[FM21/22] La Liga - the home of Spanish football

[stgahoy]

The home of Spanish football

La Liga, Secunda Division and lower..

 

Share your stories around the Iberic journey!

Edited March 7, 2022 by stgahoy

[stgahoy]

I've just started a save with Real Sociedad really looking forward on this challenge, I've started as Agustin Aranzabal the legend of the club.

 

Some great prospect already in the club, and it looks really promising, I'm given €12M to spend, gonna see if I can afford anyone to strengthen the team, gonna update after I finish the pre-season.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Thank you for making this thread. 

I plan on managing quite a few Spanish league sides. So many teams I want to manage in that league but I will probably start with Real Betis once I get bored of my West Brom save.

I had a great save with Rayo Vallecano on FM2020.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, stgahoy said:

I've just started a save with Real Sociedad really looking forward on this challenge, I've started as Agustin Aranzabal the legend of the club.

 

Some great prospect already in the club, and it looks really promising, I'm given €12M to spend, gonna see if I can afford anyone to strengthen the team, gonna update after I finish the pre-season.

Great choice of club, so many young talented players and many of them produced through their own youth system.

Villarreal and Espanyol are also good options, but I don't see any better pick than yours. Good luck.

[diLLa88]

I'm playing as Valencia and currently preparing for season 2025/2026.

Have yet to win La Liga, but have won the Champions League in my previous season.

Valencia is fun to play, as you start with hardly any money, but there is quite a lot of good talent at the club.

[stgahoy]

Start of  first season update

Aranzabal in the spotlight. (I've wanted to play as Xabi Alonso but apparently he is the Sociedad B manager )

 

After being appointed as the head coach, Ive started to complete my coaching staff, Pep Segura was appointed as my assistant coach, Ivan Cordoba joined the coaching staff along with some less known names.

Transfers In:

• Anel Ahmedhodzic - €3.8M from Malmo FF - the squad lacked another CB and this fella looked like the perfect fit. Cheap price, low wage expectations, and he looks like an awesome prospect.

And I havent sold anyone, one of the things I started with was extending Isak contract upping his release clausule to €130M, I'll try to do the same with Januzaj, Merino, and Munoz - this is something I definetly need to learn - the clausules - havent managed a team in Spain since FM2007 when I had a save with the mighty Villarreal and Riquelme.

First Team:

Still have to learn my squad and the players I have but most likely the first team will look like this:

GK: Alex Remiro

LB: Munoz

CB: Zubeldia

CB: Elustondo

RB: Gorosabel

MC: Illaramendi

MC: Merino

AML: Oyarzabal

AMC: David Silva

AMR: Januzaj

ST: Isak

 

My goal is to get to the Champions League, which might be hard as Sevilla, Villarreal and maybe even Valencia seem to have stronger teams, and obviously Barcelona, Real and Atletico seem way out of the range, making us fight for the final spot. Hopefully we can get there!

Edited January 10, 2021 by stgahoy

[stgahoy]

7 games into the season, and it looks just crazy good for us. Start of the season was just crazy - Valencia (A), Atletico (H), and Sevilla(A), followed by some easier games vs Eibar, Huesca and Osasuna, and one of the key matchups in a game vs Villarreal.

We've started awesome at Mestalla beating Valencia 4-0 what a game. The week after a game noone expected to win vs Atletico, but we've managed to do it after an action packed game we've managed to grab a 3-2 win, with a magnificent performance by Oyarzabal. This took us to a trip to Sevilla to face the key rivals for the Champions League spot - and we've stepped up once again winning 2-0 with Isak scoring 2.  The easier rivals didnt cause us much trouble, we've won 1-0, 4-2 and 3-0. An absolute mad start we've won 6 games out of 6. Each series has an end, and we've drew 0-0 vs Villarreal away, which is still a good result for our goals.

Table wise, R. Madrid is first tied points with us at 19, Barcelona is 3rd with 15 points along with Betis and Athletic who also have 15 points.  Atletico lost a lot of points at the start of the season, but they seem to come back - currently at 7th place with 11 points. Sevilla is only 15th! they had lost all 4 opening games, now after getting 2 wins and 1 draw they start to collect some points, but for the sake of my battle with them for CL its just perfect

In the Europa League we've got drawn to a group with Arsenal, Malmo and NK Lokomotiva, so far won vs Malmo 3-1 and 7-0 at home vs Lokomotiva. Now off to face Arsenal for the 1st place in the group.

Looking awesome so far, what's worse is that PSG is starting to sniff around my players - Gorosabel, and the English clubs are after Januzaj, who I might sell as he seems to be injured super often.

[jeaku14]

Started a Youtube save in Spain with Deportivo La Coruna, who to my surprise are down in the Third division. It's been great fun so far, please do follow along if you're interested

 

 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 hours ago, jeaku14 said:

Started a Youtube save in Spain with Deportivo La Coruna, who to my surprise are down in the Third division. It's been great fun so far, please do follow along if you're interested

 

 

 

Enjoying it so far. Its a shame you stopped doing your Needham Market save though.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I am going to start my first Spanish league tonight. I have decided to take a fallen giant in Racing Santander back to the top league and try win the Spanish BBVA.

I chose Racing Santander cos I like their team colors and they have had a few good/great players play for them over the years like Sergio Canales, Ezequiel Garay, Giovanni Dos Santos, Yossi Benayoun, Nikola Zigic etc.

I will do a pre season review later.

 

[Firehouse]

I am playing with Deportivo on this FM. Usually I don't like playing in Spain because Real Madrid and Barcelona are just too strong and it's hard to win the league. But I just had to give Depor a go.

20/21 - won the league comfortably, only had 1 loss the whole season
21/22 - won the segunda as easy as tercera, also only had one loss
22/23 - finished 3rd by surprise. Had 84 points, Real won with 95.
23/24 - fell down a bit, but still finished 4th with 77 points. Barca won with 103. In CL I finished third in the group, then lost against Bordeaux in the second knockout round.
24/25 - improved a bit, but finished 3rd, with 89 points. Real won with 94. Couldn't get out of the group in CL, finished 4th behind City, Milan and Porto.
25/26 - finished 3rd again with 94 points. Barca won with 100 points. Lost in CL quarter finals against Real Madrid.
26/27 - finally won the league. 95 points. Valencia came 2nd with 90, Real and Barca were poor but still finished 3rd and 4th. I have also won the Champions League, with a win against Chelsea in the finals.

We are 170m in the black, we are about to play our first competitive game on our new 45k Arsenio Iglesias Arena, average age is like 23. I had like 100m in the bank for ages but board wouldn't give me more than 20m for transfers. But I managed to sell smart, and finally raised a budget enough to get couple of players in that proved decisive in our double winning season. Now I only bought some rotation players.

Also our B team has been rapidly rising through the ranks, and won the Segunda last season.

This is our two best players. I found Luscher in portugese third tier side, and Boško only cost us 6m. He has now scored more than 100 goals for us and is only 22 years old.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Here we go. My first Spanish League save.

RACING SANTANDER

Predicted to come up as Champions. Hopefully I can do that.

My best line up. I got Rocky Balboa's wife up front lol.

Here is a screenshot of the great man himself.

Really good attributes and great potential. Sadly he is on here on loan for the season. I will try sign him permantly if possible.

I acutally start the season with no money for transfers and no room in the wage budget so pre-season will go very quickly lol.

I will update as I go along.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Icy]

Aren't you guys having issues with the B teams? Despite being my home country, I have not managed a team in Spain in the last years because the mess that the B/C teams are.

[Firehouse]

What issues do you mean?
On my game my B team just showed up in the 4th tier. Then they got promoted twice and are now in Segunda.

Only issues I can think of is that I have to buy players for them because for some reason their manager won't (it's set up that he should in responsibilities) and that I can barely find someone to manage them
Other than that I can't think of anything.

[Vizzini]

Four seasons in with La Real. Finished 2nd, 1st and 2nd, they have a great squad from the start, maybe a tad overrated, but hey ho. Managed to pick up Ousmane Dembele on a free and got Nuno Mendes in, other than that the core of the team is still Zubeldia, Merino and Oyarzabal. Managed to sell Januzaj, Isak and Sergio Gomez (who I picked up on a free) for a combined total of a around 230 million. Would recommend!

[Icy]

hace 16 horas, Firehouse dijo:

What issues do you mean?
On my game my B team just showed up in the 4th tier. Then they got promoted twice and are now in Segunda.

Only issues I can think of is that I have to buy players for them because for some reason their manager won't (it's set up that he should in responsibilities) and that I can barely find someone to manage them
Other than that I can't think of anything.

Exactly that, you can't hire managers for them as the minimum wages asked are much higher. Also if they are not in playable leagues, the lose their real life purpose, to develop players for the first team. Basically unless you manage a top team with a B team in a playable league in the game, the B team is just a disturbance sitting in there with no purpose.

Also the game treats B teams as reserve teams in UK, so sometimes you see players like Messi recovering from injury and playing in the B team a few games, that is impossible to see in real life. 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Icy

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Racing Santander Season 1 Review

 

Well Promotion was achieved by beating @jeaku14's Deportivo 2-1 in the Play Off final.

Rocky's wife Adrian Balboa was top scorer with 17 goals. I don't think I will be able to get him on loan for another season but you never know. 

 

[JR_Junior]

Hi! I've been playing with Deportivo La Coruña and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Also a lot of stress lol. A little recap:

2020/2021 - It took me at least two hours reading through pages to understand how the transition to Segunda Division 2 PRO would work but I got there! Even better as we won our division and then the playoffs to get promoted direct to LaLiga 2. Rui Costa scored a good number of goals but the MAN was Celso Borges running the show from the midfield. For six months I also had the great Daniel Osvaldo on the team but he ended up being released in January after a little fight with...well, me. Suck it, Osvaldo!

2021/2022 - A really frustrating season as we started with the 3-5-2 we used on Segunda Division on the first season but form was awful and I had to change to a more traditional 4-3-3DM and wingers. We finished 6th after being on mid-table for the entire season. Unfortunately our late resurgence ended in the first match of playoffs against Albacete. Our best player was certainly the forward Abdon Prats, that arrived on a free from Mallorca, and he scored around 25 league goals. Alongside Prats, Chema Nunez arrived in January from Albacete and played a huge part in the campaign. I also signed former Tottenham player Mousa Dembele but he flopped and was sold to LA Galaxy in January of 2023

2022/2023 - So here we are and we just clinched promotion with 4 games to go. We led the league for most of the season but Barcelona B took their chance when he had a bad run and are now leaders. They're pretty good! This season our biggest player was the little man Jean-Michael Seri that arrived on a free after leaving Fulham. I don't really like having a player with 2 marking on center midfield but he scored over 10 goals and got over 10 assists already. Another big name actually arrived on January of first season! Jaume Jardí came from Barcelona B as a good prospect for really cheap! He had an AWFUL second season when he just scored once in 28(!) matches, but he found his form this season and is our top goal scorer with 18.

Really excited for next season! We have €10.75m for transfer and over €300k on wages to spend. Can't wait to dive into the market to find at least three or four LaLiga ready players.

Some good local players I'd highly recommend for LaLiga 2: Felipe Carballo from Sevilla, Martin Calderón from Castilla, Jaume Jardí from Barcelona B, Chema from Albacete, Abdon Prats from Mallorca. I also had some other spanish players that did not work for me but it could be good like Burgui from Alavés and Kaxe from Ponferradina.

Oh, and B teams are incredibly strong this season. Barcelona B will win the league, Valencia Mestalla is on 7th. Also, all the four teams promoted from Segunda PRO are all B teams too!

[stgahoy]

Finally managed to end my season with Sociedad after a few busy days lately.

La Liga - We managed to finish 2nd! A huge success for the squad, Barcelona won the league with 96pts, we did score 86, and Real Madrid finished 3rd with 81, Atletico came 4th with 77. Valencia and Villarreal finished 5th and 6th and Betis secured the last spot for Europe with 7th place. We were first for a long period of time, but a crisis happened around 26th fixture and we lost contact to Barcelona. Anyways a HUGE success, and I'm really really happy about it. Surpsingly enough Real sacked Zidane, and Atletico sacked Simeone after the season, with Allegri signing for Madrid and Sarri coming to Atleti.

Europa League - We lost in semi finals to Lazio who it in the end and they also won Serie A (seem bit overpowered in the game compared to IRL). It was a good result in the end, but being in the semis makes you want more ;). We've lost 0-2 in Rome, and a 2-1 win at home couldnt get us through. On the way here we've beaten Sivasspor comfortably 8-2 and 3-2. Celtic 1-0 and 2-0, and Arsenal 3-0,  2-4.

Copa Del Rey - This was the trophy we won! Absolutely delighted with the result in the cup, we've beaten Barcelona and Real on the way to the final, and the home semi final game vs R. Madrid was probably the best one we played all season. But starting we've faced Leganes 2-1, Real Murcia 4-0, Barcelona 3-1, Real Madrid 5-0!!!! at home, and losing the 2nd leg 0-3 in Madrid couldnt hold us. The Final vs Eibar was won 2-0 after goals by Merino and Willian Jose.

 

Summer Transfer window

Sfter such a great season, a lot of my players aroused interest, and Zaldua asked to leave, and I've decided to accept that. Starting from the departures.

