[FM22] Stal Mielec (Poland): Building a Club and Nation

[smp20]

Time for one final thread for FM22 and I've decided to go with a nation that I have never managed in. In terms of out-the-box European nations, they can be counted with one hand, so it is a little surprising that I've never ventured into Poland before.

My club of choice is Stal Mielec, more on them later. My manager is 25-year-old Mielec-born former academy graduate Damian Bożek. He burst into the team as a teenager whilst Mielec were in the 2nd tier, with some dazzling and battling performances as a tricky, combative winger (plenty of yellows to show for it). Nevertheless, his career fizzled out and now in this alternative Universe a forward-thinking Stal Mielec board were enthused by Damian's vision for the club and decided to hire him.

Damian's vision is to build a club of Polish players only, with a heavy emphasis on bringing through players from the Stal Mielec academy. The philosophy includes an aggressive, attacking machine-like 4-4-2 approach.

Ultimately the aim is to build the club into the best in Poland and Europe, as well as seizing the opportunity to manage the National Team and guide them to glory at the World Cup and Euros.

So why Stal Mielec? Firstly, they're a club with a rich history. In the 1970s they were one of the most successful clubs in Poland, picking up two top flight titles along the way. However, over the last 30 years they've struggled to compete financially and dropped right down the leagues. They've had a resurgence of late and found their way back to the Ekstraklasa, albeit only avoiding relegation in their first season back in the top tier due to just one being relegated after Covid's impact. Mielec is a city of 60,000 people in the South-East of Poland quite close to the Slovakia and Ukraine border and the club has a few thousand loyal and passionate supporters.

Secondly, they were the club most ready for a Polish-only challenge where just two players were foreigners and easily saleable as they were not new signings.

I've completed the first half of the season prior to the winter break so that'll be the next update .

[karanhsingh]

Good luck with this! Had a short but fun save in Poland with Gornik. 

[smp20]

2021/22 Mid-Season Update

Transfers

Just two outgoing transfers, the two non-Poles, with Granlund also ready to leave on a free for Maritimo in January. We opted for no new incoming signings, focusing on the squad we've got whilst promoting a few youngsters to the first team.

Ekstraklasa Results

We got off to a great start with three straight wins without conceding and continued fine form until finally losing to Jagiellonia in September. The only other sides to inflict defeat on us since then have been Lech Poznan and more disappointingly Piast Gliwice who got their own back for an early season thrashing.

Ekstraklasa Table

There are still 15 games left to play but remarkably we find ourselves in pole position. Lech, who won the title in real life, are our closest challengers 5 points behind and will be looking to capitalise on any mistakes we make. Legia are having a nightmare season!

Puchar Polski Results

Progress made in the cup, next we face midtable Zabrze for a place in the semis.

Tactics

Of course, it's the Sacchi revival!

Player Stats

Our relatively small, fully Polish squad. Some of our key players are loanees and pretty much every contract expires at the end of the season, so squad building for next season will be vital. Our first choice keeper will be leaving regardless as got a pre-arranged transfer to Bordeaux.

Key Player Profiles

Steczyk looks like a bang average striker on paper but goals don't lie. 19 in 13 Ekstraklasa appearances is impressive!

Getinger is an excellent, versatile all-rounder. He's a local, academy grown player so chances are we will keep him around despite his advancing years.

Kasperkiewicz has been a rock in the centre of our defence and is one of two players with a long(ish) contract.

A big man up top works well in this tactic as the complete forward providing they have some technical ability and aren't too slow. Since going into his profile I saw he has an extension clause so that has been activated!

Mak has had a few injury problems but when available he was been a creative force on the wing.

Top Academy Prospects

Maj is touted to have 5* potential and while he isn't quite up to the standard yet, he's been getting plenty of appearances off the bench.

Seweryn's versatility is astounding. He can play anywhere down either wing and he's completely two-footed! if he was a bit quicker he'd be a key starter already.

