For those of you who have no clue what FM Slack is then you may need to follow @FM_Samo on Twitter. Or, you know, delve into the murky underworld that is the FM Community a little more.
Anyway, the point is that you should join FM Slack and then come join my personal channel where I waffle on constantly about things that are happening in my saves.
If you don’t want to do that though then I will waffle on here updating you on just how bad I am at Football Manager 17 (which if you’ve read any of the Salernitana Story means that I am the worst). The aim is to do this weekly, giving you regular reading content and giving me a valid excuse to play Football Manager.
This one is going to be a slightly longer update because plenty has happened in the just over two seasons of this save so let’s delve right into things:
Season 1 – Winning Hearts in Europe
In a moment of whimsy, Hearts were my team of choice for this experimental save to try and rekindle my love for the game. They’re a solid side with no real financial issues and a decent but slightly lacking squad. And they had European football which I’d completely forgotten about.
The initial plan was to play a 4-1-4-1 because I’d heard it was good on this year’s game. It also happened to work out because Hearts had one big striker and about 500 wingers. Some (like Jamie Walker) were great; others (like Dylan Bikey and Moha) were not.
Transfer business for the season was minimal. We received money for third choice left back Jushon Oshaniwa and backup keeper Viktor Noring while Bikey was released in January. The only ins were loan deals for Everton striker David Henen and Preston midfielder John Welsh. Neither set the world alight but had fleeting moments of brilliance.
Our league campaign was one of disappointing results which saw us finish sixth at the end of the season. The board weren’t particularly happy with that and considering I had players like Callum Paterson, Perry Kitchen and Arnaud Djoum, I wasn’t surprised. What saved us was a successful Betfred Cup campaign, including sensational Final win over Aberdeen, and a wild European ride.
Sudava of Lithuania were a breeze while away goals against Rio Ave and the odd goal in five saw us into the Europa League groups. We were drawn with Ajax, Panathinaikos and Slovan Liberec but lost just once in Amsterdam to see us through. I can still remember the absolute carnage Perry Kitchen caused in Greece as we blitzed our way to a 4-0 win. The knockout rounds awaited.
Braga were our opponents and we gave them hell in the first leg at Tynecastle. We were three up after an hour but an away goal meant that we weren’t home and hosed just yet. The nerves kicked in when we got to half time a goal down in Portugal too. No worries, though, as Paterson and John Souttar (my players of the season) scored to put us through. Those three late goals from Braga made it 4-2 on the night but we still went through on away goals.
We got Southampton next but it was a step too far. We got an away goal in a 3-1 defeat but never looked like causing a shock at Tynecastle. Jack Hamilton saved everything for us, including a Tadic penalty, and we were out at the second knockout round. A sensational run nonetheless.
Final Standings
Premiership – 6th
Betfred Cup – Winners
Scottish Cup – Semi Final (lost to Dundee United)
Europa League – Second Knockout Round (lost to Southampton)
Season 2 – From National Pride To Nacional Survival
Mass Change
The European exploits meant my star men were wanted everywhere. As such they all wanted to leave and I (mistakenly) let them. So out went Paterson (West Brom, £4.9 million release clause); Kitchen (Rapid Wien, £1.7 million); Djoum (Dinamo Moscow, £2.5 million); Jack Hamilton (Bournemouth, £1 million) and rotation striker Esmael Goncalves (Aberdeen, £240,000). I also the perennially injurd Malaury Martin to Dinamo Bucharest for £300,000; winger Billy King to Ross County for £94,000 and strikers Connor Sammon and Gavin Reilly to Dundee for a combined £164,000. Additionally, full back Faycal Rherras went to Turkey on loan and OAPs Paull Gallacher and Aaron Hughes retired.
Incoming were strikers Thierry Ambrose (Manchester City, free) and Greg Luer (Hull, free) while the January signing of Ross County’s Liam Boyce (£450,000) was a desperate ploy to improve our fortunes in front of goal. Motherwell’s Carl McHugh cost £150,000; Josh Windass arrived from Rangers for £46,000; Scott Bain came from Dundee for £400,000 and midfielder Michael Doughty joined from QPR for £375,000. The defence was bolstered by the arrivals of Zsolt Korcsmar (Vasas, free) and Ryan McLaughlin (Oldham, free) while Richard O’Donnell (Rotherham, loan) boosted the keeping options and Alexander Kelly (Queen’s Park, free) was one for the future.
The Sacking
Unsurprisingly, results were a bit up and down. For every 4-1 win at Ibrox or 3-0 over Hibs, there was defeat to Ross County or a last minute draw with Hamilton. We may have beaten Celtic but we were nowhere near the top of the league. Add in the second round Betfred Cup defeat at Ibrox and the Scottish Cup exit at the Fourth Round to Motherwell and I was a goner on January’s transfer deadline day.
Amazingly, I was sacked around half 9 and by midnight they’d signed two defenders for a combined £3 million. That’s keen. Arseholes.
Nacional Service
It’d take me less than a month to find a new job. There were plenty of them available abroad and I had an offer from SC Cambuur of the Jupiler League (Dutch second tier). I would have taken that role but Nacional in the Portuguese top flight wanted me as well. They’d had a nightmare season with the Europa League reeking havoc with league form and they were in danger of relegation. It was up to me to save them.
They had some recognisable players to me anyway. Goncalo Pacienca was tipped to be a big star at Porto but had been sold to Nacional for £140,000 during the summer while Salvador Agra was one of those solid wingers Braga may have had once. Some patches of good form and a final day win at Braga meant that we would finish 14th in the end, with a reasonable gap to the relegation places.
Season 3 – Making The Team My Own
And here we are into season number three. The transfer window was an important one for me because I didn’t want to change a million things like I had at Hearts heading into my second season. This was a decent squad of players and what it really needed was trimming and strengthening in certain places. For example, we had five goalkeepers and no full backs. That needed to be addressed.
The outs were nothing major for the most part. I resisted bids for some of the key men in my team but did let a couple of good players go for big bids. First team lurkers Zequinha, Filipe Goncalves and Fernando Aristeguieta were released along with some pretty poor young players. I managed to get fees for deadwood like striker Jhonder Cadiz (Feirense, £21,500); Vitor Sao Bento (Celtic, £12,000) and Mauro Cerqueira (Feirense, £7,750). Youngsters Leo (Santa Clara); Ohoulo Framelin (Boavista); Luka Jovanovic (Camacha) and Dylan Collard (Ac. Viseu) also left on loan deals.
The two major sales this summer were winger Davidson to Rapid Wien for £900,000 which is a club record fee received for Nacional. He was a good player and scored a brace in my first game in charge but we no longer play with wingers so he was fairly dispensable. Second choice striker Mauro Dalla Costa started angling for a move to a side that would win a title in his homeland – Rosario Central. Where’s the facepalm emoji? Anyway, I shifted him on to Gimnasia for £250,000 and good riddance for it.
So, who came in?
My first move was to keep the versatile Bruno Paz at the club on loan. The Sporting man can play right back and in midfield and is a superb young player. Definitely one worth checking out on your saves.
My next order of business was to make another loanee’s stay permanent. Bruno Jordao is a really talented young midfielder and I was amazed Braga let him go to me for an initial £150,000. He’d done a great job as a deep-lying playmaker for me in the run-in and I’m delighted to have him back to bolster the midfield.
Money isn’t exactly forthcoming in Portugal unless you’re one of the top four so my hunt for a full back on a budget bore only one – Elderson Echiejile. The Nigerian is a familiar name to those who have watched the Super Eagles in the last few years and he’s a physical machine. A really solid pickup on a free after Monaco released him.
I also bolstered the centre of my defence with the loan signing of Sporting’s Malian centre back, Kiki. At 21, this is a top tier level footballer but with Sporting already having a stacked squad, the opportunity was there to get him in my team for a season.
I then added an experienced backup striker in the form of Portuguese international Hugo Almeida. He’s been around the block and, while not prolific, he does offer a solid and experienced backup option to Pacienca if he gets injured.
Deadline day saw the arrival of three attacking midfielders for depth and quality. Filipe Chaby is one I’d been tracking all summer and with the deadline looming large, I swooped to sign him on a free. Luis Marciano arrived from Varzim for just £10,000 to add depth to our youth team while Benfica transfer listed Diego Lopes for £400,000 so I was all over that. A fine player for absolute pennies.
Our opening to the season has seen good performances but missed chances. Two frustrating draws with Academica and Pacos plus a completelt undeserved late defeat at last season’s champions Porto. Diego Lopes made a brilliant debut at Porto with one of the best assists I’ve seen on this game in a while.
That’s really about it from this update. I’m currently just after the transfer window closing with about two weeks in-game time to our next game against Belenenses. Hopefully we can pick up our first win of the season in that one and kick on to have a great season.
If you want real-time updates as and when I play, then head on over to FM Slack and join my channel, #longballfoot, to keep up to date and have a chat about everything and anything.
Thanks!
THE LONG BALL FM 