I came here to win the pentagon and drink vodka [FM12]

January 1st, my favourite day of the year, scouting for all the people available on pre-contracts.

Was alerted that "wonderkid" Castro had turned down his latest contract at Barca and, whaddya know, his contract expires in 6 months..





Turned down a contract offer from Barca to accept ours



Gonna be the star of my midfield for years to come.

Here's our African Cup of Nations results



Lots of promise but an inevitable collapse, by the end of our progress I think we had about 4 first team players injured Resigned straight after, gonna stay out of national management for a bit.

Club related news



Didnt want to sell, but the club is hemorrhaging money atm due to our wages and the fact we're not even filling out a 5000 seater stadium, so the offer was just too good to turn down. He's gonna have a bright future in the file i reckon

We've also managed to capitulate and go out of both cups







The taca de Portugal exit I can kind of understand as it was against a resurgent Benfica side, but the league cup exit is extremely disappointing with us not being able to qualify from that group. Rio Ave have been bottom of the table for nearly the whole season D:

Currently top of the league, struggling to hold off the advance of Porto, but the patchy form and morale from the losses in the cups is doing us no favors whatsoever.

In the Europa League thrashed Athletic over two legs then scraped past AZ to set up a quarter final with league rivals Porto.

The league is incredibly tight going into the last 5 games, with the table currently looking like this



Here is ours and Porto's remaining 5 fixtures, respectively





Similiar in truth, Porto's perhaps slightly easier as they don't have to go to Braga on the last day. Reckon it'll come down to whoever manages their squad better through the Europa league ties, but even coming this close is some achievement considering Porto's wage bill runs about 5 times higher than ours.

We've f*cking bottled it! Still got Sporting and Braga to play so a most unlikely first ever league title for Nacional is looking even more improbable now

As if that's not bad enough, those dropped points mean Sporting are now just 1 point behind, and we play them next...

An absolutely gutting loss. That OG really sent us chasing the game and despite having more chances, our strikers who have been decimating the league all season couldnt find the net. What makes it worse is that Porto drew their game in hand, leaving the table looking like this



Somehow, Sporting have mounted the latest of late charges and it's now theirs to throw away, I need a bloody miracle. Dust off your TVs and Jeff Stelling, it's Super Sunday time...

Meh, a 3-2 loss to Braga on the last day condemned any bleak title hopes we had, and Porto and Sporting both won, which left the table like this



Extremely disappointed to finish the season with no trophies, reckon the squad was definitely good enough to win something, we just choked at the finish line. Boavista won the FA Cup and a league 2 side managed to reach the final of the League cup, so a trophy was definitely doable.

Star Performers

Valery Potapov - The mean green Russian goal scoring machine, Potapov scored 51 goals in 53 games with a 7.77 rating, a was deservedly named Forward of the year, as well as earning team of the year and top league goalscorer offers. Really surprised a bigger club hasnt come in for him yet.

Filip Paunovic - Valery's partner in crime, notched 38 in 52 games and was also named in the team of the year. The was one point in the season where he was outperforming Potapov, and boy did I resent him for it

In other, slightly unexpected news...



A new stadium is obviously good, but no idea how this will affect our already bleak finances

unlucky on not winning the league mate very close! It looks like a good career! I will have a read through it after a world cup final later on

Gutted to see your team threw it away in the end

Damn, what a choke, tough shit to swallow.

Cheers for the comments guys, it sure sucks but hopefully will make the team stronger as a result (I doubt it though)

Here's our signings for the new season, blindly ignoring the fact we're already leaking money from every orifice.



Note the sale of Paunovic, one of the stars of last season, but for that kind of money I couldn't say no.



Decent player down the spine of the team, can cover at MC or at DC if needed.



