The Last Throw Posted November 12, 2023 Share Posted November 12, 2023 The Hamilton partnership could be fantastic for you, great working getting that agreed. That win in Florence was brilliant, its given you a chance of a playoff spot which is all you could hope for really with the horrible set of fixtures you were given. It's an incredibly tough task to get anything against Atletico or Arsenal but throughout this save you've pulled off so many upsets, so why not one more? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 28/29 Season - January & February I always feel in every save there's comes a point where everything clicks into place, a month (or two) where everything works and you know, eventually, you can challenge, this was those two months!!! Lets start with the transfers, I expected a busy window and it turned out to be exactly that. We say goodbye to four first-teamers. Trevitt and Watts asked to leave and I couldn't stand in their way, Anderson (LB) got his second red in only a few games and I was angry, I sold him for a good profit, the weird one was 3rd choice keeper Heraghty who was signed by Leicester! We will also be saying goodbye to Noss (CM/LW) and Dembele (RW/LW) at the end of the season who have both signed pre-contracts elsewhere. So I needed some players in and I managed to sign three players Mauro Martinez - Central Defender - £6m from San Lorenzo With Watts going I needed to bring another defender in, I really wanted to go big and get a top quality player in and I really feel this is the lad. A big fee but he has so much potential. Paul Holman - Defensive Midfield - Season loan from Southampton With Trevitt going I needed a new DM, I couldn't find someone who wanted to come in and be a squad player and with us having a couple of decent kids, currently out on loan, I went for Holman as a short-term replacement. Carlos Romero - Left Back - Season loan from Burnley Anderson leaving left me short of LBs but I didn't really want to go mad and spend a shed load on a player when Torijano was doing a really good job, so I went with another short-term solution, he looks really good though. Now to the results and my word it's been going well! Champions League We had two games left in the League Phase, two really tough games but we knew we only had to win one to seal a playoff spot. First up was Atletico Madrid at home and we put in one hell of a performances, especially in defence to seal a 1-0 win! And that sealed a playoff place in knockouts. Stunning! We then went to Arsenal and blew up, I mean they are brilliant but when one of your players gets sent off just before half-time it makes it even more difficult. This was the first of two reds for Anderson and one of the reasons why I sold him! An amazing campaign though and we end in those top 24 spots alongside Celtic. Into the Playoff round and we were handed a tough tie against AC Milan. First leg at home and we once again defied the odds to seal a 3-2 win with two very late goals!! We then went to the San Siro and got an absolute kick-in!!!! A 5-0 defeat, they were just way too good and shows you how much hard work is ahead! What an amazing run though, we got through three qualifying round, went toe to toe with some of Europe's elite, cause some shocks and got into the knockouts The other Scottish Clubs in Europe have also done really well. Celtic - Played Liverpool in the Champions League playoff round, the managed a 2-2 draw at home before losing 4-2 away, a solid campaign for Brendan's boys though. Rangers - Ended 5th in the Europa League qualifying for the Last 16 where they'll face Trabzonspor. Aberdeen - Ended 5th in the Conference League qualifying for the Last 16 where they'll face . Scottish Cup You always want a nice, easy draw when it comes to the early rounds of the cup and we got completely the opposite!!! We had Celtic at home to play, this was sandwiched in between those final two Champions League League Phase games, we went strong though and put in one of the best performances of my time here. We absolutely hammered them, they only had 1 shot and scored from it, we totally dominated, 13 shots on target, some scintillating football and, courtesy of a Muniz hat-trick we sealed a 4-1 win! MASSIVE! In the next round we got a much easier tie against Championship side Airdrie, I rotated and the boys delivered a 6-0 win, 4 goals for LW McLuckie! In the Quarters we will face Aberdeen at home. Premiership Now to the League and my word it's been incredible, even with so many games, injuries and fitness problems, the boys have turned and in style as well! 6 games, 16 points including ANOTHER 4-1 hammering of Celtic!! As I said at the start, everything seems to have clicked, the players now believe they can do it, they can mix it with Celtic and actually beat them!!! The Hibs draw though did set us back, only a little bit, we have however dragged the gap back, in the last updated Celtic sat 4 clear with a game in-hand, they lose that game and with the loss against us we've now shrunk the gap down to a single point! We have 9 games left, 9 games to make history at Queen's Park! Can we do it? Hell yes! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 2029 Youth Intake I've had some good intakes in this save so far, most have had at least 1 amazing player but so far only a single player has progressed to be consistently picked in the first XI, that man is Kier Hamilton, who I'm sure I'll talk about at the end of the season. Every season I expect a poor intake, with the squad and club progressing really quickly then surely the rating of the kids coming through will drop, well this intake was the total opposite, dare I say it's the best one yet!!! Just look at that!! One elite player and seven players classed as a top talent!!! Absolutely incredible but the big question is, are any of them actually going to do what Kier Hamilton has done and be good enough to break through. John-Paul Tait - Striker The elite talent in the intake and he looks so good, we had Calvin Leslie come through the 2026 intake and at the time I thought he was good, Tait is EVEN better! Physically good, has some really good mental attributes and has good technique, the big question is, how do I make him better? What I've found with Calvin Leslie is he hasn't been given game time as with only player one striker we need a top quality one until Leslie gets to that stage. I've sent him out on loan but he's just not done it. I don't want the same to happen to Tait, so do I keep him around, in the first-team, to get mentored and then play reserve and U18 football? Or do I risk a loan? James Kingsley - Goalkeeper We've had a couple of decent keepers come through but so far none of them have progressed well enough to even take that No. 2 GK spot. Kingsley looks solid , handling and reflexes are brilliant who is huge, but his distribution needs to get better, as does his quickness. Michael Simpson - Attacking Midfield A solid looking player, I don't play an AM though so he'll either need retraining as a ST or a CM, personally he's going to be a better CM, he needs to improvement certain things, such as his strength, first touch, bravery and composure but he has a great base. Anthony Cameron - Central Defender His physicals for a 15-year old are so good, he also has really high bravery and work rate, two things I love in a player. His technicals are the only thing that let's him down but that can easily be worked on. We have a raft of CBs who have come through intakes and so far only one has got into the first-team squad, the rest have spent the last 2 or 3 seasons out on loan. Can he be the one to break through? Ben Smith - Right Wing Naturally a RM but he is going to have to be re-trained as a RW which shouldn't be too hard. He looks solid, he's quick for 15 and has good technique, work rate and teamwork, he can also cross but he is let down by his passing, first touch and some key mentals. He could be a solid player in the future with the right mentoring and training. So an incredible intake, the best one so far, the hard work now starts to get these lads improving as quick as possible. I've had a few people in a Discord ask me how I get so many good intakes and I don't really think I have a game-breaking idea. I always make sure I max out the youth facs, recruitment and junior coaching as quick as possible (although I know they don't completely affect the intakes), I also hire a solid HOYD and then pray! Here is my HOYD. John Goodman has been here since 2023, one of my first staff signings. He isn't a worldie HOYD but has a good personality. He's doing an amazing job though! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 12, 2023 Share Posted November 12, 2023 Some really exciting prospects there, just added John Goodman to my staff shortlist.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 2028/29 - Scottish Cup Quarter Final & End of Regular Season Before I start the results review I thought I'd show you this. In the post about the last intake I mentioned at how I felt Calvin Leslie of the 2026 intake wasn't progressing how I hoped, he's spent the season out on loan at Championship side Livingston, wasn't playing loads and when he was he wasn't performing that well, well something changed, maybe he's heard me talking about him as he's just ended second in the Championship Player of the Month. And for anyone wondering how good he is, well take a look below. He's rapidly improving, next season he's coming into the first-team as my backup Striker. Scottish Cup Quarter Final We had a tricky tie at home to Aberdeen who we always seem to struggle again, it was an absolute belter of a game!!! A 4-3 win in extra time, The Ox grabbing a hat-trick!!! Even at 35 he is still incredibly good. An amazing win and we're into the semi's where we could've faced Rangers but they lost to Dundee United and that's who we'll face. We have a huge chance of back-to-back Scottish Cup now with both Celtic and Rangers out. Premiership We only had four games over March and the start of April prior to the League split and it's gone really well. Kier Hamilton produced a worldie free-kick to sneak a point away to Aberdeen, that could be massive at the end of the season, then we won three straight including a 4-1 hammering of Rangers!!! Celtic also matched our results with 10 points from 4 games meaning, with 5 games left we sit a point behind them. And it could be a title shoot-out as we go to Celtic Park in the final match! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 28/29 Season - Scottish Cup & Championship Group Premiership Championship Group Game 1/5 - Rangers (H) - A nervy win!!!! Rangers probably played better but we held firm to seal a 2-1 win. Celtic played Hearts at home and won 4-2. 4 games left, Celtic 79 pts, Queen's Park 78 pts (edited) Championship Group Game 2/5 - Hearts (A) - Absolutely gutting to not go away with the three points, a late Hearts goal salvages a point but the big news is Celtic lost 1-0 away to St Mirren!!! 3 games left, we're both on 79 points with Celtic ahead on GD (+6 on us) Championship Group Game 3/5 - Hibs (H) - Easy peasy! We coast to a 3-0 win to go top of the league, Celtic played on the Sunday and smashed Rangers 4-0 Championship Group Game 4/5 - St Mirren (A) - An absolute hammering, our form lately has been incredible, 18 games unbeaten in the league, we haven't lost in the league since we played Rangers in December! This was a brilliant performance and we needed to win as Celtic beat Hibs 2-0. Championship Group Game 5/5 - Celtic (A) - It comes down to one game, Celtic and ourselves are locked on the same points with Celtic ahead of goal difference, only a win for us will do. 27 mins - Celtic score, they broke clear and Datro Fofana slid it in - BUT ITS OFFSIDE! 34 mins - OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Queen's Park score!!! A long James Hill throw, it's flicked on my Porteous and Renecke rises highest to nod home! 1-0!! 45+1 - Datro is causing chaos up front for Celtic, he runs and runs and runs past three or four players, hits it but its well saved Half time 51 mins - Another good save from Fisher, Celtic are knocking on the door The corner comes in, Relvas wins it in the air but his header goes just wide for Celtic 68 mins - Datro has won a penalty by diving Its gone to VAR NO PENALTY 88 mins - Celtic corner Oh god, their keeper was up, it got cleared, Amad ran into the box and his shot took a deflection and went straight into Fishers hands. 6 Minutes injury time 92 mins - Another great save from Fisher but Celtic have a corner. It's swung in and Datro Fofana rises above Porteous to nod home Absolutely gutting! We have no time for a reply Full time, we bottled it in the last minute Absolutely gutting, we were literally minutes from the league title only to have it snatched away from us. So so SO close!! Scottish Cup We eased past Dundee United in the semi's And in the final we were to face Hearts, 6 days after that Celtic game, could I pick the boys up and end with a positive? We were red-hot favourites and we played like it, we dominated the match, had most of the chances and right on half-time made that dominance pay when Muniz was played in by The Ox and slid it past the keeper. Chance after chance came and went and as the game drew on I was worried we were going to fall apart like the Celtic game but our nerves were settled when Left Back Romero cut in and smashed a shot into the top corner. The whistle blew and we had won our second successive Scottish Cup After that Celtic game I was really worried the players morale would be damaged but they came back and proved the doubters wrong. What a brilliant season overall, ignoring the fact we lost the League title in injury time of the last game, to run Celtic that close, to beat them 4-1 twice in a season, to be so far ahead of everyone else and to retain the Scottish Cup, alongside our really pleasing Champions League run I have to be happy. The league title is coming, I can feel it!!! Key Men For a team who did so well it's strange to see only 6 of the 11 players averaging over 7. Rodrigo Muniz had an incredible season, he ends as the Premiership top goalscorer with 20 goals and also ends as the clubs players of the season. This lad is so good! One of our own!! Kier Hamilton came in to the first XI after Kilkenny left in the Summer and never looked back, he ends as the clubs young player of the season but also wins the Premiership best rookie and young player of the season. 