The Welsh Barcelona: Carmarthen Town

[cerud]

Brilliant in the Champions League and beating Arsenal to do it is even better

[JackJCFC]

Thanks guys, i was very happy to beat Arsenal, afterwards i realised that they'd won the Premier league for the last 8 years which would explain why they were so strong!

[JackJCFC]

Super Cup

Juventus (N): 1-0. We dominated the game for pretty much the whole 90 minutes but we had to wait until the 82^nd minute to score. Our first Super Cup win in 3 attempts.

[JackJCFC]

Wales

Euro Qualifiers
Squad News: We were hit with injuries to LB Williams, CB Watkins and Midfielders Breeze and Thompson meaning I had to change my squad at the last minute. Windsor, Humphries, Bowen and Jenkins were called up instead. RB Richards was injured during national duty and I wasn’t allowed to call up a new player.

Faroe Islands (H) Ranked 208th: 11-0. Richards got a hat-trick in the first half but he was outdone by 5 goals from Blain with 4 of them coming in the 2^nd half, Other scorers included Jones and Ellis. Overall a great start for us, nice to build up a bit of goal difference.

Table

We’re currently ranked 100^th in the world.

[JackJCFC]

Wales

Euro Qualifiers
Squad News: LB Troy, CB Watkins and Breeze were all still out as was striker Peter Richards. The team remained pretty much the same except young forward Robert Pugh replaced Richards. Thompson and Williams who were previously injury returned to the squad although they were not match fit.

Cyprus (A) Ranked 68th: 2-0. We had a terrible start, conceding straight away. A defensive error from Newman allowed them to make it 2-0 before half time. We did attack more in the second half but our finishing was really poor, hitting the target only once.

Hungary (H) Ranked 75th: 5-0. Blain and Harrington both scored to give us a good lead early on. Hungary were strong for the rest of the first half but we held them out. Blain then scored 3 goals in the first 15 minutes to put us 5-0 up as we ended the game dominantly.

Table

Its a shame we couldn't at least get a point against Cyprus but the result against Hungary put us back into 2nd place. Our next games will be Russia and Romania which will be tough and could prove decisive later on.
We are currently ranked 90^th in the world.

[deltablue]

Hope you manage to get something in your next qualifiers.

[JackJCFC]

Group Stage

Werder Bremen (A): 3-3. An even game but poor performance from us. Elliot put us 2 goals ahead early on with Bremen getting one back straight away. Blain then made it 3-1 just before half time. With just over 10 minutes left they made it 3-2 then in injury time I had a man sent off and they got a penalty. They missed the penalty but scored the rebound, very annoyed to have let that lead slip.

Fenerbahce (H): 8-0. The game was over in 25 minutes as we were 6-0 up thanks to goals from Morales, Blain, Robertson and a hat trick from Elliot. Elliot then got his 4^th just before I subbed him in the second half, with Morales later adding his 2^nd goal of the game.

Real Madrid (H): 3-4. Every shot Madrid had in the first half went in and we were 3-0 down after 30 minutes. Elliot got one back before half time before he and Blain made it 3-3 after half time. Madrid then took the lead again on the 69^th minute and we looked to have equalised 10 minutes later only for Elliot to have his goal ruled offside.

Another poor start to qualifying, we’re conceding far too many goals that we should be.

Table

[cerud]

Looks like everyone is giving up goals, not just you. I wouldn't be too worried.

[Scarman]

Fantastic Champions League win last season, great work to finally get the trophy!

[JackJCFC]

Wales

Friendlies
Squad News: Watkins and Richards return to the side. Striker Daniel James, on loan at Neath, was also called up with the chances of making his Wales debut.

Israel (A) Ranked 50th: 1-0. We conceded early on but we were unlucky not to score, we dominated the game but our strikers just weren’t at their best.

El Salvador (H) Ranked 91st: 6-3. We started well with Harrington putting us ahead. However, we then conceded twice just before half time and again just after to go 3-1 down. We responded well with Jones and Blain making it 3-3 as we began to dominate the game. Harrington and Jones then got a 2^nd goal each to make it 5-3 before Tom Jones added a 6^th at the end.

We are currently ranked 83rd in the world.

Yearly Overview

We’ve had a decent year this year, getting some good wins and scoring a lot of goals. This has led to a great start to Euro qualification and an increase in the rankings. Hopefully we can carry it on next year.

Results

[JackJCFC]

Group Stage

Real Madrid (A): 0-2. Blain gave us an early lead as we dominated the first half. It was only a MOTM performance from their keeper which kept the score at 1-0 at half time. We continued to pepper their goal with shots but they stood firm, offering little in attack themselves. We eventually got a 2^nd at the very end through sub Akesson.

Werder Bremen (H): 3-1. Elliot gave us the lead after 20 seconds but Bremen pulled it back shortly after. We went 2-1 up before half time through a Petrovic goal from a corner. Our third goal was scored after 57 minutes by Ferreras, again from a corner.

Fenerbahce (A): 0-2. Goals from Elliot either side of half time were enough for the win in a match that was a lot tougher than last time. However, it was enough to ensure we topped the group.

Table

[JackJCFC]

Club World Cup

Semi-Final
Al-Ahly (N): 1-0. Should have scored a lot more with our dominance but in the end a second half goal from Clim was enough to make the final

Final
River (N): 1-2. We conceded 2 early goals and never recovered. Our finishing was poor and we didn’t have Elliot to save us with the goal as he was injured in the last match. We had a man sent off with 5 minutes left and scored just after but it wasn’t enough.

[AK22]

Two European trophies for a Welsh club! Amazing stuff!

[deltablue]

Good start to your defence.

[JackJCFC]

Two European trophies for a Welsh club! Amazing stuff!

Technically 3 as we won the Euro Cup back in 2028 2 on the trot isnt bad though.

[JackJCFC]

Wales

4 Nations
Squad News: CB’s Watkins and Ellis were injured, Humphries and Walsh the replacements. Peter Richards was also called back in places of James up front. Hicks pulled out injured, in his place I called up uncapped Kyle Rees.

Scotland (N): Ranked 52nd: 0-1. It was an even match but unfortunately we conceded just before half time and weren’t able to score ourselves.

[JackJCFC]

First Knockout Round

Sporting (A): 0-0. We were 2^nd best for most of the game although we did have our chances. Disappointed no to have got an away goal.

Sporting (H): 1-0 ET. We dominated the game but couldn’t find the back of the net in the 90 minutes. This left us with the risk of needing 2 goals in extra time if Sporting scored, however, it was Elliot who managed to get the goal to send us through.

[cerud]

Great job getting Wales into the Club World Cup

[SRL88]

Nice job getting past Sporting.

[deltablue]

It was close but well done with Sporting.

[Scarman]

Nice work against Sporting, hopefully you can get a run to the final again

[JackJCFC]

Wales

Euro Qualifiers
Squad News: Ellis Returns to the squad, as does Hicks, Davies and striker James.

Romania (A): Ranked 22nd: 1-0. We were the better team but Romania nicked it with a goal just after half time which is disapointing.

Table

We're currently ranked 78th in the World.

[JackJCFC]

Quarter Final

Man City (H): 2-2. We were the best team for most of the game but Man City were quality infront of goal. We took the lead after 17 minutes but City got one back not long after. After a good spell in the 2^nd half, Boban put us back ahead with a long ranger but again City came back and got a goal which is disappointing because away goals could prove vital.

Man City (A): 2-2 ET. 1-2 Pens. We had a bad first half but our keeper made some great saves to keep it at 0-0. In the 2^nd half Elliot and Paolacci both scored to put us 2 up and we looked to be heading for a win until the 79^th minute when City pulled one back, they then got a 2^nd on the 91^st to make go to extra time. After an uneventful extra time the game went to pens which saw it finish 2-1, with our keeper saving 3 penalties.

[JackJCFC]

Semi Final

Marseille (A): 0-2. It was a tight game but a good win for us. Elliot scored early on which gave us something to defend. Marseille did have their chances but our defence stood strong and Clim came off the bench late on to score a 2nd.


Marseille (H): 2-1. Robertson and Akesson both scored in the first 25 minutes to give us a strong lead, Marseille replied with a goal of their own before half time but it wasn’t enough to stop us getting to the final in a pretty comfortable match.

[cerud]

Nice job in making the final of the CL!

[JackJCFC]

Final

Barcelona (N): 3-1. Petrovic put us ahead from a corner after 4 minutes but Barca got one back 10 minutes after from a corner aswell. Elliot scored a record 15^th champions league goal just before half time to put us back ahead whilst Morales got a 3^rd just after half time, giving us a buffer incase we conceded. Fortunatly our defence was solid for the rest of the match, allowing us to win our second consecutive CL.

[JackJCFC]

Wales

4 Nations
Squad News: The squad was the same as last time except Blain and Jones were excluded as the matches took part just days before the CL final. In their place, Trucker and Breeze were called up.

Ireland (N): Ranked 85^th: 1-1. Williams got sent off after 2 minutes which made the match much harder, we conceded in the first half but Richards came off the bench in the 2^nd to get a goal for the draw.

N.Ireland (N) Ranked 92nd: 1-2. We conceded early on in both the first and second half despite being the better side. We got one back late on, both teams went down to 10 men soon after but it was too late for us to make a difference. This meant that we came joint bottom with Ireland.

We are currently ranked 86th in the world.

[JackJCFC]

Wales


Euro Qualification
Squad News: The squad was the same as before as I didn’t realise I wouldn’t have a chance to change it after the CL final. So no Blain or Jones.

Russia (A) Ranked 5th: 3-1. We never stood much chance, especially with 2 of our best players not in the squad.

Faroe Islands (A) Ranked 208^th: 1-2. We were so poor in this and lucky to win. We went 1-0 down after 10 minutes, with Humphreys getting us back in it just before half time. We had chance after chance in the second half but Richards in particular couldn’t hit the target. Fortunately Bowen scored with 5 minutes left to get us a much needed 3 points.

Table

We are currently ranked 86th in the world.

[Scarman]

Congrats on another Champions League win!

[deltablue]

Great, it's tough retaining the CL.

[JackJCFC]

Carmarthen 2038/39
League



Predicted: 1st
Finished: 1st


We had a 22 points lead at the 22 game split having gone unbeaten. Bangor City were in 2^nd with TNS just behind. Surprisingly Neath were in a relegation battle when the league split.

We won the league easily after 25 games and lost to Port Talbot after that. Bangor City finished 2^nd and took the CL place with TNS taking the bonus 3^rd place. Bridgend, Bala and Port Talbot go into the Euro cup.

League Table


Cups

Welsh Cup

Loosemores Cup

Europe

We made it through the group stages once more and made a tough time of getting to the final, relying on extra time twice to get through. We faced Barcelona in the final where we won 3-1.

Dream Team

Transfers



Emil Clim ST: 23 year old signed for £2.3million, a great signing who got 31 goals in 40 games, I expect he’ll take over from Elliot in a few years when he declines.

Jakub Kosic CM CAM: expensive at £4.2million but an international player. He looked very good when I signed him but he failed to impress me, getting just 1 goal and 4 assists. Ill give him another year.

Franco Ancona GK: 20 year old signed for £5million, part future fees. Has the potential to be a great player and done well when he played domestically.

Joao Viera CB: 23 year old who plays for Portugal, was my 3^rd choice CB this season but he stepped him with great performances in the CL and when needed.

Brett Breeze CM: Young Welsh midfielder who has decent potential, loaned him out to Bangor where he done alright.

Dylan Poirier RB: Loaned to me by parent club Lyon, he was by far my best right back and put in some great performances, especially in Europe. I would try to buy him but his high wages might stop me.

Transfers.


Finances

Money in the bank is gradually decreasing year on year, although we did have a net spend of around £9million on transfers this season. Our wage bill is now £20million per year too.

Finances


Wales

Ton Pentre went out of the Champions league 3^rd qualifying round to Steaua. They then went out of the Euro Cup 4^th round to Fiorentina. It’s a shame they couldn’t make the CL group stage, the money would have been amazing.

Llanelli went out the Champions league Champions playoff to Shakhtar and lost in the Euro Cup 4^th Q round to Metalist.


Porthmadog lost in the 4^th Q round of the Euro cup to Sunderland.

Neath lost 2-1 in the 3rd Q round of the Euro Cup to Vaduz.

Bridgend lost in the 2nd Q round of the Euro Cup.

The WPL dropped 3 places to 19^th in Europe. Carmarthen stay ranked 2^nd place in Europe. Wales keep the same qualification places, meaning no group stage spot once again.

Welsh young player of the year: Rhys Turner (Neath)

Welsh footballer of the year:Colin Blain (Carmarthen)

WPL Player of the year:Grant Elliot (Carmarthen)

WPL Young Player of the year: Jan Gerrits (Carmarthen)

Manager of the year: Nathan Shoemark (Port Talbot)

Team of the year

[Kanin]

It's a shame the Welsh premier is not as prestigious as it should be considering you've had consistent European success for 20(?) seasons. Surely that kind of thing would bring investors to the league? Are you still only National reputation also? It's just a shame that no other Welsh teams can progress due to the shockingly low amount of money in the league. One of my favourite career updates and would have loved to have seen this league transformed into something special.

[B.W.G]

Excellent as always,hopefully the other teams can start putting in better performances in the near future.

[JackJCFC]

It's a shame the Welsh premier is not as prestigious as it should be considering you've had consistent European success for 20(?) seasons. Surely that kind of thing would bring investors to the league? Are you still only National reputation also? It's just a shame that no other Welsh teams can progress due to the shockingly low amount of money in the league. One of my favourite career updates and would have loved to have seen this league transformed into something special.

Yeah i'm surprised the league has dropped about 7 places in the 2 years i've won the champions league. My rep has gone up to continental after winning it for a second time. As soon as we get an automatic group spot i can see teams doing better as the money spreads around aslong as i keep winning. Just need to keep going until that happens as i can't see them doing anything themselves as they are awful in europe.

[cerud]

Not sure how the dynamic league thing works yet. Would be interesting to find out.

[JackJCFC]

Not sure how the dynamic league thing works yet. Would be interesting to find out.

It would certainly help to know, you'd think having the Champions League winners from the last 2 years would boost the rep of the league but clearly not!

[deltablue]

I know it's meant to be a long term thing and covering multiple teams but you'd expect a bit of increase from that.

[JackJCFC]

Super Cup

Anderlecht (N) 4-1: An easy win for us in this, Bonimeier got a hat-trick which included a penalty whilst Morales also got on the scoresheet.

[JackJCFC]

Wales


Euro Qualification
Squad News: Blain and Jones came back into the squad and we were at full strength, with Ellis just returning from injury.

Cyrpus (H) Ranked 75th: 3-2. Cyprus took the lead at the end of a close first half, with Richards going off injured early on. Harrington got 2 goals soon after half time, with Cyprus making it 2-2 straight away. It looked to be heading for a draw until Blain got a 3^rd with 12 minutes left.

Cable replaces the injured Richards.

Romania (H) Ranked 20th: 2-2. We should have won this with the amount of chances we had. Blain put us ahead early on but Romania got 2 back to go in the lead before half time. We squandered chance after chance until Hancock got a goal back for us.

Romania have 2 easy last games so I can’t see them not qualifying.

Table

We are currently ranked 94^th in the world.

[JackJCFC]

Wales


Euro Qualification

Squad News: Injuries meant that Bowen and uncapped Llanelli midfielder Andrews were called up. Andrews then broke his leg in training and was replaced by Lucas from Carmarthen. West Ham striker Richards also returned. Newman got injured just after the squad was confirmed and was replaced by Lee Jenkins.

Hungary (A) Ranked 89th: 2-1. We dominated the early stages with Harrington putting us ahead. As the game went on Hungary got into it, scoring on the 68^th and 90^th minute to end our hope of qualifying.

Russia (H) Ranked 3rd: 0-0. It was a tight game with both sides having good chances but we just about managed to hold on.

In the end we finished 3^rd in the group which is a good accomplishment for Wales, we just weren’t consistent enough to come 2^nd. Hopefully we can go one further in the WC qualifiers.

Table

We are currently ranked 92nd in the world.

[SRL88]

Finally an update!!! Shame on just missing out on qualification, but still a cracking campaign.

[deltablue]

Hopefully you can improve the ranking a bit.

[cerud]

Tough beat on the qualification. So close!

[withnail316]

Just caught up on this: amazing inspiration for my Haverfordwest save. Congrats the Champions League trophies.... fantastic work!

[withnail316]

You finished with this then Jack now you've won the big one? Not that I'd blame you, just wondered...

[JackJCFC]

You finished with this then Jack now you've won the big one? Not that I'd blame you, just wondered...

Yeah i've run out of steam with this one now having won it twice in a row. Can't really get into FM at the moment so theres no point continuing with a save like this.

[cerud]

Fair enough. Hope to see you with a new career soon.