DodgeeD Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 2027 Season Preview: Spartak Moscow Club Information: Season Ticket Holders: 23,709 (up 349) Stadium Capacity: 45,000 (all-seater) Training facilities: Top Youth faciliites: Excellent + Youth Academy Youth Recruitment: Well established Board Expectations Russian Premier Division: Challenge for the title (Media Prediction: 3rd) Russian Cup: Not important Russian Super Cup: Not important Champions League: Group Stage Transfer Budget: 27 million Wage Limit: 1.1million p/w Even after last year's success, the board's expectations haven't changed and after Champions League revenue and another cash imjection from the chairman, I found myself with a similar amount of money to spend and a slightly increased wage budget. The board had agreed to upgrade youth facilities but cancelled construction before the extra money came in. However, they have agreed to expand the stadium after we sold out most of our home games last year. Apparently, it will take a year of planning before any work starts! Transfers I was only in the market for Russian players due to the foriegner limits imposed by the league. Too many times last season we had to make two substituitons instead of one to stay within the rules so I wanted more domestic depth to the squad. Having said that, one foreigner did come in on a pre-arranged deal and yet again, it was a former protegée from Flamengo. Ronaldo is a player I spent 5 million on when he was 15 and, now aged 18, he joins me again for 8million. He has the potential to be a world-class player and by getting him young, he should have a Russian passport before his mid-twenties. The other new faces were all Russian by birth or by second nationality. My main signing was winger Nikita Grigoryan, who cost 10million from Hoffenheim and will be my first choice on the right. On the left flank, I brought in Bénego Traoré, who has Russian nationality from a previous spell with Terek. He joins Ronaldo as one of my former players having been part of my Club Africain side when we won the CAF Champions League. 9million was the fee agreed with Racing Santander. Paulo joined us at left back from Rubin in a 6million deal. He's not quite Russian yet but is 'awaiting paperwork' so expect him to be turning out for the national side soon. Artem Grishin was the only other arrival. The 2.3 million signing from Rostov will provide back-up to the main strikers for now. Champions League A month before the Russian season kicked off, we were in competitive action against Lyon in the Champions League First Knockout Round. We had played a number of friendlies in preparation but our lack of match fitness showed as we struggled badly. We found ourselves behind early on and then suffered not one but two major lapses in concentration as own goals put us three down. We were really flagging by the end and conceded another in injury time. A 4-0 defeat at home was probably one of my worst results in this career to date. We made a better showing of ourselves in the return game as we drew 1-1. Now, it's back to the drawing board for next time around. Russian Super Cup We made up for European humiliation a little with an impressive Super Cup win over CSKA Moscow. Rodrigo, who missed the first leg of the Lyon game through injury, came back with a bang scoring a brace as we won 3-0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 A tough result in the Champions League to Lyon but you can take some consolation out of the second leg (I think ) knowing that they're not that much better than you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Ouch, Lyon battered you! A bit of a reality check there. Hopefully, this won't affect your league campaign too much Traore is a beast, not your usual type of winger! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Against Lyon it didn't help that Rodrigo was injured and all the new signings were unavailable but that's no excuse really... And, yes, Traore is physically impressive - if his finishing and heading were better, I'd retrain him as a striker. But with his dribbling and crossing skills plus his strength to hold off challenges, the wing will do Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 June 2027 Spartak Moscow Update Russian Premier League Despite heavy investment in the side again pre-season, the league so far has been a lot tougher than last season. CSKA are strong again as are Amkar but Zenit have made a revival after a couple of poor seasons (by thier standards) and Lokomtiv and Rubin are picking up points as well. We've generally been doing well with the defence a lot tighter than last year, thanks in no small part to the emergence of Mikel Crespo, a young Spaniard central defender I signed early in my tenure here. However, we have struggled against our rivals losing away to CSKA and at home Zenit and drawing at Lokomotiv when we really should have lost. I'm hoping we can improve our form against the big teams after the break as we will face Amkar, Zenit and CSKA in the first 5 games back. Current Table Russian Cup We marched to the final without much resistance. Amkar were what stood between us and a successful cup defence but unfortunately, they proved to be a formidable barrier. After falling two goals behind in the first half, I tried to get the boys psyched up again for the second half but it had little effect as we were 3 down immediately after the re-start. We then started to play better with Roberto pulling one back from a corner. All hope of a comeback was lost though as Carioca got sent off and Amkar picked there way through our depleted team to add a late fourth. Final Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 2027 International Update: Copa América Group Stage Following on from last year's World Cup triumph, I came into the Copa América with high hopes of a second major international trophy. Perhaps we were a bit over-confident though as we were on the end of a surprise 1-0 defeat to Chile in the opening game. We dominated but lost out to a long range screamer. Only ourselves to blame in truth as we shockingly missed two penalties... Normal service resumed in the next game with a 4-0 win over Venezuela with the final goal coming from the penalty spot. Bolivia were no match for us in the final group game as we strolled to a 3-0 win to take second spot in our group behind Chile. Group Tables - the only shock of the group stage was Uruguay's poor showing as they crashed out with 2 draws and a defeat. Knockout Stages Finishing second in the group meant we had to face Mexico in the quarter-finals. However, it also meant we were in the opposite half of the draw to Brazil. Not that it mattered though as we turned in perhaps the worst performance under my management as we were completely out-played. We fell behind early on, managed to pull level against the run of play but eventually lost out 2-1 to a late penalty. No arguements - we were poor and the best team won. Mexico made it all the way to the final but were thrashed by Brazil as they won their second successive title. Knockout Tree Despite our early exit, Miguel Angel Diaz was named Best Player - the only player to impress in our squad. After the tournament, ıw as assured my job was safe but decided to resign as I had always planned to do anyway. Maybe I should have quit after the World Cup to leave on a high.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Very tight indeed, should still come out on top though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Unlucky with the Argies mate but keeping a strong title challenge with Spartak Keep it up mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 Very tight in the league, it also seems that Amkar are becoming a decent team too. I'm surprised at how poorly Ural are doing, considering their tycoon backing. Bad luck with the Copa America. Is that you done with international management, or is there another country you want to have a crack at? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 Well, with the new game out I guess I won't be going back to this career.... For the record, after some bad results, I quit Spartak and went a couple of months jobless. I then took over the Italian U21s but after 3 games was approached by Holland and jumped ship. I got them through the Euro 2028 play-offs before taking over at FC Utrecht. I got the promoted before my enforced break. Now time to see what FM12 brings! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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