Dong21

January 2025 Our unprecedented run of goalkeeper unavailability continued before the Feirense game as flu ruled out Turati. We dominated the game but only scored two. The Pacos de Ferreira win was comfortable. We then faced a tough trip across town to face Sporting. This time it was Danilovic ruled out with flu, as the virus continue to rip through my team. It was a poor game in which we had slightly better chances, a draw was fair enough though. We ended the month in a respectable 5th place, with between one and three games in hand on all of our rivals. We secured four points from our final two Europa League group away games. Before the match we lost Kovacevic to flu and Vinagre to a twisted knee. The Legia game was very frustrating; we were 2-0 up and fell back to 2-2, had three times as many chances and scored a late winner that was disallowed. The win in Astana was much more comfortable. Brumado was the star of these final two games with four goals. It goes without saying that there was another injury before the Portimonense game - this time Nunes pulled his hamstring ruling him out a few weeks. Portimonense are a bogey team for us, so I was somewhat worried going into the Taca de Liga Semi Final. Due to the competitions' rules whereby you are required to play two players under 21 years old, we played Cerquiera at centre back and gave a debut to 16 year old winger Daniel Rodrigues at right wing back. Rodrigues had a debut to remember! He set up both of our goals and was named as the fixtures' Man (boy?) of the Match. Below are the final standings from the Europa League group stage. I was delighted that we finished in the top eight, meaning that we automatically qualified for the Round of 16 and didn't have to play in the Knockout Play-Off Round. There are a lot of big names that finished below us, so this demonstrates how far we have come as a club. With Sporting top of the league, ourselves in sixth and Porto in ninth, there is good evidence of the strength of the Portuguese Liga. Hopefully we can all go far and improve the country's UEFA competition coefficient.

Thanks @warlock - hopefully in a few seasons I'll be able to fill the home grown in nation and in club quotas. Hope you're well and had a good Christmas.

January Transfer Window January 2025 turned out to be a relatively busy month in Amadora. Some of it was as a result of unexpected transfer bids for my players, but most was me proactively looking to make adjustments to the profile of my squad. Below I will summarise the arrivals and departures, with an update on my squad composition following the closure of the transfer window. Goalkeepers No changes in this department. I am very happy with my three young goalkeepers. Right Backs Also no change on the right side of our defence. Left Backs Two new arrivals at left back. One arrived on 01 January and the other on 01 February. Following the shock departure of Varela in September we have limped along with just one left back. I was determined to address this in the January window and acted swiftly to secure a pre-arranged deal for Ruben Vinagre for a bargain price of £375k from Sporting Lisbon. My wing backs are some of the key creators in my system, so his attacking prowess appealed to me. He also adds to the number of Portuguese players in the squad. I was happily going into the second half of the season with Mansur and Vinagre as my left backs, when my scouts alerted me to the availability of wonderkid Valentin Barco on transfer deadline day. I had money in the bank and he was interested so I decided to move decisively, spending £5.5m on the Boca Juniors youngster. Barco is effectively Mansur's successor-in-waiting. Mansur has been phenomenal throughout my time at the club, but with him being 31 I needed to start thinking about the future. Despite his age, Barco looks to me to have all the attributes to be a strong starting player already. Centre Backs Departures: Albeit conscious that we were overloaded with talented centre backs, moving any of the cohort on was not high on my priority list with things going well on the pitch. This changed, however, when we received unprompted bids for two of the group. Firstly, now-Premier League side Leeds came in with a £13.75m bid for Eric Bailly. Ever since arriving he has performed well (he had featured 17 times so far this season), but that was a bid too good to turn now. He'll be 31 in two months, he arrived on a free just over a year ago (so it is £13.75m of pure profit) and I am always waiting for a long-term injury to hit him; therefore, it is simply terrific business to sell him for that profit. I was confident I could replace him with a younger talent of similar ability, so accepted the bid. Then, shortly after, we received bids of £9m from five different clubs for Vukasin Jovanovic. He had only made four appearances all season, less than any other of my centre backs, so again the offers were too good to refuse. I accepted them all and Jovanovic selected Championship side Sheffield United as his destination. This sale returned a profit of £7.9m after 18 months at the club. The final departure was more planned. Amir Feratovic had been sent on loan to Maritimo for the season to develop. Aware he only had six months left on his deal, I decided to check in on his progress. I quickly saw that he wouldn't have the potential to trouble our first team, so made the tactical decision to cancel his loan and offer him out for sale so that we didn't lose him for nothing in the summer. Pogon came in with a bid of £235k, which we gladly accepted. I swiftly identified American Owen Otasowie as Bailly's intended replacement. He had a release clause in his Austin FC contract of £3.7m, meaning I signed him for what I deem a bargain. Physically and mentally strong, Otasowie is also comfortable playing as a defensive midfielder. When I visited Lisbon earlier this year the city was swarming with American tourists, so Otasowie and McKinnie will find it easy to feel at home. I decided not to sign another centre back to give the young pair of Awe and Kovacevic more opportunities. I also have the even younger trio of Cerqueira, Espirito and Carlos waiting in the wings for chances. Centre Midfielders Departures: As we were oversubscribed with central midfielders (a nice problem to have, I know), I decided to offer out 20 year old George Hall for loan. Due to squad depth Hall had only started three games and came off the bench 12 times. Predictably there were many bids that came in for him. I selected Sunderland as his destination after seeing they were challenging for the Championship Play-Offs (so he could be part of a team doing well) and I checked that he would be their best defensive midfielder and therefore likely to start games. Since arriving he has started three out of three of their games. This month also saw the departure of Cafú, after just one cup appearance this campaign, who joined Nacional for £120k, slimming it down to eight players competing for three midfield berths. Strikers Performances this season have been good, we are doing well in both the league and cup competitions, but we haven't been quite as prolific as in previous years. Specifically my strikers haven't been as clinical as needed. Many of our games have seen our xG be much higher than the amount of goals we scored. I therefore was on the look out for a striker who could make a difference in the second half of the season. I searched high and low for a striker who my scouts deemed as better than my current crop of forwards, but was also affordable. My search took me to Japan, where I discovered a forward who had scored 20 goals in 32 games for J1 League side Hachioji Tigre. 25 year old Kyosuke Tagawa was available for just £2m and I beat a lot of competition to his signing. Interestingly, this is Tagawa's second spell in Portugal as he previously spent two seasons at Santa Clara. I am hoping Tagawa will give our season a goal scoring boost. Later in the month I had more funds in the coffers after the sales of Bailly and Jovanovic and no pressing concerns in terms of gaps in the squad, so I started thinking more big picture. I am very conscious that we do not have much Portuguese talent in the squad (especially after the sage advice from @warlock!) so I dedicated some time to scouring the leagues for young Portuguese talent I could acquire. Through this search process, I came across Boavista striker Martim Tavares who is a current Portugal U21 international. Tavares has great attributes for a 21 year old forward and bags of potential. He had scored three in 14 games for Boavista (the bottom side in the league) so far this season. I decided to gamble on his potential and made him our club record signing for £10.5m. Not wanting to stunt his growth by putting him on my bench, I also agreed to loan him back to Boavista for the rest of the season. Hopefully their form can start to improve and he gets chances to score. Departure: Given we now had six good quality centre forwards and Tavares arriving in the summer, it was time to move on Yassin Fortune to a new club. Opportunities had been limited for the Haitain this season, but his 33 goals across two years will not be forgotten by me. He joins Lechia for £1.7m with my best wishes. Academy Recruitment With my new and improved youth facilities, understandably, taking time to bear fruit and with European squad constraints fresh in my mind, I decided to give the academy a boost by targeting some more young Portuguese talent. First to arrive is attack-minded centre midfielder Tiago Freitas, bought from the academy of neighbours Benfica for a fee of £500k that could rise to £1.3m, based on performance. In addition to the signing of Freitas, pre-contract deals were agreed with a pair of teenagers. The first is centre back Diogo Rocha who also will be departing Benfica, the second is striker Joao Infante from the youth ranks of Porto. Both are raw talents, but with age on their side I am hoping to support their development once they join us in the summer. Perhaps Rocha, Freitas and Infante will form the core of my U23s team next season.

November 2024 Going into a long-term managerial career in Portugal, I knew that battling Benfica, Sporting and Porto would be extremely difficult. What I wasn't expecting was how strong Vitoria would be! They did well last season and look to be doing even better this time around. We played them twice in November and lost both times. In both games we matched them for shots and possession, even bettering them in xG, but they were clinical and we were not. Following the first Vitoria game, we completed what is now an annual tradition: A top quality free transfer signing in the winter off-season! I was very surprised to find Weston McKennie available as a free agent. I checked to see if there was a long-term injury as the cause. There was not. He had spent the last two seasons away from Juventus on loan, firstly at Man City and then at Lazio. Albeit he hadn't seemed to have been pulling up trees, but it was still very surprising that he was available. My scouts assessment was that he would be the best player at the club if we signed him and with defensive midfielder Danilovic still out with his long-term injury, I moved quickly and decisively. Now the elephant in the room is clearly his wage. At the point of signing, he is on £30k more than any other player at the club, per week (I say this as later in the month, after a protracted period of contract negotiations, Praet received a new deal at £42k per week - so £20k less than McKinnie). My justification is that (a) he is the best player at the club, (b) we are growing and finances are healthy - we can afford the deal and (c) given his age and his transfer value, we could easily cash in on him and balance the books if needed. He is not registered for the Europa League, so made his debut against Chaves. Our Europa League campaign continued well. Costinha scored an amazing volley in the rout of Lech Poznan. More injuries happened in that game with Mansur going off with a gashed leg (out four weeks), being replaced by Cruz who then also went off, this time with a twisted ankle (out for five weeks)! I'm getting a little fed up with all the injuries now. We were the better side against Betis and squandered the win when we conceded in the 90th minute. Given their stature, its not a bad result, but it is certainly frustrating. Here is the Europa Leauge group stage table at just over the half way stage. We are on the verge of automatic qualification for the next round and Playoffs look near to guaranteed, if not. Our final three group stage matches are against Rangers, Legia and Astana. December 2024 December was a quieter month, with a 17 day gap without fixtures in the middle. We drew against Rio Ave and Porto, but deserved to easily win one and easily lose the other! We dominated Rio Ave, whereas Porto dominated us. Against Porto we played with ten men for 65 minutes so I was proud we hung on and got far up enough the pitch to be awarded a penalty in the 86th minute. The draw was important as it stopped Porto leapfrogging us in the table. In the Europa we secured at least a Playoff spot by beating Rangers thanks to a wonder strike from Brumado. After 17 days of rest and recovery, I thought that I was going to finally have a full squad to choose from against Benfica. Then, the day before the match, a host of players (including three of my strikers) were ruled out with colds! This turned out not to matter however, as we beat the league leaders in their own stadium! They were the dominant side, but we came out of the dressing room at half time with velocity and tore them apart. After the match, Costinha told the press that my rip-roaring half time team talk made the difference. This win meant that we overtook Benfica in the table and finish 2024 in 3rd place, just two points behind the joint league leaders. See below for a snapshot of the team who won this important fixture. Somewhat surprisingly, White was named the league's Young Player of the Month for December. He only played twice and was man of the match vs Rio Ave but was sent off for a horror tackle against Porto! Not sure what the award's selection committee were thinking there... Finally, I'll end the month and the year with an admin wrap-up: We have had another 'will he, won't he' ownership saga. Over the course of two weeks in November we received news articles saying that Evra is going and then later that he denied this and was staying. Things have once again settled down, but this does seem to be leading to something Interest in my managerial services have been high! I have now declined formal job interviews at Fenerbache, Wolves, West Ham, Bayer Leverkusen, Lyon and Sevilla. I am committed to Estrela! Assistant Manager Luis Matos has announced that he will retire at the end of the current season. Along with Mansur, he is the only real connection to the group I begun this journey alongside Forward Brumado has been rewarded with a new four year contract Having struggled by with one left back all season, I pounced when I saw that Sporting had transfer listed left back Ruben Vinagre for just £375k. My scouts rate him better than Mansur, who has been a fine player for me, and we agreed a pre-transfer window deal in early December. He will join the club officially on 03 January 2025 Going into the January transfer window, Evra decided to give me another £3m of budget unprompted

September 2024 A perfect month was achieved in September. Three wins in three different competitions. Nine goals scored and zero conceded. In the league game against Gil Vicente, goalkeeper Turati finally made his debut after recovering from injury. He played our first Europa League game too, with Valdimarsson playing in the Taca de Liga. Injuries continued to be a big theme for the season, in mid-September; right back Cruz pulled his ankle ligaments (out for three weeks), star midfielder Danilovic injured his hip (ruled out for three months) and Bailly twisted his ankle (four weeks). Our debut in the Europa League against Cluj was helped when they got an early red card. We dominated the game notching 30 shots (although only a third of those were on target), with an xG of 4.15. Cluj had no shots all game. Due to the domination, we were able to rest key players in the last 30 minutes. 16 year old winger Julio Cesar made his debut at left wing back, from the bench. October 2024 Given their quality, I was worried about playing Arsenal. They were far superior on the night and in the end I was pleased to only lose by a margin of two. We showed character and did not allow this defeat to dent confidence, winning the four games that followed. Only one league game this month and it was a dominant display. 30 shots again and xG of 4.37. Full backs Costinha and Mansur were in fine form, with an assist apiece. The Taca de Portugal fixture against Louletano was an opportunity to play the eleven players who had featured the least so far this season. Reserves Fortune and Tavares grabbed the opportunity with both hands and were the stars of the performance. Back in the Europa and back on track with a routine win against Slovan Bratislava. Another win, but another injury. This time midfielder White went off after just 10 minutes with a groin strain that would rule him out for four weeks. He was already filling in at defensive midfield, so centre back Nunes came on to help out in an unfamiliar position. The month ended on a high as we beat local rivals Sporting in the Taca de Liga group stage. This win gave us six points and meant we qualified for the Semi Finals before Sporting and Gil Vicente even played each other. 17 year old forward Vezo made his debut in the pressing forward role. Again, I sadly have to report on injuries... Goalkeeper Turati went off with a broken hand and will be out for six weeks. Karamoko also went off crocked, but will only miss a week this time. At the end of October we sit in 3rd place, which I am obviously delighted with. There have only been seven league games though, with plenty of cup football instead taking up our time.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted him as an available option

August 2024 The season's curtain raiser was the Super Cup against Benfica. It was a relatively uneventful game. Both teams had equal possession and shots, but they got the winner near the end. New goalkeeping signing Turati got injured in pre-season, an ab strain that would rule him out for four weeks, so Lanzillota played his last game for the club before being sold days later. Next we played lower-league Varzim in the Taca de Liga and it was 20 year old 'keeper van Sas making his debut in goal. He let in the first and last goals of the game, but we scored seven times in between. It was a great day for our forwards with three of them scoring braces. To meet the competitions requirements to play two U21 players, we started 17 year old Cequeira and 16 year old Espirito at centre back. Sub Tavares was named man of the match thanks to two assists. Mansur suffered a calf strain in the match, ruling him out for five weeks. This win progressed us to the three team group stage (the format of this competition seems to change every year!). With no European qualifying games to contend with this season, we were able to get stuck into the league. Five league games in a row seems like a novelty in modern football. The game against Boavista saw us play our third goalkeeper in three games, this time the debut of new signing Valdimarsson who kept a clean sheet. Braga continue to be a thorn in our side. We were awful first half, dominated the second and had a 93rd minute equaliser ruled out for offside. A draw would have been the fair result. We thrashed Estoril to lift spirits. One of the goals scored by Karamoko was a goal of the season contender. It was back to frustration against Portimonense. We had two disallowed goals, xG of 3, 58% possession and yet only drew the game. To make things worse, Brumado suffered a hernia and was ruled out for five weeks, Varela a damaged heel so out for two weeks and, after a strong performance from the bench, Hall picked up a hamstring strain and is out for five weeks too. We ended the month with a win against Moreirense. After five games we sit fourth, which I'm obviously pleased with. It's early days and some of our competitors have played less games than us. Other than the Estoril game, we haven't reached full gear yet so there is plenty more to come when this new team clicks. The big concern for me is the number of injuries, which is noticeably more than the last two seasons. The two new physios clearly haven't made an impact! I'll end with the Europa League draw, which has provided us with a number of interesting ties.

Thanks @john1 and good to hear from you!

Staff Additions The last two summers have seen wholesale changes to my staffing team. This season, it has been much quieter. In fact, not a single coaching contract was due to expire in June 2024, as everyone at the club was hired by me on a long-term contract in the prior seasons or in the case of a handful of employees, such as my Assistant Manager, were here on arrival and I've given them a contract extension. Therefore the new recruits this summer are as a result of our stature growing and Evra allowing me to hire additional specialists, rather than replacing exiting staff. Recruitment Team The first hire to discuss is quite the coup. Manuel Pellegrini is a manager of extensive experience and caliber. At the age of 70 he has decided to step back from the spotlight and take up a scouting role, here at Estrela. His ability to spot talent will be invaluable. My only concern is that I may have given the board a ready made successor, if they ever decide to sack me! Joining Pellegrini in the scouting division is a man who certainly looks like he has an eye for talent. Italian Pietro Pacini adds further depth to a talented pool of scouts. We have also added Recruitment Analyst Pedro Valdemar to our ranks. Medical Team With the Europa League new format there will be more games this season that we've had in the last two campaigns. Fitness and injury recovery and therefore more important than ever. Luckily, I have been permitted to hire two additional physios. Both have prestigious past experience. Firstly, Andrea Galli joins us having spent the last 14 years at Inter Milan. His mental attributes are simply top class. Secondly, we have the arrival of Pedro Barreiras who has spent seven years at city neighbours Benfica. We have also been permitted to add an U23s physio (Carlos Banza) and an U19s physio (Jurgen Delva). Coaching Team Frustratingly, mid-way through pre-season Porto approached my set pieces coach Ben McKay and there was nothing I could do to stop him leaving. There were hardly any set piece coaches available to choose a successor from (I do wonder if this is linked to this save being carried across from FM23 and set pieces coaches being introduced mid-save). The best option available, and the person I hired, was Simone Nardella. He is not as highly rated as my previous two set piece coaches but he seems capable - at least this one hopefully won't be poached! Somewhat surprisingly, Toulouse poached my U23s Assistant Manager to be their first team coach, which created a vacancy. I was delighted to be able to bring in a coach of the quality of Richard Thomas as my new U23s Assistant Manager. He will help with my objective of bringing through talent from the Estrela academy. His appointment does come with some added nostalgia, as he was one of my trusted coaching lieutenants during my managerial adventures with Oldham Athletic last year. I further strengthened our youth coaching with the arrival of two more British coaches. Tom Ramasut joins as our new U23s Coach and Darren Arnott is our latest U19s Coach. To make room for the new arrivals, the board insisted that I released a coach, so Kieron Dyer has left the club.

