Transfers

IN: 4 for 6.25M (1 Italian ST/AML 275K, 1 20 yo Spanish MR 3.2M, 1 19 yo Argentinian DR 2.4M, 1 young backup GK)

OUT: 23 for 1M (only sale was young, disappointing DLCR for 1M)

Summary

Coming into the season the board had given me a good transfer budget and a good wage budget. I knew that I needed to get a new backup GK and a younger MR. I wasn't planning on buying the DR, but when my scout came to me with him, I just couldn't pass him up. Those were the only three signings I made going into the season.

This was also going to be young (20yo now) Italian GK first season starting for me.

The season started out frustratingly for me. I kept the formation that we excelled in at the end of last season, but it just wasn't working the same. My ST hadn't scored in our first 9 matches and I was annoyed. We were sitting 11th after 10 games and I needed to make a change.

Mind you, in Europe this formation was working very well. We breezed through the qualifying rounds and this was our group...

Group G

1st Alicante 2-4-0 6F 1A +5 10pts

2nd Academica 3-1-2 10F 11A -1 10pts

3rd CSKA Moscow 2-2-2 10F 10A 0 8pts

4th Dinamo Buc. 1-1-4 5F 15A -10 4pts

As you can see we had a few 0-0 draws in there! But, we were fantastic throughout and only conceded the 1 goal. New young GK was looking the part big time and my solid, solid backline was just performing amazingly...but the goals were just not were I wanted them.

So I went back to a trusty standard formation and off we went. This change though meant that I was suddenly not very deep at ST. So in the Jan window I brought in a backup.

The knockout phase of Europa saw us face Fenerbahce....we lost 3-0 on aggregate including a 1-0 loss at home...oh well!!

But, onwards and upwards in the season. It really wasn't anything too exciting...I kept feeling that we were performing worse than last season, but to my surprise we finished slightly better than last season in the table and points.

League Table

1st At Madrid 28-7-3 94F 24A +70 91pts

2nd Barcelona 27-6-5 82F 24A +58 87pts

3rd R Madrid 25-9-4 100F 32A +68 84pts

4th Sevilla 20-6-12 66F 46A +20 66pts

5th Alicante 19-9-10 54F 45A +9 66pts

6th Valencia 15-12-11 60F 47A +13 57pts

As you can see, there is a significant gap from the top 3 to everyone else....it definitely looks like breaking into that is going to take a few year!!!  

On another note, this was the first season that the finances were starting to become an issue. I stayed within my wage budget, but I think the board may have set that too high as even with the Europa money, we were just losing money every month, and for the first time in my career with Alicante...we were sitting at minus money at the end of the season...-2.5M actually.

With that in mind, I am not expecting to have any money to spend this off season...but we shall see...though I doubt it.

Oh, 1 more thing...I had forgotten that a couple of seasons ago I offered a contract to a 15yo Argentinian ST and he accepted..he comes this off season!! Yay...he should be good, but we shall see.

Highlights: Finishing higher than last season. Good performance in Europa, and really pleased with the performance of young GK

Lowlights: We just can't see to find a system that is consistent...Spanish ST thrived when he was the sole ST, but when this season started he struggled...my ST seem to go in spurts followed by LONG droughts. 

There was a 5 match stretch where EVERY goal we scored was scored by my midfield.

Transfers

IN: 3 for 1.1M (18yo Argentinian ST for 1M, 19yo Italian DL, 16yo DM for 70K)

OUT:6 for 1M (I finally sold that crap Argentinian ST to Bristol City for 1M)

Summary

As I said at the end of last season, money was starting to become an issue and I wasn't expecting a transfer budget...and boy was I right..I had 100K to spend!! woot woot!! Luckily my young Argentinian ST's transfer was already on the books a couple of years ago so I went and snatched up a very promising looking DM for 70K. I also brought in a young DL as my current starter was 28 now and I wanted someone to groom for that position.

The season also started with Liverpool unsettling my awesome Portuguese DC by offering first 2M, then 5M...I then noticed that he had a 5.5M release clause...offered him a new contract with a 12M clause and he took it....nobody else made offers after that thankfully.

The season overall went well. The only new face in the team was my new Argentinian ST whom I partnered with my Uruguay ST. Congo MC also started this season. 

The partnership up front was looking to be the best one I have had yet. This was something I had struggled with as one would always perform and the other would do shite. 

This time they both did good...not great, but not bad. Argentinian ST won young player of the year and had 10 goals and 15 assists, while Uruguay ST had 10 goals and 4 assists. 

The second highest goal total came from Congo MC with 9 and 6 assists and finished 3rd in young player of the year...so the future is looking bright.

About halfway through the season, we were taken over by a consortium and the bastard had the balls to say he was going to replace me, but give me a couple of games to prove myself....those couple of games saw a 0-3 thrashing at the hands of Real Madrid and a 0-5 thrashing by At Madrid!! 

Luckily for me, there is apparently a lot of support for me to stay on and the new director was leaving me in charge! whew!

Europe was about the same as it has been...here was the group...

Group I

1st Alicante 3-0-3 8F 10A -2 9pts

2nd Zilina 2-2-2 6F 8A -2 8pts

3rd AS Monaco 2-2-2 9F 7A +2 8pts

4th CSKA Moscow 2-2-2 8F 6A 8pts

A tight group, I find it interesting that the bottom two teams were the only teams with a positive GD!!  

We face AS Roma in the knockout stage keeping them to a 2-2 draw at home, but losing out 0-1 away. Oh well...next year!!

In the league, we were better than last season I felt. We seemed to score a bit more and concede a bit less...

League Table

1st Real Madrid 29-6-3 93F 23A +70 93pts

2nd At Madrid 25-6-7 86F 26A +60 81 pts

3rd Sevilla 24-7-7 68F 28A +40 79 pts

6th Alicante 21-6-11 49F 38A +11 69pts

We had a better GD and points total than last season, but finished a spot lower. Looking at it, we also scored less than last season. I would say I need to sort that, but I have a partnership of 18yo Argentinian that everyone agrees is going to be a star, and a 21 yo Uruguay...so I feel that they just need time to mature.

Highlights: Seeing 2 of my youngsters in the top 3 of the young player of the year!! Making Europe for a 3rd season in a row!!

Lowlights: Nothing really...the lower goal total is worrying, but I think if we score just a little more we can move up the table...so long as the defense stays solid!!

I also really need some depth at DC. I have my two starters, but when one of them is hurt or suspended I just don't have ANY faith in the guys on the bench.

Edit...just hit continue and I won manager of the year!! sweet!

Transfers

IN: 4 for 850K (1 English ST 0K, 1 MC 525K, 1 GK 250K, 1 DC 65K)

OUT: 7 for 0K

Summary

Going into the season, the board really didn't give me any money to spend...this was unfortunate as they also seemed to cut my wage budget. I say this because I wasn't anywhere near going over the wage budget, but they wouldn't allow me to resign anyone...and I mean they were allowing me to offer contracts in the 12K a week range...at this level players expect a lot more and as a result I couldn't resign a couple of MC and a DC...so I spend the little bit of transfer money I had on some backups and depth.

The season as a whole wasn't bad, but we were really struggling to score goals again. New argentinian ST was good and a little better than last season, but no one else could really find the back of the net. It was a good thing I had a rock solid defense or our league position would have been worse.

We missed out on Europe for the first time being in the BBVA and at the end of the season I decided I had probably taken Alicante as far as I could. Without money we were never going to break into the top 5...so I resigned.

League Table

1st R. Madrid 27-7-4 93F 21A +72 88pts

2nd Barcelona 27-6-5 81F 20A +61 87pts

3rd Sevilla 21-14-3 63F 27A +36 77pts

8th Alicante 15-10-13 44F 40A +4 55pts

Highlights: Not much to speak of really...the defense was rock solid, but the season as a whole was a big disappointment. Most other seasons 55pts would have saw us in 10th...and that is unacceptable.

Lowlights: The season as a whole. We never put a good run together. We beat the big teams consistently, but lost to the lower teams just as much...an example...in 2 games versus Sevilla, we won 3-0 at home and then 2-0 away. Two games against Las Palmas...we lost 0-4 at home and 1-3 away...go figure.

So, I stepped down knowing that I was taking a risk with another team (and the fact that no one had a vacancy at the moment!!)

I didn't get offered a job until 10 games into the new season when Valencia sacked their manager and approached me. I Gladly accepted!!