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Post by Ben on Nov 3, 2019 21:46:51 GMT
Preface:Tequila and Mariachi music. A city that sits 1500m above sea level and is home to 1.4 million people. That city is Guadalajara, located in the Jalisco state in central Mexico. It appears that Guadalajara has a rich history, but pre 1532, there wasn't much in the valleys of the subtropical country. Modern day Guadalajara seems to be awash with culture, cuisine and architecture and is home to four professional football teams: Chivas, Atlas, C.D Oro and Universidad de Guadalajara. The former is arguably the largest and most well-supported club in the country and the city has produced some of the countries best footballers - Chicarito Hernandez, Andres Guardado, Pavel Pardo and Rafael Marquez, to name a few. The name Guadalajara came from Cristóbal de Oñate, who named the city after the conqueror of western Mexico, Nuño de Guzmán, Nuño was originally a bodyguard for Charles V of Spain, and this is where our story begins. My FM save is not in this Guadalajara, but the city where the conqueror was born, of the same name, but in Spain. The same name - but certainly no other commonalities. A town of just over eighty thousand people located sixty miles north east of Madrid, in the region of Castilla- La Mancha. Originally inhabited by Andalusian's and part of Muslim Iberia, the original name Guadalajara means Valley of Stones but retaken by Christians in the 11th century and important part of the Spanish Revolution, it seems that the Spanish town has considerably more history than it's Mexican counterpart. Modern day Guadalajara seems to be part of new development plans and growth and, in the past ten years, has apparently grown into one of the most expensive provinces to live in. It also has the pleasure of being twinned with the luxurious Warwickshire town on Nuneaton. There is very little to note about culture and sport, except for one professional football club, C.D Guadalajara, and this is where my story starts.
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Post by Ben on Nov 3, 2019 22:06:34 GMT
Game BackgroundFirstly, CD Guadalajara aren't in a playable division from the off, so I've had to holiday a year. Part of my updates this year are going to focus on the development of the game world - so I'll do a pretty comprehensive run down of the 2019/20 season. Here is my game setup: A small database gives me about 60,000 players which should run pretty well on my laptop, even if it isn't the best. ---- 2019-20 A dominant season for Man City saw them win the league by twelve points over Liverpool, whilst Arsenal came in third followed, surprisingly by Bournemouth in fourth. Southampton, Brighton and Sheffield United went down and Sean Dyche, Dean Smith, Graham Potter, Roy Hodgson, Quique Sanchez Flores, Brendan Rodgers and Mauricio Pochettino all lost their jobs - with Southampton going one better, firing Ralph Hasenhuttl, hiring Marcelo Bielsa and then firing him once their relegation was confirmed. Huddersfield, Middlesbrough and Derby are the three teams to come into the Premier League for the 2020-21 season. In Spain, Atletico Madrid went unbeaten with 31 wins and finished on 100 points, some thirteen clear of Real Madrid. Valencia came third and Barcelona finished in a lowly fourth, some twenty-four points behind Atleti. Unsurprisingly, Valverde left at the end of the season but he was replaced, somewhat surprisingly, with Malaga manager Carlos Corberan. He'd led Malaga to second, and promotion, in Liga 123 last year, but certainly a surprising choice - hopefully linked to the club vision. He is a 3-5-2 man who likes to control possession but I know little else about him. At the other end of the table, Mallorca, Valladolid, and, surprisingly, Espanyol, were relegated to the second tier. PSG walked Ligue 1 with 100 points, finishing seventeen clear of Lyon, whilst Bayern finished nine clear of Dortmund, Juve eleven clear of Inter and Porto nine clear of Benfica. Sadly, there seems to be little surprise after the first year of these leagues but that may be down to good assessment of players by SI. I am hoping that there are developments as the save continues - particularly as this is the first time I'm running a setup with this amount of leagues from the start of a game. Valverde was probably saved from his early sacking thanks to his Barcelona side reaching the semi finals of the Champions League, but it was Real Madrid who triumphed over Liverpool in the final. Arsenal won the Europa League but it was CKSA Moscow who caused the biggest stir, reaching the semi finals. --- The summer transfer window, to date, has seen some massive moves. Virgil Van Dijk, finally escaping the shadow of Tyrone Mings, moves to PSG for £114m, whilst Dybala moves to Liverpool with £92m of that. Elsewhere, Coutinho makes his move to Bayern permanent, Icardi moves to PSG for £52m, Benfica sell Grimaldo, Ruben Dias, Rafa and Ferro for a combined £200m and, despite their relegation, Saints spend £22m on Santiago Ascacibar. The game date is now 9th July 2020. My work starts now.
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Post by Ben on Nov 3, 2019 22:26:35 GMT
The clubClub Deportivo Guadalajara, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Guadalajara, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1947 it currently plays in Segunda División B – Group 2, holding home matches at Estadio Pedro Escartín, with a capacity for 8,000 seats. Football Manager, on the other hand, disagrees. It states that we play in front of just 5,000 seats - of which I imagine most will be empty. Most of the club's history has been spent in the fourth tier of Spanish football but did reach the third tier in the mid 2000's and even had two years in the second tier between 2011 and 2013, finishing 16th with a 14/7/21 record and then 18th with a 12/14/16 record. Three years in the third tier before financial difficulties saw them relegated, although their finishing position of 17th would have relegated them anyway. Fourth, sixth and then fifteenth placed finishes followed in the fourth tier but, in the unknowns of my holiday season, they have been promoted. It is worth noting that, as of this date, they sit ninth in the Tercera Division Group 18 (Castilla-La Mancha) - which may reflect on the quality of their squad that I will inherit. Sadly, Wikipedia doesn't even have a section for 'Famous Players' which tells you something about the size of this club, with 63 of their 72 years spent deep in the depths of Spanish football. This club really is a project.
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Post by Ben on Nov 3, 2019 22:38:59 GMT
The boss
For those who have not followed my saves before - I like to add a memory, as it were, of old games. I normally select a player who has either performed really well for me, my captain or just a notable player and turn them into my new manager. In my Beira-Mar save, I used German Burgos, an Argentine Enganche from a spell I had a Barracas Central. In my San Marino save, I used Teles, a Brazilian/Portuguese winger who came through my academy at Beira-Mar and was sold to Dortmund for just over £30m, allowing us funds to improve our academy and start out push for league titles. This one is slightly different. I have chosen against using a youth prospect here. Instead, I have gone for full-back Dario Samaniego. For some context, my San Marino save started as youth only, but I branched out to sign some 'marquee' signings in order to attempt to resolve some issues I had with team personalities. Dario was the first of these to sign - in a £16m deal from Montpellier. He was an absolute legend at the club, spending seven years as first choice at left back before moving on to PSG and then to tycoon-led Dijon on free transfers, where he ended his career. I strongly believe that the signing of Dario was the first step towards really cementing the club as one of the biggest in the world. There are a few clues into how I plan to run this save - he's a Paraguayan national who was, in FM19, considered to be a M.Pro. He's young and untested in management and has a set tactical style as well a clear strength in his training styles.
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Post by swiftsure84 on Nov 4, 2019 1:21:39 GMT
Yes! A Ben save almost as soon as the BETA dropped! Expecting big things mate 😉 Looking forward to seeing what your goals/play style will be this time around.
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Post by jawzy on Nov 4, 2019 12:16:17 GMT
good to see you going with a long term project in the beta. Guess theres no bugs as you go further in the selection of leagues selected interesting choice of club. Are we employing any restrictions or free range on who you can sign. or we only seeking Mexicans and Spainish nationals given the clubs name and location. I am sure youth will play a massive part as it always does
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Post by Ben on Nov 4, 2019 17:57:02 GMT
Yes! A Ben save almost as soon as the BETA dropped! Expecting big things mate 😉 Looking forward to seeing what your goals/play style will be this time around. good to see you going with a long term project in the beta. Guess theres no bugs as you go further in the selection of leagues selected interesting choice of club. Are we employing any restrictions or free range on who you can sign. or we only seeking Mexicans and Spainish nationals given the clubs name and location. I am sure youth will play a massive part as it always does Thanks both! I'm hoping for no issues but, unfortunately, I only really encountered any issues at Beira-Mar, my last save that started on a beta, once I'd got 20 seasons in. Jawzy - that's a pretty good guess! I'm going to do a full post on what I want from my save over the next couple of days. I've literally pressed continue a couple of times to go past my welcome interview and put an advert out for an Assistant Manager so I can't wait to actually get stuck in!
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Post by Ben on Nov 4, 2019 18:18:20 GMT
In game nuances:
Over the past couple of editions, I've grown some different ways of approaching my save which make them a little more immersive for me. I thought that I'd create a short post to outline them now rather than introduce them as the save goes on. 1. Screen FlowI'm a huge fan of this screen and it gives me a little bit more information as the leagues progress. I don't have any of the other regional divisions nor the Liga 2 at this point in the game, similarly to any of the European competitions but I may add them in the future, along with transfer rumours and player statistics, when my analysis becomes more in depth. I'm hoping that this will assist in the immersive updates around the evolving game world, as that is one thing I tend to forget stuck away in the depths of the third tier. 2. Attribute Bars
Not quite the same as last year - as it seems the coding has changed but, thanks to shrewnaldo on Twitter and @wkdsoul (I think!) I have managed to sneak in and grab this download. I spoke with Shrew at the end of FM19 about this way of playing the game moving forward and we both shared a very similar outlook. Each colour represents a group of attributes - white: 0-4, light green: 5-9, dark green: 10-14 and gold 15-20. I really think that this is the most realistic way of playing - look above, Kevin De Bruyne is an outstanding/world class/incredible (insert another adjective here) passer of the ball yet, as you'd expect, is heading is below average/poor/weak. I feel that a real football manager would utilise this information rather than just a 'score' out of 20. The added difference this year is that, with no attribute bars, and actually just the font colour of the number matching the box behind it - it is even harder to distinguish the value within it. Last year I began to be able to tell the difference between a 5 and a 9, for example. But this time, I cannot. 3. Player position coloursAs a huge fan of versatility, I have decided to change the colouring slightly. I have found literally no difference between accomplished and natural on the pitch - so have coloured them the same. It means that, even if just a placebo effect, I feel that I have a more versatile squad. I have also changed competent and unconvincing to the same colour as they both neither show up on the player position indicator but both offer a 'role' for that position, given by the assistant manager. 4. Player CA and PA starsI have, historically, not been a fan of these, at all. Firstly, I want to use my own judgement about attributes and performances on the pitch and I also dislike how the stars appear when you are a really big team - I feel it's too hard to ignore your 5* prospect over your world class record goalscorer and club captain, valued at £70m+ but, annoyingly, only given 3* and as such, no media attention. It seems that they are a bit more hardcoded this year - with the 'Progress' screen that looks like it tracks their PA star development and the Youth Intake screen (I haven't reached one yet, just seen screenshots) that seems to be stuck and not filterable. Therefore I won't be removing them, I just pay little attention to them! --- I am sure there are more so I may come back to edit this as time goes on.
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Post by Ben on Nov 5, 2019 21:53:30 GMT
TakeoverWe are off! To put it bluntly, we're not expected to do much. This, of course, differs from my own club vision and club culture, of which I'll be detailing shortly.
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Post by Robson on Nov 8, 2019 8:14:06 GMT
The boss
Always good to see a healthy chap, good complexion, bright-eyed. I see you are setting off early Ben with Super Dario. Good luck buddy.
