C.J. Lippo, Club vs Career.

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Lippo255

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Whether it be frustration at an under performing squad that has me checking the job adverts after every poor performance or an offer from a bigger club, with more resources, in every fm save i start the question always comes. Should i stay or go?
So as a farewell to fm14 i am going to try both!

My story will start much as any other. I'll pick a smallish club & do the best i can. At some point though, whether its through success or frustration, i will split my story in 2. Club & Career.

In the club story i will stay loyal to my chosen team & do what i can to bring them success.

In the career story i will take every opportunity to move to bigger clubs & up through the divisions.

Running both stories side by side should, hopefully, be interesting to see where each path leads me

Now to pick a team!
 
So have decided to start with Cultural Leonesa in the spanish second division B1 (third tier). Besides the great name, they look an interesting prospect. Some decent facilities, including a 14k capacity stadium, however their small budget, part time status & recent promotion should make building a competetive squad a challenge. With games against la liga "b" sides as well as professional teams, some of whom were in the top flight themselves not too long ago, just staying up may be an achievement.
 
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Club Overview

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A few trophies in the cabinet, decent facilities for the level, a good place to start. Of course there is room for improvement, but that's the point.

KEY PLAYERS
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Julio Rico
Without a doubt the pick of the bunch. Will be a key member of my defence. Also a set piece specialist.

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Adan Gurdiel
On loan from Ponferradina will, hopefully, add a touch of class to the midfield
 
Pre season

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Results were pretty much as expected as I tinkered with formations & got to know my team. The humiliating 4-1 defeat against Rio Ave was entirely my fault. Having never heard of them just assumed they were another crappy Spanish lower league club & went on the attack. It wasn't until we were 4 goals down that I decided to check them out. Turns out they are in the Portuguese top division & Perhaps deserved more respect then I had showed them. ROOKIE MISTAKE!

KEY TRANSFERS
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Leonardo Novo - Free
Knew I had to have him as soon as I saw him. Fierce competition for his signature meant I had to throw some hefty bonuses his way to get him to come.

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Javier Modrego - Free
Was looking for a Midfielder to build attacks & Javier jumped out at me. His PPMs, dictate tempo & simple passes, where ideal for the role I wanted him to play.

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Sylvain Wiltord - Chief Scout
Not exactly a key signing but i love signing former players as staff. ^^) I also signed club legend Angel Luis as my under 19s manager.

TACTICS
Have settled on 2 basic formations that I will attempt to refine as the season progresses

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The first is a bastardised version of a 5-3-2. It may look strange but it has, by far, been my most successful defensive tactic of fm14. I will use this tactic when I am the underdog or when morale is low & I need to grind out results.

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The second is a fairly basic 4-4-2 with a narrow diamond in midfield. This is my more attacking formation & as such will only be used when morale is high & players are in form.

Minimum expectation is a mid table finish & i have been given a 9k wage budget.

No idea why the thumbnails are below & cant work out how to get rid of them.
 
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So it begins...

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Pre season odds of 40-1. The bookies obviously believe we will struggle & have us pencilled in for a relegation dogfight

RESULTS
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Unbeaten in our first 5 is a solid start, made even better by only conceding the 1 goal. Stuck with my defensive formation & it has worked a treat, grinding out results, keeping clean sheets & raising morale. Our starting forwards, Diego Torres & Leonardo Novo, have started well each bagging 2 goals. While our defence has looked rock solid.

TABLE
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After 5 matches we sit in 6th position with 9 points from a possible 15.
 
All good things....

Results
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Despite suffering our first defeat of the season, a hard fought 1-0 loss to title favourites Racing, this is another impressive set of results for us. The 5-2 thrashing of Tropezon was my first use of my more attacking formation & it couldn't of gone much better. 5-0 up at half time I perhaps should of anticipated our complacency & pulled back a little. Instead I pushed on in search of more goals & conceded 2 myself.
Wins over Marino (3-0) & Burgos (5-2) were stand out performances in a block that hardly saw us put a foot wrong.
Already Novo looks to be a fantastic signing adding 4 goals to his tally, while attacking midfielder Juan Carlos Ortiz was a stand out getting 3 goals and 6 assists!

Table
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12 points from a possible 15 has seen us move into the playoff spots. Early days but some positive signs & a great platform to build on.
 
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What's all this then?

Results
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After another 2 wins to start this block we hit our first bad patch of form. 3 losses in a row, in which we conceded 8 times, quickly bought us back to reality & highlighted the toughness of the task at hand.
As the team hit their first hurdle of the campaign 4 goals to Diego Torres is the only stat worth noting.

table
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Despite the bad run we are still doing well. You might notice my screenshot is a game late. Apologies.

Attendance
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Second highest attendance in the league is a great achievement, though amazingly Oviedo's attendance is almost 4 times as high!
 
Sweet & sour

Results
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A pleasing bounce back result against Sporting B was soured by a serious injury to Leo Novo (torn hamstring - 3 to 4 months). Consistency was the problem in this block as an impressive win over league leaders Oviedo & a 3-0 drubbing of Noja were preceded by a disappointing draw at relegation threatened Ferrol & a loss to Aviles respectively.
Form wise it was good to see youngster Javier Tejada get his first goal for the senior squad while Juan Carlos Ortiz continued his good form scoring another 3 goals. On the down side Novo's injury has left me with a selection head-ache as another pre-season signing, Mohammed Tanko, has been disappointing & other options are thin on the ground. Persisting with Tanko who, on paper at least, would be a starter for most teams at this level, or retraining Tejada seem to be my best options.

Table
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Sitting in fifth spot & with a healthy goal difference we are still very much in the mix for a playoff spot.

Salary per annum
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An interesting piece of information that shows the size of the task at hand.
 
Lost in translation???

Results
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Not the type of consistency I had hoped for! A loss to bottom placed Tropezon a particular low-light in a set of results that I would prefer not to talk about.
Mohammed Tanko got his first goal for the club though he could of had a bag full had his finishing been even remotely acceptable! As you can imagine very few other performances merit mention.

Table
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We've lost ground in the race for the playoffs although we are very much still a chance if we can turn our form around.

This block also saw the close of the January transfer window. a tight budget meant my only activity was to release Alvaro Valdes, Victor & Iakob Apkhazava & commit Argentine Midfielder Maxi Sepulveda to join the club next season from Santona.
 
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Sorry boys...

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Results
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In hindsight our recent run of bad form may well of been my fault. Think I started looking at our position on the table too much & forgot to check how the boys were traveling.
A switch to a more cautious approach & more attention to detail between matches bought immediate results, but I fear the removal of my head from my *** may have come to late to save our playoff chances. :S

Table
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6 games to go, 7 points from the playoffs. Stranger things have happened but...
 
End of season Summary

Results
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A poor finish to the season if i'm honest. Indeed the entire 2nd half of the campaign was a bit of a let down after a start that promised so much.

Final Table
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Despite the disappointment of missing the playoffs, I'm pleased with the final position. Tipped to be fighting for survival we instead fought for promotion & there is no shame in falling short.

Player stats
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Player of the year
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My choice for player of the year was simple. Juan Carlos was a stand out with 10 goals, 12 assists from 33 appearances.

Moving Forward

Looking at my squad there are certainly some issues that need to be addressed.

Our defence is ageing & short on depth, the midfield still feels unbalanced & short on both depth & quality, while in attack Diego Torres is the wrong side of 35 & once again depth is an issue.

Finances
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The club made a loss for the year but I remain hopeful that the board will increase my wage budget to match what will, undoubtedly, be higher expectations & allow me to address some of the issues i've listed above.
 
Pre-season

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Have arranged friendlies against some big opposition to try & help our finances while also throwing in some easy beats to keep morale up.

Budget
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Very little change im afraid despite the raised expectations.

Transfers
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The sale of Gongora was also finance related as I didn't feel the club could afford to turn down 50k for a player we had adequate back up for. The 14k I received from the sale was moved straight into the wage budget.

With little change to my wage budget I have resorted to balancing the squad better rather then improving it too much. The only notable addition was January signing Maxi Sepulveda

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Although I am thinking about breaking the budget to sign this guy.

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Jonathan Ruiz
Spent last year in the Adelante with Elche. Looks to be a class above what I have now. 32 but you don't win anything with kids, Right?
What do you reckon worth going over budget?


On a personal note, the boards decision not to change the wage budget has meant I have began to look for opportunities to move clubs & split my stories.
Unfortunately I was considered, but overlooked, for the vacant Racing job.
 
Here we go again

Results
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Another solid start to the season.
Our first tilt at the Spanish cup has started well with 2 easy wins, while a win & 2 goal less draws in the league is less than spectacular.

A strong pre-season has seen me starting Mohammed Tanko ahead of Leo Novo up front & he hasn't disappointed scoring 3 goals. Juan Carlos Ortiz has once again been the stand out though, getting 3 goals & 3 assists.

Table
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We begin this season where we finished the last in 7th position.

Tactics
Have stuck with the 2 formations that were successful for me last year, however I have noticed, already, that the opposition is far more aware of my tactics this time around clogging up the centre of the park making space hard to come by. As both my initial formations are quite narrow I have decided to create a third formation to better spread the field & exploit the wide areas of the pitch.

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Here is how it is looking though it is very much still a work in progress.
 
DECISION TIME

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I decided the vacant Northampton post was the perfect opportunity for me to move on & split my stories.
Although we are currently in the Skrill Premier winning promotion shouldn't be overly difficult & the professional status of the club is an improvement, as is the 26k wage budget.

History
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Not much in the cabinet but hopefully that is about to change.

Squad
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Still getting to know my new chargers. On paper at least there looks to be enough quality to win promotion.

Table & Results
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Not sure who i've taken over from but surely the team is capable of better then this.
 
So am wondering how to proceed as far as updates are concerned. Was thinking i would just update each story individually after every 5 games or so like i have been. Maybe with a club logo at the top of each to better distinguish between the 2 stories? Each team will play different amount of games though so not sure how it would work out, would monthly be better?
If anyone is actually following this story would appreciate your opinions.
 
CLUB - September Update

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Results
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Two more wins to round out September, a 3-0 drubbing of Tenerife B was followed by an impressive win over perennial title favourites Racing.

Table
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Another unbeaten start to the season sees us sitting in 4th position with a game in hand on the teams above us.

Performances
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Once again Juan Carlos Ortiz & Diego Torres have been stand outs, while Javier Modrego's performances are much improved from the previous year. Leo Novo has also began to find some of the form that had me singing his praises so often at the beginning of last season, before his injury.​
 
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Career - September Update

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Only the 1 game to report on as most of the month was used finalising my move.

Results
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Really should of had this game wrapped up earlier but we wasted our chances. The final stages saw Alfreton flood forward in search of the equaliser, pinning us on our line.
Fortunately we held firm to secure my first win as boss & kept a clean sheet in the process.

Plans

Have given myself until the January window to come to grips with my new squad & finalise plans. There are a number of players, including our captain, who are unhappy & "looking for a new challenge" who I may move on, assuming I can replace or do with out them, however wholesale changes are unlikely at this stage.

Tactics
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Used a 4-5-1 in my first game in charge & it did ok. The lack of a pre season has left me with no real idea about who my best players will be or how best to play them. Experimenting in competitive matches is not ideal but at this stage I have little choice.
Have also bought my Narrow Diamond formation across from Leonesa though I am unsure if I have the players here to make it work.​
 
Club - October Update

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Results
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What a disaster!!! A first up win against Caudel was followed by a draw & 3 loses, one of which saw us exit the cup in spectacular circumstances.

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Needless to say I was none to impressed with our defending but what a game for the neutrals! Modrego, Novo, Rico & Sepulveda all got on the score sheet & at 4 all heading into extra time I felt we could still win it. Unfortunately we ran out of legs & Ontinyent put 2 past us to end our cup run in the 3rd round.
This was also my first use of my wider formation here's how it lined up.

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Obviously it still needs some work & perhaps this was the wrong game to test it in. (though I had used it towards the end of some games we were winning comfortably.)

Table
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2 losses & a draw see's us slip to 9th. If we are to challenge for promotion this year we will have to turn our form around very quickly otherwise, i'm afraid, its mid table mediocrity again :(​
 
Career - October Update

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Results
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Very poor. 2 wins, 2 loses & 2 draws may not sound so catastrophic but our performances have been lack lasture at best.
Made the decision to bring my 5-3-2 formation across for the FA cup game against Histon as nothing else seemed to be working & this tactic is my most tried & tested. Results have improved a bit since, though our performances have still not been great.

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Table
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Only 7 points outside the playoff spots, if I can find a way to get the most out of my guys we can certainly make up the ground, though I lack any real confidence in myself, my players or my tactics at the moment. :(

Finances
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Very poor shape I'm afraid. Have started trying to offload some players to lower my wages but, unsurprisingly, there is very little interest.​
 
So have decided to abandon this now. Wanted to try something a bit different but it hasnt worked. Just too hard to stay on top of both saves.
Bit of a shame as i was really enjoying Cultural Leonesa, i highly recommend them to anyone looking for a good challenge.
 
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