R.W.S Bruxelles

[argento]

We have done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We have been competing in the Champions League for over a decade now and after numerous semi final appearances and a runners up medal we finally do it, in our last season at our old ground.  We hung on during injury time to claim the spoils, Chelsea were by far the better side in the 2nd half and that fluke goal seems to have been the decider.  Either way I am delighted to finally capture it.

 

 

A quadruple!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[argento]

48 goals in 13 games!

We have three players in the dream team with ex players Gonzalo and Muriel also making the side.

 

Nearly had a full WS Bruxelles XI in the Jupiler League team of the year, we destroyed the league so it is only fair

 

 

Continue to improve on the commercial side with more shirts being sold, we move into our new stadium end of the month so next year I expect the commercial match day income to improve as well as the corporate hospitality.  Huge increase in prize money because of the Champions League too.   

 

[EvilDave]

Well done finally getting over the line - well deserved too with all those goals! What's the aim for the save now - more of the same, or something new?

[ajcardall]

Awesome work finally getting ol' big ears, congrats! 

[Keano16]

Keep at it and you'll eventually get it! Congrats! 

[argento]

17 minutes ago, ajcardall said:

Awesome work finally getting ol' big ears, congrats! 

 

1 minute ago, Keano16 said:

Keep at it and you'll eventually get it! Congrats! 

Cheers guys

20 minutes ago, EvilDave said:

Well done finally getting over the line - well deserved too with all those goals! What's the aim for the save now - more of the same, or something new?

Well I have just moved into the new stadium named after me so I can't bail out now, would like to try and win it again to show it wasn't a fluke.  The national side has been under performing for a while now and it is now Euro 2032 which they are hosting and they have lost all 3 group games, I think I might try and apply for the job and see if I can get them firing. They haven't sacked their manager yet but the tournament is still on going.

 

speaking of the new stadium

Very happy with the possible expansion capacity, I checked the board requests and despite not having played a game in it they have already agreed to increase the capacity for the following season

 

I couldn't think of a better reason to open the new stadium

I signed Gonzalez from Barcelona and after 2 loan spells in Spain he went to Lokeren on loan where he got onto my radar and made an impact in the Jupiler League he has since played 12 seasons for us with 2 of them being on loan.  Perfect testimonial

 

Finally Andreas Christensen retires after a glorious career with me taking him on as director of football

 

 

 

[argento]

What a man, still only a club "icon" should be a legend.  Great career and incredibly loyal although he has got angry at me at various points of his career.  So with that being said, it was all about Eduardo for his testimonial where we had a half full stadium (in my head packed) and he dutifully and i am sure entirely unbiased picked up the man of the match award. A hatrick would of been the icing on the cake.

 

He was influential in the final but Bexfield has left the building after spending 4 years here rebuilding his reputation at 29 it was the perfect time to cash in on him, Chelsea must of liked what they saw when he tore apart their defence.  He goes missing for a month every other year for the African Nations as well which is a little frustrating, I wish the big man luck.

 

I always thought Arsenal where savvy in the transfer window but post-Wenger they are just throwing money away as they agreed to cash out of a sell on clause.  To give me over £10M they must be expecting a big bid for him...... I will gladly take their money.

 

  

[deltablue]

Well done! 

[argento]

5 hours ago, deltablue said:

Well done! 

Cheers

 

Belgium despite hosting it failed to impress with 3 losses, Germany continue their form as the nearly men as they crashed out in extra time in the semi finals to surprise package Turkey.  In a repeat of the 1998 World Cup 3rd place play off, Croatia took the trophy.

Just days after his testimonial after the Euros had finished Gonzalez retired from Spain after a glittering career, he bagged 5 goals in the tournament ending up joint runner up.  He failed to win a trophy in his 9 years with Spain as they failed to match up to the previous golden generation

So I decided to take the job alongside my duties as WS manager.  Whether I stick at it or not is another thing.

