retired_duncan

CM0304
Portugal D2B up, Poofland 3rd division (league 2) up, Spain 2nd division up
Large DB
Playing with $au, monthly wages

A late night drunken phone call to Frank has resulted in this 31 year old Aussie being posted on the outskirts of beautiful Porto to "manage" Freamunde, the local Second Division B North side.

The side looks ok, 22 first teamers and 1 under 19 player. Board and others expect safe mid table position, I don't know what to expect. We have a 44k wage budget, 234k in the bank, A 6000 capacity stand with 5000 seats. 18 teams in the league with 1 promotion spot and 4 relegation.

2003/2004 Season 1, Freamunde D2BN
Knowing nothing about Portugese football, I dive in. After 5 games I was cruising in 3rd and came up against the bottom team who the bookies rated 20:1 outsiders for the match, and I lost 1-0. Needles to say I was not happy and in a moment of madness I fined/criticised a number of players and lost any respect the club and players may have had for me.

That was the catalyst for a rather poor run sending us down to 16th, where after a particularly frustrating match the board saw fit to issue me with a final warning about fining players.

Realising my career was on the line, I pulled my head in and stopped the dictatorial approach. Some careful tightrope walking in the latter part of the season and a couple of lucky victories saw Freamunde finish 13th, avoiding relegatation by 3 points. Phew

No money from TV, cups or league and having to survive on attendences alone I've lost 1.2M for the year.

Season Ending Appraisals:
Position 13th: P36, W11, D9, L16, -10, P42
Fans Player of the year: 17yo old DMC
Leading Goalscorer: bad attitide SC with 9
Board are satsfied
Portugese Cup: Lost in 5th round.
4 players out for 21k (including bad attitude SC), 2 in for 16k
The 1.2M loss included 500k for new training facilities (now top facilities with youth acadamy :eek

Silverware: (I'm only going to give comps that I'm involved in)
Portugese D2BN: Porto B
Portugese Cup: Sporting

Seasons 2 & 3 to follow (I prefer one season per post, it's easier on the eye)

retired_duncan

2004/2005 Season 2, Freamunde D2BN
A few new players in and a couple out and we're about to get underway. Board and fans expect mid table and I'm quietly confident of achieving that after struggling early while trying to accomodate new players into the fold.

I bolstered the backroom staff a little and as soon as current contracts run out I will attempt to bolster it a little more. These guys are terrible.

Two low points for the season: 23 seconds into the new season I score ... then 5 yellows to us and 2 goals to them and we lose!!!!! A few games later: SW had the ball 20 yards out from his own net and passed it back slowly to the keeper and it passed a foot from him .............. into the net. Now why is it I fine players???

Mid way through the season I organised to move my star AMC, who is my highest goalscorer and highest rated player, at the end of the season for $20k. Why? I don't suffer bad tempered individuals (only enough room in the club for one) and he'd already achieved 2 x 2 match bans for 5 yellows and a 1 match ban for a straight red.

As for the season; it was mired in mediocrity, although an improvement on last season, with an uninspiring 0-0 draw a fitting way to round it out. The crowds increased significantly but I still managed to lose around 200k.

Season Ending Appraisals:
Position 8th: P38, W14, D15, L9, +12, P57
Fans Player of the Year: bad attitude AMC
Leading Goalscorer: bad attitude AMC with 17
Board are satisfied
Portugese Cup: lost in 4th round
4 players out for 17K, 7 in for 9K

Silverware:
Portugese D2BN: Porto B
Portugese Cup: E. Amadora

retired_duncan

2005/2006 Season 3, Freamunde D2BN
New 15yo DLC who looks very good is the first graduate from the youth acadamy :thup:. I wasted no time signing him up (just an excuse to reduce his wage) and install him as a first team regular.

I now have no money for transfers and can't see that changing for several years. I did pick up a new FRC for free to replace my bad attitude AMC from last year. Again fans and board expect mid table obscurity and I doubt whether that will be exceeded.

Two low points for the season: During the first friendly my new (hopefuly a bit more professional) FRC gets a yellow card in the first minute and my new captain gets a double yellow at 10 minutes. And: A 9 match sequence after christmas of W1, D2, L6 (and 2 red cards) saw me drop from 1st to 7th and out of contention.

The crowds again improved to have me 200k in the black at christmas, but then after the aforementioned poor streak the crowds dwindled as did the cash to finish about square. (Still 1M in the red)

A topsy-turvy season saw me eventually finish 5th and with some optimism for next year. Although, I am starting to think seriously about my ability to improve this club and if it doesn't happen soon I might start getting itchy feet.

Season Ending Appraisals:
Position: 5Th, P38, 17W, 12D, 9L, +22, 63P
Fans Player of the Year: new (professional) FRC
Leading Goalscorer: new (professional) FRC with 25
Board are Pleased
Portufese Cup: lost in 6th rnd
8 players out for 32K (including last years bad attitude AMC), 6 in for 0k

Silverware:
Portugese D2BN: Leca (Porto B don't exist any more)
Portugese Cup: Benfica

retired_lovestoned4805

KUTGW Wewak, remember mediocrity is the new black :thup:

retired_trainer

Nice one Wewak, I also follow the dictatorial approach. Bugger them, its MY way or the highway (or dirt road, whatever).

retired_Lalalalare

KUTGW!!
Steady improvment here, nice one. Let them know who's the boss!

retired_duncan

OK. With the arrival of FM2006 for Chrissie, this save will not see too much (read any) more time. I'm not one to go back and play old games as well as the new, so with my German save going quite well, it's time to wrap this one up.

2006/2007 Season 4, Freamunde D2BN
Quite a shyte season TBH. However, due to my Youth Academy producing 5 new recruits, my resolve to continue has been restored. The forward focus for this club is now on youth. The new DLC from last year has been installed as captain and 3 of other new recruits will be used as first team regulars.

Can't recall too much about the season. Still losing money and now 1.2M in the red. Board expected mid table, but I expect promotion because D2BN is starting pi55 me off. Finished mid table, nothing interesting to report.

Cup sucked arse.
New FRC bagged 26 goals (new record)
New start AML (youth) bags the assists award and is fast becoming a legend.
New captain is now a Portupoof U19 regular.

retired_duncan

Here comes another one....

I still have a few seasons to come and will leak them out over the next few days.

2007/2008 Season 5, Freamunde D2BN
Board and fans expect mid table, I demand promotion (sound familiar). Money is still a massive problem and there is nothing for transfers though they are not restricting my wage budget just yet.

A bit of a reshuffle sees my leading goal scorer kept out of the side for many games. Toward the end of the season he repays my lack of confidence in him by breaking his leg (git). He's getting on a bit and been down on form, so I doubt he'll be around much longer. Long time reliable DC wants to leave because he dislikes me (sad). Must have been something I said last season

Mid way through the season we are leading by 2 points and feeling good. (we have led the league at various stages through the past four seasons, so I'm not too excited).

Reached the QF of the cup only to go down to Porto on penalties (2-1) :eek: The previous round I beat Academico. So I played two PSL teams in the (later) rounds of the cup ... at my place Still no cash.

So with the cups out of the way it's on to the main prize. With 9 games to go I find myself 9 points clear and on a great unbeaten run. Next game against a relegation battler, I drew 1-1 at home. I had 12 shots on target, their goalie scored a 10 and they scored with a penalty Was there a warning/fine/bad press report issued? I honestly can't remember, but it's likely.

5 games to go I'm leading the league by 12 points and lose to the bottom team :F4CK: 23 game unbeaten run comes to an end .......... could still finish 3rd.

Another win and it's over, I lead the league by 11 with 3 games to play... WAGHERTY11!!!

My reputation just went from very poor to good, my DC is now happy to stay (though still dislikes me), and every player has superb morale.

New start AML gets player of the year and takes out the assists award again, as well as 19 goals.
Leading goal scorer is a striker I've had for a while who has spent the last couple of years at MR, and this season took over the mantle up front.

Silverware
Portugese D2BN: Freamunde

BTW Portugal won the WC last year, beating Germany 2-1 in extra time :thup:

retired_dvrsecuritylab

Well done on winning the league so convincingly and good luck with '06 :thup:

retired_duncan

Don't be flippant, Elrawkum, it took me 5 seasons

Anyway, here comes another one.

2008/2009 Season 6, Freamunde D2
My unhappy DC now likes me again :thup: Good start to the season.

Season expection is to fight bravely... and bookies have me at 50-1 for the title.

3 new players in (including a new FC) for the challenge of D2 and 2 new youths promoted. 150k in TV money and excellent season ticket sales sees the deficit down to 600k at the start of the season.

Season started well with a resounding 4-0 win away with the new FC bagging a hattrick :thup: and at the winter break I'm third, and had just beaten Benfica on penalties (2-1 :eek in the cup. Another sell out crowd for the cup game sees the average attendence at 5819/6000.

The cup run continued after the break where we went on to beat Academica and Maritomo (both top flight) and finally lose in the semis to Sagueiros (also PSL).

3 games to go and we are second, 3 poins from the lead with 1 point only required to secure promotion. The final 3 games saw some real consistency D-D-D, but it was enough to clinch 2nd and a promotion spot. Wagherty!!1111. Nice knowing you D2 [brag] Fans love me, board love me, players love me [/brag]

All in all an extremely satisfying season that has given me great confidence for the superliga.

During the season I picked up 7 bosmans that will really be needed to ensure we stay up, especially the two classy looking defenders that we desperatly needed. On the down side we lost our star AMC and club legend SC to bosmans. Idiots.

Finances are coming good, down to 300k in the red but hoping for a big cash injection at the start of next season.

Youth AML is fans favourite again, top assist getter again and bags 9 more goals into the bargain. Legend. New FC is top scorer with 16.

Low point for the season: A demoralising loss to U Lamas

Interesting side note: Guus Hiddink appointed Aussie boss on 16 Jan 07 :spooky: