[FM22] A Mercantile Approach IV: KAA Gent

[MarcxD]

September - December 2037

We have drawn too often in the league. Add a hopeless performance in the cup, and the domestic performance hasn't been great really.

But: We did get points in the CL!

Remarkably, our European season isn't over yet.

Even with the points dropped, we are not too far from the lead. Still, I would love some more consistent winning performances...

[MarcxD]

Transfers & Intake 2038

Four new signings - Horvat a very talented central midfielder who'll go straight in the first team; Sakellaropoulous and Rott rotational options.

Quite a few outgoing, but most are from the B team who weren't going to make it here. The first team players are those actually leaving for money.

Van Overbeek, Höner & Szövetes are all central midfielders. Van Overbeek of course wanted to go to the Middle East for the money, Höner wasn't really playing anymore and Szövetes was okay but making a decent profit on him was good enough reason to sell him. It's the biggest outgoing transfer so far. 

Rieckman, a relatively young central defender, never quite lived up to his potential here, so for a decent sum he was let go, albeit to one of our main domestic rivals.

Not very promising this time around.

[MarcxD]

January - March 2038

Some really rough results from mid-February. While we did beat Angers in the Europa League, we have now played 5 league games in a row without winning and also went out of the Europa League although against a Bundesliga side that's to be expected.

And, for once, our title rivals have managed to be consistently winning. We definitely need to turn this around soon if we want to have any chance at getting another title.

The fans are already unhappy....

Definitely the biggest talent at the club so far, although his fickle personality is a big worry.

[MarcxD]

April - May 2038

We have been in great form, but we were quite a way behind. With one game remaining, we are three points behind, but as we have a better goal difference, a win would make us champions again.

It wasn't a close affair!

A very young squad now. This also explains perhaps why we have been a little bit too inconsistent in the league, but the future seems very bright - both with players from the academy and young foreigners. Even the more mature players are mostly in their mid-20s so even if they are to leave some money should be expected for them. 

Sadly it's been rough getting rid of the limited fees for young homegrown players Grzeszczyk and Kostyrka, so I just hope I won't lose them for cheap.

[MarcxD]

Summer 2038

Only a year after the last takeover, another one happened. Nothing of note though this time.

Transfers wise, however, this was the summer of the breakthrough. Meaning -- the money has come rolling in. Not always due to my will:

So, these are all the outgoing transfers:

Sadly, Grzeszczyk's limited fee was also paid. I really did not want to lose him, but I couldn't get rid off that low fee so he's gone to recently promoted to the PL side Crystal Palace, along side one of the British MC's the former chairperson of the club signed last summer. He was sold for about double the amount we paid for him, so not too bad.

Yao was a fantastic central defender for us from Ivory Coast, bought for a little more than 200K so that was a slam dunk. Hack also: a year on loan and then bought for 500K, now gone for 14 times that amount plus 50% of any future fee. He was an amazingly prolific goalscorer and assister for us, so he'll definitely be missed. 

Dolezal was the last main one, the big talent left for his limited fee, however City has given him back on loan for a year. I didn't want any more loans, but with it happening on the 31st of August I didn't have much time to get a replacement in. Overall, I'm not too annoyed at losing him as with his fickle personality he's probably never going to be quite Manchester City level, but the amount is a bit low due to the limited fee his agent demanded when signing for us.

After the CL we of course already had quite a budget and with the sales even more, but I kept myself back from doing anything too crazy. 

Hammann, who was twice on loan here in the past, has now signed permanently as a new central defender; Abdulahi as well although he's also a back. I did overpay for him slightly. Meier is an AML, more or less a panicky replacement buy for Hack as I don't have much there to go straight into the first team. He is definitely not as good as Hack, but we'll see how he'll adapt to the Polish League. He is only 22. The only other 'senior' player is Elis Leonard, a back-up central defender.

The others aren't quite as sure to make it here quickly (or at all, of course), but there is more room to spend on talents. Halilov is an example: a very talented striker but he'll stay on loan first for a year at Ludogorets.

Especially as we keep upgrading our facilities.

[MarcxD]

July - August 2038

Would you look at that: we lost the supercup! Who would've thought. Actually also losing twice in the league in August, so yeah not a great start, although against Legia right now it's always going to be a close call. On the other hand we did beat Pogon away, the main rival last year.

But more importantly: we made it to the CL group again! The first two draws were relatively kind to us but I was definitely unsure when we drew Shakhtar. In reality we were quite clearly the better side, though.

 

[MarcxD]

September - December 2038

A lot better than this time last year, we have been winning most games in the league (although disappointingly out early in the cup again). The CL was a similar story like last year, once again we met up with Roma and managed to beat them once.

