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The Noel Lopez paradox.

 

Noel Lopez has been with me from the beggining, hes been a talisman for my success and is in the clubs favoured personnel now and rightly so, he deserves a statue he helped deliver a title. But he wants to leave, hes been unsettled for one and a half seasons now thanks to PSG and Lyon. He wont consider a new contract at all and has not lfited his desire to leave.  His release clause is 66 million but hes not worth that.

 

 

I accepted a bid of £34 million from PSG but im honestly for the first time stuck on a decision, normally when a player wants to go then they go im not keeping players who dont want to stay. But honestly im conflicted, i want him to win everything i win and i want to keep him as my first ever one club player. Im honestly at a cross roads. 

 

Our Season with our new signings was a season like no other. 

 

We start with another positive yet again, we retained our Copa Del Rey, we used it this season to give our youth prospects games often playing the full team filled with our youth players. They got us right until the semi final drawing the first leg 2-2 with Valencia and we added some senior players in the second leg to finish off the tie and get us too the final. 

When we got to the final we had a really comfortable 3-1 victory over Real Madrid thanks to a hattrick by Kasianenko, our golden boy of the Copa Del Rey.

 

We then move onto the Champions League where we had a considerably better campaign than the last year. We topped our group unbeaten, even defeating FC Bayern away from home. A great group stage for us where we showed we had taken a real step up in class

We then drew Inter Milan in the first knockout round and to be honest they werent having a great season but their front two was dangerous in Lutaro Martinez and Raspidorri. We won the tie 8-3 on aggregate thanks to a 4-3 victory in the first away game followed up by an extremley comfortable 4-0 victory in the second leg at home. 

 

We were then drawn against our league rivals Barcelona in the Quarter finals. We put up a great performance in the first leg and things were level at 2-2 unti the 84th minute when Barcelona scored what would be the deciding goal in the tie. The second half was a weird one, weve never been short of goals and the games where we havent scored could be counted on one hand, however we just werent up to task, we created a lot of chances but we missed our main striker Simic and Kasianenko and Noel Lopez couldnt capitalise on our chances. 

 

We then move onto the league and something ive never actually done before. Going into the last two games of the season we were 3 points behind league leaders Real Madrid and they had been in fine form and we on the other hand had dropped points to lesser opponents in the weeks leading too it. So for the first time in my whole FM career over 20 years i attended an opponents game. Their second last game against Valencia and i dont know if it was my presence or the pressure it added but they capitulated.

 

Valencia had no shots in the first half at all but a cross deflected off a Madrid defender into the back of the net. Then in the second half Real Madrid got a man sent off and Valencia caught them on a counter attack late in the game to secure a 2-0 victory

This meant that going into the last game we were level on points, with near identical results, having both beaten eachother by a margin of one goal in our league fixtures. This meant it was down to goal difference, all we needed to do was win on the last day of the season and the title would be ours!!

 

And we won we defeated our old enemy Espanyol who gave us a hard game and we won 3-1 meaning we finished level on points with Real Madrid with identical season results having defeated eachother throughout the season meaning that our goalscoring exploits that we discussed before was our saviour. Plus 9 goal difference won us the title!!

 

Thats us caught up now to present day!! ill be updating in a few days once the current season has progressed more!

 

The big players we let go meant that we had money to spend for the first time in my career at Coruna and had the chance to freshen up the squad!

 

First off was the Yeboah replacement - Roko Simicic 

Roko was a player id never seen before in my Football Manager playthroughs and one i was extremely excited to take a chance on. and boy did he work out well. He is physically Elite. He is technically efficient and his mentals are growing. This man is an absolute monster. He won near enough every award he could win as a striker. 

 

 

We then brought in Filip Stevanovic a Serbian winger being ignored in Man Citys squad of super stars. i think hes even better than a certain Serbian wonderkid of years gone by. 

 

We then brought in Alvaro Fernandez, hes a Spanish left back who was unhappy at Manchester United and was transfer listed as a result, we had been using Harmache for the last 3 seasons and he was great for us but Fernandez was a step up and with Champions league player registration in mind getting another spanish home grown player into the team is substantial. 

 

 

The last signing is one of the biggest and best that ive ever made in my life. Ryan Fing Gravenberch. Yes THE Gravenberch. For whatever reason he was still at Ajax in January and when my scout first suggested him i laughed until i realised he was at Ajax.  The transfer was substantial and could come back to haunt us one day but it will be worth it. We paid £20 million up front and £50 million in installments with a further 30 million in add ons for league titles etc. 

There were some more loan signings and youth signings made below but nothing of note. 

 

 

 

The summer of Change!!!

 

This Summer was huge for the club. We had one Champions League campaign under our belt, a Copa Del Rey and a 3rd Place finish to boot. We now needed to take the next huge leap in terms of bolstering our squad however some players had other ideas. 

 

First we deal with Kelvin Yeboah. Kelvin had 2 great campaigns with us yet had his head turned since January so i decided to let him go in the summer. His performances dipped and im big on loyalty. If players dont want to stay and fight then they can leave. So when PSG came in with £27 Million we had to let him go. 

 

As discussed earlier on Gladbach came in and activated Brojas release clause of £33 million shortly before the end of the transfer window which would be used in January. We never got to see how he would perform when he returned from his broken back but its a deal that worked out well for all parties involved.

The rest of the transfers are below, we let youth signing Arrieta leave to Leeds for a low fee but with 50% trasfer fee clause included, he wasnt getting the time he needed, and when he did get chances he didnt perform. He had better stats that Kasianenko but couldnt perform when needed the way Kasianenko could. 

 

Mvogo was a victim of circumstance in January, we made a huge signing and due to wage restirctions we needed to unregister a high earner and because we had Dean Hughes ready to go he was the most expendable member of the squad.

