Our facilities/junior coaching are top notch, I always thought long-term and now we're reaping the rewards!
Crusaders F.C. - The European Crusade
- Thread starter Arazar
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Our facilities/junior coaching are top notch, I always thought long-term and now we're reaping the rewards!
Europa League Round of 16
Jordan Jones had just about recovered from a bruised shin in time for the first leg, so I let him keep his left inside-forward place in the Europa team and he scored a couple of nice goals in the first half to secure the win to go with the dominant first leg performance!
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The Czechs put up more of a fight in the second leg as they looked to overturn the deficit but Henry's away goal ended it as a contest, although they pulled a goal back. We went through 3-1 on aggregate!
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It looks like this will be the end of the road in the Europa League barring a miracle, as we were drawn against table-topping Tottenham in the Quarter Finals. I'm just delighted to have made it this far, beating Roma and now this Czech side is a real achievement when you consider our stature and the tender age of our players!
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In other news, I gave the 15-year-old striker from our Youth Intake a start and he netted twice to become our youngest ever scorer!
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Jordan Jones had just about recovered from a bruised shin in time for the first leg, so I let him keep his left inside-forward place in the Europa team and he scored a couple of nice goals in the first half to secure the win to go with the dominant first leg performance!
View attachment 403343
The Czechs put up more of a fight in the second leg as they looked to overturn the deficit but Henry's away goal ended it as a contest, although they pulled a goal back. We went through 3-1 on aggregate!
View attachment 403342
It looks like this will be the end of the road in the Europa League barring a miracle, as we were drawn against table-topping Tottenham in the Quarter Finals. I'm just delighted to have made it this far, beating Roma and now this Czech side is a real achievement when you consider our stature and the tender age of our players!
View attachment 403341View attachment 403340
In other news, I gave the 15-year-old striker from our Youth Intake a start and he netted twice to become our youngest ever scorer!
View attachment 403338
rocco russo
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Aston villa have done very well in the champions league so far
Europa League Quarter Finals!
The first leg of our tie against the Premier League leaders and we enjoyed the most possession and even drew first blood, with John Byrne scoring the opener! We were reduced to 10 men in the 66th minute when Laird got his second yellow, and played with a 4-5-0 in an attempt to keep the 1-0 lead and prevent the away goal. We were cruelly punished in the 93rd minute when Tottenham scored from a deflection :O
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In the second leg, we had the odd chance with the score at 0-0 but didn't take them, and Tottenham punished us again to end the game 3-0, the tie 4-1 and our European adventure!
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We had a great run which was really enjoyable so I can't complain. I can only wonder "what if" with that Tottenham away goal though!
I'll do an end of season review shortly. Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you want (6)
The first leg of our tie against the Premier League leaders and we enjoyed the most possession and even drew first blood, with John Byrne scoring the opener! We were reduced to 10 men in the 66th minute when Laird got his second yellow, and played with a 4-5-0 in an attempt to keep the 1-0 lead and prevent the away goal. We were cruelly punished in the 93rd minute when Tottenham scored from a deflection :O
View attachment 403290
In the second leg, we had the odd chance with the score at 0-0 but didn't take them, and Tottenham punished us again to end the game 3-0, the tie 4-1 and our European adventure!
View attachment 403289
We had a great run which was really enjoyable so I can't complain. I can only wonder "what if" with that Tottenham away goal though!
I'll do an end of season review shortly. Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you want (6)
Thanks mate! Check out my last post, that first leg was so nearly perfect and I do wonder how things would have panned out in the away tie if we weren't chasing the game from the start!
As for the other Northern Irish teams, Linfield have put together a nice little team quite similar to us in the 2nd or 3rd season. They're running a pretty large wage bill too and made the Europa groups for a second successive season beating an Icelandic team in the play-offs funnily enough! (6)
Its reassuring that another NI team are performing in Europe, it can only help raise the standard.
2018/19 Season Review
The final League table looks like this, as we broke the record points tally by going undefeated and drawing only 3 times! Hopefully we can win all 38 games in the near future!
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Here are the league player statistics, which we scored highly for:
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We swept aside Cliftonville 3-0 to claim the Irish Cup:
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And our old foes Dundalk in the Irish Cup. They boast Javier Garrido and Aiden McGeady in their line-up, and I might try and sign the latter as an option on the wing. McGeady still has all of his abilities aged 33 and hasn't declined much if at all since he played for Everton!
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Those trophies sealed the quadruple!
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Here's the squad, there's really very little I want to change about it given how successful they've been. A big name player wouldn't go amiss though, albeit at the right price:
We had a clean sweep of the awards, just like the team trophies, with all 3 Player of the Year nominees from Crusaders and the in-demand Paul Henry being the winner. Babacar won the Top Goalscorer award, while smashing the goals in a season record with 43 in all competitions, in which Henry came second. The Young Player of the Year award went to Felix Law, and Manager of the Year to myself.
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Lastly for this update, the board agreed to upgrade the Training facilities for the first team once again, so they should be Superb like our Youth facilities in October 2019!
View attachment 403227
The final League table looks like this, as we broke the record points tally by going undefeated and drawing only 3 times! Hopefully we can win all 38 games in the near future!
View attachment 403240
Here are the league player statistics, which we scored highly for:
View attachment 403226
We swept aside Cliftonville 3-0 to claim the Irish Cup:
View attachment 403238
And our old foes Dundalk in the Irish Cup. They boast Javier Garrido and Aiden McGeady in their line-up, and I might try and sign the latter as an option on the wing. McGeady still has all of his abilities aged 33 and hasn't declined much if at all since he played for Everton!
View attachment 403237
Those trophies sealed the quadruple!
View attachment 403234View attachment 403239
Here's the squad, there's really very little I want to change about it given how successful they've been. A big name player wouldn't go amiss though, albeit at the right price:
We had a clean sweep of the awards, just like the team trophies, with all 3 Player of the Year nominees from Crusaders and the in-demand Paul Henry being the winner. Babacar won the Top Goalscorer award, while smashing the goals in a season record with 43 in all competitions, in which Henry came second. The Young Player of the Year award went to Felix Law, and Manager of the Year to myself.
View attachment 403232View attachment 403231View attachment 403228View attachment 403230View attachment 403229
Lastly for this update, the board agreed to upgrade the Training facilities for the first team once again, so they should be Superb like our Youth facilities in October 2019!
View attachment 403227
Small world haha. This must be the 3rd/4th time I've managed him, coming to think about it!
Off-season update and more ranking changes!
Here is the Best XI for last season. Just look how many games some of these guys played, and I rotated alot too:
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We made our first signing of the summer; a steal from Irish rivals Dundalk - Aiden McGeady
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Still got the skills to pay the bills, and hasn't declined much in terms of speed either so he should be a great addition to the flanks with his ability to unlock a defence with a bit of magic!
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Onto the ranking alterations, and our league has continued to climb in reputation! We're now 25th and if we could possibly climb to 3 star within a few years given how young the squad is.
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Northern Ireland climbed 2 places to 18th, meaning we now get a third qualifying round for the Europa League for Linfield.
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We keep moving up the club rankings; nearly in the top 50 now although still 4th seeds I assume.
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Domestically, we are streets ahead of the opposition although Linfield are definitely bridging the gap between the best and rest.
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Here is the Best XI for last season. Just look how many games some of these guys played, and I rotated alot too:
View attachment 402834
We made our first signing of the summer; a steal from Irish rivals Dundalk - Aiden McGeady
View attachment 402833
Still got the skills to pay the bills, and hasn't declined much in terms of speed either so he should be a great addition to the flanks with his ability to unlock a defence with a bit of magic!
View attachment 402831
Onto the ranking alterations, and our league has continued to climb in reputation! We're now 25th and if we could possibly climb to 3 star within a few years given how young the squad is.
View attachment 402829
Northern Ireland climbed 2 places to 18th, meaning we now get a third qualifying round for the Europa League for Linfield.
View attachment 402827
We keep moving up the club rankings; nearly in the top 50 now although still 4th seeds I assume.
View attachment 402828
Domestically, we are streets ahead of the opposition although Linfield are definitely bridging the gap between the best and rest.
View attachment 402825View attachment 402823
If you could have just held on for the win in the first leg, who knows what would have happened in the second. It was still a brilliant run getting to the quarters.
Which Icelandic team did they beat? Hopefully not KR lol.
Hopefully Linfield can keep improving (but not too quickly) so Northern Ireland have 2 Regulars in Europe.
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Ha I'd rather they improved even faster; I think we might be getting a Champions League best placed qualifier soon if we go up a few more ranks, so they're gonna have to be good to get past England/Spains 4th placed team :'(
The run was really exciting, the great thing was we didn't look out of our depth at any stage in Europe. Hopefully the defence can keep improving with experience so some of them 3-0's turn into draws!
Yeah absolutely, I really want the league to become more competitive but there simply isn't the money in Northern Irish football at the moment despite going from 1.5 to 2.5 star. Enough money for everyone in the top league to go professional would be great but the prize money is only 170k for 1st and 5-figure for bottom. Sponsorship money has gone up steadily.
The thing I tend to miss out though is attendance figures, which for the Glentoran-Linfield derby reach nearly 6,000. We only get around the 1,000 mark for most home games despite our success. I'm hoping this changes in the near future as Club/League/Country reputation increases!
rocco russo
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none of the fans from the other team want to see you play because they know you will win
2019/20 Champions League Qualification + Crusaders taking over international football
With McGeady our only signing, we had some friendlies and went into qualifying. First, Welsh side TNS and we destroyed them 5-0 in the first leg away from home, with McGeady scoring a hat-trick on his debut! We finished the job 3-0 at home and went through 8-0 on aggregate.
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Next up, Slovenian champions Maribor, a decent enough team. We were too much though and coasted past them 6-1 on aggregate!
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We managed to avoid Celtic this time although I don't fear anyone in the play-off draw anymore. 2 seasons ago, Celtic were much better than us and we were lucky to go through. Last season it was fairly even and we edged it, but the team is constantly improving and I think we could play them off the park now (on a good day, they still have good players). Anyway we drew BATE Borisov of Bulgaria, a good team.
We dominated possession in both legs as you would expect from us, but they were dangerous; we managed a 2-0 win at home with Digby and Byrne both scoring. We approached the away game with the same 4-5-1 Control/Fluid we use every match and despite having chances to grab an away goal, the 0-0 panned out and we went into the group stages for a 3rd season running!
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The group draw was harsh; we meet our Europa League Quarter Final opponents from last season again, Tottenham, along with Bayern Munich and CSKA Moskva who have a good team as ever. We're still 4th seeds so this was always likely; finishing 3rd would be an incredible achievement compared to last season!
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In other matches, we ran Manchester United very close in a home friendly, losing 3-2 to a full strength side as we tested our mettle. We also threw in a home friendly against Premier League Everton between some qualifiers in order to test our second string while also giving them gametime. This was successful as they gave them a great game, narrowly losing 5-4!
View attachment 402237
Finally for this update, something that makes me very proud:
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11 Crusaders players made the Northern Ireland squad for competitive games (so it's not just experimental!). When you add to that the two goalkeepers, Ronan Kelly (sold for 2m) and Gary Armstrong (when you scroll down, sold for 2.4m to Southampton), that's 13 players in total from Crusaders which is over 50% of the NI senior squad! I'm pretty sure we have a few more on the fringe and many in the reserves/youth side who are still working their way through the U21/U19 teams.
Where do I apply for the international job?! (6)
With McGeady our only signing, we had some friendlies and went into qualifying. First, Welsh side TNS and we destroyed them 5-0 in the first leg away from home, with McGeady scoring a hat-trick on his debut! We finished the job 3-0 at home and went through 8-0 on aggregate.
View attachment 402229View attachment 402230
Next up, Slovenian champions Maribor, a decent enough team. We were too much though and coasted past them 6-1 on aggregate!
View attachment 402231View attachment 402232
We managed to avoid Celtic this time although I don't fear anyone in the play-off draw anymore. 2 seasons ago, Celtic were much better than us and we were lucky to go through. Last season it was fairly even and we edged it, but the team is constantly improving and I think we could play them off the park now (on a good day, they still have good players). Anyway we drew BATE Borisov of Bulgaria, a good team.
We dominated possession in both legs as you would expect from us, but they were dangerous; we managed a 2-0 win at home with Digby and Byrne both scoring. We approached the away game with the same 4-5-1 Control/Fluid we use every match and despite having chances to grab an away goal, the 0-0 panned out and we went into the group stages for a 3rd season running!
View attachment 402233View attachment 402234
The group draw was harsh; we meet our Europa League Quarter Final opponents from last season again, Tottenham, along with Bayern Munich and CSKA Moskva who have a good team as ever. We're still 4th seeds so this was always likely; finishing 3rd would be an incredible achievement compared to last season!
View attachment 402235
In other matches, we ran Manchester United very close in a home friendly, losing 3-2 to a full strength side as we tested our mettle. We also threw in a home friendly against Premier League Everton between some qualifiers in order to test our second string while also giving them gametime. This was successful as they gave them a great game, narrowly losing 5-4!
View attachment 402237
Finally for this update, something that makes me very proud:
View attachment 402236
11 Crusaders players made the Northern Ireland squad for competitive games (so it's not just experimental!). When you add to that the two goalkeepers, Ronan Kelly (sold for 2m) and Gary Armstrong (when you scroll down, sold for 2.4m to Southampton), that's 13 players in total from Crusaders which is over 50% of the NI senior squad! I'm pretty sure we have a few more on the fringe and many in the reserves/youth side who are still working their way through the U21/U19 teams.
Where do I apply for the international job?! (6)
Squad Overview for 19/20 plus Youth sides and Coaching
This post is just to show some parts of the set-up at Crusaders you might not be familiar with. I'll start with the squads.
This is very much the first team, I've put a few of 1 1/2 star or below current ability players in the reserves for gametime. I've cut off strikers Henry and Babacar from the bottom so I'll post their profiles below
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Babacar in one word: prolific
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Henry has been chased by every top 10 club in the Premier League but he isn't going anywhere, and even just signed a new 5 year deal (A)
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Digby is just a great player, and integral cog in the midfield. Luckily he was young enough to be tutored by the captain, Brittain, and picked up 18 determination and a nice personality too for me to continue to replicate throughout the youngsters coming through!
View attachment 402215
Staff have had a few additions and is looking fairly complete with a great B team manager in Lancaster and also U18s manager in Brad Friedel to help guide the younger players. Should I get a few youth coaches or is that overkill? Let me know!
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Looking at the coaching assignignments and it's a decent set-up maybe I should get a second GK coach? And all 4 star +?
View attachment 402211
Here are the B Team and U18 squads, lots of talent especially in the B team:
View attachment 402214View attachment 402213
This season I'm generally giving everyone pro terms when they hit 17 and keeping them here where we have such good coaching/facilities and can monitor their training (rather than loaning everyone out from 16 onwards). Hopefully they can reach their potential far earlier that way and be ready for a first team role or released ready to be a star player at one of the other NI clubs!
This post is just to show some parts of the set-up at Crusaders you might not be familiar with. I'll start with the squads.
This is very much the first team, I've put a few of 1 1/2 star or below current ability players in the reserves for gametime. I've cut off strikers Henry and Babacar from the bottom so I'll post their profiles below
View attachment 402218
Babacar in one word: prolific
View attachment 402217
Henry has been chased by every top 10 club in the Premier League but he isn't going anywhere, and even just signed a new 5 year deal (A)
View attachment 402216
Digby is just a great player, and integral cog in the midfield. Luckily he was young enough to be tutored by the captain, Brittain, and picked up 18 determination and a nice personality too for me to continue to replicate throughout the youngsters coming through!
View attachment 402215
Staff have had a few additions and is looking fairly complete with a great B team manager in Lancaster and also U18s manager in Brad Friedel to help guide the younger players. Should I get a few youth coaches or is that overkill? Let me know!
View attachment 402212
Looking at the coaching assignignments and it's a decent set-up maybe I should get a second GK coach? And all 4 star +?
View attachment 402211
Here are the B Team and U18 squads, lots of talent especially in the B team:
View attachment 402214View attachment 402213
This season I'm generally giving everyone pro terms when they hit 17 and keeping them here where we have such good coaching/facilities and can monitor their training (rather than loaning everyone out from 16 onwards). Hopefully they can reach their potential far earlier that way and be ready for a first team role or released ready to be a star player at one of the other NI clubs!
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Thanks mate, glad you're enjoying the story! (6)