NEW SAVE: DERBY COUNTY campaign for Premiership

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The Boss Shaun

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My last save at Sheffield Weds had a crash and I lost much progress so I decided to start a new league. Also, I wanted a great start on the blog with images etc so I could present it how I wanted to from day one.

Here's my story. I'm a recently retired defensive midfielder having gained many caps for Spain through parentage. I'm always choosy over my nationality and second nationality when managing smaller clubs because this gives you better chance of securing young talent from those countries so I always go for a combo with two or three between Italian, Spanish or French, especially when the regens start rolling in after a season or two. Or if I'm really brave I'll go Czech or Croatian as they tends to bring me many decent kids in the past.

I've been appointed manager of Derby County.



Founded in 1884, playing at the IPro Stadium holding 33k. Not having much success since the 70s it's my job to first get us to the Premiership then build on that.
 
1st day on the job. I'm told by chairman Andy Appleby he wants us to have a great season and he's giving me his full backing for my time at Derby. He's says he offering me £775k as a transfer budget for the season and that any extra spending money will have to generated from player sales.



Hopefully he can work with me and my plans as manager in regards to improving the training and youth facilities and allow me to develop the players I've been gifted at the club already.
 
I've just had a meeting with the coaching staff and the players. It's no secret that our best player is young central midfielder Will Hughes. Aged only 18 he is everything I want in a midfielder, good technical ability, creative and bags if potential. With interest heating up from Arsenal and Chelsea I've let him know of his value to the club and have swiftly offered him a new contract of £9k per week.

Will Hughes in action for Derby.

Evaluating the rest of the squad I'm noticing there are a lot of average players not good enough for what I plan to achieve who are knocking around the £8-10K per week category who I'll have to get out of the club.

My aim will be the replace these players with more experienced short term free transfers and develop and expand my scouting system and bring in young talent to develop into Premiership players.
 
We've put three of our higher value players we no monger need on the transfer list. One of the players Craig Bryson has just left to join Newcastle United, who beat off interest from Sunderland to sign him for £2.4M. I have to work with the board to increase our transfer revenue as I'm only being given 60% and feel I need more to work with in the market.

I've also listed Simon Dawkins and Jamie Ward hoping I can see another £5M come into the club in the near future with teams interest in both players.
 
My first move in the transfer market has been a loan offer for Borussia Dortmund striker Marvin Ducksch. At 19 years old he's a big lad who's good in the air and has a decent eye for goal. My loan offer has been matched by Feyenood and Rubin Kazan.

I've also made a £1.8M bid on Scottish U21 defender John Souttar. The player has a huge future ahead of him and Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd have matched my bid for the player. The only way I can lure him to the club is to try and convince him that this is where he'll be given first team football and better chance to develop.
 
Great news all round. Will Hughes has committed his future to the club until 2018 stating his love for the club was the reason he's staying.

We've also committed young 16 year old striking prospect Mason Bennett down to a deal to fight off interest from Newcastle. He'll remain in our U18 squad and hopefully the fans will see him sooner rather than later.

We've managed to convince John Souttar that this is the club for him. We've agreed personal terms but without the whole transfer fee in the bank we've agreed to delay the transfer a week. Gonna have to sell a couple players at a lower fee to get our man in.
 
We've lost out on our loan move for Marvin Ducksch. However we've managed to move Simon Dawkins on, the forward has john Reading for £2M. That should give us the needed money to bring in Souttar but I'm not going to move for anyone until we've got our man in case I accidentally sabotage the deal.
 
FANTASTIC NEWS.

We've made our first signing. John Souttar has arrived on a £2.5M deal from Dundee United. The centre half has is tipped for a great future and I am delighted to get the lad in. Don't expect to see him in the first team as a regular straight away but I'm going to bring him in slowly and get one of my senior defenders to tutor him and take him under their wing. At 16 years of age he's looking good in the tackling, positioning, marking and heading categories with 12's and a few 13's thrown in elsewhere but with a determination rating of 18 he's be improving with no time. Give it a year and he's start paying off that fee.


John Souttar, 16. Welcome to Derby County.
 
A few days have passed and I've been scouring the free transfer market looking for talent and it's been a joy to announce the signing of Moroccan international midfield playmaker Houssine Kharja on a free transfer.



The 30 year old is an absolute steal. 14+ for creativity, passing, off the ball and work rate among other string stats all over. He comes with a wealth of experience. 12 goals in 75 games for Morocco and a playing CV boasting such former clubs as Fiorentina, Roma, Inter Milan and a few other Serie A clubs. I'm very excited about the pairing of Kharja and Hughes in our midfield.
 
We've played two friendly games in the Friendly Cup.

Miada Boleslav (CZE) 1-1 Derby County
Kharja.

A well fought game against good Czech opposition with Kharja netting after 29 minutes. They pulled back an equaliser just after 90 minute mark and beat us 5-4 on penalties.

Derby County 2-1 RNK Split (CRO)
Russell
Gjokaj

In the 3rd place playoff we beat the Croatian side convincingly with goals from Johnny Russell and valentin Gjokaj, our teenage centre half who has been attracting a lot of refused bids from European teams over the past week or so.

Decent run out on both teams but I see room for improvement.
 
We've managed to secure another player in Greek international right back in Giourkas Sietaridis.



The 33 year old right back will compete with on-loan Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom for the right back spot. He's had a good playing career so far with spells at Atletico Madrid, Panathinaikos and Porto. He has amassed 73 caps for Greece and hopefully will be able to help a few of our younger players with their development.
 


We've just signed 20 year old left back Javier Noblejas from Real Madrid Castilla. For £130K he looks like a steal. If he can improve on his stats as he's still young he's be great for us. I felt we were a bit short of left back and wanted to balance our experienced signings with some youth too.
 
Friendly Matches:

Mansfield 0-0 Derby County

St. Mirren 2-2 Derby County
Bamford
Hendrick

Chesterfield 0-0 Derby County
 
I've decide to sell young centre half Valentin Gjokaj to Basel for £1M. He was showing decent progress in the youth team setup but the finances were needed to bulk up the first team squad. We wish the young Albanian all the best of luck in the future.

Meanwhile young striker Mason Bennett has joined Bristol City on loan to get some first team experience.
 
We have been beaten 1-0 by Burton Albion in our final friendly before the league opener next week against Blackburn.

Hours after that defeat we've signed Brazilian midfield player Marcelo Mattos for a fee of £275 from Botafogo.



What a buy!!! 29 years old formerly of Corinthians and Panathinaikos. 14 and way above in heading, marking, tackling, stamina, strength, pace, acceleration, agility, teamwork determination. On paper this could be the steal of the season. The boy can play too, doesn't look like a simple water carrier. very happy to have Marcos on board.
 
MATCH REPORT

DERBY COUNTY 0-0 BLACKBURN ROVERS

A bore draw. Seitaridis, Kharja and Noblejas made their debuts today. They were all over us. First half hour we were camped in our own half. We changed our cautious 4141 formation to a 4411 moving Will Hughes up behind the striker Johnny Russell. We began to play much better and once Marcos Mattos come on as a late sub we really took it to them, missed a few chances at the death and settled for the point.

In the meantime we have sold a couple of players too as I'm trying to hardest to put my imprint on the squad. James Bailey has moved to Celtic in a £1M deal and striker Conor Sammon has joined Sunderland for £2M.

MATCH REPORT

Capital One Cup 1st round:
DERBY COUNTY 0-1 SCUNTHORPE

We were knocked out of a hard fought match against a team we were clear favourites to beat. I feel bad as I've been putting too much attention on transfer dealings and not enough focus on the opposition but on the other hand I'm building a strong team that will need a month or so to gel in together and eventually kick on.
 
It has been reported that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had been spotted at our last league match against Blackburn, rumoured to be personally watching star player Will Hughes. Hope Arsene knows Will isn't going anywhere.
 
MATCH REPORT

Brighton 2-1 Derby County
O'Connor

We started brightly enough, very dangerous from set pieces from midfielder Coutts. However they hit us on the break and scored after 25 minutes. We tried to fight our way back onto the game and eventually defender O'Connor scored a heading from a very accurate corner kick from Coutts. Minutes after Goodwin hit a rocket for Brighton to secure the points.

I'm disappointed because we put an effort in and looked solid but I'm getting worried about right back Seitaridis constantly getting us into trouble from right back. Not sure if its a language or age problem but the game looks a bit too quick for him. Something I'm going to have to keep a watchful eye on. Andre Wisdom has been great at centre back and if I move him to right back I have a problem in the centre of my defence.
 
Game against Leicester and on loan centre back Andre Wisdom has picked up a double hernia and is out for 2 months… great!!!
 
MATCH REPORT

DERBY COUNTY 1-0 LEICESTER CITY
Hendrick

With Kharja flying back from international duty and looking tired I decided to rest him and bring in young box-to-box midfielder Jeff Hendrick. We battle from the start against our bitter rivals and though they had quick players, reverting back to the 4141 formation seemed to stifle them. They went too hung-ho on an attack and catching them on the break Hendrick chased down a loose ball, made his way into the box and slotted the ball past the oncoming keeper, great goal. Pride Park going nuts!!!
We managed to hold on, was slightly concerned that all our play has to go through the middle via Hughes and Mattos because we're severely lacking quality on the flanks but we held on valiantly to get the 3 points.


Jeff Hendrick, 21. Man of the match and great goal.
 
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