Interestingly, not only have we done well, it seems Legia is back - still unbeaten! It's not quite Köln vs Bayern level of winning pretty much all games there are to play, but this might turn into a championship run where we need to be quite consistent.

For the second year running we have just managed to beat Roma to the third spot in the group.

 

 

[deltablue]

Lech get down to business

[MarcxD]

On 20/08/2022 at 12:08, deltablue said:

Lech get down to business

Haha,that would be a great title! -- Although confusing apart from us with an actual side called Lech in the league 

[MarcxD]

January - February 2039

I sold my striker Hagerty during the season as he wanted to go and it was a decent profit for him. During the actual transfer period not too much of note, but a few weeks afterwards I did lose Da Silva to Malmö. Same story, decent profit for a decent player. Since I already signed new players for his position (mostly left back) that was fine.

I did spend money - Bitton & Hernandez are new midfielders; Devetak and Alberto talented backs; Luiz a free new winger and Mebrahtu a new striker. Although Mebrahtu was signed as a replacement for Hagerty, I was stupid. I hadn't noticed that he had already played for two sides this season, so he won't be able to play until next season.... (also not in Europe as registration for that ends before our february transfer period).

After our qualifying run in August where we beat Shakhtar to make it to the CL I knew we could beat them, but to win 6-1 twice is an amazing result.

One point added to our lead to Legia after beating them but also drawing once. We are definitely the favorites for the title but with the added stress of European knock out games (hopefully more than 2) who knows.

[HugoLazgo12]

4 horas atrás, MarcxD disse:

January - February 2039

I sold my striker Hagerty during the season as he wanted to go and it was a decent profit for him. During the actual transfer period not too much of note, but a few weeks afterwards I did lose Da Silva to Malmö. Same story, decent profit for a decent player. Since I already signed new players for his position (mostly left back) that was fine.

I did spend money - Bitton & Hernandez are new midfielders; Devetak and Alberto talented backs; Luiz a free new winger and Mebrahtu a new striker. Although Mebrahtu was signed as a replacement for Hagerty, I was stupid. I hadn't noticed that he had already played for two sides this season, so he won't be able to play until next season.... (also not in Europe as registration for that ends before our february transfer period).

After our qualifying run in August where we beat Shakhtar to make it to the CL I knew we could beat them, but to win 6-1 twice is an amazing result.

One point added to our lead to Legia after beating them but also drawing once. We are definitely the favorites for the title but with the added stress of European knock out games (hopefully more than 2) who knows.

wow jesus you made Lechia into Stronger Polish Team and how the ranking of poland in UEFA is doing

[MarcxD]

20 hours ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

wow jesus you made Lechia into Stronger Polish Team and how the ranking of poland in UEFA is doing

Thanks! The Polish league has slowly improved; after it dropped down to 21st after my first season here it is now 18th. We should be getting back at some better qualification spots within a few years, also with previous poor seasons not counting anymore. 

[MarcxD]

March 2039 / Intake

We are on a roll right now, making it easily to the QF's of the Europa League! 

Still 8 games to go, but with this kind of form we should be heading straight to another title.

Not great, really. I will be signing a new HoYD after the contract of my current one ends, also seeing as how quite regularly the determination isn't great from the best talents.

[MarcxD]

April 2039

Amazingly, we are in the semi finals of the Europa League after beating a second straight Dutch team, and we are still in with a chance of getting to the final after only losing by one in the away game against Juventus! However, we also had a bit of a mare in the league so just hoping we don't have some nightmarish end of the season.

Making it exciting for ourselves again. Just running away with the title doesn't really seem to be in the cards for this save lol.

"Ultimately, you're the manager"... quite!

[MarcxD]

May 2039

Wow! A shock home win against Juventus made we made it all the way to the final of the EL, where the result was more predictable. In the league we have been dominant and so the title is ours again!

We need to do so well, because Legia was really on it as well. 

With a ridiculous amount of my players being wanted, I worry about the transfer period but we'll have plenty of money to spend and already a very talented and young squad the future must be bright.

[MarcxD]

Summer 2039

Slowly improving, we need the other clubs to do their part though.

And there goes Kostyrka - I wasn't 100% on whether I wanted to sell him but NEC definitely seems to have overpaid. Özcan was a young Turkish midfielder whom I had expected to develop further with the amount of games he played so for a nice million I let him go; Meier was the new AML but I wasn't too impressed so for a small profit he's back to Germany.

Kennedy was the second of the two British midfielders the new owners signed two years ago, for a nice little profit he is gone after an okay time here, and lastly Bensabouh has been my first choice GK for a long while but at 33 he wasn't anymore so it's great to still get a nice bit of money for him. 

