Flight of the Dragon

Neto looks very promising! Congrats on winning the league title

Cheers man. Yep he does looks promising, just got to hope he develops.



Snuck the win, won the game on penalties but truth be told we should have had the game wrapped up in normal time.

This is exactly what I was about to write, so I just copy it!

itchycoo - Hahaha cheers fella.



Bossed the game. Nice victory over the rivals. More to come I hope.

Great result over Porto.

Defended the crown, grabbed the chances and took home the win. Mission accomplished at Academica.

Shedender - Cheers boss.







So the time is right to move on but to where? Well Wisla is not happening anytime soon as the manager there has done a pretty decent job in his first season. However Ajax, United and Anderlecht jobs have appeared, both clubs are small projects. All have excellent facilities but have been managed poorly in recent times and their success has been limited if not nothing during my time at Academica. United are currently in a financial mess, and have had a couple of failed takeover bids. All that I know is that I am likely to leave Academica after having such a wonderful time here.

Well done on defending the crown, something (don't think) I ever achieved at Rangers.

I'd like you to take over at Anderlecht just for something different as I can't remember the last time someone managed in Belgium while most people manage Ajax and Manchester United as they're 'big' clubs. I'm sure you'll make the correct choice for this career.

Well done Cyrmo! I'd go for Anderlecht

Shedender and Johno - Anderlecht was always going to be the favourite. Ajax was close. But as you mentioned Shedender people always go these teams so Anderlecht would be a nice little change.







Anderlecht is the destination. Belgium ... here I come.

How my time at Academica went. Lots and lots of fond memories of this place but now is the time to move on. Great place and achieved my goals. Averaged just over 20,000 fans per game throughout the season and managed to defend the European title.

Good luck with Anderlecht

Johno - Thanks fella.

Think it is only right that I pay tribute to some of the men who were exceptional for me during my time at Academica. The core behind the team. I have shown Tariq in his thread in the players forum. Here are the rest.



The new Ronaldo.



Plucked from the free agents market after no other club wanted him. Look at his value now.



Poached from a rival academy, worth it. Been stella for the club.



One of my first ever signings for the club. Been ever present for the club since.



Brought in to strengthen the relationship and fan base in Japan. Proved to be a tremendous midfielder when fit. Been part of much of the success that Academica have had.

What a superb final season at Academica! Good luck in Belgium man!

DanW19 - Cheers Dan. Looking forward to the next chapter.



State of the club trophy room at the moment. Not won much recently. Hopefully with some work that can change.



As you can see there has been a slight dip in form in the league. This will need to be addressed ASAP.



Clubs standing in Belgium and the world has fallen a little.



First thing I did was to ask the Chairman for new facilities. He has duly obliged with my requests. Happy days.

My replacement at Academica. All the best to him.

So the squad is not as what I had first hoped for so I went to hit the transfer market.



Highly recommended off the free agency market. Will look to play upfront or in the hole.



Some might recognise this player. Signed from the old club Academica for a bargain of £2.5m. He didn't play that much for me but I know he can develop to become a real quality player.



Another that was highly recommended off the free agency market. Will be looking to start for us on the wings.



Signed on a pre-agreed contract. He comes recommended by the scouting team. So he was signed.



Another that has come from Academica. The guy was someone who was going to play a bigger role when he arrived back from his loan this season before I left. He has the ability to be a top class striker. Signed for £475k because of a clause in his contract. Bargain.

Should have gone to Ajax to see if you could one-up Johno

Nice, interesting move. Also good work with the Champions League and retaining the title with Academia! It will be some challenge to replicate CL success at Anderlecht

Great work in winning another champions league!! good luck at Anderlecht! Good career move!

Decent signings Sad to see they have fallen behind Genk and Standard.

Prick

Haha was tempting. But managed Ajax in a personal save when the last patch was downloaded. So wasn't keen to manage there now.



I think more than challenging at Anderlecht. At Portugal the nation was in the top 10. Belgium is outside of it and the league reputation is neither on par with what Portugal was when I first started with Academica.



Sad but a challenge to take them above them.



They see me as a person who can help with the push to move the club back to where it should be. Tough task.

Long time sparring partner at Porto has eventually moved. The Real Madrid manager who you may remember somehow got the job over me has now moved on to manage Spain. A real weird decision by Spain, but why could this guy not have moved from Porto during my time there haha.



Villas-Boas is back at his old club. He's club hopped for most of my career. Should be interesting to see how he gets on.

So I've started my period of transiting the club with players who I want at the club and who I don't. Some of the fans are already rattled and are questioning my methods of getting rid of players. In truth the club has little players from Belgium so my job is to return the club to its roots and use its fantastic academy and also sign quality players from Belgium.



Sold the goalkeeper back to my old club. He's not going to be a world beater and he's not home grown. So it is a good move for all.



Club icon who has been on the decline for the last 6 months. Letting him go in my eyes was easy, in the eyes on the fans. It was sacrilege. Tough but there we are. I will show them it is for the best.



This guy was on the transfer list when I arrived. I looked at him and wanted to keep him. His stats were impressive. So I rejected a few bids and took him off the list. Big mistake. He kicked off royally and wanted to leave. So I went after the best deal I could, making a considerable profit off him. Sadly this is not the end of players kicking off. Star South African striker also wants out. Cannot win. Club has players who neither are passionate or care for the club. Those who don't share in my ethos are gone. No one is bigger than the club.

Europa League group qualification rests on us beating Molde. We should do this easily.

Heartache and a reality check. Lot of work still to do.

Good to see you made money from selling your players. Sad to see you couldn't beat Genk. You should beat Molde with ease.

Johno - Cash is king. Molde should be an easy task.



Beating Molde was an easy task. Pictures of the result will be posted in a future post.

So a pretty interesting group. Some tough games there and some games that could cause us an issue. Hopefully we can sneak second place in the group. But who knows.

How the transfer window panned out. In reality the squad is quite a way from were I want it. Short of a right back for a start and nothing coming through the ranks. January my main priority is to address the right back slot.