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 22 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 but more importantly we all know that I love a challenge and this is certainly a big one​

 

[leckuno]

The Squad

We have a pretty large squad and certainly one thats good enough for us to get promoted without having to bring in any additional players. There are 3 young players in the squad though that we will be looking to build the team around over the next few seasons. I've extended all their contracts and increased their release clauses.

Trilli is an exciting young fullback who has plenty of potential to grow and will be key for us this season.

Mella isn't quite first team ready yet but he will be given plenty of opportunities this season as we progress and at only 16 he has plenty of time to grow into a great player.

Lopez is the third and final product of the youth academy we'll be looking too and he will be given the chance to lead the line for us this season to see how he copes with being the leading man.

In the squad we do also have players like Alex Bergantinos who has been with the club for 10 seasons and has LaLiga experience with the club and our young players will be looking to him for his knowledge.

Club Debt

The clubs previous problems are going to be for us to deal with it seems as we're currently in a good chunk of debt and still have over £20m to pay off at a rate of £165,000 a month.

Expectations

No pressure here from the club as we're expected to win the league which in my eyes should not be an issue this season.

Preseason

We are raring to go with the season ahead now after a very good preseason and we even managed to give Leicester a run for their money as well

The Start

Not really sure what to expect with the other teams but hopefully we'll be fine
​

 

[leckuno]

The Start

Deportivo v Tudelano

It looks like it was a great decision to promote Lopez to the first team as he has a **** of a club debut as we run riot in our first game.

Real Valladolid B v Deportivo

Peke is another player we have promoted to the first team for this season and he makes an impact again in just his 2nd game.

Deportivo v Bilbao Athletic

The two of them link up well here as we overcome our 2nd B team so far this season.

Racing de Santander v Deportivo

We come up against another team that has fallen on hard times over the last 10 years and we continue our excellent start.

Deportivo v Real Union

Our first real challenge here as Real Union give us a tough game here but Lopez does just enough to get us the 3 points.

League

Joint top of the league but with goals scored and only conceding 1 so far it looks like this could be an easy season as expected.

October

5 games this month as again w go into the unexpected​

 

[leckuno]

October

Deportivo v Extremadura

We get back with a dominant performance and keep our 4th clean sheet in a row.

Racing Club de Ferrol v Deportivo

Lopez looks like he'll be key for us this season with his goals and might be in trouble without him.

Deportivo v Logrones

We really struggled here and it took a sending off and an excellent free kick from just outside the area to keep our run going.

Talavera v Deportivo

Lopez with another hat-trick. It is mental how we can go from struggling at home to running riot away.

Deportivo v Sanse

Our worst defensive performance to date with conceding 2 goals after the 8 previous clean sheets

League

We've started to pull away at the top of the league as we open a 5 point gap.

November

Just the 4 games for us to win next month​

 

[leckuno]

November

R. Majadahonda v Deportivo

Another bad performance in defence but luckily we can outscore every team we've come up against so far.

Deportivo v Internacional de Madrid

Things were made very easy for us here as we ended the game playing against only 9 men.

Cultural Leonesa v Deportivo

We left it very late here but we stepped up with 15 minutes to go and got the win.

Deportivo v Badajoz

Lopez got us off to a very early start and got another hat-trick. Surely clubs are going to be hovering around him come January

League

Our lead keeps on growing as its now up to 8 points. Can get this league tied up early hopefully.

December

Just the 3 games thanks to the winter break​

 

[dporter8999]

Noel Lopez is a beast, what is his release clause like?

 

[leckuno]

Noel Lopez is a beast, what is his release clause like?

I set it at £10m when he signed a new contract thankfully

 

[dporter8999]

I set it at £10m when he signed a new contract thankfully

proper smart thinking there mate!

 

[leckuno]

December

Calahorra v Deportivo

Mella has been getting a bit of game time recently and he gets his first goal for the club to become the clubs and leagues youngest goal scorer

Deportivo v Celta de Vigo B

Another 3-1 win as the good times keep coming

Copa del Ray First Round
Castellon v Deportivo

Our first taste of cup football this season and its a narrow victory as we move into the 2nd round.

