Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC reached LaLiga.

Intro

Hola,

Perhaps the aim of challenging for LaLiga (with Ceuta) within 5 years was somewhat overly ambitious. But Ceuta’s rise in FM23 has been relatively upward in a short space of time, and this is where you join me…in Season 8.

1. 2022/23 - Primera Federación Grupo I - 6th

2. 2023/24 - Primera Federación Grupo I - 4th (promoted via Playoffs) 🚀

3. 2024/25 - LaLiga SmartBank - 13th

4. 2025/26 - LaLiga SmartBank - 13th

5. 2026/27 - LaLiga SmartBank - 14th

6. 2027/28 - LaLiga SmartBank - 7th

7. 2028/29 - LaLiga SmartBank - 1st (promoted as champions) 🏆

8. 2029/30 - LaLiga Santander - ?

Season 2029/30 Part I

Money, Money, Money 🎵

The FM News Item read “Ceuta will receive €40.49m for LaLiga TV rights for the forthcoming season”, if it not for the glass of Fernet and Coke clasped in my left hand I could have fainted. AD Ceuta FC had made it to the top of Spanish football: LaLiga. LaLiga’s annual squad salary cap is €29m, LaLiga 2’s was €3.5m. That difference is pretty wild. The Ceuta transfer kitty coffers went up to €12m too, if I wanted to I would probably be allowed more if I asked. But seeing how responsible I have been in the save, I would continue with the frugality. I'm only spending about €7m of that transfer budget, in order to take us to the 25 player squad limit, but I would break my transfer record twice in one week…

Wajdi Abidi - €3.2m from Club Africain

I’ll mention more about North African recruitment a bit later, but Abidi was not solely recruited based on his passport. He is a current international (14 caps for Tunisia) and is a solid player. He can slot in at CB if need be, but I see him more as a Defensive Midfielder in the 4222 tactic. He is a record transfer, but somebody who should recoup that with quality performance right now…and also a potential sale when he enters his peaks years.

Juan José - €3m from FC Cartagena

Another big outlay for Ceuta is the singing of Juan José. He seems perfect for the Pressing Forward role in the 4222, but also a great option when I need him as an Advanced Forward. He scored 19 LaLiga 2 goals last year for Cartagena (perhaps only outshone by Rubén Acuña as the best young striker in the league), and he’s another good mentality to have in the squad (Professional).

July - December 2029

Well I knew it was going to be hard. Ceuta are really a million miles away from the likes of Atleti, Sevilla and Valencia…let alone the Super Clubs of Barcelona and Real Madrid! This season is all about picking up the points in the games that matter, there’s no fancy spreadsheet targeting those games. I’m simply looking at the fixture list and looking ahead by a few weeks to the crunch games with the likes of a Celta Vigo, Almería, Leganés, Racing de Santander and Osasuna. I’ll rest where I can and hope my Best XI is available for those games.

The four wins I have picked up have largely come against the clubs around me, which is comforting at least…but I would prefer a few more draws (who the hell predicted me ever saying that on this blog!). As a result, I am now starting games with a Cautious mentality against anybody 5 points or more above us in the league 😃 I’ll increase time wasting and ask Luca Zidane to slow it down if I am 20 minutes from any chance of a draw.

Here is how we look before entering the Winter Break:

Update: North Africa recruitment

French Algerian Jaouen Hadjam (a €190k signing from Nancy) and the aforementioned Tunisian Wajdi Abidi are the 10th and 11th North African signings of this save. The save’s aim is not something I have forced, in fact each North African signing made has generally been ‘for the moment’. What I mean by this is that the singings are for the First Team, I could easily have overloaded the B Team or Youth Squads with North Africans. Still, 11 North Africans in the eight seasons is not a bad return.

We’re currently hosting four North Africans in the squad, with Club Captain Luca Zidane the longest serving North African in the current squad.

Season 2029/30 Part II

January - May 2030

I already mentioned that we maxed out on the 25 squad for the first time in this save, so any incomings would have to rely on me shifting a player first, unless I am happy for guys to just sit around at the club. However, I would like to avoid Ceuta becoming a male crèche. The below players were not getting LaLiga gametime and thus efforts should be made to move them on, all expire in 6 month’s time. I was prepared to sever ties with them and even pay them off in the January window, seeing as that I can redistribute their wages and squad slot to better players. Obviously I would have to ensure the wage bill is kept in check too, the last thing Ceuta need is big wages if they are to be relegated.

Trimming the fat would potentially see me shave over €1 million off the annual salary bill (below) and open up some squad slots, but could we do it?

I find it challenging to shift unwanted players in FM, am I alone? My three step process is usually:

1. Step 1 - Offer Out To Clubs?

2. Step 2 - Mutual Termination?

3. Step 3 - Release on a Free? (albeit this has no/limited financial gain).

Step 1 was almost an instant fail for the likes of Fali (boom) and Vigaray, who announced their intentions to retire at the end of the season…meaning that they were happy to sit on their contracts and reject Step 2. Step 3 is also a solution, but it would not save the club any money. Immediately after Step 1, Ethyan earned a €200k bid from Castellón and wanted to leave…before he decided to reject their contract. The two big earners, Melero and Obeng would not attract offers and were unwilling to mutually terminate.

However, Andoni López was a good guy. He agreed a move to L'Hospitalet to see out his days. Ceuta got nothing in return, but it’s a free slot at least and some fat off the wage bill. Ceuta’s 3rd Division Spanish playoff hero Iker Kortajarena also agreed to move on loan to Eibar for 6-months before he would leave Ceuta for good. 70% of his wage would be paid by Eibar.

All in all, 2/7 payers have left Ceuta in the January Transfer Window which equates to about €150k p/a saved. I would now look to recruit two more players…

The Director of Fútbol managed to get 1st choice RB target in Sergi Palencia for €170k. An experienced pro who has solid Mental attributes and a decent cross, he should do well here. The other addition was the 12th North African of the save, Mehdi Ayouni. The French/Tunisian came for a cut-price deal of €25k from Braga…having been signed a year before from Brest at a significant €400k. Ayouni certainly needs a bit of work, but Scouts see a 3.5 star potential Pressing Forward in him…and who am I to argue?

Now to the moment you’ve been waiting for…

Even with 20 defeats, there were still a few teams worse than Ceuta! Relegation avoided and another year in LaLiga beckons 😎 In fact, LaLiga is so boring that the top 4 and bottom 3 all stayed as they were from January through to May…pretty dull! My favourite result was beating Barcelona at home with 33% possession and one shot on target, in front of our 6,500 capacity crowd. But special mention must go to the away win in the Metropolitano de Madrid to seal our LaLiga survival, kickstarting a three-match sabbatical where we played like idiots again!

If we’re looking for heroes, we need to look no further than people like Juan José, who hit 20 league goals in his first season here, and Ceuta legendary playmaker Txus Alba…who topped the teams’ Assists (12) and Chances Created per90 (0.60) as our DLP-S. An honourable mention should also go to new signing Sergi Palencia who came in and played 19 league games and pretty much bossed the right flank with Dribbles per90 (3.28) and was third best in Ceuta for Tackles per90 (2.77).

Go BIG or Go home?

Despite the club not really earning much in the way of match day revenues (until the new 15k capacity stadium arrives in 12 month’s time), the thought of another €40m LaLiga TV payment landing in the club coffers makes me giddy with excitement. There was nothing to lose this season, but absolutely everything to gain…and we did just that. For Season 9, I could effectively double my wage bill to €16m per annum and spend €25m on transfers and still be financially secure. But where is the fun in that?

I am not going to promise that I won’t break the Ceuta transfer record of €3.2m, but we’ll continue with the plucky Ceuta underdog spirit of signing bargain finds and exciting youth prospects. Join me for Season 9, soon…

Thanks for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper