TheNayr

No-one really worth looking at, yet! I appreciate you remembering me and my Indian journey! Right, I've had enough of being in the fourth division. I had over £11k in wages given to me to use and I have spent over £10k in new wage additions. This is the year we get promoted. We've got some great players and we're in a great position. I replaced 95% of all staff, released 9 players from the first team squad and brought in 12 new players for the first team. No new additions at GK. Both will get a chance to impress and stake a claim for #1 over the first few games. Right, first of many new faces for this team, moving onto the defence. Let's get into it. Miguel Opere on a free from Real Zaragoza is another tall guy at the back at 6'4. With a great jumping reach and decent elsewhere he's alright. Not anything special but he'll do a good job as a bit of a rock at the back who doesn't move much! The opposite of that though is Alvaro on loan from Lugo. He's a more natural LB who can play CB but his very good physicals means he'll do great at coming on in the second half and use his speed at CB to make a difference against tired legs, RB has been a poor position for us since the start of the game, so on loan from Cordoba we've got in Carlos Albarran who comes in as our starting RB and if he stays fit, will more than likely start every game as I've ditched rocking a back 3 this season. This will probably be his last season before he starts to fall of a cliff, let's hope he can use his solid all round game to help us. On a free from Barcelona I've tempted over an exciting prospect who is exciting and with the chance to get better with a release clause of a milly, I'm happy to announce Jofre Torrents. Whilst offering very good versatility on the left hand side, he'll be used mainly at LB where his attacking play will hopefully get him a few assists when marauding forward. I'm not really sure how I was able to sign this player, also on a free from Barcelona but Leo Saca is a current international player. He is currently a La Liga 2 talent player who can improve to a La Liga talent player with a 3 year contract and a release clause of a milly. He looks bloody good and I can't wait to see what kind of performances he's going to do for us this year! Our midfield has seen a lot of new faces to come in. We were very poor in passing and assists last year. I think I've been able to solve some of them issues with these new signings. On a free from Ejea is Sergio Carrasco who is a mentality BEAST! He's also been made my captain. I really like the look of this guy, might not be amazing physically or with his technicals but I think he could have a banger season and be our player of the year. I paid £10k to bring in Emili Montolio from Roda. I knew I'd be losing some wingers whilst releasing players, he'll be more of depth than anything but he'll be good to have in the squad. Pretty good physically, could be worth bringing in later in games to take advantage of worn out defenders. Potentially the best signing of the Summer, again a free was Luis Saenz from Sestoa River in the third tier of Spanish football. He's solid everywhere and that 20 determination is wonderful. Unfortunately he wouldn't accept anything over a £250k release clause which I think will get triggered/He won't agree to a new contract with a higher release clause anytime soon. The first of two players I've taken from Ivory Coast is Thibaud Yameogo. Got him on a free with cheap wages from RC Abidjan. He's a solid AMC who will do a good job in the final third when called upon. I then opted for some speed on the wings and that means we welcome in Bazoumana Toure from ASEC MIMOSAS for free. He's not an amazing player by any means but he'll be lightning up and down the wings and using his speed to get past a lot of slower players and be important to us. No new strikers, but I am looking to try and bring in someone else just to add a tiny bit more depth. All these new and amazing signings! Have rocketed the media to believe we're favourites to win the league and I believe we can make a good run at it. I hope we do have a good go at it because our finances are looking a bit bad as we continue to edge toward -£1m. The chairman hasn't provided any money to help bring the balance back into the black. With us spending A LOT more on wages than anytime previously, we're going to end up well over a million in the red come the end of the season. We have to go up this year or make the playoffs to prove we're making progress! We had some help with season ticket sales, they remained the same as last season with 3015, but this year we weren't top of the table in that respect! Let's wrap this up with a look at our fellow Barcelona teams! A couple of changes, Barcelona go from starting last year with -£17m to having nearly £75m in their bank, they're laughing! Espanyol got relegated back into La Liga 2. Right good vibes, going to be positive. This is the year guys where we step forward as the third team in this city. Until next time.

Well I'll tell you lot this for free, it didn't really get any better. Maybe the worst capitulation I've ever had considering the bright start! I was even looking at this which happened in the middle of March. I told them that whilst the form was terrible, we were actually playing well (We most certainly were not!) and that seemed to buy me time, fortunately. That's how bad it got, unbelievable considering the start that we had. I'm still in awe how all of a sudden we could just crap out of nowhere. Anyway, what's done is done. At least we finished the season strongly with some convincing wins including 2 away games which has been our Achilles Heel all throughout this save. This was a very close call, with only 1 year left on my contract, another season like this and the save will be over. Two of our rivals are in the playoffs and a chance to go up in L'Hospitalet and Badalona hopefully they don't make it. We're still only 12th in wages a week spending so technically, we're still punching above our weight and always have done in this Group, I guess it's good to have high expectations for us! This is our squad by goals scored this year. Not as impressive as last year but we still finished 5th overall for most goals in the division, but less than last year. We were led by 18 year old star Cesar Burgos who didn't develop at all. Hopefully with an off season under his belt and new attitude going forward, he can come back next season and fire in more goals. He also led the way with over a 7.00 average rating on the year, if we didn't have him, relegation would've been very likely! Marcos Bustillo was also solid throughout the year and put in a good shift all year in the center of midfield for us. Not gonna sugarcoat this, it was a very poor season by the lofty standards I placed on us. I just hope moving forward we can perform better. We're gonna lose a couple players I think due to them wanting to leave, I don't blame them haha! Right, sour end to the season, next year needs to be better! Until next time.

And he's gone! Las Palmas activated his release clause and Dani Rodriguez has left the club to join them La Liga 2 and they happen to be leading that league. He's already started 1 game and came on from the bench. So it's looking like he'll get a lot of game time! I always knew he was going to be leaving so it's not a shock. However, what is a shock, is this. Out of nowhere our form took a complete nosedive. Nothing worked. I just CANNOT find a winning formula for away matches with this team. Even our home form suffered. After such a promising start, it just went to ****. I was fearing for my job, I never had to talk to the boss regarding my performance but I can imagine it was very close. This awful mid-season slump led an almighty slide down the table. Overall, just very frustrating to play and I dread playing away games, I just have no answer, no tactic seems to work, we're outplayed every game away from home. Not much else to say at this point. Disappointed. What could've been a great season has been massively derailed. Until next time.

