"The Caporegime"- Rio de la Plata #FM20

November 17, 2019

Previously on Rio de la Plata, Ángel Bastardo made a deal with the President and outlined his aims with Peñarol.

Intro

It was clear Ángel Bastardo had united the barrios. Instead of fighting each other, they were now fighting for Uruguay. Murder rates were down and drug enforcement seizures were up (arranged offerings for the Montevideo metropolitan police in order to keep the peace). Everybody was getting richer and Bastardo's Caporegime had restored order and discipline to the Uruguayan Underworld, one could therefore be forgiven for thinking everything was fine.

But it wasn't.

Bastardo's real headache was on the football field...or more precisely slightly off it. He'd promised the President a Copa Libertadores title on the condition that the asylum of the Venezuelan followers he had earned in the Colombian jungle were assured. Yet, it was clear that Peñarol were not staffed adequately to take on a continental conquest just yet. Bastardo needed his own footballing Caporegime: discipline, order and structure. A task which became the immediate Day 1 focus for Bastardo’s Peñarol…

Back to The Future?

Just as a side, the initial headache on save start-up is whether to start in December 2018 or December 2019. I had already decided that 2018 was the right choice for me, nevertheless a lovely chat in #fmgrasshopper occurred over on FMSlack. By starting in December 2018, I will get an extra year of youth development of real-life players i.e. the 19/20 year olds in present day will be a year younger, which means I can sculpt them a little bit more in terms of individual training, mentoring and adding player traits to their game. It will also allow me to call up a few Uruguayan youngsters to the u20 National Team squad (ICYMI - I got that job too), who would soon pass the age threshold during 2020. These include the La Liga talents of Darwin Núñez (Almería), Juan Manuel Sanabria (Atlético de Madrid) and a potential shock inclusion for Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde. So, choosing 2018 over 2019 is therefore an easy decision for me.

Once that’s done, it’s a simple a case of adding all South American out-of-the-box leagues and including all South American players of nationality. Thus taking my player count to circa 50k players. South America here we come!

The Caporegime

On the whole, the Peñarol squad is fairly balanced. In places it looks a bit stretched (central midfield & defence), but I think I can see out the Apertura campaign as we are. So, I will disable the initial transfer window and the main focus during my formative months will be recruiting to the many staff roles which are vacant. I’m calling this little side-project my ‘Caporegime’, a Mafia term to reference the crews within an organised crime syndicate. Thirty staff members make up the Peñarol Caporegime, which includes Bastardo himself. Above them all sits two Managing Directors, Carlos Sanchez & Fernando Morena in non-footballing roles.

There are two graphics that can illustrate the Caporegime, (1) a high-level overview of club structure & staff activity and then (2) a more detailed graphic that will quantify each staff member from FM: Bastardo’s Caporegime, and something I want to keep up-to-date as I progress with my save. In the short and medium future I have to accept that some inadequate staff members will occupy some staff roles, but over time I wish to micro-manage the staff to ensure Peñarol have one of South America’s best staffing setups. This means in the long-term I want every position filled and I hope to do it by bringing in a few ex-Peñarol players too. Who said romance is dead?

The high-level stuff…

The high-level structure: Bastardo & direct reports.

Like a lot of FM Bloggers this year, I will be managing overall & individual training of my FM20 squad (in my case all squads, including the u19s). It’s only fair that I delegate some other parts of the club management in order to speed up my game-play (nobody wants to see me still in 2019 in a few month’s time!). Player trading is something I will have the overall say on, approving the incoming and outgoings of all playing staff (including Reserves and U19)…however the large bulk of this work (scouting and contracts) will be done by my recruitment and scouting teams via the ‘3 lists approach’:

List 1: Transfer Targets

I will delegate the scouting responsibility to our Chief Scout, Néstor Gonçalves, who is one I want to keep within the Peñarol setup with his 15 judging player potential. Néstor will handle the assignments, hopefully by telling other scouts (currently only 1/6 filled) where to go and then collate reports into the Scouting Centre. From here, the Scouting Meetings will be delegated to the Director of Football role…he will decide if somebody is good enough. I’ll dip in from time-to-time to see scouted list and interfere when I see fit, which brings us to List 1: Transfer Targets. I’ll keep the responsibility to initiate transfer offers with Bastardo, by dropping targets into the list (whether from the Scouting Centre or manually) and ask the Director of Football to proceed with making an offer.

List 2: Unwanted List

Probably the least desirable, for me at least, part of transfer dealing is shipping off players deemed surplus to requirements. The Director of Football can have that headache. I’ll be adding players to this list and seeing what he can do. If he doesn’t perform, I’ll step in and see if I do better.

List 3: Development List

Here we have a list of players that can be bettered with game-time. I’ll be adding those above the age of 18 years to this list, in the hope that the Director of Football can find a suitable standard of football to continue their development. Those under 18-years-of-age will be remaining in the under 19s setup, who will be carefully monitored by Bastardo and the youth coaches…including Head of Youth Development, Fernando Curutchet, who is a respectable judge of player potential at 15.

Lastly, Assistant Manager Michele Fini (who is awfully average) will be taking on a few more roles I’ve previously done in past FMs. Match preparation, some media duties etc. Something to speed it all up a bit. Fini’s position is something I will look to address though, as I look to find the right Assistant Manager for Bastardo…a place up for grabs since the tragic passing of FM18 right-hand man José Luis Brown earlier this year in real life. RIP Tata.

The Bastardo-Capo…

So, out of the thirty available staff positions previously mentioned at Peñarol…we have eighteen vacancies(!). A lot of work is required, and in the short-term I can only invest €8k per month from the wage budget. Given that my high-level overview places utmost importance on the Director of Football role…that’s where my focus will be on Day 1 of this save. After that, I would like either a coach, another Scout or a Data Analyst. The Caporegime will not be built overnight, it will likely take a number of years to form the right backroom structure.

And so it begins…

I didn’t expect to publish another blog (albeit very short) before FM20’s release, then again…I didn’t expect to have such a lengthy beta period or a mid-late November release. But we’re finally here now, with my Peñarol Party kicking off on Tuesday 19 November. A lovely day of annual leave without wife or kids in the house from 0900-1700! It promises to be a great day, so keep up-to-date with the happenings of pre-season over on my Twitter feed. We’ll certainly have a Super Cup with Nacional to play and hopefully we’ll sign that Director of Football in time :-)

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper

Why Peñarol in #FM20? - Río de la Plata

October 25, 2019

Río de la Plata - the estuary forming a frontier between Argentina and Uruguay. Literally ‘the river of silver’ in English.

Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata - The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata formed as a result of the 1810 May Revolution in Argentina. The union, encompassing both Argentina and The Eastern Province (Uruguay), started the revolutionary process from an absolute monarchy (Spain) to separate republics.

Intro

South America captivates me. With its rich history, built on immigration, revolutions, wars and a quest to distinguish itself from its colonial founders; I cannot prevent myself from getting sucked in by it all. Even more so it’s football, which originally introduced by the British has morphed into something far beautiful and varied across the continent than my great grandfathers could ever have imagined. I now find myself watching more fútbol than anything else these days, and I have Football Manager to thank for that.

In case you were unaware, I had a great attachment to saves with Estudiantes de La Plata over FM17 & FM18. Many seem to have enjoyed the ride with me too, savouring the highs and lows with the character of Ángel Bastardo I had created. Out of all my characters, Bastardo is the most fun to write. So, it’s little wonder that I kept Bastardo’s story going alongside my Lorient save during FM19; with the eventual aim of ending up, once again, in South America.