I am dealt with a spate of retirements when I take over, the only player I will look to talk out of it is Vanneste who has been a key player in the set up for a while.  Wouters and Rigo are both ex players but past their best so I am not too worried about that

 

 

[argento]

Transfer Window so far

So far we have had a few players leave permanently.  The big one to leave was Bexfield and I have already addressed that, Diego Rurado signed a few years ago and has had some loan spells and I decided to sell rather than extend his contract had got offered more cash elsewhere but I want the league to get better and let Genk have him. The other permanent departure was Vuckovic who signed a year a and a half ago.  We don't play with wingers so I took the profit on him when Barcelona came in for the youngster.

Kim Andreasen still isn't ready for our side yet with Gonzalez still going strong so he joins Club Brugge for the year and hopefully he will help them qualify to the group stage of the Champions League, Kuchar a promising keeper goes to Genk for the season and Bex one of our academy players continues his quest to prove to me that he willl be good enough for us by joining Mechelen.  We also have 6 youngsters joining our feeder teams as they look for regular footbal.

 

The new boys

Talented prospect signed on a free transfer from Westerlo, he spent the past 2 seasons there after moving for £300,000 from his homeland.  Back up for now and may still go out on loan.

Young striker already has a few caps joins Antwerp on loan who can now take loan players after getting back into the Proximus league where he should be scoring for fun

From Rosenborg's academy, tried to get him on loan at Antwerp but they think he wont play much there and if that is the case he is better off here with the better facilities.  Should be profit in this as the worst case scenario

A bargain at just £7M, he chose us over Spurs.  Will be competing with Kano for the starting role alongside Gonzalez.  Has only been playing in Brazil so far but I am comfortable he can make the jump.

[argento]

With us having a predominantly young side we had 12 players away at the Olympics but that didn't stop us routing Genk to draw first blood this season.

 

Sadly we couldn't topple Liverpool with some of our players missing with our old player Willie Konate scoring both goals (and refusing to celebrate).  This trophy still eludes me and I am 0/2 now.

 

The Champions League draw was made and we get a chance to get some revenge over Liverpool, AC Milan could be a potential banana skin so our progress isn't guaranteed.  The press think it is an easy group I am not so sure I would say Group B is the toughest.

 

We had a load more players ship out on loan with a few more going out permanently.  Bryan Valencia joins fellow Ecuadorian Rurado out the door as he moves to the Premier League with Watford, Yao Kouassi never developed into the next Yaya Toure as i hoped so I let him go and finally Samaniego leaves us AGAIN.  Despite winning the Champions League he wanted to go to a bigger club which apparently is the 3rd biggest side in France?  He put in for a transfer and I have decided to keep Renane at the club this year as he played well whilst we were limited by the Olympics so I just let him go. He is a great player but he is 30 and it does get £140,000 a week off the wage bill.

 

I brought in two more players

A £4.2M signing from Racing, I agreed to sign him a year ago but had to wait till he turned 18, decided to not send him out on loan and keep him as back up for Gobbi.  Tidy player but still a while to go before the finished article.

Found him at the Olympics playing with our other 2 Egyptian players he had an £800,000 release fee for foreign players.  He returns to Al-Ahly till November 2033 to continue his development.

 

Not the ideal start to the season and it opens the door for a new golden boot winner, Kano and Banza will be my pairing for the season and the new Brazilian Carlos Andre will rotate in.

 

Lets get the defence of the Champions League underway!

 

 

 

[Keano16]

78 goals in 90 caps is insane from Gonzalez!! Hopefully the injury doesn't finish him.

[Benjoe]

I completely missed that you finally won the Champions League and even got a quadruple! 

Congrats on the massive season!

[argento]

 

So I took over Belgium whilst they are in a fair bit of despair failing to qualify for tournaments or disappointing an expectant nation as hosts.  I take over as they are ranked 78th in the World, they are now in the 2nd groups of the International League and my first games in charge are in a 3 team group with Bosnia and Greece

We lack strikers for the National side so I went with a 4-5-1 and will use my own Banza as our striker, De Witte playing just behind him.  It'll be his time to shine for the red devils now Vanneste has decided he wants no more.

o

 

We got off to winning start in Athens but it was closer than I would of liked good to see a strong showing from the WS boys.

 

We nearly through this one away and was gutted N'Diaye got sent off, but 6 points out of 6 happy days.  Confident we will back with the big boys next time this competition swings by

 

 

 

 

 

[argento]

7 hours ago, Keano16 said:

78 goals in 90 caps is insane from Gonzalez!! Hopefully the injury doesn't finish him.

I am too nostalgic to bin him off regardless, hopefully he still got some more in the tank

7 hours ago, Benjoe said:

I completely missed that you finally won the Champions League and even got a quadruple! 

Congrats on the massive season!

Cheers!

 

It seems like we don't want to defend our crown this year or even qualify for the Europa League

 

 

[argento]

Another big performance with Banza grabbing another brace while De Witte picked up man of the match.  

We are back in with the big boys now after winning all 4 games, it was straight forward and I look forward to more challenges ahead

 

Thought I would highlight some of the more talented squad members that you guys wont be too familiar with

 

We are missing a keeper since Courtois retired, Argentine born Aguilar is our best keeper after being naturalised at Anderlecht, I am hoping for a quality stopper to appear in one of our intakes

 

From Anderlecht academy, when he eventually moved on chose PSG over us.  Classy operator

 

Signed this kid years ago as a teenager from Club Brugge and he left to Bayern years ago and is now plying his trade under Mourinho a rock at the back with a good few years in hi,.

I don't play with wingers but with these guys as an option for each flank they are a no brainer, both top players.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[argento]

Well we tried to recover after losing our first two games but we will not be retaining our trophy

We picked up 4 points against Liverpool and we drew away at Olympiakos but because they beat us we can no longer qualify.  Last game I am home to AC Milan and Liverpool take on Olympiakos whoever does better takes the Europa League spot.  So the two teams who competed in the European Super Cup failed to get out of the same group.

Hopefully we can recapture our mojo in the upcoming World Club Cup

 

[argento]

Another trophy to the collection perfect timing after failing to get out of the Champions League group.  A much needed pick me up for the squad

 

[argento]

Has been a mixed bag our performance overall has been really good it's just we didn't perform in the few games that mattered in the Champions League. It is certainly frustrating to go out in the groups but we need to be aiming to win the Europa League now, there is still some decent sides in there but with the squad we have we should be up there.  STVV have been the surprise package in the league so far as they look to secure Champions League football but it is still pretty tight 2nd-5th and will get even more so when the points get halved.

 

RB Leipzig v Spurs is a huge game at this stage the winner of that, alongside us, Juventus, Monaco and Benfica are probably the picks to go all the way. Gent despite poor league form qualify and don't have the worst draw either and as good as Club Brugge are they probably wont be a match for Southampton who won this competition a few years ago

 

A lot of our players going to the African Nations but most of them are out on loan.  Pienaar has been in good form but we have good depth there and Renane has been with us a while but only now enjoying his first season with the 1st team and he has been playing a fair bit but he might struggle to get his place back if N'Diaye plays well.

 

Finally Lorenzo becomes the only player to have retained the European Golden Boy trophy, he was fantastic last season and the icing on the cake was probably the brace he got in a man of the match display in the Champions League final at Wembley

 

 

 

 

[argento]

Another one of our stalwarts gets a testimonial he has been a regular for us and has always contributed but has never been a headline grabber I extended his contract recently to 2035 to see him retire here, I also tried to get him to come out of International retirement again after this and to my surprise he accepted this time.

 

We continue our great record against Kiev and easily make it into the next round, was probably the toughest draw out there but I think we can pull through.  Everton v Juventus and Dortmund v Athletic are two interesting ties as well.

[argento]

We finished the regular season and Genk have slightly decreased the gap between us but still not really competitive and Anderlecht have also had a grat season and have a realistic shot at Champions League qualification.

 

Spurs put up a good performance but thankfully a returning Gonzalez showed us all he still has it!  Into the last 8 we go.  Marseille are always goading my players so I was hoping to draw them to knock them out but Besiktas will have to do for now.

 

Of this years intake this is the highest rated prospect, poor physicals but he has plenty of time to develop them

 

[argento]

Back to National team duty and the groups for the upcoming World Cup qualifier shave been drawn, it's not the easiest one.  Portugal were runner ups last time out and Ukraine are no push overs.

 

Wanted to get off to a good start and with us needing to target 2nd place minimum to qualify, happy with the win and the performance was pretty dominant.

 

Our toughest test was always going to be away to Portugal and it was my old friend Willie Konate back from International wilderness to put me to the sword again, was quite an even game they just took their chances.  If I can beat them in the home leg then we still have a shot at topping the group

 

 

[noikeee]

Congratulations on finally winning the Champions League! (and the Club World Cup). Really earned that with the insistence over the years.

It's a bit surprising/amusing that after finally doing that, you drop out to the Europa League the following year, but that might give you another chance to try to win the UEFA SuperCup.  

As for the Belgian national team, I think it's good timing to be moving into international management now that you finally completed the major challenge with the club. Looking good so far.

[argento]

7 hours ago, noikeee said:

Congratulations on finally winning the Champions League! (and the Club World Cup). Really earned that with the insistence over the years.

It's a bit surprising/amusing that after finally doing that, you drop out to the Europa League the following year, but that might give you another chance to try to win the UEFA SuperCup.  

As for the Belgian national team, I think it's good timing to be moving into international management now that you finally completed the major challenge with the club. Looking good so far.

Yeah we done a Chelsea here and absolutely ballsed up the defence of our trophy.  Losing to Milan was not great but tolerable but one point out of four against Olympiakos was unacceptable.  Thankfully we are running through sides in the Europa League and I fully expect to take the trophy home

Into the last four now and should we get past Sociedad and we will meet either Southampton or Athletic.

 

Our youngsters held firm to deny Genk and lift the cup again.  We made hard work of it though.

 

[argento]

We kept up our form and cruised to the title, Genk held us in both games but they couldn't maintain their own consistency, Gonzalez bagged a few goals and still looked lively but he has definitely lost a step or two he will still be good for this level so I will keep him in the fold but his days as a starter may well be over.  Anderlecht have a shot at Champions League qualification and will enter at the 3rd round.  Genk made it to the last 16 of the Champions League last year and have gotten out of the group a few times now as they keep slowly improving.

 

Cruised past Sociedad as we march into the final

 

Southampton won this a few years back and may be our toughest test yet!  I fully expect to win but could provide us with a decent game

 

 

 

[argento]

Southampton opt for three men up front as they look to impose themselves on the game, as the final comes to you from Leipzig, Germany

 

Saints draw first blood through their Captain who bends the ball past Baggerman after only five minutes.

[argento]

N'Diaye with a **** pull in the box, the ref gives it and Brotherton converts.  We are 2-0 down already, this is not how I saw the game going

[argento]

 

Immediate reaction for the lads as Banza scores a boomer from the edge of the box and we are back in this!  Three goals in the first 14 minutes.  This is going to be an epic

[argento]

 

 

Pienaar curls one in from the edge of the box to make it 2-2, this is more like it!

[argento]

Well that lead didn't last long at all, N'Diaye concedes his second penalty of the game to continue his shocker and although Baggerman went the right way he couldn't stop it, Saints back in front

[argento]

With the first half nearly over Southampton restore their 2 goal lead after they broke down the left hand side and Clark sneaked in between the defence and a poorly positioned Baggerman could only watch, disaster

[argento]

With just second remaining in the first half Joseph Pienaar scored his second goal of the game with a boomer from the edge of the box, he has never been that prolific but he has turned up today, perfect timing as we now enter the break just one goal down.  4-3 to Saints at HT in this epic

 

N'Diaye has to come off hes had a shocker and I bring in Clodaldo elsewhere I bring off Gonzalez who has been quite ineffectual and bring in Japanese forward Kano.  Riot act has been read

[argento]

 

An absolute stroke of luck as Kano fly downs the right flank and finds Banza in the middle his shots on target but takes a huge deflection off the defender to bamboozle the keeper, its now 4-4 and we have levelled things up again.  Game on

[argento]

 

Remarkably we are ahead for the first time in this 9 goal thriller, Pienaar finds Gargano in space just 12 yards out and the hero from Wembley 12 months ago once again saves the day showing a cool head to slot away.  63 minutes gone I am sure there's more goals to be had here in this game

[argento]

 

Vega lines the free kick up and the wall crumble and it takes a wicked deflection and all of a sudden we are 6-4 up!  2 deflected goals now in this final for us

[argento]

Capitulation from Southampton here, the corner is whipped in Gauthier is being a nuisance and gets a knock down for Vega who taps it in for his 2nd goal in 10 minutes. 

And with that

 

[Keano16]

What an incredible final!

[ManUtd1]

That has to be the wildest CL Final I've seen in ages...amazing, and a great showing from your side to pull it out!

[ajcardall]

What a game and what a way to win it.

 

Got to feel for the Saints. Score 4 and still end up losing by 3 goals. Insanity!

[noikeee]

What the hell? 

Now go and win that Supercup.

[Benjoe]

14 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

That has to be the wildest CL Final I've seen in ages...amazing, and a great showing from your side to pull it out!

Especially considering it was the Europa League.. 

Insane final though! Congrats!

[argento]

19 hours ago, Keano16 said:

What an incredible final!

 

15 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

That has to be the wildest CL Final I've seen in ages...amazing, and a great showing from your side to pull it out!

 

14 hours ago, ajcardall said:

What a game and what a way to win it.

 

Got to feel for the Saints. Score 4 and still end up losing by 3 goals. Insanity!

 

7 hours ago, noikeee said:

What the hell? 

Now go and win that Supercup.

 

1 hour ago, Benjoe said:

Especially considering it was the Europa League.. 

Insane final though! Congrats!

 

Cheers for all the support guys!  Nice to win another European trophy and have a shot at the European Super Cup again.  I will keep at Brussels a bit longer as I want to capture the Champions :League again to prove it was no fluke!

 

Elsewhere back to International duty as its time for Belgiums double header against Albania.

We weren't at our best but we didn't need to be for this mob, Banza continues to flourish under my management at International level with another man of the match performance

 

This is more like it as Albania were absolutely destroyed by Banza who bagged 7 goals in the game (a personal best record for me managing a side on FM).

So with just the slip up away to Portugal we manage to stay top, Portugal have two games in hand but drew with Albania and Ukraine have won all three games so far so it could be an interesting group.

 

[ManUtd1]

2 hours ago, Benjoe said:

Especially considering it was the Europa League.. 

Insane final though! Congrats!

Hahaha...it had been a long day 

[Benjoe]

3 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Hahaha...it had been a long day 

Hey, I'm not judging. Screaming kids all day, sometimes the brain needs a pause. I think @argento appreciated your unwavering belief that he had won the Champions league relentless though.

 

[argento]

Just now, Benjoe said:

Hey, I'm not judging. Screaming kids all day, sometimes the brain needs a pause. I think @argento appreciated your unwavering belief that he had won the Champions league relentless though.

 

It almost made me forget I went out in the groups

 

He's been with me for over a decade and has had his testimonial so I felt I would comply with his demands and expect him to move on soon, he has been a loyal servant to the club and we have Gargano and De Witte still

 

Delighted for the expansion it means we will nearly have triple the capacity of our last ground, we didn't close down a stand or return to our old ground as we go to the Mechelen Community Stadium for a year and I was pleasantly surprised by the capacity.

 

[Benjoe]

9 minutes ago, argento said:

He's been with me for over a decade and has had his testimonial so I felt I would comply with his demands and expect him to move on soon, he has been a loyal servant to the club and we have Gargano and De Witte still

 

Delighted for the expansion it means we will nearly have triple the capacity of our last ground, we didn't close down a stand or return to our old ground as we go to the Mechelen Community Stadium for a year and I was pleasantly surprised by the capacity.

I always feel some sense of ambivalence when a player who'd been with the club for so long wants to leave. Can't really refuse, but to have him retire with the club would mean a lot too. 

Massive with the expansion as well. It is really needed to get a bigger ground to raise revenues sufficiently to keep competitive. 

[argento]

6 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

I always feel some sense of ambivalence when a player who'd been with the club for so long wants to leave. Can't really refuse, but to have him retire with the club would mean a lot too. 

Massive with the expansion as well. It is really needed to get a bigger ground to raise revenues sufficiently to keep competitive. 

Yeah I wanted to keep him but he wont really be missed to be fair.  If he becomes a coach or scout when he retires I'll snap him up.  With that said he joins Real Madrid to see out his days after 512 appearances and 98 goals.  He will be well remembered

 

Rogerio has been a good back up but the bid was too good to turn down, there is a few add ons which may bring us more cash in the future as well

 

Now this is the biggest one.  Baggerman has been my number one for 7 years making 351 appearances in all competitions 195 clean sheets.  He is a great player with over 100 caps but he wouldn't sign a new deal so I didn't quite get his release but I made a big profit after spending 17.5mill on him from Feyenoord.

 

So I let two keepers go so it is finally going to be John Campbell's time to shine he has spent various spells out on loan in Scotland and England.  Had him on the books since 18 so figured he deserved a shot.

0047695_c1650323fd_o_d.png

[deltablue]

That was some final!

[argento]

Some new faces on the training ground this summer

Impressed playing against my young Egyptians and signed for £400,000 will be shipped out on loan when I get an offer from a suitable club

 

Highly rated prospect from South America, signed from Lanus for £3.5M potentially rising to £6.5M. Has already joined Nancy on loan for the season and we get £2M out of it as he starts to pay back his transfer fee and get some game time

 

Another player from the Nacional academy, already won his first cap and will play for Standard this coming season, cost just £1M.

Made a name for himself in recent Asian Cup and hopefully there is scope for improvement.  Will be sent out on loan

Already out on loan as he goes to Portugal for the season, he is our 3rd Egyptian prospect at the club now

With Baggerman and Rogerio gone I signed this guy as my back up for just £925,000.  Managed to get him so cheap as he only had 6 months left on his deal

 On a free transfer from Southampton, I called him up to the national side recently and seemed a talent.  He was rarely used in England but I reckon he could push for a starting spot.

 

I missed out on my main midfield target as he chose Bayern over me so I went to Germany and grabbed this wonderkid from Borussia Dortmund for £26M.  Very excited about this player and he goes straight into the first team squad and will compete with Vega/Pienaar/Costa for a spot in the middle of the park

 

 

 

[argento]

They run us close so they could be quite competitive this year

 

0/3 in the Euro Super Cup now.  When De Witte equalised in the 90th minute I thought it was game on and I was getting ready for extra time but Moises Kean stole it in injury time, he is still only 33 and has been capped 165 times by Italy I was surprised he was still around.

 

Kano who finally took the mantle from Gonzalez as our top striker last season returned just in time for the Super Cup after being away at the East Asian Cup with Japan, I reckon he will end up being the most capped player ever.  Over 100 caps at just 23.  Such a class player and a bargain at just £2M