From literal rags to worldwide fame. Yelizaveta's rise from the mud.

[Death Ball]

February 2020

Jordan Barbour takes Aberdeen offer.

So does Milne with Dundee's offer.

Then we lose Mugabi to injury for three weeks.

And Hetherington will miss the next match due to a flu.

And Lyon leaves for the loan to Newport.

I finished and got the Conttinental C License!

Craig brings Luke Carey on loan till the end of the season from Charlton-

Taggart accepts to stay after he's seen I've not sold him because nobody has come asking despite my continuous offers to let him out.

For all the big squad I have, only Hoggan comfortable with playing as defensive midfielder.
Very bad first half. First they score from a lucky rebound off the post with the referee missing an offside, then a cross bounces off Brindley to go to the feet of their striker that is alone against the other three defenders, the three defenders just back kilometers away, it'd be rude to close him down. I change to the 3-5-2 and we start to get chances, but when Mingledi is in front of the post at like five yards and the keeper is in the other half it's too hard to kick at the hole and sends it at the keeper. That's not the only easy chance missed but the most annoying miss. Remember what I said on set pieces? I find in one that changing from prepared tactic to prepared tactic also gets the game to ignore the set piece instructions you so carefully made to set whatever it wants. Btw, the offside probably wasn't, but ICly she's going think is was.
Second half is much better, but finishing keeps being just as pathetic, everything sent at the keeper, just one great shot but then the keeper makes a world class save.

We'll start with the new formation and see if today it works well.
First half shows the system can work very well, but we're one goal down from a worldie long shot coming after MacDonald kindly stepped away from blocking a cross, then Spence shot wide when the easier was scoring.
Second half we get yet some more chances to score but we miss them. If not for MacDonald's mistake we'd hav had a good game.

Kevin Cawley shows to be an unreliable backstabber. He comes to the press complaining about me refusing something in a meeting. He never approached me.

The board brings more money.

They reject giving me a new course.

Teh match against the bottom team sees a return to the 4-5-1 because we have a cup match in the middle of two league matches and with the 3-5-2 is bound to cause the need to use tired players in defence.
Same as lately, decent control of the match after making some changes, complete inept players in front of goal.
In the second half we keep getting chances that are shot with the strength and skill of a five years old. Hoggan doesn't join an offside trap and just naps not paying attention to his man so he scores easily. Further changes including of system to 4-2-3-1 gets the goal to end with another non win. Also Byrne got a thigh strain in the first half and I subbed him in the second.

We get to the cup semifinal that we play against the tougher team remaining. Small touches to the tactic are made and hopefully the finishing will not be as abyssmal it's been lately.
Not a bad first half. We end 1-1 with their scoring after a baffling Biabi miss by which he runs the way he arrives late to the ball instead of pushing it in an empty net. He got the goal later.
Really? Is this a BEEPing joke? How am I to believe Munro hasn't ben bought? First it's intolerable that three defenders are jumping to head a ball against one rival and Munro dashes to join and the rival gets the header. And it's flipping unforgivable and beyond belief that a tame slow moving ball Munro sees coming for ages he just dives short of picking it, I'm so damned mad. Luckily Biabi and Mingledi are there to give us a chance. We even had chances to win.
Extra time we had the more chances the better chances, but Biabi again sees the ball before him with an empty goal and lets it pass before him. They also need to explain how players who looked much fresher got beaten in runs by much more tired players. It can't be that Graham Carey that looked like the shoes were too heavy for him beat Bridley in speed with the ball.
If not for Munro utter imbecility we'd be in the final.

I'm approached by U.S. Latina Calcio from Lega Pro Girone. They're tenth, last of the promotion play offs which seems is going to be a lot of matches. They're a more reputable team than alloa in a slightly less reputable division. I will take the interview and I will have time to think until they offer the job if they do choose me. Their squad isn't very big but has way too many strikers and could use more depth in some positions. Join now or wait to the end of the season? In one hand, waiting is tempting as we are there and we've had good macthes against any of the teams above us; on the other hand they're in there too and I'd be leaving someone else to get the promotion for Latina. It will be now.

I get two more: one from Holstein Kiel from 3.Fussball liga and one from Novara Calcio in Serie B. To Kiel I answer I would take it at the end of the season, since they're midtable too far from anything.

I get one from Alessandria, but I reject it as they're in relegation from Serie B.

WHAT THE BEEP?! Is this real?! I've received an interview offer from Standard de Liége! Belgian top division! The one considered ten most reputable in Europe!! GIMMEGIMMEGIMME!!!! Also from Liga Nos Académica, they're in relegation places, though, but at such level I don't mind! They're not far from staying up. Also Arka from Polish top division. Later Marítimo joins the list and others.

I'm considered the favourite for the Marítimo role.

Mugabi has a calf strain just before the match against Hibernian. Out for three weeks.

Now again playing against Hibernian. Winning this match would make me upset.
Not too bad first half really, but due to Waters moving completely out of position where he did nothing but leave his man alone we're down one goal.
Second half is the same, we have some good chances, missed and other good plays that when it's time for an easy turn around to shoot or assist the player just passes back, plus the defensive mistake from the other fullback being slow following a run and allowing them a goal.

The new license has increased her reputation by 5%. I wouldn't expect playing the semifinal did.

 

[Death Ball]

March 2020

Byrne is finally happy to stay.

Arka approaches with an offer. Latina rejected my application, but with some bigger clubs waiting, I will ask to delay it for a week.

We have a quite decent crop of youth candidates.

Then it is Académica that offers a very nice contract. But Marítimo is better placed and their fans consider me favourite, so I'll delay this a week and take it if Marítimo doesn't come earlier.

Hynd is going to be out for a month, but I'll be gone before the next match.

Zwolle is next with an offer, pretty much in same situation as Académica.

The board wants a meeting to extend my contract, I don't want to stay with those offers waiting.

Arka returns with no Marítimo offer. With Zwolle and Académica also to come with much better offers.

Then Académica comes in. I look and I see in the Académica/Zwolle comparison the next facts:
- Zwolle has drawn a game since last week and are now two points off safety. Académica has not played and is three points off safety.
- Zwolle form in recent matches is less bad than Académica's, the latter has a lot of defeats, while Zwolle has many draws.
- Both have same five wins with Zwolle playing two more matches. But Zwolle has several draws. Same happens with the teams around them.
- Liga Nos is two direct relegation places. Eredivisie is one direct and two through play offs.
- Schedule of remaining matches seem to have a lesser proportion of high placed teams for Académica than for Zwolle.
- Zwolle has the more balanced squad.
- Zwolle has their main keeper injured for more than a month, Académica doesn't have key players injured.
- Zwolle offers a thousand more euros in wages.
- Zwolle players are much more versatile.
- Netherlands climate is going to be less warm. I thought I'd die in Spain's summers.

I think Zwolle wins. So I reject Académica.

In the end I'm not out before this match. Curran is still not fit. Pittman is tired from friendlies to recover sharpness.
First half is the same **** of lately. We have several great chances, Cooper and Wylde send them off. They get one chance that is picking a clearance from afar and backing up... rocket to the net.
Second half seemed to go same way when Cooper had another sitter sent off. I brought in Carey in the left wing and Moore in Biabi's place and Carey brought us to victory with two nice passes that were well used by Cooper and Moore.

Zwolle come and I manage to get an extra thousand euros.

Salary 27,000
Food 1350
Transport 75
Household 150
Internet 30
Apartment in centre non falling down building! 1200
Family expenses 500
Taxes 12,600
Total left: 11,095€ p/m savings
Expenses outside job: 3,305€m Means each month I get this work I can live three without work before running out. I will blow a chunk of it in a PC, cinema tickets, nice clothes and starting my music and DVD collections. But not so much.

Changing job made her lose 5% reputation again. But this time she didn't resign. Moving to a much bigger club I'm not sure that's right.

P.S.- I also took more screenshots but didn't get taken.

 

[Death Ball]

Most of March 2020

The team report says the 4-4-2 is the system this squad does better with. No good passing, no good teamwork, no scoring. Lacking of right side players compared to other areas. I will need the director of football to do his job right, as in this club all transfer related stuff is given to him.

Not only the starting keeper is injured for more than a month, the starting lefback will also be out the same duration. I think the 4-5-1 is reported the worst because it's the most used and the 4-4-2 the best because it was used when neding a comeback. So, while I believe the 4-5-1 may not be as bad I possibly will move to a 4-1-4-1.

They want a mid table finish, not very realistic.

First match we play the second placed team. In the first leg the result was a draw.
For a team in relegation play off against the second top team that was a decent first half. We contained their attack well and had some chances of our own, if none of quality.
Second half starts with the best chance one can have: Lammers needs to tap the ball to his right and no way keeper saves that, but no, weak tap to the left where the keeper is. But the left fullback shows why he's not starting worthy by leaving their right fullback unmarked for a cross and then failing to cover a cross to the winger.
Without the leftback mistakes this would've been a good draw and a decent performance.

Yay! If starting keeper and starting leftback wasn't enough injuries now an starting centreback joins them.

We get Zwolle's youth intake. Obviously not so many players looking like they'd reach top team standards.

Now we face a team just five points ahead, so I hope we'll do better than previous match. De Wijs comes in for Vriends as a ball playing centreback and striker is changed. Central pair swap sides, because in the last match we attacked too much through the left side. Favouring the left isn't bad considering most of our assists come from that side, but it shouldn't be that much, it made us predictable.
Well, nothing better. Attack play is more balance between sides, but they're very defensive and we can't get past their defence. When we seem to do, it's offside after offside. When not offside, Ryan Thomas instead of turning to shoot or seek an assist, just runs back for a backpass to cancel the nice through ball he received.
Our best chances come in the second half, but it's a post hit in a corner and two other plays that don't end in a shot because the cross that was easy and comfortable is sent way too ahead of the striker. Then the defence screws it in a throw-in, three defenders jump for a ball without opposition, te Loeke, who's been doing mostly well also makes an exit unnecessarily, so the defenders just bump the ball into the feet of the rival to score with an empty goal. So I change to 4-4-1-1 and we end getting the goal in injury time through a corner.

I'm tempted to ask a coaching course, but I think they'll say the same thing.

 

[Death Ball]

April 2020

Ryan Thomas, who had been unhappy with his lack of first team football, came asking for more, even though he's started both games with me. I ask the captain to talk to him and he's dropping his concern.

They are fourth in the table, so this will be a tough match. I ask my assistant to make the starting team and I agree with his choices.
The first half goes well, Ritzmaier scores from a pull pass from Damari and while they show their quality with all shots on target, the shots weren't from good positions so they get no goals and out chances are not worse and almost as many.
In the second half all goes well, but they hack Mokhtar with a two feet tackle, twisting his ankle and the referee just calls a foul and then goes two extra minutes over the announced injury time for no good reason.
So first win with Zwolle that takes us out of relegation play off if Groningen doesn't win. Unfortunately they play against the bottom team.

Mokhtar will be out for a month and a half, which means for the rest of the season.

Groningen drew, so we're out of relegation zone.

They are eleventh and I was considering to go with the 4-4-1-1, but I will keep this system and see how things go before changing.
First half has not been too good, all out shots are off target, they have better chances than we should allow. I don't make the system change because they're more aggressive with their advanced midfielder.
Second half was the same for a good while even with the less defensive play, until Ingi Jónsson took Thompson's assist into the net. We begin then to have chances with the spaces they leave trying to come back and Achahbar wastes a good counter off a corner failing to even hit the target, but their change to 4-2-4 doesn't work offensively and we get our second win.
That is four points advantage over relegation with three matches to go that include one against the bottom team.

Washmelash, who is the backup fullback, picks a month long injury so he'll miss the rest of the season.

Kramer is the next to get injured, though his is shorter-

We have a signing that comes right away, a new centreback, Saad Samir.

Now we go against the tenth team. By scout reports I choose to change system and make small changes to what the assistant chose for players.
First half is quite good, we control the game and Damari breaks his very lengthy goal drought from a Jónsson cross. Achahbar missed a good chance to make it 2-0.
Second half we keep it, subbing Achahbar soon. Damari missed another good chance. Then both central midfielders looked quite tired, so I changed to a 4-1-4-1 and took him off. Finally, Damari took another chance to seal the win.
And Groningen lost! We've guaranteed to stay up!

We're going to celebrate and blow steam off.

((Taken 2nd May. I usually take these before the month ends.))

 

[Death Ball]

May 2020, end of season

Now we play against the bottom team before we close against the team right ahead. I'm again asking my assistant to choose the team and then tweaking his selection: I swap the wingers from right and left and Damari starts instead of Shynder.
That first half didn't turned out as expected. We lose the ball very fast and they seem the better time. Small changes are enough to get ahead, though.
Second half is an improvement. While they still keep the ball the most, they no longer seem threatening, less so after we get our second goal and they turn to a 4-3-3. Our goal was not a fluke but the showing of our better game creating better chances and more consistently.

They were rigth ahead, now they are right behind. If we win and Excelsior and Vitesse lose, we can end eleventh.
First half is a close match despite her much higher time with the ball and we're down just from a misplaced barrier. I'll keep things for a few minutes and should nothing change, go to the 4-4-1-1. We missed our best chance against the crossbar and the second best off target.
In the second half we get a couple more quite decent chances that are saved, after the change to 4-4-1-1, but a bad play by them is turned to a goal when Stevens can't hold to the ball and it falls to their striker for an easy backpass.
I'm not bothered by the result, however. We had the chances to win, their goals weren't the result of flaky defence and both Excelsior and Vitesse won so there's no much difference between thirteenth and fourteenth.

