Dong21

Hopefully we don’t face a major points deduction in the future for hiding when the funds are coming from an illegitimate source, like what happened to Vitesse Thanks! We had to do some wheeling and dealing at first but now I have established the club as a side who challenges for European football I have been able to implement a clear transfer strategy.

January 2026 - Transfer Dealings Same as in the prior season, we have had an active winter transfer window. First, I'll cover who is staying put. During the window we received and rejected bids from Celtic, RB Salzburg, Al Shabab and Lyon for first choice 'keeper Valdimarsson. After losing Turati in September I was determined to retain my other top class goalkeeper. Having recently signed a five year deal and no release clause, I was in a position of relative stability, however the Icelandic star became unhappy for being denied a shot at Champions League football. I told him to stay here and help achieve that goal here, which he seemed happy and motivated by. Next up to attract attention was my 19 year old midfielder Freitas. Vitoria asked to take him on trial which I obviously rejected and Sporting and Braga made bids of similar value to that of which I paid for him a year previous. Freitas is a player I would like to try and develop, so all efforts to pries him away were blocked. Finally, PSV made a paltry bid of £18m for right back Costinha on deadline day which I obviously rejected. I was turning down £40m in the summer. This made Costinha unhappy again, however I had the same chat I had with Valdimarsson and again it worked. This is a short term solution as Champions League qualification is unlikely and so the unhappiness is just postponed until the summer. New Arrivals I made two marquee signings in January and both are the exact calibre of player I desire; talented players, better than what I already have, undervalued and at an age at which they should hopefully continue to improve. I broke the record for most expensive club signing for the third time this season when I acquired Arnau Comas from Basel for £17m. That may sound expensive, but as you can see above he is already valued at over £30m shortly after joining. Comas is a defender with great technical pedigree having come through the famed La Masia academy in Barcelona and he went on to have three high-performing seasons at Basel in Switzerland. Upon arrival, my coaching staff declared him the most talented centre back at the club. Not long after arriving we received the news that Comas had been selected as the Swiss league's Defender of the Year. If Comas was undervalued, Rodrigo Muniz was definitively a bargain. One of my favourite pastimes is identifying and triggering delicious South American release clauses. When I saw that Rodrigo's clause was only £5.75m I had to move swiftly. Following a spell at Fulham, the advanced forward had returned to Brazil and was about to start his third season at Athletico Paranaense before I swooped in and brought him back to Europe. He is yet to have been prolific at his previous clubs - 11 league goals last season is his current best - but I feel my system can get the best out of him. There was one more permanent signing this window, but this one was out of necessity rather than opportunity. Unhappy at his lack of game time, Brighton decided to terminate the loan of backup goalkeeper Verbruggen as soon as the transfer window opened. This left me with only one first team quality goalkeeper for the second half of the season. I took another look at the loan market but could not find anyone suitable, therefore I decided to scour the free agent list. Ivan Arboleda had recently become a free agent after a successful season with Independiente Santa Fe in his native Columbia. He is certainly not a long-term solution, but he is good enough to act as cover until a full time replacement arrives in the summer. Speaking of which... Pre-Contract Transfers When we have been a club with less resources, we have had to bide our time, wait for players to be released and finally when their wage expectations have dropped then tried to make an approach. Through our methodical approach of buying and selling, coupled with success on the pitch, we are now capable of proactively targeting players whose contracts expire in six months time. Another Arnau from the Barcelona system - I'm developing a 'type'! Our scouts rate Arnau Tenas as a Portuguese Liga quality player who has the potential to even out develop Valdimarsson. Crucially, the Spanish youth international was happy accepting the contractual status of 'cup goalkeeper' when signing, so there will be no hurt feelings when he is asked to be second choice. Again, he meets the exact profile of players we are looking to acquire. The final deal appears to be the finest signing I have made to date. I was frankly shocked when Atalanta star Ederson was interested in joining Estrela. He is an excellent midfielder who features regularly for the Serie A side. I think the reason he wishes to depart is that they failed to qualify for Europe last season and are on course to do so again. Our staff rate him a 4.5 star player, our best quality by a mile. I am excited to see how he contributes from the summer of 2026 onwards. Departures There were three major departures to report on this window. Centre back Kovacevic has been unsettled for some time, by virtue of never being able to secure a starting berth in the team. He was a young player I wished to develop however having seen the opportunity to bring in Comas I decided to balance the books and cash in on my Serbian stopper. The best bid we received was £9.5m from Brest, so that is where he departed to. The second sale was one I was delighted to do. Ever since his three goal costing errors earlier in the season I had decided that McKennie would be shown the door. On paper he is in his prime and interest was high from Saudi and the Premier League. After accepting multiple £28m bids, the American midfielder elected Everton as the next step in his career. A great sum for a player I wanted rid of. We are potentially slightly light in centre midfield for the rest of the season, but I want to give opportunities to the likes of Garner and Freitas so I was able to reconcile this. Plus I know that Ederson is arriving soon. The final sale was different. This was a player I was extremely fond of. In three years at the club striker Karamoko scored 70 goals. For a club of our stature that is a player with a very impressive goal return. That said, I can't afford to be sentimental. With the arrival of Rodrigo, Karamoko was now our fifth best striker and I needed to balance the books. Technically he is the fourth best permanent striker as Silva is only on loan, but I have three young strikers coming through the ranks so I cannot stockpile forwards. Serbian side Crvena zvezda bid £13.75m and my Ivorian favourite departed. A number of my highest rated young prospects were sent out on loan now that the cup competitions are winding down and there will be less opportunities for them to play. Striker Tavares went on loan to Bochum, home-grown centre back Cerqueira was awarded a two year contract extension and then went on loan to Rio Ave to get Portuguese Liga experience (they are currently having a great season and are in the top half) and younf midfielder Vezo was sent to third division Alverca for minutes. High potential forward Sremcevic was only granted six first team appearances during his first half a season on loan at Malaga. I therefore decided to recall him and send him back to Gil Vicente where he spent some of the last campaign. Staff Arrival I tend to conduct my staffing recruitment in the summer after taking a moment to review the composition of my staff. An exception was made on this occasion, as making an approach seemed absolutely vital. Having noticed that Sporting Lisbon had released the exceptionally talented goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital I simply had to make a move for the Portuguese native. Jonathan Gould had done a fine job as 'keeper coach across the last three seasons but he had to make way for my new man and mutual termination was agreed. Finances The final thing to note is that after the purchases of Comas and Rodrigo, and despite balancing the books through player sales, the board informed me that they were going to take away what was left of my transfer and wage budgets to protect the clubs finances. I was thinking that perhaps this is linked to the cost of purchasing the stadium, which I asked Evra to do this season. However, not long after pondering the club's finances, there was an announcement that our friends at the mysterious telecommunications company had once again injected funds into the club by way of sponsorship. This time to the tune of a whopping £26m!

I looked it up earlier and it's only a few weeks away from being a year since I started this save Life just consistently gets in the way (in a good way) and I don't get much time to play - but when I do, I thoroughly enjoy it! The slow march to the finish line continues

November 2025 November arrived and with it came our first significant test in the league, a visit to the Estadio do Dragao. Porto, now managed by Arne Slot, completely bombarded us. Our defence stood strong however and I was delighted to come away from Porto’s place with a point and a clean sheet. Next up was a significant victory against Vitoria, a team I see as a direct rival for European football. We started off with a cautious approach, but went a goal down. Somewhat fortuitously their goalkeeper went off injured on the 40 minute mark, therefore I decided to go more attacking. This mentality shift, along with my instructions to shoot on sight, paid off as we scored twice to come back and win the game. The scoreline could have been broader had forward Brenner's shot not hit both posts but not the net. This result saw us rise to 2nd in the league, at this early stage. The cup game against Mafra was a good opportunity to play some reserves. The theme of the game was centre backs scoring, as Kovacevic scored and Relvas got a brace. We finally lost our first game of the season and it was in an unjust manner. We played well, evidenced by the fact we had 61% possession, but elite forward Gyokeres scored with a wonder-strike from distance. Other notable events this month were that I declined a job interview at Villareal and that I noticed former player Bradley Dack had surprisingly retired earlier aged just 31. Good job I sold him only months earlier! December 2025 It was three wins out of three in a delightfully brief December. Against Arouca we were disappointed to concede a penalty, but pleased with win overall. Yet again our defenders got on the scoresheet, continuing our improvement from set pieces this campaign. Against Gil Vicente in the Taca de Portugal we made 10 changes with only one of these forced, as striker Silva pulled his hamstring in training and was ruled out for a month. Young centre back Cerqueira scored his first goal for the club - a header from a free kick. Gil Vicente couldn't muster a shot, so it was a good performance all round. Finally, we ended the year by thrashing Rio Ave. I would have been pleased to end the game 4-1, but a stoppage time goal from striker Baloyi was icing on the cake. Baloyi became the club's youngest goalscorer at age 16 years and 215 days. To add to the joy, it was another youth prospect Vezo who got the assist. We saw after the game that Benfica beat Sporting meaning that we moved up to third in the table. Having no European football to distract us seems to be working for us!

September 2025 We began September scoring 10 goals across two games. The goals were split across seven different players, demonstrating the goalscoring prowess we possess within the squad. The most exciting thing for me was the performances of 17 year old midfielder Vezo who I used from the bench in both games. Not only did he play well, he directly contributed, getting three assists across the two matches. White and Costinha missed out on these matches due to injuries. White was ruled out for six weeks with a hernia and Costinha pulled an ab muscle, missing two weeks of action. The goal scored by Barco against Chaves won the league's Goal of the Month award. We played another youthful side in the Cup, giving starts to Cerqueira, Vezo and Tavares. This proved to be a success and striker Tavares got his first goal for the club. Following the departure of Turati, Valdimarsson is our undisputed number one 'keeper. I therefore decided to reward him with a new five year contract. How did he thank me? By causing a comical own goal that cost us three points against Santa Clara. My Icelandic stopper rushed out and booted the ball against one of his defenders, pinballing into the path of the opposition striker who was presented with a tap in. I was disappointed that we were unable to come back and win later in the game. October 2025 More frustration followed against Maritimo. Much the better side, but unable to deliver the win. We had the added disappointment of a penalty shout denied by VAR. Afterwards we learned that White had once again picked up an injury, this time it was knee tendinitis ruling him out for five weeks. We got things back on track with a convincing win against Boavista in the Taca de Portugal. McKennie got on the scoresheet but also got himself on the transfer list. For the third time this season he passed to an opposition player which then led to a goal. I have had enough. I have decent cover in defensive and centre midfield, so I can afford to lose him. He has plenty of time on his contract, so I hope to get a decent fee for him in January. Our 2-0 win against S. Joao Ver should have been by a much wider margin. We had 25 shots and an xG of 4.55! The highlight of this match was the return to the starting eleven for youngster Freitas after three months out injured - he won the penalty that Brenner converted. After being equally unhappy at not being sold and us not reaching the ECL group stage, I was surprised when right back Costinha approached me to ask for a new contract. I pounced at the opportunity and agreed a new four year deal with him.

That's the plan! Upwards and onwards we go. I've already made a fair bit of progress since the last update. The joys of a lean fixture list

August 2025 European Exit On paper a month with eight fixtures and only one loss should feel like a good one, but that is not the case. The one loss, against Athletic Bilbao in the second leg of our Europa Conference League fourth qualifying round tie, saw us crash out of European football before we had even really begun. Athletic were probably the toughest team we could have faced in the competition. The front three of the Williams brothers and Munian were a daunting strikeforce to face. We also weren't going into the game with full confidence as we struggled in the first leg against Maccabi Netanya when they scored a long range equaliser. That said, we did beat them resoundingly in the away leg. Both the board and the players were angry at me for our European exit (the latter being a little ironic). This result has changed the dimensions of our season and left me thinking that we may have unhappy squad players with the big reduction in the number of fixtures in which they could feature. This also hinders player development, as I'd likely have given younger players more opportunities with more games to play. The boards expectation at the start of the season was that we reach the quarter finals of the Conference League, so that objective was comprehensively failed. In the league they demand that we once again qualify for the same competition, so hopefully that can at least be achieved. One positive of no European football is that our sole focus will be on league success, with our strongest team likely now featuring on more occasions. For the two Portuguese cup competitions the board simply ask that we reach the latter stages. Domestic Dominance Refocusing on the positives, league form has at least been promising. Portimonense have been somewhat of a bogey team for us in prior seasons, so I was delighted when we beat them with ease. Vinagre played great and delivered two assists, centre back Awe got on the scoresheet twice and Silva scored on his league debut. A left back was once again man of the match against Pacos de Ferreira, but this time it was our Argentinian star Barco. Centre back Relvas scored on his debut - we are definitely seeing an improvement in our proficiency from attacking set pieces. The only negative was midfielder McKennie passing to a Pacos player in our box, which they swiftly scored. This was something he repeated again to give Athletic a crucial goal. It is safe to say he is not in my good books currently. Karamoko continues to be an influential player for us and his second goal of the month was the match winner against Estoril. One negative this month was 19 year old Tiago Freitas, who I intend to give first team minutes to this season, pulled his hamstring and was ruled out for three months. The news that I was named Portuguese Liga Manager of the Month did not negate the ill feeling from our European exit, but all I can do is think positively and push forward in pursuit of our other goals for this season.