Parus is a great get, a very talented Polish striker who should get plenty of game time here, helped by the league requirements (at least one u22 Polish player in the starting 11); Veselý is a new AML; Saric and Milovac new midfielders but Milovac is back on loan at Partizan; and Cetic is a back-up who can play on all forward positions. The loanee Viragh came in to get a back-up GK just for this season. The rest probably won't feature this next season yet.

[MarcxD]

July - August 2039

We won a supercup! I am shocked! Another pretty easy run to the CL Group, and a faultless start in the league for the first time. We are now at a level where we should be dominating the league. Sure, we've won the league a couple of times, but we are still in pretty close title races each year and drop unnecessary amounts of points. Let's see if this season will be different.

It'll be interesting to see if we can beat NEC to the third spot. Since they qualified from the pretty strong Eredivisie however, it probably won't be easy.

Remarkably, of all teams Górnik also has a perfect start - even without conceding any goals. Legia and Pogon are both having bad starts however, which seems like a good thing for us as they should probably be our main competitors.

[deltablue]

Looks like a good title race is about to unfold.

[MarcxD]

On 24/08/2022 at 14:24, deltablue said:

Looks like a good title race is about to unfold.

Let's see if Gornik is up to it!

[MarcxD]

September - December 2039

Sadly this time around we didn't manage to do anything spectacular in the CL group, so that's our European season over with. 

Domestically, however, we are doing well - but we still haven't managed a cup run. 

Gornik did not keep their start going, but Radomiak is doing incredibly well! Surprising stuff, but even as Legia and Pogon are mid-table at best so far, we still are in a tough title race. 

[MarcxD]

January - February 2040

The 40s started with this curious message - seeing as the takeover happened a while ago. I didn't want to spend crazily, but I did spend more than I otherwise would have. 

A new back (Novakovic), defender (Sinclair) and midfielder (Sjögren). I did overpay for Sjögren, but he is 22 so even if I won't sell him for a big profit at least he should be good enough to stay here for quite a few seasons. Without the new money from the owners I would not have done that transfer. It was party as a result of an outgoing transfer.

Namely, I had to sell Bitton due to his limited fee. The young Israeli midfielder did not stay long here, alas.

a month after our transfer period was over I decided to sell Janga for my first 10m+ sale here. He has been playing really well for us for many seasons now, and as I bought him for barely more than 50K he is pretty much the ideal transfer, especially in the context of this save.

Radomiak dropped a few points but are still there with us. Even though Gornik has lost seven times this season, it is impressive to see them so high up still, whereas Legia and Pogon are still down in mid-table.

[MarcxD]

March 2040 / Intake

It seems like we are now reaching the stage where we are too good for the league. At least with this form.

//

Broadly a very good intake, but no immediate superstar potential. Although, you always need to wait and see.

The new facilities, upgrades and a new HoYD seem to bear fruit already, though.

[HugoLazgo12]

4 horas atrás, MarcxD disse:

March 2040 / Intake

It seems like we are now reaching the stage where we are too good for the league. At least with this form.

//

Broadly a very good intake, but no immediate superstar potential. Although, you always need to wait and see.

The new facilities, upgrades and a new HoYD seem to bear fruit already, though.

wow your team look like stronger that ever

and what the hell is even happen to Legia

[MarcxD]

22 hours ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

wow your team look like stronger that ever

and what the hell is even happen to Legia

Thanks!

I really don't have an answer regarding Legia, no real clear reason. They did have a takeover in 2038 but they also bought players worth 10M this season (and sold worth 11m).

They did just sack their manager Exequiel Palacios who took over last summer (and who actually played for me in 2035 for a few months). 

[MarcxD]

April - May 2040

And that is another league win! Outside of Radomiak not much competition this year, and even with the players not performing in the last two matches this was quite clearly the most convincing and easy title so far. 100+ Goals scored as well.

Reached icon status at my third club  

Edited August 28, 2022 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

Squad 2040 

Well, with pretty much my entire first team plus a few subs being sought after by other clubs, this next summer could be getting spicy. Hernandez and Devetak are both on low limited fees, so I can't really see them staying unless they agree to new contracts.

Some player profiles:

Pereira Luiz

Hernandez

Horvat

Wisniewski

Sjögren

Mebrahtu

[MarcxD]

Summer 2040

Interesting. 48.5M is a lot to repay but we certainly can... and owning the stadium should be great for the club in the long term.

