Dinamo Bucaresti - Stand Your Ground

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Hey guys, and welcome to my new story that will obviously be with Dinamo Bucaresti! Yes, my Liverpool story has ended. Reason being, I feel like I have gone as far as I possibly can with Liverpool (Success wise). There was still some unfinished business that I have with them, such as making Jordan Rossiter a Liverpool legend, breaking certain records and becoming the most successful team in Europe. Maybe I'll return to the Reds at a later date, possibly in FM15

Now though, I want to take on a different kind of challenge with Dinamo Bucaresti, a top side in Romania, being one of the most successful teams in the nation with 18 League titles, 13 domestic cups, and a one super cup.

My main aim for this challenge is to knock Steaua off their perch and climb back onto ours as well as reaching the higher stages of football in Europe. The Champions League.

1st year targets:
Qualify for any European competition (Cup or League success)
At least a top four finish
Semi Final of the Romanian Cup

Overall targets:
Win the league
Become the biggest club in Romania
Win the Champions League
Become one of or the biggest club in Europe
Become the greatest manager in history

So obviously these targets are going to be extremely difficult to achieve, and with the way I'm ranting on you probably expect me to be a year in to the save already.
No. I haven't clicked 'continue' once, so I can't make any promises. If this story doesn't last for more than a few months, I'm sorry, but at least I made you aware that it could happen.

If I do end the story, it will most likely be my last until FM15 is out. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

"Become the greatest manager in history" takes a lot of time

Basham: I'm well aware, but I've done it before, so I'm sure I can do it again
It'll be a huge challenge though!

Good luck in Romania mate, decent little challenge there.

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History:
So, firstly we shall take a look at the challenge that I have taken on. Starting by taking a look at Bucharest's fine history. Bucharest were founded in 1948, three years after the Second World War and are the second biggest team in Romania behind only Steaua Bucharest, their biggest rivals.

Dinamo have won a total 32 competitions. Dividing up into 18 League titles, 13 domestic cups, and a Romanian Super Cup. The Cainii Rosii were the first Romanian club to appear in Europe. They made their Champions League debut in the year of 1956 where they played Galatasaray. They won that game 3-1, only to lose the next game 2-1. They did progress however.

General Information:
Dinamo Bucharest's stadium is named simply "Dinamo". An arena that holds only a small number of people. Precisely 15,300 people can fit into the all-seater.

The facilities are some of the best in the country. Dinamo can boast a well established youth recruitment network, and have a great junior coaches. The training and youth facilities will undoubtedly be a massive help to us, both of them are great and should hopefully help our players develop into World class talent.

Bucharest are predicted a 5th place finish, but I want top prove the media wrong and break back into the top four, for a place in Europe. Dinamo's most fierce rivals include CFC Cluj, Rapid Bucharest, and Steaua Bucharest.

Senior Squad:
The squad is quite a big, one. As well as a young and strong one. The strongest part of them team is no doubt the attack. The Strikers aren't great but they'll have to do. The wingers however are some of the best in the league. For brilliant wingers in Valentin Lazar, Dorin Rotariu, Marius Alexe, and Cosmin Matei.

Four young wingers, that have some serious potential. Rotariu is the youngest among the group, but is actually the best. He's the potential to be World beater. It's going to be very hard to keep a hold of him.

The weakest area of our team is certainly the defence. There are two fantastic fullbacks in Stefan Barboianu and Constantin Grecu, but the three centre backs are currently not up to standard. They all have bags of potential like the rest of the squad, but they're all young and must perform to the highest quality if we want to challenge for anything. I have full faith in them though.


Young Prospects:
Every player in the squadhas at least some decent potential. Most of them have brilliant potential, so it'll be hard to list the most notable, but here are the best three.

Dorin Rotariu:- Rotariu is possibly one of the best players already in the squad already. Even at 17. If we can keep a hold of him I almost guarantee that he will be the best player in the league by the time he's 23/24. He'll be the one I build the squad around.

Valentin Lazar:- Another winger. A lot like the young Dorin Rotariu, however the only real differences are that he plays on the opposite side and is six years older than him. He's just as good, but doesn't have as much time to develop.

Ionut Nedelcearu:- One of the youngest at the club. Ionut is the same as Rotariu, only a centre back. He's the third choice and has plenty of time to develop into a brilliant player and I am sure that with time...That's what he'll become.

Conclusion/Transfer Targets:
So, my expectations this year will be to come 4th in the league, and make it to the semi finals of the domestic cup. The team is young, largely inexperienced, and in my opinion is not good enough defensively. Which is why I cannot see us winning anything this year.

Maybe, the defense will surprise us, but they will have to play to the highest quality if we want to get into to Europe. I have faith in them though. They remind me a little like Liverpool. Poor in defense, great into attack.

As for transfer targets, there are areas we need to improve. I would like a back up central midfielder. a quality centre back in his prime to support our younger defenders. And also a young striker with the potential to become brilliant, because right now, our attackers are not going to improve. They're all in their prime or past it.

It's going to be hard to get one player in though, let alone three. The poor wage budget and fairly poor transfer budget does not help. We may have to rely on the loan market.

I've been plotting an adventure in to the depths of Romania/Hungary myself so it will certainly be of my interest to see how you perform, good luck!

Mcox: Cheers mate! Yeah, I'm looking forward taking it on

Niko: I'll be excited to see if you take it on! Thank you for the comment, I'll give it my best!

Ok, so in the last update I said that I would be looking for a new striker, a central Midfielder and an experienced centre back currently in or nearing his career's prime. I also said that this may not be possible due to the lack of funds invested into our wage and transfer budget by the Bucharest board.

However, even with such a small wage and transfer budget, I believe I have made the correct and proper signings that this team needs to move forward. We've some how managed to sign all three players of the profile I mentioned, and I think they will do really well for us.

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The first player we brought into the club is an Italian striker that goes by the name of Daniele Martinetti. Martinetti is a well experienced and balanced forward, although he is 32 years of age which in my opinion is the only down side.

He is however the better of our four strikers and I have complete faith that he'll be putting the ball in the net game in, game out. A very good finisher this boy, a bonus is that he's played for the likes of Varese, Sassuolo and he even started his career with Roma.

We signed Martinetti on a free, and we'll be paying him a fee of 2.8k p/w.

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The second player we brought into the club goes by the name of Cristian Sarghi. A very solid centre back, not many in Romania will be able to bypass his hard tackles and thorough man marking.

Sarghi is an youth product of Romanian counter parts Otelul and has played there for the last nine years before making his first permanent move away from the club to us, for a fee of 220K. A quite surprising fee if I'm honest.

Sarghi is a very experienced player just like Martinetti. He has won two trophies in his time. Those being the Romanian First Division in 2011 and the Romanian Super Cup in the same year, but the following season.

With Sarghi now in our back line, I am a lot more confident of our defensive capabilities and I really think we can go on to surprise a few. He's got a good head as well so we'll hopefully see him nodding them into the opposition net from a few corners!

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The third and final player we have signed this summer transfer window is the central midfielder I was hoping to sign up. He's quite a bizarre signing actually and you'll find out why in a second!

Galli is actually a natural attacking midfielder but can also play comfortably in central midfield as well as on the left wing. He's good on the ball, he's got a good eye for a pass, as well as an accurate one, and he's quite a creative player.

Galli has played for the likes of Verona and Parma, and has made 85 Serie A appearances. Of course that's not very many for a 24 year old, but let's be honest...He's not really of Serie A standard but he's certainly good enough for me.

What's even better, is that he comes on a free, and we are literally paying him near to £0 p/w. I couldn't believe it either. The full sum of his wages adds up to £45 p/w and he's free as well as a solid player. Especially for this league.

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As many of you know, I'm pretty much useless at tactics. Or at least I was. Who knows? Personally I think I've gotten better, but when people like Niko, or Nick for instance see these, they could probably pick out many mistakes I have made.

I have gone with my favorite philosophy in football. The possession game. It's pretty much the philosophy I use for every single save I ever do, sometimes it has been really successful. Other times, the team I have taken over has crashed and burned to the ground.

So, the formations I will be using are quite similar. Our plan A will be a 4-1-2-2-1. One I am sure you've all used before. I want to see if my two starting wingers can, Rotariu and Lazar can give Martinetti the service he needs, if they do then hopefully we will not need the attacking midfielder, and will be able to keep our defensive midfielder who will cover the back line, and also drop into the back line as a half back.

The second formation is pretty much the same thing just with no defensive midfielder, and instead an attacking midfielder. If our wingers fail to step up I shall revert to this formation which is my plan B and will have to hope our defenders can cope without a defensive midfielder. I'm sure they can, but I'd prefer to let in as little goals as possible and that's why a 4-1-2-2-1 is my favored formation.

Tactically, my plans for the future are to build a team capable of playing the 4-2-3-1 formation. It's my favorite formation in the game and I think if we are playing a possession/control game, the attacking midfielder adds more spice to our front line.


I've kept the instructions simple purposely so that the players can get used to the tactics a little quicker (Hopefully before pre-season starts, which is in a month) I also don't want to over complicate things as we are in quite a small league, and the players obviously are no where near as good as say...Premier League players.

I'm sure this season we'll pan out well. Our pre-season includes four games against teams I have honestly never heard of before so I'll be expecting good performances. A good pre season and a solid start in our first game is what I am hoping to start off with. I'm sure we'll get that too!

Wow, how'd I miss this? Wish you the best of luck Aaron, and some great updates to kick off what should be a great story!

Great signing's now go get some results under your belt.

Good luck with your new story mate. Despite the fact that I am a Steaua fan I am going to follow this story for sure. Keep it up!

Tallery: No idea Cheers mate, I hope it will be!

MS99: Cheers mate, I'll give it my best

FMario: Cheers buddy. Just so you know, you've made this personal My aim is to destroy Steaua

My first game as Bucharest manager started off slightly disappointingly. We were playing a team named Stefanesti. I've never heard of them, but they're presumably a lower league Romanian team. We ended up finishing the game with a goal each to our names, which is frustrating because we played well and we should have won. We didn't really outweigh them any where other than in the possession statistics. Both teams had nine shots, both had four on target but I still think we were more than worthy of a win. They played well against a top team to be fair, so I tip my hat to them.

The second game was a massive improvement on the last. We did win, and by a comfortable margin. We had 23 shots to their 1 and we were completely dominant.
Cosmin Matei, one of our four right wingers scored a timely finish when the ball was set up nicely for him to slide past the opposition keeper, and he also scored the second a few minutes later, blasting a shot into the roof of the net from inside the box. Our young right back Rus made the score 3-0 when he introduced an opportunity for his team by overlapping Matei. He was passed the ball and from the touchline he lifted it up into the air whilst also getting into a better position. His positioning was so good, it earned him a goal as he took advantage of the rebound from Martinetti's powerful header. Mansaly finished the game with a fine strike from outside of the box that bent around two of the opponents defenders and into the keepers net.

After the delight of the last game, we would now play Jablonec. Jablonec surprised everyone including myself by taking the lead in the 12th minute. It was an unbelievable strike to set them a goal apart from us, but I can't say it didn't leave me feeling bitter. It was even more surprising when they scored a second. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, despite hammering them in terms of opportunities and possession, they were 2-0 up. They took their chances so well, and that I can only credit.

Steven Thicot scored 20 minutes before the game, a well deserved goal if I am honest. It had been coming all night, we'd been so unlucky up until that point. The luck was flowing back through thought. Not for Jablonec...But for us. Youngster Kamil Bilinski leveled the scores by opening himself up to hit the back of the net from Rotariu's low cross. Ten minutes later, we took the lead. Completely deserved but we'd won the game in the most bizarre fashion. Bogdan Gavrila, another of our youngsters pounced on Lazar's tackle on a Jablonec defender and bolted through the middle of the Jablonec half. One on one with the keeper all the way. The keeper came out, but to his dismay he realized Gavrila's pace and bottled it which made him putty in Gavrila's hands. Taking advantage he passed the ball around him and darted around the other side of the player scoring the winning goal.

GKS Tychy brought almost no challenge despite us only winning the game by just the one goal. We started the game well and ended it superbly. I really do think we should have scored more, but a win is a win so I shall take it.

We ended pre season with a fine display of football away to Gornik leczna. A brilliant 4-0 thumping of another lower league Romanian side. Daniele Martinetti scored his first goal for the club. It took a little longer than I'd have thought but we got there in the end. He scored the first goal in the 20th minute which was quickly followed by defensive midfielder Diakhate's goal.

Second half brought another two goals. One from the spot and another from a free kick. Ionut Serban and Valentin Balint scored them both and ensured our pre season would be an unbeaten one.

My thoughts - Overall I am pleased with our performances. Especially the attack. The defense was good too but it can certainly improve. know they were all lower league sides but I think they'll be a good indication as to how we'll do this season as many of the teams in the league are near the same quality as the clubs we played.

We have a hard start to the season. ASA Tirgu Mures, and two big rivals in Rabid Bucharest and Steaua Bucharest. We'll have to be at our very best to get off to a good start, so let's hope we are!

Great update mate, so much detail

August would definitely be a tough month for us. I and the team had a very hard to start to the likes of Steaua Bucharest and Rapid Bucharest who are of course from the same city as us, as well as massive rivals, so the pressure would certainly be on although I am sure I can get a good few points out of the three matches we'd be playing.

I'm aiming for a total of six points from Tirgu Mures and Rapid, but I think for now, Steaua is a bridge to far for us to really know or expect a win. So I won't really be expecting anything as they are such a good team. I've a lot of faith in the boys though and I am sure they can impress us, but let's see how it goes.


Before we took to playing Rapid and Steaua, we had a slightly easier game to play away from home. Taking nothing for granted though, I sent out our best team in search of a win in my first game. It's what we need, and I do not want them picking up a surprise win against us. Not in my first game.

For the first twenty minutes or so, the game was very tight and evenly matched. Neither team had any real chances to score. The tempo was high, which meant both teams found it difficult to keep hold of the ball, which was presumably why it was so even. We went into the second half with the scoreline we went out with at the start, and I sent the boys back out with the intention of slowing the game down and retaining the possession for the first few minutes.
They did it well and kept possession a lot better, but still there was no way through. It took me up to 80 minutes before I decided to risk the point(s). We threw everything forward and straight away, we scored. A blinder Boubacar Mansaly which lobbed the keeper and ended up in the left top corner of the net sent Dinamo home with their first three points of the season.


A chance to earn the respect from the fans now as we became hosts to our rivals Rapid Bucharest. Just like us, they were a historic team, but it was time to stamp our down our authority by beating them at home. We had a very good game, even before it we were touted as "Overwhelming favorites" but I really wasn't sure about that. Once again, I took advantage of nothing and put out the best team possible, and I soon realized why we were rated so highly when compared to Rapid. We dominated them 60 to 40 in possession whilst taking our shots tally up to 15. They made just 4 chances for themselves. Unfortunately, despite tearing them apart in almost every aspect of the game, the only bit we couldn't do was finish - The most important aspect to the game and we couldn't do it. Saying that...We did score but only the once. Our finishing was no where near good enough and that's why I slate them so much in the above sentences but we scored in the 30th minute through a shot which was almost impossible for Martinetti to miss. Keeping his dignity, he did score, and we stole the points in an important match.


The last game of the month saw us welcomed to Stadional Steaua, the biggest stadium in Romania which would be the venue for our toughest match of the season against our most fierce rivals, Steaua Bucharest.

having won our last two matches, I was confident. Somehow, they'd slipped up twice by drawing their first to games. Probably because of the Super Cup and four champions league play off games they had to play through, so I was thankful for the congestion they had. After being knocked out of the Champions League by Legia, I'm even more thankful because now they will have six more games to play in the Europa League.

Clearly, the lads were confident too. I sent them out to counter their attacking style and they impressed me a lot in defense which was a key factor to our win in the last game. Our wingers were our down fall though, and we just couldn't attack well enough to provide Martinetti. Both players put in poor performances and didn't work near as hard enough as I expect them too. Steaua took the lead in the 23rd minute which was hard to take, we'd been brilliant for the other 22 minutes, and we were brilliant for the remaining 22. Come half time, I decided to change it up a little, I thought if we tried to retain the ball instead of go route one, we might get something. What we got, was pretty much nothing in terms of goals and a result, but performance wise we were absolutely brilliant and I cannot tell you how we didn't equalize or go onto win the game. We ripped them apart at home, they just got the rub of the green which was a bitter pill to swallow.