SRL88 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Making very good strides. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Great work in Bulgaria, looking like a real dominant force now. Just need a bit of luck in Europe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Season 14 - Transfer Summary Not too interesting this time round, sadly. Nabli wanted over £300k p.a., which seemed over the top for a youngster who wasn't really improving, so I let him go for a tidy profit, and when clubs became interested in Cojic I decided to let him go - he's been generally woeful at centre-back, and I figured we could find better alternatives on the market. Letting Helton go to Spartak was a really tough decision - they're one of our closest rivals in the league. But he was desperate to go out on loan, and for EU nationality reasons, it needed to be in Bulgaria - they were the only side that were interested, and I figured it made sense. He's now their second best player, which I guess shows how far ahead we are. Coming in were: Marlon van Zanten - Agreed contract terms in January, and he's been a revelation so far - fantastic free transfer. He's not as good as my other AMs, but his form has been exceptional and Joordens has been out injured, so it looks really promising at the moment - if he makes his potential, he'll be a top player. Christian Ansah - Less interesting really, he was signed mainly as a replacement for Cojic. I needed depth urgently in defence, and perhaps overpaid a little, but he has potential and can deputise in DR. Noureddine Gabsi - Another somewhat dull backup player, as we had only 2 LBs in the first team squad. On the plus side, he can also play at AML, which was what swung me. If we lose Everson and Lakov, then he's a great option to have available - and later on in the season, that's bound to happen. And, the big highlight, the first youth player to come through during my time at the club: Milan Georgiev - Just 17, but he's got some great physicals and excellent teamwork and work rate. He played a little bit last season, but only due to emergencies. Now, I think he's ready to play a proper role in the first team when spaces appear. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Phew, only just scraped it then Hopefully next year we'll be more decisive Good stuff despite a busy March. Good progress though Jim - your coefficient should continue to rise. Making very good strides. Great work in Bulgaria, looking like a real dominant force now. Just need a bit of luck in Europe. Cheers guys. Yeah, definitely looking like a long-term project at the moment. I really wish we could pull off some big signings, fly through Europe a la Dafuge, but it's not happening as of yet. I'm not shying away from big transfers any more, even offered £11.25m for a defender in January, but as expected they chose to go elsewhere, to clubs with bigger reputations. The vast majority just aren't interested at all. Can't blame them either, to be honest. I can't imagine playing in Bulgaria would appeal to many players, especially not when our coefficient is so low. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Season 14 - July-August Update Terrific start to the season, really. Annoying that we only just scraped through in the Super Cup, but it's not the biggest deal in the world, and really acts as a warm-up for the Champions League, where we decimated Xazar 12-1 on aggregate and Sheriff 9-2 on aggregate. Buducnost looked dangerous in the home leg, but we then totally outplayed them away from home to secure a place in the Group Stages. The league has also started positively, although Kaliakra have had a sensational start as well - hopefully we can keep up the 100% record for a bit longer. Abdellaoui has been on fire, as well as new signing Marlon van Zanten, and I have to mention Naniev, who now has 5 goals from 4 league appearances - ridiculous stuff for a central defender. And, of course, onto the big news: Thankfully, for the first time, we came in as the 3rd seed, which should really help. Dinamo Moscow are one of the poorest sides we've come up against in the Group Stages, and we should definitely be able to secure 3rd place over them. 1st and 2nd though - not exactly what you'd call easy. Barcelona are not the team they once were, not having won La Liga since 2019, but they still have some terrific players, including one of the best in the world right now, Edwin Brouwers. He's far from the only one with attributes like those. I think I can safely chalk that down as two defeats! Then Inter. Their record has been just as shaky as Barca's, but they managed to win Seria A last year, and have a line-up to rival Barcelona's in terms of quality. I don't fancy our chances much there either. It's also worth mentioning that they have Hristo Popadiyn, who grew up at Levski and made over 200 appearances for the club. In summary, let's aim for 3rd! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Tough task there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Tough task there. Yeah, not going to be easy at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Season 14 - September Update Short month, this. We did well in the league, continuing our runs of wins, and Naniev added to his goal tally. I was particularly pleased with the win against Litex, given that I'd rested everyone ahead of the Barcelona match, and likewise against Chernomorets - we face Inter next in the Champions League. Obviously to lose by such a huge margin in the Nou Camp was very disappointing, but not totally unexpected. I set up to defend, and it made absolutely no difference - every attack they just blitzed straight past all my defenders, and it easily could've been more. Mind you, at least the hardest game of the lot is out of the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Season 14 - October Update Ab-so-lutely brilliant! The win against Inter was absolutely sublime. They battered us all game, but at the end with us just 1-0 down I threw absolutely everything at them, and was rewarded with a 92nd minute Mendoza goal. As I celebrated, and pulled everyone back, Dinev then grabbed a 94th minute winner from a corner! Inter must be livid, but I was absolutely ecstatic. This really gives us a chance of progressing to the knockout stages now, depending on what happens in Italy! We continued to play great stuff in the league, and despatched Dinamo Moscow with similar ease, so it's still all looking up. Kaliakra are certainly playing well, but we're developing an increasing lead over them, and our 100% record doesn't show any sign of letting up yet - the longer that continues, the happier I am! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well... it has finally come: As you can see, they're big budgets - West Brom have been owned by a tycoon for a while, but previous managers have frittered it all away on ageing stars... the emphasis there on ageing. Thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Take it! Brilliant offer and a budget you can play with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 What a fantastic win over Inter! Could sneak second at this rate! Very enticing offer from The Baggies. If you're in the long haul, I'd stay in Bulgaria with Levski, although it would be interesting to see what you can do with West Brom and that amount of money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 West Bromwich Albion - Introduction League Table[/url] - They're not doing so great at the moment, 11th position and a negative goal difference. Should be a heck of a lot higher, challenging for Europe. Hopefully we can make it up the table by the end of the season. Squad - There are some great players here, but overall it's a very unbalanced squad. Young players on silly salaries, who will never make it, and older guys like Danny Wilson who are being paid far too much. Not sure what we can do in January, but hopefully a bit of an overhaul will be possible. Finances - Pretty loaded, as you'd expect. And last season, the chairman invested £150m, with another £75m so far this year. Shouldn't be a problem! Facilities - Not bad at all. We'll need a new stadium very imminently, or at least an expansion, and to get the youth recruitment and junior coaching improved. The facilities themselves are all top-notch though. Star Players Hugo Viana Mick Fearon Pedro Figueiredo Li Kai Cheong Georg Roth You can see, looking at strikers like Mick Fearon, why I struggled so much with Levski in the Champions League. There's certainly some amazing talent here, just needs to be properly utilised. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Take it! Brilliant offer and a budget you can play with. What a fantastic win over Inter! Could sneak second at this rate!Very enticing offer from The Baggies. If you're in the long haul, I'd stay in Bulgaria with Levski, although it would be interesting to see what you can do with West Brom and that amount of money. I know, my one regret with this is that I'll never get to see whether we could've gone through to the knockout stages. I was a bit torn, with my long-term Bulgaria career on-track, but it was beginning to look extremely long-term and I'd started to lose the sight of that light at the end of the tunnel - a return to England and a real stab at the big prizes was right on cue, and too hard to turn down in the end. My current plan is to go for the big prestige wins, and then perhaps consider returning to Asia or heading to South America later on, as per the original intention of this career - although Ireland, Indonesia and Bulgaria was exactly the sort of route I was after, so I've not strayed much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Good grief, what a squad - some terrific players there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hardly Jonathan Greening and Steven Reid, though, are they?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Good grief, what a squad - some terrific players there. Yeah, some of the signings they've made are exceptional. At other times though, I'm utterly bemused. We signed a striker for £19m last season, who's about our 5th choice. The 4th choice was signed for £10m this season. And we don't have any decent centre-backs. Who knows! Hardly Jonathan Greening and Steven Reid, though, are they?! I'd probably take Steven Reid to shore up the defence right now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Season 14 - November-December Update After a bad first match, we've got things going again, and we're not doing too badly. Fearon, unsurprisingly, is the focus of everything - if he plays badly, we haven't got much hope, but so far he's been excellent. We were very close to beating Reading and Stoke, which is frustrating, but it's going to take a bit of time for everybody to adjust to the new system. Although we've moved up from 11th, it's a very tight group around us, and the teams ahead of us have got a fair bit of breathing room. I think we'll struggle to get Champions League football, but we might scrape Europa League. I was hoping to heavily strengthen in this transfer window, but my scouts haven't really uncovered anyone worth signing. Balabanov kicked up a big fuss after I left Levski, and I tried to sign him, but he ended up choosing Monaco instead. Apart from a couple of stop-gap defenders, I don't think there's much exciting on the horizon, but hopefully that will change in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Great work to get 6 points with Levski, Good luck at West Brom, you've had a good start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GylfiAsCharged Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Fantastic read, just caught up with this. Nice to see Reading still in the Premier League too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Great stuff in Bulgaria. Good luck at West Brom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Great work to get 6 points with Levski, Good luck at West Brom, you've had a good start. Thanks Just hoping I can keep it up - the board are incredibly demanding, and regrettably seem to be blaming me for a lot of the previous manager's failings. Fantastic read, just caught up with this. Nice to see Reading still in the Premier League too! Cheers, much appreciated! Yeah, it surprised me how many of the current crop have managed to stay there. Very, very few casualties - I expect the actual landscape in 2026 will be markedly different. Great stuff in Bulgaria. Good luck at West Brom. Thanks delta. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 I know I've moved on and so on, but this brought a massive smile to my face: They're up against Leverkusen in the 1st knockout stage... I'll keep you posted Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laBOMBA Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Nice move to West Brom! Hope you get in the Champions League next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Nice move to West Brom! Hope you get in the Champions League next season. Cheers It'll be incredibly tough, but I'll keep dreaming! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Shame to see you leave Levski, but can hardly blame you with that budget! Good luck at WBA. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Season 14 - Winter Transfer Summary A few kids went out on loan, and a few useless overpaid plonkers as well, but this is the essence of what happened. Sanchez and Connor are both strikers, and not particularly good ones. I've no idea why the previous manager was so obsessed with spending fortunes on mediocre attackers, but there you go. Brought a bit of cash in, not that it really has any meaning in this context. The main thing was to sell them before they got fed up of not playing and demanded to leave. I really struggled to find anyone I wanted to buy - the only guy I had my eyes on was a young French centre-back, who's as good as my incumbent defenders and has the potential to become one of the world's best in a few years' time, but Sochaux demanded £35m and I told them to sod off. We might be wealthy, but there's no way I'm hurling that kind of money at future prospects. So, in an attempt to shore up the defence, I spent a little on the experienced and excellently named Frank Hore from Man Utd. He grew up at the club, but has generally been woeful. Mind you, he's English and has reasonable attributes, so he should be a handy stop-gap. Then I decided to go for Diego Villegas - my scouts didn't reckon APOEL would sell, but they caved at £20m which I don't think is horrendous. I've wanted to buy him ever since Levski were drawn against APOEL, and he really impressed me over the course of the two legs. Last season he had an average rating of 8.08 over 46 appearances, and has all the attributes to be a top player. Probably one of the best Bolivians there have been in a good while, if nothing else! We probably overpaid a bit, but we desperately needed to strengthen the squad before the end of the transfer window, and nobody else was even close to being as talented as he is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Shame to see you leave Levski, but can hardly blame you with that budget! Good luck at WBA. Yeah, I sat looking at that message for a little while wondering whether I could legitimately turn it down Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Season 14 - January Update We were desperately unlucky against City, succumbing to two late goals despite being the stronger team overall throughout the match. We've been achieving around 60% of possession in the vast majority of our matches, but have had trouble sticking it in the back of the net, and keeping it out of ours. The board are still extremely dissatisfied with my performance, which I think it pretty harsh, but I'll keep plugging away. The problem is that they want me to get CL football, which means top 4, but even Chelsea in 5th have opened up a pretty sizeable lead over the rest of the pack. I suspect 6th might be our most reasonable target, but I don't think that I'll be sacked for getting them Europa League football. Fearon is still playing some excellent stuff up top, although I'm not convinced that playing him alone up front as a deep-lying forward is the best approach - I'd be much happier with someone alongside him so that I can let him focus on scoring goals rather than holding up the ball and so on. We'll see though - incorporating Georg Roth is the big issue. He's a sensational player, but is really only suited to the AM role, and I don't like the idea of playing two strikers, an AM, and wingers as well in the same formation - for the moment it'll be the 4-2-3-1. The board also expect me to make it to the FA Cup Semi Finals, and thankfully thus far, we've avoided any horror draws. Still a way to go yet though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Season 14 - February Update My worst fears - an out-of-sorts Fearon. Thankfully Boumsong came in and played well, but we were really misfiring all month. Swansea and Birmingham were absolute aberrations - and as ever, we totally outplayed both sides. I think we got around 30 shots, 20 on target in each match, but nothing went in. I think part of the problem was that we lost Roth to injury, so I switched to a more conventional 4-4-2, and forgot to make my usual tweak of stopping everyone but the strikers from taking long shots, so although we tested the keeper frequently, it was usually from too far away to actually be of much concern to the opposition. The miracle here is that we didn't actually give up any ground in the Premiership, despite only gaining 5 points in a month. In fact, despite trailing Fulham and Bolton by 2 and 5 points respectively last month, we now trail both of them by just a single point. Unbelievable stuff, and frankly it might just have saved my job. The only problem is that the gap between us and the Champions League spots is now all the more ridiculous, and a virtual impossibility. I doubt the big teams will drop 17 points in 11 games, and even if they do, it's a massive assumption that we'll collect 100% of ours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Season 14 - March Update So, last month I criticised Fearon. I might do it again! 8 goals in four games is absolutely incredible, and decimating United was totally unexpected. The draw with Stoke in the FA Cup is a bit disappointing, especially considering I put out a full squad, but we should smash them in the replay so I'm not too concerned. I've given him the poacher role at the spearhead of our 4-4-2, and he's absolutely revelling in it, freed from the shackles of, you know, passing. It's not the kind of tactic I'd usually use, but I think he deserves to be the exception to the rule given his obvious quality. The race for 4th is just as over as it ever was, but with a decent run in the last few games I'm confident that we can overhaul Boro and claim 6th - we play them away from home in the final game of the season, and it might just be the decider. Oh, and I thought this might amuse you all: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 EDIT: Summary removed, PC has just crashed and I might need to replay the end of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 In other news, Levski were extremely unlucky to go down 3-2 on aggregate to Leverkusen in the Champions League, and also had a record breaking season in terms of points accumulated in the Bulgarian League, but I really fear for their long-term prospects. As soon as I left, Balabanov got upset and they sold him for £4.4m, and then soon after without any apparent provocation let Naniev leave for a paltry £1.6m. For a club with over £30m in the bank, letting your best CB and best CM leave for £6m is appalling business. You never know though, Kaliakra have been very impressive since I left. Also, as you probably figured out, I resigned from the Bulgaria job when I left Levski. It seemed almost plausible to me for a manager working the capital to be able to look after the national team as well, but the concept of me managing Bulgaria whilst working in Birmingham is a bit daft to say the least - and of course I'll only get more out of touch with the Bulgarian league and players. Also, the UI is absolutely atrocious, and was beginning to really bug me, so as things stand, I think that will be my last national job for a while. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Good season so far, pushing for top 6. Shame about the crash though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Boing boing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hadn't read this thread in a while but noticed I'd posted in it before. Couldn't remember which one it was, but then I opened it up and saw the goat picture on the first page. It all came flooding back. Glad I'm back on board. Enjoying the journey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Pity about the crash that's always annoying. Looking like a decent season for you, good luck with the replayed ending. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Good season so far, pushing for top 6. Shame about the crash though. Pity about the crash that's always annoying. Looking like a decent season for you, good luck with the replayed ending. Yeah, bit of a pain, but thankfully the save wasn't too far away so it's been alright. Thanks, it's turned out reasonably well in the end Boing boing. I had to Google that... if I was genuinely West Brom's manager that would've made for an embarrassing episode! Hadn't read this thread in a while but noticed I'd posted in it before. Couldn't remember which one it was, but then I opened it up and saw the goat picture on the first page. It all came flooding back. Glad I'm back on board. Enjoying the journey. Cheers - I just had a re-read of everything on the first page, all seems a very long time ago now! Cheers for the comments, appreciated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Season 14 - West Bromwich Albion League Table - Positions So, as expected, we missed out on Champions League places, but we got the 6th place finish I was after. We played a touch better on the replay, but it makes virtually no difference to us - the Champions League is the only major target. FA Cup - The real highlight of the year - we had an easy run to the final, no doubt, but we did tremendously to overcome Arsenal at Wembley and claim my first trophy in England. Transfers - Most of this was done by the former management, but I think Hore and Villegas did reasonably well - Villegas more so, but then Hore was always a stop-gap. Sanchez has been sensational at Anzhi, but then the Russian league isn't as good as the Premiership, and Connor was woeful at Arsenal - just one goal and two assists in 13 league appearances isn't great for a £20m striker. Squad - We're still seriously deficient in a lot of positions across the pitch, and the biggest problem is that all of our backups have already peaked. I desperately need to bring down the average age of the squad, and most of all, to get some decent central defenders into the squad. Finances - Not much point posting this when you've got a tycoon, but you can see the pattern. We lose a frightening amount each month, then the chairman sorts us out - £135m this season. Key Players Mick Fearon - No surprises to see him here! 29 goals in 30 league appearances, and in doing so broke the West Brom record. Great player. Pedro Figueiredo - An incredibly consistent performer, he's been excellent, working tirelessly in the centre of the park to break down attacks and redistribute the ball. Diego Villegas - Really glad this signing worked out, he's proving to be the perfect partner for Figueiredo in the middle. Yannick Yoka - I wasn't convinced that he was too great a player, but he's been exceptional on the left wing. If only he was a few years younger. Hugo Viana - As you'd expect, the immensely talented Portuguese full-back did what he says on the tin. Bombed forwards frequently, and solid in defence as well. Career Overview Season Team League Position Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Persibo Indonesian Premier N/A Super Cup, Sacked 2013/14 Glebe North Irish First Division 10th 2014/15 Glebe North Irish First Division 5th Resigned 2015/16 Persibo Indonesian Premier 2nd Promoted 2016/17 Persibo Indonesian Super League 1st Super League 2017/18 Persibo Indonesian Super League 1st Super League, Super Cup 2018/19 Kaliakra Bulgarian B Group 8th 2019/20 Kaliakra Bulgarian B Group 8th Bulgarian Cup 2020/21 Kaliakra Bulgarian B Group 1st B Group, Promoted 2021/22 Kaliakra Bulgarian A Group 4th Resigned 2022/23 Levski Bulgarian A Group 1st A Group, Super Cup 2023/24 Levski Bulgarian A Group 1st A Group, Bulgarian Cup, Super Cup 2024/25 Levski Bulgarian A Group 1st A Group, Bulgarian Cup, Super Cup 2025/26 Levski Bulgarian A Group N/A Super Cup, Resigned 2025/26 West Brom Premiership 6th FA Cup I hope this is all up to date, I mostly used the same update as before but changed a few bits. If anything's seriously wrong, let me know. Also, when the season had ended, I decided I needed more stability, and knocked on the chairman's door... he was surprisingly receptive: What's that sir? You want to quadruple my pay and extend the contract? I guess it'll do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laBOMBA Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Are you going to try and convince Sochaux again to sell the young French centre-back? Maybe offer a friendly as well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Are you going to try and convince Sochaux again to sell the young French centre-back?Maybe offer a friendly as well I had a real bash at it, but they were still demanding £30m+, so I decided to go for other targets instead. Quite a few of them actually Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Season 15 - Transfer Summary Well, this one went a bit barmy. I tried to sell pretty much all of the older players in the squad to generate some cash before they started to deteriorate, and in doing so brought in a very reasonable £104m. There were no major losses here, apart from Yannick Yoka who was excellent last season. I wasn't sure whether to keep him or not, but at 29 I thought it was time to cash in and let others develop. As you can see, there were a heck of a lot of signings, so here goes - in order of importance: Defence Donato - My biggest signing of the window - a top quality CB with attributes in all the right areas. Internacional had no interest in selling, so we had to go all the way to £45m, but defence hurt us last season, and I'm not prepared to let that happen again. Also, his wages are very reasonable. Well, compared to some of the damn mercenaries at least. Glaser - The young German CB has already made 18 appearances for his country, and was excellent for Leverkusen last year. Again, £35m isn't cheap, but he's got bags of potential, and could go on to be even better than Donato. Garner - A third option behind Donato and Glaser, Garner was signed primarily because he wasn't too expensive, and because he'll count towards our home grown quota. He'll never be a top defender, but he's a great option to have. Midfield Kudryavtsev - Bringing the Eastern Europeans back! The Ukrainian should be used primarily at MC, but he's incredibly versatile which will be really handy. Not cheap at £40m, but Inter didn't need to sell. Benitez - A late buy when he suddenly handed in a transfer request, Benitez should give us a bit more depth on the left wing so that we're not relying on just two players to get us through - in time, he could be a great player himself. Racic - The other solution to the AML conundrum. He's exactly what I want in a winger - quick and good on the ball. From Fulham, he's already familiar with the English game, and should slot straight in. Rybicki - And on the other side of the pitch, a great prospect at AMR. I'm not sure whether he'll play much this season, as I've brought in a loanee who has developed a bit faster, but next season I'm sure he'll play a vital role. Attack Umpierrez - The buy I'm most excited about. We needed a top class striker to partner Fearon, and this guy absolutely ripped us apart when we played Spurs. He wasn't that interested in joining, so I had to pay him £10m p.a., but for someone already adapter to the English league, it didn't seem too bad, and £35m for a striker of his calibre was actually a bargain - the alternatives were all in the £60m region. Fantastic attributes across the board, so we should have a pretty fearsome front line. Sedgemore - One of the oddest purchases I've ever made. He's got 21 England appearances, and 10 goals, and came in one a free transfer - not that weird yet. I signed him from Crewe - a bit weird. He's played for Crewe for 10 seasons, from League 2 to the Championship, scoring 219 league goals in 318 appearances, acquiring England caps, and no Premiership team has ever come in for him - absolutely bonkers. When he refused to sign a new contract, I jumped straight in and beat Man Utd and Man City to the punch. He won't start, but as a third option behind Fearon and Umpierrez I think he's a fantastic option to have. And that was about it! I don't expect I'll be spending as much in future windows, but it seemed vital to fork out to rebuild the squad and put together a team capable of achieving the top 4 finish that the board are after. Hopefully after this rebuild we should have a much better base to work from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 That's a crazy transfer window! Can't quite believe you paid £40m for Kudryavtsev, but when the chairman's writing blank cheques... Should set you up nicely for an extremely successful campaign Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
snootyjim Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 That's a crazy transfer window! Can't quite believe you paid £40m for Kudryavtsev, but when the chairman's writing blank cheques... Should set you up nicely for an extremely successful campaign I'm not sure I can either! There were a real dearth of quality CMs, and we also needed another decent player at DR, so it made sense. I thought I'd managed to sign a CM for £21m from Man City, but he opted for Chelsea instead and it left me a bit high and dry. Plenty of forwards and wingers going around, but not much happening at CM or CB... or goalkeepers, for that matter. My instinct was that the chairman will have ridiculously big ambitions this season, and I need to meet them quickly, or I'll be out the door - however, he's prepared to fund whatever transfers I need, so if I avoid making big money signings, and we miss those players later on in the campaign, I'll probably pay with my job. Fingers crossed, it should all do the trick! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Risky investment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 The Sedgemore situation is a bit daft. Or perhaps it's indicative of how few English players there are in the top flight? I dunno. You'd think someone would snap up an England international from Crewe! Loving the thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 A lot of money spent, should be a successful year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 You better deliver for the money the chairman is pumping in! Good win in the FA Cup in your first season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 £253m If you don't win everything, you will be looking for another job! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 Did you get any change from that transfer window? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.