|
Post by shrewnaldo on Nov 30, 2019 19:35:32 GMT
Having got right into my FM20 save, I was itching to ramble on about it somewhere. Some folk may know that I have previously used my blog (footballmanagerveteran.wordpress.com) to report back on my saves since FM12. This year, I just couldn't be bothered with the longer format and wanted somewhere shorter but easily navigable for my old habits and failing eyes. Having been a regular poster on The Dugout (RIP) back-in-day, this place seemed like the ideal solution. And so, onto FM20 and my first long-term save which will be... With the new game majoring on the updated board confidence feature 'Club Vision', there seemed like an obvious pun to be made with my chosen club - Académico de Viseu of the Portuguese second tier. So why Académico? Essentially I decide on what sort of game I want first - a big club, journeyman, club and country, youth save, etc. Approaching the end of FM19, I became somewhat nostalgic for one of my favourite ever saves - with Feralpi Salò on Football Manager 2013. Feralpi are a tiny club currently, and at the time, in Italy third tier Serie C. The focus of the save was therefore on developing a club from the ground up, with little or nothing to build on through years of financial struggle. Looking for something similar, I scoured the lower echelons of Europe's big leagues for a suitable club - no history, tiny stadium, no money, nice kits and logo a bonus. I'd already 'done' Italy with Feralpi, Germany with FSV Frankfurt and France with Dunkerque so, with an aversion to playing in England, I was largely left with Spain and Portugal. Having seen some great Portuguese saves in recent years (Ben with Beira Mar, Samo with Vitoria, Foxy with Casa Pia, eg) and never having played there long-term, my destination was settled. I love black kits and Académico stood out as a team that would present a very decent challenge. The stadium has 14,368 capacity but we can only use 4090 during matches (don't know why) and the facilities are average at best. (apologies for the standard of the kits, I made them myself and I'm shite at this stuff) Clube Académico de Futebol were formed in 1914 but, due to financial struggles, folded in 2005 with the club reformed officially as a merger with G.D. Farminhão. Having worked their way back up through the leagues, Académico have plateau'd somewhat in the second tier (Ledman LigaPro), all of which fits very nicely with the long-term outlook for the club. The future of the club will be based on the 2020 Viseu principles for development: - Survive. All progress must be sustainable, the club must not gamble to chase success and jeopardise its existence and place within the community
- Clean sheets are worth, on average, 2.5 points per game. Prioritise them
- Play out from the back with a high tempo, short passing game that dominates possession
- Promotion to Liga NOS within two seasons
- Two seasons to consolidate in Liga NOS
- Two seasons to overtake 'second tier' in Liga NOS (Vitoria, Braga, etc)
- Two seasons to overtake Os Três Grandes and win Liga NOS
None of this is particularly revolutionary and I had it all outlined long before the new features, such as they are, were announced for FM20 so I was rather pleased to discover that the board has an almost identical vision for the start of the save. I've already completed my first season so expect an update soon. My aim is to drip feed in some of the wider principles of the save through other updates. Stuff like recruitment and scouting, training, youth development, tactics, etc will come in time. I've really been enjoying the save so far, despite some of the obvious flaws in the match engine, so I'm hoping this will be an interesting thread for you all to read, engage with and enjoy.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Nov 30, 2019 19:43:46 GMT
Before I start writing stuff up, I'd like to thank a few people who have helped me out immensely so far. The first is @fmwkdsoul who developed an amended skin for me which masks all the attribute numbers and replaces them with coloured boxes, more on that later. Should you like the skin and wish to try it for yourself, then you can find it here. I have amended that skin only slightly by stealing the 'between match highlights' panels from @fmrensie's skin ( available here) and an amended attribute analysis octagon which @fmfutbolmanager let me nick ( probably available here someday). All of which has got the skin looking and playing very well indeed. Finally, I'd also like to thank @fmlogos_rocheyb who was good enough to take my embarrassingly poor concept art and turn it into the 2020 Viseu logo you see above. He also designed the logo for Return to the Dugout - a Football Manager podcast that FM Analysis and I may have in the pipeline, hopefully. So thanks all!
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Nov 30, 2019 21:46:52 GMT
Shrew posting on a forum - are we in 2012?!
I've inadvertently followed pretty much everything you've done on FM - Feralpi, Rapid Wien, a journeyman which I seem to remember had a spell in the Swiss lower leagues?! and FSV Frankfurt.
I must say I'm delighted (and, it has made me stop questioning myself on whether I should continue to post on this forum)
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 1, 2019 18:51:03 GMT
Shrew posting on a forum - are we in 2012?! I've inadvertently followed pretty much everything you've done on FM - Feralpi, Rapid Wien, a journeyman which I seem to remember had a spell in the Swiss lower leagues?! and FSV Frankfurt. I must say I'm delighted (and, it has made me stop questioning myself on whether I should continue to post on this forum) It is taking me back a bit, I like it! The journeyman which started in the Swiss leagues... that might be as far back as FM09 or FM10 with La Chaux-de-Fonds? That's the one where I had a spell with Rapid and thus started an FM-inspired love affair. I also had a journeyman on FM18 which started in Ukraine with Volyn Lutsk. Then Illichivets Mariupol, Besiktas, Real Sociedad, ADO Den Haag and then Toulouse. Great save that was. Well I'm very happy to have anything to do with you continuing to post as I very much enjoy your saves, even if I don't keep up with them as regularly as I should. I haven't read much of your save this year, for example. That will soon be rectified.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 1, 2019 19:39:06 GMT
Opening post edited with some details of the save.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 2, 2019 20:33:49 GMT
How do I post images so that they are full size rather than the small ones showing in my opening post?
|
|
|
Post by jawzy on Dec 2, 2019 21:22:12 GMT
I usually use gyazo to host the image.
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Dec 2, 2019 21:36:28 GMT
How do I post images so that they are full size rather than the small ones showing in my opening post? Hey Shrew! Nice to see you here mate, posting about a save. Regarding your question, you gotta upload the pic to a public host (I use imgur), then post it pressing the "insert image" button (the seventh from right to left in the bar) or by going to the BB Code part of the post and posting it with this format, changing the {} brackets for [] brackets. {img alt="" src=" insert full image link here" style="max-width:100%;"}
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 2, 2019 21:52:08 GMT
Thanks gents, was just using the automatic image hosting there here, will use a third party site now. Appreciated.
Also, lovely kit that chaodck. Nice to see some familiar faces around.
|
|
|
Post by Robson on Dec 2, 2019 23:35:01 GMT
Hey Shrewnaldo, good luck Dude. Don't know if you know me by this moniker, but it is I, England Away. You're very brave going without attribute numbers! All the best in Portugal.
By the way, Return to The Dugout sounds interesting you must tell us more sometime.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 2, 2019 23:48:20 GMT
EA, fucking hell. All the old names are surfacing. Hope you're well.
We'll see if Return to the Dugout gets off the ground. We've tried a few times but scheduling even one episode is proving problematic.
|
|
|
Post by spitfire on Dec 3, 2019 11:32:00 GMT
Looking forward to this! Have enjoyed your writing since FM Veteran, good luck!
|
|
scott
New Member
Posts: 23
|
Post by scott on Dec 3, 2019 11:36:54 GMT
Shrew! Good to see you back posting on a forum! Really enjoyed your stuff on The Dugout (I was FG on there).
Good luck with this! I’ve never managed in Portugal but have always enjoyed reading saves there, including Ben’s and Samo’s as you mentioned.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 3, 2019 22:55:13 GMT
FG too! Is there anyone from The Dugout who doesn't post on here?
Thanks all. Very nice to be made welcome.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 4, 2019 21:24:30 GMT
2019-20 Season - Base-lining
The first season at a new club, assuming I'm playing a long-term save, is all about fact-finding and base-lining. What are the strengths of the team? What sort of system can I play? What areas do I need to improve? How close are we to achieving our goals? I always disable first-window transfer budgets, thereby forcing me to use the players at my disposal first and foremost. This was especially important this year with the attribute restrictions that I've put in place Quick side note here - a few people have described this as attribute-less. I don't think that's at all accurate. I can still see differentiations in attributes between players. It's just that I've removed the 1-20 indicators and replaced them with four colours for banding. I don't think attribute-less is any more realistic a way to play than 1-20. I don't think any manager has no idea whether their #10 is any better at passing than their centre back, for example. The attributes are simply an indication of that judgement. I do think the precise knowledge of differences of 5% between every player on the planet is relatively realistic. So I think the banding offers a relatively realistic way of reflecting what a manager would understand about his players' abilities whilst maintaining some of the uncertainty of subjectivity and introducing a slight level of difficulty to the game. But not attribute-less.With the board's expectations of a mid-table finish first season, there was little pressure on me for instant results and so taking a season getting to know both the squad and the idiosyncrasies of FM20 made a lot of sense. Tactically, however, I decided to be less pragmatic and - as has been a growing trend for me - simply decided on a preferred system and a general ethos of how I'd like to play football, then forced the squad into it. With mixed success. That was version 1 of the 'ShrewBall' tactic that I plan to make the hallmark of my Académico side going forward. The principles are pretty clear - flat back 4 protected by a DM in front, playing out from the back with a relatively high - but not insane - press, inverted wingbacks who overload the centre in possession, wingers to stretch the pitch as much as possible and an attacking three to do the fun stuff. This proved very successful defensively over the season as we consistently dominated possession and restricted opponents to very few opportunities. Sadly, our own attacking play was turgid, uninspiring and ultimately unproductive as we struggled for goals throughout the first half of the season. I put this down to three factors - - some issues with the match engine and crossing in particular
- the personnel at my disposal and players unsuited to both the deep wing positions and AM
- some poor role choices on my part
The striker role, in particular, was problematic and I've struggled to get any joy out of strikers on FM20 at all so far. Part of the problem, however, is that I simply can't make up my mind what I want the striker to do. Every other role has a clear 'profile' - an outline of what they should be doing in the attacking and defensive phases, as well as transitions between the two. Not unusually for me, the striker has little more than 'score goals' as his objective. My initial thoughts were to use a poacher but a complete lack of shots ended that idea. A more withdrawn striker to combine with the AMCs failed too. I'm still less than enamoured with the striker but, after a season of experimentation, we've evolved into this: I do love an AP and the shadow striker alongside does a fantastic job of both clearing space for the playmaker and making runs beyond the striker for him to find. Combined with the arrival of two genuine AMCs in playmaker Raposo (£10k from Beira-Mar) and Reinier (loan from Flamengo), we shot up the league and, at one point, were looking nailed on for promotion. Sadly, an injury crisis at the end of the season would see us take just 5 points from our last 7 games, dropping us down to what should have been a very pleasing third place. In truth, another season in the second tier will probably do us good. We managed to raise just under £1m from player sales in the summer without seriously weakening the team, indeed some key additions in wider areas and particularly at DM have improved the squad remarkably. I'll cover the recruitment side in a little more detail in a future post but I also have a much greater understanding of each role within the base tactic, striker excepted, including general expectations of the statistical output expected of each player and player traits that would suit each profile. Having now progressed a few months into season two, I'm relatively confident that we should go up this season and then the really hard work starts when we try to maintain the progression with very restricted funds.
|
|
|
Post by Reiver on Dec 4, 2019 22:09:18 GMT
Shrew, try this. open the image link, right click on the image and select copy image address. On the reply box, click on the image button and then paste what you copied there. Should work.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 4, 2019 22:48:51 GMT
Thanks Reiver, I did try that but it didn't seem to be working. Now, however, it seems to be working a treat. Will edit the above. Ta.
|
|
|
Post by ttgb on Dec 5, 2019 22:22:26 GMT
I will add to the old names list.
Welcome and glad your posting here. My fm20 journey as gone off to a slow start and general browsing as been non existent but will look to be around a bit more
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 6, 2019 9:55:57 GMT
I will add to the old names list. Welcome and glad your posting here. My fm20 journey as gone off to a slow start and general browsing as been non existent but will look to be around a bit more Hey TTGB! How are you doing? Really great to 'see' so many old 'faces' around these parts. Some great threads to read too. You just not liking FM20 or struggling to find the right save?
|
|
|
Post by ttgb on Dec 6, 2019 21:31:52 GMT
I will add to the old names list. Welcome and glad your posting here. My fm20 journey as gone off to a slow start and general browsing as been non existent but will look to be around a bit more Hey TTGB! How are you doing? Really great to 'see' so many old 'faces' around these parts. Some great threads to read too. You just not liking FM20 or struggling to find the right save? I am good thanks. Although we don't have the quantity of most sites, the quality of writing here is amazing. Its more time at the moment. Been super busy. Started a save with Stuttgart which should have some legs until I free up time to get into something bigger.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 6, 2019 22:26:57 GMT
RecruitmentUsing the restricted attribute view was a deliberate choice partly aimed at making recruitment much harder. I can't really recall ever allowing a player's statistical output to drive a purchase in any FM, instead I've relied almost solely on attributes and player personality. I was hoping FM20 would expand upon the statistics available to the human player but sadly that was not to be and therefore I'm forced to rely on what I consider to be quite limited and not always reliable statistical analysis. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone is what this skin change is all about though and I'm very much enjoying the additional challenge that is posed in the recruitment process. It all starts with scouting and, in an effort to play a bit more realistically and facilitate squad gelling, I have decided to prioritise scouting of Portuguese speaking countries - Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde and São Tomé & Príncipe. Interestingly, Portugal is only the fourth-largest Portuguese speaking country. I expect that we'll see regular prospects in only the first three of those countries but I certainly plan, long term, to scout them all and prioritise them for affiliate clubs. My early focus has been on expanding the scouting network, with a series of successful board requests expanding the recruitment team from its starting quota of one Chief Scout and one scout, to the addition of three more scouts, a Chief Data Analyst and a Data Analyst. With the lowly reputation of the team, attracting top quality recruitment talent has not been possible so I have been mindful of candidates' scouting knowledge and Adaptability attribute when hiring. The former 'reveals' more players and improves scout reports from those locations, the latter means the scouts are more effective in countries where they do not initially have scouting knowledge. I have then set up a recruitment funnel using additional shortlists. From the scouting meeting, any player who appears interesting and I think merits an individual scouting / analyst report will be added to the Default Shortlist. From there, a positive initial report which is in line with the profile required for that position will see player progress to the 'Possible Targets' shortlist. After that, two separate scouts as a minimum are assigned to fully report back on a player before they could move up to the 'Top Targets' shortlist. I have not yet taken the step of appointing a Director of Football to negotiate the transfer fees and contracts as the candidates responding to job adverts have been utterly useless thus far. Maybe one day. In addition to the scouts, I also make use of the 'Screen Flow' feature to deliver the 'Player Stats - Overview' screen for my current league and the four third-tier divisions every two weeks. From January, I will be adding the top two tiers in Brazil too. This will allow me to pick out any obvious standout performances and then assign the scouts to put the players through the funnel. On previous versions of FM, I've always been a cautious recruiter and deliberated long and hard over big money transfers in particular - to the extent where I think my record transfer is still the £42m I spent on a 17 year-old striker for my Toulouse side on FM12. I just don't like spending big money, which won't come as a surprise to those of you who know my nationality. This year, I'll need to be even more careful in the transfer market - partly because Académico are not exactly flush with cash, and partly because it is much more difficult to judge players' comparable talents. With less certainty over the attribute values, I'm hoping to be pushed into using more stats and trusting the scouts. A good early example of that is our playmaker Diego Raposo. Académico's starting squad lacks any real cover or talent at AMC, and with my preferred tactic utilising two of them it was an obvious early target for recruitment. As I'd blocked first window transfers, this meant I had 5 to 6 months of scouting before making some moves in January 2020. By this time, I'd formulated a basic 'profile' for one of the AMC roles - the advanced playmaker. No great wisdom here, the preferred type of player is pretty obvious - someone who can pass, has good vision and movement, someone who is composed on the ball and can anticipate the movement of advanced players ahead of him. In addition to this, I'm very keen on moulding the personality of the squad into a professional unit that trains well, develops together and doesn't kick off at the first hint of a top-tier scout. Raposo, with his 'silver' attributes for passing, OTB, flair, technique and decisions looked an interesting prospect but the 'bronzes' for composure and anticipation were concerning. After early scouting revealed his 'model citizen' personality and suitable player trait, however, I'm became very interested and started looking at his playing stats. At third tier Beira-Mar, he was top 5 in the league for key passes and chances created, whilst he'd also put in a couple of decent performances in cup games against more illustrious opposition. With his contract expiring in June 2020, a Bosman move was agreed before I stumped up the £10k required to activate the move early. In 18 games after his move, Raposo provided 7 assists in 17 starts and so far this season is averaging 2.33 key passes per game and 0.72 chances created per game, massive improvements on his predecessor. Raposo is very much what I consider to be the template for our future transfers and this summer's moves were more of the same, with 5 free transfers and three loans coming in - all but one being natural Portuguese speakers and favourable personalities such as 'Perfectionist' or another Model Citizen in Kadú below. I'm relatively confident of promotion this season and so recruitment will become that bit more difficult again. Continuing to expand the scouting network will be key and I'll start making approaches to the board regarding affiliate clubs. I've got my eye on a series of youth players at the big clubs but with Porto and Benfica both having B teams in the second tier then enticing them away may prove difficult. Not to mention the financials. That's for another time though.
|
|
|
Post by Reiver on Dec 6, 2019 22:41:53 GMT
Interestingly, Portugal is only the fourth-largest Portuguese speaking country.
I can give one extra tidbit of information. The second city with the most amount of Portuguese people in it is Paris. More than in Porto (the city, not Metropolitan area), the second biggest Portuguese city.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 7, 2019 23:21:25 GMT
Cheers Reiver, didn't know that. Sort of like the second-biggest French city being London.
Have updated the placeholder above for the recruitment post
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 8, 2019 20:38:22 GMT
2020/21 Half-Season Update
It's been a mightily successful first half of the season for Académico as we've matched my pre-season expectations and put ourselves in a very strong position for promotion. An unbeaten first round of fixtures and the most goals scored is very satisfying. The key to our success has definitely been the form of the attacking players with all four of our winger options producing the goods when called upon and the front three of Raposo, Reinier and Pedro Mendes running riot. The last two are sadly only on loan and I suspect we'll find it difficult to get them back, with 30 goals between them before the turn of the year they'll be very difficult to replace. Sorted here by 'shots per 90 minutes', you can clearly see that they've been integral to our success thus far. It's also clear how much more effective Pedro Mendes, on loan from Sporting, is than his predecessor Ismael Diaz. (this is my 'Attacking Stats' custom view) Interesting to note the two centre-backs I play in the DRC position are quite high on this list, representing successful deliveries from Diego Raposo at corners, even if the centre backs are not putting the chances away. My only disappointments so far this season have been in the Taça de Portugal, where we were knocked out by a lower league side, and our defensive record since the latest patch. The Taça result was just 'one of those', sandwiched between two Allianz Cup group games against top-tier sides, I rested the first choice players and paid the price. Defending, on the other hand, has been very poor since the latest FM patch and we have gone from 6 clean sheet in 8 league games to zero in 9. I haven't yet been able to figure out why but I'm also conscious that our personnel at the back are in desperate need of improvement. Félix Mathaus is clearly my first-choice option and statistically out-performing his team-mates, whilst Dénis Martins and Fábio Santos are 'competing' for the right centre-back slot with neither nailing down the slot. ('Defensive Stats' custom view) This means that, going into January, centre backs are a key recruitment focus and will be the subject of a subsequent post. For now, we're making really good progress and I'm very happy with the way things are shaping up.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 8, 2019 20:38:54 GMT
Is there any way I can scale some of the screenshots? I'd like to make the league table above 75% size, for example. Any ideas?
