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

[PaulHartman71]

 

A very solid year for us in the awards again this year, with only Ryan Giggs and Alan Shearer getting in over Merson and Wright, which to be fair, given how good Giggs and Shearer were is probably fair. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A shame our Cup run had to come to an end, but Forest were our bogey team this year domestically and fair play to Howard Wilkinson's side for going on and winning it. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A very tough draw against a strong Juve side in the Round of 16. 

We looked on set for a decent 1-1 draw at the JVC Stadium, but Del Piero's late 2nd away goal winner really boosted his side's prospects of winning the tie. An early Andy Cole goal got us off to a great start in Turin, but we just couldn't build upon it and ended up out on away goals despite winning on the night.

Disappointing, and the Wenger European Cup curse continues. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

Edgar Davids was a revelation coming into the team this season, with 14 assists in 36 games in the league he was an integral part in sealing the title. Makelele an excellent midfield partner for him, with Petit doing very well whenever called upon too. The back 5 of Seaman, Thuram, Adams, Blanc and Lizarazu also excellent at keeping teams at bay from scoring against us time after time. 

Andy Cole with 30 goals and 6 assists in 41 games making him an excellent contributor when we did get chances at the other end. 

 

 

Ian Wright with 182 goals now the top Arsenal goalscorer of all time, though with Andy Cole in the form he's been in the last few seasons I don't imagine that record will last as long as it did in the real timeline when Henry would eventually break it, if everything goes well hopefully Henry will indeed break it again at some point though. 

[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
1994/95     Arsenal FC            First Division          1st              First Division, FA Cup & League Cup winners
1995/96     Arsenal FC            First Division          1st              First Division & 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             - x3 (1991/92, 1994/95 & 1995/96) 

FA Cup                     - x3 (1992/93, 1993/94 & 1994/95)

League Cup                 - x2 (1991/92 & 1994/95)

Charity Shield             - x3 (1992/93, 1993/94 & 1995/96)

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

 

Obviously given how well we played a little gutted not to add a European Cup or even get the Invincible season under the belt, but first time Arsenal have retained the title and we have a lot to build upon next season, so overall have to be positive. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Forest's FA Cup exploits prevent Sounness and Liverpool doing a Cup double. 

 

 

All 3 relegated sides come straight back up, with Ipswich, managed by David Pleat, winning the title, pipping Graham Taylor's Chelsea side who took them to the last day. Sheffield Wednesday were victorious against Villa in the Playoff final. Tranmere, Preston and Milwall are all relegated to the 3rd Division. 

 

 

Terry Butcher's Brentford side were well deserved winners of the 3rd Division and will get a crack at the 2nd tier next year as their reward. Joining them are Bristol City, managed by Trevor Francis, and a plucky Plymouth side who won in the Playoffs under the keen coaching of Bryan Robson. 

Blackpool, Scunthorpe, Hartlepool and Yeovil all go down. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Milan's reign of terror is finally over in Serie A, with Fabio Capello's Juventus side winding up comfortable winners in the end in supreme scoring form for much of the season. Inter pipped Milan to 2nd place, with Napoli not far behind in 4th either. 

Fiorentina will play in the UEFA Cup next season, with Bari competing in the Conference League. A terrible year for Lazio who wind up 16th, they sacked their manager and have now got in Sven-Goran Eriksen, let's see if he can do any better... 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

 

Real Madrid displace Barca as champions, narrowly coming top, with Valladolid and Atletico Madrid joining them in the European Cup next season. Gijon and Sevilla will compete in the UEFA Cup, with Bilbao in the Conference League.

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Bayern are champions in Germany again making it 2 in a row, although Werder Bremen pushed them right to the wire. Stuttgart and Koln join them in the European Cup, with Leverkusen and Gladbach in the UEFA Cup and Hamburg in the Conference League. 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

 

PSG win their first title in the new timeline, with Marseille taking them to the final day. Monaco join them in the European Cup next season, with RC Lens and Auxerre in the UEFA Cup and Lille in the Conference League. 

 

 

Louis van Gaal's Ajax side make it 3 titles in a row, with PSV just falling short before Bobby Robson left them at the end of the season. Feyenoord will join them in the European Cup next season. 

 

 

Finally, Celtic retain the Scottish title by the narrowest of margins on goal difference, with Henrik Larsson's 17 league goals and 12 assists in 34 games no doubt a big part in that. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Sheffield United got relegated this season, but mad props to them for an incredible run in the Conference League which saw them knock out Fiorentina and West Ham en route to a final where they only lost to a far superior Bayer Leverkusen side on penalties in the end. 

 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The UEFA Cup final was also decided by penalties, with this one being won by Roma, who just beat out Stuttgart in the final. A stacked competition saw Roma beat Dortmund, PSG and Barcelona to make the final and their prize for winning, aside from the trophy itself, is a European Cup place next season despite finishing 5th in Serie A. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A very exciting competition, which saw Juventus emulate the real Juventus side who won the 95/96 competition. After beating us they knocked out Ajax, Real Madrid and then beat Milan 2-0 in the final. 

Some other exciting games though as Ajax beat Bayern on penalties to make the Quarter Finals, Liverpool and Celtic had a fun Quarter Final, there was a Milan Derby in the Quarter Final that saw Inter left a bit humiliated, and Milan themselves absolutely smashed Liverpool 11-2 on aggregate in the Semis, with Juve themselves putting 8 past Real Madrid in the two legs. 

 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

It's the summer of 1996, which can mean only one thing...

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The original Euro 96 squad above.

 

The new timeline Euro 96 squad: 

 

Goalkeepers: David Seaman, Ian Walker, David James - Tim Flowers

Defenders: Gary Neville, Rob Jones, Tony Adams, Des Walker, Sol Campbell, Gareth Southgate, Stuart Pearce, Graeme Le Saux - Phil Neville, Steve Howey 

Midfielders: Steve McManaman, Darren Anderton, Paul Gascoine, Paul Ince, David Platt, Jamie Redknapp, John Barnes, Paul Merson - Steve Stone, Nick Barmby

Forwards: Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright - Robbie Fowler

 

From the original squad we lose Tim Flowers, Phil Neville, Steve Howey, Steve Stone, Nick Barmby and Robbie Fowler, gaining David James, Rob Jones, Des Walker, Graeme Le Saux, John Barnes, Paul Merson and Ian Wright. 

James over Flowers was purely tactical given he's been better for Leeds than Flowers has been at Spurs. Phil Neville hasn't really developed as quickly as in the original timeline, he spent last season on loan at Charlton in the Second Division. In truth, his brother, Gary, is lucky to have made the squad, but he did spend the entire season at Sheffield United helping them to the Conference League final despite getting relegated. He's mainly in the squad as aside from Rob Jones there's not really a great quality of right back available, with Lee Dixon past his best and not really playing over Thuram for Arsenal. 

Des Walker comes in at centre back after a solid season at Blackburn, with Gareth Southgate to be honest not the first choice for a squad place at centre back. Gary Pallister at Leeds, David May at United and Martin Keown all would've gone ahead of Southgate, but all of them were injured, with David May picking up a very nasty injury seemingly breaking a leg which put him out for a lot of the season and the Euros too. Southgate, who didn't play a massive amount of football at the JVC Stadium this season, and had a few injury niggles himself, against the odds gets a chance to prove himself and hopefully not miss a penalty this time should it come to it  

In midfield we lose Steve Stone and Nick Barmby. Barmby is still at West Ham and whilst he looks a young talent, he's well behind John Barnes who unlike in the real time-line will play at the Euros, and Paul Merson too who's had a pretty solid season. If I'm honest even if one of those two had been injured it probably would've been Matt Le Tissier who went instead of Barmby. 

The centre of midfield is completely unchanged. Paul Scholes not helped by Fergie only really giving him regular football this season as at this point both Gascoine and Platt still comfortably ahead of him. McManaman and Anderton are chosen for right wing, both have had good seasons despite McManaman leaving for Valencia. David Rocastle who has been in a few squads this year but never got to play picked up an injury late in the season which saw him out of contention after a strong year at Arsenal, whilst much like Scholes this tournament cycle probably came a season too early for David Beckham who only has 1 full season at United under his belt. 

Up-front we have Shearer, Sheringham and Ferdinand from the original timeline, with Robbie Fowler dropping out for Ian Wright. In actual fact he should have been dropping out for First Division top scorer Andy Cole, but Cole picked up an ankle injury in the penultimate game of the season which causes him to miss out, a big blow to England given his impressive form, but in Shearer and Sheringham they have two top class strikers anyway. Ferdinand is very good and warrants his place, with Ian Wright the 4th choice for the tournament over Robbie Fowler who perhaps due to Shearer being at Liverpool alongside Rush, has seen his development slightly delayed compared to the original timeline. Fowler did still manage 10 goals for Liverpool in the league and quite a few in domestic cup competitions, but Wright's experience and more game-time ultimately saw him get picked instead. 

 

It's not the easiest of Group Stage draws, as England will face recent World Cup winners, Italy, as well as Austria and Slovenia. Austria and Slovenia you would think shouldn't be too hard to navigate past, but given Italy is the first game of the group, if Redknapp's side get off to a loss against the reigning world champions then there will be big pressure on for the final two group games, thankfully with the 24 team Euros even if they do somehow finish 3rd they can still potentially get through anyway. 

 

 

[13th Man]

Been a fun ride here. A lot of names popping up that I haven’t thought of in a long time.

Also enjoying the photoshop!

Edited July 26, 2021 by 13th Man

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

A couple of friendlies pre-tournament against Ireland and Poland with victories in both to give us a positive lift going into the Euros.

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A tense match, with Italy taking an early lead that got cancelled out by Sheringham later in the half. Paul Gascoine put a brilliant long rage ball into the box for Shearer to run in and smash home, which looked like it would be a late winner for us, but Baggio ended up equalising just a minute later to give the reigning world champions a point. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The Austrian game was a bit easier going, with a rampant 4-0 victory, which saw a brace from Shearer and a goal a piece from Sheringham and Merson. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A fairly horrendous performance against Slovenia in our final game, where if not for a fantastic late comeback with goals from Le Saux and Ferdinand we would've lost. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Main real surprises are the early elimination of Croatia who a strong side and possibly Spain, albeit Spain not really a massive threat at this point but you'd have still expected them to get through that group. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

Second Round draw: 

 

• Germany vs Bulgaria
• Denmark vs Serbia
• Portugal vs France
• Holland vs Ukraine
• Switzerland vs England
• Poland vs Russia
• Czech Republic vs Norway
• Italy vs Sweden

 

Given some of the names knocking about Switzerland were about as kind a draw that Redknapp's England could've got really. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A comprehensive victory over the Swiss, Sheringham's early strike gave us a 1-0 lead, but the Swiss equalised not long after, however by half-time it was already 3-1 thanks to a brace from Steve McManaman.

Shearer made it 4-1 not long into the second half, with Le Saux grabbing a goal late on when Switzerland were already well beaten.

 

 

Elsewhere, Russia beat Poland to set up a Quarter Final tie with England, whilst Portugal beat a strong French side to set up a clash with Germany who took out Bulgaria. Holland had a ding-dong battle with Ukraine, ultimately beating them after extra-time in a 4-3 thriller, they will face Denmark who smashed Serbia 3-0. The Czech Republic could only beat Norway on penalties, and they will play an Italy side that not too many will fancy them to beat. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Shearer was on form again as his brace and a Darren Anderton strike saw us comfortably beat Russia 3-0 to put ourselves into the Semi Final. 

 

 

Germany beat Portugal to set up a mouth-watering Semi Final repeat of Euro 96, whilst Holland beat Denmark to get into a Semi Final that will see them face Italy who knocked out Czech Republic in a 4-2 win. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A massive win, as a late goal that started from a throw in, saw Gascoine's low cross into the box thumped home by Steve McManaman to put England into their first ever European Championship final at Germany's expense. 

 

 

It was a Jaap Stam header from a corner that was the only goal in the other Semi Final, as World Cup winners Italy will not get a chance for a World/European double and England will instead face the Dutch. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Steve McManaman picked up an early injury and had to be subbed for Darren Anderton, but captain Tony Adams settled the nerves by heading in from a Paul Gascoine free-kick on the 20th minute. Not long into the second half John Barnes got a fine rebound from an Alan Shearer strike that cannoned off the post to secure a massive win for Harry Redknapp and the nation as England win Euro 96 and Football Comes Home! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A fantastic result to win the tournament! 

 

 

 

8 of our players make the Best XI, with Seaman, Le Saux, Adams, Jones, Barnes, Gascoine, McManaman and Shearer all deserving their spot on there, with Des Walker, Stuart Pearce and Teddy Sheringham making the bench too. 

What a tournament!

[WillHoward42]

Hi mate, do you have issues with your best eleven information on this save?

I am 5 seasons in on one of my own and it seems to miss some seasons data.

As you can see below, it as only tracked 3 out of the 5 seasons I have completed

If yours is okay, any chance you can link from where you got the original save from?

[PaulHartman71]

9 hours ago, WillHoward42 said:

Hi mate, do you have issues with your best eleven information on this save?

I am 5 seasons in on one of my own and it seems to miss some seasons data.

As you can see below, it as only tracked 3 out of the 5 seasons I have completed

If yours is okay, any chance you can link from where you got the original save from?

 

I've not had this issue, not sure what would be causing that. 

 

I used this link: 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

We didn't need massive investment this summer into the team given how well we played last season, but sometimes you see a transfer possibility that's too good to turn down. Bergkamp had a fantastic Euros and I noticed that he hadn't played in a lot of games for Barcelona last year despite having a few injuries. It seemed he'd fallen out of favour a little bit and refused to sign a new deal, so with 2 years left they'd opted to cash in on him. 

£25M, with another £6M in various performance related clauses, seems an absolute bargain and I'm really happy to have been able to bring Bergkamp to North London. 

 

 

An excellent talent, who at 27 still obviously has at least 3-4 years of real quality left in him to provide support to the advanced forward which of course at the moment is Andy Cole, but may well be Thierry Henry by the time Bergkamp calls an end to his career. 

 

Whilst we have Henry in as a young striker coming through, my scouts went all in on a young striker in France advising he was available at the very cheap price of less than £500K. It was none other than Didier Drogba and giving the absolute menace against Wenger/Arsenal he was in his prime, it seemed quite a good idea to sign him up even just to prevent this from happening in the short-term. 

With 5 strikers on the books he was never getting a look in this season, so I wanted to loan him out, perhaps to a relegation battling First Division side, well I offered him out and the only side that wanted him was, well...

 

 

You couldn't write it  

Let's hope he doesn't get too comfortable at Stamford Bridge! 

 

 

Gilberto Silva goes out on loan again after a decent spell at Nantes last season, this time joining Anderlecht in the Belgian League, whilst Paul Shaw and Stephen Hughes also go out on loan. Alan Smith the big name to go out on loan to Ipswich Town who just came up, with Dennis coming in we had 5 strikers and I had to sort Smith a loan deal out as nobody wanted to buy him even at a cut-rate price of £5M. 

The main departure sees recent European Championship winner Gareth Southate leave for Leicester City in a £9.5M move. If I'm honest I would've rather shifted Keown on to make room for our young star Rio Ferdinand in the squad, but Keown, despite previously complaining about not starting that often, was adamant he was now really happy at the club and didn't want to go anywhere. Southgate, who has never once complained about being a squad player, was more open to moving, and he had offers from Leeds, West Ham and Leicester, ultimately deciding to go to Leicester. Good luck to him, good lad. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The big move in June saw Portugal mega-star, Luis Figo, leave Barcelona after a contract related fall-out, and sign for Alex Ferguson's Man United side who struggled last season. Figo will surely have a big impact on the team, although to be honest it's probably bad news for David Beckham as I assume it will be him rather than Giggs who Figo most often replaces in the United lineup. 

Christophe Duggary, unwanted by Milan, seems a very astute pick-up for Liverpool for £11M, although it could have interesting ramifications for their youngster Robbie Fowler, who much like Beckham may found himself a bit side-lined. 

Elsewhere, Paulo Di Canio signs for West Ham from Fiorentina in what should potentially be a very interesting move for them if he can be half as good as he was in real life. 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A pretty mental summer saw some big moves all over the show. 

Roberto Carlos was snapped up by Real Madrid for big money, with Barcelona also making numerous high profile additions, with Rivaldo, Ronald De Boer and Giuseppe Bergomi all moving to Catalonia. 

Jens Jeremies leaves Germany to improve an already impressive Milan midfield, whilst Robert Acuna joins Valencia in a £13.5M move. 

Chelsea looking to make some improvements to their wide play, as the bring in promising young winger Trevor Sinclair from Luton and they also sign young French left winger/forward Sylvain Wiltord, who seemingly won't end up at Arsenal in this timeline. 

Djalminha leaves United for PSG after a fairly forgettable spell at Old Trafford, whilst Roberto Mancini leaves Lazio for Napoli.

Bayern strengthen by signing Christian Worns from Leverkusen, whilst Dortmund sign Dariusz Wosz from Juve in what looks a good deal for them.

Elsewhere in July, Walter Samuel is snapped up by Inter Milan from Boca Juniors, whilst Diego Maradona in the twilight of his career actually returns to Boca, with Liverpool getting rid with Duggary coming in. Liverpool also sign a very young looking Edmilson, whilst Lazio sign a teenage Gianluigi Buffon. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

 

A fairly quiet August saw Robert Kovac leave Aston Villa for PSV, Matt Holland ditch Man City for Everton and Robbie Save join Bobby Robson's Leeds United from Man United. 

Perhaps the most exciting deal though was another one for Leeds and Bobby Robson, as a teenage Roy Makaay joins them to have a crack at playing in England. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The draw for the European Cup has been made once more. 

I would expect Bayern and Marseille to make it through Group A without too much resistance from Sporting Lisbon or Sparta Prague. 

Group B is actually quite interesting as whilst Inter and Ajax should make it through, I am looking forward to seeing how Southampton get on and whether they can sneak through. The Turkish sides haven't really done much yet so I'm not expecting much from Fenerbache. 

Liverpool and Juventus the obvious favorites in their group, but Valladolid have potential to be a bogey side in that group as they consistently qualify for Europe so aren't a terrible side given they play in a strong Spanish league. Sarajevo you would expect to be whipping boys. 

Real Madrid the clear best side in their group, with any one of the other 3 having the ability to make it through with them, but you would have to favour Koln as they have looked a decent side at times in recent years. 

 

 

Stuttgart, Atletico and Red Star is by no means an easy group, with Stuttgart especially a pretty solid side, but I think it is nicer than we had last year and I'm hopeful we can top this one and get a kinder Round of 16 draw this time. 

Man United have got themselves an interesting group. PSG just won their first Ligue 1 title in this time-line and seem to improve each year, Napoli are a good all-round side from Serie A and Werder Bremen are certainly no mugs in Germany. 

Milan you would expect to make it through their group without too many problems, I expect PSV to progress as the Portuguese sides don't look that strong yet, but Porto could do it. Dynamo Kyiv I doubt will do too much though. 

Group H is very interesting as Barcelona got knocked out of the group stage last season and given they have a strong Celtic side and a Roma team who had to win the UEFA Cup just to make it here, the Catalan side won't have an easy journey through this time either and will be hopeful their new signings can do the business for them having sold Figo and Bergkamp this summer. 

[DaneBramage]

Robbie Savage to Leeds.

Seems like one of those obvious moves that you wonder why it never happened in the real timeline.

[PaulHartman71]

23 hours ago, DaneBramage said:

Robbie Savage to Leeds.

Seems like one of those obvious moves that you wonder why it never happened in the real timeline.

 

In unrelated news, we're in the first week of November, just 4 months into Bobby Robson and Robbie Savage's Leeds United career and...

 

 

 

Bobby   

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

Leeds ultimately replaced Bobby with Terry Venables, who was sacked in the summer by Monaco. Two managers who would manage England in the other time-line, can Venables turn Leeds around? 

[Sonic Youth]

Didn’t both of them also manage Barcelona as well?

[WillHoward42]

On 29/07/2021 at 18:01, PaulHartman71 said:

 

I've not had this issue, not sure what would be causing that. 

 

I used this link: 

 

 

So I have done a season with this link above, best eleven still not showing for my team after first season.... but other teams I view it shows data.

So now I am even more confused.

Does your Best Eleven history show every season?

[PaulHartman71]

9 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Didn’t both of them also manage Barcelona as well?

 

Yeah, seems unlikely Bobby will get a Barca move this time around  

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

3 hours ago, WillHoward42 said:

So I have done a season with this link above, best eleven still not showing for my team after first season.... but other teams I view it shows data.

So now I am even more confused.

Does your Best Eleven history show every season?

 

 

 

Yeah, mine shows every season. 

Not sure what issue would be on yours, my Best XI pops up after the end of season awards cut-scene type thing that comes up. Only thing I can think of is maybe if you're on holiday in the game when that happens there's a glitch that doesn't register your XI for that season? 

[PaulHartman71]

Mid-Season Update

 

 

A win against FA Cup winners and last season's bogey team for us Nottingham Forest got us off to a trophy in the Charity Shield, with Bergkamp scoring on his competitive debut and thankfully no Stuart Pearce penalty in sight.

 

 

A poor campaign in the League Cup. 

Just about scraped past 2nd tier Wolves in the 3rd round on penalties, but then went out to West Ham at the JVC Stadium through a late goal from Dalian Atkinson. 

 

 

 

From going like 32 games into the season without a loss last time to losing 6 in our first 19 this time, it's not been pretty at times. We've lost by 1 goal margins away to QPR, Liverpool, West Ham, Man City and then at home to Everton and of course our bogey team Nottingham Forest! No Stuart Pearce penalty, they did get lucky though, a 93rd minute Ally McCoist winner after Ray Parlour got sent off in the first half for us. 

Whilst we've not started well at all it's actually been a really poor opening for United and Liverpool too, despite all those losses, United who are top, are still only 6 points and goal difference ahead of us, which given we've come back from 10 point gaps at Christmas before isn't all that really. 

Blackburn have had a fantastic start to the season and dare I say it are actually putting in something of a title challenge. 

The league is actually ridiculously close at the top, 10 points seperate 1st place United to 8th place Leicester, whilst I think it's unlikely anyone outside the current Top 4 do win it, you have to say certainly QPR and City have an outside chance if they can hit a good period of form, with Everton up there as well. 

Down the bottom it looks like Coventry will almost certainly go down. Ipswich not in a great position either. Luton certainly have a chance at staying back up, with Leeds and Wimbledon having terrible seasons so far. 

Chelsea have had a good year and certainly look in no danger of failing to stay up this season. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

I wouldn't say we did badly in the European Cup as we won 4 of our games, but we were bested by Stuttgart over the two games which means they top the group over us which given the quality of the 1st seeds put us in a difficult position going into the Round of 16.

 

 

Bayern and Marseille go through in Group A, with Sporting Lisbon getting another shot in the UEFA Cup.

Southampton did their best but ultimately couldn't compete with Ajax or Inter, they will get to play in the UEFA Cup though given they're in 10th you do wonder how much the extra European games have impacted their domestic season so far. 

Liverpool and Juve go through with no surprises in Group C, with a similar story in D as Real Madrid and Koln go through, with Feyenoord in the UEFA Cup.

 

 

 

The big surprise comes in Group F, the Group of Death, as Werder Bremen and PSG come through a tough group, knocking out both Man United and Napoli in the process. Alex Ferguson's side will have a crack at the UEFA Cup now instead, but given the investment in Luis Figo in the summer they will have to be very disappointed with that. 

Milan and PSV go through in Group G, with Barcelona and Roma through in the final group, meaning Celtic will have to make do with UEFA Cup. 

 

 

We face last season's runner's up, AC Milan, in the Round of 16, which is far from ideal. 

Some interesting ties in there, as at least one of PSV or Werder Bremen will definitely make the Quarter Final, with the tastiest tie other than ours probably being Juve vs Ajax. 

[PaulHartman71]

6 months is a long time in football, and just 6 months after Howard Wilkinson over-achieved at Forest to get them an FA Cup win, and with his side even in the 1st Knockout Round of the UEFA Cup soon, due to their poor league position of 16th, the Forest board have sacked him. 

They've opted for the one and only Joe Kinnear as their new boss. 

[Jtomsett11]

Just caught up with this. A really interesting concept and fantastic read so far! Some of the names popping up, I didn't realise how many good players there have been who I've completely forgotten about! 

