In Pursuit Of The American Dream

I dont think I've properly ever played as the B side, but it looks a hard way around FM thats for sure! entertaining though!

1st February 2018

Due to the fact that my board are complete w*nkers and keep taking all of my players, I decided to bring in a shedload of new players in the Summer: HERE. Despite all of the overhaul, we have currently had my most successful season to date and have qualified for the Promotion Phase after coming 2nd in the first league. If I wasn't a 'B' team I would feel so positive about our chance of promotion however our board have well and truly f*cked me over once again.

I will be looking for a move as soon as possible as this is near on impossible. My starting CDM Rafeal Rogerio was moved up the the 'A' team midway through this season and has since been loaned out to Aves in the league above. Idalino was moved down to the 'B' squad but immediately loaned out to a team in the league above. Last season's top goalscorer Ratinho has recently been loaned out to Santa Maria, a team in the same league as me. This was compounded by the fact that this season's top goalscorer Manuel Arantes has just been ruled out for 2 months. Nuno Silva my starting left midfielder has just been loaned out. Rondinelle, who has just found his goalscoring form has just been moved up the 'A' squad, as has Juarez Cesario who has my starting centre back. We are now in our most important stage of our season and our squad is in a much weaker state than the start of the season.



I have been looking for a move pretty much all season but I feel like I need to lower my ambitions. I applied for jobs at NYCFC and Vancouver but was immediately laughed off. I also applied for the Braga 'A' team job but again, I was laughed off which was annoying. I will be looking to stay in Portugal but I will start applying for teams in the league above as this league is pretty much impossible to get out of anyway, let alone with all of your top players moving on and there being nothing you can do about it.



I will update you in 9 games time to see where I am in the table. We are in a great position and to even be in this position is a great achievement, I just hope my board don't mess this up too much for me. We have some good sides in this promotion phase so there will be no easy games, it's just a shame I will have to play a much more weakened team than I would of liked.

Sack the board. F*ck Braga.

This is becoming a joke now.



I just managed to sign this fella as a replacement for Ratinho who the board stupidly sent out on loan. His stats are brilliant for a target man and seeing as the 'A' team already stole Rodinelle and Idalino off me, I thought I would be okay.



I signed up at 2:00pm at 3:00pm this happened:


F*ck the board.

1st April 2018



F*ck the board. Seven games to go, it's not over yet but it's not looking good. The players that they took up to the 'A' team haven't played one game between them. I really could of done with them players. Instead I'm playing with my second team in the most important stage of the season.

I need a move ASAP.

21st April 2018



Maybe a rash decision but after a loss against bottom placed side Riberia Brava I have decided to cut my ties at Braga 'B'. The board have been driving me insane ever since I joined the club and I couldn't take it anymore. Yes, we weren't mathematically going to miss out on promotion but it was very unlikely. It was hard to ever build any attachment to the players at this club either as the second they did well, they were off.



Already been laughed off my Beijing, Cesena and Sydney. Damn.

24th May 2018

Hello Singapore.



I have signed a contract until November 2018 at Singaporean side Geylang International. In the past three seasons Geylang have finished 3rd, 5th and 7th and now are currently sitting in eighth. This league after 22 matches splits off into two play off groups, much like the Scottish Premier League. So, I have 6 matches to ensure we finish above 6th. It's an interesting challenge here and one that really excites me. Yes, the players aren't as good as they were at Braga 'B' but I have no board restrictions here which is a delightful thought.



Our chairman is from Turkey and when I signed the contract, I agreed to bring in players from his home nation so there will be an influx of Turkish over in Singapore in no time at all. As I have only signed a contract until November, I could be gone in 5 months if I struggle over here. It's an exciting project over here, I have a few players who I'm excited about and I've never managed in Asia before so it's all new to me.

I am changing my tactic again to something a bit more structured until I really understand this league and my players. I will either be playing a 4-4-2 formation or a 4-4-1-1.