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 8, 2019 21:19:57 GMT
January 2021 - Recruitment ConundrumPer above, we're on the lookout for a new centre half or two. Only one of my three options has my confidence in the second tier so if we go up this year they're really going to struggle. These days, I like to sign players early for the next season, in January if at all possible, so that they can 'settle in' to the squad and build partnerships before hitting the ground running in August. After some extensive scouting, I'm looking at a few options but have issues with them all. First on the list is Frederico Venâncio from Vitoria - a player I know well from an old Rapid Wien save. He was outstanding for me then and I'm worried this is colouring my opinion of him now. His attributes look very good for my level - 'silver' makes a decent player in the second tier - and he has all the base attributes covered so no problems there. He's also got an exceptional statistical output and my scouts are big fans (from my 'top targets' shortlist, in 'defensive stats' custom view) So what's the problem, you ask? Money. His contract doesn't expire until 2022, so whilst he is transfer listed it will still cost me £85k this year, plus two £50k instalments over the next two years and another £20k assuming we go up this year. On top of that, he would become my highest paid player by quite some distance at £2k a week. Also, whilst his stats are very impressive, they are coming in the third tier of Portuguese football and so are subject to some amount of scepticism. Other options available include Romain Correia, also at Vitoria, or - much more likely - Jorge Fernandes of Porto. The former would appear to be costed out of a move for now, whilst the latter appears to be too slow for my high line. The last factor to consider is that we are doing very well with our current options and, should we maintain this form, will go up without a new centre half (or two). I could wait until the summer and confirmed promotion, then look again at options who would be more tempted by top-tier football and a new raft of free transfer possibilities. By this point, I would have a better idea of what promotion has done to our finances and whether the £2k a week we'd have to pay Venâncio is a reasonable amount for a decent defender. I am, I have to admit, somewhat stumped. Any opinions are very welcome.
|
|
ianf
New Member
Posts: 92
|
Post by ianf on Dec 14, 2019 1:41:02 GMT
How did I not know there was a shrewnaldo thread on here!! So excited!
|
|
ianf
New Member
Posts: 92
|
Post by ianf on Dec 14, 2019 1:57:47 GMT
Interesting tactic but something I know you have been playing around with for a few versions know. Are you happy with how the IWBs play? Personally I always push the boat out for good talent and back myself to get promoted and figure the finances out later. But then again my record fee is a lot more than 42m 😃
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 14, 2019 18:54:07 GMT
Interesting tactic but something I know you have been playing around with for a few versions know. Are you happy with how the IWBs play? Personally I always push the boat out for good talent and back myself to get promoted and figure the finances out later. But then again my record fee is a lot more than 42m 😃 I think I preferred the IWBs from 19. They seem to push forward on support a little more this year than I'd like, but generally they are a brilliant role and one I really enjoy using. You're absolutely right that this is something I've sort of been 'developing' for a while now and it really is playing fantastically well. The front three were, and remain, the biggest problem. AP(S) - SS - PF(A) is a decent system at the moment but it's not quite exactly right.
|
|
|
Post by shrewnaldo on Dec 14, 2019 19:09:25 GMT
2020/21 Season Run-inA brief update on the season run-in as we approach what should really be comfortable promotion. At the half-way point, we were 7 points clear of third - a lead which has been cut marginally to 6 points.
Penafiel have imploded and dropped right back to 5th, with Belenenses, relegated last season, and Feirense chasing us all the way. My remaining fixtures are very generous too, with only a visit from Benfica's incredibly strong B team likely to cause us any real problems. We've continued to knock in the goals and are comfortably top-scorers in the league whilst our defensive record has improved to be the division's third best.
Much of that is related to the signing of Venâncio, the subject of the previous post. I did not, however, sign him permanently as I thought the fee disproportionate. Instead I signed him on loan and just had to accept his £2400p/w wages. He's been excellent, though, with the team averaging just 0.38 goals conceded per game when's he's played - comparing favourably with the 1.08 and 1.19 of his competitors for the second centre-back slot. With Porto's centre-back Jorge Fernandes joining for free in the summer, I am tempted to meet Vitoria's asking price for Venâncio to provide the solid back-line we'll need in Liga NOS.
In more good news, we also managed to extend the loans of Flamengo's Reinier, 15 goals this season, and Sporting's Pedro Mendes, 25 goals, to the end of next season. With those moves completed, I decided to cash in on disappointing striker Ismael Díaz who, curiously, joined third tier Lusitânia for almost a million pounds. That move will keep our bank balance in the black until May and convinced me to loosen the purse-strings for the Venâncio loan. It has also meant that we can concentrate our scouting efforts on specific areas of the squad that are too weak for the top tier - left-wing, full-backs and DM in particular.
Assuming we successfully see out the promotion push, the key consideration is how much money we'll get for next season - a figure I expect to be paltry, at best. With a new contract signed and an agreement that the target for next season is to 'remain in Liga NOS', it is likely to be another summer of trawling for free transfers and loans.
|
|