(No Longer a) Lower League Dream

Firmino was probably right. The first few matches:

Does not look that bad, but the facts are:
=>Majority of my team are in their thirties
=>In all the matches, I have been unable to give my youngsters a chance.
=>A couple of the first team players are already set to leave in January after transfer requests.

Finally, In the champions league, we managed 1 point from our first two games against Napoli and VP. If I don't win it, ter Stegen will leave

6 games later...


The league is going pretty well after I ditched the idea of building for the future. The Champions league, however, is not.

Bottom of the group. And, to not loose my two best players(Neymar and ter Stegen), I must win it.

A good update:

League going good, but R Soc., well, a blast from the past.
I somehow managed through the Champions League.

Maybe, I will keep neymar and ter stegen happy after all.

Talking of neymar, I found the next Neymar:


This sent me looking for the next Messi. And here is what I got:

Matches Messi in nationality and position but his club(and the fact that he wanted to go to Manchester united) suggest a different player.
These two players, by the way are currently at the manchester clubs(you know which one is where)

These two players cost me 30m apiece, so no more business in this window

Another update here:

League goes well except a draw against valencia. But the other competitions, well...
the board wants us to get past this round of Champions league, and it would be really tough to hold on to a single point lead in the second leg. In the spanish cup, things are other way round. We must win the return leg.
The competitions are important to win this season, because we need the prize monies. I want to have a ~100m transfer budget in the next window and for that to happen, I need to generate an insane amount of income.
Our new Messi-Ronaldo-two-in-one is injured for 4 months, but Nunes (Neymar sub-junior) is doing quite well

The penultimate update of the season:

Atletico was rather easy, but we went past FCP only on away goals.
Real Madrid thrashed us. And then we did them real damage.
Years Ago, the took our best player away from us in Luis Figo, paying us a record transfer fees. Now we are set to do just the opposite.

this guy joins us in July, and the cost is 675000, all of that goes to his agent. This will sure be a record transfer fee as well.-
On a more serious note, it is hard to imagine what kept Real madrid from playing him? So much so that he got unhappy and decided to leave on a free?
Note that this position was not one that I wanted to replace, but a 22 year old who is World class by Barcelona's standards does not come in on a free transfer every day. Now with the attacking departments sufficiently filled, I can use all my 42m (yeah, that was all my board allowed me for the next season. 80m in debt, I chose not to complain) to build at the back

The season is over, and it was a good season:

Juventus hammered us at their home, but we replied better at our home.
Real was a better sight, 3-0 up from the first leg, but we still needed extra time and away goals rule(they scored in the injury time of the second half of extra time)
Both finals were very close though.
The league was won in the game against Deportivito, so the last four games were trials for the younger players.
The board provided a cash injection of 48m so the finances are no longer in red.
ter Stegen still wants to leave, along with a couple of defenders.

Post El Classico update:

I already have two trophies of the season already*. And all is pretty well, except for the two results.
Note that, however, there are very few dominating victories, and too many 1-0 results.
Despite having a good forward lineup, things are just not working out. Suarez(Messi jr) and Luque(valued at 35M) have become regular first teamers, but neither of them are strikers. And Nunes and chavero are still not good enough, so Neymar is still our best bet at 32. Our defence is too much reliant on three first teamers, and others are simply useless(couldn't defent even in friendlies.
We have been winning somehow because over the years, the Spanish league has become very weak except for us, Valencia, Atletico and Real. of these, we have faced only Real, and the result is in front of you

*it seems that I missed out the UEFA Super cup victory over Napoli in the screen shot. we won 6-4 in extra time.

Post winter window update:
It is not as if I have done any business though. I am Determined to keep finances positive and so cannot buy anyone big. Wanted to sell off unhappy players(to improve squad morale) but no one wanted to buy them even at 50% of their value. In the mean time, here are the results:

Good run except that we got knocked out of the Spanish cup. We are unbeaten, except for the Real Madrid match, but I tell you, we still have to play two big away matches against Atletico and Valencia.
Neymar may be on his way out earlier than I expected, ashe spent most of January injured. This has also confirmed the fact that Nunes is NOT his successor. With Neymar out, Chavero has been the one doing the scoring, despite the preferential playtime Nunes has been given. At times, even my attacking midfielders(Leon, Suarez, Luque) have gone on to score, But not Nunes.
Here are the records of the four youngsters:
Nunes(ST):


Luque(AMR):


Chavero(ST):


Suarez(AMC):


And here are the two Veterans:
Neymar(AML/ST):


Leon(AML):


As you see, Neymar, despite having least number of appearances, has scored the most and that too with the highest rating.
Nunes on the other hand, despite being a striker, has scored the least. I would have gone for one of the other three youngsters, but Luque and Suarez are not strikers, and Chavero does not have potential.
So, I guess, I will be bringing in a new face, come summer.

A quick question to the readers:How many of you have had a Defender as your costliest player(ie according to player value)?
And how many have two?

Youth Intake Update:

Second best player to come in, but he is my compatriot.
After having observed India for a decade, I have finally made up my mind that it is bad-coded in the game. No head coach has ever managed to stay at the helm for 10 years in the past, let alone a foreigner, and Stephen Constantine has not produced any extraordinary results to be the first. In short, I will get the post, by hook or crook(you know what I mean).
That will be after the World Cup, though, and this guy is going to be Barcelona's first tribute to an Indian head coach.(Hoping that he does not reject my call owing to his Spanish Second nationality, where he will never get to play, as then he will rot in the reserves )

Post El Classico Update:
This time it was played at Camp Nou. The Results:

Perfection. For the first time, we managed to beat a team away in Champions League. In the mean while, Here is the league table:

The game confirms that we have qualified for Champions League, but my mathematics says that we have won already!!!
This means much more game time for Chandran already.

End of Season:

Not much other than that we won the champions league. The neutral venue for the final match against Chelsea was Camp Nou.
Amongst other points, Manjit Chandran is now barcelona's youngest goal scorer. He won the Player of the match on debut in the Derbi barceloní so, he might become a deserved First teamer.

Mid Season Update:


BOOM!!! Real defeated home and away, The away goal was scored by Franco Suarez. The Super cup thrashing I could do without. I have 4 scouts scouting India and an Indian HOYD this year, so let us hope for a lot of Indian Regens.
On the negatives, Luque has handed in a transfer request. He is by far our best player, and I was hoping to make him the captain after Neymar retires.
Ter Stegen and Sergi Samper have left, Sergi Roberto Retired. Serafirm, our promising left back leaves on a free transfer. Neymar has started to deteriorate.
One more problem that I am having to face is foreign players. I was under the impression that 730 days is all it takes for South Americans to turn Spanish.So I had creatd a stedy inflow of South Americans as Gomez Would complete his 730 days before the August deadline and Nunes and Suarez in the January one. But the paperwork, well, Gomez turned Spanish only in October, Nunes and Suarez are still awaiting paperwork.

In the mean time, I have got the Indian Job, in the normal way. Constantine retired on 1st February leaving me a world No 83 team to take over. No coach with half as much reputation was ready to take the job so I was the obvious choice. Wait till India wins the world cup!

League is won with 9 games to spare, and for the first time in 3 years, the board is Not Overjoyed.

Unhappy with the board not wanting to get an Indian Affiliate, I decided to Move countries.So loaded up Holland and India. And then, well you know what happened.
So, I never won the Iran game.

Apart from not getting an Indian Affiliate, The other main reason I left Barcelona was Luque's ultimatum. Now, although, it seems as if Vilas-Boas(my successor) has worked some magic and he is happily there at Barcelona.
In the mean time, It is November,and I do not have a club to manage. I shall updatethe qualifiers post once the second round is done and dusted.

The news that gaz was no longer interested in Asia came like thunder to Australian clubs, a country which escaped him in Asia. As a compensation, they get me, though. Here is my new club:

And we are under takeover. Lets hope that I survive it. This will limit us to a 17-player team for the time being.

International Update:
India's Ranking history since I took over from Constantine:

A League(Regular season) is Practically over, here are the results:

And here is the table:

We are the champions, although there is still the grand final and such things to win.
Juanjo Luque is the New Messi, Barca's best player, valued at 80m and twotimes Ballon d'Or winner(the two years since I left. Manjit Chandran is one of India's best players, an a regular starter for Barca B at just 19. Guess that I did good for Barca in my three years.

The takeover completed and the new Chairman is doubtful about keeping me. Personally, I do not want to stay either, given the thousands of squad rules they have, makes it very difficult to manage. Wanted to win the ACL but given that I am yet to play a game with a full Subs Bench of 7 players, I would better leave.

Grand Final Update:
In short, we won.

I resigned soon after

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