B.W.G Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Looking goood so far, hope you can carry on your progress Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just to give you some hope i did a 55 season save game test once and Dundee United and Ayr United broke the Glasgow hold on the league. Dundee United ended up winning something like 15 titles in the last 25 seasons and had an avg attendance of 55,000 and a massive stadium. Ayr won about 5 titles in the same period and had a 31,000 seater stadium.Rangers got relegated after about 45 seasons and Celtic were struggling really bad and in the bottom half. Cheers- that'll be something to look forward to. I can only dream of a 55000 attendance, though it is going up slowly each year! Looking goood so far, hope you can carry on your progress Thanks again. Just had a bit of March wobble though. Details later tonight, hopefully! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Going into March, I was confident that we would win a trophy this season. Then this happened.... Out of Europe after a battering against Besiktas, beaten in the Co-operative Cup Final against Celtic (and reduced to 8 men), taken to a reply in the Scottish Cup Quarters against Inverness and two bad results in 2 big 6-pointers in the SPL. Wheels completely fell off, without notice! We have recovered slightly to leave us still in the title hunt at the split. Historically, 72 points would give you 2nd place and qualify for the Champions League. I reckon we'll need 80 this season. Typical! Especially as we've got the jitters! Final 5 games: Hearts (h), Rangers (a), Inverness (a), Celtic (h) and Aberdeen (a) ...and Hibs in Scottish Cup Semi-final. Wish me luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 2018/19 Season 9 - Berwick Rangers Once again the board wanted us to compete near the top of the table and do well in the domestic cups. They also wanted to us to get to the Group Stage of the Europa League. Media predicted us to finish 4th and title odds were 10-1. Season tickets increased by 158 to 1517. Facilities Overview - The board have agreed to buy the stadium. Hopefully, we will be converted to all-seater and they will be willing to expand. Finances - Still good. Received £2m in sell-on clauses too Wage Budget - Increased again Transfer Summary - Spent £1.5m on a few players including 2 loan deals from Chelsea and Arsenal Key players to arrive were: Tomas Hubocan (Free) - 32 year old Slovakian CB joined us from Toulouse. Should be the experienced rock I need to stabilize the defence. Matteo Iovino (£675k) - 21 year old giant of a centre-back joined from Sheriff. Hopefully will form a good partnership with Hubocan. Cristian Di Biase (£45k) - 23 year old signed from Brescia. I've been watching him for 2 seasons waiting for him to be interested in joining us. Good all round MC. Batista (Free) - No not the wrestler. He joined us in January from Fluminese. At only 19, this defender is one for the future. Before a ball could be kicked in the new season, I got approached by Rangers to take over at Ibrox. Good wages and budgets, but I thought that the team I had built at Berwick had more potential than what was on offer at Rangers. Europa League - 2nd Knockout Round We dispatched Spartak Moscow 3-1 on agg in the 4th Qualifying Round to ensure we got to the Group Stages. Having finished 2nd in our group, we were drawn against one of the bigger team in the 1st Knockout Round. We dispatched PSV 4-2 at home and 2-0 away. These 2 amazing victories pitched us against Besiktas. We got our arses handed to us and lost 5-1 over the 2 legs. I was still extremely satisfied with our performance, especially those against PSV. Really encouraging for future European expeditions. SPL - 2nd We were in touching distance of winning the SPL this season. 84 points would have won the league 7 out of the last 8 seasons so we were extremely unlucky. Going into the last game we had to hope that Hearts didn't win and we got a strong win against Aberdeen. We did our part but so did Hearts as they beat Rangers 4-2 to claim the trophy. This would be the first non-Old Firm winner since Aberdeen won in 1985, that's 34 years!! The strangle-hold has been broken, unfortunately, not by us! We had a major wobble in March which lost us the title but there were a lot of positives to take from our league performance. We had the 2nd best defence and the 2nd best attack which led to some amazing results. The highlights included 5-0 wins over Motherwell and Dundee Utd, and 3 victories over Celtic - 4-2 and 4-0 home wins and a 1-0 at Celtic Park. Cooperative Insurance Cup - Runners-Up In a very bad tempered final against Celtic, we took it to extra-time and ended up with 11 yellow and 3 red cards. Due to their 3 men advantage, Celtic took us apart in extra-time and beat us 4-2 Scottish Cup - Winners Having knocked Celtic out in the 5th Round, we had another great opportunity to reach the final for the 4th time in Berwick's history. Having needed a replay against Inverness in the Quarters, we then demolished Hibs 5-0 in the Semis