Five thousand BFC Dynamo fans were on their feet, screaming and yelling as loudly as they could. Most of the thirteen hundred Dusseldorf fans that had travelled for the game were already making their way to the exits. “Why hasn’t he blown the whistle?” Uwe yelled, looking at his watch. “BLOW THE GODDAMNED WHISTLE REF!” Sasha screamed. A few seconds later every fan still watching held their breath as the ref brought his whistle to his lips, and then blew three loud blasts. The fans got even louder, more than a few jumped the rails, and headed towards the pitch to celebrate. Dynamo has just beat Dusseldorf 3-1 on aggregate, a result only a few pundits had thought possible.
Promotion was a surprise. I didn’t expect us to draw at Dusseldorf, not when we had 4 shots, 2 on target, and an xG of .16, but our back four and Owusu-Odoro in goal were very good, and we escaped with a 0-0 draw.
If you had told me we would be 3-0 up at the half, I would have asked what you were smoking and why weren’t you sharing, but we were. It’s not that Dusseldorf was inept, they were statistically speaking very good, but poor passing and defense did them in, and we dominated possession.
They guys chose the right game to give their all, and we were promoted to the Bundesliga, a couple of years ahead of schedule…
The good news is this can only help us financially. Finishing 3rd earned us €16M in prize money, and while the board was a bit…conservative in giving us just €4.05M in transfer money, we have 3 million extra in payroll to play with as well.
On one hand, we were a well rounded team. On the other hand, while I despise relying on just one player for everything, it would be nice if a couple of players at least tried.
Injai and Rodic both had OK seasons up top, but the more I look at Rodic, the more I believe his Fickle personality is really holding him back. I’ve had him in a mentoring group in the hopes that he would “change” it somehow, but so far for every very good thing he does on the field, he does about three things that make me want to pull my hair out, and there’s really not a lot up top to begin with. Honestly, depending on who comes after him and for how much, and seeing who else is out there available, I can see myself moving him on.
Zidane Iqbal was the Player of the season. A solid presence in the midfield, he could have easily had a few more goals, assists, and POM’s, but he played of CM very well. Am I worried he had the most assists on the squad with 5, yes I am. Owuso-Odoro was very good between the sticks for us, so much so that I am considering asking AZ if they would be willing to sell him this upcoming transfer window. If the price is right, it could be well worth it, and a key part of us staying up next season. Mikael Bjork was very good, to the point other clubs are seriously looking at him, and I am very happy with Kennedy Lobo’s progress this season. Everyone else did pretty much what I expected of them, and that’s not a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see a couple of them….overachieve.
Am I confident we are going to stay up? Sort of. I tend to be very pessimistic about such things, but I am trying to be better about that. I think we have a solid foundation, and with some good player moves and loans, we have a better than good chance. At this point I have no problems with Dynamo being a stepping stone club, and if a good player want to come here for a couple of years to show themselves of and possibly make a bigger move in a season or three, I am OK with that.
Oh, and to kind of help with that, I’m starting to get the band back together. No, he’s not the best coach, but he’s Dynamo Family.
“Can we stay up?” one of the board members asked. “Depends,” Nicholas replied, holding a drink in front of him. “Anyone planning on a new stadium?”
There were several smiles, but more than a few people looked away, most of them holdovers from the previous admin.
“The money helps, immensely,” Aleksander Szymański, the teams GM said. “But there are things we would all like to see happen, and we have to prioritize.”
“Training Facilities,” said one person.
“Youth Coaching and facilities,” said another.
“Recruitment,” said Nicholas, quite firmly.
Everyone stopped and looked at him.
“We have good scouts,” he said after a few moments of thinking. “And they’ve found us some very good players on a budget that until recently can best best described as ‘shoestring’,” he said.
“But,” he said, standing up and going over to the screen on the wall, “We can’t compete with the big clubs. Yet.” He turned it on, and after a few buttons pushed and some manipulation, he had a map of the world showing, and where their scouting was concentrated.
“We need to expand our network, world wide. We need to hire young, hungry scouts willing to go the extra mile for not a lot of money, we need to find diamonds in the rough, get them here, train them up, and if necessary be ready to sell them huge profit. We also need to expect we are going to miss on a few.”
“That’s going to take time,” President Biermann said.
“Time we have,” Nicholas said, looking at the map. “We need to build up our reputation, work to make this a club players want to come too and stay at. I think we are on the right track for that, but we also need to be cognizant of the fact that we may should not try to buy our way to success, and we can’t rely on developing our own as a way to success, it has to be complimentary. And right now we can get ahead quicker on scouting than we can anywhere else, and for less money”
There were murmurs of agreement from around the table.
“Lets put a plan together,” President Biermann said. “Needs, Wants, Desires, and we all agree on the process going forward. That said, we aren’t going to get anything solved right now. Think about things for a day or three, and we will have another meeting.”
“What has gotten into this team?” Heinrich asked for the umpteenth time
“Are you complaining?” Uwe asked. They were sitting next to each other, ignoring the scenery outside the train.
“No, I’m just…”
“We all are,” Sasha said from the seat up front. “Don’t complain about it, other wise you’ll jinx us. How much longer?”
Hans sighed, and your could feel rather than hear his eyes roll. “We literally left the station 15 minutes ago. It’s 128 kilometers to Berlin, so maybe another hour or two.”
“Thank you Hans,” Sasha replied, sitting back in her chair and looking out the window. Hans resisted the temptation to turn back around and look at her, instead he turned enough to see Dietrich looking at him with a shocked face. Sasha rarely said thanks, but since the ‘Bar Incident’ and the month helping clean the stadium out as part of the cleanup crew as penance, she was a lot less quitter and more polite version of herself.
The next fifteen or so minutes passed quietly, they talked amongst themselves about work, and the upcoming games, debating whether or not to travel to Cologne for the game there in two weeks. There was a loud noise, and then the door closest to them opened, and a group of Magdeburg fans, wearing the teams blue and white colors, came in. They stopped short when they saw the Dynamo supporters sitting.
“You lucky bastards,” one of them said, pointing an unsteady finger. “You bribe the ref for that 95th minute foul?”
“No, we bribed Chukwuma to push Eisenhunt when they went up for the jump ball,” Uwe said, rolling his eyes. “Besides, it was a VAR decision, you have a problem with it, complain to them, and then your own player.”
“That was a bullshit decision,” another Magdeburg supporter said.
“Maybe it was, it’s not like you didn’t a few calls go your way back in September, ja?” Dietrich said. “Today was a good game, we both came away with a point, helps you with not being relegated-“ “WE AREN’T GOING DOWN!” a third supporter yelled, stepping forward.
“Goddammit,” Sasha swore. “I was sleeping! Who’s yelling?” She stood up, taking a look at the group of Magdeburg supporters.
“Just a group of supporters upset at the outcome, Sasha,” Heinrich said.
“YOU’RE RIGHT WERE PISSED YOU BERLINER-” The original antagonist started to yell, until the guy standing next to him put his arm around his shoulder, then his hand across his mouth. The guy yelling was surprised, and started to resist, which led to his friend putting him into a headlock.
“You’re Sasha, from the BFC Ultras?” the guy holding his friend asked.
“Yes, I am,” Sasha replied, clearly confused as to what was going on.
“Sorry to wake you up,” he said. “Good game today, nice comeback.” He smiled, turned around, taking his friend with him, started walking to the back of the car. The others followed him, confused as well.
“She’s the one who beat up those three guys at the bar before Christmas,” the guy holding his friend said, before opening the door and dragging his friend thru it.
Sasha looked back from the door and saw everyone in her group staring at her. Then she rolled her eyes and sat back down.
“I’m going to sleep. Wake me when we get there.”
2028 has gotten off to a decent start for us. Transfer wise the window was quiet. Despite some scouting and some offers, the only person to sign for us in the January transfer window was Niklas Kölle. I’m taking a bit of a flyer on him, he’s a ‘Jack of All Trades, Master of None’ type of player who loves big matches but is injury prone, and he’s a bit older as well. He’s going to compete for a starting position, I just don’t know which one yet. He’s had some solid seasons at MSV Duisburg and Hoffenheim II, but last season at Sønderjysk in Denmark he didn’t do so well, but he’s here on a free, and if he contributes, I’ll be happy. On the outs, noone of consequence left.
Schedule wise, 2028 has gotten of to a great start. I think a lot of that is because Mile Rodic finally decided he could score.
The friendly at Cracovia was nice, not only did we get a decent tuneup game against a solid opponent, they also paid us a bit of money to travel.
Munster is the worst team in the league this year, they need a miracle to not be relegated, but Rodic getting a brace in the 4-0 win was definately a highlight. He scored again as we beat Dynamo Dresden, and made it three games in a row when he scored against Schalke in the victory there.
Against Kiel he reverted to his old ways, and then everyone had a horrible game when we played Regensburg. An injury kept him out of the KSC match, but everyone who did play had a mare of a game, Mehri ended up on a 7.1 due to the goal, everyone else was sub 6.7. We beat Darmstadt thanks to a very lucky Injai goal, and then was Magdeburg foul in the last minute of the game gave Nezri a chance to score, which he did, which clawed the draw back for us.
The Winter of Rodic appears to be over, as he went 6.3 in that match. The Spring was just as frustrating.
Drawing at Braunschweig was bad, but considering we had 16 shots, 1 on target, and a 73% possession rate against their 4 shots and 0 on target, despite half the team being 7.0 or better player ratings wise, the only thing that would have been worse would have been losing to a team fighting against relegation.
The 1-0 loss at Koln may look bad, but they are running away with the league this year, and are going to be promoted, so holding them to 1 is a good thing. Rodic had a 6.1 this match, so of course he scores at Heidenheim, and then a brace at Armenia Bielefeld. We’re neck and neck with Bochum in the standings, so a draw is nearly as good as a win, and like the 1-0 loss to Koln earlier, losing to 2nd place Nurnberg by the same amount isn’t too bad either. Kaiserslautern is fighting relegation as well, they’ll need a lot of help to stay up as well, but of course Rodic scored another brace.
I really want to like him, I think he has a ton of potential, but there’s not a lot of ‘in between’ with him, he’s either scoring goals, or he’s invisible.
What’s interesting for us is not only are we finishing top half, but we are challenging for 3rd place. The only games left this season are against a solid Hannover squad, and an 1860 Munchen squad that’s fighting to stay in the Bundesliga 2. Some things go our way, we have a shot at 3rd place, and that would be great, if only because the €16.79M prize money will finally make me feel secure about our finances, and the reputation boost couldn’t hurt either.
“This season is making my head hurt,” Sasha said, leaning over the table, hands holding her head.
“You sure it’s not the beer?” asked Heinrich, taking a healthy drink of his own.
“No,” Sasha said, looking up. “Maybe it’s the crowd.” The bar was a lot more…active these days, especially after games. When the locals finally realized Dynamo wasn’t getting demoted anytime soon, the crowds started to grow, and more fans started to show up. Some of the joined the Supporters group, others didn’t. A Lot of new faces, a lot of new noises.
“How do we beat Hannover but draw to Munich? How do we draw Munster AND Nuremburg?”
“Cruyff’s Law,” Hans replied, and everyone looked at him. “Cruyff’s Law,” he repeated. “The Ball is Round.” He said it as if it was the answer to everything. “Hey, at least we beat Dresden, ja?” The others all nodded.
“Heinrich, another round please?” Sasha asked, head back in her hands. With a sigh and a smile, Heinrich nodded and stood up, heading to the bar. A few moments later there was a commotion, and the rest of the table headed over to see why.
“Are you illiterate?” Hans asked. There was small group of people huddled around coaches stool, all of whom were looking at him like he was speaking a foreign language.
“The seat was empty,” one of the guys started to say. He was well dressed, a nice business suit, but without the tie.
“And the sign on the seat, and on the bar in front of the seat, and on the wall next to the seat, and the fact there’s forty plus other people here now and none of us aren’t sitting there wasn’t a clue?” Hans asked.
“He sat in Coaches seat?” asked Uwe.
“He what?” Sasha asked, stepping forward only to be held in place by Hans and Uwe’s hands on her shoulders.
“It was unoccupied-”
“For a reason you idiot!” Sasha said, squirming away from the hands holding her. She walked thru the crowd as it parted in front of her. “The sign here,” she said, slapping her hand on the wall next to the chair, “And the sign on the bar, and on the back of the seat, and I bet the barkeep told you as well, but you didn’t care because-” Sasha was standing in front of him, getting ready to scream up into his face some more. She sniffed, and the guy standing in front of her furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
“I smell <sniff> arrogance,” Sasha said. “I smell <sniff> entitlement. Hubris<sniff>, I smell hubris, and <sniff> disrespect.” she said. Then she sniffed deeply once more.
“I smell….Bayern…” she said, looking right at the man. “Admit it,” she said, stepping forward, forcing him to take a step back. “You are in the city on business, maybe even in the area. Wanted a drink and a bite afterwards, came here, saw it was a supporters clubs bar and didn’t care, saw the signs on the wall and the chair and didn’t care, sat your entitled ass down-” she poked him in the chest, forcing him back another step, “Because you think the rules don’t apply to you?”
“Lady, you had best back off-” one of the other men in the group said. Sasha looked around the man in front of her at the one addressing her.
“Or what?” She said with a sweet smile. She leaned back in front of the man standing in front of her, and looked up at him, still smiling.
“Scheisse,” Uwe, Heinrich and Hans all said at the same time.
A second later, the guy who sat in coaches seat was whooping in pain, as Sasha’s knee caught him right in the gonads. He was bent over, gasping for breath, when Sasha grabbed him by the hair, and threw him into the bar, where he fell in a jumbled heap.
