[FM22] Overhauling SAD Franchise, (completed) and now Portugal. (Portugese edition). (Youth Only)............... Maybe!

[Jimbokav1971]

Were my predictions correct? Mar 2066. 

What did I say? 

Was I right? 

The players in question are as follows. 

(66e) Gabriele (ARG)(ITA) was ranked 6th by PA and is now ranked 4th by Actual PA, (so I was wrong). 
(66h) Adot (ESP)(BAS) was ranked 8th by PA and is now ranked 11th by Actual PA, (so I was correct). 
(66m) Aizpurua (ESP)(BAS) was ranked 13th by PA and is now ranked 14th by Actual PA, (so I was correct). 
(66g) Costa (GNB)(POR) was ranked 7th by PA and is now ranked 6th by Actual PA, (so I was correct). 
(66j) Rosário (CPV)(POR) was ranked 10th by PA and is now ranked 2nd by Actual PA, (so I was correct). 
(66k) Amarante (CPV)(POR) was ranked 11th by PA and is now ranked 10th by Actual PA, (so I was correct). 

I know some of you who read my threads do so largely because of Youth Intakes. Please note that this little but is about what I think rather than what I know, and of course I only got 5 out of the 6 predictions correct so it's hardly fool-proof.  It is however worth keeping an eye on in your own saves though.

Has anyone got any thoughts on this? Have any of you noticed stuff like this that sticks in your mind even though you're not 100% sure how accurate it is? 

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2066. Mar 2066. 

Teenagers currently at the club, ranked by Actual PA.

169 PA 117 CA. 17 year old (64a) Conceição (POR) ***.
166 PA 101 CA. 17 year old (64d) Mahler (SUI) 6'2" ***.
148 PA 103 CA. 18 year old (63b) Rodrigues (POR) MR **.
139 PA 101 CA. 18 year old (63a) Bettencourt (POR) *. 
138 PA 76 CA. 17 year old (64k) Sequeira (CPV) 6'0" *. 
136 PA 88 CA. 16 year old  (65f) Costa (POR) ML *. 
136 PA 112 CA. 19 year old (63n) Lourenço (POR) *.
134 PA 88 CA. 16 year old (65b) Delgado (CPV) (POR) *. 
134 PA 113 CA. 18 year old (64g) Gonçalves (POR) *.
134 PA 111 CA.19 year old (63c) Vieira (GNB) (POR).
133 PA 69 CA. 15 year old (66j) Rosário (CPV)(POR).
133 PA 78 CA. 16 year old (65a) Tomás (POR) *.
132 PA 91 CA. 17 year old (65l) Kassoma (ANG) 6'0" *.
129 PA 110 CA. 18 year old (63i) Keita (SEN)(FRA) ML.
129 PA 88 CA. 19 year old (63j) Sousa (POR).
128 PA 66 CA. 15 year old (66e) Gabriele (ARG)(ITA) DL.
128 PA 92 CA. 18 year old (64f) Guerra (POR) 6'4".

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2066.

Liga Bwin. 2 more wins and 2 more clean sheets but boy we left it late against CdP. We're 5 points clear with 7 games remaining. 

UEFA Champions League. We carried a 1 goal deficit into this game from the 1st leg, but turned them over with a little bit to spare in the end. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances.  The debt is getting too big now and I'm struggling to negotiate new contracts for 1st Team players because of the budget. I know it's going to impact on performances but I think I'm going to have to sell some big players. 

[Sonic Youth]

10 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake day. Mar 2066. 

I'm not sure how much impact any of these players can make with us only playing the save until Ako retires, (although I'm certainly not going to start another save so never say never).

What are we expecting? Well the Preview suggested a centre-half, an attacking mid and a winger, (ideally a righty). 

 

What do we want? A centre-half, a right winger and a full back. 

What have we got? Well a Generational Talent is certainly more interesting than yet another Golden Generation. 

There are a few that jump out at me here. 

• A Generational Talent could be a big deal, (although it's too late in the save really. 
• Because we also have an "Elite Talent", maybe the Generational Talent really is a special player. The 2.0 CA also isn't lost on me. 
• This is the best Intake Distribution I have ever seen. 1x GK, 2x players all the way through the middle, (+1 AMC), 1x each full back and 2x wingers on each side, (1x attacking +1 normal on each side). I like that. 
• None of the 4 players on show are a centre-half. 

Squad by PA. 

• 4x Unamb is not good. It's really not a good group of personalities. 
• 1x (RUS) player is not good, (in light of real World issues currently). 
• 2x (CPV) players. (Despite the issues this causes with selection during AFCON, I actually love this and it has sort of inspired my FM23 save idea). 
• 1x (GNB) players. 
• There is a fair bit of CA on show here. (1x 2.0 CA and 8x 1.0 CA). We have good players at the club so 1.0 is decent. 

Predictions. I try and anticipate how what I can see impacts what I can't see yet, (the PA for example), and while I do it in my head each year, I'm usually so keen to check the CA/PA that I rush to it before posting my predictions. I'm chilled right now so have remembered in time so let's go with it and see how I do. 

• I think that players from Nations with high Youth Ratings are given Day 1 reports more positive than the real situation. In this case I predict that the Argentinian, and both the Spaniard, will be ranked lower by Actual PA than they are by PA stars. 
• In contrast, I think that players from Nations with low Youth Ratings are given Day 1 reports more negative that the real situation. In this case I predict that the 3 African players will be ranked higher by Actual PA than they are by PA stars. I should point out that these are both very general points, but it's something that I have noticed over an extended period and multiple saves. Before you get carried away, this still might be impacted by the Nations I have loaded in my saves. 

Squad by Actual PA. I really like this intake.

• (66a) is maybe no quite a Generational Talent, but he's certainly very good and importantly is CA is significant. 
• We've got 3 players at 130+ PA.
• We've got 6 more players at 120+ PA.
• Only 3 players at <100 PA. 

