TerminalPortugal Posted December 13, 2022 Author Share Posted December 13, 2022 (edited) Season 2059 Canadian Championship Vancouver saw to it, that we would not proceed beyond the quarter final stage. Canadian Premier League We were pretty average I felt this season as we were very inconsistent all season, but we did do enough to win the regular season and then despite going behind to Cavalry in the first leg, we battled right back in the first half of the second leg to muster our way to the final where we again defeated Forge who must be getting pretty tired of our face. Another 50 points for us. CONCACAF Champions League We may as have not turned up. Nowhere near this level of football. Squad As you know our squad is ridiculously large because we do not have a youth team so these where the players who actually played. Again Harvey and Bradford were the standouts as they again kept us going with their goals. Transfers Nothing much here. Sold Jason Thomas who didn't fit in tactically with our system. Manager Thoughts This is my final season at Valour, as I just do not see the point in continuing here, we would be better off getting another club and hopefully getting closer to the target.We now move on now to a new challenge, as we look to beat Canada. A league and cup elsewhere would now be enough, but as we know the cup is a real tough task. Manager Profile Summary Edited December 15, 2022 by TerminalPortugal 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 14, 2022 Author Share Posted December 14, 2022 (edited) Season 2061 We missed the 2060 season, as no jobs became available following our departure from Valour FC. At the end of the season we had two options in Atletico Ottawa and Forge FC, and we opted for Forge FC out of Hamilton, Ontario, since they had proved to be the better side during our time in Canada. The board wanted us to be in the playoffs, so that is what we looked to do. Canadian Championship It was a tough road to win this Canadian Championship having to take out all the Canadian MLS sides, but somehow we managed to do, firstly beating Montreal handsomely, then relying on a comeback against Toronto, before a 1-0 win against Vancouver sealed it for us. 50 points in the bag for us. Canadian Premier League We were pretty weird this season as at the start of the season, we were drawing as much as we were winning but, we were not losing. Eventually we would go on to lose our only game of the season late in the season against Cavalry, but by then we had sewn the regular season. The playoffs saw us take some revenge against Cavalry before we beat York United pretty easily in the final to get the remaining 100 points we needed to progress from this leg. Squad Ricardo Isaacs was the man for us as he bagged himself 37 goals in all competitions. Leo, the only signing I made was the assist man for us this season. Transfers The only signing was Leo from Brazilian side Resende on a free transfer. Manager Thoughts One season at Forge FC, was all we finally needed to complete Canada as we take the double to advance into NA2 and The United States of America and the MLS. NA3 COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Edited December 15, 2022 by TerminalPortugal 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucdark Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 Well done on Canada! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 14, 2022 Author Share Posted December 14, 2022 2 hours ago, ucdark said: Well done on Canada! Cheers, thanks very much. It took a while but we got it done in the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 14, 2022 Author Share Posted December 14, 2022 (edited) Season 2062 We had to wait until about halfway through the MLS season before a job became available, and the first club available was New York Red Bulls. They are one of the better sides in MLS, but were having a tough start to the season. The board wanted us to get us back up the table and that was a daunting idea considering we looked well out of playoff contention. The MLS is the league and we will only get 100 points if we win the playoffs, the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup is the main cup competition and it is worth 50 points. There is a of course the Champions League, but American teams also enter the Leagues Cup, which from what I can see is essentially the secondary competition in North America, so it will be worth 200 points for winning the Leagues Cup. US Open Cup Already knocked out when we joined the club MLS We did pretty well to get the final playoff spot, which required us to go on a bit of run at the end of the season. We actually went pretty deep in the playoffs, getting all the way to Eastern Conference Final but we lost out narrowly to eventual winners New England Revolution. Unfortunate for us, but we are showing some promise. Leagues Cup We were involved in the League Cup, and we got to East Final, which something similar to the Quarter Final stage. Unfortunately we lost out on penalties to Mexican outfit Santos Laguna. CONCACAF Champions League We were not able to automatically qualify. I felt we were a little unlucky against Toronto and that meant we would need something against a tough America side. However we could get into the next proper round via the backdoor and we did just that beating Canada's Pacific and Chivas of Mexico to qualify for the next round. Squad The squad is not too bad, but I want to make quite a few changes, whether I can do that under budget and exactly how I want we will see next season. Vargas was the best player for us and he is one that I would like to keep in the team. Transfers Plenty of business but I was only responsible for selling Cristhian Diaz to Sharjah, who was not great and on a designated contract, so that freed a spot up for us for the coming season. Manager Thoughts This is another golden leg, so we will need 1,500 points. No points this time around, but it is hard coming in half season and trying to get something done. Next season I am confident we can get the points rolling in. Manager Profile Summary Edited December 15, 2022 by TerminalPortugal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 15, 2022 Author Share Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) Season 2063 US Open Cup We went all the way in the US Open Cup, as we found it rather easy going all the way, perhaps with the exception of the Fifth Round game against Philadelphia Union which was won by the solitary goal. 50 points on the board for us. MLS A good regular season that saw us lift the Supporter's Shield was followed with winning the Eastern Conference and the MLS Cup. We faced Seattle in the final and they did not really give us many issues as we walked to a 3-0 win. 100 points on the board. Leagues Cup Despite a very bad group stage which saw us only take 1 point, that ended up being enough to finish 2nd as Monterrey beat DC United by more than they beat us. We then faced a host of MLS sides on the way to the final where we played a derby game against New York City, and it wasn't much of a spectacle as we took them down 6-1 to win the Leagues Cup. Now strangely in North America, you enter both the Champions League and this competition and fundamentally the Leagues Cup is essentially the secondary competition in North America, so it is worth 200 points for us. CONCACAF Champions League We reconvened in the Champions League, looking to go all the way, but that looked like it was a long way to go when we lost to American in the Quarter Final first leg 2-0, but amazingly we pulled the game back in the first half of the second leg as we ended up winning 5-1 on the night. Monterrey was a tough test, that was decided by one goal in 180 minutes of football. This set up a final against Seattle, whom we would also meet in the MLS Cup, and it was a tough affair. We trailed in the second half but we managed to get an equaliser 20 minutes before the end of the game, and in extra time, we managed to get the winner through Connell. 500 points on the board, our 10th Champions League win as a manager and our first in North America. Squad This is a squad that I felt overperformed this season, as we got barely anything that I wanted to do done in the transfer market on account of our salary cap issues. Connell, Ndour and Vargas got the goals. Vargas and Ndour will likely be leaving, the former wants to go for a new challenged and to be honest he is getting a little old. I have had offers for him but did not want him to leave before we played the crunch games in the league but we will look to let him go. Ndour, I would have kept, but he had signed last signed on a 1 year deal and he wanted too much money, and eventually Galatasaray came in for him so he is already leaving. Elsewhere Auston Bean has been briliant this season as he rolls back the years on his career. Transfers As mentioned we got barely anything done, in the end all we could do was get some budget signings into the club. In fairness they have all been great for us. Ndour has been scoring the goals and has really played well. Oyedele came into the club as a backup but cemented his place as first team goalkeeper now and has already been called up to the Nigerian national team this season, and we opted to go after an old face that we had at Forge FC in Leo, and he has done very well for us, handling the step up rather nicely. Next season hopefully we can do a little more in the transfer market, but I think it may be difficult, just the way the salary cap works, unless you can keep people wage controlled and get rid of the players who you don't want, the salary cap does not go a long way at all. Manager Thoughts A massive haul of points this season as we go from zero to over halfway in golden leg in just one season. The fact that there are so many points on offer obviously was key to this but we did amazingly to win every tournament we entered. We have no Champions League football next season due to how low we finished last season in the league, so we will have to make do with the domestic honours and the Leagues Cup next season. Manager Profile Summary Edited December 15, 2022 by TerminalPortugal 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 15, 2022 Author Share Posted December 15, 2022 Season 2064 US Open Cup An early exit for us from the US Open Cup as we lost out at home to Philly at home. MLS By our pretty high standards we were pretty bad this season, as we were so inconsistent and we started the season just woefully as we lost a fair few in the early weeks. At times we did recover to look like the team from last year, but we had looked to shaky to somehow hail mary our way to the Playoff Finals and eventually rivals New York City beat us in the Conference Semi Final. Leagues Cup We were actually really good in the Leagues Cup, when at times we looked bad in the league. We were a bit lucky in a 5-5 thriller with Dallas which we won on penalties but ultimately we were able to get to the final and beat St Louis. That's another 200 points. CONCACAF Champions League We weren't even in the competition last year to defend our crown, but we were back this year on account of the year we had last year in the league, and the group stage could not have gone any better as we dispatch all in front of us to top the group. Campeones Cup We faced off against Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup, which is a little bit like the European Super Cup, but for US and Mexican teams, and we took them to the cleaners winning 5-0. This one is additional continental competition so nets us 50 points. Squad A lot of problems with the squad this year. Despite probably being the best player for us this season, Mark Connell was also responsible for disrupting the club when he incessently moaned about a new contract, and since we have very little wiggle room when it comes to contract we had to try and placate him without giving him any extra dollars. I think one of the major reasons we were so poor in the league for parts of the early season was the bad blood that this created in the dressing room. I think we may have gotten through it, but I expect him to some back for more this season looking for an increased salary. Transfers At the time I made the transfers I was happy enough with them but I don't think any of them really panned out that well. Petrov, has been pretty poor, DIas has been poor. Baran has been decent in spells and his average rating says he has done well, but there is a problem with end product with him and Bartora, has mostly come off the bench and hasn't been particularly prolific. Manager Thoughts Despite the poor season, points wise it actually worked out very well as the Leagues Cup takes us within touching distance of the mark for this leg, and in fact a Champions League success would put us over the line early next season. We have to assume that is a long shot so we will be preparing for another tough season. Transfers have started to become increasingly tough in this league as for the first time I feel pretty ineffective with my buys, so we will have to work on that. Manager Profile Summary 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 15, 2022 Author Share Posted December 15, 2022 Season 2065 CONCACAF Champions League The team looked better coming into the new season and it gave me a little bit of confidence, first up we had Alajuelense of Costa Rica, and we beat them in the first leg, before beating fellow American sides LAFC and New York City to set up a final against Pumas. It is worth noting that we were a bit lucky to get through both those games, needing penalties against LAFC and away goals for New York City to pass through, but for the final no such luck was needed as we smashed Pumas 4-1 to win the Champions League and book our way out of NA2 with 500 points. MLS Things had gone mostly to plan in the league before we won the Champions League as we lay top of the Eastern Conference. Squad The final squad we leave on looks like this. Transfers Gulbrandsen was the main signing this season. We also brought in Danek at the end of the last season. Mark Connell was bombed out to Austin on a trade for money and draft pick as he was causing a fuss about a new contract again. Manager Thoughts A great win in the Champions League caps off our journey here in the United States of America. We now move onto our final hurdle in North America, which is NA1 and Mexico, which will also be a golden leg. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 16, 2022 Author Share Posted December 16, 2022 Season 2066/67 We spent a little while out of work until the first job in the Mexican top division became available. That was Atletico San Luis and they are one of the weaker sides in the league expected to finish well down the league. When we arrived at the club they were bottom of the league and the board, wanted to make sure we did not finish bottom. Since relegation is decided on average points, that was also a concern that would need to be understood. In Mexico, there is two leagues in a season, the Apertura and the Clausura, and they are treated like a league in each half, although they do depreciate one another should we win both. Liga MX Apertura A lot of the Apertura had gone when we arrived, but we did manage to get the results going in the correct direction and this even qualified us for the preliminary rounds for the championship, but we fell as the first hurdle against Cruz Azul. Liga MX Clausura We were much better in the Clausura as we managed to push all the way to third place and this gave us a berth straight into the Quarter Finals. We managed to get past Toluca in the Quarter Final and then relied on having a higher league finish to get past Pumas in the semi final. The final against Monterrey was interestingly poised going into the home game as we need to come back from 2-1 and we did it with a plomb to win the Clausura. This was huge for the club, it was the first time ever they had won either stage so the fans and the board were triumphant. For us it means 100 points, and it was a bit lucky I feel. Squad The squad is decent enough but to be honest I feel we need to improve a lot in many areas. We are just nowhere near the standard of the likes of Tigres and America, we have already started the process, by agreeing deals that will finalise next season. No one was amazing this season, Bautista was good in front of goal and Joaquin Vespa was probably the best player this season for us. Transfers Only thing I was involved with was signing Guereno and selling Chica. Manager Thoughts A decent start. Being at Atletico San Luis, is a little tough for us to make big process and I think we are probably ahead of where I expected us to be at this stage, so if we can improve the side further then perhaps we can build this team to be a perennial challenger and hopefully a force in North American football. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 16, 2022 Author Share Posted December 16, 2022 Season 2067/68 Liga MX Apertura Things didn't go that great considering last season improvements, as we ended up in 6th place and that meant we were back in the Prelims for the playoffs. We got past that but we could not overcome a very tough Pachuca side in the Quarter Finals Campeon de Campeones The Mexican version of the Super Cup gave us 30 points as we beat Tigres 1-0. Campeones Cup We faced off against New York City in Campeones Cup and had a large victory to claim another 50 points. Leagues Cup We had an awful group stage where we managed just one point, but fortunately that proved enough to go through with Columbus. Then we turned on some fortitude, as we beat Pachuca away, New England on penalties, Cruz Azul in the East Final before beating Tigres and Pumas. All the games away as well, which made it all the more remarkable. We collect 200 points. Squad We have only played half a season, and therefore there is not a full breakdown, but Marquez hands down has been the man in front of goal with his 16 goals. We brought him in this season and he has had the impact that I wanted him to have. Transfers Cordova was brought in a goal as a slight upgrade over Castaneda whom we let go, and as mentioned Marquez has been great in front of goal this season. Apart from the aforementioned Castaneda, the rest of the players leaving were no big loss. Manager Thoughts Well, the observant may have noticed that we have only played half a season, and the reason for that is that we are moving on from Atletico. Fundamentally this club I just felt are too small, to really kick on despite the fact that we have got some great points this season. Cruz Azul sacked their manager and they headhunted us for the job and we delayed them a bit to allow us to get knocked out by Pachuca, but now that that has happened, we have managed our final game with Atletico. Hopefully at Cruz Azul we have a little bit more drawing power to get in the right type of player. Also with Cruz Azul, obviously every competition will still be worth maximum points so that is also an added bonus for us. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Season 2067/68 As mentioned Cruz Azul came in for us, after sacking their manager after the Apertura, so we would now be continuing with them for the Clausura. Liga MX Clausura After a pretty rough start, we finally found some momentum and once we did we were actually pretty bloody good. Good enough to find out way to top spot and keep it. This meant we were straight into the Quarter Finals of the playoffs. We got past Pachuca thanks to our home leg performance, before beating up rivals America to reach the final, which we won thanks to a great away performance against Tigres. We win 100 points. Can't ask for a better start. Squad Plenty of quality in the squad but it is small and this something we will be looking to fix in the coming transfer window. Juarez and Rodriguez were the standouts. Transfers We lost Montes, as he was asking to leave and had a minimum fee release clause, so when Besiktas activated it, we knew we were losing him. We replaced him with Juarez from rivals America and he worked well. That was really the only business we were involved with. Manager Thoughts It was nerve racking for the majority of the season, as the supporters were treating us as responsible for the debacle that was the Apertura when we weren't even at the club, the Clausura win should make sure we aren't sacked out of nowhere. We will look to do more damage next season on those remaining points we need. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Season 2068/69 Campeon de Campeones We scored an easy win the Super Cup against Leon for another 30 points. Campeones Cup We needed penalties to defeat New York City in the Campeones Cup, but they all count, another 50 points on the board. Leagues Cup We got through our group with New England and Montreal without too many issues and we made it past the East QF beating our old side New York Red Bulls, but we could not get past St Louis City in the semi final. Liga MX Apertura A good regular season saw us finish first before we played Necaxa and blew them away in the Quarter Final. Atlas did not offer much more in the semi final as we beat them handsomely over two legs to set up a final against Leon, and we managed to get two narrow wins to win the Apertura title and 50 points. Liga MX Clausura We did even better in the Clausura regular season as we lost only once on the way to finishing top of the table. First up in the QF we had Atlas, and we matched the result from the Apertura with an easy win over two legs. Rivals America were next and we gave the fans something to sing about as we beat them up over two legs to set up a final against Pumas, and the away leg more less finished the tie off, before a 1-1 draw to give us the Clausura title and 25 points. CONCACAF Champions League The group stage went well enough, despite losing to rivals America. We then went into Second Round where we played Harbour View of Jamaica, and they were easily beaten. Leon were up next and this was a tough affair. We lost away but cameback at home to narrowly get over the line. Pachuca, was a much easier affair in the semi final as we won by two goals in each game before we faced off against Tigres and won out 3-0 to win the Champions League and 500 points. Squad We spent some big money this year, and made a lot changes to make the team more competitive and it really worked. Gomez has been a revelation up front for us, Aguilar is a brilliant winger and still only 20 years old. Rodriguez continued his fantastic form of last season and was again our best player. All round this team is looking very good at the moment. Transfers We made some big signings as mentioned. Faudoa has been a starlwart across the backline and a big key part of our success. Gomez as mentioned has been key up front. Jarquin has been a bit more bit part for us, but still has contributed here and there. Telez came in as a potential starter at goalkeeper but has been kept out of net by Baigorria. Aguilar was a brilliant acquisition, he will be a Mexican superstar. Fagundez came in for the Clausura as a improvement down the left, and Soler was a replacement for Molina, who wanted a big new contract and instead we bombed him out to Toluca. The outs, apart from Molina, who I have already mentioned, Trujillo left to accommodate Gomez (there is a weird Mexican born quota), and Teixieira made way for Fagundez. The rest were really expendable players that we were happy to let go. Manager Thoughts A boatload of points, really rockets us up over the 1,000 point mark and that means we are a Champions League away from completing Mexico and North America. So next season we will see if there are any improvements to be made in the team and we will go again on all fronts. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucdark Posted December 17, 2022 Share Posted December 17, 2022 One season more heading for South Africa !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 15 minutes ago, ucdark said: One season more heading for South Africa !!! Would probably need a Champions League win to be sure. Not sure if we won everything else that it would be enough. But yeah off to Africa next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Season 2069/70 Campeones Cup Another Campeones Cup for us as we beat Atlanta United 3-2, for 50 more points. Leagues Cup We managed to go all the way in the Leagues Cup this year, and we barely conceded a goal all tournament. In the end a 1-0 win against Tigres was enough for the win. 200 points added. FIFA World Club Cup We never likely to do much when this is your group and we duly lost to both PSG and Inter Milan, but at least gave them a game. The PSG game is deceptive in that we had more of the ball and more shots, but we lost anyway. Liga MX Apertura We finished 2nd in the league, and it would be Monterrey who would come along at the semi final stage and knock us out. A little disappointing. Liga MX Clausura We the Clausura we were untouchable as we dropped 2 points all regular season and then romped our way to the final and a win over Tigres. 12 points added to our total. CONCACAF Champions League We made all the way to the final of the Champions League only to lose to fellow Mexican side Leon in the final by a solitary goal, these points would have taken us over the edge and completed this leg, but sometimes you lose finals. Our final record as a a manager has been good and this one is one of the ones that just didn't go our way. Squad We still look like an awesome squad, but I believe that we will be losing Vera and Aguilar soon, as there are now some serious clubs interested in their signatures, so we may have to replace the irreplaceable next season. These two guys were great but Juarez and Gomez scored goals for fun this season within 55 and 39 goals respectively and Rodriguez continues to pull the strings from the wing. Transfers Just one signing this season and it was a big signing from Pumas to solidify the defence as much as we can. No significant players left the club this year. Manager Thoughts We were close to being done but we lost the Champions League final, still I feel it was a good season as we still made good progress towards our targets. I am pretty certain that next year will be our last with Cruz Azul, we just need a little over 100 points to complete the task. Manager Profile Summary 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Season 2070/71 Campeon de Campeones We started the season off with the Super Cup win against Chivas 4-1 to give us another 15 points. Leagues Cup We went all the way in the Leagues Cup to finish off this leg and the whole continent. With these 200 points, that is enough to finish this all off. Our run was actually pretty exemplary as we won every game to the final, not relying on extra time or penalties on the way to the title. Liga MX Apertura Very early days in the league, and lots of games in hand, but we are perfect through the five games we have played. Obviously the leagues is a bit academic now. Squad This is the final squad that I leave the Cruz Azul faithful. I think there is a great blend of great young players and older more experienced veterans. I think this team could do great things for some time to come in Mexico, and they have options. Although Aguilar did leave, we still have Vera and we have already knocked back bids of £65m for him, so the board could choose to keep him or cash in and potentially reinforce the whole team. In Gomez they have a great young striker, although he has been out injured this season, and the likes of Leyva, Avila, Bocanegra and Vera could have the makings of the best defence in Mexico for years to come. Transfers As mentioned we lost Aguilar to Liverpool, it is a brilliant buy for the Reds, but there was nothing we could do about it as he had his minimum fee release clause and so it was guaranteed that he would be going sooner or later. To replace him we brough in Jesus Ramirez who is a very find footballer himself from Tigres, he is no quite Aguilar but he is very close. Manager Thoughts Well finally the job is done in Mexico. We now will be heading to the only stage in Africa, which is South Africa. It will another golden leg so we will need 1,500 points to get through. Thinking back on NA1 and Mexico, I think in the end it was a pretty tough leg, and tough to dominate, but I think we in the end kind of did that with Cruz Azul and we also achieved some pretty amazing things Atletico San Luis, especially looking at their subsequent league positions since. NA1 & NORTH AMERICA COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 (edited) Season 2073/74 South Africa had already turned into a nightmare and a football hadn't even been kicked as we sat on the sidelines forerver waiting for a job. Now this was different to other times, such as Canada where simple manager's just weren't sacked, but this was something that happened in my story before, where around about this point in the challenge (last time it was when I arrived in Mexico), for whatever reason our reputation makes no difference to any of the clubs and they won't even entertain an interview with us. We didn't get a single interview with a top club, even almost already relegated teams. Absolutely no idea why, but it always seem to happen about this far into the challenge. Anyway because of this we had to readjust our expectation and eventually we did get a job right at the end of the season. It was with Polokwane City in Championship, and we only had three games to play and nothing to play for, not even positions. Well this is going to make South Africa a lot longer I know that. The plan is to look for promotion and then hopefully if we can overperform in the top division then someone should give us a shot from the big boys. GladAfrica Championship We only had the final three games so two wins and a loss 2nd place Black Leopards is not bad. We will build for next season and see if we can't push for promotion. Squad There is not a lot to say at this point, none of these guys are going to be particularly good in the top division so we just need to add the right pieces where we can, hopefully push for promotion and then rebuild again. Transfers Manager Profile Summary Edited December 17, 2022 by TerminalPortugal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Season 2074/75 Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup was just a distraction for us to be honest and we exited in the second round to Richards Bay. GladAfrica Championship It was a tightly contested league season, as no one could run away with it, and it was a three horse race with ourselves, Black Leopards and Richards Bay all vying for top spot after Maritzburg United fell away, eventually we were able to put together some consistency especially towards the end of the season that just tipped it ever so slightly in our favour and we were able to win the league and get promotion to the top division. Squad We were not able to make many additions to the team, because we are doing quite