Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC signed their second Zidane and witnessed a murder.

Intro

I am loving Football Manager 2023, but that does not necessarily mean I’m finding it easy. Season 5 concluded in the same way as the previous two LaLiga 2 seasons, AD Ceuta FC’s promising position had faded away by March/April. Another mid-table finish. This left me seeking reassuring support from pen pals over on FM Slack, who offered sound advice:

I am going to try and adopt some of the advice from Chris and Samo and whilst FromElevenOneGaming may have been joking (he was rewarded with a February Slack high of 4 ‘joys’), there remains a couple more Zidanes I could potentially sign too.

Welcome back to Ceuta, the year is 2027.

Season 2026/27

January - June 2027

Last time out I said I would interchange between 4141 and 442, and that is exactly what I did. Despite a few too many draws in January, I was confident we could maintain momentum and push for the playoff places this year. But we then had three months of torture as I grappled with injuries. My first choice strikers, Eythan and Kevin, only played together a handful of times as they took turns to be injured in 2027. The former (my top scorer for the season with 17 goals) tore a hamstring which meant he would miss the final three months of the league campaign 😭

Despite a few hammerings, there are some respectable results in there. Like the away draws at both Celta Vigo and Almería, who both achieved promotion this year. But the season’s good Ceuta moments arrived in the first two weeks of the season. The seasonal review was Jokesville:

So, that’s my 5th season in FM23 laid bare. Perhaps Chris Johnson is right, I do need to try and sign some better players…

Kevin Forever

OK Chris, not just yet. Firstly, I will sign the same player for the third time in this save already: #KevinForever

But what would this blog be like without Kevin? Despite an average season, where Kevin scored just the 11 goals (all comps), I have decided to sign him permanently on a Free Transfer (hence the blog title of ‘Kevin Forever’). I’m willing to write off this season’s stats somewhat. Kevin suffered pulled knee ligaments and a hamstring strain in 2027 and never really got going this calendar year. The two goals scored for the second part of the year reflect that.

Now he is mine forever, let’s see if I can get him reaching the highs of 2025 again!

Introducing Miguel

I have been frugal in the transfer market during my 5 seasons at AD Ceuta FC. Now with three years in LaLiga 2 under our belts, I decided to ask the Board to get my top transfer target ahead of Season 6…a 19-year-old unambitious Striker called Miguel. I did not think it would take 38% of the overall club balance, but they got my boy wonder for a whopping €1m.

Regardless of the fee (I was not part of that decision), why did I want Miguel so much? Well, despite being relegated from our league with Numancia…Miguel scored 17 league goals (just the one penalty), with a respectable conversion rate of 21% and an xG overperformance of 6.67. To do that in a struggling side is pretty impressive. But at this level there is always compromise when signing a player in FM. As previously mentioned, Miguel is unambitious…and this mentality could affect his development if I do nothing about it. The caveat though was his willingness to sign on with the same wage he was previously earning at Numancia. Good lad 😀

To improve his personality, I have paired him with Resolute and Fairly Determined personalities, which are the strongest I currently have in the squad…

This is the point in the blog where I share Miguel with you, and you let me know how good/bad he is…

New 2-year deal 📝

I have accepted a new contract that takes me to the end of the 2028/29 season, which is two seasons away. Fair play to the Board, they have backed me in the transfer market after Miguel’s signature and now it’s time to go get some loan deals to flesh the squad out. I want to break the mid-table curse, and I want to do it with AD Ceuta FC…the best team in Spanish North Africa.

Thanks for reading/sharing & caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper