Ray46

Update 4a; Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona “Go out and enjoy” This is the fourth player I lost to Ulot…I have all their names in a note with a reminder set every year; I am curious how they will develop. But the HoyD is still optimistic about the intake: League table half way: We started the season playing very well. We dominated every game and should have won the first 6, but we drew 3 games and I still can’t believe it. After that we were around a mid table position. I let some older players go, to let the new players get as much playing time as possible. I tried subbing them in after 60-70 minutes to close out games, but we ended up giving up goals due to mistakes and bad build up play. We have a determined and professional bunch so thank god morale is still very good. The last three games before the winter break, we had some bad opponents. We won all three games with very much rotated squads. With our playing style a lower quality player in peak condition performs better than a better but fatigued player. The league table flatters us. One loss and we could be back in 12th. We need a bit more maturity from our youngsters to finish off the games better to challenge for the playoffs. We are in a good place to stay away from relegation for the next seasons. Big upset in the Copa: Finances; Barcelona worthy…. I hope the board will do some cash injections now and then. With the current squad we will be able to realize the board's vision and not get relegated. Improving the squad will depend on having a lot of decent players to have a fit lineup every game. Star players would be a stroke of luck, but that’s not to be expected with our current level of facilities. We won’t be upgrading for a while...

Update 3b; Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona “Go out and enjoy” Thanks, but we could use another 575k. We had a good season. Never in relegation problems and we were in the playoffs race all season. We scored a lot, but the defense was horrible. We conceded the most goals from corners. Also we conceded 12 penalties. Look at those green arrows, all in one season!!! And this player in two seasons, captain material: Good Intake, but no elite talents, After I signed them, Jofre Giraldez was an elite talent after all. A good mid table finish for the U19’s. But we lost some potential gems to Olot. The end of season report. Higher wage budget, but the finances remain bad. Downgraded facilities and no money to invest. Although we are improving commercially. All the 30+ players were released, they had bad personalities and they were declining.

I'd say take the money. Invest in new facilities and new players will come through that will make the team a lot better. Let's say he sells for 20 million in 5 seasons. You would get 10 million or 2 million per season. In those 5 years with better facilities you have 5 times 15 players = 75 players coming through. I think 2 or 3 of those players will be even better than Fallon and worth more.

Update 3a; Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona “Go out and enjoy” Half way through the second season and the board is happy. My contract is extended for 2 years. I immediately asked for a new coaching course, studying for National A now. Tried for a Youth Recruitment upgrade as well: And Junior Coaching. I understand what they mean; Financially it’s not looking good: We are bleeding money: But you can’t say I’m not trying: First half of the season we had good results. We drag out a lot of draws. Defense is still terrible. Also we can’t keep hold of the ball, so we get under pressure a lot. I have one CD with decent jumping, so I have adjusted my tactic to force opposition outside and inviting crosses so our CD’s clear a lot of them. We concede a lot of shots, but most of them are easy saves from headers. My GK’s only decent attribute is reflexes, so that also kind of works. Also made the CD’s ball playing defenders and encouraged them to dribble more. When they dribble more they don’t hoof the ball long immediately and we got some better build up play. They all have dribbling attributes under 6, but it feels like something Johan Cruyff would do too. The last few games we won a few games and shot up the league table. 8th place is a bit flattering, the gap between promotion playoffs and relegation playoffs is just 12 points. A small form dip will get us in trouble fast. We’re going to need about 45 points to stay out of trouble, so having 26 half way is encouraging. With the OG players we will have to make some tough decisions. Most of them are team leaders and still a little bit better than the youngsters. But they hardly get above a 7 in training and most of them have low determination. Mentality is what will keep us fighting in lower leagues at the end of games when oppositions are tired. I tend to bias it over pure skill. I want to create a professional culture in the club. Fassani will probably get an extension, Josu is out for 5 months so he will probably decline a lot. If he doesn’t I’ll reconsider for him. All the others have to go. That will take the depth out of my defensive options, but I have hope. I will decide in April when the youngsters arrive. The intake preview looks good. 3 new centre-backs would be perfect. An extra GK would add some depth as well. If the two strikers can make an immediate impact, that could mean the end for Fassani as well. We will decide in April.

Guillermo Valdéz 24A is a beast. It's like you won the lottery with a player like that early in the save. Fingers crossed you can hold on to him for a while.

The thread is awesome for sure. Every save is a story in FM, making the save as hard as this one adds even more drama.

Update 2a; Because it’s awesome…. Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona “Go out and enjoy” Wow, the honour…. We go to a natural grass pitch as well, thank god.

Update 2 Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona “Go out and enjoy” Season 23/24Summary: We started the season well and stayed undefeated for 6 matches. This helped the team cohesion and the thrust in the manager. We only lost two league games until Christmas. But when we lost we lost big to Villareal and Valencia. We also lost the first round of the cup. Leganés play two divisions higher and the quality showed. Lots of high scoring games and the reason why is explained later. In the new year we were defeated by Valencia again. They had the most quality players in their team. After that we went on a ten game unbeaten run. We kept close to Valencia and they started to lose points. Again lot’s of goals in the matches, trying to outscore the opposition. So on the last day we needed a draw to secure the league title. In the teamtalk I said to the players, just like Johan Cruyff did in Barcelona’s 1992 Champions League final: Tactics: The original squad was just 19 players, of whom 8 were 16 years old. We had to play the whole season with only one GK. A 1* 16 year old. Also we had only one central defender. If I would put all senior players in their best role a 4-2-3-1 was the logical thing to do. Both wingers and the AM are the star players with plenty of skill and firepower. We were strong going forward and shaky at the back. I was really keen on trying the new low block options in my tactic, but soaking up pressure is not what this team is made for. So I had to use the same old counter press tactic. Our CD only strength was his jumping reach, so he won most long balls from pressed opposition GK’s and CD’s. And the less work our GK has to do, the better. Players: The player of the season is Pau Morer. An ex Swansea player who scored 18 goals and made 16 assists and 7 POM performances. Average rating of 7.58. My staff thinks he would even be a star player in the division above this one. Of course we tried to renew his contract, because he has only one year left. Unfortunately he is not interested in resigning. He is on a part time contract. Normally contracts in Spain have a compulsory release fee. His part time contract hasn’t, perhaps we could try to sell him to invest the money in facilities. There has been some interest, but I think just riding out his contract and keeping his creativity in our team will serve us better. Youth: I replaced my HOYD for a better one. Professionalism is the most important attribute in player development IMO. The youth intake preview was promising. It turned out to be a good crop of players. 4 Elite talents and a lot of players with good personalities and /or MH styles. I dropped all players with bad personalities. The only complaint I can make is that I have only one GK in the intake and he is worse in potential than the GK I already have. So it will be key to keep opponents away from our goal. Best talents. A winger with the same potential as Morer. Will be in the rotation next season. A full back, has two senior FB(L) in front of him in the rotation. So will have to be patient. A DM/CM who will go into the first team rotation. He will replace my aging DLP. Obviously he is not a play maker so we will have to adjust the tactic for him. Unfortunately he is susceptible to injuries. A defender. Bad personality. The only exception I made. I am forced to put him in the rotation. We don’t have any defenders and the potential is there. I have a lot of high determination players so hopefully the squad will change his determination positively. My best players aren’t great mentors, so it’s a gamble. Finances and Upgrades: We are bleeding about 500k a season. I have a lot of wage budget room, but I hope our promotion and attractive football style will attract some sponsors and fans. No facilities were upgraded, but I will have a National B license this summer and I have a one year contract renewal. Career: @WhiteCat33 and @Perre8. You were right a whole new way of playing. Normally I would search for a GK and a CD to fill the gaps in my team. Now I'm retraining players for multiple positions. The constraints give some freedom in some strange way.

I feel the power of the dark side LOL

Haha, thank you. We'll see, first have season went very well.

Sant Andreu: A Dutch manager in Barcelona “Go out and enjoy” Club and Manager Introduction: As a middle aged Amsterdam born Dutchman you can probably guess who my biggest football hero is and what my favorite clubs are. Johan Cruyff, Ajax and Barcelona will forever be connected to each other. As you all know the way Barcelona have handled their business recently has disappointed a lot of their fans. Johan is probably shaking his head in heaven. I have been reading the youth academy challenge forums for a few years now. I love the stories some of you write and take us with you on your journey. I like the scouting, buying and selling part of FM, so I never committed to a challenge like this. The downside of scouting is that it takes a lot of time and when you have found your 15 to 20 wonderkids it gets repetitive really quickly and prevents me from going really deep into a save. This year is the year I’m going to try it and I decided to go to Spain. Four professional leagues to build up the club slowly and a mammoth of a task to beat Madrid and Barcelona. After I holidayed to the 10th of July I started looking for promoted clubs in the five different Segunda División RFEF leagues. In the Segunda División RFEF 3 my eye fell on Sant Andreu in Barcelona. The club has good starting facilities. Average training and youth facilities, average youth coaching and adequate recruitment. A modern 6500 all seater stadium with a synthetic pitch. After I googled the club I found out the stadium is just 10 km from Camp Nou. A 30 minute bike ride passed La Sagrada Familia. I realized I had found my save. I will take a club from Barcelona and lead it to La Liga and Champions League glory, just like my hero did with FC Barcelona. I will show the FC Barcelona board how it's done and build the club through my own La Masia. The team is predicted to be 14th in an 18 team league. Five teams will be relegated, so we have a fight on our hands. Our odds to win are 150-1. The plan for the first few years is just to not get relegated. There is a good base of fans in our stadium which will hopefully help with finances. Players: The team is suited to play a typical Spanish 4-2-3-1 passing style. A strong team going forward with a lot of talent and experience. On the other hand we lack depth at CD and only one 15 year old GK, so we will be shaky at the back. Of course no transfers were made. First we had to get a staff and most importantly a HOYD; I have to say I was happy to find Mario Blanco. It’s his first job in professional football, but he is very suited to our club. Spirited personality is ok, 19 working with youngsters and he loves control possession and the 4-2-3-1. Career overview: