[FM13]'Let me start at the (IK) Start and then take it away...'

[deltablue]

Great work with topping that CL group. 

[withnail316]

6 hours ago, deltablue said:

Great work with topping that CL group. 

Thanks DB. Miraculous at this stage...

[withnail316]

IK Start
Tippeligaen 2016

Media expectation: 1st
Board expectation: challenge for the title

Transfer budget (remaining:) €7.3m
Wage budget: €157,000p/w (€56,000p/w under budget)

Another season is nearly upon us, and by my usual standards it's been a fairly quiet winter. As previously mentioned, the board have started work on both our youth and training facilities, costing over €10m. They also agreed to my latest request to increase the club's junior coaching (now up to excellent) so the infrastructure of the club is continually improving. I'm optimistic we'll finally see an agreement to expand the stadium this season, hopefully up to a fully expanded 18,000, which should cover us for a few years while we build up our finances to pay for a new ground. 

Before the season starts I will be spending a bit of money renewing a few contracts. My top earner was on under €6,000p/w, but with so many players asking about moving to bigger clubs, I think a few new deals are in order to at least delay what could be a problematic situation. I've no intention of us going beyond the current budget of almost €160,000p/w, but we do have room to be a little more generous than we have been previously. 

One area I am a bit frustrated with has been my search for a Norwegian feeder club, so I can give a couple of youngsters some game time. With the strict restrictions on homegrown players in this league, I don't like to send young players from overseas on loan outside of Norway as I sign them primarily because they can become homegrown in future. However, to see the kind of progress in development I'd like I would need to find a 2nd tier fully-pro club, yet the board continually offer deals with semi-pro sides. I have sent youngsters Tristan Azrate and Terje Onarheim out to Vindbjart for the season, but it's just a case of "fingers crossed", so I'll be watching their progress closely over the next few months. 

As for players leaving permanently, just two have left so far this winter, and I wouldn't expect to see any more leave between now (early February) and the window closing at the end of March. I hadn't planned to sell French U21 international defender Cebrail Cengiz, who had only arrived on a free from PSG in the summer. However, I received a couple of enquiries for him from clubs from France and Belgium, and ultimately decided I'd be prepared to let him go if we received a substantial fee. I put a €5m price on him, and received five offers of €3m or more. He accepted a contract from Genk, and moved on for a record-equalling €4m. I also reluctantly accepted an offer of €800,000 for back-up winger Hallgier Lie from Sweden's Kalmar FF, who has moved on for more football. 

You've already seen the two Norwegian players I've added, but we've also broken our transfer record this winter on young Brazilian winger Anderson Miguel, who comes in for €850,000. The deal I'm happiest with however won't happen until the summer. Norwegian international defender Andre Paulsen, who I had tried to sign at the end of my first season only for him to go to West Ham, is leaving the Hammers on a free. He'll cost a monster €13,000p/w in wages, but he's a terrific addition to the squad. 

I'll have a look around and see if I can dig up any more Bosman deals, but right now I'm pretty happy with what we have. Time to prepare for our last 16 CL tie, which is another meeting with Dortmund. I'd certainly take the same result as last year...

[withnail316]

[kidthekid]

incredible UCL performance, especially the win in Madrid

[withnail316]

UEFA Champions League
Last 16

1st Leg: Dortmund 1-1 IK Start
We rather got out of jail in Germany, but that away goal could be vital. Dortmund were far better than us, and deservedly led at half time. We only had one shot on target in the whole game - but luckily, Ousseynou Gomis found the bottom corner with that effort after 62 minutes, and we escaped with a draw. It wasn't all good though, as we lost Runar Ubbe for 2 months to a knee injury. 

2nd Leg: IK Start 2-2 Dortmund (a)
I said I'd take the same result with Dortmund as last year, but I meant us going through, not them getting revenge for last year's away goal defeat! We received bad news before kick off with Gomis tweaking a hamstring and missing the game. Dortmund again started better and took the lead just after half time thanks to a Nevstad OG, but we levelled on the hour through El Omari. 10 minutes from time we fell asleep from a corner, leaving the impossible task of needing two goals in 10 minutes to progress. We levelled five minutes after through Klemetsen, but didn't have time to find a winner, and the Germans progress to the quarter finals. 

[withnail316]

7 hours ago, kidthekid said:

incredible UCL performance, especially the win in Madrid

Thanks, man. It was unbelievable. 

[withnail316]

March

Definitely a shame to go out of Europe in the manner that we did (8 games in the competition after qualifying without defeat is a record I'm really proud of) but we've started the domestic season well. Long may it continue. 

