[FM23] Football's Strongest Man

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 32/33

A new country for Ade, how would he get along in Italy? Here we are at the season half way point.

TRANSFERS

Ade wanted to splash the cash but found it difficult to bring in who he wanted. 

MATTIA SANTAROSSA - MIDFIELDER

He took a bit of a punt on Mattia. Not the greatest attributes but he has potential to become a star player, so Ade took the risk at £23m.

WESLEY FOFANA - CENTRAL DEFENDER

Wesley was our marquee signing at £58m - a club record - he brings class and experience to our back line.

LEAGUE FIXTURES

Some strong performances, and plenty of goals, at home. Defensively solid too - Fofana has been a great signing.

LEAGUE TABLE

Top of the table as things stand. Juventus and Inter are our closest challengers. We've already beaten both in the league and we play both in our next two games. The away trip to Juve is going to be difficult.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We've been on the road in each of our last 4 games. Only one defeat but 3 draws;

Two winnable home games though should hopefully see us through to the Round of 16 - although this is not a given.

COPPA ITALIA

The competition has yet to start for us, but we have drawn Frosinone in Round 3.

All in all it has been a pretty solid start to life in Italy for Ade. He wants to stay with Milan until he has won Serie A and the Champions League. He's got one eye on the Bundesliga as his next destination as he wants to try and end Bayern's stranglehold on the competition. We will have to wait and see, this could be a long time off yet.

[karanhsingh]

This has turned into quite an interesting journeyman save, good stuff!

[TheGoodRebel]

On 28/04/2023 at 08:36, karanhsingh said:

This has turned into quite an interesting journeyman save, good stuff!

Thank you. I thought after the Liverpool sacking it might have knocked us off track but thankfully, because of our reputation after the Champions League win, we were able to land on our feet with City. 

It’s always been my intention for Ade to go to Italy, Spain and Germany after England. After that, I’m not sure. Maybe a bit of international management and a tour of some lower profile leagues in the style of Trapattoni, or a return to England to resurrect a fallen giant.

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 32/33

Ade was enjoying life in Italy, but how would the rest of the season unfold? Could Milan stay top of Serie A and win the Scudetto in his first season? Could he replicate his Champions League success with Liverpool? How would he do in the Coppa Italia?

TRANSFERS

LEO ØSTIGÅRD - CENTRAL DEFENDER

Two of our young central defenders decided they wanted to leave in January so we needed some cover. Leo was brought in from Barcelona for £9.5m.

ISAAC GALVÁN - WINGER

Isaac was signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £56m. The signing of the young Mexican meant we could play Julián Álvarez in his favoured central striking role.

COPPA ITALIA

This competition was low priority, but we still would have liked to have won it. However, we got knocked out in the Quarter Final by Napoli.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We won the final two league games, but it wasn't enough to qualify for the Round of 16. Instead we had to play the play-off against Atlético which we won 6-3 on aggregate setting up a Round of 16 clash against Liverpool.

Unfortunately this is where our campaign ended. We got thrashed 5-0 in the return leg at Anfield. The board were not happy as we were expected to reach the latter stages of the competiton.

SERIE A

After disappointment in the Champions League could we win the Scudetto?

Well, Juventus were top of the league and were looking like they were going to go on and win it.

However, this dreadful run of form for them meant one thing...

Ade's boys won 8 straight matches to finish 10 points clear of city rivals Inter and clinched the title.

This was Ade's 3rd league title (if you include The Championship with Sheffield United) and he had conquered Italy in his first season.

Ade has now won 7 major trophies in his career;

Ade was delighted with how his players performed and the spread of goals around the team;

For now, Ade will be recharging his batteries before scouring the transfer market to strengthen the squad ahead of their defence of the league title and mounting a challenge on the Champions League.

 

[karanhsingh]

On 29/04/2023 at 13:45, TheGoodRebel said:

Thank you. I thought after the Liverpool sacking it might have knocked us off track but thankfully, because of our reputation after the Champions League win, we were able to land on our feet with City. 

It’s always been my intention for Ade to go to Italy, Spain and Germany after England. After that, I’m not sure. Maybe a bit of international management and a tour of some lower profile leagues in the style of Trapattoni, or a return to England to resurrect a fallen giant.

That would be quite the career indeed! KUTGW 

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 33/34

TRANSFERS

Ade's goals for the new season would be to try and successfully defend Serie A and make his mark with Milan in the Champions League. Here's who he brought in over the summer.

JOSÉ AYALA - RIGHT BACK

The young Mexican right back has been brought in as back up for the first team, he has good potential so let's see how he develops.

MATTHIEU TACITA - GOALKEEPER

Another one for the future, just 16 years old, has potential to be world class.

MATTEO RUGGERI - LEFT BACK

We needed someone to be backup for Trivulzio. Matteo was a cheap option at £4m brought in from Lazio.

VITINHA - STRIKER

Signed from Inter to add numbers to our striking department. Picked up for just £8.5m.

BOJAN VUJADINOVIĆ - MIDFIELDER

Bojan was signed from PSG for £14.5m to play in central midfield, at only 24 he's ready for the first team right away. The plan will be to play him alongside Ouédraogo.

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 33/34

SERIE A

We made a great start to the league, unbeaten after the opening 19 games leaving us comfortably in 1st place with a game in hand over our rivals;

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

However, we made a very underwhelming start in Europe;

Ade wasn't happy about losing the first three matches which left us rooted to the bottom of the table. A much needed win against Besiktas, followed by a point against Dortmund got us back on track, but then another defeat came against Hertha Berlin.

28th place - we were looking at the real possibility of an early exit from the competition.

Ade would be hoping for a big improvement in the next two games against Benfica and Marseille, who we would face at home.

We thrashed both of them meaning we scraped through to the knock out play-off round by finishing 22nd.

Edited May 8, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 33/34

After a strong start to our domestic campaign, but a poor start to our European campaign, how would things turn out for Ade and his boys?

PS5 SUPERCUP

We lost 1-0 to city rivals Inter in the Italian version of the Charity Shield.

SERIE A

We made a strong start but had a shocking month in April that allowed Napoli and Roma to close in on us;

However, we managed to pull ourselves together and held on to win our second Scudetto and successfully defend our title.

COPPA ITALIA

We saw off Empoli, Roma and Atalanta to set up a final against Napoli - which we won comfortably 3-0 - to win the double!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We managed to see off RB Leipzig in the play off round, get revenge of Hertha Berlin in the Round of 16 but we lost out on penalties to domestic rivals Napoli in the Quarter Final.

THE PLAYERS

Summer signing Vitinha finished as top scorer with 30 goals. However the squad is on the older side and we really need to bring in some younger players - this will be a focus for Ade during the summer transfer window.

Ade will spend at least one more season in Milan with the hope of finally winning the Champions League as well as making it three-in-a-row in Serie A.

[billmatic]

I made an account solely to tell you how much I've enjoyed following along. You've inspired me to try something similar. Here for the Milan three-peat.

[TheGoodRebel]

On 09/05/2023 at 03:51, billmatic said:

I made an account solely to tell you how much I've enjoyed following along. You've inspired me to try something similar. Here for the Milan three-peat.

Thanks mate, glad to have you along for the journey and that you're enjoying it so far!

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 34/35

After winning back-to-back league titles the aim for this season was to make our mark in the Champions League. Some of our players are now in their mid 30's so we need to start phasing them out and blood some of the younger players. The following players are those who still have a role to play this season but will be getting phased out slowly;

• Pierre Kalulu - 34
• Sandro Tonali - 34
• Rafael Leão - 35
• Julián Álvarez - 34
• Vitinha - 34

Plus we've already let go of the following;

We also brought in three new players;

Let's take a closer look at them;

ALESSIO BENCIVENNI STUFI - GOALKEEPER

After the retirement of Mike Maignan we needed a new goalkeeper. Alessio is young, wasn't expensive at all and has the potential to become a leading Serie A player.

ALDO DORATIOTTO - LEFT BACK

A relatively cheap acquisition. Aldo was signed to play as backup for Trivulzio.

LUCA MONTANARO - CENTRAL DEFENDER

Our biggest signing of the summer. Luca was brought in as a long term replacement for Kalulu and will slot into the left sided centre back position alongside Fofana.

SERIE A

Ade is very happy with the start to the season so far, we've come flying out of the blocks and are setting the early pace in the league. The only blip being a shock home defeat to Udinese. Albeit with a very heavily rotated squad.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

This is the one we really want this season. We've got off to an excellent start. PSG are the competition favourites so it was a real statement of intent to beat them.

Four straight wins leaves Ade's troops top of the league and looking on course to qualify for the Round of 16.

Ade will be hoping the boys can carry on the excellent momentum throughout the rest of the campaign - so far, so good!

[DavidBeckham]

Definitely beast mode start to the season mate! Alessio has potential to develop into one of the top keepers in world football. KUTGW mate!

[TheGoodRebel]

AC MILAN - SEASON 34/35

We'd made a strong start to the season both domestically and in Europe. Could we keep the momentum going for the whole season?

PS5 SUPERCUP

We bagged our first trophy of the season in a one-sided demolition of defending European Champions Napoli by 5 goals to nil. Ade had now completed the set of Italian trophies.

COPPA ITALIA

Cremonese, Napoli and Atalanta were all dispatched setting up a final with Genoa who we had beaten every time we'd played them since arriving in Italy;

So naturally we lost to them in the final - despite taking the lead and dominating the match 

SERIE A

We successfully made it three-in-a-row in the league. At one stage we were 10 points clear but then lost a couple of annoying matches that we should have won (Parma at home, Atalanta away). This allowed Napoli to get back within 3 points of us going into the final game of the season. 

Our goalkeeper got injured before the game, despite not missing a single game all season, so we had to play our reserve keeper. In the match against Verona we took the lead but VAR ruled it out. Then they were awarded a penalty. However, our backup keeper saved it! We pressed and pressed trying to score but we just couldn't put the ball in the net. We got the point we needed and secured the Scudetto.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The one Ade wanted more than anything. We finished 1st in the league stage after making pretty serene progress;

Bayer Leverkusen were our opponents in the Round of 16.

We thrashed them in the away leg and took it easy at home, resting a few players, to set up a Quarter Final tie against Tottenham who had actually won back-to-back Premier Leagues, so were no pushovers! However, we lost Vitinha during the Leverkusen game and he was ruled out for the rest of the season. A big blow!

The first leg against Spurs we got absolutely battered and were lucky to escape with just a 2-0 defeat. We raced into a 3-0 lead at the San Siro but fell apart in the second half as Spurs hit back.

The Champions League dream is over for another season.

THE PLAYERS

Some solid performances all round - and plenty of goals - Isaac Galván is our best player and is coming into his prime.

Ade had enjoyed his time in Italy but was starting to get restless. The thought of going into a 4th season was no loner appealing so, after thinking long and hard, he decided to step down as Milan boss. The Champions League wasn't achieved, but he had still been successful nontheless.

Edited May 18, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

NEW JOB

Not long after leaving Milan an opportunity came up in one of the leagues Ade wanted to manage in. It's a very exciting move and there's a big transfer budget available;

The main goal with Dortmund is to end Bayern's reign of terror and then hopefully do something in the Champions League.

On the flight over to Germany, Ade was feeling excited about trying to end the domination of Bayern, but he also felt a bit sad about leaving Milan as he failed to land the Champions League. He has two big regrets in his career so far. That being one and the other failing to land the Premier League with his boyhood club Liverpool. He feels he has unfinished business in Italy and England.

THE PLAYERS

Dortmund have a well rounded squad but they also have a budget of £127m to spend. Ade will be looking at bringing in a new goalkeeper and a left back as the current crop of left backs are more central defenders who can fill in on the left, but lack the offensive attributes Ade looks for in his wing backs.

Overall he is happy with the squad though and feels they can definitely achieve something in his first season.

[TheGoodRebel]

BORUSSIA DORTMUND - SEASON 35/36

A NEW START

Ade had made the switch to Germany and his main goal was to wrestle the Bundesliga title out of the stranglehold of 23x reigning champions Bayern Munich. He wanted to see how his current crop of players would perform before ringing the changes. So no signings were made in the transfer window.

BUNDESLIGA

Ade's reign got off to a good start in August and September and they topped the league at this stage.

Defeats in October to RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen raised alarm bells but results in November picked up so Ade thought October was just a blip. 

However, December has been an absolute disaster! There are mitigating circumstances though - for the first time, since Ade was at Rochdale, I have tinkered around with my tactics and it has backfired massively. I have reverted back to what served me well at City and Milan but the damage for this season has been done.

5th place and the pressure is already on. Defensively we have been a shambles. The good thing is, I know what I need to do to rectify the situation, the bad thing is it's probably too late to salvage anything in terms of winning the league.

DFB POKAL

Through to the Third Round where a tie against Gladbach awaits.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Wins at home to Rennes, PAOK and PSV but failure to win on the road leave us in mid table. Hopefully we can pick up our away form to ensure qualification to the Round of 16.

[billmatic]

I can't wait for this. 23x Bundesliga champions  What made you tinker with your tactics after three successive wins?

[DavidBeckham]

With the yellow wall behind the beast, Bayern will be overthrown! The squad he inherited looks well-balanced too! KUTGW mate!

[TheGoodRebel]

On 25/05/2023 at 12:46, billmatic said:

I can't wait for this. 23x Bundesliga champions  What made you tinker with your tactics after three successive wins?

I get bored of playing the same tactics over and over again and like to try new things from time to time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It keeps the save fresh for me.

On 26/05/2023 at 07:53, DavidBeckham said:

With the yellow wall behind the beast, Bayern will be overthrown! The squad he inherited looks well-balanced too! KUTGW mate!

Thanks mate, maybe not this season, but next season hopefully

[TheGoodRebel]

BORUSSIA DORTMUND - SEASON 35/36

Ade hadn't got off to the best of starts in Germany and was under a bit of early pressure to turn things around. How would the rest of the season go?

TRANSFERS

JOHN L'ESTRANGE - GOALKEEPER

Ade wasn't convinced with his current goalkeeper so brought in England international John L'Estrange from Brighton for £69m. At just 25 years of age, John should be a safe pair of hands for many years to come.

VLADIMIR PETKOVIĆ - MIDFIELDER

Ade decided to raid his old club, Milan, for their midfield orchestrater Vladimir Petković for £95m. Vladimir will provide some much needed creativity in the centre of the park.

ERLING HAALAND - STRIKER

At 35 years of age, he's no longer the force of nature he was, but he's still an elite level player and can do a job for a season or two. Cost £11m but he will be worth every penny if he can help us win the Bundesliga title in the next couple of seasons.

Ade wanted a new left back and central defender, however, the players he wanted weren't available so, rather than panic buy, he decided to wait until the summer window to pursue them again.

DFB POKAL

We lost on penalties in Round 3 to Borussia Mönchengladbach after a topsy turvy 3-3 draw.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

 

We made it out of the group stage but had to settle for the knockout round where we were drawn against domestic rivals Wolfsburg who we beat 6-4 on aggregate. Our reward was a Round of 16 tie against our former club Milan - who beat us 2-1 on aggregate. Milan made it through to the semi-final and despite winning in the Bernabau against Real Madrid, they lost in the San Siro and were knocked out. Ade was disappointed for them as he wanted to see them win since Dortmund were knocked out. The eagle-eyed will see the impact Haaland had after signing for us.

BUNDESLIGA

Ade had already written off our chances of winning after our terrible start. We had to settle for 3rd in the end, behind champions (again) Bayern and RB Leipzig;

Although he was encouraged by our form in the second half of the season - dropping just 5 points -  and this is a platform to build on next season.

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

BORUSSIA DORTMUND - SEASON 36/37

After the disappointment of last season and ending the season without a trophy, Ade knew he had to spend big in the summer to try and reel in the Bavarian machine. In order to fund this he decided to cash in on a couple of his existing players;

Alexandre Julien and Muzaffer Yildiz were shipped off to PSG and Juventus for almost £200m. 

Armed with a transfer kitty of close to £300m the following recruits were brought in;

Here are the players.

FABRICE FREIWALD - RIGHT BACK

Fabrice is a solid German international, he immediately becomes our first choice #2

TENGIZ MAISURADZE - CENTRAL DEFENDER

Tengiz brings some much needed height to our central defence, something we were lacking last season.

VANIN - CENTRAL MIDFIELDER

Vanin is a creative Brazilian who will compete with, and provide backup for, Petković 

DANIELE PASCARELLA - LEFT BACK

Daniele is one for the future and will provide cover for our new first choice left back...

ALEXANDER FLURSCHUETZ - LEFT BACK

The German international will came at a price, but we needed to spend big to bring in the required quality.

 

[TheGoodRebel]

ZEBEN POZO - LEFT WINGER

Ade is a big fan of inside forwards and Zeben was brought in from rivals Bayern. He brings pace, work rate and finishing and will be expected to chip in with plenty of goals.

KALLE RINGBERG - STRIKER

The young Swede is another one for the future and probably won't feature at all this season.

DFB POKAL

We opened up with a 17-0 thrashing of minnows Wegberg-Beeck and then saw off Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg in Rounds 1 and 2. We are now set to face Ingolstadt in Round 3.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

5 wins out of 6 leaves us in a very healthy position;

BUNDESLIGA

A couple of surprise defeats, we have lots of new players, but we head the table going into the winter break and we beat Bayern 4-1 in their own back yard. The early signs are positive that we can go toe-to-toe with them this season.

Depending on who is available we might make some more signings in January - but it's unlikely as I'm happy with the squad as it currently stands.

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2036/2037

Ade's charges were 1 point clear at the top of the Bundesliga and had just beaten Bayern 4-1 at the Allianz. How would the rest of the season unfold?

DFB-POKAL

We'd reached the 3rd Round where a tie against Ingolstadt awaited us;

We made easy work of them beating them 6-1 and beat Hertha Berlin in the Quarter Final to set up a semi against Schalke 04.

Unfortunately this is where our run came to an end. 0-0 after extra time and, despite having the chance to win with our 5th penalty, we missed it and also our next one to exit the competition for another year.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We drew our final two league games but still qualified automatically for the Round of 16....

...where we would face Arsenal. However, despite beating them at the Emirates in the league stage, there was no repeat in the knockout as they got two 1-0 wins to move into the Quarter Finals. The board were very unhappy with the early exit as one of the objectives they had set out was to reach the latter stages of the competition.

BUNDESLIGA

If there was ever a turning point in a season this would be it. We were top of the league by 3 points ahead of our home fixture against Bayern. A victory here would move us 6 points clear of our rivals;

It was looking good until the 90th minute when Gary Davidson equalised. This in itself wasn't a bad result, but what followed was;

Defeat away at Hoffenheim meant Bayern went level on points with us with a superior goal difference which put us down to 2nd. In order to win the league now we would have to be pretty much flawless in our remaining 6 matches and hope Bayern dropped points somewhere.

With just two matches remaining Bayern suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of bottom of the league Fortuna Düsseldorf.

However, we also bottled it and lost away at Bayer Leverkusen. Now only a shock home defeat for Bayern would give us any hope of winning the league on the last day of the season;

Which didn't happen, and we were very fortunate to get away with a 2-2 draw with Hertha Berlin. We were 2-1 down in the last minute, which would have meant another 3rd place finish, but Erling Haaland scored and we got the point we needed to stay 2nd.

A tough one to take for Ade, who at one point thought the title was going to return to Signal Iduna Park for the first time since 2011/2012, but it just wasn't meant to be.

THE PLAYERS

Erling Haaland finished the season as top goalscorer with 38 goals in all competitions. He's still lethal in front of goal but his physical attributes have declined quite rapidly during the season and, at 36, he's shouldn't really be our starting number 9 anymore.

Even though we spent a big chunk of money on new defenders last summer they were a bit underwhelming rating wise as only Maisuradze got over a 7.00. This might be an area Ade looks to change during the next transfer window.

Iñaki Etxebarria has no intentions of signing a new contract so we will probably, reluctantly, cash in on him as well as Niv Azulay who also doesn't want to sign a new deal. We have a ready made replacement for Azulay who has been out on loan this season though in the form of Wonderkid Yannick Hoffmann.

.

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2037/2038

After finishing runners up last season could Ade go one better this time and bring success back to Signal Iduna Park?

TRANSFERS

We decided to cash in on Azulay (£35m) and Extebarria (£84m) as neither had any intention of signing a new deal and we didn't want to lose them for nothing.

Let's take a closer look at our new signings;

FRANCO AGUIRRE - CENTRAL DEFENDER

Franco is a top quality ball playing defender with good pace. He's just 26 so will only get better

MAKSIM TURNIŠKI - WINGER

The Croatian Wonderkid was sent straight back to Dinamo on loan until the end of the season so won't feature in the current campaign - he's definitely one for the future.

SAÏD RAKI - FORWARD

After the sale of Extebarria we need a new forward so we brought in the Flying Dutchman. Saïd has great pace, determination and composure and can play centrally or on the flank. I am very excited about his future.

SUPERCUP

As Bayern did the domestic double last season we found ourselves in the curtain raiser for the season. However, we were given a real good thrashing by the champions. Not a great start to the season!

DFB POKAL

Heimstetten, Nürnberg and even Bayern were beaten before we we got knocked out by Wolfsburg in the Quarter Final.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We had a tough draw this season and just managed to scrape through to the knockout round by finishing 17th in the league phase.

This set up a tie against RB Leipzig which we successfully managed to come through 7-4 on aggregate.

We were then drawn against one of Ade's former clubs, Liverpool, in the Round of 16. Unfortunately they were too strong for us and comfortably beat us.

Ade's quest for a second Champions League crown goes on for another season.

BUNDESLIGA

Our quest for the Bundesliga crown got off to the worst possible start with two opening defeats;

However, our form soon picked up and we went 21 matches unbeaten, which included a 3-0 victory at the Allianz against Bayern. Just like last season we faced off against them at home with the hope of winning and going 6 points clear of our great rivals.

But Bayern do Bayern things. We took an early lead and were on course to win the match when Jamal Musiala struck twice in the last 3 minutes to break our hearts and go level on points with us at the top of the table.

The final nail in the coffin was a surprise 1-0 defeat away at Wolfsburg and Bayern clinched the title with a game to spare. Their defeat on the last day of the season was purely academic. We finished the season on 82 points - which would have been enough to win the title in each of the previous 4 seasons - but Bayern were just too strong again.

THE PLAYERS

A number of below average individual performances this season. Although Saïd Raki settled in well with 24 goals and 12 assists. The surprise of the season was without doubt Sven Füssel who was top scorer with 29. He's very much an unheralded member of the squad but his importance showed this season.

Erling Haaland has announced his retirement so it's farewell to a legend.

That's 3 seasons in Germany for Ade without a trophy to show for it. However, he has signed a new 4 year contract. Ade will not be leaving until he lands both the Bundesliga and Champions League titles - unless he gets sacked first. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[karanhsingh]

Just had a catch up - wow Bayern are a tough nut to crack! But i am sure you will get there. Kutgw!

[TheGoodRebel]

On 02/06/2023 at 06:54, karanhsingh said:

Just had a catch up - wow Bayern are a tough nut to crack! But i am sure you will get there. Kutgw!

They sure are. It's hard work when they can just go and spend £300m+ on a new centre back

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2038/2039

Ade has completed 3 full seasons at Dortmund but has yet to lift any silverware, could this be the season his luck changes?

TRANSFERS

A very quiet window in terms of players coming in. After spending millions over the last couple of windows Ade wanted to keep the faith with those players. However, as soon as PSG made a bid for Bruno Carvalho, he wanted to go so we didn't stand in his way. Benjamin Lecoq was also let go for £10m

Here are the new recruits;

TORGE-CHRISTIAN KLEINSORGE - GOALKEEPER

As we had let Chará leave we needed a new backup goalkeeper. Torge-Christian seemed like the perfect fit and his happy to play backup. He has good potential so I am looking forward to seeing how he develops.

JORREL HATO - CENTRAL DEFENDER

With Carvalho joining PSG we needed a backup defender to take his place so Jorrel was brought in from Barcelona.

ALFIE DEVINE - CENTRAL MIDFIELDER

Another free transfer brought in as cover and to provide experience. His best days are now behind him but he'll still be a useful squad member.

DFB-POKAL

We made it through to the semi-final before losing narrowly to Bayern.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We started off brightly with a 4-1 victory over Galatasaray but then went 4 games without a win. However, we turned our form around for the last three games meaning we qualified for the play-off round against Atalanta. We were fortunate to come through on penalties and were drawn against heavyweights PSG. Despite winning the first leg 3-0 we got obliterated in the second leg and made another early exit from the competition.

 

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2038/2039

BUNDESLIGA

Despite finishing 2nd again, we were never in the title race this season. Bayern got off to a ridiculously good start, winning their first 14 matches, and built up a big lead which we just couldn't do anything about. We suffered badly away from home this season and it cost us any chance of mounting a challenge. 

THE PLAYERS

Saïd Raki was on fire this season with 48 goals in all competitions and clubs like Real and Barca are now sniffing round him. John L'Estrange and Franco Aguirre made a few mistakes this season so I'm looking at them closely to see whether I should replace them or not this summer.

Alexis Tagliaferri has been dropped for committing a cardinal sin. He didn't want to sign a new contract with us and has agreed to join Bayern in the summer on a free transfer.

Four seasons in Germany without a single trophy to show for it. I am starting to have doubts about whether my tactics work over here and whether I need to look to change them next season. Alternatively I might replace some of the personnel. Either way, it's just not working out at the moment, but Ade will not be deterred! He has some massive choices to make over the coming summer.

Edited June 18, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2039/2040

After 4 consecutive seasons without a trophy, Ade had some big decisions to make ahead of the new season. This was, without doubt, the most frustrating spell of his managerial career so far. Would he abandon his favoured 4-3-3 formation and try something different in his quest to topple the powerhouse that is Bayern Munich? Would he make wholesale changes to his playing staff who had, so far, failed to deliver?

NEW TACTIC

The first thing Ade decided was to change the tactics for the new season. Gone is the 4-3-3 and in comes a new 4-2-3-1;

The fundamentals are still the same as the 4-3-3 in terms of playing style (relentless pressing, passing into space, high defensive line etc) but with the extra body further up the pitch (Advanced Playmaker) Ade is hoping to smother teams in their own half more than they had been doing previously.

Player wise we lack a ball winning midfielder so this is something to look at in the transfer market.

TRANSFERS

Out go Alfie Devine, Alexis Tagliaferri and Jorrel Hato from last season's squad. Also leaving the club is the returning Ilija Mijatović, who spent last season out on loan, and academy graduate Mohammad Javed.

We decided to bring in 3 future prospects in the shape of Knut Hallvard Smørdal, Ibrahim Çaliskan and Joachim Branth Christensen - who were all immediately loaned back to the selling clubs to continue their development;

KNUT HALLVARD SMØRDAL - LEFT BACK

ÎBRAHIM ÇALISKAN - WINGER

JOACHIM BRANTH CHRISTENSEN - CENTRAL DEFENDER

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

The following players were signed up for first team action;

ABDOU THIOMBANE - RIGHT BACK

Abdou is one of our former players. We wanted cover for our right wing back spot and Abdou was on the transfer list. He did a decent job for me last time so I know I can trust him. He is a more attacking option as opposed to the more defensive Freiwald.

HALLDÓR SVAVAR AUDUNSSON - CENTRAL MIDFIELD

One of the roles we needed was a ball winning midfielder. Halldór isn't the best around but we just needed to get someone through the door just so we had somebody rather than nobody at all. It's likely, at some point, that he will get upgraded during the season.

SUPERCUP

We again took part in the Supercup and pushed Bayern all the way. They eventually won the match on penalties, but I was very happy with the overall performance as we were the better side. It was a promising display ahead of the new season.

DFB-POKAL

Using our second string we comfortably move into the Third Round where will face Schalke.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We won our first game against Sporting but then got taken to school by Jurgen Klopp's Real Madrid on match day 2. We suffered a surprising 2-1 defeat at Porto despite dominating the game but then got a vital victory at home to LASK;

That leaves us in 18th place and it's still very much in our own hands to make it through to the Round of 16.

BUNDESLIGA

We've gotten off to an almost flawless start - which is exactly what we needed to do - and we demolished Bayern 4-1 in their own back yard.

The early signs are good, especially with opening up an early 6 point lead over our rivals;

So far Ade is very happy with how the players have responded to the change in formation.

Hopefully we can maintain this early form throughout the rest of the season. Bayern haven't had the best start, but they are more than capable of winning every single match from this position, we cannot take things for granted!

Edited June 20, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[karanhsingh]

Looks like it's best to focus on the league this season and try to win that!

[TheGoodRebel]

7 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Looks like it's best to focus on the league this season and try to win that!

That was certainly the plan! Although things didn't quite work out that way....

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2039/2040

We'd made a good start to the season with our new tactic. Could it finally see us lift the coveted Bundesliga title and finally end Bayern's complete dominance of the league?

TRANSFERS

The January transfer window opened and we decided to bring in a new full back who I had been watching for some time.

LAURENT LE FUR - RIGHT BACK

Laurent possesses everything I look for in a full back. I'd tried to sign him a couple of seasons ago, but he agreed a new deal with Wolfsburg so it never happened. After that, his value rocketed to the £150m - £250m mark. However, he became available and I managed to get him for £68m.

That was the only business we did during the month.

DFB-POKAL

We beat Schalke, Frankfurt and Stuttgart to set up a final showdown with our old friends, Bayern.

The final was a very cagy affair that went the distance to penalties. We had already lost one shootout to them earlier in the season so I was expecting a similar outcome here.

However, we held our nerve by scoring all of our kicks. Our former player, Alexis Tagliaferri, missed the decisive spot kick which meant;

We had finally won our first trophy in Germany!!!

BUNDESLIGA

After 20+ games we were sitting pretty at the top of the table. However, at the end of January, we had a shocker!

Just 4 points out of a possible 15 brought Bayern, and most surprisingly, Bayer Leverkusen, right back into play and pushed us down to 3rd in the table. Even RB Leipzig started catching us and threatened to push us down to 4th. At this stage I abandoned the 4-2-3-1 and returned to the 4-3-3 as we were just getting completely overrun in midfield by teams we had no place struggling against. This did change our fortunes a little and we didn't lose another league game after the change. However, it wasn't enough and there was no way Bayern were going to let the lead slip again.

We had to settle for 3rd place - which was very, very disappointing. I can just about tolerate finishing behind Bayern, but not Leverkusen as well. Incidentally, Wayne Rooney is their current manager and is doing a great Job with them.

The holy grail continues for another season.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

After our victory over LASK, we needed to ensure we didn't slip up and exit the competition early.

Victories over Marseille, PSG and FC København were enough to help us qualify for the knockout round, despite defeat to Chelsea.

We were drawn against Monaco, who we narrowly beat 2-1 on aggregate to advance through to the Round of 16 where we would face domestic rivals, RB Leipzig.

They were beaten rather comfortably to set up a Quarter Final clash with Italian side Napoli.

An easy 5-1 aggregate victory took us through to the Semi Finals and a clash with Chelsea, who had beaten us easily earlier in the competition.

There was to be no repeat this time though as we held firm at Stamford Bridge before dispatching them 3-1 at Signal Iduna Park.

We were through to the Champions League Final where we would face Ade's old side, Manchester City.

THE FINAL

With just 2 minutes of normal time remaining we were 3-1 to the good and looking like the trophy was our's. However, an 88th minute goal, followed by another at 90+5 for City took the match into extra time. When they scored again to go 4-3 up I was convinced that I was going to be the victim of some FM cheese but Saïd Raki popped up with an equaliser to make it 4-4.

The match went to penalties and despite a miss from Alexander Flurschuetz, City missed their last two attempts which meant one thing;

BORUSSIA DORTMUND ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!!

Ade had won his second Champions League crown and was feeling over the moon. 

Now he just has the Bundesliga title solely in his sights and this will be his ultimate aim next season. The two trophies at the end of the season has given him renewed hope for next season just when he was beginning to have doubts creeping in. This could potentially be Ade's final season in Germany before seeking pastures now.

[karanhsingh]

Wow - congratulations! 

[TheGoodRebel]

On 22/06/2023 at 05:18, karanhsingh said:

Wow - congratulations! 

Thank you, winning a couple of trophies certainly helps you realise you're heading in the right direction!

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2040/2041

Dortmund were European champions but there were no Jack Grealish-esque celebrations for Ade. It was straight down to business and plotting for next season. The mission was very simple, win the Bundesliga, even if it meant sacrificing our defence of the Champions League - nothing else mattered.

TRANSFERS

Maksim Turniški was going to be out of contract at the end of the season and he didn't want to sign a new deal. Ade was happy enough to let him go. He was a good player for us but he was nothing outstanding and we made a huge profit on him.

Carlos Baiúa has been one of the best hitmen in Europe for the past few seasons and he had been released Seville. We snapped him up straight away due to his ability to also play on the right side of the attack, what a great replacement for Turniški;

GERMAN SUPER CUP

We faced off against Bayern in the traditional season opener. Despite leading 2-1 we ended up losing, again, to our great rivals. It was pleasing, however, to see Baiúa score a goal on his debut.

UEFA SUPER CUP

Next up was Europa League winners Leeds United. A nice, straightforward, victory with Baiúa again getting on the scoresheet. A third trophy for Ade at Dortmund.

DFB-POKAL

Routine victories over Türkgücü München and Braunschweig set up a Third Round tie with RB Leipzig.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The defence of our Champions League crown hasn't got off to the best of starts. However, we have been resting players in these matches to save them for the Bundesliga.

Still, despite the results, we can still qualify for the next stage with two very winnable games up next. We had to go through the Playoff round last season and we won the trophy, so it's not the end of the world.

