[FM11] I'm Sochaux that I'm destined for Greatness

[Deisler26]

Sporting Clube da Covilhã

Transfer Window Review

1 September 2015

RESULTS

We kicked off the season in the Bwin Cup Group A, along with U.D Leiria, Moreirense and GD Chaves. We started the group off with a 0-0 draw with Moreirense, which wasn't bad considering the amount of new players we'd brought in. Next was U.D Leiria. We took the lead from André Almeida's header from a cross that came back off the bar and then the keeper into the net. Leiria equalised after breaking our offside trap, but we 'netted' the winner in bizarre circumstances. So bizarre in fact, you have to see it to believe it! It's my goal of the month below. We came away from Leiria with a 2-1 win. Finally in the group, we played GD Chaves where we were runaway 3-1 winners, despite going 0-1 down. Austrian debutant Enrico Maier, fresh from top-scoring at the Euro U-19's, netted a double with the third goal, a penalty from 16 years and 3 days old Camillo Piacentini, becoming the youngest ever Bwin Cup scorer. This meant we qualifed in 1st place.

Our season opener in Liga Orangina was against Gil Vicente, whose 3-1 defeat on the last day kept us up last season. We started well. Defender Duarte Araújo heading home on his league debut. Araújo then bundled over a Gil striker in the box, but the resulting pen was thundered against the underside of the bar and bounced out. Let-off. Gil Vicente equalised from a thumping free-kick from 30 yards that came back off the post then off our keeper, French U-21 international Lionel Mpasi. HT was 1-1. However, we had the last laugh with Enrico Maier netting the winner on 39 mins, sliding his shot underneath the keeper.

TRANSFERS

Well. We brought in 27 new players in order to do better this season, 24 on free transfers as I was given £0 in transfer money again. Some you've already heard about; a lot of them were youth players for the future and a few went into the first team. Apart from the ones mentioned, veteran striker Luigi Della Rocca came in, along with Mexican striker Andrés Lopez, a quick forward released by Cruz Azul. Jan Dembinny, a Czech U-20 World Cup striker who finished third overall in goals, also racked up on a free. Two England U-19 players also joined the club. MC/AMC Marc Warnock and M/AMRLC Alex Cardinale. The only player we paid for was £18k for Cesena's MR Alessio Innocenti.

We also released a lot of players, only player commanding a fee was one of last seasons stars, DC Joao Pedro who was shipped off for an unable-to-turn-down £500k to Rayo de Vallecano.

Goal of the month.. Well.. just watch. It's best in 720p

[video=youtube;QHh2noPmyvU]

[Deisler26]

Sporting Clube da Covilhã

2015-16 Season Review

RESULTS

A real nothing end to the season as we finished 8th place in Liga Orangina. We actually only suffered three defeats up until Xmas, a 0-4 hammering at Rio Ave, who got all four goals before HT; a 1-3 defeat to Feirense in the very next game and a 2-4 defeat to Aves. Aves and Rio Ave were relegated last season, so this was heartening. Less heartening was the fact we only managed the same amount of wins. A 3-1 win over Gondomar SC, a 2-1 over Estoril and a 4-2 win over eventually relegated U.Madeira. The other results were 4 draws, all of them us surrendering a lead.

The Xmas break came and went and we amazingly went on a run! 3 wins and a draw in the next four games. Wins against Moreirense (3-1), Trofense (2-1) and Boavista (1-0), along with the draw against Varzim (2-2) propelled us up the table. Then came the tail-spin. 3 defeats (Gil Vicente, Gondomar SC and Fátima) and 3 draws (Rio Ave, Estoril and Feirense) sent us back down the table. The last 9 games were a healthy 6 wins and 3 defeats to land us 8th. Andrés Lopez, the Mexican U-21 international broke the Sp. Covilhã league scoring record with 17 goals.

Bwin Cup In the Second Round, we famously dumped Academica out, 3-2 on aggregate. A fantastic 2-0 win at home, with goals from Miguel Pedro and Miguel Oliveira put us in pole-position and, despite a 1-2 defeat in the second leg, we went through to the Third Round Group Stages. Where we finished bottom. A spirited 1-1 draw with Vít. Setúbal saw us then lose our next two games, 0-1 to Naval and 0-2 to parent club Nacional de Madeira.

Taça de Portugal We suffered a horrific Second Round exit to Segunda Divisão Centrale side Torreense. We went behind early, a thundering finish put them two up and they scored their third just after HT. At 0-3 down, I just threw everyone forward and Artur Almeida's double made the score respectable, if not the performance.

[SnakeXe]

Decent progress there, keep it up! Shame about the cups, but they're rubbish anyway

[jaycar]

Very enjoyable read so far KUTGW: thup:

[Deisler26]

[Deisler26]

Decent progress there, keep it up! Shame about the cups, but they're rubbish anyway

Very enjoyable read so far KUTGW

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

[ManUTactician247]

I think you should change the thread title to "I'm so Sporting when I win"

[Deisler26]

Sporting Clube da Covilhã

Transfer Window Review

1 September 2016

RESULTS

We kicked off the season in the Bwin Cup. Our First Round group consisted of Boavista, Varzim and Farense. Our opening game was against Boavista. Debuting the 4-4-1-1 again, we saw them go down to 10 in the 37th minute, then go 0-1 up in the 60th minute from an angled shot lashed into the far corner via the post. New signing Jordan Thompson saved our bacon with a low finish into the far corner in the 91st minute. Our next match was against Varzim and as much as we battered them in play, we couldn't find a way past the keeper and we lost 0-1. Final match was against Farense. Win and we were through. We again absolutely tore Farense apart, but couldn't break through again, mostly due to wastefulness. We drew 0-0, which meant we finished level on points with Boavista, however they'd scored one more goal than me in qualifying and therefore took the final qualifying spot, leaving me out in the cold.

Our 2016-17 Liga Orangina campaign kicked off with a match against recently-relegated Vit. Guimarães. The 4-4-1-1 was holding well as we adjusted to it, however we went 0-1 down in 6 mins, a low cross into the box got Miguel Oliveira in a mess and the Guimarães striker netted with aplomb. We drew level on 19 mins; good play down the left saw a ball into the box land at Stephen Jones' feet. The England U-19 striker turned and curled a delightful ball past the keeper for 1-1. We then settled and although we were still suffering from corners, we held fast to escape with a 1-1 draw and a point.

TRANSFERS

For the second season in a row, we were given a £0 transfer budget and a wage budget that was right at the limit. I had to sell and sell big to give myself some breathing room. First out the door was Czech striker Jan Dembinny to Jablonec for £120k. Next, the chairman took matters into his own hands and agreed a £425k deal with Real Betis S.A.D for last season's bright spot, Andrés López. Next out the door were Rafa for Penafiel for £190k and Sebastian Hertner for £110k to Kassel. The chairman interfered yet again in the club, by agreeing a £250k deal for Lionel Mpasi with Marítimo. Normally, I'd be screwing, because I hate chairman interference. However, I needed the wages off the bill. Finally, MR Alessio Innocenti went to Portimonense for £160k to leave us finally in the black. Two loans to Pafos completed the deals. Enrico Maier and Marcos Rodrigues leaving for money plus buyout clauses.

Incoming, 24-year old ex-Arsenal, Roma and Real Madrid M/AMC/ST Julío Baptista was picked up as a marquee signing on a free. Also coming in on free's were England U-19 players Jordan Thompson, Stephen Jones and GK Terry Elmes. 16 year old Italian winger Nicolas Fiorin also came in on a free, along with 34-year old DC/DM/MC Farhal and 28 year old Argentinian right back Gastón Díaz. Finally, I paid £2k for Varzim's experienced fullback Nélson Souza. This left me with about £2k spare on wages.

[noikeee]

Bizarre career path here. Failed at first top level experience (Sochaux isn't strictly "top level" but as soon as you got Ganso...), dropped immediately to a very low level (spanish 3rd tier???), then steadily improved afterwards after a few bumps. Odd, but if you keep going like this you're on your way to buy the likes of Ganso again in a few seasons.

[Deisler26]

Bizarre career path here. Failed at first top level experience (Sochaux isn't strictly "top level" but as soon as you got Ganso...), dropped immediately to a very low level (spanish 3rd tier???), then steadily improved afterwards after a few bumps. Odd, but if you keep going like this you're on your way to buy the likes of Ganso again in a few seasons.

Yeah, I started with automatic career rep, so when I was sacked by Sochaux, I had no rep to speak of.

[Deisler26]

[video=youtube;6L2i4GSszOo]

TROLOLOLOLOLOL

[Deisler26]

Ghana - The Black Stars

I was offered the chance of Ghana manager after their failure to qualify for the World Cup. My first port of call was to try to do well in the 2017 African Cup Of Nations, which would be a tough ask. My 23 man squad contained no surprises, apart from possibly the inclusion of 23 year old Charles Boakye from Le Havre AC.

ACoN Group B

Ghana 2-0 South Africa

A nice run out to start with. Our opening goal came after 27 mins with a crisp finish by Eric Bekoe after good work from Kevin-Prince Boateng to free him with a through ball. We sealed the deal on 63 mins when defensive midfielder Kwadoh Asamoah hit a 25 yard piledriver into the top corner after some good build-up play.

Ghana 0-0 Ivory Coast

A tough battle in which neither of us could muster any meaningful pressure, having only 4 shots on goal between us. However, left back David Addy suffered a tournament-ending injury and left us a little short.

Ghana 1-0 Zimbabwe

I played a lot of the fringe players in this match and it showed as we were disjointed and incoherent. We took the lead on 3 mins with Michael Essien's bundled shot that was forced over the line from a corner but, as with the last game, our lack of a cutting edge really made us suffer until the final whistle.

ACoN Quarter Final

Ghana 3-0 Togo

The rest seemed to do the guys well and we tore apart Togo to sail effortlessly into the semis. A drilled finish into the far corner from Charles Boakye on 24 mins set us on our way, before a wonderfully outragous chip by Kevin-Prince Boateng three mins later made it 2-0. Finally Eric Bekoe popped up to head home number 3 from a K-PB cross on 67 mins.

ACoN Semi Final

Ghana 2-1e Mali

This was a bit more of a challenge. We took the lead on 2 mins, Bekoe's ball out wide saw Kwadoh Asamoah bulldoze his way past the fullback before scoring low into the corner. Things got even easier on 79 mins as a Mali player was dismissed for a second bookable offence. We were home and dry when, after giving away a silly free-kick on the far side of the area, Mali equalised on 91 minutes. D'oh. However, within minutes of the restart of ET, André Ayew scored what was for me,

.

2017 ACoN Final

Ghana 1-2 Ivory Coast

We'd come so far, but ultimately failed. After Ivory Coast went 2-0 up inside 25 mins, all was lost. We battled hard and all we had to show for it was a 67th minute strike by Charles Boakye, running at the heart of the defense before slipping it out wide and converting the resulting cross.

[Deisler26]

So, first off I get this. It's REALLY tempting and, although St Pauli are in the 3.Bundesliga, I think there's a LOT of potential there, plus money to spend. So I asked to think about it til the end of the season and got it.

Then I got this offer. Nope. Not for me.

Oh, f****** wonderful. You couldn't do this before I commited to leaving, could you? FFS!

[Deisler26]

Sporting Clube da Covilhã

2015-16 Season Review

RESULTS

Well, we finished 8th in Liga Orangina again. A great run up to the end of October saw us only draw two games, a 0-0 against Fafe and a 1-1 draw against Santa Clara. However from November to January, we lost 5 out of 6 games, the other was a 3-3 draw against Moreirense. We then had a deeply inconsistent end to the season. We'd lose, draw then win. Lose, draw and win. The highlight of our run in was a 9-1 win over Moreirense. We tore them apart and it REALLY frustrated me as we just couldn't do anything like that before and then fell to a draw and two defeats at the end of the season.

Bwin Cup: We were knocked out in the first round

Taça de Portugal: A good 2-0 win over Atlético Reguengos in the Second Round. However, this momentum came to a crashing halt in the Third Round as we lost 0-2 to Trofense.

[Deisler26]

Chapter 4 - Patience of a St. Pauli

F.C St. Pauli

Fußball-Club St. Pauli is a German sports club based in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg. The football section is part of a larger club that also has Rugby (FC St. Pauli Rugby), American football, baseball, bowling, boxing, chess, cycling, handball, skittles, softball and table tennis teams. In 2003/04 they dropped down to the Regionalliga, at that time the third football division in Germany and remained there for four years. In 2007, St. Pauli were promoted back to the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga and in 2010, FC St. Pauli was promoted into the Bundesliga. However, they went on a downward spiral and ended up in 3.Bundesliga in 2017. While the footballers have enjoyed only modest success on the field, the club is widely recognised for its unique culture and has a large popular following as one of the country's "Kult" clubs.

[Deisler26]

F.C St. Pauli

Transfer Window Review

1 September 2016

RESULTS

Well, I carried on my inconsistancies into my new club. we opened up the new 3.Bundesliga season with a 1-2 defeat to FSV Frankfurt. We took the lead and looked good, but two goals in the last 10 mins meant I started my reign with a defeat. However, we snapped that with a 3-0 win over Stuttgart II. A 0-1 defeat to Onasbruck was frustrating, however we then beat FC Carl Zeiss Jena 3-1.

TRANSFERS

I picked up an number of free transfers to try and make this team better than the one that finished 17th last season. AMR/L Manuel Silva, DC/DM/MC Emanuel Duarte, MC Reuben Mendes, GK Pavel Londak, DC Ramzi Aya, MC Cristian Benavente, DRL Lorenzo Pique, ST Giovanni Kyeremateng, DRC Toni Wachsmuth, ST André Martins, DC Sebastian Neumann, D/ML Goran Jandric and DM/MC Christian Jung. I also brought Italian starlet Camillo Piacentini for £325k from Sp. Covilha and young GK Luis Goncalves for £1m over 48 mths from Naval.

I junked a lot of the useless players. Star of the team, GK Patric Klandt was being sold to Valladolid for £700k, as his £7k wages were hard to swallow. Backup GK's Andy Hubert and Max Bimar went to Kickers Offenbach and SV Wehen respectively.

[Deisler26]

F.C St. Pauli

2017-18 Season Review

RESULTS

We finished the season with my first trophy as a manager, the 3.Bundesliga, as we finished 1st. We ran away with the league from the start, a five-game winning streak was only halted by a 0-1 defeat by FC Erzgebirge Aue at the end of September. We then stuttered to a 1-1 draw with Stuttgarter Kickers before launching into another fantastic six-game run of wins. Following that was a 2-2 draw with Elversberg and a 1-1 draw with FSV Frankfurt, sandwiching a 3-0 win over Union Berlin. We didn't infact lose another game until the end of April, only dropping points in two 1-1 draws with SV Paderborn and Hansa Rostock. Our unbeaten streak finally came to an end in a 0-1 defeat to Kiel. We then lost two of our last three games, a 1-3 defeat to Magdeburg and a 1-3 defeat to Union Berlin on the last day of the season. Ths didn't matter as we had already clinched the title. However, after my chairman's actions in the January transfer window, I didn't want to stay at the club and will hand in my resignation on 1st July.

RESULTS

I didn't bring anyone in during January, but the chairman accepted bids over my head for Camile Piacentini (£675k to Bellinzona), Daniel Divadi (£625k to 1860 Munich) and Cristian Benevente (£325k to SV Ried). This was intolerable to me, especially as I'd brought two of those players to the club and I did not want to see them go.

[Deisler26]

Hold the phones...

[Deisler26]

Ghana - The Black Stars

I then had the 2018 World Cup in Russia to guide Ghana through. Our group stage consisted of Japan, Spain and Turkey, so I was looking for a runners-up spot at best.

World Cup Russia 2018 Group Stage

Ghana 3-0 Japan

Well, we cruised our opening group game against Japan. André Ayew's cool finish put us 1-0 up on 25 mins, then was tripped in the area on 35 mins for Michael Essien lash home the resulting penalty. Finally, Charles Boakye rubbed salt in the wound on 90 mins with a solo strike.

Ghana 0-1 Spain

A good display against a far superior team. They took the lead on 18 mins and although we had the ball in the net on 47 mins, it was flagged for offside. The rest of the time we were chasing shadows, but we worked hard and limited them to just the one goal.

Ghana 3-1 Turkey

A great moment for Charles Bokaye as he scores a World Cup hat-trick. He tapped in at the far post on 3 mins for his first, then put us ahead on 24 minutes with a another tap in after confusion in the Turkish box led to the ball rebounding off the post. Between those goals, Turkey had equalised with a header from a corner. Anthony Annan was sent off for his second booking on the stroke of half time which put our position under question, but that man Boakye finished the game off in the 80th minute, driving in the rebound from Agyemang's shot that the keeper had parried.

World Cup Russia 2018 Second Round

Ghana 0-2 Uruguay

Well, this was to be expected. We had a young, exciting team, but against Brazil 2014's winners Uruguay, there was only one winner. We worked hard however and took them to extra time, despite Samuel Inkoom's red card for a second booking on 82 mins before the team tired too much and we fell prey to a classic counter on 103 mins and an unfortunate own goal on 109 mins.

[Deisler26]

Awwwww...

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[AK22]

Very successful first season with St. Pauli, champions by a mile. Hopefully, you'll enjoy your time in Germany

Bad luck in the World Cup. A tight game by the sounds of it, very much like the 2010 World Cup quarter-final between these two teams (minus the last minute of extra-time handball, red card and penalty miss )

[Deisler26]

Very successful first season with St. Pauli, champions by a mile. Hopefully, you'll enjoy your time in Germany

Bad luck in the World Cup. A tight game by the sounds of it, very much like the 2010 World Cup quarter-final between these two teams (minus the last minute of extra-time handball, red card and penalty miss )

Thanks man. It was a tight one, but we just ran out of steam in the end. They ended up winning the World Cup again too.

[Deisler26]

*bows*

[Deisler26]

17 August 2018

DfB Pokal, 1st Round

Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart

Att: 38,106

VfB Stuttgart 2 - 3 F.C St. Pauli

Vincent Pajot 23....................Boris Vukic 36, 87

Nolan Roux 78......................Ziguy Badibanga 60

Wow. just wow!

[video=youtube;VQkzEu_6inE]

[ShanghaiNugget]

Nice result! This can surely only mean a successful season with promotion *jinx*.

[noikeee]

What the hell? This just gets more and more bizarre. How did you get the Ghana job? How can you be offered both an utterly **** job and a nice one at the same time? And that 9-1 away win out of nowhere?

My theory is that the game sometimes thinks you have high rep and sometimes thinks you have none lol

I'm also a bit confused, weren't you going to leave St Pauli? "I didn't want to stay at the club and will hand in my resignation on 1st July." Changed your mind then?

[Deisler26]

What the hell? This just gets more and more bizarre. How did you get the Ghana job? How can you be offered both an utterly **** job and a nice one at the same time? And that 9-1 away win out of nowhere?

My theory is that the game sometimes thinks you have high rep and sometimes thinks you have none lol

I'm also a bit confused, weren't you going to leave St Pauli? "I didn't want to stay at the club and will hand in my resignation on 1st July." Changed your mind then?

I was offered the Ghana job totally out of the blue. Literally stunned when it happened. But I'm guessing that it was because I managed to keep Covilha in and around 8th place. The 9-1 came as I went all out attack as they were limping along and had a very slow defence.

And I was going, but the chairman who I had issues with decided to sell up and leave. That made me

hang around, along with the fact I got half-decent strikers this time. I thought the new chairman might be the one to give me a break, however he also sold someone over my head.

[Deisler26]

F.C St. Pauli

Transfer Window Review

1 September 2017

RESULTS

Well, we raised the curtain for this season with a tricky DfB Pokal First Round tie away to 1.Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart.

as we triumphed 3-2 to set up a Second Round clash with another 1.Bundesliga side, FC Energie Cottbus.

In 2.Bundesliga, we kicked off our season away to MSV Duisburg. Duisburg were 0-2 up at HT, a simple tap-in on 26 mins and a lovely run and finish, btoh goals beating our offside trap. I was angry with the players and let them know it! First, Bojan Vukic tapped home a Charlton Vicento cross, a minute after HT. Then Almen Abdi equalised with a rasping strike from 20 yards on 68 mins. But we weren't finished there as we improbably took the lead. Ziguy Badibanga using a 1-2 with Vukic to break the offside trap and slot home for 3-2 on 81 mins. But the drama and tension didn't end there, oh no! Duisberg equalised on 84 mins, as a cross into the box had full-back James Shaw at sixes-and-sevens and the striker netted his own rebound. Incredibly, we STILL weren't finshed as right on full-time, a deep corner was slung over and there was 17 year old Abou Soulama to head home his first ever goal for the club. 4-3 it finished.

Things were less frantic in the next match, against pre-season title favourites Hannover 96. We took the lead on 4 mins as Vincento burst down the right and sent in a dangerous low cross that was met by Almen Abdi virtually on the goal line. 1-0 and we were rocking. The game wasn't a classic and Hannover equalised on 32 mins with a swirling corner that was bundled in at the far post. The game then disintegrated into scrappy play with lots of tackling and wayward shots and it ended 1-1.

TRANSFERS

I brought in a number of players in the off-season, simply as the players we had were not going to keep us up under any circumstances! Coming in on free transfers were D/WBL Marvin Plattenhardt, AMRL Ziguy Badibanga, D/MR James Shaw, AMRL/ST Charlton Vicento, ST Bojan Vukic, DM/MC Blerim Dzemali and England U-19 duo Jamie Ellis and David Barnett. Also coming in on free's were M/AMC Almen Abdi from Stade Brestois 29 and GK Jan Kjell Larsen from Grasshoppers Zurich. Cash-wise, I picked up AMR Ousamane Karbo for £5k, ST Nasser Benhamou for £180k and DC Abou Soulama for £5k, all from Académie JMG in the Ivory Coast. Also in came AMRLC Alexander Farnerud for £22k from SC Eibar and Czech U-19 starlet, MC Jakub Sivakov for £120k from Mlada Boleslav. Finally, I loaned two keepers. Filip Bednarek (who I sold from Go Ahead Eagles) from Montepellier SC and Jamie John from DC United.

Lot of players left on free's. ST André Martins went to VfR Ahlen for £100k, D/WBRL Lorenzo Piqúe was sold to Willem II for £95k, AMLC Manuel Silva went to Feirense for £22k, ST Giovanni Kyeremateng was shipped out for £120k to Cremonese and 38 year old GK Pavel Londak was sold to Salernitana for £100k. However, we had a board takeover and I was looking forward to not having any interference from this chairman. However, this one proved himself the same as the last by accepting a £1.2m bid from Werder Bremen for defensive lynch-pin Ramzi Aya.

Goal of the Window

[video=youtube;OgS-tI7x0rY]

[Deisler26]

Far more cash and a monster striker to boot. Tempting, yet they're well below me in the table.