FM 2011

[llego]

Playing on my iphone, knocked Man Utd out of the Europa league with Stuttgart, and at the end of the season Alex Ferguson retired. That was pretty satisfying.

[Lee909]

I didnt know there wad a IPhone version.

Is it worth getting ?

[Lucky Pierre]

I didnt know there wad a IPhone version.

Is it worth getting ?

 

It's very basic compared to the full version, but it passes the hours.

[Furmedge]

My Torquay side beat Real Madrid 5-1 in the first leg of the 1st Knockout Round of the Champions League.

 

Yes, Torquay snotted Real Madrid.

[Furmedge]

Return leg in Spain, was 4-0 and going out until a four goal blitz brought me back to 4-4. Madrid scored an injury time winner.

 

Torquay Utd beat Real Madrid 9-6 on aggregate.

[RedinSweden]

Starting back at work has meant that I have resurrected my Shrewsbury campaign. After an appalling start in League 1, i am now mid table at new year and 10 points clear of the drop. Got some key players coming back from long term injury too. Ryan noble, on loan from Sunderland has been a star, but he keeps getting injured.

[Jonny83]

After winning 3 titles and 1 CL (and losing twice to Barca in the quarters) with my Liverpool team I switched back to my lower league save for a bit, currently managing in the Portuguese 2nd div after winning promotion from the 3rd three years ago.

 

After a bit of experimenting amid an erratic mid-season run I accidentally stumbled upon a tactic that worked a charm and we went on a 10 game winning streak at the end of the year that took us from eighth to first to sneak promotion to the top flight at the death as our promotion rivals all decided to implode with the most beautiful timing.

 

Improved my squad a fair bit with the extra money we got as a top flight side (can even start paying transfer fees now!), and had a great start, currently lying fifth behind Benfica, Porto, Sporting and Braga 11 games in, should be OK from relegation but I doubt we'll keep up this Europa League form we're in.

 

Crucially though we're ramming our 7,500 capacity stadium full fortnight in fortnight out now, so either a stadium expansion or the proverbial glass ceiling may be on the horizon for us soon.

 

It's getting to that time of year now where I'm torn between looking forward to FM2012 and wanting it to never arrive so I can get as far as possible into my future with my current games (simply not buying it is not an option, I'm drawn to the games shop on release day like Gary Glitter to a Vietnamese nursery)

[Lee909]

I won't be bothering with the new game until a xmass, I'll wait for the patches first.

[RedinSweden]

I found this very amusing

 

[stevienando]

Wow - I've got Morling as assistant and Stow as scout too!

[RedinSweden]

Wow - I've got Morling as assistant and Stow as scout too!

 

Both decent. I'm struggling to get out of League 1. Midtable each season. Plus every time we get a decent offer for one of our top players, the board accept it over my head. Is there any way of protesting? It's starting to piss me right off.

[Chairman Meow]

Both decent. I'm struggling to get out of League 1. Midtable each season. Plus every time we get a decent offer for one of our top players, the board accept it over my head. Is there any way of protesting? It's starting to piss me right off.

 

Nothing you can do directly to stop the board accepting a transfer offer.

 

However I have found sometimes that if you offer the player a contract they will accept the new contract offer rather than going to the other club.

 

It also helps if you put a stupid asking price on them. i.e. I have that Maurinho in my Anderlecht game set with a £100million asking price. It's so stupidly high that even City, Real and Barca announce interest but never actually bid.

[Chairman Meow]

Anderlecht 15/16

 

Just a short update as I've been working again so not had the time to play as much as I had been when I was on the dole.

 

Very few major transfers in for last season (I'm into 16/17 now), brought in the usual batch of cheap youngsters from Africa and South America.

 

Main one was a left back called Adriano from Brazil, had anticipated him being the long term replacement for Jan Lejcaks with Jan eventually dropping to being my cover option. By the end of the season Adriano was first choice and is already looking World Class.

 

Aside from that Breno leaving and being replaced by Croatian Davor Lukic at centre half was the only first team changing transfer, I had been watching Lukic for a while with the intention of him being my long term replacement for Verkhovtsev but he is now playing alongside him. We conceded some sloppy goals early in the season but within two or three months he looked very settled. Breno went to Leverkusen for £12.5m and Lukic came in for £3.1m so a good bit of business all round for the club.

 

The final transfer of note was mental Mario Balotelli from City on a bosman, he hadn't played a single league game for two seasons but was worth a punt for nowt. Caused much havoc before I got him out of the club at Christmas for £3.2m to Betis. He actually did ok for us in the couple of games he played but caused disruption and his work rate made him a passenger in the remainder of the games he played.

 

Season was pretty much as successful as it could be, we retained the Belgian Super Cup, got the Belgian Cup back and in the League won by a margin of 28 points after going unbeaten for the whole season. Played 40, won 39 and drew 1.

 

We managed the Champions League final again but once again lost out to Liverpool.

 

This time is was 2-3 and finished in normal time, Lavezzi and Sterling (2) getting the goals for a Ruud Gullit managed Liverpool. Ruud hasn't done to badly since the King retired, winners in the Charity Shield, European Super Cup, Club World Cup, Premier League and Champions League in his first season.

 

I'm into 2016/17 now so I'll probably update that later today or sometime tomorrow.

 

We are now ranked 4th in Europe as a club and the league is now up to 19th in the Competition Rankings.

 

I've relented and taken over Genk to try and get another club competitive. Decided on Genk rather than Standard or Club Brugge as they are already fairly useful and should be able to fend for themselves really.

[Chairman Meow]

Anderlecht Season so far 2016/17

 

Quiet transfer window by our standards, 7 players in all young lads who will just be back ups for a total of £4.1m.

 

Let 8 players out for a total of £8.25m and also released 5 of the young lads who haven't been improving. Of the players out Thorgan Hazard, Sani Emmanuel, Maurizio Rana and Martin De Witte have been sold to Genk as they are all Belgian nationals/Home Grown and have stagnated with us mainly as they can't break through and play regularly. Hoping they can do a job providing a spine for me as manager of Genk.

 

Belgian Super Cup

 

Took Club Brugge 2-0 with goals from Lukaku and Barocelli to win this for the 7th time in a row.

 

Belgian Pro League

 

10 games in so far and PL10, W10, F36, A0. We are now on a 29 game winning streak in the league which is a new league record and haven't lost a league game for 52 games now. Don't know if we can manage to beat our previous record in the league of 62 unbeaten but if the season pans out like last year I don't see why not.

 

Really need the fact I have taken over Genk to help make the league more competitive/improve the other sides as otherwise we are just going to become unstoppable for years as not only are we well beyond anyone else in terms of player quality we have way more funds than anyone else in the league.

 

Champions League

 

Only two games so far in the group stages a 4-0 win over Rubin and a 2-0 win over Sevilla. We are yet to play Celtic who complete our group. Last couple of years have shown we are capable of winning it if things go our way. Hoping this is our year as a couple of the lads are starting to get itchy feet now.

 

Current Squad

 

Bit more in depth hence the spoiler tags. I've culled quite a lot of the squad over the last couple of windows to try and make it a bit more manageable and leave room to start trying to bring on more Belgians to compliment the foreign talent.

 

Goalkeepers

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1: Thibaut Courtois.

24 years old and signed from Genk in the 11/12 transfer window. Best goalkeeper in the league by some margain but only second choice for Belgium behind Mignolet. Cost us £2m but with 131 clean sheets in 253 appearances across all competitions prior to this season he has been worth every penny. So far this season in our first 13 games he has kept a clean sheet in every game.

 

23: Paulo Sergio. (Regen)

21 year old Brazilian who cost £1.4m from Gremio. Been with us three seasons now and has had five starts and ten substitute appearances so far. Looks to have the potential to be better than Thibaut and I am hoping that now he has Belgian nationality I might be able to tempt him over to playing for Belgium. If I can get the Belgium job of course.

 

Yassine Aarab. (Regen)

19 year old signed from Feyenoord for £1.4m. Made 5 starts and two subsititute appearances for us last year and is currently out on loan to Shakhtar where he is first choice. Like Paulo he looks like he will turn out better than Thibaut. Holds Dutch, Morrocan and Belgian nationality but currently is playing for Holland at U'21 level.

 

26: Joseph Simo. (Regen)

19 year old Cameroonian U'21. Signed for £30k on recomendation of one of my scouts who thinks he can be better than all of the rest. Currently only playing reserve football for us and I don't want him loaned out just yet as I want home grown status for him.

Right Backs

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2: Romario.

22 year old Brazilian right back. Not really spectacular in any area bar pace, just a decent proper all rounded full back who gets up and down the flank the entire game. Signed from Vitoria for a bargain £240k release clause. Has represented Brazil at youth level 39 times and also was part of their Olympics winning side in 2016. Holds a Belgian passport now and I vaguely hope I can get him to play for Belgium but it is looking like that will be a lost cause.

 

25: Leandro. (Regen)

19 year old Brazilian with 43 U'21 caps. Currently using him as second choice right back but I suspect he may end up better employed as a centre half as he matures. Only lacks crossing ability and pace that are likely to stop him becoming a top class full back. Been with us two seasons now after signing for £2.8m and has 23 appearances in all competitions for us so far.

 

32: Carlos Ivars. (Regen)

20 year old Argentinian with 36 U'21 caps. A shade behind Leandro in terms of current ability but potentially better and certainly more suited to the full back role. Can also play right mid if needed. Played in 18 games for us so far since signing 3 seasons ago from Colon for £525k. Has also spent some time out on loan at Steau Bucharest where he made 17 appearances. He had been classed as the new Zanetti although this doesn't seem to show now.

 

33: John Buyse. (Regen)

18 year old Belgian. One of a few decent young Belgians that are starting to appear now. Signed from STVV on a free as he was out of contract. Remains to be seen how good he can be but the scouts and coaching staff all seem to rate him. Planning to get him a few appearances this season then maybe get him out on loan next year in the second division.

Centre Halfs

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5: Dzmitriy Verkhovtsev.

30 year old Belarusian. 74 caps and 11 goals. Pretty much my Hyypia and the player my defence is built around. Cracking in the air and very quick, has decent finishing too and weighs in with his fair share of goals from corners and as my main penalty taker. Played 327 games and scored 109 goals for us in 6 seasons so far. All in all an absolute bargain having signed for £650k. Toying with selling him at the end of the season while he still has some value, but I might try and tempt him into stayin on as a coach because he has been such a good player and one of the few who has never been tempted to leave or started saying he wanted to play for a bigger club.

 

4: Davor Lukic. (Regen)

22 year old Croatian. I had been watching him as Dzmitriy's long term replacement but the bid from Leverkusen last year meant we moved for him early. Only 5'11" but still a beast in the air, not the best with the ball but very quick and strong and excellent in the tackle. We are his 4th club so far so I suspect he may prove hard to keep hold of, he started as a first teamer at Dinamo when he was 16 before moving to Jagiellonia in Poland for two years and then Wisla for a season who we bought him from. Already has 19 international caps and 148 league appearances to his name so far in his career.

 

20: Constant Sylla. (Regen)

23 year old Ivory Coast International (12 caps, 1 goal). Originally signed before the 11/12 season, played mostly as a full back but I started to use him more centrally last season. Has made 54 league appearances for us so far in addition to 16 on loan to Gent a couple of seasons ago. Good all round defender, good physically, defensively and going forward when he is used as a full back. Depending on Leandro's progress and whether we can hold onto Romario could end up as a full back or a centre back for us long term. Cost us very little at £55k from Africa Sports.

 

21: Reginald Halleux. (Regen).

22 year old Belgian (3 caps, 1 goal). Very similar to Lukic in being fantastic physically and very capable defensively but not the best on the ball. Second choice to Lukic for the left hand centre defenders berth although he can play in either full back position all be it in a limited fashion due to his lack of crossing or dribbling ability. Signed for us as a 20 year old from 2nd Division side OH Leuven. He has made 43 league appearances for them before we paid them £600k.

 

24: Michiel Noorlander. (Regen)

18 year old Dutch U'21 signed from Ajax for £1.6m. Potential succesor to Dzmitriy as the right sided centre half, dependent on how the Romario/Leandro/Sylla situation pans out. Nothing fantastic as yet but lots of potential and already has Dutch and English first team experience.

 

27: Santos. (Regen)

19 year old Brazilian. Yet another young south American. Signed from Corinthians last winter for £1.3m. The opposite of many of the other defenders we have in that physically he is only average but technically he is excellent with the ball, apparantly he is "the next Naldo". Will end up fighting it out with Noorlander as Dzmitriy's long term succesor.

 

Hector Garcia. (Regen)

18 year old Argentinian centre half, has 19 U'21 caps and had already played 58 league games for Newell's before we picked him up for £1m. Ok all round but nothing standout as yet apart from tackling. Could cover at right full back in an emergency too.

 

25: Sayed Saber. (Regen)

19 year old Egyptian. We got him from Ismaily for £475k at the start of last season. Only played one cup game for us so far which he started and scored a goal. Ok all round but again nothing spectacular yet, lots of potential though.

 

Bertrand Quere. (Regen)

Only 16 year old and at £1.8m our second most expensive centre half. Looks like he will be the standout of our current young centre halfs once he matures. Wouldn't be surprised at all if he overtakes the likes of Noorlander, Santos and Garcia before he even hits 18. We signed him from French side Stade Lavallois who had already given him 14 first team appearances before he hit the age of 16. Currently out on loan to Mons in the Belgian second tier, so far managing 5 appearances with an average rating of 7.50.

Left Backs

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12: Adriano. (Regen)

19 year old Brazil international (4 caps). 6'3", very quick, 20 for heading and tackling and generally technically brilliant. Only lacking slightly in crossing but otherwise as good a full back as you are likely to find. Cost us £1.1m from Santos and forced his way past Lejcaks to become first choice last season and already has the big boys sniffing around him.

 

3: Jan Lejcaks.

26 year old Czech international (19 caps). Already at the club on loan when I took over I signed him on a free as a stop gap at the end of the 10/11 season and haven't once thought of selling him after that. Decent all round Nigel Winterburn, Denis Irwin type full back, never really notice him and he does the job. No real weaknesses but no major strengths either, gets a decent amount of assists as he often takes corners when he is on the pitch. For a stop gap has done very well and made himself a valuable squad member with 122 league appearances in 5 seasons since signing full time.

 

54: Olivier Deschacht. (Player/Coach)

35 year old former Belgian international. Only played one game in 3 years but I can't persuade him to retire. Good coach though so I am humouring him at the moment and hoping he will stop playing soon.

 

28: Carlos Bossio. (Regen)

21 year old Argentinian (yes yet another south American full back). Signed on a free when his club released him in Argentina. Spent last season on loan at Liege but isn't really progressing. I'll probably be either trying to move him out for free with a sell on clause or releasing him at the end of the season.

 

22: Dominic Asare. (Regen)

19 year old Ghanian. Came to us as a bright talent but like Carlos has he seems to have stagnated. We only paid £5k for him so no great cost to us. Will be out at the end of the season if he hasn't improved.

Right Wingers

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17: Mirko Barocelli.

24 year old Italian international (12 caps, 2 goals). Excellent player physically and now starting to improve technically. Very hit and miss until last season largely due to a suspect first touch. Starting to make his mark now scoring goals and generally causing havoc down the right flank. Cost us £500k at the start of the 10/11 season and although never really getting much in the way of assists or goals always caused a threat for us. Started to gain an end product in 14/15 and after returning from a loan spell at Porto scored 11 goals and got 9 assists in 34 games last year. Scored 10 and created 5 in 12 games so far this season although he did start up front due to Maurinho and co. being away for the Olympics.

 

7: Hao Junmin.

29 year old Chinese international (92 caps, 28 goals). One of my first season signings coming from Schalke for £650k. Has since gone on to score 36 goals and get 130 assists in 187 games for us across all competitions. We lost him for most of the 14/15 season with a broken leg and it wasn't really until the tail end of the 15/16 season he started to get back to what he was. Peaked in the 12/13 season with 10 goals and 44 assists when Lukaku and Maurinho ran rampant. Might try to move him on soon but like Dzmitriy would like to keep him for sentimental reasons and because he has been so loyal.

 

29: Goulamou Tsaralaza. (Regen)

20 year old Madagascan with 18 caps. Signed for £50k in 14/15 and progressing slowly but surely. Will be trying to loan him out next year for a full seasons experience elsewhere once he has his home grown status. Played 12 games with 2 goals and 4 assists so far mainly from the bench. Never going to be a world beater but should make a steady second choice winger at worst.

Defensive Midfielders

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6: Sandro.

Signed from Spurs for £2.1m after they had been offering out to all and sundry. Replaced Gago and Diarra so represented decent business financially and a longer term solution in the centre of midfield. Been with us two and a half seasons now and has proved solid if unspectacular performances for us and chucks in the occasional goal or assist.

 

14: Kara.

39 caps and 7 goals for Senegal. Signed from Tromso for £1m in my first season. Never managed to become first choice because he has had Biglia, Defour, Gago, Diarra and now Sandro in his way for his whole time here. Still managed over 140 appearances in all competitions for us though and will remain here because his loyalty deserves it. Excellent game killer sitting in front of the back four and scaring the living daylights out of opposing midfielders and also a threat in the air from set pieces. Limited but effective player, like a poor mans Mascherano.

 

Patrick Kombo. (Regen)

18 year old Kenyan who already has 3 caps. A £45k signing from KCB and more than likely Sandro's long term replacement. Looks like he will become very physical and a good all round defensive midfielder and will be a hell of a provider/scorer from dead balls.

Attacking Midfielders

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50: Paulo Henrique.

55 caps, 14 goals for Brazil. Shouldn't need much introduction as I'm sure most of you will have seen him in game. Phenomonal technically, decent physically and signed on a free but valued at £26m at the moment. Sadly looking like a total flop for us so far, first season he was very poor with nothing provided in 9 games and basically being a passenger. Second season he was better in spells but never really turned it on consistently although he did manage to get more involved in games. So far this season total gash, if he doesn't pick up by the end of the season I'll be trying to offload and make a big profit on him.

 

8: Mateo Kovacic.

22 year old Croatian, not yet capped other than U'21 level. Nowhere near as capable as Henrique on paper but far more involved in games. Struggled in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons but was excellent in 14/15 and 15/16. Not neccesarily scoring or creating loads but always getting involved in the build up and causing problems. Shouldn't be in front of Henrique really but tends to perform better more often than not.

 

15: Cyrille Coulibally. (Regen)

21 year old from Ivory Coast. Only capped at youth level so far. Signed for £150k 3 seasons ago and only a fringe player so far. Spent part of last season out at osasuna and managed to get himself into the first team there. Depeding on how Henrique and Kovacic pan out will probably be rotating with one of them next year and a lot more involved in the first team. Good quick and technical player.

 

Anchieta. (Regen)

19 year old Brazilian signed from Hajduk for £2.8m after he requested a transfer. Already made 45 appearances for Botafogo and Hajduk before we signed him, excellent first touch and technique but nothing more than average elsewhere so far. My scouts and coaches all think he can become better than Henrique. He can't become home grown as he was too old when I signed him so I have him out on loan to Braga so he can get first team football.

 

Rene Vasquez. (Regen)

19 year old Chilean with 28 U'21 caps and 10 goals. Signed from Catolica who had previously loaned him out to Cruzeiro. Very good technical skills, dribbling and passing but lacking physically, reminiscent of a Le Tissier type player. Remains to be seen how he will pan out, not convinced by him entirely but at the least we will turn a profit on him.

 

Rafael Martinez. (Regen)

17 year old Spaniard. We signed him from Las Palmas for £2.4m, his description says he is similar to Paulo Henrique. However he is also labelled the next Pep Guardiola, which will do me. Good technically and reasonably quick but need to build on his strength and stamina of he will struggle.

 

Left Wingers

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18: Matthias Roth. (Regen)

21 year old German international (18 caps, 1 goal). One of my favourite signing as it's the kind of player I like bringing in. Signed him for £130k from German 3 division side Ahlen. He made his debut for me at 15 in the 10/11 season making him the youngest player ever to play for the club with his only appearance that season. Then gradually giving him loans out and building up his experience until the 14/15 season when he got his chance in the first team due to Hao Junmin's injury and he thrived with 13 goals and 22 assists from the right wing. Subsequently making himself first choice on the left the next season and establishing himself with the German national side. Can play either wing or up front and is capable with either foot.

 

11: Jan Dompig. (Regen)

23 year old Dutch internatioal (5 caps, 3 goals). Signed from Zulte Waregem for a then club record fee of £4.8m Jan hit the ground running and was brilliant replacing Mbark Bousouffa on the left wing as a January transfer window signing in 13/14. In the 14/15 season he again was impressive with 11 goals and 14 assists but started to drop off in the 15/16 season dropping behind Roth on that side. Still very capable but has lost something. Fairly old fashioned style winger and very effective on his day.

 

30: Alexsandr Vuckovic. (Regen)

18 year old Serbian. (9 U'21 caps, 4 goals). Quick and has very good technique with lots of potential, already played 61 league games for Partizan and has Champions League experience with them. Signed for £375k and will more than likely end up leap frogging Dompig to become first choice if we lose Matthias Roth. Just trying to bed him in with limited games this year and then see where things go.

 

Strikers

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9: Romelu Lukaku.

Currently club captain and has 33 goals in 57 caps for Belgium. Has played 277 games, scoring 231 goals and with 64 assists in all competitions since I took over the club. Has also been League top scorer 3 times and Champions League top scorer once. Don't really need to describe him as you will all know what he is like on here. Not likely to improve anymore now but doesn't really need to. Absolute beast for us.

 

10: Maurinho. (Regen)

Not improved since the screenshot but then again can't really see how he could. Had 13 goals in 35 for Sao Paulo before we signed him. Since signing for us he has managed 198 games, 174 goals and 82 assists while becoming league top scorer twice, Champions League top scorer 3 times and generally winning every personal award he can win to go with his World Cup and Olympics medals earned for Brazil. So far at international level he has 53 caps and 45 goals at the age of 22. He is the player I am most likely to lose, I have a valuation set at £100m for him and Barca came in offering something daft like £75m for him just as the window closed, I tried to negotiate it till the end of the season but that made them pull out. I assume they will be back in January or at the end of the season. Given he is arguably the best player in the world at the moment I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him start kicking up about wanting to leave.

 

40: Neymar.

Another who shouldn't really need any introduction. Club record signing at £10m and has been with us for a season and a half now scoring 44 goals in 54 games. Doesn't play for Brazil much and only has 9 caps but causes chaos for us in the Belgian league.

 

13: Daniel Abanda. (Regen)

21 year old Cameroon international (9 caps, 6 goals). Signed for £210k at the start of last season I gave him a run out in 3 games with nothign spectacular before loaning him out to Vitesse where he scored 20 in 41. So far this season for us he has scored 3 in 6 mainly from the bench and is looking like he will become a very effective player. Already fetching interest from some of the bigger clubs so clearly capable.

 

19: Osvaldo Cortes. (Regen)

19 year old Chile international (17 caps, 6 goals). Already a full international when he signed for us at 18 he had also scored 76 goals in 90 appearances for Universidad. Cost us £2.6m and has already managed 14 goals in 28 games for us last season. Good finisher who's only limitation is his jumping and he could maybe be a bit quicker. Still has time to improve and Litmanen seems to think he can become better than Maurinho!

 

Marquinhos. (Regen)

Another of my cheap South Americans. 21 year old striker currently on loan to Nantes in an attempt to get him first team experience/increase his value so I can sell him. Has stagnated for us but is getting goals for Nantes so will hopefully either improve or if not at least boost his value a little. Him staying will also be dependent on how well I can do holding off the big clubs from Lukaku, Maurinho, Neymar and Abanda.

 

Mike Baeyans. (Regen)

17 year old Belgian striker signed from Club Brugge for £625k compensation. Already has 9 appearance for Brugge with 3 goals last year and has potential. Big strong and good in the air but needs work on his speed and composure if he is going to make it.

 

Eddie Fulton. (Regen)

17 year old Scot. We managed to fend off the likes of Chelsea to sign him for £800k. Came off the bench 5 times for us last season and scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance. Currently out with a cruciate ligament which I am hoping won't stop his development too much.

[Joe Le Taxi]

I keep on getting a load of American and Belgian regens coming through my academy. They are mostly shit but it's a nice thing to have because I have feeder clubs in those countries. If I have feeder clubs in Brazil or Argentina will I get South American regens in my academy or do I still have to wait until they are 18? There's been some top youngsters coming from there over the past few years and I want to get 1 step ahead of the other clubs around me.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Alex, Al and Mikey, when the fuck are we next playing? Woo fucked off and disrupted our shit, I blame him.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Alex, Al and Mikey, when the fuck are we next playing? Woo fucked off and disrupted our shit, I blame him.

 

Been thinking the same myself.

[Joe Le Taxi]

So it's Alex's fault then, yeah?

[RedinSweden]

 

Nothing you can do directly to stop the board accepting a transfer offer.

 

However I have found sometimes that if you offer the player a contract they will accept the new contract offer rather than going to the other club.

 

It also helps if you put a stupid asking price on them. i.e. I have that Maurinho in my Anderlecht game set with a £100million asking price. It's so stupidly high that even City, Real and Barca announce interest but never actually bid.

 

I had him set for 2 million. He was worth 350,000. They bid 500,000. I turned it down. Then they came back with 700,000 and the board accepted it. Twats. Seriously pudding me off.

[Chairman Meow]

I keep on getting a load of American and Belgian regens coming through my academy. They are mostly shit but it's a nice thing to have because I have feeder clubs in those countries. If I have feeder clubs in Brazil or Argentina will I get South American regens in my academy or do I still have to wait until they are 18? There's been some top youngsters coming from there over the past few years and I want to get 1 step ahead of the other clubs around me.

 

You will get more foreign regens through your youth team if you have scouting knowledge of them and the feeder clubs do make a difference too. You are also more likely to get foreign regens if you have staff from that nation, i.e. if you have loads of Brazilian coaches you are likely to get some Brazilian youngsters through because the club has a lot of knowledge of that nation.

 

I had him set for 2 million. He was worth 350,000. They bid 500,000. I turned it down. Then they came back with 700,000 and the board accepted it. Twats. Seriously pudding me off.

 

You need to go for something totally ridiculous like £100m for it to make a difference in terms of putting the other clubs off. Other than that if it's accepted the contract offer seems to work more often than not.

[Allan]

Alex, Al and Mikey, when the fuck are we next playing? Woo fucked off and disrupted our shit, I blame him.

 

Been thinking the same myself.

 

Don't think it will be anytime soon, lads. I've got shifts coming out my ears for the foreseeable future.

 

So it's Alex's fault then, yeah?

 

I'm happy to blame anyone but myself....

[RedinSweden]

You need to go for something totally ridiculous like £100m for it to make a difference in terms of putting the other clubs off. Other than that if it's accepted the contract offer seems to work more often than not.

 

The contract thing might have worked, but the thing with the lower price tag is I wouldn't have minded if someone had come in with 2 million, but 700,000 was way too little.

 

Interfering fools.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Anyone have any links to some summer transfer window updates for this?