40 starts, 17 sub appearances, 7 goals and 10 assists. This lad is going to be a key man for us moving forward, all he needs now is a Scotland call-up Although defender Waylon Renecke didn't win any awards this season I was delighted with his performances, he was a huge reason why we did so well with some fantastic defensive displays. The Kids I want to just take a look at some of the academy lads who have performed well this season whilst out on loan and to look at those who I will be bringing in to the first team next season. I have so many amazing players who have come through the intakes, now is the time to give them a shot, see if they can prove their quality on the big stage. Paul Hutchinson - The central midfielder has a really good season on loan at Championship Livingstone, he made 21 appearances and averaged over 7. He's not the highest rated academy player we have but he looks really good, some amazing mentals. Kevin Patience - The central defender has had a few loans since joining the academy in 2024, now 20 I think he deserves a shot in the first-team. He's spent two season at Falkirk, helping them to the promotion playoff final where they lost to Motherwell. He's averaged a smidge under 7 this season in 43 starts and also chipped in with 4 goals. Calvin Leslie - I've spoken about this lad a few times now and really feels he is good enough to come into the first-team as my backup striker. He's spent this season on loan at Livingston and after a slow start he ended the season pretty well with 6 goals in 25 starts. I do feel he is better than that! Ryan McArthur - Coming through in 2028, he was the star of that years intake and is progressing really well, the central midfielder has spent this season on-loan at League One Dunfermline and has done really well, 29 starts, 9 goals and 6 assists from midfield is some season. There really are so many more I could go through but these are the four I think can make the step up next season. My plan for the next campaign is to not sign anyone (bar the two signings I may have already done!) and give the kids a chance, we have a really strong squad and, as you can see, some amazing talents coming through, if I don't give them a go then I'll never know if they're good enough. If anyone leaves this Summer, I won't be replacing them, UNLESS I have no academy player to play in that position then I may have to dip my toes in the transfer market. We have so much money at our disposal now, £56m in the bank, a transfer kitty of £16m and a wage budget that's now sitting at £600k per week. So plenty to play with IF I need a player but this Summer will hopefully be quiet. European Progression Finally, let's see how well the Scottish Team did in Europe. Queen's Park - We made it from the Champions League qualifiers all the way to the League Phase and managed to seal a playoff spot, we then lost to AC Milan in the playoff Celtic - The automatically qualified for the League Phase of the Champions League and sealed a playoff spot where they lost to Liverpool Rangers - They went the furthest out of anyone, getting all the way to the Europa League semi finals where they lost to West Ham Aberdeen - They played in the Conference League and managed to get all the way to the Quarter finals where they lost to Atalanta Hibernian - They lost in the Conference League qualifiers So a really solid season for most of our teams and that has massively helped our co-efficient. 17.4 for this season and that pushes our score for next season to 71.067 which takes us above Netherlands in the rankings into 8th place. This doesn't affect our qualification spots though, it stays the same as this season. The next nation we're chasing down is Portugal in 7th who have a 9 point lead on us. What a brilliant season overall, it was gutting to lose the league in that way but we sealed another Scottish Cup and I have high hopes next season will be the year we beat Celtic to the title!! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 (edited) 29/30 Season - July and August I said I'd make sure the transfer window would be a quiet one and it's been exactly that. Transfers My plan was to bring the kids in to replace those leaving and not to sign anyone, apart from the two players I had already signed, as you will see I did sign another player but there was a reason for that. Out-wise we lost Noss and Dembele who both left when their contracts expired, we also let Bobby McLuckie leave after falling down the pecking order, he goes to AEK Athens for £145k. Then, on deadline day we lost one of our key men and in a position I'm light in. Left Back Torijano moved to Burnley after they activated his £15m release clause, other than that no-one else left, bar the three players who were here on loan last season. Now to the three in's. Faber Arismendi - Defensive Midfield - £1.7m from Atletico Nacional I actually signed this lad in the Winter window but let him stay at Nacional on loan. The improvement in him in just those 6 months has been amazing and he is ready-made to walk into our team. Obviously I want to give some of the kids a go in midfield but his versatility means I can play him in numerous positions. Julio Anon - Left Wing Back - £375k from Danubio FC I had already agreed to sign Anon before the last season ended, this was because I have no left back to bring in from the youth side who is anywhere near good enough. A stupidly low fee for a top quality, young player. Salvador Navarro - Left Back - Season long loan from Atletico Madrid This was the last minute signing to replace Torijano, with McLuckie already gone it meant I only had Anon as a decent LWB, there is no one in the youth side to promote so I had to make a short-term signing. And that was it, it's time to give the kids a shot, when needed, it may work, it may not but we're so far ahead of schedule I feel like a season where I run the risk of not doing as well will be beneficial in the long-run. Before I go through the results we have some weird news, we should have moved into the new “Malkay McKay Stadium” before the season started but oddly it's been delayed by 3 months. I've never seen this before and hope it doesn't get delayed further! Champions League We entered in the 3rd Qualifying Round and were handed PSV! A really tough tie and after losing the away leg 1-0 we had our backs against the wall. Then came the home leg, PSV scored early but we grabbed two goals back and mid-way through the second half it was 2-2 on aggregate. Then, in the 93rd minute PSV scored what looked to be the winner until Kier Hamilton stepped up to a free-kick, the 96th minute, it flew into the top corner and we had sent it to extra time. Torijano then scored to pur us 4-3 up on aggregate, we had done it….just! In the playoff round we faced Galatasaray and I fully expected a win, we opened up with a 1-0 home leg win, it was a bit tighter than I expected! In the away leg we went for it, Galatasaray did score the opener but Ilie scored right on half-time to keep us in the lead in the tie. They then scored again but we scored within a minute, as they piled forward Ilie broke clear in the last few minutes to score a 3rd for us on the night and sealed a 4-2 win! We're into the League Phase for a second successive season. And we've been handed what looks like a decent set of fixtures. The good news is we have four teams into the League Phases, Celtic joins us in the Champions League after the automatically qualified. Rangers made it into the Europa League and Hearts and Hibs got into the Conference League, so all five teams made it through. Domestic Action It's been a solid start with lots of goals! 3 games in the league, 7 points gained and 12 goals scored! Really good and a fantastic draw away to Rangers. We are however letting way too many goals in! I played the kids in the League Cup and they repaid the faith with Leslie, Tait and McArthur scoring. Tait also ending as POTM. A really good start but will it last? We have a really small squad this season, around 26 players in total, 8 of those are kids from the academy. We are going to need them with the sheer number of games to come! Edited November 13, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theBlackPrince Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Oh man that’s a gut punch, final day of the season and a good chance to finally have someone knock Celtic from their top spot! Still, to be neck and neck with them has to mean the dominance is going to coming to an end over the next few seasons! Some not bad results in Europe for the Scottish teams either! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 29/30 Season - September and October Champions League This season, for me, is all about winning the Premiership, just to get to the League Phase of the Champions League is enough for me, so I've been resting and rotating to keep my key men fit for the bigger domestic games. This means results have suffered! Only one point from the three games. Fiorentina we played well but defended poorly, Young Boys we should have won but they scored a late leveller and Leipzig we were rubbish! League Cup We're into the Quarters where we faced Rangers, it was an incredibly tight game, very even but we managed to come out the other end with a 2-1 win/ The good news is Celtic lost to Hibs meaning we are clear favourites to win it, possibly for the first time in the save. We will face Kilmarnock, the other semi is between Hearts and Hibs. Premiership It's been a really good start to the competition which means everything this season, we have however really struggled with injuries, with a much smaller squad than normal due to wanting to give some of the kids a chance, I really didn't want a raft of injuries, they haven't been long-term lay-offs but those annoying 2-3 week one, this has really stretched the squad, another reason why I've had to prioritise the league and forget about European progression. The good news is we have been really really good so far and the kids who have had to fill in have been solid. Still unbeaten and we also seemed to have stopped shipping goals as well! A couple of iffy draws but who cares, a stunning start! And Celtic have already lost three games!!! So we sit top on goal difference but we have a game in-hand, we haven't actually played Celtic yet, that will show me more than anything how far we've come. I really need to stem the injury tide now and try and get my players back fit, I'm looking forward to the next international break where we can have a rest!!! In other news we have eventually moved to our new ground and the good news is we have a big expansion capacity! Hopefully we can get the capacity increased quickly, the interesting news is the ground has also replaced Hampden as the new ground for the national side! We've also signed another new affiliation with Japanese side Consadole Sapporo, hopefully that gets us some commercial income 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Hopefully Celtic maintain there new found habit of losing league games! The partnership with Sapporo could be great, should really increase your social media followers and help generate revenue. Hopefully they produce some nice newgens to! New ground looks fantastic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 14, 2023 Author Share Posted November 14, 2023 (edited) 29/30 Season - November to Mid-December This update might end up with me just waffling but hopefully it all makes sense!!! So far this season has gone pretty well, we've prioritised the league and cup and scrapped the Champions League and it was working well but, as the games wore on and, as you'll see in the results, especially for November, it showing that my plan to give the kids a chance and to keep the squad thin isn't working. If we are to actually challenge and challenge consistently I am going to need to improve the squad. That's not to say the kids won't get a chance, some aren't doing too bad but it is looking like a mistake bringing a load through in one go. I'll be giving them their chance but maybe a bit more spread out! Anyway enough waffling let's see how it gone I thought I'd put all the results together so you can see that it's all fallen apart!! 8 games over a month and a bit, we've won 3 games, 2 of those in the league. Our 2 Champions League games have been awful and even in our wins we've struggled!! The only positive note was we beat Kilmarnock in the League Cup semi final, we will face Hibernian in the final. As you can see though we didn't create much, nowhere near the levels are the start of the season. So with only 8 points from 5 games you would expect Celtic to have overtaken us in the table but even they've struggled, they've gained 7 points from 5 games. The funny thing is, although we're top we have a new challenger! Yes Celtic are down to 3rd and Hibs are the team level with us at the top of the league, Dundee United are also doing well!!! So as you can see results haven't been good whatsoever but we're still top which is a big bonus! We now move in to the Winter window and the board have increased our transfer budget from £6m to £36m, they clearly want improvements as well. My aim is to look at 3 or 4 positions, positions where we don't have a decent kids coming through and then improve on the players we have. Those positions are: Right Back, Left Back, Defensive/Central Midfield and a Winger that could be left or right. We have a couple of decent Strikers and Central Defenders coming through so I feel like I hold out on those areas but the likes of Tanner (RB), Thomson (DM) and my back-up Wingers just aren't good enough if we are to properly challenge Celtic consistently. We've also then got the worry of whether we will lose players as, once again, the transfer rumours are circulating! Another thing I've noticed is, after our initial burst of goals earlier in the season, we've completely stopped scoring, in most of our defeats we've failed to score but we've also stopped creating decent chances, maybe I need to look to change our formation to add some extra attacking impetus or maybe I need to change our style to be a bit more forward-thinking and quicker at getting the ball forward, this is me thinking out load so I'll spend the Winter working it out!!! Edited November 14, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theBlackPrince Posted November 14, 2023 Share Posted November 14, 2023 Tough run of games but that's a much more interesting table in Scotland with 4 teams all fighting hard, see who can keep the pressure up as the season continues. Be interesting to see what players you can find with a nice transfer kitty to bolster the ranks and hopefully win the league this season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 14, 2023 Author Share Posted November 14, 2023 29/30 Season - December to Mid-January - Levelling up! I'm updating now as, firstly it's the Winter break but also I have a lot of transfers to talk about. We've gone big, we've gone bold, I've attempted to upgrade this squad by spending a shed load of cash, if this doesn't work, nothing wilL! But first lets look at the results and actually it's gone pretty well since the last update. I don't think performances have been that good, we've played well in probably two games, the two most important games but overall the way we're playing is still a bit meh!! Firstly the best news is that we won the League Cup!!! It wasn't pretty and it took three goals late on in the second half to seal a 3-1 win. We deserved it, you can see by the stats we had all of the game, most chances, more possession, hugely better xG but still I felt we could've done better! I guess that shows you how far we've come! The other good news is we smashed Celtic in the league. We left it very late though, the game itself was really even, similar stats for both sides but we just hit a good patch at the end! We actually end this little period unbeaten. Some really good wins, a couple of iffy draws, I really can't put my finger on it, I watch the games and I just get frustrated, we miss so many chances, we give away stupidly easy chances by either not tackling or making sloppy passes. I really need to stop complaining, in six seasons we've gone from the Championship to battling it in the Champions League and challenging for the Premiership title. What I know though is we can do better, the tactic is still working even if it does have it's off games so for me I need to upgrade the players, we've stood still for a few seasons now, I wanted to give the kids a chance but I know I've rushed them through this season and they don't need the pressure. I need to improve the squad and like I said in the last post, we need to upgrade certain positions and that is what I have done!!! What I want to do here is show you who we've signed but also look at the comparison against who is my best player in that position, that will show you how much better that player is. Valentin Rosier - Right Back - £4.1m from Besiktas A little older than I wanted but he looks so good for 33 years old. Right back has been one of my biggest issues for a few seasons now, I stuck with Tanner, I brought Larrosa in who just hasn't done well. Tanner is now leaving to go to Saudi Arabia and Rosier is his replacement. As you can see below he is a lot better technically and mentally and as I like to play an attacking RWB to see his attacking and vision much better is key. He's also had a very good season at Besiktas averaging well over 7 in his 20 starts. Bernt Granhus - Left Back - £5.5m from Juventus Just look at those physicals, a bit like the right back area we've really struggled at left back. We lost Torijano late in the Summer window and I had no time to replace him, Navarro came in on loan and he's done OK but Anon as his back-up has been awful. As you can see Granhus is a lot lot better than Anon in nearly all areas. I like my LWB to play a little bit more reserved so the fact his attacking is lower doesn't bother me, What I like is he is quick, strong and has much better mentals. He is also only 20 so has time to improve. Axl Peiffer - Defensive Midfield - £10.75m Genk Only 21 and already played 100 times for Genk, I really like the look of this lad. His mental attributes are top quality and also has really good passing and first touch. We've missed having that creative player in defensive midfield since the likes of Okeke and Kilkenny have left, with Kier Hamilton playing as the CM I really needed this type of player to play alongside him in the DM role. Jack Thomson is the club captain and is the only player left from when I joined, he has been a great player for us but is declining now the club are improving. Pfeiffer is a different type of player to Thomson, he more technical and forward-thinking. In comparison he looks much better in those areas, I want my DM to pick the ball up off the CBs and not to lose it all the time, something that's been grating on me for the past few months! Connor Smith - Attacking Midfield - £12.75m from Aberdeen I've had my eye on this lad for a while now, even when I was Scotland manager, he's now 20 and is improving massively even if his form at Aberdeen hasn't been great this season. I've signed him as I see a huge for him and also he helps with the homegrown rule. He looks exciting, can play either on the RW or as an AM. As he can play RW I've compared him to our main man Montalto, he is probably the best player in the squad and has been on good form this season. As you can see though Smith isn't that far off him, physically and technically he's actually better. Whether he played RW I'm not sure, I am thinking of bringing him in to play as an AM behind a Striker but we will see. Jean Carlos Pajoy - Striker - £1.4m from America de Cali Now I didn't really need a Striker but when I saw this lad I had to bring him in. He is absolutely ridiculously good!!!! Rodrigo Muniz has been such a big player for me over the past few years but this season he has been so far off it, Jason Peters as back-up has also not been great and with Muniz looking like he wants to go I needed to find someone who would be a like-for-like replacement. In comparison to Muniz who, attribute-wise, the best player at the club he is actually better in so many departments. He isn't as good in the air but seeing as we like to play the ball on the floor and not put too many crosses in, then I don't mind. Pajoy is quicker, stronger, has better vision and is technically better. This lad could be an absolute superstar, I just need to get rid of his £12.75m release clause!!! So some big upgrades, now let's hope this helps!! I really want to stick with my 343 double-Libero tactic but I'm finding it more and more defensively unstable and in some games we're struggling for goals, even though, as you can see in the results, we've scored a few lately, we do miss a lot of chances though! I am looking at a 4231 to accommodate either Hamilton or Smith playing in behind a Striker but I'm reluctant to switch it all up mid-season. Now it is only mid-January to there is still time for more business but I hope I can now hang on to my other players, this squad looks much better now I've signed these five players, let's hope it shows on the pitch, results continue to be good but our performances get better! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 15, 2023 Author Share Posted November 15, 2023 29/30 Season - January & February Yesterday was a hard one for me, as you can tell from my updates I was struggling a bit, even though we were still winning games I was getting increasingly frustrated with performances and my decisions. It ended being the best thing that could've happened, it allowed me to take a step back and remind myself what this save is all about and that's taking this club and the nation to the top. It's not about standing still and transitioning, nor is it about blooding all the kids in one, we need to continue to move forward, to challenge Celtic and to improve this squad to a level where we can progress in Europe. The signings made in the last update improving a good few areas has helped but I needed more, not only new players but also a fresh approach, a new tactic which could give us more attacking impetus. Now I've waffled let's see if it's worked and firstly the transfers, I have made two more signings to improve the side. Murillo - Central Defender - Free Transfer Not only is this guy costing me no money but he is a huge improvement on my current defenders. When a big came in for my main left-football central defender Waylon Renecke from Saudi Arabia for £19m (I signed him for £1.3m) I needed to find an alternative and this is that guy! As you can see below, in comparison to Renecke, who is one of my better defenders, he is so much better, in virtually every area, for a free transfer this is a no-brainer, especially as I'm making such a profit on Renecke. Feliz Gebhardt - Goalkeeper - £7.5m from Augsburg Andrew Fisher has been really good for us but is slowly declining, with us also losing back-up keeper Santiago Silva after he asked for a move, I needed another option in goal. I spent a long time looking for a new No. 1. I got priced out of some players and then out-waged when going for others. eventually settled with this lad and I have to say is still really good. In comparison to Fisher he is better in some areas, not in others. Distribution for me is key, Fisher has struggled in some games, so to have this improved it massive, Felix's shot-stopping also a lot better, as is aerial ability and communication. The only area Fisher is better is physically. So again a good improvement. With those two new signings, alongside the other five signed in this window I really feel we have a squad capable of properly challenging but I still had to sort this tactic out. The “double-Libero” tactic had worked so well for me so far but, with teams more inclined to sit back on me and counter, I needed something new and fresh, to maybe catch a few teams out, letting goals in is fine if we score more!!! What we've found lately is we're struggling to create chances, we're still scoring but we could be doing more and that's down to a) not having enough players joining the attacks and b) we are too slow on the ball and need to get it forward quicker. So I decided to change to this…. We are using the base Gegenpress team instructions with a 424 formation. What I've tried to do is balance the roles giving us different options on either side of the pitch while trying to balance risk and award in the middle. I've also tried to get the players playing in their best position's where possible. The F9 was the one I wasn't sure on but as you'll see in a minute, it's working pretty well. The only big concern for me was when we faced bigger teams or teams that played an AM, we may get caught out but for the domestic games, where bar Celtic we should be winning and dominating every game, this should work, I said “should”!!! Changing tactics mid-season is always a risk but with a winter break in Scotland, it meant we had three weeks to put in some hard work in training and arrange some friendlies to see how it worked. Well the friendlies went amazingly and then it was time to put the tactic into proper competitive games! I want to show you all the results together just so you can see HOW well it's gone! I mean just look at that! Only one red but we'll gloss over that. 42 goals in 11 games!!!!! Lets discuss the Champions League! So we lost our first five games and looked doomed. We then beat Copenhagen in matchday six to claw some dignity back, as you can see above it's gone mad and for me it all started in the Champions League. After a solid 2-1 win over Marseille courtesy of a late goal from new-boy Pajoy, we went to Anfield knowing we HAD to win to get a playoff spot, I had no hopes, this tactic was new and surely it wouldn't work?! My God did it work! We won 5-2!!! Just look how clinical we were tough, 6 shots on goal, an xG of just over 2 but we scored 5! This is what we've been missing this whole season. This meant we had nicked a playoff spot, unbelievably!! From there it went crazy, we beat Red Bull Salzburg in the playoff round, 5-0 at home before a rotated side lost the away leg 5-2, this puts us into the Last 16 for the first time! We've also progressed in the Scottish Cup with two emphatic wins over East Fife and Arbroath, in the Quarters we will face Aberdeen away. It's in the League though where things have took off, we weren't losing before but I wasn't enjoying the performances, now, with this new tactic, it's just insane!!! 5 games, 5 wins, 18 goals scored, including another 4-1 win over Celtic!! Again we only had 5 shots on target and scored 4! This tactic is so clinical! And that means we are in pole position for our first ever League title. 5 clear of Celtic and we have 2 games in-hand! Surely we can't blow it from here! The tactic has also sorted Rodrigo Muniz out! In the last update he had 9 goals from 28 starts, he now has 18 from 36 starts! His form has got mad and it has coincided with him having someone up-front with him. He ends February as the Premiership Player of the Month. It's amazing how things can change just by taking a step back and re-assessing. Things were never bad, they were far from it but something was wrong, I needed to look and remind myself of the aims of this save. The kids will still come through, I may just take it a little slower, we need to keep moving this squad forward, as I said before, we can't stand still, Celtic won't, the big clubs in Europe won't, if we are to continue to challenge we need to continue to adapt and upgrade. Apologies for the long post AGAIN. I wanted to keep these short but felt it good to put my ideas down so you can all see my thinking! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 15, 2023 Share Posted November 15, 2023 I've just spent some time reading through your last few posts and I've got to say I've absolutely loved them. Yes they are long but they need to be in order to get your thought process across which I believe you have done brilliantly. The board must feel fully justified in having given you that money by looking at how you've spent it, fantastic business all round but I'm going to call out a few who stood out to me. Firstly Granhus, his physicals are exceptional, he will make a cracking left wing back. Peiffer looks superb, I really hope you're going to train him to dictate tempo? He was made for it. Pajoy was my favourite signing, he just screams goals and finally Murillo on a free? Brilliant. The tactical change has been completely backed up by those results, I don't mean to jynx it put you almost have one hand on the title with those games in hand! And lets not forget that Liverpool result, result of the save so far? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 15, 2023 Author Share Posted November 15, 2023 52 minutes ago, The Last Throw said: I've just spent some time reading through your last few posts and I've got to say I've absolutely loved them. Yes they are long but they need to be in order to get your thought process across which I believe you have done brilliantly. The board must feel fully justified in having given you that money by looking at how you've spent it, fantastic business all round but I'm going to call out a few who stood out to me. Firstly Granhus, his physicals are exceptional, he will make a cracking left wing back. Peiffer looks superb, I really hope you're going to train him to dictate tempo? He was made for it. Pajoy was my favourite signing, he just screams goals and finally Murillo on a free? Brilliant. The tactical change has been completely backed up by those results, I don't mean to jynx it put you almost have one hand on the title with those games in hand! And lets not forget that Liverpool result, result of the save so far? Thank you so much for your comment Mark. I really appreciate it and I can tell from your detailed reply how much you're enjoying the posts. I've been a bit worried that what on writing is boring but I can feel you warmth and genuine love for the save. As for your questions: I never really look myself at training PPMs but it's given me a tip to go and take a look, especially with your idea for Peiffer. The Liverpool result was by far the best result of the save, the reason is so much more than just beating Liverpool at A field, it was the fact that it was a new tactic with new players and the fact I was really struggling with the performances, that really was the result that's got my enjoyment back so it means much 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theBlackPrince Posted November 15, 2023 Share Posted November 15, 2023 Murillo is a quality signing, watch him for Forest and really think he could be a top Premier League player in a few seasons in real life! Bargain!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 16, 2023 Author Share Posted November 16, 2023 2029/30 End of Season Review Well here we are, it's been a few months since I last updated, I want to keep the amount of posts down at the moment, especially I seem to be writing a bit too much, hence the lack of “March/April” update. Well the end of the season is here and when I last left you things were looking good, still in the Scottish Cup, we scraped into the knockouts of the Champions League and we say well clear at the top of the League, where we were looking for our first Premiership title. Champions League When I left you we had just beaten RB Salzburg in the playoff round, in the Last 16 we were drawn against Man United, a really tough draw but you'd expect it at this point. We played the first leg at home and played so well, we let in an early goal but by half time were 2-1 up, we then fell asleep at the back and with 11 minutes left Anthony scored to level the tie. A draw is a solid result but we really needed to go to Old Trafford with an advantage. We did really well in the away leg but it just wasn't enough. Three goals in the second half, one for us, two for them, their second coming minutes after we had levelled the game. Still, after the start we had in the League Phase to get this far has been incredible. Scottish Cup We had some tight games in the Quarters and Semi's where we edged past Aberdeen and then a late goal to beat St. Johnstone 4-3. We'd made it to the final where we faced Celtic, a team that had been nowhere near as good they should have been this season, a wounded animal you could say but it was time for us to lay down a marker, show them who we are!!! We we didn't start well, Celtic scored within 8 minutes and they looked right at it. Then we got some big help, Celtic were down to 10 men 15 minutes in, surely we could come back? Well we did play well but we were sloppy, wasted chances galore, it looked like it was going to end 1-0 to Celtic until the 2nd minute of injury time of the game, a corner was swung in Navarro, up rose Martinez, BOSH!!! 1-1!!! We have rescued it!!! Into extra time and this is where the game went absolutely bonkers, Celtic were dead on their feet, we had the bench to make a different, the subs came on and we went mad!!! 4 minutes into extra time it was 2-1 to us, Muniz beating his man and smashing it into the far left corner, 4 minutes later is was 3-1, Larrosa scoring a gorgeous curling shot from the edge of the box, 107 mins it was 4-1, Celtic has capitulated, another goal from a corner, this time Porteous with the header and then, right near the end, we scored a 5th goal, Pajoy nipping in front of his man to poke home. The whistle blew and we had BATTERED THEM!!! 5-1 FIVE ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely insane!!! So we had won the League Cup, we had won the Scottish Cup, could we make it a treble? Premiership When I left you last we sat top by 5 points from Celtic with 2 games in-hand, we did have a couple of slip-ups along the way but that was due to fitness issues and we having to rotate but as we entered the Championship group we sat 11 points clear of Celtic, all we had to do was not fall apart!!! Well we lost our opening game to Rangers but Celtic also lost, this meant we had the chance to win the title in the next match. We were away to Hibernian, Celtic were at home to Rangers. We did our bit and beat Hibs 2-0 but could Rangers do us a favour? YES THEY COULD!!! They hammered them 3-0 at Celtic Park meaning, for the first time, QUEEN'S PARK ARE SCOTTISH CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!! An absolutely amazing season but we were helped by how poor Celtic were in comparison to the season before, last season they lost twice, this time they lost 11 games!!! It couldn't have been much easier than that, 13 clear!! We have to thank the tactic though and the new signings, the 424 has worked so well since the Winter break, in the league alone we won 13, drew 2 and lost 3, 41 points from 18 games, we also end the League season unbeaten against Celtic!!! What an absolutely incredible season, we have won the domestic treble!!! Our demons from last season have been vanquished!!!!!! Key Men I could talk about so many people here but then you will get really bored so let's speak about a couple of our key players. The Clubs player of the season goes to Right Winger Fabrizio Montalto, this lad gets better and better every season and what a season he's had! 21 goals and 14 assists in 37 starts!!!! Incredible! Connor Smith ends as the signing of the season, he only came in January and I remember at the time I said I was worried about his poor form at Aberdeen, well he turned that around and repaid my faith with a string of impressive displays. For us he made 18 starts and scored 10 goals! Our Wide men this season have been so key and Rares Ilie has been amazing, playing on the left wing he has been a machine, providing 15 assists and 19 goals in 43 starts, he has over-performed his xG by 7! What a player! Here is the clubs Best XI And here is the whole squad. Some amazing performances Scottish Teams in Europe It's been another decent season for the other Scottish teams: Celtic went out in the League Phase of the Champions League ending 29th gaining 5 points from their 8 games/ Rangers ended 16th in the League Phase of the Europa League sealing a playoff spot where they beat Slavia Prague but were knocked out in the Last 16 to Celta Vigo Hibernian ended 2nd in the League Phase Conference League and automatically qualified for the Last 16, in that round they beat PAOK before losing to Sevilla in the Quarters Hearts ended 9th in the Conference League League Phase qualifying for the playoff round where they beat Tobol Kostanay, they then lost in the Last 16 Besiktas. So a decent season overall and then we got some huge news, we had risen two more places in the co-efficient, we are now up to 6th and that means big gains in the qualification spots available for next season. As you can see our 30/31 season co-efficient rises to 80.667, above Turkey and Portugal. And below you can see 6th spot means an extra Champions spot, rising from two to three, we also get two automatic League Phase spots. We gain a League Phase spot in the Europa League as well. Finances & Budgets The board have once again been generous with our budgets, nearly £20m to spend on players and a solid wage budget which leaves us with around £150k per week spare The bank balance is also looking fantastic with it sitting at £56m, we haven't made much of a profit but that's because we spent nearly £40m in the Winter! In Other News A few pieces of good news for you and firstly I've persuaded the board to increase the capacity of the new ground. Only 2,000 more seats but it's better than nothing. We also, for the first time in the save, had two players in the NxGN and one of them is from our academy. Ryan McArthur came through the 2028 and improving really quickly, he made a few appearances this season and chipped in with a couple of goals. Hopefully he continues to improve and he'll get more game-time as we move forward. Next Season Now we look forward to next season and I have a feeling expectations are going to go through the roof! Overall though we have a really good squad, this Winter signings have really propelled the quality we have and because of that I don't expect a raft of new players to join, that obviously may change is people leave. My two main aims this Summer are a new Left Back to challenge Granhus and new Left Winger to provide back-up to Ilie. We have a few players who have declined quite rapidly this season who we'll be saying goodbye to. The Ox is leaving and I will be looking to sell Thomson and Mavididi. One thing I do need to keep an eye on is the number of homegrown players we have in our Champions League squad, last season we only had four, I need eight, so I'll be looking for a couple of trained in nation players to help make sure the squad is at it's maximum. Hopefully those couple of signings, alongside the Winter incomings will mean next season we have another successful campaign, it's going to be really tough to exceed what we did this time around but I have faith! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 What an update! My thoughts on your progress... Europe - Whilst its a shame you couldn't upset United, you ran them very good close, great effort. Scottish Cup Final - Just WOW! To get an equaliser so late must've been epic but regardless of that, you need to tell us what you said before extra time? where did that come from haha incredible. SPL - Congratulations, I knew it was coming, what an effort to finally get there but massive credit for doing so by such a margin. One other comment, what a signing Montalto has been, hopefully you can keep hold of him and none of the big boys come sniffing. Looking forward to future updates, Champions League winners next right? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 17, 2023 Author Share Posted November 17, 2023 2030/31 - Transfers, News & Opening Games I can't believe I'm saying this, Queen's Park won the domestic treble last season!!!!! All with relative ease, we dominated the Premiership, we won the League Cup early and then we utterly battered Celtic in extra time of the Scottish Cup final. It's going to take a minor miracle to top what we achieved last season but to do that we need to continue to improve the squad. I said in the previous update that I wanted a new LB and a new LW and then players would come in depending on who left, so let's firstly see those out's. A few more than I wanted, the big losses were Fisher (GK), Martinez (CB) and Thomson (CM), all three wanted to leave and those fees are more than their value. We also sold Mavididi, The Ox left on a free and Navaroo went back to his parent club after his loan ended. The one interesting sale was Ryan McArthur, he was in last year NxGN list and is highly rated by me and the club but when Man United come calling there is no way you're going to keep hold of him. I got the best deal I could which includes 50% of the next sale. It will be interesting to see how he develops at Old Trafford. Now to the in's. Calvin Paterson - Left Wing - £10.75m from Hearts A player I'd been looking at for a while and I actually did this deal before last season ended, a top prospect and he helps with the homegrown rule. I have high hopes this lad could become a key player for club and country. Dean Henderson - Goalkeeper - £15m from Crystal Palace Did I overpay? Maybe but just look how good he is, compared to Fisher, who left and Gebhardt, who joined in the Winter, he is so much better and still had a good 3 or 4 years ahead of him. David Moreno - Left Back/Defensive Midfield - Free from Burgos With Navarro leaving and Thomson moving on I wanted a new LB and a new DM/CM, well Moreno ticks both those boxes and all for no money. He will be a good back-up player who can fill in as and when required. Samuel Hernandez - Winger/Striker - Loan from Tottenham A late deal, I just felt I needed another forward option, especially with players getting injured left, right and centre! A top quality young player who will provide a great option off the bench Giuseppe Turone - Central Defender - Loan from AC Milan With Martinez leaving I needed another option at CB, I didn't want to go out and spend a huge amount of money on a player as we do have a couple of decent, young prospects who I hope can improve enough to get a first-team spot in the next season or two. Turrone looks amazing and is a great short-term solution So five in's costing just over £25m, a good window and now the squad looks set for another shot at domestic glory and hopefully a decent run in the Champions League. Talking of that competition, as Premiership winners we automatically qualified for the League Phase and here are our fixtures. It actually doesn't look that bad, we have 3 winnable ties and some good match-ups against the likes of Inter, PSG and the team that knocked us out last season, Man United. In our opening games we've played well but results haven't been as good as I hoped. Three league games and only one win but we've played ok in those games. We also progressed in the League Cup with a brilliant display away to Hearts. After four games the league is already really right, Celtic, now managed by Eddie Howe after Brendan took over at Real Madrid (YES REAL MADRID!) have also started the same as us. I also have numerous other interesting updates to show you. Firstly, the board have decided to expand our new ground but just short of 10k seats. What this means though is until the expansion is complete in March we will be ground-sharing with Partick Thistle at their 10k capacity stadium I've also decided to let my HOYD Jon Goodman leave and upgrade him with this fella. Sam South-Thomas looks incredible, the last couple of intakes haven't been great so I've decided to get a new man in to hopefully provide us with some quality kids. I mentioned it in the last update that it looked like we were going to rise up the co-efficient rankings and it's now been confirmed, we have moved up to 6th place which gives us more spots in the Champions League and more guaranteed League Phase spots. Massive news for the save but we are a long way off taking on the big 5 nations of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain! So a good transfer window, an OK start result-wise, lets hope we I update you next, at the end of January we are still challenging in all competitions Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannojunior Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 Big transfer window mate! Be interesting to see how the new boys do. Hernandez looks like he could be a really handful off the bench with his pace. Looking forward to seeing how you get on this season! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 Some fantastic business as always, I think Moreno is a signing that goes under the radar a little bit but on a free its such good value! The new HOYD has big shoes to fill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 18, 2023 Author Share Posted November 18, 2023 2030/31 Season - September to January League Cup Two relatively easy wins over fellow Premiership sides put us into the final where we faced Rangers who beat Celtic in the semi's. It was a really boring, tight game, then it exploded in injury time. Turone scored a header from a corner to put us ahead in the 91st minute and we looked to have one hand on the trophy but, with the last kick of the game, Rangers levelled the tie. Extra time came and went and it was to decided by penalties. All penalties were scored until the final spot kicks of the five, Saito scored for Rangers, Turone stepped up….and missed. We had lost in the cruellest way possible. Gutting! Premiership What an amazing run it's been, we are now 21 games into the season and as you can see below, we are still unbeaten!!! Some amazing results, including a 2-0 win over Celtic and plenty of goals scored whilst being pretty tight at the back. Even though we're unbeaten we aren't top but it's only because we have games in-hand. We have two games in Celtic and sit three points behind them. It's going to be a really interesting, tight end to the season. Champions League We played really well in nearly all our games in Europe, we ran Inter close and got a solid 1-1 draw at home to Man United, three wins in a row towards the end of the campaign sealed a play-off spot and we went into that final game v PSG knowing a shock win would seal a top 8 spot, unfortunately PSG were just way too good and we got hammered. We had qualified for the play-off round though and that's really pleasing, we are punching at the moment and long may it continue! We only had three Scottish teams left in Europe this season with both Celtic and Rangers in the Europa League and both of them qualified for the knockouts, Celtic managed to end 5th and go straight into the Last 16, Rangers ended 18th, sealing a play-off spot. January Transfers The Winter window was relatively quiet with two out's and two in's. As for the out's we lost Striker Peters, who asked for a move after falling down the pecking order and Right Back Rosier, a signing in the last Winter window who didn't perform well and wanted to leave, a good deal for a 34-year old. Now to the two in's, please welcome… Kieran Tierney - Left Back - £3.7m from Atletico Madrid When I saw Tierney on the transfer-list for that fee it was a no-brainer, a top quality full back even at 33, I do have Granhus and Moreno who are good but Tierney is on another level. A statement signing. Kaio Jorge - Winger/Striker - Free Transfer A player I didn't need, with Peters going I wanted to give the kids a chance but when I saw Jorge on a free he had to come in. He can play on either wing and up top which offers versatility and with us suffering from numerous injuries I couldn't turn the chance to sign him down. Who's Stood Out Jean Carlos Pajoy has been fantastic up front alongside Muniz, at only 22 he is already better than Muniz and is currently our top scorer with 15 goals in 26 starts. Connor Smith came in to be Montalto's understudy on the right wing but has actually over-took him in the pecking order. He has been a revelation since signing last Winter. He has had a couple of injuries and struggled slightly with fitness issues but has made 18 starts and scored 9 times with 5 assists. Now for the one of the kids and that lad is Striker Jay MacLeod, this lad is improving at a rate of knots and has made a few starts due to the sheer number of games causing fitness issues and quite a few injuries. He scored his first Queen's Park goal in the 2-0 win over Celtic and has two more since. 500 games down It's amazing to think I'm already at the half-century mark of games, I'm nearly at the end of season 8 and it's been absolutely amazing so far but there is so much more to come!! 500 games 1 x Premiership 1 x Championship 2 x Scottish Cup 1 x League Cup Amazing! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 That League Cup final must've been painful, gutted for you! Fantastic form in the Prem, win your games in hand and that's a nice little gap. Top work qualifying for the playoff in the CL. Tierney speaks for himself as a signing but I also like the Kaio Jorge signing. Whilst he hasn't quite lived up to the billing of the wonderkid he was on previous FMs he still looks very good for the SPL. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 19, 2023 Author Share Posted November 19, 2023 2030/31 - End of Season Review And just like that the season is over! But first we have a worldie in our Youth Intake! Craig Wiles, our new wonderkid left back. I swear I've never had an intake player this good and already first-team quality before on any FM. He went straight into the first XI and played 8 times since joining, he hasn't set the world on fire but I think he is going to be a superstar. Champions League We managed to seal a playoff spot for a third straight season and in that round we face Leipzig, a tough ask but we absolutely battered them! 3-1 in the away leg and then 5-3 in the home game!! We then face Barca in the Last 16 and it was a step too far, we lost the home leg 2-0 and then went to the Nou Camp and lost 3-1. Another really good run though. Scottish Cup After losing the league cup final on penalties I was determined to make sure we won this and we did amazingly. Solid wins all the way against pretty decent teams, the other semi was between Celtic and Rangers and Rangers won 2-0. Now it was time to get revenge after losing to them in the league cup final and we did exactly that, we absolutely hammered them!!! 5-1, an amazing performance and our third straight Scottish Cup win. Premiership Now to the league, when I left you last we sat 3 points off Celtic but we had 2 games in-hand, it was ours to lose and we did really well, we did lost to Celtic 3-2, after being 2-0 up which was a shocker but after that we went on an amazing run of 8 wins in a row and by the time we faced Hibs with 3 games left we knew a win would seal the title, we beat them 2-1 and we had successfully retained the Premiership! Only two defeats all season, both of them to Celtic but we absolutely smashed it, 94 points, 7 clear of Celtic, our best season yet by miles!!! Key Men Striker Jean Carlos Pajoy dominated the player awards, he won the clubs player and young player of the season, he also ended as the clubs top scorer. A stunning talent and a player I really hope will stick around for the long-term. He ends with 29 goals in 46 starts, sensational! I spoke about Connor Smith in the last update and he continued his good form throughout the rest of the season, he ends with most assists at the clubs for the season, 14 in 40 starts with 17 goals. Another player I want to speak about is Murillo, he played the first half of the season at CB but I moved him into midfield to play as a Segundo Volante and he was amazing, I was going to look for an SV in the Summer, I don't think I need to anymore! Here is our Best XI, strangely though there is no Murillo! And here is our whole squad. Co-efficient Update This has suffered this season, mainly because only three teams qualified for the League Phase with Queen's Park in the Champions League and Celtic/Rangers in the Europa League. We had a good run as did Celtic who beat Rangers in the Last 16 before losing to Ajax in the Quarters. We will retain 6th spot for next season but we have teams breathing down our neck. The good news is that due to us being in 6th we are guaranteed 2 teams in League Phase of the Champions League and one team in the Europa League League Phase, all in all there will be six teams in the Europe, with the other three going into Qualifying. In Other News At the end of March we moved back to our new ground after a lovely 9,400 expansion, this is going to massively help our gate receipts as we move forward. But the even better news is I've persuaded the board to add even more seats! Another 3k at a cost of £8m! The Academy is Flourishing A quick word on a few of our academy lads, who all made their Scotland debuts this season. David Moyes (Scotland manager) went mad in the March friendlies and called up 8 Queen's Park players, including these lads who all made their debuts It was great to see forward Jay MacLeod get his chance for Scotland, this lad, when called upon has been really good this season and is improving rapidly, next season he is going to get his chance. There was also a call-up and debut for Striker John-Paul Tait, he hasn't played much for me so I sent him on loan to Hearts, he didn't score loads but obviously impressed enough to get the call-up. Another player on-loan at Hearts who got the call was defender Steven McIlvogue. He isn't rated very highly but has a really solid half a season on-loan. These three lads will all be in and around the first-team next season. I feel now is the time to give them a chance as we are doing so well in the League, with these guys, Kier Hamilton in midfield and Craig Wiles at Left Back we have a really good crop of academy players who I think can help take this club to a new level. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannojunior Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 Congratulations on another amazing season mate! You are absolutely smashing it. Only a matter of time before you are making the UCL semi/final. Cracking work with the academy too! Reckon there is a chance you get the Scotland job back at some point? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 19, 2023 Share Posted November 19, 2023 Congratulations on the double! Fantastic performance in the final and a nice comfortable buffer in the league shows you are clearly the best team in Scotland now. Looking forward to seeing how these intake players develop... Hats off to the new HOYD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 19, 2023 Author Share Posted November 19, 2023 30 minutes ago, mannojunior said: Congratulations on another amazing season mate! You are absolutely smashing it. Only a matter of time before you are making the UCL semi/final. Cracking work with the academy too! Reckon there is a chance you get the Scotland job back at some point? I really hope so! It's part of the challenge, unfortunately the next Euros is in Scotland and Wales so they've automatically qualified so not chance of Moyes being sacked for another 12 months at least 30 minutes ago, The Last Throw said: Congratulations on the double! Fantastic performance in the final and a nice comfortable buffer in the league shows you are clearly the best team in Scotland now. Looking forward to seeing how these intake players develop... Hats off to the new HOYD Thanks mate. The future is really bright with these kids coming through Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 19, 2023 Author Share Posted November 19, 2023 2031-32 - Transfers and Opening Games I have to say we have properly upgraded this squad for next season, lots of outs and some real top quality players coming in. Transfers Out £68m of player sales, we say goodbye to DMs Peiffer and Anon, both sold for a profit, around £5m made on Peiffer, Anon was signed for £375k! Left Backs Moreno (signed on a free) and Granhus (signed for £5m) also leave, Tierney is so much better than these two and we also have wonderkid Wiles so neither of them were needed. Ryan Porteous also leaves, he asked for a move and he wasn't going to get regular game time. So a few first-teamers go meaning I needed to bring a few players in. Transfers In Pires - Central Defender/Left Back - £11.75m from Cruzeiro A lad I'd looked at last season but I held off. With Murillo spending more time in midfield I felt it best to go out and sign a new left-footed CB, he can also play LB which helps. Florian Boyer - Left Wing - Free from Toulouse I really didn't need this lad but when I saw his contract expiring, meaning I could get him on a free, well it was a no-brainer. I top quality attacking midfielder who is an upgrade on Ilie and Paterson Nordi Mukiele - Right Back - Free from Monaco Another player I snapped up on a pre-contract. My new back-up right back to Larossa, he has Champions League experience as well and will be a great help to the young lads in the squad. Andre-Franck Zambo Anguissa - Defensive Midfield - Free Transfer With Pefiffer and Anon leaving I needed to bring in new midfield recruits, Anguissa is getting on in age but for 35 he still look top quality. Ardon Jashari - Defensive Midfield - Free Transfer Another ridiculous signing on a free transfer, just look at his value!!! This is why I left Anon leave, a huge upgrade on any midfielder I currently have. Kristoffer Ajer - Central Defence - £12.5m from Brentford I may have slightly overpaid but Ajer look really good and adds experience to our defence. Some fantastic signings, lots of experience added and I really feel we're in a much better place for a good run in the Champions League Opening Games Sensational!!!! We have started incredibly with plenty of goals and hardly any conceded! How low are Celtic?!?! In Other News I mentioned in the last update that the board agreed to my request for more seats in the ground, they agreed to a 3k expansion, then only days later they told me they were going to add over 9k more! This will take the capacity up to nearly 38k! Huge! The biggest news though is that all six teams that qualified for Europe this season have made it to their respective League Phase, we had three teams (including us) that has automatically qualified and then Rangers, Hibs and Aberdeen all made it through their qualifying rounds, this means we have…. Champions League - Queen's Park, Celtic and Rangers Europa League - Hibernian and Dundee United Conference League - Aberdeen This should really help the co-efficient! Our Champions League fixtures also look pretty decent. Those four home games in a row are going to be huge, three of those we should win, we also face last seasons winners AC Milan, there are also a couple of winnable away games. Could we do enough for a top 8 spot? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lestri Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Some great experience coming in there, could be the impetus for that late Europe run! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Last Throw Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 Pires and Boyer both look like immense signings. A fantastic start to the season, just carrying on where you left off, hopefully you can maintain it. Whilst its a tough start in the champions League you have some winnable games there, if you can get some unexpected points somewhere top 8 could happen 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannojunior Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 That is a massive summer window for you! Some top talent arriving and it’s shown in the early season form. Can’t wait to see how you do in Europe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 21, 2023 Author Share Posted November 21, 2023 2031-32 Season - September to January I have to say its been an incredible first half of the season! Champions League We had some winnable home games which we needed to get points out of, especially after we lost our opening two games away to Newcastle and Liverpool. We came back with two really good wins over Roma and Slavia Prague before home draws to Monaco and then last seasons winners AC Milan, in the final two games we needed to secure at least a win, we drew PAOK 0-0 away before absolutely smashing Austria Wien in the final game to secure a playoff spot. 16th place is absolutely fantastic, there was good and bad news from our other Scottish teams in the Champions League with Celtic nicking the last playoff spot but Rangers went out after a poor campaign League Cup A competition we lost last season on penalties in the final so I was determined to win this, we eased past Motherwell and Hibs to get into the final. Where we faced Celtic, we conceded early and we never really got going, it looked like we were going to lose until academy star MacLeod grabbed an equaliser in the 90th minute to take it extra time, this is where Celtic fell apart (I've seen this happen before!), we scored 3 times in extra time to seal a 4-1 win!!! As you can see from the stats we utterly dominated. Premiership Now to the league and my word it's gone well!!! A sea of green but we have slightly fallen off in the last month or so. We have however been incredible, some hammerings, loads of goals, lots of clean sheets, sensational! That last game away to St Mirren was the real only downer of the first half of the season, we never really got going but with us so far ahead in the table I have decided to give some of kids a chance to prove themselves. 18 points clear at the top!!! DOMINATION!!! In Other News In the Winter window I decided to make one signing and that was to bring in a new goalkeeper, Gebhardt left after not getting enough first team football so I went out and brought myself a new, young GK, who can replace Henderson once he decides to retire. In comes Jesper Buksrud, signed from Rangers for £11m, I nicked their first choice goalie to become my back up!!! We've also had the completion of the expansion of the ground, it's now totally max'ed out with a capacity of just over 38k, currently we're getting around 25k a game which is a massive increase in the previous seasons. A fantastic first half of the season, my plan now, with such a lead at the top, if the blood some of the youth players to see who has got what it takes to get a spot in the squad for next season. Hopefully we can continue our good form and end with another league title and hopefully we can progress further in Europe 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lestri Posted November 22, 2023 Share Posted November 22, 2023 Huge start to the season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertpeet27 Posted November 22, 2023 Share Posted November 22, 2023 Just caught up, fantastic read and brilliant progression to oust Celtic and Rangers so quickly. Hopefully a European trophy soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 22, 2023 Author Share Posted November 22, 2023 2031-32 - End of Season Review Another season down, when I left you last we were smashing the league and still in the Scottish Cup and Champions League, let's see how it went…… Youth Intake It was another solid looking intake, no elite talents but numerous top talents. Of those players there were a couple that really stand-out Ryan Taggart - Central Midfield He will need to re-train as a DM as we don't play CMs but I feel he can do a decent job there, his mental attributes are top quality for a 16-year old. Kyle Smith - Left Wing He needs some work but he has some good physicals, bravery, flair and work rate, a great base to work on. Scottish Cup We had won the Scottish Cup three years in a row and flew through the opening rounds hammering Raith and then Partick, we then faced Celtic away in the Quarters and played really well to seal a 2-1 win. With Celtic beaten and Rangers already out if was ours to lose, we faced St Mirren in the semi's and played like absolute muppets, we took the lead but then just stopped playing, St Mirren scored mid-way through the second half and the game went to extra-time, St Mirren then grabbed a second goal to seal a 2-1 win and knock us out. Not happy! Champions League When the playoff draw came out it threw up one mouth-watering tie, yes we were facing Celtic!! A shame as it would've been nice to have us both go through to the Last 16 but at least it guaranteed one team going through. Obviously it was us that won, it was tight though, a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park followed by a 2-1 win at home, John-Paul Tait grabbing the winner. Into the Last 16 and we were handed a tough tie, we faced Liverpool and, for the third straight season, we were dumped out in this round. 4-1 at Anfield and 3-1 at home, Liverpool were just too good but it was frustrating how poorly we played. Premiership Now we come to the League, we had won back-to-back titles, this would make it three in a row, in the last update you saw how far ahead we were, I spent the rest of games rotating and giving some the kids a go and they were excellent. The title was wrapped up in early-April, even before the Championship Group had started, it was an utterly dominant season, we scored so many goals (122) and amassed 101 points! An incredible season!!! Key Men Fabrizio Montalto has an insane season, he lost his spot to Connor Smith on the right-wing last season but came back in this campaign and won it back, he ends as the clubs player and young player of the season, he also ends with the most assists and highest average rating, he only started 20 games with 24 games as sub, he got 13 goals and 23 assists with an average rating of 7.69! Striker Jean Carlos Pajoy ends as the Premiership top scorer and has the most goals for Queen's Park this season, he scored 28 goals in 38 starts, another brilliant season but he now has some of the young lads breathing down his neck for a starting spot. The Kids I said I was going to blood the kids this season and I did just that, over 15 players that have come through the academy made appearances this season, I want to speak about four of them. Firstly is forward Jay MacLeod, this lad is absolutely amazing, he dominated the Premiership player awards winning both the player, players player and young player of the year. He's also a fixture in the Scottish side , he managed 19 goals this season in 34 starts. His improvement has been immense this year. Another Striker also excelled, John-Paul Tait was amazing when called upon, he also made his Scottish debut and grabbed a hat-trick in his second Scotland start when they beat Wales 4-0 in a friendly. He managed 12 goals and 5 assists in 21 starts, his improvement has been even bigger than MacLeod's, his current ability has jumped 1.5*'s in the last 9 months. This lad is an absolute superstar, Craig Wiles came through last seasons intake and is already a fixture in the first XI, he also made his Ireland debut and all at 16 years old! He made 37 starts and scored 3 goals!! The final player I want to speak about is midfielder Alex Harrison, he's not rated very highly but I recalled him from a loan in the Winter to give him a chance and, although he didn't played loads, he was really good when called upon, he even made his Scotland debut in the March internationals! I think he looks great and his rating is really low for someone who looks this good. He ended up making 7 starts for us averaging just under 7. Next season he will get more game-time. The future is so bright at Queen's Park, we have a raft of kids coming through who have proved in the second half of this season they can mix it. At the end of March both MacLeod and Tait were rewarded for their amazing rise by being named 1st and 2nd in the NxGN award, we also had Wiles is also in there. and Summer signing, defender Pires. Here is the Best XI for the season. And here's the whole squad Scottish Teams in Europe It's been a mixed bag for our teams in Europe this season. Rangers went out in the League Phase of the Champions League Celtic lost to us in the Playoff and we then went out in the Last 16 Dundee United lost in the Playoff of the Europa League Aberdeen lost in the Last 16 of the Conference League But one team did so well!! Hibernian, who ended bottom of the Premiership got all the way to the Europa League final!!! They beat the likes of Malmo, Galatasaray, Lyon and Feyenoord along the way but the final was against Chelsea and they lost 3-1, what a run though! Even so, our co-efficient ranking will drop a place next season as we will be overtaken by Netherland, this doesn't affect our European spots for next season, we'll still have six teams in Europe with three in the Champions League but, with us dropping to 7th next season we will lost a Champions League spot for the following season. I'm pretty confident, looking at our co-efficient points, that we will retake 6th spot from the season after Next Season So what an incredible season, a League Cup win and a third straight Premiership title, the League this year was so easy, we dominated from start to finish and I fully expect that to continue, next season though I will be focusing on the Champions League, we need to start progressing further, not only to help ourselves with money and improving our reputation but also to get the co-efficient increasing. With my focus on Europe I will be blooding even more kids in the domestic competitions, I hope to play at 6 academy players in each XI in most of the domestic games and hold my key men back for Europe and the big domestic matches. My aim this Summer is to look at improving the squad as a whole, the kids will play but can I improve the non-academy players, can I find a better Right Back that Larossa? Can I find a better Centre Back than Murillo? I have had my scout scouring the World for players that are upgrades on these type of players so as long as I can get the right deal there may a few changes this Summer, it all depends on the deal and whether I can move the players being replaced out. The kids will stay, they are the future but I need to keep the squad as a whole moving forwards. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannojunior Posted November 22, 2023 Share Posted November 22, 2023 Another stellar season mate! It’s only a matter of time before you have that long European run. Harrison is criminally underrated by the game and I can’t quite work out how?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 23, 2023 Author Share Posted November 23, 2023 2032-33 Season - Summer Transfers and Opening Games So I had this great plan for the Summer, the kids are going to play the domestic games but I wanted to upgrade my key men with better players, my choice, if I find someone better for relatively low cost then I'll bring them in and sell the player they're replacing on, what I didn't envisage was clubs unsettling my key men before I even started!!! It's been a big Summer, lots of outs but I really feel I've majorly improved this squad and I feel we are well set for a run at the Champions League this season. Transfers Out As I said, it's been a tough Summer as you can see by these out's 9 players sold, all from the first-team, we lose our first choice RB Larossa, Our No. 1 Henderson, Arismendi, one of our key DMs, James Hill, a CB who started most games last season, LW Boyer who went to Newcastle after they activated his release clause and then the big one, we lost Striker and save legend Rodrigo Muniz. The good news is, for most of these, I brought in better players for less money. Nearly £80m brought in as well and pretty much all of those sold were for a profit on what I paid for them. Transfers In Nahuel Alcaraz - Defensive Midfield - £12m from Racing Club With Arismendi leaving and Anguissa retiring I needed a new DM and this lad is a huge upgrade on both those players, a big fee but well worth it. Shuichi Hasegawa - Goalkeeper - £3.9m from Yokohoma Compared to Henderson this lad is head and shoulders above him, a stupidly cheap fee and only 24, this lad is going to be a superstar for us. Juan Vergara - Central Defender - £2.5m from Millonarios My replacement for James Hill and like the others, a huge upgrade, only 19 as well, this lad is incredible and will only get better! Alexander Isak - Striker - Free Transfer My short-term replacement for Muniz and what a signing, Isak is still amazing at 32 and will provide great experience to MacLeod and Tait whilst providing Champions League experience in those big games. Keiichi Takahashi - Right Back - £5m from Kashima Antlers With Larossa going I needed a new RB, this lad isn't as good as Larossa but I really struggled to balance quality with price, Takahashi is only 22 so has time to improve and will provide great attacking impetus on that right-hand side. Takeharu Tsunoi - Defensive Midfield - £4.3m from Yokohoma My third Japanese signing of the Summer and this was a last minute signing, he can play in both defence and midfield and will provide good options when needed. Another young signing who also looks first-team ready. An absolutely brilliant window, we have some incredible talents coming in, we've lost some big players but I do feel this squad is more than ready for another amazing season, and all with a profit of nearly £45m!!!! Opening Games We've started really well this season, I've stuck with what I said, I've played the kids in the domestic games and filled in when we've had injuries or fitness problems with my big game players. 5 games, 5 wins, amazing! Jon-Paul Tait has had an amazing start with 6 goals! Already top, can we stay there?! Champions League Fixtures We have what looks like a solid set of games to play in the Champions League. We face Liverpool and Man City which will be tough but in the other games I fully expect to be challenging, a playoff spot is well and truly on but can we sneak top 8? Scottish Teams in Europe Finally, it's been a brilliant Summer for our fellow Scottish teams. In the Champions League we have ourselves and Celtic who both automatically qualified Rangers lost in the Champions League playoff on penalties to Sporting Lisbon but that means they drop down to the Europa League They will join Hearts, who automatically qualified and St. Mirren who got through four rounds of qualifying to get into the League Phase In the Conference League will be Aberdeen who got through three qualifying rounds to seal a League Phase spot. Six teams in Europe this season, a massive boost and it should help our co-efficient rise. Qualifying for next seasons European spots has been dented by the fact we've dropped down to 7th in the co-efficient rankings, Netherland went above us and this means we lost an automatic League Phase spot in the Champions League, it should be a one season blip though as I fully expect us to do enough this season to overtake Netherlands. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lestri Posted November 24, 2023 Share Posted November 24, 2023 Isak looks a great piece of business! Intentional Japanese scouting or just where the talent is? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 24, 2023 Author Share Posted November 24, 2023 9 hours ago, Lestri said: Isak looks a great piece of business! Intentional Japanese scouting or just where the talent is? I have employed a Japanese scout and we have an affiliation with Sapporo, I'm not sure if that helped but we've found some gems! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 24, 2023 Author Share Posted November 24, 2023 2032-33 - Mid-Season Review Winter Transfers I had no plans for any business this window but I've decided to be proactive and not wait, the reason for this is there are quite a few unhappy players at the moment, mainly because I'm blooding the kids in the domestic, thats means I have a lot of my key men asking for more game time! Both Ajer and Tierney have had enough and are retiring at the end of the season so I need to replace them and then there is talk of both Montalto (RW) and Jashiri (DM) wanting to go. Neither have left but in the Summer they will more than likely leave. So I decided to bring in a couple of players to get them bedded in. Tomislaw Dolcek - Left Back - £15m from Dinamo Zagreb A player I looked at in the Summer but felt it was worth waiting, with Tierney heading towards retirement now was the time to get him in, a big fee but a quality looking player. Nikola Mance - Defensive Midfield - £3.3m from Rijeka A player I actually signed in the Summer but I sent him back to Rijeka on-loan, with Jashiri wanting a move I decided to recall him to get him into the first-team squad for some game-time. League Cup Once again it was another successful campaign in the League Cup, Hibs and Falkirk were beaten to get us in the final. Where we faced Rangers, I decided to stick to starting my kids and did an OK job, the game only really kicked into life in the second half, MacLeod scoring just after the second 45 started. Rangers then pegged us back but sub Pajoy scored within minutes of their leveller and that's how it ended. Another League Cup win! Premiership What an incredible run it's been! 24 games in and we're still unbeaten! The kids have been incredible so far, I have had to bring in a few of my key men just to try and keep the likes of Isak, Pajoy, Connor Smith, etc happy but the main bulk of the youth players have been given their chance and have been so good. Miles clear!!!!!! Champions League Now to the big one, I kept my key men back for this and my god did they repay me!!!! Just look at that!!! 8 games, only a single defeat and that was against Man City, we even went to Anfield and won an absolute thriller 5-4!!! Napoli and Porto were also beaten away, sensational!!! That meant, for the first time, we had a sealed a top 8 spot, bypassing the playoff round!! Scottish Teams in Europe But it wasn't just us who's had a good season in Europe, as you can see above Celtic were so close to a top 8 spot, they played Arsenal away in the final, all they had to do was avoid defeat for a top 8 place, unfortunately they lost 2-0 but what a run they had, they even went to Juve and won! In fact all six teams made it out of the League Phases with Aberdeen sealing a playoff spot in the Conference League, Hearts got a top 8 spot in the Europa League with Rangers and St Mirren ending in the playoff spots!! It's been by far the best season for the Scottish clubs in Europe and it's reflected in our current co-efficient score. We currently have the second highest score behind England for this season, if we keep that up we get another Champions League spot for next season, what it does mean though is it looks like we will go back above the Netherlands into 6th next season meaning we get back the Champions League spot we lost by dropping down to 7th for qualifying this season. Things really are looking up but we really need one of us to go on and win something now! In Other News One big piece of news is wonderkid Striker Jon-Paul Tait, who has been sensational this season, was awarded the Golden Boy for 2032. What a year he's had, 23 goals and 17 assists in 35 starts, this lad, along side MacLeod are going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come, what I have to do now if hang on to them! The vultures are circling!! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 26, 2023 Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 2032-33 - End of Season Review Welcome back! This may be a long update, it's been a busy final few months! Youth Intake Once again we have another really good-looking player in the latest intake. I say good-looking, clearly that his attributes and not that shocking photo of him! Please welcome Jake Falconer, a second awesome looking left back in the past three intakes. He's going to have to improve if he's going to take that LB spot off Craig Wiles! We also welcome this lad, central defender Liall Coult, he looks solid and will do a decent job in the years to come Scottish Cup It was another brilliant campaign in the Scottish Cup, we eased into the final with wins over Raith, Hearts, a lucky win over Ross County and then a hammering of Kilmarnock in the semi final. In the final we faced Celtic, a tough, tight games which went to extra time after the 90 minutes ended 1-1. It was settled by one of our own, Right Back Michael McKinlay stealing in at the back post to win the game and our fifth Scottish cup win in six seasons. Premiership As you will expect, we smashed it in the League, we lead from the front and never ever looked in danger. We had some great wins but did lose a couple towards the end, mainly because I rested players for much bigger matches. Lots of green though, some amazing wins along the way! One point less than last season, still 100+ points in successive seasons is amazing. Champions League Now to the big one, I wanted to get past the Last 16 this season after falling at that point in the last three seasons. In that round we faced Hoffenheim, we got a solid 0-0 draw away and then went crazy in the home leg scoring 6 goals! An amazing win against a decent team but it was about to get much tougher! Barcelona were our opponents in the Quarters, we went to the Nou Camp in the first leg and played well, it looked to be heading to an amazing 0-0 draw until, in the last minute of injury time, Vitor Roque scored and they would take a 1-0 lead with them for when they come to the Malkay McKay Stadium. I had hope, I knew we were good enough if we got it right and my word did we!!! We went mad in the first half scoring three times, Barca got one back just before half time but we managed to see out a famous victory against one of Europe's elite and we're into the semis!!!! Where we faced another Spanish giant Real Madrid, again the first leg was away and Real were just too good, they ended 3-1 winners with a couple of second half goals. We still had a chance though, we knew we could match then and just like the Barca game we had an amazing first half, three goals scored putting us ahead on aggregate but this is where we fell apart, Jude Bellingham ran the show, we ran out of legs and Real scored mid-way through the second half, levelling the tie and taking it to extra time. The players were shot and Real dominated, Bellingham again running the game and set up Thuram to score the goal that would knock us out. What a brilliant run though, we were so close to another amazing shock, we got to the semis of Europe's premiere competition and mixed it with the big boys! Player Awards/Key Performers I could talk about so many players but I'll try and keep it short! Firstly is academy star Jon-Paul Tait, he ends as the clubs player of the season and also dominates the Premiership awards with player, players player and young player of the year! He also ends as the Premiership top scorer with 23 goals in 25 starts, overall he scored 29 goals and got 17 assists from 33 starts, this lad is absolutely incredible! Jean Carlos Pajoy ended as the clubs young player of the season, he didn't make as many appearances as normal, mainly due to Tait and MacLeod doing so well but still managed 26 goals in 29 starts! Talking of MacLeod, he had another solid season, he does seem to like to go numerous games without scoring and then bangs a shed load in. He ends with 19 goals and 9 assists in 40 starts Wonderkid academy star Craig Wiles had a really good season, an ever-present at Left Back he was solid in defence and really good going forward. He made 32 starts, scoring 3 goals and getting 3 assists. He is an absolute superstar! I said before the season started I wanted to give some of my academy players more game-time and that was the case for Right Back Michael McKinlay, he isn't the best but overall he had a solid season. He made 33 starts scoring 3 goals including the winner in the Scottish Cup final! Now to a player who isn't at the club as the moment and that's Midfielder Ray Horne, will he ever play for us when he comes back from his loan art Stenhousemuir? Probably not but he had a stunning season in League Two ending as the player of the season with 15 goals and 10 assists from 36 games, all from midfield! And here is the clubs Best XI for the season. And the whole squad. Scottish Clubs in Europe A quick word on this as it was a brilliant season for most of the Scottish Clubs. Alongside us getting to the Champions League Semi's, Celtic got to the Last 16 but lost to Chelsea In the Europe League St Mirren lost in the playoff round to Roma, Hearts got all the way to the Quarters before losing to Newcastle, Rangers went one better than that, getting to the Semi's before also losing to Newcastle Aberdeen were the sole team in the Conference League, they got to the Last 16 before getting absolutely smashed by Brighton. So another great season and it's been Scotland best co-efficient wise. We dropped to 7th this season meaning next season we lost a European spot but, as you can see, we have done so well this time around that we go back above Netherlands into sixth for next season. The bigger news is, we have ended with the second highest co-efficient for the season, so unless something goes horribly wrong, we should get an extra Champions League spot as the two highest co-efficient scorers get extra spots! That is massive news! In Other News And finally, some bits of news. Firstly is the budgets for next season and my word it's a whopper! £72m and a £200k per week in wage budgets. I will be spending some of it that's for sure! We also had some of the academy lads in the NxGN award and for the second season Jay MacLeod won the award. The future is bright! And the final piece of news is that, for some reason, we're in the Club World Cup!!! We were seeded fourth and were handed a really tough group! Can we get out of that group? It's going to be tough. So another brilliant season down, another treble and a brilliant run in Europe, now we need to kick on, there is going to be some movement in the squad this Summer. Both Ajer and Tierney are retiring and it's likely that certain players will leave, Montalto, Isak, Ilie have all asked to move and with some of the kids doing really well I can afford to sell some of these lads, bring some of the kids in and then buy two or three top quality players to get this squad ready for another push at the Champions League. I expect it to be a busy Summer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 26, 2023 Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 (edited) 2033/34 - Transfer Update and Club World Cup Just a quick update to look over the transfer business so far and how the Club World Cup went. We had what looked like a tough group and after losing the opening game to Bayern 3-2 we needed 2 good wins to get out the group. In those 2 games we were incredible. We hammered both Al-Ahly and Boca to seal 2nd spot in the group In the Last 16 we faced Dortmund and scored twice late on the seal at 2-0 win. Then, in the Quarters, we faced this seasons Champions League runners-up Chelsea and it was a step too far as lost the tie 3-1. A decent run though overall. Transfers Out I said this Summer would be a busy one and it's been just that. We've had bids for so many players, Man United came in for Tait for just over £15m, I said no and then fell out with him, I've said he can go for £33.5m. Newcastle then activated Left Back Craig Wiles' release clause of £23.5m, luckily I managed to tie him down to a new bumper deal with the release clause now set at £80m. I kept those two but lost a few first-team players Out go Goalkeeper Hasegawa who wanted the move, a decent profit as I signed him for £3.9m last Summer. Isak also moves on after falling down the pecking order, he was signed on a free so another good profit. The one that annoyed me was Winger Montalto, one of our best players but he had already said he wouldn't sign a new deal which runs out next Summer, a big loss but Connor Smith is so good on the RW that Montalto won't be missed. The other players to leave were all back-ups or kids that were never going to make it. We also lost Ajer and Tierney who both retired and Jashiri who asked for a move but I couldn't the deal right, he goes to Leicester on loan for the season with a future fee (mandatory) of £9.25m Transfers In So I needed some new recruits and I really feel I've done very well with my business. Lewis Miley - Attacking Midfield - £8m from Aston Villa I watched him play yesterday on MOTD and thought he looked amazing, so I looked at him on FM and my word he's good. A solid player who can play anywhere along the line behind the striker and also in central midfield. Flemming Lygaard - Winger/Striker - £5m from Toronto FC My replacement for Isak, he can also play on either wing. He looks really good and will do a great job as back-up to Pajoy, Tait and MacLeod. Emmanuel Barrientos - Central Defender - £28m from Newcastle With Ajer leaving I needed a new right-side CB and I went big! A club record fee, a cracking looking player who will slot in defence alongside Murillo. Nando - Striker - £12.25m from Sao Paulo With the rumours swirling about Tait leaving I went in for this lad to replace him when he eventually leaves, currently there have been no more bids for Tait but I expect him to go. Even so this lad is incredible! Efraim Ilharco - Goalkeeper - £12m from Sporting Lisbon My replacement for Hasegawa, in comparison Ilharco is actually better and he cost me half as much. A top quality keeper! So some really good business but we have spent a lot!!! Nearly £65m spent with around £35m of player sales. It's pretty much decimated our bank balance so there will no more in's for now unless someone leaves. I do have a really healthy squad now with a good mix and youth and experience. Edited November 26, 2023 by TheLutterworthFox Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mannojunior Posted November 26, 2023 Share Posted November 26, 2023 Things just keep getting better and better mate! You’ve done really well to hold on to your key players in the window. How have you approached scouting throughout this save? You seem to unearthing some real gems from outside the top 5 leagues. Following this save has firmly cemented the fact that my next save will be a club and country one! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 26, 2023 Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 28 minutes ago, mannojunior said: Things just keep getting better and better mate! You’ve done really well to hold on to your key players in the window. How have you approached scouting throughout this save? You seem to unearthing some real gems from outside the top 5 leagues. Following this save has firmly cemented the fact that my next save will be a club and country one! I do a bit of everything when it comes to scouting Always make sure I have scouts looking all over the World and a variety of nationalities and scouting knowledge I use the player search a lot. Have different filters set up to find certain players, I have filters for each positions based on the attribute comparison page, using the average for each attribute I have different shortlists for different types of players, i.e youths, out of contracts, main targets, etc. I make a lot of use of the scouting recommendations as well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 26, 2023 Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 2033/34 - Opening Games and European News What a start it's been! As you can see it's getting a bit too easy domestically, I'm mixing the team around a lot to keep playing some of the kids and we're still battering most of the teams. I would love this season to end unbeaten! But it's Europe where we need to continue improving, we got to the semi's of the Champions League last season and it is my aim to go one step further! As ever we automatically qualified for the League Phase of the Champions League and we have a decent set of fixtures. We should be able to get enough points in those games to be challenging for a top 8 spot. As for the other Scottish teams in Europe, well it's gone well with both Falkirk and Rangers getting through their qualifying rounds to get into the League Phase. That means we have two teams in the Champions League (Us and Celtic), two in the Europa League (Rangers and Dundee United) and Falkirk in the Conference League. Let's hope all five of us have good run in their respective competitions. Finally, a bit of transfer news, there is good and bad news, firstly the good, Jon-Paul Tait stays but there is a bad side to that, he broke his leg in training and is out for 4-5 months. A huge loss. Another piece of bad news is we have lost one of our highest rated youngsters and left back Dolcek moves to Liverpool after the activated his £20m release clause. A big loss but I will not be replacing him. It was nice to get all business done early in this window and not go frantically rushing about as we got towards deadline day. Now for a big push in the Champions League! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vakama2619 Posted November 26, 2023 Share Posted November 26, 2023 I swear you get a CWC Berth if you reached the semis of the CL but could be wrong 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnetfan Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 What skin and logo pack are you using? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLutterworthFox Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 22 minutes ago, Barnetfan said: What skin and logo pack are you using? Skin is called SAS and logopack is TCM megapack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnetfan Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 lovely cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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