DaneBramage

GKS Katowice - September 2027 The confidence around our Conference League chances appears to be massively misplaced, as our cup side has had an awful month. We bossed TNS but just couldn't score, and somehow left Wales with a 2-0 loss. Against HJK we had even more chances (30 shots, 20 on target), and again were utterly wasteful. In the end we were lucky to scrape a point with a late equaliser after going down to ten men. We were also knocked out of the Puchar Polski, though at least that was a bit more respectable. We took Lech Poznan to penalties, but they were more accurate from the spot. The strongest XI continued to go well in the league. Large victories over Stomil Olsztyn and Rakow Czestochowa made it seven wins in a row, before this run ended with a competitive draw against Lech Poznan. ----------------------------------- In the Ekstraklasa we're part of a top three that has already pulled away a little, but our Conference League prospects are looking dismal. -----------------------------------

GKS Katowice - August 2027 Sad news to start the update. Tiago Alves had been a stalwart in the team during my team here, never putting up amazing numbers but always being a solid, dependable performer on the right-wing. A hip injury ended his 2026/27 season early, and his return to action was struck by disaster. His leg was broken making a challenge, and at the age of 31, Alves decided to retire with immediate effect. ----------------------------------- We put July's terrible Ekstraklasa start behind us with a much better August. Five wins from five and 16 goals scored, the only way it could have been any better would be if we were a bit tighter at the back. Aleksander Lezon took last month's warning to heart, with goals in his next three games, plus a hat-trick of assists against Wigry Suwatki. Wojciech Bartolewski was also on the scoresheet in Europe, making it goals in four consecutive Conference League qualifiers. We made hard work of it against Ferencvarosi, giving up a two goal lead at their place. We looked strong but somehow gave up three goals, including the decisive strike in the 95th minute. At home we had no such problems and killed the tie off. The Durgardens game were a close affair, but again we won the home leg to make it through. ----------------------------------- Lots of green in the final column, you love to see it. We're top-scoring so far, but have also conceded more than the sides around us. ----------------------------------- That's a nice reward for making it as far as the group stage, and I think that's definitely one we should make it through. FK Partizan will be the danger side - they made it to the quarter-finals last year. But I don't think we should have any trouble from the other two. -----------------------------------

GKS Katowice - July 2027 Not happy at all with the league form. We dominated on the opening day against Gornik Zabrze (24 shots, 65% possession), but managed to concede twice from just five shots, including a 94th minute equaliser. Then we were massively profligate upfront against Lechia Gdansk, scoring just once from 23 efforts. Aleksander Lezon was the main offender, just one shot on target from six, earning himself a 6.1 rating and a week's fine. In Kazakhstan things weren't much better, as we left with just a one goal lead despite taking 33 shots (20 on target). With our poor league form I was slightly worried for our home game against Kaysar Kyzylorda, but a professional performance put us comfortably through to the next round. Wojciech Bartoleski and Kaka both grabbed their first goals for the club in this game. -----------------------------------

GKS Katowice - 2027/28 Pre-Season Time to go back to Switzerland? No. ----------------------------------- The board want a top-half finish, while the media think we can make top five. Due to recent improved Polish efforts in Europe the qualification spots have changed from 1 Champions League + 3 Conference League, to 2 Champions League + 1 Europa League + 2 Conference League. So I'm hoping for a top three placing to take advantage of this. ----------------------------------- Gilson Costa was the main player to leave. He was in our second-string cup team, but when he were knocked out of Europe and the Puchar Polski last year he began to complain about not getting enough gametime. Due to injuries elsewhere he got his chance in the league, but didn't perform, and there's only ever going to be one outcome when that happens. We also lost two academy players, poached away by Slavia Praha and Legia Warszawa. ----------------------------------- With a war chest of over £5 million, more than normal was spent this summer. Three of the incoming players were my signings, while the other two were picked by the HoYD. Erik Ceveli was the first transfer confirmed, joining on a free after his Salernitana contract expired. He probably under-performed in Serie B, but I like the look of him. And with 25 Albania caps he must have something about him that hopefully we can unlock. I've had success here with Slovenian signings, so I've added another with Robert Korosec. The fee ended up higher than I wanted (plus 50% of any profit), but if he does as well as the others it should pay off. Bostjan Horvat was my third signing, but he's gone in the reserves for now. Nowhere near ready for first-team football yet, we'll see if he develops. I wasn't looking for another striker, but the HoYD agreed a deal for Wojciech Bartolewski and I agreed to sign it off. His physicals, finishing, dribbling, and determination are all impressive. He didn't play much last year, but the season before he reached double figures in the Ekstraklasa from just 11 starts (plus 18 appearances from the bench). The other HoYD signing was right-back Kaka. At just under £150k this might be a bit of a bargain. ----------------------------------- Most of the starting league XI remains the same, with Erik Ceveli the only new addition on the right-wing. The second-string cup team has had a few more changes, with new faces Wojciech Bartolewski, Robert Korosec, and Kaka all coming in, as well as Thiago Alves dropping down. -----------------------------------

GKS Katowice - 2026/27 Season Review There were a lot of good performers this year, though admittedly some stats are boosted by the second-string playing the European and cup games. Aleksander Lezon was top of our scoring charts with 21 goals, and the 18 of these in the league made him the Ekstraklasa's top scorer. Surprisingly though, he wasn't named in the division's team of the season. We did have three entrants, Nikola Nenadovic (12 clean sheets), Luis Pinheiro (5 goals and 10 assists), and Urh Bloudek (4 goals and 4 assists). Luis Pinheiro (7.43 average rating) was named the Ekstraklasa player of the season, but in the Katowice fan vote he didn't even make the top three. Urh Bloudek (7.38 average rating) took this award, as well as the Slovenian player of the year trophy. ----------------------------------- We received £1.3 million for finishing as runners-up in the league, and the board immediately used this to fund another upgrade to our youth facilities. We already have an improvement for these underway, so hopefully this won't interfere with that. In theory the first one should be completed, then the next one should kick in. It would be annoying if this meant it was all dragged out longer. -----------------------------------

Why Switzerland? My last save was in the Austrian tenth tier, but it ended after a glitch meant I couldn't get promoted out of the ninth level. So I wanted to go back to just using out-of-the-box leagues, no additional databases. I then used Muttley's recent post in the general discussion thread to see which countries weren't being used at the moment, and loaded up a few of them. Why Winterthur? I wish I could say there was a smart reason for this, but it would be a lie. I just used the 'Pick a team for me' button a few times until it landed on a club that wasn't in the top tier.