[FM11] Barcelona’ing the way through the lower leagues – is it even possible?

[ArsenalMetro]

Regardless of the slump, great start in La Liga. Hopefully you can get into Europe next year and make some noise.

[sambos]

Unione Venezia 2014/2015 - season review

Transfer market

My club being one of the most wealthy in the league, I obviously had to attack the transfer market for a lot of deals again. In total I signed 18 players, albeit a few of those were later in the January transfer window, fringe players, or youngsters for the future. The most expensive were french striker Anthony Gaillard (30K€, ex-Angers), portuguese winger Ricardo Valente (18K€, ex-Esmoriz), and his fellow countryman Cristiano (12K€, ex-Atlético). The most exciting signings of the Summer came on a free though. I offered a crazy 9K€/month wage to romanian midfielder Adrian Stoian, ex-Roma, to join us - an absolutely wonderful prospect. For the attack, two men arrived from Siena: flamboyant regen Enzo Lacalamita and the slovenian Kristian Kraus, on a heavy 7K€/month wage too. Defenders Riccardo Regno and Emanuele Lerda arrived on loans from Bologna and Atalanta, respectively. And I got to work again with argentinian winger Alexis Quintulén, as I brought him from my former club Praiense.

January meant a few more high-profile signings. From dutch side Flevo Boys came both the full-back Pandu Scholte Albers and the experienced winger Tjeerd Korf. German winger Paul Grischok and young belgian/serbian keeper Dragan Trajkovic arrived on frees. The wingers would prove to be very important...

Domestic league

I had no idea, but it would turn out to be another brilliant rollercoaster season! It started quite well, and we would hold on to the 5th spot - last one eligible for a promotion playoff place - for most of the first half of the season, a big highlight being the utterly mental 8-0 hammering of Renate.

Then a massive slump happened mid-season. From the 21st of December to the 25th of February we won a single match, drawn a single match, the rest were all defeats. Suddenly we were all the way down to 11th place, this after I promised the club board we'd make it into the top half of the league... I was never in real danger of being sacked, but at that point I did wonder whether this would go the same path as my stint in charge of Kettering did.

Then my January signings started doing the magic on the pitch. A 5-0 win over Rodengo Saiano started a sequence of 7 consecutive wins, but the real turnaround was the match away at the leaders Pergocrema. Ending with a 5-4 win for a us, it was certainly the craziest match of my career so far. Most importantly, that happened after I did some tactical shifts to try to counter Pergocrema's strengths. That success convinced me to experiment with tactics once again, and I would settle on a 4-2-3-1 shape with Enzo Lacalamita in a deadly Trequartista role, in the AMLC position, for the rest of the season. It led me to a 4th place in the table and a place in the playoffs:

The playoffs are a bit rougher than the playouts because there's 4 teams battling for a single spot. Stupidly, I forgot about the highest league position rule and fielded a secondary team in the final league match, ultimately leading to defeat and losing 3rd place in the league to Rodengo Saiano. Guess who we were playing against in the playoff semi-final? Yep, Rodengo Saiano.

Thankfully that went alright. A 0-0 draw at home in the first leg was worrying, but we overcame it with a nice 2-0 victory away, Adrian Stoian's long-range goal reminiscent of Leleu's epic finish last season in the playout.

There remained only one team for us to beat so we could celebrate promotion. Unfortunately, that was Pro Vercelli, not just a side with a wonderful history of 7 ancient Serie A titles, but a seriously competitive team for this level nowadays too. We were doomed by the first half of the first game as we ended up losing 3-1 at home, albeit a little unfairly as we had more clear cut chances. In the second match we were winning 2-1 at a point, and we went all-out-attack to try to score the 2 goals that would give us promotion, but that just led to holes in our defence and by the end we lost 3-2. Another frustrating playoff defeat for my CV...

Cups

(Coppa di Lega Pro results)

We actually did very well in this cup, which is exclusively for Serie C1 and Serie C2 teams. Won our C2 teams group with 4 wins out of 4 games, beat two decent sides in Brindisi and Cuneo to advance to the second group stage, got lucky in the group stage as were fielded against two C2 teams again and beat them both, and by then we were in the semi-finals.

However, our semis opponent was Como, the first C1 team we were up against. And we were in the middle of our league slump. We did alright to only lose 2-1 the first leg at home after being 1 man down all game long, but a 3-0 defeat away further highlighted the difference in talent between both teams.

Top 5 key players

(Full squad and stats)

6. Adrian Stoian (MC) - I'm going to open up an exception and name a 6th best player, because whilst Stoian did not excel, he certainly has bags of talent and was a regular presence in our midfield all year long.

5. Paulo Miranda (AMR) - A new Serie C2 record of 17 assists (21 in all competitions), but his performance dipped later in the year and lost his place to Paul Grischok.

4. Alessio Ballesi (DC) - Because we all know that in this version of FM, even if we don't actively try to exploit the corners, there'll always be a centre-back willing to score goals like crazy...

3. Anthony Gaillard (ST) - So much better than last year's forwards. Kristian Kraus was expected to be ahead of him in the pecking order, but turned out to be a spectacularly disastrous flop, whereas the young frenchman bagged 20 goals, some of them quite skillful...

2. Tjeerd Korf (AML) - I had forgotten how much I like wingers that can be a danger in the air. He was such a key player to our late season turnaround, had by far the best average rating of our squad, a stunning stat of 7.41. It's a shame he's 32 already and won't be able to keep up this level for long.

1. Enzo Lacalamita (AMC/ST) - Prolific in the early season as a striker, but forgot how to score goals at a point. It all changed when I turned him into a trequartista AMLC as he terrorized defenders almost every single game he played there. Average rating as striker? 7.04. Average rating as AMC? 7.74.

Tactical watch

My first move was actually to a 5-2-3, replacing a striker for a centre-back, to counter Pergocrema's all-out-attack 4-2-4 formation with plenty of skillful players. It worked beautifully, resulting in that crazy 5-4 win albeit Pergocrema got two men sent off.

For the next match I returned to my 4-2-4 to face Mezzocorona. They were playing a narrow christmas tree formation (4-3-2-1) and frustrated my midfield for the whole first half. I decided then to drop Lacalamita from ST to AMC, so that I wouldn't be swamped with 5 men vs 2 men in centre midfield. The result? Lacalamita bagged two assists and we won 3-0. I'd never go back after that...

Here's the latest version of my brand new 4-2-3-1:

The interesting thing is that this is sort of a minor step from the 4-2-4 back into the Barcelona way. By having a trequartista in an AMC position I'm having someone create play from the centre, something I did not have at all until now. Although I'm not dropping the idea that we should exploit the width from the wings more than the centre of the pitch because simply there's more space there.

It's worth noting that I find there's something... different about the italian game. The players are a lot more patient than in England and as a result, for the first time in FM11, I actually noticed that I was being disadvantaged by having only 2 men in midfield. Which is only logical, but seemed completely oblivious in Croatia (where playing all the time down the wing was very effective), and in England where the physical, aggressive side of the game seemed to overwhelm everything else, if anything I needed more men in the area then.

I have enjoyed reading your career to date keep it up!! With regard to the assymmetric formation did this not work out as expected? Im currently in a save (Fm11) with Coleraine and have used a similiar formation after being inspired by your career thread. It has worked remarkably, especially when at home against weaker teams where it really exploits there negative tactics. My players are poor but the tactic allows us to play excellent attacking football and in 3 of the 5 home matches ive played with it I have lead 4-0 at half-time. However, against good sides and away from home i leak goals for fun. But, if this has worked well at this level I think you should consider going back and trying it out again.

[noikeee]

I have enjoyed reading your career to date keep it up!! With regard to the assymmetric formation did this not work out as expected? Im currently in a save (Fm11) with Coleraine and have used a similiar formation after being inspired by your career thread. It has worked remarkably, especially when at home against weaker teams where it really exploits there negative tactics. My players are poor but the tactic allows us to play excellent attacking football and in 3 of the 5 home matches ive played with it I have lead 4-0 at half-time. However, against good sides and away from home i leak goals for fun. But, if this has worked well at this level I think you should consider going back and trying it out again.

Thanks. The tactic worked well for Venezia, but it was a bit dependent on the AMC, and the players I had for the position then were either poor or wildly inconsistent (Enzo Lacalamita.. never could figure out that guy). When I used it again at Dresden I was having a poor season, so resigned and ditched the tactic. Ever since I joined Belenenses, about 6 seasons ago, I'm using a symmetrical 4-2-3-1 which I started again from scratch, loosely based on this guide: http://www.theawaystand.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/6103-mechanising-the-play-layering-your-attack/ . It does have a slight touch of assymetry about it as the AML plays deeper than the AMR, the DMs and CBs have different roles between each others.

It's always worth remembering that despite the title of this thread, the whole "Barcelona" thing is now long long gone. I only used it in my first 2 jobs, the tactical concepts have been very different since.

[sambos]

Thanks. The tactic worked well for Venezia, but it was a bit dependent on the AMC, and the players I had for the position then were either poor or wildly inconsistent (Enzo Lacalamita.. never could figure out that guy). When I used it again at Dresden I was having a poor season, so resigned and ditched the tactic. Ever since I joined Belenenses, about 6 seasons ago, I'm using a symmetrical 4-2-3-1 which I started again from scratch, loosely based on this guide: http://www.theawaystand.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/6103-mechanising-the-play-layering-your-attack/ . It does have a slight touch of assymetry about it as the AML plays deeper than the AMR, the DMs and CBs have different roles between each others.

It's always worth remembering that despite the title of this thread, the whole "Barcelona" thing is now long long gone. I only used it in my first 2 jobs, the tactical concepts have been very different since.

Yes I read this excellent guide to that formation and have been playing around with that in a Wolfsburg save with some good scoring in pre-season. When I read these career threads Im always inspired to try something out in a similiar fashion so always changing games really.

Good luck for end of season, hope you push for good european position. Will this career only last until the FM12 is fully patched and workable??/

[noikeee]

Good luck for end of season, hope you push for good european position. Will this career only last until the FM12 is fully patched and workable??/

Well that was my idea, to switch to FM12 only when the last patch is out. But I don't know, might stick with it for longer and purse trophies as far as I can, or might do the complete opposite and end it early, I've certainly been playing less FM than usual lately.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2025/2026 - season review

League

An alarming whole lot of red circles there. As covered in previous short posts, this was truly a humbling 2nd half of the season, which shown us we're not quite there yet to keep up with the very top guys, for a full season at least. It was all going well until that sudden appalling home defeat to Sporting, and with a run of extremely tough fixtures coming up, it didn't help that we lost the following match too, ruining our morale. Then again we were a touch unlucky, I mean when Barcelona visited the Balaídos they got a 94th minute winner, come on.

We were comfortably out of any optimistic title bid by April, and very likely out of a Champions League place too - just hanging on, hoping that our run wouldn't go into the utter catastrophic and lose us the Europa League place. Thankfully we sort of settled into decent results for the last two months and assured 6th place (and european qualification) with two games in hand. Then a loss to eventual runner-ups Zaragoza took away our chances of stealing Sevilla's 5th.

In the process we sealed Valencia's relegation with an easy 3-0 win, which was a little sad for me as a casual Valencia fan. Their club is about 4 times worth more than Celta (see the financial rankings, we're so far away from the top teams it's ridiculous), so this season was beyond catastrophic for them. They ended up dead last - utterly surreal.

(League positions graph)

Top 5 key players

(Full squad and stats)

5. Alexandr Vasilenko (DMC) - I was going to pick my brazilian winger Rogério who contributed with 12 assists and had a far higher average rating, but I felt this new russian signing added class and consistency in the midfield in a way no other of my options did. Unspectacular but very valuable.

4. Alfredo Almeida (DL, DC) - Pretty much the only consistent performer in my circus-like defense. I rate him more as centre-back but with all my full-backs playing dreadfully he had to fill in on the left. Still scored 7 goals.

3. Douglão (GK) - 7.01 average rating and only 10 clean sheets sounds sh*te, but seriously he saved our asses in plenty of games. I've had a lot of goalies throughout my career and never ever felt any made such a difference as this guy.

2. Khalil Baghouli (AML, ST) - I'm really pleased I retrained him as AML because bloody hell he plays well there (and I don't have to sub Sankharé). 17 goals for a winger is great, and he got the highest average rating of the team, making him runner-up for Player of the Year award in the league.

1. Ibrahima Sankaré (ST) - Had a fairly poor second half of the season when he seemed to do everything to lose the title of Top Scorer (eventually came runner-up), but overall still was present in more goals than anyone else. 22 goals, 13 assists.

I'd like to also mention Ibrahima Gueye who quite frankly had an underwhelming season after what I'd seen him do in the Liga Adelante, but still somehow grabbed the prize for Under-21 Player of the Year. 11 assists is decent anyway.

Finances

1.4M€ in the bank but only after we received this season's prize money.

Conclusions and future expectations

While overall this was a positive year, this definitely felt like a season of two halves. We vastly overachieved up to January, then underachieved afterwards. Had you told me we'd finish 6th at the beginning of the year, I'd take that whilst not feeling terribly surprised (we clearly had a far better team than the average promoted side). But after that start, I'm not really happy with this.

For next year we need to do some adjustments, although I have no idea where the money from that is going to come. We need new defenders, particularly full-backs, every single one of our full-backs were terrible this season. To think I paid so much money for Sambou Davies and Jason Weir... geez, what a waste. I eventually gave up and started fielding 19 year old Pa-Malick Yarbo instead, he's not good enough now but has tons of potential, better try to maximize that than to stick with clearly substandard players. Speaking of youngsters, Sergio is getting promoted to the first team ASAP for the next season - he's definitely our next superstar.

My plan is (was?) to stick with Celta for long and push them as far as possible, but I get frustrated quickly and may get tempted if a really good offer comes up (I mean, I've been linked to bloody Real Madrid...). For now I'm doing the next season here to have a taste of european football again, and solidify the club at this level. After that, who knows?

By the way I got a Manager of The Year award again. Quite pleased at that heh, this is the biggest league in the world at the moment!

Career overview

[b]Season   Club (nation)         League (tier)                          Notes[/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/11    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Sul (3) - 4th
11/12    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Centro (3) - 1st            Lost in promotion playoff
12/13    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 7th           
13/14    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 22nd         Resigned mid-season
        Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 15th  Won relegation playout
14/15    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 4th   Lost in promotion playoff
15/16    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 3rd   Lost in promotion playoff
16/17    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 1st   Promoted, Serie C Cup winners
17/18    Venezia (ITA)         Prima Divisione Girone A (3) - 6th
18/19    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 8th
19/20    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 13th                      Resigned mid-season
        Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 10th
20/21    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 2nd                Promoted
21/22    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th                 
22/23    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th              League Cup winners
2023     Krylya Sovetov (RUS)  Prem'er Liga (1) - 10th                 
23/24    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 4th                Lost in promotion playoff
24/25    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 1st                Promoted
25/26    Celta (SPA)           La Liga (1) - 6th

[noikeee]

Wow, just noticed this. Most one-sided Champions League semi ever? Or it doesn't count because Ajax had more possession and plenty of shots too? Just plain lucky perhaps?

Real went on to win the final... over Barcelona. Yep spanish football is on a high here.

[noikeee]

Well this is a monster sequence of posts by my own, but I have subscribed to the news of World Cup 2026 and am delighted to report that two of my former left-backs for Belenenses, both on loan back in the days, have gone on to win Man of the Match honours in the World Cup group stages! That would be portuguese David Jardim and russian Yuri Shiskin.

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Think you should be happy with European qualification overall. Looks like you didn't have any problems scoring goals, keepers very good so if you can invest in some defenders things look rosy

[SnakeXe]

I'd say that's about right given the quality of your squad. Hopefully you can strengthen well over the summer with the added rep from European qualification under your belt!

[AK22]

Sixth is still a good finish for a newly promoted team, and only six points off Champions League qualification

How do you think you'll fair in the Europa League? Assuming you qualify for the group stages, maybe early stages of the knockout rounds?

[deltablue]

Should be a good european run

[noikeee]

Think you should be happy with European qualification overall. Looks like you didn't have any problems scoring goals, keepers very good so if you can invest in some defenders things look rosy

Yeah that was pretty much the plan - invest in defenders this Summer. Then of course, I just had to spend 10 million euros (that we didn't have) in an attacking midfielder...

I'd say that's about right given the quality of your squad. Hopefully you can strengthen well over the summer with the added rep from European qualification under your belt!

Absolutely spot on. A world football legend has just chosen to join us over Bayern Munich. Screenies soon.

Sixth is still a good finish for a newly promoted team, and only six points off Champions League qualification

How do you think you'll fair in the Europa League? Assuming you qualify for the group stages, maybe early stages of the knockout rounds?

Should be a good european run

The aim in the Europa League is to reach the last 16 or the quarter-finals, anything less would be a disappointment really. I mean, we kept up with the Champions League winners (Real Madrid) for half a season, we have a better squad than the teams who reached the Europa League final last year (PSV, Besiktas), there's no reason why we shouldn't do well there. Now of course, knockout competitions are a little unpredictable so a difficult draw or a single bad day could ruin everything, so I can't promise anything.

[B.W.G]

Brilliant first season in Liga BBVA and congrats on qualifying for Europe!

Good luck for the new season

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2026/2027 - season preview

Transfers

(Transfers)

So, here's the new faces:

Dmitry Solovjov (ST) (free) - With Sankharé and Baghouli we're hardly struggling for strikers, and it's a bit of a waste to have him as 3rd choice, but he came for free so...

Paulinho (DMC) (free) - Backup/rotation DMC.

Yaw Alhassan (DL/DC) (free) - Losing a bit of pace now to be a fully convincing option as left-back, but brings the experience of a player who won 4 Champions Leagues with Marseille.

Antonis Stavrou (DR) (2.7M€) - I'm confident this is the right-back I so badly needed...

Igor Bamba (GK) (free) - Great keeper, again not a position in need at all and a waste to have him on the bench.

Vanja Hadzic (AML) (free) - HUGE signing. I'm amazed he chose us over Bayern. This is the man that led Serbia to an incredible World Cup title, and last season at the age of 33 was still good enough to be picked as Player of the Year in Spain for Barcelona. Their loss is our gain. And here's what he can do -

.

Sergio Elustondo (AMC) (10M€) - A bit expensive? Well he ticks all the boxes I want in an attacking midfielder. Unfortunately the game is daft and he doesn't count as trained in nation for UEFA competitions, despite having been "born" in Osasuna.

Alisan Baydemir (AMC/AMR/ST) (free) - Versatile attacking backup.

Nicolas Garat (DR) (1.1M€) - A bad signing because I panicked. I thought selling Sambou Davies for 4.7M€ was a good deal, but forgot I needed a replacement for backup right-back. After searching right about the entire freaking world for a player, this was the best I could do with the little that remained from my budget.

A lot of first-team players left other than Davies. Namely Ticão, Bill, Claude Etamé, Gabriel Kiss, Alessandro Mazzuccato, Dusan Mitic, José Antonio, Zakaria Salum. Overall we cashed in 17.5M€ from sales.

Finances

Apparently all those sales weren't good enough to remain us in the green, I finally managed to get rid of all the club's money and we now sit on 1.8M€ in the red, with a high wage bill to ruin our stability from here onwards. Fun times.

Full Squad

Not bad and a minor theoretical improvement on last year, but I'm hardly certain we solved our problems with full-backs and we were forced to register a very, very short squad for Europe as pretty much nobody in the team counts as home-grown.

First fixtures

Well, most of the merit for that goes to my assman who directed the team in every friendly, but pretty nice to see things so green. We're into the Europa League Group Stage and will face Fiorentina, Gençlerbirligi and Panathinaikos in there. In the league, that was a pretty awesome start even if Mallorca just got promoted.

Predictions, conclusions, etc

I must mention that the whole Zaragoza thing was after all motivated by a tycoon, unlike what I previously said. This is relevant because the rich man just left the club, so hopefully they'll slowly crumble into pieces and we'll take their place.

For now I'm not sure we can do much better than last year. I'm not really satisfied with my dealings in the transfer market this Summer (despite signing the LEGEND Vanja Hadzic) and suspect our level has remained about the same. Champions League football would be great but unless any of the big 4 Barça/Real/Atlético/Zaragoza really mess up, 5th is a more realistic aim.

I have big hopes for Europe though - even if our squad there is so short. If we can avoid the big contenders in the competition like Roma or Liverpool, we should do well.

[noikeee]

Oh ffs. I've just been offered a GREAT right-back transfer listed for 3.5M€, one day after the transfer window is over, and after I wasted the rest of my wage/transfer budget in that french knobhead Nicolas Garat.

[Nordan]

knobhead

I got a definite Karl Pilkington vibe here.

Things are shaping up nicely in the early stages,keep up the good work noikeee

[Deisler26]

Good luck in the EURO Cup this season!

[SnakeXe]

I got a definite Karl Pilkington vibe here.

The Pilko Pump Pant as a shirt sponsor...?

[noikeee]

HOLY FUC*ING SH*T

[video=youtube_share;KFoGebnSuas]

We were playing with 9 men, in a bizarre 4-1-3-0 formation. Without forwards to pass the ball to, my teenage AMC felt like solving the issue by himself!

I'm also going to show two screenies of my team at its best:

Unfortunately those were isolated games, we are having a disappointing performance in the league and nothing highlighted it better than our away trip to Levante:

A proper review will be here when I reach the end of the winter transfer window, as usual.

[abulezz]

Cant wait for the review - and that goal, GET IN!!

[Nordan]

The Pilko Pump Pant as a shirt sponsor...?

That'll do. Or some random insect.

[kingjericho]

Wow. Following your career since Praiense you should be proud. Your squad is full of amazing players. I believe you can consistently fight for the 3 and 4th place every season. KUTGW

[noikeee]

Wow. Following your career since Praiense you should be proud. Your squad is full of amazing players. I believe you can consistently fight for the 3 and 4th place every season. KUTGW

Thanks, but you believe wrong. I can't be arsed to write the mid-season review now because I'm frustrated at how bad this season has been.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2026/2027 - mid-season update

Transfers

I decided to operate a mini-revolution as I wasn't happy with the squad, and the finances were starting to get a bit shaky, so had to make a few sales. The Summer signings Yaw Alhassan, Dmitry Solovjov and Igor Bamba all had short stays at the club as they all left, alongside them went youth Celta B players Roberto Bernardini and Solomon Yahaya.

The new faces:

Róbson (DR, DC) (3.2M€) - A good versatile player I've had an eye on for long, after Almeria got relegated he finally became available for an affordable fee.

Anchieta (DL) (900K€) - Alhassan having left, I needed a new option for left-back and this brazilian born, one-time capped for Italy was cheap. Should be a good squad player.

Sergio (ST) (120K€ loan) - 3rd option for striker was necessary with the sale of Solovjov, this experienced player fills a temporary opening as I have a Bosman signing lined up for next Summer.

League

I don't really feel like writing much about this, it's just gone wildly wrong and I have no idea why. Obviously the team has potential otherwise we wouldn't have those aforementioned heavy wins over Barcelona(!) and Córdoba, but we can't get into any sort of a rhtyhm, are leaking goals everywhere despite setting heavy match preparation to defensive positioning, and our forwards - especially Sankharé - are having horrible misses after horrible misses.

We're still mid-table and a single place behind the media prediction of 9th, but I thought european qualification would be a given, yet the situation is that only a major turnaround would get us the Europa League place we want. Being 8 points behind (and it's our rivals Deportivo in that position to top it off!), it's unlikely. Frankly I'm calling this season as lost and focusing on next year.

Cups

The cups have gone well actually. We didn't go far in the Copa del Rey but having drawn Real Madrid it was always going to be difficult, at least we put two highly entertaining shows to delight the crowd, the 4-3 loss at the Bernabéu being the highlight. Unfortunately that was the game our most expensive signing ever, Sergio Elustondo, broke a leg...

In the Europa League we cleaned the group basically, 4 wins in the first 4 matches sealed our qualification so we fielded kids for the last two matches and still pulled two points to top the group. We're facing Hoffenheim now which isn't a very comfortable tie as I've had a look at their squad and think they are the equal of us. They're fairly loaded with cash too and have had plenty of recent top 3 finishes in the Bundesliga.

Players

French striker Khalil Baghouli has been pretty much the only one performing at the high level of expectations I put on my players, with 15 goals in 29 matches. Veteran Vanja Hadzic has had his moments too, and from our defenders Alfredo Almeida has been the only not to come out of this half-season with his reputation dented.

Finances

1.6M€ in the green thanks to the January sales. We're spending too much on wages now and at this rate will need to rely on player sales to be sustainable.

Goals for the rest of the season

I've made an habit throughout my career of leaving to cover my ass whenever things go badly, this time I think I'll stick around for a little while to see if I can turn it around. It's been a big disappointment though, and I'm cornered as I don't know what should I do to fix the situation. It's getting even harder now with Elustondo with a broken leg and half of our stars out in the African Cup of Nations. The league objectives are all but lost, at least we still have the Europa League to entertain us even if the next opponent is difficult.

[kingjericho]

8 points are still possible to recover to a mid-table team like Depor, but you can't afford losing points to teams below you.

[Deisler26]

Steadying the ship is paramount. You can always challenge next year.

[AK22]

Looks like you're having a bit of second season syndrome. That being said, a decent second half could see you finish 7th, which wouldn't be too bad at all.

Going well in Europe though. Hoffenheim will be a tricky test, but you've definitely got a chance there

[deltablue]

Bit rubbish that you've slipped a bit from last year.

[noikeee]

Thanks for the comments guys, I've been playing at a veeeeeeeeeeeeery slow pace lately but this is still moving forward.

We not only beat Hoffenheim, but also Rubin Kazan and Liverpool. We're now up against the current holders of the competition, Besiktas, and Bayern is a very uncomfortable possible opponent from the other semi. But could we surprise and still go all the way?

Meanwhile, we are back to our best in the league and still have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe as we're 4 points behind that spot, with 7 games to go. A big help has been the return to goals of Ibrahima Sankaré. And he has just scored possibly the best solo goal I've seen in my whole career. Dude!!

[video=youtube;wPtF0_deHcU]

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Great result beating Liverpool. I think you should get to the final there. Was a very calm finish for the goal. My strikers fall to pieces after a mazy run like that

[sambos]

Hopefully you can end a disappointing season with some european silverware, at least that guarantees you a spot there next year. KUTGW

[noikeee]

A late goal from Ibrahima Gueye avoids extra-time and puts us into the final to be held in the Stade Félix-Bollaert in Lens, France, to face Bayern Munich.

[B.W.G]

Ashame to see your league form slipping but a massive congratulations on reaching the Europa League final,hope you beat Bayern

[noikeee]

Europa League Final - Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens, France - 19th of May 2027

I have not been one to dwell too much on particular matches in this career, but this is a special one as it's my first european final - even if a lot of people are condescending about the worthyness of the Europa League trophy. So I think this deserves a proper coverage.

Let's look at the lineups first:

At the back Celta is pretty much standard with the same keeper, 4 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders who have been first choice all season long (Douglão / Weir-Almeida-Rafael-Stavrou / Vasilenko-Fernández), but some minor surprises upfront. Teenage wonder Sergio is picked over Daniel Manfredi, at the age of 17 surely one of the youngest players ever to feature in the starting eleven of an european final. Also worthy of a mention is the absence of Celta's big star, the french international Khalid Baghouli, who starts on the bench after it was judged Hadzic on the left and Sankaré upfront were on better form.

Bayern Munich start as favourites and field a very strong side mostly based on their 5 brazilians. All eyes are on striker Teté, the team's current biggest superstar, right-back Fernando Baiano, probably the best player in his position in the world, and former Ballon D'Or and World Player of the Year winner, the veteran Lula.

First half

1st minute - Clear cut chance already for Bayern. Some quick passing finds Manuel Ali clear of marking in the area but Douglão saves.

32nd minute - Yellow card for Celta's right-back Antonis Stavrou after he stops Teté to halt a potentially dangerous counter-attack.

40th minute - A free-kick down the right side hit by Vanja Hadzic finds Rafael clear in the area, but the spaniard's header goes over the bar, and he is unable to open the scoreline for Celta.

The referee signals the end of the first half, and the score is still 0-0. Bayern have perhaps been the most dangerous side, with Douglão having more work than the Bayern keeper, and Bayern certainly have had loads more shots but they're been largely from distance and wasteful. Celta's strategy of dropping relatively deep has had mixed results, Bayern have been mostly harmless, but we've been pinned back all game and have not been able to deploy our dangerous counter-attacks often.

I decide not to make any substitutions yet, but Baghouli stands alert on the bench as I'm looking at fairly poor performances from Hadzic and Sankharé so far.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Second half

49th minute - Bayern midfielder Manuel Ali is given a yellow after tackling Vasilenko unfairly in the midfield circle.

52th minute - GOAL FOR CELTA, 1-0!! The team has looked highly motivated since half-time and has started better than Bayern. A corner from Hadzic on the right side of the pitch finds Alfredo Almeida in the keeper's box, he beats Teteruk to the ball as the keeper stays on his line, and heads it home.

55th minute - Vanja Hadzic commits a foul in Bayern's area and is given a yellow.

57th minute - Calls for a penalty from Bayern after a challenge by Rafael in a corner.

59th minute - Bad news for Celta, injury for Alexandr Vasilenko after tackling Teté. He has to come off and is replaced by John Ochieng. Bayern bring Kenian striker Denis Kimani for right-winger Lula and switch to a slightly bizarre narrow 5-2-1-2.

64th minute - Bayern seem back on top now, and nearly score in a corner as Marashi's header is cleared off the line by Jason Weir.

67th minute - Substitution as I replace teenage Sergio for Manfredi and drop him from AMC to MC. Bayern bring a defensive midfielder, Dieter Neumann for winger Fabão to fit their new narrow tactic.

76th minute - I use my final card, finally bringing in Baghouli to replace Sankharé after a disappointing performance by the senegalese striker. At least that was the idea as I bring out Manfredi by mistake!! Forced to play a 4-4-2 now with Baghouli and Sankharé upfront.

78th minute - Bayern hit the bar!!! Lachaab's corner finds Fernando entering the keeper's box but he is unlucky with his header.

87th minute - Fernando Baiano's dive cheats the referee and Jason Weir is given a yellow.

94th minute - The referee calls for the end of the match! CELTA WIN THE EUROPA LEAGUE!! It's been a rather lucky performance as we scored our goal in our best period, a short 10 minutes in the beggining of the second half. Other than that Bayern were by far the most dominant and it's ironic we scored in a corner despite them winning 11-3 in corners. That being said for all Bayern's dominance they failed to produce many clear chances and paid for it.

[noikeee]

Just a quick post before I go to bed after what has been a long FM marathon today thanks to a national holiday. Because this is a very, very tempting offer:

I'll sleep over on it but I think I might take it. The idea was to stick with Celta until we win the spanish league or the Champions League, but leaving after winning the Europa League seems fitting as well. Roma is absolutely loaded with cash and should be able to let me have a serious go at the Serie A title soon. Whereas I still need to find something extra to improve Celta into a Champions League side, as the spanish league is SO competitive at the moment.

Besides, I like Roma (even if Inter are my fav italian club) and it would be a nice change to go to a club that I have some sympathy for, rather that just random teams.

[SnakeXe]

I'd definitely take the offer - a just reward for a great Europa League campaign!

[B.W.G]

Massive congrats on beating Bayern

I'd take that offer,as you said,you should be able to have a serious go at the Serie A title.

[deltablue]

Well done on the Europa and your Roman reward.

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Brilliant result in Europe. I'd take the offer too. It's a step up and looks like plenty of cash to help build the squad

[AK22]

Now that's a proper offer!

I'd probably take it, but it depends on what you feel Celta are capable of next season. If you reckon you could make the top four, I'd be tempted to stay one more season in Spain. Oh, and well done for the Europa League victory

[noikeee]

I'd definitely take the offer - a just reward for a great Europa League campaign!

Massive congrats on beating Bayern

I'd take that offer,as you said,you should be able to have a serious go at the Serie A title.

Well done on the Europa and your Roman reward.

Brilliant result in Europe. I'd take the offer too. It's a step up and looks like plenty of cash to help build the squad

Now that's a proper offer!

I'd probably take it, but it depends on what you feel Celta are capable of next season. If you reckon you could make the top four, I'd be tempted to stay one more season in Spain. Oh, and well done for the Europa League victory

Cheers. I've decided I'm taking it. I do think I would maybe finally push Celta into the top 4 because the better form after the winter transfer window wasn't just through luck, I made some tactical breakthroughs too (more on that in the next update). With the added reputation of an european trophy that could be the extra push we needed.

However Roma just are a much bigger club and I feel I've done enough here to please the Celta fans. To put things in perspective, Celta, who I've finally pushed into the world's top 100 richest clubs, are worth 41.5M€. Roma are the world's 15th richest club, worth 204M€. They also bring added pressure because only 2 years ago they won the Serie A title, altho this season they were rubbish. I'm itching to spend their money on some world class players and take them to the very top.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2026/2027 - season review

League

Comeback time! The contrast between this list of fixtures and the one I presented in the last update is obvious. We started by tying a sh*tload of games to gain some momentum, and were starting to win again when we were faced with 3 impossibly difficult consecutive fixtures - Atlético, Real and Barcelona. We lost the first two, but remarkably, won in the Camp Nou by 1-0 for the second consecutive year!

Now that gave us a huge confidence boost. Depor were still far out in 7th, but a brilliant end of the season that saw us lose only 4 points in 9 fixtures gave us a mini-miracle. By the time we faced Depor they were within striking distance (3 points) and if we won by more than one goal, we'd have head-to-head advantage. We outdone that and hammered them 4-0. A defeat to Málaga next game nearly ruined everything, but we ended in style by beating top class Zaragoza and steamrolling Hércules away, while Depor lost points anyway. It wasn't as if we needed the 7th spot to qualify, after winning the Europa League final, but it was nice to beat Depor as the top Galicia team.

(League positions graph)

Cups

The triumphant Europa League campaign has already been covered extensively here - a great way to save a season that seemed completely lost. I have to admit we were a little fortunate and this all looks better than it was. Liverpool are fallen giants, have not done anything of note in years and we struggled to get past them. It was an even bigger struggle against Besiktas, it took a sending off and a 90th minute goal to overcome them in an extremely tight match-up. Then the final was just pure luck as covered before.

Nevertheless, the club's first ever european final and european trophy will remain in the history books, and my name will be next to it.

Top 5 key players

(Full squad and stats)

6. Douglão (GK) - I know it's a top 5 not top 6, but I'd feel like a dick not to mention him. Most reliable keeper ever - he's rated 4 stars for some reason.

5. Alfredo Almeida (DC) - Permanently played as centre-back this season, and it shown in his performances as he excelled. Will be remembered for that decisive goal in the final against Bayern.

4. Vanja Hadzic (AML) - A bit past his best, but his footballing brain, experience, and set pieces ability was a big boost to our squad. Clearly a successful signing.

3. Khalil Baghouli (ST, AML) - Disappeared a bit later in the year after being the unquestionable star of the first half of the campaign, when everyone else was playing like sh*t.

2. Ibrahima Sankaré (ST, AMR) - I'm amazed he finished with 27 goals, mid-season he had like 8 or something. Superb comeback to form later in the year.

1. Ibrahima Gueye (AMR) - Not as great as either Baghouli or Sankaré at their best, but the most consistent player all season long. Finally shown his potential after a slightly underwhelming season last year, and he still has half a star of PA to uncover. 15 goals, 14 assists.

Also, Pablo Mendoza got Young Player of the Year. Baffling. He did well in his few appearances but... barely played.

Finances

9.7M€ in the bank thanks to Europa League prize money and TV revenue. I am delighted to leave the club financially stable.

Tactical watch

A big reason why we came out of that slump was because I decided to actually watch a few matches in detail and try to figure out what was wrong. We were conceding too many goals. I noticed all my defenders were getting beaten easily and were a bit too eager to take the ball away. Went to look at the closing down settings.. I had set them up about 3/4 all the way up. I unchecked the boxes back to default... 1/4 all the way down. That alone made a ton of difference.

Setting the striker as target man with "run onto ball" delivery, the AMC as playmaker, and trimming down the philosophy/strategy to Fluid/Standard on easier games, Balanced/Counter on tougher games, helped too. On the easier games I also pushed one of the DMCs into a MC slot, to have a closer link between the lines.

Conclusions and future expectations

Quite a trip this season - from utter frustration just 4 months ago to Celta's first ever european glorious conquest. Of course I am not happy with the league performance but given this was my biggest trophy won yet, the general feeling can only be positive. Hence why I think I'm leaving Celta on a high. They look sustainable for the near future too, and I hope I'll meet them in the Champions League sooner or later.

I'm proud to have won the spanish league Manager of the Year award for the 2nd consecutive season too.

Career overview

[b]Season   Club (nation)         League (tier)                          Notes[/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/11    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Sul (3) - 4th
11/12    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Centro (3) - 1st            Lost in promotion playoff
12/13    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 7th           
13/14    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 22nd         Resigned mid-season
        Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 15th  Won relegation playout
14/15    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 4th   Lost in promotion playoff
15/16    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 3rd   Lost in promotion playoff
16/17    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 1st   Promoted, Serie C Cup winners
17/18    Venezia (ITA)         Prima Divisione Girone A (3) - 6th
18/19    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 8th
19/20    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 13th                      Resigned mid-season
        Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 10th
20/21    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 2nd                Promoted
21/22    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th                 
22/23    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th              League Cup winners
2023     Krylya Sovetov (RUS)  Prem'er Liga (1) - 10th                 
23/24    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 4th                Lost in promotion playoff
24/25    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 1st                Promoted
25/26    Celta (SPA)           La Liga (1) - 6th
26/27    Celta (SPA)           La Liga (1) - 7th                      Europa League winners

[noikeee]

Rome - 27th of May, 2027

Welcome to the Stadio Olimpico. This legendary venue, host to the 1990 World Cup Final, is home of fierce rivals Lazio and AS Roma, the latter of which I have just been appointed manager of.

I think everyone here knows who Roma is, but anyway, short summary of their history. Four european finals: won the UEFA Cup in 1961 and lost it in 1991; lost both their Champions Cup/League finals in 1984 and 2011 (already in-game). Domestically, they have 11 TIM Cup (Italian Cup) trophies, 5 league titles and 4 Supercoppas.

