[FM22] From Peru to USA and now Chile, it's turning into an American Adventure!

[Earnie is God!]

Right, that's unusual for sure.

Well, it's now Jan 1st and USA and Uruguay have just been added. No jobs there yet although Palmeiras (6th in Brazil last season) are available.
I think I'll wait. Chile/Colombia will be added Jan 10th.

[Earnie is God!]

Roll Up, Roll Up, come and see Melgar play pre-season friendlies against:

• Boca Juniors*
• Atletico Mineiro*
• San Lorenzo**
• Nacional*

Making sure they are Always Ready** to entertain you!

* from Peru 🤪
** from Bolivia 😂

[Earnie is God!]

Chile and Colombian leagues now added.

Chile looks very simple. 16 teams, you play the other 15 home and away, job done. But then they have a slightly ambiguously worded rule about U21 players who apparently need to play in 70% of the team's minutes but not sure if that's 70% in comparison to the rest of the team e.g. roughly 5 out of the 11 playing, or 70% total which would be ridiculous as 8 out of your 11 would have to be U21. However, failing to do that would result in a 6pt deduction and a small fine so might be worth just ignoring it if they expect the latter 70%. Max of 5 over-21 foreigners allowed to register but no mention of U21s so presume you can have as many as you like.

Colombia, on the other hand, is a bit mad. 56 games! A max of 3 foreigners on the pitch at any one time but only a max of 4 registered in your squad of up to 30. That's even worse than Peru!

Uruguay - 37 matches. No more than 3 foreigners on the pitch, youth contracts not allowed to play. Max of 6 foreigners registered in up to a 99 man squad. Getting better.

USA - 34 games followed by the Cup/Playoffs. But that's about as far as I understood as the rest of it is bewildering...

 

No wonder I've never bothered with the MLS before

Edited October 6, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Back to the more familiar ground: Argentina and Brazil.

Argentina - Feb-May, League Cup Group of 13 teams (12 games) plus Copa Libertadores. July-Dec 27 league games, no more than 5 foreigners in the match squad (same as Peru). Max 6 total registered in up to a 99-man squad.

Brazil - 38 league games, simple. Max 5 foreigners in a match squad. Squad registration, max 50 players, no mention of foreigner limits. Jan-Apr, State Championships, a bit like regional cup competitions.

I'm tempted with Chile but would also try Uruguay. Brazil's a bit of a failsafe if nothing else comes up.

[Earnie is God!]

Back to reality, I'm still boss of Melgar and it's the Copa Libertadores draw!

Was looking great until Flamengo joined us. Not bad though

Edited October 6, 2022 by Earnie is God!
spelling, it's almost always for spelling

[Earnie is God!]

February and still no decent job available. Been keeping my eye out for something in Chile perhaps. Then I noticed this

Santos job might be opening up soon!

[Earnie is God!]

And just a few days later...

I probably won't get it but have to give it a go. Just hope I don't annoy too many people at Melgar.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Yeah good question, should have kept quiet about it 🤫

 

[Earnie is God!]

😥😥😥😥😥

 

[Earnie is God!]

I've had worse rejections 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

Pre-season 2022

We started pre-season with an 18-2 win! Boca Juniors of Peru were the unfortunate victims.
The rest of pre-season and early season went as you'd expect with plenty more goals scored and fitness regained. Always Ready failed to live up to their name.

On the transfer front, not a great deal I'm afraid. My scouts keep recommending these wonderful young Brazilians who I can't sign because of the 5-foreigner limit.
I eye other clubs with envy and am starting to wish I was somewhere else.

Three 16yo Peruvians, Percy the most exciting as an AM who looks like he might actually be pretty decent.
Mendieta, another Peruvian, is my new backup LB and can also play LM.
Bordacahar departed for a decent £200k and his fellow Argie Orzan also left.

This provided two new foreigner spots in our squad and they have gone to two new Brazilians:
Gobetti, the GK I have mentioned before, and Danilo who we picked up on a free last season but only turned 18 recently and therefore only then was eligible to officially sign for us.
We have high hopes for both.

[Earnie is God!]

April 2022

An excellent month which saw Melgar go unbeaten in 6 games.

 Iberico, Cuesta and Vidales secured a 3-0 win in the league at Juan Aurich
My Copa Libertadores debut as manager was fantastic as we thumped Emelec 5-0 at home, thanks to Cuesta, Quevedo, Vidales, Arias and Arriaran
 Flamengo put a halt to our winning run in the next CL match but we scraped a point against our much superior opponents. A very entertaining 3-3 draw with Quevedo, Arriaran and youngster Ccahua scoring on his debut
 Vidales, Mendieta and Ramos then secured the win over Cienciano in the league, 3-1 the final scoreline
😨 1-0 and 2-1 down at Alianza Lima but fought our way back, not only to make it 2-2 but to snatch a 94th minute winner from Iberico. Ortmann and Figueroa with the earlier goals. The Fig man had been away on loan last season and this was his first for the club since returning. Plenty of players scoring their first goal(s) for the club this season which is great to see.
 A 2-0 home win over Venezuelan outfit Deportivo Tachira in the CL made it an unbeaten start to life in the CL, 7pts and behind Flamengo on goal difference. Cuesta and Arriaran the players who found the back of the net.

Things were looking sweet.

[Earnie is God!]

May 2022 (part 1)

 A stonking 6-1 win over promoted Union Huaral kicked off May for us. We were 6-0 up by HT thanks to a brace from Vidales and one each scored by Lujan, Cuesta, Iberico and Danilo. 
 The players were given a talking to at FT though as our performance in the 2nd half, losing it 1-0, simply wasn't acceptable
 They seemed to accept that talk, some were even motivated by it, but we just couldn't get going in the return fixture at  Deportivo Táchira and we went down 1-0
😥 Injuries are also piling up now and it's becoming difficult to put out a starting XI I'm happy with

 

[Earnie is God!]

May 2022 (part 2)

 Normal service has been resumed in the league as we beat Alianza Atletico 3-1 away from home with goals from Iberico, Figueroa and Percy Lopez. Great to see the youngsters doing well
 I would have taken a point at Flamengo but it wasn't to be. A tight first half but they were much the better side after the break and deserved their 2-1 win. Vidales from the penalty spot for our goal.
 Squad rotation for our final Apertura match and we scraped home 2-1 v Sporting Cristal. Arriaran and Joel Sanchez netting us the 3pts and a 100% record in the league
 Into the final CL game, we knew we had to win to finish 2nd behind Flamengo. Any slip up by us would let in Tachira if they beat Flamengo. After a nervy start, there were 3 goals in quick succession. Joel Sanchez gave us the lead but that was short lived when they equalised. But on the stroke of half time Lujan came up from the back for a corner and nodded us back in front. The CB wasn't done there though and just after the break repeated the feat to give us a 2-goal cushion, and that's how it remained.
We'd qualified for the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores!

Then the draw was made... 😥

The team who knocked us out of the EL last season are back to haunt us.

[Earnie is God!]

And if we somehow get through that one...

 

[Earnie is God!]

In one of the other CL groups, our rivals here in Peru, Universitario de Deportes, have also qualified and will face the daunting task of taking on River Plate in the knockouts.
Still, this could mean that Peru's reputation improves significantly, with two of us through the group stages 

Edited October 9, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

June 2022

 June saw us extend our unbeaten run in the league to 30 games and we thrashed Universidad Cesar Vallejo 4-0 in the Apertura Champions playoff. Cuesta scored twice, on loan CB Montoya bagged another with a header and Iberico rounded it off in the 78th minute for a very comfortable victory and title

Ceara loom large at the end of the month in the CL but we have the mickey mouse cup to toy with until then. Will be resting most of my stars, especially for the 1st round at lower league Deportivo Coopsol
 and we came through that tie very easily, another 4-0, with goals from Quevedo, Ramos, Cuesta and Iberico
 2nd round was simple too; Cuesta, Arriaran and Joel Sanchez scoring in the 3-1 win over 4th placed Ayacucho. Alianza Lima away in the QF next
🤨 Slightly fortunate to come through that tie on penalties after a 3-3 draw. I'd rested players for the upcoming CL match but we got through thanks to Ibanez, Joel Sanchez and an own goal
Now was that CL 1st leg v Ceara. Could we exact revenge for them knocking us out the EL last season?
 

Spoiler

 

[Earnie is God!]

Youth Intake Preview 2022

Started off well but I remember getting excited last season when it looked good too

Was waiting to scroll down and see my HoYD tell me it was an overall poor group of youths though

But even though it looks, if anything, worse than last year he's telling me it's a terrific group coming through 😏🥳🎈

[Earnie is God!]

Mid-Season Transfer Window

I hate this one, a time when clubs come in and try to steal all your best players.
But it can also be good if I've spotted a player or two I want; swings and round-a-bouts I suppose.
And that's exactly what has happened here as I spotted this 16yo already playing regularly in the top division here in Peru.

He looks fantastic already and my scouts think he can be one of the best in the game!
OK, so yes this is my crappy scout speaking but boy, does he look good. He's going straight in the first team to see what he can do.
The fans, however, are not so pleased. Probably seeing as he cost us £300k, the most I've spent on any player in this save. Eek!

 

[Earnie is God!]

July 2022

 Melgar lost 3-2 in the cup semi final, same stage as last season, to UTC
 But then bounced back with 6 wins on the trot, including this beauty

The transfer window came to a close and we failed to get rid of winger Guedes who has been moaning non-stop about everything. He's now in a huff that I didn't sell him and announced he's leaving on a free at the end of his contract.
33yo Joel Sanchez has been a good servant to the club but is past it now and he moved to 2nd Division Mexican club Leones Negros for £40k.
On the eve of Transfer Deadline Day (TDD) we signed a young Brazilian AM who hopefully will be good enough to break through next season, as well as a very good CB, also Brazilian, called Edu who can play as a DM too. He has taken Guedes' place in the squad as my 5th foreign player. He cost just £36k and was immediately valued around 4 times that. As usual, the fans aren't happy with my signings but I know what I'm doing here.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

August 2022 (part 1)

A big month with plenty of action, none more so than the QF tie v Boca Juniors. Really looking forward to testing ourselves against one of the best sides in South America.

🤨 Boca were up first for us and, despite going behind, we battled back to earn a draw thanks to an 82nd minute strike from Iberico
🙂 A rotated squad for the home league match v Cantelao but it didn't stop our 100% record as we ran out 3-1 winners. Montoya, Vidales and Percy Lopez on the scoresheet
 A valiant effort from our boys in the 2nd leg but Boca were just too good. Losing 1-0 with 35min left, I went more attacking but they scored almost immediately and then notched the killer 3rd with 3min to go, a 3-0 loss
 We earned £1.07m in prize money for making the QF though and I didn't hesitate to ask the board to improve our facilities once more, as well as the transfer kitty

They took a bit of persuading on the youth facility side of things but in the end I got my way there too 🤗

[Earnie is God!]

August 2022 (part 2)

Back to the league for the rest of the month and we are playing a bit of catch-up after our exploits in the CL so it's two games a week, every week this month.
I need to find a way to beat the big teams like Boca, Flamengo, etc as they just tear us apart and so I had a bit of tinkering with the tactics. Out went the ultra attacking mode, in came stealth mode 😃
It's an asymmetrical 4-1-4-1 formation. Easier to show you...

As you can see on the left, plenty of chances, although not so many on target and the CCCs were low. However, the xG is pretty good. The best thing is how we closed the opposition down and gave them next to nothing.
This has largely been down to switching the fullbacks to being more defensive. RB Ramos is now more like Ben White rather than before when he was trying to play like Trent 😄
The 2-0 win above was followed by 2-0, 2-1, 5-2 and 3-0 victories. Danilo (3 goals) has thrived in the AM role while Iberico and Cuesta also scored 3 each in total for these games. Galeano came up from the back to score twice from set pieces and there were also goals from Percy, Mendieta and Quevedo

This means, with 6 games to go, we still haven't dropped a point in the league! Not only that, this run stretches back to last season

I think I need to move on after this season for sure. Not only due to the bugs in this league but also because it's become a little too easy to win the league.

[Earnie is God!]

Youth Recruitment 2022

Looks like we may have a little superstar on our hands 

A couple of others look pretty good too. Not sure about it being a 'golden generation' mind.

[Earnie is God!]

September/October 2002

Just 3 games in each month to finish the season with and we remained unbeaten although didn't quite manage to win every league game.
Instead, we rounded off the season with 4 wins and 2 draws to give us a total return of the season of 24 wins and 2 draws in our 26 matches.
I guess we are the invincibles and it does feel good but not as special as I thought it might.
Cuesta failed to score in the final 4 matches of the season and I think the 33yo is at best a season away from retirement now. That didn't stop him being the top scorer this season though.
In the final game, I started 37yo GK Farro who had lost his place to Gobetti for the majority of the campaign. But I thought it was apt for him to play and captain in what will be his final match for us.
And he didn't let us down either, with a solid performance and a clean sheet. I subbed him off for Gobetti in the final few minutes so that the fans could give him the round of applause he deserved.

