My Sporting Lisbon Story

Supertaca
Porto 2 - 0 Sporting
Moutinho (67), Kadlec (77)

Another defeat to Porto with a trophy at stake, we seem to do alright in league games against them but they are unbeatable in cup finals!

Premier league
After the first 17 league games we have won 13, drawn 3 and lost 1
The loss was against Olhanense
Olhanense 3 - 2 Sporting
Toy(14) - Elias (19), van Wolfswinkel (46)
Perreira (og 45+1)
Yontcha (50)
This is the team currently sitting in fourth in the league, the only team anywhere near the big 3 but this is still a dissappointing defeat.
The 2 draws are against teams we should be beating aswell, newly promoted Naval get a 1-1 draw out of us at their place and Rio Ave nick a 0-0 draw in Lisbon. On a better note we did beat both Benfica and Porto in their stadiums
Benfica 1 - 4 Sporting
Porto 0 - 1 Sporting
So we have shown we are good enough to beat our 2 main rivals for the league title but have dropped points in games we shouldn't be. So after 17 games the top 4 looks like this:
Porto - 43pts
Sporting - 42pts
Benfica - 41pts
Gil Vicente - 31pts

Champions League
We get a tough group here
Dortmund
Ajax
Lyon
This is a group with no real standout side but all 4 teams look on paper to be pretty much level par in terms of quality, maybe you would say Lyon have the best squad but not by alot.
Sporting 1 - 1 Dortmund
Elias (25) - Sobiech (43)

Ajax 1 - 1 Sporting
Serrero (80) - Verratti (pen 49)
Sagbo (misspen 33)

Lyon 3 - 0 Sporting
Lovren (5)
Lopez (21, 84)

Sporting 0 - 4 Lyon
Balotelli (30), Briand (38), Kallstrom (83, 87)

Dortmund 3 - 1 Sporting
Lewandowski(60) - Verratti (88)
Reus (68) Evaldo (off 33)
Grosskreutz (70)

So after 6 group games we are yet to pick up a win, the Dortmund away game probably the most dissappointing as we were playing well until the sending off. So we go into the final game, at home to Ajax, bottom of the group with 2 points. We know we cannot qualify for the knockkout rounds so the only hope of carrying on our European campaign is to get 3rd in the group so we drop into theEuropa League. Ajax are currently sat in 3rd on 5 points, if we can beat them in the final game we would take that place as our head to head record with them would be better as we drew out in Amsterdam.
Sporting 3 - 1 Ajax
Fernandez (pen 18, 83) - Eriksen (40)

So we manage to get our first win in this Champions League campaign in our final attempt, this does mean we drop into the Europa League though which is important for revenue if nothing else.

Taca de Portugal
Sporting 7 - 0 Montalegre
Jeffren (18), Verratti (37), Radallega (31, 35, 41, 48), Capel (86)

Feirense 0 - 1 Sporting (AET)
Roadallega (93)

Maritimo 2 - 4 Sporting
Adilson (4) - Elias (24), Rodriguez (59, 91)
Balu (54) Henrique (og 71)

Sporting 3 - 0 Beira Mar
Rodallega (1), Fernandez (45), Elias (61)

So we are still in contention to win 3 trophies this season, again the league is my main aim but i would love to have success in the Europa League aswell, that would bring in some much needed money to the club. The team has improved from having an extra year playing together but at times we do miss Danny Welbeck, for example the 0-0 with Rio Ave, if we had him or a striker of his quality i don't think that would have eneded a draw and if we had won that game we would be 2 points clear at the top of the league, further proof of the small margins in football.
Jeffren (50)

i am LOVING this story, and the read is just marvelous. although a few screenshots wouldn't hurt

continue please, go sporting!!

I'd love to add screenshots but I can't work out how!!

This is a good read!

Have you tried asking the board tpo increase percentage of player sales revenue made available to you? Sporting's standard will probably mean they ll accept.

Europa League
We are drawn against German side Werder Bremen in the 1st Knockout round of Europes second competition

Sporting 7 - 1 Werder Bremen
Jeffren (21) - Kowalski (80)
Fernandez (26, 70, 75, 77)
Elias (35)
Carrico (47)

We absolutely dominated this game, 3 goals in 7 minutes from Matiaz Fernandez pretty much books our place in the next round. I decide to leave most of the first teamers in Lisbon for the trip to Bremen, they have to beat us 6-0 to qualify afterall

Werder Bremen 3 - 1 Sporting
Kowalski (56) - Neto (53)
Borowski (74)
Baier (81)

So we go through with a convincing aggregate score of 8-4. That first leg performance was probably the best this team has played under me.

The draw for the next round is not kind to us, we draw Arsenal. This will be my first game in England but i don't go into it with much confidence. I decide not to alter our playing style, if we are going to do well we are going to do it playing our own attractive brand of fluid football

Arsenal 4 - 1 Sporting
Mertesacker (27) - Fernandez (62)
Bendtner (57)
Perotti (65, 79)

When Fernandez pulled it back to 1-2 i though we might be in with a chance, then Perotti struck a double blow. We are pretty much out after this result, but that doesn't meann we won't give it everything we have in the home leg

Sporting 1 - 4 Arsenal
Capel (2) - Santos (og 15), Walcott (23, 35, 56)

We were outclassed by the Gunners over these 2 legs, it just shows how far we need to come if we are to be a top European side.

Overall a pretty dissappointing European campaign this year, only getting one win from the Champions League group stage was a real lowpoint.

Taca de Portugal
So we are in one semi final against Gil Vicente and Porto are in the other, i fear we are going to have to face off in the final for the second year running
Semi final 1st leg
Gil Vicente 0 - 3 Sporting
Rodallega (12, 49), Izmailov (16)
Semi final 2nd leg
Sporting 1 - 1 Gil Vicente
Santos (38) - Polga (og 74)

It is as i feared and im sure most people guessed, we will play Porto in the final once again. Porto have been unbeatable in one off games like this since i came here, the only time we seem to be able to get a result against them is in the league. We go into the final determined to end this run of final defeats
Porto 2 - 0 Sporting
Izmailov (og 19)
Pandev (33)
So it has happened again, we have b=lost to Porto in the final. To be fair this time they were by far the better team, we just don't seem to have the confidence to beat Porto in these games.

Portugese League Cup
After a pretty uneventful run to the final we are surprised to find we are not up against Porto in the final, wee will play the team we beat in the Taca de Portugal semi final, Gil Vicente. We MUST win this game, a trophy is at stake and we have proven we are better than our opponennts already this season.
Gil Vicente 2 - 2 Sporting
Viera (73) - Halisson (og 27)
Yero (84) Rodriguez (69)
So we were 2-0 up going into the last 20 minutes and we threw the lead away, 2 bad goals to concede. There is no extra time in the League cup so we go straight to penalties. Our opponents go first
1-0
1-0 - Jeffren miss
2-0
2-1 - Rodallega score
3-1
3-2 - Rubio score
4-2
4-3 - Santos score
4-3 - they miss
4-4 - Carrico score
5-4
5-4 - Insua miss
So we lose in another final, this is obviously a pressure thing. We do have a very young team and they obviously cannot deal with playing in the high pressure games. This is something i am going to have to look at, but again i cannot bring in an experienced old head if i am not given the funds to do so.

Premier League
So from the last 13 league games we win 9, draw 3 and lose 1. So from a position of being 1 point behind in the title race we have gone on to drop another 6 points.
The loss is a terrible performance from the team, going down 1-0 to newly promoted Naval in Lisbon. This is nowhere near what i expect and i let the lads know this after the game.
The draws are as follows:
Sporting 1 - 1 Porto
Leiria 1 - 1 Sporting
Braga 2 - 2 Sporting
The Leria result is the most dissappointing out of these, we once again get something out of Porto in the league.
So at the end of the season the tables looks like this

Porto - 75pts
Sporting - 72pts
Benfica - 63pts

So we have lost our league title, the loss to Naval was devastating and i knew it wouldn't go unpunished.

I said i would give everything to Sporting this season and reevaluate the situation at the end of the season. After our form dipped towards the end of the season and we continued to leak money all season i don't see the board giving me any finances to improve the team for the new season. We need to bring in players to add to the team, they are improving but we need better squad depth.
I take the decision to resign from my position as manager, i feel this is the bext move for my own career and for the club, if i don't feel enthusiastic anymore i have no chance of bringing success. I have a good reputation in world football after our league win and having such a high win percentage, i feel i should be able to land a good job in one of the big european leagues. The first job available i am interested in is the Liverpool job, with Kenny Dalgleish leading them to a 12th place finish he has been sacked. I send in an application but the club decide to appoint Carlo Ancelotti instead. I do get one job offer from the English Premier League, West Brom approach me and offer me a transfer kitty of 14m. I see this as a step in the wrong direction so decide to turn the job down. A few months pass with me getting 3 job offers from Brazil, i turn them all down as i decide i would definately prefer a return to England, the Premier League imparticular. Then in November, just 5 months after taking the job, Ancelotti is sacked by Liverpool. The next day they contact me offering me the job with a transfer kitty of 21.5m. I am delighted to accept and am looking forward to starting my Anfield experience, although i know this will not be easy with Liverpool currently sitting in 14th in the league and already out of the League cup.