(FM23) Lutterworth Fox's go at The Nearly Men

[TheLutterworthFox]

Welcome to The Nearly Men Challenge

Some of you on the SI Forum will have heard of this challenge before, the challenge was started by @smp20 on this very forum way back on FM15 but I found it via FMCheapSeats or @ManUtd1 as he is known here. Ian and I have chatted lots over the past few years and I have loved conversing about his Nearly Men saves, whether that be in Europe or Africa.

I did try this on FM21 but in a different guise, for FM23 though I want to play the challenge as it was initially created.

The premise of the save is simple. To win the UEFA Champions League with teams that have previously got to the final of the competition but have never lifted the trophy (whether that be the Champions League or the European Cup as it was knew prior).

There are currently 19 clubs that fall into this category and here they are:

CLUB	COUNTRY	DIVISION	YEARS RUNNERS-UP
Club Brugge	BELGIUM	BELGIAN PRO LEAGUE	1978
Leeds United	ENGLAND	PREMIER LEAGUE	1975
Arsenal	ENGLAND	PREMIER LEAGUE	2006
Tottenham Hotspur	ENGLAND	PREMIER LEAGUE	2019
Manchester City	ENGLAND	PREMIER LEAGUE	2021
Reims	FRANCE	LIGUE 1	1956, 1959
Saint-Étienne	FRANCE	LIGUE 2	1976
Monaco	FRANCE	LIGUE 1	2004
Paris Saint-Germain	FRANCE	LIGUE 1	2020
Eintracht Frankfurt	GERMANY	BUNDESLIGA	1960
Borussia Mönchengladbach	GERMANY	BUNDESLIGA	1977
Bayer Leverkusen	GERMANY	BUNDESLIGA	2002
Panathinaikos	GREECE	SUPER LEAGUE	1971
Fiorentina	ITALY	SERIE A	1957
Roma	ITALY	SERIE A	1984
Sampdoria	ITALY	SERIE A	1992
Partizan	SERBIA	SUPERLIGA	1966
Atlético Madrid	SPAIN	LA LIGA	1974, 2014, 2016
Valencia	SPAIN	LA LIGA	2000, 2001
Malmö FF	SWEDEN	ALLSVENSKAN	1979

Some really interesting clubs to manage.

There is also the international side of the save. There are 5 teams who have reached the final of the World Cup but never won it. 
 

NATION	YEARS LOST
Netherlands	1974, 1978, 2010
Hungary	1938, 1954
Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia)	1934, 1962
Sweden	1958
Croatia	2018

So the aim of this save is to win the Champions League and World Cup with as many of these clubs and nations as I can in the one save.

Now for the twist, the list is ever changing. If a club in this list wins the Champions League or World Cup within the save then they will be removed off the list, this also works the other way as well, if a club not on the list gets to the final of the Champions League or World Cup and loses then they will go onto the list.

I am hoping this save will last me all the way through FM23 and all my updates will be on here. I plan to put small updates on a month by month basis, just with results, the league table and any interesting news, there will also be a preseason and postseason review with transfers, awards, etc.

I really hope you join me on my journey.

The next post will reveal the game setup and the club I will be starting with.

Edited October 22, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

Game Setup and First Club Choice

So here we are. FM23 is open and the game is ready to go.

Firstly I have to decide my save setup. Now usually I'd load a couple of nations and then add/remove as required but after issues with that function on FM22 and the fact I have a much better laptop this year I've decided to load all the nations I need to complete the challenge domestically.

9 Nations, 20 Leagues. Most have the top two tiers, England has the top 4 as I like to see how the lower clubs are doing in my home country.

I've also loaded a large database, removed the attribute masking and prevented use of the editor.

Once the game loads it's now time to sort my manager out. I'm not one for the facial recognition stuff, mainly because I always come out looking like Quasimodo. So I always clcik randomise a few times until something funny-ish comes out and here he is.....

Next it's onto club selection, which we'll come to in a moment and the the manager attribute allocation.

I always tend to sway the balance towards the mental attributes, at the bigger clubs you can get coaches in to fill the coaching attribute side. Adaptability, Motivating and Determination are put higher, as I'll be moving clubs quite often it's good to show I am adaptable. 

On the coaching side I've swayed the balance to Attacking, Tactical, Technical and Working with Youngster. That's where I feel I am best suited as a manager.

Now it's club reveal time.

I've spent the past few weeks swaying from one team to another, I fancied Italy, then I fancied St Etienne but I've eventually decided to start with a club in one of the lower ranked nations, one that is in Europe but not in the Champions League. A club where there is potential to win the league quickly but where it'll take time to progress in the Europe, so let's not hang about any longer, I'm starting with....

Panathinaikos FC in Greece!

I actually don't remember a save where I've managed in Greece so this one is new to me but one I am very excited for.

Panathinaikos are one of the bigger clubs in Greece but haven't won the Greek Super League since 2010. Last season they ended 4th giving them qualification to the Europa Conference League.

The club are classed as nearly men because they lost in the European Cup final in 1971, where they lost 2-0 to Ajax. Time to take them once step further!

The next update will contain some information on the club within the game, facilities, players, staff, etc

[Jimbokav1971]

This has always been a good idea for a save. 

I considered doing it but also considered a slightly lower league start in that I would start at a club who had been a domestic Runner of i the top tier by never the National Champion and then take it from there. You adding Internationals to it completes the circle. 

Good luck. 

[TheLutterworthFox]

Welcome to Panathinaikos

Well I've spent the last couple hours looking through the game, seeing what's changed (there isn't loads) and also getting my game set to how I want it and then looking about my new club.

Things I do prior to starting my save properly

• Set up Notes - I like to have reminders to do certain things, being 42 my brain is pickled so I need something to remind me when to assess training, assess scouting, etc
• Sort out Views - I need to get myself set up with views to cover what I want to see, a Squad View, Fixture View, Player Search View, Shortlist View are musts to get done
• Sort out my own spreadsheet - I see there is a new squad planner but it made my head hurt, I'm sure I'll use it at some point but for now I'll use my own squad builder excel sheet and also I have other tabs in there tracking save progression, season by season trackers, etc. Link here if you want to look at it - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z0l9n5p_GejdrSJ3gM55BAAepJCzEWPOiiFbFTsST1c/edit?usp=sharing
• Preferences - So many thing I like to change here, getting those sidebar icons shrunk down, changing the zoom to 95%, setting up some screen flow to give me updates on the leagues I have available to move to in my game and much more

I will also sort my graphics out but as this is the Beta and there may be bugs it's best to do that when the full game comes out.

Now that's done it's time to delve into my new club!!

First things first, check out the opening news items, here is where something new immediately pops up and that "Supporter Profile"

I like this, it adds a new dimension to the game, not only are you trying to keep the board and the players happy but now you have to keep the fans happy (Brendan Rodgers I'm looking at you!!!).

So there are a couple of interesting things to keep an eye on here.

Finish in the top 3 is the first big one, the season preview has us ending 4th which is where the club ended last season so we need to beat media expectations.

Secondly is "Finish about AEK and PAOK in the league". So let's look further at the season preview...

So they are expected to end 2nd and 3rd! Another tough one!

Let's pray we can give those fans what they want.

The next news item is the Club Vision...

#

It seems to have shrunk this version with the 5 Year Plan separated into tabs.

The big requirement from the board is to keep within wage budget. 

So a quick look at the budgets and it's already quite tight.

Only £5.75k spare so we may need to move people on before improving the squad.

The board also agree with the fans that we should be ending in the top 3, they also expect us to qualify for the Europa Conference knockout stages, let's hope we get an easy group (if we get past the qualifiers!)

The other "desired" vision is maximum one year contracts for over 32s, I'm gonna forget I know it!!!!!

I've quickly looked there at the wage budget so let's take a quick look at how the finances are expected to go.

As you can see above we have a bank balance of £2.5m, not bad but the projections have it planned to drop away considerably over the season.

So a £4m+ loss this season but I guess that will change is we get into the Europa Conference Groups Stage. That 3rd season shows a big jump, I think that's because nearly all our players will be out of contract.

Transfer budget is low, £430k to spend, I may need to look to raise funds for players alongside freeing up some wages.

Facility wise it looks OK, personally I feel it could be better for a relatively decent sized club. The stadium capacity is quite small, it's the 6th largest in the Greek Super League.

We also have good youth and training facilities alongside good academy coaching and adequate youth recruitment. These need improving.

Now it's time to look at my staff. I'm not too fussed about looking at every single one, my main three are Ass Man, HOYD and DOF and on the face of it it's not great.

Assistant Manager - Christos Kontis

Not great! The only issue I have is my max wage budget I can spend on a new ass man is £625 per week, most ones better than him want £4k+, looks like I'll have to stick with him for at least this season.

HOYD - Vangelis Samios

The same goes for this fella, really not great. I may look to replace him a bit sooner but again it depends on wage budgets.

DOF - Konstantinos Tenekes

So this guy isn't bad. 13 for JPA and 15 for JPP is decent. Let's hope he can find me some decent players. One thing I always do is set my DOF to "initiate player signings", it gives me an extra way finding players I may not see.

Staff down, I think it's time to eventually look at the playing squad!

Above is the first team squad and it looks decent, not a huge squad but I'm not fussed about that.

Looking through the players there are three that take my eye.

Ruben Perez - Defensive Midfield

The highest rated player in the squad and you can see why. Top quality and will add much needed experience to the side. My plan is to play him a DLP in the DM slot. It's a shame though he is 33, in the next couple of seasons he will start to decline.

Alberto Brignoli - Goalkeeper

A top quality keeper is always needed in a decent team and Brignoli looks really good. He lack quickness, especially as I want to play a high line but I'm sure he'll do fine.

Andraz Sporar - Striker

The 28-year old Slovenian Striker joined in the Summer from Sporting Lisbon and overall looks decent, he has a 1:2 goals ratio so should do well at this level. All round he look good with decent finishing, heading and good pace.

Let's also take a quick look at the B team and the U19 and as you will see it's stacked!

B Team

U19s

As you can see LOTS of players but hardly any are decent. There will be a lot of mutual terminations or sales!

So now I've assessed the squads there is one final thing to do before I go looking for new players and then EVENTUALLY clicking continue and then use my own squad builder to assess my squad, it's very basic!

My plan is to play a 41221, it's my normal go to at the start of a new version. Each player is put in to the squad builder with what I think is there best position in that formation and then are colour coded dependant on their playing time.

Overall we have good coverage with only a gap in central midfield. I'd also like to have a 3rd striker. With so many players in our B and U19 teams I have back up in case players are injured. The one thing I will do is try and sell my 3rd choice GK and LW to free up some wages.

Well that's it for now. It's now time to get on with playing the game. I'll report back either at the start of the Super League season if there is much to say or at the end of the Summer transfer window which is September 15th.

[TheLutterworthFox]

July/August 2022 Update

The opening games of the season have taken place, we had a good pre-season but as ever with a team in the qualifying rounds pf a European competition the competitive games start early!

But firstly let's discuss transfers. There's still 2 weeks of the transfer window to go but I don't expect anymore business. 

Out's wise I said I wanted to ship out one of my goalkeepers and Xavier, my left winger. Both happened.

Xavier left for £150k and joined Charleroi and 2nd choice keeper Dioudis left for £575k and went to Real Socieded, the other three players were in the u19s team.

So just over £700k made and around £10k per week of wages freed up.

Now to the in's, I wanted a new midfielder and a new striker, both were sorted but one I did sort of cock up!

Firstly, is central midfielder Antonio Vacca, after a successful trial spell I decided to bring in on a free transfer, another experienced head!

 

Now to the second "signing". I really wanted another option up front and when my DOF recommended Dortmund wonderkid Youssoufa Moukoko I had to bring him in, £5.25k per week loan for the rest of the season, fantastic... Deal done, I clicked accept and then realised I had royally ballsed up, the deal was for him to join on Jan 1st! Sure it'll be worth the wait though!

I looked for another Striker but there really wasn't anything worth it for the short term so I will deal with what I have unless something amazing pops up.

Now to the results and firstly the Europa Conference qualifying rounds. We entered in the 3rd round of 4 and firstly we faced Polish side Rakow. 

The first leg was at home and did not go well, we battered them but were not clinical enough and lost the game 2-1, we had to go to their place and win and we did just that!

A 2-0 win and we were through to the playoff round, now we had a 2-legged tie over Molde for a place in the group stage.

First leg at home again but this time we didn't screw up, a 2-1 win is great but it was a shame their goal came with the last kick of the match giving them hope for the 2nd leg.

To Molde we go and my word we tried to chuck it away, we found ourselves 2-0 down within 17 minutes but a goal right on half time levelled the time. Then, with 28 minutes, we scored what would be the goal to seal our group stage qualification, great play from Winger Palacios down the right, he squared the ball for Verbic to tap in. Full time and we go into the group stages!

That also gives us £2.5m in prize money, much needed!

Now I like the new European draw feature but my word they need to speed it up, if you let it auto play it takes 10 seconds for each team to get drawn, I know that's much quicker than real life but still ssssssllllllloooowwwww.

After many clicks of advance we eventually have our group and it look tough.

West Ham and Koln are going to very tough with only Shamrock the team I think we can beat. Wish me luck!

Into the League and so far we have only played one match, we faced Atromitos at home and played really well, 27 shots, 13 on target, an xG of 3.46 but it took us until the 90th minute for us to eventually find a winner!

A good start, we've played some decent football but we need to be more clinical and tighter at the back!

My next update will be as we get towards the end of December, unless anything interesting happens.

Edited October 22, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[The Last Throw]

A great start mate, love this challenge and can't wait to follow it.

For anyone who hasn't read the content of @TheLutterworthFoxbefore, I highly recommend you follow this, its gonna be cracker

[BoxToBoxFM]

Good start to the season, Moukoko is going to bang the goals in when he arrives!

[Darien]

Cool! On your google sheet what does the Nation Ticker tab mean exactly?

[TheLutterworthFox]

47 minutes ago, Darien said:

Cool! On your google sheet what does the Nation Ticker tab mean exactly?

On FM22 I did a challenge called "The All Nations Challenge" where I had to get a player from every nation in the FIFA World Ranking to play 10 games, score a goal and win POTM. I've decided as a little side challenge to do this but just for the European nations. It wasn't something I planned to update on in this thread as this is solely for the Nearly Men but I am updating about this within a Discord server. If you're interested in joining drop me a PM and I'll send you an invite

[TheLutterworthFox]

Pre-World Cup Update

I said I'd be back in December but seeing as now have a 5 weeks break for the World Cup I thought I'd update you all on how it's gone.

Let's firstly take a look over our Europa Conference League campaign, we had a tough group, really tough in my eyes with only Shamrock the team I felt we could beat. It went exactly how I expected it to and unfortunately it wasn't enough.

Home and away wins over Shamrock was expected but we lost the other games against West Ham and Koln, we were especially unlucky in that Koln game at home, we levelled the tie in the 93rd minute only for Koln to score a minute later. Overall though I'm happy, it shows you we have a lot of hard work ahead though to be anywhere near challenging.

Now on the face of it we did OK, Koln and West Ham are miles better than us but clearly the board were expecting more and after we failed with qualification for the knockouts I was called for a board meeting.

Not happy! I apologised (that was the only option) and now we move on but they expect better next time.

Now to the League and my word it's gone well!

12 games played and only 1 defeat which was away to Olympiakos, the scoreline doesn't reflect the game though as we did play well. Defensively we have looked relatively solid but in some game we haven't been clinical enough, we've made chances but fluffed our lines. Overall though I have to be happy, we smashed PAOK who were expected to be above us and also held AEK away, who are currently top.

With 30 points from our opening 13 games we now sit in 2nd place. 2 places higher than expected.

Just look how bad Olympiakos are doing though, surely we have a chance to end above them, the top 3 is a real possibility!

Now it's time to break up for the World Cup, a nice 5 week rest for me! Time to do some much needed scouting.

Edited October 23, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

December/January Update

We're back after the Qatar World Cup, France won it, hammering Argentina 4-1 in the final

It was a good break, I managed to get some scouting done, it also gave the lads time to rest up and come back firing. The last 6 weeks since the return has been utterly incredible!

Before we go through the results, let's talk about transfers. There has been some business both in and out.

Out-wise we lost a couple of players.

Sarlija was one of my backup central defender, he asked to go, £300k is a good deal. Palacios has been one of my better player this season out on the right wing but at 30 I felt the offer was too good to turn down especially as it seemed he had his heart set on the move. Two good deals though.

So I needed to replace both of these in my first team squad and I did exactly that.

Alex Pascanu - Central Defender - £700k from Ponferradina

A really good looking player for a relatively cheap fee. I wanted to bolster my defence even without losing Sarlija, Pascanu will go straight into the back line

Fabian Reese - Winger - £87k from Holsten Kiel

What a cheap deal for a really decent player, he can play on either wing and at only 25 has time to improve.

We also eventually got Moukoko on loan from Dortmund after waiting until Jan 1st. Much needed as we were struggling for goals.

So with those deals in place it was time to take to the pitch and continue our good start to the season and my word did it go well!

6 games, 4 wins and you can see the effect Moukoko had on the goals scored, Ok we got utterly battered by Aris at home but that prompted a change in formation from a 41221 to a 4231 and it worked a treat. After that we were amazing. It also included a 3-0 hammering of Olympiakos who are having a terrible season.

So we sit in 2nd place, well clear of the chasing pack but too far behind AEK at the top to be mounting a title challenge.

We now have 7 games remaining until the league splits, there will be a Championship group of 6 teams who play each other twice meaning 10 games. So 17 games left to seal that 2nd place and that will mean qualification for the Champions League next season.

Now to the cup and in the Quarters finals we had to face Olympiakos over 2-legs. They had been really poor this season and I felt we had a chance to beat them. Away leg first, we did not play well, chance creation was non-existent. It was lucky we came out with only a 1-0 defeat.

The second leg came after beating them 3-0 in the League so I knew if we went with a similar formation and line-up we'd be good. I switched back to the more conservative 41221 for the match and also left out Moukoko who was unfit. Sporar came in and did the business sealing a 2-0 win and one hell of a turnaround!

So far, so good! I have to say I didn't think we would be doing this well. Looking at the squad of AEK, PAOk and Olympiakos I felt we were well behind in quality but the lads have pushed themselves and played incredible. The switch in formation after the Aris defeat has really helped. I felt we were struggling for goals and also struggling to create goals, I changed the DM to an AM and gave him a Shadow Striker role to help support the Striker and it worked a treat.

The only game it didn't work was the Olympiakos cup first leg but it was one blip in a great run. The control possession has worked really well so far. Lets hope it continues

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

February/March - Greek Cup Semi Final and End of the Regular Season

The end of the season is fast approaching and bar a miracle we now look to be ending 2nd in the league, 2 places higher than predicted. There is still a slim chance of pushing AEK at the top but we need to continue our good form and hope for a major slip up from AEK.

Before I go through the league results let's firstly look at how the Greek Semi Final went. After dispatching Olympiakos in the Quarters we now have PAOK in our way, a tough game but we have already beaten them this season so a win is a definite possibility. Once again the game is over two legs. 

The first leg was at home and we played amazingly. Moukoko showing his class to score twice in a 3-0, it probably should have been a lot more. One foot in the final!

The away leg was much tighter but we never looked that troubled, the game was pretty even but settled by a late Sporar goal, he was in due to an injury to Moukoko. A 4-0 win over two legs and we are into the final where we will face League leader AEK Athens. It's going to be a tough ask to lift the trophy.

Now to the league and once again our form has continued to be really good. Hardly any goals conceded, we looked really solid overall. 

After the three straight wins in early February we looked to be closing in on AEK, the gap was down to four points and I was getting excited, but then came the expected bad results, draws away to OFI and Ionikos, both teams we should be beating set us back, we did win the final game of the regular season 1-0 which put us back on track and as the regular season ended we were still in second place.

The gap to AEK has closed and with ten games left we have a real shot of reeling them, the games against AEK are going to be key. Second place though looks all but wrapped up, we sit well clear of the chasing pack. Second place also mans qualification for Champions League next season.

Finally, the annual youth intake is here and my word it is even better than expected!

Three elite talents and three top talents, sensational! A deeper dive into them backs up how excited I should be!

Christos Kotarelas - Goalkeeper

Not the best personality but on the face of it he looks really good. He needs some work on his mental attributes mainly but I have high hopes in a couple of seasons he could step into the first team squad.

Kostas Antonis - Striker

Again, a poor personality but he has pace to burn, good natural fitness, off the ball and dribbling, he does need some serious work on his technical attributes though.

Potis Katsaras - Attacking Midfield

Now I like this guy, a Driven personality, 20 determination, great mentals for a 15-year old and good technique and first touch, one lad I'll be keeping a keen eye on.

Michalis Stathoulopoulos - Striker

Another Striker and personally I think he looks better than Antonis, the only issue, like most of these lads is his poor personality, however he has some good mental attributes and good pace, exciting!

A

Akis Liapatis - Left Winger

17 for Bravery and Determination is really good, as is his Resolute personality but his technicals really let him down

Overall an amazing first intake and it'll be interesting to see how they develop over the next few seasons

[BoxToBoxFM]

That’s a brilliant intake, hopefully a few of them develop into players good enough for the first team in the next few years

[TheLutterworthFox]

April/May and End of Season Review

Well here we are, the season is over and when I left you last we had 10 league games to go to try and catch AEK and also a Greek Cup against AEK to play.

Let's start with the league, we had an amazing run and at one point I thought we were going to catch them but unfortunately they were just too good. A 3-1 loss to Olympiakos meant we really had very little chance and in the penultimate game AEK sealed the title. We did however beat them in the final game of the season, I played most of the reserves as well, a pleasing victory and overall I have to be happy with 2nd place.

Seeing as we were predicted to end 4th and expected by the board and fans to end 3rd I am very happy with 2nd, even more so how big the gap was to the chasing pack. We've proved this year we can mix it with the likes of PAOK, AEK and Olympiakos and next year I have high hopes we can go that one step further.

The good news is 2nd place gives us a spot in the Champions League next season, we will enter in the 2nd Qualifying Round.

Now to the cup final and my word it was an absolute epic.

Below is the extract of my live updates within the FMLibrary Discord server.....

Here we go! Cup final time!

We're at full strength, went with Trouillet in midfield ahead of Ruben Perez as he is asking to leave

1 mins - Massive chance, the ball over the top finds Moukoko but his first time shot goes inches wide

 

40 mins - AEK have their first chance, a free kick is swung in, its poorly cleared, played wide but the shot goes well over

 

And that's half time, tight, tense, only 2 highlights but we've the better of the game according to the stats

 

46 mins - GGGGGOOOOAAAALLLLL! Its wonderfully played around, from one side of the pitch to the other, Athanasakopoulos lays a lovely ball to Cantalapiedra, who in his final game for the club leathers it in off the bar! 1-0!!!

 

51 mins - DISASTER! We lost it in midfield, Gacinovic is suddenly past our left back, he squares it across the goal and it hits left back Kotsiris in trickles in the net. Own goal and it's 1-1

 

52 mins - Oh my god!!! We are inches from being 2-1 down. Again we lose it in midfield, they play the ball through and Levi Garcia is clear, he dinks Brignoli but it hits the inside of the post, goes across the goal line and it's cleared away!

 

And I've made a change. Moukoko has been ***** so he's taken off for Sporar

 

Game is petering out, 12 mins to go, no more highlights, a double substitution made as Ganea replaces Juankar and Perez replaces Trouillet

 

Wow the game went from mental to nothing happening. Full time, it's ended 1-1 and it goes to extra time. Another change made as Verbic comes on for Bernard on the LW

 

96 mins - We have fallen apart, our midfield just cannot keep the ball, once again we play it out of defence. Kourbelis is half asleep, he is nicked to the ball, AEK pile forward, it's played to Machairas who smashes is home. 2-1 to AEK, we look dead on our feet. There was a VAR check for offside but he was miles on

 

A 5th change, Reese comes on for Cantalapiedra

 

98 mins - YES YES YES!!!!!!!!! A corner is swung in by Magnusson, it's cleared back out to him, he plays it Reese who takes on his man, plays a gorgeous cross and Ruben Perez, probably playing his last game at the club nods it in at the far post! 2-2!!!

 

And that's half time of extra time. BREATH!

 

110 mins - Unbelievable, a lumped ball over the top, our defence falls asleep, personally I thought he was offside, but Eliasson smashes it home to put AEK 3-2 up

 

Full time, 3-2 loss. Absolutely gutting

 

What a game, in parts it was utterly mental, in other parts it was dire. We just could not hold onto the ball when we really needed to. A gutting way to end the season, we really deserved to come out with a trophy this season.

 

As first full seasons go through it has gone really well, exceeding expectation, reaching a cup final, the tactic seems to have clicked as well, now the hard work begins, we are losing quite a few players due to precontracts signed, we also have the issue of having to replace Moukoko who more than likely won't be returning as Dortmund want to keep him about.

 

But before I go let's take a look through some player awards and key men from the season.

 

Firstly is one of those players who will be leaving, Winger Aitor Cantalapiedra was a key man this season, he ends as the clubs player of the season and top goalscorer with 17 goals. He will be a huge miss when he leaves to join Girona on July 1st.

 

Next is Central Defender Alex Pascanu, the Winter signing was a key man in the second half of the season and ends as the club young player of the season and signing of the season.

 

Winger/Attacking Midfield Bernard had a slow start to the season but the ex-Everton man ended with the most assists for the club over the season with 12.

 

There were also a couple of Greek Super League awards that my lads won, firstly is Goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli who won the best Goalkeeper award.

 

And young attacking midfielder Andreas Athanasakopoulos ended as the Greek Super League Talent of the Year, he was incredible once he came back from his loan spell.

 

#

 

And here for your perusal is the Best XI in the season review and the whole squad.

 

 

 

Now it's time to plan for next season, we have a few players to replace, Moukoko, Cantalapiedra to name just a couple, currently we haven't had the budgets yet, let's hope we get a bit to spend or at least some extra wage budget. A new Striker, Winger and Central Defender are at the top of my shopping list.

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - Transfer Update and Champions League Qualifiers

Here we are, a new season and my expectations are massively high. Last seasons 2nd place was amazing but it was gutting to lose in the Greek Cup final to AEK, this season we HAVE to win a trophy.

Let's firstly look at the transfers, there has been quite a but of business

Here are the out's. I needed to free up wages and raise funds, Verbic, Perez, Ioannidis and Cokaj all did a decent job last year but didn't play enough, the bids were higher than their value. . Of the 4 frees to leave only Schenkeveld and Cantalapiedra will be missed, both did well last year and need replacing. The one big unexpected loss was GK Brignoli, I couldn't turn that down for a 32-year old.

Now for the in's. I set myself some recruitment focuses prior to last season ending in preparation for the Summer. Sanchez at RB needed replacing, Then there's Schenkeveld (CB) and Cantalapiedra (W), we also needed a replacement for Moukoko and a GK replacement for Brignoli. Then I needed another option in CM and AM.

The first player in is midfielder Tyrese Fornah, signed on a pre-contract deal from Notts Forest. A good option in midfield, will be be a starter? Probably not but he gives me competition

 

 

The second player through the door is Dujon Sterling, a really cheap deal from Chelsea (£22.5k). Signed as my new RB but he can also play RM and RW.

 

A new Winger joins, signed mainly on his pace but overall a quality player. Konan N'Dri comes in from Eupen for £1.5m

 

Signing number four is a new attacking midfielder, I won't lie I struggled to find a decent player who didn't cost the earth so decided to bring Branislaw Knezevic in on loan from Elche for the season. A good option

 

Signing number five is a new central defender. Henning Matriciani comes in from Schalke for £350k, his profile says he's a right back but for me he's a much better CB.

 

 

Next is my replacement for Brignoli in goal, I had my eyes in Dominik Kotarski already so as soon as that bid came in for Brignoli I pounced, it also takes a No. 1 keeper off one of my rivals as he joins from PAOK, £1.1m upfront with £1.1m over 2 6 months periods.

 

And finally, the replacement for Moukoko, like the AM I really struggled, everyone I went for wanted way too much money, so I dipped my toes in the loan market again and brought in Liam Delap from Man City for the season, only £1.6k per week as well!

 

Really pleased with my business, £4.1m spent, just over £7m recouped

 

 

 

Squad set, we now look forward to a new season but we have a while to wait, it doesn't start until Mid-September. 

 

The season preview shows that this year we are expected to end 3rd, I have a funny feeling we can do better than that.

 

The board expectation are also inline with the media preview, they expect top 3, the big one there is they want us to qualify for the Champions League playoff round.

 

 

Talking of the Champions League, here we go! We entered in the 2nd Qualifying round, we needed to negotiate 2 rounds to achieve the board expectations, as you will see it proved to be very tough!

In the 2nd Qualifying Round we were given a really tough ask, Belgian side Gent stood in our way.

The first leg was at home, we needed a good start and we did exactly that, Liam Delap scoring after 45 seconds, the game then petered out and we held out for a 1-0 win. 

 

Into the second leg, we needed to defend well but Gent scored early to level the tie but we scored only 6 minutes later to put us back in the lead. It was at this point I thought an away goal was great, Gent did score just after half time but I think had a brain fart. I thought we were ahead on away goal so sat back and saw the game out. The full time whistle went and then I realised away goals didn't count! Extra time it was.

Extra time petered out to nothing, hardly anything happened and the game went to penalties. 

The penalty shootout was epic, Gent missed their first one, after that all goals were scored meaning Korbelis smashed home to deciding penalty to send us through!

 

To the 3rd Qualifying Round where we had the almighty task of FC Porto! An impossibility really seeing as how good they are and so it was to be. Porto dominated the first leg winning 3-0 meaning we had to do something incredible in the second leg at home to achieve what the board wanted.

 

I switched tactic in the home leg, went with a 41221 and it worked a treat, I won't lie, we played very very well, created lots of chances and defended well. We won the game 1-0 courtesy of a Liam Delap penalty but it wasn't enough, we were out but we have to proud of what we did.

 

Now you would think the board would look at it and think "Ok, we went out a round early than what we wanted but we did lost to Porto". No, they decided they were pissed off, alongside players Bernard and Magnusson, who also were unhappy and called a board meeting.

I mean what the f*ck is that?!?!? We lost to bleeding Porto!!!

Luckily I got away with it, I only had 2 option, quit or apologise, so I had to apologise.

It looks like last chance saloon though, one more failed objective it might be time up already! Absolutely gutting and rather infuriating to be honest!

 

The good news is, with that defeat to Porto, we have qualified for the Europa League Group Stage and our group looks OK.

 

Arsenal will clearly be the toughest game but I do feel we can beat the other two teams, maybe qualification for the knockouts will appease the board?

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

A very quick transfer update.

One player in, one player out.

The out first and it's a big one. Bernard, my highest paid player had already had a moan about our failure in the Champions league and had also recently come out and said he was going to leave when his contract was up next Summer. So I decided to cash in and got a good deal for him. 

He leave for £2.8m up front with another £1.2m over the next 18 months.

So this leave a big gap in my squad so I had to go out and bring someone in and I think I've found someone who could be even better than Bernard.

In comes attacking midfielder Laszlo Kleinheisler from Salernitana for £1.3m, he is on a high wage but the fee outweighed that. A great signing and a player I think can push us to the next level

Edited October 25, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

And another transfer update! I totally forgot after losing Bernard I told a few players I'd bring in a new left winger. I spent ages looking and got bored, couldn't find anyone for a cheap deal.

So to keep everyone happy I have broke the bank to bring in Tyrhys Dolan from Blackburn, £3m up front with £3m of addons.

[The Last Throw]

Some fantastic business, can't wait to read how they get on.
I think you'll go one better and win the title this season

 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Like the look of the new signings, hopefully delap fills the gap that Moukoko is leaving behind

[TheLutterworthFox]

23/24 Season - September to December

It's been a while hasn't it? I've been so engrossed in playing the game that updating fell to the back of my mind. 4 months have passed and I won't lie it's been an enjoyable yet challenging first half of the campaign.

So let's see how it's gone.

Firstly the Greek Cup, only a single round so far where we faced 2nd tier side Panachaiki

We eased into the Quarters with 2 professional displays, we should've scored more to be fair but a win is a win (or 2 wins in this case)

In the Quarters we will, once again, play Olympiakos!

Now to the League and results wise it has started really well. 

Unbeaten so far but for me there has been too many draws and too many 0-0s. We also have really struggled for goals in quite a few games, we seem to create lots of chances but just aren't clinical enough, whereas the opposition seem to score and only have a couple of chances. I'm sure it'll sort itself, I've switched tactics a few times to try and make us more potent but nothing seems to be working. 

Saying that though we are unbeaten and sitting 2nd in the League.

Unfortunately though AEK are also unbeaten and way clear at the top. Olympiakos are also right on our tails.

Finally, the Europa League and this has been an absolute epic.

It started disastrously, a home draw to Maccabi was followed by a gutting late defeat to Galatasaray and then an expected away defeat to Arsenal. After 3 games we sat on 1 point and needed a miracle to qualify, what happened next will live long in the memory.

Matchday 4, we played Arsenal at home, I knew I needed to change something so I switched from the usual 4231 and went with a 41221, the main reason was Odegaard, he has dominated the away tie, he needed marking out the game and Korbelis did one hell of a job on him. Odegaard ended with a 6.2 and we ended with an unbelievable 2-0 win!!

Next up was Galatasaray, a game we HAD to win, anything other than a victory and we couldn't claim that 2nd spot. 

Anyone else have them games where at the end you are jumping around your lounge? No? Just me? Well this was THAT game!!

1-1 with 4 minutes to go, Liam Delap then scored his customary goal and I'm expecting us to see it out but Juan Mata has other ideas, in the 91st minute he scores a screamer from 20 yards, it's looking to be heading for a draw but we kickoff, go straight up the other end and Sporar sticks it in the net from close range!!!!!!!!!! Queue total scenes!!!!

A 3-2 win and we are now well in the hunt for 2nd place, Galatasaray are still ahead of us though on goals scored, we know we have to beat Maccabi away from home and hope Arsenal beat them.

We eased to victory, 3-0, it was never in doubt, then the whistle blew in the other match and Arsenal had done it, a 3-1 win and somehow, from absolutely nowhere, we had snuck into 2nd spot and qualified for the knockouts!!

The turnaround of all turnarounds.

So an unbelievable first half of the season. We now need to start turning those draws in the league into victories and somehow we have to find more goals. 

Liam Delap has so far been amazing, the only man who looks like scoring but I have a feeling Pep is going to recall him from his loan, he keeps moaning I'm not playing him as an AF even though most of the time he is. 

He's so far scored 14 goals, the next highest scorer is fellow Striker Sporar who has 9. We need to find more goals and quick, that and I need to find a tactic which makes us more potent in attack, the 4231 worked so well last year and in a way I still believe in it, we just need to be more clinical.

[DavidBeckham]

Great win against Arsenal and impressive unbeaten start in the league! KUTGW mate!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - January to March

The end of the season is drawing in once again, the past few months have gone really well, we had a lot of catching up to on AEK at the top, the regular season has just ended so let's see how we have got on.

But first, a new signing! I completed one piece of business prior to the Winter window closing and here he is...

A left back wasn't particularly required at this part of the season but I was looking more towards next season. Ganea is leaving at the end of the season as he has signed a pre-contract with Steaua Bucharest and it looks like Juankar will also be leaving, this leaves me with no natural left back in my squad. Cobbaut was a guy I'd kept an eye on for a good 6 months now and has done well, he comes in for £1.3m, a steal.

Other than that there was no other business, in or out. Nothing better than keeping things settled!

Now to the results, firstly the Europa League. We managed to qualify ourselves for the playoff round but unfortunately we were handed a shocker of a tie as we were drawn against Inter Milan. Personally I felt we did well, overall though they were just too good.

1st Leg

2nd Leg

A 4-0 loss overall but we can proud of out efforts.

We also had the Semi Final of the Greek Cup to negotiate, after knocking Olympiakos out in the Quarters it wasn't going to get any easier as we faced PAOK (a repeat of last seasons semi final).

1st Leg

2nd Leg

The leg triumph was enough for us and although we lost the 2nd leg we never looked in too much danger. A second successive Greek Cup final and once again we will face AEK Athens!

Now to the league and my word we have done well!

The unbeaten league season continues with an amazing run, 11 games, only 4 points dropped and that last game win over AEK has shrunk the gap to 2 points. AEK have now lost twice and we are still behind them and we're unbeaten, those pesky draws are coming back to bite us!

An amazing win over AEK, we dominated from start to finish and Liam Delap once again was the difference.

Now we reach the league split, it's really close, any slip up from AEK and we can pounce but also, any slip up from us and Olympiakos could catch us. It's going to be a massive final 10 games of the season.

[xray1324]

9 minutes ago, TheLutterworthFox said:

2023/24 Season - January to March

The end of the season is drawing in once again, the past few months have gone really well, we had a lot of catching up to on AEK at the top, the regular season has just ended so let's see how we have got on.

But first, a new signing! I completed one piece of business prior to the Winter window closing and here he is...

A left back wasn't particularly required at this part of the season but I was looking more towards next season. Ganea is leaving at the end of the season as he has signed a pre-contract with Steaua Bucharest and it looks like Juankar will also be leaving, this leaves me with no natural left back in my squad. Cobbaut was a guy I'd kept an eye on for a good 6 months now and has done well, he comes in for £1.3m, a steal.

Other than that there was no other business, in or out. Nothing better than keeping things settled!

Now to the results, firstly the Europa League. We managed to qualify ourselves for the playoff round but unfortunately we were handed a shocker of a tie as we were drawn against Inter Milan. Personally I felt we did well, overall though they were just too good.

1st Leg

2nd Leg

A 4-0 loss overall but we can proud of out efforts.

We also had the Semi Final of the Greek Cup to negotiate, after knocking Olympiakos out in the Quarters it wasn't going to get any easier as we faced PAOK (a repeat of last seasons semi final).

1st Leg

2nd Leg

The leg triumph was enough for us and although we lost the 2nd leg we never looked in too much danger. A second successive Greek Cup final and once again we will face AEK Athens!

Now to the league and my word we have done well!

The unbeaten league season continues with an amazing run, 11 games, only 4 points dropped and that last game win over AEK has shrunk the gap to 2 points. AEK have now lost twice and we are still behind them and we're unbeaten, those pesky draws are coming back to bite us!

An amazing win over AEK, we dominated from start to finish and Liam Delap once again was the difference.

Now we reach the league split, it's really close, any slip up from AEK and we can pounce but also, any slip up from us and Olympiakos could catch us. It's going to be a massive final 10 games of the season.

it's good you're unbeaten so far

[TheLutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - Super League Run-in, Greek Cup Final and End of Season Review

The end of the season is here and I won't lie then final few months have been utterly epic! So let's see how it went and firstly let's look at the Super League

When the regular season ended we sat 2nd, 2 points behind AEK and still unbeaten, we needed to start well to keep the pressure on them but we did not do what I hoped.

We opened with a 3-3 draw against Panetolikos, we were actually very lucky, coming from behind 3 times and scoring in the 91st minute to get the point, luckily for us as well AEK drew. 

Into game 2 and we eventually lost our first game of the season, 1-0 to PAOK at home and the wheels looked the be well and truly coming off but fortunately AEK were also struggling as they lost.

Game 3 and 4 were also really tough, we faced Olympaikos away which ended in a 0-0 draw and then the big one, AEK at home, we felt we HAD to win to keep up the pressure and we looked to be heading for that much needed victory, we were 1-0 up in the 93rd minute before AEK nabbed a late leveller, it ended 1-1.

4 games, 3 points, what a struggle, AEK though had only got 5 points as well, the gaps was now 4 points, surely too much to make up?

This is where I made a slight tweak to my tactic, I got rid of the BPD, he had made so many mistakes, he was switched to a basic CD (d), I also moved my BWM in CM to a DM on the right hand side to cover the mistakes. I kind of just switched it to make it asymmetric, the AM moved to right and the RW was changed to a W instead of an IF. It was purely to confuse the opposition who seemed to have found us out. I also got rid of the control possession, we were playing so slowly and teams were working out what we were doing, it was time to push and push hard, get the ball forward quicker and harry the opposition.

Well it worked a treat!

2 straight wins followed, games we should be winning in all fairness but wins nonetheless, OFI and Panetolikos were both beaten 2-0, AEK had also won their 2 games meaning with 4 to play the gap sat at 4 points.

We needed to keep winning and AEK needed to start losing. 

Well we completed our end of the bargain, PAOK were beaten 3-2 in the next match and then a huge win, 3-0 over Olympiakos coincided with an AEK draw against OFI, the gap with 2 to play was down to 2 points and AEK were next on our radar.

We went to their place knowing nothing other than a win was needed, if we lost it was over, if we won it was in our hands on the final day.

I have no idea how it happened but it did. A 1-0 win, we defended for our lives, we scored midway through the first half and held on for one hell of a win and now, going into the final game we were top, for the first time this season!!!

All we had to do now was equal or better AEKs result, we faced OFI at home, they faced PAOK away.

Liam Delap scored an early goal for us and when the half time whistle blew it was all but over, AEK were losing 1-0 as well. 

We played out the 2nd half, as comfortable as you like, AEK couldn't find the goals they needed, the whistle blew and the celebrations could begin!

PANATHINAIKOS ARE GREEK SUPER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!!!

Absolutely unbelievable, I mean we were helped by an AEK capitulation but 6 wins in a row to end the Championship group was massive, and that win over AEK key!!

Amazing!!!

 

So the league title is done and dusted, now we have the Greek Cup Final against AEK and surely they must be wanted revenge.

Confidence was obviously high and we played really well, Dolan scored early on and we looked to be easing to victory, AEK had a few chances but never really troubled us with a clear cut chance and when Dolan grabbed a 2nd with half an hour to go the tie was all but done. All we had to do now was see it out.

The whistle blew and somehow, from nowhere, we had won the League and Cup double!!!!!!

Absolute scenes!!!!!!

I honestly have no idea how we did it, at times this season I was felt we were struggling and although we weren't losing, we were drawing too many games. It's also prudent to remember at the start of the season I nearly got sacked due to losing to Porto in the Champions League qualifiers!

Somehow though, with the run of all runs at the end we come out with 2 trophies and Champions League football next season, the new format as well (I think)!!

But finally, let's take a look at who my key men were and there's only one place to start.

On-loan Striker Liam Delap was sensational and although he didn't play every game he was clinical and ended as the Clubs Player and Young Player of the Season, the clubs top scorer and also the Greek Talent of the Year.

33 starts, 13 as a sub, 26 goals and an average rating of 7.2. Can I get him back next season? Unfortunately it's looking unlikely.

 

Next is Goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski, the Summer signing was key to our success this season and ended with a record breaking 28 clean sheets for the club and also ends as the Greek Super League Goalkeeper of the Season

28 clean sheets in 52 games with only 41 conceded! Amazing!

 

Another Summer signing Tyrhys Dolan ends with the most assists, only 9 though but he was really good. He started slowly but as he grew into the team and the tactic he was a massive player

 

The final player to speak about is Central Defender Achilleas Poungouras, a player I didn't expect to play much this year but with injuries at the start he came in and was an absolute rock. He ended with the highest average rating at the club and also won the Greek Super League Greek Play of the Season.

And here is the Best XI, as you can see with the tactic this is what I switched to in the final 6 games.

And here for your perusal is the whole squad.

 

What an amazing season, I am absolutely loving my time here, there is still plenty to do, I can't move on until we've won the Champions League! That seems a long way away, what we have to do now is cement our place at the top of the Super League table, that is going to be really tough as now we have a huge target on our backs.

It would also be nice to get into the Champions League group stage, next year I think is the new format, getting through to it will surely bring more money than we could ever need. We need that cash to get this team to a state where we are dominating Greece, with that we can then attract better players and that should mean better progression in Europe.

Talking of money, the budgets for next season looks really good.

A £50k per week raise in wages and just over £7m in transfer money. That is more than enough to improve this squad.

Financially we are looking really good as well, the good run in the Europa League helped and we end the season with just over £6m in the bank, £5m more than last season. Hopefully we can continue that upward trend, then I can start looking at improving the facilities.

Anyway, that's enough for now. What a season!!!

[BoxToBoxFM]

Deservedly league winners, losing just one game all season is impressive! 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Transfer Update & Champions League Qualifiers

It's been a busy Summer, I expected a few players to leave, we had some out of contract players who has decided to move on, what I didn't expect was for some of the bids that came in for some my first team players. This means there has been a lot more business that I really wanted. I am however so pleased with the business I've done.

So let's take a look at the out's so far.

There were 2 transfers confirmed before the new season began, we lost backup Winger Mazhar who I wasn't too fussed about, one big loss though was midfielder Trouillet, the young French player had been really good when called upon, unfortunately the Premier league came calling and he wanted to move. £5m is a good deal

Then came bid galore!! I'd already let the likes of Ganea, Magnusson and Kotsiris go from the first team on frees. Then we had bid come in for Reese, N'Dri and Fornah. All three were signed last Summer and all three I didn't mind leaving especially for the fees. Reese was signed for £87k, sold for £6m. N'Dri, signed for £1.6m, sold for £2.1m and Fornah came in on a free, sold for £1.6m. A massive profit on lads who didn't really do too much last season.

So nearly £15m recouped in sales, now let's look at the in's

Lino Tempelmann - Central Midfielder - Free from Freiburg - Signed as he is versatile and improves our options in midfield

 

Orri Steinn Oskarsson - Left Wing/Striker - Free from FC Copenhagen - Worth a shot on a free and is only 19

 

Nicolas Nkoulou - Central Defender - Free from Aris - Knows the Greek league and adds experience to my defence

 

Daniel Maldini - Attacking Midfield/Winger - Free from AC Milan - A no brainer

 

Bernardo - Central Defender/Left Back/Defensive Midfield - Free from RB Salzburg - More versatility all over the back line and midfield

 

Kristian Thorstvedt - Attacking Midfield - £975k from Sassuolo - I needed another option at AM

 

Jonas Krumrey - Goalkeeper - Free from FC Liefering - A good backup GK

 

Makhtar Gueye - Striker - £1.4m from Oostende - The top scorer in the Belgian 2nd tier last season, looks quality and will add good competition to Sporar

 

Tomas Alarcon - Central Midfield - Free Transfer - Adds depth after losing Trouillet

 

Nikola Jojic - Winger - £400k from Mlados Lucani - Brought in due to Reese and N'Dri leaving, a really decent look player for a cheap fee.

 

Some really good business and a huge profit made. The squad now is a little slimmer but the quality we have, I feel is a lot better.

 

There is still another 4 weeks of the transfer window open so plenty of time for things to change. I have already turned down a few bids for some my key men, I don't really want to lose anyone else BUT every player has their price!

 

Prior to the domestic season starting we had the Champions League qualifiers, we entered at the 2nd round, 3 round to go to make it to the Champions League proper (I can't really call it the group stage as the new format starts this season).

 

In the 2nd round we faced Riga FC, it looked easy on paper and it was exactly that.

 

 

9-1 on aggregate, really easy overall but we did play very well.

 

Into the 3rd round and again it looked winnable tie as we face Maccabi Tel-Aviv and as expected it was a relative breeze.

 

 

3-0 away in the first leg, 2-0 in the home leg, another good showing, we looked really solid in defence and super potent in attack. Maldini had started amazingly and in the second leg scored a gorgeous freekick.

Beautiful.

Into the playoff round, this is it, win this and we go into the new format Champions League, 36 teams in 1 big league??! Yeah, that's the one!

All that stood in our way was a 2-legged tie against Polish champs Lech Poznan, a tricky tie but I had faith we could get past them.

First leg at home, we needed a quick start and that's exactly what happened. Maldini scoring once again and as the half time whistle blew we were 2-0 up, Gueye scoring from spot. Dolan then grabbed a 3rd just after half time to seal a stunning victory and one foot in the Champions League proper!

Now all we had to do was not capitulate in the away leg!

Luckily we didn't, an early Nkoulou header settled the nerves, after that we just saw the game out, a late Lech goal was just a consolation.

4-1 on aggregate, the easiest route through the Champions League qualifiers I could've imagine and we are into the new format Champions League!!

And here it is! A 36 team league and we are the lowest ranked.

Now I did some reading up a few days ago when I heard about this and real life rules said there would be 10 games, the fixtures got released and only have 8. Not that I'm fussed, I'm sure by the time it happens in real life things will change.

Fixture wise it doesn't look too bad.

Some good ties in the offing, Liverpool at home to end it. Ajax and Dortmund away. Rennes and Kobenhavn the ties where we should be looking at getting some points.

Now let's get this season started!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - September to November

I thought I'd do a quicker update this season as there are a lot of results to go through, not only the League but the Champions League as well/

Firstly let's start with the League.

Last season it took us until Matchday 28 to lose a game, this season, yeah you called it, defeat in Game 1!!!! OK, we were away to Olympaikos but not the greatest start.

After that things picked up and we played well, once again though, too many draws for my liking, against teams we should be beating. What I found though is when we conceded, it's usually with the oppositions only shot(s) on goal. We need 20 shots to score, they need 1!

So as we get to the end of November that opening day defeat is our only loss, goalscoring wise we have been really good. Maldini, Dolan and Gueye have been sensational up front and we look so much more potent.

One of our biggest results was the 3-0 win over AEK, it just shows you we can mix it. November has been an amazing month, 4 games, 4 wins and 2 hammering of Asteras and Atromitos, scoring goals for fun and not conceding that many.

We sit joint top with Olympiakos but they have a game in hand. AEK have 2 games in hand just behind us as well.

Now to the Champions League and my word, what an amazing campaign we've had so far.

We opened with a home tie against Sporting Lisbon and played really well, a 63rd minute goal from Gueye looked to have sealed the point but Sporting scored late on, a 1-1 draw though was a great start but it was about to get EVEN better.

Next up we faced AC Milan away, a banker loss surely?! Erm no, we somehow managed to beat them 1-0, Gueye again with the goal, AC Milan had so many chances to score but luck was on our side and we walked away from the San Siro with an unlikely win.

Then came Monaco at home and we were utterly incredible. A 6-1 win, Maldini with 4 of them, a game I'll never forget, Monaco did not know what had hit them.

After that we faced Dortmund away and once again played well but an Albert Sambi lokonga hat-trick sealed a win for them, the next game also ended in a 3-2 loss, this time away to Rennes, we played really poor for over an hour and were 3-0 down, Sporar came off then bench to get 2 goals back but it wasn't enough and we lost our 2nd consecutive game.

Overall though it's been great fun, 7 points from 5 games may not be enough in the end to qualify us but we have massively over-exceeded expectations. 

We have 3 games left, Copenhagen (H), Ajax (A) and Liverpool (H), we need to end above 24th to get a playoff spot, can we do it? I don't see why not.

Finally, a word on a player who has been sensational so far this season and that's Winger Daniel Maldini. Signed on a free in the Summer he has been by far our best player so far this season.

17 starts, 4 sub appearances, 12 goals and 12 assists, A 7.41 average rating as well. What a superstar!!

 

 

 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Maldini is going to make you huge money one day, getting him on a free is a steal!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - December and January

I hadn't planned to update this quickly but I felt I had to because of the chaos that has ensued during the Winter window. This is always the big issue when you're successful, your players get noticed by the bigger clubs and when the Premier League comes calling you have to just get as much money as you can.

What I have noticed in this version of FM so far is that there isn't much loyalty in the players, lads I signed 12 months ago or even less and already wanting moves to further their careers. Luckily for me, I signed them for very little money and made big profits on them!

So let's see what carnage has happened!

Somehow we have only lost 3 players

All of these players were signed last Summer and all of them wanted the move, massive profits though.

Left Back Cobbaut got his head turned by Braga, signed for £1.6m, a nice £3.2m profit

Right Back Dujon Sterling had his release clause activated by Brentford, I tried to offer him a new deal but he wants £74k per week, triple his current wage. Signed for £87k, a £5.1m profit

Finally, Right Back Henning Matriciani had his head turned by the lights of the Premier League. Signed for £350k, a whopping £8.15m profit!

So just over £16m of profits there, very nice!

We did nearly lose star goalkeeper Kotarski, I accepted a bid of £12.5m from Bournemouth but he turned them down, Juventus did come in for him but the offer of £6m wasn't good enough. We have now fallen out so it looks like he will leave in the Summer.

We will also be losing 2 key men in the Summer as they have accepted pre-contracts elsewhere. Defender Nkoulou, signed in the Summer has agreed a deal with Braga and Attacking Midfield Kleinheisler, a lad I offered a big contract to decided to turn it down and agree a lower contract with Young Boys.

So an eventful Winter window out wise, this meant I needed to bring a couple of players in. Clearly losing my main LB and both my RBs meant I had to dip my toes into the market and here's who came in.

Vasilas Zagaritis - Left Back - £925k from Parma

With Bernardo my first choice LB I needed to bring someone in who would provide backup. I also needed a player who could help with the homegrown rule and this lad fit the bill. 

 

Ki-Jana Hoever - Right Back - £375k from Wolves

A decent looking player for a low fee. 

 

Mattia Zanotti - Right Back - Season loan from Inter Milan

I didn't really want to sign two permanent RBs so decided to bring a player in on loan instead. He should do a good job

So 3 decent players coming in, let's hope the upheaval that has happened in January doesn't affect results moving forward.

Talking of results, the past few months have been absolutely incredible.

Firstly, the Greek Cup, in the 6th round we faced 2nd tier side Anagennisi Karditsas and as expected we eased past them.

6-1 on aggregate, it gets tougher now though as we face AEK in the Quarters.

Next, the Champions League, after a good start to the campaign we continued that with a solid win over Copenhagen and then a draw against Ajax, we were 2-0 up against them but threw it away, that draw though meant we had guaranteed our spot in the playoff for a place in the Last 16. We ended with a 2-0 loss to Liverpool but once again played well. 

Our first season in the newly revamped Champions league has gone really well and we now have a chance to get into the knockouts if we win the Playoff, which is contested between the teams that ended between 9th and 24th.

What a bonkers looking table, I have to be happy with that though, to end with 11 points from 8 games is a huge achievement.

Finally, the League and it has gone very well, bar one result!

9 games, 8 wins, 1 loss which we won't talk about! We have played some amazing football and have scored plenty of goals, even with injuries to Maldini and Gueye we have continued our good form and after 21 games we sit well clear at the top.

7 clear of Olympiakos and 9 clear of AEK but they both have a game in-hand. Now we have to hope we can continue our good form without some of our key defenders. Maldini is also out for another month and Gueye is away on African nations duty, the next few games could be very tough.

 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Looking good for another league title!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - End of Regular Season, Greek Cup & Champions League Playoff

A very quick update just taking you through how the Champions League playoff went, the Greek Cup Quarter Final and the last 5 games of the regular season.

Firstly, the one big downer and that's the fact we were knocked out by AEK in the Greek Cup. 

We did well to win the home leg but it was down to a last minute goal, we went to their place for the 2nd leg and with numerous fitness issues we massively struggled, a 2-0 win for them and 3-2 on aggregate, really disappointing.

Now to the Champions League, we ended 18th in the mega league stage which meant a spot in the playoff round for a spot in the Last 16, we were given a decent draw, FC Koln stood in our way.

The first leg was at home, we didn't play well somehow came out of it with a 1-1 draw.

Then came the away leg and with players getting back to fitness we were able to put a decent team out, we played incredibly, hammering them 4-1!

5-2 on aggregate, an amazing win sealing our spot in the Last 16, where we have the rather tough task of Liverpool!!

Now to the League and the final 5 games since I last updated you have gone pretty well, we have struggled with the sheer number of games but the lads that have stepped in have done a really good job.

 

A couple of iffy draws but overall 11 points from 5 games is decent and cements our place at the top of the league going into the Championship Group

5 clear of Olympiakos, a decent lead but we have to keep picking up points, the games are catching up with us and we are struggling with injuries and tired players but I have faith we can keep our good form up.

 

 

[BoxToBoxFM]

Hopefully looking good for another league title!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2024/25 Season - Champions League, Championship Group and End of Season Review

The end of the season is here, so let's not hang about, firstly the Champions League Last 16, after getting past Koln in the Playoffs we face Liverpool in the 1st Knockout Round. It was always going to be a tough tie and unfortunately it was a step too far.

We did however managed to get a draw against them in the home leg, an amazing result, we then went to Anfield and they showed their class to beat us 2-0

Now to the big one and that's the Super League.

At the end of the regular season we sat top by 5 points from Olympiakos, all we needed to do was not collapse but it did not start well.

We opened with a draw at home to AEK before a hard fought win over Atromotis but then came the key game, away to Olympiakos, we did not play well but came from behind twice to level the game, that was until the last minute when Olympaikos scored to win the game 3-2, the gap now was down to 2 points.

When then had a really poor draw at home to Panetolikos, luckily for us Olympaikos failed to win, something had to change, we had a team meeting and I tweaked my 4231 slightly to try and give us more going forward. A few role changes and a few more attack duties added and it worked a treat.

A 3-0 win over PAOK was then followed by the biggest win so far, we played Olympiakos at home and smashed them 3-1, at this point we just needed to keep our calm and after we drew AEK 1-1 at their place we knew with 3 games to go we just needed to win 2 games.

We sat 5 clear of Olympiakos and they had a tougher run in.

Into the next game and we faced Atromitos at home, we did our job to hammer them 4-0 but then I looked at the other scores, Olympiakos had lost!!!!

This meant with 2 games to go the title was sealed! Easy as that!

I played some of the kids in the final 2 games as the games meant nothing and we won 1 and lost 1. 

It was a tough final 10 games, 18 points gained, in another season that may have not been enough but Olympaikos and AEK had really poor ends to the season as well meaning we had won the League by 7 points!

An incredible season, another league title, an amazing run in the Champions League to boot.

Money is also looking amazing now. Nearly £40m gained in Champions League prize money and a £25m profit in transfers means the bank balance now sits at £53m, a £46m profit over the season.

This hopefully means we can really push this squad onto another level next year, I don't expect the Champions league to go any better but I fully expect us to win the League again and hopefully win the Greek Cup.

Finally, before I go, let's see who my key men were over the season and there's only one place to start.

Daniel Maldini ends at the Club Player, Young Player and Greek Super League player of the season. He also ends with most assists at the club (20). An incredible season for the lad who cost me nothing in the Summer, now I need to hang on to him!

Makhtar Gueye, another Summer signing, had a great season. He ends with 42 goals from 40 starts, the highest at the club by miles and the highest average rating at the club (7.37).

Two amazing signings who I really hope to still have here next season.

One final player I want to speak about is Defensive Midfielder and captain Dimitris Kourbelis, he has been incredible this season, I switched to a 4231 with 2 DMs with Korbelis playing as the Anchor Man, this lad is just brilliant, he's scored some screamers as well but has been so solid in front of the back 4.

Here is the Best XI from the season review

And here is the whole squad.

Now we look forward to next season, the one big thing this Summer is to keep hold of my key men but experience shows me that when you're doing well, the vultures start to circle. Some big contracts may need to be offered to stave them off.

The good news is, with the finances doing well, the board have given me insane budgets.

£49m in transfer budget and an extra £200k per week in wages. This means I can pretty much do what I want this Summer.

I'm not going to go too mad, I know where I want to improve and I also have to replace Nkoulou and Kleinheisler who are both leaving on precontract deals. It shouldn't be as busy a Summer as last year but it all depends on who leaves. 

A great season overall! Here's hoping the next one is just as good

[TheLutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - Summer Transfers

A new season is here, can we make to back-to-back-to back League Titles? Well we have £49m to spend so I think it's time to take this side to another level.

Now I did say I wasn't going to go mad on transfers, I may have not stuck to that premise!

There were reasons for it. We lost a couple of players who all needed replacing. I also wanted to bring in some homegrown players as last season we struggled with the Champions League registration rules, so a few more players, making way for those players that helped the homegrown quota.

Here are the out's

£18.5m of sales. The big one on that list is Goalkeeper Kotarski, he wanted a move and I couldn't stand in his way. He was amazing for me but I don't want unhappy players, a good profit though as he was signed for £2.2m.

I also let my backup keeper leave, Krumrey was signed on a free last season, again he wanted the move, another good profit. 

Oskarsson, another signing from last Summer moved to Porto although he will come back to us on loan for the season, he was also signed on a free.

The big losses though were the ones who left on free's, Kleinheisler and Nkoulou were both integral parts of the side last season but decided to sign pre-contract deals with other clubs.

So some big gaps to fill, a GK was needed as was a new AM, DM and CB, I also needed a new RB to replace Zanotti who's loan is up and I needed a new LB as I never properly replaced Cobbaut last season.

So please welcome....

Andrija Zivkovic - Winger/Attacking Midfield - £4m from PAOK

Signed on a bit of a whim, he wasn't great for PAOK but is also classed as one of the better players in the Greek Super League. A cheap deal for someone who on the face of it looks decent, will provide good competitions to Dolan and Maldini. 

Giannis Papanikolau - Defensive Midfield - £1.1m from Rakow Czecstochowa

Signed to help with the homegrown Champions League rules, a really good player as well for a cheap fee.

Ioulios Apostolou - Right Back - £3.3m from Atromitos

I may have paid a bit over the odds for this lad but for an 18 year old he looks really good, he needs some work on his technical attributes but he has time on his side and will provide good backup to Hoever. He is also classed as homegrown!

Igor Jelicic - Central Defender - £1.1m from FK Vojvodina

I had this lad on my radar last Summer but decided to wait 12 months, top quality for this level and will add good competition to the central defence.

Sotiris Alexandropoulos - Defensive Midfield - £2m from Sporting Lisbon

Another lad to help with the homegrown rule, I really like the look of him, good work rate, great physicals, he will pretty much walk into my first XI.

Dani Tasende - Left Back - Free Transfer

Finding a decent left back was really hard but when this guy popped up on the release list for the Greek Super League I gave him a trial and he impressed. Only 25 as well and looks pretty decent.

Juan Jesus - Central Defender - Free Transfer

Another lad I picked up after seeing him released by Napoli, I had him on my shortlist of players to go for if they get released. He adds some good experience to the squad and at 34 still looks really good.

Florian Muller - Goalkeeper - £2.1m from Union Berlin

My replacement for Katorski, really pleased with this deal, he looks just as good as his predecessor and cost me a quarter of the price. 

 

That's all the business so far, I've been lucky so far that no one else has asked to move. There have been bids for Dolan and Maldini but they were rejected and both have accepted new contracts with no release clauses. Let's hope that keeps them happy for now.

There is still another 6 weeks of the transfer window to go, still plenty of time for things to chance.

Another thing to talk about is facility upgrades, with the bank balance looking really healthy the board have started accepting some of my requests.

Hopefully this will help improve the players that we have and also help with future youth intakes.

The board has also expanded the stadium, this was a massive surprise as it wasn't a request from me!

Another 3,697 seats, some much needed revenue!

Finally, a quick word on the Champions League and we have had the draw for the Qualifying Rounds.

We enter in the 3rd Qualifying Round and have been drawn against Lech Poznan, the team we beat last season to get in the Champions League proper.

If we win that we then face Swiss side Luzern in the Playoff round. 

For me they are both winnable ties.

Edited October 30, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - August to November

The opening few months of the season are down and I have to say, overall, it's gone very well.

But firstly before the results I made one more signing. I hadn't planned on bringing a new Striker in but as the seasons started it was clear Gueye just wasn't up for it, game after game he did nothing and was scoring an average rating in the lowers 6's. Last season he scored loads but actually he scored have scored so many more. I needed to act and act quickly so I did a mass load of scouting and eventually found a player, who doesn't cost the earth and it an improvement on Gueye.

Borja Mayoral comes in from Getafe for an initial £5m with £1m over the next 12 months. A really decent looking player who should take this league by storm.

Now for the results and firstly the Champions League. We entered in the 3rd Qualifying Round and faced Lech Poznan where it wasn't as easy as I was expecting!

A 3-3 draw in the first leg, that after been 2-0 and 3-2 down, we scraped a draw with the last kick of the game. In the home leg we played better but still we were struggling to score, we were making loads of chancing but not putting them away. A Jelicic header from a corner and then a penalty from Thorstvedt settled the tie and we were through to the playoff round.

Where we faced Swiss Champs Luzern, I expected a win but again it was a lot tougher than I expected.

The first leg once again was away, we defended really well but again struggled to put chances away, it ended 0-0, a solid result going into the home leg.

Where we took the lead after half an hour, Zivkovic with a gorgeous free kick, once again chances were missed and in the 85th minute Luzern, in one of very few attacks grabbed the leveller which sent it to extra time. It looked to be going to penalties, until Maldini was tripped in the box, once again Thorstvedt stepped up and tucked it away, another win via a penalty!!!

And we are into the League Phase, only just though!

We were handed some really tricky ties, Man United, Man City, AC Milan and Real Madrid to play but we also had winnable ties against Nice, Ludogorets, Antwerp and Sporting. Could we do enough to get a playoff spot?

Well it started really well as we dominated Ludogorets and won the game 2-0. Then we played Nice away and Real Madrid at home and came out with two respectable 0-0 draws, the Real game we sat back and soaked up the pressure, we were lucky to get away with a point but we defended really well and they struggled to break us down.

Then came the one big downer, away to AC Milan, again we went to frustrate them but it did not pan out that way and we were smashed 5-0!!! Maybe we had been found out?

Well there was one final Champions League game left before November came to a close and it was Antwerp who we faced at home, with Sporting, Man City and Man Utd to come we had to win this game and we played really well, ending with a 3-1 victory. 

Not a bad start.

8 points so far, it may not be enough, last season 9 points got a playoff spot, we need another point at least from these game...

I have a funny feeling we can do it!

Finally, the league and my word it has gone VERY well!

11 games, 10 wins and only 1 slip up, we have been utterly incredible, the final few games have been crazy. 4 games, 20 goals and that includes a 6-2 win away to AEK Athens! Borja Mayoral has found his shooting boots and, dare I say it, we look unstoppable!

 

8 points clear of the chasing pack already, a huge goal difference as well. I'm not sure it could be going much better!

[Dereka]

I had never seen this save idea / challenge before, but I really like it. Good luck!

I had no idea Spanish duo Ruben Perez and Juankar (:D) ended up in Greece

[TheLutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - December and January

Another couple of months of the season down and it's still going very well. Before I go through the results there has been some transfer business done during the Winter window, it's been another mad window and it all stems from players getting too big for their boots and wanting moves to clubs they claim are bigger than us. Let's discuss.....

Jan 1st comes about and I get the news item "contracts expiring in 6 months time". The sheer horror on my face as I see numerous first team players on their, it gets even worse when they do not want to discuss a new deal and they don't think the club is big enough for their ambitions.......then the pre-contract offers start to come in and there's nothing.....absolutely nothing I can do about!

So at the end of the season we will be saying goodbye to....

Kristian Thorstvedt - Attacking Midfield - This lad has been by far my best player this season, when Braga came sniffing he wanted to go, I couldn't persuade him otherwise and he signed a pre-contract deal with Dinamo Kiev!

Dimitris Kourbelis - Defensive Midfield - The club captain and one of the reasons for our success over the past couple of seasons, again Braga came sniffing and he asked to leave, he signs a pre-contract deal with Turkish side Sivaspor

Makhtar Gueye - Striker - He complained about lack of game time, he's been awful this season, he refused to talk about a new deal and signed a pre-contract with Levante

We also lost two players through the Winter window, Striker Sporar has fallen down the pecking order and asked to go, a good deal for my 3rd choice striker. We also lost Winger Jolic, a player I wanted to keep about but he wanted game time and with Dolan and Maldini doing so well he asked to leave, signed for £400k, sold for £5.75m!

So with quite a few players leaving or planning on leaving I needed to bring some new recruits in, I could've waited until the end of the season but when you see someone you want you just have to go for it!

Azor Matusiwa - Defensive Midfield - £8m from Reims

A big outlay but a quality looking player who is my replacement for the outgoing Kourbelis

Reinier - Attacking Midfield - £1.1m from Real Madrid

What a signing for such a low fee, my replacement for Thorstvedt, I have high hopes!

Fer Nini - £3.6m from Girona

A lad I'd been keeping an eye on for a while and when I signed Borja Mayoral I had contemplated signing him instead. With Sporar gone and Gueye going I needed another option up top and this lad fits the bill

George Bello - Left Back - £1.5m from Leverkusen

I really needed to strengthen my left hand side of defence, this has probably been been my biggest issue so far this season, Bello looks really good and again for a low fee.

So some new additions and the squad is looking better.

Now to the results and it's continued to go really well.

In the league we continue to be unbeaten and have only slipped up once over the 2 months with a 1-1 draw to OFI. Other than that we have been really good with very few goals conceded and plenty of goals scored.

9 games, 25 points and we stretch our lead at the top of the table.

17 clear but the teams below us have a game in hand. Surely we can't throw it away?!

Finally, the Champions League, we had a tough final 3 games and it proved to be really tough.

We were so close to beating Sporting Lisbon but they geabbed an equaliser in the 94th minute, we then got hammered by Haaland and then played really poorly against Man United.

We did though manage to qualify for the playoff round, scraping it in 23rd place!

With the tough games we had I'm really pleased, we held our own in most games and now have a shot of making it into the knockout phase, that's if we get through the playoff round where we will face AC Milan, they beat us 5-0 in the League phase, wish me luck!!!

 

 

[BoxToBoxFM]

So frustrating getting that email saying players are out of contract in 6 months, especially when it’s first team players. Always forget to check expiring contracts, and as has happened with you this summer there’s often very little you can do to convince them from not signing a pre contract somewhere else

[TheLutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - End of Regular Season, Greek Cup and Champions League Playoff

A very quick update covering the past two months.

Firstly, the Champions League Playoff against AC Milan. After losing to them in the League Phase 5-0 I expected a tough task, we did do really well overall but it was the first 35 minutes of the first leg at home that settled the tie. 

We totally fell apart and found ourselves 3-0 down, we did grab a goal back but the game petered out and we would go to the San Siro 3-1 down. 

Where we played out of our skin and were very VERY close to pulling off one of the biggest shocks I've ever witnessed. We scored just before half time to half the deficit but on the hour mark AC Milan scored to make it 4-2 on aggregate. Then with 8 minutes to go we grabbed a goal, we were only one behind and we went for it, we pushed and pushed but couldn't find that elusive goal.

We go out 4-3 on aggregate, what a result though in the 2nd leg!

Now to the Greek Cup where we have done really well. 

Olympiakos were dispatched in the Quarter Final for the third time in four season, we then faced Larisa in the Semis, beating them 3-1 in the first leg, we then played the reserves in the second leg, drawing 1-1 but it was more than enough to go through.

And finally the last few games of the regular season where, as expected we have continued on our merry way and are now very close to wrapping up a third successive league title.

Defensively though we've been a bit more shaky than we have been, but going forward we've been really good. The only blemish was the 2-2 against AEK, we were 2-0 down at half time but came back in the second half to keep up the unbeaten season!

10 games to go, 15 points clear, it's so close!

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - Youth Intake

I wouldn't normally post about the Youth Intake because, well normally they're rubbish! But when this popped up I immediately got excited!

A 2.5* Current Ability Player! You do not see that very often, but is he actually any good?

Wow! 6ft 2" at 15!! The only attribute I would've like to have seen higher is his natural fitness, this lad could be an absolute gem! He is going straight into the first team squad as well.

We also have three other players who I am very excited by.

A CM with good passing and first touch, he can't jump but who cares.

 

That is some set of mental attributes! Everything else though needs some serious work.

 

15 finishing instantly pops out, he also has pace, good off the ball and decisions, another one to keep an eye on.

What an intake! 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2025/26 Season - March to May & End of Season Review

Here we go! The Championship Group, we sit 15 points clear with 10 games to go, anything other than a total capitulation and the league should be ours.

It started well with 2 solid wins but then came our first defeat of the season, 3-1 away to AEK, a poor result but the gap was still 12 points to Olympiakos with 7 to play, we then beat PAOK 3-0 before an amazing 2-2 draw away to Olympiakos, Maldini scoring in the 94th minute to level the tie.

That meant with 5 games left the gap was still 12 points and after beating OFI 2-1, we went into the next game knowing a point would be enough to seal the title. 

We played Atromitos away from home and did not play well, we were lucky and somehow scraped a 0-0 draw, it was enough though, to seal a third straight league title!!! Not the most exciting way to win it but who cares! CHAMPIONS!

We saw out the final 3 games, winning 2 and losing 1, again to AEK!

The best season to date, most points, most goals, most wins. What a season!!!

Now to the Greek Cup final where we faced AEK Athens who, as you will have seen, seem to have the better of us this season.

The game was exciting, we absolutely dominated the game, AEK did not have a single highlight. Fer Nini put the ball in the net for us 27 seconds into the second half, it looked a legitimate goal but VAR ruled it out for offside. Their keeper had a blinder, making save after save and we couldn't find a way through, the game ended up going to penalties.

Where we missed our first one, the keeper again making a good save. AEK kept on scoring, but so did we. It then fell the Capellini for AEK, if he scored, they would win. He sent the keeper the wrong way to tuck it in the right corner of the goal and in the most undeserved win ever, AEK had won!

An absolute travesty!

Overall though a brilliant season, a third straight league title, our most dominant yet, a Greek Cup final and another good run in the Champions League

Let's take a quick look at who my key men were and once again there's only one place to start

Daniel Maldini had another incredible season, he ends as the Club Player and Young Player of the Season, he also ends with the most assists, most POTMs and highest average rating. An absolute superstar.

Attacking Midfielder Kristian Thorstvedt ends as the club top goalscorer, he had a really good season overall, it's just a shame he won't be here next season

Here is the Best XI for the season.

And here is the whole squad.

So another season down, the best one yet League wise, it was just a shame we couldn't make it a league/cup double.

There will be some personnel changes next season, we are losing the likes of Kourbelis and Thorstvedt and I'm sure bids will come in for some of my key men. I do plan on bringing some new players in. What I want to do is get these kids ready for first team football, some look like they're nearly ready, most don't. My plan next season is to bring some experience into the squad to get these players mentored and get them improving quicker.

We need to level up this squad and that means spending wages on bringing quality players in, there seems to be some really good players, albeit older players, available on free's this Summer, I don't usually sign over 30s player but this Summer I'm making an exception!

Once again the board have backed my with amazing budgets.

A near on £300k per week increase in the wage budget and £28m for transfers. There may be some big changes this Summer but I do have to make sure the squad is balanced, the Champions League registration means I need 8 player in the squad that are Homegrown (4 trained by club, 8 trained in nation) so really I only have 17 spots for non-Homegrown players. The squad is already quite big so players will leave if I find a player who is better than what I already have.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks to everyone for reading, I really appreciate it

Below are some screenshots of the spreadsheet I use to track the save.

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[The Last Throw]

Another fantastic season. You are really growing this club and taking it places, I think you'll be challenging for Champions League glory within a couple of seasons which is some going

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026/27 Season - Transfer Special

It has been a very busy Summer so far and although there is still a few weeks of the transfer window left, unless anyone else leaves I don't play on bringing anyone else in, that's mainly because my Champions League squad is now full!

Talking of the Champions League, the qualification places table shows the Greek Super League in 11th place, this means we should have to play in the playoff round to qualify for the League phase.

As you can see there is clearly not a "1" next to "Group Stage" or "League Phase" as it's called in other areas.

Well when I looked at the teams in the Champions League, I got a shock, we are going straight into the League Phase without playing a qualifier!! Don't ask me how but I'll take it!

And here is the "League Phase" table and our fixtures...

Some winnable games there, hopefully we do enough to qualify again for the playoff round.

Right, now to transfers and firstly the out's. I already knew a few players were leaving due to signing pre-contracts elsewhere, however a few others players also left.

£19.25m of sales. We say goodbye to Right Back Hoever, who asked for the move to Porto (£5.65m profit), Zivkovic who just didn't perform when needed (£700k profit), Left Back Tasende, the bid was just too good (£3.8m profit), Defender Bernardo, another who just never did well enough (£2.7m profit) and Midfielder Pananikolaou, who was pretty rubbish (£800k profit). Some good profits there!

We also, as mentioned previously, a few players on frees, the biggest of those losses are AM Thorstvedt, DM and Captain Kourbelis and Striker Gueye. 

So a lot of first teamers leave, meaning a lot of players come in!

Raul Jimenez - Striker - Free from Wolves

A running theme with the first few players. I wanted to add experience to my squad to get those kids some good mentors, but also looking at spending no money on transfers whilst bringing in quality. Jimenez definitely ticks those boxes, a quality player for no money, a good personality and will add good depth to our forward line.

Filip Kostic - Left Back/Left Midfield - Free from Juventus

Kostic can platy anywhere on the left hand side, he will mainly play as a Left Back, another freebie who adds experience and quality to the squad.

Philippe Coutinho - Attacking Midfield - Free from Aston Villa

A huge name joins! I was shocked at how little money he wanted. yes his physicals are poor but he adds depth to our squad and much needed experience.

Stelios Kavvadias - Left Back - £5m from Atromitos

This kid looks incredible, a big outlay for a 19-year old but I really think he will be worth it in the long run.

Tasos Bakasetas - Attacking Midfield - £1.5m from Trabzonspor

Signed to help with the Champions League squad registration, still pretty good, even at 33 and adds some good depth to my attacking midfield, he can also play on the right or left wing.

Andrew Kun Wah Lee - Right Back - Season loan from Rennes

The first of two right back signings, with Hoever gone I went in for this lad. He ended No. 1 in the NxGN list in 2025, he looks really good but he has a battle on his hands for that starting RB spot.

Aaron Hickey - Right/Left Back - £16.5m from Brentford

Because I decided to smash our transfer record to bring in Aaron Hickey, what a signing! This was the kind of player I wanted to bring in to "level up" this side. Hopefully he performs as well as I hope!

Tyler Morton - Defensive Midfield - £5m from Liverpool

And finally, a new DM joins, we lost a couple of players who could play here, I really wanted find someone capable of playing in the RPM role, after an extensive search, Tyler Morton was the lad I decided to go for, a cheap fee, a low wage, a quality player!

Some really good signings and for the first time I spent more on players in than what I recouped. I really hope I have put this team in a much better position to challenge in the Champions League. I'm not talking about winning it but getting past the Last 16 would be a huge achievement.

The squad now looks really good

A mix of youth and experience, some of the intake players are in there and I hope to give them gametime throughout the season, the squad is big but we have a lot of games to play!

The one position I would like to strengthen is the Goalkeeper, Muller is decent but I know I can sign better, that may have to wait until the Winter though unless someone amazing pops up. The issue I have now is my Champions League squad is full, so any players in will mean a player has to leave.

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026/27 - September to November

It's been an interesting start to the season, in the League it's been decent overall but whereas the previous 2 seasons we've been unbeaten for most of it, this season we were unbeaten for....1 game!

Overall though we've been good, some big wins, lots of goals and not many conceded.

Olympiakos however are having a stormer of a season and after 11 games lead the way.

Only a point though so still time for us to overtake them.

Now to the Champions League and, erm, it's not been great! It started well then went downhill!

4 points from the opening 2 games and at that point we sat 3rd, then we faced Man City and Juve! Man City we didn't play too badly but Juve we were utterly shocking, so bad in fact the fans got a refund!! We then faced Galatasaray at home, we really had to win and again were really poor.

So after 5 games we sit 25th, 1 place below the playoff spots. We do have some winnable games to come though IF we play better!

2 out of 3 games at home, Rennes we really need to be winning. The past 2 seasons 9 points has got us into the playoffs so we need to get 4 points from those final 3 games.