I've just gone through the process of registering my Europa League squad and had to leave out some valuable players due to the limitations, so really need the academy to start bearing fruit in the next few seasons. This European campaign I'm going to have to have some 15 and 16 year olds on the bench. *Left back Nilton Varela was registered and then six days after this, and after the Portuguese transfer window closed, his release clause was met and he was sold. So I only have 20 registered players rather than 21. If I could turn back time and I was aware of the release clause, I'd have registered David Tavares as back-up left back. Thanks amigo!

Yes I have been very fortunate that Evra has accepted nearly every request to improve our facilities that I have made. This is what our set up currently looks like: These have only been in place a few months though so we haven't seen the output from it just yet.

Updates From Pre-Season 2024/25 Following last season' cup double, our club stature has increased; we are now the 7th biggest club in Portugal by reputation and the 67th biggest club in Europe However the league's stature has fallen. Portugal has now fallen to 7th behind the Netherlands, in the European coefficient Arouca beat Casa Pia in the promotion / relegation playoff to stay in the Portuguese Liga I was once again shortlisted for the league's Manager of the Year award, but lost out to Roger Schmidt of Benfica During the summer I rejected media speculation linking me with the Besitkas, Cagliari, Aston Villa, Brentford and Celtic jobs. In each instance, Evra and the Estrela board were delighted Following the departure of Liam Moore, I appointed Bradley Dack as the club's new Vice Captain We agreed new four year contracts with Karamoko, Danilovic, Nunes and Kovacevic (increasing his release clause from £9m to £14.25m - he wouldn't agree to remove it) Gailbraith, G Varela and Kovacevic all missed pre-season as they participated in EURO 2024 (won by a Haaland-inspired Norway), U19 EUROs and the Olympics, respectively The media predict we will finish fifth behind Benfica, Sporting, Porto and Braga Our board expect we secure Europa Conference League qualification through our league standings and reach the knockout stages of the Europa League I selected to pay a higher league bonus to incentivise the team to meet my personal target of 4th place in the league Goalkeeper Turati and midfielder White had the 5th and 6th best odds in the betting for the season ahead's Young Player of the Year We sold 2,863 season tickets, up from 1,285 last year and a far cry from less than 300 in our first season! July 2024 We played six pre-season friendlies, which is less than usual for me. In previous years I have carried out a complete overhaul of the squad, but this was more of an evolution of something that was working so there was less need for experimentation. Against Toulouse, Lanzillota flapped at a cross and threw it into the path of an incoming forward to concede our first goal. This was likely in my mind when I accepted the transfer bid for him. We went 2-0 down before coming back to win 4-2, demonstrating great character. You may notice in the victory over Portsmouth a hat-trick was scored by Talisca. This is the former Al-Nassr and Benfica winger, who I had on trial and was testing out as an advanced forward. He was clearly a phenomenal player but he wanted huge wages (£60k per week). In the end he chose Club Brugge over us and, although he would have played well, on reflection I am glad he didn't sign as he would have disrupted our wage structure. We played a weakened side against Brest as we play Benfica in the Super Cup just three days later. Bring on the new season!

Fair comment Last season I did pretty well in this regard but when I looked this season I really struggled to find good, Portuguese, options. We have spent a fair bit, but nothing compared to our top five rivals and they have a monopoly on young local talent sadly. I will try and redress the balance, long-term.

