[FM24] Stranded: Zeb's African & European Adventure

January/February 2039

Africa Cup of Nations 2039 -  Cape Verde

Quarter-Final & Semi Final

Beating Morocco in their own tournament 6-1 came as a massive shock, and although we had beaten Ghana in the game before, I wasn't really expecting too much in the next game against Tunisia. We ended up beating Tunisia 3-0 and I started to wonder if the tactical changes I had instigated in the Ghana game and adjusted slightly for Morocco were going to give us the edge we needed to compete with the bigger teams.

While I kept the tactics exactly the same from the Morocco game onwards, I rotated the squad as needed to avoid losing anybody completely to fatigue, for the semi-final, we had Cameroon to contend with, yet another stronger team, though having beaten the teams we had to get here, I wondered if we could do it all again and we did, 3-1 this time, taking us through to our first ever Africa Cup of Nations final.

February 2039

Africa Cup of Nations 2039 -  Cape Verde

Final

Taking on and beating the likes of Morocco, Tunisia and Cameroon to reach the final, I knew we must have a chance against Mali, even if we were weaker on paper. There was a little fatigue for a couple of players but by and large, the team had made it this far without suffering any injuries and without losing anybody too important to suspension. Fielding nearly a full strength side, I went into the match, keeping everything the same as before, tactically speaking. This new system I implemented initially in the Ghana match and then tweaked for the Morocco game seemed to be working wonders, allowing us to beat teams that we probably should have lost against normally.

The key to the current tactical system is simple, our best players are up front and on the wings and the rest of the midfield are plenty competent, defensively we are at our weakest, so the solution was simple, get the ball up as quickly as possible to the front lines and let them lead the way. The system works and because of that, we reached our first ever Cup of Nations final.

With everything much as it was before, we went into the final hopeful of success, 1-0 turned to 2-0 and then to 3-0, it was looking to be a great win for us, though later in the game, Mali started to find gaps in our defence and we made mistakes, they pulled two back, one thanks to a penalty and the other a close-range header.

The final moments were nervy as I thought Mali might get a third, they didn't however, and as a result, my Cape Verde side were crowned Champions of Africa.

May 2039

The first phase of the Portuguese Liga 3 has finished, we came top of Série B with an eighteen point lead over second place Académica. Because of the way this league works, the top four teams from the two Liga 3 divisions will go through to the promotion playoffs group stage. For the promotion stage, we face Leiria, Leixões and Vianense. I'm hoping we can keep up our good from throughout the first phase and come out on top once more.

While I would like to come away from this season as Liga 3 champions, at the very least we need to go up, this team should really not be in the third tier. Given how well we have performed so far this season, I believe we should be able to top our group but if we fail, we should still have a chance of promotion as three teams go up, it'll just mean having to play more matches. Should we fail to secure promotion altogether, I think I may have to look to the job market once more, either I'll try and get a job at a higher league team here in Portugal, or possibly move on to Spain, rather than having to spend another year in the third tier.

May 2039

After dominating the league in the first phase, finishing eighteen points ahead of the second place team, we went into the final weeks hopeful of a successful promotion push. What I don't like about the Liga 3 in Portugal, is that a team can finish in third place in one of the two divisions, be ranked fifth overall for points and yet still come away as champions, fortunately that did not happen on this occasion, the Liga 3 winners, were in my somewhat biased yet correct opinion, that the team that deserved to be champions, lifted the trophy on the final day.

Having easily reached the promotion group phase, we managed to continue our good form, winning five out of the six games and drawing the other one, ending up top of our promotion group.. For the final, we faced off against the team that won the other group, which also happened to be the team that finished third in my division during the first phase. Having beaten Sertanense twice in the league in the first phase, I was confident of a repeat performance in the final, my players did not disappoint,. Though our promotion was already confirmed by topping our promotion group, winning the final gives us the bragging rights as champions.

By winning the league, it marks my third promotion since starting out on my journey, the others coming in the second tiers of Mozambique and Angola, it also gives me my first trophy in Europe, having only managed in Africa previously. A side effect of our promotion is the activation of a clause in my contract that extends it for another year, that means I should be here for another year as the team attempts to stay up in the second tier, and push for higher accolades.

