CM: An American's Career

[GoldenEagle]

Hi all -

This will be my latest attempt at a CM dynasty. The storyline will be pretty simple. It will resemble the QuikSand style that has been replicated many times around here. I will also incorporate the Chief Rum style of updating the world outside of my team. I will be using the original CM4 and will be running every single league. I hope I have the patience to stick with it. I should be getting some more RAM this weekend and that will certainly help things out.

I will be doing the story of a young American manager abroad. It will be sort of like viewing a personal diary, although I will not be writing directly to it. My goal is to work my way up in the football world. I don’t know how exactly plan to do this. I usually will work with a team and fall in love with it. In previous games, it was very hard for me to leave that team. However, if I want to work my way up - I will have to.

The team I am taken over is AC Olen of the Belgian Third Division B. They have a local reputation from within Belgium. They stadium can hold 3,000. However, it can only seat around 500. I will have a transfer budget of $40,000 to work with and about 50% of $6,000 of wage budget per week is being used. That will give me a little bit of money to play with upfront.

Logically, my connections with players will be in the United States. Initially, I will try to sign a couple of players from over there. I have a couple of players in mind already. This will be where my first wave of players will come until my scouts can tell me about other players. I am trying to make this as realistic as possible.

The board expects us to fight bravely against regulation this season. My personal expectations are for about a mid table finish. I think we have some decent and particularly young talent - but I honestly do not know enough about the league to proclaim that we have a shot at winning it. My style of play initially will be counter attacks, in a system very similar to that which Bruce Arena deployed against Mexico in 2002 World Cup. However, I slowly build my teams toward my style of play, which is a fast, creative on the fly offense with tough defenders to plug in leaks in the back.

It should be interesting to see what I can do….

[MrBug708]

How easy is the Belgium transfers in regards to American players?

[GoldenEagle]

How easy is the Belgium transfers in regards to American players?
I am not really sure at this point. I will find out soon enough. The only rules listed in the match rules section is that the match squad must have at least two U-21 players. It does not say if the players have to Belgian or not. Hopefully a work permit will not be required.

[GoldenEagle]

Roster Evaluation

*All players are from Belgium unless noted.

Goalkeepers - This is a position that may need to be addressed before we head into the season. I have to candidates who are going to compete for minutes assuming we do not bring in another player. The first is 26 year old David Jansen. Jansen excels in eccentricity, one on ones, and has some fine agility. However, his handling is below average. The other candidate is 19 year old Tom Verelst. Tom is an average keeper who is best suited in one on ones and strength although he does not excel at anything. His handling is also well below average. I suspect I will bring a third keeper into the mix and I have a couple of options in mind.

[GoldenEagle]

Defenders - The defender position is a bit more interesting than the goal keeper position. We have a couple of players who will start and then a slew of other players who will have to fill in key minutes off the bench and we will also have to find a couple more out of those players willing to start. Our best defender is probably Glenn Van de Vel, a 23 year old who could be the complete package. He is a solid marker and tackler, outstanding positioned, and adds some offensive skills in terms of dribbling and finishing. He also has a good physical game, key for a defender. I expect that 22 year old Danny Vandebrande will be patrolling on a regular basis with Van de Vel in the back this season. He is a great tackler and a good enough marking back to start. He also makes great decisions and posses a good physical game as well.

The bench and other potential starters could provide cover if needed. Gert Boeckx, 28 years old, is what I call a pure defender and should get a chance to start this season. He is a very good marker and tackler and has an average physical game but bring nothing in terms of offense. Veteran Tim Moors is good in the air and is a good tackler and marker but it terribly unfit. I suspect he will see some time late in games this season. He may start to break down soon as he has already reached 30. Davy Baelus, 26 years old, will see some time as he can mark and tackle on average basis and can get forward to help in the attack. His physical skills rate as average. Kris Liekiens is a 26 year old who will split time between the back line and the midfield. He is a sound dribbler, good passer and can mark pretty tight when needed. He also is a good decision maker and has a good physical game.

There are some prospects worth mentioning who will see their fair share of playing time this season. Among them are 19 year old Bart Clymans. Bart can really fly up and down the pitch. He is about an average tackler and marker. If he can learn to get forward and the attack then a good future should be in store for him. Steven Van Orshaegen, 17, is already a good marker and tackler. He can also pass the ball a little and is developed physically. Dries Van Dyck, 19, is a pretty decent player in the air and is an average marker. He has above average physical skills that will hopefully develop more.

Ideally, I would like to add a few more players to the mix. I will be looking for young outside backs who can accelerate quickly and can hit a quality cross. Defense is secondary for these youngins. These are the type of players who will fit my style in the future.

[GoldenEagle]

Midfield - The first particular sub-position I will start out with is defensive (withdrawn) midfielder. It is a very important position in my counter attacking scheme and by the looks of it I will be deploying to of them. The first player worth mentioning is 18 year old Jordy De Cnodder. Jordy has good tackling skills and the ability to cross when he out on the wing. He also has a great physical game. The other player with an inside track to a starting position is 19 year old Roel Van Breda. Van Breda can finish when the attack comes his way and is also a good distributor with the ball and is a decent enough tackler to stop attacks developing in the midfield. Kris Liekns, mentioned earlier in the defensive thread, should also get some minutes. Other players in the mix include 27 year old Davy Alentijins, who is an average tackler and marker, but is very slow. In the same boat is 22 year old Steven Cuyvers who is a good marker, outstanding tackler, and can certainly pass. However, he is slow as molasses and no physical threat at all.

We only have on true “holding” midfielder and to be honest his not much of that. That player is 33 year old Eric Vandeneyden, He is a pretty good crosser (but that is useless unless I play him out of position), an average passer, and a good tackler. However he lacks the physical ability to be a true holder.

The wing looks pretty solid. We have a great winger in 22 year old Andy De Cevlar. He is a great crosser and even better dribbler to create chances from the wing. He is also a pretty solid passer. He has good physical skills but is only about average in acceleration. If he had that this guy would be the perfect winger (even by Chief’s lofty standards). Nevertheless, he should be a solid contributor. Pieter Sas, a 20 year old, could also see time on the wing. He has average dribbling and finishing skills. His biggest plus is his physical game. However, he should see more time up front. Kris De Backer, 24, could contend for the right wing position as well, He is an average crosser, dribbler, and finsiher. He also has decent physical skills. Nick Nuyts is an 18 year old on loan from Belgian Second Division Geel. He is not much of an offensive threat but could get minutes late in the game due to his defensive set of skills. Ideally, I would like to find a player to match De Cevlar on the right wing but it is not tops on the priority list.

We also have been blessed with some luck when it comes to the attacking midfield. Steven Stapparets is a 28 year old superstar (at least for the Belgian Third Division). He is a top shelve dribbler and has quality technical skills across the board. He has a very good physical game and a good mental game. He should be the player to make things click. De Backer and Sas, mentioned in the winger portion, could also see some time here. In addition, David Henderickx is 23 year old who is an average dribbler and makes great decisions and is good physically. However, he will probably be called on to start up top. I will add some depth here with a couple of American signings I have in mind.

[GoldenEagle]

Strikers - The strikers I have own my roster right now are perhaps loaded with potential, but not quite up to par with the rest pf the team quite yet. All three posses major speed and a good physical game which is a great start. Kevin Oris is 18 years old, and could be used as a converted target striker if we find another good winger. However, his heading only rates out as above average. Kristen Van Aerschot is a 20 year old youngster who is a bit of a finisher and is very brave. He will get some minutes this season. Jef Van Asbroeck is 19 and is an average finisher but has great speed. He will be a project type player who may get minutes here and there. I expect David Hendeickx and Pieter Sas, mentioned previously, will get the starting nod up top for now. However, I will probably dive into the transfer market with the intent of signing a forward.

[GoldenEagle]

July 2002

July would bring about my first month with this club and as outlined in the roster evaluation, some work is needed to make this club competitive in the Belgian Third Division. Luckily, we still have sometime before the start of the season. We will not kick off the regular season campaign till around the beginning of September which will give us some time to shape the team to our liking. In the mean time, we will have some friendly matches during the month of July that should tell us more about the squad.

In the early part of the month, we tried to sign a few American players. The player topping our list was Freddy Adu, but he will start his career with A-League side Toronto. We also tried to sign defender Ryan Cochrane, defender C.J. Klaas, defender Phillip Sayler, and midfielder Joey DiGarimo. Each of these player singed with a MLS squad or a A-League squad. They never gave Belgium a serious look.

In the first friendly, we met Belgian amateur squad Dendermonde at home. We figured we would run our tactic of the counter attacks with a mixed attack. It worked very well. We found the net early, in the 5th minute, when Andy De Ceulaer picked up a loose ball in the box and finished it. De Ceular would have an assist on the second goal nine minutes later when he fed Steven Stapparets for the goal off a wonderful cross. In the second half, we substituted and put in more of the expected reserve players. They would add even more pressure as Jef Van Asbroeck scored off a cross from Bart Clymans (who was playing the right wing due to lack of depth - but did well). Kris Oris when then take over scoring twice in the 83rd and 90th minutes. Overall, no one played themselves into or out of a starting position. Although, Oris, who gathered man of the match honors, helped himself out quite a bit. Olen 5 Dendermonde 0.

Our second friendly would be a challenge and would tell us more about what kind of team we have. We traveled to face TK Meldert, a Third Division A Belgian side (note - we are in Third Division B). They struck early scoring a goal in the 33rd minute off a free kick and adding another 3 minutes later off a corner kick to put us down 2-0. That is how it was heading into halftime. We substituted our entire line-up and went back on to the field. We got a goal in the 63rd minute from Jef Van Asbroeck but they struck back in the 65th and 75th minutes. I think this match really showed our glaring weakness at keeper and our depth at some of the offensive positions. TK Meldert 4 Olen 0.

We made a pass at a goal keeper in DC United third string keeper Michael Behonick. He is 21 years old and I think he would make a rather fine addition to the squad. We offered $10,000 for him in United responded by saying they would take $10,000 now and $30,000 over 12 months. We resubmitted $16,000 bid and they accepted it. However, Behonick said we could not meet his salary demands and he declined all of our offers. I do not think it is very smart on his part, he can either rot on a MLS bench or been developing in the lower leagues of Europe.

We also began negotiations for a young Belgian defender named Walter Deleu. He is 19 years old. We worked out $10,000 fee for the player with his club Genk of the Belgian First Division. They decided he did not have a future with their club and listed him He is a pretty good young defender with a chance to earn serious minutes this season. I especially like his physical and mental skills. We signed him to a $230 per week contract.

In our third friendly, we met amateur Belgian side Boom in a friendly. They scored early in the 15th minute to take a surprising 1-0 lead. Our offense never could get with the groove and we managed just three shots and only 1 of those being on target. It was a dismal performance from my squad and I hope they soon will forget it. Boom 1 Olen 0.

We added a young player in Sener Top from league rival Bochlot W. Sener is a true forward but he is going to get a lot of minutes for us this season on the wing and may even start. He has decent speed, good mental skills, and can pass very well. He is 21 years old. The deal was worth $6k.

Things looked up in or next friendly match when we hosted Schoten, also a Belgian amateur squad. Pieter Sas scored early in the second minute on a cross from Henderickx. Roel Van Breda added the second goal when he cleaned up a rebound from 20 yards out. In the second half, newly acquired Sener Top found the net with a volley off of a corner kick. He would also be involved in the 4th goal as he sent a cross into Jef Van Hasbrouck , who finished. It seems the offense found a rhythm and the defense played very good as well.

We also got a bit of good news when we found out that we had signed young winger Joris Cools agreed to terms with us. He comes to us from Belgian amateur squad Waaslandia in a $6k deal. He has very good speed and is an average crosser with good dribbling skills. I think he will have a good chance of starting on the right wing. The added depth up top and on the wings will allow us to have more flexibility. Cools is 21 years old.

And the last bit of news from July is that we learn the following players contracts will expire in 12 months time: David Henderickx, Jordy De Cnodder, Kevin Oris, and Eric Vandeneyden. We did not offer an extensions and will play on a wait see card before making an attempt to.

Around Belgium

Francs Borains, a Third Division Belgian side, appointed 39 year Peter Van Wambeke as manager. It will be his first managing job… Genk, of the First Division, hired Walter Meeuws as the new manager…Transfer of Note include: none.

Around Europe

The Irish’s President’s Cup was won by Shelbourne who defeated Dundalk, 2-1...Leeds have appointed George Graham as manager…The Slovak Super Cup was taken by Zillina who beat Senek in penalty kicks…Dinamo defeated Zagrab 3-1 to win the Croatian Super Cup…Transfers of note include: Nigerian international Sunday Oliseh made a $3.9 million move from Dortmund to Basel.

[Chief Rum]

Wow, Belgium and M:TW? Power to ya, GE. I hope you can pull it off.

CR

[GoldenEagle]

Wow, Belgium and M:TW? Power to ya, GE. I hope you can pull it off.

CR
Thanks Chief. Hopefully I can upgrade my RAM pretty soon so that I can speed things up and updates can become quicker.