Inter Miami CF (And Beyond...)

[danmcconnell1]

December 2025

With our Premier League form somewhat stumbling throughout November, the festive season was upon us and we have a very busy schedule in the run up to and during Christmas.

We began this mammoth month of football with a comfortable 3-0 win over Southampton at home with Isak scoring 2 and Kuol getting one off the bench too. That was followed by arguably the most impressive result of the month, winning at Anfield against a disciplined Liverpool team, Victor Kristiansen scored his first goal for the club in the 87th minute to give us the points. Our attention then turned to the Europa League for the final time in this calendar year as we travelled to Bosnia to face Zrinjski. We thrashed them 8-1 with our goals being scored by Tel, Todibo, Immobile managed another 2 while Isak scored 4. Perhaps even more impressively, we then returned to league action at home to Bournemouth 3 days later and put another 9 past them too. Bellingham scored 2, Todibo got on the score sheet again as did Isak who also got another 2. Hudson-Odoi continued his good form while Lionel Messi also bagged a hat-rick, could it be his last as a professional? This result gave us great confidence heading into the Carabao Cup quarter final at Turf Moor against Burnley, however we had to rely on winning a penalty shoot out against the Clarets after a 1-1 draw. Gravenberch gave us the lead but Twine scored for the hosts to force the shoot out which we eventually won 5-3 with Yeremy Pino scoring the winning spot kick. Our confidence improved yet again with a big win at the Emirates against Arsenal, beating them 4-1 on their own patch. Mudryk gave the home side the lead but when Bellingham equalised it was all plain sailing for us and in particular Isak who bagged a hat-rick. We then faced a double header against bottom club Brentford, firstly in West London where we fell to a 2-1 defeat, Damsgaard and Lewis-Potter scored either side of another Isak goal to give them the 3 points, however we didn't have long to wait for revenge as we beat them 3 days later in the traditional Boxing Day fixture at home by 3 goals to 2. It was a tough game as Martial gave Brentford the lead twice in the 2nd half, but with the first equaliser being scored by Immobile and then another by Tel from the penalty spot, youngster Garang Koul popped up with another vital goal to give us the 3 points. Our final match of the year was away at Blackburn and we managed another comfortable win against them just as we did earlier in the campaign, this time beating them 3-0 thanks to goals 2 goals for Isak and another for Gravenberch.

All of this means we remain in 2nd place in the Premier League 6 points clear of 3rd place Liverpool but still 10 points away from leaders Manchester City. Despite all of our games this month we do still have a game in hand over the leaders and our nearest challengers, so we're pretty well positioned to still challenge City should the opportunity arise itself. Isak is now the 2nd top goal scorer in the league with 16 but he's still 11 behind leader Haaland. Isak's form has seen him climb the average ratings too with his score now 7.85. He also has 3 MOTM awards to his name too.

The Europa League table looks great for us too. 6 games played, 39 goals scored and just 2 conceded, we will wrap up the League Phase in the new year by welcoming Ferencvaros and then travelling to Marseille as we look to consolidate our place at the top of this table heading into the knockout stages.

Lionel Messi capped yet another fine year by being named in the World XI of the year alongside other world class players Haaland, Pedri and Vinicius Junior.

He was also named the Argentine World Player of the Year by his FA.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2026

We welcomed in the new year with a whole host of matches just as we did last month with the FA Cup getting underway, the Premier League of course continuing and the Europa League League Phase coming to an end.

Our consecutive very busy month began with a New Years Day win over Nottingham Forest at The City Ground, winning 4-1 with Kim, Isak and then Pino scoring a brace giving us the victory to see in the new year. We followed that up with another win at home against Fulham, Immobile, Kuol and Isak all getting the goals this time. Next up was the Carabao Cup semi final first leg at Old Trafford against Manchester United which we came out on top of heading into the 2nd leg the following week. The 2-1 win in Salford was a great result for us as Isak and Messi scored our goals and while Fernandes did score a penalty for the hosts we managed to hold on for the win. Next up was more domestic up action as the FA Cup got underway and we progressed in that competition with a comfortable 3-0 win at home against Cardiff, Immobile and 2 for Tel on that day to send us into round 4 where we'll welcome Leicester in a run of 4 home matches in a row next month. The Carabao Cup semi final 2nd leg was just 4 days later, this time at home against Manchester United and we swept them aside easily, this time with a 3-0 win at St. James' Park with a Bellingham brace and Isak making it comfortable. The Premier League action returned swiftly as we travelled to Fulham to face them for the 2nd time this month and beat them for the second time this month too, 4-2 this time with Bellingham scoring another 2, Isak and Henderson also bagging. We then welcomed Ferencvaros for our penultimate Europa League match of the League Phase and absolutely thrashed them 8-0. Messi got things going, Hudson-Odoi scored a hat-rick, Bellingham scored 2 for the 3rd match in a row and Immobile also scored a brace of the bench. Our final Premier League match of the month was at home against Leeds United and we could only manage a draw in that one with Isak opening the scoring but Ivan Toney scoring the equaliser around the hour mark. Our final game of the month was the final Europa League League Phase match at home again against Marseille. We lost for the first time since just before Christmas as a solitary Andrea Belotti goal won it for the visitors with a quarter of an hour left to play.

The Premier League is still looking relatively healthy for us, despite the defeat against Leeds to conclude the month. We remain in 2nd place, 4 points clear of Liverpool in 3rd but 12 points behind the leaders Manchester City, spearheaded by the top scorer in the league Erling Haaland who is 10 clear of our 2nd placed Alexander Isak. Bellingham's average ratings have improved too, now placed 3rd behind Isak and Haaland. Jude also has 4 MOTM awards this season too.

The Europa League League Phase is over and that defeat against Marseille cost us top spot at the end of the 8 match league phase. We scored a phenomenal 47 goals in 8 matches, conceding just 3 goals in those matches too. We qualify automatically for the round of 16, with the sides finishing 9th down to 24th competing in play-offs for the round of 16 ties.

Alexander Isak won the Premier League player of the month, scoring 4 in 4 and assisting a goal too.

One final piece of news this month, we announced a partnership with MLS side FC Cincinnati. I of course have experience of facing the side from Ohio from my time with Miami and they have great facilities. Hopefully our presence on an annual basis within the USA will help improve our image in the country and hopefully help provide more revenue too. They will host an annual friendly between the 2 clubs and hopefully lead to more partnerships in the future.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2026

Our start to the year was, on the whole, pretty good, so I'm hoping we can continue that good form heading into February.

We had a perfect month, beginning with a win at home against Everton, 2 for Kuol and Lacroix getting our goals in a 3-1 win. Next up was a tough match, again at home this time against Arsenal, however a 5-2 win transpired and we won another 3 points. Guimaraes gave us the lead but goals from Mudryk and Saliba gave the Gunners the lead, however 2nd half goals from Lacroix again, Isak with a double and a late Gravenberch goal turned it around and gave us the win. We then beat Leicester in the FA Cup 4th round, again at home, winning 3-0 as the Championship leaders were knocked out. Guimaraes got another while Pino and Ndidi scored against his former club. We had 3 more league matches in a row coming up, the next again at home against Brighton who we beat 3-0, Hudson-Odoi, Isak and Bellingham all on the score sheet. We managed another 3-0 win in our first away match of the month against Bournemouth thanks to goals from Hudson-Odoi and an Isak brace. We were then back at home against Liverpool and managed a solitary goal win against them, 1-0 thanks to an Evanilson OG for the visitors. We ended the month as we began it, a win against Everton, this time in the FA Cup 5th round on Merseyside. A 2-1 win came thanks to goals from Immobile in the 1st half, Lucas Moura did get one back however we held on for a quarter final place, the draw is yet to take place for that though.

A perfect month for us means we end February just 4 points behind leaders Manchester City, however they do have a game in hand over us as things stand. Isak has now managed 25 goals in the league as well as 5 MOTM awards with an average rating of 7.84, he's having an outstanding season. 

Next up for us is the Carabao Cup final, which if we win will guarantee European football of some kind next season, however I'm hoping to win another trophy in the short term so we can then concentrate on the league and the Europa League for the remainder of the season until the next FA Cup tie comes around next month. Speaking of the Europa League, we've been drawn against Sassuolo in the last 16, a side we've already beaten this season 6-0 at St. James' Park back in October. The 2 legged affair takes place in March.

[danmcconnell1]

Carabao Cup Final 2026

With another cup final on the horizon, we prepare for another trip to the capital, this time to face Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

And we won it to give the Newcastle fans another memorable day at the national stadium. A 4-2 win was enough for us to win the Carabao Cup, or League Cup, for the first time in the club's history. Victor Osimhen scored 2 for Spurs, but goals from Guimaraes and Isak took the game to 2-2 as we entered stoppage time, but a 3rd goal for us scored by Lionel Messi in the 91st minute and then another to seal the win in the 96th minute by substitute Yeremy Pino meant that those 2 late goals won us the Carabao Cup and I couldn't be happier. We're having a great season, are well in the title race alongside Manchester City and have a great chance in both the FA Cup and Europa League. Champions League football next season should be a formality but for an end of season collapse which I don't envisage happening with the form we're in, so it's a very good time to be a Newcastle fan at the moment.

[danmcconnell1]

March 2026

After the fantastic start we had to the month with winning the Carabao Cup against Tottenham at Wembley, I was hoping to continue that good feeling around the club heading into the rest of the month, a month which was far less busy thanks to the upcoming international break.

We of course got off to a brilliant start by beating Spurs to lift the Carabao Cup, and things continued in the same fashion just 4 days later in the last 16 first leg tie in the Europa League against Sassuolo as we beat them 1-0, Ciro Immobile coming back to Italy to show what he's all about with the only goal. Our next match was the only one we'll play in the Premier League this month and we made it count with a 3-1 win over struggling side Burnley. Mvuka gave the hosts the lead but an equaliser from Hudson-Odoi was followed by Bellingham and Todibo to secure the 3 points for us. We then welcomed Sassuolo in the last 16 2nd leg tie in the Europa League and duly dispatched of them comfortably, winning 4-2 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate. Hudson-Odoi, Messi and an Isak brace ensured our progression, despite a late fight back from the visitors with former player Joe Willock scoring as did CB Erlic to give us a slightly nervy finish, before Isak's 2nd goal calmed us down again and saw us into the quarter finals where we'll face Sporting Lisbon. Our final match of the month was away at the Emirates against Arsenal and, frankly, we were due a beating which is what we got. Our defence of the FA Cup is over, losing in the quarter finals against Arsenal by 5 goals to 1.

We remain comfortably in 2nd place, however the gap at the top has now come down to just 4 points. We have secured Europa Conference League football as a minimum for next season, however that qualification place should go to the league position this season as we will more than likely qualify for the Champions League. The title race is well and truly back on though as we still have to play Manchester City at the Etihad, the game happens to be on the final day which could make for a very exciting end to the season if we can continue putting pressure on the leaders and they drop more points in the final months of the season. Isak remains 2nd in the race for the Golden Boot but is still 11 behind Haaland who has that award wrapped up I think. Isak also remains 2nd in the average rating charts, averaging 7.79 this season. He also has 5 MOTM awards to his name.

[danmcconnell1]

Update

Following the success the club has seen following my arrival, it seemed like a good time to ask for a new contract.

And I got one too, with a £20k per week pay rise and extension until the end of the 28/29 season. I feel like the first 17 months of my reign in the north east have been overwhelmingly positive and we've managed to win more silverware in the last 11 months than the club managed for almost 60 years, so I feel as though this new contract is deserved and sends a message to the rest of the league that Newcastle are becoming a force to be reckoned with going forward.

[danmcconnell1]

Update

Another affiliate club have joined the empire.

St. Pauli of Germany are our new affiliate. They're in the depths of German football these days after suffering 2 relegations in 3 seasons down from Bundesliga 2, however have the potential to be a big club in Germany with their feverant support not only locally but around the world. 

[danmcconnell1]

April 2025

With the penultimate month of the season upon us, it was time to try and harness the strong energy from last month's successes to help us at this vital stage of the campaign.

It has been another fantastic month for us as we remained unbeaten in both the league and the Europa League. We responded to the disappointment against Arsenal with a comfortable 3-0 win at home against West Ham, Immobile, Bellingham and Tel with the goals there. We then followed that up with another 3 goal haul, however we also conceded 3 at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea. Bellingham scored 2 while Todibo continued his good goal scoring form from CB for us, however a Pedro Goncalves hat-rick for Chelsea stole a point late on for them. Our attention quickly turned to the Europa League quarter final 1st leg at home to Sporting Lisbon and we thrashed them 4-0 with goals from Bellingham in the first half and a second half hat-rick for Isak. Things got even better for us 4 days later, again at St. James' Park with a monumental 8-0 win over Tottenham. Immobile had the game of his life scoring 5 while Messi, Wan-Bissaka and Gravenberch also scored to give us a huge win. We then managed a 1-1 draw in the 2nd leg against Sporting sending us through after a 5-1 aggregate win to send us into the semi finals where we'll face Strasbourg of France. Before that though we travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, a fellow Europa League semi finalist. We comfortably beat them 2-0 thanks to goals by Pino and Todibo again. The final match of the month was the aforementioned Europa League semi final 1st leg and we gave ourselves a very comfortable lead heading into the 2nd leg after a big 5-0 win in the Alsace. Isak scored 2, Todibo scored his 8th goal of the season from CB, Messi and Pino all got the goals. Messi had a perfect night, scoring 1 and assisting 3 others.

The table is starting to look a lot more interesting. There's a 5 point gap between ourselves and Manchester City, which if we win all of our remaining games, would result in us winning the title. This is due to us having a game in hand over City and still having to play them on the final day at the Etihad. It's in our hands which is all we can really ask for, however we do need to play 4 perfect Premier League matches, ending with what could be arguably one of the biggest Premier League matches of all time on the final day if we can keep up this great form. Isak didn't score a league goal this month therefore fell further behind Haaland for the Golden Boot, he is now 18 goals clear so is almost guaranteed to win that accolade now. Bellingham's strong performances have put him alongside the 2 top goal scorers for the 3rd best average rating for the season too.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2026

The final month of the season is always a time for winners and losers. While the Premier League is going to be a tough ask, we still have one foot in the Europa League final which could provide more silverware for us this season.

And we had an almost perfect end to the season. May began with what turned out to be the game which all but ended our title hopes against Aston Villa at home as we could only manage a 1-1 draw with the side from the West Midlands. Hudson-Odoi scored for us but a 71st minute Matty Cash screamer rescued a point for the visitors. We did however book our place in the Europa League final with a 1-0 win over Strasbourg at home in the Europa League semi final 2nd leg, also at home, Ryan Gravenberch with the only goal. We then beat Southampton on the south coast thanks to goals from Isak and Pino to give us a 2-0 win there. Our final home match of the season ended in another win, this time against Wolves. We beat them 3-1 thanks to goals by Hudson-Odoi again and an Isak double. Then came, arguably, the most momentous win of the club's history. We faced Wolfsburg who overcame Manchester United in their semi final in Istanbul for the Europa League title. 

We were brilliant as we swept the Germans aside 3-0 thanks to goals from Hudson-Odoi again and a late double off the bench by Ciro Immobile. It was a comprehensive win and saw us win just the 2nd European title in the club's history and the first since 1969.

The final match of the season was against Manchester City at the Etihad who'd already been named champions after winning the Manchester derby the previous weekend. We lost that match 2-0 thanks to goals by Sutalo and Haaland, who scored his 69th goal of the season. 

This means, of the 5 competitions we'd taken part in this season, we'd won 2 of them, finished runners up in another 2 and lost in the quarter finals of the FA Cup. All in all, I think it's been an outstanding season with 2 trophies to show for it and a tight run title race which was only settled with a game to spare. I'm very happy with our performance this season and, despite there always being room for improvement, feel like we've potentially even overachieved slightly this season. I certainly wasn't expecting to end the season with 91 points, however we're still 7 points away from leaders and champions City, so there's still lots of work to be done.

This is how we've ended the campaign stats wise. Meret was generally the number 1 keeper with both Henderson and Woodman getting game time this season. Woodman kept 3 clean sheets, Henderson 5 and Meret managed 17. Sergino Dest had a very good debut campaign, making 42 appearances and registering 8 assists from RB, however Wan-Bissaka was a more than capable deputy too with 51 appearances in total, mostly off the bench, 1 goal and 2 assists. Maxence Lacroix, Jean-Clair Todibo and Kim Min-Jae were all brilliant too this season, rotating the 2 CB spots between the 3 of them throughout the season. Kim managed a goal and an assist, Lacroix 5 goals and 1 assist with Todibo scoring 8 times and getting 2 assists as well. At LB, first choice Gvardiol got 4 assists while 2nd choice Kristiansen scored 1 and got 4 assists too. Valentin Gomez's loan in South Korea ended in January and he made 6 sub appearances in the 2nd half of the season.

In midfield, Declan Rice made 50 appearances in his debut season, registering 7 assists for us. His partner most of the time was Bruno Guimaraes who managed 4 goals and 6 assists in 55 matches. Backup midfielders got plenty of game time too, with Jordan Henderson 49 appearances, 2 goals and 5 assists, Wilfred Ndidi 45 appearances, 1 goal and 5 assists and Ryan Gravenberch having a great season with 52 appearances, 9 goals and 14 assists to his name. Our attacking midfielders were outstanding this season too, with the standout being Jude Bellingham. In 55 matches this season, he scored 24 goals and registered 18 assists too, it's been a brilliant first full season back in England for him. The little genius that is Lionel Messi who retires this summer, managed yet more magic making 47 appearances, scoring 14 times and assisting 25, he was back to his best in his final hurrah. Next was Callum Hudson-Odoi, who's done exactly what I hoped he would and is realising his gigantic potential, making 56 appearances, scoring 16 goals and creating another 27, he's been absolutely brilliant for me. Mathys Tel, on loan from Bayern Munich, was also great for me, making 50 appearances, scoring 13 goals and reaching 8 assists too, he's certainly someone I'm interested in bringing in permanently should a deal be able to be done with the German champions. Finally, an honourable mention to Garang Kuol. He knows he's not first choice, however performs to the best of his ability when given a chance. He made 20 appearances in total scoring 6 goals and creating another 3, he's certainly a very good backup player when called upon and understands his role within the side well.

Finally, our 2 strikers this season have been out of this world. Firstly, Ciro Immobile left Lazio a club legend aged 35, you'd think he wouldn't have anything else to prove, how wrong was I? He has been absolutely fantastic for me, scoring 39 goals in his debut season in England in just 42 appearances, that's almost a goal a game. Add on the 4 assists to his name, it's more than 1 goal involvement per appearance this season for the veteran Italian striker. Our other striker and star performer was Alexander Isak. The Swede managed 51 appearances this season, also scoring 51 goals and creating 9, which equates to 60 goals involvements throughout the campaign. I can't ask any more of these 2 strikers and hope they can continue this outstanding form as we enter the Champions League next season.

Moving onto awards, Jude Bellingham has won the Young Player of the Year in the Premier League after his 15 goal haul domestically and 7 assists in 32 matches.

And finally, despite not winning the title, I was named Manager of the Year with a win percentage of 76%, it's a huge honour with this being my first full season in England.

Edited December 21, 2022 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Lionel Messi

Unfortunately, the time has come for the best football of all time to retire from the game.

He has had some career in football, winning trophies left, right and centre and both club and international level throughout his career. He is of course, heavily linked with Barcelona after beginning his outstanding career there. In 520 league appearances for Los Cules, he scored 474 league goals for the club, a club record. After a controversial exit from Catalonia, he joined PSG in 2021 after La Liga wouldn't grant Barcelona permission to register Messi on his reduced salary. He spent 2 years in France, winning 2 league titles and their equivalent of the Super Cup, or Community Shield. He then joined me in the USA with Inter Miami, winning the domestic cup there, the US Cup. He then followed me to England with Newcastle where he finished his career. With us, he helped us win 3 trophies in the space of 12 months, including the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and one final European success in the Europa League.

He's widely regarded as the greatest football of all time and after guiding Argentina to the World Cup back in 2022, he'll surely now go down as the GOAT.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-Season Update 

After the success of last season, a summer of transition was upon us with retirements, experienced players leaving the club and new players joining us too.

The first player out was Dean Henderson. He was on a very high wage for a number 2 GK, so to try and reduce our wage bill, we let Henderson go out on loan to Monaco. They're paying 70% of his wages and have the option to buy him at the end of this coming season, so there's potential for him to leave.

Next to leave was Garang Kuol. We got £19m for him from Pachuca in Mexico so were happy to do this deal. He was a great servant to us in his 4 years at the club but was never going to become a first choice player, so we were happy to get good money for him and allow him to play more regular football in Mexico. 

Valentin Gomez joined Udinese in Italy in a deal I would have liked to be a lot higher. We only got £12m for Gomez and despite him not going to get near the first team squad on a regular basis, his value has rocketed since leaving, something I already knew. Hopefully he can reach his potential elsewhere.

Maximo Perrone is another player who's spent time away from the club on loan, in his case at Sheffield United last season and was another I wanted to get out of the door permanently. He's joined Watford in a £12.5m deal.

The brother of Jude, Jobe Bellingham joined us back in February but spend the remainder of last season at Birmingham. He's immediately gone back out on loan to Sheffield United, just as Perrone did last season, so I'm hoping he can keep progressing just as Jude has.

Now we move onto those who have joined the club this summer.

Mathys Tel is of course a familiar face after spending last season with us on loan from Bayern, however they only wanted £11m for him after what was a good season for him last time out. Bayern did put a clause in the deal that allows them to buy him back in a few years for £34.5m, therefore I'm hoping his performances are of course good and that we can potentially see off that option when it comes.

Due to the retirement of Messi, we needed another option out wide to add to our ranks and when I noticed that Christian Pulisic was leaving Chelsea on a free, I immediately pounced when I was able to at the end of May to approach him regarding signing him on a Bosman. He spent 8 years in total at Chelsea but never really held down a first team place, making 116 league appearances and scoring 19 goals, the American will hopefully do better for me.

We have added real class to our back line with the signing of Alessandro Bastoni from Inter. He's cost an initial £65m but that will rise to £80m throughout his contract depending on appearances for both us and Italy. He's a Rolls Royce of a CB, so I'm ecstatic to get the deal done. 

Marvin Tiusaba is a young FB signed from Millionarios in Colombia. He's very versatile and can play anywhere in central midfield too, so we'll see how he develops over the course of his contract, plus he's been sent out on loan to Junior back in his homeland to get more consistent game time.

Sabino Landi is the final man to come in so far from Juventus, he's a CM with a lot of potential so again, it'll be interesting to see how he develops. He's more than likely going out on loan this season so we're hoping he can get more games under his belt too.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2026

With pre-season over and the season underway, I'm hoping for a positive start to the new season after a brilliant end to the last one. Firstly, we'll recap the remainder of the transfer activity,. Nobody else left the club on permanent deals, so we'll move straight onto those who have joined the club this month.

Jackson Machuca is a young, Colombian striker who has automatically rejoined Deportes Tolima on loan after we've signed him. He'll more than likely spend a couple of seasons out on loan before we re-asses with him and at just £1.7m, it's a very low risk deal.

The next man in is a youngster who's stolen the real life headlines recently by agreeing a move to Real Madrid aged just 16, however in game that move hasn't happened and now aged 20, he could become a world beater. We've signed him after activating his release clause from Palmeiras of £23.5m and allowed him to stay in Brazil until the end of their campaign, which means he'll be with us in January. With Immobile's contract coming to an end at the end of this season, I think Endrick coming in is a real boost to our side.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens was available at a cut price £6.5m from Dortmund and after failing to really shine in Germany, I've taken a punt on the young English winger. He'll be in and around the first team this season and will get the odd opportunity, it's up to him to take it though. There is potential for him to leave the club on loan in the future though, just to get some regular game time under his belt, something his career has sorely lacked so far.

Diaed Mesino is another young Colombian striker who's joined us, this time from Junior. He's automatically gone out on loan to Queen's Park in the Scottish Premiership, so hopefully he can score a few goals north of the border and show why he's a sought after youngster.

Next in was Muralha, a young Brazilian forward who has plenty of potential. He's another who's gone straight back out on loan, this time to Bristol City in the Championship, so again hopefully he can show why we've signed him and come back next summer with a point to prove.

There are some other players we've signed who won't join the club until later dates, however here they are;

The first is Julio Narciso, a very promising GK from Internazionale. Aged just 17, he's definitely one for the future but could become the best GK in the world with the right guidance. We've parted with £9.5m to sign Julio.

Bruno Silva is a young Uruguayan winger who's been signed from Nacional in the South American country. He's already made 1 first team appearance for Nacional so he's highly thought of there, he'll be joining us next summer.

The rather unfortunately named 'Dick' is a player I'm, and pardon the pun, very excited about. He's been signed from Portuguese side Moreirense and can play in a range of positions towards the top of the pitch. The young Brazilian cost us £14m which could rise to £20.5m depending on appearances/goals etc. so it's quite a big deal for such a young player, however we're confident he can 'grow' (sorry) into an important player for us.

That's all the signings so far, there are a couple more awaiting work permit decisions so I won't comment on those until the deals are done.

The season has begun rather well for us, despite that defeat against Liverpool. We began the campaign at home against Everton, winning 1-0 thanks to a goal by Callum Hudson-Odoi who's continued his good end to last season into this one. We then travelled to to Toulouse in the south of France for the UEFA Super Cup final against Champions League winners PSG and beat them 2-1 in their homeland to lift the club's first ever Super Cup. A Marquinhos OG and Hudson-Odoi goal saw us go 2-0 up and despite a late PSG comeback and Mbappe goal, we held on to lift the trophy, our first of the season. We followed that up with a comfortable win against newly promoted Huddersfield in their first home match of the season, Ciro Immobile scored all 4 as we beat them 4-0. Next was an entertaining 3-3 draw away at Watford, however we were lucky to come away with a point. Bajrami and Holer scored Watford's goals all in the first half and it took another Hudson-Odoi goal, Immobile and Lacroix to rescue the point for us. We responded well back at home though, beating Manchester United 4-2 with goals coming from Bellingham, Hudson-Odoi again, Isak and a late one for Bastoni who got his first for the club, however we unfortunately ended the month with a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, Kim scored an OG while Van Dijk doubled the visitors lead in the 1st half and despite Kim atoning for his blemish in the first half with a 2nd half goal to halve the deficit, we couldn't find another and fell to our first defeat of the new season.

The decent start has however seen us up in 3rd place after 5 matches and I'm happy with the start we've had considering the calibre of opponents so far. Haaland is already clear at the top of the goal scoring charts again so it's going to be difficult for anybody to catch him I think.

Finally, our Champions League League Phase ties have all now been confirmed with some very tasty games to come. We begin against 2 Italian giants, firstly away at Juventus before welcoming Milan, we then travel to Zurich to face the Swiss side. Then comes a replay of last season's Europa League final as we face another away tie against Wolfsburg. We then welcome Dutch side PSV towards the end of November before our final Champions League tie of the year away at Villarreal. The competition resumes in the new year with 2 very winnable home ties against Legia Warsaw and Celtic. It's certainly a tough start, however I do believe we can do well in this year's competition.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2026

After a more than decent start to the season, our Champions League campaign gets underway as well as the defence of our Carabao Cup crown.

The month began wonderfully with a 4-1 win over Bournemouth at St. James' Park. Rosier gave the visitors the lead early on but goals from Pino, Lacroix and an Isak brace gave us a comfortable win. We however lost our first match back in the Champions League away at Juventus 3-2. Zakaria gave Juve the lead early however goals by Isak and Bellingham turned it around for us. Unfortunately though, Bremer and Vlahovic did the same to us and turned it around for Juve. We responded well though with another 4-1 win in the Premier League, this time against Brentford. We conceded early again to an Anthony Martial goal, but recovered thanks to goals this time by Isak, 2 for Pino and a late Immobile settler too. Then came a huge win in the Carabao Cup against Charlton as we thrashed them 7-0. Immobile scored 4 for the 2nd time this season already, Tobido bagged a brace and Isak got one too. We then got our best result of the month with a thrilling 3-2 win over Manchester City. We found ourselves 2-0 up after just 20 minutes thanks to early goals by Immobile and Bellingham before Rodri and Ruben Dias both got one to bring the visitors level, however a late Mathys Tel goal won this vital match for us. The final game of the month was at home for the first time back in the Champions League against Milan. Unfortunately though we could only manage a goalless draw against the Rossonneri. 

The Premier League results mean that we end the month at the summit of the table, however are level on points with Manchester United. 8 games in and Haaland already has 15 league goals this season, I think it'll be difficult for anybody to catch him again this time around. Immobile has started brilliantly though with 7 league goals and 11 in total in just 7 appearances, only 4 of those have been starts.

We're down in 31st place of 36 in the League Phase of the Champions League, so clearly aren't quite as dominant as we were in the same stage of the Europa League last time out. However, with very winnable fixtures upcoming, I'm certainly hoping we can finish in the top 8 and qualify automatically for the knockout stages without having to play in the playoffs.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2026

Firstly, I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas, that being the reason for the lack of updates.

October was a busy, but on the whole successful month. We began with defeat away at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, Gvardiol was sent off after half an hour which enabled Sterling to give the hosts the lead. Kim did get an equaliser for us however Sterling won it with 13 minutes remaining for the home side. We responded well though with a 3-0 win back at home against Leicester, Pulisic, Dest and Isak with our goals there. We also got our first win back in the Champions League next up against Zurich, beating them 3-0 thanks to an Isak hat-rick. Our good form continued with an important 1-0 win over Arsenal, Isak scoring again at the Emirates. Then came what is arguably the biggest game for Newcastle fans, the Wear-Tyne derby against Sunderland in the Carabao Cup 4th round. It was a topsy turvy game with us eventually coming out on top winning 4-3 at the Stadium of Light, but we were given a major scare by our Championship rivals. Hudson-Odoi gave us an early lead but for goals from Clarke and Richards to give the hosts the lead at the break. Pulisic scored a lovely free-kick to bring us level before substitute Bellingham gave us a late lead with just 4 minutes of normal time remaining. Pussetto then equalised in the 92nd minute for Sunderland however that wasn't the end of the drama as Yeremy Pino won it for us in the 96th minute to send us into the quarter finals where we'll face Swansea, the conquerers of Liverpool at Anfield in the 4th round, back at St. James' Park. The final match of the month was a frustrating one at home against Fulham. We led thanks to an Isak penalty until the 90th minute when Leon Bailey restored parity for the visitors.

We remain top of the league after 12 matches and are 2 points clear of 2nd place Liverpool, so still plenty of work to do if we want to retain our position at the top of the table. The win in the Champions League against Zurich did wonders for us in terms of position in the Champions League League Phase, seeing us jump from 31st to 13th on 4 points after 3 matches. We play 2 ties next month against Wolfsburg and PSV so I'm hoping for maximum points against those 2 sides which would hopefully see us into the all important top 8.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2026

As our season continues into November, we are looking to maintain our place at the top of the league as well as picking up more points in the coveted Champions League League Phase too.

And that is what we did, albeit not quite as many points as I'd like in the Champions League considering the level of opponent. We began with a 1-1 draw in Germany against Wolfsburg, Isak gave us the lead just past the hour mark but we conceded another late equaliser, this time in the 89th minute to only take a point back home. We responded well in the league either side of the international break with wins over Southampton and Wolves, beating the former 2-0 with an Isak brace and Immobile scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win in the latter. The Champions League rolled back into town as we welcomed PSV to St. James Park and could only manage another draw, this time 2-2. Isak got both of our goals before 2 former England Under 21 internationals in Ademola Lookman and Noni Madueke got PSV back into the tie and helped them secure a point. Our final match of the month was a trip to the east end of the capital to face West Ham at the London Stadium. We got a 3-1 win there thanks to an Alexander Isak hat-rick. He's in great form currently with 14 goals in his last 9 appearances, as well as 20 goals in 21 appearances all season in all comps.

We are now 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League as we enter the very busy festive month of December. All sides have played 15 matches so to be 5 points clear heading into December is brilliant for us and proof that we can really put forward a credible title charge this season. Unfortunately though we've dropped to 19th in the Champions League League Phase table, leaving us in a precarious position heading into the December fixture against Villarreal which will be another tough tie, especially away from home. If we can beat the Spaniards I'm confident we can qualify automatically, depending on other results of course, as our final League Phase opponents in the new year are Legia Warsaw and Celtic, so I'm expecting a minimum of 6 points from the final 3 matches. What is clear is the step up in standard in the Champions League compared to the Europa League which we dominated in the League Phase last season. Bigger clubs mean better players and better players mean more difficult matches, something we've experienced already against the likes of Juventus and Milan, so we'll need to be at our best to try and win our final 3 matches. We're also playing the Carabao Cup quarter final against Swansea this month and with the calibre of side left in the competition, Chelsea aside, we should be looking to at least reach the final. If we can avoid Chelsea until then, I'm confident we can retain our crown.

Going back to Isak and his great form, he's won the Player of the Month award for November in the Premier League, scoring 5 goals in 3 appearances and reaching an average rating of 8.2, it's a richly deserved award for him.

And I won my first Manager of the Month award too this season with a 100% win rate in the league in November.

[danmcconnell1]

December 2026

With Christmas fast approaching, December is a very busy month with action in 3 different competitions. 

It's been quite an inconsistent month for us, particularly in the league. We began with a goalless draw at home to Aston Villa, then things got better with a 3-1 win away at Tottenham thanks to 2 early Isak goals and a Bellingham sealer. We could only draw in Spain in the Champions League against Villarreal though, Isak scoring again but Zvonarek equalised with 15 minutes left for the hosts. We then followed that with defeat at home against Leeds. Ndidi was sent off in the 3rd minute before Sinisterra scored 2 for the visitors and despite Immobile halving the deficit for us with a quarter of the game to go we fell to defeat at home. We responded well though with a Carabao Cup quarter final thrashing of Swansea City, again at home. Rice opened the scoring while Hudson-Odoi and Immobile both bagged a brace to see us win 5-1 and into the semi finals where we'll face Chelsea in the new year. Back to back home wins followed against Brighton with Isak scoring 2 and a Lewis Dunk OG, then against West Ham with Bellingham getting both that day. We then, somehow, lost at the Etihad 3-2 against Manchester City. Bellingham scored twice again and we were 2-0 up with 20 minutes left, however goals from Foden, Bernardo Silva and a late Haaland winner saw the home side steal the 3 points from us on Boxing Day. Our year ended back at home with a 2-2 draw with Brentford as we had to come from behind twice. Kayky scored within the opening minute before Isak equalised, then Pinnock gave the visitors the lead again before Ndidi equalised before the break. 

We end the month down in 3rd in the Premier League after a string of poor results saw us lose top spot as well as 2nd. We moved up 1 place in the Champions League League Phase into 18th thanks to that draw against Villarreal. We've also been drawn away at Southampton in the FA Cup 3rd round in the new year.

Moving onto transfer dealings done ahead of the winter transfer window, we have some news.

Unfortunately, Dick and Julio Narciso will not be joining the club due to us having already reached the limit of 6 signings from abroad under the age of 21 for this season, so hopefully nobody else will take those lads before the summer and we can try to negotiate new deals for them as they're both players I'd very much like to sign. Both of those deals that were provisionally in place have been cancelled so we have got our money back after it was tied up in those deals before now, so with the upcoming departures that I'll get to below, we may see some incomings this month.

Kim Min-Jae asked to leave the club back in October and we were happy to do a deal for an ageing defender. We managed to get £31m for the South Korean as he joined Dutch giants Ajax.

Academy graduate Elliot Anderson was another who asked to leave the club earlier this season and is another I was happy to let go, despite his pros when it came to European registration rules, it's not fair to keep the player just for that purpose. He was out of contract in the summer, however Greek side Aris agreed to play £18m in this window to secure his services immediately and for a fringe player, I'm very happy with that fee. 

[danmcconnell1]

January 2027

As we enter yet another new year, I'm hoping that our form can improve after an indifferent December.

It's been a brilliant month both in Europe and in the Premier League, however not quite so great in other competitions. We began the new year with a 3-1 win over Leicester in the East Midlands, Gravenberch, Isak and Pino with our goals at the King Power. We then played the Carabao Cup semi final first leg at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea and held them to a 1-1 draw, Lukaku scoring from the spot for the hosts before new signing Endrick scored on his debut to equalise. We then travelled to the south coast to face Southampton in the FA Cup 3rd round and were held to a 2-2 draw this time, forcing a replay which will be played next month. We were 2-0 down thanks to 2 Scott McTominay goals, however Immobile and another for youngster Endrick got us back level. We then played the decisive 2nd leg of the Carabao Cup semi final at home to Chelsea, however we unfortunately lost on penalties after a thrilling 2nd leg that finished 1-1 in normal time then 2-2 after extra time. Pino gave us the lead twice but goals from Kone and Koulibaly equalised twice for Chelsea to send them into the final. We did get immediate revenge over the Blues though with a thumping 4-0 win just 3 days later, again at St. James' Park. Bellingham, Tel, Immobile and Gravenberch all scored to seal the 3 points for us. We then all but secured our place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a record breaking 14-0 win over Legia Warsaw. I was expecting a win against the Polish side, but not by this margin. Hudson-Odoi got things going within a minute, Isak scored a magnificent 7, Pino helped himself to a hat-rick too while Rice, Bastoni and Tel all managed goals to help us not only set a new club record for the biggest ever win but also a Champions League record for the same feat too. It was a fabulous night at St. James' Park and really helped us forget the disappointment of losing the Carabao Cup semi final just 6 days prior. We then travelled to the south coast again, this time to face Brighton. We thrashed them 5-2, with goals coming from Rice, Fabinho, Gravenberch and another 2 for Isak who's, again, having an outstanding season in front of goal. Our penultimate match of the month was the one that ultimately secured our place in the knockout stages of the Champions League, a 3-1 win at home over Scottish side Celtic. Immobile bagged another brace while Bellingham continued his good form in front of goal too. The final match of the month was another high-scoring affair, this time back in the Premier League against Everton on Merseyside. We beat them 5-1 with goals coming from Isak, Tel, Gravenberch and another 2 for Immobile. 

We've managed to muscle our way back into 2nd place in the Premier League ahead of Liverpool and are level on points with leaders Manchester City. The 2 wins against Legia and Celtic this month have secured Champions League knockout football, however we will need to win that for the right to face one of the top 8 automatic last 16 qualifiers. Our FA Cup 3rd round replay is the first match of February at home to Southampton, win that and we'll face Aston Villa at Villa Park.

There was one more outgoing so far this month before deadline day as Dean Henderson joined Vasco da Gama in Brazil. He wasn't getting any game time in Monaco and with us paying a portion of his wages in that loan deal, it made sense to terminate it early and try to sell if we could. He joined the Brazilian side for £9m.

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed a new name within the ranks earlier on in the post as Fabinho scored against Brighton. Due to being out of contract this coming summer, he's joined for a cut-price £11m from Real Madrid to provide cover at RB and CB for us, while becoming a starter in midfield alongside Declan Rice. He's still a big player with bags of experience and I'm really hopeful he can help push us on over the next couple of years or so. Despite his age, he can be a really important player for us I'm sure of it.

There may well be more dealings both in and out of the club on deadline day depending on whether or not we receive offers for players who I deem as available, plus I'd like to sure up the back after the departure of Kim as I primarily see Fabinho as a midfield option.

Finally, I managed my 2nd Manager of the Month award of the season and second in the space of 3 months.

Edited December 29, 2022 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Deadline Day January 2027

We did do more business as predicted on deadline day and here it is.

The first of 2 players to leave on deadline day was Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He'd been a trusty servant since joining from Manchester United shortly after my arrival and was a fine backup to both Trippier and Dest, however when West Ham offered the top end of his value of £23m, it was a difficult one to turn down. He'll be missed around the club however the chance for him to move back to his home city was another reason the deal was an easy one in the end.

The other player to leave, albeit temporarily for now, was Bruno Guimaraes. He's joined PSG in a straightforward loan deal until the end of the season. He's already told me that he'll be considering his options at the end of his contract, so at the moment there's no chance of renewing his deal, therefore after that conversation I made it clear that I'd be looking to sell while we can get still get good money for him. Nobody has come forward in this window, however that's not too surprising given the financial restraints most clubs are under in the winter, so hopefully he'll get some game time in France and put himself into the shop window for a summer move.

The reason I sold Wan-Bissaka was because of this man. Reece James wanted to leave Chelsea and was available for under £50m, which, in my opinion, is a very fair price for a RB in his prime. We've got him for £48m upfront, with the potential for that to rise to £56m. I'm certain he can become a fixture in our side for many years to come and see the signing as somewhat of a coup for us.

Speaking of coups, the next man in is worldwide superstar Neymar. Signed for just £6m from PSG, he's a player I'm very excited to work with. He's 34 these days and absolutely not the player he once was, however he's Brazil's all time top goal scorer and has had a wonderful career to date. I'm certainly hoping he can become a big player for us as we look to push on in both the Premier and Champions League's, the latter being a familiar environment for Neymar.

The final man in is another veteran in Marco Verratti. It's another simple loan deal from Milan with no options to buy as he's already confirmed he'll be retiring at the end of the season. He's arrived as back up to our central areas due to Bruno's departure to PSG, so he'll get some game time as we look to rotate in a busy 2nd half of the season. 

[danmcconnell1]

February 2027

With the January transfer window now closed, we will go all the way until the end of the season as we look to lift more silverware this campaign.

On the whole, it's been a disappointing month. We won the FA Cup 3rd round replay back at St. James' Park against Southampton 5-1 with Gravenberch, Gvardiol, Bellingham and an Endrick brace blowing them away, however, just 3 days later in the 4th round against Aston Villa, we were knocked out 2-1. We did respond well with a 4-0 win over Copenhagen in Denmark thanks to goals by Isak, Immobile and a double for Tel. We then fell to defeat away at Leeds back in the Premier League losing 2-0 at Elland Road. With 1 foot already in the last 16, we welcomed Copenhagen this time and could only manage a 1-1 draw but we did play a few fringe players, Immobile scored our goal. We have also been drawn against Bayern Munich in the round of 16. Then came the best result of the month as we thrashed Tottenham at home 5-2, our goals coming from Bellingham, Neymar's first for the club, Isak and then a late Immobile double blew Spurs away. However we couldn't capitalise on that good result again and lost 4-3 away at Villa Park, this time in the league. Neymar did manage another 2 and Endrick scored off the bench too but it wasn't enough for us. 

We remain in 2nd place in the Premier League with 9 games to go, City play their game in hand next week against Watford so we could find ourselves 3 points behind the league leaders as opposed to level on points if they win that tie.

[danmcconnell1]

March 2027

After a very busy February, it's time to try and sort out our league form ahead of the final push in the Premier League.

And we certainly did that, with aplomb. The month began with a record breaking 10-0 win over Watford at St. James' Park, the biggest ever Premier League win. Bastoni got one, as did Neymar, Isak managed 5 while Fabinho, Gravenberch and Immobile all also got on the score sheet to give us a giant win and send out a message to the rest of the title chasing pack that we aren't going anywhere. We did unfortunately lose in the Champions League Round of 16 1st leg at home to Bayern, we did take a 4th minute lead thanks to Isak however goals from Musiala and Gnabry turned it around for the visitors, meaning we had a very difficult task ahead in Bavaria next week. We did respond well in the league though with a 2-0 win over Bournemouth, Immobile scored both of our goals there, before we lost the 2nd leg away in Germany against Bayern again, this time 1-0, knocking us out of the Champions League. Our final match of the month was away to Fulham and we managed another comfortable win, beating them 3-1 thanks to goals by Pino, Neymar and Isak. 

3 wins from 3 this month mean we are back at the summit of the Premier League, with 6 games to go, 3 points clear of our nearest challengers Liverpool and Manchester City. Isak's brilliant month in front of goal has seen him bridge the goal scoring gap to Haaland, with just 4 goals separating them now in the race for the Golden Boot. 

Finally, for the 3rd time this season, I was named Manager of the Month after 3 wins from 3.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2027

As we approach the business end of the season, we have decisions to make.

The only game played so far with Newcastle this month was at home to Arsenal and we managed a 1-1 draw thanks to Isak giving us the lead but Odegaard equalising for the visitors. Now, the reason I'm only recapping 1 match this month will be revealed shortly...

I had news in my inbox of a managerial casualty at an elite club, something which usually wouldn't interest me, however when I was approached for an interview by this club, it was difficult to turn them down. Now, I hadn't posted this on the thread, however financial support for the project here at Newcastle had been scaled down last summer by the Saudi owners PIF, so over the coming years, finances would not be what they were. I'm sure the club will be self-sustaining and have a very bright future, however I feel as though I've done a more than decent job here in the North East, winning 4 trophies in just over 3 years at the club and turning the playing side into a real force to be reckoned with in England. Due to that, I feel as though I've earned the opportunity to leave on my terms and, despite it perhaps not being the perfect timing, I would love to see this season through with Newcastle and hopefully lift the Premier League, the club that have approached me want me to take charge now, so I don't feel like I can pass up this opportunity, therefore I have now taken the reigns at...

The lure of Manchester City was too much. The opportunity to lead this club going forward is a huge honour and I really feel as though this club can be a dominant force for years to come. 

The wonderful Etihad Stadium is a modern masterpiece in terms of architecture and has been the home of the Citizens since 2003 following the Commonwealth games held in the city back in 2002. It was expanded during the 2010's and there may be scope for further expansion following my arrival.

This is the current City squad and it's littered with quality, as you'd expect. Ederson is still going strong in goal, Laporte and Ruben Dias seem to be the preferred central defensive partnership still, stalwarts Kevin De Bruyne is still at the club too, going strong aged 35. The jewel in the crown is of course though, Erling Haaland. 45 goals in 39 matches this season for the Norwegian, I'm hoping my pressing style will suit him down to the ground and with a very decent budget been afforded to me (over £200m), I'm confident we can find the right players to add to this squad, as well as get rid of some of the deadwood, to make this team sing.

As mentioned before, the timing of my departure from Newcastle may seem odd to some as they're still top with just 5 games to go, however this City side are still only a point behind them, so I feel as though the Premier League title is still well within reach. All I can hope for now is to hit the ground running and knock my former employers off the top spot to vindicate my decision to leave.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2027

So after a seismic change in the Premier League managerial scene with me leaving top of the table Newcastle to join fellow title challengers Manchester City, I had to hit the ground running and put pressure on my former side in the title race.

And that's exactly what we did. A brilliant 4-2 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park, I ground I'd struggled at previously with Newcastle, losing twice there just back in February. Baku scored the first goal of my tenure with City after 8 minutes and despite an Ollie Watkins equaliser, Haaland then took centre stage to score a sparkling hat-rick to give us the 3 points to take back up the M6 to Manchester.

We sit in 3rd still, however both ourselves and Liverpool both have a game in hand over Newcastle now after they could only manage a goalless draw against Manchester United last weekend when we didn't play. We have a great opportunity to now prove why I made the move by winning the league, we just need to do our job and hope that Liverpool slip up, or we score more and more goals while keeping clean sheets, something we didn't manage at Villa Park, as the gap in goal difference is only 3 in Liverpool's favour.

[danmcconnell1]

Update

Just 3 games into my tenure at City, my former club Newcastle appointed the former Spain head coach Imanol Alguacil as their new manager, leaving the Spain post available. As part of the interviewing process with City, I promised that I wouldn't apply for any other club jobs in the near future, however said nothing about international opportunities alongside my work at City, so applied for La Roja's position.

After applying to be the new head coach of Spain, I was offered the job and got preparing for Nations League matches in the coming summer and beyond.

Getting a top international job as well as elite club job is brilliant for me, not only financially, Spain are paying me £100k per week and City £110k per week, but in terms of standing within the game. We have a wonderful opportunity with both City and Spain now to become dominant forces both domestically, in Europe and around the World. I'll of course be dividing my time between the 2 jobs and hope to be able to bring success to both too.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2027

The final month of the season was again upon us and I was under pressure to deliver a league title after leaving the now favourites to win it Newcastle United.

Unfortunately though, we couldn't manage to lift the Premier League, despite remaining unbeaten for the remainder of the season. We began May with a brilliant 4-0 win at home against Leicester with Palmer scoring and Haaland scoring his 2nd hat-rick in as many matches for me. After this game, Haaland picked up an injury that would keep him out of our remaining 3 matches, a huge blow for our title hopes. The next 2 matches are what ultimately cost us though, a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal, Palmer gave us the lead after 73 minutes but former City man Gabriel Jesus equalised just 6 minutes later to really dent our chances. This meant we needed to go West Ham and win, however we couldn't manage it and could only muster a goalless draw. We were missing Haaland's goals in these 2 matches desperately. We went into the final match of the season needing a 9 goal swing in goal difference and for Newcastle to lose against Liverpool, the latter being far more likely than the former. We did our job with a 3-1 final day win at home over Chelsea, however Newcastle beat Liverpool 3-2 to lift the Premier League title for the first time.

Obviously, it's a very bittersweet moment for me. I'm delighted my hard work came to fruition at Newcastle and I'm also delighted for their fans. They've suffered for many years under shoddy ownership so to see them win the league title is wonderful. I am slightly disappointed I wasn't the one who guided them to this success, however I absolutely do not regret the decision to leave as I feel there is a much better overall structure to the club here at Manchester City and with superstars in their side, albeit some of them ageing, there's the recipe for success here no doubt. There are some players who will be leaving the club for definite this summer and some others I'd like to see the back of here, and of course some I'd very much like to bring in, so it will be a busy summer here in Manchester, not to mention my international commitments with the Spanish national side too, so there's plenty to get my teeth into to avoid dwelling on this disappointment for too long. The club did win the Community Shield this season so it's not a completely trophy-less season, however our eyes will be on much bigger prizes next season and hopefully, with the right recruitment, retention and sales, we can be a force to be reckoned with both domestically and in Europe next season.

[danmcconnell1]

Nations League Update

My first match in charge of Spain will be against France in the Nations League semi final, with the other semi seeing Italy face Belgium.

Unfortunately though, France tore us apart with goals from Tchouameni, Mbappe and Gouiri beating us 3-0 at the Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, which sees us having to play in the 3rd place play off against Belgium 4 days later. We did manage to finish 3rd in this edition of the Nations League though, thanks to 2 goals from Dani Olmo to beat Belgium 2-0 in Florence, with Lukaku missing a penalty late on for the Red Devils.

Not the ideal start to my tenure of La Roja, however there are far bigger tournaments that I'm interested in with the Euros coming this time next year in our home nation. Spain won the last European Championships back in 2024 in Germany so will be defending champions in their own nation, which will make for an exciting summer next time around and with no need for qualification, we will be playing a number of friendlies throughout the next year to ensure we're ready for the tournament on home soil.

Edited December 30, 2022 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-Season Update

It's been a busy summer with plenty of incomings and outgoings both behind the scenes and on the pitch too, we'll summarise the biggest deals done below, starting with those who've left the club.

The first player to leave was Xaver Schlager, who joined PSG for a whopping £48m. I obviously can't judge Xaver too harshly or well due to the short amount of time I had to work with him, however he did okay for me in the final few matches of last season. However, PSG came in with a big offer for the 29 year old central midfielder and I felt we could certainly put that kind of money to better use going forward so he left us in July.

The next player out was another central midfielder in Mikel Merino who's joined Leicester in a £40m deal. Again, I feel that kind of money for an ageing central midfielder was good business and I was happy to seal the deal with the East Midlands club.

Another central midfielder to leave the club was Kalvin Phillips. He's another on the wrong side of 30 who unfortunately wasn't getting any better like other players I've worked with over the age of 30. He was injured when I arrived and was limited to one substitute appearance under me at the back end of last season, he's another I feel that we can do better whilst also getting a decent fee. He's joined European Champions Real Madrid for £33m.

Robert Renan left to join Palmeiras in his homeland of Brazil. He's a player signed last summer and was limited to just 15 league appearances last time out. He was never going to become a first choice CB so again, despite the fee not being as high as I would like at just £6m, I feel we can do better.

Now we move onto those who have joined us this summer.

The first player to join us is an old favourite of mine, Ciro Immobile. I've talked above about players getting better or worse with age, he's absolutely the former. His record for me at Newcastle was brilliant, scoring in 68 goals in 84 appearances across 2 seasons in all competitions on Tyneside, which for a now 37 year old is Ballon D'or winning territory. 36 league goals in 2 seasons is pretty impressive for a 2nd choice striker too, so bringing him in as backup to the enigmatic Erling Haaland is going to be huge for us. His finishing ability has never diminished and I'm really hoping he can be a regular scorer off the bench for us this season just as he was for me at Newcastle. He's joined for £15m.

The 2nd player in this summer is a name some of you may recognise from a failed attempt to bring him in at Newcastle. Julio Narciso joins for £6.75m from Inter after the deal fell through for him to join me in the north east last season. He's a very exciting young goalkeeper who's immediately been sent out on loan to Oxford to gain first team experience.

Next in is a man City know well already, Romeo Lavia. He's a player City sold in the summer of 2022 to Southampton, but put a clause in that deal to resign him in the future for £40m if City wanted him back. Now, with the ageing but useful talent that's left us this summer in central midfield, replacing them is a priority, so to bring in a talented and still young player for below their true value made sense. Another bonus with this deal is that City also negotiated a 20% sell on clause, meaning although the overall deal was worth £40m, £8m of that fee comes back to us, meaning we've actually only paid £32m for Romeo, so it's absolutely a win win for us. There's much more than just financials as to why this deal makes sense though, Romeo's a talented player who can learn from our elite midfielders like Rodri and De Bruyne and hopefully go onto become a regular in our midfield in the years to come.

Next in is a compatriot of Haaland, Andreas Schjelderup, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £55m, which could rise to £67m. He's a LW who loves to cut inside on his right foot and either deliver balls into the box or go for goal himself. He had a mediocre record in Germany, scoring 16 league goals in 4 seasons at the club, so I'm hoping that playing in a better team will enable Andreas to score more goals and hopefully assist plenty too for his fellow Norwegian Haaland.

Our penultimate signing so far this summer is another player City are familiar with in Gavin Bazunu. He's joined for £15m, which could rise to £16m from Southampton. Again, there was a buy back clause in this deal from when City sold Gavin to the Saints back in 2022 of the same fee as Lavia, £40m, however we agreed Gavin isn't worth that and managed to negotiate a deal much more reflective of his value. Another bonus for us though is that £3m of this fee comes back to us again as we had another 20% sell on clause from when Gavin was sold, meaning the deal's actually only worth £12m, potentially £13m. He'll also provide backup to Ederson as well as being a homegrown player for the Champions League, another win win for us.

The final man in so far is Dele Alli. Once touted as a superstar, Dele Alli's career has been on a nosedive pretty much since the 2018 World Cup. He was great at that tournament for England, scoring in a quarter final against Sweden and seemingly having the world at his feet, however injuries and general poor form, as well as poor decision making in the past, has seen Alli's career pass him by somewhat. He actually had a pretty decent season in Turkey with Besiktas back in 22/23, scoring 14 goals in 34 appearances from midfield, however his Everton career never took off as he was released this summer by the Toffees having made just 67 league appearances over 5 years and scoring just 2 league goals. That record is of course, poor, however he could be a nice backup option for us should we need someone to fill in for us in forward positions should he be required. He's signed a 1 year deal on just £16k per week which I think is very fair meaning it's a low risk deal. If he can play well and potentially score a few goals for us, there's no reason why that deal can't be extended beyond this season.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2027

The new season is upon us and we have a lot to do to wrestle back the league title from my former employers Newcastle. We also have European aspirations this time around and want to win a domestic cup too, if not one then both.

Our season got underway with an away win at Tottenham. We found ourselves 3-0 up after just 10 minutes of the first whistle, Rodri, Foden and Immobile scoring a debut goal after Erling Haaland picked up an injury 3 days before the new season began. Kane and Osimhen scored consolation goals for Spurs which made for a nervy finish but we held on to win on the opening day. We then followed that up with a 4-2 win in our first home match against Everton, Alvarez, De Bruyne, Silva and Dias scored our goals to give us 2 wins from 2 at the beginning of the new season. We welcomed Leeds next and could only manage a 1-1 draw, Immobile scoring his 2nd goal in as many matches for us. We then lost away at West Ham 3-2 to suffer defeat for the first time this season. Immobile and Foden got our goal but a late Mbuemo penalty and then Hjolund winner in stoppage time won it for the hosts. We responded well though with another win back at home against Fulham, beating them 3-0 with a brace for Immobile and Romeo Lavia scored his first goal for the club in his 2nd spell here.

We have begun the season in decent form with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat giving us 10 points and sees us sit in 3rd after the opening 5 matches. 37 year old Ciro Immobile is the top scorer in the league already with 5 but Haaland should be fit after the upcoming international break, so Immobile's numbers may slow as Haaland is the first choice striker, however it has been a great start for him. Silva's been playing very well too, registering an average rating of 7.66 so far.

We now move onto the remainder of this summer transfer window's business, starting with outgoings.

Trincao asked to leave the club following the arrival of Schjelderup and I was happy to let him leave. We wanted more money for him, however nobody would offer more than the £45m we got from Moncao for him. The former Sporting and Barcelona man moves to France after barely playing during my tenure at the Etihad.

We now move onto those joining the club.

Alessio Tomasoni is a young full back who can play either side of the defence. Signed for £31.5m which could rise to £40.5 from Roma, he's been sent back to the Italian side for first team experience this season after breaking through last time out. He's a very exciting defender and I'm hoping he could become a mainstay in our side for many years to come if he continues on the same path he's been on for the past 12 months or so. 

James Ward-Prowse is a signing I'm really happy with. He's spent his whole career at Southampton and served them with distinction over the years, and despite him now being 32 and lambasting over the hill midfielders earlier in the thread, I feel Ward-Prowse offers far more than the 3 we let go earlier in the summer. His set piece delivery is arguably the best in the league so he'll always be a threat from corners and free kicks and with that threat I'm hoping his delivery will be able to provide plenty of chances for Haaland.

The final man in was Moises Caicedo after we activated his relegation release clause from Brighton of £49m. He's still only 25 but already has 70 caps for Ecuador, Caiceco is another signing I'm really happy with. With De Bruyne reaching the twilight of his career, we'll more than likely be looking for a superstar next summer to replace him, however before then, Caicedo can provide brilliant backup and potentially even get into the first team regularly depending on the performances of Rodri.

Speaking of Rodri, he scored the goal of the month, which incidentally was also our first of the new season. I'd be surprised if it isn't our goal of the season as his 35 yard strike flew past Kobel in the Spurs goal just 6 minutes into the new season.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2027

After a decent start to the season, the Champions League rolls back into town this month as well as the resumption of the Premier League following the international break. The Carabao Cup also starts as we welcome Exeter City of League 2.

It's been a very high scoring September with us managing 34 goals in 6 matches played, with one of those 6 matches being a game in which we didn't score at all. We began with a 7-1 demolition of Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Both Ward-Prowse and Alvarez both scored 2 while Haaland returned with aplomb scoring a hat-rick to cement his place back in the side following his injury. We then welcomed the Champions League back to the Etihad as PSV came to town. We beat them 4-0 thanks to goals by Bernardo Silva, a first for the club for Andreas Schjelderup and Haaland bagging another 2 to make it 5 in 2 matches. Then came a rollercoaster of a Manchester derby against United, again at the Etihad. We beat them 7-4 in the end with Haaland scoring 4 this time and Foden managing a hat-rick too. Rashford also bagged a treble while Fernandes got the other for United in a pulsating match at Eastlands as we hold the bragging rights once more. Then came the most eye-catching result of the month, we beat lowly Exeter City 13-0 at the Etihad again, meaning we'd scored 24 goals at home in the space of a week. Haaland got another 6, Foden another hat-rick, Sehjelderup bagged a brace while the old timers De Bruyne and Immobile both scored too. It was a record breaking win for City as well, earning this side the accolade of Manchester City's biggest ever win, eclipsing the 12-0 win over Liverpool back in the 1800's. We then returned to league action with a trip to the King Power to face Leicester. We were 3-1 up at half time thanks to goals by Haaland and a double for Foden, however Schjelderup was sent off 5 minutes into the 2nd half and we conceded 2 after that as Leicester fought back for a point. The month ended with a trip to the city of love, Paris to face PSG in what would be a real test of our European credentials this season. Unfortunately though, it was one we couldn't pass. Tiago Tomas scored 2 for PSG as they swept us aside to win 2-0.

We find ourselves top of the Premier League despite those dropped points against Leicester after 8 matches, however the surprise package of the season so far, West Ham United, could leapfrog us with a win in their next match as they have a game in hand. Our Champions League campaign has been inconsistent so far in the 2 matches we've played, a great win over PSV was overshadowed by a poor performance against PSG, so we sit down in 18th place of the League Phase currently. Finally, we've been drawn against Fulham in the 4th round of the Carabao Cup after the annihilation of Exeter in round 3.

Haaland win's the Premier League Player of the Month, scoring 8 goals in 3 matches following his return from injury.

And finally, I won the Manager of the Month award.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2027

After a record breaking month last time out, I wasn't quite expecting to better it, however I would like to keep winning as many matches as possible.

And we did that, domestically at least. We began with a 1-0 win over Chelsea at the Etihad. Julian Alvarez scored the only goal and despite Ridle Baku getting sent off, we managed to hold on for the win over the Blues. We then followed that up with back to back wins in the league after beating Sheffield United away at Brammall Lane. Haaland managed a hat-rick while Grealish also scored his 1st goal of the new season. Haaland's hat-rick ensured his name would forever be synonymous with City fans as he broke Sergio Aguero's record of 184 Premier League goals, Haaland now sitting on 187 after a glorious hat-rick. Our good domestic form wasn't evident as we travelled to Milan to face Inter at the San Siro. We were well and truly taught a lesson by the Italians as they battered us 4-0. We did respond well a few days later back at the Etihad though, beating Aston Villa 3-1. Silva, Foden and Immobile got our goals as we continued our decent league form. There was disappointment following this match though as Haaland picked up a knock just 10 minutes in that would keep him out for potentially a month, so Immobile scoring was good news for us as he deputises. We then welcomed Fulham for the 2nd time this season to the Etihad, this time in the Carabao Cup. We beat them 2-1 after falling behind to a Jesse Lingard screamer in the 14th minute but fortunately for us, Ward-Prowse endeared himself to the City fans further with a trademark free-kick to equalise before Immobile scored a late penalty to seal our progression to the quarter finals where we'll face Wolves in December. The final match of the month was away in the capital at Brentford and we beat them 3-1 to ensure a perfect month in the Premier League. Foden got things going for us and Immobile bagged a brace to show why he's the number 2 striker behind Haaland.

With our Premier League form being very good at the moment, it's seen us extend our lead at the top to 5 points, however West Ham are playing well and should they win their game in hand, the gap will be bridged to just 2 points. Our Champions League form is concerning though. We got off to a great start against PSV however defeats at PSG and Inter, the latter being a heavy one, have seen us drop to 22nd in the table. We really need to win some matches in Europe to ensure qualification beyond the League Phase. As mentioned previously, we'll face Wolves in the Carabao Cup quarter final 10 days before Christmas.

I also won my 2nd Manager of the Month award of the season and 2nd in a row.

Midway through the month, Erling Haaland was named the World Golden Ball winner, I'm unsure as to what this award actually is though as the Ballon D'or is usually given out at the end of the year. Perhaps it's FIFA's equivalent, the FIFA Best award? Either way, it's a prestigious accolade for Haaland.

Sticking with Haaland, and as mentioned previously, he's now become Manchester City's all time leading Premier League goal scorer, eclipsing Aguero's record of 184 league goals. Haaland's done it in far less time too. Aguero needed 275 league appearances to finish his City career with 184 goals, Haaland has done it in 186, meaning his goal tally is higher than his league appearances so far for City.

In total for Manchester City, Haaland has 286 appearances and has scored 261 goals, with this current season being just his 6th in England to date, he's a monster in front of goal and still aged just 26, could go onto break all sorts of records.

Edited January 4, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

November 2027

We begin this month with the friendlies we've played with Spain ahead of the upcoming European Championship on home soil.

We've played 3 friendlies, 2 in October and 1 this month. We beat Tunisia in our first match 3-2 with goals from captain Oyazarbal, an OG by Talbi and a late settler by Hugo Duro. We drew our next friendly against New Zealand 2-2 with both of our goals being scored by striker Hugo Duro. Our final friendly of the year was against Montenegro at the Nuevo Mestalla and we beat them 4-2, Duro bagging a hat-rick and Dani Olmo scoring the other. It's difficult to gauge exactly how good we are as these matches aren't competitive matches, so we'll only get a proper look at this side when the Euros come about next summer.

Moving onto our exploits with Manchester City, we go into November in good form.

We began the month brilliantly with a much needed win in the Champions League against Borussia Monchengladbach at the Etihad. We beat them 3-0 with 2 goals from Schjelderup and a late sealer by Alvarez. We then welcomed my former Newcastle side to the Etihad in the first meeting between the sides since I left the Tyneside club for Manchester. We were outclassed by the Magpies, losing 3-1 as 3 of my signings for Newcastle, Rice, Endrick and Machuca all scored, Grealish scoring a late consolation for us. We did recover quickly though, beating bottom club Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor, Haaland scoring both of our goals. We then won again in the Champions League, beating Roma at the Etihad. De Bruyne and Alvarez both got on the score sheet while Haaland helped himself to another hat-rick. We then travelled to Molineux for our penultimate match of the month to face 2nd place Wolves who're having a great season so far. So much so they beat us 3-2, Haaland managed another double for us but 2 for Neto and Nunes scoring the other was enough for the home side to take the 3 points. Our final match of the month was at home against Liverpool and the game held even greater importance as we needed to respond with a win, and that's exactly what we did, Foden scoring in the 1st half and Haaland sealing the points in the 2nd.

Despite 2 defeats in the league this month, we still sit 4 points clear of our closest rivals in the Premier League Wolves, although they do have a game in hand which if they win will see them bridge the gap to just 1. The Champions League League Phase is looking much healthier for us too as we now find ourselves up in 12th place after 2 wins in Europe this month. 

Finally, Erling Haaland was named the Goal50 award winner, while we had 6 players in total in the top 50 best players in the world. Rodri finished 9th, De Bruyne 16th, Foden 20th, Laporte 34th and finally Bernardo Silva in 40th place.

[danmcconnell1]

December 2027

As another year comes towards an end, we need to try and maintain better league form as well as try to progress in the Carabao Cup, plus keeping up our good form in the Champions League.

And we did do well, on the whole this month, especially in the league. We began with our first league meeting against Watford of the month at Vicarage Road, beating them comfortably 3-0 thanks to goals from Ward-Prowse and Haaland with a double. We followed that up with our final Champions League match of the calendar year by beating Porto 3-0 at the Etihad, Caicedo scored his first goal for the club while again, Haaland managed another 2. Another win came just 3 days later again at home, this time over Arsenal. We beat them 2-1 thanks to another by Ward-Prowse and Schjelderup also bagging for us. Our next match was in the Carabao Cup quarter final to Wolves at the Etihad. Unfortunately we were poor in this match and lost it 2-0, meaning we'd lost twice to Wolves in the space of 3 weeks, they could be a real threat to us this season. We responded well however with a 4-1 win down on the south coast against Southampton, Haaland with a hat-rick and Bernardo Silva scoring the other. Another big win came in our second meeting of the month with Watford, this time at home in our final match before Christmas as we thrashed them 6-1. De Bruyne scored 2 while Silva got another, Foden also got on the score sheet while Haaland and Immobile also added to our riches in front of goal. We ended the month with 2 draws, the first on Boxing Day against Leicester, that match finishing 2-2 thanks to goals from Palmer and Caicedo for us, before the Manchester derby at Old Trafford in our final match of 2027 which finished goalless.

This month's results have seen us maintain our place at the top of the Premier League and extend our lead too to 8 points, however the chasing pack of 4 teams, Newcastle, Arsenal, Wolves and Liverpool are all on 41 points meaning it's a very tight race for the Champions League. The win in the Champions League against Porto has seen us move up into the top 8 of the League Phase too, so it's been a good month in Europe for us. 

Erling Haaland has won the Ballon D'or. He's had an outstanding year, scoring 52 goals in 31 appearances in all competitions with an average rating of 8.25 for the calendar year.

Also, Kevin De Bruyne won the best Belgian abroad award, in what has turned out will be his final season at the club. He will be retiring this summer and despite us having an option in his contract to extend his contract by a year, we will honour his decision to retire at the end of this season.

Finally, we have made some signings prior to the January window opening which have now become official, as well as one player leaving the club.

The first player to leave this month was Nathan Ake. He asked to leave the club earlier in December after feeling like he's achieved all he can and we decided to let an ageing player leave. Arsenal offered us £21m for him and we accepted that fair bid.

The first player who joined us this month was Adrijan Rihtar who's joined from RB Salzburg. He's a young midfielder who's got plenty of potential, we'll more than likely look for a loan move for him to see if we can get him some first team football which his career has sorely lacked in Austria so far.

Kamil Horoszkiewicz is a young CB who's joined on a free from Norweigian side Valerenga and is a very exciting young talent. We arguably have Norway's best talent at the club now with Haaland, Schjelderup and Kamil at the club, we're hoping he can progress into a top defender for us however for now he's going to be sent out on loan.

Mauricio Gutierrez has joined us from Chilean side Colo Colo for just £3.9m and, as you can see from his value now which has skyrocketed to a max of £28m. With our defence ageing it's important to get new young talent into the club to replace them if/when they leave the club in the future.

Isaac Calvo is the next player in from Chivas in Mexico. Still just 18, we've signed Calvo for £8m and immediately sent him back to Mexico on loan to keep getting some first team football. 

The final man in is Ben McNamee from Reading, he's a very exciting young talent who's value has also skyrocketed to almost £70m immediately after joining and has been sent back to Reading on loan for the remainder of the season. He's a young winger and will hopefully be able to become a top player for us over the coming years.

Finally, we end the year on a bad note with Andreas Schjelderup suffering a broken leg in the 6-1 win over Watford, keeping him out for the remainder of the season. We will look to replace Schjelderup as it's unlikely he'll play again this season, so we can unregister him from the 1st team squad for the Premier League and Champions League while looking to bring in a like for like replacement for the rest of the campaign and potentially beyond. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[DavidBeckham]

Calvo looks like he can develop into an incredible inverted winger!

[danmcconnell1]

19 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Calvo looks like he can develop into an incredible inverted winger!

Yeah really happy with the signing, has all the attributes a good wide man needs already so hoping he can progress, come back and get some game time with us.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2028

With another new year upon us, we go into 2028 in good form domestically while we look to secure a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Our FA Cup adventure gets underway this month too.

On the whole, another good month for us. We began the New Year with the visit of Sheffield United to the Etihad, beating them 4-1 thanks to goals by Sutalo, Silva and a Haaland brace. A week later we were at home again, this time in the FA Cup as we welcomed Middlesbrough for our 3rd round tie. We dispatched of them comfortably too, winning 4-0 thanks to goals from Dele Alli, Son, Alvarez and Foden. We then travelled to the Bridge 8 days later to face a Chelsea side who're struggling in this season's Premier League, however we could only manage a 1-1 draw against them. Haaland gave us the lead but a Mason Mount free kick levelled things up before the break. We then thrashed RB Salzburg in the Champions League 5-0 in Austria. They're now managed by former City boss Vincent Kompany, so he will have been disappointed with this result. Haaland scored ah hat-rick on his return to his former club while Laporte and Palmer both got on the score sheet too. We followed up that impressive win in the Champions League with another comfortable win, this time against Southampton back at the Etihad. Silva, Haaland and Sutalo all scoring for us. We had confirmed qualification of some kind with the win over Salzburg, however needed to beat Celtic to confirm a place in the top 8 of the Champions League. Unfortunately though, the Scottish champions were in no mood to roll over and actually beat us 2-1, Silva scored for us either side of a Mouctar Diakhaby (a CB by trade) brace. We did however, end the month very strongly with a huge 6-1 win over Tottenham again back at the Etihad. Haaland got things going for us before Cole Palmer really put on a show in the 2nd half, scoring 4 goals in the space of 15 minutes to really put the game beyond Spurs. Silva scored another late goal to add to his tally too.

We ended January still at the top of the Premier League, now 6 points clear of closest challengers Liverpool in 2nd. We ended the League Phase of the Champions League down in 12th, just 1 points outside the top 8 which was disappointing and means we have to play an extra knockout tie too. We'll face Real Betis in that tie in February. We've also been drawn against Crewe Alexandra in the 4th round of the FA Cup at Gresty Road.

Erling Haaland has been named the Premier League Player of the Month too, scoring 5 league goals in 4 matches with an average rating of 8.05.

There was more business done this month too, we'll begin with the outgoings.

There were no more permanent deals done, yet at least, however the first of two loan deals for first team players was for Marcel Lotka to join Juventus until the end of the season. There is an option for Juve to buy in the summer for what would eventually become £8.5m, so we'll see what happens when the summer comes around.

The other big loan deal was for Romeo Lavia to join Celtic until the end of the season too. This is a straight loan deal, no options to buy in the summer or anything like that as I see Lavia as a player who can improve us in the long term. He came to me asking for more first team football as most of his appearances so far have been off the bench so we sorted a loan deal out for him. 

As for incomings, this is the only other signing we made.

Son Heung-Min was the final player to be signed this year. His £6.5m fee which could rise to £7.5m is far below his value as you can see and despite now being 35 is a great short term replacement for the injured Andreas Schjelderup. He started well for us, scoring on his debut in the FA Cup against Middlesbrough and registered 2 assists in his 6 appearances until the final match of the month against his former club where he picked up a bad achilles injury which will keep him out until minimum. It's disappointing as of course, he's been brought in to replace another injured player, however I'm hoping this injury doesn't effect him too much as with his age, this could become a real problem for him longer term in what career he has left.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2028

With the disappointment of finishing outside of the top 8 in the League Phase of the Champions League, it means we have extra games to play this month, however we'll relish the opportunity as well as try to continue our good domestic form.

February was an up and down month for us. We began with a comfortable win in the FA Cup 4th round over Crewe, winning 3-1 at Gresty Road thanks to goals by Alvarez, Palmer and Immobile which set up a 5th round tie at home to Sunderland later in the month. We then travelled to the Emirates where we have a pretty dismal record over the past 2 seasons and that continued with a defeat against the Gunners by a goal to nil. Our defeat was compounded by another injury to star man Haaland who'll be out for up to a month again. We then travelled to Seville to face Real Betis in the Champions League Knock Out Play Off 1st leg and we lost there as well by 2 goals to 1, Cole Palmer scoring what turned out to be a very important goal for us. We then travelled to Merseyside to face Everton but could only muster a draw against the Toffees, Immobile scoring early for us but Mitrovic equalised with 20 minutes to go to earn a point for the hosts. Things got better then on for us this month though with a vital 2-0 win over Real Betis in the return leg, Ciro Immobile proving his worth yet again with 2 late goals in the final 15 minutes to send us through to the Round of 16. We then welcomed Sunderland in the 5th round of the FA Cup where we scored a barrage of goals. The match finished 6-2 against the Championship side with our goals coming from Laporte, Silva, Alvarez, Lewis and another double for now 38 year old Immobile. The month ended with the Champions League Round of 16 1st leg against Villarreal. We were brilliant as we thrashed the Yellow Submarine 7-3 in a 10 goal thriller at the Etihad with Immobile helping himself to a hat-rick while De Bruyne scored from the spot, Palmer got another and Bernardo Silva then Foden both added to their tallies for the campaign.

The Premier League table is still looking okay for us, despite a poor month for us in the league, picking up just 1 point from the 6 available. We need to get back to winning ways and quickly as the gap at the top is now just 2 points, however we do have a game in hand over our nearest challengers who are now Arsenal. Haaland still tops the goal scoring charts easily with 10 more than anybody else. We have been drawn away at Everton for the FA Cup quarter final too which will be a tough match considering they held us to a draw this month too. 

I've decided to highlight the form of Ciro Immobile after Haaland picked up his injury. He's been brilliant for us all season, stepping up as Haaland's had a difficult campaign up to now with his fitness, so having a capable backup has been a blessing for us. Haaland was injured against Arsenal back on the 12/2, so Ciro came on in that game and did okay considering nobody really played well that day, however since then he's been brilliant (besides the first leg against Real Betis of course, nobody played well in that game either). From the Everton match onwards, which incidentally was the eve of his 38th birthday, Ciro has scored 8 goals in 4 matches, including a hat-rick in the Champions League against Villarreal. I'm sure some eyebrows will have been raised when I decided to bring in Immobile considering the striking talent that is already available to City and who would be open to joining the club from elsewhere too, however I knew that Ciro is a capable striker, regardless of his age and will always score goals no matter how much game time he gets. As you can see at the bottom of the screenshot, he's not had heaps of game time this year with 30 appearances in total, almost half of those have been off the bench, however he's already hit the 20 goal mark and is 100% from the penalty spot. With an average rating of 7.09 it's not stratospheric, however Ciro is doing exactly what I bought him in to do, be reliable when called upon. He's made 114 appearances for me for both Newcastle and Manchester City in 2 and a half years and has scored a mightily impressive 88 goals in that time, he's well and truly one of my best signings not only of this career but potentially in my FM career as a whole. I love the man!

[danmcconnell1]

March 2028

With the business end of the season fast approaching, we find ourselves still fighting for 3 trophies in March.

The first of which is the Premier League and our form has again been patchy this month. We began with a home win over Wolves, the first against them this season after they beat us on their patch and in the Carabao Cup back in December. Goals by Cole Palmer and Phil Foden gave us the 3 points that day. We followed that up with defeat in the Round of 16 2nd leg in the Champions League away at Villarreal, however did still progress after winning the tie overall 8-5 on aggregate, Erling Haaland scoring our only goal in Spain after making his return to the first team following his injury off the bench. We've been drawn against Inter in the quarter finals, the first leg being at the San Siro where we were thrashed 4-0 by Inter back in the League Phase, so we'll certainly need to improve when we go to Milan next month. We then travelled to my former club for the first time since leaving St. James' Park almost a year ago and suffered our 2nd defeat against them of the league season. The Magpies beat us 2-1 with Haaland scoring again for us. We responded in the best way possible 4 days later though as we thrashed bottom of the league Burnley by 7 goals to nil at the Etihad, Phil Foden scored an outstanding hat-rick as well as getting 2 assists, Palmer scored a brace too while Haaland continued his goal scoring return from injury while Immobile bagged another off the bench. The domestic month ended with an FA Cup quarter final away to Everton which we just about won 3-2. Mitrovic gave the hosts the lead twice before 2 Erling Haaland equalisers, fortunately for us Immobile scored off the bench late on again for us to send us into the semi finals at Wembley where we'll face Arsenal next month.

Our position remains healthy at the top of the Premier League table as we have managed to stay 5 points clear of closest challengers Arsenal while the race for the top 4 is gathering momentum with anybody from Chelsea upwards still in with a realistic chance of reaching next season's Champions League. Haaland remains the top scorer after moving onto 29 league goals for the season now, he's also the highest average rated player this season with a rating of 8.04, Foden averages 7.55 while Palmer completes the City trio for that accolade on 7.34. Haaland also has the most MOTM awards this season with 6 to his name.

Despite Kevin De Bruyne appearing in 25 league matches this season which has exercised a 1 year contract extension, he has confirmed he will be hanging up his boots at the end of this campaign following the upcoming European Championships. He was signed from Wolfsburg back in 2015 for £54m and has been an outstanding player for City in his 13 seasons at the club, if he appears in all 7 of our final league matches he'll have made 401 league appearances for the club, I have no doubt he'd love to score 3 more goals to reach a century of Premier League goals for the club too. An outstanding servant to the club, De Bruyne will be remembered for many years to come.

Phil Foden has also been named Player of the Month in the Premier League after a brilliant series of performances, culminating in that dominant display against Burnley in which he scored a fabulous hat-rick and bagged 2 assists too, ending the month with 4 goals and 2 assists with an average rating of 8.2.

The end of the month coincided with the first international break of the calendar year.

Unfortunately for my Spain side it was a very poor one. We lost 3-0 at the Bernabeu against Holland with Van Duiven who's recently made a big money move to Liverpool opening the scoring, my former player Ryan Gravenberch doubling the visitors lead before the break, then Jurgen Ekkelenkamp completing the rout late on. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, we travelled to Dublin for the 2nd friendly of the window only to be outplayed by the Irish and we were lucky to only lose 3-2, they should have had a lot more. Troy Parrott scored 2 in the opening 9 minutes while youngster O'Neill got another in the 2nd half, a Gomez penalty and Ferran Torres goal late on weren't enough to see us rescue a draw. 

These are concerning results ahead of a home European Championships, I'm really hoping that when competitive football gets back underway for this Spain squad they can respond with much better performances this summer.

 

[danmcconnell1]

April 2028

The penultimate month of the season is here and we have plenty left to play for, but it is very busy.

We began with a comfortable 3-1 win over Leeds at Elland Road, Haaland, Silva and Laporte scored our goals. We then managed a 1-1 draw with Inter in the 1st leg of the Champions League quarter final at San Siro, Haaland scoring our goal again. We then lost a big match in terms of the title race against Liverpool at Anfield in what was a disappointing defeat as we fell 3-2, Haaland and Immobile scoring our goals. We responded brilliantly with a 4-0 win over Inter in the 2nd leg though, getting revenge for the League Phase defeat thanks to goals by Foden, Silva, Ward-Prowse and youngster Ndala scoring his first goal for the club. We then beat who would turn our to be our Champions League semi finalists Arsenal, this time in the FA Cup semi final at Wembley, winning 3-2 in a brilliant game. Haaland with a brace then Silva scored the winner for us. We then sealed a big win against Brentford back at the Etihad beating them 5-3 thanks to goals by Palmer and both Silva and Haaland keeping up their good goal scoring form with 2 each. Another thriller against Arsenal was next, this time in the Champions League semi final 1st leg at the Etihad as we beat them by the same scoreline as in the FA Cup semi, Haaland scored another 2 and Ruben Dias got the winner. We ended the month with a dress rehearsal for the FA Cup final against Aston Villa at Villa Park, however we were shocking and lost 3-0 to a very well organised Villa side.

We ended the month still at the top of the Premier League, but now level on points with Liverpool. We do however have a game in hand which could prove crucial. Haaland is odds on to win the Golden Boot now with 33, 10 clear of closest rival Lukaku. He's also the highest average rated player too at 7.95 for the season so far and he's also joint top of the MOTM awards for the season. 

One last bit of news this month is that Alessio Tomasoni, on loan at Roma, has had a great month in the Eternal City winning the Under 19 Player of the Month award in Serie A.

 

[danmcconnell1]

May 2028

The final month of the season is here and we still have a league title to win as well as an FA Cup final to contest.

The month began with the Champions League semi final 2nd leg against Arsenal at the Emirates, a hurdle in which we unfortunately fell at. Arsenal beat us 2-1 on the night taking the aggregate score line to 4-4, Haaland scored our goal but we couldn't find another way through in extra time and the hosts on the night won on penalties. We did respond brilliantly with a 7-0 win in the league against Nottingham Forest with Haaland scoring 4, Ward-Prowse, Palmer and Ndala all getting on the score sheet too which meant a win against West Ham would secure the league title with a game to spare. And beat West Ham is exactly what we did, a 4-1 win clinched a 5th title in 8 years for City and my first as a manager. Hojlund made us nervous as he gave West Ham an early lead but goals by Rodri, Palmer and 2 more for Haaland secured the all important win for us. The pressure was off going into the final day match against Fulham at Craven Cottage and it showed as we fielded a fringe side ahead of the FA Cup final a week later. Fulham beat us 3-2 to earn themselves a 14th place finish in the league. Immobile got both of our goals that day. One week later though, we travelled back to the capital and back to Wembley for the FA Cup final against Aston Villa who, just a month ago, had thrashed us at Villa Park 3-0. The tables were turned on the hallowed Wembley turf though as we snatched the FA Cup from the holder's hands, beating them 5-3 in a thriller of a match. Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring on his final Manchester City appearance in the 36th minute before Foden doubled our lead in the 2nd half. Villa made it 2-1 but quickfire goals by Palmer and then Foden again made it 4-1 to all but secure another trophy for us. Villa did get another but Haaland scored our 5th to put things all but beyond any doubt. Villa got a 3rd of their own through Cash but we held on for the club's 9th FA Cup win.

This is how the Premier League finished, with us on top! 78 points was enough to win the title this year, the lowest total since 2025 when Arsenal won it with just 74. Haaland finished top scorer in the league with 39, one less league goal than the season before. He also had the highest average rating in the league of 8.07 and the most MOTM awards with 8 too.

Just as the season ended, the club has confirmed a piece of work that I had requested earlier in the campaign of the purchase of the Etihad Stadium outright. The club were formally paying rent to the city council for use of the stadium as it was built in the early 2000's for the Commonwealth Games therefore still owned by the city, however the purchase has now gone through meaning it'll be far easier for the club to increase capacity of the stadium in the future should we see fit.

Erling Haaland won the PFA Player of the Year award, scoring 39 goals in just 26 league appearances with 3 assists too. This is the 4th year in a row he's won this honour as well as 4th overall.

His award ceremony got better too with the Player's Player award too, which for a professional is a huge honour. Just as above, this is the 4th year in a row Haaland has won this award too, as well as the 4th time in his career.

And as mentioned previously, he won the Golden Boot for the 6th season in a row, in other words each of the season's he played in England.

And in a clean sweep of the biggest awards, I won Manager of the Year too.

The Player's Team of the Season was dominated by City players with Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and of course, Erling Haaland all named in that team.

Moving onto European awards, Haaland also won the Player of the Season in the Champions League with 15 goals and 3 assists in 12 appearances, averaging 7.84 in that particular competition. It's the 2nd time he's won this award as well.

Those goal scoring numbers also earned him the Champions League Golden Boot too, incidentally the 2nd time he's won that award too.

Rodri and Haaland were both named in the Champions League Dream Team.

Haaland was also named the Best Player in Europe with 43 appearances in all competitions, 65 goals, 7 assists and an average rating of exactly 8. It's the 5th year in a row and 5th time overall he's won that award.

And to wrap up the awards, Haaland was also named Player of the Month in the Premier League for May, scoring 6 goals in 2 appearances with an average rating of a frankly ridiculous 9.55.

[danmcconnell1]

Euro 2028

With a major tournament fast approaching in our own back yard, we needed to get our act together and quickly as a respected footballing nation as our preparation for this tournament couldn't have gone much worse. 

Prior to the tournament taking place, the Under 23 side had qualified for the Olympic Games being held in the USA. I was asked by the Spanish FA if I would like to take control of this side myself or hire a manager and I decided to take on the challenge and try to go for gold later this summer.

We had been given a kind draw in the group stage too as we'd be facing Canada, Equatorial Guinea and Iran, so I was confident that we'd be able to top that group with relative ease.

However, we have the Euro's to concentrate on before the Olympics and this is the squad chosen to try to retain the Euro crown on home soil.

We had been draw against Northern Ireland, Serbia and Slovakia in Group A. Serbia will be a tough challenge as they have some very good players but I'm confident we'll be able to beat Slovakia and Northern Ireland in a tournament setting.

Unfortunately though, it was a tournament that ended with disappointment for Spain. Our one and only warm up game was at El Molinon, the home of Sporting Gijon against Croatia and we managed a 2-2 draw against them with Pedri and Hugo Duro scoring the goals for us. The tournament opener at the Benito Villamarin in Seville couldn't have gone much better for us as we put 5 past Slovakia, Oyarzabal scored 2 within 5 minutes while Hugo Duro also managed a brace before the break. My former player at Newcastle Yeremy Pino scored our 5th. We then followed that win with another against Northern Ireland at the Nuevo Mestalla in Valencia, beating them 3-1 thanks to a Hugo Duro hat-rick, he'd started the tournament brilliantly. Our final group game, as predicted, was a tough one against Serbia and they beat us 1-0 back at the Benito Villamarin. Defender Nikola Milenkovic with the only goal. Those results did see us qualify for the knockout stages though as we would face Austria in the 2nd round. The game would be played in Bilbao at San Mames and we dispatched of the Austrian side with ease, beating them 3-0 in a comfortable win thanks to goals by Ansu Fati and another double for Hugo Duro. This set up a tasty quarter final against neighbouring Portugal at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. It was a scrappy game that finished 0-0 after extra time, however Portugal's Francisco Trincao, a former player of mine at City, missed a penalty in the 89th minute to win it much sooner for Portugal, however his Panenka was easily saved by Unai Simon. The extra time period was similar to normal time with very few chances but Portugal came out on top on penalties, beating us 8-7 in the end after Pau Torres missed the decisive penalty leaving Antonio Silva to win it for our opponents and knock us out.

As the tournament came to an end, so did my contract with the Spanish national side as I was sacked after only managing to reach the quarter finals of the Euros. I feel like this squad could and maybe should have done a lot better, however when a match comes down to penalties it's always a lottery and unfortunately we were the unlucky side in the end.

Following the conclusion of the Euro's came another one, this time of a glittering Kevin De Bruyne career. Having began his time in his homeland of Belgium with Gent, he went on to become one of the best midfielders of his generation and arguably of all time. He won 28 trophies in his career, the vast majority of 21 of those with Manchester City, he will be sorely missed not only on the field, but off it too. We wish him the best as he has decided to not continue a career in football following his retirement.

I didn't have long to wait for another crack at international management though, as, as you can see, I was clearly in demand following the Euro's. France, Italy and Norway all made advancements, however when I saw England were interested, and offering the most money, it was a no brainer for me. The chance to manage my own nation is something I could never turn down so I will be leading my country, all being well of course, to the next World Cup which will be held in Spain, their 2nd major tournament in a row.

England had a poor Euro's, even worse than mine with Spain as they only managed to reach the 2nd round being knocked out in disgrace by a side that beat my Spain team too in Serbia by 4 goals to nil. England also lost in the group stage to the side that knocked my Spain side out too in Portugal. 

This is the England squad that went to the Euro's and it's a side that, once again, has underachieved at a major tournament. There is of course some great talent still in the squad, however ageing players like Harry Kane, my own player at City James Ward-Prowse and others who should be in their prime didn't show it in Spain. There is still cause for optimism though as the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Reece James are all still under 30 and other players like Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Cole Palmer are still young enough to drive England forward into hopefully a World Cup winning team in 2 years time.

Edited January 7, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-Season Update

It's been another summer of transfer business at the Etihad, we'll begin with those outgoing.

The first to leave was Dele Alli. He did okay for me with limited opportunities making 29 appearances in total, scoring 1 goal and registering 4 assists in total, his 1 year deal came to an end and he's gone back to Turkey, this time joining Fenerbahce on a more secure 2 year deal, we wish him the best.

Ashton Muir was the next man out as he was never going to become a 1st team player at the Etihad. He's joined Sunderland for £1.3m.

There haven't been anymore platers leaving the club permanently, however Jack Grealish has surprised many, even me, by joining Championship side Bristol City on loan for the season. I offered him out for prices ranging from £24m down to £18m, many clubs were interested in signing him and with just a year left on his deal I thought we'd have got decent money for him, however it looks like he'll leave for nothing now. He was of course a British record signing when he joined City back in 2021 for £100m however his City career never quite hit the heights some thought it would and he'll play Championship football next season in what is somewhat of a marquee signing for Bristol City, despite him now being 32, soon to be 33, he'll certainly do a great job for them at that level.

The only player to join us so far this summer is Heorhii Sudakov from RB Salzburg. We activated his release clause of £26m from the Austrian champions and for a player of his ability I think it's a steal, both financially and ability wise. He's a very promising player and although he should be reaching his peak by now, he still has room for improvement and playing in our squad will certainly help him do that.

We remained unbeaten in pre-season and even managed to lift the Community Shield, beating Liverpool in a thriller at Wembley. Foden and Haaland gave us a 2-0 lead at the break but goals from Konate and Van Duiven, a player I was interested in last season, got the Reds back on level terms. We had a golden chance to win it in stoppage time through a Foden penalty however that was saved which meant a penalty shoot out was then odds on, but for the veteran Ciro Immobile to score in the 97th minute, despite only 5 being added on, to win the Community Shield for the 9th time for Manchester City and the first time in my career too, after losing this match against Arsenal with Newcastle back in 2025.

There may well be more transfer business to come as I feel as though we could do with further improvement at LB as well as potentially a replacement for De Bruyne. I know who I'd like to sign in both of those positions however whether either of the 2 players I have in mind would be within our price range is up for debate. We may be able to afford one of them, but both would certainly be a stretch.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2028

The new season has begun with us lifting silverware in the Community Shield and we're hoping it's just the beginning of a successful season for us.

Our first month in the Premier League has been outstanding. A perfect month in terms of results began with a 4-0 opening day win over Brighton with Palmer and Rodri scoring goals which were followed by a Haaland brace. We followed that up with a win in our first home match of the season against Southampton, beating them 3-1 with the brilliant Haaland scoring a hat-rick. Another comfortable win followed at the Etihad again against Brentford as we thrashed them 6-2, Haaland managed another 2 goals as did Ciro Immobile. Sudakov and Ben McNamee both scored their first goals for the club too. We then got a slender but very important win at the Emirates against Arsenal with a 1-0 win, our goal coming from Haaland yet again. The final match of the month was another win, at home against my former club Newcastle. We beat them 3-1 thanks to a Schjelderup goal and another Haaland brace. 

Our perfect start means we sit at the top of the Premier League after 5 matches, Haaland has double the amount of goals than anybody else in the league with 10 and an average rating of 8.9, plus 3 MOTM awards already for him, he's been outstanding. 

Due to those numbers, he's won the Player of the Month award too.

And I won the Manager of the Month award too.

Moving onto transfers, here's the extra activity we partook in before the end of the season, beginning with outgoings.

Romeo Lavia was sold to Napoli for a fee of £27.5m and while it's not what we paid for him, I doubt we will have got anything near that considering his current ability and desire to leave the club. We took the loss and will hopefully not make that kind of mistake again. 

Isaac Calvo has joined Stuttgart on loan as I want him to get 1st team football, something I can't offer him as regularly as I would like here, hopefully he'll develop into something special in Germany before coming back to us.

Julian Alvarez has left us to join Milan for a fee of £35.5m which could rise by another £5m, he never quite did the business for City so he's going to Italy for more regular 1st team football at what should be the peak of his career.

Marcel Lotka leaves us permanently this time for German side Borussia Monchengladbach for a fee of £13.5m.

Son leaves us after a quickfire 8 month spell at the club to join Aston Villa, he made 9 appearances in an injury hit spell with us and scored 1 goal. He moves to Birmingham for £4.5m.

James Ward-Prowse left us to join Barcelona on deadline day for £14.5m. It wasn't a deal I was looking to make however Barca offered the top end of his value which for an ageing midfielder I thought was fair business.

We now move onto those who joined us later in the month, incidentally all of them were on deadline day.

Ali Tas joins from Club Brugge in Belgium for a fee of £20m which could rise by another £1m over the course of his contract. He's a very exciting forward player who Brugge did ask to loan back for the campaign however I wanted to bring him in due to the departure of Son.

After Ward-Prowse left for Barcelona, I needed a replacement in midfield in our backup midfield. Fabio Miretti joins from Juventus after a successful spell in Italy with his boyhood club for a new challenge with us in England for a fee of £30m which could rise to £37m. I'm happy with the signing and despite not having the same set piece acumen as Ward-Prowse, I feel as though Miretti could be a very good backup player for us.

The final player to join us was Eric Garcia from Bayern Munich. He's re-joined for £72m which could rise to £90m after leaving for nothing back in 2021 to his boyhood club Barcelona. After 4 good years back in Spain he joined Bayern and has become one of the most sought after defenders in the world. I'm more than happy to have him back at the club after 7 years away and I'm sure he'll become a mainstay in our defence in the coming years.

Edited January 9, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

September 2028

Our month begins with England duty and my first matches in charge of my own national team in the Nations League.

My first match in charge was away in Paris against France and we prevailed by a solitary goal to nil scored by Bukayo Saka with around a quarter of an hour left in the match. My 2nd match, and first in charge of England at Wembley, was perfect. It was against arguably England's biggest rivals of all time, Germany, and we were outstanding. We thrashed them 6-2 thanks to a Tammy Abraham hat-rick, 2 goals for Mason Mount, who'd replaced the injured Jude Bellingham after the French game, all of this after Conor Gallagher had opened the scoring early on for us with just his 4th international goal. 

Our great start see's us top of our group ahead of both our first opponents and Denmark, the other side in our group. I'm confident after beating both France and Germany that we can beat Denmark with relative ease.

After the international break, we went back to club duty with City.

However, on the whole, the month was a poor one. We began with goalless draw in our first match back from international duty against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge before a trip to Bavaria to face Bayern Munich in our first match of this years Champions League. We were very poor in Germany though, losing 3-0. Another poor defeat followed as we travelled back to the capital, this time to face West Ham and found ourselves 4-0 down at half time. The 2nd half was better as Haaland scored 2 to score our first goals of the month, but a poor 1st half performance did the damage to us. If that performance wasn't embarrassing enough, more was to come. We travelled to Peterborough for the Carabao Cup 3rd round tie and we just couldn't find a way through the Championship side and eventually lost the forthcoming penalty shootout by 4 penalties to 3, dumping us out at the first hurdle. Although we fielded a side with a mix of youth and experience, I was shocked and very disappointed to go out in this manner. We had to respond back at the Etihad against Leicester City in our next match back in the Premier League, and luckily we did. We did still concede 3 goals which is worrying, however put 5 past the Foxes thanks to goals by Rodri, Sudakov and another Haaland hat-rick. We also needed a win in the Champions League League Phase after losing against Bayern in our opener as we welcomed Monaco in our first home match of this year's competition. We managed a slender 2-1 win over the side from the Principality, Haaland and Foden got our goals in that match.

We have dropped down to 2nd in the Premier League with Liverpool taking over at the top, however we do have a game in hand which if we win would bring us level on points with the league leaders. We also sit in 13th in the League Phase of the Champions League after 1 win and 1 defeat in our opening 2 matches. We are also of course, unfortunately out of the Carabao Cup after that shocking defeat against Peterborough.

Haaland again wins the Player of the Month award in the Premier League with 4 more goals in just 3 appearances.

He also won goal of the month too, which was an outstanding goal against Leicester.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2028

After a poor month in the league last time out, we really needed to get back to winning ways to try and reclaim top spot in the Premier League, as well as improve our form in Europe.

The league form was on the whole better, despite suffering defeat to high-flying Everton in our opener of the month, losing 2-1 on Merseyside, Haaland scoring our only goal. We followed that up with a good win back at the Etihad over Spurs, beating them 3-2 in a tight match. Rodri scored 2 brilliant goals in the first half before Sudakov scored what turned out to be the winner for us. We were then held away in Switzerland against Zurich 1-1 in an embarrassing night for us, a Ruben Dias OG in the 1st half had to be cancelled out by a Haaland goal in the 2nd, however we couldn't find a winner and our only match in the Champions League this month leaves us without a win. We did win our final 2 league matches this month though, beating Blackburn at home 6-1, Schjelderup and Josh Clark both getting one each while Immobile bagged 4 as he came in for the tired Haaland. We then travelled to the capital to face Fulham at Craven Cottage and beat them as well, this time 3-1 thanks to goals by Schjelderup and another 2 for Immobile.

The defeat against Everton has hurt our league position as the 2 Merseyside clubs are battling it out for top spot currently with us sitting in 3rd 3 points behind the leaders. Brentford are having another great season and currently occupy 4th place. We're in serious danger of not qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League too as we sit in 23rd place on just 4 points after 3 matches played, we need to start picking up results and quickly in that competition.

Finally, Rodri scored the goal of the month which was the 1st of his 2 that day against Tottenham.

We were on international duty this month too with Nations League group matches to play.

Our 100% record with England continues with 2 more wins coming this time in Copenhagen against the Danes, beating them 2-0 thanks to goals from Saka and Bellingham before another big win at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund against Germany as we thrashed them 3-1, our goals being scored by Joe Gomez and a double for Tammy Abraham who takes his tally to 5 in this Nations League already, all of which have come against Germany.

The win over Germany has seen us qualify from Group 3 in Division A for the Nations League semi finals next summer already after just 4 matches. This means the final 2 matches against France and Denmark are essentially friendlies for us, so we may well see some younger players given their debuts for England as I like to look to the future and with very few friendlies played in the international calendar these days, it's difficult to find time to bed in those younger players at such a level against good opposition, so this is a great opportunity to do that.

Edited January 10, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

November 2028

November saw us partake in the Premier League and Champions League action with us on the back of decent form, however we need to maintain it to ensure our title challenge gathers momentum ahead of the festive period.

Unfortunately though, our form was very poor this month, culminating in no wins in the league and only one in the Champions League. That win came in Spain against Villarreal as we beat them 3-1, our goals being scored by McNamee with his first for the club and a Haaland double. We followed that up with a goalless draw in the Manchester derby against United at the Etihad, then a 1-1 draw away at Leeds, Immobile scoring a late equaliser for us. Another 1-1 draw followed, this time back at home in the Champions League against PSG, Sudakov gave us the lead but Enzo Fernandez equalised 3 minutes later for the Parisians. The Premier League was back in action a few days later as we travelled to Villa Park, a venue at which we lost last season in the league too as we fell 4-2 to Villa, Immobile scored 2 for us as we were outplayed. Another defeat followed at home this time against Liverpool at the end of November by 2 goals to 1, Silva scored our only goal in what was a barren month for star striker Haaland with no league goals and only 2 in the Champions League that came against Villarreal. We need to improve and very quickly.

As mentioned in the last post, Brentford are having a fantastic season and have now leapfrogged us into 3rd place as we slip to 4th after a very poor month results wise. We're already 9 points adrift of leaders Everton too so have plenty of ground to make up in the months ahead.

The final group matches of the Nations League took place this month too.

We managed 2 more wins to dominate this group. As you can see, we named a few players on the fringes of the squad for these matches as well as some younger players too with the likes of Tino Livramento, Levi Colwill, Oliver Skipp, Michael Olise and Reull Walters who all appeared against France as we dispatched of them easily by 3 goals to nil. Tomori, Sancho and another debutant Ivan Toney all scored our goals. We then took part in a thriller against Denmark at Wembley, beating them 5-4 in the end. Bellingham and Saka both got one each while Tammy Abraham continued his great form in this Nations League campaign by scoring a 2nd hat-rick of the group stage. Things were hairy towards the end as the Danes rallied but we held on for an important victory to make it 6 from 6.

We ended the group stage top of the group with 6 wins from 6 matches, 12 points clear of closest rivals France. I'm hoping this kind of dominance can continue going into World Cup qualifiers next year as well as the Nations League finals, we will face Belgium in our semi final.

Finally, we found out our opponents for World Cup qualifying this month too, we will face Bosnia, Moldova, Wales and Iceland.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

December 2028

As we enter the final month of the year in poor form domestically, we really need Santa to bring us some early points before Christmas, as well as some late presents afterwards too!

And that's exactly what we were given. Despite an iffy start with a goalless draw with Watford and another defeat in the Champions League away to Atletico Madrid, our league form picked up and then some. We beat Wolves 5-1 at the Etihad thanks to goals by Silva, Palmer and a Haaland hat-rick. We then beat Crystal Palace 6 days later again at home 2-1, goals coming from Haaland and Foden this time. We then beat Brighton, again at home that midweek 5-0 thanks to Foden and Haaland bagging 4 this time. Another win followed away at Leicester by a goal to nil, Cole Palmer getting that one. The Boxing Day win over West Ham back at the Etihad was pleasing, making it 5 wins in a row in the league thanks to goals by McNamee and Haaland getting another 2 before the final match of the year away to Tottenham, another match in which we dominated and made it 6 wins in as many matches, Josh Clark scored 2 off the bench while Haaland also got himself another brace. This month he's well and truly back to his best form after a poor run of matches in November not only for us but for him individually with a lack of goals, he's back to his goal scoring best this month.

Our league position looks much healthier after a good recovery this month remaining unbeaten and picking up 19 points from a possible 21. We're just 4 points behind leaders Liverpool after 23 matches. Haaland is the top goal scorer in the Premier League with 27, 12 clear of anybody else. However, the Champions League League Phase isn't looking as healthy for us. We sit down in 21st place with just the top 8 automatically qualifying for the last 16, then from 9th place down to 24th playing in the 1st Knockout Stage, so we're cutting things fine as things stand. We have 2 more matches to play in the League Phase against Fenerbahce and Celtic both at the Etihad in January and with the form we're in, I'm hoping it can continue into 2029 and give us maximum points from our final 2 matches to give us a fighting chance and restore some pride in our performances in Europe after what's been a poor campaign so far this time around.

Haaland has won another World Player of the Year award after 60 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions in the year 2028, averaging 7.79. It's the 5th time he's won this particular accolade and the 4th year in a row.

Both Eric Garcia and Erling Haaland were also named in the World Team of the Year too.

Moving onto the monthly accolades, Haaland won the Player of the Month award after an outstanding December where he scored 12 goals in 7 league appearances, averaging 8.16. Moises Caicedo also did well registering 3 assists with an average rating of 7.37 to finish runner up to Haaland for the award.

And I was awarded Manager of the Month after 7 wins from 8 matches and remaining unbeaten throughout the festive month. It's the 2nd time I've been awarded this award this season after winning it back in August too.

Edited January 11, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

January 2029

Another new year has arrived and with us in great form to end 2028, I'm hoping we can continue that form heading into 2029.

We have remained unbeaten now since early December, beginning the new year with a 2-0 win over fellow title challengers Everton thanks to goals by Schjelderup and Sudakov. We then travelled to the capital twice in as many weeks, firstly for the FA Cup 3rd round tie against AFC Wimbledon, beating them 3-1 thanks to goals by Miretti with his first for the club, McNamee and Immobile from the spot. The next trip to South London was to Crystal Palace and another win came south of the Thames at Selhurst Park, winning 4-2 with all of our goals being scored by the enigmatic Erling Haaland. A much needed win followed that one back at home in the Champions League against Fenerbahce, beating them 5-2 thanks to goals by Rodri, Foden, Sudakov and another double for Haaland. We welcomed Fulham to the Etihad next back in the Premier League but could only manage a goalless draw. We did beat Bayer Leverkusen in our final League Phase match in the Champions League thanks to goals by Haaland, Palmer, McNamee and Immobile, before we ended the month with a comfortable 2-0 win over Wolves at Molineux back in the Premier League thanks to goals by Haaland and Palmer again.

We remain just 3 points behind Liverpool, however that draw against Fulham would have bridged the gap to just 1 as Liverpool lost against my former employers Newcastle that same day in the early kick off so that was a blow for us. We ended up finishing 11th in the League Phase of the Champions League meaning we'd be playing in the Knockout Playoff round over 2 legs against Rennes of Ligue 1 in France. We'll also be travelling to St. James' Park for the FA Cup 4th round tie to face my former side Newcastle for a place in the 5th round.

Erling Haaland again wins the Player of the Month award for the 2nd month in a row, scoring 5 goals in 4 matches with an average rating of 7.82.

And finally, I win my 3rd Manager of the Month award of the season and second in a row after another impressive month for us.

Before we move onto the January transfer business, there is some other news.

I have signed a new deal in charge of City with my contract now ending in 2031 as opposed to 2030.

Also, the club are expanding the capacity of the Etihad to 60,000, an increase of 6,600 seats.

We now move onto those leaving the club before those that have joined.

Mikel Gjelsvik has joined Hoffenheim in Germany for a fee of £17.5m. He's a player who's been out on loan at numerous affiliated clubs including NYCFC, Troyes and Nordsjaelland but never really made an impact in our first team nor was he going to, so for that money I was happy to do the deal.

Jack Grealish's loan deal at Bristol City came to an end this month and he didn't accept the offer to stay there as he's moved to Spain to join Real Valladolid for a fee of £2.2m. With his contract expiring with us in the summer it made sense to move him on for something instead of nothing in 6 months time, plus it gets his wages off the bill too.

We now move onto those joining us.

The first was Florian Wirtz from Liverpool for a lowly fee of just £12.5 which in my opinion, for a player of his calibre is an absolute steal. He did okay at Liverpool, scoring 12 in 37 league appearances in the Premier League since joining in 2024, most of those goals coming in his first season, since then he's barely played due to injuries but he's over those now and I hope he can become a great rotation option for us going forward.

Marco Sanchez is a youngster who's joined from Club America in Mexico for £5.75m and has immediately been sent back to Liga MX to play for Pumas. He's a talented CM who, like many others, I'm hoping can develop into a decent player.

The final player in this month is Kaique Albas from Brazilian side CEA. He's joined for £16.75m, his release clause, and can player either side of the back 4. We have plenty of young full back options already however I'm hoping Albas can really develop into something special, those mental stats are what I like to see. 

Although not a signing per say, Aymeric Laporte's contract was due up at the end of the season and when, at the beginning of the month, I approached him to discuss a new deal I got the impression he was thinking about retirement due to him only wanting a staff role going forward, however 3 failed bids from title rivals Liverpool caused a change of heart by Aymeric and he's signed a new 1 year deal to stay with us at least for another season which I'm ecstatic about. His experience and know how is vital for us at the back alongside captain Ruben Dias.

Edited January 11, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

February 2029

February comes along with more important matches in both the Premier League and the Champions League, however we begin in the FA Cup.

We travelled to my former club Newcastle for the FA Cup 4th round tie which we lost 3-2, goals by Immobile and Haaland weren't enough as 3 of my signings on Tyneside all scored, Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi and Bellingham to knock us out. We responded well in the Champions League however with a 6-2 win away in France against Rennes, Haaland scored 5 while Ben McNamee got the other for us. We then managed another 6, this time in the Premier League at home to Watford. Sudakov and Caicedo got one each while Silva and Haaland both managed a brace each. Another high-scoring encounter followed as we thrashed Rennes again in the 2nd leg in the Champions League, shipping 8 past them this time. Sudakov got a hat-rick, Silva another 2 while Palmer, Haaland and Wirtz all added to the total. Yet another high-scoring encounter followed at home against Arsenal as we lost 5-4. We were 4-1 down at half time and got it back to 4-4, all goals being scored by Haaland for us, but we conceded again and ended up on the losing side of this thriller. We did however end the month on a high with a good win back at the Etihad in the Champions League Last 16 against Milan as we beat them 3-1, our goals being scored by Caicedo, Palmer and a late one by Immobile.

We ended the month still 2nd in the Premier League and are 4 points behind Liverpool with 9 games left to play, one of which is against them. Haaland is the top scorer in the Premier League by a mile, 22 clear of his nearest challenger Ivan Toney on 16. Haaland also has the highest average rating of 8.07 and the most MOTM awards with 9.

Haaland has won the Player of the Month award too with 6 goals in 2 matches and an average rating of 9.25 in the 2 matches, however he was injured ahead of the Milan game so missed that and is likely to miss another 10 days or so.

[danmcconnell1]

March 2029

We are approaching the business end of the season and with 2 competitions still left to play for, have plenty of optimism going into March.

And we were right to be optimistic. We began the month with a 2-0 win in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford thanks to goals by Wirtz and Immobile. We then followed that up with a 2-2 draw in the 2nd leg of the Round of 16 in the Champions League against Milan, Bernardo Silva and McNamee scoring our goals to keep the Italians at arm's length. The international break followed the 3-2 win over Aston Villa in what was a thrilling end to that match, Haaland gave us the lead but we found ourselves 2-1 down with 8 minutes remaining before the now 39 year old Ciro Immobile came on to score 2 late goals to turn the game around and give us the points. Our final Premier League game of the month was away to bottom club Blackburn Rovers. We dealt with the with ease, winning 4-0 at Ewood Park thanks to goals by Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Haaland and Schjelderup.

We remain in 2nd place and still 4 points behind leaders Liverpool. Haaland's now got 40 league goals, with a total of 55 in all competitions.

Despite Haaland's brilliance, he's been outshone this month by Ciro Immobile, who's got 3 in 2 and an average rating of 7.7.

And I won my 4th Manager of the Month award of the season, which is now my 3rd in 4 months.

The first international break of the year was here in March too as qualification for the World Cup next year in Spain gets underway.

We managed big wins over both Wales and Wembley and away in Moldova. Foden, Saka, Mount, Sterling and Kane all scored against the Welsh to give us a big win over one of our nearest rivals. We then travelled east to face Moldova where we were outstanding, scoring 10 goals thanks to a 5 goal haul for Sterling, Elliott also managed a hat-rick while there were others for Abraham and former City player Liam Delap, now of Bayern Munich who scored his 1st international goal.

Unsurprisingly we top Group J after 2 matches, however this may change as we don't play another qualifier until September due to our involvement in the Nations League semi final in the summer against Belgium.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2029

The penultimate month of the season could be make or break for us with the title race well and truly in full swing between us and Liverpool as well as Champions League quarter finals to play against Celtic.

The month began with the 1st leg of the Champions League quarter final at the Etihad against the Scottish champions and we were dominant against Celtic, beating them 5-1 to all but secure a place in the semi finals before the 2nd leg. Foden, Rodri and a Haaland hat-rick gave us the big win, while Jota got one back for the Scottish side. We then returned to Premier League duty at the Etihad again, beating Leeds 3-1 to keep up the pressure on leaders Liverpool thanks to goals from Foden and another double for Haaland. Our trip to Glasgow for the 2nd leg of the Champions League quarter final ended in a 4-2 defeat on the night, however the 2 goals scored by again Foden and Haaland were enough to send us into the semi finals for the 2nd season in a row where we would face title rivals Liverpool. The Premier League was upon us quickly again with a trip to Southampton this time and another 3 points were gathered thanks to goals by Silva and Haaland this time as we beat the Saints 2-1 at St. Mary's. Then came the first of 3 meetings with Liverpool before the end of the season which could all be defining in both of our season's. This 1st meeting against them of the 3, and 2nd of the season, was in the Champions League semi final 1st leg at the Etihad and we were imperious in front of goal, thrashing the Reds 4-0 thanks to goals by Silva, Haaland, Miretti and Foden to wrap up a huge win and give us one foot in the final, we have to finish the job at Anfield in 6 days time. Before that though, in our final match of the month, we welcomed Chelsea to the Etihad in what would be a tough match, despite Chelsea having a poor season. And so it proved, Chelsea ran out 3-1 winners on our patch, despite us taking an early lead through Immobile who deputized for the tired Haaland ahead of the 2nd leg in 3 days time. Ansu Fati with a double turned it around for Chelsea before the veteran N'Golo Kante settled the visitors nerves with a late goal to put what could be the final nail in our title challenge.

Due to that defeat against Chelsea, we're now reliant on Liverpool losing 2 of their last 3 matches, one of which is against us next month, to have any chance of retaining our title as we now sit 5 points behind the leaders. Haaland's form has been good again, adding another 3 goals to his total in the league which now sits at 43. Incidentally, Harry Kane broke Alan Shearer's Premier League scoring record of 260 goals earlier this season and now sits on 264. Haaland is 6 behind that for City on 258 and with the way he's been scoring, it's possible he could match or even break that record this season, if not early next time around. The most remarkable thing about this statistic for Haaland is Shearer played from the Premier League's inception in 1992 until circa 2005, so approximately 13 years to set his record, Kane has only ever played in the Premier League throughout his career, whereas Haaland is only just about to finish his 7th season in the Premier League, so to be on those numbers already is truly incredible.

Here are his stats so far and I've highlighted his best season goal scoring wise which came in the 25/26 season, before my arrival where he scored 69 goals in all competitions that year. So far this season he has 63, so he could reach the 70 goal mark this time around if he keeps up his good form at the end of this season.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2026

May is the month where champions and crowned and those who finish in 2nd become the first to lose. We have high hopes for the Champions League, however hopes are dying for the Premier League.

It was in fact, a very poor end to the season for us. We lost the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi final, however ran out winners after performing so admirably in the 1st leg over Liverpool. The 2nd leg was lit up by yet another Erling Haaland hat-rick. We then travelled to the capital to take on Brentford but could only manage a goalless draw, which meant with Liverpool beating Leeds later that day, they were crowned Premier League champions before our meeting the following midweek. Buoyed from winning the league just a few days prior, we travelled to Anfield for what we hoped would be a title decider, however was now essentially a dead rubber, and our performance showed that. We were shocking as we fell to a heavy 6-2 defeat, only goals by Silva and Immobile gave us anything to be positive about. Our final match of the Premier League season was away to my former club Newcastle and we only managed another draw, Sergio Gomez scoring for us off the bench to salvage a point to end the season.

So here's how the Premier League table finished. Liverpool won it by 12 points in the end which flatters them a little considering how tight it was with 4 games left, however we crumbled and Liverpool took full advantage in the run in. Everton had a great season finishing 3rd in what was a very good season for the Merseyside clubs while Arsenal finished 4th. West Ham confirmed European football next season too with a 5th place finish. Leicester are in the Europa Conference League next season despite a poor campaign, however the Carabao Cup win means they'll play in Europe next time around. Aston Villa finished 6th however will be sweating ahead of the FA Cup final next weekend as Liverpool take on Spurs. If Spurs win it they'll qualify for the Europa League ahead of Villa, despite their poor performance in the league this season. As things stand, Newcastle, Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs won't be in European competition next season. Brighton, Crystal Palace and Blackburn all go down. A week after the conclusion of the Premier League season, Liverpool went onto win the FA Cup, meaning Aston Villa can now celebrate Europa League qualification for the upcoming season.

Erling Haaland won yet another PFA Player of the Year after another outstanding season in the Premier League scoring 43 goals in 33 appearances and registering 1 assist too with an average rating of 7.92.

He also won Player's Player of the Year again too.

And the Golden Boot, finishing 25 clear of anybody else with 43 in total. As mentioned before, Haaland is close to breaking the Premier League goal scoring record now. Harry Kane holds the current record with 264 and will retire this summer aged 35, so the opportunity is there for Haaland to break the record early next season as he currently sits on 258, just 6 shy of Kane's record. 

Both Rodri and Haaland were named in the team of the season, however this year it was dominated by Liverpool's title winners.

13 days had passed since the end of the Premier League season as we prepared for the club's first Champions League final for 4 years since losing the 2025 final against Bayern Munich. The Champions League is the holy grail for this club, having not won it since Sheikh Mansour took over the club back in 2008, 21 years ago. Despite billions spent on players, infrastructure and staff in that time, 3 finals have come and gone where Manchester City have lost out in all of them, firstly back in 2021 against Chelsea, then in 2023 against Real Madrid and then finally, most recently, as mentioned above against Bayern in their own back yard back in 2025. 

This time around, we will face PSG. They themselves were subject to a Middle Eastern takeover back in 2011 and have spent similar sums, if not more in the time that has passed since. PSG are perennial winners of the French league title and have outstanding talent on their books, including the likes of Donnarumma in goal, Achraf Hakimi and of course, club legend Kylian Mbappe.

We face PSG at the home of Borussia Dortmund, the newly named BVB Stadion Dortmund, formally known as Signal Iduna Park, in Germany.

As we prepare for the final we received the bad news that Phil Foden would unfortunately miss this final due to a hernia picked up 6 days before the match, so he won't be fit and will be forced to miss out.

However, we didn't need Phil for this one as we narrowly beat PSG 1-0 in Germany to win the Champions League for the 1st time in the club's history. Rodri gave away a penalty 9 minutes into the 2nd half which Kylian Mbappe took, however Ederson saved it brilliantly diving to his right to deny Mbappe to keep the scores level. Then approximately a quarter of an hour later, Erling Haaland was put clean through thanks to a wonderful ball played through to him by Florian Wirtz and when that happens, the outcome is inevitable. Haaland coolly slotted home for his 67th goal of the season in all competitions and the one that won the Champions League for the first time in the club's history on what was a momentous day.

It was great to receive praise from my predecessor and club legend Vincent Kompany following the win too.

More records have been broken by Haaland as he sets a new average rating record in the Champions League of 8.03.

He's also broken Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 17 goals in one season in the Champions League. Not only has Haaland broken the record, he's eclipsed it by scoring 22 in the competition this season.

He's also won the Player of the Season award in the Champions League too, scoring 22 goals in 15 matches, registering 1 assist with an average rating of 8.03.

The Golden Boot was inevitable also.

As was his place in the Champions League Team of the Season, alongside Sutalo, Garcia, Silva and Foden.

Garcia won Defender of the Season while Silva won the award for the Midfielders, Haaland of course winning the Forward award.