Youth Development at Estrela In the prior three seasons there has not been enough to talk about to have a post solely dedicated to the status of youth football at the club. When I first became manager at Estrela there were few young players at the club and not one of them had potential to make the first team. After all, this was a very small club promoted to the Portuguese Liga against expectations. Now, after improving youth facilities and coaching, I am in a position where my youth set-up merits discussion. This is by no means an academy to rival the likes of Benfica and Sporting, however I am proud of the progress that has been made. It should also be noted that the talent in the youth squad is not all home-grown. It is far too soon for youth recruitment to be producing enough talent to fill the squad, so additions have been made in the transfer market to ensure we have a full squad. In prior seasons I have loaned a lot of young talent out, but had mixed results with some not developing at their chosen clubs. Besides a small group of exceptions, I have decided this season to keep most young players at the club and to see how their development fares competing in the U23 Portuguese Liga South. This is a division that includes tough competition, in the form of the youth teams of Porto, Benfica, Sporting and Portimonense. We do not have enough youth talent to field a strong U19s and U23s youth squad, so I have moved the most talented prospects to the U23s team (including three 16 year olds) where their development will be prioritised and they will be tested against more experienced opposition. Frustratingly we didn't get the option to enter the U19s team into a league and the U19s Manager is not proactively arranging friendlies for the group (despite this option being selected). U23s Squad - 2025/26 The stand out talents are centre midfielder Tiago Freitas and striker Shaun Baloyi. They demonstrate our mixed approach to youth football as Freitas was signed from Benfica for £500k, whereas Baloyi has came through our new and improved youth recruitment network. Slightly unfortunately I have a couple of high potential wingers, however my teams at all levels play with wing backs not wingers. I am therefore looking to retrain Daniel Rodrigues and Pedrinha as wing backs and Mahomed Vezo (recently rewarded with a new three year contract) has been featuring in centre midfield. We also have a great goalkeeping prospect, 16 year old Bernardo Pinheiro. We have loaned out a small group of players whose development is important to me. In each instance I think I have found clubs that will be competing at the top end of the table and where they will get valuable game times. Young home-grown centre backs Dadier Espirito and Pedro Carlos will both play in the Portuguese second division this season, as will striker Joao Infante. I have two really exiting prospect strikers also out on loan. Uros Sremcevic is on loan at Malaga in the Spanish second division and Micael Silverio is out at Preston in the English Championship. Sremcevic arrived at the club last season for £475k and Silverio joined this summer for £325k. Silverio has hit the ground running at Preston and as you can see above he is now valued as a £30m player! Youth Coaching As noted in a previous update, I have also enhanced the pool of staff supporting youth development at the club. Firstly, there were two arrivals at U23 level. Manchester City poached my U23s Assistant Manager, Richard Thomas, so I needed to find a replacement. Luckily, I identified an upgrade. Bryan Klug has been instrumental in the Ipswich Town youth academy over a cumulative period of 35 years. I am excited to see how he can help my talented squad delveop. Manolo Lopez Segovia has spent his whole career as an assistant manager, but he now moves into his true calling as a fitness coach. Another coup, following the arrival of Klug, is our new U19s Assistant Manager Jody Morris. Widely considered the brains behind Frank Lampard's success as a manager, Morris will help us develop the next generation of Estrela talent. I have not been proactively recruiting English staff, there have just happened to often be better English staff options than from elsewhere. Mike Brown at least has had experience in Scandinavia at Bodo/Glimt. Finally, we enhanced our U19s phyisotherapy and fitness capabilities with the addition of two Serbians, Mitar Popovic and Srdan Zirojevic.

Excellent write-up as always @warlock and a strong start to life in League One with your young squad. Keep up the good work!

Fingers crossed! I also have new U23s and U18s staff but saving that for a youth team focused update that is coming soon.

Stadium When I first accepted Patrice Evra's offer to become Estrela da Amadora manager we began our first campaign with just 205 season ticket holders. We begin our fourth campaign together with 3,995. I will admit that our attendance does not match up to that of our rivals competing for European football, but I am delighted at the growth of our fan base in a relatively short period of time. Based on the positive trajectory and a desire to make the club self-sustainable I suggested to Evra that he considered purchasing our stadium, the Estadio Jose Gomes. The thought being that it would be beneficial for the club to keep the ticket revenue it generates. To my delight Evra agreed to complete the deal by June 2026. This is hopefully another sign that Evra is here to stay after he publicly denied rumours of an internal takeover at the start of July. Standings The status of our club continues to grow. We rose 25 places in the European club rankings and are now considered the 42nd biggest club in Europe and the 6th biggest club in Portugal. Quite remarkable, given our humble beginnings. Following prolonged success in Europe by Portuguese sides, our league has also risen the UEFA country coefficients. Portgual is now ranked 5th in Europe which means a sixth European place at the end of the season, having been awarded an additional Champions League spot. Great news for my ambitions of securing European football once again. Staff Staffing is an area that can constantly be improved if you put in a little effort to review the options available. The contracts of eight members of staff expired and I elected to let each of them leave to pursue alternatives. Firstly though, there were two major staffing changes required that were outside of my control. Firstly, my trusty lieutenant Luis Matos elected to retire meaning I needed to find a new Assistant Manager. Secondly, my Head of Youth Development was in high demand. Edorta Murua rejected the Porto B manager job but then opted to take the HOYD role at Aalves. We did, at least, receive £550k in compensation. After weighing up all the options I decided that Ricardo Carvalho was the man I wanted to assist me going forward. Not only a prestigious name with big club experience, Ricardo appears to be a great motivator, judge of player and accomplished defensive coach. Replacing Murta is former Southampton academy maestro Edd Vahid. I did worry that I would not be able to find someone of the quality of Murta once again, but Vahid may well eclipse him. I'm building quite a roster of former international stars within my backroom team and Juan Pablo Angel is the next to fit that bill. The scouting division needed freshening up and I am hoping that Angel can help identify some interesting North and South American talent for us. Despite being just 31 years old Brendan MacFarlane already has an interesting array of experience having worked at clubs in England and France. He complements the diverse group of scouts I am building. One of my scouts, Harvey Bussell. rejected an approach by Brentford for his services. Seemingly not a relative of namesake Sergio, Jhony Conceicao arrives as the club's new Recruitment Analyst, having previously held this role at both Benfica and Wolves. New Perfomance Analyst Giovanni Cerra is a long time associate of Jose Mourinho, which feels like a pretty good seal of approval for the Italian's abilities. Quite amusingly, my Director of Football suggested a pay rise for himself! I politely declined his suggestion Summer The month of July 2025 was extremely smooth sailing on the pitch. Normally my team would be full of trialists I am casting my eye over but as referenced in my previous post there were no players of anywhere near enough ability available. We started with a tour of the U.S. which again is a sign of our growing stature. This was followed by some fixtures against local opposition. Our full backs in particular were in red-hot form in pre-season and centre back Kovacevic was in fine form scoring headers from corners in multiple games. We have not tested ourselves against top class opponents but morale is high and the football has been impressive.

Congratulations on the promotion and title win @warlock! Going to be a big challenge to pull together a suitable squad for life in League One - but we like challenges don't we

Season 4 - Summer Signings & Squad Update Going into the 2025/26 season transfer window, my objective was to make incremental changes rather than radical. I really like my squad, that's why I'm carrying on after all this time. But I also know that standing still amounts to going backwards, so I would look at where improvements could be made. We will be sticking with the 5-1-2-2 formation that has brought much success therefore only players that fit this tactical approach will be added. One thing I really wanted to do is add Portuguese players or players that were developed in this country. One thing I was very disappointed about was that there were no free agents of quality available whatsoever. Portuguese or otherwise. In any position. As a self-proclaimed bargain hunter, that did set me back. That said, we did have a £15m budget and players who could be sold to raise more, so I was resolute and pressed onward. Below I will introduce the players I have added and summarise what the squad now looks like following the close of the summer market. Goalkeepers Departure: With two highly and equally talented 23 year old goalkeepers, this position was one I thought I would not need to take any action on. That was very nearly the case, however with 10 hours remaining of the transfer market, Frankfurt activated a £23m minimum release fee clause in Turati's contract that I had long forgotten existed and the Italian swiftly departed the club. The sale made Turati the club's record sale but that was not cause for celebration. With time of the essence I decided to look to the loan market to bring in someone who could ably deputise for Valdimarsson when needed. I would then tackle the problem properly in a later transfer window. Arrival: The man to arrive was Brigton's Bart Verbruggen. The Premier League side only required us to cover 60% of his wages and there was no loan fee involved. Considering the circumstances, I am very pleased with the quality of the 'keeper I was able to recruit at short-notice. Brighton threw in the contract that we have the option to purchase him for £24m if we wish. It feels unlikely, at this stage, that we will action that. Not wishing for a repeat of the situation with Turati, I agreed a new five year contract with Valdimarsson shortly after the transfer window closed. Right Backs A saga that ran on throughout the summer was other club's ongoing interest in signing Costinha. Predominantly this was Newcastle and Atletico making bids, with the highest being a package that reached £47m. To Costinha's frustration I stood firm and rejected all bids that came our way. The right wing back is crucial to our plans and was our strongest performer last campaign. Even if I manged to get £50m, I'm not sure I'd have found a replacement I was as happy with. Arrival: With no intention of selling Costinha, I did at least want to upgrade his deputy. I am really fond of Felipe Cruz, but I knew I could improve upon him. I signed Brazilian wing back Yan Couto for £6.25m and I think that is a steal. He is a great all-rounder, athletic and attacking. He is also a good age and, importantly, has Portuguese as a second nationality. Costinha attracted interest from Newcastle and Atletico all transfer window but I rejected every bid we received. He handed in a transfer request which I then rejected. Some players were unhappy that I blocked him from departing, seemingly not realising that him staying was in their best interests. Departure: With only a year left on his contract, I knew I would only get a paltry fee for Cruz so instead I decided to give him a new three year contract (on similar terms to that of his current deal) and then send him on loan to Casa Pia. The plan is to assess his ability and then potentially sell him next summer when his value is hopefully higher. Left Backs Departure: As noted in my end-of-season review, with a heavy heart it is time to say goodbye to long-serving left wing back Mansur. I accepted all bids received to give him the choice of his next destination and he elected to join Real Zaragoza for his next chapter. Given his age, an £800k fee was reasonable. Having signed two left wing backs in January, there was no need to go looking for a replacement after Mansur departed. Barco and Vinagre will fight it out to be first choice. Both seem evenly matched but Barco has age and potential in his favour. Centre Backs This was a position where I thought I could probably add quality and I believe that is what has taken place. Arrivals: First to arrive was the Bulgarian, Valentin Antov. Following Arminia Bielefeld's relegation from the Bundesliga the centre back had an active relegation release clause of £7.25m. Signing a defender from a relegated team that likely shipped a lot of goals may seem like an unwise move, but I am judging him on his merits and he looks a quality player to me. Our scouts rated him better than any other centre back already at the club. Later on in the transfer window, with cash in the bank following player sales (more on that to come) I spotted an opportunity to add a quality Portuguese player to the mix. Filipe Relvas had left Portimonense three seasons prior for the bright lights of the Premier League. Spurs sent him on loan to Ligue 1 side Reims last season where he performed well and made 30 appearances. Now surplus to requirements, I swooped in and picked him up for a club record fee of £15.5m, rising to £17.5m. Buying a Portuguese player from the Premier League was always going to be expensive and I am comfortable with the value of the deal. Departures: I proactively made the decision to offer out club captain Nunes as he had a high value after a good season but, at 29 years old, I could see him declining in the not-too-distant future. With plenty of interest, he elected to join Blackburn for a £15.5m fee that should rise to £18.75m. I also tried to sell American defender Otasowie but did not receive a respectable bid. Instead, I opted to loan him to Angers for the season so his wages are at least taken care of. Otosowie and his compatriot McKennie were fresh back from winning the Gold Cup with USA. Following Nunes' exit I decided to promote McKenna to club captain. New arrival Antov was selected as the new vice-captain as although he is new he demonstrates strong leadership behaviours. McKenna requested a pay rise and so I agreed a new four year deal with him that remained inexpensive. Kovacevic handed in a transfer request at the start of the window but no club came near my £20m valuation. As the new season approached he let me know he had changed his mind and was happy to stay. We got many offers to take young Cerqueira on loan but all were rejected as I want to keep him part of the group. In the Taca de Liga you have to start two home-grown players in each fixture and he is therefore crucially needed for that competition. Centre Midfielders Departures: The most significant turnover of players came in the centre of the pitch. I sold Dack to Ajaccio for £3.3m and fellow Englishman Oakley-Boothe to West Brom for £2.6m. More significantly, midfield maestro Praet got the 'Nunes treatment' as I offered him out for sale based on his age and potential to decline in ability. Blackburn bought the Belgian for £12m. Blackburn made many bids for my players throughout the summer, including unsuccessful approaches for Awe, McKenna, White and Kadeware. Looking into it, I can see they have new Japanese owners who seem to have deep pockets. Released defensive midfielders Gailbraith and Tavares joined Mlada Bolesav and Famalicao respectively. George Hall had an unsuccessful loan spell at Sunderland last season. I am hoping I have picked a better club for him this time around. Hall will spend the season playing for Bristol City. We received and rejected several bids from Atletico Madrid for midfielder White, however I rejected these as I see him as a key player for us. White was predictably unhappy but asked for a new contract as recompense. He only wanted an extra £8k more per week, so I swiftly agreed a new five year contract for the Englishman. Arrivals: Returning to my theme of signing quality Portuguese additions, where possible, I added defensive midfielder Manu Silva to the squad. Danilovic had a lengthy spell out injured last season and doesn't quite look on the same trajectory he once was, so healthy competition seems appropriate. Like the Couto deal, this was also a signing from Manchester City. Manu (as he likes to be known) cost £4.5m, which may rise to £5.25m with add ons. As a Manchester United fan, I have followed the career of James Garner closely and I am an admirer of his abilities. I have managed him several times over the years across various English lower league saves. When I saw that Everton had transfer listed him for just £1.5m he instantly became my first choice replacement for Praet. He is now our third highest paid player but, given the size of club we have become and aspire to be, I think the spend is justified. I believe we now have a well-rounded and high quality pool of defensive and central midfield options. Six players competing for three positions. Strikers Those familiar with my posts will know I am fond of my strikers Karamoko and Brumado. I therefore was not desperate to replace them but also knew that there was a good chance that there would be opportunity to upgrade in their position during this transfer window. Arrivals: Opportunity was taken, twice. First up, I noticed that Wolves has listed for loan their forward Fabio Silva, This deal chimed well with my transfer policy of targeting Portuguese talent and I was intrigued whether I could be the one to get a tune out of a player who has not quite fulfilled his much lauded potential as of yet. With only a nominal loan fee of £1.2m and a weekly wage that fell within our budget, it seemed like a great value deal to do. Wolves included a clause saying that we could make the deal permanent any time for £135m. It amuses me that they think we have that kind of funds. There is a well trodden path of South American, particularly Brazilian, forwards entering the European leagues via the Portuguese Liga. Indeed Brumado joined us via that path relatively recently. Bargains can often be found in the Brazilian league in the form of minimum release fees that are only active for foreign clubs. Palmeiras forward Brenner had one such clause, which I swiftly activated upon identifying it. The fee was £14.25m and as you can see from the above his value is over double that. Departures: After signing him on a free and him only being a bit-part player last season, I was delighted to be able to raise £20m through the sale of Kadeware to Sassulo. Conscious that we now have far too many strikers, I sold Salcedo to Karlsruhe for £2.9m and loaned Japanese striker Tagawa to Genk. The sale of Salcedo was notable as this was the first time I have engaged an intermediary to move on a hard-to-shift player. I offered out striker Tavares so he could get valuable game time, however he rejected every club for whom I had accepted bids. He said he wants to stay and play but I fear with four top class strikers to compete with his playing time will be limited and this will hamper his development. The above image makes it look like Karamoko has declined as a player. I don't believe this is the case however, I just think the relative higher ability of the players I have added make it look this way. I'm pleased with the firepower at my disposal heading into the new season. To evidence this further, the bookies named Karamoko the third favourite in the race to be top goalscorer in the league. Silva was also listed as the fifth most likely. Let the fun begin!

