- Joined
- Nov 24, 2019
- Messages
- 53
- Reaction score
- 58
- Points
- 18
So end of the first season with Sporting Lisbon. I was set the challenge by one of my Twitch viewers to build an all Portuguese club (excluding myself as an English manager). The first season has been a journey, from the threat of being sacked following what could be classified as a disaster in November when I failed to guide the team to a single win. Nevertheless, I promised the board that things would improve. So off-stream I went to work; tactical analysis, training schedules, watched a variety of YouTube by Football Manager tactical mastermind RDF as well as reading guides from Mr Strikerless to see if I could set up a tactical setup that would suit the player that I’ve got a club. Before I could do that though, I had the challenge of setting the groundwork for clearing out the non-Portuguese players.
The January transfer saw a total of twenty-five players leave the club and with it came a fair amount of revenue; on top of the twenty-five players that departed in January an additional four non-Portuguese players are set to leave when the summer transfer window opens. To replace the exodus six Portuguese players joined the club with two more set to join when the summer transfer window opens.
Incomings:
In the league, we finished 3rd behind both FC Porto and league champions SL Benfica. We lost the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira to SL Benfica early in the season when I didn’t really seem to have a grounded philosophy in terms of my managerial approach. In the Allianz Cup we lost to SP Braga in the 4th Round (this seemed to be a pattern with SP Braga who seem to have become the team of annoyance, something to hopefully rectify next season). In the UEFA Europa League we actually did quite well following an indifferent set of results in the group stages. After getting through to the knock beating Medipol Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü, Borussia Dortmund we got knocked out by Arsenal in the Quarter-Final.
On the developmental side of things and looking to the future. The youth team have done well, the U23s finished top of the Liga Revelação U23 and the U19s won the U19 1ª Divisão. Looking at the detailed stats across both youth leagues I’m happy to see the tactical philosophy being embedded in both youth teams. Hopefully, this will reap rewards for the first team in the future!
The January transfer saw a total of twenty-five players leave the club and with it came a fair amount of revenue; on top of the twenty-five players that departed in January an additional four non-Portuguese players are set to leave when the summer transfer window opens. To replace the exodus six Portuguese players joined the club with two more set to join when the summer transfer window opens.
Incomings:
- André Almeida from Vitória Sport Club for a fee of £2.1m
- Bruno Jordão on loan from Wolves
- Costinha from Rio Ave for a fee of £1.5m
- Romain Correia from Vitória Sport Club for a fee of £5m
- Leandro Cardoso from Clube Sport Marítimo for a fee of £1.4m
- Diogo Clemente from União Desportiva Oliveirense for a fee of £300,000
- Cláudio Ramos from Clube Desportivo de Tondela joining July 2020
- Xadas from SC Braga for a fee of £3m joining July 2020
In the league, we finished 3rd behind both FC Porto and league champions SL Benfica. We lost the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira to SL Benfica early in the season when I didn’t really seem to have a grounded philosophy in terms of my managerial approach. In the Allianz Cup we lost to SP Braga in the 4th Round (this seemed to be a pattern with SP Braga who seem to have become the team of annoyance, something to hopefully rectify next season). In the UEFA Europa League we actually did quite well following an indifferent set of results in the group stages. After getting through to the knock beating Medipol Başakşehir Futbol Kulübü, Borussia Dortmund we got knocked out by Arsenal in the Quarter-Final.
On the developmental side of things and looking to the future. The youth team have done well, the U23s finished top of the Liga Revelação U23 and the U19s won the U19 1ª Divisão. Looking at the detailed stats across both youth leagues I’m happy to see the tactical philosophy being embedded in both youth teams. Hopefully, this will reap rewards for the first team in the future!