to set up a final against Hearts. This was to be a rematch of the last season's final where they beat us 2-1. This was not to be repeated this year as we claimed a majestic 4-0 victory to avenge our SPL disappointment and claim the Scottish Cup for the first time in the club's history. Everyone was delighted with the achievement and I will want to defend this amicably next season! Key Players Domingo - SPL Top Goalscorer for the 3rd year in a row. 25 goals in 49 games isn't as many as previous seasons but it's still pretty impressive! Alessandro Caputo - Fans Player of the Year. 20 assists over the season with an average rating of 7.37 was another great return. I rejected offers of over £4m throughout the windows but I might sell if I get an offer of £6m. Matteo Iovino - Appeared in SPL team of the Year alongside Domingo and Caputo. 9 goals from corners and average rating of 7.32 represented a great start to life in Scotland for this young Italian. Stuart Armstrong - Scored SPL Goal of the Season. Team of the Year Overall Best Eleven Season Summary SPL: 2nd (26-6-6 +49 84) Europa League: 2nd Knockout Round (1-5 v Besiktas) Cooperative Insurance Cup: Runners-up (2-4 vs Celtic) Scottish Cup: Winners (4-0 v Hearts) In no uncertain terms, this was a great year for Berwick Rangers and we've moved up 101 places to 92nd in the UEFA rankings, the SPL moves up 1 to 11th. I expect to challenge for the title again next season (my 10th season in charge), and with Champions League football coming to Shielfied Park for the first time in history, I expect the stature of the club to continue to grow. Average attendance was up to 6405 but we still did not sell-out our stadium for any match which is still quite a concern but at least it is still going up gradually. I will be intrigued to see what the board will do once they have purchased the stadium. I've also signed a new 2 year contract extension. Transfer wise, I will be hoping to keep the core of my team together and bring in a left-sided midfielder and maybe a left back if I can find someone better than I have already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Grats on winning the cup mate. Silverware is always a bonus. Have you asked the board to expand the stadium? Find out if it is a council or financial problem. Next season could be the big one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenwhitearmy Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Next season will be the one 10th season lucky? eh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I just noticed all you sponsorships expire next season as well. That could be a real financial boost if you have a good season this year. Maybe jumping to a total of £1m + if you can strike it lucky How funny would it be if Scotland got 3 ECC places and 4 league EC places. That would make that 7th place like a mini league of its own. All the bottom teams fighting for that one spot for Europe to turn the club around Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Grats on winning the cup mate. Silverware is always a bonus.Have you asked the board to expand the stadium? Find out if it is a council or financial problem. Next season could be the big one Board's not interested in expanding at all. Keep being told that 'the current one is biggest enough for a club of our stature'. Even the guilt trip of 'all the things I've done for this club' didn't work- they didn't batter an eyelid! However, they have found it necessary to take out a £2.6m loan to improve the training facilities! Just played first game of new season and had first ever stadium sellout. Promising times ahead! Next season will be the one 10th season lucky? eh Fingers crossed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 I just noticed all you sponsorships expire next season as well.That could be a real financial boost if you have a good season this year. Maybe jumping to a total of £1m + if you can strike it lucky How funny would it be if Scotland got 3 ECC places and 4 league EC places. That would make that 7th place like a mini league of its own. All the bottom teams fighting for that one spot for Europe to turn the club around Sponsorship is now totaling £755k per year which is above average for the league. If I remember correctly, Hearts get the most at just over £1m. In coefficients news, if Scotland can climb 1 more place to 9th then the SPL will get another Europa League place. I think this will happen this season or next. We need to get it to 6th for a 3rd Champions League spot so still quite away off, even though I would love it if the SPL overtook the English Premier League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Impressive progress. Champions League next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
433tom Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Great job. I'm betting you win the League next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Just had this great little news item pop up to celebrate my 500th game in charge... Nice little touch by SI Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 nice going 500 is a fair milestone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
433tom Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Great stuff... 9 years would be a record for me. You going to make it a 1000 with Berwick? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamers Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Well done, just caught up on this. Quite a rise there! Flamers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 nice going 500 is a fair milestone. Great stuff... 9 years would be a record for me. You going to make it a 1000 with Berwick? Well done, just caught up on this. Quite a rise there!Flamers 9 years is a record for me too. Normally I get itchy feet if I spend more than 5 years at any one club. That saying, there is still quite a challenge here with Berwick. My 10th season is going well but I would like to continue the improvement to the league rep so we can start to attract the big names and be able to compete in Europe eventually. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 yeah 10 years is a max for me. Not really gone to 15 or 20 before. You have a good challenge so should make 20 seasons easy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Congrats on the 500 games and the cup win! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Congrats on the win, hope you can get the league title for your 10th season in charge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 2019/20 Season 10 - Berwick Rangers So somehow my reputation had risen to 'World Class'. Not really sure how but I had to live up to this! Champions League expectation were low enough (as they should be!) to just reach the playoff but the Board wanted continental qualification in the league and decent domestic cup runs. The media predicted us 4th again but with title odds of 3-1. Season tickets grew quite considerably by 379 to 1896. Facilities - The board have completed the purchase of the stadium but are still not willing to 'splash the dash' on any expansions. Training facilities have been improved again. Finances - Really healthy for a club of our stature. Board paid off some of the outstanding loans too. Wage Budget - Plenty of room to maneuvre here Transfer Summary - Spent £2.7m on a handful of players. Decided to cash in on my captain, Gregory Vernier. £2m for an average right back seemed good business. However, I will miss him and the 232 appearances he made. Key transfers Christopher Drazan (£2.4m) - My record signing. Desperate for a good ML and this guy from Brest seemed to fit the bill. Wilfried Wamba (Free) - This FC joined me in January on a free from Malmo. A proven goalscorer in Sweden with 68 goals in 99 appearance, I was hoping he could replicate this in Scotland. Champions League - Group Stages After exceeding expectations and dispatching Bursapor (4-3) and Sporting Lisbon (4-2) in the Qualifying Round, we were drawn a very tricky group of CSKA Moscow, HSV and Real Madrid. We had no hope of qualifying from this group, and hopes of finishing 3rd were extremely slim. We were absolutely battered and only won 1 point in a 1-1 draw in Moscow. Real Madrid taught us a lesson in the Bernabeu and whooped us 7-1 courtesy of a Higuain hat-trick. Well, the TV money will come in handy and I'm sure Cristiano & co enjoyed their day out in Berwick! SPL - 1st Champions! It couldn't have gone much better to be honest and we had it sewn up with 3 games to go. To celebrate it in style, we beat Celtic 5-1 at Celtic Park. We only lost 3 games over the season including a 6-3 drubbing away to Celtic. That blip aside, we performed when we needed to and had some great results along the way including wins over the other big teams Rangers, Hearts and Celtic. Co-op Challenge Cup - Runner-Up Once again, we reached the final. Once again, we lost to Celtic. At least we finished with 11 men on the field this year...an improvement! Scottish Cup - Winners Double Winners! We had to do it the hard way, knocking Celtic out in a thriller in the 4th Round and then Rangers at Ibrox in the Quarter Final. Our reward for this was a fairly straightforward final against Dundee of 1st Division. After we scored after 36 seconds, Dundee surrendered, and Wilfied Wamba went on the score a hat-trick. Key Players Domingo - After Vernier departure, I had no hesitation in making Domingo my club captain. Even after missing 4 weeks through injury, he still managed to pick up SPL topscorer for the 4th season in a row! 85 goals in 123 league appearances is legendary! 27 goals in all competitions this season. In SPL Team of the Year. Alessandro Caputo - Won Scottish Football Writers Player of the Year and also Fans Player of the Year at Berwick. 29 assists in all competitions and an average rating of 7.34 - very consistent. In SPL Team of the Year. Tomas Rodriguez - Form dipped in the New Year but still had a good return of 15 league goals in 33 games. Wilfried Wamba - Having joined us in January, it took him a few weeks to break into the team. When he did, 11 goals in 18 games was enough to earn him SPL Signing of the Season. Matteo Iovino - Another great season at the back. Good average rating of 7.22. In SPL Team of the Year. Nikos Argyriou - My star GK. 16 clean sheets in the league kept things nice and tight at the back. At the age of 27 he should just be entering the peak of his career. Team of the Year Overall Best 11 Season Summary SPL: 1st (28-7-3 +53 91) Champions League: Group Stages (4th) Co-op Challenge Cup: Runner-Up (0-2 v Celtic) Scottish Cup: Winners (3-0 v Dundee) A great season for us. Doing the double was an amazing achievement for a club like Berwick, even though the Board said it was always likely (once the trophies were in the cupboard!). I'm SPL Manager of the Year again and an icon now too! Next season will be interesting as Dundee Utd had a tycoon takeover halfway through the season. They have increased their club finances quite considerably and are now considered rich . If they start throwing money about left, right and centre, it will be difficult for us to compete. Hopefully, they will do a Man City and make some iffy signings that don't gel too well, as I would like to retain the trophies we won this season. An improvement in Europe wouldn't go a-miss too even though we're now up to the dizzy heights of 84th best team in Europe! SPL remains 11th best league. Other goals for next season include trying to expand the stadium. We had 8 sellouts this season and an average attendance of 7410, so it must be surely on the cards soon; a capacity of 8765 is not good enough for the Champions of Scotland! I also need to focus a bit more on youth recruitment as we have only 3 homegrown players which is making the squad selection for European competitions a bit tricky and I also need to name 3 outfield players under 21 in the squad for SPL matches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 I have now completed 10 seasons of 'Project Berwick' so here's a summary of what has happened in my 9 days of game time! Enjoy stat-lovers! Berwick Rangers Roll of Honour 2010/11 2nd Scottish 3rd Division 2011/12 Winner Scottish 2nd Division, Runner Up ALBA Challenge Cup 2012/13 6th Scottish 1st Division, Winner ALBA Challenge Cup 2013/14 Winner Scottish 1st Division, Runner Up Scottish Cup, Winner ALBA Challenge Cup 2014/15 6th Scottish Premier League 2015/16 4th Scottish Premier League 2016/17 3rd Scottish Premier League, Runner Up Scottish Cup 2017/18 3rd Scottish Premier League, Runner Up Scottish Cup 2018/19 Runner Up Scottish Premier League, Winner Scottish Cup, Runner Up Co-op Insurance Cup 2019/20 Winner Scottish Premier League, Winner Scottish Cup, Runner Up Co-op Insurance Cup Manager Awards SPL Manager of the Year - 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18, 2019/20 SPL Manager of the Month - Feb 2017, Sep 2018, Sep 2019, Feb 2020, Apr 2020, May 2020 1st Division Manager of the Year - 2012/13, 2013/14 1st Division Manager of the Month - Oct 2012, Aug 2013, Mar 2014 2nd Division Manager of the Year - 2011/12 2nd Division Manager of the Month - Sep 2011, Nov 2011 3rd Division Manager of the Year - 2010/11 Manager Stats Overall Record : P 507 W 279 D 107 L 121 GS 871 GC 559 GD +312 Win Ratio : 55% Time At Club : 3642 Days Total Career Earnings : £1.1m Fees Paid To Agents : £2.4m Players Bought : 84 (£6.55m) Players Sold : 2 (£8.75m) Players Released : 118 Highest Transfer Fee Paid : £2.4m for Christopher Drazan (22/07/19 from Brest) Highest Transfer Fee Received : £3.0m for Manuel Gill (11/07/2017 to Steaua) Major Competitions World Cup 2014 England (2nd Brazil 3rd Spain Hosts Brazil) 2018 Mexico (2nd Germany 3rd Spain Hosts Russia) European Championship 2012 Italy (2nd England Hosts Poland) 2016 Spain (2nd Italy Hosts France) 2020 Spain (2nd Italy Hosts Spain) Champions League 2011 Chelsea 2012 Chelsea 2013 Atletico Madrid 2014 Real Madrid 2015 Real Madrid 2016 Atletico Madrid 2017 Chelsea 2018 Lyon 2019 Chelsea 2020 Juventus Europa League 2011 Schalke 2012 Inter 2013 CSKA Moscow 2014 Palermo 2015 AC Milan 2016 Liverpool 2017 Liverpool 2018 Barcelona 2019 Sevilla 2020 Arsenal Scottish Premier League 2010/11 Rangers 2011/12 Rangers 2012/13 Rangers 2013/14 Celtic 2014/15 Rangers 2015/16 Rangers 2016/17 Celtic 2017/18 Celtic 2018/19 Hearts 2019/20 Berwick Scottish Cup 2011 Rangers 2012 Inverness CT 2013 Rangers 2014 Rangers 2015 Motherwell 2016 Rangers 2017 Celtic 2018 Hearts 2019 Berwick 2020 Berwick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Grats on the double. Makes up for the painful defeat in the bernabau against Madrid. You look set to dominate scotland now as Rangers look set to collapse. Just Dundee Utd stand in your way KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 European Championship 2020 Hosts: Spain Holders: Spain Spain successfully defended their trophy with a 2-1 victory in the Nuevo Mestalla, Valencia. Bojan was the top scorer with 6 goals, this chap did well too! England succumbed to Spain in the 2nd Round (boo!) after losing to Israel and only finishing 2nd in their group. Scotland also made it to the 2nd Round (topped their group with Spain 2nd!) but lost to Denmark. Euro 2028 will be held in England...Rule Britannia! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Grats on the double. Makes up for the painful defeat in the bernabau against Madrid. You look set to dominate scotland now as Rangers look set to collapse. Just Dundee Utd stand in your wayKUTGW Cheers! Yes, Madrid was painful to watch. Completely helpless situation in which we were totally outclassed. I think you might be right about Dundee Utd too, the title odds for next season are quite interesting! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrbfcrule Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Fantastic progress:thup: Congratz on finally winning the SPL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Keeping knocking on the door and eventually it will open. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 It appears the FM Gods were against me when they made the Champions League draw: Anticipating a couple of hidings at the Bernabeu (again) and Eastlands! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Excellent progression in this save AK22 . Pity about the Champions League draw but i'm sure there'll be other opportunities! Nice to see yourselves and Dundee United breaking the old firm too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Some brilliant progress just ashame about the nasty looking draw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Excellent progression in this save AK22 . Pity about the Champions League draw but i'm sure there'll be other opportunities! Nice to see yourselves and Dundee United breaking the old firm too! Some brilliant progress just ashame about the nasty looking draw Alas, our Champions League adventure has come to an end for this season. But we managed to finish 3rd in the group which included a 2-1 win over Real Madrid at Shielfield Park. I'm sure the 6000 that attended will never forget that moment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
433tom Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Congrats on winning the League. I smell a Dynasty coming your way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Season 11 - 2020/21 Berwick Rangers After the success of winning the SPL and Scottish Cup, expectations were raised by the Board. They wanted us to challenge for the title, semi-final for the domestic cups and group stages of the Champions League. Media prediction was for us to finish 1st. Title odds were at 5-2, joint favourites with money-bags Dundee United. Basically, success was expected and, for the first time, we were not going to be the underdogs. Season tickets increased up to 2500. Facilities - The board have agreed to expand the stadium, the youth recruitment network and the training facilities. The planning stages will take all season, so the improvements will not be seen until next season at the earliest. Finances - Champions League revenue really helping here. We're considered rich now but club value still not as high as Old Firm. Wage Budget - Looking good here Transfer Summary - Needed to bring in some youngsters to satisfy the 'Age Restrictions' for the SPL and Champions League. Raided my parent club Real Madrid for 3 promising youngsters. Key Transfers Alex Lundgren (500k) - Young goalkeeper bought from FC Midtjylland. Hopefully, will be a decent back-up and should be pushing for first team action in a couple of seasons. Daniel (1.4m) - Young CB signed from Real Madrid. Potential. Eugenio Grillo (700k) - Young Aussie CB from Sydney FC. Good height and jumping so should be a threat at set-pieces. Champions League - Group Stages (3rd) We certainly didn't embarrass ourselves this year. The highlight result of the season was the 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at Shielfield Park. A close 2nd was the 1-0 win in Istanbul against Fenerbahce. These results meant we finished a respectable 3rd in the group and qualified to the Europa League knockout stages. (We only lost 2-0 in Madrid this year too!) Europa League - 1st Knockout Round Unfortunately, we didn't last very long in competition. The 3-1 agg defeat against Zenit St Petersburg signaled our exit from the competition and the start of a downward spiral that would last til the end of the season. SPL - 2nd We started by beating Dunfermline 6-0 in the opening game, scoring goals for fun and in great form, we didn't lose a game until November. By the half-way stage, Rangers and ourselves had pulled away from the rest of the pack with surprise-package St Mirren doing well too. Dundee Utd's title challenge never materialised but Rangers had a resurgence under new manager Ally McCoist to recover from the 6th position they finished last year. We started to lose our way come February, had a big drop in form, and morale never really recovered which put an end to our title challenge (we lost out by 2 points). We also had the distraction of a board takeover that was in negotiations all season. The takeover never went through, but the chairman is still looking to leave. Position Graph Co-op Insurance Cup - Semi Final Rangers beat us 4-2 on penalties at a snowy Hampden Park. We should have done better as they went down to 10 men after 65 minutes. My players don't seem to have the same hunger for success as they did previously. Scottish Cup - Semi Final Our defence of our trophy was ended by Celtic 4-3 AET. We were 3-1 up at half-time. The rest of the match was torture as we pressed the self-destruct button and handed them victory with a 107th minute penalty. Key Players Domingo - Had an average season by his standards but still scored 22 goals in all competitions. Will need to get him firing on all cylinders next season. Alessandro Caputo - Relieved of his corners taking duties. Still had a decent enough season to be voted Fans POTY. Quite a few clubs sniffing around now. Stuart Armstrong - Chipped in with 10 goals and 10 assists from midfield. Leaving on a free to Fulham in the summer. Will miss Mr Consistency. Tomas Rodriguez - Started the season on fire but lost confidence in the new year. Might flog him in the summer if get a decent offer of +£3m. Khalid Yilmaz - 17 assist, mainly from set-pieces, and 7 useful goals from midfield. Luca Ruggeri - 13 goals and 14 assists but temperamental and inconsistent. Outrageous demands for new contract so going to sell in the summer. Team of the Year Overall Best 11 Season Summary Champions League : Group Stage (3rd Place) Europa League : 1st Knockout Round (1-3 vs Zenit St Petersburg) SPL : 2nd (25-6-7 +50 81) Co-op Insurance Cup : Semi-Final (2-4 on pens vs Rangers) Scottish Cup : Semi-Final (3-4 AET vs Celtic) A bit disappointed to end the season trophy-less. On another day, with a bit more luck, it was perceivable that we could have won a domestic treble. I reckon I will get a decent transfer budget in the summer so will want to strengthen the team to get back in contention for honours again next season. I'll be losing a couple of players on frees over the summer, so will need a CB, MC and a FC to strengthen the core of the team. We will also need to overcome the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, as by finishing 2nd we do not automatically qualify for the group stage. Up to 57th in the UEFA club rankings too. The takeover saga is still continuing in the background as a slight distraction. There was a mention that the new chairman would be looking to install a new manager; I will be seriously peeved if that is the case. I will be also be interested to see what the new owners will do with the facilities at Shielfield Park. We sold out 16 home fixtures this season with an average of 8207 so demand is definitely growing. I've signed a 3 year contract extension so I'll be difficult to sack now! 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Nobby_McDonald Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 You beat Madrid! Blow me sideways! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Good season but no silverware. Just got to hang in there until the developments happen. Any idea on a capacity? Gutted Rangers got back to the top. They have just finished 7th in my save. They have turned me down twice so far for the job Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 How many titles have Rangers won mate? Must be close to sixty now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Good season but no silverware. Just got to hang in there until the developments happen.Any idea on a capacity? Gutted Rangers got back to the top. They have just finished 7th in my save. They have turned me down twice so far for the job Just been informed of my stadium expansion... FFS! Just replacing a section of the terraces with some seats! That means another season with a capacity of 8765! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 How many titles have Rangers won mate? Must be close to sixty now. They've just won their 59th title. Had 3 dodgy years when they finished outside the top 2 but recovered well under McCoist to pip us to the title last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 You beat Madrid! Blow me sideways! We definitely rode our luck but we all need a bit of luck sometimes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 lol that sucks man. Expecting 10,000+ and they kick you in the balls Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 Season 12 - 2021/22 Berwick Rangers After being the bridesmaids in every domestic competition last season, I was expecting some improvement and at least 1 trophy to be won. The board expectations were similar to previous years, challenge for the title and semi-finals for domestic cups. They also wanted to reach the Champions League playoff. The media predicted us to finish 2nd and this was confirmed with title odds of 5-2. Season tickets continued to improve up to 2414 (+104) . The board takeover finally happened too. You'll be pleased to know that they will NOT be investing in the club at this time! Facilities - Aside from the training facilities, everything else is simply not good enough for the stature the club is at now. Investment and expansion required- URGENTLY! Finances - Still really healthy. Decent transfer budget for this year too- £10m! Wage Budget - Having to pay more in wages to keep my best players now Transfer Summary Key Transfers Luke Shepherd (£4.2m) - Signed from Chelsea for a club record fee. At 20 years old, this ST should become a key player for the team. Alberto Serafini (£2m) - This Uruguayan ML was signed from FC Vaslui. Should provide some quality crosses. Rincon (£1.5m) - Another MC. This Austrian international (half-Brazilian) will add more depth to the squad. Hasan Dolek (£2.2m) - Only 18 and can play anywhere across the back. Likes a tackle or two! Champions League - Playoff After a miraculous comeback against Benfica in the 3rd Qualifying Round (where all of my four strikers got carried off injured!), we were unlucky to draw to Valencia in the Playoff. A 1-0 defeat in the Mestalla was enough to beat us on aggregate and send us into Europa League. Europa League - 1st Knockout Round We found ourselves as 2nd seeds in the draw, so I was confident we would reach the knockout stages. We did well in our group and finished a close 2nd to HSV. Once again, though, the draw was unfavourable to us and Man City beat us 5-3 on aggregate to put us back in our box for another year. SPL - 2nd Position Graph For the second season in a row it was a two-horse between us and Rangers. We would take it in turns to top the table but come the end of the season we lost out by 1 point on the final game. We broke the SPL goalscoring record, scoring 94 goals with a goal difference of +60, which was pretty impressive, so were the 5-2 win over Rangers and the 7-0 win over Celtic (note their downfall, they finished 6th and didn't qualify for Europe!). Our downfall was our dodgy away record where we dropped 25 points, something we will need to improve on next season. Co-op Insurance Cup - Winner We won this trophy for the first time in my career with a satisfying 2-0 win over Celtic in the final. It was a great performance by us, one where we really stepped up to the occasion (for once!). Scottish Cup - Runner-Up We reached the final for the 6th time in my career and it went all the way to penalties. In a nervy shootout, we missed 4 penalties to lose 2-1 to Rangers. Key Players Luke Shepherd - 30 goals in his first season was a great return and proved his worth of the £4.2m I paid for him. Fans POTY. Domingo - In an injury-ravaged season, he still chipped in with 18 goals and is now the Berwick league goals record holder. Steve Allen - This youngster did well in the first team with 13 goals while covering for injuries. Alessandro Caputo - Another consistent season, 12 assists. Contract expires next summer and now wants an absurd wage to stay! Khalid Yilmaz - 20 assists this season. Great delivery from set-pieces. SPL TOTY. Scottish Football Writers Player of the Year. Daniel Fransson - This beast at the back only missed 2 league games when he was suspended. Good average rating of 7.30. SPL TOTY. Matteo Iovino - Average rating of 7.32 for the other DC. SPL TOTY Rafael Sanchez - 14 assists and a good average rating. Clubs sniffing around. Cristian Di Biase - 13 goals and 15 assists from the centre of midfield. His best season so far! SPL TOTY. Team of the Year Overall Best 11 Season Summary Champions League: Playoff (0-1 vs Valencia) Europa League: 1st Knockout Round (3-5 vs Man City) SPL: 2nd (26-7-5 +60 85) Co-op Insurance Cup: Winner (2-0 vs Celtic) Scottish Cup: Runner-Up (2-2 AET 1-2 Pens vs Rangers) At times this season our play was fantastic, creating lots of chances and scoring loads of goals. We had 17 home sell-outs (av att 8215) and the board have agreed to expand the stadium and the youth recruitment. Unfortunately, this turned out to be another terrace-to-seats conversion! Our club standing is still increasing, the club ranking has improved to 41st best team in Europe. Next season, I really want to make some inrodes into latter stages of Europe. Hopefully some of the other Scottish clubs can do the same and help improve the league reputation into the top 10 of Europe. On the homefront, we should be in contention for all competitions again, so it will just be a case of whether we can topple Rangers or not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Another good season and at least you managed that trophy win this year . Fantastic win against Celtic too; i'm surprised at their demise. Why d'you think they've fallen so much? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Another cracking season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichG Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 firstly gratz on another great season. So close again in the league. Winning the cup was nice again also. You ahve a great base for the team now its just a shame the board are sorting the club for you Secondly sort the chairman out lol. Just putting seats in is not helping you at all. What's you average attendance this season? surely they must see the value of expanding. I got Chesterfields ground from 10,500 to 13,000 and they have just agreed to look into expanding again after I said it would make us fall behind the other teams if they did not do it. And they said yes. They are also developing the youth and training facilities after asking as well. Keep asking and you will brake them down slowly KUTGW mate going great Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 Another good season and at least you managed that trophy win this year . Fantastic win against Celtic too; i'm surprised at their demise. Why d'you think they've fallen so much? Last year they really had a shocker; 6th was the lowest they have finished since 1964/65 when they finshed 8th! They've just sacked Neil Lennon; I'm surprised it has taken so long as they been in decline for the last 4 seasons mainly down to not 'keeping up with the Jones'' in terms of transfers. Berwick is certainly a better team than them now! Another cracking season. Aiming for another title next season though. Damn those pesky Glaswegians!firstly gratz on another great season. So close again in the league. Winning the cup was nice again also. You ahve a great base for the team now its just a shame the board are sorting the club for youSecondly sort the chairman out lol. Just putting seats in is not helping you at all. What's you average attendance this season? surely they must see the value of expanding. I got Chesterfields ground from 10,500 to 13,000 and they have just agreed to look into expanding again after I said it would make us fall behind the other teams if they did not do it. And they said yes. They are also developing the youth and training facilities after asking as well. Keep asking and you will brake them down slowly KUTGW mate going great Feels like I'm banging my head against a brick wall at the moment! Patience is not my strong point! I'm majorly envious of your 13000 deluxe stadium too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 2022 - Chile With everything seeming quite stable at Berwick, I accepted the job offer from Chile as a little side-project and dipped my toe in murky waters of international management. I must admit it is extremely unrealistic that a manager in Scotland would travel to Chile for a 2nd job, but it seemed like a good challenge. When I took over in October 2021, Chile had already qualified for the 2022 World Cup (coming 3rd behind Argentina and Brazil) and were 21st in the World Rankings. For some reason the previous chap decided to quit after doing all the hard work, so it was left to me to revel in the glory of a World Cup campaign! The squad was quite unbalanced (maybe due to the lack of leagues loaded), no wingers or full backs but plenty of strikers and defensive midfielders. There was a handful of decent players, so I hoped we would give a respectable performance at the World Cup. Before the World Cup we had to play some pointless friendlies: Bahamas (A) 3-0Singapore (A) 7-0 Serbia (H) 0-0 Paraguay (H) 0-1 I really struggled to find a tactic that was suitable for the team but, at least, I had near enough worked out who my best players were. World Cup 2022 Hosts: China Holders: Mexico Once again I was struck by the curse of the draw-masters and handed a tough group with Germany, Portugal and Nigeria. Expectations were for us to make it to the 2nd Round, which would be quite an achievement considering the teams we would play! Our odds for winning were 16-1 with favourites Brazil at evens.Group H Germany 0-2Portugal 2-1 Nigeria 3-2 Our performances were flaky to say the least. It would have been concievable for us to have lost all 3 matches and ended up with the wooden spoon. However, this was not to be the case, and by securing second in the group, set up a tie against Austria in the next round. 2nd Round Austria 1-4 Shocking! Totally outplayed. At least this defeat saved us the humiliation of being stuffed by Argentina in the Quarter-Final. Spain would end being victorious, beating Italy 2-1 in the final at the Bird's Nest Beijing Olympic Stadium, with this chap netting the winner. (Defending champions Mexico finished bottom of their group.) I promptly resigned after we were knocked out. There was never likely to be any long term with Chile and the players didn't seem to adapt well to my style of play. On a positive, I am now fluent in Spanish! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
433tom Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Heartbreaking to lose the SPL by a point. Hopefully you'll win it this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 One penalty shootout too far for England. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Heartbreaking to lose the SPL by a point. Hopefully you'll win it this season. Cheers! Hopefully, Rangers won't be as strong this term. One penalty shootout too far for England. Mancini has left the England job after the World Cup and now been replaced by...Ancelotti. His record in penalty shootouts is just as bad as England's! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 I love my new chairman. I didn't even have to give him the guilt-trip! New stadium coming my way! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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