The Managing Mercenary

[zacram]

My latest managerial move hasn't gone down all too well, as I move to league rivals, Kasımpaşa S.K.

It may be seen as a slightly strange decision considering how well I'd been performing with Ankaragücü. I've joined a side scrapping for survival, 19 points further down the league table.

Kasımpaşa were predicted to finish 9th at the start of the season, so have clearly been massively underperforming this season and a side that should really be pushing for European football.

Whilst I try to justify my decision to move clubs, in reality it really just boiled down to how much money I was going to make. The offer recieved was substantially higher than my current contract which expired at the end of the season. I did therefore give Ankaragücü the opportunity to offer me an improved deal... which they didn't even attempt.

So I am now sat on a very comfortable salary of £7,750 p/w. Substantially higher than my previous contract, especially as my main achievement to date is reaching the Vanarama National Playoff Final!

Kasımpaşa have the 7th highest wage budget in the League, 4 times higher than my olde club. So I have much more financial muscle to attract bigger name signings.

We therefore have a squad filled with International experience, including the likes of Jeffrey Bruma (although very much a veteran of the game now).

As always players are a bit sceptical of my appointment considering my lack of experience, but already seems better than my last appointment.

My first game was on Christmas day, just 1 day after my appointment. It was just a cup game, but we managed to get off to a winning start and stay in the hunt for my first piece of silverware.

We followed that up with a win in the league to lift us out of the relegation zone as we head into the winter break. I'm very confident we can be well clear of the drop zone come the end of the season, but only time shall tell.

I have a bit of wage budget left to work with as the transfer window opens, but am unlikely to make too many signings as I'm aiming to rebuild the side over the summer as a number of contracts are set to expire.

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[zacram]

My impressive start at my new club continued as we started to move comfortably away from the relegation zone. After 8 games undefeated we did eventually lose at home to Fenerbahce.

With the threat of relegation all but gone and too big a gap to break into the European places, we have very little to play for in the League this season and therefore the Cup has really become my primary focus.

Following another favourable draw we managed to beat relegation contenders, Samsunspor across 2 legs in the semi-final, to reach my first ever cup final!

And our opponents will be Istanbul Basaksehir at the end of the season - Although one strange thing is that they will have the home advantage! I have no idea if that is just coincidence or if a team does actually get drawn to be at home each season.... Seems a little unfair.

Back to the League and I retuned to a rather frosty reception from my old side, especially at the full time whistle following our 4-1 thrashing of my former employers. That victory also saw us jump above them in the table, reaffirming my decision to move.

Our form has been rather erratic in the League, perhaps because we aren't really playing for anything I don't know. However, we managed to limp across the line and finally get to the Cup final that I had really been craving.

So this is just the 2nd time the club has ever reached the final and we go up against a side that may be above us in the League, but a side that we have already beaten this season away from home since I joined the club.

I was quietly confident going into the game and I had reason to be as we managed to hold out for a 1-0 win and claim the first trophy in my career. Looking at the stats we may have been a tad fortunate but they somehow had the home advantage so I cant feel too bad for them.

The victory also means that we qualify for the Europa League playoffs and my first ever taste of European football!

We end up finishing 11th which considering the club's position when I took over is not a bad result. We comfortably avoided the drop which was my main target and winning the cup has just elevated it into an incredible season.

The club have given me the biggest transfer budget of my career as we look to make a push for the top 6 next season.

So after 224 games I finally have a trophy to my name! Although despite managing for 2 years in Turkey and winning the domestic cup my adaptability remains at 1....

It is supposedly going to hinder my chances of finding employment in other Leagues which is a little infuriating. Whilst I don't actually have a clue how big an impact this actually has, I also have no idea how to increase the attribute. I kind of thought winning a trophy would do the trick....

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[zacram]

It has been a rather busy offseason for myself as I decided to largely overhaul last seasons squad in the persuit of an even more successful season. It has mostly been a case of picking up free agents which included the likes of an ageing Granit Xhaka. Although I did shell out £500k on a Turkish Centre back which is by far the biggest transfer fee of my career.

Yunus Çift was my £500k man. Nothing majorly special but we need 3 Turkish players to be on the field at any given moment in the League and we needed another CB and was basically the best I could get.

Viganto joins us on a free from Arsenal and looks to be a very tidy player. I'm very excited to see how he fairs for us this season.

Thought I'd also show 34 year old Granit Xhaka's profile - still looks to be a useful asset, particularly at this level.

Our opening game of the season was the Turkish 'Community Shield' equivalent as we faced last season's Champions, Sivasspor.

It was my chance to quickly add a second trophy to my CV, but unfortunately despite having the better chances, we just came up short. Whilst the result was disappointing the performance did give me some promise for the season to come.

That was further solidified when we thrashed Hatayspor 3-0 away from home in our opening game of the season.

After that dominant display we then had our Europa League Playoff match against Romanian runners-up, FCSB. On paper we are the stringer side but a loss would drop us down to the Conference League anyway, which would be a much more winnable competition for us.

However, a dominant 4-0 voctory in our 1st leg meant that we had pretty much already qualified for the Europa League.

Which a heavily rotated side confirmed, with a draw in the away leg.

We therefore enter the Europa League, which will be my first ever experience of the new format. Having looked at the teams that are in the competition we have been handed a pretty good fixture list - I can only really see Porto and Betis being the big problems. Hopefully that does give us a chance at progressing to the knockout phase.

Either side of our Euopa League Playoff we did have a couple of League games to contend with, which did see us lose to my old side Ankaragucu. We dominated the game but couldn't take our chances.

So with the season now in full swing and the transfer window closed I have a good feeling about the upcoming season. Although we are predicted to finish 8th, the Turkish League hasn't really had a dominant side the past 2 seasons and our performances so far give me hope that we could actually be fighting at the top end of the table this season.

So for now I'm quite content to stick it out with Kasimpasa, but should things start to go bad I may have to turn my eye to the job market once again.

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