“Oder was, guter Herr?” Sasha asked, ignoring the guy behind her, who was now a moaning pile of limbs. “No answers?” she asked. “Fine. Wer ist als nächster dran?”
“I did not have sitting in jail before Christmas on this years Bingo Card,” Uwe said, sitting with his back against the wall. It had been about an hour since they Police had processed them in, and they were trying to get as comfortable as they could. None of them were sure how long they were going to be there.
“I’m sorry,” Sasha said from the next cell over. She was lucky, sort of, as the only female in the group she was in a cell by herself.
“I would say this is the strangest thing to happen to me this year, but there are still days left in December,” Hans replied.
“Hows your jaw?” Sasha asked.
“Fine,” Hans replied. “How’s your hand?”
“I broke a nail,” Sasha replied, voice sad. Uwe couldn’t help it, he smiled.
“They got what they deserved,” Heinrich said. He looked around the current surroundings. “Then again, so are we.” A door opened, and steps approached the cells they were in.
“Alright you lot, your bail has been posted, lets go,” the older cop who had helped process them in approached, and opened the door. They all stayed in place, looking at him. “Fine,” the cop said, “If you want to stay, stay.” He made to shut the door, but the guys all clambered out, and then waited as Sasha’s door was open and she came out.
“I’ll pay you back, I swear,” she said. She was quiet, she always got quiet when she was apologetic. It was rare, which was how the guys knew she meant it.
“Who posted our bail?” Uwe asked, as they followed the cop back out of holding and into the main office area of the station.
“Johann couldn’t have, not this quickly-” Heinrich said, before stopping short, everyone behind him running into him.
“OK, this was definitely not on my Bingo card,” Hans said. On the other side of the office, standing with his arms across his chest, Coach Schmidt stood, staring at them while Klaus was bent over the desk, signing paperwork.
“We’re in it now…” Uwe said.
The season has been a confusing one, but think thats because the team is still trying to jell, because I am still trying to find a starting XI with good rotation, and still trying to figure out what the color of the sky is in Mile Rodic’s world. The kid looks like Tarzan, but he plays like Jane, as the saying goes.
The season got off to a good start. Sort of. Munster is a terrible team, and I thought after we scored we would really do some more, but no, they equalized, and we walked away with a draw.
Against Dynamo Dresden, we thumped them good, Injai getting his second goal in as many games. An Injai Hat Trick against Kickers in the Pokal was very good to see, as was the comeback from two goals down to draw with Schalke. Regensburg has a very good squad, so losing by one to them thanks to a late goal isn’t bad, but a draw would have been better.
We should have beaten Darmstadt, instead it took a 90th minute goal to claw the draw back. Magdeburg isn’t the strongest club either, but their offense was stronger than our defense the five minutes of the game, because that’s when they scored two to take the win. Koln is the best team in the Bundesliga 2 this season, and to be honest as poorly as we played they should have scored more than two. Against Heidenheim, Rodic finally decided to score instead of pass, and yet again again not only did we play down against a superior team in the Pokal, this time Stuttgart, it seemed all the guys except Stocker were in a competition to see who could get the lowest rating. Four of them tied with a 6-1. Beating Bielefeld helps a little bit though.
As a net whole, November and December were very good, Bochum will be fighting for promotion this year so losing by one hurts, but not as much as losing by more than one. Holding Nurnberg to a nil-nil draw was good, as was beating Kaiserslautern and Hannover, but it took Owusu-Odero being a hero between the sticks to secure the draw.
At the halfway point of the season, we are at 26 points, with 7 wins, 5 draws, and 5 losses, which is very good. The problem is the squad is just not jelling. Injai and Rodic do not like playing with each other, while the midfield and defensive line are pretty much set, niggling injuries and the like have made team cohesion pretty much non-existant. I’m still playing the 4-2-4, but noone other than the midfield of Iqbal and Kornvig, and Mengi at WB(R) have stepped up and claimed a spot. I am not expecting someone like Injai to dominate the offense, where every goal comes off his foot (I actually abhor that sort of thing), and more than a few people have stepped up, but unless we get more consistent with how we play, we’re looking at lower mid table again.
The other issue is that any good player who would be able to help the club either doesnt want to come here and/or we can’t afford them, which means the January transfer window is probably going to be a whole lot of sound and fury without signings.
That said, the chances of us getting relegated are slim…
It was a bit windier than usual, which had driven a lot of the spectators back into the concourse, but the usual hardcore fans stuck it out.
“What do we think?” asked Dietrich.
“Top Half,” Uwe and Hans replied at the same time.
“Top Six,” replied Sasha, who suddenly stood up and yelled at a right back who was taking it a bit too easy on the field. Hans sighed, and helped her wrap the blanket around her shoulders as she sat down again.
“Who are these guys?” asked Uwe, looking thru the team guide. Preseason was over, the club was preparing for Munster, and already the summer had seen a decent amount of churn. On one hand its exciting, as the club was not only making moves, but bringing in some players who were pretty decent, at least on paper.
“Stepping Stones,” replied Dietrich. Uwe turned to look at him.
“It’s like this: We don’t have the reputation to pull in better players for less money. We don’t have the money to pay for good players to ‘take a step down’ and play here. So what can we offer a younger player? Minutes. Get them on the field, playing for us, doing a good job for us and-NICE SAVE!”
On the field, Owusu-Oduro had made a very nice diving save on a Rodic volley, getting just enough on it to knock it wide. There was a smatter of applause and cheering that was soon carried away by the wind.
“Anyhow,” Dietrich said, sitting back down, “Where was I?”
“Minutes,” almost everyone responded.
“Right, get them playing time, they move onto other teams, maybe for a nice profit. If they do a good job that is. Or they can choose to stay here, or try and get minutes somewhere else. It’s a balancing act. I don’t envy Coach in the least.”
Holy freaking hell this offseason was brutal. I don’t remember how many players I scouted, how many offers I made, even my usual solid go to countries like Slovakia and Croatia were black holes…and yet somehow when the Window closed, we had moved 14 players out, and brought in 15.
First, the Ins-This screenshot is from later in the save:
Hüseyin Çiçek:
I like the potential of this youngster. With some decent playing time and good effort in training, he could become a very good AM(R). He’s the sort of player we really went for this offseason, young, decently talent with potential, looking for game time.
Lamine Injai:
OK, his personality isn’t the best, but Injai is a prime example of why you scout the Portuguese lower divisions, because you will find a lot of players like this: younger player with solid attribute numbers for his position, with a lot of potential to grow. Definitely will see some starts for us.
Esteban Abad:
If you are pinching Euro’s to save some money, you have to go thru Spain, so why not check out some of their lower division players as well. He’s a DM who will probably end up playing D(C) a lot for us, being 6’4″ and all. Again, another player who in a couple of years will be a very solid player, if not sor us then another team.
