Blyth Spartans Prepare For Europe
Here we go, the Blyth Spartans achieved a great success in their first season in the Premier League, the 6th place and the improbable qualification for the Europa League. Now I had to prepare the squad for this new challenge and it was pretty obvious that we needed a few more good players to make a success out of our first European outing. I told the board that we could achieve continental qualification next season so they gave me a decent transfer budget, 30 million euro, and a not so decent wage budget, only 10 million euro per year.
I was quite sad about it but I had to let go some of the current players, some of them have played a big part in our rise through the leagues in the last few years.I also decided to let Dejan Stankovic go, his contract expired and I though that he didn’t have the strength to play at this level anymore.
And now the most important part, the acquisitions. I bought 8 players but I would have wanted two or maybe three more. I tried to do my best with the funds that I had, so here are the players.
Only 5 of these 8 players will be first team regulars next season, the other three are promising youngsters that might give me some nice surprises in a year or two. Now let me introduce my new stars.
My new goalkeeper, the one who will keep our last season goalie on his toes in trainig, is Romanian Silviu Lung jr. I admit that I was a bit sentimental, he is my favorite keeper in real life football, playing for my favorite club in Romania, Universitatea Craiova. Anyway, he is slightly better than Itumeleng Kune, he is much taller and has great aerial ability but is a bit slower in coming out to intercept long balls. I tried to get an even better keeper but I had to settle for him in the end.
Our new right back will be French regen Damien Grange from PSV Eindhoven. He is a great talent and a natural born set piece taker. I have great expectations from him, I hope that he will express his talent in the Premier League.
I also brought a new centre back to have a good alternative to Suarez and Baranyai. He’s Romanian, regen, 21 years old, tall and with great pace. With a bit of hard work in training he could become a very good player.
I had to replace Stankovic in the middle of the pitch and after chasing several central midfielders I had to settle for Eyong Enoh, 27 years old experienced player from Ajax Amsterdam. He will play next to our hot prospect Mickey Wordsworth and I hope that they will make a perfect duo of strength and creativity.
Last but not least, our new striker. He’s 24 years old, Czech, and his name is Tomas Necid. I expected to get him for 3 million euro from CSKA Moscow but there was fierce competition for him with Marseille, Stuttgart, Benfica, Betis and some other teams so the price went up to 5 million euro. I was happy that he chose to sign a contract with us, so I will have Nicao, Pavlyuchenko and Necid competing for the two striker places. I also have another three young hungry strikers that would try their best to impress me.
So here’s how the team will most probably look like in the new season.
I was curious to see what the other clubs did during the transfer window and I noticed that Arsenal and Crystal Palace have been the most active. But the transfer window is still open, so those that still have some money will probably make their moves.
The media prediction for this season is 11th, not bad :) The bookmakers even think that we have an outside chance to challenge for the title!
My goal is to grab a Champions League spot at the end of the season, and that would mean finishing at least 4th. We will enter the Europa League fourth qualifying round in August, we will play Georgian team Dinamo Tbilisi. It won’t be easy, these Georgian teams are tenacious and quick.
We’ll begin the Premier League season away at West Ham, last year we made our debut at home with a 1-0 win against them, so they might bring us luck for this season too :) That’s about it, now it’s your turn… Please share your thoughts about the new signings and about our chances in the next season. Predictions are welcome, as always :)