Taking Vit. Guimarães to the top

e leagues on Football Manager looking for my next challenge and something that would excite me. When I realised that in Portugal other than the likes of Porto, Benfica and Sporting and the occasional push forward by Braga there aren't very many teams contesting with them for the title. With this in mind I decided to take over at Vit. Guimarães attempting to make them real title contenders and Portuguese powerhouses.

Vit. Guimarães

Vitória was formed in 1922. They were first promoted to the Primeira Liga in 1941. They have only won the Taca de Portugal once in their history finishing as Runner-up six times while also winning the SuperTaca once and finishing as Runners-up on another three ocassions.

Pre-Season

Our Pre-Season Consisted on playing Aston Villa, Maria da Fonte, Deportivo La Coruna, Torcatense and our B team. We managed to come out of it unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 draws, however I feel that we should have come away with 5 wins out of 5. The first game of Pre-Season was away to Aston Villa where we played out a 3-3 draw at Villa Park luckily coming from 3-1 down to snatch the draw thanks to two late goals from Rafael Martins.

The next game turned out to be our biggest scoring game of Pre-Season winning 7-0 away to Maria da Fonte who are an amateur Portuguese side. So in a way it was expected to be a one sided game but who knows with football these days. We next played our only home fixture of Pre-Season against Deportivo and it made me feel for the fans as it was one of the most boring 0-0 draws I’ve ever seen with only 3 shots on target in the whole game.

Our end to Pre-Season was a good way to go into the new season with 2 impressive victories the first beating Torcatense 4-1 and then beating our B team 4-2. These victories gave me lots of hope when going into the first competitive game of the season in the SuperTaca final against Benfica arguably one of Portugal’s greatest teams.

Preseason top Goal scorer: Rafael Martins (6)

Managers Player of Pre-Season: Rafael Martins

Transfer In

Borja - Hadjuk (£1.2m)

Steliano Filip - Dinamo Bucuresti (£925k)

Sergiu Hanca - Dinamo Bucuresti (£250k)

Tobias Figueiredo - Sporting (150k)

Philip Billing - Huddersfield (150k)

Anton Walkes - Spurs (130k)

Hernani - Porto (350k)

Lucas Joao - Sheff Wed (Loan)

Michal Zyro - Wolves (Loan)

Brooks Lennon - Liverpool (Loan)

Transfers Out

Kiko - Uniao da Madeira (£6.5k)

Alvin Arrondel - Nacional da Madeira (£2.7k)

Fabio Sturgeon - Vit. setubal (Loan)

Josip Radosevic - Hadjuk (Loan)

Joao Aurellio - Nacional da Madeira (£500k)

Rafeal Miranda - Panathinaikos (£26.5k)

Pedro Henrique - Sporting (£4m)

Wakaso - Saint-Etienne (£190k)

August

This month couldn't have had a better start we were already coming off of a pretty impressive Pre-Season with our first competitive game just around the corner in the SuperTaca final something the team had only ever won once. All of the media and probably quite a lot of the fans had already written us off completely going into this game as it was up against the mighty Benfica. However this game was a completely different story with us managing to come away with a shock 3-0 victory with Rafael Martins again in the goals and debutant Hernani from Porto also on the score sheet giving us the best start to the season we could ask for.

Our next game was our first in the League against Beleneneses. This game turned out to be a comfortable 3-0 with once again Rafael Martins in the goals picking up another one to add to his Talley with Loanees Michal Zyro and Lucas Joao picking up the other two goals. Our next game was our first at home in the goal and boy was it exciting playing out a 0-0 draw with Chaves.

In our final game of the month we played away to Vit. Setubal as we win this game 1-0 thanks to a late header from a corner by Borja. I'm starting to think that we there is a curse about us playing at home because I know it's only earlier on but so far we have played 2 games at home and drawn 0-0 both times.


August Top Goal Scorer: Rafael Martins (3)

Managers Player of the Month: Borja

September

Finally it happened, we had finally scored our first goals of the season at home with an impressive 2-0 vitctory over Estoril with Lucas Joao bagging a brace in what was a tight game until the substitute made his impact. Next up was another home game and after this I knew that any home troubles that had happened in the previous month were gone with a very unexpected heavy victory over Braga winning 4-1 with Paolo Hurtado bagging an impressive 10 minute brace and both strikers Rafael Martins and Lucas Joao both back in the goals.

Next up was Benfica away which is a very intimidating place to go to, however for our team it wasn't managing to win the game 2-1 with the goals from former Porto man Hernani and once again Rafael Martins to continue on our impressive unbeaten start to the league season.

The September month also brought around the start of the Euro Cup. Where we were drawn with Galatasaray, Zulte Waregem and Everton in group G. Our first game was Galatasaray which was a rather tasteless 1-0 loss away in Turkey on a night were once again the team didn't show up which is seeming to be happened more often that it should recently. Luckily the next game in the group was a nice 5-1 home win against Zulte Waregem with Joao getting a brace and Martins, Hurtado and Zyro grabbing a goal each too.


Top monthly Goal scorer: Lucas Joao (5)

Player of the Month: Lucas Joao



October/ November

October started off well with us continuing on with our unbeaten start by beating Portimonense 2-1 away from home. With once again the strike partnership of Lucas Joao and Rafael Martins bagging a goal apiece. Every good thing has to come to an end sooner or later with us losing our unbeaten start to the season by losing 3-1 to Rio Ave which was a massive shock to me but the team just didn't show up on the pitch and Rio Ave were deserved winners of this tie with Lucas Joao with the only goal of the game for us.

Luckily for us this defeat didn't cause the squad to put their heads down as the next game we went onto beat Tondela 3-0 at home in a game which if it wasn't for their keeper then it could have been 6 or 7. With Lucas Joao, Rafael Martins and Hernani all on the scoresheet. Sadly the next game we couldn't build on this victory as we were slaughtered by Sporting 3-0 in a game where my keeper was sent off within 10 minutes but in football you can't be dwelling on what could have been. Either way the team just didn’t show up and Sporting were in control from the first whistle to the last. The month went from bad to worse I was hoping in the next game against Porto the team was going to show a reaction like it did against Tondela however this was not the case with 10-men Porto came away with a 1-0 win at our home stadium something that I wasn't happy with as I felt that we deserved a lot more out of the game.

October brought around the start of the Taca de Portugal as we manged to progress through the competition in to the next round by beating Leiria 2-1 away. With Martins and Central Defender Jubal getting a goal each. Round 4 was played mid-November and we managed to secure another impressive victory making it 3 out of 3 against Benfica this season with a 5-2 victory away from home with both Martins and Joao getting a brace and Hernani added the fifth.

We also had 3 Euro Cup games within this month the first of which was an away trip to Merseyside to Goodison Park to play Everton. This game proved to be one of our toughest this season so far but managing to beat them 1-0 on their own turf was a huge achievement. With Martins bagging a late goal to win the game. The next game that was played in the group was the reverse tie with Everton who were trying to serve revenge and sadly they did just that in an exciting game for the fans Everton came out on top winnign 4-3 on the night. With Martins and a Joao double being the goals for us. The penultimate for the group was also played in this month with the team looking to get revenge on Galatasaray after the 1-0 loss earlier on. And the team did just that beating them 5-1 with a brace from Joao and Martins getting the teams first hat trick of the year.

The end of November also meant the start of the League Cup group stage and the first game was a nice 3-1 victory against Oliveirense. With Hurtado, Joao and once again Martins on the scoresheet for the team.


Top monthly Goal scorer: Rafael Martins (11)

Player of the Month: Francisco Ramos

December/ January

The month of December couldn't have started any worse with the team losing 2-1 away to Pacos Fereira. The only good thing out of the whole game was the sensational strike by Lucas Joao late in the first half. This was the first time we had gone 3 defeats back to back and something had to change and fast. Luckily for us it was there all along within Rafael Martins back from an injury and raring to go and he got off to the best of starts by scoring a brace in a 3-1 victory away to Feirense with his strike partner Lucas Joao with the other goal for the team in this game.

Next game was at home to Moreirense and it was once again Rafael Martins with a brace and Lucas Joao with the other in a 3-0 win showing that they can be just as good together as Messi and Suarez are together. Sadly for us once again it had to come to an end with a very underwhelming 2-0 defeat away to boavista it what I thought was a very harsh score line even though we didn't deserve anything out of the match. As we always seem to do after a heavy defeat we got back to winning ways straight away by beating Aves 5-0 at home with goals coming from Martins x2, Brooks Lennon, Borja and Zyro.

That game started quite a good streak for the team as we managed to win every game remaining in the month of January, Next up for us was Maritimo as we managed to get another home win by beating them 4-1 with yet another brace from Martins, and late goals from Zyro and Hernani to make it a more impressive looking victory. Our next league game was against Belenenses as we managed to come away with another 4-0 win and yes you guessed it Rafael Martins got another 2 goals to add to his name for the season with Hernani also getting a brace.

The start of December meant that the Euro Cup groups stages had come to an end as we managed to get a good 3-1 away win to Zulte Waregem and secure 2nd place in the group. Thanks to goals from Joao, Martins and Hernani.

January also meant round 5 of the Taca de Portugal as we got a hard fought victory away to Tondela wining 2-1 on Penalties after Martins scored late on to take the tie to extra time after a 1-1 draw. We also played the 6th round against Portimonense as we won 2-1 thanks to Tobias Figuieredo and Helder Ferreira.

The League Cup was finished in January as we managed to top our group by firstly beating Porto 1-0 thanks to Rafael Martins and then beating Aves 2-1 thanks to another Rafael Martins brace to secure top stop. Next up was Portimonense in the League Cup Semi Final as we managed to beat them 2-0 thanks to a late Hernani double. This meant that we had made it to the final something that was highly unlikely looking back at the start of the season with the team we had and it got even better by beatinf Pacos Ferreira 2-0 in the final to give us our second piece of silverware in our first season and the semi final hero had done it again with Hernani getting a double in the final.


