(FM24) Real Valladolid: O Fenômeno

[The Don Carlo]

 

I think back now to how very little exposure I had to the world game of football when I was a kid, if I were lucky I would get some highlights on the late-night news about Manchester United or Juventus, but I can tell you that everyone knew the name of Brazil's striker Ronaldo. As a fully-fledged football fan now, I have more curiosity as to what made him such a great player - such a phenomenon?... What were the pieces Ronaldo had around him tactically? what were his player traits? how did he become this myth-like figure in the football world? that led me to the current-day version of Brazilian Ronaldo who is the owner of Real Valladolid.

  

When Ronaldo arrived he was asked about his involvement in the club, he replied “Do you think I’m going to buy a football club and go on holiday the next day” - Just like his playing career he wants to make the best of it!. After purchasing 51% of the club in 2018 Ronaldo also purchased a further amount in the club in 2020 meaning he now owns 82% of the club's shares. Having a high-profile owner has its perks, Internationally the club’s brand has grown substantially over the last few years. Organizations such as Sky Sports, the New York Times and L'Équipe have covered the club more often and the presence of the La Liga legend has helped secure players and sponsors.

LA PUCELA

Real Valladolid is located about 190 kilometres northwest of Madrid with a population of just over 300,000 people. Being in relatively short distance from two giant clubs like Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid the closeness is seen as an opportunity to try and secure some loan deals for emerging young talent.

Derived from the word 'pucelanos' one of the great mysteries of Real Valladolid is why they are called "La Pucela", theories suggest the origin began in the 1940s and gained more popularity in the 1970s. Over the years, some of these assumptions have become more believable than others, here are the most compelling stories surrounding the nickname "La Pucela".

• In the fifteenth century, some Knights from Valladolid took the way to France in order to defend the Maid of Orleans at the famous Hundred Years War against Britain (1337-1453). As in the old Castilian language of the time the word "maid" used to be called "pucela" These knights were nicknamed "pucelas" upon their return to the city. 
• Another surmise of the nickname comes from the very location of Valladolid. Located between the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers and the Canal de Castilla, it was considered by many as a pond in a dry place. Therefore, from the diminutive "Pozuela" (Pond) derive the word "Pucela". 
• Finally, as one of the most compelling stories, the term "Pucela" is named after the cement trade that the Castilian city developed with the Roman town of Pozzuoli. At the time, Valladolid was the only city distributing materials from Pozzuoli and thanks to that industry promoted by their inhabitants, the Castilian town inherited that pseudonym which still is used to refer to the players Real Valladolid CF.

Whatever the origin of the word Pucela, it is common to find that Valladolid and Pucela are used as synonyms, Valladolid being considered the formal term and Pucela being the informal or colloquial one. So, if one day someone from Madrid, for example, asks someone from Valladolid, “Hey, where are you from?" It is not unusual for the answer to be: "Me? from Pucela ”.

The LaLiga is no easy league to conquer and operating with one of the smallest budgets Real Valladolid has been continually punching above their weight, and in the coming years is planning to make a push for European football, which would be a massive achievement for Valladolid and Ronaldo, considering staying in the league for three consecutive seasons has only happened once for Real Valladolid in the last 20 years. Between the years 1948 and 1964 can be referred to as La época dorada which translates to "The Golden Years"  for the club where they predominately played in La Liga.

OBJECTIVES

1. Sign 2 Brazilians per season and integrate them into the Under 19's (or first team)
2. Develop the Fenômeno youth academy (Youth facilities)
3. Upgrade the Estadio Nuevo José Zorrilla
4. Win the Copa Del Rey
5. Qualify Real Valladolid for European football for the first time in their history
6. Establish Real Valladolid as a top 4 club in La Liga
7. Sign or develop a top young striker to score 35 goals in a season and win the Pichichi

 

Thank you for reading, the likes, discussion and interaction on this thread are appreciated! 👍

 

Edited August 1 by The Don Carlo

[The Don Carlo]

Pre-season is underway and the board have clarified their expectations for the upcoming season which is to reach the playoffs, I feel as tho this squad is more than capable of accomplishing that as there is some talent within the squad that competed valiantly in the LaLiga in the 22/23 season. I am using the "real-life" transfers database so players are coming in and out and it's been a challenge to settle on a formation and gain any sort of tactical familiarity with lots of new faces in the squad and existing players potentially moving on.

Recruitment

Sign 2 Brazilians per season for the youth team

Despite being in the second tier of Spanish football I've spared no expenses when it comes to scouting, partly because I think for a realism factor having an owner as ambitious and iconic as Ronaldo would certainly have some draw to foreign players as Real Valladolid has been able to gain promotion to LaLiga in recent years and partly because I don't want to limit myself to regional scouting for this save. One of the objectives I have set is to sign 2 young players from Brazil per season who will either be first-team ready or added to our academy to develop for the future.

   

I've tasked the scouting team with a few ongoing missions to scout Spanish youth, Spanish players at the end of contracts, Brazilians, Portuguese, African and Scandinavian youths between the ages mostly 15 - 19 years old with the 0 ⭐ for current ability and 3⭐⭐⭐ minimum for potential ability, it may take some time for my scouts to gain the required knowledge to speed up progress on reports but patience is key.

Development

Develop the Fenomeno Academy

Real Valladolid has a decent academy set-up and has had some recent players go on to bigger things

 

TO BE COMPLETED...

Edited August 1 by The Don Carlo

[_Ben_]

Ronaldo is a big part of my obsession with all things Calcio so anything that involves him has me interested! Given our discussion in my thread, I'm really interested to see your youth development plans. Good luck with this!

[GrayMatter]

Having ran a Real Valldolid save earlier in the year, make sure you keep a close eye on Arnu (striker). I'm pretty sure he won the NXGN award while with me! The whole premise of the save was for him to be my focal point though.

[Jogo Bonito]

As most of us will do, I have great memories of Ronaldo in his prime. Exciting to be involved at a club where he holds power, best of luck with this.

On a side note, I was hearing he may have agreed a deal to leave but that was a few months ago and not sure if it completed or he remains there?

[The Don Carlo]

On 28/07/2024 at 20:18, _Ben_ said:

Ronaldo is a big part of my obsession with all things Calcio so anything that involves him has me interested! Given our discussion in my thread, I'm really interested to see your youth development plans. Good luck with this! 

Thanks @_Ben_ Ronaldo is very much the first recollection of an elite footballer from my childhood, I will be writing a bit more on development as the season unfolds.

 

On 29/07/2024 at 23:40, GrayMatter said:

Having ran a Real Valldolid save earlier in the year, make sure you keep a close eye on Arnu (striker). I'm pretty sure he won the NXGN award while with me! The whole premise of the save was for him to be my focal point though.

@GrayMatter  how did your save go with Real Valladolid? oh wow - nice job! hopefully, he will have a good career under my management also! Here is a spoiler for the next post

On 30/07/2024 at 02:34, Jogo Bonito said:

As most of us will do, I have great memories of Ronaldo in his prime. Exciting to be involved at a club where he holds power, best of luck with this.

On a side note, I was hearing he may have agreed a deal to leave but that was a few months ago and not sure if it completed or he remains there?

@Jogo Bonito you heard correctly, I also read that he was interested in selling the club but I have also read that he now is happy to stay put as owner as they are they're back in La Liga! 

 

Friendly Matches

Overall it was good to take a look at the squad in action and get some minutes in the legs of the players after coming off a relegation season, with 8 games played during the pre-season against mostly competitive opposition I was content that we only dropped 2 matches considering transfers are still incoming and outgoing.

I ran a pretty tough schedule during pre-season focusing on Endurance and fitness sessions while keeping some tactical sessions in there for balance, below is how I generally schedule my pre-season training schedules, feel free to leave some thoughts and ideas.

 

Thanks to all who have read so far! The next post will cover the start of the season.

Edited August 1 by The Don Carlo

[The Don Carlo]

With pre-season now in the rearview mirror, the start of the season is upon us! still, with players to come in and out of the squad thanks to the real-life database, I started the season with a 4-2-3-1 and I will endeavour to write more about my tactics once the squad has settled. I should also mention the layout was ripped off another thread - simply because it looked great and I didn't have any better ideas on how to present things!

 LALIGA HYPERMOTION | Espanyol | Goalscorers: none

 

Edited August 1 by The Don Carlo

[GrayMatter]

@The Don Carlo I'd ran away with the league first season and then finished 3rd somehow in my first season in La Liga. I just focused on shrewd, cheap signings and they paid dividend! Here is Arnu in the 3rd season by the way.