Strong 3rd CB at the club, will get gametime in the cup competitions etc and im hoping will force out Robles (who hasnt exactly been an unmitigated success story so far)



Backup and eventual first team starter at LB



Star player, straight into the first team to play alongside our other young talented midfielder (some young greek guy, top clubs have been sniffing around with hints of an 8m+ bid, bloody hope not as I couldnt say no to that either)



Adds a rotation striker to my options up top.



Backup at RB but has no real hope of forcing out the existing starter.



See Bertrand.



Brought in to replace Paunovic, and could quite conceivably be an upgrade when he adapts to the league, scouts already rate him at 4star with potential of 4 1/2. High hopes for this guy.

Good transfers Castro looks very good, hope he makes a big impact.

Cheers mate, he's done very well so far, one of only I reckon 2 starting players not to pick up an injury so far this season -.-

Here's our Europa League group



Was a great draw til f*cking Schalke came out the hat, reckon it'll be between us and Red Bull for second.

Anyway, turns out the club is in a worse position than I thought, losing money faster than the Titanic took on water... That 9m sale of Paunovic put us 6m in the black, come December and its fallen to 100k... Cone on tycoons, lets be 'avin yaaa

That remarkable final day victory against Schalke means we overhaul them and finish top of the group for the second year running. Counter is the way to go baby.





Also for the second year running, the draw has thrown up relatively weak opposition, so I'm quietly confident of reaching the quarters once again

Shit. Offered him a new contract to try and get rid of the release fee but he wasn't interested. Gutted as he was the best player on the team by a mile, but the money isnt half bad and 13m for a player we only signed 6 months ago is awfully good. Gonna scour the market and see if theres a cheapish replacement available, but the squad should be sufficient if not.

Screw you Castro, I wont forget this...

Noticed star player Potapov's value had shot up (from about 3m to 8m) so offered him a bumper new 5 year contract to ward off any would-be buyers. He's now comfortably the clubs highest paid player on a princely 13k pw, but his performances definitely warrant it.





What a guy. Will be the clubs record goalscorer before long, mark my words. (tbh though thats not saying much as the record is only about 80)

In the league Porto are running away with it and are about 12 points clear with 8 games to go, so now it all comes down to the battle for second between me, Benfica, Sporting, Braga and Belenenses, with 5 points seperating 2nd and 6th. Just being in this position is remarkable considering the injuries we've had, we had 5/6 first team starters out at one point, one for 4 months.

Definitely lucked out into the easier side of the draw there Although with Spain not loaded its quite hard to gauge how tough Malaga will be. Operation unlikely-run-to-the-final continues!

Stick your "biggest Portuguese team" up your arse!



This victory means we're in the final of both domestic cups this season, we're to play Benfica in the league cup final and Naval in the other. If we dont come away with any silverware this season it'll be an absolute travesty.

In slightly more worrying news



Awesome striker and consensus best player in the league (in my eyes at least) has managed to f*ck himself up, and most probably f*ck up any chances of us finishing 2nd. Hes also the latest in a veeeery long list of injuries... Bloody hope they have health insurance or something in Portugal.

Gutted about Potapov's injury Good win over Porto

Sigh. This loss came the game after we lost 1-0 on aggregate to Malaga in the Europa League, so its down to the FA Cup final to secure any trophies this year.

Star signing Axel Gjesvold, who was meant to plug a gap up front, came back from a torn calf muscle to feature in that Malaga game, and came off with an injury, ANOTHER torn calf muscle. Somehow inherited the glass legs of Kieron Dyer this one.

Finally read through this mate! Was a great read you have had some fantastic results and to already have 2 legs of the Pentagon done is amazing work! Unlucky in that league cup final and on being edged out in the league last season. I will continue to follow

Thanks a lot mate!

So with 2 games to go the league situation is this



Up next? Benfica. Knowing a win would be almost good enough for CL qualification, could we put last years choke out of our minds and rejoin the big boys on the European stage?

You bet we could.



Another display of beautiful counter attacking football meant we were all but out of sight by HT.