 

Hamer was allowed to leave because he wasnt going to get the chance to play much at all after our signings and i wanted him to be able to enjoy the last few years of his career and well we got money for him so he went. 

 

 

Our new signings were able to meld in with our existing core group of players and they combined for an exciting campaign that ended up with some silverware, an improved league position but also some humble humiliation at the hands of the big boys. 

 

Yeboah continued his exceptional form however it was a story of two halves for him, he got off to a flyer to start the season scoring for fun and entertaining the fans however in January his head was turned and PSG and Monaco came knocking trying to use their financial muscle to force us into accepting a lower bid but we remained strong even as Yeboah was unhappy

 

Lopez again was vital to our success, he filled in for Broja when he went down with his broken back and shared that responsibility with Kasianenko our youth signing from Ukraine. 

We finished 3rd this season, asserting ourselves as the best of the rest in the league, we didnt need any final day dramatics to hand us european football, it was a lot more comfortable than last season as we were a lot more consistant than ever before. We continued to score a lot of goals but also concede quite a few aswell but ill take that as long as were scoring we can work with anything. 

 

From the highs of the league finish to the utter embarrassment in the Champions League. We knew we werent prepared for this challenge and i prioritised the league, continued qualification for Europe is vital for our future success, we need the prize money more than anything and we can build from there.  It also didnt help that we were dealth with a group of death group. 

 

 

There was however a bit of Silverware in our campaign to go alongside a great league finish. We managed to win the Copa Del Rey! We beat Atletico Madrid extremely comfortably in the semi final which is the easieast match ive ever had against them. Then the final was a real suprise to me, Barcelona have been utterly dominant so far in my save, winning every league title and we comfortably defeated them in the final 2-0

 

 

 

We then moved into our next season in dire need of improvement and to bolster our squad so once again we dipped into the free transfer market and specifically to Liverpool's released players. 

 

 

Neco Williams was one i was shocked to see on the expiring list. He is good enough to be backup to TAA and is good enough to start for most teams in Europes top leagues, i snatched at the opportunity to sign him as he would be an immediate improvement at right back for us. 

Tyler Morton is another extremeley well rounded centre midfielder and is a significant upgrade on Hamer, hes also still young and will only improve with time and the game time hes sure to get with us. 

The last free signing was Dean Hughes who was brought in for the future, hes only 18 and is already arguably as good as Mvogo, but will be sent out on loan for at least one season to get senior game time under his belt. 

We then brought in Dzanko on loan for his first year with us, hes a great winger and to be able to get him for one season is going to be great, hes going to be a star. 

The last signing was Carlos Moreno in January, the regen was being let go by Real Madrid and i can not figure out why, their centre backs were all 34 years old plus and he is a physical specimen. Hes 6 ft 6 almost 6 ft 7 in height. A collosal man 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a season this would be, this was one of the most memorable seasons ive ever had. We were good throughout the season and had played great in parts and poorly in other parts. 

 

However it all came down to the last day of the season. We were 6th and needed results to go our way to confirm european football for the following year, playing in the europa league would be a huge boost to our finances and club rankings which is much needed to attract better quality players. With that said this is the last day results and table

 

 

 

The results were so kind to us Bilbao and Sevilla both lost their last matches and ultimately lost their places in the champions league and europa league respectfully. Due to the high performance of the spanish league and teams the 4th placed team also went straight into the champions league group stage which was a massive financial boost to us because if im being honest we are nowhere near ready to be in the champions league and compete especially not with the league being as hard as it is currently. 

 

This is our best 11 for the season and how we lined out for most of the season, Yeboah was the absolute star of the team, not only did he score when needed but he was electric on the pitch and made things happen when it looked like nothing was going to go our way. Lopez also deserves special recognition, he was our handyman, wherever we needed a hole plugged he filled it, he played wide left which brought about the adaptation to the left wing position becoming an Inside Forward instead of Winger which we originally had and it paid off, he finished the campaign with 14 goals 

 

 

 

 

After a succesful first campaign in the spanish first division we needed to then take our next step forward however yet again we werent offered the financial muscle we pined after. Our transfer budget ultimately remained the same therefore we got creative with our offers, with the majority of our deals relying on contingincies, of appearnces, fees in installments, fees based on league and cup success and in extreme instances percentages of profit from sales. 

 

We would have to sell some players to bring extra players in and to clear up some of the bigger wages we had paid to entice players in the first place. 

 

This window would see our biggest splash in the transfer market to date. Kelvin Yeboah, a player who ive honestly never gave a second look too was brought in mainly because of OmegaLukes rebuild series he done with Genoa. He is yet again one of those players who out performs their face stats. He was our record signing at the time and worked out spectacularly well. 

 

Caleb Okoli, Slobodan and Carlos Alvarez were brought in for the future and were at a risk as they didnt really have the best attributes but we needed bodies and tried to think for the future and if im honest its what we could afford. 

 

Gustavo Hamer is a favourite of mine, im a Sunderland fan through and through and in the last few years hes been brilliant during my sunderland saves anytime ive signed him, hes much better quality than Coventry and he has a really cool name.

 

Yanis Hamache is the perfect mold of fullback for our system, hes comfortable on the ball, attacks well, has great technical ability and is a superb freekick taker and is a cult hero amongst our ficitional fans. 

 

Yvon Mvogo was a much needed upgrade for Goalkeeper, Ahamada had served us well and could ultimately do a job for us but Mvogo was an imporvement and would come in for cheap. 

 

Chiquinho was transfer listed, had the attributes to contribute and was available at a decent price and was too good to turn down. 

 

For the outs, Longstaff and Pereira left after one season in the big time, mainly because we had been working on bringing in some South American players and i needed to free up the Foreign player slots so we began the process of moving them on. The south american transfers didnt pan out however we had already accepted bids and allowed for contracts to be discussed and decided to use the money elsewhere. 

 

There was one other signing that was made in January, which was Armando Broja, he was listed by Chelsea as he was not getting the game time required and we managed to sign him for a deal totalling £12 million after fees and add-ons. He was a great boost for us mid season and gave us an extra push in the league and allowed for greater competition for places in the squad. 

 

Brojas career with us was a mixed bag, he scored 10 and assisted 3 in his first 20 games after signing in January. He then began the next season as one of our two main strikers however he had a freak injury where he broke his back just like Mike Tyson which put him out for 8 months. His agility and bravery plummeted to single digits during this time but slowly recovered. 

 

However as soon as he was fit, 3 days before the end of the transfer window his release clause was activated by Gladbach for 33 million and he left before we could replace him but thats next seasons problem. 

The last point i want to make on the current season is about Noel Lopez. Noel Lopez has been with us from the very beggining, hes a young 18 year old with very average looking stats but with game time, training and quality coaching he can truly develop into a star. However im not sure if hes a wonderkid who can be signed and played in every save, i think his development has been very circumstantial and without the game time needed he would not have developed as well as he has. 

 

For context this is what he started at (screenshot pulled from google)

I think his development has been a lesson for me in player development and the true importance of game time and trust, there are times when Noel didnt play well or was out of form but trusting in him fully really repaid my faith. His form in the top division was truly suprising, he had an average season in the second division with most of his goals and high rated performances coming towward the end of the season. For our first season in the top division he rode that momentum he had toward the second half of the season and brought it with him finishing his first campaign with 20 goals and 10 assists. 

 

 

Noel Also won European Golden Boy for the next two season in a row, yet again some of his stats arent dynamic or explosive yet he has performed exceptionally well, often playing anywhere along the fron 4 of our team when needed. 

 

We have however hit an impass with Lopez in our current season, hes had interest from PSG, Lyon, and….. Stoke. Yes Stoke are in the premier league and have managed to unsettle several of our players in the current offseason, the spending power and wages in the Prem are that monstorous that they are able to unsettle players from a team doing very well.(trying to avoid spoilers)

 

 

 

 

Our first season back in the big time was a mixed bag. We finished 13th overall on 46 points which is a great points haul for our first season back in the big time but there were times through the season when we were close to european football. This was until we faced the dreaded downfall in December, for whatever reason in my saves December either makes or breaks my seasons, we either capitulate and loose majority of the matches and our momentum or we solidify and galvanise the squad and come through the other end on top form.  We wont complain however about the final result, we survived comfortably in the end. 

 

 

The run of bad form made us reevaluate our staff and revamp our backroom completely, we were bottom or near bottom in near every area possible until we completed our revamp. I can not express how important Staff is during a save. I honestly never really looked at it or considered it but seeing the change and affect quality staff can have on your club it really is an eye opener and it doesnt even require that much work. If your hands on you do an attribute search the same way you would for players on the transfer market and sign what you can. If your hands off however you can sign a Technical Director with high stats and give him the responsibility of signing new staff and giving out new contracts. 

 

 

So with promotion came the need for major reinforcements. However we never really got the transfer budget i thought that we deserved. I have to admit ive spent most of my recent years playing Premier league or Bundesliga saves were funds arent exactly hard to come by, promotion to the Premier League would normally give you 30 million upwards transfer budget but not here. 

 

We got 5 million to spend and we tried to extend it as much as possible. Throughout the transfer windows i have tried to sign players who are a level above where we are so that when we get promoted we arent stuck for squad players and i think that we achieved that last season, Schar, Longstaf, Mortimer, Woodburn, Pereira are all able to contribute at the top level of spanish football and the squad will be bolstered by more players.

 

Diakite, Nusa, Faghir and Bugaj are the stars of the transfer window. 

 

Diakite is an extremley athletic and young centre back who is ready to contribute now and will become a key figure and future star of the team. 

 

Nusa was signed for the future and has the ability to be a great player in the future and it wouldnt be long before he attracted the interest of some real top division clubs and would ultimately become unsettled and ask to leave in the future.

 

Faghir was on loan and is a great player, i wish i had the funds available to capture him because he showed flashes of brilliance when we played but his playing time was curtailed because i had permanent players in his position that needed the playing time for development more.

 

Bugaj was another signing i was so excited to sign, i thought he was going to be a great fullback and thought he would become a star but he was one of the players that kind of stagnated and didnt really move forward. 

 

The other signings were brought in to bulk up the squad and give us some real depth, Javi Jimenez was initially brought in as a backup but forced himself into a starting role and formed a partnership with Diakite. Fiabema was a star when he was with us and really looked like he was destined for future glory however it wasnt really the case afterwards. 

 

Schar was the only real notable out, if im honest i held the final against him. The red card almost cost us promotion so i decided it was time for him to go and he left. 

 

 

 

The other two signings were made in January with Ramon Enriquez being unsettled and unhappy at Malaga who were still stuck in the second division, he had suitors from abroad and we pounced on the idea of signing him, hes a great centre midfielder who can supply some great passing, technique and guile in the centre of our midfield. 

 

Of the players signed the following are still with us 

 

Enriquez, looks bang average however he constantly out performs his stats, im not sure if its sthe system we play or the match engine but hes almost like Adam Hlozek, players whos stats dont look overly exceptional but out perform expectations constantly. I do believe his high decision making is a vital factor in his performances

 

Diakite is one of the best signings i have ever made in this game, he didnt look excpetional when first signed but he has grown and blossomed into one of the best centre backs in the game and is well sought after, often requiring a new contract to stay each summer.

 

 

Jimenez has been a loyal servant and is here just cus hes a good lad in the dressing room. hes not going anywhere 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets get tactical tactical, i wanna get tactical, lets get down to tactics babe. 

