(FM24) Adeiladu Cenedl - Build A Nation Wales - Barry Town

[TheLutterworthFox]

December 2026

An odd month, in some games we were brilliant, we beat Nice in the Europa and then, as ever, smashed TNS away, we did however lose two league games and we really didn't play well, maybe a little complacency has set in?

That Nice win was superb though, one of the best of the save and gives us half a chance of qualifying for the playoff, we do have Sevilla (A) and Betis (H) to go so it's going to be very tough.

To get 6 points though is a miracle!

In the league, even with the defeats, we're still way ahead.

11 clear of Cardiff Met and poor old TNS are in 4th!

[TheLutterworthFox]

January 2027

Firstly, a new signing, I've been running with very few DM/CMs in the first half of the season and have relied on the kids to fill the gaps, they've done great but I needed another option and Ethan Tipple is that man, he joins on loan for the rest of the season from Reading.

Not bad for 18!!

The month started so well but we have really tailed off as the month has progressed.

I can take the defeats in the Europa League but losing at home to TNS before scraping a draw in the last minute against Bala was not good, luckily we had a decent lead at the top and even with those dropped points we're still way clear.

11 clear with a game in hand, not bad with only a handful of games to go

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

February 2027

The month started off awfully, but after a team meeting we turned it around!

That win over TNS was the victory needed to seal our second successive league title, won with 4 games to go and what a place to win it at!!!!

A stunning season!

I've also asked the board to upgrade some of the facilities, we still have over £6m in the bank so best to use that to keep things ticking over

Some good improvement which takes the junior coaching to exceptional and the youth recruitment to good

[TheLutterworthFox]

2027 Intake

For the first time we don't have a "golden generation" intake, maybe that's because the first-team players are getting better or maybe it's just a one-off, who knows but we still have one "elite" talent

Dion Thomas - Right Midfield

He's really not great, has decent pace and good determination/work rate but he needs a lot of work

Cameron Birch - Goalkeeper

The best of the top talents but once again is not great, to be honest it's been nice to not have a mentally good intake, we have so many good talents in the squad, even if they are declining due to the players I'm bringing in being much better. I expect that to keep happening, especially with so much money to spend and the facilities improving

[TheLutterworthFox]

2026/27 Season Review

With the league wrapped up I've decided to get through to the end of season before updating, the final few games didn't go great, we got knocked out of the Welsh Cup in the semis by Llanelli on penalties and, as I decided to play some of the kids we got smashed by Haverfordwest before clawing back some dignity with a couple of good wins.

An awful game, we were 3-0 up at half time and absolutely capitulated!

That Haverfordwest game was awful, it just shows that most of the kids still aren't up to the standard.

We do however win the league by 11 points from Haverfordwest with TNS down in 4th! It's a 6 point improvement on last season and back-to-back titles!

Cup-wise it's not been the best season, we had a brilliant European adventure getting all the way to the Europa League proper and won two matches giving us a nice chunk of money but our performances in the domestic cups weren't great

Overall though it's been a good season, a season of progression on and off the pitch. With the prize money from our run in Europe, nearly £9m I've been able to improve the facilities massively with upgrades to everything.

The big request there was the fact the club will turn professional in the Summer, this should help the player improve quicker and give me better players to sign.

The clubs reputation has also increased to 1.5*, up from 0.5* when the save started, one of the aims was to increase our reputation above the likes of Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham, we're catching them up but still a way off with Wrexham the nearest at 2.5*.

Squad-wise it's been a solid season, the new boys certainly improved us but, as you'll see below with the squad list, the young lads who were lauded as potential stars are now nowhere near the level required, this is the issue when you start with a smaller club with a low reputation and as you improve the quality of players coming in the kids fall away.

The PAs of the kids from the intakes are still OK but they are no longer the 5* gems they were, some though are still looking good, the likes of David Chapman (CB), Aled Carroll (CM), Jamie Roberts (CM) and Luke Humphries (ST) have all had really good seasons and will definitely be in and around the first XI next campaign. What I need to do now is continue to improve this squad, that means a lot of players will leave and a lot will join. As we're turning professional I think that means those players on amateur deals will need proper full-time contracts, I now need to decide if they are worth it!

The board clearly agree the squad needs an upgrade and the budgets they have handed me are obscene!

£2m to spend on transfer and that budget is triple what it was last season!

We do end the season with just over £4m in the bank, we've continued to lose money throughout the season, bar those month where we gained European prize money. So I need to be careful how much I chuck about, until we hopefully qualify for the League phase of a European competition.

Talking of Europe, even with our decent run in the Champions League/Europa League, because the other clubs failed in the qualifiers it means we will drop a couple of places in the co-efficient, it doesn't really matter at the moment, we are probably at the lowest end of our 5-year co-efficient so I expect our ranking to rise over the next two or three seasons. 

Edited March 3 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

July 2027 - Transfers

Its been a very busy Summer so far, very few outs, just the players out of contract who I didn't want. With us turning professional this has meant giving my best players full-time deals which has taken up a chunk of our wage budget, I have however gone slightly mad with transfers, with the finances really good it's now time to try and take this squad to a new level.

So please welcome.....

Mark Davies-Parry - Left Back

A player I'd look at a few seasons back but I couldn't afford his wages, we also had no left backs in the squad, a top quality signing

Rohan Maher - Attacking Midfield/Striker

Really really good! Needs to work on his finishing but bar that he looks amazing for this level

Joseph Foulkes - Central Defender

Signed on a massive wage but I feel he's well worth it, adds much needed quality to our defence

Marcel McIntosh - Central Defender

Another defender, he adds some good depth to a relatively weak area of the squad

Cameron MacKay - Goalkeeper

Another high wage but he looks top quality for the level we're at

Matthew Butler - Central Midfielder

Midfield was an area I really needed to improve and Butler definitely does that

Alex Roberts - Left Back

Another left back, he adds good competition to Davies-Parry

Todd Alcock - Defensive Midfield

A really good signings from fellow Cymru Premier side Cardiff Met

Aled Thomas - Central Defender

Another CB, this one is more for the future but again he looks really good for this level

Isaac Jeffries - Right Winger/Central Midfielder

A late addition just to add some depth to the squad

Some really good signings and the squad now looks well set for another title push with a view to qualifying for the League Phase of a European trophy

 

Edited March 4 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

July/August 2027 - Results

Its been a busy start to the season with the European qualifiers, it went well but nowhere near as good as last season where we got to the Champions League final qualifying round.

We did manage to navigate one Champions League round before losing to Shakhtar, we then lost to Cluj in the Europa League before playing HJK for the second time, easing past them to seal a spot in the League Phase of the Conference League

That means around £3m of prize money gained, a lot less than than the £8m+ we got last season.

We have some tough games, we do have a revenge mission against Cluj to play, I am hopeful we can win at least a couple of those games.

Domestically it's gone really well so far.

Some good wins including a nice victory over TNS, we did draw the final game but we can't win them all....yet!

[TheLutterworthFox]

September 2027

An absolutely stunning month

The biggest one there was the win in the Conference League, it gave us another £420k into the bank balance. Its nice to see quite a few clean sheets as well as plenty of goals scored.

 

Edited March 4 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

October 2027

Another good month with one slip-up away to TNS

In there is a really good draw away to Austrian side Sturm Graz in the Conference League. Just shows how far we've come!

Those dropped points mean the lead at the top is now only one points from TNS

In other news I've managed to persuade the board to expand the ground, unfortunately it's only by 400 seats!

That's a lot of money per seat!!!

[TheLutterworthFox]

November 2027

Overall a really good month

We progress to the final of the League Cup and the fourth round of the Welsh Cup, unfortunately we're out of the Challenge Cup. In Europe we got a good point against Cluj before being dismantled by Hibs. Still, with two games left (Gorica and Valencia away), we have a chance of getting into those playoff spots.

I think one win should do it.

Only two league games played this month but we won both and this has extended our lead at the top to four points

[TheLutterworthFox]

December 2027

The good form continues, we got a great result against TNS in the Welsh Cup and gained another 10 points in the league. Unfortunately our European adventure ends in the league phase, I expected the loss to Valencia but fully expected to beat Gorica.

A decent run though and around £3.9m of prize money gained.

The lead at the top is down to 2 points as TNS won all 4 of their league games.

[TheLutterworthFox]

January 2028

An absolutely stunning month

The TNS win, alongside them dropping points in other games means we are now 11 points clear with just 7 games left

We also lifted our first League Cup as we beat Briton Ferry in the final

A comfortable win helped by a Steven Allan hat-trick, he's having one hell of a season!

29 goals in 29 starts!

[TheLutterworthFox]

February 2028

Well we're making hard work of this!

3 straight draws in the league, really not good enough but we're lucky we had a decent lead before we started not winning!

The gap has dropped to 7 points but with only 4 games to go we have pretty much wrapped up the title.

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2028 Youth Intake

For the first time the intake has not been great, no elite talents but lots of top talents

Unfortunately there really isn't anyone there that amazing but there are a couple that could be half-decent with the right training, mentoring and game-time

I actually really like the look of Josh John, he has some cracking mental attributes, it's a shame his personality isn't great but I have high hopes for him.

[TheLutterworthFox]

March 2028

THREE IN A ROW!!!

It was nice to win it against TNS as well!

Another fabulous season!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2027/28 End of Season Review

Firstly, we end the season with a domestic treble as we lifted the Welsh Cup, the first season we've won it all domestically, domination!

Only just though as we had to score a last minute leveller before winning on penalties!

So what a season it's been, three trophies in the bag and we are now the dominant team in Wales, an aim I set myself at the start.

10 points clear of TNS and 1 point better off than last season.

But we can't stand still, we need to keep improving, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch and it's the board agree as, in a surprising move, have agreed to expand the ground by over £1k seats

We have plenty of money in the bank so it's the right move to start pumping this into the ground. We end the season with just shy of £5m in the bank, around £1m profit from the season before.

The board have also handed me decent budgets for next season, no rise in the wage budget but over £2m in the transfer kitty, some of that I may transfer over to the wages

Now we need to seriously improve this squad, we have a lot of players unhappy as they aren't playing, these players will leave in the Summer, freeing up some wages and giving me the chance to make this squad EVEN better.

We have some top quality players in this squad so lets take a look at some of those who performed well this season.

Isaac Jeffries ends as the club player of the season, a Summer signing and what a signing! 8 goals and 16 assists in 38 starts and an average rating of 7.27

Steven Allan ends as the clubs young player of the year, he also ends as the Cymru Premier top goalscorer with 19 goals in 24 starts and 39 goals overall. A top quality player, fingers crossed we can keep him here!

Finally, Matthew Butler had an amazing season, another Summer signing and a key man in our success this year. 27 goal contributions in 37 starts.

And here is the Best XI for the season.

Now we look forward, the squad needs trimming down, unfortunately some of those top quality kids that were coming through just aren't up to scratch now as we continue to improve the players coming in. Aled Carroll is probably the only intake player to have broken through, fingers crossed some of the other lads can step up and provide good back-up. For this Summer though I need to keep improving this squad, the big aim is to qualify for the Champions League proper, currently we really aren't anywhere near good enough so I need to spend money to make this squad good enough to challenge.

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

July 2028

As ever it's been a busy Summer but I am really really happy with the business I've done so far

But before the transfers I just want to show how much the rankings have improved since last season.

The League ranking has had another massive jump from 81st to 67th.

Club-wise we've also had a big jump of nearly 100 places!

And finally the co-efficient ranking has jumped back up 4 places which gives us an extra spot in the Conference League for next season

Some really good progression.

Now to the transfers, there's quite a few but I love all of them!

Billy Gee - Central Defender - Free from Birmingham

A player I'd looked at last season but once I saw his contract up I had to snap him up. A top quality player who adds good depth to defence and defensive midfield.

Max Woltman - Winger/Striker - Free from Salford

My big aim this season was to add more quality to our wide areas and Woltman is a massive improvement on what we have.

Hayden Lindley - Central Midfield - Free from Bristol Rovers

I also really needed better players in midfield, I really like the look of this lad even if he isn't rated very highly.

Julian Gordon - Central Midfield - £78k from Connah's Quay

I've also started spending money! Gordon helps with the HG rule and add depth to midfield and on the right wing.

Haden Chisholm - Defensive Midfield - £10.5k from TNS

Another good option in midfield stolen from our biggest rivals!

Callum MacKay - Right Back/Right Wing - £10.25k from Inverness

A good option anywhere down the right-hand side.

Aaron Taylor - Goalkeeper - £61k from Bala Town

When I saw this lad on a scouting report I had to bring him in, he is a lot better than either of my first-team goalkeepers.

Aaron Collins - Winger - Free Transfer

And finally another player who can play on either wing and up front is needed. One of my favourite signings.

Some great transfers and now the club is well set, not only to smash everyone in Wales but also to take on a European adventure, we start in the Champions League first qualifying round, my aim is to get through to the 3rd Qualifying round at least and hopefully qualify for the Europa League proper.

And it's started really well, we've managed to get through 2 round of the Champions League by the end of July.

Some good wins, especially over Larne who, on paper, look a lot better than us.

In the next round we will face Maccabi Haifa, a really tough test!

 

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

August 2028

Our Champions League adventure continues and in the 3rd Qualifying Round we faced Maccabi Haifa, I expected to lose but my word we pulled it out of the bag!

An amazing 3-0 win at home was more than enough, we did have to come back from 3-1 down in the away leg but we had done it, the 2nd time we'd got through to the playoff round and ironically enough we faced the same team that beat us in that round 2 seasons ago.

Dinamo Zagreb stood in our way for a place in the Champions League proper, a team miles better than us but we pulled off an incredible injury-time 1-0 win in the away leg, we then played the home leg, as ever at the Cardiff City Stadium and we did it! A 2-1 win, 3-1 on aggregate!!

I'VE TAKEN BARRY TOWN TO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And with that £12.7m of prize money to boot!!!! Then came the fixtures and oh my word they're tough!

If we get a point from that group of games I'll be happy.

But this is it now, all that money, hopefully an increase in reputation and also a big jump in our co-efficient, this is where the save starts properly, financially we're set, this should also help attract better players and with that money I can start trying to filter it down to the other clubs to try and get them improving. But firstly the aim is to max the facilities out, the board have agreed to upgrade the training facilities as a start.

Domestically it's also going OK although we have lost a game, it's been tough with all the games but it was well worth it!

[TheLutterworthFox]

September 2028

Its been a busy month but domestically we are smashing it. We've even done well in the Champions League claiming a point in our opening game and then nearly an amazing comeback against Feyenoord!

Miles clear already!

[TheLutterworthFox]

October 2028

Safe to say domestically it is now becoming very easy!

Some amazing wins, a 12-0 win the Welsh Cup, we've also progressed to the League Cup semi final and the Challenge Cup quarters. It's also going just as well in the league

Smashing it!

[TheLutterworthFox]

November 2028

Another really good month even if there was a rare domestic defeat

I have rotated quite a bit so it's been nice to see the victories still coming through, especially pleased with the penalty win over Scottish side Ross County who sit near the top of the Scottish Championship, that shows you how far we've come in just a short space of time.

Even with that defeat to TNS we still sit top of the league

6 clear with a game in-hand!

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

December 2028

Smashing it!

One draw, the rest wins, domestically it's now getting very easy but I don't mind, the aim now is to win the league as early as possible then give some of the kids a chance, even though they really aren't good enough ratings-wise.

[TheLutterworthFox]

January 2029

Its been a busy month, I may have signed a load more players, I really needed to strengthen, some of the key men we'd used over the past couple of season had really fallen away and were complaining about lack of game-time, so I decided to release them all to save the wages.

Hurlock (LW), Mpadi (RW), Fox (CB), Foulkes (CB) and Griffiths (GK) had all been great servants to the club but had fallen way down the pecking order.

So new players had to come in, I even spent a bit of money!

Peter Taylor - Central Midfield/Right Wing - £500k from Crewe

My plan here was signings who would add good depth but also with a view to the future, Peter Taylor fits that bill, a top quality player already and only 20

Josh Brennan - Central Defence/Defensive Midfield - £90k from Everton

5* potential and already as good as our other CBs at the club.

Oliver Cooper - Attacking Midfield - Free Transfer

Not a young signing but he helps with the HG rules and adds good depth and experience to the squad

Lee Blackwell - Striker - £18k from St Albans

A good backup Striker to Steven Allan, he needs some work on his physicals but I have high hopes for him.

David Peters - Central Defender - £170k from Arbroath

One with a view to the future, he's not ready for first-team football yet but he has a good personality and some brilliant mental attributes.

Result-wise it's been another great month domestically, not-so-much in Europe though!

A couple of draws in the league but I've played lots of the reserves, in Europe though it was a disaster, an absolutely hammering by Villa and Sociedad. Not good! We end with 1 point from 8 games.

We did however lift our 2nd successive League Cup with a 1-0 win over Llanelli, an awful game to watch though.

The league, even with those draws is all but over.

7 games left, 14 points clear!

[TheLutterworthFox]

February 2029

A tiny little wobble!

Dumped out of the Welsh Cup on penalties and we then lost only our 3rd league game of the season, that win over Connah's Quay though was enough to wrap up the league title with 4 games to spare!

Total domination!

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

2029 Youth Intake

The intake preview had this one as a really poor intake but my word it looks good!

One very VERY highly rated player, please let him be good!

Johnson Fernandes - Central Midfield

OH YES!!!! I really like the look of this lad, straight into the first-team squad!

Unfortunately that's it, the 3 "top talents" really aren't great, Brandon Jones is probably the best of them.

But my word we have a gem there in Fernandes!

 

Edited March 7 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2028/29 Season Review

Another fantastic season, three more trophies in the bag as we add the Challenge Cup to the League Cup and Cymru Premier trophies this season.

The first time we've won this in the save and we've beaten some much better teams along the way.

A top quality season, I'm really enjoying watching the progression, on and off the pitch.

With the Champions League money I've managed to persuade the board to another training upgrade and another youth recruitment upgrade.

This puts the youth recruitment to exceptional and, when complete, the training facilities up to good.

The stadium expansion has also happened putting the capacity to just over 3,500, it can still be expanded to 5,000 so I will be asking for that sooner rather than later.

Finances are also looking really good, it's obviously helped that we got just short of £14m in Champions League prize money but, even with the facility upgrades and stadium expansion we've still made an £8m profit this season and the bank balance sits at £10m.

And the board have gone absolutely mad!

The wage budget more than doubles from last season and we have nearly £5.5m to spend on transfer! I still need to be careful, another European run is required to keep the finances heading upwards because we would be losing nearly £500k a month without that.

Squad-wise it's been a great season, so many players stepped up, what is worrying though is how quickly the apparent star intake players potential ability is dropping! I guess this just shows how much I've improved the playing squad.

It was a foregone conclusion on who dominated the awards this season, Steven Allan had another sensational campaign, ending as the clubs player and young player of the season, the Cymru Premier player of the season and top goalscorer. 40 starts, 28 goals, 21 in 18 starts in the league. Amazing!

Summer signing Julian Gordon ended with most assists, overall he got 30 goal contributions in 38 starts.

So another brilliant season, now we need to keep progressing, improvements in the squad are needed if we are to once again qualify for the Champions League proper, it is going to be tough to do it again but I have belief we can do it!

Our reputation is now at 2*, this put us level in reputation with Newport and Wrexham, Cardiff and Swansea are both still at 3*

Edited March 7 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

July/August 2029

A new season begins and this Summer has been a little more difficult, mainly because, for the first time in the save, I have a full squad of players who I have to register! So I've had to be a bit more careful with how many signings I've made.

I have, once again, let a few players leave.

Out of those players the first-teamers were Alcock (DM) and MacKay (GK), the rest were backups

Now to the in's.

Samuel Agbo - Full Back - Free from Everton

Full backs were a priority this season and Agbo is a big upgrade on what we currently have, he is also only 20 so lots of time to get even better.

Renny Muggerdidge - Winger - Free from Brighton

Another one with a view to the future, he also adds a new option out wide.

Jaheim Headley - Full Back- £31.5k from Motherwell

A new left back and again a massive upgrade on our current options.

Harvey Godsmark-Ford - Central Defender - Free Transfer

Signed on a hefty wage but a cracking looking players who upgrades our central defensive options.

Tyler Roberts - Winger - Season loan from Barnsley

A late addition just to add some extra depth to our attacking areas.

Some good deals and now we're set for another good season.

The European qualifiers opened the season and I was determined to once again make the Champions League proper, unfortunately we failed in my objective.

Really disappointing if I'm honest, we did the hard work in the 3rd round, drawing Craiova away before falling apart in the home leg, mainly due to an early red card.

This meant we dropped into the Europa League and had 1 qualifying round to get through to get into the League Phase.

And as you can see we eased past Celje. A pleasing end to our qualifying adventure.

So we go into the Europa League proper, not where I wanted to be but it's better than nothing.

Some tough games but I'd like to win at least 2 of them

Domestically we've also started well with only 1 draw and the rest wins.

Finally, rankings updates.

In the co-efficient rankings we've moved up 3 places and although it doesn't say this above it means we have a team that gets into the Europa League qualifiers instead of the Conference League.

We've also had another big jump in the European club rankings

And the league ranking has also had a decent jump

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

September 2029

A brilliant month, bar one result, but with our amazing start in the Europa League I'll ignore that one loss!

Those two Europa League games were just brilliant!

We're not top, yet, but we're not far off!

[TheLutterworthFox]

October 2029

We only went and beat bloody Ajax!! Probably the best result of the save so far!

And we fully deserved it!

An absolutely brilliant month, one draw, loads of wins and a shed load of goals!!!! We've also progressed in all cup competitions.

Amazing!

[TheLutterworthFox]

BIG BREAKING NEWS

I felt it was the right time with the job coming up, I have been offered and taken the Wales job!

We don't have any Barry Town players ready to take the national side by storm but I did feel it was the right time, my reputation is at 3.5*s and they've been doing awfully so far in the save.

They currently sit 50th in the FIFA Rankings, really not great and, until now have failed to qualify for a tournament!!!

Here is the Best XI, some original players still there including Brennan Johnson, Ethan Ampadu and Daniel James. Lots of newgens in there, it'll be interesting to see how good they are!

I say "until now" because they have just qualified for the 2030 World Cup in Turkey!!! An odd time for their manager Phillip Cocu to leave, he decided to move to take over the Romanian national side!

A really good campaign 

 

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

November 2029

TOTAL DOMINATION!

Domestically it's expected but my word out Europa League run gets more and more insane!!!

That is just incredible, we now are pretty much nailed on for getting through to the knockouts!

Two games in hand and two points clear! 

What a season so far!

I've also managed to persuade the board to improve the training facilities again, bank balance still is over £10m

[TheLutterworthFox]

December 2029

Another great month even if there have been a few draws

A busy month and I'll take those draws looking at some of the wins we've had! We even beat Wolves in the Europa League, what a run we're on in that competition! I wanted to win two games, we've qualified for the playoff round with two games to spare and are now looking to end in the top 8!!!

Even with those draws in the league we've stretched our lead at the top

We've also had the intake preview, overall its not great but for the first time in 2 season we have an "A" rated player hopefully coming through.

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

January 2030

I mean this is getting a little bit mad now, domestically, yeah I expected to dominate but our European run is just getting crazy now!

We only flipping drew Atletico Madrid away from home!! The win over Olympiakos means we end the League Phase unbeaten and guarantees a top 8 finish meaning we go straight into the last 16!

That is utterly insane and a huge bump up to our co-efficient!

We also managed to win another League Cup, beating Cymru North side Abertillery Bluebirds

And in the league it's all but over, 12 clear and a game in-hand.

Its going to be hard to talk about everyone at the end of the season so I just want to highlight two academy players who have come to the fore this season.

Firstly is Johnson Fernandes who came through last seasons intake, he's only 16 but is already a fixture in the first-team, he's made 15 starts, 8 as a sub and scored 9 goals! Not bad for a midfieler!!!

Secondly is Aled Carroll, he came through the 2025 intake and has been a first XI player for the past 2 and a half seasons. This lad is an absolute superstar and I'm seriously considering giving him a Wales callup in the next friendlies. He's having his best season so far with 3 goals an 10 assists in 31 starts and an average rating of 7.13

I'm especially pleased with Carroll as he's stayed in the side and continued to improve even when the other academy lads have fallen away as I brought in better players

[TheLutterworthFox]

February 2030

Well that was easy! Title wrapped up with 6 games to spare!

We did however lose to Dunfermline in the Challenge Cup but managed to get through the Welsh Cup Quarters.

MILES AHEAD!

Now we have the Europa League knockouts to look forward to and, after our great results in the League Phase I am confident we can get past AZ

Edited March 9 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2030 Youth Intake

The preview wasn't great, everything was "E" rated but we did have one "A" rating and my word we may have a star here!

Yeah not the best and none of those "good" talents are actually good! BUT........

OH YES!! Tom Torr looks amazing for this level, the only issue? We don't play an AM. Maybe it's time to change formation for the first time in the save?

[TheLutterworthFox]

March 2030

What a month! Even though the league is wrapped up we still have the Welsh Cup and the Europa League to play for, this European run is just getting crazier by the minute!

In the first leg we went to AZ and came out with a solid 1-1 draw courtesy of a second half penalty.

Then in the home leg we played really well, we had the lions share of the chances but AZ scored early, it looked like we would be going out before two late goals from Allan and Gordsmark-Ford to seal a 2-1 win and progression to the quarter finals!!!

Where we will face Wolves, a team we beat in the League phase but I fully expect a much tougher task this time around.

So a great month but its been even better than that!

I've played the kids in the league and we've won both games, we also won the Welsh Cup semi, just look at the goal scorers though!! Tom Torr has managed 3 goals, 2 of those on his debut for the club, this lad is going to be an absolute star!

In other news we've had the 2030 World Cup draw and we have a tough-ish group, I do expect to be challenging for qualification to the knockouts though.

[TheLutterworthFox]

April 2030

Can we keep our amazing European run going? 

Well the first leg was away and we played really well, unfortunately we couldn't find a way through and lost the game 1-0

Then in home leg chaos took over!

Wolves took a lead mid-way through the first half but we got a goal back just after, then half way through the second 45 we scored twice, one of those courtesy of 2030 intake star Tom Torr, to take a 3-1 lead on aggregate. Wolves scored soon after to level the tie on aggregate. The game ended and went to extra time, we then ran out of legs and Wolves showed their class to score twice and knocked us out. 

What an amazing run though, we've held our own against some of Europe's elite and got the to the last 6 of the Europa League! That is a massive boost to the nation co-efficient!

The league games this month I didn't pay much attention to but we managed to beat TNS away but lose to Llanelli. 

The final game of the season would be the Welsh Cup final against Aberystwyth Town, well we absolutely hammered them but somehow struggled to score!! 28 shots to 1, you'd expect a battering but we somehow only won the game 2-1! Fair play to their keeper!!!

What a season though overall!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2029/30 Season Review

What an amazing season, the domestic treble and an amazing run in Europe!

 

Fantastic! We even beat our highest points tally in the league.

The good news is, with our great run in Europe, the co-efficient has had a big bump up, even if no other Welsh team seems good enough to help us out!

We started this season in 32nd but with our great season we should rise to 29th and that means we will get a team in the Europa League qualifiers for the season after next!

Financially we're also looking really good, helped by our run in Europe we now have a bank balance of £11.6m, a rise of £1.4m from last season, not bad seeing as we've spent nearly £2m on training facility upgrades. The big one though is out youth setup costs which have jumped to nearly £2.5m, that is the biggest expenditure at the club. We need to keep winning that European prize money to keep the balance on that upwards trend.

The good news is the board have once again backed me with decent budgets.

A lot to spend! Next season we need to improve this side to get into the Champions League proper!

Player-wise it's been another great season and once again Steven Allan has been incredible! He scooped every award possible for club and in the league!

His best goal-scoring season yet with 44 in 44 and 7.55 average rating! It's only a matter of time before a bigger club comes in for him.

Summer signing Samuel Agbo ended with the most assists at the club.

18 in 39 starts and 3 goals, not bad for a right back!

And here's the whole squad.

So many players averaging over 7!!!

Next season we will be losing quite a few players as their contracts are up and, as you can see above, we have some players who's CA is dropping. A lot of players will go but I won't be replacing them all. I mentioned at the start of this season we struggled to register all the players in the European and domestic squads so it needs a trim down.

Lots of money to spend though so expect some improvements in certain areas, particularly out wide and in defensive midfield. Maybe another striker in case Steven Allan leaves!

 

 

Edited March 10 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

2030 World Cup

Here we go! Only a matter of months after taking the Wales job we're in the World Cup in Türkiye!

Firstly, here is the squad.

I'm still unsure who I should be picking, we have a lot of newgens and I need to spend time scouting them and researching how good they are. For this I decided to let me assistant manager pick the squad, Some recognisable names there including Rabbi Matondo, Neco Williams, Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu.

We have a decent group with Iran. Ghana and Brazil in it, I fully expected to end 2nd and that's exactly where we ended.

A couple of good wins before the inevitable defeat to Brazil.

We had made it to the knockouts and we were drawn against hosts Turkiye, a game I expected to lose but we put in an amazing shift to nick the game 1-0!

A brilliant performance against the hosts and we were into the Last 16!

Where we faced Poland, ranked more than 20 places above us in the FIFA rankings but I expected to give them a game, we didn't!

A really poor performance and a disappointing end to what was a promising run!

Our best performer was definitely Rabbi Matondo, the Winger put in a couple of really good performances and managed to grab 2 goals including the winner against Turkiye.

I was also very impressed with forward Paul Kelly who also grabbed a goal in the tournament, could he be the man to lead the line?

Young midfielder Harrison Hughes also put in a couple of really good performances, I expect him to be a key man moving forward.

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

July 2030

A new season and as planned a lot of players left on free's after their contracts expired

Out of that huge list the big names are Oliver Cooper, Max Woltman, Isaac Jeffries, Aled Thomas and Mark Davies-Parry, all first-teamers but the squad now has space for me to bring in better players without exceeding the squad registration rules in both Europe and the League. I ended up making more signings than I planned but that seems to happen every Summer!

Steve Singleton - Right Wing - Free from Linfield

Just another option on the right wing after losing Jeffries. A solid backup with some great physicals.

Dean Davies - Left Back - Free from Sheffield Wednesday

I needed new players at left back, he is young and Welsh so helps with the HG rule.

James Jarman - Central Defence - Free from Swansea

A young, highly rated CB joins to add some depth to the defence.

Sam Stewart - Left Back - Free from Cardiff

Another option at left back, I really like the look of this lad.

Malik Mothersille - Striker - Free from Bristol City

During the Summer there have been numerous bids for Steven Allan, so far I've rejected all bids and he hasn't complained but I decided to bring in two new strikers just in case he goes. Malik is one of those, he has pace to burn and looks quality for this level.

Chris Waters - Left Wing - £20.5k from Llanelli Town

Signed to help with the HG rule, he also ended last season as the 2nd highest assister in the Cymru Premier.

Mark Harris - Striker - Free Transfer

The second striker signed just in case Steven Allan leave, not highly rated but, as you'll see in a moment, he's started amazingly!

Some great signings and now we're set for a shot at getting into the League Phase of the Champions League

And boy has it started well!

We eased past Maltese side Flamrun and then dominated Slovan Bratislava but just look at the scorers! Mark Harris played as Steven Allan got injured in a pre-season friendly, he's played 3 games and scored 10 goals!!!! What a start!

Finally, some rankings updates and once again there's been a big jump in all areas

This has suddenly started going really well. We now need other Welsh teams to progress in Europe to help with the co-efficient, currently, we're expected to jump about 7 places in the co-efficient rankings next season and there's plenty more football to play to increase that even more!

 

[TheLutterworthFox]

August 2030 

What a month!!! Let's start with Europe, in the 3rd Qualifying Round we faced Lech Poznan and after drawing the home game 0-0 we looked to be heading out, queue an amazing away leg where we dominated and won the tie 2-0! 

Into the playoff round, win this and we're in the League Phase for the 2nd time, ironically we faced Dinamo Zagreb who we beat in this exact round the last time we qualified for the Champions League proper, well just like the last round we played at home first and didn't play well, scraping a 0-0 draw, surely we couldn't do it again? Well Zagreb scored early but in the 2nd half we grabbed a leveller, it looked to be going to extra time before Steven Allan, just back from injury, came off the bench to score a 92nd minute winner!!

WE'RE INTO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PROPER!!! And with that nearly £13m in prize money!

The fixtures though are once again really tough!

There's maybe two games there that I'd expect us to have a chance of winning!

The other Welsh teams in Europe once again failed to make it to the League Phase of a competition with Haverfordwest losing to Sevilla in the Conference League playoff round. Still, bar TNS in season 2, that's as far as any Welsh team has got in Europe so far.

Domestically it's also started well, I've had to rotate with the qualifiers going on but we've managed to only drop points in 1 game.

In other news I've used some of our prize money to upgrade the training facilities once again.

Weirdly enough I cannot seem to request anything else to be improved, the youth recruitment and junior coaching is max'ed out but the youth facilities are only at good so they should be able to be upgraded.

We've also made a huge player sale as goalkeeper Aaron Taylor moves to Wolves for £2.4m, not bad for a £61k signing. He is a huge player for us though and with it happening late in the window I added a loan-back clause to the deal so he'll stay with us this season..

Edited March 11 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

September 2030

Domestically it's going as well as expected, unfortunately we've lost both our Champions League games, I really expected to beat Kobenhavn but we really didn't play well enough

[TheLutterworthFox]

October 2030

Rinse and repeat

25k fans watched the Real Madrid game at the Cardiff City stadium, we really need a new ground even if we aren't filling it for the domestic games.

[TheLutterworthFox]

November 2030

A great month ruined by our first domestic defeat of the season.

Really frustrating but I have to be happy, we managed to win our first Champions League game of the season, giving us £2.4m more to add to the bank balance.

We've dropped to second in the league with that defeat to TNS but we have 3 games in hand! We also find ourselves in the League Cup final again, where we play TNS.

In other news, I've just finished the Nations League campaign with Wales and it went very well!

Some great wins along the way, this seals promotion to Division A.

[TheLutterworthFox]

December 2030

Wow what a month! Absolutely tonnes of goals, some great football along the way. Just a shame we decided to screw up in the Welsh Cup, I did pick a rotated team in preparation for the Roma game but we played awfully against a team in the division below us to go out on penalties. The Roma game however was brilliant, a 3-3 draw sealed with a last minute own goal.

What a season so far!

[TheLutterworthFox]

January 2031

This save just gets better and better!

Firstly, we lift another League Cup with a lucky 1-0 win over TNS

It was an awful game with very few chances settled by a penalty, that's four successive League Cup wins!

But this result was by far the best result of the month, dare it say it, the best result of the save so far!

WE BEAT DORTMUND!!!!

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to qualify for the next round by 7 points is our best points total in the League Phase of the Champions League so far.

In the league, even with that TNS defeat, we still sit way clear at the top.

A game in-hand and 9 points clear!

[TheLutterworthFox]

January Transfer Window

I thought the window was shut when I put the last update out, I was wrong and Sunderland have decided to nick two of my better players!

Firstly, right winger Steve Singleton leaves for £1.1m + addons, not bad for a free transfer signing in the Summer and he wasn't playing that often!

Secondly, full back Samuel Agbo leaves for a deal totalling £4.3m after all the addons, he was signed on a free last season. The good news is I've got him back on loan for the rest of the season, he will be a big loss next season though.

I haven't signed any replacements, with the league nearly wrapped up and us in no other competitions I didn't see the point. This means the bank balance now sits at just over £27m, I'm expecting massive budgets next season!

What I have done though and this is something I said I'd do once the bank balance was looking good, is filter money down to the other clubs. I don't want to do it in silly ways. I want to sign players that I feel I can use at some point, unfortunately there are no world beaters in the Cymru Premier so I've had to improvise!

Firstly, in comes Niall Jones from Connah's Quay for £500k up front and 2 x 6 monthly instalments on £500k

And secondly, central defender Iwan Hopkins, again from Connah's Quay and again for £500k up front and 2 x 6 monthly instalments of £500k.

This helps Connah's Quay out with £1m up front and another £2m over the next 12 months. Connah's Quay are probably one of the better teams in the league bar us and TNS (although they're having a shocking season this time around), hopefully it gives them money to either become professional or sign some better players. I will continue to do this because, currently, I cannot spend the money on much else. I don't want to go mad on transfers, I see no point in spending millions on players when I can buy just as good players for nothing or small fees. The facilities are also max'ed out as much as I can request and the board won't build me a new ground, so the only thing I can do is give the others clubs some money to hopefully make them better, I then hope they may qualify for a European League Phase! Will it work? Who knows!

Edited March 14 by TheLutterworthFox

[TheLutterworthFox]

February 2031

A couple of iffy draws but we end the month with some good win, I thought we were out of all the cup comps but I was wrong, we're still in the Challenge Cup and scraped into the final against LInfield on penalties. In the final we'll face Rangers B

Another title is almost here, 10 clear with 5 to play

[TheLutterworthFox]

2031 Youth Intake

These intakes are definitely getting worse, I guess that's what happens when your squad improves and you can't improve the facilities anymore.

There are two "top talents" there and I have to say both of them look pretty good even if they aren't rated as superstars

Evan Francis - Right Wing

I've said before, there are 4 attributes I tend to look for in a player, determination, bravery, work rate and natural fitness. Well Francis has 15 for Bravery and 16 for work rate! Overall he looks really good, he needs some work but I have high hopes for him

Keith Kennedy - Central Midfield

A really good personality and a great base for a star player. I am excited for him as well.

It's not the golden generation intakes we were getting but I expected the quality, compared to the first-team squad to fall as the side improved, I do feel these 2 players can improve enough to become squad players

[TheLutterworthFox]

March 2031

Easy as that, we make it 6 league titles in a row!!

We had already won the league before the TNS game and I played some of the kids, 2031 intake player Francis scored on his debut!

Easy peasy!

We've also had the Challenge Cup final against Rangers B and we came out with a superb 2-0 win to claim our second Challenge Cup of the save.