This lad is someone who has immediately caught my eye. He's only 18 years old and has already been capped by the national team. A good stats for a poacher and somebody I really hope can relish in the way I play. I will post players who impress me as we go along, for now I don't really know what to think. I'm just so happy to have got away from Braga 'B'. The Singaporean league is currently ranked 24th in Asia, it will be nice to see this improve in the future. Just an early thought and very optimistic but in the future if this adventure goes well, the Singaporean national side could well be my first step into international football.

I dig, the S-League has always been a wacko league in my mind. Random clubs, random players, random nations represented.

Braga B was an experience in itself, was always an uphill challenge because of the setup but the rate the A team took your players was a joke. SI need to look at it, we need some proper use of B teams in Spain, Portugal and Holland. They operate nothing like real life

Weirdly, I've got two months until my next match which has been good. It's giving me a good opportunity to assess all of my players and really try and figure what players fit into my side. I've got quite a few high earners here with the highest on £625 a week who I am looking to get rid of. Nobody wants to take high earners off me so for the time being, I've just placed them into my reserves.

I am allowed 5 foreign players in my first team squad. I've signed 4 foreigners and the time off will hopefully help them adapt before my first match.



Started off at Burnley and has been playing in Singapore for the last 5 seasons or so. He's got some great stats for this league and he's a player I'm really wanting to gel my team around.





I always had a preference in Portugal of bringing in Brazilian youngsters and I've carried that on over here in Singapore. Neto will be Anderson's partner in the centre of midfield while Moreno should be good enough to start centre back. Fabio looks pretty poor but I just need to hope he improves.

Moreno has just been ruled out for two months. One day after signing.

Damn.

Brought in my fifth foreigner to come into the side. For eighteen years old he has some great stats for this league and he's a player I am very excited about. It feels so strange to actually bring in a player and not have the worry of him leaving within a few weeks like I was like at Braga. He's a versatile young player and I am thinking his main position will be as a ball playing centre back. His height is a worry but if it doesn't work, I could also play him in centre midfield to add a bit of fight.

Tay Wing Hong, my star striker had a few other Singaporean sides hunting round him so I've signed him up on a two year deal.

Managed to get this guy to sign a new contract with us. He's a leader and a player who I really really like. He's our captain here and has some great stats for this league as a no nonsense defender. There were a few clubs sniffing round him but there was no chance I was letting him leave. I managed to get a few of the high earners I spoke about previously off the books. Nobody was interested in buying them so I released them from their contracts saving me about £1k in wages which is massive for this league.

11th August 2018



I have only been here since May of this year but I tell you something, I absolutely love it here. I have just won the League Cup for the first time in the club's history and due to this, the board are about to offer me a new deal. Throughout this career, I haven't really taken much care and spent the majority of the time just pressing the space bar, I even had 'commentary only' on the matches and only used one tactic.

I have really monitored my tactics and changed it to suit different opposition etc, something I haven't done before on this career and changed highlights to key, as well as slowing them down. Due to this, I am really spending time to get through matches instead of just clicking away but it seems to be working. I have been rotating from a 4-4-2 to a 4-1-3-2 when playing teams with 5 in midfield and the players really seem to have adapted well to this. My new lads really have settled in well and Anderson, Lele and Neto are key men in my team, especially Anderson. Lele is improving at centre back alongside Nishida and overall it's all going great.

Tay Wing Hong was the player who I earmarked early on as being my star man. He's done alright but he's been completely outclassed by this lad. Teh Darren or The Darren as I like to call him has been absolutely outstanding for me. He's only 20 years old and if he can keep this up, he will have a very bright future in the game. He has managed 11 goals for me in 9 matches which is an unbelievable feat.



We have only played twice in the league since I took over so I won't be posting the league table. We sit in eighth and 4 points off 6th place which is where we need to be getting before the play offs start. We have managed 28 goals in the 9 matches since I have arrived. At Braga I was playing a stupidly attacking formation but here I'm not even playing attacking and we're still scoring loads of goals which is nice. Even though it has only been 9 matches, this club has really reignited my love for this save after my disappointing time at Braga 'B'.



We are in the Singaporean Cup Semi Finals and still have 9 games to go in the league. I am very excited about the future of this club. If we can keep the spine of the team for the next few years then it will be brilliant. The keeper is alright but the 2 CB's of Lele and Nishida, the 2 CM's of Neto and Anderson and the 2 ST's of The Darren and Tay Wing Hong are a great spine. Lele is only 18 years old and ball playing CB's are hard to come by but Nishida seems to be improving him massively. Neto is only 19 but again, experience is helping him alongside Anderson then we have the raw talent of the two up top. The future is bright.

Signed a one year extension at the club. I asked for a two year deal but the chairman was having none of it but one year will do.



I can see this lad, if I can keep him becoming one of my all time favourites on this career. At my previous clubs I never really formed any sort of attachment with any players. At the two South African clubs, I pretty much lost every game so there were no players I was particularly fond of. At Leca, again, we were shit. Then at Braga 'B', any type of attachment was quickly broken when the 'A' team stole them from me.



Anderson so far has a 7.44 rating for me overall which is brilliant. He has started every game under my tenure and also managed a goal in the cup final. According to my assistant, he is a star for this league, I just hope we can keep him. His contract is up at the end of next season and he isn't interested in signing anything at the moment so we will just have to wait and see. I really hope I can keep him.



Only been here a few months and I'm already in favoured personnel. I see there are currently no legends or icons... mission accepted.

It's a shame really as when I brought him to the club I expected him to be a star man for me. He scored a shed load of goals in Brazil in their lower leagues and he was a player I thought put set the world alight here. Unfortunately for him, I can only name 4 foreign players in my match day squad and due to Nishida (Japanese), Lelo (Brazilian), Neto (Brazilan) and Anderson (English) being an integral part of my line up at the moment, I told him he can leave.

He's on quite high wages as well for us. I have quite a few foreign players just sitting in my reserves so I will look at getting rid of a lot of them in the Summer. I need to concentrate on bringing in Singapore nationals and build them up instead of looking foreign all of the time. However, I had to sign this guy below. I mean, I HAVE JUST SIGNED BECKHAM! Shame he's Brazilian and sh*t. It's always a risk signing foreign players offered to me by agents as they have no stats and I can't afford to scout them so I just take the risk... this one didn't pay off.

Loving the look of this. I recently applied for the Singaporean under 23 job but got laughed off, think I need to wait a few seasons or so until I can look at moving into international football. In terms of the full squad, I am delighted that Teh Darren has received his first call up to the national side after his great form for us recently so I am taking full credit for that one. Tay Wing Hong, Teh's strike partner also received a call up which was brilliant. These two have such a bright future, I hope they can really excel at international level. Chan is my goalkeeper while my left midfielder Zainal are both regulars in the national side.

It will be interesting to see if Darren and Tay Wing Hong get any game time, just hope they can grasp their opportunity. In around a year or so, I would like to see a few of my younger players called up such as Wee Seck Lye and Mohd Isa. I'm not sure how long it takes to become a Singapore national but Brazilian born Lele and Neto will have no chance of making it into the Brazil squad... maybe they will be playing for Singapore one day.

Ps: Anyone else hating the new imgur layout?

Youth candidates have come through and this guy below is the one I am most excited about. I am planning on getting rid of quite a few players in the Summer and bedding some of my younger players into the squad. Yes, all of the new youth lads are 16 but the standard in this league isn't that good so I am hoping they grasp the opportunity.



A bit of a speed demon and OK finishing but I am looking for a big improvement. He's a determined young lad so we will see how he does. It's a shame because my coaches aren't great, neither are my facilities so match experience is the only thing for them.

Teh Darren failed to feature for the Singapore national team in his most recent call up. This means he has still no longer received a cap but I sure expect him to soon. When he was last called up, it came up that we was shocked and nervous regarding his call up. He's now been dropped



On the day the squad was released he does this:


You show them Darren, you show them! The South East Asian Championships is coming up at the end of the season which is quite a big competition for a country such as Singapore. I would love it if Tay Wing Hong and Teh Darren were called up, they really deserve it.

4th November 2018 - Season Finished



Unfortunately, we were unable to finish in the top six and had to make do with the bottom half play off. Due to this, we finished 8th in the league despite having more points that Hougang who finished in 6th. Next season is the season I really expect us to kick on. We have a great spine of this team and some great players and I am very excited for the future. I will be making a lot of changes and looking at bringing in some Singaporean youngsters as well as promoting quite a few from my under 18 side. Our finances don't look great so there will be quite a reshuffle in the backroom staff also.

As you can see, we scored a shed load of goals since I arrived which is very pleasing. This was mainly due to the form of Teh Darren and Tay Wing Hong, both who I expect to feature for the Singapore national side in the upcoming South East Asia Competition. We did well in the cup competitions by winning the league cup and coming very close in the Singapore National Cup where we lost in the semi finals in extra time which was frustrating. As you know, I joined this club midway through the season and have managed 12 wins out of 20 games which I am very pleased about.

It will be an eventful Summer but if I can get the recruitment right, in regards to both player and backroom staff I expect a bright future here.

Managed to tie down Neto, Teh Darren, Tay Wing Hong on four new deals and Lele on a three year deal. Absolutely buzzing with that, the future of Geylang is secured.



Two of my players made it into the league's TOTY- Nishida and Zainal were key men for me, especially Nishida who was an absolute rock at the back for me. Captain Fantastic.



Absolute brilliant player who has been a key part of my squad since I joined the club. He's our captain and also popped up with a few important goals for us as well. If he stays fit next season, we should be solid at the back. He's a tad injury prone so I hope that doesn't haunt us.



Good all round player who I played a lot at LM this season. Regular for the Singapore national side too.

2018 - Geylang Squad Review

Goalkeepers


Jaspar Chan was my first choice goalkeeper. The other keeper is on £425 a week which is one of the highest earners in my club. I've been offering him out for nothing and tried to mutually terminate his contract but he's having none of it. Chan will be my number 1 next season unless I find another good Singaporean goalkeeper but a new GK is not a main priority.

Defenders


Hamid was my starting right back. He's 33 years old and his stats are declining so I will be looking to bring in a new RB this Summer. Lele and Nishida were my starting CB's with Singh sometimes playing but his stats are terrible. Sha'ban was my starting left back- he's a good back up but a new LB is definitely needed. Zainal was deployed as a left midfielder instead of a LB but I might move him back if I find a good one. I did sign Moreno but I released him as he was moaning and skipped training 6 times... the b*stard.

Midfielders


Barros and Allan were foreign players brought in as a gamble but they never made it into my side due to the restrictions on foreigners. Both will be sold in the Summer. Neto and Anderson were the key men for me in the centre of midfield with Wee Seck Lye impressing at RM. He's a player I expect to be in the Singaporean national side next season if this season if anything to go by. Roslan and Rajesh look bright prospects but the rest are nothing to rave about.

Strikers


Unfortunately for Fabio, I am only allowed 4 foreigners in a match day squad and until Nishida gains Singaporean citizenship in around a year, Fabio will be foreigner number 5. If I can hold on for him for a year and he's happy to sit in the reserves then I'll be happy but I doubt that will happen. Darren and Tay Wing Hong are the two men who I expect to run riot in the next few seasons. I am hoping that they get called up for Singapore and develop their partnership on the international stage. Yong Jie looks to have a bright future.

Summer Recruitment

Overall, I am happy with the core of my squad. Below is what I feel I need:

Chan
NEW RB - Nishida - Lele - NEW LB/Zainal
Wee Seck Lye - Anderson - Neto - NEW LM
Darren - Tay WIng Hong

I am happy with the players above, I just need to fill a few positions and gain some solid back up for players if they get injured. I am promoting a lot of my youth players but I still would like to bring in a bit of experience if possible to help them along the way.