 

Anyway apart from my Office reference (lets get ethical) Lets look at the tactical change that really propelled us through the spanish second division.  We had started with an extremely generic 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress with a shadow striker being deployed in the CAM position and it had served us well enough but was not consistant and wasnt giving us the attacking power to offset the defensive weakness that it opened up. 

 

We then switched to a 4-2-2-2, i had played this formation before using a saved tactic from the community however i decided to build my own from scratch using the same formation as i love having 2 strikers and having wide players. 

 

We switched to a positive mentality to start games as i found it gave us the best balance of taking chances going forward without over exposing ourselves at the back which the attacking mentality often leaves you with.  We wanted to play slick attacking football however we did not want to pass for the sake of passing and wanted to allow our team to take the risk with the over the top or through ball pass without fear of being reprimanded. 

 

For crosses i fiddled with a few options and landed at whipped crosses because they matched our attackers strengths and gave us the best chances of getting onto the end of them a lot more. We also told our players to be more expressive because i was signing players specifically with flair and high dribbling and looking for player traits to compliment the system, players that try tricks often, runs at players, cut inside etc all compliment the be more expressive command. 

 

For defense we wanted to counter press and counter attack at all times, we wanted to exhaust our opponents, suffocate them with constant pressure and ebs and flows of the match. We are at our best when the opponent feels comfortable in their attack and then we can pounce and react.  If anyone wants the actual tactic it can be posted but i think all of the details are there to be seen.

 

Our second season with the team and our first season in the Spanish Second Division was tough!! We were inconsistant at best and average for the majority of the time, that was until we decided to change formation toward the end of the season which will be covered in another tactical update later on.

 

 

 

 

You can see where we changed formation and where our attack really started to click and where the true hero of our story Noel Lopez starts to truly find his form for us, he didnt score much during the season but really started to find his form towards the end of this season. I dont want to show his card yet as im saving it for the current season as hes still with us and im in love with him if im honest.  This late run allowed us to be the “in- form” team in the lague and allowed for us to sneak into the playoffs on the final day of the season beating out Ibiza and Malaga for 6th place in the league. However Malaga still managed to retain a place in the playoffs due to Barcelona B finishing second therefore an extra playoff place being opened.  Espanyol won the league and would become our boogie team, much like Burnley is for Mark Goldbridge, we just can never get the better of them and theyll play a vital part of the story later on.  I will post the table after to avoid spoilers. 

 

With 6th place secured we moved onto the playoffs.  The semi Finals were a thrill ride, the first leg we won 2-1 against Huesca who were a consistant side all year long and i did not expect the second leg scoreline but Mortimer and Danilo Pereira were in inspired form scoring two each and ultimately giving us the feeling that it didnt matter how much they scored, we were going to outscore them all day long. 

 

Then there was the final - i was not expecting a 2 legged playoff final, however i was relieved, it took the tension out of the game for me and for the squad and allowed for a more relaxed atmosphere. 

 

The first leg was comfortable for us, we had the better chances and the better XG, with highlights within the game showing we were really the only ones who looked like scoring, and we did Mortimer again was in fine form scoring 2 and Pereira getting the other goal. I know i said earlier that Mortimer was not the wonder signing i thought he would be i was maybe being harsh, he wasnted the untapped wonderkid i thought he was going to be but he was vital in helping us get navigate the lower leagues, he played long the front 4 at any time and was a team player.

Now this first leg result set us up perfectly to go up and Almeria was a team that we had dominated during the season and we were happy to play them in the playoff final. However the goal by Joaquin could be vital. We really could regret going to sleep in the 88th minute of the game. 

 

 

The second leg was an experience to say the least. We finally had Noel Lopez back and thought that he would for sure continue his great form and fire us into the Spanish first division again. However Almeria had other plans, the game was going to plan for the first 42 minutes, we were playing well the match was even and was tied at 1-1 then the onslaught came, they scored two from set peices within 3 minutes before half time. 

 

This brought tactical changes at half time, we needed to change how we defended set pieces and had to implement that at half time. We gave the team some harsh realities and sent them out fired up. It looked to work really well as Mortimer, the hero of our playoff campaign scored and gave us our one goal lead back over the two legs. We perhaps sent the lads out too fired up,  Fabian Schar is not a man who needs to be fired up and it is perhaps a fact that was overlooked by myself and the managment team, we left him out there angry and on a yellow and he got a second and got himself sent off. This meant we needed to go into turtle mode, sit back and survive the onslaught and we did!!

 

We won by one goal over the two legs. Nils Mortimer you did it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then move onto our second season which was a real big jump up in difficulty, the spanish second division is full again with the top teams B teams which is often stacked with their best youth players. The league is dominated by Barcelona B team and for good measure, they are perpetually stacked full of great players. 

 

To compete i put all of my budget into freeing up as much wage budget as possible, allowing for us to capitalise on some free signings and experience our first issue with the Foreign player registration rules. 

 

Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff joined us from newly minted Newcastle who were now starting to flex their financial muscle and bringing in a higher quality player meaning some very good players were surplus to requirements.  Schar has a wealth of experience in league and european football aswell as top level international competitions, his competitiveness, experience and quality is a level above our division and is a great coup. Longstaff is as industrias and hard working as his hometown, he works hard for the team all around him and will be a great workhorse midfielder for us. 

 

Then there was Ben Woodburn, we needed a creative spark out in the wide areas and Ben could well and truly offer it, he came through liverpools academy which we will dip into again and has been kind to us throughout our save. 

 

We then took Peque on loan from Barcelona, we tried to tap this well as often as we could, their B team is overflowing with talent that need game time and if you can with any lower level save always try for loan players or even cheaper transfers. Peque was a great addition to our attacking players

 

Then there were the two game changers Mattiello and Danilo Pereira.  Mattiello is a great fullback who would serve us for years to come, he provided great attacking width whilst also being able to defend at a high levvel too. 

 

Danilo Pereira was the real key signing this off season - hes a great striker at our level and to be honest can the job a level above us, he is young and athletic and for free is a great signing. The issue however is that i had to break the bank for him, he became our highest earner by quite a bit and even put us over our wage budget for a while.

 

The issue of player registration almost derailed our season before it even began. We had Jurgen Eltim on loan from Watford, he was great in our first season and we were playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with an attacking midfielder and he was deemed essential the only issue was that he was recognised as a foreign non EU player for player registration. 

 

We then brought in Longstaff, Woodburn and Pereira who were all considered foreign. This caught me off guard completeley if im honest, i never even considered brexit during my transfer negotiations and to see Longstaff (england) and Woodburn (wales) both being considered foreign was a shock too me and meant we couldnt register all four players initially and even considered loaning out Woodburn for a while, until we unregistered Eltim, and were still able to use him due to him being under 19 at the time of registration therefore not needing to be registered. 

So for context, i used to be really active on this site in my FM prime maybe 10 years ago or more and i havent listed or written an FM career or story in a long time but i was playing through my save and really enjoying it so thought it could be worth sharing my experiences so far.

 

I have just finished my 6th season in game and i am entering into my 7th season now so mostly everything will be a historical post up until this current season where i will then post periodic updates!

 

But first for anyone who doest remember or recognise Deportivo, in the early 2000s they were one of the funnest sides to watch in europe and spain, they had Roy Makaay scoring goals for fun and have great players like Juan Carlos Valeron and Diego Tristan coming through. They managed to win 1 Spanish title with their golden era team and a string of second place finishes before bigger teams came calling stripping their squad and succumbing to financial burdens. In recent years they suffered relegation to the Spanish second division and then again to the Spanish 3rd division due to financial irragularitites, something that is completely understandable when you start a save in spain. 

 

Finances have been a huge gripe for me in this save in total, firstly there is the wage cap in the spanish league for your player registration which made several deadline day signings way more stressful than they needed to be and can really hault a resurging team from growing, there is also the complete lack of tournament prize money for winning or placement in the league. Teams rely on money from shared TV revenue and european competition prize money in order to progress their playing squad which is extremley difficult. If i was a conspiracy theorist id say that the league is set up to keep the three main teams Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atheltico Madrid to a lesser extent at the top and everyone else scrapping the barrell. 

 

Now that we have introductions lets just go through our first season. 

 

Spanish Federation First Division A - the third tier of spanish football

This season wasnt the most enjoyable season we ever had, none of us really wanted to be there and at times it came acrross in performances, and apart from a bunch of B teams the only team that was noteable was Racing Santander. So we wont go into too much detail but heres how the league finished up.

There were only two players we signed during this season

 

Ali Ahamada - I wasnt overly unhappy with our keeper situation however scrolling through free transfers i seen him sitting there ready to be plucked up and he is genuinely better than our division, if im honest he could and can do a job in the Spanish top division.

The second signing was Nils Mortimer - i thought at the time that i had captured the greatest coup in transfer history, he was great for us in the lower divisions but i was just wrong and i am still stuck with him too this day.

 

 

 

This sums up our first season and i will continue to update in a seperate post!

Financial Issues:

So unbeknown to me, Fernerbache are in huge financial trouble, which actually makes this career a little more enjoyable if im honest, i wondered why theyd finished 6th the season before and hadnt won a title in a while and it was easy to see when you look at finances and the club, theyve bought poorly over recent years and havent developed much home grown talent thats had enough time to make a big impact on the pitch. ITs not suprising seing as one of the primary main objectives set by the board is to sign high profile players, im hopefully going to try and circumvent that and use the youth system in place and try and sign young turkish talent


As you can see the club are in huge financial difficulties, with 334 million in debt hanging over us, rebuilding this side wont be easy and a lot of deep runs in the champions league will be needed if im to be given any form of funds to help rebuild an empire


Ive also attached future projections just for some context incase things ever change or get better.


This financial strain has had a big impact on the two main areas i really wanted to improve, first with the scouting team and secondly with more first team quality players. I was only allowed a maximum 3 man scouting team including the head scout which was going to be hard to try and find more talent the lazy way, so its going to be up to me to do some good scouting myself which hasnt always been my strongest point.

With the strict budget in mind i heavily relied on bringing in loans, and thank god for Shaktars stockpile of brazillians is all i can say. I knew with such a small wage and transfer budget i wasnt going to be able to bring in people who would imrpove the squad significantly but i knew id need some bodies out wide as Fernerbache were quite scarce when it came to wide players.

We brought in Fofana as he was classified as being trained in the nation having spent his early years in Turkey, hes still only 21 and can improve alot and can cover both in defence and defensive midfiled if needed. He will be a squad player for much of his time with me bar a drastic injury crisis or upturn in form and ability on his behalf.


For the outgoing transfers i tried to get rid of as many bloated contracts and older players as possible, there was a lot of fat to trim on the squad but not enough takers so we got rid of what we could. Dirar wasnt going to be first choice and a loan deal could cover as a backup and provide competition for the strarting right back role. As Much as i used to love Erdnic he just doesnt fit the system and isnt the type of player i wanted in the club so he also had to go. And unfortunately for Tekin he wasnt first choice and was in his prime for a goalkeeper so he had to go for his own sake and mine, there was no point keeping him just so he wont play.


There will be 3 diffferent formations i will use throughout the year depending on what type of opponent and setting we have.
This will be the control formation for the smaller reputation teams or if i feel like we need to have more possesion to try and stifle opposition players and be clinical with chances


This formation will be our pirmary formation against similiar and higher level teams, it allows for much more defensive control whilst providing a quick attacking counter outlet via our wingers.


Lastly this formation will be used in possible champions league games in future against the Real Madrids and Barcelonas of the world.


So far im about half way through the season and ill post an update after the January transfer window, now that ive got Imgur sussed after this season ill do monthly updates.

So im going to be really rusty with this so please have some patience, ive just loaded up the save so ill update as soon as i possibly can with pre season infomration

thanks for any help

The Transfer Revolution

So this has been the busiest transfer window any one team in the premier league has ever seen, with 12 people in and 8 people leaving. We didnt start the transfer window with any particular plan of action however a few weeks in i decided that we would concentrate on looking for young English talent, for a few reasons if im honest:
1. Foreign talent either did not want to discuss joining our club because we didn't have a big enough reputation or if they did enter negotiations they wanted a major pay-rise with the majority wanting over 100k
2. Younger English players realised that a chance to play in the premier league could not be missed and were willing to join for lower wages.
3. The Mentality of English clubs at the minute needs to be changed, they're now buying average foreign players rather than giving younger players a chance, so if i can give younger english players a chance it'll put the club in good stead moving forward specifically in terms of European competition.

With that being said ill cover some in depth information on the 2 best signings i believe that weve made and will post a screen shot of all transfers underneath.

1. Ross Barkley
Having signed for a potential 25 Million this transfer would have caught the eye of many around the league. On the back of a below average camapaign with Everton where he got 4 goals and 4 assists he was deemed surplus to requirments from the Everton boss. For years Barkley has been the great white hope of English football, with stark comparissons to the likes of Gascoine and Rooney, barkley had a lot too live up to. Hes game has seemed to have stalled in recent years, his physical attributes have grew however his technical and critical thinking hasnt. Too often youll see analysis of him during games showing he holds on too long and often makes the wrong choice in the final third. I will try and move his career on too the next level.


2.Saido Berahino
Signed on a free transfer with a compensation fee of 3 million is an absolute bargain for a striker once valued at 25 million by his own club. Having had somewhat of a civil war with the West Brom top brass, Berahino has been another English starlet whos seen his career sort of just stall. Still showing bags of potential and ability his attitutde seems to be the thing that needs fixing. If i can give him regular playing time and an arm round the shoulder he will flourish.




All Transfers:

Like any football manager addict ive seemingly rushed through my first season and let my story fall to the side so what ive decided to do is just post the end of season results then start a fresh next season do more in depth and often results.

Results



League Finish



Budget For Next Season

What a difference a month makes!!! So after seven games we were in shooting distance of a place in Europe, fast forward too January and we have had an absolutely disastrous run of form. I dont know if the all out attack tactic will continue to work and will get us where we need to be. I dont want us too end up like a Blackpool were we play expansive attacking football but dont really achieve anything.

We went 8 matches without a win that had us dropping down the table but also had me worrying for my job. A devestating 5-2 Loss to Burnley reall woke me up and it was time for a change, we went all out attack thinking we could blow them out of the water but they completely trumped us and got us on a quick counter and especially Defour he showed a real touch of class again.



The run of losses seen us drop down the table however 3 wins in 4 matches meant we climbed back up slightly and now sit smack bang in the middle of the table at 10th in the league!! We are still only 4 points behind the 5th place and we are level on points with Man City which if we could do that every year it would be a great!!

For this first season i would be happy consolidating our place in the league and building, this isnt going too be a quick save and win a title in the first season and to be honest id prefer if i coud make it as realistic as possible, take our team climb the league, buy good players and develop our youth system!!!

The next update will be the January Transfer window with what little money we have left and any matches in January will be covered aswell.

So with us reaching October its about time i did another update before i get too far ahead of myself. So lets be honest its been an absolutely fantastic start too the season and i mean fantastic. Our formation has achieved what we wanted which was a lot of goals and our defence has done what we predicted, conceded a lot of goals.

So these are the results so far this season, so ill deal with the dissapointing results first of all. We got absolutely hammered by Arsenal 4-1 and with football manager sticking true too form Lucas Perez a player who hasnt featured this season in real life tore us apart and beat us 4-1 now ill take the blame for that. Ive adopted a new formation for away games with the big teams but we went in with our goals galore formation and got punished for it. The other and more dissapointing result was the defeat to Sheffield United in the EFL Cup. Now i took the opportunity to change things and give some reserve players a chance to impress and well they didnt. I found out a lot about my squad in the match but missed out the bigger opportunity to win a trophy in my first season. We then got some great results against Man United and Chelsea, with United we used our formation for the first time and it worked a treat, United werent prepared for our defensive stability and the numbers we had in midfield. They couldnt cut us down and we capitalised and Kone scored from a corner. With Chelsea we were winning 3-0 thanks to Andre Grey capitalising on some Ivanovic errors we got three vital goals and were able to hold of a late surge from Chelsea to secure the win


Below is the away formation ive adopted for the bigger games. Like every football manager or football fan ive been really excited too see 3-4-3 work in real life and ive decided that now is the time to try and make it work with Sunderland, its very defensive focused and is built for trying to snatch a draw or a win.


Our results against the big teams aswell as our ability to get wins against the teams around our level has meant that weve enjoyed some really early success in the league, if we can finish were we are now id be delighted at the end of the season, id really like to have a run in the europa league for a few years before the champions league. I know that sounds a bit silly but i want to have a few seasons to build and grow and get used to playing in europe and the league before we take a crack at the big boys.

So with one of the biggest failures in recent years being transfers and buying poorly i was determined to make sure that this did not happen under my reign once more. Now this is where things for me have been really really really challenging this year. Each player who i had a bid accepted for demanded a bumper pay rise as well as being allowed to use the club as a stepping stone. I didnt want to sell my club short by allowing players to use us as a stepping stone to bigger clubs but at this point i cant argue with them. Realistically whos looking forward to mid table safety each year with the odd drama of a relegation battle. So i gave in and agreed however thats not all these mercenaries wanted. Each player wanted close to 100K per week, regardless of their clubs stature or their own ability they wanted a bumper pay increase and some of that new premier league money. With us not being able to attract or afford the higher level of player i tried to sign some younger players from clubs around Europe but with no promise of European football and not giving into their extortionate wage demands they werent really willing to join us just yet.

