(FM 24) FC Groningen Club Rebuild Save

[DesolateCreator]

Hello!

I am DesolateCreator. I live in the USA, and I have played FM since 2021 and have followed multiple saves on this forum. 

I wanted to do something new and start blogging my experiences, and sharing what I think is a fun idea with you guys. 



FC Groningen has recently been relegated from the Eredivisie for the 3rd time in the clubs history. The club was founded in 1971 and now it seems like the club is going into one of the lowest points of it's history. The current squad has been said to be "unfit, unbalanced", and lacked quality and "personality". It has also been said that the working conditions are "mentally unsafe". 

Groningen has noticed the new influx of American talent in the Netherlands, and thought that the new 26 yr old coach would be a good fit for the future and would be a chance worth taking to help fix the club culture. 


To start my tenure, I will be taking over in the preseason with the "My own world" option on.  I will be wiping the slate clean and will be getting rid of most, if not all of the squad from the relegated team. The best way to create a new culture, is to buy and develop talent that match your vision. Most players at the club currently lack ambition, and the will to win. Hopefully the crop of youth talent currently at the club will be able to temporarily, or completely fill the missing spots. 

Not too much history of winning in the top flight, but I plan to change that. 

Hopefully we will exceed expectations, and be promoted at the first time of asking. It is a good thing that the leash may bit a bit longer than I originally thought. 

 

Here are my goals for the save with FC Groningen:

Season 1
1. Sell all players with 10 or more appearances for the first-team squad last season.

2. Sell all players that are 30 or older.

3. Bring Youth into the first team when possible.

4. Compete for promotion. 

Season 2 (or after promotion)

1: Build squad to prevent relegation at the first time of asking. 

2. Develop youth and buy young and promising to sell high. 

 

Season 3 (onwards)

- Compete for spots in Europe.

- Finish higher than our rivals in every season.

- Help Netherlands become top of the European club coefficient.

- Become the best youth system in the nation

- Win the Champions League

 

 

This is a more basic idea for a save and is not to complicated in nature, but I just want a new challenge. I hope you are interested, and follow along!

[El Payaso]

Dutch football is always interesting and thanks to Arjen Robben, Groningen is a team that I have been following quite actively through the years. Good luck with this challenge. I will be following. 

[DesolateCreator]

To start, the squad is very youthful, with only three players exceeding the age of 30. Peersman and van Veen were recent signings and will have to be moved at a later date. Pelupessy has already been transfer listed as my first order of business. 

The list of players on the move will be a large one. Starting with some young, star players. 22yr old Johan Hove was recently bought from Stromsgodset, and will not be moveable to start with, but players like, homegrown 21 yr old Tomas Suslov and 26 yr old Laros Duarte will be top priority sells to hopefully springboard this club back into the Eredivisie. 

 

Duarte is a needed sell. He does not want to be here, due to the club getting relegated. If we can get anywhere near his 1.3mil price tag, I will take that as a win. 

Suslov is a player the fans may be sad to leave. He has everything a club would want to build around. He has made tons of appearances for the club as of late however, and has ultimately, been a part of the problem. Hopefully we can make good on this transfer, and make moves that will make the fans reflect on 4 of 5 years down the road, as a success. 

Looking at the club finances, things are nowhere near as bad as I thought they might be. We are not rich, but we do have some money to start with, and no debts to speak of. I will be receiving 100% of transfer sales to build this team back to relevance. 

 

My development center has a wealth of youth prospects ready to come in and possibly make an impact for us this year. As we start to sell players, we will start pulling some of the younger guys into the fray. The best of them all seems to be 19 yr old  Daniel Beukers. As well as 16 yr old Kyano Doesburg, 

Daniel is an either footed defender that has recently been brought in from AZ Alkmaar. He is not the most athletic player, but he looks to be the type of player that could get a bench spot, and slot into many positions. His dual footedness, and his 14 decisions and teamwork, makes him someone I would not be afraid to give 1st team minutes to if needed. 

 

Kyano, at only the age of 16, looks like some who based on his technical ability, could get some minutes in the first team, but I worry about his underdeveloped mental attributes due to his age. Hopefully, with some first team action, his mentals will develop fairly quickly. 


As for my Tactical plans, in year 1, I will be running a sort of attacking 433 DM Wide formation. Hopefully this will generate enough chances for us to be on the front foot often. 