Buzzing for the lads, especially Teh Darren and Tay Wing Hong. I just hope they are given a bit of game time.

Useless.

Zainal was injured in the first warm up friendly and was ruled out of the tournament. Fortunately for me, it was only a 4 week injury so he will be okay for the start of the season. Chan featured in one of the warm up matches and one match in the tournament, conceding 5 goals in his 2 matches and gaining a 6.7 rating. Tay Wing Hong featured in both of the warm up matches but failed to score. He did however play one match in tournament and managed to grab a goal bringing his record at international level to 6 appearances and 3 goals. Teh Darren made his international debut in the final warm up match, coming off the bench with 10 minutes to go. He then went on to start all three of the matches in the tournament and scored 2 goals. A goal every two games at international level isn't too bad.

Really happy to see Teh Darren and Tay Wing Hong link up at international level, long may it continue. The future is bright.

Really enjoying this, Fola.

Excited to see how you're able to develop the nucleus of players you've got even further. The core of your squad is assembled, it's now about fine tuning and finding those extra bodies to help sustain the squad. Pleased to see you mention that you plan on promoting from within, shapes up for an extremely organic building process.

Keep it up, I'll be following!

Thanks man. Like you said, the core of the squad is set up, I just need to get some players to fill in the gaps now. It's unfortunate that each match day squad is only allowed 4 foreign players as I am struggling to find at Singaporean national players who are good enough to improve my team.

Applied for this job but the Singaporean FA decided to hire this guy instead. He has never been a coach or a manager and has previously been playing for Burton Albion. He got picked ahead of me... how demeaning. Do they not know how much I wanted that job?



This will need to be sorted. I haven't actually overspent on wages or anything I'm not really too sure how it's happened. I can still over quite a good amount of wages and have been given a healthy budget in terms of transfers so we will see if this changes this time next season.

I would of definitely given it to Teh Darren.

After a really disappointing term last season, the board are expecting a lot more from the club next season. Next season as you know, will be my first full season at the club and they've really given me a challenge. We came 8th last season out of 11th and now the board are expecting a title challenge. No pressure.



I'm actually quite confident about us challenging for the title this season. I'm quite happy with my transfer window dealings so far, I will type them all up when the season is about to start.

My best bit of transfer business this Summer has been signing up this lad. His contract was up at the end of this upcoming season and I've managed to sign him up for another season on top of that. Unfortunately for me, he was persistent on having a clause where he can leave the club for £40k if any club from outside Singapore comes in for him.

In terms of outgoings, I let a whole host of young players leave the club, a few crap players as well as some foreigners who were never going to get a game. I have only brought in four players this transfer window but they are all players who I think will fill the gaps I was looking to fill.





I didn't intend on bringing in any foreign players but I couldn't really turn this guy down. Within the terms of my contract, I was told I needed to sign players from Turkey so this guy fits the bill. He's only 18 and will fit in well for me on the left hand side of midfield. Unfortunately he will only really be able to play if one of my foreign 4 get injured.



Stefan Milojevic joins the club and will become my starting left back. It was one of my main priorities to bring in a new left back and I'm really happy with this lad. He also fits in as a Singaporean national due to living here for other 5 years. Those mental stats are brilliant even if his technical aren't the best, he will be a great tutor for the younger lads coming through.



My new right back joins from fellow Singaporean side Warriors. At the age of 20 years old he has already made the right back spot his own for the national side. He cost me quite a bit of money in terms of this league but he is an investment for the future.



Purely brought in as a back up if Anderson ever gets injured. He brings a good amount of experience to my young side as well.

The new Singaporean manager has named his first squad since taking over. He has dropped Zainal, Teh Darren and Tay Wing Hong. This guy hasn't got a clue.