dkouv

Operário dos Açores – Season 4 (2026/27) Liga 3 I thought things would get better this season, but instead they got worse. My older players’ attributes dropped off a cliff, and the youngsters were not improving much, so the quality of our first 11 was far below what is required in the league. It took us 11 games to get our first win, and things didn’t get much better from there. In the end we went into the relegation playoff, and were deservedly relegated. To be honest I am looking forward to playing a division down next season (I did not get sacked), this transition to youngsters is never easy to manage, and doing it in Liga 3 was definitely too much for us. I just hope we don’t get relegated again! Players: All dreadful, but our only remaining original XI player of a decent age, Tiago Oliveira, did ok. A few of the youngsters are starting to develop too, so there is hope. Youth intake: Another good one, just look at these personalities! The future is definitely looking bright, as long as we can get there. Facilities/finances: Our board decided to splash out on a stadium upgrade (1,496 seats), the main effect of which was to switch our finances to “insecure”. No transfers of note, but Benfica U19 bid for one of my youngsters while I was holidaying between games, so he might actually be good! Season | League | Pos. | Europe | Best player | Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Campeonato Gr. D | 5 | n/a | Paulo Bessa (ST) | 2024/25 | Campeonato Gr. D | 2 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | Promoted through playoffs 2025/26 | Liga 3 South | 8 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | 1st in relegation playoff 2026/27 | Liga 3 South | 9 | n/a | Tiago Oliveira (DR) | Relegated Facilities ---------- Season | Coaching | Recruitment | Training Fac. | Youth Fac. | Stadium ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Average | Above average | Average | Basic | 800 2024/25 | Average | Excellent | Average | Basic | 800 2025/26 | Average | Excellent | Below average | Basic | 1500 2026/27 | Average | Excellent | Below average | Basic | 2996

@the_hdk congrats!! Completing with a Polish team is really impressive - are you the first one to do it? (to complete in Poland)

Operário dos Açores – Season 3 (2025/26) Liga 3 The 3rd division in Portugal is rather strange: you play the other 9 teams in your division twice over the course of 7 months, then almost all of those points are wiped off and you enter a winner- or loser- takes all promotion or relegation playoff. We started off ok but a long losing streak meant we finished 8th/10, and went into the relegation playoff against 2 other teams. Luckily one of these teams was really bad and our form picked up, so we won most of our playoff games and stayed up. I think my results were very morale-driven this season, basically when one of my CBs started complaining about moving to a bigger club, we lost 5 in a row, then for some reason in the play-off his unhappiness disappeared and we started playing well again. Players: Most of our original starters are edging towards mid-30s, so we were really short on bodies this year, but thanks to the play-off we managed to scrape by. That being said, one of the youngsters from "intake 0", Diogo Martins, has improved very well, and still has his professional personality - although his ups and downs in morale seemed to have a bit too much of an effect on our results this season :o Youth intake: Finally, a good one! Most importantly, I got some centre mids - an area where I’m desperately short, with Coventry-born Portuguese Dannie Simcox 03c the best of the lot (he basically went straight into the first team). Facilities: Training facilities got downgraded, and somehow we’re now in a higher-capacity stadium and paying rent (also, the stadium was built in 2025; not sure if I missed a message or it's some kind of bug). No transfers, and our finances are getting into a bit of a downward spiral since we turned pro. Season | League | Pos. | Europe | Best player | Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Campeonato Gr. D | 5 | n/a | Paulo Bessa (ST) | 2024/25 | Campeonato Gr. D | 2 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | Promoted through playoffs 2025/26 | Liga 3 South | 8 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | 1st in relegation playoff Facilities ---------- Season | Coaching | Recruitment | Training Fac. | Youth Fac. | Stadium ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Average | Above average | Average | Basic | 800 2024/25 | Average | Excellent | Average | Basic | 800 2025/26 | Average | Excellent | Below average | Basic | 1500

Operário dos Açores – Season 2 (2024/25) Campeonato de Portugal I may have been inspired by @XaW because we actually went on and got promoted this season! I would say it was rather undeserved though. We had one great run half-way through the season, but the other teams kept dropping points so somehow this was enough to see us finish 2nd with a measly 48 points. We then squeezed out a bunch of 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws in the playoffs, most of them by sneaking away goals on the counter against the run of play. Still, up to the 3rd division we go! Players: Pedro Tavares was a rock at the back, but my best centre mid is leaving on a free and another is retiring so we are in for a tough ride next season. Youth intake: Again nothing to write home about unfortunately, I hope at some point we start getting some proper players as my first team isn’t getting any younger. At least in Rúben Leal 04 we may eventually get a proper left back for the squad. Facilities: Upgraded recruitment twice, and we’re turning pro after our promotion. Hopefully this will see some of the youngsters start developing a bit faster. No transfers. Season | League | Pos. | Europe | Best player | Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Campeonato Gr. D | 5 | n/a | Paulo Bessa (ST) | 2024/25 | Campeonato Gr. D | 2 | n/a | Pedro Tavares (DC) | Promoted through playoffs Facilities ---------- Season | Coaching | Recruitment | Training Fac. | Youth Fac. | Stadium ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Average | Above average | Average | Basic | 800 2024/25 | Average | Excellent | Average | Basic | 800

nice! Maybe I picked the wrong Azores club I mean I'm up for a challenge but I don't have padders' levels of patience... Some of my players are decent too (though not this good), but the lack of depth was really killing me in the second half of the season. Guess the make-it-or-break-it moment will come in a few seasons' time when my current decent players retire and I'm left with the youths, hope they are good enough by then. Good luck in the third tier!

@XaW haha well great minds think alike and all that I think you got a bit of head start there, I got some catching up to do! Seriously, well done on the promotion though - I think it might take me a while unless I can work some tactical miracles next year. I also noticed the homegrown rule towards the end of the year as it meant I couldn't play the players from my new intake (somehow I was on the HG limit before the intake without noticing it)

Operário dos Açores – Season 1 (2023/24) - Campeonato de Portugal I decided to give the challenge a go in Portugal this year, and was tempted to start in the Azores islands. Not like I’m there in real life I guess, but still, the thought of living in what I assume is an idyllic village on a paradise-like island is a nice distraction. Campeonato de Portugal We started off great and were in the playoff spots around Christmas, but once the players got tired our form dropped off massively. Still finished a respectable 5th. Although, that's only 5 spots and 8 points above relegation places, this league is tough! Players: Apart from not having a left back, the first 11 seems decent for this level, but some of them are really ageing and there is ZERO depth. Paulo Bessa did well, banging in 25 out of our 50-ish goals this season. Youth intake: Looks terrible despite some 4.5* PA players, hope this is just a blip and not a trend. Facilities: Managed to upgrade youth coaching and recruitment, but our basic youth facilities seem to be holding us back. Hope I can upgrade coaching at least one more time next year to give ourselves a chance of getting out of this division. No transfers Season | League | Pos. | Europe | Best player | Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Campeonato Gr. D | 5 | n/a | Paulo Bessa | Facilities ---------- Season | Coaching | Recruitment | Training Fac. | Youth Fac. | Stadium ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023/24 | Average | Above average | Average | Basic | 800

IGNORE: just a stupid Mac security thing, had to enable permissions for Steam in settings... Anybody else having the disc write error below? Using a Mac. Can't install the update because of this, tried restarting steam/Mac/clearing cache/verifying game files, nothing seems to help.