I like the additions for the season, looking forward to seeing what the might of Brentford can bring to the Prem, predicting Watkins and Henry to shine
A lot to be proud of from the past season. Next season will be tough but Brentford have the right man in charge for the fight!
A Swarm Of Bees - EURO 2020 (EP 12)
Kicking our asses all over Europe.

Before going to the big tournament, let's have brief history lesson about Bulgaria's best ever performances. Of course the team is well know for his 4th place at World Cup 1994 in the USA, where Stoichkov & co. managed to escape from a tough group with the teams of Nigeria (0-3), Greece (4-0) and Argentina (2-0) to make history by eliminating Mexico in the round of 16 in a penalty drama and after it beating the reigning world champions Germany to surprise the whole world. The team was robbed against Italy in the semi-final as the whole world saw a second penalty in the 70 minute for the team. The whole world except the referee. So 4th place in the world!
One more time Bulgaria had reached the round of 16 in the World Cup - in Mexico 1986.
However our record in the Euro Championships is not so good in recent history as we made just 2 appearances in the last 12 tournaments - in 1996 & 2004. Before that the club has reached 1/4 final in 1968 but back then the championship was different and only small number of teams played.
So - we're the biggest underdog. We knew that and will try to at least have fun. We didn't have any expectations, but still we all wanted something magical to happen.
Before the tournament we will play 3 friendlies - against Ireland, Poland & Finland. Two of our brightest talents had injuries that put them off for the tournament as Minchev from Lyon and Stanislav Ivanov from Watford will have to wait for another big forum to play.
After the surprising qualification and the 3 wins from 5 matches in 2019 the spirits were high and in all the country people was talking for another miraculous tournament as the one in 1994.
This was the selected team to represent Bulgaria:
Goalkeepers:
Plamen Iliev (28, Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria))
Georgi Kitanov (25, Astra Giurgiu (Romania))
Daniel Naumov (22, CSKA 1948 (Bulgaria))
Defenders:
Strahil Popov (29, Stade Brestois 29 (France))
Nikolay Bodurov (34, Esteghlal (Iran))[
b]Vasil Bozhikov (32, Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia))
Georgi Terziev (28, Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria))
Anton Nedyalkov (27, Brighton (England))
Radoslav Dimitrov (31, OSK Sepsi (Romania))
Ivan Goranov (28, Levski Sofia (Bulgaria))
Midfielders:
Simeon Slavchev (26, Levski Sofia (Bulgaria))
Georgi Kostadinov (29, Arsenal Tula (Russia))
Kristiyan Malinov (26, CSKA-Sofia (Bulgaria))
Ivaylo Chochev (27, Pescara (Italy))
Borislav Tsonev (25, Inter Zapresic (Croatia))
Dimitar Iliev (31, Lokomotiv Plovdiv (Bulgaria))
Bozhidar Kraev (23, Midtjylland (Denmark))
Georgi Milanov (28, Videoton (Hungary))
Todor Nedelev (27, Botev Plovdiv (Bulgaria))
Kiril Despodov (23, Cagliari (Italy))
Attackers:
Valeri Bozhinov (34, Pescara (Italy))
Anrey Galabinov (31, Spezia (Itally))
Stanislav Kostov (28, Levski Sofia (Bulgaria))
Bulgaria vs. Ireland

We dominated the match against another team competing in the Euro 2020. They manage to get a draw only because we get a silly penalty. Our team looks really good and maybe, just maybe the whole nation will have something to cheer about in the next month. Kraev with the goal and POTM, Despodov with the assist!
Bulgaria vs. Poland

We tried a defensive tactic against a way bigger side than our. Actually we played really great in the first half. After it something happened and every shot of the opposition went into our net. Looking into the stats they are almost even in every attribute but we lost. Nothing to worry about, this team is 12th in the world ranking and we played as equals. Despodov with 2 goals!
Bulgaria vs. Finland

Ooops! This was our final game before the Euro 2020 kick off and we wanted to make good impression not only to our supporters, but to the whole world. Absolutely destroyed by the Finland team as we worsen the things by getting a red card in the 31 minute. We played with most of our reserves this game, but never expected such a catastrophe.
Some boo's after the final whistle and the hopes and wishes for a good tournament are turning into fears and doubts. Are we going to have another shameful experience as the one from Euro 2004 when were the worst team in the tournament - loosing 5-0 to Sweden, 2-0 to Denmark and 2-1 to Italy.
However we can slide into the next round as the best 3rd teams in the groups also advance to the next round. Our groups is really tough as we have to face Germany (10th in the World Rankings), Belgium (2nd) and Ukraine (30th).
OPENING CEREMONY

Note: I'm so frustrated with myself as I forgot to fix the real names and players before the squads are announced so Germany are not with their well known players. This also was bad for me as I didn't know how to approach the game, are they gonna be as strong as with real players or not? F*ck me for that.
Bulgaria vs. Germany

The first match in our group was in Munich in front of almost 60k home fans against the great Germany. As noted above didn't fix the real names before the tournament started so we played against some fictional players aaaaaaaaaand yeah. First half was not bad, even when conceded, we had some good chances but we never managed to take them. Then came the penalty and everything was over for our hopes for a good beginning. Tried to play offensively but you can't do this against Germany. Poor start and even worse - Belgium was coming as second fixture!
Belgium vs. Bulgaria

This time we knew exactly against who we are going out and our tactic was the one that fit us. We played great, making troubles for one of the best teams out there. We almost score as we hit the post in the 65 minute and then came the fucking penalty again. Hazard didn't hesitate and scored, then in the next attack scored once more as the disbelieve was all over our players. We were so close to making great statement but then again - failed because of a pen.
Next we have Ukraine - the winner might be playing in the second round as the things are standing in the other groups. Our best player Despodov was suspended for our team. Maybe we will try something more attacking and extra ordinary from our normal style.
Bulgaria vs. Ukraine

I don't know what to say... The match was over in the 9th minute. All this hopes and prays went to nothing for just NINE minutes. And again - penalty. After the third goal we threw our tactics and went all or nothing. Strahil Popov scored once and that was. We get nothing. In the second half tried playing with ultra attacking formation just to receive another 3 goals. We get more than nothing - the worst performance of the team in European Championship in the history with 0 points, just 1 goal scored and -11 goal difference. And the final nail in the coffin - Ukraine are playing in the next round.
Absolutely devastating performance, all the boys felt my anger. We didn't play well at all, we didn't have ANY luck and nothing came out as we wanted. We're winless in 6 games. Nobody wants to flew back to Bulgaria as we knew how we are going to be welcomed. We are going to be asked where are our hearts and balls and will have to get the insults by the whole country.
The only thing that we can do is to fight back next time and try to achieve more than that, try to get the believe in our team once again by the supporters, their love. And this must happen with display on the field.
Some of the players will never play for our team again as we're going to call more and more younger players and think not just for the next match, but for the next generation.
Our next challenge will be the Nations League. Last time Bulgaria was promoted from League C and now we have the tougher task to play against way better teams. This is our group and our task is to avoid relegation, but again I aim higher.

GROUP STAGE

We entered the tournament as the weakest side and we go out of the tournament as the weakest side. No great story, no fairytale, nothing special. Holland didn't have the best of time and are also out of the Euro as we pack our stuff and flew back home. We must forget fast this nightmare and focus on our next mission. Here is how everything else went after our departure.

Some really dramatic results, but the current World Champions conquer another peak and get revenge for the Euro 2016 fiasco. France winning with penalties (Ronaldo subbed only in the 60 minute). Before that England eliminated Spain only to do the most English thing and screw up in the 109 minute against Portugal. In the other half of the tree France dominated all his opponents (beating Belgium 4-0 at the semis, wow). Mbappe was the goalscorer of the tournament with 10 goals, winning also best player and best young player! All hail the king!
Not the best update, but hey you can't win every time, that's way the game is fun for me, driving me nuts with some results, making you happy with another.
Thanks for reading once again & hope you enjoy it.
Comments:
TheLFCFan & Griffo - Yep, probably there will be some kind of change int the most of the matches, as currently I'm trying some things in the friendlies, will see if they will work.
Justice & ScottT - Hoping with the new guys that came the life in the PL won't be so tough, but we need time.
The tournament may have been disappointing but will provide valuable experience to the players for the future. Plenty to take from defeats and you'll have something to build on for future tournaments!
Oof, not the greatest of tournaments but it's a feat in and of itself that you managed to take them to the European Championship at all!
Well... I'm not sure what to say about that World Cup
A great effort to qualify for the Finals in the first place but to go out like you did must have been gut-wrenching to watch!

Ouch! That is an incredibly tough tournament. No doubt the heavy defeat against Finland knocked the morale of the side before hand. Unfortunate but hopefully it'll be a learning lesson.
A Swarm Of Bees - Chaotic Summer (EP 13)

After the beating we took at Euro 2020 I was determined to make another big forum with the team as top aim. Surprisingly three teams decided to offer me a interview. Holland which didn't have the best run, Italy, who also didn't perform as they wanted aaaaand FRANCE, the current European & World champions. I'm man of my word and declined all these opportunities, I have a job to do with the Bulgaria squad. However the feeling is great that someone sees the potential in my skills even that the results were awful.
Trying to keep Brentford best players is one of the hardest things at the moment as many teams are trying to grab some of the best players of the rising team. The manager told the press that he is not willing to say goodbye to no one of the main core of the team no matter the price. Many offers from other Premier League sides were rejected. Josh Dasilva, Said Benrahma, Rico Henry & Henrik Dalsgaard proved to be loyal as they also showed no interest in the offers, also gaining the respect & love of the fans.

But then came the offer from Hertha to which Brentford couldn't say no. €35.5 millions for Mads Roerslev, The young wingback was one of the best players in the team, winning Young Player of The Year award and providing 10 assist through the season. However €35 mil. for a 20 year old kid is too much money not to be taken. The Danish player have great potential, however our job is also to have profit in the end of the year. With great remorse we accepted the offer. €25.5 in-front and the other 10 millions within the next year.

Also we sold Joel Valencia for €2 millions to as he didn't have the needed quality for the Premier League. Before the end of last season we sealed the selling of Emiliano Marcondes for €5.5 to Seatle. We will try not to sell anybody else from the team.
We had already a couple of new players added to the first team - Isak (ST), Tibbling (MC), Andersson (RB), Semedo (DM), Fruchtl (GK) and a lot (really a lot) of money still in the bank. Brentford has a good spirited team that maybe is more than enough to escape the relegation. However the manager saw an opportunity to build really strong collective to not only fight for relegation but something more.
First - a lot of new scouts, physios and coaches were recruited so the team can be competitive in the league and still we were only above the average. We need to gain some reputations so the best coaches would come to us - this will happen with time and results.
We had a couple of targets in the summer but because of our transfer policy (not giving expensive transfer fees and to make profit out of every player) we were unable to accept the demanding of the selling teams. We really wanted Pionte Sisto to join us, but Celta wanted €30 mil. for him even though they were relegated. Another one of our targets - Jeremie Boga wanted 6 milion per year as salary even that we barely accepted the €15 milion price tag. Great players, but we need to concentrate on the calculations and not to spend foolishly (as Fulham IRL for example).
So we searched the market only for special deals that fit our strategy and also players which can be useful to us. Udinese Calcio got relegated and soon all of their players were on the market.

FRANCISCO SIERRALTA (DC) was the first player to be added to our squad. We used the tough situation that Udinese was into and got the promising Chilean for just €1.1 which is absurdly low even by our standarts. Great deal even though we didn't really needed another centre back.
Next we needed some cover some cover for the spot that Joel Valencia left. Our main target was Marko Pjaca, but he chose the french side Rennes. After the tough and unsuccessful negotiations with Sisto, Boga & El Ghazi we decided not to buy a player for this position, rather we will get a loan and decide by the player's performance if he is worthy.

CHRIS WILLOCK (AMR/AML) is coming from Benfica as a loan player for 1 year with the optional price of €5 million at the end of it. He had an okay season at Huddersfield last year, nothing special but the guy has potential. Everything here will be performance based. If he doesn't provide, we won't pay the price and we can buy someone else in the winter if he is worst than expected. His salary is small, so this is also risk calculated.
We have exactly 2 players for each position that we use in our midfield (mezzala, box-to-box & deep lying playmaker), however we brought Alfa Semedo as a ball winning midfielder as we will face much tougher teams this year, so why not bring another one to have a plan B. Preston didn't managed to get promoted and some of their players were not happy about it so it was our chance to attack.

BEN PEARSON (DM, MC) is one of the best midfielders in the Championship so when the opportunity came, we didn't hesitate. Again coming for less than half of his value price on the market we signed with the aggressive midfielder for just €4.1 million. It gets a little bit overcrowded in our midfield but we will manage the situation.
And as we thought we are done with the transfer market this summer are scouts couldn't believe their eyes. Tilo Kehrer was requesting a transfer as he doesn't get enough chances at the french champions - PSG and the sum was laughable.

The German national TILO KEHRER (DC) is signed from the french champions PSG for €6 millions. The player gets a buy out clause of €101 millions and will make our defense more solid. Of course there will be some problems with the playing time of the other defenders but we will try to avoid confrontations with some loan deals.
So we sold only 1 of our player and got four players with great potential for just €11.2 millions. Great stuff dealing with our finances and at the end of the day again we have more than €20 mil. in the bank ready if we are in a tough spot in the winter.
Also we used our method of getting talents in the club (as we don't have a youth intake) by snapping up the best free youngster out there. Toni Moya was signed from Atletico alreday, Tomash Schiro from Internazionale. We also snap up two great talents released from PSG & Manchester United - Isaac Karamoko (18, striker) and Luca Ercolani (20, central defender). Also we get Hakim El Mokeddem, Algerian attacking midfielder from Rennes for just 200k. We also bought one of Iceland biggest talents - Kristofer Ingi Kristinsson for €1M, but he left him at his club Grenoble for a year long loan.
Another big part of our strategy as a club is to loan most of our players so they can play and develop in the big leagues (not playing U21 football).

So the bigger names here are Jan Zamburek going to Sunderland (finally in the Championship), Luca Racic going to AGF (Denmark), Mads Sorensen (central defenders who would probably stayed with us if we didn't bought Sierralta & Kehrer) going to Houston Dynamo. New signings - Tony Moya going to Vallecano and others. All of our loans are with the condition that we don't pay anything of the player's salary and he is important part of his new club. Probably we will have some more player going out on a loan, but this is for now.

We had a really great camp in Portugal, playing against local sides.We experimanted with different formations and partnership. Also almost all the new boys had the chance to play with his team mates (Only Kehrer didn't as he is injured for two weeks). The only game that we lost was against the MLS All-Stars, however great pre-season.
Our schedule for August is not the nicest as we play as it follows:
Burnley (A)
Liverpool (H) - first match at our new stadium.
West Ham (H)
Luton (H) - Micky Mouse Cup
Manchester City (A)
Soon the fun begins and we will fight for our survival!
Thanks for reading & hope you enjoy it!
COMMENTS:
Justice - Yep, hopefully we will see another big forum, but it will be tough, we will play with younger squad and try to develop the players.
ScottT, Griffo, Jack & Zed - The qualification is great achievement itself, however loosing is never fun, especially with a penalty given in every match for the opposition although I didn't play with "get stuck in".
TheLFCFan - The whole year was awful for the national team, hope we can kick some good results after the disappointment.
Tango - We reached the finals for the first time in 16 years, it's a big thing for us, of course the results were not pretty, however nobody will forget the excitement & hopes before the tournament.
Lots and lots of movement looking to get the squad ready to hit the ground running in the big leagues!
Some decent additions to the squad. A lot of money recouped from the sale of Mads and I can absolutely understand why you didn't hesitate to sell. That is a lot of money for a player of his age. Ben Pearson joining for such a minimal fee is a fantastic piece of business.
Having brought in Sisto and Kehrer on a separate save I can confidently say that they will make a huge difference. Interesting that you've brought in some psychos along with the rest of your backroom staff


1
I don't know how to stress how fucking hilarious the name BOGA sounds in Brazilian Portuguese
actually I can, but it's NSFW stuff
story-wise, you've got some talent there m8, good things are around the corner
actually I can, but it's NSFW stuff
story-wise, you've got some talent there m8, good things are around the corner
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