[FM24Beta] Colombia - Envigado. Quarry of Heroes. [Youth Only]

[Jimbokav1971]

Records & Awards. Dec 2034.

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2034.

We won the 2x League titles and the domestic Cup, and the only domestic trophy missing is the Súperliga Dimayor, (Colombian Super-Cup), which we will be able to have a go at early next season, (assuming that there is someone else to play against because we have won everything).

I'm even more determined to win a Continental trophy now. 

Liga Finalización Final. Never in doubt. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 1 more goal for (27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" brings him to 13 goals for the season, (from 14 attempts from the spot), with (33e) Bermúdez (Amb) 6'3" * also chipping in with 2 goals from his 1 single debut appearance. It's great to finally get into double figures though and it's interesting that I ready yesterday that people have been complaining that GK's were getting injured too much in FM24, (and there did appear to be an increase in impact arm/hand injuries), but that's better than the no in-game injuries that we had before and seemingly have reverted to. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 21/27 from the spot at 78%. (Is no longer at the club). 
Fontalvo 6'4" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(25b) Hyam (ENG)(IRL) 6'1" is 29/34 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club).
(28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * is 6/7 from the spot at 86%. 
(29a) Tello (F.Sport) * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%. (On loan in the Colombian 2nd tier).
(31a) Díaz (F.Pro) 6'2" is 5/7 from the spot at 71%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" is 13/14 from the spot at 92%.
(33e) Bermúdez (Amb) 6'3" * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%.

I thought that we had scored 15/16 pens this season, but actually we also scored 2/3 with (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * before he went out on loan, so @kanderssonwill be pleased to hear that we've won 19 pens this season, (converting 17 of them), and that's not too shabby at all considering we're such an inexperienced team. In hindsight I think the issue was far more about me not having players with the correct capabilities in the correct positions than any huge change in the ME. I think there is enormous scope for improvement in this area even without me looking at our GK's taking free-kicks, (which I don't think I will start at least until I move to another Nation). 20+ goals in a season is absolutely doable here in Colombia just on pens, and the biggest hindrance to that, (now that the impact injuries to GK's have been tweaked down), is player unavailability due to International call-ups. 

Finances. As you can see we don't need to sell players from a financial point of view, but I'll be doing the squad depth post soon and the idea is to find areas of the squad where we have significant depth and then maybe look to sell one of the older players in that area. It's easy to just say "oh I have loads of strikers, so let's flog a couple of them", but actually I have very different demands from my wide/central strikers and of course at the moment I'm not keen on using inverted players in the wide areas, (although never say never). What it means though is that I need 3 strikers for the 1st Team, 3 more for the 2nd Team, 2 who will permanently sit on the bench, (for both teams), and then youngsters coming through or out on loan. So that's a minimum of 8 senior strikers straight away, (which is a lot). It's the same for centre-backs, (although there is a certain amount of cross-over involved because at the moment we  only have 1 lefty in the 8 so a righty is having to fill in there currently. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad stats. Jan 2034. 

Squad by Appearances. Looking at our GK's tells us that we played 76 competitive games this season and considering we will play in the Súperliga Dimayor (Colombian Super-Cup) next season which we didn't play in this season, then it could be more, (although we will also go straight through to the Copa Libertadores Group Stage next season where as we played 1 game in qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana this season. 

Despite trying really hard, I don't think I have managed the appearances at all well this season. 4x outfield players with 40+ starts is just too much, and you will notice that those players made very few sub appearances as a result as I tried to completely rest them when they weren't starting. Despite that, our injuries weren't awful this season, and maybe that was as a result of me paying more attention to our pre-season schedule, (which I must also do again). 

I've recently shown you the top 2 on this list, so have a look at this bloke instead. 

Squad by Goals. Our front 3 all scored 20+ goals, but that's not as impressive as it seems when you consider how many appearances they have made. The 2nd choice wide strikers are next up with 19 and 14 goals and I'm happy with that, but the player I think I'm most pleased with is (31c) Aponzá (F.Amb) ** who only played the 2nd half of the season and really progressed well. I'm not sure whether it's good news or bad news at this stage, but he's currently being watched by Chelsea, Man City & Man Utd. 

Squad by Assists. There's a real mix of positions who are doing the creating as we have WBR, SLC, MRC, WBL, AMR and it's not until the 6th player that we see a position replicated, (WBR in this case). 

Squad by Average rating. Despite only being 3rd choice on the right side up front, (31b) Peinado (L.Heart) ** has really caught my eye and I'm going to be trying to find more time for him on the pitch.

Squad by CA. We've got 6x players with better than 3.0 CA and then 8x more players with at least 3.0 CA. You can see by the ages that it's still a young squad, but if we're looking to sell anyone then the older players are most at risk, (24, 25 & 26). 

Squad by PA. We've got 7x players with 5.0 PA but while that's lower than it has been at earlier stages of the save, the level against which they are being judged has been increased significantly. 

We also have 11x players with 4.5 PA and that's still a very good level if we can turn most of that PA into CA

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Jan 2035. 

Usually I wouldn't be signing any of the 4 players listed below, but I'm struggling to release a 4.0 PA centre-half. could be decent. 

I know I should release him, and I'm definitely releasing the others, but...... I just don't know if I can do it. We're always desperate for a centre-half and 4.0 PA 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2035.

Liga Apertura. We started the season with 6 players on International duty at the U20 South American Champs and a couple of 1st choice strikers injured, so we were just a little limited at the start. It's weird that we didn't play particularly well in the 1st 2 games, (and won), and played better in the 3rd game, (with the 2nd Team), (but lost). This loss would have bothered me in the past, but I would much rather rotate the squad and lose, (but develop the 2nd Team players), than play the 1st Team XI in all 3 games and win them all. 

Season Tickets. This is a significant rise. 

Transfers. Only 1 significant transfer, and even then not really. 

Records. I will have to see what our "normal matches" attendance has been raised to. It seems to be going up by 1,000 each season at the moment. 

Facilities. Yeah, capacity of 8,000 in normal matches now. Nice. 

Goal-scoring GK's. After scoring 13 of 14 penalties last season, I have dropped (27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" in favour of (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * simply because he has better PA. He's 22 now so I plan to use him as 1st choice for the next 2 seasons to make the most of his development period. 

Records. This should keep increasing as our "normal matches" capacity increases. 

Reputation. Now that we're topping the rankings in Colombia, I will have to start using the rest of South America as a comparison. There are 2 Peruvian clubs and 1 from Chile ahead of us, and after that it's just Brazil and Argentina.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2035. 

Liga Apertura. We're not playing well with so many players out, (the 6 on Int duty have just returned but are shattered), but we're getting the job done. 

Súperliga Dimayor. (Colombian Super-Cup).

Board Takeover.

Transfers.

Goal-scoring GK's. Although (27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" is off the mark with his 1st successful penalty, (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * fails with his 1st effort. 

It's interesting that our 1st and 2nd choice GK's are ranked only 4th and 5th by PA. We really have produced some stonking GK's in this save already. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 21/27 from the spot at 78%. (Is no longer at the club). 
Fontalvo 6'4" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(25b) Hyam (ENG)(IRL) 6'1" is 29/34 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * is 5/7 from the spot at 86%. 
(29a) Tello (F.Sport) * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%. (On loan in the Colombian 2nd tier).
(31a) Díaz (F.Pro) 6'2" is 5/7 from the spot at 71%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" is 15/16 from the spot at 94%.
(33e) Bermúdez (Amb) 6'3" * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%.

Finances.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2035.

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2035. 

Liga Apertura. We're not playing great despite the good form. 

Copa Libertadores. The 2nd Team have been doing ok. 

Records.

Goal-scoring GK's. A busy month for GK's with (27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" both scoring and failing from the spot and (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * scoring from the spot, but the real news is 15 year old (35a) Capacho (Res) 6'1" ** scoring in 3 consecutive games for the U20's, (although these games don't count because they're not competitive). 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 21/27 from the spot at 78%. (Is no longer at the club). 
Fontalvo 6'4" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(25b) Hyam (ENG)(IRL) 6'1" is 29/34 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * is 6/8 from the spot at 75%. 
(29a) Tello (F.Sport) * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%. (On loan in the Colombian 2nd tier).
(31a) Díaz (F.Pro) 6'2" is 5/7 from the spot at 71%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%.
(33e) Bermúdez (Amb) 6'3" * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2035. 

Liga Apertura. We have 19 players absent on International duty for the 1st game of the month. No option to postpone the game.  Just as well they are bottom of the table and not very good. 

Surprisingly, (considering we're decimated by unavailabilities), we hit La Equidad for 6 with a really bodged together squad, and then went a smashed another 6 past Real Santander, (no, not that Real Santander). 

Copa Libertadores. We were given a lesson by Internacional and were already 5-0 down by the time we scored. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2035. 

Liga Apertura. We struggled a little this month in terms of selection, but whichever squad we picked seem to get the job done. 

Liga Apertura. Semi Final Group. You might notice that Millonarios have missed out on the Semi-Final Group stage, (which is quite frankly ridiculous). They have a really good squad including a couple of lads in the senior (COL) squad and certainly they are better than us in terms up top end quality. 

Copa Libertadores. The 2nd Team has qualified for the Knockout stages 

Copa Dimayor. We made it hard for ourselves in the 1st leg, but got there in the end. 

