[FM09] Celtic F.C - back to their Scottish roots

[Saumer]

The Challenge

To use a team of primarily Scottish players to win the Champions League with Glasgow Celtic. Easy, eh? All transfers must be for Scottish players, except one per season. In any given match, no more than 3 players can be non-Scottish unless there is a catastrophic injury crisis.

Game Stats

Official 9.3.0 database

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All leagues from England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales are loaded

Previous managerial experience is set to international footballer, and Celtic are set as the favourite club.

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The club has a proud tradition of domestic success, and this season's expectations are no different. The chairman has made my position clear: win the league or else. Bookies have made Celtic the favourites for the title with Rangers a close second favourite.

I have been given a £9m budget to achieve our goals with a weekly wage budget of £427k, of which we have £50k available. The club has a healthy bank balance of £23m and currently sit in profit.

According to my assistant manager the biggest weaknesses in the squad are strength in depth and the left back position, traditionally a big problem for this club.

Transfers

So far, it's been an eventful summer for transfers and I've shipped out Massimo Donati, Shunsuke Nakamura, Andreas Hinkel and Jan Venegoor of Hesselink for a healthy profit of £12.5m.

To strengthen the squad I've brought in Steven Fletcher and Chris Maguire to reinforce the forward line, James McArthur in midfield and Lee Wallce, Brian Easton and Garry Kenneth for the defence. Finally, David Marshall has been brought back to the club from Norwich, with Nicky Riley moving the other way as part of the deal. All for a very reasonable £10.25m.

These players are all young, aged between 19 - 23, but I'm convinced that with a little training and some match experience, most, if not all, can come in and make an instant impact.

The Squad

To cultivate the talent at the club, Richard Towell and Simon Ferry have been promoted to the first team to provide cover and gain some experience, while Michael Tidser, Richard Filaret, Petar Skuletic and Luca Santonocito have been handed new deals to keep them at the club until 2013.

My first choice XI is going to be:

GK - Artur Boruc

DR - Mark Wilson

DL - Lee Wallace

CB - Gary Caldwell

CB - Stephen McManus (Cap'n)

MR - Shaun Maloney

ML - Aiden McGeady

MC - Scott Brown

MC - Paul Hartley

FC - Scott McDonald

FC - Steven Fletcher/ Chris Maguire

Subs: David Marshall, Brian Easton, John Kennedy, Willo Flood, James McArthur, Giorgos Samaras, Steven Fletcher/ Chris Maguire

Obviously, subs will be subject to change because of injury, and I'll be using domestic cup matches and clashes with lower placed clubs as an opportunity to given other members of the squad some playing time.

From this line up, Boruc is Polish and McGeady and Flood are in the Republic of Ireland squads.

Pre-season

An eventful pre-season has seen the club play and win four matches, although none against opponents that were up to much.

Rochdale 0 - 3 Celtic - An unconvincing performance by the Bhoys seen goals by Scott McDonald, Gary Caldwell and an own goal by Marcus Holness. Slight concerns about the creativity of the midfield and finishing of the forwards, but it's only the first match.

Go Ahead 0 - 6 Celtic - A greatly improved and impressive performance by Celtic saw a rout of the Dutch club. Goals from Shaun Maloney, Chris Maguire (2), Mark Wilson, Scott Brown and Giorgos Samaras saw an easy run out for the Glasgow club.

RKC 0 - 2 Celtic - A lacklustre performance that nonetheless ended in a win. An own goal by Arjan Artoumian and a Scott McDonald strike sealed the match.

FC Emmen 0 - 2 Celtic - A better game with better performances saw Scott McDonald score his third pre-season goal and a rare strike by Stephen McManus wrap up the game.

Positives from this brief tour has saw the start of a promising partnership between Scott McDonald and Chris Maguire, scoring 5 goals between them, while Scott McDonald and Shaun Maloney each have 3 assists, with Willo Flood notching up 2.

I don't have any serious concerns at the moment, but having not kicked a ball in a competitive match yet, this could quickly change. Overall, I'd say we're ready to face St Mirren in the first game of the season!

[LukeLLM_10]

Should be a good challenge.

Looking forward to seeing your results against the bigger teams in the SPL. Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian.

[Saumer]

Thanks for the comment, much appreciated! :-)

So far I've had a mixed start to the season, but I'll update later with the results.

[Saumer]

August/September results

League

As I expected, this is far from plain sailing, but that is the challenge of it!

Celtic 4 - 0 St Mirren - A comprehensive win and a great start to the season for my budding squad. Goals from Stephen McManus, Scott McDonald (2) and Shaun Maloney tied up an easy win and gave a sense of excitement about what was to come.

Dundee Utd 1 - 0 Celtic - Disaster! After the great start against St Mirren, a slip up to a soft Warren Feeney goal which saw the defence in a complete shambles.

Celtic 0 - 0 Falkirk - Completly uninspiring home draw with a team we should easily have cruised by. Some motivational words couldn't save the score line.

Celtic 0 - 0 Rangers - A nil-nil draw with our biggest league rivals. Not entirely unhappy, some good individual performances, but could have won it if we'd taken our chances.

Motherwell 1 - 0 Celtic - A second defeat of the season against another weaker opponent. While Motherwell can sometimes cause an upset, can't say I was wanting one this early in the season! Our fourth game with no goals. Frustrated with the forwards.

Kilmarnock 0 - 1 Celtic - Finally! A win! It's been 5 games in coming, but finally Chris Maguire scored a stunning individual strike to give us the 3 points. Couldn't have praised him more.

Celtic 2 - 1 Aberdeen - Our 3 league win, and 2nd on the trot. Hoping to build some momentum! A dubious penalty taken by Mark Wilson and another goal from Chris Maguire gave Celtic the lead, with Mark Kerr scoring a late reply for the Dons.

Champions League

Drawn in a group with Arsenal, PSV and Galatasaray I can't say I'm expecting much!

Galatasaray 2 - 3 Celtic - A rare away win in Europe from the team with one of the worst travelling records! An early goal from Lincoln for the home side scared us a little, but a reply from Giorgos Samaras was followed by a goal from Mehmet Topal. A Paul Hartley penalty pulled us level before a Scott McDonald strike handed us 3 points. Delighted!

League Cup

Queen of the South 0 - 0 Celtic * Celtic win 4 - 2 on penalties - Disgusted. 'Nuff said.

Overall Record

Played - 9

Won - 5 (one after penalties)

Drawn - 2

Lost - 2

[MeLikeFM]

I wouldnt call that mixed, more like horrible

[LukeLLM_10]

Good result in the Champions League.

Need to improve in the league, should be winning all games at home.

[Saumer]

I'll update later on today, but things have, at least at home, improved. Champions League is becoming a disaster as I expected, but in the league I've notched up 6 wins on the trot and am currently sitting top. So far.

[sambos]

Im sure you know about this kid and he may be hard to get considering he is a Rangers player but John Fleck is sensational, if you got him this challenge would be more attainable and he will cure your lack of goals. I signed him for 5M for Stuttgart at 17 years of age and he is setting the Bundesliga alight with 15 goals before October finished.

[unbeatenforaseason]

Hes celtic, THERES NO WAY he can get fleck.

[Saumer]

Yeah not unless he moves to another team and I buy him a season or two later and pay through the ear. Which I'd be willing to do to be honest.

[Saumer]

October/November results

League

Celtic 1 - 1 Hamilton - A tightly fought contest were Celtic scored both goals, one by Chris Maguire and an own goal by full back Lee Wallace. Hamilton are quickly becoming a dreaded fixture!

Inverness CT 0 - 5 Celtic - A complete rout from start to finish and about time that we got a decent result away from home. A double from Aiden McGeady, a Mark Wilson penalty and goals by Shaun Maloney and Steven Fletcher completed the scoring. A game to build momentum from!

Celtic 2 - 1 Hibernian - Not an easy home tie when the league leaders came knocking on Parkhead's door. A tight contest were an early Shaun Maloney strike was followed by a Joe Keenan reply. Late in the game club captain Stephen McManus scored a rare goal and we took the 3 points.

Hearts 0 - 2 Celtic - An unremarkable game were a Scott McDonald double handed the win to Celtic.

Celtic 3 - 0 Motherwell - A solid and competitive game were first half goals from Shaun Maloney and Marc Crosas gave us a solid lead, and a second half goal from Stephen Fletcher finished things.

Celtic 1 - 0 Kilmarnock - Our fifth win on the trot took us to the top of the table although Steven Fletcher's solitary goal was unremarkable. More worrying was a long term injury to young defender Richard Towell and short term injuries to Scott McDonald and Marc Crosas.

Hamilton 1 - 0 Celtic - A disgraceful match were we failed to beat ten man Hamilton, currently languising near the depths of the division. Bad performances all round, not least of all from 'keeper Artur Boruc.

St Mirren 1 - 2 Celtic - The Buddies took an early lead through Jack Ross and didn't relinquish it until two late goals from Scott McDonald finished a very tense match. Thank god for the Aussie!

Celtic 4 - 0 Inverness CT - Our winning streak against our friends from the north continued and in our two matches against them we've scored 9 goals, not a bad haul! A Steven Fletcher hat trick and Irish midfielder Willo Flood's first goal of the season led to a comfortable win.

Champions League

Celtic 1 - 3 PSV - An absolute walloping by the Dutch with goals from Otman Bakkal, Danko Lazovic and (ironically!) Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, answered by a comiseration strike by James McArthur.

Celtic 1 - 1 Arsenal - Some tight defensive football paid off and gave us a point at home against a far superior side. Bit of a surprise but we'll take it!

Arsenal 3 - 0 Celtic - At the fortress of the Emirates we weren't so lucky, losing three avoidable goals to a side that played us off the pitch. Robin Van Persie, Abou Diaby and Cesc Fabregas all carved up the defence easily and beat Artur Boruc.

Celtic 0 - 0 Galatasaray - A nil nil draw against the Turkish wasn't a bad draw and has given us second place in Group F with a game left to play against PSV away. It's all still in the air with for qualification.

League Cup

Aberdeen 1 - 0 Celtic - A poor game in fairness that we just couldn't take in the end. Our cup run ends in the quarter finals without much applause.

Overall Record

Played - 14

Won - 7

Drawn - 3

Lost - 4

Much better than the previous two months, with only one defeat in league matches compared to 7 wins to put us top. The CL was always going to be a write off this season at least, although I'm thoroughly disappointed with the League Cup performance. Delighted with the performances coming in from Scott McDonald, Marc Crosas and Lee Wallace and hoping to see more from a few of the others.

[skelet_jnr]

Your doing well. Are you playin many of the young players, or are alot of them loaned out to gain experience? Where do you sit in the champions league group with one match to play? Are you in with a chance of falling into the Uefa Cup? You could fancy a wee run in that if you make it in there.

[WH]

Sounds like a tough challenge. Good Luck.

Some tough European games. At least your league form is picking up.

I'll look in and see how it goes.

[Raware]

An interesting approach to your career. I like it, i'd love to see most teams have players in their squad who are born just around the corner from the club. Some good signings too. Looks like your getting your league form sorted now after a dodgy start...as for Europe...ouch.

Nice read and i'll be following your progress

[Saumer]

Skelet - Most of the squad are youngsters, but in terms of those already at the club, I have Richard Towell and Simon Ferry in my first team. I'm sitting 2nd in the CL, but there's only one point between 2nd and 4th so with one game left to play positions don't mean a lot. My last game is PSV away so I'm not really sure what's going to happen to be honest.

WH - Thanks! It was kinda your thread that inspired this so that means a lot! Fingers crossed at my next update we're storming the league and maybe still in Europe!

Raware - Cheers for the support, it means a lot!

[Saumer]

December/January Results

League

Hibernian 1 - 2 Celtic - Early goals from former Hibees players Scott Brown and Steven Fletcher gave the Bhoys and early lead before a Damon Gray goal just before the break put them back in the running. This game was significant for Artur Boruc's injury giving David Marshall a chance between the sticks.

Celtic 2 - 0 Hearts - A goal in either half from Scott McDonald and Scott Brown gave us a comfortable win in an uneventful match.

Falkirk 0 - 1 Celtic - Given a good run for our money, only a poor James McArthur goal seperated us. Still, a clean sheet for David Marshall so no complaints.

Rangers 1 - 2 Celtic - Two early goals against our biggest rivals by Scott McDonald and Marc Crosas gave us the lead before Lee McCulloch put the scare into us. Still, we ran through the second half and took the win.

Celtic 2 - 0 Dundee Utd - Another League win that puts us in a strong position. A Lee Wilkie own goal and then a Scott McDonald strike gave us the win, although injury took hot winger Aiden McGeady out the game for several weeks.

Aberdeen 1 - 0 Celtic - I hope that this is just a blip, but a late Mark Kerr goal handed the win to the Dons at Pittodrie.

Celtic 3 - 0 Hibernian - We're definitely gathering steam in the league and a Scott Brown goal and a double from Scott McDonald gave us a comprehensive win against a flailing Hibees.

Inverness CT 0 - 1 Celtic - Scott McDonald scored the only goal of the game, his 12th of the campaign in 12 starts. Ok, not as high scoring as the previous games against Caley but it's a win nonetheless.

Champions League

PSV 0 - 0 Celtic - The best possible result! We were never going to win, but a nil nil draw at Philips Stadion has put us through to the knockout rounds! Can't quite believe it, delighted though!

Ok so we made it to the next round which is better than I thought we could ever do and it's been great experience for us. Only downside is we've been drawn against Barcelona. This has been a great run, and we took at least a point against all three teams, including Arsenal which is great. Overall, not bad!

Scottish Cup

Hibernian 1 - 1 Celtic - A tightly fought contest that I really thought we were going to lose. Steven Fletcher's first half goal was answered by Joe Keenan in the second. At least we get another crack at the whip.

Celtic 2 - 1 Celtic - Now that's more like it! Shaun Maloney and Mark Wilson scored for us and Chris Hogg scored a consolation for the Edinburgh club and we go on to face St Mirren in the 5th round.

Transfers

The January window opened and so did the flood gates. Ok, not really. We lost Darren O'Dea, barely a fringe player for me, to Fulham for £1.5m and reinforced our forward line by bringing Ross McCormack back to Scotland from Cardiff for £3.6m. We also have Scott Robertson coming in from Dundee Utd for £1.7m when the season ends, and I'm tracking Phil Bardsley at Sunderland, although I don't think he is anywhere near worth his £7m asking price. Bobo Balde and Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe have also left (finally!) freeing up a considerable amount of the wage budget. We're currently £147k under.

There are number of players leaving during the summer, not least of all Paul Hartley and Lee Naylor, and that should give us more income to play with. I'm hoping that in the next couple of seasons Kevin Thomson and Alan Hutton become interested, but for that to happen we're going to have to consistently perform in the CL and improve our club reputation.

Overall Record

Played - 11

Won - 8

Drawn - 2

Lost - 1

This is a much better results and I'm really pleased that out of 9 league matches we've won 8 and lost 1. We're sitting top of the league, but only by 3 points which is not a comfortable margin for me, but I'm hoping that we can widen this gab over the next two months. This has been done largely by changing the formation. We're playing a 4 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 with Crosas in the DMC role and a solitary forward up front. Since this changed we haven't leaked nearly as many goals so I'm going to have to stick to it.

I'm not happy with the forward line. At the moment only injury-prone Scott McDonald and Steven Fletcher are scoring, McDonald with 13 and Fletcher with 8. Giorgos Samaras may as well sit in the pub and watch the games on tv for all the help he's been. Most disappointingly, Chris Maguire has the lowest average rating at the club with 6.65 and is failing to score. Ross McCormack, having scored 10 goals from 28 starts on the wings at Cardiff should help with the striking situation and will provide good wing cover for Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney, taking a bit of pressure off Scott Brown.

[Saxonaitor]

Well done on getting to the Knockout rounds of the Champions League, it's unfortunate though you were drawn against Barca.. Still Miricles may never cease

[Saumer]

February/March Results

League

Celtic 2 - 0 Rangers - Another fine victory against our chief rivals. New signing Ross McCormack justified his signing fee with two fantastic goals to ensure all three points stayed in the East End of Glasgow.

Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic - Travelling to Motherwell doesn't normally fill me with dread and this was no different. How wrong I was. A goal by on-loan Celt Cillian Sheridan put Motherwell ahead and despite all our efforts, it took an injury time goal by Scott Brown to salvage a point. Hopefully not the start of end of season blues!

Celtic 5 - 0 St Mirren - Obviously the Motherwell game was a blip because we rocked at Parkhead! A Shaun Maloney double and goals from Aiden McGeady, Chris Maguire (finally!) and Steven Fletcher completed a fantastic match for us. Settled some nerves.

Kilmarnock 0 - 1 Celtic - Taking this opportunity to rest some key players, my young guns managed a 1 - 0 win after 65 extruciating minutes as Steven Fletcher finished a great move. Not bad.

Celtic 3 - 1 Falkirk - Shaun Maloney scored a brilliant free kick and the Scott Arfield scored an own goal before Mark Stewart hit back for Falkirk. Thankfully Scott McDonald scored to give us a comfortable margin and we rode the rest of the game out.

Dundee Utd 2 - 2 Celtic - Fixture congestion finally started to catch up with as we only just managed to squeeze a draw with the Dundee club. They took the lead twice through Morgaro Gomis and David Robertson and it took Marc Crosas and Gary Caldwell to pull us back from the brink.

Champions League

Celtic 1 - 3 Barcelona - As expected we were trounced. Not to worry, it was fun watching. Samuel Eto'o (2) and Xavi hit fantastic goals and Steven Fletcher hit back with a consolation. We don't stand a chance for the next leg.

Barcelona 2 - 0 Celtic - Funnily enough we conceded less at the Nou Camp than we did at Parkhead. Andres Iniesta and Super Messi scored early goals and took a stranglehold on the game. In the second half we took control, but couldn't score. Not that it would have mattered. Still, further than I thought.

Scottish Cup

Livingston 3 - 3 Celtic - In my arrogance I fielded a completely second string side and was nearly punished for it. We took the lead through Willo Flood, but a quick response by Armand One for the homeside brought us back to earth. A Barry Robson penalty restored our lead by goals from Jean-Jose Cuenca handed them a 3-2 lead. Thirty seconds before the end Shaun Maloney pulled us back from the edge as he had so many times this season and sent the tie to a replay.

Celtic 5 - 0 Livingston - This should have been the first game! Paul Hartley scored a penalty late in the first half and a second half blitz from Aiden McGeady, Marc Crosas (2) and Scott McDonald secured our place in the semi finals were we will play Rangers.

Overall Record

Played - 10

Won - 5

Drawn - 3

Lost - 2

Ok so on paper it doesn't look great. But, in 6 league matches we won 4 and drew 2. The CL went as expected with two losses to Barca, but still pumped money into the coffers. A blip in the Scottish Cup against Livingston still made sure we took the tie to progress. Still top of the league, and we have a 4 point lead although at one point this was 7 ahead.

On the transfer front we have secured Kevin Thomson for next season through a £10.75m transfer from Sunderland! Ok, so I've spend a fortune on him, but I plan to remodel the formation with Thomson, Scott Brown and James McArthur playing MC and Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney playing the wings. However, Marc Crosas has been the linchpin of the midfield and one of my best players, even in Europe, so I'm not sure how to accommodate him. Suggestions welcome!

[MeLikeFM]

How good is James McArthur ?

You have 4 good CMs in a formation for 3. Rotate.

[Saumer]

For me James McArthur has been great. I'd put up a screen shot but I dunno how.

Played 34(7)

Scored 2

Assists 7

Passing 82%

Av. Rating 6.92, though 7.01 in the league

To be honest, well worth the money the £700k that I paid for him and he's worth £1.2m now with Everton and Newcastle interested. He's been called up to the full Scotland squad a few times but hasn't played yet.

[skelet_jnr]

Your Doing great Saumer, I think the only thing you have to to is rotate.

Some really impressive results, especially against the rivals, rangers. Two comfortable wins, and a draw, should fancy your chances in the semi final, i would imagine.

Keep up the good work, i am enjoying following your progress.

[Saumer]

Cheers, Skelet, the support is appreciated! I'm near the end of the season now with just 3 matches left to play and a 7 point cushion. I'm pleased to say I beat Rangers in the semis so into the final of the Scottish Cup against Hearts!

[LukeLLM_10]

Great going so far, are you going to post a league table at the end of it?

[Saumer]

April/May Results

League

Celtic 2 - 0 Hamilton - Two quick first half goals by Steven Fletcher and Paul Hartley gave us a straight forward win against the Accies and helped keep us on top.

Hearts 1 - 1 Celtic - A touch draw that nearly ended in defeat! Gary Wood put the Jambos ahead and it took a late Willo Flood goal to help us get a point.

Celtic 3 - 1 Aberdeen - Scott McDonald scored a fantastic hat trick that was answered by a pitiful Darren Mackie goal after 58 minutes. We have one hand on the title now!

Falkirk 0 - 1 Celtic - Another tight contest and it took a Shaun Maloney penalty to hand us the win. Maybe that title isn't ours yet.

Celtic 1 - 0 Aberdeen - Willo Flood scored an early goal in a game that saw us lose both Barry Robson and Shaun Maloney to injury.

Rangers 1 - 3 Celtic - Fantastic! A win at Ibrox that saw us win the league title. Something poetic there! A Scott McDonald double and Marc Crosas goal was answered by a Lee McCulloch solo effort. It wasn't enough for the Gers.

Celtic 2 - 0 Dundee Utd - Going from strength to strength now that we've won the title, our second string won through goals from Ross McCormack and Paul Hartley.

Motherwell 2 - 2 Celtic - Didn't finish the league season in quite the way we wanted falling behind 2-0 within half an hour. Goals in the 87th and 91st minutes by Steven Fletcher and Paul Hartley gave us a point.

Final positions:

1. Celtic 88 pts

2. Rangers 75 pts

3. Aberdeen 58 pts

The title stays at Parkhead for another season!

Scottish Cup

Celtic 2 - 0 Rangers - A tight contest with goals in either half from Scott Brown and Paul Hartley. Delighted to go through to the final but thought that there might have been a trade off for the league.

Hearts 0 - 1 Celtic - The double! Scott McDonald scored the only goal of the game to give us the trophy and make sure we finished the season on a high!

Overall Record

Played - 10

Won - 8

Drawn - 2

Lost - 0

End of season review

So the Scottish Premier League 2008/2009 season has finished. And we won! It was a shaky start and I was concerned that injury and fitness would trip us up, but we held on, and our mostly Scottish squad took the title by a considerable margin. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going next season. And the cherry on the cake was taking the Scottish Cup at the end, meaning I've had a great start to my Celtic career.

This season we played in four competitions and had mixed results:

Premier League - Champions

Scottish Cup - Winners

League Cup - Lost in the Quarter Finals

Champions League - Lost in the 1st Knockout Round

Overall I'm pleased. My main objective was to take the premier league and get good experience in the CL. I exceeded that last aim and would hope for the same next season. We had a lot of injuries, and I'm not sure if that was down to bad luck or to the training schedule I have running.

From a squad position, I have mixed feelings:

Top goal scorer - Scott McDonald 21 goals in 26 starts

Most assists - Shaun Maloney 23 assists in 44 starts

Highest av. rating - Shaun Maloney 7.29 from 44 starts

Player of the season: Shaun Maloney. His 12 goals, 23 assists and 10 MoM show just how valuable he has been and I think that if this continues, I'll struggle to keep him in seasons to come.

Weakest player: Chris Maguire. This new, young signing was a massive disappointment. 4 goals and two assists from 15 starts is decent, but with an average rating of 6.62 and not able to create much, I'm beginning to wonder if I made a mistake with this one.

Best signing: James McArthur. Tireless midfielder for us, started 38 times and scored 2 goals with 7 assists. Average rating was 6.91 but much higher at various points.

For next season I only have Scott Robertson and Kevin Thomson coming in and don't plan to make any major additions. I plan to build my squad around the midfield which I feel is my strongest area at present. Injuries were a massive concern this season and that will have to be addressed or adequate cover brought in.

Overall, I'm delighted!

[Saumer]

Luke - I would post a screen shot but I'm not sure how to do it which is why I put up the top 3 positions.

[Saumer]

Season 2 - 2009/2010

The chairman has told me that I'm expected to win the premier league as a minimum requirement. Not problems there then. However I've only been given £2.2m to achieve this. Slightly miffed considering they gave me £9m last season. Perhaps it's as a result of my massive spending. Good thing I don't plan to spend any more money!

Financially the club isn't in a great situation. Despite clearing all our debts due to my control of the wage budget and the team performance in all competitions, the club's balance is currently sitting at £1.06m and we're running at a £26.94m loss. The wage budget was set at £350k, but due to player wage increases, we were £7k over this. I've shifted money from the transfer budget to cover this.

For the coming season my objectives are:

Premier League - Champions

Scottish Cup - Winners

League Cup - Winners

Champions League - 1st Knockout Round

Considering last season it's not unrealistic goals, but the Champions League will depend largely on the group that we're drawn in.

For this season, the starting XI is likely to be:

GK - Artur Boruc

DR - Mark Wilson

DL - Lee Wallace/Brian Easton

DC - Stephen McManus (Cap'n)

DC - Gary Caldwell

MC - James McArthur/Scott Robertson

MC - Kevin Thomson

MC - Scott Brown

AMR - Shaun Maloney

AML - Aiden McGeady

FC - Scott McDonald/Steven Fletcher

Because of the performances given by Marc Crosas and Willo Flood last season, both will be rotated into the MC roles throughout the season, it would be foolish to omit them Richard Towell gave me some great performances at the end of last season so I'll be looking to bring him through a little more. Simon Ferry has been sent out on loan for 7 months to gain some first team experience due to an over abundance of central midfielders.

Fingers crossed!

[MeLikeFM]

Good luck.

[WH]

Good first season Saumer.

Did Rangers sack their manager? 13 points behind must have been hard for their fans to take. Just out of curiosity, are Rangers spending much this summer to try to bridge the gap?

[Jordann]

Doing really good so far, you'll always be expected to win the league as celtic

And was just wondering if your including scottish players that play for ireland as scottish, like mcgeady and mccarthy ?

Or are they included as foreign because they chose to play for ireland ?

[Jordann]

Doing really good so far, you'll always be expected to win the league as celtic

And was just wondering if your including scottish players that play for ireland as scottish, like mcgeady and mccarthy ?

Or are they included as foreign because they chose to play for ireland ?

[WH]

Doing really good so far, you'll always be expected to win the league as celtic

And was just wondering if your including scottish players that play for ireland as scottish, like mcgeady and mccarthy ?

Or are they included as foreign because they chose to play for ireland ?

You can say that again!

[Saumer]

Jordann - Yeah I'm playing Aiden McGeady and I have my eyes on James McCarthy as one for the future. Although they've declared for Republic of Ireland they are Scottish players so....

WH - The date on my game is currently 01.07.09 and thus far Rangers have signed one player, 31 year old Radoslav Batak. Not sure if there'll be a flurry of transfers towards the end of the summer!

Thanks for the comments guys, I hope you're enjoying reading so far!

[skelet_jnr]

Congrats on winning the league, Good to see the league back where it belongs You have a host of scottish players there, but are you considering gettin a scottish keeper anytime soon? Will be doing well to get one better than boruc.

Keep up the good work.

[Jordann]

I dont think there will be a better scottish keeper than boruc for a long time hes different class

[Saumer]

Cheers, Skelet! I wish I had wrapped it up quicker than I had, but hey, I still won! In terms of Scottish keepers, I'm bringing through David Marshall. Now I hear you saying that he's not as good as Boruc. Maybe not on paper, but so far this summer I've rejected bids from Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal for him and he had a good record for me last season so I'm not going to knock it!

[Saumer]

Pre-season Results

Friendlies were arranged with 3 Championship sides to give my team a bit of a run against decent competition for once. Over the 3 matches every player got a start and a sub appearence. So it wasn't the busiest summer schedule, but to be honest, I didn't want it to be.

Wolves 0 - 2 Celtic - An excellent first game with goals in either half. Steven Fletcher put us ahead before Barry Robson sealed the deal for us. Although we only scored twice, had we taken our chances it would have been more like 4 or 5.

Fulham 1 - 3 Celtic - A heavier scoring game that more reflected the state of play. An early goal by newcomer Scott Robertson and then a second half own goal by Chris Baird and Scott McDonald gave us the win. Fredrik Stoor came off the bench to score a reply for Fulham in the dying seconds.

Stoke 1 - 2 Celtic - Our final pre-season game and third win to wrap up a decent pre-season campaign. Scott McDonald scored after 23 minutes before Glenn Whelan answered 3 minutes later. Shaun Maloney scored after half an hour and we played out the rest of the match comfortably.

Overall I'm pleased. No injuries, good fitness and decent performances mean we're ready to face Inverness Caley Thistle in the league!

[KharNivore]

Should post up your current startin 11 again.

Though you missed Mcdonald is Australian. And Samaras is greek.. that was a total of 5 foreign players (including bench)

[CelticPat1888]

well technically you could say mcdonald is australian, he could play for scotland as really he is scottish, scottish family etc but born in Aus and spent his childhood there,.