Thanks! It feels good to be back. After brief trips to Poland and Jersey, I am pleased to share that a fire has been lit and I will be definitely continuing on with this career. Watch this space for fresh updates

Great news. With Zirkzee on the verge of joining Manchester United in real life I have been paying even closer attention to how he is performing for you. The season seems to be very much going to plan @Jogo Bonito. Good luck for the end of season run in!

Incredible season so far, especially considering the relative ability of your squad. Great work @warlock I signed Cannonier at Oldham on FM22 but didn’t give him the playing opportunities he deserved, so keen to see how he does for you.

2024/25 Squad Performance As is my tradition, to tie up the third season I need to review the performance of the playing squad. Let's take a look back at how the players performed: Goalkeepers It is somewhat unique to have two young talented goalkeepers at the club at the same time. Both have great morale as they split the time in the net near equally, and results on the pitch were strong, but as you can see from 'playing time happiness' there is tension bubbling under the surface. A number of minor injuries made it easy to keep swapping 'keepers. Next season we would be hoping for a little more stability. Turati was marginally the better performer, but Valdimarsson could argue he was selected against tougher opposition. Third-choice van Sas was signed for extreme emergencies, and luckily none of those occurred. Right Backs Wing-back Costinha is simply a superb operator and it was no surprise to see him named Fans' Player of the Season. The 5-3-2 formation we operate with relies heavily upon the full backs to deliver creatively and Costinha certainly delivered. His 16 assists were the most of any player at the club. He was also joint 4th highest goalscorer (tied with four other players). Costinha's deputy, Cruz, made a notable impact as an energetic substitute in many games. My staff rate him as one of the poorer players in the squad, which therefore makes him a potential target for replacement (if I take this further), but he has never really let me down and he is a Portuguese player which we do need a quota of. Food for thought. Left Backs I am blessed to have three high performing left backs at the club. In fact, this should probably also include defensive midfielder Tavares (featured below in the midfielders section) who also filled in at left back on many occasions and performed well. Although there was not just one standout star in this position, like there is at right back, the position did deliver 24 assists split across the four players who played there - evidence that the system is effective, if nothing more. Mansur finishes the season as Estrela's record league appearance maker, having now played 75 games. He is the closest thing this young club has to a legend. Given his age and the alternative talent we have in this position, this will likely be the farewell summer of the last remnant of the pre-Evra and pre-Dong21 era. Barco and Vinagre both arrived in January and both have looked really exciting. Centre Backs When I signed McKenna on a free transfer a year ago, I don't thing I anticipated what a key player he would become for me. Scooping up the accolade of club Signing of the Season, McKenna matched Costinha as the players who made the most appearances this campaign. As you can see above, he was also the centre back with the highest average rating and most goals scored (an area we need to improve upon overall). Otherwise, it was an ever-changing cast in terms of the rest of the centre-backs. 18 year old Cerqueria will likely be pleased with his playing time and has developed nicely. As the only home-grown player currently in the squad, the intention would be to keep him and continue playing him. Unhelpfully, as the season ended Kovacevic approached me and advised he would like to leave the club as we have not qualified for the Champions League. Centre Midfielders Those familiar with my tactics will know that I play a defensive midfielder behind two central midfielders, one of whom is a mezzala and the other who is a box-to-box midfielder. First choice defensive midfielder Danilovic lost three months of his season to injury and club coaches think this has dented his growth. He has continued to be a strong performer for me, so I have no current plans to move him on. Back-up DM McKennie was the benefactor of this injury, playing more times than anticipated. In central midfield, three players shared the bulk of the playing time across the two positions. I was pleased with White, Praet and Jorgensen's seasons. Praet delivered an impressive return of 10 assists and five goals. White got six of each and won the club's Young Player of the Season gong. Back-up players Oakley-Boothe and Tavares got very limited playing time as we are so stocked in these positions. With young Portuguese prospects incoming to back-up this area of the squad, I will let both move on. Tavares' contract is coming to an end and I will sell Oakley-Boothe for a reasonable fee. Missing from this screenshot is Bradley Dack who I sold before remembering to take screenshots (I'm rusty at this!). Dack started 12 games and came off the bench a further 20 times. He contributed six goals, which included four penalties. Dack was once my star-signing but at 31 it was time to cash in and he was sold to Ajaccio for £3.3m (of which we kept £2.5m after clauses). The reality is also that we are settled on a formation that does not require an attacking centre midfielder. Strikers Karamoko did not hit the scoring heights of the prior season, but he was once again our highest goalscorer. He has become the club's record league goalscorer and won our side's Goal of the Season award for his strike against Estoril. Karamoko was only one goal between league the top scorer, Benfica's Divock Origi. It was also an excellent campaign for Brumado who picked up the Man of the Match award more than anyone else (7 times). Considering his limited playing time, I think Kadeware can be pleased with his goal-scoring return. Tagawa did not score many, but the ones he did were important in the run-in. I hope he can pick up more goals with a pre-season under his belt. I feel bad for signing Salcedo. It seemed like a great opportunity at the time, but realistically we never really needed him. The accolade of top scorer in the the Taca de Liga (3) is probably not going to satisfy him. Time to move on, for the Italian. Especially as I have two young prospect forwards, Tavares and Sremcevic, returning to the club this summer. Both had disappointing seasons at underachieving sides. Hopefully they are young enough to put that to one side and progress with their development. One positive for Sremcevic is that he won the league's Goal of the Season whilst playing for Gil Vicente. 2024/25 Season's Best Eleven Estrela's All-Time Best Eleven

