A Spanish Revolution - a Deportivo De La Coruna Story

[leckuno]

Club Information

Year Founded: 1906
Stadium: Riazor
Capacity: 32,660
Rivals: Celta Viga
Training Facilities: Good
Youth Facilities: Good

Honours

LaLig Santander:2000
Copa De Rey: 1995, 2002
Supercopa de Espana: 1995, 2000,2002
LaLiga SmartBank: 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 2012

History

Deportivo De La Coruna have fallen on difficult times over the last 10 years and now find themselves in the third tier of Spanish football. Its a big fall for a team that won LaLiga 20 years ago and were a regular team in the top 3 the following 4 years. They even managed to reach the Semi-Final of the Champions League in 2004 before losing to Porto who were managed by Jose Mourinho. In 2010 we saw the clubs first relegation from LaLiga before becoming a yoyo club. The club then managed 4 years in LaLiga before their final fall from grace before ending up all the way down in the third tier.


So why have I picked Deportivo?

As mentioned above they were once a great team who has fallen on hard times and the club deserves so much more. Can we bring back the glory days of competing against Real Madrid and Barcelona. Can we get back to a Champions League Semi-Final and try and go one further to claim a European title that the club deserves. Its going to be exciting as we get the journey underway.​

 

[leckuno]

The Squad

So arriving at the club it was important to get right down to business and meet with the squad and it was clear that there was still a lot of quality at the club which was pleasing at it should set us up nicely for getting promoted at the first time of asking. The main problem we are going to have is that the league encourages younger players to be played by only allowing 16 over 23 year old players to be registered for the squad. The first player that stands out at the club is Diego Rolan who joined the club in 2018 but hasn't actually made an appearance and spent all his time out on loan. With his contract expiring at the end of the season we might only have him for this season and will look to get the most from him with him being able to play as a striker and right winger. Next is Alex Bergantinos who at 34 will be providing a lot of experience to the squad and he has been at the club for 9 years so he knows what its all about. I'll be looking to deploy him as a DM to help protect the back 4. The final player is Mujaid Sadick who joined the youth ranks but at only 20 the young defender could have a very bright future ahead of him.

Transfer Activity

Only 1 person has left the club and that was 32 year old Claudio Beauvue who joins Real Sporting for £375,000.

Incoming we needed a wee bit more experience to help with the younger players so we bring in World Cup runner up Ivan Strinic on a free transfer and he will be going into the starting line up. Next we brought in Alex Collado from Barcelona on loan and he will fight it out down the right wing. Finally we brought in Rey Manaj from Barcelona for £200,000 and he will provide backup for Rolan at the top of the park


Preseason

We didn't get off to the best starts in preseason but I'll admit I got it tactically wrong as I'd thought I could of gone more attacking with a 4-2-3-1 before realising we didn't have the players for that and gone with a counter attacking 4-1-2-2-1. This will keep us defensively sound but also allow our attacking players to get forward. I made sure we had plenty of friendlies to get us going and it worked by the end of it with us only conceding 1 goal after the tactic change.



Its now time to get the season stated and get this great club back to where they belong.​

 

[Edd2020]

Ahhh - you beat me to it!! Looking forwad to seeing how you get on with this one.

 

[leckuno]

Ahhh - you beat me to it!! Looking forwad to seeing how you get on with this one.

haha I think it could be popular save this year

 

[leckuno]

October

What a way to start the season as we get off to the best possible start with a 7-0 win against our fiercest rivals B team. The players we have in the squad really showed what they were capable of with Rolan banging in a hat-trick off the right wing. Agbo and Manaj got a brace each as well just to add to Celta Vigo's misery. The 2nd game of the month was a bit tougher as we were made to work for it but goals from Granero, Rolan and another brace from Manaj was enough to see us win the 3 points.

League

We are now at the top of the table just after two games and I expect us to stay there for the rest of the season now.

November

A bit of a busier month but I don't expect us to have any problems this month.​

 

[leckuno]

November

The goals haven't been as free flowing as the two games from last month but we have still be running out winners to win every game this month. I have been disappointed that we have conceded 3 goals this month though as we should be doing better at this level. Diego Rolan has been the key player this month with scoring 8 out of our 12 goals with 4 of them coming in the 4-1 win over Unionistas CF just to show how good he is at this level. Its just a shame his contract is expiring at the end of the season.

League

So we now have just 13 games left to play of the season and I'd say its already won as we should not be losing games this season but lets see what happens.

December

A quiet month ahead as we get ready to be brought up to the halfway point of the season along with the winter break. Time to start scouting for new players in January.​

 

[leckuno]

December

A nice and easy month and our defence is really starting to hold its own in the league now as we get 3 wins with 3 clean sheets. We have made the league our own as expected this season and expect a big step up next season. We also played in the first round of the Cope del Rey where we managed to draw SD Amorebieta where we ran out well deserved winners and will now face Real Valladolid in the 2nd Round.

Diego Rolan was the stand out player again this month with 5 goals to his name. What's been really important this month though is with his contract expiring at the end of the season we have finally been able to tie him down to a new 2 year deal extending his stay until 2023. He will be vital for the next few seasons and even if he does leave at the end of this season we can command a much bigger fee.

League

Half way through the season now and we have a 12 point lead at the top of the table and I fully expect that just to grow and to win the league in the next few games.

January

The talking point for next month is our tie against Real Valladolid as this will be our first big challenge in this save and its going to be a tough game.

Youth

Not the best intake but hopefully we will have 1 player coming through who might make the 1st team one day.​

 

[leckuno]

Transfers In

We welcome 3 players to the club in January and I believe 2 of them will have a bright future at the club. Meixedo and Williams were originally signed on pre-contract deals but due to injuries we took up the by now option but it also gives us the option to start playing them as well to blood them into the first team for next season and beyond.

Transfers Out

Two players leave but they weren't registered members of the squad so we were happy to get some money for them to boost the bank balance a fraction.

January

We get a perfect month in the league with keeping clean sheets in every game which means we now haven't conceded a goal since our game on 29/11/20. The big talking points this month though was the Copa del Rey where we were coming up against Real Valladolid and our counter attacking football made the difference as we played our best game of the season yet as Rey Manaj got the only goal of the game to see us through to the third round to face Athletico Madrid. Against Atheltico we went into the game expecting to get hammered so again we went with a defensive minded game plan with trying to hit them on the counter and the players can be very proud of themselves with managing to finish the game at only 2-1. It gives me confidence going forward into the seasons ahead of what we can achieve.

League

We are confirmed a playoff spot at least now but I don't see us throwing it away and we will go up as champions.

February

We finish off the season with our last 4 games so I'm not exactly sure what happens after these games.
​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Running away with it mate....although I guess that's expected! Be interesting to see how you get on next season in the division above.

 

[leckuno]

Running away with it mate....although I guess that's expected! Be interesting to see how you get on next season in the division above.

Yeah this season was always going to be easy but we will see how it goes next season.

 

[leckuno]

February

Another good month as we remain with a 100% record but we have finally conceded a goal but that was coming with Francisco Meixedo getting the starting spot now to get him the experience going forward. Nobody really troubled us at all as Compostela scored with the final kick of the ball.

The stand out performer this month had to be Nico Williams who again is getting some game time to keep his development going and he managed an excellent 3 goals

League

The league is a formality now as the teams have now been selected for the playoffs

March

So the playoff group has now been selected and we will now have a further 10 games to play over the next 3 months to see who will be getting promoted along side us.​

 

[leckuno]

March

One of the busiest months we have had all season and it showed as we ended up dropping our first points in the season against Salamanca and then Burgos. On the upside we only conceded one goal across the month which is a lot more positive. The main game of the month though was against CD Numancia though as the 4-0 victory was enough to see us crowned as champions.

Nico Willams was again the stand out player as he got another 4 goals this month. He has really stepped up since coming in and he is close to cementing the starting position in the team

League

Well we go up as victors which was what was expected of us by the board.

