{"id":3174,"date":"2016-08-25T13:18:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T12:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?p=3174"},"modified":"2016-10-26T20:32:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T19:32:06","slug":"fm16-going-back-to-uni-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2016\/08\/fm16-going-back-to-uni-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"#FM16 : Going back to Uni : II"},"content":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m actually excited about this pre-season.\u00a0 Normally I hate them, especially straight after a promotion.\u00a0 Due to my thrifty nature, I invariably believe my squad won\u2019t be good enough to survive at a higher level.\u00a0 Sometimes I am right, most of the time we do ok though.\u00a0 But this is different, I have a young squad that could stick together for a few years and win some stuff.<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s post I alluded to the fact I want U Cluj to become the Romanian Ajax.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean we go to Russia and get are backsides kicked and fail to live up to our history.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather it meant we became known as a consistent churner out of talent, who go on to the bigger European leagues and become household names.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s easy to say, but how will I enforce it?<\/p>\n
The most obvious place to start is with our Academy intake each end of season (I am on FMT so we get our intake at the end of the league season, not sure why).<\/p>\n
This is the guy who currently heads up the Academy \u2013 or the Undergraduates as I shall call them (to continue the University theme).<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Val isn\u2019t the greatest HoY in the world, but to be fair to him he has not done a bad job with his first intake.\u00a0 These boys are spending pre-season with the first team squad…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Remove Popescu and Ursu from your thinking \u2013 Val found us five Undergrads that can come straight into first team thinking.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n Dobre came off the bench in the first pre-season game and scored the winner, and was assisted by his fellow strike partner Mihalche.\u00a0 They are both tall and quick, with 11 for finishing at the age of 16, so hopefully they will develop given time on the pitch.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Mitrea is a great find for right midfield.\u00a0 Determined with some flair, if his technical\u2019s can improve over the next couple of years he could become a hell of a player.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Dumitrascu is another stunning find as he is a natural DM.\u00a0 Before even kicking a ball he is rated as our third choice.\u00a0 He has some great starting stats, I can\u2019t wait to see how he develops.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n I see Pop as a midfield destroyer more than a centre back, but if he can improve certain areas of his game he could end up doing a fine job in either position.<\/p>\n We did have a few others who will sit in the Academy side for the season, I won\u2019t bore you with them as well.<\/p>\n The second part of my strategy to become the Romanian Ajax is based around bringing in other young players to join the Academy \u2013 nothing revolutionary there, but will take time, effort and good quality scouting.<\/p>\n In FMT, you only have a Chief Scout \u2013 and this is mine.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Not the best, and sadly FMT doesn\u2019t give you the opportunity to get a second opinion from your assistant manager.\u00a0 It would be good if I could…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Having just looked again at his profile and being blown away by his judgement of a player, I have clearly overlooked his ability to work with young players.\u00a0 Yikes.\u00a0 Not a great recruit considering I am working with predominantly young players.\u00a0 Well, we did ok last season with him so I will keep an eye!<\/p>\n One thing I can trust though is his opinion of a player in my ranks.\u00a0 So when he says a player is a potential star of the future, I am going to take his word for it.<\/p>\n Anyway, slight digression \u2013 my Chief Scout is currently scouting every single player we have access to getting a report on aged 19 and under.\u00a0 Hopefully that will also uncover a few gems that we can either try and recruit, or at least monitor until we have some cash.<\/p>\n The other part to the strategy is bringing in loan players from bigger clubs.\u00a0 This season\u2019s loan signing is Costache, a 17 year old from Dinamo Bucharest.\u00a0 Now, my crazy theory here is that if I can keep him on loan for two seasons, when his contract at Dinamo is due for renewal he might sign for us.\u00a0 I have no real evidence, it is just something I want to try.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Finally, I will keep my eyes peeled on the transfer list \u2013 there might be some bargains to be had that could come to us, do a job then be moved on for profit.\u00a0 Well, transfer list and players whose contract is about to expire.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve secured these two guys on frees.<\/p>\n