It didn’t feel right to go back to Argentina, but it feels right to go to the closest country possible…across the Río de la Plata to Montevideo, Uruguay. Football gave Uruguay a chance to emerge out of the shadows of its big brother across the water: Argentina. World Cup and Olympic wins would see Uruguay take the lead on the International scene and something La Celeste can always refer back to. But the power shift in the domestic club battles of ‘El Fútbol Rioplatenese’ would constantly be changing throughout its 120 year history.

It’s here, at the helm of one of the oldest and greatest platense clubs, where I start my FM20 journey: Club Atlético Peñarol.

Why Peñarol in FM20?

The titular question is one I always try to answer to my readers on the onset of a Football Manager save. Having a free pick of all the Uruguayan clubs meant I could take my time and pick the right one, which I now believe to be Peñarol. As a two-time Libertadores winner himself, Ángel Bastardo would command the lust of Uruguay’s most successful continental champion, who have won the Copa Libertadores five times (1960, 1961, 1966, 1982 & 1987). Furthermore, Peñarol was traditionally the club of the immigrant working-class…something Bastardo would support over the more homogeneous Club Nacional de Football, Peñarol’s fiercest rivals and combatant in El clásico del fútbol uruguayo.

The Estadio Campeon del Siglo is where Bastardo will face-off against Nacional, a 40,000 capacity stadium that sits on the edge of Montevideo. It’s memorable in design, which ticks another box for me. Lastly the club logo (because this is important) acts as a personal reminder to Estudiantes de La Plata. They both have the traditional club crest, a solid (yet simple) colour scheme and stars! I like stars.

To put it simply, Peñarol is an all-round classy club. Widely adored throughout the world due to its rich history and cultural significance. From bringing through the first ever black player to play Internationally (Isabelino Gradín in 1915) or hosting the first ever World Cup match in 1930. Heck, even their club colours have a cool story behind them after being based on Stephenson’s Rocket! These colours continue to resonate with people in football’s modern era. For example, French clubs in Ligue 1 attributing their new 2019/20 colours to Peñarol:

The love doesn’t stop on the other side of the Río de la Plata either. The Argentine love of my life, Estudiantes de La Plata, are affiliate teams with Peñarol, who often wish their platense cousin well from across the river. It’s great to see:

Another attraction to Peñarol is my appreciation for their club philosophies and vision. Peñarol’s youth system is one of the best in South America and shows no sign of slowing down: Gabriel Fernández (to Celta), Darwin Núñez (to UD Almería) & Brian Rodríguez (to Los Angeles FC) are some of the latest youngsters to leave in what was the most lucrative year in terms of transfer outgoings for the club. In Football Manager 2020, I strongly expect that Peñarol will have a ‘Club Culture’ around developing players using their youth system in order to continue this fine work.

In addition to this, Peñarol have always had a culture in signing established names to run alongside the conveyor belt of youth. Recent examples include Diego Forlán, Maxi Rodríguez & current Club Captain Cristian Rodríguez. I quite like how these two cultures complement one another. On one hand I will be expected to develop youth, with a reasonable number of club-developed players being active in the 1st team. On the other hand, a reasonable percentage of first team signings must have equal, or more, reputation than Peñarol. It’s really the best of both worlds for me, which leads me on to my next section: the FM20 checklist…

My FM20 Checklist

Peñarol’s illustrious history as a continental super club is enough to grab my initial interest, but it’s my FM20 checklist that’s going to ensure that interest remains long-term. When combined with my Uruguayan National Team duties you can see there is so much to do…

Trophies (Aims 1 & 2)

Despite winning 12 trophies in 8 seasons in FM18 with Estudiantes, FM19 was not so lucrative in terms of silverware. Zero trophies last year have made me crave glory once again. Winning a Libertadores will be harder this time round though, but a Peñarol title isn’t beyond the realms of absurdity.

The Club World Cup title was the one trophy that remained elusive two years ago, winning this would surely be the pinnacle of my save. It’s much harder for non-European clubs, so I haven’t stipulated that it must be with Peñarol. In fact, I can see myself moving clubs on in this save should I ever realise Aim 1.

