FM22 - Jagshemash, subsequent save in Kazakhstan, the greatest country in the World.

[ToMexico!!]

2025 Season Review - Kazakhstan Premier League

A real topsy-turvy season. 

In the league at one point we were seven points clear of Qairat with around half of the domestic season completed only for us to capitulate and lose the title, finishing 2nd four points behind them. It doesn't help when we lost to them home and away. 

Whilst our league form dipped in the second part of the season it coincided with an up turn in our cup performances. We managed to reach the final of the Kazakh Cup beating; Baiqonyr, Qaisar, Ontustik, Jetisy on route to a showdown with Qairat. Qairat took the lead but we hit back two goals of our own through Sanchez but they equalised on the stroke of half-time. Sanchez completed his hat-trick midway through the second half, we seemingly look set to win our first major Kazakhstan silverware only to be dashed in the sixth minute of injury time Qairat equalised. The match went straight to penalties and we came out victorious as 6-5 winners. 

We also faired well in the qualifying of the Europa Conference League as we beat Borac (3-1 agg), MRT (who I think are Maritimo, 5-2 agg), Lokomotiva (6-2 agg) and Red Star Belgrade (8-3 agg) to reach the group stages for the first time. We were drawn in a group consisting of Kobenhavn, PAOK and Vitesse. We lost the first three group games but no embarrassingly so, before drawing at home with Vitesse. We then went to Denmark and got another draw, this time 2-2 before ending the group campaign with a win against PAOK in Greece. 

In the Summer window we went a little mad, making a few changes to the playing staff. OUTS Mitryushkin headed back to Russia for a low fee but it got £5k p/w off the wage budget, whilst Timi Ogunniyi also left for Russia and to Zenit after they triggered his release clause. Last to leave was Zeid Ghrir who went back to his native Syria to Tishreen for a little of £100k. 

Incoming were four players, we loaned Pavel Patrikeev for the remainder of this season and the whole of the next from Dinamo Moscow, the young Kazakh player was a replacement for Zenit bound Ogunniyi. I then signed Kyrgyzstani internatioanl Shukurov to add depth to the wings and also added another Kazakh player in Zhumakhanov from Spartak Moscow reserve side, mainly a RB he can play in RM which is where we needed some depth. Akhanov was a Kazakh free agent left back who was released by Hamburg. 

We scored less league goals this season with just 49, although it was equal with winners Qairat. However we did also concede less this season with just 22 which is pleasing, however it wasn't the lowest as Qairat conceded 18 and Ordabasy even less with just 16 with the latter scoring just 36. We achieved a new Cup record for goals scored with 17. 

Financially we made significant improvement by ending the season with just short of £17m in the bank. We also made improvements to the youth facilities, improving the junior coaching and twice increasing the youth recruitment. Our youth setup costs are now up to £30k per month which is easily covered, we need to make further improvements to start to bring through better quality players in our intakes. 

[ToMexico!!]

Upgrade - Dec 2025

We've shelled out £1.5m on a upgrade to the training facilities. 

[ToMexico!!]

Staffing - Dec 2025

Lets take a brief look at the staff we have. 

Coaching

We have space for one more coach and I've just released all the analysts we had so need all new ones of them. I'm also on the lookout for a new HoYD, he's currently on a rolling contract. The ones I've found to replace him all want more money than we can afford. 

Scouting

Above is our small multi-national trifecta of scouts, all three are on a pittance. We have two spaces for more scouts and no recruitment analysts at the moment. 

Beyond this, the only input into the reserves, U21's and U18's coaching setup is hiring the manager, ideally I would have liked each manager to sign their own support team but thats not possible so the HoYD is in charge of hiring them. They are all Kazakhstan nationals which is pleasing to see. 

We'll look at this again when I've signed some more staff to fill the gaps. 

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers - Jan 2026

Business done early this season as we look to avenge Qairat for beating us to another title. 

We needed some depth as when push came to shove at the back end of the season we struggled with fitness and resting players. 

We made three signings on the opening day of the transfer window. Richard Iddrisu joins from a former haunt of mine, Ashanti Gold, the young striker is one of two strikers to add another dimension to the forward line. If I can improve his work rate and finishing for example we'll have a decent player on our hands. We made Luka Gagnidze a permanent fixture in our side having loaned had him on loan for the last three seasons, £400k is a decent deal for the transfer listed player. We also signed an Uzbek winger from Belarussian side BATE, Shohboz Umarov joining means we don't have to play Ilic at LM when injuries/fatigue kick in. 

A few days later Anjay Chisholm popped up in the scouting page, our Jamaican coach Omar Edwards knowledge of his homeland meaning we snapped up the player with no competition, no fee needed as we snatched him from Waterhouse. We then signed Zhandar Zhangaliev as a back up GK, he's pretty poor so I won't show him. I saw Astana had bid for Yaw Twene who was at Qairat and I need another striker, weakening one top side and stopping him from signing for another rival was a good deal. Last to sign was Cal Roberts from Notts County, a bit a left field signing as we needed a right midfielder but he's a lefty, we got him cheaply as his deal was expiring in June, at 28 he's an older head but only signed a 2-year deal. 

We still have a transfer budget of £9m to spend if needed and just short of £20k in the weekly wage budget. 

[ToMexico!!]

Poached - Feb 2026

Another one poached by Astana, the nationality is definately bugged but could be because its a created file. 

[karanhsingh]

Steady progress here!

Have the other poached youngsters also been of weird nationalities?

[ToMexico!!]

9 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Steady progress here!

Have the other poached youngsters also been of weird nationalities?

Thanks! 

Yeah all four poached players have had a Trinidad & Tobago nationality on the news item. It will be interesting to see if they come through as that nation or are infact actually Kazakh. 

[ToMexico!!]

Player Sale - Aug 2026

We've made our first significant sale of save. We signed Al-Asaad for £100k from Al-Karamah two seasons ago. Gladbach were the winners of his signature as Mainz and Wolfsburg also made bids for him. We sell him for £1.5m plus 50% profit and a friendly and he is now has a transfer value of up to £3.6m. 

[karanhsingh]

6 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Player Sale - Aug 2026

We've made our first significant sale of save. We signed Al-Asaad for £100k from Al-Karamah two seasons ago. Gladbach were the winners of his signature as Mainz and Wolfsburg also made bids for him. We sell him for £1.5m plus 50% profit and a friendly and he is now has a transfer value of up to £3.6m. 

Wow that's a big move. Can you put up a screenshot of him?

[ToMexico!!]

5 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow that's a big move. Can you put up a screenshot of him?

Yeah of course. Here he is...

[karanhsingh]

9 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Yeah of course. Here he is...

Very decent! Definitely the best Syrian player I've seen

[ToMexico!!]

1 minute ago, karanhsingh said:

Very decent! Definitely the best Syrian player I've seen

I have another Syrian in my side who's a little older and maybe better. Ali Reynah

There's also this guy who left Syria for Porto and now plays for Leipzig. Mahmoud Al-Aswad

There's a few others based in Syria that look decent.

 

[Cheez3y]

Nice progress so far.

Had a lovely time back in FM19 at Bolat Termirtau.

They are prob still in the 2nd tier?

[ToMexico!!]

2026 Season Review - Kazakhstan Premier League

This was such a contrasting season to last in the competitions we played in. In the league we were imperious, losing just once, scoring a league record 70 goals and conceding just 14 whilst we went out of both the domestic and continental cup competitions at an early stage. 

We lost the Kazakh Super Cup to Qairat but who cares, we've won it before, it was the league we wanted after three successive second places and the misery of blowing our chances last season when so far ahead at the half way stage. We didn't actualyl lose in the league until the 17 game of the season, having won 13 of the previous 16 games and of all the teams it was Jetisy who are a mid-tabled team. We responded well and won five on the bounce including a 4-0 hammering of Qairat. We dropped points on one more occassion in the remainder of the season away to Aqjaiyq. We won the league by nine points to a slightly revived Astana; Qairat were a further two points behind them. 

We beat Maqtaaral in the first round of the Kazakh Cup before losing to Ordabasy 3-0, a humbling defeat. 

We didn't fair any better in the Conference League, losing in the Second Qualifying Round (our first round) to Dinamo Zagreb, which was an unlucky draw for us. We actually drew the first, home leg 3-3 but lost the return leg 3-0. I guess being out of both cups meant we could concentrate on the league. 

I signed two new strikers this season for rotation purposes and the thought of going deep into the Kazakh Cup and a few rounds into Europe and obviously that didn't pan out. Then having too many strikers made some unhappy due to gametime, including Jorn Vancamp who I just signed to a new deal, he made just 12 starts this season with eight further sub appearances and scored just seven goals. Ernesto Sanchez scored 13 goals in 19 games, spending six weeks out with a knee injury hampering his form. New signing Richard Iddrisu top scored though with 24 goals in 18(3) games with 23 of those goals in the league to see him finish at the top scorer this season in the league, those goals coming in 15 (2) games. I was really pleased with Luka Gagnidze who made his loan time with us permanent in the summer, he rewarded us with 9 goals and 15 assists from midfield. 

I'm looking to trim the squad a little this season with a few players already agreeing to leave upon their contract expiring; defenders Martynov and Jurabov joining Russian sides and I've already set Cassama (15 sub appearances this season) and Fischenko (21 sub appearances) for release. If we get any hint of interest in Cal Roberts, Yaw Twene and Alimardon Shukurov they will be allowed to leave. 

We lost a good chunk of money this season mainly due to the spiralling wage expediture. We're under the budget by £10k p/w at the moment but we will be saving £9k p/w with the players earmarked to leave. We have made good improvements off the field with facilities and coaching setup, our youth setup is now costing us £70k per month but is yet to produce a player that could be first choice worthy. 

[ToMexico!!]

27 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Nice progress so far.

Had a lovely time back in FM19 at Bolat Termirtau.

They are prob still in the 2nd tier?

Thanks! 

They were promoted to the Premier League last season and have just been relegated back to the 2nd tier with nine points. 

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake - Nov 2026

This was originally billed as a poor intake of the preview but its now a...

I don't see this as a 'good' intake at all. Pretty poor personalities overall, poor determination too. We do get an Italian through the intake as our first foreign born player. 

Ivan Iskakov is earmarked as the best prospect but I don't see him being a 5* PA player, we don't use an AMC so he would have to be retrained to CM. He has poor determination so I don't see him being able to retrain and his natural fitness is a major concern. 

[karanhsingh]

Congratulations on the title win!

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - Jan 2027

U21 manager Aduriz has left his post for the first team management position at Atyray, they finished 11th last season. 

[abulezz]

Your Assistant Manager is from Mozambique - I lived there for a while! Hows he doing? 

 

[ToMexico!!]

40 minutes ago, abulezz said:

Your Assistant Manager is from Mozambique - I lived there for a while! Hows he doing? 

 

He is from there; Domingues. He's on his last qualification so will look even better soon. 

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers - Mar 2027

Just four players in, in this pre-season window. Mohammed Nassar was first to arrive from his native Lebanon for a combined initial fee of £155k, the young winger is being retrained to a wide midfielder although he's an inside forward by nature. I then raided Senegalese academy side Generation Foot for Mamadou Sall for a modest fee of £23.5k, the younger defender will provide good back up at centre back. Pavel Patrikeev's contract was due to expire in June 2027 so I had hoped to steal in and signed on a pre-contract agreement but I wasn't able to even offer him a deal, however, he signed a new deal at Dinamo Moscow and I swooped in to sign him on loan until the end of next season, paying his £5k weekly wage. I need another CB but didn't feel there was the right player available to spend money on so again we went to the loan market and signed Austrian centre-back Lukas Schuller from Bayern for no fee nor wages. 

I loaned out youth player Aidyn Aripov to fellow league side Atyray, the club Aduriz joined from my back room. He joins as a regualr starter so he should get some gametime to improve. 

[DaneBramage]

Congrats on the first title. 

With low reputation but lots of money it looks an interesting country to manage in.

[ToMexico!!]

23 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

Congrats on the first title. 

With low reputation but lots of money it looks an interesting country to manage in.

Thank you! 

Yeah there's plenty of prize money from the league each season which helps massively. I'm still trying to be frugal though, our biggest spend is £500k on one player and £3m spent overall and our highest paid player is on £7.5k p/w. 

Astana have 9 players paid more than my highest earner including a 34 year old Tyrone Mings whilst Qairat are paying a huge 14 players more than £7.5k p/w. 

[ToMexico!!]

Poached Player Review - April 2027

Completely forgot to check whether the players poached by Astana had come through. 

Murat Abdykadyrov | Victor Isaev | Aleksandr Madelkhan 

Its worth noting that despite being listed as Trinidad & Tobagan on the news item at the time they were poached, they are in fact all Kazakh. 

[ToMexico!!]

Poached - April 2027

I don't think this guy will amount to much. 

[ToMexico!!]

Competition Coefficients - June 2027

Huge step up for the Kazakhstan Premier League. 

We now sit above the Israeli and Norwegian Premier Divisions. 

Qairat

• 22/23 - 3rd in Conference League Group Stage
• 23/24 - 4th in Europa League Group Stage
• 24/25 - 3rd in Europa League Group Stage then onto Conference League Semi Finals losing to Leipzig
• 25/26 - 4th in Europa League Group Stage

Astana

• 22/23 - Conference League 1st KO Round
• 23/24 - Conference League 2nd Qualifiying Round
• 24/25 - Conference League 3rd Qualifiying Round
• 25/26 - 3rd in Conference League Group Stage

Oqjetpes

• 24/25 - Conference League 4th Qualifying Round
• 25/26 - 4th in Conference League Group Stage
• 26/27 - Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round

[ToMexico!!]

Significant Sale - July 2027

Reynah had a release clause of £925k but Zenit offered under with just a 20% profit clause. I upped the clause to 50% and added a friendly. 

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake Preview - Aug 2027

Back to giving a preview because its claimed to be an excellent one. Distribution of the players is a bit poor though. 

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - Aug 2027

I missed this one, well I saw they offered but missed him leaving. 

Reserve manager George Friend leaves his role for the management position at 13th placed Ekibastuz, its disappointing to lose him due to his Model Citizen personality and the fact his had four more badges to earn to improve. 

[ToMexico!!]

Former Player Move - Aug 2027

This is disappointing, Gladbach have decided to move Al-Asaad on already with him joining Paderborn for £1.6m. We rake in a huge £51k from the 50% profit clause on the deal. 

[ToMexico!!]

Job Interview Offer - Nov 2027

A first German club has offered me the opportunity of an interview. 

[ToMexico!!]

14 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Intake Preview - Aug 2027

Back to giving a preview because its claimed to be an excellent one. Distribution of the players is a bit poor though. 

Youth Intake Review - Nov 2027

We go from an excellent intake to an average one, such disparity in the two. So much so that we don't get any elite talents;

We do see an improved group of personalities including a Perfectionist. We seem to have a more determined intake, with some high work rate and team work attributes. 

Didar Adilzhanov | Il'ias Pail | Roman Khasenov

I like the look of Il'ias Pail here, his physicals should naturally grow and if we can improve his concentration and positioning we could have a good defensive rotational option for the first team. 

[ToMexico!!]

Poached Player Update - Nov 2027

Another one of the players poached by Astana has come through in this recent intake. 

Anton Baisufinov

 

[ToMexico!!]

2027 Season Review - Kazakhstan Premier League

A solid season on two fronts, we retained the league and did very well in Europe. 

Retaining the league was a priority but we didn't have it all out own way as Taraz were unexpectedly the team to push us all the way. We secured the title in the penultimate game of the season by beating Jetisy 4-0, that was after a small wobble by losing to Astana the game prior. We lost twice this season, to Astana in the aforementioned fixture and also to Aqtobe. We scored 66 goals this season, four less than last season but 20 more than 3rd placed Astana. Defensively we conceded 23 times, nine more than last season but we'll put that down to losing Al-Saaad initially and then Reynah to bigger clubs. 

We failed in the Kazakhstan Cup again, this time bowing out at the same stage last season, the 2nd round to Taraz albeit on penalties. 

In Europe we have had a fanstastic season, winning the league meant we would enter the Champions League for the first time. We would face Ferencvaros in the 2nd Qualifying Round and I thought that would be us out. The team had other ideas though as we thrashed them 8-2 on aggregate. We faced a tougher test in the 3rd Qual Round against Sparta Prague but we more than held our own in the first leg, eventually losing 3-2 but in the 2nd leg at home we convincingly beat them 5-0 to advance 7-3 on aggregate. Celtic would end our Champions League Group Stage dream although on penalties after we lost the first leg 3-2 but won the home, 2nd leg also 3-2. 

We dropped into the Europa League and straight into the group stage where we were drawn along side Sporting Lisbon, Arsenal and Maccabi Tel Aviv, a tough group. We opened the stage with a 5-3 loss to Sporting, we held our own and I was pleased with the result. We then stuck five past Tel Aviv without reply, a 1-0 home loss to Arsenal followed. In the reverse fixture at the Emirates they battered us 7-0, our biggest defeat ever. But we rallied and beat Sporting and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the remaining fixtures both at home. Somehow, nine points was enough to finish 2nd and advance to the 1st KO Round where we are waiting to find out our opponents. 

Richard Iddrisu finished top scorer this season but without the rate of scoring of last season, he did however score 26 goals and make nine assists. We actually had a second striker to net more than twenty goals as Ernesto Sanchez notched 21 goals for the club. Jorn Vancamp (11) and Umarov (10) were the other players to hit double figures. Luka Gagnidze continued with his crusade of being the assist king for us, with this season culminating in 25 assists in 33(3) games from central midfield. 

I've decided to allow Jorn Vancamp to leave due to lack of gametime, he has a transfer agreed to join Zulte Waregem in his native Belgium for £875k. My three remaining strikers are also all wanted, Iddrisu by Derby, Sanchez by Derby, Stoke and CSKA Moscow and Twene by CSKA Moscow too. We could have a problem if we get bids for all of them. 

I decided not to make any improvement to the faciltiies due to our finances starting to decline, we had reached the £7m mark before European competition prize money lifted us back into double figures. We end the season with £18m on the balance and sponsorship deals to renew, we also have the EL 1st KO Round which could see us earn some extra money. 

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff Update - Dec 2027

Artitz Aduriz makes the move from Atyray who finished 9th this season to Taraz who finished 2nd. That's because their manager Kembilov left to join 4th placed Qairat. 

Highlighted club is their current whereabouts. 

[ToMexico!!]

Typical of FM - Jan 2028

The African award winners were announced;

Which included two of our own players in Mamadou Sall in defence and Richard Iddrisu in attack. We then get these offers for Sall;

Valued at £1.2m to £1.8m we get these derisory offers. The Nice offer, least up front and want us to foot the bill for all of his current weekly wage within their deal . Espanyol offer is the most fruitful but still not enough. The Genoa offer is the most up front but also want us to contribute £3.5k per week towards his wages. And all the offers are non-negotiable. I would sell him as its realistic but not when the offers are not even worth his lower estimated transfer value. 

[karanhsingh]

There continues to be an issue with offers for players in the lesser leagues. I think reputation plays too big a role. 

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers - Jan 2028

Just two players join this pre-season window for a total outlay of £175k. Gustavo Paz joined first on a free transfer after he opted not to extend his stay in his native Colombia, a physical beast, his only weakness for the AF position is his passing which we are working on. We are also getting him to learn the places shots trait, which will coincide with his high finishing and technique along with his decent composure. The other player to join was a back-up GK with the view for him to take over from our current number 1 in a couple of seasons, South Korean Kang Dong-Joo joined for £175k from Suwon. The Model Citizen player has plenty of room to grow and has a few attributes that can easily pop from single figures to double which will make him look good. We'll work on his short distribution to begin with which will aim to improve his first touch, passing and vision. 

Instead of signing further players at CB or ST, I've decided to promote 16 year old Il'ias Pail to be 5th choice CB and Aidyn Aripov to be 4th choice ST. 

[ToMexico!!]

Late Transfers - Jan 2028

I thought I was done but when Sheff Weds bid for Gabriel Montano and signed him on deadline day I needed another GK as back up. 

I signed 18 year old Italian Osvaldo Caracciolo on loan from AC Milan for no outlay. 

With the above exit from the club we get a modest fee for our first choice GK but he wanted to leave and his contract was expiring at the end of 2028. We also get the 50% profit clause in there. 

[ToMexico!!]

Future Transers - May 2028

With the slight abundance of cash in the coffers I've decided to splash the cash on two players more players. 

Both are young players and both break our current single transfer expenditure. 

Faisal Ahmed is a 17 year old, Sudanese, either footed centre back. He's looks very promising and will be perfect for the BPD role in the centre of our three CBs. We then have Janos Biro, an 18 year old left wing back, a position I don't use but we can retrain him to be our left midfielder. His personality is a little negative but we can work on that along with his off the ball and passing which need some work. His £1.5m transfer fee was his release clause, I was surprised he wasn't snapped up by a much bigger club. 

[ToMexico!!]

Coefficients - June 2028

Another rise this season, up to 20th, moving above the Croatian and Bulgarian First Leagues. 

The club rise 124 places to 139th, directly above Rosenborg and below Udinese. 

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - June 2028

Jamaican coach Omar Edwards to bottom placed Aqjaiyq to become manager. We get £75k in compensation. 

George Friend has moved on already, leaving Kazakhstan after relegation with Ekibastuz, joining League One's Swindon Town. 

 

[abulezz]

Faisal Ahmed looks like he's going to be a big deal. Sudan's greatest ever player when his career is all done?

[ToMexico!!]

Just now, abulezz said:

Faisal Ahmed looks like he's going to be a big deal. Sudan's greatest ever player when his career is all done?

He's certainly the best at the moment, he's joining from Sudanese side Al-Hilal Omdurman who also have Omer Mohamed on their books, albeit technically poor but mentally great for his age. 

[ToMexico!!]

Significant Sale - June 2028

Salvadoran striker Ernesto Sanchez leaves for Saudi club Al-Nassr for a club record sale of £2.5m + 35% sell on. A player we didn't want to sell but he would become unsettled if we didn't. 68 goals in his 3.5 seasons since joining for £400k in 2025 is a great return. 

We now need to replace Sanchez as we're down to two first team ability strikers. 

[ToMexico!!]

Stolen Staff - July 2028

A short staff at Oqjetpes for Elias Kachunga as he is the 2nd staff member to join Atyray. 

[ToMexico!!]

Upgrades - Aug 2028

[ToMexico!!]

Job Interview Offer - Oct 2028

Hamburg return nearly a year later and offer me an interview again. 

[ToMexico!!]

Poached Player Update - Nov 2028

Our intake was abysmal, not worth showing anyone. The last of the five players poached has come through at Astana. 

Shynggs Asykadyrov

[ToMexico!!]

2028 Season Review - Kazakhstan Premier League

This felt a disrupted season due to the volume of players leaving the club. We sold Twene and Vancamp, both strikers, prior to the season beginning which we accounted for. Mid-season we sold Sanchez to Al-Nassr for a club record fee and replaced him, we then lost Gustavo Paz to Fulham for his £1.7m release clause late in the window. 

Despite the set-backs of players leaving we still did well in the league, winning the title with two games remaining. We equalled our best goalscoring season by netting 70 times in the 26 game season. We did suffer two defeats this season to Astana which was fine but we also lost to Jetisy. Gustavo Paz and Richard Iddrisu both top scored in the league 15 goals apiece. 

Another 2nd Round exit in the cup, much to the annoyance of the board, they expect us to reach the final. Aqtobe were our defeators this season. 

An unexpected tale in Europe this season, we beat Levadia from Estonia 12-3 on aggregate to advance to the CL 3rd Qual Round. We faced Rangers next and expected be knocked out but after a 3-3 away draw we beat them 3-1 at home to advance another round. Swiss side Basel were sitting between us and an unlikely Champions League Group Stage appearance. Losing 3-2 away in Swizterland was straight forward, however winning 4-1 at home was not. A club of our stature shouldn't be beating Basel let alone be in the group stage. 

We were then drawn alongside PSG, Man City and Club Brugge  We unsuprisingly lost to PSG on the opening day, only 3-0 though but then suprisingly beat Club Brugge 1-0 in Kazakhstan. Man City wiped the floor with us at the Etihad (7-1) but we formed some resiliance at home losing just 3-2. We then lost 5-0 in Paris and drew against Brugge in the last group game, seeing us finish in 3rd place and reach the Europa League 1st KO Round.

Richard Iddrisu top scored this season with 22 goals but if we had kept Gustavo Paz, he would have definately top scored as he had 19 goals in 21(3) games when he left for the Premier League. Luka Gagnidze made the most assists again but with 18 this season, upon signing a new contract he wanted to play the AP role instead of Mez and I think that hampered him. 

Reaching the Group Stage of the Champions League was a financial gold mine for us, we gained £22m in prize money this season, £16m from the CL and £5m from the League. That meant we can be a little more free with our expenditure, improving the training and youth facilities at a cost of £3.1m was the first port of call. We've also struck a deal to extend the loan of Kazakh midfielder Patrikeev from Dinamo Moscow but inserted a mandatory fee of £1.3m in there too. We still have £29m on the balance sheet and I think the next port of call could be a new stadium, our current capacity is 4,158 and our rent is 50% of the gate receipts.