This is my story about a journey which starts in the tough and inhospitable stadiums in Second Division B1 where the world media doesn't appear; where the luxury of a hot shower after a game isn't a certainty and where something remotely similar to football is a rare sight...
Cultural Deporitvo y Leonesa is the team which rose from this dark place to the night lights and flashes from the cameras in stadiums such as Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu and Vicente Calderon.
I will give you a short introduction by letting you know how I’ve gotten to where I am now (2015).
I took over this side in the beginning of the game and started off in Second Division B1. The first season was a long time of getting-to-know-the-team, and after being predicted as a possible candidate to be relegated in the beginning of the season, finishing 6th in the league was a good achievement.
Continuing with pretty much the same players the second season ended better with the team finishing 3rd and gaining a place in Liga Adelante after a tough playoff beating the likes of Atletico Madrid "B".
The third season, the first one in Liga Adelante and the whole city is jubilant. It wasn't going to be easy and signings were needed for a chance of a respectable position. The team had a great season and finished 12th in the league.
The fourth season saw more signings, and one stood out the most. Tawrick Jibril, a 19-year-old CM, was signed on a free transfer and became the leading star in the team. Having a history of trials with the likes of Arsenal made him the favorite amongst the fans. Another big signing was made, Rouwen Hennings, a dutch youth-team international and Hamburg SV forward, was signed. The hopes were sky high and a top half finish was expected by the fans. The season overall went a lot better than the previous, all though finishing 10th, the team played much better and won the Spanish Federation Cup.
The fifth season saw the signing of German Pacheco (Atletico Madrid C) and Dennis Diekmeier (Werder Bremen reserves), amongst others. Pacheco went on to become to top scorer of Liga Adelante with 25 goals in a wonderful season where the team won the league and gained promotion to La Liga.
The sixth season didn't see many major changes to the successful team that had won Liga Adelante. Former Sevilla-player Aquivaldo Mosquera and Yassine Jebbour were brought in on free transfer from Las Palmas and FC Metz. The biggest signing was ex-Barcelonista Pedro, who was bought from Gimnastic for a fee of 1.6 million euros. The media predicted a short visit in La Liga for Cultural Leonesa, and the bookies didn't believe in the team at all. The team showed the world that they were in the top to stay by finishing 13th in front of the likes of Deportivo La Coruña, Mallorca and Athletic Bilbao.
The seventh season saw many Cultural players facing the infamous second season as newly promoted team. The media was certain that last seasons position in the league was just a fluke and that Cultural would face a season of struggling and misery. The pre-season for the club had been very turbulent and a takeover of the team was made seeing a Swedish investor taking control of the club and investing a lot of money in the club. The club’s previous transfer budget which lay around 3 million € now was increased to a staggering 30 million €. This meant that the club now could buy players instead of just picking up free transfers. The club bought the defenders Miguel Victor from Benfica and Andriy Goncharenco from Hannover for a total of around 29 million € to strengthen the defence which had been very shaky in the previous season. But the biggest signing was Federico Laurito from Udinese, as usual on a free transfer. The Argentinean would pair up with his fellow countryman German Pacheco to make an attack that would terrorize defences in La Liga all season long.
The season was a long dream for the Cultural Leonesa fans that saw their team finishing in fourth place and grabbing a Champions League qualification spot. The team managed to win over EVERY team in La Liga except Barcelona where they got a draw at best. Federico Laurito scored the most goals in La Liga and won the Pichichi as well as the Golden boot with 28 goals. Pacheco came second in the La Liga top scorer league with his 24 goals.
Now we come to the season I am currently preparing for. I’ve let some of my old players go as well as those who just doesn’t have what it takes to play on this level. I’ve bought a Spanish U-20 International named Andrés Sanz and two players with a bit more routine. One of them is a favourite of mine, Jelle van Damme from Belgium. As you can see I’m not going wild all though I’ve got a transfer budget of 30+ million €. The only player that I have bought is Sanz (17.5 million €), the rest is on free transfer.
I am currently fielding a 4-1-2-1-2 formation which looks like this.
Tim Krul
Andrés Sanz – Iñigo Yuste – Miguel Victor – Andriy Goncharenco
Tawrick Jibril (C)
Pedro – Wijnaldum
Jebbour
Laurito – Pacheco
Here’s a short presentation of the players:
Tim Krul (27) – Dutch international squad player. Played the 2014 World Cup and was one of the best GK’s.
Andrés Sanz (20) – One of Spain’s biggest talents. Has about 16 in every attribute; mental, technical and physical.
Iñigo Yuste (20) – Another great talent. Captain of the U-20 squad in Spain with a great future.
Andriy Goncharenco (23) – Tremendously speedy left back with 20 in acceleration as his main attribute.
Tawrick Jibiril (23) – Ghana international. Wanted by Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Roma and Inter amongst others.
Pedro (28) – Probably the weakest link in the team, but nowhere near a bad player. Last year on his contract.
Wijnaldum (24) – Speedy winger that featured in the Dutch squad in the 2014 WC and started one game.
Yassine Jebbour (23) – French attacking midfielder that had a great last season with many assists and goals.
German Pacheco (24) – 24 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances last season. No need to say more.
Federico Laurito (25) – 28 goals and 9 assists in 37 appearances last seasons, Golden boot.. No need to say more.
As you see I have a pretty young squad. And something interesting is that this team has only cost me around 47 million €. And seven
wub of my starting players were brought in on a free transfer.
Right now I’m in the start of season 2015/2016 and I’ve just played the ECC Playoffs against Shaktar Donetsk. I won away with 2-1 and got a 1-0 win at home. I was drawn against Man Utd, Sporting CP and FC Kobenhavn in the group stage. My latest game was against Sporting Gijon in the league, I won 4-2. That’s pretty much all the history you need to know going in to this season where I will try to give you updates of how it’s going.
If you want any screen shots of players or anything, just ask.
Cultural Deporitvo y Leonesa is the team which rose from this dark place to the night lights and flashes from the cameras in stadiums such as Camp Nou, Santiago Bernabeu and Vicente Calderon.
I will give you a short introduction by letting you know how I’ve gotten to where I am now (2015).
I took over this side in the beginning of the game and started off in Second Division B1. The first season was a long time of getting-to-know-the-team, and after being predicted as a possible candidate to be relegated in the beginning of the season, finishing 6th in the league was a good achievement.
Continuing with pretty much the same players the second season ended better with the team finishing 3rd and gaining a place in Liga Adelante after a tough playoff beating the likes of Atletico Madrid "B".
The third season, the first one in Liga Adelante and the whole city is jubilant. It wasn't going to be easy and signings were needed for a chance of a respectable position. The team had a great season and finished 12th in the league.
The fourth season saw more signings, and one stood out the most. Tawrick Jibril, a 19-year-old CM, was signed on a free transfer and became the leading star in the team. Having a history of trials with the likes of Arsenal made him the favorite amongst the fans. Another big signing was made, Rouwen Hennings, a dutch youth-team international and Hamburg SV forward, was signed. The hopes were sky high and a top half finish was expected by the fans. The season overall went a lot better than the previous, all though finishing 10th, the team played much better and won the Spanish Federation Cup.
The fifth season saw the signing of German Pacheco (Atletico Madrid C) and Dennis Diekmeier (Werder Bremen reserves), amongst others. Pacheco went on to become to top scorer of Liga Adelante with 25 goals in a wonderful season where the team won the league and gained promotion to La Liga.
The sixth season didn't see many major changes to the successful team that had won Liga Adelante. Former Sevilla-player Aquivaldo Mosquera and Yassine Jebbour were brought in on free transfer from Las Palmas and FC Metz. The biggest signing was ex-Barcelonista Pedro, who was bought from Gimnastic for a fee of 1.6 million euros. The media predicted a short visit in La Liga for Cultural Leonesa, and the bookies didn't believe in the team at all. The team showed the world that they were in the top to stay by finishing 13th in front of the likes of Deportivo La Coruña, Mallorca and Athletic Bilbao.
The seventh season saw many Cultural players facing the infamous second season as newly promoted team. The media was certain that last seasons position in the league was just a fluke and that Cultural would face a season of struggling and misery. The pre-season for the club had been very turbulent and a takeover of the team was made seeing a Swedish investor taking control of the club and investing a lot of money in the club. The club’s previous transfer budget which lay around 3 million € now was increased to a staggering 30 million €. This meant that the club now could buy players instead of just picking up free transfers. The club bought the defenders Miguel Victor from Benfica and Andriy Goncharenco from Hannover for a total of around 29 million € to strengthen the defence which had been very shaky in the previous season. But the biggest signing was Federico Laurito from Udinese, as usual on a free transfer. The Argentinean would pair up with his fellow countryman German Pacheco to make an attack that would terrorize defences in La Liga all season long.
The season was a long dream for the Cultural Leonesa fans that saw their team finishing in fourth place and grabbing a Champions League qualification spot. The team managed to win over EVERY team in La Liga except Barcelona where they got a draw at best. Federico Laurito scored the most goals in La Liga and won the Pichichi as well as the Golden boot with 28 goals. Pacheco came second in the La Liga top scorer league with his 24 goals.
Now we come to the season I am currently preparing for. I’ve let some of my old players go as well as those who just doesn’t have what it takes to play on this level. I’ve bought a Spanish U-20 International named Andrés Sanz and two players with a bit more routine. One of them is a favourite of mine, Jelle van Damme from Belgium. As you can see I’m not going wild all though I’ve got a transfer budget of 30+ million €. The only player that I have bought is Sanz (17.5 million €), the rest is on free transfer.
I am currently fielding a 4-1-2-1-2 formation which looks like this.
Tim Krul
Andrés Sanz – Iñigo Yuste – Miguel Victor – Andriy Goncharenco
Tawrick Jibril (C)
Pedro – Wijnaldum
Jebbour
Laurito – Pacheco
Here’s a short presentation of the players:
Tim Krul (27) – Dutch international squad player. Played the 2014 World Cup and was one of the best GK’s.
Andrés Sanz (20) – One of Spain’s biggest talents. Has about 16 in every attribute; mental, technical and physical.
Iñigo Yuste (20) – Another great talent. Captain of the U-20 squad in Spain with a great future.
Andriy Goncharenco (23) – Tremendously speedy left back with 20 in acceleration as his main attribute.
Tawrick Jibiril (23) – Ghana international. Wanted by Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Roma and Inter amongst others.
Pedro (28) – Probably the weakest link in the team, but nowhere near a bad player. Last year on his contract.
Wijnaldum (24) – Speedy winger that featured in the Dutch squad in the 2014 WC and started one game.
Yassine Jebbour (23) – French attacking midfielder that had a great last season with many assists and goals.
German Pacheco (24) – 24 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances last season. No need to say more.
Federico Laurito (25) – 28 goals and 9 assists in 37 appearances last seasons, Golden boot.. No need to say more.
As you see I have a pretty young squad. And something interesting is that this team has only cost me around 47 million €. And seven
wub of my starting players were brought in on a free transfer. Right now I’m in the start of season 2015/2016 and I’ve just played the ECC Playoffs against Shaktar Donetsk. I won away with 2-1 and got a 1-0 win at home. I was drawn against Man Utd, Sporting CP and FC Kobenhavn in the group stage. My latest game was against Sporting Gijon in the league, I won 4-2. That’s pretty much all the history you need to know going in to this season where I will try to give you updates of how it’s going.
If you want any screen shots of players or anything, just ask.
