[Retro DB - FM21] Back to The 90's: Save the Arsenal, Save the World - and bring Football Home!

[PaulHartman71]

Mid-Season Update

 

Robert Pires did his cruciates in September which pretty much has put him out for the whole season, big miss, but means getting Petit in was even more important as we can now use Petit-Makelele in the middle with Zidane or Merson on the left. 

 

 

The League Cup is never the number 1 priority, mainly a good way to get the 2nd string/back-up players some regular games. I thought we were lucky to get past a good Blackburn side who at the time were top of Division 2, beating them on penalties, ultimately away to Southampton with their first team out was a step too far for our 2nd string. 

 

 

We did win the Charity Shield again though, beating United 2-0 in the final to get our first trophy of the season!

 

 

 

Fergie justifying loaning out all of the Class of 92 once again as his United side have been absolutely unplayable at times. I think they won their first like 14 games of the season or something insane, including a narrow 2-1 victory against us at Old Trafford. I don't actually think we've played particularly terribly, we've had narrow away losses to Chelsea, Palace and West Ham, 2 of which were following European Cup games mid-week. 10 points is a big deficit to make up, although United have started to drop points now, losing to Southampton and City in the busy Christmas period, we have to hope that knocks their confidence a bit and we can crack on. 

The run in for 3rd and 4th is absolutely mental though, given Southampton have 2 games in hand pretty much anyone from 3rd to 9th could feasibly finish in the Top 4 and get European Cup next season. 

I'd back Liverpool to eventually wind up with us just because they have too much quality going forward not to, but the other spot could be literally anyone's at this point.

Wimbledon look set to go straight back down, they've already sacked Brian Clough and got George Graham in, who was sacked earlier in the season by Everton who were obviously unhappy with the relegation battle they've found themselves in. 

Nottingham Forest sacked Graham Taylor and got in Howard Wilkinson earlier in the season, with QPR dumping Don Mackay for Howard Kendall.

There does seem to be a bit of a manager merry go round at the moment as Graham Taylor took over at Everton and Brian Clough is now the Sheffield United boss. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

Overall no complaints from me in the European Cup as we top our group, we did lose to Monaco at Highbury but they're a very good side in their own right and gave us a good fight for it after we beat them 4-2 away from home a few weeks prior.

 

 

 

No real surprises here, as pretty much everyone you would expect to get through got through. Norwich gave it their best shot and will have a crack in the UEFA Cup now for their troubles after finishing 3rd behind Real Madrid and Rangers.

 

 

Some interesting ties in there, with Bayern vs Barca and Liverpool vs Real Madrid probably the biggest games on paper. Monaco could give Milan a run for their money, with Marseille/Roma an interesting one too. 

PSG obviously aren't the PSG they are at the moment in the real timeline, but they're still a threat having won the UEFA Cup last season. I think we have to be happy with that as a tie though given we could've got Bayern instead. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

I didn't really want to sell Steve Bould but he kind of forced the issue. Given his injury troubles in the last 2 seasons he's not really in my plans and is 4th choice CB, which he's not super happy about, but with 18 months left on his deal he had no interest in signing a new deal and requested a move so it was a good time to cash in really given he's 31. Blackburn actually picked him up in the end and I imagine he'll be a decent boost to their promotion campaign. 

 

The question of who to get in to replace him was a difficult one. Sol Campbell a no-go. I looked into Laurent Blanc or Gilles Grimandi but was quoted silly money by the clubs they play for. 

A lot of the other top young centre backs are already at big sides who would demand big money. Stam and Montero are at Juve, Cannavaro and Roberto Ayala at Napoli, Frank de Boer at Barca, even someone like Sami Hyypia is already at Roma who want silly money to part with him. I did look at Pochettino who's at Keegan's RC Lens, but they rejected it and given they're in the Ligue 1 title race I don't blame them I guess. 

In the end I decided to go for someone English who was home-grown and also versatile so can cover some other positions, namely midfield, as well... 

