Hello everyone! My name is Martin, Darren and Johnny have kindly given me the opportunity to write for FootballManagerStory. I’ve been writing my Club Brugge story in the forums for roughly a month but, have been reading and commenting on the site since the merge with allthatisfootballmanager. I have since seen the site grow and grow and hopefully my story will help the site branch out. If you haven’t heard of my story before, I’ll give you a brief rundown of events in my first season, but you can check all what’s happened by clicking the link > https://footballmanagerstory.com/forum/index.php?topic=251.0
Season 1 – We started off the season sluggish and end August in 6th place. We then started to pick up the pace and managed to move from 6th to 2nd in the league between the months of September and October, we also managed to pick up 4 points out of 9 in a very difficult Euro Cup Group which contained Napoli, FC Porto and FR. We ended the year with us still 2nd in the Pro League but, the most impressive part was that with wins against KR and Napoli and a dramatic draw against FC Porto we’d managed to qualify for the Knockouts of the Euro Cup. January was difficult, we only managed to pick up 1 win in 4 matches and we slumped to 4th in the League. I brought in a couple of new faces to freshen up the team and managed to secure 3rd in the League and also knocked PSV out of the Euro Cup. Having qualified for the Playoffs to battle it out with 5 other quality Belgian teams, we decided to nearly blow our chance of the title with two draw and a defeat, we also crashed out of the Euro Cup to German outfit Bayer Leverkusen. April was the turning point, we managed 5 victories which rocked us up to top of the league and we we’re 1 point from the title…we could taste the champagne. What happen next was torture to me and the followers of the story, we lose the last two games of the playoff campaign…had we thrown it away? No was the answer, Anderlecht couldn’t find the net and Genk couldn’t score enough, we we’re Champions and in my first season of Belgian football.
Now on with the story…
Before I start with the transfer in and out, let me show you this screenshot
WHAT! You sold him…I here you say well, I didn’t…but my trusty board did, they felt that 6.5m was just too much to turn down. I was furious, Leftback was a position I wasen’t looking to improve (additional back-up maybe) but now I need a new key player…cheers board!
Transfers IN/OUT
As you can see I went a tad crazy, bringing in 17 new players (well 16 because Thomas Meunier was joining before I joined Brugge) and letting 15 leave the club (well 14 because Masilela wasn’t my choice). I also spent 3.75m more than what was brought into the club, reason was because I was rebelling against the board for selling Masilela. So let me introduce you to the new members of Club Brugge…
Jonathan
Absolute demon! His stats are fantastic and getting him on a free is magic. He’ll be amazing in the Pro League (Assistant rates his as 3.5/4 stars). He’ll rotate with current rightback Thanduyise Khuboni who, I have re-trained to play Leftback if we become desperate. One of my best signings.
Levan Mchedlidze
With Lerato Chabangu and Danny Koevermams nearly spending more time of the physio bench then on the pitch and Katlego Mphela taking an age to getting into a scoring mood I decided to take the plunge and sign another striker, on a free Levan fit the bill well. With stats that resemble those of Wayne Rooney (maybe not as high, but the same pattern lol) and age on his side, he’ll be a hit in the Pro League.
Marcelo Barovero
His guy was lined up way back in January of the first season (along with Levan and Jonathan and a few more), I knew that neither of my backup keepers were up to much and swooped for his services. Turns out that now with Stijn Stijnen handing in a transfer request and joining Inter, he’s now my first choice. Very decent stats for a keeper and signed on a Free…what can I say…Bargin!
Erik Lamela
My first real signing of the transfer window and an expensive one. Signed to replace Vargas and later Tshabalala (due to his appauling fitness), Erik possess very good stats and with him only being 19, I can only see him getting better.
Luciano Nieto
Like Lamela, Nieto is a Left Winger and possess similar stats. Also 19, he’ll too become a better player if not, I’ll make decent cash from him as he too was free.
Hao Junmin
Hao was on loan with us for January onwards and make a massive impact to the team. Just before the season ended, Schalke 04 offered him to us for 375k, I snapped their hands off. He truly took the Pro League by storm and I strongly believe he’ll do the same this season.
Boldizsar Bodor
With the board selling Peter Masilela (b******s), I needed to sign a new leftback. Bodor has decent stats for a Leftback, not a good as the person he’ll be replacing but decent. I can’t complain about the fee either and he’s also played in Belgium for 3 years before his 21st birthday which is the only rule in Belgium (need 6 in the match squad if you didn’t know).
Cani
No sure why Villarreal released him but I quick to the wheels in motion to sign him. Cani bring experience to the squad and brilliant playmaker stats.
Timmy Simons
Now you might be wondering why I brought him to the club, well I’m looking to him for the future, he’s a fans favourite and he’s near retirement age plus he wants to be a coach when he retires, so as he signed I sat down to talk to him about the future and he jumped at the coaching chance, I can now see his coaching attributes.
Bart Buysse
Bart Buysse is a Belgium lad, he and Bodor will be rotated throughout the season as they are very similar to each other. 675k was a little expensive but he’s one of the best Belgium Leftbacks I could realistically sign.
Juanito
With Jordan Spence returning to West Ham after his loan, I decided that I could do with a backup centreback. Juanito was my man, fairly decent stats from heading to speed, he will be able to fill in when either Donk or Hoefkens are fatigued. Free as well, cant complain really.
Paul-Jose M’Poku
Young Belgian Winger, I have this chap lined up for the future, my Scouts and Assistant have him down to have 3.5 star rating in the future so fingers crossed.
Eric
My scout Simon Hunt came up with his guy after scouting the Brazilian leagues. His stats are amazing and he cost 10k, I would have been stupid to turn this one down, if it doesn’t work out I’ll definitely be able to make some money from selling him.
Phillipp Klement
Signed just before the transfer window closed, due to Vadis Odjidja talking about leaving the club (and just incase the board pulled a fast one again). Phillipp has the potential to be a world class midfielder/defensive midfield. Signed when he was 17 in also means that if I manage to keep him until he’s 21 he’ll qualify for the Belgium for 3 years before his 21st birthday rule. His current ability level means he’s more than ready to play first team football, which he will be doing during this season.
Simon Mignolet
With Stijn Stijnen wanting to move on and having no other keeper this was a 23:59PM transfer on deadly day, right up until the last minute it was a toss up between him and Logan Bailly (both had played in Belgium for 3 years before his 21st birthday), I chose Mignolet due to his 3.5 star rating. 2.8m was expensive but it was a must.
There are nearly one more piece of transfer activity during August…
I held my breath, rejected the transfer and clicked continue…The Board didn’t act and Lerato Chabangu is still a Club Brugge player.
Pre-Season Results
Not needing a tour of Belgium this season I decided to let my Assistant Manager arrange our matches. Knowing that we would have a Champions Cups Qualifier not that far away, I chose to handle the friendlies and get the majority of the first teamers up to fitness. Some returned tired and they we’re give extra leave. Levan Mchedlidze and Erik Lamela we’re the stars of pre-season with both getting goals, 4 and 3 respectively. Going into a new season unbeaten surely must give the lads a boost.
Requests
After the shenanigans with the sale of Peter Masilela, I confronted the Board and made some requests…well demands really lol. They agreed that in future I would receive 80% of transfer revenue and also the below…
Well that’s it for my first post on the main site…what do you think? Let me know, comments are always welcome and I’ll respond to them as quickly as I can.
Thank you for reading
Martin
Sibo
27 мая, 2011 at 21:38
Well done on getting promoted to the main site, I have followed your story on the forum and I hope you are a success here.
It has been a busy pre-season! Your squad look very strong and I can see another good season, I hope you do well in Europe, but your squad should do with the players you have! Also, I reckon in January you might want to tie Simons to a player/coach contract because I find this makes them a bit less reluctant to retire and go into coaching than if you just wait for their contract to run down and approach them at the end of the contract, as other clubs always grabbed my (about to be) amazing coaches off of me when I was waiting for the contract to run down!
Well done and good luck! :D
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 10:58
Cheers mate, I’m still buzzing about being on the main site. Yeah pre-season has been mental partly because of my board, i didnt know if they were going to sell other players from under my nose so i tried to imagine the worst case lol. The team definatly has potential to do well but, the Pro League is weird and inpredictable at times. Hopefully we can qualify for the group stages in the champions league, but other then that I really dont expect much else at the moment. Oh cheers for the advice on Timmy Simons, i didnt know that :)
Nick
27 мая, 2011 at 21:43
Looks like a great story, good Luck!
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 10:59
Cheers Nick i hope it’ll keep you glued :)
Darren Smith
27 мая, 2011 at 21:49
Brilliant first post Martin, you summed up what has happened so far well which is important for the new readers. Although your board are idiots for letting such a great player leave, I think they knew your ability in the market. Must admit I’m well impressed with those signings, some real bargains and Club Brugge look set for a great year. Won’t be too long before Barcelona will quiver in their boots. :) Well done mate and great to have you on the main site.
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 11:59
Cheers Darren, I didnt want to go straight into it lol, wanted to share the rollercoaster first season with everyone. Yeah more than happy with the signings, most of them i knew i want way back in November/December time in the first season. I’m looking to do the same again this year. I definatly looking to regain our Pro League title this year, think Europe will be alot harder but you never know. Hahaha I think it’ll be along way yet before Barcelona will be quivering lol. Again cheers for the opportunity.
Johnny Karp
27 мая, 2011 at 22:06
Welcome to the team Martin, I have enjoyed your first post here. Now on to your transfer activity: brilliant as well! You brought in some great players starting with Mignolet, he’s a very good goalie. I have a curiosity about that Brazilian, Eric. You say that you brought him in from the Brazilian league but his attributes and position lead me to believe that he’s the same person as a Brazilian midfielder named Eric that is doing a great job in the Romanian league at the moment. Can you have a look at his career history? :)
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 12:11
Cheers for the opportunity Johnny. I thought i’d just post the pre-season as alot happened. Yeah i hope Mignolet will be able to do a great job for us, he and Barovero look like class keepers. Now on to Eric…
https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/wp-content/uploads/pictures/2011/05/Eric-History_-Career-Stats.png
Looks like he has played in Romania, but I did sign him from his parent club :)
Johnny Karp
28 мая, 2011 at 17:05
Thanks for the info. Eric is one of the best attacking midfielders in the Romanian league at the moment, still playing for Gaz Metan but some Ukrainian and Russian sides are said to be interested in him. I hope he’ll stay though, become a Romanian citizen and then play for our national team ;)
Ana Garcia
27 мая, 2011 at 23:28
Yay Martin!! Welcome to the team! :)
17 new players and no South Africans, what the matter with you!?
LoL, Joking of course you have made some excellent signings, I hate when the board sell your players but by the looks of the players brought in hopefully you wont miss him too much.
Cani is probably my favourite mainly as he is Spanish, and I have heard of him! ;)
Nice too see you getting improvements also, they should help you further down the road.
Good luck!!
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 12:20
Yay cheers Ana! :)
Hahaha no South Africans…sorry lol…gone onto South American stars now :P. I really happy with the signings, hopefully you’ll be able to settle quickly. The board really aint my favourite people and I was expecting them to sell Lerato Chabangu. Cani looks like he’ll do a excellent job, having looked at my players personal info, most of them either like him or think he’ll do a job.
Hahaha too right they had to give me something for selling Peter Masilela :P
MRDNRA
28 мая, 2011 at 00:16
Good signings there. Lamela is a good prospect, he can play well as an Advanced Playmaker in central midfield or as a winger on the left as well as in his natural CAM position, although I’m surprised at his price tag, I managed to sign him for just £4M with Celtic. Even so, I’m sure he’ll turn out well for you anyway.
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 13:31
Cheers MRDNRA, yeah he’s certainly put in some good performances in during pre-season…hopefully that can continue into the league. Not too bothered about the 5.5m fee, im sure ill be able to make some profit on him in the future.
CsAtlantis
28 мая, 2011 at 02:30
That Brazilian Eric at 10k looks great, what club was he from? He was probably not important but selling him at 10k is criminal
Some good goalkeeper signings there, Mignolet is young and could still improve a bit more, Barovero on a free looks great
Some other very interesting players on frees there, Juanito, Cani and Jonathan are great players
How much profit did you make on Masilela? 6.5 million is a pretty big sum, good to hear that your board didn’t accept the Chabangu offer
Always nice to see training and youth facilities being upgraded, good luck in the champions league qualifier!
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 17:01
He came from Metropolitano in Brazil…a brilliant find by my scout team. Couldn’t believe when they told me that I could sign him for 10k.
Barovero and Mignolet are good signings, shame that Stijn Stijnen wanted to leave the club.
I managed to sign Peter Masilela for 180k so that’ll be roughtly 6.3m. Soooo glad that thay didnt Lerato is a massive part of the team.
I could have really let every know who i’d drawn in the qualifiers but you’ll find out in the next post.
Lye
28 мая, 2011 at 05:58
Hi Martin,
Welcome to the first page of FMS. I like your new goalkeeper and Eric. Seems like he can do magic up front. With all those new signings coming in, i am sure you will retain your league title. All the best for the story and good luck on the games coming up.
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 17:08
Thank you Lye, im excited to be on the main page. Yeah they was good signing but personally like Jonathan and Hao Junmin. I definatly hope that with these players will be able to assist us to regain the title. Cheers mate.
vaibhavc
28 мая, 2011 at 08:00
Hey Martin
Congratulations on making it to the main site! It looks like an interesting story. I will be following it. You never seem to beat Genk, you always lose to them!
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 17:13
Cheers! thanks for following also :). Hahhaa i know believe me…Genk are my boggie team grrrrrrr!
Laxeyman
28 мая, 2011 at 09:48
Nice to see you posting on the main site Martin, and it looks like you have a very interesting story. Well done on winning the league in your first season, and hopefully you can conquer Europe in years to come! You’ve made some good signings, although I understand your frustration at the board, selling a player without your consent is extremely annoying. Good luck for the season :)
Martin
28 мая, 2011 at 17:32
Cheers Laxeyman. Yeah, i’m really happy with my story, not as good as so on here but i’ll try and improve. I think europe will be a long way away yet but who knows. Yeah the board decision is still annoying me lol. Cheers again.
Kevin
28 мая, 2011 at 09:48
Hi Martin
Welcome to the main page of FMS. Great first post and love all your new players and some great ones from South America. Don’t normally see Chinese players being brought into teams so I thought that was particularly interesting. Very good pre season results and good luck with this seasons campaign
Martin
29 мая, 2011 at 16:53
Cheers Kevin…sorry for the late reply…had to watch a torture session last night :(. Yeah i’m loving the transfers, think the Chinese kid is the best of them (along with Jonathan). cheers again.
Daniel
28 мая, 2011 at 15:18
Hi Martin,
Great story, this is something different, the Belgium clubs! great first story, cant wait for more :)
Daniel
Martin
29 мая, 2011 at 16:57
Cheers Daniel, yeah i thought it was a nice different story and they’ll be definately more to come.
Sears
28 мая, 2011 at 15:23
Great work on making it to the main site. I followed this story for a while and then stopped because some things happened… Anyway, good luck
Martin
29 мая, 2011 at 16:58
Cheers Sears, thanks for tuning in.
Excessive
29 мая, 2011 at 11:37
Alright Martin, nice to see you make it on the main site, the Brugge story is brilliant :)
I know you struggled against Genk last year, but hopefully with the new signings you’ve made, youll have one over on them this time!
I think Jonothan is your best signing of the lot, and if you train him to play on the left you can have him starting where Masilela left off.
Good luck pal :)
Martin
29 мая, 2011 at 17:00
Cheers Excessive, yeah i’m really liking playing this save.
Oh dont talk to me about Genk….nasty work lol. There definately my boggie side but hopefully i’ll over come them in the future. I thought about converting Jonathan to left back, but chose to train Khuboni instead, cheers for the advice though mate.