Yeti01

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Hi, some of you may have followed my recent story with Australian A-League club Brisbane Roar that I am unfortunately not able to continue. I must admit, I was down for a few days following the realisation that I couldn't save that story. Fortunately, there are a number of great stories on this site that I have been following and that certainly serve as inspiration for this game. Not unlike Hampus Silverholt's Improving Ireland with Sligo Rovers and BJT's An Attempt to Change Scottish Football stories I will be taking control of a club in European nation that isn't one of the bigger leagues with a view to building it up to compete with and beat the established teams in my country and also attempt to gain European success whilst also attempting to grow both the stature of the nation and hopefully one day assume control of the national team. Thanks Gents.



THE CLUB

FC Lokomotiv 1929 of Sofia is the club I have chosen to use for this save. They have significant history, with their highlight being, in addition to their 4 Bulgarian First Professional Football League titles, an appearance at the quarter final stage of the UEFA Cup in 1980. Nicknamed "The Railwaymen", unsurprisingly when you consider the name of the club, it was founded in 1929. The club was a regular in the Bulgarian First Professional Football League until 2015, when financial difficulties saw the club relegated to the third tier of Bulgarian football and the club was dissolved (then called Lokomotiv Sofia) and a new club formed in it's place.



THE GROUND

FC Lokomotiv 1929 play their home matches at the Lokomotiv Stadium (Sofia). Whilst it may not be as modern as some other stadia it does have a good capacity at 22,000 with obvious room for expansion.

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WHY BULGARIA?

Like most on this site I still remember fondly my younger days when I first came to enjoy football. For me, that was during the World Cup in 1994 held in the USA. In that tournament, Bulgaria were a real surprise packet, overcoming Argentina in the group stages, then beating Mexico and Germany in the knockout phases before succumbing to Italy in the semi final. I still remember some of the more famous names from that side such as Yordan Letchkov, Emil Kostadinov, Krasimir Balakov and of course the enigmatic Hristo Stoichkov. I would love to recreate what that team was able to achieve.



STORY FORMAT

At this stage, I am hoping to do updates in a similar fashion to BJT and do a post covering every 6 months of activity. I am looking to try and get through the games much quicker with this save, so hoping to update every couple of days but will see how I go. Oh, and I am using the stock-standard database for this one!!



GOALS

Traditionally, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia were the dominant sides in Bulgaria. More recently though, Ludogorets has established themselves as the main force, winning the past 7 titles!! Starting in the second division the first goal is to gain promotion to the Bulgarian First Professional Football League. From there I want to overthrow the three clubs listed above and become the dominant force in Bulgaria. Then I want to push on for European success, hopefully improving the stature of the league and nation as I go. And finally I want to eventually become Bulgarian National Team Manager and lead them on a successful World Cup run.
 
Best of luck mate, definitely be following this! Remember a few of the names quoted there, back in the days when footie was class :)
 
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Season 1 - Half Year Review




THE MANAGER

Stepping into the top job at Lokomotiv is former star player and Bulgarian national team forward Boycho Velichkov (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycho_Velichkov) . Velichkov is part of the ownership group the re-established Lokomotiv following their financial difficulties and the club is now turning to him again to help win promotion and, hopefully take the club a lot further.




RESULTS

With over 6 months now in the job Velichkov has certainly got the Lokomotiv fans on to his side. Playing a mammoth 10 friendlies through June and July had the team hitting the ground running when the season started against Nesebar. They then continued this form, although struggling to convert their dominance into wins when playing away from home early at times, throughout the first half of the season. Their form has been so good that they have only tasted defeat twice this far, once in the cup to Arda when playing a very young team and the other away to Litex in a game that Lokomotiv completely dominated.

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TABLE

This superb run of results has seen Lokomotiv open up a 5 point gap at the top of the Bulgarian Second League table. One only has to look at the significantly better goal difference also to see that the gap could realistically be even wider. That said, Velichkov will be wary of ensuring that his charges finish the job.

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TOP 10's

Digging deeper into the competition stats reinforces the dominance that Lokomotiv have shown. 6 of the top 10 rated players in the competition are Lokomotiv players.

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3 of the top 10 goal scorers are also form Lokomotiv with Kostadin Hazurov's effort particularly noteworthy given he missed a significant number of games through injury.

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An Ventsislav Gyuzelev's excellent season can be observed through the fact that, in addition to being the 3rd highest rated player and leading the goalscoring charts, by virtue of being able to play both up front and as a winger he also is leading the assists chart.

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QUIRKY RULES

The first rule that caught out Velichkov was the one that he only became aware of on the first league matchday - that you are only allowed 1 non-EU player in your matchday squad. Given that Lokomotiv had a number of non-EU players on their book to start this season this stared some frantic transfer dealings as Velichkov then needed to fill out the squad with players he could actually utilise each week. The second quirky rule then struck Velichkov on the second match day. When playing in the league, Lokomotiv must field 2 u21 players who must have been with the club for at least three years, in the 11 players on the field at any time. This means that if you start the match with 2 in the team and one gets injured, you have to play a man down... To make matters even worse for Velichkov, in the entire Lokomotiv club, there were only 3 such players. Fortunately they were all about first team quality but this is a matter that Velichkov needs to remedy with a long term youth solution.

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TRANSFERS

Due to the aforementioned non-EU restrictions Velichkov attempted to move his three non-EU players (Sliti Taider, Krstevski and Svonja) all before the first deadline but was unable to do so. As some of the higher wage earners at the club offloading their salaries also became a key priority. Those three, along with some other higher wage earners were jettisoned in the January window and in came in a number of u/18 players. Lokomotiv effectively allowing any player under 18 with a pulse to trial and offering youth contracts to any who showed a semblance of ability - to be fair though, some look quite good.

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The resulting effect is that the team's weekly wage bill has been slashed from over 4.5k per week to under 3.5k per week, almost a 25% reduction as well as bringing in some much needed funds.
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Interesting to see Litex in the second tier, I remember going to see them play against Villa in the UEFA Cup about ten years ago!
 
Season 1 - End of Season review

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Season 1 - End of Season Review



VELICHKOV'S SUMMARY

Amazing 6 months. I really couldn't have asked for any more from the team. To take out the title in the way we did was a testament to all the effort that these guys have put in. Now begins the somewhat daunting task of working to ensure survival in the First League and then working to establish ourselves in there for the long run. Wish us luck!!!



CAMPEONES!!!!!

If the first half of the season was all about us showing what we could so then the second half was just us simply going out and doing what we were capable of. In doing so, we made sure of the title with 5 games still to play.

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In winning the league, Lokomotiv also set a number of records that is hard to see anyone else beating for quite some time. They set both the record for most goals ever scored in the second league and fewest ever losses, displaying the strengths at both ends of the field.

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FIXTURES/RESULTS

After getting through a few hastily arranged friendlies designed to get some run back in the legs after the winter break we simply picked up where we had left off before Christmas. We were immense. We were rarely troubled and the only match that mattered that we did lose was when we had already wrapped up the title and were playing a number of our younger players - more about that later though.

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TABLE

In the end it was a cakewalk for Lokomotiv as they took out the league by 17 points. In the First League it was fellow Sofia sides CSKA and Levski the took out the top two spots. Given this is Ludogorets first league loss for almost a decade it is expected that they will flex their financial muscle in an effort to stay up, although it is clear from their late season form that it was probably only a momentary blip anyway. In terms of the other promotion/relegation playoffs both Pirin and Litex were defeated meaning it is only Lokomotiv going up, but frankly they gave their higher ranked opponents, Septemvri Sofia and Vitosha Bistritsa (who had faced this fate following a quite protracted relegation playoff run!!) a real run for their money giving Velichkov confidence that they can avoid the drop next season.

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WAGE BUDGET INCREASE

In contrast the limited 4.5k/week wage budget the club had to work within for the current season, along with the promotion comes a significant wage budget increase. Although Velichkov has effectively settled on the squad for next year the new 28.5k/week wage budget will allow for significant squad strengthening should the need arise, but Velichkov's mind is that current squad will be given every chance of proving themselves at the next level before any reinforcements will be sought.

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YOUTH REVOLUTION GAINS STEAM

Winning the title with games to spare allowed Velichkov the opportunity to start thinking ahead to next season and blooding a number of the youngsters that he acquired over the course of the season. With quite a few of the older players seeing their contracts up at the end of the year, the harsh reality is that most of these youngsters are almost already at their level, with significant development ahead of them. Velichov already knew by this point that Viyachki and Hazurov had found alternative employers and expects to allow at least another 4 or 5 to leave at season's end and with that in mind sent out a squad for the final 4 matches of the season with no player over 22 years of age.

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SEASON AWARDS

As expected, Lokomotiv players and staff features heavily in the League's end of season award ceremony. Ventsislav Gyuzelev was awarded the gong for most goals and frankly, if there was a player of the year award, he would have been a shoe-in following his goal scoring and assist creation exploits. David Gonzalez ran in 2nd as those two bothered every team with their sharpness and pace. Velichkov was awarded Manager of the Year and 4 Lokomotiv players were selected in the team of the year.

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In the fan voting Gyuzelev almost took out a clean sweep but he was the clear player of the year in their eyes, taking home over 60% of the vote.

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MISCELLANEOUS

And in other good news for the club the u/19 side was also promoted to their elite division. This means that the young players coming through the ranks will be exposed to even better competition at a young age - which will be crucial to helping Velichkov deliver the sustained success he is looking to bring to the club.

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Interesting to see Litex in the second tier, I remember going to see them play against Villa in the UEFA Cup about ten years ago!

They should have got promoted with me this season but choked in the playoff!
 
Good work getting promoted first time of asking, and don't go spending that £77 scouting budget all at once
 
Good work getting promoted first time of asking, and don't go spending that £77 scouting budget all at once

Ha! I am into the next season now and it has been increased thankfully!! I will take a screenshot when I get home
 
Season 2 - Half Year Review

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Season 2 - Half Year Review




VELICHKOV'S SUMMARY

Huge start to the season!!! Starting off I was telling myself that I would be happy with simply avoiding relegation. After this though I want European qualification at least!!! The biggest thing going in our favour is the continued improvement of our younger players who already seem to be almost at the level of the players in most of the bigger teams in the league but, crucially, with room to still develop. Our squad isn't at the same standard as CSKA'a, Ludogorets or Levski but we seem to have entered the league at a good time as both CSKA and Ludogorets are suffering internal turmoil and struggling as a result. This could be our chance to steal somewhat of a march, much earlier than I was expecting on these two clubs.




RESULTS

Our results have, frankly, been amazing. Our front two of Gyazelev and Gonzalez continues to cause every opposition we face conniptions with their pace. They are often getting on the end of long balls and playing each other in to great effect. Our first game was expected to be a baptism of fire facing Ludogorets away but, with the benefit of hindsight, now looks to have set the scene for the first 6 months as we have kicked on whilst they have already sacked their manager. We did though get absolutely humbled in our away match at Levski as my young charges went down 2 goals early and then completely lost their heads!! We finished the match with 3 men sent off and 8 goals conceded but, thankfully, the boys used that as a learning experience and once we had our first 11 back on the field after all of the suspensions we got our season back on track....

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TABLE

With just 6 games now remaining before the league split we have put ourselves in a great position to kick on for European qualification. That said, we have found that we are dominant against the weaker teams in the comp but do occasionally struggle with the better sides so our form may take a hit after the split...

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TOP 10's/5's

Levski and Lokomotiv's dominance is again reflected in the top 10 rated players in the league listing - all of the top 10 either play for Levski or Lokomotiv.

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In terms of the goalscoring chart, as previously mentioned Lokomotiv's strike pairing of Gonzalez and Gyuzelev have been deadly this year and both feature in the top 5 goal scorers so far with Gonzalez all but locking up the top goal scorer award already.

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And with the rate that they both get in behind and set each other up they also feature on the assists top 5 leaderboard. Lokomotiv winger Georgi Netov though is their highest assist getter.

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QUIRKY RULES - GONE!!!

After spending much of last season re configuring the squad to fit within the quirky rules that are imposed in the Bulgarian Second League Velichkov could only smirk a little when it was revealed that those rules don't apply at all in the First League. Despite the rule change though, Velchkov remains positive that the youth movement was what has put them in such a good position now.

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TRANSFERS

Lokomotiv then were much quieter on the transfer front, preferring to promote the youngsters from within. As mentioned 3 players departed the club on bosman's at the end of the last season. Velichkov took the opportunity to replace some of those by bringing in some players on bosmans of his own. Zlatkov replaced Viyachki at the heart of Lokomotiv's defence and brought to some added experience at 30 years old to help settle the youngsters while Petrov was brought in to improve the left back position but, at only 22 years old himself with youth caps for Bulgaria, he still represents one that can improve in the future and Velichkov was happy to take advantage of Ludogorets not extending his contract. Maltsev was picked up from Belarus as he showed up in Velichkov's review of youngsters without contracts thanks to Lokomotiv's expanded scouting range and Saykov was identified in the Bulgarian lower leagues as one who would represent an improvement in goals so he was offered his first professional contract at 22 after toiling in the Bulgarian 3rd NW and SW leagues.

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MISCELLANEOUS

Ludogorets have really struggled this season and, given Lokomotiv's form, it probably isn't surprising the Ludogorets approached Velichkov for an interview after sacking their previous manager Stoycho Mladenov. Velichkov knew that Ludogorets have much deeper pockets and represent a quicker path to success in Europe but, thinking back to reason that this post was taken, refused for now while Lokomotiv is established back as a power in Bulgaria.

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Other new challenges also arose for Velichkov as their success starts to catch up with them. One of their better earners, Iliyan Stefanov, has approached him for a better contract, with most of the squad playing basically for peanuts Velichkov knows now that the balance will be retaining those he needs to continue the upward trend whilst remaining pragmatic enough to keep their costs down.

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Spending only a fraction of the wage budget has seen the Lokomotiv overall financial position become significantly more stable. Gaining access to European competition represents the next step in accessing even more financial resources.

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Season 2 - End of Season Review

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Season 2 - End of Season Review





VELICHKOV'S SUMMARY

OH MY! Absolute scenes!!! I cannot believe what we have been able to achieve this season. To earn back to back league wins is incredible but to give ourselves a shot at qualifying for the Champions League is beyond belief after only 2 years at the helm. Maybe, just maybe we can crack the group stage and enjoy those Champions League riches – with what we’ve been able to achieve so far, I am going to allow myself to dream!!!




CAMPEONES - AGAIN!!!!!

Incredible! Lokomotiv kicked off after the winter break and quickly established a decent gap at the top of the table to Levski – I am still not sure exactly why they were so slow to get going again. Once the split happened things got more tense as Lokomotiv only played the bigger sides and couldn’t beat up on the minnows but we were more than deserving champions.

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As with last season in winning the league, Lokomotiv also set a number of team records and even one league record – no one can say they didn’t deserve it!!. They set team records for most points and most wins ever in the First league and a First League record for most goals – that Gonzalez and Gyzelev pace pairing destroyed teams at times.


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FIXTURES/RESULTS

As you can see we were almost unbeatable in the short period after the winter break but before the league split. After the league split? Well… that’s a different story and one that doesn’t bode as well for when we will be playing quality teams week in and week out in Europe. We only won 50% of our games, a stark contrast to our form against the weaker teams. It is clear in Bulgaria there is a big difference between the top sides and the others, which makes the poor form of both CSKA and Ludogorets somewhat perplexing and troubling for the long term success of Bulgaria.

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TABLE

By the time the split rolled around Lokomotiv had established a decent lead at the top of the table as Levski faltered. In the Bulgarian First League, when the split occurs the top 6 teams go into a league round robin and the remaining teams are split into two pools where the bottom 2 teams then drop out into further play off before the losers of that playoff then having to enter into another sudden death 2 legged playoff against teams from the second division! Intense! In the end Lokomotiv, as winners of the league will enter the Champions League qualification rounds, Levski goes into the Euro Cup by virtue of their second place finish. Botev Plovdiv won the Bulgarian Cup and they took will contest the Euro Cup and Verya managed to make the playoffs from the relegation group and beat Ludogorets in the playoff for the final Euro cup spot. Vitosha Bistritsa and Dunav have been relegated, while coming up from the Second League is Montana and Botev Vratsa.

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TRANSFER BUDGET INCREASE

Before all the excitement of the League finale, the Lokomotiv Board decided to increase the available transfer funds towards the end of the winter window. 2.5 million pounds is crazy quite frankly given their current financial position, even it is appears to be given as motivation to kick on for Europe. The only purchase Vleichkov did authorise was that of young Bulgarian under 19 keeper Tsevetin Enchev. This is the kind of deal Velichkov will look to continue to make, responsibly strengthening his side whilst ensuring that the best young Bulgarian talent is developed correctly with one to the future for the national team.

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YOUTH REVOLUTION CONTINUES

Whereas in the previous season the influx of young talent was driven by a strategy that involved inviting effectively every under 18 in Bulgaria without a contract to trial and cherry picking the best ones, this season it appears that the talent has started to come to Lokomotiv. Perhaps driven by the willingness of Velchkov to give youth players game time there was significantly more talent joining via the annual youth intake – in fact, with this infux of talent Velchkov is now finding himself at the point where there is now enough good talent coming through that players will only need to be replaced as and when much better options are available, there is now effective cover for all positions and really, very few spots in the first team taken up by players over 25.

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SEASON AWARDS

Another huge season for Lokomotiv sees their representative again feature heavily in the League's end of season award ceremony. Levski’s Portuguese midfielder Nascimento ended up taking out the player of the year award, although Velichkov couldn’t help but feel that this had been awarded more on reputation as some of his players had, he felt at least, been significantly better across the year. Although, in what he saw as a testament to the effort put into the squad refreshment strategy, Velichkov was delighted when he saw Lokomotiv clean sweep the top three spots in the Young Player of the season awards. . David Gonzalez ended up with the top goal scorer award – 9 goals clear of his closest competition. Velichkov was awarded his second successive Manager of the Year award and 7 Lokomotiv players were selected in the team of the year.

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Quality! What an achievement at 1000-1 odds! Some youth intake you had there aswell!
 
Quality! What an achievement at 1000-1 odds! Some youth intake you had there aswell!

Thanks mate - not sure why the odds were so bad to be honest. The players I have are pretty much on the same level as every bar perhaps Levski/Ludogorets and CSKA.
 
Season 3 – Half Year Review

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Season 3 – Half Year Review





VELICHKOV'S SUMMARY

What a start. Sure, our league form could be slightly better but we have really prioritised the European fixtures. Unfortunately our European adventure has finished for the season now and our challenge is to make sure we get back for another go next season!




DOMESTIC ROUNDUP

We started off the season really quite well, the Cherno More fixture aside. In particular the results against CSKA and Ludogorets in August were pleasing. Things got more tough as the European fixtures came thick and fast through September though, and hopefully the key match at home where we lost to Levski doesn’t come back to bite us. Things remained up and down throughout October, November and December as we continued to utilise depth in our squad to its fullest. Our youngsters will better for the experience though and we have given ourselves a useful platform to spring from now that we can focus fully on the League.

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In the Cups we again displayed our Jekyll and Hyde nature. We had a really pleasing win in the Bulgarian Super Cup that we qualified for by virtue of being winners of the League last season. We faced Botev Plovdiv who, somewhat surprisingly, won the Bulgarian Cup and dispatched of them quite easily. Our other domestic cup form was quite poor to be honest. I had expected to progress significantly further in the Bulgarian Cup this season and personally see our crash out in the second round, albeit against our bogey side in Levski, as a failure.

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EUROPEAN JOURNEY

In contrast, I really couldn’t be prouder of our European efforts this season. Although we eventually succumbed to FC Copenhagen in the Champions League playoffs we overcame HJK Helsinki and APOEL Nicosia in the Euro Cup playoffs to book our spot in the group stages. There we really showed we can mix it and deserved our spot as we came within a whisker or qualifying out of our group, missing out on second to Sporting Lisbon by virtue of their better record in the head to head matches.

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Our efforts in Europe have seen the financial security of Lokomotiv take a significant turn for the better and built with it a craving to get back there as soon as possible.

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TRANSFERS

Velichkov sensed early that some extra quality was required so began looking at potential additions to the squad, particularly in defence. The player that Velichkov set his heart on early, young defender Spas Domuschiev, unfortunately failed a medical having agreed terms which saw Velichkov then scramble to find a replacement which was eventually found in Dimitar Mitev, a talent who already has multiple Bulgarian under 21 caps to his name.


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UPGRADES

As the season progressed Velichkov noted that, with his preference for bringing through young Bulgarian talent, there isn’t a huge amount of squad strengthening that was going to be required in the January window. Instead, the decision was made to utilise some of the new funds received for upgrades to both the Youth and Training facilities.


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MISCELLANEOUS

The increase in stature for Lokomotiv that has occurred under Velichkov’s reign was really reinforced when the season ticket sales figures were released. Starting from an extremely low base, ticket growth has been slow to date but this year the number of season ticket holders grew over tenfold, increased from a mere 148 to 1873.

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As already mentioned, the overall financial security of the club has strengthen dramatically. Carrying a good bank balance whilst maintaining a tight rein on the wage bill has seen the club move to turning a monthly operating profit. It is expected though that as the club moves to the next phase of its development and attempts to establish itself as a perennial European participant this will need to change and more established Bulgarian stars will need to be targeted where possible.

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Season 3 – End of Season Review






VELICHKOV'S SUMMARY

Brilliant from the lads! To be honest at the league split stage I was quite worried that we had spotted Levski too much of a lead. Running them down on the final day of the season was massive though, particularly in the context of the Champions League. Taking that next step is the challenge now though. I want to stick with Bulgarian talent, but am worried that by doing so I am limited this squad’s potential to grow.





DOMESTIC ROUNDUP

When the split arrived we were 4 points off Levski. Knowing we would face them multiple times gave us belief though that we could run them down in the final stretch. At this stage, Cherno More were also representing a genuine challenge for title, with Ludogorets an outside chance if they too could go on a run.

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Our task didn’t get any easier either when we failed to win in the first two games after the split. From that point on though? Well, we were basically perfect. The win over Levski with 5 games to go got us back within touching distance before they choked on the final day. As our resounding derby win over CSKA in front of a packed house, coupled with Levski’s loss, saw us earn our second straight Bulgarian First League.

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AWARDS

As with last season, Lokomotiv players featured heavily in the end of season awards. Left winger Netov was runner up in the player of the season award while Orachev took out the young player of the season from Stefanov. Young Stephane Cisse took out the gong for top goalscorer and featured in the team of the season with Netov and the two youngsters purchased this season in Mitev and Enchev. Velichkov ran away with the manager of the year award also.

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TRANSFERS

In making a concerted effort to develop young Bulgarian talent Velichkov knows at some point offers will come in for his young charges. Now, if they are only offers from other Bulgarian teams then Velcihkov has no issues saying no. But when saying no might deny a kid his chance at setting himself up for the future then Velichkov wont stand for it, not at least until Lokomotiv are in a position where they can offer similar wages. So, when some offers from Serie B came in for Stefanov, Velichkov allowed him to move. Which he did, obtaining a contract that will pay him almost £8k/week.

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MISCELLANEOUS

This season saw Lokomotiv's supporter base grow significantly, not only did they see a massive increase in season tickets sold, they also registered a new high for average attendance in the First League.

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Their European successes also saw the general stature of the club increase - it is now the 208th more reputable club in Europe, but Velichkov hopes that will continue to change with success in Europe.

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And, in large part thanks to their own efforts this season in the Euro Cup, Lokomotiv's path to the Champions League became slightly easier as a result of the significant improvement in the Bulgarian coefficient ranking meaning they will enter the competition a round later.

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Moving up 9 places the Bulgarian First League is now the 24th best competition in Europe, the comp was ranked as low as the 33rd best recently so this improvement is a welcome change.

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Unfortunately, the Bulgarian national team ranking is on the slide. It was 45th in 2018 and is now only 58th. Velichkov continues to watch these developments with interest - should the national team job become available, Velichov would put his name in the ring.


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Season 4 – Half Year Review

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Season 4 – Half Year Review




VELICHKOV'S SUMMARY

An interesting 6 month’s then to say the least. The highlight was undoubtedly what we have been able to achieve in Europe. To be honest though, our League form continues to suffer when we are fighting on multiple fronts and I was expecting that the natural improvement in my younger backups would have seen that corrected. Now, we still have lots of work to do to secure our goal of the title and earning our place in qualification rounds of the Champions League.





DOMESTIC ROUNDUP - LEAGUE

As with last year, we started off well – going through July and August undefeated. In September and October though our away form began to desert us and we suffered defeats at Cherno More and Levski. Those away struggles continued in December as an away defeat to Ludogorets and draw at Septemvri Sofia sandwiched a home draw against Botev Plovdiv. We find ourselves then in what is an ok 3rd​ place at Christmas, but with work to do.

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DOMESTIC ROUNDUP - CUPS

Our domestic dup form has been pleasing though. After overcoming Vereya in a reasonably tense affair to take out the Super Cup we have continued through unbeaten thus far in the Bulgarian Cup and will now face CSKA Sofia in the semi-final stage after the season has finished.

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EUROPEAN JOURNEY

What a rollercoaster in Europe though! First we ran through the gauntlet of the qualifying rounds of the Champions League with ease. The highlight was certainly our 7 nil away win at AEK Athens. Carrying a 1 nil lead from the first leg into the game, we were the beneficiaries of a Gelson Fernandes brain snap early that saw him sent off but we were already 2 nil up at that point and then proceeded to run rampant.

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Then, in the group stage, we held our own against great quality opposition. Normally an away win would be the biggest result for a Bulgarian side in the Champions League but personally I was most proud of the draw with Liverpool – what an amazing night for the Lokomotiv fans!

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Unfortunately though, our last place finish in the group means that we are out of Europe for another season.

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Qualifying for the Champions League has further secured our financial stability and really given us some room to play with when it comes to matters such as upgrades.

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TRANSFERS

I refuse to stand in the way of allowing talented youngsters a chance to further their career elsewhere where it is clear they will also clearly benefit financially by such a move. Early in the season Udinese came calling for young French striker Stephane Cisse and we accepted a slightly below market value bid, one that has allowed Cisse to secure a contract paying the equivalent of 4,000 pound a week..

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UPGRADES

Having suitable internal replacements for Cisse meant that no further investment in the squad was required. As such, once the upgrades approved last season by the Board were complete I wasted no time in asking for more! They were granted and the club is continuing to strengthen both on and off the pitch.

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MISCELLANEOUS

Lokomotiv’s fan base growth was again evident in the increase to the number of season tickets sold. This year saw an almost 50% growth on last season.

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The Champions League money means that the immediately financial stability of Lokomotiv is basically ensured. Continued, sustainable growth now is the order of the day

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The growth in the on field success of Lokomotiv became evident when a number of players were called up for Bulgarian selection for the first time. Part of me is hoping that this is somewhat of a result of the mounting pressure of Petar Hubchev as, should he be relieved of his duties, I would love to get that job.

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Holy Apple
Lokomotiv Sofia Is So Talent And Fast That Ludogorets And Levski Sofia
How Do You Win Second League In First Season Then First League One Year Later
Byway How Do You Qualify Champions League And Europa League So Fast
And How Do Beat Teams Like Wolfsburg Dinamo APOEL And Even Sporting And AEK Other Teams Players Are Not Good Enough Or Just Players Are Slow
 
Holy Apple
Lokomotiv Sofia Is So Talent And Fast That Ludogorets And Levski Sofia
How Do You Win Second League In First Season Then First League One Year Later
Byway How Do You Qualify Champions League And Europa League So Fast
And How Do Beat Teams Like Wolfsburg Dinamo APOEL And Even Sporting And AEK Other Teams Players Are Not Good Enough Or Just Players Are Slow

Hi mate - to be honest, I offered trials to basically every under 20 player in Bulgaria without a contract in the first season and then gave full time deals to anyone who was decent. Unfortunately for Bulgaria it seems, there isn't all that much difference between players in the first division and second division as I am still regularly getting reports saying that there is young talent in the second division who are recommended signings so it isn't that much harder.
 
Hi mate - to be honest, I offered trials to basically every under 20 player in Bulgaria without a contract in the first season and then gave full time deals to anyone who was decent. Unfortunately for Bulgaria it seems, there isn't all that much difference between players in the first division and second division as I am still regularly getting reports saying that there is young talent in the second division who are recommended signings so it isn't that much harder.
And Byway I Mean How Do You Win The League In Second Season Where You Won Second Division One Year Later
How Do You Qualfify Champions League And Europa League So Fast Like WTH
How Do You Beat Teams Like Wolfsburg Dinamo APOEL And Even Sporting And AEK Cheating Or Just Players Have Healthy
 
And Byway I Mean How Do You Win The League In Second Season Where You Won Second Division One Year Later
How Do You Qualfify Champions League And Europa League So Fast Like WTH
How Do You Beat Teams Like Wolfsburg Dinamo APOEL And Even Sporting And AEK Cheating Or Just Players Have Healthy

Most of it is to do with identifying talented youth and playing them I think. I would say my team now is as talented as CSKA/Levski and Ludogorets thanks to developing younger players. To get an illustration of their development you can see the season before last I lost in the final CL qualification round but this year was lucky to get AEK and qualify but we only beat them 1 nil at home before we won easily away thanks to the red card and now my players are being selected for Bulgarian national team. With the CL group I think the opposition may have been resting their better players (although I would have to go back to look) whereas I play my best players in the European games and my backups in the league so that may explain some of the results. Tactical familiarity also seems to me to be the biggest indicator of success in this game, I would have to go back and look specifically but, just taking the inter and Liverpool games for example, the first time we played perhaps we had better familiarity and then in the 2nd game against each they were more in tune and that would explain why they flogged us.

more generally though I don’t think the difference in players between what I have now and most of the third tier leagues (say Czech/Romanian/Israeli) is all that different/Greece) - I think I would still struggle against better second tier (Belgian/Dutch/Scottish/Portuguese) teams I think if I came up against them but have been lucky to avoid them so far.

If I went back to the second season when we weren’t as talented as the likes of Levski/CSKA and Ludogorets they all had European competitions to worry about - you can see the effect of that even on my squad in the past two seasons - whereas we didn’t so I think we were very lucky to win it that season - but then that has helped me attract better young players.
 
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