El Decano: Saving Spain's Oldest Club

[JoeyShinobi]

Recreativo de Huelva Appoint Bruce

From

Recreativo de Huelva is a footballing establishment steeped in history, but a barren decade since relegation from Spain’s top flight has seen them reach the very brink of extinction. With a skeleton crew of playing staff, an absence of experience and an empty bank balance, the outlook for the club is looking very bleak.

With the club staring down the barrel of oblivion, they have thrown one last Hail Mary; drafting in the relative unknown Joe Bruce, a Briton who grew up not far from the founders of Recreativo back in 1899. Bruce, who endured a modest but short playing career in England’s lower leagues, was forced to retire aged 23 as a result of his addiction to sports simulation games. Having gotten his life back on track, he studied for his coaching badges as well as a degree in business, which will serve him well in the fight to keep El Decano afloat.

Bruce has been handed a contract until the end of the season. Despite the club’s precarious financial position, a local fan group has made it clear that expectations of the squad and the new manager are high, and a challenge for the play-off positions is demanded this season. With only eight days to prepare for the new season, Bruce will have his work cut out to stamp his style on the squad and get them to hit the ground running.

I read about Recreativo a few days ago, and decided it might make for a fun first foray into an FM story; having gotten about 11 years into a Dag & Red save, it felt like time for a new challenge. I couldn't quite work out how to pick it up from March, when the story broke, so I've taken charge from the start of the 2015/16 season. My goal is to return the club to the Primera Liga and give them financial stability they need to remain there.

Hope you all enjoy this!

 

[JoeyShinobi]

A first look at the squad shows a bit of a mixed bag; some very strong players, even if some don’t have time on their side, mixed with some players who will perhaps struggle against the bigger sides.

Immediately, there is an obvious weakness down the left flank; with only a couple of decent left-sided players, the priority will be to find some quality to beef up the squad. With a lack of creativity in the middle of the park, and an overall lack of depth across the squad, recruitment all over the park will be at least considered.

With a transfer budget of just £100k, and no space left in the wage budget, there may have to be some departures to make space for new targets. I’ll have to scour the unattached and loan markets to make the most of this situation; perhaps look to some young talent either discarded by bigger clubs, or frustrated in their reserve teams.

With just eight days before the start of the new campaign, the assistant manager has hastily arranged an intra-club friendly to allow me to see my new charges in action for the first time. With a counter-attacking 4-2-3-1 formation set up, it’s up to the players now to put in some hard work between now and the start of the season.

 

[JoeyShinobi]

Pre-Season

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Wasting no time in getting to work, we looked to strengthen the squad. The first port of call was bringing a new left back, and although there was a dearth of southpaw full backs shilling their wares, there were few with the quality needed to boost the squad. After looking at a few candidates, I settled on David Garrido, a journeyman Spaniard who, at 32, was looking for one final challenge before hanging up his boots. With weekly wage demands of just £850, he seemed a punt worth taking.

Up front, the opportunity to sign a young Spanish poacher named Ivan Calero from Derby County came up. With no wage contribution required, it seemed a no-brainer. We also acquired another striker, Cristian, who came highly recommended by the scouting team. With much hype came a higher wage, at £1,800 per week the club would need results to justify the strain on the wage budget. The increased wage budget led to a reduction in transfer budget, but I decided we needed the bolstered squad.

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Pre-season went well enough, three wins, two draws and two defeats at the hands of a strong Galatasaray team and C.E.Sabadell. A number of injuries were picked up, although the club’s key players came through unscathed. We were, however, left short at right back, and with only Edu Moya fit for the start of the season, I was praying he would come through the early fixtures without any issues.

The primary concern at this early stage was the lack of goals for our strikers; all of the goals seemed to be coming from midfield. Hopefully the shift into competitive action would kickstart some goalscoring form. But with the majority of the squad now match-sharp and ready to bounce back at the first attempt, it was time for the real games to begin.

 

[JoeyShinobi]

September​

With the season finally underway, it was time to get down to business. The early fixtures presented an opportunity to get used to life in Second Division B4 and pick up some confidence building wins in preparation for stiffer challenges ahead. Let’s see how it went…

V Almeria B, 0-1 (a)

A turgid match, to be frank, which was lost in the dying minutes following a defensive mix-up. We offered little attacking threat, and despite an excellent display by Manu Molina in central midfield, the result was a dent to any confidence built in pre-season. Worse, injuries to influential right winger Antonio Nunez and right-back Edu Moya caused some real selection headaches over the coming weeks.

V Algeciras, 0-0 (lost 4-3 on pens) (a) - Spanish Cup

The lack of a cutting edge up front was evident here, with new signing Cristian struggling to slot in. The game should have been won a number of times, but we were punished and suffered the ignominy of going out of the Spanish Cup in the first round. The board were not impressed.

V Jaen, 1-2 (h)

An eagerly anticipated contest between two promotion hopefuls; despite taking the lead, we threw it away as David Garrido put through his own net in the 90th minute with no-one around him. Another injury to stand-in right back Diego Jimenez created more issues, with Garrido switching to the right flank to cover. Tactically, we appeared naive; playing too narrow and allowing opponents space on the flanks offered far too much goal threat to deal with, and a few long evenings with the whiteboard were now required.

V Algeciras, 3-0 (a)

A tweak in mentality and formation (4-2-3-1 now, with a shadow striker) resulting in an instant reward; vengeance was already on the cards, and left winger Ernesto Cornejo opened his account with two well taken goals in the opening 10 minutes. Captain Vazquez completed the scoring just before half-time, and we were up and running. Finally.

V La Hoya, 1-0 (h)

A first victory at home followed, in a hard-fought match won by Jesus Vazquez’ well-taken penalty. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.

V Melilla, 0-1 (a)

A game in which we just didn’t get going; our performance was rife with fouls and yellow cards, and David Garrido was sent off for persistent fouling. On the plus side, first choice right-back Mario Marin made his return from injury, and put in a solid display. Real concerns up front as Cristian fails again, and with players like Arthuro staking their claim in training, he was running out of time to make an impression.

V Real Betis B, 2-0 (h)

Finally, Cristian makes a telling contribution, making the breakthrough coming off the bench after 77 minutes of a tight affair with Real Betis B. We ended September on a high, and occupied 4th position after a tough start.

With players returning from injury, and the squad beginning to gel, things were looking up. Now offering a goal threat from both flanks and midfield, I was confident we could now kick on and push for top spot, taking this once great club a step closer to where it belongs.