Tomtuck's First FM Career Adventure

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - November 2019 - Manchester City

Premier League





Lord knows what happened at the tart of the month against Watford. Well I do actually, I made changes and they didn't work. We were awful, but I take responibility. We bounced back after that though, with Jason Malpass in stunning form. The best performance of the month was at Chelsea, where Malpass displayed the exact reason we signed him - in tight games he comes up with the goods. He was the difference against Everton aswell, with a wonderful hattrick.

Our next game is a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal.

[tomtuck01]

November 2019 Continued

Champions League





Two good results have kpet our noses infront at the top of our group heading into the final game. As with in the league, Malpass has picked up his performances in the Champions League aswell. He was outstanding in Eindhoven, and despite not scoring in Port gave a good performance. Long may it continue.

Our last group game is at home to Neuchatel Xamax, and we finishing top of the group if we equal Porto's result in Eindhoven.

[tomtuck01]

The man is starting to pay back his fee.

[buzz2k7]

How Many hatricks is that now for malpass he is in incredible form!

[SRL88]

Tom, check my thread and see if the screenshots are working.

If not, be warned because I have had to delete mine for 'exceeding my limit' on Imageshack. Going to have to go through from P11 onwards and upload again on my thread I think.

[tomtuck01]

Tom, check my thread and see if the screenshots are working.

If not, be warned because I have had to delete mine for 'exceeding my limit' on Imageshack. Going to have to go through from P11 onwards and upload again on my thread I think.

Just do what I've done and create another accunt with a different email address. I have one with my Sky email account and one with a yahoo account only made for the purpose of Imageshack.

[tomtuck01]

How Many hatricks is that now for malpass he is in incredible form!

He's got four so far.

He's overall form is indeed great - he's got 12 in his last seven!

[SRL88]

Malpass .

[tomtuck01]

Malpass .

Hard a horrifically slow start - only two goals in his firt eight games. Since though then he has exploed and now has 22 in 23.

[hursty2]

Just do what I've done and create another accunt with a different email address. I have one with my Sky email account and one with a yahoo account only made for the purpose of Imageshack.

Or use photobucket and get unlimited uploads!

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - December 2019 - Manchester City

Premier League





Well the month started poorly with defeat againt title rivals Arsenal, but we bounced back from that with five wins out of five and scoring alot of goals in the process. The Arenal game we dominated possession wie, but didn't create enough. Our goal was a mere consolation late on. The wins at home to Ipswich and then at West Ham were very comfortable, and from then on we exploded. The Hull result could have been by even more, but against Leicester we were superb, and full deserved our 7-0 win. I couldn't believ we scored seven and Jason Malpass didn't get one of them! The month finished with another four goals at home to Aston Villa, usual super sub Martin Trgovcevic started and got a hattrick to stake his claim for a more regular spot in the side.

Or next league game is away againt Newcale on new years day.

League Cup - Quarter Final



A much changed team put in a good performance, and a comfortable 2-0 win saw us through to the semi finals. We face Arsenal in the semi, with the other being between Norwich and West Ham.

[tomtuck01]

December 2019 Continued

Champions League





A fairly simple win at home to the Swiss side in our final group game ensured we topped the group by a point. Our reward in the firt knockout round draw for doing so? AC Milan. Just great.

[B.W.G]

Very good season so far,bet the fans love the entertainment you provide them.

[tomtuck01]

Very good season so far,bet the fans love the entertainment you provide them.

Cheers.

I wish I knew how the fans felt about our football, but in the board condifence updates they're still more concerned about the sale of Edinson Cavani!

[tomtuck01]

Second month in a row for him, though he dropped off this month - he only managed six in six!



Excellent stuff from the guys.

[hursty2]

First time I've ever seen a team of the year formation like that.

[deltablue]

Malpass has been amazing.

[tomtuck01]

First time I've ever seen a team of the year formation like that.

They adapted to accommodate my players.

Malpass has been amazing.

Couldn't have asked for more from him. Playing as the lone striker or at AMR, he's been pretty superb.

[FMtillidie]

going well mate.

[SRL88]

Going along very well so far.

[tomtuck01]

going well mate.

Going along very well so far.

Thanks alot chaps.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - January 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





A near pefect month, with the draw at home to West Brom the only blot on the copy book. We opened the month on New Years Day with a good win at Newcatle, before West Brom came to the Etihad and performed well and got a deserved point. After that we got a hard earned win at Fulham, before finishing the mnth by totally outplaying Liverpool.

Our lead at the top now stands at six points, and our next game is a trickly one - away to Tottenham.

FA Cup - 3rd Round



The League 2 side gave us quite a scare, and it took some of my big name players to come off the bench to win the game for us. In the end though getting through to the next round is the main thing, and we managed that.

We face Middlesbrough in the 4th round.

[tomtuck01]

January 2020 Continued

League Cup - Semi Final



We are into a second League Cup Final in a row, and for me personally it is a sixth final in seven seasons. We did our best not to make it though, letting a 2-0 lead slip in the home leg before grabbing a stoppage time winner, and then getting battered in the final minutes of the second leg. We saw the barrage of pressure out though to see us through 4-3 on aggregate.

We face West Ham in the final.

Transfer Activity

There was a fair bit of transfer activity through January. We signed four players, and let one, Georges Roy, go out on loan to Spartak Moscow for six months.

Here are the four we signed;

Anthony Owusu
He has arrived from Hertha Berlin for £1.4million, and has three and half star potential. He has some decent stats already, and with good training an tutoring he could turn into a very solid player.

Uwe Strobl
A £1.5million signing from Leverkusen, he could be a good holidng midfielder in the future. His determination can only help him with his development.

Junior Cearense
This young lad excites me. He's set the club back just £3.3million and has four star potential! Unfortunately he hasn't been granted a work permit and in any case he can't play for anyone else until July 2020. Atleast that means he can stay at the club and get tutored from someone.

Kyle Naughton
Another of my old boys from Swansea, he has been brought in as cover at the fullback positions after a couple of my other fullbacks picked up knocks. He's cost a loan fee of £350,000, and I can sign him at the end of the season for £1.6million. Despite his age, I probably will take up the option on him, as Gael Clichy will be 35 by the start of next season.

Time to get on with the rest of the season now!

[cerud]

Cearense is a good prospect pick for the future. Hope his physicals improve some, but he's young and has time.

[tomtuck01]

Cearense is a good prospect pick for the future. Hope his physicals improve some, but he's young and has time.

Exactly my thinking - he's got a long time yet.

[tomtuck01]

Announcement

On Thursday I am heading off on holiday for two weeks, so there will be no further updates until May 25th at the earliest. I may get an update posted tomorrow, though given the fact I have a few things to do, such as packing, etc, this is highly unlikely.

I hope you all don't miss my updates to much and end up feeling suicidal waiting for me to return.

Tom.

[SRL88]

Im pretty positive that we wont .

[mariogriffiths]

Oh no!!!!!

[cswalk08]

Another great season so far. Enjoy your Holiday I'll try to stay away from sharp objects while you're gone.

[deltablue]

See you in a couple of weeks.

[chile_paul]

I think there's an option on one of the FM menu's which allows you to Go on Holiday - I'm sure it won't do any harm whilst your away

[SRL88]

I think there's an option on one of the FM menu's which allows you to Go on Holiday - I'm sure it won't do any harm whilst your away

Would be interesting if he did click that option to see where he would be in the game when he gets back .

[tomtuck01]

Well I'm back from my holibobs. I'm very brown, and frankly 14 nights of getting drunk with my missus and all our friends has left me knackered.

There should be an update over the weekend, but I'm not making any promises.

[Reedy_1988]

Look forward to your updates, hope you had a great holiday!!

[tomtuck01]

Look forward to your updates, hope you had a great holiday!!

I did thanks, it was great!

And don't worry, the updates should be coming thick and fast again soon enough.

[cerud]

Great season so far! Interesting to see Bromley in League 2.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - February 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





A good month for us, with three wins from four extending our lead at the top of the table to seven points. We opened up with a 0-0 draw at Spurs; a poor game, but a point there is always pretty decent. After that though we won three from three, all rather comfortably. The best came at Swansea, although the 2-1 scoreline doesn't sugget so.

Next up in the league is an way trip to Watford, followed by the Manchester derby.

FA Cup - 4th and 5th Rounds



Two decent perfromances in the cup have seen us through to the quarter finals, where we will face Crystal Palace of the Championship at the Etihad. Another chance at the trophy is looking distinctly possible.

[tomtuck01]

February 2020 Continued

Champions League 1st Knockout Round - 1st Leg



Not a great performance in truth. We took the lead early on, but then we went in to our shell and that let them come back into it. We had our chances, but they deservedly got the win. Still, going into the second leg at the Etihad we have an away goal, and a 1-0 win would be enough.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - 2019/20 - Manchester City

League Cup Final

How We Got To The Final



Considering we were drawn at home in every round, (even in the semi final we played at home in the first leg), it wasn't the toughest of runs to the final. Arsenal of course gave us the toughest test, and I went away from rotating the side and instead went all out to win with a very strong side in both legs. We just about managed it, though Arsenal played very well.

The Final
vs.West Ham United



A second League Cup in a row is secured! A very good performance, and Jason Malpass did what he was bought to do - score goals in the big games. A mention for Joe Hart aswell, who saved a penalty to keep us 1-0 infront just before the half hour mark.

For me personally, it is a sixth League Cup triumph!

[tomtuck01]

A milestone reached at the Etihad;

[deltablue]

Good few updates.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - March 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





Apart from the draw at the start of the month against Watford, it was a terrific month for us. That draw saw Arsenal cut the gap at the top of the league to just five points, and that is how it has remained as we both won our other three games this month. The victory over United was fully deserved, and against Wolves we did excellently to come from behind. We finihed the month off with a terrific win againt Chelsea.

Our next game in the league is a tricky looking one away to Everton.

FA Cup - Quarter Final



A professional performance is probably the best way to describe this. The side was changed around a little, and it maybe could have been more than 2-0 but for poor finishing.

We face rivals Manchester United in the semi final.

[tomtuck01]

March 2020 Continued

League Cup - Final



A second League Cup in a row secured with an excellent performance against fellow Premier League side West Ham. Jason Malpass repaid a bit of his huge tranfer fee with two goals. Hopefully there will be more to come in other finals.

Champions League 1st Knockout Round - 2nd Leg



Excellent performance to take the tie 4-2 on aggregate. As with the League Cup final, Jason Malpass really stepped up when it counted. Next up in the quarter finals is Barcelona, with the first leg at the Etihad.

[Purefun]

How many did he score? (Malpass that is)

[B.W.G]

Doing brilliantly with City,Malpass is absolutely sensational

[cerud]

Malpass seems to be a constant name in every match

[tomtuck01]

How many did he score? (Malpass that is)

So far this season he's got smething like 33 in 38 appearances. He may not add to that though as he has just picked up an injury ruling him out for five weeks. If I'm lucky he'll be back for the last couple of league games.

Doing brilliantly with City,Malpass is absolutely sensational

Malpass seems to be a constant name in every match

It's what you get for £70million!

[deltablue]

Not too bad for that money.

[tomtuck01]

An Apology

Sorry for the lack of updates in the last few days since the tart of the week. I have been pretty busy with work and what not since getting back from my holiday a week ago.

I have a fair bit on for the start of the weekend, but things (my updates) should be back to normal from Sunday/the start of next week.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - April 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





In terms of results, not a great month, but with three games to go and a game in hand on Arsenal, we know that two wins from those three against Hull (A), Leicester (H), and Aston Villa (A), will see us lift the title.

Everton gave us an excellent game, letting us dominate the possession, but restricting the chances we created; they thoroughly deserved the draw. To make matters wore Jason Malpass picked up an injury that would rule him out for 4-5 weeks. At home to Arsenal we were well worth the win, but espite taking a lead early in the second half we couldn't add to it, and a rare lapse from Kyle Walker gifted them an equalier in the 94th minute. Against Ipswich we simply couldn't find the net - the injury picked up by Jason Malpass back in the Everton was starting to harm us now. We finished the month on a high, clearly buoyed by the fact that Arsenal suffered a shock 3-0 defeat at Fulham two days earlier, thus handing us back the title initiative. West Ham were a woeful as we were excellent, and it should have probably been more.

Our three remaining games should result in three wins, whereas Arsenal have got two London derbies - Tottenham (A), and QPR (H). We should see it out from here.

FA Cup - Semi Final



A real enthralling encounter to say the least. It went one way and then the other, before captain fantastic Vincent Kompany roe in the box head home in the winner, giving us a 3-2 victory after extra time. A great game to be a part of.

In the final e face Chelea, who saw off Newcastle 2-1 in the other semi final.

[tomtuck01]

April 2020 Continued

Champions League - Quarter Final 1st And 2nd Leg



After two incredibly close games wer were eliminated from the Champions League 2-1 on aggregate.

The home leg was all us, but after taking the lead early we conceded from a stunning free kick to make the game 1-1. An away goal conceded would make the second leg tougher, and indeed it proved to be. We did also miss Jasn Malpass, injured againt Everton after the first leg, but that is no excue with the firepower we have. We had enough of the game, but didn't create enough, and when Lionel Messi scored with just 25 minutes to go, that was us done.

Next season we must do better.

[cerud]

Great in the league but tough in the CL. Too bad you weren't able to take advantage of your dominance at home. Hate it when that happens.

[deltablue]

Comfortable path to the title.

[SRL88]

Chance of a domestic treble there. Good luck .

[tomtuck01]

Great in the league but tough in the CL. Too bad you weren't able to take advantage of your dominance at home. Hate it when that happens.

It's just ne of thoe things I suppose. Next year we'll be back again!

Comfortable path to the title.

Indeed it should be. I am slightly concerned though as we've been a bit poor infront of goal recently.

Chance of a domestic treble there. Good luck .

For a second season in a row.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - 2019/20 - Manchester City

FA Cup Final

How We Got To The Final



Some solid if not spectacular performances along the way. The semi final against United was an epic encounter, and probably one of the best games I've been involved in on Football Manager. Captain marvel Vincent Kompany won it in extra time.

The Final
vs.Chelsea



We weren't remotely at our best, but we got our hands on the trophy for a second season in a row, and for also for a second season in a row completed a domestic treble. Jason Malpass was only fit enough for the bench, and he came on late on for a cameo appearance, but by then the job was done. They may have had more attemps, but most of them were from long range, whereas we created chances narer their goal, and took two of them, with old reliable Sergio Aguero notching just before the break, and Neymar just after to give us a 2-0 win.

Surely we can't do the domestic treble for the third season in a row next term?

[tomtuck01]

What a great message.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - May 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





Well we wrapped up the title with ease, beating Hull 3-0 and Leicester 2-0 to ensure the trophy was ours. The season ended rather boringly, with a drab 0-0 draw at Villa, though I reckon we still ha a hangover after the FA Cup win!

FA Cup - Final



A second FA Cup vicotry in a row, and a second domestic treble in a row completed. The win was comfortable enough, though we should be performing better than what we did. We merely too our chance when the came.

[cerud]

Congrats on a well fought match against Chelsea! With all the cup's you have won, you may need to think about another star above the logo

[tomtuck01]

After our excellent season, the boys lifted an array of individual awards this term;



Great for him to win this - the £70million fee is looking like money well spent.



Delighted for Aguero to be honest. He was in and out of the side at times, and was switched between AML, AMR, and STC, but performed well wherever he was asked to play.



Superb debut season from the young Argentinian. He's not long since turned 24 and years ahead of him.



A second Golden Glove in a row for Joe Hart. He was immense, and a masive reason as to why we had such an excellent defenive record once again.

[tomtuck01]

After such a good season it wasn't at all a surprise that we had so many players in the PFA Team Of The Year.



Just a little something for me - the third time I have won, the first with City.

[tomtuck01]

Congrats on a well fought match against Chelsea! With all the cup's you have won, you may need to think about another star above the logo

Haha I may have to have a word with the board!

[B.W.G]

Congrats on a excellent season with City

[tomtuck01]

Congrats on a excellent season with City

Thanks alot dude.

In a way I'm kind of glad we didn't do better and win the European Cup - if we had have done I would have very little, apart from the pleasure of managing Jason Malpass, to stay for.

[TheGreatTraveler]

Another Great season for you.

[tomtuck01]

Another Great season for you.

Ta very much. Still striving to lift me a second European Cup though!

[Purefun]

Shame for the CL, the rest was good though.

[Reedy_1988]

Truly dominated domestically!, expecting to bring in many players to help you win the CL?

[deltablue]

Be really rubbish and somehow you'll squeak through. Worked for Chelsea.

[tomtuck01]

Shame for the CL, the rest was good though.

Well it as our first time in Europe since I've been in charge, and in fairness we played really well againt Barcelona.

Truly dominated domestically!, expecting to bring in many players to help you win the CL?

Not really, I think we're already there or there abouts. Of courrse it may change if one or two depart.

Be really rubbish and somehow you'll squeak through. Worked for Chelsea.

Haha perhaps I'll have to look into that!

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - Season Review 2019/20 - Manchester City

Premier League

Results 1 - Results 2 - Final Table (Champions)

Another terrific league campaign in which we lost just two games all season, neither of which came in the second half of the campaign. True we did draw more games in the second half of the season, as we only won twelve of our nineteen fixtures. We again had an amazing defenive record, which was even two better than last term. However we scored one goal less.

That now makes it two titles in a row, the first time Manchester City have won back-to-back titles in their history.

FA Cup

Winners

For the second season in a row the FA Cup represented the third part of our dometic treble. We weren't spectacular throughout the competition until the semi final stage, where we played won a thrilling tie against our Manchester rivals in extra time. We took the trophy with a very solid 2-0 win over Chelsea.

The trophy was also my seventh in just two seasons with City.

League Cup

Winners

Always an important competition, this was the sixth League Cup win of my career. As with last season I dn't just play the kids in this tournament, just rotate the first team squad a bit. We negotiated the early rounds fairly easily before two cracking semi final matches against Arsenal. West Ham were our opponents in the final, and we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.

Could we make it a hattrick of League Cups next term?

Champions League

Eliminated in the Quarter Finals

Well we made a decent fist of things really in what was the clubs first Champions League season since the 2017/18 campaign. The group stage was relatively comfortable, as we topped ith with fourteen points from our six games. We played very well in the 1st knockout round, and despite losing in the first leg we roared back in the second with a thumping 3-0 victory. Against Barcelona in the quarter finals we played out two very tight games, and things may have gone differently had Jason Malpass not lost the ecnd leg through injury.

Barcelona went on to win the competition, knocking out Arsenal in the semi finals and then hammering Juventus 3-0 in the final.

Other Info

Squad - Transfers - Finances

Some top drawer performances from alot of players throughout the campaign. Malpass was excellent in his first season, as were other new signings Douglas and Mauro Vasquez. Some of the older boys aswell showed excellent quality and consistentcy, most notably Gael Clichy and Vincent Kompany. Lucas Moura had a good season aswell, which would have been better had he not picked up an injury at the start of April ruling him out for the rest of the campaign.

Alot of transfer activity took place again before the season and during the January window. Although we spent £126million, it must be remembered that £70million of that went on just one player. We again brought in a good amount from player sales, aswell as getting some hefty wages off the budget. This summer will mostly see investment in younger players.

Financially we have performed better than last season when we made a loss of £20million, as this term we made a profit of £10million. I regret to say though that we again relied heavily on the chairman ploughing in extra investment. Most of our outlay was down to transfers and our huge wage budget, which I will be making an effort to cut this summer. With another season to come in the Champions League our finances should improve further over the course of next season, and I aim to bring down the amount of cash injections needed from the chairman.

Top 3 Players

Jason Malpass
An excellent debut season from the £70million man. It would have been even better had he not missed seven games due to injury towards the end of the season. Aswell the goals, I was delighted with the amount of assists he provided. Great stuff.

Vincent Kompany
Even at the age of 34 he is still vitally important to us. The amount of games he played for someone his age was simply amazing, and he'll definitely be around next term to hopefully lead us to further glory.

Mauro Vasquez
A cracking opening season at the club for the young Argentine, who formed a great midfield pairing with fellow Argentinian Nestor Schmidt. He won the PFA Young Player Of The Year award, as he contributed five goals and even assists in his 28 league appearances. Overall he managed seven goals and 14 assists from 43 appearances, and there's more to come.

What Next

I'll maybe look to add a player or two over the summer as we aim for Champions League glory next season. Aside from that I'll be looking to sign up more young players, and hopefully cut the wage bill with a few departures.

[tomtuck01]

A couple of bits of good news;





The stadium expanison in brilliant news, something I have pushed for since we bought the ground at the end of my opening season.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - Season Preview - 2020/21 - Manchester City

Board Expectations

Premier Legaue: Win it
FA Cup: Win it
League Cup: Not important
Champions League: Reach the semi-final stage
Community Shield: Not important

Personal Expectations

Premier League: A hat-trick of championships in the offing, we have to win it
FA Cup: I'd like to win it again, but it's not as important to me this term
League Cup: As much as I'd love to win another, it's time to blood some youngsters
Champions League: Reach the final atleast
Community Shield: It's a trophy and againt last seasons league runners up Arsenal - time to put them in their place

Budgets

Transfer: £91,247,356
Wages: £3,980,144 (Currently spending £2,250,808)
Balance: £29,181,018 (Up £8,733,242 from last year)

So the board have given me identical expectations to last seasom, though mine differ somewhat. The Champions League is a big aim for me this term. Last eason we should have done better in it really, and I aim to put that right this season.

As always the league is the priority domestically, but the cups will take a bit of a tep back this term as I aim for Champions League improvement.

Financially wise, I wouldn't really pay attention to our balance at the minute as that is likely to change, (either for better or wose), when we start getting involved in the transfer market. However, I am pleased that we have managed to improve our balance in the past year.

[cerud]

Finances will also be helps once your expansion is completed. What is the capacity now?

[BadManager]

Yet another stunning season. Don't you get bored with winning everything? This a seriously good career you have going here, aim for the sweep - CL and domestic treble, I don't think its beyond you by any stretch. Then add the club world cup the next year.

[tomtuck01]

Finances will also be helps once your expansion is completed. What is the capacity now?

It'll be bang on 60,000 when it is completed in November. We sold out every game in the Premier League and four out of five Champions League games last term, so hopefully it will be more of the same once the expansion is complete.

Yet another stunning season. Don't you get bored with winning everything? This a seriously good career you have going here, aim for the sweep - CL and domestic treble, I don't think its beyond you by any stretch. Then add the club world cup the next year.

Do I get of winning everything? Well no, because I don't win everything, atleast not quite.

Also look at it more closely, it is tough - it's not like I'm winning 5-0 every game and scoring 150+ goals a season. Infact the most I've scored in the Premier League season is 91. In the two title winning seasons with Swansea we scored just 65 and 73 goals respectively, so it's not like I'm dominating teams to a stupid extent.

For now I have one year left on my contract and have rejected an extension. I don't know where I'm heading from here.

[SRL88]

Excellent season Tom. A fantastic treble capped off in style. Now to do it in Europe.

[tomtuck01]

Excellent season Tom. A fantastic treble capped off in style. Now to do it in Europe.

That's the aim - I'm desperate to get my hands on a second European Cup of my career!

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - Preseason - 2020/21 - Manchester City

Transfers


A further six reserve/youth players were released, but I cut them off the screenie.

Ok I did what I said I wouldn't do and went mad with my spending again. In all fairness a few established players left the club over the summer, such as Sergio Aguero, Dmytro Chygrynskyi, Salvatore Bocchetti, Gael Clichy, and Joe Allen. The first four were all old because of their ages really - Aguero was the ounget and even her turned 32 over the summer. Joe Allen was entering the last year of his contract and wanted a big wage rise that I wasn't prepared to offer.

I also sold Gerard Deulofeu after he spent far too mcuh time out injured for a guy who was on £150,000 per week. The fee we got represented a profit for us of £14million in just one season at the club.

All this means that the squad has almost been completely regenertaed from when I took over.

Anthony Burdett
With two hugely experienced center backs leaving the club over the summer and another who was on loan retiring and joining the coaching staff, (Christopher Samba), new central defenders were needed. He is excellent phyically, good mentaly, and solid enough technically. Hi passing is poorer than I'd want, but I can work around that.

Lizandro Perez
With Gael Clichy leaving, Yoann Le Moal has gone back to been my back-up left back. Perez is fairly young and has been brought in initially as understudy to Kyle Walker.

Pelle Pedersen
At just 17 years old he looks very good. He has 3 and a half star potential so has bags of time to improve. The fee was a bit steep, but I suppose he was coming from a huge club.

Rober Almeida dos Santos
Yes I paid an awful lot of money for him, but he is only 21 so I'm investing in potential as much as anything. Alot of the fee is to be paid over 48months.

Laurent Koffi
Last seaons loanee was signed up permantently. I managed to get the fee down to £10million - half of the fee that was agreed at the time of the loan. He's just 18 and has 4* potential. What a player he could turn out to be.

James Hopkins
Another young man with great potential so an investment for the future. He has been sent to Swindon for this term to gain some first team experience.

Andrey Ovchinnikov
This man looks unreal. He's 24 so very much for now, and for £35million I expect him to deliver. The fee is being paid over the course of 48months.

Vitaly Kuznetsov
Mentally and physically he needs a bit of work, but technically he looks great. He has 3* potential and only has 1* so far, so has alot of room to improve.

Kristian Challinor
A solid player, he'll most likely form a partnership with Burdett in the long term. He has joined fairly late in the summer so hasn't been able to play with Burdett in any preseason games, so the partnership won't be blooded immediately.

Giorgio Chiellini
He may be 36 and cost me a loan fee of £650,000 and wages of £63,00p/w, but he still looks like he has slot to offer. He won't be an automatic starter of course, but he will be one of my four first choice central defenders. He can also cover at left back if needs be.

Despite the heavy spending again over the summer, the wage bill has been cut by nearly £250,000 p/w compared to the sum given in post number 1073. All in all a good summer then when you also consider that I again made around half that I paid out back in player sales.



The squad has alot of players under the age of 25 now, a stark contrat to when I took over the club and there were hardly any under the the age of 30! There are also some great player in the rerves and youth team, so the present and future is looking rosie!

[tomtuck01]

Preseason 2020/21 Continued

Preseason Friendlies



Not the toughest set of friendlies, but some good performances from the boys. I was impresed to be honest as we were missing the French boys and Lucas Moura to the Olympics, so a fair amount of first teamers were absent. The strikers were looking good and are set to hit the ground running once the season gets underway.

Community Shield



An excellent work out for the team. As expected it was a tough game, though we probably should have won without the need for penalties because of the chances we created. Still, we started the seaon as we want to go on - with a trophy in the cabinet.

So time to get on with season now. Our opening fixture? Just a trip to Old Trafford for the Mancheter derby.

[SRL88]

Some nice signings there Tom and an excellent pre-season .

[tomtuck01]

Some nice signings there Tom and an excellent pre-season .

Cheer dude. Hopefully we can take it into the start of the campaign.

[cerud]

I'm just happy when anyone beats Arsenal at anything

[tomtuck01]

I'm just happy when anyone beats Arsenal at anything

Well hopefully I can manage to keep them away from the title again this season, nevermind the Community Shield!

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - August 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





A very good start to the season, with seven points from three games, and three cleansheets. We opened up with the Manchester derby, and in a game that was a real battle both teams earned a solid point. After that we routed Birmingham at home, before we won 3-0 away at Southampton after a couple of early own goals helped us on our way.

Next up after an international break is home game against West Ham.

[tomtuck01]

Champions League Group Stage Draw

After getting into the quarter finals last term we retained our spot amongst the top seeds for this seasons Champions League draw. This season we have been dran in Group C;



I'd personally have us down to top that group, with only PSG posing us any major problems. I'm quite surprised to see PSG amongst the second seeds, conidering they won the tournament back in 2019.

Here are the rest of the groups;



Group F stands out, ith to recent winners in Juventus and Marseille, aswell as two other clubs who have made the group stage for the last few years.

[cerud]

PSG are usually among the top in Ligue 1, but should still be no match for your City

[tomtuck01]

PSG are usually among the top in Ligue 1, but should still be no match for your City

Well as I say I expect a tough couple of games against them. They have won Ligue 1 twice in the last four years, and have been Champions League competitors in each of the last six seasons, winning it once. They are a decent outfit.

[SRL88]

Nice start to the season and thats a pretty decent Champions League group.

[tomtuck01]

Nice start to the season and thats a pretty decent Champions League group.

Thanking you.

I quite agree the group is good, we could have got a much tougher draw.

[tomtuck01]

Thomas Lewis' Career - September 2020 - Manchester City

Premier League





We may nothave faced the toughet of opponents this month, but whoever you are against three wins out of three, with seven goals scored and none conceded is still an excellent showing. Having said that, it is clear that we haven't quite hit top gear yet, though it seems to be coming. Malpass scored in all three games, and the football was improving. Lets hope next month brings even more progress.

Our next league fixture is a trip to Stamford Bridge.

League Cup - 3rd Round



The team was changed around a bit, with some experienced squad and youth players coming into the line up, and youngster Brian Sinclair notched a goal on his debut. He was my second signing as City manager - a £1.7million signing from Hearts. Now he is 17 and looking very promising indeed!

Next up in the 4th round is Watford at the Etihad.

[tomtuck01]

September 2020 Continued

Champions League





A tremendous start to our Champions League campaign. What on paper looked like our toughest away game proved to be that, but we still came away from the French capital with a victory. We then ripped Bosnian side Zeljeznicar to pieces to give us two wins from two games, witj no goals conceded and five scored.

Rangers come to the Etihad in our next group game.

[tomtuck01]

Hopefully the first of many this term.

[SRL88]

A brilliant month there. 100% and no goals conceded .

[tomtuck01]

A brilliant month there. 100% and no goals conceded .

Cheers dude.

I'm very proud of how we're defeding at the minute to be honest. I was a bit concerned at how it would go with having two new centre backs in the side, but Challinor and Burdett have started life excellently together.

[tomtuck01]

Outstanding.

[Reedy_1988]

oo maybe going to get the 'park the tank' achievement, fingers crossed!

[tomtuck01]

oo maybe going to get the 'park the tank' achievement, fingers crossed!

Unfortunately not: we conceded in the very next game.

[buzz2k7]

I think you jinxed yourself by posting that new defensive record :S

[deltablue]

Unlucky 13th game.