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Post by Nick on Jul 12, 2019 18:00:34 GMT
The name's Cruz. Santa Cruz. I can't remember the last time I managed in Brazil, let alone down in the third division. So often my 'go to' South American nation, more recently I've been found in Peru with Alianza Lima and Colombia with Envigado. Back 'home' for this save though, albeit a few levels below where I'm used to. Santa Cruz are one of many clubs located in the North East of Brazil. More specifically, the state of Pernambuco and the capital city, Recife. As recently as 2016 the club was playing in the Brasileirao Serie A - the top league in Brazil - but it's been a rancid couple of years and back-to-back relegation means it's a Serie C start for me. Of course, this is Brazil, so we have a few other competitions to play in, including the State Championship, so I'll run through them quickly and also outline the board's expectations in each of them. Serie CThe crème de la crème of our season. This is the competition that will decide whether we go up or down and, ultimately, this is the competition that will cost me my job if we don't perform. Serie A and Serie B follow the familiar round robin format with 20 teams. Serie C is less familiar. Two groups of 10 where we play each other twice. The bottom two from each group are relegated, while the top four qualify for the second stage quarter final. If you win your quarter final, you're promoted. You then play a semi final and a final to determine the champion. Last season the club managed to get into the quarter final second stage, but no further. Curiously, this year, the board want us to "avoid a relegation battle". Pernambuco State ChampionshipIf the Serie C is the main course, the State Championship is the entrée. There are ten teams in our state and we only play each other once. The top eight qualify for the quarter final, while the bottom team is relegated. This is where Brazilian football gets a bit confusing because not all the state championships have the same format, so I'm not sure where that bottom team is relegated to, or who replaces them and why. We've got a fair amount of pedegree in this competition though, winning it five times in six from 2011 to 2016. Looking around, we have Serie A side, Sport Recife, to play so they will be obvious favourites from the off. The board want us to reach the third place playoff, which means top eight and winning our quarter final. Doable. Copa do NordesteA domestic cup, but not THE domestic cup. This one is just for the North East based clubs. Two groups of eight, but it's one of those weird ones where you play everyone in the other group (so eight matches). We then have a one-legged quarter and semi, but a two-legged final. We've only won this once, in 2016, but there are some decent teams in here. Bahia, Sport Recife and Vitoria are the bigger players. The board only ask that we "don't be outclassed", whatever that means. Copa do BrasilThe national cup. The proper one. The one with all the teams in Brazil. The first and second round are only one leg. From the third round onward it's two legs. They love games in Brazil. Prize money is decent and the winner qualifies for the Copa Libertadores. The board want us to reach the second round. That'll do for now. I've played just over half the season, so will probably wait until the end before updating further.
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Post by ttgb on Jul 12, 2019 22:51:48 GMT
Good luck.
Brazil, so many good players, SOOOOO many games.
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Post by Nick on Jul 13, 2019 18:53:02 GMT
Serie CI'm not sure where the board's "avoid a relegation battle" expectation came from because we were a level above everyone else we played this season. We won our first two games, but then rattled off six clean sheets in a row to take control of the group stage. From then on we didn't look back and finished our eighteen games unbeaten with a 15-3-0 record. Then came the lottery of the playoff where we managed to gain promotion, but lost on penalties in the semi final after two 0-0 draws. Disappointed that we weren't able to add a trophy, but promotion was my only aim after those first few games. We played some really good football, but probably just lost the edge about us in the quarter final and semi final matches. We should have walked to the title, but just didn't hit our stride in those last two games. Fixtures / TablePernambuco State ChampionshipI usually use the State Championship as an extended pre-season and this save should be no different. It's a few extra games in what is an already busy schedule, but it's a good opportunity to give games to squad players and give young players football at a half decent level. We'll be expected to win, especially as we progress, and good performances help development. This year was really just about getting through it and into the main stuff. It feels like forever ago, but we did fairly well, meeting the board's expectations by reaching the third place game, having lost in the semi final to Central, who appear to be a bit of a bogey team already. Fixtures / TableCopa do BrasilNow, this. This was the surprise. We just kept winning. Serie B teams fell in our wake, even bloody Sao Paulo got on the wrong side of us. We eventually lost to Palmeiras in the semi final, which was expected and we definitely didn't embarrass ourselves. It also turns out that the prize money for this competition is pretty good when you're a typical third division club and bleed money like no tomorrow. It's taken us back into the black when we were bordering on a million pound in debt. FixturesCopa do NordesteMore semi final heartache in this one too. That's four semi final defeats this season. Some going. I think this will be the first competition where the board lose interest and deem it "unimportant". There's no prize money, low attendances and just not much to really get excited about. I'll be using it in similar fashion to the State Championships, but it would obviously be nice to win it now and again. FixturesConclusionThe first season is always a bit of a weird one. You just want to get through it, get a feel for the job, do as well as you can and get to that first transfer window. Speaking of which, we've been under some sort of transfer ban this year, to the point where I couldn't even sign any of my youth intake. I can't see it mentioned anywhere in-game, nor via Google, but it's something to keep an eye on. I'd had half a mind on making this a 'kids game', but the lure of signing those South American regens is proving too strong, but it's something to keep an eye on. I've done quite literally nothing to improve the staff at the club, but it's something that needs addressing ASAP. We're only spending £24k per week on wages and the board have just raised the wage budget to £64k, so I've plenty to play around with after promotion. We've no money to spend, so it will be a case of loans and freebies, I think, of which there will be many. One struggle we had this season was keeping players happy. I had players in the youth and reserve team expecting first team football, so there's about a dozen players wanting out. Add on the fact that we'll need to improve in nearly every area of the pitch and it promises to be a busy period for the club. I was going to talk a bit about the current players, but this situation forced me to just gloss over them completely as many will be replaced.
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Post by Robson on Jul 14, 2019 6:34:15 GMT
Good start Nick enjoy those long seasons.
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Post by chaodck on Jul 15, 2019 15:58:01 GMT
Great first season there Nicko, getting the promotion in the first season will surely help boost your rep and facilities and start churning those old brazilian wonderkids soon. Besides the stampede issue you'll be having do you reckon you need a big quality leap on the pitch for Serie B? Will surely be following this, here's hoping it's a long save.
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Post by Nick on Jul 15, 2019 16:37:07 GMT
A real quick turnaround in Brazil - about six weeks or so when you've been in Serie C - so it's difficult to know when you update again. It's a long transfer window, so it's probably sensible to do it after the State Championship, and use that as a season preview, and then at the end of the regular season too. Competition ExpectationsWe don't appear to have been drawn in the Copa do Nordeste this season, which was unexpected. I can't see a reason why, but we weren't the only team to miss out. If truth be told, it's probably a small blessing. As I mentioned previously, the prize money is rubbish and, if you go all the way to the final, it's an extra eleven matches to play before the proper stuff even gets underway. The board aren't fucking about this year either. Second round of the Copa do Brasil is par for the course at the moment, but they now want us to reach the final of the State Championship and finish mid-table in Serie B. The media have us finishing 14th (out of 20), which is fairly reasonable, but it's one thing having a few giant killings in the cup. Four go down, and we're better than the other three that came up (Volta Redonda, Confianca and ABC). The three predicted below us are Juventude, Paysandu and Sao Bento, three teams I know very little about, but a quick look at their squads show me that they rely on loan players, 99% of which have come from Serie A clubs and would probably walk into my side. We performed well against big sides last season though, and will have to do so again. Budgets and TransfersWe ended the season with £1.6m in the bank thanks to prize money and sponsorship, but that's dwindling fast, especially as we lost in the second round of the Copa do Brasil this season rather than making the semi finals. A surprisingly high £365k was given to me for new players. Naively, I expected our promotion to open a plethora of doors in terms of recruitment. I thought we'd have the pick of the Serie A youngsters on loan and oodles of choice in the free transfer market. Wrong. The only players we could attract were from other Serie C sides and, given we stomped over most of them last season, it meant slim pickings. Luis Fernando joins from fellow Serie B side, Bahia, on loan for the year. He's a significant upgrade on all but one of our defensive midfield options from last year, so should play a pretty important part in our season. The only other signing was Renato Santos, a central defender who joins for £20k from Altos. Again, a fairly significant upgrade on what we have already, but not a long term option. Pernambuco State ChampionshipWe breezed through the State Championship this year, barely breaking a sweat. Going forwards, Sport Recife will be our only challengers, but even then that largely depends on how they progress in-game. They were relegated from Serie A last season and we were undefeated against them in the three matches we played against them in this. Thankfully two of those came in the final. We blitzed the group stage. Nine games played, eight wins, one draw, twenty-nine scored, none conceded. Vitoria were seen off 7-0 in the quarter final before we got revenge over Central (2-0) for last season's defeat at the same stage. The two-legged final against Sport Recife should have been close, but ended up being quite one-sided. We won the away leg 2-1 and the home leg 3-0 to lift the trophy. Not the most glamourous of first trophies to win, but it gets us off the mark. Fixtures / TableLooking AheadBig season coming up. It looks like prize money in this league is absolute garbage, so we're going to have to be careful with wages and expenditure until we get back to the big time. In an ideal world, we'd be promoted next season, if not the season after at the very latest. I don't want to be hanging around down here for too long and we need to raise the profile of the club to increase sponsorship and hopefully get a TV deal like a lot of the top Brazilian clubs have.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 15, 2019 22:58:46 GMT
I think I recall your last dabble in Brazil being Palmeries. and when ever someone goes to Brazil and posts about - it does make me wanna go to the land of long tiresome seasons sometimes.
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Post by Nick on Jul 19, 2019 19:40:54 GMT
I told the players at the end of last season that I thought we could avoid relegation from Serie B and they laughed me out the room. The media had us finishing 15th, the board wanted us to finish mid-table. I thought, if we got a bit of luck and had a really good season, we could possibly finish 7th or 8th. I never, even for one second, expected this. I never really started to believe until mid-October, ten games from the end of the season. From match #3 onwards we were never out of the top four, but it was always close, especially between ourselves, Bahia and Sport Recife. We had a couple of minor wobbles, but neither could take advantage and we were able to put undefeated runs together - nine unbeaten at the start of the season, eleven unbeaten through August and September and five wins (and clean sheets) in a row at the end to secure the title. It was this that separated us from the rest. Fixtures 1 / Fixtures 2If truth be told, it's come really early for us. Our positive form opened up opportunities in the transfer market midway through the season and I managed to bring in Pachu and Leandrinho on loan from Botafogo early on, which increased the quality in the squad, but we're going to need wholesale changes next season to even think about competing in Serie A. I'm struggling to remember a time where I've won back-to-back promotions - it's not how I usually do things - but here we are, we can't moan too much. Money is non-existent. We won £84k for winning the league, but paid out £650k in squad bonuses to leave us with -£1.6m in the bank. Guilherme Queiroz topped scored for the second season running, this time with 19 goals, but was more inconsistent this year, which doesn't bode too well for next season when we're rubbing shoulders with the likes of Palmeiras, Sao Paulo and Corinthians.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 19, 2019 19:47:04 GMT
congrats on the double promotion, be interesting to see how you fair in the top flight.
with brazils tv money, i think its based on reputation. and iirc the big clubs were on 3 yar deals. not sure how it fairs for you, as a promoted side, and im not sure if you got a tv deal right now
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Post by Nick on Jul 19, 2019 19:59:23 GMT
This has come out of nowhere too. Obviously still in the very early stages, but the club facilities page tells me that they're looking for a site for a 15,000 capacity stadium, which makes absolutely no sense given we currently play in a 60,044 all-seater stadium that we own and was 'only' built in 1972. I mean, it's old, but it's not that old!
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Post by Nick on Jul 19, 2019 20:03:46 GMT
congrats on the double promotion, be interesting to see how you fair in the top flight. with brazils tv money, i think its based on reputation. and iirc the big clubs were on 3 yar deals. not sure how it fairs for you, as a promoted side, and im not sure if you got a tv deal right now Cheers mate. I'm more than a little apprehensive about it. At the moment, I can't see where our first win is going to come from! The good news is that Brazil has long transfer windows and I have six months before the Serie A campaign starts due to the State Championships. I don't have a TV deal at the moment, but I'm hoping that happens sooner rather than later. I remember on previous versions there was a bug where you didn't get one if you didn't start the game with one, so hopefully that's all sorted now. I imagine our reputation will comfortably be the lowest in the division, so I don't expect a lot of TV money, but it's got to be more than in Serie B, so that's a bonus already. I do remember it being fairly easy to make money in Brazil through TV and sponsorship money, so hopefully that's still the case.
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Post by fmamerican on Jul 20, 2019 3:51:09 GMT
This has come out of nowhere too. Obviously still in the very early stages, but the club facilities page tells me that they're looking for a site for a 15,000 capacity stadium, which makes absolutely no sense given we currently play in a 60,044 all-seater stadium that we own and was 'only' built in 1972. I mean, it's old, but it's not that old! Damn right! I was born in 1974. I'm old but not that old! Five years until I can play in the O50 division!
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Post by Nick on Jul 20, 2019 8:14:58 GMT
A much needed boost. We're spending less than half of our wage budget at the moment and are bound to have comfortably the lowest in the division, so this type of money will make a real, tangible difference.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 20, 2019 9:35:15 GMT
At start of game - tv deals in place - for some of the bigger clubs, just for a quick comparision A Mineiro - 12.75m Corinthians 36m Cruziero 17m Flamengo 36m Gremio 17m Palmeiros 21m Santos 17m Sau Paulo 17.5m
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Post by Nick on Jul 20, 2019 9:38:03 GMT
They're the individual TV deals, right? We didn't get one of them, just the generic one. In fact, we didn't even get any extra sponsorship this year, so are having to get by on the £1.36m per year we bring in.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 20, 2019 9:59:30 GMT
Yeh they all setup as individual.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 21, 2019 0:39:51 GMT
I fsiled at Remo big style - so my hat goes off to you doing what you did with santa cruz
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Post by Nick on Jul 21, 2019 8:31:09 GMT
I fsiled at Remo big style - so my hat goes off to you doing what you did with santa cruz Oh no! What happened?
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Post by Nick on Jul 21, 2019 15:19:31 GMT
Here we go then, gearing up for what is a massive season for the club. We've been here before, of course, but the club has never really cemented itself in the top tier and certainly no-one looks at the club as a Serie A team, either on or off the pitch. Competition ExpectationsSensible, realistic expectations from the board, across all competitions, which is good to see, so we'll start with the big one - Serie A - "fight bravely against relegation". Four teams go down in a league of twenty and the media have us finishing 19th (was originally 20th, but has changed recently). If we think about it logically, we won Serie B last season, fairly comfortably, ahead of Bahia (15th), Sport Recife (18th) and Parana (20th). I'd like to think that we'll finish ahead of those three again this season - I can't imagine any of them have improved that much since last season. If we do that, all we need is one more team to do worse than us. We beat Serie A teams in both the first season and last season in cup competitions, so we've got it in our locker, we just need to roll it out consistently. We're getting to the stage already where our quality and stature make the State Championship a bit of procession, certainly until we face Sport Recife. For the moment, it'll seem fairly pointless for the most part, with some big wins along the way, but in the future it'll be hugely valuable for young players to hone their skills. We're expected to reach the final this year and probably each year from now on. We're back in the Copa do Nordeste this season, having missed out last year, and we're expected to reach the semi final. I'd like to win it, just say we've done it, but in the future it'll be treated in the same manner as the State Championship. The Copa do Brasil offers us a great opportunity to balance the books, should we navigate the opening rounds, and will continue to be treated with importance. The board want us to reach the third round and I'd like us to go as far as possible. Budgets and TransfersIt was wishful thinking to expect any money to spend, but the board did their best by offering me £170k. The wage budget was increased to £77k per week, which was around double what we were spending, so that gave me plenty of room to bring in the players we needed. The good thing about Brazil is the sheer amount of players available to you. It actually made for a really successful transfer window where all of our business was done quickly and early and all within a week of each other. The first order of business was the make the loan moves of Luis Fernando and Pachu permanent, both on free transfers. I don't expect either to be first choice, but they offer good rotation options and little by way of a settling in period. Both have been in and around Serie A before, albeit with little actually playing experience. Experience, while not a deal breaker was something I wanted to bring in. 35 year old, Tiago Cardoso, offers it in spades. Massive experience at all three levels in Brazil, including six years at this very club from 2011. Serginho is a touch tackling defensive midfielder that has mainly played in Serie B for all manner of clubs. We didn't have anyone physical and solely defensive minded and he fit the bill perfectly. Junior Santos and Careca were brought in to help at the other end of the pitch, but if we were going to survive in this league, we'd need to make sure that we had two decent options for each defensive position, so in came Joilson, Charles and Alex Alves on free transfers, while Romario joins on loan from Santos for the year. Plenty of new faces, but happy with who has come in. We actually got at least two players for each position that I'd have no hesitation in putting in the first team against anyone. In my experience, if you have that, you're halfway there. Pernambuco State ChampionshipNo pre-season for us so this competition allowed me to rotate pretty heavily, make sure everyone got up to speed fitness wise, and we did it without compromising our performances on the pitch. We opened up with 4-0 and 8-0 wins and didn't look back. As expected, Sport Recife were our main rivals and they were the only side we dropped points to in the group stage when we drew 1-1 away from home. Only two goals conceded, then we pummelled Vitoria (PE) 7-0 in the quarter final before a tidy 1-0 win with 10 men saw off Salgueiro and took us into the final. Having been pretty imperious all the way through, we hit the self destruct button in the first leg of the final. We played 40 minutes with nine men and suddenly our 1-1 scoreline turned into a 3-1 defeat. Luckily for us, there are shades of 1990's Man Utd about us at home and a 2-0 win levelled the scores on aggregate and took the final to penalties, where we managed to hold our nerve and retain the trophy. Not as comfortable a win as I expected, but a win nonetheless. League Table / Fixtures Copa do NordesteA similar story to the State Championships, albeit against slightly better opposition. We played Serie A side, Vitoria, first up and beat them 2-0. That gave me confidence for what is about to face us over the second half of the season. It wasn't one of those close or lucky wins, we dominated and could have scored more. From then on, or fixture list reads green. A 100% record in the group stage saw us qualify easily for the quarter final. Minnows, Globo, were beaten 3-0 in the quarter final and the semi final game was against Fortaleza, another Serie A side and one that is predicted to fighting it out at the bottom of the table with us. It was another test passed as we secured another 3-0 win. If this is a sign of what is to come, especially at home, then I think we can survive in the big league. The final will be played after the first game of our Serie A campaign, over two legs, and will be against Vitoria. League Table / FixturesCopa do BrasilAn easy route through the early rounds as Rio Branco (9-3), Nautico (6-0) and Vila Nova (4-1) were all beaten comfortably on aggregate. Figueirense (3-1) were a bit tougher in the fourth round, but getting this far has given us nearly £1m in prize money. Palmeiras await in the fifth round and, if we're being honest, that's probably as far as we're going, unless they rest players. They don't have the Libertadores second round until July though and we play them in June, so it's highly doubtful. FixturesThoughts and Looking AheadRecords broken for goals scored, high scoring games, undefeated runs and games won in a row. It could not have been better preparation for what is about to come. I've steadily grown in confidence and some good results against top tier teams have shown we can do it. If I was to stick my neck out, I'd say we'll survive. No more mention of the new stadium and they're still looking for a site for it. We're half a million in debt, so any new stadium is going to make that worse before it gets better. I've slowly been upgrading the backroom staff, but it's a long process due to the wages we can offer and the fact we can't pay compensation. We're getting there. The deadwood is slowly being sold, but neither youth intake has seen anyone come through that could play first team football in the future. I'm sure that won't be forever though.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 21, 2019 16:42:31 GMT
I fsiled at Remo big style - so my hat goes off to you doing what you did with santa cruz Oh no! What happened? I finished 9th in the serie C was the biggest problem, we just kept drawing or losing way to many games, Also came 3rd in the state championship.
I will no doubt try brazil again, maybe in Serie A or B though.
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Post by Nick on Jul 22, 2019 17:41:22 GMT
After this bashing, the second leg was a formality and we won the Copa do Nordeste 9-3 on aggregate.
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Post by jawzy on Jul 22, 2019 22:28:12 GMT
Congrats on the cup win.
Think if I do come to Brazil again I will try one of the smaller clubs from Minas Gerais state. So Boa, Tombense or Tupi
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Post by chaodck on Jul 23, 2019 13:39:41 GMT
Wow Nick, what a start of the season! Amazing progress so far mate, despite the financial and reputational problems. I see a lot of parallels between your save and my own in Germany, have you felt that tactics, specially defensive or possession tactics (more than risky direct tactics), have a big influence in the game? What are you playing right now? As I've talked in my save, I believe strongly that playing a good solid tactic, that your players know and excecute perfectly is way more important than pure talent in this year's game.
Good luck in the Brasileirão.
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Post by Nick on Jul 23, 2019 14:32:13 GMT
We currently have a month between games due to the Copa America, so now seems like a good time to talk a little about our start to the Serie A campaign and how we're lining up tactically. This is the base tactic that I've been using for a while now, including in my career save, but it has a few subtle changes. I've pulled the two central players back into the defensive midfield strata since taking over at Santa Cruz. Brazil is a hotbed for defensive midfielders, it makes sense. Shit kickers and deep-lying, creative types are pretty evenly split, so there's a bit of scope, moving forwards, for the players in those positions. At the moment, I've left them with reasonably positive roles and duties due to the way we can play in the State Championship and Copa do Nordeste. If you look at our fixtures from the first five games in Serie A, it seems to have transitioned well at a higher level, but we're yet to keep a clean sheet, so that's something I need to keep an eye on. I may need to reign it in a bit. The advanced forward is giving me more cause for concern than anything else at the moment. As you'd expect from the role, there is very little involvement in the built up, which is fine in itself, but it's not uncommon that my striker only touches the ball ten times in a game. If he's not finishing chances, his average rating falls through the floor. I've been thinking about a deeper role, but with the AMC sitting behind, I didn't want them stepping on each others toes. I've also had to take away the "get stuck in" instruction. Apparently in South America you just can't play that way! We've already had nine red cards this season. Add eighty-two (yes, 82!) yellows onto that and clearly we have an issue. Back to matters on the pitch, our positive way of playing has stunned Vasco and Corinthians so far to get us some much needed 'bonus points' against the bigger sides. I was disappointed with the home draw against Parana. They'll be around the bottom of the table and we need to be putting teams like that away on our own turf, but I guess it evens things out a little bit. We currently sit fourth after the five games, but some big sides like Sao Paulo, Santos, Flamengo and Vasco have all started pretty slowly, so I expect the fight for places to be fierce. One thing you notice looking at the Brazilian league is that are some massive teams in there, big stadiums, great youth teams and plenty of history. If you take out the smaller sides, i.e: Santa Cruz, Vitoria, Sport Recife, Parana, Fortaleza, Coritiba and Bahia, there are thirteen teams there that could win the league and you wouldn't call it a shock. I can't think of another one like it in the game.
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Post by Nick on Jul 23, 2019 15:33:10 GMT
TV + Attendance = Money!I've been keeping half an eye on the finances since the start, just to make sure we're not on the verge of collapse, but not really worrying too much. I noticed recently that we brought in £250k from the home leg of the Copa Nordeste, which seemed like a lot, and took a closer look at what we're bringing in. We currently have £856k in the bank, the highest it's been at this point in the season, but I expect that to dwindle during this month off. Anyway, I digress. You'll see from above that last season brought in £1.5m by way of TV money. We've already brought in £3.4m this year and there is still five months left of the season. Attendances have doubled since our promotion from Serie B, arguably boosted significantly by away fans, but you'll also see that, with 17 home games remaining, we've already made £400k more than the total of last season. This will be further boosted by the fact that we don't have any season ticket holders. I'm not sure why we don't have any. About a third of clubs in Brazil don't have any either. I initially thought it was because we get membership fees each year, but there are teams that have that and season ticket holders. Our wage bill is £46,200 per week at the moment and £2.29m per year, which is comfortably the lowest in the division and £1.23m p/a less than Parana. By comparison, Palmeiras spend £27.84m p/a and their highest earner, Gustavo Blanco, is on £61k p/w, more than my entire squad. We're a small fish in a big pond.
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Post by Nick on Jul 23, 2019 17:23:27 GMT
Done Deal!Left back, Jefferson, joins on a two and a half year deal. We lost Bruno Re to a broken pelvis and with him being 31 now, it's highly unlikely he'll come back and return to the level he was playing at previously. Jefferson is still young enough to improve and has Serie A and B experience with Goias in the last three years. With Romario currently on loan here, Jefferson can play his way into my first team for next season. If not, he'll be a solid rotational option at the moment.
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Post by Ben on Jul 24, 2019 9:47:11 GMT
Nick - firstly, an apology! I tend to read this forum on my phone so when I get on my laptop and I'm playing FM, I tend to miss this as I'm already up to date - been reading through it all though as and when you post.
I do love a Brazilian save- particularly when your State Champs are nice and easy and you essentially have 15/20 first team games for your youth side. I also then like seeing how many career goals I can get a striker to score - hopefully you'll get a really promising 16 year old 'next Pele/Ronaldo' and be able to do so!
Tactically - the 4-2-3-1 is pretty perfect for Brazil but for full 'Brazilian-ness' I would want to go with an SV and BWM in the DM strata - then you've got pretty much 11 players who are able to roam around the pitch!
You've made some great progress in really quick time - what are your best players looking like? Has Brazil managed to keep any young starlets or attract any aging ones back?
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Post by Nick on Jul 24, 2019 12:17:53 GMT
August has been horrific, of this there is no doubt. We've struggled at both ends of the pitch, especially in defence, but looking at our opponents, I don't know if I expected much different. We'd maybe nick a lucky point here and there, but the fact of the matter is, we're just not good enough to compete with those teams on a consistent basis. I'm trying to keep morale high and our next three games are Sport Recife (h) Atletico Paranaense (a) and Vitoria (h) where we'll need to pick up at least five points and start to rebuild some momentum.
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Post by Nick on Jul 24, 2019 15:38:18 GMT
Nick - firstly, an apology! I tend to read this forum on my phone so when I get on my laptop and I'm playing FM, I tend to miss this as I'm already up to date - been reading through it all though as and when you post. I do love a Brazilian save- particularly when your State Champs are nice and easy and you essentially have 15/20 first team games for your youth side. I also then like seeing how many career goals I can get a striker to score - hopefully you'll get a really promising 16 year old 'next Pele/Ronaldo' and be able to do so! Tactically - the 4-2-3-1 is pretty perfect for Brazil but for full 'Brazilian-ness' I would want to go with an SV and BWM in the DM strata - then you've got pretty much 11 players who are able to roam around the pitch! You've made some great progress in really quick time - what are your best players looking like? Has Brazil managed to keep any young starlets or attract any aging ones back? No worries mate, I'm much the same with everyone else's saves, particularly at the moment. Funny you should mention the defensive midfielders because I definitely need more out of them, particularly at this level, as you can see from our fixtures above, that defensive shield has a few holes in it at the moment! In terms of players, Junior Santos is probably our best player in terms of attributes. He's certainly the one with the highest value. In terms of performance, Charles is our best player, but even he has found the transition up to Serie A hard.
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Post by Nick on Jul 24, 2019 19:04:39 GMT
With ten games left of the season we're still fighting for our lives. We're wildly inconsistent, but appear to have stopped the consecutive losses, which is keeping us above the drop zone at the moment. I'm acutely aware that our run in is pretty horrific and every single point gained at this stage is a massive bonus. I'd forgotten how relentless the seasons are in Brazil. There is barely any time to train your players, maybe one day here and there, the rest is preparation for games. I've not managed to make any plans off the pitch, aside from sending scouts out. Full focus is on staying in the division and the rest will come in the future.
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