I'm having a cracking time managing Braga this year. The challenge is obviously to compete and eventually surpass the big three and it's proving challenging. The first three seasons saw us swat away Sporting and consistently finish third. With Benfica & Porto exchanging titles we have closed the initial 20 point gap in half to just ten however, our results against the established powers have been woeful winning just 3 games from 19. With such form it's no surprise that our only domestic silverware was the Portuguese Carabao in 2022. Our adventures on European shores have been relentless. Dynamo Minsk, Luzern, BATE, Manchester United, LASK, Getafe, Valencia, Napoli, Galatasaray, Sevilla, Strasbourg, Ludogorets, Sion, Lazio, & Portimonense. We have yet to progress past the Europa League quarter final.

With my tactical nous nothing to shout about (some variation of 3-5-2), player acquisition is were the the Liga NOS may be won and lost in the years to come. The board quickly established a sell before you buy culture which is par for the course in Portugal.

Season 1 - Diego Rolan (£8.5m) - Pablo Mari (£2.2m) - Willian Arao (£5.5m)
Season 2 - Nikola Jambor (£6m) - Ruben Semedo (£9m) - Ezequiel Avila (£5.5m)
Season 3 - Romain Correia (£1m) - Luis Suarez - (£15m)
Season 4 - Leandro Balerdi (£4m) - Exequiel Palacios (£10m) - Angel Gomes (£2m) - Cristiano Ronaldo (Bosman)

Perhaps the only failing in the four years has been Avila which is strong going. A bigger plus is our ability to retain the likes of the Horta brothers, Xadas, Galeno & Trinaco. The investment from Porto & Sporting has been lacking, Benfica on the other hand have heavily invested in the likes of James Rodriguez, Maxwel Cornet, Goretzka, Anton Miranchuk & Ritsu Doan. Perhaps their most impressive arrival is the addition of PEP (m8) Guardiola who replaced Lage after he took charge of the national side after the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The Catalan wasn't first choice and neither was Luis Castro as both Benfica & Porto offered me the the vacancies first. Ronald Koeman heads up Sporting.