Goal-scoring GK's. The only goal of the game against a América de Cali was scored by (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * from the spot.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 21/27 from the spot at 78%. (Is no longer at the club). 
Fontalvo 6'4" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(25b) Hyam (ENG)(IRL) 6'1" is 29/34 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * is 7/9 from the spot at 78%. 
(29a) Tello (F.Sport) * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%. (On loan in the Colombian 2nd tier).
(31a) Díaz (F.Pro) 6'2" is 5/7 from the spot at 71%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%.
(33e) Bermúdez (Amb) 6'3" * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. The board are upset because what?????  On the plus side, they will either pe proved correct or we will actually meet their expectations pretty quickly so this issues shouldn't drag on either way. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2034. 

Liga Apertura. Semi Final Group. We got hit with a spate of injuries and other unavailabilities at the same time and it cost us. In particular we were missing our 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice WBL's this month, and the 3rd choice one isn't very good never mind about the 4th choice one. 

1st International Cap. We've got a few more decent centre-backs now, but until they get a bit older there is always the danger of them being called up for aged Group International duty. Having a teenager called up for the Senior International duty is very much the exception rather than the rule and will only be helped by us getting enough players called up to the Senior squad to have our games postponed when they are missing.

Facilities. The Training Facilities upgrade gave me cause to look at the next options I had and I couldn't resist when I saw that I could ask for another Youth Facility upgrade. I think our Youth intakes have been decent without being spectacular, so fingers crossed we start seeing an improvement, (in CA soon). 

Feedback. Being graded an F seems a bit extra. I know we didn't make the Final, but had we won our last game against Once Caldas we would have made the FInal, and it's very fine margins. F seems pretty harsh.  We're in the Knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores and are still in the Copa Dimayor  and of course we won the Súperliga Dimayor. We even only lost 1 game in the Semi-Final group ffs! 

Salary spend. The 2 big boys are still spending more than us on wages, and they also spent over £7.5M on transfers this season where as we generated transfer profit of £3.2M this season.

Net Transfer spend. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 1 more to the list with (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * scoring from the spot against Once Caldas in the last Semi-Final Group game. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to give us the win we needed to make the Final. 

Finances. The recent upgrades, (and in particular the £4.2M recent Youth Upgrade), has put a dent in our bank balance, but with all the clauses outstanding and trickling in we're losing far less than we used to. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2034. 

Summoned to a meeting with the board.  It seems silly that this is such a big deal, but when it's "required" it's non-negotiable, but winning the league when you aren't the big spenders in the league seems a little silly. It doesn't really matter though. The board are peeved and it's where we are now. I'm guessing this is just an ultra-ambitious board

I don't like option 2, so I'm going to have to go with option 1. 

That pretty much cranks up the pressure for next season though doesn't it?

It does seem a little ambitious for us to win both league titles and get to the Knockout Stages of the Copa Libertadores. We're still a very young side and this sort of ambition doesn't fit in at all with my strategy of selling our best players and throwing kids in before they're ready. 

[Edit] I knew that things were tough in terms of board confidence, but I didn't actually realise that it was this tough. We've won our 1st 2 games, but I think that as soon as we lose I'm going to get sacked which is ridiculous. Ah well, I guess I will be moving on soon. 

It's obviously a bug, but there doesn't seem to be any point moaning about it. I'm going to get sacked sooner or later and there isn't anything I can do about it. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

2nd meeting to discuss my future..... Jul 2035. 

We won the 1st two games of the 2nd Phase, but a 1st half red card proved to be an insurmountable problem in the 3rd game and we lost away to Atlético Nacional, (who are 1 of the 2 other big hitters in the league). 

I think I'm for the chop. 

#

The game doesn't seem to understand that we're completely on course to win, and in any case winning the league is different here because the Final is a Cup Final rather than a league. 

I don't like any of the "compromise" options, so I'm not going to use them. 

"I haven't been in management that long" is a load of old bull because I've been here for 10+ years and done great. 
"We've had a lot of injuries" might be true, but it's not an excuse I want to make. 
"We've had a really hard fixture list" just isn't true so I don't want to use that. 

Let's hope one of the "convince" options is a better fit. 

"Ignore the form" I like that, but let's see what the other options are. 
"Looking at how hard our upcoming fixtures are" No no no no no. 
"I appreciate that things haven't been going exactly to plan" No no no no no.
"I'll hold my hands up and admit that we've not been great" No no no no no.
"We're on course to achieve the targets"..... Well we're not because we didn't win the 1st League, but other than that I don't mind it at all.
"I think this is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction" This could be an option but I don't think so. 

It's a choice between "Ignore the form" and "we're on course to achieve the targets", and because we didn't win the 1st League I think it has to be the 1st option "ignore the form". 

They weren't convinced. 

I'm not betting. 
I'm not promising either, (because I don't want to have to change the way I manage and I have a feeling that I'm not a good fit with this new board).
I don't want them telling me what I need to do. (I want them to butt out). 

I'm not keen on asking for another chance. 
But telling them they should show some faith in me could have legs.... 

Offering to resign is something I actually like the sound of. If they want to get rid of me then let's just get it done. 
Not interested in using the dressing room. 
There is always someone else who they can appoint. 
Not relying on the fans either. 

I went for the "offer to resign" option. If they don't want me then the sooner I leave the better. 

I'm still here. 

[Edit]

Just to put some perspective on this....

We've lost 3 of 29 league games this season. 

We lost 2 of 56 games last season. 

2 years ago we lost 19 league games in the season and finished overall down in 7th, (so consider how far we've come). 

To be considering sacking me now is just silly. 

[Edit Again]

We've just beaten a Brazilian side in the Knockout Rounds of the Copa Libertadores but I'm still on the verge of being sacked. 

I should have walked. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Scribe]

Seems extremely harsh treatment, even by FM standards. I think the game might be struggling to cope with the league set-up.

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Scribe said:

Seems extremely harsh treatment, even by FM standards. I think the game might be struggling to cope with the league set-up.

Yeah, I will have to go and report it in the Colombian thread as a bug I think. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2034. 

Liga Finalización. It's mental to think that all this has been caused by 1 single loss, and even then, only because we had a man sent off in the 1st half. 

Copa Libertadores. A draw in Brazil will see us through to the next round but it's still a big big ask. 

Performance Review. The Board don't seem too unhappy, but the supporters have the right hump with me, (and I'm not completely sure why). 

It seems as if the 1 negative is being taken into account, but none of the positives. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 1 more goals for (28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 *.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 21/27 from the spot at 78%. (Is no longer at the club). 
Fontalvo 6'4" is 9/10 from the spot at 90%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(25b) Hyam (ENG)(IRL) 6'1" is 29/34 from the spot at 85%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(28a) Pocarrero (F.Det) 6'2 * is 9/11 from the spot at 82%. 
(29a) Tello (F.Sport) * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%. (On loan in the Colombian 2nd tier).
(31a) Díaz (F.Pro) 6'2" is 5/7 from the spot at 71%. (Is no longer at the club). 
(27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" is 15/17 from the spot at 88%.
(33e) Bermúdez (Amb) 6'3" * is 2/2 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2035.

I get this message before each league game. 

Liga Finalización. It's interesting to note that there are 11 different goal-scorers in the league this month and 14 different scorers across all 3 competitions this month. That really is pretty cool.  

I'm honestly not 100% sure what's going to happen when we lose another league game, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to be sacked. 

Copa Libertadores. We stormed past Casco de Game  in the Second Round, (and beating any Brazilians at this stage is not easy), but River Plate of Argentina were too strong for us and we won't be going any further than the Quarter Finals. I was really hoping that we might somehow be able to win the competition this season so that I could just walk away from the board, but alas it wasn;t to be. 

Copa Dimayor. We have some work to do in the domestic Cup where we will need to overhaul a 1 goal deficit in the 2nd leg. 

Records.

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

Finances. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

3rd Board meeting to discuss my future.  Sep 2035. 

I think this is probably it. It's 1st September so we have not played any games since the previous update, but the board have called me in because the fans are unhappy with me. 

Compromise.

I refuse to blame injuries. 
I'm not asking for special treatment because this is my 1st job. 
I'm not blaming the fixture list because it's just normal, (and we've won 8 out of our last 9 games in the league). 

Convince. 

Give me a month to sort things out. Sort what out? 
We have a nice run of fixtures coming up. I've no idea who we've got coming up, but does it really make any difference because we've won 8 in the last 9).
I don't really think it matters? I would usually never choose this option, but it's the only one I even feel a little interested in using. 

Is it appropriate to mention now that I'm a Legend at the club. (Not sure how long I have been). 

[KristianT]

This is really harsh by the board!

If they fire you, go immidiately to the fiercest rival and make Envigado pay!

Edited December 4, 2023 by KristianT

[Jimbokav1971]

The end? Sep 2035. 

The only option that I'm prepared to use here is "ignore the form". 

I'm not compromising. 

I'm not asking for a chance. 

I honestly think resignation is the only option here. 

There is no way I'm backing down. 

"We are very pleased to be rid of you and that we no longer have to work together". 

This is a nice touch. 

As Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay & Ecuador leagues are not in the game, I think I might have to visit Uruguay.

This is the Overall Table in Uruguay. 

This was the 1st Phase. 

This is the 2nd stage. 

This is the Overall Table in the 2nd tier in Uruguay. I'm not completely sure what the rules are here. 

Unfortunately there are no available jobs in Uruguay and not even any managers who's jobs are insecure. 

Or maybe I stay in Colombia and somehow seek revenge on Envigado? 

[Jimbokav1971]

11 hours ago, Scribe said:

Seems extremely harsh treatment, even by FM standards. I think the game might be struggling to cope with the league set-up.

I'm going to report it as a bug, but I'm not 100% sure it is. 

The board unhappiness I think makes sense from the point of view of an ambitious board who come in and I win the 1st title and then the Cup, but the balance doesn't seem quite right between the failure of 1 specific objective, (especially with this competition format), and the other positives. 

The Fan unhappiness seems more strange, but is obviously linked to our failure to complete an important objective. I think there might be a few different things at play here. 

[Jimbokav1971]

7 minutes ago, KristianT said:

This is really harsh by the board!

If they fire you, go immidiately to the fiercest rival and make Envigado pay!

Well at least I wasn't fired, (not that it makes a difference). 

Yeah it does seem ridiculously harsh, and it's put me off managing in South America a little, (with these types of league formats), but I only have South American leagues loaded so...... 

It's all good though. It's been a fun save so far. The only thing I'm really gutted about is all the Wonderkids I'm not going to get to develop at Envigado. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Available jobs. Sep 2035. 

Ceará Sporting Club are in the top tier in Brazil, (but I'm not ready for Brazil yet so won't be even considering moving there at this point). 

Club Deportes Tolima are struggling in the top tier in Colombia. I like the Board & Supporter culture though. 

I quite like the kits. 

I also like the Facilities. 

They're struggling in the league, (which is why there is a vacancy). 

But they finished 11th in the 1st Phase earlier this season. 

They appear to be comfortable clear of relegation, (which is based on average points per game). 

Club Deportivo Huachipato are in the top tier in Chile. I like the Board & Supporter culture. 

I'm not so keen on the kits. 

I do love the Facilities though. 

Although they are 2nd bottom of the league, (and the bottom 2 get relegated), it is at least a European style league with 1 single league campaign. What's the point in playing in South America and playing a European style league though? 

Something I haven't seen before is that there have to be a certain number of minutes played by U21 players, (which I obviously like), and with Facilities like this what's not to like? 

Estudiantes (BA) are a club in the top tier in Argentina. I like the Board culture, but the supporter culture not so much. 

I quite like the kits. 

But the facilities really surprise me. Is this not the side I think it is? I thought they were a massive club? 

Ah no, they're not Club Estudiantes de La Plata at all, who are Estudiantes (BA).

They're 2nd bottom of the 2nd tier in Argentina which appears to be split into 2 Groups

I must admit this last job looks like hard work to me and I'm not overly keen. 

Which means the choice at this stage is between these two. 

Wherever I go I'm thinking of relaxing my Youth Only rules and allowing myself to sign players who have come through an Academy of a previous club, (such as Envigado in this case). 

What do you think?

Any thoughts or suggestions as to my destination or relaxation of Youth Only rules? 

[Jimbokav1971]

[Jimbokav1971]

[Jimbokav1971]

[Jimbokav1971]

[Jimbokav1971]

New Job. Sep 2035. 

We've been out of work for about 2 and a half weeks. 

Finances. Well this isn't good. 

We finished 2nd in the league once since the start of the save, (in the 2033 Liga Apertura), and have finished 3rd on 3 occasions, (2025, 2028 & 2031), but rarely better than 4th in a Group of 4 in the Semi-Finals. It's interesting that we seem to have done significantly better in the than in the Liga Apertura (1st Phase), than in the Liga Finalización, (2nd Phase). 

Facilities. The 1st bit of good news is that we have a much bigger stadium than Envigado at 28,180 capacity, (although our attendances in league games are usually 5,500 - 6,900 (ish). While this means there is plenty of room for bigger crowds, it also probably means that the costs to run the stadium are significantly higher, (and money is a problem here). 

Squad by Appearances. 

3 loan players for a club that's meant to be developing their own Youth?  I Can't terminate the loans immediately, but I will do as soon as possible. 

Senior Squad by CA. 

U20 Squad by PA. 

Best player. I like the look of David Padilla, but he's not scoring enough goals or creating enough assists and I plan on changing that. He's also injured and his contract expires at the end of next season. 

Interesting player. I think Octavio Tapiero is a really interesting player. He's obviously quite limited, but if we just ask him to run with the ball and keep running with the ball then he could be a fantastic outlet. The only problems are that his contract expires at the end of this season, (I've immediately offered him a new 2+1 deal), and he plays in the same position as our best player David Padilla. I'll be honest with you, I will probably be selling  David Padilla. 

Things seem quite similar to how they were when we started with Envigado, (but worse). We're already £4M in the hole, but possibly worse than that is that we're also currently overspending on wages. 

I can't remember what we were spending at Envigado at the beginning of the save, [goes to check] however it appears that they had £1.6M in the bank on day 1 and had a £68k wage budget, (as well as significantly better facilities). 

This is going to be tough, (but tough tough is good right?)   

[Jimbokav1971]

Early Strategy. Sep 2035. 

Sorting the finances has to be the immediate goal, but how we go about doing that is up for debate. In the long-term our finances will benefit from Transfers and add-ons as you would expect, but we have some belt-tightening to do before then and it means I'm going to have to run with a significantly smaller squad while we clear the debt, (and I'm not sure quite how easy that will be). 

I really don't want to be over our wage budget, so that's the immediate priority. Knowing who to keep and who to sell/release will be a big part of that. 

GK's. My immediate reaction is to stop playing the loaned GK straight away, but it's worth checking to see what we have to pay if he isn't used. There is no change in what we pay Santos, so 1 of our 2 teenagers will play for us and I will try to release the old rubbish GK. (He didn't want to leave and is now unhappy). 

1st Team. (35) Artunduaga (L.H) 5'11"
Backup. (32) Córdoba (Unamb) 6'4"

(35) Artunduaga (L.H) 5'11" isn't good, but he appears to have decent PA and the sooner we play him, the sooner he develops and the sooner someone pays us money for him. 

I hope the rest of the squad is in better shape than the GK's or this job might not last very long. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Sep 2035. 

DL/WBL. The WB's are so important in this tactic and even before I look anywhere else, I think how good our WB's are will ultimately decide if I get through the initial period at this club. 

Nicolás Gómez appears to be the star here, (at least in terms of PA), and I was surprised when looking at him that he isn't an Academy product and that we actually spent £210k on him. Having said that, it actually looks like decent business. He's contracted for 2 more years. 

Garzon 5'9" looks more like an attacking WB than a DLC, but I will have to wait until I have seen the centre-backs before I decide fully. He's also contracted for 2 more years. 

Deivid Correa. is a very good player, but he's getting paid £2,800 pw and his contract expires at the end of the season. We can't be offering him a new contract I'm afraid. This player should really have been sold before getting into his final year. Maybe this is the reason they've got no money. 

(31) Atuesta (Res) is 20 years old, getting paid £160 pw and we have a +1 option that I have just triggered. He's not great, but his physicals are good and he will do a job if needed. 

(30) Barón (L.H) is 21 years old, getting paid £375 pw and is contracted for 1 more season. Sell? 

(32) Patiño (Bal) 5'7" WBL was almost missed because he's listed as a DM, but as I don't use a DM I had a look and he is very much a WBL. His contract expires at the end of the season but he had a +1 clause which I activated largely because he's on £300 pw. 

1st Team. Gomez. 
2nd Team. Garzon 5'9"

Backup. (32) Patiño (Bal) 5'7" WBL
Backup. (31) Atuesta (Res)
Backup. 30) Barón (L.H)
Release. Deivid Correa.
Release. (33) Talero. (Unamb)
Release. (32) Colorado. (Bal)
Release. (34) López. (Res)

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Sep 2035. 

DR/WBR. Please have a couple of good players. Please please please please please.  (We haven't).  This is a really weak area of the squad. I hope there are no more like this. 

1st Team. Arroyo (F.Det)
2nd Team. (34) Echeverri (Bal) I tried to extend his contract but couldn't get deal done so I triggered a +1 clause. 

Backup. (34) Echeverri (Bal)
Loan. (32) Puentes (Res) looks more like a wide attacker than a WB, but I've offered him a new 2+1 contract simply because he's cheap and appears to have decent PA. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Sep 2035. 

DC's. 

Suárez (Bal) 6'0" is good enough to get a game for my Envigado side before I left. Why is he out on loan? I could recall him, but if I did then I wouldn't be able to register him to play in the league, (and we don't have any other fixtures). 
(34) Perea (F.Det) 5'10" is young but will be thrown straight in. 

1st Team DLC. Ríos (Res) (ARG) DC 6'0"
1st team DC. Gagliardi (ARG) (Res) 5'11"
1st Team DRC. (34) Perea (F.Det) 5'10"

2nd Team DLC. Capacho (Pro) 6'4"
2nd Team DC.
2nd Team DRC. Arcos (Bal) 5'11"

Loan. Suárez (Bal) 6'0"

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Sep 2035. 

MC. We've got some decent players here but many of them will be leaving at the end of the season. 

1st Team MLC. Escobar (Driven)
1st Team MRC. Hincapié (F.Det) 

2nd Team MLC. Escobar.
2nd Team MRC. Zambrano. (Res) Is leaving on a free at the end of the season. 

