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Insert Interesting Name Here - Tomtuck's Second FM Career Adventure

tomtuck01

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - February/March 2017 - Brighton

The Championship

February

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Another cracking month as we took thirteen points from a possible fifteen.

We got the month underway with a scrappy 2-1 win over Birmingham, and we followed that up with another 2-1 win, this time away at Sunderland in what was yet another scrappy game. A rather drab 0-0 draw at Ipswich followed, but then we faced promotion rivals Wolves. We totally dominated possession, but they had the better chances. Our goalkeeper Owain fon Williams was on great for the keep them out, and we nicked a goal from one of our rare good attacks. The month was rounded off with a solid away display at Bristol City, as we benefited from yet another own goal.

We finished the month still in third place, but now just two points behind both Wolves and Nottingham Forest. And I was also awarded the Manager Of The Month Award.

March

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Four wins from five yet again, and our run of cleansheets keeps on going.

The Reading game wasn't the best - there were only fourteen shots in the whole game - but we got the goals that mattered, one of them from Cheick Diabate which was his first for the club. A comfortable 1-0 win at Middlesbrough followed, before we beat Bournemouth 2-0 at the Amex. It was tough to break them down, but we managed 22mins from time before adding a second late on. Derby then came to the Amex, and we just about deserved our 1-0 win. A tough game at West Ham followed, and in truth we took a bit of a battering. However, we stood strong at the back and snatched a point.

Seven games to go and we're now in the automatic promotion spots, two points behind first place and two ahead of third. It's going to be interesting.

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - April 2017 - Brighton

The Championship

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Promotion, and the title, secured. We finished the season with five wins from seven.

Millwall gave us a right good game at the start of the month, creating more chances than us and keeping the ball better. However, we took our chances when they came to take a crucial 3-2 win and go top for the first time this season, albeit only on goal difference. Three days later Nottingham Forest came to the Amex and whoever won the game would be top come full time. We grabbed a early goal and took total control of the game thereafter, we then added another a little over twenty minutes from time to secure the points, and go three points clear. We squeezed past Sheffield Wednesday in our next game to keep hold of top spot by three points. The 2-2 draw at Leicester proved to be a very disappointing result as were 2-0 up with a little over twenty minutes to go, but they came back at us a snatched a point. Forest won the next day and gap was down to a point. On Easter Monday we then defeated Wigan 2-1 to keep our one point lead heading into our final two games. QPR came to town four days later, and we won 1-0 thanks to a tremendous strike from Harry McGinty to seal promotion. When Forest lost the following day, we were crowned champions! The season finished with a poor 0-0 draw at relegated Stevenage, but i think most of the players were still hungover after the previous weeks celebrations!

I'm delighted with our final month of the campaign. Promoted as Champions - wow!

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - Season Review 2016/17 - Brighton

League One

Results 1 - Results 2 - Results 3 - Final Table (1st - Promoted as Champions)

Well it turned out to be a stunning season, even more than I ever imagined as all I wanted to do was get safe as early as possible and then try and get into the playoffs. To go and win the division was unreal. The first third of the season saw us draw alot of games as we were tring to find our feet, but after defeat to West Ham at the start of November we went the rest of the season unbeaten. In that time we went on five and six game winning streaks to really kick us on at important times. What a great campaign from the lads.

FA Cup

Eliminated In 3rd Round

A real lesson for us. Leeds were 17th in the Premier League at the time and us up in the top four of the Champioship, but they showed us up here. They actually eneded up going down in last place, but we have much to learn going into next season.

League Cup

Eliminated In 3rd Round

Comfortable against League One Crawley, and then a stonking performance against Premier League Swansea set us up with a third round tie with Chelsea. We actually gave them a good game, much better than the FA Cup game against Leeds. The scoreline was a touch harsh, but they were much more clincal infront of goal.

Other Info

Squad Stats - Transfers - Finances

Plenty of players used again this season, and some of them will be moved on going into the Premier League to make way for greater quality. Hopefully we can extened Ryan Rushe's loan deal from Everton for a third season, and I'd like to keep hold of Callum Chambers.

There were a fair few transfers in and out, and we spent a fair bit to secure of aims. We brought a little bit back into the club though through sales which was very welcome.

Financially we've died a death as we tied players down to better contracts, but next term we'll earn a fortune by being in the Premier League, so they are nothing to worry about in all honesty.

Top 3 Players

Jake Forster-Caskey

Outstanding for us in the Deep-Lying Playmaker role. Doesn't get loads of assists, but his ball retention is excellent and he feeds those further forward excellently. Also managed to chip with a few goals.

Michael Bostwick

Just like last term, he was a rock for us at the back. Could be vital next term in the Premier League.

Harry McGinty

Whether in midfield or upfront, McGinty always did a job. He's only 21 and he's improving all the time. A big future lies ahead I think.

What Next

Well there's a contract to be discussed with the board as it expires at the end of June! I reckon after securing promotion and the title, they might be a bit more willing to listen to what I have to say.

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How are my Former Clubs Doing?

Bukovyna

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| Season    |  League            |  Lge Pos |  Notes                                            |  Other
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| 2015/16  |  Premyer-Liha  |  9th         |                                                       |  Beaten in Europa Lge Playoff Rnd
| 2016/17  |  Premyer-Liha  |  16th       |  Relegated                                     |

Appalling. They won just six league games all season, and didn't win at all in their final thirteen games, drawing just three and losing ten. Somehow, the manager hasn't been sacked. Disgraceful. They also got battered 4-1 in the cup by a side in the league below.

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BrightonFFPFine-May2017_zps55932bdf.png

Not great news, but the fine is paltry now that we've been promoted.

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A couple of good bits of financial news. The money from the chairman is much needed until the season gets underway and we start getting in gate receipts and TV money. And the sponsorship deal is much bigger than our previous one.

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BenficaApproach-June2017_zps7395fcb7.png

Oh my giddy eye.

So, do I lead Brighton into the Premier League after back-to-back promotions, or do I go back to my naitive Portugal to try and revitalise Benfica after seven years without winning the Portuguese League and fourth placed finish last campaign?

I'm honestly agonising over this.

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Agree with withnail - this won't come up too often. Good to see they're breaking the bank to get you :D

Given their financial status is "insecure", they're ploughing loads of money into getting me to move - it'll cost them £450,000 in compensation!

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - June 11th 2017

BREAKING NEWS

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Bruno Gama has left his role as manager of Brighton And Hove Albion to join Benfica just a couple of weeks after signing a new contract with the club. It is understood he left with the blessing of Brighton chairman Tony Bloom although that is yet to be confirmed by either party. Gama has said he "couldn't turn down" the chance to manage such a huge club.

Here is Gama's statement in full;

I appreciate you all for taking the time to attend. There will be no quetions today, just a short statement.

I am delighted to be given the opportunity to manage such a big club. Benfica have an amazing history, and my aim is to restore them to their former glory. For this club to go so long without winning the league title is scandalous.

I would like to put on record how much I enjoyed my time at Brighton - what we achieved together was remarkable. It was very tempting to remain with the club and lead them into the Premier League, however chances like this don't come along very often and I simply couldn't turn this opportunity down.

My thanks goes to everyone at Brighton for all the support I recieved during my tenure, and I hope then can survive in the Premier League in the coming season.

BezerraLeavesBrighton-Jun2017_zps9af68a0f.png

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - New Club - Benfica

Full Name: Sport Lisboa e Benfica

Nickname: Águias (Eagles)

Year Founded: 1904

Stadium: Estádio da Luz (64,657 all-seater)

Status: Professional

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We all know the history of this club - they're massive, and it's my job to restore them to their form glories. Of course winning the Champions League anytime in the near fututre will be near impossible. But they are without a league title since the 2009/10 season, and in the last four years have only won a couple Portuguese Cups and one Portuguese League Cup, so winning domestic trophies is the aim.

Finances And Squad

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Absolutely dire. I knew when taking over the financial status was described as "Insecure", but I never expected this. We need to get back into the Champions League as soon as possible, but that is going to be difficult as players will have to sold to balance the books.

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Some good players to work with, but how many of them will be around come the close of the transfer window remains to be seen. We have to cut costs, and with a few players on £20,000+ p/w we have to look to sell those players if they won't cut their wages.

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Definitely the right choice. If you limited your contract length then obviously you were considering leaving soon anyway and a season of struggling in the Premier League could have led to you getting the boot anyway.

It wasn't that I was thinking of leaving soon per say, it just makes it easier to go as another club doesn't have to pay as much compensation to get hold of you, so you're more likely to get offers.

But yeah I agree, the choice was the right one, despite the horrible finances.

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - Season Preview 2017/18 - Benfica

Board Expectations

Liga ZON Sagres - Qualify For Champions League

Taça de Portugal - Reach Final

Taça da Liga - Not Important

Europa League - Reach Group Stage

Personal Expectations

Liga ZON Sagres - Same As The Board

Taça de Portugal - Not A Priority

Taça da Liga - Don't Care

Europa League - A Run Would Be Nice

The expectations are fair enough, we're on the same page with the immediate need to be back in the Champions League. I'm not bothered about the domestic cups in all honety as they'll probably just get in the way of the overall aim. As for the Europa League, a bit of a run in that is needed to keep our European ranking in decent shape.

Budgets

Transfer: £2,117,504

Wages: £265,339 p/w (Currently spending £292,115)

Balance: -£6,027,370

It's naff, and we only get 35% of any players sales to put back into the squad. The wage budget still needs to be trimmed aswell, which I'm in the process of trying to do. It might be a case of looking for free/loan players for this season.

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The balance looks a lot better than when you first mentioned it on twitter earlier :D

Good luck, I think the first few seasons might be tough for you.

It's down to a few sales that have already taken place, and wages cut, etc. But yes, it's better than -£15million and a projected balance of -£44million!

Reasonably optimistic about how we can do. The images of the two youngsters I posted on twitter given me real hope. :thup:

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Just got myself back into following career threads. Your journey is the first I've come across and you've done a superb job so far. Good luck with Benfica, I'm sure you'll do well :)

Thank you Karnage94. I hope you stick with it throughout - I'm, planning on this being my only FM14 save. :)

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Looks like you've got a few young lads you can bring through and looking at the state of those finances, a youth model might be the best way to progress here - looking forward to seeing how you get on

The finance will improve fairly quickly if I manage to make all the cuts I want to the wage budget, but yes I will be promoting a lot of youth as there is some quality there for sure.

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Bruno Gama's Management Career - Preseason 2017/18 - Benfica

Transfers

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Well as I have said a few times here and on Twitter, players needed to be sold to improve the financial situation, and wages needed shifted from the budget to give greater long term stability. All of those that were sold were all done so for less than their values, (Claudio Yacob for example was worth £8.5million), but unfortunately that was the situation we were in.

Here are those eleven who came into the club;

Igor Bubnjic

This transfer was arranged before I joined the club. Will be third choice CB but I'll be happy to call upon him without a doubt.

Paulo Alberto

Another transfer sorted out before I joined. He could turn into a solid central defender, so worth keeping around.

Javi Garcia

A former Benfica brought back to the club following a year out the game after his release from Manchester City. Can still do a job as a back-up DM. Has a decent personality for tutoring aswell.

Neilton

Nice little player and even at 23 he can improve a wee bit. Hopefully he can add a bit of flair to our attacking play.

Victor Andrade

Another decent player brought for a sound price. The only issue, and I knew this when I snapped him up, is that he's unavailable until 2018 having played for both Cruzeiro and Goias in the 2017 Brazilian league system.

Mattheus

Magic player for a magic price. Hopefully he can help us for a couple of years before maybe making us a lot of money.

Fabio

A more experienced leftback was needed as Namir Fernandes is just seventeen. He'll play his share though.

Loan Renewals

Upon joining the club these three players all had loan deals running out having been at the club throughout last season. Given that players had to be sold I decided these three around for numbers as much as anything. However, there quality is also there in them aswell.

Foguete

A very good fullback indeed. Has a couple of problems mentally, but physically and technically he's superb. Hopefully a permament deal can be thrashed out at some point.

Jan Albert

A lovely young footballer who'll be great at the back or in midfield. Unfortunately I can't imagine we'll be able to persuade PSG to part with him.

Andre Silva

Solid young striker, but I dont think well be looking to keep him long term.

Preseason Friedlies

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With us having to play in the Europa League 3rd playoff round I decided just to play a few friendlies and treat those Europa games as preseason matches. We got a few good workouts, and I learnt one or two things about my defenders inparticular, which is quite unusual for friendlies. Surprisingly productive.

Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round

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Sturm Graz really gave us some problems indeed, but we got the job done. Just. They twice took the lead in Austria, but we eventually came though to win the game. In the second leg I was confident we had enough to get through, so I just tried a different shape. We played well but couldn't score. Still, it was job done.

In the playoff round we face Hajduk, with the first leg away from home.

The Portuguese league season is now upon us, and our first game is away at Gil Vicente.

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