2014 Daddy Issues - Peely Scores With Some Old Men

[Peely]

Despite saying that I wouln't give a clue, I actually gave a massive one. He's a player who sounds like he should be appearing in adult movies

[Ashez]

Vagner Love

[Peely]

Yes indeed. Next season will see the Lover-man, himself, coming to Sporting.

 

I'm quite a bit ahead of my updates at the moment, so I'll try to get one or two more posted this week.

[Danne]

Vágner Love?

Only 7,5 hours after the first guess, that's what happens when you don't read the whole thread.

[Lee-Roy]

Vag Love nice choice

[Peely]

Season 6 - Vagner Love

 

 

My father had been all over the football shows in the run up to the new season, saying how proud he was that I was putting all the things that he taught me into practice and achieving so much. Of course, he said, there's no great challenge to managing in Portugal, but perhaps, once I have a little more experience, I may be able to find myself a job in a better league.

 

What a tool!

 

Transfer Activity

 

With my newly relaxed criteria for my striker, I was able to secure the services of someone rather special:

 

His stats may not look world-beating, but look at the name, the hair, the steely gaze. Could this be the coolest man in football?

 

There was a lot of other transfer activity, too:

 

 

 

The three big departures were a case of clubs putting in offers that were to good to refuse, particularly when the players in question were agitating to leave and disrupting the harmony of the team. Most of the players joining the club were backups or reserve fodder, but those of you who followed Niels Van Frankenwalk's career with an eagle eye may spot an interesting signing.

 

The transfer window also brought this:

 

Not that I'd ever use it.

 

The Season in Review

 

I was hoping for a good season with a slightly younger and more talented player up front (and a real striker, at that):

 

No goal for Mr Love, but nice to start the season with some silverware.

 

Benfica dump us out of the Taca de Portugal again, very much against the run of play.

 

More disappointment against hated rivals.

 

The Champions League was not without its frustrations either:

 

How the hell did they manage that?

 

Away goals do for us again.

 

Total domination in the league made up for the disappointments in cup competitions, to an extent.

 

Mediocre.

 

 

A clean sweep of the player awards.

 

The Veteran

 

A very mixed season, but plenty of goals scored in the league. How many were down to the Love god?:

 

Still looking pretty good for his age.

 

A good strike rate, but I'm a little disappointed with the total.

 

Not really, that was just at the end of December. Here he is at the end of the year:

 

Monster!

 

These are his highlights:

 

 

 

There's only room for one Vagner in this league:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's a good chap.

 

My Player of the Season

 

Once again it was Marc Carmona who made the magic happen:

 

I can see this chap setting the assist challenge alight. I think he's the regen of Insua.

 

My Stats

 

 

Daddy sneaks ahead again.

 

A season of fairly frivilous transfers resulted in a bit of yellow creeping in.

 

 

 

Just one job offer this season:

 

 

Sorry, my scouse friends, not yet.

 

A season of being dynamite in the league and damp squibs in the cups. I was very happy with the performance of Love, though and was hoping my next veteran would do even better: he was certainly a legend, one might even call him a... king?

 

 

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:  Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

Season 2:  Claudio Pizarro - 38 Goals

Season 3:  Ivica Olic - 42 Goals

Season 4:  Samuel Eto'o - 37 Goals

Season 5:  Javad Nekounam - 28 Goals

Season 6:  Vagner Love - 63 Goals

 

Total: 241 / 1,000

 

Almost a quarter of the way there and if future strikers can match Love's form this could actually be doable in less than 20 seasons. Fingers crossed.

[dirtboy]

Good season, have no idea who the striker is though...

[Peely]

Thanks.

 

What about the noteable signing? Although I'd be very surprised if anyone got that

 

Lets just say that Leandro saw something of himself in one of the players he signed this season

[Ashez]

Simba!! Oh how i love Simba .

Anyway what an amazing season! I almost fell for my own trick but i checked the date just before the spoiler . A remarkable feat, god i love this

Hmm i'll have a think about the next striker

[Ashez]

Taking the lion as the clue and i'm having a punt on these two

Huntelaar - Hunt

Scott Mcdonald - Millwall badge

[Peely]

Both incorrect, I'm afraid. The clue is based on the striker's nickname.

[Ashez]

I was thinking too creative lol.

Anyway the answer is Fernando Llorente

[Danne]

Great season by the Loverman, looking forward to see what Llorente can do.

[MerlionMaple96]

Peely, I think that of everyone here on Vibe, you may have the best writing style for your updates...they're always so entertaining!!!  

 

Anyways, WHAT A SEASON!!! Brilliant mate...Love really delivered the goods

[Ashez]

I was just thinking i wish i could write a story like Peely lol.

[MerlionMaple96]

I was just thinking i wish i could write a story like Peely lol.

 

You should just get Peely to write your updates for you Best careers + best stories...a match made in heaven  :wub:

[Peely]

I was thinking too creative lol.

Anyway the answer is Fernando Llorente

 

Indeed it is.

 

Great season by the Loverman, looking forward to see what Llorente can do.

 

Thanks very much. It just goes to show that all you need is Love

 

Peely, I think that of everyone here on Vibe, you may have the best writing style for your updates...they're always so entertaining!!!

 

Anyways, WHAT A SEASON!!! Brilliant mate...Love really delivered the goods

 

Thanks very much

 

With a bit of luck I can get the next update out this week. At the moment I'm playing seasons faster than I'm updating

[Ashez]

Do you like that though? I've always loved playing ahead as it means when I'm fed up of playing and fancy some time off I can still contribute to the site.

[Lee-Roy]

Agreeing with Maple here, you can spin a damn good yarn Peely.

Another great chapter in the Van Frankenwalk story, it's such a shame that it didn't involve Liverpool

[Peely]

Do you like that though? I've always loved playing ahead as it means when I'm fed up of playing and fancy some time off I can still contribute to the site.

 

I play on the way to and from work to keep me entertained on the train and, unless I'm feeling particularly motivated and play in the evenings too, I tend to get through seasons at roughly the same speed that I do updates. The last few seasons have been particularly enjoyable, though, so I've been stretching the head start that I already had from playing a few seasons before posting. The problem is that, if I've had a really good season I want to write about it as soon as possible and get frustrated that I have two or three others to do updates for first

 

Agreeing with Maple here, you can spin a damn good yarn Peely.

Another great chapter in the Van Frankenwalk story, it's such a shame that it didn't involve Liverpool

 

Thanks Lee. Who knows, one day my fortunes may carry me to Merseyside, but I want to get a son to continue the Van Frankenwalk dynasty first

[anfieldsquirrel]

Loving this Peely, as usual

Llorente should tear it apart

[Peely]

Loving this Peely, as usual

Llorente should tear it apart

 

Thanks. He is a beast, in fact he's king of the beasts!

[madowell77]

great read as always, can't wait to see llorente rip apart the portuguese league. Good luck

[PriZe]

wow epic season for mr lover boy... But with those looks, he just scares off the defenders so scoring isn't that hard then  and joining in with saying very nice read 

[Peely]

Season 7 - Fernando Llorente

 

 

As another season began at Sporting, and I was hopeful that it would be a good one. My new striker was a golden haired beast of a man and I expected great things of him.

 

Transfer Activity

 

The first thing I needed to do was bring in Llorente:

 

Simba!

 

It was a quiet season on the transfer front:

 

The only notable signing this season was Jack Butland to join my stable of "good on paper, inconsistent on the pitch" goalkeepers. I was hoping he could get through a season without gifting too many games to my opponents.

 

Grimaldo was a real steal, but didn't join until the end of the season.

 

The Season in Review

 

I felt sure that I could top last season with a player of Llorente's calibre up front:

 

A truly epic match. We were 3-0 down shortly after half time and all appeared to be lost, but my brave lads fought back to level the match, with two goals coming in the last ten minutes of extra time. Llorente then went on to seal the victory with a goal in extra time.

 

The Taca da Liga saw us face Pacos Ferreira in the final. Surely this would be a formality:

 

Sort of. It should have been far easier.

 

 

And the Taca de Portugal also saw us facing theoretically easy opposition:

 

Once again, far harder than it should have been.

 

 

The Champions League saw us pitted against some giants of European football:

 

A dominant performance in the first leg saw us through.

 

A humiliating defeat for Real Madrid. They would be looking for revenge in the second leg.

 

But all they got was another beating.

 

Manchester United scratched our veneer of invincibility and left us with a bit of work to do in the home leg.

 

 

For once away goals work in our favour. We're going to the final!

 

A rematch against Bayern, but in a hard fought game we didn't quite have what was needed to slay the German giants.

 

Another dominant season in the league where we were very nearly undefeated.

 

Lion King!

 

Another clean sweep.

 

So close to perfection.

 

The Veteran

 

He's actually improved slightly in some regards. What a star.

 

Solid.

 

Still a five star striker

 

There were plenty of highlights, so I've edited them down a little:

 

He was still scoring at international level.

 

Got to love cup games.

 

 

My Player of the Season

 

Marc Carmona was still laying on the assists with a shovel:

 

 

My Stats

 

 

I'm falling behind!

 

 

 

 

The usual job offers continued to come in:

 

 

I do fancy a trip to Germany, but not yet.

 

It was so close to being a perfect season, but I was very happy with what the team had achieved and was sad to see Llorente leave at the end of the year. If I was to bring the Champions League trophy back to Lisbon I'd need another star striker for next season and I had just the player in mind. If the Lion King had taken us so close to European glory, surely El Tigre could bring us victory.

 

Quitter of the Season

 

An occasional item looking at those players who scamper off into retirement before I can get my sticky little hands on them. This season one of the greatest players in the game escaped my clutches:

 

 

Look at those stats. He has years left in him!

 

The Scoring With Pensioners Challenge

 

Season 1:  Nuno Gomes - 33 Goals

Season 2:  Claudio Pizarro - 38 Goals

Season 3:  Ivica Olic - 42 Goals

Season 4:  Samuel Eto'o - 37 Goals

Season 5:  Javad Nekounam - 28 Goals

Season 6:  Vagner Love - 63 Goals

Season 7:  Fernando Llorente - 63 Goals

 

Total: 304 / 1,000

 

At the moment I'm on target to complete the challenge in 28 seasons, assuming all future strikers manage 34 goals per season. With a bit of luck that can be cut down a bit further.

[Danne]

Awesome, surely Falcao will match Llorente's results.

[Ashez]

Great going

[dirtboy]

Great season

[madowell77]

llorente had an amazing season great going.would have been nice if ronaldo had of fallen into your hands, those stats at 34 are unreal.ah well roll on falcao, i cant wait

[Lee-Roy]

That's a decent improvement in stats there, bet you was pleasantly surprised. And to still be playing for Spain, Llorente was a genius buy!