You're the Boss is the UEFA Training Ground's free real-time coaching simulation which allows the user to control a club from top to bottom and attempt to steer them from grassroots anonymity into the big time. The UEFA Training Ground therefore felt it only right that we pitted our wits and kept you up to speed with our progress as the weeks go on.
UEFA Wanderers' short history has been far from quiet. Promotion in their first season since being formed on 16 August 2010 was swiftly followed by relegation. Next came a much-needed campaign in which we could all finally draw breath, followed by an admirable but unfulfilling third place and successive relegations.
In this latest update we focus on the club's seventh campaign in existence but you can also read about a topsy-turvy first month in the team's history, an equally unpredictable second month and a worrying third.
WEEK 15
If a week is a long time in politics, it is an absolute age in the unpredictable world of Grassroots League Division III 25. After season upon season of misery, despondency and apparent cluelessness, UEFA Wanderers' fortunes, finally, seem to be looking up.
As all the best managers will tell you, the importance of pre-season cannot be underestimated. After yet another relegation, we approached it with more vigour than ever before, reverting to the only method we know of to escape a hole – especially a great big cavern like the one we had dug ourselves: hard graft. We scratched our heads, stayed up long into the night and scoured the transfer market. Our verdict? The squad was simply not up to scratch.
Rarely ones to do things by halves, we duly acted and out went a total of nine players in order to make way for new and improved models. With no shortage of cash burning a hole in our pockets, we went the whole hog and acquired no less than ten new signings, spending as much as €10,000 a time.
Fresh faces, fresh ideas and, most importantly, fresh quality surely had to turn things around? A 2-0 home defeat on the opening day suggested the footballing Gods were simply not on our side. What more could we do? Was it time to walk away before it was too late? Had we lost the dressing room?
Not for the first time, we went for broke. We had to have faith in these players one last time and let them show what they were made of. We changed to a 4-3-3 formation and gave the side one simple instruction: attack, attack, attack. And how they did. A 3-2 win next up – sealed by a last-minute strike from new signing and debutant Bob Prothero – was the first of four straight victories which saw us rise to second in the table.
It felt, at last, like we had turned a corner. As we were all too aware, though, there was a long, long way to go.
WEEK 14
Sometimes it just takes a little bit of luck from the most unexpected source to get you out of a rut. A bounce off an opponents' back taking the ball into the goal or a stray backpass that sets one of your strikers away for a simple goal. The problem was that UEFA Wanderers’ bit of luck seemed to be taking a lifetime to come.
Last week I posed the question, could things get any worse? Week 14 of my tenure in charge answered in the affirmative. Despite a brief respite in the form of a 2-1 victory against AC Revello – our first win of the season – normal service was quickly resumed as we lost the next six games on the bounce to remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with just two games remaining.
The manner of the defeats was particularly galling too. Three of the six matches were lost after decisive goals in the dying minutes, while the run also included being 2-0 up at half-time only to lose 3-2 and battling back from 2-0 down to draw level in the next game before conceding another devastating late blow. Add two red cards to the mix and the picture was looking bleak with another relegation a certainty.
Looking for inspiration for anywhere I sat the team down to watch some videos of some of their favourite players performing the skills they are famous for. Would the Ronaldo Rocket or the Messi Loop give them the lift they needed to attempt to raise their own games? A believer that hard work gives its rewards, I also made a change to our training routine, adding a tough run through the woods and a more rigorous warm-up to our morning session. But maybe it was not changes like this that would help us turn the corner but instead that long-awaited little bit of luck.
WEEK 13
Could things get any worse? Five straight defeats left us in familiar territory – rock bottom of the table. The good times were but a distant memory and I knew all too well that I was in drastic need of injecting some of the feel-good factor back into the club.
Unfortunately, we found ourselves in a vicious cycle; the fans were staying away because of the sub-standard fare on offer and my players were below-par as a result of the lack of buzz at the stadium. Much to my chairman's chagrin we had to reduce ticket prices to start getting more people into the ground. Even for the lacklustre football we had been serving up, €2 seemed reasonable.
To try and offset the drop in income from attendances, I searched high and low for improved sponsorship contracts, making sure to opt for popularity over financial gain. After all, I could scarcely afford to provide the fans with further reason to dislike me.
It was on the pitch, though, where we were losing. In came another teenage striker in an attempt to bolster an attack with just three goals between it this term. Furthermore, it was time to revert back to 4-4-2 rather than the stodgy 4-5-1 I had persevered with for too long. Extra training – long-distance running and all – was another necessity after a week which had us all concerned for our futures. We needed to turn the corner – and fast.
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