MFK Skalica - A Slovakian Adventure

[AndySams10]

Cheers mate, he's probably the biggest name I'll sign for a few years! He had two other offers, one from Romania and one from Italy, but it said on the signing screen he joined to be closer to his roots.

Finances are around the £3million mark heading into the new season. Expecting that to rise slightly depending on how we get on in European qualification and if anyone is sold during the transfer window!

Good luck in Europe mate. I was just curious what other big names were keen. Once the final update comes out, I'm interested in doing a similar save to this, albeit in a different country, but didn't know if bigger named players were keen the more success you have, to help build the countries profile etc.

 

[MPH93]

Good luck in Europe mate. I was just curious what other big names were keen. Once the final update comes out, I'm interested in doing a similar save to this, albeit in a different country, but didn't know if bigger named players were keen the more success you have, to help build the countries profile etc.

Ahh no worries, I think it depends on three things - club reputation, league reputation and finances.

Skrtel was interested as it's his home country, the other two big names that I've seen available and interested were Michu and Fernando Torres but I couldn't afford their wages. It tends to be players at the back end of their career in the early stages, but hopefully that will change if I make progression in Europe.

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Pre-Season update

Transfers

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In

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James Maddison – End of Contract (Coventry)
Arguably the second best signing of the summer after Martin Skrtel, James arrived on a two-year deal after deciding to leave England at the end of last season. He’s only 21 and has got plenty of years ahead of him so I thought it would be worth a gamble considering his stats are at a decent level already.

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Eivind Fossum – End of Contract (Sandefjord BK)
Young Norwegian forward that will be spending two years with the U19s side after joining from his native country. He is a bit raw at the moment but I’m confident that he’ll develop in the Academy before potentially moving into the first team, or selling him if he doesn’t make it.

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Joe Partridge – £4,000 (Bromley)
Joe arrives from Bromley and is another one where I looked to the English non-league system. I saw him to be a similar kind of player to Josh Bull but the early days suggest that he won’t be anywhere near him.

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Milan Lalkovic – Free (Unattached)
With us lacking in numbers of good Slovakian players, I decided to bring Milan in after he was released from Walsall at the end of last season. He’s had a good career for a 25-year old after being at Chelsea for a while, and he can play a number of positions which is very helpful.

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Robert Oprea – Free (Unattached)
Another youngster that has joined the Club in pre-season as we look to the future by bringing in players under the age of 18 to train them at the Club for the European regulations. Robert failed to agree a new contract at his previous club, which allowed us to make the move come 1 July. He will be a good addition to the first team squad.

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Martin Skrtel – Free (Unattached)
The big money signing of the summer as Skrtel returned to his homeland to become the highest paid player in the history of MFK Skalica. He’s got the attributes to play at an elite level in Europe but has decided to return home to be closer to his roots. Could be the best bit of business in my managerial career as he will sure it up at the back.

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Andrea Sicuro – End of Contract (FFA COE)
A player that has been waiting a while to join, Andrea joins from the Football Federation of Australia Centre of Excellence after turning 18. He arrives with very good stats and will be a great back up to Viktor Luptak. He’s got a 50% scoring record for Australia having made six caps and scoring three times despite his tender age.

Out

Adrian Cermak – Released
Brad Inman – Released
Marek Ocelka – Free (Nove Mesto)
Davide Campanella - £1,400,000 (Arsenal)
Mour Samb – Released
Jan Durica – Released
Damian Baris – £150,000 (Osmanlispor)
Pavol Safranko – £350,000 (Osmanlispor)

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So as you can see from above, Davide Campanella left for pastures new and there was nothing that I could do about it. As I had already persuaded the board not to sell Viktor Luptak, they wouldn’t allow me to protest the transfer and the Italian youngster was gone for hardly anything. I’d have preferred if we got cash straight up but it is a fairly good deal, plus they have to accept a friendly with us which I’ll be using to open our new stadium next season.

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On the plus side, on the eve of the transfer he got injured for three to four months in our first friendly. Karma!

In other news…

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A follow up from the above news about Viktor Luptak and his move to PSG…

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With our success on the field, we’ve managed to sell out our season tickets for the second consecutive season. The sales leaves around 150 spaces for away fans during our league games, but a lot more for Champions League.

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We entered the Super Cup again after winning the league and picked up the trophy by beating Zilina 3-1, mainly thanks to Viktor Luptak’s impressive performance!

And finally…

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For the first time under my control, MFK Skalica have been made favourites for the Slovakian First Division title. It comes after we’ve won two titles in three years, finishing second in the other, so I’m glad our hard work has finally been recognised now.​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Second Qualifying Round

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First Leg

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A close first leg as we couldn't be separated in Tel Aviv. The home side opened the scoring in the 27th minute through Duvier Riascos, but we quickly responded through Kalin Todorov. Both sides then traded punches but couldn't find a second goal to set up the second leg nicely...

