Chrisofclubs
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Posts posted by Chrisofclubs
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April & May 2026
So. Hardly a blistering end to the season but an incredibly season nonetheless! We carried on in typical Vila Real fashion and finished the season off with 4 draws. I was quite unhappy with the last 3 results but considering the 5th placed finish, I can’t be too hard on the team. We will go through the entire season in the end of season review!
A 5th placed finish in our first season in LIGA NOS is incredible. We have European football for next season whichever competition that will be. I’m hoping the Europa conference because this will give us much needed income without forcing us to spend unnecessary money upgrading our stadium at this time
Key match – Vila Real 2 – 1 Boavista
Always nice getting one over on the senior affiliate! The only win in the period was a fantastic victory that we never looked like losing. The one goal victory flattered them somewhat as our xG was way ahead of theirs at 2.14 and theirs down at 0.16.
Player of the ‘month’ – Callum Dawson
Not in the first team plans at the beginning of the season but he has worked his way to becoming our most reliable and quality centre back. He will definitely be our starting centre back next season on the left-hand side of the two. With 2 goals in the period of question, he not only was outstanding defensively but was incredibly good when called upon from corners and freekicks.
Other business
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February & March 2026
4 wins, 4 draws in another really good period for the club. We are starting to stabilise now as a good LIGA NOS side.
We currently lie 4th but there is a lot of ground below us that we can see and not much above. We cannot finish below 15th now and with each game, this gap will close. Anything 10th and better will have been a really good season in my books. We are playing some really good football, hitting teams on the break and by the looks of it, really frustrating to play against.
I have checked the rules for the European competitions and both the champions league and Europa League have a minimum capacity of 8000 to take part in those competitions. I really don't want to force the club to spend unnecessary money on a stadium upgrade until we have got out of the debt that promotions put us in so I think the aim should be Europa conference league which is 5th and 6th. I wont be throwing any games because I don't believe we should be but i'm really hoping that we don't finish in the top 4 this season!
Key match – Braga 2 – 1 Vila Real
A real test away from home. One of the huge teams in the league and we really have no right to be in this contest but we performed incredibly well. The game was closer than it looked with Jorge’s 73rd minute goal being but a consolation but we battled impeccably!
Player of the ‘month’ – Abulai Co
Not a regular this season by any stretch of the imagination. Pinto left in January and Justo got recalled in February leaving Martelat as our only advanced playmaker. When he picked up a suspension for cumulative yellow cards, Co was the natural choice to fill in there. Playing 5 games and scoring 2 to give us a win twice, he was outstanding in a role that he wasn’t particularly familiar with. MB and Fernandes have had a great battle for the left midfield spot this month as well so they would have been in with a shout!
Other business
I have extended the loan deal for Claudio Fernandes from Boavista for the 5th season. He brings so much to this side and I really want to make him a permanent signing eventually!
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January 2026
Only the 6 games this month as the Benfica game was rearranged to allow them to win the Allianz Cup. Nevertheless, some amazing performances. I think we’re starting to see that we are much better than a ‘struggle to avoid relegation’ team and that next season, we can really start to make some moves even with the team that we have available to us. I don’t want to do too well this season and force the board to upgrade the stadium as I would really like better training and youth facilities before we go spending crazy money on stadiums. It’s going to be a tough road ahead because of our quick promotions down in the lower leagues! We are currently about 1.5million in the red but the board seem happy enough. I am mostly looking for young players to bring in for free so that we can sell them on for cash even if they’re not good enough for us. Staying in LIGA NOS this season will give us a good boost in reputation so I’m hoping to be able to attract some better players.
We are hanging pretty in the top half of the league. Nacional, Boavista and Sporting are likely to finish the season strongly but I am incredibly happy nonetheless.
Key match – Vila Real 0 – 0 Vitoria de Guimaraes
A clean sheet, lovely. But the attacking display wasn’t as good as we are used to. For the second half of the season, I’m going to start playing a bit less counter attacking in the home games that we have proven we can win. I want to keep the width of play but I really want us to be a bit more penetrative going forwards!
Player of the month – Bernas
Compared to a few seasons ago, Bernas has come on incredibly strongly! 3 assists and a goal this month, he is providing some incredibly width to our play. We are hitting teams nicely on the break and it’s really pleasing to watch. Our wide players and strikers have been a particular highlight!
Other business
MB has been awarded the Asian young footballer of the year award. Great news for him. 15 goals in 29 Iran caps as a 20 year old is incredible!
The board gave me the option to change season expectations so I have done to ‘avoid relegation’ as I think we’re more than good enough to!
Transfers
In
Two ins to speak of. One was arranged in November and is a very young BWM. Karol Buszko is an incredibly talent who we picked up on a free. He is going to spend the second half of the season in our U23s and we will monitor his progress. The second is a young goalkeeper from Manchester City called Freddie Sands. He doesn’t come in until the end of the season so I will talk about him then!
Out
A few outs to speak of. Leonardo has been playing well for the U23s so I’ve decided to give him the second half of the season out on loan to Sporting Covilha to see what he can do. Duk has left the club on loan. He isn’t good enough to feature for the first team so I wanted to let him go but loan was the only option. Pedro Pinto, our third choice attacking playmaker has left the club as well. He wanted to leave so we sold him to Atletico Baleares for £58k. He signed for free so that was all profit.
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October, November and December 2025
A real mixed bag for these three months. This is still above how I expected us to be performing in our first season in LIGA NOS and I think a lot of that is down to the slight tactical tweak. I am seeing a lot more production from the wide players and I believe the widening of our play combined with taking off ‘work ball into box’ is allowing them more freedom to distribute the ball quicker and riskier.
The loss in the placard was unfortunate but our group in the Allianz cup meant that we had almost no chance of progression. We have a tough January coming up, with 7 LIGA NOS games, so the next months table is going to give a clearer picture of where we stand!
In terms of league position, 6th is phenomenal for this stage of the season. I wanted anything above 16th so do be within touching distance of Europe is amazing. I am expecting a drop off in the second half of the season but the early pace we’ve set by being 15 points above the relegation zone after 14 games is unreal!
Key match – Vila Real 4 – 0 Nacional
Coming off the back of 3 straight defeats and some high scoring games, I wasn’t expecting a win here and I definitely wasn’t expecting a clean sheet. MB really came into his own here and this was definitely his ‘announcement’ game. A goal and an assist for him after coming on in the 38th minute was great to see! I am rotating the left wingers quite regularly so we can analyse the effect at the end of the season. MB has only taken 3 months to become accomplished at the LM spot as a winger and he can also fill in as a striker. He is going to prove to be an incredibly useful player I think. Vitinho and Jorge were their brilliant selves as well!
Player of the ‘month’ – Vitinho
After a really slow October, Vitinho definitely made up for it in November and December. I saw some poor form out of him early October so gave Baia a few chances as evidenced by the 2 goals he scored. I warned Vitinho and immediately saw an improvement in training ratings so I gave him the nod in the Nacional game. Back-to-back braces secured his player of the month status! I’m really enjoying our options going forward now with Jorge, Vitinho and Baia. Duk hasn’t performed for me so I am going to offload him as soon as I can. I will look to either promote from the youth teams for cover or allow MB to play more games up front.
Other business
We had our youth take preview but despite one good attacking midfielder, it doesn’t seem like we have much to look forward to. We are still massively in debt and will be until we secure stability in LIGA NOS. Don’t think we will see much business in the summer as I want to stabilise the club financially first! I believe we have a good enough squad for a few seasons anyway. A very young squad on long contracts allows us to focus on recouping some money first.
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August and September 2025
Wow. First 2 months into LIGA NOS and we are unbeaten in the league with some huge results in there. I really don’t like doing too well the first season into the top league and this is dampening the joy of this month but I must admit, we are executing the smash and grab counter attacking tactic very well. We are defensively very solid whilst hitting teams on the break. Our wingers have been much more effective since we made the tactical change in the summer. Even Fernandes has been performing better. Bernas has stepped up his game as well and is even chipping in with chance creation!
Key match – Vila Real 1 – 0 Porto
By far the biggest match in the clubs history. We maxed out the stadium capacity as we scored from a corner in the first minute. We had 2 shots, only 1 on target whilst they had an xG of 0.92 with 12 shots. This was the ultimate smash and grab job and in fairness, we didn’t deserve the victory but we got it!
Player of the ‘month’ – Dario Caetano
A counter attacking tactic where we only score 1 maybe 2 goals per game doesn’t achieve results unless you are defensively solid. In the summer, we only made 1 defensive first choice change at LB and that has helped but Dario Caetano has started the season incredibly. He hasn’t keep up his 100% penalty save percentage but when he has been called upon, he has certainly delivered. 8 conceded in 8 so far with 3 clean sheets is incredible for our little club!
Other business
We broke our record attendance and record gate receipts twice in this period. Maxing out our stadium for the first time ever is a huge achievement and I’m hoping that once the finances pick up, we will be able to expand the stadium slightly.
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Pre-season and transfers
A really positive pre-season set of fixtures. Won the games we were supposed to win and lost narrowly to Crystal Palace. The draw at home to Boavista was a good indicator of where we’re at as well. A few new names on the scoresheet as well as some old names but you’ll have to wait and see which ones of the new names will be joining us permanently!
Tactics
This will be the tactic for the season. Going forward, for the next few seasons, we will be the underdogs going into most games. I’ve decided to stick with the fluid counter attacking mentality as it’s been going well for us in the last few seasons. I did make some adjustments to try to combat the winger problem. I’ve told the team to attack with more width and upped the passing directness from short to standard. I’ve taken off ‘work ball into box’ as well so that it allows the wingers to cross the ball more often. Especially when countering, this is going to be hugely necessary!
Transfers
Promotion to LIGA NOS kind of guaranteed our biggest year of spending to date but to update the squad well with only spending ~£200k is remarkable. I adjusted the budgets and after the net spend of £207k, they sit at £208,660 transfer budget with an available wage budget of £4,500. We have spent a lot in wages this window, upping our committed spend to £49,560 but this is still the smallest in the league by a long shot!
After the transfers, we see ourselves staying at the bottom of the league season preview table with 800-1 to win the league. We are joint with Leixoes, with Belenenses SAD sitting above us aty 600-1
Defence
As stated in the end of season preview, I wanted to address the left back problem. When a £90k bid for João Victor came in, it was kind of meant to be. We found Oumar Kamara for £72k and this was a no brainer. Only 21 years of age and his attributes are much better for the role than Victors were anyway. Luiz Lucio will remain as the back up left back. At right back, Jorge Chan will come in to deputise Bernas to save some money. Centre back was a great position for us last year so we stick with the same 4. Jose Dias has gone out on loan to gain some first team experience for the season. Anthony Glennon left the club for £2.5k. It’s £2.5k profit and 1.8k off of the wage bill. A mistake transfer by me in hindsight but good to see we benefited from it.
Midfield
A lot of movement in midfield this year. I assessed the wingers and, as well as changing the tactic slightly, I decided Hitalo wasn’t good enough to be our starting winger on the right. Summerville has come in to start on the right with Kyere going out on loan to gain match experience. Fernandes will be starting on the left to begin with but we have signed 2 left wingers, both look amazing. Ariday has gone out on loan as I don’t think he’ll ever be as good as the other options we have. Rene Skov and Mojtaba Bakhtiarizadeh (MB) come in to play on that left hand side. I signed Skov first and was incredibly happy with the transfer but then MB was brought to my attention by my scouts. Initially I dismissed him because he is a striker by trade with 8 finishing but then I looked a little closer at his attributes and he will be a very very good left winger. The Skov transfer was expensive and could become the club record transfer if all the addons are paid but I still believe he will provide value. MB came in for 52k and is worth 350k immediately so we have got a lot of value here. The first 2 signings of the window were for the central positions. Samuel Justo comes in on loan. A very talented young player to provide competition for Martelat and Pinto in the advanced playmaker role. Guilherme Rend comes in as an experience ball winning midfielder. I had to pay him a lot in wages but we had the budget and he looks to be worth every penny! The Joao Victor who went out on loan to Santa Clara is a youth prospect who I was going to promote to the first team before we found Justo. He had a great season last season and his attributes look great for the ball winning midfielder position. My thoughts here are to send him out on loan to see how Santa Clara play him. If he can work on his passing, I think he’ll make for a fine playmaker but if his marking improves more then ball winning midfielder it is.
Forwards
Lacximicant and Leonardo Silva left the club. Neither of them wanted to sign the contracts that I was offering them so I didn’t want to mess around anymore and released them. No other change, we still have the 4 strikers who will be rotated for competition. Vitinho and Jorge will be first choice but Duk and Baia will have ample opportunity!
The squad
So after all of that, the first team looks like this! Really happy with the look and standard of the squad and excited to see where this team can go. We’ve added some great young first team players as well as some more experience this window!
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End of season review
Competitions
Taca de Portugal Placard
Knocked out in the third round by Casa Pia of the league below. Not a great result and we should know it! Next season we really need to finally get past the third round!
Allianz Cup
Knocked out in the second phase. I’m less annoyed about this one to be honest as we put up a really good fight against Farense of LIGA NOS. We competed really well and this gives me hope that we can really avoid relegation next season!
League
Well. Lots to say here and all of it is positive. We had a RIDICULOUS number of draws. Only losing 1 game all season was fantastic but drawing 19 games is mental.
However, we did win the league and achieve a new club record high! It was close in the end and closer than it perhaps should have been when we look at some of the draws that could have turned into wins. That being said, if it wasn’t for several penalty saves by Diego Caetano, we would have lost some of those draws as well.
Overall, I am incredibly happy with the boy’s performances this season. We came back many times in games that we had no right to come back in and fully deserved to win the league!
Players
Only one average rating over a 7.0 says a lot about either the games latest patch where it seems that average ratings have been nerfed (Not a fan of that) or the fact that we drew 19 games and couldn’t capitalise on a lot of chances.
That being said, I am incredibly happy with so many of the performances. Defensively, we were the best in the league and the performances from Lampert, Ogbeta and Caetano were particularly pleasing. For Lampert and Ogbeta to chip in with 11 goals between them was a highlight as well!
The midfield duo of Martelat and Co was a surprise positive note this season. The oldest and youngest players in the first team linked up perfectly and partnered each other 29 times over the course of the season! They have built up a lovely partnership and I’m really hoping to see some of these amazing performances next season!
Managers player of the season – Diego Caetano
There were 3 very close candidates for this title. Very honourable mentions go to:
Yoann Martelat. 6 goals and 17 assists is crazy. From set pieces, he was a king and arriving late into the oppositions box, he provided and scored many many important goals.
Abulai Co. 17 years old and due to the sudden loss of Jose Secada in the transfer window was asked to play some first team games. The intention was to share the games between Co and Carre but Carre just never got started. Co held down the ball winning midfielder position for the entirety of the season until he broke his foot a few games before the end. I’m very excited to see what this guy’s career has in store for us!
But the man of the moment has to be Diego Caetano. We have always known this guys quality and I’m a little surprised he’s stuck with us until this point but he has had a fantastic season. 18 clean sheets and only 27 conceded in 37 games this season, Caetano has been a monster between the sticks. He saved all 4 penalties that he faced in the league which is a mental stat! With 2 assists to go with us, Caetano has really upped his game this season and I am sure that he is the main reason we have won this league.
Looking forward
Tactics
Tactically, next season is going go be very similar. I intend to play the same tactic but we will be playing the cautious version of it more often than we did this season.
I am slightly concerned about the ratings of the wingers. Between the 5 wingers that we have at the club (3 RM and 2 LM), they provided only 3 goals and only 9 assists. Yoann Martelat beat these stats on his own. We did have the tactic set to play slightly narrower so maybe moving to a more neutral width will support the wingers more.
Transfers
GK – Definitely don’t need to strengthen this position. Caetano and Kokubo have been great for us and will remain so!
Defence – Centre back options look very good right now and I will most likely be sticking with them unless an absolute worldie becomes available. Full backs will be looked at in a lot of detail. Joao Victor has had some very worrying performances and Bernas is okay but I would really like some better full backs if we can find them. I think Luiz Lucio is the answer to the left back slot but we will see what will happen. Glennon will probably be leaving the club as Lucio is just a better option and I don’t think we need 3 left-backs. Jorge Chan is coming back from a good loan period so we may have Bernas as starting RB next season with Chan deputising.
Midfield – I would like to look for more depth in the ball winning midfielder slot. Abulai Co did a fantastic job this season but he is only 17 years old. An experienced ball winner is on the shopping list as Carre really hasn’t cut it in this league let alone the top league. Wingers will be looked at. I don’t think we will be able to offer as much game time to the youngsters as this season so we may be in the market for some others! Claudio Fernandes’ loan has been extended for a 4th season. Allegedly the best player at the club and it will be great to see what he can offer if we can adjust the tactic to benefit him!
Strikers – Really like the combination of strikers at the club right now. Jorge and Duk have been good at pressing forward and Vitinho and Baia have been competing really well for the advanced forward position. We have Lacximicant coming back from loan but I can’t see him staying at the club. Leonardo Silva is also still on the books. I cant bring it to sell him but this may have to happen this year as he really isn’t capable enough of bagging the goals needed in LIGA NOS.
End of season review
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May 2025 – The run in
A very fortunate victory at home to Tondela puts us in a great position! Chaves winning 1-5 means they keep the pace but Oliveirense only managing a draw at home to bottom placed Covilha is great news for us!
Lukas Lampert scored the only goal of the game in which we were the better side. We struggled to finish any chances in the first half. Diego Caetano was a beast in net, saving a penalty and 2 clear cut chances towards the end of the first half. Joao Victor at left back remains a liability giving away a penalty and being caught out of position numerous times. Luiz Lucio will be starting the next game away at Porto B. A win away promotes us to LIGA NOS! A huge opportunity for the entire squad!
WE DID IT! How fitting that we guarantee promotion with a 0-0 draw. Another clean sheet, another boring result but because the league comes down to results between teams, we are promoted! A draw is needed in the final game of the month at home to Alverca to win the league. The board have told us that our budgets will be a transfer budget of £277k with a wage budget of £60k. Our committed spend is only £23k so this is huge and may allow for some to be placed into the transfer budget. I have to assess the finances and the team though. I really only want to spend money if completely necessary.
The game was as boring as the scoreline suggests. 4 highlights all games and nothing even remotely close to a decent chance. The only downside to that game was that Abulai Co broke his foot and will be out for 2-3 months. The 17-year-old will be talked about very highly in the season review as he has come in and held down the starting BWM position all season long.
What a crazy game to finish the league season off! I’m actually very disappointed with the performance but when we win the league, it does cap how unhappy I can be about it. It was really nice to see Hitalo getting his first goal of the season and for Vitinho and Jorge to get on the scoresheet was nice also.
I think we should also talk about how mentally close the final day was. Leixoes didn't really look in the hunt for promotion all season and due to a crazy final day, they manage to get automatic promotion! Congratulations to them as well!
Season review coming up but what a season, I think we can all agree. LIGA NOS is going to be incredibly difficult but lets see what we can do in the transfer window!
Other business
Our under 19s have been relegated to the U19 second division. Unfortunate but I think we all saw it coming when all of the top prospects went out on loan. Playing with 8-9 greyed out players most games is going to do that to us! Will be really looking to concentrate on youth in the future when we’re set up in LIGA NOS so we can get back there!
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April 2025
Well, this is shaping up to be a hell of a run in. Everyone in the top 5 has lost this month including ourselves. No longer unbeaten but strangely top of the league with only 3 games to go! Its been a pleasing month overall. The comeback against Sporting Covilha was a great result but the poor performances against Arouca and UD Oliveirense shouldn’t be overlooked. We should be clear of 2nd and 3rd place by now and if we don’t get promoted, these two games will be looked at in much more detail.
Despite sitting top of the table, I’m yet to see any particularly great form from any of the 5 wingers and this is definitely a position that we should look at in the summer. I don’t think the players are bad, I just think maybe we can structure the tactic better to utilise them more.
Key match – Vila Real 2 – 2 Arouca
Very disappointing result truth be told. We had to play a slightly rotated team due to injuries and the only positive points to come out of it were the first goals of the season for both Pinto and Duk but this is a game we should definitely be winning. We went ahead twice in the game and were pegged back both times.
Player of the month – Vitinho
The introduction of Baia seems to have revitalised Vitinho. I know that the game doesn’t actually do that but it’s fun to think that Vitinho has seen the 19-year-old come in and has upped his game. Vitinho seems to be over his goal drought and is now hitting the target more regularly, linking up with Jorge more and getting into space much more often!
Youth intake –
Two players of note this intake. Both right wingers. Nicola Gotz looks the better of the two but I have signed both up and will monitor their progress in the under-19 team over the following few years!
Due to our financial troubles, we haven’t been able to upgrade our youth facilities quick enough to a point where we will be getting better regens. I don’t see this happening until we have been promoted to LIGA NOS. It’s a shame but it was a result of our quick promotions so I can’t really be too unhappy!
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February and March 2025
Another 2 unbeaten months. A really special period for the club which, despite 4 draws, sends us into the promotion spots and into 2nd in the league. Despite the positive results, I still think we should have had more. The draws against Academica and Benfica were incredibly frustrating. Our strikers haven’t been as consistent as they were in previous seasons and if it hadn’t been for Jorge popping up with a few goals here and there and the signing of Baia, I don’t think we would be in the LIGA NOS promotion hunt this season.
We are unbeaten in the league which is also incredibly special. 7 games left, now is the time where our form normally falls off a cliff. Hopefully with the addition of a few faces in January to provide competition, this wont happen this season.
Key match – Chaves 0 – 3 Vila Real
I made a risky mistake and allowed Vitinho to take the penalty in the 12th minute. Jorge would normally take them but Vitinho needed confidence but after that, we just went from strength to strength. Baia came on in the pressing forward role and linked up nicely with Vitinho. Despite this, smashing top of the league 0-3 away from home is an incredible result. We completely outplayed them in 90 minutes and even managed to rest some players towards the end. If we are to be promoted at the end of the season, we will look at this as a hugely defining moment on the road to success!
Player of the ‘month’ – Lukas Lampert
Not enough is said about our defence. Best defence in the league all season and in this period, Lukas achieved 4 clean sheets and 2 goals. He has goals for us this season and his partnership with Ogbeta is the main reason we’re in the position that we are!
Other business
Our U19s finished bottom of their division in the opening stage so now have 14 games to avoid relegation. They go into the relegation division which is a league of 8 teams and the bottom 3 go down. Fingers crossed for them!
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January 2025 + Transfers
Another unbeaten month for the team! A great month in which we saw a few new faces! 8 points from a possible 12 sees us slide down to 5th in the league but we have widened the gap below us and narrowed the gap above us. Its incredibly tight at the top of the table and we are only 3 points off top placed Chaves.
Key match – Vila Real 1 – 1 Leixoes
Frustrating not to get the win but Baia’s first goal for the club against the team directly below us in the table was great to see. We seem to be digging deep when it matters and our ability to just not lose is amazing me!
Player of the month – Filipe Baia
I didn’t expect Baia to hit the ground running like this but Vitinho picked up a series of small knocks which allowed Baia to have more game time than I predicted and he has grabbed it firmly! In the final 2 games of the month in which he made his most minutes, he linked up incredibly well with Jorge and was getting in some great scoring chances! The 90th minute winner away at Sporting was a highlight as well!
Other business
After the first win of the month against Alverca, we set a new league record of 17 games unbeaten!
Transfers
Filipe Baia comes in as an incredibly talented young striker. A total cost of £125k is a large outlay but only £80k of it is an initial fee and the rest is in instalments/ when he scores goals. I decided to get Baia in before Vitinho went on his little goal drought because Leonardo Silva is really not up to the level that we are at and striving to get to. Baia will come in as competition for the advanced forward position. I plan to give him a little game time off the bench this season and then either integrate him into the first team if we stay in Liga 2 next season or maybe loan out if we get promoted to LIGA NOS. Really happy with this transfer and can’t wait to see what he brings to the team!
Marcos Raimundo was the second signing of the window. Depth for right back if nothing more. He comes in on loan. I would have loved to bring him in permanently but he would cost an arm and a leg unfortunately. He has some incredibly attributes and will give Bernas some well needed competition! Bernas has played more minutes than anyone else this season and with a busy January and February coming up, it was important to bring in someone good enough to play some first team football but I wanted to try and get someone young enough to become a long-term player for us. I know Raimundo is only on loan but I’m really looking to get him back next season and, like Fernandes, to try and make his deal permanent.
On the topic of Fernandes, he has signed a new deal at Boavista but I’m hoping that if we get promoted, we will be able to sign him! I’m not sure how much he would cost but he definitely enjoys playing for us!
Umaro Reis has gone out on loan to a lower division side so that he can gain some more match experience. He hasn’t progressed too well playing for the under 19s but he maintains a decent enough potential. Part of his new contract was that he wanted to be loaned out so now is his chance!
One last minute signing was to make the loan deal for Luiz Lucio permanent. Some really nice attributes for a supporting full back and hes had some nice performances so I decided to spend the £70k that Rio Ave wanted for him. It is £70k more than I wanted to pay in the summer but we finally got our man! He will provide long term competition for the left back spot and may see Glennon leaving in the summer.
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October, November & December 2024
A fantastic period for the club! If we skip over the 3-1 loss to lower league Casa Pia to knock us out of the cup, we are still unbeaten in the league. The only team, I might add. We have climbed our way up to 4th in the league despite being the draw kings. Youth have played a fantastic part in these few months and have provided us with needed depth. Shout out to Joshua Kyere and Francisco Costa who have come in when Hitalo wasn’t playing so well. Costa has a few goals and assists to his name for this season and is developing nicely. It’s really nice to have the two of these to provide competition!
As above, we are 4th in the league and I feel like we can make a real push for promotion this season. I feel like we have a really capable young squad and, now we’ve fixed our defensive frailties, we can concentrate on scoring some more goals.
Vitinho went a long time without scoring but after dropping him for a few games (In which Leonardo Silva grabbed the opportunity and came in to provide a goal and a few assists), he came back with the brace against Sporting Covilha.
Key match – Sporting Covilha 0 – 4 Vila Real
Just a fantastic result really. The comeback to rescue a 1-1 draw against Tondela who are 3rd could have been the key match as that shows we’ve got what it takes to battle with the top of the league but we also need to have the quality to demolish some of the smaller teams. Another very important thing about this victory was the comeback of Vitinho. His form has been hit and miss for this season but i’m determined to stick with him and see if he can get out of this rut he’s in. Whilst there are other goalscorers in the side, I am happy to stick with Vitinho.
Player of the ‘month’ – Diego Caetano
Really tough decision this one. There have been many viable candidates but I thought Caetano should definitely take it. It’s no surprise that he has the most clean sheets in the league. He has saved us so many times with saved penalties and just outrageously good saves. He has just signed a new contract which is great for the club but he does have a 350k release clause which i’m going to try and take out as soon as possible.
Other business
We have some signings lined up. One striker and one right back. They are both young prospects and i'm hoping that with the potential they possess, they will provide competition for the first team. I will do a January + Transfers update next and then I will continue with the longer updates as I feel they benefit reader and I simultaneously. If you could let me know which updates people enjoy most, that would be awesome!
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August and September 2024
Well. I don’t think I’ve ever had 6 draws to start a league season but here we go. The last few seasons, we have started really slowly and then around January – April played really well. I’m hoping that after this unbeaten start, we carry on in the same fashion! Overall, I must admit I’m happy with the results. It doesn’t look great on paper but we are unbeaten, through to the next round of the cup and we haven’t been conceding many. The form of the strikers has been a concern but I’m sure they will crack on and start firing soon!
Key match – Varzim 1 – 1 Vila Real
Was a real difficulty to choose the key match this time. It was a real toss up between the Varzim away game and then Benfica B home game. We played really well in the Benfica game but ultimately, Varzim looked very good, sat 2nd in the league at the time and completely out played us. We did incredibly well to fight out way back into the game. Claudio Fernandes was particularly excellent and his goal topped a really all-round performance.
Player of the ‘month’ – Yoann Martelat
He has started the season looking like he has something to prove. 3 goals and 4 assists from the attacking playmaker is an incredible contribution. He is our top scorer and assister so far and with 3 man of the match performances already this season as well, it is looking like he is going to have a very very good season.
Other business
The U19s are sitting down at the bottom of their first division group. I kind of expected this after seeing a lot more of the better players go out on loan as they got promoted. I don’t mind the U19s hopping between divisions until we get set up in the LIGA NOS but I will be monitoring performances!
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Pre-season and transfers
First of all, lets talk about the fixtures. There will obviously be players that you don’t recognise here and we will cover those in the transfer’s section. The friendlies went fairly well. We should have beaten Fafe but we had a lot of trial players and youngsters playing to keep fitness for the Allianz Cup.
The Allianz cup went expectedly. We smashed Penafiel with 3 goals from set pieces, 3 assists from Martelat and a debut goal for 16-year-old Abulai Co. We looked totally out of our depth against Farense which is fair enough because they are an established LIGA NOS side.
Transfers
I really wanted to focus on depth this transfer window. I sold a lot of the ‘dead wood’ and replaced them with amazing youth talents to come in as back up. I’m really happy with this window because I feel we have really improved but reduced the age of the squad. It was a very young squad overall anyway but now we have this conveyor belt of talent starting to really come through. I have also promoted 3 candidates from the U19s to give them some game time.
Defence
Defensively, I think we had a great window. Only the 2 signings at the back but the signing of Callum Dawson on a permanent deal is a massive addition to the club. I had been chasing him for a few years but until now I couldn’t see his full stats. He is only 5ft 11 but with his driven personality combined with amazing mentals and base defensive stats at only 19 years old, he will be a starting player for us in the future and right now it gives us some amazing competition for an already excellent CB pairing. As well as Dawson, Luiz Lucio came in on loan from Rio Ave. This was a bitter sweet deal as he was available on a free. I offered him a contract and he took over 6 weeks to decide but he eventually went to Rio Ave for £475 per week. I decided to take him on loan, pay all of his wages because we could and see what he could do. I intend to play him mostly at left back because his mentals and height will pay dividends in the big games. He will compete with Glennon to back up Joao Victor and hopefully we will be able to sign him on a permanent deal in the future.
Midfield
Difficult to choose between midfield and defence as to who had the best transfer window. Our club record signing Abulai Co makes me say that midfield have smashed it. Co comes in as a 16-year-old with current ability to challenge for first team places as evidenced by his goal in the Allianz cup as well as a potential ability to become part of the backbone of our team for the next 15 years. A model Citizen and a natural ball winning midfielder, Co will fit into the team perfectly and i’m hoping that he develops very quickly this year. For anyone reading this, please let me know if I should train him as a ball winning midfielder or I could try and utilise him as the advanced playmaker. I’m torn between the two. I’m swaying towards BWM but his places shots, only 5ft 5 and his high agility make me think he could be quite handy further up the pitch. Pedro Pinto was bought in as well for the central midfield area. He was released by Academica Coimbra so I thought it would be rude not to snap him up to play back up to Martelat. He has far greater attributes than Andre Sousa and Almeida who were sold this window.
The board annoyed me here by selling Secada from under my nose. Braga and Sporting both offered 325k and I came back and asked for 1.5mil to try and deter them. They offered the 650k and the board accepted it for me. 650k is massive for the club and will help us financially but seeing that both of these teams were interested in our 19 year old, I really thought we could have got more for him!
Attack
I was really torn between keeping Lacximicant and not changing anything up front… OR selling either him or Leo and then making one signing. Jorge and Vitinho are definitely going to be the starting 2 but I felt that we could improve the depth. I compared the seasons stats and decided that I’d shown Lacximicant enough patience. He chipped in with some much-needed goals but ultimately, he wasn’t good enough. Duk came through in the scout reports and I took him on trial. For me to get him for 21k is a huge addition to the club as we have a quality depth player to back up Jorge.
Outs
As far as the outs are concerned, I spoke about it in a previous post but I wanted to give some of the better performing U19s some time out on loan this season. Joshua Kyere and Jose Dias have been promoted to the first team to give some game time to but the others have been loaned out and I’m expecting performances from them if they are to stay at the club! In terms of first team outs, Alison, Almeida, Eira, Lopes and Rodrigues were not of the required standard so I got rid for a small bit of money but nothing special.
Squad and first choice team
Above is the first team squad going into the season as well as what I will be considering my first-choice squad when everyone is fit. The board really annoyed me selling Secada as he would have taken the BWM midfield spot. As it happens, I think Co will be more than good enough for this season with Carre deputising but it's not the best situation to happen! I'm incredibly wary to try and develop Co correctly so I will be rotating him out with Carre as much as possible to try and avoid Co having a major injury whilst he's young.
I am going to play the first few months and then provide an update after Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, over indulges and celebrates everything we can after this ****** year!
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End of season review
Competitions
Taca de Portugal Placard
Really happy with the Placard results. Easily beat Lourosa before narrowly losing to LOGA NOS Vizela on penalties in the third round. We finally got to the third round for the first time since we took charge and it was a good test against a tough opponent
Allianz Cup
Not much to say here. A good penalty win against Arouca but then we went down to LIGA NOS Rio Ave. Managed to better last years results which was a good thing!
League
A good campaign all things considered. We started really poorly and the final month was awful but we really gave a good account of ourselves in the middle to end of the season. With the right back up signings, I think from next season we should be pushing for those promotion places!
Jorge was league top scorer with 19 which was incredible for his first season at the club and considering he was brought in to be more of a provider, I’m over the moon with his contribution. If Vitinho didn’t sustain his long-term injury, I believe we would have been touching on the promotion places but it wasn’t to be.
Under 19s
Definitely a campaign to remember for the U19s! They came second in their group in the first stage and then managed to win their championship group ensuring promotion to the U19 first division. This is great news for the youngsters as they will be competing against the very best U19s in the country next season!
The winners of the two championship stages go into a final which doesn’t determine anything but does give your youngsters a shot at some silverware. Our U19s sadly lost 5-1 on aggregate over 2 legs to Vilafranquense U19s but a great season from them all round!
Players
Some great performers and some not so good. The entire first team played very well but the problem is the lack of competent depth. I believe this is where we really need to strengthen in the summer. As stated above, I have some coming in who I believe strengthen us a lot so hopefully there won’t be too many more.
Managers player of the season – Jorge
What a fantastic year for the pressing forward. He stayed fit for the entirety of the season and managed to score 20 goals in all competitions. He was brought in to play the supporting role but really gave us more than we expected. He won us a lot of games this season and it would have been a long long season with Vitinhos injury if it wasn’t for Jorge. Looking forward to next season with these two up front.
Looking forward
Tactics
Nothing to note here. The tactics works nicely with thew mixture of counter attacking away and against tough teams and the balanced/ positive home performances. I need to select the right one more often but I believe we can leave the tactic as it is for another season.
Transfers
The board have given us £133k as a transfer budget. I don’t envisage spending much of that. We signed a player for £95k but that came out of last years budget.
The board have given us a £38k wage budget. We are currently spending 15.5k with a committed spend of £22k so we are nowhere near this. The committed spend will come down as well as I don’t want to be spending over £20k on wages if we can help it although the budget is there if we find the right players.
Above is the confirmed squad going into next season. I have placed all of the players who aren’t good enough into the U19s ahead of their sales. You will notice a lack of depth and especially at central midfield. I want to keep the first-choice squad together but I really want to add some young depth. Players like Alison, Andre Sousa and Almeida were great for us but they just aren’t good enough for this level. Paulo Rodrigues will go as well due to him aging and not being good enough. Joshua Kyere, the young prospect will come in to play back up for Hitalo following his good loan move.
In terms of youth development, I really want to give some more developmental loans out to players. I will be looking through the squad and determining who deserves to go out on loan. Some top performers from the U19s will make it to the senior squad to use for depth as well!
End of season review
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May 2024
Really poor month all things being said. We weren’t able to get promoted so I rotated a lot of players here and really saw that a lot of our back-ups aren’t cut out for this level. I will go through the team in the next post, the season review, but on the face of it, we could really do with some better back-ups. We have got some young signings already done that I believe are definitely an improvement.
The only positive that I see from this final month is the valuable game time given to the young players. Young centre back Jose Dias played all 270 minutes and was okay. He didn’t set the world alight but he’s very young! After his performances for the U19s, I also gave Joao Victor the final game in the AP role and he played fairly well for the 90 minutes.
One more positive to come from this month was that the 3 points Boavista got from us on the final day got them promoted. This will mean more income from them and hopefully better players available for loan!
Key match – N/A
Nothing good about this month. Nothing riding on any of the matches and we folded like a wet cardboard box. End of the season now so time to recharge!
Player of the month – Jose Dias
Promoted from the U19s ahead of next season, I gave him the final 3 games as they didn’t really have much importance. He was okay if unspectacular. His average ratings were poor but I didn’t see any glaring mistakes from the young lad and everything that was asked of him, he dealt with reasonably well. Other than that, there really weren’t any other players worth noting.
Other business
I buckled and signed one of the prospects from the youth intake. He was only 3-star potential when he first came to the club but he’s been training well and despite his unambitious personality, I’m going to give him a chance in the U19s.
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April 2024
The home game at the beginning of the month was a huge test for us. With 7 games to go, it was a great opportunity for us to show that we deserve to be up at the top of the league and challenging for promotion to Liga NOS. The draw and clean sheet were fantastic but the loss to Tondela was incredibly disappointing. A well fought victory away at Porto B couldn’t hide the disappointing month. 7 points from the 4 games we played this month has seen us slide down to 6th place in the league. Promotion is mathematically still possible through the playoff place but I don’t expect that to happen as I have started to plan for another season in Liga 2.
I will be using the 3 games in April to test players who I am uncertain of and see if we can really start to build a team for the promotion challenge next season. The beginning of this season let us down massively because the second half has definitely seen promotion form. Next season I want to go into it with a settled squad, not make many changes and see if we can really come out of the blocks firing after a productive summer!
Key match – Tondela 2 – 1 Vila Real
A really poor match all things considered. I went into the game fresh from the confidence of keeping top of the league to a draw and keeping a clean sheet. That was soon shattered as they took an early lead. Things looked slightly up when we equalised through Jorge with a beautiful Vitinho assist as well as them going down to 10 men but after Yoann Martelat tore his calf muscle which is going to keep him out for 4 months, they scored a wonderful solo effort and that was all she wrote.
Player of the month – Vitinho
The return of the king. After 8 hours without scoring previous to this month, Vitinho chipped in with some incredible performances this year. It looks like he has now finally gotten over his injury and this is evidenced by 4 goals and 1 superb assist in the 4 games played this month.
Other business
Youth intake happened at the beginning of April but it was so poor, I decided not to sign any of the players and therefore a dedicated section isn’t really needed!
I have signed a 16-year-old for a club record £95k. I will show you him in the summer when we round up transfers but I’m very excited about him!
In other news, Claudio Fernandes has agreed to extend his loan for a third successive season! It takes him up to the end of the 2025 season on loan with us and this is when his contract at Boavista expires so I’m really hoping to get him on a permanent deal!
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I’ve just been able to binge read this. Absolute madness. Congrats on the cup wins. Incredible what you’ve managed to do! Can’t wait for more Europe action next season and then I guess we’ve gotta push for the title!
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February and March 2024
A fantastic period for the club. We have put ourselves right in the race for those top 3 spots. With 7 games left to go, we find ourselves 8 points off 3rd and 9 points off the automatic promotion places. Whilst this sounds like quite a large number of points to make up in only 7 games, the teams at the top have been dropping points left right and centre recently.
Because of this, I will be going back to monthly updates for the rest of the season just in case some miracle happens.
The only concern is the recent form of Vitinho. Having not scored for a while, he continues to struggle in front of goal. Luckily Lacximicant has popped up with a few but I think if we are to push for promotion, Vitinho will have to step up his game immensely.
Key match – Chaves 0 – 3 Vila Real
Clean sheets have been hard to come by this season and to absolutely smash top of the league (at the time) Chaves is amazing. Jorge and Lacximicant linked up amazingly in this game and we were brilliant value for the 0-3 win.
Player of the ‘month’ – Hitalo
2 goals and 1 assist in the 6 games over the two months. As well as this, he had some really great performances as he continues to improve. I have had doubt about him and Ariday but they are coming into their own and showing the fans why I bought them in finally! Yoann Martelat will feel slightly hard done by with his 3 assists but I feel this period was sort of a coming-of-age period for Hitalo!
Other business
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January 2024
A fantastic month for the club. 9 points from a possible 12 has lifted us to 7th in the league and whilst we don’t look in contention for any spoils this year, it definitely shows that we do have the quality to push maybe next season. Incredibly happy because the teams we managed to beat were teams around us in the league and directly competing for the same places. Defensively we looked much more solid aside from the Boavista game but even then, they are streets ahead of us in terms of quality.
Key match – Caldas 1 – 2 Vila Real
What a result this was. Its not that Caldas are a special team but we maintained the cautious way of playing. We found ourselves 1-0 down really early but managed to dig deep to find the comeback. A special goal for Ariday secured the win. His first goal for the club is great news as I was beginning to worry about his performances. I’m hoping both he and Hitalo crack on from this month and really start to show why they were bought in.
Player of the month – Jorge
What a guy. 4 goals in 4 games from the Brazilian who was brought in to provide rather than convert. He looks the real deal when it comes to this league and I really cant wait to see what his future holds! Lacximicant has been playing really well and linked up nicely with Jorge in the few appearances he’s been given to rest Vitinho. Still on the fence whether Lacximicant will be at the club next season but he’s been chipping in with some nice goals.
Other business
In terms of transfers, not a great deal to talk about. There were 2 outs from the first team. Both Berna and Vado Kitenga left the club for a combined £975. It wasn’t really about the money from transfers obviously but I felt that Berna was just a moany young kid who wasn’t developing and Kitenga was a 30-year-old 5th choice centre back. Getting them off the wage budget was important for the future. I gave Berna lots of opportunities but he never lived up to the potential he had when we signed him unfortunately.
Interestingly, both Rio Ave and Bristol City have offered me a job interview so that must mean our reputation is increasing!
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December 2023
Managed to turn around some poor form this month. Some really nice performances coupled with some really poor ones. 7 points from a possible 15 lifts us to 13th in the league. It will be a comfortable survival but nothing really more than that. We have an incredibly young team and have had a lot of transfer movement in the last 2 seasons. The back end of this season for the team to develop will be key in going into next season with an accomplished first 11 and hopefully a more stable team.
Key match – Vilafranquense 3 – 2 Vila Real
Going away to second in the league is always going to be tough but the task at hand gets even tougher if you effectively give them a 3-goal head start. We were awful in the first half, going into the break 3-0 down. We tried playing balanced in this game and, in the team’s defence, that was my fault. We sat back in the second half, countered their attacks and managed to claw 2 goals bvack. It wasn’t to be but I’m starting to see some really nice performances albeit for halves of games instead of whole games.
Player of the month – Jorge
A pressing forward who is scoring goals. 3 goals this month for the young lad is excellent. The way he holds up play is exceptional and combining with Vitinho, he is an absolute joy to watch. He hasn’t built the same partnership with Leo or Lacximicant yet but it’s only a matter of time.
Other business
We have signed another player. I have had my eye on this kid for a while but with his fickle personality and he isn’t the most consistent, I didn’t want to pay the asking price for him. He mutually terminated his contract a few weeks ago which allowed me to approach to sign him and now I’ve got him on a breakthrough prospect contract on £130 p/w which is a massive addition to the under 19s. I will be very interested to see how we can develop his personality and the consistency issues because if they disappeared, I could see him making it into the first team as back up pretty soon!
Another young signing that I’ve had my eye on for the last few months. Jose Secada finally came in on trial and the stats I couldn’t see turned out to be very nice ones. He is not the tallest but I think he will come in as a very nice long-term player in that ball winning midfielder role. Unlike Jose Dias above, Secada will enter the first team straight away and I will look to give him a few substitute appearances to improve his development.
Joshua Kyere has been playing well out on loan and I don’t think we need him in the first team so I have decided to extend his loan deal to continue his excellent development. I will do a youth update at the end of the season!
I do apologise for the lack of updates recently. Cyberpunk 2077, the new World of Warcraft expansion and the Warzone and Cold War updates really came at a congested time but I am going to be playing some more FM over the coming weeks.
I will also be speeding up the updates for this season. The monthly updates are good but we aren’t challenging for much this season so most of my updates will be around development and long term planning.
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September, October and November 2023
A very difficult period for the team. In general, some really pleasing performances and at least we looked (for the most part) a lot less defensively leaky than the first month. We had some really high xG games but just couldn’t put away chances. Should have turned some of these losses intro draws. I’m going to put some of the poor form down to the fact that we’re still bedding some players in. The defence in particular are learning to play together. We haven’t had a fully settled squad because of injuries as well so let’s assess the situation closer at the turn of the year and see where we go from there.
Key match – Vila Real 0 – 0 Vizela (Vizela win 5-6 on penalties)
An important match when we want to consider how we have improved as a team. Last season, they comfortably won the league and beat us home and away if I remember correctly and this season, we actually out played them over 120 minutes only to lose to them on penalties. It was unfortunate but a good sign of us heading in the right direction!
Player of the ‘month’ – Jorge
2 goals, 2 assists in the period in question. Not the best of totals but he’s just looked very good. He is linking up with the advanced playmaker very well and if there was a connection between the PF and AP, there certainly would be one. It’s really good to see the ‘creative’ striker scoring as well. That’s always important, I find, in a two-striker system.
Other business
The board have agreed to pay for me to study my continental pro licence!
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August 2023
What a wild month. I was really happy after the first game. A clean sheet and the team getting to know each other more. Then after the second game with a new signing scoring and a win it was all looking good but it wouldn’t be Vila Real without me signing better centre backs and then going on to concede an absolute tonne would it?
Having said that, it wasn’t the worst month we’ve ever had. I’m enjoying the football we’re playing and the goals conceded at the beginning of the month were with Kokubo in goal. Caetano came back for the Chaves game. I was very optimistic about having a better keeper in goal against our rival and then we go and ship 5. Go figure!
Key match – Vila Real 5 – 1 Caldas
Great game. Jorge and Ogbetas first goals for the club. Jorge assists, Martelat assists. Just an amazing performance all round. They didn’t deserve their goal as well!
Player of the month – Yoann Martelat
What a start. We’ve finally got a proper looking advanced playmaker. He looks like a real talent. 2 assists and a goal in the first month at the club. He was pivotal in this month and had a fantastic couple of games against Caldas and Sporting Covilha.
Other business
Hitalo got injured on his league debut for the club so he missed the rest of August and Vitinho got injured in the Caldas win so he will be out for another 6 weeks or so. Bad news but I feel like we have enough quality to cover it. Hopefully Lacximicant can show us what he’s about.
The next update will be September, October AND November because there aren’t many games in September and November.
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3 minutes ago, Delbrenno said:
Enjoying reading your progress mate, hopefully you’ll be in the top division in a few seasons! Never done a Portugal save before either
Thanks a lot! I've never managed in Portugal either to be honest but i'm really enjoying it!
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[FM21] The real Vila Real
in FM Career Updates
Posted
Hi all.
Little update from myself.
The above update will be the end of the series on SI forums unfortunately. I find myself with a hugely reduced amount of playing time recently and keeping up with the blog posts to a reasonably standard had caused playing the game to become more of a chore which I really didn't want it to become. This will still be my main save this year on FM so if I find myself with more time and ability in the future, I will definitely update everyone!
Thanks to everyone for the comments and likes,
~Chrisofclubs