Top monthly Goal Scorer: Rafael Martins (13)

Player of the Month: Rafael Martins

February/ March

The start of Febraury got off to a good start by winning our first 2 games of the month by beating chaves 2-1 first off thanks to a Hernani brace for the third game in a row as he now has 6 goals in 3 games. The next games was a 1-0 home victory against Vit. Setubal as Hernani makes in 7 goals in 4 games. But then it all came crashing down thanks to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Estoril. This was the type of game where everything that could go against you did we hit the woodwork 3 times and conceded 2 penalties.

The next League game we played was another defeat losing 3-0 away to Braga a team we had beaten 4-1 earlier in the season. And it didn't get any better in the next League game as we lost 3-2 at home to Portimonense as Hernani got another goal and Philip Billing got his first for the club. It did begin to get better towards the end of the month however as first off we drew 1-1 with Benfica after Guillermo Celis grabbed at late equaliser against his former employers.

Next up was Tondela away which had proved to be a tough game earlier in the season but not this time as we came away as convincing winner beating them 4-0 thanks to a brace from Martins and Brooks lennon and former Wolvers defender Sylvain Deslandes getting the other goals. We ended the month we a 2nd win in a row after beating Rio Ave 1-0 to get revenge after they stopped our unbeaten run at the start of the season as Rafael Martins scored a penalty to give us the victory.

February also meant the Euro Cup Knockout rounds as we had been drawn against fallen giants A.C. Milan. However in the first leg they were just too strong coming away with a well deserved 4-0 victory. And even after a strong 2nd leg performance as we were beaten 3-2 and 7-2 on aggregate I was still proud of how the team had played and had managed to come so far with little expectations of us. So the european journey for this season was over but what a journey it was to build on managing to beat historic teams such as Everton and Galatasary.

The start of March meant the first leg of the Taca de Portgual Semi Final as we ran away with the tie beating Pacos Ferreira 3-0 at home thanks to a Lucas Joao hat trick suprisingly only the second time a player has done that this season.


Top monthly Goal Scorer: Hernani (5)

Player of the Month: Luis Miguel

April/ May

The start of April in the league had two important teams to play both teams were the only teams above us Sporting and Porto and if wanted to keep up with the pack and still have a fighting chance of the title then we had to get something out of these 2 games. Sadly for us they were too strong losing 2-1 in the first game against Sporting with Martins on the scoresheet and then losing 3-1 to Porto in the second game with Lucas Joao on the scoresheet ending all hope of any chance we had at the title this season.

Our next league game was against the team we played in the League Cup final Pacos Ferreira as we played out a 1-1 draw which was probably deserved with both teams being equal throughout the game with youngster Helder Ferreria on the scoresheet. The next game we were back to winning ways with a 3-1 win away to Moreirense with a Martins Brace and Hernani on the scoresheet. We managed to end the season in good form winning 4 of our last 5 games beating Feirense 4-1 thanks to Hanca, Ramos, Joao and Lennon. Then we managed to come away with a 2-1 against Boavista with a late brace from Martins securing the win which also helped us secure a Euro Cup place for next season as well. The next game was away to Aves where we came away with a 3-1 win with goals from Ramos, Hernani and Joao. We ended the season away to Maritimo a team we had found it easy beating in recent times however this was different as we were beaten 3-0 away from home luckily for us we had already secured 3rd place in the league.

The Taca de Portugal also finished in April and May as we secured a final place with a 2-1 semi final second leg victory over Pacos Ferreira. Thanks to a Rafael Martins brace. We went into this final against Porto in high spirits and I really thought we had a chance due to the fact the team was in good form and because of how well the team had played in cups with season winning 2 out of 3 we had been in so far other than this one. Sadly like the Euro Cup we didn't managed to win this Cup losing 4-1 in the final to Porto as Rafael Martins scored a late concilation goal for us. All in all I can't complain about the cups this season as we had managed to win 2 cup competitions out of 4 in the first season.


Top monthly Goal Scorer: Rafael Martins (8)

Player of the Month: Rafael Martins

Season Review

Well what a first season it was managing a team like this with such quality yet so unknown to many. Managing to not just win 2 cups in the first season but already have finished above the likes of Benfica and Braga is an achievement on its own. Finishing third also gives us Euro Cup football again for next season whih which will really help us financially and will help us attract a lot more talent. And from next season onwards third place with gain champions league qualifying which would be an amazing acheivement for a team like this.

Rafael Martins was voted as player of the year as he managed 23 league goals to take home the golden boot and score 43 goals across all competitions. Hernani also picked up the most assists award as I was voted as Manager of the year.


Top Goal Scorers: Rafael Martins (43)

Lucas Joao (27)

Managers Player of the Year: Rafael Martins

Fans Player of the Year: Steliano Filip

Signing of the Season: Hernani (19 Goals, 21 Assists)

Rookie of the Year: Helder Ferreira



Now onto the next looking to improve on what arguably couldn't have been a better start for a team like this.