[FM22] - Trophy hunting accross the globe... err Europe at least! Borussia Dortmund

[DomD]

13 Oct 2022 Update: This save started as my attempt at the Ultimate Football Manager Challenge, but after a few seasons I realized how crazy that challenge is. So this will be just a regular career where eventually I hope to manage a team in one of the top leagues.

 

Current Nations Loaded:

Spoiler

 

Additional Rules:

- Sign only players that have been scouted by club scouts or recommended by other members of the staff. The exception to this is that I will sometimes see who is listed for loan at clubs that make sense (like an affiliate). But still ask a for a scout report before making a loan offer.

Manager Profile at the start of the save:

 

Career so far and links to each season summary:
 

Spoiler

2021/22 - Cefn Druids (Wales - 1st Tier) - 1st

2022/23 - Cefn Druids (Wales - 1st Tier) - 3rd

2023/24 - Cefn Druids (Wales - 1st Tier) - 2nd

2024/25 - Gubbio (Italy - 3rd Tier) - 2nd

2025/26 - Gubbio (Italy - 3rd Tier) - 2nd* (at time of departure)

2025/26 - Lechia Gdansk (Poland - 1st Tier) - 2nd (took over in 9th with 14 games to go)

 

I wanted to update the screen shot above (sorted by date, oldest to newest), but just noticed that the 2024/25 season has disappeared.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by DomD
Cleaned up post and added summary.

[DomD]

Applied for all vacant manager positions. Had one interview, got the job.

[DomD]

Season 1 - 2021/22 - Cefn Druids AFC

Pre-Season

The squad was thin in some areas (DC, DL) and seemed ok in others, at least according to my AssMan. But the media had us finishing 12th, so I didn't hold out much hope. The board wanted a mid table finish.

It was hard to find any decent staff, the scouts especially had rather poor stats. But had to work with what we could get. Eventually managed to get in a DL and a couple of midfielders. But we were still short in DC, although the one we had was rated as one of the best players on the team.

Had some good pre-season results, including a 2-2 draw with Wrexham.

2021/22 Season

Things started better than I could have hoped for and we were top of the table after 7 games. Things took a bit of a dip after that and we fell all the way to 7th. For a while we bounced around between 4th and 6th, but never far from the teams at the top. 

The Welsh premier made up of 12 teams and is divided into two stages. After playing each team twice it splits in two. The teams in the top half play each other for the championship and the teams from the bottom play each other to avoid relegation. At that stage we were in 3rd and also in the League Cup final. The board offered me a contract extension, and a small raise. I accepted.

In the League Cup final we met Cambrian & Clydach from the 2nd tier. After a 1-1 draw we lost on penalties. In the next game we went out of the Welsh Cup and it looked like our season might have been taking a turn. Although we were already guaranteed a mid-table finish.

We actually ended up playing quite well (4W, 1D, 1L) and even beat TNS 3-0 away from home. But the top four was tight. The next three were 2D and 1L with no goals scored and I was just hoping that we could at least hold on to 2nd place. But the teams around us also dropped points and all we had to do on the final day was win against TNS again.

After an uneventful 1st half we went out and grabbed 2 quick goals. But the team wasn't playing well and we were lucky to be in front. TNS piled on the pressure and in the 91st minute they had a penalty which they duly scored. Thankfully that was it and we finished as Champions!

 

Top Player Stats

  Hide contents

Best 11

  Hide contents

Challenge

So far the club have only been willing to let me get my National C license. This team has massively overachieved and I don't think I'll get the resources to improve them much. The board still just want a mid-table finish for next season. All that said I'm not sure if my reputation (which is still not a full star) would get me a job anywhere else. So, for now I plan on staying here, to see if I can build my reputation a bit more, maybe win the domestic cup, all while keeping an eye on the job centre for opportunities

The manager profile saw a slight boost:

Edited December 23, 2021 by DomD

[DomD]

Season 2 - 2022/23 - Cefn Druids AFC

Pre-season

A somewhat frustrating pre-season, as I tried to strengthen the squad for the season ahead. Some that were reaching the end of their contract at other Welsh clubs refused to even discuss a contract because they didn't believe that our squad was strong enough. Thought that I managed to sign a central midfielder from a non-league English side (below tier 6), but he also decided to stay with his current club.

