MarcxD

April 2039 Amazingly, we are in the semi finals of the Europa League after beating a second straight Dutch team, and we are still in with a chance of getting to the final after only losing by one in the away game against Juventus! However, we also had a bit of a mare in the league so just hoping we don't have some nightmarish end of the season. Making it exciting for ourselves again. Just running away with the title doesn't really seem to be in the cards for this save lol. "Ultimately, you're the manager"... quite!

March 2039 / Intake We are on a roll right now, making it easily to the QF's of the Europa League! Still 8 games to go, but with this kind of form we should be heading straight to another title. Not great, really. I will be signing a new HoYD after the contract of my current one ends, also seeing as how quite regularly the determination isn't great from the best talents.

Thanks! The Polish league has slowly improved; after it dropped down to 21st after my first season here it is now 18th. We should be getting back at some better qualification spots within a few years, also with previous poor seasons not counting anymore.

January - February 2039 I sold my striker Hagerty during the season as he wanted to go and it was a decent profit for him. During the actual transfer period not too much of note, but a few weeks afterwards I did lose Da Silva to Malmö. Same story, decent profit for a decent player. Since I already signed new players for his position (mostly left back) that was fine. I did spend money - Bitton & Hernandez are new midfielders; Devetak and Alberto talented backs; Luiz a free new winger and Mebrahtu a new striker. Although Mebrahtu was signed as a replacement for Hagerty, I was stupid. I hadn't noticed that he had already played for two sides this season, so he won't be able to play until next season.... (also not in Europe as registration for that ends before our february transfer period). After our qualifying run in August where we beat Shakhtar to make it to the CL I knew we could beat them, but to win 6-1 twice is an amazing result. One point added to our lead to Legia after beating them but also drawing once. We are definitely the favorites for the title but with the added stress of European knock out games (hopefully more than 2) who knows.

Haha,that would be a great title! -- Although confusing apart from us with an actual side called Lech in the league

September - December 2038 A lot better than this time last year, we have been winning most games in the league (although disappointingly out early in the cup again). The CL was a similar story like last year, once again we met up with Roma and managed to beat them once. Interestingly, not only have we done well, it seems Legia is back - still unbeaten! It's not quite Köln vs Bayern level of winning pretty much all games there are to play, but this might turn into a championship run where we need to be quite consistent. For the second year running we have just managed to beat Roma to the third spot in the group.

July - August 2038 Would you look at that: we lost the supercup! Who would've thought. Actually also losing twice in the league in August, so yeah not a great start, although against Legia right now it's always going to be a close call. On the other hand we did beat Pogon away, the main rival last year. But more importantly: we made it to the CL group again! The first two draws were relatively kind to us but I was definitely unsure when we drew Shakhtar. In reality we were quite clearly the better side, though.

Summer 2038 Only a year after the last takeover, another one happened. Nothing of note though this time. Transfers wise, however, this was the summer of the breakthrough. Meaning -- the money has come rolling in. Not always due to my will: So, these are all the outgoing transfers: Sadly, Grzeszczyk's limited fee was also paid. I really did not want to lose him, but I couldn't get rid off that low fee so he's gone to recently promoted to the PL side Crystal Palace, along side one of the British MC's the former chairperson of the club signed last summer. He was sold for about double the amount we paid for him, so not too bad. Yao was a fantastic central defender for us from Ivory Coast, bought for a little more than 200K so that was a slam dunk. Hack also: a year on loan and then bought for 500K, now gone for 14 times that amount plus 50% of any future fee. He was an amazingly prolific goalscorer and assister for us, so he'll definitely be missed. Dolezal was the last main one, the big talent left for his limited fee, however City has given him back on loan for a year. I didn't want any more loans, but with it happening on the 31st of August I didn't have much time to get a replacement in. Overall, I'm not too annoyed at losing him as with his fickle personality he's probably never going to be quite Manchester City level, but the amount is a bit low due to the limited fee his agent demanded when signing for us. After the CL we of course already had quite a budget and with the sales even more, but I kept myself back from doing anything too crazy. Hammann, who was twice on loan here in the past, has now signed permanently as a new central defender; Abdulahi as well although he's also a back. I did overpay for him slightly. Meier is an AML, more or less a panicky replacement buy for Hack as I don't have much there to go straight into the first team. He is definitely not as good as Hack, but we'll see how he'll adapt to the Polish League. He is only 22. The only other 'senior' player is Elis Leonard, a back-up central defender. The others aren't quite as sure to make it here quickly (or at all, of course), but there is more room to spend on talents. Halilov is an example: a very talented striker but he'll stay on loan first for a year at Ludogorets. Especially as we keep upgrading our facilities.

April - May 2038 We have been in great form, but we were quite a way behind. With one game remaining, we are three points behind, but as we have a better goal difference, a win would make us champions again. It wasn't a close affair! A very young squad now. This also explains perhaps why we have been a little bit too inconsistent in the league, but the future seems very bright - both with players from the academy and young foreigners. Even the more mature players are mostly in their mid-20s so even if they are to leave some money should be expected for them. Sadly it's been rough getting rid of the limited fees for young homegrown players Grzeszczyk and Kostyrka, so I just hope I won't lose them for cheap.

January - March 2038 Some really rough results from mid-February. While we did beat Angers in the Europa League, we have now played 5 league games in a row without winning and also went out of the Europa League although against a Bundesliga side that's to be expected. And, for once, our title rivals have managed to be consistently winning. We definitely need to turn this around soon if we want to have any chance at getting another title. The fans are already unhappy.... Definitely the biggest talent at the club so far, although his fickle personality is a big worry.

Transfers & Intake 2038 Four new signings - Horvat a very talented central midfielder who'll go straight in the first team; Sakellaropoulous and Rott rotational options. Quite a few outgoing, but most are from the B team who weren't going to make it here. The first team players are those actually leaving for money. Van Overbeek, Höner & Szövetes are all central midfielders. Van Overbeek of course wanted to go to the Middle East for the money, Höner wasn't really playing anymore and Szövetes was okay but making a decent profit on him was good enough reason to sell him. It's the biggest outgoing transfer so far. Rieckman, a relatively young central defender, never quite lived up to his potential here, so for a decent sum he was let go, albeit to one of our main domestic rivals. Not very promising this time around.

September - December 2037 We have drawn too often in the league. Add a hopeless performance in the cup, and the domestic performance hasn't been great really. But: We did get points in the CL! Remarkably, our European season isn't over yet. Even with the points dropped, we are not too far from the lead. Still, I would love some more consistent winning performances...

July - August 2037 Two key things: We have qualified for the Champions League! The draws in the champions path were pretty easy, to be fair but we definitely did our job. The other thing... I have lost another supercup. I am not sure how many tries this is now, but a national supercup seems to be my kryptonite this save! Whatever group we were drawn in was going to be ridiculous, but yeah if we get anything more than 0 points it would be a strong result. The money is going to be so important to further get those facility upgrades in.

Summer Transfers 2037 To start off with, I had my first takeover happen this career. The new owners want to sign two midfielders from the UK. Not exactly the kind of transfers I would do, but I have chosen not to try to cancel those deals. The 950k they've put in almost pays for those two transfers, so I'm not going to complain. As I said before, I have decided to keep Julian Hack permanently at the club and bought him from Freiburg after his great performance scoring and assisting last season on loan. The other signings are mosty talents for the future, but there are two or three that will be relevant for the first team right away. Mbala is another new central midfielder whom I had already signed before the new owners decided to buy two more, but they will all get game time. Zahriev and Dolezal are a bit more of a question mark, but they should both feature; they are a young striker and a young winger from Bulgaria and Czechia respectively. Still not really any big business outgoing. The influx of money is mostly prize money so far. I do hope to get some nice sales in the next few years though. A big increase, and only Legia is now deemed to have a higher rep.

May 2037 After three straight wins, we were already champions!! So I let my young players play the last two games, which maybe was a bit overkill as they didn't manage to win those games. After a poor season overall for Legia, they did turn out to be the best of the rest, but look at how close the battle was between positions 2 and 6! Pogon was perhaps the key competitor for us throughout the season but in the end they didn't even get European football. As for us, with 68 points we got 7 points less than we did last year when we finished in second. Not quite the dominant championship seasons I had at Köln! But more importantly - my first Polish title! May many more follow. CL qualification next year. With a lot of luck in the draw we might have a chance at some lovely CL money. This is the last year of the loanees, as I am not keeping Laaksonen and Hammann. Hack, however, will stay as I am buying him. It's not necessarily the stars, but his insane performance that let me to that decision. Nelson Janga and the three young homegrown players Grzeszczyk, Kostyrka and Grabowski were also very key this season - and hopefully they can keep that going in the future. However, I am wary about their development not quite going as fast as I would like.

March - April 2037 / Intake Once again a lot of players with seemingly great potential, but also once again with a couple of them having low determination. Amazing result against Feyenoord, as the Dutch league is now really quite strong. It finally took a PL side to overtake us. Financially this has been good, but tbf the KO rounds of the Conference League don't give that much money. In the league we have been decent, but still inconsistent. Very convincing wins are followed by points dropped. With one more game in April to go... The top 6 is still within 10 points of each other! With all the other teams being even more inconsistent than us, we have a nice but small lead going into the final stretch. We have two tough games remaining, away at Lech and at Legia. If we lose both those, things might get hairy. Otherwise I think we should be champions.

January - February 2037 Not the greatest of starts to the new year with us dropping a few points. But we seem to be back in it again, and we managed to even get a round further in Europe by beating Brondby. Making it more exciting for ourselves by letting Pogon especially catch up. And as long as there are 5 teams within 10 points of us, a lot of things can still happen...

Transfers Outgoing there wasn't too much happening of note. However I definitely spend some money to further strengthen our team, and also got quite a few youngsters in, with European scouting now being done more prolifically. As we obviously don't have much money to spend and our reputation isn't great, it's fun to look at the lesser leagues of Europe and see if there's any potential there. So that's why there are players coming in from Luxembourg, Macedonia and Belarus. While I signed a load of South Americans when at VVV, I'll probably try to focus more on European players here at Lechia. The two 'big' money transfers in Daouda Yao and Chris Hagerty are also the two transfers that are directly relevant to the first team. Hagerty is a Welsh striker at 24 and Daouda Yao an Ivorian central defender at 20. Both of those came to my attention through their agents I believe.

Thanks mate!

September - December 2036 September was sort of rough although it looks worse than it was because we started the Conference group away at Anderlecht, probably the toughest game of the 6; and our first Cup game was immediately against Legia. Losing afterwards to Radomiak was annoying though. We dropped a lot of points in October as well, but we didn't lose any more games for the rest of the year and had some very strong results in Europe, including a WTF 6-1 home win against Anderlecht! They still went through, but that game meant we do so as well! Even though we dropped quite a few points, we are in first and by quite a margin. Interestingly, last year we were on the exact same amount of points at this stage. But we were fourth then. It definitely seems the other clubs really are competitive with each other. Although, to be fair, it is surprising to see Legia that far down. Hoping to get that first title here. With the conference league money coming in, and also some prize money last year from the league, we now have the ability the upgrade the facilities. With the intakes already seeming to be quite strong, there is real potential for greatness with homegrown (and bought) talent, I'm hoping.

Thanks! Also for the inside information. At least we don't need to go there this season then!

July - August 2036 With the league also starting in July, we had quite a hectic schedule. When we were drawn with Besiktas I did not have high hopes, but I guess they aren't at that high a level (also they had to play in the second round qualifiers of ECL) as we beat them quite easily. The two teams we had to beat after that were smaller clubs in stature than Besiktas, and we also managed to deal with them as we qualified for the group stage! We did however need a bit of luck against Molde. I don't think the draw is kind to us, with Anderlecht and Guimaraes being the clear favorites here. If we can grab points against Olimpija and maybe a draw elsewhere maybe we can go through in second?

Summer 2036 The first transfer periods at Lechia were about strengthening the team in the short term, and now I am starting to phase into a more long-term approach. That also means investing, but with the idea that it will all make the club money in the long term. Either through competitive success or resale of players. It's still a cross-over period, as we need to stay competitive at the top and be able to compete in Europe as well. But, I am also starting to sign young players for the future. Continuing to renovate the squad, some players who were here from the start and some players that I signed that weren't quite successful for one reason or another. The only two transfers above 100K were Choliaris, whom I had signed for 70k last season as an option for left back, and Videira. Videira is a Luxembourger AML, but at 30 he wasn't really going to be the future of the club, so I am happy with the money we got. However I was not necessarily planning on selling him, as I also sold Rivero short before in that position. I spent a bit more money than I got in, mostly due to one transfer in particular. Szövetes is a Hungarian midfielder who will be one of the strongest players in the team. At 26 he is not necessarily a player I am planning to develop further and sell for big profits, but he should be a mainstay in my team for the next couple of years. Mats van Overbeek is another central midfielder incoming. Obviously with me using 3 CM's I need quite a few strong players in that position. Otherwise for the first team I signed Da Silva, who was on loan in the first season I was here. A good option as wingback on both sides and still young. Boye & Bozic are young players for the future. As far as the loanees are concerned, I signed Hack as an AML to bolster that position, and I didn't plan to loan more players. But in the end of the transfer period with the wingers leaving I needed to sign some options there as well, without having real options scouted already. So I pulled the trigger on two Dutch wingers, van der Kraan as a back-up AML and van Beijnen as an option as AMR. Our reputation still isn't great, but our odds aren't that much worse than most of the league outside of Legia who are clearly seen as the big favorites. With the strengthening of the squad I think however we should have a good chance of toppling them if we can get into a form like we did last year. An early summer camp in the Netherlands where we played some amateur sides, and a few more friendlies to get ready for the Conference League qualifiers. Good stuff to get the tactical familiarity, team dynamics and morale going.

Squad 2035-2036 Loanees were important again. I'm going to start using less from next year on, however I can keep Laaksonen and Hammann without paying them any wages so they will stick around next year. In the long term the key players really need to be the young Polish homegrown players. They are currently on quite low limited fees which were forced on my by their agents, so I hope no club comes in for them before I can get rid of them in new contracts.

May 2036 Damn. Lost to relegation battling Zagłębie Sosnowiec for the second time this season! It didn't help them, however, and it certainly hurt us! Legia won all their games in May, and so they are champions again. Still, 2nd is a great result over all, and we have a chance of making some money in Europe. We'll need to get through quite a few Conference League qualifiers however. That second record is surprising, as 75 points is not that much really. I guess it means most often the Polish league has been competitive like this year with many teams being able to grab points from each other. At least next year Zagłębie Sosnowiec won't be able to do that to us...