Awesome update and I think this could end up there at the end of the season

A brilliant update, and a great way of introducing your manager to the life of being a football manager!

(Also, I was right about it being Mourinho! )

Amazing update Walt! Your writing never fails to amaze me though

Turning down Mourinho...hot damn you are dumb.

That's the attitude. Coaching isn't good enough!

No1VillaFan Thank you, it's still 2004 in the story so there's still a bit of time left.
Justice Why thank you, and yes you were
Josh_MU Oh stop it, you
Nealão </3
Feliks Exactly!

Mixed Emotions

"The only underdogs in history that everyone wants to see get beaten" - Bary Glenndenning on Greece in Euro 2004

I wasn't at my house for the Euro 2004 final, in fact, I was back at my family's home in Figueira da Foz watching alongside my father, one of my biggest inspirations in life. He had always taught me that humility and loyalty were two of the biggest assets in life and that would stick with me for the rest of my life.

Portugal were on the cusp of a title - and even better, it was on home soil. Greece were our opposition, and, despite beating us 2-1 in the group stage, we were heavy favourites. Greece had managed just to defy the odds even reaching this stage.

The thing with Greece was, they played ugly football. However, I'm not holding that against them. People talk about the winners in almost every case, not the person in second place. Yes, attacking football is good on the eye and I love it much better than defensive minded structures... but football was and will be a results business for ever. Whatever it takes to win, however ugly the football may be, is the way I would manage my club.

Greece, against the odds.. yet again, managed to beat the Seleccao. I was heartbroken. One goal was all that was in it and despite having talents such as Ronaldo, Figo and a host more - we couldn't get the result on the day, partly due to Greece itself.

They played with their uber defensive style of play and had to score on their one clear cut chance, it was just... frustrating. I quickly remembered what José Mourinho had told me when I first joined F.C Porto. He talked about the people that were against the whatever it takes and win at all costs attitude. In an attempt to drain out any anger on my part against the Greeks for their win I thought about his words and remembered that they were just doing what I would do - what Mourinho himself would do.

Sure, I loved beautiful football. Brazil of 1970 - best side to ever play, in my opinion. Brazil of '86 and Argentina and Holland of the 70s and 80s. All great sides who played amazing football - but there is one thing about football I like more.

Winning. And that was what I intended to do for the rest of my career.

i can't wait for the next update. I'm really into it. superb style of writing! keep this up.
And i'm sure the decission to stay in Porto will be the beginning of something big.

So nostalgic! Love it

Charisteas <3

In all seriousness, great update delving into Martins' mentality, and I agree. For me, Brazil of 1970 was great but Holland with Cruyff was the best. Total Football, yum.

Another great update! You're just too good for this.

Another brilliant couple of updates Walter, my friend. I'm hooked on every word at the moment..

Thank you for all the kind comments, updates will continue as of tomorrow!

Dramatic Conclusions

It had been probably over ten years by now ever since I entered coaching and the non-playing side of football. The Champions League win with Mourinho and Porto was the highlight of my career and I worked under a few more managers, most notably Co Adriaanse, Jesualdo Ferreira and Andre Villas-Boas. I'd won the Primeira League multiple times and I'd also won cups both domestically and on the continental stage, so, once AVB left for Chelsea I felt it was finally the time to move on.

I scoured for jobs and eventually took up the role of assistant manager at Naval, my hometown club. We unfortunately were relegated down to the third division and the club could no longer pay my wages so I looked for a full time manager role.

Unfortunately, no one took a chance on me, despite holding a UEFA Continental Pro License and working for so long at a club like F.C Porto. Eventually I got another assistant manager gig, this time with Portugal Under 21s. It was a really good experience to work with the country's youth and possibly the next generation of Portuguese football and also helped develop my skill at working with youngsters.

It was now coming to the start of the 2014 season and I went scouring through the news to find some results. I skipped past the latest headlines of the world, where issues such as "Arrandland declares War on North Korea in fight for independence", as well as "Joshua Hull confirms he was raised by a Gorillas" dominated the front pages. What I was really looking for was the sport section and what was on the back page made my jaw drop.


I don't know why but I decided to try my luck. I quickly sent a text message to Pinto da Costa expressing my interest in the job and decided to wait on it.


I cautiously entered the boardroom, expecting to see a host of men in suits eyeing me down, trying to make me crack. Instead, it was just Pinto da Costa, sitting in his chair at the head of the table.

The nervousness I'd first felt quickly went away, all of a sudden I had a good feeling about this.

"Welcome, Vitor. Let's get down to business," he said as I took a seat opposite him. "I got your text, I know about your interest in this job and I know about your experience."

I nodded, not sure what to expect next.

"I'm willing to give you a year. One year, that's it. Win the league and get to the first knockout round of the Champions League, nothing else is important. Are you alright with that?"

I nodded again. I was more than alright with it.

"Great, I'll give you the same amount of wages as I gave the past manager. I'll also send you the budgets tomorrow and you can meet the rest of the team, here, not that you'll need to. I think that's it, thanks Vitor."

"Not a problem," I said, now grinning uncontrollably. da Costa reached down under his desk to grab something, I couldn't completely see but he brought out this glass bottle with an orange-brown liquid inside that looked like whisky.

"Care to celebrate?" he grabbed two glasses. "It's a new, modern beveredge, apparenty it's the hottest thing going round!"

"What's it called?" I asked.

"It's known as Jetmirche123, it really is delicious!" he beamed.

"No, I'm alright, thanks."

Jetmirche123...more like Jetmirche123!