Return of the Mack: Episode 2

Wauw. Wauw, wauw, wauw.
What a start to life in management in Silkeborg IF.
It's been a tough start and had my doubts, but I am seeing a real chance to build something beautiful here. The team is responding well to my ideas and I seem to have turned some of the old dogs in my favour. 
It is always difficult to win over the older players, especially when you've done nothing to get the job, but even harder when you're a nobody who just swooned in and got the job.
But I've had a good start to life back home.
I've managed to pull the club out of the nosedive that they were in and we're looking much, much better.
Now the focus is on stability and grinding out wins.
So, let us get right into is and have a look at the friendlies.
As you might recall, I've changed the backroom staff completely and from having one of the worst, I'm one of the best clubs in regards to the quality of staff.
So I have great confidence in the results I can get from new players and the ones with good potential because I know they'll be on good hands at Søholt. 

The Final Friendlies & The Good Restart

So, finishing off against Botafogo with a narrow defeat is absolutely approved. I expected a bigger loss, but a 1-0 is something I accept and build on. It shows how far they've come.
Funder is a suburb, literally 500 meters outside Silkeborg, so that was more for the locals and just to get some fun and lighten the mood.
Because our first game after the Restart, was against local rivals, Randers.
We do not like them. They are a. Well. Not us!
I'll be honest, there is not a lot of clubs that we like. And most of them are in the Superliga with us, so that's fun! A lot of local rivalries and pride are on stake in over 50% of the games.
So we travelled the 25 minutes to visit Randers and I wanted a win. No, I needed a win. We had to get into the second half with a good performance.

And fu*k me did we! What a game that was.
We didn't get off to a good start and I had my doubts. We made it half time, being down with only 1.
At half time, I told them I was very disappointed and they all reacted poorly. Which surprised me. Only Jared (bloody Jared) reacted positively and we started the second half on the back foot and I didn't really know what to do. So only 5 minutes in, I changed to a 4-4-2 and put Jared on top with new boy Hernandez.
It did NOT take long for them to find the magic.
58 minutes, Jared scores to 1-1. A minute later, Hernandez scores to 1-2 and only 4 minutes later, Captain Mark Brink extended the lead to 1-3 and we had full control of the game.
Well. Until we reached the last 10 minutes.
The Ballinamallard Syndrome had followed me to Denmark and suddenly they scored and made it 2-3. I started to get a little nervous again. Hernandez bagged a brace to make 2-4 and I rested a little easier. For another 5 minutes and then they scored again to make it 3-4! I mean. Obvs. And there was still 3 minutes left of added time. I just. You know when you get that sneaking feeling that something is wrong. I just KNEW they'd equalise in the last minute and I was on the edge of my seat.
But, then the ref blew the whistle and suddenly the game was done.
We did it. A 3-4 victory and we were off to a good start. 
And, did I really just find a beautiful pair in Hernandez and... ugh... Jared..?

Well, Brøndby is a good team. They used to rule in the '90s. Wait. We've already covered them in the last one.
Anyway. The game was boring and it ended in a draw. Yes, I was very happy with that. From fighting relegation to drawing with one of the top teams. Pretty good if you ask me.
But I didn't really want to change the tactical approach, so I moved the players around a little. The doofus, Jared, could play on the wing and I can keep Hernandez on the top.

March and Fab 5

Wauw. Honestly. Look at this.
That is a thing of absolute beauty!
5 games, 5 victories. Yeah, sure, one is the cup, but it put us through to the Semi's and it was against FCM, our bitter rivals.
I oinly have 1 thing to say to all you doubters out there...
Hrm...
"YES!!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT ME NOW MUTHERTRUCKERS!!!!!!!!!! WHO'S THE CHAMP NOW!!?!? ME!!! I AM!!!

7, read, 7 games undefeated! I am in shock. I am. I'm speechless! I've found the magic. Now, I know there are tactics out there, that "cheats" and all, but this is my own doing. 
The players are jelling perfectly, the mood is high and the confidence is just going up and up and up.
Look at this!
I'm not sure what to say?
And, if you look closer, you can see that 5 of those. Yes, 5, was won without conceding! How incredible is that!

I know what you're thinking: "Oy, Simon. Show us this magical tactic that you're working with and who is this wonder keeper that you've found?"
And let me tell you.
This. This is the man.
Anthony Swolffs.

He was on the transferlist at De Graafshap and I thought he looked good. I mean, look at his... STATS!!
No, I'm kidding. Look at these attributes. He is a very good keeper and in his prime. He can still develop and the price was about 130.000£, so the choice was easy. Especially because the other keepers in the club are old, over the hill and the kids are far from being first team material.
But he has been absolutely super. I mean. Clean sheets én mas is just a massive pat on the shoulder for that recruiting. 
Obvs the tactics play a part, so let's take a look at that before we look at the 3 other players that have been massive in this and the finances and transfers in general.

The base tactic was the classical Tiki-Taka, but changed around to fit the players. Now, the defence is pretty shakey. They're all pretty mediocre. Look at them. All 2 stars. But boy can they play together! It always helps when they trust the keeper and Tony has been fantastic. 
I moved Brink down to DLP instead of the Box-To-Box he wants to play, because I had no better options.
But he has taken to that, like a duck to water. This tactic looks like it is the perfect fit for this team and I am very happy with having found a way to play, that suits the guys when I needed it the most.
On the middle of the park, I managed to get Bajrami from Inter Milan for about 3 Million pounds. Not that cheap. But what a deal! 

He's a great player! But look at how he is declining. I'm starting to understand why Inter Milan let him go. He has a tailored program, great coaches and is being played in his preferred position, and yet, he is declining. He is clearly not ambitious, is unstable and is just. Well. On the down. But I'm not really sure what the problem is, to be honest. He is doing a great job for me for now, but I already know that he is not a long term solution. So my goal is to shoot him off in the next window and try to recoup the money and, preferably, get a little extra for him.
Maybe send him to The Championship or Serie A. They tend to want to pay good money for decent players and if Nedim has a good season, I'm sure that I can sell him for a profit.

But he is not the only one whos made a difference. 
Hernandez is a wunderkind I got, FREE from Brazil.

Now, he is just a kid and his attributes are not that exciting, but it is the potential that got me and the scouts hooked. My scouts said that he was going to be a star and would be easy to get to the club.
So I made an offer and he duly accepted. 
I was happy and he has shown me that he deserved the confidence that I put in him. 7 games, 5 goals, 2 assists, 7.57 in avg rating. I mean he is the definition of hitting the ground running.
That is impressive in a new country and new league, where you don't even speak the language.
Football truly is a language that we all speak.
So I am pretty happy with myself.

Right, but here are the transfers I made.

As we spoke about in the last one, I had to sell some of the big guys in order to try and right the financial issues that the club was in. We had a wage bill that was a lot, LOT higher than it should have been. So with a lot of the high earners out, there was a much better balance.
Plus, getting money in the bank meant that I could strengthen the team.
And if you look at the players I brought in, the business was pretty good I think.
Nedim was the most expensive one and the total is about 5 million£. Since I sold my wunderkind, Bo, and Mads Emil for a lot, the income was a lot more and I garnered about 13£ Million pounds from the sales.
That makes the finances look like this.

As you can see, before I came in, they threw out over 2£ million pounds every month, which made everything a push, as the income from sponsorships paid for most of it.
If you look at the profit/loss for last season, the club had a deficit of £1.1Million pounds.
With all the sales that I've done and that I'm planning on doing, we'll get some money in the bank and I fully expect the club to back me going forward.
I mean, I'm saving this club!

In Denmark, like in Northern Ireland, the table splits with 6 games left. The goal was to somehow sneak our way into the top 6 and be in the championship group. I knew that making top 4 would be pretty tough and let's be honest, I don't really care about getting in Europe and just want to stabilise the club.
With the amazing run of form we'd been in, we'd been catapulted from 10'th with 20 points, to 6'th with 38 points. And, with 5 points down to Randers on the other side of the split.
I mean. Perfection. Honestly.
And, it gets better.
We've only got 5 points up to 4'th, with means European competitions. And, next match is against, yes, Brøndby.
If we can grab a win, we'd put ourselves in a very advantageous position.

I know that that is a long shot and I am not really thinking too much about it.

THAT is a big fat lie! It is ALL I am thinking about! I don't want to be 6'th, I want to get into Europe! No, I neeeeeeed to get into Europe! I crave it! 

Also, I woke up to this!

One word. Dom-i-na-TION!

Unfortunately, though, this was also in the inbox. I wouldn't mind the club getting bought by a consortium. Get me some money and make me into a real force.
But, alright. I'll do it myself!

Oh yeah. I was looking for a back-up striker.
And this guy popped up as available.

Clearly, after leaving Ballinamallard, he failed miserably! Or at least, somewhat. He was only available for loan, as they didn't want to sell, but I felt a little sorry and little reminiscent. So I had to offer him a loan deal and of course he accepted. I am, after all, the man who made him. Somewhat. I will admit, I'm pretty happy to have Oliver back in my squad, though he'll only get game time when Hernandez is injured.
I hope he never does!

But, the table split and we're in the TOP HALF! We're undefeated for 7 games and the team is on fire.
I'm a little nervous about the next game, Brøndy are always dangerous and in real life, BIF are always raining on our parade.
So I'll set up the team for a fight!

Until we meet again, thank you for your support, for reading my updates and for supporting my Real Life Managing journey.
Pulrose United AFC is a team that'll be in the next FM. Or the one after. Maybe the one after that. I'm still a little iffy on the details, so don't hold it against me!

Thank you and catch you on the next one!