So with that being said we had to move on and change our transfer stratergy. We decided to raid two of the recently promoted teams best players. Lets have a look at two of those in a bit more detail.


Andre Gray

Having scored 24 Goals last season for Burnley he started having his named mentioned as one of the futures of English football, Pacey, strong, good in the air and great in front of goal however an ill fated spell on social media during his younger days has stalled his premier league career having recieved a lengthy ban. However with sunderland only having two recognised strikers at the club, sunderland needed another younger more agile striker. Defoe will be a great tutor for Gray and will allow him to learn and grow over the next few seasons and Anichebe will give us another option up front a big target man.

Andrew Robertson

Now i appreciate that left back may not be the biggest problem area within Sunderland but to me it is one of the most vital positions within the team. I appreciate that we may need better centre backs or to even strengthen our midfield but at the minute PVA is more of a left winger playing left back than an actual left back. With Robertson coming in he gives us a bit more defensive stability aswell as real quality from wide areas. Also this gives us a bit more flexibility in terms of moving PVA further up the pitch, i really think he can give us some real quality and pace on the left wing.

Other Transfers In
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We then also brought in a few youngsters to help improve our existing younger players. Symon Walczak was brought in on a free transfer and will immedietley go into the youth side to improve on what we have, we then brought in Nemanja Mihajlovic from Partizan Belgrade who can hopefully be this years Zivkovic, however he was unable to obtain a work permit but we can do without him for a few months and i will try to get him moved out on loan. We also then signed Rade Krunic on loan from Empoli, he was a young lad and is certainly worth having a better look at during the course of the season. We also then signed Luca antei for a cut price of 1.5 Million, having managed Sassuolo a few years ago i was suprised to see him on the transfer list, hes still very young at 24 and offers us extra competition for places

Outgoings -

We immediately let Mcnair and Djilobodji leave the club. Now i know on football manager there probably very decent players with McNair looking like he could be particularly good this year and Djilobodji looking decent as a starting centre back but their real life performances this year have meant that i did not have any patience or time for them and needed rid of them immedieatly. Djilibodjis transfer is one that completely baffles me, he was signed for for 3 milion by Chelsea, never played game for them then was sold to Sunderland for 8 Million. I dont understand how that can happen ever. His performances have been terrible this year so hes gone. McNair is a victim of circumstance. Its not his fault that Moyes signed him instead of Mvila in the summer or that Moyes seems him as a midfielder or attacking midfielder when he was an defender at united but he just hasnt cut it for me in real life so again he is gone.

Formation Talk

We dont really have many out and out wingers or much pace out wide with Januzaj and Khazri our two best wingers not having much explosive power or pace, both men are great on the ball and to me look like they would be better in a central formation, as would Lynden Gooch who has been a real starlet this season for Sunderland. So weve went for quite an attacking formation with 3 attacking midfielders behind our loan striker. I dont believe were strong enough in defence to hold off teams and get 1-0 results i just dont think were capabale of it. Our best players are all in attacking areas so ive decided to lean heavily into that and adapt an attacking formation to try and simply outscore the oppostion. As a sunderland fan weve had too many years of boring football without any excitment. So ive decided to turn things up a bit and get us scoring again hopefully. Which can be seen in our first two results below.

So to truly understand my undying love for Sunderland you need to understand the rocky start our relationship had.

When I started getting into football there wasn’t a Sunderland presence in Northern Ireland. Most football fans supported Liverpool or Manchester United. The rest were split between Celtic and Rangers due to cultural backgrounds but that’s for another time.

The only time I ever heard about Sunderland was from my own living room on a Saturday morning. When my dad would religiously watch for the Sunderland results regardless of good bad or ugly.

My first ever memory of a Sunderland match was not a great one. The first division play off final in 1998 Sunderland and Charlton had just played out an absolute footballing classic resulting in a 4-4 draw.

The match had went to penalties and was at deadlock at 6 penalties scored each. Then up steps Michael Gray one of the best left backs and players to ever play for Sunderland to take the penalty. My dads on the edge of his seat, certain Gray will score. He misses. The tv remote bounced off the wall and there was no football in the house for the rest of that year.

So we didn’t get off to the best of starts but that didn’t put me off, seing Quinn and Phillips together was a joy to behold. As I was growing up Sunderland were doing well and had consecutive finishes at 7th in the league but Sunderland being Sunderland bought poorly and couldn’t capitalise on that early 2000 success.

Then as I hit my teens I started to get a taste for football and watching on a screen wasn’t good enough anymore. With a birthday in July my big wish was to get to go to a match. The following season and with Sunderland being recently promoted things looked good.

October 29th 2006 I fly over to Newcastle airport, filled with glee and a sense of optimism. Hoping that I’ll be able to watch my struggling heroes pull a result out of the bag. Just for me because I’ve saved all of my birthday money to come and watch them this once. That wasn’t the story unfortunately. Portsmouth who were a decent side back then, hammered us 4-1 with Matty Taylor scoring an absolute worldie from 40 yards out.

Home I went disappointed but somehow even more infatuated with the black cats, the atmosphere of the stadium, the noise of the crowd. The taste of a steak pie at half time, everything drew me in.

With Christmas around the corner my next big wish was to go to a derby match. Yet again I was young and naive. Not realising we were a really poor side this year I thought again we could win this one just for me. Yet again we got beat. And yea again it was 4-1.

