[FM13] C.D. Constància: Trading places

1000th view right here!

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CD Constancia: enjoying Mallorca in the spring

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg

Before the transfer window had closed I had decided to add two more players to the squad. The smart move would properly have been to save the money but with the injury situation getting critical I felt I didn’t have a choice. We added another striker in what looked like a good prospect in Ruben Casanova and another defender in José Peris. Both were free agents and signed one and a half year deals with under €500 in salary pr week. Little risk but most likely also little reward.

ST Ruben Casanova
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/RubnCasanova_OverviewAttributes.jpg

DC José Peris
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/JosPeris_OverviewAttributes.jpg


Now we found ourselves with just nine games left in the regular season and still with an outside shot of the promotion playoffs. We had not conceded a goal in six games and found ourselves in 6th place. That could have been a lot better if we had managed to score some goals of our own but three wins and five draws had at least kept us relevant.


Gimnàstic who moved down from the LIGA adelante last season, already looked like a clear winner of the division, nine points out in front. Second and third place was also close to locked up by Valencia Mestalla and Hospitalet. That left just one playoff spot to play for and four teams with a realistic chance. Currently that place belonged to Reus with 49 points with us just one point back. And the team coming to Inca, Mallorca this week was Reus.


This was properly my first must-win game I had faced as the manager for CD Constancia. If we lost this game our season would be close to over. It would be difficult to take back four points on Reus in just eight games and also make sure the other contenders stayed behind us.

It was Reus who came out strong and dominated the ball but they struggled to create chances and instead it was CD Constancia who scored first. On a floating free kick from almost midfield from Jean-Luc Gbayara, Reus forgot to mark Deimà despite having eleven men in the box and the loan player from R.C.D. Mallorca could easily direct the ball in the longest corner with a header for his 3rd goal of the season. Reus came back just two minutes after the break when CD Constancia failed to clear on defends. After one hour of play CD Constancia took back the lead on another poor clearance, this time by the Reus defends. But just five minutes later Reus again equalized, this time after sloppy marking on a corner kick. The game was decided with just eight minutes left on the clock when the Reus defends made a horrible penalty. David Karg stepped up and made no mistakes.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/Reus.jpg


CD Constancia was suddenly in 4th place with just eight games to go and in control of there own destiny.


The bad news. Only 591 people showed up on the stadium to witness it.

2012-12-09 23:00#71725 Northwood : The bad news. Only 591 people showed up on the stadium to witness it.

Well, Inca is a bit chilly in March and the tourist season is only just starting. It'll pick up. Don't worry.

Vamos Constancia!

The FM Rookie : 1000th view right here!
Congrats with the story, keep it going to the top

Thanks for reading rookie.
There is a looooong way to the top. Hope to be top-of-Mallorca in another 3-4 seasons.

- a_esbech : Well, Inca is a bit chilly in March and the tourist season is only just starting. It'll pick up. Don't worry.
Vamos Constancia!

Inca in March is still a lot better than the Scandinavian winter I am used to.
Afraid the evil RCD Mallorca is stealing most of the fans available on Mallorca.

CD Constancia: Running hot

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg
With the raise in the standing a brand new phenomenon suddenly started too showed up on No Camp De Inca. No, it was not the local population who were still perfectly unaware of our success on the pitch or who just didn’t care about lower league football and supported the evil R.C.D. Mallorca instead.

But a group of people not unaware of what was going on in Inca and not uninterested in making a few bucks was the scouts. They suddenly started to show up for home games and this time not just to watch the opponent.

The person attracting the most attention was a local player from Mallorca 21-year old David Karg. Ever since installing the new coaching regime the name of Karg was mentioned almost every week and his rating was improving bye the day to the point where he was now starting to look like a real footballer.


That also showed on the pitch where David Karg he lead the team with a 7.24 average rating and had earned three “Player of the Match” awards
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/DavidKarg-1.jpg
I had anticipated this and made sure to renew his contract thru 2016. But with interest from several clubs rising I was afraid that my board would overrule my desirer to keep him and instead sell at the first opportunity to add a few Euros to the empty bank account.

Before the last game of the season we were tied for 3rd place but just a single point in front of Levante B in 5th place.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/SpanishSecondDivisionB3_OverviewProfile-2.jpg


We traveled to Sant Andreu. Luckily for us the team from Barcelona was in the middle of the table and had nothing to play for.


CD Constancia scored after just 15 minutes when Igarki got in front of a defender for the easy goal. At the half it was still only 0-1 and with the results coming in from the other games we needed a win. After an hour of play it was decided when Igarki scored three more goals in just thirteen minutes. The CD Constancia players had already started to celebrate when Mateu added a fifth goal two minutes in to extra time.
It was the most goal we had scored since the first game of the season when we beat Gava 5-0 in the first round of the Spanish Cup. But this time the win was much more important as it propelled us in to the promotion playoffs together with Hospitalet and Valencia Mestalla.

CD Constancia: Playoffs football in Inca

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg
Playoff football was what it took to get the people of Inca to come and watch football at Nou Camp d'Inca. There were now just six games between us and LIGA adelante (Segunda División) football next season and for the first playoff game at home against FC Cartagena from Murcia, a total of 6702 people was in the stands. It was not much they got to see as the two teams played to a scoreless draw.


The return game was a different story.


I was not proud to send out the team in a 4-1-4-1 formation with only Igaka with offensive duties in a game were we had to score a goal to advance. Still I felt that was our only chance to get away with a result.
In front of 11.975 people the game started out as expected with Cartagena dominating and pressing us back. Still we managed to produce a few good chances on counterattacks and it paid out already after 4 minutes when Jean-Luc Gbayara scored on a perfectly constructed CD Constancia attack. FC Cartagena hit back just 10 minutes later but just 5 minutes before the break, David Karg got his second assist of the day when his pass found Igaka and we regained the lead.


The game took and ugly turn for the home team just two minutes after the break when they had a player sent off after a questionable second yellow card. That opened up for even more counterattacks and in the 55th and 77th minute Jean-Luc Gbayara and Igaka scored their second of the day.


F.C. Cartagena pulled one back late on a penalty but it was all too little too late.


We had not just won, but perhaps given the best performance since I took over as manager. We had been deadly effective scoring four goals on four shots on goal even if we only had the ball for 41% of the time. Two players finished with a rating of nine or better and the teams average rating was a season high 7.51.


We were one step closer to the LIGA adelante


In other great news I was announced at the end of the season that R.C.D Mallorca had sacked there manager Ernesto Valverde. Mallorca finished 16th in the Spanish first division this season just 6 points clear of relegation. His replacement was no other then former Chelsea, Roma and Monaco manager Claudio Ranieri.

Im loving this story man the effort ou put in to it is exemplary!!

The FM Rookie : Im loving this story man the effort ou put in to it is exemplary!!

Thanks again Rookie.
Got another eight installments partly written that will take us to the end of the 2014/15 season.

Can't wait for them

CD Constancia: Playoffs football in Inca, Part II

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg
In the second round of the playoffs we were drawn against division rivals Valencia C.F. Mestalla. We played them last just four weeks ago to a 2-2 draw at home.
For the second time in a row we treated the home fans to a horrible display of football in another 0-0 sneezer that was sure to scare the occasional fan away forever. That once again left us with a road game winner takes all.


Getting knocked out of the promotion playoffs on an own goal is a cruel and unusual form of punishment. But for the longest time that looked to be the fortune of CD Constancia. The normally reliable Damià and keeper Kiko Moreno had after 17 minutes of play managed together to fumble the ball over the line for an own goal. After that Mestalla was mostly satisfied in defending and didn’t create much. Even though trying every trick in the book we didn’t produce anything either.


The game was decided after 55 minutes on a bizarre chain of events*.
In an attempt to just create anything we had started to just pump the ball forward to our loan forward Igarki Mayor. One of these long balls from Cristian Reys was being chased down by Igarki. The ball was clearly inside the penalty box and it looked like an easy play for the Mestalla keeper Adrian Martin to collect the ball with his hands.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/ValenciaMestallavConstancia_PitchFull_zps62da91a8.jpg


But instead of picking the ball up with his hands he decides to kick it clear instead.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/ValenciaMestallavConstancia_PitchFull-2_zps2849245d.jpg


The clearance was not a pretty one and drops down in the middle of the Mestalla half of the field.


David Karg don’t need any time to think and first times the ball in the direction of the Mestalla goal.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/ValenciaMestallavConstancia_PitchFull-3_zpsc36aa172.jpg


And with the Mestalla keeper almost as in slow-motion trying to get back to his goal line the ball sails inn for the all-important equalizer.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/ValenciaMestallavConstancia_PitchFull-4_zps143d2146.jpg
The next ten minutes is a mess. Both Mestalla players and fans is in a state of chock we are scrambling to reorganize to a defensive formation to protect the result. In the chaos we hit both the crossbar and the upright.


The last twenty minutes is a constant press from Valencia C.F. Mestalla. It almost pays off just two minutes before full time when they hit the upright but the ball bounces our way and we are thru to the final round.

* After watching enough FM13 games I have of cause found out that this is not that bizarre a chain of events, but instead a rather normal behavior by FM13 goal keepers. The number of stupid keeper-mistakes in this installment of the game is mindboggling and I am looking forward to the patch from SI that will fix this problem.

Great goalkeeper

The FM Rookie : Great goalkeeper

I guess that Mr. Adrian Martin will always have a "special" place in the hearts of CD Constancia fans.

It’s better in the new patch but I am not sure the keeper problem has been fixed completely.

CD Constancia: Playoffs football in Inca, Part III

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg
The draw for the final round of the playoffs was held the day after the World Cup in Brazil kicked off with the home nation drawing 1-1 with the Ivory Coast in the opening match in front of 76.000 people at the Estádio do Maracanã.


The new world champion was not home nation Brazil as they were knocked out in the quarterfinal by England who got two goals from Rooney who won the Golden Boot with his seven goals in seven games.


The World cup was also the end of the Spanish dominance in world football as they lost already in the first knockout round to the future world champions.
When the team returned home after the tournament Vincent Del Bosque was relieved of his duties as Spanish manager.
He was later replaced by Marcelino G Toral.

Other upsets was that Italia didn’t made it out of the group stage and finished behind Japan and France. An even bigger upset was that Argentina also had to go home after just three games after they failed to finish ahead of Mexico and Ukraine.


Instead it was Africa who finally got there first ever World Cup triumph when Cameroon helped by Etoò (Anji) and Joël Matip (Schalke), beat Germany in the final on penalties.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/WC2014_zps5133e42a.jpg


There was no way we should be playing football at this time of year in Mallorca but together with three other teams we were still alive in the promotion race. It was to be decided between Las Palmas, Alaves, Tenerife and us, witch two teams would play in the Second highest level of football in Spain next year.


We were drawn against Club Deportivo Tenerife.


Tenerife was one of the few Spanish teams I had actually seen live before taking over as manager for CD Constancia now almost two years ago. It was more than 20 years ago, but I still remember the Spanish Cup game played in 1992 between a then Liga BBVA Tenerife team and a FC Barcelona team lead by legendary Danish footballer Michael Laudrup. What made the experience even more special was that I meet the entire team in the airport afterwards and got both autographs and pictures.


The Tenerife team we were to play now had dropped a long way since then. They finished next to last in the top division Liga BBVA in the 2009/10 season and were relegated. The year after they finished dead last in the second division (LIGA adelante) and were relegated for the second straight year. Now they were the only thing between us and second division football in Inca next season.


With two scoreless draws at home in the first two playoff games only 800 people showed up for the home game this time against Tenerife. They were treated to a surprisingly good match. Igarki Mayor was once again the man of the match with two goals in the first half. On both goals he found himself just on the edge of the offside and used his speed when Fullana and Gbayara played the perfect thru-ball.

Igarki Mayor
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/Igarki_OverviewAttributes-1_zpsea52e59f.jpg


Despite leaving most of the initiative to C.D. Tenerife in the second half we didn’t give up any chances and only allowed a single shot on goal all match. Unluckily that shot came one minute in to overtime and was impossible for Kiko Moreno to stop.


We were now heading in to the deciding game on the Canary Islands with the smallest advantage possible.


For the return game at Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López in Tenerife close to 10.000 showed up to cheer on the home team.
Both Igarki Mayor and Fullana had the chance to put the game away for us early and both of them missed badly. That was the only two shots we had toward goal the entire day.


That was not the case for Club Deportivo Tenerife. With a formation looking like a 4-2-4 they pressed on from the start creating several huge chances. But due to some incredible luck mixed with some excellent defensive work we managed to stay clean.

We won promotion.

CD Constancia: Home away from home

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg


At the beginning of the new football-year the TV money for the upcoming season was calculated. With the promotion to the second best Spanish league (and the 34th best league in the world) €1,93M was the take for CD Constancia. That was more than double the clubs entire budget from the previous year. Still the board and chairman Mr. Antoni Ramis decided not to make any money available to buy new players or increase the salary budget.
The fans were not impressed and only 600 fans had bought season tickets for the upcoming season.


The rumors started before we had even played a single pre-season game. At first it was only words flowing around in cyber-space but soon the story began to show up in the Mallorca newspapers.


The story was that a fraction of the fans, lead buy a rich local (still unknown) businessman would try to buy the team. Nobody was talking to me and the current board and chairman was stonewalling me as well.
The papers were talking about hostile takeovers and new owner groups with their own director of football and staff.
Was I on my way out as well? Was this the reward for winning promotion with a team predicted for relegation?
My stomach was starting to hurt…..


In the run-up to the new season the uncertainty did not have a positive effect on the team. I was trying to build a team capable of surviving in the second best Spanish division, constructed out of tape and paperclips. This was a task that looked to big even for MacGyver.
The foundation of the team was the same players that were overwhelming favorites to be relegated from the 3rd best division last year. To that group of players we were allowed to add the usual lineup of outcasts and rejects. And this group of players was supposed to compete with teams like Celta, Barcelona B and Elche FC.
Now I felt sick to my stomach.


With the unexpected promotion came other unexpected problems. One of them was the rebuilding of the stadium to comply with Spanish league rules. 6000 seats would have to be added. That would come with a cost of €868K the club didn’t have and also meant that we would have to play the next 10 months away from home while the building was going on.


Our new “home field” away from home was now Estadio Miguel Ángel Nadal is situated in the city of Manacor, 36 kilometers from Inca. The stadium was the home arena for AE Manacor and has a capacity of 5000 seats. Manacor is known in the sports world for being the hometown of Miguel ”the beast” Nadal and his nephew former World Tennis number 1 Rafael Nadal.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/EstadioMiguelngelNadal.jpg


In contrast to last season when I cleaned house after the season, I this year hoped that most of my staff would follow me up a division. It was therefore both a surprise and a disappointment when both my Asst manager, lead scout and head coach did not even want to talk to me after the season. Not because they wanted other jobs. Apparently they were sick and tired of football after just one year on Mallorca and instead decided to sit out the entire season.
Did I mention that I was feeling sick to my stomach?

CD Constancia: Sold!

A FM13 LLM dynasty
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/image001.jpg

It happened the week before the start of the regular season and the biggest game in CD Constancias’ recent history. The season opener was a home game against one of last years relegated teams from the top division Elche FC but if you looked in the papers, you wouldn’t know. All the newspapers were writing about was the sale of CD Constancia.


The buyer was a consortium led by a Mr. Miguel Angel Rubio aka the secret local businessman.
The partnership was in the newspapers mentioned as a group of the most loyal fans without ever being more specific. The price they had to pay to take over the entire team was not mentioned but it was reported that €375.000 of the total sum was coming from a bank loan the club now had to pay off.

So just two days before the start of the season, instead of being on the practice field with the team preparing for the season opener I found myself in a suit and tie in the office of new owner Mr. Rubio.
The irony that I now had to interview for the job I had been doing successfully for the last three years, after being handed the job by a mistake was not lost on me.

The meeting was brief and to the point. I was kept on as the manager for the time being until the new board have had a chance to evaluate the entire football operation and then they would make a final decision.
This did not sound like good news to me.


Mr. Rubio looked like he was finished talking and as a man who had just received his dead sentence, I started to get up to leave his office. But before I got all the way out of the chair, the new chairman spoke again.

He said,
“How much money do you need this season?”

At first, I was not sure if he was actually still talking to me. But when nobody else answered and he kept looking at me I responded.
“First we need money to renegotiate existing contracts but whatever I can get to sign new players to help improve the teams would be great”.

Mr. Rubio got out of his chair and walked me to the door. On the way out, he patted me on the shoulder and said
“I will find some money to you” “trust me it will all work out”.
And then he closed the door behind me.

I spend the rest of the day preparing for the upcoming game. When I returned to my office late in the afternoon I found an email from the new owner.

Date: 15/08/2014
To: TNorthwood@ Constancia.es
From: MARubio@ Constancia.es
Subject: Dinero
I found some money for you as I promised.
I’m afraid it’s not much but I guess it’s better than nothing. I have made another €1K a week available to you in the salary budget. Hopefully that can help you get some of our key players signed to new deals.

I also made €300K available to you to buy new players.
I’m sure I don’t have to ask you to spend them wisely, it your job that is on the line after all.

Miguel Angel Rubio

I was speechless.
€300K was a huge amount not just for CD Constancia but for most second division teams. Only three teams in the entire league had actually bought players before this season with the rest of the teams relaying on loan players and freelancers to make up their rosters.


With Christmas apparently coming early in Mallorca this year, I sat down the next morning with my Asst manager and my scout to start the search for new players. I felt like a kid in a candy story with the pocket full of quarters.


Being used to having no money, we had spent all of our time scouting free agents and had little knowledge of players of actual value.
Going out and spending big this short before the season was both a scary and dangerous exercise. We looked and talked to several players and agents but I was just unable to pull the trigger.


In the end, I decided not to buy anyone and instead let the money burn I my pocket a little longer. With this being, perhaps the only chance I ever got to spend “big” with CD Constancia I had to make sure I made the correct move, and rushing in to a buy was not the way to do it. Instead I would evaluate the squad until the winter transfer window opened to find out where the money was best spend while at the same time scout players in my new price-range.


The few new players we did add were all mostly roster fill. If any of them saw significant playing time this year I would be in serious trouble.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/2014transfer_zpscbbfeeaa.jpg