Started from the bottom...

[cervo06]

Well, hi...This is my first manager story on fm-base, so let me introduce myself a little bit...I'm from Slovakia (as the title says), Bratislava, and my name is Boris...Yep, that's it, now let's get to the point of this story. I started as an unemployed manager with only sunday league experience. I downloaded claasen's database with additional leagues, so I have more options where to go. I'd like to get on the top of Europe, that's the main goal, but at first I'd like to play this save for a long time, so I hope I won't get bored or not excited The game started in January 2014, because I didn't want to wait until autumn for a free place. After few days of unemployment I was contacted by Valmiera/BSS, a club in second latvian division. I didn't have many options, so I took the job...

I won't be lying to you guys...this club is...let's say ''baaad''...Facilities are bad, players are bad, finances are not that bad (we are not in debt, yaaay!!!), but I have a job, so I got that going for me, which is nice...We have 14 players in A-team, so I'd like to sign few players on free. Media predicts us on 8th place, but I'd like to fight for a promotion, because I don't want to spend too much time in second Latvian division.

Our best players

Alvis Dubovs - our best DM, unfortunately is injured for 2 months, so he won't probably make it to the first league matches (league starts in April)

Aleksejs Logivons - our most creative player in this team, he has creativity and technique 13, so I hope he will stay in our club, because we will need him a lot.

Niks Savalnieks - His best technical attribute is heading, but he's only 172 cm tall. I don't know how tall are people in Latvia (especially defenders), but I hope they're not too tall, so he can actually score with a header

Ivo Kalnins - Maybe he isn't one the best player in our club, but I've never managed a 44-year old player, so I had to introduce him and he may be a goalie No. 1 in this season...

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Ok, so that's it, I only started the game few moments ago, so I haven't played any games or made any signings yet. I hope I'll find some followers and sorry for mistakes in text, english is not my native language

 

[Nathylawd]

Very nice post good luck in such a random league!

 

[cervo06]

Part II. - Transfers and pre-season
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When I came to Latvia, I had 45k € as a transfer budget and 4.7k € per month for wages, but I moved all the money from transfer budget to wage budget, so suddenly we had something over 8,5k as a wage budget (so I had something around 4k per month for new players). We needed few signigs because we had only 14 players, and on some positions we didnt have anyone, or just one player (D(RL), M(R)).

Giorgi Diakvnishvili - We didn't have a single right back in our squad, so we focused on this position. Giorgi is here on loan and we pay him only 20 % of his wage.

Janis Lapss - A centre back, I don't expect him to be in starting 11, only for rotation.

Andriy Zadoyko - Our second right back, we'll see who's going to play better, if him or Giorgi

Rolands Putans - Right winger, he should be playing in starting 11

Dmitrijs Siluks - Left back, he should be one of key players in defence

Alexandrs Gramovics - Playmaker with amazing passing and technique compared to other players in Valmiera.

Transfer summary

Our squad before the season

Pre-season frendlies

Frendlies were managed by my assistent, but I think we played well, we won against Daugava and that's one of the best Latvian teams (media predicts them to finish 4th in first division). In pre-season we also played quarterfinal in Latvian Cup against Gulbene (they're in 2nd division too), because Latvian Cup's structure is autumn-spring (league is played from April to November) and previous manager managed to go through first 2 rounds. In quarterfinal it was one-sided game and it was decided after first half, which we won 6-0!!! So we're in semifinal, where we will play against another team from second division, so I hope we can make it to the final (and maybe win and get to Europa League )

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During pre-season we also announced our one and only sponsorship, but it's still some thousands euros, which we will need. We also sold 63 season tickets...I'm surprised someone buys a season ticket for 2nd Latvian division, but that's good for us.

This is tactics I'd like to use during season

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That's it for now, guys. During season I'll update every 2 months, I hope it's okay. If you want something to change or add here, don't be afraid to say

 

[cervo06]

Part III. - April, May 2014

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Wow, what a start! After 8 rounds we are still going without any loss of points. We also conceded only twice and we are on the best way to get into first Latvian division. But we can't stop now with our awesome results, that could cost us promotion. Unfortunately, we lost semifinal in Latvian Cup after really bad performance. I felt we could beat Auda and get into the final, but no...

Player of the part

Didzis Rizenkovs - Who else could be the best player of this part? With 11 goals and 3 assists in 8 league games he's the top scorer in league and also has best average rating (8.30).

Finances

We are going down, as it was predicted, but at the end of the season our bank balance should not far below 0 €, so it shouldn't be that bad.


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