FM 2014: A Valencia Story

[Dylan Campbell]

Valencia C.F. are a Spanish football club based in the large city Valencia. They play in the Spanish La Liga and are one of the most successful football clubs in Spain and Europe. It has won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles, two Fairs Cups (which is the predecssor to the UEFA Cup), one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Cup Winner's Cup and two UEFA Super Cups. They have also reached two UEFA Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001, losing both finals to Real Madrid and FC Bayern Munich respectively.

In the all-time La Liga table, Valencia is third behind Real Madrid and Barcelona and is part of the illustrious group that also contains Real Madrid and Barcelona to win more than five continental trophies. They play in the 55,000 seater Mestalla, but a new 75,000 stadium called the Nou Mestalla is being built in the north-west of the city of Valencia.

Valencia was founded in 1919 and after the Spanish Civil War began its Spanish successes, winning its first Copa del Rey final against Espanyol in the final. In the 1941-42 season, Valencia won its first ever La Liga title. It also won the 1943-44 title and the 1946-47 titles as well despite the Copa del Rey being regarded as more reputable than La Liga at that point in Spanish football.

During the 60s and 70s, Valencia began its continental success under the guidance of former Galactico and ex-Real Madrid superstar Alfredo di Stefano. One of the star players in the Valencia teams during the 1970s and 1980s was Argentinian forward Mario Kempes, who guided Argentina to World Cup glory in 1978 by scoring a brace against Holland in a 3-1 victory.

During the 1981-1982 season, Valencia barely avoided relegation and finished 17th after a poor season with manager Milijan Milijanic. This began a dark period for Valencia as the following years it gradually entered a massive debt and was eventually relegated. Di Stefano returned and guided Valencia back to the La Liga. Then young and up-coming coach Guus Hiddink guided Valencia to fourth in the league and to the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

The FIFA World Cup-winning coach Carlos Alberto was appointed manager in the 1994-95 season and signed the Spanish goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta and the Russian prolific forward Oleg Salenko. But results did not go his way and eventually Valencia became a mid-table side for the next five seasons.

In the 1999-00 season, Valencia won the Spanish Super Cup and reached the UEFA Champions League final where they lost 3-0 to Real Madrid at the Stade de France in Paris. The following season, Valencia finished fifth in the league, narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification but once again reached another Champions
League final where they lost on penalties despite drawing 1-1 with Bayern Munich in the San Siro.

When Rafa Benitez was appointed, Valencia won another La Liga title and endured the most successful period of the club's history from late 1999 to 2004. Valencia continued its continental successes and still became a European top-flight team.

However, Valencia once again entered debts and were forced to offload stars such as David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata. Valencia then sold Roberto Soldado in the 2013-14 season to Tottenham Hotspurt for 30 million euros and loaned out many of its first-team players to slash its wage bills.

On July 1, 2013, Valencia appointed thirty-one year old Northern Irish manager Dylan Campbell who immediately vowed to return Valencia from a mid-table team to a title-winning and continental European megapower.

 

[Dylan Campbell]

Donetsk, Ukraine
16th March 2014

The flight to Kiev from Valencia took three and a half hours and the flight from Kiev to Donetsk took a further one hour and ten minutes. We were greeted at Donetsk Airport by two representatives from Shakthar Donetsk, who offered to take us to a hotel in the outskirts of the city in order to begin negotiations. The hotel was called the Donbass Hotel, and it was a nice wee hotel. Good facilities, nice food and comfy rooms. But we had no time to relax. We were led to a hotel room turned office by the representatives where we were introduced to Facundo Ferreyra.

Facundo was 22 years old and Argentinian. He was shy, but was good-natured and polite. He was hobbling on crutches from his knee injury that he sustained earlier in the season for Shakthar when we arrived. There was a deep scar above his knee where surgeons performed surgery to repair his ligaments, which had been damaged for at least three months.

I was arriving with director of football Gaizka Mendieta, former Valencia, Lazio and Barcelona star to discuss negotiations on a possible deal to bring Faucndo to Valencia. When negotiations started, Shakthar became increasingly demanding and asked for bigger wages for their star man. Since Facundo could not speak a word of Ukranian, and neither could we and I had to translate the words from Google on my phone, he seemed quiet throughout.

He was fidgeting with the furniture and was biting his nails in nervousness. I glanced at his direction a few times. He seemed worried, at one point I saw a tear roll down his cheek. I was worried, at one moment I though about abandoning the deal and heading back home. But then I realized that I couldn't. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and let's find out if Facundo wants to join in?

 

[Dylan Campbell]

28th August 2014

Outstanding! Valencia had just outclassed the European champions Manchester United 2-1 with a dazzling display. Facundo Ferreyra heading home two powerful headers, leaving David de Gea motionless in the goal. The Stade Louis II in Monaco erupted once Adil Rami held the trophy aloft, after shaking the hand of UEFA President Michel Platini. As I watched from the dug-out, I thought of all the blood, sweat and tears that I had sacrificed to be here at this very moment. I wondered whether I would stay at Valencia forever. It was a good team, with good facilities and a lovely young squad of professionals in the reserves who look likely to do well in the foreseeable future. I had good relations with the management and I was content in the southern coast.


7th December 2014

I had had enough. The end was nigh. I had recently fallen out with Valencia's management once again and I knew that the job could turn untenable if I didn't make my move now. My team had just outperformed Barcelona 2-1 at the Nou Camp in a dazzling performance. But I was hardly interested. I needed to leave. I needed to go.

I gathered my things quietely and left a note on my desk, containing my notice of resignation. I then packed my bags into the boot of my Mercedes SLS and sped away towards Valencia Airport. We then flew across the South of France landing in Marsielles Airport.

Awaiting me was two Marseilles representatives. This, however, was not for a signing. This was for a job application. Marseilles were currently ninth in Ligue 1, and they had approached me as soon as they heard the breaking news that cracks had began to form between Valencia and I.

The two men led me to a beautiful torino Red coloured Alfa Romeo and whisked me away to the Stade Veledrome, in the eastern suburbs of Marseilles. As soon as the car had stopped, I had jumped out of the vehicle and was running quickly towards the pitch. There was a renovation going on and people were still constructing pieces of assembly related to the new-look stadium being planned by the Marseilles council.

As soon as I saw the pitch and the rows of empty chairs that filled thousands of metres of space, I knew I was at home. This was not the beginning of the end. This was only the end of the beginning.

 

[Dylan Campbell]

25th December 2014

What a Christmas present I had got for Marseille! It wasn't filled with wrapping paper and a wee bow, because it was the best player in the world. I was relinking with Facundo Ferreyra, the man who scored 58 goals in 56 appearancs during his first season at Valencia, with me and my successor at the Valencia helm, Pep Guardiola.

The fee was going to shatter another ?15 million off the Gareth Bale signing in the summer of 2013. It was a staggering ?101 million. I had pressurised the management of Marseille to give me massive funds in order to complete this signing. I had quietely gathered up my funds to sign him. However, he was signing a ?325,000 a year contract and I had no guarantee that he would be any good.

But I knew Facundo was a top-class player. Maybe not in form at the moment. But he still hasn't lost that spark that made him a galloping forward in the field. His physique was that of a bull, strong and fast, and deadly on the attack. Jordan Ayew had been performing well, scoring at least 20 goals so far. Julian Fournier, a young 17-year prodigy from Nancy for ?16 million was close to gaining his first senior France cap and Paco Alcacer was seeing out a loan at Valenciennes, after suffering an injury-blighted start to his Marsielles career.

1 January 2014

There was a massive celebration on the streets of Marseilles. Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets watching as the convoy carrying the most valuable footballer on the planet sped by. Facundo Ferreyra had agreed a four-year ?325,000 contract to leave Valencia and join Marseille in a landmark deal for the French giants who were streamrolling the league. Every conceivable surface had been covered by fans wearing Marseille shirts and singing the French national anthem.

It was an incredible moment for Marseille, they had brought a world-class player for ?100 million from my former club. I felt guilty about it at first, but then I realised that the funds that I had given them had allowed Valencia to find a suitable replacement. Once Facundo stepped out of his car, the crowds erupted. Already new chants had been invented and created by Marseille fans awaiting Facundo's first minutes in a Marseille shirt.

Facundo walked up to a platform set up in front of the city hall and hoisted upwards the Marseilles shirt, prompting more cheers. This was a landmark signing for us all. No-one had expected it but we had planned the deal for months ever since the dramatic fall of Valencia from first in La Liga to a mid-table side once again. Pep Gaurdiola had undermined my tactics and had played with several strikers, destroying the tactic that had brought Valencia the title and ultimately the UEFA Champions League, won by Guardiola.

Fifth last season, tenth at the moment, Valencia were spiralling downhill. We, however, were in the up. A few weeks ago, at the Ballon O'Dor award ceremony, I was awarded the FIFA World Coach of the Year. Facundo Ferreyra had been awarded for a second year in the row, the best player in the world.

That was what defined this signing to be one of the greatest of all-time.

 

[Dylan Campbell]

If you're enjoying this thread, please give me constructive feedback on what I can improve! And one more thing, this is on Football Manager Handheld so please don't ask for any screenshots of my squad though I can give you my team and I can explain my tactics and my transfer policy if you wish to ask me. Thanks a lot and follow the journey!