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Post by Nick on Jun 24, 2020 21:48:00 GMT
That's great to see JT. The move to fully professional will be massive for you. Baby steps at first, but this is the start of the ascent to the top. Hopefully your players don't want too much to turn full-time. I remember when getting promotion to League Two and you're forced to turn professional, a lot of the players wanted more than double their wages.
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Post by jt on Jun 26, 2020 22:03:29 GMT
Thanks Nick. The requests have all been fairly reasonable although we couldn't afford them before. Financially we need something big to happen as we are getting into an even deeper hold than you were in China. Worryingly i cant find any prize money on any of the Greek Leagues so that is a concern
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Post by jt on Jun 26, 2020 23:33:56 GMT
Panthiraikos 2022/23 - Pre-season Transfers12 new faces. Yup 12 new faces as i had the longest and also busiest pre-season ever. A pre-season that saw me have to offer full time contracts for the first time in the clubs history as we renegotiated new deals with virtually every player. A pre-season that saw me rebuild a whole new backroom team and we now have one of the leading back room teams in the league. Despite signing 12 players i missed out on a number of top top prospects who in the end went with clubs in the league who could offer a little more money. Still the business i have done has levelled up this squad by quite a bit. Before i get to the incomings, i will cover the outgoings, as there were a few casualties. Jermain Defoe retired and had no interest in staying as a coach and is now the Bournemouth U18 assistant manager. We also let go centre halves Pantidos and Loubakis as well as winger Vretos after just a year. Vasilis Manariotis was probably the player i was saddest to see to go as his goals in the first season got us our first promotion but he doesnt have the ability for this level. We also sold attacking midfielder Papadopopoulos for nothing to a lower league side as he was surplus to requirements. So onto the ins. As i mentioned my strategy was going to be three pronged - Sign young players from top clubs that have been released, sign some veterans for added experience and scour the loan market. To be honest we mainly sticked to the first strategy as we were able to snap up some good talent for the season. So let's meet them. First call of business was i signed three of the players i had on loan last season after their parent clubs rejected them. So Manolis Perdikis, Panagiotis Paraskevopoulos and Dionysis Samaras are all here for another year. Perdikis was released by OFI Crete and had spent the last two years at centre back. He did an OK job and will be a good viable back up this year with some of my newer signings ousting him from the starting line up. Paraskevopoulos probably has the best chance of being a starter out of the three and he is probably as good as starting left back Fouasis. Fouasis has done a good job to be honest so far, which means i have no reason to drop him but if there is any drop in form i have a very capable player. Samaras played very little last year but his goal in the final game of the season to help secure promotion meant there was just a little sentimentality in this signing but he will be a squad player this year and with cheap wages should be a good signing. The first three were mainly filler signings and with them all being on loan the previous year here were more about having some players with familiarity to their surroundings. The other 9 are where it gets a little exciting. Belgian U19 defensive midfielder Kristjan Belic was the first to sign having had his contract at Olympiacos expire. A good allrounder with double figures in the main areas which means he doesnt excel anywhere but he doesn't have a glaring weakness. He will come in as the new ball winner where he will sit next to this man. David Wieser is the signing of the window in my opinion. The Italian was released from Inter and came up in a scout report. He is a massive creative outlet and with 15's in the key passing stats he is one of the best players in the league. I cant believe he is joining to be honest but Belic and him should become a solid midfielder partnership. It does mean fan favourite and the player of the save for me so far Papasavvas drops to the bench for the time being. It didn't get any less exciting. Striker Kristo Shehu joined the club after being released from Panathinaikos and the plan was to play him alongside Pispas. Like Belic he has a good rounded attribute board but unfortunately he broke his ankle in pre-season and will miss 6-7 months of the season. So i went an bought another striker to replace him. Meet Dimitris Melikiotis who actually might be better. He certainly is mentally and he will be a more than able player for us. Unlike the others, he was released by Olympiacos Volou who we pipped for Promotion last year. Finally in the attacking options i added Attacking midfielder Thodoros Nikolaidis to the side in a free transfer. We dont often play with an AMC but we might need to change our tactics this year in a much stronger league and Nikolaidis stood out. A regen created to fill out the squads 4 years ago, he earned a move to the this league with Levadeiakos where he was a bit part player. He might have a similar role here but he again is a creative threat and gives us something different. The final two permanent signings were both centre halves as Nikos Baxevanos and Giannis Christopoulos joined on free transfers. Baxevanos was released from Lazio where he never played. Left footed giving me some nice balance he is quick defender who should help us against the faster teams. Christopoulos is of a similar mould but just right footed and these two will be the starters this year. Christopoulos joins from Ast. Tripolis who are in the Super League. Finally on transfer deadline day i swooped for two loan signings to go with the aforementioned Melikiotis. Valentinos Nalitzis joins from AEK Athens whilst Thodoris Pournaras joins from PAOK. I have had to pay their wages but both are relatively low compared to some of the new faces. Both give me options on the wings in what is probably one of our weaker areas. Tactics & Pre-season friendliesI am currently training three formations as i am just not sure on what will work. The 4-2-4 has worked a treat in the last three seasons but we are going up a level in terms of team and we might get found out so i am favouring a potential switch up. One option is the standard 4-2-3-1 formation which means we sacrifice an attacker for an AMC but the other option takes that player even further back to sit as an MC infront of the dual DM's. This tactic would see Wieser take centre stage and also allow me to keep Papasavvas in the team which keeps me just that little happier. In friendlies we played around with all three and we didn't lose a game so i must be onto something. The first four games were against lower league sides whilst the final three were all against sides we are going to play in the league. We beat all of our league rivals, sometimes with a bit of luck and sometimes with a lot of luck but we still beat them. Maybe just maybe we can survive this year Thoughts and PredictionsFar too long of a pre-season for my book with our first proper game coming at the end of September. A Cup game in fact as we take on Ionikos a side we played in the 3rd tier. A tie we should progress from but the main concentration will be on the league. The 2nd tier is a little different form what has come before. Here we have 12 sides and we play each team twice. The league is then split into half with the top 6 competing in the Championship Group and the chance of promotion whilst the bottom 6 go into a relegation group. You play each team twice with the bottom two getting relegated. The team at the top gets automatic promotion whilst 2nd has to have a play-off against 2nd from bottom in the Superleague. We started pre-season predicted to come dead last but our summer window has seen us predicted to come 10th, just the right side of relegation. To get there i will probably need around 35 points. Just 12 wins. That's doable right?
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Post by chaodck on Jun 27, 2020 5:06:30 GMT
Great squad building mate I really like the looks of Nikolaidis and Wieser, you have a strong midfield and surely this save is going places. Best of luck in the season.
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Post by jt on Jun 28, 2020 9:12:45 GMT
This season is the toughest one yet. I need to find a solution otherwise we will be back in that 3rd tier
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Post by jt on Jun 29, 2020 18:57:52 GMT
Panthiraikos 2022/23 - Regular Season - Midpoint On the pitchWow. What a tough start to the season that has been. A true baptism of fire as this has proven to be a big step up for us. At points, i felt this was going to be the death of this save but I have rallied and the team have responded and things are still not great but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have had to adapt our football and the formation and style has changed a couple of times as we just couldn't stay in a game let alone get a point. Right now, i have tweaked ourselves to this formation. We have tried to slow down our play massively and be a little more cautious. In the opening few games of the season, we just didnt have the ball and we were just having to survive wave after wave of attacks. We were quite simply getting battered. We still need a few new faces if we are going to survive. In particular a right back and a goalkeeper are a must. The Keeper is secured and will join in January whilst i am currently looking for a right back on loan to fill the gap we have there. We have just clambered ourselves off the bottom with our victory in gameweek 11 with Pispas getting a double to give us the victory to leapfrog Trikala. The season did start well though as we not only won our Cup tie 4-1 against Ionikos we won the opening game of the season against Levadeiakos 1-0 with Pispas getting us off to a perfect start. I have to be honest, at this point i thought we were going to be Ok as we also outplayed them but it was a false sense of security. Four Straight defeats honestly kicked me the balls and i was wondering what we could do as we were getting smashed and conceding goals all over the place. The Cup was a surprising rest bite as we won our first leg tie against SuperLeague side Larisa 1-0 and later on we went to their place expecting a spanking but grabbed a 1-1 draw to knock out Larisa and cause a giant killing! Another one of the goals ticked off and it means we go into the 6th Round tie against fellow 2nd Division side Aigeleo as we have a real opportunity to make the quarter finals. However, back to the league we lost two more league games to leave us with just 3 points after 7 games. However, luck finally turned our way as we came back from 2-0 down against Apollon Smyrni to win 3-2 and get ourselves out of the black hole. Since then we have picked up 4 points from the final 3 games to see ourselves finally look competitive in this league. We have got to sort the defence out as we are clearly the worst side there. We can score but we need to give ourselves a chance in games and with a bit of luck we can keep ourselves in contention as the league splits. FinancesThings are looking grim as we are moving further and further into debt with no sign of letting up. We have been on the tele a few times but when you get just £6k for each appearance it is nowhere near enough in keeping things secure. Our players are only on a 1 year contract so we dont even have any resell opportunity. Our season ticket holders and average attendance is up to over 400 but we are a long way off. To put it into perspective, our stadium holds just 600 people. Thats 5 times less than the next smallest stadium. Our sponsorship sits at £51k. A third of the next nearest team. We cant even sell players as no one is really worth anything and pretty much our whole squad is on one year deals meaning our chances of a sale saving us is non existent. I need a takeover soon! @nick - Would be great to get any more insight / tips on how to survive when the finances are stacked against you. Your China save is one of the things that kept me going through that first half of the season
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Post by Nick on Jun 29, 2020 21:29:01 GMT
It's rough mate. I'm lucky in that sense because at least my players are worth something and the foreigner rules mean they go for decent money. In many ways you're in a worse spot than me.
I have completely gotten rid of everyone that isn't in the first team squad. It's not loads, but the money you save on wages and bonuses helps. I'm also lucky that we're so far in debt that, when contracts are up for extending, most players accept deals on less money. That has allowed me to keep plenty of room in the wage budget for free transfers. It has just been a case of improving really slowly each season, adding a bit of quality on affordable wages.
Appearance bonuses were killing me so I had to keep an eye out for them with pretty much everyone.
It's not easy. China is swimming with money, but even with a good season, there's minimal prize money. The league winner now gets £300k, but that's gone up since the start of the save. I guess yours is about ten times less than that.
There really is no quick fix and it's a killer. I have more days where I want to bin the save than days where I'm enjoying it.
Remind me how relegation works in the league you're in.
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Post by jawzy on Jun 29, 2020 21:50:05 GMT
You could try get some portuguese players and offer them out for a loan to Lourosa for fees per month. Also noticed nigerian clubs like to do loan fees if you wanna exploit the loan army financial tactics.
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Post by jt on Jun 29, 2020 23:03:11 GMT
It's rough mate. I'm lucky in that sense because at least my players are worth something and the foreigner rules mean they go for decent money. In many ways you're in a worse spot than me. I have completely gotten rid of everyone that isn't in the first team squad. It's not loads, but the money you save on wages and bonuses helps. I'm also lucky that we're so far in debt that, when contracts are up for extending, most players accept deals on less money. That has allowed me to keep plenty of room in the wage budget for free transfers. It has just been a case of improving really slowly each season, adding a bit of quality on affordable wages. Appearance bonuses were killing me so I had to keep an eye out for them with pretty much everyone. It's not easy. China is swimming with money, but even with a good season, there's minimal prize money. The league winner now gets £300k, but that's gone up since the start of the save. I guess yours is about ten times less than that. There really is no quick fix and it's a killer. I have more days where I want to bin the save than days where I'm enjoying it. Remind me how relegation works in the league you're in. Bottom two go down. League splits in half after 22 games. Than 10 games against the half you are in to make a 32 game season
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Post by jt on Jun 30, 2020 9:53:01 GMT
We have worked out how to draw games. Maybe we can just draw our way to survival. Main thing is we are picking up points and are competitive
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Post by dalenichol on Jun 30, 2020 9:56:24 GMT
At the end of the day, points are points! When you're battling for survival, I'd rather pick up 4 points from 4 games than 0 points! Good luck jt, you've got this!
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Post by jt on Jun 30, 2020 13:12:22 GMT
Panthiraikos 2022/23 - Regular Season - League Split TransfersThe Transfer window opened and we added three new faces to the team. One of the main priorities was a goalkeeper and the best i could find for little wages was Algerian Ahmed Abdelkader. He was available on a free having been released by a Cypriot club in the Summer and he was even briefly at Sunderland and Guingamp. He is a little better than my other options with some solid keeper stats with pretty much all in double figures or very close. Physically and Mentally he isnt quite where i need him but hopefully we can see some improved performances between the sticks. A right back was the other priority but for love of god i couldnt find anyone who was going to be an upgrade on our options and in the end i had to refocus on other positions. David Wieser broke his leg ruling him out for the whole season and so i added two more midfielders on loan from PAOK. So meet Vasilis Grosdis and Kyriakos Giaxis who bring real quality to the midfield. I have dropped Belic back to the DM position to be a BWM and the plan is for Grosdis and Giaxis to partner each other in the midfield. Grosdis can also move to left back which was another area we needed work on. On the pitchSo with the changes and the tactic as we left it we have seen only 2 defeats from the final 11 games. All of the defeats turning into draws as we racked up 7 as we became a tough side to beat. Defensively we have been much much better as our goal difference has started to fall in align with the other sides around us. The big problem though is it has meant our goals have severely dried up and we are really struggling for a goalscorer. Pispas who pretty much singlehandedly got us to this division has lost all form and confidence and with Melikiotis currently injured we are a little light up top. Kristo Shehu has just started to make their return to fitness after their broken ankle in pre-season but i do have a fear that if we can't score we could be in some troubles. Going into the league split the final table looked like this So we are out of the bottom two and essentially we have 10 games to make sure we keep above Doxa Dramas and Trikala. If we can do that we will survive in the most unlikely of manners. I feel like we can do a good job and so far the bottom two teams at this stage have both been relegated 2 out of the last 3 seasons. Last year was the only year where that didnt happen with the side in 7th at this stage eventually getting relegated. That stat scares me the most as one little bit of form either way will make or break us. Cup wise, we had to sacrifice ourselves to try and keep the players fresh for the league campaign and so we lost 2-1 on aggregate to Aigeleo who then went out to Panathinaikos in the quarter finals. It could have been a nice money spinner especially as our debt has gone over the £500k mark. Eek
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Post by jt on Jun 30, 2020 13:43:41 GMT
A good starting point. 3 points, A Pispas goal and a gap starting to open. Survival is very much on!
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Post by chaodck on Jun 30, 2020 16:36:55 GMT
Good luck in the split mate! Rooting for you.
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Post by Nick on Jun 30, 2020 19:29:59 GMT
Potentially massive result against Doxa there, it's great to see some progress and that you've seemingly turned a corner. Grosdis and Giaxis look like two players that you can mould the team around and carry you forwards, getting them in could be the game changer. Looking forward to seeing how you get on JT.
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Post by jt on Jul 1, 2020 8:09:42 GMT
Panthiraikos 2022/23 - End of Season On the pitchIn the end it was never in doubt as we stepped up another gear in the Relegation group stage and came away undefeated to finish 2nd in the Relegation group and essentially 8th overall in the league table. It was an incredible little run where we conceded just twice in 10 games. In fact if we break up the league into stages you can see the marked change in our performances over the season 1st Half of the regular season - 11 games played, 12 goals scored, 24 conceded, 10 points 2nd Half of the regular season = 11 games played, 6 goals scored, 8 conceded, 13 points Relegation group - 10 games played, 9 goals scored, 2 conceded, 20 points It was an incredible turn around and we ended the season with one of the best defensive records despite conceding 24 goals in the first 11 games. I think the main reason for that was the change in tactics and it ended up being our best form of defence meant just keeping the ball. We ended up leading the league in passes completed and average possession, whilst having the 2nd best pass completion ratio. It wasn't always exciting and we scored the least number of goals in the campaign but we it stopped the rot that was developing and that is what matters. We are going to need to look at how we can become a little more exciting to watch whilst maintaining our ability to not lose games but i will cover that in a bit more detail later. Based on our defensive stats it is probably no surprise a defender was voted the fans player of the year and Giannis Christopoulous was a great signing and the most consistent performer all year. Without him things could have been very different. Next to him Nikos Baxevanos was starting to become equally as important and towards the end of the year they were both regularly hitting over 7 per match. Although we can't forget Ahmed Abdelkader who in just 20 games since signing, kept 15 clean sheets and was voted the leagues player of the year. If the average ratings for keepers were not broken i would fully expect this man to have led the fans voting. He was exceptional. At the other end of the team, Sotiris Pispas was the top scorer in the end but his 10 goals was a low for him. The real problem was the middle stretch of games where he went something like 13 games without scoring. I have question marks on whether he can cut it at this level but as the clubs top scorer and after them first two seasons with me i have to have some faith in him being able to deliver on the goods next year. Looking ForwardSo once i knew i was going to be safe i went around and have renewed all the contracts i could and the ones that made sense. There will be a fair few faces leaving the club in the summer including some of the key men that got us into the 2nd tier. However, we need to move on and we do need to improve quality. One thing i have done this year is get all of the contracts renewed for 2 seasons which will not only help for budgeting but it also might mean some players have some value and we can sell on for some money down the line. There will be some bigger name casualties too including David Wieser who is wanting more and more money despite spending the 2nd half of the season on the sidelines with a broken leg. Its unfortunate but we can't keep paying more and more. That's despite the board increasing the wage budget again by nearly 50%. I am at a loss to say where they are getting their budgeting from as we are now £700k in the red. I was bracing myself for a wage budget cut but it didnt come through. Our sponsorship deals at first glance show a significant increase from last year and we did get just under £50k for competing in the league we are a long way from being solvent. Last year saw our attendances on average hit the 500 mark meaning we are almost at sell out capacity but no money means no upgrade there either. It will be another window of looking at the three pillars of recruitment - young released players, older legends on free and loan signings with the main focus on the 1st and 3rd this year. I also want to make less signings as i think some of our problems stem from trying to get 12 players gelled in to the team. Our main area of concentration will be to replace the loan signings, add a right back and also a new striker. I am hoping to limit it to around 6-7 players this year but we will see how i go. We can also cross off a few more goals - Turn Professional - Get promoted into the 2nd tier - Get £1m in the bank (currently £980) - Survive in the 2nd tier - Get a player called up to an International youth side - On loan Nalitzis was called up to the Greek U19 side so it kind of counts. - Knock out a top tier side in the Cup So we are going to add a few more - Increase the stadium capacity - Make the championship group - Get a non-loan player into an International youth side Onwards and upwards
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Post by dalenichol on Jul 1, 2020 8:17:54 GMT
Yaaas JT, well played mate! I knew you could do it.
Nice to see that the form picked up, that's got to provide you with some encouragement for next season surely? Just need to make sure you get the right recruitment in and you could have a really good season ahead of you.
