Going On An Adventure - Corrupted Save File

Here is the Manager Profile

Contract Offered

Finances, Supporters and Facilities

Staff And Initial Thoughts

Coaching Staff

Asst Coach: Barbosa. I like him and will be keeping him on the staff. He is good at set pieces, which is very helpful

Head of Youth Development: Pereira. Another solid staff member, glad to have him.

Goal Keeper Coach: Pinto. He is Competent at GK Coaching, which I think is the best I can get at this level.

Fitness: Costa. He is Competent as well, so will be happy with that.

Recruitment Staff

GM:  Alex. Is Competent in all relevant areas. Without any Scouts, he will play a huge part in things.

Technical: Pereira. He is Competent as well. Im just not sure if I really need him at this level.

Medical Staff

Head Physio: Henriques. A nice surprise to see a Good rating here. Will keep this one if at all possible.

Physio: Monteiro. A Competent Physio. What is expected at this level.

Other Staff

U-19 Head Coach: Pereira. Is Competent or Reasonable in all relevant areas. Is on a $2.5K per year salary, so good to have him.
U-19 Asst Coach: Not filled.

Thoughts and Considerations

The coaching staff looks good for this level. The board would like me to reduce the main coaching staff by one. I dont think I will do that. I cant see who I would want to let go. The Recruitment staff is good number-wise. But I think that a Chief Scout would be more beneficial than a Technical Director. I am going to try to release the Technical Director and hire a Chief Scout. 

I will let the staff recommend someone to fill the U-19 AC job to help the youngster to develop.

Overall, I am pleased with the staff I inherited. Part of me would like to be able to hire a coach, but every little expense can add up and I want to try to keep the staff costs as low as possible, especially being over $200K in the hole.

Tactics and Roster

Tactics

The tactic for the in-possession and out-possession will be the 4-3-3 DM Wide. Based on the players on the squad I feel like this is the best option. It will not require players to be forced to play in unfamiliar roles/positions. The base mentality will be a Cautious Counter-Attack. But this will be modified based on who we are playing. 

Roster - Starting 11

Goalie: Ricardo Morais. 25 year-old, 6'1" Important player for the club. He has good Reaction (13) as well as reasonable Ball Handing (12) and On-on-One (9). In 12 matches so far, he has conceded 13. But he has also held 11 saves. His overall rating of 6.65 seems to be in the range for this club. 

Right Fullback: Hugo Meireles. Another 25 year-old mainstay for the team. He has had 2 assists in 12 starts. He also has an XGR of 0.9 with 1 yellow card and an overall rating of 6.94. His salary is 

Central Defender: Gencalo Zuzarte. This 23 year-old has started every match and I dont see that changing, unless he gets an injury. He has a XG rating of 0.5 and an overall rating of 6.61

Central Defender: Bernardo Fontes. At 25, he has earned a starting spot with his solid play in the back line. He currently has an XG rating of 1.2 and an overall rating of 6.75, making him one of the better players on the team, as far as this rating is concerned.

Left Fullback: Simao Melhor. Another 12 match starter. He is 24 years old and even though his 0.2 XG rating seems low, he has an overall rating of 6.98. He does have 2 yellow cards so this will need to be monitored and may require giving him the additional instruction to ease off of tackles.

Defensive Midfielder: Mario Borges. He has started 9 matches and can also play as a Central Midfielder. This 25 year-old has an XG rating of 0.3 and an overall of 6.76.

Central Midfield: Diego Freitas. He has only started 4 matches, but an injury to Sosa means that he is temporarily in the starting-11. He has not played enough to have a solid XG rating  but with his limited time he has earned an overall rating of 6.54. He can play as a Defensive Midfielder if needed.

Central Midfield: Belarmino Tavares. Tavares is the older statesman on the team at 33 years of age. He has started 11 matches and has an XG rating of 1.0 and an overall rating of 6.62.

Right Attacking Mid: Ismael Pinto. Pinto is also an elder at the age of 32. He has started all of the league matches and has 3 goals. His XG of 1.4 and overall of 7.54 makes him an outlier on the team, in a good way.

Left Attacking Mid: Juceilo. He is a 22 year-old is on loan from Premier side Gil Vicente. He has started all league matches and has 1 assist and an overall rating of 6.62.

Striker: Pedro Pauleta. This 27 year-old is in the starting squad for the time being, this is not a selection that has been completely decided yet. He has started 11 matches, has 5 goals, an XG rating of 4.5 and an overall rating of 6.77. The concern is that his acceleration is only rated at 9, which may be a concern with a counter-attacking mentality.

Subs 

GK Joao Matos: This 29 year-old has not played any matches. This will need to be upgraded, his One-on-One rating of 4 is a major concern.

GK Goncalo Pinheiro: 21 year-old Pinheiro has not played any matches either. The majority of his ratings are lower than Matos's with the exception of that One-on-One, which is much better at 8. But even then, we will need a better backup goalie.

Right Fullback Fabio Rodrigo: This 30-year has been subbed on 9 times, has 1 goal and an XG of 0.9 with a rating of 6.65.

Right Fullback Nelson Sousa: This 20 year-old will need to do more with the match-time he is given. In his 9 subbed opportunities, he as earned a disappointing rating of 6.30.

Central Defender Pepe: Pepe is 31 years old and is a backup in every aspect of the game. He hasnt played yet, but will be there if called on.

Central Midfielder: Durante Goncalves. This 20 year-old is a really good prospect. He has came on 9 times as a sub and has 1 Assist with an XG of 0.6 and an overall of 6.57. He can also play as an Central Attacking Midfielder if needed.

Striker Henrique Fonseca: This 23 year-old has good potential the question is if he can reach it. He can also play Left Attacking Mid, which will help when he is on the bench. He has been brought in during every league match and has scored 1 goal but also has received a yellow card. His overall rating is 6.70.

Injuries

Central Midfielder Jony Sousa: He has started all of the league matches and has 1 assist to go along with his XG of 1.4 and overall of 6.49. He also has 2 yellow cards, so another one to keep an eye on. He should be back in 3 days and will hopefully add some much needed depth to the team, even while he recovers.

Striker Nlio Souza: Souza is 32 years old and will be out of action for 6 weeks to 3 months to recover from a hip injury. He has started 1 match, subbed in on 4, scoring a goal and earning an XG of 0.7 and an overall of 6.75.

Thoughts and Considerations

The starting 11 looks good. But there are some glaring holes in the depth of the squad. There is no left fullback backup or for right attacking midfield. The backup goalie situation is shaky, at best. Even though Pepe is available for depth as central defender, he is the only one. So that is a concern as well. There may be some options in the U-19 squad, which I have not looked at yet. But depth is the real concern with this squad. With us being $219K in debt, I dont know how much latitude I will have to sign anyone in the transfer window. There is $40K available in the payroll, but every signed players drives that debt even deeper. I may try to sign some loan players to provide that needed depth.  I will have to see how it goes for sure!

Always up to follow a save of this kind. Good luck with Alpendorada! Hopefully their badge being similar to Porto's is a good omen for Mr. Barbosa's future…

Appreciate it. This is way out of my comfort zone, new FM and a completely new country for me to manage in. 

December 2025 Report

Match Results

Dec 21: Home, Rebordosa. Att: 688 (350 away). 1-0 victory. We started with a defensive mentality, but had only taken 4 shots by halftime. I decided to change it to positive as well as to tell them to take more long shots. Morais stopped 12 shots, but the highlight had to be the PK he stopped in the 65th minute. He went to the right as soon as the ball was struck and knocked it away to keep his clean sheet. ST Pauleta finally scored the winner from a beautiful cross from W Pinto that gave Pauleta an easy header in the 79th minute. Our lack of depth at left back and with the central defenders was apparent as the match was winding down and the defensive players were winded but the bench was very shallow at those positions. With 2 Right-Fullbacks on the bench I was forced to use one of them at left-back and that almost caused a disaster as he was clearly out of position as Rebordosa moved the ball down the pitch, but once again Morais worked his magic to keep the ball out of the net. With that victory we moved up to 9th and out of the relegation zone.

League Table

Signings and Other Transactions

Chief Scout: Joao Tiago. 38 year-old former player and scout was signed until June 2027 for $4.8K per year. He should assist in finding new players and depth players as the season progresses.

U-19 Asst Coach: Leao. 54 year-old former player and Head Coach decided to join the U-19 team and brings a wealth of experience to the organization. His $4K per year contract until 2027 is very team friendly and we look forward to see what he can do with the youngster's development.

Central Midfielder: 23 year-old Emanuel Adeyemo signed until June 2027 on a $6.75K per year contract. He can play Central Midfield as well as Defensive Midfielder. He will bring fresh legs to the midfield and will slowly work his way into the starting 11, if all goes well. 

Left Attacking Mid: Fabio Martins was signed as a Break-Through Prospect, but will provide much-needed depth to the attacking front. He can play AMR as well. He will be available for the U-19 squad to keep him fresh. But he will be brought up on an as-needed basis.

Thoughts and Considerations

Even though the Asst Manager keeps suggesting the defensive mentality, the last match showed that we dont have the creative ability to make the best use of our opportunities from the counter. Therefore, the mentality will be adjusted to be more aggressive moving forward.

There have been other teams sniffing around my players since the overwhelming majority are on expiring contracts. Therefore, I spent some time offering contracts to those who I know we will want to retain and will be helpful next season (for whoever is here, my deal expires in June as well) for the much anticipated promotion push. 

Our match was selected to be televised so that helped the financial situation as well. I hated to sign those players so early, but the vast majority did not demand massive increases. The payroll is something that I will need to keep a close eye on.

Now onto a new year and to see what the future holds!

January 2025

Match Results

4 Jan: Away, Florgrade (6th). Att: 220 (21 away). 0-1 Win. Pre-match odds: Florgrade: 41%; Draw: 27; Alp: 32%. This was an ugly match, even though we came out with the victory. Our attack was dismal, at best. One of the comments after the match was that we didnt show any creativity in moving the ball forward, and sadly I have to agree. We were able to get the win due to a Florgrade after a hard tackle on ST Pauleta in the box. FB Melher took the kick because Pauleta was injured and had to be subbed off (bruised ankle, 1-3 days) and sent the keeper the wrong way to score that vital goal in the 81st minute. GK Morais earned his paycheck as he stopped 23 shots and held 9 of them to styme the opposition. CD Zuzarte earned Team of the Week honors for his excellent work in helping to contain the Florgrade attack. The one bad thing to come out of the match was an injury to DM Borges. He went down within the first 10 minutes after a hard challenge but was able to play on. He went down again after another harsh tackle in the 42nd minute and this one sent him to the locker room and also put him on the Injured List for 5-6 weeks.

18 Jan: Home, Leca (3rd). Att: 395 (41 away). 0-1 Loss. Pre-match odds: Leca: 45%; Draw: 26%; Alp: 29%.  A week before the match CD Fontes was sent home with the flu. It was a pretty bad case as he was going to be away for 10-12 days. This required some adjustments to the back line and I cant help but think this played a part in the loss. It just didnt look like the players were in the same match, let alone on the same page. But somehow we were able to keep them from scoring more. Once again our attack looked flat and lacked any creativity. The team loves to shoot from distance, even when it is discouraged. Those goals look great on Match of the Day, but the odds are against them being the only source of goals. We finally were beaten from a cross that Santi Hernandez was able to climb the wall over my defenders to head it into the goal in the 54th minute. CM Adeyemo reported to the medical staff after the match and was sidelined for 1-2 days with a tight thigh.

25 Jan: Away. Gouvenia (7th). Att: 716 (21 away). 0-0 Draw.  Pre-match odds: Gouvenia: 37%; Draw: 27%; Alp: 36%. What can I say? We should have won this one in a run away. We moved the ball well and was able to get into the final third pretty smoothly. That is where it all fell apart. I tweaked the tactic and changed us to have a more balanced mentality and discouraged long shots, adding to work the ball into box, trying to set up higher percentage shots. But the players love those long shots. We had 18 shots on goal (6 on target) and 10 from outside the penalty box, none of these ICBMs even caused the Gouvenia GK to have to make a save. But at the end of the day solid defending helped us to earn a much-needed point.

League Table

Squad Performance

Signings and Other Contract News

Contract Extensions

DC Bernardo Fontes: June 2027, pay increase from $8K to $9.5K.

FB Simao Melhor: June 2027, pay increase from $8.25K to $11K.

GK Ricardo Morais: June 2027, no pay increase, $8K.

Ismael Pinto: June 2027, pay increase from $7.5K to $9K.

DC Goncalo Zuzarte: June 2027, pay cut from $8.25K to $8K.

New Signings

GK Joao Ventura: 20 year-old depth signing. He shows good promise and he is actually better than the current backups. The added bonus of his team friendly contract of $1K per year until June 2028 will give him a chance a develop as a Future Prospect on the U-19 squad.

W Hugo Ferreira: This versatile 21 year-old can play both left and right winger as well as a striker. His Break-Through Prospect contract will allow me to play him on the U-19 squad and bring him up when needed. The added luxury of his team-friendly contract of $1.3K per year until June 2028 provides some much needed depth.

DC Joao Alves: This was a depth signing to be there in case of another injury to the back line. The 21 year-old signed a manageable $1K contract for the rest of the year and as a Break-Through Prospect, he knows he needs to wait for his time to come.

FB (L) Sylvester Costa: With no one who could step up in case of an injury to the starting left fullback, this 22 year-old was signed to a $4.4K contract for the rest of the year. He can also play as a central defender and knows that his status of a Fringe player that he is there for depth.

Departures

AMC Gianlucca: On loan to Costa Rica (BRA) for 5 months. There is no payments, except they are paying 100% of his $3K wages. I dont use a AMC and I felt this was a great opportunity for him to get some playing time.

Thoughts and Considerations

Firstly, we are currently spending 93.4% of our available payroll of $212K. I dont want to increase that much to keep the debt from spiraling out of control. Speaking of the debt, on 1 Feb the board invest $65K in the club and reduced the negative balance to $4.9K. (I guess that should be in next month's up date, but it happened so I wanted to share it now.) This much needed infusion should help the financial picture as the season progresses.

The tactic, well, we just are not connecting on our shots on target and the shots on goal are wasted efforts since they keep us from presenting a credible threat to the opposition. We need to be more aggressive in our movement in the final third without wasting the opportunities we have once we get there. We can not rely on being able to win alot of matches when we are only scoring a goal every few matches. So this is my main concern right now. I am looking at different striker options to see if anyone becomes available that is a better option than what we currently have. Until then, I guess we will continue to struggle in finishing and scoring goals.

Overall, I cannot be too disappointed though. We are currently 6th and were 9th when I was hired. But with 10 matches to go and only 3 points between us and the relegation zone, we still have alot of football to be played. Every point will be precious as we battle to stay out of the zone and allow me to be able to, hopefully, be offered a new contract and be around for next season. The Board and Supporters are Satisfied with the Matches and Pleased with my performance, the trick will be to keep it that way!

Thanks for reading along, this one has alot of factors in play to make it an interesting endeavor for sure!

February 2026 Update

Match Results

1 Feb: Home. Vila Mea (5th/Apl: 6th). Pre-match odds: Vila Mea: 39%; Draw: 29%; Apl: 32%. Att: 622 (272 away). Loss: 2-3. Started great, Pauleta scored in the 19th minute from a beautiful series of passes to set him up. Then the wheels came off as we gave up a PK after Zuzarte tackled Jota Lopes too hard and was lucky to not get slapped with his 5th yellow card of the season.  So at 29 minutes we were level again, until the 30th minute when Lopes beat my whole back line (no one tried to even stop him) and placed the ball in the top right corner of the net. Pauleta got his 2nd goal in the 39th minute from a rebound that hit the left upright to draw it level again. I didnt have a good feeling as even though I did everything to stop the long kicks, we continued to take them. Pinto took a beautiful pass from Lopes to take the lead for Vila Mea in the 55th minute. We hit the crossbar, the posts, everything but the net. I thought we had the equalizer in the 85th minute when Juleico brought ball down the pitch on the right side, took a shot that rebounded off of both posts before rolling harmlessly out of play. Our final chance came in stoppage time as Juleico crossed the ball across the front of the goal while 2 Apl players watched it roll by them. We ended the match with 19 shots, only 6 on target and a dismal 3 corners.

8 Feb: Away. Vila Real. (11th/Apl: 9th). Pre-match odds: Vila Real: 39%; Draw: 27%; Apl: 34%. Att: 632 (24 away).  Draw: 1-1. The match started great, we moved the ball according to the tactic, smooth passing and working it into the box to allow Pauleta a nice tap in in the 12th minute. Then…we went back to the old ways….taking long shots, stupid passes and praying that GK Morais will play well enough to pull us out of the morass we put ourselves in. Eventually we were beaten with a nicely placed shot from Drogba Camara in the 32nd minute. Somehow, that was the only time they scored. We had to endure 19 shots, 8 of which were on target and resulted in 12 corners. We, on the other hand, managed only 11 shots, with a dismal 3 of which were on target and ended up with 4 corners. I thought the 1st half was bad when we had only taken 6 shots, I had no idea the 2nd half would be worse. I had told Pinto to not shoot more, yet every time he got within 20 yards of the goal he hoofed it over the goal into row 20 and above. To add insult to injury, Simao Melhor was injured in the 49th minute and had to be replaced with Sylvester Costa. The timing of his signing could not have been better since Melhor will be out for 7-8 weeks due to a groin strain.

15 Feb: Home. Anadia (9th/Apl: 8th). Pre-match odds: Anadia: 38%; Draw: 27%; Apl: 35%. Att: 414 (50 away). Win: 2-0. The match started well as we were able to move the ball into the box, but even when we did that, we passed it back out to allow the long shots. W Pinto was still hoofing the ball into the cheap seats whenever he got within 30 yards of the goal. The halftime score of 0-0 was reflective of the fact that we just were not making smart decisions in front of the net. So I made the decision to sub off both wingers at the half, Pinto because he would not stop taking those ridiculous attempts on goal, and Jucelio because of his 6.20 rating. Fonseca came on and promptly earned a yellow card in the 56th minute while Zuzarte, in spite of his express instruction to ease off of the tackles, earned his 5th yellow card and an automatic suspension for the next match. But Vidazinha became a force to be reckoned with as he deftly moved the ball down the pitch. Pauleta broke the 0-0 draw in the 73rd minute after getting a pass at the top of the box, quickly spinning to his right and fired the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. At that point, I decided to go more “Park the Bus” to try to hold onto the lead. But we ended up with a free kick near the touchline on the left side of the goal. Vidazinha showed my trust in him was well placed as he put in a perfect cross and Meireles was able to beat the jump of the defender and head the ball into the right side of the net to seal the win. The shots-to-corners ratio is still not good, but I will take the win for sure!

22 Feb. Away. Beira-Mar (4th/Apl: 6th). Pre-match odds: Beira-Mar: 46%; Draw: 27%; Apl: 27%. Att: 2072 (37 away). Loss 2-1. We were moving the ball well, but once again, our finishing just wasnt up to par. Beira-Mar put up an onslaught to start the match that we were withstanding, until W Jucelio made a terrible pass in front of our goal which was quickly pounced on by Beira-Mar Marcelinho for an easy tap-in to take a 1-0 lead. ST Pauleta was given a lovely cross from V which allowed him to score a sweet header in the 14th minute to make us all level again. Sadly we were not able to hold them off as ST Cisse headed in a nice cross to take a 2-1 lead in the 52nd minute. Once again the lack of quality was very apparent with us getting 1 corner from 7 shots. This is a major concern and something that I will need to address before next season. On a different note, I would LOVE to have that level of support in the stands!

League Table

Performance Feedback

Signings and Other Contract News

ST Pedro Pauleta: Signed a new contract through June 2027 for a pay increase from $10K per year to $10.5K

W Ismael Pinto: I decided to put him on the Transfer and Loan Lists. I put a price tag on him of $25.5K. He just is not adjusting to his new role, even though he looks well-suited for it. 

Thoughts and Considerations

The Board and the Supporters are pleased with our results and progress. But I dont feel like we have mad much of an improvement. The expectation is that we dont have to get drawn in to a relegation battle and will finish in the mid-table. But being 1 point above that dreaded relegation zone causes me stress during every match. I would love to have at least a 4-point cushion, but I dont see that happening soon. Our next match is against the team that is 2nd in the table and we see how well we did against the team that was 3rd.

Since I only have a contract to June, I will need to watch all parts of the organization to try to be in a position to be offered a new contract. I want to continue what I started here.

Well…let the journey continue and thanks for reading! 

On a different note, I am going to cut down on the match summaries. It is hard to remember everything that happened during a match and trying to pause it to write things down as they happen takes much longer than I would like. I also think I will reduce the size of the images, they are larger than I had thought and take too much space up in the posts. 

If anyone has any suggestions or things you would like me to add/remove, please let me know. Thanks.
 

A good start to this, always do enjoy people playing in the ‘lesser’ european nations, be good to see how this goes.

March 2026 Update

Match Results

1 Mar: Home. Cinfaes (2nd/Alp: 8th). Pre-match odds: Cinfaes: 45%; Draw: 27%; Alp: 28%). Att: 746 (408 away). Win. 1-0. Its about time things worked out like I had set them up to do! Cinfaes came in riding a 7-game unbeaten run and everything looked like we would be lucky to hold on to a draw. That is until Pauleta was able to snag a lucky header following a nicely placed lob from midfield from DC Zuzarte in the 77th minute. I set us up with a defensive mentality and parked the bus, only taking 4 shots with 3 on target, but that one was enough. I think this one will keep me going for days!

8 Mar: Away. Salgueiros (1st/Alp:6th). Pre-match odds: Salgueiros: 55%; Draw: 24%; Alp:21%. Att: 551 (31 away). Draw 1-1. I knew this would be a tough one. I did something that goes against the grain for me, I parked the bus, I mean, completely. But I did make sure that we would try to take advantage of any counterattacking opportunities we were given. Ironically we took more shots (10) than we had been taking. Soares scored the go-ahead goal in the 18th minute for Salgueiros and we tried to snatch an equalizer…somehow. Boy, the woodwork was a huge factor in this match as both sides hit it multiple times while trying to score an elusive goal. But things seemed to be working against us, until stoppage time. Adeyemo had a free kick just outside of the box that hit the woodwork (sound familiar?) and Pauleto scored the equalizer off of the rebound. This was 2 minutes in to 4 minutes of the added time, and we even had one more chance with another shot that, you guessed it, hit the crossbar. How did we pull that off?? I cant believe we were able to grab a point from this match. Huge match for us for sure!

15 Mar: Home. Uniao Lamas (7th/Alp: 6th). Pre-match odds: UL: 32%; Draw: 27%; Alp: 41%. Att: 408 (54 away). Win: 1-0. The only goal of the match was set up by a foul by Uniao Lamas as FB Meireles sent the keeper the wrong way in the 5th minute as he scored from the spot. Buildup was marred by an endless series of fouls by UL players that kept Alpendorada from getting any real kind of build-up play. There were 6 yellow cards issued in the match, 5 to UL and one to the home side. The mixture of positive, balanced and, in the final minutes, very defensive mentalities played a huge part in the victory.

22 Mar: Away. GD Resende (13th/Alp: 5th). Pre-match odds: GDR: 34%; Draw: 27%; Alp: 39%. Att: 273 (88 away). Draw 1-1. Once again, we showed no desire to shoot on goal. The first shot , from either side, was not registered until over 20 minutes had been played. Once again, anyone who had the ball 20-25 yards out was launching it into the stratosphere. Both teams started to hit the woodwork once they started to attempt shots, but at halftime the shots were GDR 6 and Alp a dismal 5. No one will score if they are not making at least the effort. Then, in the 52nd minute GDR Gabriel Paixao tapped in a loose ball from a wonky cross that skidded around in front of the goal like a greased pig that Morais was unable to get under control. At that point, we went Route One…more direct passing, shoot on sight, hoping that if we threw enough at the wall something would go in. In the 77th minute I took off the DM and both CMs. We desperately needed more creativity in the middle. It quickly paid off as W Fonseca fired a shot into the lower left corner of the net after a lovely pass from CM Sousa. We continued to try to get the game winner as we continued to hit the woodwork and pile on pressure. But to no avail. Questions were asked why I didnt sub off ST Pauleta. He didnt have a good match, but the hope was that by providing more creativity, he would get his goals…it just didnt happen.

League Table

Performance Review

Signings and Other Contract News

DC Pepe: Signed on a free by Dumiense at the end of his current contract.
GK Diogo Pereira: 18 year-old signed to a $1K per year deal for 2 years starting 1 July. He is signed as a BTP, but will also provide much needed depth at keeper.
DC Alexandre Marques: 20 year-old signed for $4.7K per year from 1 July through 2028. This fringe player is a great replacement for Pepe.

DM/CM: Mario Borges: The recommendation is that we offer him a new contract. I will probably do this, but I am going to hold off as long as I can to try to save us some money. I will monitor the interest in him and will offer it to him if I see any interest from anyone.

CM Jony Sousa: The recommendation is that we dont offer him a new contract. But he has provided some much needed depth to the midfield. If I can resign him as a fringe player on a team-friendly contract, then he will be around for another year. I am just not sure yet.

W/ST Henrique Fonseca: The recommendation is to resign him. I will definitely try to do this. I want to hold off until later in the season, save us a few dollars. He is a great player to have on the bench to bring in for a different approach when needed.

Thoughts and Considerations

Overall I am pleased with how things are going. I will need to continue to refine this tactic. I am not pleased that we are having to rely on “mass-saturation” to try and get one goal. We are lucky if 30% of our shots are on target, we are getting corners at an even lower rate that that. So that will be a major area of focus, if I am still here next season. Fingers crossed I hear something soon from the board, I want to start planning for next season. 

But first we have to finish this season. Both the supporters and the board expect a top-half finish and with only 2 matches left, and only 5 points separating us from the relegation zone, there is still ways this thing can go sour pretty quickly. One odd thing (which I reported as a bug) is that according to the supporters I have already failed at that objective.  So if we are able to stay in the top half it will be interesting how that is impacted.

Thanks again for reading and following along. This one is getting interesting for sure….

New Contract

Nice to see this and get it signed, sealed and delivered! I didnt ask for a pay increase, lets see how next season goes. But to see the board likes what we have been able to do is a huge relief. I also checked, we are currently spending $203K out of a payroll of $217K. I need to make sure we stay below that!

Now to get serious about next season…..once we get thru these last 2 matches!

Good to see the board come through with the new contract. Merited, as you've had a positive impact overall. Keep it up!

April 2026 Update

Match Recaps

5 Apr. Home. Aparecida FC (14th/Alp: 5th). Pre-match odds: AFC:24 %; Draw: 25%; Alp: 51%. Att: 463 (54 away). Win: 1-0. Another match of wasted opportunities, alot of them. We had 2 shots, with 7 on target and actually was able to get 8 corners out of it. But was only able to turn all of that into 1 goal. I have changed the mentality to be more positive/attacking and that seems to have helped, but we still cant finish. Our goal came from a wonderful build-up in the midfield. Pauleta held the ball up at the top of the box while Fonseca slipped between the centerbacks. Pauleta made a wonderful pass to the accelerating Fonseca who moved to his right and beat the keeper. It was a beautiful setup, smooth passing…perfect finishing. But that was the only time. But that was enough to earn us the 3 points.

19 Apr. Away. Rebordosa (14th/Alp: 5th). Pre-match odds: Redordosa: 34%; Draw: 27%; Alp: 39%. Att: 686 (128 away). Win: 0-1. Our finishing woes continued, even though we were able to get another win, but it wasnt from us, it was an own-goal that Tiago Silva tapped in after we had passed the ball in front of the net numerous times. I think he was trying to block the shot, but it ricocheted off of his left leg into the net. We had 14 shots, 6 on target and nothing to write home about. The defense has been stellar the last few matches, holding the opposition to no goals the last 2 matches and 8 out of the last 17 matches. A nice way to end the season.

End of Season League Table

Team Performance

Manager Performance

Thoughts and Considerations

First things first, new payroll budget for next season of $266K and a board investment of $100K. Cant argue with that!

There are definitely some decisions to be made on the squad. I need to get better finishers and more pace in my strikers to make the counter-attack work the way I want it to. I want to keep the younger core and bring in some more depth players, maybe even some upgrades. I have quite a few unattached players from Brazil that are interested in joining us. So I have been using the dead time at the end of the season to bring them in for trials, see if we can find some hidden gems.

Thanks for reading along, I keep saying just one more day….then 2 hours later I realize how much time has passed….then I think…just one more day…
 

End of the Season Reports and Records

Season Performance

Season Review

Season Injury Report

Shutout Record

Assist Record

Player of the Match Record

Goal-Scoring Record

Thoughts and Considerations

It was nice to see the records being set, and I think it is ironic that Pinto set the record for the Player of the Match awards and I am looking to sell him. But I think it is time to move the attackers in a different direction and I feel like this is best for the squad. I dropped his asking price to $18K to see if that will draw any interest. 

Im spending the off-season at making improvements with the squad to meet the objectives of a top-half/mid-table finish next season. That, and keeping the payroll under control are the 2 objectives I have for next season…well…so far.

Thanks again for reading along, the next update will be the squad signings, resignings and releases.

Off-Season

First and foremost, the board decided to give us a fund injection of $100K and we got out of the hole! How long that will last, I am not sure, but it is a move in the right direction for sure.

Squad Changes

Players Released/Not Re-signed

GK Joao Matos: 29 years old and with a dismal one-on-one rating, just not a sound investment so we let him go for free.
GK Goncalo Pinhero: 20 years-old and not developing as I had hoped. With a couple of youngsters coming in with the Youth Intake plus the signing of Diogo Pereira we no longer needed him. 
DC Pepe: I made the decision to put this 32 year-old on the transfer list and he was snatched up by At Arcos and will be joining them on 1 July.
MC/DM Belmino Tavares: This was a tough decision to make. He is a locker room leader and is well-liked by the supporters. But he is also 32 and at this level, once players start to decline it is very swift. The last 3 months saw a steady decline in his stamina. Plus, I was able to find some younger players from Brazil that have the potential to be very good. So it was time to let Tavares go.
MC/AMC Gianlucca: I sent him out on loan to Costa Rica (BRA) with the hope that this 20 year-old would show some development by being given some 1st team football. Unfortunately that didnt happen. So it is time to let him try to find a starting spot somewhere else.
ST Nilo Souza: Souza spent the majority of the time I have been here on the Injured List. He is 32  and is declining rapidly. I dont know what the future holds and I wish him the best as he moves onto another club.

Transfer Listed

AML Ismael Pinto: Pinto had been a regular starter the first couple of months of my tenure. But his incessant shooting from all points on the pitch if he has just a sniff of goal started to get very tiresome. I finally moved him to the bench and our build-up play greatly improved. He is on a $9K/year contract until June 2027 and I put a pricetag of $24K on him, which I will probably reduce, but he just isnt in my plans for next season. UPDATE: Loaned to HW Welders (NI) until the end of the season, paying 100% of wages.
DR Fredrico Rodrigo: He demanded to be traded, that it was time to move on. So after quickly listing him he was snatched up by Cova da Piedade (Portugal - Championship Group D) on a free. This will require some rethinking about the roster, but I didnt want him around if he was that unhappy.

New Signings

GK Diogo Pereire: See March update.
DC Alexandre Marques: See March Update.
DR Andre Ferreira: 23 years old and with room to develop, yea, glad to get him on the squad. If he reaches his potential he will be a fantastic player for the club. His current level is higher than Santos peak, so this was an easy decision for me to make. I didnt like the $7K per year contract, but he had a tough agent!
DC Vinicius Bertuchi: This 20 year-old was a huge signing for us. He will be joining from Brazil on a $ /year contract for 1 year.
DL/AML Carlos Henrique: Another Brazilian that provides depth at left fullback and left attacking midfielder. His $ /yr contract will keep him at the club until next June.
DM/MC Filipe Sales: A 24 year-old depth player from Brazil who will be on the bench to provide support for the midfield. I think knowing his creativity is there if I need him will make my game management a little easier.
DM/MC Vander: You guessed it, another Brazilian who at 24 gives me another solid choice off of the bench.
MC/AML Wendell: How this 20 year-old from Brazil was still a free agent, I dont know. But I am glad he was available. He may be young, but his all-around mental capabilities mean he will be driving the bus from midfield for us next season.
AMR/ST Rodrigo Moreira: This 19 year-old that is home-grown will be one for the future, but will also be a great depth piece for us…just in case.
AMR/ST Rick Sena: Another Brazilian who will be providing attacking depth for us. I will admit that he may end up on the transfer list before the season is over, but I wont complain about him being on the bench.
AMR/AML/ST Douglas Santos: 27 years old, from Brazil and signed as an Impact Sub, well the fact he can play any of the forward positions, yea, nice to see him on the bench.
ST Luan Viana: Our last Brazalian, I think. 30 years old and faster than Pauleta. Everything else looked comparable so knowing that either he or Pauleta will be on the bench, not bad options there.

Re-Signings

DR Nelson Sousa: I debated letting him go, but he took a pay cut to $1K per year so I signed him for 2 seasons to help with depth.
DM/MC Mario Borges: This really was an easy choice. He has been solid in the midfield and even with the new signings, and if it moves him to the bench, not a bad option. He ended up signing for the contract that he had before, so not costing me any more.
MC Durante Goncalves: This 20 year-old is a good depth player who may end up out on trial, but he has been developing nicely and the fact he didnt was a pay rise, nice to get his name on the new contract.
MC Jony Sousa: I was really torn about what to do with Jony. He is 26, developing slowly, and when we put him in from the bench he was able to raise the creativity level nicely. Add to the fact he accepted a $2K per year pay reduction to $7K, this was an easy decision to make.
AML/ST Henrique Fonseca: This was another easy decision. I just wanted to wait as long as I could to pull the trigger. He made it easier by not requesting a pay increase. Even though he ended the season on the injury-list, I know what he is capable of for sure.

Roster and Subs

GK: Morais
DR: Merieles
DC: Zuzarte
DC: Bertuchi
DL: Melhor
DM: Borges
MC: Wendell
MC: Adeyemo
AMR: Vidzinha
AML: Fonseca
ST: Pauleta

Subs
1: GK Pereira
2: DR Ferreira
3: DC Marques
4: DC/DM Fontes
5: DL/AML Henrique
6: DM/MC Frietas
7: MC Sousa
8: AMR/L Santos
9: ST Viana

Extras
DR Sousa - on loan list
DC Alves - in registered squad
DL Costa - in registered squad
MC/DM Sales - on loan list
MC/DM Vander - in registered squad
AML Sena - on loan list
MC/AMC Goncalves - on loan list
AMR/L/ST Martins - on loan list
AMR/L/ST Ferreira - on loan list

Thoughts and Considerations

Lots of roster changes and I am still not finished, I think. We have 2 spots open in the 25-man registration list with the release/loan of Rodrigo and Pinto. So I am actively looking at some options to bring in. There is still some time in the transfer window. 

I am not sold on Adeyemo as a starter, but he may end up there by default. I will see how the rest of the registration window goes.

The board recently went through an election and the new chairman generously gave us a $150K investment. Im not sure if he wants it back (I hope not) but I will still be looking to earn every penny we can. 

There were some other things that happened during the off-season/pre-season, but I will update those with the final update of the off-season. 

Ive been thinking about this and I have been looking at how other people do their saves, I think I may change it up a little bit, make it less “formal and technical” and more conversational. We will see how that goes.

Thanks for reading along!
 

Pre-Season Complete

As we made it through the off-season, quite a few things happened, some good, some…well…I think I will need to keep an eye on and nothing that I can admit that is overly concerning…except our inability to score from the high number of shots that we have taken.

So here is a rundown of the happenings…

It finally came home! England won the 2026 World Cup! Nice to see that has finally happened after years of coming so close.

The financial picture continues to take shape as the season's sponsorship deals, scouting budget and the selection of some of our matches for TV broadcast, which will earn us $60K.

The club also saw a reputation increase, hopefully it will put more bodies in the seats of our 7,000 seater stadium!

I also found out the supporters have increased their influence on the board…and they react quickly to things they dont like!

Pre-Season Match Results

My strategy during the friendlies was to play the starting 11 an increasingly amount of time for each match. I started just playing them for the first half in the first friendly and worked up to 60 minutes in the final one. I had quite a few trialists in the 2nd set of players that I subbed on, trying to find some depth players and maybe an upgrade from Adeyemo in the midfield. One nice surprise is the continued success of Jony Sousa in the midfield, he is a creative breath of fresh air for sure.

Jul 15: Away. Aparecida FC: Win, 0-5. This is a match that we should easily have won and we did. No glaring issues with the squad. Nice match, good win.
Jul 20: Home. Gil Vincente. Win, 3-0. Att: 679 (269 away). This win was a real shocker. GV is a Premier league side in Portugal so I was expected us to lose badly (so did the pundits, 47% picked them to win) but our 1st team, which I kept in for 60 minutes, did a number on them. One of the trialist lit it up in the 30 minutes he was on, scoring 2 goals. I tried to sign him afterwards, but his $22K demand would take almost all of my remaining wage budget. I just couldnt pull the trigger on it. Really pleased with this win, I hope it bodes well for the season!
Jul 25: Away. Santacombadense.. Win, 2-5. Started great! Intercepted a pass from the opening kick and moved it down the pitch where Fonseca set up Pauleta for an easy tap-in. 37 seconds and 1st goal! Pretty much what I expected at this point, but giving up 2 goals in the last 3 minutes, both from set pieces, that is concerning. 
1 Aug: Home. Castro Daire: Win, 2-0. Att: 177 (36 away). I was glad we won this one, but was disappointed in our continued failure to be able to convert our high number of shots into actual goals. We should have won by more goals than we did.

Thoughts and Considerations

One of the shockers as I wrapped up the pre-season was the promotion odds that was released. Yea, not sure we are that good, but there it is!

I still have 2 spots left on the 25-man roster and am looking at another midfielder and a depth player for the wings. I have made an offer to a midfielder, I will see what he says. I am pleased with the squad and think the players I brought in has improved us. I hope it transfers into success on the pitch.

I am nervous about starting this season, even though we won the 4 pre-season matches, there were areas that I have to keep an eye on…giving up 2 goals to an inferior opponent in the last 5 minutes of the match…inability to convert shots into goals…yea, I will need to watch that stuff for sure. 

Team cohesion and locker room happiness is good. I hope that continues and is not only tied to the team performance. I am not sure about how much influence the supporters have, I know how fickle they can be and can turn on me in a second. Yea, this is going to be interesting.

Thanks for reading along, see what happens for sure. Here we go!
 

August 2026 Update

Before getting into everything, I got the final season ticket sales numbers, not much of an increase, but at least it is one!

Match Results

9 Aug: (H) Lusitano Vildemoinhos. Pre-match odds: Alp: 58%; Draw: 24%; LV: 18%. Att: 385 (13 away). W: 4-1. The match started badly as LV moved the ball like a hit knife through warm butter and scored an easy tap-in from a cross in the 3rd minute. We leveled the match in the 16th minute when W Fonseca finally scored. I subbed Zuzarte off during halftime due to his poor performance. We finally put the match away when Pauleta was able to catch a long pass on the bounce with his left foot and beat the keeper. The scoring was completed with Fonseca scoring his 2nd in the 78th minute and Vasco Gomes scoring in the 82nd minute in his club debut. Pauleta had a lovely score disallowed in the 89th minute for offsides. Fonseca and Pauleta named to the TOW.

16 Aug: (A) Sabugal. Pre-match odds: Alp: 64%; Draw: 22%; LV: 14%. Att: 609 (20 away). W: 0-5. The match started off with a flyer as Fonseca (2nd minute) and Pauleta (7th minute) set the stage. Melhor added one from the spot in the 60th minute with the keeper guessing correctly, but the shot was too strong and slammed into the bottom right corner of the net. Vidazinha got into the action as he scored a quick brace (74th and 77th minutes) to complete the rout. Great all around result. Meireles, Melhor and Vidazinha in Championship TOW.

23 Aug: (A) Tourizense. Pre-match odds: Alp: 54%; Draw: 25%; LV: 21%. Att: ( away). W: 1-4. Really good match. Our movement of the ball is getting smoother and we are being more deliberate with our shots. Meireles started off the scoring by heading one in from a free kick in the 30th minute; Vidazinha got his goal in the 34th by being in the right place at the right time to snag a rebound off of the post. We allowed Tourizense to pull one back in the 65th minute. I wont lie, it was a nice buildup with a clean low cross that was easily tapped in. But we were able to pull another one to improve our lead when Gomes slammed a loose ball into the net as the keeper scrambled to get into position. Pauleta finished off the scoring with a sweet strike from a lovely cross in the 75th minute. Less of hitting the woodwork and more of being a threat of hitting the net, I will take that every day! Gomes and Pauleta named to TOW.

30 Aug: (H) Gouveia - PT Cup. Pre-match odds: Alp: 45%; Draw:26 %; LV: 29%. Att:218 (20 away). W: 6-2. I was sort of disappointed when I got a message that there was going to be low turnout for the match, with only 110 tickets being sold. So seeing over 200 there was a nice surprise. The match was a real joy to watch as we scored 6 goals in the 1st 40 minutes. W Fonseca got a lovely hat-trick (3rd, 13th and 30th minutes) from 2 set pieces and a lovely cross from Vidazinha. Melhor beat the keeper from the spot in the 17th minute. There was a heated discussion about who was going to take it with Fonseca making a powerful argument that he deserved the chance to get his hat-trick. He finally backed down because he admitted that PKs are not his strong suit. So I am pleased that he did get the hat-trick after being such a good team player. Gomes got a brace (34th and 40th minutes) to finish the scoring for us. We let our guard down and allowed them to slice up the defense in stoppage time for the 1st half and then 3 minutes into the 2nd half. We were not able to find the net again, but we also kept them from pulling any more back. On to the next round!

League Table

Team Performance

Manager Performance

Signings and Roster Moves

ST Pedro Pauleta: New contract, $12K per year. There was interest from some other clubs and I wanted to make sure they knew he was not for sale.
DM/CM Casco Gomes: 25 year-old who will take Adeyemo’s place in the starting 11. Sousa immediately raised a concern that the signing wouldnt impact his playing time. Nope, Sousa will still start on the bench. Adeyemo will be taken out of the starting 11. Gomes signed for $11.5K per year. 
W Mozino: 29 year-old from Ivory Coast who was signed for $8K to provide depth for both the left and right wing. After I offered him a contract, the wingers started to play like they were possessed, but having him there as a backup wont be a bad thing.
MC/AMC Duarte Goncalves: Loaned to Sobardo (POR) paying 100% of wages

Thoughts and Considerations

I wasnt pleased with our shot-to-goal ratio so I spent some time researching what would be the best roles for the 4-3-3 counter-attacking formation we are using as well as what would be the best roles for my players and how to make sure I was taking advantage of their strengths. It looks like that research has paid off in spades! I prefer the lower levels of the game because the demands are much less and there is time to learn things. But this fan-base is serious about stuff!

I know the good days wont last forever and we will play a whole match like we did both sides of the break in our last match. But I am hoping that the good times will allow us to make it through any rough patches. I know it is early days in the season, but I will never complain to having a start like this!

Thanks for reading along! This game is making me nervous for what will happen when the bottom falls out…and excited to see what happens…just one more day…

Gotta enjoy the good days! Hopefully that start will give you a good base to work with, even if the form does drop a bit.

So true, its crazy how well the team is performing. I am not going to claim to be a tactical guru or something, I feel pretty clueless when it comes to alot of the more technical stuff. But somehow we seem to have landed on a tactic that suits the team like a glove!

We will enjoy it while it lasts for sure!

September 2026 Review

After patiently waiting, I finally decided to ask the board if I could start working on my first National badge, I was concerned when I saw they wanted to talk to me about it. But it went very smoothly for sure.

Match Results

6 Sep: (H) Cinfaes (5th/Alp: 1st). Pre-match odds: Alp:41 %; Draw: 27%; Cinfaes: 32%. Att: 794 (404 away). Win: 2-0. The press and fans talked this up as a rivalry match, but I couldnt find out why. We controlled possession and made some great crosses. But they either bounced around everyone’s feet or were headed out of play. That is until the 44th minute when a low cross was knocked into the goal when a Cinfaes player tried to clear it. We took a 1 goal lead into the half, but I knew how precarious that can be. We kept up the pressure and finally added our 2nd goal when Borgias lobbed a pass over the defenders and Vidazinha caught it on the bounce with his right foot and slammed it into the back of the net in the 49th minute. The Cinfaes manager actually apologized to their fans for the results in the match. I need to figure out why this is a rivalry…

13 Sep: (A) FC Foz (8th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 41%; Draw: 27%; FCF: 32%. Att:354 (28 away). Win 2-3. The match started well for us, Melhor scored from the spot in the 33rd minute and Wendell added our 2nd in the 37rd minute with a strike that just left the keeper as a spectator as it fired into the net off of the left post. The 2nd half we just couldnt hit the net, no matter how many shots we took. Fox scored from good set-up play in the 49th minute. Sadly, they took advantage of the few shots they took and leveled the match in the 77th minute. I made some subs and turned up the pressure. I was resigned that we would be lucky to come out with the draw, even though we had taken over 20 shots. But then super-sub Mozino came flying down the right side of the pitch in the 93rd minute, weaving past 2 defenders and sent the keeper flying as the ball slide past his out-stretched hands to give us all 3 points. Yea, what a feeling this is!

20 Sep: (A) Juventude Lajense (3rd Grp D/1st Grp B) - PT Cup. Pre-match odds: Alp: 41%; Draw: 27%; JL: 32%. Att: 122 (0 away). 8 out of 23 matches on Saturday were either a PK shoot-out or at least extra time. Great all-around match for us. 1st goal came from a free kick from the left side of the goal in the 18th minute, Pauleta took a shot, it was deflected back into the field of play where Vidazinha was able to score an easy goal as the keeper was still on the ground. The 2nd goal also came from a set piece, a beautiful pass into the box from a corner where Bertuchi scored his 1st goal of his Alp career as he headed the ball down into the left side of the net as the keeper was helpless to stop it. As a result of the win, we were awarded $4.32K. Pauleta had to be subbed off with a bruised ankle, luckily it was found to not be serious.
 

League Table

Squad Performance

Manager Performance

Thoughts and Considerations

I feel like this is some kind of dream. We cant seem to do anything wrong right now. We even signed a new sponsorship deal worth $8.5K a year for 2 years. Unfortunately it doesnt seem that are recent success has resulted in more supporters in the stands. Speaking of stands, the cup match, there were no stands at all, not even a bench to sit on. Guess that explains why none of our supporters were there. 

We were also given $4.32K for winning in the 2nd round of the cup. But I feel like our cup run is over, the next match is against AVS SAD, a premier league side. At least it is a home match so we might break our attendance record, well, at least try.

It feels like every time I start a match and see the players defending like their lives depended on it while we fire countless salvos at the opposition's goal with limited success but then with enough finding their way between the posts to keep our winning ways going. I dont know how long this formula for success will continue, but it is definitely fun while it is going on.

As the saying goes…let the good times roll! Thanks for reading along and I cant wait to see where this takes us.

October 2026 Update

Match Updates

11 Oct: (H) Gouveia (11th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 50%; Draw: 26%; Gou: 24%. Att: 433 (47 away). W: 3-0.
Fonseca opened the scoring with a sweet finish from a cross in the 19th minute. Melhor had a chance to double the score in the 44th minute with a PK, but GK Bissoloti was able to tip the ball wide on the right side of the net. I started to get worried because once again our shots were not finding the back of the net. We had quite a few get tipped wide by the keeper while others we just didnt seem to have our heads in the match as loose balls rolled around in front of the goal and none of our players even made an attempt to get control of the ball. Finally Super-Sub Mozino tapped in a pass that was so sweetly moved from the left corner of the pitch until he was facing an open net that he was able to capitalize on. Gomes secured the 3 points for us with goal that once again was set up by a series of smooth passes that left Bissoloti flat-footed. Gomes selected for the Championship TOW

17 Oct: (H) AVS SAD - PT Cup.  (18th - Premier Div/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 34%; Draw: 27%; AVS: 39%. Att: ( away). W 2-3e. 

They had made 7 changes from previous match squad but even then, I just didnt feel like we had a reasonable chance. I felt that way the more the match continued. We actually got the lead in the 27th minute when one of their defenders deflected a cross into the net. Somehow we held them off until right before the end of the 1st half, literally in the 45th minute, they leveled the match up with a beautiful series of passes that culminated in a goal. We continued to take shots, but to be honest, none were really a threat compared to everytime they touched the ball I was expecting a goal. It finally happened in the 75th minute when they carved us up and took a 2-1 lead. At that point, with nothing left to lose, I turned them loose, very attacking, long passes and shoot on sight!. There were 5 minutes of stoppage time and as I watched the seconds tick away I saw us facing our 1st defeat. I guess Fonseca didnt get the memo has he carved up the defense and fired a well-placed shot into the bottom right corner of the net in the 3rd minute of stoppage time! Level at the end of regulation! Then in the 3rd minute of the extra time Fonseca took a lovely cross and tapped it past the keeper who seemed to have drifted off on a mental vacation. Holy #@$@ We just took the lead!! Okay, park the bus, short passing and waste as much time as we can to ride the ensuing onslaught. Yes, it came…and yes we withstood it! I was so pleased with the team. 

PS: My wife came rushing into the room when we scored the leveler and even sat and watched the rest of the match. I think she was as excited with the winner as I was! 

13 Sep: (A) Marco 09 (3rd/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 35%; Draw: 27%; Marco: 38%. Att: 642 (268 away). W 1-2. 

Both teams seemed to struggle to settle in to a solid performance. But Pauleta was finally able to break the deadlock in the 22nd minute with a nicely placed shot from the top of the box after controlling Vidazinha pass and after that, both sides settled into a game that lacked shots from either side. Marco was able to draw it level in the 71st minute. The pace of the match was starting to show on my players and I slowed the tempo down, shortened the passing and let them waste time in the hope that they could see out the match. It had the added affect of allowing Pauleta to score his 2nd of the match in the 77th minute as super-sub Mozino placed a perfect pass at Pauleta’s feet to let us take all 3 points against our bitter rival.

League Table

Squad Performance

Manager Performance

Thoughts and Considerations

We were awarded $5.18K for the improbable win against AVS SAD. I still cant believe we pulled that one off. We have a reasonable chance of making it into the next round as our opponent is another Championship side, albeit it from Group D. The expectation was for us to make it past the 1st round, so every victory is like icing on the cake.

One thing I have noticed, after our wonderful start the odds of us winning have dropped in every match. The Marco match was the 1st one where we went into the match as the underdog. Maybe it was because it was an away match against our fiercest rivals, but I thought that was really odd. 

Speaking of winning, we have actually broken the league record for matches won in a row. We currently are at 9, dating back to 5 Apr from last season. With every match, I feel like “this will be the one we lose” but I guess the players dont share my concern as they figure out ways to keep winning. Every match has a chance of being the one we lose but it also has the chance to be the next one that we win to keep the streak going. I just dont know how much longer we can keep this up.

The board and supporters are ecstatic, I think the win over Marco helped alot with that. There is a part of me that wonders if I should take advantage of this positive feeling and ask for a new contract, get more than a year commitment out of them…but then I think that we are only in November…maybe wait a while.

Anyway, here we are, keeping this streak going! Thanks for reading and following along…this is one that I am definitely enjoying!

Random thought….

As I play these matches and watch us continuing to win…I cant help but think that there might be some questions about how I have been playing the matches:
A. Am I actually playing them, or am I taking advantage of the new “Instant Result” that SI has finally added after seeing how many previous skins had it?

B. Am I simming/saving until I get the result I like?

C. Is the Editor being used to make the players better or remove things like injuries, unhappiness or any other glitches in the player performance?

I wont lie, if I saw a winning streak like this with a lower level team, I would start to wonder these things about who was posting it.

But I can emphatically state that I have not done any of those things. I cannot believe that we are winning the way we have been. I mean, that ASV SAD match, I almost threw my laptop into the air when we scored the equalizer and thank goodness my wife was sitting beside me watching the extra time or it would have become airborne when we scored the winner.

I will also say that the Instant Result button has been tempting when I start thinking I want to see what happens in the match, but I enjoy watching the matches, so that has not been used either.

Every match has been played and the results have been accepted….luckily they have been positive for us so far. I know we will lose…and take them in stride. 

But until then, I am going to enjoy this while it lasts!

Love a cupset! Quality result.

No reason to doubt you btw, the only cheating I see is you getting a real life assistant manager to help you through extra time… 😁

Thanks! Yea, still smiling from that one. I think she also was instrumental in saving my new laptop, haha. 

November 2026 Update

Great News!

Funny how things happen, after our 3rd match this month I got offered a new contract. It was an easy decision to make, plus I got a pay raise! So looks like I will be here until June 2028.

Match Results

1 Nov: (H) Salgueiros (5th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 37%; Draw: 27%; Sal: 36%. Att: 405 (27 away).
Salfueiros took the lead in the waning seconds of the 1st half (I mean, literally with 10 seconds left) and Pauleta got his 1st of the match in the 49th to level us up and then took a sweetly placed kick from Meireles at the top of the box, beat the last defender and slotted it past the keeper to give us the lead. Our lead lasted all of 2 minutes before Coutinho from Salgueiros nabbed his 2nd to level it up again. I took the advice of the Assistant Manager to play for set-pieces and it paid off as Borges got a header from a free kick in the 75th minute to give us a 1 goal advantage and Bertuchi added his own header in the 77th to secure the win. Gomes was forced off in stoppage time. Luckily it is just a bruised ankle and will only be out 1-3 days.

8 Nov: (A) Unao Lamas (3rd/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 46%; Draw: 27%; UL: 27%. Att: 569 (37 away). Draw: 1-1.
This was an ugly match, no other way to put it. We had shots (16) but they were of very low quality. Things were not helped by the incessant fouling by UL. I lost track of the number of times my build-up play was stopped by a silly foul. Vidazinha scored a lovely header in the 72nd minute to give us a glimmer of hope of pulling off the victory, but we were cut apart in the 86th minute to allow them to level it up. I was starting to get concerned when we were in the 4th minute of 2 minutes of extra time before the final whistle was blown and I breathed a sigh of relief to head home with a point. 

22 Nov: (H) Malveira - PT Cup (8th - Champ (Grp C)/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 47%; Draw: 26%; Mal: 27%. Att: 228 (3 away). W: 3-1 
I thought this was going to be a shoot-out. All 4 goals were scored in the first 16 minutes, then crickets. But I wont complain, at all. Gomes started it off with a lovely rebound shout in the 3rd minute, Malveira scored an own-goal in the 4th off of a low cross that was badly cleared and Pauleta finished off our scoring in the 16th minute with rocket into the open net after the goalie was pulled out of position. Melo for Malveira scored their only goal in the 6th minute from a lovely set of passes that had him waiting in front of the goal unmarked to receive the cross. They were robbed of a goal in the 2nd half as a shot hit both posts before rebounding harmlessly out of play. 

29 Nov: (H) Mortagua (6th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 56%; Draw: 24%; Mor: 20%. Att: 503 (9 away). W: 2-1
This was a match that I thought could go either way. Gomes finally scored in the 15th minute from a rebounded shot that the keeper couldnt handle well. Melhor added our second goal with a header into the top left in the 21st minute. Then we forgot how to hit the net. Gomes from Mortagua scored a beautiful goal in the 48th minute (I hate to admit that) but sadly was taken off later in the match with what I think, was a knee injury. The differences in shots/shots on goal/corners in the match was staggering. We had 24 shots, 9 on target and 10 corners. They had 4 shots, 1 on target and 1 corner…with the score of 2-1. Yea, the win was nice, but I hate stats like that.

League Table

Team Performance

Manager Performance

Contracts and Other Financial News

DM Mario Borges: I signed him to a new contract, through June 2028, at the same salary. There had been some interest in him from other teams and I wanted to put any rumors to rest.

Cup Win Reward: As a result of the cup win, we were given $6.91K. Nice to get that money in.

Thoughts and Considerations

First off, the new contract was a nice surprise for sure. I had actually looked to see how the club and my stability was on the Managerial List. Even before the new contract I was listed as “Untouchable” and that is pretty awesome. I am sure that hasnt changed now that I am locked in for a little longer.

The winning streak had to end, but that draw, we should have won that match (I guess everyone says that after all of their losses, haha) but we should have won, even though we didnt play well enough. At least it wasnt a loss….

The cup match, that was a good match and result. The Mortagua match, that was ugly, even though we won. I hope that isnt an harbinger of things to come…

I dont like the cup-match schedule for next month. It falls mid-week and I only have 4 days for the match before it and 3 days after it. It is against a 2nd Division squad. I am considering fielding a weaker squad to allow the starters to be ready for the league match. I will see how we are doing before the match.

It may be a way to silence some of the rumbling I am getting from players feeling like they are not playing enough. 

Overall, I am more than pleased with how we are doing. I appreciate yall reading along and hope you are enjoying it half as much as I am!

December 2026 Update

Match Results

6 Dec: (A) Florgrade (11th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 57%; Draw: 24%; Flo: 19%. Att: 254 (30 away). W: 0-4.
Match started well with us scoring from a corner that was cleared to Pauleta, he took the shot but it was going wide before Meriles tapped it into the right side of the net off of the bounce in the 21st minute. After a harsh tackle on Pauleta in the box in the 31st minute, Melhor scored from the spot. The keeper guessed correctly, but it ricocheted in from the right post. Melhor brings the ball down on the left side, shoots and the keeper clears out to be headed in by super-sub Vidazinha in the 56th minute. Another Melhor free kick from the right side, richocetes off of the left post and Bertuchi heads it in 2 minutes into the 4 of stoppage time. The Florgrade manager was fired after the match due to poor performance. Meireles and Bertuchi were selected for Championship Team of the Week.

13 Dec: (H) Marialvas (5th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 56%; Draw: 25%; Mar: 19%. Att: 520 (17 away). W: 3-1.

Another rival? Why? HC Durante thinks opponents have been underestimating us so complacency from opponents, not anything I have done. Mozino fires into the bottom right in the 11th minute after controlling a sweet pass from the middle, beating the keeper as it bounces in off of the post. They scored before Gomes came down the right side after a sweet through ball, fired it at the goal from a tight angle, the keeper knocked it straight back to him and he headed it into the net. Crazy goal! Mozino brought the ball down the right side and took a shot, the goalie blocked it and it rebounded off of a defender into the net in the 76th minute. Durante still says they are superior but we just worked harder, what???

16 Dec: (H) PT Cup - Farense (14th - 2nd league/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 33%; Draw: 27%; Far: 40%. Att: 588 (64 away) W: 3-2e
I made 5 changes in light of the upcoming match in 4 days. They made 8 changes for the match. In the 3rd minute, Vidazina brought it down the right side and sent a low cross to Fonseca who tapped it in for the easy goal. In the 11th minute, we let them score an easy goal that beat our keeper. In the 48th minute, they once again beat our keeper on the counter. VAR confirmed a penalty in the 78th minute, Melhor sent the keeper the wrong way, leveled it back up. Extra time again, Fonseca brought it down on the left side, came up along the touch line and tapped it past the keeper in the 106th minute.

20 Dec: (A) Ovarense (2nd/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 42%; Draw: 26%; Ova: 32%. Att: 430 (29 away) L: 2-0
We couldnt hit the board side of a barn. 23 shots, 14 on target and no goals.  They finally broke the deadlock with a corner that was cleared, but they were able to hit a 30 yard strike that hit the cross bar before falling into the goal in the 89th minute. Another bad clearance,  it rebounded out to an Ovarense player who slammed it into the net in the 2nd minute of stoppage time…way to fall apart…Our 1st loss…
 

League Table

Team Performance

Manager Performance

Youth Intake

Financial Update and Contract News

5 matches were selected for TV broadcast, $50K paid
MC Emmanuel Adeyemo: out 2-4 weeks calf strain
AML/ST Henrique Fonseca: Signed a new contract, $8.5K per year until June 2028
DM/MC Diogo Freitas: Signed a new contract, $4.5K per year until June 2029
W Goncalo Vidazinha: Signed a new contract of $7.5K until June 2028
DM/MC Vasco Gomes: Signed a  new contract of $15.25K per year until June 2028
Received $10.37K for cup match victory
 

Thoughts and Considerations

The loss, that is on me. I put a weaker team in the cup match, telling myself that I would be okay with losing it. But the more the match went on, the more I felt that we could win it in the 2nd half. So at half-time, I swapped 4 of the starters back in. I didnt realize that they would in essence be playing a full match after they were subbed on. So we won the cup, but the players were tired for the league match and just didnt seem like they ever got started. The fact they are 2nd in the table, that was in essence a 6-point match, and they climbed to only 1 point behind us. We are safe from the 3rd spot by 7 points, but that match showed how much that can disappear.

I cant help but think that not going up this season wont be such a bad thing. We need to get more supporters in the seats. If we cant do that we will start leaking money like a sieve once the players start demanding a higher salary….which I think would happen if we get promoted to the 3rd Division. 

I had to sign some players to new contracts sooner than I wanted to. But Fonseca was getting all kinds of interest, as well as Vidazinha. I couldnt let them go, so I pulled the trigger on getting them confirmed here for a few more seasons. Frietas, not a starter, but a great depth player and with the team-friendly contract, that was an easy decision. Gomes was getting all kinds of interest and he is a solid part of our midfield, not ready to let him go yet.

The Youth Intake was not as good as last season, but I think we still can get some quality from them. The down-side is how they are constantly being raided by other teams and I dont have any choice to let them go on a free transfer, even though I know they have some really good potential, just not 1st-team ready so they demand to go somewhere else, a lower division, and I dont want them to get unsettled and cause problems.

It will be interesting to see how we bounce back from the loss. We have a couple of weeks off before the next match so hopefully we get rested up and get back on our winning ways.

Yea, the next month will be interesting for sure. We are the only non-Premier league club in the Quarter-finals of the PT Cup. There is no way that I think we can actually win this thing, but this has been a hell of a cup run, no matter when it is over!

The adventure continues for sure! 

Thanks for reading along, I hope you are enjoying reading as much as I have been playing it.

January 2027 Update

General News

Team President Jorge Ferreira is retiring from hands-on role and will only accept part-time roles. I am not sure if that means we will be having another election soon. Since it didnt say that in the message, I am assuming no. But we will see!

I completed my National C badge! Now to pick the right time to ask to start on my National B.

Match Updates

3 Jan: (H) Sabugal (14th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 78%; Draw: 16%; Sab: 6%. Att: 545 (31 away). (0-5 win in away leg, 16 Aug) W: 5-0
In the 14th minute, Gomes got a pass from Wendell, 30 yards out he hit a rocket that hit the top right corner of the net. In the 18th minute, our second of the match, Melhor took a  free kick from the left side, crossed it to the far post and Borges headed it into the net, the keeper was flat-footed and all he could do was watch the ball hit the back of the net. 23rd minute, Melhor from the right side, crossed it to the far post, Bertuchi headed it in, the keeper cleared it, right to Borges where he tapped it in for his 2nd of the match. During the 26th minute, Merieles brought it down the right side, passed it into the middle where Gomes slammed it into the open net past 2 defenders for his 2nd. Two minutes later, Gomes brought the ball down the right side, moved to the middle and passed it out to Mozino in the right flat who played a beautiful ball into Pauleta who scored an easy goal. I thought he might have been offside, but the flag had stayed down. No shots on goal. Mozino and Gomes were selected for the Championship TOW.

13 Jan: (A) FC Porto (2nd - Premier/1st. Pre-Match odds: Alp: 14%; Draw: 23%; Porto: 63%. Att: 25643 (203 away). L:0-2
They made 3 changes, I stuck with my starting 11.
In the 19th minute, they scored their first goal from a header from a cross. During the  47th minute, Meireles was muscled off of the ball before they brought it along the touch line, tapped it in past Morais. Porto had15 shots, 8 on target, 7 corners, so I think it is a credit to Morais that they didnt score more. We had 7 shots, 4 on target and 3 corners. I think our finishing is great for the Championship, but we are still a ways away from being able to hang with the big boys.

17 Jan: (A) Lusitano Vildemoinhos 10(th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 61%; Draw: 23%; LV: 16%. Att:  ( away). (4-1 win in home leg, 9 Aug) W: 1-3
In the 18th Melhor crossed from the left flat, Pauleta headed in near the far post. Then we went quiet. I got nervous because they came close to leveling it on more than one occasion. Then in the 73rd min, there was a harsh tackle in the box and we gave up a shot from the spot. They scored from the spot and it looked like we were heading to a draw. Until in the 90th minute, Gomes played a “give and go" to Pauleta who passed it back up the middle to Gomes, he had the instruction to shoot less often and of course, slammed it into the net from the top of the box. We got our 3rd in the 93rd minute, Melhor brought it down the right, passed to Borges at the top of the box who beat the keeper. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! Melhor and Gomes were selected for the Championship TOW.

24 Jan: (H) Tourizense (13th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 71%; Draw: 19%; Tou: 10%. Att: 514 (12 away). (1-4 win in away leg, 23 Aug). W: 5-0
In the 3rd minute, Mozino brought the ball up the right side, along the touch line,and beat the keeper with a tight-angle shot. During the 15th minute, Borges played a lovely lob pass to Mozino on the right side, he caught it on the bounce before slamming it into the back of the net. Wendell was taken off in the 34th minute with a tight hamstring (later proved to be nothing). At the end of the 1st half, during the 45th minute, Gomes bounced it off of both posts….how did that not go in? In the 55th minute, Mozino brought the ball down the right side, beat 2 defenders and slotted it home past the keeper for his 3rd! Hat-Trick! A harsh tackle in the box during the 63rd minute sent Melhor to the spot, the keeper guessed correctly but Melhor slams it past him into the bottom left corner of the net. During the 87th minute, we had a disallowed goal from Gomes, said he was off-sides, dont think he was, but oh well. Pauleta finished the scoring by taking a lovely pass from Fonseca into the middle of the box and had an easy tap-in to score the 5th of the match. Meireles and Mozino were selected for the Championship TOW.

31 Jan: (A) Cinfaes (5th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 45%; Draw: 26%; Cin: 29%. Att: 963 (326 away). (2-0 win in home leg, 6 Sep). W:0-1
We were just playing flat, not taking shots and letting them dictate the match. Luckily they didnt seem to have much interest in scoring as they rarely took a shot. But then in the 68th minute, Pauleta clanged it off of the left post, should have been an easy goal, we couldnt hit the broad side of the barn in this one…. Finally, in the 83rd minute, Vidazina crossed from the right side and Mozino beat the keeper for our 1st goal! Not our best match, by a long shot, but it was good enough to get us the 3 points.
 

League Table

Team Performance

Manager Performance

Financial and Contract News

MC Vander: Signed by Cava de Piedade at end of contract. Not a big loss, was not planning on resigning him
MC Wendell: Signed a new contract $13.25K until June 2028
DC Vinicius Bertuchi: Signed a new contract, $13.5K until June 2028
DC Joao Alves: Was sold on a free to Vila Mea - Championship: Group A. He had not broken into the 1st team, spending his time with us on the U-19 squad. So not a huge loss. I have some good youngsters that can step in if need be.

Gate Receipts: $666K, not sure where this came from, did we get money from the gates of the Porto match?

Cup Money: We received $13.82K from cup match 

TV Money: We were given $65K in TV money from cup match
ST Pedro Pauleto: Was awarded a $1K bonus for 10 goals

Thoughts and Considerations

The gate receipts was a HUGE shock! A nice one for sure! I think that will come in handy next season, if we get promoted or not. We are 7 points clear of dropping out of the promotion spots, so that will bear watching as well.  At the start of the season I didnt want to think that promotion was a possibility, but we are definitely trending that way.

Our match performance has been a real “Jekyll and Hyde” type of thing. We need to make sure we are performing at a consistent level to maintain our promotion chances. I think if we slip up, in just one match, there is a good chance we will be out of that conversation. 

Just to clarify, those top 2 spots gets teams into the promotion playoffs, so even winning the Group doesnt guarantee a promotion. But we will give it our best! There are 9 Group matches left, so it will be here before we know it.

I cant really complain about anything, we are playing good enough to win matches, the morale and locker room are good. 

One thing that sucks is that I dont have anymore scouting money. So it will just be random recommendations for the rest of the season.

Anyway, thanks for reading along. I am really enjoying this save, I hope you enjoy reading along!

February 2027 Update

General Notes

After completing my National C license I asked for permission to start on my National B. The board readily agreed and I am excited to keep that side of things moving forward.

Match Results

7 Feb: (H) FC Foz (10th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 59%; Draw: 24%; FCF: 17%. Att: 530 (20 away). (won 2-3 in away leg, 13 Sep). W: 4-0
In the 12th Mozino crossed into Pauleta as he split the centerbacks and beat the keeper to score, it was a tight angle shot that bounced in off the left post. During the 15th minute, Pascal made a hard tackle on Pauleta in the box, Melhor sent the keeper the wrong way to increase the lead. In the 27th, Mozino crossed from the right touch line to Pauleta who once again split the centerbacks for his 2nd of the match. We were carved up in the 56th minute, they set up a beautiful counter, split my centerbacks but the striker sent it wide of the goal. The final goal in the 85th minute, Frietas passed to Pauleta who was right in front of the goal, 2 yards out and he slotted it past the defenders to get his 3rd of the match.

14 Feb: (A) Gouveia (7th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 53%; Draw: 25%; Gou: 22%. Att: 711 (27 away). (3-0 win in home leg, 11 Oct) W: 1-2
In the 2nd minute, Melhor crossed from the left side, Pauleta got an easy tap-in past a flat-footed keeper. Extra time, in the 46+1 Melhor crossed it from the right side, Fontes climbed the wall and headed it in at the far post. Extra time again, in the 90+2, Vidazina lost possession, they crossed it and it was slotted into the net, our keeper never made a move. Melhor was selected to the Championship TOW.

21 Feb: (H) Marco 09 (5th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 49%; Draw: 26%; Marco: 25%. Att: 817 (263 away). (1-2 win in away leg, 16 Aug) W: 3-1
We started the scoring off in the 10th minute, Gomes passed it from the top of the box to Mozino, slammed it into the net for our 1st goal.  Then in the 12th minute, they sent it past our keeper, they equalized. During the 29th Mozino sent a long pass to Fonseca, who took a tight angle and beat the keeper for our 2nd. The last goal was scored in the 38th minute, lots of pushing and shoving during a cross into the box, penalty given, Melhor at the spot, sent the keeper the wrong way, and slammed the ball into the bottom left of the net.

28 Feb: (A) Salgueiros (7th/1st). Pre-match odds: Alp: 45%; Draw: 26%; Sal: 29%. Att: 554 (30 away). (4-2 win in away leg, 1 Nov). W: 0-1
Cant hit the back of the net…shots off the post…off the crossbar…nothing but woodwork. Finally in the 92nd minute Melhor passed to Wendell, turned and fired it into the net from 20 yards out. Talk about leaving it to the last minute, 3 minutes of stoppage time, just enough to score the winner!
 

League Table

Team Performance

Manager Performance

Contracts and Other Financial News

FB Hugo Meireles: Rejected our new contract and signed with Real - Championship - Group C, currently 3rd (at the time of signing)
W Mozino: Signed a new contract, $12.5K until June 2029, agent was demanding a new contract.
 

Thoughts and Considerations

I am kind of shocked that Meireles rejected our contract. He said he wanted to play for a more prestigious club. We are only regionally know while Real is nationally known, but we are improving and will, hopefully, be in the promotion playoffs. I have instructed the scouting team to be looking for a replacement for him.

Mozino was going to get bent out of shape if I didnt give him a new contract. I didnt need to upset the mood of the club and his demands were not reasonable, plus I got him locked in until 2029.

We are still rocking and rolling along. There has been a noticeable drop-off in our shots, let alone on target.  I hope it is just a bump and not an indication of things to be worried about. I will continue to monitor that, especially as we are hoping to make a promotion push.

Speaking of, we are 13 points ahead of the team in 3rd and there are only 5 matches left, so if things go well, we should secure a playoff spot with the next result. Fingers-crossed that we can keep things rolling along.

So on to the next month, I hope you are enjoying things. I did want to ask if the images are still readable, I decreased the size that I have been saving them at but they dont do any good if you cant read them. If you get a chance, drop me a message and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading along…I cant wait to keep the adventure going!