Real Sociedad - The Story So Far [Part 1]

As you might know I started playing a popular challenge for Football Manager. It's called "The Real Sociedad Challenge". They start in Liga Adelente, one below the top tier of Spanish football. Your challenge is simple - win La Liga in 5 seasons. You can find more information in the challenge thread created here. I am currently in season 4, but to bring you update I'm gonna tell you about the previous 3 seasons 1 at a time, and this is the first.

I was given 80k to spend and a low wage budget at the start of the season. The squad I had was already good enough to gain promotion but I wanted to strengthen and try to win the league. Firstly I sold Markel to Zaragoza for 1.3million, Zubikera to Villa for 0.5mil and Daniel Estrada to Reading for 1.9. This gave me 3.7 million to use.

At first I worked with loan signings, bring in left back Razvan Rat and left winger Leonardo on loan for the season. Then came my first purchase. As recommended by kovacevic I bought.....kovacevic! Darko Kovacevic came for 300k, how could I not? Then I got busy, AMRLC Perico added for 275k, and MC Binya added for back up along with keeper Bernabe Angel for 120k. Then on the final day of the transfer window I loaded striker Andrej Rendla from Twente for the season.

For tactics I went with a simple 4-4-2, not going to show you the formation as it's nothing special. My best line up at the start of the season was:

GK: Bravo
DL: Rat
DC: Martinez, Gonzalez
DR: Gerrado
ML: Leonardo
MC: Rivas, Aranburu
MR: Prieto
ST: Kovacevic, Rendla

My defense has been rock solid, only 3 times have we conceded more than once in the league and in general my back line is very tight. THe midfield does see some rotation (Marcos and Leonardo especially) but Rivas is one of my top performers. Upfront Kovacevic plays the role of the "FCd" dropping back and playing balls through to Rendla which works great, and Renla is my top scorer with 7 in 13.

My friendlies went fine, with the scores all in my favour: 4-0, 5-0, 5-0, 1-0, 2-1, 2-1.

So, here are the league fixtures so far:

Alicante (A) 2-1 Win
Las Palmas (A) 1-2 Loss
Tenerife (H) 1-1 Draw
Eibar (H) 2-0 Win
Cordoba (A) 3-2 Win
Alaves (H) 1-0 Win
Gimnastic (A) 3-1 Win
Huesca (H) 3-0 Win
Murcia (A) 1-0 Win
Albacete (H) 2-0 Win
Sevilla Atletico (A) 1-1 Draw
Zaragoza (H) 3-2 Win
Levante (A) 1-1 Draw
Castellon (H) 3-0 Win
Girona (A) 2-0 Win
Celta (H) 0-1 Loss
Salamanca (H) 2-0 Win
Rayo (A) 1-4 Loss (No idea what happened)

As you can see I went 13 games without defeat but ended the year with 2 wins from 4 games, but I'm sure it will pick up. So here is the league table:



Home Record:


Away Record:


As you can see it's my away record that puts me on top as I havent got the best home record but away I am better than the rest.

In the Spanish Cup I lost 0-1 to Alaves in a poor performance.

This was my star result:


And my squad:


Rendla:


Prieto (Best Av. Performer):


Achille Emana (New Signing for 1.8mil):


Damian Ismodes (New signing for 775k):


I brang in Ismodes and Enama in January and they struggled to settle, and in March I was upset that I had wasted 2.6mil on them. But something clicked and they both played with, at one points Enama had scored 8 goals in 10 games, and Ismodes had hit 2 goals and 7 assists, as he and Prieto caused chaos on the wings.

I'm afraid I can't show many screenshots because I am a season ahead but I had a super 2nd half of the season, after my update I lost just 3 times in the entire 2nd half of the season (Las Palmas (H) 0-1, Zaragoza (A) 1-2 and Hercules (A) 1-4 (No idea what happened)).

Unfortunately for me Zaragoza decided to hit form and won 23 games in a row which is insane, so despite my good form I could only watch as they stormed the league with 101 points. I managed 94 points in my quest for 2nd place, which in any other season would have been enough to see me walk the league but not this one.



In the first season I spent 3.5 million and brang in 3.7mil so I made the club 200k as well which was a bonus. Season 2 coming soon ;)