Beggars can't be choosers!

South Africa were knocked out of the World Cup in the Second Round, but they got further than France and strangely enough, Italy. Many of the matches went to the dreaded penalties, with tough luck medals going the way of Algeria, Uruguay, and....ENGLAND.

Ntamo has had offers tabled by FS Stars and Vasco for reasonable fees.

I am encouraging him to explore options with other clubs as he is at best a squad player, and whilst he'll make the squad unless he is injured, I didn't appreciate having to massage his ego every other month when he wanted to me a first team regular. Not giving him a consistent run in the starting side has probably lead him to instruct his agent to accept nothing less than a key player role with us, for more per week than I am likely to pay.

In his defense, I haven't explored his salary demands too much, as soon as I got the agent asking me to reveal the offer prior to him tabling it with Ntamo, alarm bells started sounding in my head.

#60377 Kiwi :
Mashego did however blitz the field with the Top Goalscorer award with 43. The next best was Vasco RSA's Claudio Carneiro with 14.

Very close contest. Went down to the wire.

Tell me about it!! I can't understand why he didn't get (or what he could have done differently to make more of a case for) the Player of the Year Award. I'll have to try harder this coming term...

#60411 akash.vidyasagar : #60377 Kiwi :

Mashego did however blitz the field with the Top Goalscorer award with 43. The next best was Vasco RSA's Claudio Carneiro with 14.


Very close contest. Went down to the wire.

#60378 Kiwi : I advertised for a scout and a further coach half expecting the applicants to be slightly better than the ones I was interviewing prior to my successful year.

I'm glad I didn't set the bar too much higher, because from what I have seen, I am getting the same type of candidate, and they are certainly not the sort I would employ!

The quality of applicants in SA is really poor, unless you one of the big guns.
I used to always end up paying compensation and getting someone decent in.
You seem to play with the finances carefully, so i'm not sure if you willing to go that route.

#60386 Kiwi : Ulsan are obligated to appear in a friendly fixture as part of the deal struck for Kweleta, so I tried to set it up....only to be VERY disappointed. Not only does my Ass Man think it will be too far for them to travel (understandable given it is Korea) but the fees involved are just mind blowing. We would at best receive 12K from ticket sales, but Ulsan are tied into an appearance fee of....wait for it....120K.

That isn't just a no, that is a HELL NO!!!

Lol .. I feel your pain. That used to happen to me all the time.
I used to always insert friendly clauses when selling to foreign teams ... thinking I'll make the club a fortune. Turns out I could have bankrupted us

#60356 Kiwi : Quite a few positives to come out of our FA Cup Win
We will compete in the 2015 edition of the African Confederation Cup.

Not sure if you already know this ... so I'll mention it anyway.
The ACC runs in the calender year ... i.e. out of sync with your league season.
So, start planning early. Plan your transfers carefully!

-------------
Out of curiosity, is Yusuf Mashego a regen?

It is very refreshing for someone to take on a club and keep close track of the finances. Instead of splashing millions on wonderkids and loaning them or buying in the big names, you really have to build from the bottom, and seem to be nailing it so far.

One small criticism, it might just be me but...When you are mentioning the names in or out, sometimes there are a lot of names in the post. unlike other stories, give or take all of the names are unknown to most people. Perhaps when you make a post involving a number of players from the squad or transfers, you could consider putting up a picture of your tactics so we can see to who you refer and how others will be fitting in? It can sometimes be difficult to keep track of all the people and what their roll is for you

#60422 sniper99 : #60378
The quality of applicants in SA is really poor, unless you one of the big guns.
I used to always end up paying compensation and getting someone decent in.
You seem to play with the finances carefully, so i'm not sure if you willing to go that route.

I haven't as yet been able to find anyone with coaching scores of 15+ who is actually willing to come to us yet - even on the free transfer market they are still saying that they don't wish to discuss terms. There are plenty of better Ass Mans out there then the one I currently have, but you are right, I am ultra conscious of my financial situation (blame that in part on a Derby career that I had)so don't want to go overboard and pay compo unless the situation is dire.

#60386 Kiwi : Lol .. I feel your pain. That used to happen to me all the time.
I used to always insert friendly clauses when selling to foreign teams ... thinking I'll make the club a fortune. Turns out I could have bankrupted us

It's something I hadn't explored fully with other careers as money was never so much of an issue (even with Maidenhead in FM11, I always had other avenues) but this was an real eye opener, and something I will need to work on. Also turns out that not terribly many of our South African counterparts want to play us in friendlies either - save the grudge match against Black Leopards.

#60356 Kiwi : Quite a few positives to come out of our FA Cup Win
We will compete in the 2015 edition of the African Confederation Cup.
Not sure if you already know this ... so I'll mention it anyway.
The ACC runs in the calender year ... i.e. out of sync with your league season.
So, start planning early. Plan your transfers carefully!

Thanks for that, no I didn't know and from what I saw it started in Feb <?> and runs through Jun, but a couple more transfers and I should be, barring any aggressive offers for my players, be set.

#60356 Kiwi :Out of curiosity, is Yusuf Mashego a regen?

Yes he is, I'll be posting a squad listing once the transfer window is over, and screen shots of key players. With his goal productivity, he is certainly a key player.

#60443 gizzydrop : It is very refreshing for someone to take on a club and keep close track of the finances. Instead of splashing millions on wonderkids and loaning them or buying in the big names, you really have to build from the bottom, and seem to be nailing it so far.

Thanks Gizzydrop, it's something I have learned over the years, never more so than with Derby in a previous FM12 story where everything stems from the financial control/prudence that you exercise at the club. Having a small squad helps, but with the prevalence of injuries, utility players are worth their weight in gold. I only have a couple of leagues loaded and won't load many more unless I am looking to move, so that certainly cuts down my options in terms of players that I can buy or loan, although I have never been a big fan of loan players in general. As I have discovered here, spending big on "marquee" type players isn't really (in my opinion) worthwhile, as the level of football here just simply doesn't warrant it.

Yes I would love to fill the team with wonderkids, but they'd cost me money I don't have, be unwilling to discuss terms due to my or my teams low reputation, and they would help me win the league. I believe I can do that without spending *too* much money though.

#60443 gizzydrop :One small criticism, it might just be me but...When you are mentioning the names in or out, sometimes there are a lot of names in the post. unlike other stories, give or take all of the names are unknown to most people. Perhaps when you make a post involving a number of players from the squad or transfers, you could consider putting up a picture of your tactics so we can see to who you refer and how others will be fitting in? It can sometimes be difficult to keep track of all the people and what their roll is for you

Thanks for the comment Gizzydrop, I had planned to do something similar for the second season - giving a snap of the squad, the tactics and screen shots of key players and my expectations for each, but please let me know what you (and this counts as much for anyone else reading) would like to see from this career thread, because it is just as much about the reader as the writer!!

One thing I lost track of that happened prior to the "break" was the promotion/relegation between the NFD and the PSL.

As I think Sniper99 mentioned, it is not a straight promotion relegation as it is in other leagues. True enough the top team from the NFD swaps places with the bottom placed PSL.

What that has meant is that for the '13/14 season, Dynamos gets promoted and Golden Arrows gets relegated.

The second to last placed team in the PSL then enters a play off with the top three placed NFD teams, and as far as I can tell, there are no favours done for finishing second in the NFD as you meet the second to last placed PSL team and third placed plays fourth in an effective home and away legged semi final.

The two teams left standing after that meet in a home/away legged final to determine the team that will play in the PSL next season.

The final pitted Tuks (the third placed NFD finisher) against Maritburg United (the second to last PSL finisher) and Maritburg prevailed in the second (away for them) leg 0-2, after drawing the home encounter one all.

End result, Maritburg United remain in the PSL.

I've managed to pack out my pre-season with away friendlies for the month of July '14, and should net about 40K.

We haven't got the schedule for the PSL yet, but it looks as if the competition starts in mid August, which mean I might have the opportunity to squeeze perhaps three more friendlies into the fixture list.

Santos FC have made a play for my beanpole midfielder Linda Sithole, which to be honest I didn't expect based on the fact that he hardly set the world alight during the six months he spent with us.

While I have accepted the offer, it will change the dynamic of the team slightly, and may mean I need to shop for a centre back, rather than a midfielder, as it would make sense to push Gomis forward into the defensive mid role, but it will still leave me short a midfielder when playing my favoured 4-4-2 formation.

Food for thought at the very least.

The sparkling foreign striker that I was raving about yesterday has had his initial application for a work permit rejected. I'll appeal and I must say I am disappointed, but it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise given the situation with Sithole, and my wariness re goalkeeper Masabo.

Positive news on the transfer market for us, with:

Ntamo accepting the offer from FS Stars for 20K transfer fee. 20K isn't an awful lot for a player of his talent, but the 20% profit on next transfer may make up for it. The fans are okay with my decision to sell him and given he was the complaining type who was holding me to ransom - or at least I think he would have - re a contract extension, I was pleased to see the back of him. He has signed a three year, GBP950 a week contract, which was far beyond what we could have offered him anyway.

Sithole remains a Dynamos player after rejecting Santos FC. Rather worrying though, he rejected it based on an unacceptable basic wage and preferring substantial appearance money for first team games. He's off contract in May next year (2015), and is currently earning GBP220, with scope to go to GBP250 per week after twenty games. Given my budget for this season, I doubt I'll be able to offer him too much more than that!

In a move that will call time on Gavin Hammers Dynamos career, Denis Khripunkov, a Kazakhstani under twenty one representative, has agreed to a three year, GBP220 per week contract with the South African club, having been released from previous club Tobyl.

Hammers, who is currently on a GBP170 per week contract, did not endear himself to club management when he demanded a significant improvement to his contract to extend it for another year. He and his agent wanted a weekly wage of 1.1K, and was not swayed by the fact that Dynamos upper salary limit is GBP700.

Player contracts

I’ve opened negotiations with players with whom I wish to retain on the roster after May 2015. After dreading the demands of some players, I have been pleasantly surprised for the most part, with some accepting as little as a GBP20 per week increase to sign on for another two years (touch wood as I haven’t had any confirm as yet).

One player I have been disappointed with is vice captain and starting right back Brandon Barkhuizen, who is asking for an eye watering 1.2K per week.

I do have slight depth, and could start Bobbs on the right, but it would also mean fast tracking the youth player whom I had earlier flagged as the eventual successor to Barkhuizen, emphasis on eventual.

I have my scouts out keeping tabs on any suitable right backs, and I am rather glad that I still have one foreign spot open.