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

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

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

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

Small gains for the Nation .

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.

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

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

Haha yes it's a rubbish title, subject to change Thanks, a really good start, Sacchi FTW

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

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.

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 .