[FM 15] Last Stand at Eibar

The Club

I didn't play Football Manager too much lately, so I started this Eibar save hoping for some good moments of (virtual) football.

Why Eibar?

Los armeros are probably the weakest team in La Liga, their tiny stadium (5500 seats) and a chronic lack of money should make for an entertaining one-club career, I bet you know some of our opponents over there...

They're a fan-owned club based in the Basque Country, if you want to know more about their recent history just watch this: The Eibar model: a different kind of football is possible

The Manager

Me, Thomas Paine, an Italian coach trying to put this small Basque club on the Spanish and European football map.

I'd like to play a sort of 4-3-3, with two inside forwards and a flat midfield trio, it seems a viable option for the players at my disposal.

Season One

After a first look at the squad I realized this year I'll have to heavily rely on loans, there are already five players on loan at Eibar, they're decent but on high wages (Didac Vila, Abraham, Manu Del Moral, Rafa Paez and Federico Piovaccari) so I immediately terminated their loans and signed others that could better suit my tactical ideas.

Many players joined on (2 years) loan, all of them have an agreed price so that I could decide to sign them on a permanent basis at the end of the season, of course if we want to improve our budget for the future we need to achieve good results, no other way at the moment.

Spent 3.1 M overall and only gained 230k, our bank balance is dangerously plummeting; as you see the only player I bought was Danilo Pereira, a versatile Portuguese central midfielder, he will be a key member of my midfield, on the other hand I'm looking forward to Federico Bernardeschi performance, a shining Italian talent from Fiorentina.

SD Eibar First XI - 2014/15

We had a stunning first season, finished 5th and missing an UCL spot just by one point to Bilbao, but our Europa League qualification for next season is surely a surprising outcome, Madrid and Barca are really far, but we already know about their supremacy.

SD Eibar had some great games along the way: beating Atleti 4-2 and defeating Real Madrid La Liga winners twice, 2-0 and 4-2 (away)! I can't help being proud of the boys for these amazing victories.

Our form dramatically improved when we signed a more reliable striker as Dejan Lekic and Angel were largely disappointing in the first half of the season, in January Brayan Perea joined Los armeros on loan from Lazio and scored 8 in 13 games to help our strong finish playing as a false nine

At the same time we can't forget to single out Bernardeschi, Berjon and Mansur (a brazilian left back) brilliant displays, but many players clearly did well through the season, we played a very physical and aggressive kind of football all season long, taking full advantage from our best skill: strength.

There are still cause for concern though, our financial situation is not sound at all, in spite of our successful campaign we're still in red, low gate receipts and tv rights are hitting the club hard, I really hope it could improve at the beginning of our second season, otherwise I won't be able to improve my squad quality.

Really good first season - 4-2 away at Madrid must have had to over the moon! What are your goals for next season?

I shall be following this - underdogs always make for the best stories, IMO!

Things improved a bit financially and even if our budget isn't wealthy, the board gave me a decent 7 M to spend for new players, I was aware that spending the whole budget would have meant to finish in red once again, but don't forget we have an European competition to play and I must build a competitive team, so I spent 8 M this year signing nothing less than 18 players! The squad needed to be revamped and I worked hard to do that: Simone Colombi (GK), Levy Madinda, central midfielder on loan from Celta last season and Lorenzo Crisetig, hard-working midfielder, were the key signings, Inaki Williams is a really promising forward I snapped for 500k from Bilbao, I will nurture him a lot, very gifted.

Just asked the board to improve our facilities: stadium & training, They firmly refused my first request explaining me there was no money left to expand the pitch, meanwhile they accepted to upgrade our training ground.

As a result our new first XI for the season 2015-16 should look like that, with two new inside forwards and a fully overhauled defensive line:

Vamos!

Really good first season - 4-2 away at Madrid must have had to over the moon! What are your goals for next season?

I shall be following this - underdogs always make for the best stories, IMO!

Yep, crazy game vs. Los blancos , regarding my future plans I'm going to consolidate, I'm aware that being competitive on several fronts (EL, La Liga, Copa del Rey) will be hard, hopefully EL will improve our finances a bit so to continue our step by step growth process.

I still have too many loans, more money means that I could finally buy some of them.

Season two is over and things are becoming even more interesting at Eibar, for the first time in our history we played the Europa League, unfortunately our stadium didn't meet UEFA requirements (only 5500 seats) so we played at San Mames in Bilbao.

