alan.watson59

KUTGW anyhu, a good thread

retired_meghsterz

Curico Unido

2011

Well, the 1 year rubber ball plan failed, so I shift gears, and institute a 2 year plan.

That means changes.

4 or 5 of my players have been hotly sought after. With a promised transfer budget of $0, I relent to selling my aerial defender and my top scorer for over $100k each. Suddenly, I have a bigger transfer budget than all my other years put together.

The general idea is to improve my depth, and my youth in midfield and on defense. My primary goal is to replace aerial defender as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately, players willing to play for us are hard to come by. I sign a veteran and a couple of youths, mostly via trials.

I also transfer list my clown keeper, and seek out youth keepers. My scouts are really hot on a young Chilean keeper, and I land a young Uraguayan as well. I only get one offer for Clown, but strangely, it's a player swap. My scouts are familiar with the left winger I'm being offered, and are drooling. I'd have sold Clown for a loaf of moldy bread, so I take this as a win.

I'm able to hold onto and resign my 2 key midfielders, and I add a couple of very bright prospects, though both are foreigners. With a 3 foreigner cap in Chile, they'll more likely provide depth in case of injury.

In: 10
Out: 11

Last season, I felt that we were plenty deep at striker, but one of my U20 Prodigies was developing nicely, so I sent him out on loan. It turns out that he had an unbelievable season on loan in the First Division, which is what prompted me to sell my top striker.

Board: Respectable position
Oddmakers: even odds for promotion
Media: 5th

The season starts with a bang, with 5 wins in a row. We then lose 3 in a row, on some bad luck. We rebound with 5 more wins in a row, and break the club record for matches without a loss.

Our young striker, who was top scorer last time we promoted, is scoring in bunches again. So is the rest of the team. Our Brazilian midfielder, who was coveted all of last season, breaks out. He's scoring, he's setting people up, he's all over the place.

I keep having to tell people he's NOT for sale.

First Stage: 1st of 12: W: 13 D: 4 L: 5 P: 43 GD: +16

By now, we've had 4 players play in internationals, including an 18 year old Bolivian who caps with the senior squad.

And we can't stop winning.

We lock up promotion with 5 matches remaining. We lock up the title with 4 matches remaining.

Second Stage: 1st of 8: W: 11 D: 3 L: 0 P: 36 GD: +29 Pts: 79

We set the league record for points in a year. Going undefeated in the second stage was pretty amazing. Scoring 31 and giving up 3 in 14 games will do that, I guess.

Right after the last match, we have a new set of international callups, totalling 5. Prodigy striker is included in the mix, his first callup coming at the U20 level.

This club totally blew away my expectations. The young keeper was way better (and cheaper!) than Clown, and the brazilian dominated a lot of matches.

It remains to be seen if I can hold this side together. A Brazilian first division club recently declared that they would be willing to pay big money for my brazilian midfielder. I've issued hands off, but it's only a matter of time....

retired_lauriekeith

Clown keeper; such a great mental image.

KUTGW!!

retired_meghsterz

(Apologies for the delay, I've been out of the country.)

Curico Unido

2012

Media Prediction: 18th (of 20)

Preseason: IN: 2, OUT: 2

We open on TV, against Chilean legends Colo Colo. We win 1-0. The season just rolls from there - we're competetive with almost everybody, and the weaker teams are surprisingly easy pickings.

Some of my youth are just exploding in value. My Chilean U21 keeper is in hot demand, as are my Brazilian midfielder and my Chilean defender. I work hard to keep the hounds at bay, but some of my players estimated values start to rise alarmingly.

And small wonder....

Opening Stage: 4th of 20: W: 9 D: 7 L: 3 P: 34 GD: +8

We open the playoffs against Union Espanola. 1-1 on the road, then with a few players returning from internationals, we cruise 3-0 at home.

Semifinals, it's Colo Colo again. They've had some small success in this event, having won it, oh, 30 times before. 2 red cards at home spoil an early 2-1 lead as we lose 8-3 on aggregate.

There's a saying about cups, but it's not coming to mind.... :thdn:

I reject all offers on my rising stars during the summer transfer window, and even lock up a young bolivian striker with senior team caps. Not that I needed another striker, but maybe I'm collecting or something.

As soon as the Closing Stage starts, the chairman accepts a 1.3 million US$ offer for my U21 chilean keeper. Well, I guess I knew that was coming. I paid $2k US at the start of last season, so I guess I can't complain.

We're not quite as dominant in the second half, but we grind out drawn on the road very well, especially against the elite teams.

I'm offered a 3 year contract. I accept. \o/

Closing Stage: 8th of 20: W: 7 D: 8 L: 4 P: 29 GD: +4
Miss the playoffs on a tiebreaker with Universidad de Chile
Overall: 4th of 20: W: 16 D: 15 L: 7 P: 63 GD: +12
Overall: 8th in goals, 4th in goals against, tied for 3rd in goal differential

Yes, losing my chilean U21 GK is going to hurt.

Overall, it's a crazy, crazy dream season. Some of the youth I've been acquiring isn't panning out, but some of it has in spades. I've got a huge transfer budget (already signed in 2 new players for 6 figures), but it's hard to get people to play for us. I can only hope that I hold onto my 3-5 core players for long enough to build a well-rounded team before they all jump ship on me.

This season almost felt too easy , but I expect to fall to earth a bit next year. Not to mention fighting like mad to keep the sharks at bay.

V

retired_meghsterz

Oh, and Brazilian midfielder finished 3rd for player of the year.

retired_frinkiac7

I'm not going to pretend I understand the league.

But, KUTGW.

retired_meghsterz

I think I'm only just starting to understand it now, and I've been played 6 years of it....

Emm

KUTGSigningIdiotKeepers :thup:.

Unlucky with the National job. I would have said go for it.

Clown sold .

Soooooo true .

It could be worse. You could have many asses to suck as N'orn Iron .

retired_meghsterz

Curico Unido

2013

Media Prediciton: 11th

1 key signing, 1 key loss. Out goes my U21 superstar in the making keeper. I bring in an attacking midfielder, on the theory that letting more in will be ok if I score more.

I also convince the board to upgrade training and youth facilities, which were frankly pretty brutal. No luck on more seats, though.

The new signing gets off to a running start, then fades a bit. We play Colo Colo well, again, but while we're in the upper half, it's not quite the near-top of the league we were last season.

Opening Stage: Pos: 8th W: 7 D: 7 L: 5 GD: +4 Pts 28

I sign a keeper - well actually 2 - one for now, one for the future. Unfortunately, I seem to have no luck with throwing money at keepers. While this one is no clown, he's not really shoring things up at the back.

We blow some leads, and give up a lot of goals to weak teams. For every game we dominate, there are two or three that quietly slip by.

The clamour for some of my players dies down a bit, and I can almost envision having a stable starting 11.

Closing Stage: Pos: 13th W: 6 D: 5 L: 8 GD: +2 Pts: 23
Overall: Pos: 10th w: 13 D: 12 L: 13 GD: +6 Pts: 51

Fans player of the year: brazilian midfielder

Oh, and we miss the playoffs by 2 and 4 points, respectively. Who needs 'em?

Overall, our offense was very good, but our defense was the worst in the top 10.

I STILL have money left over from the sale of the U20 keeper at the end of the year, it's just that hard to find players who want to play for us. Still, every year we stay up, and stay mid-table for that matter, the better things are looking for us.

Plus, the squad average age is 22-23, so we can only get better, right?

retired_meghsterz

Curico Unido

2014

One of the problems with Chile, being such a flat leagued country, is that being in the first division doesn't exactly mean you've arrived. There's a HUGE division in prestige between the haves (i.e. Colo Colo) and the have-nots (i.e. us). There's a huge financial difference, too.

So Curico Unido seem to be established in the first division, but the challenge is now to fight our way upwards. With having to qualify for cups, presitige and reputation will be hard to come by.

I stand fast in the winter transfer window. Some of my guys want to move to bigger clubs, but the window closes without incident.

We open against a traditionally strong team, Cobreloa. We whoop them 5-0. Wow. We hang around the top of the table for much of the apertura, flat out outplaying a lot of teams.

My star bolivian midfielder keeps demanding a transfer, and I just can't keep him. Once he goes on the market, half the Argentine first division line up to pay his stunning 4+ million dollar transfer fee. Two years ago, the owner forced me to accept 1.2 million because it was too much money to refuse. Crazy.

With one match left in the Apertura, we're in first, one point clear of Coquimbo Unido. We play traditional powerhouse Universidad Catholica. I'm all excited, but I get a lesson in the difference between the haves and have-nots, as we're down 3-0 at halftime, and can't claw back.

Yuck.

Well, at least we made the playoffs, winning our group. Who do we draw? Universidad Catholica. CSA.

In the transfer window, I have cash, so I chase a young chilean left wingback to replace my aging one. It costs a mint to pry him away from his team, but I'm rolling in money, so why not? After all, most guys worth the kind of money they want for him wouldn't dream of playing for us.

Opening Stage: Pos: 2nd W: 9 D: 5 L: 5 GD: +13 P: 32

The closing stage starts, and we again thrash Cobreloa. Nice. We pull ahead of Coquimbo Unido, but Colo Colo, THE Chilean superpower, were even on points with us in the first half, and they gain a slight edge on us. We chase hard, and with 1 match left, we're a single point behind them. Of course, we play Universidad Catholica, but they have a tough opponent in Antofagasta, who are 6th in the Clausura.

Universidad Catholica score in the first minute, and again in the 9th. Wow. Still, we're more even territorially than in any of our previous games, so I don't panic. In the second half, we claw 2 back, but out of town it's 0-0 between Colo Colo and Antofagasta. We need the win. We push forward, but Universidad Catholica poach one in the 93rd. Colo Colo score in the 90th to make it academic.

Closing Stage: Pos: 2nd W: 11 D: 4 L: 4 GD: +26 Pts: 37

Overall: Post: 2nd W: 20 D: 9 L: 9 GD: +39 Pts: 69

Overall, we were the best offensive club in the league, and the second best defensively. The reasons for our surge were many - better goaltending from a maturing keeper, my bolivian striker exploding with 18 goals in 38 appearances (and my naturalized paraguayan adding 16 in 27). Mostly, though, my defense, my weak spot for years, really matured and rose to the occasion.

I'm in the clausura playoffs now, so more to come shortly.