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(FM11) Tiny club: check. Foreign league & no past knowledge: check. Expectations: minimal.

withnail316

By withnail316,
in FM Career Updates

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Evening all

Well, real life has finally allowed me to re-enter the realm of Football Manager, and not before time. I thought I'd celebrate by starting a brand new career, and after growing tired of my usual leagues I thought it was time for a complete change; entering a lower league of a country I don't know too much about and seeing where it takes me. My last game was in Wales which I really enjoyed, but the lack of leagues loaded ultimately spoiled the career for me. Change of plans for this one then!

Well then, the details:

FM11.3 with no edits

Leagues loaded:

England (BSS/N and above)

France (National and above)

Germany (Third Division and above)

Ireland (first division and above)

Italy (Serie C2 and above)

Portugal (Second Division and above)

Scotland (Third Division and above)

Spain (Second Division B and above)

Turkey (Second Division and above)

61,000 players, medium database.

30 year old Italian coach Raimundo Amato has packed his bag, and his destination will be decided by the magic of the random button. With a Sunday League reputation, the random button can only select a lower division club (not that I'd have it any other way) so hopefully it'll be somewhere fun.

As the title suggests I've absolutely no expectations with this career, (well, besides a sacking or two, I've not been sacked in such a long time so I'm certainly due one!) just to immerse myself in the joys of the lower leagues away from either England or Italy. Hopefully it'll be a decent read for you lot too.

Right, away we go then...

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Chapter One

342pxfcvizelalogosvg.png

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Futebol Clube de Vizela

Segunda Divisão Portuguesa (North)

From Wikipedia:

Futebol Clube de Vizela is a Portuguese football club based in the Vizela Municipality, Braga District. Founded in 1939, it currently plays in the third division, holding home games at Estádio do Futebol Clube de Vizela, with a 3,500-spectators capacity (although on FM the stadium is a 6,500 all seater.) Vizela joined the Braga Football Association on 1 August 1940. Twenty-six years later, the first trophy came, with the conquest of the Taça de Campeão Nacional after defeating Tramagal Sport União (5–3). The club spent the vast majority of his early years in the third division.

In 1984, Vizela promoted for the first time in its history to the top division, but this spell only lasted one season, with the club ranking last. Shortly after, the team was again in the third level, only returning in the 2000's. Again in the "silver category" of Portuguese football, Vizela finished third in the 2007–08 season, falling just one point short of a promotion. In the following year, it finished in 10th position, but was relegated due to the Apito Dourado scandal; for several years, the club acted as S.C. Braga's feeder team.

Normally I'd fill in a section here from FM, but as I'm well into my first season I can't quite do that. Not to worry, although I can let you know the club is expected to finish 2nd in the league by the media, is currently valued at £850,000 and has 400 season ticket holders.

Normally I'd also add my contract on here, but again I haven't saved the image, so I'll just have to write it. I was offered a 2 year deal on £650p/w and a wage budget of £7,500p/w, with £7,000 being spent.

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And now I've taken the job, I've discovered that no foreign players are allowed in the third tier of Turkish football. This just got very, very interesting!

EDIT: this post is now irrelevant as I'm no longer in Turkey.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Evening all.

Real life hadn't quite let it's grip of my time go when I started this thread, but finally I'm back on it. Bit of a change though, so you'll see see some alterations in the posts above, the biggest one being I'm no longer in Turkey! Still, it's good to be back.

Changes on the way...

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First progress report

Anybody who has followed my careers before might know that I generally like to do month-by-month updates. However, as I'm now at the end of January I'll just play my way through this season and then go back to my normal method for the second season. Still, I've a couple of things to report here, so I will. Firstly, here's the league table as it stands:

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As you can see the season has gone OK, but in a league where you need to finish top to stand a CHANCE of promotion (the top sides of the Segunda Divisão North, South and Central play off, and two go up) I'm quite a few points behind the current leaders, with 13 games left to play. It's going to take a hell of a turn around if I'm going to go up.

In more positive news, I've had the best ever cup run for a semi-professional club in my time playing FM, and thanks to a really lucky draw (and 2 penalty shoot-outs!) we've made the Taça de Portugal semi final, where we'll take on Primeira Liga side U.D. Leiria in the two-legged tie. We've already got through six rounds )largely against Segunda Divisão and amateur sides, although we did beat F.C. Paços de Ferreira on penalties in the quarters... I'm just gutted it's 2 legs as I'd fancy my chances far more in a one off game.

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Brief update with 8 games left to play, and before the big game against leaders U. Madeira.

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Been able to eat a little into their lead, but as things stand we're still very much second favourites. We also lost the home leg of the Cup semi final 0-1, but we're at least still in it.

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Futebol Clube de Vizela: Season Summary 2010/11

Segunda Divisão Portuguesa

League

Media prediction: 2nd

Finished: 1st (promoted via play offs after finishing top of the group)

Cups

Taça de Portugal: semi finalists

Top scorers

Guilherme Mauricio (37 apps/ 28 goals)

Thierry Makengo (34 apps/ 16 goals)

Mattieu Blanc (42 apps/ 12 goals)

Positives

Wow, that was a truly epic season. It was a bit of a roller-coaster at the end, as you can see I was 9 points adrift of the leaders at one point, and yet we somehow pulled it from the fire. We managed to lose two and draw two of the final eight games, which meant that on the final day of the season as many as four clubs could have finished top of the table. Luckily we came through.

I'm quite pleased with the squad in general too, although I'm missing a bit of depth. Hopefully I can add a few more bodies into the squad for next season, and we'll give the Liga de Honra a good go next year.

Concerns

Nothing major, although the club is carrying a little debt at the end of the season simply because there's no money at this kind of level. It might mean I have to sell a player I'd rather keep, but we'll see what happens.

Ambitions

Really enjoying myself at Vizela, so I'm in no rush to go anywhere. Would like to think that if I can survive next year, I'll have a decent shout at getting promoted in the third or fourth season.

League table

finaltable1011.png

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Surprise of the season

Making the semi final of the Cup has to count for this one. Had the luckiest run ever, but getting there was a great achievement.

Player of the season

Guilherme Mauricio

Average attendance

1171 in the league

1505 in all competitions

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Cheers Razer.

I think most of them should do OK. My two centre halves and keeper should be more than adequate, although I'm a little weak at RB. I'd also like to sign a 4th centre half, probably a youngster to provide some cover. In midfield I'm OK, although again I'm lacking a little depth, so I'm looking for one first teamer and a maybe a couple of youngsters.

My biggest concern though is up front, my top scorer is 35 so whilst I think he'll be OK next year he can't go on forever. I'm definitely after another striker who can come straight into the side, and again maybe a youngster.

All depends on my budget for next year though as I'm currently about £100,000 in the red despite being 3 grand under my wage budget. If I'm forced to go with what I have though I an live with that, we should have enough to stay up.

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Futebol Clube de Vizela: Season preview 2011/12

Liga de Honra

Media prediction: 14th (of 16)

Board expectation: avoid relegation

It would seem that the board quite fancy our chances of avoiding the drop, although my budget is actually slightly smaller than the previous season. No matter, I still think it should be enough to attract a couple of players, although perhaps not quite enough to allow me to build the kind of depth I was hoping for, or to reward the better players from last season with a new contract. Here's my offer, anyway:

expectations1112.png

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Transfer front has been relatively quiet, a couple of squad players released at the end of their contracts, and after receiving an offer for veteran defender Xavier Meride I decided to let him go. He was third choice at centre back by that stage, and at 36 years age he wasn't going to be a huge loss. Also leaving was midfielder Guerra for £12k, a new club record transfer.

In total I've signed five players, 2 of whom are defenders, 2 midfielders and 1 striker. I'd ideally like to sign a goalkeeper too as my current reserve isn't the best, but as I'm now over-budget by a couple of hundred quid a week I'll need to lose a couple of players first. Coming in then all on free transfers were:

19 yo Swiss RB Tiago Riberio

25 yo Senegalese CF Pape Dieye

26 yo Portuguese RB Tiago Costa (his second spell at the club)

30 yo Portuguese CM Luis Manuel

20 yo Portuguese CM Joshue (on loan from Porto)

Quite happy with the signing of Dieye, he's one I'd identified very early on, so hopefully he'll grab us the goals to keep us up. Here he is:

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Right, on with the friendlies...

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A decent signing in Dieye. Does the cup offer prize money? Maybe that can help with finances a bit.

Unfortunately not, fella. I made the semis last year and got next to nothing, would probably have been better getting knocked out earlier away at one of the big clubs. Still, now I've got promoted I can at least play in the Taça da Liga, so hopefully they'll be a few quid in that.

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July 2011

FR Vizela 0-1 Karlsruhe

Nothing to report here, just a narrow loss against a side at a higher level of fitness than us.

FR Vizela 7-0 Luistano de Evora

Thanks to the draw of the Taça da Liga, this would be my final friendly so it was good to get a confidence boost. Goals from Mauricio (2) Makengo (2) Dieye, Mahoto and Blanc sent the squad's confidence through the roof.

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August

TdL Fatima 0-2 Vizela

Christophe Gourmelon and an OG gave us the perfect start in our group.

TdL Vizela 1-0 Santa Clara

A goal from Pape Dieye on his home debut was enough to give us the points, and send us through to the next round.

TdL Sporting Clube da Covila 2-2 Vizela

Fell behind twice, but goals from Thierry Makengo and Pape Dieye saw a much changed side finish the group unbeaten. However, we did lose player/coach Kuami Agboh to a hip injury for three months.

LdH Vizela 2-0 Gondomar

A goal in both halves from Mauricio was enough to see us open up the league campaign with three points, in front of more than 3,000 fans too.

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September

LdH Penafiel 2-4 Vizela

Another really solid win, and two more Mauricio goals to boot. Yoann Bourillon and young loan star Josue got the others.

TdP 2nd Rd: Marinhense 0-2 Vizela

Not great against the amateur side, but goals from Dieye and skipper Aimane El Gueribi got us through the first hurdle of the Cup.

LdH Vizela 2-2 Oliveirense

Frustrating game this one, with all four goals in the final 18 minutes. Josue gave us the lead before they scored two in quick succession. Substitute Thierry Makengo levelled things up in stoppage time.

LdH Portimonense 1-0 Vizela

Didn't really show up here, so we got exactly what we deserved.

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October

LdH Vizela 4-2 Moreirense

Made hard work of this one, but got there in the end. Goals from Mauricio, Dieye and El Gueribi (2) secured the points.

TdP Aliados Vizela 2-0 Desportiva da Tocha

Two Thierry Makengo goals see us safely through into the next round.

LdH Fatima 0-2 Vizela

Not the greatest performance, but a goal each from Makengo and Diego Mourao secured the points.

TdL 1st leg Vizela 1-2 Beira-Mar

You know the type of game against a top division side where you concede a penalty on the first attack, and again a few minutes later? Yep, that's what happened here. A late OG gives us a tiny bit hope for the second leg, but not much.

LdH Vizela 0-1 Trofense

Just. Awful. We also lost Dieye for 6 weeks and midfielder Blanc for a month. A costly match, then.

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Looks a fairly good winning record.. Tough to lost Dieye though.

Yeah we're doing OK. Not bad for a side who has just gone up, but really early doors yet... And yes, the Dieye injury might hurt us a little, time will tell.

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November

LdH Belenenses 3-0 Vizela

Belenenses missed out on promotion last season on head-to-head records, so are understandably favourites this year. Perhaps predictably we got a right tonking. A real chasm in class.

TdL 2nd leg Beira-Mar 2-1 Vizela

Didn't go into this second leg with much confidence, away at a Primera Division side with a 2-1 deficit from the first leg, but we didn't disgrace ourselves. Mauricio with the goal.

TdP Vizela 2-1 Feirense

Another cup tie against a Primera Division side, but this time lady luck was smiling on us. Josue and Makengo sent us through, and if anything we should have had more.

LdH Vizela 4-0 Santa Clara

Slight change of system for this one, leaving out my only fit but misfiring AM and playing a third striker. Seemed to do the trick, and Makengo and Mauricio grabbed a brace apiece.

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December

TdP Praiense 0-5 Vizela

A good solid cup win, with 2 from Mauricio and a Makengo hat-trick. Quite happy playing three up front at the moment.

LdH Sporting Clube da Covila 1-0 Vizela

Another one of those games where we just didn't show up. Disappointing way to end the year, but still can't complain too much.

Just going into a brief winter break now, I'll write a half-term report later on today.

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Mid season report 2011/12

It's been a pretty good season then so far, and although we've only played 11 of our 30 games we're sat 11 points above the relegation zone and unbelievably only three points behind third placed Aves. I'm pretty chuffed with how things are going, and I'm hopeful we can finish in the top 6, although promotion is above and beyond this year's targets.

As for the cups, I was quite disappointed that we didn't get a little further in the Taça da Liga, but getting knocked out by Primera Division Beira-Mar is no disgrace. We've done well in the Taca de Portugal again though, and have a quarter final tie at home to Academica in January. Hopefully that'll attract a decent crowd and give us a little financial boost.

winterbreak1112.png

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Off the pitch we're doing OK, but we are now £250,000 in the red, so I might just have to sell one or two in the window. I'd rather not, but needs must.

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