Lots of business was done this pre-season. Well not that much actually but there was a lot of money thrown around and I had some decisions to make.
First of all a bid from fellow Superleague team Aris came in for Helmer, which triggered a barrage of bids for the defender. I negotiated them up and put in the standard sell on clauses and finally accepted a handful of offers for £3m plus. In the end Helmer opted for the original bidders Aris and he went on his way for £3.4m plus 25% sell on.
That pretty much wiped out our debt though it obviously came at the cost of one of our best players. He wanted to go though, we were in the red and there's the chance of more money in the future.
A similar deal ended up being struck for Fengqi. We had fallen out, and then fallen out again over his valuation but I actually got about 7 bids for him close to the £5m, and one from Genk was dead on. In the end he opted for Anderlecht and went for another £3.4m and 25% sell on. I'm hoping that he does well (even though he's a git) so we get more money.
Again I'd lost a key player but with the money we could hopefully recruit replacements and grow.
Recruitment
I brought in 3 players initially.
In defense I brought in a Russian youth player, Afanasjev. Not first team material yet but they would hopefully add cover. I couldn't find someone who would slot straight in and replace Helmer. I found a few potential players, one who could play sweeper and had some interesting (maybe Libero) stats, but I couldn't tempt them over and I lost out. I decided I would promote Courtoglou into Helmer's spot and see how he fared.
I brought in two strikers, Zhiqiang and Ze. Zhiqiang was actually the striker I'd been trying to get before I opted for Fengqi. He had decent stats, was young enough and came with the bonus of boosting revenue in the far east. I think it's only worked out as an extra £18k so far but it's better than nothing. The problem was he was pricey and I had to spend £500k up front with another £1.5m in instalments. I could have done it for less out right but the board were stingy with what I could reinvest from the sales and I couldn't afford the £1.4m lump sum to activate his release clause.
Ze was on a free and initially looked quite good. A bit slow but young, and a massive 6' 8". Not sure how he would fit in as he seems more of a target man but I think if I can improve his quickness he will be okay.
And that was it for signings. It was at this point I felt like I'd made a mistake. I'd lost two key players (albeit for nearly £7m plus maybe more) and in one instance hadn't made a direct replacement and in the other had spent a lot to bring in replacements. Zhiqiang cost £2m which didn't leave much left over from the £3.4m sale of Fengqi, and when you combine Ze and Zhiq's wages (and sell on's) the rest is wiped out.
It'd all be worth it if they did well but I ran into some issues with them that makes me wonder. First of all Zhiqiang turned up to the club tired, I gave him two weeks off and he when he came back he got injured instantly for 6 weeks, missing the start of the season. Once match fit he managed a run of games and did reasonably well (a goal, an assist) and seemed to be settling. But then he was called up the the Asian U23 games and missed a big chunk as China went all the way to the final again. He came back, got match fit, played a couple of games and then got called up the the senior side for the qualification games missing over a month again. Halfway through the season he has played more international games than club games. So far I've paid £2m for a striker who's managed 7 games, 1 goal and 1 assist. It doesn't seem like value for money and it's difficult to see how well he has settled.
Ze managed to start because of Zhiqiangs jet setting but it took a long time for Ze to even look like scoring. He's massive, he's slow. As the poacher he doesn't really work and as the DLF he seems a little detached. He has started to improve though and has 4 goals, 2 assists in 11 games. He's okay and will get better as he settles.
In isolation Ze and Zhiqiang don't seem too bad but they've been outperformed by Flanagan and Villia as a pairing time and time again. Ze and Zhiqiang don't seem like value yet and I feel like I've wasted a lot of money from the Fengqi transfer. I'm hoping things will change in the second half of the season but it's made me really think hard about my transfer policy and the club. I will go onto the first half of the season in a bit but what has struck me is how small a club we are, and I've not been running it as such. We have a small rep, little history in terms of honours and perhaps most importantly a tiny ground that holds 3700. We sell it our a fair bit and get an average attendance of about 89% but it's size means we have to, at some point, use sales to keep us afloat until we regularly break into Europe. The turnover from the small ground isn't enough to offset the £66k a week wage budget.
This means I have to think about how we use the money we do get. I can't waste it any more. I don't think we can afford to go after big transfers with big wages in the hope of breaking into the top 5. I need to get as many players as I can on as little as possible. I need to buy young players that will do the job for less, or that will do the job and get sold for profit. I know it seems like a simple idea but it's one I've ignored the past few seasons. I've been too loose with the wage budget so now I need to cut back and get real value from my dealings.
So, when I do get cash again there's going to be a change and I think at the end of the season I might make a few bigger changes. All assuming I'm still not in Europe...
The first 17 games
So after all the above how was it going? Pretty well actually. We had more points after the first half of the season we had ever managed before. Not by much but it was a clear improvement - 4th with 33 points.
We'd had a good run of form. The only teams we had lost to had been the ones that were strong in the league, including surprise package Doxa. We'd even got a good win against Panathinaikos though it was a little hollow. Everyone was beating them at the moment as they seem set to flirt with relegation again.
The Cup was a little disappointing. We fought back but an away goal sank us. I think I need to take it more seriously next season. I played a weaker team in the first leg and got punished. Some silverware would be nice.
The squad was doing fairly well and almost everyone is seeing time on the pitch (although limited in some cases).
There is going to be another 'bout of recruitment though as shortly after getting Talent of the Year my midfielder Thoniatis put in a transfer request. I obliged, touted him around and got a reasonable price for him.
That's right. Another £3.4m and 25% sell on. He's a good player but actually I'd benched him a few times and not actually noticed a big difference. Ponce was blossoming this season and I had Carrera and Heese that I could play as well. I did initially hesitate but then I thought back to the transfer issue. If I could reinvest this money wisely I could get more cover for the squad, more players for the future and still maintain our position.
Who I'm going to sign I don't know but I'd love to get at least 3 new players, a DC, MC and ST. The board gave me £1.1m of the money to spend. I was worried about wages as Thoniatis doesn't leave until two days before the standard transfer window...so until he goes I'm still over wage budget by £2k. Once he's gone then I'm under by £3k. That 3 is what I want to spend wage wise really, £1k each, tops.
Though knowing my track record that might be a little difficult.
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