Wow. That's all I'm going to say. The start of the season has been wonderful! Not perfect, but a pretty good start. Improvement, upon improvement, upon improvement! At home, we have been imperious. Just ignore the defeat to Europa at home, they are our bogey team as well as our biggest rivals. In 5 times that we've played them so far in this save they've won 4 and drawn 1. We can't beat them. Ignoring that, we have been brilliant at home! Away, not so good. Away tactic is a 4-3-3 DM Route One which I'm going to pivot away from. The home tactic of a 3-4-3 Tiki Taki is proving beneficial so I'm going to use that tactic as the only one going forward, hopefully it can be as useful away as it is at home. After 11 games last season we were on 17 points, we're 5 points better off at this stage, looking like this. We are looking so good. I'm trying not to get carried away considering only a third of the season has gone! Another poor month and we'll slide down the table but I'd like to think that won't happen, we'll continue to make good progress and aim to keep in the playoff places and who knows, maybe even challenge for the title! All the transfer windows around Europe went and closed leaving Dani Rodriguez still here and he's a right good start to the season. 11 starts, 2 goals and 7 assists, the kid is a star and it's stupid that no-one took a chance on him, not that I'm complaining! The other young stud Mr Cesar Burgos has had a brilliant start to life here, banging in 8 goals from 11 starts, he's a genius and I can't wait to see how he performs over the rest of the season and how he develops. Finances continue to dwindle as we're over half a milly in the red now, hopefully this year we're in the Copa Del Rey to get us some money! However, when I join you back at the end of January, I expect it to look a lot better with the loss of Rodriguez. I see it as a zero chance that he's still with us once that transfer window closes! Until next time.

Here we are into the new season. New skin, new me guys! Let's get into it. For the second season in a row, we have replaced our #1. Our last guy let 50 goals past him in 33 starts, not good enough! So, meet our new number #1, on a free from Barcelona Ander Astralaga. I'll be honest, the difference between him and Javi Cendon is minimal. But I wasn't going to let Mr 50 goals have another go at screwing us over. A couple new additions for us in defense. We only lost 4 players this Summer compared to 17 last Summer. When I signed all the new players, it was either 2/3 year deals to give us some stability. As you can see, we have no RBs in the team. We have one, a guy who isn't a natural there but can play it well enough. This has prompted me to move to a back 3 formation. I wonder how long that'll be before I change back?! Honourable mention to Pablo Jordan he's been here since the start, but not in the first team. Not worth showing you him. Ismael Sierra on a free from Betis is just a big guy at the back. Nothing amazing about him except he's 6'4 and got a 16 jumping reach. A few goals from corners for him? The other new signing is LB Ramon for a measly £1.1k from Tombense in Brazil. Just an absolute bargain. He's not amazing, but for that type of money, I couldn't say no as I needed another LB. He's decently quick with okay mentals. Very happy with a £1.1k layout for him. Only 2 new signings for the midfield lot, one on a free and one on loan. We had no natural CMs (I look like a mug currently. 2 positions out of 11 that I don't have a natural player there for? Who is this twit?!) so I needed to change that. I won't show you the loan guy, he's awful but literally all we could afford, he's free. However. On a free from Racing Santander we got Marcos Bustillo and I think we've gotten ourself a good little prospect. Very good technically. Decent mentally, just lacking a bit in the physical department. Unless he gets injured, he'll be starting every game. Only £275 a week too, we got him good. Now only one new name for the strikers this year. You'll see Nino who is naturally a striker, but he's the guy who can play RB and will be doing so for away games, it's at home we're going with a back 3, unless it works away. We'll see anyway. Now then. Now then. At the bottom you'll see a certain 17 year old with 5 star potential. He's not gonna be the next Raul. But, a scout brought my attention to him and said I could approach to sign and pay £14k compensation. I did that straight away upon seeing him. I prized him away from Mutilvera who are in the league below and not loaded in. For £14k you cannot go wrong on a 17 year old like this. Got all the technicals you could want. Mentally he looks great and his physicals are looking good. The new home tactic is a Tiki-Taki 3-4-3 so he will be playing a lot this year to aid his development. He's locked in for 3 years and unlike a certain someone who's release clause was low at £275k, this guy signed a contract with a £1m release clause. If that gets activated, I'll be very happy. Now let's move onto that certain someone. Dani Rodriguez came under a lot of attention. He got called up to the U20 Spanish World Cup squad so he had even more eyes on him and boy, he shone. He only went and won the U20 World Cup Golden Ball!! Mental! Then the offers came in, Charlton in the Championship and then quickly after that Boavista who even offered a loan back which obviously I wanted, Charlton didn't offer that. Strangely enough though, no-one else came in for him. It was just them two. I was hoping he picked Boavista for the loan back and I thought that was the easy choice as they're in the top flight of Portugal but he ended up choosing Charlton. What could've been, oh well. That £275k is a lovely amount to get for a small team like us. WORK PERMIT DENIED. HE'S STILL HERE BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First game of the season is upon us and he's still here with no offers on him atm but apparently Las Palmas do want him. I tried offering him out just below is release clause so I could add in a sell on fee, loan back and a friendly but no-one was interested at that. I might go lower value to get the add ons secure. "Leading LaLiga 2 player" and here he is slumming it with us in the fourth tier, poor bloke haha! Right, moving onto other club matters. For the first time in 2 seasons and first time since being here, our U19s are actually doing something. After 2 years of stagnating and only playing meaningless friendlies, they're actually in a league now, thankfully. This means I will sign more players from the youth intakes now as they'll finally be playing regular football. Whilst we're on this topic, we haven't moved stadiums. That news article from the last update must've been referencing our B team getting their new stadium. Not that it matters because for a second season in a row, they're not playing any games. I wish I had the division below my unlocked. Again our season ticket sales have grown, last year we sold 1 more than the previous year and this year, we sold 14 more! We're up to 3015 and most comfortably the highest selling in our Group. The media are also jumping on the Sant Andreu hype train, choo choo, jump on board. They expect us to finish firmly in the playoffs. And so do I. I'll take a top half finish, both the board and fans want that, but I do secretly want a playoff finish. Finances with a home friendly against Barcelona (Still no players on loan from them, the bastards!), season ticket sales and no sale of our star man means we start the season like this. Considering this save is about becoming the biggest team in Barcelona we should be keeping track of our rivals yeah? Here at the 5 teams located within the actual city of Barcelona. Now then, upon research, there are three other teams located roughly with 30 minutes drive of the city which I would include in the sort of sphere of influence of the city. All small bear in mind though. Sabadell who are in the third tier and then Badalona Futur who play in our Group and Terrasa who play in the league below who were relegated from our Group last season. Because they don't actually play in the city of Barcelona I haven't included them in the tracker. Would you count them all in or because they don't play in the city we disregard them? Until next time.

Thank you! I'm still very surprised that I was able to pull off a last day survival job, one of my favourite seasons I've ever had tbh! I have read some of your save so far, not for a little bit though. Never read a save in Greece before so it definitely caught my eye! Well, the end of the season didn't really end the way I was expecting.... Yeah, not a single win in the last 9 games of the season. A quite bad run of form which had me looking over our shoulder. Was it enough for survival? Is this the end of the save? Thankfully, our early season form was enough to ensure we were safe with a few games to go! However, I am really disappointed with how we played at the end as I'm sure you'd all be frustrated with no win in 9. Hmm. Oh well, survival is secure. Onwards and upwards toward next season. Onto a brighter note, we were SO much better than last year and that is to be celebrated! Last year, our highest scorer was 10 goals in 34 games. How pathetic! Miracle that we survived, what a change a year makes though! Squad by goals scored. Matias Olmedo leading the way with a wonderful 24 goals and pitched in with 2 assists from 32 starts, but obviously the goals there being the most important! I did state after the Summer transfer activity that I think he was a bargain at £3.8k and I couldn't have been more right! A wonderful piece of business if I do say so myself! No increase in any of his attributes through the season and his contract is up in another 2 years. I have tried to get a new deal with a higher release clause (£140k) but he wants £1.3k a week and I can offer £650 max. Fortunately there's no interest currently and I don't really want to lose him after a season like this. Whilst I'm on the subject of wages, we're one of the lowest spenders of wages per year in our Group. The highest being £2.12m a year so we really are an underdog. Last season we didn't have a single player who averaged over a 7.00 all season which is completely understandable, we were tragic. This year, a bit different though! 4 players with over a 7.00! Wonderful. So, Carlos Manrique. You lot won't have seen him because I got him in after the big Summer update when we desperately needed bodies at CM. So I got him in from Eldense for nothing in the division above. Solid young player who started every single game this year, contributed with 6 goals and 6 assists. Very important player for us who I will very hard to get back in next year. I said that Toni Paredes had done just enough to earn a new contract last year and he repaid me by being a great strike partner to Olmedo. His contract was up this year, but I have offered him a new 2 year deal after a good season for us. 12 goals and 10 assists in 30 starts means he was a very important player for us and combined with his strike partner, they combined for 36 goals and 12 assists together. Wonderful stuff. The last guy who achieved over a 7.00 rating was Dani Rodriguez the kid we got after he left Barcelona who like the two guys above me, finished with a 7.11 rating for the season. However, and not unexpectedly teams are interested. His release clause WILL be activated and we'll lose him in the Summer, so let's just enjoy him for the last time! 7 goals and 12 assists in 33 starts, he will be missed. Brest and Clermont Foot are the teams currently interested and I expect there to be more soon! So last season we were the lowest scoring team in the Group and this year was completely opposite! The 4th most goals which is brilliant! We scored a bucket load and I'm very happy about that! But on the flip side. We conceded far too many. A new GK is something I'll be looking for in the transfer window. Fortunately almost everyone I want to stay, is here for at least another year so the main core of the team is going nowhere! We hit the half milly in the red too which isn't nice, but with a guaranteed £275k coming from the Rodriguez sale, hopefully the owner putting some money in and season ticket sales, we'll be in the black again very soon. Now then, the only reason we're in the red is because upon setting up the useless B team, needed a new stadium which was being built for them. HOWEVER. I got this quite shocking email. WE'RE MOVING STADIUM?! THE NEW STADIUM IS FOR US?! Nah! The original piece about the B team was the stadium being built for them, not us but we're leaving our home?! It doesn't say anything about a new stadium here. Maybe the game has gotten confused and the B team will have a new stadium and that's what they mean? It must be. Until next time.

It was an almighty challenge. Who doesn't love the whole season all coming down to the final day as to whether the save stays alive or dies haha!

Yeah he's been solid for us so far and is improving all the time. Backed up by my HOYD who seems to love him! And thank you for your kind words. "A good La Liga 2 player" and we have him in the 4th division haha! Luckily, he is contracted for another 2 years, but I'm certain a team will activate his £275k release cause and he won't sign a new deal. I don't blame him. He's not contributed loads with only 4 goals and 6 assists from mostly AMR in 20 starts yet, he still plays well. Averaging a 6.99 after 20 games, very happy to have him. So, I have gone through right up until the end of January, leaving us with three months left to go. How have I got in since the last update? Mixed bag again. We're not great, we're not terrible. We are capable of putting in some good performances and bad ones but overall we're doing just fine and that's the main thing! Knowing we can actually score goals gives me a lot more hope than I had last year. Leaves the table looking like this. Superb! Extremely happy with that. Much closer to the promotion playoffs than the relegation zone. Considering both supporters and the board wanted us to just 'Avoid relegation' we're doing very well and long may it continue! The finances continue to get worse, but like my last post, not in a way I'm worried about. I was hoping on a big Copa Del Rey draw to put a big dent in the finances like last year when I made around £200k playing Sevilla. However, this year we're not in it? It's already at round four and we never played it. I legit have no idea what's going on? Maybe something to do with the database I'm using or maybe it's some kind of weird rule? I am clueless, but yeah. Weird. Finally, even though we have B team who play in the league I don't have loaded, they're not even playing any games. Unless they're joining the league next year maybe? I didn't think lower league Spain would be this complicated haha! So again, maybe it won't be worth signing anyone from the youth intake unless they look particularly interesting. Right, very important 3 months ahead. Continue to be steady and not get sucked into a relegation battle is the only aim here. I am not thinking about promotion playoffs in the slightest. That's a season or 2 in front. Also got a new contract so I've got until at least the end of next season. Until next time.

Well let me tell you lot something. What a difference can make when you actually have players who know how to play football. A stark contrast from the first two months of last season, to the first two months of this season! After 11 games last season, we were only on 10 points. This season, so much better! That is night and day difference compared to last year. Just ignore the 1-5 defeat at home. That is a total outlier and I have no explanation of what happened there other than they took their chances. It was truly baffling to watch and I can offer no excuses! However, I feel no dread going into games. The deadwood have gone and I go into games thinking we actually can win them! Admittedly I'm still yet to find a suitable away tactic. I've been running a simple Route One 4-4-2 when we play away. It's not really proving to be particularly good but I'm not going to abandon it yet! We are currently 7 points better off than this time last year so I am very happy in that regard. Obviously anything can happen and we could still be sucked into a relegation battle but as of right now, I am content where we are. So it seems are the board who have me operating at B currently and the fans are also content running my opinion of a B-. They are very disappointed we got stuffed 1-5 though, particularly as they do not like Orihuela. In the last post I spoke about the season tickets hoping they'd put a big dent in the minus money we currently have, well we'd already gotten that money so we're still in the red but it's not horrendous and not something to worry about as it's still relatively small. Speaking of season tickets, we had an increase on last year. Last season it was 3000 of them, this year it's 3001. The glory hunters have started! If in a couple of months I can get past the first round of the Copa Del Rey and draw a La Liga team again, we'll be back in the black. No need to worry! I am already deep into this save and am having a wonderful time. I'll gladly take a mid table finish right now if I could as that would be a vast improvement on last year. We keep moving. Until next time.