Youth Development (Aim 3)

I wish to fully immerse myself in youth development this year for FM20, handling the training at both youth and senior levels in order to meet the aforementioned academy club culture. Creating a pathway into the Peñarol First Team will be a focus of mine, but I’ll also have additional responsibility of moving the highly rated Peñarol youngsters into the Uruguay U20 setup. The eventual aim would be to see 5 Academy players (Newgen/Non-Newgen) capped in the Senior National Team. This is a nice segue into my international aims…

Uruguay National Team (Aims 4 & 5)

I have followed some great Club & Country saves in the past, most notably Diego Mendoza’s Venezuela and Keysi Rensie’s Hungary. I wanted to begin my journey slightly differently to those guys by starting out at a youth level on Day 1 of my save, with the eventual aim of securing the top job with La Celeste.

Starting out with the under 20 squad will allow me to integrate a few Peñarol youth players and also integrate the brand of football that Bastardo is known for (more on this in a subsequent blog).

Obviously I cannot achieve aim 5 without first securing aim 4, so these international ambitions may be a non-starter if El Maestro (Óscar Tabárez) continues in his role as Uruguayan Manager.

Sustainable transfer policy (Aim 6)

Despite being one of the wealthiest clubs in Uruguay, Peñarol are still considerably poor when compared to the heavyweight teams from Argentina and Brazil. But that never stopped Bastardo’s Estudiantes; and I took the upmost satisfaction from seeing my side, built on just €5.8m, win the Libertadores.

I’m hoping it won’t stop Peñarol either, we’ll use our academy to develop and sell players in order to fund spending on some golden oldies (and potentially meeting the 2nd club culture around signing more reputable players). But from season 3 onwards, I would hope to be self-sustaining and certainty by seasons 7-10 well into profit. Again, this is all dependant on the intakes and the volatile transfer market, which is another reason I haven't put a precise target of how much $ I wish to make.

Fibra (Aim 7)

Last year I didn’t restrict myself on signing ‘fibra’, but I found myself naturally gravitating towards recruiting mentally strong players anyway. For the Estudiantes save the year before, I placed a restriction on over 25s: only those with a bit of fight can arrive. With Peñarol I would love to be that strict again, however I am well aware that the pool of available players open to me is considerably less compared to what I had at Estudiantes.

It is for this reason that my Fibra recruitment policy has to be flexible. I will certainly do my upmost in favouring the brave, placing great importance on Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Teamwork & Work Rate (which I interpret to encapsulate fibra):

Aggression - the willingness to immerse themselves in the physical battle, I always imagine a high rating here is like having the ‘Get Stuck In’ team instruction permanently on. Highly aggressive players just love to get involved.

Bravery - the willingness to put his body on the line for his team. In the match engine, this is often demonstrated as a goal saving block or that ridiculous defensive recovery. But it can also be the desire to get on the end of an offensive chance.
Determination - The desire to dig deep, even in the face of initial setbacks. A high determined set of players will increase the chances of turning a losing position into a draw or a win.
Teamwork - to work within a tactical system and style of play. Any style, anywhere, is benefited by having players that follow suit.
Work Rate - Like the above, any team is benefited from having players who give their absolute everything. It’s no good having a Ferrari-Maserati engine…to only drive it in 2nd gear.

I hope to find a tactical system that fully utilises this player DNA too, and hopefully it’s something I will find time to write about during FM20’s life cycle.

So, that’s my reasons ‘Why’. I hope you can join me once again, for what I hope will be another special Football Manager save. I am probably looking to blog twice per season. Given the nature of the Opening/Apertura & Closing/Clausura Uruguayan format, I am likely to blog during January/February in-game; which rounds up the calendar year. Then a blog around July/August in-game which rounds up the Apertura & Intermedio tournaments; before looking ahead to the Closing/Clausura stage.