The Run In

A nice quiet run in where I don't expect any difficulties.​

 

[leckuno]

The Run In

Well the run in threw another unexpected twist into the first season as after the play off league we then had to go through another 2 rounds of playoffs to see if we were going to be promoted or not. We suffered a rare couple of draws in the final games of the league thanks to us trying to get players a run out not realising we were still going to have more games after it but thankfully we still managed to not loose or concede too many goals. In the final playoff rounds we didn't really face any issues but its fair to say that Levante B gave us a good fight when we were away from home but thankfully we didn't have any problems in the home tie.

Neko Williams was again the stand out player as he got 5 goals in the closing stages to show that he is capable of leading the line at such a young age and we were right to bring him in during the January window. He ended up netting 14 goals across 19 appearances.

Youth Intake

No great players coming through but we will look forward to next season's intake

Budget

An ok budget due to the clubs financial problems and I'm sure it will be boosted through player sales. we will need to look to the free transfers to bolster the squad for us to stay in LaLiga 2

End of Season Awards

No real surprises with the awards but I thought Niko Williams might have got the signing or young player of the season after his performances in the 2nd half of the season.​

 

[leckuno]

Transfers Out

So it was a busy window with a number of players leaving the club due to release clauses being met meaning there was nothing we could do about them leaving. These players were Diego Rolan, Rey Manaj, Fede Cartabia and Maujaid Sadick but it did mean we would have a good amount of money to spend for the season ahead.

Transfers In

15 players come in to try and help us realise our dreams of being promoted to LaLiga again. There have been no big fees paid but this was largely down to people not wanting to enter contract negotiations with us so we had to look at the loan market and free transfers. In my opinion our biggest transfers were brining back Florin Andone in on loan along with Eliaquim Mangala joining on a free.

Expectations

We still have plenty of money to spend if its needed in January and if the right player comes along but a mid-table finish should be easy enough for us this season I'd say.

Senior Affiliate

We asked the board for a senior Affiliate and boy did they club deliver with us getting Barca so hopefully over the next couple of seasons we can bring in some good players on loan.

August

It should be an ok start to the season with only 3 games and plenty of time between them for recovery​

 

[leckuno]

August

What a start to the season as we manage to score 10 goals across the 3 games which is a lot better than expected. A number of our new signings made an instant impact as Jahanbakhsh got two goals against Racing De Santander. Cherki then managed a brace against SD Huesca. He followed it up with another goal against Real Oviedo before Andone got his first goal on his return to the club.

Safe to say the transfers we brought in have clearly done the job and will hopefully continue to kick on to see us up the table.

League

Its early days but we top the table. How long will it all last?

September

We've got some tougher games this month as we are facing some big teams in the league with Girona being the stand out opponent.​

 

[Damejames11]

loving this!

 

[leckuno]

loving this!

Glad your enjoying it

 

[leckuno]

September

What a start to the month as we get a huge 5-2 win against SD Ponferradina thanks to a great hat-trick from Keko before Jahanbaksh and Andone also get in on the action. Girona was a real test though as we fell behind for the first time this season but Martin Calderon managed to salvage us a point with 5 minutes left on the clock. Calderon was also the hero against Real Zaragoza as he managed to net the two goals there again to salvage the point after us falling behind twice.

League

7 games in and we sit top of the table by a point. Its going to be a tough season so lets see how we get on.

October

We face some good teams again this month so it will test what we're capable of.​

 

[leckuno]

October

I don't think we could have had a better month if we had tried as we managed 5 wins from 5 with clean sheets and scoring an incredible 14 goals. A few players got in on the goals this month as Calderon, Jahanbakhsh, Cherki got the goals but the stand out player this month was former player Florin Andone as he managed 7 goals. He is far too good for this league and we will make full use of him for as long as we can keep him.

League

We have increased our lead to 4 points now but there is still a lot of the season left to play.

November

Some tough games again this month but I have faith in the squad to grind out the results.​

 

[leckuno]

November

Some more dropped points again this month as we struggled against 2 of the bigger teams in the division away from home. We still managed to get 8 points from 12 though. The stand out player this month was Eliaquim Mangala who has been a rock at the back for us since he joined so hopefully we can hold onto him or if he does go it will be for his release clause of 11.75 million.

League

We remain at the top and our lead has increased again by a further point.

December

A nice short month as we have the winter break to look forward to. I'm sure we will also have the 1st round of the Copa del Rey next month thrown in there as well.​