Budget barmy in bargain basement Barcelona. Are we heading for Serie B? (4 Season save).

[Jimbokav1971]

Title decider. Barca. May 2022. 

We've taken our title challenge to the last day and now all we can do is try and beat Espanyol and hope that both R.Madrid and Atletico slip up, (which is enormously unlikely as they have won their last 9 and 6 games respectively, with Atletico unbeaten since January, (16 games ago). 

If you had told me who I had sold and that we would still have a chance at the title going into the last game I would have taken it so I can't complain. 

R.Madrid are at home to the bottom team Cadiz, so there is surely no way they can lose. (Cadiz have only won 3 games all season). 

[warlock]

46 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I think this is what Barca fell foul of in real life

Yeah, my understanding is that the Spanish authorities imposed a 70% limit on wages:turnover for this season and even with a 50% pay cut for Messi, Barca couldn't meet the target.

But, technically, Atletico Madrid, Bilbao and Espanyol are in breach. I'd guess that may be because the save is still operating under FM21 league rules. It'll be interesting to see what happens in FM22.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Yeah, my understanding is that the Spanish authorities imposed a 70% limit on wages:turnover for this season and even with a 50% pay cut for Messi, Barca couldn't meet the target.

But, technically, Atletico Madrid, Bilbao and Espanyol are in breach. I'd guess that may be because the save is still operating under FM21 league rules. It'll be interesting to see what happens in FM22.

I think this is a really interesting point in terms of FM22. I for one would absolutely love to manage Barca with really tough restrictions in place, but it must be so hard to code based on the ridiculous amount of money coming into the club. Any "debt" is invariably just restructured on the "never-never" until such time as interest payments can no longer be made or the board simply keep investing cash in order to clear the debt. 

I would love it to be in the game something similar to this, and I would definitely manage them if that were the case. 

[Sonic Youth]

A derby to end the season!

[Jimbokav1971]

Barca. May 2022. 

La Liga. Aguero was injured for the last game and we really missed him. Both sides from Madrid won anyway so it didn't matter, but we finished the season with a whimper rather than a bang. 

Awards. 

Records. 

Finances. We have  in the bank, (down £31.7M on last month), but we have only played 2 and a bit weeks of the last season, (because the season ends here). Our net debt figure is now at , which is up £31.3M, but again we haven't played a full month and I expect this to be offset with prize money and some more Champions League money between now and when the season actually ticks over, (so nothing to panic about). 

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

A derby  dismal end to the season!

Fixed it for you. 

[Sonic Youth]

26 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Fixed it for you. 

I see what you did there  

I take it Espanyol had something to play for, but results didn’t go their way?

[Jimbokav1971]

Big Decision. Barca. Jun 2022. 

I'm delaying things while I have a think, but at the moment I think this deal is too good to turn down. 

• I said I would sell anyone for £100M and this just isn't £100M, it's £100M + 25% of re-sale, (on a World Class 25year old), and a friendly. 
• We would get 75% of the £100M to re-invest in the squad. That's our transfer kitty going from £110M to £185M. 
• FdJ is brilliant, don't get me wrong, but within the system we're playing, I think a significantly poorer player could generate similar results. 
• 
• He's currently earning £762,000 per month until 2026, so we will also be saving approx. £36.5M on wages that we won't have to pay out. 
• We've been playing him largely as a B2B midfielder and to be honest he's wasted in that role. I can get a clogger to play that role to a decent standard. 
• He's also already complained about me rejecting a bid for him. 

I think he just has to go. It's a no-brainer isn't it? 

If this was a normal save then I don't think I would sell him. We have so many younger players and we're desperate for his experience. We're not playing a normal save though. We're playing a save that is only going to last 4 seasons and the aim isn't to win the Champions League. The aim is to clear the debt and fix Barca while remaining competitive.

He's got to go. Hasn't he? 

Maybe I can get more money out of them for him because Man City are also interested........

I'm surprised that El Presidente didn't get involved and accept this deal over my head. 

I have a feeling that FdJ is going to be the same as me selling both full-backs last season was. (Full of regret). 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

I see what you did there  

I take it Espanyol had something to play for, but results didn’t go their way?