Behar Neziri:
Behar is one of those players who is just a little to good for Bundesliga 2, but not good enough for the Bundesliga. Bayern let him go on a free, and I think it’s a bit of a coup we got him to sign for us. The type of player all teams need, a player very good at what he does, in this case DLP, with some added positional flexibility.
Luan Bausenhart:
While the fee to sign Bausenhart was not egregious by any stretch of the imagination, in hindsight, we may regret it. Overall he’s an “Average” player, but paying money on this level of football, if you sign “Average” its with the expectation they will get better. That may not be the case here, and is one of the few times my scouts have let me down.
Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro:
This years entry in the Annual BFC Dynamo “Who’s starting between the Sticks” game is Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro, a very good prospect from AZ. Most of his Goalkeeper attributes are already Above Average, and barring injury (and severe exhaustion) he’s going to be starting all the games for us this season. I’m expecting good things from him, but I have been disappointed before.
Teden Mengi:
Mengi has been on an odd journey, the former Man U prospect having gone on loan to Derby, Birmingham, Milwall and Bristol City in a string of less than stellar appearances, he rebounded with three very good seasons in Morecambe, in League Two. He ran out his contract in the hopes of signing with a bigger club, and oddly enough, we’re considered bigger than Morecambe. Go Us!!! Another one of those above average/very good players, he is a very solid D(C). I’d play him at D(R), but his technical just aren’t good enough for that, but I believe he will be a solid contributor for us on the back line.
Frederik Alves Ibsen:
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting Mengi to sign with us, so Ibsen was my other option, and well worth the fee we paid IMO. He and Mengi are quite similar, and will be part of the backfield rotation.
Emil Kornvig:
Kornvig is another solid older player, who if starting or coming off the bench doesn’t hurt our team in any way IMO. His versatility, above average attributes, and attitude is offset by the fact he likes to argue with officials. He can argue all he wants, but if he turnes into a yellow card machine…
Kennedy Lobo:
We finally got a scout in South America. Usually, I like to go a bit more…granular with my scouting, but our department is still small, so one scout for one continent. I told him to look for youngsters with pretty good potential, and if were being honest in most part of South America you can set that and get like 30 results back in a day. It’s sifting thru them that counts. Lobo has an intriguing set of attributes. Good Strength, Endurance, Decent Passing, A bit…erratic with his movement, above average Technique, he’s got Central Mid/Defensive Mid all over. If he develops, that is if he hasn’t topped out already, he won’t be elite, but he will be very good, and for 71K, I am willing to find out.
Ali Hassan:
Ali is another one of those player who is too good for Ligue 2 but not good enough for Ligue 1, so OL let him go. I don’t know that he is going to get much better than he is now, but on paper he’s a serviceable D(R) and WB(R), and anything beyond that will be a bonus.
Luis Quevedo:
Another surprise signing, he had better offers from bigger clubs, but I think being a regular starter, or at least in the regular starter rotation, had more appeal to him, and with three pretty solid midfielder/DM’ maybe switching to a 3 man midfield could be possible. The only drawbacks to Quevedo are his Endurance numbers, his movement and aerials, but at the end of the day, someone could be the odd player out. He’ll get his chances. He just has to make the most of them.
Lennard Becker:
Becker and Neziri were in the same boat at Bayern, so they decided to jump boats to Berlin. This leaves me with a lot of midfield options, which can be both good and bad. Finding a group that jells together nicely could take time, and there could be an odd man out. It could be Becker.
Zidane Iqbal:
And Zidane makes 5 Midfielders/Defensive Midfielder’s brought in this offseason. Although some of them do have the ability to play elsewhere.
Zidane is our 1 in 10000 player this season. About 30 teams wanted him. I am positive some offered him more money, longer contracts, more fees, we gave him a decent salary and a Star Player Contract, and he dithered for three weeks making a decision. When he signed with us I about fell out of the chair. And of course in those three weeks three of the other midfielders I was looking at signed as well. Zidane is the best of the bunch though, IMO anyways, an Above Average player in almost every area. His Defense is not the best though, so who he’s playing with and who is playing behind him are going to have to step up.
Kian Le Fondre:
Kian is my backup Advanced Midfielder. Of course he doesn’t shoot all that well, but he’s a better than average crosser. good movement, adequate passing, very solid physicals, and for the level of football we play at, he can be a very good contributor. I am not expecting huge seasons from him, but a few goals, a few assists from both side of the pitch, he’s worth it.
The Outs:
The real surprise in this was Hannover ponying up €1M for Shawn Ott. He’s a solid winger, who two years ago had a very good season with 8 goals and 5 assists in 32 games, then was replaced Sanyang. Hannover made an unsolicited offer for him, and I couldn’t click yes fast enough. Lucas Lavallee leaving was not a surprise, he’s a good keeper, just not at this level. Lennard Dohrmann leaving was a bit of a surprise, he was solid for us at AM(L) last seasons, and I was expecting more of the same from him, but a Bundesliga team with a bigger rep came and made an offer for him…and so he left.
I am optimistic this season. I promised the board midtable, and I think that’s very achievable. A Good season here, another set of transfer windows to go thru and we are going to be challenging for promotions.
It is now the 24th of June, 2123, we are 100 years into the future.
Database size has shrunk slightly, to 63K players, the playable Leagues have remained the same. save size, 772MB.
So, what has changed? For the Countries I have loaded not named Spain, not too much.
England:
Tottenham has won the League. Blackburn finished 7th, but missed out on European Football Luton Town avoids the drop.
Craziest finish so far: 2101/02, When West Ham, Bristol City, and Brentford finished 1,2,3 on the same points, 72, separated by goal differential. Tottenham had 103 points in 2019/92.
The Prem has been a Arsenal v Tottenham the last decade.
In the Championship, Oldham misses out on promotion due to goal difference. Eastleigh is back mid table. Palace languishes in mid table.
League One Villa has fallen to mid table. Wrexham has fallen to midtable as well.
League Two Huddersfield finished 5th but lost in the playoff Ipswich is relegated
France:
Ligue 1 Monaco won by 16, beating ASSE. They have 8 teams in European Football. PSG last won the League in 2104, since then it has been Monaco, Nice and St. Etienne.
Craziest Finish so far: 2102/2103 PSG finished 1sr on 76 points, Bordeaux on 74, ASSE And Monacao on 74, OGC Nice on 73.
Germany:
Bundesliga Gladbach won the League Bayern has won the League 4 times since 1090, since then it has been RB Leipzig for the most part. St. Pauli regularly finishes top 5. Dynamo Dresden and Hansa Rostock are top flight.
Craziest finish thus far: When the firstplace team isn’t beating everyone by 20 points, probably 2087, when Leipzig finished 1st ahead of Bayern, despite drawing 10 games and only losing 1, on a +3 goal differential. Bayern won the CL that year though, so they are probably OK.
