FM21 York City. VNLN to the Prem!

[SpillBlood 165]

I'm shouting at my monitor.

We've lost heavily vs 15th and 19th.



We had chances vs Southampton but were just too poor.

Sheffield United came in as the leagues lowest goalscorers, we were shocking.

Every player has a price, no one is safe from the chopping board in the summer.

I need a new goalkeeper, defense, especially LB and a midfield, RM is needed badly.  The only players I'm happy with are the strikers.

And we've lucked out after West Ham lost again, we're atleast 7th, potentially 6th.



I know we're in a tough league, I know we can't win them all.

But if we can't even compete against the lower teams, changes need to be made.

We'll see what happens after I finish work tonight.

 

Edited February 24 by SpillBlood

[Carambau 619]

Damn those were 2 harsh defeats! But hey- Europe awaits 

[dastrokes88 21]

Not the best end of the season but great PL debut overall!

[SpillBlood 165]

We drew our final game.  Mistake from our GK for their first to equalise after we took an early lead.  They went ahead but we managed to pull one back and were looking the better side until Goode got sent off for a silly second yellow.

That money

Yeah, can see how poor my LB position is.

My longthrows were the highest assist.  Only 1 since the patch, I know he's been dropped recently but I can't think of us scoring from a throw in, that's a big problem if we can't get goals from that.  We'll see.

For 7.5mil, Correa has been a let down.  He's scored 6 in 28 and hasn't assisted a single goal.

 

We have some money in the bank, we have some players that will bring in good money when sold.  Let's try build a proper team.  I need to bring in some experience, some leaders.

We need to show Europe who The Minstermen are.

Edited February 25 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

#1 target chose Chelsea over us



He was costing £26mil but he'd of been my RM for years to come, such a shame he'll most likely go and rot at Chelsea.  Let's hope they allow him to leave on loan.

[SpillBlood 165]

Looks like we're going to foreign youngsters again.  They're happy to come play in England and we cannot afford English players and it makes it harder given our reputation.

We're a small fish in a very big pond.  I've signed an 18 year old LB/CB and a 20 year old CB for their min fees of 6.5mil and 8.5mil, they've both asked for wages for 20k and 25k.  I can't even put into comparison bringing in an English player of their quality.  It'd be atleast 5x the price and possibly 5x the wage.  It's going to be average English players mixed with some good foreign it seems.  Thankfully we have the likes of Cottrell, Gelhardt and Stewart here.

 

I don't think the squad will be changing as much as I like.  There will be defensive changes and wingers but that may be about it.  I've found a very useful striker out in South America who's only 18 but I can't fit him in my team and with only 6 signings allowed for foreign youth, i'm probably going to have to pass up on him.

The good news is Sadler has signed the dot to join on loan for his 3rd season.

 

Edited February 25 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

Transfers

And then we smashed it.

Edit: I fogot about my LB and CB

Gomez is 18, looks like a CB but going to train him best I can at wingback.  He looks decent enough and hopefully can hit his potential, another trained at club would be lovely.



Just turned 21(a day before my games date ).  Still has potential to grow into but to me looks like a very solid CB.  Heck he's even quite a decent CM.

 

We finally got our left mid in, needs some pace training but 18, smart attacking winger, love it.

Young English goalkeeper that is a potential England goalkeeper, just get that Handling up.  Worth every penny, can be my GK for the rest of the game.

The kind of midfielder I need to make the difference this season, something we lacked last season.

 

So because I can't find MRs, I brought that striker in afterall.

And Correa who struggled uptop last season is being trained at MR.

I struggled finding a RB and for less than a mil and his performances for Libertad, he's worth a punt.  Been on my shortlist for a year.

Out:

Ananou didn't cut it here and had interest quite early on.

Edmondson wasn't needed.

I'd of kept Viktor over Bulka if Bulka had clubs interested, he didn't.

Santiago isn't good enough.

And that will be it, the budget is gone.  Might look at loans if it doesn't start well.

Edited February 26 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

2026/2027



Pre-season has gone well, players are fit and ready to go after a few role changes.

Correa is looking good at MR.

We've moved into our own smaller stadium so sadly fans will lose out on their season ticket.

But we ain't bottom.

Buttt we are on the prediction table

Let's see how this goes!

We'll find out soon enough.

Edited February 26 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

Come on FM .  We've moved into a smaller stadium after being away for a season.

I thought I'd ask for an expansion if they're disappointed.



They gave it, lovely

[Pompeyboyz 1,561]

7 hours ago, SpillBlood said:

Come on FM .  We've moved into a smaller stadium after being away for a season.

 

I'd raise that as a bug. 

[SpillBlood 165]

3 hours ago, Pompeyboyz said:

I'd raise that as a bug. 

Good shout, have done .

[SpillBlood 165]

August



We started strongly and another opening game of the season win .  Alvarez getting a debut goal after 27 minutes and Sadler putting us 2 - 0 up after 32.  Raphinha pulled one back from a penalty in the season half but we held out.

Better side yet drew away at Southampton.  Palomeque scoring after 8 minutes but they scored in the 21st and 25th through some awful defending.  We didn't stop fighting though and Palomeque scored another to tie us up.

was watching the Brentford game.  They had one chance, as my CB cleared the ball, they've headed back in where my CB has missed it and they've hit in, it was so bad, we were awful.  When we looked ontop Skipp got himself a red card for an awful tackle, just a bad day all around. 

Now, this is a bit different.  We took the lead through Sadler but Franco gave away another penalty which saw Iheancho equalise.  Palomeque put us back ahead but in the second half it was Ihenacho scoring again.  It looked like a drew so I went my attacking formation.

Correa scored in the 74th, 75th, 77th and 80th minute from AMR .  The front 4 were just class.  Palomeque finished the game off with a 20 yarder.  I ALMOST DIDN'T SIGN PALOMEQUE!




He's class!

That Brentford game has left a bitter taste but early days and seems a good start with how some others have started.

Sadler and Palomeque have a nice partnership going.



Europa League 2.

I'd like to think we can come out of the group ontop.



Carabao Cup

Hope we can get off to a good start.



Transfer End

We didn't make any more purchases, the budget really was gone, but this is what we're competiting against.

Prem money ffs





I do like a challenge

Edited February 27 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

September

West Brom took the lead in the first half and we couldn't reply.  Two goals in the 86th and 88th from sub Layton Stewart looked like we were going to take all 3 points.. nope.  They scored a 20 yarder in the 89th, won a pen they missed in the 91st and finished us off in the 94th, infuriating.

Just like the Arsenal loss.  We were the much better side until they won a soft penalty and put it away, we still couldn't put chances away and they scored a counter in the 92nd, we pulled one back in the 92nd but far too late.

Everton was much better, they were awful and we played very well. We finally scored from a corner!!! Could be our first this season! Gelhardt missed a good chance that fell back to him to put in to kill the game off.

We should of had 9 points, I am not enjoying the game as much since the patch that supposedly hasn't touched the ME but doesn't feel that way at all.  A few teams are playing poorly though.

Europa League 2

 

Thanks to pens, we're top.  We couldn't put the ball in the net yet again otherwise.



Carabao Cup





I have no idea what the heck my goalkeeper was doing.  He didn't even get close to the ball, he had three York players infront of him anyway, the error looked like a full on bug. It was baffling how we just left a full on open net to hit in.

Thankfully we won.

And I'd like to think we should win this.

New full international



Doing alright here and already playing for his country

We need to stay competitive, we need to get atleast 2 wins in the league.


 

[SpillBlood 165]

October



We were alright vs Man Utd.  They scored which was thankfully offside 'cause it was so poor from my GK Hall.  They did go ahead but Nildo headed in to equalise, they went head again and Cottrell equalised.  I wanted to try and kill the game off as they had too much momentum but they used it against us and killed us off.

We went ahead against the Blades through an early penalty and then Cesar Zambrano scored an outrageous FK to put us 2 up.  Pochettino scored just after the break to put us 3 up.  Just seconds later a long ball over, a mixup from Goode who I thought had fouled the attack, Hall coming up and not winning the ball, Zambrano has it and just loses it to Hagi to hit in, comical defending.  Lucky goal as a blocked shot lands straight to Sucic for them to pull 2 back but we managed to hold on.

We were poor against Newcastle though, both teams weren't great but they had 2 shots on goal and scored both, we were carved apart to easy on both attempts.

Much much better against Palace, dominated the first half without a goal and Correas cross hit Taylor Moore for an O.G to put us ahead after 48 minutes.  Alvarez and Nildo got two more to kill the game. 
 

This was bad news from the Palace game though.

It's close from 2nd to 14th with City running away with it.  A couple of games could change everyones position.

Nildo is finding his feet, and his head.

 

Eurpoa League 2

We've been really good in this competition.







Neither team managed a shot on target

Carabao Cup

Thankfully we managed to find ourselves and beat Luton.

Tough game next.

New full international

But, it was ruined

Thankfully Pochettino has played well in his place.

 

We need to keep picking up points so we don't get dragged into a relegation battle.  I can play weakened sides in Europa atleast.


 

Edited March 1 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

November

First I need to say we've been plagued with injuries at the back with all three of my key CBS out.



 

We were lucky vs Wolves.  Hall with a MOTM performance won us a point, they battered us from start to end.  When going more attacking we had some okay chances but nothing that could see us steal the game.

And we started really well against Villa, controlled the first half, Gelhardt gave us the lead but the second half was a mess.  We scored an OG within a minute, with Franco clearing the ball straight into Mnoga which went into the net, some poor defending saw Delaveries make a mug out of Franco, no one covered and he chipped in and when I went attacking they got a 3rd in the 88th minute.
Throwing the second half away didn't feel as when when I saw they also beat City in the game after.
 

We were amazing vs Leciester though.  We controlled the game from start to finish and it took until the 92nd minute for them to get a shot on target which was saved, they crossed in again and Karbownik put that in.  Wing scored a lovely FK to start with, Clarke put us 3 ahead and Salder 3 ahead.

It was a huge win considering how tight the table is.  6 points split 8 - 18th.

Talking of Sadler, he'll be trained at club at the end of the season.  Hopefully Arsenal sell.



Europa League II









Lovely

Just to better Sion again to make it a 6 wins and 0 losses.

FA Cup



First international goal

Love to see Alvarez doing well



December is digusting, we could be in the relegation zone come January.

 

[SpillBlood 165]

December



It's been a good month, better than I expected and we've just lacked luck(and finishing).

We battered Spurs, oh they were lucky to go home with a point.

We were even the better team against Liverpool and missed a couple of good chances, they scored in the 90th bloody minute to win, felt robbed.

Much better against Blackburn with Cottrell being the set piece king. 

And we managed to match City and take all 3 points.  Felix scored after 29 minutes through a bit of luck but Palomeque equalised in the 32nd minute.  Gelhardt running into the box, no where to go, making a corner at best is fouled and Cottrell makes amends for his awful cup display to put the penalty in the back of the net.  He's been great in the league.

We conceded a penalty early on against Chelsea and never looked getting back into the game.  Mistake from Hall let them go 2 - 0 up and mistake by Mnoga let them go 3 - 0 up, wasn't our day.  I can't complain with only a one day break between playing 1st and 2nd!

Atleast we're 10 points clear of the relegation zone now.

 

Europa League 2

Wing has been amazing in Europe, hope we can continue this form.

Carabao Cup



Ah man, Wolves are our bogey team.  Cottrell for such an amazing player made such a big mistake and we didn't recover.

Youth intake



Sweeper keeper would be cool.

Facilties







They came back



Still rejected

Janurary is where we need to continue playing this well and we'll get points.  100% expect transfers, I don't have any budget.  They randomly gave me more wage and rejected when I asked for transfer.  8 of my players are wanted.  One I don't play anymore due to his poor performance as a Minsterman was listed and clubs came in, because he's still young my board blocked it and want 15mil, I was getting 5, he's worth 3.  Gonna be fun then.  To be fair, three of the players will only be allowed to leave for stupid money or clubs hitting there release clause which are all over 40mil each.

[SpillBlood 165]

First offer from one of the Chinese clubs wanting half my players.





They're having a bloody laugh

Edited March 3 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

January



What a month!  Where did this York side come from!?

We battered Leeds, Sadler and Palomeque getting early goals.  They pulled one back in the 80th minute but we held on.

Then Brentford battered us, xG says otherwise but they had chance after chance.  We took the early lead but they lead 2 - 1 at half time.  Clarke come on at half time and scored just seconds later to equal it up.  Cottrell missed a penalty late on but it just gave us that extra energy.  Zambrano and Palomeque killing off the back.

Ali Akman scored a belter for Soton but a brace from Palomeque and a goal from Sadler saw us leave with all 3 points.

FOURTEEN GOALS WE'VE SCORED AGAINST WEST HAM IN TWO GAMES!  Madness.  Gelhardt scored 5!!! With Zambrano and Skipp getting his first York goal getting the others.



Outplayed Arsenal with an early pen being scored this time by Cottrell and Stewart finished the game off in the 90th minute, lovely.

And thanks to Gelhardt scoring in the 93rd minute it saw a perfect month

We won't get ahead of ourselves but Europe is looking good.



And Ben Cottrell is brilliant.

 

My first EPL Manager of the Month.





FA Cup

 

No reason we can't give Liverpool a game.



Transfers

Out:





Bulka was backup, wasn't listed but they bid and I accepted.  Mayasai wanted game time and he wasn't playing well enough to keep.  Woo-yeong and Lopez aren't needed here, Lopez needs game time.

In:



A RB/CB.  A youth GK, a backup GK to replace Bulka and a CM/RB.

I am a bit heavy at the back with the amount of defenders I have but they can fill in an MR/CM so it works for me.

Being trained to play wingback.  He's the second A.Gomez at my club so they might need nicknames .

 

Hopefully can hit his potential.



I had 3 CM choices.  1 had low work rate though had some crackin' stats and on another day he'd also be here but I had one space left for the season to bring in a foreign youth player.  Another had crackin' teamwork/vision/work rate but lacked a little in other areas and was injury prone.  I found Rodulfo with Bayern already bidding, he's a punt but his physical stats are great even if his teamwork lets him down.  Going to train him at B2B and see how it turns out.

This was before the last day of the window.  Before City spent big on David.

 

It's funny, I've spent £4.5mil and I feel it could be a total punt.  Liverpool spent £102mil on one player.

Here he is:

Still, we're running a tight ship.

 

We can't keep this run up forever and February will test us

Edited March 6 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

February



That wasn't the way to end our streak!  An absolute stunning strike from Christoper Nkunku gave Everton all 3 points.  We had chances, we had a 95mil minute penalty which Pope saved Cottrells effort, was not our day.

United went ahead with a crackin' free kick but two minutes later Stewart equalised, two minutes after that he put us ahead.  Eder Militao restored parity in the 70th minute and we had chances, Stewart had a huge chance for his hat-trick but we share the spoils.

We struggled at St. James' Park.  Neither team were great and Pochettino heading in Wings lovely cross got us all 3 points.  Really happy though 'cause I had to rotate after the Liverpool game.

I've no idea where we'll finish here.



FA Cup

Oliver Skipps 2nd goal was beautiful.  Cartagena set up the first goal and then conceded the penalty . 

Liverpool had shots but lacked quality.

Euro Cup II

We have our opponents.

 

Atlot of games coming thick and fast in March, see where it takes us.

 

[SpillBlood 165]

March



Great month.

A crackin' ball from Cartagena saw Sadler hit the bar but thankfully follow up the effort scoring not even a minute into the Palace game, they pulled one back but a Stewart brace and Skipp scoring in the 91st minute saw an easy win, helped with Palace recieving a red after 53 minutes.

And our lovely football continued into the Sheff Utd game, another Stewart brace, Sheff Utd pulled one back but then Sadler getting our 3rd and then a Correa with a brace of his own saw us destroy Sheff Utd.

Stewart again scoring after 5 minutes against Wolves but it was a very tight game and that single goal saw us take all 3 points.

 

Lovely stuff, still laughing 14 of those came against West Ham

Win all 7 games and somehow results let York win the title? I'm buzzin' if we manage to finish 5 in reality.  We may steal a Champs League spot here.

 

And a really random award

Europa League II

Brilliant all I can say.

This is going to be a tough game, they know how to score.

And if we progress we'll most likely face Sevilla which is another difficult opposition.



FA Cup



Always love being Spurs

And we should beat Leeds, we may get into a cup final this year.

A new full international



Good player, my LB who can fill in a CB.  Love seeing players play for their national team.

Takeover?



Hope this stays like this, isn't the first time something about a takeover has popped up, he's even appeared as a favoured personnel of York City.

 

It's a big month comin' up, can we finish keep the form going?

 

[SpillBlood 165]

April


It started so well. 

Proper good display against Villa. Three first half goals from Cottrell, Nildo and Clarke saw us flying high before Villa pulled one back in the 77th minute, far too late.

We were absolutely brilliant vs Leciester, they deserved a goal but it was another MOTM display from Cottrell.  Zambrano heading home, Correa doubling, Stewart getting out 3rd and subsitute Wing getting the 4th in the 92nd minute.

I'll never know how we only drew to Liverpool, Allison saved so many attempts, we played very well and 3 points should have been ours.

Same against Spurs, they had 3 shots, 2 on target and scored both.  Can't blame the GK even if his rating was poor, both came from my RCBs position, so frustrating, especially when Layton Stewart should have equalised in the 90th minute.





We can still qualify for the Champions League but it means beating City and Chelsea who are our last 2 games and us actually beating a team in the bottom 3 are they seem to be our toughest opponents.



Europa League II

Not sure what happened to my screenshot of our 1 - 0 win but...



We were the easily the better team until Wing was sent off and we crumbled.  I kept 1 in CM until Midtsjo scored a 20 yarder and I changed it to 4 - 2 - 3 and it just, didn't work too well with my subs in midfield playing very poor. After Correa scored I was like YES, WE'VE DONE IT and then yeah... Skipp with an absolute woeful pass saw us punished again.  AZ were the only other team scoring tons of goals in the competition, we broke the record goals for about 20 minutes and then they broke it against us.

Frustrating, I felt this was a winnable competition.

FA Cup



Same here but some poor defending saw us fall short.

Atleast the last few games of April have shown where I need to improve over the summer.

Facilities

The norm









Youth intake



Not sure what happened to the potential GK but we have an alright looking winger and striker.





Both join Gash in potential players for the future, nice.

We need to win against Blackburn and Chelsea for even a sniff at Champions League now.  I'm happy to go back into Europa since I think we'll struggle in the Champs League but we just see how we play in May.


 

[SpillBlood 165]

 

 

(Best 11 is due to Europa League performances)



What a season!  We destroyed Blackburn, we got destroyed by City and then we Hall was class in net for us to deny Chelsea whilst we put 3 past them

Big difference in a year.

Big budget incoming!

Hopefully we can bring in some English talent, some experienced players and make a solid go of next season, especially being in the Champions League to show this season wasn't just a fluke.  We've massively over-performed and getting so far into the cup competition and failing knocked me down to show that we're still a small fish in a big pond. We have some class players here but I'm going to be selling some deadwood, some good players who I don't feel fit and proper looking for some leadership in the market.  I'd love a new RB and B2B who can help spur the team on.  Hopefully next year we can win a trophy.

 

Really though, what an amazing season
 

Edited March 11 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

Stadiums getting even bigger.



This was just randomly announced.  I mean, no complaints but we're away again for a season in a massive stadium compared

[Pompeyboyz 1,561]

The Stuart Pearce stadium in Leeds??

Who plays there as it can't be Leeds Utd

[SpillBlood 165]

6 hours ago, Pompeyboyz said:

The Stuart Pearce stadium in Leeds??

Who plays there as it can't be Leeds Utd

Looks like it was built due to England hosting the 2030 World Cup



Why Stuart Pearce in Leeds and Rio Ferdinand in Brighton I'll never know

[Pompeyboyz 1,561]

Looks  a bit weird to me as Elland Road is good enough really with a bit of a spruce up...same for St Fairys in Southampton 

Whole bunch of stadium built that make no sense and the naming is weird too.  

Might be a bit of a bug

[SpillBlood 165]

1 hour ago, Pompeyboyz said:

Looks  a bit weird to me as Elland Road is good enough really with a bit of a spruce up...same for St Fairys in Southampton 

Whole bunch of stadium built that make no sense and the naming is weird too.  

Might be a bit of a bug

Yeah I agree, not sure how much more St. Marys can hold though.  The Stuart Peace/Elland Road both being in Leeds makes zero sense.

It's alright I've had to try and replay the same transfer three times now due to the game having a big issue whether the play is trained at club or not.

The game tells me on the 29th he'll become trained at York, if you let his loan go back on the 30th, he isn't trained at York.  If you extend the loan on the 30th, he isn't trained at York.  If you agree BEFORE the 29th, he seems to become trained at York.

Actually managed to get it to work properly, enquired about him and then nothing I could do would remove the enquiry sign so I couldn't negotiate bringing Sadler to the club properly.  Cancelled, putting in a bid they'd reject, nothing would work.

So, this transfer widow has been nothing but a nightmare for me since I need to do it a 4th time to bring him in home grown which he's supposed to be, the bug is that he isn't actually being classed as trained at club and then the ability to negotiate a bid and it actually work properly.

Hopefully it'll work 4th time, even if it means keeping Sadler here on loan for another season but that's another bug imo.  If you want to buy him whilst he's on loan, he costs X amount more than he would if you sent him back because they realise they don't need him and they won't hit the potential compared to ther players in their squad.  But if I send him back, there's no trained at York and that's a key reason I want him here.

Proper frustrating.

[Pompeyboyz 1,561]

2 minutes ago, SpillBlood said:

Yeah I agree, not sure how much more St. Marys can hold though.

AFAIK, it was designed so that should they want to expand, they could boost it easily with an extra tiering...so possible up to 50-60k but don't quote me there

[SpillBlood 165]

2027/2028

In my Rotherham save I had an amazing player named Ryan Gauld who just played too well in his position.. I have one on this save.

This has been very helpful since my #1 target for RB and RW said no thanks to yeah nps I'll come just days between thanks to our rep increase.

Heck we even dropped 1 place in Europe somehow.



Still mixed in with some Championship teams.

Our success is bringing in more revenue

Though we're spending alot more on wages and transfers now.

Transfers

Out

We've spent quite a bit but we've still sold £45mil worth of players.




Franco wasn't good enough, even though I'm still paying a part of his wages, I'm happy to offload for 10mil profit.

Woo-yeong wasn't very good.  Bad purchase on my part.

Lopez didn't kick on, hope he can elsewhere.

Alvarez didn't play that well and all of a sudden that was it, at 19 he'd hit his potential and he really needed to improve his game in some areas, I've replaced him with a much better LW that the likes of Inter were after.

Darren Davidson never kicked on here and I've recouped my money.

Wing had a year left and he was always leaving after that red card.

Mnoga wasn't good enough anymore and on too much wage to just sit there unplayed.

Pochettino only had a year left  so I thought I'd replace.

In



We broke our record twice this summer and one of those is a really interesting signing as it was information I didn't know(you'll see below)




Harlley is the Brazillian Gary Neville, he'll be club captain though he can barely speak of a word of the Queens.  I think he will, part of me wants to give it to Godrey.  I'm a big fan, hope he plays as good as he looks.



Leo is being trained at RM to be an absolute class winger, hopefully. Can hit a freekick aswell.

 

New LM, if it doesn't work here I'm such he'd bring in some dolla.  He's also got a great scoring record for Club Brugge and for his country.

 

30mil on a CB that nearly got relegated with Everton?

He was born in.. York.. wait..

Homegrown player for our Champions League campaign! 



That's such a huge signing.  He's good enough to be our starting CB and he's trained at club, lovely

 

Ashford is one for the future potentially, he's English so that's a start.

I caved in, Ortiz still looked too good to not bring in for £2mil.



And one that isn't here yet is a GK with alot of potential, he cost us 11k so he's worth a punt.



I think when it comes to signings that's us done.

I have 89mil in the bank, we have room in our budget I just don't need anymore.  I've improved my backroom staff etc, we're looking good.  Heck, we've even improved our youth recruitment but we have some way to go.

This year hasn't been a sellout yet and the Stuart Pearce Stadium holds alot more than we're used too, hopefully we'll sell more tickets.

 

We've played 7 pre-season friendlys but it's finally time for the real thing, we could end up with 12 points here if we play as well as I know we can.

[SpillBlood 165]

August

What a start, a 92nd minute goal stopped it being perfect.

Then again so did a red card.  The first half against Southampton we were poor, neither team showed up.  Layton Stewart then stole the show, 51st, 56th, 61st and 62nd minute goals, they pulled one back and then we saw our magician in midfield sent off for a horrible tackle in Ben Cottrell.  They mounted a comeback but we managed to hold on.

Newcastle never threatened but we didn't find it easy either.  Rodulfo scoring from the edge of the box got his first York goal gave us the win.

Another Stewart show, getting a brace before Nandez pulled one back in the 91st minute for Norwich.  Phil Ashford who'd come off the bench for his debut scored in the 94th minute to kill the game.

I can't complain that we only drew against Villa, a 92nd goal from a bit of luck gave them an equaliser but they played well.  Stewart got us the lead and we went into the break 1 - 0 up.  Some really good football saw Villa equalise before a great cross from Rharib saw Palomeque get us back ahead but Villa weren't having it.

2nd though, great start.

Different sort of month for us in reality, we look alot more solid at the back with Godfrey there, who I had to make captain.  Hope it stays that way.



Sounds like Layton Stewart has had in incredble start.. he isn't the only one.





Damn Haaland stealing the show

Young player of the month is a York player though, playing 3 as he was injured for one game.



Champions League Draw



Welcome to the Champions League....   that is one solid group.

Carabao Cup Draw



Transer Window End

This is mad in my eyes.  It's our third season in the top flight, we've doubled our wage budget bringing in some class players and.. we're still bottom of the wage table!





Liverpool smashing it with another MC, he's worth every penny.



September is a very much "show us what you've got" month.

Edited March 15 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

Challenge accepted

[vinny6876 13]

I don’t normally read blogs but really enjoyed this one, maybe because I’m playing with York too. Looking forward to hearing how you do, your results have been pretty amazing 

[SpillBlood 165]

15 hours ago, vinny6876 said:

I don’t normally read blogs but really enjoyed this one, maybe because I’m playing with York too. Looking forward to hearing how you do, your results have been pretty amazing 

Much appreciated my dude.  Good luck with York!  What formation are you looking at playing?

[SpillBlood 165]

September



Oh so close to being perfect and we the best team in every game!

United took the lead early on through what seemed to be a mistake from Godfrey missing his interception but both CB and RB were awol.  We dug in deep though and got a goal before half time.  We were the better side, just hoping to finish one of our chances before Leo decides to do his best Ben Cottrell impression and we went down to 10 in the 78th minute.  We were still the better side, scoring again but it was just offside!  We were so unlucky not to win which seems the story everytime we play Man Utd.  Oh yeah, the same Man Utd side which have loaned out Rashford to Arsenal

Same against Spurs, we were solid at the back but we couldn't score, hit the woodwork, had a few good chances but we drew a blank.

I thought it was going to be the same against Liverpool, hitting the woodwork twice, enough chances, by far the better team (our xG was 2.07, Liverpools was 0.45) and in the 89th minute Messias Harlley(our RB) shot low and Sadler on a sub diverted it in to finally break his 10 hour non scoring streak.

City have dropped point so we're looking good!

This is the best defensive start we've had to a season iirc, Godfrey has been a great purchase and is a brilliant captain.  Alex Hall has been a monster in net, he's defiantly improving.

So strange to be winning games by being solid at the back and not just trying to ourscore the opponent



Haaland has been quiet but so has Stewart, he's not been able to get into games and he's missed some good chances.



Champions League



We were great vs Shaktar.  Both ourselves and Juventus were solid at the back, it took a 92nd minute counter attack to find our goal.  Rharib had stole it, ran 3/4 of the pitch and hit it in.  I'm screaming square it!  Play in Sadler!  I reckon a ball to Sadler may have been intercepted in the end and Rharib is alot faster.  Such a great solo goal.

Rharib looks like he loves playing in Europe.

Champions League seems a bit good for some income.  Blowing our gate receipt record away.



Carabao Cup



Not at our best but we qualified.



Hope we can keep it going.

I'm really interested to see how we play vs Barcelona and I wonder if we can get another 7 goals vs West Ham


 

[SpillBlood 165]

October



Well, if you wanted to watch an awful match then York vs Wolves was up there as your top choice.  My strikers were absolutely woeful, even when they went to 10 after just 34 minutes we couldn't do anything and still looked 2nd best.

We carried that into the Bournemouth game and found ourselves behind from a fantastic freekick.  Late on Leo managed to equalise and we went for it but the liner didn't like us, even onside he was flagging everything off .  We couldn't finish it off.

Much much better against Burnley.  Just 5 minutes it took Cottrell to score.  A striker finally put the ball into the net which was Layton Stewart and Skipp finished the scoring.  Much better performance.

And West Ham give us goals, they're great.  They should of had some and we missed our 2nd penalty! Gomez(LB) scored after just 2 minutes, Sadler after 8 a pen.  Zambrano after 11 and Skipp after 36.  First half dominance.  Love playing West Ham.

Through out the month though I'm a bit worried how poorly my strikers are playing but we missing some good team players through injury.

There's a big plus that we haven't lost yet.

 

And atleast Leo has been involved.

 

Champions League



Youth vs a much more experienced side, we stud no chance.  Stewart missed our only chance.



Carabao Cup



We were awful.  Gelhardt, Palomeque, just awful.  I went attacking to try get something at the end and 90th minute Newcastle scored from their first shot on target.  Frustarting to say the least.

Training

The same as every year.

 

I had to proper argue for improvements to our Youth Recruitment which seems mad.  We can afford it all, we should want to improve every chance we get.

 

Hopefully my strikers can find some form in November.  Going to be interesting facing Barcelona at "home" (I can't wait to go back to our actual stadium).

[SpillBlood 165]

November



We were really solid against Chelsea, Rharib got our goal after just 3 minutes and after that we cancelled each other out.

Compared to the West Brom game where both teams went for it.  We were 2 - 0 up after 14 minutes with Stewart and Rharib both scoring.  Petkov got one back for WBA late on but we held on.

And my word, I kept the same team on apart from 1 MC that smashed Shaktar and we were so poor.  Stewart missed a sitter early on and then Cartagena gave away a stupid penalty which Hagi put in.  Such a poor way to finally lose a game.

We could be top of the league, it's tight around the top.

 

Champions League



A tale of two penaltys saw us beat Barcelona.  We scored ours, they missed theirs.  That was it. 

Shakhtar just got owned







I'm hoping we can top the group, just Juventus to go.

 

Rharib with a perfect hat-trick.  He loves the Champions League.



FA Cup Draw



Should win this one.

December is a difficult month where we face a Man City side that just beat Spurs 7 - 1 .  Hope we get Juventus and end the month strong.

[SpillBlood 165]

December



It turned out the month went opposite of how I expected.  We started strong and finished badly.  Injuries and suspensions really hurt us later in the month.

City were the better team but two early goals from Stewart and Sadler before a great team goal by City was enough for us to take all 3 points.

And a solid performance saw Rodulfo and Sadler get on the scoreshoot before Godfrey was sent off for a nasty tackle.  We've been so poor at the back without him.

I need a poster "If you see Layton Stewart, tell him he plays for York, last seen at the Juventus Stadium" because afterwards he's been an absolute pile of garbage.

Arsenal took the lead mid way through the first half and we tried but couldn't score.  Stewart should have scored early on, we got a soft penalty to equalise and then Gomez the LB somehow played McKay onside to score his 2nd, it was so poor that he left him onside, I was fuming.  Due to Sadler being an Arsenal player, Gelhardt and Correa both being out, my 16 year old striker was the only option to bring on upfront and he was so close to scoring, was a really good chance.  They had 5 shots, 2 on target and we lost, I'm a bit bitter .

And I was fuming again thanks to what looked like a win against Leeds after Rharib got a brace and their Colombian MC Mojica who an absolute worldy, Cartagena gave away ANOTHER PENALTY.  Moffi put it away and we shared the spoils.  So many players underperformed against Leeds.

And it just carried on, we were so poor going forward agaisnt Brentford and Hall saved the first shot but the ball bounced to a Brentford player to slot in.  Palomeque scored a brilliant solo effort but we couldn't do anything after that.

Not helped by this...



Correa is out for the rest of the season, that's an absolute huge blow for us.  Hope he doesn't decline too much.  Some players will be solid and replacements will be brought in to rally in Correas absense.

It's still anyones title.



Champions League



We did it, we topped the group



And now we've beaten Barcelona, we have another Spanish team to beat...



Damn it's going to be tough.

Awards







Mad to think Sadler is still only 21, feel like he's been here for years.

Youth intake preview



Wonder if the GK will be better than my promising one of last year who wasn't very promising

Wage Increase but they said no to transfer budget!


 

Anything to help fix the holes in the team.

So many games in January, transfers need to be made sooner than later.

Edited March 20 by SpillBlood

[deltablue 1,254]

You've made incredible progress!

[SpillBlood 165]

11 hours ago, deltablue said:

You've made incredible progress!

Thanks to South America and English youth

[SpillBlood 165]

If anyone wants a laugh, we thankfully won 2 - 1 but this is how Villa got their goal.  I pretty much shouted WTF.

https://gyazo.com/baab453608fc02d683405442bcafb80f
 

Edited March 20 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

January

We fell behind just after half time against Soton but Stewart managed to equalise in the 60th minute.  Palomeque scored but was offside and that was that.  Not our best game.

And then we fell behind again this time through Idah at Carrow Road.  Stewart equalised in the 67th minute this time and even though we dominated them, we fell short and only drew.

My CBs were the heros and zeros here.  Zambrano put us ahead early on through a header from a corner and Godfrey doubled out lead the same way in the 46th minute.  Rodulfo was sent off for a second yellow in the 74th minute and we were solid enough and held on, no thanks to conceding that's to that awful O.G in the post above

Much much better vs Spurs.  Layton Stewart put us ahead after 29 seconds but we were poor and let Spurs equalised too easily after 8 minutes.  It turned into the Stewart show as he scored in the 38th and 67th minute for his hat-trick.

It was experience vs youth at Old Trafford and experience battered us.  Riccardo Orsolini scoring a hat-trick before we'd even managed a shot on goal.  Sadler came on, won and scored a penalty and an error at the back let Rharib steal the ball and scored a great goal, we tried but Zambrano not being able to reach the ball let Wan-Bissaki of all people kill us off.  We just had too many underperforming players who were all fined.

Personally due to the start of the month don't think it's been a good'un, we're 4th which is great but Arsenal have a game in hand.



Some awards.







FA Cup




Playing some youth thankfully didn't backfire in these games though we were awful vs Millwall!

Can we get revenge against Man Utd?



Transfers

Out:

Herbert was a youth player that many clubs were after and I was happy to take a fee and future 50% 'cause he wasn't going to make it here.

Ariel de la Pava even though he turned trained at club in the summer wasn't going to make it here.  Wasn't playing anymore.

Nildo and Gelhardt but rejected contracts from Chinese clubs.

In:



Aertssen is trained in England, was supposed to replace de la Pava + Nildo but Nildo rejected all 3 contracts from Chinese clubs but he can play CB and CM, he's a different sort of player for me since he lacks the usual jumping reach I'd want as a CB but he's great with the ball at his feet.



Turrubiates is to try and cover for Correa.



We no longer have the lowest wage, just.

And an amazing England striker makes a huge move to Real.





February is a big month, let's try and take the reins of our league position and the first leg away at the Bernabeu.

Edited March 23 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

February



Solid enough month.

Newcastle were so close to taking the lead early on but the woodwork saved us, after that it was very much York in control.  We had alot of the ball, created some chances but lacked conviction.  Turrubiates was great from the bench, breaking from our own half into the Newcastle box only to be fouled and Cottrell to hit in to give us the winner.

We fell behind after just 3 minutes against Liverpool from an absolute rocket.  We dug in and in the 21st minute Stewart equalised, Leo gave us the lead after a powerful shot somehow flew past Allison and thanks to heroics from my goalkeeper Hall, we managed to save home the win.


It took 2 minutes for Wolves to score and another 2 minutes after that they scored again.  Rodulfo saw his maching orders after 32 minutes and then Godfrey gave away a soft pen.  I made some subs and Skipp headed in Leos cross to bring it to 3 - 1.  We were playing okay but Baro popped up to score again for Wolves.  Rharib pulled one back after 66 minutes but after that we never looked like scoring.  Such a bad day at the office.