But this time more than ever my love grew ten fold. The atmosphere at a derby match is unlike anything you’ve ever seen in your life. Before the match your treated like family by everyone around you. The songs the fans sing before kick off are like those tribes sing the eve before a war. Everyone is chomping at the bit. Then comes the music. Dance of the Knights. Every time I hear that song I get tingles up my spine. The stadium erupts with a battle cry that would make the hardest of soldiers stop in his tracks. The fans are carrying the players through the game making them seemingly play better because of their support.

The players showed real passion and you could tell wanted to better on that day. But ultimately we fell short and three goals in 6 minutes consigned us too defeat.

Yet again on the way home I hummed dance of the Knights for 24 hours straight. In the shower I sang the songs about Dyer and Shearer. On the football pitch I imagined myself scoring the winner in a derby. I was infatuated.

I’ve been over to watch the lads a few more times since then and to be honest the last 4 times have been the best. My old man hadn’t been able to get over as often as he’d liked over the years so once I was earning enough I got us two tickets and flights for a derby match. That was the start of the best run in derbies we’ve ever had but that’s for another article. We haven’t seen Sunderland beaten in the last five matches we’ve been too so the first few matches of torment have been evened out you could say.

That is why i truly madly deeply love Sunderland. Now that is an extract from a piece that i wrote for a Sunderland fan site and i think it was the perfect introduction and insight to why i haven't chosen to manage Sunderland but more of why i feel compelled to manage them.

Next update will include tactics and transfer targets!!

Sooooooooooo For the new season this update will be solely nominated to transfers. Holy shit we spent an absolute fortune!!!! We also got a lot in and what it doesn't show is that we got a huge amount of wages of our wage bill and managed to bring in better players for lower amounts. So lets break this down player by player. Warning there will be a lot of video tributes in this update.

We brought in Lucas Digne who was once one of the brightest young players in europe then went to PSG where it really hasn't worked out for him as of yet with him being loaned out too Roma in real life this season, i really needed a first choice left back, Van Aanholt was a liability and Sellin was like a poor version of ivanovic. So hopefully a great young left back who can really push us forward.

We also brought in Jefferson Montero from Swansea for quite cheap it doesn't seem like he has quite reached the heights in the game like he has in real life however he will be a great back up for us and his pace and dribbling is well suited for the premier league.

We then broke the bank to bring back Rafinha, I'm not going to lie he wasn't our first choice as Barcelona were so stuck on their asking price and i seen Douglas Costa was transfer listed for 3 million however Arsenal snapped him up which lead to us re igniting our love for Rafinha, the fee looks a lot but there are a lot of different clauses however he will really give us some additional class that we needed in the central attacking midfield role.

Then there was the two loan signings we brought in Andre Wisdom as back up for centre back and right back, young english athletic and has premier league quality. Then Moses was brought in, as with our infinite wisdom we didn't realise Montero's work permit was rejected and didn't have the back up we needed in the wide positions, So moses has been brought in as a short term replacement a saviour if you will like his name sake.

Then we wanted to bring in Yann M'Villa but Rubin wanted too much for him and he wanted to much wages, i loved him last season and in real life he's been a touch of class for us, we then seen that Stambouli was on the transfer list and to be fair he has some great stats and wasn't given the right chances at spurs and he wasn't going to be able to replace Veratti or Matuidi in PSG's starting 11.


So first of all we brought in Gylfi Sigurdsson from relegated Swansea, in previous saves he's gone on to be a top player at some top clubs around europe, he's everything i needed in my playmaker central midfield role, a great passer, great technique and great shooting. For those of you who love a screamer watch the video below.


Then we have the biggest signing our club has ever seen......

MARIO BALOTELLI... Im just gonna leave this hear.


Then we brought in all this new attacking talent and a few back defenders to help sure up our defence, and i thought to myself that a lot of our goals last season were not from bad defending but bad goalkeeping, now in real life Pantillimon has been one bright star in our club and will one day have an 8 foot tall statue outside the Stadium Of Light in his own old. We then brought in Ron-Robert Zieler who is one of a few great german goalkeepers coming through at the minute and will be our star keeper for years to come.

SOOOO As with any save that we've all done and started to upload, you get into the game and play way ahead without even considering updating your story as your convinced you can handle that later but of course you can't as your too addicted to stop so I'm going to give a 1st full season update then do 6 month updates to allow me to further feed my addiction.

So first thing then is where we finished in the league, we finished a really respectable 8th which we could only dream of in the real world, we could have finished higher if we had taken our chances in a few matches but again we could have finished a lot lower if other teams took their chances, yes its quite obvious both of those things could have happened but thats the height of in depth analysis i can come up with right now. Great to see we had the most goals scored outside of the top 3 but one of the highest goals against records, so null and void. Neither me or none of my players won any individual end of year awards so nothing to show just yet.


Here are our final incoming and outgoings including January's transfers, throughout the season i found us being over run in midfield as we couldn't pass effectively enough and we never really had any player nail down the attacking midfielder role, whichever player filled the role didn't make enough assists or score enough goals so we brought in Rafinha on loan as he is a great talent and comes from a great footballing family with Thiago Alacantra of Bayern Munich being his brother, he could really make this role his own and bring us to a great finish for the end of the season. We brought in Besic on loan as we needed a defensive minded midfielder who could move the ball and finally Benat was on the transfer list and i really rate him in real life and having played an Athletic save he was a great ball playing midfielder, so all players improved where we needed and pushed us on.


And finally Inisgne won our player of the year which he more than deserved he really is a top quality player which was proven in the following window with us receiving bids from Milan,Man City, Man Utd, PSG and a few other big european clubs, I've decided to make him my club captain for the next year and offer a new contract without any release clause as his current one had a 25 million clause for clubs in the champions league. He really is going to be the player we build our team around.

The less said about the 7 goals the better