From Dolé to Olé

My first ever Career Update, so I'm stealing some of the format/ideas from others, to whom I apologise! Anyway, I've already completed my first season on this save and like the idea of doing a career update, so I'll just do a summary of my first 12 months in management...

The leagues I have running are:

Belgium (Third)

Denmark (Second)

England (Blue Square North/South)

France (CFA)

Germany (Third)

Ireland (First)

Italy (C2)

Netherlands (Jupiler)

N.Ireland (Second)

Portugal (Second Division)

Scotland (Third)

Spain (Second B)

Wales (Prem)

Start Date is July 2012

Experience: Sunday League Footballer

Job Status: Unemployed

I love starting a new FM game at the very bottom, and seeing how my career pans out. I don't set myself any stringent targets as such, other than to lead Aston Villa to glory - of course I need to earn the job first!

Having applied for all jobs going I get offered the following 4:

Bleid-Molenbeek (Bel)

Mirandela (Por)

Brechin (Sco)

Athlone (Ire)

And after a quick round of "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo" I plump for Mirandela.

Portugal Second Division North

Transfer Budget £0

Wage Budget £3.2k/wk

Board Expectations - Stay Clear of Relegation/2nd Round of Cup

Media Prediction - 13th (Out of 16 - Bottom 2 relegated)

My Aim - Top 10 finish.

Looking at the squad I inherited I was doing ok in terms of numbers, but severely lacking in quality, especially in the spine of the team. So my pre-season aim was to improve that whilst getting rid of some of the deadest of the deadwood. By season kick off it was 8 in/9 out.

Season Review

League - 6th

Cup - 3rd Round

Top Scorer - Lucas (9)

Ave. Rating - Ribeiro (7.19)

Fans POTY - Ribeiro

My POTY - Ribeiro

Overall I'm happy with my first season, some decent results along the way. We never looked like going down, or challenging at the top either. Having managed to ship out most of the deadwood at the start of the season I am happy with my first choice XI, the aim now is to improve the quality of depth in the squad and aim to challenge for the top, if we can turn some of the draws into wins we should be able to achieve this.

Beware of the Portugese Second Division.

Even topping the table doesn't guarantee promotion. You have to then play a mini-league against the other regional winners. And not come last.

Thanks for the heads up.

2013/14 - Pre Season

Transfer Budget - £0

Wage Budget - £4k/wk

Board Expectations - Mid Table Finish/2nd Round of Cup

Media Prediction - 14th

Title Odds - 2000/1

My Aim - Top half finish

Well my pre-season could not have gone any worse. As well as loosing my entire backroom staff, I struggled to replace the players who also decided to head off to pastures new. Although they were mainly squad fillers, it has left the new squad looking pretty bare. The majority of my pre-season was taken up trying to find a new Assistant/Physio and a couple of Scouts/Coaches. Once this was taken care of (unfortunately I had no choice but to take on worse than what I had last season - I suppose something is better than nothing after all) I could then look to bolstering my squad. Sadly this again was a struggle, mainly because of the club's Presidential Elections which hit me with a transfer embargo for 2 weeks. I now have a new chairman who has decided to lump a £230k loan on the club. Because of all this I was only really able to sign 1 player who would be in my first choice XI - Right Back Rodolfo Lourenco on loan from Academica. My other signings were again just to make up the numbers, and because they offered a bit more than the (very poor) youth prospects I have at my disposal. In terms of matches we played it was a real mixed bag, with 1 win, 2 draws and 2 defeats but no real stand out performances. To underline how very poor we are at the moment we got knocked out of the Taca De Portugal in Round 1 by non-league Coimbroes - losing 5-2 in the process (despite being 2-0 up after 26 minutes). Granted I had 4 of my first choice players out with a virus, but the manner of the defeat was a kick in the balls.

All in all it looks like my aim of a top half finish, or even to improve on last season, could be a little high. We will really need a lot of luck when it comes to injuries, because shy of my back up striker there really is no quality in my reserves. I'll post an update at the mid-way point of the season, or if something major develops.

