Hello friends! My sincerest apologies for being gone for so long. It is exam time so I haven’t been able to devote as much time to playing or writing as I would like. But I finally have some downtime so here is a long overdue post.
So at the end of last last, 2017 — 18, Gladbach completed a very unlikely double, my proudest achievement to date. Since I had won every trophy I could in Germany I decided it was time to move on to the third nation out of five in my European challenge. To recap, I want to win every top-flight trophy in Europe’s «big 5,» England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. I completed France with Evian in two season, which was absolutely insane, and now Germany in four. I quit my job at Gladbach so that the next manager has the whole off-season to mold the team to his liking and I am now in the job market. Sadly, I got no offers in any of the three remaining nations, so I took a job with the Jamaican Under 20’s for the chance of leading them through Under 20’s World Cup!
Jamaica Under 20’s
I actually had a couple of countries competing in this tournament approach me, but almost all of them did not even have a full squad of players; a large number of the squads were grayed out players. Jamaica was one of the few that had a full team and they seemed the strongest squad of the nations to approach me. Here is how we did in the tournament:
We were pretty unlucky to get such a tough group; Ghana and Switzerland are strong nations. Even though we finished third, for having more points than most other third place nations, we qualified for the knock-out stages, only to be drawn with the juggernaut that is Portugal. We didn’t play as terribly as the scoreline suggests, but we were certainly no match against Portugal. I wish the team could have done better in the group stages, because then we could have been drawn against a weaker nation. The team did have the skill to at least draw both Ghana and Switzerland, but I just didn’t have any time to prepare them for the tournament so we fell by the wayside. I really didn’t feel like sticking around with an U-20 side after this U-20 World Cup debacle but I still was not getting any offers so I signed for:
Brazil
I thought it would be fun to take charge of Brazil. The only other country that offered me a job was Cyprus and I wasn’t too keen on them so I head to South America to take control of the selecao. I was really relishing the prospect of guiding them through qualification for the next World Cup only to find out that they already qualified. This was a big disappointment for me. Brazil steamrolled all of South America to become the first team to secure qualification for the tournament in Russia. I was surprised then why they sacked their manager Tite. It was because he didn’t do very well in the Confederations Cup . . . Well, at least now I don’t have to worry about results; I can focus on experimenting with the squad. I can see right now that Neymar is my star so now I want to identify my other strong players. I think I will stay on with Brazil until at least the World Cup that will happen at the end of this season. I just hope I can find a club team soon since the season is just about kicking off . . .
Here are my meaningless results with Brazil, by the way. I have fielded almost completely different squads each time. I am just doling out caps :P
As it gets closer to the tournament I will start establishing my real squad and getting them used to my tactics (or rather Johnny and Darren’s tactics).
Just when I had given up hopes of taking charge of a club this season, offer from Italy started to pour in. At the seasons half (Italy has a winter break as well), A.C. Milan, Inter, Cagliari, and Siena all approached. I immediately ruled out the two teams from Milan. I was actually trying to hold out for Udinese, whose manager was on the verge of being sacked but in the end I chose:
Cagliari
So it is with Cagliari that I will hope to achieve glory in Italy. With half the season gone they find themselves in 17th. Siena are one below them while Udinese are one spot above and Inter Milan is only one above Udinese. I decided to pull the trigger on signing with them because It was already January 5th and 5 precious days of transfers have already gone. And I an glad that I did not delay any longer because this team is in serious need of an overhaul. I was spoiled at Gladbach because they had a great team and an incredible backroom staff. If you remember when I first started, they had a brilliant and extensive scouting system that I barely needed to touch. Evian, while the backroom was awful, the first team squad wasn’t that bad, but here I am out of luck in both respects. The squad was old and just not very good and since I am still sticking with Johnny’s Barcelona tactic, I needed more strikers. I think this would be a good time to mention that I am taking a quick break from UGO’s schedules and trying our Raikan007. UGO’s schedules are great but I want to give Raikan007’s a try as well because I’ve heard great things. Anyway, back to Cagliari. Their nickname is the Rossoblu and the stadium is the Sant’Elia, which seats 21,530. They are located in Cagliari, which is the southernmost city on the island of Sardinia. I guess I am continuing my trend of being on the border of the country I am coaching in. Evian is on the Franco-Swiss border, Gladbach is on the German-Dutch border, and Cagliari is near the border between Italian and Algerian waters (kind of). Cagliari had their glory days in 1970 when their greatest player, Luigi Riva, who is also the leading scorer for the Italian national team, led them to their only Scudetto. They were runners-up the year before they won the Italian top-flight and their only other major accomplishment is being semi-finalists of the 1993-94 UEFA Cup, which is today the Europa League. Hopefully, I can help them fill up their trophy case.
Onto my squad and transfers! It was a very tense transfer season because I did not have very much time and I had to reshape the club from top to bottom. And hiring a solid backroom put extra pressure on me, but in the end I managed to assemble a squad that I think should see us finish somewhere around 10th. Since Cagliari are a mid-table team, was cause was helped by a transfer budget that was a little over £7 million. Oh, before I forget, so the Cagliari senior team was not good but the youth and reserves are AMAZING so I had the luxury of being able to promote quite a few players, which gave me a little more room in the transfer market. One thing that was kind of unfortunate was that some of my brightest stars are co-owned, something that is quite common in Italy. I will definitely not be taking advantage of this because I don’t really know what the rules are that govern co-ownership. For now I will try to buy out the rest of these players’ contracts. One of the things I will miss about Germany is the lack of restrictions on foreign transfers. France had the rule that no more than 4 non-EU players can be registered in your squad, while the rule in Italy is you can sign no more than 2 non-EU players during a season. So it’s good that I can register as many foreign players as I want, but I can only sign 2 a season. As you might remember from my time in Gladbach and Evian, I cast my eyes towards Africa quite a bit . . . Anyway, here are my finances, my squad, and my transfers:
This was easily my most stressful and extensive transfer window. The team was made up of ageing players who were fine a couple of years ago but are now over the hill. Here is my squad for the second half of the season»
GK: Michael Agazzi and Martino Castelli
So I retained the number 1 keeper, Agazzi and promoted Castelli from the youth. He has solid potential and Agazzi isn’t a terrible choice between the sticks for the rest of this season. I doubt I will retain him at the season end but for now I hope he does his job well and tries to change my mind.
DC: Mehdi Benatia, Cesare Bovo, Vittorio Basilicata and Lucio Rizzo
Benatia was bought for £4 million from Evian. I was desperate for a central defender because none of my targets would sign for me, so I had to shell out for this player. The annoying thing is I was forced to pay his kingly salary of £2.1 million a year. Because of the intense financial strain one player is causing (Jese’s salary shot up as a result because his contract has a «match highest earner» clause) I could only afford him for the rest of this season. I essentially payed £6 million for the services of one player for half a year . . . I was desperate and he is a very good center-back so I am trying to let it go. Bovo was another desperation signing. I wish I held onto my original central defenders a little longer . . . Anyway, Bovo still has some life left in him and I think he will be adequate for this remaining season. Vittorio Basilicati. Now we’re getting somewhere! This kid was co-owned with some Serie B team and I had to pay £1.2million for the rest of his contract. I really didn’t mind because he is going to be a top defender some day. He already has the ability to be a reliable defender in my opinion. I expect big things from him. Rizzo is a player I promoted from my youth system. He is not as magical as Basilicati but he will make a solid if unremarkable defender.
DL: Pablo Armero and Eduardo Sanchez
Left-back is one of the hardest positions to buy for because there simply ins’t that much quality. That being said, Pablo Armero is a player who I deemed definitely worthy of retaining from the old squad, at least until this summer. His understudy is the extremely talented Sanchez, who I believe could be the next best left-back in the game. He is rated by both my scouts and assistant as a 5-star player!
DR: Ivan and Stavros Papoutsis
Ivan was an expensive signing, £1.3million to Girona, where he was a first team regular. As you can see, despite his youth he is a player who can already hold his own in the top flight. He is already worth more than I paid for him due to his strong performances during his first couple of games. Papoutsis was the last player to join my team. Finding a back-up right defender was almost impossible. In the end I had to give in and bring this kid from Olympiakos, but I got him on the cheap.
MC: Vladimir Gadzhev, Matheus, Josue, Gabriel Pimba, Michael Serafini, and Oliveira
This is, in my opinion, the most important position, so I normally take care to make sure it is as stacked as it can be. I was surprised because Cagliari had some decent central midfielders. Matheus and Josue are absolutely terrific and the captain Gadzhev isn’t too bad himself. I am not too comfortable with Pimba as a back-up because of the history of his ratings but his stats show that he has some solid skill. Serafini was promoted from my reserves and seems like he is of similar quality to Pimba, but with room to grow. Oliveira is a player who I am very excited about. He is making waves in the Brazil Under 20 squad, so there must be something to him. As a 4.5 star player, he can’t be that bad ;) I think he could turn out to be my greatest transfer.
ST: Jese, Daniele Ragatzu, Sebastian Ribas, Thiago Ribeiro, Savino Esposito, and Nicolas Floris
Every team needs its talismanic striker. Evian had Yaya Sanogo, Gladbach had Marco Reus, and Cagliari has Jese. He will spearhead our attack. Overall, this position did not have too many changes, partly due to the cost of replacements. Ragatzu and Ribas will join Jese, but Ribas is likely to leave at the end of the season. Ribeiro is my super-sub and he too will probably leave during the summer. I promoted Esposito, after buying out his co-ownership, and Floris from the youth set-up. Esposito looks like he could develop into quite a player.
So for now, this is my squad. Our first goal is to avoid relegation and my second goal is to finish around 10th. We are especially lucky because this is the only competition we have to worry about since the previous coach helped alleviate us from cup duties ;)
As you can see, Cagliari hasn’t exactly had the best of times this season . . . The red box are the fixtures that I took control of. The loss to Siena was annoying. The team was not used to my strategy and we were in personnel transition, so there was nothing to do about it. Roma and A.C. Milan are both a cut above us so there was little chance of winning to begin with but my boys lost without bleeding too much. Both wins were somewhat fluky as well. We beat Palermo thanks to an own goal and their terrible discipline, which saw 6 of their players get a yellow card. During the Sampdoria game, we scored within just 3 minutes and rest of the game was a pointless back and forth.
Here is the table, for your consideration:
Obviously we would like to see a change in our position on this table. Only upwards, please!
I must apologize, this is all I have for now. I am quite sleepy and I need to finish the last couple of games of the season so expect to see the conclusion of my first season with Cagliari sometime tomorrow. I promise not to leave you all hanging!
Johnny Karp
4 февраля, 2012 at 11:58
You seem to have found a good team mate with quite a few interesting youngsters. Taking charge of a club during the season is always difficult because you don’t have the friendlies on hand to test things but I believe that your results will improve sooner rather than later. Good luck!
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 12:02
Thanks Johnny. I’m not really expecting too much because I’ve come in so late and I have done/am doing such a drastic overhaul of the club. I just want to avoid relegation for now and refocus next season!
I almost forgot, I also have that World Cup to look forward to! I have never actually managed a nation and a club so this will be a new experience for me. Hopefully I can balance the two.
Johnny Karp
4 февраля, 2012 at 15:17
Sure, you can’t expect to win the title this season :) Good luck for the World Cup too!
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 18:53
Thanks mate!
Kevin
4 февраля, 2012 at 12:52
Hi Bhargav
Interesting trip around the globe ans good luck with your new team Cagliari and with Brazil at the World Cup!
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 18:56
Thanks Kevin! For now Brazil is my secondary focus because of how good they are — I really relish watching Neymar. I just hope that Cagliari start to get the results they need as well and they should because the media predicted them as coming at 11th and this new squad is far superior to the old one. Fingers crossed!
Darren Smith
4 февраля, 2012 at 12:59
As Johnny mentioned you have a very good team considering this is your first season to start building. I think half the problem could have been the volume of new players needing to blend early on and once you hit a rut its near impossible to climb out of it until the new season begins. I think you’ll start improving the results soon and next season should see a big improvement.
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 18:59
Thanks for reassurance, Darren. I really couldn’t keep playing with the old squad but I hope I haven’t screwed over the team chemistry! With only 18 games, every point is precious. But I kind of like playing with my back to the wall — it makes the victories so much sweeter.
Martin - F.M.J.S
4 февраля, 2012 at 13:17
Hi Bhargav
You did a lot of traveling :). I agree with what Darren said with your team but if you look at the results against the two top teams you only lost by one goal so I think in time this team will become very successful. Good Luck with the rest of the season. :)
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:03
Thanks Martin! A.C. Milan were around 6th or so when I first joined Cagliari but January has been very kind to them so they’ve seen a meteoric rise in their standings. Their manager is new like me as well so I think maybe the close loss against them was because he was still adjusting? I just hope we can avoid more games like the thrashing Siena gave us. And they are below us on the table!
Matt Clark
4 февраля, 2012 at 13:19
judging by your team you should be able to finish between 9th and 13th.
by the way african players are not considered non eu at least in my experiences in spain anyway
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:05
Wow, really! I should check that out. I guess that makes sense because while I was in France, African players oftentimes (though not always) did not count towards my non-EU quota.
And I am hoping to finish somewhere within that range because the media predicts us coming in at 11th. I hope my players can gel in time!
Laxeyman
4 февраля, 2012 at 13:27
Looks like another interesting challenge Bhargav, Cagliari look like a side with a bit of potential, and I’m sure you’ll quickly turn them around, as you’ve brought in some good players :) It seems like you’ve got some exciting youngsters too, so the future looks bright :)
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:07
Thanks Laxeyman! The youngsters on this team are SO GOOD. The entire youth set-up is solid and I don’t know if it’s just Cagliari or all of Italy. It’s a little sad though because I couldn’t promote some of the brightest lights to the senior squad because they are all co-owned :( Oh well, I am pretty pleased with what I have. I just hope they blend in time!
CsAtlantis
4 февраля, 2012 at 15:35
Well you’ve made your signings, they should help your team out and hopefully push it up and well away from relegation trouble (that’s a big overhaul though so I think you might need to give some time for them to work as a unit)
Oh yeah, regarding co-ownership in the Italian leagues, once your co-ownership term expires both clubs bid for the player with the amount they are willing to pay for the player, highest bid wins the player for their club
Good luck with the next 18 league matches
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:10
Thanks mate and thanks even more for the info! Can you educate me on what the rules are regarding which club a co-owned player plays at? And also, can you tell me if there is a way for me to sell/give up part of my stake in a player? Because I have a couple of co-owned players who are real stinkers and I want them off my books! Thanks in advance!
CsAtlantis
5 февраля, 2012 at 01:29
In Italy you have the option to own only half the player instead of owning all 100% of him. This maybe because of a couple of reasons:
1. You can’t afford to have complete player.
2. You still aren’t sure if he will be good enough and want to see him play at the other club first.
3. It’s a great way to get young players.
What happens is the club that’s buying the player basically leases him for a year or two (Which ever you decide) if you buy for 1 year after that year is up you have 2 options the first is to put a secret bid on the player to the Italian Football Association after both teams make there bid the player goes to the team that bided the highest fee. The other option is to ‘delay’ the bid for a year.(note When/if you delay the player/s stays at the club he is currently at). If you delay a year you have no option but to bid on him after the 2 years are up. When you are forced to bid your bid is still secretive to the Italian FA.
