2014/15 Haladas – Hungarian First Division
Despite the board opening the tap on the transfer funds, I decided to sit tight in the transfer market. I brought in some young players as cover, but my squad was essentially the same as last season.
My Uefa campaign started brilliantly, demolishing Derry City 5-0 (agg) and Slavia 7-1 (agg) to qualify. The draw matched me with Galatasaray, so I thought my campaign would end there. Galatasaray mounted a 10 minute barrage on our goal, but
Brilliant Keeper held them off. We started to get some possession after that, and
Flashy Polish Striker scored on a header midway through the first half. From there, Galatasaray seemed to fall apart,
Flashy Polish Striker scored again just before the final whistle and we went on to lock up the return fixture 3-0 to advance. The group stage was much less dramatic. A home win over Boavista was really all we needed in a poor group which was dominated by Spurs. We finally went out to Lazio 2-5 (agg) in the knockout round.
Hungarian League
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Prediction – 4th (of 16)
<LI>Board/Supporters – Top Half
<LI>Finish – 1st W19 D7 L4
<LI>Cup – … ack...</UL>
The division was a run away from the start. We came out flying while the rest of the favorites started badly. Debrecen conceded only 4 goals in their first 18 matches, but scored only 6! We were never seriously challenged and wrapped up the Championship with three matches to play.
Flashy Polish Striker finished with 15 goals, and
Skilled Winger took the Fans Player of the Year.
Highs: Winning 2-0 at Galatasaray was unforgettable (watched the highlights twice!!).
Lows: 1-2 loss to Papa in the Cup with my first team.
Hungary: D1: Haladas; D2E: Barcs; D2W: Gyor
Around the world: CL: Arsenal over Inter; Uefa: Barca
After the end of the season, I requested a new contract and was refused. Figured I had taken Haladas as far as I could, so I resigned. Tribute was paid to the "Long-Time Servant of the Club" then the Chairman hired some muppet for triple the wage they were paying me. I would have thought that with 10M in the bank from Uefa Cup, they could have kept the team together, but the fire sale that started immediately was shocking. Almost the entire first team was gone by the end of the Summer transfer window.
2015/16 Laze around until January... and then...
Dubnica nad Vahom in the Slovakian League
I popped back into the game to see how Haladas was doing (1st, but fading fast and continuing to sell players), and started looking at the Slovakian League. Interesting format -- the First Division plays 22 matches to decide which 8 teams will play for the title, while the bottom four teams form an 8 team league with the top 4 teams from the second division. As one of the relegation candidates, Dubnica nad Vahom, had just sacked their manager, I applied and was offered a tidy sum to rescue them.
Slovak First Division
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Prediction – 3rd (of 12)
<LI>Board/Supporters – midtable
<LI>Finish – 2nd (of 8) in Relegation Group
<LI>Cup – … rested my first team and lost</UL>
The squad was talented, but razor thin, so I plugged the big holes and acquired a number of back-ups. The best players on the squad were
Cranky Striker,
Czech Ballwinner, and
Tall Striker. They all played well enough that we hovered around midtable, but weren't out of sight of relegation either. We won two out of our last three to finish second in the relegation division, so we stayed up! Most of the squad were rewarded by being released during the Summer.
Cranky Striker refused to sign a contract and left on a Bosman. One of my midseason signings,
Streaky Serb Striker, developed very nicely after the season, so losing
Cranky Striker might not be as bad as expected.
Cranky Striker was top scorer with 18;
Tall Striker was Fans Player of the Year.
Czech Midfielder finished third in Young Player of the Year.
Highs: a 3-0 win over Lucenec to virtual assure our survival.
Lows: 0-3 loss to Kosice in which we outshot Kosice 20-3 (but didn't get a single shot on goal).
Slovakia: Champions, Zilina
Hungary: Haladas, 5th in D1
Around the world: CL: Inter over Arsenal (reverse of last season); Uefa: Koln
European Champs: Holland over Czechs
My updates will get a lot less frequent now that rugby season is starting up again in real life. I'm hoping to qualify for Europe with Dubnica, as my current squad is pretty fun to watch. It will probably take me until April to finish my current season, though.
About the only players not doing well are those Haladas refused to let go of. Speedy Serbian Striker for instance was attracting attention from all over Europe, but Haladas held onto him and he's set to move on a Bosman.
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