite as promising as David, but that doesn't mean I can't use him in the future.

La Liga

Post-Winter Break Results

Well, this was unexpected. I thought for certain that Real Madrid and Barcelona would break way from the rest of the teams in the league but it appears that Barcelona, despite scoring an outstanding 102 goals, lost one too many games and Madrid showed better consistency to eventually win the title with two games to spare. This gave us an opportunity to sneak in there and nick second on the final day of the season.

The goal was always to finish third and get that automatic qualifcation spot for the Champions League group stages. We were looking pretty good after the break but third was still in doubt due to the newly improved Atletico Madrid matching us stride for stride. The turning point for us came in April.

On the face of it, a month with away games against Villareal, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid with a Europa League quarter-final sandwiched in the middle of them is extremely difficult. Certainly, after we drew against Villareal and Real Sociedad, I thought April would be the month where we blew it. As it turned out, it was the month that propelled us into the title picture - for a couple of weeks, at least.

I wasn't too fussed about the Europa League, so I made sure my best players were fully fit and ready to go by resting them from games and from training. This extra bit of fitness helped us when we went to the Camp Nou. Playing 5-3-2 with a Contain strategy, we somehow managed to come away with a point.

With the confidence a result like that brings, we went to the Vicente Calderon with no fear and defeated Atletico 4-3. This result saw us go back into third, and even closer to Barcelona, who seemed to be faltering a bit.

What really helped us in the end was having five of our last six games at home, against sides in the bottom half of the table with Valencia the exception. We won all six without conceding a goal, while Atletico and Barcelona dropped points.

Without doubt, a season like this comes with its fair share of great results:

29th September 2012: Espanyol 0 - 0 Real Madrid

1st December 2013: Espanyol 2 - 1 Barcelona

2nd February 2013: Espanyol 4 - 1 Athletic Bilbao

13th April 2013: Barcelona 1 - 1 Espanyol

21st April 2013: Atletico Madrid 3 - 4 Espanyol

19th May 2013: Espanyol 1 - 0 Osasuna

The reason why that last one is on the list is because of Raul. The legendary striker was retiring at the end of the season, so it was his last professional game ever. Captain for the day, Raul scored the only goal in the match to give us the win and second place in the table. Fairy tale stuff, really.

Here are the end of season awards:

Player of the Year: Fernando Llorente (Ath. Bilbao), Xavi (Barcelona), Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Carlos Kameni, Victor Valdes (Barcelona)

Top Goalscorer: Lionel Messi (Barcelona, 39), Cristiano Ronaldo (R. Madrid, 35), Falcao (At. Madrid, 34)

Top Spanish Goalscorer: Fernando Llorente (Bilbao, 30), David Villa (Barcelona, 21), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla, 19)

Most Improved Team: Xerev (15th, Expt.: 20th), Espanyol (2nd, Expt.: 7th), Racing (11th, Expt.: 15th)

Copa del Rey

Nothing much to write about here. We were drawn agaisnt Real Madrid in the 5th round and were defeated on penalties. The aggregate scoreline was 2-2. We came close, but ultimately I'm wasn't too disappointed going out at that stage. Maybe next year we'll have better run in this competition.

Europa League

After winning the group and seeing our possible opponents, the goal was always to progress to the quarter-finals. Dynamo Kyiv were tough opposition but we managed to scrape through on away goals. FC Twente were easier, and two quality European performances saw them off.

Bayer Leverkusen were topping the Bundesliga table and were tough opponents. I didn't think we stood much of a chance, but to my surprise we performed really well and came very close to making the semi-finals. A European semi-final would've been nice, but I believe we wouldn't have finished as high as we did in the table with the extra-games. So it was just as well that we got knocked out when we did.

The Players

Goalkeepers

Kameni beastly as usual, Mika good and reliable backup.

Defenders

Forlin, of course, is leading the way at the back. His partner in crime, Moreno, had an okay season but had one too many poor performances. Didac and Mattioni will surely have those full back positions pinned down for a while yet. The surprise is Amat, who had to deputise for an injured Forlin quite often and did so excellently.

Midfielders

Weiss and Bentley the two stars, providing the team with goals and assists. Marquez and Camacho were very good in centre midfield despite having low-ish average ratings. Juan Albin was blighted by injury and couldn't find any form, hence his poor season. Lucas Andersen was on course to having a very good year, but unfortunatey had his foot broken and missed the whole second half of the season.

Strikers

Hardly goals galore here, but some decent contributions nonetheless. Molina would've scored more had he not broken his leg in February. Alvaro and Pukki were on and off with their goalscoring. Fierro came into form towards the end of the season. Raul provided some solid returns.

Players of the Season

3. David Bentley - Turned out to be a great loan signing. Wages, though, will prevent any permanent deal.

2. Juan Forlin - Very good, as usual.

1. Vladimir Weiss - Our star man. He came up with the goods again this season.

Plans for Next Season

I feel we are now at the stage where the club needs to progress to the next level. The past two seasons have been fantastic, but I still believe that our squad is weaker than about four or five teams in the division and we can easily not get into the top four next season, since these clubs will be improving all the time. We have to match that improvement.

It'll depend on funds, but I'm looking to get in some quality players in this summer window. On top of that, I'll be hiring some more coaches and scouts as well as looking to see if I can improve the youth and training facilities. The club is now a contender for Europe. Now it's time to make it a contender for the title, starting with next season.

All going well, I hope to win the title in the next three or four years. A bit ambitious, maybe, but something I feel I can accomplish.

Transfers

The goal this window was to find one or two players that could play at that higher level and add them to the squad. I had doubts over which players would be willing to join us and whether we could afford them, but as you will see, I managed to secure some unbelieavble bargains.

You are not seeing things. World Cup winner and world class defender Sergio Ramos joined us on a free transfer. I had no plans whatsoever to make any defensive signings, since I was happy with the current players I had there. However, at some point during the window, Ramos' agent offered him to me. He was completely unattached and, strangley, no club registered any interest in him.

Initially, I thought against trying to sign him since his wage demmands would most likely be ridiculous. But, again, to my surprise he was only asking for £84,000 p/w. I say "only"; that's a hell of a lot for our club. The max my board would allow me to offer was £65,000 p/w, which he accepted along with a higher signing on fee and appearance fee (a whopping £10k per game).

So completely without plan or warning, we had a world class player amongst our ranks.

The spectacular signings don't end there. Carlos Villanueva, a very classy Chilean striker, was offered to me on a free before the end of the season. I was looking to sign a creative striker and this fellow certainly fits the bill. For just £23.5k p/w wages, he's one heck of a bargain.

Then there's the most shocking one: Fernando Torres on loan. My scout came to me with a report and, as it turns out, he's been in Chelsea's reserves for a year having declined greatly thanks to a cruciate ligament injury. He was transfer listed for a mere £6mil, and I would've signed him permanents had he not been on £175k p/w wages. A bit much for our club, I think.

Instead, I managed to get him on loan and - get this - I'm paying a diddly 10% of his wages. Yeah, I can't believe it either. A great striker like Torres on loan, for £17.5k p/w wages. I wasn't planning on bringing in another striker, but like the Ramos transfer, this one was just too good to pass up.

On to the less-glamarous signings. Jaime is a young left winger who I got to play backup for Albin. I did want Pablo Sarabia, but he mysteriously decided to pick Xerev over us. Camaho impressed during his loan so I took advantage of the future fee we had agreed with Malaga. Josh McEachran comes in for another loan, this time for the whole season. Aldo is a young Brazillian centre back that I had first dibs on thanks to our link with Gremio.

Not much to write about here. With Ramos and Torres both in, Galan and Pukki weren't really needed, so I shipped them both out for reasonable fees. Sergio Garcia is surplus but his high wages are making it difficult for us to offload him. The rest are random kids that were never going to make it with us.

Backroom Staff

I had a whole team of staff ready and waiting to come in, but much to my dismay, the board would only allow me four coaches. No matter how much complaining I did, they weren't budging on that stance.

Regardless, I've managed to massively improve the backroom staff. All that's left is to improve the numbers which, at the moment, is not possible.

Squad

So the squad is shaping up pretty well. It's a bit mix-and-match, with decent players blending with a couple of world class players, but it should acheive a top four finish again this season.

You may notice an absence of certain youth players. It just so happened that the B Team got promoted into the third division, so I decided to move certain youth to that team so they can play more first team football.

Great career so far how have Lucas Andersen and Carlos Fierro developed and performed so far for you?

La Liga

Pre-Winter Break Results

The good thing? Second again in the table, level with Real Madrid with only one defeat so far. The bad thing? Seven points behind Barcelona. We were looking genuine title contenders up until the Atletico Madrid game, having swept aside near enough anyone who came in our way with our new stellar strike force, even escaping the Camp Nou with a point. But that defeat at the Vicente Calderon seemed to create this inability to beat the better sides in the league. First a 2-2 home draw against Valencia and then a 2-2 home draw against Villareal. In the grand scheme of things, these aren't bad results but at the same time, we should be winning these games at home. Those seven dropped points has pretty much killed off whatever title challenge we had going. It's going to take a heck of a lot of work to make up that seven point defecit.

On a more positive note, we're on course for another top four finish which is the real target this season. I didn't expect us to challenge for the title, so everything is going according to plan, especially since we're seven points ahead of Sociedad in fourth. One would hope that it'd be between us and Madrid for second and third, and then Sociedad, Athletic, At. Madrid, Sevilla, Villareal and Valencia for fourth. I'm glad we're not in that group.

The biggest surprise in the table is Malaga in 18th. It seems the sale of Rondon to Arsenal has really hurt them as they seem to be struggling to score. I'll be keeping an eye out on them, just in case a few of their better players decide they want to leave.

Champions League

Champions League Group Stage Results

Would you believe that we entered this competition as one of the fourth seeds?

I knew it'd be a tall order for us to get out the groups as soon as I saw we were amongst the fourth seeds. This guaranteed a tough group and that's what we got: French and Italian giants Lyon and Juventus, and FC Kobenhavn who are a useful outfit as well. Truth be told, I didn't fancy our chances at all and thought the Europa League was the best we could hope for.

I was proved wrong on the opening day of the group. Away at Lyon, we somehow survived their relentless attacks and nabbed three goals. Our first home game in the compeition ended 5-2 in our favour against Kobenhavn, followed by a win against Juventus. With 9 points in the bag, qualification was a very realistic posibillity.

Frankly, the only time qualification seemed in doubt was after the defeat in Italy against Juventus. At that point, us and Juventus were level on points and Lyon had 6. A home win against Lyon sealed qualification, and a draw in Denmark ensured we won the group.

So having surpassed all expectation, we were drawn against Marseille in the last 16. A difficult tie, but one I feel we can triumph in. At this points, it's less about winning the compeition and more about going as far as we can for the sake of reputation and money. Quarter-finals would be a fantastic acheivement.

Copa del Rey

Round Four put us up against minnows Badalona (which I initially read as Barcelona). A mixture of fringe players and youth easily dispatched them 7-0 on aggregate to set-up a fifth round tie against Osasuna. Yes, for the first time in this career we may progress past the fifth round of the Copa del Rey.

The Players

Goalkeepers

Kameni hasn't quite been at his best this year. He's actually slowly declining and has put in a couple of poor displays. As a result, I've been giving Mika more opportunities which he has taken with both hands (unlike Kameni's tendency to not take anything with both hands). Interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs is still circulating around Kameni, and I may just take advantage of that interest in the summer.

Defenders

No real surprises here. Moreno and Forlin are undoutbedly the best centre backs at the club, while Ramos has been good at right back. Joan Oriol and Didac have a good rivalry at left back, though I'm still preferring home-grown Didac. Amat, Bell and Mattioni haven't seen much action, unfortunately.

Midfielders

Albin, Weiss and Marquez have all been outstanding so far. Weiss, especially, has scored some vital goals for us.

Strikers

Torres has been banging them in for fun and he has excellent support from Villanueva. The only concern here is the backup not chipping in a lot with goals or assists, but then they've not played that often.

January Window and Onwards

There are no plans to sign anyone in January. However, a deal has been agreed for the excellent looking Albin Ekdal to join us on a free transfer from Juventus at the start of next season. I could've signed this window, but currently I'm happy with Marquez and McEachran in midfield. Ekdal arriving in the summer will add some needed quality to the position without disrupting what I've already got. The fact it'll be for free was also a decisive factor.

La Liga

Post-Winter Break Results

As predicted, we finished no where near Barcelona. We were in and out of the title race and had a faint chance of overtaking Barcelona when there was just a three point gap and a game against them at the Cornella. However, we ended up losing that game 4-3, in the most heatbreaking fashion possible. Barcelona went 3-1 ahead, and we managed to fight back and level the score in the 91st minute thanks to a Torres hat-trick. Straight after kick-off, though, one long ball down field found David Villa through one-on-one, and the legendary striker made no mistake. Terrific win for Barcelona and one that surely secured them the title, but one that was sickening to us.

I cannot complain about a second place finish. Once again, this puts us into the Champions League group stages and it further enhances our reputation. We managed to score more goals this season, but conceded a hell of a lot more than usual. If we want to compete for the title soon, this is something I'll have to sort out. Balance is key, after all.

Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo (R. Madrid), Vladimir Weiss, Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Sergio Asenjo (At. Madrid), Iker Casillas (R. Madrid)

Top Goalscorer: Fernando Torres (33), Gonzalo Higuain (R. Madrid, 26), Fernando Llorente (At. Bilbao, 20)

Top Spanish Goalscorer: Fernando Torres (33), Fernando Llorente (At. Bilbao, 20), David Villa (Barcelona, 18)

Champions League

We were outclassed by Marseille in both legs, losing 5-2 on aggregate. Marseille were simply too good for us. I wasn't too disappointed since I knew we wouldn't get too far and it's all for the reputation and money at the moment.

Copa del Rey

My first trophy as Espanyol manager!

Getting Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals wasn't ideal but it turned out to be an incredible tie. We lost 2-1 in the first leg at the Vicente Calderon - Carlo Ancelotti's diamond formation proved very difficult to play against - but turned things around in the second leg by winning with an astonishing 5-1 scoreline.

At that point, Valencia had managed to eliminate Barcelona and Sevilla made an epic comeback to knock out Real Madrid. With those two out, I definitely fancied our chances of winning the competition. The final was a tight game, but the combination of Weiss, Albin and Torres ultimately proved to be the difference between both sides.

The Players

Goalkeepers

Kameni has come to me requesting to leave because he wanted a new challenge, to which I agreed. So he'll be going in the summer. Mika did okay as first choice so I may go with him again next season.

Defenders

Not as solid as past seasons, and conceded more goals than I would've liked. Still had good seasons, nonetheless.

Midfielders

Some outstanding players here; the likes of Marquez, Weiss and Albin all having very good seasons.

Strikers

Torres and Villaneuva the two best players here, with Fierro coming into prominence towards the end of the season.

Players of the Season

3. Juan Albin

2. Vladimir Weiss

1. Fernando Torres

Plans For Next Season

There's going to be a slightly higher turnover of players this summer, as say goodbye to the players not quite good enough for the level we're now playing at. I have a decision to make on Fernando Torres. Carlos Fierro is ready to start and lead the attack, but I can't ignore a striker who scored 33 goals last season if he's available on the cheap. We'll see how that one pans out.

I would like to add more staff, too, but that depends on the board and what they're willing to give me.

Otherwise, it's the same as usual: I'll be trying to bring in some better players as we steadily build towards winning the title.

Would wages be a problem with Torres?

Glad to see someone else having success with Weiss the guy is a complete beast of a player for my Sunderland. Making good progress here, good luck in the new season.

He's on £175k p/w at Chelsea. My highest earner is Ramos with £65k p/w and some pretty hefty bonuses. So it's more than likely that wages will be a problem, but if he's available for cheap then there's no harm in trying to negotiate a deal.

Interestingly, Karim Benzema has been transfer listed by Madrid and would also be interested in coming. Wages will be the issue again, though.

This game can be strange when it comes to who it decides to transfer list.

Weiss is indeed a very good player. Consistently provides goals and assists for me, and now has Espanyol as one of his favoured clubs. Should become a club legend, all going well.

I got Benzema to Sunderland on 80k a week so you might be able to get him.

Transfers

It's been a very active and expensive summer of transfers. I was unsuccesful in my attempt to get Fernando Torres back at the club, and Karim Benzema's demmands were beyond what the club were willing to pay which was a shame, since he would've cost a £0. Yeah, I don't get it, either.

Since I had sold Alvaro and Jorge Molina, there was a need for a striker to play backup to Fierro and Villaneuva. Ruben Rochina was the ideal choice in a lot of ways, as he can play every striking role except target man. Young, good attributes and cheap.

There are two more bargains in that lot, too. Albin Ekdal has fantastic stats and will really add somethig to the midfield, while Marc Andre ter-Stegen was far too good an opportunity to pass up. Crazy how such a good, young keeper had such a low release clause.

Then we get into the expensive territory. Javi Martinez, a midfielder I've long since admired, was transfer listed at Bilbao for £20mil. The fee smashes our previous transfer record but for such a good player, again, it's difficult to pass that sort of deal up. This deal was something of a coup, as I managed to get him under the noses of the likes of Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Lyon.

Roberto Imaz was spotted at the end of last season and although he comes with a big price tag, my best scouts reliable inform me that his potential could see him become as good or better than Sergio Ramos. His attributes now are already pretty decent. Definite star in the making, I think.

Lastly, the fantastically named Franceso Martin Martin comes to us as the new backup for Ramos. Mattioni's wage demmands were too excessive for his level of ability, thus I decided to get rid. Martin Martin should develop into a good player.

Squad and Tactics

The squad is a little on the large side, but it should serve us well in the event we progress far in the cup competitions. This season I'm going back to using three or four formations, instead of using the one all the time like I did last year (which was 4-4-2). I hope that by doing this, we can concede less goals and give ourselves a better chance at challenging for the title. On top of the 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 5-3-2 formations that I already made, I've developed a 4-3-1-2 since winger-less formationss seem to be cropping up more often.

The stock formation, though, will remain 4-4-2 and a perspective starting eleven would be:

GK: Marc Andre ter Stegen

RB: Sergio Ramos

CB: Juan Forlin

CB: Hector Moreno

LB: Didac

RM: Vladimir Weiss

CM: Javi Martinez

CM: Albin Ekdal

LM: Juan Albin

ST: Carlos Villanueva

ST: Carlis Fierro

Spanish Super Cup

Since we won the Copa del Rey last season, we had to play the league champions - Barcelona - in the tradtional season curtain raiser. And I must say, we did a lot better than expected:

I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched us complete dominate Barcelona. Even though they have a new manager now that Guardiola is in charge of the Spanish national team, I was expecing a much sterner test. Even if we didn't go on to win the cup, this victory would last long in the memory.

We really did ride our luck in the second leg. We defended well and resisted Barcelona's attacks for the most part, but they still found ways of breaking us down and with only one goal needed to force the game to extra-time and about fifteen minutes left, I didn't think we could hold on. We managed to do so, though, and win the Spanish Super Cup. Not a bad way to kick off the season!

Good start, Javi Martinez is a really good signing. I got him at Malaga and he is probably my favourite CM on the game, let him get forward and he can score goals got 20 for me in one season.

La Liga

Pre-Winter Break Results

So, we're the "winter Champions". Certainly an improvement over being second at this point of the season and for once I can honestly say that it falls in line with my expectations for the season. Ambitious thought it may be, I really did think we could challenge for the title this season and I'm glad that we are doing so currently. Winning it, however, is another thing entirely.

While my side has shown remarkable consistency and quality to get to this point, I still have doubts about our ability to go the distance. We are still conceding one too many goals and though it hasn't cost us many points, the exception being that woeful result away to Getafe, it could do in the remaining five months of the season. Furthermore, my side has difficulty getting good result away to the big boys, especially Barcelona and Real Madrid - the latter being the only side to defeat us this season. We will have to remain consistent and beat everyone else and hope that Madrid and Barcelona slip up enough so that head-to-head does not come into play.

On an unrelated note, I am keeping my eye on poor Malaga in case any of their players decide they want to leave. They have a couple of players that could really add something to my squad.

Champions League

What looked like a tricky group turned out to be disappointingly easy. Our two draws both came against Chelsea while Schalke and Standard put up little fight against us. Perhaps I can take the ease in which we qualified as a sign of how much we've grown as a club.

Tottenham Hotspur are our Round of 16 opponents. They've assembled a more than good side, buying the likes of Darijo Srna, Toby Alderweireld, Mauricio Isla, Alvaro Pereira, Pavel Niakhaichyk, Aiden McGeady, Julio Baptista, Andy Carroll and Edinson Cavani to compliment the excellence of Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. I believe we can go through, but it will certainly be a very tough ordeal.

The Players

Goalkeeprs

Defenders

Midfielders

Strikers

Plans for January Window

I have promised a couple of players that they could leave this window, so I'll probably be looking to sign at least one player to compensate. I have no intention of signing a high-profile name or splashing the cash, though. Not after we spent so much in the summer.

La Liga

Post-Winter Break Results

We got there in the end. It took a lot of hard work and a bit of luck but we managed to secure the club's first ever La Liga title! The title race went right down to the final day of the season, with us and Barcelona both on 94 points. We were top of the league thanks to a superior head-to-head record, but had to beat Villareal at El Cornella to ensure we won the title. We comfortably won the game 3-0, while Barcelona lost 2-0 away to Sevilla. Thus, we were Champions.

What swayed the title race into our favour was most definitely that point at the Camp Nou. At that stage, Barcelona were only two points behind us and would have certainly gone on to win the title had they beaten us then, with them have a much easier run of games compared to us. We went there with a defensive strategy and managed to keep that supreme attacking force of theirs at bay. That point meant that we maintained head-to-head superiority over them which ultimately proved to be the difference maker.

Overall, it wasn't a season full of drama. We actually had very little set-backs and it wasn't until the last seven or so games that things became a bit difficult. It just goes to show how good the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid are, because I'm absolutely sure that we would have won any other league at a canter with 97 points.

Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo (R. Madrid), Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona), Carlos Villanueva

Goalkeeper of the Year: Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Iker Casillas (R. Madrid), Miguel Angel Moya (Sevilla)

Top Goalscorer: Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla, 27), Fernando Llorente (At. Bilbao, 25), Omer Damari (R. Sociedad, 22)

Top Spanish Goalscorer: Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla, 27), Fernando Llorente (At. Bilbao, 25), Xabi Prieto (At. Bilbao, 15)

Spanish Player of the Year: Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Bojan (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona)

Spanish Young Player of the Year: Carlos Fierro, Lucas Andersen, Sergio Barasoain (At. Bilbao)

Champions League

After comfortably qualifying from our group, we faced Spurs in the Round of 16. In a game between two attacking sides, the first leg at White Hart Lane ended 3-2 in their favour. With two away goals, I fancied our chances of turning the tie around in the second leg and we did so, winning comfortably 2-0.

This set-up a tie against current Premier League champions, Arsenal. At this stage, I had to prioritise as we had some vital fixtures in the league so I wasn't bothered that we lost 2-0 at The Emirates Stadium. In the second leg, we lost 4-3 and, again, I wasn't too disappointed. We would have played Barcelona in the next round, and I don't think my squad was prepared for so many important games in such a short space of time.

Still, we managed to progress further than we did last year, so that's a step in the right direction.

Copa del Rey

As the holders of the King's Cup, it would have been nice to retain the trophy but it wasn't to be. I think we did really well to reach the final in the first place, since the game against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid were between some really tough league fixtures for us.

It was a repeat of last years final with a much improved Sevilla our opponents. It was a very even, if not a bit poor, 90 minutes but a couple of errors in extra-time cost us in the end. Goals from Negredo and Sturridge in the first half of extra-time killed any chance we had of coming back and we had to accept that Sevilla were simply the better side on the night. I'm disappointed we couldn't win it, but two consecutive finals and knocking out Barcelona are still very good accomplishments for this cup.

The Players

As usual, the season statistics for the players:

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Strikers

Players of the Season

3. Vladimir Weiss - Started the season slowly and had to be rested for a few weeks due to the amount of games he's played in the recent seasons. After the winter break, though, he found his stride and finished the season as one of our best players.

2. Carlos Fierro - The young striker had an excellent season. He was our main source for goals and he made sure we didn't miss Fernando Torres at all. Will only get better from here, too.

1. Carlos Villanueva - Absolutely brilliant season from start to finish. Lots of goals and assists, lot of game changing moment and lots of excellent displays.

Plans for next season

I have two transfer targets in mind that could really help us retain our title next season, but first I need to see how much money I'll have to spend. There will be a few players leaving, too.

Next season the main goal will be to win La Liga again. I don't think we'd be able to win the Champions League but if we can somehow progress further than we did this year I'd be very pleased. Every season from now on is about building towards being a dominant force in domestic football and being serious challengers for the Champions League and there is still a lot to do in order to reach that level.

Been a really good read so far, keep up the good work!

Congrats on winning the league Good luck for next season!

Awesome work winning the league

Great title win! Unlucky in the cups though!

Thanks for the copliments, guys. May have another update out tonight.

Transfers

It's always a nice feeling when a plan comes together. Ricardo Rodriguez, a Spanish left back once of Real Sociedad, came to my attention when Guardiola called him up for one of his Spain squad, resulting in the media claiming he wasn't good enough to play for Spain. I took a look at him and decided that the media were talking a bunch of crap; he looked a very good player very similar in style to Jose Enrique. Strong, quick, good defender and capable going forward. Although Didac has been very consistent for me since day one of this career, I felt it was time to bring in someone of better quality.

I didn't sell Didac, however, and don't have the intention to. Instead, I extended his contract by two years and hopefully he'll be a good, reliable backup for Rodriguez and a good insurance policy to have should the new man not do as well as I expect him to.

The second part of my plan to improve the team was to improve the left side of my attack. Juan Albin has served me well there and Jaime did well as his backup but neither were consistent. Lewis Holtby was the attacker I wanted and thankfully I managed to get him in before Atletico could follow up on their interest.

Alberto Gonzalez was the other left winger I brought. We actually agreed to sign him last summer, but I thought it would have been better for his development if he joined us a year later. He's here with us now and he looks like a very good talent who should push Holtby for his role in the side.

Mark O'Brien is a very promising young keeper signed from Arsenal, as I thought Mika needed to move on to get playing time and we didn't have any good young keepers. O'Brien could possible take the number one shirt from ter Stegen soon, since the German hasn't quite developed as I hoped he would have.

Aaron Green is another young player, this time coming from Manchester United. A bit on the raw side, but not short of talent. It'll probably be a while before he can dislodge Weiss from the team but he's got time on his side.

A few household names also left the club. Baena and Amat wanted more first team football so I had to move them on. Marquez, one of our longest serving players, didn't play much last year and I thought it was only fair that he go to a place where he could get more games.

Lucas Andersen is probably the biggest surprise out on the list. He's only 21 and still growing as a player, but since he's been with us he hasn't really done enough to be a consistent starter in the team and I thought it'd be better for all involved for him to move on.

The £40mil spent in this window bumps up my career spending to £89mil, while we have recoup £40.5mil of that through player sales. It's not a great stat and for here on I'll probably be looking to curb my spending a bit.

Squad

Our squad, ordered by position, is now (* denotes a regen):

1. Marc-Andre ter Stegen

26. Mark O'Brien*

29. William Acosta*

6. Hector Moreno (Vice-Captain)

4. Juan Forlin (Captain)

5. Roberto Imaz*

30. David*

21. Sergio Ramos

34. Francisco Martin Martin*

3. Ricardo Rodriguez

2. Didac

19. Ignacio Camacho

24. Javi Martinez

7. Albin Ekdal

8. Vladimir Weiss

28. Aaron Green*

11. Lewis Holtby

15. Alberto Gonzalez*

14. Juan Emilio Moreno Lopez*

10. Carlos Villanueva

23. Peter Negrete*

12. Ruben Rochina

9. Carlos Fierro

And the expected starting eleven:

Spanish Super Cup

The Super Cup gave us an early opportunity to get our revenge on Sevilla after the Copa del Rey final last season. The first leg in Seville ended 1-1 after a typically tight affair between us. The second leg we completed dominated and won 1-0 thanks to a Moreno header. Although no where near as impressive or glamarous as last years Super Cup, it's still a very good way to kick off the season.

La Liga

If only the league got off to the same start...

After playing Villareal at home at the end of last season, our first game this season was the same team, this time away from home and things did not go according to plan. Villareal won the game 3-2 and we played very poorly. Despite it being only the first game of the season, to already be three points behind Barcelona and Real Madrid could be very detrimental to our hopes of retaining the title.

We won our first home game against Xerez 4-1, though the scoreline doesn't reflect the difficult we had burying our numerous chances. Evidently the side has yet to his full stride.

Good luck to new season

Spent quite a lot of money, good luck

Gonzalez looks quite decent

A combination of laziness and the necessity to focus on other commitments meant that I could not write up a January update like usual. To compensate, I've writen up a slightly bigger end of season update. Thankfully, with the season I have just had, I have plenty to talk about.

To start off with, let's rewind about five months to the January transfer window, for there was some business...

January Transfers

Initially, I had no plans to conduct any business during this window. However, two very good opportunities arose and I simply had to take them, considering the talent of the player and the prices. The first player was English midfielder Jack Cork. Cork had been playing for Southampton in the Championship and was offered to me by his agent for a fee in the region of £7mil. Having played the season with only three central midfielders to that point and finding it difficult to rest and rotate, I decided to buy this industrious midfielder. Cork is the sort of midfielder I really like, so I'm pleased to have got him for a good price.

The second player was Nuno Oliviera. We aren't lacking at all up front, but when he was offered to me for £7.25mil I could not refuse. I had my eye on him for a while and stepped our my interest when he was unhappy at Manchester United, but didn't expect to get him. It was a surprise that he was offered to me for so cheap and I'm delighted to have one of the world's most talented young striker on our books.

Two players left. Mexican full back - formerly American - Osvaldo Sainz, who wasn't registered in my squad, left for £1.5mil to Deportivo. Another American, Peter Negrete, failed to live up to my expectations and with Oliviera coming in, I decided to move him on for £5mil to Porto. Pretty good business, in the end.

La Liga

Pre-Winter Break Results

Post-Winter Break Results

In the my update for the start of the season, I expressed my concern that we would struggle to keep pace in the title race after an opening day defeat at Villareal. Evidently, though, I was completely wrong. The team performed brilliantly over the course of the season, scoring plenty of goals and picking up some fantastic results. I can safely say we deserved to win the title, even if it was made easier by the surprising inconsistency of Barcelona and Real Madrid. How often do you see those two lose as many games as they did?

Probably the most pleasing aspect of our title win was that in games against our closest competitors - basically anyone in the current top six - we didn't lose. Our problem used to be that we couldn't beat those teams. We could give them a tough time at home but away we would always struggle and be overwhelmed. This season, we managed to overcome that hurdle and I feel that was the biggest contributor to our title win.

The season was not without it's disappointments. The away defeat at Real Sociedad was a big shock and the worst I've seen us play in a long time, while draws against Malaga and Sporting should have been wins. In this league, it's those sort of results that can really hurt you in the long run if Barcelona and Real Madrid are at their best. They weren't this season, so we could afford to drop a few extra points. I can't see us being given the same generosity next season.

There was, of course, some end of season awards:

Manager of the Year: Me, Carlos Ancelotti (Valencia), Roberto Mancini (Barcelona) (Would you believe this is the first time I've ever been in the top three for this?!)

Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Eugene Konoplyanka (Real Madrid), Alvaro Cejudo (Real Zaragoza)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Diego Alves (Valencia), Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Sergio Asenjo (Atletico Madrid)

Top Goalscorer: Carlos Fierro (32), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla, 30), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid, 25)

Top Spanish Goalscorer: Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla, 30), Roberto Soldado (Valencia, 20), Bojan (Barcelona, 17)

Spanish Player of the Year: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)

Spanish Young Player of the Year: Carlos Fierro, Alberto Gonzalez, Alex Serrano (Atletico Madrid)

Most Improved Team: Espanyol (Predicted: 3rd, Final Position: 1st), Valencia (Predicted 6th, Final Position: 3rd), Real Sociedad (Predicted: 9th, Final Position: 7th)

Team of the Season:

GK: Diego Alves (Valencia)

RB: Daniel Alves (Barcelona)

LB: Marcelo (Real Madrid)

CB: Gerard Pique (Barcelona)

CB: Juan Forlin

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

LM: Eugene Konoplyanka (Real Madrid)

CM: Alvaro Cejudo (Real Zaragoza)

CM: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

ST: Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

ST: Carlos Fierro

Sub: Diego Lopez (Villareal)

Sub: Sergio Ramos

Sub: Lewis Holtby

Sub: Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)

Sub: Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid)

Sub: Sebastien Corchia (Real Madrid)

Sub: Bojan (Barcelona)

Champions League

Our goal in the Champions League this year was to go a step further than we did last time. In other words, we wanted to reach the semi-finals.

Needless to say, winning the whole thing completely defied expectation.

There was a large element of luck about this. While there certainly wasn't much luck involved in our run to the semi-finals, we were fortunate that Lyon and PSG had knocked out Barcelona and Real Madrid along the way. Then in the semi-finals, we overcame Lyon and PSG managed to shock Arsenal, setting up a final between two sides nobody would have expected to be there. PSG are a very good side, but with all due respect we had faced and beaten harder opponents. The same could be applied to Lyon, too. If we had faced Barcelona, Real Madrid or Arsenal in the semi's we would have almost certainly lost.

But what's done is done and we had a final to look forward to. PSG took the lead through a wonder goal by Moussa Sow, but we pegged them back immediately through Carlos Fierro. We dominated the play after that but PSG retook the lead when Mandzukic popped up and blasted one in from close range. Our defending in this final was really leaving a lot to be desired... fortunately, we had enough firepower to get back into the game. Holtby turned and on the edge of the box and arrowed in a screamer to send the game into extra-time.

It seemed our greater fitness and squad depth paid off in extra-time and PSG seldom troubled us, and we managed to get the winner when Carlos Villanueva bundled in from close range. This secured the club's first ever major European trophy in their first ever Champions League final.

Copa del Rey

In the past couple of seasons we've had very good success in this competition and it's pleasing to able to keep that run going. After last year's disappointing final, it was nice to knock out Sevilla in the semi-finals. They're such a hard side to play against and having played them in the previous two finals, I'm getting a bit sick of seeing them.

The final was one-sided in our favour, although it took a very scrappy own goal to open the scoring in the 76th minute. Villanueva added a second four minutes from time. Higuain got one back in the 90th minute, making stoppage time very nervy but I think we saw it out well enough. Another Copa in the bag.

Squad Statistics

Overall Squad Stats

Fierro is the obvious stand-out player here. An outstanding 45 goals and a handy 15 assists as he lead us to a treble are simply phenomanal contributions for a 21 year old. He's now on 66 league goals, which leaves him 63 shot of Raul Tamudo's record of 129 goals. Yeah, it's safe to say he'll probably smash that record.

Villanueva, Holtby, Gonzalez, Weiss, Ekdal and Oliveira all chipped in with useful contributions, too, and this is the first time I can say that we have goals coming from everywhere in the side.

Players of the Season

3. Carlos Villanueva - He didn't play as much as last season. If he had, he might have had more oustanding totals. Still, very useful returns from him and he scored some absolutely stunning goals along the way.

2. Lewis Holtby - An excellent debut season for the German and well worth the money I paid for him. Consistent throughout the whole season and produced some great moments.

1. Carlos Fierro - Easily our best player. Not much more I can say that hasn't already been said.

Future Plans

This club has taken huge strides ever since I took over. In five seasons we've won two league titles, two Copa del Rey trophies, two Spanish Super Cups and the Champions League. That's more than what Barcelona has achieved in the same period. In ten or twenty years from now, this would be the era I would look back on and say "we were better than Barcelona".

But Barcelona are still a considerably bigger club than we are. Their finances dwarf ours. Their stadium is twice the size of ours. They can produce world class players while we can only produce so-so players. And they've won a hell of a lot more than we have.

While it is immensley pleasing to succeed so much in such a short space of time, we aren't the best Catalan club. Undoubtedly the second best, but a long way off being the best. In the end, that's where I want Espanyol to be.

Thus, I feel that the next step in our progression is to improve our infrastructure. We've good training and youth facilities and a good stadium that seats 42,500 people and they've served us very well. What I now want are top facilities, an academy that can produce world class players and a stadium that can rival the best in Europe. In order to accomplish that, we need money. A lot of money.

It's no secret that in order to get to this point, I have spent a lot of money. £102mil, to be precise, on 32 players. For a club like Espanyol, that's a hell of a lot of cash and I've recouped only £49mil of that through the sales of 32 players. This has had an impact on our finances and though we aren't in any sort of financial trouble, we only have £37mil in the bank - even after all the prize money received from our treble winning season. The club is going to need a lot more.

In order to accomplish that, I will have to curb my spending. This summer, I will not be signing a big name player. I feel it actually doesn't need an addition of that ilk, since our best players are either in their prime or still quite young. My focus will now be on younger talents.

This will probably make next season harder, but I still feel confident we can win the title again. The Champions League may be stretching it, but there's no reason why we cannot win a third consecutive title.

Well done on a strong treble.

Some enjoyable writing there, especially when you are winning trophies!

Thanks for the compliments, guys. Another update should be on its way soon.

Transfers

As I mentioned at the end of my last update, I wasn't going to make any major purchases in this window. Subsequently, this is the first time in my time as Espanyol manager that we've made a profit in the transfer market. That really puts my spending into perspective.

With no big names coming in, I turned my attention to youth. Samuel Rodriguez was a talent I spotted last season but decided to hold off buying him, as I thought Sevilla would play him more often. They didn't, and that resulted in Rodriguez becoming unhappy and not signing a contract extension, allowing me to swoop in and get him for free. Not a bad deal for one of the most talented Spanish regens produced so far.

Roddy Dolan was another bought to my attention last season. For a 15 year old, he has some impressive stats and while he probably won't become some sort of wonderkid, he looks like he'll turn out pretty well. He's already good enough to play for our B side, current in the third division of Spain. I'll be watching him closely.

Ignacio Camacho is the most notable player to leave. He had been a solid player for us for a few years, but with Rodriguez coming in I felt I needed to make some room in midfield. £8mil is a very good price.

Baena and Rochina were both surplus to requirements.

Squad

The squad is, by and large, the same as last season:

(* denotes a regen)

Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GK)

Mark Obrien* (GK)

David* (DCLR)

Roberto Imaz* (DC)

Juan Forlin (DC, DM) (Vice-Captain)

Hector Moreno (DC)

Sergio Ramos (DRC)

Francisco Martin Martin* (DR)

Ricardo Rodriguez (DL)

Didac (DL)

Javi Martinez (DM/MC) (Captain)

Samuel Rodriguez* (DM/MC)

Jack Cork (MC)

Albin Ekdal (MC/AMC)

Vladimir Weiss (MC/MR/ML/AMC/AMR/AML)

Aaron Green* (MR/AMR)

Lewis Holtby (MC/ML/AMC/AML)

Alberto Gonzalez* (ML/AML/AMC)

Carlos Villanueva (AMC/ST)

Nuno Oliveira* (AMR/ST)

Carlos Fierro (ST)

And the preferred starting eleven:

There have been a couple of changes from last season. This could very well be Juan Forlin's last season with us, so I decided to pass the captaincy onto Javi Martinez. Moreno and Didac are also possible candidates to be moved on in the summer, as refreshing my backline is very much on the agenda. The process has already begun with 19 year old O'Brien coming into replace ter Stegen. While the German has been solid, O'Brien is developing at such a rate that he'll soon be better than him.

The day that Forlin, Moreno and Didac ago will be bittersweet, as they, along with Weiss, are the only plays left from the squad I inherited from Pochettino five or so seasons ago.

Them leaving though is not set in stone. I won't be making that decision until the end of the season.

Spanish Super Cup

This season's edition of the Super Cup saw us go against Real Madrid. They had spent a lot of money in the summer on some good players, but they decided to play a "weaker" squad for this, while I played a full strength side. We won the first leg at home 2-0, and lost the second leg 1-0. So that's another Super Cup in the cabinet. That's three in a row now.

European Super Cup

The club's first venture into this competition came against Valencia. We ususally do well against them, but after a horribly dull 120 minutes, we lost the game on penalties. Disappointing to lose, but it's not much of a big deal since we still have the World Club Championships to look forward to.

Managing England

Having managed England several times before on other saves, I was hesitant to manage them again on this save. When they came knocking though, I couldn't really say no. So I found myself taking over from Stuart Pearce (an omen, perhaps?) and facing the task of building a team capable of winning major honours. Which, given what I have available, is not going to be easy by any means.

Since it's 2016, several of the old guard have retired. The likes of Ferdinand, Cole, Lampard and Gerrard have all retired, while John Terry is still somehow soldiering on despire barely being able to run. Mysteriousy, Wanye Rooney, the country's top goalscorer with 76 goals (which is an absolutley amazing record) has retired from international football at the grand old age of 30 (may need to have a word with him), leaving me somewhat lacking in the striking department.

It appears that the best striker England have at this moment is a 32 year old Darren Bent. Daniel Sturridge, a great player at Sevilla, is the next best, while Carroll and Walcott have hardly proven themselves prolific over the years.

Then there's the wingers... or the lack of wingers, I should say. Ashley Young has been ravaged by injury and is hardly a good player anymore, while Adam Johnson just isn't all that good. Chamberlain has hardly developed and probably the best talent England has in this department is a long way off international standard (but he is under my wing, so that'll change soon enough).

It's not all bad, though. We've some fantastic central midfielders, most notably Jack Wilshere, with a good supporting cast with the likes of Tom Cleverly, James Milner, Tom Cairney, Jonjo Shelvey, Jordan Henderson, Ross Barkley and Jack Rodwell. Defensively we're good too, with Joe Hart and Mark O'Brien as our keepers and Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Gary Cahill, Ryan Shawcross, Kyle Walker, Micah Richards, Leighton Baines and Jack Robinson as our defensive options.

Safe to say, I'll be playing a narrow formation.

Youth wise, there are a couple of good decent talents but not a lot to get excited about.

We've gotten off to a good start, beating Bulgaria and Finland in qualifiers. There's a long way to go for this team, but I'm relishing the challenge.