[FM11] Barcelona’ing the way through the lower leagues – is it even possible?

[noikeee]

So, this is how the russian adventure ended...

Disappointing really, a great win against CSKA away but never expected to lose to Nalchik. That cost us not only 7th place, but also 8th and 9th. Booking my flight to Spain now.

[noikeee]

Vigo - 17th of December, 2023

My new office is called the Estadio Municipal de Balaídos, or simply, the Balaídos. This was first built in 1928 (!) and renewed multiple times throughout the history, its current version can seat 31800 people.

Celta de Vigo is a club with a long history (indeed, on my first day in the job the chairman alerted me this was the club's centenary season), but not many trophies conquered. Highlights would be several presences in the Copa Del Rey final, all of them lost (the last of which in 2001), and full decades of presence in the spanish top tier. In there their best ever finish was 4th place, and in a golden period in the late 90s/early 2000s they reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup for 3 consecutive years.

Lately, it has turned into a yo-yo club bouncing between La Liga and the Liga Adelante. After sudden relegation in 2004, the very same season they played in the Champions League for the one and only time, I can hardly keep track of how many promotions and relegations there have been. Back up in 2005 - down in 2007. Back in 2013 - down in 2015. Back in 2019 - down in 2021. Back in 2022 (and with a record 91 points in the Liga Adelante), down the very next season in 2023. And now, in 2023/2024, as I arrive to the club, they're in the Liga Adelante, and in... 17th:

Erm, I didn't sign up for this. When I signed the contract, the club was 11th and still with a realistic chance of promotion. Indeed, the media prediction was 2nd in the championship. Now the morale of the players is absolutely shattered and the maths don't look very good neither.

Finances

27.9M€ in the green, no loans. Surely this should be safe enough for me not to ruin things? I'll keep an eye on the budgets though - FM boards are insane and give you more than twice the money they should. In theory I have a big fat 19M€ check to spend in transfers though! I'll try to save a few bucks from that, but it's going to take some serious self-restraint.

Squad

Decent bunch of players actually, the stars make them look worse than they are. I am delighted to meet my former Dresden youth player David Simecek, who is on loan here from Man City and has developed into a monster of a player. Other highlights are serbian forward Dusan Mitic, full-back José Antonio, centre-back Rafael, and our captain Mohamed Dao. I have no idea how have they managed to go as far down as 17th in the league with this squad.

As a mere curiosity, turkish winger Levent Aycicek is on loan from my former club Krylya Sovetov. Not a very good player.

Goals for this season

Get as close to the promotion playoffs as possible. It'd be utterly ridiculous to be stuck in the relegation battle with the players we have, but the playoffs are a bit far. Meanwhile we have tons of money to strengthen the squad, but I want to save some as we'll need it once we go back to the top tier, eventually - the spanish premier league is a whole different beast.

[AK22]

A short stay in Russia, but probably a wise move to make.

The budgets offered by Celta are more than decent, so you should be aiming for La Liga mid-table if/once you get promoted

[noikeee]

A short stay in Russia, but probably a wise move to make.

The budgets offered by Celta are more than decent, so you should be aiming for La Liga mid-table if/once you get promoted

Yep, my first impressions from the few games I played yesterday is that this is the easiest challenge I've ever had in my whole career. The team's already too good for this level frankly.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2023/2024 - winter transfer window update

Transfers

Didn't spend my entire transfer budget, but the club's bank account was trimmed in half. I've always been a big spender but never on transfer fees, well this time the financial book for January records an enormous 14.5M€ loss, almost exclusively on players, and a few staff I poached. This still leaves us with 12.6M€ in the bank, 6.3M€ left of transfer budget, 250K€/month left of wage budget. I think that's enough for the club to remain sustainable.

(Transfers)

So, here's the guys I hired:

Ye Zhengping (DC, DMC, MC) - Awesome chinese centre-back, now rated as the best player in my whole team. Was forgotten in some rubbish serbian side and had a 3.6M€ release clause which I happily paid.

Martin Bakos (DR) - Useful right-back, not an amazing talent but better than the veteran I had as first choice.

Gastón Fernández (DC, DMC, MC) - Arrived for a fee of 6.25M€, by far the most I ever paid for a player. Has great stats for a 19 year old and the scout told me he had lots of potential.

Bill (MC, AMC, ST) - Sounds like a texan name, but was born in Santos with a healthy share of brazilian flair. Another great player forgotten in a rubbish side who just got relegated out of the brazilian top tier, 1.2M€ was an absolute bargain.

Issah Asamoah (MC, AMC) - Pacey backup AMC, for 65K€ is good value for money.

Vlatko Sunjic (MC, ST) - Totally awesome striker who I got on a free! Only isn't first choice yet because Dusan Mitic is on superb form.

Dávid Fazekas (DMC, MC) - Backup DMC, again good value for money thanks to a 300K€ release fee.

Gabriel Kiss (GK) - We had 4 goalies yet the assman still told me goalkeeper was the biggest weakness in the side. After signing this guy, he now tells the press keeper is the strongest sector of the squad.

I also sold a few useless backups for very little money, and got rid of the loanees (Henrik Lundmark, Levent Aycicek) who were both rubbish and paid like superstars.

League

I realised this team had even more potential than I expected when in my first game in charge, with a squad fully inherited from my predecessor, unused to my tactics, on totally wretched morale, and having to face the league leaders, we won 2-1 fair and square. Things then got pretty humorous when the signings arrived, as we've been constantly hammering opponents since. I don't really know for certain if we can mantain this form, but we're clearly back in contention for the promotion playoffs.

All of this begs the question: what was the previous manager doing??? Seriously, 17th??? And why was all the money kept in a pot instead of being invested in talent? A blind monkey would've done a better job.

Cups

No cups. Celta's been knocked out of the Copa del Rey by the third round, long before I arrived.

Goals for the rest of the season

It feels silly to say this, because I was dismissing the possibility just little over 1 month ago, but if we don't get promoted, it's going to feel like a failure. This squad was already better than pretty much everyone else in the league. With the new signings, the gap in talent is blatant. We don't belong here in the Liga Adelante.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2023/2024 - season review

Transfers

Got a promising DMC on a free named Juan Francisco Mora who I moved to Celta B.

League

Our impressive run of consecutive wins came to a halt in February after pulling a 0-0 in Mallorca, and then we had a poor March, losing 10 of the available 18 points - crucially, not enough to drop out of contention for the playoffs as we never dropped below 8th since the mid-season update. April was a clean sweep, we were firmly into the playoff positions by then, however the teams ahead were gathering a lot of points too, and by the time we faced Osasuna, we needed a win to still have a realistic chance to gain direct promotion. We lost 3-1 and pretty much had our fate sealed there - playoffs. Turns out we won the remaining 3 matches and a win over Osasuna would've given us just enough points for direct promotion...

4th place then and into the playoffs, altho somewhat weakened as Bakos, Pagot and Sunjic were out to play in the Euro 2024, and Zhengping had a few World Cup qualifying matches. Our first opponents were Girona and the first leg, away, wasn't pretty. They had more chances than we did, hit the posts twice, but we somehow scrapped a 1-1 draw. At home we then hammered them 4-1 including

.

We were up against Córdoba in the final, and the away tie was again not very pretty but the 1-1 we pulled seemed fairer than at Girona as it was an even game. The returning leg, and final match of the season, was everything but fair. Langerica scored early for them, we dominated the entire match onwards, had 3-1 in clear cut chances, had a goal disallowed for offside, and the (legal) goal just didn't arrive. It was a shock 0-1 defeat and we're staying here for next year. I am SO f*cking pis*ed. I hate promotion playoffs.

(League positions graph) - guess at which point of the season I took control.

Top 5 key players

(Full squad and stats)

5. David Simecek (DMC) - I was delighted to find him back in my team (remember he was a youth back then at Dresden), and he truly is a wonderful player. Unfortunately it's highly unlikely he'll be here next year, Man City accepts the bid but he doesn't.

4. Mohamed Dao (AMR) - Inconsistent, but did often appear in the area to finish moves, or use his pace to win the byline and create havoc.

3. Ye Zhengping (DC) - It was a pleasure to pay 3.5M€ for him. Wonderful centre-back, got a few goals too to save us in the toughest games.

2. Dusan Matic (AMC, ST) - Awfully inconsistent, but our most reliable source of goals as he ended the season with a tally of 22. Very, very good for this level when on form.

1. Martin Holly (AML) - An utterly unbelievable, astonishing record of 31 assists (30 in the league - previous Liga Adelante record was 20). I've never seen anything like this. Some were corners, but most from normal play. He doesn't even have particularly good pace. Or crossing. He's nearly two-footed and has some flair so apparently that's enough to make him a god.

Finances

15M€ in the bank, and NOT losing money per month. Feels like I've entered the twilight zone.

Conclusions and future expectations

For f*ck's sake, how on earth did we miss this? It was the perfect comeback and we blew it against Osasuna, but safe in the knowledge we had a second chance, then we blew it in the very last match, at home! Notice this is the FOURTH time I went into a promotion playoff in my career, and I lost all four of them. And this time it was going to be a total epic story, from 17th mid-season to promotion. We made so many points since I arrived at the club that I'm absolutely certain we would've walked the league had I started at the beginning of the season.

Note to our opponents for next season: we're Celta, we're better than you, we're pi*sed and we're going to release all of our anger in you. Prepare to be fu*king humiliated. I want no less than 1st place and no less than 90 points.

Career overview

[b]Season   Club (nation)         League (tier)                          Notes[/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/11    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Sul (3) - 4th
11/12    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Centro (3) - 1st            Lost in promotion playoff
12/13    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 7th           
13/14    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 22nd         Resigned mid-season
        Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 15th  Won relegation playout
14/15    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 4th   Lost in promotion playoff
15/16    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 3rd   Lost in promotion playoff
16/17    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 1st   Promoted, Serie C Cup winners
17/18    Venezia (ITA)         Prima Divisione Girone A (3) - 6th
18/19    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 8th
19/20    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 13th                      Resigned mid-season
        Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 10th
20/21    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 2nd                Promoted
21/22    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th                 
22/23    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th              League Cup winners
2023     Krylya Sovetov (RUS)  Prem'er Liga (1) - 10th                 
23/24    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 4th                Lost in promotion playoff

[SnakeXe]

Gutting

Next season ought to be a doddle though! Why not take a holiday? Haha

[deltablue]

Should be able to go up next time.

[noikeee]

If I don't get promoted next season I'm retiring from FM and pursuing a career in farming or something.

[noikeee]

World of Football, 2024 edition

6 years ago I posted a summary of how things have been developing in international football, it's time to take a look at it again.

European Championship 2020, hosted by Spain

No major surprises in the group stage as with 16 teams going through, all the favourites made it and there was even space for some strange teams (Georgia?), hosts Spain were on particularly good form and walked the group with 3 wins on 3 matches, Bojan scoring 4 goals. Come the second round and the hosts' fragilities were starting to show as they only dispatched Turkey on extra time, meanwhile favourites France died at the hands of Slovakia, and Romania pulled an even bigger shock hammering reigning champions Italy 3-0. Germany-England was the classic tie, a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final, and the world champ germans won 3-2.

In the quarters the slovaks again surprised by beating the hosts 3-2, the dutch dispatched Croatia in another goal fest (4-2), Germany had little trouble beating Switzerland and in the low profile tie of the round, Romania beat Scotland. The semis were as unspectacular and as predictable as it gets, the dutch beating Romania and the germans ending the slovaks' dreams, both by 1-0. It was a classic Netherlands-Germany in the final and brazilian born Marcelo scored the only goal of the final, giving the title to the dutch. Dutch forward Bas Dost was the Golden Boot on 7 goals, spanish midfielder Javi Martínez was a bizarre pick for player of the tournament albeit he did well in Spain's failed run.

World Cup 2022, hosted by Qatar

Now, a World Cup in Qatar was always going to be different, but this was a plain bizarre competition. It started in the groups as both world champs Germany and euro champs Netherlands were knocked out, the germans in particularly shocking circumstances as they were dead last in a group with Switzerland, Gabon and Saudi Arabia. Spain were also out, in a tough group with Argentina and Italy, but somehow managed to finish behind China as well. Second round was not as odd, but France lost to Mexico, Belgium to Togo (??), and England beat another favourites, 5 times world champs Italy.

The quarters gave a huge joy to the scots as they beat archrivals England on penalties, qualifying for a World Cup semi against Serbia (who beat Togo 5-2), a very strange semi giving a golden chance for either to participate in an unique final. The other semi was the super classic Brazil-Argentina, as the argies had comfortably beat Tunisia and Brazil had only managed to scrap past Mexico on penalties. It was a fun classic and Brazil came back from an early argentinian goal to beat them in extra time 2-1. They were to face the serbs, who beat the scots 2-0 in Losail. But then the peak of utter bizarreness came in the final in Doha, as Serbia came back from an early Neymar goal to beat Brazil 2-1 and lift their first World Cup title. Zaragoza/Brazil striker Pinheiro won both the Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe.

European Championship 2024, hosted by Italy

The Euro came back to italian stadiums 44 years later, and the italian ground wasn't to prove very lucky for Portugal nor France who were both out in the groups (geez, this has really been a poor decade for both teams). Nothing massively weird happened in the second round, albeit England again pulled the short straw as they had to face the hosts and promptly lost 3-1. Reigning champions Netherlands needed extra time to beat Belgium, and world champions Serbia again killed Scotland's dreams.

The italians had a tough draw again in the quarters, having to face the germans and again home advantage proved important as they won 1-0. Denmark beat Russia, Netherlands beat a remarkable norwegian side, and Serbia continued their dream as they finished Spain in the penalties. The idea of adding an Euro to their already unlikely World Cup ended in the semis as they faced the hosts and promptly lost 2-0. Netherlands beat Denmark, qualifying for their 2nd consecutive Euro final. They held on remarkably for 81 minutes, until defender Armando Galassi's single goal gave the hosts their 3rd european title in the San Siro. Tottenham italian forward Alberto Salvi topped the scoring ranks and won the Best Player award too.

UEFA Champions League

It's truly remarkable the success Marseille has had ever since I started my career. Remember they had won the 2013 and 2018 Champions League. Manager Alex Dupont retired then, but then under the command of Samuel Eto'o, they retained the trophy in 2019, and 5 years later won their 5th ever title in 2024. Truly unbelievable. In between their 2019 and 2024 cups, the title went to Spain 4 years straight. Hugo Sanchéz's Real Madrid won it in 2020, Barcelona got their first ever back-to-back titles under Didier Deschamps in 2021 and 2022, and argentinian manager Antonio Mohamed plus forward Neymar did their magic to give Atlético Madrid's first ever european trophy in 2023. In between all this, Mourinho led Man City to their first ever final, and Inter continue to miss Mourinho as they lost yet another 3 finals(!!!).

UEFA Europa League

In FM world, teams take the Europa League very seriously, and therefore we only see very big clubs winning it. From 2019 onwards, the winners list is composed of Man Utd, Juventus, Chelsea, Atlético Madrid, Tottenham and then a slightly surprising PSV Eindhoven last season. I'm gutted to find out that Porto lost a final to Man Utd at Anfield.

FIFA Club World Cup

Pretty much dominated by the European Champions League winners since the last update, however São Paulo have caught Barcelona and Atlético Madrid by surprise to get 2 more titles, making the brazilian side the most successful ever in the competition, with 4 cups total.

England

After all the success by spanish sides in the Champions League recently, the Premier League has finally dropped to 2nd in the reputation charts. This has probably been because Mike Phelan's all-conquering Man Utd side took a 4 seasons time off, and let Chelsea run away with 3 titles - while Tottenham pulled an absolute shock in 2020, their only 3rd domestic title in history: credit goes to manager Oliver Bierhoff, who is now managing... their rivals Arsenal. Phelan's Utd came back to silverware in 2022 and 2024, in-between Man City finally grabbed their 1st title under the Abu Dhabi money, but it took the full weight of José Mourinho's managerial talents. Note that Mourinho has now just become England's national manager... for his second spell as he was already there from 2016 to 2020.

Spain

Things have gotten a bit weird here as it seems that Atlético Madrid are actually a serious team and have won 4 titles in 5 years - Didier Deschamps' Barcelona interrumpting what would've been a 5 years run with the 2021 crown. Real Madrid has won it the past 2 seasons, the only 2 seasons Massimiliano Allegri was at the club, a short and hugely successful stint.

Italy

The bizarre pattern of Inter then Napoli then Inter then Napoli repeated itself for a few more years (albeit Inter finally did back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021). All ended last season, as regen egyptian manager Mohamed Abd Rabo ended Milan's run of absence of calcio silverware which had lasted 13 years.

Germany

Josep Guardiola pulled a bit of a miracle in 2019 as he gave Wolfsburg their second ever title. Didn't last long as he left at the end of the season, and a predictable all-conquering 4 seasons of Bayern triumph ensued. Schalke ended the run last year though, massive news for them as they hadn't won a title in 66 years!!! Russian manager Leonid ****skiy was their hero.

France

Samuel Eto'o may have inherited Alex Dupont's superb european champion Marseille side, but went beyond his predecessor's achievements as he added an incredible 6 consecutive titles to make it a run of 8 years of Marseille triumph.

Portugal

To my annoyance, Porto has only pulled one title in the last 6 years, the other 5 all going to Benfica who are now on a 4 consecutive titles run - and I got the chance to experience how difficult it is to face them when managing Belenenses. All the credit goes to mexican manager Sergio Bueno, now a true legend of portuguese football.

FIFA Ballon D'Or

With the careers of legends Leo Messi and Paulo Henrique Ganso coming to an end, this has started to be a very tightly contested award, shared by many different players. Mesut Ozil won it in 2018 (no doubt helped by Germany's World Cup triumph) and Paulo Henrique won his last in 2019 (no doubt helped by Marseille's Champions League). Miralem Pjanic and Eden Hazard followed, while Bayern's Lula and Real Madrid's César - both brazilians - have been the first two regens to pull it off.

World Soccer Magazine Player of the Year

Same as the FIFA Ballon D'Or except Lula won it in 2023 and Eden Hazard in 2019.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2024/2025 - season preview

Transfers

(Transfers)

I'm going to start by the sales, as I'm frustrated that my idiot chairman decided to sell our superb chinese centre-back Ye Zhengping for merely 6M€, forcing me to find a replacement. I've also messed up too, by signing 2 non-EU players when I already had filled my non-EU quota, which meant I had to get rid of forward Vlatko Sunjic for a mere 650K€ (best I could get), which was gutting as he was awesome and despite homesickness and having been given a month of leave of absence, he still had scored 5 goals in 9 appearances last season. The other non-EU player I got rid of was a guy who I had just signed on a free (Carlos Herrera), so that actually gave me a profit. Meanwhile, a few backup players were sold/loaned as usual: Paul Pagot, Andrea Milani, Filippo Valente, Héctor, Issah Asamoah, etc.

So onto the signings. 16 new faces arrived, but only about half of them were for the first team:

Raúl Ungaro (DMC, DC, MC) - Not that good and won't last here, but was on a free and is a decent backup.

Rogério (MLC, AMRLC, ST) - Very versatile, pacey winger with some good technical skills, will be handy.

Ibrahima Sankaré (ST) - Superb striker, I am delighted to have stolen him on a free from Lyon. Now rated as the best player on the team.

Ticão (DMC, MC) - Another free from Lyon, I think he lacks some important attributes but is very smart and has serious potential.

Ibrahima Gueye (M/AM RL) - Also senegalese, also named Ibrahima, and also very very good. Has some potential on top of these skills and was my most expensive signing at 2.2M€.

Joch Ochieng (DC, DMC, MC) - The direct replacement for Ye Zhengping, very complete defender apart from aggression.

Alfredo Almeida (DLC) - Remember him? Was my most profittable sale back then at Belenenses. I now managed to get him back at 2M€ and he's even more awesome than he used to be. A beast in the air and can do left-back too.

Claude Etamé (DRC) - My assman told me I needed a right-back. This is him, nothing awfully spectacular, but does the job.

Fran García (DL) - Backup left-back, adds some experience in an increasingly young team.

Alessandro Mazzuccato (MC, AMC, ST) - Another great free signing, only rated 3 stars by the assman but I think he'll steal Bill's place as the AMC. Very quick player with no obvious weaknesses.

Vitaliy Pryndeta (DC, DMC, MC) - Yet another great free transfer, altho veteran and on a high wage. Superb defensive player, haven't figured out yet if I'm going to play him as DC or DMC.

Full Squad

I was slightly worried that without Simecek (rejected us again) and Zhengping, the team would get weaker. It didn't. This is, by a very long margin, the strongest squad I've ever managed in any version of FM below the top tier. Attacking the Liga Adelante with these players is the footballing equivalent of slicing through a packet of butter with a chainsaw. It's total overkill.

Finances

19M€ in the green. 7.3M€ of transfer budget remaining. 180K€/month of wage budget remaining. And I use mostly free transfers instead. This is fun.

Goals for the season

• Kick the crap out of everyone in the league.
  
• Do a good cup run. We beat Sevilla and Genoa in the pre-season so I'm not afraid of the top tier teams.
  
• Keep on laughing at all the transfer rumours that put me as the favourite for right about every job in Uruguay, Scotland, Ukraine, Russia, or god knows wherever else (I've been linked to some good clubs too, AZ, Twente, PSG, even Liverpool at a point(!) - they were having an atrocious season, in 17th place). I'm not leaving this club anytime soon. I want to do something special with Celta, and have a brilliant chance to do it.

[SnakeXe]

Come on unbeaten season!

[Nordan]

Attacking the Liga Adelante with these players is the footballing equivalent of slicing through a packet of butter with a chainsaw. It's total overkill.

You realise we won't be cutting you any slack now.

[AK22]

Harsh playoff defeat. You completely outplayed them! Bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

I'm pretty confident you'll go up in the automatic promotion places next season though, good luck

[noikeee]

Come on unbeaten season!

Thanks.

You realise we won't be cutting you any slack now.

I know, and I think all this trash-talking jinxed the team. 5 league fixtures into the season and we've lost 3 times. Humble pie time.

Harsh playoff defeat. You completely outplayed them! Bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

I'm pretty confident you'll go up in the automatic promotion places next season though, good luck

Thanks. I still think we will, it's just a matter of getting the morale going again after this disappointing beginning of the season.

[SnakeXe]

Haha, sorry for jinxing you by mentioning the u-word!

[noikeee]

It may get worse because a board takeover is about to happen by a fan's trust and they have their own manager - Valery Karpin. And he's just gone to watch one of our matches. And my job status is "insecure". I think I'm going to get sacked.

Which is utterly ludicrous since even with those defeats, and being in 11th in the league, we're only 4 points behind the leaders, with 36 games to go. And in our first two cup games, away, to teams in the same league we're playing in, we've won 6-0 and 7-0. It seems that my campaign from 17th to 4th last season didn't count for anything, as FM disregards anything you've done if you arrive to a club mid-season.

[noikeee]

At work right now so don't want to develop much on this, but just to say that my FM session last night had some... interesting developments. This game really takes you by surprise sometimes lol. Update soon.

[Nordan]

At work right now so don't want to develop much on this, but just to say that my FM session last night had some... interesting developments. This game really takes you by surprise sometimes lol. Update soon.

Oh dear

A)You got sacked!

B)You kept your job,got £72,3M for transfers on the condition you marry the new chairman's daughter!

[deltablue]

You're top?

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2024/2025 - mid-season update

Transfers

Yes I'm still at the club. January brought very little movement, with a single striker arriving and another leaving to open up a gap. The quality of my new player was so great I had to get rid of a player who had been at the club for 10 years and had scored over 100 goals for Celta. He wasn't anywhere near first choice anymore though, certainly never since I've arrived at the club - Igor Sharay was sold to PSG for 350K€.

The replacement arrived from egyptian club Al-Ahly, for his release fee of 5.25M€:

Khalil Baghouli (ST) - Incredibly quick, quality finisher, very determined and great movement off the ball. This is a superb player. Maybe I could've invested in some other position as I already have Sankharé as forward and I only use one of them, but he was way too good for me to ignore. Scored within his first 3 minutes for the club.

League

The beginning was a huge shock. Coming into this season with the expectations of walking the league (even the board put "promotion" as the lowest possible objective) I sure as hell didn't expect to lose 3 of my first 5 fixtures. Even if they were against 3 of the most convincing sides in the league - Mallorca, Recreativo and Betis - and the team was still gelling a bit after a considerable amount of signings. It brought us down to earth.

The worst thing was that it brought the board and fan's confidence below the earth. At this point and with a game or two in hand, we were mid-table, and despite the fact there was tons and tons of games to play yet, my job was "insecure". And a board takeover was in the process of happening, even the transfers were embargoed, and the new board had their own manager. It couldn't have happened at a worst point of the season.

Thankfully the team then kicked up a gear. A few lousy wins, always by a single goal, got us up the league, and by the time the board takeover finally got completed, we were already into the promotion playoff spots and the board decided to keep me, "temporarily" (haven't heard of their manager since). Then the team decided to start MURDERING everybody. A 5-1 win at Bilbao over fallen giants Athletic was nice. A 6-1 win over promotion contenders Las Palmas, despite playing with 10 men all game long, was even better. THAT is Celta. THAT is what I expected from this season.

A minor blip in early January saw us lose the 1st place momentarily to Mallorca - who are having a wonderfully convincing season too -, but we're back up now.

Cups

The first two rounds were right in the middle of the league defeats/takeover crysis, yet they were some of the results I'm most proud of in my entire career so far. Girona and Castellón may not be anything special, but they're Liga Adelante sides too, and we beat them away 6-0, 7-0. Two insane matches.

We faced Córdoba then (our bogey team who knocked us out in the playoff final last year), and suddenly ran out of talent. A 1-0 home win was nice, but then we had an appalling 2nd leg losing to a 10-men Córdoba. The fact that they're now a Liga BBVA team should be no excuse. And that was it for the Copa Del Rey this season.

Players

It's all been about my duo of senegalese Ibrahimas. Gueye has enjoyed terrorizing defenses with bags of assists, and pace plus trickery down the wing. Sankharé took a while to get warmed up but has been a solid provider of goals too.

But while he has stopped for 3 months due to injury, the player I've been most amazed by so far is attacking midfielder Alessandro Mazzucatto. An average player in theory (my assman still gives him only 2,5 stars!), yet freakishly amazing in the pitch. 9 games, 7 goals, 7 assists, 8.49 average rating. I'm running out of adjectives.

Finances

Instead of getting sacked, I got a nice gift instead - new board felt like playing Santa Claus and offered me an early Christmas gift of 10M€. I promptly spent half of it in the aforementioned striker Khalil Baghouli. 20.9M€ in the green.

Goals for the rest of the season

Well, keep doing what we're doing?

[noikeee]

Oh dear

A)You got sacked!

B)You kept your job,got £72,3M for transfers on the condition you marry the new chairman's daughter!

You're top?

A bit easy to guess heh? Top and given 10M for transfers, no hot spanish rich woman has been involved in the deal tho.

[Nordan]

no hot spanish rich woman has been involved in the deal tho.

Looking good for promotion! Maybe that's where the women are.

[AK22]

Baghouli looks a beast! He's easily good enough to play in La Liga too

[noikeee]

Frankly I'm a little disappointed by Baghouli so far, his pace seems to create tons of one-on-ones but he doesn't seem very good at finishing those opportunities, also he's a bit too prone to be either complacent or nervous in the matches. I'm sticking with Ibrahima Sankaré upfront more often.

[deltablue]

Definitely got a promotion squad there.

[AK22]

Frankly I'm a little disappointed by Baghouli so far, his pace seems to create tons of one-on-ones but he doesn't seem very good at finishing those opportunities, also he's a bit too prone to be either complacent or nervous in the matches. I'm sticking with Ibrahima Sankaré upfront more often.

Can't argue with that, he looks equally good or even slightly better

Having a nervous/complacent striker is never ideal when you're fighting for promotion. One poor game, and their morale is usually shot to pieces. Probably best used as an impact substitution.

[noikeee]

Celta de Vigo 2024/2025 - season review

Transfers

Hired a young left-back on a free, named Pa-Malick Yarbo. Nowhere near good enough for the first team now, but has 4.5 stars of PA, arguably.

League

Quite frankly this is one of the least interesting updates yet as there's very little to talk about here, we kicked ass and that was it. There was a sudden blip in form when we were surprisingly beaten 2-1 home by Albacete, but then 2 weeks later it was over as we hammered Betis. Likewise, we would lose in March/April to Gimnástic and Valladolid, but other than that it was pretty much all easy victories.

We confirmed promotion with 4 games in hand and clinched the championship the next week at Las Palmas. Then we did an extra effort to beat all possible Liga Adelante records, and indeed the total of 100 points and the total of 115 goals scored are new records.

(League positions graph)

Top 5 key players

(Full squad and stats)

5. Rafael (DC) - The stereotypical goal-scoring centre-back on 8 goals and probably our most consistent defensive player too.

4. Alessandro Mazzuccato (AMC) - Definitely lost some fire after that insane start of the season, but I'm not forgetting those incredible performances. 13 goals, 8 assists.

3. Ibrahima Gueye (AMR) - Unfortunately broke a foot in March, up until then had probably been the brightest star of our side. 11 goals, 20 assists.

2. Rogério (AML, AMR) - Insanely good second half of the year, got the team's highest average rating thanks to a remarkable consistency of performances. 14 goals, 22 assists.

1. Ibrahima Sankaré (ST) - Got even better as the season unfolded, as he played to impress the top clubs interested in him (as if I'm going to let him leave). 34 goals, 10 assists.

As a side-note my January signing Khalil Baghouli ended the season well, on a tally of 12 goals and starting to play very well as an AML who cuts inside, as I'm retraining him to be able to play him and Sankaré at the same time.

Finances

20.3M€ in the bank.

Conclusions and future expectations

Apart from that early season scare, this was a stroll in the park just like I expected. Things next year should be far more serious as we're talking about the most competitive league in the world at the moment, and indeed it's worth noting that the Barça/Real dominance is all but over as Villarreal and Atlético have won the Champions League, Atlético has won 4 titles recently, and then Zaragoza surprised by clinching the title this year.

Nevertheless if we could dominate the Liga Adelante like this, nothing suggests we'll struggle in the Liga BBVA, even if the gap between both leagues is very large. I do not plan to make a large squad revolution as I want to test this bunch of players at the highest level first, and I believe we can achieve a mid-table position.

This is another important step in my managerial career - my debut in a world class domestic league - and there's no reason to leave Celta at the moment, or in the foreseeable future. I've been linked to all sorts of random jobs and even recently received an offer from mexican side Estudiantes Tecos, it'd be total lunacy to accept.

Career overview

[b]Season   Club (nation)         League (tier)                          Notes[/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/11    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Sul (3) - 4th
11/12    Praiense (POR)        2ª Divisão Centro (3) - 1st            Lost in promotion playoff
12/13    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 7th           
13/14    Kettering (ENG)       Blue Square Premier (5) - 22nd         Resigned mid-season
        Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 15th  Won relegation playout
14/15    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 4th   Lost in promotion playoff
15/16    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 3rd   Lost in promotion playoff
16/17    Venezia (ITA)         Seconda Divisione Girone A (4) - 1st   Promoted, Serie C Cup winners
17/18    Venezia (ITA)         Prima Divisione Girone A (3) - 6th
18/19    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 8th
19/20    Dresden (GER)         3.Liga (3) - 13th                      Resigned mid-season
        Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 10th
20/21    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Orangina (2) - 2nd                Promoted
21/22    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th                 
22/23    Belenenses (POR)      Liga Zon Sagres (1) - 4th              League Cup winners
2023     Krylya Sovetov (RUS)  Prem'er Liga (1) - 10th                 
23/24    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 4th                Lost in promotion playoff
24/25    Celta (SPA)           Liga Adelante (2) - 1st                Promoted

[deltablue]

Should manage fine in La Liga.

[B.W.G]

Congrats on the title victory,quite a few high scoring teams in it as well!

I agree with deltablue,you should manage fine in La Liga.

[SnakeXe]

With the quality of players you have you should be targeting a top half finish - and that's without reinforcement! Good luck making the step up smoothly, that'll be the key - a couple of early wins.

[noikeee]

Cheers for the comments guys, here's the new season update.

Celta de Vigo 2025/2026 - season preview

Transfers

(Transfers)

I ended up signing a few more players than I expected and pretty much spent the whole of the club's money. Here's the new guys:

João Cardoso (DMC) (free) - Experienced DMC, most likely a backup.

Pablo Mendoza (M/AML) (7.75M€) - My most expensive signing so far, attributes don't look THAT great but he's still 19 and arguably got 1.5 stars of untapped potential.

Alexandr Vasilenko (D/DM/M C) (1.2M€) - Was a pretty cheap price tag for this very good DMC who can also do DC.

Jason Weir (DL) (6.75M€) - I maybe paid a little bit too much for him, but definitely needed a better left-back. First british player I've signed in ages (probably since my time at Kettering 12 years ago??).

Zakaria Salum (AMR, ST) (2.1M€) - I needed another option for the right wing, he's probably better as striker but I like to have versatile players.

Domenico Manfredi (M/AMC) (1.7M€) - Probably one attacking midfielder too many in my squad, but he's theoretically better than Mazzuccato and Bill, and was cheap.

Sambou Davies (DR) (3.1M€) - I needed a right-back but I'm not entirely sure yet if he has been the right choice, particularly since I had to get rid of Martin Bakos to make space for him and Bakos had a good season last year.

Douglão (GK) (3.2M€) - Signing of the season. I've never paid this much money for a 30 year old in FM, but this brazilian born, belgian international is a MONSTER. Probably one of the best goalies in the world at the moment.

Spaces needed to open for these players of course - only 25 can be registered. Mohamed Dao, Raúl Ungaro, Martin Holly, Dávid Fazekas, Fran García, Timo Plattel, Martin Bakos, Sergiu Negret were all sold. Note that just two years ago I was picking Dao and Holly as the best performers in the club... things have evolved quickly.

Full Squad

Looking good, there's probably a bit too many options for AMC/ST, there's a slight shortage of wingers (with both Sankaré and Baghouli being retrained, shouldn't be a problem), and the defence is lacking in quality a little compared to upfront, but overall this is a very, very good squad for a side that just got promoted.

Finances

Well I'm hoping my investments will turn into serious sporting performance (and hence some sort of profit, eventually) as we've gone from 19M to merely 3M€ in the bank.

Predictions, conclusions, etc

I have to agree with you guys that I'd be doing something wrong this year to get into any sort of trouble with this squad. It was already strong, and the likes of Douglão, Weir and Vasilenko should push the performance even further. Nevertheless I'm still a little unsure as to how we are going to measure against the elite of spanish football, it has to be said there's plenty of talent all over the league, and the top clubs have players that are even better than our superstars. However we have a very well balanced squad with great depth, and the players are all specialized in the roles they have to play.

My aim personally is for a top half finish, perhaps a surprise run for an european place, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. It has started well however in the first match of the season, probably the most important as we faced our archrivals Deportivo de la Coruña - beat them 1-0.

In career moves that aren't going to happen, I've been offered the jobs of: some random french team I can't remember, Strasbourg and Valencia. Now I was sad to have to turn down Valencia, they're my favourite club in Spain but had no transfer budget (altho were happy to pay me 5 times my current salary!) and I want to see how far I can push Celta.

[deltablue]

Looks like a good set of signings.

[noikeee]

This is going well. Possibly one of the best results in my career so far. It'd be a bit disingenuous to not mention that my keeper Douglão got a 8.4 rating, but we did have more clear cut chances and more ball possession than them, in the Camp Nou.

[deltablue]

Excellent result.

[ShyBaldBuddhist]

Good read so far noikeee. Only just caught up with your progress and liking it a lot. That keeper looks a bargain. Only 30yrs so should get at least 7 years out of him too.

[B.W.G]

Brilliant result against Barca,Douglão is most definitely a bargain at €3.2M

[ArsenalMetro]

I love the tone that you have when writing. Keep going with Celta!

[noikeee]

Excellent result.

Tks.

Good read so far noikeee. Only just caught up with your progress and liking it a lot. That keeper looks a bargain. Only 30yrs so should get at least 7 years out of him too.

Brilliant result against Barca,Douglão is most definitely a bargain at €3.2M

He is a bargain, I just always avoid to spend transfer fees on players aged 30 and over for obvious financial reasons (veteran players devalue, young players with potential gain value), but for a world class player I think that was a great price, specially given he's a keeper and will last longer than a field player.

I love the tone that you have when writing. Keep going with Celta!

Don't think I have any different tone, but thanks I guess!

Last night when I turned off the game we were 3rd after 8 games and a single point behind 1st place, which is awesome, not sure we can keep it up, but it's been a pleasant surprise. Ahead of both Barça and Real too. (I think it's Atlético and Real Sociedad upfront if I remember right, Atlético is to be expected as they've been title contenders for the past decade, Sociedad not really...)

[AK22]

Well done on achieving promotion to La Liga. Very comfortable by the looks of thing

You've started very well in the new season too, excellent result against Barcelona. Credit due for signing a top 'keeper too, he could earn you an extra 15/20 points over the course of the season. I reckon top-eight is a realistic target, maybe even sneaking a Europa League spot.

[noikeee]

Yeah I think if we keep this up we're looking into a finish somewhere between 5th and 8th, but it'll depend on for how long can we keep up the good results run, much of it has been because we've had good morale all the time so far - I'm not sure that's sustainable. I didn't make much progress today, only 12 games into the league season, but it's incredibly tight at the top of the table:

(note that this is after playing Barcelona, Real and Atlético all away already, so some of the tougher fixtures are done)

Meanwhile, take a look at the two favorites for Young African Player of the Year:

My current Celta superstar, and my former Krylya Sovetov superstar! To think I sold him for 6.25M€, that's got to be one of the worst decisions in my entire career (even if the club would be pretty much bankrupt without that). He now plays for AC Milan and is one of the best midfielders in the world - here's Ahmed Omar.

[deltablue]

He's excellent, so it your league progress.

[noikeee]

Haven't played much this week, not many news but here's the usual mid-season update:

Celta de Vigo 2025/2026 - mid-season update

Transfers

Little happened in January, but two highly promising players arrived:

Francis Mensah (GK) (free) - I had totally forgotten about this, so imagine my surprise and delight when I see a 18 y.old keeper with 4 stars of PA and good enough stats to be in the first team already, suddenly arriving at the club's door.

Sergio (AMC) (300K€) - Wow. I don't remember ever having any player this good at 16. Tons of potential untapped too. Top marks to a member of my coaching staff who found him in the Canary Islands.

With Mensah arriving, I figured I could get rid of my third keeper Thabani Sibiya, and cash in 800K€ in the process.

League

Couldn't have asked for better, really. A slightly dodgy beginning saw us lose two matches after despatching our mega-rivals Depor in the 1st fixture, but then we went on an awesome 5 consecutive wins run (including the famous win at Camp Nou, and a 6-0 drubbing of Almeria away) and we were amongst the top places. And we have never left it since.

That one great run pretty much ended on a heavy defeat in the Bernabéu, but then I am delighted to have got a point in the 2012-built Estadio de Madrid, home of the all-conquering Atlético side of the past few seasons. That set the tone for December and January, on which we only lost 1 match and drawn 1, to the leaders Zaragoza.

We have had great form for a side who came from the Adelante, and I even think we've been a little unlucky that there's so many great sides at this moment. 40 points on 20 matches is only good enough for 5th because things are really tight from 2nd to 6th, with Zaragoza a little clearer upfront.

Cups

A classy performance against Málaga, in both legs, was a great start, but then we were totally humbled by Sociedad, at home!! We needed a 2nd leg miracle and very nearly got it as we scored twice in the first half in Basque soil, but the 3rd goal which would've tied the round never arrived.

Players

Ibrahima Sankaré has been awesome, 16 goals and 8 assists already, by far our most dangerous attacking player. He's had a few dodgy performances lately though. On the other side of the pitch, I am very happy with my goalie Douglão, even if 6 clean sheets in 23 games may not seem like much - he's had 2 or 3 wonderful games though.

Finances

I think I went a little too far with the spending this season (specially on wages) as we're leaking money now. 630K€ in the green but that's only because I made profit in January transfers.

Goals for the rest of the season

It's been a great season, I always knew this team had more quality than the average promoted side and had an outside chance of fighting for an European place, but I think we're outdoing the expectations a little. I wonder how long can we keep this up because the fight at the top is so intense at the moment, and the likes of Barça and Real have INCREDIBLE players all over their squad - our stars may look awesome but theirs are even more so. Puzzlingly, Sevilla's squad is pretty rubbish and I have no idea how they're fighting for 2nd too.

I'd love to get a Champions League spot, would be a great achievement. But I'd be happy with the Europa League already. Less than that would be a little disappointing after this start.

As a side-note, Zenit tried to hire me with tons of money - not enough to convince me. I have been linked to some really tempting jobs though, Tottenham and even Real Madrid when Donadoni was sacked!

[SnakeXe]

Excellent first half of the season! I'm sure you can keep it up, but it's a hell of a punishing pace at the top there. I was expecting you to be top or maybe a point or two off it when I saw your results!

[Deisler26]

Cracking return to the BBVA! Hopefully you can keep them up there!

[AK22]

What's going on at Zaragoza?!

Still looking good for a top six finish, if not a bit higher. Mensah and Sergio both look amazing, well done on unearthing them

[deltablue]

Not far from a CL place.

[noikeee]

Excellent first half of the season! I'm sure you can keep it up, but it's a hell of a punishing pace at the top there. I was expecting you to be top or maybe a point or two off it when I saw your results!

Cracking return to the BBVA! Hopefully you can keep them up there!

Thanks.

What's going on at Zaragoza?!

Still looking good for a top six finish, if not a bit higher. Mensah and Sergio both look amazing, well done on unearthing them

Zaragoza isn't entirely surprising as they've been steadily getting better and better over the last few years, and are the defending champions after winning it for the first time ever last season. I'm not sure what made them so good (no tycoons or anything), but I think a big contributing factor has been a striker they have had for ages called Pinheiro, who has won the Golden Boot and Golden Shoe in the World Cup for Brazil.

Remember this is 2026 and it isn't the Barça/Real league anymore, more like the Barça/Real/Atlético/Zaragoza league. We and Sevilla are the only surprise teams there at the top. Even then Sevilla often qualifies for Europe.

Not far from a CL place.

Further away from it now, after the few matches I played yesterday.

[abulezz]

Sankare is in great form by Sergio is just ridiculous - Wow, he's going to be great.

[noikeee]

A very poor run of form from late February to early April puts us down in 6th, 4 points behind 5th place Atlético Madrid and with a single point of advantage over 7th Villarreal. Leaders Barcelona and Real are now a whooping 15 points ahead of us.

The slump couldn't have came at a worse time, we conceded surprise heavy defeats to Sporting and Elche just before the toughest sequence of fixtures in the whole season - facing direct opponents Barcelona, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid all within 3 weeks. We lost every single of those matches. Very unlucky to have conceded late winners to Barça and Real too.

Thankfully anything up to 7th place is good enough for european qualification. 8 fixtures remaining, we need to get our mojo back ASAP.