Yeah. They could have avoided relegation but Granada beat someone to escape the drop. 

[Jimbokav1971]

European Club rankings. Jun 2022. 

I know it's not a huge part of the save, but it's a decent way of tracking if we are able to stay competitive. 

We've risen from 3rd to 2nd this season and while the Quarter Finals generated 24 points for us last season, we have to replace 25 points this season just to stand still. Our 3rd season will be a toughy as we will have to replace 30 points. 

[TheMadMonk]

On 21/09/2021 at 10:04, Jimbokav1971 said:

Amortisation is a word that I've head before but not used & didn't know the meaning of so thanks. 

I think "Amortization" is a word that crops up in the current Derby County debacle - Mel Morris.

There's a club challenge begging to be done in FM22  

 

[corinthiano]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Just look at the timing and the scorer of our goal against Villarreal! 

Brilliant

Great first season, think Barca would do well to mirror that in real life!

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, TheMadMonk said:

I think "Amortization" is a word that crops up in the current Derby County debacle - Mel Morris.

There's a club challenge begging to be done in FM22  

 

I know we shouldn't get enjoyment in the state of these football clubs, but they do make for good challenges, I am absolutely not revelling in it though. I wouldn't wish it on any supporter in the World. 

[Jimbokav1971]

38 minutes ago, corinthiano said:

Brilliant

Great first season, think Barca would do well to mirror that in real life!

Part of me thinks that I shouldn't have sold the full-backs Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto. We would absolute be Champions now if I had kept them. 

The big picture is all about money though and I have to just accept that 3rd, (with a small chance of winning the title on the final day), is better than Barca did last season in real life, (AND they had Messi). 

If we can go that close in Season 1 though, I'm determined to win it in Season 2. 

[warlock]

2 hours ago, TheMadMonk said:

I think "Amortization" is a word

But that isn't how you spell "fraud".

[Sonic Youth]

5 hours ago, warlock said:

But that isn't how you spell "fraud".

It’s a legal type of accounting shenanigans though!

[Jimbokav1971]

Barca. End of Season update. 2021/22. 

La Liga. We finished 3rd in the end and I suppose I should be satisfied after the players that we sold in order to repair the financial damage. We will play in the Champions League again next season and will be stronger next season in the league. 

Copa Del Rey. Losing on penalties is as close as you can get to not losing without winning. (Does that make sense?) 

Champions League. I'm quite happy with our performances in Europe. We did well to get as far as we got and led Chelsea on away goals for an hour of the Quarter Final 2nd leg. 

European Super Cup. All Trophies count. Trophies against R.Madrid count double. Smashing 7 goals past R.Madrid in a Final? 

Club World Championships. Nobody really cares about this do they? I care so little about it that I don't even know how you qualify for it. 

Squad by Appearances. 

Awards.

Aguero came 3rd in the La Liga Player of the Year, and I can't begin to tell you how vital he was to us. 

Fati wins the La Liga Young Player of the Year. 

Ter Steggen comes 3rd in the La Liga GK of the Year award. 

I came 2nd in the La Liga Manager of the Year award, (but to be honest I need shooting for selling those 2 full-backs). 

Aguero is our only player in the La Liga Team of the Year, (which quite frankly is ridiculous! but also possibly goes a long way to explaining how well we have done).

Ter Steggen won Champions League GK of the Season and Aguero was 3rd in the Champions League striker of the Season. 

Moukoko won the World Club Championships Golden Boot. 

Facilities. I can't have this, (no matter the cost). 

This is madness! They will give me £110M to buy new players, but won't give me £10M max to improve the facilities the players train at. 

You might think that we should skimp and save on the Facilities because we're struggling financially. In fact I think quite the opposite. 

Transfers. We were busy busy busy. 

Players in. We spent £64.6M and brought in players to the value of £129.5M.    Now what I need to do is keep the player sales going so that the cash I have invested, and the wages we pay are part of an investment towards future returns, rather than just dead money flowing out of the club. 

Moukoko was an inspired signing. My eyes almost popped out when I saw him and realised I could approach to sign. He has already rewarded me with 16 goals in 22(2) appearances in all competitions. Although I signed him on a free, I agreed to pay £1.6M to push the deal through immediately in the January window. 

Luke Thomas was signed in January after I sold Jordi Alba and I have brought him back in again this season. I did try to put a clause in to sign him permanently, but couldn't get the deal done so he's still on loan. 

I did this deal early in January and I thought we might be short of numbers. Since then our own midfielders have started to develop and Billy Gilmour is a little further down the pecking order than I anticipated. 

Arthur Zagré was signed in a panic because I had just sold both my 1st choice full-backs and I was getting a bit desperate. I'm not sure where he fits in at the moment if I'm honest. I'm expecting quite a turnover of staff this season so even if he doesn't feature at the start of the season, don't be surprised to see him in the team by the end. 

Arkadiusz Milik had planned to be my marquee signing of the Summer. Signed on a free, he is immediately worth £28M and I expect his value to rise. We have a problem when Aguero isn't in the side at the moment, (and he's getting on now so simply can't play every game), so Milik will come in and share the loan on the right of the front 2. Aguero isn't willing to extend his contract at the moment, (it expires at the end of this season). My plan initially was to use Milik for 1 season and then flog him on, but with Aguero not interested in negotiating, I'm considering cashing in on the 34 year old before he leaves on a free. I want to see how Milik adapts to the DLF role 1sth though because he's not a natural fit. 

Ronaldo Camara is a player I really like the look of. He's only 19 years old and after signing on a free is already worth £10M. The plan was to send him to the B Team for a season, but he seems to have developed significantly since the deal to being him in was done. 

Some met the announcement that I had signed Calum Chambers with scorn, (I'm looking at you @Sonic Youth) , but he offered us some much needed depth at right back and is perfect to stick on the bench because he can also cover centre-half at a push. My problem at the time is that I knew I was selling Sergi Roberto, (I hadn't yet signed Luke Thomas), and all the right backs at the club were very raw. Since then Sergiño Dest has really kicked on as our 1st choice right back, and actually Moussa Wagué has really kicked on too, (to such an extent that I have just rejected a bid of £12M rising to £17.5M from Bayer Leverkusen. I want good young players sitting in the B Team so that we have players ready and waiting when I get an offer I want to accept for whoever is 1st or 2nd choice in a position. Chambers makes it much easier to do that. He's also immediately worth £8.5M and I plan on cashing in on that after 1 season with us. 

I absolutely LOVE the look of Matt Grimes. I've heard of him, but only because I take a passing interest in Swansea because Jamal Lowe is there and he came through the Barnet Academy. Honestly, I really really like him. He's not going to be a superstar, but he will absolutely do a job and that's sort of what I meant when I said that FdJ was wasted playing in midfield for me. 

Escobar 6'3" is a bit of a strange one. He was here on loan last season, (arranged before I arrived), and it was only when @karanhsinghenlightened me about the transfer clause for Demir, that I thought to look at this bloke to see if he had one. He did have one and as it was only £3M I decided to pay it and sign him on the basis that I was still looking for someone to come in for Aguero from time to time on the right, and this bloke is just a little different. He scored 18 goals in 34(6) appearances for the B Team last season, and he will probably go out on loan this season if I can arrange it. He only has 3.5 PA, but there is enough about him to suggest that he could be worth having around, at least in the short term. 

I fear I have stunted Demir's growth a little by not playing him much this season, but he still managed 1 goal in 5(3) appearances. I'm not completely sure what my plans for him are this season, but I think my squad management requires a little thought now with so many bodies coming in and so many youngsters starting to put their hand up for selection. He cost £10M, ant much to my frustration, what was 5.0 PA is now only 4.0 PA. 

I got £100M for FdJ so decided to spent just half of it on a replacement. Kalvin Phillips came in to do a job for me in midfield and is just what I was looking for. 

Players out. 

Ousmane Dembélé SELL had to go because his contract was expiring and we couldn't afford to re-sign him. Anything we could get would be a bonus after getting his big wages off the books. £10M did rather nicely, (although had I played him in a more natural position we would have got more for him). 
Coutinho SELL was on so much money that he just had to go and I even offered him out for free at 1 point. In the end we got £30M for him which I was well chuffed with. 
Jordi Alba might have been 33, but he was still a a hell of a player, but £11.25M is decent money and it was really good to get his wage off the books too. 
Sergi Roberto SELL was one of our best players and I have no doubt that we would have won the league had he and Alba stayed. He was on too much money though and I was happy to get £20M from the sale too. 
Martin Braithwaite went for £5M. Again I just wanted him and his £500k per month wage off the books. 
Neto SELL was our 2nd choice GK when I arrived and getting paid almost £500k per month. He had to go and we got £5m for him too. 
I wanted to sell Umtiti rather than Lenglet 6'1", but I couldn't flog him to Lenglet 6'1" had to go instead. £32M was decent money though.
Depay was our top goal-scorer, (21 goals in 29(2) appearances), when he left in January, and although I didn't want to sell him, £40M rising to £60M was too much to turn down by a club in our financial situation.  
I finally got rid of Busquets SELL and Arsenal even paid us £1M in the end. 
FdJ was a player that I absolutely DID NOT want to sell, but when someone offers you £80M rising to £100M for someone who doesn't play in a key role...... he has to go. 
Griezmann I had forgotten about because he had already left on loan with a permanent deal agreed, so £34M is a complete bonus. 
Piqué 6'4" SELL finally left and I managed to get £2.5M for him too. 

We still have both Pjanic SELL, (£1,172,000 per month) and Umtiti 6'0" SELL, (918,000 per month), at the club and I'm desperately trying to get rid of them. It's getting to the stage where I'm thinking that even if I can just get someone to take them, it might be worth it for us to pay half their wages. At least we save half then? Everyone else I wanted to get rid of has gone, and I'm giving Trincão, (£608,000 per month), a chance to show me what he's got before I send him packing. 

This is everyone at the club who's getting paid more than £100,000 per month. 

Finances. After all the above transfers we have  in the bank, (which is £317,555,321 up on the start of the save). Our net debt is now down to , which is £578,617,543 lower than it was when we arrived. That's an astonishing reduction in just 1 season when you consider that I have also just bought a player for £50M and also signed quite a few others on a free.

We currently have a transfer budget of £102M, and a wage budget surplus of £1.4M per month. If I can get Pjanic & Umtiti off the books, (even if I have to pay up half of their contracts), then that still adds over £1M per month to our wage surplus. 

I've just turned down a decent bid for our 2nd choice right back.

There was a bid for our utility/fringe wide player, but the contract fell through. 

Arsenal offered us £61M rising to £82M for Fati, (but he's not going for less than £100M).

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Barca. Jul 2022. 

We've got a bigger squad now because of some of my panic signings and it's been further bloated by some of our youngsters developing much more quickly than I had expected. Because of that it's really important that I know early on who is going into what squad and who is going to be made available for loan. It's time-consuming, but the easiest way I know how to do this is to go through it position by position. 

GK's.

1st Team.
Ter Stegen, We don't need another GK and if we do then we will use someone in either the B Team of the U19's. 
Arnau Tenas is going to sit in the Senior Squad but be made available for the B Team. 

B Team.
Iñaki Peña offer out on loan. 
Lazar Carević SELL.

U19's Team.
Luis Miguel Bonet
Ander Astrálaga.

DL's.

1st Team. 
Luke Thomas
Alejandro Balde

B Team.
Mika Mármol offer out on loan.
Arthur Zagré offer out on loan.
Moussa N'Diaye offer out on loan.

U19's.
Àlex Valle

DR's.

1st Team. 
Sergiño Dest
Moussa Wagué
Calum Chambers

B Team.
Álvaro Sanz SELL
Sergi Rosanas offer out on loan.
Guillem Jaime offer out on loan. 

U19's.
Xavier Arjona
Iban Romer

DC's. I think we're short in this area and ideally I would like to sign 1 great big hulking centre-half, (ideally a lefty), and possibly 2. I also want to off-load Umtiti.

1st Team. Chambers is listed as a centre-half because I think we're weak in this area and he's likely to be needed here, (until I can being someone else in). I've also added Araújo 6'3" to the centre-back list despite using him in midfield last season. We need him more at centre-half now. 
García 6'0"
Umtiti 6'0" SELL
Mingueza 6'0"
Comas 6'3"
Araújo 6'3"
Calum Chambers

B Team.
Almeida 6'0" offer out on loan.
Santi Ramos Mingo 6'1" offer out on loan.
Igor Gomes 6'1" offer out on loan.
Chadi Riad 6'0" offer out on loan.

U19's.
Pablo Acerete 6'4"

MC's. 

1st Team. I used Pedri largely out wide in the 1st season, but I think he will more often be used in the middle from now on. 
Kalvin Phillips
Pedri
Pjanic SELL I don't want to play him, but I may have to in order to drum up some interest. 
Nico
Riqui Puig
Matt Grimes
Gavi
 

B Team.
Txus Alba offer out on loan. 
Ronaldo Camará offer out on loan.
Lucas de Vega offer out on loan. 
Billy Gilmour offer out on loan. 
Jandro Orellana offer out on loan.
Àlex Rico Offer out on loan. 
Frank Angong offer out on loan. 
Kays Ruiz offer out on loan. 
Matheus Pereira SELL.

U19's.
Marc Casadó
Iñaki Alkorta
Matar Tall
Ferdino Loukili
Luka Perić

ML & MR's.

1st Team. I've taken Pedri off this list and moved him centrally, but he can still move out again as and when required. 
Fati
Trincão
Àlex Collado
Akhomach
Alarcón

B Team.
Hiroki Abe offer out on loan. 
Gustavo Maia offer out on loan. 
Abdessamad Ezzalzouli offer out on loan. 

U19's.
Daniel Lescano
Edu Venzal
Nicolás
Pere Arribas
Bruno Luna.

SC's. I think we're really strong in this area, (or at least will be as the youngsters develop). 

1st Team. 
Agüero
Arkadiusz Milik
Moukoko
Demir

B Team. 
Escobar 6'3" offer out o loan. 
Rey Manaj offer out o loan. 
Peque offer out on loan. 

U19's. 
Luzzi
Mendy

[Jimbokav1971]

Expectations. Barca. Jul 2022. 

I'm happy to keep modest expectations, but my own personal expectations are that we will win the league. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. Barca. Jul 2022. 

I've been meaning to look at this before no, but better late than never right? 

15% of Louie Barry is worth £1.33M and he would need to be sold for £8.8M in order for us to earn that. Although he's only 19 years old he's only valued at £1.8M so I think we will take the £1.33M now. 

8% of Malcolm is worth £1.08M and he would have to be sold for £13.5M in order for us to earn that amount. He's 25 now and valued at £14.75M and a regular for Zenit so I don't think I will accept this offer. 

Carlos Perez made 16 league appearances last season so I don't think I will accept £1.4M and will instead wait for the £1.8M. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Yearly wage rises. Barca. Jul 2022. 

This is killing me. I mean absolutely killing me. I hardly ever agree to a % wage rise clause, (and only when I'm desperate), but to see clubs that just do it as a matter of course is bonkers and I get properly triggered. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Damn Brexit. Barca. Jul 2022. 

In all my years playing FM, I've never before fallen foul of signing too many British players. 

We can only have 3 FGN players registered for the league, and I had Luke Thomas in on loan last season, (and he's back again this season), and I have also signed Matt Grimes on a free and paid £50M for Kalvin Phillips. That's your 3 right there. What do I do with Calum Chambers? 

That's before we even start thinking about Billy Gilmour, Hiroki Abe & Gustavo Maia who are currently in the B Team.  

[Number seven]

This an really enjoying thread to follow!

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, Number seven said:

This an really enjoying thread to follow!

Thanks very much. 

[Jimbokav1971]

12 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Damn Brexit. Barca. Jul 2022. 

In all my years playing FM, I've never before fallen foul of signing too many British players. 

We can only have 3 FGN players registered for the league, and I had Luke Thomas in on loan last season, (and he's back again this season), and I have also signed Matt Grimes on a free and paid £50M for Kalvin Phillips. That's your 3 right there. What do I do with Calum Chambers? 

That's before we even start thinking about Billy Gilmour, Hiroki Abe & Gustavo Maia who are currently in the B Team.  

The situation has resolved itself, but not in a way that I'm pleased with. 

Luke Thomas, (who is our 1st choice left back on loan for a 2nd season from Leicester), has just broken his leg against PSG so he's going to be out for a while. I have immediately moved to sign Benjamin Mendy and have unregistered Thomas and replaced him with Chambers, (and added Mendy obviously). I know what's going on with Mendy at the moment, but this isn't real life so I have just signed him. 

[Djecker]

20 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Damn Brexit. Barca. Jul 2022. 

In all my years playing FM, I've never before fallen foul of signing too many British players. 

We can only have 3 FGN players registered for the league, and I had Luke Thomas in on loan last season, (and he's back again this season), and I have also signed Matt Grimes on a free and paid £50M for Kalvin Phillips. That's your 3 right there. What do I do with Calum Chambers? 

That's before we even start thinking about Billy Gilmour, Hiroki Abe & Gustavo Maia who are currently in the B Team.  

Goddamn British foreigners, coming over and taking good Catalan jobs

[Sonic Youth]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Damn Brexit. Barca. Jul 2022. 

In all my years playing FM, I've never before fallen foul of signing too many British players. 

We can only have 3 FGN players registered for the league, and I had Luke Thomas in on loan last season, (and he's back again this season), and I have also signed Matt Grimes on a free and paid £50M for Kalvin Phillips. That's your 3 right there. What do I do with Calum Chambers? 

That's before we even start thinking about Billy Gilmour, Hiroki Abe & Gustavo Maia who are currently in the B Team.  

I was all ready to go 

When this happened:

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The situation has resolved itself, but not in a way that I'm pleased with. 

Luke Thomas, (who is our 1st choice left back on loan for a 2nd season from Leicester), has just broken his leg against PSG so he's going to be out for a while. I have immediately moved to sign Benjamin Mendy and have unregistered Thomas and replaced him with Chambers, (and added Mendy obviously). I know what's going on with Mendy at the moment, but this isn't real life so I have just signed him. 

 

[Sonic Youth]

Looks like you’ll need to be a little bit more careful where your transfer targets are from since you’ve maxed out your non-EU quota.

[Sonic Youth]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Yearly wage rises. Barca. Jul 2022. 

This is killing me. I mean absolutely killing me. I hardly ever agree to a % wage rise clause, (and only when I'm desperate), but to see clubs that just do it as a matter of course is bonkers and I get properly triggered. 

Looks like a lot of new transfers or transfers out of the club needs to happen to fix that 

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

I was all ready to go 

When this happened:

 

Got to admit, if Siggi hadn't been so slow he might have joined too. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Djecker said:

Goddamn British foreigners, coming over and taking good Catalan jobs

Thinking about it, I should be ashamed that I have signed 2 English central midfielders, (and a Scot), while managing Barca. Especially in the same season that I got rid of Busquets. 

[Jimbokav1971]

12 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Looks like you’ll need to be a little bit more careful where your transfer targets are from since you’ve maxed out your non-EU quota.

I hadn't given it a seconds thought until it happened, but yet, I'm going to have to be much more careful now. As it happens we have a few quid so I can afford to be more careful, and it also might encourage me to offload a few of them.

[Jimbokav1971]

12 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Looks like a lot of new transfers or transfers out of the club needs to happen to fix that 

Everyone will either be sold or have their contract renegotiated. I'm not letting that continue!

[Sonic Youth]

7 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Got to admit, if Siggi hadn't been so slow he might have joined too. 

I think why I don’t like the Chamber’s transfer is that it feels like another quality level of Braithwaite. I keep thinking, there must be better even if it’s an older experienced head for a season (or two).

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

I think why I don’t like the Chamber’s transfer is that it feels like another quality level of Braithwaite. I keep thinking, there must be better even if it’s an older experienced head for a season (or two).

 I think it's a completely reasonable point and perhaps highlights my complete lack of real-life knowledge of European football. 

I'm a Barnet fan, (National League) and my knowledge of that level of football is decent. I know a little about teams that ex Barnet players now play for, (Wraynel Hercules at Brentford B, Jamal Lowe at Swansea, Andy Yids at Reading and Ronnie Edwards & Jack Taylor at Peterborough). The rest of my football knowledge comes from watching the Premier League on TV and a tiny bit of European football. I know what I'm getting with Chambers and I did the deal quite early. I know there will be better available. I just didn't know where to find it and my scouts/DoF weren't suggesting anything else. 

[Edit]

In any case, Calum Chambers has a torn calf muscle and will be out for about 3 months before he has even made his debut. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Barca. Jul & Aug 2022. 

La Liga. We were comfortably beaten by Atletico, but a last minute Bilbao goal cost us 2 more points that we shouldn't have dropped. As a result R.Madrid are already 5 points ahead of us. 

Finances. Our bank balance is currently at , which is up £67.6M from pre-season, and our net debt is now at , which is £108M lower than pre-season

We are really making enormous inroads into the debt. 

We've also still got £1.1M to spend on wages and a transfer kitty of £89M. 

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Summer Transfer window. Barca. Sep 2022. 

I went out and spent £20.5M on Benjamin Mendy as mentioned previously, and the only other signing was the modest outlay for experienced/ageing defender Acerbi. 

I didn't want to sell Moussa Wagué SELL but he had his head turned by an earlier, (bigger), bid and wouldn't extend his contract so in the end I had to sell him. Because he left I then had to replace him so signed 19 year old Malo Gusto on loan, (with a £20M option to buy). 

Benjamin Mendy might be persona non grata irl but he looks pretty decent to me. 

Acerbi is a short-term fix at centre-half, but he's a significant upgrade on what we've got. 

Malo Gusto looks ok as a 2nd choice right back, and seems to have decent potential for growth, but £20M seems a lot and I'm unconvinced at this moment in time. 

[Edit]

The bad news though is that I still have both Pjanic and Umtiti at the club. I just can't get rid of them. I've tried and tried and tried and tried.  Between them they're earning £2M per month. I stuck Pjanic on pens and played him in the opening 4 games of the season, but the problem with my midfield roles is that they are not that productive in terms of goals/assists. Pjanic made 25 key passes in 3 of the games, (but none of them in the loss against Atletico). 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Sonic Youth]

Your storming through the debt!

Acerbi’s a top signing. His back stories pretty awesome too!

[Djecker]

I'm surprised your scouts aren't recommending you some good Argie/Brazilian/Colombian wonderkids.

[Sonic Youth]

1 hour ago, Djecker said:

I'm surprised your scouts aren't recommending you some good Argie/Brazilian/Colombian wonderkids.

That might be a filter thing.

Yeah, was wondering why British signs instead of Latin/Central European recommendations.

Still, it’s working quite spectacularly at the moment.

[Sonic Youth]

Did you see which latest youth player got their debut against Cadiz? 
 

Bit of a disastrous result and attitude leaking out.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Sonic Youth
Link

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Djecker said:

I'm surprised your scouts aren't recommending you some good Argie/Brazilian/Colombian wonderkids.

 

2 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That might be a filter thing.

Yeah, was wondering why British signs instead of Latin/Central European recommendations.

Still, it’s working quite spectacularly at the moment.

I'm afraid this is down to a budget thing. You have to remember that we were properly skint at the start of the save. 

Having said that, I could and should have increased it again at the start of this season now that we're doing much better. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Your storming through the debt!

Acerbi’s a top signing. His back stories pretty awesome too!

Would you believe that I have never heard of him? 

Having a little look at his Wiki page now. Starting in the lower leagues, loads of co-ownership deals, (are they a thing of the past now?), beating cancer..... 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Did you see which latest youth player got their debut against Cadiz? 
 

Bit of a disastrous result and attitude leaking out.

I had seen the result but not the debut for Gavi, largely because I didn't recognise his name as Paez Gaviria. 

[Sonic Youth]

26 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I had seen the result but not the debut for Gavi, largely because I didn't recognise his name as Paez Gaviria. 

It's like when I see Felix's name in Atletico Madrid. I was like, who's that, and I could have sworn Felix was playing

[Sonic Youth]

40 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

 

I'm afraid this is down to a budget thing. You have to remember that we were properly skint at the start of the save. 

Having said that, I could and should have increased it again at the start of this season now that we're doing much better. 

Almost worth the full package at this point, just because of all the youth players you could start moving on if they hit the ground running.

[Sonic Youth]

Hmm, I wonder if making this an 8 year challenge, with the 4 extra years being whether you can make the club have a billion in the bank! A billion to a billion

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Almost worth the full package at this point, just because of all the youth players you could start moving on if they hit the ground running.

Hep, we have the full package now and will hopefully start to see the results soon. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Hmm, I wonder if making this an 8 year challenge, with the 4 extra years being whether you can make the club have a billion in the bank! A billion to a billion

The way I'm going I wonder if I could do it in 4 years! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Barca. Sep 2022.

La Liga. We're doing ok in the league. Milik made it 5 goals in his 1st 5 games for the club, (before getting injured), and Pjanic spanked in a direct free-kick before we dropped 2 points away to Vallecano. Of course we battered them, but we were pretty toothless up front without Milik and although we had all the pressure, we weren't good in front of goal at all. 

R.Madrid are somehow already 10 points clear at the top, (because we have a game in hand), but we need them to lose their 100% record soon or we're screwed.

Champions League. Milan absolutely tore us a new one and then we had an early red against Olympiakos and a disaster with injuries against Wolfsburg. We're not out of it yet, but we're going to have to improve from here to qualify. 

Finances. We have  in the bank, (down £24.7M from last month), and our net debt is now at , (up £2.3M from last month), and if I'm completely honest I'm not sure why. I renegotiated a few contracts which obviously had sizeable bonus payments in them, but I thought that any bonus was paid over the full term of the contract rather than up front?  Maybe it's something else that I've just missed. 

Pjanic. I thought I would do a little mini-section on him because some stats jumped out at me when I looked. 

Pjanic seems to mix both the very good with the very bad. 

1. He scored the 1st direct free-kick in La Liga this season. 
2. His key passes per 90 is huge, especially when you consider that he didn't make any at all when we lost to Atletico in the 2nd game of the season. 
3. His crosses attempted is also huge, but he is taking free-kicks, (and sometimes corners).
4. We're not designed to profit from crosses though and this has possibly led to him having the worst possession lost per 90 stats in the league. I need to find a way to keep his key passes but reduce the lost possessions, (which I think is cross related). 

Here is Pjanic.

I haven't even registered him for the Champions League I don't think. 

Although he's making a decent number of key passes, he only has 1 ccc created and there seems to be a general downwards trend in terms of key passes. 

I want to look at his crossing info though and I think I can only do that by individual matches. 

Levante. 

A.Madrid. 

Elche. 

S. Gijon. 

Real San Seb. 

Atletico Pamp. 

Vallecano. 

So I think that a lot of his lost possessions come from crosses and that makes sense. In our 1st game he managed a 50% success ratio, but since then it's been much poorer. 

Actually his stats for crossing are available. 

He's made 28 successful crosses, (crosses completed). 

The problem is that he has attempted 100 crosses, (so only has a 28% success rate). That means he/we lose the ball almost 3 times in every 4 crosses. 

That makes sense though as he's the only striker at the club at 6'0"+ and the only big midfielder we had is now laying back at centre-half. We basically have quite a small/short team. 

So even though our cross success ratio should improve when Milik returns to fitness, it doesn't actually fix the problem which is that we are crossing too often and we are not good at getting on the end of crosses. So my plan is to try and get us to cross less. 

By the way, the league game that Pjanic didn't feature in , (A.Bilbao), Pedri played as the DLP and only attempted 2 crosses, (at 50%). His midfield partner Phillips, (playing as a B2B), completed 0 of 16 attempted crosses. 

That's really good news, because it tells us that the issue isn't the DLP role that Pjanic is playing, but the fact that he takes our set-pieces, (and we should be able to fix that more easily).

We've been winning loads of corners this season, but we are not looking like scoring in many of them at all, so what I'm going to do is immediately change to short corners. I already have a man showing for the short option. Now I'm actually going to ask that he be given the ball. 

Of course this makes sense and I can't believe it has taken me this long. 

With regards to Direct free-kicks, you can't change them because the only option is a shot at goal. 

With regards to Small chance of shot free-kicks I can change the option to short. 

With regards to Indirect wide I can again change the option to short. 

With regards to indirect deep I can again change the option to short. 

* I do have to make sure that there is someone standing with taker to make this easier.  

Now, let's see how that impacts not just Pjanic's stats, but also team performances.