This is post three of a wider series. A series for FM24.
“Off the pitch, this is a club in crisis. The on-pitch overperformance is just a beautiful facade, masking boardroom chaos under the new President.”
In-game date: 26 January 2025
“Welcome to Around the Table! Today in the studio we have Engel Vogt, former coach and manager at Unterhaching, football writer and analyst Alison Adams, current Chemnitz defender Simon Handle and our very own Jonathan Simpson. As always, I’m Mark Morgan.“
The ever popular football analysis television show kicks off with a bang as wild winter rain batters off the windows outside the studio.
“Today on the show, we’ll kick off with talking points from Bundesliga 2. Later, we’ll chat about striker Fotis Ioannidis’ incredible goalscoring run for his new club Union Berlin, this year’s Bundesliga surprise package. Simon, I’ll start with you. You made over 180 league appearances for Viktoria Köln in over six years at the club before moving on. They are flying high in third place right now at the halfway point of the 24-25 season after a very rocky start. Are you surprised?”
Simon Handle, perched atop a high stool in the bright-lit studio, takes a sip of water and prepares to answer.
“Pleased, but perhaps not surprised. When I joined the club back in 2017, Viktoria Köln were in the Regionalliga, and believe it or not, I was a winger back then!”
“Before the legs went?” chimes back Mark, as Alison and Engel smile along. Jonathan lets out a nervous laugh.
“You could say that! VK have always been a special club to me. Olaf Janßen was a great man manager and he ended up returning there for another spell and cementing the club in the third tier. There was always a fighting spirit, but sometimes a problem with real quality on the ball. I think Enzo Scutari has maintained that club spirit but got a little bit extra out of the players since his arrival. I mean, to gain promotion as champions in his first season at the club, then be sitting third in the table in the second tier after nineteen league games, while being the division’s top scorers…that’s incredible progress in such a short space of time. I’m pleased for the boys I played with who are still there; Patrick Koronkiewicz and Lars Dietz especially.”
“Thanks Simon” says Mark, as he takes back hosting duties.
“Engel, the Bundesliga 2 is a division you know well. What’s happening here?“
The experienced manager leans back, glancing down at his notepad, considering his response. “Well firstly, Werder Bremen and Hertha haven’t got the results their performances have deserved. We’ve already seen Domenico Tedesco come in to replace Joachim Löw at Werder. Which for me was rash, because if you consider the xG table, Werder are second and Hertha are third, based on their performances. I think both of those clubs will come good this season. I also think high-flying Darmstadt and Hannover 96 will maintain their strong starts into the second half.”
Alison springs to life, “So you think Viktoria Köln and Karlsruhe will be the sides near the top to falter?”
“Well if you consider Viktoria Köln, while Scutari is working wonders with that squad, they are threadbare.”
Jonathan Simpson leans in. “I agree with Engel. Their annual salary bill, is what…twenty percent of Werder’s? The bookmakers had them as one of the favourites to go down too. Despite Scutari trying his best to balance the books by letting four players go for free, including Kwabe Schulz who at 25 was an important senior player, and selling another four – including last year’s hero on the wing Albion Vrenezi (Elversberg – £475,000) and promising and pacy Robin Velasco (FC Nürnberg – £120,000), the rumour mill is in overdrive that the building costs of the new stadium is running a serious risk of the club going bankrupt. The reality is that without investment, given that they don’t have another eight senior players they can afford to take off the wage bill to reduce costs any further, the club is in trouble. All of the fat has already been trimmed. Gutted, almost. Off the pitch, this is a club in crisis. The on-pitch overperformance is just a beautiful facade, masking boardroom chaos under the new President.”
“I just want to bring it back to the football, for a moment.” Alison pivots the conversation.
“Ignoring the off-field issues, I think their tactical switch has been critical to their recent success. Don’t forget, Viktoria Köln failed to win in their first four games this season. Including being ejected from the cup in the very first round, unlike their impressive run last season. The flat 4-4-2 of last season was shelved and Scutari was pragmatic enough to pivot to a diamond formation which saw his team start to pick up points. That said, after conceding seven goals in two games against Darmstadt and Hertha, the 4-4-2 was back, but critically with the centre midfielders employed a little deeper than before, despite the line of the press being higher up the pitch than the tried and tested setup of last year.”
“That’s very true, Alison.” Engel agrees, while Simon nods, approvingly. “I’ve really enjoyed seeing Tomás Andrade (Sud América – Free) marauding down that left-hand side. Plus the high-profile signing of Borja Baston (Pachuca – Free) has proved to be an expensive risk worth taking, salary-wise. His link up play with ‘La Tigre’ Lobinger in a front two has been excellent to watch.”
“Don’t forget centre-back and captain Moritz Fritz suddenly becoming a key goal threat at set pieces. Almost overnight, he has become a bit of a sensation. He managed three goals last season against weaker competition than he is now facing, and he’s got six already at the half-way point of this campaign. What a turnaround.”
“Well, time will tell. Thanks to the panel, that’s enough on the second division. After the break we’ll talk about Fotis Ioannidis and his incredible goalscoring run for high-flying Union Berlin and ask the viewers if this should be Thomas Müller’s final season at Bayern Munich and in professional football. Thanks for tuning in.”
Mark Morgan closes off the segment and the show goes to an ad break.
What a year so far.
Enzo Scutari’s second season has been so mercurial. The disappointing start, the pivot to the diamond shape then return to 4-4-2 coinciding with an upsurge in form. Though it has been excellent to watch on the pitch, as the guys discussed above, off the field has been a different story.
It’s late January 2025 and in our first 500 days in charge we have signed five players for a total outlay of £0, selling twelve for a combined £700,000. I didn’t want Albion Vrenezi to leave. His 10 assists last year playing off the left were crucial to our promotion. The seriously poor financial condition the club is in after taking the £16million loan for the new stadium build is destroying us from the inside. I had very little choice.
Our current balance is -£4.6million, with a deficit of -£2,800 a week in the wage budget, £0 for transfers and a total debt of £21.5million. The club’s valuation has risen to £6milliion given our rise in stature after the promotion, but we only have 22 senior players in total, and three of those are non-fee, zero-salary paying loans – first-choice goalkeeper Lasse Rieß (Mainz), youthful centre-back Niklas Barthel (Schalke 04) and versatile midfielder Casper Jander (FC Nürnberg). The seriousness of our inadequate financial position could soon become gravely problematic.
As pointed out by the pundits above, we might be in 3rd, but based on performances, we should be 9th in the table. Given that the prize money in Germany is significantly better than in most other footballing countries (£6m to £15m depending on final league position in 2.Bundesliga and much, MUCH higher in the top tier), my hope is simply to hang on to a top half of the table finish until the end of the season, where a boost of funds could be the difference between strengthening the club to go again in season three, or heading for administration.
With the -£2,800 weekly wage deficit the only negative in the board’s report on Scutari’s performance this season so far, to correct it we tried to loan out Lars Dietz, a trusty 28-year old central defender who is only on the bench due to captain and vice-captain Fritz and Greger’s solid double-act at the back. Wellington Phoenix were keen to take him for the rest of the season and paying 100% of his £3,800 weekly salary, but he frustratingly declined the move.
Tomás Andrade, pictured further above in the post, is proving to be an incredible signing. The 28-year old former River Plate prospect and very brief Bournemouth loanee (0 appearances) has 10 goals and 6 assists in his first 17 matches. While mentally lacking on his attribute profile, his highly technical skillset and decent Pace, Agility and Balance has made him a creative menace at this level.
Borja Bastón was once purchased by 2016 Premier League side Swansea City for over £15million. Now 32, he is no longer the player who impressed at both Eibar and Real Zaragoza in excellent loan spells away from his originating club, Atlético Madrid. He is now more of a facilitator than an out-and-out goalscorer, but he has settled in well as a big fish in a small pond. His image regularly adorns the front cover of matchday programmes sold outside of our “home” games during our temporary rented spell in Leverkusen.
The other two arrivals this season worthy of mention are Adamu Alhassan (Shkëndija – Free) and Álex Alegría (Badajoz – Free). Alegríá is a capable 32-year old Spanish target man, while Alhassan comes to Germany after spells in Türkiye and Macedonia as a 24-year old midfielder with excellent Acceleration, Aggression, Bravery, Determination and Work Rate (he scores highly on FM Grasshopper’s Fibra scale) but lacks a little in his Decisions, Positioning, Finishing and in the air.
So incredibly we sit third in the 2.Bundesliga table at the half-way point of season two. Given that our beloved Viktoria Köln have a lot more points than they should have based on chances created and conceded, and conversely some of the big hitters have many fewer points than their play has deserved, it would be naive to think that a natural correction won’t come at some point in during the final four months of the 2024-2025 season.
Couple that with the awful financial position of the club and very slim first team squad, it will be miracle if our neat tactical tweaks and raw determination see us maintain a push for promotion to the promised land.
On that note of tactical tweaks, when we returned from the diamond shape to a 4-4-2, our upturn in form coincided with increasing the height of our defensive line. Now all Gegenpress anecdotes of high press being the most effective way (META?) to win in FM aside, the reason I chose to do so was that after a quick glance at the Data Hub, I noticed that a HIGH percentage of our Defensive Actions were occurring far too close to our goal, so the simplest tweak was to try and engage with the opposition a little higher on the pitch, keeping an eye out to ensure we didn’t make a habit of being beaten by balls in behind. I wrote a couple of times about using the Data Hub to inform tactical decisions for Sports Interactive, back when it was first introduced in FM22. If that sounds interesting you, here’s the link to one of those posts.
The next story update could be a tale of unbridled joy and future financial stability in the comfort of a new stadium, or it could be one of form collapse and financial ruin.
Fingers crossed for the next four months!
Thanks for reading.
FM Stag