The youngest of our current crop of prospects, Bajorek could become a worthy Ekstraklasa striker and he's already grabbing a goal or two.

Manager Profile

Here is Bożek's profile. He started as a professional football player at local level for past experience as well as with a continental C licence. After a good first half-season the board offered a contract extension.

 

[smp20]

3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Good luck with this! Had a short but fun save in Poland with Gornik. 

Cheers! I'm looking forward to somewhere a bit different

[Deisler26]

Not a fan of the title lol

Great start though

[smp20]

6 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Not a fan of the title lol

Great start though

Haha yes it's a rubbish title, subject to change 

Thanks, a really good start, Sacchi FTW

[smp20]

Bozek's first trophy comes in the form of the Puchar Polski, which is the first time the club have ever won it!

[smp20]

This was swiftly followed up by securing the title with two games spare. A nice double to kick off Bozek's managerial career! 

[smp20]

Transfers

Stanek --- Holownia --- Baj --- Cielemecki --- Ogrodowski --- Tarkowski --- Rucinski

It was a pretty busy winter transfer window for incoming signings, although all of them bar Holownia are young players for the future rather than straight into the starting line up. Our two 'big' signings were Stanek and Tarkowski who have bags of potential and are already good enough to be in and around the first team. Both of their transfer fees are in instalments over the next 3-4 years as we couldn't afford it upfront. Holownia joined to bolster our defence at either DL or DC and he's done exactly that. We've just submitted another loan offer for him for next season with a view to buy him for £120k, while Cielemecki has a clause to buy for around £250k.

Ekstraklasa Results

We suffered just one defeat after the winter break, away in Krakow. We've been capable of some big victories along the way too!

Ekstraklasa Table

At the break point it looked like Lech were the most likely to challenge us for the title, but their form fell away and it was a hard-to-beat Rakow Czestochowa that gave us the biggest challenge albeit finishing 7 points behind us. Legia ended up climbing to 4th in the table after a terrible start to the campaign and I fully expect them to be more difficult to face next season.

Puchar Polski Results

Our second string just about guided us through the first two rounds before we played our best XI possible to secure a first cup victory for the club.

Player Stats

With just 40 games across both competitions this season we found ourselves not needing to rotate the squad too much and most of the changes were brought about through injuries or tactical decisions.

Key Players

He didn't quite keep his goalscoring form up of more than a goal a game, but 25 league goals meant he was by far the Ekstraklasa top scorer. We have the option to sign him for £300k, but we will explore some other options too.

Getinger. He surpassed Grzegorz Lato's appearance record for the club and banged home an impressive 18 league goals from midfield (and occassionally defence!). He captained the side to the domestic double, a first time for his boyhood club. Nevertheless, he will be turning 34 soon and Bozek needs to look ahead, not behind. He's off to Jagiellonia for £45k after he wanted a huge wage hike to stay.

Solid throughout the season.

Zawada is a great asset for the club, utilising his aerial prowess to both score and create goals.

Zyro was ever-present in the Ekstraklasa this season and a stalwart in defence or defensive midfield.

Seweryn was the most improved in terms of both performance and attribute development. The academy graduate will be a key player for the club going forward and still has room to grow.

Manager Profile

Big improvements in terms of rep and attributes since achieving the league and cup double at the ripe age of 26 and completing his UEFA B Licence.

Finances

We had just under £1mil debt to pay off in 1 year and now that debt is out the way and we've got a load of prize money we're looking a lot healthier. Our budget doesn't seemed to have updated for the upcoming season so let's hope we end up with some money to spend.

Facilities

No upgrades made this season due to spending most of the season as 'insecure' finance wise. We've got average facilities all round, but had a very sub-par youth intake, not even worth mentioning.

[smp20]

Small gains for the Nation . 

[smp20]

A tough draw against the Romanian champions. We will face Servette if we manage to get past FCSB.

[smp20]

I'm going to attend the interview, but I highly doubt it'll be accepted.

[karanhsingh]

Are you open to moving around in Poland?

[smp20]

8 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Are you open to moving around in Poland?

I'm not 100% opposed to it but it would need to be the right move. Interviewed but rejected by Lech and Legia as I asked for too much 

[smp20]

1st September 2022 Update 

Transfers In

With all of the over 30s being released from the club and some important loanees returning to their contracted clubs, including our top scorer, we needed to rebuild the squad. As expected the emphasis was on youth with only a couple of players that you could consider senior. A total of £3.5m was splashed out, however we opted yet again to spread out the cost over several years. Providing we keep qualifying for European competitions it will be easy to pay them off. No pressure then!

Here's a few highlighted potential starlets:

The diamond signing of the campaign, Salewski is already the best player in our squad at the tender age of 16. We managed to entice him away from Lech Poznan and he's already performing exceptionally. Although he's played quite a lot on the wing so far, I see him as a marauding full-back and could potentially be one of the world's best at it. Watch this space!

Trelowski was our most expensive signing despite not yet making the step up to first choice at his previous club. He's our undisputed No.1 though, replacing our first choice who left on a free to Bordeaux.

Completing the trio of "expensive" signings is gifted winger Starzynski. Unfortunately he's only just coming back from a month long injury so we haven't had too much time to see him shine yet.

Fit, pacey right-back Niemiec adds depth to our squad and comes with bags of potential!

Gmosinski is an excellent prospect. He's best suited in DM due to his lack of aerial ability so that is where his training will be focused. 

European Progress

It was disappointing to lose at home on penalties to Servette after comfortably beating them in Switzerland, but we made up for it by securing qualification into the Europa Leagur group stage. The draw has been very kind to us as we face clubs from the relative 'minnow' nations of Croatia, Austria and Cyprus. I'd say we have a chance of getting into the Europa League knockouts or the Conference knockouts as a minimum by finishing 3rd.

Domestic Results

A decent start to the season was met by a blip at the start of August while we were in full-flow of navigating European qualification. With the Qatar WC coming up the games will be coming up thick and fast and we will need to trust our full squad to be able to compete domestically and continentally. We did finish August nicely by winning the Superpuchar .

Squad Overview

 

 

Edited June 29, 2022 by smp20

[smp20]

Record broken twice by us

[karanhsingh]

Salewski 

[smp20]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Salewski 

Yeah he is a real prospect for Poland and already an Ekstraklasa star!

[smp20]

Qatar 2022 World Cup Break

Europa League

We managed to come back from a woeful start in the group by losing to all three opponents, albeit only by one goal and we really should have got a result or two. By finishing 3rd we qualify for the Europa Conference League 1st Knockout.

Domestic Competitions

We may have drawn a lot of league games but at least we have had a nice domestic unbeaten run.

Ekstraklasa Table

It's a very tight, competitive league, especially with Legia starting much better than last season. We're the only side to beat them so far. 4th and 3 points off the top gives us a good chance of retaining the title going into the second half of the season.

Player Stats

A lot of rotation except our keeper who has only missed the two cup games.

[smp20]

We've made some nice progress in Europe, making it to the quarter finals of the Conference League. We thumped Maccabi Tel-Aviv, then came out on top after penalties in a thriller against Besiktas. We face Napoli in the quarter final which is about as tough as it gets.

[smp20]

A much better youth intake this season, Skrzypczak the leading prospect in a 'golden generation'

He hasn't really got the pace to play out wide so he will be re-trained as DM.

[smp20]

Salewski is in the Top 50 wonderkids, one of only three regens to make the list so far!

[smp20]

 

Our European campaign comes to an end at the hands of Napoli. Good effort though!

[smp20]

The focus now switches fully to domestic affairs. We're 5 points behind Legia, but get to face them at home and have an easier run in. Can we catch them?

[smp20]

That's the kind of results we want!

[smp20]

No cup final for us this season!

[smp20]

We climb above Legia as they lose their second in row. Next up, Legia at home!

[smp20]

Oh FFS!!!!!! 

[smp20]

Legia draw while we win, putting us top of the league on H2H / Goal Difference. We face our fierce rivals at home, who are already relegated!

[smp20]

We did it

 

[deltablue]

That didn't take long

[smp20]

9 hours ago, deltablue said:

That didn't take long

Yeah it's been a great start domestically 

[smp20]

2022/23 Season Review

Ekstraklasa

It was an exciting league campaign which went right down to the wire. We managed to retain the title on goal difference despite losing at home to Legia near the end of the season.

Domestic Cups

We won our first trophy of the season by winning the Superpuchar and came close to another final if it weren't for a extra-time added-time loss against Gdansk in the Puchar semis.

European Campaign

A few disappointing moments - losing to Servette despite being 2 up after first leg and our terrible start to the Europa League group - but overall we should be happy with our progress considering we knocked out Besiktas en route to the Europa Conference League Quarter-Final.

Player Stats

A lot more rotation that the previous season required which stretched our limits, but also allowed our young squad players to get a decent amount of game time.

Key Players

Academy-grown Bajorek became our main goalscoring threat up top this season and did very well. He's well rounded, though doesn't excel in any areas. Still has some room to improve. League top scorer and voted best player.

Claiming the league's young player of the season, Starzynski is a class act already and I think he could become a star for club and country with the right development.

Piszczek came in to be Zawada's understudy, but usurped him. Zawada is off to Ulsan Hyundai on a free in the summer so we will be on the lookout for more competition up top.

Salewski is the man everyone has their eye on. Unfortunately he may be hard to keep as his agent keeps on sticking in low release clauses non-negotiable.

 

 

[smp20]

This upgrade will mean that we will be able to play our European home games in our own stadium rather than in Rzeszow over an hour away.

[karanhsingh]

Nice progress and quite a nail biting finish. 

Can't blame the agent re Salewski tbh. What's the current amount at?

[smp20]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Nice progress and quite a nail biting finish. 

Can't blame the agent re Salewski tbh. What's the current amount at?

Cheers! At the moment it's at £1.5m and no one's interested yet. If I go to offer a new contract then it could be bumped to £2.4m but holding off for a chance for it to go higher or better still to convince him to sack his agent 

[smp20]

1st September 2023 Update

Transfers

As per the previous season we were very busy in the summer. In our winter window we signed no one but moved on a couple of squad players, plus a few leaving meant we had a squad to build. Naturally a lot of young players were signed, but also a couple of more experience players too. The first three in were signings after a successful loan period so don't really count as new signings, nor do a few players signed to bolster the youth team with a bit of potential.

Key Signings

Mosor came in on loan last season with the aim of being the main back up centre back but ended up becoming a regular starter. He cost us £675k as per a loan agreement but I think he's worth that already and could improve to even become International level.

We were lacking a bit of leadership so Sapala has been signed as our captain. He's got all the right attributes to play as a box-to-box type player from defensive midfield.

We lacked a natural left back last season so we've splashed out on Pestka who is very solid all round.

Main Prospects

Rutkowski was our most expensive signing (of course the spend was spread out as per normal) which is a bit of a risk considering he was yet to play an Ekstraklasa game. But he could really excel in our system. He's quick and good in the air, technically half decent and isn't afraid to put the work in. He lacks in finishing and composure, but if that develops he could be a key striker in the future and will act as a rotation striker for now.

Iskra has already shown his excellent adaptability by getting from 0% to accomplished at MR in just a couple of months. He's a technically gifted player and he's already good enough to rotate into the first team.

Jakolcewicz wasn't even signed to be competing in the first team yet, but a couple of injuries have thrusted him into the side and he's done well. I like a determined, hard-working winger so he will continue to get opportunities to flourish.

Champions League Qualifying

Bar nearly messing up a three goal home victory with a loss in Kazakhstan, we made light work of qualifying for the Champions League. An excellent achievement, especially considering our big wins against Maribor, Galatasaray and Red Star.

A substantial amount of money added to the club coffers, though we've been drawn in an exceptionally tough group. Bayern and Liverpool are pretty much write offs while getting anything from Sporting will be a tough task and our only hope of extending European Football into the new year.

Domestic Competitions

A 100% record domestically including thrashing Lech Poznan in the Superpuchar. We've got better squad depth now and it's showing compared to last season.

Squad Overview

A 25 man first team squad should give us enough to compete in all competitions across the season. Starzynski and Trelowski have had bid after bit for them in this off season, it will be tough to keep hold of them.

 

[smp20]

10,000-1  - just the 2nd and 3rd favourites in our group....

[smp20]

Our first full international, hopefully the first of many!!!!

[smp20]

2023/24 Mid-Season Update

Ekstraklasa

We maintained our unbeaten league campaign until the end of 2023, also going on an impressive streak of eight clean sheets in the process.

Unlike last season where we were trailing at the midpoint, we find ourselves with a healthy 12 point lead over Legia. 

Puchar Polski

Unfortunately not everything is rosy. We failed to beat a 3rd tier side in the cup and therefore had a shock early exit!

Champions League

Less shocking was our exit in the Champions League group stages. We had an excellent start by beating Sporting at home, but failed to get any points against Liverpool or Bayern and we were narrowly defeated in Lisbon. The shock was Liverpool dropping to the Europa League!

Player Stats

Plenty of minutes shared across the squad. Great news came in the form of Trelowski and Starzynski signing new long-term contracts despite many clubs across Europe wanting a piece of them. We've got three strikers on double goals for the season already.

Now with just the Ekstraklasa to focus on, we could be on for an unbeaten season providing no silly slip ups!

[smp20]

Rutkowski is the emerging talent this season, he could really become something. Just like Salewski he came through Lech Poznan's academy. Let's hope we can bring through some of our own soon!

[deltablue]

That was a tricky group.

[smp20]

20 hours ago, deltablue said:

That was a tricky group.

Yeah, I think you're always stuck with very tricky groups as a 4th seed

[smp20]

Salewski leaves us for mid-table Championship football! He refused to sign a new deal so left for a meagre £1.5m release clause. 

[karanhsingh]

That's unfortunate but maybe a long term aim can be getting him back at some point 

[smp20]

20 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

That's unfortunate but maybe a long term aim can be getting him back at some point 

Yeah that would be pretty cool! He moved up to 45th in the wonderkids list, let's see if he lives up to the hype.

[smp20]

20th April 2024: Title Secured

A 3rd consecutive title is secured with 5 games spare. After losing to Slask away we lost the chance of going a season unbeaten, but we did have a season highlight 9-0 victory!

Youth Intake

Just one player of note came through our intake this season. Wojtaszek will be re-trained as a MR and will need to improve his speed if he's ever to make it here.

[smp20]

 

A very impressive showing from our youth squad, mixed in with some young first team players. The future is bright!

(Downside, Rutkowski picked up a double hernia vs Sporting in the Semi )

 

[smp20]

Ekstraklasa Table

We ended up 4 points short of the record held by Widzew Lodz in 94/95 where they finished on a 27-7-0 record. That will take some beating!

Player Stats

We will continue to add talented young players, as well as looking to take the opportunity to bring in Polish Stars with great personalities as some of our top prospects are in need of tutoring. 3 strikers got over 20 goals this season, as well as our key man:

16 goals, 14 assists in 26 Ekstraklasa games with a 7.75 average rating. "Star"zynski is living up to his name, but his performances are attracting clubs from across Europe. 24 in fact so far!

Facilities

Great developments to our facilities have occurred over the last couple of years and as long as we have the money to do so we will keep on improving. Our stadium will soon be at it's maximum capacity.

Finances

A healthy bank balance despite the infrastructure expenditure. Of course this can all change depending on our performances in European football.

 

[smp20]

Poland news - two of our players make the EURO 2024 squad, though they may struggle to get appearances.