So I think your co-owned players will be gone after a year(season) or so
CsAtlantis
5 февраля, 2012 at 01:30
Just make sure you bid 0 for those players and they should be snapped up by the other team
Bhargav
6 февраля, 2012 at 06:20
Wow, thanks a lot for the info. I definitely will not be entering into any co-ownerships!
vaibhavc
4 февраля, 2012 at 18:30
I can see why you rejected the two Milan teams, it will be too easy. Like you said Cagliari have some fantastic youth, such as Matheus. Best of luck for the season!
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:11
Thanks Vaibhav! Part of why I rejected them is because I am not fond of those teams in real life to begin with :P
And I was shocked at just the sheer amount of potential their youth set-up has, which is all the better for me :D
Woody
4 февраля, 2012 at 18:58
Really unlucky with jamaica
Good luck with brazil at the world cup
Your new squad looks alright and once they’ve settled together they should do quite well
Anyway well done and good luck
Bhargav
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:12
Thanks Woody! We just didn’t have the luck of the draw with Jamaica and I barely had time to prepare with them. Hopefully my results with Brazil and Cagliari will be a little better ;)
TheZiggy
4 февраля, 2012 at 19:40
Seems like some kind of a world tour there. Looks like there’s some good potential there, and although the team aren’t playing great right now, I’m sure once the new players have settled in, things will pick up. It’ll probably take a bit longer to be right up the top to challenge for the League win than the previous two clubs, but I’m sure you’ll get there.
Bhargav
6 февраля, 2012 at 06:23
Thanks Ziggy. I think Cagliari was a pretty decent choice of team — not too easy but not impossibly hard either, There just wasn’t that much choice for me, so I think I did the best thing for the situation.
Ivo
5 февраля, 2012 at 13:58
Hi Bhargav , i really enjoy reading this story and i must congratulate you on your evian and borussia succes. I’m really looking forward to your Cagliari challenge. It may take for about 3-4 seasons. I wanted to ask which tactic do you use ? Alongside Ana and Johnny i think you’re the best on the site.
Peace , Ivo.
Bhargav
6 февраля, 2012 at 06:26
Wow, thank you so much Ivo! That is quite a compliment, being compared to the veterans on this site. All success I’ve had, though goes to Johnny and Darren, from whom I learned almost everything I know about Football Manager. At the moment, I am using Johnny’s Barcelona tactic, which is on the site. It is a very solid tactic on all fronts and it uses the set-pieces from Darren’s Stoke tactic, which provide a ton of goals. Thanks again for your kind words, they mean a lot to me and I look forward to reading what you have to say on my future stories :)
Ana Garcia
5 февраля, 2012 at 20:18
Nice journey Bhargav, I am enjoying this story! :)
Just to clear up the rules on African players not counting, well at least in Spain its down to a piece of legislation drawn up a few years ago which treats players from Africa, the Carribean and Pacific regions as EU players.
This is to help encourage teams in Spain to buy players from these regions and not affect their foreign player allocation.
Thats why there was a boom in African players signed to la liga clubs after the rule was passed. Am not sure about France but I assume that the same idea is applied there also.
Looks like you have work cut out to keep this team in the division, but a couple of wins and a couple of narrow defeats to the teams in first and second shows that you may just be able survive.
The best of luck! :)
Bhargav
6 февраля, 2012 at 06:27
Thanks a lot for the advice, Ana! I had no idea about this and I would imagine that it would apply to Italy as well. I will definitely be taking advantage of this law :D
Sears
5 февраля, 2012 at 22:35
Glad to see you back mate, I was missing your regular updates :P
Anyhow, you’ve inherited a strong young Cagliari team who’ve loads of potential. The main objective is to avoid relegation, as your team aren’t in the most comfortable of positions. I hope you settle in quickly and pick up some wins to move your team away from the bottom. Good luck! ;)
Bhargav
6 февраля, 2012 at 06:28
Thanks a lot Sears! I was really missing playing but exams were really keeping me busy. The team really shouldn’t be doing so terribly — the media said they would come in 11th. But I guess that’s football for you — anything can happen, and that’s why I love this game!