And then I made a couple of changes, after the heroics vs Madrid it was time for Palomeque to start as a poacher, Cartagena is back from injury and went straight back to the LB spot where it was one of his best games in a York shirt.  Palomeque scored a hat-trick in the first half and scored a 4th in the 2nd.  Stewart followed up scoring our 5th and Turrubiates who I don't understand how Villa don't have a role for this lad scored our 6th.

There's 5 teams here that could win the league and either way 1 will have out of the Champions League.







Champions League



We put in a good attempt.  A draw was fair.  Palomeque came off the bench to score our equaliser and just minutes later hit the woodwork.  I think we can beat them at home.

Facilities







Though I had to argue my case, glad to see the board are still willing to improve our facilities .  We have a couple of good players coming through, would love one of them to actually play here.

Big month coming up.  United in FA Cup, Madrid in Champs League, Chelsea in Prem.

Heck, we can potentially still do the treble!

[TelcontarTargaryen 16]

Well congratulations, you made me for the first time in history wish that United actually don't win the title.. even if only in your save. 

[SpillBlood 165]

3 hours ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

Well congratulations, you made me for the first time in history wish that United actually don't win the title.. even if only in your save. 

Hahaha cheers man.  Well they have a chance of winning the FA Cup 'cause they knocked me out .  Last season I should have done the double over them, now they're back to being my bogey team, I just cannot beat them!

[SpillBlood 165]

March



Some really good football saw Aertssen fire in his first York goal from just inside the area.  Sadler put us 2 up after 21 minutes and a long ball over saw Godfrey play on Bayrakdar who run down and slotted home to pull one back.  Leo scored in the second half to kill the game.

Palomeque scored in the 12th and Rhabirb in the 13th minute to give us a great start.  Burnley pulled one back late on but we held on.

Same kind of story but the GK from West Brom was just .  Long ball over and their GK just runs past the ball? Palomeque just hits in.  Another long ball over, he comes to sweep it but Sadler says thanks to his into another open net.  They did pull one back in the second half but Rharib killed the game off.

Still the same, 5 of us could win the league.

Rharib is amazing.

 

And we have another player winning the NxGn award.  Palomeque last year and this, Rharib.



FA Cup

We just can't beat United, was an awful start and we didn't recover.



Champions League

Our average



Where did this come from!  We were amazing!!!

I'd like to think we can beat Leverkusen.

And Monaco would be better for us to face if we get through.



Youth intake



Yeah, not a good year sadly.

Facilities

 

March is madness. We face City, Arsenal and Chelsea.  If we win those there's a chance we win the league but that's a BIG ask.  I just want Champs League again.

[SpillBlood 165]

Personally think it's United title.  Liverpool could shock us though.

[SpillBlood 165]

April



I thought we were going for a bore draw vs Sheff Utd but Ashford was a super sub.  2 star left winger with a little bit of potential left changed the game.  Just minutes after comin' on he put us 1 - 0 up and then had a big part to play in Sadlers goal, good 3 points.

And then we tried vs City.  Aertssen scored an unlucky O.G to put City up but then powered in a header just 2 minutes later.   Late on the game Mbappe scored and all 3 points went back to Manchester.

We fell behind early on from an absolute rocket from Clayton Joseph(story of our life atm, we defend well but a 20 - 25 yarder is the difference).  We played well and took the lead through Stewart and Palomeque equalised.  I subbed under-performers and somehow the subs did even worse and two late goals saw Arsenal take all 3 points and any hope of winning the league.

Better against Leeds.  Palomeque gave us the lead after just2 minutes and Sadler doubled.  They pulled one back and Sadler got himself a brace.  They pulled another late on but Turrubiates was fouled and Sadler buried the pen for his hat-trick.

United one again have bottled the league and I can't see anyone but Liverpool winning this.  United lost to Brentford and Newcastle.  HOPEFULLY we can finish top 4.



Champions League

 

Absolutely brilliant but we drew City in the semi final.



Not good enough.  I can't see us winning 2 - 0 at home, I think we're out here.  Mbappe is just too good for our lil team.

Whoever goats through will be against Barcelona and even we've beat them!  This would be such a good time to beat City

Still getting to the semi-finals would be brilliant.  I just gotta win these league games, I don't wanna miss out at another chance of Champions League glory.

Edited March 25 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

It's Manchester City who will face Barcelona in the final.

And we lose Rharib for our last 3 games, thankfully it's only 3.

 

And whilst we played City.  It was Liverpool vs Arsenal.  Liverpool have pretty much won the league now after giving Arsenal a good hiding and it helps us quality for the Champions League since Arsenal are only a point behind.

Edited March 25 by SpillBlood

[SpillBlood 165]

We're back home and I thought I'd ask for an expansion and they've done it again.  Lovely.

[SpillBlood 165]

We won every game in March, such a strong finish.  If we beat City and Arsenal, we'd of won the league, so close. 















I need better quality in the middle of my midfield.







Palomeque finished the season by scoring 4 past Brentford.  Since his change into the poacher role he's been immense, he's got alot of attention so a new contract has been offered.



I mean that was an amazing season, finishing 2nd where other teams fell off.  So close to the title.  We just need to strengthen a couple of areas and we could push for that top spot.

Really happy with our 2027/2028 campaign.  We're still a small fish in a big pond, hopefully our rep increases slightly because we really need to bring in English talent.

Time for the transfer window