Whilst pre-season hasn't even started yet, I am here with the update from the Summer transfer window due to not having anymore money, so the chances of me signing other people are slim to none right now. I did state a couple of times previously that I was going to get rid of a lot of people, and I wasn't lying. It was a terrible, terrible first team squad. Releasing 13 players! I responded by bringing in 11 players and I firmly believe I have upgraded at every position. Let's get into them now. I said I'd have a busy Summer window and I certainly did. Only one senior GK in the squad, I will continue to look for another GK to bring in on loan before the season starts though. However he is better than our #1 from last year who ended up conceding 43 in 32. Hopefully Javi Cendon can be better. He was the backup for Hercules who got promoted from our division last year. Solid all rounder who I am much more comfortable and happy with between the sticks for this season. At the minute, we only have 1 RB in the first team, I have had a loan accepted for another one coming but he looks to be bad haha! Anyway. Nino was signed from a team in the league below, but he's decent at the back and decent going forward. Might get a few assists from this guy this season which will be nice! Now, I'm taking a risk at CB. The first 3 guys on the list have been kept from last season, BUT I have NOT offered them new deals despite their contracts being over. They remain here on their SMALL wages which is why I'm doing it. They all wanted MASSIVE increase in wages so I'm keeping them here on small wages but they can leave at any second. It's a risk I'm willing to take. I have my main 2 CBs which I signed. First up, signed from Atletico Bilbao B is Ayman Jelbat. I like the fact he's left footed and his technicals are pretty good, that's about it with some alright physicals. He'll be good for us, hopefully. I have raided from the lower leagues again for his new partner at CB. Solid mentals, including being our new captain paired with solid physicals, this is Yeremy Santos. I am happy with our new CB pairing, hopefully will make us better at the back. We have two new LBs and both are going to have to prove who will be our starting guy as they are both good. First up we have the older and experienced 30 year old Juanmi who looks very solid. Got him from Pendaya International who are in your Group. I needed to bring in backup though and I signed a guy who is gonna push Juanmi hard as to who will start on the left hand side. Niko Takahashi from Barcelona B. (Speaking of Barca no-one from them wants to join us on loan which sucks especially as we get no money for it!) Whilst the other guy is better, Niko here will bring great competition and someone who will be dangerous to bring on later in the game. We finished as the lowest scorers in our group last year, I wanted to change that. I have revamped our midfield and strikers. We WON'T finish bottom in that category again. This guy is still on trial, but he has agreed to join the team from Birkirkara in Malta Ali Diakite. However, a few teams are also in for him. I hope we get him. He isn't great, but he's experienced and who will de an alright job at sitting in front of the defence. I realised I had no CMs so this guy on loan from Eibar has come in for the season. Nothing about Oscar Corrasco's game is good but he's a body that we needed. He'll play a lot but he'll be a bit of a week spot. However, the guy that will be playing next to him... Another guy signed from Barcelona B Dani Rodriguez will be playing at CM but he's obviously versatile and quite exciting especially with his physicals, his 17 flair and the fact he's only 18. Plus his minimum release clause of £275k would help out our team if it's every activated. Two new RWs who will share starting duties but one is a bit better. We'll start with the worse one. Javier Verdu from the lower leagues again. Decent, won't ever be amazing. Signed from Elche B is Angel Higuera who has the right technicals to make a difference for us this year, maybe. The only new LW we have signed for £6,25k from Guillermo Brown in Argentina's second division. Nehemias Rodriguez is an alright player and I think he will do a solid job for us on the left, and if he doesn't, we have people who can come in, but I'm wishing that won't be needed. Only two strikers in the first team, one I kept from last year who did enough to keep job, well. Enough that I didn't release him as he's out of contract. I have however, offered him a new one year deal. Toni Paredes. I would like it if he does enough again this enough this year. Again, money spent on a signing from Argentina, the third division this time from Williams Kemmis for £3.8k. Matias Olmedo who I think is a very good Pressing Forward. I think he will be dangerous and good for us, I firmly believe I've got a bargain here. Long post I know, but that's what happens when you let 90% of the first team walk haha! Couple more things. Finances look like this. Because we have a B Team now and they need a stadium which has been paid for £851k yeesh! I probably wouldn't have said yes to getting one had I known that was going to happen! Our season ticket sales should make a big dent in that. They will be playing in the leagues below which I don't have, so I can't activate them which is a big shame. However, at least our youth players will now actually be playing regularly now! Final bit of news before I go. Last year we were media predicted to be bottom of the table and at 200/1 to win the league, they think we're looking a lot better this year like I do. What's pretty amusing is that due to two particular teams which got promoted, in this Group alone of football there are including us there are 5 teams from Barcelona. Us. Badalona. Badalona Futur (The ones in 17th predicted) Europa and L'Hospitalet. A lot of derbies and rivalries here. I love it. Until next time.

I didn't think it would be this tough, but this is definitely a challenge. If someone wants a tricky ride, try being Sant Andreu, unless I'm just being a poor manager! So, whilst it wasn't fully clear via the original table that you can see, the bottom 5 teams are straight relegated and 13th goes into the relegation playoffs with other 13th place teams from Groups 2,4 and 5. Yet Group 1 doesn't have a relegation playoff team? I don't get it, Spanish football, you're weird. Anyway. The board wanted us to get 13th. If we got 14th or lower, we get automatically relegated and the save is over as I don't have any lower leagues available. So I gave myself an almighty task. Let's see what went down. A couple of wins scattered in there among a few losses. The one which hurt the most was this one. Pena Deportivo were already relegated and this loss was a disaster. A 94th minute missed penalty had my head in my hands. This game affected me haha. It meant we were 13th with 1 game remaining and 1 point clear of Formentera. Alzira were 12th who had the same amount of points as us. So going into the final day. We had to match or better Formentera to not be relegated and hope Alzira also messed up to give us some help. They played Penya Independant who were on 39 points and 1 place above them. It was a hectic day! They played out a quite thrilling draw, well, at least right at the very end. Penya had secured their survival whilst at the 95th minute, Alzira thought they had secured survival. How did Formentera get on? Easy victory which meant we HAD to win or it was save over and I'd be saying goodbye to Sant Andreu. Could I keep my job and send Alzira down against Valencia Mestalla who were in third and already secure of a playoff place? Of course I could! No stressing! (Very much stressed a lot through this season!). It was never in doubt! (Very much in doubt!) Surviving and keeping my job on the last day by the skin of my teeth! They showed spirit, desire and fight to power us through at the end of the season....as well as the meta 4-2-4 Gegenpressing. Please don't think less of me, I did feel dirty using it haha. I won't complain though because I can keep this going. PHEW! I don't really want to show these stats as it highlights how poor we've been, but I guess it's all part of the journey right? Squad by goals. Squad by rating. Missing 5 players off, but if they're under 6.65, they don't really deserve to be shown. A new name can be seen, Joal Ngoya. He was someone who I got in on the last day of the transfer window from Atletico De Madrid their second team. 15 apps, 6.65 rating, hardly set the world on fire. Speaking of loans, from next year we should have some better calibre of player available to have on loan. We won't be getting any money from them, but the perfect parent club for us. Bloody Barcelona! We'll use them to get better before passing them! We did have our youth intake, but before we got it I realised that our U19s hadn't played a single game. I was unable to get a manager for them despite having a job ad out for them. They don't belong to a league or anything like that, so it was pointless in signing players from the intake because they'll use up money and not develop. That's something I'll need to sort out. I did sign one player though who I'll have in the first team. He's not great, but not bad I guess. The board also gave me some great news with this item that came through the day after securing our stay in the league! This will attract a higher standard of player and with training full time, we'll be in a better position to play better. We end the season with our finances looking like this. Considering we were projected to be in the red, that is a beautiful sight which led to the board telling me this. Which leaves me with £1.39k in wage budget, considering that practically everyone in the first team's contract is about to expire and I don't want to keep hardly any of them that will rise majorly! And finally. Exciting times here at Sant Andreu. It was a stressful time for me especially for me as my contract was expiring and I couldn't ask for one. I was worried new ownership would choose a different manager but I have another one year contract now, thankfully. One of the most frustrating, stressful and annoying seasons comes to an end. I have a busy Summer window in front of me. Gonna more than likely have brand new first team squad during the next update. Also a little side note, Crawley did win today, we're into the League Two playoffs and will be playing MK Dons. What a Saturday afternoon I had. Until next time.

Another two months has passed, I'm at the back end of February, let's see what's happened shall we? Yeah, the counter tactic quickly ran out of steam and lead to some truly awful games. The 1-5 lose to at home to the top of the table Torrent was particularly dreadful. The form was so bad, that the board called me into a meeting to discuss my future after the loss to Penya. I chose the option to give me a month to try and improve our form and basically begged not to be sacked. I wasn't given a target of points, just to try and get better. That prompted me to switch to the meta 4-2-4 Gegenpressing tactic for our two home games which we won. Obviously good, but it feels a bit cheap going to that tactic which we know is good, but at least it might help me keep my job. I personally think we're doing much better than expected so I didn't think I'd be in trouble with them. The table is still very tight down the bottom and it's going to be an intriguing run in if you don't get sacked! The Copa Del Rey match against Sevilla was indeed huge for our bank balance. So other than the other two home wins, our balance is the only positive thing with the club right now. As most of you who have experienced lower league management like this, your first couple of youth intakes are always classed as 'Golden Generations' due to the poor players we have and that's what has been claimed for us. I forgot to take the screenshot, but I'd imagine it won't be much longer until they actually come through considering I'm nearly in March. Right, time to crack on and try and not get sacked! Until next time.

Thank you mu guy, the luck has been needed! Tough start, but I knew it would be. At least we weren't title favourites and struggling big time! With great happiness I can tell you that we have indeed made it to Christmas with Sant Andreu! Let's see how the results have played out shall we? Not as many games through November and December but being semi professional, that's helping keep the fitness levels up of our players only playing once a week, that could've been a factor of playing better? Looking at the results though, it makes it seem that we were playing very well. Kind of right and wrong. We'll use the match against Valencia Mestalla as an example. It's not very pretty haha. Our wins and even the draws have been ugly, but I guess I'm not going to complain. I've made the switch to play a Fluid Counter Attacking 4-2-3-1 as our main tactic, both for home and away. Normally I operate with a set home and away tactics, with the home more about controlling possession or being more positive but with the quality of player we have, that wasn't working out. Whilst the results keep being impressive (At least for us) I will be continue to play counter attacking both home and away. It leaves the table looking like this. Currently outside of the relegation playoff places BARELY. It is very tight down there but, that just makes it more exciting and tense! A fantastic win against Sabadell another one of the teams in Barcelona who are in the third tier in the Copa Del Rey ensures we are through to the second round which I wasn't expecting and we get a glamour tie! If you weren't aware, the smaller team is ALWAYS the home team in this competition, which is something the FA should look into if they want to get rid of replays in real life? At one point, my job was insecure and reports were floating around I was one more game away from being sacked as I was a D- with the board and the supporters, but I've got myself a bit more time and favoured a little more with them both. The finances have been able to keep up pretty well with some decent home support. I'm looking forward to seeing how much money we get from the Sevilla game. If we can not get relegated AND keep the finances looking good, maybe come the Summer I can actually make some additions to this team and make us better! Finally, I was a bit cheeky and asked for a coaching course after a couple of the good results and they agreed which is awesome! The transfer window is nearly open, but with no wage budget or transfer money, I can't bring in additional players unless I go into the red for wage budget. I guess if the right player is there I'll be willing, but I'm not sure right now. Well, this update has been far more positive than the last haha! You love to see it. Just a quick real life note. Come on Crawley! We need a win to get today home to Grimsby to try and get into League Two playoffs. I wanna go to Wembley next month! Until next time.

I was open to doing a youth only save, but as stated earlier, I think it would be hard due to Barcelona taking all the good youth players, I'd rather not have to rely on that haha! So we were predicted to finish bottom of the league and have a season of struggle. Yeah, they were right. It has been a very rough start to this adventure. This team is bad, like real bad haha. It hasn't been enjoyable but we ball. These very poor results has left the table looking like this after the first couple of months. At least we're not sat at the bottom of the table right? It's not fun to win all the time anyway, it's more fun to be in the gutter and struggle. Unfortunately there's really not that much to say other than it's been poor and we've played badly. Despite having 4 draws, we were the poorer team in 3 of them. I might not even make it to Christmas at this point haha! This could well be a short story. Until next time.

Thank you. I'm excited to get into this and taking them as far as I can!

After a little bit of searching I was able to finally get an assman to join me and he's not too good but I needed a body to come and take that job. He'll do for this year, but I'll look to upgrade next season. Let's have a look at the players at our disposal shall we?! Only 2 GKs in the first team and one is on loan as you can see. So we'll only look at the player that belongs to us in Jaime Gonzalez. Meh, he looks alright I guess for this level? I like that he is 6'6. We are a little short at the back, including only 1 left back. However with only £92 wage budget left, I'm gonna have to work some magic in the loan market! Starting at RB we have Sergi and Jordi Mendez. Whilst our assman rates them at the same level. Mendez is better everywhere except he's a tiny bit slower. To me, he is the clear guy to be starting at RB and here he is. We have 4 CBs but 2 are much better than the others haha. The better two being: Pau Rosales and Antonio Pelegrin. I will show Rosales first. Okay, I know he doesn't look that good. Poor mentals and mediocre physicals. However, I like his positioning, heading and marking. He will be starting, but if he has some poor perfomances then Sergi Vives will be waiting for him to stumble. I would be starting Vives but I dislike that he's 5'10 and a jumping reach of 5. Sorry buddy! The number one at CB for us at the minute is Antonio Pelegrin who boasts decent mentals, physicals and mentals. The only LB we have in the first team is Genis Blasco and he looks to be decent, last year he scored 7 goals in real life from left back. Need something like that again from him in game! Our midfield looks like a mixed bag, maybe enough to help us not get relegated. Carles Guzman is going to be very important for us in this first season. He has very good technicals, hopefully we can run the ball through him and he can dictate a lot of our play. The other 2 CMs aren't anything special but Pau is sightly better. I will definitely have to run a tactic with an AMC to get potentially the best player in the team playing most games. If we're to be successful this year, Josu WILL play a part in it. Solid player, might be his only year with us, but he looks like he could be fabulous for us! We have three wide players who aren't that good to be honest. I won't waste any of our time by showing you them. With me skipping them, it leaves us with our strikers. It's clear who the best striker is and it's not hard to see why. The other 4 strikers don't come anywhere NEAR him. This is star striker Ernest Forgas. Praying for a big year from him. This is the state of our U19s. Obviously at this level the big potential ratings mean nothing. None of these look good....except... Antoni Mila I have moved him to the first team squad, there could be something here. Right that's the squad, I need to raid the loan market for some players. Until next time.

As football fans we have been conditioned over the past 20 years or so that as soon as we hear the word "Barcelona" even in a non football context, our minds race with certain images and thoughts. The Nou Camp. Lionel Messi. Ronaldinho. Pep. Champions League domination. Football domination. El Classico with Real Madrid. Our minds have been trained to think of them things. I went to Barcelona about six years ago, it was the first time me and my girlfriend went on holiday together (Still with her now!) and I really liked the city. It wasn't that expensive, the weather was wonderful, the city was beautiful and we both had a great time. My girlfriend who has been a Burnley season ticket holder for years is massively into football like me, so obviously we took a trip to the Nou Camp and what a stadium it is. Beautiful. Overall, top top city and it comes highly recommended. The city has two big teams. Espanyol are often overlooked due to their bigger brother and it's not hard to understand why. Their success is nothing compared to Barcelona. It must be hard being a fan of Espanyol considering who their neighbours are! So surely it would be harder to be smaller, other teams in this big city no? This is where we come in. There are a few teams I could've chosen in the city of Barcelona and the runners up were: CE Europa who play in the third group in the fourth division. CF Badalona who play in the fifth tier of Spanish football. CE Sabadell FC who play in the third tier and our last honourable mention being CE L'Hospitalet who play in the fifth tier. However, the winners and the team that I will be taking over are..... U.E Sant Andreu They got promoted in real life last season to the fourth tier of Spanish football. A couple of reasons why I have chosen to go for them. First up, in the game we are media predicted to get relegated straight back down which would suck considering that would be the end of the save straight away as I don't have access to the fifth tier haha! I also like that they play in the traditional Catalonia colours of the yellow and red stripes. We have a very solid 6,563 seater stadium that will definitely help us out going forward. Although it is over 50 years old at this point, if we begin our rise toward the top, a new home will be needed but for now, it will do. There's a great article from The Athletic about this team it's only a short little read but it's very interesting and it did sway me a little to choose them over the other teams I stated. https://theathletic.com/5154818/2023/12/28/sant-andreu-barcelona/ Right let's get into it. Here we go! Average training facilities and youth facilities with average youth coaching isn't bad at all for a fourth division team. Then we are above average youth recruitment. So we might have a couple of decent youth players coming through in the first couple of intakes? This will NOT be a youth only save. If we think about it realistically, ALL the best youth football prospects in this entire region will be hoovered up by Barcelona and to an extent, Espanyol. So it would be silly of me to try and go youth only. Finances aren't in a bad state at all. We start with this: Projected this: And that my friends, is what we call manageable. As I said earlier, we are predicted to finish bottom by the media: The board want us to finish in the relegation playoffs which is probably where we'll finish and HOPEFULLY survive our first year. We actually have two of the teams sharing this city with us in this league table in Badalona and Europa. Two derbies early on in the save. Speaking of the board, other than finish in the relegation playoffs, they expect nothing else from me which is a good start. However, the fans have a few things they want/expect from me: Maintain a higher reputation than Europa sure thing boys. Be competitive against Orihuela C.F (They play in the fourth tier but a different group) and be competitive against Barcelona Atletic aka Barcelona B. Hopefully at one point we can drop the 'B' and be competitive against the big boys. We are a well backed team season ticket wise, check this out! Very good fan support is something we can rely on in this save, that is great news. With 1,500 season ticket holders, we can look to get solid attendance throughout the entire season which will help our bank balance out a lot. Here is the supporter page. According to this, we still have another 1,500 season tickets to be sold?! We should sell out every match if nearly half the stadium will be season ticket holders!!!! Staff wise currently, there is only 1 other member of staff, a scout who with a pair of 6s for judging ability and potential he doesn't seem to be that good, although for this level it might be good?! I've gotta get busy and get some people in to help me. Because I have no assman, I don't know how good my squad is just yet. I won't be holding my breath as a promoted team. We have 21 players in the first team and in our U19s we have 17. When I get some staff, we can look into them more. Lastly, this is how I will be setting up from the start. National B license (I am an FA Level two football coach for real) and Sunday league footballer. My attributes suck, but hopefully we can get a coaching course under my belt. Do I have a goal for this save? Yeah, first we topple Sabadell by being the third best team in the city. Then we get past Espanyol to be number two in this city. Finally we get past Barcelona to become the best team in this wonderful city. Hopefully there will be people along for this journey. Until next time.

What a great read so far. That Jones looks amazing. What an absolute gem to come through.

After taking a couple of weeks away from the save, I tried to get back into it and I couldn't after playing on. I will end the save here. Thank you all for reading and for those who commented on it. Naveen Wani the superstar just too much of a blow going forward with him retiring. The aim of this challenge was to get India to the World Cup, I achieved what I set out to do. I'm very happy with how this save went. I also think I'm proof that that the game importance can change as well as dynamic youth rating as we did see some very good players. Until next time. (Which will be soon as I know what my next save will be.)

So big news. This MIGHT be the end of the save after this bombshell. The greatest player India has ever produced has retired from international football and he rejected me asking him to re-consider. Not having a player of this quality to go through the difficult World Cup qualifying is devastating. I mean obviously the national team is good, we could maybe make our way through the qualifying but damn it's going to be a lot harder without him. Okay, I won't stop the save here, however I am not happy and will probably take a few days break. Very disappointed. ****!!!!!!

So I left Jamshedpur just before the World Cup and I left them in a fantastic position. Near £40 million in the bank. About to move into a brand new 28k stadium, another upgrade to training facilities so they'll be state of the art, youth facilities being the best in the country, the best youth coaching and recruitment and just won the league. I also made sure the best players at the club are tied down with new 4 year deals, they are set for the future. I've done all I can for them, it's time for a new challenge. That challenge, is Odisha. We're starting from the bottom again facility wise, but that's all part of the charm of this challenge, making the teams in this country as good as they can be. Yeah, you did read it right. Their stadium in this universe is currently 60 years old, could do with a new build. Hopefully the board come up with that idea themselves so I don't need to ask them, here it is. Gotta get used to have no money again haha. Having been rich at Jamshedpur for the past 4 years, this is gonna be rough! Speaking of rough, the quality of player here is far weaker than I've been used to the past few years. The best GK at the club being 32 year old Argentinian Rodrigo Casas who isn't good at all to be honest haha. Oh dear, his backups aren't any good either. A mediocre bunch at defence isn't going to help, might be shipping a few goals in this 1st season. Only 1 natural CB is a bit of a horror show. And he's 5'9 with not much of a future. Damn. At least I've personally capped this guy 3 times for India in Surajit Kumar. The only workable guy in this whole defence. On paper, the midfield appears to be the strongest unit. We have a good-ish young talent in Pratik Bose who has good physicals which will help us. Might be able to make a player out of him. Possibly the best player at the club is Samuel Majumdar who is the most show offy and expressive player India has ever produced maybe! However, is already committed to leaving on a free after this season which is a shame. Then on the right hand side, we have another capped player in Srinjoy Cardozo who again has good physicals and can just about cross a ball. The striking unit is solid without being remarkable. Workable is another phrase I could use to describe it. 2 strikers with not too much to choose between them. I do prefer Subrata Singh over Shyam Singh though and we'll show the former first. So just to remind you of the rules regarding foreign players. You can have 6 registered to your squad with a maximum of 4 in the playing 11 (Though 1 of them must be Asian). We currently have 4 foreign players and they're all bad haha! Luckily they all will be out of contract come the end of the year, I will not be renewing any of them! So I have room to bring in 2 more currently which I will look to do as I have a lot of money left to bring in some players. Luckily the board don't expect anything of me this season which is good due to how poor the team in, at least in my opinion. However, I am already making major moves behind the scenes bringing in staff to improve the staffing team massively. Namely an old HOYD who I've worked with before at Jamshedpur he's good without being amazing. And my assman who I hired when I first joined at Jamshedpur and who stayed with me the entire time there. I was sneaky and didn't renew his expiring contract because I knew he was leaving, but this guy is an amazing assman and I'm thrilled that's joining me at Odisha. Right, I have a bit of time to try and add some quality to this team before the season get's started. Until next time.

Haha! Exactly! Just give us the reigning World champions, just think of all the people who would be tuned in around the World and in India to watch this game, big time! The match against Brazil went as you'd expect! We offered little going forward and weren't very good at the back. However, going against the current World Champions and World ranked #2, I wasn't thinking any different. 2 easy 4-0 wins for the Brazilian boys. Now our focus is fully on Ireland as it always has been. They are ranked 23rd in the World. Conceding the 4th goal in the 93rd minute could be a disaster because I don't know what will happen if we now draw with them as our goal difference would be the same?? Had we only lost 0-3 and drew with Ireland I'd assume we would've gone through over them. But hey, we gotta get a result against them before I start thinking of this. And here is the all important game against Ireland. It was a very close game, going into HT leading I was very happy but they are a stronger team in almost every position. Losing to them wasn't a surprise. And just like that, our 1st World Cup, which this whole save has been about has come to a close with an expected 0 points. Is this save over? No. I think I have 1 more World Cup in me for this save, provided we get it next time. Naveen Wani is such an elite player for us and he'll be 33 in 4 years time. Unless Chhangte Singh becomes an elite striker like him, we just won't have someone to fire us to glory. Realistically, I'm never going to get India in a position to win the World Cup, let's be honest here. I have done what I set out to do in this challenge and I'm very happy with that. But I would love to get out of the group stage. Maybe even win the Asian Nations Cup after losing in the last final. 1 MORE WORLD CUP! Until next time.

It's here. Finally. So we're allowed a 26 man squad which is nice as usually it's only 23 for all international games. Brazil have already played Ireland and beat them 4-0 which is good for us, we I know we're gonna lose to Brazil so the match against Ireland is most important. Top 2 go through so we can assume Brazil have top spot locked up. We've gotta hope in this first match against them we can hold them to beating us 3-0 or 4-1. Let's have a look at the squad that we have at the 2038 World Cup in South Africa. Goalkeepers These have been the same 3 GKs used for our international squads for the past few years because there have been no exciting new guys coming through which is a bit of a concern. As usual, leading the way as he has done for many years now. Ayush CK. In order, Himanshu Chatterjee and Jonathan Dev are good GK's for the top division domestically, but never developed ahead of Ayush. Defenders We are really strong with our 4 starting defenders, and with some good younger talent coming through, the defence can be a very strong unit going forward. Starting at RB for us will be Arjun Singh because of his better mentals and experience over the younger Pratik Jadhav. We'll look at Arjun. It was a very close call, but the experience and better mentals will help us, though the 17 year old will soon be our starting RB for India. We'll look at him shortly. The starting CB's is a very easy decision though, nothing to think too hard about here. Mohammed Singh who is still playing his trade for Seoul in South Korea and is a sold all rounder without a significant weakness in his game. Followed by the quite remarkable Sukhjit Marbaniang. Just a shame he's 5'10 haha, otherwise he's an absolute ELITE CB. Then completing our back 4 is a young LB playing for Magpies in Gibraltar unfortunately, not the best of career moves (Although they just won the league this year!) Here are the other defensive players in the squad. Pratik Jadhav who will be future RB Ajith Singh who brings great mentals and experience who can cover RB and CB. Parveen Singh who is the main CB cover who brings good mentals and decent technicals and Monsur Islam who is a competent and average LB. Midfielders Starting in the only DM position is obviously gonna be Anirudh Saini. He was a generated player on the first day I started this save at Bengaluru. He was quickly named captain of India and the 5'4 psycho has been with us ever since, he was NEVER going to be missing out on playing at the World Cup. Though this might be his last time in our squad. Our 2 starting CMs are quite clear in front of everyone else in that position atm. First up is a solid player in Jason Singh and his partner is young Harshad Pradhan who does have holes in his game, not gonna deny that but I like what he has to offer and I'm expecting some good things from him. The rest of the squad (In order picture wise) contains Sushil Saha who can CB, DM, CM and AMC and I love that versatility. Motiur Rahman Hossain who is a solid AML who has always performed well for the national side. Prabin Sharma who has solid mentals and is a good option to come on from the bench. Prasanta Basak who is very versatile and has good physicals despite his age who can come on late and cause havoc. Same for Sachin Singh as in good physicals who can come on late and be a nuisance. Finally is Suhail Dasgupta who is the best natural AML India has to offer. Strikers Obviously our best unit, stocked with talent everywhere here. Suhail Dasgupta might be the best natural AML India has to offer, doesn't mean he's starting there. Starting at AML is the poster boy of Indian football Naveen Wani an IF instead of a winger. Our starting AMR is Keegan Rawat who is a physical and mental monster. The lone striker is India's next best hope in Chhangte Singh who I was able to sell to Orlando in the MLS for £925k and 40% of the next sale, annoyingly has a minimum release clause of £6,5m which will get activated next year maybe and the payday won't be as good. He rejected offers from Oostende Porto and Lyon and any of them would've been perfect because his value would've been a lot higher...but at least Jamshedpur will get something out of the next sale too. The 3 backup strikers are also very good players who are versatile. Aniket Murty who has an outstanding record for the national team and a solid all round striker. Noah Fernandes who also has a very good record for India and is dependable. Currently playing for MK Dons but looks like he will be leaving. And the final player of this Indian World Cup squad is Balwinder Singh who doesn't really have a weakness to his game, he's very good. Well they are the 26 men who will try and get out of our World Cup group. I CANNOT wait to play the games, however, that'll be a job for the morning and it's a little past 1am and I'm a tired man. Until next time.

Oh ho, we have another GEM come through the youth ranks again at Jamshedpur. If this player came through at any top league team around the World you'd be happy, but first. The preview listed the intake at 'Good' but it's come through as 'Excellent' and a potential 'Golden Generation'. As I've said before, the depth in these intakes are getting better. Even the lower ranked players can still become decent players showing that the overall level has increased here in India. Of the 'Top Talents' there's no particular stand outs. I won't bother showing them because they'll be good players without being World beaters and come on, I know you just want to see Amit Ghosh and I do not blame you, here he is. Yes, yes, yes. He could be special. Mentals are in a great starting position. Alright technicals and mentals are decent. Excellent determination coupled with good personality means he has the potential to grow and he's 15. Straight into the 1st team. Now on to the bed news. We were pants this year in the league. Didn't even get any Continental football next year, though we're still in the playoffs so there's a chance to win the league, but I wouldn't bet on it. We also crashed out in the Champions League in the next round too, bit of a bum last year. This can be quite easily explained by 1 simple fact. We did not score enough/take our opportunities. As you can see from those stats, we should've done so much better. But, alas. We did not so no point crying about it. Just gotta focus on playing better and trying to win the league. And that is what we do. Winning the league in my final season is a great way to end 6 years here. I will do my best to sell Chhangte Singh for a good deal before I leave. Next up, the World Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Until next time.

It's been a pretty good 1st half of the year for us here at Jamshedpur and because it's just popped into my inbox, here's the youth intake preview. It doesn't look too promising, but I can hope they'll be a little gem in there somewhere. Hopefully a GK but the report doesn't seem to think so! Got another upgrade to the men's training facilities which is awesome! Still nothing on the youth side, which is a shame. There's not even been an option to upgrade it. We are playing in the Champions League for the 1st time proper with Jamshedpur and this was the group drawn to us. All 3 of these teams have more money then us, the spend more on wages than us so it was always going to be difficult. That's why the AI controlling the Indian teams that played in the Champions League went out in the group stages EVERY year with only 1 win, 2 if they got lucky. But I'm not the AI am I? Look how tight that group was! I was very worried after the 1st 3 games considering how poor we played. Although in the opening game we were 3-0 up at home and ended up conceding a goal in the 83rd minute and 90th minute for a proper kick in the teeth! I didn't know what to expect but I am very happy to come out on top. We move on and secure ourself a 2nd round tie against Al-Faisaly from Saudi Arabia though it's not for another couple of months. The high crowds for all 3 games is great and have broken our gate receipts record in the back to back home games against Al-Gharafa and Al-Nassr. The league has been an alright start, a lot of using a completely 2nd 11 to help with managing fitness around the Champs League matches. Leaving the table like this. However, the main reason I have dropped in is because of this: I'm pretty sure this is my 1st EVER World Cup draw in any FM game. Group A South Africa Belgium Group B Argentina Czech Republic Group C Mexico Denmark Group D Holland Egypt Group E England Tunisia Group F Germany Jamaica Group G Cameroon Austria Group H France Ghana Group I Morocco Serbia Group J Portugal Colombia Group K Turkey Costa Rica Group L Senegal Canada Group M Spain Australia Group N U.S.A South Korea Group O Brazil Ireland Group P Italy Saudi Arabia Well. There's a couple of groups to avoid there, namely B with Argentina and the Czech Republic (Who won the World Cup in 2026 in this universe) Group D with Holland and Egypt. I'd like to avoid Portugal and Colombia too in Group J. I personally think Group I with Morocco and Serbia might not be too bad. Let's get into it. World Champions and World ranked #2 Brazil.....Well. 'To be the man, you've gotta beat the man'. Ireland and also ranked 23rd. I am not even mad about drawing Brazil, bring them on!!!!!