bestbrother Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 BIRMINGHAM CITY Its Brum or Bust with one of Englands biggest clubs. The journey to the top begins here, the Blues rightful place is in the Premier League... the City deserves top flight football, forget the impostors..... Its Blues or nothing! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 (edited) Part 1 - The Gamble... Today Football League 2nd Division (2019/20) Pre-season The premise for our season was plain and simple, ship out the dross (i.e. everyone) and rebuild the squad top to bottom with experienced Championship talent. We would raise the best part of £40,000,000 towards that effort, notable sales seeing Jude Bellingham leave for Man. City (£7.75m) and Maxim Colin take his chances in China with DL Pro for over £8m. It gave us enough room to start the new era at the club as we would invest over £150,000,000 into the playing staff to give us a small yet quality looking squad. In no particular order, the arrivals included; Tom Ince, Jack Butland, Ivan Toney, Alex Pritchard, Lyle Taylor, Jed Wallace, Said Benrahma, Barry Douglas, Alex Mowatt, Jake Cooper, Ebere Eze, Pelly Mpanzu, Kyle Bartley and Rico Henry (individual fees listed below in Transfer Centre). In total near on 50 players would leave the club either for a fee or released from their contract, the streamline approach focused on 1st team ready footballers but they had to produce. The season (pre January Window) Lets be honest here, it was tough trying to gel a new bunch of players together into an old fashioned 4-4-2. Our opener saw Brentford rattle us 1-4, as we began the season 4 without a win. That first victory came at the expense of Stoke, shortly followed by wins at Charlton and Derby as things looked to piece together heading towards the meat of winter. Alas October and November were a shambles. We would go on a 4 win, 8 loss skid as we flirted with relegation as any talk of 'form' was well and truly out of the window as we trudged toward the new year. Back to back away wins over Christmas brightened the mood as Hull and Blackburn showed pity on us, but as January came and went, only a 4-0 home win over Cardiff kept the wolf from the door as we languished in 15th and in desperate need of change. The January Window And change was a coming. The owners knew that leaving it as a £150,000,000 punt was silly, if you want to win big, you go big and you hedge your bets... that hedge would cost them another £200,000,000 as Sky Sports began to broadcast their deadline day specials from St. Andrews. Again with fees listed below, our signings included; Lloyd Kelly, Ollie Watkins, Jeffrey Schlup, Conor Mahoney, Cauley Woodrow, Britt Assombalonga, Marcus Bettinelli, Josh Murphy, Matty Cash, Dominic Iorfa, Emyr Huws, Luke Ayling, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Sean Morrison and then most excitingly of all, the English International midfield pairing of Jonjo Shelvey and Jack Wilshere. Chasing the Playoffs We had a new look squad, the board had agreed that we needed to up our stakes and that our now eye-watering £1,400,000 per week wage bill was the right thing to do in order to reach the promised land of First Division football. There were 16 games to go, so no time to slack. We got off on the right foot, beating Forest and Bristol City, whilst a 3-3 draw at Barnsley was a mere stutter as Brentford and Sheff Weds were dealt with at home. Yet draws would become a problem for us. 3 of them coming in a row as we left London with work to do as Millwall, QPR and Fulham all kept us at bay. However we were becoming hard to beat and that run broke the 10 game mark as we beat Huddersfield at home to move into the Top 6 for the first time this season. Things would again fluctuate as draws once more slowed us down, Stoke (a) and Charlton (h) the culprits here, but the reality was if we beat Preston and Derby to finish the season, we would have done enough to make the lottery of playoff football. PNE showed little threat as our 2-0 win at Deepdale left things nicely poised for a final day showdown. St. Andrews would be packed to the rafters as relegated Derby arrived and soon wished they hadnt, as Premier League quality Shelvey started the scoring, before Premier League quality Wilshere finished it as our 5-0 romp proved to be our best win yet and a sealing of our place in the playoffs. Playoffs Here we go then, playoffs or pray-offs as they are commonly known. Its Brentford for us as Assombalonga does the business in the home leg as we take a slender 2-1 lead to Griffin Park. Leg 2 and its 3-1 on agg. as Matty Cash roasts one home, the hosts gain hope late with another penalty strike but its not enough for them as we put them to one side and gear up for a trip to the Twin Towers and a tie against QPR. Nearly 50,000 Brummies invade the capital, expecting their dreams to be realised... yet they were soon in tatters as QPR led thanks to a Jamie Paterson dink. The 2nd half had to be different and it was, Ollie Watkins who barely featured for us since his move, would tie things up as 1-1 would be the scoreline heading through FT and then ET.... Promotion would be decided from the spot! QPR first and when Marc Pugh missed with their 2nd kick the Blues were singing... it didnt last long as Woodrow scuffed our 2nd and we were back to square one. The ball hit the net through the next 5 takers, then when Grant Hall scored for the Hoops to make it 7-6 it was our turn. We wished it wasnt, Jake Cooper stepped up, missed and that was it. Promotion didnt happen, our miracle run of 16 undefeated counted for little. There would be time to reflect and dissect in the coming weeks, but for now, its heartbreak for the Love-able Blues. Second City Derby Nothing to see here, somehow Villa are in the top flight and a quick nosey at how they got on this season, shows me that next year (unless drawn together in the Cup) we will not play 'the Vile'. The F.A. Cup A straight forward 3rd Round exit here, we drew Chelsea away and fell short losing 1-3 with all the goals coming before the half. The Milk Cup A mazy run to the Last 16 here saw us dispatch lower league Ipswich (via penalties), Newport (also via penalties) and then Stevenage as Benrahma spared our blushes with a hat trick in the final 10 minutes. Our hopes of progressing were dashed in the 4th Round as the Baggies shut us out 0-1 as one of our minor rivals got one over us here. Player Stats Transfers In/Out IN | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/7/2019 | Jack Butland | Stoke | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/7/2019 | Ivan Toney | Peterborough | £5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/7/2019 | Alex Pritchard | Huddersfield | £7.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/7/2019 | Lyle Taylor | Charlton | £7.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/7/2019 | Jed Wallace | Millwall | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2019 | Saïd Benrahma | Brentford | £20M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 26/7/2019 | Barry Douglas | Leeds | £7.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 26/7/2019 | Alex Mowatt | Barnsley | £7.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 26/7/2019 | Jake Cooper | Millwall | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2019 | Ebere Eze | QPR | £20M | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/8/2019 | Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu | Luton | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/8/2019 | Kyle Bartley | West Brom | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4/8/2019 | Rico Henry | Brentford | £15M | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Lloyd Kelly | Bournemouth | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Ollie Watkins | Brentford | £18.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Jeffrey Schlupp | Crystal Palace | £4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Connor Mahoney | Millwall | £17.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Cauley Woodrow | Barnsley | £10M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Britt Assombalonga | Middlesbrough | £14M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Marcus Bettinelli | Fulham | £7.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Jonjo Shelvey | Newcastle | £7.75M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Josh Murphy | Cardiff | £18.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Matty Cash | Nottm Forest | £18.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Dominic Iorfa | Sheff Wed | £14M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Emyr Huws | Ipswich | £7.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Luke Ayling | Leeds | £15M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Bright Osayi-Samuel | QPR | £18.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Jack Wilshere | West Ham | £8.75M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Sean Morrison | Cardiff | £14M | OUT | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/6/2019 | Harlee Dean | Bournemouth | £6.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2019 | Joshua Bradley-Hurst | Ross County | £10K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2019 | Adan George | QPR | £90K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/7/2019 | Maxime Colin | DL Pro | £8.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/7/2019 | Jude Bellingham | Man City | £7.75M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/7/2019 | Oumar Traore | Derby | £34.5K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/7/2019 | Ryan Stirk | Middlesbrough | £59K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6/7/2019 | Ryan Burke | Fulham | £32K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2019 | Kristian Pedersen | Frankfurt | £3.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2019 | Cheick Keita | Atlanta United | £450K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13/7/2019 | Jérémie Bela | Preston | Ln Fee £150K p/m | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/7/2019 | Ivan Sunjic | Al-Ahli (KSA) | £3.9M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2019 | Wes Harding | NY Red Bulls | £1.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2019 | Josh McEachran | Stoke | £1.9M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2019 | Lukas Jutkiewicz | QPR | Ln Fee £150K p/m | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/8/2019 | Kerim Mrabti | West Brom | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/8/2019 | Jacques Maghoma | Huddersfield | £925K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/8/2019 | Connal Trueman | Stevenage | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/8/2019 | Dan Crowley | Barnsley | Ln Fee £150K p/m | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/8/2019 | Marc Roberts | Bristol City | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2020 | Maikel Kieftenbeld | Brentford | £1.8M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2020 | Tom Ince | Crystal Palace | £6.25M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2020 | Alex Pritchard | Middlesbrough | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/2/2020 | Gary Gardner | Vancouver | £1M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 5, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 I see Toney didn't score many for you. He only scored 9 goals for me in my Brentford save. Maybe Championship is too much for him or maybe I wasn't using him properly. I sold him in 2nd season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Very good effort in season one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 17 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said: Very good effort in season one. For a complete rebuilding job and from where we were in January, I was happy to make the playoffs, we just fell shy of success at the last hurdle. 23 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: I see Toney didn't score many for you. He only scored 9 goals for me in my Brentford save. Maybe Championship is too much for him or maybe I wasn't using him properly. I sold him in 2nd season. Toney wasnt as good as I hoped... change may be coming on that front, especially as Assombalonga slotted in nicely to our front 2. Thanks both for reading 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) Part 2 - We Go Again... Endsleigh Football League First Division (2020/21) Pre-season There is usually only one way to cure heartbreak and thats to spend a fortune on ice cream and chocolate. Well in football food isnt going to get you anywhere, so we decided to invest into the squad instead, spending over £200,000,000 (3rd highest in Europe) as our summer spree re-invigorated everyone at the club. As usual the incomings were tempered with outgoings; notably we sold on Ivan Toney, Barry Douglas and Alex Mowatt all to newly promoted QPR. Other big sales saw Ollie Watkins and Lyle Taylor swap Brum for Derby as in total we raised just shy of £60,000,000 on shifting out deadweight from the squad. However the real excitement was who was arriving at St. Andrews. We would smash the club transfer record by spending £38,500,000 on Rhian Brewster, whilst adding Harry Wilson in another £30,000,000 deal from Liverpool. Boufal and Reed arrived from Southampton, as well as the enigmatic Ismaila Sarr from relegated Waford. In total 15 new faces joined the squad, the cost puts our total spending since arriving at the club to over half a billion, whilst we now sit on a £1,600,000 per week wage bill. The season (pre January Window) Our start was almost perfect. 5 wins from our opening 6 fixtures saw us well in place alongside favourites Newcastle and Watford. Yet that was as good as it would get, as once again our run toward Christmas was littered with mis-fires and inconsistency. Only 6 more wins would come before the year was out as both November and December saw us collect just 1 win as we became easy pickings and sat crammed in a congested mid table place. The January Window Was boring, why? Well the club announced that its debt situation had become overwhelming. Rumours swirled that the club was to go into Administration. The current owners took out a £60,000,000 loan to combat the problem, but all that saw was the club remove all transfer budget and slash the 'allowed' wage bill to under £500,000 per week... something we would never be able to meet. Fortunately we were able to prevent any players leaving, but once again, a huge turnaround would be needed to get us back into the promotion picture. New Owners! It had to come as the Chinese just couldnt drum up the funds to keep the club going. So with rumours abound, it was a consortium backed by Rosemary Johnson who took charge of proceedings. The hope was that money would wash over the club, sadly that came to nothing and instead a £267,000,000 loan was taken out to secure the clubs immediate future. We wont know the full impact of this takeover until the summer, but depending on what league we are in, it could be a green sprout of hope for all Bluenose supporters. Chasing the Playoffs and more... We came back and a draw at Watford would be seen as a good result. The ripple of confidence began to swell and 7 wins from our next 9 put us right back into the mix. That run would see us win 4-0 at Forest and then stun Newcastle 5-1 at St. James to really signal our intent. A stuttering 0-2 loss at Luton slowed us down, but that would be the last league defeat of the year for us as we would go on a 10 game unbeaten run to clinch our playoff place. Infact with 3 to play there was an outside sniff of the automatic places... however a 1-1 draw at home to Reading put paid to those hopes, leaving us in the playoff lottery for the 2nd straight season. Playoffs Deja-vous... why? Well its Brentford again as they will look not only to get revenge but also punish us for signing any decent player they have had! 1st leg at the Bees new ground and an early strike from Karlan Grant set the table, as the hosts couldnt live with our up tempo game as we all but sealed another trip to Wembley on the back of a 3-0 win. Back home and a sellout saw us see the tie out, it was goalless on the night but we were ready to line up the coaches to London once more. Our foe in the Final this time, Nottingham Forest. During the season we had beaten them both times, 1-0 at home and that 4-0 away win at the turn of the year. Now you may remember last year penalties ended our chances and this year a penalty would again sway the tie. Unfortunately for us, it was a Lewis Grabban strike that would earn Forest a 1-0 win and a return to the Premier League. Back to back playoff final losses sting, but with new owners and a potential stable financial outlook, the hope is that we can add some more quality to the squad and Go Again! To bring top flight football back to Birmingham. Second City Derby Still no derby and again Villa stayed up, this time by 4 points so we will continue to wait for our chance to get one over 'that lot' The F.A. Cup A dream run that ended in what would be a 2nd of 3 Wembley defeats suffered under my tenure. We edged out top flight QPR in the 3rd round, before romping past Rotherham to setup another Premier League opponent in Burnley. The Clarets had little to trouble us and our 2-0 win put us into the last 8 and a dream tie at home to Manchester United. St Andrews was rammed, there were kids hanging off the floodlights as the unofficial attendance was rumoured to be nearer 50,000. Those fans would leave with huge smiles as we held our nerve to beat them on penalties after a pulsating 0-0 draw. That sent us off to Wembley and for 80 minutes we looked as if we could push Chelsea all the way. Sadly tired legs crept in and Giroud would score a 10 minute hat trick to end our dreams and continue our Wembley hoodoo.... The Milk Cup A changed lineup and a sloppy performance saw us lose to the MK Dons on penalties to cut our run very short. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Last 5 Games | CON/SHP | Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat| | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Jack Butland | GK | Good | | | Delighted | 55 | 0 | 0 | 6.79 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Jack Wilshere | M (C), AM (RLC) | Excellent | | | Very Happy | 28 (8) | 2 | 2 | 6.85 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | FtT | Jake Cooper | D (C) | Extremely Good | | | Delighted | 42 | 3 | 1 | 7.13 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Inj | Dwight Gayle | ST (C) | Excellent | | | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Prm | Jed Wallace | M (R), AM (RC) | Really Good | | | Concerned | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.83 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Luke Ayling | D/WB (R) | Excellent | | | Concerned | 3 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Jonjo Shelvey | DM, M (C) | Perfect | | | Satisfied | 14 (16) | 2 | 3 | 6.86 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Robbie Brady | D/WB (L), M (RL), AM (L) | Superb | | | Concerned | 11 (14) | 3 | 2 | 6.78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Ryan Fredericks | D/WB/M/AM (R) | Very Good | | | Concerned | 16 (10) | 1 | 2 | 6.87 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ben Osborn | D/WB (L), M (LC), AM (L) | Excellent | 6.74 | 100% | Concerned | 1 (6) | 1 | 0 | 6.77 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Cauley Woodrow | AM (C), ST (C) | Superb | 6.62 | 100% | Concerned | 4 (22) | 5 | 1 | 6.86 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Harry Arter | DM, M (C) | Extremely Good | 6.78 | 91% | Concerned | 20 (4) | 2 | 5 | 6.88 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Sean Morrison | D (C) | Excellent | 6.96 | 100% | Satisfied | 25 (4) | 0 | 0 | 6.92 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Bright Osayi-Samuel | M/AM (RL) | Extremely Good | 6.98 | 89% | Concerned | 21 | 5 | 4 | 7.09 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ebere Eze | M (LC), AM (RLC) | Extremely Good | 6.86 | 74% | Delighted | 39 (11) | 10 | 3 | 6.99 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Lloyd Kelly | D (LC) | Extremely Good | 6.98 | 84% | Concerned | 17 (7) | 0 | 0 | 6.83 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Simone Scuffet | GK | Good | 6.74 | 100% | Alienated | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.80 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Saïd Benrahma | AM (RL), ST (C) | Extremely Good | 7.16 | 100% | Concerned | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 6.60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Bryan Mbeumo | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | Excellent | 6.70 | 100% | Concerned | 1 (7) | 0 | 1 | 6.66 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Diego Rico | D/WB (L) | Very Good | 7.20 | 80% | Delighted | 48 | 5 | 2 | 7.06 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Sofiane Boufal | AM (RLC) | Poor | 6.60 | 100% | Alienated | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu | DM, M (C) | Extremely Good | 7.26 | 100% | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ethan Pinnock | D (C) | Good | 7.24 | 96% | Concerned | 9 | 0 | 1 | 7.29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Britt Assombalonga | ST (C) | Really Good | 7.14 | 92% | Delighted | 23 (15) | 12 | 5 | 6.96 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dominic Iorfa | D (RC), WB (R) | Extremely Good | 7.08 | 80% | Delighted | 37 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.98 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Harry Wilson | M/AM (RLC) | Exceptional | 7.20 | 86% | Delighted | 35 (6) | 4 | 16 | 7.30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rhian Brewster | AM (RL), ST (C) | Perfect | 6.50 | 94% | Delighted | 45 (3) | 8 | 7 | 6.85 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Harrison Reed | DM, M (RC), AM (R) | Extremely Good | 6.88 | 89% | Delighted | 49 | 1 | 9 | 7.10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Josh Murphy | M (L), AM (RL) | Excellent | 6.84 | 100% | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Karlan Grant | AM (RL), ST (C) | Really Good | 7.56 | 84% | Delighted | 36 (4) | 18 | 4 | 7.21 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Matty Cash | D/WB/M/AM (R) | Superb | 6.92 | 87% | Delighted | 47 (2) | 1 | 7 | 6.96 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ismaïla Sarr | M (R), AM (RL), ST (C) | Very Good | 7.08 | 78% | Satisfied | 16 (12) | 4 | 3 | 7.00 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Sofiane Boufal | Southampton | £7.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Diego Rico | Bournemouth | £8.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Bryan Mbeumo | Brentford | £15M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Simone Scuffet | Udinese | £7.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Karlan Grant | Huddersfield | £16M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Dwight Gayle | Newcastle | £2.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Harrison Reed | Southampton | £19.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Harry Arter | Bournemouth | £3.9M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Rhian Brewster | Liverpool | £38.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Harry Wilson | Liverpool | £30M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Ben Osborn | Sheff Utd | £2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Ryan Fredericks | West Ham | £5.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Robbie Brady | Burnley | £7.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Kyle Bartley | Birmingham | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Ismaïla Sarr | Watford | £28M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/6/2020 | Odin Bailey | Newcastle | £1.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/6/2020 | Steve Seddon | Sunderland | £450K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/6/2020 | Josh Dacres-Cogley | Lincoln | £45.5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21/6/2020 | David Davis | Swansea | £89K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/6/2020 | Clive Beale | Burnley | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/6/2020 | Lukas Jutkiewicz | QPR | £2.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/6/2020 | Barry Douglas | QPR | £4.5M (£5.25M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/7/2020 | Rico Henry | Bournemouth | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2020 | Fran Villalba | Famalicão | £4.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2020 | Alex Pritchard | West Brom | £1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2020 | Jérémie Bela | Alavés | £4.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2020 | Alex Mowatt | QPR | £11M (£12.75M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2020 | Ivan Guzmán | Portsmouth | £350K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/7/2020 | Kerim Mrabti | Inter Miami | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/7/2020 | Dan Crowley | Inter Miami | £3.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2020 | Darren Humphreys | Newcastle | £300K (£825K) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2020 | Lee Maxwell | Southampton | £35K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2020 | Adam Siviter | Livingston | £14.25K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2020 | Michael Luyambula | Sheff Utd | £50K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2020 | Marc Roberts | Famalicão | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2020 | Agus Medina | Portsmouth | £275K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2020 | Charlie Lakin | Blackpool | £46.5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2020 | Clement Bouvier | Scunthorpe | £41.5K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2020 | Jeffrey Schlupp | Brøndby IF | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2020 | Marcus Bettinelli | Famalicão | £2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19/7/2020 | Connor Mahoney | Burnley | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/7/2020 | Ollie Watkins | Derby | £7.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25/7/2020 | Zach Jeacock | Middlesbrough | £25K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Álvaro Giménez | Preston | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Lyle Taylor | Derby | £4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2020 | Emyr Huws | Bristol City | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 5, 2020 by bestbrother 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 7, 2020 Author Share Posted August 7, 2020 (edited) Part 3 - Project Promotion... Nationwide Football League Division One (2021/22) Pre-season After 2 consecutive heartbreaking playoff losses we knew that the only way to overcome that was to re-charge the squad with quality and depth that we have lacked. Sadly our pre-season got off to the worse start possibly as Ismaila Sarr was snatched by Burnley on a free transfer, as they activated his £0 non-promotion release clause as soon as our Wembley loss was confirmed. We then proceeded to shake things up, raising just shy of £60,000,000 in sales as we cut our losses on some of our squad players, whilst also letting Karlan Grant move on to Cardiff in a deal rising to £19,000,000. All these deals allowed us to make our own moves and although we only spent £131,000,000 this window, we added alot of quality as we raided Premier League squads to sign players of the ilk such as; Josh King, Philip Billing, Wesley Hoedt, Josh Brownhill, Marko Pjaca, Andreas Pereira and excitingly the young Moise Kean to lead our line. We also added 43 year old Gianluigi Buffon to the mix as he chose to finally end his career with a spell in England as our number 2. The Season (pre-January Window) We started well, very well in fact winning 7 of our opening 8 games, keeping 6 clean sheets and racing to the top of the table as we head into October. We did then stutter with away defeats at Blackburn and Wigan, but they were mere blips as the goals rained in with Barnsley and WBA going down 3-0, whilst Millwall took 5 from our rampant attack. A Setback? Everything was rosey at St. Andrews but things behind the scenes began to hit the headlines, then after we had beaten WBA the news broke... Administration was confirmed, the club mired in a unsustainable £550,000,000 debt (and rising) the ownership had no other choice than to call in Administrators and the PFA to pay the players wages. All of this destroyed our hard work, the league imposed a 12pt deduction and we dropped from 1st to 8th as the clubs future looked uncertain. The Players React.... Now things could have gone either way at this juncture, fortunately the squad remained united in their goal to put right the wrongs of the past 2 years. With their wages guaranteed we would go on a 7 game winning streak as we collected 29pts from an available 33 to end the year and end it on top of the table! The January Window There was no room for us to do anything, our budgets were frozen and infact we were now liable to rogue transfers out, as the administrator looked to sell off anything he could. Fortunately the only major loss was Ethan Pinnock to Fulham, before a CVA was put in place to consolidate our debts down to just £150,000,000 and allow us to function as a club once more. Promotion Chasing... With the financial monkey now off our backs, thoughts returned to the pitch and how! January saw us go unbeaten, stretching our run to 16 games, before February rubber stamped our ambition as 6 wins and 5 clean sheets allowed us to romp clear, even with the 12pt handicap imposed. March again saw 0 losses, 26 games in total, leaving us just 1 win away from winning promotion and the title. However the bubble suddenly popped, Preston and Wigan beat us and we were left hanging on. Then on a Friday night, infront of the Sky cameras, Middlesbrough arrived at St. Andrews. The packed stadium sensed something special and it wasnt long before they would be on their feet singing... Wilson, Brewster, Pjaca and then Assombalonga all chipped in to seal a 4-0 win, promotion and the title. Our celebrations continued with 6 more goals at Millwall, but with our foot well and truly off the gas and our 2nd team given the honour to finish the season, we lost twice more (including a 1-6 humbling by Brentford) but nothing soured the mood as the Premier League would finally have the real Brummies in town. Second City Derby Now if promotion wasnt special enough, it was made even sweeter as the stupid 'Vile' are coming down. Birmingham is well and truly Blue once more! The F.A. Cup Last year our mazy cup run started by beating QPR in the 3rd Round, this year we started there again... and also ended there. The Rumbelows Cup A solid cup run as we edged past Southend on penalties, before scoring for fun in wins over Ipswich and Watford. We should have beaten Brighton in the last 16, but would fall foul of a Wilshere red card as our 1-0 lead was overturned and our hopes ended. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | CON/SHP| Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Ret | Gianluigi Buffon | GK | 99% | Happy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Jack Butland | GK | 98% | Delighted | 50 | 0 | 0 | 6.87 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Ben Gibson | D (C) | 91% | Alienated | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Sean Morrison | D (C) | 100% | Alienated | 9 (5) | 1 | 0 | 7.09 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Wesley Hoedt | D (C) | 95% | Delighted | 48 | 2 | 0 | 7.15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Lloyd Kelly | D (LC) | 95% | Alienated | 3 (8) | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ryan Fredericks | D/WB/M/AM (R) | 93% | Very Happy | 36 (2) | 5 | 8 | 7.36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Matty Cash | D/WB/M/AM (R) | 98% | Satisfied | 15 (3) | 2 | 4 | 7.00 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Isaac Hayden | D (R), DM, M (C) | 94% | Delighted | 47 (1) | 7 | 5 | 7.12 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Trevoh Chalobah | D (RC), DM, M (C) | 95% | Delighted | 42 | 4 | 1 | 7.12 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lst | Robbie Brady | D/WB (L), M (RL), AM (L) | 80% | Concerned | 29 | 1 | 1 | 6.71 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Antonee Robinson | D/WB (L) | 96% | Delighted | 31 (1) | 2 | 2 | 7.14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Loa | Diego Rico | D/WB (L) | 99% | Satisfied | 20 (1) | 1 | 1 | 7.05 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Jonjo Shelvey | DM, M (C) | 99% | Concerned | 1 (4) | 0 | 0 | 6.66 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Harry Arter | DM, M (C) | 100% | Concerned | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 6.50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Harrison Reed | DM, M (RC), AM (R) | 95% | Concerned | 1 (24) | 2 | 0 | 6.77 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Loa | Josh Brownhill | WB (R), M (RC) | | Concerned | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Philip Billing | DM, M (C) | 96% | Satisfied | 21 (14)| 2 | 1 | 6.86 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu | DM, M (C) | | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Agn | Bradley Dack | M/AM (C), ST (C) | 98% | Concerned | 1 (5) | 0 | 0 | 6.60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Spt | Jed Wallace | M (R), AM (RC) | | Concerned | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Marko Pjaca | M (L), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 86% | Delighted | 41 (1) | 9 | 10 | 7.14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Andreas Pereira | M/AM (RLC), ST (C) | 96% | Delighted | 44 | 5 | 17 | 7.37 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Harry Wilson | M/AM (RLC) | | Delighted | 44 (1) | 14 | 9 | 7.27 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jack Wilshere | M (LC), AM (RLC) | 97% | Concerned | 3 (12) | 0 | 2 | 6.67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Ebere Eze | M (LC), AM (RLC) | 94% | Unhappy | 2 (17) | 1 | 3 | 6.72 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Joshua King | M (L), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 98% | Concerned | 2 (20) | 3 | 0 | 6.71 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Rhian Brewster | AM (RL), ST (C) | | Delighted | 45 (1) | 18 | 7 | 7.11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Moise Kean | AM (RL), ST (C) | 94% | Delighted | 50 | 19 | 8 | 7.09 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Britt Assombalonga | ST (C) | 100% | Very Happy | 3 (25) | 6 | 0 | 6.82 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Dwight Gayle | ST (C) | | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2021 | Philip Billing | Bournemouth | £6.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2021 | Wesley Hoedt | Southampton | £5.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2021 | Bradley Dack | Blackburn | £18M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2021 | Gianluigi Buffon | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2021 | Trevoh Chalobah | Chelsea | £11.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2021 | Ben Gibson | Burnley | £8.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25/7/2021 | Josh Brownhill | Burnley | £3.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25/7/2021 | Isaac Hayden | Newcastle | £10.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25/7/2021 | Marko Pjaca | Leeds | £15M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Antonee Robinson | Wigan | £15M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Andreas Pereira | Man Utd | £12.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Ben Osborn | Birmingham | £800K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Robbie Brady | Birmingham | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Moise Kean | Everton | £20M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21/6/2021 | Bryan Mbeumo | QPR | £9M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/6/2021 | Bright Osayi-Samuel| Bristol City | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2021 | Sofiane Boufal | Angers | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2021 | Luke Ayling | Blackburn | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2021 | Kyle Bartley | Bristol City | £1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2021 | Josh Murphy | Famalicão | £4.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2021 | Álvaro Giménez | Millwall | £2.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2021 | Connor Mahoney | QPR | £10.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2021 | Emyr Huws | Millwall | £3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2021 | Saïd Benrahma | Huddersfield | £3.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14/7/2021 | Dominic Iorfa | Sheff Utd | £7.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/7/2021 | Karlan Grant | Cardiff | £11.5M (£19M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17/7/2021 | Cauley Woodrow | Rotherham | £825K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17/7/2021 | Simone Scuffet | Portsmouth | £1.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Ben Osborn | Stoke | £800K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2021 | Robbie Brady | CS Marítimo | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/1/2022 | Jake Cooper | Nottm Forest | £425K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2022 | Ethan Pinnock | Fulham | £6M (£7M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 7, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Bust, it looks like! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 (edited) Part 4 - Can We Survive... Barclaycard Premiership (2022/23) Pre-season We have reached the promised land, the pot of gold, riches that only the rich can dream of.. so with that in mind we had to ensure we remained at the dinner table to continue to feast with the others. The only way to do that? Spend big but wisely. As always we would balance the books with our departures, 16 left in the summer, 2 of which we didnt want to lose, that being Jack Butland on a bosman as he moved on to Spurs, whilst for some reason the board went over my head and let Harry Wilson move on to Norwich as we lost our top creative outlet. In total we would raise the best part of £70,000,000 in the clearout. Our incomings came in at another level. We looked for Premier League experience and we got that in waves. Lets get this out of the way, our spend was £340,000,000, a pittance compared to the TV money we will get, but still a significant outlay for Premiership debutants. The names would roll of the tongue as one by one they came through the hallowed halls of St. Andrews; Hojberg, Fred, Danny Ings, Danny Rose, Justin Kluivert, Diogo Dalot, Luke Shaw and Paco Alcacer to name but a few. We made clear our intentions, we are here to finish 17th and go again next year. The board fully backed the ambitious nature of our dealings and with our weekly wage bill now at £2,600,000 we are committed to survival. The Season (pre-January Window) It was a tough start for us, the Manchester clubs came to Birmingham and battered us 1-3 (City) and 0-5 (United) as we split those beatings by winning at the Dell. We followed that up with 3 straight draws, finally stopping our home setbacks by nicking a point off of Liverpool in a 2-2 thriller... then came the news... Here we go again! Just 12 days after the transfer window had closed, the board caved in. The ambitious move they made in order to give me a competitive team, appeared to have backfire... for the 2nd time in 2 years the Administrators made their way to St. Andrews and set up shop. Yet again we had been punished for daring to dream, our £500,000,000 debts needed clearing but on the field the team would face a -9pt deduction, leaving us on -3 for the season and looking up. The Players React.... If administration gelled the team in the Championship, the same couldnt be said for the Premiership. 4 straight defeats from the news left us in tatters. Home hammerings by Palace (0-3) and Chelsea (0-4) compounded our misery, as we would pick up 2 points from the 18 available. Fortunately we would stuff Newcastle before the World Cup break, but we would head into the new year on just 2pts and well adrift of the pack above. The better news coming from this break would be our exit from admin and a new CVA arranged for a mere £31,500,000 as we moved forward on a sound financial footing. The January Window We bode our time in order to get the right players here, January began with 3 straight defeats, before the biggest deal of our season was made as Nick Pope arrived from Burnley for £30,000,000 and things began to get organised. We would also cash back in on Danny Rose who never played a game for us whilst earning over £120,000 per week as we set out to make the squad more manageable. It was a dramatic change! We would win 4 on the spin all with clean sheets, as our gap to survival was closed and hope ignited. Burnley, Leicester and West Ham fell as we won 3 straight home games, before a confidence boosting win at Palace put us in charge of our own destiny. Can we stay up? 7pts from 15 in February was a decent return, highlighted by a 5-0 win at West Ham as we now could look down on the teams around us. March saw 2 wins from 3, that included a 3-2 home win over the Gunners, before April sealed our survival as we beat Tottenham and Wolves at home, coupling that with solid points at Blackburn and Newcastle. Our final pair of home games became goal gluts as we enjoyed pressure free football, stuffing Reading 4-0 and then a 6-1 beasting of Bournemouth inspired by 5-goal Brewster. Our season would end on the low of away defeats at Manchester United and Liverpool, but they were irrelevant, we had done enough and the fans enjoyed their days out. From the fear of being new, to the horror of administration and staring a negative points tally in the face, we turned things around in the new year to comfortably avoid the drop by 10pts, as our record (without the deduction) would have seen us finish 10th as we upset the applecart and established ourselves as a worthy Premiership foe. Second City Derby Here we go... not this year, but next.. the Vile are up, they blagged it in the playoffs but its on next year, the Second City Derby is back and its our time to shine. The F.A. Cup In and out as Liverpool conquered us AET. Disappointing but it came at a time when our form was poor and league survival counted for more. Capital One Cup Liverpool also beat us in the early stages of the League Cup. The 2-3 loss in front of the cameras gave the nation some enjoyment but we had bigger fish to fry. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Last 5 Games | CON/SHP | Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat| | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Loris Karius | GK | Quite Good | 6.84 | 100% | Concerned | 23 | 0 | 0 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Nick Pope | GK | Fairly Good | 6.88 | 95% | Very Happy | 18 | 0 | 0 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ben White | D (RC) | Fair | 7.24 | 91% | Delighted | 38 | 2 | 0 | 7.04 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Wesley Hoedt | D (C) | Okay | 7.48 | 99% | Happy | 20 (2) | 0 | 1 | 7.01 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Matty Cash | D/WB/M/AM (R) | Poor | 6.88 | 100% | Alienated | 6 (1) | 0 | 1 | 6.88 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Pierre-Emile Højbjerg | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | Slightly Poor | 7.02 | 87% | Satisfied | 9 (23) | 1 | 2 | 6.83 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Isaac Hayden | D (R), DM, M (C) | Fairly Good | 6.72 | 100% | Concerned | 1 (11) | 0 | 0 | 6.71 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Trevoh Chalobah | D (RC), DM, M (C) | Slightly Poor | 7.08 | 92% | Delighted | 29 (2) | 2 | 1 | 7.05 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Bryan Cristante | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | Fairly Good | 7.10 | 77% | Delighted | 32 | 1 | 2 | 6.96 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Brandon Williams | D (RL), WB/AM (L) | Fairly Okay | 7.14 | 91% | Delighted | 33 (1) | 3 | 3 | 7.13 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Luke Shaw | D/WB (L) | Fair | 6.82 | 100% | Satisfied | 7 (4) | 0 | 0 | 6.83 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Diogo Dalot | D (RL), WB (R) | Fairly Poor | 6.74 | 78% | Delighted | 31 | 0 | 3 | 6.88 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Fred | DM, M (C) | Fairly Poor | 6.74 | 88% | Delighted | 39 | 4 | 0 | 6.96 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Marko Pjaca | M (L), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Quite Good | 6.80 | 100% | Concerned | 4 (15) | 2 | 0 | 6.70 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Andreas Pereira | M/AM (RLC), ST (C) | Quite Good | 6.62 | 99% | Very Happy | 12 (17) | 4 | 4 | 6.78 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Demarai Gray | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | Slightly Poor | 7.60 | 81% | Very Happy | 18 | 3 | 2 | 7.12 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Justin Kluivert | M/AM (RL) | Fairly Good | 7.52 | 84% | Delighted | 40 | 4 | 14 | 7.05 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Joshua King | M (L), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Fairly Okay | 6.70 | 100% | Concerned | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rhian Brewster | AM (RL), ST (C) | Fairly Good | 7.86 | 96% | Delighted | 25 (10) | 17 | 1 | 7.05 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Moise Kean | AM (RL), ST (C) | Superb | 6.66 | 100% | Satisfied | 11 (8) | 1 | 0 | 6.64 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Paco Alcácer | AM (L), ST (C) | Quite Good | 6.84 | 90% | Delighted | 32 | 9 | 1 | 6.95 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Neal Maupay | AM (L), ST (C) | Perfect | 6.68 | 95% | Satisfied | 11 (10) | 1 | 4 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Prm | Danny Ings | ST (C) | Okay | 6.56 | 100% | Alienated | 2 (6) | 0 | 0 | 6.60 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Fred | Man Utd | £22M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Danny Ings | Southampton | £40M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Neal Maupay | Brighton | £40M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu | Birmingham | £175K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Loris Karius | Liverpool | £8.25M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Danny Rose | Brighton | £20M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Ben White | Brighton | £30M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Brandon Williams | Newcastle | £30M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2022 | Justin Kluivert | Roma | £18M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/7/2022 | Diogo Dalot | Man Utd | £15.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2022 | Luke Shaw | Man Utd | £10.25M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17/8/2022 | Bryan Cristante | Roma | £17.25M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2022 | Paco Alcácer | Villarreal | £29M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2023 | Demarai Gray | Wolves | £15M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2023 | Nick Pope | Burnley | £30M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Sean Morrison | Portsmouth | £1.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Britt Assombalonga | Swansea | £7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2022 | Diego Rico | Bristol City | £1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/6/2022 | Ebere Eze | Reading | £8.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2022 | Jack Butland | Tottenham | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2022 | Harry Arter | Alavés | £725K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2022 | Jonjo Shelvey | Genoa | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2022 | Ben Gibson | Crotone | £2.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4/7/2022 | Harrison Reed | Norwich | £10.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/7/2022 | Robbie Brady | Rangers | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2022 | Bright Osayi-Samuel| Stoke | £1.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2022 | Lloyd Kelly | Watford | £2.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14/7/2022 | Ryan Fredericks | PAOK | £3.6M (£4.4M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 28/7/2022 | Bradley Dack | Real Valladolid | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4/8/2022 | Antonee Robinson | Getafe | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2022 | Harry Wilson | Norwich | £26.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6/1/2023 | Danny Rose | Chongqing | £10.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/1/2023 | Josh Brownhill | Nottm Forest | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/1/2023 | Philip Billing | Watford | £975K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21/1/2023 | Joshua King | Molde | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 8, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 8, 2020 Author Share Posted August 8, 2020 Part 5 - Premier League Act II... Premier League (2023/24) Pre-season Our first season back in the top tier of English football went rather well. We overcame our financial issues and left the 22/23 campaign on a solid footing, ready to go again with a summer overhaul of the squad. As always it was a case of sell to buy as once again we removed a gaggle of players who had no further part to play in our future. Deals to sell the likes of Danny Ings for £9,500,000 saw us take a £30,000,000 loss on our investment the previous summer, but we had to be committed to the project. Once again we ramped up our purchasing department offerings. We would spend £208,000,000 as Juan Foyth at £50,000,000 became the club record signing, whilst Zouma, Klostermann and Diop all came in at around the £40,000,000 mark as we focused on rebuilding the defence. However all our spending came to an abrupt end with the news that for the 3rd time, the club would be place into the hands of the administrators... The obligatory -9pt deduction was to come, but before that we would suffer 3 player losses as those in charge took control of our transfer dealings. Most importantly we would see Justin Kluivert make a £35,500,000 move to Spurs, as one of our better players from last year moved on without a fuss. We also lost the young Trevor Chalobah as Brighton took him on for just over £15,000,000. It was a harsh end to our summer dealings, fortunately the club once again secured its future with yet another CVA, but maybe there is a reality check in there for us as we again will start the season playing catchup with the rest of the league. The Season (pre-January Window) The squad was easily capable of good things this year, we just needed to work that bit harder to get on par with our peers. We began with a pair of defeats, before the first Second City Derby came our way with a trip to Villa Park. Once there, we had little to fear as Aston had very little change from us, leaving Paco Alcacer to score the games only goal and give us our first points of the campaign. We put on a typical lower half team run of results, nick a win or 2 (Reading and Brighton 1-0) before losing to the better sides, 1-4 at Anfield, 0-3 at the Etihad and losses at home to the EPLs North London residents. There was some joy at Christmas when we edge Manchester United out 2-1 to end the year on a high, but we remained in the dropzone thanks to our points deduction The January Window With the summer being a focus on our back line, in January we added quality to our attacking options. The experienced England star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his way to St. Andrews in a £42,000,000 deal, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek returning from Germany as we doubled up on our double-barrel signings. We then added a youthful look to the squad with Joe Willock coming in from Arsenal and Jovan Cabral from Sporting, to bring our winter spree to over £130,000,000. Pushing on The challenge now was to kick on in the 2nd half of the campaign. Sadly we won just twice going through February as we continued to kick the can around the relegation zone. Back to back home wins over West Ham and Leicester seemed to ignite a fire in the squad, but a tough run of fixtures saw us lose 4 on the bounce, to Everton, Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal, scoring just twice and conceding 11. With 3 to play we needed results and thankfully Villa were up next, as our gimme 3pts come in handy at the right time. We then knew a win over Southampton would be enough to remain a Premier League club, something we sealed with a comfy 2-0 win as we did enough to come in 14th, again without the points deduction our form would have rewarded us with a Top 10 finish. Second City Derby Oh dear Villa! Not only did we do the double, thanks to a pair of 1-0 wins, we also watched the 'Vile' go back down, 24pts adrift of us in 20th place. The F.A. Cup We are a little upset here as we should have had at least 1 trip to Wembley out of the FA Cup. We thumped our way past Huddersfield, Bristol Cuty and Forest to setup what should have been a winnable Q/F at Bournemouth. For some reason we failed to turn up and an early Lerma strike ended our cup hopes at the worst time. Capital One Cup There is something special about winning your first major trophy at a club and this was it! A run started back in August with a 5 goal shovelling of Bristol City, would come to a dramatic climax with a penalty shootout Semi Final win over Man. City and then a special 2-0 win in the Final over Man. United. Our English duo of Zaha and Loftus-Cheek would be the heroes of our Final win, but all round it proved to be a special night in Birmingham and a well deserved bus parade for the returning victors. Player Stats Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Last 5 Games | CON/SHP | Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Spt | Arijanet Muric | GK | Poor | 7.10 | 100% | Happy | - | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Nick Pope | GK | Really Good | 6.82 | 95% | Delighted | 49 | 0 | 0 | 6.84 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ben White | D (RC) | Good | 6.90 | 100% | Concerned | 7 (9) | 0 | 0 | 6.91 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Issa Diop | D (C) | Very Good | 6.96 | 89% | Delighted | 34 (5) | 1 | 0 | 6.99 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | PR | Juan Foyth | D (RC), DM | Excellent | 6.76 | 89% | Delighted | 43 | 3 | 1 | 6.95 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Pierre-Emile Højbjerg | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | Fairly Good | 6.64 | 95% | Concerned | 4 (27) | 0 | 3 | 6.71 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Bryan Cristante | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | Really Good | 7.02 | 85% | Delighted | 29 | 2 | 2 | 6.98 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Kurt Zouma | D (RC), DM | Quite Good | 6.66 | 99% | Concerned | 17 (9) | 1 | 0 | 6.88 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Brandon Williams | D (RL), WB/M/AM (L) | Fair | 6.78 | 100% | Concerned | 20 (7) | 1 | 1 | 6.78 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Spt | Luke Shaw | D/WB (L) | Okay | 6.82 | 84% | Happy | 23 (6) | 0 | 1 | 6.94 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Diogo Dalot | D (RL), WB (R) | Poor | 6.88 | 100% | Alienated | 18 (4) | 0 | 2 | 6.89 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Agn | Lukas Klostermann | D (RLC), WB (R) | Good | 6.84 | 92% | Delighted | 34 (6) | 0 | 1 | 6.80 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | PR | Fred | DM, M (C) | Very Good | 6.62 | 95% | Happy | 32 (8) | 2 | 6 | 6.86 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Ruben Loftus-Cheek | DM, M/AM (C), ST (C) | Extremely Good | 6.82 | 90% | Delighted | 20 (2) | 4 | 0 | 6.95 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | DM, M (RC), AM (RLC) | Very Good | 7.24 | 71% | Delighted | 19 | 1 | 2 | 7.12 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Joe Willock | DM, M (C), AM (RLC) | Good | 6.78 | 100% | Concerned | 0 (4) | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Marko Pjaca | M (L), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Abysmal | 6.68 | 100% | Concerned | 6 (7) | 2 | 0 | 6.76 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Wilfried Zaha | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | Good | 7.04 | 94% | Delighted | 41 | 15 | 4 | 7.15 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Demarai Gray | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | Really Good | 6.70 | 81% | Delighted | 39 (1) | 7 | 7 | 7.04 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jovane Cabral | M/AM (RL) | Excellent | 7.66 | 80% | Delighted | 24 | 4 | 11 | 7.38 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eddie Nketiah | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Abysmal | 6.64 | 95% | Delighted | 34 (12) | 6 | 4 | 6.82 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | PR | Rhian Brewster | AM (RL), ST (C) | Extremely Good | 6.78 | 100% | Satisfied | 2 (25) | 3 | 0 | 6.72 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Paco Alcácer | AM (L), ST (C) | Superb | 6.74 | 92% | Delighted | 42 (3) | 13 | 5 | 6.86 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/7/2023 | Juan Foyth | RB Leipzig | £50M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4/7/2023 | Kurt Zouma | Bournemouth | £40M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2023 | Lukas Klostermann | RB Leipzig | £40M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/7/2023 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | £28M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2023 | Arijanet Muric | Man City | £2.1M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/8/2023 | Issa Diop | West Ham | £38M | | 1/1/2024 | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Liverpool | £42M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2024 | Jovane Cabral | Sporting CP | £30M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2024 | Joe Willock | Arsenal | £19.25M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2024 | Ruben Loftus-Cheek | Wolfsburg | £40M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2023 | Loris Karius | Genoa | £4.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2023 | Matty Cash | Huddersfield | £275K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2023 | Danny Ings | Olympiacos | £9.5M (£11.75M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2023 | Moise Kean | Torino | £5.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2023 | Isaac Hayden | Brighton | £6M (£7.25M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2023 | Bradley Dack | Bristol City | £1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/8/2023 | Antonee Robinson | Norwich | £15.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19/8/2023 | Wesley Hoedt | AEK | £2.9M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 26/8/2023 | Justin Kluivert | Tottenham | £35.5M (£43M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2023 | Andreas Pereira | Everton | £5.25M (£6.5M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2023 | Trevoh Chalobah | Brighton | £15.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 (edited) Part 6 - Pair of Kings... Twist!?! Premier League (2024/25) Pre-season They say a good gambler knows when to stop, I say a good gambler goes home knowing he left a fortune on the table. Once again our transfer policy was to rip it up, start again, but bigger and better! Outgoings this year bought £97,000,000 into the coffers, a relief for some... but for us an excuse to go bigger. Out would go Fred, Demarai Gray, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot and Issa Diop, the latter bringing in a cool £45,000,000 from Chelsea. We had to go hard in replacing them and did so by smashing the clubs transfer record by giving the aforementioned Chelsea £74,000,000 of our hard earned for the lively Ethan Ampadu. He was joined by a raft of experience from home and abroad with the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Gabriel Barbosa, Harry Maguire, James Maddison and Marco Verratti all joining the Blues revolution. In total we would blow past the £300,000,000 mark for the summer window, our biggest single window spend as we have easily surpassed the £1,000,000,000 barrier in my 6 years at the club. The Season (pre-January Window) We began on an even-keel, but may as well not have as just 1 win in the opening 7 games left us in the drop zone, as hefty 1-4 and 1-5 defeats to the pair of Manchester clubs put us well and truly in place. 2 wins from 3 in October appeared to signal a revival, but 6 defeats and just 8 more points collected before the turn of the year left us facing another relegation battle. It was a case of nearly but not quite enough on the pitch, whilst off of it... Another financial crisis sparked a dramatic decision by the board. Our £4,000,000 per week spend on wages was considered an issue, but the plan to restrict us to a squad spend of £80,000 per week is going to be hard to adhere to, given that only 4 of our current squad earn under that amount on their own! The January Window What a boring time to be alive. There was nothing but cobwebs in our warchest, the board failing to see the long term objectives. We did move Hojberg out on loan, but i held off on any further sales as without being able to replace players, there was little point in weakening the squad. What Next? Once again man management would win the day, the squad came together and decided to fight our way out of the problems we faced. 3 straight wins saw us open up 2025 in the best way possible, as even Chelsea fell to our charms. In total we would go 8 undefeated, before a loss at the Dell only triggered a further run as we would win 3 from 4 and surge into the top half of the table. There was a glimmer of a European place ahead, but it wasnt to be as we lost out in a 7-goal thriller to Spurs, but wins over Norwich and Watford in the run in ensured a finishing place of 11th, our best finish since our return. Second City Derby Hang on? No Villa? Up the Blues! And guess what, no Vile next year either. The F.A. Cup Im fuming here because we should have put Ipswich away, but the whole situation was a farce. First off we played without a recognised GK as both Pope and Muric were sent on International duty. Then after going 1 up, we would miss an 82nd minute penalty, only to concede an equaliser in the 90th minute. Finally to top it off, we lost on Penalties as our League One opponents had one of the greatest days in their history. Worthington Cup We love a penalty shootout and won another by beating Reading. Sadly Championship side West Ham ended our short reign as Worthington Cup holders at St. Andrews. Europa Conference League Our first foray into Europe and it proved to be eventful and in the end unlucky. It began with a 7-2agg blitz of European stalwarts Nantes as we moved into the Group phase with ease. Once there, Besiktas, Genk and BATE awaited as once more we topped a bunch of regular continental outfits, winning the group with 4 wins that included a 3-2 clip at Besiktas and a 5-0 home win over Genk. In the knockout phase was smashed Malmo 7-1 on agg, but then with only 1 team everyone wanted to avoid in the Q/F, we would obviously draw them.... AC Milan! We gave it our best shot, but in the end we just lacked the experience to compete and lost both ties to crash out when a little bit of luck with the balls would have seen us reach the Final at least. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | CON/SHP| Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Arijanet Muric | GK | 99% | Happy | - | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Nick Pope | GK | 95% | Delighted | 55 | 0 | 1 | 6.86 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Harry Maguire | D (C) | 100% | Concerned | 14 (11)| 1 | 0 | 6.83 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ben White | D (RC) | 100% | Alienated | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 6.90 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Juan Foyth | D (RC), DM | 91% | Delighted | 38 | 2 | 2 | 6.88 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Pierre-Emile Højbjerg | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | 91% | Concerned | 14 | 1 | 0 | 7.03 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | 89% | Delighted | 37 | 3 | 2 | 7.04 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Bryan Cristante | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | 91% | Delighted | 41 (3) | 8 | 2 | 7.06 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Çaglar Söyüncü | D (C), DM | 84% | Delighted | 43 | 5 | 3 | 7.10 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Kurt Zouma | D (RC), DM | 100% | Concerned | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.80 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Brandon Williams | D (RL), WB/M/AM (L) | 100% | Alienated | 7 (3) | 0 | 0 | 6.78 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Juan Bernat | D/WB/M/AM (L) | 90% | Delighted | 49 | 3 | 7 | 7.17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Lukas Klostermann | D (RLC), WB (R) | 90% | Very Happy | 34 (7) | 0 | 3 | 6.97 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ruben Loftus-Cheek | DM, M/AM (C), ST (C) | 95% | Alienated | 4 (19) | 1 | 0 | 6.80 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Marco Verratti | DM, M (C) | 100% | Concerned | 1 (7) | 0 | 1 | 6.70 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Mattia Viviani | DM, M (C) | 89% | Delighted | 43 (1) | 1 | 4 | 7.00 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | DM, M/AM (RLC) | 92% | Delighted | 20 (28)| 3 | 4 | 6.87 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Joe Willock | DM, M (C), AM (RLC) | 90% | Alienated | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.65 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Wilfried Zaha | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | 99% | Very Happy | 14 (18)| 4 | 3 | 6.81 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | James Maddison | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 92% | Delighted | 29 (13)| 3 | 12 | 6.91 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Gonçalo Guedes | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | 96% | Delighted | 54 | 20 | 6 | 7.15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Jovane Cabral | M/AM (RL) | 87% | Delighted | 51 | 6 | 11 | 7.04 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Nicolas Pépé | M (R), AM (RL), ST (C) | 100% | Concerned | 0 (18) | 3 | 1 | 6.74 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Eddie Nketiah | AM (RLC), ST (C) | 100% | Concerned | 3 (10) | 1 | 0 | 6.66 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Gabriel Barbosa | AM (RLC), ST (C) | 90% | Delighted | 51 | 20 | 8 | 7.06 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Paco Alcácer | AM (L), ST (C) | 98% | Delighted | 25 (14)| 10 | 5 | 6.85 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13/6/2024 | Nicolas Pépé | Napoli | £12M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/6/2024 | Gabriel Barbosa | Real Madrid | £15M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/6/2024 | Juan Bernat | Liverpool | £20M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18/6/2024 | Harry Maguire | Man Utd | £10M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2024 | James Maddison | Leicester | £46.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2024 | Marco Verratti | PSG | £19.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2024 | Mattia Viviani | Atalanta | £43M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18/7/2024 | Çaglar Söyüncü | Leicester | £40M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/7/2024 | Ethan Ampadu | Chelsea | £74M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2024 | Fred | Birmingham | £11.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2024 | Demarai Gray | Galatasaray | £11M (£13.75M) | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/8/2024 | Luke Shaw | Tottenham | £26M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/9/2024 | Diogo Dalot | Roma | £3.1M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/9/2024 | Issa Diop | Chelsea | £45M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2025 | Pierre-Emile Højbjerg | Brighton | Loan | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 10, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 Part 7 - Something Borrowed, Something New, Something Blue! Premier League (2025/26) Pre-season For the first time under my tenure we did nothing, no new players arrived, a couple left but the upshot of our pre-season revolved around one decision... There it is, another points deduction, just the 5pts this time as FFP finally bites (how we havent fallen foul of that yet im unsure). So with the wage budget gone, no money left in the club and the same squad as last year (bar Nketiah and Zouma), we head into our 4th top flight campaign with yet more uncertainty around the Blues. The Season (pre-January Window) Minus 5 it was then, but within 3 games we were back positive as 2 wins and a draw had us take in our best EPL start in recent memory. Sadly that didn last and once again the heavy defeats rolled in, 0-3 @ Arsenal and then 1-4 @ Sheffield United. A win over Reading broke up our drab run of for, but when mid-December arrived and we had lost 1-5 to Chelsea, we had just 7 points on the board and look destined to fight another relegation battle. Then as we were heading into a January window which could have seen our team ripped apart, the club ownership surprisingly changed hands. Rosemary Johnson had enough trying to manage our vast portfolio of debts and 'cashed' in by selling the club to an Irish Consortium led by Jack Brennan and David Hilditch. The change of ownership also conincided with a change of fortunes. We would win our final 3 games of the year, including a 1-0 win at Old Trafford over the runaway leaders. The January Window Once again we had a transfer window of nothing, the new owners had no money to invest so we carried on with what we had, but for all the positivity coming out of our 3 game winning run to end 2025, we would then only win 3 more games in the rest of the season! Languishing Those 3 wins came spread across the remainder of the campaign, with our only home win coming in our last home game of the year against Burnley. In the mix of all of that, we drew plenty, including solid points at home to Chelsea and Spurs, but in the end 5 defeats in our final 6 games left us 14th but 10pts clear of the drop as we did enough to remain a top flight club. Second City Derby Villa made the playoffs.... but lost! Oh well, its nice getting 6pts off them but we are Birmingham and theres only room for one team here. The F.A. Cup Another solid cup run and our 5th trip to the Twin Towers in 7 years. However once again we came up short, losing another cup tie on penalties as Liverpool looked relived to edge past us in the showpiece affair. 3 players would miss for us as we again choke in the worst possible way. Worthington Cup Penalties again, as Wolves beat us to stop any repeat of our cup heroics. Player Stats | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | Wnt | Arijanet Muric | GK | Okay | 6.68 | 100% | Very Happy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.80 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | | Nick Pope | GK | Okay | 6.88 | 90% | Delighted | 42 | 0 | 0 | 6.93 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCL | Unh | Harry Maguire | D (C) | Poor | 6.64 | 81% | Alienated | 9 (6) | 0 | 0 | 6.87 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Juan Foyth | D (RC), DM | Quite Good | 7.02 | 100% | Delighted | 25 (8) | 2 | 0 | 6.94 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | Fairly Good | 6.66 | 72% | Delighted | 35 | 0 | 1 | 6.90 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCL | Trn | Bryan Cristante | D (C), DM, M/AM (C) | Fairly Okay | 6.76 | 89% | Delighted | 37 | 2 | 4 | 6.85 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCR | Inj | Çaglar Söyüncü | D (C), DM | Okay | 6.74 | 83% | Delighted | 35 | 0 | 1 | 6.90 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | | Juan Bernat | D/WB/M/AM (L) | Fairly Okay | 7.00 | 76% | Delighted | 34 | 1 | 4 | 6.91 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Lukas Klostermann | D (RLC), WB (R) | Quite Good | 6.96 | 100% | Delighted | 37 | 1 | 3 | 6.98 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | Spt | Ruben Loftus-Cheek | DM, M/AM (C), ST (C) | Fairly Okay | 6.58 | 100% | Concerned | 0 (14) | 1 | 0 | 6.66 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | Lst | Marco Verratti | DM, M (C) | Fairly Poor | 6.78 | 93% | Concerned | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 6.63 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCR | | Mattia Viviani | DM, M (C) | Okay | 6.82 | 75% | Delighted | 38 | 2 | 5 | 7.01 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | DM, M/AM (RLC) | Fair | 6.82 | 74% | Delighted | 8 (9) | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Joe Willock | DM, M (C), AM (RLC) | Slightly Poor | 6.68 | 92% | Concerned | 1 (17) | 1 | 1 | 6.80 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | Wnt | Wilfried Zaha | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | Fair | 6.66 | 100% | Satisfied | 1 (11) | 2 | 0 | 6.96 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ML | | James Maddison | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Fairly Good | 6.80 | 82% | Delighted | 37 | 9 | 8 | 7.05 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | | Gonçalo Guedes | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | Quite Good | 7.16 | 74% | Delighted | 42 | 10 | 5 | 6.95 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | Inj | Jovane Cabral | M/AM (RL) | Quite Good | 6.74 | 82% | Delighted | 33 | 5 | 4 | 6.90 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | Loa | Nicolas Pépé | M (R), AM (RL), ST (C) | Okay | 6.66 | 94% | Satisfied | 3 (31) | 6 | 1 | 6.81 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STCL | | Gabriel Barbosa | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Perfect | 6.68 | 79% | Delighted | 43 | 4 | 2 | 6.74 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STCR | | Paco Alcácer | AM (L), ST (C) | Fair | 7.10 | 83% | Delighted | 21 (15) | 6 | 2 | 6.74 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN Nothing! OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/6/2025 | Eddie Nketiah | Crystal Palace | £8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/6/2025 | Kurt Zouma | Burnley | £2.9M (£3.6M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/2/2026 | Brandon Williams | Crystal Palace | £300K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/2/2026 | Ben White | Watford | £275K (£325K) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 As a Villa fan, the below things disgust me: 15 hours ago, bestbrother said: Second City Derby Villa made the playoffs.... but lost! Oh well, its nice getting 6pts off them but we are Birmingham and theres only room for one team here. 15 hours ago, bestbrother said: we did enough to remain a top flight club. ---- Also, as a Villa fan, the below things make me happy: 15 hours ago, bestbrother said: On 08/08/2020 at 23:35, bestbrother said: However all our spending came to an abrupt end with the news that for the 3rd time, the club would be place into the hands of the administrators... --- Rivalry aside, you're certainly going for it - transfer wise! I saw you sold Bellingham very early too, and, for not a great sum. Did you a) retire his squad number? and b) get any extra clauses etc because he'd be one player I'd want to build this horrible, dysfunctional football club around! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 11, 2020 Author Share Posted August 11, 2020 Thanks for following @_Ben_ no offense over the Villa stuff We did sell Bellingham early as i wanted the funds. But no we didnt retire his number or add any clauses... straight up cash deal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 (edited) Part 8 - Blues Clues F.A. Carling Premiership (2026/27) Pre-season This is the one, this is the season where finally something had to change. We are now well established in the top flight, one of the go-to clubs if you are an ambitious player looking to make bank and reap rewards on the pitch. The bare facts are, we spent over Half a Billion pounds this summer, thats right a whopping £511,000,000 on rejuvenating the squad. Excellence arrived all over the pitch from our record signing Hannibal Mejbri (£80,000,000) from Man. United, through to England stars Mason Greenwood, Mason Mount and Axel Tuanzebe. In total 13 players arrived this window taking our overall spending since my arrival in excess of £2,000,000,000. Its a fairytale for many Blues fans, being a club that had languished in the Championship for years whilst looking over their shoulder at the trap door to Non League football. The Season (pre-January Window) With all that investment we had to make a real go at trying to get into the Europa League, it wouldnt be easy, the squad would need to gel but in reality there is no reason why we couldnt break the stranglehold of the Top 6. Things started well, too well infact,6 wins and 2 draws from our opening 8 games put us top! The mircale men of St. Andrews began to attract attention from all over the globe, it couldnt happen could it? Tottenham came here and lost, we beat Arsenal 4-2, Manchester City left on the back of a 2-0 beating. We had teams in our pocket and then came along United! The reigning Champs and dominant force spanked us 1-4 and we never seemed to recover. It sparked a 3 game losing skid, leaving us with a December return of just 5pts from 18 on offer. That wasnt the only situation we faced... off the pitch things changed again, once more a new ownership came to town and immediately saddled the club with almost £1,000,000,000 worth of debt (a figure we would break in the coming months). The January Window New owners, but same ambition. We had to freshen it up, our chances of playing in Europe took a dent, so we went again spending another £120,000,000 that included bringing back Justin Kluivert and pushing our weekly wage spend beyond £5,500,000 per week, it was a risk, but Thursday night football on the continent is worth that risk! It immediately worked out, we won 6 of the 8 games on offer through January/February, a run that included 4 wins in London topped off by a 4-0 romp at Tottenham Hotspur. It left us with hope of a Top 4 finish.. thats right, Champions League football looked to be in our grasp, heady days alright for the Blue side of Birmingham. Stuttering and Spluttering We needed to keep our heads, but it seemed to all come crashing down around us. Our run in saw us win just 3 of the 10 games on offer. Key defeats at the Etihad and at home to Southampton saw us tail off 4th place, as the pressure took its toll on our squad, seeing us fail to score in our final 3 games as we drifted away from the pack. However there was no need to be sad, our home point vs Brighton on the final day would secure our best ever Premiership finish. A 5th place return ensured our place back at the European table Second City Derby Still no Villa and again more of the same next season as they failed in the playoffs once more. 8 seasons, just 2 games against the Vile and both a pair of 1-0 wins for us. 8 years of city bragging rights, the Blues will take that. The F.A. Cup Wembley again, FA Cup Semi Final again and we end up with the rough end of the draw, facing off against Champions-elect Manchester United. Prior to our Semi Final we hadnt let a goal in during our run, but that all changed as the Red Devils went off on us, scoring 4 and adding yet more Wembley woe to our fanbase. 1 win in 6 visits to the home of English football! Carling Cup We love a penalty shootout and we also love losing them as a promising run in the Carling Cup fell away at Brammall Lane. Barbosa's hat trick vs Wigan would be the highlight of his season, adding just 2 more in a dismal league campaign. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Last 5 Games | CON/SHP | Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat| | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Dean Henderson | GK | Fairly Good | 6.88 | 95% | Concerned | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Alphonse Areola | GK | Good | 6.88 | 78% | Delighted | 36 | 0 | 0 | 6.89 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Axel Tuanzebe | D (RC), DM | Slightly Poor | 7.12 | 91% | Delighted | 36 | 2 | 1 | 7.09 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | Quite Good | 7.04 | 99% | Satisfied | 12 (12) | 0 | 0 | 6.89 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Çaglar Söyüncü | D (C), DM | Quite Good | 7.08 | 89% | Delighted | 37 (1) | 1 | 0 | 7.11 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Angeliño | D/WB/M/AM (L) | Okay | 6.92 | 92% | Delighted | 39 | 1 | 7 | 7.12 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | D/WB (RL), DM, M (C), AM (R) | Abysmal | 7.02 | 99% | Alienated | 2 (1) | 0 | 1 | 7.13 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Fikayo Tomori | D (RLC), WB (R), DM | Excellent | 7.00 | 95% | Delighted | 43 | 1 | 4 | 7.13 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Lukas Klostermann | D (RLC), WB (R) | Quite Good | 7.06 | 98% | Concerned | 12 (5) | 1 | 1 | 7.12 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Bukayo Saka | D (L), M/AM (RL) | Quite Good | 6.88 | 92% | Satisfied | 22 (9) | 1 | 2 | 6.84 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Mattia Viviani | DM, M (C) | Fairly Good | 6.68 | 99% | Concerned | 2 (8) | 1 | 0 | 7.01 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Matteo Guendouzi | DM, M (C) | Fairly Good | 6.76 | 92% | Delighted | 17 | 0 | 3 | 7.11 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Hannibal Mejbri | DM, M/AM (C) | Fairly Poor | 7.44 | 96% | Delighted | 34 | 5 | 7 | 7.48 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Joe Willock | DM, M (C), AM (RLC) | Slightly Poor | 7.42 | 99% | Concerned | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Sergio Gómez | DM, M/AM (LC) | Fairly Good | 6.64 | 94% | Very Happy | 27 (6) | 1 | 2 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Jonathan David | M/AM (RLC), ST (C) | Quite Good | 6.68 | 94% | Very Happy | 18 (2) | 3 | 1 | 6.85 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | James Maddison | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Fairly Good | 6.60 | 91% | Delighted | 35 | 7 | 10 | 7.37 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Mason Mount | M (C), AM (LC) | Very Poor | 6.74 | 99% | Concerned | 10 (18) | 2 | 1 | 6.83 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Curtis Jones | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Slightly Poor | 6.66 | 99% | Concerned | 2 (8) | 0 | 0 | 6.67 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Justin Kluivert | M/AM (RL) | Really Good | 6.64 | 94% | Satisfied | 2 (11) | 0 | 0 | 6.63 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Gonçalo Guedes | M/AM (RL), ST (C) | Fairly Okay | 6.72 | 99% | Concerned | 7 (11) | 3 | 2 | 7.01 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Jovane Cabral | M/AM (RL) | Good | 6.90 | 99% | Concerned | 7 (7) | 0 | 1 | 6.87 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Anthony Martial | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | Fairly Good | 6.66 | 90% | Delighted | 18 | 4 | 1 | 6.89 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Mason Greenwood | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Superb | 6.60 | 95% | Delighted | 41 (1) | 14 | 12 | 7.20 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Gabriel Barbosa | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Fair | 6.78 | 98% | Satisfied | 3 (12) | 5 | 2 | 6.99 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Moussa Dembélé | AM (L), ST (C) | Quite Good | 7.24 | 99% | Delighted | 29 (7) | 22 | 1 | 7.31 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Mason Greenwood | Man Utd | £48M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Harry Maguire | Birmingham | £4.6M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | Arsenal | £11.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Bukayo Saka | Arsenal | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Hannibal Mejbri | Man Utd | £80M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Curtis Jones | Brighton | £40M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/6/2026 | Dean Henderson | Sassuolo | £24M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/7/2026 | Fikayo Tomori | Lyon | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/7/2026 | Angeliño | Arsenal | £30M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17/7/2026 | Moussa Dembélé | SL Benfica | £19.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25/8/2026 | Alphonse Areola | Monaco | £30M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 26/8/2026 | Sergio Gómez | RB Leipzig | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/8/2026 | Axel Tuanzebe | Real Madrid | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4/1/2027 | Anthony Martial | Man Utd | £11.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/1/2027 | Jonathan David | Lyon | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/1/2027 | Justin Kluivert | Tottenham | £24M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/1/2027 | Matteo Guendouzi | Arsenal | £35M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | Birmingham | £11.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Bukayo Saka | Birmingham | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Hannibal Mejbri | Birmingham | £80M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2026 | Curtis Jones | Birmingham | £40M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/6/2026 | Dean Henderson | Birmingham | £24M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/6/2026 | Nicolas Pépé | Al-Ain | Free | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2026 | Pierre-Emile Højbjerg | DL Pro | Free | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2026 | Bryan Cristante | Lazio | Free | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2026 | Nick Pope | Galatasaray | Free | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2026 | Ruben Loftus-Cheek | Osasuna | £13M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 26/1/2027 | Juan Foyth | Chongqing | £12.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 15, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 (edited) Part 9 - Round and Round We Go F.A. Carling Premiership (2027/28) Pre-season Before we get into our transfer dealings, lets reflect on our tour of Hong Kong as it rained goals in the Chinese state, with 17-0 and 19-0 wins being the highlight of our week long stay in the sun. Back to the grind and once again we had to spend big to keep punching above our weight. There were rumours of financial strife at one point, but that didnt stop us committing to another £376,000,000 spree as we freshened he squad up with a younger feel to it. The £80,000,000 spent on Lucas Paqueta equalled our club record deal, whilst at the end of it, our now £6,000,000 wage bill proved to be the biggest in the league as we finally top a table! The Season (pre-January Window) We were good, too good probably and then it happened.. but before that, our goodness saw us lead the league as we went on an unstoppable 8 game winning run as we picked up 31pts from the 36 on offer. Spurs were dispatched 5-0, we won at Maine Road by scoring 4, the Gunners were dumped at Highbury as it seemed to be our year. Alas it wasnt to be... Thats right, the receivers came back again and took over my office looking for anything or anyone to make a few quid off. 9pts came off our tally and back down the league we sank, the club had to deal with it off the pitch, on it? Well we slumped, collecting just 8pts from our next 7 games as our title hopes were left in tatters. The January Window We couldnt freshen things up here but we did get some investment that kept the wolf from the door.. This allowed us to keep the squad together, a small boost after another tough time. We began to win again and went into march on the back of a 3-0 home win over Man. City and then a 4-2 St Andrews blitz off Man. United. Our Champions League hopes were re-ignited and it was all hands to the pump to ensure we stayed there. Sinking of the Good Ship Birmingham Sadly we were taking on too much water. 3 home defeats in the row came from nowhere as we couldnt get any consistency going. In the end we were scrambling about to try and nick 6th spot, but it wasnt to be as Spurs beat us, then we drew at the team we needed to beat Wolves and missed out on European football. The reality is that without a points deduction we would have finished 6th, just 2pts shy of European Cup football. Alas the establishment hates the apple cart wobbling, so if giving us a points deduction is what it takes, then we will have to suck it up and go again next year. Second City Derby Rinse and repeat, Villa are no where near our level and its becoming a bit embarrassing for them. Im likely to replace this section with Walsall or similar. The F.A. Cup A shock exit for us as Watford ended any hopes of a 3rd straight run towards Wembley. Carling Cup Deja'Vous here as we exit once more on penalties to Sheffield United in the 4th round. Not much more to say after that. Inter Cities Fairs Cup Back into one of Europes premier events and straight into the Group Phase as we took advantage of our growing reputation to earn a top seeding. We somehow managed to draw a group that could well have placed itself in the Champions League, but never fear, 6 games produced 6 wins as we rattled in 20 goals against AEK, Marseille and Partizan Belgrade. Into the knockout phase and there we would win a Battle of Britain contest, slipping past Celtic 3-0 on aggregate as we marched into another European last 8. Sadly (again!) we drew the short straw and although we fought well, Sevilla had the nous to edge us as their 2-1 win at St. Andrews did all the damage. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Last 5 Games | CON/SHP | Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat| | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Maxime Lucas | GK | Good | 6.88 | 96% | Delighted | 50 | 0 | 0 | 6.84 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Christopher Lewis | D (RC) | Fairly Good | 6.74 | 84% | Delighted | 43 | 1 | 3 | 7.09 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Axel Tuanzebe | D (RC), DM | Superb | 6.82 | 91% | Delighted | 34 | 1 | 0 | 7.04 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | Good | 7.02 | 96% | Satisfied | 26 (11) | 2 | 1 | 6.98 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Romário Baró | D (C), DM, M (RC), AM (C) | Good | 7.00 | 87% | Delighted | 44 | 10 | 2 | 7.18 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Alphonso Davies | D/WB (L), M/AM (RL) | Good | 6.74 | 82% | Delighted | 35 (7) | 3 | 9 | 6.91 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Angeliño | D/WB/M/AM (L) | Fairly Good | 6.70 | 97% | Concerned | 0 (9) | 0 | 0 | 6.68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | D/WB (RL), DM, M (C), AM (R) | Fairly Good | 6.72 | 100% | Concerned | 3 (3) | 0 | 0 | 6.73 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Fikayo Tomori | D (RLC), WB (R), DM | Extremely Good | 6.80 | 92% | Delighted | 42 | 2 | 4 | 7.14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Ryan Sessegnon | D/WB/M/AM (L) | Abysmal | 6.64 | 95% | Delighted | 48 | 0 | 6 | 6.93 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Bukayo Saka | D (L), M/AM (RL) | Poor | 7.00 | 95% | Alienated | 2 (5) | 1 | 0 | 6.91 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Matteo Guendouzi | DM, M (C) | Okay | 6.62 | 95% | Concerned | 0 (8) | 0 | 0 | 6.60 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Hannibal Mejbri | DM, M/AM (C) | Good | 7.00 | 93% | Delighted | 36 | 10 | 6 | 7.39 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Karamoko Dembélé | WB (R), M/AM (RC) | Fairly Good | 6.52 | 100% | Concerned | 4 (2) | 0 | 1 | 6.82 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Sergio Gómez | DM, M/AM (LC) | Okay | 7.16 | 100% | Concerned | 9 (17) | 5 | 1 | 7.03 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Jonathan David | M/AM (RLC), ST (C) | Very Good | 6.60 | 99% | Very Happy | 15 (24) | 6 | 5 | 6.97 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Lucas Paquetá | M (LC), AM (C), ST (C) | Very Poor | 7.06 | 91% | Delighted | 38 (1) | 10 | 3 | 6.99 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | James Maddison | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Fairly Poor | 6.78 | 86% | Delighted | 49 | 6 | 27 | 7.26 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Mason Mount | M (C), AM (LC) | Extremely Poor | 6.72 | 100% | Concerned | 13 (9) | 7 | 1 | 7.05 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Curtis Jones | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Okay | 8.48 | 95% | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Justin Kluivert | M/AM (RL) | Quite Good | 7.14 | 100% | Concerned | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.55 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Anthony Martial | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | Quite Good | 6.70 | 100% | Concerned | 0 (11) | 0 | 1 | 6.69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Mason Greenwood | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Perfect | 6.80 | 100% | Delighted | 17 (28) | 8 | 5 | 6.91 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Troy Parrott | AM (LC), ST (C) | Good | 7.06 | 93% | Delighted | 51 | 27 | 7 | 7.21 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Moussa Dembélé | AM (L), ST (C) | Quite Good | 7.52 | 100% | Concerned | 1 (2) | 1 | 0 | 7.07 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | Date | Person | From | Fee | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/7/2027 | Karamoko Dembélé | Man City | £11.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/8/2027 | Troy Parrott | Man City | £41.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/8/2027 | Maxime Lucas | Chelsea | £49M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4/8/2027 | Ryan Sessegnon | Sheff Utd | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5/8/2027 | Christopher Lewis | Fulham | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/8/2027 | Alphonse Areola | Birmingham | £17.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14/8/2027 | Çaglar Söyüncü | Birmingham | £3.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2027 | Romário Baró | Real Madrid | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2027 | Jovane Cabral | Birmingham | £3.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2027 | Lucas Paquetá | Milan | £80M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2027 | Joe Willock | Brighton | £1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/8/2027 | Alphonse Areola | Krasnodar | £17.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14/8/2027 | Çaglar Söyüncü | Arsenal | £3.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2027 | Romário Baró | Birmingham | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2027 | Jovane Cabral | Sheff Utd | £3.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13/11/2027 | Lukas Klostermann | Al-Sadd | £3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/1/2028 | Mattia Viviani | Lazio | £5.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/1/2028 | Dean Henderson | West Brom | £7.75M (£9.25M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 17, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) Part 10 - Decade of Delight The F.A. Premier League (2028/29) Pre-season Our biggest pre-season yet as without any points deductions we had to make the most of our level footing with the rest of the league. St. Andrews became a revolving door as over 30 players moved one way or the other in our summer rebuild, with our spending breaching £600,000,000 as the signing of Alessio Riccardi from Inter saw us hit the £80,000,000 mark once again. (Notably our other £80,000,000 man Hannibal Mejbri would leave for £11,000,000 to Atalanta later in the season). The investment effort saw us break £7,000,000 per week on wages spent, as we finally looked to the future, signing up a raft of younger players to give the Blues a new look as we enter a new decade of dominance. The Season (pre-January Window) Those deals all seemed on point as we raced away to 5 wins to start the season, beating Liverpool and then stuffing Chelsea 4-0 to give ourselves the best footing for the campaign. There were a couple of defeats, but at the end of November we topped the table with 34pts and just 2 defeats (Arsenal and Man. City away) . We had a blip mid-December as Man. Utd and Tottenham both edged our ties 1-2, but we regained composure to finish the year with wins over Southampton and Sheffield United as we kept ourselves right amongst it in the title race. The January Window With a chance of the unthinkable in our hands, we again invested in January, spending another £60,000,000+ to take our season spoils to over £700,000,000. Again a pair of younger talented players came through the doors, however we would lose top scorer Troy Parrott as he pushed for a move to Liverpool and we agreed to a £60,000,000 package (a move we may later regret). Back to the action and our good form continued with gusto, beating Stoke before stuffing Man. City and Bournemouth without conceding. We were on a high, but then shot ourselves in the foot as 4 straight away games yielded just 2 points, leaving us trailing the Manchester clubs and all but ending our title chances. Nothing You Can Do! Its a crazy league when you can go on 10 game winning run and still get no where near closing the gap on those above! Thats what happened to us here, as after our miserable away run, we came back to form, keeping 10 clean sheets from our final 11 games and only drawing one of those (on the last day at Norwich). Goals were easy to come by, Wolves went down by 4, Newcastle 3 and Arsenal the same, as we kept as much pressure on the leaders as we could. The problem was that no matter our result, Manchester City (And to a lesser extent United) just did the same. It all meant that as easy as it was to claim 3rd... we fell 9pts shy of the title and a dream finish. However in the midst of that emotion came the reality that we had made it... all our hard work, scrimping and scraping, the highs and lows, the long nights and cold mornings, it all meant that we had reached the Champions League. Birmingham City are now feeding with the elite, 10 years of toil and we beat the odds Second City Derby Well, well, well.. we played the Vile, it was as easy as the scoreline suggested as our 'reserves' come out on top in this cup tie, 3-1... a win that set us on our way to better things! The F.A. Cup Arsenal, replay, F.A. Cup hopes ended early but we had other fish to fry. Carabao Cup We had already won this trophy under my stewardship and you can double that, as we finally get over our Wembley hump, collecting our 2nd major trophy in the past 10 years. It started with a waltz at Vile Park, then a stuffing of Norwich to progress to the last 16. Tottenham came a cropper on penalties, before we beat another London club in Chelsea thanks to a late Parrott strike. Our Semi Final encounter began with a loss at Sheffield United (a team that likes to end our EFL Cup hopes), but we would rasp them in the 2nd leg, 4-0 to send us back to Wembley and a date with Championship high flyers Everton. The Scousers put up a fist of it in the first half, but our quality shone through as we nudged home 4 without reply to claim another trophy and put the Birmingham Blues on top of the world once more. Player Stats Transfers In/Out IN | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/7/2028 | Alessio Riccardi | Inter | £80M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/7/2028 | Ayoub Lachhab | PSG | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2028 | Callum Hudson-Odoi | Liverpool | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2028 | Eddy Tacita | PSG | £45M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2028 | Amine Sellami | Man City | £40M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/7/2028 | Matteo Cudicio | Udinese | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 28/7/2028 | Mariano Cocimano | FC Bayern | £48M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/8/2028 | Victor Osimhen | Inter | £44M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/8/2028 | Giorgos Mertakkas | Man Utd | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/8/2028 | Ionel Grosu | FCSB | £15M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22/8/2028 | Moritz Eckhardt | PSG | £40M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/8/2028 | Patrick Roberto | Palmeiras | £23M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2028 | Sandro Tonali | Liverpool | £70M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | 1/9/2028 | Ibrahima Sory Bangoura | Fiorentina | £20M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2029 | Carlo Volpes | Bologna | £50M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2029 | Jürgen Brinkhaus | NK Lokomotiva | £15M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2028 | Angeliño | AEK | £9.25M (£11.5M) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2028 | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | Torino | £3M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2028 | Anthony Martial | Fiorentina | £5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/7/2028 | Matteo Guendouzi | Southampton | £22.5M (£28M) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8/7/2028 | Moussa Dembélé | Fenerbahçe | £2.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10/7/2028 | Sergio Gómez | Brighton | £34M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2028 | Justin Kluivert | Milan | £5.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/7/2028 | Karamoko Dembélé | Osasuna | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/7/2028 | James Maddison | Norwich | £12.75M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/8/2028 | Patrick Roberto | Palmeiras | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/8/2028 | Eddy Tacita | Mainz | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2028 | Curtis Jones | Newcastle | £12M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2028 | Jonathan David | Leicester | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2028 | Moritz Eckhardt | Beşiktaş | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6/1/2029 | Troy Parrott | Liverpool | £60M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14/1/2029 | Hannibal Mejbri | Atalanta | £11.25M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15/1/2029 | Lucas Paquetá | Valencia | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2029 | Amine Sellami | Real Sporting | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 18, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 18, 2020 Author Share Posted August 18, 2020 Part 11 - Punished for Ambition The F.A. Premier League (2029/30) Pre-season Ideally you should go to Disney to experience a rollercoaster, but for all Brummies, there was no crazier ride than that on their own door step. It began with this news... Excitement surrounded the club, who was this Tycoon, would he finally give the club the money to spend and compete in the Premier League, to finally punch on a fair playing field... it was a fabrication. From the highs came the lows... First up was the inevitable points deduction as once again the club was punished for breaching the unfair FFP rules of the Premier League Then worse was to come... all our hard work from the previous campaign had been stripped from our grasp Thats right, a European ban takes away the clubs first chance to feed with the big fish. Its no surprise, UEFA dosent like upstart clubs coming in to share the pie, its a kick to the gut we didnt need. The only way to recover from this was to spend and so we did, rebuilding the squad once more with another £300,000,000 spree, whilst also shifting high earners Mason Greenwood, Johnathan David, Filayko Tomori and Lucas Paqueta from our books. The Season (pre-January Window) Battling a points deduction we got off on the right foot, losing just twice before December as we immediately chased into the Top 4 race, collecting notable wins over Arsenal 4-2, Man. United 2-1 and the same scoreline beat Chelsea. Sadly we hit the Christmas hump and slipped down the table on the back of 4 defeats to end the year. Saints, Wolves and Norwich all nipped us by 0-1 as for the first time the atmosphere around the club became restless. We felt like victims of our own success and now the players had to do it all again. The January Window January began we a defeat to WBA but then we had news of a large investment into the club. With our finances once again precarious (due to the lack of Champions League TV money), we managed to sign one of the biggest sponsorship deals ever in the sport. Over £800,000,000 came into the club as Birmingham became the communications hub of Europe. With this money we invested in a couple of new faces and again sparked ourselves into life. West Ham and Burnley fell 3-0 and our charge towards the Champions League began once again. Keep Winning! There was only once course of action for the team and that was to win. So, with all our off-field problems now under control, the players put on a show. Man City 2-0, Everton 4-2, Chelsea 2-0 and Newcastle 4-0 were all wins sprinkled amongst an 8 game streak that shot us into the Top 4 with a month to play. We had to keep it going, there was a defeat at Old Trafford but a 3-0 win at Spurs all but sealed our place in the Champions League, something we moved on to secure by edging Sheffield United 2-0 on the last day as we did enough to finish 4th despite our 5pt punishment. Second City Derby Nothing to see here, Villa remain a Championship club. The F.A. Cup It began at Basingstoke and ended at Wembley, but this time we got over our Semi Final hoodoo to reach the Final. as we made the most of a favorable draw to beat Championship Swansea in our Semi Final tie and setup a meeting with Chelsea. As we had just edged them for the final Champions League spot, Chelsea had something to prove. However the club would win its first ever FA Cup and the 3rd major trophy of my spell at the club. Carabao Cup We had hoped to defend our trophy here, but fell foul to a strong United team who smashed us for 5, to end our hopes of a repeat success. Banned, thats all there is to it. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | CON/SHP| Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Arjan IJzerman | GK | 94% | Delighted | 17 | 0 | 0 | 6.89 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Maxime Lucas | GK | 100% | Concerned | 30 | 0 | 0 | 6.82 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Christopher Lewis | D (RC) | 100% | Concerned | 3 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.84 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Slt | Eddy Tacita | D (C) | 100% | Satisfied | - | - | - | - | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Carlo Volpes | D (C) | 82% | Delighted | 41 | 1 | 0 | 7.11 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Loa | Moritz Eckhardt | D (L) | 100% | Concerned | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 | 8.20 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | PR | Axel Tuanzebe | D (RC), DM | 80% | Delighted | 40 | 1 | 1 | 7.05 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | PR | Teddy Jenks | D (C), WB (R), DM, M/AM (C) | 100% | Alienated | 2 (12) | 0 | 0 | 6.67 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | 100% | Alienated | 13 (17)| 1 | 0 | 6.93 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Romário Baró | D (C), DM, M (RC), AM (C) | 96% | Delighted | 33 | 2 | 3 | 7.04 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Ibrahima Sory Bangoura | D (RC), WB (R), DM, M (C) | 100% | Alienated | - | - | - | - | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Alphonso Davies | D/WB (L), M/AM (RL) | 72% | Delighted | 32 (8) | 2 | 6 | 6.97 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Ryan Sessegnon | D/WB/M/AM (L) | 100% | Satisfied | 24 (8) | 0 | 2 | 6.75 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Mariano Cocimano | D (RLC), WB (R) | 100% | Concerned | 3 (12) | 0 | 1 | 6.75 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jesús Galliquio | D (RL), WB (R) | 75% | Delighted | 41 | 2 | 5 | 7.12 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Agn | Sandro Tonali | DM, M (C) | 74% | Delighted | 37 | 7 | 11 | 7.34 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lst | Alessio Riccardi | DM, M/AM (RC) | 96% | Delighted | 32 (1) | 4 | 6 | 7.19 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Slt | Karamoko Dembélé | WB (R), M/AM (RC) | | Concerned | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7.50 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Patrick Roberto | M (RC) | | Delighted | 34 | 2 | 8 | 7.12 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Florent Da Silva | M/AM (C), ST (C) | | Concerned | 18 (8) | 2 | 1 | 7.16 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Amine Sellami | M/AM (C), ST (C) | | Satisfied | 18 (2) | 3 | 3 | 6.87 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Benjamin Sturm | M/AM (C) | | Concerned | 0 (5) | 0 | 0 | 6.72 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Reiss Nelson | M (RL), AM (RLC), ST (C) | | Very Happy | 10 (11)| 3 | 2 | 6.92 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | FtT | Callum Hudson-Odoi | M/AM (RLC), ST (C) | | Delighted | 29 (1) | 4 | 6 | 7.01 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Ionel Grosu | M (R), AM (RL) | | Delighted | 34 | 2 | 11 | 7.03 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Unh | Paul Smith | M/AM (L) | | Alienated | 9 (13) | 1 | 5 | 7.04 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Matteo Cudicio | AM (C), ST (C) | | Delighted | 39 (1) | 30 | 3 | 7.32 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Ayoub Lachhab | AM (R), ST (C) | | Happy | 39 (5) | 25 | 4 | 7.30 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | Emmanuel Mansilla | AM (RLC), ST (C) | | Concerned | 14 (15)| 6 | 4 | 6.82 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Wnt | Ademar Mendes Larghi | AM (RLC), ST (C) | | Concerned | 1 (2) | 1 | 0 | 7.65 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 28/7/2029 | Emmanuel Mansilla | Juventus | £80M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/7/2029 | Teddy Jenks | Stoke | £50M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Jesús Galliquio | Liverpool | £80M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Ademar Mendes Larghi | Flamengo | £18M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Reiss Nelson | Arsenal | £80M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2030 | Benjamin Sturm | Schalke 04 | £50M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2030 | Arjan IJzerman | Ajax | £20M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2029 | Mason Greenwood | Newcastle | £3.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/7/2029 | Lucas Paquetá | Juventus | £15M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16/7/2029 | Alessio Riccardi | Monaco | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 28/7/2029 | Bukayo Saka | Burnley | £20M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/8/2029 | Fikayo Tomori | PSG | £16M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Romário Baró | Southampton | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Amine Sellami | Young Boys | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Ademar Mendes Larghi | Flamengo | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3/9/2029 | Reiss Nelson | Birmingham | £80M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2030 | Jürgen Brinkhaus | PSV | £17M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/1/2030 | Victor Osimhen | PSV | £33.5M (£41.5M) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2030 | Giorgos Mertakkas | Borussia Dortmund | £25.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnidalhoff Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 How on Earth do you make the board accept to buy players putting you in debt? In my games they just refuse to accept any transfers out of the budget they have set. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 7 hours ago, ronnidalhoff said: How on Earth do you make the board accept to buy players putting you in debt? In my games they just refuse to accept any transfers out of the budget they have set. You have to be creative and play around with instalments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 Part 12 - Time to Challenge The F.A. Premier League (2030/31) Pre-season For the first time in a while, money was no issue. Even better was the fact the board decided to put a few quid away for a rainy day.. With the new found confidence in our financial situation, we thought it wise to break our transfer record 3 times in just one summer! First up European Golden Boot Dario Tigana signed for £100,000,000 from Lyon as we looked to strengthen our attacking options. Then to the delight of Brummies everywhere, we bought back home town hero Jude Bellingham! The teenager who left the club 12 years ago in a £7,750,000 move to Manchester City, signed back for the club in a then record £138,000,000 deal as our spending showed no signs of slowing down. There would be further additions, Joao Felix coming in to finish his careers at the club, but our biggest deal would see a world record fee paid out. £200,000,000 was committed in the signing of Eduardo Camavinga of Monaco as the French schemer finally joined the club after years of chasing. In total the club spent over £600,000,000 once more as we rebuilt the squad, as alongside our record signing we would recoup our highest ever fee in selling Romanian Ionel Grosu to Chelsea for £92,000,000. Once again we topped the wages spent chart, bursting £8,000,000 per week. The Season (pre-January Window) Our new look money bags team opened up with a home defeat to Brighton as immediately we looked fragile after last years success. However it didnt take long for the squad to gel, racking up 5 wins on the spin that included our best ever Premier League win, 7-0 at home to Middlesbrough. A loss to City slowed us down, but again we followed that up with 5 more wins, easing our way back into the title race. But yet again our December blues came to haunt us, we lost 0-4 at home to Liverpool as we collected 6pts from 18 on offer and slipped out of touch from the Manchester duo. The January Window January saw us spend another £100,000,000 + as we added Vincius Jr. to give us more experience and quality in the creative areas. On top of that the expansion of St. Andrews completed as we can now welcome 38000 ravenous Blues to watch the club. On the pitch we beat Man City as part of a run that saw us piece together an 11 game unbeaten run to consolidate our place in the Champions League qualification race. Can we Keep Up? Our final loss of the year came at Tottenham as we finished February 9pts adrift of the league leaders. If we had any hope of chasing them down, we needed to win. Unfortunately even though we had notable wins over Manchester United 3-1, Reading 6-0 and also 4 goal wins at Burnley, Watford and Middlesbrough, we also drew 3 in a row and in the end had no response to the juggernauts of Manchester. 3rd place once again for us, but we are getting closer and with our financial woes behind us, we can look to build this squad ready for another crack in the coming years. Second City Derby We'll meet again, dont know where, dont know when... The F.A. Cup We blazed our way to a second straight FA Cup Final, battering teams on the way, that included a 4-0 win over Liverpool in the last 8. Our Semi Final went all the way as we squeezed past Manchester United 2-1 AET to setup a rematch from 12 months earlier against Chelsea. This year it proved alot easier for us to lift the Cup, scoring 3 second half goals to add yet more silverware to the bulging cabinet at the club. Carabao Cup After we beat Man City in the 3rd round, then Arsenal in the 4th you could be forgiven for thinking our name was on the Cup. Unfortunately our hopes were dashed in the Semi Final as United beat us over 2 legs, something we would avenge in another Semi later in the year. Charity Shield A season opener and a chance for some silverware, we put out a new look team and fell short at Wembley once more. What a debut in this competition for us, a group containing PSG, Roma and Barcelona! We held our own until matchday 5, where a draw with PSG would have put us through. Sadly we lost 1-2 and then our loss to Barcelona confirmed our exit as 3rd place put us into the Europa League. The draw gods again hampered our hopes as although we pushed AC Milan close, the Italian aces had too much for our inexperienced team missed out 3-4 on agg. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Last 5 Games | CON/SHP | Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat| | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Arjan IJzerman | GK | Perfect | 6.88 | 96% | Delighted | 58 | 0 | 0 | 6.89 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Maxime Lucas | GK | Poor | 6.88 | 100% | Alienated | - | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Christopher Lewis | D (RC) | Poor | 6.92 | 97% | Alienated | 15 (16) | 0 | 1 | 6.83 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eddy Tacita | D (C) | Excellent | 7.02 | 87% | Satisfied | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 6.50 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Carlo Volpes | D (C) | Extremely Good | 7.30 | 85% | Delighted | 54 | 1 | 0 | 7.04 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Moritz Eckhardt | D (L) | Extremely Good | 6.80 | 100% | Concerned | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 | 6.90 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | Superb | 7.00 | 89% | Satisfied | 38 (1) | 1 | 0 | 7.08 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Eduardo Camavinga | D (C), DM, M (C) | Perfect | 7.58 | 85% | Delighted | 46 (3) | 3 | 3 | 7.14 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Ibrahima Sory Bangoura | D (RC), WB (R), DM, M (C) | Perfect | 6.66 | 91% | Concerned | 1 (14) | 0 | 0 | 6.71 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ryan Sessegnon | D/WB/M/AM (L) | Superb | 7.54 | 89% | Delighted | 54 | 1 | 8 | 7.10 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Jude Bellingham | D/WB (R), DM, M/AM (RLC) | Perfect | 7.34 | 82% | Delighted | 40 (7) | 4 | 6 | 7.03 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Jesús Galliquio | D (RL), WB (R) | Excellent | 6.94 | 90% | Delighted | 48 | 2 | 10 | 7.21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Sandro Tonali | DM, M (C) | Poor | 7.84 | 85% | Very Happy | 38 (5) | 7 | 10 | 7.51 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Patrick Roberto | M (RC) | Perfect | 7.58 | 94% | Delighted | 41 (5) | 5 | 5 | 7.07 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Benjamin Sturm | M/AM (C) | Poor | 6.74 | 100% | Concerned | - | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Vinícius Júnior | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | Superb | 7.54 | 91% | Happy | 10 (2) | 2 | 7 | 7.30 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Reiss Nelson | M (RL), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Extremely Good | 7.28 | 97% | Concerned | 12 | 6 | 2 | 7.32 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Callum Hudson-Odoi | M/AM (RLC), ST (C) | Superb | 7.00 | 100% | Concerned | 8 (27) | 2 | 2 | 6.77 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Mohamed Ihattaren | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Perfect | 7.24 | 92% | Happy | 12 (28) | 9 | 4 | 7.07 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | João Félix | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Superb | 7.34 | 93% | Delighted | 28 (17) | 11 | 9 | 7.01 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Dário Tigana | M (R), AM (RLC), ST (C) | Fairly Poor | 8.10 | 65% | Delighted | 47 (4) | 17 | 10 | 7.25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Emilio Taurone | M (R), AM (RL), ST (C) | Perfect | 7.50 | 91% | Delighted | 53 (2) | 27 | 10 | 7.25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Paul Smith | M/AM (L) | Poor | 7.46 | 99% | Alienated | - | - | - | - | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Matteo Cudicio | AM (C), ST (C) | Perfect | 7.48 | 75% | Delighted | 44 (5) | 27 | 6 | 7.35 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ayoub Lachhab | AM (R), ST (C) | Poor | 6.68 | 100% | Alienated | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Jan Strzalkowski | AM (R), ST (C) | Good | 6.98 | 96% | Concerned | 0 (4) | 0 | 0 | 6.63 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ademar Mendes Larghi | AM (RLC), ST (C) | Really Good | 7.44 | 95% | Concerned | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/7/2030 | Jude Bellingham | Man City | £138M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/7/2030 | Emilio Taurone | Inter | £47M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25/8/2030 | João Félix | Liverpool | £49M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/8/2030 | Mohamed Ihattaren | Liverpool | £80M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/9/2030 | Eduardo Camavinga | Monaco | £200M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/1/2031 | Jan Strzalkowski | Lyon | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2031 | Vinícius Júnior | FC Bayern | £90M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2030 | Emmanuel Mansilla | Stoke | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17/6/2030 | Teddy Jenks | Watford | £15M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/6/2030 | Romário Baró | Southampton | £30M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7/7/2030 | Alessio Riccardi | Juventus | £15M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 29/7/2030 | Amine Sellami | Middlesbrough | £17.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30/7/2030 | Alphonso Davies | Roma | £10M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13/8/2030 | Ionel Grosu | Chelsea | £92M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/1/2031 | Florent Da Silva | Lyon | £35M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2031 | Reiss Nelson | Ajax | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2031 | Moritz Eckhardt | Lazio | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 31/1/2031 | Eddy Tacita | Sporting CP | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 (edited) Part 13 - Unlucky for Some! The F.A. Premier League (2031/32) Pre-season A relatively quiet summer for us as we made a few adjustments to keep the squad competitive. In came Cillian Kelley for a World Record GK fee of £101,000,000, as we only added 2 faces in our pre-season endeavours. On the flip side we shook the squad up by selling off a cast of players who just failed to cut it at the club, as for once we turned a profit in the summer by bringing in over 1/4 of a billion to the coffers. The Season (pre-January Window) We came out of the blocks flying, too hot to handle as we would race towards December with just 3 defeats and 17 wins to lead the league with ease. Our results included 4s against Chelsea and Wolves twice, whilst Swansea and Norwich felt our wrath by taking 5 goal spankings. Our home record was 100% going into the turn of the year, as we held a 6pt lead over the nearest challengers. The January Window With the title in our sights we had the option to add to our squad, spending £250,000,000 on 2 new reinforcements as we saw the chance to stamp out the competition. Things started badly losing at Spurs, but we would instantly respond by beating Manchester United and then stuffing Bournemouth for 6. A couple of draws slowed us down as Liverpool remained hot on our tail, but we would end Manchester Citys hopes by hitting them for 4 at St. Andrews. 3 horse race... The title would come down to who could hold their nerve, us, Liverpool or United. It was neck and neck, but when Liverpool came to town and inflicted our first home defeat of the year, many thought our hopes had vanished. We had to respond and did so, scoring 16 goals in 5 straight wins to edge clear once more as just a few points separated the top 3. A draw at Stamford Bridge could have been costly, but when we beat Southampton at home we knew that a point in Wales on the final weekend would secure our first ever top flight crown. Near on 50,000 Blues made the trip to Swansea that Sunday for an edgy affair. We should have gone 1 up as Cudicio missed a penalty, but it didnt matter. A resolute performance saw us have enough in the tank to secure a 0-0 draw and spark wild title celebrations by the mass of Brummies surrounding the Vetch. 13 years ago the club was on the brink of extinction, League One football beckoned, fans had lost faith, there was no hope, ambition or belief. Now, Birmingham City are Englands finest, the miracle of Brum had been achieved against all odds. Second City Derby Lets all laugh at Villa.... its going to be a while before we see the Vile, read the Birmingham Echo headlines. Not only did we not play them again! But this year sees them fall into the abyss that is League One football. The F.A. Cup Looking to win our third FA Cup in a row we made our way towards Wembley once more with a comfortable run, beating 3 Premier League teams. Alas our journey would end in a dramatic Semi Final, as with a 2-0 lead we proceeded to get 2 men sent off, gave up a pair of late goals and then fell apart in ET against Manchester United. An unceremonious end to our FA Cup dominance of recent. Carabao Cup Another tough cup run saw us beat Chelsea and Arsenal en route to a 2 legged win over Bournemouth, a team that we often appear to meet in Cup competitions. This would setup a Final against Manchester United and although we went 1 down, a 15 minute 4-goal blitz would see us stun the Red Devils and bring back the League Cup to Birmingham. Charity Shield Another shot at winning the seasons opener and another defeat to the Citizens, this time 1-2. Our 2nd crack at Europes elite and this time we more than held our own. First off beating both Dortmund and Real Madrid in the Group phase, as we made sure of our qualification to the knockout phase by beating the pair 2-0 in matchdays 5 & 6. In the last 16 and we stepped it up once more, beating Juventus home and away to seal a 6-3 agg progression and put us just 2 rounds away from usurping what Villa achieved. Unfortunately in the Quarters we drew Manchester City and although we turned around a 1-2 first leg loss, we failed to hold on to our 3-1 lead, giving up a late City 2nd to allow them passage via away goals. Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | CON/SHP| Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Arjan IJzerman | GK | 100% | Alienated | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.80 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Cillian Kelley | GK | 96% | Delighted | 59 | 0 | 0 | 6.88 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eddy Tacita | D (C) | 100% | Concerned | 6 (4) | 0 | 1 | 7.18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Carlo Volpes | D (C) | 90% | Delighted | 53 (1) | 6 | 2 | 7.15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Ethan Ampadu | D (C), DM, M (C) | 100% | Happy | 38 (8) | 2 | 1 | 7.09 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Eduardo Camavinga | D (C), DM, M (C) | 79% | Delighted | 45 (2) | 3 | 3 | 7.07 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Mahmoud Al-Hussein | D (C), DM | 83% | Delighted | 21 | 0 | 0 | 7.10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Jude Bellingham | D/WB (R), DM, M/AM (RLC) | 96% | Delighted | 39 (8) | 3 | 11 | 7.15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jesús Galliquio | D (RL), WB (R) | 82% | Delighted | 49 (1) | 3 | 7 | 7.22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Keron Hoyte | D/WB/M/AM (L) | 80% | Delighted | 53 (1) | 4 | 6 | 7.06 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Moritz Eckhardt | D/WB (L) | 100% | Very Happy | 3 (15) | 0 | 2 | 6.79 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Patrick Roberto | M (RC) | 86% | Delighted | 50 | 5 | 7 | 7.15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Benjamin Sturm | M/AM (C) | 100% | Alienated | 1 (19) | 2 | 1 | 6.84 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Vinícius Júnior | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | 100% | Alienated | 3 (26) | 4 | 1 | 6.81 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Mohamed Ihattaren | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 95% | Delighted | 13 (42)| 3 | 13 | 6.94 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | João Félix | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 94% | Delighted | 41 (15)| 27 | 9 | 7.29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Dário Tigana | M (R), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 88% | Delighted | 45 (1) | 10 | 13 | 7.27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Emilio Taurone | M (R), AM (RL), ST (C) | | Delighted | 47 (6) | 27 | 8 | 7.30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rafael | M (RL), AM (L) | | Delighted | 43 | 11 | 16 | 7.28 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Matteo Cudicio | AM (C), ST (C) | | Delighted | 48 (6) | 22 | 10 | 7.30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Jan Strzalkowski | AM (R), ST (C) | | Concerned | 7 | 2 | 4 | 7.23 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/7/2031 | Cillian Kelley | Real Madrid | £101M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2031 | Rafael | Hertha BSC | £100M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/7/2031 | Keron Hoyte | Chelsea | £80M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/2/2032 | Mahmoud Al-Hussein | PSG | £155M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24/6/2031 | Maxime Lucas | Norwich | £27.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/7/2031 | Ibrahima Sory Bangoura | Napoli | £19M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6/7/2031 | Paul Smith | Watford | £37.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6/7/2031 | Ayoub Lachhab | West Ham | £46M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12/7/2031 | Reiss Nelson | Southampton | £26M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 13/7/2031 | Christopher Lewis | Schalke 04 | £37.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 27/7/2031 | Sandro Tonali | Inter | £36.5M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23/12/2031 | Eric Mumuni | Swindon | Loan | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/2/2032 | Jan Strzalkowski | AZ | Ln Fee £150K p/m | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2/2/2032 | Ademar Mendes Larghi | Werder Bremen | £16.75M | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Edited August 27, 2020 by bestbrother Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bestbrother Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 Part 14 - Conquering it all! The F.A. Premier League (2032/33) Pre-season A raft of news hit the club this year as we continue to expand our global brand on the back of our dramatic Championship last year. First up was the news of another huge partnership within Asia, as £1,000,000,000 hit our accounts on the back of the new soft drink 'Brummie Blue' that has hit China by storm. Then on the back of that, the board realised the potential of the club was somewhat hamstrung by St. Andrews, as although we expanded the ground in recent years, plans are now afoot to build a new stadium potentially holding 100,000 to 120,000 fans. Our transfer spending remained low as although we added Abbess Laameche for £170,000,000 from Bayern, in total we came in just under £400,000,000 for the summer on our 5 signings that also saw the return of Maxime Lucas from Norwich. The Season (pre-January Window) Our title defence began with a shock loss to Nottingham Forest on the opening day as we stuttered along in the opening months, drawing 4 games as we sat quietly inside the top 4. Things picked up going through November as we rallied to 5 wins, highlighted by a 6 goal drubbing of Watford, before Christmas threw a spanner in the works, with back to back defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City halting our race to the top. The January Window Nothing of note happened in January, but maybe it should have as a draw with Saints and then another loss to Arsenal kept us just shy of the league leaders. February began with another defeat to Forest but as we stuttered so did the others around us as the league headed toward a Champion with the lowest amount of points. Back to back? 3 straight wins in March hauled us back into the mix as we knew if we could win out, then the title would be ours once more. Alas it proved to much, Burnley and Chelsea (eventual Champions) beat us, whilst draws at home to Liverpool and West Ham were costly. In the end our 3 game winning run to finish the season was just not enough as we finished 3rd, 3pts off the title and a bittersweet taste to how the league season panned out. Second City Derby Insert Vera Lynn song here. The F.A. Cup The FA Cup is back in the hands of the Blues as we had a comfortable run to the Final, before beating Sheffield United in the nations showpiece event, to claim our 3rd success in 4 years. Carabao Cup We stuffed United in last years final, this year we would lost in a rematch as they came from behind to score the first goals against us in the Cup this season and beat us 1-2. Charity Shield Winners as City are stopped on penalties as we add another major piece of silverware to the expanding cabinet at the club. An almost fairytale ending to a memorable season in Europe for us as we made it all the way only to fall short to Bayern Munich in a thrilling Final. We had an easy group but managed to lose twice to Lille before qualifying for the knockout phase once more. Lazio would be our first test and a goalless draw at St. Andrews left us with all the work to do in Rome. Fortunately we scored a pair of first half goals to beat the Italians and advance. Atletico Madrid proved no fools in our Quarter Final encounter, but we held the aces and eased past them towards the last 4 thanks to wins in both legs of the tie. Our Semi Final hopes looked dead and buried after the opening leg as once again our European tour looked to be ending in Manchester. However United are not themselves and when Cudicio scored to make it 2-0 on the night (2-2 agg) in the 89th minute, it setup a spectacular extra time. United again led, twice in fact, as at 3-2 on the night we needed 2 goals with just 5 minutes to go to progress. Step up the heroes Al-Hussein and Taurone, you would never imagine the scenes they triggered as a rammed St Andrews witnessed all the drama of a 5-2 home win to send us to the Champions League Final. As mentioned our dream ended there, Bayern had a bit too much for us and ironically it was former Blue 'Jurgen Brinkhaus who did the damage with a pair of strikes as our tired bodies fell away toward a 2-4 loss. FIFA Intercontinental Cup As part of our European success we were invited to the global showpiece Club World Cup. An intriguing event that saw us collect the clubs biggest ever competitive win, stuffing Egyptians 'Pyramids 15-0 to start us off. We then beat Al-Sadd 6-0 to advance to the last 8, where the Cup finally became serious. Once into the knockout, we beat Real Madrid 2-0, fellow English side Liverpool 2-1 as we setup a Final with Barcelona to crown the best club in the World. Of course it had to be Blue, the World of football was Blue! An 84th minute winner by Brazilian Patrick Roberto was all it took as Birmingham had done it... BIRMINGHAM CITY WORLD CHAMPIONS! Player Stats | Position Selected | Inf | Name | Position | CON/SHP| Playing Time Happiness | Apps | Gls | Ast | Av Rat | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Maxime Lucas | GK | 88% | Satisfied | - | - | - | - | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Cillian Kelley | GK | 91% | Delighted | 62 | 0 | 0 | 6.83 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Eddy Tacita | D (C) | 97% | Concerned | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 | 6.93 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Carlo Volpes | D (C) | 97% | Delighted | 53 (1) | 1 | 1 | 7.08 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eduardo Camavinga | D (C), DM, M (C) | 88% | Delighted | 51 (3) | 7 | 7 | 7.23 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Mahmoud Al-Hussein | D (C), DM | 82% | Delighted | 52 (1) | 5 | 1 | 7.18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jude Bellingham | D/WB (R), DM, M/AM (RLC) | 98% | Delighted | 38 (15)| 8 | 7 | 7.17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jesús Galliquio | D (RL), WB (R) | 89% | Delighted | 50 (1) | 2 | 7 | 7.19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Romain Oudin | D (RLC), DM | 96% | Delighted | 36 (9) | 1 | 0 | 7.05 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Keron Hoyte | D/WB/M/AM (L) | 88% | Delighted | 52 (1) | 1 | 6 | 7.03 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Moritz Eckhardt | D/WB (L) | 95% | Satisfied | 4 (14) | 0 | 1 | 6.74 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Carles Maestro | DM, M/AM (C) | 94% | Satisfied | 1 (16) | 1 | 2 | 6.88 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Patrick Roberto | M (RC) | 95% | Delighted | 55 (2) | 3 | 7 | 7.16 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Benjamin Sturm | M/AM (C) | 96% | Concerned | 2 (12) | 0 | 4 | 6.85 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Luís Costes | M/AM (R), ST (C) | 96% | Happy | - | - | - | - | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Vinícius Júnior | M (L), AM (RL), ST (C) | 92% | Satisfied | 32 (2) | 5 | 5 | 6.80 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Lst | Mohamed Ihattaren | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 87% | Delighted | 47 (1) | 9 | 16 | 7.15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | João Félix | M (LC), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 92% | Delighted | 21 (20)| 2 | 7 | 6.89 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Dário Tigana | M (R), AM (RLC), ST (C) | 100% | Delighted | 41 (1) | 18 | 9 | 7.48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Emilio Taurone | M (R), AM (RL), ST (C) | 79% | Delighted | 26 (20)| 16 | 6 | 7.04 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | CJ Ramson | M/AM (L) | | Happy | 4 (19) | 1 | 6 | 7.13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rafael | M (RL), AM (L) | 89% | Delighted | 46 (2) | 11 | 17 | 7.32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Matteo Cudicio | AM (C), ST (C) | 77% | Delighted | 53 (1) | 30 | 7 | 7.33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Jan Strzalkowski | AM (R), ST (C) | | Happy | 0 (34) | 6 | 3 | 6.85 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Abbes Laameche | AM (RLC), ST (C) | 89% | Delighted | 54 (3) | 22 | 8 | 7.06 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Transfers In/Out IN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2032 | Maxime Lucas | Norwich | £21M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2032 | Romain Oudin | Chelsea | £80M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2032 | Carles Maestro | Barcelona | £50M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1/9/2032 | CJ Ramson | Everton | £57M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9/6/2033 | Luís Costes | Inter | £70M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUT | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/7/2032 | Mohamed Ihattaren | PSG | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11/7/2032 | Arjan IJzerman | Juventus | £35M (£42.5M) | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20/7/2032 | Ethan Ampadu | Bournemouth | £4.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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