Job Offers
I holidayed for a bit and applied for as many jobs as possible. I got quite a few offers but only some really stand out.
Udinese, Ascoli, Sampdoria, Blackpool, Zaragoza.
All apart from Blackpool were in or had at the end of the season been relegated to the second tier. Blackpool were a level below in league 1. All apart from Blackpool were pretty much spent financially and had small transfer budgets and wage budgets with no real room in them. Blackpool had a whopping £2.6m to spend plus about £10k spare in the wage budget.
They were all tempting but I held off on accepting them. They would all be high pressure in that they'd all expected promotion but with limited resources (apart from Blackpool). Success wouldn't be met with much fan fare and failure would be punished pretty quickly. That on it's own wasn't too bad but they all had recent (ish) history of top flight or cup success. I wouldn't be reshaping them I'd just be returning them. I'd also been burnt the last time I'd taken over a team in a similar position (Leeds).
I held on until...
Recently promoted to the Greek Superleague, little history silverware wise. A big gap in the wage budget and some money to spend (in a league that some players wouldn't probably come to).
I delved a bit further (wiki to the rescue) and found the team was based on the Island of Crete. This added another incentive. I could become the main power on the island and then beat the mainland. Admitted there weren't a great deal of teams to beat on Crete but I liked the flavour it would give to the game. I'd had a similar job in a previous save where I'd taken over Maritimo in Portugal. To be dominant there I'd had to beat the other Madeira team and become the power
Added to this was the fact that since 2013 only 2 teams had won the title in Greece - Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. There was a monopoly to be broken.
So I accepted.
Small stadium of 3.5k probably meant we wouldn't be making much money, and would have to sink cash into a new stadium before long but that would all be part of the club development. Same with the facilities. I did managed to get them to upgrade the coaching and recruitment after a few weeks at the club though but they were still quite low.
Expectations wise I was predicted 13th and the board wanted midtable. After looking at the standard of the players in the team and standard elsewhere it became apparent that this would be a complete rebuild job. I needed a new starting 11.
Transfers
Goal and Defence
First up with have Lehman as our keeper. He came well recommended and the name is kind of reassuring.
[Pic to come - check next update. I forgot to take one initially]
For the wingback positions I brought in Fassi and Abbes. Both aren't great defensively to be honest. The tackling leaves a lot to be desired but would do well. Fassi certainly. Abbes might need replacing next season.
For the back three I brought in 5 possible players: Marengo, Courtoglou, Baltimas, Philippe & Helmer. I had high hopes for all of them really but my starting 3 would probably be Helmer, Philppe and then Marengo as the limited defender. I think they all have the potential to develop quite well, and as only Courtoglou and Baltimas came with a transfer fee it's quite a cheap back line. Or in other words a back line full of profit.
[Pic to come for Marengo - check next update. I forgot to take one initially. That's what happens when you sign an entire team in one go!]
Midfield
For the BWN and DLP roles I brought in 4 players: Heese, Larsson, Thoniatis and Carrera. Thoniatis cost £375k but I had a feeling he would be worth the outlay. The others all came in on a free. Larsson would be there as back up and for a little bit of experience. I didn't expected him to stay much beyond next season, he'd be replaced by a younger player.
Santi Carrera I originally looked at because his name reminded me of Santi Carzola. Different player and standard entirely but I was glad I looked at him. I think he'll be a good ball winner in the future. Heese again looked like one for the future too.
At the moment it looked like a first choice of Carrera and Thoniatis for BWN and DLP respectively.
For the two AMC slots (IF and T) I brought in 2 players. Tavima and the extravagantly named Pedro Fernandez de los Riscos. Tavima looked a bargain at only £60k.
Attack
3 players this time which would be more than enough when playing one up front, but left us a little light when we wanted to switch to two but at this point funds were getting tight. There was another striker I wanted as first choice from China but it would have taken almost £900k to get them and I just couldn't manage it.
Instead I got Villia, Fengqi and Skarlatos. I had to pay a fee for each of them but the most expensive only came in at £160k. Villia and Fengqi with a bit of training would also be able to act as cover for the AMC roles.
My first choice here was likely going to be Fengqi despite his low finishing. Skarlatos would be making his appearances from the bench or in the cup. Villia would get rotated in and gradually developed.
Tactics
I felt fairly confident that we could do well enough (meet expectations at least) with the players we had. I just needed to make sure the tactics would suit. I decided I wanted in the long run to be able to play 3 different formations but in the short term I'd only really have the players/flexibility for 2.
I decided I would use my 32221 (or 541 depending on how you look at it) or my 4312. Both would be counterattacking initially and would try and play on the fact that as a relative underdog teams would be attacking me. So I could catch them on the break.
I would start with the 32221 and then ease into the other tactic for cup games or against smaller teams once the players were comfortable with it. It would give me some tactical flexibility without demanding a bigger or more talented squad. Next season all things being well I'd bring in some youth wingers/AML&R to allow me to play a 41221 at times.
The Season
So I was fairly confident of getting midtable but there were some potential issues I could see already.
1) Lots of new players - We had a new starting eleven and then some. That many new players will throw the team cohesion out completely and will take a while to actually mesh. I needed them to do this sooner rather than later. If it took too long then we'd find ourselves at the wrong end of the table.
2) Lots of different languages - A knock on effect of point 1 really. We had quite a few different nationalities so there was a language issue. Greek, Spanish, Italian, German, Polish, Chinese and French all in the first team. Some players had more than one which would help and everyone, aside from Fengqi had another team mate from the same country or who spoke the same language.
3) All spent up - All my transfer budget was gone and I didn't have much room left in the wage budget. If I needed another player I might be able to squeeze one in or break the budget slightly but that would be it. I had to hope that the team would be good enough, and injury free enough. I had back up players in the form of the Greek players already there but they weren't great.
I was happy though and I'm looking forward to the adventure at Platanias!
Oh... and as is tradition I thought I'd make some kits for them.
Home
Away
3rd Kit
No sponsors as I thought I'd leave that off until they get a new sponsorship deal. In the meantime I'll just assume that due to the harsh economic climate they are sponsorless.
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