CSKA Moscow, Trabzonspor and Charleroi were our competitors in the group stage, we finished 2nd behind CSKA not without problems, mainly due to our lack of experience in Europe, then in the first knockout round we met Inter, a bridge too far us, even if we played two well fought games our run ended.

Back to La Liga now, here I have great news as we improved over last year final placement (5th), this time finishing 4th and gaining the chance to play in the UCL play-off next season, Barca won the league after scoring an impressive 125 goals.

We had other priorities but our Copa del Rey run was quite poor, losing to Malaga in the 5th round.

Eibar scoring chart was led by my inside forwards: Rodrigues, Hernani and Bernardeschi scored 37 goals overall, the big surprise here was Garry Mendes Rodrigues, a winger signed from relegated Elche for 400k only, that showed impressive accelerations and great composure in front of goal, easily my best scorer with 16 goals.

Our strikers didn't score so much, but their role is more about keeping the central defenders busy and opening up spaces for the wingers, anyhow I'm glad with Inaki Williams development.

In the middle of the pitch Madinda and Pereira were the best, goals and assists from them, least but not last Geraldes and Kolodziejczak (great name...) season needs to be underlined, the Portuguese right back in particular was a bargain (73k !) but quickly became a regular and one of my more reliable defenders.

For the second year in a row we've been voted as the Most improved Spanish team of the Year, while I was 2nd, after Luis Enrique, in the Spanish manager of the year award; good times at Eibar, the only negatives being some important players who want improved (or with expiring) contracts ( mainly Pereira, Madinda, Dani Garcia, Boveda and Inaki Williams) so I'll have to handle them carefully during the off-season.

I'm going to try, once again, to expand the stadium but the board doesn't seem to be collaborative in that sense.

Keep faith and support Eibar!!

Fantastic first 2 seasons. Will be interesting to see what your first season in the CL is like.

Fantastic first 2 seasons. Will be interesting to see what your first season in the CL is like.

So many big guys are waiting for us in the playoff round, it will be hard.

Another cracking season, nicely done higgins!

The narrow defeat to Inter must have been hard to take. But the scoreline suggests you weren't overrun and managed to give them a game in both legs.

Naturally breaking the established duopoly of Barca and Madrid will be tough, but the revenue from the CL could go a long way towards helping you draw level with the likes of Valencia and Sevilla!

Another cracking season, nicely done higgins!

The narrow defeat to Inter must have been hard to take. But the scoreline suggests you weren't overrun and managed to give them a game in both legs.

Naturally breaking the established duopoly of Barca and Madrid will be tough, but the revenue from the CL could go a long way towards helping you draw level with the likes of Valencia and Sevilla!

Thanks, that would be the plan , this is my first Spanish game in FM 2015 and I have to say La Liga is a really tough league, harder than EPL or Bundesliga, to make a comparison.

As the title suggests I'm going to talk about my third season transfers here, plus an update about our European run, first of all I had a riot with Levy Madinda, one of my best midfielder, basically he was upset cause I refused to renew immediately his contract, you'll understand how keeping wages under control is key when you manage a club like Eibar, at the end of the day I decided to sell him, Perugia came with a 6 M offer and considering I signed him for 1.4 M last year this looked like a good deal, then I sold right back Eneko Boveda, he was simply Geraldes backup lately so I accepted Valencia 2 M offer.

After I raised a decent amount of money, the board offered me 7.7 M and 15 M for wages initially, I signed 10 players trying to strengthen the team, the most expensive was Edgar Iè, a product of Barca youth team, I was looking for a ball playing defender and he had the right skills, then arrived Wales international Emyr Huws, a decent sub for Madinda.

Another Barca La Masia product joined on loan, Jean-Marie Dongou, gifted young striker who will be a rotation option alongside Inaki Williams and Perea, Duronjic is a 18 yrs old striker with a lot of potential that will be loaned out to gain first team experience.

As you already knew, we had the chance to play in the UCL playoff, the draw was truly unlucky and we had to face Borussia Dortmund, a game that came too early and we lost it playing some really unimpressive football.

So we're back to Europa League and after a 2nd place in our group, like last season we lost in the 1st knockout round, this time vs. Lyon, of course I think we should have done better than that, but we're playing without consistency this year, the team looks stronger than last year but probably not so well assembled (blame the manager...), or maybe we simply still lack something at this level.