I will have a guide out shortly that will detail exactly how the Uruguayan league is structured, however I will make a conscious effort to lay it out in simple terms for those unfamiliar during the Río de la Plata series.

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper

Prologue: “All Of The Lights” - Río de la Plata #FM20

October 18, 2019

All of the lights went out and Montevideo was in total darkness, the most widespread power cut in history had hit the Río de la Plata basin. Ángel Bastardo had been given 24 hours of uninterrupted passage into the city to do what he needed to do. A gift from the Russian Agent, Ruslan Chepiga.

In those 24 hours, the loyalty of Montevideo’s major gangs was secured; who swore an oath to uphold the integrity of Bastardo’s political amnesty here in Uruguay. From there, Bastardo & the heads of the Montevideo Barrios would meet with both the Uruguayan Football Association (UFA) and the Republic Government to agree the release of certain key personnel to maintain relations with the Italian mafia. The benefits of keeping up with post-colonial traditions were necessary, not just for Bastardo, but for Uruguay.

The candlelit presidential suite of Tabaré Vázquez overlooked the La Plata basin, the lights of the boats were the only thing to see as Montevideo lay in darkness for a further 6 hours…Chepiga’s guarantee.

But there was still something else that Ángel Bastardo wanted, something he needed to ask Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay’s 41st President. Political parlay and manoeuvring were something Bastardo rarely encountered when steamrolling African republics, he wished Chepiga or Mendoza were here to negotiate in his place.

“I speak not just for myself or my hired guns here in Montevideo. I have 300 homeless Venezuelans with me Presidente. They need your help to settle here…to call Uruguay their home”. It was not something Bastardo wanted to ask, but the Venezuelans had nobody else to follow. Hugo Ojeda and his mother had defied orders to stay in Colombia…and they had taken the whole jungle compound with them too. These new disciples of Bastardo arriving shortly before Chepiga’s great power cut on the Montevideo border.

“More will follow you Ángel. This is not Uruguay’s problem, I’m sorry. And this was not part of the deal we made with the Russians”

Bastardo paused. What bargaining power does an exiled military dictator with no land now have? Then he remembered who he really was before all the folly in Africa and Colombia had happened. It seemed a lifetime ago. He remembered back to La Plata.

“Which team does El Presidente support, if I may ask?” enquired Bastardo, The Football Manager.

There was an awkward pause, as the President contemplated answering…”Let this stay within these four walls Gentlemen, please. I am Peñarol, although I publicly stay neutral” Vázquez‘s faced puzzled as to the change of subject. Some of the families around the table toasted the exchange…but some, most likely Nacional disposed, hissed and frowned.

Bastardo was quick to follow up with another question, sensing a potential breakthrough…“And how long has El Presidente waited for a Libertadores title?” Bastardo did his best to hide the smile as he asked the question, for he knew the correct answer: 32 years.

“32 years Señor Bastardo, before I was even Mayor here in Montevideo”.

Bastardo, now sensing anxiety, carefully placed his wording to Uruguay’s most powerful man…“Take these Venezuelans and score political points here in Latin America and beyond, give me control of Peñarol and in return I will give you a Libertadores title”.

The cheers outweighed the groans. Several men thumped the table and drinks fell and spilled across the room. Tabaré Vázquez nodded and held his drink up to the sky for all to see…just like that…Bastardo was made manager of Club Atlético Peñarol.

Note from the Editor - OK I admit, there have been a fair few creative posts in recent weeks; but I’ve finally got my man across the Río de la Plata from Argentina to Uruguay in time for Football Manager 2020 (albeit with a detour in between). Next Friday (25 October) I’ll explain the reasons for choosing Peñarol & Uruguay U20s, including the aims & aspirations for the save ahead.

As in previous years, all posts will be collated on a dedicated page on the site (in this case: /fm20). This will help first-time readers looking to catch up, or those wanting to refresh their memory of the story so far; instead of trawling through the usual /blog style.

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper