argento Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 19 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Reading through to catch up...man, I'd fallen behind. Tremendous progress, especially in Europe. Love all the transfer wheeling and dealing! Cheers mate! Been quite the journey 8 hours ago, ITFC_Blue said: I have the same problem with RKC Waalwijk in Holland. I literally have no more than 150 away fans at any away game ... yet, when i've played a few friendlies during pre-season in places like Andorra and Luxembourg, I get over 700-800 fans! I thought once we got into Europe we would have more fans. We are getting thousands at home games they just don't fancy the away trips Anderlecht didn't make it to the Champions League but they are top seeded in the Europa League and we have 4 Belgian sides in the competition. Gent have a tough draw with both Everton and Gladbach, Standard will struggle with PSV and Dortmund but Anderlecht should qualify. I fancy our chances too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Squad 2022/2023 Reserves/On Loan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Nice draw for you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorando Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 36 minutes ago, argento said: Cheers mate! Been quite the journey I thought once we got into Europe we would have more fans. We are getting thousands at home games they just don't fancy the away trips Anderlecht didn't make it to the Champions League but they are top seeded in the Europa League and we have 4 Belgian sides in the competition. Gent have a tough draw with both Everton and Gladbach, Standard will struggle with PSV and Dortmund but Anderlecht should qualify. I fancy our chances too. White Star are known in Belgium as the team with no fans. They only have 300-400 attendance for home games Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 Mid Season Report Great results so far and more importantly our defence has been fantastic and Larsen has kept 13 clean sheets this has brought interest in him from Dortmund amongst others but I have no intentions of selling him. Vanneste has been adapting well into his position as my shadow striker scoring 9 goals so far and has also earned himself his first cap for Belgium. Konate and Gonzalez have formed a lethal partnership up top and Gonzalez is currently top scorer in both the league and the Europa League. We have finally taken the top spot in the league as Lokeren who have been the surprise package of the league are finally starting to tail off. Anderlecht are keeping the pace as well but Genk and Gent have fell off but then we will only retain 50% of our points so any advantage I can get now will benefit me for the Championship group. We have got through to the semi finals of the cup and have had quite a straight forward draw so far with no sides really troubling us, Gonzalez firing us to glory. He is proving to be money well spent. We have drawn alongside Gent in the semi finals with the other semi being Genk and Standard. No Anderlecht who we have played in the last two finals winning one a piece. We had a good draw and had a clean sweep as we topped the group with 18 points, Konate and Gonzalez leading the way again as between the groups and qualifying games have 19 goals between them. Anderlecht and Gent have also qualified out of the groups. Genk only lost twice in the Champions League but could only manage draws in the other 4 games so yet again finished bottom of the group. Here is the draw for the first round Not the worst draw in the world and it is relatively favourable for the other two as well. Some big sides still in the draw at least Chelsea can't retain for a 3rd year so we will have a different winner! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 We cruised past the Russians and we take on Villarreal who we met in the group stages 3 years ago winning one a piece but we have improved a lot since then, Eduardo Gonzalez running things. Both Gent and Anderlecht also qualified but they got tougher draws than we did. What a man He seems to be doing well in Germany and maybe he will get his shot when he comes back next season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 We finished the regular season and no one came close to catching us, Gonzalez and Konate have been in great form with Vanneste offering great support as a shadow striker. Even with half points we still have a 6 point head start and as long as everyone stays healthy I can't see us being caught! Good times ahead for us! Elsewhere we have our third Croky Cup final in a row coming up We extended our European adventure continues after we shocked them at El Madrigal, we nearly bottled it at home but we pushed through to make the quarter finals and although Gent crashed out against Inter, Anderlecht overturned a 1-0 deficit in the first leg to overcome Valencia and make the last 8. Some big teams still in the competition Goals, Goals, Goals Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Terrific title win. Love the name Croky Cup too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 2 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said: Terrific title win. Love the name Croky Cup too. Cheers we haven't won it yet though, got to get through the Championship round, this time last year we were 2nd and finished 4th so I hope this time we don't bottle it. We do however have one trophy in the cabinet after this epic win! Good gate receipts even thought it wasn't an equal gate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Lucky indeed Also over 300 away fans, impressive for us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 We ran out of luck today! Still I am proud of our run to get this far! the league is tightening up after we bottled it in a few games and we have a title decider up next if we beat Anderlecht we will the league, would be great to win the title against our rivals at our ground in front of a sell out stadium. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Well that didn't go to plan... 2 point lead with 2 games to go, Lokeren away and then Genk at home Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 We retained a 2 point lead going into the final game and we kept it after we smashed Genk 5-1 with who else but Gonzalez scoring a hatrick, Champions. Third title in 7 seasons and our first top flight title, in a double winning season. Lokeren were the early pace setters but similar to us in past seasons were out of their depth in the Championship round falling from 2nd to 6th. Champions League football for Brussels, Genk and Gent get Europa League and Brugge will meet the winners of the European player off semi final to see who gets the last spot. I spent far too much money this season and we have been losing £2M a month on average and the club is back in debt as success has come at a price, just one player sale will put us back in the black. Both Lucky and Gonzalez are happy to stay after we confirmed our participation in the Champions League. Gauld has been angling for a move to Sevilla and I can't get him to sign a new deal to get his release fee increased so I can see him maybe leaving. Time to see what happens next Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I had 2 or 3 seasons to read through and it was quite entertaining, your side clearly have become a bit of Europa League specialists, but it's time to test your Champions League credentials! Congratulations on the 1st Belgian title! This gives me lots of memories from my Westerlo side in FM12, Belgium is a brilliant place to manage in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 5 hours ago, noikeee said: I had 2 or 3 seasons to read through and it was quite entertaining, your side clearly have become a bit of Europa League specialists, but it's time to test your Champions League credentials! Congratulations on the 1st Belgian title! This gives me lots of memories from my Westerlo side in FM12, Belgium is a brilliant place to manage in. Yeah we have been doing well in Europe, I thought we might have got to the semis after our first leg win at Leverkusen, they went on to win the competition so going out to the winners the last 2 years isn't too disconcerting. Money is tight but one player sale and we are back in the green which is a bit annoying The exodus begins, minimum release fees being triggered all over the place. Larsen's former employees got a big windfall with that sell on clause in place. Culibrk is in talks with Man City and Somogyi my Serbian striker is in talks with Lyon. With the latter he spent last season at loan at Gronigen and it increased his rep and value and so Lyon have met his minimum release (£8.25M) and I am frantically hoping he signs a new contract as he is going to be worth a lot more than that. I wonder who else we lose. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Well done holding on in the Championship group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 We qualify for the group stage automatically so that's covered, be good to see how we cope with the step up Lyon finally got someone from us but it wasn't the player they originally wanted, Henderson was a good player he has 49 caps but never actually played for us so I took the money and ran. The good news is Roland is staying, he has improved wonders after a season in Holland and he will definitely feature a fair bit this season, if we can't hold onto Gonzalez at least we have a built in replacement Now lets see who is arriving Loan signing, labelled as a wonderkid and looks handy if a little short maybe for a centre half. Quality back up for Lucky/Wouters. Also has hair, he will be needing to get that cut off pronto Perdomo has been on my shortlist a while and I managed to snag him on a free after his contract expired, I had this arranged since March. Originally to be back up for Larsen but he will be first choice now. Another loanee, has been floating around at Manchester United for the last few years mostly spent out on loan. Can also play CB/CM a handy signing and not much expense with the wages he is on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 More Arrivals Bit more experience than my normal bald warriors, had been plying his trade in Mexico for a while. Managed to snap him up for just £5.25M, perfect for one my preferred box to box CM's Signed from LA Galaxy, paid £7.75M to meet his release clause. Another talented midfielder, a fair few CM's have left by choice and because of clauses so I decided to re-stock. More of a squad player but he's still young and has a chance to keep improving ] I paid a lot of money for Salvador, £14.5M from Levante. A lot of money but my scouts insisted he was a can't miss talent. Will push Perdomo for the no1 spot and is probably going to eventually claim the spot if my scouts are right about his potential. 