 

 

 

Southgate you're the one!  

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

The January window in general was relatively tame, although it still saw a couple of £15M moves. 

 

 

Paolo Sousa left Benfica for Juve. 

 

 

With Matthias Sammer joining Bayern from Stuttgart. 

 

 

Not a great deal of excitement outside of that although Chelsea did get quite a few defenders in, most notably Roberto Di Matteo from Dortmund. 

[PaulHartman71]

Terry Venables was sacked by Tottenham in March, replaced by Chris Nicholl. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

End of Season 1993/94

 

 

Ferguson's Man United retain the title in both the original timeline and this new timeline, although bloody hell we came close to doing it. They did their best to bottle their 10 point lead at Christmas and more often than not we took advantage, however on the final day we lost at Elland Road to a Leeds side desperate to gain European Cup football next season. They got their European Cup football, which I'm sure their fans were happy about, but they also gave United the title, so, you know, hope you're happy Leeds. Hilariously it was actually a goal from Leeds substitute and one time real life Arsenal player Oleg Luzhnyi that lost the game for us  

Overall a decent campaign for us, I'd kind of written off the title being so far behind at Christmas and we did have distractions in other competitions which probably helped United in their bid to retain it. 

Coventry, Nottingham Forest and Wimbledon all go down, with Palace and West Ham surviving on the final day. 

Leeds did kind of come from nowhere to get 4th, ending the season really well, as it looked for ages like it would be Leicester or Southampton's for sure. In the end those two sides settle for the UEFA Cup, with Newcastle entering next year's Conference League. 

 

 

Seaman, Adams, Makelele and Petit make the Division 1 Team of the Year. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A fun Cup run which saw Andy Cole hit 6 past an awful Oxford United side in the Quarter Final in a 9-0 away rout, as well as a ding-dong 4-4 Semi Final with Liverpool that we ultimately won on penalties, saw us eventually beat relegated Nottingham Forest 2-0 in the final thanks to an Ian Wright brace to retain the FA Cup.

[PaulHartman71]

 

We played over 210 minutes of football against PSG without either of us scoring, in a tie that could only be decided by penalties. Even in the shoot-out PSG only managed to score 2, which helped us to win and book a place in the Quarter Final. 

 

 

 

Roma were a side that looked quite dangerous on paper, but were lingering in 5th in Serie A and in the first leg in Rome didn't create an awful lot. If the 2 away goals hadn't killed them off then Karel Paborsky's red card early in the first half at Highbury certainly did.

4-0 across the two legs probably flattered us a bit, but Wenger wasn't complaining as he got to a European Cup Semi Final for the first time!

 

 

We managed to go toe to toe with the Serie A heavyweights at Highbury, albeit conceding 2 away goals, but Milan who hadn't yet won the European Cup since the new timeline began comfortably beat us at the San Siro to get into the final. We couldn't get near them in the second leg in a game we needed to score at least 1 goal to stand any chance of progressing. Seaman probably our best player on the night, could well have been 3 or 4 without him. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

This felt like the season where the younger talent finally came through to the level where they were regular starters (with the obvious exception of Pires who missed almost the entire season after his nasty injury). Lizarazu and Thuram both now at a point where they're starting over Winterburn and Dixon, with Zidane having a strong season albeit still nowhere near the world class level he could potentially reach. Petit and Makelele did very well in midfield, with Ian Wright probably our best attacking player. Desaily and Adams absolute rocks at centre back and Seaman great in goal. 

Desaily the only one really attracting interest and unfortunately he very likely leaves this summer. Barcelona came in for him with £18M in January, but I refused to sanction any deal in January preferring to sell him at the end of the season. He won't sign a new deal and with just 2 years left on his contract and him wanting out to a bigger side I would rather sell him now for decent money than lose him next summer for half of what we could get with just 1 year left on his deal potentially. 

Kevin Campbell made noise about leaving the club due to not getting a chance earlier in the season, he's dropped that recently but I think it's the right time to move both him and Paul Dickov who had a good season on loan at Rangers on this summer. We have Wright, Andy Cole (who did well, maybe not as well as the goals to games ratio suggests due to the mad 6 goal stat peddling against Oxford) and Alan Smith - and it's looking like I can secure a bit of va-va-voom in the summer for a reasonable price to be a young back-up to them. 

Nigel Winterburn also wants out, which is earlier than I planned to sell him, I was hoping both he and Dixon would happily be rotation/back-up to Lizarazu and Thuram as they got older, but certainly Winterburn kicked off the moment he went 5-6 games without starting in a row. He's likely off this summer with numerous Division 1 sides interested in taking him off our hands. 

Alan Miller has also asked to leave for first team football, he's been a great back-up keeper for us but I will happily let him go to be first choice somewhere else as we can get another back-up in with the hope of eventually having them take over from Seaman, as I doubt it will be like real life where Seaman is still good enough in his late 30s to be playing for club and country. 

[PaulHartman71]

 Wenger's Career Record

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season      Club                  League                Position           Achievements/Other
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990/91     Arsenal FC            First Division          2nd              N/A
1991/92     Arsenal FC            First Division          1st              First Division & League Cup winners
1992/93     Arsenal FC            First Division          3rd              FA Cup & Charity Shield winners
1993/94     Arsenal FC            First Division          2nd              FA Cup & Charity Shield winners
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Arsenal's Trophy Cabinet in the Original Timeline

 

First Division/Premier League - x4 (1990/91, 1997/98, 2001/02 & 2003/04) 

FA Cup                        - x9 (1992-93, 1997/98, 2001/2, 2002/03, 2004/05, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2016/17 & 2019/20) 

League Cup                    - x1 (1992/93)

Charity/Community Shield      - x9 (1991/92, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2002/03, 2004/05, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/20 & 2020/21)

UEFA Cup Winners Cup          - x1 (1993/94)

 

 

Trophy Cabinet in the New Timeline

 

First Division             - x1 (1991/92) 

FA Cup                     - x2 (1992/93 & 1993/94)

League Cup                 - x1 (1991/92)

Charity Shield             - x2 (1992/93 & 1993/94)

 

[PaulHartman71]

A repeat of last season to some extent, but I am very positive about the way we ended the league campaign and feel we did very good in Europe too. 

With the players we have improving with every game I believe we can have another good go at the First Division and European Cup next season, obviously United are a quality side and there's some brilliantly stacked sides in Europe too, but if we have a bit of luck on our side we could well win at least one of them.

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

Graeme Souness' Liverpool side retained the League Cup, although Spurs made them work for it in the final. 

 

 

 

Ipswich win the 2nd Division, returning to the top flight after a 2 year absence, with Sheffield Wednesday coming back up immediately after going down last season. The big story here of course is Blackburn Rovers finally making it up to the First Division, as they were the side to beat this time in the real time line with all of the money. 

They won the Premier League in the 94/95 season, which of course is next season, that would seem incredibly unlikely to say the least, but it will be interesting to see how they do get on. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Sensational scenes in Serie A, as whilst AC Milan retain for the 4th time in a row in this timeline, Napoli, who lost Maradona to Milan last summer, took them to the final day in a title that was ultimately decided only on goal difference. If Napoli had avoided defeat in their last game against Bari they would've been champions!

Roma miss out on the European Cup next season due to finishing 5th, themselves only 2 goals behind on goal difference against Inter Milan in 4th. 

 

 

Not a bad side  

[PaulHartman71]

 

Real Madrid retain in a bad year for Barcelona who finish 12 points and goal difference away from their rivals. Valladolid and Gijon come 3rd and 4th again, with Osasuna and Atletico making the UEFA Cup next year. 

 

 

A shock in Germany as Stuttgart pip Bayern to the title. Dortmund and Leverkusen also make the European Cup next year, with Gladbach and Hamburg in the UEFA Cup. 

