Nobby_McDonald Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Bloody nora, that's some win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Wow, amazing win! Deserve to go through after a result like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
City2000 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Stunning win! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Brilliant result versus the Mighty Barcelona! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Excellent read so far, interesting to see how well you did at Queen's Park. Their enduring amateur status has always intrigued me. Fantastic job with Falkirk as well, culminating in that Barca game! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Holy Crap thats a great result! Hows your Group B looking? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dejay Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Awesome win! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamers Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I see a Costa Rica friendly coming soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Cheers everyone. Just finished the season, so you'll get to find out how my Champions League debut went soon. Just typing it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jpr Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I love saves in Scotland, Awesome read and a great win against Barca, I remember drawing 0-0 at the Bernabeu as Clyde in a champions league group game. They then smashed us 5-0 infront of a full house of 8006 on the return haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 2021-2022 === FALKIRK === SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON SUMMARY League Board: Continental qualification. Media: 6th. The story of our season: So Very Nearly. We started in great form, winning 9, and losing 3 of our first 12 matches (one was a 6-1 thrashing by Celtic). We held on to the top spot from matchday 10-14, and then 2 draws and a defeat did the damage and toppled us. From matchday 18, we were playing catch-up with Celtic, but they were too strong for us. We had a few disappointing results in the second half of the season, but we had enough about us to consolidate 2nd from matchday 18 until the end of the season. We came very close to catching Celtic at one point, and blew it with a couple of poor results in the Championship Group. Celtic rubbed our noses in it on the last day of the season, beating us 6-1 again. Surprisingly though, I won SPL Manager of the Year. Table Position History Cups Scottish Cup Results Lifted our first Scottish Cup since 1957! Sailed into the Final with some impressive results. Rangers didn't turn up to the Final. 2 goals in both halves, and we ran out 4-0 winners. League Cup Beaten 2-0 by Motherwell in the Semi Final. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE This was my first ever foray into the realms of the Champions League. I knew we wouldn't have a chance of reaching the KO rounds, but I wasn't expecting to do as well as we did. We started our adventure in Ukraine in the Best Placed Qualifiers 3rd round. Metalist Kharkiv proved stern opposition, and we had to fight back in the first leg. We were down 4-2 at half time, and fought back to a 4-4 draw. 4 away goals seemed like good insurance for the second leg, but we didn't need it. Metalist were poor, and we won 4-0 to go through 8-4 on agg. Our next opponents stood between us and the money-spinning group phase. When Valencia were drawn against us, I was cursing our luck. We had home advantage in the first leg of the Best Placed Playoff, but didn't make the best of it. The referee had a lot to answer for. We were looking good for a 3-2 win, but the man in black played 6 minutes of second half stoppage time, and Valencia levelled the tie at 3-3. Three away goals, things weren't looking good. In the second leg, we went in 1-1 at half time, and Valencia looked good. Then a moment of magic. 65 minutes gone and midfielder Marco Rosenfelder stuck the ball in the net. Somehow, we held on to a 2-1 lead until full time. We were through 5-4 on agg. The group stage (and the money) beckoned! Just being in the group stage was an honour, and for our Champions League Group Stage debut we were handed a tough one - but one the fans relished. We were drawn against the might of Barcelona, Olympique Lyonnais, and FC Twente Enschede. It wasn't going to be easy, but we performed magnificently. 2 defeats, 3 draws, and 1 priceless win against Barcelona. No shame in us finishing 3rd, and we were off to the Europa League as a reward for beating Barcelona. EUROPA LEAGUE The team performed magnificently once again, although we were lucky to scrape through to the Semi Final. First was a win against Besiktas. Then it was a Battle of Britain double header. We were lucky to beat Blackburn. We were 3 minutes into stoppage time at the end of the second half of Extra Time in the second leg. We were all set for penalties when striker Gauthier Varez popped in a winner to give us a 4-3 aggregate victory. Stoke were resilient in the Quarter Final, but once again our home leg performance ruled the day, and we went through 3-2 on agg. The results against Juventus say it all - they were just too tough. However, I'm delighted we got as far as the Semi Final. Our heroics moved us up 272 places to 73rd in the European club rankings, and have also gained Scotland an extra place in the Europa League for next season. THE SQUAD The lads had a fantastic year. On a couple of occasions I thought we might take a hit in morale, but they kept going - bouncing back from the heavy defeats at the hands of Celtic. There were one or two problems with injuries - and I was cursing my luck when my first and second choice Goalkeepers injured themselves in the same week, just before our first Europa League game against Stoke City. My two main strikers also injured themselves badly during the season, but we had enough depth in the squad to deal with it. In any case, we had more than just strikers scoring, and we scored in every league match this season. There was quite a bit of Transfer Activity this season. All of my new signings have bedded in well, and I'm especially pleased with my strikers Varez and Niko Karabogdan. However, our signing of the season was Portuguese defender Josué who we got from Greek side Ergotelis - fantastic player, signed for a bargain £300k. Our big signing Zunino cost us £2.3M from Vitesse, and the Italian is doing well so far. Best Eleven Best Players Top Scorer: Josué - 27 goals. Signed him in the Summer, and what a tally. Finished ahead of our best striker by 2 goals. Strong in the back line, and deadly when attacking corners. Highest Avg Rating: Josué - 7.51 (56 apps). CLUB FINANCES Balance (as of 20th June 2022): £14,675,053. The bank coffers were boosted by a profit of £11,860,503 this season. The main bulk of it was Champions League, Europa League and SPL prize money. I don't think the club has ever been this well off. It'll be interesting to see what my budgets are next season. CONTRACT NEWS I signed a new 2 year contract with Falkirk, in a deal which pays £7,250 p/w. I was linked with numerous jobs during the season, and turned down 2 approaches from Argentine side Banfield. STADIUM NEWS The stadium is currently being expanded by 1403 seats, taking capacity to 11260. Work will be finished in time for the new season. We've also got a new stadium under construction. No idea on capacity, but it will be ready in May 2025. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Mighty fine effort in Europe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Very good run. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 What a terrific season; an excellent run in Europe, a fine win over Barcelona, and the Scottish Cup to boot. Well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Fantastic season and you even beat the mighty Barcelona Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Mighty fine effort in Europe. Very good run. What a terrific season; an excellent run in Europe, a fine win over Barcelona, and the Scottish Cup to boot. Well done! Fantastic season and you even beat the mighty Barcelona Cheers everyone. Our European run came as a surprise to me, I didn't think we'd stand a chance in the group stage of the Champions League. And when we beat Blackburn and Stoke in the Europa League, I started to think we were the Scottish version of Fulham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 2021-2022 Ups & Downs SCOTLAND League SPL Winners: Celtic (x4). Champs Lg Q: Celtic, FALKIRK. Europa Lg Q: Inverness CT (3rd), St. Mirren (4th), Rangers (Scottish Cup runners up). Relegated: St. Johnstone. First Division Winners: Dundee. Relegated: Dunfermline Athletic. Second Division Winners: Cowdenbeath. Relegated: East Fife, East Stirlingshire. Third Division Winners: Arbroath. Promoted: Queen's Park Bottom: Alloa Athletic. Cups Scottish Cup: FALKIRK 4-0 Rangers. League Cup: Motherwell 1-3 Celtic. Challenge Cup: Stirling Albion 4-0 Stenhousemuir. ENGLAND League Premier League Winners: Manchester City. Champs Lg Q: Manchester City, Manchester United (2nd), Arsenal (3rd), Liverpool (4th). Europa Lg Q: Chelsea (5th), Tottenham Hotspur (6th), Aston Villa (League Cup winners). Relegated: Hull City, Watford, Bristol City. npower Championship Winners: Q.P.R. Promoted: Fulham, Portsmouth. Relegated: Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Burnley. npower League One Winners: Scunthorpe United. Promoted: Plymouth Argyle, Bolton Wanderers. Relegated: Wycombe Wanderers, Lincoln City, Mansfield Town, Northampton Town. npower League Two Winners: Leyton Orient. Promoted: Woking, Swindon Town, Kidderminster Harriers. Relegated: Accrington Stanley, Oldham Athletic. Blue Square Premier Winners: Blyth Spartans. Promoted: Havant & Waterlooville. Relegated: Port Vale, AFC Telford United, Eastbourne Boro, Carlisle United. Blue Square North Winners: Southport. Promoted: Grimsby Town. Relegated: Lowestoft, Tamworth, Barrow. Blue Square South Winners: Bromley. Promoted: Ebbsfleet United. Relegated: Tooting & Mitcham, Bishop's Stortford, Weymouth. Promoted from Regional Prems: Morecambe, Chelmsford, Droylsden, Staines, Redditch, Evesham. Cups FA Cup: Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United. League Cup: Aston Villa p2-2 Liverpool. JPT: Scunthorpe United 2-3e Southend United. FA Trophy: Kettering 1-1p AFC Telford United. === Champions League === Real Madrid 2-0 Internazionale. @ Stade de France, Saint-Denis. Att: 80000. === Europa League === Juventus 2-1 Liverpool @ VELTINS-Arena, Gelsenkirchen. Att: 54142. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotChocolate Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 How you held out against Barcelona for 88 minutes I don't think even SI will know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Brilliant season, and a ridiculous tally from Josue! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 World Cup 2022 Hosts: Qatar. Group Stage Group A Qualified: Qatar, Peru. Out: Poland, Angola. Group B Qualified: Italy, Czech Republic. Out: Cameroon, Canada. Group C Qualified: France, Brazil. Out: Mexico, U.A.E. Group D Qualified: Germany, Nigeria. Out: Uruguay, Turkey. Group E Qualified: Belgium, Belarus. Out: DR Congo, Honduras. Group F Qualified: Portugal, Holland. Out: Australia, Ecuador. Group G Qualified: Spain, Croatia. Out: Mali, Japan. Group H Qualified: Argentina, U.S.A. Out: England, Kuwait. Second Round Czech Republic 2-1 Qatar. Italy 2-0 Peru. France 3-0 Nigeria. Brazil 1-2 Germany. Belgium p4-4 Holland. Portugal 1-0 Belarus. Spain 3-0 U.S.A. Croatia 2-1 Argentina. Quarter Final Czech Republic 0-2 Germany. Italy 2-3 France. Belgium 1-0 Croatia. Portugal 1-0 Spain. Semi Final Germany 0-1 Portugal. France p1-1 Belgium. 3rd Place Belgium 1-0 Germany. FINAL Portugal 3-1 France @ Khalifa International Stadium, Doha. Att: 50000. - England manager Roland Nilsson quit his job after a dreadful campaign. The lost 1-0 to U.S.A., drew 1-1 with Argentina, and beat Kuwait 5-0. Roberto Mancini takes the reigns. - Mali sacked their manager, and approached me. I'd already taken the helm at Trinidad & Tobago, and we'd played a number of friendlies. It was a tough decision to accept the Mali job, but I think I can achieve more with them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Cracking season there mate. Performed brilliant in Europe . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 2021-2022 === INTERNATIONAL CAREER === 1.8.2021 - 17.7.2022: Trinidad & Tobago When the Trinidadian FA approached, I thought "why not?". They had a good international squad, and I was looking forward to working with them. Friendly results had been good, but there was no excitement of any competitions. When Mali came calling in July 2022, I resigned. Mali Squad looks very impressive, and qualification for the African Cup of Nations has been going well. I've yet to see my team in action though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Brilliant season, and a ridiculous tally from Josue! Cracking season there mate. Performed brilliant in Europe . Cheers. Josue was a brilliant find, and hopefully we can go one step further in Europe this coming season. I've just scouted a goal machine and signed him on a free from a Turkish First Division club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Seems we've eclipsed our performance against Barcelona. And our new Turkish striker, Resat Senturk introduced himself to the fans by sticking 5 past the hapless Benfica keeper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 You are on fire! Good luck with Mali too, definitely a step up from T&T Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Woah, and I thought my 4-0 against the same side with AIK on FM10 was good! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iHeadHunta x Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Brilliant result against the Portugese ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotChocolate Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Get that Resat on a 5 year contract Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Wow. That's quite a result no matter who you are! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Great season, particularly in Europe. My heart always sinks when I see a central defender with that amount of goals though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 23rd March 2023 Liverpool agreed to me delaying my decision until the end of the season. I've got things to finish at Falkirk. Exciting things. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 If you dont take that job I wont be putting you on my Christmas card list . Just out of note...on your ss, after Liverpool there is that yellow dot. What is that for? Ive been getting the same thing on my save. Cracking result in Europe to . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 It's to do with having a note about a person or club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 It's to do with having a note about a person or club. Danke Schoen . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
City2000 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Fantastic last season and great win over Benfica! Not surprised Liverpool have come knocking, will be interesting to see if you move on. Not great budgets to work with there but that could change by the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 If you dont take that job I wont be putting you on my Christmas card list .Just out of note...on your ss, after Liverpool there is that yellow dot. What is that for? Ive been getting the same thing on my save. Cracking result in Europe to . Eek, one less Christmas card next year for me then. But I had good reason to turn them down (no, I'm not a Man U fan). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 7-1 against Benfica. Amazing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 2022-2023 === FALKIRK === SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE The year to be a Falkirk fan. SEASON SUMMARY League Board: Qualify for the Champions League. Media: 2nd. Bookies: 3-1 to win the title. With such good odds, we looked like a team in contention. Celtic were given odds of 6-4 to win the title, but they hadn't bargained on some of my summer signings. We made a real statement of intent with a 5-1 thrashing of Hibernian on the first day of the league season. But was my optimism shortlived? Game 2, and we could only muster a draw with St Mirrren. We rallied back, and I began to see the strength of my squad with victories like 6-1 vs Rangers, 9-2 vs Morton, and most spectacularly 5-1 vs Celtic in our first clash of the season. My strikers were in top form. By the end of 2022, we had only dropped points in 4 of our matches, and built up a 6 point lead over Celtic. They beat us on New Year's Eve to reduce the gap to 3, and a couple of draws in January saw them narrow the gap even further to just 1 point. Surely we weren't about to blow all our hard work? A good winning streak from the end of February saw us open up a 15 point gap on Celtic. Going into the Championship Group, we needed to win our first match away at Inverness to make ourselves legends. Going in 3-0 up at half time, we never looked like losing. There were another 3 goals in the second half. We won 5-3! Our last 4 games resulted in two wins, a defeat by Hearts, and a draw against Celtic. But none of that mattered. FALKIRK: Champions of Scotland for the first time in their 157 year history! Past Positions League Results A quite phenomenal league campaign. We'd held top spot since matchday 8, and survived a couple of scares. However, all credit goes to my team's scoring ability. We have now scored at least 1 goal in our last 79 SPL matches. As the league season wound down, awards poured in: Scottish Players' Player of the Year: Resat Sentürk. Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year: Niko Karabogdan. Clydesdale Bank Premier League Top Goalscorer: Resat Sentürk - 45 goals. I personally won the Clydesdale Bank Premier League Manager of the Year, and Scottish Football Writers' Manager of the Year awards. SPL Goal of the Season Whoever votes for these things decided that this strike from Resat Sentürk, in our 6-2 thrashing of Motherwell on December 17th, was Goal of the Season. [video=youtube;Z-WE33GH_S8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-WE33GH_S8?rel=0 League Career Contract News As is known, Liverpool approached me at the end of March 2023. The wages were about 8x more than what I'm on at Falkirk, but I was at a very pivotal moment in the history of The Bairns. Liverpool returned with their offer again, but not at the end of the season, as I had asked. Seems the Chairman was getting impatient. I really did sleep on my decision, and decided that I really needed to see this season through to completion with The Bairns. I turned down the contract offer - hoping I wouldn't regret it...But there was a small matter of a trophy to be settled. Cup news to follow... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Just reading through this so am a bit late the Barcelona result is one of the most impressive I have seen on FM. 132 goals scored and 52 conceded, my sort of football lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Excellent, excellent league win mate . Walked it!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 2022-2023 === FALKIRK === SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON SUMMARY Domestic Cups Decided to do cups in separate posts this season, as they require special attention. Scottish Cup After a good 4th round showing, we rode our luck a bit against Spartans. We were really poor - I mean Hearts Vs Auchinleck Talbot poor - and were fortunate that they help our cause with 2 own goals. Queen of the South provided no match. Aberdeen were tough opponents - flying high in the league at the time, and they'd done well against us a couple of weeks before. But we marched onto the Final, where Celtic awaited. Our last 2 league encounters had seen us win 5-0 and draw 1-1 with The Hoops. We scrored first, a wonderful Kabananga free kick finding the net. But we soon went 2-1 down in the first half and I thought that the floodgates would open on us. But our saviour was our Wonderkid striker, Niko Karabogdan, who grabbed a brace to put us in 3-2 up at Half Time. The second half was a turgid affair, with not a lot to mention. 3-2 winners. Back to Back Scottish Cups! Scottish Cup Final Goal Action [video=youtube;fDLIZRmgURs] Scottish League Cup Beat Stirling Albion (5-1), Aberdeen (2-0), and St Mirren (3-1), to reach my first League Cup Final. We were up against Hearts, but it might as well have been Kelty Hearts. We went in 3-1 uo at half time, and finished Hearts off with 3 more in the second half. We ran out 6-2 winners. My first League Cup win, and the first part of a domestic treble. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 2022-2023 === FALKIRK === SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON SUMMARY European Cups === CHAMPIONS LEAGUE === Quite a productive season again, starting with that emphatic 7-1 hammering of Benfica in the 1st Leg of the Best Placed Qual. 3. We drew 2-2 at Estádio da Luz, to win 9-3 on agg. Swiss side Basel gave us a couple of scares in the Best Placed Play Off round. We managed to snatch a 3-2 win at home in the first leg, and had to really battle hard in the away leg. But we performed admirably, winning 5-3, and qualifying for the group stage with an 8-5 agg. We found ourselves drawn in Group G with A.C. Milan, Valencia, and Olympiakos. We were very fortunate that the Greek side were worse than us. I'd hoped we might have got results against Valencia, as we'd beaten them to qualify for the group stage last season. We got a result alright: albeit in our 6-8 thriller. A.C. Milan finished top on 18 pts, with Valencia second on 12. Thanks to Olympiakos, we finished 3rd, and dropped into the Europa League. Falkirk (Blue) 6-8 Valencia (White) [video=youtube;acJ6ezUe8V4] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Just reading through this so am a bit late the Barcelona result is one of the most impressive I have seen on FM. 132 goals scored and 52 conceded, my sort of football lol. My scouts found a couple of goal machines, one of them only stopped scoring when he got injured. 52 conceded I wasn't too happy with, but I think we had the 2nd best defence this year. Excellent, excellent league win mate . Walked it!! Thank you. There were a couple of moments when I thought team morale would crash, but fortunately it didn't happen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotChocolate Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 6-8? That is just incredible. I was only moaning earlier about going a whole 120 minutes watching a 0-0 to lose on penalties! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 2022-2023 === FALKIRK === SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON REVIEW Europa League 1st K.O Round We entered the Europa League in the 1st K.O. round again. This time, we had drawn Shakhtar Donetsk, and we were supposedly underdog. Well, that seemed to be true as we went down 3-2 at home in the first leg. I had no idea how we would overturn 2 away goals in Donetsk, but we got off to a flyer, scoring in the first minute. Then we were helped further by José Ayala, who kindly popped in an own goal. We were a goal ahead, and level on away goals. Into the second half, and Shakhtar hit the net on 64 minutes. Approaching full time, I thought our luck had run dry. But Karabogdan found space, and popped a screamer past the Shakhtar keeper. We went through 5-4 on agg. 2nd K.O. Round Well, well, well. Who did we have up next?...BENFICA. Our lapdogs in the Champions League. I was sure they'd be out for revenge. In the first leg, we went 2 up in the first 6 minutes. But brace by Benfica on 11 and 44 minutes sent us in level at the break. We fared better in the second half, getting two more goals. 4-2 it finished, but again I was worried about their away goals. In the away leg, we went down to 2 first half goals. In the second half, we struggled, and looked like going out on away goals. Into the last 10 minutes of the match, and the Benfica fans were taunting ours. Revenge was about to be sweet - until Resat Senturk scored on 83 minutes. Benfica were stunned, and we weren't finished. French striker Varez scored 3 minutes into injury time. Our fans had the last laugh. 2-2 on the night, through 6-4 on agg. Quarter Final We had a glamour Quarter final vs Spurs. I'd been linked with the White Hart Lane job, but they didn't approach. First leg was at home again. We did well, holding Spurs to 2-2. The return leg was a very stormy affair. At one point in the first half we were 3-1 down. We got a goal back to make it 3-2 at half time. In the first 6 minutes of the second half, tempers on both sides frayed, each had a man sent off. We did well though, and levelled the score at 3-3 when Resat Senturk hit the net on 52 minutes. But as the half played out it looked as though we would finally fall victim to the away goals rule. But French striker Varez did it again, scoring on 87 minutes. Spurs had no reply, and were reduced to 9 men when they had another player sent off in injury time. We were through 6-5 on agg. A quite unbelievable result. Semi Final Our Semi Final was against Dutch team Feyenoord. It was around this time that Liverpool came in with a final contract demand for me, and I weighed up the possibility of how we would do in the Final. I knew we could beat Feyenoord, but could we beat either Schalke or Sporting Lisbon? I took a leap of faith, turned down The Reds, and we beat Feyenoord 8-3 on agg to book out first ever European Final place. The Europa League Final Excitement was high. Sporting Lisbon turned out to be our opponents. But more than that, the Final was hosted at Hampden Park - who would have thought I would return here for a Europa League Final? Memories of my days at Queen's Park flooded back as we sat in the home dressing room prior to kick off. I gave the boys one last morale boosting team talk, and we were off. Sporting Lisbon were poor - there was no sign of their two strikers who had 9 competition goals each so far. So poor, that we took in a 3-0 lead at the break - a brace from Senturk (8, 23), and one from winger Pajevic (36). Despite their greater possession, Lisbon only had 2 shots on target all match. Niko Karabogdan got the second half off to a flyer with a goal on 46, and got his second on 56 to give us a 5-0 lead. For the next 34 minutes, there was a real party atmosphere. Most of the inhabitants of Falkirk were at the match, and they went absolutely hysterical when referee Zimmermann blew for time. FALKIRK - EUROPA LEAGUE WINNERS! Our first ever European trophy. EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL - THE GOALS [video=youtube;Cxvm79k9AV0] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Great route to the Final and WOW....what a win over Sporting . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 You're quite the Portuguese-kiler. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotChocolate Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 No easy ties in the Europa League yet you still won it, well done Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 6-8? That is just incredible.I was only moaning earlier about going a whole 120 minutes watching a 0-0 to lose on penalties! I didn't dare say a word about my team's defending. They would have come back at me with moans about Valencia's defensive display Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Great route to the Final and WOW....what a win over Sporting . Cheers. Don't know what happened to Sporting, I expected more of a challenge from them. You're quite the Portuguese-kiler. And Benfica know it. Their supporters faces were a picture when we grabbed our late winners in the return leg. Kind of similar to the Bayern Munich supporters when Solskjaer and The Dirty Devils snatched the Champions League from their grasp in 1999. No easy ties in the Europa League yet you still won it, well done Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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