0/2 in the Super Cup, the only domestic trophy to still elude me. Missed all three penalties, against Anderlecht as well which is the worst part of this. Transfer window is nearly closing, this is a list of all our departures. Larsen, Culibrik and Gauld were all in our first 11 whilst O'Shea and Dhlamini were squad players. The other guys were back up or out on loan last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Big window a lot of players out the door. We made over £100M in sales which has restored our bank balance to a very healthy sum, our wage bill is too big for a club in this league with no sponsorship money so we have to sell players to stay in the black. This fire-sale should sort us out for a few seasons while my scouts scour the world for the next superstars. I also extended a few more players contracts and paid them a few more grand a week in order to up the release clauses. As you can see I did sign one more player as Soumah was signed from Standard Liege for £6M up front with another £1.5M in add ons, I agreed to loan him back to Standard for the season as part of the deal so he keeps playing regular football. This was done with the future in mind with Konate and Gonzalez both attracting a lot of interest and so having a replacement lined up ready seemed a good idea especially for that value and also being a homegrown talent. The squad for the season Loanees/Reserves Champions League draw was decent for us, we were 1st seeded and apart from Roma I feel I can beat both the other sides. Zenit maybe tricky but I reckon we can beat them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 We have been in great form with just one blemish on our record as AVB continues to get the upper hand over us. Goals being shared around with all the new midfielders given some game time. Highlight is probably the win over Genk we are the only team to beat them so far this season. Top 3 already pulling away, Standard have made a shocking start though and remain winless. Pleased for the lad, he scored on debut to, he was only one year away from being eligible for Belgium was kind of hoping he wouldn't get capped and stay under the radar so when I eventually go for the national job I could have him up front. This will only increase the interest in him, but should also increase his value as well. What an opening few minutes to Konate goals at 15 seconds, 48 seconds and 4:30, quickest hatrick I have ever had a combined time between goals only 4:15. He was originally capped by Ivory Coast in a friendly but then starting playing for Portugal U'21's and after top scoring at the Euro U'21 tournament in the summer recently made his debut for his adopted homeland, what a few weeks for the young lad. He also becomes home grown for the club at the end of the season which will help next year for squad registration rules, hopefully he sticks around so we reap the benefits of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 We had a little patch at start of November when we drew 3 games on the spin allowing Genk to pull away again and I have noticed that this season without Larsen in the sticks we have been conceding a lot more goals and we had a few lucky late goals, its almost a throwback to the 3-3-4 days when were regularly playing in 4-3 epics. Also that Anderlecht result, was great to get one over AVB in a big way, what a result in our only sell out this season. We then lost to Genk just as we had retaken the lead. Somogyi had been indifferent since he returned from Holland but in one of our biggest games of the season he announced himself with a superb hatrick, the game was very much 50/50 all the way we just happened to take our chances. Standard have finally crawled out of the relegation spot down the bottom, Oostende have made a great start in their first season back in the top tier. Anderlecht are not out of it yet especially with the 50% points rule, can't see any of the others making a dent though. Glad to see Genk returning to to form this year as I want the league to remain competitive so it keeps the game interesting. Humbled in the cup, we have been in the final last three years so it was disappointing to crash out so early. After the first 4 games I thought we would struggle to qualify after three 2-2 draws. But we returned to form and ended up qualifying top of the group. Definitely feel we are still only at Europa League level, getting past Atletico will be tough. Gonzalez and myself in the awards again Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Well January hasn't got to plan, minimum release fees coming back to haunt me. Gutted the most about losing De Moor, he was class and Belgian. Then again in this save it was always going to keep my best players. I am eyeing up a replacement CB and RB, I am fairly well stocked of CM's so cant envisage me grabbing anyone else unless a great opportunity arises Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Wow...that's a painful three to lose. At least you're flush now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Ouch, losing 3 first team players before a big Champions League knockouts match hurts. Great landmark in going past the groups though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 23 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Wow...that's a painful three to lose. At least you're flush now. Yeah we are flush with cash right now and here are the new guys brought in to replace the old guard Signed from Universitario for his £825,000 release clause, my scouts found him in Brazil where he was plying his trade on loan for Atletico Paranaense. I think I've got a steal here. This guy is the direct replacement for De Moor, he cost £16.75M and looks like a class talent will slot into the back 4 permanently. Needed a new right back as I only had a 17 year old available after City poached Johannesson. Arrives from Boca for £6.75M and that is my mini South America talent raid over. In other news Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 We managed to close the gap on Genk so we are now just a point behind them as we head into the Championship round Wasn't surprised to crash out and at least we were very competitive over the two legs Champions League money is a hell of a lot better than Europa League Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Unlucky in the Champions League. 4-4 draw in Spain is a cracking result though and you must of felt you had a chance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 50 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said: Unlucky in the Champions League. 4-4 draw in Spain is a cracking result though and you must of felt you had a chance. I thought we had the game won a few times especially when we went 3-1 up just after half time. I hoped if we kept it tight at home we might be able to sneak through on away goals but it wasn't meant to be. We were fantastic in the Championship group losing just once and winning 7 matches and we clinched the title on the last day of the season against Mechelen. We were helped by the fact Genk bottled it and in the end it was Anderlecht who closed the gap. they also won the Croky Cup this year Goals, Goals, Goals We actually have some players going to a major tournament, hopefully they all remain injury free and manage to stay off the other teams radar Putting some of that money made this season to good use. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 The Belgian league continues to grow in stature and we now have 2 teams in Group Stage at Champions League. Great news! We have some fans now Although we don't sell out every week, as our stadium capacity is only around 8,000 seating with the rest standing we have been receiving a limited gate for these occasions, this should then help us out a lot more Now we are not short on cash so don't need to sell but this is a fantastic offer. Only reason I have been slightly hesitant is he has spent 3 years with us and as such is now a home grown talent which helps with European squad restrictions. Opinions guys? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Congrats on retaining the Belgian title, the club is really going places now. That offer's a tough one, it depends on who can you get to replace him, I'd be tempted to accept as he "wants to be able to discuss terms with PSG" so he'll likely be unhappy if you reject, and then play worse due to poor morale. So effectively you need to choose who you believe could perform better - an unhappy Konaté, or his replacement? Also that's effectively a 76.5M£ (59M£ + 17.5M£) as you can count on him getting the 10 international appearances as guaranteed, the others are just hopeful extras that may happen only with some luck. You're definitely not gaining anything on the "profit of next sale". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRM2009 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Is the "number of away fans" just a nice statistic? Or does it actually influence anything of the game? Like percentage of the gate receipts when playing away from home, or maybe a morale boost when playing in front of a significant away support? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRM2009 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Oh and nice job btw! Always good to see a Belgian save, though I'm surprised Antwerp is yet to get promoted to the 1st tier. FM usually is programmed so that their potential far outweighs their tradition of poor management and they always seem to become a good mid-table (D1) side early on in my saves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 10 hours ago, noikeee said: Congrats on retaining the Belgian title, the club is really going places now. That offer's a tough one, it depends on who can you get to replace him, I'd be tempted to accept as he "wants to be able to discuss terms with PSG" so he'll likely be unhappy if you reject, and then play worse due to poor morale. So effectively you need to choose who you believe could perform better - an unhappy Konaté, or his replacement? Also that's effectively a 76.5M£ (59M£ + 17.5M£) as you can count on him getting the 10 international appearances as guaranteed, the others are just hopeful extras that may happen only with some luck. You're definitely not gaining anything on the "profit of next sale". Yeah the profit one they just through in their as a hail mary, the Europa League one is a no go as well if we are honest, with any luck the board will negotiate a deal and we can take a part payment on it. As you can see I pressed ahead and sold him. With Soumah arriving after his loan spell with Standard I still have three strikers and although not home grown as a Belgian national still helps towards our overall home grown criteria. Now it is time to spend some of that cash money Been chasing this guy for 18 months, Managed to bag him from Celtic for £8.75M for his minimum fee release, a very talented midfielder and I hope under my guidance he will continue to improve Missed out on this guy a while ago when RC Genk beat me to the punch, he has spent the past 3 years at Genk so he will also count as a homegrown player in the league. Very talented centre half and still only 21, had to fork out £22.5M for his release. I am interested to see what Genk do with the money. Now this is a player who I never thought in a million years would be interested in joining us, I smashed the wage budget no him as well. A world class player with plenty of experience hopefully he can help some of our younger players along the way. I am looking to switch to three at the back and move the full backs to wing backs this year to accommodate all the extra talent at the back I have at my disposal A repeat of the World Cup final as France exact some revenge. 9 hours ago, CRM2009 said: Is the "number of away fans" just a nice statistic? Or does it actually influence anything of the game? Like percentage of the gate receipts when playing away from home, or maybe a morale boost when playing in front of a significant away support? I don't think it affects the gate, I have been getting good gates from away matches in cup to Anderlecht despite our fans being unwilling to travel far to see us. 9 hours ago, CRM2009 said: Oh and nice job btw! Always good to see a Belgian save, though I'm surprised Antwerp is yet to get promoted to the 1st tier. FM usually is programmed so that their potential far outweighs their tradition of poor management and they always seem to become a good mid-table (D1) side early on in my saves. Antwerp have knocked on the door a few times but with just one down and one up its a hard league to get into. The Belgian league is a lot of fun I recommend it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 4, 2017 Author Share Posted April 4, 2017 Still not ready for this yet. My old rival AVB took the role and Anderlecht have appointed Ronald Koeman as their new gaffer. Over 1,000 season ticket holders, check us out! 3rd attempt at this trophy and it still eludes me, was AVB's last match. There was certainly tougher groups to be had I still fancy our chances of getting out. Anderlecht qualified as well through best play off spot and it is the first time we have had 2 teams in the Champions League group stages. I also signed a young Colombian defensive midfielder Yesid Montoya from Universitario for £1.1M and he has linked up with the U'21 squad. Transfer wise also exiting is Kasongo he joins Watford for £10M after spending various loan spells at other clubs andStraetman joins Braga for £1.5M after falling down the pecking order. Out on loan go S. Gonzalo (Galatasary), Bocek (Ajax), Correa (Rennes), Bongiovanni (Rennes) and Montoya (Le Harve) bringing in another £900,000 a month income as they all look for regular first team football. Gonzalo is probably going to be our no1 but right now Perdomo is a bit better so I figured why not let him play in Turkey a season and see how he does, Correa has been an integral part of the side but he has been unhappy at his chances so I figured I would give him a chance for a loan move and see how he gets on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 For the level your team is at now, I think that's a manageable group. Neither Leverkusen or Lyon are "easy" but for a team now with a fair bit of experience in the European later stages, you should be able to at least beat one of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 The league has been quite straight forward this year and it has made the table very easy on the eye, we are helped by the other top sides inconsistent form. Koeman could end up getting the boot at this rate. After crashing out early in the cup we have made it into the semi this year where we meet Genk, the other semi is Lierse v Cercle Brugge so you would think the winner of our semi final should go onto lift the trophy. Leverkusen where too strong and a collapse at home to Lyon was enough for us to see our chances of qualification fade away as we finished 3rd. We were drew against Greek side Panathinaikos. Still going to be a tough competiton to win with the likes of Juventus, Real Madrid, Dortmund and Tottenham all dropping into it to name but a few. Picking up another award! Reputation is fairly good now, still only been offered Prem jobs of teams in bottom 3 though This guy holds all the records The only player leaving permanently as Barcelona snap up the guy I dubbed the next yaya, annoyingly he had become home grown but the money was good. I offered him £75k a week to stay but he wasn't interested I haven't signed a replacement. I will see how we cope without him and look who is available in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 Easily the biggest team we are yet to face! Tough ask for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 Another dramatic European night! Smashing Madrid, another unforgettable evening in Brussels. This has cemented us as genuine Europa League contenders now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 We survived an early scare and a few late goals put us in the clear by a few goals. In other news Genk eliminated Tottenham and now the toughest team left in the last 8 in my opinion is RB Leipzig. This is ours for the taking now it has been the weakest last 8 I have seen so far. Probably wont be any updates for about a week as I am out the Country for a few days and I am not taking my laptop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Just the odd 6-1 over Real, decent result there. Your side looks pissed off with the elimination from the Champions League, and taking it on whomever comes across. I wouldn't want to have to face them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Apart from one slip up at Lokeren we have had a great season in the league and have dominated the league to be fair to Gent they have been very prolific this season and done their best to keep the pace, the biggest shock was Anderlecht who failed to make the Championship round Elsewhere we made the cup final again where we meet Lierse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Croky Cup is ours again! We got beat in Spain but I was still confident with our two away goals, we didn't even need them with Gonzalez running the show, Genk also reach the semi finals, could we have an all Belgium final? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 We had a slight stumble in the Championship Round but we had already accrued a decent lead and we then kicked on about at the end to make sure of it as we won our last four games. Delighted to capture the title again although in a way I was disappointing that Anderlecht faltered so badly I want some of the other sides to kick on too, Genk have had a great season though to be fair and play in the other Europa League semi to us. We both qualify for Champions League groups this coming year based on our co-efficients rating. Elsewhere we march into the final after demolishing Sporting at home and finishing the job off in Lisbon, sadly Genk couldn't get past Udinese so there will be no all Belgium final. Hampden park here we come Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Good luck for the final! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 We done it! It was tougher than I expected. We scored early and their keeper was in inspired form as he made a host of saves from Gonzalez and Vanneste. Udinese scored against the run of play and then the second half Udinese were in better form and pushed harder but our defence was resolute. Rudolfsson nearly ruined it when he got himself sent off late on and we finally grabbed the winner with 5 minutes to go when Christensen bundled in the ball from close range as they attempted to clear a corner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Awards, Awards, Awards Improvements, Improvements, Improvements Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 On 03/04/2017 at 11:58, noikeee said: Congrats on retaining the Belgian title, the club is really going places now. That offer's a tough one, it depends on who can you get to replace him, I'd be tempted to accept as he "wants to be able to discuss terms with PSG" so he'll likely be unhappy if you reject, and then play worse due to poor morale. So effectively you need to choose who you believe could perform better - an unhappy Konaté, or his replacement? Also that's effectively a 76.5M£ (59M£ + 17.5M£) as you can count on him getting the 10 international appearances as guaranteed, the others are just hopeful extras that may happen only with some luck. You're definitely not gaining anything on the "profit of next sale". or maybe not hey! He has been a bit part player at PSG making just 17 league appearacnes so still a few years from collecting that £17.5M, I'll get the £17.5M for International apps soon as he just needs one more now. Quite happy the board negotiated this, an extra bonus I wasn't expecting Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnip Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Good to see someone doing (very) well in Belgium. I enjoy managing there, but bloody hell do the transfer windows make me want to gouge out my own eyes so I don't have to witness the mauling my squad gets. You've picked up some gems, though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 Transfer Activity Out of these signings who most where signed for the future either in our U'212 side or to develop on loan but there are a few players who I have shown below who I expect to make an impact in the first team squad High hopes for this kid, paid a lot of money for him but I reckon he will be a touch of class We lost a striker in the summer so I replaced him with this guy, will be competing for a starting slot Raided Boca again for this DM, will be my holding midfielder in the 3 across and complete with Guezo Another capture from Boca, will compete with Vanneste Out Trimmed the fat off the squad, let a lot of the U'21 side go, Corcuera and Somogyi are some of the biggest departures. Somogyi was a huge player for us but he had a £48M release clause I felt this deal would benefit us more in the long run. A lot of the other players were handy squad players but featuring less and less as we improved so decided to cash in. Still got quite a decent sized squad and I have the Euro Super Cup and Belgian Super Cup about to start Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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