Backup. (F.Pro) Cuesta (Bal)
Loan. Otálvaro (F.Det)

[RoguPL]

Such a shame that Envigado didn't work out. You really started to dominate in past couple of seasons. 
However I think that Deportes Tolima have got much more potential than Envigado and board/fan culture is much more suitable to your play style. I hope that you are going to topple them in the end  

Good Luck! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Sep 2035. 

SC. 

1st Team SLC. (22) Arciniegas. (F.Det) is leaving on a free at the end of the season. 
1st Team SC. (30) Triviño (F.Det) looks to be a gem. 
1st team SRC. (26) Tapiero (Real) will hopefully sign a new contract. 

2nd Team SLC. Orellano. (ARG) (Real)
2nd Team SC. (34) Belalcázar (L.H)
2nd team SRC. (33) Cabal (F.Det)

Backup. (31) Pinzón (F.Det)
Backup. (27) Ortega (F.Det)

[Jimbokav1971]

19 minutes ago, RoguPL said:

Such a shame that Envigado didn't work out. You really started to dominate in past couple of seasons. 
However I think that Deportes Tolima have got much more potential than Envigado and board/fan culture is much more suitable to your play style. I hope that you are going to topple them in the end  

Good Luck! 

I'm trying not to dwell too much on my departure so I don't get the hump. 

[kandersson]

Has to be a bug, I remember something similar happened years ago in other less conventional  league structures like MLS where the game didn't recognize conference winners in regular season which resulted in random sacks despite winning the title. Giga Chad move to remain in Colombia and take down Envigado though 

[BML]

4 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

What's the point in playing in South America and playing a European style league though?

So you don't have to resign due to the game's reading of weird league tables?

Personally, I'd have gone to Chile despite the 'normal' league schedule. The board and fan culture were perfect, and you'd have made light work of the league rules regarding youth players. It would also have been interesting to see if the Chilean players you produced were a different type of player to your Columbians.

[Jimbokav1971]

37 minutes ago, kandersson said:

Has to be a bug, I remember something similar happened years ago in other less conventional  league structures like MLS where the game didn't recognize conference winners in regular season which resulted in random sacks despite winning the title. Giga Chad move to remain in Colombia and take down Envigado though 

At this stage I don't know if I'm just "keeping my eye in" with Deportes Tolima until something better comes along or I have serious designs on screwing with Envigado. I think time will tell and it's probably dependent on how successful I am at reducing/clearing the debt and of course what sort of quality intakes come through. [Fingers crossed]

[Rikulec]

What the **** were the Envigado board thinking? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Sep 2035. 

I personally think that Rep. plays a bigger part in intakes than many suspect, so I'm hoping that my intakes here might be better than they were at Envigado at the start of the save, (despite our facilities not being as good). 

6353 Envigado
6180 Atlético Nacional
6161 Millonarios 
6014 América de Cali
6011 Independiente Medellín
5899 Once Caldas
5883 Deportes Tolima

It appears that I moved Envigado away from the chasing pack a little before I left, but everyone else is quite close together. 

Considering we're the 7th biggest club in Colombia, (by Rep), it will be interesting to see what our performances in South American competition have been like so far during the save, (because we need to get back there quickly). 

2026 Copa Sudamericana.

2028 Copa Sudamericana.

2030 Copa Sudamericana.

2031 Copa Sudamericana.

2032 Copa Sudamericana.

While their performances haven't been amazing, they haven't been awful either and the squad I inherited is definitely good enough to be playing in and competing well this this competition. The problem is that the previous manager(s) appear to have been chasing their success and keeping players for the final year of their contract rather than just selling them on, and this has snowballed and significantly impacted their finances. £4M is a hefty hole to get out of from where we are now with the squad that are contracted to play beyond the end of this season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, BML said:

So you don't have to resign due to the game's reading of weird league tables?

Personally, I'd have gone to Chile despite the 'normal' league schedule. The board and fan culture were perfect, and you'd have made light work of the league rules regarding youth players. It would also have been interesting to see if the Chilean players you produced were a different type of player to your Columbians.

I was really torn actually, but I had a moment of anger when I saw there were decent facilities here and I thought "screw em" I'm going to go back and pillage their Academy, (hence the relaxation of the Youth Only rules to also include Youth players produced by my previous club(s), (who I built up). 

The idea of having their own players perform against them is something I would love to see, (and celebrate on the pitch with enthusiasm matched by Brian Kidd, Jurgen Klopp and the dancing of Alan Curbishley). 

I'm sure I will move elsewhere before too long. 

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

What the **** were the Envigado board thinking? 

 Yeah. A bit of an odd one. I think there were a few things at play here that conspired against us. An ambitious new board taking over just after a new period of dominance by us, the game not properly recognising the structure here and the fans reacting completely disproportionately to failed vision objectives. It's all linked I think. 

I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the objectives here though. 

We're not being judged on anything this season, but I'm keen to get us under the wage budget as soon as possible, (ie. in January 2036), and with so many big hitters leaving on a free I really don't think it's going to be an issue. 

Once Caldas are actually decent, (so that might be a problem), and Atlético Huila are currently near the top of the Colombian 2nd tier so they might be back playing against us soon, (assuming we can avoid relegation). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Contracts expiring. Sep 2035. 

When you consider that our whole wage budget is only £57,020 pw, the fact that we have this many players who's contracts are expiring at the end of the season, (3 months away), and that they amount for approx £26k of that £57,020 budget is really significant. 

On the one hand we're losing some really good players. 
On the other hand we're freeing up about 45% of our wage budget and this should allow me to transform the club quicker that otherwise might have been the case. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Possible signings. Sep 2035. 

I'm already looking ahead to possible signings, and with that in mind I've done a search for players who HG trained at club here. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many visible in the database and the reason for this is because we only have scouting range in this league, where as at Envigado in the end I was scouting Worldwide to keep track on our players. 

There are a few that we might look at in the close season. 

When I filter for interested though, it doesn't look quite as good. 

Although I can't scout them, I do at least have a list of the players who have come through the Academy here so what I've done is moved all the old Envigado players from my default shortlist to an Envigado Shortlist, and then added everyone manually who has come through the Deportes Tolima Academy during the save to a new default shortlist. I only get to see the players they offered contracts to rather than the whole 16, (or however many it was), but it should be better than nothing and it gives me this. 

If I look at the Envigado shortlist and filter for interested.....  then there are 105 more players to choose from so at the very least I'm confident that I will be able to form some sort of squad in January. Not sure if itb will be any good, but should be able to steer clear of relegation at the very least. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. Oct 2035.

When I left Envigado there were absolutely loads of clauses outstanding. I mean LOADS! But we're not at Envigado now and this is what we've got. 

Clauses in. (That will be paid to us). 

Balanta is valued at £5k-£55k so this won't generate much. 

(32) Moreno is valued at £16k-£160k so this won't generate much. 

(32) Zapata (F.Det) is valued at £30k-£300k so this won't generate much. 

Jhon Acevedo is valued at £70k-£700k so this won't generate much. 

(24) Adamczyk (Pro) is valued at £7M-£8.2M so this could be a nice earner for us. 

(33) Chalares (F.Det) is valued at £100k-£1M so this won't generate much.

Maximo González.

Juan Herrera seems like he was poached from us to Deportivo Independiente Medellín. He's valued at £14k-£130k so this won't generate much. 

Juan Camilo Hurtado is valued at £210k-£2.1M so this won't generate much. 

Yilmar Sánchez is valued at £16k-£150k so this won't generate much. 

Hárrinson Talero is values at £12k-£110k so this won't generate much. 

Eric Valencia.

Luis Vega is valued at £28k-£275k so this won't generate much. 

Clauses out. (That will be paid by us). This certainly wasn't what I was expecting. We owe loads of clauses to other clubs. 

The top 17 out-going clauses are all 5% sell-on fees owed to other clubs for players that came through our Academy. I think this means that these players have been poached from other clubs by us, (but I also don't think that the poaching system is working properly so this might be another bug).  They all look like this. 

This is far too high a number for them all to be poached. I'm hoping that it resolves itself now that they are no longer managed by the AI.

This is the most ridiculous transfer policy I have ever seen. I have honestly never seen anything like it. I'm guessing that whoever was making the signings was adding the 40% clauses to bring the up-front prices down, but it's the exact opposite of what I do and it's really just madness. 

Gallardo (ARG) (Perfect) is a player I like the look of, and I think £160k is a decent price to buy him for, but we still won't be doing it because we don't have the money. 

Kevin Collazos. (ARG) won't be signed despite being the best GK we have. We will be giving our youngsters an opportunity to develop. Signing him will just clog up the pathway to the 1st Team. 

What an absolute shambles of a transfer policy this is. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2035. 

Form before my arrival. I think it's fair to say that our form before my arrival wasn't good, and that's why there was a vacancy after all. 

Liga Finalización. We lost our 2 opening games, but they were both away and we lost both by a single goal. Reasons to be optimistic? Hopefully. 

Goal-scoring GK's. No goals yet, but then again how could there be when I haven't even set a GK as a penalty taker yet? (I have done now). 

Finances. This is going to be a big problem and at the moment it feels absolutely enormous because I don't even feel like I have any control over it. 

OMG. I have only just seen this.  We also owe £2.6M on a bank loan. 

What an absolute nightmare. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Escape plan? Oct 2035.

I have come up with a cunning plan to get me out of this financial hell-hole. 

 5 games I lasted. 5 games. 

[Jimbokav1971]

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2035. 

Not sure I particularly fancy any of these jobs. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Jimbokav1971