An Andorran Adventure

[zacram]

We make an impressive unbeaten start to the season, if not rather unspectacular. It's a shame we couldn't convert more of those draws into victories, but am still rather happy with our start to the season. We've looked much more assured at the back and just need to get the attack going a bit more.

It's far to early to make any meaningful predictions but I think we'll be around the playoff spots again come the end of the season.

We have an incredible 25 players called up for international duty - albeit mostly for the Andorran youth sides. Our academy is essentially the production line for the Andorran National side and a number of our players will surely get senior caps in the near future.

I'm also starting my final coaching qualification.

 

[zacram]

Our unbeaten start to the season extended to an incredible 12 games!

To make things even more pleasing, we've started to actually win our games. We've looked assured at the back and clinical in front of goal as we push our way into the playoff places.

Extremadura were the side to finally end our unbeaten run, despite our best efforts to overturn a 3 goal deficit. We were arguably the better side so is tough to be overly critical on the performance.

As expected we quickly bounced back and put together 3 victories on the spin, in what were very entertaining games. Our new striker Borja Garcés bagged himself a hatrick against Alcorcón and has quickly become our main goalscoring threat.

However, things quickly took a turn for the worse as we ended up losing our last 3 league games of 2023. Losing at home to H. Alicante was definitely the worst moment considering they are near the foot of the table.

Fortunately we have the winter break to refresh ourselves and keep in the promotion race.

Our final game of 2023 did break our losing streak as our mostly reserve/youth side secured us a victory in the Copa del Rey first round. It was a dominant performance but it did take an 89th minute winner to see us through.

Our CB pairing of Miguel Rubio and Esteben Saveljich have been terrific for us this season, receiving some of the highest rated performances in the League. We definitely have noticed when Saveljich has missed out through injury, so need to keep them both fit.

It looks set to be another good youth intake and am particularly looking forward to having a high prospect goalkeeper emerge from the academy.

​

 

[Sam91]

Great read this, looking forward to that youth intake too!!

 

[zacram]

So as we enter into 2024 to board drop another sign of our financial troubles, cutting the transfer revenue retained. Whilst I do understand their concerns, I'm a bit ****** that they are blaming it on concerns over the wage budget considering i'm actually spending nearly £7k p/w below my allowance.

Despite our off field troubles we managed to get the job done against Ibiza, courtesy of a couple of late goals. We turned around a very poor first half to steal the points and not a bad place to be to go out and celebrate a victory.

Fortunately they didn't party too hard as we finally managed to get past the 2nd round of the Copa del Rey for the first time via an extra-time comeback. They were the better team in all honesty and are rather lucky to still be in the competition.

Just a few days later and we put in our best performance of the season, crushing fellow promotion hopefuls, Leonesa in emphatic style.

Straight off the back of our best performance, we picked up our biggest scalp of the season, beating La Liga side, Celta Vigo in the cup. We scored an early goal and then managed to hang on for dear life in the end as our Captain and rock at the back, Esteban Saveljich put in a MOTM performance.

A couple more League victories leaves us in 2nd place. We now have a 12 point cushion for the playoff places and in a good position to chance an automatic spot. I cant see us catching Oviedo, but getting the second automatic promotion spot is looking like a possibility.

Our final game of January is yet another massive result! This time beating Athletic Bilbao in the cup!

Again we were rather fortunate to win and it required another colossal performance at the back from Saveljich. The winner even came from a very unlikely source, Diego Gonzalez, a Spanish player who recently took up Andorran Nationality and now has 10 senior cap.

So we are into the Quarter Final and will now have to travel to Atletico Pamplona to try and carry on our cup run. Despite getting this far I'm yet to see any prize money coming in which is a little disappointing, but clearly isn't as financially beneficial as the likes of the FA Cup.

Just to round off a perfect January on the pitch I requested a new contract to ensure my job security with the club.

 

[zacram]

Great read this, looking forward to that youth intake too!!

Cheers mate, glad you're enjoying it!

 

[zacram]

We kicked off February, scoring a dramatic freekick equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game, after Diéguez cynically chopped down our striker to prevent a one-on-one. He thought he'd saved his side by preventing the penalty but fortunately for us Hevel still converted.

I also never knew a stadium was named after Fernando Torres until I saw this... apparently he was born in the City of Fuenlabrada.