[WillHoward42]

On 31/07/2021 at 15:43, PaulHartman71 said:

 

 

 

Yeah, mine shows every season. 

Not sure what issue would be on yours, my Best XI pops up after the end of season awards cut-scene type thing that comes up. Only thing I can think of is maybe if you're on holiday in the game when that happens there's a glitch that doesn't register your XI for that season? 

Sorry to keep posting, happy to PM if you dont want this clogging up your thread!

I am not getting the usual end of season awards cut scene. Season has ended, in the transfer window and even got to the point where it shows the leaderboard at the end of the season.

so no idea why it seems to be missing this. Appreciate you won’t know either! Just confused that using the same link as you it isn’t working the same

[PaulHartman71]

1 hour ago, WillHoward42 said:

Sorry to keep posting, happy to PM if you dont want this clogging up your thread!

I am not getting the usual end of season awards cut scene. Season has ended, in the transfer window and even got to the point where it shows the leaderboard at the end of the season.

so no idea why it seems to be missing this. Appreciate you won’t know either! Just confused that using the same link as you it isn’t working the same

 

It's cool I don't mind, maybe try simming a season with a "normal" save and seeing if you have the same issue on that save too?

That is weird if you're not getting the cut scene at the end if you're not on holiday. I don't know if it would be some kind of detail setting you have on the save. 

Possibly even give the Bugs sub-forum a try to see if that's a known issue generally. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

A few major transfers this January as Barcelona splash out on Valencia star Gaizka Mendieta, with the 23 year old midfielder leaving Valencia a lot sooner than he did in the real timeline. 

Man United, who seem to sign a new defender every window may well have found what they're looking for now as they bring in German centre back Jens Nowotny from Leverkusen in a £24M move. 

Christian Vieri seemingly unhappy at his lack of start time at Barcelona has already handed in a transfer request and will return to Italy to join Roma in what you imagine will be a very good signing for the Italian side based in the capital. 

I was surprised to see Paul Ince leave United but he was transfer listed after refusing to sign a new deal, seemed to have a few clubs interested in him, eventually joining AC Milan to booster their midfield ahead of our game in the knock out stages which is great. 

United also randomly signed David Burrows which seemed a bit odd, and Jason Lee has left Villa for Forest. 

A few other smaller deals saw a young Rogerio Ceni sign for Ajax and Jesper Gronkjear join Feyenoord. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

The 96/97 season saw Fergie's United win the league again, with a good year for Newcastle, alongside Liverpool and Arsenal rounding out the top 4 spaces. 

Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Forest all went down. 

 

 

A pretty sensational end to the season saw Graeme Souness' Liverpool side win the title for the first time in this timeline, beating local rivals Everton 7-2 at Anfield to secure the title on goal difference on the final day, smashing their own previous record for most goals in a First Division season in the process. 

An incredible effort from Liverpool to do it, with Shearer and Fowler smashing it for them this year, but take absolutely nothing away from Blackburn Rovers who have gone from 6th last season to losing the title on goal difference this year. They were better than us this year and deserved to be up there, showing great form, they just kept winning, it was like Leicester when they won the league almost, every time I'd look at the fixtures and expect them to finally lose a game but they just kept beating teams left and right, to only lose 4 games and to be better than both us and United they've done really well. 

 

 

In Shay Given and Damien Duff they've got two very good young players, but they've also done well to pick up players that other clubs haven't wanted anymore, like Michael Thomas, Des Walker, Brian McClair, David Hillier and Kevin Campbell from us, David Batty, plus they've recruited well in foreign talent that other clubs have overlooked who have quietly done a good job for them. Very much is like Leicester and if they can strengthen with the European Cup money over the summer they could be a real threat moving forward. 

 

Coventry, Ipswich and Luton all went down, with Leeds, Forest and Newcastle all having quite lucky escapes. 

 

Southampton sacked Roy Hodgson in March, replacing him with Howard Wilkinson, whilst there were a few changes at the end of the season too. QPR dumped Howard Kendall for Wimbledon's George Graham, with Wimbledon then bringing in 39 year old David O'Leary from Bournemouth.