badly financially and there is very little wiggle room, so we had to mostly make do with what we had and little additions I was able to make. Cole Cele was the standout for us this season in almost every area, as he bagged a load of goals, got a load of assists and was generally the best player on the field for us. Going forward he is the only play that we know we would like to keep on and have already extended his contract for another year, everyone else, will have be looked at and we will see whether there is now anything we can do in the transfer market. Judging by the budgets which are barely more than what we already have I would doubt it. Transfers Jane and Mtshai were two loan deals we were able to sort out, Mtshai eventually was pulled by the club because we were not playing him in his required role but Jane was an ever present. Zuma as well was an important cog in front of the back four and he was a useful addition. Maseti was bought but Golden Arrows wanted him to stay with us on loan for the remainder of the season and we obliged since we could use the bodies anyway. Manager Thoughts Well this is not how we wanted South Africa to be, but we have at least achieved stage one of what we now needed to do at the first time of asking and that was to get a seat at the big boys table. Now I think as long as we can pull a couple of rabbits out of the hat, then we may be getting the move that we always wanted. This has actually been really detrimental to us going forward because our reputation has been tarnished from moving to such a small club, and hopefully it something we can at least partially repair before we leave Africa. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Season 2075/76 Telkom Knockout We featured in the Telekom Knockout, and what would you know we were immediately knocked out, although we certainly gave a good account of ourselves, taking Orlando Pirates to penalties DSTV Premiership So the observant will see that, the league season is not even halfway through and I am presenting the result. This means that we are leaving Polokwane, and I will explain in the Thoughts section what is going on. In terms of the performance in the league, I am pretty happy, we were predicted to finish dead bottom, and not have any chance, so we have actually produced some decent results and sit in a rather comfortable 9th position. There was a time between September and early November where it looked like the wheels had come off and we were about to be destroyed every week but we got through and now we have some good form. But this team is never going to challenge for the title it is as simple as that, or rather it would require some serious time investment from me to make that happen. Squad & Transfers There is not too much to say regarding the transfers, the majority of them were not up to the standard but better than what we had so we did what we could and even then the budget was extremely restrictive to even bring in the best of a bad bunch that were available to us. Nothing jumps off the page looking at the players, it has been a team effort to keep us afloat this year. Manager Thoughts Right so what has happened. Well as you can see Sundowns are fighting for their lives. I have no idea why they have been so bad, but they are a few results away from being in a relegation battle. I applied for the job and they laughed me out of the room as I haven't won more Champions Leagues on other continent that could fill a mansion. But regardless, they rejected and opted for someone else. The other person they opted for admitedly is doing amazingly because Chippa United were expected to be somewhere down the bottom with us, nowhere near as bad as us but still not expected to challenge for the league, but they are flying high in first place, four points clear of Kaizer Chiefs. Well what happened was Sundowns got the Chippa United manager and I went for the Chippa United job and we got it. So bizarrely we are leaving for the club that are top of the table, which I will definately take. No watch me mess up their season and end up mid-table... Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 18, 2022 Author Share Posted December 18, 2022 Season 2075/76 The interesting journey that has been South Africa continued, as mentioned before. Chippa United's manager had gone to Sundowns who were having a really bad season and this allowed us to take the job. The club were in first place in the league, rather surprisingly and the board didn't think that would last, so wanted us to make sure we finished in the top half. Our goal was to hopefully continue the run and win the league if we could. Nedbank Cup We were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup as soon as we could losing to 2nd division side Maritzburg United, althout we played a slightly weakened side, it was still disappointing. DSTV Premiership We managed to survive the late push from SuperSport United to take the league title. At the end of the season it involved going to SuperSport and getting something out of the game as well as beating Orlando Pirates, but we managed to pull it off. That's our first 100 points in South Africa on the board and boy has it taken some time to achieve. Squad & Transfers A lot of the football that was played was under a different manager, so I won't be singling out anyone particularly, but Myeni has been absolutely brilliant this season with 49 goals and he already had a lot of them before we arrived. It's a decent side, but certainly not a side that should be winning the league. In terms of transfers we were involved in bringing Dhladhla and Heukile to the club, just particular players that I felt we needed to play our chosen formation. Manuel and Gurnede left. In the case of Manuel we had no choice and Gurnede allowed us to get in Heukile. As mentioned a good side, but by no means world beaters. It has been an amazing achievement from the players, the previous manager and I guess to finish it off us as well. Manager Thoughts Finally some points on the table, and I will not rule out another move, if I can get to a more fancied side. I am not sure that we will be super competitive with Chippa United, this has been one of the weirdest seasons with Sundowns all over the place and Chippa doing as well as they did even before we arrived on the scene. At least we are on the board, and if we do stay we can have a Champions League run, but I don't think this team will be very competitive in that competition. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 18, 2022 Author Share Posted December 18, 2022 Season 2076/77 Despite the league win with Chippa United, it was still clear that it was going to be difficult to continue any kind of high level performance with a side like that, so when both Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs sacked their managers we decided to put our hat into the ring, we were interviewed by both clubs and we opted to go with Kaizer Chiefs, who I felt were just a touch better prepared. The goal was to win everything we could, and ultimately this was something the club had not been doing recently so we would potentially be under pressure unless we could hit the ground running. Carling Black Label Cup This is the equivalent of the Super Cup I believe in South Africa and our first competitive game in charge of Kaizer Chiefs and things did not go to plan. MTN8 We would get on the board with the Chiefs, when we went all the way in the MTN8. 30 points in the bag. Telkom Knockout We would do the same in the Telkom Knockout as we bagged ourselves another 30 points. Nedbank Cup It would be a hat-trick of cups as we brought home the Nedbank Cup. We had to overcome some spirited opponents such as JDR Stars and Sundowns that took us to extra time, but we got the job done. This is the main cup in South Africa so it worth 50 points to us. DSTV Premiership We looked good value for the league all season and really in the end there was no one who was going to stop us, we always followed up a loss with a win this season and that optimised the team the league, every time we got knocked back we just kept it going. 100 points for the league win. Squad & Transfers We ended up losing a lot of players as the season went on to min fee release clauses, which seem to be my bane everywhere I go, but we would always replace with the best available and that was the advantage of a team like the Kaizer Chiefs we have the money and the players are happy to come here. In terms of performances Belkacem ended up kind of creeping on me as the best player. I suspect it would have been players like Mkhawanzi who might have scored more goals or had a better rating but of everyone left he was the guy. Preston was also very good this season, he hit a patch where he could not stop scoring multiple goals each game but they dried up a bit. All in all a good squad for this level. Manager Thoughts I feel like for the first time we are making real progress in South Africa, as we find our way to one of the big boys and we will be in the CAF Champions League next season and perhaps we can earn some big points. I mean this season has been good and we picked up a serious load of points for all the cups and the league title that we won, but we are after continental success. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 Season 2077/78 Carling Black Label Cup MTN 8 Telkom Knockout Nedbank Cup DSTV Premiership CAF Champions League Squad and Transfers Well there has been plenty of business this year and we struggle to keep some players for a full season before we get an offer and they are going elsewhere. That is the story for a lot of guys in the team and it will continue into next season as you can see from the screenshot the Trn and Bid status for some of the players. In terms of performances, I can't overlook Liesering this year with 44 goals and Mayo and Makhanya have also been great for us. Manager Thoughts It has been a very good season that has brought us a lot of points, as we captured two cups, the league and the Champions League. The Champions League registration is bugged just like it was in North America (apparently it is a known bug to SI), so it was even more impressive that we were able to run roughshod over everyone else in Africa to win our maiden title. The plans are the same for next season and try and win everything we can in South Africa and Africa. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucdark Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 78/79 will be a good oportunity to win 7 trophies, a few countries have that possibility, lets go Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 (edited) Season 2078/79 Carling Black Label Cup MTN 8 CAF Super Cup Telkom Knockout Nedbank Cup DSTV Premiership CAF Champions League Squad & Transfers This is the final squad we leave at Kaizer Chiefs. A lot of great performances from the boys this season. Transfer wise this season we just tried to replace what we lost, the likes of Meza and Heriat were the more talented players we were able to bring in. Manager Thoughts We ended up winning, two domestic cups, the CAF Super Cup, the league and the Champions League and all that added together is just enough to pass us through this stage. In fact we leave the club before we play the final league fixture of the season. South Africa ended up being a bit harder than I imagined, mostly because we had to start from the bottom and work our way up. Hopefully next leg will not require us to do that. We have seemingly mostly gotten our reputation back to where it was. The next leg is not a golden leg, so only 500 points required and we will be venturing to SA4 and South America as we tackle Colombia and Peru. CAF1 & AFRICA COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Edited December 19, 2022 by TerminalPortugal 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 1 hour ago, ucdark said: 78/79 will be a good oportunity to win 7 trophies, a few countries have that possibility, lets go Couldn't quite get that done unfortunately but we are through South Africa. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 Season 2080 We arrived in South America, and it did not take too long; around about half a season to get the first decent looking job and that was Deportivo Cali from Colombia. There has been a few jobs in Peru they did not appeal as the teams were perennial underachievers. The board wanted instant results from us, they had sacked the manager because he had underperformed in the league and it was clear they wanted to win the Clausura championship. The great thing about Deportivo was that they were still in the Copa Sudamerica, and they were still also involved in the Copa Colombia. So there was plenty of opportunity for early points. Copa Colombia Primera Clausura Copa Sudamerica Squad & Transfers We were only involved in one transfer in and that was bringing South African Mathebula, in the sitting midfield role, he has been very useful for us. The team is pretty good for this standard of football, and certainly good enough to pull up a few trees in continental football too. Panamanian Ramos was top scorer this season with 30 goals and Valencia was the top assister. Cubides was probably the best player this season, although the top performers all did pretty well for us. Manager Thoughts It was a dream start to our life in South America, as we pick up the Copa Sudamerica and the Clausura titles, and in just 6 months or so. The Copa Colombia fell by the way side and I think we were a little unlucky in that tie against Deportes Tolima. Still it is a great start and we can definately build on this for next season. You never know, with a little bit of luck, next season may be our last, although we probably would need to win the Copa Libertadores and that will likely be a tall ask. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Season 2081 Milestone Super Aguila Colombia Recopa Sudamerica Copa Colombia Primera Apertura Primera Clausura Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers In the transfer market we looked to sure things up with the likes of Donato, Hernandez, Nieva and Zamorano that improved the team in their respective positions. Sanchez was amazing this season 54 goals and Nieva was not far behind with 49 this season. The team is looking good, but Colombia is a competitive league so we may need to continue to improve where we can. Manager Thoughts A good season, but we had two opportunities to end the leg this season, which we spurned. The first in the cup to Deportes Tolima and the second in the Libertadores final to Boca. A shame, but we will go again next season. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 (edited) Season 2082 Super Aguila Colombia Copa Colombia Primera Apertura Primera Clausura Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers Not a huge amount of business but some important players came in. Sandile Ndwandwe, we had had at Kaiser Chiefs and he seemed like a great additions to our defence, and certainly contributed this season and Adama Toure, was a goal scoring machine for Junior and I felt he added to our already very good frontline. In terms of performances on the pitch, Sanchez picked up where he left off last season and has 41 goals this season so far and Ramos had a resurgence coming back to score 39 goals after being a little bit underwhelming last season. We had such a good front line that we can just interchange between five guys and not notice too much drop off. This is also the final Deportivo Cali team we will leave for the next manager and it is a good side. Manager Thoughts We had a bit of a drop off this season. We were not totally at the races I felt. We won the Super Aguila early on and then we were hoping we could win the Copa Colombia and fortunately we did. I was very happy to see Envigado get to the final and not Tolima or Atletico Nacional as I just felt we could always beat the former. The Champions League was a heartbreaker as we had a really tough draw despite winning our group of River Plater in the Second Round and we exited on penalties after more or less nullifying them for the majority of the two games. After losing to Boca last season in the final it was disappointing to exit early. The Apertura was a farce, as the Colombian league season playoffs just continued despite the fact that the World Cup was in full swing and we had supplied about 13 players for the tournament, needless to say we were lucky to get out of the group, requiring a win at Atletico on the final fixture and a draw in the other game, and it happened, but we blew the final against Tolima anyway, who have become a thorn in our side. We look decent value to reach the Clausura final, but with the Copa Colombia win, our time in Colombia and SA4 is over anyway and we leave before we can conclude the playoff fixtures. Next up we will be in SA3 and Uruguay or Chile. SA4 COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Edited December 20, 2022 by TerminalPortugal 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Season 2084 We were out of work for almost two years. There were a few jobs that came up in that time, but they all looked like pretty big projects, so we opted to wait and see what might come up and eventually Universidad de Chile, got tired of their manager and we were offered the job. It was right at the end of the season so there were not any particular targets, although a small one would be to qualify for the Copa Libertadores which was still possible for us. Also we were still in the Copa Chile, at the semi final stage so that was also a target for us. Copa Chile Campeonato AFP Planvital Squad We have not made any transfers as yet. The squad is above, and there are some pretty good players in this team which we can make use of. I am not seeing any major glaring gaps but we will see if we can somehow improve the team in the transfer market going into next season. There is a requirement to play some Under 21's in the league so we need to be mindful of that where we do upgrade. Still pretty happy with the team and hopefully next team we can challenge on all fronts. Manager Thoughts Very happy to have been able to pick up some points, especially after joining the club so late in the season, as we picked up the Copa Chile. Next season I hope we can push on and challenge for the league and we will see what we can do in South American football. Universidad Catolica and Colo Colo look very good, so we will need to see if we can push them further. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ucdark Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 GL in Uruguay, I cant support you in Chile, sorry hahaha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 5 minutes ago, ucdark said: GL in Uruguay, I cant support you in Chile, sorry hahaha Haha. I thought U. de Chile and U. Catolica would likely be pretty big rivals. Unfortunately U. Catolica are too good, and their job wasn't going to become available looking at recent results. U de Chile have been far less good, so at least you can take comfort in that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 (edited) Season 2085 Supercopa de Chile Copa de Chile Campeonato AFP Planvital Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers We worked hard in the transfer window to get a few players that would make the difference, and look no further than Bruno Cesar with his 46 goals this season, we picked him up from Fluminense, going onto the second half of his career and he really turned up for us this season. Arancibia, was a necessary buy when we lost Alguerno to Boca Juniors. Avila added a little bit more quality at fullback and we had to wait for him as Union Espanola insisted on first acquiring a replacement, so I was glad to get him in the end. Posenato and Guerra were decent, but Flores was a very good signing for us, and Lugo was a very good signing and added a lot at right back and centre back. As mentioned the key player for us was Cesar in front of goal and Arancibia his partner in crime was probably the best player in the side this season. Manager Thoughts I had mentioned that Universidad Catolica and Colo Colo had dominated in Chile recently but the signings we made were enough to swing things our way as we walked the league more or less, and got to the final of the Chilean Cup. What I did not expect was our run in the Copa Libertadores as we looked very good from the outset, and once again we pushed through to another final as manager, against the same opponent Boca Juniors again held in Montevideo, Uruguay, but this time we managed to get some revenge for myself as we stole a narrow win in a very tight match 1-0. That there means that our time in Chile is up and we will be heading to a SA2, which is a golden stage, in Argentina. SA3 ended up being the shortest stage of all so far, as in just 1 season and few months we managed to complete our mission here, which is very much a pleasant surprise. We leave the club before we enter the cup final which is a few days time. SA3 COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Edited December 20, 2022 by TerminalPortugal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Season 2086 By the time we got a job in Argentina the season was basically finishing with about a month of the season to go. The job we got, was really one that I could have easily passed on, but I thought it wiser to get into a job and start at least building up a little bit of credibility in the country rather than waiting for a big club to become available. In fairness to Banfield, they are not that bad, they are expected to finish around the upper mid table of what is a large 27 team league, but they are nowhere near the likes of Boca or River. The board had nothing really to give us in terms of targets it was just ride out the rest of the season and see where we can finish. There was no real chance of relegation so it would just be a free hit until the end of the season. Liga Professional de Futbol Squad No time for transfers as yet, and the team is pretty average. We definately have holes we need to fill but we also have a bit of debt at the club and so it's not going to be easy to do that. I won't comment yet on any performances as we have just been at the club for a month or so, but it could be worse I would say. Manager Thoughts We arrive at Banfield, and really this is a watching brief, if we do well and we can get some points then great. If a big boy club becomes available then we may well opt for that, but at least in the meantime we can at least start building some reputation in Argentina. We will see what happens next season, but I think a lot of our success will be based around whether we can actually bring in any players. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Season 2087 Copa de la Liga Copa Argentina Liga Professional de Futbol Squad & Transfers With the club finances in bad shape, all we could do was dump as the transfer funds into the wage budget and work with free transfers. Salvi, Sagredo and Dallos were superb signings and Valenzuela and Castelucci were pretty good signings. Unfortunately Boca poached Rodriguez from us, and then we were a little undercooked up front, because Rodriguez and Salvi was worked very well as a partnership. In the end this team was never going to win a league title, but we are workmanlike and we did very well to get to 5th in the table. Not sure next season we will have funds to do much but we will try our best to reinforce the team. Manager Thoughts We started the season really well in the League Cup, and we were very unlucky to get an away draw at Boca considering we won our group by a mile. We did get points on the board by winning the cup. We avoided River and Boca and battered Racing on the way and that was very nice. 50 points isn't much but it is a start. The league performance was good, and we got to where I wanted us to get to. Boca were outrageous to be honest this season and they will be difficult to live with. We are still wanting a move to a big club, but considering all the big boys did what was expected this year I don't see any sackings happening, so we may have to stay put. We even didn't resign to maximise our attractiveness where there to be a vacancy but I think now we will resign for another year. Manager Profile Summary 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 Season 2088 Supercopa Argentina Copa de la Liga Copa Argentina Liga Professional de Futbol Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana Squad & Transfers The financial position at the club was so dire that we were not able to make any signings at all and in fact we were forced to sell our starting goalkeeper as well as try and get rid of some players where we could. In terms of performances, we absolutely played out of our skin this year for the quality of player we have. We had a quartet of strikers that really contributed this season. Salvi and Van-Dunem got the most goals but Gentile and Torres were very close behind. All creativeity came out of those four really this season. Elsewhere the likes of Zacarias in defence was very good for us this season, but that was about it and then it was workmanlike performances. Our issue going forward is that I expect about half the players to leave as we just can't afford to renew any contracts this season, it has gotten that bad, so not sure what kind of place we will be in next season. Manager Thoughts We made some great progress on the pitch this season as we ended up as champions and it came out of nowhere. We were so consistent towards the end of the season that we were just reeling in River Plate, and then they lost to Racing Club which gave us a proper shot at the title and we took it. We were very poor in the Copa Libertadores, and it showed that it was not our level of football but we were superb in the Sudamericana and we managed to go all the way in that one. Earlier in the season we also managed to win the Supercopa against Boca, which came as a surprise at the time, but we have managed to beat them a few times this season. The Copa de la Liga, was similar to last season, top place in our group just got us an away tie against River Plate, which just doesn't seem right. We were humiliated in the Copa Argentina against Racing, so the less said about that game the better, especially when we had already beaten Boca and River in earlier rounds. Still it was a great season, packed with points and we are on our way in Argentina. I am still looking out for other jobs especially now that it seems the team we have here at Banfield is going to be ripped apart. Manager Profile Summary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 Season 2089 Supercopa Argentina Copa de la Liga Copa Argentina Recopa Sudamericana Liga Professional de Futbol Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers With a dwindling financial position, we were forced to sell and release players and we could only bring in modest reinforcements again all on a free transfer. The team itself was probably worse overall that last season but we were still competitive enough. The best player was Leonel Van-Dunem who has come into his own in the club as others have left and his 37 goals certainly helped a lot this season. Salvi and Torres are probably past it at this point, and Gentile got a bad injury in the second half of the season so a lot has been on his shoulders. Larsen, we used to have a Deportivo Cali and he is a solid player now in the later years of his career. Vera was a good pick up for midfield and he has been solid enough. Garcia and Farias have been stalwarts this season and again two good pick ups for us. Manager Thoughts Well it was a tale of two stories as we were very underwhelming in domestic football, not making the second stage of the Copa de la Liga, losing the Supercopa, losing early in the Copa Argentina and doing pretty average in the league, but we were great in South American football winning the Recopa and then we were a bit lucky, but sometimes you make your own luck when it came to the Copa Libertadores. We were lucky to get past Cerro Porteno and the final against Boca, was certainly unfair on Boca the way the match went but we did enough to lift the trophy and I am not complianing. So in the end it becomes our most successful season at Banfield. We were waiting for a potential move away and I would still not say no to a move to River, Boca, or Racing but we managed to win the big one at Banfield. I guess like the other seasons we will see what will happen and we will either be at Banfield or somewhere bigger. We actually made a bit of money last season so it should mean we should be able to reinforce the team better, especially since we have an aging squad that needs replacements. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 Season 2090 Copa de la Liga Copa Argentina Recopa Sudamericana Liga Professional de Futbol Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers We were very active in the transfer market as we used up the additional wage budget we had from players leaving and our success last season in the Copa Libertadores to bring in some added reinforcements, and we were reacquainted with an old face in Manuel Ramos, whom we had a Deportivo Cali. He was a good striker back then and did very well for us, but now he was a killer and we made sure to bring him in despite his age. Pretty much every signing we made this season was a home run out of park. Gallardo, Rodriguez, Cortes, Saldivia and Lugo made a massive difference to the team. Lugo in goal has been brilliant a massive upgrade. Gallardo and Rodriguez on the wings have caused havoc. Cortes has mostly played right back and been a standout player for us, it could not have gone better in the transfer market. The best player was Manuel Ramos, he scored 51 goals and the season is not even over yet. The guy just smashes in goals for fun, but obviously the whole team has been amazing. Manager Thoughts Last season, I felt we were pretty lucky to win the Copa Libertadores, and to be honest we were average in the domestic competitions. But the added money from winning the Libertadores gave us the resources to invest and we did that well, and it was clear from early on the League Cup that we were dealing with a very different animal this season as we swept aside the smaller sides, but then also beat the likes of River Plater and Boca away which we had never really done before without some strange circumstances occuring. In South American football we looked great and swept our group and I was awaiting the Boca game to arrive, but it never did as they got knocked out and that left us needing to beat Tolima. A team I respect a lot from our time in Colombia. It was not easy and in fact we were fortunate in the penalty shootout but we managed to get it done, and win another Copa Libertadores. Added to the Recopa win and the League Cup win that is enough to put us through to the next leg of our journey. It leaves just one regret, and that regret will be not being able to resolve our amazing league form. So far we had played 21 games in the league and won 21, and the question I had was whether we could go all season winning every game or failing that undefeated. We will never know, but what a season we have just had. SA2 COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 Season 2091 We were out of work for a little over half the Brazilian league season before we got a job offer we would take. Having already turned away the likes Cuiaba and Athletico Paranaense, eventually the Santos job became available and we just couldn't say no to the club that Pele and Neymar played for. Having said that, the club were in a dire situation, sitting in the relegation places, things had been going quite badly. Although Santos are one of the most historically important clubs in Brazil, they were no more of an upper mid table club, however things were not going to plan this year. The club sacked the previous manager when he lost in the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores to Nacional of Uruguay and that was so to speak the straw that broke the camels back. The board wanted us to get Sudamericana qualification, which was not too far away, because almost every Brazilian club in the top division qualifies for South American football on account of how stacked the league is. We took the job and embarked on our journey as the new manager of Santos. Brasilierao Serie A Squad I really like the Santos squad, and was a little surprised they were doing so badly. There is a lot of quality in the team and I think we have already seen that this year. All it required was to get some morale back in the team and we started playing proper football. I won't single anyone out because we have only just taken over the club as manager for half a season, but it is worth noting that Barbosa did win o Craque do Brazil and Rei do Golo, which essentially is best player and top goalscorer, so he is one to watch going forward. We have a very good academy at Santos, so that might be a route to bring through players and of course, we will be looking in the transfer market if there are any improvements. But generally speaking I can't complain. Manager Thoughts No points on the board, but very happy to be at a club like Santos, as I feel the potential here could be very high going forward. We started in a really tough spot and we rocketed up the table, we won most of our games and ended up qualifying for the Copa Libertadores, which is a great achievement considering I picked up the club in 17th. Hopefully next season we can kick on and bring in the first points of this leg. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 Season 2092 Paulistao Copa do Brasil Brasileirao Serie A Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers In the transfer market we went after free transfers, and there was some quality available without a transfer fee. Ortiz although he has not played every game has been great for us, we picked him up from old club Deportivo Cali. Guzman and Gomes came in from Peru and both have played their part in the team. Santander we brought in to improve the keeper situation and he has been the mainstay this season. In terms of players it is difficult to look past a strike partnership that has 104 goals scored this seson in Reninson and Barbosa. Unfortunately for us Barbosa is going to leave us, he is old and will be moving to Olympiakos, but what a season he had for us. All in all this team was brilliant this season. Manager Thoughts I just felt right from the start that this team was going to achieve plenty this season and that is exactly what happened as we got the league title, the cup and the Copa Libertadores. A big mass of points to start our journey in Brazil. Really it just means we go again next year. We have even more money now, so we may well be able to stretch to some players who previously were unobtainable. A note as well on the Paulistao, which is the local league, obviously it is a league, but it counts as a minor cup towards our points. We did not win it this season, but I thought I would clarify in case we ever did. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 Season 2093 Supercopa do Brasil Paulistao Copa do Brasil Recopa Sudamericana Brasileirao Serie A FIFA World Club Cup Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers We have money so we decided to spend some of it bringing in Kanhucu from Atletico Mineiro for £8m. With him came Maciel and Gutierrez, while Ortiz left for Europe. Kanhucu was the replacement for Barbosa and he did a very good job replacing him, scoring 49 goals and that included an 11 hour spell without a goal this season, where he could not buy a goal. His strike partner Reninson continued last years form by becoming the top scorer banging in 54 goals this season. Da Silva continues to be a force from the wing, this season he had himself 32 assists. We also brought up a few youngster from the youth side, the most exciting of which is Ricardo Pindobeira, who did not have the best of seasons but he is very young and I predict he could become a world beater. He may well get more game time next season. Manager Thoughts It was another very good season, as we bagged another league title and another Copa Libertadores, as well as few other competitions. I was especially impressed with our run in the World Club Cup, as we ended up finishing 3rd, beating Liverpool in the Third Place playoff. We again failed to win the Paulistao, it just seems as if early in the season we get a little unlucky in some of the knockout games and we were not able to repeat our Cup win. I will be looking to again reinforce the team wherever I can. We are building up more and more money so we really can afford to go after some key players for the club. If all goes very well, then next season could be our last in Brazil and our last in South America. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 Season 2094 Stadium Expansion Supercopa do Brasil Copa do Brasil Paulistao Recopa Sudamericana Brasileirao Serie A Copa Libertadores Squad & Transfers We went into the transfer market again this year and tried to buy young to really build up the team for the future. We found some great players in South Africa in Mzilikazi and Modise, and they have bags to talent and will improve. Lara, Mesones, Rojas and Huaman came in from South American football and again added a look of depth and quality into the team and most importantly some additional youth. We decided to let Ricadro Pindobeira go away on loan to Nacional in Uruguay as Matheus really improved on loan last season and he was more first team ready. In the end Kunhucu was the standout player for us in almost every aspect of our team, and he got himself 45 goals. Matheus chipped in with a nice 26 and Reninson got 27 as the rotated with one another. Overall I felt we were at times in the season not quite at the races, especially in some of the bigger games, but where it mattered we were generally quite good. The World Cup was also a hinderance for us this season as we had quite a few away especially with Peru. Manager Thoughts It was a tough season as we spurned the super cups early in the season, but got the bonus of the Paulistao which we finally managed to win, despite every season having finished top of the league table. The cup did not yield much for us and Flamengo were too strong for us in the league, but we did manage to go all the way in the Copa Libertadores, which is perennially is the most important competition for us. We even faced up against Flamengo there but we managed to get the better of them. With those points, it means that our time Brazil is over, and in the end it was quicker than I expected, three back to back Copa Libertadores will do the job nicely like that. We leave not only Brazil behind but also South American behind and now we have the daunting task of entering into Europe and UEFA18, which is composed of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. So we will see what that brings. Our reputation is as high as it as ever been, we are one the most recognisable managers, and we have yet to set foot in Europe, I now expect our reputation to take a battering as we take a load of smaller jobs and we will need to build it back over time. SA1 AND SOUTH AMERICA COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 22, 2022 Author Share Posted December 22, 2022 Season 2097 We arrived in Europe, and we would be out of work for almost 3 years as we waited for a suitable job. In the end the Derry City job became available and while they were not totally attractive I decided we needed to start somewhere and we opted for that. It was right at the end of the Irish league season, and the club could still be relegated even though it was a little unlikely so our job was to keep them up. In terms of the club, we are expected to finish around mid-table anyway, so the club are not massively underperforming this season. League Premier Division Squad It's not great, but it could be worse. We actually had the intake just a few weeks into my arrival and we got a brand new centre back in Stephen Spence, who was already arguably the best player at the club. We don't have a lot of money and quite a bit of residual debt in the club, so I really don't know whether the transfer market is even an option. We may be forced to use what we already have and see where we get to. I won't be singling anyone out, because they don't deserve and we have not had much time with the players. Manager Thoughts Well our start yielded a few wins and two losses, which showed me that life will not be easy next season. We will see what we can do in the transfer market if anything, and we will try and get some morale going, which has already improved since we came into the club. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 Season 2098 FAI Cup Champions Cup League of Ireland Premier Division Squad & Transfers Last season, I was unsure if we were really ready for a league challenge after I took over the last few games of the season, but we made a few additions such as Gareth Stewart and Shane Stokes and it made the world of difference. Also seemingly we managed to get the absolute best out of the better players at the club. Michael McKeown was the standout this season with his 43 goals and his striker partner Michael McEvoy was not far behind with 40 of his own. Stephen Spence the regen we got at the end of last season continues to be the rock at the back for us, although this season the intake was poor, so we will not be adding any new weapons there. Right at the end of the window we added Cyril Scully, who I think will be a very good player for us, but we will have to see what he can do next season Manager Thoughts A great performance from the boys as we defied expectation, both the clubs and my own to be honest to do a clean sweep, winning the league and cup and the Champions Cup. Now the Champions Cup I debated how many points it should be worth. Technically you can argue it is a competition between two different countries which perhaps means it should be continental, however it just didn't pass the smell test as a continental competition, especially in Europe where it is clear what the continental competitions are. So for that reason it counts as a 30 point domestic cup. Next season I am hoping for more of the same. As we qualified for Europe, our budget just exploded this coming season, so we should be able to really take the team to the next level. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 Season 2099 President's Cup FAI Cup Unite the Union Champions Cup League of Ireland Premier Division UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League Squad & Transfers We brought in a Bulgarian trio of Petrov, Yurukov and Kishishev and they have all performed very well for us. Eventually we would get Huxley, Sowinski, Ferguson, McKenna and Donaldson and they have also added something to us. In terms of performances it is the familiar faces up front of McEvoy and McKeown who have really been the standout players for us, as they just seem to have a telepathic link at this stage in being able to find each other and the back of the net. Manager Thoughts In some ways it was a little disappointing that we left points behind in the President's Cup and Unite the Union Champions Cup, but I should be happy that we managed to win the league and cup. We have done alright in Europe. We were never going to make it very far in the Champions League, and to make the Europa League is a bit of an achievement and to be honest we have been competitive but I don't expect us to progress much further considering who we still have to play such as Liverpool. We are actually at this stage seriously considering a move away from the club, because we know that the diminishing returns of the points is going to start to make progress very slow. Shamrock Rovers have sacked another manager and we are potentially in the frame to become the new manager there. Whether they decide to do it. I still do not know. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 Season 2100 In the offseason we made some waves in the Irish league as we moved from league champions Derry City to Shamrock Rovers, their direct rivals. The goal was to get rid of the diminishing returns and since the Shamrock job was available it was a no-brainer for me to take it. The board wanted us to challenge for the league title and that was what I was here to do. Shamrock Rovers, were the best team in the Republic of Ireland until we arrived at Derry City, now we are probably the second best side behind them, but it is very close between the sides and also St Patrick's Athletic and Sligo Rovers. Leinster Senior Cup FAI Cup Unite the Union Champions Cup League of Ireland Premier Division UEFA Europa Conference League Squad & Transfers Coming into the club, I noticed we had a massive first team, on account that Shamrock Rovers do not have a reserve, so everyone older than 19, is in the first team, for that reason we ended up loaning a lot of people out. Then when I looked at the side I saw a few minor weaknesses at goalkeeper and defensive midfield. To cover that I bought in Ger Maher from Sligo Rovers in goal and Robert Close from previous club Derry City, everyone else was already bought when we arrived at the club. The team revolved around Trevor McAllister and Eddie Davoren up front who banged in the goal for fun. In the midfield the likes of Danks and Sean O'Shea provided plenty as well. The team looks fine for the purposes of challenging for things domestically. Manager Thoughts I am pretty happy with the season as we won the league and the Champions Cup. For some reason Dundalk had the hoodoo over us in the cup competitions as they knocked us out in the Leinster Senior Cup as well as the FAI Cup, and that cost us points, although we are now not too far away from ending this leg, having got to 385 points, we just need another 115 points, which we could achieve with a league, FAI cup and another trophy. We will see whether we will be able to do that, but I think we will probably see the rest of this leg out at Shamrock Rovers, I see no reason to move on any time soon. Incidentally Derry City sacked our replacement, whom they poached from Bohemians, so things have not gone to plan since we left. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahaj Oberoi Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 Great story, thoroughly enjoying it so far. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 36 minutes ago, Sahajpal Oberoi said: Great story, thoroughly enjoying it so far. Thanks very much glad your enjoying it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 Season 2101 President's Cup Leinster Senior Cup FAI Cup Unite the Union Champions Cup League of Ireland Premier Division UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League Squad & Transfers Since the team already looked very good to me and was already quite big, I really looked to see what players could help me and generally they were sitting at my old club Derry City. Previously last season no one from Derry wanted to move to me because they had Champions League football, but this year it was different. We snapped up Coates, Scully and Miller, who gave us a lot more depth and a few positions improved us. We later also got Hohlovs, who was just there to reinforce left back which was a problem area for us. In terms of performances, the strikers had a field day this season. O'Shea, McAllister, Davoren and Scully, all scored 20 plus goals this season, and we absolutely smashed the goalscoring charts this year and really it came down to the calibre of firepower we had at the top end of the pitch. I know I often mention the strikers, but our tactic has always been about attacking and goals first and this years the guys at that end of the pitch came into their own. Manager Thoughts With the FAI Cup win, that gave us enough points to proceed, which was a good thing because if we had lost, we would have been waiting for the President's Cup next season to advance. We smashed the league this season, no one came anywhere near us as we were mostly unstoppable. We even are doing pretty well in Europe, we dropped into the Europa League and we have beaten a few notable sides such as RB Leipzing, Sion and Goteborg and got a draw against Liverpool. We will be leaving behind UEFA18 and moving to UEFA17 which consists of Finland and Latvia, and once again it is a normal stage requiring 500 points to advance. UEFA 18 COMPLETE Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 24, 2022 Author Share Posted December 24, 2022 Season 2105 We were out of work for about 3 and half years, and we were about to take the FC Lahti job in Finland. What had happened in the time I was waiting was that jobs would come up but they were generally extremely unattractive. The Lahti job had come up before but they were always in the relegation places with a few fixtures to go. This time around they were doing badly, but there was time to correct things. I took the interview there and then went on holiday for them to accept my interview. However in those few days, the HJK manager went to Tottenham, and we were able to jump ship to HJK instead. HJK are by far the best team in Finland, literally every player in the season preview is an HJK player, so this is kind of a cheat code at least to start leg UEFA17. The board obviously want to win everything domestically. We took over the club in 1st place and they were still unbeaten this season and they had already won the Suomen Cup before we arrived at the club. Veikkausliiga UEFA Champions League Squad For Finland, this is a brilliant team. This is the kind of team that can play in the Champions League and not be overshadowed by some of the big boys, so it should make mincemeat of Finnish football, plus we have millions in the bank to buy more. Manager Thoughts The first points on the board with HJK. We are very fortunate to get a job like HJK, since they clearly only come up when the manager decides to move onto a better job, because they have such a good squad that they should never really be fired. Still the goal is to get as many points as possible, and then see what we can do in Europe. I am highly doubtful even with a good team, that we can really challenge in Europe. Perhaps in the Conference League we would have some chance. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerminalPortugal Posted December 24, 2022 Author Share Posted December 24, 2022 Season 2106 New Stadium Suomen Cup Veikkausliiga UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League Squad & Transfers We used our considerable funds to bring some new players into the club. Players that would continue to improve the overall quality of the team. Martinez came in at centre-back and has probably been the best player in the team. Manuel San Martin is a brilliant winger and has put in assist after assist. Skov came in and went out, he was brilliant while we had him but he had a release clause. Ayerdi has been very good from defensive midfield, and the other signings have perhaps been less of a success but still add a lot of depth. Tikhonov has been a man possessed this season with 60 goals in all competitions, a ridiculous return for the Russian striker. Manager Thoughts We picked up a league and cup double which was expected, and we were pretty good in the Champions League getting as far as the Round of 16, before narrowly being beaten by Juventus. We are not looking in as great a shape this year to qualify, we may well need to win our final games to qualify for the next round. Manager Profile Summary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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