We did manage to sign 3 players. A 19 y/o DR, a 23 y/o ST, and a 24 y/o MC/DM/D(C).

At the end of the previous season there was also a crop of exciting youngsters that came through our youth system. Considering that I didn't strengthen as much as I wanted in the using the transfer market, some of these young ones might be seeing more time in the first team than they would otherwise have.

Also, the board keep rejecting my requests for another coaching badge.

 

UEFA Champions League

But the most exciting part of the early season was our first foray into the UEFA Champions League, where we were pitted against Lithuanian side FK Sudova.

We managed to hold on to a draw at their place, and it was a bit of a goal fest at home, but we managed to pull out the win. Astana from Kazakhstan were next, and they were just too much for us.

But that meant we dropped down to the Europa League, where we faced... Greek side, Olympiacos!!!

Edited December 23, 2021 by DomD

[DomD]

2022 Cefn Druids Youth Intake

Before going into our next European game, I thought I would have a short post about the exciting crop of youngsters that came through at the end of last season. Two of the most promising talents are, Mal Sinclair AM(L/R) and Lee Coxe DM/M(C). Wanting to see how these two develop might keep me at this club longer than I would have otherwise stayed.

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by DomD

[DomD]

In the end the tie against Olympiacos turned out as expected against a team with resources that far above what Cefn Druids have.

But the first match was much closer than expected.

Unfortunately the red for Flint and yellow for Leaver meant we were going to be without our best AMC and D(C) for the return leg at home. Add that to the injuries and things did not look good.

Sinclair did set a nice new record.

But as expected we were hammered in the second leg and even worse Sinclair picked up an injury that will keep him out for a while.

The European adventure continues and it is filling the club coffers. But the fixture list is packed and with the squad that we have we might pay for this with performances in the league and cups at home. We're already out of the Welsh League Cup after I rotated the squad heavily.

[argento]

No shame in losing to those sides in Europe, did you get any of the Olympiakos gate away? Not sure on the rules in Europe

[DomD]

On 23/12/2021 at 20:14, argento said:

No shame in losing to those sides in Europe, did you get any of the Olympiakos gate away? Not sure on the rules in Europe

Thanks. We sure did make some money, see my next post.

[DomD]

Amazingly we managed to qualify for the Europa Conference League. But the draw did not give me hope of getting anything out of these matches. And so it proved to be as we were hammered by most teams. Surprisingly Lyon had the hardest time scoring against us.

Finances saw a huge boost.

But so far the board have not seen fit to spend it on anything. They wouldn't even let me add a Technical Director to my rather small staff.

[abulezz]

Nive save so far - the Finances are looking good!

[DomD]

Season 2 - 2022/23 - Cefn Druids AFC

The European exploits didn't help us in the domestic cups as we went out of both at the first time of asking, to lower league opposition.

The league was a bit frustrating. TNS had strengthened significantly and we just couldn't compete. The extra matches during our European campaign had us dealing with fitness and injury issues. Even after we were out of Europe our form was somewhat patchy. In the end we had 10 more points than last season, but that was only good enough for 3rd place.

Top Player Stats

Spoiler

Challenge

In the second half of the season the board actually let me go for my next coaching badge. I suggested that the club should turn professional but they didn't agree. I already had my eye on leaving and was looking at what next club I could use as a stepping stone.

 

[DomD]

The manager profile is starting to look better:

But I'm worried that my Adaptability isn't improving. Will I be able to get a job in another country?

[DomD]

So I was going to just run out my contract and try my luck somewhere else. Then these things happened:

Now I have a decision to make. Do I stick it out here for another year? Would I be able to improve the squad much with the extra funds? This is still a 1 star rep club in the Welsh league, so there is a ceiling on who would be willing to sign for us. But my reputation isn't very high yet either, so maybe if I can win another trophy here...

[DomD]

Signed a new contract with Cefn Druids. Now to rebuild the squad so that we can compete with TNS in the league again and hopefully have another good cup run. We also need enough players to be able to rotate the squad without losing quality.

Our European adventures last season had some effects on the coefficients.

[The Malazan Empire]

Good work so far.

Iam doing something along your lines in using the Ultimate Challenge as a structure for the Journeyman career but instead I picked a more reputable club instead of being manageress so not following the guidelines strictly. 

 

I'll follow your progress good thread so far.

[DomD]

Pre-Season 3 - 2023/24 - Cefn Druids AFC

Our European adventure this season was a lot shorter this time around.

 

Now we can focus on domestic competitions. We've brought in 7 players so far and let go several who weren't going to cut it. But it is quite frustrating to see the level of players that TNS is bringing in. The players my scouts are finding are somewhat below that level. We'll see how things go in the next couple of months, but I will be even more serious about looking for my next club.

[DomD]

Season 3 - 2023/24 - Cefn Druids AFC

I had taken a long break form FM22 after this season ended and I'm just getting around to posting an update.

As far as I remember this was a bit frustrating. Even with our massive new wage budget it was hard to find and attract quality players. We improved the squad slightly, but it wasn't enough to challenge TNS for the title. We finished in 2nd quite comfortably and managed to reach the Quarter-Finals of the Welsh Cup. But it was frustrating not to challenge for any trophies.

 

Challenge

I declined a new contract offer from the Druids and through out the second half of the season I had been applying to jobs in South America without any success. With about a month left to run on my contract I resigned and applied for every available job.

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

Surprisingly it didn't take too long to get an interview. Shortly after that A.S. Gubbio 1910 in the Italian 3rd tier offered me a job.

 

In my eagerness for a new job I didn't take a look at the club finances until I was in the job.

Oh well, I'm here now. Good chance this will all end in tears...

[DomD]

Updated manager profile. Adaptability is still just 2. I wonder if working in Italy will make that go up.

[DomD]

Season 4 - 2024/25 - AS Gubbio 1910 - Serie C Girone B

As the club was in serious financial trouble, I decided to work with the squad that I had, while bulking it out a bit by bringing in some loans. Throughout the season I also let anyone who wanted to leave. The players didn't support me because they thought my reputation was too low. I was afraid it was going to be a rocky season.

But we had a solid, if unspectacular start to the season (5W-3D-4L), hovering between 7th and 11th. We also went out in the first round of the Serie C Coppa Italia. Starting in November the results started to improve and we steadily climbed up the table losing only 2 times for the rest of the season.

With 6 game to go we were in 2nd place and our spot in the promotion play-offs was secured. The top team, Reggiana, looked untouchable for most of the season. But they had some poor results and we manged to go into 1st with 3 games to play. In the penultimate game we faced Reggiana and could grab the title with a win. Alas, we only manged a 1-1 draw. It was still within our grasp going into the final game against Modena. It was 1-1, and then in the 89th minute we took the lead with a sublime freekick. Unfortunately we let our focus drop and in the 97th they scored an equalizer. Reggiana was playing the bottom side and won comfortably. Beating all expectations we finished 2nd, but it still felt like a kick in the teeth after coming so close.

We broke quite a few records along the way.

 

On to the playoffs.

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

After the great season we had the playoffs were a huge disappointment. We faced Cesena, who we lost to both times in the league. Unfortunately, even though statistically we were the better team in both legs, we struggled to score.

 

For next season we need a total re-build as we are in well over the allowed wage budget and several players are getting too old. I think it will be a struggle to finish mid-table. But, I haven't even received a new contract for next year, so I might not even be here.

Edited October 2, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

The board offered me another 1 year contract, so I'm going to give another season a try. Here is how the profile is looking now. I'm now fluent in Italian, but adaptability still just 2 (is this a bug?). Not sure what I did to get Discipline up to 20.

[DomD]

Season 5 - 2025/26 - AS Gubbio 1910 - Serie C Girone B

Preview and Pre-Season

I released quite a few players over the summer to get our wage budget under control. But trying to bring in players to strengthen the squad has proved frustrating with only 3 defenders signed by the time the league season started and 1 striker considering a contract offer.

The boards want us to reach the playoffs again, which seems reasonable.

Due to our finish in the league last season we qualified for the Coppa Italia Preliminary Round. There we faced Modena, the team that robbed us of automatic promotion. We exacted our revenge, but it was somewhat bittersweet, because they are in Serie B, because they managed to win the play-offs last season. Next we faced Torino, unsurprisingly it was not much of a contest.

 

The odd makers have us finishing 14th and the media think we'll end up in 8th.

[DomD]

A bit more to add on our transfer business. Did get a few deadline day deals done. Although now I'm slightly over the wage budget again and I feel like I gave the striker I got too good a salary. But it will be worth it if he bangs in some goals for us.

 

Surprisingly we're not the club with the lowest wages in the league, but we're still quite far off the top.

 

[DomD]

Season 5 - Aug/Sep

A really frustrating start to the season so far. After starting with two wins we drew against Pescara away, which I thought was a great result considering the gulf in resources between us and them.  Unfortunately we followed that up with run of poor results against teams that we should be beating. It didn't help that before the Teramo game my starting goalie and my on form striker both picked up minor injuries and I couldn't use them.

I knew that after a bit of a squad overhaul it would be a tougher season, but after the first 3 games it was looking nice and I thought we would be competing with Pescara for 1st place. Not so much.

One bright spot has been the performances of one of my strikers, Gerard Bangoura. I used him sparingly last season, but so far this season he's made it so that I have to start him in every game that he's available. Good thing too, because the two that I brought it to strengthen my striking options have so far not played very well at all.

[DomD]

Season 5 - Oct/Nov 2025

A good couple of months, with a couple of frustrating results. In both games that we lost we were the dominant teams in terms of xG, but failed to put our chances away. But as you can see it's on the road that we struggle, our home form has been amazing. If we could stop dropping points on the road we'd be fighting for the title.

Interestingly, I've been rotating the squad heavily for the league cup games not expecting much, but we keep winning those. So now we're in the semi-finals.

 

Some good news. Matias Rocchi has finally hit a rich vain of form. May it continue for a long time.

[DomD]

Season 5 - Dec 2025

Only 3 league matches. Good results except for the extremely frustrating draw against Carpi. They were in 17th place when we played them, and we utterly dominated the match. They had 1 shot on target, which of course they scored from. We had 15 on target, but could only score one. It feels like we're going to stay a step behind the top two sides all season.

 

In player news, Manuel Sarao, our most consistent striker, who was also the league top scorer last season, has announced that he'll retire at the end of the season. It will be sad to see him go.

 

I offered Bangoura a new contract, but he's not interested in discussing it because of interest shown in him from other teams.

[DomD]

Season 5 - Jan 2026 - A.S.Gubbio 1910

The month started with so much promise, but ended with so much frustration. After a routine win against Pistoiese we took on Pescara. Despite not playing well, we came away with a 1-0 win. I had to rotate the squad somewhat for the cup game two days later, but I overdid it. Especially starting with our 21 goalie who I had let play in the earlier cup games. Our chance at minor trophy, blown. We should have bounced back against a poor Viterbese side, but despite having 22 shots, we could not find the back of the net.

 

I offered Bangoura another chance to discuss a contract, and this time he signed. I had brought in a whole host of players on trial, mostly in the hopes of finding a new GK and D(R). I made a contract offer to the one GK that I thought would be good for us, but he chose Carrarase over us.

Soudeysse Kari M(C) will offer better cover in the centre of the pitch and has good potential. He had been at Nice in France, playing for their B team.

 

Also manged to get Fernando Florio on loan from Lazio to fill in at D(R).

[DomD]

Forgot to add this milestone to my last post. Too bad it wasn't a win.

[DomD]

We were facing a bit of an injury crisis amongst our strikers.

So I took a look at who my scouts had recommend and managed to secure Fabio Sabelli on a free loan until the end of the season from Milan, on deadline day. Hopefully he can add some cutting edge to to our attack.

Edited October 30, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

Feb 26, 2026 - Job Interview

Totally out of the blue, Lechia Gdańsk from the Polish Ekstraklasa offered me a job interview. It appears that their previous manager, Roland Nilsson, moved to Bochum in Germany. He had a 43% win percentage with Lechia and won the Polish Cup in 2025.

Then a few days later...

Did that mean I got the job?

It sure does.

Feb 11, 2026 - New Job - Lechia Gdańsk

I actually had to take a pay cut to come here, from 1,400p/w to 1000pw. And despite the earlier frustrating results, February was of to a great start, so leaving Gubbio was bittersweet. But the opportunity to move to the top tier in Poland with a team that that has the 4th highest wage bill in the division was too good to pass up.

Unfortunately the training facilities here aren't any better than what we had at Gubbio. The club has had some recent success, winning the Polish Cup in 2025.

We'll take a closer look at the squad later. The vision looks simple enough to adhere to.

The wage and transfer budgets are miles ahead of what I had to work with before. Hopefully we can attract some good talent to come play in Poland.

I wanted to take a screen grab of my profile history before the move, but it happened so quickly that I missed it.

[DomD]

Season 5 - 2025/26 - AS Gubbio 1910 - Serie C Girone B

Farewell

I think I left Gubbio in a good state, with the budget under control, but still competitive in the league. Once again, they have a chance at finishing top, well above expectations.

The highlight of the season had been the performance of Gerard Bangoura. Last season his avg rating was 6.98 and he had 1 POM, this season he was leading the league in avg rating and was tied for 1st with 6 POM.

[RoguPL]

I see Wlodarczyk in your team. I had him at Warta and he was very decent for me, even got a call up to national team. 

[DomD]

I hope to be able to have some time to analyze the squad tonight and post my thoughts about it.

[DomD]

Season 5 (part 2) - 2025/26 - Lechia Gdańsk

Club Background

A new chapter begins. We are moving from central Italy (Gubbio) to the Baltic coast (Gdańsk) to take charge of Lechia (Wikipedia).

Aside from being an established club in a top division Lechia are in a decent sized metropolitan area. Since 2011 Lechia have played in the 41,620 seat Stadion Gdańsk (aka Polsat Plus Arena Gdańsk). It was built for Euro 2012 and is probably the most striking stadium currently in Poland. It is also the biggest stadium of any team in the Ekstraklasa. Honestly, it's probably too big for Lechia. They are averaging 11,000 spectators per game in the current season. Hopefully, if we can bring regular European football to Gdańsk, it will see some bigger crowds.

Lechia used to play here:

Now they play here:

Lechia were founded in 1945. Their biggest European game came in the 1983–84 European Cup Winners' Cup when they played (and lost to) Juventus in the first round. Since then they have made 3 more appearances in Europe, always going out early. Most recently in the current season when they went out to Rosenborg in the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League.

[DomD]

Season 5 (part 2) - 2025/26 - Lechia Gdańsk

Squad

Let's take a look at what the squad looks like.

DM Mor N'Diaye is the highest rated this season, but he's only made 10 appearances. Looks like mostly due to injuries.

 

DM/D(C) Janis Nikolaou is the second highest rated and looks like he's been a fixture in the team for the last 3 seasons. Also listed as favoured personnel at the club.

 

Probably the most exciting is 19 year old striker Seppe Vanharen. He joined Lechia on a free in 2024 and is currently our top scorer with 10 goals (9 in the league).

 

League

Lechia are out of the Polish Cup and Europe, so the Ekstraklasa is the only thing left.

The odds makers have us finishing 7th and the media prediction was 9th.

[DomD]

9 hours ago, RoguPL said:

I see Wlodarczyk in your team. I had him at Warta and he was very decent for me, even got a call up to national team. 

For my first game in charge (against Lech Poznan of all teams...) I had him on the bench. Brought him on in the 67th minute, he scored 2 goals in a 2-0 win for us. I think he'll start the next match.

[DomD]

Season 5 - Feb/Mar 2026 - Lechia Gdańsk

Life at Lechia couldn't have started better. The players have taken very well to the tactic I decided to use and we have won all six games that I've been in charge. Which means we've won 7 on the bounce, a new club record. The club was in 9th when I took over, now we sit in 2nd. Although as you can see by the table, things are very tight amongst the top 4 teams, so any wobble could see us fall out of the European places.

I spent the first few weeks in charge hiring more coaches. The squad had one, plus a few from the B team, but the board have set a limit of 7 so I've been working on filling those spots. I also hired a HOYD (the B team manager was doing that job before), he's from Canada.

Similar to @RoguPL Wlodarczyk has been quite good for me. He scored 5 goals in the first 3 games that I was in charge. He's slowed down since then, only scoring once (a penalty).

 

The youth intake looks promising also.

[DomD]

Although it is all in Legia's hands, we're still in with a chance of the title with 5 games to go.

[RoguPL]

Top 3 really close, 

Good Luck ! 

[DomD]

22 minutes ago, RoguPL said:

Top 3 really close, 

Good Luck ! 

Thanks! If we can hold on to 2nd place it will be Lechia's highest ever finish. They also finished 3rd in 2018/19.

[DaneBramage]

Nice start with Lechia. Winning the title just a few months after joining would be pretty good going.

[DomD]

Season 5 - Apr/May 2026 - Lechia Gdańsk

I thought this winning run would end when we met one of the sides from the top half of the table. But instead it was Pogon that held us to a draw. But we kept on winning after that, even if some of the games weren't that convincing. Legia were in the UEFA Conference League Quarter Finals, so I thought that they would drop some points due to the fixture congestion. The drew against Jagiellonia and Pogon too, but it wasn't enough for us to overtake them.

Full season review, coming soon...

Edited November 7, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

Season 5 - 2025/26 - Lechia Gdańsk - Ekstraklasa (Poland)

Season Review

When I took over the club in 9th with 14 games to go, I would have been happy with us competing for a top 4 spot. So, I must say that the season was a resounding success. Unfortunately, Poland is ranked 19th in UEFA qualification places, so the league doesn't even get a Europa League spot. Our reward for finishing 2nd is a spot in the Conference League 2nd qualifying round.

On to the season review. It was nice to see that I was there for all the top moments.

Awards:

Records:

I really hope that Philipp Kuhn can keep up his level of performance next season, and that I can find a suitable understudy for him. It was so nice to finally have a reliable keeper.

Seppe Vanharen was excellent for a 19 year old. But I have a feeling that I'll have a hard time hanging on to him this summer. The sharks are already circling. He has a contract until 2029, but also a release clause of 1,700,000 which I can see being triggered. Do I offer him a new contract with higher wages?

Wlodarczyk and Vanharen came 2nd and 3rd in the league top scorer award, both with 16 goals. The winner had 18. Wlodarczyk did win the best striker award. Milosz Szczepanski won best Midfielder.

 

Career Summary:

[RoguPL]

Congrats on finishing 2nd !! It was so close. 

If you keep up the form for next season, the title will be easily yours.

[DomD]

1 hour ago, RoguPL said:

Congrats on finishing 2nd !! It was so close. 

If you keep up the form for next season, the title will be easily yours.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. We'll see how it goes with the extra games from the Conference League (assuming I get a few rounds in).

[DomD]

Some news items from June.

The Vanharen transfer rumours are swirling.

Financial activity:

Edited November 12, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

A nice piece of news:

I was following their progress after I left. They won their first two matches after I was gone and I thought they might do the impossible and actually win the league. Alas, their results were somewhat poor after that and Gubbio finished 4th, 7 points behind Pescara. In the promotion playoffs they lost at the first hurdle to Fiorenzuola.

[DomD]

Season 6 - 2026/27 - Lechia Gdańsk - Ekstraklasa (Poland)

Season Preview

So strange to have so much more money for transfers and wages. But we'll talk about transfers once the window is closed.

One thing that I do want to mention is that Seppe Vanharen put pen to paper on a new contract. We only managed to raise the release clause from 1.7M to 1.9M, but hopefully that is enough to keep him here for another season. Interestingly, despite all the articles I keep getting about the clubs that are interested in him, there hasn't been a single bid.

The board expectations are not unreasonable.

The odds makers have us finishing 3rd, while the media think we'll end in 5th.

Legia continues to lead the league is salary spending. This will probably continue unless someone can take the title from them and get some of that Champions League money. They have now won 7 in a row and 12 of the last 14.

It was nice to see 2 of my players in the dream team. Bingourou Kamara is one of those brought in this window, more on that later.

 

Long term goals:

Obviously we want to beat Legia to the league title. But if I stay at this club long enough, I would love to break their long standing attendance record.

This was obviously at their old stadium that didn't even have close to that official capacity. But times were different back then. It will require close to a sell out, but hopefully we can bring one of the European giants to Gdańsk again.

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by DomD

[DomD]

Season 6 - 2026/27 - Lechia Gdańsk - Ekstraklasa (Poland)

Summer Transfer Window

This felt like, by far, the most chaotic transfer window of my career. Part of that was probably due to the fact that I had more money to play with and didn't have as concrete a plan as I should have had. Throw in the whims of players and unexpected decisions get made. Certainly a couple of players I thought would still be here from last season are gone.

But let's go back in a time a bit. Towards the end of last season, club favorite Jannis Nikolaou, who had already been here for 3 seasons, declared that he was having a hard time settling and wanted to go back to Germany. Even though he's 33, I would have liked to keep him, because he had been solid for me, but I told him that I'd be willing to let him go at the end of the season. But apparently no other clubs are interested in meeting the wage demands of a 33 year old defender. So he's still here.

Next before we even rolled over to the next season, I received a bid from Al-Arabi for Philipp Kuhn, my German GK who was excellent for us in my first half season in charge. But it was a late night session and when I saw the message at that the Al-Arabi was his preferred destination, I assumed that he would be unhappy if I didn't let him go. I negotiated a slightly higher fee and started looking for a replacement. He's 34 so probably not the worst move to replace him.

Outs:

The biggest surprise on there was Szymon Wlodarczyk. He was one of our top goalscorers last season, but I didn't even see any roumors of anyone after him. Then towards the end of the window, I received a couple of bids that I rejected. But a day or two later there is a bid from Mainz and a message from the agent that his client will get upset if he doesn't get to discuss terms with them. I tried to convince him to stay, he wasn't interested. Asked him if it could include a loan back option, not interested. So I accept. He goes to Mainz, sure he's got a higher salary, but goes straight in their second team, and is loan listed!

Ins:

Biggest signing is definitely Bingourou Kamara, our new GK.

Diogo Nascimento, is an exciting young midfielder who was available on a free and has had a great start for us.

One for the future, Kiros Stanley is an exciting prospect. I might have paid a bit much for him, but I was desperate to find a decent right wing back and my scouts told me this guy has bags of potential.

I'll post a few more of the interesting signings, later today.