2013/14 - First Half

At the halfway mark of the season then we are sitting in 4th place just 1 point off the top, in what is a very tight division where no one has taken control of the league. Results wise we have picked up good wins against sides where we were expected to struggle, but our inconsistencies from the previous season have haunted us again., with only the little run we were on at the back end of the half keeping us in the hunt for an unlikely promotion spot. Overall I should be happy with where we are, especially as I am confident we've done enough already to ensure relegation will not be an issue and I am now looking to push on in the league, but I can't help but feel disappointed with our performances, especially as the league is there for the taking this year. Performance wise our best match was against Chaves, who were league leaders at that point and we really dominated them from start to finish. Our worst performance though was not in the 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Ribeirao, but against Famalicao, where the 0-4 scoreline did flatter us. This performance became the turning point of the season for me as I decided to change our formation from an expansive 4-5-1 to a more narrow 4-4-2 diamond, a change that would pay instant dividends with 3 consecutive victories. There have been no real stand outs, good or bad, in the playing staff - although we did lose Pinhal for 2 months through injury and his presence was missed at that back.

Come January I am hoping to be able to bring in 3/4 players to add a bit of quality to the depth of the squad, and to give the team a bit of a boost towards our (hopeful) promotion push.

For the remainder of the season I will be looking to get promotion, and depending on the outcome of this I think will determine if I sign a new contract with the club (should I be offered one), as attracting players of any decent quality to come to the club is a real struggle at the moment, and my current playing and backroom staff are reluctant to sign on too, so the thought of going through another pre-season like the previous one is not inspiring me.

Meanwhile it seems that FC Famalicao have turned to divine intervention in their quest to avoid relegation

JANUARY 2014 - Mirandela

Portugese Second Division - North

An awful 5 weeks for us. After the positive end to the opening half of the season it all came undone in January. A dour goalless draw at Vit. Guimaraes B was followed by a poor performance against both Gondomar and Tirsense. A couple of new signings came in then, including Lucas up front and that looked to have a good effect on the team when we raced to a 2-0 lead against Oliveira Bairro, however a 24th minute red card for on loan right back Rodolfo Lourenco turns the game on it's head. We follow this up with a couple of draws with Lucas continuing his scoring streak. The final match at Limianos is most frustrating as we concede a last minute penalty, which replays show should not have been given.

Marco Vasconcelos - Free - Highly rated by my scouts/director of football and has mainly been brought in for the future. Will get the odd run out during the season though to see how he copes. I'm keen to play a more attacking formation for remainder of season so an AMC is what we need.

Lucas - Free - We've had little consistency up front this season, so I am looking to improve here. 3 goals in 3 games so far is a good start. A Target Man primarily who I will look to build our attack around.

Paulo Costa - Free - Found by my Director of Football, gives us a bit of experience up front and will hopefully pass on his knowledge to Vasconcelos.

Tiago Carneiro - Free - The left wing role has been a real problem since I took over, and finally I have found a half decent player. Another recommended by my DoF, and I look forward to his impact

Ze Carvalho - Free - Young striker who didn't really impress during my time, nor do I think has much of a future in the game.

February 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division - North

Well our horror form continues, making it 9 games without a win. Riberiao gave us a footballing lesson in our opening fixture of the month. We followed that with a home match against bottom of the table Joane. Once again we manage to throw away a 2-0 lead, and in the end are lucky not to lose. Our final fixture sees us fall to a late winner at home to fellow strugglers Leca. A result made worse by the injury to Lucas which sees him go to the physio for the next 2 months, and unlikely to feature for us again this season. So now I've gone from looking towards an unlikely promotion push at the halfway point, to looking over our shoulders at the possibility of relegation. March will be a key month for us with fixtures against both Boavista and Famalicao coming up they really are must wins.

March 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

A key month for us with games against the bottom 2 sides bookending it, and we scraped through. First off the match against Boavista, and despite the away side dominating the game we scored a couple of second half goals, including a brilliant counter attacking goal, to give us our first win since before Christmas. This was followed up with a trip to mid-table Amarante, and despite taking a very early lead they came back at us and ran away comfortable winners. The final match of the month was the key battle against the side who hammered us 6-0 earlier in the season, and we knew a win would, barring an absolute catastrophe, see us safe from relegation. A storming match from right winger Inzaghi saw us dominate from start to finish and take the 3 points we need. The victory put us 9 points above the drop zone with 3 games to play, so we should stay up. The focus now will be to try and improve on last season's 10th position.

We also had our youth intake for the month, with Franck Aubry looking the best of a pretty poor bunch.

I'll be posting a lot of updates (about 6 months of in game time) later this evening when I'm back home and laptop is connected online, so I apologise in advance for the deluge!

April 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division - North

Much like the opening half of the season we finish up on an unbeaten run. First up we faced our parent club, and promotion hopefuls, Chaves and are unlucky not to take all 3 points with us missing a late penalty for the second time this season. Still the point is enough to mathematically guarantee we don't go down, and I'll take that. Our penultimate match at Fafe also sees the return from injury of Lucas, and although he doesn't score himself we put in a good enough performance to see us take home the spoils. We end our campaign at home to Vizela, and I decided to try and give the fans something to cheer so I set us up very attacking. The goals I was hoping for do not arrive, instead we rely on a late wonder strike (which would win Goal of the Month) from midfielder Romao to grab us a point.

And finally...

After some umming and ahhing I agree to stay on for another 12 months, but I expect it will be my final year at the club.

2014/15 Season Preview - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

Board Expectation: Mid Table Finish

My Expectation: Improvement on 9th

Media Predicition: 15th (Out of 16 - So relegation).

Title Odds: 2000-1

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £4.49k/week

Balance: £148,538

Not a bad set of results or performances, be nice to carry that form over into the new season.

Transfers

A high number of departures of the bigger earning squad players, although well under my wage budget I'm worried about our future finances, so I'm going to try and get away with using youth players as back up as much as possible.

Coming in though we have:

ZAMORANO - Free - Had no Right Backs in the squad, so needed some experience. Looks ok for this level.

FABIO CARDOSO - Free - Signed purely to be back up for my first choice pairing.

DIOGO RIBEIRO - Free - Youngster with a decent lower league future ahead, should partner Romeo well.

PENETRA - Free - Signed to be our Number 2 'keeper, but the pre-season loss of Bernardes to injury for 5 months will see him get a lengthy run out.

LUIS CARLOS - Free - To provide a bit of competition for Lucas/Junior up front. Plus can be cover on wings.

August/September 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

We kicked off our campaign with a match against non-league opposition in the Portuguese Cup. All told it was an unconvincing display, not helped with losing 3 players to injury before half time, including our goalkeeper. A late brace from Lucas saved our blushes and saw us progress. The league season was started with a dour goalless draw, as our young side (I had four U19 players in the starting XI, with another three on the bench) managed to hold on to the point, again though we suffered injuries in the 90 minutes. Due to our injury crisis (we only had 1 fit MC in the entire club) I was forced to change our formation to a more defensive 4-2-1-2-1, and it paid instant dividends as we ran out comfortable 5-1 winners away at Famalicao, with another brace from Lucas helping us on our way. We then headed to higher division opposition in the cup, and were only knocked out due to 2 goals in the last 5 minutes as I decided to attack to try and force a positive result. This didn't knock our confidence though as we then travelled to parent club Chaves, who we have a hoodoo over, and romped to victory, preserving a halftime 3 goal advantage, with yet another brace from Lucas. We ended the month unbeaten with only a late equaliser denying us another 3 points at Tirsense. All tolled a very good month for us.

In other news... I have just noticed that in my 2 and a little bit seasons at the club we have not scored a single penalty!

October 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

Well our unbeaten start to the season continues, and we end the month top of the table. In our game against Fafe super striker Lucas continues his rich vein of form to give us the lead. Sadly we finish the match with 9 men due to injuries to 2 of our substitutes and it costs us with a late equaliser. We bounce back though with a convincing victory against Infesta. We raced into a 3-0 lead, and although we took the foot of the gas, a late fourth goal for us cemented the 3 points. The following week we took advantage of being the only fixture in the division due to cup commitments elsewhere to climb to the top of the league with a tricky away point at Oliveira. The month was capped with a late winner at home to struggling Vizela, with that man Lucas scoring the decisive goal. I can't help but be overjoyed with our start to the season, especially as I've not been able to play my first choice XI at any point. I've also been linked to my first job elsewhere, with my name in the mix to take over at

League Two Stevenage, however I never got offered the job so I'll continue where I am for now.

November 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

The perfect month. It kicked off with a lucky win against Braganca, with substitue Junior coming up with the winner late on. We then raced to a 3 goal lead against Salgueiros, but nearly threw it all away when they pegged us back to 3-2 before blazing a penalty over the bar with 5 mins on the clock. It was then a top of the table clash against Ribeirao, moved to mid week due to their cup match. Looking at their line up you could see tired legs (they were taken to a penalty shoot out) so I changed my style to have them chasing the ball more to tire them out further, and it worked with a comfortable win, which finally included a penalty scored for us! Tiredness became a factor for ourselves in the next match, and despite Leca being down to 10 men for most of the match, we just couldn't seem to find the back of the net. Luckily for us Lucas came off the bench to grab us the win our play deserved. We rounded the month off with a very easy 4-0 demolition of struggling Amarante, with a returning Inzaghi destroying them from start to finish. So we're starting to pull away at the top, and I'm starting to feel hopeful that we may actually go up.

December 2014 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division - North

We reached the midway point of the season in December, and it truly was a mixed bag of a month, although not bad at least. We kicked it off with a bore draw at home to Gondomar, with only 3 shots between the 2 sides all match, non of which hit the target. This was followed by a good win away at Limianos, with a couple of second half strikes sealing the points. We kicked off the second half of our campaign with our first league defeat of the season away at Padroense, in a game we never really deserved to take anything away from. Naturally my mind darted back to the previous season and our collapse, but thankfully our next match was against Chaves and once again our curse over them struck and we ran out easy 3-0 victors. So we reach the end of 2014 and we are sitting pretty at the top of the table still with a 5 point gap and 13 games remaining. This time I will confidently say that relegation is not a possibility! Promotion on the other hand? Well I'm still hopeful, but I guess we'll see how we are doing at the end of January.

And that's it for now!

January 2015 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

A poor month, with only our home form keeping us at the top of the table. It kicked off with a fairly nerve wracking victory against Famalicao, where we found ourselves 2-0 down after 15 minutes, and although we managed to turn it around we were under the cosh. This was followed by 2 awful performances, with the less said about them the better! The month was rounded off with a victory against mid table Tirsense with a scoreline that does not give justice to our domination in the match. So with 9 games to go our lead is reduced to 3 points and I'm starting to get nervous!

I decided to bring a couple of experienced heads in through the transfer window to add a bit of competition and also help take burden off younger players:

Wilson Moreira - Free - Right Winger to challenge Inzaghi for a starting berth.

Miguel Oliveira - Free - Pinhal's form at centre back has dropped off this season, so Oliveira will come in and hopefully help shore the defence up.

Good luck getting back up to speed.

February 2015 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

An awful month for us sees our lead cut down to 2 points. It started off well with a very good performance in the win against Oliviera, but that was all we had to cheer about, with two lacklustre turnouts to finish the month. The match against Salgueiros was awful as we didn't even manage a shot on goal. Our next match is at home to Ribeirao, and a must win. Lose that and I think we can kiss goodbye to promotion.

Good luck getting back up to speed.

Thanks Delta, as you can see from our form in February we are going to need all the luck we can get!

March 2015 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

Well the bubble has well and truly burst for us. The must win game against Ribeirao couldn't have started any worse, 2-0 down after 7 minutes and then 3-1 after 12, we managed to bring it back before half time to 3-2, but the second half we were under attack, with only one counter attack from ourselves where we hit the bar our only chance to salvage something. This was backed up with a very lucky win against Braganca, despite us going 2-0 up we were pegged back to 2-2 but had Lucas to thank for a winner after 93 minutes. Any hopes we were back on track were dashed against relegation threatened Amarante, again we took an early lead but threw it all away with an abject second half performance.

March is also Youth Intake month, and I've been given this little 5 star gem:

Already he is in the senior squad and was on the bench against Amarante.

So we are about to enter our final three matches and in need of a miracle to get promoted and for me to stay here.

April 2015 - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

Well a horror end to what turned into a horrible end of season. There was no fight or desire from the team to want to make an effort to go for promotion, and no matter what I tried tactically or in team talks they didn't want to know. Suffice to say the day after the final match this happened:

I'll do a season review shortly, by which time I may have another job.

2014/15 Season Review - Mirandela

Portuguese Second Division North

Board Expectation: Mid Table Finish

My Expectation: Improvement on 9th

Media Predicition: 15th (Out of 16 - So relegation)

Final Position - 4th

Results 1 - Results 2 - Final Table

What a gutwrencher of a season - after going the first half of the season unbeaten we were looking good for promotion, but all of a sudden we struggled for form, only picking up 16 points out of a possible 45, meaning we dropped down to finish 4th, and missing out on going up - despite leading for most of the season. So overall, even though we've improved as a team on previous seasons I can't help but feel I've taken Mirandela as far as I can go. Especially as the better players, and backroom staff, are not interested in renewing contracts. Three seasons of trying to build a squad is more than enough for me, so after the final match of the season I resigned

SQUAD

Some good performances throughout the season, especially from the U19 players who had to come in at various points. Three of the squad are retiring at the end of the season, and Mirandela will miss their experience. Only 6 of the rest of the squad are contracted beyond this summer so I can see a major re-build coming for the new manager.

Best Players

TIAGO CARNEIRO - Our main creative force on the left wing, with a role in around a third of all our goals in his matches. Carried his pre-season form into the season and was our most consistent performer.

LUCAS - Finished our leading goalscorer, and scored some very important goals for us throughout the season. A bit too hit and miss though in his performances though, which annoyed me no end. If he'd have had consistency of Carneiro we'd have won the league with ease.

ZAMORANO - Our best defender by far, even at Right Back he seemed to be all over the defence, even helping out in attack too with 8 assists. Missed the last 3 matches through injury and you could feel his absence.

The future? Well I'm still on the lookout for a new job - League Two Wycombe were flattered by my interest in the job, but appointed Phil Buckle instead. I might wait to see what happens in June/July when current managers retire or move around.

Season       Club          Division       Country      League       Cup            Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13  Mirandela    Second Div - N     Portugal      10th      2nd Rnd      Survival
2013/14  Mirandela    Second Div - N     Portugal      9th       1st Rnd        Survival
2014/15  Mirandela    Second Div - N     Portugal      4th      2nd Rnd        Bottled it - Resigned end of season

Other Winners...

      [b]World Cup  European Champs  Copa America  African Nations  Asian Cup     Gold Cup 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b]
2013                                                Algeria                         USA
2014   Argentina                                
2015                                                Mali         Australia         Mexico

         CL Winners       CL Runner Up     EL Winners     EL Runner Up  [b]
------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b]
2012/13   Schalke           Fenerbache       Leverkusen     Napoli
2013/14   R. Madrid         Chelsea          Juventus       Galatsaray
2014/15   Man Utd           R. Madrid        Arsenal        Schalke

        [b]Belgium   Denmark      England   France  Germany   Ireland     Italy     Netherlands   N.Ireland   Portugal   Scotland   Spain[/b]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13 Anderlecht  Kobenhavn   Tottenham   PSG   Bayern    Shamrock   Fiorentina   Twente     Linfield       Porto     Celtic    Valencia
2013/14 Standard    Kobenhavn   Man City    PSG   Bayern    Silgo      Juventus     PSV        Linfield     Benfica     Celtic    R.Madrid
2014/15 AA Gent     Kobenhavn   Chelsea     PSG   Dortmund             Juventus     PSV        Linfield     Benfica     Celtic    R.Madrid

My first job offer:

They've been promoted back to Second Division North. On the plus side it's a bigger club than Mirandela, and should I do well it will improve my reputation. However I'm not sure I want to remain in Portugal. I've delayed the offer for now as a couple of other clubs are flattered by my interest including Bristol Rovers, so I may see how that application goes.

Is it just me or are my screen prints small on here?

Pity it didn't come in sooner, I'd have prefered that as well.

It was another one of them jobs where they were flattered by my interest, and maybe I could've stuck it out a bit longer before taking the Boavista job, but with all the other flatterers failing to come and offer me a job I decided to just take Boavista on instead. I'm also wanting to try and play the game as if it were real life, and I think in reality had I been given the chance to take on a club as big as Boavista I'd have taken it.

August/September 2015 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

I'm not too disappointed with our start, as we've dominated in every match so far. Our only blip came against Braga B, and I lay that squarely at the feet of the referee. Not only did he incorrectly award Braga a penalty after 3 minutes he made it worse by sending my DM off. The team did magnificent to turn it around in the second half and take a 2-1 lead, but our tiredness became too much and goals after 89 and 92 minutes sealed our fate.

Taca De Portugal

A couple of unconvincing displays against non league opposition have been enough to see us progress to the third round where we come up against fellow Second Division outfit Oliveira Bairro, so a real opportunity to go further in the competition.

Prior to the Second Round match I reached my first milestone:

Finally, I've got some tough months ahead finance wise. I was bang on my wage budget, however I failed to take into account (well never thought to check) that a number of my players have received wage hikes due to reaching "X" amount of league games for Boavista (including Branco who jumped from £190 to £625/wk). All of this sees me spending £1.3k/week over budget and no opportunity to sell until January. I may have no choice but to release some of the poorer first team squad and rely totally on the U19s for back up.

October 2015 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

We kicked the month of with a trip to my old side Mirandela, who were clearly up for this match as they lead 2-0 after 20 minutes. A bollocking at half time saw us improve and a late brace from Stevens saw us take home a share of the spoils. Our next two league matches were comfortable, if unspectacular, victories, including yet another victory for me against Chaves! We ended the month though dreadfully, in a lacklustre performance against Oliviera. Due to injuries/tiredness I tweaked with the tactics whilst still goalless around the hour mark, and it backfired completely with the home side taking advantage of my lightweight midfield and scoring 3 goals in the last 15 minutes to avenge their cup defeat.

Taca De Portugal

Another unconvincing performance in the cup, but we still did enough to progress to the next round where we will face Premier League Vit. Setubal.

And Finally...

Worried about my finances and wage bill, especially as I had another player earn himself a wage hike, I had to release 7 of my back up and youth squad to try and bring it back down. I'm still around £1k/wk over budget at the moment, and can see me having to sell big in January.

November 2015 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

A good month for us in the league sees us approach the midway point of the season level on points at the top, in what is proving to be a very tight division. We're starting to really dominate matches now, whilst also looking very strong at the back, all that is missing are the goals. If we keep these performances up and really click we are going to give somebody a real hiding at some point. We were without our star player Branco for the entire month, and his replacement has proven he can cope at this level which makes the decision to try and sell him in January that little bit easier.

Taca De Portugal

Well our cup run is over for another year, but not without a fight as we took Premier League Vit. Setubal to extra time in a tie where we never looked outclassed. We even had the chance to take it to a shoot out, but Barbosa saw a 118th minute penalty hit the top of the stand! Although I'm not overly disappointed to go out (we'd never have won it after all), but the next round would've seen us visit our rivals Porto and with it some much needed cash.

December 2015 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

For the second year in a row I celebrate the new year sitting top of the Second Division North. Our only blip in December coming at the hands of promotion rivals Gondomar thanks to conceding a late winner on the counter attack, in what was a game of very few chances. It's still looking tight at the top, with 3 points separating the top 4 so we'll have to stay on form to stand a chance of going up, but I'm a lot more confident this time around than I was at any point last season, even when I was 8 points clear at the top!

I've had to release another couple of players to bring the wage bill down that little bit more, and have offered Branco around for £100k in the hope of bringing some cash in to suppliment the wage bill, but to no avail as of yet. Making it worse is the fact that I've now managed to upset him, and telling him we need funds isn't making it any easier! Of course the cash situation is having an impact on negotiating contract extensions with current players as well as running the risk if we get injuries (I'm now down to a 19 man squad). Especially as I have been greeted with this message from the board:

Promotion is going to be a must this season, else Boavista are going to be in real trouble!

January 2016 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division

An average month for us to kick off the new year, with the major disappointment being the defeat at home to my former charges Mirandela in what was our worst performance of the season. We did produce a couple of very good displays in our two victories, but the drawn matches we were lucky to get away with a point in both. The unrest in the background in terms of money (I've had to offer 5 of my players out to try and raise money and reduce watchbill - all to no avail) plus the release of another 3 players from their contracts has not helped. Squad wise we are now down to our bare bones, and a couple of injuries/suspensions will mean I won't even be able to fill my bench. We're still in with a shout of promotion though, which I'm happy with and with some good fortune and a decent run of form we can still achieve that aim.

February 2016 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

A quiet month for us, which started with a very comfortable win against bottom of the table Vit. Guimaraes B, a performance I was hoping would kick us on for the rest of the season. This was undone the following week though with an awful outing at Braganca where we never got going at all. With us now 4 points off the top, with 6 to play, it's going to be a tight run in. Especially as we play the 3 sides challenging for promotion with us.

And Finally...

February saw Presidential Elections for Boavista, and as such I now have a new boss. He's managed to wipe out all the debts, but only by taking a loan out. Short term that is a help, how it will effect us come pre-season I'm not so sure.

March 2016 - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

An unbeaten month, with a couple of games against sides battling promotion with us. We kicked March off with a convincing win against Fafe, which should've been more with Crespo unlucky not to take home the match ball when he managed to hit the woodwork twice late on. We followed this up with a victory against mid table Padroense, a win that took us top of the table. We rounded the month off with a trip to another promotion hopeful Infesta, Crespo getting us off to a brilliant start, but from then on we were under the cosh and were lucky to come home with a share of the spoils. So we approach the last 3 games of the season in 2nd, level on points with Gondomar, and 1 point ahead of Fafe. Our final match of the season is home to Gonodmar, and that could decide our future.

And finally...

March is Youth Intake month, and right winger Guimaraes is the best of, what is overall a pretty bad bunch.

April 2016 (Part 1) - Boavista

Portuguese Second Division North

The perfect month so far for us with 2 wins. Started off with a comfortable win against struggling Vizela, which included a hat trick for our in form striker Crespo. We followed this with a hard fought victory against Limianos, with Stevens scoring his first goal in 6 games late on getting us the win. These victories were coupled with a pair of wins for Gondomar too, meaning the final match of the season of Boavista v Gondomar will be a winner takes all match (well a draw will see Gondomar promoted!)

The result of this match? Well you'll find out soon enough...

BOAVISTA v GONDOMAR

Line Ups

Half Time

Full Time

Other Winners...

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Season    League                        League Position    Notes                            
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2015/16   Second Division North                6th        Mid Table Obscurity                        

Worth it just to see Natalie Sawyer in the crowd.

Bizarrely I've just received this bit of news!

Worth it just to see Natalie Sawyer in the crowd.

Is David Bentley her (very) lucky bloke then, or is she a Brentford supporter?

Is David Bentley her (very) lucky bloke then, or is she a Brentford supporter?

Brentford supporter.

Pre Season 2016/17 - Brentford

Within a fortnight of taking over the board took my entire transfer budget off me (£170k) and halved my wage budget, this left me with some major problems - 2/3 of my key squad players were out of contract so I couldn't renew them, and other back up players that, although not strong enough in the long run for us were good enough to be squad players were also forced to leave. That reduced my squad down from 25 players to 12 players. To aid the wage bill I also managed to get rid of the worst players in my squad too, and thankfully I was able to get to within budget (Bentley's £2.7k/wk going helped too). The loss of my transfer budget hit my plans too as, whilst I still had it, I was agreeing the £75k transfer of my star Right Back from Boavista (Branco), but also a couple of highly rated cheap signings. Overall then I was somewhat restricted on who I could afford to bring in, so I mainly concentrated on youngsters with potential:

MIKE WILLIAMSON - Free - Comes in as a Player/Assistant Manager (I'm allowed 2 AM's?) and gives us some much needed experience at the back.

ALEX NICHOLSON - Free - Young Right Back who has decent potential. Has played U21 for Wales and I expect he'll make their senior squad within the next year if he can perform.

CHRIS LEWINGTON - Free - A decent 'keeper for this level who will give us some stability in goal.

BRADLEY STEPHENS - Free - Highly rated by all my scouts/backroom staff, will play back up for Lewington this season.

LOUIS HUTTON - Free - Another one for the future, had a fantastic previous season down in Blue Square Prem with Grimsby and I'm hoping he can step up.

BOB IRONS - Free - Released by Celtic, will be looking to ease him in this season.

REECE FLANAGAN - Free - A key player for league rivals Walsall last season, I'll be building midfield around him.

LUKE ADAMS - Free - New Zealand international central defender, recommended by Payne of all people! Not the greatest but I had only one centre back and needs must.

DAVID BRYAN - Loan - Highly rated by Crewe, and looks a class above the rest of my squad. Will be

another key midfielder for me.

GRANT DEXTER - Loan - Left Back from Arsenal, will provide competition for first choice Craig.