(66a) Alves (POR) looks brilliant, and the only question is where to play him. I love a DLP and that was my initial thought, however........ I remember @Sonic Youthmentioning recently that I should consider playing (53a) Khwinana (ENG) (RSA) *** on the left up front, and with (50l) Bartlett (ENG) * 31 years old now, (and he was never really a starter until the last few years), maybe (66a) could play on the right up front, (with a little training), and 28 year old (53a) Khwinana (ENG) (RSA) *** could have a proper go in our key position on the left up front. I have beginning to think that he's wasted in his current role, but I was a little nervous at swapping things too much in case it impacted negatively the number of penalties we win, (and directly impacts Ako's goal-scoring opportunities). I was tempted to do it while Ako was injured, but it just never seemed the right time. I think (66a) is going to start on the right up front as soon as he is available. The only question is what role(duty). Any suggestions? 

(66j) Rosário (CPV)(POR) looks like a perfectly good DLP. 

I don't like (66c) Galvão (POR). He looks like a TM, but he's 5'10"! He's not quick enough to play on the left and even if he was quick enough, his finishing isn't good enough. Nah, he won't be playing for me. 

I like (66e) Gabriele (ARG)(ITA), but not as a ML, (we have loads of them). Instead I see him as a DL. 

(66n) Frias (POR) 5'10" is a centre-half and he's not African so won't go missing in January so what's not to like? 

(66g) Costa (GNB)(POR) is a 2nd decent looking DLP. 

(66o) Serrano (POR) 6'5" looks surprisingly good actually. AND he's 6'5" at 15 years old!

(66b) Sabino (POR) is the 2nd left back in the group. He looks a little light in technicals, but his physical ability is very good for a 15 year old. 

(66f) Sampaio (POR) 5'11" is a centre-half so great! but he's also starting from quite a low CA starting point. 

I like your intake, especially Alves. Could be a good player for the right.

Have you swapped Khwinana?

[Sonic Youth]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Finances.  The debt is getting too big now and I'm struggling to negotiate new contracts for 1st Team players because of the budget. I know it's going to impact on performances but I think I'm going to have to sell some big players. 

That’s an amazing overall balance! What’s making it blow out? Stadiums in your name?

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

I like your intake, especially Alves. Could be a good player for the right.

Have you swapped Khwinana?

No, not yet, (well I did for 1 game actually). But no, I can't play the new kid (66a) Alves until next season so I will leave it until then. Although........ I'm actually considering selling Khwinana if I can get close to £100M for him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s an amazing overall balance! What’s making it blow out? Stadiums in your name?

The game isn't loaded up at the moment but I will go into a little more depth with regards to the finances at the end of the season. 

If I was to have to make a prediction though.... 

• Our Facilities are really expensive.
• Because we're playing Youth Only we're not really getting the opportunity to sell HG players on for a profit because we can't replace them.
• In a more balanced save we would be able to sign players from elsewhere to augment our Academy products and would then be in a position to reap the financial rewards.
• Because we're producing Worldclass players now, we're having to pay them the appropriate wages. 
• B Teams are really expensive. I feel we need this because it's a significant benefit to the development of our young players.

Basically, we're running the club like we're Barca or Real Madrid. Even Porto, Sporting & Benfica sell their best players for a profit. They replace them with lots of high PA youngsters though. We're completely reliant on the Academy and our players demand a high premium from us in terms of wages to stay here rather than move on. It's also possible that when we were rich, players wanted better contracts from us because we were rich. I was so keen to sign some of them that I would have paid almost anything to make them sign. In Ako's case there is no level to which I would not have gone. If he had wanted £1M per week I would have paid it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2066. 

Liga Bwin. 4 more wins keep us at the top of the table and extend out lead at the top tp 7 points. We've now won 17 of our last 18 league games. 

UEFA Champions League. We smashed Dortmund in the 1st leg to such an extent that I was able to rest the whole squad for the 2nd leg. The hole meg against Real Sociedad didn't quite go to plan though and the 2 goals we conceded could prove costly. We won the xG battle >3 to <1 so might count ourselves unlucky, but I would rather go into the 2nd leg with a 1 goal advantage than no advantage at all. If we draw in Spain we're in the Final.

Goal-scoring GK's. 800 career appearances up for Ako and his goal tally of 265 goals mean that he is scoring at a rate of a goal every 3.01 games. I wonder will he get to 1,000? He made 58 appearances last season with 55, 54, 60 & 63 in recent season so it means with 4 and possibly 5 games still to play this season, he should get close to the mark by approx Jan 2070. He's contracted until Jun 2069 (and we have a +3 clause), so Jan 2070 isn't a problem in terms of his contract, but in Jan 2070 he will be 35. I really hope he doesn't retire early. If he does hit the 1,000 appearances mark, I expect him to be at somewhere in the region of 335 goals at that stage. (Which seems absolutely mental). 

Finances.  I will go into more detail with regards to the finances at the end of the season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Stop the madness! May 2066. 

We were already £100M overdrawn at the bank, (and still had a loan with about £12M outstanding), and the board, who have just slashed our wage budget and removed our £184M transfer budget, have just splashed out £99M on expanding our stadium by just 16,432 seats. 

Assuming we sell all of these seats out, 100% of the time, at an average price of  it will take........ 430.3 games or 7.8 seasons, (and obviously this doesn't count friendlies). 

Workings out. (£99,000,000 divided by £14 = 7,071,429 divided by 16,432 = 430.3 games with about 55 games per season = 7.8 seasons. Actually, that's not as bad as I thought it will be. Selling out these new seats for 7.8 seasons will recoup the £99M outlay. The only problem obviously is that there is no guarantee that we will sell them out. Our current capacity was 57,578 and the lowest attendance we've had in the league is 55,247 this season, (although we had a 40k and a 22k attendance in the Cups this season). To balance that out though we had pre-season friendlies with attendances of 54k and 55k so that more than makes up for it. This might seem a pain in the short-term, but actually it's a sound financial decision in the long term. 

Oh now. Now they're just trolling me. 

This is the B Team stadium and it's costing another £6.2M  Ah well. What's £6.2M when you already owe £200M?

If they were sensible they would consolidate the existing overdraft debt at the same time. I'm sure they've done that. Haven't they? 

 

 

I think once Ako retires, (assuming I get there before FM23 comes out), I might stop playing Youth Only and try to return the club to credit. Christ only knows how big the debt will be then. 

ps. The above workings out are completely wrong because I only used the original loan amount and completely ignores the interest portion of the loan. (Which is another £27.5M). 

pps. Yes, there is definitely a Finance post coming soon. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2066. 

Now this is THE double, but shouldn't it be a treble with the Club World Cup won at the beginning of the season? 

Liga Bwin. The loss against Benfica was frustrating in that without it we would have conceded just 15 goals in the league all season, (and I think 5 of them came when our GK was up field attacking). The reason we lost to Benfica was because I rested everyone for the 2nd leg of the Real Sociedad game, (and it worked as we smashed them 3-1 away), and while it was the correct choice because we also won the league, I don't like looking at that loss because I think we would have beaten them. 

UEFA Champions League. We've won 4 of 5 Champions league Finals in this save, (all in the last 8 seasons). Getting to be competitive in the Europa Conference and the Europa League was 1 thing, but being competitive year after year in the Champions league has been a tough ask. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 17 is a reasonable tally for a GK who missed 6-8 weeks of the season. 

 

 

 

 

 

Finances.  This doesn't cover it at all and I'm afraid I'm going to have to go into some depth in a separate post about finances. Things just got messy. 

[DaneBramage]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Assuming we sell all of these seats out, 100% of the time, at an average price of 

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

lowest attendance we've had in the league is 55,247 this season

That average price is surely a large part of the problem. Fair play for keeping it affordable to fans, but that's ridiculously low.

Stick another tenner on it and that's nearly £10 million more a season, just for league games.

£10 x 55,000 attendance x 17 league games = £9.35 million

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, DaneBramage said:

That average price is surely a large part of the problem. Fair play for keeping it affordable to fans, but that's ridiculously low.

Stick another tenner on it and that's nearly £10 million more a season, just for league games.

£10 x 55,000 attendance x 17 league games = £9.35 million

That's a fair point, but if increasing the price by 71% only brings in £9.35M over the course of a season, is it the best strategy? How many fans are going to be priced out, (especially if they are families)? 

That's a hell of a big increase for something that's barely going to take the edge off the problem. (I'm thinking more real World here rather than the specifics of FM and this save in particular). 

It's a good observation though and one I will come back to when I'm at the very end of the season and doing the financial update that I have planned. In game, yeah seems like a great idea. In real life, perhaps not so much. 

[DaneBramage]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That's a fair point, but if increasing the price by 71% only brings in £9.35M over the course of a season, is it the best strategy? How many fans are going to be priced out, (especially if they are families)? 

That's a hell of a big increase for something that's barely going to take the edge off the problem. (I'm thinking more real World here rather than the specifics of FM and this save in particular). 

It's a good observation though and one I will come back to when I'm at the very end of the season and doing the financial update that I have planned. In game, yeah seems like a great idea. In real life, perhaps not so much. 

It's a big increase in one go, sure. But you'd think it should have gone up incrementally over the course of time, as you went out of the fourth, third, and second tiers, to the Liga Bwin, to winning it, then the Champions League.

Out of interest, do you have the average ticket price from earlier years? Has it gone up?

Just on a bit of a tangent, I'm assuming the likes of Benfica and Porto have much higher prices. So is this something the game can model accurately? Rising clubs see their prices grow, while slumping clubs start charging less.

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That's a hell of a big increase for something that's barely going to take the edge off the problem.

I think it would have a larger effect. It's only £9.35m a season, but you've won 4 Champions Leagues in the last eight years. You're one of the biggest clubs in Europe and have been for a while. So even looking at just that period it quickly adds up to about £75m. Include the cup games and it's probably closer to £100m.

£14 is an absolute bargain. Imagine paying that little to see Liverpool or Manchester City. I have to pay nearly that much just for Thatcham Town or Hungerford.

[Jimbokav1971]

Finances. Jun 2066. 

I've been trying to get the very last day of the season, (so I can compare this full season to the last full season). I thought that the season ran until the day before the seasons ticked over but it seems that's not the case. There are a few interesting points though. 

This is fine. We were expecting it. 

We were expecting this, but this loan isn't shown on our Debts and Loans page. 

It shows that there are just 2 loans outstanding. 

• A £61M loan that was taken out in May 2058 that I think was used to pay for the building of the new stadium. 
• A £99M loan that was taken out in May 2066 that was used to pay for the current expansion. 
• So where is the £6.25M loan for the B Team? And come to think of it, where is the old loan that we took out to pay for their new stadium?

So it turns out that the Financial year doesn't run until the day before the season ticks over. (I always thought it did). Instead it ticks over about 3 weeks earlier. (6th Jun in this case). 

Income. We brought in £335M this season compared to £268M last season, (so an increase of £67M). This is misleading however as the figures include a loan of £99M and without that there would actually be a shortfall of £32M.

• £100M Prize money (up £20M from last season which makes sense as we won the Liga Bwin & The Champions League. 
• £99M investments (up £99M from last season which makes sense because this is actually the money from the bank loan to pay  for the stadium expansion.
• £51M TV Revenue (down £5M from last season which might be as a result of crashing out of the domestic Cups early). 
• £20.5M Merchandising (no change).
• £19M Sponsorship (down £2.5M).
• £17M Season Tickets (no change).
• £13.5M Gate Receipts (up £2.5M).
• £6M B Team income (no change).
• £3M Match Day income (no change).
• £3M Corporate Facilities income (no change).
• £1.5M Other (up £1M).
• £1M Player sales (down £48M).

Summary. There seems to be very little there that we can impact. We've just won the 2 biggest competitions we enter, (Liga Bwin & Champions league), so short of winning the domestic Cups I'm not sure how much more we can improve. The main difference this year compared to last season, (other than the £99M loan investment), is that we sold players in the amount of £49.5M.

Expenditure. We paid out £398M this season compared to £262M last season, (so an increase of £136M). Again though, 

• £106M Player Wages (up £5M).
• £103M Ground Maintenance (up £99M). This is the cost of the stadium expansion.
• £49M Bonuses (up £20M). We've just won the Liga Bwin and the Champions League so you would expect the bonus payments we pay out to be big. 
• £25M Tax (up £4M). I can't do anything about this. 
• £24M Loyalty Bonuses (down £2M).
• £22M Staff Wages (no change). If I want to play Youth Only and have the best Youth Academy in the World then there is a cost associated to that. 
• £19.5M B Team Expenditure (up £6M). I will comment separately on B Team Finances. 
• £17M Loan Repayments (up £5M). 
• £9M Other (no change).
• £7M Match Day Expenses (no change).
• £6M Youth Setup (no change).
• £4M Travel costs (up £2.5M)
• £3.5M Non-Football costs (no change).
• £1.4M Agents Fees (no change).

Summary. There's not loads we can impact here. I will look at B Team Finances separately, but other than Player Wages I'm not sure how much I can impact here. 

B Team Finances. Although we can't see it, B Team effectively have their own Finances page, (which is why the 2 loans they have can't be seen), and all their expenses are added together each month and deducted from the Senior Teams finances page in 1 sum once a month and all their Income is added together each month and added to the Senior Teams Finances in 1 sum once a month. That their income is approx £6M per season and their expenditure approx £20M per season means that they are running at a loss of approx £14M per season, (but obviously that includes their loan repayments too). I personally don't like the way that B Team Finances work and would much prefer either to see their full income and expenditure, or to have all their income and expenditure come through the Senior clubs accounts itemised as normal. 

I'm going to put some extra effort into selling players and off-loading our high earners earlier. 

[Jimbokav1971]

53 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

It's a big increase in one go, sure. But you'd think it should have gone up incrementally over the course of time, as you went out of the fourth, third, and second tiers, to the Liga Bwin, to winning it, then the Champions League.

Out of interest, do you have the average ticket price from earlier years? Has it gone up?

Just on a bit of a tangent, I'm assuming the likes of Benfica and Porto have much higher prices. So is this something the game can model accurately? Rising clubs see their prices grow, while slumping clubs start charging less.

I think it would have a larger effect. It's only £9.35m a season, but you've won 4 Champions Leagues in the last eight years. You're one of the biggest clubs in Europe and have been for a while. So even looking at just that period it quickly adds up to about £75m. Include the cup games and it's probably closer to £100m.

£14 is an absolute bargain. Imagine paying that little to see Liverpool or Manchester City. I have to pay nearly that much just for Thatcham Town or Hungerford.

I've changed laptops during this save so can only go back 15 years to 2051, but the average ticket price then was  so it has gone up.

In Jun 2056 the price was 

In Jun 2061 the price was 

I think it's not so much level that you are playing at that is the driver for ticket prices in game, but your ability to sell all your tickets. We started with a big stadium that we couldn't sell out so that makes sense why the ticket price would be low and then when we fill that stadium out we go and build a big new one so that allows increased demand to be accommodated without prices going up and we've just done the same thing again now with another upgrade. I think what will happen now is that there won't be an increase in price because we're bout to give them 16,432 more seats, (although it might go up before the expansion happens but then might not go up for a while because supply will oustrip demand). Had we had a smaller stadium at the start of the save I think things might have been very different. 

Benfica.   

Porto.  

Sporting.   Sporting & us have both had 10 sellouts of 17 this season so I would expect us 2 to be most likely to increase prices. We will have to do it before the new stadium opens obviously. 

The price of living in Portugal is significantly cheaper than it is in the likes of the UK & Scandinavia in real life, so again a low ticket price makes sense to me. 

I agree with you about real life. I'm a Barnet fan and TwentysPlenty is something I thought a great idea. 

I've been having a look to see how much the tickets are currently at Belenenses and in 2014, (when they were in Lige Bwin before the split), the prices ranged from €8 - €20 and all U18's were allowed in for free, (clever).

It makes sense that the price would have been much lower after they were relegated to the 4th tier. I'm not sure if the youngsters getting in free brings the average price down. I'm guessing it does. Where as English clubs just think of the money, letting youngsters in for free is a great way of attracting the next generation of fans. 

The problem with using the price of tickets for Liverpool or Man City is that the average annual salary in the UK in 2020 was £38,600. 

The average wage in Portugal in 2021 was €19,212 (which equates to £16,906). 

To work that the other way around a £14 Belenenses ticket is equivalent to £31.96 in the UK in relation to the proportional average salary. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Yep, I bet they have. Jun 2066. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Finances. Player wages. Jul 2066. 

It's become pretty obvious that the finances are not great at the club and while I could just keep pressing continue, it doesn't seem right that I could get Ako to score all these goals while at the same time running the club into the ground with a business model that isn't viable. With that in mind I'm going to do something about it before it gets out of hand, (as if it hadn't already got out of hand). 

As we aren't spending money on buying players, the main expense that I can impact in player salaries, and with that in mind, here is a list of the top 23 players at the club ranked by wages. 

(53a) Khwinana (ENG) ***  looks amazing, but for whatever reason he doesn't play like he's amazing so with 2 years left on his contract and earning £12M a year, I think I'm going to try and cash in on him for £100M+. He's 28 and we're never going to be able to sign him to a new contract anyway so let's just do the deed now and plan for him not being around. 

(55a) Mavioso (POR) *** is 2 years younger at 26, but he's unhappy because he wants to move on and he also has 2 years left on his contract and again we're never going to be able to get him to extend his contract, so let's just flog him now. That's another £12M per year saved. 

(44c) Ogbu (ENG) (NGA) * is about to retire so that saves another £4.3M per year. 

(45e) The Gimp (ENG) 6'3" ** has already retired and that's saved nearly £2M per year. (Sorry, no picture). 

(47k) Tavares (CPV) legs have gone so it's time to offload him too. That's another £3.8M saved. 

(49e) Madruga (POR) is 1 of quite a few lefties we have at the club, so with 12 months left on his contract it's take to let him go. That's a £2.5M saving right there!

(49a) Odhiambo (POR) is on the wrong side of 30. I'm we're going to have a purge, then let's have a purge. Another £3.8M saved. 

(50l) Bartlett (ENG) * is a player I should have sold last year. He did ok for us but I would have got more money for him then. That's another £3M off the wage bill, but I do love a Model pro personality. 

That little lot right there is £42.4M worth of wage budget every single season. Now I just need to sell them!

[Sonic Youth]

Of those players, only Khinana and Mavioso are the two I’d look to keep. Though if wages are the key item in finances, the wages of those players then becomes key. Plus, if it unlocks up to £300 million, will go a long way to stabilising the club until Ako retires.

Really did want to see Kwinana do well. Looks like he could be Salah type of player!

On with the revolution  

[Sonic Youth]

12 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

May 2066. 

Now this is THE double, but shouldn't it be a treble with the Club World Cup won at the beginning of the season? 

Liga Bwin. The loss against Benfica was frustrating in that without it we would have conceded just 15 goals in the league all season, (and I think 5 of them came when our GK was up field attacking). The reason we lost to Benfica was because I rested everyone for the 2nd leg of the Real Sociedad game, (and it worked as we smashed them 3-1 away), and while it was the correct choice because we also won the league, I don't like looking at that loss because I think we would have beaten them. 

UEFA Champions League. We've won 4 of 5 Champions league Finals in this save, (all in the last 8 seasons). Getting to be competitive in the Europa Conference and the Europa League was 1 thing, but being competitive year after year in the Champions league has been a tough ask. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 17 is a reasonable tally for a GK who missed 6-8 weeks of the season. 

 

 

 

 

 

Finances.  This doesn't cover it at all and I'm afraid I'm going to have to go into some depth in a separate post about finances. Things just got messy. 

Congrats on your double/triple/what-ever-it-is 

Very good season.

[Sonic Youth]

12 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Stop the madness! May 2066. 

We were already £100M overdrawn at the bank, (and still had a loan with about £12M outstanding), and the board, who have just slashed our wage budget and removed our £184M transfer budget, have just splashed out £99M on expanding our stadium by just 16,432 seats. 

Assuming we sell all of these seats out, 100% of the time, at an average price of  it will take........ 430.3 games or 7.8 seasons, (and obviously this doesn't count friendlies). 

Workings out. (£99,000,000 divided by £14 = 7,071,429 divided by 16,432 = 430.3 games with about 55 games per season = 7.8 seasons. Actually, that's not as bad as I thought it will be. Selling out these new seats for 7.8 seasons will recoup the £99M outlay. The only problem obviously is that there is no guarantee that we will sell them out. Our current capacity was 57,578 and the lowest attendance we've had in the league is 55,247 this season, (although we had a 40k and a 22k attendance in the Cups this season). To balance that out though we had pre-season friendlies with attendances of 54k and 55k so that more than makes up for it. This might seem a pain in the short-term, but actually it's a sound financial decision in the long term. 

Oh now. Now they're just trolling me. 

This is the B Team stadium and it's costing another £6.2M  Ah well. What's £6.2M when you already owe £200M?

If they were sensible they would consolidate the existing overdraft debt at the same time. I'm sure they've done that. Haven't they? 

 

 

I think once Ako retires, (assuming I get there before FM23 comes out), I might stop playing Youth Only and try to return the club to credit. Christ only knows how big the debt will be then. 

ps. The above workings out are completely wrong because I only used the original loan amount and completely ignores the interest portion of the loan. (Which is another £27.5M). 

pps. Yes, there is definitely a Finance post coming soon. 

Uh, what! 

Can only say a bigger stadium is a good thing 

Still strikes me as odd as how the B-team is organised. They are like a completely different team.

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Of those players, only Khinana and Mavioso are the two I’d look to keep. Though if wages are the key item in finances, the wages of those players then becomes key. Plus, if it unlocks up to £300 million, will go a long way to stabilising the club until Ako retires.

Really did want to see Kwinana do well. Looks like he could be Salah type of player!

On with the revolution  

They are by far the 2 best players in the club but I don't think we will have problems scoring without Khwinana and I don't think we will have problems creating with a DLP without Mavioso. We might be a little short in overall quality, but I think we will soon grow to fill that. 

You never know of course. They could stay if nobody shows me the money. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Congrats on your double/triple/what-ever-it-is 

Very good season.

Yeah, I was happy with it. Winning the league is always a big deal and we won with a bit to spare in the end. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Uh, what! 

Can only say a bigger stadium is a good thing 

Still strikes me as odd as how the B-team is organised. They are like a completely different team.

£99M sounds ridiculous, but considering it pays for itself in 7.8 seasons, (closer to 10 seasons if you include interest), they actually it makes financial sense. 

The B Team is weird. They either should have their own Finance page, or everything should come through the Senior Teams finances page within the relevant section. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066.

GK. We've actually got decent depth here, (not that I expect to need it). Akpo will start every game he's able to. 

1st Team. (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0"
B Team. (61j) Monteiro (POR) 6'0"
U23's. (63c) Vieira (GNB) (POR) *
U19's. (64k) Sequeira (CPV) 6'0" *, (66o) Serrano (POR) 6'5"
Sell. (60d) Ribeiro (POR) 6'0" SELL, (58g) Rocha (POR) SELL
Loan.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066. 

DL. We have a 30 & 31 year old in the senior squad, (valued at about £10M & £5M). They both have 2 years left on their contract so I expect this to be their last season with us, (assuming I can sell them in the Summer). (57d) Kravchuk (POR) (UKR) * & (57b) Trindade (POR) * DL are waiting in the wings so I might be tempted to sell the Martins brothers, (they aren't brothers). Depending on whether I get any bites or not will depend who gets loaned out. 

1st Team. (52b) Martins (POR) * & (50g) Martins (POR) (FRA) DL *. 
B Team. (60m) Lehner (POR) (SUI) * & (64c) Rowley (WAL).
U23's. (62j) Sérgio (POR)(BRA)
U19's. (64c) Rowley (WAL)
Sell. (52b) Martins (POR) * & (50g) Martins (POR) (FRA) DL *. 
Loan. (57d) Kravchuk (POR) (UKR) * & (57b) Trindade (POR) * DL

I think I've just managed to sell both senior DL's . (for a combined £15M), so (57d) Kravchuk (POR) (UKR) * & (57b) Trindade (POR) * DL will not be loaned out and will instead be our starters this season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066. 

DR. I arranged to re-sign 33 year old (48c) Bronze (POR) 6'0" on a free before I decided to slash the squad. he's getting paid £4M a year but he's only on a 2 year contract, (with a clause for a +1 after 10 games in 2nd year). I've managed to get a £2M loan fee for (59e) Marques (POR) ** as he moves to Augsburg in Germany. 

1st Team. (56a) Juromito (POR) *** DR & (48c) Bronze (POR) 6'0".
B Team. (59c) Yufeng (CHN) 6'0" 
U23's.
U19's.
Sell. 
Loan. (59e) Marques (POR) ** & (63n) Lourenço (POR) *.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066.

DC. (54a) Fati (GNB)(POR) 6'1" *** has 2 year left on his contract, but I think the new way I'm running the club means that I will be selling him next Summer. He's getting paid £9.6M per month so we're not going to be able to extend his contract. (64d) Mahler (SUI) 6'2" *** will be his long-term successor. 

1st Team. (57a) Lima (CPV)(POR) 6'2" *** & (54a) Fati (GNB)(POR) 6'1" ***. (48b) Teixeira (POR) 6'3" & (59d) Coxi (ANG) 6'1" *.
B Team. (64d) Mahler (SUI) 6'2" *** & (65l) Kassoma (ANG) 6'0" *.
U23's. (53h) Alexandre (BRA) & (47f) Santos (POR) 6'5" *. (61d) Santos (POR) 6'4" DC & 
U19's. (64f) Guerra (POR) 6'4" & (60c) Leonardo (POR) 6'1".
Sell.
Loan. 

[Jimbokav1971]

World Cup 2066. 

When I saw this achievement I assumed that Portugal had won the World Cup. I was wrong. 

I think it's safe to say that England won the World Cup. 

Portugal haven't win this, ever. 

Spain haven't win it since 2050, (so 16 years). No wonder they keep asking me to manage them. 

England are actually the current holders of the World Cup, the European Championships and the Nations League. I should remind you that the English structure is not active in this save and we only have 2 English players and only 1 of them plays regularly at International level. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066.

MC. Although we're looking to flog (55a) Mavioso (POR) *** SELL, we've already got (44c) Ogbu (ENG) (NGA) * off the wage bill because he's retired. 

(66a) Alves (POR) is only 15, (he came through last season's intake), and although he's a midfield playmaker I see him as the answer to our problem as who to play on the right up front. The only problem is that he's still very awkward playing up front and I don't want to play him in the 1st team like this because it tends to disrupt things. Instead I will play him in the B Team. The problem though is that although I want to play him up front, if I manage to sell 55a) Mavioso (POR) *** SELL & (47k) Tavares (CPV) SELL, (who are our 1st and 2nd choice DLP's). What with also losing (44c) Ogbu (ENG) (NGA) * as well it means we might lose our 3 best playmakers all in 1 window. 

This is my plan at the moment, but who plays where will be determined on how many I manage to sell from this group. 

1st Team. (55a) Mavioso (POR) *** SELL & (62a) Pereira (GNB)(POR) ***. (47k) Tavares (CPV) SELL & (55c) Sousa (POR) *.
B Team. (60b) Costa (POR) & (63a) Bettencourt (POR) *. (61i) Lopes (POR) & (62k) Popó (BRA)(ITA).
U23's.
U19's. (65b) Delgado (CPV) (POR) * & (66j) Rosário (CPV)(POR). (66g) Costa (GNB)(POR) & (65j) Davies (WAL)
Sell. (55a) Mavioso (POR) *** SELL, (47k) Tavares (CPV) SELL, (49a) Odhiambo (POR) SELL, (60j) Sá (POR) SELL
Loan.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066

ML & MR.

ML.

1st Team. (58a) Flores (NED)(SLV) ***, (53b) Espínola (POR) * SELL & (49e) Madruga (POR) SELL.
B Team. (61c) Novak (PER) (CRO) & (63i) Keita (SEN)(FRA) ML.
U23's.
U19's. (65f) Costa (POR) ML * & (65a) Tomás (POR) *
Sell. (53b) Espínola (POR) * SELL & (49e) Madruga (POR) SELL.
Loan. 

MR.

1st Team.  (55b) Cunha (BRA) *** MR & (54b) Soares (CPV) *** MR.
B Team. (63b) Rodrigues (POR) MR ** & (60g) Vieira (POR) *.
U23's.
U19's.
Sell.
Loan. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2066. 

SC. If you are wondering as to the absence of (53a) Khwinana (ENG) *** SELL, he's already left after Chelsea offered me £93M.

1st Team. (61h) Fradinho (POR) & (59i) Fernandes (POR) (CPV) *. (64a) Conceição (POR) *** & (64g) Gonçalves (POR) *.
B Team. & (66a) Alves (POR).  & (61a) Mateus (BRA) (POR) SC *.
U23's.
U19's.
Sell. (50l) Bartlett (ENG) * SELL, (62b) Indjai (GNB)(POR) * SELL, (54f) Sales (POR) * SELL, (54f) Sales (POR) * SELL
Loan.

[Sonic Youth]

That’s a lot of movement! Look like some good business in there too. Hopefully the team aren’t impacted hugely and you get off to a cracking start.

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2066. 

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. We can sell players and we can buy players, but the level against which we will be judged will always be Benfica. This was a close game and could have gone either way, but they came out on top in a 5-goal thriller. No shame at all in being beaten by them. 

UEFA Super Cup. Shouldn't the Super-Cup be a 3-way competition now, including the winner of the Europa Conference? Maybe the Europa League and Europa Conference take part in a playoff and the winner plays the Champions League winners.

Liga Bwin. There is absolute no question that selling all these players will make us weaker, and while I don't expect us to win the league title this season, I do expect us to finish in the top 4 and I'm hopeful that we might go close. Europe is a different beat entirely and I think we will be found out in the Knockout stages. The strikers especially are very young and inexperienced and while they are a bit short of the required quality right now, I think this season will stand them in good stead for the future. 

Our league performances make pretty grim reading at the moment, but I think there are mitigating circumstances over and above me selling most of our best players. We were unlucky not to beat both Guimaraes and Benfica and we should have battered Nacional, but our young strikers are behind the curve at the moment and it might take them a while to catch up. I'm still hopeful of finishing in the top 4, but challenging for the title might be beyond us with this squad as we are already 8 points off the top, (albeit with a game in hand). On the plus side, we have looked decent at the back and only Guimaraes have conceded fewer goals than us, (0). It should also be noted that playing Guimaraes and Benfica in the same month is considered a tough month. 

