ManUtd1

August 2034. Decent enough draw. My goal remains to be playing European football after New Year's.

#DareToZlatan Who needs Tinder when you have health insurance?

August 2034. In my haste to re-focus on Partizan, I may have made a mistake, putting Zlatan in charge of coordinating our youth recruitment at Partizan with scouting in the Ivory Coast. I actually thought it might help him, given that he's been rather depressed lately. Serbian Alex Morgan left him, after videos of this post-World Cup celebration in Amsterdam spread. But instead of being in the office, traveling to meet with dual-national players based in Europe, etc...he's been filling out medical leave slips. "Zlatan, this is the third time in less than a week that you've asked for leave to go on a colonoscopy. First of all, that's too much information. Totally unnecessary. Second of all, and I'm trying to put this delicately, but...three colonoscopies in a week? Do think we're stupid?" "No, Boss. The Zlatan does not think you are the stupid. This is...ehh...you know." Zlatan shrugs helplessly. All I can do is shake my head. "That's not good enough. What's going on? We have work to do, and you're off doing urCristiano knows what!? I realize you're down, but enough is enough. Get over her. Get your act together. Do your job." "Is no problem, the Zlatan hire scouts to do the working. But, Boss, this the talking about the Alex is easy for you to say. 'Get over her, snap your fingers, wag your winkle at the Chairman daughter' and all is the better for the you. The Zlatan is the Zlatan. For the Zlatan is no so simples. The colonoscopy are proven health benefit, and...you should see, Boss. The Zlatan, as you know, is very sensual. The Zlatan craves the human touch, Boss. With no more the Alex...this doctor...he is the very feminine when is putting on the rubber gloves. Very gentle. Thoughtful. Making the Zlatan feel love again, if only for few minutes during examination. But you are right... The Zlatan promises, after today, no more colonoscopy, ok?" **** my life.

Excellent. Thank you!

Until The Lion Learns How To Write, Every Story Will Glorify The Hunter July 2034 It has often been said, that there is no rest for the wicked. I don't what I've done, but must have been rather naughty. That, or the transitive property applies to Zlatan's extensive "celebrations" during the Netherlands victory party on the plane back from Japan, and upon our arrival in Amsterdam. Even Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street, would have taken a pass at some of the acts of depravity that ensued. (Mr. Pedersen also said I never paid attention in maths. Well, who's laughing now, Preben?!) While Zlatan celebrated, Jesse and I had work to do, since he'd been tending to Partizan's pre-season efforts while we were away at the World Cup. Final decisions had to be made about the squad, including tough decisions about personnel to whom we have grown attached. "You're the one who always told me, Boss, there's no room for sentiment. The players that got us here, will not be the players who get us to where we're going." He's not wrong. The decisions are made. Vidovic, one of our starters last year, is out, to make room for Vudadinovic. Nastasivjevic will drop to the 2nd XI, with Jeremic taking his spot in the 1st XI. Aga and Greenberg will be sold. We also cannot ignore the elephant in the room. Les Éléphants, rather. In the wake of my resignation from the Dutch side, the phone began to ring off the hook. And one side was beyond compare. A dream come true, if we're being honest. What greater joy could there be, than bringing the World Cup home to Africa? But we can only think about the future for so long. We've got work to do. First things first, time to get ahold of our African scouts and chat, voice-to-voice, about what prospects they've seen in-country. Partizan is far from an ideal club, for the purposes of Ivorian youth development, due to the strict limits on foreign players. But we need to think ahead. We need to start building an Ivorian side to play our way. I honestly could not be more excited. I love managing African sides on FM. The Ivory Coast has so many promising youth talents...the only problem being noted above -- Super Liga rules allow no more than 4 non-EU players in the matchday squad. We currently have 4 in the 1st team squad: Emmanuel Ibrahim, Razak Godwin, Roar Govasmark and Isaac Ngatchou (a new signing). The first 3 are in the 1st XI. Roar gains Serbian Nationality in 170 days; Godwin, 327 days; and Ibrahim, 394 days. Ngatchou was going to be in the 2nd XI, but may go out on loan to free up a spot. That will depend on who is available to join us next summer. (Didier Kone is already signed, and will arrive next summer.) I've got some scouting to do. But before we do that, let's take a quick look at the current Ivorian side. I genuinely could not be more pleased.

One step forward, one step back

Seriously! At some point in this save, we'll get there... I'm crazy excited about it!

The 2034 World Cup is in the books! I laughed. I cried. I screamed. I cried a little more. Spoilers are below, but you can follow the entire tournament as it happened, through the FtCS open thread.

It's June 2034. That means it's World Cup time. A Netherlands squad review is up in the FtCS World Cup open thread!

We'll Be Here Long After They're Gone FK Partizan / Netherlands - Season Review 2033/34 I'm not one to change horses midstream, but...I don't know how to finish that sentence. In November we decided to shake things up after watching Jaws, and it took us to another level. The 2nd XI went from treading water in the Super Liga and Kup Srbije to a dominant force, all of their own. The 1st XI mimicked their domestic exploits, while pushing us further in Europe than we've been for a long, long time. I won't win the approval and blessing of Stana's father with a token European semifinal appearance, though. No, for that, we will need to accomplish much, much more. This was always going to be an "odd" year. Between a vacation and extensive tactical tweaking, the narrative got lost in the mix. That will change. The tactical tweaking is almost done. Which means we need to do a modest revamp of the squad, to build on what we've accomplished thus far and create a long-standing dynastic force. We're close, but this squad is so young...we need to ensure that we have the strength and depth to take on the Champions League, and for our dominance to not dissipate when we eventually move on. More on the tactics and Partizan squad later, though. We've got bigger fish to fry. A World Cup is on the immediate horizon. And the Dutch should be considered strong contenders, by any measure. Anything less than a meaningful run in the knockout rounds will be grounds for sacking. Goals for 2034/35: Compete for the World Cup title at Japan 2034. Defend our Super Liga title. Make a run in Europe. Squad | League Overview | Transfers Finances | Income | Expenditure Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Fixtures 3 European Review In the Champions League, Marcelo Gallardo's Wolves beat Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus 2-1 (aet). Champions League Overview | CL Knockout Rounds In the Europa League, Unai Emery's Stuttgart beat Ricardo Sa Pinto's Everton, 1-nil (aet). Europa League Overview | EL Knockout Rounds In the Europa Conference League, Niels Frederiksen's Lille beat Timothy Derijck's Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Europa Conf. League Overview | ECL Knockout Rounds In the active leagues, we had a brilliant result in Spain, with France also showing signs that PS-***ing-G's reign of terror might be coming to an end. The question being, are these one-off results, a false dawn...or signs of a broader trend, with new forces rising to disrupt the established order? I love it when we get to this point in a save... Edson Seidou's Manchester United hung on to win the Premier League title. Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus won their 13th straight Serie A title, their 22nd in 23 years...someone really needs to put a stop to that nonsense. Stanislav Genchev's Athletic secured the La Liga title on the 50th anniversary of their 1984 triumph, in a photo finish where the top 4 were only separated by 3 points. Julian Nagelsmann's Gladbach defended their Bundesliga title (their 4th in 5 years). Pep Guardiola's Monaco claimed their first Ligue 1 title since 2017. Leonid Slutskiy's Club Brugge won their 6th Belgian title in 8 years. Thomas Tuchel's Panathinaikos won their 10th straight title. Finally, Pontus Jansson's Hammarby won the 2033 Allsvenskan, their 3rd title in 4 years. Save/Challenge Overview Cross-posted at From the Cheap Seats.

By way of comparison, this is 1.1.2:

Hey, man! Quick thing that I just noticed in the League Overview screens on v1.2.1. In leagues where there is a promotion/relegation playoff, or a league split, I can't pull up the actual league table in the Overview page:

Honestly, nothing of much interest thus far.

May 2034. Unai Emery's Stuttgart were just a little too much for us. We didn't embarrass ourselves, but our Europa League journey ends at the semifinal stage.