Transfers Out:

• Jon Guridi - €12.5M to Bournemouth
• Joseba Zaldua - €12M to FC Porto
• Robin Le Normand - €33M to Borussia Dortmund - I had an offer of €43M which I have accepted from Man U, but he refused the contract offered by United, Liverpool also declared interest in him, making him unhappy at the club, and in the end I did let him to BVB for €10M less than originally agreed, but I had Eric Garcia joining me on a free transfer so I could let one of my CBs go.
• Alexander Isak - €80M to Tottenham - Well I felt its too much to decline, Isak was a great player, maybe even the best player in the club looking at potential, but he was always tired dunno why was that happening, he doesnt look like he would have fitness problems stat wise, but he played only 22 out of 38 La Liga games, which was quite dissappointing, he did very well scoring 18, but wasnt happy that I cant use him every time I need him.
• Luca Sangalli - €7M to Sassuolo - an asset from the B team, who looks very decent tbh, but I had a lot of MCs so I decided to sell him

Total of a whooping €145M was gathered from those sales

Transfers In:

• Gaetano Castrovilli - €16.5M rising to potential €18.5M from Fiorentina - last season I was struggling at Mezzala position, and after looking on a few players Gaetano looks like the perfect solution for the team, Ceballos was the other option but the Spaniard had huge wage expectations.
• Eric Garcia - €0M from City - the Spanish CB was leaving City on a free after the season, suprisingly only me and Lyon offered contract and here we are. Unfortunately he broke his foot in the 2nd game of the new season, so he's out for 3 months now.
• Ivan - €3M from Ponte Preta - A Brazilian keeper who looks very decent, as I released Moya after the end of the season I needed a backup keeper, and decided to go for Ivan - the board wanted to cancel the transfer as they though the player doesnt meet the clubs philisophy, but managed to convience them to buy my only non-EU player in the team.
• Pablo Maffero - €4.8M from Stuttgart - Needed a backup RB after Zaldua requested to leave, and the Spaniard did fit the profile
• Myron Boadu - €50M from AZ - My biggest spending to replace Isak, I was looking at many options - Gabriel Jesus was transfer listed at City for €43M, but the board didnt want to let me sign him, so I was looking at some other options - scouts recommended Boadu just in time, AZ accepted a €50M bid from Milan, I've equalled their offer and he chose me over the Italian club - probably mainly to CL football who Milan missed on. What can I say so far I'm really happy with the Dutch - he scored 4 goals vs Sevilla in the 2nd fixture of the new season!

Biggest transfers of the window:

• Harry Kane from Tottenham to PSG €107M
• Ansu Fati - from Barcelona to Man United - €89M rising to €137M
• Christian Pulisic from Chelsea to Barcelona - €91M
• Alex Isak - from me to Tottenham - €80M
• Thomas Lemar from Atletico to City - €77M rising to €87M

 

Apart from that Barcelona bought Theo Hernandez for €62M from Milan, and Aouar from Lyon for €63M so some heavy spendings there. Real Madrid have brought in Azpilicueta from Chelsea for €27M and Gabriel Jesus for €28.5M rising to €51M.

As of the targets I'm looking at there's Odriozola from R.Madrid who most likely will be transfer  listed somewhat soon, after they prefer Azpilicueta in the first team. I'm also monitoring Pau Torres from Villarreal, who I would really love to strenghten my defence. Apart from that there are some dream transfers like Pedri but its unlikely to happen.

First Team:

GK: Remiro

LB: Munoz

CB: Zubeldia

CB: Elustondo/Garcia

RB: Gorosabel

MC: Merino

MC: Castrovilli

AML: Oyarzabal

AMC: David Silva

AMR: Januzaj

ST: Boadu

 

[stgahoy]

What a heart breaking week for my Sociedad team. After a very lucky draw in first KO stage where I faced Salzburg, I drew Lazio in the quarter final after losing 1-2 at home, we managed to win 2-1 in Rome, and we've lost in penalties :(, and 3 days after we faced Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final where after winning 3-0 we conceded a 3-3 goal by Messi in the 94th minute, due to injuries I had to play Monreal and he lost a header to the little guy, and in the over-time they scored 2 more, making me lose 3-5 . So a very dissapointing week.

On the other hand I'm top in La Liga, the giants Real and Barcelona are loosing points like crazy - Real (21 - 8 - 3 record) and Barcelona is 6th! (18-5-9 record). We're rocking the table with 26 wins 2 draws and 4 loses, 5 points clear off 2nd Atletico! So on this field its just awesome.

What's bad is that I'm strugeling with injuries A LOT, and I'm clueless what's wrong here, never had such issues in other clubs, maybe some staff/object related things are the issue at Sociedad, I'll have to look into that.

[Tikka Mezzala]

Was thinking about starting a save in Spain and posting about it in here, but with folk winning the league with Sociedad, Deportivo etc, I'd be the laughing stock of the thread

My best achievement in this current FM has been a run of 9 clean sheets in 11 games with Clapton Community. Was quite proud of it. But winning the league with Sociedad? Jeez. I'd have to use the become unsackable thing on the in game editor and then play for like 50 seasons

[Muttley84]

22 hours ago, Tikka Mezzala said:

Was thinking about starting a save in Spain and posting about it in here, but with folk winning the league with Sociedad, Deportivo etc, I'd be the laughing stock of the thread

My best achievement in this current FM has been a run of 9 clean sheets in 11 games with Clapton Community. Was quite proud of it. But winning the league with Sociedad? Jeez. I'd have to use the become unsackable thing on the in game editor and then play for like 50 seasons

Dont worry there are plenty others like that around here. I for one would love to hear about the struggles of others, it would help motivate me in the hardest time. In addition, the main purpose of this game is to have fun playing it, not winning at all costs. So cannot wait to read about your save!

[Tikka Mezzala]

21 minutes ago, Muttley84 said:

Dont worry there are plenty others like that around here. I for one would love to hear about the struggles of others, it would help motivate me in the hardest time. In addition, the main purpose of this game is to have fun playing it, not winning at all costs. So cannot wait to read about your save!

If you insist!

I do think more stories by FM mortals would be welcomed. 

[Tikka Mezzala]

I like to create ex-players and play as them in my saves, as it feels more realistic and immersive. So I've decided to play as Raul Tamudo, the ex-Espanyol striker who had a very good career at Barcelona's second club, before struggling with injuries towards the end of his time in the game, eventually retiring at Sabadell in 2015. 

The club I've chosen to start out at is C.E. Jupiter, an amateur side from the Sant Marti district of Barcelona. They play in the Regional Catalan league, group B. 

 

[Ewan0404]

I am holding off starting in Spain until the next transfer update.

I am between Espanyol and Tenerife, can someone le me know how they are both doing a few seasons in?

[Tikka Mezzala]

The majority of my players, as you can imagine, are absolutely useless. But there are three defenders who stand out as exceptional for this level. Unfortunately, all of them have a queue out the door waiting to sign them, and as I am an amateur club, I have no way of holding on to them and no transfer fee will be received. 

[Ewan0404]

I am planning on starting as Tenerife when the January transfer update comes out. Has anyone seen them get promoted in the early years of their save? 

[Mackem742]

Started a save with Valencia last night. I had a save with Sevilla on last years game and enjoyed managing in Spain (who wouldnt?). I was drawn to them as they have a quality squad, moving into a new stadium in a few years time and seem to be set for a crack at finishing in those Champions League spots. No European football to distract me in the first season too so it will give me a good chance to finish as high as possible. A lot of the squad are wanted by bigger clubs but Im trying to keep the squad together. I dont have much of a transfer budget (around £5 million) so the only player I have coming in is Arezo in January (I know its a bit of a boring common signing but Ive never used him on this years game yet).

Anyway start of the season has gone well with a 1-0 away win against Bilbao, despite a 71st minute red card for Soler which was very disappointing as he is an influential member of the squad, but I managed to cling on for the win. 2nd game of the season was a 3-0 home win against Cadiz who are rock bottom after 2 games. Currently sat 2nd behind Barca, Madrid are down in 14th after a draw and a defeat.

Already hooked on this save so Im excited to see how far I can go with them. I would like to stay until we move into the new stadium in 2025.

[Ewan0404]

How are you lining up at the start of the season? 

[Mackem742]

Im just using a standard 4-2-3-1. Still getting used to the squad as I wasnt familiar with it. Ive still got Gaya at left back, Soler in central midfield and Gomez (I think) up front on his own. Ill post a screenshot when I get home from work 

[MrWhite09]

I'm waiting for the Transfer update before starting a new game but I'm torn between Real Sociedad and Villarreal to manage. 

Both seems to have a good mix of players to start the game with, some good youth prospects coming through and are financially stable. I'm probably going to try and target mainly Spanish players with both clubs, with a mix of french and south american players as well - are there any you would definitely recommend looking into? 

 

[Ewan0404]

1 minute ago, MrWhite09 said:

I'm waiting for the Transfer update before starting a new game but I'm torn between Real Sociedad and Villarreal to manage. 

Both seems to have a good mix of players to start the game with, some good youth prospects coming through and are financially stable. I'm probably going to try and target mainly Spanish players with both clubs, with a mix of french and south american players as well - are there any you would definitely recommend looking into? 

 

I'm also waiting for the update to start as Tenerife. 

Look at Arezo, Brenner, Kaio Jorge from South America. 

[diLLa88]

1 hour ago, MrWhite09 said:

I'm waiting for the Transfer update before starting a new game but I'm torn between Real Sociedad and Villarreal to manage. 

Both seems to have a good mix of players to start the game with, some good youth prospects coming through and are financially stable. I'm probably going to try and target mainly Spanish players with both clubs, with a mix of french and south american players as well - are there any you would definitely recommend looking into? 

