Motlhen Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 (edited) DoF The way I've been playing the game recently is a bit different. I play as the Director of Football. That means I do: control transfers in/out, have a say in the clubs financial matters & means that I don't: deal with training, team selection or any match day antics. The Assistant Manager is effectively the club's Manager, so we play his favoured formation & I use the quick pick button to get him to pick his team for each game. I've also got the Instant Result skin to ensure that I am not involved on match days and for the more important games I will keep the score hidden from myself & watch the game's highlights as if in real time (with a post-it note over the final score!) Basque I've taken the DoF role at Sociedad Deportiva Beasain who play their games at the 6k capacity Estadio Loinaz in the province of Gipuzkoa. We have just been promoted to the "new" Spanish 4th tier & the board have decided to adopt a Basque-only policy, similar to Athletic Bilbao (AFAIK they are the only club that sticks to this rule.) This means all of our players must be from the Basque country & have Basque as a listed second nationality. Luckily the regens from our youth intakes will be Basque, so I hope that we can focus on producing some decent regens in years to come. Our coaching & recruitment are decent for our level already but they'll have to improve in a very competitive locale. We have an affiliation & rivalry with Real Sociedad, who's B team play their games one division above us. They are one of 14 teams in the Basque region who play at our level or above, who I see as our main rivals for success: La Liga Segunda División None Primera División RFEF BB Segunda División RFEF Edited July 10, 2021 by Motlhen 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Good luck 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 A Basque challenge with a twist, I like it! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 Arriving at the club, meeting the players We have no other staff & a limited squad. My first move was to call up some of the other Basque clubs & Eibar were able to send a young goalkeeper on loan for the season, who should eventually (& hopefully) only be needed as a backup, but he will at least make training & our friendlies a bit easier to handle. He cost us absolutely zero too, so bringing him in was a no brainer! The four players we have on part-time contracts are a problem. They're our best players, but only just. And they are on hugely inflated wages. You may have noticed that I have already upset Lafuente (£600p/w) & Garmendia (£650p/w) by offering their services out to other clubs. Our finances are in a pretty good condition & I want to keep it that way, so I will be looking to make the most of any interest in these four players as I think we can replace them with players of similar (or better!) quality for cheaper wages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 Pre-season 2021 Beyond signing a couple of scouts to help me find players, a physio, coach & GK coach I had the big task of employing an assistant manager. I put out an ad for all of the jobs to garner interest and managed to land a youthful manager with the right attitude & personality. We'll be adapting to play either of his preferred formations as I look to fill the gaps we have in the squad to do so! Transfers In GK We definitely won't be needing Eibar's loanee youngster (I've already forgotten his name and put him in our U19's) as we make a couple of mega signings in goal. Both lads played together in Real Sociedad's youth ranks before being released. DEF Two ex-Bilbao centre-backs join to sure up a very poor defence. Loic "Boom" Boum has an incredible name for a defender too. MID Kortajarena instantly looks like the type of player to build a tactic around, let's hope he can impress the manager! & yet another Real Sociedad player joins (a pattern may be emerging here..) to do a job on the left wing. With such a short turnaround to get all of the job ads up, staff in, trials offers made & friendlies played, pre-season has whizzed by. Our weaknesses lie in the positions I've not yet brought players in for - despite the limited time I have had a LOT of rejections. As the season begins, my work in the transfer market will continue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theBlackPrince Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 The Basque region has great players available and some good regens each year! Should make for a great journey up the leagues! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 (edited) Aug - Sep 2021 Over the course of the first few competitive matches we've been adding to the team: DEF A HUGE signing is veteran Cesar Caneda who comes in for a bargain of a wage for the bags of experience he brings. A quality player! Two centre-backs, two right backs and two players who can at least fill in at left back make us a lot surer in defence. MID A couple of youngsters will join the U19's and play as backups, whilst Diliberto will be a first team starter. ATT We are really struggling to get any sort of improvements up front, but Eibar provide another loanee who is miles better than the two strikers we have, who we are still trying to shift! With plenty of new additions, it's not surprising we have seen patchy form. We're 5 points ahead of relegation- this distance will be something I guess we will be measuring all season long. Interestingly our main expense is our youth setup. Whilst our gate receipts are bringing in over double this cost! Once we are happy with the squad improvements, I will consider trying to persuade the board into youth recruitment improvements. Edited July 9, 2021 by Motlhen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 (edited) Oct - Dec 2021 Transfers I am pretty happy with our improvements in defence, apart from left back.Cuenca has been brought in to provide more athleticism to our left flank. Rebas can do a job anywhere on the wing & claims to be able to play up front too. He'll be great for cover, but probably will slot into the first team. Pacheco, our best striker, has been playing as a centre-mid, so I've brought in Aguirre to improve our strike force. We have had a player depart, though unfortunately it was not one of the players we are trying to sell. Ibarbia was a backup youngster, who will never make it to the level we require missing a year of development after breaking his leg in an U19 match. Lafuente eventually did manage to find a new club. He is one of four players we are over-paying. We should be getting a higher calibre of youngsters from our first youth intake. My hopes are high! This is our formation at the moment. Hopefully our new striker will be a straight swap up top. We had a poor October, including 3 losses in a row to other Basque clubs. We did manage to beat San Ignacio, but Amorbieta beat us Home & Away to make our record against our rival clubs W1-D0-L4. Luckily for us, there are 3 teams having absolutely dreadful seasons, so relegation is already looking unlikely. Our finances have made it up to ~£200k. Edited July 9, 2021 by Motlhen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 The form of the bottom three, so much red paired with the high negative goal difference! Would have to agree you are looking safe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 3 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said: The form of the bottom three, so much red paired with the high negative goal difference! Would have to agree you are looking safe. Their form did not get any better! Jan - Mar 2022 Before the end of March, not only had we avoided relegation with some decent form, but the horrendous display's by the bottom 3 confirmed that they will be playing in the 5th tier next season. I am happy that we have met our objectives this season, no matter how it was achieved! We signed one more player for the season, who has helped improve our goalscoring capabilities. & have managed to agree deals for two more players on high wages. Only one to go- but he's being stubborn and it looks like he will run his contract out at the club until the end of the season. Our finances are still moving in the right direction! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarp Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 I always loved the only-basque policy in Bilbao, gonna be very interesting to see how far can you get. Is it visible in the game that players are basque? I remember back in the day I tried something similar with catalan players and there was no way to see their second nationality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 -53 and -46 Yikes! Can Alfaro secure a victory - the sub-narrative lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 (edited) 46 minutes ago, scarp said: I always loved the only-basque policy in Bilbao, gonna be very interesting to see how far can you get. Is it visible in the game that players are basque? I remember back in the day I tried something similar with catalan players and there was no way to see their second nationality. Yep, Basque will only ever be a second nationality for Spanish players born in the region. But it will also be mixed into the second nationalities for players that have Basque roots but have a different primary nationality. Examples of both below: Edited July 9, 2021 by Motlhen 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 Apr - Jun 2022 We had our first youth intake, but it didn't meet my expectations unfortunately. We managed to finish 11th after a pretty solid end to the season. 48 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said: -53 and -46 Yikes! Can Alfaro secure a victory - the sub-narrative lol Alfaro did manage a win! We managed to finish above one of our main Basque rivals San Ignacio, thanks to them being the only team that both Alfaro & Tafalla could manage a win against. Our record against Basque teams after the first season stands at W3-D0-L5, something I'm hoping we can improve on for next season! Once the season was over, I was offered a renewed contract. But between myself, the board and manager Mikel Martinez, we couldn't agree terms to keep the manager for next season. He was simply asking for too much money, so we are now in the market for a new manager. I am hoping to find someone who will play a similar style as we have been scouting with our current positions & roles in mind. But let's see who applies. The board have also generously agreed to a couple of improvements for our youth coaching & recruitment.(Although the names of the old & new status' are confusing me!?) The Squad The only way we could keep our player of the season, 43yo Caneda was to agree to his demands of a THREE year deal. I doubt he will be offering much in 3 years as his physicals are in tatters already, but his influence & experience is irreplaceable for a club our size. Fraga Torres, our young GK who played the whole season has been called up by the Spanish U19 team & it could prove hard to keep him at the club. & he is by no means the only player I'm worried about losing, with a majority of our most consistent players wanted by other clubs. Late signing Azcona also deserves a mention for solving our goalscoring issues & finishing as the club's top scorer, despite playing 20 games less than some other players! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theBlackPrince Posted July 9, 2021 Share Posted July 9, 2021 Not quite the youth intake you would want and congrats on surviving the season, was pretty safe in the end! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 Beasain appoint ex-International Diego Capel as new manager Capped twice for Spain & with an illustrious career in top leagues across Europe, I am really happy with our new man! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Capel certainly had a decent playing career, hopefully he will be able to draw from his on the field playing experience and bring it to Beasain. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 (edited) Pre-season 2022 Basque clubs position within the leagues: Bilbao now have all 3 of their teams in the top 4 tiers! La Liga Segunda División None Primera División RFEF B Segunda División RFEF CBB Transfers Out I knew it was going to be tough to keep all of the squad from last season. Losing Boum was tough & we will need to look for extra support in defence to replace him & Barruetabana. Transfers In DEF We brought in a loanee from Real Sociedad to battle with Cuenca for the left back spot. We brought in a young centre-back too, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to find a new first team centre-back before the start of the season - the hunt continues! MID Rodellar is a solid option at DM, a position that needed to be filled for our new managers favoured formation. ATT The biggest signing for our team so far is a young striker on loan from Real Sociedad. We are paying a fraction of his £1.4kp/w wages, but he comes in as a huge coup & I hope he can propel us up the table! His arrival has overshadowed our acquisition of Tascon, who was brought in to challenge Azcona for a first team spot. We are now very packed up front for a team only playing one striker. Our pre-season results have been really good & I am hoping we can continue this vein of form into the new season. This our new formation & our squad selection for the first match of the season. Edited July 10, 2021 by Motlhen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 Aug - Sep 2022 A huge blow hits us immediately as we've lost our star striker in Gameweek 2, loanee Karrikaburu is out for 3 months with a torn hamstring. Transfers In We managed to get a few transfer deadline day deals, including getting some decent new centre-back options. The other area we have strengthened is the right wing. I was not particularly aiming to recruit for this position, but when good players become available & we are only paying them when they play, it makes sense to hoard players for this position and create competition for places. Both are youngsters, but I think Ruiz will be a starter! We have also had a lot of interest for one of players from our first youth intake. I have offered Rodriguez a better deal than he was previously on to convince him to stay, but will be keeping a closer eye on his progress than I initially would have based off of our own scout reports as other scouts clearly think he could become a decent player. We've had a decent start to the season, apart from the hiding to Alaves' B team.Diliberto from the left wing has been amongst the goals whilst Azcona took a while to find his shooting boots again. The man of the moment for now is GK Fraga Torres who has 3 Player of the Match awards already this season! Finances are still in check, despite the growing squad size. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 Oct 2022 It's been a busy month! We've had plenty of injuries in key areas to contend with. Which has meant we have turned to some of our youngsters. We've managed to sign 3 new players, including spending £275p/w on a part-time contract (most of our other players are on non-contracts) for a commanding centre-back to replace Caneda. The board have agreed to further improvements to the youth setup. Which is increasing our monthly outgoings. We've had a couple of months in the red, so I am going to stick with our current squad as we start to really get into the season. A very okay month of results on the pitch, losing only to top spot. But 3 winnable games ending as draws - I could say has been down to our lineup chopping and changing, but I want our squad to be performing, not just our first XI. Hopefully we can pick up our form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 10, 2021 Author Share Posted July 10, 2021 (edited) Nov - Dec 2022 We haven't managed to find any sort of form and have slipped down the league standings as a result. Despite this, I am ecstatic to have tied down our two best non-contract players to 4-year part-time deals! We also got our youth intake preview, where it looks like we are getting a decent goalkeeper as the main man in the intake for a second year on the spin. Edited July 10, 2021 by Motlhen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 This looks like a tough challenge, but good luck nevertheless! Will be following 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Jan - Feb 2023 Transfers Out Both our backup goalkeeper & the club's youngest ever appearance record holder Rodriguez have decided to leave the club. Transfers In Our other goalkeeping options were very limited, so I brought in Unai Goti, just in case. Goge has been brought in to offer a different option at half back where Rodellar has been filling in all season. & I signed a youngster who is a master dribbler in the hope he can get half as good at some of the other aspects of football! Our form has picked up in February with our new additions to the squad & our key players coming back from injury & we've catapulted up the league standings. Our finances have taken a slight dip recently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyLewis11 Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 A decent change in form, looks like you are set to make an improvement on last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 (edited) Mar - Apr 2023 Sadly, we have been punished for not playing our star striker as a Poacher & we have to see our top scorer get recalled as we come to the business end of the season. Luckily, we were never really within touching distance of promotion, so hopefully his loss won't be all that costly. We had our youth intake & I was surprised with a much better set of players than last year. 1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said: A decent change in form, looks like you are set to make an improvement on last season. The goals did dry up, but all-in-all a solid end to the season. We finished 5 places higher than last season, but only had 4 points more than last term! For a second season in a row our fans have chosen captain Cesar Caneda as their Player of the Season and for a second season in a row he got the highest average rating within the squad (excluding mid-season departures). Our last game of the season was 10 days before his 45th birthday! The squad: Edited July 11, 2021 by Motlhen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Wow 44 years old defender is still playing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Despite demanding a 3-year contract last season that would have seen him playing until he was nearly 47, our captain has decided it is time to hang up his playing boots. He has been a huge success for us despite being a whole decade older than all of our other players, two decades older than most of the squad & 3 decades older than some of the players on the same teamsheet! I imagine his rapid decline in speed, stamina & strength over the past two seasons were the deciding factor. Thankfully, we are not losing him altogether as he has agreed to join as our U19's coach. Could he be a future Beasain manager? We'll see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Off-season 2023 Our manager, Diego Capel has done enough to secure a new 2-year deal. We've managed to extend Agote's loan for another season. & the squad is bolstered by a couple of long-awaited arrivals. ..as well as a strong right wing back loanee. We are going to struggle keeping our two key players. Both signed 3-year deals at the start of last season but now feel they have out-grown the club. I offered a pay-rise, but they seemed offended by that notion. I can only hope that no one comes in with a bid & they get over it, but I know the chances of that are pretty slim. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 Basque clubs in the top 4 tiers: La Liga Segunda División Primera División RFEF BB Segunda División RFEF CB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 (edited) Pre-season 2023 I sold Arbreas, but have since regretted it after we lost our depth & quality in defence. As Rodriguez also chose to leave to Sabadell. & we lost our cover at left back too. In response, I have brought in a few of youngsters. But it's proven hard to get first team level replacements in. The other player that joined was a Beasain boomerang as Rodriguez left in January & now in August has come back. We disappointingly lost a huge prospect to Girona, but there's no way we can compete with the wages offered. & he wasn't the only youngster we lost in the window. On deadline day, we managed to get Sillero to cover at right back, but we are still quite thin at centre-back. Edited July 11, 2021 by Motlhen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonic Youth Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Interesting idea. I have to keep reminding myself that this a DoF save. How are you selecting your players? Whoever you can find who will sign for your budget? How does scouting work? Are you hiring the backroom staff, with certain tactic and mental traits preferred? Going to keep an eye on this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 18, 2021 Author Share Posted July 18, 2021 On 15/07/2021 at 13:29, Sonic Youth said: Interesting idea. I have to keep reminding myself that this a DoF save. How are you selecting your players? Whoever you can find who will sign for your budget? How does scouting work? Are you hiring the backroom staff, with certain tactic and mental traits preferred? Going to keep an eye on this Hi mate. I'm using the player search screen for this challenge (I usually play without it, but feel I have to use it here as the scouting for Basque-only players that I set up didn't seem to work properly). And yep, anyone who is interested in a trial & is first-team level or a good looking youth prospect I'm bringing in. I'm keeping an eye on finances too, so there's been a few good players I've decided not to bring to the club due to the big jump in wages to our current highest paid players. I'm in charge of the hiring of staff, yep. The ass mans preferred formation is important as this is what we'll be playing most games, with his second formation sometimes used too. The way I get "him" to pick the team is by clicking the quick pick option. I have control over which players are in the first team & our U19's so I can limit him to the players that I want to be involved & I rearrange the subs because of my OCD. Then it's all up to him for the match (Instant result skin)! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 18, 2021 Author Share Posted July 18, 2021 Aug - Oct 2023 Zuzao joined to sure up our defensive options in midfield. We've had a pretty rocky start to the season, with only 3 wins & all against teams in the bottom half of the table. However, we have been doing well so far in the Federation Cup, although we have top-of-the-league Intercity in the next round. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 19, 2021 Author Share Posted July 19, 2021 Nov - Dec 2023 We started to get hit by a few injuries on our wings, which meant we have turned to Tena who is a huge prospect from our youth ranks. He's stepped up to keep his place in the team despite the injuries starting to subside! We've been having trouble scoring, so Soeiro has come in to create some competition for places. Incredibly, we managed to scrape past Intercity & Algeciras to get to our first ever final, where we unfortunately lost on penalties. Our league form picked up in Nov, but dropped off again in Dec. We're teetering a bit too close to relegation, but for a second time I'm happy to see that the bottom 3 teams seem to be a class below those above them with a 9-point gap already between 15th & the relegation spots. Our youth intake should be a good one! & the final has helped boost our finances! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 Jan - Feb 2024 Our best two players according to our scouts both made attempts to leave in this transfer window due to unhappiness with the clubs league standings & dressing room atmosphere. They have two years left on their contracts & have since withdrawn their transfer requests, but it's a sign that we need to start performing much better to ensure we don't lose our top players at the end of the season. Transfers In Loic Boum rejoins us on loan, for a pretty hefty wage, but he was key to our defence two seasons ago & I hope he can help sure up our defence again. Transfers Out We lost two of our backup 'keepers this window! As I've eluded to, our form has bee terrible. I still think we are sure of avoiding relegation, but something needs to change! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 Mar - Apr 2024 & something did change! We went on an 11-game unbeaten run at the end of the season to climb to a respectable mid-table finish. The board have decided that this boost in fortunes was enough to extend my contract. It's very clear that Loic Boum's presence in the defence was a huge part of our success. Azcona broke a few records, whilst Fraga Torres became the club's highest all-time appearance maker. We had another decent intake, too. Not the best personalities though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motlhen Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 As we prepare for the new season, our manager has left us for Grenada's B team after two years in charge of the club! We are now in search of a 3rd manager for our fourth season at the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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