(FM24) Scotland Club and Country

[TheLutterworthFox]

Welcome to my FM24 where, as the title suggests, I will trying to make Scotland the best nation in the World both internationally and domestically.

In this save there are four main aims:

 

INTERNATIONAL

• Win the World Cup
• Top the FIFA World Rankings

DOMESTIC

• Win the Champions League
• Take Scotland to the top of the UEFA Nation co-efficient

 

To do this I will be starting as manager of the Scotland National team and alongside that I will be taking charge of Queen's Park, who currently reside in the Championship.

Why Queen's Park? Well they are a Glasgow-based team and it would be a nice extra challenge to topple the big two (Celtic and Rangers) who are both Glasgow-based as well

So wish me luck!

 

Updates will be monthly or bi-monthly depending on how much stuff has happened, there will also be a pre-season preview and a post season review.

Edited October 22, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season Preview

 

This update will look specifically at Queen's Park. Internationally I will only really update when qualifying for a competition ends or when a major tournament comes about.

 

THE CLUB

Formed in 1867, the Glasgow-based club are the oldest football club in Scotland, they currently play at Hampden Park, the home of the National side, the stadium holds just over 51k, a nice capacity to aim at but for now we will be lucky to get 4-5k each game (and even that's probably optimistic!)

 

The club have only really risen away from the bottom tier of the SPFL in the past couple of season, winning successive promotions in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and in the 2022-23 season narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premiership, losing in the playoffs. Their rise up the leagues has coincided with the decision to become professional in 2019, removing the amateur status the club has held for 152 years.

So a club on the up with a huge ground, a great base and an exciting future.

 

FACILITIES

 

Overall it looks pretty good, compared to the rest of the Scottish Championship our training and youth facilities are near the top end, we also have half-decent junior coaching and youth recruitment but to bring through those top quality kids through the academy this needs improving.

I do like to get those intake stars coming into the first-team, this will also hopefully help the national side as we progress through the save, so getting these increased is key moving forward.

 

THE FINANCES

It actually looks better than I expected but, as you will see, it maybe isn't as good as you'd think.

£3m in the bank, fantastic, but……

Projections shows big losses over the coming seasons, promotion to the Premiership is key but even then money won't come easy, the best way to make money is to qualify for Europe, that is a must. It will be tough but shouldn't take more than 4 or 5 seasons tops.

It's also not brilliant budget wise with only £80k to spend in transfer money and literally no spare wage budget left in what we have.

So promotion is huge to get the finances moving the right way and this season we have to be really savvy in how we build the squad in readiness for a promotion challenge.

 

THE PLAYERS

After an initial look it has become evidently clear we have virtually no defenders, when I looked we had one right back and two centre backs. I've had to bring in some kids from the youth teams to just bolster the defensive ranks. So that is the number one aim before the season starts, we need defenders.

Other than that we have strength in depth in all areas, plenty of midfielders and way too many wingers, up front we are a little light in decent natural strikers but the kids may get their chance!

 

KEY MEN

The highest rated player at the club is wide-man Stuart McKinstry, at only 20-years old he could be a huge players moving forward.

Left back Tommy Robson also looks like a really good player for this level, a decent attacking full back.

I am really excited by this lad, goalkeeper Callan McKenna is a 16-year old who has already been capped at U17 and U18 level for Scotland, could he be a potential star for the national side in the years to come?

One thing that is evident is how young our squad is, we have 8 players over 22-years old and only 1 player over 30. In the squad we have 13 teenagers! It's time for them to become men and take this club to the Premiership!!!!

 

SEASON PREVIEW AND EXPECTATIONS

So how are we expected to do? Well the media have us as playoff challengers but more than likely to end mid-table.

The board also agree as they expect us to end mid-table and to do our best in the cup competitions

The interesting thing is, the board expect us to win promotion next season! High expectations!!!

 

My next update will be at the end of August when the transfer window slams shut, let's hope we can bring in some better defenders and start the season well!

[Lestri]

Those financial projections will give you an interesting few years of Early Access! Will be following this with interest!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - July & August

Here we go, the season has begun and I've got to the end of August, before I go through the results let's take a look at the new signings.

Because of our restricted wage budget I've had to keep costs down by cheap loans and freebies, there were a few more than I planned but all brought in for a reason.

 

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan - Striker - Season loan from Reading

Say this name when you're drunk!!! A decent looking, young forward who started the season well but then got injured for 6-8 weeks. We were very short of decent strikers so he was massively needed, a shame he got injured so quickly

Phil Bardsley - Right Back - Free Transfer

Experience which is really needed in this young squad, at 38 though Phil still looks top quality.

 

Tyler Bindon - Central Defender - Season loan from Reading

We are hugely short in defence so Bindon was needed, a really decent, tall, strong centre back.

Ryan Astley - Central Defender - Season loan from Everton

A second CB to come in, his attributes are really well-rounded and he will prove to be a quality player at this level

Aiden Denholm - Central Midfield - Season loan from Hearts

What I found in the opening games was we really didn't have a decent, attacking-minded midfielder, one who can get forward and be a threat in the box, Denholm looks like he can fill that gap.

Will Lankshear - Striker - Season loan from Spurs

After losing my other loanee Striker for a few months I needed another lad to come in as we are very short up top. Lankshear offers good pace and decent finishing, he should be really good

 

So six new signings, no money spent and wages kept down to a minimum, the squad looks much better now, even if it still looks very young.

Now to the results and the season starts the with Premier Sports Cup (League Cup), it opens with a group stage and it went really well.

Four games, three wins and our only defeat was on penalties in the final game. Our best result was the first game where we beat Premiership side St Mirren. A really good start.

 

After the group stage of the League Cup the Championship season began, it didn't start well with a poor defeat to Inverness but we recovered to beat Arbroath 3-0, our third league game was another defeat away to Partick but they are a much better team than us and we did play pretty well. 

Sandwiched in between those final two league games was the Second round of the League Cup where we went to Premiership side Livingston and came away with a 2-1 win!

So while the league season hasn't started amazingly our run in the League Cup has been brilliant, in the Quarters we face Celtic at home!

Only three points so far but we have had a couple of tough away games, defensively we seem to struggle and we have also been hampered with fitness issues, hopefully as the season continues, the players will begin to get their sharpness up.

 

Finally, a quick look at the tactics I'm trying to employ. I have two tactics, both 41221 with different styles of play dependant on who we're facing.

If I want to dominate the ball and push higher up forcing mistakes then I will play with the gegenpress tactic. This worked really well in the League Cup but when we faced away games in the League it seemed to get ripped apart, hence why I had a second tactic, one which sat a bit deeper and play more counter-attacking.

For the gegenpress tactic though the roles are pretty basic with a couple of changes to base roles. 

Below is the second tactic, again 41221 with some tweaks to roles. I hope the CM(a) will get forward to join in the attacks, it worked well in the win away to Livingston where Denholm scored the winner from that CM(a) position. I've also tried a different style back four with the LB more attacking, the RB is playing at the new IFB role who, when the LB attacks, should tuck in and create a back three, let's hope it works!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2023/24 Season - September

It's been a pretty decent month overall

The draw away to Raith was really pleasing, a team expected to end above us, we scored after 18 seconds and although they grabbed a second half leveller, we did well to hold on for a point. After that it was really good in the league, we gave Celtic a run for their money in the League Cup and then fluked a penalty shootout win with our reserves playing in the Challenge Cup

We played really well against Celtic, had a few chances but in the end they just had too much.

 

It's really tight in the league, as expected really, it's a ridiculously tough league with lots of good teams, 4th is good and we're only two points off the top.

Our good month has also been noticed as I have won the Championship Manager of the Month

And my on loan midfielder Denholm wins the Young Player of the Month

Edited October 22, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox

[ManUtd1]

Nice start in here! Time to get the lads bouncing...

[phnompenhandy]

In a move that will undoubtably have major financial implications, having sold Hampden Park to the SFA and technically currently homeless (although playing with the SFA's permission at Hampden this season), next season The Spiders move into LESSER HAMPDEN - their reserves pitch and training ground. It's due to have a capacity of 1774, so if you gain promotion, you immediately run into problems! Does FM24 have the future move coded into your save?

 

Hang on, this is what my save shows:

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by phnompenhandy
screenie

[TheLutterworthFox]

48 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

In a move that will undoubtably have major financial implications, having sold Hampden Park to the SFA and technically currently homeless (although playing with the SFA's permission at Hampden this season), next season The Spiders move into LESSER HAMPDEN - their reserves pitch and training ground. It's due to have a capacity of 1774, so if you gain promotion, you immediately run into problems! Does FM24 have the future move coded into your save?

 

Hang on, this is what my save shows:

 

I was discussing this with someone the other night. It looks like it hasn't been put into the game. The facs don't show the move, it'll be interesting to see what happens at the end of the season

 

This what is shows on fm24 for me, nothing about it

Edited October 23, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox

[phnompenhandy]

21 minutes ago, TheLutterworthFox said:

I was discussing this with someone the other night. It looks like it hasn't been put into the game. The facs don't show the move, it'll be interesting to see what happens at the end of the season

Ah, interesting. It's in my screenshot; however, the thing is, I've ported over an FM23 save into FM24. Must have been updated in a modded edt file I've added but not by SI.

[TheLutterworthFox]

October 2023

What an amazing month….bar one result

6 leagues games, 5 wins including a last-gaps 1-0 win away to Dundee United, overall I am delighted, we have really hit some form, there is one result that didn't go our way, I've never witnessed a game like it, my players just didn't show up, they ran us ragged and we got hammered by Airdrie!

15 points out of a possible 18 though, absolutely brilliant and that means…..

We're top by 4 points!!! Still a long way to go but we're doing so well.

A quick word on Winger Stuart McKinstry who's had a sensational month, 5 games, 4 goals and 3 assists, he ends as the Championship Player and Young Player of the Month

[madeirabhoy]

if it doesnt change to lesser hampden in a year, then id imagine it will in an update, so get that Champions League won before the next update!

 

in real life i find the rebuilding of lesser hampden a bit strange as the club seems to have money (due to Haughey) and ambition. And yet they rebuild Lesser Hampden to be tiny with a capacity of 1774. The original capacity was 12k albeit a long time ago and standing, but the design of LH seems to look like it could have held a lot more if the corporate boxes werent taking up too much space.

 

what i did think would have made sense even if it p...d off the other competing clubs was for them to have insisted on a clause on selling hampden that in the long term they could use it for bigger games when / if they reach the top league. 

[The Last Throw]

Just spent an enjoyable 10 minutes catching up all your posts so far and I can happily say I'm really looking forward to following this save.
Its a very ambitious challenge but having followed your FM Content for a few years now, I'd expect nothing less.
I like the narrative, toppling the Old Firm is the obvious one in Scotland but to do it with a club from the same city adds an extra bit of spice.
Callan McKenna looks incredible, have you been tempted to throw him straight in? He could be a fantastic keeper for years to come.
Some good sensible moves in the transfer market which is being illustrated by your league form.
I can see a Scottish Championship winners medal coming your way very soon...

[Jimbokav1971]

Queens Park own Hampden Park? Do you get a rental income from the Scottish FA whenever they use it? 

Not sure if it's just the skin/colours you're using, but some of your players look pretty decent. Good luck with this. 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2 hours ago, The Last Throw said:

Just spent an enjoyable 10 minutes catching up all your posts so far and I can happily say I'm really looking forward to following this save.
Its a very ambitious challenge but having followed your FM Content for a few years now, I'd expect nothing less.
I like the narrative, toppling the Old Firm is the obvious one in Scotland but to do it with a club from the same city adds an extra bit of spice.
Callan McKenna looks incredible, have you been tempted to throw him straight in? He could be a fantastic keeper for years to come.
Some good sensible moves in the transfer market which is being illustrated by your league form.
I can see a Scottish Championship winners medal coming your way very soon...

Thanks mate, appreciate the nice words. McKenna has played every game and whilst we have conceded a few he's been pretty solid

16 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Queens Park own Hampden Park? Do you get a rental income from the Scottish FA whenever they use it? 

Not sure if it's just the skin/colours you're using, but some of your players look pretty decent. Good luck with this. 

The whole thing is odd. In real life they are only using Hampden Park as they are having Lesser Hampden renovated, this doesn't seem to be in the game as it's not on the facilities page but I wouldn't be surprised if it goes through at the end of the season. As for rental income, there doesn't seem to be any as far as I can see. The only thing that does seem high on the finances page is "Corporate Facilities Income" which, after 4 months is just over £200k

[mannojunior]

Enjoying this mate! Been a good season so far! How is Phil getting on?

[TheLutterworthFox]

11 minutes ago, mannojunior said:

Enjoying this mate! Been a good season so far! How is Phil getting on?

Thanks so much mate. Not great if I'm honest. 12 starts, 4 sub apps, 6.66 average!

[Emozil]

What skin is this please?

[TheLutterworthFox]

November 2023 + Euro Qualifying

 

What an amazing month it's been. In the League we have won all three of our games, conceding none along the way.

That final game against Dunfermline was huge, they are second and we produced a fantastic defensive display to grab a 1-0 win. It was made even better as I cocked up, I called both GK McKenna and Winger McKinstry to the Scotland not realising that we had that game during the international window!!!

7 points clear at the top now, still a long way to go but things are going so much better than I expected!

 

Now for the Euro 2024 Qualifying, it has just finished so what better time than to show you how things went.

Firstly, the crap part. In true FM style they decided not to include the actual real-life results, 3 games were played before the save started and unlike real-life where Scotland won all 3 of their matches, in FM they only won 1!

A poor start but I love to produce miracles!!!

In the September games we were absolutely incredible, grabbing a fantastic win against Haaland-less Norway and then a solid point at home to Spain.

Only a single game in the October break where we hammered Cyprus.

That meant we went into the November games with qualification in our own hands, we faced Georgia at home and Norway away, we knew if we beat Georgia we would only need a point in the final match. The only issue was Haaland was back!

Well we battered Georgia in an amazing second half display.

A draw was all what was needed but I knew it was going to be tough, half time came and we were 1-0 down, Haaland with the goal and within 6 minutes of the second half starting it was all but over, Odegaard and Solbakken with the goals to put Norway 3-0 up. Then came the come back, an own goal and a Gilmour penalty got it back to 3-2 but as we went for that massive third goal Norway caught us on the break, scoring a 4th and nabbing that final qualification spot from us.

Absolutely gutting!

But then the good news, we grabbed ourself a playoff spot!!!

Slovakia in the semis and then either Ukraine or Northern Ireland in the final for a Euro 2024 spot.

It does look like I am going to have to get through as the board are already unhappy!

Not sure why, apart from the Norway game we actually did really well, the main bad results came before I joined!

In other news 29-year old Andy Robertson and Scotland captain has retired from international football!

You're loss fella!!!

[TheLutterworthFox]

47 minutes ago, Emozil said:

What skin is this please?

Its called SAS' The guy who does it doesn't seem to promote it any many places, I found it after someone sent the link on another FM site https://sortitoutsi.net/content/63688/sas-skin-24

[Emozil]

34 minutes ago, TheLutterworthFox said:

Its called SAS' The guy who does it doesn't seem to promote it any many places, I found it after someone sent the link on another FM site https://sortitoutsi.net/content/63688/sas-skin-24

Thanks mate. Will give it a go. 

[TheLutterworthFox]

December 2023

 

The end of the year is here and although there's been a couple of iffy results this month things are still looking rosy

4 games in the league, we dropped our first points at home but still managed 7 points. Weirdly all of our games in December were at Hampden!

 

We also progressed in two cups, the big one was the Challenge Cup where we beat rivals Clyde easily

 

So we still sit top of the league even if our lead has shrunk by a point. 16 games left, a playoff spot looks nailed on but we want that automatic promotion spot!

 

One thing we have struggled with in the past few games is goals, only 2 goals in the last 3 games isn't great and both my loanee Strikers Lankshear and Ehibhatiomhan have struggled to find the net consistently. This may be something I look at sorting out in January, either by a signing or a switch in formation.

 

I did do my usual cock-up as well when I signed players on loan and forgot to look at the preferred position the players club wanted them to play at so both Strikers and midfielder Denholm may all get recalled, I have switched roles in my tactic to try and help but their managers are not happy!

[TheLutterworthFox]

January 2024

It's been a busy transfer window, firstly we lost Lankshear (ST) and Denholm (CM) who both got recalled to their parent clubs and then we lost one of our key men.

Left Winger Dom Thomas got his head turned by St Johnstone and left for £325k, a decent fee but it also includes 50% of the next sale, let's hope he goes for a decent fee!

Because of this we needed some new recruits, cheap deals and really cheap loans (and remembering to remove preferred position!!!!)

So please welcome…

Michael Okeke - Central Midfield - Season loan from Man City

A fantastic looking player who is technically gifted, much needed in our midfield that seems really short of that kind of quality.

Nathan Lowe - Striker - Season loan from Stoke

I said in the last post we were struggling for goals and I needed a quality striker, well I think I've found my man in Nathan Lowe, those physicals are immense for an 18-year old!!! He looks so good and hopefully will fire us to the Premiership

Toby Collyer - Central Midfield - Season loan from Man United

Another midfielder joins, I really felt this is where we were lacking, we needed better players to get the ball and do things with it and I hope that alongside Okeke, these two can do the job.

Scott Sinclair - Winger - £4.4k from Bristol Rovers

My replacement for Dom Thomas and what a player to bring in. Even at 34 he still looks really good and offers versatility being able to play anywhere along the attacking midfield or upfront, or even as a wing back!

 

Some really good signings, a definite improvement to the squad.

We've also had some other pieces of good news, the board have agreed to improve the Junior Coaching (Good) and Youth Recruitment (Above Average). Hopefully this will help in being able to bring our own academy players through

Now to the results and overall it's been a really good month.

Ok it didn't start well but Partick were a tough opponent, after that though it only went one way! I went back to my original gegenpress 41221 formation and it worked a treat. 4 straight wins, 2 in the league and progression in both the Scottish Cup and the Challenge Cup where we are into the semis and face League One Hamilton.

Those 2 league wins out of the 3 games mean we still sit top but our lead is now down to 5 points, a good gap to 3rd though with 14 games left.

As you can see in the results we owed our Scottish Cup win to Scott Sinclair who, in his first game for the club, scored twice including a 25-yard free kick!1

The month ends with an award for Winger Ruari Paton who wins the Championship Young Player of the Month

A good month for the lad who only came in as a stop-gap when Thomas left, prior to Sinclair coming in!

[The Last Throw]

Looking quite comfortable at the top of the table, well done! Some excellent January transfer business, great to see you also making progress off the field with the upgrades. Very unlucky with Scotland, think you'll really kick on with them though in the next few seasons

[TheLutterworthFox]

February 2024

The Championship title charge is well and truly gaining momentum!

4 league games, 10 points, this is going so well!

10 games left, 8 points clear!!

 

The league is going well but so is our cup runs, firstly we have got ourselves into the Challenge Cup final where we will face Falkirk

We then produced a huge shock in the Scottish Cup but knocking out Premiership Hibs with a last gasp goal!

And we more than deserved it.

 

That puts us into the Quarter finals where we have a home tie against Premiership St Mirren, a huge chance of getting to the semis!

 

We end the month with more awards as on-loan Striker Nathan Lowe wins both the Championship Player and Young Player of the Month! What a start for the lad!

[marktonge]

Top of the league, into a domestic cup final and knocking out a premiership side in the other! I think it's fair to say things are going well mate. 

Just got to keep doing what you're doing. 

[TheLutterworthFox]

March 2024 + Euro 2024 Playoffs & Youth Intake

It's been a very busy month overall but let's start with Scotland.

After narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for the Euros we were given a reprieve with a playoff spot. Slovakia in the Semi Final

It was a tough game, but we played well and scraped a 1-0 win, lots of disallowed goals along the way and Che Adams was fantastic.

We then faced Ukraine in the final, we were away and half my squad were knackered as the game came 4 days after the Slovakia match. We did our best, we weren't great in the first half but somehow we took the lead with just under 20 mins to go. We tried to hang on but the players were dead on their feet, Ukraine equalised soon after our goals, the game went to extra time and we fell apart, 2 goals in the first half of extra time saw Ukraine take a 3-1 lead, there was no way back and we were out. Gutted

The only good news is the Scottish FA let me keep my job….just!

Now we come to domestic action and unlike with Scotland things are going VERY well. I've changed tactics, I wanted more goals and changing to a 4231 has worked amazingly.

Goals have been flying in!

100% in the league, the title is so close now but the big one was the Scottish Cup Quarter final where we came from behind to see of Premiership St Mirren.

Its amazing to think but we are in the Semi finals of the main cup competition in Scotland but it's about to get very tough as we face Rangers!!

Like I said before, the league is all but over. We have 6 games left and sit 13 clear of 2nd, although they do have a game in-hand

There was one game left in the month and that was the Challenge Cup final against Falkirk. We were huge favourites but with lots of niggles and fitness issues it ended up being a very tight game.

Falkirk took an early lead well against the run of play, we absolutely battered them, chance after chance and it looked like it wasn't going to be our day, then, with 10 mins left, we eventually grabbed the leveller courtesy of Winger Paton. It went to extra time but 5 mins in we were given a penalty for a push in the box, Ehibhatiomham stepped up….and scored! 2-1, now we just had to hang on….AND WE DID!

CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS!!!

What an achievement in my first season in charge, now let's finish it off and win the Championship!

Finally, we had the annual youth intake, we were promised a “golden generation” in the preview and when it popped up I confused!

A “poor intake” but 1 elite talent and 4 top talents! Strange, so let's check them out!

 

The best “prospect”, yeah he isn't great!

 

I'm definitely gonna need some “patience” with this lad. Not great!

 

He looks angry but actually his attributes aren't too bad. 

 

And the final one, physically not good but actually not too bad.

So it could've been better, not the best first intake but there is something to work with

 

[mannojunior]

Quality performances mate! Shame about the Euro qualification but you were thrown under the bus by the IRL results not being included. 

[TheLutterworthFox]

April/May 2024 & End of Season Review

March ended with one trophy and it wasn't long before another was sealed!

 

We beat Ayr United 2-1 before a 1-0 win at home to Dundee United sealed the Championship title with 4 games to spare. I never ever expected it to be this season!

 

 

After that I mixed the team around but we continued to pick up points even if we did lose a game.

 

We also had the Scottish Cup Semi Final against Rangers, as expected they were just too good, we did however manage to pull back 2 goals to only lose the game 4-2. An amazing run in that competition and that semi final gave us another £450k in gate receipts!

Another quality month (and a game in May), some brilliant results including smashing 2nd placed Inverness 6-2!

 

I'm not sure I could have wished for a better season, Challenge Cup Winners, Championship Winners and the Semi's of the Scottish Cup!

We end 16 points clear of the rest, absolutely incredible. I was expecting a playoff spot but never to dominate how we did!

 

Now for the key men, firstly here is the whole squad…

Some brilliant performances but there was one stand out man and that was Winger Stuart McKinstry.

 

By far our best performer, most goals, highest average rating, clubs player and young player of the year and also the Championship Player of the Season!

The only thing McKinstry didn't end top of was the most assists and that went to Right Winger Ruari Paton.

14 goals and 13 assists, not bad for a player who only starting 28 games!

 

Here is the clubs best XI from the season review.

It shows the 41221 formation but our form really kicked on when we switched to the 4231. Some fantastic performances, special note for my boy, young 'keeper Callan McKenna, this lad is going to be an absolute star!

A quick word on the finances. If you remember back to my first post, we had £3m in the bank but the projection was for us to lost around £2.5m over the season. Well our amazing cup runs combined with the gate receipts from the Celtic League Cup game and the Scottish Cup Semi against Rangers, also the £325k from the Dom Thomson deal means we actually end the season at £2.5m!

 

This has however took a hit as the board made me aware the training facilities had been downgraded, I immediately asked for them to be improved and they agreed.

£1.8m though so a massive hit on the balance BUT the board then chucked £3m into the coffers meaning our balance ends even higher than when we started the season!

So a good season on the pitch and a brilliant one off it. Now we really need to look at improving this squad ready to challenge in Scotland's top tier. It's going to be very tough and even tougher when you see the budgets!

A £10k p/wk increase in wages and just over £400k in transfer budget. After all the loanees leave we are left with around £14k p/wk in wages to spend, that's more than enough but we will once again have to rely on cheap loans and free transfers.

 

Here's hoping we can get in what we need to get this squad ready for what should be a very tough season, staying up is the key, can we do it? I think we can!

 

Finally, in Scotland news, we have had our Nations League draw, we are in Division B and we've been given a really tough group.

 

Some really tough sides in there, let's just not get relegated to Div. C!

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season Preview

 

I won't lie, this is bloody worrying, I full expected to be forecast to end bottom….by a long way. The media don't even think we're going to end in the relegation playoff!!

The board expectation are a little bit lower than what the media think.

• Premiership - Avoid Relegation
• Scottish Cup - Quarter Final
• League Cup - Quarter Final

I personally think that's doable but the cup runs will obviously depend on the draw!

Pre-season has been pretty good however, loads and loads of goals!

Now to the signings….

First in is CB Paul Hanlon on a free from Hibs, I needed some experience in defence and this guy has it

 

With me switching between a 4231 and a 41221 I needed another AM just in case, Connor Smith joins on a free from Hearts

 

Bolstering the midfield was really important, Louis Reed joins on a free from Mansfield

The rest of the in's were season long loans, the big news was I managed to keep Nathan Lowe (ST) and Michael Okeke (CM) for another season

Here's the rest.....

I'm really excited by Rocco Vata, he had an amazing season with Celtic B last season and I very nearly put him in my Scotland squad.

So the squad is now looking pretty decent

2 options in every position bar a midfielder but I have those AMs who can drop in if I play the 41221. 

There's still plenty of time before the window closes, I do have a few of my key men wanted by other clubs, here's hoping they stay away!

The good news is that, even though we have totally maxed out our wage budget (and more as I move all the transfer budget over as well!) the financial projections are for us to make money this season, staying up and making a profit, that would be an incredibly good season.

[mannojunior]

Looks like a really strong window mate! Excited to see how you go. Strangely I’ve been really invested in the international management element which usually I’m not bothered by!

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season - July & August

It's been a busy couple of months, it started so well but we are already showing that we in for a massive struggle this season.

In July it's the League Cup and we did really well, it was expected, all 4 teams were in divisions below us but our attacking football and general performances were brilliant

A great start, August then came about and that meant Premiership action and it proved to be very tough!

One really good win but bar that it wasn't fun, St Mirren we were 2-0 up and threw it away and in the final 2 games we were so far off it.

What made it even more infuriating was, prior to the Hibs game we faced Rangers in the League Cup….at Ibrox….and did this!

An incredible result, I went with an all out defensive 532 and we came out with a ridiculous win.

I really thought that would propel our performances but it went the opposite way!

The only good news is we're not in the relegation places!

In other news we signed ourselves another Striker as Nathan Lowe got injured for a month, a good backup and Lee Erwin actually chipping in with a few important goals so far

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season - September & October

I am actually really pleased with how it's gone, one defeat and that was away to Celtic, we've had some really good results over the last two month including decent draws to Aberdeen and Rangers and some quality wins against teams that we expect to in and around that bottom area of the league.

My one big issue is we just cannot hold on to a lead. Hearts….conceded right at the end, Dundee…..we were 2-0 up, Aberdeen…..conceded right at the end. We seem to be mentally fragile at the worst possible time.

However I cannot complain, 7 league games, 10 points, if we get a point a game all season we should stay up.

And we have more than that currently, really pleasing.

As you can also see from the results we beat St Johnstone in the League Cup quarters, we now have Celtic in the semi's, a very tough ask!

I am delighted with how it's going, take away the late goals and the conceding when ahead and overall the performances have been great, the players look up for it and going forward we are amazing to watch. Defensively we are a joke but we will gloss over that!

Finally, we have dominated the October Premiership Young Player of the Month!

All three players are from Queen's Park with on-loan midfielder Michael Okeke taking the award.

His upturn in form has co-incided with me moving him to an advanced playmaker role as a CM, he has excelled!

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season - November, December and Nations League

Firstly lets look over Scotland campaign in the Nations League.

The group itself looked really tough and I'll be honest, I would've been happy to just not end bottom but what we did was beyond anything I imagined!

4 wins, 2 defeats, we were really really good and that meant…..

We ended top of the group and with that promotion to Division A, the big boys await!

We've also had out WC2026 Qualifying Group, we were seeded 2nd and have been handed a relatively decent draw,

 Only really Holland to worry about, we need to end top though to automatically qualify or hope to be one of the best 2nd placed teams. I have high hopes!

 

Now to domestic action and boy have things turned around.

The loss to Celtic in the cup was so tough to take, we ran them so close only to bottle the penalty shootout, then came a shocking defeat to Motherwell, we were 4-3 up, that's where I knew things had to change. I went back to basics, put the 41221 tactic back in, yes I tried to make us more defensively solid, that didn't really work but the little switch seems to work as after that Motherwell game we went on an amazing run.

4 straight wins, goals galore, some amazing results and even after a little blip we came back and ended December absolutely smashing St. Johnstone in their own park.

Going forward we look utterly incredible. The defending isn't great but I have plans in place to sort that out.

And that amazing run has propelled us all the way up to 5th place, Hearts do have a game in-hand but id we manage to end in that Championship group after the split I will be absolutely buzzing!

In other news, I have managed to persuade the board to do numerous upgrades. The finances are currently looking really good, we've had a couple of games where gate receipts have been insane, the Celtic game gave us £450k and the Rangers game in October gave us nearly £1m. 

Because of this and the bank balance stabilising I asked the board for numerous things.

Getting those budgets up is massive and means I can improve our problem area and that's in defence. Getting the Junior Coaching (up to Excellent) and Youth Recruitment (Good) is also key to bringing through and improving those intake players.

Talking of intakes, the preview looks really good.

Two forwards and a CM that are classed a “A”. We shall see if it really materialises!

Finally, I have made 3 signings in December, 1 joined immediately, 2 will join on Jan 1st.

The player who joined was CM Gavin Kilkenny, I played I had shortlisted and was shockingly released by Bournemouth, he joins on a free

The other two players will join on Jan 1st and are coming in to upgrade our defence.

 

First is Central Defender Liam Morrison who joins from Bayern Munich for £50k, rising to £150k with addons. A really low fee for a young, Scottish defender.

A new Left Back will also join as Tayo Adaramola comes in from Crystal Palace for £100k, rising to £300k with addons. I have been told he is one of Palace's hottest prospects so it'll be interesting to see how he develops

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season - January and February

Let's talk about loans, I must MUST remind myself when getting a player in on loan to look at the preferred role their parent clubs wants them to play in. I screwed up so many times on FM23 with regard to this and stupidly I've done it again.

Because of my incompetence I lost Carrington (RB) and Okeke (CM) for not playing them in their right role! We also lost Devine (RB) who's loan expired. This meant we had one big gaping hole on the right side of defence which needed to be rectified…cheaply.

So in comes 34-year old Romain Metanire on a free transfer and a cheap wage. This was the best I could do at the time, a short-term solution.

That was my only business in the January window, budgets are tight even if I did get the board to give me extra money prior to the window opening!

Result wise it's been a mixed bag but we have had some tough games.

7 league games, 2 wins and 9 points, good enough to keep our top 6 challenge up, we only lost 2 league games, both of those to Celtic…I can take that!

A quick word on the Scottish Cup loss to Rangers, what an absolute gutter, we lead, right until injury time, when a Danilo shot was fumbled by McKenna in goal, it fell to Hagi who tapped in. After that we did well to hold on but then bottled the penalty shootout. The only good news was the gate receipts, just over 47,000 and just over £700k in the bank!

Finally, the mad bit, I don't know what really came over me, I'd been chatting to few people in a Discord server and they all kept raving about playing double-Liberos, seeing as were shipping goals I really wanted to play 5 at the back, I add 2 and 2 and came back with 400 and decided upon this……

Total chaos but I have to admit, in the main it's half working, seeing as we aren't supposed to be that good, the attacking play from this tactic is utterly insane, as you can see from the results, the big issue is defensively and more importantly, holding on to leads. The latter I cannot put down to the tactic, that is a mentality issue in the squad, something that will get better as we start to progress and the players get more confidence, if they don't then new players will come in. I have to say though, when we attack and pass it around it looks absolutely glorious!

Edited October 28, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season - March, April & Youth Intake

It's been in indifferent month but overall we are massively over exceeding expectations. The end of the regular season is here, can we get ourselves into the Championship group before the league splits? Well lets see!

As you can gone are those bonkers high-scoring games, we are now much more solid, the new signings have helped and the double-Libero tactic seems to be working, goals have dried up at the other end but still, 9 points from 6 games is decent.

And with that we have managed to do it!

A top 6 finish in our first season in the Premiership, that is some achievement. We now have 5 games left to show the big boys we can try and match them, 5th could get us a Europa Conference League spot but it's going to be tough.

I have quickly speak about on-loan Striker Nathan Lowe, as you can see above he scores nearly all of our goals and is slowly being recognised for his good displays.

He's won the last 3 Young Player of the Months in the Premiership (guessing January is missing as it was the Winter break)

He's also up to 2nd in the Premiership top goal-scorer with 19 goals in 29 league games. I really really hope we can sign him on a permanent deal at the end of the season.

 

Now we come to annual youth intake and wow!! Just take a look at this….

Two elite talents and six top talents! But are any of them actually any good? Well, I think so!

 

Firstly is RB/CB Ian McWaters, he's a little short for a CB so will definitely be training up as a RB. I have high hopes for this lad.

Next is the other elite talent and that's Michael Campbell, a natural AM, which isn't my tactic so I will be looking to re-train him as a RW (IF), I think, with his attributes he can do that job to a good level. 

Now we come to the pick of the top talents and there are two which I really like.

 

First is CM Dom Kilday, I really like the look of him, good passing and first touch and good bravery, with some work he could be a first-teamer in the coming seasons.

And finally we have CB Steven McIlvogue, when I search for players to sign I always look at 4 base attributes, Bravery, Natural Fitness, Determination and Natural Fitness, this lad has 13+ in all of them. He needs some work and I am concerned about his height, but with us playing 3 at the back I can see him slotting in there, maybe as a Libero if I can get his passing and first touch improving.

Finally, the finances and another facility improvement. One big thing this season has been the increase in gate receipts, mainly from home game against Celtic and Rangers, as we only have 788 season ticket holders but a ground of over 50k, when we face the big two we tend to get attendances around the 50k mark. This means a massive influx in gate receipts, each game brings us around £1m in extra money which is absolutely massive. Because of this I have decided to ask the board to improve the Youth facilities, they said yes. It comes at a cost of £2m but we have more than enough in the bank and with a home game against Celtic to come it repays 50% of that straight the way!

[The Last Throw]

Fantastic progress being made on and off the pitch, if you maintain your uphill trajectory at the rate its at, the old firm (in particular the Blue half) are going to be getting very worried soon

[TheLutterworthFox]

24/25 Season - Championship Group & End of Season Review

5 games of the season to go, 6th place is now signed and sealed but could we somehow gain a position and with that qualify for Europe in our first Premiership season?

Well it started as tough as possible, home to Celtic, we took an early lead but then the big moment 10 minutes into the second half, CB Morrison was sent off, we were down to 10 and on the ropes, after that we just couldn't deal with Celtic, they scored and then in the 96th minute grabbed a winner. We had performed admirably though.

We then went to Hearts and won 3-1 courtesy of a McKinstry masterclass. Draws at home to Hibs and St Mirren followed, this meant we went into the final match, away to Rangers needing to win and to hope Hibs lost to climb into 5th. Well just look what we did!!!!

We went to Ibrox and came out with a win, it was a backs-to-the-wall performance, they were much the better side but we scored twice early and then hung on all the way until injury time where Rangers grabbed a goal, we had sealed a famous win but was it enough?

Yes it was! Hibs lost at home to Hearts meaning we leapfrogged them into 5th and with that a spot in the Europa Conference League qualifiers next season!

What an absolutely incredible campaign, we were predicted to end 9th but we hardly ever fell as low as that, 6th always looked on but to end 5th is a huge, massive overachievement!!

 

As for key men there is really only one man to talk about and that's on-loan Striker Nathan Lowe, what a season for the lad. 20 Premiership goals, 26 in all, he was absolutely incredible but the bad news is we probably won't see him next season. Stoke don't want to send him out on another loan and want over £2m for him. I'll be sad to see him go and we now need a new superstar striker!

Nathan Lowe dominated the club awards, most goals, most POTMS, player and young player of the season, there really is no one else to talk about!!!

Here is the Best XI including the fantastic 541 formation!

You can see from the average ratings where the problem area was and that's defence!

And here's the whole squad.

 

A quick word on the finances, an amazing season on the pitch but just as good off it.

The bank balance ends at just over £5m, a £1.3m increase on the same point last season, we made £8.6m in gate receipts, our biggest outlay was the £3m spent on upgrading the facilities and group upkeep.

And now we have Europe to look at we have the chance to make even more money, we do however need to improve the squad and to do that we need money to spend, unfortunately the board don't seem to want to let me have much!

£53k p/wk in the wage budget gives me around £4.7k spare but when players leave in the Summer it gives me around £10k. That is enough to bring in 2, maybe 3 decent players and with only just short of £1m to spend on players I won't have much chance to go splashing the cash! I will more than likely transfer that £1m over to the wage budget meaning I have more wages to play with and then go looking at freebies and loans once again.

Now the big news, well I say big, but for me it's rather odd. The board want to build a new stadium.

There's no word on the capacity but there is no way it'll be anywhere near the 50k stadium we're in now. I understand why, the ground is old and we have to spend money on it's upkeep, surely though, the £1m per season that it costs on ground maintenance is massively trumped by the over £8m in gate receipts we've received. Hopefully the board are ambitious and build a suitably large ground to keep that money coming in!

 

Finally, I want to look at how the other Scottish team have done in Europe, one of my aims for this save is to get Scotland to top of nation co-efficient, currently we are a long way off that but we will only start increasing our co-efficient if the other clubs in Scotland do well.

 

Celtic - Automatically qualified for the Champions League but ended 25th and missed out on a playoff spot by one place

 

Rangers - Lost in the Champions League Qualifiers to Besiktas, went straight into the League Phase of the Europa League and managed to end 13th sealing a playoff spot. They got through that round beating Anderlecht but lost to Manchester United in the Last 16

 

Hearts - Lost in the Europa League Qualifying Playoff to Club Brugge but then went into the League Phase of the Europa Conference, they managed to end 24th, scraping a playoff place. They got past Antwerp int he playoffs before losing to Real Sociedad in the Last 16

 

Hibernian - Lost to Norkopping in the Europa Conference 3rd Qualifying Round

 

Aberdeen - Lost to Konyaspor in the Europa Conference 3rd Qualifying Round

 

So overall not great, our co-efficient for next season has dropped from 35.75 (10th place) to 34.2, which drops us all the way down to 14th. This means next seasons qualifying through the league has been severely dented, we have lost our automatic League Phase spot in the Champions League, we now have two teams in the Qualifying stage. A huge blow, the likes of Celtic and Rangers, alongside ourselves in the long run really have to start making the latter stages of tournaments to get the co-efficient heading the right way.

[The Last Throw]

Congratulations on Europe, a superb end to the season. Its just a shame the rest of the league are letting you down in Europe...

[TheLutterworthFox]

25/26 Season - Season Preview & Transfers

And just like that we're ready for a new season, it's been a busy Summer, it was needed, we had to improve this squad massively to keep moving forwards.

First I just want to say thanks to Michael aka @Wightyyyy on X (Twitter) for the amazing kits he made for me out of the goodness of his heart. They look incredible!!!

The expectations are in and my word they are higher than I thought. The media expect us to end 6th, a place lower than we ended last season but still, higher that I expected!

So I hoped the board may expect a little bit less but I was wrong! They also want a top half finish!

Alongside that they want us to progress to the latter round of both domestic cup comps!

 

Now we come to the transfers, there's only one out to speak of and it's a big one. Bournemouth came in for superstar goalkeeper Callan McKenna.

There was no way he was going to go for that, I got my negotiating hat on and managed to get this……

£5m up front, + a payment of £3m in 12 months time and 40& profit of next sale, the good news as well was Bournemouth offered him back to me on loan for the season. A huge fee and I now have 12 months to find a quality replacement.

 

Now to the in's, after the loanees left, certain players contracts were up and were released and Sinclair (W) and Metanire (RB) both retired, therefore I really needed some quality players. Defence was the main area to improve, we had no RBs and only 3 decent CBs, with us playing 3 at the back I needed at least 2 new CBs. We also needed a replacement for Vata on the Wing after his loan was up and also for Striker Nathan Lowe, big shoes to fill!

So please welcome…..

Lewis Macari - Right Back - Free Transfer from Stoke City

The first of two new right backs, signed on a free and a cheap wage, I really like the look of this lad and is only 23, so plenty of years ahead of him to improve.

George Tanner - Right Back - £59k from Bristol City

Tanner will be my first choice right back, the only player I signed for a fee and someone I had signed and sealed before last season ended. He looks top quality for the level we're at.

Callum Marshall - Striker - Season loan from West Ham

Nathan Lowe's replacement and if you compare the attributes this is actually better in most areas. Ok he's a lot shorter than Lowe but he has pace to burn, good finished and even for a player under 6ft can still head!

Tom Lawrence - Winger - Free Transfer

A fantastic signing for no money and a cheap wage as well. Signed to play on the RW but can also play up front and in midfield, versatility!

James Forrest - Winger - Free Transfer

Signed for his experience and to offer another option out wide, a really low wage for someone who left Celtic at the end of the season.

Jamal Baptiste - Central Defender - Free Transfer from Manchester City

When I saw him coming to the end of his contract I had to bring him in, I beat numerous English clubs to his signature, will he be a starter? Probably not at first but I have high hopes than he can be a fixture in the first-team for years to come.

Will Fish - Central Defender - Free Transfer from Manchester United

Another player snapped up when his contract ended, he looks really good, determination, heading, marking and tackling. Top quality and is only 22!

Some really good signings and the squad now looks more than set for another European challenge, the big thing now is to try and get through these Europa Conference Qualifying rounds, the money would be really helpful.

Luckily we got that McKenna money in because, just before the offer, the board came to me and asked if I wanted to improve the training facilities, I was like “yes of course”, it went through and the upgrade cost us £4.6m, all of my bank balance!!

So the upfront money for McKenna pays off that facility upgrade!

 

[mannojunior]

What a season mate! Some great signings to help you out with the additional fixtures next season. Tanner looks a quality player. Hope Marshall can fill Lowe’s boots 🤞🏻 

[TheLutterworthFox]

25/26 Season - August

The opening month of the season and it's bloody busy! The league starts but more importantly we have the qualifiers for the Europa Conference League. We enter in the 2nd round, there were no expectation as to how far we got, so lets just take it a round at a time!

First up was Latvian side Tukums, an easy game on paper and it was just as easy on the pitch.

4-1 home and away, easy at that! 

Into the 3rd round and we had Slovenian side Domzale, it looked to be a really tough test but we did amazingly

2-0 in the first leg at home followed by a 2-0 away win, it was really nice to get clean sheets as well. 

Now all we had was 1 round to go before getting to the League Phase and we were handed what looked like an easy-ish tie against Bosnian side Željezničar Sarajevo.

The first leg was away and we didn't play that well, we managed though to hold on for a 0-0 draw.

But a draw away from home isn't a bad result, we now go to Hampden knowing a win see's us through.

We started really well, on the front foot and all over them and it didn't take long to take the lead. A ball in from Tanner and McKinstry was tripped, Tom Lawrence stepped up and smashed home the penalty.

We continued to attack and just after the 30 minute mark we doubled our lead, McKinstry cutting in from the right to drill home. Now all we had to do was see the game out.

We never looked troubled, they had a 25-yard shot which hit the bar but we easily saw it out.

An incredible run and that puts us into the League Phase of the Europa Conference and with that £2.5m in prize money alongside the £175k we gained through the qualifying rounds.

Then the fixtures came out and they look really tough!

Some really hard matches but I've exceeded expectations and my own aims, whatever happens from here on in is a bonus!

 

Now we come to domestic action and it's been a tricky start, lots of game, so lots of rotation, results however have been OK in the whole.

The Rangers game was a shocker, 2-1 up with 20 minutes to go and we fell apart, after that we did OK, a solid win over St; Johnstone and a really good display in the cup against Falkirk, we then drew Hibs away which on the face of the game was a decent point. The month ended with probably our best display of the month, a 3-1 win over St. Mirren.

There's been some really good player performances over the month but a lot of our results are down to 2 men, the wide men McKinstry and Lawrence, Lawrence especially has settled in really quickly and has scored 7 goals in his 9 starts.

Interestingly though, it was Striker Marshall who won an award, he ended August as the Premiership Young Player of the Month, weirdly though I didn't actually think he's played that well but 4 games, 2 goals and a decent average rating proves otherwise

Marshall is doing OK but I really felt we needed another Striker, I have Erwin but he is just not good enough, so with a bit of money to spend I went on the hunt for a new Striker and decided upon this lad….

Rodrigo Muniz joins from Fulham for £325k, he looks really good, is fast but also good in the air. He will provide good competition to Marshall.

[mannojunior]

I reckon Muniz will do the business for you. Great start to the season!

[andychar]

Was great catching up with this. Good luck in Europe. Like you said anything is good, will be good for the coef as well.

[TheLutterworthFox]

25/26 Season - September & October

What an amazing two months it's been, the double-Libero tactic is still going strong, I did have a wobble with and wondered if I should bin it off but decided to go for it and my word has it worked out!!!!

Just look at that run of wins (and goals) in October! Only a single defeat and that a 1-0 loss to Celtic away which I'll more than take. We've scored so many goals and even kept a couple of clean sheets!

League wise it's been great with 16 points from 7 games and 5 straight wins!!

Nicely sitting 3rd in the league, I mean how good are Celtic?! Its going to take a long while before we catch them up! If we can come in the top 4 this season I'll be bloody delighted!

We've also had a solid start to the Europa Conference with a fantastic 0-0 draw away to Goteborg and then smashing Podgorica 5-0 at home. With only 6 games in the League phase it was imperative we started well and we now have a seriously good chance of progressing to the knockouts.

A quick word on the tactic, the “double-Libero” is still working well, attacking wise and possession is just incredible, we're averaging over 600 passes a game with a 91% success rate!

I have made a couple of changes, what I saw in defence was my wing backs sitting deeper than my back 3, so I've changed them to CWBs and also added drop off more to try and get the CBs a bit deeper as we kept getting caught with balls over the top. Defensively it's still not amazing, we tend to fall apart in the final 30 minutes of games still every so often but the attacking play massively outweighs our defensive frailties!! 

 

Finally, we end the month with two awards!

Left Back Adaramola wins the Premiership Young Player of the Month which a string of quality performances.

And Striker Munoz wins the Premiership Player of the Month, this lad has started life at Hampden amazingly, he's banging goals in and is so good on the ball as well!

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026 World Cup Qualifying

 

It looked like a decent group on paper, bar Netherlands, who were clearly the favourites to top the group we only had Ireland to worry about. Gibraltar, Armenia and Lithuania were our other opponents, but those are easily winnable games. 

 

March

We had to start well and with Gibraltar at home first we knew we had to win and win well!

As expected we dominated and ended up 6-0 winners

Up next was Ireland away, a game we could have really done with at least a point but Ireland, and more importantly Evan Ferguson has other ideas!

A 4-2 loss, Ferguson with all 4, a massive setback

 

June

We opened with a huge game, even bigger after the loss to Ireland, an away trip to Netherlands awaits, a point would've been amazing. Well we went one better, Che Adam scoring a brace to seal a 2-1 win, it was one of those games, Netherlands dominated, 67% of the ball but we were clinical and that's what mattered!

A huge win but we had to follow that up with a win over Lithuania at Hampden and we did exactly that.

A Jacob Brown hat-trick in an emphatic 6-1 victory. We were well and truly back on track and with Netherlands and Ireland drawing 0-0 we were well in the race for that top spot

 

September

The opening game was away to Armenia, we had to start quick and we did just that, 2 goals in the opening 18 minutes set us on our way, Armenia did grab a goal back but we scored a 3rd just before half-time to get our 2 goal lead back. Armenia had a lot of chances, Gunn in goal made some huge saves but with 9 minutes left they scored a 2nd, as the game drew to a close Armenia got caught and we scored a 4th in injury time courtesy of Ben Doak's first Scotland goal. A 4-2 win and a really good attacking performance.

Up next was the big one, home to Ireland we knew we had to win. The game was an absolute epic, one of those matches that you get completely engrossed in, we took a 2 goal lead but then Ireland came back, scoring twice in 10 minutes of the second half, the game looked to be heading for a draw until deep into injury time, when Callum McGregor picked the ball up 20 yards out and rifled a shot into the bottom corner!! 3-2!!! What a game and a huge result!

 

October

Qualification was close now, we sat top of the table but we knew we had to keep getting those wins on the board.

First up was an away trip to Gibraltar and it was a bonkers game. Have you ever seen Gibraltar score 3? Well you have now! Fortunately for us we scored 5!!!

As you can see we were 5-2 ahead at half-time and it was an easy win but our defensive display was a disgrace.

Up next was an absolutely massive game, Netherlands at home, a win would put us in pole position for top spot, a draw would mean Ireland would jump ahead of us due to their better goal difference.

By half-time the score was 1-1, Che Adams grabbed the opener before Depay levelled only 5 minutes later, our issue was discipline, we were down to 10 courtesy of a shocking 2-footed tackle from Patterson, a draw now looked good but within 5 minutes of the second half we scored against the run of play, Ryan Gauld cutting in from the left and curling it into the top corner. Now all we had to do was hang on, Malacia was then sent off for Netherland midway through the second half which helped us out, we then defended for our lives, Gunn in goal was again amazing, the whistle blew and we had done it, a 2-1 win!

This meant with 2 games left we sat top of the group by 2 points from Ireland.

In those final games we had Lithuania away and Armenia at home, winning both would seal top spot but I also knew Ireland had to go to Netherlands, a win in our opening game combined with Ireland failing to win would mean we sealed top spot with a game to spare!

 

November

The time had come, a win for us and an Ireland slip up would seal qualification. We go to Lithuania with a fully fit squad and morale high but then disaster, 2 minutes in an Lithuania scored, after that we utterly dominated, attack after attack and then bang, Che Adam scored twice in 7 minutes to put us ahead. We continued to attack and finish the game but they held firm. Into the second half and completely against the run of play Lithuania broke through and scored a 2nd goal with only their 2nd shot. 2-2 but we were playing really well. It didn't take long for us to regain the lead. Kieran Tierney scoring from the edge of the box to make is 3-2 and after that it was one-way traffic, the subs came good as both McTominay and Jacob Brown scored to give us a brilliant 5-2 win.

The big question though was how did Ireland do?

THEY LOST!! Which means only one thing………

Scotland are off to their first World Cup since 1998!!!!!!

We capped off a brilliant qualifying campaign with a 2-0 win over Armenia, we played a heavily rotated team but even so, a quality win!

A fantastic end!

Interestingly Netherland also qualified as one of the best runners-up. 

We're off to the 2026 World Cup, grab your tartan and your bagpipes!!!!

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

25/26 Season - November & December

What an amazing few months it's been, busy but amazing!!!

Just look at all those games and if you sift through the results you will see some absolute belters!!

Out of the League Cup in the semis for the 2nd successive year to Celtic was disappointing, but in the League, bar one really awful result to Kilmarnock it's been brilliant.

9 games, 19 points, some amazing wins but one stands out, WE BEAT CELTIC!!!!

Our first win against them with me in charge, we performed brilliantly, even with a tactic I threw together at the last minute!

The double-Libero stayed but we moved the CMs back and the WBs forward, it worked a treat!

What a brilliant first half to the season in the League, 3rd with 42 points, miles and miles behind Celtic but only 5 behind Rangers with 2 games in-hand

 

It's also gone really well in the Europa Conference, when I left you last we had played twice and gained 4 points, we continued on our good form with a draw against Lugano before a really good win over Union Saint-Gilloise, then came the best result of the season so far (until we trumped it with the win over Celtic), we went to Basel and beat them 3-1!

We ended with a battering by Boavista but they had ended top with a 100% record, we had managed to massively exceed expectations, ending 13th and qualifying for the playoff round

What a brilliant few months, let's hope we can continue it on. Now we move into the Winter window and with money to spend (we have £5m from the McKenna deal that went through in August), I will be looking to strengthen, I really need a left-footed CB and another decent CM!!

[roganp]

Just caught up, you are flying with this save! what a result against Celtic. Good luck for the rest of the season 

[TheLutterworthFox]

44 minutes ago, roganp said:

Just caught up, you are flying with this save! what a result against Celtic. Good luck for the rest of the season 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and commenting. It's massively appreciated

[TheLutterworthFox]

25/26 Season - January & February

Another really busy couple of months down, we have the League, the cup and the Europa Conference League to look over but first transfers….

Firstly, there has been one huge out, we say goodbye to Winger Stuart McKinstry after UAE side Al-Wahda activated his £10m release clause, a big loss but that money is massive.

So with money to spend I went and brought in four new players.

The first player in was central defender Nelson Abbey, defensively we were really struggling and I noticed one problem, we had no naturally left-footed CB, Abbey joins as that man who fill the Libero on the left side of the back three, he comes at a cost, £2m but worth every penny in my opinion.

Next up is a face we've seen before. I had Michael Okeke on loan in the previous seasons, he has spent the first half of this season on loan at Bahia, when I saw him transfer-listed by Manchester City I had to bring him in, we were losing Louis Reed as I had accepted a £300k bid for him so another CM was needed, he looks brilliant and alongside Kilkenny should take our midfield to another level. 

Now for McKinstry's replacement and that man is Jack Byrne, in comparison he is better than McKinstry and only cost me £700k! A absolute steal at that price.

Now to an odd one, with McKenna leaving at the end of the season to join Bournemouth I wanted to bring in a new GK, get him in now and get him settled before being No. 1 next season. After an extensive search I went for experience and brought in Jason Steele for £125k, he's 35 but personally he looks really good. Great, a new keeper, that will do me for a season or two, or so I thought! 2 weeks after bringing him in he decided to retire at the end of the season!!!!

Some really good signings, even Steele will do a job for the rest of this season. 

Now to the results and boy things are still going so well!

Let's firstly discuss Europe, we managed to get ourselves into the playoff round and faced Swiss side Luzern.

First leg - The game was really even and we did play well, Luzern scored early but we grabbed a leveller half an hour in, it looked to be heading for a draw but they scored in stoppage time to win the game 2-1. Overall though we are still well in the tie and with our decent form I knew we could turn it around

Second Leg - And we did exactly that, in emphatic style! A 5-1 win, 3-0 at half time, that was one of our best performances of the season

One amazing performance but it is going to get very tough in the Last 16.

We face Werder Bremen, it's also nice to St Mirren in there as well, that should help with the co-efficient.

Now to domestic action and I don't think it could've gone much better!!!

So much green!!! Only one defeat and unsurprisingly it was away to Celtic, it was close though!!! 8 league games, 19 points, this season just gets more and more amazing by the game!!!!

We also got through to the Quarters of the Scottish Cup. Our opponents? Yeah, you guessed it, Celtic away!!

Just look how healthy the League Table looks!!

We sit 3rd, level with Rangers but below them on goal difference. Just to put in perspective how well this season is going. Last season we claimed 56 points from the 38 games, this season we've already exceeded that and more and there's still 10 games to go! Also, just look at the gap to 4th! The big question now is, can we overtake Rangers to get that 2nd Champions League spot?

In other news, I have used to McKinstry money to improve the facilities.

A huge improvement and that should really help in improving, not only the players already here but also the kids coming through the academy.

Edited November 1, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox

[andychar]

Going good guns this season! Brilliant work from the Scottish boys both in Europe and Internationally!