In other news in January I tried to sign Dongou, his contract was expiring in 6 months and I offered him 750k per year, but he decided to renew with Barca, shame on you Jean.

I'm February now so this third season is stil in progress, as usual an update will be posted at the end of the season with my league results.

There are key moments in the history of a club, I'd like to single out what happened in this screen, hoping this could become a defining moment for us, Hernani, our MVP this season, scores a key goal in the last game of the year, we beat Villarreal 5-1 while Valencia lose to Granada: we reach 3rd place that means direct access to Uefa Champions League, no more crappy playoff next season.

Many positives this year, after the huge disappointment that was our loss to OL in the EL 1st knockout round, we've been able to focus our attention on La Liga, reaching our best result so far, 3rd behind the two teams that are becoming even more dominant, Barca and Real Madrid.

We made 80 points, making some miracles with the available budget, but there's still a huge gap to reach the top of the table, but we're working on that....

I already told you about the outstanding Hernani, but other players deserve some words: Garry Mendes Rodrigues, the left inside forward, is our 2nd best goalscorer, a bit lazy in the first half of the season, more productive in the second, Inaki Williams is finally becoming an important player, this was his best year with 13 goals, 6 assists and 5 Pom's and don't forget he's still 22 yrs old.

Ivan Marcano brought a lot of experience to our young defensive line, where Geraldes had another impressive season.

Now the negatives, the only one is about the stadium, my main source of worry, the board still refused my request to expand it, I don't know how far we could go with a 5500 seats arena, plus we can't play our UCL games there.

Naturally I can't terminate this report without showing you Eibar best XI of the season, so here you go:

Fantastic season ! It's always difficult to break the dominance of the big two but 3rd is outstanding . Cracking skin by the way . Which skin is it and what is the effect you used on the picture of the pitch on the end of season update?

Fantastic season ! It's always difficult to break the dominance of the big two but 3rd is outstanding . Cracking skin by the way . Which skin is it and what is the effect you used on the picture of the pitch on the end of season update?

Thanks dude , it's not a skin, just some editing, the same for the picture, I added a layer with some scratches and some tilt-shift effect.

Thanks dude , it's not a skin, just some editing, the same for the picture, I added a layer with some scratches and some tilt-shift effect.

Looks smart . The big question is what's in store for next season? You've obviously over achieved this season. Another top 3 finish or would mid table be good enough for you?

At least you don't have to worry about the CL qualifier this time.

Looks smart . The big question is what's in store for next season? You've obviously over achieved this season. Another top 3 finish or would mid table be good enough for you?

Yep, that's a really big question, my main problem at the moment is wages sustainability, being successful means that more players will ask for better wages and I can't afford much more than what I'm spending right now, UCL will bring some good money, but the stadium issue remains and I could be obliged to sell some players replacing them with more affordable ones.

So yes, I could accept a mid table finish while trying to improve the team with younger (and less avid) players, not sure about the board

At least you don't have to worry about the CL qualifier this time.

Indeed, always a lottery, too many big clubs there.

That moment when.....

Damn minimum release clauses.

Damn minimum release clauses.

Indeed, lost my best player for 7 M, such a shame.

Indeed, lost my best player for 7 M, such a shame.

Hope you've found a newgen replacement who is 10 times better, and this time make sure the release clause is stupidly high

Always love to see the Spanish giants being challenged, best of luck toppling them.

Hope you've found a newgen replacement who is 10 times better, and this time make sure the release clause is stupidly high

Always love to see the Spanish giants being challenged, best of luck toppling them.

The problem is that release clauses are linked to wages, if you, like me, try to keep them low then you can't have high release clauses.

Thanks for following.

The problem is that release clauses are linked to wages, if you, like me, try to keep them low then you can't have high release clauses.

Thanks for following.

Ah yes I forgot about the rule in Spain where every player has a release clause set according to his wages.

Go newgen hunting in South America, they breed attacking midfielders like rabbits over there.

So Hernani left, you already know that story, some of you suggested to find some crazy newgen players to replace him, I think it's early, personally I'm not a big fan of players generated by the game, I know they're needed for long term save but I usually sign them carefully.

First of all I have Halilovic who could play in that role (right inside forward) then I signed a Spanish left footed winger from Real Sociedad, Alain Oyarzun, he didn't play a lot for his previous club in recent years but could be the right man for us, less skilled than Hernani but he's two years younger (24) and could still develop.

Then I added to my team a very versatile player, a man who could play as a central midfielder or as winger, Rodrigo De Paul 23 yrs and loaned from Valencia, the 25 men limit in Spain oblige every team to have players competent in several zones of the pitch.

I spent 10.5 M for new players, my biggest sum spent for the market so far, the books are still balanced though, thanks to Hernani and Izeta fees (8 M received).

My top signing (3.3 M) of the season was Eric Bailly, an Ivorian centre-back who played for Villarreal, he should be a good add to my defensive line.

That's all guys, the squad is ready for the new season, a long and difficult one, we come from a shocking 3rd place in the league and we'll have to cope with top European clubs in the UCL, are we strong enough?

Next months will bring the answer, meanwhile feel free to ask if you want to know more about this career.

That would be the first possible reaction, but honestly I didn't understand what mistakes I've made here.

What? You don't know what's going on here? Well, you're not the only one, but that was my last UCL game of the season...

Ok, ok, you deserve a small recap here, it's our first UCL and we had a tough group, call it group of death if you prefer: Fenerbahce, Manchester United, Bayern Munchen and SD Eibar of course, somehow we played some brilliant football and before the last game of the group stage the table looked like this

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 300, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]Bayern Munchen[/TD]

[TD]11[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Eibar[/TD]

[TD]6[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Manchester Utd.[/TD]

[TD]5[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Fenerbahace[/TD]

[TD]4[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

In the last game we play away to Manchester, not an easy fixture, but we start the game well and after 79 damn minutes we're still leading 3-1, we're confident we can win this, a draw would be enough though, some conservative shouts are on the way (play narrower, take a breather, be more disciplined) but then something happens, the whole affair is becoming to smell like ****

....and the final table was

Do I need to explain more?

I don't think my PC would survive that CL exit.

Did you try and go more defensive, aside from shouts?

I don't think my PC would survive that CL exit.

Yep, I was really tempted to rage quit the whole thing, but you know, **** happens.

Did you try and go more defensive, aside from shouts?

No, I usually play with a standard mentality, a really balanced tactic, I never change mentality, only tune the tactic via shouts.

That may have helped. Even I recently started going counter (with a few other settings) when a result is under threat.

That may have helped. Even I recently started going counter (with a few other settings) when a result is under threat.

Maybe, maybe not, Man. Utd suddenly turned into an invincible army...

I just finished my 4th season in charge at Eibar, in spite of our dramatic UCL exit it was another solid season, achieved for the first time in our history a 2nd place in La Liga, losing the title to Real Madrid in the last game of the season then we had a good run in the Europa League where we lost to Valencia in the quarter final but putting many European games under our belt.

Most importantly our financial situation is getting better, playing in the UCL helped a lot, but I still need to keep wages under control cause once again the inability to expand the stadium are hindering our chance of becoming a top club.

Pretty fantastic progress so far, well done.

What I find interesting about this career is that you're playing a very similar tactical setup to one I used for six seasons, also in Spain (for Compostela at lower level), and just abandoned recently because I was stalling in my progress and not getting the results I wanted anymore. So I wonder what's your secret. You're basically doing what I wanted to do but failed to, so sorry if I'm a little jealous.

From 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd, there's only one possible result for next year, heh? No pressure.

Pretty fantastic progress so far, well done.

What I find interesting about this career is that you're playing a very similar tactical setup to one I used for six seasons, also in Spain (for Compostela at lower level), and just abandoned recently because I was stalling in my progress and not getting the results I wanted anymore. So I wonder what's your secret. You're basically doing what I wanted to do but failed to, so sorry if I'm a little jealous.

From 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd, there's only one possible result for next year, heh? No pressure.

Thanks dude, of course I'm happy with my progress but I don't think to have any secrets, just improving the team year after year.

I'm a bit frustrated by the board poor attitude though, they have no intention to improve the Stadium even if the money are finally here.

Another excelente temporada !!!! Some real progress being made. As noikeee mentioned...from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd...surely the title next season?

Another excelente temporada !!!! Some real progress being made. As noikeee mentioned...from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd...surely the title next season?

That would be awesome, I'm trying to fix some issues right now, I decided to renew Colombi's contract (1.2 M per year, my highest earner) while Geraldes could leave as Real Madrid offered 2M and I payed only 73k to sign him 3 year ago....

I love the style of your recent screenshots, like newspaper cuttings.

I love the arty style of your recent pictures.

I love the style of your recent screenshots, like newspaper cuttings.

Thanks for your kind words