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

2022 End of Season Award Ceremony

 

[Earnie is God!]

Was considering resigning from the club and I think this has helped confirm that

£70k? Not sure what I am supposed to do that. Will just round off the season first and tidy a few things up and then I'm out of here.

[Earnie is God!]

The Peruvian league is still ranked down in 9th although we now have 2 automatic places in the CL as well as 2 qualifying ones so that's a bonus.
Club rankings and we are now ranked the best club in the country and also moved up to 48th in all of South America. Steady movement but not going to break the top 30 or so unless we win the CL or CS.
The season was brought forward to finish a month before the World Cup in Qatar and I'm just waiting for the official end of the season next month before I quit and wait for the right job to come along.

Into December now and the season officially ends on the 7th. Wanted to check out the Hall of Fame, see where I've improved to before resigning and then had this in my inbox...

I've got to see what they have to say. Their DoF is a bit naff so I've not agreed to keep him on. Apart from that, I went along with all they had to say and even promised I'd do slightly better than merely qualify for the CL.
Transfer budget is £7.7m! That's great but wage budget is maybe a bit on the low side at £100k. Still, could switch a little over from the transfer funds if needed.
Now just have to wait and see if I get the job. Chile was the place I fancied going so it's looking good.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Earnie is God!

[Earnie is God!]

They turned me down in the end 😕

[Earnie is God!]

No other offers yet, but it's Jan 1st so a new year = a new start.

 

[Earnie is God!]

• January came and went and no appealing positions became available. There were a few in the Argentinian 2nd division but clubs in debt with a total of £35k as a wage budget? I think not
• In February, Cincinnati popped up so I applied but wasn't even afforded an interview
• In March I was becoming desperate and so looked at adding in new leagues that were starting soon, Austria in mid June and Australia in July
• A few other minor MLS teams sacked their managers but I held off. I don't understand the league and it would need to be a big draw for me to be interested
• At the start of April, both Estudiantes and Lanus managers were at risk of losing their jobs as well as Colo-Colo who were seemingly ready to replace the guy they gave the job to only 4 months ago
• LA Galaxy were also doing really poorly and Jaap Stam looked like he may be getting his P45 soon too, or should I say the 'pink slip' as they call it over there 😁
• Within days, all 3 jobs were available. Having been unemployed for 4 months and seen nothing decent come my way, I applied for all 3
• I might not 'get' the MLS rules yet but LA Galaxy was a massive draw and I couldn't resist. A few days later, they were the first to invite me to a sit down meeting
• They asked very few questions and it was all over before I knew it. Maybe I'd said something wrong but I guess you live and learn 😏

[Earnie is God!]

Apparently, I must have done something right because they offered me the job!

Jeepers! Not particularly ambitious for such a big club, only wanting to 'not finish bottom' each year.
I didn't want to push my luck with the negotiations and when they said no to a 3yr deal and insisted on 2yrs instead, I merely asked for £9.5k instead of £9.25k and they agreed.

So yeah, looks like I'm off to the U S of A!

[Earnie is God!]

[Earnie is God!]

They've won nothing since Beckham left a decade ago but a £17m transfer budget and plenty of room in wages should soon sort that out. I just need to understand the rules over here.
Chicarito is still there and captain but looks like he's getting too old to make the Best XI. I'm sure he has at least one good season left in him though

It's a common formation and one I used sometimes with Melgar to good effect so I should be able to do that here without too much change and disruption.
Good to se my new Facepack being put to good use too 😃

This was the HoF for Welsh managers. I knew it would be easy to shoot up to 2nd place, but a long way to catch Toshack at the top

Bruce Arena tops the charts over here with 10 trophies and I'm not planning to stay here long enough to beat that but if we can get a trophy or two I'll be happy enough.

[Earnie is God!]

Erm, say what now? I should not be trying to understand this at 5am 

...and then I fell asleep in front of my PC 🥱 Woke up after a few hours and dragged myself to bed. Since I've been back up, I've been out all day sorting stuff but I'm back on for the evening and looking forward to tackling this.

[Earnie is God!]

Opening game away to fierce rivals San Jose in the derby and we were 2-0 down inside 10min, pulled one back but then went 3-1 down.
Scraped a battling 3-3 draw in the end after I changed things around at half time. Doesn't move us off the bottom of the table though

 

[Earnie is God!]

Early Form 2023

After that opening 3-3 draw, we've been in good form, recording 5 wins, a draw and just the one defeat - although we were 2-0 up in that one so it was quite frustrating.
One thing for sure is that we can score goals, hitting 5 three times already. The other thing you can almost guarantee is that we will concede goals but with 'play attacking football' one of our board objectives nobody is complaining, even if it sometimes gives me a bit of a heart attack!

But now here come the issues and the bugs. Chicharito, already top earner on £58k a week, wanted £91k to renew his contract. Yes, he's been good (not as good as in real life though where his goalscoring record over there has been phenomenal) but certainly not worth that much and he's 34yo and on the decline anyway. We couldn't agree a deal and so he wanted out. His 1st club, Guadalajara, came in for him with a paltry non-negotiable offer of ~£150k but he demanded to go so what could I do? Not happy about it but he'll be off next month. Douglas Costa, ex-Juventus amongst others, is on £21k a week but also wanted a new deal, demanding to be one of our three designated players and earn £60k+. Initially, talks broke down but in the end he's signed a deal worth £49k/wk. I'm not particularly happy about it though, it's just too much money, but at least with Chicharito going, that designated slot opened up.

As for the bugs, I was after a youngster and offered the player rights to an ex-player of ours in exchange (there's this weird trade system over here). The other club accepted but there was no 'confirm' option, only the usual 'suggest' and 'make offer' buttons even though they agreed to the deal. So every few days it would come back around with the same deal in place but no choice to confirm it. In the end I had to withdraw the deal.
Next, another club offered me a swap deal of international slots e.g. you can trade one of your 8 international slots next season for something else (normally as p/ex for a player), but I don't understand why this...

I mean, what's the difference? I accepted it anyway just to see but can't tell what has changed at all 
So if the MLS proves to be buggy too, I doubt I'll be staying here more than a season. That means I've got to win something so I can move on, no pressure there then.

[Earnie is God!]

Youth Intake 2023

Looking forward to this as these are our facilities, etc...

However, it doesn't look promising. These are the best of those coming through

Lacks quality... not particularly good... isn't a great year... not a lot to like... not a lot of quality...
Nothing above a 'C' rating. As for the bottom half of the report, there's nobody at all in those categories. So my staff have to be really pessimistic about this crop of youngsters, right?
Erm, not exactly...

An excellent group you say 

[Earnie is God!]

June/July 2023

With Chicharito going, we needed a new striker and so step forward Julian Carranza. On a free after leaving Inter Miami, he's already scored 7 in 10 plus 4 in 2 cup games. Chica-who?

He's not the only player to arrive though. Perez (GK), Forster (GK) and Lozano (W) are all 17yo and Perez has already filled in for the injured Bond and played well.
Sonora is a CM/AM we bought and then released/waivered before I arrived but he's good enough to bring back in when we are short on numbers.
Palacios is a versatile LWB who can play anywhere down the left, Thiago's an excellent 18yo RB who I have high hopes for and Stewart, as some of you may know, is a decent young striker on loan from Liverpool

Overall I'm happy with the way the team is shaping up; out with the old, in with the new. Changing quite a few players hasn't really done us any harm either as we've just won 10 in a row 😍

Up into the playoffs now with 10 games left of the regular season

[Earnie is God!]

Cup Final 2023

We were 1-0 down at HT but pulled through with goals from Burdisso, a header from a free kick, a Douglas Costa penalty after a stupid foul and a breakaway goal on the counter

First trophy with LA Galaxy, hopefully more to come before I bugger off elsewhere as the league rules, transfers, wage cap are doing my head in. But I want to taste the draft early next year and see what they are all about before I go off on my travels once more.

[Earnie is God!]

August/September 2023

With one game to go, we've qualified for the Semi Finals of the playoffs without having to go through the earlier playoff rounds. It's been an excellent run of games

 

[Earnie is God!]

Youth Intake 2023

Yup, about as bad as I thought it looked like it was going to be

One potentially decent winger but that's it

 

[Earnie is God!]

MLS Cup

Having come all the way from bottom to finish top of our conference, we automatically qualified for the semi finals of the MLS Cup.

In that Western Conference Semi Final, we went 1-0 down to Dallas who made us work really hard but a rollicking at HT did the trick and we ran out 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Alvarez and Costa
The Final against Vancouver was a much easier match and we raced into a 3-0 lead through Sonora, Grandsir and Cabral. Vancouver pulled one back but before HT we were 5-1 up thanks to Carranza and Mendoza.
The Canadian outfit did give us a bit of a scare in the 2nd half as they scored twice to make it 5-3 but Dunbar settled the tie in injury time, a 6-3 win!

Onto the MLS Cup then and Eastern Conference champions Atlanta, the only side who scored more points than us overall, were our opponents.
It was a very tight game with few chances and ended 0-0 after 90min.
In extra time, we were making more headway after I made some substitutions and with just 5min to go, Jobson curled one in from outside the area to give us the win.

Disappointed there wasn't a trophy ceremony at the end though

[Earnie is God!]

End of Season Review 2023

Carranza proved to be a more than capable replacement for Chicharito

A record unbeaten run helped seal the Conference title

And don't forget the U.S. Open Cup too

 

[Earnie is God!]

Now the boys have gone off on holiday for almost two months and I can take  proper look at my next challenge. I'm going to stick around for the Drafts, etc because this may be the only time I bother with the MLS and all its faults and foibles.
they take place early next year so will have fun with that and then move on. Looking at possibly Australia. Failing that, it'll be mid/eastern Europe and gradually work my way home to the UK where I will probably want to manage one of the big boys.

[Earnie is God!]

We could be in big trouble here as just received these 5 messages, all the same but from different clubs...

These aren't deals that I've done so the previous management has left me shafted here as we'll be going down to just 3 international slots.
The additional problem is that the trade deal is broken and it won't let you ask for international slots when offering out players.

[Earnie is God!]

Yay, it's what I've been waiting for, the SUPERDRAFT!

Oh wait, we don't even have a first round pick? It was what? Traded away two seasons ago?!! 

Hmm, will I have to stay here another year to get one? Oh, next year's 1st round pick was also traded was it? Blimmin' marvelous.
Sorry, what's that? Ah, we have three 1st round picks in 2026 do we? Whoop-de-do.

Right, that's it, where's my PA? Samantha? Samantha! Get on the phone to Melbourne, I'm coming to Australia to manage in the A-League. I've had enough of these stupid foreigner restrictions, salary caps and designated player nonsense.
Hmm? You what? You've got to be kidding me!! 

 

[Earnie is God!]

Now I don't know if it is usually like this but tbh even if we'd have had first pick, there wasn't a single player in the so-called superdraft that looked any good.
I've seen drafts for the 3 main sports over in America (NFL, NBA & MLB) and they are exciting, a lot of excellent young talent being snapped up there.
And while I understand that football (soccer) isn't that big a deal out there, I would have expected some quality players at least.

We might only have had the 39th pick and there was just a pile of crap to choose from so shouldn't really have gone for anyone but I'm never likely to manage over here ever again so I had to pick someone just to say that I've done it.
And here's the lucky, lucky player...

I suspect he'll be rotting in the reserves for the foreseeable.

[Earnie is God!]

Okay, so we are well over the salary cap but there's the option to 'buy down' a player's wage impact on the cap using your ~£2m allocation budget.
So I went through players contracts, buying down as many as I could and we were now under the cap. Brilliant.
Except when I went back to squad registration it said we still quite a bit over 
I don't get it.
Have been looking for another job and the Atletico Mineiro position came up. They'd just won back to back titles in Brazil so I immediately applied and declared my interest.
This was then the sequence of (very quick) events...

Move along, nothing to see here   

 

[Earnie is God!]

Yeah, not happy. My best winger, 1st choice RB and fantastic new CB (Grandsir, Palacios and Tanaka) couldn't be registered in the squad due to this glitch with the wage cap.
Now they have basically gone for free to other teams, or will do in the next day or two. I think I'm out of here.

Sparta Prague and Club Brugge are both having poor seasons and the manager's position is insecure at both clubs. I've been keeping an eye on things and am ready to pounce.

[Earnie is God!]

No finer way to start the season and silence the critics, who are bewildered as to why we haven't registered some of our best players, than to thump Colorado 5-0.

And I think that is the first time that any side I've managed hasn't allowed even a single shot by an opponent.
A good time to quit LA perhaps?