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Post by Ben on Nov 8, 2019 21:33:46 GMT
Save GoalsHonour the PastGuadalajara, as a town, has a lot of history. Going back to it's part of Iberian dynasties and conquests, through to providing people who explored the new world. This save will embody that - my player focus will be on both local players, from Guadalajara, Castille-La Mancha and the nearby Madrid as well as Mexico, where Nuño de Guzmán ventured all of those years ago. The Mexicans also place a huge importance on remembering their dead - Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is an important tradition to this day. I won't, and can't, quite take it that far, but I do want to honour those who are no longer with the club, tracking their career moves as they develop, but also pay special consideration to giving those who won't ever quite make it here a path to remain in professional football. - Spanish or Mexican players, where possible. However, this is not completely exclusive. - Pick up local players who haven't made the cut at larger clubs to develop them. - Favour of own academy products and bringing back returning players where possible. - Develop coaching roles for older players at the club, particularly Spanish or Mexican. - Track the progress of players who are no longer at the club. - Provide an opportunity for every single player at the club, particularly those who arrive through the youth academy, to develop. Create the presentAs a club, I want CD Guadalajara to be known, nation-wide, continent-wide and world-wide. I want the football to be played to the beat of the Mariachi music that has influenced the namesake city in Mexico. I want the purple wall of fans to create a fortress - home advantage needs to be home advantage for this club. I want to develop a professional, happy squad who are versatile in their positioning and are willing to put their bodies on the lines for each other - friends and comrades. - High tempo, short pass/move football. - Develop a playing staff who excel in technical attributes - first touch, passing, technique and mental attributes - positioning, off the ball, work rate. - Attempt to win a majority of home matches and remain tight on the road. - Develop a highly professional squad personality through mentoring - Focus on training players in a wide range of positions and roles - Develop strong links between the squad, through consistency across seasons and through the academy from a young age. Prepare for the futureThe club will invest within itself to become profitable and have the ability to grow. Money will be invested in staff and these staff will develop through the club, hopefully moving into management positions of their own. A playing pathway will be developed as well as an in depth training plan for each and every youngster at the club. Scouting and transfers will be methodical and strategically planned, two to three windows in advance in order to minimise misspent money and ensure quality players are purchased. Finances, including wages and transfer fees, will be closely monitored in order to ensure that the club is consistently turning a profit. The club will look to create links with other teams so that the Guadalajara brand, through its playing staff, can be spread continent and world-wide. - Focus on youth development - either strategically signed or through the academy. - Scouting and analysis focus. - Track progress for youth squads and develop own training regimes for both squads. - Enforce a wage cap and attempt to always spend less than we receive.
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Post by Ben on Nov 8, 2019 21:42:16 GMT
Backroom Staff
Whilst the majority of these staff will not be with me in five years - I still felt that it was important to impart my tactical style and fundamentals of the game and save upon them at this early stage. I had no staff, at all, when I took over so have worked hard to fill them. I will not be using the staff search screen in this save and, as such, all of these players came through adverts or were recommended to me as my backroom team grew and attended meetings. There isn't really a lot of note here, except for ex-Liverpool and Villareal physio Ruben Pons agreeing to join us. I need to focus on a strong medical squad as I know I'll be running with a very small squad that needs to remain injury free, or, at least, return from injury as quick as possible. This sets us up pretty well when compared to the rest of the league:
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Post by Ben on Nov 8, 2019 22:07:43 GMT
Season One PreviewAs I finally get chance to sit down and play some FM this evening, I head into the first season (2020/21) with some optimism. Last month, we turned a near £400k profit, but we did make £450k from season ticket sales. Obviously, we'e had no fixtures for gate receipts so it's hard for me to accurately predict any kind of financial figures that may allow me to strengthen my squad. However, strengthen I must as the squad had a mere ten or so senior players. It is my intent to intensively scout and analyse players before I sign them, but, with no ability to plan transfer windows ahead, not a single player in the youth side and no historical staff at the club to make accurate recommendations, I have had to buck that trend somewhat and rely solely on trials and quick scouting missions - all with the worry that this may cause us to complete haemorrhage money. The above players were the only players at the club I deemed good enough and, after placing them in roles and positions where I feel they can best fulfil my tactically style of high tempo short passing, I was left with some areas to scout for. My threadbare team of scouts, joined with a strange appointment of a Player/DoF, Bruno Herrero, who was initially alerted to my advert but has since turned out to be a really solid midfielder, even if he goes against the boards want to sign youngsters. Below is the full run down of signings: Antonio Sola joins after his release from Barcelona B, although he spent last season in their U18 squad with 3 assists from 18 games with an AR or 7.07. He brings typical Barcelona attributes, good technique, first touch, passing and mental attributes. Bare in mind that the dark green signifies what I would say is good for La Liga (10-14) - I think that he is an absolute steal, even if he's very one footed. Tiago Rodriguez was known to my backroom team as one of them was poached from UD Ourense and, despite also being very one footed, looks a very well rounded player who hopefully has potential left to grow into. Javi Sanchez and Javi Hernandez both move down the road from the Real Madrid Castilla side and, sadly, both are far too good to be here so I don't really know how I managed to get them so cheap. They will form my centre-back pairing as both are really comfortable on the ball but also good enough, even if the latter is on the short side. Lastly, some experience was needed and Sergio Arenas came to fill that void. We are very early into this save, in fact, I haven't even played the first friendly yet, but I have a good idea of the first XI. We lack depth but I am loathed to spend too much as we cannot become unsustainable financially. The rest of the first team are as follows: - Miguel Garcia - Fernando Domenech - Cabo - Jony - Guillermo Atance - Edgar--- Goals for the season:- Stay up. - Develop the younger players, particularly Tiago Rodriguez and Antonio Sola. - Finish the season with a positive bank balance (currently at +£500k)
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Post by Ben on Nov 9, 2019 9:13:40 GMT
Pre-season ReviewThis could have gone slightly better, if I'm honest. However, with six new faces trying to bed themselves into the first team and me being quite blissfully unaware of the quality of other teams - I can't complain too much. We are all in good shape for the season ahead even if our morale isn't fantastic. I have settled on quite a basic 4-4-1-1 shape with a few instructions. The tactical ideology is in its primitive phases right now and I can only continue to build upon that if we can stay competitive, so adjustments need to be made to create a winning style rather than a 'going down with good football' style!
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Post by Ben on Nov 10, 2019 17:15:20 GMT
August/September 2020
I must say that I am completely shocked at this period of time and the results that we have achieved, as we simply haven't been very good! Sociedad's B side parked the bus against us and Edgar, our only striker with any real quality, was able to pounce on a couple of chances. Whilst we have at least looked promising going forward, we've also looked very vulnerable at the back and Izarra and UE Olot were able to pounce on that, simply playing through us. We'll also take time to adjust to our more intensive pressing and, as a result, we are look tired and inviting pressure later in the games. I certainly don't expect this league position to last! There are, as expected, some early worries - such as the lack of positive personalities impacting player development; with only Sola and Rodrigues, both brought in by me actually doing anything positive off the game pitch. There are then issues with my lack of respect within the squad, as any new manager would face. This is evident when I'm trying to come down harder on the players for their poor performances and bad attitudes - but hopefully this will change as my tenure extends. However - despite these worries, the board and fans are pretty happy:
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Post by Ben on Nov 10, 2019 19:36:07 GMT
Mentoring?
But there is nobody in a mentoring group... Or anybody with this trait at the club... And Jony is a winger so this is a useless trait...
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Post by Ben on Nov 10, 2019 21:22:22 GMT
October/November 2020More like what I was expecting at the start of the season! The past two months haven't been the most fun on the touchline and I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs through games, both through a lack of ability within my squad to change a game and a lack of players within my squad to change the game. Never the less - we are actually unbeaten at home, picking up six points from a possible twelve. Our home record this season actually sees us in 7th place, whereas on the road, we are slightly lower, in 13th. Scoring goals is a clear issue here - with Edgar averaging a goal every 446 minutes, nearly five games. Teams at this level are generally quite defensive and we are lacking that cutting edge - possibly down to our style of play and the gap between the midfield in the 4141 and 4411 that we play but also due to the lack of ability for our strikers, who are more natural poachers rather than runners or creators, which is the end goal. --- The board are still happy overall and I'm currently on a B rating - whatever that means! I'm looking forward to having some depth with, hopefully, some decent youth prospects coming through. My scouting, at this point, isn't really coming up with anything that I am truly interested in - but I guess that I have to make allowances with personalities, determination and 'rounded-ness' at this level.
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Post by jawzy on Nov 11, 2019 12:23:33 GMT
Would you ever sign a greyed out player justy to add depth, they usually cheap on the wage front, might get lucky and get a player that out performs there attributes
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Post by Ben on Nov 12, 2019 22:43:18 GMT
Would you ever sign a greyed out player justy to add depth, they usually cheap on the wage front, might get lucky and get a player that out performs there attributes First year is the hardest but I reckon I'll survive until the youth intake comes through! I have done in the past though.
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Post by Ben on Nov 12, 2019 22:44:52 GMT
Youth Intake PreviewI really like this new feature, and it'll give me a good chance to strengthen for the future and plan ahead of time. Below is the early depth chart and it shows the full squad, including development players - proof that we need a bit of depth!
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Post by Ben on Nov 12, 2019 22:58:25 GMT
Brexit
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Post by Ben on Nov 13, 2019 23:09:35 GMT
December 2020/January 2021We are keeping up our solid home for with just the solitary league defeat at our patch as well as a hard-fought tie against high-flying second tier Gijon. We finally, well, I say we but I mean winger Domenech, found some scoring form at the end of January and an important four points move us further away from the drop zone. Following the report about our upcoming youth intake, combined with the scouting that has been happening - young, good personality, versatile, and, at this stage probably Spanish, I have spent some money to strengthen the current squad and bring someone in with an eye on the future. Iosu joins for £3.5k from Hercules, with me opting to try and sign him before his contract became unprotected and other clubs would join in. He made 14 appearances at the same level that we currently play at and I am impressed with what I can see for a youngster. Good marking and passing, combined with decisions and work rate and an incredibly physical player for his age. He's a little short for a centre back so I'm thinking of a more defensive minded full back - which is good as there is little to note in that area. He's incredibly determined and professional, versatile and my staff believe he can improve a lot in the future. I am offering him some game time as a 'breakthrough prospect' this year but I think he could be a fully-fledged member by the age of 17. Despite having a striker who is potentially pretty good coming through the academy - I stumped up the massive £1.6k to sign Felix Rangel from Merida. He's a little more raw than Fernandez but is a good finisher, has a good first touch and technique and works hard. His aggression, combined with his good stamina means that he can be the first line of defence for us. Lacking in concentration and a bit poor balance wise, he's got some developing to do so but great determination and a Driven personality, with no other markers, means I'm excited with what I see. I think his average passing will be a focus in order to turn him into more of a creative force, maybe a False 9 kind of player, given his good flair and decent vision. --- The board are happy and obviously a little concerned with the performances of some of my attacking players - a given considering our form in front of goal!
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Post by Ben on Nov 14, 2019 19:09:07 GMT
Board TakeoverSurprising board takeover in which I was a little concerned, especially with the 'consortium' and how they normally pump funds in to the club. This one has not done that! They are wanting a little more ambition than the last board, wanting us to be top half in five years rather than just in the division. I most like their focus on signing younger players and also keeping those first team players at the club for a long time - certainly an aim of mine.
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Post by Ben on Nov 14, 2019 19:25:40 GMT
February/March 2021A rough couple of months with my biggest defeat as manager - although I'll take that in a few years if and when we are facing the might of Barca and Real. In fairness, the game was largely even and they were surprisingly efficient and lethal for a team of their stature, within the game and league. Our home form is still much stronger and we actually sit 5th when judging our form at the Pedro Escartin but we have struggled away from home once again. We should be safe from relegation with six games left and hopefully we can secure our place over the next few games so I can begin to look ahead.
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Post by Ben on Nov 14, 2019 21:00:58 GMT
2021 Youth IntakeAs of now, we have average training facilities with basic youth facilities but good junior coaching and excellent youth recruitment. With that, here's my first intake: After seeing screenshots of other people's intakes - I got the impression that I couldn't remove the ability and potential stars from this screen, which led me to change my thoughts on the development of this save somewhat. It turns out I can and, at this level anyway, I'm not paying a huge amount of interest in them - using them as a tool to sort them at present. --- I'm really happy with this intake, to be fair. We've got three standout players and then several others who may well be suitable for some first team depth as time goes on. Firstly, there is Gregorio Martin - a well rounded, if not amazing, central midfielder. He's got a good personality and, in particular, a good footballing brain for his age. He's a little on the small side and is one-footed, which I'll look to develop but good first touch and passing bodes well for my style of play. As of now, he's going to be trained as a CM(s) because it hits a good amount of his attributes that I want developing. He'll get a bit of football, from the bench, in the next year or so, too. Julian Munoz is a promising goalkeeper who could usurp my number one, and continual poor trainer, Sergio Arenas, quite soon. Good reflexes and handling may offset his poor anticipation but his technical ability doesn't fill me with delight for our tactical style of being able to play out from the back. Lastly, and probably my favourite, is Nicolas. He's a tall targetman, not something which fits my plans, but he's surprisingly good on the ball. I want him to work a little (a lot) harder and to be able to press a bit more but his aggression and bravery will stand him in good stead if he ever is bothered to chase down a ball for the team. --- I've kept everyone and I've also started taking over individual training, too. I won't start the attribute development monitoring this year as there is still much, much more to do with the club, but here is our starting point, and it's not a bad one.
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Post by Ben on Nov 15, 2019 21:44:06 GMT
2020/21 End of SeasonWe coughed and spluttered our way over the line and some fine end of season form from Gernika has made this whole table look a lot closer than I was expecting. Our record of 9-17-12 was relatively solid but our home form saw us 'finish' 8th, whereas our away had us down in 18th. There was little difference from the first round of fixtures to the second. Overall, as first season's go - this is absolutely fine as we retain our place in this league and we are in a position whereby we can strengthen and push on, considering the relative tightness around the middle of the table. --- Looking at our end of season stats, something that I'm looking to really develop as the save goes on - I must say that I am really worried about our creativity. We can be cautious at times in our approach, with me favouring the 'they can't score when we have the ball' but the poor amount of shots, goals and chances created means I really need to have a look at both our personnel and our style of play over the pre-season period. Some notes of pleasure though are the pass completion and the part in our offensive play that my defenders had. --- Over the summer, the board have agreed to expand the stadium and I have made the brave decision to turn down a B-Team at this point - mainly for financial reasons.
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Post by Ben on Nov 15, 2019 22:33:27 GMT
Finances?!Mid way through the second pre-season and this is what I'm dealing with, which is a worry. There is little money in this division and I need to ensure that, whilst we are working within 'our budgets,' I know what our actual budgets are. A very basic look at my finances, focused on our outgoings last season. Firstly - I have taken out our player wages so I can see what I am working with and I have also removed the £1.7m for ground maintenance and the near £800k grant that helped pay for that - but have only included one month of the loan (by accident more than anything - even though this only raises to just over £84k per year). I have also taken out the transfer expenditure as, right now, I need to be aware that I must work on free transfers and loans, only, if needed. So - presuming I spend every single penny of the money that we get this year, and, again, presuming that we get the exact same amount of money and spend the exact same amount, I can afford just about £19k p/w on wages, for my whole squad. This is the current picture: I think we're doing ok...
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Post by Ben on Nov 15, 2019 22:54:05 GMT
2021/22 RecruitmentWith some creativity issues and little of note coming through my academy, especially that of players who are reading for the first team means I need to delve into the transfer market for some strength and depth this summer. I want to ensure that, particularly now when I could go overboard and sign a new squad each summer, that my signings are only made where entirely necessary and are well thought out. Below was the squad heading into the summer break: --- My recruitment is also hinging around a change in the way that I play - as I am going to take a risk and move to a strikerless formation as I have struggled getting my lone striker to work enough for the team, so instead will move to a more fluid formation somewhat mirroring the more well-known Spanish sides of the last decade. To be the focal point of that attack, I have added Brian Pena to the side, on a free transfer after his release from Barcelona. Brian is another of those classical Barca forwards, full of flair and good technique. He originally caught my eye as an inverted winger but actually I see him as a Trequartista, in the middle of my attacking triumvirate. Good dribbler, finisher, good from distance and can also turn creator with his passing and vision - I have high hopes for this lad. Also, a great personality and very versatile. A definite star player for me. Next up is Christian Albert - who has spent time on the books of Levante. I too love his personality and versatility with very few weaknesses across the board. He'll mainly play on the wing, either one but can fill in at full back when I want to get some more aggression and if I revert to a striker who I can feed crosses too. Julio came in following a spell at Real Betis, mainly in their B side. He's combative and, despite his small stature (mirrored across the team, to be fair) he's solid all around. He's quite similar to my signing of Tiago Rodriguez last year and I think that the pair will be able to form a very strong partnership and he even may partner Christian Alberto in a dynamic duo with a sitting player if I need that. I rarely check agent offers but when the agent of an 18 year old Colombian/American, playing in the PDL South Altantic Division for Virginia Beach United, I am interested. I paid the £3.6k to get a better scout report than his completely 'white' profile and was impressed with the minimal data I saw. His wages were tiny so I took a chance - very much against my intended protocol but I have, somehow, got myself an incredible player here. Two footed, professional, good in the tackle and on the ball, works hard, cna pick the right moment and his very physical for an 18 year old as well as being recognised at international youth level. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep him. --- I feel very much like this is becoming more of my squad - with Arenas, Sola, Sanchez, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Julio and Pena all being signed by me - as well as some of the other younger backup players. The beauty of allowing myself some, limited, recruitment is that I already feel that my squad is starting to be able to play the slick mariachi style football that I want from them. # We are predicted 9th this season and I see that as a realistic target, even if we are ahead of our targets.
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Post by Ben on Nov 16, 2019 8:41:02 GMT
Stadium Expansion
£1.7m seems a lot for just over one thousand seats...
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Post by Ben on Nov 16, 2019 9:31:42 GMT
August/September 2021A really solid set of friendlies arranged against clubs of a similar stature as ours - in order for me to have a look, in depth, at the new tactical shape and, hopefully, increase in creativity in front of goal as well as get the players fit and happy. We dominated both games against Portuguese third tier side Uniao and Spanish third tier side Alcoyano - and I think I have settled on a IW(s) - T(a) - W(s) front line. We started the league season off in fantastic form - with Brian Pena causing absolute mayhem in both games and us being unlucky not to have a hatful against both sides. The Treq in the AM role means that he's a little deeper, in front of the back four, and this clever movement, combined with slick, one touch pass and move football is allowing him to lay the ball off and get behind two or three defenders, leading to a simple one-on-one. I'm teaching Pena to go round the keeper in order to make the most of these situations. Sadly, our great start was undone with a terrible performance against Andorra - where I chose not to rotate the squad after the midweek run out. They were fitter, better and way more up for it than we ever were and I was worried at one point about the scoreline turning to sixes or sevens. Since then, we have found our feet quite well, picking up good points against some the weaker sides before a poor home loss to Real Union, where we gave away two goals in the last ten minutes. --- It is worth noting that there are six new teams in this league, with them all being promoted (as a regional league, there is a shuffle around and none of the relegated clubs are from this division) so I feel that, should they all perform as expected, 14th should be the worst that we can do. ---- These are a little conflicting, if I'm honest. We have had two defeats in the league and sit above our prediction and the board's aims - yet they are disappointed with our results? We've also had two 0-0 draws and have not kept possession quite as well as last year - with an average of 57% of the ball, which is second in the league and down on last year. Overall, I'm happy!
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