Rick87

Monday 17th July 2023 - Whitehaven have beaten us to signing veteran left back Alan Inglis. Tuesday 18th July 2023 - I watched Penrith's 3-2 win over Workington at the Frenchfields Stadium. Casting my eye over eleven players. Penrith left back Charlie Birch and Reds midfielder Cieran Casson were particularly impressive and make my shortlist for selection in September. Wednesday 19th July 2023 - Windermere Sports have offered a contract to my right back, Roy Joel. If I had any backup for him, I wouldn't mind. I've been trying to find a better player in his position but without much luck so far, so I'd rather not lose him yet. Thursday 20th July 2023 - More bad news transferwise as Premier League Kendal Town swoop in to hijack my signing of defender Daniel Harvey. Friday 21st July 2023 - I confirmed the signing of 24-year-old keeper Cameron Copeland. Cam started out at Queen of the South, just across the border in Dumfries, before joining Penrith and later Gretna. He will g straight in as my number one. - Preparing for tomorrow's trip to Kendal County, I decided on my first XI, my game plan is to make a full change of personnel at half-time, so I can see my whole squad in action as well as give everyone 45 minutes of game time and build fitness throughout the squad. Saturday 22nd July 2023 - Off to a winning start, though it wasn't the most convincing performance; An excellent first half performance by my first XI was pleasing, unfortunately the second string looked very shaky after the break and allowed the lead to slip, Kendal did score a third to turn things around completely, however we were saved my the linesman's flag, A 94th minute strike by fullback Steve Dynan bobbled past the goalkeeper to hand us a win against the run of play. Not pretty, but I'll take it in our first game. Next Week -Our pre-season campaign continues with a home game against Workington's development side at home on Saturday. -I'm going to check out Gretna Vs. Cowdenbeath this week. Gretna currently have three national side candidates in their first team so it's certainly worth the effort to scout.

Monday 10th July 2023 -My attempt to sign midfielder Shaun Gardner as a player/coach ended in failure, as he chose to sign for Penrith instead. Wednesday 12th July 2023 - I have begun recruitment for my support team, places adverts for managers, coaches and physios at senior, U21 and 18 levels. Friday 14th July 2023 -We welcome 25-year-old Ellis Pearson to the club, Ellis has played for Carlisle, Workington, Gretna, Annan and most recently; Penrith. He can play anywhere down the left-hand side, which gives me options. Saturday 15th July 2023 - I ventured up to Coatsbridge to watch Albion Rovers Vs. Annan Athletic in the Scottish cup. I was running the rule over midfielder Josh Dixon for selection this September. Dixon got an assist during his side's 3-2 win, which does his hopes of facing Turkey and Liechtenstein no harm at all. Sunday 16th July 2023 -Today was spent tweaking training routines for the next few weeks, I've dedicated time each week for team bonding to increase cohesion in the squad given we have several new signings, I'm also working hard on set-pieces. Next Week -We make the 40 mile or so journey South through the Lakes to take on Kendal County in our first pre-season fixture. This will be important as it's my first opportunity to see how my squad is gelling and taking on my tactical messages. -Penrith Vs. Workington on Tuesday, as many as 14 potentials could be on show in this friendly. I'm also scouting Workington Vs Carlisle on Saturday.

So after another test, everything seems to working as it should, so without any further delay, let's crack on with building a football superpower! I shall be using a weekly update format, as that seemed to be popular in my last career. To keep things clear, I shall be using a Blue for Aspatria and Green for Cumbria. Monday 3rd July 2023 My first day on my new career path of football management and I find myself now in charge of two sides with the opportunity to build a footballing legacy that will elevate not only my own standing in the game but my local club and our newly formed National team too! There is no international games for a couple of months, so my focus in this first week will be on Aspatria. -I spend the day with my assistant manager, Adam Myres, Adam gives me his opinion on the existing squad. It is plain to see we need to recruit heavily this summer; We have almost no central defenders or midfielders, and half of the squad is still in school. Let's hope that their homework doesn't get in the way of their footy! I'm a regular at Workington AFC, so I already have a few ideas in mind regarding potential signings, whether we can get any of them is an entirely different matter. - I've reorganised our pre-season schedule, we now have friendlies against Kendal Town, Dalbeattie Star, Workington and Kendal County. We will also take part in a cup competition I have dubbed 'The Four Counties cup', with representatives from three of the counties that border Cumbria; Barnard Castle from County Durham, Lancaster from Lancashire and Lochmaben from Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland. -I terminate the contracts of the recruitment analyst, loan manager, sports scientist and director of football. They just aren't necessary at this level. I also take full responsibility for all staff hiring and contracts to prevent other members of staff hiring more unnecessary people. -At the first staff meeting, Adam advises me to appoint a captain, I hang fire for the moment with an eye to bringing in some experienced players who are better candidates than anyone in the current squad. Tuesday 4th July 2023 -Today I've been working on tactics, training schedules and set-piece routines, it's just over two weeks until our first friendly against Kendal County, I want to have my team fit and with a basic grasp on what I want from them tactically by then. To begin with, I've opted for good ol' 4-4-2 but with the two wingers pushed forwards and cutting in from the wide positions and the two central players dropping deeper to protect the defence. This will no doubt change over the course of the season, but I think it's a solid base to work off for my 'go-to' tactic. -I meet the players for the first time, I tell them we are aiming for a top-half finish in Division One this season, which is a target they are all happy with. Good bunch of lads. -I've offered contracts to five free agents in hopes of bolstering the squad. We can only offer amateur deals, so my powers of persuasion are very limited. - I hold press conferences for both Aspatria and Cumbria; I'm asked questions about the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifier against Turkey in Istanbul, I respond that whilst it will no doubt be a tough game we will do our best to give the fans something to cheer. Thursday 6th July 2023 -My first signings for Spyatri! A triple coup for the club; 20-year-old striker Jack Milburn came through the youth team at Barrow before joining Kendal Town in step four, he made eighteen appearances for the Mint cakes before being allowed to join Penrith where he made just one appearance. Hopefully he can find a more permanent home here at St Mungo's. Ball winning midfielder Liam Lightfoot is a Carlisle graduate who left Bloomfield Road for Workington, where he has been a part of the Red's development team. He now joins us on free with the aim of getting more first team football. Liam Lightfoot Finally today, we have Adam Walton, who played in the same Carlisle youth set up as Liam Lightfoot. They will renew their acquaintance as my DM partnership in the heart of midfield. Friday 7th July 2023 -Another new face at St Mungo's today; Michael Williamson was born in Carlisle but started his career north of the border with Queen of the South and Gretna 2008 before joining Penrith and then Carlisle City. He has the ability to score a lot of goals in the First Division. Can he provide the firepower we need to achieve our goals this season? - Bolton's tenacious midfielder, Kyle Dempsey, is ruled out for 3–6 months with a hip injury, meaning he won't be available for selection in our Euro 2024 qualifiers this autumn. Next Week -Preparations continue for the new season, I'm still looking to find players to fill the gaping holes in the squad. The four new faces this week will help, but further strengthening is required. -I'm off to Scotland to watch Albion Rovers Vs. Annan Athletic in order to watch Annan's Josh Dixon who is a potential candidate for the national team.

Thanks guys; Sorry it has taken so long to get started, after noticing a couple of minor problems I ran a ten-year holiday test on my file which flagged up a major issue to the longevity of this save, namely that Cumbria weren't competing in the Nations League or European Championships. The World Cup qualifying worked fine, but UEFA just didn't work. After much head scratching, I decided to rebuild the whole thing again using Raibowz excellent Isle of Man database as a template, which has resolved the issue.

1000 at the moment, do i need to increase it?

Hi all, I've been making a custom nation, turning my home county, Cumbria into a new nation. I overwrite United Ireland and moved Kazakhstan to Asia. I then imported a level 20 database and added the Cumbrian teams from that database to the nation rules I had made. When testing; Qualifying for the World cup and club continental competitions has gone fine, however Cumbria doesn't seem to be entering either the Nations League or Euro 2028 qualifying, Can someone help me fix this please

The Challenge: To travel the length and breadth of Europe, collecting silverware and building your reputation as a tactical genius as you climb the ladder in European football You will need a league megapack to have all 54 European nations available, I recommend THIS ONE by Qwert2. You must start unemployed with Sunday League reputation and with no coaching badges. No cheating - Hopefully that goes without saying, but please disable the in-game editor and no reloading after defeats to get more favourable results. How you set up your database is up to you, I recommend loading all 55 nations but as 'view only' with only the five nations in your current step set to playable. That is entirely up to you though. The Ladder: To Win this challenge, beginning at the bottom in step one, you must complete the eleven steps on the ladder, which are based on the current UEFA coefficient ratings. Each step is made up of five countries. You must win Three of the five top divisions in each step before you may move on and load the next group of five. There is nothing to stop you going for the other two nations in each step if you want to make it even more challenging, but it is not a requirement. Step Eleven England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France Step Ten Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Czechia Step Nine Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Denmark Step Eight Israel, Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia Step Seven Poland, Cyprus, Hungary, Sweden, Romania Step Six Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia Step Five Moldova, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Finland, Republic of Ireland Step Four Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Liechtenstein* *Liechtenstein's clubs play in Switzerland's system, winning the Liechtensteiner cup will satisfy the challenge. Step Three Iceland, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta Step Two Georgia, Albania, Estonia, Belarus, North Macedonia Step One Andorra, Wales, Montenegro, Gibraltar, San Marino The very best of luck to all who take part, it's a great challenge that takes you to countries you might never load up on FM otherwise. Let us know how you're getting on below! Leaderboard

Thanks mate, keep reading! Just to make everyone aware, I have had to restart as I realised I had missed the clubs who are in the Westmorland league in real life, I wouldn't have bothered, but it was a sizeable number of clubs, and it has actually allowed me to add a third division. I have edited the posts and screenshots above to reflect these changes.

So then, dear reader, we move onto the club I will be leading on a domestic level; My local club, Until the great Cumbrian secession last year, played in the Cumberland County League in a nondescript tier of English football. They now suddenly find themselves in the second tier of Cumbria's newly formed league system. They are as basic as a football club can really get, just local lads having fun on the local park, surrounded by kids shouting on the playground next to the pitch and dogs running on and off the pitch as walkers transverse the park. No stands, no real facilities at all other than a small changing room in the corner of the park, and certainly no fancy pants corporate nonsense. This is grassroots football at its very heart. Aspatria (or Spyatri if you are local) is in the Noth-Western part of Cumbria, about fifteen miles from the capital city Carlisle. Aspatria enjoys the enviable position of being sandwiched between two areas of outstanding natural beauty; the Solway Coast to the North and the Fells of Lakeland to the South. It is a small town with a population of just below 3,000 and is a heavily agricultural area. The chairman doesn't have much ambition regarding our five-year plan, beyond maintaining a position in the top half of the first division. This suits me as there will be less pressure, however my personal targets far exceed that of the board; Club Objectives (Short-Term, Mid-Term, Long-Term) - Achieve a top half finish in Division One -Win Promotion to the Premier League -Win against rivals Wigton - Defeat one of the professional teams (Carlisle or Barrow) - Become recognised as 'the best of the rest' behind the two professional clubs -Qualify for the Conference League -Win the Cumbrian cup - Reach the League stage in the Conference League -Win the Premier League -Be ranked Cumbria's top club -Reach the league stage of the Champions League - Win the Champions League Clearly, much needs to happen if any of the objectives in amber or red are to be achieved. Foremost, I need to make money to pay for upgrades to the facilities and enable us to produce high quality trainees who can help not only the club, but eventually go on and play for my national team as well. Here is my squad on day one; Obviously, much strengthening is needed ahead of the new season. The entire squad is newgen players, there is some potential, but I think I need to bring in some experience to fill in the gaps the squad has. We kick off the campaign with a home game against Windermere Sports Club before a tough trip to Cleator Moor Celtic who were playing in the North-West Counties League last season. Here are the media predictions for the inaugural First Division season, clearly they don't give us much chance of achieving the board's target of a top half finish, in fact they seem to think we should be more concerned with avoiding dropping into the second division. OK, that is day one covered for both club and country, time to begin building a league and nation capable of winning the top prize in World football!

Welcome back all, thank you for your continuing readership! So here we go; day one on the job(s) I will be starting this build-a-nation challenge managing both my local club and the glorious independent nation of Cumbria in tandem, with the hope of raising the standings of both in the world. I will start my introduction with the Cumbrian national team; Cheers, Chris, I'm glad to be here! I have an entirely blank slate with the national team, we have no staff in place yet (aside from Chris who for some reason was hired before me), so I can build a team with my own ideas and philosophies, which is naturally quite an exciting prospect. Due to the season starting in July here, the game has already simulated part of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, which is a shame as it would have been nice to have been in charge of the country's first ever fixture. It's fair to say we are not off to the finest of starts. My first game in charge will be a trip to Istanbul to face Turkey. I fully expect a defeat, but hopefully we can keep it respectable. I will certainly be aiming for points against Liechtenstein at home though as I look to deliver the nation's first victory. I cleared the AI selected squad and have gone through all the positions to pick my own players, my selection will most likely change before the first fixture against Cameroon in September, but here is my initial selection; A handful of elite players such as Jarred Branthwaite, James Trafford and Ben Davies who will be the base I build my team on, the rest are occupying various levels of the football league and in several case non-league positions (And one with no club at all!) . Scoring goals is my main worry as none of the forwards are great, so defence will likely be our bread and butter, at least to begin with. As a collective group I would say we should climb the world rankings pretty quickly, this is a squad that I think is considerably better than our fellow European minnows San Marino, Andorra, Kosovo and Faroe Islands. If I were to pick a level I think this group should be operating at, I would say a stature akin to that of Albania, Latvia or Cyprus, someone of that ilk. My National team aims; (Short Term, Mid-Term, Long Term) - Win any game - Get promoted from our Nation's League Group - Have a player reach 100 caps for Cumbria -Have a player reach 50 goals - Beat England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland in competitive games -Qualify for the Euros -Qualify for a World Cup -Win the Nation's League -Win Euros -Win World Cup That's everything covered from a national team perspective, let me know what you think, how do you reckon we Cumbrians will fare on the world stage? Next update I will cover my club team who I will be hoping to transform into a European powerhouse!

When setting up Cumbria in the editor, I have ensured we are the lowest ranked nation in the world to make this as challenging as possible; I have changed the nationality of everyone who was born in a Cumbrian town or city, from English to Cumbrian; with the exceptions of Scott Carson and Dean Henderson and Rob Edwards, who have all represented England at senior level. That leaves a talent pool of 91 players on day one. (Not including generated players) There are a couple of EPL players in the National team, Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite and Burnley's James Trafford are both young and the national team could be built around them for years to come. Rangers's Ben Davies will also important. OK, so that's the Cumbrian national team, now let's have a look at the domestic system; Cumbrian Premier League The top tier of Cumbrian football comprises of eighteen teams who play each other home and away, 17 are from Cumbria and one from Scotland, I have invited Gretna 2008 to take part as the border between Cumbria and Scotland runs through the town. Gretna has entered (and won) the Cumberland cup on multiple occasions, so they have previous form in the county. The winner of the division is crowned champions and will have the honour of being the first club to represent Cumbria in the UEFA Champions League next season, entering the first qualifying round of Europe's elite club competition. Second and possibly third (depending on the Cumbrian cup winner) will embark on an adventure in the UEFA Conference League, also in the first qualifying round. The bottom two clubs are relegated to the first division below, the team in 16th faces a play-off against the side finishing third in the First division. Reputation-wise, the league is ranked 180th in Europe; alongside the Welsh second division and English seventh tier. My job will be to help raise the profile of the league to make it more attractive to top players and indeed sponsors, so clubs can afford to upgrade their facilities and produce high quality academy players to supply the national team with talent. Prize money is modest for realism, as is TV money, over time they will increase as the league's profile increases. The biggest obstacle I foresee is Carlisle and Barrow completely dominating, I'm sure they will do for at least the first few years, but hopefully the smaller clubs can gradually improve and eventually challenge the two big boys, I'd prefer not to have an Old Firm type dominance where nobody else can win for decades at a time. Cumbrian First Division The promotion tier has eighteen teams vying to reach the top table, the top two go up, whereas third place can gain promotion if they can overcome the 16th place Premier League side. As with the Premier League, The bottom two are automatically relegated to division two, the team in 15th receives a chance to save themselves by means of a play-off against the third place second division club. All the clubs down here are amateur, There isn't much to chose between them in terms of stature, so hopefully that means they will all get a chance to play in the Premier League over the next decade or so. Cumbrian Second Division The basement division, 20 clubs who play a 38 game season. The top two are promoted, the third is involved in the inter-division play-off with the 16th place team in division one. The bottom two are relegated out of the league. Cumbrian Cup The national cup is contested in a single leg knockout tournament by every club in the country, ties go to a replay if drawn. The winner earns a place in next season's UEFA Conference league. If the winner is the same as the club finishing first or second in the Premier League, the team finishing third in the League takes the Conference League berth. Supporters Shield A two-legged super cup between the Premier League champions and the Cumbrian cup winners. (Or League runners-up if they are the same) Visit Cumbria Cup A cup competition for the clubs in the first and second divisions, to give them a chance of some silverware. Single leg knockout rounds, except the semi-final, which is played home and away.

Hi all; after my sacking in my Sutton Coldfield save, I decided to try something a little different. After much fiddling in the editor, I have helped my home county, Cumbria, to declare independence and secede from England. At around 2,613 square miles, Cumbria is the third-largest English county in terms of area, behind Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and is in fact larger than a number of the European countries that we will be facing in our quest to become a footballing powerhouse. Despite its size, it is actually one of the least populated counties with only around 498,000 people calling it home, which could be an obstacle as I look to develop the nation's football pedigree. Bordered to the North by Scotland, the Irish Sea to the west and by England to the East and South, Cumbria becomes the fifth nation to make up the United Kingdom. Cumbria's location within the British Isles. Best known for the beautiful Lake district which is almost entirely within the new country's borders, as well as historic castles, sandy beaches and vibrant towns; Cumbria attracts around 47 million tourists a year which is a huge contributor to the area's economy. In the next post, I will begin outlining how I have set up the proud nation of Cumbria in the editor and take you through the league set-up. Keep reading and get involved!

I pay little attention to it other than to get an idea of my first starting XI when I first take over a club whose players I don't know. I've had many who have poor ratings who are consistantly brilliant for me. Once I've been at a club a while and know my squad I don't pay attention to the ratings anymore.

I'm going to give this a go, playing as Matlock. I have many happy memories of trips to Matlock and Matlock Bath, so come on the Gladiators!

I'm quite tempted to try this, I did got quite deep into it years back on the Sortitoutsi forum. One question though, is it really necessery to win both the Cymru North & South and the National League North/South seperatley? as they are the same level. Seems like one of each should be enough.

Good luck, nice to see a save in a league that doesn't get posted about alot on here.

Good idea, but I'm surprised that if your a Saddlers fan your not playing as Pelsall Used to go Walsall games quite a bit with a mate who supported them, when they had Jimmy Walker, Daz Byfield, Jon Macken and Emmanuel Ledesma under Dean Smith. Got quite a soft spot for them. Good start to your season though, keep it going!

Interesting save idea, I played in Bolivia with Club Aurora for a few seasons, but I did find the file I was using to make Bolivia playable was inaccurate and lead to some very funny scheduling such as no Apatura or Clausura, sometimes not having games for a month at a time, having no awards and incomplete trophy histories. all of these combined kind of spoiled the experience for me. But hopefully you have found some better editor data. Good luck with a momentous challenge!

Good luck, always interesting to see regional stuff like this, especially as it's not that far from where I grew up (Sutton Coldfield)

2024/25 preview I've been ringing the changes at Goodison Park as I try to turn the Toffees from relegation battlers into a European competitor in a single season. Objective The board want to finish in the top half of the table, given the amount of money I've spent this summer that should be the absolute minimum, personaly I'm aiming for at least a spot in the Conference League, perhaps even it's two more established counterpart competitions. Winning one of the cups following our poor showing at Wembley last season would also be great. Transfers Out (£148.5 - 165.7M) Yousef Cherminti - Nottingham Forest - £7M (£8M) - Decent prospect but he didn't feature much last season and wasn't really in my plans so it seemed right to let him go to Forest Eli Campbell - Sheffield United £1.5M - Wasn't in my plans so happy to take the money Ben Godfrey - Al Nassr - £20M - I was disapointed to lose Ben who I rated highly but he had his mind made up about going to Saudi so I had to accept their offer. Dwight McNeil - Al Nassr - £34M (£37.5M) - Very hot and cold player, sometimes brilliant and then anonymous. Nearly £40M seemed a more than fair price for him Abdoulaye Doucore - Real Socredad - £9.5M - Good player but with better options coming in I let him go as i don't want unhappy players who arn't playing reguarly. Billy Crellin - Wolves - £300k - back up who hasn't played a minute for me, wolves can have him. Charlie Whittaker - Blackpool - £155k - Same as above Vitaly Mikolenko - Al Ittihad - £25M - Was on loan at Milan last season and wanted to leave for a bigger club. not sure how Al-Ittihad are a bigger club than Everton but hey ho. Idrissa Guye - Real Socriedad - £1.7M - A tough tackling midfielder, but he is nearly 35 now and it seemed prudent to cash in on him why we still can. Jordan Pickford - Arsenal - £48.5M (£59M) - Won player of the tournament at Euro 2024, I really didn't want to sell Jordan but when Arsenal's intrest became known he handed in a request and I didn't want to hold him against his will. £60M seems a good price at least. Jao Virginia - Released - Never going to forgive him for his abysmal performance in the FA cup final. He's returned to his native Portugal with Casa Pia. Ashley Young - Released - I wanted to keep Ashley as a player-coach as he was still a useful back-up, however he wasn't prepared to accept that role so I let him go. Currently unattached. Dele Ali - Released - Never kicked a ball last season due to his hip problem. I wasn't prepared to chance a new contract with his injury history. Now at Rotherham in the Championship. Andre Gomes - Released - Now with Alaves in the Spanish second division. Tidy player but I didn't see him getting too many starts this season so I let him go. Transfers In - £138M Daiya Maekawa - Top goalkeeper who I signed from Japanese J-League side Kobe for a very modest fee of £2.5m Neco Williams - Replaces the outgoing Ben Godfrey at right-back. Neco cost me £19.5M from Forest. Marc Guehi - Part of a triple raid on relegated Palace this summer. Marc is the ball playing defender I want in the heart of my defense alongside James Tarkowski. He set me back £27m Mo Camara - Experienced ball winner who joins us for £10m from Monaco Emile Smith-Rowe - Could be a massive for us, he was listed by request at Arsenal after only getting seven starts last season. For £23M he could be an amazing signing for us if he can reach his massive potential. Ebere Eze - Second Crystal Palace signing; Explosive midfielder who is a nightmare for opposition to deal with when on form, him and ESR could be a real creative force together. £19M Anthony - My replacement for Dwight McNeill; Anthony is a potential world beater on the wing even if it hasn't worked out at Old Trafford, he is initially on loan from Man United but I have the option to buy for £40M. we will see how it goes. Samuel Iling - Signed for £23M from Juventus, an exciting winger who will be hoping the move to England will get him an international call up. Lorenzo Luca - Italian target man signed from Pisa for £9.25M, he spent last season on loan at Udinese where he scored 18 goals in Serie A. Sam Johnstone - Rotation keeper, signed from Palace for £4.5M when Pickford left for Arsenal. He will be my cup goalkeeper and Maekawa my first choice in the Premiership, at least to start with. I'm very happy with my squad now, it is massively improved on last season and should be able to play some exciting attacking football rather than the Tony Pulis Stoke-esc route-one tactics I used last season to keep us up. I'm working on training 4-2-3-1 during pre-season. I now have two quality options in all positions as well as a decent youth prospect who can step up when injuries and suspensions occur; Perhaps you'll disagree, but to my mind, that is a top 6-7 squad. Time will tell if I'm right. Come on you toffees!

My first season at Everton came to a bitter-sweet end; We stayed up comfortably, finishing in 14th place which pleased the new owners. We also reached the Toffee's first FA Cup final in 14 years as we overcame Wigan in the semi final, however we took a battering in the final against City to end the season on a bit of a sour note. Ihenacho was cup tied, so I started with youngster Lewis Dobbin up front as he has scored in every round we've played, unfortunatly he limped off after just two minutes so I had to put on Yousef Cherminti who has not played much since my arrival. Malacia also had to come off at 2-0 down and when I decided to throw on an extra midfielder to stem the flow, that was all my substitutions used before half time. We did briefly show some fight and scored a couple, but we completely ran out of steam and City destroyed us in the second half. It's never nice to lose a final but to get annihilated like this was tough. Still, look forwards; the new owners are making the best part of £200M available to me in the summer so expect a full squad rebuild as I try to reverse years of steady decline at Goodison park, in the final season at Goodision! We will move to the new Bramley-Moor Dock stadium at the end of the season, marking the end of over 130 years at the ground. A real transitional season ahead!

Decided to have a go at this, after holidaying until November 6th, Everton occupied 19th place in the table. So, can I help the Toffee's out of a sticky situation? or will the pressure chew me up? (sorry) I found it hard going at first, it took ten games for us to pick up a win (although it was very hard run of fixtures), thankfully though it looks as if we have turned a corner and are steadily climbing. Beating Liverpool in the Merseyside derby is the highlight so far, reaching the FA Cup quarter finals is a close second, where we will face Wigan for a place in the Wembley semi-finals. January I sold Dominic Calvert-Lewin to Al-Ittihad for £48M, which frankly I snapped their hands off for. Vitaly Mykolenko has also moved to AC Milan on loan with a mandatory purchase for £24M next summer. We also said goodbye to Seamus Coleman who retired following a serious recurring injury. I wanted to keep him at the club and have made him a coach with the under-18's. I've reinvested that money to bring in four players who will hopefully get us playing in the way I want in time; Kelechi Iheanacho - Just the two goals for the Nigerian so far, although he seems to put the ball in the net in most games, just for VAR to rule it out. I reckon he will thrive with a decent partner up front which will be a priority in the summer. Jaeo Rego - Hot prospect winger, signed from Benfica for £7.25M with future fees. He doesn't speak much English yet which has perhaps held him back, but he is a dynamic player who fullbacks hate playing against with his skillfull dribbling. Todd Cantwell - I had hoped to transition to 4-2-3-1, and picked Todd as my man to play attacking midfielder behind Iheanacho, paying £6.75M to Rangers for him. However he tore an abdominal muscle in his first training session which ruled him out for three months, so he still hasn't kicked a ball for us yet. Tyrell Malacia - Deadline day signing from Man United for £6.75M (Half of what United paid for him just last year) to replace the outgoing Mykolenko. He's been solid so far and can still develop plenty in the coming years. So, doing ok at the moment, we've climbed out of the relegation zone a developed a six point cushion I'm aiming to finish 11th or higher as that's what Sir Alex achieved in his first season with United. A trip to Wembley in the cup (preferably two trips!) would also be fantastic. Things could get very interesting next season; Some lovely oil money would certainlly make my attempt to outshine Fergie a lot easier!

January 2026 My first month in Avallanda has been a period of great transition. As I mentioned in the previous post, there was over 70 players across the three squads here, I have been trying to reduce that down by cashing in on some of the fringe players and youngsters I don't think will make it at our level £5M generated from player sales so far, which I have reinvested in bringing in a couple of my trusted favorites from Aurora; Willian Alvarez - Undoubtedly my star player at Aurora, he scored 51 goals in 58 games since I signed him in 2024. Can he continue his lethal form in Argentina? For a fee of just £325k he is definitely worth a punt. Joel De Marco - Reliable midfielder who made over 100 appearances for me over three years in Bolivia when I signed him on free from Aldevosi. He returns to Argentina for £325k. I feel slightly guilty for not waiting a couple of weeks to sign him as he was only 17 days away from gaining Bolivian citizenship and possibly becoming an international footballer. Tomas Silva - Very determined leftback who cost me £2.6M from rivals San Lorenzo. Manuel Monaco - The new club record signing, Manuel cost us £5M from newly promoted Sarmiento Junin, who he helped to win the second division last season. Manuel will play the #10 role behind Alvarez in my 4-2-3-1 tactic. That high determination is the first attribute I look for in a player, combine that with his considerable skills and I think we are on to a winner. OK, onto the results; Pre-season was a very worrying time, I wasn't exactly welcomed warmly by fans or players, they were dubious of my appointment as I have only managed in lowly Bolivia previously. I didn't help ease the players unrest when I started making big changes to the playing squad and upsetting a couple of them by offering out their friends. Performances in the warm up friendlies reflected the lack of harmony as we failed to win any of the three games. Thankfully they seem to have set their issues aside now that Liga Profesional has kicked off as we picked up wins in both of our opening two matches. Manuel Monaco has been superb so far, scoring in both games, as has my boy Alvarez who looks as if he will handle the step up in quality just fine. League Table - It's a long season here in Argentina, Liga Profesional has 28 clubs in it, if I understand the rules correctly, we all play each other once, before the league splits in two and each half plays each other again, the top 14 group then commences in an eight team play-off for the the title. (Can anyone confirm this is correct?)

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen as we embark on the second chapter of our epic tale, chronicling the glorious career of our boy Juan. After three successful years learning his trade and building a reputation as fine tactician and supporter of attractive flowing football, Juan has earned a move to one of South America's biggest teams, eighteen time Argentinian champions and 1967 Copa Libertadores winners; Racing Club. During the 1,600 mile drive from Cocochamba, high in the Bolivian Andes, to the bustling metropolis of Buenos Aries, Juan has time to consider his goals in life and reflect on what he has already checked off of his bucket list ; Achieved / To-Do Qualify for Copa Libertadores with Aurora Win Primera Division with Aurora Be the first Bolivian club to win Copa Libertadores Manage Bolivia Qualify for World Cup with Bolivia for the first time since USA 94 Win Bolivia's first Copa America since 1963 Manage Boca Juniors (My favorite South American club) Move to a big European club Win UEFA Champions League Cement my place in football history by being inducted into Worldwide hall of fame The outstanding goals involving my native Bolivia will have to be put on ice for now, for now I need to concentrate me efforts on building Racing Club into a serious contender for the top honors in South America! Perhaps once I've achieved my other goals I can return to Bolivia for a final hurrah before winding my career down, but that's a long way off yet! So, who are Racing? Full Name: Racing Club de Avellanda Nickname: El Primer Grande (The First Great) Founded: 1903 Division: Primera Division Stadium: El Presidente Peron (41,000 capacity) Fierce Rivals: Independiente, Boca Juniors, River Plate, San Lorenzo Last Season: 17th Continental competition: N/A Racing and Independiente are less than 300 yards apart, together they contest the Avellanda derby. My first job will be to start assessing the squad, across U20's, reserves and first team there are almost 70 players which for me is far too many. I prefer a small squad filled with versatile players who can play multiple positions, my aim is to cut the squad down to two good players and youth prospect for each position.