Season 3 - Summer Signings & Squad Update It has been another busy summer in Amadora. Eleven players have arrived, with more than that departing. Our net transfer spend during the window is a relatively modest £5.75m, however through a combination of contract renewals and wages for new signings, our wage bill has risen notably. Our aim in the transfer window was to add quality to the squad, as our objective is to go one better than last year and finish 4th this season. In addition to this, we have qualified directly for the Europa League Group Stage. The format has changed this year, meaning we are guaranteed at least eight games in the competition, therefore squad depth is going to be important. Below I will summarise the comings and goings across the summer and outline the current composition of the C.F Estrela da Amadora squad. Goalkeepers I was generally very happy with my squad last season. When summarising the squad's performances at the end of the campaign, the one position that I flagged for consideration was goalkeeper. This was because Lanzillota and Foderingham had both had dogged injury records last term and on paper could be improved upon, quality-wise. It was in this position, therefore, that I decided to break the club's transfer record by signing Stefano Turati for £10m (£4m up front, £6m over the next few years, with a further £1m after 50 appearances). My coaches believe he is already a better goalkeeper than Lanzilotta and being nine years younger he has plenty of time to get even better. I was comfortable going into the season with Turati as my first choice 'keeper and Lanzillota as my reserve, however things changed when Anderlecht bid £8m for Lanzillota. This was an amount I could not refuse for a 31 year old, with injury concerns, who was now my back up. With a gap to fill and money to spend, I revisted my shortlist of goalkeepers from when I recruited Turati. Our scouts rate Hakon Rafn Valdimarsson as extremely close in ability to Turati and he had an active release clause of £1.9m for clubs in Europe. On the plus side, I now have two extremely talented young goalkeepers. On the downside, it is very plausible that one may become unhappy at a lack of game time during the season. I may well have to appoint one my league stopper and one my European man in the nets. Departures: Prior to the sale of Lanzillota, I had already proactively moved on Foderingham to Derby County for £350k. He had done well last year but at 33 years old and with better options available, it was time to cash in. As also noted previously, third choice 'keeper Youfeigane's development had stalled at the club and so I cut my losses and sold him to Real Valladolid for £45k. With last season's shortages of 'keepers caused by injuries fresh in my mind, I wanted to go into the new campaign with three goalkeepers. I trawled through the free agent listings and found young Mikki van Sas who has decent attributes and a good age to grow and develop. van Sas has pedigree as he was released by Man City in the summer. At the close of the window our goalkeeping department is in a much better position than when it opened. Right Backs I was happy to go into my third season with the same right backs from the prior campaign, and nothing took place during the summer that changed that position. Costinha was my signing of last season and I hope he will play an important role once again. Cruz look like, from my assistant's appraisal of his abilities, that he may have declined however I believe it is the case that Costinha has just improved exponentially making Cruz look less of a player by comparison. He did well as a reserve last season and will be asked to do the same. Departures: The Brazilian Hevverton, who featured in my first season at the club, departed on a free transfer to Kiel. Left Backs Like at right back, I was comfortable starting this season with the same left backs as last season; Mansur and Varela. Disaster, however, has struck. Departures: Three days after the transfer window closed, Genk bid £1.7m for Varela activating a minimum fee release clause that I had long forgotten about. There was nothing I could do. Varela departed, leaving me with one left back for the upcoming season. If I'd have been aware of the release clause I'd have given him a new contract earlier in the summer. We have no young left backs in the U23s or U19s. There are no free agents of any quality available for an emergency deal. Defensive midfielder Tavares can fill in, and has done so ably before, but due to squad size limitations I was unable to register him for Europe. If Mansur gets injured, we are in big trouble. I may have to play him in the Europa League and Tavares in the league to get by. Centre Backs I have often thought of myself as the king of free transfer signings. I always keep a close eye on who is coming available and move quickly to secure the best names available. This summer I signed six free agents, all of which fit in our first team comfortably. The first of these to arrive was centre back Zach Awe, who joins from Arsenal's academy. Last season he spent on loan at Blackpool where he played every game for them, which clearly grew his ability in a meaningful way. He is clearly physically impressive for a man of just 20, but he has quality attributes all round. I'm hoping he is a player I can nurture over the years. Joining Awe, also from British shores, is fellow defender Scott McKenna. The big appeal when signing McKenna was that he is left footed, something none of my other centre backs offer. McKenna has spent the last three seasons in the Premier League (at Southampton, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, respectively) facing the best attackers in the world. Departures: Club captain Moore has served us well, but it was time for him to move on. Moore was sold to Partizan for £1m. Likewise, it was time for Hernando to depart. He remains in the Portuguese Liga, joining Gil Vicente for £400k. Young Feratovic goes on loan to Maritimo to continue his development. I considered also sending Cerqueira out on loan, but didn't get suitable offers. He will play in the League Cup here, as we have to play two home-grown U21s, and we will look for a loan for him when he's 18. On paper my first choice back three is Bailly, Awe and McKenna, but Nunes, Jovanovic and Kovacevic all have strong cases to start as well. Hopefully with all the cup games this season there will be enough minutes to share around. Centre Midfielders The deal for George Hall was agreed back in January and when he finally arrived I was still as pleased to see him join from Birmingham as when the deal was struck. At 19 years old, he is one for the future. Relatively similar in age, Harvey White is a signing for right now. Like with Awe we had competition from 15-20 clubs, so I was delighted when White chose us. I'd like to think my track record of giving English players opportunities to shine in Portugal made the difference. White had just spent a season in the English Championship performing well for Bristol City, on loan from Tottenham. The intention is for him to be the first choice midfield partner of Praet. I had thought my transfer business was done, but on deadline day I decided to add one more. I see a strong midfield as key to our success and had funds left to spend, so when I spotted a talented young player with a price tag which I felt undervalued him then I had to make the move. We have a lot of games to play and we have quite a few injuries already - more on that in a future updated - therefore I was comfortable adding another midfielder. Norwegian Filip Ronningen Jorgenson arrives from Odd for a £5.75m deal (which could rise to £6.5m). He has a good spread of attributes that mean he looks capable playing in any of our three central positions. Nine players competing for three positions is too many. I offered Cafu out for sale but there were no takers - he has since announced that he will leave on a free at the end of the campaign. Tavares is now effectively my second choice left back, so I'm glad that I didn't end up selling him. Both will serve as back up for key man Danilovic in defensive midfield. The other six players will compete for the two central midfield berths. Departures: Midfielder Gailbraith has been sent on loan to Sheffield Wednesday. He is a player I like but sadly the status of the club has grown since he signed and I have a feeling he might not ever make the grade here. Attacking midfielders Maknoun and Coric were sold to Charleroi (£200k) and Padova (£145k), respectively. Wingers Gong and Capita were sold to Randers FC (£200k) and Sochaux (£245k), respectively. Strikers With Ganago and Ekitke's loans expiring, I knew that I was in the market for some new forwards. Lucky for me, there were some great free agent options to choose from. The first to arrive was young striker Eddie Salcedo from Inter Milan. Salcedo spent last season on loan in Serie B and delivered a good goal return. It appealed to me that Salcedo was happy to be considered a squad player, which will make keeping him satisfied easier. Joining Salcedo was former-Lyon centre forward Tino Kadewere. Of a slightly older profile than some of my other signings, Kadewere has good experience playing in a top European league and in European competition. One negative to note, however, is this is another player we may lose to future AFCONs (during the season). My final recruit was an opportunity signing. Serbian outfit Mladost had 18 year old forward Uros Sremcevic transfer listed for just £475k. A bargain, considering his potential. Having already had success signing two Serbs previously, I had no hesitation moving for the young goalscorer. Despite his age, he already has 16 Serbian league goals to his name. Departures: No sooner had Sremcevic arrived, he was on his way to Gil Vicente for the season. They have advised he will be an important player for them this season. If they keep their word, he should get plenty of Portuguese Liga minutes to prove himself in. We also sent another young striker, Varela, on loan to Penafiel for the season. Once again we start the season with a group of talented strikers. None of them were listed among the favourites for league top goalscorer this time around, but I'm feeling confident we have a good amount of ammunition in the squad. Early in the transfer window Elche bid £7m for Karamoko which I rejected outright. I was worried this would unsettle him, but pleasingly it did not.

Congratulations, @warlock! Malaga back where they belong.

Impressive to keep up that form, given all the injuries Sounds like a wise plan!

2023/24 Squad Performance The season has concluded and it is time to assess the performances of the squad. Next season we will play in the Europa League for the first time, another step up in quality. Additionally, I will be targeting fourth place in the league and that 'best of the rest' title behind the big three of Benfica, Sporting and Porto. Our wage bill is significantly smaller than those three clubs, but it is now the fourth biggest in the league so that is where we should be aiming for. The big three are pretty unassailable. They each produce many talented young players, have extensive scouting networks and youth team squads and all sell players frequently for big fees which keeps them top of the tree. I have a strong affinity to this group of players. Every one of them, except for Mansur, was signed by me and we have gone on together to win the Taca de Portugal and the Europa Conference League. The key to long-term success, however, is to never stand still. Standing still is going backwards, when your opponents are making improvement. I will therefore be looking to the transfer window once again to look out for where we can be improved. Thanks, I'm sure, to the ECL prize money Evra has provided a generous £13.75m transfer budget and a £450k wage budget (£122k more than we are currently spending). Before we talk new signings, let's take a look at how my players got on this season: Goalkeepers First choice goalkeeper Lanzillota had a strong debut season. He only conceded 39 goals in 40 games, with 17 clean sheets. I would be happy to proceed with Lanzillota as my 'keeper for next season, however I will be keeping an eye out for available options and that is because of his injury record. One hopes that a goalkeeper suffering a fractured wrist and a fractured lower arm in the same season is just awful luck, but if it becomes a pattern of injuries then we are in trouble. Lanzillota was named in the ECL Team of the Season after getting the most clean sheets (8) and conceding the least (4) in the competition. Foderingham was promised the role of first choice goalkeeper when signing, however this was just to get him through the door. He was always going to be our experienced, qualified, number two. He ended up playing many more games than I anticipated due to Lanzillota's injuries. He conceded 1.39 goals per game, in comparison to Lazillota's 0.99, but generally did well. He was involved in some memorable European nights. If he's content, I'd be happy to keep him in reserve. The loan spell to Auxerre did not work out for Youfeigane and I recalled him January as he wasn't getting his minutes. A lack of game time has stunted his growth and this summer may be the time to cut him loose if we can find another young 'keeper with potential. Right Backs Costinha has been a revelation since joining from Rio Ave. In just half a season and 27 starts he provided an incredible 15 assists for his teammates. His average match rating of 7.4 is the highest across the squad. His deputy, Cruz, also had a strong season. Cruz featured in most games, starting 20 of them and provided an impressive nine assists. For context, last season my four full backs provided 10 assists in total, between them! Left Backs First choice left back Mansur had an even better season than last time out. He went from providing four assists in a season to 19! The wing back even chipped in with five goals. Unsurprisingly, he was named in the ECL Team of the Season. Mansur's understudy Varela was putting in good performances when he got opportunities, but his season was cruelly cut short by a long-term injury. I hope he does not come back less of the player he once was. Sinkgraven arrived as temporary solution and made a big contribution to our run to two cup finals and a top five finish. The attack-minded player got four assists in a short amount of time. Centre Backs Playing a back three, it is unsurprising that there was a lot of minutes spread out across my pool of centre backs. The two who played the most were Nunes and Jovanovic, both of whom were consistent performers. Kovacevic would have played even more than he did if it wasn't for injury. He provided a couple of goals and assists, which was not the case for the rest of the centre backs. This is clearly something I need to look at with my set pieces coach. Both Nunes and Kovacevic were named in the ECL Team of the Season and Kovacevic was a runner up in the Young Player of the Tournament rankings. Bailly was our best performing centre back, but was fifth in most appearances due to his late arrival and then trip to AFCON. As a result of our plethora of matches and number of injuries, Moore played more frequently than I expected. Always solid, it may though be time for him to move on. Likewise, Hernando who appeared infrequently. Cerqueira got an impressive amount of games, including in Europe, for a 17 year old. Next season I will need to decide whether to send him on loan (experience) or keep him at the club (only player 'Home grown at club'). Centre Midfielders No player played more games for us than the imperious Danilovic. Throughout the season several managers of larger clubs watched him from the stands and the worry is that he may be poached this summer. Praet has been sublime since signing in November, I think he's added a touch of class to the midfield that served us well in Europe. One of the biggest achievements this campaign is keeping Dack fit for its entirety. 25 goals or assists is a phenomenal return. I was wondering if England manager Southgate might even take a look at him! His only downside is that he didn’t shine in either of the cup finals, but as long as he's a consistent performer throughout the season, I don't mind. I have just rewarded him with a new three year contract. Oakley-Boothe isn't too happy about his playing time, but 44 appearances is not too shabby. He needs to remember that when he joined this club we were favourites for relegation and now we are in Europe. Loanee Kassa served us ably. Every time he played, he did well. I did try and prioritise players we owned over him for minutes though, thinking long term. I currently have no intention to renew his loan or try and make it permanent. The Portuguese pair of Tavares and Cafú were valuable squad players coming off the bench 67 times between them. Strikers After a slow start to the season, Karamoko soon found form and was our highest scoring forward with 30 goals. He was narrowly pipped to the accolade of ECL Golden Boot by Derry's Colm, they both scored 10 goals but Colm did it in less minutes. Brumado came second in the League's signing of the season poll. For me, he's been excellent. Brumado works so hard all game, pressing opposition, and still found the time to score 26 goals. Striker Fortune scored less goals in more games this time around, compared with last season. I will take the blame for that though. I likely damaged his confidence by making it clear he was no longer first choice. If the right offer comes in this summer, I will consider it. Coming in to provide an alternative option who contributes goals, Ganago certainly served his purpose. I have a clause whereby I can sign him for £1.8m but I'm thinking I might wait and see what other options are available to me. Despite his great potential, Ekitike did not get tonnes of playing time. He was brought in to solve a short-term injury crisis, and that he did. But when the first choice forwards returned to fitness, it was only fair they rejoined the team.

Form a little rockier than before but one league loss in a month is by no means a disaster! Still a nice buffer at the top. Hope the injuries stop soon and you find your tactical groove.

Taca De Portugal Final: Santa Clara 0 - 5 Estrela da Amadora Our domestic cup final could not have gone better. Karamoko scored in 24 seconds for the second game in a row - now that must be some sort of world record? Somewhat surprisingly, given the scoreline, we had less possession than our opponents. Our strikers are just absolutely clinical though. Both Karamoko and Brumado scored braces to take the game to 4-0 up in less than 40 minutes. Right back Costinha has been unbelievable since signing in January and he set up two of the goals with pin point crosses. I was in such a good position that at just 60 minutes that I was able to look ahead to the ECL Final, which would be just four days later, and sub off star players Karamoko, Brumado, Dack and Costinha. I also subbed of Sinkgraven for a rest, forgetting he is not registered for the ECL and so should have remained on the pitch. Even after the changes we remained in control and substitutes Cruz and Ganago linked up to score a fifth. At the full time whistle the Estrela faithful were seen setting off flares. I was delighted to lift my first trophy as Estrela manager. The first trophy of any kind in this incarnation of the club. This win meant that we qualified for the Europa League next season. I clearly need to brush up on my Portuguese Liga rulebook as I thought 5th place got us ECL when in fact it was the cup win that was important for European qualification. Europa Conference League Final: Getafe 0 - 1 Estrela da Amadora We knew that Getafe would provide a tougher test than Santa Clara. The media stated that Getafe were favourites but as we were feeling full of confidence I decided to stick with the positive attacking mentality. There was a pre-match selection headache; with Mansur and Varela both injured, and Sinkgraven not registered for the ECL, back up defensive midfielder Tavares had to deputise at left back. Despite not starting there all season, the left footer has come off the bench many a time throughout the campaign to see out the game at full back. Due to injuries and a small ECL squad, 15 year old CM Celikkaya, who has just joined the academy, was on the bench for the final. We dominated possession, but despite this Getafe had more meaningful chances than us and therefore the better xG. This was a very tight game. In the end, it was a moment of quality that decided the final. A pin point through ball from the maestro Praet, followed by a composed finish by our top goalscorer Karamoko. Estrela have done the unthinkable! Two years after being promoted from the second division, we are now European champions and cup double winners. Patrice was happy to see his club win a European trophy and would have also been delighted to see the prize money come in after steadily investing in the club over the last two seasons. Across the ECL campaign no side scored more goals than us (48 goals), we kept the most clean sheets (12), won the most tackles (385) and completed the most dribbles (301). Our run to the final could be considered somewhat fortuitous as we did not face any traditional heavyweights in the knockouts. That said, for a club with no European pedigree, we were underdogs in every tie we faced. It should also be remembered that we beat both Chelsea and Juventus to get to the latter stages. The parties in the suburbs of Lisbon went late into the night!

Thanks my friend - update coming later tonight!

May 2024 First, some brief updates. For the third time this season, central midfielder Oakley-Boothe complained about his lack of playing time. He had started the season as first choice but since has been overtaken by the arrival of Praet and the form of Dack. In a tense confrontation I told him "you need to accept you're now a squad player" and to my relief he said he accepted this. I was relieved as I have an affinity to him as he was one of my first signings. Our second set of training renovations this season concluded and we now have 'excellent' facilities. I asked Evra to increase our junior coaching budget, he agreed and we now have 'good' youth recruitment. Finally, we hired a new Head of Sports Science, Antonio Paulos. Now to the football and there was a European Semi Final to be contested. Like ourselves, Rapid Wein can be considered surprise members of the final four. We went into the game confident, but the five star performance that followed was more than I expected. As you can see from the image below, there were big performances all over the pitch. Defensive midfielder Danilovic rarely ever scores, but chose today to bag a brace. This dominant display meant that a spot in the Conference League Final was nearly guaranteed. Complacency did creep in a little in the second leg and we lost on the night, away in Vienna. Luckily our first leg lead was so extensive, so we won 6-2 on aggregate. Getafe beat Wolfsburg 2-1 on aggregate, setting up a Portugal vs Spain club Final. Bring it on! To celebrate making the Final I swiftly asked the board for a new contract and they rewarded me with a two year extension. Against Moreirense in the league the value of squad depth was demonstrated when our fringe players Ganago and Sinkgraven got onto the scoresheet. The Gil Vicente match was my 100th game managing Estrela - a lot has happened in just two seasons! This was our game in hand, we won handily and rose up into the European places finally. To my surprise, we moved up to 4th. I had been so fixated with catching Portimonense in 5th that it hadn't occured to me that Vitoria could also be caught. I looked at Vitoria's results and saw that they had drawn with Arouca and then lost to both Benfica and Porto. Their form had plummeted as ours was on the rise. The only negative from this game was that left back Mansur suffered a thigh strain, ruling him out for five weeks and therefore missing both the Taca de Portugal and Conference League finals. Sadly 4th place could not be secured as after winning our game in hand we then faltered and lost our final game of the season. We scored the fastest ever league goal (in just 24 seconds) but went on to suffer a 3-2 loss to Estoril. Luckily Vitoria drew their final game of the season so we finished 5th on goal difference. Benfica completed an impressive 'invincible' season. More importantly, Estrela finished a place better than last season, collected 10 more points, scored 20 more goals and a better goal difference by 10. Progress! I have left this update on a cliff-hanger by posting it before we play the Taca de Portugal final against Santa Clara and the Europa Conference League final against Getafe. Wish us luck!

Stumbled across this and have just read every update. I really like your writing style @AM23, nice and clear to follow. Great work with Llanidloes, the year-on-year progress is clear.

April 2024 We began April with a lot to play for. Three points away from 5th in the league, with a game in hand, and in the latter stage of both the Taca de Portugal and the Europa Conference League. In the league, we started the month with two tough games. First up was 4th placed Vitoria, followed by 3rd place Porto. Key man Danilovic was ruled out of the Vitoria game with a bruised thigh, so I experimented and played centre back Nunes in defensive midfield for the first time. It was a close game and a draw was probably a fair result, although we did have a winner ruled out by VAR due to a marginal offside. Our goal is listed somewhat unfairly as a Silva own goal, as Dack's shot was going in prior to a deflection as far as I could see. The Porto game did not go well at all. We were deservedly beaten and I gave the team the hairdryer treatment after the game. The loss put us six points behind 5th and 7th place Rio Ave were now level on points with us. Things were not looking good! Despite this, we had a much better time in the Europa Conference League. The Quarter Finals paired us against mid-table Swiss side Lugano and they posed us no threat. We beat them 3-0 away in the first leg and could have scored many more, hitting the post three times. Defender Kovacevic was named man of the match and afterwards he thanked me for keeping the faith with him, as I'd returned him to the team straight after his long-term injury. We did not allow complacency to creep in, in the second leg, as we calmly won 1-0 to secure and aggregate 4-0 victory and a Semi Final fixture against Rapid Wien to come (the other Semi will be Getafe vs Wolfsburg). Back in the league and back in form. We beat Nacional thanks to our strike partnership of Brumado and Karamoko, and Porto did us a favour by beating Portimonense closing our gap to them. At the end of the month we beat Chaves who could not handle the pace of our attacks and gave away two clumsy penalties. These were scored by two different players as Dack had been subbed off before the second. We ended the month three points behind Portimonense, the same as at the end of the prior month. I had a nice surprise in the Taca de Portugal, as I was completely unaware that draws in the Semi Finals would be decided by away goals! We had scored two away at Porto, but went into the second leg playing to win and unaware a low scoring draw would do the job. Despite instructing the team to mark him tightly, Evanilson scored within four minutes. Right back Costinha scored an amazing solo goal to level things up. We drew 1-1 and I was gearing up for extra time, only to be told we were into the Final. It is a Final that nobody would have predicted. Santa Clara beat Vitoria, meaning either Estrela or Santa Clara will win the cup! Qualifying for European football is in our hands. We have four games to go (Moreirense, Rio Ave, Gil Vicente and Estoril) and our rivals Portimonense have three (Chaves, Rio Ave and Gil Vicente) and have inferior goal difference. We need to play to the best of our ability and not slip up.

It would ruin the narrative of my story here a little but to be honest I would be minded to continue onward as I'm really enjoying what I am building with Estrela.

March 2024 For the past two months we have been chasing Portimonense, hoping they slip up so that we can overtake them in the race for European football. Our home game against them to start the month was therefore very important. It was the perfect game to score six for the first time. Things started poorly as striker Ekitike went off injured with a twisted knee after just 10 minutes, but it turned out to be crucial as his replacement Brumado went on to get a 10/10 match rating after scoring two and setting up two. Dack had a great game, scoring twice, and Praet was sublime and provided three assists. That win closed the gap to two points behind them, with a game in hand. Such is the rollercoaster that is this season, that of course we followed this up with a league loss against Santa Clara that set us back to five points behind! This was one of those classic frustratingly unjust results - we had 16 shots, they had one, but we lost the game. In between these games we played Porto in the first leg of the Taca de Portugal Semi Final. We had more shots, possession and xG so a draw felt disappointing, but a draw away at Porto is not to be sniffed at. Truth be told, we played poorly against Midtjylland in the first leg of the Conference League Round of 16. We looked slightly better when our subs came on and were fortuitous that their goalkeeper messed up to gift us the winner. Before the second leg we played Arouca in the league, where 'keeper Lanzillota returned after seven weeks out. He fumbled the ball from a cross to gift them a goal, but we won 4-1. Based off this, I decided to play number two goalkeeper Foderingham in the big European game. This may not have been wise as we conceded three times, but luckily Dack & co. were in great form and we scored one more than them. 6-4 winners on aggregate and through to the Quarter Finals to play Swiss side Lugano. Finally, to end the month I was proud we were able to draw away at league leaders Benfica who have been dominant all season. Foderingham played really well this time. However, after the game he twisted his ankle and was ruled out for five weeks. I have never known a season with so many goalkeeper injuries! Lanzillota is now back to being first choice, by default. Two interesting things happened at the end of the month, in relation to my strikers. Firstly, I was saddened to find out that Yassin Fortune had no-showed training. After a great season last year, I can understand why he is disappointed not to be first choice, but I was hoping for more professionalism. He accepted his fine and promised me never again. Lets see if he sticks to his word. In more positive news, Palmeiras bid £5.25m for my other forward Brumado, I rejected it and he did not get upset. I thought he'd be banging on my door demanding to leave to such a big club, so this is reassuring that he is invested in the project and the club's stature has grown to that which players are proud to be here. £5.25m would be a great amount to reinvest in the summer, but I have things to achieve this season and I'm very much enjoying managing Brumado. After bemoaning how poor the youth intake preview sounded, I was ecstatic to find we had a talented batch of players joining us. Facilities and youth recruitment were improved between the two updates, so perhaps that played a role. Hopefully I can develop some of these players over time.