 

Edited January 13 by DesolateCreator
Added tactic

[DesolateCreator]

Spoiler

 

 

And the exodus has begun.... First sale is 30 yr old DM Joey Pelupessy to Al-Ettifaq. Second is 24 yr old Radinio Balker also to Al-Ettifaq. After two weeks in charge. 3 million pounds has been generated on player sales. More to come. 

 

 

[DesolateCreator]

I think Al-Ettifaq is in dire of need of mid-20s decent players. 24 yr old Florian Kruger has also been sold... To guess who!

[DesolateCreator]

 

Duarte has been loaned out to Fortuna Sittard in hopes he will play in 20 league games, and trigger his future fee. No teams were interested in buying him on a permanent. 


I have also made the first signing of my tenure here at Groningen. 23 yr old Iron Gomis from Amiens in France. Gomis is a hardworking, technical midfield player who can play plenty of positions that we will be using. Being only 23, he could possibly be in our squad for a few years. Even after promotion. 

 

[DesolateCreator]

Matches in the Month of August
 

1st game of the season is against Jong Ajax. We were able to come out with a win, even after under performing on the xG. Matuta in his first ever start for the first team had a 7.9 rating. Providing a Goal and a Key chance created. Loanee goalkeeper Hidde Jurjus made some good saves to see us out to 3 points! My WBs were able to get further forward, and help in the build up play, and did wonders helping us have 63% of the ball. The pass map shows how just how crucial Matuta was in this fixture.  I am happy with the average positions of the team, as this is the shape that I am going for. 

 

 

 

Game 2:

Game 2 saw Groningen show complete dominance over Jong Utrecht. The stats show clear dominance for a majority of the game. 65% possession, and a 1.92xG to their 0.29. Johan Hove had a solid game in Midfield creating loads of chances and scoring one of his own. He and Suslov were the reason we were clicking today. Looking at the average positions chart, shows that Utrecht were on the backfoot having to use their midfield to provide defensive support, and giving us space for Suslov to operate in the wide areas on the left. We also spread the ball around a ton this game, as you can see by the pass map. 

 

 

Game 3:

 

Game 3 was another great win for Groningen with a 2-0 victory at home against Willem II. We completely dominated the game and allowed 0 shots on target. We were not as clinical as I would hope as we only converted 2 of our 11 shots on target. I am currently in the market for a striker that can finish consistently. No striker has scored a goal in the first 3 games, and do not seem to have the attributes that I desire of a striker. The average position map shows that we were the dominate team in the game, forcing their backline to be dropped deep into their final third. Our passing map shows we love to get the ball to our advanced wingbacks, and keep our striker devoid of touches. He only attempted 2 shots, 1 of which was on target. He may have had less than 15 touches this game. 

 

 

 

These fixtures in august prove we are serious about our aspirations to be playing back in the Eredivisie sooner rather than later. Hopefully we can continue our dominant nature as we continue to sell long tenured players and fill in with young players. 

 

Here are the two other purchases that were made in the month of August. 

GK Coniah Boyce-Clarke. A goalkeeper for the future. He has been signed on as our backup goalkeeper for the season and on a free from Reading. Hopefully we can give him some chances to feature in the first team, as I believe he has the potential to be great. He already has 1 cap for Jamaica. He has great Agility and Reflexes, which in my opinion, is the two most important goalkeeper attributes. 

 

Our next signing was Theo. A midfielder from Real Madrid Castilla. Theo is a very creative midfielder who gives us someone we can trust on Free Kicks and Corners. We need to be a threat in every facet of our game, and having a set piece guy provides us with that. Yes, he is slow, and we splashed 1mil on him and 2 mil over the next few years. I believe, however, he has enough potential to be starting in the Eredivisie one day. 

[DesolateCreator]

Here is the history at the end of the first transfer window. Couldnt get in that striker that I need it. Time to give youth players a shot. 

[DesolateCreator]

 

[DesolateCreator]

September Matches:

On September 1st we played against TOP Oss. Groningen again earned themselves a top to bottom victory. Game was another case of lacking clinical finishing. TOP forced us to play wider, and that is something we have not had to do up to this point. It took us a bit to adjust to their narrow state of play. Although being so wide, the pass map shows we made sure to run the ball through the middle of the field often, while we controlled possession. Gomis has turned out to be a successful signing so far, as he makes a difference when he appears in a match. 

 

Game 2:

This game was played on September 15th against ADO Den Haag. Groningen comes away with a well deserved win, with two late goals from Romano Postema, a striker who finally scored. He was fantastic after being subbed into the game in the 75th minute. I do not like that it seems that my players were stumbling over each other in the midfield this game. I do believe it is due to Theo's lack of pace however. We also didnt play through the middle as much in this game. Not sure how I feel about that. We seem to be more effective when we play inside. 

 

 

 

Game 3:

Game 3 came on September 18th against bottom of the table Jong PSV. Postema gets another brace as Suslov gets PoM with 3 goal contributions. I am unhappy with only having 5 shots on target. That being said, we were more clinical in front of goal, finishing 4 of the 5 of those shots. We also played wide again this game, but PSV liked to stay in the middle of the pitch, and it was crowded, so we did not have much of a choice. 

 

 

Game 4:

Game 4 was against Helmond Sport, who at the time, was in the 3rd spot in the table. We held the ball often, and did not take advantage of our chances. We had just played 2 games in three days, and had to play this game four days later on 9/22. Helmond Sport just sat back, and let us have the ball, and hit us on the counter attack up the right side of the field often, taking advantage of our hyper aggressive wing backs. Our DM played more like a CB this game and was not offensive enough to create the necessary chances. 

 

Game 5:

 

Groningen played FC Den Bosch on 9/29 and put a beating on them 5-1. Postema again gets on the scoresheet but Abraham was the star of the show today. Den Bosch could do nothing about our attack, and we overwhelmed them. Getting a whopping 4.20 xG. We took advantage of what turned into a super defensive 4-4-1-1 in defense and were able to find spaces in their extremely narrow defensive approach. They placed many players in the box, and it did not matter. 

 

After 8 games in 2 months, here is the league table:


 

Venlo has had a fantastic start to their season, and are pushing for top of the table at the end of this period. Hopefully we can get a point advantage in our fixtures against them. 

 

Edited January 14 by DesolateCreator
deleting a picture

[DesolateCreator]

 

We have agreed to sign Uruguayan 18 yr old Rodrigo Rey, when his contract expires on 3/30/2024. I saw the opportunity to sign a possible young striker for the future and jumped on it. 

[DesolateCreator]

 

[DesolateCreator]

I have finalized the signing of Gylfi Sigurdsson. 


Gylfi brings great talent to the club and brings a great mentality that we can use to mentor the young players into a better mentality. He will also be a large help in our promotion push this season. 

Edited January 14 by DesolateCreator

[DesolateCreator]

 

As I am trying to get rid age, the only options for striking options that would for sure do the job, were older. I signed Bas Dost because he has scored at every level and will help us to promotion. 

[DesolateCreator]

We hit a rough patch of form in the month of December, and were struggling to find results away from home. 

But then we managed a huge result, and beat Eredivisie team Vitesse in the cup. 

 

 

My midfield came to play. 

 

November has just really been dominance from us, even in the Eindhoven game, we shouldnt have given up 3 goals. 

 

The table looks very good as of now. I am still trying to get rid of players, but nobody is coming knocking right now. Once the transfer window opens again, i still have some work to do. 

[DesolateCreator]

Just another young player for the B team, possibly more. 

[DesolateCreator]

[DesolateCreator]

October was a successful month for the most part. One disappointing result led to a few good ones. 

 

 

Losing against VVV-Venlo in a 6 pointer means we will have to have much help from them if we want to win the league. Theo was caught out multiple times on the attack, and allowed us to get overran in the midfield. They took their chances well, and we did not, plain and simple. We focused play down the right side of the pitch, and probably missed some opportunities due to forcing it. 

 

After this we took care of business against a couple of lower table teams in Telstar and Maastricht.

 

And the biggest result of them all, is continuing our unlikely cup run and beating AZ Alkmaar with 1 late goal, and two goals in extra time!! We came in and controlled the game, and ended up starting the fire with a set piece goal late. Another one was scored in extra time, and Valente scored late just to add insult to injury. We were able to do what we wanted, and their striker was not able to get as far up as he would like due to the constant pressure.

[DesolateCreator]

Youth Intake Preview:


I really hope Art knows what he is talking about...

[SixPointer]

Great idea for a save. A club with a great history of bringing through talent. You have started well. The passing shapes are very impressive for a first season. 

[DesolateCreator]

I have brought in Gonzalo on a trial. I need to see if he fits our team. I am actively trying to sell at least 1 winger, maybe 2 and he would be a decent short term replacement. Although I do not like that he hates big matches, he may end up being strictly a squad option. 

 

I have also agreed to sign Cyprus u21 international, PSV youngster, Konstantinos Evripidou.  

 

Konstantinos looks like he could possibly be a great piece of our team in the future. If PSV saw something in him, its enough for me to bring him in a give him a fair shot. Not sure where he will slot in quite yet, but I have a few months to figure out. 

Edited January 15 by DesolateCreator
added more content

[DesolateCreator]

10 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Great idea for a save. A club with a great history of bringing through talent. You have started well. The passing shapes are very impressive for a first season. 

Thanks! I am having a great time so far. I have always been interested in Groningen but from a far.

[DesolateCreator]

Here is the fixtures for January. Not too much to note. However the PSV game was better for us than the score line shows. 

 

For the first time this season we did not win the possession battle. That is to be expected against a team of PSV's quality. However, we were fairly even on the XG battle, but they created more, and finished their chances when it mattered. Nobody expected us to make it this far, and to give PSV a run for their money is a great accomplishment. Many more surprises to come. 

[DesolateCreator]

 

Another free signing on the docket. This guy looked very good with high potential, plus he is Dutch.

[DesolateCreator]

Here is the month of Feb,

We got out goode on the Dordrecht game, We should not have scored as many against them, and genuinely didnt play well. But brilliance from Matuta and Abraham got us through with 5. 
 

 

 

After scoring when we are not dominate, this game was a complete opposite. We absolutely dominated Top OSS, and Suslov and Theo generated 14 chances alone. We were not clinical enough, but it was new signing Rey up top, so that may explain alot of it. 

 

Yet another disappointment for Groningen in this one. We are a dominate team, but sometimes we are not clinical. Yet again, Eindhoven got the best of us in this one. Should have gotten 3 instead of 1 here.

And finally dodging the possible start of bad form, we turned around and took care of business against Helmond Sport. Abraham and Hove brilliant yet again. 

[DesolateCreator]

Took care of business again in the month of March. I am kinda speeding through things on autopilot now because I am killing it. However, whenever the offseason comes around, I will be in the trenches trying to find signings.

 

Trying to fight for the services of Bryan Teixeira on a free. Scouts rated him at an A+, I am going to try and trust them this time. 

After moving some of my transfer budget over, I will have about 3 mil even. I am going to try and spend my whole budget before given my next years budget so it does not disappear.

[DesolateCreator]

YOUTH INTAKE!!! HE WAS RIGHT!

Campbell Jones looks like he could be on the bench tomorrow... however, I am going to keep him in the youth team for now and see what his development looks like early on, and see if he can stay healthy. 

 

Reuvers looks interesting. I am excited to see how he develops over time. Same thing with Zeijlmans. Great last name, looks to possibly be an interesting player. 

[SixPointer]

Nice intake! Academy is well known in Groningen hopefully this carries on for you! The next Arjen Robben would be special

[DesolateCreator]

We won the League!

Some big wins late in the season and bad form late from Venlo allowed us to take the title from them in the last month, including a 5-0 domination of them to put the icing on the cake!!!

 

I will say, the team tried to bottle it... But we won on the final day 6-2 to secure the title. 

 

I will be giving you updates on transfers in and out, and will go over a whole review of the summer transfer window near the end! I have a couple of more players that need to leave to meet the goal of selling everyone with 10 appearances from the relegated team, but we should be able to make some good money off of them at this point. I am not posting the budgets for the next season because they didnt change much. 

3.2 mil in the transfer budget, with about 8.5 million in the payroll. They gave me an extra 3 mil for wages and that is about it... Lets see what we can do! Oh, and here are the end of season 1 stats. 

Edited January 17 by DesolateCreator
added more

[DesolateCreator]

First sale was a big one! Hove was in great form all year, and practically led us to the title. However it was time for us to cash in big, since he had to go this summer for meeting the previous criteria. 

 

Edited January 17 by DesolateCreator

[DesolateCreator]

Looking at my squad depth screen, my main transfer targets are as shown. 

- 2 Center Backs that can start. I would prefer Blokzijl in the DM role. 

- Depth at both LB and RB

- A starting striker, or 2 that can be rotated.

- Possibly a young midfielder (Eiting) or two that can replace Sigurdsson (who we resigned begrudgingly due to the fans being outraged at the possibility of him leaving. It was about 150k cheaper a year however.)

- A starting quality GK. 

 

 

[DesolateCreator]

Here are some of the notable signings so far, and an outgoing as of 7/9/2024. 


OUTGOINGS:

Irandust was on the Transfer list all year and finally someone came in for him. One of the last few that had to go due to playing too many games the season before. 

 

 

 

INCOMINGS:

Yan Dhanda is a player who we have to pay a bit more because of non-eu. I didnt really like that, however, I think he can be a decent option at alot of positions once we train him there. Super depth option. First trained position will be Striker. 

 

We bought N'Dri to play striker for us this season. He is rapid and has room to grow. I thought 1.1 million from Eupen for this guy was a great deal. Now that I have more than 10 mil to spend that is. 

 

[Lyiam_13]

I am really enjoying your progress with the save. I also started a save with Groningen at the same time as you.

[DesolateCreator]

2 hours ago, Lyiam_13 said:

I am really enjoying your progress with the save. I also started a save with Groningen at the same time as you.

Awesome man! Glad to hear you are enjoying it. How is your team doing?

[DesolateCreator]

Here is some more transfer business as of 7/26/2023. I will also show the place of my finances at the current time!

OUTGOINGS:

Laros Duarte: Sold to Fortuna Sittard for 950k after meeting 20 game clause in his loan agreement.

 

Marvin Peersman: Finally left for free after a year of trying to get him out of the club. He is 33 and brought in by the previous regime. He goes to Al-Batin to in Saudi Arabia.

 

Samuel Dikos: Sold to Venlo for 180k. Was never really going to get into the team, and I did not see his potential being a factor for us going forward. When they came in I bit their hand off. 50% sell on clause though, just in case I am wrong. 

Kian Slor: Sold Kian Slor to Estrela de Amadora Sad in Portugal for 350k. He played alot for us last season due to me loaning out some previous players at said position. He played well in the matches he played in, but for some reason, wanted to be the highest earner at the club. I was never going to play that game, so he had to go. Even though he was homegrown, he was being greedy.

 

INCOMINGS :

Owen Otasowie: Owen is a 23 year old American international. I needed somebody who could slot into that CB position. Being American, I always love my American players, and do not be surprised if you see more brought in over time. Owen is a solid player with room to grow. My scouts already think he is at this level. 5.6 mil seemed cheap for his services for me and completely worth it. He should be valuable on the set pieces, and if I can fend other teams off, he could be here for years to come. 

 

Karamoko Sankara:  Karamoko looked like someone that would be amazing at striker for us. When I saw his price tag I was shocked. If he does not perform, he will bring us a good profit at the very least. Having scored 17 last year, I hope that is not a problem though. 

 

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

 

[DesolateCreator]

INCOMINGS (cont):  

Hubert Graczyk: Graczyk was a free transfer after being released from Arsenal. I may loan him out for a year, or keep him on the bench as our primary backup. Not certain yet. 

Abdoulaye Djire: He has already been loaned back out. Mostly signed to be a profit to begin with, but my staff thinks hes got good potential. We will see what his loan spell looks like. 

Amed Diomande: Amed was yet another free signing. He will be one of our bench wingers this season. He looks like he could do a great job for us this year, and could develop into a great player in time. 

Andi Hoti: Andi is a loan in from Magdeburg, with a 1.1 mil option to buy,  and he will be our other center back option this season. There were not many permanent CB options that looked that great and/or wanted to come to us at a decent price. So Hoti looks great for what we need. We will decide his future at the club at a later date. We are having to play all his wages, but they are only 214k per year. 

 

 

 

FINANCES:

Still got some money to spend, and there may be some more leaving to generate more funds. We will see what we can do with it.

[DesolateCreator]

We are a week before our first Eredivisie game. Here we go to look at the next set of incomings, I have not had any outgoing players since the last check-in

 

INCOMINGS:  

Kasim Adams:  Kasim was another free transfer, I have watched him for a while, but he was out of our range of wages. He was about to have to go back to the Ghanaian league, and because of that, we were able to drop his wage demands and get him in cheaper. He will slot in perfectly at CB and will be a great addition to the team. I believe him and Otasowie will start together on the back line. 

 

Soloman Bonnah: Solomon will be our number 2 RB and will provide good depth on the other side as well this season. He is very pacey and but needs to work on his technical ability a bit. I had to over pay for him a bit but since he is Dutch, I went ahead and did it. May be one I come to regret in the future, but I needed a RB and there were not many decent options out there that would come to my team. 

 

My starting 11 will look something like this to start this season. Have not filled the GK hole yet but hopefully will have an answer to that problem soon enough. 

[DesolateCreator]

AS soon as I hit submit on the post, I got another signing confirmed...  He will probably be our starting LB this season. BTW I am using 2 different skins, I just think the player profiles look better on Tato in pictures, but I like the stats that the SAS skins provide. 

[DesolateCreator]

Almost forgot about fixing up my staff room. I have brought in a load of new staff members before the season begins. Here they are. 

GK Coach Herbert Ilsanker:
 

Attacking Coach Albert Meyong:

Another GK Coach Milton Patino:

 

Fitness Coach Nicolas Dyon:

 

Second Fitness Coach Juan Manuel Alfano:

Head of Youth Development Chris Hayden

I am an FC Dallas fan IRL and saw that he was available for the job. FC Dallas, being one of the best academy's in America, I could not pass it up. 

Defensive Coach Kolo Toure

[DesolateCreator]

A couple of more big signings and an outgoing!
 

OUTGOING:
 

Spezia bought Nordin Musampa for 1mil, he was going to be on the fringes anyway, and I do not think he was going to develop well enough anyway. 

 

INCOMING:

 

Rabby Mateta Pepa was signed from Standard Liege for 2.1mil, he is a squad player with tons of potential to get better. I am excited to see what he does in the future. 

And here is your biggest signing of the summer!!

Svetoslav Vutsov is a 22 year old GK already capped 7 times for Bulgaria. He has loads of potential and has everything you need in a Goalkeeper. He likes big matches and is somewhat consistent. I spent the rest of my 4mil budget plus incentives on him. Hope he turns to be worth the money, and more. 

S

 

[DesolateCreator]

First run of results in the Eredivisie are not bad. Actually pretty encouraging. 

 

The Vitesse game went well. Theo showed out. 2 goals on Pens and 2 assists. 

 

The NEC game was a game we should have ran away with, but unfortunately we could not get the win. 

This home fixture against Ajax was probably our best chance to beat them, unfortunately the game was pretty stale. They stalled us out and we just kinda let them tbh.

Edited January 18 by DesolateCreator

[DesolateCreator]

 

[DesolateCreator]

Through the month of September. 

 

We were dominate and finished our chances. Not much else to say outside of that. Nothing spectacular. 

 

Another dominate game for us. Groningen is looking good so far early into the Eredivisie season. We are looking good so far. Our new signings are doing their jobs and filling the holes!

 

Another good result against a good team. This PSV team is loaded with talent as they have added in Jonathan David as well. Hopefully we can build on this win and steal one from them later on. Although the reason we scored is because their Goalkeeper fluked. 

Getting one over on one of the other newly promoted team. Venlo was a hard team to beat last year, and we looked better than them from the first whistle. 

AZ Alkmarr is another good team that we drew with. Our defense had to play well this game as they were dominate, we had some great flashes of talent but other than that it was a slog. 

 

 

[DesolateCreator]

The month of October, had a ton of injuries, and still some decent results, but I feel that the next month will be the bad one because of these injuries. 

 

 

Great game from our team. N'Dri showed why we brought him in this game. 

This was an expected loss. We have alot of injuries where our 5th choice striker up top. With a team of Feyenoord's quality, no way we win this game. The team played okay, but N'Dri was quality again but he was taken off because I saw the writing on the wall. 

Another horrible game for us in a Derby, but we still won. They could not finish chances and we just got super lucky. Diomande was class however, finishing shots that looked hopeless. 

[DesolateCreator]

November was a shaky month as predicted. Injuries played a large part in these results, but I have made a HUGE signing as well. I saw he was available and could not pass it up when I could make the deal work. 

Sad game, horrible finishing. 

 

The American scored a 94th minute penalty to send us home with no points... It is unfortunate because we probably deserved the win, but shout out to their keeper as he had a tremendous game.

 

Donny Van de Beek is our big signing. He was willing to take a pay cut for a TON of bonuses, however, he comes back home and will be the leader that this team needs. Hopefully he will stay with us for a while, or maybe bring back his value and get another good resale for a dutch club. 

 

Disappointing result against Go ahead. We really should have won this game. Our front three did their job, but our defense let the team down. 

 

Hopefully we will soon be able to get youth into the first team as well, but as of right now, none of them are good enough to help us. We will see how the season goes, and if we are secure, I will probably be putting some into the first team.