 

I've done something like that as Valencia. Here are some Spanish players I bought and used that are bargains:

Javier Montero

Benfica paid about €3.5m for him, so that should be possible early in the game. Solid centreback.

Martin Caldéron

Decent midfielder with good technique, passing and vision. Bought for €50k from R. Madrid. He is a backup for me currently.

Brahim Díaz

Good inside forward with great dribbling, flair and decent physicals. Shouldn't be too expensive as R. Madrid will not use him.

Óscar

My favourite player in the game, and reminds me a bit of Riquelme in older games as he has really great technical skills but lacking a bit in physicals. If used well he can be amazing.

Saved my ass so many times with direct free kicks, long shots and assists. Has been nuts for me in the shadow striker role in past 2 seasons.

Bryan Gil

Speedy winger with good technical attributes. Got him for free in 3rd season so shouldn't be too expensive before that. Bit inconsistent, but still decent for me in backup role.

Has been injured a lot this current season.

 

 

[MrWhite09]

2 hours ago, diLLa88 said:

I've done something like that as Valencia. Here are some Spanish players I bought and used that are bargains:

 

Thanks for this! I will be sure to check them out and I've seen in anther thread a number of young players at Valencia I should keep an eye on as well

[Firehouse]

So I guess I have finished the Depor save.

Won the league again, won the CL again, so I kinda lost interest. Won the Euro Supercup, my B team won the Segunda, and my U19 team won the league and CL aswell.

So I retired, and decided to simulate 5 years into future. Depor havent won the league in those 5 years (never lower than 4th), but have won 1 CL. They did sell most of my players though, 3rd season of the holiday they raked in 600m from sales

Well, now for some rest from FM, and then after the March update starting with my hometown Croatian side.

[Ewan0404]

1 hour ago, Firehouse said:

So I guess I have finished the Depor save.

Won the league again, won the CL again, so I kinda lost interest. Won the Euro Supercup, my B team won the Segunda, and my U19 team won the league and CL aswell.

So I retired, and decided to simulate 5 years into future. Depor havent won the league in those 5 years (never lower than 4th), but have won 1 CL. They did sell most of my players though, 3rd season of the holiday they raked in 600m from sales

Well, now for some rest from FM, and then after the March update starting with my hometown Croatian side.

Well done on your Deportivo success. I am looking at starting as Tenerife when the update is out. Do you have any tips oflr good signings to make in the Spanish lower leagues? 

Also can you give me a brief summary of where they finished each season? 

[goonergez]

On 24/01/2021 at 12:33, Tikka Mezzala said:

Was thinking about starting a save in Spain and posting about it in here, but with folk winning the league with Sociedad, Deportivo etc, I'd be the laughing stock of the thread

I’m exactly the same as you mate. I’m hunting my long term save for this year having really struggled to fall in love with anything so far. I am looking at something I’ve never done before and Spain fits the bill for me. It would have to be Deportivo for me, but as you say I just worry I’ll humiliate myself. My biggest achievement on this years game is a single promotion with Blackpool. I may look at starting with Depor this afternoon and see how I get on before posting.....

[stgahoy]

Hey guys, is there a way to change squad numbers for players in La Liga? Quite annoying I cant give player a number I want, and that I have to choose only from those not used.

[Firehouse]

6 hours ago, Ewan0404 said:

Well done on your Deportivo success. I am looking at starting as Tenerife when the update is out. Do you have any tips oflr good signings to make in the Spanish lower leagues? 

Also can you give me a brief summary of where they finished each season? 

First two seasons I just loaned whoever I could short term, and just bought freebies. I sold Rolan for like 8m which helped a lot. I remember loaning Rochina who was great for me in my first season. In second season I loaned Barcelonas left back and Atleticos centre back Montero, and I had them for like 5 seasons, just come January I would extend the loan. I bought Palombo from Lazio who scored like 90 goals in 3 seasons, only cost me 1m and I sold him for 30m. I remember Tenerife having a striker who scored 25 goals a season, Jorge or something like that. He was well rounded. In my save theyve become a upper midtable team.

[Ewan0404]

@Firehouse@Firehouse upper mid table in la liga or 2nd division?

Edited January 30, 2021 by Ewan0404

[Firehouse]

La Liga. 

My main rival in later years was Valencia, played them in CL finals. And my boogey team was Betis.

Never had any problems with Tenerife though.

[Mackem742]

Things are going really well in my current Valencia save. Top of the league after a handful of games. Barcelona and Real started off poorly but are now starting to challenge towards the top again.

Current tactical approach

Top performers

Results so far

Great start in the league, the 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid being the only blip so far but I was really unlucky in that game.

League table after 9 games

[bigbeezer]

On 11/01/2021 at 17:39, Firehouse said:

I am playing with Deportivo on this FM. Usually I don't like playing in Spain because Real Madrid and Barcelona are just too strong and it's hard to win the league. But I just had to give Depor a go.

20/21 - won the league comfortably, only had 1 loss the whole season
21/22 - won the segunda as easy as tercera, also only had one loss
22/23 - finished 3rd by surprise. Had 84 points, Real won with 95.
23/24 - fell down a bit, but still finished 4th with 77 points. Barca won with 103. In CL I finished third in the group, then lost against Bordeaux in the second knockout round.
24/25 - improved a bit, but finished 3rd, with 89 points. Real won with 94. Couldn't get out of the group in CL, finished 4th behind City, Milan and Porto.
25/26 - finished 3rd again with 94 points. Barca won with 100 points. Lost in CL quarter finals against Real Madrid.
26/27 - finally won the league. 95 points. Valencia came 2nd with 90, Real and Barca were poor but still finished 3rd and 4th. I have also won the Champions League, with a win against Chelsea in the finals.

We are 170m in the black, we are about to play our first competitive game on our new 45k Arsenio Iglesias Arena, average age is like 23. I had like 100m in the bank for ages but board wouldn't give me more than 20m for transfers. But I managed to sell smart, and finally raised a budget enough to get couple of players in that proved decisive in our double winning season. Now I only bought some rotation players.

Also our B team has been rapidly rising through the ranks, and won the Segunda last season.

This is our two best players. I found Luscher in portugese third tier side, and Boško only cost us 6m. He has now scored more than 100 goals for us and is only 22 years old.

 

Hello,

 

what background pack is that? would love one with the large stadiums. Thanks

[goonergez]

Deportivo la Coruna: Takeover Report

I've really struggled to get into saves on this edition of the game, and it has grown increasingly frustrating. I'm still chasing my long term save for this year, something that I am craving. Seeking it this year, I have decided to do something I have never done before. Lower league in Spain. I desperately wanted a save set up for the longer term, and Deportivo la Coruna definitely fit the bill. They currently sit in the third tier of football less than a quarter of a century removed from a La Liga title victory. Their home stadium 'The Riazor' is top flight standard, and the club is far too big to be playing so low down the pyramid. My long term aim is to return Depor to competing for top flight and major honours, but initially it will be a case of taking them back up the league system. The financial situation isn't the greatest, so I will also have to spend the early stages looking to do things in a financially controlled manner. Thankfully the inherited squad is impressive for it's level, and a first season promotion should be easy to achieve.

My first task was to build my staffing team, which didn't take much work. I wanted to promote under-19s coach and club legend Aldo Duscher to my assistant, but he wouldn't discuss it having only recently signed his contract. Long term my aim will be to build a backroom team who have links to the football club. For now my assistant manager is 43-year old Oscar Corrochano. Previously a scout with Bayern Munich and former manager of Trier and Lotte in the German lower leagues. Former Levante and Malaga goalkeeping coach Toni Mengual arrived to work with our first team keepers on a two year contract.

With the quality of our squad I wanted a tactic that could emphasise our dominance against any opposition. In the league I can't foresee many issues, so decided upon a tactic in which we could attempt to dominate games. A 4-5-1 with a holding midfielder as well as two attacking wingers.  My aim would be to press high up the pitch, and when we get the ball quick counter attacking football. It worked in pre-season, with seven victories in seven matches, only conceding in our final game. We dominated games and although the opposition was weaker, really drilled that home. Hopefully we will take that with us into our league season.

As I've mentioned, the squad I inherited was very strong. A number of the players on the books are far too good to be playing at this level, and that really should be of benefit. The board want to win the league, as do I. They gave me a tasty transfer budget of £1,600,000 to spend, although the inherited wage budget was pretty much at bursting point. In honesty I had no intention of making any signings anyway. Instead of moving in the transfer market we promoted a central midfielder and young striker from our youth development squad .17-year old Mario Dominguez will offer some cover in midfield, and the same with 17-year old striker Noel Lopez. Departure wise we allowed two, bringing in some funds for players I had no plans to use. 20-year old winger Jorge Valin departed to Alaves in a £80,000 deal, and 32-year old Claudio Beauvue left for Las Palmas for £250,000. Both were decent players, but I felt they were surplus to requirements here. Bringing in a little over £300,000 did bring with it some bright news though.

I still plan on showing restraints in the market, and as I say I cannot see any reason why we need to look into bringing in new signings anyway. Everybody thinks this side is good enough to win the league, myself included. The board make us clear favourites for the title, with odds of just 8/13 that we will do just that. For me it is the experienced heads within the squad that should see us through with relatively little difficulty. 32-year old Celso Borges recently joined the club after a spell in Turkey, returning for a second spell. He made over 100 league appearances in his previous spell and I see him as a vital part to my plans.

Out wide we have real quality in Diego Rolan. The 27-year old Uruguayan is on £20,000 a week which is huge, but looks to be well above this level. If we can receive an offer somewhere near his value (around £5,000,000) then I will sell, but we can definitely make use of his quality in the mean time. Up top we will rely on the experienced 34-year old Miku to score the goals for us. He recently joined from Omonoia in Cyprus, and the Venezuelan looks to possess the abilities needed to be a regular goal scorer. I have real confidence in a positive first season, but the hard work starts now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honours:

none

[Ewan0404]

@goonergez good luck with Deportivo.

Can I ask how you get the small badges at the bottom of your posts? They look really smart. 

[goonergez]

9 minutes ago, Ewan0404 said:

@goonergez good luck with Deportivo.

Can I ask how you get the small badges at the bottom of your posts? They look really smart. 

I stole the badges out of my graphics folder. There’s medium size and small size and I use the medium for the top and the small ones for the footer.

The worst part was trying to find the images because they are numbered for the clubs id

Edited February 1, 2021 by goonergez

[goonergez]

Deportivo la Coruna: January 2021 Update

I've just reached the closing of the January transfer window, and that means I should give an update on how life in charge of Deportivo has gone thus far. We had a quiet summer, with no incomings after I took charge. I went into the campaign confident in the players I had inherited though, and was ready to try and get this team promoted from the third tier at the first time of asking. The very opening game of the season had me a little worried though, as we had to wait until the 86th minute to make a breakthrough. We added gloss with a stoppage time penalty, but at that stage I was a little fearful of what I had let myself into. I needn't have worried though, and a 6-0 hammering of Zamora on matchday two enabled me to get my confidence back in my team. We have strolled through the season with ease, although there have been a couple of scares along the way. 

Despite a really strong start I was a little worried about our numbers in the central midfield area. For that reason I did finally delve into the transfer market during the January window.

The 23-year old was picked up on a free transfer from Leganes and looks a very bright signing indeed. I was delighted to pick up a player that possesses the abilities that he does without having to spend a penny. I'll integrate him slowly into the side, but he looks like he has the makings of a more than solid option for us in the holding midfield role just in front of the back four. Hopefully he can become an integral part of our side over the rest of this season.

In the Copa Del Rey we breezed through our first match beating FC Andorra 3-1 away after extra time. In the Second Round we played host to Eibar of La Liga. We took a shock first half lead, but unfortunately fell apart in the second to lose out 1-4. We gave a good account of ourselves, and to be honest I wasn't too fussed as my priorities lay in trying to win promotion in the league.

We've had a really good start to the season, and laid the foundations for a really successful campaign. The lack of a decent run in the Copa Del Rey was slightly disappointing, but in all honesty promotion in the league is the sole priority. I'm hoping we will have plenty of opportunities during my time here to enjoy being competitive in the cup. We've dropped a few more points than I thought that we would, but we've definitely established ourselves as a top side at this level. At times we really do play like a side sitting way below their level. Hopefully we can keep this fine run going, and clinch promotion quickly and efficiently. I'm not entirely sure how the whole league system works down here, but it looks as though we will split into a new promotion group against the top four sides within the regional splits. I'm confident we can go up this season, and will not settle for anything less than that.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Honours:

none

[Firehouse]

19 hours ago, bigbeezer said:

Hello,

 

what background pack is that? would love one with the large stadiums. Thanks

It's this one.

[Muttley84]

2 hours ago, goonergez said:

I'm not entirely sure how the whole league system works down here, but it looks as though we will split into a new promotion group against the top four sides within the regional splits. I'm confident we can go up this season,

The first 3 in your group will met with the first 3 in the B group (the likes of Salamanca and Guijielo). The first 3 in this mini-league will qualify for the promotion playoffs. If you are unlucky there and match against Barca B or Real Castilla... could get tricky.

[goonergez]

4 minutes ago, Muttley84 said:

The first 3 in your group will met with the first 3 in the B group (the likes of Salamanca and Guijielo). The first 3 in this mini-league will qualify for the promotion playoffs. If you are unlucky there and match against Barca B or Real Castilla... could get tricky.

I actually ended up getting even more confused although maybe COVID related. We went into a six team mini league promotion group. It looks like the winner of that group gains promotion and you take all of your existing league points from the first stage with you. The confusing bit seems to be that you don’t play all of the other sides in that group. Of the six we are only playing another three of the teams both home and away. What a confusing setup!