Championship Manager 00/01 - PART III

After being fired from Lechia Gdansk I get proposition from portugese UD Santarem. The team plays in Portugal Second Division B (3rd division). What is pretty shocking is the fact that there are no players in the team!

So I got a month to the start of the next season and not even one single player in the team. At first I'm seriously thinking about resigning from this club, but after giving it a thaught I decide - what the hell...

The budget is low so the only options are loans and free signings. I get 21 players without spending a dime. Certenly they are not the top shelf stars, because I pretty much have to sign everybody that agrees the terms, but at least I can participate in the season.



TRANSFERS IN:
Slavomir Szymaszek (GK, age 30, Polish) - free transfer from Gottingen
Dorjee Tsawa (DR, age 26, Nigerian) - free transfer from St. Gallen
Andreas Borzutzky (GK, age 31, German) - free transfer from Nordhorn
Roberto Genco (AM, age 30, Italian) - free transfer from Matera
Lyazid Cherifi (ML, age 30, French) - free transfer from Lusitanos
Matthias Ulbrich (DL, age 30, German) - free transfer from Salmrohr
Piotr Cetnarowicz (SC, age 30, Polish) - FREE
Pascal Lievin (DR, age 32, French) - free transfer from Evry
Angel Campos (GK, age 30, Spanish) - free transfer from Palamos
Christian Guatteo (AM, age 30, Italian) - free transfer from Borgosesla
Alvaro Zian (DM, age 32, Italian) - free transfer from Matera
Gianluca Bertini (MR, age 29, Italian) - free transfer from Olbia
Niki Wagner (FC, age 26, German) - free transfer from Salmrohr
Lars-Oliver Eggers (GK, age 32, German) - free transfer from A.Hannover
Vincente (DM, age 37, Portuguese) - free transfer from Alcains
Joao Carlos (DC, age 37, Brazilian) - free transfer from Famallcao
Marco Henning (GK, age 31, German) - free transfer from Salmrohr
Rodri (DM, age 29, Spanish) - free transfer from Mostoles
Manolo Guindani (MRL, age 32, Italian) - free transfer from Pavia
Massimo Baldini (FC, age 28, Italian) - free transfer from Pavia
David Medina (DC, age 25, Spanish) - free transfer from Vecindario

Why six goalkeepers you ask? Well I just lost myself a bit in all the signings and did not spotted that have so many of them allready.

In the pre-season I get to play 4 friendly games. I lose first two in quite a bad style (0:3 with BC Branco and 1:4 with Ac. Viseu), finally in the third game I manage to get a draw and win the last one with a good style. Few weeks of training seem to be enough to get my vision going. I decide to change tactic that I used in past two seasons with Lechia as I'm not happy with last results.

First league game comes in 15th September at home with Naval, here is my first eleven:
1. Slavomir Szymaszek
2. Joao Carlos (c)
3. Alvaro
4. Vincente
5. Roberto Genco
6. Lyazid Cherifi
7. Gianluca Bertini
8. Manolo Guindani
9. Piotr Cetnarowicz
10. Christian Guatteo
11. Matthias Ulbrich

Game is pretty even but thanks to Guindani goal we manage to get a one goal win and a good start of the season. Next game is in the Portuguese Cup and my team gets an easy 4:1 win after scorings from Cetnarowicz and Baldini. Meanwhile in the league we grab another 1:0 win, this time away with Caldas SC. Then comes a little crisis and lost 3:4 to Marialvas in the league and 1:2 to O Elvas in Portuguese Cup 3rd round but after that form is back on and we get 8 wins out of next 11 games (8 wins, 2 draws and 1 lost). Santarem grabs the first place in the league and it seems that we are going to be fighting for promotion.

I'm looking for new players all the time, and in the end of 2002 a get some names that will support the team in six months. We are doing good in the league, altough team tends to lose every 3-4 games, but that level of form seems to be enough to defend the first place. Suddendly we get a total lack of form in April. I don't know what seems to be the reason but the team starts to lose points. In the last eleven games we get only 3 wins and 2 draws (6 losts). After this hard time team fall to the fifth place, and two wins at the end of the season gets us only to the 3rd position.

So dreams about promotin will have to wait for next season, although I still think that 3rd place is a really great success and I think that after getting few good players wich I allready signed we will be promoted in the next season.

SEASON 2002/03 STATS
Team: UD Santarem
Country: Portugal
League: Portugal Second Division B (Central) - 3rd (64 points, 19-7-10, 65:49)
Portuguese Cup: Third Round (1:2 O Elvas)
Highest Attendance: 3739 v Feirense (League)
Lowest Attendance: 740 v Leiria e Marrazes (Cup)
Biggest Win: 4:0 v Mangualde (League)
Biggest Lost: 0:4 v B.C. Branco (League)
Top Scorer: Piotr Cetnarowicz - 26 goals
Top Assists: Vincente - 10 asissts
Highest av. Rating - Piotr Cetnarowicz - 7.53
Most man of the match - Piotr Cetnarowicz - 7

Sorry but there will be no PART IV, as another save file appeared to be corrupted and the game fails at 31.08.2003. At least this time it happend after three seasons so I got to play a little bit, but things were getting very interesting in Santarem so I'm very disapointed how it all ended.