Thanks @warlock - the place has had a makeover! I had a good catch up on your Darlington save at the weekend which probably contributed to me picking the game back up again. Aha I'm definitely tempted! I do really love this save and FM25 is still quite far away...

Finish The Story For five long months I have not touched FM24, let alone my Estrela da Amadora save. Dust and cobwebs cover the manager's office at the Estádio José Gomes. Out of the blue today, however, I have had the urge to pick this back up and finish the story. Well... finish the season at least! I appreciate that anyone who was once following this career journey will have long lost interest and forgotten the story so far - so this is purely self-indulgence at this point. Indeed, it has taken me some time to re-familiarise myself with the team and what we were looking to achieve. So, where were we? I left my team in the lurch at the end of April 2025. We sat 5th in the league, with aspirations of finishing 4th but only five games to go and with us three points behind FC Porto who currently occupy our desired position. Why is our heart set on 4th? Simply, progress. In our first season in the top flight, and the first of this managerial endeavor, we came 6th. Last season we improved upon this and came 5th. So this season the objective was to be the 'best of the rest' after the big three of Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon and finish in 4th position. We are also in uncharted waters in European football as we have made it to the Semi Finals of the Europa League. Further European success, after our shock victory in the Europa Conference League last season, would be an unprecedented achievement from this once unheard of side from the suburbs of Lisbon. We face local neighbours Sporting in a two-legged decider. Without further ado (it's already been five months!) let's get into the final month of the season and summarise seven matches in eighteen days... May 2025 We start the with some disappointment. We were comfortably beaten in the first leg of our Europa League Semi Final. We were the better side in the return leg, with double the xG and three times the shots, but couldn't get the all important goals to level the tie thus ending our European run. It took them until extra time, but Arsenal went on to beat Sporting 2-0 in the Final. It is hard to imagine we wouldn't have fared the same against Arteta's side. Always one to seek positives; I should mention that we achieved a record gate of £150k from our 15,000 capacity crowd - we have come a long way from crowds of under 200! Additionally, striker Baloyi became our youngest ever player, coming off the bench at the age of 15 years and 347 days. I was delighted to secure four wins out of five in the league, especially with games coming every two days at times. Against Pacos de Ferreira we played a completely changed eleven as the first team were in bad shape after the Sporting loss. Striker Tagawa scored for the first time in 10 games and his strike partner Brumado scored for the first time in 10 hours. Next up was Feirense and our best scoreline of the season. Not only did we score seven, we did not concede a single shot. Brumado was truly reawaken - he got a match rating of 10/10 after three goals and an assist. 18 year old midfielder Tiago Freitas, a January arrival from Benfica, played well in his debut game. Ahead of our game against Santa Clara I held a morale boosting team talk in which I told the team they were hitting form just at the right time. It seemed to put fire in the team's bellies as we bagged five and 'keeper Turati even saved a penalty when we were 1-0 up. Due to the congested fixture list and small injuries stacking up, we played a central midfield pairing of Dack and Danilovic which worked surprisingly well. Substitute Kadeware has been somewhat of a forgotten man this season but made an impact scoring a hat-trick from the bench. As our end-of-season form was picking up, Vitoria's was dropping off. Our penultimate game of the season against Braga was a game-in-hand. We decided to go attacking, put fate into our own hands and try and leapfrog Vitoria before the even more difficult fixture against Sporting. It looked like it might have been a mistake as we conceded within 90 minutes, but we persevered with our approach and got back level just two minutes later. Tagawa was phenomenal - his May form alone justifying his January purchase. The win pushed us up into 4th and only one point behind Sporting. Going into the final game of the season, it was in our hands to be able to finish 3rd if we beat Sporting on the day. That was not to be, however we were delighted to achieve a draw which delivered us our targeted 4th place finish. Once again, we were in front of a sell-out 15,000 crowd. We end the season with our best ever points tally and our highest ever league finish. Our average attendance of 4,908 is another club record. In the end, we were only one point away from catching one of the 'big three' and only seven points off a league winning points total. I'm delighted with the progress year-on-year and how we are establishing ourselves among Portuguese football's mainstays.

Taca de Liga Final: Benfica 1-1 Estrela da Amadora (5-6 on penalties) I omitted to include one result from my summary of the month of April earlier. The last fixture of a busy and challenging month was the league cup final against league dominators Benfica. The Lisbon giants beat us two weeks prior in our league encounter, but it was a different outcome when we met in this showpiece final. A rousing pre-match team meeting made no difference for the Vitoria game, I did the same again before this final and the outcome was different. As you can see from the stats above, we certainly rode our luck. Benfica had five times as many shots as us, although their xG was not significantly higher and possession was even. Rules of the Taca de Liga dictate that you must start two eligible U21 players each match. It was a no brainer for me to play Cequeira who has had a good amount of minutes over the last few seasons, but it was not as obvious who would be the second selection. In the end I decided to give attacker Vezo the second start of his career. I planned to take him off for one of my more experienced forwards, relatively quick into the game. What I wasn't expecting, was for him to score the all important goal! Costinha did all the hard work, beating two players to get to the byline and put in a great cross that Vezo tapped in. That said, Vezo had to be in the right place at the right time to score the goal and deserves great credit for doing so. Vezo became the club's youngest goalscorer at just 17 years and 184 days. Taca de Liga Final goalscorer, Mahomed Vezo: Costinha was the best player on the pitch, so it was a shame when he twisted his ankle and was taken off. After the game we were informed he had been ruled out for a month. We hung on, after conceding an equaliser, and were pleased to see the game go to penalties. Although Benfica were likely to have more accomplished penalty takers, I was happy for us to take our chances in the lottery. Both teams missed their first penalties. Then, there was drama as both keepers saved a penalty apiece to keep the scores level. It went into sudden death and my centre back Nunes stepped up and scored his before Turati was the hero of the day, saving his second and meaning Nunes' goal was the winner! We have added a new trophy to our cabinet. Our third competition win in three years. Tricolores triumph!

Love your optimism @warlock! The final five league games include games against Sporting Braga and Sporting Lisbon, so not an easy run in.

Youth Recruitment The youth intake of 2025 can be described as a mixed bag. On the plus side we have a striker who looks like he could have the potential to be better than any player we currently have at the club. He of course needs to be nurtured correctly to reach that potential. On the downside, there were only three players of any quality in the group. My staff's advice was to only sign three of the players. Along with striker Baloyi we have two young Portuguese talents of note; goalkeeper Pinheiro and left back Adao. The pair also have bags of potential. I offered all three pre-contracts right away, to ensure they stay with us after turning sixteen. We lack strikers in our U23s team and with his obvious ability, I decided to put Baloyi straight into this age group whereas Pinheiro and Adao have joined the U18s. Baloyi proved he was ready for this level by scoring a brace in his first match for the U23s. I went against my coaches advice and signed an additional five players from the youth intake. None of them will ever be good enough to make our first team, but my rationale is that my three young talents still need teammates in the U18s team and their purpose is to help their peers succeed. Conscious that our youth intake was small in numbers and knowing we currently lack quality in the youth team, I proactively looked for teenagers that we can add to our ranks. I have pre-agreed deals for the above youngsters, three are 18 years old and two are 17. None are of significant potential, I'd be surprised if they became future first-teamers, but they are better than what we currently have. Again, the thought process is that our prospects with notable potential will thrive with capable team-mates around them. We have recently been informed that Lokosa has been called up for Nigeria's U20 World Cup squad, so appearing in that may benefit him positively. For similar reasons of youth squad depth I triggered one year contract extensions for Nouri (20 years old), Pinto and Serrano (both 21 years old). Again, these are not elite talents but will be handy in the season ahead. New Contract Owner Patrice Evra proactively reached out to me at the start of the month to open talks regarding a new contract. I am deeply invested in this managerial journey and I am enjoying making incremental improvements to make Estrela da Amadora an established side near the top of the Portuguese pyramid. It was therefore an easy "yes" when renewals was suggested. I put pen to paper on a new four year contract - the adventure continues! April 2024 We have completed and survived our mega month of fixtures. It was by no means perfect, but definitely had some positives. I'll start with a big positive. We overcame Real Sociedad 4-2 on aggregate, over two legs, progressing to a Europa League Semi Final clash against inter-city rivals Sporting Lisbon. We were the better side at home, but could not win. Centre-back Kovacevic's first half goal was balanced out by a Thuram equaliser. Real had better possession and more shots than in the first game, but we had far superior xG the second time around and took our chances to win. We got an important point away against Porto. This was a close game with both teams getting a lot of chances. We had more possession, but a draw seemed a fair result. Young left back Barco got the assist, setting up Karamoko's crucial goal. The Vizela game was one the one match this month we definitely had to win, and that we did. Their goalkeeper helped us by flapping at a cross in from a free kick, leaving McKennie with a simple tap in. After a great first half, we were quite poor in the second and even conceded. The media described it as a Jekyll and Hyde performance. Attacking midfielder Nouri made his debut from the substitute bench vs Vizela. The obvious disappointments were the league losses against Benfica and Vitoria. Benfica are the dominant force in Portuguese football, therefore it is no shame to lose narrowly to a team of that calibre. Benfica scored in the 18th minute and then our forward Brumado was sent off in the 21st minute. I was impressed of the resilience of my team to not fall apart or even concede again, playing with ten men for over 70 minutes. The Vitoria result was more frustrating; we had 65% possession and more chances, but finishing was poor. We even had a morale boosting pre-match team meeting to ease pressure before a match the press were inaccurately calling a 'title decider', however this didn't have the desired impact. Vitoria continue to be a bogey team for us. If we are to meet our aim of becoming 'best of the rest' and finish 4th in the league, we need to start beating our direct rival for this position.

March 2025 March was a perfect month for us. We beat Fenerbache home and away in the Europa League Round of 16 and won three out of three league games. In four of the five games we kept satisfying clean sheets and we scored an average of 2.6 goals per game. The Rio Ave win was our eighth in a row, my best run so far as Estrela manager. The Arouca game looked like it could be a classic frustrating game - domination without a goal - until we were awarded a penalty in the final 20 minutes. I was slightly nervous about a trip to Istanbul but needn't have been as we put in a dominant display. Brumado was superb leading the line - his growth and development recently being evidenced in this display. Costinha and Praet both got a brace of assists. Defender Nunes will be disappointed to have given away a penalty for their first goal. The second leg was a relaxed affair and we were even able to put on teenagers Cerqueira and Rodrigues from the bench for the last 30 minutes. I have had Cerqueira focus on ball control in individual training and I can already see a tangible impact on his dribbling and technique. Against Chaves I gave striker Salcedo a rare start and he rewarded me with a goal. The downside of this match was, after getting on the score sheet early, midfielder White was taken off with a twisted ankle and is now ruled out for four weeks. The VAR team was very busy in our Rio Ave fixture - they were called upon to rule out a goal by Kovacevic, ruled two of Karamoko's goals as legitimate and awarded the penalty which he then scored to complete his hat-trick. Despite our immaculate form, we fell down to third in the league this month as we played less games than our rival Benfica. I appreciated that the league didn't gave us a fixture in between our Fenerbache matches, as it kept the squad fresh, but it has contributed to an extremely congested month of April. I have to take a quick moment to preview the month ahead, below. As well as things have been going, this could all be about to change. We play four of the top six in the league, have tough home and away ties against Real Sociedad and face Benfica again, this time in the Taca de Liga Final.

Just to add my two cents worth, since it’s my career that you’ve used as an example. I do agree that the game is slightly easier than it should be. That said, I don’t think my save is the great example to support your points that you think it is. Firstly, I am not a casual player. I have been playing this game religiously for over 15 years and therefore think I have a pretty good handle on tactics, transfers, squad building and the improvements you need to make off the pitch (e.g. staff and infrastructure) to be successful. I therefore would expect to out-perform expectations generally. Secondly, the big factor that changed the course of my save was that in October of the first season, a sponsor injected £15m into the club and I decided to invest those funds into signing a team of free agents. Now whether a financial investment like that is realistic is a separate discussion, but the point is that after signing the new players I now had arguably the sixth best squad in Portugal and our wage spend matched that. So by the end of the season our performance was on par with expectations (we finished sixth). Finally, the Portuguese league has some really good teams and then the rest are pretty poor. So it’s not that unrealistic that with some really good management and signing better players (with the budget to support that) that a club could become ‘best of the rest’. We came 6th first season, 5th in our second and I am hoping to finish 4th in my current campaign. The long-term aim is to challenge the ‘big three’ at the top of the table, which is a good enough narrative / challenge to keep me interested.

February 2025 February 2025 was a rare month with no cup fixtures and only league games. With seven fixtures against sides below us in the table, we saw this is a great opportunity to build up some momentum. On the whole, the month went really well. Five wins, one draw and one loss meant that we rose up to second place in the table (although we will likely fall to third once Benfica have played their game in hand. The victory over Boavista saw new striker Tagawa score his first goal for the club. The loss to Portimonense was obviously hugely disappointing. They had won their prior game 7-0 so were coming into the game with form, but I didn't expect to be beaten so comfortably. There first goals was a free kick that deflected off our wall and wrong-footed the 'keeper. The scorer of the second was somewhat surprising. We had sold defender Hernando to Gil Vicente in the summer, who then didn't play him at all and instead loaned him in January to Portimonense who were above them in the league (all very odd). Our former player came back to haunt us, smashing in the second after being up for a corner. The loss meant we fell behind them in the table. I had thought that left back Vinagre was particularly poor against Portimonense, giving the ball away often, so dropped him for debutant Barco for the Vizela game. That turned out to be a masterstroke as the Argentinian delivered an assist and two goals in a masterful performance. This win saw us rise to 3rd, helped by Benfica losing to Sporting. The Santa Clara result was frustrating as we dominated without winning. Luckily Benfica beat Portimonense so they switched places and we stayed 4th. After a run of 14 games without scoring, I took Karamoko to one side and had a stern word with him about his form. This bit of coaching worked even better than I'd hoped as he then went on to score five goals in three games (along with a couple of assists), even being selected as the league's Forward of the Month. Keeping his place in the team for the rest of the month after his great performance, left back Barco was selected as both the Young Player of the Month and Player of the Month. I was selected as the Manager of the Month. Other things of note that happened during the month: I confirmed my Europa League squad for the knock out stages. The notable change was that I dropped striker Salcedo to enable the inclusion of new arrival Tagawa It took some back-and-forth, but I managed to persuade owner Evra to both improve youth recruitment and increase our junior coaching budget. The result of these changes was that we are now considered to have excellent academy coaching and exceptional youth recruitment Over a period of three weeks we had the same cycle of news for the third time during my time managing the club; (1) speculation Evra will step away from the club, (2) rumours of a sale denied and (3) Evra comes out to deny there will be a takeover. The only difference this time is that I was asked in a press conference about whether a potential takeover would distract the players, which made it feel a little more likely this time around I have noticed a significant decrease in the amount of injuries in February. Previously it was a handful before every game, this month I can't think of an injury of note. I guess that's the latest patch coming into effect, rather than just good luck