[FM12] The complete world encyclopedia of insults shouted at virtual football players

[noikeee]

Woof! We had to work for this a lot harder than we should've, but an epic Rahlfs long shot on the 94th saved us from extra time.

Rubin Kazan next.

[deltablue]

Good luck against the Russians.

[cerud]

Just caught up on the career! Tottenham to Ajax is an interesting move; best in Netherlands

[AK22]

Pretty strong start with Ajax. Unlucky to miss out on the CL knockout rounds, but could have a nice run in the Europa League

[noikeee]

Good luck against the Russians.

Thanks!

Just caught up on the career! Tottenham to Ajax is an interesting move; best in Netherlands

It was pretty much a backwards move! But I was fed up with England and top football. Basically I had sold out, the last 4 seasons I spent infinite amounts of money assembling together Fantasy Football teams at Real Madrid and Tottenham, buying success. This is a return to my real roots - trying to make dreams come true.

I feel things are a lot more enjoyable now in Holland, with a club I sympathize a lot, a brand new attacking tactical system from scratch, and a limited budget. Even if the domestic competition isn't very fierce.

Pretty strong start with Ajax. Unlucky to miss out on the CL knockout rounds, but could have a nice run in the Europa League

The goal is to make a serious impact on Europe long-term and return Ajax to the glory days, but for now a run deep into the Europa League would be nice.

[noikeee]

And Europe ends here, with the bitter feeling that we were the better side in both matches but didn't have luck with us. Conceding an away goal at the Amsterdam Arena when we were completely dominating the match was tough, and even more so the 89th minute equalizer in Russia when again we had been better than Rubin.

Time to focus exclusively on Holland now, where unexpectedly we've had a bit of a bad form run too and now things are a lot more open.

[noikeee]

Ajax - Youth intake 2025

Best player

As you'd expect Ajax's youth is very good, I don't remember ever having an intake with so many useful players. However stars are a bit inflated as our reputation isn't world class nor even near - 2.5 stars players would be useful for the Dutch league and little more.

Lourens looks pretty good however. I do already have several other similar exciting youngsters in the U19 squad and will patiently try to nurture them into the first team squad. Funnily enough 2 are centrebacks, 1 is a rightback and 1 is a keeper, all with 3.5 or 4 stars potential, so I got a full back 4+ keeper coming up and growing together!

[deltablue]

I really like the look of him.

[cerud]

It was pretty much a backwards move! But I was fed up with England and top football. Basically I had sold out, the last 4 seasons I spent infinite amounts of money assembling together Fantasy Football teams at Real Madrid and Tottenham, buying success. This is a return to my real roots - trying to make dreams come true.

I feel things are a lot more enjoyable now in Holland, with a club I sympathize a lot, a brand new attacking tactical system from scratch, and a limited budget. Even if the domestic competition isn't very fierce.

I can understand that. I'm at Tottenham right now and there's not much competition except in the later stages of the Champions League. Still enjoying my time, but if an interesting offer comes up... Good move for you!

[noikeee]

February-March 2025

Fixtures

I’m afraid we became super inconsistent and dropped our form badly. February actually began brilliantly with the 6-2 thrashing of challengers Vitesse then a 5-1 away win over NEC, however then things started to go wrong as we lost in Greece and that opened up a string of bad results in the league. First it was a 2-1 loss at Den Haag, then near total humiliation at home to Heereveen as they briefly led 3-0 until we claimed 2 goals back, then yet another defeat now to Twente who are rising in the table and still trying to get in the mix for the title. In the middle of it, we got knocked out for good from Europe too, as covered in the previous posts.

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – Another 10 goals raising his total to 38 now, plus 12 assists, and a hugely impressive 14 man of the match awards.

Competitions

Eredivisie:

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Feyenoord 2-0 last August.

KNVB Beker: Facing RKC in the semi-finals right up next, then Almere City or ADO Den Haag in the final.

Champions League: eliminated in the group stage behind Atlético Madrid and Shakhtar.

Europa League: Beaten by Rubin 3-2 aggregate after extra time in the 2nd knockout round.

Summary

This was a very bad February and March, Europe is gone, Twente and Heerenveen caught up at the top, thankfully Vitesse lost a few points. I’m relieved the rest of the fixtures look relatively easy (bar an Ajax-PSV match) because on this form we’d be doomed.

I think we’re still bound to win the double, however. The remaining 5 league fixtures and 2 cup fixtures will decide the season.

[noikeee]

April-May 2025

Fixtures

We took full advantage of an easy looking set of fixtures by hammering first RKC 4-0 (getting our ticket for the cup final), then MVV 6-1. Sparta looked another comfortable opponents but it was a sweaty 2-0 grinded out in the final minutes, as Wanzhe opened up the scoreline in the 86th and Landeiro made it 2 in the 92nd. This led to the trickiest fixture of all as we hosted PSV but whilst we only scored once and it again took a long time, 19yo Uruguayan winger Washington Vitola netting it on the 69th, we completely dominated the match.

This streak of wins put us in the comfortable position of having only to win one of the 2 final fixtures, both away but the first of which at Veendam, dead last on the table. We beat them by an emphatic 6-0, Rahfls with a fantastic 4 goals, and clinched the league there. AJAX ARE DUTCH CHAMPIONS!!! A 2nd consecutive title actually as previous manager Jan Wouters won it last year.

Next week it was another trophy up for grabbing vs ADO Den Haag in Rotterdam, and despite Rahlfs being suspended we dominated again, Prieto scored in a corner as early as the 3rd minute, Adoue scored the 2nd right over halftime, and the 3rd came in an onwgoal in the dying seconds of the match. 3-0 and AJAX WIN THE DUTCH CUP!!!

There was one remaining league match at Breda and I packed the side with youngsters. It went wrong as we lost 3-1 but it meant little.

Player on focus

Marcos Pinto (DL) – Ratings the month of April read: 7.5, 7.8, 7.7, 7.3, 8.3 and 7.4. Just fantastic consistency from the superb experienced left-back.

Competitions

Eredivisie:

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Feyenoord 2-0 last August.

KNVB Beker: winners afer beating ADO Den Haag 3-0 in the final.

Champions League: eliminated in the group stage behind Atlético Madrid and Shakhtar.

Europa League: Beaten by Rubin 3-2 aggregate after extra time in the 2nd knockout round.

Summary

An excellent ending saw us take advantage of the 4 consecutive home matches, and play some neat football to clear out all available domestic trophies – league, cup and supercup. The Eredivisie title might not have been as dominant as we threatened at a point but I’m still very happy with this 1st season in Holland.

As for Europe, I hope to have a better go next season – that is a long-term project, or at least, as long-term as the arrival of FM13 allows.

[noikeee]

Analysis, highlights and numbers – 2024/2025 season

Tactics and usual starting eleven

The brand new all-out-attack 4-4-2 wide diamond. I have, however, gone a bit backwards as the season progressed. Whilst the wide diamond is still the main tactic, particularly to attack lesser opponents domestically, I have now a 4-1-3-1-1 as a plan B and have been using it a lot. There was a reason why for the past 13 seasons I had been using 5 men midfields and it often shown, so I had to backtrack there… Indeed even when I’m using the wide diamond at the start, I now switch to the 4-1-3-1-1 as soon as we score an opening goal.

Squad

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Jacques Adoue (ST, AMC) – Doing much better for us in his deep-lying forward role, than in my previous stint as his manager in Torino. 14 goals and 10 assists isn’t a particularly sensational tally for a forward but nevertheless he was one of the most involved men at fabricating them goals.

4. Hugo Landeiro (ML, AMC, MC) – A great signing as he proved quality in 3 wildly different roles and positions: winger, trequartista and deep-lying playmaker. Taking set pieces helped his numbers of course, but still, 10 goals, 14 assists.

3. Marcos Pinto (DL) – A great season as despite my fullbacks being set very defensively Marcos shone highly with consistent very good performances all year.

2. Rubén Prieto (DC) – Another Argentinian defender, who did even better, much thanks to 9 goals scored on set pieces.

1. Volker Rahlfs (ST) – 15 assists, 16 man of the match awards, and above all, 45 goals. I’m slightly underwhelmed actually as I put myself the objective of making him reach 50!

Match of the season

Ajax 5-1 Shakhtar

After being beaten 4-0 in Ukraine, and with the group effectively being decided in results between teams, between ourselves and Shakhtar, we had to treat this as a knockout match in which we had to overturn a 4 goal deficit. We did just that with a fabulous exhibition and result but the away goal (an owngoal...) knocked us out.

Career overview

[b]Season   Club (nation)     League (tier)                            Notes[/b]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/12    Delémont (SWI)    Challenge League (2) - 1st               Promoted
12/13    Delémont (SWI)    Axpo Super League (1) - 9th       
13/14    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 8th / EP group  
14/15    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 3rd             Belgian Cup finalists 
15/16    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 8th / EP final  Belgian Cup winners
16/17    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 3rd             Belgian Supercup winners
17/18    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 1st             Champions + Belgian Cup winners
18/19    Torino (ITA)      Serie A (1) - 2nd                        Runner-ups + Italian Cup winners 
19/20    Torino (ITA)      Serie A (1) - 2nd                        Runner-ups + Italian Cup winners 
20/21    Real Madrid (SPA) La Liga (1) - 1st                        Champions + Spanish Cup winners +
                                                                   Europa League winners
21/22    Real Madrid (SPA) La Liga (1) - 1st                        Champions + Spanish Cup winners +
                                                                   Champions League winners + Spanish SC
22/23    Tottenham (ENG)   Premier League (1) - 2nd                 Runner-ups + FA Cup finalists 
23/24    Tottenham (ENG)   Premier League (1) - 1st                 Champions 
24/25    Ajax (HOL)        Eredivisie (1) - 1st                     Champions + Dutch Cup winners + Dutch SC 

[cerud]

Congrats on winning the league! Nice to see my old club Heerenveen doing well too

[deltablue]

Probably need to push on in Europe though.

[noikeee]

Congrats on winning the league! Nice to see my old club Heerenveen doing well too

Thanks. You won't be too pleased to know that I poached two of their best players for the next season then.

Probably need to push on in Europe though.

I'm expecting better on Europe this season, but we definitely don't have the talent/depth to challenge for the Champions League title soon, which is my ultimate goal here.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2025

Transfers (out)

I made an epic clear out of various bench and fringe players, as the list is rather large. It reads: left-back Taleb Tuatkha, keeper Sven Fredrik Kogstad, left-winger Lars Persson, striker Emmanuel Abdul, right-winger Marco Gomes, centre-back Jores Okore, keepers Enrique Pranich and Dave Egberts, left-winger Blaise Akpa-Akpro, reserves players Bart Waasdorp, Jawad Abdellaoue and Taylor Revivo. They were all sold then centre-back Norbert Vincze was loaned for money, veteran winger Nacer Barazite retired, and many, many youngsters were sent on unpaid loans including Jan Swinkels, Omur Dogan and Eduard Rangel who were on the 1st team last year.

Total income from tranfers: a fantastic 34.5M€.

Transfers (in)

Thanasis Tsoukanis (DM / D/MC) (325K€) – Here is a future world class player. This Greek kid, who just had his 17th birthday, is good enough to keep the first choice DMs on their toes. Fantastic signing.

Piergiorgio Fossati (AMR / MR, AML) (2M€) – Versatile super-quick winger who I intend to use on the right.

Peter McCarthy (AML / ML) (2.5M€) – Quality option for the other wing.

Gergely Köllð (M/AML) (3.1M€) – Unpronounceable surname with the accentuated O’s, and not rated very highly by the game due to being relatively slow, but his brilliant footballing brain convinced me, and his first few outings have been hugely impressive.

Juan Carlos Real (ST / AML) (7M€) – An assassin in the face of goal at the age of 20. I can see him becoming very very good.

Denis Ramozonov (DL) (free) – Freebie left-back coming from Heerenveen, can’t cross but is solid defensively. 1st choice left-back Marcos Pinto should still be safe of his place though.

Agustín Rivas (DL) (free) – This is one left-back too many but he was far too good for me to ignore, 19 years old only and a match for Ramozonov albeit a different player.

Osvaldo Vélez (GK) (free) – I sold 4(!!!) backup keepers so it was sensible to bring in another.

Gabriel Briceño (DC / DM, MC) (8.25M€) – My most expensive sigining seems reasonable to me, as this 23 year old Venezuelan looks the best defensive player in my whole squad, very complete player. Last year he was on loan from São Paulo to Heerenveen and they had a very chearp buying clause, but I was delighted when I found out Gabriel rejected their offer!!

Artem Vdovenko (ST/ AML) (free) – I didn’t need him badly but when a super-quick, quality striker shows up for free, what would you do?

Cláudio (DC / DM) (800K€) – Another player I didn’t need but great potential at the age of 20 and very cheap, won’t challenge yet for a first team place though.

And perhaps better than any new signing was the renewal of Washington Vitola’s loan from Tottenham, the 19yo Uruguayan wonderkid was surprisingly great for us last season, claiming the right-wing as his, and continues to get better and better. I’m just gutted he wouldn’t accept a full-time move as I was prepared to break the bank and pay 13M€ for him.

I also signed youngsters Edgardo Avila (18yo Panamian centre-back), Daniel Dotsev (16yo Bulgarian striker), Umberto Marinelli (21yo Italian centre-back) and Leonardo Maidana (19yo Argentinian defensive midfielder).

Total fee spent: 24M€.

Finances

We made a 10.5M€ profit on transfers and just received the 7M from the Champions League so it’s all great with the bank having 13.7M€.

This is after also spending a wooping 24.5M€ on a stadium expansion that will shortly be finished, 16000 new seats are being installed.

Squad for the 2025-2026 season

I think we’re looking considerably stronger than last year as I’m very very happy with my dealings in the transfer market. Youngsters Sergio van Dijk and Niels van der Pluijm were promoted to the first team but will remain available for the reserves, which is common practice for most players who don’t usually have a place in the first 11 + bench.

Fixtures

The supercup named after Jordi Cruijff faced us against, bizarrely, the league runner-ups Vitesse instead of cup finalists ADO Den Haag. No problems as we dispatched them 3-0, Adoue, Prieto and Bah getting the goals, wonderkid Vitola providing 2 assists. AJAX WIN THE DUTCH SUPERCUP AGAIN!!

The first few league matches were equally encouraging as we hammered NAC Breda away 5-1 for a start, Rahlfs scoring a superb 4 of the 5 goals; then we dominated and beat fierce rivals Feyenoord 3-0; next victim were Roda on the end of a 5-0 beating, new signing Gergely Köllð getting 3 assists and Juan Carlos Real scoring a brace on his Ajax debut. A 2-1 away win over AZ wasn’t as spectacular but we were still clearly the better side.

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – Well it’s got to be him, 7 goals and 2 assists in the first 5 matches, the 4 goal performance vs NAC obviously contributing a lot. Big shout to centre-back Ruben Prieto with 2 goals and 2 MOM awards, winger Köllð also had a great start to Ajax life with 4 assists and 2 goals, and on the other wing Vitola has 3 goals, 3 assists.

Competitions

Eredivisie: 1st place at the moment with 12 points and 15-2 on goals after 4 matches.

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Vitesse 3-0.

KNVB Beker: Spellchecking nerds everywhere rejoice as I have to write the name of IJsselmeervogels, our first opponents.

Champions League: I’m not happy with the group. Not only we’re facing my former club Real Madrid (who have won the CL 2 years ago again and retain my full strength epic squad), but also Zenit who were on the CL final a few years ago and have several world class players, plus Olympiacos, who made us sweat in the Europa League last year.

Summary

The new players look brilliant and the results have been superb. If only we had been given a good Champions League group my optimism would be at an all-time-high…

[deltablue]

Ouch, bad group.

[noikeee]

Ouch, bad group.

Yeah, but then if we want to be the best in Europe we have to start beating the best. To be fair it's not an awful group but Zenit are very strong and that's the biggest problem.

Meanwhile:

I'd love managing Bremen as they're one of my favourite German sides and I haven't tried the Bundesliga for the past 2 FMs, but not whilst I'm in the middle of a long-term project with Ajax... rejected it.

[noikeee]

September-November 2025

Fixtures

It’s been a blast in the league as we maintain a 100% record after 15 matches!! Almost every match has been a comfortable victory even if there were some minor scares. The most thrilling match probably was the 2-1 at home over PSV as despite dominating the game, we conceded first and had to wait until the 86th minute for Fossati to equalize, then Adoue scored the winner in the 89th.

That gave us a striking confidence that remains until now, and after a similar escape to Sparta with goals in the 76th and 82nd, perhaps the greatest match of all was the 4-1 win over title challengers Vitesse away. If that wasn’t enough to distance ourselves from the pack, then a 2-0 win (again both 2nd half goals) over surprise overperformers ADO Den Haag confirmed it in the very next match.

In the KNVB Beker we hammered the unpronounceable IJsselmeervogels 5-0 with a great display from Vdovenko (hat-trick) and a debut goal from centre-back Cláudio, but fielding the backups again against Heracles nearly went wrong as we went into half-time trailing 1-0. I had to pull Rahlfs from the bench to turn it around…

In Europe it didn’t start particularly promising as we had to fight hard to beat Olympiacos 2-1, Rahlfs red carded; then we lost in Russia 2-1 despite not disgracing ourselves, but the trip to the Bernabéu ended with a heavy 4-0 loss, as clearly we are not suited to playing ultra-defensive like I tried. However I sat amazed as we beat Real 2-0 in the return match (admittedly aided by a red card to my former Real signing Damián Lovera)!! And then the key match against Zenit at home went even better with an emphatic, dominant 3-0 win. A trip to Greece remains but as long as we don’t lose, or Zenit don’t beat Real, we’re through.

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – No bad form patch as he had last season this time of the year, on the contrary he by now sums a scarcely believable 23 goals and 14 assists on 21 matches! His best partner in creating goals has been left-winger Gergely Köllð who too already has 5 goals and 13 assists.

Competitions

Eredivisie:

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Vitesse 3-0 last August.

KNVB Beker: Next up are Utrecht on the fourth round (last 16), at home again. Our reserves team Ajax 2 amusingly are still in the competition after knocking out Eredivisie sides AGOVV and Roda!

Champions League:

Summary

This has been a spectacular beginning of the season, very rarely have I been this dominant in FM, the only time I remember blitzing the league like this was with Praiense in my FM11 career when I also had 15 wins in 15 (then amusingly failed to get promoted in the playoffs).

What I’m most happy about is Europe however, as beating my former super-Real side was fantastic, and now we’re a small step from qualification.

[noikeee]

Shows how good and how highly regarded he is. Last year he was already shortlisted but wasn't one of the favorites. Remarkable for a Dutch league player but then again he was World Cup top scorer and scored the winner in the Euros final, so it's not a huge surprise given his national team achievements.

Lovera and Pedro Ribeiro I both signed them for Real 5 years ago. I remember at the time I also bid for Cazzaniga (Italian forward) but he preferred Man City!

[deltablue]

Great improvement this year.

[noikeee]

Great improvement this year.

I'm very happy with it!

[noikeee]

A thrilling night of Champions League football ends with qualification past the group stage, as we turn around a 2-0 defficit into a 2-3 lead, then had to score the winner after the Greeks equalized again. This result ensured we didn't need to worry about the other match but Zenit drew 1-1 with Real anyway. We go through in 2nd place with 12 points, 1 behind Real.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Great season Noikeee.

[noikeee]

Great season Noikeee.

Thanks, we're beating my own expectations so far.

[noikeee]

Rahlfs didn't make it, but came so close:

Truly special stuff for a Dutch league player.

Meanwhile the team themselves grabbed a special achievement:

20 matches, 20 wins!! I believe this record lasted since the 1970s and the triple European Cup winning Ajax side with Cruijff...

[noikeee]

December 2025 – January 2026

Transfers (out)

Summer signing Peter McCarthy never made it on the left wing thanks to the freakish overperformance of Gergely Köllð, but I still made a profit on him selling him to Inter for 4.5M€. Likewise for 19 year old prospect Tihomir Sundalic, an attacking midfielder who has potential on theory but I don’t see how he’d ever fit my team – 6M€ move to Barcelona. Then striker Artem Vdovenko left to Marseille for 7M€, a transfer my chairman took care of, he had been complaining of too little first team football. Very good player and sold cheap, but no way on earth would I swap Rahlfs’ immaculate place on the starting 11 for him.

Transfers (in)

Marco Grote (M/AML) (1.3M€) – I didn’t really need to replace my third left-winger McCarthy with another player, but I have briefly worked with Marco before at Real Madrid (signed him as a kid for the B team) and he’s developed very well since, he was also cheap, puzzlingly unwanted at Villarreal. And he’s started his Ajax life well enough with 1 goal and 1 assist.

Ariel Marini (MC) (8.25M€) – This may have been a mistake given the huge price tag, this 20yo has great potential and half of Europe wanted him, but I’m not too sure he has the skill set to be a deep lying playmaker as my MC does in my tactic. Am retraining him to AMC.

Givi Chagelishvili (M/AMC / ST) (2.3M€) – I was hugely impressed with this 19yo wizard of playmaking lost in Georgia, so much I ignored my scouts advice and signed him. Now my staff rate him much higher than my world class scouts did. Could be a massive gem.

Younes Messaoudi (AMC) (1M€) – Yet another young playmaker, he is just 16 but completely worth the million euros.

Fixtures

100% record continues in Holland, as nothing our opponents do seems to stifle our buldoozing of the league. Groningen gave it a good go as our goal only arrived in the 76th minute, the 4-2 win away at fierce rivals Feyenoord greatly flatters us as it was an even match and we benefitted from 2 owngoals, but generally we’ve been unstoppable. Even more so in the cup as we shredded our closest title challengers, Vitesse, to pieces with a 4-1 win. This after in the previous round Jacques Adoue had the game of his life as he scored 4 and missed a penalty vs Utrecht.

Europe was covered before, the epic 4-3 win in Greece confirms qualification.

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – 30 matches, 34 goals, 19 assists, 13 man of the match awards, 8.15 average rating. The assists are already a new Ajax seasonal record.

Competitions

Eredivisie:

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Vitesse 3-0 last August.

KNVB Beker: next are Twente away in the semi-final. Heerenveen-PSV is the other fixture. Our reserve team Ajax 2 was only knocked out in the quarters and to Heerenveen on penalties!!

Champions League:

Now facing Dortmund in the first knockout round.

Summary

I’m not sure what motivates me more now, the possibility of a 100% record in the league (I’m sure I’m jinxing myself with this), Rahlfs’ colossal individual stats, or the Champions League run. But it sure has been fun.

Dortmund are a tricky opponent but not the worst possible. They do have a 33 year old Marco Götze who is still a beast (won 6 editions of the Ballon D’Or!!), and a few other world class players. But they haven’t broken past this round in the CL for a decade.

Funny is that my old clubs keep on meeting each other in the Champions League at this stage. Last season it was Tottenham-Real Madrid (Tottenham won), this time it’s Torino-Real Madrid. Yes Torino are still up there in Serie A, they’ve finished every season since I left in the top 5, but never won the title.

[noikeee]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm gutted. Really was starting to believe we'd make the end of the season without losing any points. 23 wins in the first 23 fixtures was still a bloody good run though.

[noikeee]

Brilliant win, tho the pressure will still be intense when we travel to Germany as it's not fully comfortable. Jacques Adoue is such a big game player, he does nothing all season then pops up in these fixtures. As a complete opposite Briceño seems to have a talent for scoring owngoals in these matches!!

[noikeee]

Brilliant offer, I'd love to manage Milan but no way I'm moving now. I was also offered a few weeks ago the Málaga job, and have been highly linked to Arsenal. I have however decided Ajax is my final club in this career.

[noikeee]

FFS! We were cornered in our own area the whole of the first half and were highly lucky to have only conceded 1. However for the 2nd half I told the team to stay narrower, and pass through the middle of Dortmund's flat 4-4-2 with our 4-5-1ish possession formation. It seemed to work great as we controlled the match, we missed 1 or 2 goals actually, and Dortmund had no more chances. Until the 90th minute, when they got the away goal completely against the run of play.

Rahlfs was out of this match suspended which clearly hindered us. But our fault for being a one-man team.

[deltablue]

Ouch, I know the feeling of just throwing it away at the end.

[noikeee]

Ouch, I know the feeling of just throwing it away at the end.

The worst was the feeling I had successfully turned around the match tactically, yet suffer a goal unfairly.

Last year we were knocked out from the Europa League by an 89th minute goal too, so it's not new. It's not like my players are too tired neither, that was only the case when I played the 4-4-2 wide diamond, works better at the beginning of matches as we press high, later on the team don't have the stamina for it.

[noikeee]

Ajax - youth intake 2026

Best player

I'm disappointed this time, lots of players with some potential in theory but their current stats are so shocking I can't see them ever becoming useful.

[noikeee]

February-March 2026

Fixtures

Oh dear, this was the time of the season everything crumbled. First it was the home defeat to Vitesse which ruined the very long run of wins (ended at 23 wins in the first 23 fixtures). A great away win over PSV then the 4-2 over Dortmund brough optimism again, but eventually our 2nd league defeat of the season to Heerenveen casted an air of doubt over our confidence for the return leg in the Champions League. And after a terrible first half in which we conceded 1 but could’ve conceded more, the 2nd half went much better – only to go out of Europe in the 90th minute.

This left us with only domestic trophies to pick up. The team bounced back expertly with a 6-0 rout of Helmond including a perfect 10.0 performance by Rahlfs who scored 5. However, the following fixture was the cup semi-final at Twente and unexpectedly we had a terrible day. 2-0 defeat, fair and square, we’re out.

A mere consolation came at NEC – 4-0 away win, and crucially, the thing we knew we were going to win all season long, with 4 games to go. AJAX RETAIN THE DUTCH TITLE!!

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – 50 goals and 22 assists. This man is on a whole different level.

Competitions

Eredivisie:

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Vitesse 3-0 last August.

KNVB Beker: knocked out by Twente with a 2-0 defeat in the semi-final.

Champions League: knocked out by Dortmund on away goals after a 4-4 score in the first knockout round.

Summary

That’s it, season over despite the fact there’s still the whole of April and May to come – albeit only 4 dead rubber fixtures remain. One motivation remains however: getting Rahlfs to score as many goals as possible.

[noikeee]

Rahlfs. Beating even 65 year old records.

[noikeee]

More records falling.

[noikeee]

April-May 2026

Fixtures

I’m quite disappointed to end the season on a downbeat note as we lost another 2 matches, this time to ADO Den Haag (using some youngsters) and Twente (first team, fair and square). There wasn’t a lot to play for, so there’s not much to say.

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – Final season numbers of 53 goals, 23 assists, 19 man of the match awards, 8.05 average rating.

Competitions

Eredivisie:

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Vitesse 3-0 last August.

KNVB Beker: knocked out by Twente with a 2-0 defeat in the semi-final.

Champions League: knocked out by Dortmund on away goals after a 4-4 score in the first knockout round.

Summary

Well, not the greatest way to finish but didn’t matter much. Time for planning the next season.

[noikeee]

Analysis, highlights and numbers – 2025/2026 season

Tactics and usual starting eleven

The 4-4-2 wide diamond is still the favoured formation for facing easy matches, but throughout most of the season I played like this. Bit of a return to the way I played throughout most of my career.

Squad

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Washington Vítola (MR) – I’m afraid he won’t want to come back for us for a 3rd season on loan, Fossati has been a great alternative to Vítola but he just grabbed a serious injury and we could be screwed there. 11 goals and 9 assists from the 20 year old Uruguayan prodigy.

4. Leandro Garcia (DR) – Key player as the right-back slot is clearly his own and no-one else comes close. One of my better signings (arrived last season).

3. Rubén Prieto (DC) – Briceño in theory is a better centre-back and Muralha is as good as him too, but he’s still my highest performer in defence.

2. Gergely Köllð (ML) – Suspensions and injuries ruined the 2nd part of the season for him, but until January or so he was clearly our biggest source of creativity. 8 goals and 19 assists.

1. Volker Rahlfs (ST) – Best season I've had from any player in my whole career. Since Westerlo and Remi Naert I haven’t built a team so clearly on a single player. 53 goals and 23 assists.

Match of the season

Ajax 2-0 Real Madrid

We’d just been beaten 4-0 in the Bernabéu, but this return leg showed that over one match we could beat any team in the world too – very few sides in the world are as good as the dream team I assembled personally for Real.

Career overview

[b]Season   Club (nation)     League (tier)                            Notes[/b]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/12    Delémont (SWI)    Challenge League (2) - 1st               Promoted
12/13    Delémont (SWI)    Axpo Super League (1) - 9th       
13/14    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 8th / EP group  
14/15    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 3rd             Belgian Cup finalists 
15/16    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 8th / EP final  Belgian Cup winners
16/17    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 3rd             Belgian Supercup winners
17/18    Westerlo (BEL)    Jupiler Pro League (1) - 1st             Champions + Belgian Cup winners
18/19    Torino (ITA)      Serie A (1) - 2nd                        Runner-ups + Italian Cup winners 
19/20    Torino (ITA)      Serie A (1) - 2nd                        Runner-ups + Italian Cup winners 
20/21    Real Madrid (SPA) La Liga (1) - 1st                        Champions + Spanish Cup winners +
                                                                   Europa League winners
21/22    Real Madrid (SPA) La Liga (1) - 1st                        Champions + Spanish Cup winners +
                                                                   Champions League winners + Spanish SC
22/23    Tottenham (ENG)   Premier League (1) - 2nd                 Runner-ups + FA Cup finalists 
23/24    Tottenham (ENG)   Premier League (1) - 1st                 Champions 
24/25    Ajax (HOL)        Eredivisie (1) - 1st                     Champions + Dutch Cup winners + Dutch SC 
25/26    Ajax (HOL)        Eredivisie (1) - 1st                     Champions + Dutch SC 

[noikeee]

I seem to be in high demand this Summer, do they not know I won't move?

Both offers came in the day this happened:

My time at Tottenham was a little underwhelming but I like to think I had a role in this. This is my team bar the Brazilian right-back Neto who I had on my shortlist for a long time and nearly signed him more than once.

[deltablue]

Amazing season, looking promising in Europe as well.

[B.W.G]

Done brilliant with Ajax in your two seasons in charge

[Nobby_McDonald]

On for the Dutch hat-trick.

[noikeee]

Amazing season, looking promising in Europe as well.

We just need to get rid of those late conceded goals...

Done brilliant with Ajax in your two seasons in charge

Thanks.

On for the Dutch hat-trick.

I would certainly be very disappointed if we missed the title next season, after dominating like this!

[noikeee]

World Cup 2026, hosted by Mexico

Golden Ball: Hussein Mihret (France)

Golden Show: Hussein Mihret (France), 7 goals.

(Dream Team)

Bizarre tournament to say the least. It was already bizarre before it started with Germany, Argentina and Portugal not making it to the cup. The groups then saw record low attendances below 1000 spectators. Then all the good sides faced each other in the 2nd round, leading to lots of surprise teams. To make it more surprising Bosnia destroyed Italy 4-0 in the quarters, going to the semis together with Costa Rica - who then promptly were humiliated 8-0 by France, surely the most one-sided result at this stage of the competition ever.

England made it to the final yet again but seem to be on a losing run now and lost the title to France just like they had done to Germany 2 years ago in the Euros. This meant Ajax forward Jacques Adoue became a World Champion! My former players Phil Jones, Andrew Storey, Sean Barker (Tottenham), Jean-Pierre Bertin and Stephan Oosting (Real Madrid) all made it to the Dream Team.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2026

Transfers (out)

A bit of a clear out again: winger Chen Wanzhe had broken a leg and sadly lost a lot of his football so I sold him, backups Dingaan Morfou, Osvaldo Vélez, Norbert Vincze and Marco Willemse weren’t really necessary anymore, and youngsters Adi Levi, Omur Dogan, Michael de Waard and Mustafa Lammers were never going to be top class. I also arranged paid loans for Hamood Abdulla Ahmed, Lucas Berendsen, Agustín Rivas, Dennis Splinter and Leonardo Maidana.

The fans got mad at me for also selling club favourite Filip Jankovic but he was paid overblown wages and was getting a bit old. Then fullback Daniel Erjavec was still useful, but he wouldn’t renew his contract. However the big sale of the Summer was Ariel Marini for 10.5M€. The kid has big potential but I never figured out how I was going to use him, better sell him whilst I can still get a profit.

Total income from tranfers: 30M€.

Transfers (in)

Dzelaludin Beslija (M/AMR) (5M€) – Frankly I overpaid as he's not great, but I was a bit desperate for another right-winger given Washington Vítola unfortunately didn’t accept a 3rd year on loan neither a full-time transfer – went to Milan instead.

Jevgenijs Pavliks (GK) (free) – Every year I seem to hire keepers but they never amount to anything, this time this Latvian international I poached on a Bosman from my local side Marítimo could very well steal Oltean’s place as a starter.

Almeida (DM / MC) (3M€) – Classy midfielder who was no longer utilized by Milan but sure will be here. He’s not the top robust DM I looked for all Summer though.

Edip Sincar (AMC / M/AML) (3.8M€) – A few years back I gave him his first cap for Turkey at the age of 19 then bought him for Tottenham for a massive 20.5M€. However an injury and world class competition ruined his time at Tottenham, now they sell him at a massive loss – our massive gain as he’s immense.

Yoo Jae-Suk (DL / DRC, ML) (1.9M€) – Another former player and another unwanted at Milan. When he was 18 I hired him for Westerlo and briefly managed him for half a season before leaving Belgium. Now at the age of 26 he’s turned into a proper quality, highly versatile fullback. Bonus points for raising our marketing profile in Korea.

Renato Cunha (AM / MC) (3.6M€) – Definitely one attacking midfielder too many, but this 18yo has huge potential and is competent at right-winger where he may slot into the team.

As usual several youngsters arrived, namely Serbian 16yo DM Nenad Perisic, German 18yo AM Malte Kessler, Dutch 20yo left-back Thijs van Dijk, Czech 18yo striker Michal Dejmek, and Israeli 18yo DM Damián Rimoldi.

Total fee spent: 17.5M€.

Finances

Another huge profit on the transfer market, plus the Champions League money, plus extra revenue from the big stadium expansion leaves our bank account with an excellent 34.5M€.

This means I still have an unused 17.6M€ for transfers but I’m saving for whenever I find a truly great player that can boost our squad.

Squad for the 2026-2027 season

Big squad with lots of youngsters that will rotate in the reserves as usual. I brought back a few kids from loans or from the U19s so that’s why there’s a few new names.

Fixtures

As usual, a trophy to start the season – Twente were tough to break down last season as they beat us in both the cup and the league but this time things were a lot easier and we ran comfortable 3-1 winners - AJAX WIN THE DUTCH SUPERCUP YET AGAIN!

Picking up on that good vibe, we’ve been highly impressive in the first few league matches. The derby against rivals Feyenoord was tense and we only decided it in the 2nd half, thanks to a tremendous bicycle kick goal by Jacques Adoue. However the other games have been a breeze – 4-0, 6-0 and 4-0…

Player on focus

Volker Rahlfs (ST) – It always has to be him, isn’t it? 7 goals and 5 assists in 5 matches.. Jacques Adoue has been on freakish form too and the recent World Cup winner has 4 goals and 5 assists.

Competitions

Eredivisie: 1st place at the moment with 12 points and 17-1 on goals after 4 matches.

Jordi Cruijff Schaal: champions after beating Twente 3-1.

KNVB Beker: Hosting De Treffers for our first match.

Champions League: I complained last year, well this time we have to face Bayern, Man Utd and Anderlecht in the group. Fu*king hell!

Summary

Not the greatest Summer of transfers ever but Sincar is a great coup and there’s a few other interesting players, and indeed the team seems to be on a roll again after the downbeat note of the end of last season. However we really couldn’t have got a more ridiculous Champions League group.

[noikeee]

Adoue's wonder goal in the derby at Rotterdam:

[video=youtube_share;L_jKPJQcD38]

[BadManager]

2025-26 was quite a season in the league. That will be very tough to top. As well as the hattrick of title, is 50 goals for Rahlfs an attainable target? I presume you want the cup and a longer champions league run this time out as well. Doing very nicely indeed.

[noikeee]

2025-26 was quite a season in the league. That will be very tough to top. As well as the hattrick of title, is 50 goals for Rahlfs an attainable target? I presume you want the cup and a longer champions league run this time out as well. Doing very nicely indeed.

My motivation here is fully to (eventually) win the Champions League with Ajax, so yes Europe is the main focus altho a group with Bayern and Man Utd really could cut us shorter than last year. Regaining the Dutch cup is a distant afterthought, I'm not too concerned about that.

As for Rahlfs, given he scored 53 last year yes 50 seems an attainable target. Unless you mean 50 in the league which is only 5 more than what he scored, but that seems a little extreme in just 34 fixtures. He would have to miss injury all season long (tho he is very resistant to injury) and play even better. He has just learnt "likes to try to beat the offside trap" tho and that may make him even more effective, who knows.

[BadManager]

I did mean 50 in the league. Tough to do, but not that big an improvement on what he just did - if, as you say, he stays fit. It would be quite some feat.