Records. Well this seems like quite a lot of money.   

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.  It's fair to say that the Summer Transfer window has been a busy one. 

[Jimbokav1971]

11 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s a lot of movement! Look like some good business in there too. Hopefully the team aren’t impacted hugely and you get off to a cracking start.

I think it will be tough for a while, especially between now and Christmas. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Summer Transfer Window. Sep 2066. 

This is one of the busiest windows I think I have ever had. 

That's a lot of players for a lot of money. 

Players in. 

(48c) Bronze (POR) 6'0" was signed before this change of strategy was implemented, otherwise I simply wouldn't have signed him. I'm happy he's here though, even if he is our 2nd choice right back. 

Players out.

He was brilliant for us and we could have kept him for 1 more season, but with the change of direction it made sense to sell him now. 

A ridiculous player but I never got the best out of him. It will be interesting to see how Chelsea use him and how successful he is. 

He would have still been our 1st choice starting left striker, but I decided it was time to invest in the Youth and the game-time they get this season should explode their development. I just have to try and not get sacked in order to benefit from it in future seasons.

We had loads of left wingers so I didn't mind letting him go at all. 

The 1st of the 2 DL "Martins Brother" (who aren't brothers). They would have stayed 1st and 2nd choice had they remained, but we have 1 good replacement and 1 average replacement so it make sense to send them off. 

Was never going to be quite up to our standard. 

The 2nd "Martins" Brother. 

Had a great start to last season while out on loan, and I quite like the look of him but I have strikers with better potential. 

He was ok, but just a tiny bit off the required quality. 

We have loads of decent GK's and we need only Ako. 

Finances. We were about £84M overdrawn at the bank and we are very comfortable now with £127M in the bank. 

The board slashed our transfer budget to almost zero last season, but then game me £119M to spend this season even when we were enormously overdrawn. I have boosted it further by 1st clearing the debt and then making us rich.

That doesn't tell the full story though because we were also over-spending in terms of wage budget, but are now almost £5M under our wage budget of £12.5M. (That's enormous!) While we're this much under our budget I expect us to make a significant profit providing we do ok in the Champions League, (which is in no way guaranteed). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Young strikers. Sep 2066. 

I've mentioned the young strikers a few times now so it's probably overdue for me introducing them. 

1st choice partnership. (61h) Fradinho (POR) * & (59i) Fernandes (POR) (CPV) *. I quite like both of these, but they will need to improve their technicals. 

2nd choice partnership. (64a) Conceição (POR) *** & (64g) Gonçalves (POR) *. These 2 are very raw, but I expect them to develop quickly. 

B Team starters. (66c) Galvão (POR) * & (66a) Alves (POR) are too young for this level, but I'm sure that throwing them in while so young will advance their development. 

 

 

[Thebaker]

On 15/09/2022 at 21:33, Jimbokav1971 said:

Were my predictions correct? Mar 2066. 

What did I say? 

 

Has anyone got any thoughts on this? Have any of you noticed stuff like this that sticks in your mind even though you're not 100% sure how accurate it is? 

My current save is in Spain at a club in  La Liga with almost maxed out facilities and the best players have all been spanish, not too many other nationalities through but they have pretty much all been poor, think they were generally rated poor on intake day. I have not looked at the actual PA to confirm this.

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2066. 

Liga Bwin. Although we dropped points against Leixoes, we more than made up for it with a thumping win over Porto, (their only loss so far). As a result we're back in contention after a decent month and find ourselves in 5th place. Guimaraes and Benfica are 8 points ahead, (having played a game more), but still only Guimaraes have conceded fewer goals. We know we're going to struggle up front this season. Our strikers are 21, 23, 18, 18, 15 & 15. We really are raw and inexperienced up front. I'm happy with that though and I expect us to do better in the 2nd half of the season, (as our players benefit from the game-time). so it's all about just staying in the mix at at the moment. 

UEFA Champions League. The draw against Chelsea was a good one, and even more pleasing was that we kept (53a) Khwinana (ENG) so quiet that he was withdrawn.

Allianz League Cup. A thumping win for a very young Reserves side. 

Facilities. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

My current save is in Spain at a club in  La Liga with almost maxed out facilities and the best players have all been spanish, not too many other nationalities through but they have pretty much all been poor, think they were generally rated poor on intake day. I have not looked at the actual PA to confirm this.

Yeah, it's pretty hard to see the link between the PA stars being wrong without comparing the actual PA. In my head I just assume that if there is a player from a smaller Nation then he is better than my Scouts suggest. It's served me well so far. 

[Thebaker]

4 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Yeah, it's pretty hard to see the link between the PA stars being wrong without comparing the actual PA. In my head I just assume that if there is a player from a smaller Nation then he is better than my Scouts suggest. It's served me well so far. 

I'm pretty sure that players with negative personalities are rated worse than they are sometimes, if the personality changes they can often be rated much better.

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2066.

Liga Bwin. I see 2 draws as 4 points dropped, but the truth is that with this new reduced quality squad I don't think I should. We can't expect to win all these games, especially not away games. In truth I should be happy that after 11 games we've only lost once, (to Benfica). We conceded 4 goals this month, (more than we had in the previous 7 games), but still only Guimaraes have conceded fewer. We're 9 points behind Benfica, but perhaps I should be looking down at Sporting , (we're ahead on goal difference), and checking our ability to finish in the top 4, (rather than checking our ability to get to the top pf the table). 

UEFA Champions League. I'm very happy with this. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. A 1st hat-trick of his career for Ako. 

Facilities. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 9 goals in 18 appearance for Ako, at a rate of a goal every 180 minutes is way better than I might have expected at this stage of the season with this squad. 

 

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Thebaker said:

I'm pretty sure that players with negative personalities are rated worse than they are sometimes, if the personality changes they can often be rated much better.

"Sometimes" is the key word here. I often look for that and it's often true, (and it's really at the forefront of my mind on Youth Intake day), but it isn't always the case and because it's not always the case it's not reliable. I often think it, but I can never be sure because sometimes it's just not true. 

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2066. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2066.

Liga Bwin. I didn't mind the Sporting draw, but the Chaves loss, (just our 2nd loss of the season), was poor because our xG was more then treble theirs and we should have won with something to spare. We're 4 points off Braga in 4th and 2 points ahead of Gil Vicente in 7th. I want to finish in the top 4, but top 6 is an absolute must. 1 poor result isn't a disaster, but we need to make sure it doesn't keep happening.

UEFA Champions League. The young Reserves have done far better in Europe than I was expecting. We're unbeaten so far, but the last game is away to Chelsea which will be tough to draw. If they beat us they win the Group, but of we draw then we do.

Taça de Portugal Placard. A really good win for the Reserves. 

Facilities. This is the Reserves stadium.

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

 

 

 

 

Finances.  I've noticed that our bank balance is dwindling away but I don't think it's a huge deal. I think we will still make a profit over the course of the whole season what with prize money, TV rights, season ticket sales and match to match ticket sales. Our balance was as high as £127M after the player sales so although it seems like a lot, we're actually just down £28M and clawing it back is more than achievable with Champions League prize money.

[Sonic Youth]

Go team Ako! He’s scored a lot already.

Is European football eating into League results?

[Jimbokav1971]

37 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Go team Ako! He’s scored a lot already.

Is European football eating into League results?

I don't want to comment on Ako's form because I'm scared that the FM Gods will see it as gloating and punish me with a serious injury. 

Our European campaign is not impacting on league results in the slightest. Our Reserves play all the European games, (and some of the Cup games and easier league games). I don't pick games for the Reserves to play in. I pick games that I don't want the 1st Team to play in, (to rest them for the next game) and then the Reserves play in that. 

[Edit]

We've just beaten Chelsea away in the Champions League, (with the Reserves), (and of course (53a) Khwinana (ENG) *** scored against us), but the performance of the Reserves, (and just having replied to this post), made me realise that we have quite a lot of experience in the Reserves. 

Ako obviously plays in both 1st Team & Reserves. 
(57b) Trindade (POR) * DL plays at left back and isn't great.
(48b) Teixeira (POR) 6'3" plays at left centre-half and has 111 Caps for Portugal. 
(59d) Coxi (ANG) 6'1" * is only 23 but already has 49 Caps for Angola. 
(48c) Bronze (POR) 6'0" plays at right back and has 103 Caps for Portugal. 
(49e) Madruga (POR) SELL plays at left wing and has almost 250 Liga Bwin appearances. 
(55c) Sousa (POR) * plays in the DLP role and has 7 Caps for (POR)
(49a) Odhiambo (POR) SELL plays in the CM(a) role and has been capped for (POR)
(54b) Soares (CPV) *** MR has recently swapped from the (POR) to (CPV) National sides, (after not getting picked for (POR), and has 150+ Liga Bwin appearances under his belt. 
(64a) Conceição (POR) *** plays in the AF role on the left up front and is our brightest prospect up front. 
(64g) Gonçalves (POR) * is a bit of a weak link at the moment, but he plays on the right and it's more of a support role anyway.

I guess what I'm saying is that we've got a ridiculous defence for what I call our "Reserves", the midfield isn't too shabby either and it's really only DL and SCR which are weak. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Oops. I didn't think about this when I let everyone go. Dec 2066. 

I think it's fair to say we're going to be in trouble. 

It's fine though because only 5 of them are centre-backs. 

* Remember this post when I tell you about my FM23 save. 

[Edit] 10 current players called up for AFCON 67 and 13 former players.

Angola. 

Cape Verde.

Guinea-Bissau.

Senegal.

South Africa.

Congo. 

Mozambique.

São Tomé & Príncipe.

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2066. 

Liga Bwin. 3 wins with 10 goals scored and only 1 against is great, but we're still sitting in 6th place and are 6 points off Guimaraes in 4th. The good news is that we're 5 points clear of Nacional in 7th. 

UEFA Champions League. I'm really surprised that we beat Chelsea away, but delighted that we did. (53a) Khwinana (ENG) *** scored their goal but we won so I'm happy. 

Allianz League Cup. A draw is good enough to see us top the Group and progress to the Knockout rounds. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. A convincing win. 

Facilities. The expansion of the B Team stadium was completed last month and is already paying dividends, (literally).

Youth Intake preview. We've just sold our best players so I would have expected this intake to be an absolute belter. We only have 1 area scoring an A though, and only 1 player in that area. Despite that, the intake is classed as "excellent". On the plus side, we do also have a couple of B areas. 

Goal-scoring GK's. I'm pleasantly surprised that Ako has scored so many goals in the 1st half of the season with so many out-goings. I used to think that scoring 10 goals in a season was a big deal. Then I used to think that scoring 10 goals before New Years Day was a big deal. Now Ako has just scored 16 goals before New Years Day, (and also missed 2 penalties). 

Finances. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Sonic Youth]

That’s a lot of African Internationals! Nice 

Though it will show how much depth you have s as be how much you miss your African Internationals.

Winning in the league, and so is everyone you need to drop points. At least you’re doing your part.

Looking forward to seeing what shuffling your squad does to the intake.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2067. 

6 league games and 2 Cup games with 7 First-Teamers unavailable mean that this is going to be a really tough month. 

Liga Bwin. I'm astonished that we did so well in the league this month. I wasn't able to use either the 1st Team or the Reserves because both teams were missing key players so instead I had to cobble together whoever was available for each match. Despite 8 wins on the bounce, we're still 1 point behind Guimaraes in 4th, but we have 2 games in hand on them and 1 game in hand on Benfica, Porto & Braga. We're 11 points clear of Varzim in 7tgh though, so I think European football is at least guaranteed. Benfica are unbeaten after 22 games and have a 6 point lead at the top of the table. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. We dodged a bullet here. We were poor in front of goal, but luckily Gil Vicente couldn't see us off and we snuck through on penalties. 

Allianz League Cup. This is frustrating, but I really can't complain with the month we've had. We won 7 out of 8 games

Facilities. I wondered at the time while the expansion was so expensive, but it makes sense now. It's the corners being filled in and that costs more money than just a normal stand. This should look good when it's finished though.  

Records. This is great, and the only problem is that we have already sold out the new expansion. I'm guessing that means we should expect another expansion pretty soon.

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances.