A Spanish Revolution - a Deportivo De La Coruna Story

[leckuno]

February

Atletico de Madrid v Deportivo

A pretty horrendous game here for us as we were miles apart from them

Deportivo v Athletic Club

What a game for the fans here as we were all kept right on the edges of our seats the whole time as we never quite knew which way it was going to go but thankfully we managed to walk away with a point

Deportivo v Real Sporting

A vital game for us as we really needed to get a win under our belts after losing 3 of the last 4 and its a convincing win and Anjorin scores his first goal from the penalty spot to get us on our way as well

Granada v Deportivo

Another good win with a clean sheet again. Anjorin seems to be confident from the spot as he gets the second after Thiaw scored a strong header from a corner.

League

We're still sitting just outside the European spots somehow and looking more and more likely we'll be fine this season

March

Another derby this month to look forward to but no matter what happens we have the youth intake as well​

 

[leckuno]

March

Almeria v Deportivo

We really should of had enough in us to win this game but it will go down as a big disappointment

Deportivo v Alaves

We bounce right back with a strong win to build our confidence back up as Nino shows that he's one of our best buys so far.

Celta Vigo v Deportivo

What a 6 minutes of football here as we score from two well worked set pieces that had been worked on in training to get our first big derby win

Deportivo v Barcelona

We seem to be getting a bit closer to getting results against some of the teams as we lose thanks to a poor challenge just inside the box.

League

We're still hovering there just outside the European slots but there is a bit of a gap opening up between us and 6th

Youth

Well we had our youth intake and it looks like its our best one yet as it looks like we could have 3 players who could make the cut one day

The main player I want to focus on here is Cuban Leandro Salinas who looks like he could already slot into the first team and provide backup and has a **** of a lot potential to turn into a world beater if we can nurture him as he grows

April

This isn't going to be a fun month as we only look forwards to the final game of the month to try and get something from it​

 

[leckuno]

April

Deportivo v Villarreal

An excellent performance from us and Nelson got us off to a great start in the opening minute before we got a little worried after they equalised but we rallied to get a huge 3 points for us

Valencia v Deportivo

This time things didn't go as planned after getting an early opener as Valencia we just the much better team here.

Deportivo v Real Madrid

We have a knack for getting the opening goal but again it all went horribly wrong with the sending off which then let Real use their extra man to their advantage

Deportivo v Ray Vallecano

After two bad defeats it was great to get back to winning and Nelson seems to be proving his worth to the team with some great goals off the right wing.

League

We've well exceeded all expectations this year and unless something goes horribly wrong then we'll finish in the top half of the table

May

Just the 5 games remaining as we look to see out the season​

 

[leckuno]

May

Real Sociedad v Deportivo

A poor way to start our final month but we just couldn't get a foot in the game at all.

Leganes v Deportivo

A much better performance here as players seems to be playing for a move away from the club in the summer for bigger and better things

Deportivo v Osasuna

Another 4 goals for us here as youngster David Mella gets a great brace her through a rare start to get him some game time before the season is up

Getafe v Deportivo

Fer Nino has been a beast again this season and surely he's got to get a Spain cap soon for his form.

Deportivo v Sevilla

A disappointing way to end the season but we can still be very proud of ourselves.

League

We somehow managed to finish the season in 7th point in our first season back up. This does mean we will be playing European football next season in the Europa Conference League if we can make it through qualifying.

Budgets

Not the best of transfer budgets so we will need to raise some cash be able to strengthen the squad but we have been given a bit more in wages which is going to help massively​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Great first season back in the top division my friend! With the right additions, that Europa Conference League is definitely winnable next year too

 

[leckuno]

Great first season back in the top division my friend! With the right additions, that Europa Conference League is definitely winnable next year too

Cheers got to hope that we get get the right players in to grow the squad

 

[leckuno]

Season 5

Transfers Out

Its been a very busy transfer window as we let go of 7 players on permanent deals but made a very big profit from selling them all. Most of them had fallen down the pecking order over the last couple of seasons so made sense to cash in on them while we could. The one transfer I didn't want to let go was Andriy Lunin but sadly Wolfsburg came in with an offer that met his release clause so we didn't have a choice and going to have a big hole to fill that we didn't want to have to fill

Transfers In

We have been busy over the course of the window as we're gone and signed 11 players so far before the season starts with 6 of them coming in on free transfers. We have also signed some young players who will either be sent out on loan or drop into the B team to get some decent first team football to help their development. Balogun and Minamino will probably both be backup players this season but will provide a huge economic value to the club thanks to their ties to Japan and the US. Evander and especially Carvajal will come into the first team and add some well needed experience to a young squad. We also signed Lafont on what appears to be a very cheap deal from Newcastle as he was their 2nd choice keeper and he will be our No.1 for a long time I'm sure.

We then look at some of the youth players we have signed in this window

Zoran Pavicevic

He joins as our strongest CB and looks like he's going to be a **** of a defender

Eduardo Garcia

Garcia joins as an AMC but will need to go out on loan this season as we have gone a bit mad with non EU players

Florin Anghel

Not the best finisher as a striker but he has some other decent starts so we will work with him in training and if anything then we should be able to sell him on for a good profit.

David Tavares Fernandes

Again he joins and looks like he will have a part to play this season as we will integrate him with the first team this season

Friendlies

We had a very strong preseason after a bit of a shaky start but we went from strength to strength and even got a very big win over Manchester United.

Expectations

Not a massive amount expected of us from the board as we are just needing to be midtable which should be easy enough with this squad. The Europa Conference League might be a bit different though depending on how the draws go which will be the same for the Copa del Rey as we look to progress past the 4th round for the 1st time.

I should say the transfer budget was before we signed a bunch of our players

August

We have a good start in the league but a much tougher draw for the final qualifying round of the Conference League as I would have liked but we'll have to do our best​

 

[leckuno]

August

Espanyol v Deportivo

A bit of a trickier start than we would have liked as Espanyol pushed us nearly all the way before Nino got the breakthrough and then Fernandes doubled the lead with a debut goal

Europa Conference League 4th Qualifying Round
Gent v Deportivo

A horrible start to the game for us and we really struggled to get back into the game after the early goal.

Deportivo v Cadiz

Another tricky game in the league for us as Cadiz put 10 men behind the ball but Nelson was able to cut in off the wing and slot home from a well placed cross.

Europa Conference League 4th Qualifying Round
Deportivo v Gent

We got another fright here after Gent equalized as I was worrying we wouldn't get another chance but Thankfully Nino and Nelson were able to get the goals to get us to the group stages.

Alaves v Deportivo

We finally put in a performance that we know that we know we're capable of against these sorts of teams as Nino gets his first hat-trick of the season.

League

We're top of the League and thats that haha

Transfers

We really needed another midfielder to come in so I decided to splash the rest of our transfer budget on Kenneth Taylor from Ajax for £12.75m and he will hopefully become the centre of our team going forward

Europa Conference League Group

Probably a pretty easy group for us as we should be able to get out in the top 2

September

We've got the derby game early on this season so hopefully we can make it count.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

18-year-old Serbian centre-back for less than £6m who's already borderline world-class - what dreams are made of!

 

[leckuno]

18-year-old Serbian centre-back for less than £6m who's already borderline world-class - what dreams are made of!

Always got to make sure you’ve got a scout in Serbia as always great for a bargain or two

 

[leckuno]

September

Real Zaragoza v Deportivo

Back to struggling and just sneaking through thanks to a penalty right at the end.

Europa Conference League Group Stage
Deportivo v St. Johnstone

We rotated a good bit of the squad here as we were against what was meant to be a much weaker team but its Anjorin who gets us the win for the 2nd game in a row

Deportivo v Celta Vigo

First derby game of the season and it all goes our way from early on thanks to young defensive midfielder Torres. Anjorin gets his 3rd in 3 games as well

Granada v Deportivo

Puig gets a rare start in midfield this season and he really steps up with an even rarer goal.

Deportivo v Levante

It was always going to come at some point and what an opening 10 minutes it was. Trust us though to lose to the team sitting bottom of the league

League

We still sit top of the league after 7 games thanks to goal difference but Real and Sevilla are hot on our heals

October

Things starting to get a bit busier but we have a tough end to the month​

 

[leckuno]

October

Europa Conference League Group
Luzern v Deportivo

Another tight game here and I don't know if it was because we rotated the squad or need to look at changing tactics but we got the important win

Real Betis v Deportivo

A bore draw as we really struggled in front of goal and should of had enough here to win the game

Athletic Club v Deportivo

We got very lucky here as Athletic Club had two goals disallowed but again we struggled in front of goal ourselves

Europa Conference League Group
Besiktas v Deportivo

The toughest game of the group stages on paper and its our youngsters that get us through as again we rotate the squad a bit to give people a rest

Deportivo v Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid have been really struggling so far this season and after this loss Mourinho actually ended up losing his job. It was great to see our strikers get back on the score sheet again though

Deportivo v Barcelona

We keep just losing out to Barca but it was great to equalise straight after they went ahead but as usual we just couldn't hold on

League

We'll we've dropped 3 places this month and it already looks like Real are going to run away with the league

November

We're into the 2nd half of the Europa Conference League now and have some decent games around them so we should be able to rest players again​

 

[leckuno]

November

Europa Conference League Group
Deportivo v Besiktas

Nino hasn't been at the top of his game recently but he really stepped up here with a hat-trick before Minamino gets a rare goal

Deportivo v Rayo Vallecano

A really poor game here as we have a European hangover as we lose with the final kick of the ball

Osasuna v Deportivo

We bounced straight back here even though it did look worrying for a bit before the penalty

Europa Conference League Group
Deportivo v Luzren

Fer Nino with another couple of big goals for us as we struggle through yet another game in this group stage against the easier teams.

Valencia v Deportivo

Another defeat in the league but it was justified as we had the European hangover again and just couldn't compete.

League

We hold onto 4th spot thanks to our goal difference but there are a couple teams hot on our heels here

December

Another couple of tough games in the league but we have the first round of the Cope del Rey and I can see it being our big chance this year.​

 

[leckuno]

December

Deportivo v Getafe

The usual story for us here we come close to sneaking a 1-0 win and then undone by switching off right at the end and conceding a very late goal

Villarreal v Deportivo

A pretty even game here and neither team deserved the win so was a fair result

Europa Conference League Group
St. Johnstone v Deportivo

As usal we rotated the squad here and it paid off as Lopez scored a cracker from midfield before Anjorin got his usual penalty as well

Deportivo v Sevilla

Sevilla have always been hot on our heels so was great to get a big win over them here and get that gap over them a wee bit.

Cope del Rey First Round
Leganes v Deportivo

This was a much tougher game than we expected after we got off to a flying start in the 2nd minute

League

We hold onto 4th spot and even have that gap over 5th now even if it is just 2 points.

January

First two games in the league are teams above us but at least we have a very nice draw in the 2nd draw of the cup in-between them​

 

[leckuno]

January

Transfers Out

WE actually did a lot of these days throughout December with Anjorin and Bianda leaving for a combined £10m as they had both started moaning about being bit part players. Even though Minamino only joined during the summer he again wasn't happy with his playing time so we made £10m off a player who was signed for free and the same went for Balogun as well.

The one player who we were really sad to see go though was Fer Nino who had scored 56 goals for us over 2 and a half seasons but sadly his release clause was activated by Dortmund for £44m but we did managed to make just shy of £42m profit off of him . He's going to be a huge player for us to replace.

Transfers In

With Nino being sold then we had to work to secure his replacement so the scouts we sent out to scour Europe to find the next young striker who has the potential to make it big. With that one of our strikers came across a 19 year old striker at Atalanta who had just broken into the first team after being out at loan last season but he looks like he could be one **** of a player as we splash out a whopping £55m for Lorenzo Dossena

One of our other scouts noticed that Armando Broja's contract was expiring at the end of the season but he wasn't too interested in joining on a permanent deal so we brought him in on loan. He hasn't played much football over the last few seasons but we'll take a chance as at 24 he still has a lot of football left in him. After a couple of weeks we have also agreed to sign him permanently at the end of the season.

Finally at the end of the month I decided I want a bit of cover in the DM role so we went for a young player in Nils Fuchs who should be happy being a backup and getting the odd game going forward as we pay only £3.3 for him from Dynamo Dresden.

Real Madrid v Deportivo

The usual result against Real Madrid as we still can't get a result against them

Copa del Rey 2nd Round
Gernika v Deportivo

Dossena comes in for his first start here and makes an instant impact with 2 well placed finishes from inside the box.

Deportivo v Real Sociedad

Sociedad showing why they've managed to finish in the top 4 the last 3 seasons with scraping past us.

Copa del Rey 3rd Round
Cartagena v Deportivo

We were able to rotate the squad here and it paid dividends for Fernandes got 2 first half goals.

Deportivo v Espanyol

Dossena gets another early goal to get off to a good start but sadly we had to rely on a penalty 4 minutes from time

Cadiz v Deportivo

I really expected more from this game after we got off to a flying start but sadly it wasn't to be as we threw 2 points away.

Copa del Rey 4th Round
Levante v Deportivo

Levante really gave us a proper game here as again we rotated some of the squad and it backfired a little but its only taken 5 seasons but we've finally made it past the 4th round

League

We've dropped down to 6th spot but at least we're still in the hunt for European spots next season.

February

We will be throwing everything at the cub to try and make the semi final as it will be a huge game against Real Madrid​

 

[ronerson]

nice story, waiting for the confrence late stages

 

[leckuno]

February

Deportivo v Alaves

Broja gets his first goal for the club and then it was all made a lot easier thanks to the sending offs as we took advantage of them straight afterwards.

Copa del Rey Quarter Final
Deportivo v Real Madrid

We always do well in the first half against Real and then it all goes down hill as we go out of the cup but its the furthest we've made it yet

Deportivo v Real Zaragoza

We bounce right back thankfully thanks to Dossena who really seems to be stepping up to show he was worth the cash.

Celta Vigo v Deportivo

Not much happened in this game after the opening 5 minutes but Taylor scored a cracker from outside the area and it deserved to be the only goal with how good it was

Deportivo v Granada

Taylor and Lopez made the most of sloppy defending here as we got a good win

League

Still in 4th spot as we're 2 points behind 3rd but got a 9 point lead over 7th

March

A decent month for us and we've also had a favourable draw against Zorya in the Europa Conference League as well​

 

[leckuno]

March

Levante v Deportivo

Not the best of games for us here as we managed to score both the goals against a team that we should be beating

Deportivo v Real Betis

We rotated here to rest players for Europe but it sadly back fired on us

Europa Conference League 2nd round
Zorya v Deportivo

A bit of a better game here even though we left it right to the end of both halves to get our goals but we are on top now going into the 2nd leg.

Deportivo v Athletic Club

We appear to be really struggling in the league here as we continue to drop points

Europa Conference League 2nd round
Deportivo v Zorya

Its a repeat of the first leg with a goal in each half by exactly the same goal scores as we progress to the quarter finals.

Atletico Madrid v Deportivo

We just didn't have a chance here after beating them earlier on in the season and we were punished for our European hangover here

League

Even though we only picked up 2 points this month we still somehow stay in 4th spot

Youth Intake

There were sadly no standout players for us this season as they all look like the B team will be the best that they will do for the club

NXGN

One really positive thing about our youth players though is we have 7 out of the top 15 rated youngsters this season and it can only bring good things for us surely over the next few seasons if they all reach their potential

Now its time to send the scouts out to the rest to see who we can afford to snap up

April

Its a busy month for us and we really need to sort out our league form though if we want to stay in the hunt for European football next season​

 

[leckuno]

April

Barcelona v Deportivo

We really need to start performing in these games if we ever want a chance at winning the league

Deportivo v Osasuna

We at least bounce straight back as Broja gets a brace to get us back on track

Europa Conference League Quarter Final
Tottenham v Deportivo

Gutted to have lost this one as we'd done so well to go 2-0 up with 2 goals in 2 minutes. Miranda seems to be the one who scores all our own goals. It was poor concede right at the death as well to let them have the lead going into the 2nd leg

Deportivo v Valencia

We did exactly what we needed to win with Broja bagging a very early goal and then throwing everybody behind the ball to make sure we got the 3 points

Europa Conference League Quarter Final
Deportivo v Tottenham

What a performance here as we secure a semi final spot. Doessena all but justified he price tag in this game with an amazing 4 goals as he ran Spurs ragged and it was made all the easier after their sending off as well.

Rayo Vallecano v Deportivo

We really struggled here but tiredness from Europe took its toll on us but we still managed to grind out the win

Getafe v Deportivo

We tried rotating the squad here to give players a bit of a rest and it kind of backfired as we only secured the draw

Europa Conference League Semi Final
FC Koln v Deportivo

Another tough first leg in Europe and we're going to have to hope that we can put in another big performance at home like we did against Spurs

League

We still sit in 4th spot with us being just a point against 3rd but only 3 points ahead of 5th and 6th

May

Not going to lie I don't think I could of asked for a tougher month as we face 2 of the teams fighting out for the reaming 2 top 4 positions along with closing the season against Real Madrid​

 

[leckuno]

May

Deportivo v Villarreal

We rested players here with the Semi final next but Broja ran riot against a really poor Villarreal team and got 4 huge goals to show us what he can really do

Europa Conference League Semi Final
Deportivo v FC Koln

We did so well to take the lead early on from the spot but then just couldn't get the extra goal we needed to make the final here as Koln got the lead again in extra time.

Sevilla v Deportivo

The extra time took a lot out of us in our last game as it showed here as Sevilla got the opening goal and kept us just enough away for us to take a chance.

Real Sociedad v Deportivo

Another tough away game for us and we came so close to grabbing a point but sadly fell late again as our legs gave out.

Deportivo v Real Madrid

Our best ever game against one of the big 2 as we fight back twice to grab a huge point as Puig finally puts in a big performance for us since he joined.

League

Well the season as come to an end and we miss out on the top 4 by the skin of our teeth but we do move up to the Europa League next season which should be able to give us a boost

Budgets

Not the best transfer budget for next season so we'll be looking to move some people on to then sign more players. We'll need to be smart with our business though as we could do with signing some more experienced players to balance out the team​