Hey guys and welcome to my Football Manager 2012 Scarborough AFC season 4 report. Last season not only saw Scarborough win the Evo-Stik’s top division in style, but we also won the Evo-Stik Cup and broke a number of records throughout the season. The Seadogs are now in more familiar territory, the Blue Square North is where the club went bust and out of business years ago. Having guided my boyhood club to three straight promotions we are back to where it all ended. The quality will be far higher than I have experienced to date, but that will hopefully open the door for more quality players to enter my management. There’s a fair bit to get through, so lets dive straight into Scarborough’s first season back in the Blue Square North.

The board didn’t seem optimistic during pre-season, all they asked was for me to avoid relegation. I personally wanted to aim far higher but the difference in funds made upping my expectations a waste of time. Therefore I settled for a transfer budget of £23K and extra wages of £1K per week. The great budget was certainly down to some excellent finances following Friendly matches and a decent cup run last season.

The media however held us in higher regard, Scarborough were sixth favorite for the title priced around 16-1. Not bad at all considering we are newly promoted.

With the medias expectations riding on my shoulders, I went about offloading the deadwood. Every single player that left were offloaded because they lacked the quality for such a step up…bar one that is. Bridges who has been my most successful signing yet has fallen victim to some amazing regen strikers (I showed you their profiles during the last post), while he is good, I have two brilliant regens to fill his boots and I felt bad keeping the old boy around just to rot on the bench.

Now we move onto my signings, this could make or break the season and decide whether we perform above ourselves. Shepherd is the key striker that will replace Bridges and will be near impossible to keep past two seasons. While the others are all very young as always and should feature in the first team or as rotational options.

Just before the season began I took a glance at my assistants squad depth report. And I must say its the best I’ve seen since starting this save, obviously Scarborough are heading in the right direction and looking at my attacking options…well lets just say the board will be surprised.

Results – August to October

The season started with a bang as Scarborough managed 11 wins, 3 draws and one loss from the first 15 league matches. We also won our way past two FA Cup qualifying rounds to reach the 4th qualifying round not to mention the Friendly I arranged against Hearts to raise some cash. All of this and to think I suffered some major injuries during the first three months including the absence of key forward Shepherd which lasted 7 matches.

Results – November to December

The great start continued into winter as Scarborough pulled off a shock beating BSP’s Fleetwood 3-0 to qualify for the FA Cup first round. We then enjoyed yet more league victories and got lucky in the FA Cup, drawing easy opposition twice to squeeze our way into the third round draw. After some good fortune in the FA Cup the Seadogs also remained in the FA Trophy and will now await the 2nd round draw. As for the league we may have lost twice, but Scarborough won the other 5 matches which pleased me considering our busy Cup schedule.

The good start has led to a 6 point gap at the top with games in hand over the teams below. My boys have only suffered three draws, three losses and still have two cup competitions to fight for.

Results – January to February

This two month period was massive for the Seadogs, we drew just two league games and managed to avoid defeat bar the match away to Halifax, plus we progressed to the semi-final of the FA Trophy beating three teams along the way including BSP’s Gateshead. But none of these matches could even touch what happened in the FA Cup. My boys beat League Two’s York in the third round to setup a fourth round away tie with Premier League side Stoke. Despite a valiant effort Scarborough lost 1-0, but we raised a ridiculous amount of money from that match alone. Going so far meant matching Scarborough’s previous record in the FA Cup when they lost to Chelsea in the fourth round many years ago (and no I didn’t have to google that stat, I was there watching the match in person.)

Results – March to May

The final three months of the season were our best. Scarborough not only won every single league game, but we beat Barrow 9-2 on aggregate in the FA Trophy semi-final to book our place at Wembley.

With the Blue Square North all wrapped up, I was left to examine the table which showed utter domination. The Seadogs finished top by a massive 31 points scoring 116 goals. We gained promotion to the Blue Square Premier which means just one promotion stands between us and the football league. But all of that was in the back of my mind as everyone in Scarborough traveled down to London for the FA Trophy final.

FA Trophy final vs Forest Green

Venue: Wembley

Attendance: 24,008

Starting formations:

Forest Green are my opponents for the FA Trophy final, they finished this season 5th in the Blue Square Premier and then went on to win the play-off for promotion. Obviously they have a very talented side and Scarborough will be seen as underdogs for this match, but if we can lose just 1-0 away to Stoke, then we can handle ourselves today. I will leave you to watch the match highlights below.

Match highlights: Click here to watch the FA Trophy final match highlights

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Match stats:

Shepherd was our star man yet again scoring two and assisting the other. Scarborough dominated this match with 65% possession and 8 shots on target to Forest Greens zero. You would have thought my boys were the team to have gained promotion to League Two and that is the best way I could describe this match. It truly was a fantastic day for the fans.

Stats and finances

After this incredible season so many players deserve a mention, but I’ll leave you to see the squad stats below before picking out my favorite four. All I will say is check out the age of these players, they are insanely young when you consider all that they have achieved already. My biggest challenge will be holding them down while the vultures circle above us.

My favorite four

4th – Oliver Lee (MC, aged 23)

3rd – Nikos Nikolaou (AMR, aged 17)

2nd – Reece Hendrie (AMR, aged 18)

1st – Bob Shepherd (ST, aged 17)

As you can see everything was perfect on the pitch and as a result things off the pitch weren’t bad either. I finished last season with £237K in the bank, but after our amazing cup runs that figure went through the roof hitting £752K. This was an amazing bank balance for a small side like Scarborough and I had to take advantage…

…so I asked the board to build a new stadium. Ever since the old stadium was abandoned (this is where I learnt what football is) I had felt like a part of my childhood left me. Scarborough had to play their games in Bridlington at the Neil Hugdell Law Stadium and still do to this day, unfortunately Bridlington is just too far for me to travel and a real pain to get to. So you can imagine my excitement when the board agreed with me and started making arrangements to move back to where we belong, in the city of Scarborough.

The new stadium will cost £2 million which is a lot for such a small club but only £1.19 million comes from our pockets over a lot of years. The capacity is almost the same as Bridlington’s ground (which we currently borrow for matches) but I’m not bothered, the Seadogs can finally say they own their stadium again…well in 2017 anyway. Lets just hope there’s lots of room for expansion.

The board also granted an upgrade to the clubs training facilities which were dyer and had to be improved, this will cost £95K but still shows the boards willingness to help.

Well that about does it for today, I hope you are enjoying the story so far and will be back for my season five update. My journey has been amazing to date and as before, I am happy to report no bugs as Scarborough begin life in the Blue Square Premier. Until next time please feel free to comment below and I’ll leave you with a screenshot of our climb through the divisions so far.

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

The most important news of the winter break is that the board decided to spare some cash and boost my transfer budget but not by much unfortunately. However, I managed to sell a few players for a total of 1.5 million pounds with the most notable transfer out being youngster Stefan Huza who left the club for a nice transfer fee: 1 million pounds to Viking. I spent the money on two players:

- a striker – Olexiy Romanchuk, bought for a bargain fee of 20,000 pounds from a small Ukrainian club.

- a central midfielder – Hector Fernandez, bought for a hefty 2 million pounds from Godoy Cruz. Unfortunately I was unable to complete the transfer before the Europa League squad registration deadline so I was unable to register him for that competition but he should become an essential player next season.

The winter friendlies went fairly well as we won all but one but I was pleased to see the lads scoring for fun in most of those games.

The serious business began with the first leg of the Europa League first knockout round, a trip to Ibrox where we were going to face Rangers. They had finished third in a Champions League group, just like we had, but the main difference was that they managed to clinch that third spot with just two points compared to our eight!

Rangers vs Viitorul (Europa League 1st Rnd Leg 1)

Starting Line Up: Hernan Prestia – Ionut Peteleu, Juan Belencoso, Georgica Dicu, Mory Kante – Christian Kaufmann, Joaozinho, Nenad Grumic – Rastislav Benko, Manoel, Daniel Mazzoni

The best area of their squad appeared to be the middle of the pitch where they had a nice duo composed of John Fleck and Josh McEachran. My lads seemed stronger though, we dominated the opening minutes of the game and could have broken the deadlock in the 10th minute through Benko but his shot was saved by the goalie. The domination continued and we finally found the back of the net on 28 minutes when Angolan midfielder Joaozinho curled in one of his trademark free kick shots, from the edge of the area straight into the top corner!  That beautiful goal gave us a well-deserved advantage at half time and I was quietly optimistic at the interval.

The Rangers reacted after the break though and they came very close on 50 minutes when we were rescued by the crossbar. My boys were still playing well though and Manoel could have doubled our advantage three minutes later but his placed shot bounced clear off the post. Then the Brazilian striker got injured and I replaced him with new signing Olexiy Romanchuk. Despite playing well it was another dead ball situation that brought us a goal: Joaozinho was the taker again but this time he crossed for Georgica Dicu who fired into the roof of the net! Four minutes later substitute Romanchuk played a great pass for Benko but the striker failed to find a way past the keeper when one-0n-one. Then the game cooled off a bit, we seemed safely in control but unfortunately a moment of madness let the Rangers back in deep into injury time: substitute midfielder Silviu Pana made a rash tackle inside the penalty area and the Rangers pulled one back from the spot. That goal kept the tie interesting, we had to be careful in the second leg.

Match Highlights: click here to watch

Viitorul vs Rangers (Europa League 1st Rnd Leg 2)

Starting Line Up: Hernan Prestia – Ionut Peteleu, Juan Belencoso, Georgica Dicu, Mory Kante – Christian Kaufmann, Joaozinho, Nenad Grumic – Rastislav Benko, Manoel, Daniel Mazzoni

We needed to make sure of keeping a clean sheet in the second leg and that’s exactly what we did in the first half, the game was comfortably boring. Moreover, we managed to score just before the interval when Nenad Grumic set up Manoel who found the back of the net with a cool finish. Things seemed to be going our way at that point but the Rangers fought back after the break and managed to make it all square at the hour mark with a well-deserved goal. Fortunately my players regained control of the match after the equaliser and we could have wrapped things up in the 72nd minute when substitute Olexiy Romanchuk squandered a huge chance. There was nothing to worry about though, we kept possession very well and had a comfortable match finale.

Match Highlights: click here to watch

We were going to face Turkish side Fenerbahce in the second round as they breezed past Sparta Prague in the previous round, 4-1 on aggregate. We were just one step away from the quarter finals, this was becoming quite exciting…

Viitorul vs Fenerbahce (Europa League 2nd Rnd Leg 1)

Starting Line Up: Xaropinho – Ionut Peteleu, Juan Belencoso, Ionut Putanu, Mory Kante – Christian Kaufmann, Nenad Grumic, Silviu Pana – Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Daniel Mazzoni

Unfortunately we had a few important absences to deal with: Georgica Dicu was suspended while Hernan Prestia, Lubomir Cerny and Manoel were all injured. As for Fenerbahce, their squad looked strong overall with a star player in midfield: former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid man Hamit Altintop. We had good possession in the opening half hour but we were unable to create any decent chances while Fenerbahce came close to punishing us on a counter attack on 36 minutes when goalie Xaropinho pulled off a very nice save. Things changed slightly after the break as my lads started showing a bit more determination and we were rewarded with a very lucky goal two minutes after the restart: substitute left back Danut Gongolea sent in a good powerful cross and fortunately it was fumbled into the net by one of the Turkish defenders. I was expecting to see more after that goal but nothing happened, the game was totally boring until eight minutes from time when Juan Belencoso picked up his second yellow card of the game and left us with 10 men for the final minutes. Fenerbahce were unable to capitalize on that advantage, they didn’t even seem to try to be honest, so we clinched a good but lucky first leg win.

Match Highlights: click here to watch

Fenerbahce vs Viitorul (Europa League 2nd Rnd Leg 2)

Starting Line Up: Hernan Prestia – Ionut Peteleu, Ionut Putanu, Georgica Dicu, Danut Gongolea – Christian Kaufmann, Joaozinho, Nenad Grumic – Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Daniel Mazzoni

The second leg brought two more absences in our ranks due to red and yellow cards, Mory Kante and Juan Belencoso were suspended while Manoel and Lubomir Cerny were still injured. We had Prestia back between the sticks though and Dicu back at the heart of the defence and the team started the game well, we were playing better than we had done in the first leg and we nearly scored a very important goal on 19 minutes but Benko wasted a very good chance. The home side swiftly punished us for that just four minutes later on their first real attacking move of the game, my defence was rather slow to react and the game was all square on aggregate. Then Fenerbahce took control of the game and nearly scored again on 41 minutes when Hernan Prestia kept the score intact with a very good save.

The second half didn’t bring any differences, the home side was still in control but we managed to keep things quiet until the 75th minute when Prestia pulled off another good save to keep us in the game. The match went into extra times, both teams looked exhausted but we had a good chance to nail that decisive goal on 110 minutes when substitute Olexiy Romanchuk came close with a header that was diverted behind by the goalkeeper. Then things got worse for us as Gongolea got injured and with no substitutions left we had to face the last minutes of the game with a numerical disadvantage. Fenerbahce looked to take advantage of the situation and started pressing forward but my men survived to push the game into the penalty shoot-out…

A Fenerbahce player took the first penalty and scored, then Rodolfo Oliver stepped up and scored, then another Fenerbahce player scored, then Daniel Mazzoni hit the post! Then the third Fenerbahce player scored and then… Joaozinho hit the post… The fourth Fenerbahce player scored and it was all over, a bitter pill to swallow but the end of a proud European campaign overall.

Match Highlights: click here to watch

With Europe out of the way you might wonder if we managed to grab our fourth consecutive Liga 1 title, right? Well, I won’t create any suspense this time because there was none: we clinched the title with five games to spare after a tremendous winning streak. In fact, we went the whole second half of the season unbeaten but the players got a bit complacent after clinching the title and we recorded a few draws in the last games of the season.

We won the title by a very big margin but we didn’t improve last season’s total as we earned 84 points compared to last season’s 86. We improved other numbers though: 78 goals scored compared to 73 last season and just 12 goals conceded, half of last season’s 24!

Last but not least we had the Romanian Cup, we wanted to get our third trophy in a row. The semi final was a pleasure cruise as we thumped Branesti 7-1 on aggregate…

… but the final was expected to be a bit more difficult as we were about to face Rapid Bucharest.

Rapid vs Viitorul (Romanian Cup Final)

Starting Line Up: Hernan Prestia – Lubomir Cerny, Juan Belencoso, Georgica Dicu, Mory Kante – Christian Kaufmann, Hector Fernandez, Nenad Grumic – Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Daniel Mazzoni

We could have gained an advantage before the first minute of play was over, Benko had a close range free kick header just 50 seconds into the match but somehow he directed that over the bar. The domination was quite clear, we were piling on the pressure but the breakthrough was nowhere to be seen. Then Daniel Mazzoni got injured but fortunately substitute Manoel made an instant impact as he was brought down inside the penalty area and Rastislav Benko coolly converted from the spot. Benko had yet another chance three minutes before the break but he fired just wide from a good position. And then we got punished just as we were preparing to head to the dressing room, Rapid scored on a corner kick as their first shot of the match found the back of the net…

Our domination continued after the interval and we finally got back in front two minutes after the hour mark when a cross from Kante was volleyed home by Oliver. Rapid came close to making it all square again just five minutes later when former Viitorul striker Denis Alibec hit the crossbar from a free kick but we seemed in control of the match. That was just an illusion though, Rapid found the equaliser on 89 minutes when my goalkeeper and defenders were caught sleeping by a desperate cross into the box from way out.

The game went into extra time and then to the penalty shoot-out, the second of our season… This time we did a lot better though, eight pairs of penalty kicks were taken but my lads kept cool and won the third consecutive double…

Match Highlights: click here to watch

That concludes a successful season overall, our domination of Romanian football is quite clear now and we’re starting to make a name for ourselves in Europe as well. Rastislav Benko and Manoel have been on fire this season as they bagged 27 goals apiece, Georgica Dicu and Juan Belencoso are forming a solid pair at the heart of the defence while midfielder Joaozinho is becoming an important asset. I think that we don’t need any major changes in the squad for next season but I will surely try to bring in a few quality youngsters to enhance the team.

The club’s financial status is still solid with little over 7 million pounds in the bank, things should be quite exciting next summer as I hope I’ll be given a decent transfer budget to play with.

That’s all I had to report for now, thanks a lot for reading and for your support.

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

So at the end of last last, 2017 – 18, Gladbach completed a very unlikely double, my proudest achievement to date. Since I had won every trophy I could in Germany I decided it was time to move on to the third nation out of five in my European challenge. To recap, I want to win every top-flight trophy in Europe’s “big 5,” England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. I completed France with Evian in two season, which was absolutely insane, and now Germany in four. I quit my job at Gladbach so that the next manager has the whole off-season to mold the team to his liking and I am now in the job market. Sadly, I got no offers in any of the three remaining nations, so I took a job with the Jamaican Under 20′s for the chance of leading them through Under 20′s World Cup!

Jamaica Under 20′s

I actually had a couple of countries competing in this tournament approach me, but almost all of them did not even have a full squad of players; a large number of the squads were grayed out players. Jamaica was one of the few that had a full team and they seemed the strongest squad of the nations to approach me. Here is how we did in the tournament:

We were pretty unlucky to get such a tough group; Ghana and Switzerland are strong nations. Even though we finished third, for having more points than most other third place nations, we qualified for the knock-out stages, only to be drawn with the juggernaut that is Portugal. We didn’t play as terribly as the scoreline suggests, but we were certainly no match against Portugal. I wish the team could have done better in the group stages, because then we could have been drawn against a weaker nation. The team did have the skill to at least draw both Ghana and Switzerland, but I just didn’t have any time to prepare them for the tournament so we fell by the wayside. I really didn’t feel like sticking around with an U-20 side after this U-20 World Cup debacle but I still was not getting any offers so I signed for:

Brazil

I thought it would be fun to take charge of Brazil. The only other country that offered me a job was Cyprus and I wasn’t too keen on them so I head to South America to take control of the selecao. I was really relishing the prospect of guiding them through qualification for the next World Cup only to find out that they already qualified. This was a big disappointment for me. Brazil steamrolled all of South America to become the first team to secure qualification for the tournament in Russia. I was surprised then why they sacked their manager Tite. It was because he didn’t do very well in the Confederations Cup . . . Well, at least now I don’t have to worry about results; I can focus on experimenting with the squad. I can see right now that Neymar is my star so now I want to identify my other strong players. I think I will stay on with Brazil until at least the World Cup that will happen at the end of this season. I just hope I can find a club team soon since the season is just about kicking off . . .

Here are my meaningless results with Brazil, by the way. I have fielded almost completely different squads each time. I am just doling out caps

As it gets closer to the tournament I will start establishing my real squad and getting them used to my tactics (or rather Johnny and Darren’s tactics).

Just when I had given up hopes of taking charge of a club this season, offer from Italy started to pour in. At the seasons half (Italy has a winter break as well), A.C. Milan, Inter, Cagliari, and Siena all approached. I immediately ruled out the two teams from Milan. I was actually trying to hold out for Udinese, whose manager was on the verge of being sacked but in the end I chose:

Cagliari

So it is with Cagliari that I will hope to achieve glory in Italy. With half the season gone they find themselves in 17th. Siena are one below them while Udinese are one spot above and Inter Milan is only one above Udinese. I decided to pull the trigger on signing with them because It was already January 5th and 5 precious days of transfers have already gone. And I an glad that I did not delay any longer because this team is in serious need of an overhaul. I was spoiled at Gladbach because they had a great team and an incredible backroom staff. If you remember when I first started, they had a brilliant and extensive scouting system that I barely needed to touch. Evian, while the backroom was awful, the first team squad wasn’t that bad, but here I am out of luck in both respects. The squad was old and just not very good and since I am still sticking with Johnny’s Barcelona tactic, I needed more strikers. I think this would be a good time to mention that I am taking a quick break from UGO’s schedules and trying our Raikan007. UGO’s schedules are great but I want to give Raikan007′s a try as well because I’ve heard great things. Anyway, back to Cagliari. Their nickname is the Rossoblu and the stadium is the Sant’Elia, which seats 21,530. They are located in Cagliari, which is the southernmost city on the island of Sardinia. I guess I am continuing my trend of being on the border of the country I am coaching in. Evian is on the Franco-Swiss border, Gladbach is on the German-Dutch border, and Cagliari is near the border between Italian and Algerian waters (kind of). Cagliari had their glory days in 1970 when their greatest player, Luigi Riva, who is also the leading scorer for the Italian national team, led them to their only Scudetto. They were runners-up the year before they won the Italian top-flight and their only other major accomplishment is being semi-finalists of the 1993-94 UEFA Cup, which is today the Europa League. Hopefully, I can help them fill up their trophy case.

Onto my squad and transfers! It was a very tense transfer season because I did not have very much time and I had to reshape the club from top to bottom. And hiring a solid backroom put extra pressure on me, but in the end I managed to assemble a squad that I think should see us finish somewhere around 10th. Since Cagliari are a mid-table team, was cause was helped by a transfer budget that was a little over £7 million. Oh, before I forget, so the Cagliari senior team was not good but the youth and reserves are AMAZING so I had the luxury of being able to promote quite a few players, which gave me a little more room in the transfer market. One thing that was kind of unfortunate was that some of my brightest stars are co-owned, something that is quite common in Italy. I will definitely not be taking advantage of this because I don’t really know what the rules are that govern co-ownership. For now I will try to buy out the rest of these players’ contracts. One of the things I will miss about Germany is the lack of restrictions on foreign transfers. France had the rule that no more than 4 non-EU players can be registered in your squad, while the rule in Italy is you can sign no more than 2 non-EU players during a season. So it’s good that I can register as many foreign players as I want, but I can only sign 2 a season. As you might remember from my time in Gladbach and Evian, I cast my eyes towards Africa quite a bit . . . Anyway, here are my finances, my squad, and my transfers:

This was easily my most stressful and extensive transfer window. The team was made up of ageing players who were fine a couple of years ago but are now over the hill. Here is my squad for the second half of the season”

GK: Michael Agazzi and Martino Castelli

So I retained the number 1 keeper, Agazzi and promoted Castelli from the youth. He has solid potential and Agazzi isn’t a terrible choice between the sticks for the rest of this season. I doubt I will retain him at the season end but for now I hope he does his job well and tries to change my mind.

DC: Mehdi Benatia, Cesare Bovo, Vittorio Basilicata and Lucio Rizzo

Benatia was bought for £4 million from Evian. I was desperate for a central defender because none of my targets would sign for me, so I had to shell out for this player. The annoying thing is I was forced to pay his kingly salary of £2.1 million a year. Because of the intense financial strain one player is causing (Jese’s salary shot up as a result because his contract has a “match highest earner” clause) I could only afford him for the rest of this season. I essentially payed £6 million for the services of one player for half a year . . . I was desperate and he is a very good center-back so I am trying to let it go. Bovo was another desperation signing. I wish I held onto my original central defenders a little longer . . . Anyway, Bovo still has some life left in him and I think he will be adequate for this remaining season. Vittorio Basilicati. Now we’re getting somewhere! This kid was co-owned with some Serie B team and I had to pay £1.2million for the rest of his contract. I really didn’t mind because he is going to be a top defender some day. He already has the ability to be a reliable defender in my opinion. I expect big things from him. Rizzo is a player I promoted from my youth system. He is not as magical as Basilicati but he will make a solid if unremarkable defender.

DL: Pablo Armero and Eduardo Sanchez

Left-back is one of the hardest positions to buy for because there simply ins’t that much quality. That being said, Pablo Armero is a player who I deemed definitely worthy of retaining from the old squad, at least until this summer. His understudy is the extremely talented Sanchez, who I believe could be the next best left-back in the game. He is rated by both my scouts and assistant as a 5-star player!

DR: Ivan and Stavros Papoutsis

Ivan was an expensive signing, £1.3million to Girona, where he was a first team regular. As you can see, despite his youth he is a player who can already hold his own in the top flight. He is already worth more than I paid for him due to his strong performances during his first couple of games. Papoutsis was the last player to join my team. Finding a back-up right defender was almost impossible. In the end I had to give in and bring this kid from Olympiakos, but I got him on the cheap.

MC: Vladimir Gadzhev, Matheus, Josue, Gabriel Pimba, Michael Serafini, and Oliveira

This is, in my opinion, the most important position, so I normally take care to make sure it is as stacked as it can be. I was surprised because Cagliari had some decent central midfielders. Matheus and Josue are absolutely terrific and the captain Gadzhev isn’t too bad himself. I am not too comfortable with Pimba as a back-up because of the history of his ratings but his stats show that he has some solid skill. Serafini was promoted from my reserves and seems like he is of similar quality to Pimba, but with room to grow. Oliveira is a player who I am very excited about. He is making waves in the Brazil Under 20 squad, so there must be something to him. As a 4.5 star player, he can’t be that bad I think he could turn out to be my greatest transfer.

ST: Jese, Daniele Ragatzu, Sebastian Ribas, Thiago Ribeiro, Savino Esposito, and Nicolas Floris

Every team needs its talismanic striker. Evian had Yaya Sanogo, Gladbach had Marco Reus, and Cagliari has Jese. He will spearhead our attack. Overall, this position did not have too many changes, partly due to the cost of replacements. Ragatzu and Ribas will join Jese, but Ribas is likely to leave at the end of the season. Ribeiro is my super-sub and he too will probably leave during the summer. I promoted Esposito, after buying out his co-ownership, and Floris from the youth set-up. Esposito looks like he could develop into quite a player.

So for now, this is my squad. Our first goal is to avoid relegation and my second goal is to finish around 10th. We are especially lucky because this is the only competition we have to worry about since the previous coach helped alleviate us from cup duties

As you can see, Cagliari hasn’t exactly had the best of times this season . . . The red box are the fixtures that I took control of. The loss to Siena was annoying. The team was not used to my strategy and we were in personnel transition, so there was nothing to do about it. Roma and A.C. Milan are both a cut above us so there was little chance of winning to begin with but my boys lost without bleeding too much. Both wins were somewhat fluky as well. We beat Palermo thanks to an own goal and their terrible discipline, which saw 6 of their players get a yellow card. During the Sampdoria game, we scored within just 3 minutes and rest of the game was a pointless back and forth.

Here is the table, for your consideration:

Obviously we would like to see a change in our position on this table. Only upwards, please!

I must apologize, this is all I have for now. I am quite sleepy and I need to finish the last couple of games of the season so expect to see the conclusion of my first season with Cagliari sometime tomorrow. I promise not to leave you all hanging!

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

So after getting over my rather horrible illness I have been working very hard (well not too hard!) to try and get an update out as quickly as I could. Am back as a solo player again as my boyfriend returns back to his own game as my pentagon challenge starts to take some shape.

We (as in the readers! We are a community after all! ) have managed to win two champions leagues in North America and South Africa and our journey now continues in South Korea.

Last time out we lost the Asian champions league final, then lost the K-league playoff final and lost the Korean league cup final!

Am a bad manager I guess! Or just hopeless in finals and playoff games but lets think positive as I bring you yet another long season so get ready.

Managerial C.V

- Black Aces (June 2011 – June 2018)

African Premier League : 2016

Super 8′s Winner : 2015, 2016

First Division : 2012

South African Knockout Cup : 2016

The African Champions League : 2017

- New York Red Bulls (January 2019 –December 2021)

U.S. Cup : 2019

MLS : 2020, 2021

North American Champions League : 2020

- FC Seoul ( January 2022 – Present)

Korean FA Cup : 2022

International Career

- U.S.A (May 2017 – July 2021)

Nothing.

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So first off lets take a look at our club information, and we did drop a few million from our estimated value on last year.

So far none of our players have managed to break into the favoured personnel lists but it has only been one season.

So something really annoying happened last season, remember our board upgraded our training facilities to five star’s? Well after one season they became obsolete and we are back down down to three stars so that was £5.5 million pounds wasted.

Then to further my annoyance my board then decided to upgrade them again! Costing around £4 million this time so our money is almost gone due to incompetence above my head.

Transfers In and Out – First Window

So it was quite a quiet window in truth, I just released some players I didnt want and sold another foreign player I had in my ranks.

I added three new faces so lets take a look at them.

Hae-Young Kim

Kwang-Jin Kim

Cabelo

So the first player was bought to help provide some cover and potentially become our starting central midfield player. The second was just a young keeper I found after having no real cover in my squad.

Cabelo was brought in for fellow Korean side Pohang and already has Korean citizenship he will provide cover upfront or out wide when needed.

Results and League Table First 15 Games

So again we were very strong through are opening fifteen games without losing once again.

We have scored more goals than this point last season but we have conceded a few more also, our rivals Ulsan are hot on our heels though.

Transfers In and Out – Second Window

So quite annoying that my chairman sold Hong Chul our star left back from last season so I had to bring in another one but ran out of time!

Instead I brought in another holding midfielder player with good potential.

How the Mighty Have Fallen!

Sack me then want me back, I dont think so.

Results Final League Games of the Season

So our long unbeaten league run final came to an end against Pohang as we lost that game by two goals to zero.

Ulsan finished on exactly what they got last season of 64 points but scored a lot more goals, we did score alot more goals but conceded far more also.

Onto my favourites now, the playoffs…………..

The K-League Playoff Final – First Leg vs Ulsan

Mane! 90+3 dont you just love that.

It was such a great game but I felt we deserved to win even the sending of didnt change that much and infact we did find it a bit tougher as they defended for most of the game using their fast counter attacks to cause us problems.

But for the first time I have an advantage I cant waste it……

……. can I?

The K-League Playoff Final – Second Leg vs Ulsan

Yay!

Finally a playoff victory and we have finally won the K-league!

Ulsan didnt really play that well this time and we took full advantage a goal after 27 seconds really settled my team down. The own goal compounded the massive amount of pressure we put them under as at times they couldnt cope with our attacks.

Donald missed a penalty even though he is a centre back and was behind about seven other players that were on the pitch so I have no idea why he stepped up to take it, he then got injured to cap an eventful day for him.

All in all we deserved our victory, and yes you are reading correctly I did win a playoff final.

Cup Competitions

The Asian Champions League

So defeat in the first knockout stage, we ended up losing despite scoring four away goals but they didnt count as it was only one leg!

We ended up losing on penalties so for another season our champions league dream was over before it really got going, Guangzhou did go on and win the competition.

The Korean FA Cup

So we failed to defend our FA cup after my rivals Ulsan beat us by three goals to two.

The Korean League Cup

De ja vu?

They also knocked us out of the league cup as well! Same scoreline same disappointing performance they are starting to provide a good test for my team.

Final Player Ratings of the Season

So I was very happy with my squad Edison continues to shine in South Korea topping our player ratings once again. Jae Hyung Kim was second again but he did score more goals than he did last season as well as creating lots of chances for everybody else.

Toure really shone so credit for my boyfriend for taking that gamble for me and Mane really has been improving but all my players were fantastic.

Star Man of the Season – Edison West (Who else!)

End of Season Finances and Game Save Status

Ok so my board are officially crazy!

They have had to cancel the work on our training facilities due to not having enough money so now we have nothing, or facilities are the same and it cost us around £10 million, so very frustrating.

Thankfully I am not a big spender so the lack of money wont hurt me too much but this has annoyed me quite a lot, spending all that money to get back to where we are when I took over.

End of Season Round-up Plus Extra Things!

So I didnt really have that much to round up my board are incompetent and seem to love wasting all their money and we won the K-league but failed to win any cup competitions.

So here a few things that made me smile/get annoyed this season.

So smile first! As you can see we had nine players in the team of the year! Our entire back four and keeper along with our two wide men in Toure and Mane and our attacking midfielder with our top scorer upfront.

Thats the best I have ever done!

So this really annoyed me! This is the history of Spanish managers who have managed the national side. As you can after Del Bosque was sacked Guardiola took over then Luis Enrique then Guardiola then Luis Enrique etc…

For over ten years the same two have took turns in managing the national side then leaving/getting sacked then joining Barcelona the Barcelona run was finally ended when Quique Flores took over but surely this cant ever happen!

So finally a look at the Spanish hall of fame, I havent won enough to be on the main hall of fame but look at the names around me! I am ahead of the European cup winning Luis Aragones and only three points behind La Liga winning and champions league winning Rafa Benitez!

Not bad considering I have yet to mange in Europe!

So thats that! Again thanks for reading this post and I will try and get the next one up as soon as I find time to play it!!

© www.footballmanagerstory.com

October 2015

We travelled along the coast line to meet Southampton which turned out to be another frustrating time especially in attack that in essence would ironically play in this away defeat. Ten minutes from the end we had Southampton under immense pressure and a long clearance from their defence fell by chance to striker Pollet who skipped over Ekong’s sliding challenge, rounded the keeper, 1-0. Darn!!!!

Following that defeat the bad news continued with left back Jamie Richards getting injured in training and will be out for at least three months. This was quickly followed by my £5.75 million right winger Kostas Fortounis wanting to leave as he can’t settle in England and so was granted a leave of absence. With Zeytulaev playing terribly so far this season I was basically without any attack on the right.

Our next game was at home to Arsenal where I deployed a very unbalanced 4-1-3-2 formation with no right winger and an extra striker as the lone one was not working for me in any shape or form. Chris McLaughlin gave us the lead turning a low driven corner kick into the net early in the second half this was after Stoyanov had pulled off a dramatic penalty save in the opening 20 minutes. Stoyanov couldn’t repeat the feat as we gave away another penalty and that goal meant another game ending in a draw for us.

A trip to London ended in what was a horrendous 3-0 defeat away to Fulham and our return to Home Park provided no further joy as we crumbled in the second half to Man United who went on to win 2-1 after we had equalized on the stroke of half time. Bruno Bertucci picked up a knock so I had no fit left backs in my squad.