[withnail316]

April & May

A first (I think) in this career happened over this couple of months: I applied for another job! Bayer Leverkusen were expected to finish in the Champions League places in Germany, but instead found themselves outside of the European places with two games to play, and so sacked their coach. No offer came my way, and although I'm not unhappy at Start, I will be keeping my eye on the job market just in case anything else I would consider interesting happens to come up. 

As for life at the club, things are going excellently. We're flying in the league, we have over €22m in the bank (we made an extra €5m in Champions League cash after the final - Bayern beat Barcelona at the San Siro - taking our total income from European football this season to €24m) and we're finally developing the conveyor belt of talent from the youth ranks that I've been looking for. Back of the net. 

 

[withnail316]

One other thing I meant to add: 6 of our players were called up for the preliminary squad for Euro 2016. We were the only domestic club that the national manger picked his players from. While only three made the full squad, it's lovely to see so many of our players involved internationally (even if it makes my summer a little awkward as games still go on...)

[withnail316]

We also seem to have an extra Europa League place. Decent progress. 

[kidthekid]

unlucky result against Dortmund. But your club is making progress

[withnail316]

4 hours ago, kidthekid said:

unlucky result against Dortmund. But your club is making progress

Yeah, we definitely are. 

[withnail316]

[withnail316]

This however is less positive:

All three players want to move to "bigger clubs", and all three requests will be rejected...

[deltablue]

Good thing we can get away with it a bit more on this version

[withnail316]

1 hour ago, deltablue said:

Good thing we can get away with it a bit more on this version

True, although if the promises worked on this version, this wouldn't have happened. All were promised CL football, which I have delivered.

[withnail316]

Another player wanting to move on, this time it's striker Hicham El Omari. He only joined us 12 months ago, but an offer of €3.4m from BATE has turned his head... and with his average form, I was prepared to talk about a deal. I wanted a record fee for his services (€4m+) for a player we had picked up for €550,000, but in the end I accepted a €4m offer from Sparta Prague. That's now three players who have left for that price in 12 months. 

I have broken our other transfer record though, provisionally at least, on his replacement. It's a familiar face:

Torsiglieri scored 11 goals in 13 games on loan for us last season, and arrives for €875,000 - had he been available at that price last summer, I'd never have even signed El Omari! We've also picked up this lad on a free from Bayern:

Realistically that means the end of Eric Lecomte, a striker who I like, but have struggled to provide game time for since he came in two summers ago. 

[deltablue]

18 hours ago, withnail316 said:

True, although if the promises worked on this version, this wouldn't have happened. All were promised CL football, which I have delivered.

True. One thing that got me a few times at Milan was when I promised Europa League football and it was considered a broken promise when we surprisingly made the Champions League instead. I guess it was literally true but stupid all the same. Thankfully I only lost one player because of it.

[withnail316]

I might be having a change of direction with this. I'm sleeping on a very, very tempting offer. 

[withnail316]

Two offers came my way last night. The first was fairly easy to reject, even if I like the club. Dortmund had lost their manager to Bayern, but after winning a championship and a cup in the last two seasons, as well as qualifying for the semi finals of the CL this year, I suspect I'd get bored quickly.

The second offer, however, is another matter.  It's the second club in one of Europe's great football cities, and while they have never won a League title, their cross-city rivals never seem to stop winning them.

[henryzz]

7 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

Two offers came my way last night. The first was fairly easy to reject, even if I like the club. Dortmund had lost their manager to Bayern, but after winning a championship and a cup in the last two seasons, as well as qualifying for the semi finals of the CL this year, I suspect I'd get bored quickly.

The second offer, however, is another matter.  It's the second club in one of Europe's great football cities, and with while they have never won a League title, their cross-city rivals never seem to stop winning them. 

Paris FC?

[withnail316]

6 minutes ago, henryzz said:

Paris FC?

Nope, that would be a downward step from Start. This is a step up. 

[henryzz]

1 hour ago, withnail316 said:

Nope, that would be a downward step from Start. This is a step up. 

Rangers then?

[withnail316]

6 minutes ago, henryzz said:

Rangers then?

My late grandpa would disown me if I took that job, so no (plus they have won plenty of League titles in their former guise)

[deltablue]

Espanyol?

[withnail316]

Breaking news

IK Start manager Johan Andersen has resigned from his position at the Sør Arena after 4 and a half years in charge. The 36 year old Dane, who won three league titles and three Norwegian cups, as well as qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League twice, had been targeted by at least two clubs from major European leagues in recent weeks. 

Andersen is thought to have been seeking a more competitive domestic league to test himself in since the start of the campaign. In his time in Norway, his side won 152 of his 205 games in charge, scoring 471 goals in the process. 

The IK Start board have received dozens of applications to replace Andersen, but the early favourite is Lillestrøm SK's Swedish coach Hans Spångberg. They will hope to have a new man in charge very soon ahead of a crucial Champions League qualifier with Malmö next week. 

[withnail316]

RCD Espanyol de Barcelona SAD
(With thanks to wiki)

Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, or simply as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Founded in 1900, the club plays in La Liga, the highest division of Spanish football and play their home games at Estadi Cornellà-El Prat, which holds up to 40,000 spectators. Espanyol have won the Copa del Rey four times, most recently in 2006, and reached the UEFA Cup final in 1988 and 2007. The team competes in the Barcelona Derby against FC Barcelona.

Espanyol are one of several Spanish football clubs granted patronage by the Spanish crown and thus entitled to use Real in their names and the royal crown on their badge. This right was granted to Espanyol in 1912 by Alfonso XIII and the club subsequently became known as Real Club Deportivo Español.

Following the abdication of the same king in 1931 and the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic, due to prohibition of royal symbols, the club adopted the more Catalan/republican friendly name, Club Esportiu Espanyol. After the Spanish Civil War, the name reverted.

The club took the Catalan spelling for its name in February 1995. The word "Deportiu" in Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona is a Catalanised form of the original word "Deportivo" (Castilian), despite the correct word being "Esportiu" in the Catalan language. This choice was made in order to retain the initials "RCD" in the club's name.

(From FM)

The club has top training and good youth facilities, and 32,400 season ticket holders. As well as the fierce derby with FC Barcelona, the club also considers both Atlético Madrid and Valencia to be rivals, Last year's 7th place finish is Espanyol's best for four years, but it wasn't enough for a European football, and so Mexican coach Luis Eduardo Estrado resigned after four years to take on the job of rebuilding Ajax. 

[withnail316]

It's nice to feel wanted. A wage of €40,000p/w (an increase of €32,500p/w) and a five-year contract, at a club where I'm expected to sign young players for the first team and also develop our own youth players is marvellous. I've been given a transfer budget of €23m (which is too much for the club right now I think) as well as a weekly budget of over €500,000p/w. I'll be watching what I spend, but I can't say the club aren't backing me with that kind of money. 

I don't trust my assistant at all, but one of my coaches looks a knowledgeable lad, and here's his initial report:

This lad looks to be our best player:

[kidthekid]

Trying to be the best Catalan club...Great challenge

[withnail316]

4 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Trying to be the best Catalan club...Great challenge

And the best 'Real', too. It's certainly whet my appetite!

[withnail316]

RCD Espanyol de Barcelona SAD

Media expectation: 7th
Board expectation: finish in the top half

Transfer budget (remaining): €10.8m
Wage budget: €592,000p/w (€40,000p/w under budget)

I've had very little time to prepare for the new season and with the new squad since I only arrived two weeks ago, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be for the campaign to get underway. The first team squad is decent enough, but there is no depth at the club at all - so much so that the B-team coach has put almost every player he has on the transfer market for free. He'll be disappointed if he thinks I'll be helping him out in this transfer window, although obviously I will aim to in future. 

Another issue I need to rectify is the lack of homegrown players (both by the club and within Spain) at the club. When I build teams I like to have a vast majority of the players at the club from the same nation, but right now we only have 7 Spaniards in the first team squad, of which 5 aren't homegrown even in Spain. That's potentially very problematic for us if we qualify for Europe in the next year or so, but it's not something I can really address in this transfer window. My plan is to recruit from Spain's international youth sides over the next year or so, and I'll also be scouring for potential homegrown Bosman deals over the next few months. 

More generally, the club is carrying a fair amount of debt (around €52m) but has a TV deal worth €24.36m a season, and we also brought in around €18m in season ticket sales, so I'm confident we should be alright for cash. I'm a little concerned that the new stadium can't be expanded beyond the current 40,000 capacity, but that's something we'll just have to live with. 

I have spent a little money in my two weeks at the club, and two signings are familiar faces. Erik Trondsen and Ivan Bellan (the best player and best youth prospect) have both followed Start for a combined €3.8m, while Jaime Invernon arrives as a back-up goalkeeper from Racing for €2.8m. We've also brought in AM Matteo Recuitti on a two-year loan deal from Inter, while I'm working on another loan deal for a young Spanish defensive midfielder from Real Madrid. 

[withnail316]

Another two year loan deal, and I think that's our incoming business for the summer done:

[withnail316]

Counting down the hours til 8pm, when the kids are in bed and I can get the season started. 

I'm planning on setting us up as a bit of an anti-Barcelona, too. I don't want my side playing 400 five yard passes a game, thanks very much. I also have no plans of signing 'superstars' at all in the future - stars are made at my clubs, either through the academy or young players picked up and developed from elsewhere.

Still, that's for the future. This year is about settling in.

[withnail316]

August

I was only at the club for the last two friendlies, but we've made a decent start to the competitive stuff. Two wins against sides I'd expect us to beat, and while the loss in Madrid was no surprise, they didn't win the game until we were down to 10 men after striker Ilyas Chihab was dismissed. Hopefully we can maintain this kind of form over the next few weeks. 

Oh, and there was one more incoming transfer before the window closed:

Spanish U21 international Bastida joins for a record €6.5m from Malaga, while striker Maher Jabbari joined Celtic for €3.5m on the same day.

[BoxToBox]

That guy looks a really good deal.

[withnail316]

10 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

That guy looks a really good deal.

Yeah, I'm really pleased with the deal. I had to pay his buy-out to get him, but he's already good enough to get in the team, and he should get better with game time. 

[withnail316]

Hoping to get a proper update in later tonight, but before I do, how about this for contrasting emotions:

The next week:

[kidthekid]

[withnail316]

September, October & November

Four months into the season, and I'm mostly thrilled with how it has gone. The win over Barcelona is certainly a highlight, but it was disappointing to get knocked out of the cup so early (although I played a second string team), and the performance in the last game against Mallorca was criminal. It's increasingly evident to me that while our starting XI is certainly useful, some of our fringe players simply aren't good enough. We have a real problem at left back especially when first choice Sebastian is unavailable, but if we can add a little bit of quality in January, I see no reason why we can't qualify for Europe.  

[withnail316]

December

After a sticky end to November, 7 points from 9 in December ensures the table looks glorious as we head into the winter break. I'm not sure what our chances of staying in the Champions League places are - probably pretty slim unless I can strengthen in January - but I'm hopeful we can secure a top 6 spot at the very least. However, the loss of Erik Trondsen, who broke his ankle in the win against Sporting, will certainly sting. 

I've confirmed three transfer deals for January so far. Two of those are outward deals, for winger Gabriel Intriago (who I wouldn't have sold if Trondsen got injured sooner) who is off to Betis for €3m, while full back Christos Christodoulou is off to Las Palmas for €500,000. We've spent €575,000 of that on young left back Joetex Amoah. 

[withnail316]

17 hours ago, withnail316 said:

Two of those are outward deals, for winger Gabriel Intriago (who I wouldn't have sold if Trondsen got injured sooner) who is off to Betis for €3m, while full back Christos Christodoulou is off to Las Palmas for €500,000.

Well then. I thought I had these two deals confirmed, but the day the transfer window opened, both fell through. Christodoulou has instead left on loan, while Intriago will remain with us until the end of the season at least. 

I've had a very busy January, as I look to put together a squad that can compete across multiple competitions next year. This lot all arrive on frees, and all will be in the first team squad next season:

Then this lad is one for the future:

In this transfer window, I've signed one loan deal and one permanent player. Midfielder Lucas Galera arrives for €3m from Wolfsburg, while Milan striker Roman Marelli arrives on loan after 2 of our 4 strikers are called up for the African Nations. 

 

[withnail316]

By the way, remember I said I wanted to be an "anti-Barcelona"? This wasn't quite what I had in mind...

 

[withnail316]

January

A couple of frustrating results (and a couple of arguments with fringe players) but we're still hanging in there in the race for European football next year. Musn't grumble!

[withnail316]

Just a useful thing to see the disparity financially in the league at the moment:

A top four finish would be incredible under the circumstances!

[withnail316]

February & March

9 games to go, and a European finish is very much on the cards. April is likely to decide our destiny - we meet four of the top 7 (Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and Mallorca) in our next four games. Real Madrid look to be too strong for the rest of the league, but there's very little between the rest of the top 6. I hope we can secure a Champions League spot, but I won't be too disappointed if we drop to 5th or 6th come the end of the campaign.

[withnail316]

Youth intake

Not much to report this year:

This lad looks quite handy though...

[withnail316]

One more player in on a free for next year:

Quietly confident we'll be competitive on multiple fronts. 

[withnail316]

April

Some incredible results this month - we've now beaten all of the big 3 on our own ground this season - and we've secured a Champions League spot for next season. Marvellous. With that said, up to the defeat at Villareal, we were still in the mix for the league title. It was a terrible performance, but I won't worry about it too much. 

[withnail316]

May

We took our eye off the ball a little in the last three games, but once the title had gone and we'd secured a Champions League place, I can't really blame the players too much for their mind's wandering towards the summer break. Atletico Madrid secured the title on their head-to-head record with Real Madrid, and they'd also have won it had they finished on level points with Barcelona. Atleti also secured the Copa del Rey, and again at Real Madrid's expense.