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Don't know where I'm going, but I'll get there!

Started on 31 October 2011 by l3nnart
Latest Reply on 30 July 2012 by The FM Rookie
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Hat-trick!

It became far more intresting than it should have, but after clinching the equalizer in the 91st minute there wasn't any question who was walking away with that trophy.



A great year has come to an end. We've won all three entered competitions and we really only broke a sweat in the Cup-finals, other than those it was a smooth ride.

The immense scoutingnetwork has allowed me to build a fantastic side here at Anderlecht, but I'm falling out of love the the country and if the right opportunity comes along I wouldn't hessitate for a second to leave... however I'm not sure if to stay here and wait for it or to resign and go hunting for it... Right now I've gotten an offer from Wolfsburg, it contained a transferkitty of €33mil and wagebudget of ~€1,5mil... I would enjoy Germany but I'm not sure if Wolfsburg is right team. I've also recived an offer from America (the mexican side), and it's more tempting than you might think, only because it's a great team to take on if you want to conquer the other side of the Atlantic, something I do want to try at some point. The problem is the timing. I just recived a continental rep in Europe so I don't think it's the right time to leave, I'd rather stay and boost it further so that I can choose between any team I wish in the future.

To finish things off I just wanna shear a wierd fact: I'm not even on the freakin' three man shortlist for manager of the year in Belgium!!!
Wheeling and dealing

After some serious soulsearching I decided to stick around at least another year. The situation is pretty good here and that dreamjob never really came along. So with this decision made it's right back to the drawingboard!

The key to last year was some serious work in the transfermarket. Other than myself there is one man in particullar who has ALOT to say in these matters, his name is Faustino Aspirilla.



His reports work as almost 50% of what I take under consideration when looking at new signings. I can honestly say that not one of my signings has been a flop here at Anderlecht and I've made no less than 14 of them! In last years groundbreaking team at least 8 of the players in my best starting line-up were new for the season. Best of all is the fact that if you deduct the money I made from selling the "dead wood" before brining in the new blood, the 14 players who came in during the summer (and as I said, they all delivered at least what I expected from them, many alot more as well), cost me €12mil!

As if that wasn't enough, looking at the deals about to go through this summer, I'll probably be looking at huage profits when compareing my total spending with my total income!

Right now I'm in need of a strong DMC. I've got Msuku there, who is a star, but right now he's my only option and according to last years expreience I'll need at least two options at DMC because the role is so vital, keeping my intire midfield togather during the games. This calls not just for a back-up but a man who can really make a diffrence in the games when needed. I also need a complete new setup of MC's (advanced playmakers). I decided to sell one of them because he hit his peak without becoming a star (which meant that he would never be more profiteble than now) and Real Mardid came waving their check-book at my other one, so I could never really put up a fight, although it wasn't really needed. Thanks to the transfer (it's almost confirmed) I'll profit €12mil on him in one year (buying him for €2mil last summer and selling for just above €14mil this summer). To top it all of I've already had an offer accepted for his replacement who I in all honesty belive is better player, costing me around €7,5mil.

Scouring the market in a rush however isn't my strongsuit as I've always valued personality, coming to work every day and not being scared by the spotlight (to translate: professionalism, consistency and enjoying big games are three attributes i take under heavy consideration, thus showing why it's so important that I have a scout in the likes of Aspirilla who can tell these things accurately). I've rejected countless future stars due to at least one of these three factors, but in my expreince it pays off in the long run, although, as you can imagine, it makes finding signings that much harder, especialy when you're under the pressure of time!

BREAKING NEWS! THE BIG SWAP HAS JUST BEEN COMPLETED, MOVING PONCE TO MADRID AND BRINING MARCEL TO BELGIUM!



The way I see it I lost myself some time (Ponce being 21 and Marcel being 26), but Marcel still has his best 5 or so years ahead of him and as far as I'm concerend his also the better of the two (might add that Ponce has almost reached his maximum potential despite his young age), which makes it a good deal, especially when I'm not planning on staying for long.

Other than still being on the hunt for my other DMC I'm more or less done shopping (I've always got an eye open for cheap, talented players who always show up during the season and if a good opportuinty presents itself I'm not one to hessitate), so here's a summary over my buissnes at Anderlecht:

2023/2024



2024/2025



So all'n'all we've profited €4mil in the transfremarket while bulding this campionshipsquad. Out of the €48mil I've totalled from selling players since I took over last year almost €20mil has been made from players I brought in last summer and sold on (and when counting what I've made selling the players I've brought in myself the transferfee paid for them has been deducted from the €20mil). An astounding number!

I hope you've made it this far (not sure of this is an intriguing post or just a hassle to read).

Anyway, looking on to this season my only goal is to get as far as possible in CL. Decent resluts in the leauge will probably be needed to keep my job and even more imporantly, keeping high morale, but it shouldn't be a problem this year either.

For now peace out and wish me luck!
Good luck mate!!
Here for the party!

I know the Super Cups aren't very reputable scalps, but defeating the reining champs of Europe, Man City, when they field their best team, shows that we aren't here to be amazed by the giants , we're here to amaze them!



After a pretty smooth ride through the qualifiers we were drawn into Group F accompanied by Rangers, Palermo and newly defeated City. I'm not sure weather it's a good draw or not, but I'm pretty sure that our opening game against Palermo will give many answers.

Just like my first continental ride at Maritzburg, all sources will be focused on the continental play. We've had a pretty bad start in the leauge holding a 2-3-0 record, it does make us undefeated, but as you know by now, every domestic game we fail to win is a game we've underachevied in.

Might add that we started the season by brining home the Belgian Super Cup against Genk, but considering how little I care about it myself I don't think you'll be more intreseted than me in hearing about it. So for now sayonara !
1
Firepower

Except for a longterm injury to my new starplaymaker Marcelo everything is going as planned. After a rocky start we're on top of the leauge with ease and after proving ourselves in Europe we're ready to take on the biggest of challanges!

From the look of things I'd say this'll be another walk in the park...



The most exciting thing that has happened during the leaugeplay this year has to be my young promising Chilean striker Jorge Alvarez scoring five goals in one half of football! (might add that no one else had scored in the first half, it wasn't just a case of him grabbing some extra goals in a 12-0 blowout). Before the full-timewhistle he'd gotten yet anothergoal, tottaling six and rating a perfect ten!

In Europe we've showed that we can outscore any team, but also that our defence is vounorable. If you remove our 0-3 defeat at Manchester from the equation we've scored 22 goals in 5 games in the thoughest tournament in the world! On the backside though we've conceeded 12 in six games which isn't enough if we're going to have an impact during the knockoutstage. I'm not sure how to change the tactics in order to make the defence better without compromising the overall preformance but it's something I'll be looking at. We got another positive answer out of the groupplay as well, beating reigning champs City yet again (first time being in the Euro Super Cup), combining it with our loss against Palermo it's clear that we are the very definition of a 'darkhorse'!



In the first round of the knockoutstage we drew Athletico Madrid, they always seem to become a strong side even though this time around they aren't that intimedating. They're biggest achivement over the last couple of years is reaching the CL-final back in 2022, other than that you'll have to go back ten years or so for some real success. Never the less though they are established on this level, something we are most definetly not. I'm comfortable with this fact however as I love being the underdog, with all my players being lads who enjoy big games it's the perfect setup for having our dreams come true!

Here's the complete draw:



Hope you're eager to find out how this run ends, I know I sure as hell am!
Sporting_23's avatar Group Sporting_23
12 yearsEdited
the african league was a very neat story to follow, but damn.. an european chalenge turns it up a notch! and i'd say that 22goals in 5games in the cl is something to be proud of ;)

cheers mate
Love this story. Easily the best on here. You seem to make every club something new and big.


Keep it up. Brilliant read.
#42436 Sporting_23 : the african league was a very neat sotry to follow, but damn.. an european chalenge turns it up a notch! and i'd say that 22goals in 5games in the cl is something to be proud of ;)

cheers mate

#42516 CantGetEnoughOfJelavic : Love this story. Easily the best on here. You seem to make every club something new and big.


Keep it up. Brilliant read.

@ sporting
well aside from this run at Anderlecht the Maritzbrug years were probably the most passionate as we had to battle all year long and actually got some results in the process. Of course it's something diffrent to go up against the very best but the challanges are often just as fun in the grittier sides of football.

@Jelavic
thanks man, it's the appriciation that keep me writing! Though let's be honest, I've basicly fucked up as many jobs as I've succeeded with, but once I've gotten things right it's been bigger ups than the down before getting fired so I guess overall it's a positive... anyway thanks for the kind words!
#42523 l3nnart : #42436 Sporting_23 :
the african league was a very neat sotry to follow, but damn.. an european chalenge turns it up a notch! and i'd say that 22goals in 5games in the cl is something to be proud of ;)

cheers mate


#42516 CantGetEnoughOfJelavic :
Love this story. Easily the best on here. You seem to make every club something new and big.


Keep it up. Brilliant read.


@ sporting
well aside from this run at Anderlecht the Maritzbrug years were probably the most passionate as we had to battle all year long and actually got some results in the process. Of course it's something diffrent to go up against the very best but the challanges are often just as fun in the grittier sides of football.

@Jelavic
thanks man, it's the appriciation that keep me writing! Though let's be honest, I've basicly fucked up as many jobs as I've succeeded with, but once I've gotten things right it's been bigger ups than the down before getting fired so I guess overall it's a positive... anyway thanks for the kind words!

maritzburg was great, but europe is more familiar to me :P

keep it up, oh and by the way, could you show us your biography, reputation/coach points and achievements aswell as you profile and information? i'd gladly appreciate it!

cheers ;)
Sporting_23:maritzburg was great, but europe is more familiar to me :P

keep it up, oh and by the way, could you show us your biography, reputation/coach points and achievements aswell as you profile and information? i'd gladly appreciate it!

cheers ;)

Sure I can. At last I've reach one of the biggest milestones: Worldwide recognition! Last time I checked I was still at the continental level but I guess moving on from the groupstage in CL was enough to push my name alongside the biggest in the game.

I guess the pics speak for them selves...


#42594 l3nnart :
Sporting_23:maritzburg was great, but europe is more familiar to me :P

keep it up, oh and by the way, could you show us your biography, reputation/coach points and achievements aswell as you profile and information? i'd gladly appreciate it!

cheers ;)


Sure I can. At last I've reach one of the biggest milestones: Worldwide recognition! Last time I checked I was still at the continental level but I guess moving on from the groupstage in CL was enough to push my name alongside the biggest in the game.

I guess the pics speak for them selves...




awesome dude! thanks :D
Marching on

And the winners are... Well you know how it goes by now, we took out Athletico as planned, it was close, but we deserved it!



We also just finished the regular season and are now heading into the championsgruop 11p ahead of our closest competition, it should be a walk in the park.



I'm a bit sad that we didn't reach the 100goal-mark in the leaugeplay during the first 30 games, but I guess it'll come soon and that I should be happy about reaching it at all.

Thus far it's been a great year, but I'm not even slightly complacent yet (even though it might sound that way), my goal this year is to lift that CL-trophy, nothing else!

Lastly I can anounce now that I'll be leaving Anderlecht after this season, I've basicly got a contract ready (the chairman agreed to delay until the end of the season), let's hear some gusses where I'm heading!
Time to shine

For the quaterfinals we've drawn Real Madrid, they hardly need an introduction, however they've barley won anything in over ten years! Barcelona's had a monopoly on the leaugetitle in Spain and CL is always though. It'll be fun to see if Ponce is played, he's barely been trusted with any playtime but makes as much as half of my total playroll.



Not much has happened since my last post, the championship group kicked off with a win against (then) second placed Charleroi.

On a unrelated note I realized something crazy, with the kind of dominans and money we're raking in you might think that we've built a team that costs much more than the other teams in a small country like Belgium, we really should have many times lager budgets than the other, but in fact we've only got the 4th highest payroll in the leauge!

It doesn't get less crazy when looking at the individual abilities and wages of my players, this is by far the most effective I've ever been with cash. The only player I've paid too much for is Marcel, but then again he's just recovering from a broken leg (he's been out for months) and who knows, maby he'll find the crazy form he was at when he came here.





I've also had time to negoatiate another dreamjob waiting for me at the end of the season, if this continues I really don't now how to decided where to go next... well it's a luxuryproblem and I don't have to decide yet... Anyway, now it's on to Spain, time to kick some southern ass!
Your going to Liverpool!


Loving the story. In my story which you can find... I've actually headed over to South African's premier division!
#43033 CantGetEnoughOfJelavic : Your going to Liverpool!


Loving the story. In my story which you can find... I've actually headed over to South African's premier division!

I wish it was one of the alternatives, however Slaven Bilic (the man in charge atm) is doing a fine job and I don't think the position there will be open for another year or two...

Hope you have fun with it, definetly an exciting leauge!

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