Next up was United’s neighbours Bolton and we finally got a break early into the game as the home side were reduced to ten men after Zeytulaev was cynically tackled. We quickly fell into attacking mode with Fatos Beciraj coming close and Jaguare even closer as he missed an open goal (head drops whilst sitting on office chair). The breakthrough came from a Mauricio penalty kick after Baesu was brought down. Bolton equalized from a set piece as inexplicably we left a man unmarked to score even though we had a man advantage and they quickly doubled that lead as every player pushed up for a corner with Bolton scoring on the counter in injury time. Baesu spent the second half trying to walk the ball into the net wasting an abundance of opportunities though he did win the corner that Sissoko headed in to snatch a draw.

We returned to Home Park to take on league leaders Liverpool where one lack of judgement by right back Kappelhof was enough to create some space for Liverpool to score the only goal of the game. A long trip to the North East of England saw us come from behind for a well-earned point away to Sunderland with Fatos Berciraj getting the all important equalizer.

The final game of November saw the visit of Stoke City and a first half in which we played our best 45 minutes of football since pre-season. We should of course been 1-0 up except that McLaughlin who received the ball all alone in the box turned 180 degrees and passed it back to the half-way line. WTH? I was so livid but we continued to play well in the second half and McLaughlin’s “sin” was forgiven when he played a brilliant through ball to Beciraj who struck it cleanly into the net after 70 minutes. Marc Peolsi hit the bar 2 minutes later with a brutal strike from distance but then he sneaked into the box minutes later to tuck home a Kappelhof cross. We were going to win!!! That was assured as substitute Baesu swept in goal number three in the dying seconds for our first win since September 19th. Wicked!!!

*** So it was at this point I decided to carry on into December and see if we could win another game?

December 2015

Following the win over Stoke there was media speculation that I was widely tipped to take over at Chelsea following the departure of Alex Mcleish. Given my EPL record so far I thought that was hilarious and denied any interest in leaving Plymouth for Stamford Bridge.

The first game of the month, and for the second time in a row it was another confident performance by the lads as we took on Wigan at Home Park. A goal in either half first by Fortounis who was back from a leave of absence and then my sneaky little Romanian striker Baesu secured all three points. This was our first back to back win in the EPL.

For the second time in a couple of weeks I was top of the list for a job vacancy this time at Everton but again denied interest to the delight of The Board who went on to announce the completion of the stadium expansion which is now just shy of 25,000.

Our next game was away to Leicester whose manager Bryan Robson had billed it as a “relegation battle”. I didn’t get into a media exchange with him and let Chris McLaughlin do the talking on the field as he struck the opening goal after just 8 minutes at the King Power Stadium. A cavalry charge like counter attack was superbly finished off by Mauricio with 22 minutes gone and we should have scored more despite the even amount of possession but it was another three points in the bag!

The first of a London double header began at Home Park with a full house on hand in our recently completed extension. The Plymouth faithful didn’t have too long a wait for something to cheer about as Spurs we reduced to 10 men after just 2 minutes. As Tottenham reorganized McLaughlin struck from just outside the box feeding off an eloquent through ball by Shelvey. We then began to play some awesome possession football with Spurs chasing us around the park but we failed to add a second goal. That would come soon after the break as skipper Conor Coady found McLaughlin all alone in the box and it was 2-0. Coady would go on to have a brilliant second half along with Ekong who was solid at the back as we captured an unexpected win.

Our four wins on the trot came to an abrupt end as we had to play 3 games between Boxing Day and the end of the year. Jonjo Shelvey played magnificently as he dominated the midfield away to Chelsea where we were unlucky to lose by a single goal from a corner kick. Back at Home Park Man City were just too good for us and when Blackburn arrived for the final game of 2015 we had physically nothing left, finishing the game with only nine men on the field. To make matters worse defender Sissoko broke his ankle and will be out for three months.

Those three defeats was a brutal way to end the year and in the dressing room a requested Team Meeting turned bad sending player morale between very poor and abysmal which could really set back the good work we did to escape the relegation zone.

League Table:

Right now we are sitting very nicely in mid table, 10 points clear of the drop thanks to those four wins and a couple of more good results could put us in the top ten!

Fixtures:

2016 will start with an FA Cup game away to Stevenage where I’ll most likely have to play fringe players due to fitness and injuries and hopefuly there will be no repeat of the Stockport fiasco. That will be followed by a critical game at Goodison Park as Everton are just above the relegation zone.

 Finally a look at our finances that have rebounded nicely and with no plans to bring in any new players in the upcoming transfer window I should be able to keep things looking quite healthy with Barclays Bank :)

Well that’s it for this update and to be honest I’m in a more positive mood than my last update. A bad week at work, a severe migraine and a powerful prescription to stop it made me all a bit moody, if anyone had noticed by my comments! The next update will be January through March which will then set things up for the Season and maybe Story Finale?

As always I appreciate you taking the time to read this and I look forward to your comments.

© www.footballmanagerstory.com