Académica de Coimbra - A Portuguese Journey

[leckuno]

Since the Portuguese top flight started in 1934 its amazingly only ever been won by 5 teams with 2 of them only having won it once. The rest of the time its been won by just the big 3 teams, Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. The other two teams were Belenenses in 1945/46 and then by Boavista in 2000/01. Whats amazing though is that each of those 5 teams come from Porto and Lisbon. With this we are going to have a long term challenge to break the monopoly and take the title away from those cities and give fans elsewhere in Portugal the bragging rights.

The team I have chosen is Académica de Coimbra. Académica, once competed in the Champions League but has now fallen to the third tier of Portuguese football. This club almost went bankrupt in 2022, and bringing them back to their former status will be a challenge. The club does have a rich history with winning the Taça de Portugal Placard twice the first being the very first competition in in 1939 and their latest being 11 years ago in 2012.

The club were releagated from the top division in 2016 and still boast facilities good enough to compete there as well. They have one of the larger stadiums in the country and play at Estádio Cidade de Coimbra which has a capacity of 29,744 which if we can fill will help fill the bank account to help us compete at the top. The club also boasts great training and youth facilities. They have have good junior coaching along above average youth recruitment. The youth facilities and recruitment is going to be key for us over the next few seasons as we are going to have to look to our youth intakes to help us get there and beef out the squads.

Bank Balance

With the team hitting financial difficulties a couple of years ago the bank balance is actually pretty good for us with just under £1,000,000 in it and hopefully it will only go up over the course of the season if the projection is correct.

Board Vision

The board aren't expecting much of us this season with just wanting a top half finish in the league but I'm expecting a lot more from the team and want to challenge at the top for promotion.

Supporter Profile

The fans just want the same as the board which is always good and its also great to see that they have a low influence on the board as well

The Squad

The most important part here is the squad and it looks like we have a decent squad for this level but one thing you will notice when looking at them is that we only have 2 players who have a contract past the end of the season so its going to be interesting to see how we get on over the years until we can build an established squad
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[leckuno]

Preseason

We're going to keep it short and sweet here as there were no incoming or outgoings over the course of June and July in terms of players.

We did do a revamp of the staff at the club though as if we're going to concentrate on bringing through our own players then decent staff from the off is going to be key for us

The member of staff I'm happiest though is our new head of youth development Domingo Grau who should go a very good job until we get a better reputation and move up the leagues. Worst case is he gets poached and we make money off him

Friendlies

With being so low down in the leagues it made sense to play some glamour friendlies to get the cash and fans through the door as every little helps

Expectations

We all know the expectations that have been set by the board but this is more to show that we do have a wee bit of cash available to us but I don't plan on spending any of it and will probably put it to the wage budget if we are able to sign anybody to improve the squad on free transfers.

August

Most of the months throughout the season seem to only have 3 games so we may double up for the updates after this one as we now look forward to getting the season started.​

 

[leckuno]

August

Académica v Atlético CP

Not the best start to the league here as we fall behind in just the opening 3 minutes of the game but we come out in the 2nd half and at least get the equaliser before leaving it very late to open the season with 3 points.

Sp. Covilhã v Académica

I'm hoping going behind in the opening 10 minutes isn't going to be a pattern here but it spurns us on here as we put the game to bed before half time

Académica v Amora

A much better performance here as we put in our first clean sheet which is hopefully the first of many this season.

League

Its got to be a good sign that even after just 3 games we're the only team left with a 100% record between the north and south divisions.

Transfers

Only the 2 transfers so far as I don't want to sign players just for the sake of it

Diego González

I feel González can add something for us down the right wing and will go into the starting line up at first in the hope his pace and acceleration will be too much for defenders.

Simão Rocha

LB was an area that concerned me and Rocha is a big upgrade for us this season and again goes straight into the starting XI

September

Another 3 game month for us here but we enter the cup in the 2nd round so hopefully we get a decent draw and that should tick off the objective of being competitive in the cup​

 

[leckuno]

September

New Signing

Hacen

I was having a nosey around the free agents and Hacen popped up and he looks like he is a big step up in our midfield and should be able to come up through the leagues with us as well but the downside is he does become our highest paid player by quite a bit.

Académica v Alverca SAD

We face one of our promotion rivals here and we show our dominance over the course of 5 minutes in the 2nd half which is just mad.

Académica v Caldas

A much more difficult game here for some reason as we throw away a 2 goal lead but thankfully manage to get another 2 goal lead before getting a fright with just over 10 minutes to go.

Taca de Portugal 2nd Round
Académica v Peniche

The minnows really made us work for it and for most of the game it looked like we just weren't going to be able to find the back of the net but Resende finally took one of his many many chances as we progress into the 3rd Round

League

We maintain our 100% start to the league and have a 5 point lead at the top of the table.

Facilities Upgrade

It was a surprise but the board has agreed to increase our junior coaching budget and our youth recruitment which is key to bringing in better players over the course of the save.

Elections

So it looks like over the next couple of months we are going to have an election at the club to bring in a new president.

October

A busy month it seems with 5 games but we have been given another favourable draw in the cup as the longer we stay in then the more of a chance we have of getting a big team and big gate receipts.​

 

[leckuno]

October

Académica v Oliveira do Hospital

Resende starts the 2nd half in the perfect way for us from the penalty spot before doubling the lead 8 minutes later for us to ge the 3 points.

Sporting CP B v Académica

Resende is on fire at the moment as he bags another 3 goals to get his first hat-trick for the club as we have a gem of a player on loan at the moment.

Académica v Pêro Pinheiro

A really poor game here as we drop our first 3 points and even though Resende did his best to get us something it wasn't enough as we might struggle if we lose him to injury at all.

Taca de Portugal 3rd Round
Vila Meã v Académica

We bounce right back in the cup here and its Resende again who does most of the hard work to help us progress in the cup to the 4th round.

1º Dezembro v Académica

It seems our confidence took a knock after the last defeat as we really struggled after taking the lead and weren't able to put the game to bed and it cost us

League

Varzim are now the only undefeated team in the league now. We still have a 6 point league though and a 10 point lead over 5th so we should be close to securing a playoff spot soon

Election Fever

Well we've got a new president at the club but sadly there is no investment coming into the club from him at the moment but at least I still have a job.

November

Another good draw for us in the cup against a team in the league lower than us to give us the best chance of progressing​

 

[leckuno]

November

Académica v Sp. Covilhã

Henrique made the most of the channels that were opened for him here with 2 quick goals.

Atlético CP v Académica

A bit of a tougher game here but we keep another clean sheet which is always vital as we record another win as well

Amora v Académica

Yet another clean sheet and aslong as we're doing that basic right then we'll bring the wins as we get off to a flyer in the opening minute of the game and then never look back.


Taca de Portugal 4th Round
Académica v Vitória de Setúbal

Our return to cup football here and the first half they were really tough to break down but an error with a back pass gave us the lead before putting the game to bed in the 2nd half to move into the next round again.

League

Varzim are certainly going to be the team to beat in the 2nd half of the season it seems as they just can't be beaten.

December

3 home games this month for the fans to look forward to as we try and secure our spot in the top 4 with games to spare​

 

[leckuno]

December

Académica v Alverca SAD

We keep our 5th clean sheet in a row here which is a big improvement from the start of the season as we get a win over a team which I expected more from this season

Académica v Caldas

A really disappointing result as we record just our 2nd defeat of the season.

Oliveira do Hospital v Académica

What a game here and it looked like we had it in the bag before throwing away a 2 goal lead right at the end and most people would of thought that was it which would of been a poor draw but Vitinha scores a worldie as our RB gets forward straight from the kick-off to get us the 3 points.

Académica v Sporting CP B

A very narrow win here in a game Sporting dominated so we got lucky but the win came and thats all that matters.

League

Ourselves and Varzim have now guaranteed ourselves a spot in the Championship group in the 2nd half of the season but we'll still be trying to win as many of the remaining games as possible.

January

Our hardest game of the cup so far as we face the Liga side away from home so that should be the cup run over and then we have the final 2 games of the first half of the season.​

 

[leckuno]

January

Taca de Portugal 5th Round
Vizela v Académica

You've got to love the magic of the cup as after 13 minutes I feared the worse that we would be getting hammered as they were all over us but we managed to gather ourselves and keep a tight defensive line and it resulted in a counter attack from a corner which Resende was able to get us back into the game. We had as much of a chance as them as it went to penalties and it took 9 penalties for the difference as we take our first scalp and move into the 6th round.

Pêro Pinheiro v Académica

We had tired legs going into this game but our confidence followed through and its what helped us to the win with a great opening half our.

Académica v 1º Dezembro

The great thing about this level is anything can happen right from the opening kick off and it as shown here with two goals in the opening 5 minutes and after a goal in the 12th minute it then went very quiet right up until an exciting 5 minutes where another 3 goals were scored for us to secure the win/

League

Its going to be a much trickier 2nd half to the season having to play the top 4 teams from each stage of the first half and Varzim look unbeatable at the moment since they haven't lost a game yet.

February

Well our first game against one of the big 3 to kick off the month so fingers crossed it doesn't end too one sided. We also get to finish the month off against Varzim so that will be fun.​

 

[leckuno]

February

Sporting CP v Académica

Well a very one sided defeat here in a game we knew we didn't stand much of a chance in.

Lusitânia Lourosa v Académica

We at least bounce straight back here though with our first game in the Championship with Resende putting in a MOTM performance

Académica v Sp. Covilhã

WE got off to a flyer and even with them going down to 9 men with sending offs either side of half time it still took us right until the end to cement the win.

Varzim v Académica

A game I wasn't looking forward to playing considering they went undefeated for the first half of the season but we destroyed them and it was even more impressive we were away from home.

League

We mark ourselves as the best after just 3 games as we have a nice 2 point lead already

March

With us being out the cup we only have the league now as we have a busy month in the league with 5 games which sets us up nicely considering we only have 11 games to go​

 

[leckuno]

Just want to say that this save has died, currently got tonsillitis and its just a slog trying to get through it