Second Leg

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What a game! We like late goals, whether that be scoring them or conceding them and it happened again! It was deja vu as Duvier Riascos opened the scoring for Tel Aviv before we equalised when wonderkid Viktor Luptak scored early in the second half. It looked like it would be heading to extra time until Kalin Todorov popped up in the 88th minute to seal the win! ​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Third Qualifying Round draw

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After our thrilling win against Tel Aviv, we were high on confidence and looking forward to hearing who we would be drawn against in the next round. I was expecting a decent team that would test us, similar to APOEL the last time we were in the Champions League, so let's see who we got...

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What a draw for the Club! We got perhaps the easiest tie of the Third Qualifying Round as we were drawn away to Welsh side TNS. I'm not getting too carried away as anything can happen in football, but I'm confident of progressing into the Play-Off as they are probably the weakest team left in the competition. Could it be a banana skin?​

 

[Nomadic]

Good to see a Welsh team making it to the 3rd qualifying round, but since its TNS i hope you smash them! Good Luck!

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Third Qualifying Round

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First Leg

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We wanted to avoid an embarrassing result here and we got to work straight away as we establish a quick 2-0 lead thanks to Kalin Todorov. With two away goals in the bag, I looked to control the match to eliminate the chance of TNS getting back into the game and it worked as we constantly denied them before Milan Lalkovic secured a 3-0 win late on. Surely even we can't mess this up now!

Second Leg

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With one foot already in the Play-Off, we set out to secure progression without any problems whatsoever. Luckily, this was the case again as Todorov grabbed his third goal in two games against TNS early on to give us a comfortable 4-0 lead on aggregate. Just to avoid any mishaps, I switched to a time-wasting tactic after the goal and saw out the rest of the game to ensure we got to a round where we will enter a Group Stage, whether it be the Champions League or Europa League.
​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Play-Off draw

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I was nervous heading into the draw as Celtic, the team that beat us in this stage when we first entered the competition were one of five opponents we could have been drawn against. Here is the full list of seeded opponents:

FC Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)
FC Steaua (ROM)
Sparta Prague (CZE)
Celtic (SCO)
Legia (POL)

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PHEW! We managed to avoid Celtic and were drawn against one of the two teams that I'd have liked to have been drawn against, the other being Legia. I'd say there was a good chance of us being able to get into the Champions League Group Stage from here, as long as we don't concede any away goals in the first leg.​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Play-Off

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First Leg

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All was going so well until the second half! Viktor Luptak scored twice to give us a two-goal advantage with just under 30 mins to play before we crumbled under the pressure. Eric Bicfalvi pulled one back for FC Steaua in the 71st minute and they were spurred on even more when David Berezny was sent off with nine minutes to go. It looked like I would see a 2-1 out until our goalkeeper Tomas Kosicky had a horror show dealing with a low shot, you can see the goal below, and Alexandru Chipciu slotted home from close range to level the game and give them a big boost heading into the second leg.

[video=youtube;vJ72JzkRhDQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ72JzkRhDQ[/video]

Second Leg

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WE'VE MADE THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE! Thankfully the mistake didn't cost us progression, otherwise he would have been on the chopping board! Goals from Luptak and Robert Oprea put us 4-2 up on aggregrate and cancelled out their away goals heading into half time. There was a scare in the second half when Robert Vilceanu added a consolation in the 75th minute, but we managed to hold on and secure a place in the 2018/19 Champions League Group Stage to give our finances a massive boost!

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[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage draw

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We headed to UEFA HQ in high spirits after the FC Steaua win, knowing that the Champions League money will go a long way to securing our future and ensuring that we are on our way of becoming a domestic powerhouse in Slovakia. We knew it was the real deal when UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino walked out for the draw alongside host Kate Abdo. The draw began and this is the situation heading into the final pot, where MFK Skalica were:

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It's the Champions League, every group is tough as they will have a least two excellent sides in. A quick glance at the groups and you would want to avoid Group C for definite as it has Barcelona, Bayern and Ajax in there - three teams who have had great success in Europe in previous years. The balls in the pot are mixed up and we are about to be drawn out...

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So we've been put into Group B alongside Monaco, Dynamo Kyiv and Roma. All three will be a massive test for us, but we're just here for the experience and anything else will be a massive boost to us. Ideally, I'd like to get at least one win as you're rewarded with £1,000,000 and that will pay the wage bill for many, many months.

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[MPH93]

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2018/19 Deadline Day

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With Davide Campanella gone and a space needing filling in midfield, I decided to act on Deadline Day as we looked to bring in a good young talent that would slot right in. The money from the Champions League helped so I set off on a scouting mission trying to find a young player that would be willing to join with a transfer fee that didn't go over £1,000,000. I looked far and wide from Australia to America, Norway to the Netherlands and Belarus to Bulgaria before finally settling on one player. After a bit of negotiation, our new signing is...

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We might have paid a bit more than we wanted to, but Kiril Aleksandrov is a fantastic young talent. The 16-year old Bulgarian has fantastic attributes already and is only rated as two stars at the moment so he really is one for the future. Here are a breakdown of the clauses inserted into the deal...

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In other news...

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Our star asset Viktor Luptak is set to be out until the New Year after suffering a torn calf muscle against Myjava. This is a massive blow to us and he'll be sorely missed, but it will be an opportunity for someone to step up and stake a claim for a place in the starting eleven.​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage

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Matchday One

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Wow, what a result for our first game in the Group Stage! I went to Kyiv in the hope of getting a point with a balanced formation but we managed to take all three in a five-goal thriller. We came firing out of the blocks and took a 2-0 lead through Matej Kochan and Milan Lalkovic before the home side hit back through Vladyslav Kalitvintsev with just minutes to go until half time. The second half was a tense affair with many bookings until James Maddison secured the win late on. Junior Moraes scored immediately after but it didn't dampen the spirits of the squad as the full time whistle followed shortly after.​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage

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Matchday Two

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With it being our first ever 'home' game, we had to play it away from Skalica due to stadium regulations, a crowd of over 19,000 were in attendance to see us welcome Italian giants Roma. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the fans as we were beaten 2-0 by an experienced Roma side that easily tore us apart. They had 27 shots to our five and the dominance paid off in the second half as Seydou Doumbia opened the scoring before Mohamed Salah sealed the win in the last minute.

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[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage

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Matchday Three

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This Champions League campaign is throwing up a lot of strange results. We've got from beating Dynamo Kyiv and losing by two goals to Roma to being absolutely demolished by Monaco. To be fair, I was expecting a defeat but not this heavy. The home side ran riot in the first half and were 3-0 up by the 25th minute after goals from Carlos Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and Javier Pastore. Alvaro Morata added their fourth just after half time before the scoring was completed by Lucas Pratto in the 76th minute. An embarrassing defeat, and one of my worst days in charge of the Club.​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage

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Matchday Four

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We sought revenge against Monaco after the 5-0 loss in matchday three and an aggressive team talk seemed to work prior to the game. The match got off to a fantastic start as Kalin Todorov put us in the lead inside a minute before Joao Moutinho levelled shortly after half time. The game's changing moment came in the 60th minute when Monaco defender Eliaquim Mangala was sent off and we took full advantage as Milan Lalkovic made it 2-1 from the resulting spot kick. The former Walsall winger added his second of the game with eight minutes to play to secure the result, but it was a tense finish as Ivan Cavaleiro made it 3-2 with one of the last kicks of the game. Get in!​

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage

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Matchday Five

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Like we did with Monaco, Dynamo Kyiv were out for revenge after we picked up a win in the opening game of Group B. They came with an objective and succeeded as they left Slovakia with all three points after a 2-1 win. James Maddison had put us into an early lead but that was soon cancelled out when Vladyslav Kalitvintsev levelled just five minutes later. The Ukraniain side piled on the pressure after the equaliser and got their reward just six minutes into the second half when Junior Moraes finished from close range.

Group B

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So with one game left, the group is still wide open. We can finish anywhere from first to fourth, depending on the result when we travel to Roma in matchday six. Our negative goal difference will play a massive part on where we finish so I'm thinking that we will remain in last place in Group B. Either way, I never expected to reach this side so all this experience will be vital in the years to come.​

 

[AndySams10]

Just caught back up to date. Fantastic effort in the Champs league mate, especially with Luptak out injured. The new signing looks decent too. Good luck this season.

 

[Yeti01]

As with Andy I've just come up to speed on this one - what a story!! Loving it mate. Good luck in your final CL game.

 

[MPH93]

Just caught back up to date. Fantastic effort in the Champs league mate, especially with Luptak out injured. The new signing looks decent too. Good luck this season.

As with Andy I've just come up to speed on this one - what a story!! Loving it mate. Good luck in your final CL game.

Thanks for the comments and for reading the story!

Just about to post the final CL game update...

 

[MPH93]

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2018/19 Champions League Group Stage

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Matchday Six

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Well, that was certainly unexpected! The main objective was to avoid another defeat so I decided to use my time wasting tactic from the off. As you can see, it was a quiet game in terms of chances but Roma dominated with more possession and more shots than me. With us heading into the final ten minutes at 0-0, I decided to go for it because we'd either win or lose and it was better than sitting back as we weren't doing anything. With the attacking tactic now being deployed, we started to create a couple of chances and managed to grab a winner in the last minute through Australian striker Andrea Sicuro. How did that affect the group though?

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Group B

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So, unfortunately or fortunately depending on if you're a half full/half empty glass person, our Champions League campaign is over for another season but our second Europa League adventure is about to begin! The win saw us finished 3rd in the group, only eliminated on goal difference after the hammering we took at Monaco.

Europa League First Knockout Round draw on the way...​