I look at the past teams and other choices and I see: Alcobendas Sport has finished ninth, far from playoffs, East Fife was at the edge of relegation play offs, Alloa missed on promotion play offs by goal difference and Académica is relegated with one match to the end of the season.

 

[Death Ball]

Offseason 2020

I don't get to choose when we end our holidays.

We get the initial budgets, which are nice, though I'd expected a bigger increase when moving to a top division.

The board also announces the construction of a new stadium will be done.

Having a director of football has one thing: I can take holidays too! ((I was going to holiday up to then, but in the window there's accept all or reject all or only if meet asking price and no leave to DoF option, so I don't know it won't screw with the DoF duties))

I asked to make Jónsson permanent signing but he has no interest.

We get the commercial summary with a big total increase of income. I'm not counting the prize money since that's variable and can't be predicted.

Some U23 national teams have openings and I will apply to them as that may give me a boost. They're Germany, France, Spain and Netherlands.

Te Loeke signs a new contract. I'm fine with it as he proved a competend back up for Stevens.

Both Groningen and Willem II win the relegation play off, which is played against the play off teams from the league below.

Wait, that was a first round, they still have two more promotion play off teams to play against and they both lost heavily the first leg.

Bonuses are paid.

We get almost five million for our finish in the league.

Groningen and Willem II are relegated. The former lost again and the later didn't win by enough goals.

After he loans away a midfielder from the reserves and sells back up leftback Peersman, Nijkamp sells rightback Marcellis, our starting rigthback, getting some money for an old player. As long we get a rightback that's at least as good and younger I'm happy with that. The first signing is of an advanced playmaker: Illiass Bel Hassani.

Zwolle dropped in the European club ranking, as it's to be expected from a relegation fight.

Second signing by Nijkamp is a deeper playmaker, Rewan Amin.

Holidays end and I'm back with only one player returning very tired, Ritzmeier.

And still almost a million left in the transfer budget, but there is no much more margin in the wage budget so I'll have to change it.

She's recovered the 5% reputation lost with the job change.

 

[Death Ball]

Summer 2020

First thing back from holiday is to ask to get a course paid and the board agrees.

So the first day, Virga pulls a hamstring and is to be out for three weeks.

And then two more players join the team: a goalkeeper and a fullback, both on free transfers. The goalkeeper may have much potential, but at the moment he's far from the other two. The other is a good addition to the first team at the left fullback position.

Nijkamp keeps doing his job and has brought a new centreback. There are some talks pending to loan another centreback, a leftbac who was my suggestion and he's working on another advanced midfielder. Maybe because during the summer I was talking about a third system to try next season that's a narrow 4-2-3-1.

He lets Genk get Ritzmaier, who I thought would be an important player this coming season.

The attacking midfielder is the next to complete his arrival.

I'm asked about expectations. I feel we should go for mid table, but in the end season the players didn't want anything less than top half, plus it gives us extra budgets for at least bringing one more player should we need and we need some more depth, I think, so I go with that.

What is wrong with Nijkamp? He brings a centreback, which is nice, but a back up one that he gives the role of a key player.

Another youth player is brought on loan as key player. Nijkamp should be more prudent with these.

In the friendly against Cambuur they hack our players and Marinus comes out with a two day injury and el Hankouri out for at least three weeks.

The first handful of friendlies make it clear we need defensive minded midfielders. Only van Boomen can defend in midfield.

Nijkamp brings our new starting rightback, Lelieveld. He's decent at crossing, can dribble a rock. Is decent at attacking and defending, even if he excels at nothing.

Mokhtar is sold for three quarters of a million.

Kaj Sierhuis join us as quite the promising striker who can play a lot of positions.

Next we have the signature of one of the defensive minded midfielders I asked Nijkamp to bring.

Nakamba is the second of the three I told him as I thought we might not get all of them.

Asking three was the right idea, for as I predicted at least one would reject us.

The last signing, after an offer is accepted for Ryan Thomas, is a winger, Oussama Idrissi.

Well, this isn't the best. Nijkamp accepts an offer for Virga, I didn't think he was good enough to be first choice past season so it's a good move. For a moment I considered making him first choice this season, but Lelieveld can take that spot well enough.

Virga takes Den Bosch's contract. So does Thomas with Heracles' offer.

I set for high bonuses to be paid out to the squad.

The friendlies go generally well, but ends with the worst match in some time. A lot of defensive weakness is shown by the narrow 4-2-3-1 as well as too narrow play, which are things that need fixing.

There are two loan deals pending to be completed, though so far we have a positive balance in the transfers.

And hence we have some more money in our balance.

 

[Death Ball]

August 2020

Here we are in the first match of the season, against one of the big clubs of the country. I agree with my assistant's choice of players, though I considered bringing Michalsen instead of Bel Hassani or Achahbar.
A decent first half, though I could've done without that one pley they let their winger behind Haddachi. What needs to be done is to improve the quality of our chances.
They go strong in the second half, but a small tweak to the tactics and a change of central pairing after Marinus injured his foot put us again as the better side of the match. We get some very nice chances and ten minutes to go we had a sitter, but I think it was Amin that didn't shot it right and it got deflected when that was the only obstacle to goal.
That chance makes me feel like we lost two points, but the right balance is we've been superior to a team that was supposed to win the match, so we can be satisfied with the result.

Well, ****, this is bad news: Marinus is out for five months. I think I should ask Nijkamp to bring someone in the meantime.

The 4-2-3-1 got us a lot of chances but we conceded as much and lost in the frriendly we had, so we're to a wide formation this time.
A **** of a first half, losing the ball all the time, unable to do anything, then Armin has a guy right behind but instead of running for the ball he just walks like it wasn't his business to foul him after and from there a lucky goal for them.
With the 4-2-3-1 things improve in the second half, with good chances to score missed because it's like they thought the mission of strikers was to hit the keeper. Then a great free kick gets the match beyond us considering how we keep wasting chances.

What we really need, with el Hankouri back, is not a temporary central midfielder, but someone who can play left wing.

They are favourites but I decide to try our luck with the 4-2-3-1.
Bad start in which we can't get to their third. Made worse by somebody in a barrier deciding when the ball is sent just above, the answer is ducking. Changes improved things and we got back into the game, though, but still should do better.
Second half maintains the improvement, with a number of good attacking plays that end in decent chances missed or last pass for a great chance missed. However, as they make changes and seem to start being more dangerous I go back to the 4-1-4-1, which still gives us a few chances but not as good as before.
In the end, a draw isn't a bad result.

We finally get the left winger I needed.It's very well rated, but I'd have liked someone that was better technically, but he's to be our fastest.

We're up against one of the big clubs, but this time I'll start with our more offensive system, with a few tweaks.
The first half is good. We don't start very well, but just telling van den Booment not to close as much changes the match in our favour. However, the final passes let us down. Further tweaks just break it but no bad consequences.
Very bad signs in the second half as we start with Stevens making a stretch to grab a freak cross and getting his neck injured. Follows some great plays at last, that we fail to convert through last ditch block or miraculous save. Towards the end they seem to chase the result, but in the 93rd minute, we recover the ball and make a fine counter that ends with Mongen, who came with a quarter hour to the end and not quite fit, rifling the ball at the net for our first win. It is very pleasing also that he made some very nice moves in his few minutes on the picth in addition to the goal.

Stevens will be out for two weeks. In the meantime, te Loeke showed as past season he's up to the task with a couple very good saves againt AZ.

In training Lammers gets a stubbed toe that will keep him out for the next match, most likely.

Then el Hankouri gets another injury. Maybe I do need a new midfielder and end his loan.

And Michalsen, come on.

Nijkamp brings right after Rai Vloet

They play a very offensive 4-2-3-1 so I'm back to the 4-1-4-1 with a defensive selection. I should've changed de Wijs for Oude Kotte, but he was not good in the match he played.
Bad first half, we had two good chances but it was Lelieveld mistake that is taken advantage of and a good shot just beyond te Loeke's reach.
A move to the 4-2-3-1 makes for a better second half, with better chances to come back that are again wasted. Specially frustrating was Mongen and Nelom insisting on running off leaving the ball behind.

 

[Death Ball]

September 2020

What? this is the kind of thing why some hate using director of football. I asked to sign Laribi, who could be our best player and take us to the next level, then Nijkamp cancels it, just so he can bring an old player who does have a lot of technical skill but is not what we needed. Well, he still can do great for us behind the striker, but I wanted someone for a deeper position.

Haddachi bruised his head in a jump, but it's the international break and he'll be back.

No more deals happen at the end of the transfer window.

Nelom, the other leftback, strains a heel, but again it is a short injury.

And then it's Samir who gets injured, but this time in a match with Egypt for a month and a half.

Finally back to the matches. Stevens is back to fitness. as is Michalsen. Lelieveld is dropped.
First half goes very well, though I'm getting fed up with how the players keep dribbling by starting off without the ball then "oh, I was supposed to carry the ball?". The other bit of disappointing part is our two goals come from mistakes by their defence rather than good plays, which we make some but end saved.
Oh, yes, come on, how can we get a comfortable win? Why shot at the net when one can do at the keeper or miles off? It is better to show why I didn't trust Horne to do a good job and that the starting fullbacks I chose at the start are just rubbish.

Yaaay, just before a match against a team that has crosses, van Horne twists a knee, which I think means we have to play Wijs, who doesn't jump alot.

They are third and it's tempting to go a defensive 4-1-4-1, but I'll try the 4-2-3-1.
We have a very good first half. We get ahead from a corner and we are clearly the better team, however their sheer pace pays off later and their winger gets behind Nakamba to end the half level.
It is quite frustrating when you get your best performance with the best chances and then they get ahead from a poor clearance by two versus one. We then have to chase the match and take more risks, which is why they ended with almost as many shots as us. Luckily the changes eventually worked and Mongen got the equalizer. To finish the idiot of a referee ends the match in the middle of a counter attack that was looking quite nice, not that at the time looked a high chance of goal but still.
Well, I didn't expect such a good performance and getting points, so I'm happy. It looks like speed can get you some nice things in this sport.

Achahbar is understandably a bit miffed he's played little, but I ask Marinus to intercede and he manages to allay his worries.

We continue with another of the teams with past in the Champions League. Again I go with the 4-2-3-1. van Horne will have another chance and Achahbar will start as well as Lelieveld.
We'd have another very good first half if the team wasn't napping at the end of a corner.
What kind of **** is this? First Nelom dives to leave his man alone to cross, then Oute Kotte with the target of the cross right in front of him just leaves to mark a guy that is already between three defenders. And then de Wijs just chests the ball to Beric for their third goal. I never saw such level of incompetence in Alcobendas Sport, which was like ten levels below.

Well, this crappy month should've been a lot better.

We should be top half, not down there.

 

[Death Ball]

October 2020

Idrissi asks for more first team football. Though my unhappiness is more with the defenders, I will give him his chance.

We go still with the 4-2-3-1 since it's given us some very nice offensive plays. The 4-1-4-1 hasn't worked too well as to go back to it when defenders have been so poor.
Excellent first half. Lot of great plays and good chances, we could've sealed it if the three behind the striker aimed better, we go to half time with just 1-0 up and more cards I'm comfortable with. Haddachi has made a superb work, but he's booked and got a telling off so he'll be off.
And the second half we keep dominating the match with excellent plays. Bel Hassani doubles from a freekick I think should've been a penalty, Idrissi gets a goal right on the line disallowed for offside and Mongen assists Sierhuis for the final goal during injury time. Their change to a flat 3-5-2 after our second goal did nothing for them.

Oh, this is great! I just found who can be my starting leftback. Whoops, no three months out.

Asmelath wants more first team football. Since Haddachi is out and Wijs is so slow, I think Nelom will have a chance to show he can play left as he's played right and Asmelash will have his chance.

Michalsen is suspended and Nakamba is tired from international duty, so Armin starts in their place.
Seems asking them to take it seriously for two matches in a row is too much. We don't dominate like the other game, but that's fine, it's not the same rivals. But there's no excuses for the whole team coming down at leisure trot when the rivals are running a counterattack. Likewise van den Boomen should show interceptions have to be done with passes by the rivals, not to cut our own pass to get it to their players. Sierhuis finishes a good play to give us hope, though.
Second half is an improvement, with several good chances missed by last ditch tackles and a crossbar hit, but Sierhuis gets a nice pass from Mongen in a counterattack that at least gives us a point.

I was told they'd use the diamond even if the last match they used a wide 4-2-3-1, but even so I'm sticking to the 4-2-3-1.
Excellent first half, the best yet. We dominate the match completely. Idrissi keeps getting in great scoring positions but messing the finishing, however he makes it up with one assist and quality involvement in the other two goals. Also, Asmelash is earning his starting status.
In the second half they seem to go more defensive and we don't get any more shots, though we have a few good plays that end with last ditch tackles. They gash Sierhuis head in a counterattack, shouldn't be bad, but I take him out immediately. No risks with our top goalscorer.

Indeed, he won't be out for long.

El Hankouri requests to end his contract just when I was considering giving him his chances in the first team. I won't do it. He'll have chances to impress in the next few matches and then I'll review it. The squad is somewhat bloated in those positions so I may change mind and terminate it before the next game anyway.

Two days later, he comes asking why I didn't terminate his loan...

Finally a decent month in which the system got to work to get the performances that were expected. Pity they didn't care to defend well in the second match.

Which sends us to the top half of the table, thanks to the close table behind Ajax.

They are good but the balance is going down. Not my or Nijkamp's fault since we're below budgets.

 

[Death Ball]

November 2020

As promised, el Hankouri has a start in this match, in Callens's place. Maybe it should've been instead of Idrissi, but despite all his misses he's been getting in great positions and participated in key plays that ended on goal.
This half has been meh. They starting controlling until they got a red card. Bad defence of a counter ended in a goal for them, but then el Hankouri paid off his chance with an assist and then we got lucky with a deflection into own goal. Idrissi keeps missing chances.
Second half is a big improvement. We keep control with plenty of nice chances, of which unfortunately we only take one. It also sees a lot of quality involvement by el Hankouri.

They're top of the league and have won every match except for a draw. I was tempted to make a fully rotated team, but an international break is coming. We'll play counter style with Mongen as advanced forward or poaches, among other changes.
First half wouldn't be bad but it feels so disappointing. It was expected to reach half time down, but it is annoying it's been through two mistakes in set pieces, after which I changed to the usual instructions. The good thing is Mongen scored to give us a chance and our finishing has been decent, if their goalkeeper has proven why he's at the best team of this league.
In the second half we had chances to score up to a total of seven goals at least, but we scored only THREE WHICH IS ENOUGH! WE BEAT AJAX! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

We have problems with two players: Achahbar and Lelieveld are unappy with the few playing time they've got. I will give elieveld the cancelation of his loan.

Shynder sprained an ankle in a reserves friendly to keep fit and will be out for a month. And Rayos will be out for almost half that from another injury in the same match.

Rayos also decides to retire at the end of the season. I wasn't the one who brought him instead of Laribi.

A win takes us one point from the top four, namely them. Nakamba is tired from international duty, so Michalsen starts. de Wijs, who can jump, his problem is pace, should be seeing some starts soon. Stevens needs to make a good match or te Loeke will take his place. Were not for the two weeks break I'd made the change already.
Decent first half which we control after a bad start. Could be ahead but either shots are not that good or when the play was good a last ditch tackle or not perfect last pass prevents the shot. Oude Kotte got a warning and yellow card in the first quarter hour, so he was substituted early.
Their changes for the second half have some effect and they're more threatening, but still not as much as us. However, finishing lets both sides down and we end with a drawn. Kind of disappointing given we were superior but still not a bad result against a top four team. Stevens did a good match, but seems to have hurt his hand in the last minutes.

Stevens will be out for a month, so te Loeke will have to step in the starting eleven anyway.

Time to face a relegation placed team, let's hope we don't start sleeping and we don't get complacent.
It doesn't happen as we play an excellent first half, though post denies us twice and get to half time with just one goal advantage.
We keep it up in the second half, though I should've stopped being so aggressive seeking the second goal as in the last minutes we almost regret it a couple of times. A bit annoying however that we had so many good chances and got none of them.

The best month of the season, being the first and so far only team capable to beat Ajax and being superior to Utrecht even if we failed to win.

We're in European qualification places, I think.

I'm untouchable, I wish this will remain so.

 

[Death Ball]

December 2020

Idrissi drops his concerns.

This match comes just three days after the last, so I'm forced to rotate much of the side.
Good first half apart from the usual sleepy start. We go one goal up through an awesome strike by Lammers and miss chances to increase the advantage.
Second half is very similar to the first, we score once, miss several chances but this time they also score a goal, before they move to a wide 4-2-3-1 that doesn't work for them. Lammers stubbed a toe and I took him out.

We're up against the bottom team in the last match of the first half.
Good half, we control it from the start and get two goals with a good amount of chances. Heus, however, looks nervous and that's not something to be accepting my assistant's insistence in picking him. Both fullbacks picking cards is not good either.
Second half is not a bit worse than the first, we keep controlling the match and score another two goals with an impressive performance by Vloet.
This means we finish the first half of the season in fourth position, which is really great as I was aiming just for mid-high table.

Van den Boomen will miss the Twente match with food poisoning.

And Sierhuis gets the flu.

We drew away in the first match and they're currently in the bottom half.
First half is good, after their first chance we dominate the match with two goals, only bad thing is Asmelash fogot his man in a counter and allowed them to get one back. Alkso, Oude Kotte pulled a hamstring and had to be substituted.
Second half they have to start naping, which is all they need considering this time they start much more attacking. We eventually get a penalty for the 3-2, but Nakamba pushed a rival in the area when van Horne had cleared the ball. And when bringing Mongen in, I go swap him with Vloet in defending corners to find out changing player roles also screwed the instructions. Did we miss the fourth goal because by ******** my defending corner routine we lost the set up to allow for counterattack?

Oude Kotte's injury is not too bad.

And now it is time to review the squad. Change squad status to reflect my preferences, offer for sale those who get grumpy, maybe bring reinforcements if needed. Though I have to be happy with Nijkamp's work as most of the players he's brought have proven to be good deals.

I take one step down the status of those players that aren't playing up to their current status. I offer for sale a reserve player that's not worth first team and from the first team just Shynder is offered. Nobody takes it badly.

What I'm considering is that, perhaps, Heus is close enough to te Loeke and the latter is running out on his contract; but Heus is lacking in concentration and te Loeke wouldn't get us any significant amount of money.

Shynder rejects the offer from Chernomorets.

This time I'm going with the 4-2-3-1 from the start, with just a few touches.
What is wrong with these players? We start with another penalty, this by Samir, that's commited after the danger has passed, this time after Stevens saved the chance. We had some very promising plays but didn't get much done with them.
The change is playing not as wide but make the system wide, with Mongen in the left as winger and Idrissi in for Lammers as inside forward at the right. It ends working out and Mongen and Idrissi get us the win by two goals.
The worrying point is Sierhuis has been poor since his injury.

The knock of Bel Hassani is just a week out from a bruise.

And now the winter break starts and will last for more than a month, so I guess that means friendlies. As for anyone coming in, if we need something, it's a right winger.

Bel Hassani second in assists give, very nice.

 

[Death Ball]

January 2021

In this country, the squads take a winter break, true holidays. Luckily there will be time to make some friendlies before the season continues.

I finished the coaching course. Since we're in winter break, I immediately ask for the next, and they concede it. It will take a full year, which feels so long, but I'm getting it.

I'm offered to change expectations. I won't as that would mean adding pressure to the players and it's not like we need the budget increase.

First January, Maxwell Acosty joins on my request. He's the fast player that can finish that we need along Mongen that should allow us some options in cases of need.

I also asked Nijkamp to offer Nakamba a contract for the end of the season.

Nijkamp lets me decide about an offer from Roda for Achahbar. He was unhappy, I promised him he'd be leaving so I'm accepting it, even if it's quite underwhelming.

Nakamba signs the deal to stay for good next season.

Nijkamp brings van den Berg on loan. I don't think we need him, we already have a lot of players for those positions.

Roda gets Achahbar, which is nice as Nijkamp keeps making offers for midfielders.

The one he's actually bid for joins already, a young versatile midfielder.

We only need two friendlies, in one the pair Mongen and Acosty gives us a nice goal from defending a corner with their pace.

Nijkamp signs another midfielder, though at least he'll come next season.

De wijs will be out for three weeks with a calf strain.

They were bottom some time ago, but they've found a good run of form and are on the top half of the table. Will definitely be a tough match. Samir is on international duty, so Oude Kote has to start. Considering he's our starting left back, I wonder if we need a back up centreback.
We go up early but then they make a great play to make it 1-1 before Sierhuis misses an excellent chance. Nothing unexpected.
Second half is the first inverte in the first 15 minutes: they go ahead with a nice play, then we draw level and then miss a great chance to get ahead. Then it all tuirns into a disaster as the defenders begin to act as headless chickens, all chasing the same player and letting the rest alone, except for their las goal, where van den Boomen is closing his man well but as soon ball comes into play he just runs off for no reason. Very angry. It was possible to lose this match, but it should be by them playing well, not our defenders to turn imbeciles.

AZ are not having a good season, but they should be better than that, which made me consider going to the 4-1-4-1 pushing the wingers forward to use Mongen and Acosty, but ultimately I decided to keep this formation. Past match defensive woes were helped likely by some tweaks I thought would help us. Samir is still on international duty.
First half is very grating. They get ahead with a header won against Oude Kotte, which is CAF fault for keeping Samir out and injury making de Wijs unavailable. I wouldn't be too unhappy were not for the constant mistakes up front, when full of defenders in front and lonely companion, shoot, when sight of goal empty and companions swarmed, pass, when ball right ahead in the opposition area, no running.
A change to a wide formation seemed to work, but the players just aren't trying. Sierhuis, who will stay home for a while, is put in a nice position at the edge, but he chooses a weak push towards the keeper. Horne gets the ball in their six yard box, he only needs to tap in, but no, he has to control and stand there like a moron waiting the defender. Referee makes up a penalty somehow, but van den Boomen shows the only energy by slamming the ball to the crossbar. I bring Mongen and Acosty and they turn to be the only ones who do try and fight to get back, but Mongen is not a finisher and Acosty gets too eager and gets offside.

That break ruined our run. We're also having fitness issues.

At least we're not dropping down, just lost one position.

She speaks Dutch fluently, but I missed her progression.

 

[Death Ball]

February 2021

Lammers gets a bruised head in a reserves friendly that may make him miss the next match.

I tried to bring Scott Bain, Bournemouth's goalkeeper that would be an upgrade in exchange for te Loeke, but budget didn't allow. And now he doesn't want to come for next season.

Today, days after the close of the transfer window, Partizan makes an offer for Stevens. Before we might have exchanged them. But to be honest, better this way. Stevens is not a problem and I'm not comfortable about changing our starting goalkeeper midseason.

Wait. WaitwaitWAIT!! What is this?! Where is he will join 1st July or something? Is this a joke? Seriously, Nijkamp?! How can he let go our starting goalkeeper right now?!

Also, people is idiotic.

Sierhuis isn't even called. We change to a wide 4-3-3 with Acosty up front, trying to use pace in counter. Samir is still out and de Wijs is back from injury and he starts, even if not fully fit.
Not a bad first half. Nelom is where he shouldn't in defending a corner but he made up with an assist for Idrissi. De Wijs shows his time out by letting Gibson alone for an easy goal. Nelom with a card needs a change and Acosty up front isn't doing too well.
In the second half we're the better team clearly, but finishing is still rubbish. Mongen and his "above average decision making" should explain me why when he's four yards off the byline and three wide of the six yards box, with a teammate basically alone in front of the six yards box, he chooses to shoot forward.

Haddachi is out for a month from a groin strain, luckily Asmelash was suspended, not injured.

Sierhuis returns and given their narrow formation we'll go with the wide 4-3-3.
First half isn't too good. Mongen had a great chance their keeper saved miraculously but that was it. On top of all, Sierhuis was forced out with a shin injury.
Come on. That is why I don't like Heus. So Jensen can save a point blank rocket from three yards away, but Heus can't save an average long range effort half a yard away.

Sierhuis will be out for more than half a month.

Also, thanks to the international duty, not only we lost our best defender for almost a month, now he's in need of a rest so we'll be missing him even longer.

I believe in the past match we lost with the 4-1-4-1 so I'll try the system that beat Ajax, though I will add some tweaks like dropping van den Boomen deeper and play more structured.
First half started looking quite bad, with Feyenoord's players showing by how much they outclass us. But as usual it turned to be how bad we start our matches and we end competing. We have two chances, a good one saved and a second, also by Callens, that was extraordinary but he shot so wide I should be subbing him.
We miss some opportunities to get players in great positions in the second half and it all seemed to be going to a satisfying draw, but then their striker showed their difference in class: first he got away from de Wijs due to his better pace, then made a superb shot te Loeke couldn't save.
We lost, but I'm happy with the performance.

To close the month we play the third placed team in one of the last matches. A win would take us near Utrecht.
Not a bad first half. We keep them at bay, except for some lucky set pieces they get. Idrissi squanders a very nice throughball, but at least he got a save. I'm angry because I'm asking Asmelash to close down corner takers and he's never there. Bel Hassani got a bruise to his thigh, since his condition seemed to drop a lot, I subbed him.
Idrissi gets the goal finally in a counter after the restart, but then we see it undone by te Loeke kicking the ball senselessly into an opponent, the rebound picked by their lone winger to send back to the striker. Then, in one of the few times they get the back of our defence Michalsen makes a penalty, with te Loeke redeeming his mistake. Marinus, who had come in, proves himself with an assist and Lammers shows to be more effective as a false nine with two goals. In the last quarter hour we had chances to win by a slide, no less than three splendid chances saved well by their keeper.
Dropping van den Boomen deeper seems to have solved part of our defensive vulnerabilities. The remaining comes from the fullbacks moving forward so much, which is to be expected with the lack of wingers. While I may be inclined to try a wide formation to see if it does the trick, I think the chances we get with them narrow are worth the risks.

Bel Hassani will miss a week from the bruise.

Still fifth, despite the bad run of form. After we beat Ajax for the first time, they started to lose and draw.

 

[Death Ball]

March 2021

Nelom and Mongen start to let them some time in the first team. Otherwise the same as past match.
Could've been better. We score twice, but also concede twice and earlier, first in a set piece where the defenders of the scorer just don't jump and second in a counter where Horne stands doing nothing while Samir leaves the striker to close down the winger that had gone past Asmelash.
Second half is a kind of garbage. We get on the domination, but the forwards keep gifting the ball, missing controls and shooting from distance, while the players with the ball wide keep sending it high instead of low as instructed. Toward the end I bring Sierhuis for Lammers, he improves the positioning, getting into several quality positions to score, but he sends them all to the keeper, which is to say the goalie was well positioned.

We face a mid table team and we go back to the front four of the good run of form.
WHY? Why a player that gets the ball less than a yard from the goal line with nobody in front has to stop to control the ball and wait for the defenders to arrive?! So we go down 0-1 at half time from a good long shot by them because we squander our three chances ranging from quite good to the only way it could be better is if the assist had it inside goal before the shot.
Second half is an improvement, because despite Samir allowing a new goal by moving the other side of the ball from the striker he should mark, Sierhuis scores twice, though we keep wasting a lot of quality chances.
De Jong and van der Berg do well enough to earn more chances in the team. I'm not sure Sierhuis have earned the return to start; sure, he scored twice, but one with a bit of luck and added a lot of poor shots that went off.

Seems I'm linked with AZ. In one hand they're a bigger and more prestigious club, on the other, we are in European qualification and I think they're out of it, but not for much, so making the move wouldn't be completely daft. But I'm happy here.

Slight rotation. Heus has his possibly last chance in the side.
It's a tight first half so a small change to the system is introduced at half time plus bringing Michalsen and his yellow card off.
Second improved in terms of chances created, but Sierhuis confirms my thought he's not deserving to start anymore. With the match nearing the end the referee allows them to score from offside position. Heus has done enough to be given more chances.

We have a youth intake that I'm told has two very promising youngsters and a few others that can make it to the first team.

I think I see him more as a deep lying playmaker.

A player that can play anywhere at the back is always a good thing. If he could improve his strength and jumping reach it would be wonderful.

I also try to talk to a few youngsters from Ajax and PSV, and three from Ajax agree to talk. But then they demand way too much for youth players.

Frenkie de Jong will miss a few days due to a stubbed toe in training, but he will be available if needed against Ajax.

Bad matches in defence and attack that made us lose a lot of points.

 

[Death Ball]

April 2021

De Wijs is barely playing, so I've told Nijkamp to sell him. After rejecting some loan offers, Aalesund come with a transfer offer for the asked money.

What they need to explain is why these transfer can happen right now when we're out of the transfer window. I meant this as a move for next season!

AZ do come offering a job interview. While at the moment I'm good here, I will take it. AZ is a bigger club and so a bigger pull for the players I would want. Assuming they will take a little time to come back with the answer, I will have time to rethink things.

I told them I'd start at the end of the season. Maybe then I will have all the rest of the season to decide.

We keep the system but do a fair amount of rotation up front. van den Berg and Amin will have a chance to earn more game time.
We start well for once, scoring with a Lammers assist for Amin, who makes a good half for more reasons than the goal. In the later phases of the half we look a bit vulnerable in front of defence, so I will make some changes.
We started with the 4-3-3 in the second half and found them with a weird four defenders, one central midfield, two attacking midfielders and three strikers formation. They got the equalizer because when it's against us, a player offside that's around the play area distracting defenders is not called, while when it's our team scored a guy offside miles away doing nothing is called offside. So we go back to the 4-2-3-1 in its original version, with van den Boomen along Michalsen and Lammers gets the goal. They return to their all attacking formation but this time I keep the 4-2-3-1 and we destroy them. It could've been a record win, but in the end it's just 4-1 for us.

AZ doesn't choose me. Oh well. Then it's Midtjylland that offer an interview; but they were bottom half of the Danish league, currently in the groups to avoid relegation so I don't take it.

De Jong wants more first team football. I can give him his chance.

Sierhuis returns as he was an Ajax player and almost every time my players score against their older clubs. de Jong has a chance behind the striker because he can't tackle.
We're the better side in the first half, but despite a few quality chances we remain 0-0. They were not perfect, though, as some involved the need to hit first time and hence the shot didn't come off well. Sierhuis had a decent one on one but got his shot saved. Only worry is Michalsen getting a card early.
They play the second half with a 3-4-3 that doesn't serve them to be any more dangerous, only to rake in the offsides. We keep being the more dangerous. Sierhuis and de Jong don't do too well, specially Sierhuis misses an excellent chance for a through ball in a counter, losing the ball instead. Lammers come in his place, showing much more vision and being the man that gives us the win with an excellent long shot skimming the far post.
I'm very happy with this. We were the first team to beat Ajax and we may be the only team to beat Ajax both times.

Callens wants his loan terminated, but while I am not using him a lot I think I can as well give him his wish, since we have plenty of choices there.

We need a win to get level in points. Michalsen is suspended and Nakamba returns to the starting side. el Hankouri and Nelom are lacking match fitness and will be playing with the reserves.
Chaotic first half. Sierhuis opens the score taking advantage of a defensive mistake. Then Yang scores a worldie and is left alone by Samir to get them the lead, but after that we end our spell of minutes of defensive trouble and both de Jong and van den Berg score their first goals, plus Siehuis' second goal to reach half time ahead. Nelom will come in to avoid Haddachi getting a second card.
I'm going to kill Asmelash. It was all going well, then he just doen't get back and allows them an easy assist, so when I tell him to stay back he instead decides he's breaking the offside trap the rest of the team was doing rather well.

Idrissi will be out for three weeks, which means he'll miss for sure two of the three last matches of the main league.

Actually, to qualify for Europe without play off we needed to end third and that's not longer possible. Rules are not quite clear enough, though as it's one place for play offs but there should be two available depending on the winner of some cup.

And van den Boomen will miss two weeks, one match.

Come on, now it's Nakamba missing the next match.

And Lammers. This is a **** joke.

It should've been a perfect month were not for Asmelash

Balance has gone down by a lot. I hope season prizes and such will take it higher.

 

[Death Ball]

May 2021

I thought on bringing Oude Kotte in Samir place, but he's not too good in the air.
Van den Berg had a wonderful chance to get us ahead rigth at the start but hit the post. Then the usual slow start in which they seem to be catching our defence too high but past those initial minutes we take control and score twice.
Second half, in which they change to a flat 4-3-3, is a copy of the first, but only with one more goal. Substitutions are made just for match fitness and see what Rayos can do.

Sierhuis got a new record for the club with his goal.

I ask Nijkamp to sign van Horne permanently and he does.

Shynder will be out for three months with injury. We'll not renew his contract but I'll pay him the specialist.

van den Boomen is back and fit so he starts. Idrissi and Nakamba are in the bench, but needed to play in the U19 friendly and are tired, so they won't play.
First half starts with van Horne gifting the ball by standing on it, but te Loeke makes the save. After that we control the match, but as usual finishing lets us down, with just one goal from el Hankouri.
Second half we keep the complete domination, but somehow fail to score more, despite some great chances. The worst news is te Loeke hurt a shoulder. But I'm very unhappy with the referee: first he called a free kick from where the guy with the ball was when another got tackled inside the area and then, with all subs and injuries made, he called three minutes of injury time but let it go to five.
Why their keeper is only rated at 6.9 is beyond me. Sure, many saves were trivial, but he had a bunch of great ones. With this win we guarantee a place in the European qualification play off.

We close the normal league phase against the bottom team. If play offs go as expected, then a win would mean we face either Heracles or Heerenveen, if we lose then it will be Vitesse. Both Nelom and Haddachi are suspended.
First half is a poor one, losing the ball all the time without doing anything.
Changes seem to improve things but just a little. Then the team makes one of those we are imbeciles in defence and everyone closes the near half of the area for a throw in, leaving all the players in the other half completely free. Van den Boomen rifles a rocket in to get the point to keep us fourth.
Heracles lost to PSV but Heerenveen couldn't beat Twente so we should be playing Heracles.

 

[Death Ball]

European qualification play offs 2021

Both matches we drew 2-2. Second leg will be in two days, so Sierhuis is in the bench. Asmelash can be better defensively than Nelom so he starts.
After the usual slow start, the first half turns rather decent. A bit disappointing our goal comes from a fluke and not one of the good chances.
Second half we keep squandering good chances. I go wide system to cover wings after some dangerous plays. Samir almost gifts them a goal in injury time so we still will get to hear idiots saying we were lucky.

The cup is not being played so just winning semifinal will give us Europa League.

I make an offer for a new player for next season. Rafael Longuine. He's already thirty years old, but I think he canprovide us with a leap of quality behind the striker.

The day of rest after the first leg was enough to avoid having any tired players. However, I've done slight rotation. Acosty and de Jong start as Bel Hassani and Idrissi didn't have good game in the first leg and Nelom instead of Asmelash since the latter has a tendency to close down way too forward.
Frustrating first half. We control the game, specially since the change to a wide system to keep flanks in check, but Sierhuis keeps wasting good chances.
El Hankouri scores finally at the start of the second half. Small changes to secure the result, keeping the ball, not play as wide but balanced and taking mentality down a notch and then he completes a hat trick.
Great match with that second half and I finally get to manage in Europa League!

Van den Berg requests to have his loan terminated. He was likely to play in the final, but I'll let him have his wish. It's not something worth the risk to get an unhappy player.

I expected to play the second legs at home, but seems the Netherlands FA agrees with me that it is better to play the second leg away. It's better if in the second leg it's your next goal that can force the rivals to score twice.
Fine first half, Idrissi sets us up right at the start and el Hankouri adds two. Excellent work by de Jong setting up all three goals. A pity Mourong managed to get one in for them. The worrying bit is Samir got a yellow card right in the first play of the match.
Second half is the same but without goals for us despite several good chances and van Horne gifting them a ball, deflecting a ball when it had gone past their striker and was about to be picked by Heus. The idiotic press give the bad rating to Heus and say van Horne did fine. Idiots. Also, van den Boomen twisted a knee and it seems it will be a bad injury, even if he could've stayed on the pitch.

It's just two weeks, but means he'll miss the second half in just three days.

Two changes, the forced of Amin for van den Boomen and Acosty in for Sierhuis to have upfront the four preferred by fans. Wisdom of the many they call that.
First half is not bad. We get a good amount of chances and score three times, though one that should've been an Acosty goal is given as keeper's own goal. Dos Santos got one back for them, but that makes the final almost guaranteed us.
And in the second half we almost throw the final away. In the end we just throw the match win.

Wow! I'm one of the favourites to win the Eredivisie's manager of the year. It will go to van Bronckhorst as he won the league with one of the two biggest clubs of the country.

Back to untouchable.

 

[Death Ball]

Endseason 2021

Initial budgets for next season have been set. Not much transfer funds, though we may not need much more.

Longuine and van Horne join the club in permanent deals. Fans like both signings.

I sign Scott Bain to be our new starting keeper. He's expensive, but finding goalkeepers of his quality that we can afford is not an easy task so I'm happy with spending a bit more than normal for him.

Vitesse come offering a job interview. Why would I move to a team that just finished behind us and is to miss European competition? I reject it. Not interested.

Nijkamp gets in a new striker, Stefano Padovan. He comes it very cheap and he looks to be quite valid for us, though the fans don't like it.

The commercial summary is very good. We get a big increase in all income minus broadcasting revenue. League prize has not yet been announced but it should be bigger. A surprise to see Marinus topping the shirt sales with the little time he played.

Squad bonuses are paid and the league prize is announced to be around three million higher than past season.

Also the fourth place is the best finish in Zwolle's history.

Oh! Woooooo! Yes! I got the Manager's Manager of the year!

New oberall best eleven announced, the surprise is that van den Boomen wasn't already there.

Team awards have also been announced. De Jong has had the most assist in the few games he's played.

Summer break will last till 28th June with no chance to change it.

The board announce a new stadium will be built.

Balance is higher than past season at this stage, if I remember correctly. Hopefully we can get a decent run in the Europa League to get a good position to allow us to be more ambitious with the signings the next summer.

Despite position in league and play off win and individual award, her reputation has not increased.

 

[Death Ball]

Summer 2021

I decide to trigger te Loeke's contract extension, because I think we shouldn't take lightly the chance of two injured goalkeepers.

I decide to renew the loans of el Hankouri and Mongen. We're low on funds and I prefer the known players on loan than risk losing them and not get anything better. el Hankouri is the first to be confirmed. Mongen follows the next day.

The more worrisome, though, is we lost to coaches, one to retirement and another was poached so we're waiting to fill the gaps. I've placed an announcement for them. Regarding the squad, we need a centreback.

Popescu is signed and arrives. I got in by myself as I plan to move Amin forward so he'd be the new rotation to van den Boomen. Though he could be the one moving forward.

Oude Kotte picks a two weeks injury right after returning from holidays.

We'll get almost two million from league TV.

Expectations have to be set. We're over the wage budget, though with a centerback in the way in, so it's not like we strongly need to make more room for it. I think, however, that I will get them up. I feel we can aim to qualify for Europa League again and getting to the first knock out of it should be within our reach.

Sergey Politevich, who I pointed to Nijkamp, joins after adjusting the budgets. Fans are hgappy and so am I.

He lets Yildirim go for a few euros. I think he has potential to be one of our best players. Bad deal.

He then brings Justin de Haas on loan from AZ. Not quite a player I wanted.

What? No. No! No. Simply no. We need him. I'm cancelling him.

It turns Samir wants to leave the club. Why nobody told me? In the end I tell him he can go if they offer €425K.

For the third qualifying round of the Europa League we draw Nacional de Madeira, who were fifth in Portugal. One of the toughest matches we could get.

Nijkamp keeps bringing attacking midfielders. At least these last ones are on loan so I can just end them if they don't play and become disgruntled.

Except for the match the squad seemed not to care and a half with no defenders in defence didn't go bad, the preseason has not been bad, though I'm afraid it's been too short and some players are missing match fitness.

The Manager award and the fourth place didn't raise her reputation at all.