warlock

The FA Cup final... could minnows Hull City pull off a miracle against the might of Manchester City? Er... no . We were hammered: City boss Pep Guardiola pulled off a tactical masterstroke. Instead of the controlled possession tactic my scouts told me to expect, City opted for a simple game of hoofball - defenders lumping it up to Gabriel Jesus who was 1-on-1 with our GK Matt Ingram time and time again. With the game beyond hope at half-time, we'd had 7 shots on target and scored 1; City had 8 shots on target and scored 5. On the bright side, between more than £1m in competition

Hull City, May 2021 It has taken a while to reach the end of the season, after April turned into what felt like The Month Without End - two games a week, every week, and that schedule continued to the end of the season in May. The highlights were already posted above, as we secured the League title and cemented a place in the FA Cup final where we would meet Manchester City. Despite the punishing run of games, we came through it dropping just 2pts. From January 1 we lost only a single game. The task was made much harder with an injury to N'Lundulu in the Oxford game that m

I just view it as one of the real-life limitations. I rarely try to sign foreign players. I have had success with loans, which seem to be exempt from WP issues. There can be problems with the lesser European leagues (especially Scandinavia), but it's relatively easy to sign players from France/German/Spain/Italy, and rather too easy to snap up South American wonderkids. In terms of a fix, you can install a no-Brexit mod that would solve the issue.

And the fairytale continues:

Champions! We managed to seal the title a couple of games earlier than I thought: Next up: L1 Hull in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley against Championship outfit Swansea. I'm not counting any chickens, but we've already seen off two Premiership sides... and it's Swansea . If we make it to the final we'll face either Manchester City or Arsenal so there's no question of winning it. But an FA Cup final? Not sure I've ever experienced anything like that with a team outside the Premiership.

It was indeed! Shame about the late drop in form, but survival is the name of the game and you far exceeded that. Good luck with the reinforcements

Just checked and he looks a decent scout in my version of the FM multiverse. I was also surprised to see he had a spell as Everton manager, which had completely passed me by

Hull City, March 2021 Thanks to international games, and an improving squad, March turned out to be less frantic than expected as we were able to postpone a couple of matches as 3 of our first-team squad were called up to represent their countries. Unfortunately (and obviously) that will make for a brutal April with 9 games to be played next month. Two highlights for March. First, we played 4 league games with a 100% record. Second, we enjoyed a stunning visit to the Hawthorns in the FA Cup quarter-final, heading for home with an unlikely 3-0 victory over Premiership West Brom. And i

My personal opinion: spend it before the end of the current season. Not necessarily in January, but start bagging your major targets in April/May. I've had plenty of saves where a surplus in the budget has been "disappeared" by the board, leaving me struggling to fully strengthen the squad. Of course, there's more than one way to play the game, and if off-field financial security is one of your goals then by all means swallow the loss. But if your main goal is on-field success, spend it while you've got it.

Ah, not quite - I'll be firing up FM after a quick browse through the forums. Might take another couple of sessions; it's too hot to sit in front of a glowing laptop during the day Looks like it wouldn't take much improvement to make the playoffs... an extra 10pts maybe? But it's fun to play without board pressure - hope you enjoy it

In the light of new evidence, I endorse your decision . Zirkzee on a free looks like really good business (although he might take a while to settle), and Nathan Phillips did very well for me somewhere this year (so many saves!!) Glad to hear you're in for another season. As you'll see above, the Tractor Boys are still in the promotion hunt in my save and - very happily for them - they don't have to play Hull again this season

Hull City, February 2021 After a hectic January schedule that saw us play 8 games in the month, February proved to be even more brutal with 9 games in just 28 days. This was entirely a consequence of our continued success in three competitions - the league, the FA Cup, and the Pizza Pot. We opened the month against divisional rivals Ipswich in the latter trophy and, again, came away the victors in a 3-0 win through goals from KLP, Crowley and N'Lundulu. Incidentally, Crowley - who I had relegated to the u23s following poor performances, poor training and poor attitude - had to be rec

For reasons I don't understand, I often seem to do well against higher-league opposition in the cups when I manage a lower-league team. In my occasional saves managing Premiership clubs, I usually endure a run of penalty shootouts against lower-league opposition, until I succumb to one of the Top 6 sides in a 90-minute defeat. Football is a mystery, I guess . Did you decide on Blackman's future? I must admit, I think I'd keep him!

The dream continues... I was resigned to a replay when Spurs scored twice in the last 5 minutes. Then with the last few seconds of 4 added minutes ticking away we won a free kick on the right that saw N'Lundulu receive a push in the back in the penalty area. Honeyman smashed the spot kick past Lloris for a last gasp winner. Heart rate: Elevated

Not bad at all for a promoted season, especially on that wage budget . Blackman looks like he might be worth hanging on to, if you can afford to keep him, but I dare say you might have had the occasional message about Marriott not justifying his wage. Is another season in Suffolk on the cards? Ipswich are pressing us hard in my save, but Lincoln are the form team of the moment and could overtake both Ipswich and us if we're not careful.