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#271389 Celtic: The Revival
seannn
In cup competitions we wrapped up the League Cup and put CSKA to the sword before Schalke knocked us out in the last 16. As for the league we extended our lead at the top to 10 points. And could secure the titles if results go our way in the next round of fixtures.
I finally got the good news that I could expand the scouting network and could hire more scouts. I brought in scouts to cover central Africa and South America. This has taken my world knowledge to 33% and climbing.
This is the stage of the season where I evaluate my squad. Looking toward next season, who will be here, who won’t. Who is returning from loan and who will be heading straight back out. I have a good idea who I will move on and who I promote so some squad changes will be made over the final fixtures.
#271340 Celtic: The Revival
seannn
Anyway in the summer I'm looking to bring in another centre back as Jason Denayer and Virgil Van Dijk will probably go. A striker clear out is also due so maybe one more in would help. Preferably someone with a bit of pace to give me another option. Looking further into the future I will need a long term replacement for Scott Brown.
Scouting will be a big part of my plans, right now I have 10 scouts and 25% knowledge. The goal is to reach 50%, as soon as I can sign some more scouts I will.
As I mentioned earlier I will follow the 'Moneybag' strategy, meaning I will probably lose a host of players along the way. In a nut shell every bid over £10 million needs to be accepted and most bids over £5/6 million will be considered. I think I'll have a wage cap of £30k p/w, with one short term exception of £50k p/w. However the marquee signing will have to be a free transfer or nominal fee and no longer than a two year deal.
#271338 Celtic: The Revival
seannn
First thing I done when I took over the club was bring in some of my own staff. This improved the coaching set up massively, but still room for improvement. The scouting set up was poor, only really had knowledge of the UK and Ireland sitting at about 15% I think. With a few additions I boosted that up to 25%. Again when I can bring in more scouts I will.
It took a while to claim the top spot after a few slip ups. St Johnstone have been a bogey team so far, holding us to 1-1 draws on both occasions so far. Despite all the slip ups, our goal difference is incredible. So far we have scored 2.6 goals/game and only conceded 0.7 goals/game. We managed some big results against Dundee and Ross County putting 4 or 5 past them. With 14 fixtures to go I am aiming to hit 90 points and 90 goals scored.
November - January Results
The European campaign got off to a bumpy start (much like real life). We strolled past Levadia and Slovan Bratislava (10-0 on aggregate!) then mysteriously lost on away goals to Macabi Tel Aviv. However we bounced back and qualified from a very tough group finishing above both Everton and Leverkusen. Up next is a trip to Russia to face CSKA.
On the transfer front I brought in a few players in January (transfer budgets disabled in the first window) . Graeme Shinnie came in as we were desperate for another left back, Emilio Izaguirre has played the most games this season after Craig Gordon. Alexander Lund Hansen was brought in when Gordon was injured an Lukasz Zaluska conceded 4 against Leverkusen and 2 against Aberdeen and Dumbarton. Finally Dedryck Boyata came in to replace Efe Ambrose who was unhappy when I rejected a £3 million bid from Benfica.
#271337 Celtic: The Revival
seannn
With Ronny Deila at the helm I am confident that we can become overachievers. I will play the game with his ethos. Picking up young, sometimes unappreciated talent and turning them into quality players. To do this I will have around £5 million to spend and just shy of £20 million in the bank. I have a decent squad at my disposal, but we are a few players short of a great (considering the above circumstances) squad. I will try to play the game as realistic as possible. That means accepting the inevitable £10 million plus bid for Virgil van Dijk.
As for tactics I was tempted to just follow Ronny's example and go for the 4-2-3-1, however with the players at my disposal for this season at least I will use a 4-4-2/4-2-4.
The general idea of the system is to offer different means of attack from either side. Emilio Izaguirre (CWB - A) and James Forrest (winger - S) giving us width and sticking to the touchline. Stefan Johnson (AP - A) and Anthony Stokes (false 9) utilising the space behind Leigh Griffiths (advanced forward) and Scott Brown (BWM - D) holding things together in the middle.
#270958 Ballack's Back
seannn
I have no idea what happened. I just couldn't get things to work, hopefully next season will be better.
All the players sold were transfer listed excluding Hakan Calhanoglu, he had a fantastic season with 15 goals and 11 assists. I knew rejecting Inter’s bid would have left him unhappy so I negotiated a pretty good deal including 30% of any profit they make. Not much to mention on the other sales other than they were all just squad players, only one of them was German.
I manage to pick out a few bargains IMO. Thorgan Hazard, Asmir Begovic and Javier Hernandez will all play a part this season, however the crown jewel is Theo Walcott. Max Meyer was loaned in so that I can try and convince him to sign, same deal with Jason Denayer. I only paid a transfer fee for two players, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returns to the Bundesliga after his exchance with Roma and new record signing Leon Goretzka is a direct replacement for Calhanoglu.
Goals for the 2016/17 season
- Champions League qualification
- DFB-Pokal semi final
- Europa League last 32
#269582 Ballack's Back
seannn
#269581 Ballack's Back
seannn
#269578 Ballack's Back
seannn
#267474 Ballack's Back
seannn
Bringing players in it almost got the stage I was willing to overpay for German players. I instead dipped into the English loan market and found some players who will do for now on much cheaper deals. Javier Hernandez – who’s contract is up at the end of the season – joins until the end of the season, I am hoping for at least a goal every other game from him. Then came Aiden McGeady from Everton to offer something else on the right wing. Finally I found a decent German player at a bargain price in Lasse Sobiech.
I even managed to sign a couple players on pre-contract, a marquee signing too.
#267416 Ballack's Back
seannn
Yeah it DID haha, didn't manage to keep it up the following months however.
#266755 Ballack's Back
seannn
#266746 Ballack's Back
seannn
Aye it was a great result, especially being one-nil down.
#266484 Ballack's Back
seannn
#266479 Ballack's Back
seannn
Cheers lads, aye Richards could turn out to be a bargain. The guy is a machine, exactly the type of defenders I want.
I also want to end up with a German player in every position. So over the next year I will only bring in one central European and one from the rest of the world, all of the others will be German. The plan is also take have a net spend of less than £1 million per season.
So in summary:
1. German players, then central European and then RoW.
2. Be able to line up a full German XI
3. Net spend of less than £1 million
4. Unhappy players will be allowed to leave
5. Players won't be offered out (excluding loans)
I brought in one last signing, Jason Denayer joined on loan from Man City. His contract is up at the end of the season and is a real talent so hopefully I can tie him down as he fits with my transfer strategy. So I think I have had a pretty good transfer window, the squad is definitely stronger then the one I inherited.
#266357 Ballack's Back
seannn
I brought in one more player and I reckon that will be me for this window, unless I need to sell. Right back Micah Richards joined on a free and is the perfect example of a 'moneyball' singing - a free transfer that had huge potential and no one wants. It also brings a better balance to the squad as I had three left backs and just one left back, Kostas Stafylidis has been loaned out.
#266353 Ballack's Back
seannn
The squad was missing a 3rd striker, this is where Duvan Zapata comes in. At 24 the guy is a machine and potential long term replacement for Stefan Kiebling. He was on the transfer list at Napoli so I was able to pick him up at a bargain price. Eder Alvarez Balanta - boring signing I know - was my only signing from a non-Europan club. When Phillipp Wolischeld handed in a transfer request I had no choice but to look for another centre back and Balanta was the same mould. Pavel Savitskly also came in on a free but was loaned out for the season.
All these transfers leave me with a squad of 24 - ideal squad size 25 - that I am happy with and more importantly confident can't at least qualify for the Europa League. From now on I will follow the 'moneyball' rules, not to the letter but for the most part and at a squad size of 25 operate a one-in-one-out policy. If I look to strengthen any position in the near future it will be either right back or the right wing.
#266348 Ballack's Back
seannn
#266343 Ballack's Back
seannn
"The best tip I read somewhere was to look at the natural position of your stars and plug them into the tactics screen one by one. From there you would be able to find a basic formation."
Now it seems obvious but this isn't something I have ever really done. I have always went in with the mindset this is the formation I will play and the players will have to adjust. So I knew I wanted to play some variation of the classic 4-1-4-1, thankfully the squad allowed the with some slight adjustments to allow my key players in the natural positions.
This is what I have at the moment. I have and idea of the other roles for the other positions but I will leave it open until the end of the transfer window. As you can see, no defenders. Thats because based on last seasons performances I don't really see any of them as key players yet. In the midfield I don't feel like I have the right winger or a workhouse. Lars Bender and Stefan Kiebling are causing me an issue too as Bender is making noises about a move to Real Madrid and Kiebling is 31 so a long term replacement will be needed.
#266284 Ballack's Back
seannn
#266280 Ballack's Back
seannn
#266274 Ballack's Back
seannn
On another not of our 50 league Stefan Kiebling, incredibly, scored 26 of them. He will be vital for us this season. Son Heung-Min who was sold to Real Madrid in January only managed 2 goals in 14, a great piece of business at £27.5 million. However I have just over £5 million to spend this season.
#266267 Ballack's Back
seannn
#266263 Ballack's Back
seannn
They finished 10th in the league and manager Roger Schmidt was sacked. The obvious option in the Bundesliga would be Bayern who finished 6th incredibly. They also had poor European and domestic cup runs. They have a good squad but one that needs a bit of work if it is to ever win the league. I imagine I would have a few quid to spend as there net spend for the 2014/15 season was -£29.8 million.
7th place in Serie A, miles behind dominant Juventus and Roma. The squad is very weak, a mere shadow of the Milan sides I seen growing up (early 2000's). It would require a massive rebuild followed by gradual improvements. A quick glance at the first team and I see less than a handful of players I would keep long term. The prospect of developing a player like Hachim Mastour is also appealing.
Amazingly they are the only two I can pick out. Not many other sides really surprised me other than Southampton (16th) and Marsielle (7th).
#266246 Ballack's Back
seannn
League Loaded:
After the game has holidayed until 31st May 2015 I will post up my shortlist of 4 with a short summary. The only restriction on team selection I will impose on myself is they cannot be a side I have managed before.
#262200 The (not so) Invincible's
seannn
Well I'm glad that season is over. From a great start and chance of the title going into 2015, but fucked it up with a poor run of form through February/March. I have big plans for the summer, a lot of players will leave. Some of them you can see above, (I saved that picture when I thought we finished 4th ha!)
#262189 The (not so) Invincible's
seannn
#261631 Celtic
seannn
#261523 The (not so) Invincible's
seannn
"Give to Arsenal four top-class players and I think they will be the Invincible's again." - Jose Mourinho
This was on the back of comments from Thierry Henry that Arsenal need to strengthen the spine this summer, bringing in a keeper, centre-back, defensive midfielder and a world class striker. I have already brought in Marquinhos and Sven Bender, who I believe solve two of these issues. A keeper (Iker Cassias linked in real life) and a forward is up next.
#261522 The (not so) Invincible's
seannn
It is fitting ha, my target for the season was 3rd anyway so if I can secure that I'll be happy.
#261265 The (not so) Invincible's
seannn