MeesterCat Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 Ok, so originally I had intended to start at the very bottom of the ladder with FC Blied, but after a few weeks tinkering I realised that being an amateur club is a more daunting task than I had imagined. I was keen to try out the Belgian leagues though, so I took a step up to the Second Division and picked out at random.... RAEC Mons. This save will be using the 10.3 database and has the following leagues loaded: All Belgian, Dutch, French, English, Scottish and German Leagues. It also has the players loaded from Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Romania and Hungary. It won’t be played to strict LLM rules, but I’m trying to keep it as realistic as I can. RAEC MONS RAEC Mons was founded in 1909 and has an illustrious history of achieving not a great deal. Their only real feat of note so far was promotion to the Belgian Jupiler League in 2006. The only notable ex-player was Alessandro Pistone, who spent a year at the club in the 2007-2008 season. They find themselves now back in the Second Division, and have decided to gamble on unknown Belgian/English coach Leslie De Laet to turn the clubs fortune around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeesterCat Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 A cursory glance at the state of the team showed that there wasn’t much room to manoeuvre. There is £0 to spend, the wage budget is £1,000p/w over and the board aren’t happy to hire more staff or expand the facilities. The only small ray of sunshine is that some of the team played in the Jupiler Division the previous season, so there is a smattering of quality in the squad. Of course, their morale isn’t too hot. First things first. I was able to hire a couple of scouts due to their low wages. In came Benoit Thans and Roy Mackay. Not household names, but they looked to be experienced chaps. They were immediately sent out on assignment to find the best Under 18 players they could in central Europe and the United Kingdom. On to the squad. Fans of mid 90s not very impressive Premiership players would remember two of the current team – David Grondin and Cedric Roussel. Elsewhere there are a few decent players, but nothing to get excited about. In terms of the squads make-up, defence and attack have decent options, but the midfield is pretty threadbare and that is where I’ll be looking to strengthen things. Perhaps surprisingly, my first transfer involved letting a player leave. Roussel, although on paper looked the best striker, was in fact past it. His record for the last few years was very poor indeed and he was the highest earner at the club. I was able to get £20k for him and he left with the best wishes of the fans. Hopefully he’ll enjoy his spell in Germany. With a small transfer budget (5k!) and some wage budget to play with, I could start strengthening the squad. I brought in 3 players on trial with the hope they would impress; two ended up getting offered a contract: Jean-Jacques Domoraud, a right-back who could also cover in the centre and Asanda Sishuba, a South African who is predominantly a left winger, but can also play up front if needed. I further strengthened the midfield by bringing in another left winger, Marco Ingrao on a free. The right side of the midfield was filled with a loan signing; David Camps from Auxerre. He really impressed my scouts and I was lucky to be able to sign him for the rest of the season. I gained some extra cover in the defensive positions when Kevin Kis (LB/WBL) and Gustavo (DC) joined; both on frees. Both players won’t be getting many starts this season, but look to be good prospects for the future, especially Gustavo. Finally, Roussel’s place in the squad was replaced by a more creative forward – Jeroen Ketting. He looks to be a bargain and I was shocked to be able to pick him up from his club on a free. My first team now looks like: GK: Peersman /De Vlamynck DL: Grondin /Jay DC: Bailluel / Vanderzyl DC: Demets /Sankare DR: Domoraud /Timmermans ML: Sishuba / Ingrao MC: Imschoot / Agyeman MC: Jarju / Matumona MR: Camps / Diane FC: Gueye / Sanogo FC: Ketting / Oussale Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeesterCat Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 Pre-season Friendlies My predecessor had clearly been cocky when it came to arranging friendlies. We had a run of Paris Saint Germain, Aston Villa and then Atalanta all in the course of one week. I’m culpable though as I let the potential earnings of these fixtures cloud my judgement and not cancel at least one. So my poor demoralised, relegated team faced a couple of local teams, where I chopped and changed things (we scraped a couple of wins while I tinkered), then proceeded to be roundly thrashed for a week; 0-4 from PSG, 0-5 from Aston Villa and 0-3 from Atalanta. In fairness, the Villa and Atalanta results look worse than the actual game played and the team was showing signs of improvement and of gelling, while the hapless team’s manager also got an idea of what his best 11 were. Gueye and Ketting look like they could become a handy partnership (Gueye is the best player in the squad), while in Ingrao and Matumona we have some excellent dead-ball specialists. Roll on the first half of the season! (Next update will be at the end of the Winter break) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 David Grondin Great start and I'll be following this with interest! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark b Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 Looking forward to reading this! Mons have a decent team for the Belgian second division I would have thought. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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