Final Whistle
First year of VMAN in review
Written 29 April 2020, 23:12
It's been a year since our club opened its doors to youths and supporters alike.
It was a year full of challenges, accomplishments, disappointments and satisfaction.
Started playing around 22 april while on holiday, visiting Barcelona in what turned out to be the worst possible time due to cold and rainy weather despite the heat wave that was sweeping through western Europe.
Club invested heavily in trading players short term with no focus on the results until we got a stronger squad to challenge for promotion and started building the stadium.
Managed to promote to 3rd division by July, but improving stadium/TF and squad at the same time was a failing strategy so decided to sell all and focus trading for improving the training facilities ASAP.
So by mid July we have already achieved Advanced Training Facilities and 10k Stadium.
By end July the STF upgrade was completed but after selling most of the first squad players and relegating ot 4th division in a rebuilding phase.
I started adding staff to our club, having hired a trainer and a potential scout to optimise training and income.
It was the time when our club focused our training on U21 DC, starting just under 20 rating and up to 35-40 rating which proved to be the most lucrative for STF facilities, with around 20 defenders in the squad and one trainer.
By the end of august with the help of one scouted youth selling for good profits our club managed to get the cash needed for the LTF expansion, first one to allow a somewhat profitable 'general' training.
In just over 4 months we managed to upgrade to LTF without a single super youth which was frustrating.
While on LTF the last of the DC got to over 40 rating around 22-24yo and were sold for over 1M/player managing a good profit and allowing for continued progress towards the next expansion.
By mid October cash started piling up and good potential players were trained and traded. One of the acquired players, Bret Turnbull remained in the squad until now, making it to first team before finding a better DM and finding himself on and off the pitch while continuing to train and challenging for a first team place.
In just over 6 months we got the ETF upgrade while continuing to improve the squad. By January we managed to reach 50M in team value and promoted in 3rd division again.
In the meantime we scouted the first super youth and bought another for 6+M with the intent to sell them for profit and get the next facilities upgrade.
In 10 months (by mid February) the PTF upgrade was complete at the expense of our most talented players while maintaining a skeleton squad in 3rd division, dropping from 46M to 34M.
By end of february 4.5M were invested in the Physio department upgrade and some more milions in energy packs since then.
By mid march a 20k seats stadium upgrade was finished and in a surprise move the club promoted for the first time in the 2nd division. After recruiting an 80 Rated DC and an 82 Rated GK the club managed to stabilise at this level after one relegation and another promotion, but the road was not always smooth. We almost managed to relegate despite having a decent rated team somewhere on the top of bottom third of the division.
By the end of march another stadium upgrade was contracted bringing the total to 25.6k places.
End of april and the celebration of 1 year since the club first opened finds us at 77M team value, with 7M in the bank somewhere on the top 5 but with no real merit, so expecting to finish around 8-10th place.
Last season we sold our 32 yo 82 DC that helped us stay in 2nd division and soon the 82 rated keeper will also be on his way as our reserve keeper is closing the gap fast reaching 70 this week and is expected to increase to around 90 rating.
We've also improve the midfield both in rating/training and in depth even if the reserves are not yet of the same caliber and will take another month or two to be effective. The hope is to sell 2 players and buy one better and younger for the same amount.
We're also looking to replace the DC we've sold but so far none was found on the auction and buying on TL currently is not an option.
Current strategy is to try RHYTHM FC's proposed plan of buying best players at 28yo and selling at 32,5 tops to retain 33% of value while getting match income to compensate for value loss and a bigger proffit.
So far we've got a mix of younger and older defenders, midfielders around 28 and reserves around 25-26 and forwards between 28 and 30.
The only player that is ireplaceble at the moment is our team captain, 32yo DR Echendu Udenkwor, bought at 69 Rating and now sits at 70 rating since the last 3 days. He has 92 Leadership and 82 Perseverance which make him a top captain and the results this season so far even without the 80 rated DC are mostly attributed to the boost provided by him. If we find a replacement captain his TL will be lowered but for now he's TL at a premium.
Meanwhile the youth team reached 30 Rating for the first time and is sitting in the top 4-6 places in 4th division brining a full 5.4k stadium at 7C bringing in some 500k C/season.
For the last seasons the stadium income has been steady at 3-3.3M Credits from the combined Senior+Youth matches.
As for the youth players, we only have one super youth and 4 other good youths that may remain in the squad for longer, all others are to be sold for profit, some while youth some after reaching 23/24yo depending on the opportunities to train them past the youth squad when the mood drops drastically due to low playing opportunities. But before reaching Senior status they will continue to complement the match income due to good performance in the 4th division.
In another record we've managed our first win against a 1st division team in the cup this season:
https://www.virtualmanager.com/new_matches/74059091/summary
But despite all the wins against the odds all the matches are played "Away" which is driving me nuts!
1st match was skipped, and the following 3 were played at the other team's stadium bringing in exactly 0C while eating out our energy day by day...
To end on a more positive note, two seasons ago we managed to be amongst the Eight finalists in Coupe de France winning an additional 190k, and we're only one match away to getting there again, hopefully this time will be a match at home.
In addition to celebrate the 1 year another upgrade of the Stadium was ordered,after careful consideration
Target size being 28700, an upgrade of 3.1k places for 5M which seems to be optimal for a team with around 7k supporters at 6C. The stadium is expected to complete before tomorrow's match at home against Man United.
It was a year full of challenges, accomplishments, disappointments and satisfaction.
Started playing around 22 april while on holiday, visiting Barcelona in what turned out to be the worst possible time due to cold and rainy weather despite the heat wave that was sweeping through western Europe.
Club invested heavily in trading players short term with no focus on the results until we got a stronger squad to challenge for promotion and started building the stadium.
Managed to promote to 3rd division by July, but improving stadium/TF and squad at the same time was a failing strategy so decided to sell all and focus trading for improving the training facilities ASAP.
So by mid July we have already achieved Advanced Training Facilities and 10k Stadium.
By end July the STF upgrade was completed but after selling most of the first squad players and relegating ot 4th division in a rebuilding phase.
I started adding staff to our club, having hired a trainer and a potential scout to optimise training and income.
It was the time when our club focused our training on U21 DC, starting just under 20 rating and up to 35-40 rating which proved to be the most lucrative for STF facilities, with around 20 defenders in the squad and one trainer.
By the end of august with the help of one scouted youth selling for good profits our club managed to get the cash needed for the LTF expansion, first one to allow a somewhat profitable 'general' training.
In just over 4 months we managed to upgrade to LTF without a single super youth which was frustrating.
While on LTF the last of the DC got to over 40 rating around 22-24yo and were sold for over 1M/player managing a good profit and allowing for continued progress towards the next expansion.
By mid October cash started piling up and good potential players were trained and traded. One of the acquired players, Bret Turnbull remained in the squad until now, making it to first team before finding a better DM and finding himself on and off the pitch while continuing to train and challenging for a first team place.
In just over 6 months we got the ETF upgrade while continuing to improve the squad. By January we managed to reach 50M in team value and promoted in 3rd division again.
In the meantime we scouted the first super youth and bought another for 6+M with the intent to sell them for profit and get the next facilities upgrade.
In 10 months (by mid February) the PTF upgrade was complete at the expense of our most talented players while maintaining a skeleton squad in 3rd division, dropping from 46M to 34M.
By end of february 4.5M were invested in the Physio department upgrade and some more milions in energy packs since then.
By mid march a 20k seats stadium upgrade was finished and in a surprise move the club promoted for the first time in the 2nd division. After recruiting an 80 Rated DC and an 82 Rated GK the club managed to stabilise at this level after one relegation and another promotion, but the road was not always smooth. We almost managed to relegate despite having a decent rated team somewhere on the top of bottom third of the division.
By the end of march another stadium upgrade was contracted bringing the total to 25.6k places.
End of april and the celebration of 1 year since the club first opened finds us at 77M team value, with 7M in the bank somewhere on the top 5 but with no real merit, so expecting to finish around 8-10th place.
Last season we sold our 32 yo 82 DC that helped us stay in 2nd division and soon the 82 rated keeper will also be on his way as our reserve keeper is closing the gap fast reaching 70 this week and is expected to increase to around 90 rating.
We've also improve the midfield both in rating/training and in depth even if the reserves are not yet of the same caliber and will take another month or two to be effective. The hope is to sell 2 players and buy one better and younger for the same amount.
We're also looking to replace the DC we've sold but so far none was found on the auction and buying on TL currently is not an option.
Current strategy is to try RHYTHM FC's proposed plan of buying best players at 28yo and selling at 32,5 tops to retain 33% of value while getting match income to compensate for value loss and a bigger proffit.
So far we've got a mix of younger and older defenders, midfielders around 28 and reserves around 25-26 and forwards between 28 and 30.
The only player that is ireplaceble at the moment is our team captain, 32yo DR Echendu Udenkwor, bought at 69 Rating and now sits at 70 rating since the last 3 days. He has 92 Leadership and 82 Perseverance which make him a top captain and the results this season so far even without the 80 rated DC are mostly attributed to the boost provided by him. If we find a replacement captain his TL will be lowered but for now he's TL at a premium.
Meanwhile the youth team reached 30 Rating for the first time and is sitting in the top 4-6 places in 4th division brining a full 5.4k stadium at 7C bringing in some 500k C/season.
For the last seasons the stadium income has been steady at 3-3.3M Credits from the combined Senior+Youth matches.
As for the youth players, we only have one super youth and 4 other good youths that may remain in the squad for longer, all others are to be sold for profit, some while youth some after reaching 23/24yo depending on the opportunities to train them past the youth squad when the mood drops drastically due to low playing opportunities. But before reaching Senior status they will continue to complement the match income due to good performance in the 4th division.
In another record we've managed our first win against a 1st division team in the cup this season:
https://www.virtualmanager.com/new_matches/74059091/summary
But despite all the wins against the odds all the matches are played "Away" which is driving me nuts!
1st match was skipped, and the following 3 were played at the other team's stadium bringing in exactly 0C while eating out our energy day by day...
To end on a more positive note, two seasons ago we managed to be amongst the Eight finalists in Coupe de France winning an additional 190k, and we're only one match away to getting there again, hopefully this time will be a match at home.
In addition to celebrate the 1 year another upgrade of the Stadium was ordered,after careful consideration
Target size being 28700, an upgrade of 3.1k places for 5M which seems to be optimal for a team with around 7k supporters at 6C. The stadium is expected to complete before tomorrow's match at home against Man United.
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