Zamora CF v Deportivo

Lopez is on fire just now and is easily going to get 30 or 40 goals this season.

League

We're up to an 11 point lead now and its got to be league one now surely

January

We've got out busiest month so far along with the next round of the cup to look forward to as well​

 

[leckuno]

January

Copa del Rey 2nd Round
Costa Brava v Deportivo

A tricky game in the cup where we were only able to make it an easy win thanks to two goals in the dying minutes of the game

Unionistas v Deportivo

What an opening 10 minutes for us but we then took our foot of the gas after that and the rest of the game was a bit boring.

Copa del Rey 3rd Round
Deportivo v Ibiza

A nice easy win against a team in the league above us as these two just can't stop scoring for us just now.

Deportivo v S.D. Logrones

We were really made to work for it here even after they went down to 10 men as well. Quiles steps up again and gets the 3 points for us.

Tudelano v Deportivo

Lopez again gets us off to another very quick start before Menudo bags another 3 goals to give us a very convincing win again

Copa del Rey 4th Round
Deportivo v Athletico Madrid

Our first time against La Liga opposition and they teased with us the entire first half before Griezmann scored two excellent solo goals against us.

Bilbao Athletic v Deportivo

Straight back to winning ways in the league as Lopez just keeps scoring.

League

We just don't look like we're going to be dropping any points this season.

Transfers

We only did one piece of business in this window as we signed Jesus Vazquez from Valencia to add a bit more youth and help develop another player at the club

February

Back to just league games for the rest of the season as we see how long we keep winning for​

 

[leckuno]

February

Deportivo v Real Valladolid B

Another outstanding victory for us as Quiles and Lopez combine again for another few goals.

Deportivo v Racing de Santander

Well this comes as a shock as we finally drop some points for this first time this season.

Real Union v Deportivo

We get straight back to winning ways and it was a goal right on the edge of half time that got us back into it.

Extremadura v Deportivo

We keep getting into the right positions as we get our 3rd penalty in 4 games.

Deportivo v Racing Club de Ferrol

We round off the month with another win as Lopez and Quiles are on fire and will be needed as we go up the leagues.

League

We have a 20 point lead now as the league looks all but over now.

March

4 more games to go this month​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Absolutely flying mate!!

 

[leckuno]

Absolutely flying mate!!

Cheers always knew this season would be a walk in the park. Next season will be the big one once we win promotion

 

[leckuno]

March

Logrones v Deportivo

We continue our run towards the title here with another easy win

Deportivo v Talavera

The goals are flowing as Lopez gets back to scoring here

Sanse v Deportivo

A very early penalty sets us on our way. The 2nd half was a bit boring in comparison as we take our foot off the gas.

Deportivo v R.Majadahonda

A wee bit shaky at the back here conceding 2 goals but thankfully we can outscore them all/

League

A play off spot confirmed at the worse for us but if we blow it we're serious bottle merchants

April

3 games to go and if everything goes our way then we can win the league after our next game​

 

[leckuno]

April

Youth Intake

As soon as the month kicked off I was surprised with the youth intake coming in and I was pretty disappointed with it as I don't expect any of them to have any impact on the first team.

Internacional de Madrid v Deportivo

This game was tougher than I would of liked but it turns out there was enough time after the red card for us to take advantage of it as we are handed the trophy and can now relax for the rest of the season and start planning for next season.

Deportivo v Cultural Leonesa

We come back to our own fans with the trophy and Lopez does it in style with yet another hattrick

Badajoz v Deportivo

We finish the month with another good win as we make sure we finish the month in style

League

We're up as Champions as was expected at the start of the season

Budget for Next Season

We get an extra £30k a week in wages which will be a huge help and the transfer budget isn't to bad either for after we raid the expiring contracts.

May

5 games to go to see out the season. Can we go unbeaten for the whole season?​

 

[leckuno]

May

Deportivo v Calahorra

And in goes another hat-trick for Lopez. Just how many goals can he score in his debut season.

Celta de Vigo B v Deportivo

We're up against our rivals B team and Lopez comes to the rescue right at the death to make sure we beat them again this season.

Deportivo v Zamora CF

When Lopez is on fire he's on fire. It was disappointing to concede with the final kick of the ball though

S.D. Longrones v Deportivo

A bit of a scrappy game here. The goal right on the stroke of half time did make it a bit easier for us though.

Deportivo v Unionistas

What a way to end the season in front of our own fans as we ensure we have gone the full season unbeaten.

League

What a season for us as we have been the dominant force in the league as we only dropped 2 points all season and scored a whopping 113 goals while only conceding 19.

Player of the Season

Its safe to say its Noel Lopez who has had an unbelievable debut season for us scoring an incredible 51 goals in the league so hopefully this form stays with hum and he keeps scoring next season.

 

[leckuno]

Season 2

Transfers Out

We've let go 9 players so far to clear the wage budget a bit. We did manage to get a couple of good deals done though for Doncel and Hernandez leaving the club when they weren't key players last season so it made sense to cash in on them.

Transfers In

We've had a busy transfer window as we've brought in a total of 11 players so far. We have been over reliant on the loan market this window with 6 players in on loan but they will all really help the club and I am really excited to see what Reiner is able to produce for us.

I could still do with at least 1 more player to come in as I really need another striker to come in and challenge Lopez upfront as if he gets injured we'll be in real trouble.

Friendlies

I may have been a bit over ambitious with some of the friendlies here but then we lost ones we should of easily won but I guess that comes in with bleeding in a good few new players to the squad.

Expectations

We're only expected to get a mid-table finish and I think thats a fair estimate but I will be hoping to push into the top half this season and anything else is a bonus

August

Not the easiest of starts for us coming up against another 2 former LaLiga sides but it will be a good bench mark for us going forward this season.​

 

[leckuno]

August

Deportivo v Real Zaragoza

Not the winning start that we wanted to the league but its still a very good point for us.

Cultural Leonesa v Deportivo

We get our first win against one of the teams who came up with us from last season as Reinier and Mor got debut goals for the club to show the fans what they are capable of

Deportivo v Real Valladolid

Valladolid got off to a very quick start which put us on the back foot and we were lucky to only lose 1-0 if it wasn't for Dahlberg pulling of some great saves.

League

Well its only been 3 games and we're mid table as expected so can't be too disappointed with it.

Transfers

We only had the one player coming in who joined on deadline day as we left it very late to sign another striker but we agreed a deal to sign Adalberto Penaranda from Watford for £550k. He doesn't have the best goal scoring record but he does have experience of playing in Spain which will help him settle and if anything we should make a profit off him

September

Some games to look forward to hear but Malaga will be another tough test. Never realised how many teams in this league have played in LaLiga and then dropped down​

 

[leckuno]

September

Deportivo v Cartagena

We get straight back to winning ways thanks to our wingers this month as Mor gets his 2nd in 3 games

Albacete Balompie v Deportivo

We came so close to back to back wins here but undone by slopping defending to concede in the final minute of the game

Malaga v Deportivo

It was a proper end to end battle here it was just that we both struggled to take our chances but Lopez stepped up again and was just able to do enough to get us the 3 points.

Deportivo v Alcorcon

A much better win for us and Penaranda gets his first goal for the club as well which can hopefully get him some confidence

League

We're up to 4th in the league for the play off spots but a lot of football still to play

October

Another couple of ex LaLiga team to play against with a big game against Barca B as well​

 

[leckuno]

October

Girona v Deportivo

A respectable draw against a team that is part of the City group and has finished 5th in the last 3 seasons.

Deportivo v Ibiza

A nice easy win against the team from the party Isle as they really struggled against us.

Real Sporting v Deportivo

Sporting just completely out played us here and we had no answer to them at all.

Deportivo v Lugo

Really was a game of two halve here as it all looked over going in 3-1 down at half time but the red card for Lugo made all the difference as we were able to make the extra man count.

Deportivo v Barcelona B

Our first shot against one of the big 2 B teams and we do just enough to scrape by thanks to a flying start from Penaranda

League

We're hot on the heals of first place but its very tight behind us as well as we look for a 2nd promotion

November

Just the 4 games but again we have 3 teams that have graced LaLiga in recent years​