Dong21

2022/23 Squad Performance With European qualification secured (albeit with qualifying rounds to navigate), my attention turns to enhancing my squad so that it is capable of competing in the Europa Conference League whilst also looking to once again finish 'best of the rest' in the Portuguese Liga. Before I begin to review the transfer options available to me, it is important to first reflect back on the performances of my squad over the season concluded. I started by signing the best players available to me. When our budget was transformed I was able to undertake wholesale changes to the squad. Signings made from October onwards have been more youthful and transfers out have taken the age profile of the squad down. The team finished the season in good form and as such it will likely be more of a case of evolution than revolution this summer. So let's take a look at how my players got on in the 2022/23 season: Goalkeepers First choice 'keeper Brigido had a strong season, delivering a clean sheet in half of the games he played and winning the clubs' Fans Player of the Season award. Despite his solid displays and the new contract I gave him just a few months back, this is a position I will likely look to improve upon in the summer. At the age of 32 he is unlikely to improve much and a higher quality goalkeeper could make a big difference both in Europe and on the domestic front. Reserve 'keeper Youfeigane is yet to make his debut, but at only age 23 he has plenty of time for opportunities and growth. Right Backs Mario has started his Estrela career well and has been a marked improvement on predecessor Lopes. Young Hevertton ended up playing more games than expected. An area for improvement for next year will be for them both to look to contribute more assists, especially if we continue to operate with wing backs. Left Backs At the start of this adventure I identified Mansur as our key player and it is fair to say that he lived up to expectations. He was named in the Portuguese Liga's Team of the Season, and was the only player not from the 'Big Three' to achieve this. Understudy Reis picked up six separate injuries during the course of the season, with the longest one ruling him out for six weeks. Given that he is 31 years old, I am thinking it might be prudent to look to replace him during the summer. Centre Backs Summer signing Sané did not live up to expectations and, especially now he is 33, will be moved on during the transfer window. Another player who underwhelmed me was Gaspar and as such he may also be moved on. Signings Moore, Hernando and Marcelo all did well. I have an option to buy Marcelo but I am inclined to let that expire and consider my options in the summer when potentially better players will be interested in joining. Feratovic continues to have great potential and received a good level of game time to aide his development. Moore won the league's Defender of the Month in May after three clean sheets. Central Midfield Danilovic has been terrific since signing in January. He has made the defensive midfield position his own and appears to be improving as a player already. Two other signings that have been successes were Cafú and Oakley-Boothe, with the latter jointly getting the most assists for the club. We are potentially 'carrying a little weight' in central midfield with many options to choose from, therefore we may look to move on some players either on loan or permanently. Although the counter argument to that is that we should have more games to play next campaign. Attacking Midfielders The signings of Brown, Coric and Maknoun can probably be classed as failures. I signed them with a view to playing 4-2-31, this did not work for us in the league, we switched back to 5-1-2-2 and hit a rich vein of form and as such these players were not required. Brown and Coric, in particular, were pretty poor when they did get to play. I now have the choice whether to sell them (and likely make a nice profit since I signed them for free) or keep them and give them a second chance, giving us the versatility to play multiple formations. Maknoun has had less chances and has looked promising in moments, he deserves a second chance more than the other two. Dack started really strong in the Taca de Liga and was actually the competition's top goalscorer. He then didn't quite hit the same heights in the league but did start to hit form as the season neared it's conclusion. His direct free kick goal against Rio Ave was named the club's Goal of the Season. Finally, right winger Gong was another victim of our change in formation. When he played he looked good and made contributions. Strikers When I signed strikers Fortune and Karamoko I did not envisage they would form such an effective strike partnership so quickly. Karamoko was a phenomenon; the club's Young Player of the Season and Signing of the Season, the player who won the most Player of the Match awards (five) and the player with the best average match rating (7.4). It is almost a shame the season had to stop and halt his momentum, after scoring four in four he won the league's Player of the Month, Young Player of the Month and Forward of the Month. His strike partner Fortune even came second in these awards! Fortune was our top goalscorer with 18 strikes in just 23 appearances.

It was a great trip, thanks. We were staying not too far from Mahon. As tempted as I would have also been to go to the Benfica game, that does sound like the right decision

May 2023 The month of May could not have got off to a better start as we romped to victory against Moreirense. Bradley Dack was back in the team thanks to our recent switch to 4-2-3-1 and got his first goal in some time, from the penalty spot. Cafu was man of the match and also delivered a goal of his own. The final goalscorer, who can't be seen in the screenshot above, was from reserve striker Ronaldo in the 88th minute. The only negative was centre back Hernando twisting his ankle and being ruled out for four weeks. To my delight, I then learned that Chaves had lost Vizela and we had moved up into 7th place by one point. After the game I was once again approached by Patrice Evra who expressed his delight that we had confirmed a top half finish, four years sooner than he was expecting. You're welcome, Patrice. My delight that Chaves had lost soured somewhat when I realised that we next had to also play Vizela who had hit a late season spell of form. Jardel scored an amazing volley for them to take the lead. Despite us having more shots and better xG, it just wasn't our day and we fell to a 3-1 defeat. Chaves lost, but Portimonense won, meaning we fell back to 7th with just two games to go. Next up was our newly established rivals Chaves. The nerves before the game turned out to be unnecessary. I switched us back to 5-1-2-2 and we dominated from start to finish. We scored three but had two more ruled out as marginally offside. Striker Fortune was named as the league's Player of the Week. In further good news, Portimonense lost 2-0 to Sporting Lisbon. These results meant on the final day of the season we started 6th, two points ahead of Portimonense, who were to play Vizela. I barely got a chance to get nervous against Rio Ave as Fortune scored in just 22 seconds. Dack scored a great direct free kick and the win was rounded off with a third from Karamoko. Prioe to the match Diego Tardelli announced his retirement so, with the game clearly won, I brought him on for the last five minutes to get an ovation from our small but passionate fan base. Tardelli may have only started three games all campaign, but his goals against Sporting and Benfica, plus his three goals in four games to start the season, will never be forgotten by me. Vizela continued to play a big role in the big battle for the sixth and final Portuguese European qualification place, defeating Portimonense and allowing Chaves to overtake them into seventh place. Our victory meant that we qualified for the Europa Conference League (second qualifying round)! This is a competition I have never managed in before and I am extremely excited to see how this small side will fare in Europe. I had expected a relegation battle, and obviously expectations changed when our finances improved, but gelling a team mid-season is not easy so I still consider this an overachievement. Porto were the clear dominant force, winning the treble. Villas Boas was sacked when he could not save Famalicao from relegation. Casa Pia lost 4-3 on aggregate against Nacional in the relegation play-off, meaning the island side join Maritimo and Santa Clara in their promotions to the Portuguese Liga. Our challenge for next season will be to try and once achieve the status of 'best of the rest' behind the 'big three' and the well-established pair of Vitoria and Sporting Braga, whilst juggling European football.

April 2023 We started the month by rompimg to victory at home against Arouca. Karamoko and Fortune are forming a strong partnership and both went happy after this game with a brace and a hat-trick between them. Next was a trip to league leaders Porto who were on a run of 10 straight wins. We were unable to stop them and defeat saw us fall to 7th in the table. We also suffered defeat against local rivals Benfica, although this game felt like a closer affair. Angel Di Maria, the best player in the league, was the difference maker. Luckily Chaves also lost so we stayed just one point behind 6th place and the coveted Europa Conference League place. One positive was that despite two defeats in a row we received a series of positive announcements: we were confirmed as having avoided relegation, we achieved the club's record highest finish and we achieved the chairman's goal for us to "become an established Portuguese Liga team" a year ahead of plan. The defeat against Vitoria was extremely disappointing. We know that we will lose to the 'big three' on most occasions, but hope for something against everyone else. This was disappointing in particular due to defensive midfielder Danilovic giving away a 90th minute penalty which cost us a point. This loss saw us fall 4 points behind Chaves and even slip behind Portimonense, dropping us to 8th. The next game, therefore, was crucial in our battle for European football. I conducted a team meeting days before the big game and my rallying cry to not let our heads drop was well received. I switched our formation back to 4-2-3-1 and asked the team to play defensively solid. Right winger Gong got a rare start thanks to the formation shift and he was the difference maker as his deflected shot became the winning goal. To my delight I saw after the game that Chaves had drawn 0-0 with relegation contenders Familicao, meaning that not only did we leapfrog Portimonense we also closed the gap on Chaves to just two points. During the course of the month, a group of senior players approached me to complain that goalkeeper Brigido had not been offered a new contract. I had been waiting until the summer to make a decision on what to do with him but, given he has had a great season and also the fact I was keen to avoid squad unrest at this crucial stage of the season, I conceded and gave him a new three year contract. Central midfielder Fall also requested a deal during the month too. I also gave him a three year deal. I am undecided as to whether he will be part of my plans next season, but I thought at least this protects his resale value. Squeaky Bum Time There are four games remaining of the season. We are two points off European qualification. It is all in our hands as one of our final four games is against Chaves, who sit two points ahead of us. The remaining fixtures are against mid-table sides Moreirense, Vizela and Rio Ave. Will it be jubilation or heartache?

Apologies for the slow reply! I've been holidaying in Menorca, but I am back home now and have resumed playing. This is what Cerqueira looks like: As you can see he has already improved since joining the club (I have played on a month - see below - and in this time he has been called up for the Portugal U20 World Cup squad and is starting player!). Hopefully a player I can nurture over this career. Update - Cerqueira, Henrique and Vezo have all signed pre-contract deals.

Good to see you’ve picked up where you left off - strong start to the season and more of the same to come, I am sure.

I think this is the fastest I’ve played through a season whilst writing about it in detail - must be enjoying myself! Hope you had a good time in Rome, my friend. Thanks! It will certainly be competitive but I will do my best. Thanks mate. Those performances certainly have made me feel like we’re going in the right direction.

Congratulations High drama!

The only one who deserves special focus on is Jose Cerquiera, so I will keep an eye on his progress and report back on how he develops.

February 2023 No manager is happy with losing twice in a row, but I certainly wasn't unhappy with my teams performances against Sporting Lisbon and Sporting Braga. Against Sporting both of my strikers got on the scoresheet and against Braga we had lots of possession and shots but were unlucky to be narrowly beaten. Things started poorly against Casa Pia when Mansur gave away a penalty but then things clicked into gear and in-form striker Fortune bagged a brace. Karamoko won the league's Player of the Week accolade for his performance against Estoril. After four goals in four games, Yassim Fortune was voted both the league's Forward of the Month and Player of the Month. Both the board and fans gave me a rating of A+ showing they were also satisfied with our performances in all four games. Another highlight from this month was that Evra accepted my request to enhance the club's training facilities. This will cost a large amount of money, but sets us up for long-term success. The work will be done in time for pre-season in July. I did also ask Evra if he would consider enhancing our youth recruitment. Disappointingly the response was that our youth set up was "good enough for a club of our size". March 2023 With only two games in March, I thought I would tag this update onto the February one. High drama occurred when we played lowly Famalicao with substitute forward scoring a sublime match winner in the 94th minute. This win was essential as it took us up the table into 6th place. This did not last for long however, as Portimonense won a game in hand they had been waiting to play for some time. Eight of our players were called up for international duty, demonstrating the growth in quality in the squad. We beat Gil Vicente whereas Portimonense drew their match meaning that once again we leaped up to 6th place. Can we hang on here for the final two months of the season? The final thing to report on is our first youth intake. 14 of the youth prospects were given youth contracts at the club. I then went on to also give Cerqueira, Henrique and Vezo pre-contract deals for when they turn 16. Clearly Cerqueira is the standout prospect. At only the age of 15 he has already been called up to go to the U20 World Cup as part of the Portugal squad!