For the time being, I plan to stick around and begin strengthening the side, as I do, I will also be checking the job market frequently, ideally I will be looking for a job in Spain, either of the top two tiers will do, but alternatively, I could be willing to move to a bigger team here in Portugal, in that case, it would need to be from the top tier to really make it worth moving. One final option that I have thought about is a move to Morocco, for that to be worthwhile though, I would only consider one of the absolute top teams, maybe Wydad or Raja Casablanca.

My next update will either be an end of pre-season update with friendly results and transfers, or a new job announcement should I end up leaving before the season starts.
 

Our transfers for the season, we focussed on bringing in talent without breaking the bank, relying heavily on loan players.

Our results throughout the season…

July 2039

Though I had my eye on the job market and I did apply for the vacant manager position at Alavés who had just been promoted to the top division in Spain, I was for the most part, expecting to kick off the 2039/2040 season still in Portugal. I had begun strengthening my side in preparation for the challenges ahead this season, and had already made several acquisitions, a combination of transfer and loans for the first team, both the starting XI and players for added depth, I was quite happy with the business I had managed to conduct and we had played our first couple of friendly matches.

Several weeks had passed since I applied for the Alavés job and I had heard nothing, I'm pretty sure they're still in a board meeting, trying to decide who to invite for job interviews, I have yet to get one, so I have to assume I'm not all that high on their shortlist, that said, it was then a rather big surprise, to wake up in the morning to representatives from both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford, looking to invite me for interviews for their vacant manager positions.

My goal along this journey has always been to reach the UK and last I checked, Wolverhampton and Watford are still in England. Naturally I hopped on an Easyjet flight to Gatwick, from there I headed to Vicarage Road to attend my first of two interviews. The interview seemed to go well and the board there seemed to have a well formed vision of the direction they wanted to take the club. Right now, Watford are an top-half Championship side, with a few improvements, I could see myself feasibly taking them them towards the playoffs within my first season there.

Once the Watford interview was out of the way, I headed north west, up to Wolverhampton, to see how things would go with their representatives. Once again, the interview went well and it was now a waiting game, which of the two teams, if either of them, would offer me a job. I knew that there would be a decision to make, firstly do I want to move on from Portugal? And secondly, which of the teams would I join, if they were both to make an offer?

In the end, both Watford and Wolves offered me a job. Given the difference in wages between what both teams were offering and what I was already on, it was a no-brainer to consider their offers, beyond the financial considerations, both teams were in higher-rated leagues, and finally, with my goal being to reach the UK, this was going to be my best chance to do so, without having to pass through Spain and France.

[Consulting the rules that I set for my save regarding moving without passing through a neighbouring country, this falls under the headhunting exception, the requirements that need to be met are that I have not applied for the job directly, both teams offered me the job, the wage is sufficient to cover the cost of the flight there, the club is professional and I have a continental license of some description, all these are met, so now it is just a case of whether I want to make the move or not].

When comparing Watford and Wolves at the present time, the decision is not too hard to make, while I have a fairly good opinion of both teams, Wolves are in the Premier League and Watford are in the Championship. While Wolves will need to avoid relegation, Watford will be looking for a top-half finish and eventually, a push for promotion. For most of my career, I have managed teams that didn't take much effort to turn into a competitive outfit at their level, managing Wolves, at least early on, would present an interesting challenge as I try to keep them in the Premier League, with that in mind, and if you are still reading this, you will now know that I have accepted the Wolves job (or if you are reading this on Facebook then you probably just saw the relevant screenshot to begin with lol).

Upon taking the job at Wolves, I have announced my resignation as manager of the Cape Verde Islands, instead, at least for the time being, I will be focussing solely on club football.

August 2039

The 2039/2040 pre-season has come to a close, though I've not been at Wolves for all that long, I have begun to make my mark on the side, bringing in a selection of new players and allowing a few to leave, either on loan or permanently.

After reviewing the senior team, I noticed we appeared weakest at the left-back position, and in the centre of defence, we have a number of players just into their thirties now, with that all in mind, I signed a young new left-back on loan from Arsenal (Albi Zekiri) and a centre-back on loan (but with a future fee) from FC Basel (Danilo Scanu). To bolster the centre of midfield, I've brought in Ollie Griffiiths from Aberdeen. Up front, I have signed Junior Koné from ES Zarzis in Tunisia. Of these new signings for the senior team, only Koné is a player that I'm familiar with, while he played in Tunisia at the point of signing him, I know him from before when he played in the Ivory Coast, during my time there at Issia Wazi, we loaned him in from ASEC Mimosas and he scored sixteen goals in twenty games and helped us along the way to the league title.
 

While I've made additions to the senior team, I have also picked up a couple of young players that might feature for the team down the line, Diego Fornals we signed on a free transfer and Márcio Neto, one of the star players from my previous team Marítimo. I don't really know too much about Fornals beyond his stats so he is a little bit of a gamble, but not an expensive one. Neto on the other hand, I've seen play, he was great in the Portuguese third tier and he drew the attention of bigger clubs there, right now he's not quite ready to play in the Premier Leauge, but the plan is to try and build him up to that level through training and loan moves as necessary.

As you can see form the pre-season friendlies, we did alright, a nice win against Barcelona and a somewhat weird score line against Chartres, a non-league French team that managed to score five goals against us.
 

September 2039

Competitive football has begun and we are now fives games into the Premier League and have survived two rounds of Carabao Cup action.

I'm pleased with the start we have made so far, though we lost 3-2 to Tottenham and 2-1 to Arsenal, we've put together some decent wins as well, such as 4-1 against Brighton, 4-2 against Liverpool, and 5-0 away to Aston Villa. As of right now, we find ourselves in sixth place, it would be nice to up there come the end of the season but there is a very long way to go yet, still, if we can continue on as we started, there's no reason we can't have a good year.

In the Carabao Cup we knocked Oldham out in the second round, beating them comfortably 4-1. For the third round we faced off against Watford, the team I could quite easily have joined, had Wolves not invited me to an interview on the same day that Watford did. When it came to the Watford game, things were a little closer, we only won 2-0 but watching the game, I felt confident that we were the only likely victors as they never really threatened us all that much.
 

In my last update, we had just reached the end of pre-season, now however, we have reached and passed the transfer deadline day, as such, I can reveal the final signings we made during the window and those departing. As we allowed our first choice attacking central midfielder to depart, we needed to find a new one, thanks to having scouts that are on the ball, they found us Lars-Erik Arnesen, a young and highly capable player, and one that did not cost us an arm and a leg. Kevin Brown joins us from Burnley, he should slot in nicely as an improvement to our left wing, while Fabricio Álvarez joins us as an additional striker. We didn't really need another striker, but with how much potential he could have, we just had to make a move for him, should he realise that potential, we could be on for a nice little earner, though I do hope he can help us bring success to the club as well. Finally, Connor Kinsella arrives at the team as a hot prospect, he is a fair way off first team football, though within a few years, he might turn out good, provided we can support his development.
 

Having bolstered the squad somewhat in this window, I'm conscious that we need to keep a close eye on the financial side of things, we did offload a bunch of players, but most of our departing players were on loans with either optional or mandatory fees, because of this, we might be alright, but it's also possible that I've overdone it a little, something that happens when you're more used to buying players for free and paying them £5 a week lol.

November 2039

Twelve games into the 39/40 season now with recently promoted Wolves and we're still doing well, currently sitting in eighth place but we're close enough to some of the teams above that we could move into contention for a place in European competition next season should results fall right for us.

The highlights of the season so far have to be a 5-0 thrashing of Aston Villa, winning 4-2 against Liverpool and beating both Manchester sides at their own grounds.
 

Hopefully we can continue on like this for some time yet, it would certainly be nice to be pushing for Europe come the end of the season, rather than battling relegation as was predicted by the media.

December 2039
 

We're half way through the 2039/2040 season in the Premier League and my recently promoted Wolves side are doing well, currently sitting in 4th place and hoping to secure a place in Europe at the end of the season.

We are yet to play in the FA Cup but we will shortly be facing Preston in the third round. In the Carabao Cup, we have managed to reach the semi-final and will take on Man City, we did beat them in the league but they are a much stronger team on paper and I'm not fully convinced we can do a repeat. 

If things remain as they are, this will have been a very successful arrival into England after leaving Portugal at the end of last season and after having worked my way through a variety of African nations.