 

 

A huge win for Kevin Keegan's RC Lens side as they win the title in France! Bordeaux also finish above what has previously been a dominant Monaco side, with PSG and Lille making the UEFA Cup next season. 

 

 

Ajax wrestle the Dutch crown away from PSV, in a narrow run thing, with Feyenoord getting 3rd and the UEFA Cup. 

 

 

Rangers make it 2 in a row, but my word did Celtic make them work for it.

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

Verona of Italy won the Conference League, beaten FC Emmen in the final.

[PaulHartman71]

 

An incredible UEFA Cup campaign from a Gijon side who beat RC Lens, Napoli, Celtic and favorites Ajax to the crown against the odds. 

 

 

 

 

Gijon still only managed 1 player in the Team of the Tournament  

[PaulHartman71]

 

In a funny coincidence the final actually saw the same contestants in Milan and Barcelona that the real life 93/94 European Cup saw, with Milan also winning it as they did in real, albeit with a 1-0 victory instead of the 4-0 one they had in real life. 

Barcelona only just made the final stopping an all-Milan affair by beating Inter on away goals, whilst in the Quarter Finals we saw a big tie with Milan and Juve going up against each other. Liverpool beating Real Madrid 8-5 on aggregate a brilliant example of what Liverpool can do on their day, although they never seem to be able to fully crack on given their tendency to ship too many goals.

 

 

 

Milan not getting a single player in the Team of the Tournament having won the thing seems more than a little harsh  

[PaulHartman71]

The 1994 World Cup in America is this summer, with England not qualifying in the real time line, Harry Redknapp can't really do much worse having qualified for the tournament! 

Squads to be announced soon, but with no official song enjoy this lovely one from Italia 90 instead... 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

Just clocked I posted the European Cup team of the year from last season instead  

Makes more sense, will get this ones up when I’m back on later. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Makes a lot more sense  

[Sonic Youth]

Yes it does! 

[Sonic Youth]

Also, you set this thread on fire with your updates alone 

[Sonic Youth]

Comments!

You nearly made up the start of the season, where Man Utd flew out of the traps.

I think Europe exposed your quality of depth (much like Liverpool and their defence), and by the looks of your players rumblings, need Harry’s supposed wheelings-and-dealings 

Wait, he’s not available this summer 

More cup wins though 

Bring on 94 World Cup and the transfer dealings 

[Sonic Youth]

I predict a top performing player in the World Cup to be bought by Real Madrid 

[PaulHartman71]

       

 

 

There was no England squad in the 1994 World Cup, as they didn't qualify, so nothing to compare to really. Lineker I think retired after the 92 Euros in the real timeline, but 'Arry's talked him into one last shot at the big one. 

A few players miss out, perhaps most notably Teddy Sheringham who got injured towards the end of the season. It did at least save Harry a bit of a selection headache I suppose. 

Stuart Pearce also misses out through injury, which helped Nigel Winterburn get a call that he likely wouldn't have got otherwise. 

Steve McManaman would've been in with a shout instead of Anderton or Waddle, but he broke his ankle a few months before so he is another that missed out, I'm sure there will more tournaments for him in the future though. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

The group stage will consist of Colombia, Nigeria and Uzbekistan, which at least on paper you have to say is a very kind draw for Arry and his side. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

A pre tournament friendly at Wembley against Iran sees a comfortable 3-0 victory, with goals from Shearer, Anderton and Gascoine. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The Group Stage got off to a cracking start, as a goal from Ian Wright was enough to give England a 1-0 win over Colombia. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A rampant display against the Nigerians, which even saw Gary Lineker miss a late penalty to prevent himself getting a hat-trick. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Having already qualified for the next round Redknapp had the luxury of rotating a bit against Uzbekistan, with the rotated team still picking up a 4-0 win. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

No surprises in the top half of the tournament, with Qatar taking a real pasting in their group. 

 

 

The American hosts go out, but with Germany and Holland in their group you wouldn't be too surprised by that. 

Croatia surprise winners of their group with also included Brazil, whilst Chile and European Champions Belgium are through too. 

 

I am ahead so can't post a screenshot of the Round of 16 draw without spoilers, but it was as follows: 

Portugal vs Mexico

Italy vs Spain

 

Colombia vs Germany

Croatia vs Belgium

 

Denmark vs Romania

Argentina vs France

 

Holland vs England

Brazil vs Chile

 

 

Holland obviously a very strong side and far greater competition than we have faced in the tournament so far. 

Some other tasty ties in there with Spain/Italy and Argentina/France. 

Brazil or Chile awaiting Redknapp's England in the Quarter Finals. Brazil of course won the 1994 World Cup in the original timeline. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The Dutch had a lot of courage and made a real fight of it, but inspired by Gary Lineker's hat-trick in his bid to end his international career with some glory, it was England 3-2 Netherlands. 

 

 

Mexico take out Portugal on penalties, setting up a Quarter Final clash with the Italians, who made the final against Brazil in the original timeline. Colombia pull off a slight surprise as they beat the Germans, on penalties no less, they will face the reigning Champions of Europe, Belgium, who got past a decent Croatian side. Denmark beat Romania 1-0 to set up a Quarter Final clash with Maradona's Argentina who themselves knocked out a good French side, who are perhaps still a bit young for tournament glory. England of course beat the Dutch to set up their own clash with the original winner's, Brazil, who thumped out South American rivals Chile in 4-0 fashion. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A huge result for Redknapp as he pulls off his biggest win since taking charge of England. 

In normal time his side were taken to extra-time, with Romario's second half-strike cancelling out Chris Waddle's first-half finish. 

As the game went on it was Redknapp's subs that proved the difference, as David Platt came off the bench to score very early on in extra-time and then set up Gary Lineker to make it 3-1 and put the game beyond the side that once upon a time won the 1994 World Cup.

 

 

Elsewhere, Italy beat Mexico 2-1 to set up a Semi Final with a Colombian side who have added Belgium to their scalps of defeated sides. Meanwhile, it had to be, in his swan-song for England, Gary Lineker's side will come up against Maradona's Argentina in the Semi Final. 

Can England get revenge for the Hand of God?

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A disappointing end to a brilliant run, as Maradona's side ultimately come out on top. He scored 1 and actually assisted both of Turo Flores' goals. Whilst Lineker did score in the second half, we never really looked like getting back in it unfortunately. 

 

 

Italy beat Colombia to set up a final with Argentina. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A repeat of the Group Stage with Colombia in a battle for 3rd place. It was actually quite lively for a 3rd place game, in the end we beat them on penalties, scoring all 5, which should be good for our confidence in any future tournament shoot-outs. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

Italy ultimately won the final, comfortably disposing of Argentina 4-0 in what turned into a bit of a rout. 

 

 

 

Lineker deservedly makes team of the tournament in what will ultimately be his last contributions to the England national side. 

 

Roberto Baggio won Player of the Tournament, with Luis Figo of Portugal claiming the Young Player of the Tournament. 

The Golden Boot was won by Portuguese player Cesar Brito, who scored 9 goals in 4 games, although it is with the caveat that he scored 6 in a 10-0 thrashing of Qatar, and got a hat-trick in a 5-1 win against Ghana. Diego Maradona and Gary Lineker both were 2nd/3rd, with 7 goals each, although Lineker did it in 6 games instead of Diego's 7. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The busiest summer of ins and outs for Wenger's Arsenal since the new timeline began. A total of £50M in outgoings!

The most noteworthy one saw Marcel Desailly leave for Real Madrid in a £22.5M move. I didn't want to sell him but he had both Barcelona and Real Madrid desperate to snap him up and his head was turned, with just 2 years left on his contract and given we're not in a position to compete financially with those two sides or the big Italian sides just yet it's the sort of deal we have to take really. £16M profit on him which is nothing to be sniffed at. 

Paul Dickov has impressed me when he's been given a chance but realistically he's never going to start for us, especially with Andy Cole ahead of him, so I let him go this summer, with Crystal Palace deciding to snap him up in their bid to stay up. 

Kevin Campbell had actively wanted to leave due to not being a regular, and he too was never likely to get that chance outside of an injury crisis, he joins fellow promoted side Blackburn Rovers for £6M. David Hillier spent last season on loan helping Blackburn get promoted, and he will now too help them stay up as he joins in a permanent deal alongside Kevin. Paul Davis at 32 wasn't getting any better and with Petit, Makelele and Zidane, he wasn't going to be playing as often as he'd have liked, so he joins Leeds as they boost their squad ahead of their first European Cup campaign in the save.

Alan Miller has been a great back-up keeper but he wants first team football, so I happily let him go, as he joins Sheffield Wednesday for a small fee. Finally, Nigel Winterburn, another unhappy at no longer being first choice, joins Newcastle United, in a good move for him for a fee of £7M.

 

 

 

 

Who better to replace Desaily with than his national team partner, Laurent Blanc? 

He wasn't my first choice as given his age we're highly unlikely to get any re-sell value on him, but his experience is valued and alongside Tony Adams he should be able to form a great partnership. There wasn't a great deal of value or options in the CB market really, Spurs laughed off another bid for Sol Campbell, and Napoli were unwilling to negotiate for the much younger Fabio Canavarro. I tried Nesta from Lazio, but Lazio quoted me at about £30M, which was more than I was willing to pay given Nesta still hasn't done a great deal and that would be a world record fee for any player. 

Blanc a decent, experienced compromise who's ready to go at the highest level from the word go. 

 

 

Gio probably never starts for us unless Lizarazu leaves, as I imagine by the time Gio would naturally be better than a really old Lizarazu we should have a young Ashley Cole coming through. But all the same I think he's a very good young player and for just over £5M a great signing from Feyenoord who at the very least we'll get a decent re-sale price on in a few years. 

 

 

We needed a new back-up keeper and my scouts suggested a young American available on the cheap from the MLS! You may recognize him, none other than Brad Friedel! He's happy to be a back-up to Seaman for now, and given Seaman probably won't age as well as in the real time line he looks like he could well have the potential to be first choice for us for many years to come after Seaman does wind down his career. 

 

 

Henry at 17 obviously still looks somewhat raw, but at the same time his stats show all the hallmarks of someone who's going to achieve as much, if not more than he did in the real timeline. At the price we paid I think it was an absolute no brainer and I doubt he will be 4th choice striker for very long. 

We may not get Bergkamp/Wright or Bergkamp/Henry in this timeline, but we will certainly get Wright/Henry which will be pretty cool. 

 

 

 

We needed to get another midfielder in given Paul Davis had left, so who better than a young Patrick Vieira?! 

He looks like he could be very good as well, interestingly in this timeline he's opted to play for Senegal, presumably not happy to wait a few years to get a game for France. Bad news for France in the next 5-10 years, but very good news for Senegal. No idea why he's white either FWIW  

 

[PaulHartman71]

We did spend less than we got in money wise and we'd usually have a budget of £15-20M, but we haven't sat on that much cash really. A lot of contract renewals happened so we're probably only sitting on about £5-6M in terms of actual signings. We now actually pay the most in wages out of any side in England.

 

[Sonic Youth]

Some very interesting signings there. Of them all, I want to know why Henry has 17 for marking!

Time to win the league and a shiny thing in Europe!  

[PaulHartman71]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Some very interesting signings there. Of them all, I want to know why Henry has 17 for marking!

Time to win the league and a shiny thing in Europe!  

Yeah, I’m guessing they can only pre code players with certain level of detail, but does seem weird he looks more like a target man than proper out and our striking. Hoping with some training and Ian Wright mentoring he can still become a goal scoring beast though  

[PaulHartman71]

 

The biggest transfer in June saw French international defender Basile Boli join Man United in a club record signing for them. They did also come in for Desaily but obviously I was never selling him to them. Spurs spend big money on Allan Johnston, whilst Nobby Solano joins Everton from Villa. 

 

 

The big money deal of the summer saw young rising star Pavel Nedved join Barcelona in a world record fee of £24M from Inter. He seems to have gotten very good very quickly, much quicker than in real life, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on at Barca and whether he ever goes to Juventus like in the real timeline. 

Lazio are big spenders to get Enrico Chiesa from Sampdoria, whilst Darren Anderton leaves QPR for Tottenham and Neil Ruddock makes a surprising move to trendy PSG. 

 

 

Henrik Larsson ditches Feyenoord for Celtic much like he did in real life, how much of an advantage Celtic get from this remains to be seen though as rivals Rangers snap up Patrick Kluivert from Ajax!

 

 

There could be some big repercussions for Gary Neville at Man United as Fergie spends big money to secure right back Thomas Helveg from Ajax, whilst European Cup newbies Leeds spend big money on Stephane Chapuisat. Des Walker joins Blackburn, whilst Gary Pallister leaves Man United for Leeds United. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Speaking of Gary Neville, he's out on loan again this season, joining relegated Nottingham Forest in their bid to get back into the First Division. David Beckham has gone back to Leicester City again, whilst Nicky Butt and Phil Neville have been shipped out to Scotland, with Phil at Aberdeen and Nicky at Celtic. 

Paul Scholes seems to have done enough last season at Wimbledon to impress Fergie, as he's in the first team squad this season. Hilarious thing is Robbie Savage has never been sent on loan and has been in the first team for the last few seasons (albeit as a back-up/fringe player, but still ) 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Given we were 2nd seeds against we have to be pretty happy with that draw. I don't think PSV or Benfica will be walkovers, but neither side have really done anything of note in either of the main European competitions so we should be getting through it quite comfortably really. 

You'd expect Milan to top their group, but either Porto or Celtic could get through in 2nd you'd think. 

Group B should be pretty fascinating as any 4 of those sides could get through really. Ajax won the European Cup in 94/95 in a real timeline, but you'd think they'd have done well just to get through that group. 

Bayern should make it through their group, and having won the UEFA Cup last year Gijon have to be favorites to get through in 2nd, but I'm sure Leeds will give it a good go.

Liverpool and Real Madrid shouldn't have too much trouble getting out of their group. 

Inter Milan probably top their group, but who gets through out of Kevin Keegan's RC Lens or Rangers is another interesting one. 

Barcelona and Man United are the strong favorites in their group, but you can't write Dortmund out of getting through if one of the two big sides beats the other one twice. 

Juve you would think get through their group, with Stuttgart favorites to come 2nd, but Valladolid and Bordeaux are no mugs and should make it hard for them. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Surely not history repeating itself  

Still got 3 years on his deal so no pressure to sell him just yet. 

[Sonic Youth]

5 hours ago, PaulHartman71 said:

The biggest transfer in June saw French international defender Basile Boli join Man United in a club record signing for them.

I think you mean he joined Liverpool 

Screenie please 

[Sonic Youth]

4 hours ago, PaulHartman71 said:

 

Surely not history repeating itself  

Still got 3 years on his deal so no pressure to sell him just yet. 

Buy Beckham as his replacement 

[oche balboa]

Whats the England Team?

 

KUTGW

[PaulHartman71]

On 07/07/2021 at 23:00, Sonic Youth said:

I think you mean he joined Liverpool 

Screenie please 

 

Indeed, my bad, maybe he will be the man to finally fix their defence  

 

[PaulHartman71]

13 hours ago, oche balboa said:

Whats the England Team?

 

KUTGW

 

 

 

 

Best Eleven as of 4 years in. 

 

 

Best Eleven of this most recent season, no idea how Lineker got robbed of a starting spot  

[DaneBramage]

Good to see Steve Bruce get some caps in this timeline.

I'm interested in seeing who can become a star for Arsenal, who never quite made it in real life. Only a few years until Franny Jeffers should be available!