Darius1998

2027-28: Season Review La Liga: 3rd, 84 points (no position change, +6 points Copa del Rey: Quarter-finalists, lost to Barcelona Champions League: Quarter-finalists, lost to Porto Supercopa: Semi-finalists, lost to Atletico Very good season overall as we blitzed a few goal records along the way, notching up 104 in the league itself. Barcelona ran away with it and it was a battle for 2nd between us and the two Madrid clubs. Real Madrid edged us out towards the end but it was still incredibly fun nevertheless. At home, we were imperious, even beating Barcelona and Real Madrid and rallying from 2 down to draw against Atletico. 65 of those 104 goals came at home, giving us 16 wins and 3 draws. A bad injury crisis from December to February saw us lose 4 of our 6 defenders at one point, needing to promote Diego Martin from the U19s to fill in at RB as I didn't want to recall those out on loan. He did well and then got injured himself as we got dumped out of the cup by Barca while we lost the Supercup semi 4-3 to Mourinho's tycoon-owned Atletico. The CL campaign was wild. We have often had luck going against us in Europe but none of that happened in the League Phase as we finished inside the top 8, even beating Man City 2-1 despite conceding over 4 xG to them at the Etihad. A 2-2 draw at Lille was followed by nearly getting knocked out in the 2nd leg, only for Josu Romero to make it 2-2 on the night in stoppage time before Adu Ares scored the winner in ET. Porto were the best draw possible but we fluffed it, going down 2-0 and then immediately conceding an equaliser after going in front at home. Transfers Just one transfer in - An 18 year old LB Pedro Agirre joined from Real Sociedad for €7.5m, which may some day rise by another 1m. He spent the season on loan at 3rd tier Cordoba. No major outgoings either after Inaki Williams and Berenguer left. A bunch of players went out on loan and some of them look good enough to get first team games next season. Youth Candidates Decent intake with two standout prospects. Jon Garrido (MC/R, AMC): Talented two-way midfielder. Inigo Rodriguez (AML/R): Another wide player. We have loads of them but with a small talent pool, I'm hardly going to be annoyed about that. Squad GK: Agirrezabala, Ayesa, Hugo Palacios*, Francisco Hernandez* RB: Areso, Inigo Albisu*, Diego Martin* CB: Yeray, Unai Nunez, Paredes, Josu Romero*, Jon Martin, Sergio Aguirre* LB: Munoz, Imanol, Pedro Agirre* DM: Moncayola, Guillamon CM: Sancet, Unai Gomez, Vencedor, Julen Jon Guerrero, Asier Alberdi*, Alex Rubio* RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano, Javier Gabilondo* LW: Adu Ares, Victor Villanueva*, Asier Albisu* ST: Guruzeta, Villalibre * - Newgen Yeray's contract is up and I will be letting him go. Sergio Aguirre will return from his loan spell at Las Palmas to take his place. Inigo Albisu had a good spell at West Brom, even though they finished 23rd in the Championship and can compete with Areso on the right. Guerrero spent a season at 2nd tier Numancia will take Gomez's place in midfield while Villanueva is ready to play more regularly. The other newgens all spent a season out on loan and will hopefully do so again next season. Also here are the newgens who are good enough to be squad players/regular starters now: Slightly off-topic but it was great to see Athletic win the Copa del Rey IRL yesterday. The 40 year wait is finally over!

2026-27: Season Review La Liga: 3rd, 78 points (down 1 place and 9 points) Copa del Rey: Semi-finalists, lost to Barcelona Champions League: League Phase (27th) Supercopa: Semi-finalists, lost to Atletico Very different season to 2025-26 as we started off slowly, losing 3 matches by the end of October - as many as we had lost in the whole of last season. We were massively underperforming in all underlying metrics - xG, xGA, expected points, etc. but a great run through November turned the season around, only losing to Real Madrid (twice) and Barcelona after that. We made the top 7 in the 14th round of fixtures and then spent the 2nd half of the season hauling down (and eventually passing) Sevilla and Real Sociedad. We had a chance to seal CL football and Sevilla but threw away a 3-0 lead in the last 10 mins, before Sancet's goal secured a 1-0 win in the Basque derby in our penultimate game. We took revenge against Valencia for last season's cup semi-final by beating them 3-0 at their place in the quarters. In the semis, a 1-1 draw at home was followed by a 5-0 pasting at Camp Nou to knock us out. The players ended up refunding the fans for it. The CL campaign was a disappointment but was really tough from the get go. A poor loss at home to Ajax dampened our hopes and although we beat Zulte and Lille, that was followed up by draws against Barca and Arsenal and then losses against Bologna, Juventus and Milan. Transfers Two incomings of note - Julen Jon Guerrero joined for €1m from Milan. He hasn't really developed since going there from Alaves and seems to have some unfulfilled potential. Low-risk signing anyway and he spent the season on loan at Serie B's bottom club Vicenza. The other was 16 year old CB Dani Martin from Eibar. Came in for €250k and went into the U19s. I mostly got him for his professional personality so hopefully he can fulfill his 4/4.5* potential. One major outgoing as Unai Simon had his €85m release clause triggered by Man Utd and left in the summer. Youth Candidates Some really nice prospects again. Miguel Jimenez (DR/MR): A good attacking full back. Ibon Serrano (DM/DC): Talented DM who can drop into defence if needed. Fran (AMR/ST): The cream of the crop. Another excellent wide player through the ranks. He already looks very good too. Squad GK: Agirrezabala, Ayesa, Hugo Palacios* RB: Areso, Inigo Albisu* CB: Yeray, Unai Nunez, Paredes, Josu Romero*, Jon Martin, Sergio Aguirre* LB: Munoz, Imanol DM: Moncayola, Guillamon CM: Sancet, Unai Gomez, Vencedor, Julen Jon Guerrero RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano LW: Berenguer, Adu Ares, Victor Villanueva* ST: Inaki Williams, Guruzeta, Villalibre * - Newgen I promoted a number of youngsters from the 2025 batch and loaned most of them out. Aguirre (loaned to Recreativo) and Villanueva (loaned to Rayo Vallecano) highlighted as they are probably the closest to being first team ready. Albisu was going to get more first team games but had a couple of injuries and I sent him to Numancia in the 3rd tier for 6 months where he has done well. Berenguer was phased out for Ares and Serrano and will move to Rayo Vallecano for 5m in the summer while Inaki is on the decline and will be off to Damac in Saudi Arabia for 19.5m.

2025-26: Season Review La Liga: 2nd, 87 points (+17 points, up 2 places) Copa del Rey: Semi-finalists, lost to Valencia Champions League: Quarter-finalists, lost to Arsenal Supercopa: Semi-finalists, lost to Barcelona Unexpectedly brilliant season. In the first two seasons, we had badly struggled to keep out opposition teams, constantly conceding more than what we were expected to. That flipped this season as we let in 9 fewer goals than expected and had the 2nd best defence in the division. Our only defeats were at home to Real Betis and Eibar and away to Real Sociedad. We did the double over Madrid, even smashing them 4-0 at our place in February while gaining 4 points out of a possible 6 against both Barca and Atletico. Barca did easily beat us in the Super Cup though (and really should have won their home game in the league). We beat Atletico 4-1 at home in the cup to reach the semis but imploded in the first leg as Valencia won 4-1 at San Mames despite us having the better chances. A tame 1-1 draw after we scored within 15 seconds at the Mestalla followed to knock us out. The Champions League campaign was the best part of the season. After gaining 4 points from Sparta Prague and Fenerbahce, we lost to Inter, Galatasaray (who scored 2 from 1 shot) and Feyenoord in games we really should have won. A defeat to Milan had us reeling before a 1-0 win over Ajax in the final game saw us through in 23rd. We dominated Lazio at home but only won thanks to Berenguer's late goal. They had a better game in the 2nd leg but we held our nerve to win 2-1 and go though 3-1 on aggregate. Man City were next and we smashed them 3-0 at home, before a nervy 1-0 loss where they kept missing chances. Another first leg home tie followed against Arsenal where Williams and Adu Ares scored before Havertz pulled one back. Unfortunately, they were too good for us in London, winning 3-0 to reach the semis. Transfers Benat Prados (Free) and Ruiz de Galarreta (€4.8m) both left for Strasbourg while Mikel Vesga left for Shanghai Port in winter for €7.5m - not the worst sum for someone who was falling down the pecking order and had 6 months left on their contract. Jon Martin spent a season on loan at Eibar and a few of our youngsters also had some temporary spells away from the club. Inaki Williams wrecked his cruciate ligaments on AFCON duty so Asier Villalibre returned to the club on a free transfer, just 18 months after leaving after being released 18 months into a 4 year contract at Al-Ittihad. Ended up scoring 10 goals in half a season. Forgot to add this earlier but we also lost a couple of youngsters - Elijah Gift left for Brentford for €10.5m while Aimar Vicandi went to Burnley after they triggered his €5m release clause. Both were decent prospects but didn't look anything special so I was okay with letting them go. Youth Candidates A decent generation of players. After all, nothing was going to match last season's explosive intake. Benjamin Francoise (AMC/ST) Highly rated at the club. Lacks a little bit of composure and teamwork but looks good overall. Ivan Llorente (AML/C, ML): More of a wide player, further along in his development than Francoise. Inaki Rubio (AML/ST): A striker with decent finishing! Looks promising and can hopefully fill out that potential. Squad GK: Simon, Agirrezabala, Ayesa RB: Areso, Inigo Albisu* CB: Yeray, Unai Nunez, Paredes, Josu Romero*, Jon Martin LB: Munoz, Imanol DM: Moncayola, Guillamon CM: Sancet, Unai Gomez, Vencedor RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano LW: Berenguer, Adu Ares ST: Inaki Williams, Guruzeta, Villalibre * - Newgen Hopefully Inaki doesn't lose out too badly with his injury. Guruzeta struggled a fair bit this season, only scoring 10 all season, compared to last season's 23. He's clearly nowhere near as good as he has been IRL but there's nothing to do about that. I tried to get Laporte and he agreed to a deal at €180k p/w but Benfica offered him 225k instead and I couldn't be bothered when his agent came back asking for more.

2024-25: Season Review La Liga: 4th, 70 points (+9 points, up 3 places) Copa del Rey: Runners-up, lost to Girona Europa League: Quarter-finalists, lost to Aston Villa Great season until it wasn't. At the start of February, we were in 2nd and trying to hold off Real Madrid but by May, we were hanging on to a European spot and only sneaked into 4th on the final day. We won 5 of our last 15 league games, with 2 of the wins coming in the last 3 as we just about held our nerves. A draw with Celta combined with Real Sociedad losing at Barcelona gave us Champions League football while our Basque neighbours fell all the way to 7th, with Real Valladolid steaming through on the back of a superb run. The cup run was fun as we beat La Real after extra time in the quarters before winning 3-2 after extra time at the Bernabeu after drawing 1-1 in the home leg. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the final, we were in a rut and Girona scored a 95th minute winner, just days after Aston Villa had done the same. The EL saw a rotated team lose at Basaksehir before quickly turning things around to finish 7th with 19 points. We beat Hoffenheim on pens at home after two 1-0 home wins before facing Villa. We didn't take our chances in Birmingham and were held to a draw while the 2nd leg saw them score 3 goals from 2 shots on target - Emi Buendia's 95th minute goal knocked us out. Transfers Most of our business was done by June of last season so there were only 2 more incomings - Gaizka Ayesa joined on a free as 3rd choice keeper when Simon got injured while Jon Martin, an 18 year old CB from Sociedad joined in January. Unai Garcia left after barely playing as Granada paid €1.5m for him. Josu Romero spent the season on loan at Valladolid and played 29 games across the league and cup. Some others like Albisu and Palacios from the last intake also went on 6 month loans in January. Benat Prados had a good season on loan at Boavista but we're stacked at CM and he's off to Strasbourg for free in the summer. Saudi clubs are constant nuisance too. They came for Vencedor, Simon and Moncayola in January and I tried to agree high prices for them. Simon and Moncayola accepted that and didn't make a fuss as I knocked back some bids. Vencedor wanted to be let go for 23m and I wasn't having it. At one point, he even handed in a transfer request and missed a training session. Eventually, things cooled down after the window ended and he's still here. Youth Candidates We got a golden generation with at least 5 highly rated prospects. Asier Alberdi (AMC/DM): Has the technical ability and flair, just needs to improve physically and in a few mental attributes. Asier Albisu (AML/R/C): Very promising winger. Only agreed to a €4m release clause though so hopefully that won't cause trouble. Sergio Aguirre (DC/L): Maybe the best of the lot. Being poor in the air despite his height just holds him back a little at the moment. Alex Rubio (MC/R): Creative playmaker, has minimal physicality though. Javier Gabilondo (AMR/MR/ST): More of a playmaker than a goalscorer, might need retraining. Squad GK: Simon, Agirrezabala, Ayesa RB: Areso, De Marcos, Inigo Albisu* CB: Yeray, Unai Nunez, Paredes, Josu Romero*, Jon Martin LB: Munoz, Imanol DM: Vencedor, Moncayola, Guillamon CM: Sancet, Ruiz de Galarreta, Vesga, Unai Gomez RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano LW: Berenguer, Adu Ares ST: Inaki Williams, Guruzeta * - Newgen De Marcos will retire at the end of the season so I can either use Yeray and Nunez to cover for Areso. Albisu can probably get some chances but he's very young and not exceptionally developed like Romero. Martin can hopefully get loaned out for a season of regular football.

I had a fun save with Athletic back on FM21 but never posted about it on here. Decided to do one with the 24.3 update though so here goes... 2023-24: Season Review La Liga: 7th, 61 points Copa del Rey: 4th Round, lost to Alaves Feels like a waste of a first season in a way. After a great start that saw us beat Madrid and pick up 14 points from our first 6 games before seemingly endless frustration followed. With Atletico pulling away at the top, 2nd to 10th were pretty close for most of the season and we kept on hovering outside the continental spots. We had the 3rd highest goals scored and GD but kept misfiring in crucial games - losing twice to Cadiz and only managing 1 point out of 6 against Almeria, Sevilla and Girona. We were 3rd on expected points but 7th on the table that matters. We also saved one of our worst performances for the cup as Alaves knocked us out 2-1. A missed opportunity as Barca and both Madrid clubs also got knocked out by the quarters. 2 wins in our last 2 saw us sneak into a Conference League spot as Cadiz lost to Atletico and Barca before a promotion to the Europa League thanks to an extra CL spot. Transfers I've arguably botched it even more here! I didn't notice Vivian's release clause and he went off to earn Saudi riches in January for €55m. I did at least manage to renew Nico Williams' deal with a big release clause though. I also missed out on Aihen Munoz before he went off on loan to Man Utd and then had to wait another year to sign him, eventually doing so for €22m. Lekue left at the end of the season for 6m to Villarreal as he wanted a new challenge so Jesus Areso is in to replace him at double the price. Unai Garcia came in on loan from Osasuna with a mandatory 1.2m clause after Yeray got ruled out for a couple of months. Dani Garcia, Raul Garcia (retired) and Ander Herrera were all released at the end of the season while Yuri went off to Saudi Arabia on a free. Unai Gomez had a loan spell at Toulouse from January and was alright there so he can get a few more chances now while Benat Prados is getting loaned out again. A couple more transfers at the end of the season saw Muniain (€10.25m, rising to €12.5m) and Villalibre (also €10.25m) heading off to Saudi Arabia too. Moncayola is in for €9.5m after Osasuna went down with Guillamon coming in for €11.5m after being uninterested in January. Squad Standard 4-3-3 formation with attacking fullbacks. GK: Simon, Agirrezabala RB: Areso, De Marcos CB: Yeray, Unai Nunez, Paredes, Unai Garcia, Josu Romero* LB: Munoz, Imanol DM: Vencedor, Moncayola, Guillamon CM: Sancet, Ruiz de Galarreta, Vesga, Unai Gomez RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano LW: Berenguer, Adu Ares ST: Inaki Williams, Guruzeta * - Newgen Paredes and Berenguer are still attracting interest from Saudi Arabia, hopefully those come to nothing. Some nice youngsters came through: Josu Romero (DC): Originally had fickle personality but that has changed to fairly ambitious now. Already at a good level and made a few appearances towards the end of the season. Inigo Albisu (DR/AMR): Rated as having the highest potential. Seems to have lots of room to grow into a very attacking FB/WB. Hugo Palacios (GK): Looks quite handy, except for the complete lack of composure.

Nah.

Lyon have fallen on hard times, only avoiding relegation in a play off last season (after winning on the final day to climb into a playoff position). I attended the interview... ...and then rejected the job offer. I did manage to get another training upgrade out of the board though! In most cases, Lyon would be an excellent offer, especially with the chance to bring through world class talents. However, they were never part of the Holy Roman Empire, nor ruled by a Habsburg king.

Servette Swiss Super League 2027-28 October 2027 Fixtures With the long international break over, we were thrust into action in October with 3 games in a week in the league. Vaduz were swept away but Young Boys defeated us, becoming the first team to beat us at home this season, continuing their perfect start in the process. We recovered to see off our next 3 opponents without conceding a single goal. An easy Leman derby victory sees us through in the cup. Just the one CL game this month, and Man City outclassed us as expected. We did well to keep the score down though. Tickets in Geneva are expensive. League table Young Boys hit a wretched run of form after beating us and have suddenly fallen away. Continuing to slide in the CL. We have Leipzig away and Rennes at home next month. A best goal award for Bobb rounded off the month.

All done! I haven't criticised a player in ages, possibly since I was last at Solin. Looks like the adaptability and working with youngsters still don't work properly, unfortunately. Being fluent in 9 languages with only 2 adaptability looks pretty amusing though.

Servette Swiss Super League 2027-28 September 2027 Fixtures Another perfect month in the league, despite every game being away. A superb win at Basel was followed by late drama in Zurich as Archer struck in injury time before Sion were easily brushed aside. No issues whatsoever in the cup as a rotated team struck 5. An excellent start to the league stage as we secured a thumping victory in Athens but couldn't repeat the trick in Rome. We played well but Lazio did just enough to see us off. League table We remain top but Young Boys' perfect start continues. Our first game against them has been postponed a couple of times too. The win in Athens briefly sent us 2nd in the CL league stage. I imagine that's the highest position we will get to this season.

Weird one, the cup final happened a while ago! The training facilities are now considered 'great'.

Servette Swiss Super League 2027-28 July & August 2027 Transfers I didn't have any plans to conduct more transfer business until Basel offered us big money for Antunes. Good squad player who played a fair amount but I couldn't turn that much down. Payen eventually left for Schalke while Severin left around the time our window closed. He was 3rd/4th choice at CB anyway and wanted to play more. Letting him go also means we can open up another non-Swiss spot in our squad for the future. Fixtures Near perfect start in the league. A couple of late goals saw us ease past Lausanne before Vaduz held us to a draw in a chaotic game. We followed it up with a perfect August as Archer and Novotny got their first league hattricks. Novotny also scored a treble in the cup right before that as we flew past Langenthal. League table Early days but we have started brilliantly. Young Boys are the only ones with a perfect record though. CL fixtures are out and it was always going to be tough. AEK and Bodo/Glimt are obviously going to be our best targets to get some points on board and then we need to do whatever we can to get something from our other home games if we are to progress further.

Servette Swiss Super League 2027-28 Preseason Squad Transfers (Part 1) | Transfers (Part 2) Like last season, we got some excellent deals on free transfers again. Iago comes in to compete with Mazikou at left back, Evjen came in to strengthen our midfield while Archer was initially signed to replace Bedia in the starting XI. Then Brentford triggered Delap's release clause, giving us €9.5m in pure profit for a player who looked decent but didn't exactly set things on fire before missing the season run in anyway. 18 year old Czech U21 international Novotny comes in to replace him for a club record fee, almost doubling our previous record. He also has a €12.5m release clause for the next two years so I doubt we will keep him around for long but boy, does he look good. Jancic has gone straight into our U21 side for the moment but with interest in Payen from other Swiss clubs, he might well be getting promoted soon. Normally, I would like keeping homegrown players but he's unambitious and has pretty low determination, resulting in him not exactly improving much. Preseason Usual preseason. Season preview Nothing crazy here. The board want us to finish ahead of one of Young Boys/Basel again while the media think we would just miss out on a top 2 finish. The end of season report indicated a big rise in fair weather fans. Maybe that is the category suddenly buying tickets.

Servette Swiss Super League 2026-27 May 2027 Cup final A week after the league season concluded, we were back in action in the Swiss Cup final. With the likes of Timothe Cognat and Fabrizio Caligara returning from injury, we saved our best performance for the last, turning on the style to demolish Young Boys. It did take a while as they scored an equaliser against the run of play, only for substitute Antunes to kill off our opponents. I guess this award is an end of the season one instead of a end of the year thing? Career progress Season | Team | Country | Division | Position | Cup | Continental Comp. | Notes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023-24 | NK Solin | Croatia | Prva NL | 5th | N.A | N.A | Nat. C and B licenses gained 2024-25 | NK Solin | Croatia | Prva NL | 1st | R1 | N.A | Promoted; Nat. A and Cont. C licenses gained 2025-26 | NK Solin | Croatia | Hrvatska NL | 4th* | QF | N.A | Cont. B license gained; resigned after 17 games -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2025-26 | Servette | Switzerland | Super League | 4th | Winners | EL Knockout Rnd | Joined after 18 games 2026-27 | Servette | Switzerland | Super League | 1st | Winners | EL Quarter Final | Double winners; Cont. A license gained

Servette Swiss Super League 2026-27 May 2027 Fixtures So, here's how it went down: Luzern 0-0 Zurich Servette 3-0 Winterthur Servette 0-1 Young Boys (game in hand) Winterthur 2-1 Luzern Servette 0-2 Basel 76 points to 73. Then we went to Zurich and won, a game where we could easily have lost as well but we came through, with 17 yr old Rafael Saenz scoring his first goal for the club. This put us 6 clear of Luzern with a healthy GD advantage and a day later, they lost 4-2 at home to YB, therefore mathematically confirming our title! The final game saw a somewhat rotated team draw at home to Luzern, despite leading twice. League table A fantastic season sees us win the title at least a year before I anticipated. Luzern completely collapsed and even missed out on a CL qualifying round spot. Our first win in a long, long while!