BUNDESLIGA

Without doubt our number one priority this season. Win this and Ade can go and join a new club. We're at the half way stage and our start has been near perfect. Just one loss coming in 17 games - guess who to?

Our start sees us on a serious charge towards the title. However, a certain juggernaut is still very much visible in our rear view mirror;

Our hopes will very much depend on Saïd Raki. The Dutch international is scoring for fun for us...

...and has just won his THIRD Ballon D'Or in a row - watch out Leo Messi!

Edited June 24, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2040/2041

Ade's troops had made a blistering start to the season domestically. However, with it being the Bundesliga, Bayern are always lurking, ready to pounce! Could Dortmund carry on their form throughout the rest of the season?

DFB-POKAL

The first trophy that Ade had won in Germany. Dortmund were the current holders and had navigated their way through to a Third Round tie against RB Leipzig;

We made easy work of Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen and were drawn against Bayern in the Semi Final. It was 1-1 at the end of normal time but then in extra time we found ourselves another gear and ended up giving them a bit of a thrashing. This meant we were in the Final for the second successive season. Our opponents - Hertha Berlin.

Hertha took the lead but we took control of the match to go 3-1 up. Alonso pulled one back for Hertha with four minutes left, but the result was never in doubt and we retained the trophy.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We had won this the season before so it wasn't a priority for us as we wanted to focus on the league. We won the two remaining League Phase matches to reach the Playoff Round;

Where we were drawn against Newcastle;

An easy 7-1 aggregate victory moved us into the Round of 16 where we were drawn against our former club, AC Milan;

This is where the defence of our title came to an end. We should have won the home leg but couldn't find a way past their inspired defence. In the second leg we rested a couple of key players and got turned over 4-1. 

BUNDESLIGA

The one we wanted most this season. We had gotten off to a great start but knew we couldn't rest on our laurels and we had to keep pushing hard until the season end. It was a two horse race for most of the season as Bayern were always in our rear view mirror. However, in previous seasons, despite leading by 6 points or so, we'd lose to them at home to let them back into the race. That wasn't the case this season;

A 3-2 win meant we had finally managed to put some daylight between them and ourselves and actually kept it there for once. Meaning...

DORTMUND ARE CHAMPIONS OF GERMANY!!!

We won it with a 9 point gap and with three games to spare. This meant we got to lift the trophy in front of our home fans and secured the domestic double.

This was 'mission accomplished' for Ade and Bayern's run of 29 successive Bundesliga titles was over. After going 4 seasons without winning a trophy, Ade had won 5 in his last two.

THE PLAYERS

Some fantastic performances. Saïd Raki hit the 40 goal mark again and Carlos Baiúa scored 30. 

Dortmund's Bundesliga triumph means it's "Auf Wiedersehen" to this chapter of Ade's career;

After resigning Ade was inundated with offers from a host of top clubs. However, there was a certain big, big job that became available due to the retirement of their manager.......

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[karanhsingh]

Wow, 90 points in a 34 game league is pretty incredible to say the least. Well done!

[TheGoodRebel]

19 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wow, 90 points in a 34 game league is pretty incredible to say the least. Well done!

Thank you! We would have set a new record for most wins if we'd have hit 30, but it just wasn't meant to be. Still very, very happy with the massive improvement from last season with essentially the same XI. I made a couple of minor tweaks tactically so I don't know whether it was that, or just the fact my players had lots of green links now, that contributed towards it.

[TheGoodRebel]

NEW CLUB

After leaving Dortmund Ade had been contacted from Everton and Napoli about their vacancies and he was seriously tempted by the latter. However, Ade has always wanted to manage in La Liga at some point on his managerial journey and a certain vacancy became available after the retirement of their long serving manager, Jürgen Klopp.

Ade is honoured to have the chance to coach Real Madrid. You just cannot say no when they come calling. They have recently lost their La Liga crown to old rivals Barcelona but did win the Champions League. There is something special about Real Madrid and the Champions League - Ade will be under huge pressure to win both La Liga and the Champions League straight away, the board and fans demand it. He will be joined at Real by his long term assistant, Davide Ancelotti, who has been with Ade every step of the way since they first started working together at Sheffield United.

MEET THE SQUAD

There is generally a wealth of talent at his disposal. David Filbert was a player Ade had his eye on while at Dortmund but a move never materialised. He is also reunited with Osvaldo Gioia who he coached at Milan.

Surprisingly, Klopp retired during the FIFA Club World Cup so Ade finds himself immediately involved in a Semi Final against PSG and has the chance to land a major trophy straight away.

There's nothing like a baptism of fire!

Hala Madrid!

Edited June 25, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[DavidBeckham]

The beast is a Galactico! It's match made in heaven  Fantastic work with Dortmund mate!!

[TheGoodRebel]

On 30/06/2023 at 18:18, DavidBeckham said:

The beast is a Galactico! It's match made in heaven  Fantastic work with Dortmund mate!!

Thanks mate - he's certainly come a long way since his early days at Rochdale!!

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2041/2042

The Beast was now a Galactico. However, managing a club of this stature comes with certain demands. There's no way he'd get away with taking 6 seasons to win a league title here! Trophies are expected here and he was thrown straight in at the deep end.

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP

The first thing he was faced with was a Club World Cup Semi-Final date with PSG;

We edged a close fought 2-1 victory to set up a final against Man Utd.

Luck was not on our side. Despite taking the lead, we lost 2-1 and had to settle for being the 2nd best club in the world for now.

TRANSFERS

Once the transfer window opened a number of players wanted to leave. Not because they had an issue with Ade, but because they wanted new challenges. Ade has never been the type to stand in a player's way if he wants to go so there were a number of leavers;

and just one incoming player;

Joachim Branth Christensen followed Ade through the door from Borussia Dortmund.

UEFA SUPER CUP

As reigning Champions League holders we faced Europa League winners, Southampton, in the European curtain raiser.

The match was a one-sided affair and Ade won the trophy for the 3rd time in his career.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Some big wins against big opposition. However, we have stuttered against inferior opposition.

Our position could be better but we still fancy our chances of avoiding the play off round and advancing straight through to the Round of 16.

LA LIGA

We've generally got off to a good start - with the exception of dropped points against Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Atlético it's been pretty comfortable so far.

Going into the league campaign I was fully expecting to be battling Atlético and Barcelona for the title. However, at the half-way stage, Barca have been absolutely poor and this is threatening to become a bit of a procession;

There's still a long way to go but Ade is feeling confident about the league. If he can bring league and European success to Real this season he can start planning the final stage of his career. He will be 60 this year and plans on retiring by the time he turns 70. There are a couple of wrongs he wants to right before then though and he also wants to try and win something with his country on the international stage before finally relaxing and spending time with the family and grandkids.

 

[TheGoodRebel]

Sorry for the recent lack of updates guys - I've been busy with work and wanted to take a little break from the playing the game. However, Ade's journey will resume very soon :-)

Edited July 30, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[DavidBeckham]

On 31/07/2023 at 02:43, TheGoodRebel said:

Sorry for the recent lack of updates guys - I've been busy with work and wanted to take a little break from the playing the game. However, Ade's journey will resume very soon :-)

No worries mate, life comes first! But Ade is doing fantastic and he's definitely winning the league with Real this season!

[TheGoodRebel]

It's been a while since my last update. I initially took a break but then ended up having laptop issues on top of that - but here we go, Ade's journey is back under way!

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2041/2042

Ade had gotten off to a solid start in La Liga and had also bagged an early European trophy with the Super Cup. Here's how the rest of the season unfolded.

COPA DEL REY

We navigated our way to the final where we faced city rivals Atletico.

A comfortable 2-0 win saw us lift the trophy.

LA LIGA

Our form carried on right throughout the season and it was a bit of a procession, wrestling the trophy back from Barcelona with ease. Another league title in the bag for Ade as well as setting a new top flight record for wins and points.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

We won our last two league phase games to advance into the knockout rounds.

Inter, Leipzig and Man City were all seen off to set up a final against PSG who we had thrashed 5-1 earlier in the campaign.

The final was a much closer affair and ended up going the distance, all the way to penalties.

We held our nerve to win 4-2 on penalties which gave Ade his 3rd Champions League crown.

Ade had conquered Spain in just one season and was ready for a new challenge. Straight after the Champions League final he decided to step down from his role as Madrid boss...

Edited September 2, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

NEW CLUB

Ade had his eyes on one job and decided to play the waiting game before it eventually became available. He was offered jobs with several top international sides after the latest World Cup with Brazil, France and Spain amongst the offers - he was VERY tempted to take the Brazil role but ultimately decided against it.

After 13 games of the new season the job Ade wanted eventually became available so he applied, had talks and was offered the role.

Ade has gone back to Liverpool, his boyhood club. Having being sacked from The Reds earlier in his career, Ade is desperate to put it right. Liverpool have fallen on some seriously hard times of late and find themselves deep in relegation trouble;

They had an absolute shocker under their previous manager, Omar Daf, and are no longer considered the force of old. Ade's job will be to restore Liverpool back to their former glories and will more than likely be the final destination of his club career, as he intends to spend a few seasons here, before he looks to finish off his career with some international management.

Edited September 2, 2023 by TheGoodRebel

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2042/2043

So Ade finds himself back at Liverpool and they're currently in a relegation battle. The squad, on paper at least, seems too good to be in the position they find themselves in. Ade is confident he can steer them away from the drop zone and into mid table safety. 

There are a couple of familiar faces. Ade is reunited with Mattia Santarossa who he signed during his time at Milan. The Italian midfielder is 32 now but still has plenty left in the tank. Ade will be looking to him for his experience to help guide the team out of the bottom 3. Brazilian striker Daniel and defender Richard Irvings are both still at the club from Ade's first spell in charge at Anfield. Irvings was a young prospect at the time but has developed into the best defender at the club. Daniel is 34 now and past his best but will still be a useful option from the bench for the remainder of the season.

Ade is definitely going to have to work with what he's got as the club finances aren't in the best shape.

The club are in the red, have no transfer budget and are overspending on wages. Ade will have to get the finances well under control. European football will be vital to that, but they are already miles behind achieving that through the league. Perhaps Ade will have to focus on the cup competitions as an alternative route into Europe. The next couple of seasons are going to be a challenge, but Ade is very excited about trying to revive this fallen giant.

[DavidBeckham]

Fairytale return for Ade and it looks a big challenge with the league position and financial situation. I'm sure glory will return with Ade's leadership though!

[TheGoodRebel]

SEASON 2042/2043

Ade's first job was to improve the situation on the pitch and steer Liverpool away from an embarrassing relegation battle. Then, after that, try and improve the club finances. How did he get on?

PREMIER LEAGUE

It took a few games for the players to adjust to Ade's system, but once they did he managed to guide them out of the bottom 3 with 10 wins, 6 draws and 9 defeats to secure a mid table finish. Job done.

TRANSFERS

Once it looked like the team would be safe from relegation Ade oversaw a huge cull of players during January.

He also brought in two loan signings to help reach the end of the season. One of them was his former Dortmund striker, Carlos Baiúa, who helped Ade win the Bundesliga;

FINANCES

After the sale of so many players, the clubs finances are looking in better shape. European football will be required though to help these grow.

Ade's summer focus will be bringing in young players who he can mould into a team that can try and push them up the table next season and hopefully have a crack at qualifying for Europe. The scouting department will have their work cut out!