[Chairman Meow]

Anderlecht 16/17 Season Update

 

Had a fairly quiet January transfer window initially, only bringing in Fabinho and Nhlanhla Arendse both young central defenders who had been planned for months and Aleksandr Halilovic a 16 year old German defensive midfielder. That is until Neymar started causing problems and stating he wanted to go to a bigger club, in a private meeting when I set I wanted the club to grow with him he chucked his toys out of the pram so I deciced enough is enough and started offering him out for sale, I offered him out at £40m which no one would take, however Barca came in with an offer £36.5m which I gladly accepted and that was him off. At around the same time I was approached by the agent of Alberto Millan a 17 year old striker at Barca who was available for £7.5m who we snapped up. He isn't anywhere near the likes of the other strikers yet but has lots of potential.

 

Other transfers out in the January window where Carlos Bossio and Dominic Asare for next to nothing plus sell on clauses and Cyrille Coulibaly, I really didn't want to lose Cyrille as I saw him as the long term replacement for Paulo Henrique and Mateo Kovacic but the chairman stepped in over my head and accepted £7.5m plus 20% of his next transfer from Fenerbache.

 

Good on the net spend front and not to worried about the loss of Neymar or the full backs but would really have liked to keep Cyrille, he is back on my shortlist so if things don't work out I'll be trying to bring him back.

 

Paul Henrique has finally started to come good, he was brilliant through November and December and started becoming the player I thought I had signed, totally bossing games and generally being a total menace. This continued right through until the end of February when he tore a calf muscle which put him out for the rest of the season.

 

Belgian Pro League

 

We finally conceded the first league goal of the season in our 16th game against Germinal Beerschott which was also the end of winning streak as we drew the game (only thanks to a injury time penalty save by Courtois). The final winning run tally was 34 games and the run of games without conceeding ended at 17 games.

 

On the last day of January we lost 3-4 ending our unbeaten League streak at 66 games.

 

Ended the initial League stage with 28 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. So went into the group stage with a 10 point lead over 2nd place Club Brugge and 11 points ahead of Genk in 3rd.

 

In the group stage we took the title with 6 games to spare and ended the season with a record of PL40, W38, D1, L1 with 73 points. Genk in second spot had 49 with 3rd placed Club Brugge on 42.

 

Belgian Cup

 

We won every game in the Cup on out way to beating KV Kortijk 4-0 in the final to win the cup for the 6th time since I took over.

 

Champions League

 

We finished top of the group stage winning every game beating Celtic, Rubin and Celtic. Had a tougher time than usual in the first knockout round beating Leverkusen 1-0 on aggregate followed by a 5-3 aggragate win over Schalke in the quarters. In the semi's we never looked troubled and dispatched Atletico 4-1 on aggregate to once again face Liverpool in the final.

 

In the final we went 0-1 down on around 44 seconds with a Lukic own goal after the keeper parried a Carroll shot which bounced in off Lukic. It took us until the 49th minute for Lukaku to pull it back even. The game panned out fairly evenly from then on till Connor Coady put Liverpool 1-2 up with a screamer from outside the box, Lukaku cancelled that out within three minutes to pull it back even again. We pretty much bossed the game from then on but couldn't break Liverpool down till the 83rd minute when Mirko Barocelli got free down the right wing, stormed into the box and put it in under Pepe to make it 3-2 and we finally had our first Champions League win.

 

Career Summary

 

Thought I would do a quick summary of my career so far as after a troublesome first couple of seasons it's panned out quite well.

 

So far I've played 7 full seasons.

 

Trophy tally is:

European Champions League: Winners x 1

Belgian Pro League: Winners x 5, Runners Up x 2

Belgian Cup: Winners x 6

Belgian Super Cup Winners x 7

 

Current stats for all games played so far (includes start of 17/18 season as well as I can't be arsed to subtract what I have played so far this year).

 

Played: 430

Won: 342

Drawn: 51

Lost: 37

For: 1322

Against: 286

Win Ratio: 79%

 

I'm already part way into the 17/18 season now so I'll update that later today or tomorrow.

[Chairman Meow]

Anderlecht 17/18

 

Transfers

Semi busy summer transfer window with 4 players in for a combined £8m.

 

All the players promoted from the academy proved to be be shite so have been released. Sold a Hector Garcia to Independiente for £2.3m and Michiel Noorlander to Red Star for £5m (he turned down Liverpool to join them?) and Mike Baeyans. Baeyans was another where the borad stepped in and accepted £4.3m plus sell on from Sampdoria.

 

Big names out are Davor Lukic who goes to Milan for £24.5m, Jan Dompig who moves to Levekusen for £14m and Thibaut Courtois who goes to Inter for £16.25m.

 

I had been considering selling Courtois and replacing him with the other two young keepers so couldn't really refuse the money on offer from Inter, strange signing for them and I don't really get why they actually wanted him as I would have thought Serie A would have better than him around. Lukic was a bit of a debateable one, didn't really want to sell him but that kind of money and the fact he was starting to complain a little means it made sense in the end. Dompig was no great loss in the end as he still couldn't regain his early form for us, not sure exactly what happened with him, just lost his edge for some reason.

 

We've also sent 7 lads out on loan for the season.

 

The new players brought in are:

 

Harm-Jan Theodor (Regen)

A 17 year old left back released by Genk, long way from the first team but has potential and is very aggresive. Start of the attempt to get more Belgians coming through into the side.

 

Coen Jansen (Regen)

18 year old Dutch right winger signed from AZ for £3.6m. Already played 14 games for Torino in his first season as pro then 9 games in the first team for AZ last year. Very similar to Hao Jumin, quick in acceleration but not that pacey and very good technically. Will be relied on a lot probably with Hao's new injury problems.

 

Babacar Mendy (Regen)

17 year old Senegal midfielder signed from Stoke for £2.8m, my scouts and coaching staff all rave about him and think he can become the best midfielder in the squad. Potential is there but he is a long way short of the first team just yet, lacks natural fitness but otherwise looking good.

 

Aliaksandr Gerasimchik (Regen)

21 year old Belarusian international (4 caps, 1 goal). Signed on the reccomendation of Dzmitiry Verkhovtsev for £1.5m, very quick and a good dribbler but needs to improve his crossing to reach his potential as a winger.

 

The season so far

 

Only one major issue to occur with Hao Junmin getting his leg broken on international duty with China. He won't be back until the end of December at the earliest and at 30 years old I suspect this could be the end of him. The last broken leg he had took him around 3 months of playing time before he really recovered his form and he had only just come back from 3 months out with a torn calf muscle when the leg got broken this time.

 

We have retained the Belgian Super Cup with a 2-0 win over Genk and won our first 4 league games of the season so far to sit top of the table.

 

Managed our second trophy of the season on transfer deadline day with a 7-0 battering of CSKA Moscow in the European Super Cup. In the process we took the record for biggest win, most goals in a game (Maurinho with 3) and most assists in a game (Barocelli with 2).

 

Pleasing so far, 6 games played played and 2 trophies won.

 

Our champions league group is Benfica, Marseille and Maccabi Haifa. Winning the trophy last season has boosted us to 2nd spot behind Barcelona in the seedings.

 

Typically we have tended to be at our worst in late November and in December before picking up after the small break in January. With the extra games from the Club World Cup I'm not sure how this will work out, especially with Hao's injury as I had really intended on him as the senior figure playing with some of the younger lads in the Club World Cup.

 

The squad isn't as strong as it was, more than capable enough domestically but I expect Europe to be tougher this year, especially if we start picking up injuries. We need to go through this stage though to try and bring on some of the younger squad members as the likes of Hao, Dzmitriy, Paulo Henrique and Sandro age and to cover us is someone like Maurinho finally jumps ship.

 

Current Squad

 

Goalkeepers

 

1: Paulo Sergio

13: Yassine Aarab

23: Joseph Simo

 

Right Backs

 

2: Romario

20: Constant Sylla

Carolos Ivars (On loan to Mallorca)

33: John Buyse

 

Centre Backs

 

5: Dzmitriy Verkhovtsov (Vice Captain)

21: Reginald Halleux

35: Leandro

22: Nhlanhla Arendse

25: Sayed Saber

Fabinho

Santos (On loan to Osasuna)

Bertrand Quere (On loan to Zulte Waregem)

 

Left Backs

 

12: Adriano

3: Jan Lejcaks

Harm-Jan Theodor

 

Right Wingers

 

17: Mirko Barocelli

7: Hao Junmin

Coen Jansen

Goulamou Tsaralaza (On loan to Genk)

 

Defensive Midfielders

 

6: Sandro

14: Kara

34: Patrick Kombo

Aleksandr Halilovic (On loan to Wehen)

 

Central Midfielders

 

Anchieta (On loan to Schalke)

Babacar Mendy

 

Attacking Midfielders

 

50: Paulo Henrique

8: Mateo Kovacic

37: Rene Vasquez

36: Rafael Martinez

 

Left Wingers

 

18: Matthias Roth

24: Aliaksandr Gerasimchik

30: Aleksandar Vuckovic

 

Strikers

 

9: Romelu Lukaku (Captain)

10: Maurinho

11: Daniel Abanda

19: Osvaldo Cortes

31: Eddie Fulton

Marquinhos

Alberto Millan (On loan to Lokeren)