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Post by Nick on Jul 1, 2020 11:00:00 GMT
That's a pretty remarkable turnaround jt, it's not often you see something like that. If you can carry that sort of form into next season I see no reason why you can't reach the Championship group and cross another goal off the list.
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Post by jt on Jul 1, 2020 11:52:29 GMT
Yaaas JT, well played mate! I knew you could do it. Nice to see that the form picked up, that's got to provide you with some encouragement for next season surely? Just need to make sure you get the right recruitment in and you could have a really good season ahead of you. Thanks Dale. Yeah I feel a bit better about next season. I know we can compete and I now have a base of a tactic that works. It is just going to be the case of tweaking it to see if I can get us scoring a bit more without opening the floodgates at the back. The board are hoping for survival again this year, with us making the championship stage in 3 seasons time. I think we can be a little quicker than that That's a pretty remarkable turnaround jt, it's not often you see something like that. If you can carry that sort of form into next season I see no reason why you can't reach the Championship group and cross another goal off the list. Thanks nick. I'm hoping so. I think I've found the players to bolster the squad enough to give us a bit more beef. In particular I have found a striker that could do the business for me. For me personally I would love to get to the championship group this season and I don't think we will be too far off
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Post by chaodck on Jul 1, 2020 22:12:00 GMT
Great turnaround mate, really like the way you've been crossing out those objectives too. This has been a long road, but with steady imrpovement, despite the initial tumble from last season. How are things looking for the next one? Hopefully you can replace those tough losses you had to endure in the squad with younger prospects with potential. Regarding finances, will immediately help to get into the first tier? With those low attendances and I expect little-to-no money on the Greek League, I guess you will have to quickly turn into a selling club to try and stay afloat. Good luck on the next season.
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Post by jt on Jul 3, 2020 16:34:11 GMT
Panthiraikos 2023/24 - Pre-season TransfersWe needed a little bit more quality and so this season was more about trying to find players who can really boost the squad. To help we released a hell of a lot of players. I got rid of most of the youth team whilst also allowing a lot of the old guard to leave. This meant club originals Giannis Koreta and Antonis Fouasis were allowed to leave. Signings from last year David Wieser and Kristo Shehu were moved on having been on high wages and also suffering serious injuries. Veteran keeper Arabatzis retired after being told he was no longer needed with other notable players leaving including Fytourakis and Selinotakis. On a less permanent basis we loaned our young striker Georgantis to allow him to get some game time but he then went and done his ACL scuppering that plan for his development. So on to the ins. Well we secured the loan extensions of Kyriakos Giaxis, Valentinos Nalitzis and Vasilis Grosdis. All three were crucial in their performances last year and help keep the squad depth and quality at a high level. The fourth player on loan last year Thodoros Pournaras was signed on a free transfer with his PAOK contract up. He will end up being a a good squad player for us this season having added well over the pre-season. So onto the brand new faces. Spyros Natsos was signed on a free transfer from Reading. The defensive midfielder came through Atromitos before making a move 2 seasons ago to Reading in a small £21k deal. He didnt make an impact and so back to Greece he comes to be our ball winning midfielder for the season as a DM. Versatile enough that he can go to centre back or right back he is someone who should be able to compete at the highest level this season. The next one is hopefully the striker we need to score the goals. Meet Albanian International Emiljano Bullari who joins on a free from Olympiacos and becomes our top earner at £2k per week. Incredible well rounded he can play in a number of different striker roles giving me some good versatility uptop as we look to start scoring a little more this year. Another Albanian joined at right back with Ardit Toli joining from relegated Doxa Dramas. We could have signed him last year but for some reason i didnt pull the trigger but 1 year later we have him. He is a more mobile option to veteran Tsopelas and helps remove an obvious weakness we had last year. Another area we have struggled is the left hand winger slot and hopefully we have that nailed down now with Christos Belevonis joining. He has decent overall skills with very good fitness and above average pace for this level. He needs some work on his crossing but he is going to be a tidy little player with hopefully some room to grow still. On the other wing is possible my most exciting transfer as we add French youngser Yacine Aoujil having been released from Stade Reims. Great pace and crossing ability whilst being solid in other areas means we have our best winger since being here. The front three of Belevonis, Bullari and Aoujil is our strongest yet. In fact Bullari and Aoujil are in the leagues projected team of the year. The final signing was an ex arsenal youth player as Zech Medley joined on the transfer deadline day to bolster an already strong backline. Left footed he gives us some good balance at the back and it means we have three very good centre halves. He will probably start on the bench before potentially replacing Baxevanos if he doesnt perform as i hope. Tactics & Pre-season friendliesPre-season was the usual mix of lower league sides and also a couple of teams in our division. We also had a rematch against Larisas who we knocked out of the cup and again we came out of pre-season undefeated beating Larisas again whilst drawing both games against fellow 2nd tier sides. Formation wise, i have just tweaked the tactic that we ended the season moving the tempo and passing directness up a little to hopefully make us a bit more dynamic with the ball so we can score a few more goals. Bullari is going to play as a target man i think and i want the team to get crosses in as over the last three years, the vast majority of goals have come from the wide areas and with Bullari as a focal point we should score more. However, he had a torrid pre-season which has got me a little worried but ill keep faith for the first few games Thoughts and PredictionsSo when the season generated we were predicted 9th and our transfer dealings have got us to a media prediciton of 7th meaning on paper we should be in contention for the Championship group. The board still want us fighting relegation so the pressure is really only going to come from the Media. I am aiming to just get into that Championship group and take it from there. I dont expect promotion and in some ways i think we probably need another year to build up the team. Although financially we might need it. Sponsorship wise we have gone from £51k to £120k meaning we have the 3rd lowest sponsorship compared to last year and we got £130k for TV rights as well as £40k for competing in the league. It dented the debt for a little bit but we are probably going to end the season around £1m in debt with no real way of getting ourselves out of it. However, the save is still a hell of a lot of fun
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Post by jt on Jul 9, 2020 7:41:58 GMT
Panthiraikos 2023/24 - Regular Season - Midpoint On the pitch[/center] Ok. I knew we were stronger but i didnt know we were going to be this much stronger than last year. Bar a sticky little patch in October we have barely put a foot wrong and we are currently on our best form in the league winning the last 6 including inflicting the only defeat on league leaders Levadeaikos and smashing PAS Giannina 4-1 in the last two games. For those that dont remember here was the stats at this point last season. Last Season: Played 11, 10 Points, 12 Goals scored, 24 Conceded This Season: Played 11, 23 Points, 21 Goals scored, 10 Conceded To put that even more into perspective, we picked up just 23 points from the 22 game regular season meaning we are already on that points total in just half the games and across 32 league games we scored just 27 goals so we are just 6 goals behind having played 21 games less. We have found our attacking mojo and the tweaks in the tactical formula seem to be working. That tactic now looks like this One of the main moves was to move us from a cautious mentality to a more balanced one which in turn allowed the tempo to go up a notch meaning we are a little bit quicker moving the ball. I want us to keep the ball just like we did last year but take a few more risks in their half as last year we were just a little slow and methodical making us quite predictable. With Belevonis and Aoujil i wanted us to use the wings so we are trying to get the ball out wide and get the ball in the box through crosses. Bullari has done a decent job up top even earning himself a call up for the Albanian National side ticking another achievement off the list. His 5 goals up top don't sound a lot but he is proving a menace especially when i throw Pispas up top if we are chasing the victory. In fact, one of the key parts of this run has been my ability to change the game through a substitution with Sotris Pispas becoming a super sub scoring 9 goals including a 2nd half hat trick against Giannina having come on at half time. The guy has been unstoppable and Bullari and him have formed a great partnership which at times has tempted me to play with two up top like our first couple of seasons. So far i have resisted but when used it has got results. Pispas is stll by far my best signing for the club having scored 62 goals in around 93 appearances since joining 3 1/2 years ago on a free transfer. Defensively we are not quite as good as the back half of last season but our slightly more expansive play is more than compensating. Englishman Medley has formed a nice partnership with Christopoulos at the heart of the defence as we seem to have a really sturdy core to the team. In fact, i am so happy with the side, i am not planning any new faces in January as if anything i will try and offload a player or two to help with finances (More on that later). In the Greek Cup we have also progressed beating a 4th division side in the 4th round before beating Apollon Larisas of the Superleague 3-2 on aggregate to give us another giant killing under our belt. In the next round we have Panathinaikos which is going to be a step too far FinancesIt feels bad to end the post on a negative note but financially we are ruined as our debt hit over £1m for the first time. We are way under wage budget and i could have built a squad on a much cheaper budget than i am not but in all reality we would be stuck near the bottom for eternity. Promotion might help a little but financially we are going to need to sell at some point. Looking through the squad list we only have one real asset and that is Bullari who is valued at just over £500k. An offer of that amount and above would be too good to turn down and we might just need to do it to secure our survival
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Post by jt on Jul 9, 2020 17:03:13 GMT
Panthiraikos 2023/24 - Regular Season - League Split On the pitchAs predicted there were no more incomings as quite simply we couldnt really afford it and also i didnt want to mess the team up too much with us going so well. It proved to be a good decision as we won 6 and drew 5 of the final 11 games to leave us like this. Squad / ResultsI think someone is pulling my leg as we go into the Championship group in just our 2nd season at this level and we go into it the league leaders. In the four in game seasons so far the team top at this point has always been promoted as champions. We also have the most points at this stage to which is heaping the pressure on me as we look to go into the top tier for the first time and way ahead of schedule. Admittedly the game has allowed me to keep spending a ridiculous amount on wages when we couldnt afford it so that has helped but the new signings this year have all worked. Bullari is a great option up top and more importantly he seems to have got the best out of Pispas again who is becoming a superb impact player for me this year. Both wingers Belevonis and Aoujil are playing well, scoring and assisting in positions we have struggled with all save. Not to forget Zech Medley, the ex-Arsenal man has become our best defender and next to Christopoulous we have a great pairing at the back. Can we go on and win the league? Honestly, why not. Our form is superb and we just dont look like losing right now. Yeah we drew the final 3 games of the regular season but we were home and dry so as long as our focus comes back for the Championship group we could be facing a miraculous promotion. Our cup run was ended by Panathinaikos though as we drew the first leg at home 1-1 (coming within seconds of a victory) before losing in Athens 2-1. Very respectable considering we played a rotated side and just whets the appetite for what could be next year.
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Post by jt on Jul 11, 2020 12:58:50 GMT
Panthiraikos 2023/24 - End of Season On the pitchI can't believe it. We are now a top flight side in Greece. A team with just a 600 seater stadium, a team with no money (Sitting at £1.5m in the red) are a top flight Greek side. The little Santorini side that dreamed big, now is living their fantasy. It wasn't easy as we stumbled during the group to almost let Apollon Smyrnis in but we find ourselves Champions and now with the biggest task yet. Survival in the top flight. So how did we get there? Well at first it was plain sailing as we won our first 3 games of the Championship group scoring 8 and conceding 0 in what was a simple task. We then hit a problem picking up just 5 points from the next 6 games as we started to panic before holding our nerve on the final day of the season to win 2-0 with that man Pispas bagging a brace and securing himself the Golden Boot for the season. What a turnaround for him as last year he seemd to struggle at this level, but this year he was an impact man scoring on average every 94 minutes or so. He The big difference was the number of goals we scored with three men getting double figures including winger Christo Belevonis who came alive during the Championship group stages and was almost our player of the season as he really ramped up his performances as the season went on. Kyriakos Giaxis was also an unsung hero but he was our most creative outlet and with his contract at PAOK coming to an end, i fully suspect to make this man my first signing as we move into the top tier. Looking ForwardSo that is the budget for next season and we are going to need to wheel and deal our way to survival. I think loans are going to be the main avenue to go down along with the odd Bosman. Even though the wage budget has gone up, we have a number of players with pay increases in their contract and we cant even afford what we are spending right now so it is going to be an interesting pre-season. There is a reported board takeover happening as it even made the club vision meaning i think it is a real one rather than the ones that seem to get reported all of the time with nothing happening. We need it. A tycoon right now would be incredible but highly unlikely as we now have to pull off one of the toughest feats in my FM career ever. So it is no surprise, Survival gets added to the tick list of achievements for this save along with a few other ones - Turn Professional - Get promoted into the 2nd tier - Get £1m in the bank (currently £980) - Survive in the 2nd tier - Get a player called up to an International youth side - Knock out a top tier side in the Cup - Increase the stadium capacity - Make the championship group- Get a non-loan player into an International youth side - We have an Albanian U19 striker and Bullari was called up to the Albanian national side. - Survive the top flight - Sell a player for at least £500k - Have a player get a full cap - Cut the debt by 50% [/div] What a season. I need a lie down and i need to get thinking. The 4th tier to the top tier in just 5 years has blown my mind. I never thought i would get the side this far. Maybe a Greek title isnt out of the question
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Post by jt on Jul 11, 2020 13:05:21 GMT
So there it is. The takeover. I was promised no investment but the finances are in the black (for now). The last chairman rejected every request so hopefully this guy will allow me to do something. Think it might be time to make some requests whilst we have the money Edit: It was a firm no for any facility improvements due to financial reasons which seems fair but i did get the go ahead for a senior affiliate. I have only been asking for the last 5 years!
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Post by chaodck on Jul 11, 2020 21:32:51 GMT
Good job JT mate!!!! What a fanstastic story this has been, inspiring. Do you think it'll be tough to survive in the top flight? How's the new Board looking in terms of expectations for next season, will your past accomplishments be taken into consideration in your evaluation?