Benfica went on to draw their final league game at home to Academica, meaning with a game in hand...

Congrats on beating Benfica

Great win over Benfica!

Cheers guys!

Our last game of the season was the cup final against Naval, who have been a bit of a bogey team for me in my stay in Portugal so far, giving us a few tough games. The game was delayed for about 2 weeks due to "international callups", but come match day 5 first teamers were still away, so not really sure what all that was about... Anyway,



Turns out there was no need to worry, as we blew Naval out of the water (habloodyha) First (of many i hope) trophy at Nacional!

Heres our league finish and fixtures





Porto were only 9 points clear in the end, and the league could've and should've been much closer if we could cut out some of those needless draws against weaker opposition, and if the squad could stay healthy for more than a fortnight. Hopefully one of the two might happen next season.

Star Performers

Efrain Robles - Had started to resent him for his tendancy to give away stupid penalties and get himself sent off, but this year the young Bolivian cleaned up his act and was a 200cm tall tower at the heart of the defence. Got up the other end to score a tidy 7 goals all season too. In light of his value increasing by about 300%, had to offer him a new contract where he nearly doubled his wages and got himself a 10m release clause... *shudder*

Theo Bertrand - His numbers hardly set the league alight (14 in 40) but he really stepped up to the plate when our best two strikers were down, and deserved his first callup to the Swiss national team.

Signings time




Signed on a precontract, completely forgot about this one but looks like he could be a decent addition to the defence.


Signed on a precontract where the compensation was said to be 600k, turns out its 1.6m instead Still, could slot into the first XI if i can bring myself to drop the one club legend thats currently starting there.


Signed on a free from old club Guimaraes, gave him his pro debut there and should help us with our homegrown quotas etc.


Brought in to partner Potapov up top when Gjesvold inevitably gets injured again. Fairly cheap considering how decent he looks.


Brought in on loan for a backup LB. We're fairly stocked there already if im honest, but he has quality potential so i'm sowing the seed for a potential future move.


Another free transfer recommended by our scouts, provides depth right across the midfield, something we sorely lacked last season.


Here's the draw for our CL playoff


They're no PSG, but its still a stern test in facing Celtic. First leg at Celtic Park so fingers crossed we can nab an away goal.


In other miscellaneous news


How united signed this guy for only 2.9m is beyond me, look at those stats!

Also, France had won every European Championship game theyd played so far on this save, however theyve just been knocked out in the 1st knockout round by Wales of all teams Belgium won the Euro's and boosted their ranking to 12th, from 74th... My, how they had fallen since I left.


Good news as we can now finish 3rd and still enter the CL. My sights are set much higher than that though...


Agree with the Bertrand decision, but Gjesvold? A guy that missed about 6 months of the season somehow getting signing of the season..

Routine wins over Celtic sets up a tie with Werder Bremen, we played them in a friendly this year and only lost 2-1 with a rotated squad, so fingers crossed we can come through this tie and reach the CL proper.


Managed to lose the Supertaca, wouldn't mind much but its against Porto who are beginning to piss me off Their wage bill is still 5 times higher than ours but it would be nice to start picking up results against them more regularly.

Great win over Celtic! unlucky against Porto and that Hyams at United is quality is value is somehow lower than what they paid for him though

Our starting XI is so OP, starting to think anything less than a league title is underperforming...



Rotated the squad a fair bit, 4-2 doesnt really do it justice as we were really poor and I was actually worried about letting a 5 goal aggregate lead slip. Big Val has continued where he left off from his injury last season, he's already got 8 CL goals this season.



What it's all about, dat cash money. Should mean we remain in the black for this season before the new stadium is completed, where our revenue should start to grow and grow.



Tougher than i'd have liked, looks to me like me and Basel will be fighting tooth and nail for a Europa League spot at best.

Epic win over Werder Bremen Tough group but surely you can surprise them

Potapov absolutely tearing it up! Good luck with the group,