[FM13] C.D. Constància: Trading places

Louis O. : Another nice update, keep them coming till FM14 comes!

Thanks Louis O

Walter : Another nice update, hopefully you can squeeze out the final few updates before FM14

Got 17 more chapters written already and will have to do another 4-5 to finish up the last season and the 2024 European Championship in Spain.

wellsy1498 : One of my all time faves on the site good to see it back

Thanks for the kind words wellsy1498.
If you have enjoyed this please take a minute to read / subscribe to my upcoming FM 14 story “Leyton Orient F.C -The Young Americans (QuarterbackStyle)”

Love this story, good to see it back

silas1231 : Love this story, good to see it back

Glad you are enjoying it Silas.
Don’t forget to check out my new story

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/CDConstagravencia_zps42f3d47b.jpg

?The Julia Roberts experience

Remember Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she was kicked out of the fancy store and was not allowed to spend her money?

http://daremytruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pretty-Woman.jpg

I knew exactly how she was feeling......

Well maybe not exactly, but I did have €18.000.000 in my pocket and a hard time spending them at first.


Ever since I had taken over the control of C.D. Constància I had been left on the outside when the yearly transfer carousel started to spin. As we moved up the divisions I had been able to buy better and better players and even get lucky to get a quality player on rare occasions. But it was still obvious that when the truly great players were “divided” between teams we were still left on the outside without any leverage and had to pick thru the leftovers when the other teams were done.


Now with a real transfer budget (only eight teams in the LIGA BBVA used more than €18 M on new players last season) it felt like nothing had changed. The players we should now have a real chance sign for
"real" money simply laughed at us when we approached to sign them.


We had our scouts out all around the world but one place we had quickly abandoned was the UK. It quickly became evident that England was not the place make a bargain deal.
When looking over the expiring contracts in England it quickly became obvious to me just how overpaid most English players were. There was simply no value to be found in the English top division. No matter how insignificant the player was, his weekly salary was never below €25K.
There was no way I was willing to pay that kind of salary for.


So when the transfer market opened we looked elsewhere.


The first deal we made was in Holland where we found the 22 year old dutch Cees Hofman with RKC. He looked like a nice fit into the new 4-1-2-2-1 system I was hoping to play this season.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/70c_zps5408ec47.jpg


We added another goalkeeper with plenty of routine from the Spanish league in Pau López.
Two days after the transfer market opened we made the first deal that made headlines and we did it without spending any money. We talked Italian AML Adolfo Giovannini from Empoli in to joining C.D. Constància on a free transfer.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/70d_zpsb6a29ba8.jpg


The first real dent in the transfer budget came after two weeks when I decided to spend €3.7M and €3.3M on two more midfielders. Jonas Svensson was a workhorse on the midfield with a past from Rosenborg in Norway and FC Vaslui. With plenty of routine I needed him to be the new anchor on the midfield.
Almir Leonor was a just twenty year old Belgium from Lierse. With plenty of upside I hoped that he could put some pressure on the diva Andi Qosa on the right side of the midfield.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/70e_zpsff31e073.jpg

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/70f_zpsfa3f4f7a.jpg


Players inn:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/70a_zpsccffc1f4.jpg

A total of nine players were shown the door. Three were not offered a new contract and left Inca for free. Brazilian keeper Hugo Leonardo was sent back to Levante U.D. for another year on a loan deal and it was no surprise that backup striker Juan Antonio was shipped off to Italy.

I also decided to pull the trigger on selling Diego Batista to Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. for €1.7M. The Inca/Mallorca press and a lot of fans hated the move. I didn't need the money (€1.5M profit) and had no guarantee that i could replace his production with another striker. That was both fair and correct points.
In the end it came down to that I still saw his performance the previous season as an abnormally that he would have little chance of repeating in the future. He didn't have the makeup to develop into a superstar and his marked value would probably never get any higher.

Players out:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/70b_zpse9934ff7.jpg

That left me with a big chunk of my transfer budget still intact. But instead of rushing inn more new players with the chance of upsetting the team chemistry, I decided that this was enough and
saved the remaining money for when the transfer window would reopen in January.

Very nice update. I saw my family watching that movie the other day, right on that scene. Anyway, looks like some good deals were done, well done!

Walter : Very nice update. I saw my family watching that movie the other day, right on that scene. Anyway, looks like some good deals were done, well done!

I kind of knew that I was showing my age with a “Pretty woman” reference but it’s not every day you get the chance to reference a gorgeous, loveable, Prince singing, hooker on an FM board

2013-10-18 21:03#138415 Northwood :

Walter : Very nice update. I saw my family watching that movie the other day, right on that scene. Anyway, looks like some good deals were done, well done!

I kind of knew that I was showing my age with a “Pretty woman” reference but it’s not every day you get the chance to reference a gorgeous, loveable hooker on an FM board

Interesting point I must say. and another great update, you just keep churning them out.

Great update and nice signings Keep it up!

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/CDConstagravencia_zps42f3d47b.jpg

Ready to go but still leaking in the back

A quick look at the opponents in the friendly matches leading up to the 2022-23 season showed just how long C.D. Constància had come. Teams like Fiorentina, Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and River Plate would never have visited Inca, Mallorca before, but now it was a natural stop on their warm-up tours before the season.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/71B_zps6dfa525c.jpg


Once again we sold out all of the 8.100 season tickets sold way before the season started. The interest for watching football in Inca was higher than ever before and that was a good thing with the opening of the new stadium under one year away.
Chairman Miguel Ángel Rubio agreed to put another €1.5M forward to further improve the youth facilities. This was a huge need as we had still never managed to have a single homegrown player break in to the first team.


When the season was ready to start i had no worries about the team up front and the departure of Diego Batista did not seem to affect us in any way.
As one of the two strikers up front, Teodoro Bañares had scored 10 goals in six preseason games in limited playing time and both Francisco Monti on the right and Adolfo Giovannini on the left, showed signs of class when used as inside forwards.

The problems was in the back of the field (again). Carlos Akapo was injured for almost half a year and his future with C.D. Constància suddenly looked in doubt.
Lucas Hoyos had also been injured and was doubtful up until the last day before the season were to kick off. Caio César was tired when he reported back to training camp and was granted an additional week of holiday. When he finally got rested he traveled to Denmark to play in the U20 World Cup as the captain for the Brazilian national team. He would not be back for the season opener. An just to hammer home the point, Cédric Pochat got injured in the last pre season friendly.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/71A_zpsc2ae6fe7.jpg

The back line for the season opener at home against R.C.D Espanyol looked nothing like what I had in mind just a few weeks ago, with only Raimond Zonneveld remaining in full health.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/71C_zpsae895d79.jpg

Leaky at the back indeed. Hope you can still do well this year though

400! CONGRATS!!!!

Some decent friendly results, and an excellent result vs. Feyernood. Unlucky with the injuries and well done on the 400 replies!

Decent pre-season, unlucky with the Fiorentina game

Louis O. : Leaky at the back indeed. Hope you can still do well this year though

With a 22-13 scoreline in the preseason you cannot call us boring.

Neal : 400! CONGRATS!!!!

Thanks Neal.
Really happy about the 34.000 views

Walter : Some decent friendly results, and an excellent result vs. Feyernood. Unlucky with the injuries and well done on the 400 replies!

We are playing better opponents, but I would still have liked to see a bit better results.

silas1231 : Decent pre-season, unlucky with the Fiorentina game

Decent is unfortunately the correct word.
Getting tiresome trying to catch up to Real Madrid and Barcelona. Every time you think you take a small step forward (18M in transfer budget) you just gets reminded how big the difference really is (both Real and Barcelona used more than 100M on new players this season)

Quality update once again. Congrats on 400 replies!