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Post by jt on Jul 14, 2020 13:29:58 GMT
Good job JT mate!!!! What a fanstastic story this has been, inspiring. Do you think it'll be tough to survive in the top flight? How's the new Board looking in terms of expectations for next season, will your past accomplishments be taken into consideration in your evaluation? I think we are going to find this jump quite hard. It looks like the teams that seem to go up, come straight down the next year. We are predicted to finish bottom but it was a little closer (odd wise) than i had suspected meaning the right sort of transfer window and we could be ok. The new board have said my job is good. Im set to untouchable so i dont think i was ever in doubt. The senior affiliate search went no where so it is really going to have to be a scavenge around job. Im also busy trying to revamp the staff as well. I think this will be my toughest season yet
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Post by jt on Jul 18, 2020 19:34:44 GMT
Panthiraikos 2024/25 - Pre-season TransfersAnother tough window as i struggled to find players who could improve the team and also willing to join without breaking the bank on the wages. I have tried to keep the wages as low as possible as the money we had from the takeover has already gone and we find ourselves back in the red and with a bank loan to pay back each month. So from an outgoing point of view we released Original Giannis Tsopelas who just doesnt have the physicals for the top flight and joining him on the released list is young striker Alexandros Georgantis who promised much but never delivered in my 5 years in charge so far. We also sold some players for money! 4th Choice centre half Manolis Perdikis was sold for £4k to PAS Giannina whilst back up striker Dmitris Melikiotis was sold to Trikala for a massive £13k breaking our record sale. We were not done there as another original Panagiotis Ntounis was sold to Sochaux for £8.25k to be their 4th choice keeper. We also loaned out Thodoris Nikolaidis to Trikala for the season. So now onto the exciting news. First things first we secured the permanent signings of Vasilis Grosdis and Kyriakos Giaxis who had been on loan here for the last 18 months and were crucial to our title win last year. Grosdis will start the season at left back whilst Giaxis is going to keep his place as the main playmaker. Taking players released by the big clubs has been a crucial part of our transfer policy and we carried on that philosophy for our next two signings. Bosnian U21 International Nemanja Nikolic comes in from Olympiakos to be our starting right back. He is a massive improvement on what we have. No real weaknesses in his play either and he should be dependable enough at this level. The second was a young regen from AEK Athens. Meet Giannis Vosniadis who gives us another option as a left winger but also in the more advanced midfield positions. Great technique and determination and for me he is the most exciting of all of the transfers i have made. A goalkeeper was high on the list and despite Abdelkader performing well getting clean sheet after clean sheet and picking up the Football League goalkeeper of the year in both of his seasons at the club, i just couldnt go into the season with him as our Number 1. This was a tough find and after much deliberation we have gone with a loan signing that is costing money! Antonis Stergiakis is a Greek keeper who has never played in Greece and joins on loan from Millwall for the season. £6k a month which was subsidised from the outgoings and a movement in the wage budget. A great allrounder without being excellent in one area, i am hoping i can pick him up once his Millwall contract expires. Another loan signing was Congolese International Carmel Mabanza who joins on loan from Porto to partner Giaxis in the centre. He does have some technical weaknesses but strong passing (16) an tacking (15) along with solid Decision making (15) means he has some very good assets and will help us in a number of places in the midfield. The final man through the door was another centre half as Vasilis Doxakis was released from Panathinaikos. A big man with great jumping reach, it should cancel out his poor heading and with some decent mentals, he actually will probably start the season as the right sided centre back. Tactics & Pre-season friendliesAnother solid pre-season as we win all but one as we played around with triallists and formations moving into the year. We even got our first League point as we drew 0-0 with Atromitos in a solid if slightly boring season opener. For now we are going to stick with the formation and style that got us the Promotion last year. I dont want us to sit back to much as the extra quality in front of us, will pick us apart more often then not. Perhaps for the bigger sides will we go to our negative tactic of keep ball but ill make a judgement call after 7 or 8 games as to what we can get away with. Thoughts and PredictionsThis is going to be tough. We are predicted to come bottom alongside Lamia who we did conveniently beat in a friendly. The league has a similar set up the last one but with a slight difference. 14 teams make up the league and we play everyone twice. The league then splits with the top 6 competing in the Championship group whilst the bottom 8 go onto the relegation group. The Championship group play each other twice whilst the Relegation group play each other just once. The team that finishes bottom are automatically relegated whilst 2nd from bottom go into a play-off with 2nd from the Football league. The team bottom at the League split have been relegated 4 times out of the last 5 seasons with around 30 - 31 points often being enough to stop you making the bottom two. So we are one down and just another 30 to go, and that is the mentality this year. We have to think about not finishing bottom and from there build our way up. Our budgets are tiny compared to everyone else. We have the smallest wage bill (£1.36m) compared to Olympiacos' £28m and our sponsorship income of £250k is three times less than the next team. Olympiacos' on the other hand is £12.5m. This is real David vs Goliath stuff and we all know who won that fight
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Post by dalenichol on Jul 18, 2020 20:27:51 GMT
That's a really solid preseaosn, JT. This is it though, this is what it's all for now that you're in the top flight. Just got to stay up and consolidate your position in the league, then you can build from there. You can do it!
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Post by jt on Jul 18, 2020 20:53:11 GMT
That's a really solid preseaosn, JT. This is it though, this is what it's all for now that you're in the top flight. Just got to stay up and consolidate your position in the league, then you can build from there. You can do it! Thanks Dale. I might get kicked out of the league for being the most boring side to ever grace the top flight! So far so good
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