FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[corinthiano]

Promotion secured

Will post an update later tonight.

[corinthiano]

Real Sport Clube – 2014/15 Segunda Divisão - Zona Centro

Campeonato Nacional da Segunda Divisão - Zona Centro

Media Prediction: 5th

Board Expectation: Top-Half Finish

My Target: Promotion Challenge

League Table: 1st ǁ Position Graph

I haven’t dominated a league to such an extent in a long time, we started with an impressive 5-0 win away to Tondela and never left 1st spot from them on. A 3-0 win against Eléctrico in the 26th matchday sealed the title in advance. We broke the points record in the league by 6 points and were 4 goals short o breaking the goals record. I believe our dominance came in part due to a tactical tweak in which I set my full-backs to wing-back role, which gave us so many more options when attacking. I usually have pretty good “underdog” tactics but always struggled to dominate matches I was favourite for. I think I might have solved my problems for FM12 in that respect. Anyhow, off to the promotion playoff we went.

Promotion Playoff League Table

The playoff started very well with a 2-0 away win to Louletano, who had already lost to Penafiel and already left us in a privileged position. We then got trounced by Penafiel 4-1 at home, but luckily Penafiel did the double over Louletano, meaning we only needed a draw at home to Louletano to secure promotion. And that’s exactly what happened. Even though Louletano scared us with a goal in the 72nd minute, we pulled straight back and earned our promotion clinching point. The season then ended nicely when Gilson Salazar scored a beautiful chip to finish our comeback away to Penafiel, beating them 2-1.

Taça de Portugal Millennium

First Round – Another easy first game, Dani secured the tie with a hat-trick.

Second Round – We got a kind draw against non-league side Sacavenense and trounced them 5-1

Third Round – This was to be our first match against Liga Zon Sagres opposition and we made the Real fans proud. We held on until extra time, but Nacional proved too strong in the end and scored twice to secure the tie 3-1.

The Royals

Transfers ǁ Squad 1 ǁ Squad 2

A lot of movement out and the transfers in were all massive improvements on the players already at the club. I was delighted to be able to get Gil back on loan at the club again. He has left the club again but with his contract expiring in 6 months time I am hoping to be able to sign him permanently.

GK: Federico Cristóforo – I initially brought in the Brazilian Assis for the position, but when my scout recommended Federico on a free in January I could not resist making a move.

DR: Lucas Urban – Performed well again, although he got injured quite frequently this season.

DC: Felipe – As steady as ever, will have no problems in making the step up to Liga Orangina.

DC: Eduardo – Was surprised to find the former São Paulo player available on a free. He has formed a formidable partnership with Felipe, the main reason we only conceded 16 league goals this season. It was a bit of a hassle to convince him to renew his contract but I was glad when he finally committed to a new deal.

DL: André Dias – I actually started the season with the Real youth product Nuno Santos, but André Dias was a lot better and had to be signed up.

DMC: Douglas – Steady again, but might have to find someone better for the Liga Orangina.

MC: Joedson – Good season by Joedson again

MC: Rubén Pizurno – Saw the Paraguyan available at the start of the season and did not hesitate to sign him, was another impressively constant performer.

AMC: José Coelho – Signing of the season, was extremely efficient as our playmaker, providing 18 assists throughout the season. He was named in the team of the year.

ST: Gil – Gil was great again, we missed him a lot during the end of the season as he was out injured for two months. Without him our 3 to 4 nil wins were turning into tight 1-0 or 2-1 wins.

ST: Nicolás Medina – He delivered exactly what I was looking for this year, a 19 goal return in 35 appearances helped the team a lot.

Other News

Finances – I love our new board. They keep pumping cash into the club, which guaranteed that we never went into the red this season, hopefully we can stop relying on ther help, the wage budget was only raised to € 3.9k p/w so expense will not go up by that much.

Awards wise it was a good season too, I won manager of the season and the in the season overview we had José Coelho topping the assists list and being chosen as the signing of the season, as well as Gil having the highest average rating of the season. I was also named as favoured personel at the club 

This Season Targets

1. Promotion Challenge Succes – Dominant during the season and the promotion playoff was also quite easy.

2. Third Round in the cup Success – And we performed well against Liga Son Zagres opposition.

3. Start playing more of our own youngsters Fail – Nuno Santos only lasted half a season and none of the other youngsters were able to make the step up. The chances will probably be even more limited now we have gone up.

Next Season Targets

1. Survive relegation.

2. Rely less on board cash injections

Next season is all about survival, if we can lose less money it’s a bonus, but I don’t really care as long as we don’t go down.

Career Overview

Season       League                     Pos      Taça de Portugal      Europe      Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13      2. Divisão - Zona Sul      7th      First Round           N/A         None
2013/14      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   3rd      Second Round          N/A         None
2014/15      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   1st      Third Round           N/A         Promotion

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's AD Parla

Youth Player Project

July 2019 Update

I made the decision to cut the number of players I was updating, so here is my reduced list, Juan Carlos, Roberto Delgado, and the new boy are the major ones I will follow. The rest will just get a new screenshot as we follow them, if they retire I will try to give a full stats update at that point.

Player 2: Juan Carlos (MRC/AMC/ST)

PPM: None

Foot: Right

Born: Parla

Nationality: Spanish

March 2014, July 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

[b]Senior[/b]
|  Year |  Club       | Games  | Goals | Assists | MoM | Rating |
|-------|-------------|--------|-------|---------|-----|--------|
[color=#0000ff][i]| 13/14 | AD.Parla    |  0 (1) |   0   |    0    |  0  |  6.00  |
| 14/15 | AD.Parla    | 11(16) |   6   |    4    |  1  |  7.04  |
| 15/16 | AD.Parla    |  0 (2) |   0   |    1    |  0  |  6.90  |[/i][/color]
| 15/16 | Alcobendas* |  8 (0) |   2   |    1    |  0  |  6.75  |
| 16/17 | Alcobendas* | 20 (0) |   8   |    2    |  2  |  7.03  |
| 17/18 | Castellon*  |  1(24) |   1   |    1    |  0  |  6.54  |
[color=#008000]| 18/19 | Jerez       | 37 (0) |   7   |    5    |  1  |  6.85  |[/color]
|-------|-------------|--------|-------|---------|-----|--------|
[b]| Total | Senior      | 77(42) |  24   |   14    |  4  |  6.86  |[/b]
|_______|_____________|________|_______|_________|_____|________|

He spent 17/18 on loan at Castellon and seemed to be very average, so he got sold, I received an amazing 12k for him as he went to Jerez in the 2nd Division B, and he actually did a reasonable job for them in the midfield, and it will be interesting to follow in 2019/20 as he is joined by Roberto Delgado. (Shelekhov, one of our left wings is also on loan duty with them)

Player 3: Roberto Delgado (DM/MLC)

PPM: Hits Free-kick with Power

Foot: Left

Born: Parla

Nationality: Spanish

March 2015, July 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

[b]Senior[/b]
|  Year |  Squad      | Games  | Goals | Assists | MoM | Rating |
|-------|-------------|--------|-------|---------|-----|--------|
[i][color=#0000ff]| 14/15 | AD.Parla    |  3 (1) |   0   |    0    |  0  |  6.80  |[/color][/i]
[i][color=#0000ff]| 15/16 | AD.Parla    |  3(23) |   0   |    2    |  0  |  6.77  |[/color][/i]
[i][color=#0000ff]| 16/17 | AD.Parla    | 38 (0) |   3   |   23    |  1  |  7.28  |[/color][/i][i][color=#0000ff]| 17/18 | AD.Parla    | 32 (0) |   1   |    8    |  1  |  6.82  |[/color][/i]
[i][color=#0000ff]| 18/19 | AD.Parla    |  4 (7) |   1   |    5    |  1  |  7.22  |[/color][/i]
|-------|-------------|--------|-------|---------|-----|--------|
[b]| Total | Senior      | 80(31) |   5   |   38    |  3  |  6.99  |[/b]
|_______|_____________|________|_______|_________|_____|________|

Well he started as much as he could in 2017/18, but in the following year he lost his role to Petras and looking into the Liga BBVA season I made the decision early that he was not quite good enough, so I took the 100k and sent him off to Jerez. I will continue to follow him as one of the better players we have produced, though I have cut those numbers.

Player 7: Juan Pablo (DC)

PPM: None

Foot: Left

Born: Parla

Nationality: Spanish

March 2019, July 2019

[b]Senior[/b]
|  Year |  Club       | Games  | Goals | Assists | MoM | Rating |
|-------|-------------|--------|-------|---------|-----|--------|
| 18/19 | AD.Parla    |  0 (0) |   0   |    0    |  0  |  0.00  |
|-------|-------------|--------|-------|---------|-----|--------|
| Total | Senior      |  0 (0) |   0   |    0    |  0  |  0.00  |
|_______|_____________|________|_______|_________|_____|________|

The new guy in our Youth ranks, he has the potential to be as good as Andre Perego according to my coaching team, but he is a long way off that right now and will need to show his skill as much as he can.

The Rest

Ivan Vilches (1)

Angel (1a)

Ivan (3a)

Roberto Valverde (4)

Ruben Siguenza (5)

Jose Manuel Pastor (6)

Jaume (2a) - Retired

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats on Promotion Corinthiano, good luck in the new season, and hopefully you can find some better youth prospects who might be able to make it into your starting squad.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

First league game of the season 1:5 loss to At. Madrid, I hope that is just showing their class, not our lack of it.

[iacovone]

First league game of the season 1:5 loss to At. Madrid, I hope that is just showing their class, not our lack of it.

Sounds similar to the Novese baptism to Serie A football!

corinthiano well done on promotion . Finances are in good shape too so you should have a nice base to build for the new year

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Sounds similar to the Novese baptism to Serie A football!

Seems that way, going to have to struggle all year and improve my players where I can. First points come at home to Espanyol as we manage to fight hard for a 0-0 draw in the 4th game of the season.

[CelticDaft98]

Sorry im a real noob at posting up and everything so can someone please tell me how long to holiday for in the first scottish season

[Lower Leagues Rule]

When I did it I went to June 1st, but I you can take over as soon as the last game of the season finishes, so once the game is loaded just find the date of the last league game and holiday til the day after that.

We also just had our first 2 goal game, as we went down 5-2 against Barcelona at Camp Nou, pretty tough when their front line is Bale, Messi & Fusca (Last years World Player of the Year)...

[CelticDaft98]

Thanks alot:D

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well we have the first good thing to come out of this season, the board have agreed to build Parla Stadium (Crap name), but the 20,926 seater stadium will have undersoil heating and will cost €29.5M, covered by a €28M loan and 10 year Stadium Sponsorship worth €1M a season. It won't be completed til July 2021, but hopefully by the time we get there we will be more settled in the top division.

[vikeologist]

Sorry im a real noob at posting up and everything so can someone please tell me how long to holiday for in the first scottish season

One other thing. Make sure that you have some rolling saves in case Queens Park finish bottom. There's a possibility that they will never be anything other than an amateur side, which would probably make the challenge impossible. Somebody warned me before I started, and they may have saved me many seasons of frustration, although it would certainly earn you much kudos should you have any success with them.

[CelticDaft98]

This is my first time doing anything like this but here goes

CLYDE

2011/2012 10th in Scottish 3rd Divison (36 Points)

June 1st

Clyde Hire Murphy As Manager

The Clyde board have announced the appointment of Gavin Murphy as the club's new manager.

Murphy is said to be relishing the opportunity to develop his football management skills at Broadwood Stadium and the Bully Wee supporters are sure to be hoping he can make a difference to their team.

Wage Budget: £2,500 per week

Transfer Budget: £0

(Wish me good luck

[CelticDaft98]

Thanks Vikeologist but thats ok Clyde finished bottoms so now im just hoping for the bes

[corinthiano]

Seems that way, going to have to struggle all year and improve my players where I can. First points come at home to Espanyol as we manage to fight hard for a 0-0 draw in the 4th game of the season.

We are all on the same boat! Only have one point in 4 matches as well. Our wage budget is ridiculous for a Liga Orangina side, took it all up just giving our key players pro contracts. Had to sign some very average youngsters just to make up the squad. Have arranged for three very good Brazilians to come in in January (including Gil), which will smash our budget, seeing as we already ar 800 euros p/w over it.

[PRDH]

We are all on the same boat! Only have one point in 4 matches as well. Our wage budget is ridiculous for a Liga Orangina side, took it all up just giving our key players pro contracts. Had to sign some very average youngsters just to make up the squad. Have arranged for three very good Brazilians to come in in January (including Gil), which will smash our budget, seeing as we already ar 800 euros p/w over it.

I did exactly the same thing when I went up the first time. Money is really tough in Portugal I'm still having to be very careful despite six consecutive titles.

[CelticDaft98]

i couldnt post at all last night

[corinthiano]

Tell me about it, I have no clue how I'll get out of it at the moment, we are losing 90k a month, makes survival all the more important. If we go down I think we'll go into financial meltdown.

Can't get players on loan in as well which is quite annoying, I think my rep is still too low and the players just don't want to come.

[PRDH]

My boys have made the journey to Madrid for the first leg of out Champions' league 1st Rd tie. Not entirely optimistic, especially given my entire first choice midfield quartet are out injured.

Kick off

10 mins - Real Madrid score after Svoboda can only parry the first strike. 1-0

20 mins - Penalty to Real. Scored. 2-0

Second half

81 mins - Real Madrid get a third and in all honesty that's probably the tie over. 3-0

83 mins - And that's a fourth. A pretty poor performance, but my lack of experience in midfield has really shown. We've not been able to control the ball at all and the Spanish side have taken full advantage.

Full time - A thumping. No other way to describe it. We were outplayed today and it's back to concentrating on the league.

[corinthiano]

Shame about the thumping, it must be tough when the gap domestically is so big in your favour but continentally the other way round. Hope you fare better in Europe next season.

[PRDH]

Cheers. In fairness domestically it's been much closer this season too. Porto and Sporting spent big over the summer and still have a much greater income due to ticket sales. I've got a bit of a battle on to retain the league.

[corinthiano]

True, it must be tough to compete financially with the big three, had any other team before from you managed to break their dominance?

[PRDH]

[edit] - Hmm, not sure what happened here!

[PRDH]

Since 2011 the winners of the league were:

2011 - Porto
2012 - Sporting
2013 - Porto
2014 - Porto
2015 - Porto
2016 - Porto
2017 - Porto
2018 - Porto
2019 - Porto
2020 - Benfica
2021 - Lusitania Acores
2022 - Porto
2023 - Lusitania Acores
2024 - Lusitania Acores
2025 - Lusitania Acores
2026 - Lusitania Acores
2027 - Lusitania Acores
2028 - Lusitania Acores

Also, the overall record of non-big 3 teams winning it is pretty bleak - Boavista in 2001 and Belenenses in 1946!

[rlipscombe]

CelticDaft - welcome to the challenge and good luck with Clyde

corinthiano - congrats on the title - sounds like going to be a tough season though

LLR - congrats on the new ground. tough start against At. Madrid though

PRDH - tough that against Real. still a bit of a gulf to close i guess. good luck doing that.

As for me, the season preview will hopefully be up later. Did we make the Champion's League group stage??????

[corinthiano]

In my game Benfica have done better, winning three leagues, whilst Porto only won one. I always found the dominance of the big three quite amazing, to think that in almost 80 years ony a couple of clubs have been able to break their spell, it really is quite something.

[PRDH]

rlips - Yeah. I still have to play out of my skin against clubs like those to get a result. Not helped by the fact that my right back left in January and I've had to replace him with a sub-standard loan player.

corinthiano - Porto's domination in my game has meant that they had a ridiculous financial advantage over the rest of us. Champions League every year while the other two battled over the second spot.

[corinthiano]

rlipscombe - thanks, it has been tough so far, but at the halfway stage we have managed to hover just above the relegation places. With my three brazilians (one GK, one DR and Gil) arriving in January I feel more confident about staying up. I am 3k over a wage budget of 4k now though, needless to say the board is pretty annoyed with me

I look forward to hearing whether you made it into the CL group stages.

[rlipscombe]

SV Waldhof Mannheim – German Bundesliga – Season 2020/21

Season Preview

After our near miss in the title race last season and eventual finish in 3^rd once more, my aim this summer was to try and tighten at the back and add a bit more quality to our midfield areas. On top of this, there was also the matter of the Champions League qualifier again which stood in my way from reaching the group stage for the first time. In order to do this a few new additions joined Die Buben.

Without further ado here are the new signings.

Transfers

Centre Backs

5. Marcello Moschini - Young Italian CB signed on a free transfer from AC Milan. Marcello has fantastic potential – one to watch out for along with…

35. Aidar Solosin - Young Russian signed for a bargain £6k from Spartak Moscow, Aidar is a future star for me and he will threaten for a starting spot over the course of the season.

Midfielders

28. Omer Ahmetovic - Young Australian attacking midfielder who I deided to take a bit of a gamble on. Like some of his technical stats, time will tell if I can develop him into a good player.

27. Luca Oliveti - Luca is a 4.5* potential LM signed on a free transfer from Grasshoppers. He will push hard over the season for a LM spot.

21. Toby Hiner - LM signed on a season loan from Manchester United. Will push Doherty and Oliveti for a starting berth and had the shirt in the early fixtures.

7. Christoph Jung - Christophe joins from Schalke to add competition to the RM spot. Helps he is German too.

16. Carl Cook - Lighteningly quick RM signed on loan from Manchester City. An England U21 regular, he is a quality player in the making.

75. Takeharu Fukuda - Fukuda was a late signing to add some strength to our central midfield. Has some good stats and I hope he can make an impact as the season goes on.

Strikers

19. Ricardo Freitas - the big money signing of the summer, Ricardo is someone I have had my eye on for 18 months. Dominant in the air and a prolific score with Guimaraes in Portugal, I have high hopes for him.

The Upcoming Season

I am pretty happy overall with the squad I have. We have 3 good strikers with some young strikers snapping at their hells, we have quality out wide and the stars have stayed. Fingers crossed we can mount a title challenge once more!

Europe

Champions League Best-Placed playoff

Mannheim 3 – 0 Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid 2 – 0 Mannheim

We did it! We qualify for the CL griup stages for the first time. Daniel ‘the axeman’ Axelsson’s second half hat trick in the first leg the key to qualification. It was ‘squeaky bum’ time in the second leg as Madrid peppered our goal with shots (27-9) but we held in there to my delight.

As a result, we were drawn in Group B along with Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Galatasaray. A very tough group to be honest – my target will be to at least make 3^rd place. If we can nick a couple of home wins we might do it.

[corinthiano]

rlipscombe - Ricardo Freitas looks like yet another awesome striker signing But I generally liked your signings, lots of youngsters with bags of potential.

And congrats on reaching the CL group stage! It does look like a tough group but I reckon 3rd place is definate possibility!

As for Real, we managed to string a 5 game winning run and have moved 9 points clear of the relegation zone with 6 games to go. Don't want to jump the gun, but it looks like we could be guaranteed Liga Orangina football next season.

[darren1983]

Right after catching up on this thread over the last day or so (and a 11 hour day at work ) I was struggling to pick between Italy and Spain, went with Italy in the end and on first reload up popped Messina! So looks like its time to get Messi(na)

Personal Page

Club Overview

Profile

Information

Squad

[corinthiano]

Good luck with Messina

[CelticDaft98]

Unlucky start for me with clyde out of the League cup 1st round and the challenge cup 2nd round

[darren1983]

Cheers mate - had a little look through the squad and looks like I've got a couple of decent prospects, looking for a nice mid table spot this season

[iacovone]

End of Season Report - Novese - 2026/27 (Season 15) - Serie A

Serie A -

16th[/url]

It was a real baptism of fire for my Novese boys. As you can see below, we did not enjoy the early stages of our debut Serie A campaign! It turned out that we had a group of particularly tough fixtures and once they were out of the way we found our feet.

There's a distinct top six in the league and that was evidenced by the final league table. I think we got two points over the whole season in those 12 games. Oh well - it will take plenty of time to bridge that gap.

For now though, the crucial games came between the other 13 sides and ourselves. We had rocky moments but rotating formations and being bold at home meant we picked up valuable points at crucial times.

This meant my target of hitting > 35 points was met in time for the curtain call on the season. I'm pretty pleased with how we adjusted to the division in the end. Our squad is nowhere near large enough or indeed good enough (particularly at the back) but up front we look like we have players good enough to do damage in the league.

I'd also like to draw your attention to Claudio Ferraro, the league's best player. Napoli may not have won the league but with this guy they will tear teams to shreds!

Results 1 | Results 2

Progess

The Cups:

This wasn't much of a concern this year and we bowed out to Bologna in the fourth qualifying round after beating Taranto 3-0 in our first game of this year's tournament.

The Squad

Federico Morabito (GK) - May have had to pick the ball out of the net more than he'd like but his 11 clean sheets show his ability. Also found an ability to save penalties! Saved three this season.

- The French right-back continues his development, keeping Kamburov out of the first team. Remains to be seen if he can hold his place for next campaign.

- Argentine stopper was signed in the summer and began well. Found the net a few times and added some much needed experience to the team.

- Brazilian midfielder is now the best player at the club. He got injured for two months at the end of the season and you could see we missed his all round ability.

- Bulgarian summer signing slotted into midfield well and kept Coto out of the side. His attacking instincts and passing ability offer good threat either in a 4-4-2 or behind the striker.

- The Czech attacker sometimes saw his chances limited but was good when used, chipping in with a few goals. Wanted by plenty of clubs.

- Took to Serie A well and our only player to hit ten goals or more. He also picked up fans player of the year again.

- Young French prodigy did pretty well in his debut season bagging seven goals. He's improving loads.

- Brazilian striker was signed in January to give us extra firepower. He didn't score many, only one in fact, but he's a creative striker, as shown by his seven assists. Looks like he could strike up a good partnership with a finisher like Blanchard.

Finances

With the boost of a cool £3m for our finishing position I asked the board to improve the training facilities. They agreed. At a cost of £1.8m!

Objectives Complete?

• Avoid relegation
  

Success! A 16th placed finish was very commendable.

• Keep hold of the prized assets
  

Success. They all stayed but I've learn a lot this season. I'm not sure Kamburov, Coto or Ripa are cut out for my ambitions. The others are for now.

• Spend within our means
  

Success. I stuck to the budget strictly even in the face of mounting problems.

New Objectives:

• Avoid relegation
  
• Hit the 45 point mark or more
  
• Continue to develop the ground/training facilities
  

This was a productive season. Initially I thought we'd struggle to stay up but we showed our grit over time to survive quite clearly. Next year in Serie A gives us an opportunity to continue our growth. I don't think we can make massive moves in the market, so it will continue to be slow and steady progress towards the top half. Slow and steady wins the race chaps (eventually!).

Joining us in Serie A this season are: Torino, Empoli and Pescara. Departing Serie A are: Nocerina, Udinese and Vareses.

Seasonal Best Eleven

Overall Best Eleven

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Good Work on survival Iacovone, and hopefully you can push onwards now.

An excellent start there Rlipscombe, hopefully you can make an impact in the group stage.

As for us well 9 games in 0-3-6 (Ouch) - This could be a long season, though the 6 losses have been 5 of the top 10 + Bilbao. The 3 draws against 12th/14th/15th so far. I haven't played 16th - 19th (4 teams yet) so hopefully attacking those teams will help.

Edit: Also Corinthiano, was that a typo in your wage budget? 4k? If not I feel rich with a wage budget of €82k

[PRDH]

iacovone - Excellent season. Survival is always the aim in the first season.

rlips - I really like the look of your signings. Some great potential there.

[corinthiano]

Solid season there iacovone, good to see you kept your distance to the bottom teams. I have to say I don't envy you for facing Ferraro twice a season, he looks like a beast!

And LLR, yes it is only 4k, our salary per annum was 40% of the next lowest team, whilst the highest team had 8 times our salary spend. After securing survival the board have increased it to 7.75k, but I am already spending 7.5k of it...

[iacovone]

I must also tell you that I managed to get Savona as my feeder club

For anyone that has followed my past efforts with this challenge, they'll know I completed the challenge (for the only time) with Savona.

[iacovone]

Pre-Season Transfer Review - Novese - 2027/28 - Serie A

Daouda Solo (DR) - signed on a free to replace Bernard Dupont who saw his remaining 50% bought out by Juventus. Looks to be just as good as Dupont (although maybe not as rounded).

Saul Garcia (D/DM/MC) - Spaniard signed on a free transfer. At 18 years old he looks like he has enough potential to be a good Serie A player. I'm not yet sure whether I'm going to have him as a DM or CB. Leaning towards the former as his jumping is only '8'.

Harold Cardenas (M/AMRC) - the 26-year-old Colombian was signed from Cypriot side Anorthosi Famagusta for £1.6m - a considerable fee for Novese. He will offer plenty in attack and fill a void at RM. Shame he got injured for 3 months in pre-season

Dario Nieva (DC) - centre-back was a position I was happy to spend big on. About 70% of our budget was spent on Nieva but I think it'll prove to be well spent. He's the aggressive stopper I wanted in our back four but at £3m wasn't cheap!

Tete (M/AML) - I realised after I spent my money that I hadn't signed an able LM. So Tete was brought in on loan from Roma for the season. Should do a good job out there when used.

Transfer Summary

You can see on the outgoings we made £1.9m through co-ownerships. Oikonormidis, Mohammed and Dupont all left permanently, while Topuzov has seen 50% of his contract bought by Parma. For as long as we're a small club this seems the best way to generate short-term cash.

[PRDH]

iacovone - Nice to see Savona. You'll have to see how high you can get them through your youth/back up players!

Back with me, I've finished another season. Hope to have the update done tonight, or possibly tomorrow.

[CelticDaft98]

January 1st - Half Season Report

Doing well so far 4 points clear of second place montrose and Still in the scottish cup

Despite these positives We haven't been playing well we have been scraping out wins but despite this we are still undefeated sadly however ive had

some poor draws with teams i should have beat

Got a few good players on loan and free transfers and O'Leary has been playing amazingly

The board has raised my budgets due to my good performance

Budgets

Transfer budget: 24.55k

Wage budget: 4.6k p/w

So good overall but still some creases to iron out

[rlipscombe]

rlipscombe - Ricardo Freitas looks like yet another awesome striker signing But I generally liked your signings, lots of youngsters with bags of potential.

And congrats on reaching the CL group stage! It does look like a tough group but I reckon 3rd place is definate possibility!

As for Real, we managed to string a 5 game winning run and have moved 9 points clear of the relegation zone with 6 games to go. Don't want to jump the gun, but it looks like we could be guaranteed Liga Orangina football next season.

Cheers. i was pretty happy with my signings. hopefully Freitas can become a club legend. As for the champions league group, as a tease we have played 2, won 2... 4 points clear of Man United in 2nd...

LLR & PRDH - cheers guys. hopefully some of the kids can be the cornerstone of our future.

iacovone - congrats on survival - all that matters really first season. great to see you linked with Savona again too. Nostalgia!!

celticdaft - looks like it's all going well so far. good luck in the second part of the season.

[corinthiano]

iacovone - Good signings, I would also tend to play Saul Garcia as a DM if I was you.

CelticDaft98 - Great start there mate, hope you can keep it up and clinch promotion.

rlipscombe - sounds like a good start at the CL, surely a place in the last 16 is on the cards now?

My update to follow shortly!

[corinthiano]

Real Sport Clube – 2015/16 Liga Orangina

Liga Orangina

Media Prediction: 15th

Board Expectation: Avoid Relegation

My Target: Avoid Relegation

League Table: 10th ǁ Position Graph

I didn’t start the league feeling very comfortable. We had maintained our first eleven, but I had to get in a bunch of new back up players who were not as good as the guys who I had released. We did start pretty badly and it took us 5 games to find our first win. We were however pretty inconsistent in the first half of the season and were never too far of the relegation places. In January however my Brazilian trio came in and we put in an impressive 5 game winning streak in.Even after our run ended we put in pretty decent performances and even managed to get into the top half for a few rounds before it all caught up with us. I was very happy with a 10th place position though.

Taça de Portugal Millennium

Second Round – We dominated the game but disappointingly could not finish Pombal off. We paid the price on penalties.

Bwin Cup

First Phase – Group C – Never thought I would have a chance, was just happy we didn’t lose all games.

The Royals

Transfers ǁ Squad 1 ǁ Squad 2

I released a load of players thinking I would be able to bring in much more quality players as a professional club. I was very wrong though as giving my first eleven pro deals already took up my meager € 4k p/w wage budget. I was left with signing up a load of average youngsters as my board only let me offer € 100 p/w to any new signings. Before the restrictions I managed to secure the Brazilian trio, which was crucial to our season.

GK: Buick – The first of the Brazilian trio, was brilliant in goal, keeping 9 clean sheets in 16 matches.

DR: Antônio – The second of the Brazilian trio, helped steady the defence, be it as DR or as DC when Eduardo was injured.

DC: Felipe – Felipe was ever present and he has already passed the 100 games mark for the club.

DC: Eduardo – Another good season by Eduardo and he is still improving.

DL: André Dias – Also had another good season, I am very happy with my deence overall, definately the strongest area of the team.

DMC: Douglas – Douglas is still performing well as DM, if I had money I would maybe start looking to replace him, but he will do for now.

MC: Joedson – Not as strong this season, I am between replacing him and José Coelho in the first team. I probably only have wage budget for one replacement.

MC: Rubén Pizurno – Kept up his good performances.

AMC: José Coelho – Just don’t think he has cut it at this level, nowhere near as influential as the previous season.

ST: Gil – I just love this guy, not a massive goalscorer but always a nuisance to other defences.

ST: Nicolás Medina – Not as prolific as last season, but his goals always came at crucial times.

Other News

Finances – Awful, board still pumping money into the club and we are still running at a big loss on a monthly basis. Was pretty surprised and happy about the € 250k prize money for the league though.

The facilities were downgraded, not happy about that…

This Season Targets

1. Survive Relegation Success – Seemed like it wasn’t going to be possible at first but we made it look easy in the end.

2. Rely less on board cash injections Big Fail – Went over the budget by quite a way and even though the board kept pumping money into the club we finished the year on a loss

Next Season Targets

1. Keep away from a relegation fight

2. Have a half decent run in one of the cups

3. Stay within my wage budget

The board has increased the wage budget quite a bit this season to € 7.75k p/w, but I am just about under it, so won’t be able to make extravagant signings. I will look to offload a few players and maybe get a new AMC in. Considering this and the fact that the promoted sides Varzim and Farense are very strong I am going to settle for survival again.

Career Overview

Season       League                     Pos      Taça de Portugal     Bwin Cup        Europe      Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13      2. Divisão - Zona Sul      7th      First Round          N/A             N/A         None
2013/14      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   3rd      Second Round         N/A             N/A         None
2014/15      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   1st      Third Round          N/A             N/A         Promotion
2015/16      Liga Orangina              10th     Second Round         First Phase     N/A         None

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - Season Summary - 2028/29

Finances

Key figure - £16,331,161 | Summary

Club News

1/ Collins' departure broke the record for highest value sale.

2/ Stadium expansion completed taking capacity up to 29,932.

3/ Board have agreed to improve youth facilities and to expand the stadium again.

Transfers | 5 in (£1.4m) and 26 out (£27m)

A tricky year of transfers. I spent a lot of time in the summer fighting off bids for Collins only for him to leave towards the end of January when someone matched his release clause. I then had loads of cash to spend but no one I felt happy with replacing him long term. I therefore got a couple of loanees in and for the rest of the season didn't own a right back - not ideal. It means I'll have some hunting to do over this summer.

Other than that there were a lot of former youth players who I'd never got round to releasing who got uppity this season and were therefore shown the door and I sent a few players out to Fatima and Oriental (my feeder team) in the league below helping them to 3rd and 12th respectively.

League | Predicted - 2nd (Honestly, when will the media think I can win it!)

Table | Graph

Trickiest season domestically for a long time. The top teams all have spent money over the last couple of years and therefore closed the gap on me. Injuries to Mendès and Neira at the start of the season didn't help and we made a fairly ropey start. We clawed our way back into it and when we beat all the top teams in the second round of matches we rose to the top again. We played last in the rounds from then in and that is why it looks like we were second until the final game. We actually hit the top with 5 games to go I think and held on from there.

Hoping to reassert my dominance next season with some shrewd investment over the off season. I'm tempted to move on some of the established players. Fontaine is a great player but didn't reach the heights of previous seasons. If there are big offers I'd be tempted to cash in and start rebuilding again.

Cups

Supertaça | Winners

A solid win in the season opener against Rio Ave. Nothing much to say. It was fairly routine.

Taça de Portugal | Semi final

Our youth/back up players got us to the semi final where they lost out to Benfica. These cups basically mean nothing to me. I'm only really interested in the league and Europe.

League Cup | Semi final

The kids fell at the semi final in Portugal's second cup too.

Europe

Group Stage | Table

Thought I'd managed to draw a pretty tough group as I faced off against Juventus, Valencia and RB Salzburg but we negotiated it fairly comfortably only losing one game - against Valencia.

1st Knockout Round

First Leg | Second Leg

A nightmare draw saw us come up against eventual champions Real Madrid. They emphasised the gulf in class that still exists between me and the top teams in Europe with a 4-0 victory in the first leg. We were better when we brought them back to our place but still never looked like getting back in the tie as we snatched a 2-2 thanks to two own goals.

We'll just have to have another go next season!

Squad | Overview

'Keepers

Ales Svoboda - 43 apps, 41 conc, 19 cln - Kept his place as first choice keeper this season. Not quite as imperious as he had been before, but he's still young and I fully expect it to just be a slight hiccup.

Miltos Diallas - 5 apps, 1 conc, 4 cln - Too good for a number 2 really and he knows it. He started to complain and I decided to let him go. He's off to Malaga in the summer.

Defenders

Stijn Hermans - 16(2) apps, 1 gl - Continues to ably deputise for the first choice pairing.

Pavlos Nalbantis - 4(4) apps - Another who is really rather too good for his position and is another who is leaving us at the end of the season. He heads to Denmark.

Sébastien Gautier - 45(1) apps, 1 gl, 1 ast, 2 MoMs - Another good season for the French defensive juggernaut. His touch in front of goal deserted him this season. Something to work on before the new season.

Meraneh Descazals - 33 apps, 8 gls, 5 MoMs - He's 28. It looks like he's here for the duration of his career and I'm very happy about that.

Ange Diaby - 6(5) apps - He's served us well but he's off at the end of the season too. He's staying in Portugal.

Christian Osses - 44(2) apps, 3 gls, 6 asts, 1 MoM - This man is the record appearance maker for the club. He takes some displacing this lad.

There were also a couple of on loan right backs here who played the second half of the season but I didn't get round to taking screenshots before they left. Needless to say they won't be coming back. They were average, but no more.

Midfielders

Germán Muñoz Urrea - 1 app - He's been living on borrowed time for a while now and I've finally secured him a move. He heads to Benfica. Am I worried about him strengthening a rival? No.

Christian Madsen - 25 apps, 2 gls, 3 asts, 1 MoM - Rotated with Tornado through he season. Gets the bolding on account of his one extra appearance this season.

Tornado - 24(2) apps, 2 gls, 6 asts, 1 MoM - It won't be long until he replaces Madsen as first choice in this position. He's a cracking young midfielder.

Vadym Gai - 34(1) apps, 6 gls, 16 asts, 4 MoMs - Another solid season for the Ukrainian. I wonder whether this is a position we could look to strengthen.

Emin Dalkali - 14(16) apps, 8 gls, 4 asts, 3 MoMs - Gai's understudy again. Gained more playing time this season and he continued to improve and impress.

Joffrey Fontaine - 31(1) apps, 7 gls, 14 asts, 3 MoMs - Seemed somewhat complacent this season. Not at his best, but then neither were the rest of the team at times

Stefan Fink - 14(15) apps, 4 gls, 3 asts - Another of the youngsters to be progressing well.

Andreas Jensen - 33(2) apps, 7 gls, 10 asts, 3 MoMs - Again, like Fontaine, he wasn't quite at the races this year when we needed him.

Holger Lemke - 1(2) apps, 2 gls, 1 MoM - Youngster is progressing nicely.

Héctor Partida - 14(19) apps, 1 gl, 3 asts, 1 MoM - Without wishing to be repetitive he's a young player who is developing nicely.

Forwards

Allan Tranberg - 13(6) apps, 5 gls, 3 asts - Played a large part in our disappointing start to the season as he deputised for the injured first choice pair.

Alan Neira - 39(1) apps, 15 gls, 14 asts, 4 MoMs - Didn't score as often as he could but his partnership with Mendès is encouraging.

Micha Peek - 1(10) apps, 1 gl, 2 asts - Beginning to phase Peek into the first team. I'm quite excited about his potential. He was lethal in the reserves.

Sidnei Mamede - 13(7) apps, 11 gls, 7 asts, 5 MoMs - Tranberg's partner as the season began. Scored goals but the team was poor.

Miguel Angel Klein - 1(1) apps Struggling to make an impact here. Might be time to look at moving him on.

Edemilson Mendès - 35(1) apps, 22 gls, 9 asts, 3 MoMs - Not as lethal as in previous seasons but still finished as top scorer. Hopefully with a good pre-season he can get back to his best. Has still scored 62 goals in 71 league games for the club. A great record.

Aims For This Season Were...

1/ Retain league. - Yes

2/ Semi-final of the Champions' League again. - Not even close

Aims For Next Season Are...

1/ Retain league

2/ Improve European form - at least Quarter final.

Story So Far...

Season		League			Position		Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13		Second Division - South	12th			Avoided Relegation (just)
2013/14		Second Division - South 1st			Promoted!
2014/15		Second League		14th			Avoided Relegation
2015/16		Second League		2nd			Promoted!
2016/17		Premier League		13th			Avoided Relegation
2017/18		Premier League		3rd			Qualified for Europa League
2018/19		Premier League		4th			Europa League again
2019/20		Premier League		5th			Europa League again
2020/21		Premier League		1st			Champions!
2021/22		Premier League		2nd			CL Qualification again
2022/23		Premier League		1st			Champions!
2023/24		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2024/25		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2025/26		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2026/27		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2027/28		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
2028/29		Premier League		1st			Cl 1st Knockout Round

Previous Updates

12/13

13/14

14/15

15/16

16/17

17/18

18/19

19/20

20/21

21/22

22/23

23/24

24/25

25/26

26/27

27/28

[PRDH]

rlips - Awesome start to the Champions' League Group. Got to be looking at qualification after that.

corinthiano - Great first season in that league. Certainly could be looking at a push for promotion next year.

[rlipscombe]

as for our 3rd group game... Manchester United at home. the result??? 1-0 home win!!

[G-Wiz]

Ac. Viseu - 2014/2015 - End of Season Review

Manager Profile

Team Information

Transfers

Predicted Position: 15th

Actual Position: 7th

Average Attendance: 2583

Season Ticket Holders: 630

With promotion came the club changing from Semi-Professional to Professional. As a result i was able to bulk up the number of staff, and in turn develop the players more than ever before. Full time training made a huge difference to the players, with attributes improving almost across the board.

Our league performance was not matched by that in the League Cup, where we crashed out in the first stage, losing 2 of our 3 matches. We did however perform better in the Taca de Portugal, beating a few minnows on our way to the 5th round. Here we were drawn against the mighty Benfica, and despite receiving a 5-1 hammering, the gate receipts we gained from the match were a massive boost to our poor-looking finances.

GK

Igor Rocha - difficult season, conceded a shedload of goals, still finished the season with 8 clean sheets but may need to be replaced if i can find better within my budget

DEF

Alisson - one of the stars of the season, consistently impressive and laid on a tremendous 16 assists, the most in the league, and all from RB. attracting interest

Gleydson - not used as much due to the arrival of a few new CBs, may be phased out next season

Joao Cancelo - LB was fairly solid before injury ended his season

Fernando Lopez - brought in to strengthen CB position, ended up first choice alongside Tavares. However, the defense was a big let down this season, and so the position is still up for grabs

Ricardo Tavares - another brought in to fight for CB place, yet to prove his worth

MID

Dionatan Teixeira - big man was a big player for us this season, contributing a huge 10 goals from DM, all coming from corners. a great weapon to have at set pieces

Mexilhao - another improving player, 4 goals, 4 assists, averaging 7.01

Andre Gomes - fairly unspectacular in CM, another area that needs someone more influential

ATT

Jean Silva - part of a very impressive front 3. 17 goals and 12 assists showed he was more than capable of making the step up a division

Fusca - a star again this season, i really believe he and Silva can continue to improve and potentially be around for a while. 16 goals and 15 assists from the right side of my front 3 was a fantastic return

Edson - playing as the main striker, finished top scorer with 18 goals. the main man in terms of experience in an otherwise very young team. hope i can get a few more seasons out of him as he will be hard to replace

Alipio - the one man currently in the squad who may fill in for Edson, scored a few goals in his limited appearances. his arrival essentially signalled the end of the road for cult hero Bacari, who will see out the remainder of his contract and leave the club as one of our Favoured Personnel

Top Scorer - Edson - 18 goals

Highest Average Rating - Fusca - 7.24

Fans Player of The Year - Fusca

Portuguese Second League Top Scorer - Edson - 2nd, Fusca - 3rd

Portuguese Second League Most Assists - Alisson

Portuguese Second League Young Player Of The Year - Jean Silva - 3rd

Portuguese Second League Manager of The Year - Garry Maltman - 3rd

Portuguese Second League Team of The Year - Alisson, Fusca

Portuguese Most Improved Team of The Year - Ac. Viseu

So my main aim moving forward has to firstly be to try and strengthen the GK/DEF positions, as the number of goals we conceded was a concern all season, and had a huge effect on our performance in the league. Too many silly goals conceded, which could ultimately have been prevented and meant less dropped points/improved league position. If we can continue to score as frequently as this season, but concede a few less, i am confident we will continue to progress at the same rate we have been up til now

Season          Division                                 Position       Achievements
2012/2013       Portuguese Second Division - Central      7th	        Safety          
2013/2014       Portuguese Second Division - Central      1st           Champions, Promoted Through Playoffs
2014/2015       Portuguese Second League                  7th		Safety                                                 

[corinthiano]

PRDH - Glad you managed to retain the league, have to say your squad looks awesome, it's quite a thing that there is still such a gap to the bigger clubs.

rlipscombe - Surely aiming for first place now?!

Just managed to sign this guy, needless to say I am very excited, think he could make a massive difference!

EDIT: Great season there G-Wiz, your strikeforce looks pretty decent, you reckon you could challenge for promotion next season?