In my one-and-done season with Plymouth for Promotion #9, I rode the wave of wide playmakers in the midfield, a new player role for me. I wanted to see if I could carry them on as I tried to get a bounce-back promotion for CD Santa Clara in the Portuguese Second Division.

I had to abandon that particular part of my tactical setup, but booked my ninth promotion with an outstanding season on the Azores. We clinched promotion and won the league with two matches to go. The promotion happened after we won that 32nd match, but we didn’t get the championship until other matches happened. Weirdly, they gave us a trophy presentation after our next match. I don’t think I have ever seen that happen.

Things looked dicey early in the season, however. We got off to a slow start, similar to our year in Plymouth, but course-corrected after three straight losses and moved to a 4-2-3-1 with attacking wingers. We only lost three more matches along the way, all of them on the road.

We needed a while to climb the table to first place but got there in Week 15. We bounced up and down a little until we took full control in Week 20. The league has two automatic promotion slots and one playoff slot, but we never really needed to worry about that.

In the cups, we lost in the second round of the Portugal Cup and made the group phase of the League Cup where we ended up in a group of three with Porto and Sporting. I was happy to have very few cup distractions this season.

This promotion truly relied on a team effort as seven different players scored at least six goals in league play with only one reaching double digits. That was left winger – God, I love a good left winger – Massinissa Hammouche who finished with 12 goals and 15 assists in the league.

Hammouche came in from a transfer arranged before I took over. Three of these four players had key roles – Maxim Koloskov manned the right wing and Faouzi Belaribi was one of my solid defensive midfielders (and penalty taker).

I made some good pickups with central defender Alberto Carvalho (loan), attacking central midfielder Huseyin Sevim, defensive midfielder Bienvenu Massengo and defender Miguel Demiro Ismael.

I had another great pickup in right back Ivan Balic, on loan from Porto. But they recalled him because I didn’t play him at right back enough. I gambled and lost, but Ismael really stepped up at left back.

I continued to struggle with consistency at striker – one of the hallmarks of my FM23 experience – but managed to get a combined 15 league goals from Guilherme Bettencourt and Khaled Belkheir-Benali.

I started the season with Hammouche up top because he looked like the best option, but he played amazingly in one match when I moved him back to the wing. Belkheir-Benali didn’t click right away so I went with Bettencourt even though he had a much lower star rating. His finishing was higher than the others, and he ended up making me look good.

So only one more promotion before I complete this challenge. I have had a lot of fun with jobs in 10 different countries (I have been in England three different times). I can’t wait to see where I end up next and really hope for a final one-and-done so I can chill before FM24 comes out.