Mid-Season Squad Summary Before we proceed into February, I promised that I would provide a summary of what my squad now looks like after a busy November and January. Goalkeepers Brigido remains our first choice goalkeeper. He only has five months left on his contract and I am pondering whether to give him a new deal. On one hand, he has performed very well with an admirable ratio of a clean sheet in 50% of league games played. I do feel we can likely find an improvement in the summer. A decision for further down the line. A Brazilian club did bid £250k for him late in the window, but I decided to reject this. Youfeigane is yet to make his debut but is young enough to be comfortable that he is one for the future. Right Backs New first choice right back Mario has already proven to be an upgrade on both Lopes and Hevertton. Hevertton has featured in most games, as either a starter or a sub, and has been showing progress over time. Left Backs The only position that remains the same as at the start of the season is left back. Mansur continues to be an important player. His understudy Reis has also played well when called upon, but has picked up a number of knocks throughout the campaign and as such I may seek a replacement in the summer. Centre Backs Compared to the start of the season, we now have a much stronger and more experienced pool of central defenders. With our preference for playing five at the back, we have kept stocked up with six players. Gaspar and Feratovic will be disappointed with their lack of playing minutes. Central Midfielders Our defensive midfielders are Danilovic and Tavares, with Gailbraith also comfortable playing there if needed. First choice in central midfield are Oakley-Boothe and Cafú. Fall and Guzman remain from the starting squad. I would have happily accepted an appropriate offer for them in the window, but nothing came in and as such we are carrying a few players too many here. Wingers With the squad looking very large, I took the decision to terminate the loans of Leo Jaba and Costinha. Both were regularly unfit and neither had played much as they didn't suit our most utilised formation. We do not have tonnes of depth now, but with Brown, Coric and Gong we have the option to play 4-2-3-1 when we see fit. Attacking Midfielders On paper, our star man is central attacking midfielder Dack. When we play a 4-2-3-1 he sits behind the striker and when we play 5-1-2-2 he can operate as part of the central midfield pair, in a box-to-box midfielder role. Maknoun is Dack' understudy, although he hasn't had many opportunities to shine yet. Strikers Our first choice strike partnership is now Fortune and Karamoko. On the bench we have two able reserves, Joao and Tavares, both who offer different things to the starting pair which I hope will help unlock difficult defences. Tardelli remains, but the intention is for him to rarely feature. As vice-captain he operates in somewhat of an ambassadorial role and I have recently persuaded him to go on a coaching course as he prepared for the next stage of his career. On a bargain £850 per week, it was a no brainer to keep him around for emergency scenarios. Ronaldo's contract was due to expire at the end of the season so I rewarded him with a new year deal on similar terms to what he was already on. This protects his value if we wish to sell him or keeps him as a rotation option. Best Eleven

Squad building is probably my favourite part of the game, so pleased to hear reading about it is also enjoyable. I think you and I are aligned on desired profile of signings, I just had to be creative at the start of the season No regrets, Tardelli's goals started our season off perfectly! That said, I am much happier with the profile of my current squad. Thanks @Jogo Bonito - it's going to be a really tight battle between Chaves, Portimonense and ourselves for that final Europa Conference League place. I like to think the profile of a lot of the signings (English, Portuguese, French and Africans) has been very consistent with what Patrice will do with the club in real life! Very happy with Danilovic and Karamoko and I am pleased to say their good form has continued into February.

January 2023 The new year began with the news that we were moving from the 23,888 capacity Estadio Municipal de Leira to the 15,000 capacity Estadio Jose Gomes. Both stadiums are council owned, however the condition of the Leira stadium was considered very good whereas Estadio Jose Gomes is considered simply 'good'. As you can see, the move had no impact on our really low attendances, with only 371 fans turning up to the first home game of 2023 against Vizela. Having being predicted to be battling against relegation, we are massively overachieving expectations this season which I had hoped would have a positive impact on attendances. But so far, nothing has changed, which is concerning. One point from three games was a really poor start to a period in which I was full of optimism following the squad rebuild. We did have a lot of chances in these games, 17 shots against Chaves for example, but things were not clicking and only one goal was scored. To compound our problems, new signing Dack bruised his ankle after 11 minutes, was taken off and ruled out for four weeks. The Rio Ave result was the moment I decided things had to change, we just were not playing well. I knew the next game against bottom side Sporting Farense was must win. We switched back to our trusted 5-1-2-2, gave Danilovic his debut as DM, and started Karamoko and Fortune as a strike partnership for the first time. We had 70% possession and an xG of 3. It was a great performance. The team pressed and pressed, all match long. Danilovic provided a top class through ball to assist Karamoko's second. I did wonder if this was the team finding it's rhythm or that we were just playing a really poor opponent. An even better performance followed against Boavista which has given me hope that we have found our best approach. Once again Danilovic and Karamoko were the best players on the pitch and looking like money well spent in the transfer market. We finish the month in 7th place, four points off a Europa Conference League qualification place. The board has not changed it's expectations of us to attempt to avoid relegation, but my personal ambition is to try and get us into Europe, so this is what we will battle for over the final four months of the season.

Great career! I have enjoyed reading all of your updates and the story you’ve told. I am intrigued to see, after you’ve taken the time to build the squad over the summer, whether you’ll be tempted to test yourself in the Europa Conference League!

Winter Transfer Window Ahead of the transfer window re-opening in January, owner Patrice Evra surprised me with his generosity by increasing the transfer budget unprompted from £0 to £3m. We still had £42k per week wage budget left over from when Evra increased this at the start of November. There was therefore the possibility to add to the squad in the transfer window, but after our recent squad rebuild the need was quality and not quantity. Departures Given the number of new signings in November, there was a need to trim down the size of our squad. We managed to get good fees for first team players Aloisio, Correira, Balbundia and Cordeiro. Elder statesmen of the squad Lopes and Filipe were allowed to leave for nominal fees. There were no taker for Gomes, so I decided to loan him to Nacional. Youngsters van der Sluijs, Hoyos, N'do, Luan, Matuvangua and Nouri were loaned out to aide their development. The other players that you can see departing on frees are B Team players who were surplus to requirements. I had hoped to be able to sell aging winger Salamoa however, like Kazim Richards, he picked up a three month injury and so was unable to be sold. He has also been relocated to the B Team to see out the remainder of his contract. Arrivals I mentioned in my November squad building update that I had also agreed a £700k deal (£300k up front fee, with add-ons) for a striker who would join on 01 January. That signing is Mamoudou Karamoko who arrives from FC Kobenhavn, where he had been for two years following a £1.3m move from LASK. I was looking for a player with his athletic profile, which I think will be very effective in the Portuguese Liga. The other 'star' signing was Bosnian defensive midfielder Vladan Danilovic from Nacional for £625k. Like Karamoko he is a great age profile and has no obvious flaws in his game. I recruited some good attacking midfielders in November but there were no quality defensive midfielders available - this was therefore a position we needed to fill. A good defensive mid will be essential to create balance in the team and will assist us when facing the 'big three'. In the January results update that will follow shortly, you will see that results started poorly. The 4-2-3-1 that had been effective in the League Cup group stage was leaving us defensively exposed. I therefore decided to pivot back to the 5-1-2-2 that had served us well in the first two months of the season. This meant that we needed three good centre backs. Moore and Hernando had arrived in November, but our third good quality centre back Sane was constantly picking up knocks. I therefore looked to the loan market and was able to bring in Joao Marcelo from Porto for the remainder of the season. We have the option to make the transfer permanent for £925k included in the loan contract. At the end of the window we added two squad players, both of which were free transfers. Lucas Joao had been on trial with us in November but we hadn't been able to agree a contract, despite him impressing in training. He lowered his wage expectations in the months that passed and we were now on the same page. Joao had scored 30 goals across the last two seasons in the Championship, for a poor Reading side. I am pleased to have a back-up striker who should be able to contribute goals. The final arrival was Cape Verdean David Tavares. After selling Aloisio, Cordeiro and Correira, I was conscious that we were now short on defensive midfielders. Tavares comes in to provide cover and, as a left footer, he has the ability to fill in at left back if needed. As well as a summary of January results, I will soon post an assessment of my new squad, as it's composition has completely changed in the space of six months.

November 2022 (continued) Seven players made their debuts in our opening League Cup group stage game against lower league Torreense. It would have been more, but League Cup rules require you to start at least two Portuguese U21 players, which meant my only two players who qualified for this, Costinha and Hevertton, started this and all League Cup games. This meant new right back Mario and right winger Gong had to both start their career as subs, although in one game I did bring them on after 20 minutes. Now I am aware of this rule I am further incentivised to recruit young Portuguese players in the transfer windows to come. We led the opening game for much of the match, until Torreense equalised in the 92nd minute. I was not too fussed about the result as at this stage we are looking to build team cohesion, tactical familiarity and match fitness. We switched to a 4-2-3-1 to look to get the most out of Dack, Coric and Brown. Dack certainly impressed, scoring five goals in three games. New striker Fortune also got off to a great start as an Estrela player, bagging four goals in the two games that he featured in (I had tested Brown out as makeshift striker in the opening game, prior to Fortune's arrival at the club - the experiment was not successful). What was especially heartening was that we thrashed fellow Portuguese Liga teams Moreirense and Vitoria Guimaraes. So whilst these matches are somewhat of a free-hit, they gave me confidence we could step up our level in the second half of the league season. We finished top of our group and our prize was a game against Porto in the Quarter Finals. One incident to report on, is a change of club captain. When started I recruiting players in November, the first to arrive was Mario. I asked captain Kazim Richards to welcome him to the club. Kazim reacted angrily, querying why this should be his responsibility. I unwisely decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and asked him to do the same for the next arrival, he is club captain after all, but again I got the same result. By this point our relationship was irreparably damaged. With Kazim's ability starting to fade after recently turning 36, and new strikers either already at the club or on their way, I decided it was time to phase him out. I stripped him of the captaincy and replaced him with leader Liam Moore. I had intended to try and sell Kazim in January, however in early December he picked up a hip injury that will rule him out for three months. Instead, I moved him to the Estrela B Team where he will stay until his deal expires in the summer. December 2022 We were not permitted to schedule any friendlies between 09 and 29 December, so we only played two matches in December. England won the World Cup, beating Brazil 1-0 in the Final with a 92nd minute with a goal from Ward-Prowse - I didn't see that coming! Portugal were underwhelming and were knocked out at the Round of 16 by Switzerland on penalties after drawing 3-3 with them. Continuing my theme of seeing the Taca de Liga as a free-hit, I decided to play Porto with the 'positive' 4-2-3-1 that we had utilised in the group stage to try and get a gage on how good my new squad was. The result was disappointing but at least educational. I now know to continue using a cautious, counter-attacking approach when facing a 'big three' side. After beating them 4-0 just a month earlier, I was disappointed that we could only manage a 0-0 draw against Moreirense in the league. We had made all five subs when sub left back Reis had to go off injured (sprained knee ligaments, out for 7 weeks) with 20 minutes to go, so the silver lining was that we were able to not lose when playing with 10 men. Finally, my Head of Youth Development gave me the annual preview of our youth intake. With the limited youth coaching set up we have Estrela, any player with promise is a positive, so I was pleased to hear we may have a centre back and a winger incoming with some potential.

Totally agree! The teams you lost to in February were understandable, given their stature. Great work and good luck with the Championship Group.

Missed opportunity if not!

October Squad Rebuild As detailed in my update above, 15 new players arrived arrived on free transfers in October 2022. In this update I will introduce the new arrivals. Centre Back The arrival who we had been monitoring for the longest period of time was defender Manu Hernando who had spent four weeks of pre-season on trial at the club. At the time I had wanted to sign him but couldn't afford his wages. Three months later, he had dropped his wage demands and we had a budget at last. Although his last club was Tondela in Liga 2, Hernando is a product of the Real Madrid / Castilla academy. He has good all round attributes and is of a good age profile. Our second centre back signing joins us as much for his leadership profile as his defensive ability. Liam Moore is a leader who has captained sides in the past. As you read this update you will see that I have looked to lower the age profile of the squad. Moore is the only exception, although he is not yet quite 30. I am hoping he can be somewhat of a north star for a team now packed with young talent. Right Back My number one priority for this rebuild was to sign a new right back. Both Hevertton and Lopes have been poor and their performances have cost us goals. Hevertton is young and can improve whereas Lopes is 35 and prime to be replaced. Former Rayo Vallecano-man Mario is a big upgrade on both them. I am not blind to the fact his determination is completely lacking, but overall he is a big upgrade on what I have and performed well in friendlies therefore I decided to make the signing. As noted previously, players available in October may well have defects. I'm well aware some of these signings will do well and others may flop. I'm confident there will be resale value if I have to move any on. Mario has strengths that make him valuable in attack and defence. Central Midfield I did hope to recruit some Portuguese players to the squad, however after extensive searching only Cafú was available and good enough to merit signing. Cafú is a big upgrade on my current midfielders. He has spent the last two seasons at Nottingham Forest. Anyone who has followed my careers may recognise the connection between myself and Ethan Gailbraith. A former signing for me at Oldham, Bolton and Charlton who journeyed with me from the depth of the Football League to, in some instances, the bright lights of the Premier League. When I saw he was available on a free, it was therefore very difficult to not sign him up. Along with the emotive connotations, it should be noted that Gailbraith is also as good a player as my incumbant central midfielders, with the potential to develop into a much better player. He will serve as a back-up to Cafú and Oakley-Boothe. Attacking Midfield The gem in the crown of my October recruiting. I was shocked that Bradley Dack even entertained a conversation with lowly Estrela, let alone signed a contract with us. Perhaps a perk of being the only club actively recruiting in October. He does become our highest earner, but I don't feel £11k per week is a great sum for a player of his ability. He would have been on a higher wage at Blackburn. We did have to accept a £2.6m release clause for Champions League sides, but I can live with that. Look at his attributes. Technically and mentally he is top class. His physicals will be fine for this level too. His signing has prompted a formation change, straight away we have got to work training a 4-2-3-1 to play to Dack's strengths and position him behind a striker. Dack has suffered two year long injuries in 2019 and in 2021, however our physios have given him a clean bill have health and did not flag any concerns of reoccurrence. Fingers crossed we can keep him on the pitch. If we do elect to start with a 4-2-3-1, the two players likely to start either side of Dack in an attacking midfield three are Ante Coric and Izzy Brown. Coric was once a player of great promise. He came through the ranks at Dinamo and was signed for Roma for £5.25m, but after a series of underwhelming loans in Holland, Slovenia and Switzerland he was let go. I'm hoping I can be the one to unlock his potential. His mental attributes are inconsistent and this may let him down. Technically he oozes class and he's looked great in the friendly game I arranged for the triallists. Brown was on Chelsea's books for eight years but after a series of loans his career also hasn't quite taken off. He can play anywhere in midfield and even up front if needed. Again I hope this is an environment where he can thrive. Attacking Midfield (The Understudies) The bulking out of this squad continues. If we are going to start playing with a central attacking midfielder, then Dack cannot be the only player we have for the role. Young Belgian Zakaria Maknoun has been recruited as his understudy. Maknoun has never played a professional league game, despite being on the books of Belgian, Moroccan and Emirati clubs and clearly possessing a great deal of talent. I hope therefore that he is comfortable with being patient for his opportunity. Other than loanees, when it comes to wingers we had next-to-none, pre-signing spree. Wonderfully named Hilary Gong arrives to give us a completely different option; a pacy out-and-out winger. Striker The final first team signing was Haitian forward Yassin Fortune. Once part of Arsenal's academy, he most recently has spent time in the French National. My coaches think he is a right winger. I disagree and have signed him as a striking option. With a pair of elder statesmen as my first choice strikers, Fortune provides something completely different with his pace. Importantly though, he is also a good finisher with composure, technique and determination. As referenced previously, I have also signed another striker for £700k in the January, but I will introduce him in the January update. Prospect Signings There was so little talent in our B team, U23s and U18s upon arrival in Amadora that I did not even bother to write a post profiling the players in these teams. There is genuinely not one noteworthy prospect. It will take time to improve the facilities and the pipeline of talent, but it is something I would like to do if this is to become a long-term adventure. In the meantime, to jump-start our talent development I have snapped up the best prospects available at this time. If I hadn't just signed a cohort of attacking midfielders, left winger Joep van der Sluijs would have been good enough for my Estrela first team. Instead he will be loaned out in January to aide his development. Goalkeeper Dominique Youfiegane is also one for the future, but with my second choice 'keeper being 37 I think his time to join the bench will be now. Finally, we recruited two French 18 year olds; striker Ronan Matuvangua and attacking midfielder Abdallag Nouri. Both have been promised they will be loaned out in January to get minutes on the pitch to develop.

Great start to life in the Bundesliga! Very impressive. Ranos seems to be doing well too, which is good to see.

Thanks @Jogo Bonito! Yes, the new budget has transformed the objectives / timelines of this save. With the starting squad, just avoiding relegation was a good enough challenge. I now think I should be targeting a top half finish for this season and then push on to challenge for a European place next season. Not to spoil a future post, but our form in early January has not been good unfortunately… Hopefully just teething problems as a whole new team looks to gel!

Great news that you were able to retain Araujo and Leonardo. Good ‘tried and tested’ recruits as well. Form is looking good. Fingers crossed this is your year in the CL, or at least you get one step closer.

The players have already been signed, amigo. You’ll be pleased to hear though, there is still plenty of wage and transfer budget left after our dealings. I'm travelling up and down the UK this weekend, so the new signings summary will follow on Tuesday.

November 2022 Due to the 2022 World Cup and the enforced winter break, November has a unique schedule. It starts with two league games, with a Taca de Portugal fixture in between, and then the Portuguese Liga pauses until the 27 December. In the interim, however, the Taca de Liga kick starts. The league cup has a group stage format, with the eight winners then progressing to the quarter final stage. We therefore have three Tace de Liga group stage games across 12 days in the second half of November. I have completed the entire month of games however I will be recapping this across two updates because something seismic has happened that has changed my approach to managing Estrela this season. First though, the league results in November: Our form has sadly dropped off. A draw and a loss means we have fallen to 7th place and are outside of the European place for the first time this season. A mistake from centre-back Gaspar led to the Vitoria Guimaraes goal and their victory meant that they leapfrogged us in the table. It was disappointing to exit the Taca de Portugal, especially as we had beaten opponents Casa Pia comfortably in the league and therefore we knew a win was achievable. There isn't much to say about the Portimonense game. We went defensive, after two defeats and were therefore relatively satisfied to pick up a point. Somewhat surprisingly it is Sporting Braga, rather than one of the 'big three' who currently lead the way. They have certainly been our toughest opposition, to date. One news story that caught my attention was the surprise appointment of Andre Villas-Boas as the new manager of 17th place Famalicao. I know he isn't held in quite the same regard as earlier in his managerial career, but this does feel like a big drop off in his standing in the game. Maybe this is the start of Famalicao's rise into contention! Wage Budget Redefined Conscious that the £14m of sponsorship money received earlier in the season has resulted in our club finances being in a very health position. I decided to chance my arm and see if owner Evra now trusted me enough to provide me with additional funds. On 01 November I sat down with Evra and asked if the wage budge could be increased. His initial reaction was to reject my suggestion. I countered that if he didn't we would likely lose all our best players (most of whom are currently on one year deals) and I was pleased when he conceded I was right and agreed to provide an enhanced wage budget. The next day when he emailed me to advise of the new budgets, I was shocked by his generosity. Our wage budget has been quadrupled! This changes everything. The request was in order to renew contracts and perhaps sign a couple more players. This new budget is transformative. As outlined previously, the plan was to get to the end of the season, likely let a lot of players go and then rebuild the team with my own signings. This plan can now be accelerated to now. Mid-Season Rebuild So, what happened next? In an unprecedented move in European football, I got straight to work on rebuilding a playing squad in the month of November. The steps taken were: In the two days following the announcement of new funds, I took 38 players on trial at the club. 38 may seem a lot, but every position at the club had the potential to be improved upon and I was looking at both players who could improve the first team immediately and also players who were prospects for the future. In total I looked at over 200 players before selecting the ones I thought merited a more thorough look Being new to managing in Portugal, I studied the Portuguese Liga's rules at the start of the campaign and therefore was aware that free transfer signings can be registered to play at any time All trialists were offered a month at the club so I could better analyze their abilities and also build their fitness I organised a first team friendly, that took place on 04 November against local side Fatima and featured only players on trial. Many player impressed in this 4-0 win In addition, over a period of a few weeks trialists played in every Estrela U19 and U23 fixture. Again to review their abilities and build fitness. We do not have any prospects of note at the club, so I was comfortable this wasn't at the detriment of player development I had a preliminary discussion with the agent of every single player on trial to understand their wage demands. In many instances I was able to negotiate down their demands before I even spoke to any players. Although we now have £150k per week wages available, I really do not want to overpay for players. I knew that to bring better players to the club we will need to spend, but this was to be done in a measured, pragmatic way I weighed up whether now was even the right time to make signings. Clearly, players available as free agents in November are likely to have question marks over them. Why hadn't other clubs picked them up? Are they returning from long-term injuries, are they greedy and only want a big pay day or is there a key deficiency in their game that has put clubs off? All of these factors were considered. Ultimately, through observing them during their trials and also seeing my current players form in early-November, I concluded that a good number of the players should be signed now and could make a big impact. Some are diamonds in the rough, but I back myself to shine them up With three cup games upcoming, the timing seemed perfect to bed in some new signings. These fixtures are a free hit compared to the league, with the board not particularly bothered how we do in this competition Between Monday 13 November and Wednesday 30 November, we made 15 free transfer signings. I would consider 11 of these signings as being for the first team now, and four of them as prospects for the future Furthermore, I converted a small proportion of the wage budget into transfer budget and made a paid signing. £300k up front that will rise to £700k. This player will arrive on 01 January Who did I sign? I will reveal all in my next update.

It would have been a different story if we were playing your Benfica, I am sure