They are also one of the most bizarrely inconsistent clubs I've ever come accross in this career. Recently ended a streak of 24 years without winning the league. Did that come as part of any recognisable success pattern? Heh, not really.

I'm totally baffled by this screenie. Sense, makes none. They're all over the shop.

Finances

39M€ in the green! Fair to say I've seen worse.

Squad

Not sure this squad is much better than Celta's, if any better. But it's definitely a step up because of the financial strength, and the few gems in the middle of this:

Mignon Pedro (DMC, MLC, DLC) - Cost the club 33M€ last Summer. Expensive? No, probably cheap. What a crazy beast of a player.

Billel Zarabi (M/AM R) - I've had an eye on him while at Celta already, probably one of the best young wingers in the world at the moment.

Carlos (MC, DMC) - Great player, but a bit of a tactical problem as he's more attacking than defensive and I rarely use MCs, nevermind with attacking roles.

Damion Avinel (ST) - Yet another frenchman. He's the guy immediately ahead of Celta's Baghouli in the national team pecking order, so that speaks for his quality. Could use a little more finishing, but superb all-round striker anyway.

We lack a keeper but the previous manager has already signed one in a Bosman, unfortunately we're also losing one of our better midfielders in a Bosman too, Peter Pröpper is about to leave for Arsenal.

So, now?

Spend money in the transfer window (the fun part). Watch out for the fact our squad seems a little overpaid (not fun). Win a Champions League spot next season, hopefully put an outside bid for the title. Have a proper go at reaching the later stages of both Europa League and the domestic TIM Cup.

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Good luck in Rome. Could do with a player like Pedro myself, ticks all the boxes

[B.W.G]

Some brilliant signings you've made there.

[noikeee]

Good luck in Rome. Could do with a player like Pedro myself, ticks all the boxes

The guy is pure class, been named for World Team of the Year already before. I've made him my captain too.

Some brilliant signings you've made there.

Signings? That's just the players I inherited in the squad. Wait for the guys I spent 50 million euros in. :D

[Deisler26]

Good luck with Roma! I have a feeling you'll go all the way!

[noikeee]

Roma 2027/2028 - season preview

Transfers

No point in showing the transfer screenie because it's bugged in Italy. Let's look at my new signings:

Lasse Christensen (GK) (free) - I'm going to start by a transfer that was agreed by the previous manager. Not as good as my Celta goalie Douglão but a very nice piece of business anyway, thanks for that.

Roberto Amoroso (DMC, DC, MC) (9.5M€) - Simply a superb player, and italian which means 1 homegrown slot in Europe.

Gomes (AML, MLC, AMC) (7.5M€) - My assman only rates him 2.5 stars. He must be joking. Lacking world class atributes perhaps, but very complete player.

Rogerinho (AMC, MC, ST) (free) - The guy I raved about in my days in Portugal, when he played for Benfica. Now that he's 33 I stole him from Real Madrid. Fading a bit but still a great player, last season taught me this kind of players can still be important (the Vanja Hadzic deal for Celta).

Andrezinho (M/AMC, M/AML) (12.75M€) - My most expensive signing. Very similar to Gomes, but even better.

Kévin Duval (AMC, MRC, AMR) (4.9M€) - One AMC too many, but I needed another option for AMR. Impossibly cheap for the player he is.

Mamadou Ba (DC, DMC, MC) (5.25M€) - Bit old to be investing this much in him, but I wanted another top centre-back.

Pato (D/DML) (8.25M€) - Another crazy fee for a relatively old player, and I already had a left-back, but GODDAMN this guy is good.

Kostantin Geyer (ST) (1.6M€) - One for the future. Not bad for a 16 year old heh? I signed a few other youngsters too, this kid was the highlight.

Players left of course, to make way for these guys. Bit pointless to list their names since they're all regens (except Trapp and Belfodil who were ANCIENT - 37 and 35 years old respectively), but one thing to remark is that by letting Ishak Belfodil and Giorgos Grigoriadis go, the fans weren't pleased because they were both club legends. I don't care, they weren't good enough anymore, this is a ruthless business.

Finances

Total fee spent in signings: 50.43M€. Total fee received in sales: 19.23M€. Current bank account: 4M€. Now this was a fun transfer window.

Full Squad

HUGE squad but we want to go far in 3 competitions (league, cup and Europa League) so we need options. Can't say I'm unhappy with the depth of talent we have - it's bloody awesome actually -, the only minor complaints is keeper and striker aren't amazing compared to the rest of the team which is the opposite of what I had at Celta; and I wasn't able to get rid of Ignacio Juárez who is a good player but doesn't fit my tactic and is paid a criminal amount in wages.

First fixtures

Disregard the friendlies, that's the assman's incompetence. Couldn't have started the season any better with these 6 wins, including a 1-0 away win at Inter who are the media favourites for the title. We were the better side in that game too - altho the goal only came in the 89th minute.

In the Europa League, we're facing PSV, Deportivo and Partizan in the Group Stage. That's a slightly uncomfortable draw because we were only 2nd seeds, but we're favourites anyway.

Predictions, conclusions, etc

Well I don't want to get ahead of myself, but with the players we now have, the title is hardly impossible? A Champions League spot would be alright and a decent step for a team predicted 5th, but I don't see our squad as worse than our opponents. We also have obvious ambitions in the Europa League as we're clearly one of the better teams, and it would be nice to go far in the domestic cup which is something I've not done in this career yet.

I wonder what would've have happened had I stayed at Celta though, they seem to suddenly have had their club value boosted immensely. Now estimated at 73M€ (was 41.5M€ three months ago when I left). They even tried to bid for some of Roma's better players!

[sheeshy]

Have just read the whole thread, cracking stuff!