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So I decided to take over at Sporting Clube de Portugal, my team in Portugal. Sporting are one of the "Big Three" in Portugal, together with FC Porto and SL Benfica. These three teams are by far and away the most well supported, influential and most successful teams in Portugal. Unfortunately for Sporting, Benfica and Porto have surpassed the the team from Alvelade in recent years as they piled up the league wins and cup wins.
Sporting have a pedigree of producing the best players in the country. Having already produced the likes of Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma, Hugo Viana, Nani etc. However for a very long time the club have excelled at being a selling club, selling their gems for well before they mature into world beaters and make Sporting glorious once again.
Sporting have a few major players at the outset. There are few better young central midfielders than Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho in the world, and up front in Liedson, they have one of the best strikers in Europe on his day.
House Rules for this career
- I will be using my scouts as the major tools to sign players, however, I can opt to scout players myself in the off season, by choosing a specific country and going around looking at players. Depending on the country I will limit myself to more time in some countries, i.e. looking in Brazil will take more time than looking in Ireland.
- I will try and maintain the clubs best players and build a force to be reckoned with instead of selling off players to make a quick buck. That is unless they are resigned to leaving.
- I will progress through my career logically, taking the best jobs when offered, unless I feel I have built a club that is too good to leave.
- Probably a few more as and when they arise.
Season 2008/09
Transfers
In
Salvador Cabanas (£4m) - America (MEX)
Miguel Angel Angulo (£400K) - Valencia
Roberto Santamaria (£400K) - Las Palmas
Milan Jovanovic (£2m) - Standard Liege
Jason O'Hare (£65K) - Sligo Rovers
Out
Rodrigo Tiui - (£2m) - Ajax
Pedro Silva (£2.2m) - AZ Alkmaar
Leandro Romagnoli (£5m) - West Ham United
Abel - (£3m) - Parma
Tiago - (£600K) - Chelsea
Vitor Golas - (£30K) - Palmeiras
The big signings were Salvador Cabanas and Milan Jovanovic especially with Liedson starting the season injured, we needed firepower up front. Angulo was also a good capture as he is still up to standard and costs me very little from Valencia, no doubt he would play a big part in the season. Santamaria would be second choice goalkeeper for the season, behind Rui Patricio. His capture was necessary because Tiago was offloaded to Chelsea.
Seasonal Player Stats
Highest Average: Anderson Polga (7.36)
Top Goalscorer: Yannick Djalo (19)
Top League Goalscorer: Anderson Polga (13)
Most Assists: Joao Moutinho (13)
Fans Player of the Year: Anderson Polga
Manager Player of the Year: Anderson Polga
Anderson Polga, centre-back by trade, was simply irresistable this season, scoring goals from corners almost when he wanted. He amazingly ended up top goalscorer in the league, simply an amazing feat for the big Brazilian. Yannick deserves a mention as well as he was quite instrumental all season, with Liedson missing for half the season, he needed to step up and he did a good job.
League Position Finished - 1st CHAMPION
We scraped the league by four points from an ever persistant Porto. Both Sporting and Porto were sublime all season. In the end it came down to Sporting drawing a few less games than Porto. Both clubs only lost once in the league and dominated the league from start to finish. Benfica finshed 3rd six points behind Porto, and Sporting Braga 12 points behind Benfica. Both Benfica and Braga had maintained early pace with Sporting and Porto to start off, but in the end they tailed away to their respective places.
Result of the League Season
Sporting 4-1 FC Porto - Having drawn at the Dragao, Porto travelled to Sporting in what was dubbed as the title decider, with only a handful of games to follow. Sporting completely outclassed Porto from start to finish as they pulled off the impressive win. Porto took the lead through Hulk on 14 mins, but Sporting came back in style as Yannick Djalo stole the show, grabbing a hat-trick and Milan Jovanovic rapped the points up in injury time.
Loss of the League Season
Benfica 4-2 Sporting - It was November and the first "Classico" of the season was upon us. The Lisbon rivals faced each other for the first bragging rights of the year and Benfica turned up to claim the victory. Braces from Oscar Cardozo and David Suazo delighted the Aguia fans. Joao Moutinho and Liedson grabbed goals to maintain some semblance of a fair match, but Benfica were by far thye better team.
Portuguese League Cup - Finalist v. FC Porto
The group stages saw FC Porto and Sporting be too strong for both Estrela da Amadora and Academica. Sporting then knocked out bitter rivals Benfica at the Estadio da Luz, by 2-1, while FC Porto beat Leixoes eased to a 2-0 victory. In the final, FC Porto turned up and Sporting simply didn't, 3-0 reflecting a simple victory for the men from Oporto.
Portuguese Cup - Knocked Out 6th Round v. Benfica
Sporting looked like the team of the Cup, as they put lower league teams to the sword in previous rounds. Oriental Lisbon were beaten 13-2 at Alvalade in record breaking fashion. In the next round Maia were destroyed at home 8-0. This win set up a Sporting v Benfica 6th Round match at the Alvalade. Sporting were much the better team, but just couldn't find the goal, and David Suazo stole the win for Benfica.
Champions League - 3rd Place Group Stages (Real Madrid, Juventus, Fenerbahce)
Sporting had every reason to feel aggrevied at being handed the group of death, containing Real Madrid, Juventus and Fenerbahce. Sporting kicked off the group at home to Juve, neither team could find a goal as it ended 0-0. Next it was Fenerbahce away, a vintage rear guard performance from Sporting saw the Lions win 1-0. Next was the big one at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid. Real were too strong as they romped to a 3-1 win. A few weeks later Sporting welcomed the Spanish giants to the Alvelade and again lost this time 2-1. The next game was at the Delle Alpi, was crucial if Sporting were to get through, they were thoroughly outplayed as Juve won by 2-0. Sporting were out and now faced Fenerbahce at home. The Portuguese side turned up and gave them a beating 4-1.
UEFA Cup - Knocked out 1st Knock Out Round v. Udinese
Sporting gained a good away 1-1 draw against Udinese, which set up an inviting game for Sporting to reach the next round, but they were shocked as Udinese took a 2-0 lead, Sporting restored a goal but it was all too late and Udinese got through.
Competition Winners
Portugal
Liga Sagres - Sporting CP - Relegated: Trofense and Rio Ave
League Cup - FC Porto
Portuguese Cup - Benfica
England
Premier League - Manchester United - Relegated: West Ham United, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa
League Cup - Manchester United
FA Cup - Liverpool
France
Ligue 1 - Bordeaux - Relegated: Grenoble 38, Le Havre, Caen
Coupe de la Ligue - Lyon
French Cup - Le Havre
Germany
Bundesliga - Bayern Munich - Relegated: Cottbus, Bielefeld
German Cup - Hoffenheim
Holland
Eredivisie - PSV Eindhoven - Relegated: Volendam
Dutch Cup - ADO Den Haag
Italy
Serie A - Inter Milan - Relegated: Chievo, Reggina, Lecce
Italian Cup - AC Milan
Spain
La Liga - Barcelona - Relegated: Malaga, Almeria, Numancia
Euro Super Cup - Manchester United beating Zenit
UEFA Cup - CSKA Moscow beating Manchester City
Champions League - Real Madrid beating Manchester United
World Club Championship - Manchester United beating Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia)

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