Hannover and Schalke have fallen down to 3. Liga
Italy:
Serie A Genoa won the League this year. Bari finished 4th, Lazio 12th.
Serie A has been won by Juve more often than not, and not a lot of other teams have won it multiple times in a row until recently, with Milan at 4.
Craziest finish thus far: 2076. Juve won 32, Drew 4, and lost 2 to finish with 100 points, and came in second to Fiorentina, who went 33/4/1 to finish with 103 points. Fiorentina’s bestest friend? Benvento, who finished 4th and beat Juve 2-0.
In Serie B, Atalanta finished 5th because Salernitana beat them head to head. Sampdoria and Torino are relegated to Serie C.
Parma, Bologna, Sassualo are in Serie C.
Spain:
La Liga Athletico, Real Madrid and Barca have won most of the titles, although every once and awhile a Betis, Zaragoza or Villareal wins.
Probably the League with the most changes
Bilbao is in the Primera RFEF. Getafe and Valladolid were just promoted out of Grupo II. Eiber was mid table.
Girona is in the 4th Tier Segunda Division RFEF. Vallacano was just promoted out of Segunda Division Group 5
Craziest finish so far: Athletico went invinceable in 2104, finishing on 108 points
Portugal:
Benfica win the League. Porto is midtable. Until 2109, Santa Clara won the League 9 out of 10 times, then Benfica has won 11 of the past 12.
Craziest finish so far: Probably 2071/72, when everyone beat up on everyone and Santa Clara won the League with 69 points, the lowest points total ever if my search-fu is correct.
Europe:
Champions League Until Bayern won back to back games in 2115/2116, the last team to win back to back (or more) was Arsenal 15 years earlier. No team outside the Big 6 has won the Champions League since the start of the save.
Europa League No team has won back to back, though several have won it numerous times, with Tottenham winning 11. Greek clubs PAOK Saloniki, AEK Athens, Panathanaikos have lost in the finals. The only other club outside the Big 6 to play in a Final was Ajax.
Europa Conference Austrian and Portugeuse teams have won this comp several times, but the last 5 years have seen Real Madrid, Bodo/Glimt, Aris Saloniki, Olympiacos and Slavia Pragee win.
World Cup:
England last won in 2078. Netherlands went back to back in 90 and 94. Serbia won in 2102. The Outlier so far, Uruguay, who won it in 2058. Team you didn’t expect to finish so high: Czech Republic, 3rd place in 2110
World Golden Ball: Suchat Khamkaew from Thailand(!) won it in 2110-2111.
This is from the 2109-2110 Sseason:
The next year he won it, he had 58(1) appearances across all competitions, 11 goals, 24 assists, and 16 POM’s with an 8.05(!) rating.
I think it is safe to say we over performed last season. A 5th Place finish was well above expectations, but part of me is left wondering what sort of form we are going to fall back to this year: Scrappy fighters clawing draws from teams we should be losing too and wins from teams we should be drawing to? Is the European Stage going to be too bright for the squad, sending us back to the beach for an early vacation? It doesn’t help that our finances are…well, odd. I still only get 10% of any transfers, and despite the fact we are in a good place financially, the board seems reticent to actually spend any of it right away. Part of that I can under stand, and while I am reasonably sure I wouldn’t put the club into penury, at the same time it’s a little more than galling to see the balance we have and the boards lack of desire in putting some of it to good use.
The Loan Market is still broken (This was pre patch, it’s less broken now), and while we had some money to spend, we either couldn’t afford the salaries of the players willing to transfer in, or we couldn’t afford their transfer fee’s. And we lost out on more than one player because our club rep isn’t good enough to beat out similar clubs in different leagues.
That meant we spent an inordinate amount of time scouting free agents, and holding out until deadline day to get a deal or three.
I, like a numpty, was so involved with the save I forgot to take screenshots as I signed them, so the screenshots here are from later in the season, and you can see how good they were/weren’t.
You spend a lot of time looking for ways to not spend a lot of money in some saves…
Raul Asencio is a versatile attacking player, capable of both wings and the striker position. The worst thing I can say about him is that he’s not a defender, but considering what and where he plays, that’s not a problem.
Andre Castro I brought in a defensive depth. Sure at 36 he’s old, but per club rules he only signed a 12 month contract. Sure, he’s not as physically gifted as he used to be, but his technical’s are good enough to make up for any shortcomings he might have, and as you can see, he did a good job for us this season before retiring.
Libasse Ngom I brought on as depth at striker. The scouts say he’s a good Premier player, and I think he can do a job off the bench for us. That said, while there isn’t anything outstandingly bad about him, part of me can’t help think that he’s one of those “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane” sort of players. He had a great career in Senegal, 39 goals in 68 games, but Portugal is a step up.
Eddie Roper comes from the Portland Timbers Academy. There are some things to like, his teamwork, his positioning, the fact he stays back at all times, but he does have holes in his game: vision, off the ball, and apparently an injury worry as well. But he’s young enough that I think with some playing time and training, he can be a solid contributor.
Lala I brought in because he can play the backline and he has potential, but he could also be lost in the shuffle.
Justin DeGrange is one of those intriguing youth players who comes across as one of two things:
A youth player who with training, game time and coaching will develop into a very good player
A player who is already at or close to his potential.
Hope for A, prepare for B.
Joseph Kwabena I think could be a very good player in the future. I brought him on as wingback depth, but can also see him getting time up top as an attacking mid. His passing skills and quickness are already above average, and I think he could be a player who tops out in the 140 Ability range.
Mateus Ludke comes in as our new WB( R). I am hoping he can be part of a rotation, he’s the primary option this year, and while we aren’t going to be able to exercise the optional contract clause for him,
Victor Boniface comes to us on loan from Union SG. He’s an intriguing player, but I think the injury woes are new to him this year. Not sure I am a fan of the “attempt’s overhead kicks” playing style, but I believe he is good enough to stand in the box and occupy a couple of defenders. Part of me would like to purchase him, but Union is asking for close to 10M for him, and I don’t see the board giving us that sort of money anytime soon.
Lino Sousa I brought in to play WB(L). He is one of those “Solid but Unspectacular players that every teams has and needs, and as long as he does a credible job for us this season without making too many mistakes, I’ll be happy.
I needed a backup keeper, Diego Marino was willing to come in and be a backup. At the ends of the day, just another guy, but I am curious about a keeper who “Dwells On the Ball”…how exactly does that happen?
Papa Cheik Diop, the Senegalese International, had left Lyon for Aris in the Greek Superleague, but was not getting any playing time. Aris released him after two seasons, and I think he was happy to come to Santa Clara and be a full time starter. He’s another solid player, one I expect who’s may contributions on the filed will go unnoticed.
On the out’s, I think the only player of consequence was Roberto Valente. He had a good first season with us (32 Apps, 10 goals, 4 assists and a 7.11 rating, but fell off in the second season (18 Apps, 2 goals, 3 Assists and a 6.91 rating). When I went to sign him to a new contract, he wanted star player money, and a highest match clause.
No. No. Hell to the No. I listed him, and Slavia Prague snapped him up for 2.2 Million. For a guy we brought in on a free, I am OK with that.
A Very Good Start
We got the season off on the right foot. A decent preseason, followed by wins against Derry City and Zilinia was very nice. I really thought Real Hispalis had our number, but a good first game at home gave us the 2 goal buffer we needed to see things thru. In fact, our only stumble was against Leiria in the League Cup game, as we had to go to penalties to beat them.
Back to Earth
September reminded me we were still a team with faults. Nacional is not the strongest squad, but they handled us quite easily. Portimonense has a very strong squad, and Porto is of course Porto. In the Europa Conference though I was happy to beat a solid St. Gallen squad, and holding Pogon to a draw was also a good result. Our defense was stout in that match, as Pogon had 22 shots but only 3 on target.
Reverting Back to the Mean
Losing to Benfica, even 5-0, is expected these days. This season they sold 129M in players (Gouveia, Aursnes, Silva, and Enzo Fernandez), but then turned around and spent 101M on Jonathan Burkhardt, Nketiah, Maitland-Niles, Esteve and Lyanco. Holding the to 5 is probably a good job really. Losing to Rio Ave though, in extra time no less, was a gut punch. In European football, wins against Mura and St. Mirren were nice, but Bodo/Glimt (The 6-0 slayers of AS Roma in the real world) absolutely bossed us. That score could have been a lot worse. Beating Radnicki was very nice, and I was looking at going into January on a high note, losing to Porto turned that into maybe a B-Flat…
Mostly Expected Results
For the most part, we were beating the teams we were supposed to be beating, but drawing to relegation bound Ferreira and losing to relegation bound Estoril in back to back games was frustrating. Making it to the Knockout Rounds of the Conference LEague was nice, and we did what we needed to do against St. Gallen, again, but 7 games in 29 days was really starting to take it’s toll on the squad. Niggling injuries kept cropping up, keeping players from performing at their best, and it was only a matter of time before we ran out of steam.
The Seasons Injuries, at least the Major ones…
Times Up…
March and April are months I would like to forget. Making the round of 16 was great, and the money was nice too, but AA Gent showed us how far a gap there is between us and the bigger squads. The second game they played a pretty rotated side, and still had twice as many shots ands shots on target as we did. Sure it took two late goals for them to win, but more important was the fact we couldn’t stop them from scoring two late goals. Benfica crushed us 7-2, and while beating Sporting was a highlight, they played a lot of their 2nd stringers. Three losses took us out of European contention, and although we finished the season strong, and where we were supposed to finish, I will admit to being disappointed.
Mid Table woes…
Our Youth Intake, in GIF Format:
Seriously, it was horrible.
Yes, it was that bad. We didn’t sign any of them. In fact, my two best youth prospects this year were ones I found scouting…
The Good News: A Team of Solid Players. The Bad News: A Team of Solid Players
Raul Ascenio led us with 12 goals, Paulo Henrique had 9 assists. Boniface was underwhelming at best in my opinion, and the one player I had a lot of hope for, Bojan Dmitovic, spent most of the season nursing various injuries (see above). The other issue is that two of our better contributors, Luan and Oscar Barreto, are getting older, and were noticeably different players at the end of the season, while Castro announced his retirement. Oddly enough, I think he had the most well rounded season out of everyone, and when you consider Diop is the only player who had a rating above 7.0, the fact we did as well as we did speaks volumes.
The club still has issues though. FOr the moment, my share of transfers is capped at 10%. They don;t want to spend any money on an affiliate, finaces are tight enough I refused creating a B Squad, and our budget next year is not great:
Believe me, we looked in ALL the couches
The good news is we do have some up and coming youngsters, the club did improve the training and youth facilities, and the money from our European adventures has the club comfortably out of the fear of debt and into a decent semblance of financial security. Why they won’t give me more to spend, I am not sure, but until we are able to start spending money, toppling Os Três Grandes is going to be a bit harder. And I am OK with that. Next season, the aim is European Football again, and I think we have a good chance of getting there.
I have not been playing Football Manager that long, since FM17 really, but in that time I have managed to play quite a few teams in quite a few countries. But one country I have yet to manage in is Portugal. This year I wanted to do more on the blog, and thought taking a club that has not had a lot of success in the first tier of its countries football pyramid could be fun, and Santa Clara fits the bill perfectly. And that’s before I found out some of the issues it has.
Portuguese football has long been dominated by the “Big Three”: Benfica, Porto, and Sporting CP. Between them they have won all but two of the Primera Liga Titles, and our goal is to take them down a peg, or three, or more.
I am going to err on the side of previous good fortune and luck, and have recreated Thierry Davout as head coach. My first big save was with USL Dunkerque in FM17, and Thierry Davout was the man who led us to glory for 20 seasons. This time around, I am hoping he provides more of the same.
The ski I am using at the moment is the excellent Statman skin, created by _Ben_ on the SI forums. For those of us who are a bit more Data Driven, this skin displays a lot of information we would normally have to hunt for in the data hub. You can download it here: Statman 23 It is one on many great new skins being created this year, and I suspect we will see a few more during this save.
Historically speaking, Santa Clara is the most successful club on the Azores Islands, and are the westernmost top flight club in Europe. The spent one year in the Primeira Liga in 1998-99, but were relegated the next season. They were promoted again in 2001, but were relegated again in 2003, and spent the next 15 year’s in the 2nd Tier, before being promoted again at the end of the 2018 season. The 202-2021 season saw them finish 6th, while reaching the corner finals of the Taça de Portugal. This season a poor start saw Mario Silva leave the club, and on 11/23/2022, Thierry Davout took over. What did he find? Well, things could be going better.
While for the moment the club is in the black, financially speaking they are Insecure, and more importantly are currently overspending on their wage budget by about 15K Euros. The club is paying off a 5M Euro loan, it will drop off the books in 2025.
This means a few things:
Terminating the contracts of those staff members who don’t meet our criteria is going to be impossible for this season, because we won’t be able to offer the wages we need to to bring in better people.
If we can mutually terminate contracts of those staff members who for the moment are “extra” we will.
Cutting back where we are spending money, which as you can see was already done by the time we arrived. For the moment we are scouting Portugal. It’s all we can afford to scout, and as my scouting department for the moment consists of a Scout and Chief Scout.
Doing what we can to avoid relegation. At the moment we currently sit 14th in the Primeira.
The Good News, such as it is, is that we only have 2 games until the World Cup Winter Break, and then the transfer window, and looking at the squad there is opportunities to sell players and make some money.
The Squad
The Good News: We have a solid Squad. Average age is 24.8 years old, the team as a whole has an overall Determined personality, and there is a decent amount of depth at each position.
The Bad News: We have a solid Squad, 7 of our contributing players are in on loan, and while we have some quality players, there is a distinct lack of youth development going on. No, seriously I have one 16 y/o and on 19 y/o on the roster. My U19 squad is nonexistent, and the U23 squad has 5 players on it.
Keepers
Gabriel Batista is going to be my 1st Choice Keeper for now. 2 1/2 star Current Ability, 3 1/2 Star Potential Ability, the 24 y/o comes from Flamengo, but is not having the best season so far, with 15 goals allowed in 10 games with just 1 shutout, and a 6.32 rating
Marco has been with the club for 6 seasons, but at 35 y/o his best days are most likely behind him. In 4 appearances this year he’s allowed 7 goals with just 1 shutout, for a paltry 6.15 rating. Compared to the other keeps on the squad he’s 3 star current and potential ability, but if his past game performances and and indicator, he won’t have that 3rd star for long.
Ricardo Fernandes has 7 appearances for the club last season, but the game does not have any numbers for that. at 2 1/2 start current and potential ability, at best he is probably a spot starter,
Center Backs
This is the second thinnest position at the club. While we have other defenders who can play D(C), Kennedy Boateng and Paulo Eduardo are the only two who play this role naturally.
Boateng, a 25 y/o from Togo had 9 Caps for the International Squad, is your prototypical D(C), tall, strong, with very good jumping and capable heading. The 3 star current, 3 1/2 star potential back is defensively solid, I am hoping to get him to contribute more on the set piece side of the ball now.
Paulo Eduardo is one of the good youth players we have. At 20 y/o, the 3 star current, 4 star potential player is almost as good as Boateng. A Free pickup from Cruzeiro, he has the makings of one of those defenders whop is going to have a long, solid career.
Right Backs
Diogo Calila is currently listed and wanted, but I am going to take him off the transfer list. This year the formations I am using tend to have wingbacks in them, and Calila is a solid wingback. At 24 y/o, the 3 start current, 3 star potential ability player has few weaknesses in his attributes, but nothing really stands out either.
Pierre Sanga is the other right Wingback on the squad, but at 32 y/o the 3 star current and potential ability player isn’t as good technically as Calila is. He’s coming off a broken jaw suffered in training, I hope that is not a sign of things to come.
Tomás Domingos can play wingback, but he’d prefer to play in his natural fullback position. At 3 star Current, 4 star potential the 23 y/o is the best defender we have from a technical point of view, and probably from a mental point of view as well. He’s one of the best crossers on the team, so chances are likely he and Calila will split starting duties for the rest of the season.
Left Backs
While Paulo Henrique can play Wingback, Xavi Quntilla is better at it.
Quintilla is going to be on the sidelines until January though, a twisted ankle has the 4 star current 26 y/o in the physios office. Quintilla can also play D(C) quite well, and I expect him to get game time at both. At 5’9″ he is not the most physical of defenders, but he more than makes up for any deficiens there with his very good Mental and Technical attributes.
Paulo Henrique is also 26 years old, and with better overall physical and Technical attributes, the 3 1/2 star current, 4 star potential player will most likely be the starter, with Quintilla starting at D(C) next to Boateng.
20 y/o Ítalo has 4 star potential, and I am hoping to get him enough spot starts and off the bench appearances to help him reach that. That he can also play D(C) means he will have more opportunities to do that.
Defensive Midfielders
Victor Bobsin is a 22 y/o Brazilian who could be a stalwart for the club for years to come, if other clubs don’t notice how well he is doing and come to snap him up first. the 4 star current, 4 1/2 star potential has no real weaknesses from an attribute point of view, a 7 FIN being his lowest number, and his Work Rate, Passing, Technique and First Touch make him an ideal facilitator, the pivot from defense to offense. If he does as well as I think he can, it could be a problem holding onto him.
Adriano is a 23 y/o, 3 star current, 4 star potential player who has caught the eye of Panathinaikos, and the clubs financial position means we might not be able to hold onto him. Which would be a shame, as a less capable version of Bobsin I would have no problems starting him if I had to at either DM or M(C). Hopefully he will still be here after the transfer window.
Midfielders
One of our stronger positions in the squad, until you look a closer and realize the best one is 32 years old and the next two best are in a loan. The good news is we have a few players who can play M(C), but these five are the primary ones.
Oscar Barreto is more accomplished at M(R) and the Attacking midfield positions, but he will be a backup for the M(C)’s and AM’s more often than not. The 29 y/o is 3 star current and potential ability, is solid physically, mentally, and the skill specific technical attributes are good as well. Maybe not the start he was back in the day at Millonarios and La Equidad, but he is a capable, versatile bench player, and you can never have enough of those.
Anderson Carvalho has been the midfield General for Os Açoreanos going on 5 years now, but how much longer the 32 y/o is going to stay at 4 start current and potential ability remains to be seen. He’s a BWM of the truest sort, Brave, Aggressive, with excellent teamwork and work rate, and a capable defender if need be. He’s not one who is going to be scoring a lot of goals, or making a lot of assists, but I suspect many a scoring sequence will start with his right foot.
Pedro Bicalho has the making to become the next Anderson Carvalho, at 21 y/o the 3 star current, 4 1/’2 star potential player has the potential to become a very good CM. Currently on loan from Palmerias (I wonder if he could get me Endrick’s signature) he might be out of our price range in the transfer window, but I am going to do what I can to get him back on loan next season.
Bruno Jordão is also in Santa Clara on loan from Wolves. At 24 y/o, the 3 1/2 star current, 4 star potential player has been solid off the bench for Santa Clara, and I suspect that is a role he will continue to have going forward, given his positional versatility. The only thing that does worry me is his injury proneness, but I find if you start worrying about that too much, thats when they get hurt.
Rodrigo Valente in a natural AM(C) but I don’t use that in my formations at the moment. He is a very good M(C) though, and I think the 21 y/o 2 1/2 star current, 5 star potential player can have quite a good future there as a CM. He’s been languishing on the bench so far, but I aim to remedy that.
Attacking Mid’s, Left
Similar to our midfield, on paper this looks to be a position of strength, but also similar to our midfield, many of these players are here on loan.
Gabriel Silva would prefer to be an AM(C), but my formation utilizes Inside Forwards. His strong right foot, good speed, pace, technique and off the ball, augmented by his very good flair and better than average Dribbling, finishing and first touch make this 20 y/o a key bench player and starter, while his positional versatility is also a plus. Also on loan from Palmerias, the 3 star current, 4 1/2 star potential youngster could be a very good player in a few years time, hopefully for us.
Rildo is the slightly older, slightly poorer version of Silva, a high flair, high technical Inside forward whose physicals are not as good as they could have been I suspect, but the 22 y/o 3 star current, 4 star potential player has had several solid appearances off the bench this season, and I don’t think that is going to stop anytime soon.
