Big Sam Allardyce made it 3 survivals out of 5 as he led a beleaguered Wolves to unlikely Premier League safety in 2028. But there was no time to hang around in Wolverhampton as Big Sam tendered his resignation, holidayed ahead to Christmas, and went in search of a new club to save.
The clubs at the bottom of their leagues for Season 6 were as following:
- Premier League: Cardiff, 5 points, 11 points from safety
- LaLiga: Levante, 9 points, 6 points from safety
- Serie A: Frosinone, 5 points, 10 points from safety
- Bundesliga: Gladbach, 13 points, 2 points from safety
- Ligue 1: Brest, 11 points, 9 points from safety
- Eredivisie: Excelsior, 10 points, 7 points from safety
- Liga Portugal: Gil Vicente, 5 points, 10 points from safety
- cinch Premiership: St Johnstone, 12 points, 12 points from safety
Big Sam fancied a new location for Season 6 so he decided to take on what could be his biggest challenge yet by heading to Portugal.
Bottom At Christmas Season 6
15 games into the 34-match Liga Portugal Betclic, Gil Vicente found themselves bottom of the league and winless. They’d only managed 5 draws and 8 goals, while conceding 24, to trail 15th-place Vizela by 10 points. However, the bookies had them down to finish 13th, which offered some morsel of hope.
The best players at the club included exciting 21-year-old midfielders Ricardo Almendra and Tanguy Poiret, along with defensive midfielder Jesús Castillo, attackers Jordi Mboula and Pablo Felipe (who are terrible), promising centre back Raúl Costa alongside Ilan Sauter, Liberman Torres and Baptiste Roux, and decent wing back options Weverson, Goncalo Costa, Filipe Cruz and Rodrigo Pinheiro. But Big Sam was pinning his hopes on misfiring striker Roko Baturina (2 in 14) and his young sidekick Marcelo Ignat.
There was very little money available to strengthen, despite selling 8 players for £1m. But Big Sam drafted in Belgian midfielder Sacha Delaye for £54k from Lustenau. And he created a 3-5-2 approach that looked to get the best out of their wing backs.
January 2029: Early Relegation 6-Pointers
Big Sam’s time in Portugal began with two massive games as Gil Vicente visited Vizela and Boavista. They started the game on top but, worryingly, failed to score their 9 shots to 1, until Baturina finally tapped in a low cross to end his 11-hour goal drought. The home team offered a little more after the break but Gil Vicente doubled the lead with an excellent move on 74 minutes as Cruz’s low cross found Poiert, who laid it back to Almendra to slam home his 1st of the season. And Gil Vicente, having gone 15 games without a victory, won 2-0 on Big Sam’s debut to clamber off the bottom of the table!
A few days later, they made the trip to Boavista, started brighter but went behind to a fluky deflection from a corner. But Delaye made an instant impact, scoring 6 minutes into his debut off the bench, and they settled for a point.
Big Sam’s home debut was a Minhoto Derby at home to rivals Vitória. Baturina gave them the lead before Vitória scored their first shot in injury time. But Gil Vicente dominated the second half and eventually made it count with late Felipe and Weverson goals to move 6 points from safety. Things got tougher as they travelled to Porto, Big Sam rotated, they got battered and lost 2-0, then went to Sporting with a debutant young goalkeeper and only lost 1-0. But they finished January with a dominant 3-0 win over 8th-place Moreirense with Baturina again on target.
February to March 2029: Earning Critical Points
February began with another big game at a fellow strugglers as Gil Vicente travelled to 15th-place Estrela Amadora. The visitors began on the foot front and Felipe somehow missed an open goal from 6 yards out, and they folded to concede twice just before the break. But Big Sam laid into his team and got a response, which saw Baturina head them back into the game. Then, deep into injury time, sub Weverson whipped in a cross for the big man to head a dramatic equaliser!
Baturina continued his dramatic turnaround in form by heading the opener in a 2-0 win at home to Leiria and a wild 3-3 at 7th-place Casa Pia, which made it 7 goals in 9 games since Big Sam’s arrival. But their best result yet was holding Benfica to a 2-2, with the visitors only equalising in the 93rd minute. That took Gil Vicente into another must-win away game at bottom side Arouca, prior to which Estrela Amadora somehow beat Sporting 1-0. The two teams played out a dreadful match until, out of nowhere, sub Mboula hit a potshot from 30 yards that flew into the top corner for a massive, probably undeserved, victory that ended his pathetic 15-game goal drought.
They took the positives from that result into demolishing Pacos de Ferreira 4-0 thanks to young striker Wilson Sousa, who’d been promoted after an injury crisis, bagging a hat trick. That dragged Gil Vicente out of the bottom 3 for the first time all season, 2 points ahead of Estrela Amadora with 7 games remaining. They crashed down to earth with a 4-1 hammering at Leixoes but Amadora also lost at Portimonense. March ended with another critical game at home to a resurgent Boavista, who were now 9th. But a much-improved performance saw Sousa score the opener in a 2-1 win, while Amadora drew with Leiria.
April to May 2029: Relegation Showdown
The win over Boavista lifted Gil Vicente 4 points clear of the dropzone with 5 games remaining. Any of 10 teams could mathematically get relegated and most of the strugglers had tricky run-ins, including a potential final-day face off between Gil Vicente and Vizela.
Game 1 – Braga (4th, away): Amadora scored twice beyond 89 minutes to win 4-3 at Casa Pia before Gil Vicente went to Braga. But they fired back with a shock 3-1 win through another Sousa hat trick, which shot them all the way up to 12th.
Game 2 – Famalicao (6th, home): Amadora and Pacos played first again and lost 2-1 and 2-0 to Benfica and Sporting. And Gil Vicente made it a clean sweep with a 2-1 defeat at home to Famalicao, before Vizela lost 2-0 at home to Braga.
Game 3 – Anadia (12th, away): Amadora continued the put the pressure on with a 2-0 win at relegated Arouca. But Gil Vicente could only manage to gain a point at Anadia thanks to Baturina’s penalty, despite having 21 shots to 9. And they lost Sousa for the rest of the season with a twisted ankle. Vizela also drew 1-1 at Famalicao while Leiria lost 3-1 at Benfica.
Game 4 – Portimonense (13th, home): Those results kept Gil Vicente 5 points clear of Vizela in 17th and 2 points clear of Estrela Amadora in 16th. Leiria thumped Arouca 4-1, Amadora lost 1-0 at home to Pacos and Vizela hammered Anadia 5-0. So a win at home to Portimonense would secure Gil Vicente in the top tier. They absolutely dominated the first half by 10 shots to 2… but obviously conceded the first they faced. But they kept going as Big Sam went ultra attacking for 60 minutes and eventually got the goal they deserved.
Game 5 – Vizela (16th, home): That teed up a final-day battle as Estrela Amadora, Vizela and Gil Vicente looked to avoid relegation. Gil Vicente led both their rivals by 3 points and had a 6-goal and 11-goal advantage. Amadora were basically doomed to the bottom 3, but a 3-goal defeat at home to Vizela would see Gil Vicente join them. A team meeting went well, for a change, and Big Sam was quietly confident his team would get the required result.
Sauter went close with a header from a free kick before Poiret shot wide, and Vizela obviously scored their first shot. How many times?! But they quickly levelled as Baturina played Ignat in to calmly finish. Vizela fell apart, leaving Almendra unmarked to curl home from 20 yards then Ignat was gifted a tap in. After the break, a great moment for the youngster saw him get on the end of G Costa’s cross for his hat trick, which quadrupled his season tally, and seal a comfortable win.
That saw Gil Vicente survive in an impressive 13th place on 38 points, after 9 wins, 11 draws and 14 defeats, scoring 44 and conceding 47. They took 32 points from Big Sam’s 19 games, winning 9, drawing 6 and losing 5, scoring 36 and conceding 23. So it’s safe to say he’d worked his magic in Portugal. And the final day success saw Costa finish as the leading assister in Liga Portugal with 12. Vizela went on to lose the relegation playoff to Estoril Praia.
Baturina led the way with 12 goals and 6 assists in 35 games, but Sousa massively impressed with 10 goals from 11 starts and left wing back Costa got a mighty 14 assists. But there were some really poor performers in amongst the squad.
Interestingly, at the end of the season, the season preview tab suggested Gil Vicente were 8th favourites for the Portuguese title. So Big Sam had clearly worked wonders! But he wouldn’t be hanging around for long to further rebuild the club.
That brings this little festive FM Experiment to a conclusion. We’ll have a retro article tomorrow then take a little break from content until the New Year as our youth-focused Salvando Santos and Wonderkid Factory saves continue!
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