Wish me luck!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026/27 Season - December and January

Welcome back to another update to let you all know how the League and Champions League are going.....

But first, there's a new signing!!

I said at the start of the season the one area I wanted to try and upgrade was the Goalkeeper position but I wanted to leave it until the next Summer, well that didn't happen as my No. 1 Goalkeeper Florian Muller got his head turned by Napoli, signed for £2.1, I managed to get £5m for him. A cracking deal but it meant I had no first choice keeper! So in comes a worldie!

Dennis Seimen (sounds like David Seaman) comes in for £10.75m from Stuttgart, a cracking signing but it comes with one issue, he wanted a release clause of £19.75m, hopefully before that get activated I can offer him a new deal with no release clause.

A very quiet Winter window but to be honest, we were doing so well we didn't need to improve the squad, I was lucky though that the likes of Maldini and intake star Antonis (more in him in a bit) didn't have their head turned by big offers from bigger clubs.

Now to the results and first the League.

Overall amazing with no red blemish! That PAOK game was stupid, we hammered them, only for them to score a penalty in the 94th minute, we had 2 goals disallowed and missed a penalty, we did not deserve to lose!

Other than that though what a few month, 7 wins, 21 points, 28 goals! We have been incredible!

The even better news is Olympiakos have fallen apart, 13 points from 8 games which means we have gone top and are well clear!

We've also had a Greek Cup 6th round tie against 2nd tier side Trikala where the kids played and beat them 7-4 on aggregate, we then had the 1st leg of the Quarter final against PAOK and won the game 3-2, we were 3-0 up though!!! 

Finally, the Champions League. When I left you last we had 5 points from 5 games with 3 games to go, we needed to at least win 1 and draw 1 to have any chance of a playoff spot.

It started well with a 3-2 home win over Rennes, a game in which intake star Antonis started and was utterly incredible but then came a dent in our hopes, a 2-1 loss away to Benfica.

So we go into the last game in 22nd spot, we need to end above 24th for a playoff spot, we needed to get something out of the Atletico Madrid game at home, we were huge underdogs but to say we were amazing would be an understatement, we absolutely dominated the game, the hardly had a chance and we managed to run out 2-0 winners, an incredible win, one of the best in the save so far, just when we needed it most!

An amazing results and that put us up to 20th place

So we go into the playoff round for a spot in the Last 16 and we have a very tough tie.

We face Dortmund over 2 legs, a really tough ask but we beat Atletico so I know if we play well we have a chance.

Finally, I want to talk about one of my players, one of our own, superstar 2022 intake player Kostas Antonis.

The Right Winger/Striker hadn't really played much, that was until Maldini got injured and I decided to give him a go, what he does since has pretty much made him undroppable.

9 starts, 5 sub appearances, 9 goals and 4 assists, his pace on the right is scaring the sh*t out of defenders, he's scored some great goals as well. This lad is the future of this club, the only issue, he is now getting noticed by Europes elite, the biggest bid so far came from Hertha Berlin which was £9.75m + £3.5m of addons. I clearly said no!!!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026/27 Season - End of the Regular Season, Champions League and Greek Cup

A very brief update taking you through the last 6 weeks.

Let's start with the bad news, we're out of the Champions League, in pretty poor fashion as well

I think most would've expected us to lose but after that Atletico win I had hope, I wouldn't have minded but we were really really poor. A frustrating end to a decent campaign.

Now to the Greek Cup and we look be heading to the final

We went into the PAOK game 3-2 ahead and came out with a solid 0-0 draw to get to the semi final, where we faced Olympiakos away in the 1st leg and won the match 2-1, a great win, just the 2nd leg at home to go.

Now to the League and it's gone really well!

games have come thick and fast, with the Greek Cup, the Champions League and the League we've been playing 3 times a week, sometime 4, I've had to rotate and the lads have done me proud. 6 wins and 1 draw but the last 2 games have been the key ones.

Wins over AEK and Olympiakos, brilliant attacking performances which was helpful as our defending has been woeful. The AEK game they levelled the tie in the 89th minute only for Mayoral to score with the last kick of the game!

So we head into the Championship Group 13 points clear, 10 games to go, home and away against the other teams in the top 6. It surely all but over but we've proved in the past 2 seasons that our form tends to fall away, especially when we have to play the bigger teams game after game.

[BoxToBoxFM]

Absolutely loving this. Making such good progress not just on the pitch but off it as well with upgrading the facilities and managing the finances well!

[TheLutterworthFox]

16 minutes ago, BoxToBoxFM said:

Absolutely loving this. Making such good progress not just on the pitch but off it as well with upgrading the facilities and managing the finances well!

Thanks mate, really appreciate your comment and glad you're enjoying the journey

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026/27 Season - End of Season Review

Going into the Championship group we had a big lead on the chasing pack, in the past couple of season we have struggled for results in this stage of the season, especially against the big boys so the big gap was very much needed.

But this time, bar a rubbish draw at home to PAOK and then a defeat to Olympiakos we didn't lose our nerve, after the Olympiakos game we won our next 3 games and with the chasing pack faltering our 4th straight league title was signed and sealed with 4 games remaining!!!

A great season and with the title being wrapped up so early it gave me chance to blood some of the reserves and kids to save the big players for the Greek Cup final (yes that's right we beat Olympiakos in the semi final).

The kids did a decent job in the final few games with only a final day defeat to their name. 

Another great season overall, 1 more defeat than last time around and 2 points worse off but frankly who cares, that's 4 league titles in a row!

Now to the Greek Cup final where once again we faced AEK Athens, the team that in last seasons cup final beat us, rather undeservedly, on penalties!

Well this time we did not need to worry, we started amazing, a goal within 90 seconds, a 2nd within 4 mins and by half time it was 5-0!!! I have never witnessed a half like it. The second half petered out until Fer Nino sealed his hat trick from the penalty spot with 2 minutes to go. 

6-0, utterly incredible, now that's what I call payback!!!!

What a season, a league and cup double, some amazing performances overall. I couldn't have asked for much more.

Now let's take a look at who my key men were and I have to start with this lad, he's one of our own!

Kostas Antonis, the 2022 intake star eventually broke into the first team this season and was amazing, he ends as the club young player of the season and the Greek Super League talent of the season. He also ends with the most POTMs and Highest Average Rating at the club. What a superstar!

Daniel Maldini once again had an amazing season ending as the club player of the season for a 3rd straight season

Striker Fer Nino ends as the Greek Super League top goalscorer and top scorer at the club, 32 in 32 starts, 23 in 24 starts in the League

Finally, Winger Tyrhys Dolan ends with the most assists at the club, 16 in 38 starts.

Here is the Best XI for the season.

And here is the whole squad.

And now we look forward to next season, we are clearly the dominant force in Greek football now but it is still tough with Olympiakos, PAOK and AEK always giving us tough games, even if they do end way behind us in the league.

What we need to start doing now is progressing in the Champions League, that is the aim of the challenge after all! 

To do that we need to keep upgrading our squad and this Summer I have 3 positions I want to level up. I need a new RB to replace Wah Lee who's loan is up, I'd also like to sign a top quality CB and I want to buy a really good Ball Winning Midfielder. Obviously they are going to cost and with us spending quite a bit this season the budgets aren't as high as it has been.

£17m is still decent though but it may be tough to get the players I need with that money so I may need to raise some funds by selling a couple of players. The wage budget though has once again gone up, by another £150k per week, this means we have around £280k per week spare.

Finally, some massive news, we are going to get a new stadium!

A 10k increase on what we have now! Exciting times!

Edited November 3, 2022 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2027/28 Season - Transfers and Champions League Draw

A new season begins, this season we need to start pushing on in the Champions League, this is what the challenge is all about and after 5 seasons the furthest I've got is the Last 16 when we had a favourable draw, since then we have failed to get past the playoff round, we have been unlucky with draws, this season we need to start progressing and the best way to do that is to sign better players.

Unfortunately though the budgets, even though they are big for this league still aren't good enough to be signing World class players, quite a few want to come here, our reputation is high enough to attract proper decent players (we're now ranked 32nd in the UEFA rankings) but with only £27m to spend on player we simply cannot afford to be spending what we need to spend to bring those players in.

Then comes the added issue that, because we're doing well, our players are getting noticed and when bids from the bigger clubs come in, those players want to move. This Summer especially there has been a plethora of bids for players I don't want to lose, most have dealt with the rejection and not complained, a couple have thrown their toys out the pram. I don't want players here who don't want to be here themselves so they have been moved on and personally I feel I've done well.

It is only the 25th August so there is still time for this to change but so far, here are my out's

£53m of out's!! And the two at the top of that list stand out most. Both Dolan and Fer Nino got their heads turned, both leave with a heavy heart but the bids were too goo to turn down, Nino was signed for £4.6m, a £15.4m profit, Dolan was signed for £3.6m, a £21.9m profit. You cannot argue with that.

We also lost first teamers Tempelmann (DM), Poungouras (CB), Bello (LB) and Jesus (CB). All 4 had fallen down the pecking order and I needed to move them on to a) free up money and b) free up Champions League squad spaces.

So lot's of money in and that now gives me a lot to spend.

We needed a new Right Back to replace Kun Wah Lee who's loan was up, we also needed a new central defender, a new ball winning midfielder and then a right winger and Striker to replace Nino and Dolan. Lot's to do, the main thing though was to upgrade from what we had/have and I think I've done a good job.

Youssef Zakar - Striker - £3.7m from Hertha Berlin

I won't lie, finding a Striker to replace Nino for a fee I could afford was impossible and with Borja Mayoral and Raul Jimenez in the squad I didn't need to break the bank. Zakar comes in and is one for the future, only 19, he will get chances this season but the aim for him is to get mentored and bed himself into the playing squad.

Andrew Kun Wah Lee - Right Back - £18.25m from Rennes

So I replaced Kun Wah Lee after his loan was up with...Kun Wah Lee!!! I just had to, this lad ended as No. 1 in the NxGN in 2024 and is an absolute worldie, he was amazing last season for me and was the best I could find, he's cost me a lot but I think he's worth it.

Denis Vavro - Central Defender - £5.5m from FC Copenhagen

A quality, experiences defender, Vavro adds good depth to the squad and at 31 still looks amazing.

Ladislav Krejci - Defensive Midfield - £4.3m from Sparta Prague

I had this deal tied up months ago, I wanted a new BWM and this lad fits the bill. A low fee for a player who looks amazingly good, he is already 28 but still had a good 4 or 5 seasons ahead of him.

Roony Bardghji - Right Wing - £11m from FC Copenhagen

I had this lad recommended to me and once I knew Dolan was leaving I had to bring him in. Only 21 so has plenty of time to grow. He needs a little bit of work, especially in his stamina and strength but I feel he can be a major player for me moving forward.

And that's it, 5 new players in, £45m spent which means we recouped more than we spent. A good Summer and now it's time to kick on. Although we need to keep dominating domestically we have to progress in the Champions League, the good news was, we had once again got straight into the League Phase, I'm not sure how, the League rules clearly stated for last season the League winner went into the playoff round but hey-ho!!!

The good news is though from this season the League winner is guaranteed that League Phase spot, Greece is now upto 8th in the UEFA Co-efficient which is amazing!

In the previous few season we have been handed OK fixtures in the Champions League, we've tended to have 4 impossible games and 4 games I felt we had a chance in, this season however it looks tough!!

I mean that looks tough, on the face of it we have a chance against Astana and Darmstadt, other than that it's going to be a struggle, I have confidence though, at home we can give any team a game, fingers crossed!!