We then had yet another thrilling Cup game, but unfortunately this time we came off second best.

When threw away a 2 goal lead, but after Enri scored a late equaliser to take it to extra-time I thought it was going to be our day or at least get through to the shootout, but it just wasn't to be this time. Still reaching the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and beating 2 La Liga sides along the way is a big achievement for us.

We also got some extra revenue from ticket sales and TV coverage (Still not a lot though)

The exhaustion and deflation from the cup appeared to carry over into our League performances as we hit some bad form. Fortunately we managed to dig out a massive performance away to Eibar, another side that are in the Promotion/Playoff hunt.

We then took another loss, this time to League leaders Oviedo. I thought home advantage might help us to at least a draw but considering nearly 50% of the crowd were supporting Oviedo I'd say we barely even had home advantage!

However, we bounced back stronger and rounded off March with 3 very pleasing victories. We absolutely dismantled both Ponferrada and Extremadura to bump our GD up (even though it appears to be done on H2H).

So with 10 games left in the season we are level with Zaragoza in chasing the other automatic promotion spot, as Barcelona B clearly cannot get promoted. I'd say we are almost guaranteed a playoff spot now, and have a game coming up against Zaragoza that could prove pivotal.

The Youth intake also came in and whilst it's another good batch of players, I didn't get the goalkeeper that was expecting after the early assessment.

Here is a look at our 2 best prospects...

​

 

[zacram]

We kicked off April with a couple of draws against Girona and Real Madrid 'B'. I thought we had stolen all 3 points after Carnero scored in the 89th minute against Madrid, only for them to score with virtually the last kick of the game to deny us an additional 2 points.

We did then get a victory in our next game, comfortably beating outside playoff hopefuls, Alcorcón. A solid performance against a decent side.

San Fernando, a side rooted to the foot of the table and all but relegated, caused us a lot more problems than anticipated. Although we dominated, we did struggle to convert our chances which made for the classic squeaky *** time for the dying minutes of the game.

Rubio thundered in a header off the underside of the bar to secure us a massive 3 points against a Malaga side that will very likely be in the playoffs. Had they beaten us they may well have been looking at securing an automatic promotion, so was a huge result for us.

Again, we failed to convert our chances against a side struggling down in the relegation zone and this time it did come back to hurt us. It's definitely 2 points dropped and a game I really thought we would win rather comfortably.

So with all that said and done, we are now in a 2 horse race with Zaragoza for that second place automatic promotion spot with just 4 games left to play. Oviedo have already clinched the division.

We have pretty similar run-ins and the game against Zaragoza could well decide things. As they have a 2 point lead and a better h2h record, we really need to beat them away from home. A draw for them will keep them in the driving seat.

 

[zacram]

We managed to gain a point on Zaragoza in our opening game, but could really have done with the extra 2 points to get ahead of them. Either way it keeps it interesting going into our head to head fixture.

Unfortunately things then went very wrong in the game we couldn't afford to lose.

We conceded a goal in under 20 seconds and that just gave them all the momentum they needed to race into a 3 goal lead. We did battle back in the second half, but were alway going to struggle to overturn a 3 goal deficit.

So we are now 4 points behind Zaragoza with just 2 games to go and essentially our shot at automatic promotion.

However, Zaragoza failed to get all 3 points in their next game whilst we did, taking the game to the final day of the season.

We need to win and they need to lose!

We did the business with an emphatic 3-0 victory, but unfortunately Zaragoza laboured to a bore draw meaning they qualify ahead of us despite being level on points.

Playoffs it is and it's up against Gijón...

We were a little lucky to come away with a draw in the first leg. They were by far the better side but an away goal is always good to have going into the home fixture.

In a game of back and forth it needed our club captain, the ever reliable, Saveljich to come up with a late winner from a set piece to book our place in the play off final!

So, the final is apparently 2 legs in Spain and our first game went horribly wrong against Leganés.

They ripped us apart in all honesty and we really could have lost by more than 2 goals. We are going to need another big performance in front of our home fans to make our way to La Liga.

and thats exactly what happened...

Another thrilling encounter as our teenage striker, Victor Barberà scored a first half hattrick to catapult us into a commanding position. I was worried when they scored in the 82nd minute, but our top goalscorer, Borja Garcés came up with a late winner to see us gain promotion to La Liga!

What a season!

Here is the man that essentially won us promotion. He's only really broken into my starting XI in the past couple of months and ends the season with 9 goals in 20 appearances in the League.

The big question now is can he and the rest of the team step up to the level required of La Liga next season.

Here are my initial budgets - A very healthy transfer budget and a modest wage budget.

I don't want to go too crazy in the transfer window but hopefully we can bring some big names in this summer!

​

 

[zacram]

So before I commence a rather large update, I should probably quickly recap on a very successful season.

We massively surpassed the board's expectation of avoiding relegation and instead gained promotion through the playoffs - Not a bad season!

Promotion to La Liga means a boost to our club reputation, as I'm sure media stories have been circulated worldwide to tell the rapid rise of our tiny club. Annual revenue has also taken a big boost.

Promotion also sees us receive a massive increase in broadcasting revenue, sending our finances skyrocketing into the Millions!

I therefore decided to talk to the board about improving our facilities. Both our training facilities and youth recruitment have been bolstered.

However, the board decided to once again refrain from expanding our stadium despite now being 13,700 seats short of the league's minimum requirements!

I did then have a meeting with the board and they have since agreed to start 'planning' to build a new 16,000 stadium, which is going to take 2 years! So if they then have to build it, I doubt we'll actually have a new stadium for 5-6 years....

We have sold 90% of the current stadium's capacity as season tickets so will be expecting a sellout every single game this season.

Now on to the transfers. No massive signings to talk of unfortunately but we have improved the squad nevertheless.

JON PACHECO joins us for a fee that could rise to £2.9 Million, but is a young, exciting prospect in central defence. He has played for Spain U21s and looks like he will be very handy passing out from the back as a Ball Playing Defender.

ALEJANDRO SALAS is another young Spanish talent that has played internationally at youth level. We've actually acquired him on a free transfer as we poached him off Australian side, Western Sydney Wanderers. He looks like he could develop into a solid playmaker for us.

ADRIÁN MARÍN cost us £650k from Granada. I desperately needed another LWB and he was the best option I could acquire. he looks a solid option for us, nothing flashy, but hopefully a consistent performer for us.

LIAM COOPER is our final big signing. He joins on a free transfer after Leeds didn't renew his contact. I'm thinking of utilising 3 CBs this season as we are going to be fighting for survival and he brings plenty of experience to our defence. He is on a high salary by our standards and could be a financial burden should we get relegated.

So here is a look at our squad going into the first game of the season...

We have an alright starting XI but may be reliant on quite a few youth players should we pick up some injuries.

However, I have managed to F*** up the player registration rules once again.

So on the opening day of the season I've just realised that 9 of our players cannot be registered as they are earning below £2.5k per week. I now need to try renegotiate contracts, although some currently arent interested in discussions....meaning I physically cannot register them

As expected we are favourites for relegation and may need a minor miracle to avoid the drop.

​

 

[zacram]

Javier Pastore had the chance to get our season off to a flying start, but had his penalty saved. We managed to hang in for much of the game and it would have been very harsh on Bilbao had that gone in, so even a point is quite flattering for us when you see the stats.

Our next game was a trip to the capital where we practically found ourselves under-siege for 90 minutes against Atlético. It felt like we only had 10 men on the field and were lucky to only lose by 2 goals , one of which was a penalty.

Then in our next home game we managed to secure our first 3 points of the season against Real Hispalis. It was a pretty close affair but we hung on to our early lead and look defensively solid for the majority of the game.

So 3 games down and we have 4 points - not a bad start!

Having looked at the previous 3 seasons a points tally of 34 would keep us in La Liga. So I guess that is our aim this season.

On transfer deadline day I did bring another striker in on loan from Chelsea - Ethyan. He's a Spanish U21 international and adds some much need quality upfront as we know we need to take the few chances we get in front of goal this season.

Here is a quick look at the massive wage disparity in the League with Real Madrid spending over 41 times our wage budget! We are working on a shoestring budget but survival this season will undoubtably bring a big injection of cash I'm sure.

I have convinced the board to further invest in the club and improve our Youth Facilities as we continue to grow.

We also set the record for lowest attendance in La Liga - hardly surprising considering our stadium!

​

 

[zacram]

We almost pulled off an unimaginable result when we hosted Barcelona, racing into a 2 goal lead inside 8 minutes, including Ethyan's strike in just 11 seconds! Unfortunately the relenting pressure then proved to be too much as Fati secured the comeback with a winning goal on the 83rd minute.

Lots of our season ticket holders also either switched allegiance or sold them to Barca fans with 50:50 Split.

We then suffered a late defeat away to Levante and suffered a rather serious injury...

Last season's top goalscorer Boja Garcés broke his leg inside the opening half and has now essentially been ruled out for the season. I'm just glad I managed to bring Ethyan in on deadline day otherwise we would have been in deep trouble to find goals.

This was one of the games we could not afford to lose in our quest for survival. Beating the side that pipped us to the automatic promotion spot last season and give us a big 3 points at the foot of the table to keep our heads above water.

Those 3 points were much needed as we then found ourselves picking up just 1 point out of a possible 15. That single point came from a goal in the final seconds of the match against Cádiz.

Despite getting hammered in our last 2 games against Real Madrid and Real Sociedad we pulled off one of the greatest smash and grabs against Valencia. We struggled to create anything in the game, but converted our single chance and then essentially hung on for dear life. It wasn't fun to watch despite the 3 points I can tell you that.

We are basically 1/3 of the way through the season now and are 4 points above the relegation zone and I'd say just about on the right pace for survival (only just).

It's really going to come down to not losing to the other teams around us at the bottom and is going to be a very nervy season, despite no pressure really being on us to stay up.

Further improvements behind the scenes as our Junior coaching moves up to adequate.

​

 

[zacram]

So just before we played our next fixture, our current top goalscorer gets ruled out for a staggering 3-7 months due to wear and tear. He's only young and playing 1 game a week so am a little baffled at how such a serious injury has occurred.

That now leaves us without our 2 most prolific goalscorers for at least 3 months....

Despite a dominant display from Sevilla, they needed a penalty to unlock our defence and get themselves an unconvincing 3 points. We never expected to get a result, so was actually a very pleasing performance despite losing.

Molina then secured us a point against Espanyol with a screamer as we entered injury time. Again, we were dominated with regards to match stats, but hung in and then managed to grab a late equaliser.

We then put in our best performance of the season against Almeria, and fully deserved the 3 points in this game.I'll admit we've been lucky in some games this season, but we controlled this fixture and looked really dangerous going forward.

Back to back wins for the first time in a very long time, as we beat Atletico Pamplona, the side that knocked us out of the Copa del Rey last season. Another big result and even more impressive to do it on the road.

A bore draw against bottom of the League Getafe. Perhaps we should have looked to win the game considering their struggles but away from home I think we would have settled for the point before kick off.

Following the game the club agreed to improve the training facilities for the second time this season after the previous upgrade was just finalised.

Our last league game of 2024 was a thrilling encounter with Oviedo. It was a back and forth game and despite conceding a 94th minute equaliser via an own goal we still had a chance to win it in the 97th minute from the penalty spot. It was the final kick of the game and Eugini's effort was saved.

So we are 1 game short of the halfway stage and find ourselves 10 points clear of the relegation zone. We've put some really good performances in these past couple of months and have set ourselves up with a really good opportunity to avoid relegation.

The final fixture of 2024 before the winter break was a slightly unconvincing victory in the Copa del Rey first round. I did field a completely rotated side where possible with a number of youth players featuring.

That included a debut goal for Miquel Dos Santos. A player that came through the academy and amazingly already has 8 Andorran international caps already!

Another excellent youth intake is on the cards....

I also though the end of the year is a good time to do a quick update on the international side and things have been looking pretty good in 2024, losing just 1 game. Albeit they have played low ranked Nations, but have earned themselves promotion from the European League Division D, which is quite impressive.

They did have a change of manager a year ago who has done very well, although still down in 160th in the World Rankings.

I am now keeping my eye on the National Manager position and should it become available, may well throw my hat in the ring. Although based on current performances that could be a while.

​

 

[zacram]

Our first game of 2025 saw us lose to 10-man Villarreal. We levelled the game in the 51st minute, just seconds after Coquelin was sent off and actually started to control the game. I therefore thought we'd try play more expansive and go for the 3 points rather than settle and ultimately Villarreal were still too strong for us.

Our scouts then unearthed a little gem in Mohamed Isihaka. He's already an established Tanzanian international at 18-years old (granted not the strongest of Nation's) and has bags of potential moving forward. His aggressive nature could potentially prove an issue, but am hoping we can mould him into a terrific wingback in the future - He only cost £10k as well!

I fielded another youthful side for our second round cup tie, and things really didn't go to plan.

Coruña are in the relegation zone Division 2 and ended up hammering us 3-0. It was a weakened side, but it was an incredibly disappointing performance and no players have left a mark for selection in the main starting XI.

Liam Cooper scored his first goal for the club as we pulled off an impressive draw against Atletico Madrid. I actually thought we were going to hang on for all 3 points but a quality strike finally broke our resilient defence.

Bilbao then comfortably secured the victory against us. We didn't really threaten at all in the game and never really looked like finding the back of the net.

An action packed first half, which saw 5 goals between ourselves and Real Hispalis, finally fell our way. This is a massive 3 points away from home against a side that are also fighting for survival this season.

We then followed that up with another victory in the League, this time against Levante. They are another side that are in serious danger of relegation and this just opens up an additional 3 point gap above them for us.

So, with 15 games left to play in the season we have maintained our 10 point gap above the relegation zone. Realistically we probably need another 8 points to confirm our survival, but would ideally want more to ensure that is the case.

I think we have a very good chance of achieving our goal.

It was another quiet transfer window which also saw us offload our Captain and colossus CB, Saveljich.

He was outstanding for us last season but I couldn't register him due to his wage, then he was angry about not playing and refused to negotiate a new deal so had no choice but to sell him before he left on a free in the Summer. £150k is a decent price but I would have quite liked him to have been playing for us this season.

 

[zacram]

This was a game I felt we had to win, and really deserved to win. We dominated the game against the side that are bottom of La Liga and they ended up scoring their single attempt on goal - It's really 2 points lost rather than 1 gained in my eyes.

We pushed Barcelona hard for the second time this season, this time at the Camp Nou. In the end they scored from the penalty spot and then a direct winning freekick. They couldn't break us down in open play which is a sign of encouragement in the face of defeat.

We took an early Lead against Celta Vigo and I was feeling pretty confident.... before they fired 5 unanswered goals past us! They had xG of 1.37, so the scoreline really doesn't tell the whole story.

We looked fully in control against Granada before Molina got himself sent off. They started to ask questions after that and eventually they found the equaliser in the 93rd minute to deny us 2 points. Another good performance that came up short of the victory and let Molina feel my Wrath at full-time.

Cádiz, a side fighting for survival, completely dominated us. They full deserved the 3 goal winning margin and actually could have been a lot worse. Not a good performance against a side struggling in the League.

We were on the receiving end of another 3-0 thrashing a week later, this time against Real Sociedad. Another poor performance in front of our home fans.

League leaders, Real Madrid struggled to get through our 10 men, but ultimately go the job done. It was always going to be a struggle and getting a red card in the 27th minute meant it was just damage limitation from then on. So to concede only 2 wasn't a bad result.

We are now on a 7 game streak without a win and only picked up 2 points out of a possible 21 in those games. I was feeling confident of survival at the end of January but now the nerves are setting in and the team's confidence is at an all time low.

Still we are 8 points above relegation and only 8 games left to play in the season - We are still in a strong position, but desperately need a 3 points soon!

The new recruits have joined the academy and it's another excellent intake of Andorran youngsters.

Javier Gómez is the pick of the bunch and has potential to be a real talent moving forwards.

 

[zacram]

We were comprehensively beaten by Sevilla in a game that we never likely to get a result from.

Having beaten Valencia already this season I thought we were going to grind out a point until they scored a late winner to condemn us to a 5th consecutive loss.

Levante have managed to pick up points, meaning that we are now only 4 points above the drop zone with 6 games left to play. We are in terrible form at the moment and is hard to envision us picking any points up at this stage.

Although we face 4 sides that are in bottom 8 positions in the League, including a home fixture against bottom of the table, Getafe, which is a must win game at this point.

Almeria eased to victory over us to essentially confirm their survival for next season. They were only 3 points above us going into the game, so to lose 3-0 is simply not good enough.

I thought we were finally going to get a long overdue victory, as we led Espanyol 3-1 up until the 76th minute.... then we conceded 2 goals in 3 minutes and were clinging on for a point by the final whistle. It's a very important point but having come so close to 3, its another devastating blow to our confidence.

FINALLY A VICTORY!

This was a game we had to win, as Getafe are having a dreadful season and in front of a home crowd, we had no excuses. It was actually our 2 wingbacks that got the goals, including Isihaka's first for the club since his January arrival - This ended a run of 11 games without winning

Unfortunately parity was then restored as we quickly went back to our winless ways. It was another bad performance and a big squad rebuild is looking inevitable.

However, despite losing, other results went our way and our La Liga status was secured for next season. Fortunately Levante can only draw level on points with us, but a better head to head record means we are safe!

To celebrate I decided to re-negotiate a new 3 year deal at the club and also got them to invest further in our facilities, as we look to become a strongly established side.

We picked up just 1 point in our remaining 2 games and finish the table a staggering 7 points clear of relegation. It was a shockingly bad second half of the season for us, but fortunately we'd banked enough earlier on in the season.

Real Madrid win the title for a 4th successive year, by a very comfortable margin.

Here is a quick look at our budget for next season - Not a huge transfer budget, but they have essentially tripled our current wage budget. I desperately need to strengthen the squad this summer and may need to use a lot of transfers through installments to get the business done.

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[Nomadic]

Big achievement avoiding relegation considering the massive gulf in wages.

Looking forward to seeing the summer signings and hopefully a bigger points tally to follow!

 

[zacram]

Overall it is hard to say last season was anything other than a massive success - We managed to avoid relegation and now have the opportunity to strengthen the squad and hopefully cement our place in La Liga.

Unsurprisingly we had 100% attendance throughout the season in our tiny 1,300 venue, despite having a 50:50 split with away fans for many games!

I don't think we really had any stand out players, but in a season that we were on the back foot for the majority of the time our goalkeeper, Gentian Selmani held firm and had the highest average rating.

Our broadcast revenue increased 6 fold from last season and has funded numerous facility upgrades for the Club. I'm hoping for a big increase in Sponsorship now that we have survived relegation.

As you can see the money has been well spent over the past season and we are now boasting some excellent facilities, with the youth facilities currently undergoing an upgrade.

The big summer news is that we are finally getting a new stadium - The Gerard Piqué Arena!

We will have to wait until next season until it is ready, so will have a final year at our 1,300 capacity, Camp d'Esports Prada de Moles stadium.

Up next will be our Summer signings...
​

 

[zacram]

So it's been a busy season behind the scenes for me with Andorra, scouring the transfer market to try and bolster our squad and retain our La Liga status for at least another year.


My first piece of business was done back in January, signing Turkish U21 international, Burak Ince on a free transfer. He looks like a really exciting prospect and will hopefully be pulling the strings for us in Midfield for years to come.

Santiago Cancelarich is our first big money transfer, joining us from Boca Juniors for a pretty decent fee. He made no first team appearances for them, but has represented Argentina at U23 level and looks to be an industrious midfielder that can still play a pass or two. So hopefully bolster our central midfield at both ends of the pitch.

Mariano is undoubtably our biggest name signing. The former Real Madrid joins us after 3 seasons with Inter Milan. His goalscoring record hasn't been great but on paper is miles better than anyone else we have up front and would be highly surprised if he doesn't end the season as our top goalscorer.

Neco Williams failed to break into the Burnley side after joining from Liverpool, but will be a very important player for us in the RWB position. His attributes aren't incredible but is very well balanced and at just 24 years old will hopefully continue to develop with us in Andorra.

I stumbled across Martin Ellingsen and thought he was available at a rather bargain price when looking at his attributes. He is 30, but should still have at least 3 good seasons left in him and gives us more options in central midfield.

So here is a quick overview of our senior squad for the new season. I've brought in a number of first team players to bolster the squad and we have some really exciting youth prospects from the academy that can be slowly eased into first team football.

We have the lowest Average Age in La Liga.

Although despite the improvements the bookies still have us down as favourites for relegation.

However, we managed to get off to a flying start with a 2-1 victory over Espanyol, thanks to a brace from our new star striker, Mariano. He looked very dangerous all game and am excited to see how this season goes for him leading the line.

I did then splash the cash (mostly in instalments) on another young centre-back, Aleksander Rodfjell. He's a big unit at the back, standing at 6'3 with a jump reach of 17. I always like a CB that offers an aerial threat at both ends of the pitch and hope he can provide us with some more potent set pieces.

Real Madrid quickly brought us back to reality after our opening day victory, with a very dominant performance. They have been well ahead of everyone else in the League for years, winning the title for 4 straight seasons, so never really expected us to do anything other than lose away from home.

Real Sociedad then edged us out in an end to end game. They hammered us twice last season, so to go toe-to-toe with them for 90 minutes is actually a big improvement, despite not getting any points.

Our wage expenditure has gone up massively from last season, but are still miles behind the big names in the League - If we stay in La Liga for another season we may well creep off bottom spot.

With the transfer window now closed, here is a summary of our summer signings. Obviously a lot more going out than coming in which should in theory mean we are a much stronger side this year... hopefully it turns out that way!

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[zacram]

We started the next run of fixtures with a narrow defeat away to Oviedo. It was a close game, but they looked more threatening on the ball and ultimately got the pivotal breakthrough.

We then followed that up with a couple of draws against Real Hispalis and Granada. We dominated Real Hispalis and were exceptionally unlucky to concede a late equaliser, whilst we then battled back from 2-0 down against Granada and had opportunities to win it late on. On another day those could have been 2 victories.

We then finally got the victory we were craving thanks to a 90th minute penalty from Mariano. A big 3 points for us in the League and just as importantly a little morale booster.

On the back of that victory the board were in a giving mood and decided to agree to my request of improving the Training Facilities.

Another couple of victories in the League sent us up into 6th Place, following a Mariano masterclass at Celta Vigo. He has now already beaten last seasons top goalscorer tally of 9 goals and we still have a long way to go in the season.

Further investment in our facilities, this time the Youth setup.

After winning 3 consecutive games we were brought back down to earth with a couple of defeats to Cadiz and Barcelona. The game against Barca was another close encounter and we were only really separated by a world class finish from Rodri.

We then recorded the biggest win of the story, beating Atlético Madrid 3-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano. It wasnt even a smash and grab win as we finished the game with the majority of possession and only really down on the xG as they had a penalty. This is a landmark victory for us and a very positive sign for the season.

So that leaves is in 7th position as we near a third of the way through the season. We are halfway towards last seasons tally of 34 points and most importantly safety of relegation. The main aim will be to finish with at least 35 points this year (which should be enough for survival) and an improvement on last seasons tally

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[zacram]

A routine away victory over newly promoted S. Gijón got another important 3 points on the board for us

We then lost a ding-dong battle against Bilbao. A game that we actually led twice, only to be sunk by an 86th minute strike. An entertaining game but nothing to show for it in the end.

Our home fans are getting good value for money if you want to see goals, as we came off second best in a 9 goal thriller against Sevilla. We led the game 3 times once again, but couldn't hold them out to see us pick up any points.

Another game that we led twice, only to end up losing. It's becoming a very similar story at the moment. It's promising that we are going toe-to-toe with these big sides and cant be far away from a big win.

Then that big win finally arrived - Smashing Valencia 5-0 in front of our faithful 1,300 capacity stadium! It was an exceptionally flattering scoreline, but after losing 3 very narrow games I felt we were overdue a little bit of luck.

We then rounded the 2025 off with a draw after conceding a very late equaliser. Clearly we are lacking a bit of concentration and experience at the back. Despite dropping a couple of points we finish the year 10th in the League with 24 points, 11 points above relegation.

We now only need 10 points to match last seasons tally and surely survival.

Our final game of 2025 was a First Round victory over Ferrol in the Copa del Rey. It wasn't a great game but I did play a complete reserve/youth side so just getting the result was the main thing and a chance for some players to pick up some first team experience.

It's been a rather torrid time for the Andorran National side, losing every single game.

Unsurprisingly they finished bottom of their World Cup Qualifying Group, in which Ireland beat Belgium to top spot!

They are now ranked 167th in the World and still along way off becoming an International threat.

I don't think I'm going to be applying for the job just yet....​