[Terminal]

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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)

[Gers]

I watched Djalo for a few years when I was with Marseille but I never made a move, he always seems to do well. Having said that so does the likes of Cardozo but then he can flop in other leagues.

The likes of Moutinho are fb but can you hold onto them, are they unhappy yet? Great job winning the league, its not easy with Porto, Benfica etc. Interesting to see Villa get relegated, nab some of their players /o\

Oh and welcome back :wub:!

[Tractor Boy]

TERMINAL'S BACK!!!

Nice season ther emate, you've managed to keep hold of your big names and finish 1st in the league, KIU (Y)

[Terminal]

Season 2009/10

Transfers

In

Landon Donovan (Free) - LA Galaxy
Marko Pantelic (Free) - Hertha Berlin
Federico Laurito (£1.1m) - Udinese
Jean Nicod (£120K) - Aarau
Elie Gallet - (£325K) - Stade Rennais
David Bruneau - (£18K) - Metz
Alan Dzagoev - (£16.25m) - CSKA Moscow
Csaba Toth - (£24K) - Ferencvaros
Ilsinho - (£7.5m) - Shakthar
Sergio Jiminez Lozano (£20K) - Lorca
Kevin van der Kraan (£14K) - Ajax

Out

Marko Pantelic (£1.2m) - Olympiakos
Andre Martins - Released
Milan Purovic (2.4m) - Brondby
Joao Moutinho (£26m) - Barcelona
Emidio Rafael (£45K) - Varzim
Joao Martins - Released
Zezinando - Released
Marco Matias (Loan Fee: £85K) - Leixoes
Vladimir Stoijkovic (Loan Fee: £75K) - Bordeaux
Saleiro (£350K) - Murcia
Miguel Angelo (£160K) - Leixoes

The story of this transfer window was dominated by the departure of club captain Joao Moutinho. He had been moaning the back end of the season that he wanted a move away from the club despite having 5 years left on his contract. Liverpool and Barcelona battled it out for his signature, with Barcelona winning his signature. Into the club came Alan Dzagoev, the Russian wonderkid that would fit into the slot that Moutinho had left, at just 19 years of age it would remain to be seen whether he could step up to the job. Ilsinho was also a good capture, his versatility meaning he cane play, all down the right side and in central midfield. Federico Laurito, was also a capture that the manager would believe would become a great player, and at just £1.1m it was a steal. Purovic, finally went away after spending all last season on loan in Turkey, and Stoijkovic a prima-donna goalie, was offloaded to Bordeaux on loan with a view to the move becoming permanent. Scouting reports across Europe brought in youngsters in the coveted Alcochete Football Academy. Such names as Nicod, Bruneau, Gallet, and Toth would hopefully improve to a standard to one day play for the first team, but for now they were going into the U19's.

Seasonal Player Stats

Highest Average: Liedson (7.49)
Top Goalscorer: Liedson (31)
Top League Goalscorer: Liedson (23)
Most Assists: Marat Izmailov (26)
Fans Player of the Year: Anderson Polga
Managers Player of the Year: Liedson

This season, Liedson came back with a force, he was irresitable in front of goal, scoring goals for fun, well supported by Izmailov. Anderson Polga again grabbed a silly amount of goals, but was prone to the odd error at the back.

League Position Finished - 1st CHAMPION

We walked away with the league for the second season running, beating Porto by 4 points. We lost one game all season and drew another season, in what was almost a perfect season. Benfica were a distant 3rd.

Result of the League Season
Sporting 3-1 FC Porto - Final game of the season, Sporting 1 point clear of Porto, meaning that it came down to a shoot out at Alvalade. We were better than Porto, and with our fans behind us we made sure of the title. Goals from Liedson, Ilsinho and Izmailov gave us a 3-0 lead. Two mins into stoppage time Rodriguez gave Porto a consolation, but a min later it was the green and whites celebrating, so little did that goal matter.

Defeat of the League Season
Porto 4-3 Sporting - It was the only game we lost all season, and it was a very tough one to take. Lisandro Lopez put Porto into an early 2-0 lead and half time thats how the game was, with Porto being the better side. At half time the players were motivated to show that they were better than they had shown. Three quick goals from Sporting set up an amazing comeback. Goals from Veloso and Liedson, and Sporting were on the brink. However, Porto showing great resiliance, went back out there and showed they were no pushovers as Raul Meireles and Tarik secured all three points for the blues.

Portuguese League Cup - Winners v Belenenses

We breezed into the final of the League Cup, beating both Porto and Benfica on the way. Our smaller Lisbon rivals Belenenses were our opponents in the final. It was always going to be tough for them and we captalized, winning 2-0.

Portuguese Cup - Knocked Out Quarter Final v Porto

We got handed a tough draw away to Porto, and simply put it was a good match in which they were the better side. 4-2 the final result.

Champions League - Knocked Out in 1st Knock Out Round v. Bayern Munich

We were handed a reasonably hard group of Manchester United, Genoa and Olympiakos, however we were backing ourselves to get through. In our first game we travelled to Old Trafford and were well beaten 2-0. Next Genoa came to Lisbon and in a great spectacle we overcame them 4-2. We travelled to Greece next and came back with a 3-0 win. In the return leg in Lisbon, the Greeks were no better losing 3-1. Next United came to Lisbon, we earned a point with a 1-1 draw and qualified with a game to spare. In Genoa, we were to good for the Italians and beat them 3-1. This set up a tie against Bayern Munich, notoriously impossible to beat for Sporting. We managed a 1-1 draw at home, which set the Germans up with a good opportunity to advance. In a very tense game in Munich, the Germans never got going, but Sporting couldn't find the net, and the matched ended in a goalless draw allowing the Germans through on away goals rule.

Competition Winners
Portugal

Liga Sagres - Sporting - Relegated: Varzim, Leiria
League Cup - Sporting
Portuguese Cup - Benfica

England

Premier League - Arsenal - Relegated: Stoke, Sunderland, Reading
League Cup - Manchester United
FA Cup - Arsenal

France

Ligue 1 - Lille - Relegated: Stade Brestois, Sochaux, Valenciennes
Coupe de la Ligue - Lyon
French Cup - Bordeaux

Germany

Bundesliga - Werder Bremen - Relegated: Frankfurt, Koln
German Cup - Dortmund

Holland

Eredivisie - Heerenveen - Relegated: Sparta Rotterdam
Dutch Cup - Ajax

Italy

Serie A - Inter - Relegated: Ascoli, Bologna, Empoli
Italian Cup - Inter

Spain

La Liga - Real Madrid - Relegated: Celta Vigo, Sporting Gijon, Valladolid
Copa del Rey - Real Madrid

UEFA Cup - Sampdoria beating AC Milan
Champions League - Real Madrid beating Barcelona
World Club Championship - Real Madrid beating LA Galaxy

PS: Cheers for the comments guys, yeah made a little comeback at last with all my uni work done. Djalo is a good player, just the problem I have with him, is he isnt an out and out striker. I've tried converting him into a right sided winger but he isn't adpating well. Still he is proving a very competent squad player and still very young. Your answer about Moutinho is self evident. Real did the damage constantly drudging his name in the press and unsettling him, he was moaning a lot and I was afraid that he would starting putting in crap performances. Barca signed him £1m before his min fee release, so I knew sooner or later they would get him. Other players such as Veloso and Vukcevic were also subject to the same unsettling, however I manager to get them on new contracts without the min fee release clauses, which should allow me to either keep them or only sell them at a premium.

[Terminal]

Season 2010/11

Transfers

In
Joseba Inaki Hernandez (£170K) - Athletic Bilbao
Niklas Behrendt (£22K) - Koblenz
Rafeal Ferreira (£220K) - Academica
Ramires (£22.5m) - Cruzeiro
Breno (£22m) - Bayern Munich
Carsten Seitz (£22K) - St.Pauli
Flavio Mazars (£22K) - Valenciennes

Out

Vladimir Stoijkovic (£1.1m) Bordeaux
Fabio Paim - Released
Diogo Amado - Released
Alan Dzagoev (£40m) - Real Madrid
Andre Marques - Released
Bruno Matias - Released
Fabio Rochemback (£2.5m) - Frankfurt
Celestino (£2.2m) - CFR Cluj
Michael Santos (£6K) - Leiria
Vinicius (£70K) - Maritimo
Andre Pires (£50K) - Beira Mar
Landon Donovan (Loan Fee: £140K) - Elche
Ignacio Ameli - Released

In the summer, Real Madrid came in for the young Russian Alan Dzagoev, only playing here and there as he was blooded into Sporting first team, the £40m offer was too much to refuse. In came Ramires, the Brazilian again coming in with a view to plug the gap that Joao Moutinho had left. Breno came in as well to really boost the defence. Out going were Fabio Rochemback and Landon Donovan, who had simply not proved that they were good enough to compete for the first team.

Seasonal Player Stats

Highest Average: Liedson (7.43)
Top Goalscorer: Liedson (33)
Top League Goalscorer: Liedson (16)
Most Assists: Marat Izmailov (22)
Fans Player of the Year: Liedson
Managers Player of the Year: Liedson

Liedson last season threatened not to sign a new contract, but after talks with him, he finally sucummbed. Liedson was again on serious form as he proved himself a great player. Izmailov again was the creator with a bag full of assists.

League Position Finished - 1st CHAMPION

Again it was a very tight season, Porto ran us very close. We won by two points and the key was an away win at the Dragao. It's our third title in a row. Benfica once again finished a very distant 3rd place.

Result of the League Season
FC Porto 1-2 Sporting - It was obvious that this match would be important, a few games left of the season and Porto top by a point or so. We needed to win, because it was unlikely that Porto would drop anymore points all season. In the second half they took the lead through Pogrebnyak, but we hit back almost instantly through the inspiration of Ramires. Two mins into stoppage time and corner for Sporting in the last chance. Anderson Polga misses the header, but the ball falls at his feet from a deflection and he put in the back of the net. We had somehow done it, for our first victory at the Dragao since I took over the club.

Defeat of the League Season
Naval 1-0 Sporting - Naval are not a great team and we were expected to go in there and beat them easily, we were turned over and created very little, which was extremely dissappointing.

Portuguese League Cup - Winners v Porto

We met our now very familiar foes, in the League Cup final, and beat them 2-0, a victory that was all the sweeter knowing that we had denied our most bitter rivals a trophy

Portuguese Cup - Knocked Out Semi Final v Porto

We were away for the semi final at Porto, and again we lost, by a solitary goal.

Champions League - Winners v Liverpool

What a dream story for the team, a team which had never even got close to winning the Champions League. We were handed a group with AC Milan, Werder Bremen and Dynamo Kiev. Not an easy group in the slightest. We started away to Dynamo and walked away with an important 1-0 win. Next it AC Milan at home and we produced one of the best performances in the history of Sporting, beating them 4-1, showing some of potential for the competition. Next it was a crucial tie against German champions Werder at home, we walked away with an edgy 2-1 win, to put us in command of the group, knowing the harder games were to come. We next faced off against Werder away and managed a 0-0 draw, to put us within a whisker of qualifying. We went out against Dynamo knowing a point would be enough for qualification, we got more ending up 1-0 winners. We went to the final game of the season not only through but group winners, because of AC Milan's loss in Germany. AC were in no mood to mess around and returned a humbling to us, winning 4-1.

This set up a tie against Lyon. We kicked off away and put the contest almost surely to bed with a 3-1 away win. At home we managed a 3-2 win to beat Lyon quite easily. The quarter finals gave us, an opponent we knew well in FC Porto. A Portuguese club would be in the semi finals of the Champions League and we were in for a battle. At Porto, we lost 3-2, but it set up a good opportunity for us to go through if we could find a goal at home without conceding. We needn't have worried as we battered the blues 4-0 at Alvalade. It set up a mouth watering semi final against Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan. We were at home first and manages to scrape a 2-1 win with a last gasp goal. Inter were still favourites to do enough at home. It was an edgy match, as the game ended 2-1, at the Giuseppe Meazza. Extra time was tense, but we grabbed a goal and then as Inter pushed men forward, Liedson grabbed another to finish it, and put Sporting through to final of the Champions League for the first time in their history.

Liverpool were good enough to wipe the floor with Barcelona, and it set up a fairy tale final for the English club with the final being played at Wembley. We stunned the Liverpool faithful as we took the lead through legendary striker Liedson. At half time I was wary to keep us going, hoping we could hold on as Liverpool came at us. We stunned Wembley again in the second half as from a corner Carrico, made it 2-0 to Sporting. Xabi Alonso stepped up to make things very tense on 67 mins as he curled in a freekick, but Liverpool couldn't get another, not for want of trying. As we took the Champions League 2-1.

Competition Winners
Portugal

Liga Sagres - Sporting - Relegated: Gil Vicente, Beira Mar
League Cup - Sporting
Portuguese Cup - Porto

England

Premier League - Arsenal - Relegated: Hull, Blackburn, Wigan
League Cup - Liverpool
FA Cup - Newcastle

France

Ligue 1 - Lyon - Relegated: Lorient, Caen, Metz
Coupe de la Ligue - Lyon
French Cup - Rennes

Germany

Bundesliga - Bayern Munich - Relegated: Rostock, Karlsruhe
German Cup - Stuttgart
Holland

Eredivisie - FC Twente - Relegated: Utrecht
Dutch Cup - VVV

Italy

Serie A - Inter - Relegated: Torino, Reggina, Chievo
Italian Cup - Fiorentina

Spain

La Liga - Real Madrid - Relegated: Espanyol, Elche, Castellon
Copa del Rey - Villarreal

UEFA Cup - Manchester City beating Valencia
Champions League - Sporting beating Liverpool
World Club Championship - Real Madrid beating Boca Juniors