A few pointed signings: Diaconescu a new midfielder (back on loan for this season, however); Cirovic a new AMR; Boye a new central defender; Matkovic a new RB; and Terry a new GK. Outside of Terry they are all young but go straight into first team rotation (except for Rizzo who is a B team player for now).

What I was afraid of happened: Hernandez and Devetak left for their limited fees. I also decided to sell Pereira Luiz for almost 10M and let Petkovic, my current 1st choice GK, go. 

[MarcxD]

July - August 2040

A perfect start to the new season - another supercup win, and back into the CL groups again. The easiest qualifying so far.

Not that we had much luck again with the draw. I'm afraid another fourth place is quite likely.

Really, the league should now be a formality.

[MarcxD]

September - December 2040

And on and on we go...

Sadly I was right and it's another fourth place for us. We need to have some luck in the CL draw to get a third place and a good EL run (like two seasons ago) as it's hard to improve so much to be able to really compete with the best of the best. Although after starting with 4 points after our first two games I was hopeful but sadly reality kicked in.

The league however is just about showing up and trying to give rotational minutes when possible. 

It is remarkable to see different clubs almost every season being our closest competitors, this year's surprise being Cracovia. Not really great for the Polish success in Europe if the other teams are so hit and miss. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

January - February 2041

Two big sales! Mebrahtu was a great buy for us after all as a striker, scoring lots of goals. As we paid 2.4M for him that's a nice profit. Saric was a sell I was less happy with, but I couldn't really keep him anymore with clubs like Man Utd going after him. I had agreed to let Novakovic for if a club paid 2.8m; not ideal that it was another Polish team, but I did let him go.

Thorsen is a new rotational option as AML; and I bought back former youth product Kostyrka, after selling him to NEC for 8.5M. Perez a new right back; Moravec a new central defender and Moreira a new striker. Jacobsen is a new AMR but maybe he won't be ready for the first team quite yet.

Not hugely impressive in form, but really we should just finish out this season and win the title easily - and try to go for a cup win.

[MarcxD]

March 2041

This came out of nowhere, as I haven't gotten any club offers here yet. I did consider applying, as London is named on the map in the first post. I however eventually decided not to, as I would want to join a club a little bit lower if I go to England. It has definitely made me realize I've been here in Poland for a long while already though - this is my seventh season here. Not exactly sure how long I will stay here but I am going to think about the next step.

Another sale after the transfer period ended... bought him for 500K so a good profit and he was already kind of replaced by new signing Moravec.

Perfect month.

Edited September 5, 2022 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

Intake 2041

Another very strong intake on the whole, but perhaps not quite wonderkids.

[MarcxD]

April - May 2041

We finished the season off convincingly and finally there's a first cup win as well! 

With all the other teams still being very much inconsistent and a match for each other by far the easiest season yet. 

I will be looking to sign a new GK as Terry was only a stopgap for this season really. I suspect I will lose Boye after one season due to his limited fee and hope Moravec won't go. With many clubs being interested in other players I could see some big sales happening again.

I have a contract of one more year currently - I have not completely decided if I leave afterwards, but I am considering it. I will have stayed longer at Lechia than any of the previous teams and I've established domination in Poland - just a little bit in-between in Europe right now.

[MarcxD]

Summer 2041

Well, this was a pretty crazy summer! CM Horvat, AML Vesely and DR Matkovic all sold for 15m+, with a couple more sales worth more than 10M. 

New record sale.

Obviously I needed to spend money in the light of these transfers. Pantovic is a new midfielder; Torres and Kwitonda new GKs; Perrone a very talented but still young central defender; Casado a young right back and Kasia finally another central defender and a Polish one at that. He was signed as a replacement for Abdulahi who left at the very end of the transfer period.

[MarcxD]

July - August 2041

Generally a promising start, although I would've liked us to deal with Slovan Bratislava a bit more convincingly.

We were in pot 3, but as we got Chelsea in pot 4 it didn't really help us out.

My stay in the Polish league has certainly been one of some surprising ups and downs for the other teams, but Legia being in last place is a bit much. 

[MarcxD]

September - December 2041

Can't really be happy as we were once again outclassed in the CL group. We also had a bit of a blimp in November in the league, losing points in 3 of the 4 league games, with the Radomiak game being the worst of all having three of my players getting red cards...

Even so, we are still very comfortable in the lead.

A huge offer, but not an option. 

With only six months on my contract remaining, however, I am now looking more seriously at jobs that come up, as I feel I've kind of plateaued at Lechia.

 

[MarcxD]

January - March 2042

Moravec sadly left for his limited fee, but otherwise the team was kept intact.

Genchev is a direct replacement for Moravec, so a new central defender.

The grade of our intakes is now very strong year after year, although the stars may flatter somewhat seeing as some of them have poor determination this year. 

Anyway, I shall not be using them as I am pretty much set on leaving after this season now.

While we did lose to the #2 in the league, Lech Poznan, we are certainly headed for another title.

[MarcxD]

April - May 2042

Good enough in the league, but sadly we did not do a repeat in the cup. 

Another convincing title win, but compared to some previous seasons we perhaps did not do quite as well. Taking into account another fourth place in the CL, I think this is as far as I'm going to be able to take Lechia.

One of the problems is highlighted in the squad screen: it's hard getting further with the Polish rep - pretty much my entire team is wanted by clubs abroad and the player values are really low.

On the other hand it is an exciting young team, but it will be impossible to keep them together.

[MarcxD]

Resignation, overview

Domestically it was a highly successful stay. Irritatingly, I managed to only win one cup. Europe was a tough nut to crack and apart from one year where we made it to the EL final, it wasn't that much to write home about. It is hard for a club of our size - we easily make it to the CL groups each year but we just are hopelessly outclassed there.

Financially I leave the club in a fantastic state, with great facilities as well and the stadium in our own hands. 

Former club watch

After I left Köln, Klopp and Zidane were my successors, and they kept the team right up there as the strongest team in Germany, winning more titles than Bayern. It's not too often you see the AI actually continue on from what you've built, so that's great to see.

VVV has been pretty stable in these last eight years, not quite being where I put them as close contenders behind Ajax & Feyenoord for the title, but still strong sub top to high mid table contenders. 

But now on to my next step...

 

 

[MarcxD]

A new club, a new country...

I had wanted to manage in a league slightly higher up than the Polish one and not return yet to the Netherlands and Germany, so it really was a choice between Belgium and Denmark most likely.

Looking at the map on the first page, Gent was one of only a few cities actually eligible in Belgium for this save, so I took the chance immediately after they sacked their previous manager after he finished 12th. 

Right now the club is 2M in the red, and on the lower end of the table. The squad is quite young and mostly filled with Belgians, so it will be interesting to see if I can morph them into a squad fit for my needs. With the club not doing great financially there won't be much room of doing much transfer business in the first season(s) I expect.

For the somewhat longer term of course once again I will try to make the club a force to reckon with nationally, and with Belgium being 6th in the coefficients table right now, if we make it to the European places we should also be able to do something of note in Europe. I will continue to try and focus on young European talents like I did with Lechia.

[MarcxD]

Summer 2042

While normally a first transfer period at a new club can be quite hectic and busy, it actually was one of the calmest transfer periods of this save. This was all due to getting to the club more than a million (p/a) over the wage budget and even with a negative transfer budget, which I don't remember seeing before.

I sold one player, one of the highest earning players, a Russian central midfielder. He'll go to the league below us, where clubs apparently do have money.

The only player I signed was a young Serbian right back who'll be a back up there. Otherwise the squad, or at least the first team, isn't that bad and we should be able to at least compete - but injuries could be really bad.

Even so, we are predicted at the tail end of the league - while for any that read this that are familiar with the Belgian league might be surprised at the clubs who are predicted to battle for the title. Westerlo got a tycoon in 2038, but Sint-Truiden just built themselves up. It is of course 20 years in the future.

From the first friendlies it seemed we weren't doing great, but actually looking at the game stats and xG we were unlucky to not get more from those games, so I wasn't that pessimistic about going into the regular season. I was right to think that way, as we have done pretty well so far, although inconsistent. Especially the 4-0 against Kortrijk was a crazy result, as they hadn't been beaten at that point.

Interestingly, all the clubs already have dropped quite a few points, so perhaps it will be a tight league. As far as Gent is concerned, I really don't have any particular goals outside of seeing how well we'll do and staying clear of any relegation danger.

Edited September 23, 2022 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

September - December 2042

A little bit belatedly, finally got time to get through the first half of the season in Belgium. And it's been quite a ride.

While previously I thought we would be just inconsistent, mid-table like, we were actually right up there with the best sides of the league. I am not quite sure how, mind, with our financial situation, but I'll take it.

Certainly many things kan still happen, with the top 4 absolutely on par and seeing as the points are halfed when we go into the play-offs we just have to make sure we make those play-offs (top 6 for the championship and european spots).

Money certainly doesn't mean everything in this league seeing that Westerlo, tycoon-owned, are in 8th place... They spent 100M last summer. 

On the other hand it definitely seems like the squad that was left for me was actually pretty good, certainly better than finishing in 12th last year.

The next update will have to wait a little while longer again, seeing as I am actually going to stay in Antwerp next week 

Edited September 30, 2022 by MarcxD