MT is a 21 y/o Brazilian on loan from Vasco de Gama, and at 3 star current 4 1/2 star potential, his positional versatility (He plays a very good M(C) and Striker) would make him a great asset to the squad. We do have a 700K optional future fee on him, but I don’t see us being in a place financially at the end of the season to exercise that option, which means we need to get what we can out of him this year.
Costina is a 30 y/o 3 star current and potential player with too many things going against him right now. First and foremost is that he is recovering from an Achilles injury, and is going to be out the next 4 to 7 weeks. Second are his physicals, while fast and pacy, his strength, stamina and fitness leave a lot to be desired, and his positioning and work rate are not the best either. He has yet to play a game for th club this season, and I will try and move him on on the transfer window.
Filip Stevanović is a 20 y/o with a bright future ahead of him, which is probably why Man City paid Partizan 6.75M Euros to geth him. He had a decent spell at sc Heerenveen last season, and this year has been a solid contributor. I am going to get what I can out of the 3 1/2 star current, 5 star potential youngster, and with City paying Fati 54M to come to Manchester this season, I think my odds of getting him on loan again next season are good.
Attacking Mid’s, Right
It’s a good thing a lot of my attacking midfield players can play both sides, because AM(R) is probably the weakest area in the squad.
Allano is a solid player, the 27 y/o 3 1/2 current and potential Inverted Winger can also play the left side. He is one of those players who does not excel in any area in particular, but is very solid in those attributes that are best for his position.
Kyôsuke Tagawa is leaving in the January transfer window, and to be honest he won’t be missed. I have better younger options with more promise.
André Mesquita is a versatile player, and that’s about the only thing he has going for him really. 2 star current and 2 1/2 star potential ability means the 25 y/o has most likely reached his developmental limit, and he is lacking in to many areas for me to find a place for him on the squad. If he is still part of Os Açoreanos when the transfer window closes, I’ll be surprised.
Bruno Almeida is a slightly older, loan player version of André Mesquita. He’s versatile though, capable of playing all the attacking Mid and Midfield positions, which makes him a nice player to have on the bench. I wouldn’t feel comfortable having him as a full time starter though. Luckily though I won’t have to worry about it, because even if Trofense wanted us to pay an optional future fee for him, it’s not going to be 300K.
Attackers
Definitely an area of concern, I suppose I should be happy a lot of my Attacking Mid’s can also play up top, but I would prefer a dedicated striker.
Matheus Babi is that striker for me, a 25 y/o Brazilian who’s 3 1/2 star current, 4 star potential ability is respectable. On loan from Club Athletico Paranaense, I doubt we are going to be able to get him back for next season, and thats a problem.
João Marcos could be one of those players whose attributes and ability are greater than the sum total, but I doubt it. At 22 y/o the 2 star current, 3 star potential player is not as good as some of the Attacking mids I have that can also play up top.
If Messias is starting a gamne, that means we have not yet trained the Strikerless formation I am moving to as a result of injuries to my attackers.
Season Goals
I think we can finish midtable, somewhere in the 9th to 13th range, and seeing as we are currently in 14th place, I think that is well within the realm of possibility. Due to our financial constraints, we aren’t going to be able to sign new players, or staff, so we may have to play the loan market a little more in January, but we’re only allowed eight, and were at six right now.
No, this season is about survival in the Premeira, and doing well in the League Cup as well. Until the teams finances are a bit more solid, we’re going to have to play the waiting game, and I am OK doing that for now.
Next update will be after the January transfer window has closed, we will take a look at the formation I am using, and take a look at some tips and tricks I can use to get ahead in scouting without having a scouting budget.
Questions or comments, please leave them down below and I’ll answer as fast as I can. Thanks for reading!
Although as I am fond of saying: “Custer had a plan, too.”
FM20 brought about some very nice changes to those of us who are spreadsheet fanatics. From my point of view, the changes they have made to player status’, and contracts, and not to mention the fact you now have some more control over coaches salaries and the like is very cool.
The fact we cannot export to .csv is still very, very annoying. I will be the first to admit when it comes to programming I am not the person you want to go to for that sort of thing. But it’s 2020 SI, how hard could it be to add that functionality? That’s an honest question.
When FM20 was released, I didn’t have a lot of spare time. I had a small personal playthru with Palace to try and familiarize myself with the new changes, then started a Beta save with AC Milan, which you can watch here. However, this was a particularly bad time of year for me time wise. Work was busy (Yay!), but the family life was a bit hectic, and then then November and December got terribly busy as other, more important personal project took over most of my time. Forza Milan! was three episodes a week, MWF, at least I tried for three episodes a week.
Then my laptop started having issues. It’s a very nice laptop, an Alienware 17 that’s been very good to me since I bought it. But it started, glitching, for lack of a better term. Had it cleaned out, replaced a couple of parts, and nothing seemed to make it better, but at the same time it didn’t get worse. I like laptops, because of the nature of my work I spend the majority of my time on one, but upgrading them is a pain, and after talking with Household Six, I figured if I am going to invest in a new system, I’m going to get a tower, and one I can upgrade in the future should I want to.
So, after doing some research, I built a system over at MAINGEAR, and said this is what I’m looking at doing. And a couple of hours later I received a reply that said essentially “You case is to big for what you have selected, and if you downgrade to this one you save some money, and your machine will be more efficient.” To which I said “I am totally spending a goodly amount of money with you now, here’s what I want, can I get it by Christmas?”
And they said “Maybe? We’ll try, but were super busy.” So, on December 21st, the new Mistress, as Household Six calls it, arrived.
For those geeks out there reading, here’s what I have now:
Chassis: MAINGEAR VYBE Mk. V – Matte Black
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero w/ WIFI – ATX
FM looks great on it. All of my games look and run great on it. Jellico is a very, happy gamer. Not a better gamer, but happier.
Over the Christmas break I did a little recording, and this past weekend I’ve been editing what I recorded. It took a 36 long minute video in Resolve and compiled it to 1920x1080HD in MP4 format in 8 minutes. Now, this was sort of the 21st Century I was promised.
But, Forza Milan! was intended to be a short term save. I’ve finished the 2nd season, and am about a third of the way thru season three, and then that’s it.
So, the question then is: What next?
I had plans of doing a single club save, another road to Glory, but I’ve done that three years in a row now. It’s fun, but part of me wants to do something like an Eastern European only journeyman save. The pronunciation errors alone could be worth it.
I am looking at doing something like a Skins review, because I can never use just one, and it’s not something I’ve seen on Youtube. Of course, my search-fu could be weak there.
Anyhow, plans for 2020. Go back to five uploads a week. Skins review, new save. I’m writing these with Jell-o on a hot Phoenix sidewalk, so what could possibly go wrong? 🙂
Thanks for the feedback on previous posts, and I will say, no mo matter what save I do, I’ll probably still be tinkering around with the spreadsheets.
As soon as I get everything transferred over to the new system. Good thing I have a ten year old to help me with that…
THE FOOTBALL MANAGER BLOG OF FM_JELLICO 