Adalari FK, A New Dawn.

After our decimation at the hands of Vojvodina, I decided that our midfield was a little too exposed. With Intriago bombing forward & local lad, Abdulla Abatsiyev, being more a playmaking type, I felt we could use more of a defensive player to balance things out.

After a short search I found this guy on the transfer list;

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Adam Bodzek

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29 year old German midfielder, Adam Bodzek, becomes my 5th foreign signing. He may not be as well known as Samba Diakite but he looks solid defensively, can cover a few positions & has an outstanding work ethic.

I must admit that, I was under the impression that he was only signing a 2 year deal but somewhere along the line, his agent must of tacked on an extra year without me noticing. Oh well, if he does the job, who am I to complain!?

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A bit of a blow here as my attempts to strengthen our seemingly fragile defence are thwarted, this time by Huddersfield.

I saw former Reading, Burnley & Charlton defender, Andre Bikey, as an ideal, free, solution to our defensive woes, however the Cameroonian chose to join the Championship side for 4K per week, rather then ourselves for a substantially more, 24.5K per week! I cant help but feeling a little rejected!

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Pre-Season, Results.

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So, as you can see, pre season started poorly &, on paper at least, never really improved much. I was however, pleased with the steady improvement in performances (especially considering the constant arrival of new players), with the match against Serie C side, Catanzaro, a bit of a turning point for us.

Despite losing 2-0, we dominated that, & every subsequent game effortlessly, but just couldn't make the break through.

Against Azeri second division side, Mugan, we went to the half 2-0 down, completely against the run of play, which had me extremely worried, but a 2nd half hat-trick from Roland Linz, inspired us to a 5-1 second half & an easy victory in the end.

Our final match, a 3 all draw with Osorhei, again doesn't look good on paper but I did use a fully rotated squad in order to get overall fitness levels up before the season proper started, so its not as bad as it looks.

Title Odds.

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Understandably, we've been handed long odds of actually winning the title. 33-1 seems about right all things considered.

Interestingly, Qarabag have remained favourites with cashed up, Sumqayit City, next in line. The rest, including ourselves, will battle it out for the remaining Euro Cup spots, which is my ultimate goal, despite telling the board I'd be happy with mid table.

Really, we perhaps should be challenging for the title, but with an entirely new squad, that'll prove difficult first up. I expect us to start slowly & finish fast but you never know, some good early results & anything can happen!

August Schedule.

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We begin our campaign, at home, against the once dominant, Neftci Baku, before heading to Qarabag to face the title favourites. Two tough games to begin. Our final match of the month against Kapaz, however, is one we really should be winning, even at this early stage.

In all I'd be satisfied with 4 points to start the year. Between you & me though, I'd rather bank 7 & begin the season on the front foot! That'll be a big ask though, considering I still don't have a completed 25 man squad! In any case, wish me luck. Lets do this!

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Having missed out on the signature of Andre Bikey, I returned to a target I looked at earlier in the window, Ahmed Hegazi. A little over a month ago, the Egyptian had little interest in joining &, to be honest, the only thing that had changed in that time was my determination to sign a top line defender. After all, we conceded on average 3.2 goals a game during pre season & that was never going to cut it!

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Ahmed Hegazi

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Initially I was incredibly pleased that Ahmed had agreed to join, but upon reflection, It smacks of a panic buy.

Its not that he's not good enough mind, he's arguably the best defender in the league & at 24 can still improve plenty, the problem is, we were so far apart as far as wage demands go, that I had to hand him some massive bonuses to seal the deal, & that makes me nervous.

Still, if the former Fiorentina man can perform the way I know he can, he should be a decent buy & another guy I could potentially build a squad around. As long as he doesn't bankrupt us in the process!

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Pre Season Odds & Ends.

So, as eluded to before, the board is not being overly ambitious, setting us the task of a top half finish. I'd like to think we can do a little better then that, but didn't want to put too much pressure on us.

The Cup is not regarded as important, however, as it offers another route to Europe, I will be taking it seriously & hoping for a deep run. Speaking of Cups...



Qarabag Agdam take home the first piece of silverware for the save, beating Neftci on penalties to win the Super Cup. Apologies for the lack of a gam overview, guess I forgot to SS it!

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Ticket Sales.

The club sold 3,000 season tickets, which is In no way a surprise to me as I set the number in the editor prior to starting the save!

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World Cup Qualifying.

Azerbaijan are drawn with Germany & the Czech Republic, amongst others. Not even the most optimistic Azeri would expect much from that, but the hope is that eventually we can change that. This time though, not finishing bottom will probably be the goal.

So, that's about it. Nothing left to do but see how we do.

Have played the first month so expect an update soonish!

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