[FM11] Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen...

[AK22]

I'll have to say South Korea.

But either one of Mexico or South Korea would be fun.

I'll take South Korea under consideration also

Don't think I've managed there before either so could be fun!

Another Scudetto.

Thanks Nobby.

[AK22]

Euro 2024 Update

Hosts: Italy

Holders: Germany

Quite a shocking tournament, this one, with the Czech Republic winning in the final against Portugal. The winning goals scored by Inter Milan striker, Jan Brunclik, who's really put himself on the map now. The big-guns of Germany (holders and world number one) and Spain (world number two) were both knocked out in the second round.

England also were sent packing in the 2nd Round, after topping their group, courtesy of a 2-0 defeat to France. Donadoni keeps his job, but surely will need to do better at the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in Mexico.

[AK22]

Chapter 6 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go to Belgium

Belgium National Team

Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels

After a disappointing display at Euro 2024, finishing bottom of their group, the Belgian FA sacked manager Pablo Urbain and came knocking on my door. Normally, I'm not too keen on international management, it can become tedious at times and you don't get into much rhythm with your side, but I was quite intrigued by what was on offer.

World Rankings after Euro 2024:

Currently 18th in the World, the FA expect qualification for the forthcoming World Cup from a group consisting of Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Armenia and Slovenia. Obviously, the Czechs will prove stern opposition, but them aside, there's a good chance of achieving the FA's objective.

Talent wise they're not going to set the world on fire, but there is some hope with this young Arsenal starlet, Mohammed Benali, who should be banging the goals in for several years. There's also the experience of a 31 year old Romelu Lukaku (also at Arsenal), and 33 year old Eden Hazard (Barcelona), who still have a bit of class to offer the side.

So, I'll be juggling things at Lazio with regular trips to Brussels. My first game as Belgium manager is a friendly on 7th September at home to Ireland, with our first competitive match four days later at home to Armenia. That gives me about eight weeks to get the scouts out, work out some tactics and get a first eleven in mind.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Good luck with Belgium.

[AK22]

Good luck with Belgium.

After closer inspection, there seems to be a shortage of right-backs and wingers so struggling to settle on a formation.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Play everybody in the middle and narrow the pitch. Problem solved.

[Raware]

How about 3 centre halves with 2 wing backs/2 wingers?

[AK22]

Play everybody in the middle and narrow the pitch. Problem solved.

How about 3 centre halves with 2 wing backs/2 wingers?

Finally decided on a 4-3-1-2

GK

DR DC DC DL

MC MC MC

AMC

ST ST

I've only got one right-back that's capable of playing at international level (who's actually half Vietnamese!!), so he better not get injured ever, otherwise that will involve playing someone out of position or going three at the back as Raware suggested. Unfortunately, most of the wingers are carp too, so narrow, through the middle play is a one-dimensional must at moment.

[Raware]

Not predictable at all then! It'll be interesting to see if the AI can 'figure out' that one-dimensional style of play.

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Pre Season 2024/25

Board Expectations

Serie A TIM - Challenge for the Serie A title Media Prediction - 1st

Title Odds - 3-1, we're joint favourites with Sampdoria this year.

UEFA Champions League - Quarter-Final

TIM Cup (Coppa Italia) - Not important (!)

Supercopa di Lega TIM - Not important

Transfer Budget: £46.5m Wage Budget: £1.7m p/w (currently £1146882 p/w)

Facilities - Youth facilities were downgraded, so the board has agreed an upgrade. Season Ticket Sales - 38832 (up 783)

Youth Intake - Nothing exceptional.

Transfer Summary - Five players in, eight leave us. Net spend of £26.5m. One of the players to leave was club captain, David Alaba, who joined Barcelona on a free. This was a big call to make, and the fans are dismayed by my decision to let a club legend go. However, at 32, he's getting on a bit, and he wanted £100k a week to stay.

Notable Transfers

Gonzalo Castro - £13.75m was the cost to trigger his release clause at Malaga. He's been brought in to replace Alaba in the centre of the park. Big wages, so big expectations, but looks like a quality midfielder.

Saul - Bought for a bargain £2m from Liverpool and will be used in a rotational basis. Not the best player in the world but should do a solid job.

Carmelo Gaiano - Paid £12.5m to bring this chap back to Italy after playing for Arsenal then Spurs in England. He will be a much-needed home-grown player in the Champions League squad.

My objectives for the season:

- Retain the Serie A title. We're going for three in a row, something that Napoli achieved 2012-14. We've certainly got a great chance, and in my opinion, the squad is ever improving. I'm just hoping the changing of the captain will not be detrimental to our title hopes. Dutch Defender Patrick Offerman is the new 'top sausage'.

- Get to the latter stages of the Champions League. Something we didn't achieve last season, so I'm aiming to rectify that this season. Drawn against Marseille, Galatasaray and Levski, we should qualify out of our group. Hopefully, we won't draw one of the favourites in the first knockout round this time round. Man Utd are 8-1 favourites, we're at 14-1.

- Youth development. This is certainly ongoing but I now have five under-21s in the first team squad, with two of them likely to be regular starters. The average age of the squad is 22, compared to the Serie A average of 26. We've definitely got a young team here, my oldest player is only 30, so it will be interesting to see if we miss the older, more experienced players that I have released recently.

[AK22]

Not predictable at all then! It'll be interesting to see if the AI can 'figure out' that one-dimensional style of play.

Play to your strengths has always been my mentality! It's up to the AI to find and exploit your weaknesses, it may be a bit obvious in this case though!

[Raware]

Play to your strengths has always been my mentality! It's up to the AI to find and exploit your weaknesses, it may be a bit obvious in this case though!

I agree, play to your strengths. I can't remember, but do you have the option when managing internationally to change the size of your pitch? If so, will you be making it narrower to suit your adapted way of playing?

[AK22]

I agree, play to your strengths. I can't remember, but do you have the option when managing internationally to change the size of your pitch? If so, will you be making it narrower to suit your adapted way of playing?

Unfortunately not. It would be extremely helpful if I could though, as I would have the pitch pencil-shaped!

I expect there's some FIFA/UEFA guidelines on how big pitches should be for international matches.

[DodgeeD]

In older versions of the game (FM07, FM08) I usually played without wingers as a preferred formation. I would have the full backs push up and the DM drop back to cover in defence when they did. On the last couple of versions wingers have seemed pretty much essential though! Still, I'm sure you'll make it work for Belgium by playing to their strengths.

...or perhaps you'll have a couple of wonderkids come through on the wings in the next season or two

[AK22]

In older versions of the game (FM07, FM08) I usually played without wingers as a preferred formation. I would have the full backs push up and the DM drop back to cover in defence when they did. On the last couple of versions wingers have seemed pretty much essential though! Still, I'm sure you'll make it work for Belgium by playing to their strengths.

...or perhaps you'll have a couple of wonderkids come through on the wings in the next season or two

Yes, I'll be keeping my eyes open for the Belgian wonderkids

My wing-less wonders have certainly done all right so far though.

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Autumn 2024 Update

What a great start we made to the season, we really hit the ground running again. It took a goal in extra-time to beat Roma in the Supercoppa curtain raiser, but what followed was one of the best periods of form I've had since being in Italy. 11 games, 11 wins and only two goals conceded, pretty remarkable stuff, and the wins against Milan and Sampdoria were great performances to boot. However, after the win against Marseille, we had a tricky run of games which saw us go four games without victory. The derby match defeat against Roma devastated the fans, and gave Sampdoria the opportunity to claw back the deficit we had over them and are now level on points. I still think it'll be a two horse race this season for the Scudetto, however, Roma's resurgence has caused me some concern and we will need to watch over our shoulder. There's only room for one successful club in this city!

European football is going pretty smoothly too. The point in France was enough to earn us qualification to the next round, and with two games remaining, we will rotate the squad in the remaining group matches against Galatasaray and Levski.

I've also been approached by Arsenal. Another big club, who after sitting 11th in the Premier League after 14 games, decided enough was enough and sacked their manager. I refused the offer, I'm not going back to England yet, but it would have been a great opportunity to club manage three of my Belgian stars who are currently at the North London club.

[AK22]

Chapter 6 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go to Belgium

Belgium National Team - November 2024

I finally settled on a formation, and after the friendly against Ireland, I had a rough idea of who would be in the starting eleven for our first competitive match against Armenia. We're certainly finding the net on a regular basis, putting on some impressive displays with our short passing game, and are undefeated as of yet. However, that would not be the case if it hadn't been for our spectacular comeback against Bosnia & Herzegovina. In a game we dominated, we found ourselves 3-0 down with five minutes to go. What followed was unbelievable, write us off at your peril!

However, we have yet to be really tested thus far. The trips to Serbia and the Czech Republic will probably decide if we qualify or not. Hopefully, I can keep Benali playing well, and I'll be happy with two points from these trips to the east.

[AK22]

Oh good...a board takeover!

Transfer embargo in the January window is less than helpful too

Corluka is one of my coaches, which would make him a bit of a Judas if he took my job!

[FMDownloader]

Oh good...a board takeover!

Transfer embargo in the January window is less than helpful too

Corluka is one of my coaches, which would make him a bit of a Judas if he took my job!

If he is about to take over, fire corluka

[AK22]

If he is about to take over, fire corluka

The thought did cross my mind However, he's such a good coach, I would be a shame to lose him from the backroom staff.

Thankfully, the takeover was unsuccessful but the chairman's still 'Willing to listen to offers', so I doubt that is the end of this saga!

[RavingLibDem]

The thought did cross my mind However, he's such a good coach, I would be a shame to lose him from the backroom staff.

Thankfully, the takeover was unsuccessful but the chairman's still 'Willing to listen to offers', so I doubt that is the end of this saga!

Also, they always say that they might fire you, but if you're doing a good job you rarely get fired!

[AK22]

Also, they always say that they might fire you, but if you're doing a good job you rarely get fired!

This is true. However, I have seen it happen, so I always proceed with caution when it comes to takeovers

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Winter 2024/25 Update

Really really dominant, probably the most dominant period of my career thus far. A run of eleven consecutive victories was brought to a shuddering halt by relegation bound Modena. I felt that this was exactly what was needed to bring the players back down to earth and get everybody refocused on the job in hand. Surprisingly, Sampdoria have dropped quite a few points, so it looks like the Scudetto title will end up in Rome at the end of the season. Whether it's in the blue half, or the red half of the city, is yet to be seen though! We have a comfortable eight point cushion going into the final ten games, which surely makes us favourites. However, our run-in is a lot tougher than Roma's, as we have two very tricky away matches against Inter Milan and our title rivals Roma.

In the Champions League, things are going equally well. Finishing top of our group, we drew another tough tie this time, against well-fancied Atletico Madrid. As difficult as the match looked on paper, we secured a comfortable 3-1 win in Madrid meaning we just need to hold our nerve back in Rome to ensure we reach the quarter-finals. The reserve and youth team players have enjoyed themselves in their Coppa Italia run-outs too, and have reached the semi-final with little difficulty. If they can see off bottom of the table Catania, a match against Chievo or Atalanta will be their reward in the final, that's if I don't decide to bring back the big guns. The treble is still most definitely on!

In slightly more depressing news, former club Nottm Forest are on a very slippery slope towards the relegation zone in League 1. With only five wins in their last 26 games, they are only six points above the drop line with eight games to go. I really hope they don't have back-to-back relegations, otherwise I've got a terrible feeling administration will be round the corner.

[Raware]

In slightly more depressing news, former club Nottm Forest are on a very slippery slope towards the relegation zone in League 1. With only five wins in their last 26 games, they are only six points above the drop line with eight games to go. I really hope they don't have back-to-back relegations, otherwise I've got a terrible feeling administration will be round the corner.[/left]

:( :(

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Spring 2025 Update

Signed, sealed and delivered with two games to go, but I'm sure Roma were more than miffed to get 90 points on the board and still not win the title. That's three consecutive Scudetto titles for us now, and it wasn't really in doubt, especially after the convincing wins against Inter Milan and Ascoli. Next season, I'm sure we will certainly be kept on our toes by the challengers on the red-side of the city, they have the two best strikers in the league, scoring 72 goals between them this season.

Even though the board were not interested, I was delighted to win the Coppa Italia, my first major cup silverware. This really was the icing on the cake of what was a wonderful season for us. I kept faith with my youngsters in the semis, which was rewarded with a audacious performance away to Catania. The second leg was a mere formality, and set up a final against Chievo. As much as I would have liked to trust my kids in the final, I decided to bring in a few experienced heads to try and settle any nerves. The final was more than comfortable for us, Chievo were no match for the team I had put out, and we strolled to a 2-0 victory.

Next season we will need to try harder in the Champions League. Even though we put in a better performance at Old Trafford this season, it was far too little too late, as our first leg performance in Rome really let us down. Man Utd seem to have our number, and unfortunately, we've been against them for two seasons in a row. Next year, we'll give it another good go and hopefully avoid the Red Devils. I don't think we're that far away from Champions League success, perhaps we just need a bit more luck.

The boardroom rumblings are still going on too. Three unsuccessful takeover attempts and counting so far. The chairman is more than eager to leave, so it's must be only a matter of time before I get a new boss!

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Season 2024/25 Review

Serie A - 1st

League Table Position Graph Season Summary

Champions League -

Quarter Final

Coppa Italia TIM -

Winners

Supercoppa di Lega TIM - Winners

Finances - Ever improving now the wages are under better control. £70m should come in handy if I need to spend.

Average Attendance - 61120 (up 1902)

Transfer Summary - No need to strengthen in January this year.

Key Players

Giuseppe Lucarelli - Not as prolific as last year, and had his season interrupted by a small injury. Still bagged 31 goals, and was finally capped by Italy.

Matteo Zanotti - Another great season by Mr. Lazio. 10 goals and 13 assists was a solid return but was outshone in midfield this year.

Gonzalo Castro - A quality first season in Italy, paying back the money I spent on him...and more! 24 assists shows what a creative force he was, and the fans love him already too.

Saul - Can't believe he only cost me £2m! One of the best bargains I've picked up ever. The 10 goals and 17 assists made a mockery of his transfer fee.

Patrick Offerman - Some top performances in the heart of the defence.

Ezequiel Alba - Still temperamental, but I'm happy to keep him for now. 22 goals was a fair return.

Team of the Year - Spot on with the first choice eleven.

Overall Best XI - Offerman's very close to making 400 appearances for the club. Needs to make another 68 league appearances to break the record.

Fans Player of the Year - Gonzalo Castro.

Review of Season Objectives

- Retain the Serie A title. We're going for three in a row, something that Napoli achieved 2012-14. We've certainly got a great chance, and in my opinion, the squad is ever improving. I'm just hoping the changing of the captain will not be detrimental to our title hopes. Dutch Defender Patrick Offerman is the new 'top sausage'.

Achieved. It was never really in doubt as we were a dominant force for most of the season. We'll need another strong performance next year to hold off the challenge of a revitalised Roma side.

- Get to the latter stages of the Champions League. Something we didn't achieve last season, so I'm aiming to rectify that this season. Drawn against Marseille, Galatasaray and Levski, we should qualify out of our group. Hopefully, we won't draw one of the favourites in the first knockout round this time round. Man Utd are 8-1 favourites, we're at 14-1.

Achieved. I suppose the Quarter-Finals count as the latter stages even though I'm frustrated we didn't go further. Next season will probably be my last with Lazio, so this will be top of our priorities, and I will be hoping we avoid Manchester United in the knockout stages. After being beaten by them two seasons in a row, they're getting on my nerves a bit now!

- Youth development. This is certainly ongoing but I now have five under-21s in the first team squad, with two of them likely to be regular starters. The average age of the squad is 22, compared to the Serie A average of 26. We've definitely got a young team here, my oldest player is only 30, so it will be interesting to see if we miss the older, more experienced players that I have released recently.

Achieved. Lots of game time for our youngster this season, especially in the Coppa Italia. Once the league had been won, a few more youngster made appearances in the remaining league matches. All of which should help with their development and sustain Lazio for the future.

Previous club watch:

Thurrock - Finished 5th in League One but, once again, lost out in the Playoffs.

Nottm Forest - Survived relegation to League Two by only two points, they won on the last day to save their bacon. Need to do a lot better next season, which will be difficult as they only have six players in their first team squad.

Southampton - Promotion back to the Premier League for the Saints, after finishing as runners-up to West Brom in the Championship (boing-boing!!).

Career History

Season     Team             League    Finish    Cups            
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Thurrock F.C.    BSS       15th      N/A             
2011/12    Thurrock F.C.    BSS       2nd       FA Cup 2nd Rd, FA Trophy 1st Rd
2012/13    Thurrock F.C.    BSP       1st       FA Cup 1st Rd, FA Trophy 3rd Rd
2013/14    Thurrock F.C.    League 2  5th       FA Cup 1st Rd, Carling Cup 2nd Rd, JPT 2nd Rd
2014/15    Thurrock F.C     League 2  6th       FA Cup 3rd Rd, Carling Cup 3rd Rd, JPT 2nd Rd
2015/16    Thurrock F.C     League 2  6th       FA Cup 3rd Rd, Carling Cup 4th Rd, JPT 1st Rd
2016/17    Nottm Forest     League 1  3rd       FA Cup 3rd Rd
2017/18    Nottm Forest     League 1  1st       FA Cup 2nd Rd, Carling Cup 2nd Rd, JPT 2nd Rd
2018/19    Southampton      Ch'ship   5th       FA Cup 3rd Rd
2019/20    Southampton      Ch'ship   4th       FA Cup 5th Rd, Carling Cup 3rd Rd
2020/21    Southampton      Prem Lg   7th       FA Cup 6th Rd, Carling Cup 4th Rd
2021/22    Southampton      Prem Lg   8th       FA Cup Semi-Final, Carling Cup 3rd
2022/23    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Europa League RU, Coppa Italia TIM SF
2023/24    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Chmps League Last 16, Coppa Italia TIM RU
2024/25    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Chmps League QF, Coppa Italia TIM Winner

[Raware]

Nottm Forest - Survived relegation to League Two by only two points, they won on the last day to save their bacon. Need to do a lot better next season, which will be difficult as they only have six players in their first team squad.

I don't know whether to at the fact that we survived relegation or at the fact that we're a league One side.

Another scudetto . As you said, I bet Roma were annoyed at chalking up 90 points and still not claiming the title.

[AK22]

I don't know whether to at the fact that we survived relegation or at the fact that we're a league One side.

Another scudetto. As you said, I bet Roma were annoyed at chalking up 90 points and still not claiming the title.

I've got a horrible feeling there's going to be a lot more before there's a I'm afraid. They are in a terrible downward spiral at the moment. Maybe I'll go back and rescue them one day!

[Raware]

:( . Please go back and take us back to where we belong .

[Nobby_McDonald]

A hat-trick of Scudettos. Very well done.

[AK22]

Thanks Nobby

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Pre Season 2025/26

Board Expectations

Serie A TIM - Win Serie A Media Prediction - 1st

Title Odds - 3-1, we're favourites this year.

UEFA Champions League - Quarter-Final

TIM Cup (Coppa Italia) - Not important

Supercopa di Lega TIM - Not important

Transfer Budget: £52m Wage Budget: £1.7m p/w (currently £1195796 p/w)

Facilities - Youth facilities are being upgraded. Season Ticket Sales - 39615 (up 783)

Youth Intake - Mostly only half-decent.

Transfer Summary - Only one player joined us this summer, a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, the squad is pretty decent as it is and doesn't need major improvement. Secondly, any player who is better than the current crop would have cost me £25m as a minimum, this price is simply far more than I could justify for any purchase.

Notable Transfers

Karim Dihoum - This guy is HUGE, MASSIVE!! I've no idea what they've been feeding him in Libya, but he's guarenteed to tower over even the tallest of defenders. He's going to be the 'Plan B' when things aren't going to well. We can abandon our fancy passing style for the more direct hoofball, towards to rangy forward. Hopefully it will hit him in the face and bounce into the net, well that's the 'Plan' anyway!!

My objectives for the season:

- Win the Champions League. My contract with Lazio is up at the end of the season, and I'm likely to move on to pastures new next season. The Champions League is the only trophy I have not won with Lazio, so this will be our number one priority. We've been drawn in a group alongside Marseille, Panathinaikos and Zilina (Slovakia) so should comfortably get through the group again. The odds of 11-1 proves that we've got half a shout of success. Group G looks like a bit of tough one for rivals Roma (ha ha!).

- Look for a new club. Purely a selfish objective but I want to keep my eye out for a decent opportunity to take when I've finished my time with Lazio. I will see out the whole of the season in Rome, so the new job will need to start in July 2026 at the very earliest.

[Raware]

No pressure in the league then! 6'9"!? The guys a monster!

[DodgeeD]

Dihoum does indeed seem a monster! And 45 caps/29 goals by the age of 22?!?!

Although looking at his finidhing, dribbling, balance and speed stats, I'd say he'll fit nicely into the "surprisingly skillful for a big man" cliché nicely

[AK22]

No pressure in the league then! 6'9"!? The guys a monster!

No pressure whatsoever! According to the player search, there's only two players taller than him in the database at the moment and they're both goalkeeper.

Dihoum does indeed seem a monster! And 45 caps/29 goals by the age of 22?!?!

Although looking at his finidhing, dribbling, balance and speed stats, I'd say he'll fit nicely into the "surprisingly skillful for a big man" cliché nicely

Yes, one could argue he's the Libyan Peter Crouch

He's quite a good all-round striker considering he's such a lanky sod! And you're right, he has a great goalscoring record too. His club stats so far are 73 goals in 111 league appearances.

[AK22]

Some takeover news...

This happened.

Then this happened.

Followed by this...

...and then this. Phew!!

Meet the new Spanish board!

EDIT: Just noticed they've pumped £131m into the club. Whoah!

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Autumn 2025 Update

So we all survived the takeover saga, and made a decent unbeaten start to the season. I've made a few tweaks to the tactics this year, going a bit more for the throat of the opponent, hoping to create more chances from all areas of the pitch. A traditional Italian approach it is not, there will be no chess-like tactics from my side, but I'm hoping it'll pay dividends in our Champions League quest. The goals were certainly flowing in the opening fixtures, and the performances against Modena, followed by Marseille, was the best football I've seen for a long time.

Recently it's become a bit more hit or miss, I think a touch of complacency has entered the mindset of the team. I'm going to have to quash this sharpish, and push on from our solid start. I may even dip into the transfer market in January and sign a couple of big name players as I've certainly got the funds since the takeover. I've got £106m in my transfer kitty to play with, so I could definitely afford a marquee signing or two. Also, we've certainly got some competition in Serie A this season, with a cluster of six all in contention at this early stage, so we need to stay ahead of the game.

In other news, Barcelona broke the ingame transfer record in the window just gone. £67m was paid to Man City for this Russian midfielder, a £34m profit for the British club. He's pretty decent, but I think they may have slightly overpaid

[rancer890]

Woot!! Hopefully now you got the funds to get over the hump and win that Champions League!

[psychonaut]

Good luck for the rest of the season.

[AK22]

Woot!! Hopefully now you got the funds to get over the hump and win that Champions League!

Hopefully so

Only problem is that any player I sign in January is most likely to be cup-tied and be unavailable for selection. However, I'm quite up for spending £30m+ on a player

[AK22]

Good luck for the rest of the season.

Thanks psycho

[AK22]

Chapter 6 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go to Belgium

Belgium National Team - December 2025

This has certainly been a rollercoaster ride of a World Cup qualification campaign, and one of which I've thoroughly enjoyed. After being defeated in Prague, I knew we would have to rely on the Czechs slipping up to allow us to slip in via the back door. Luckily, they dropped points in Bosnia, which allowed us the opportunity to top the group if we could beat the Czechs in Brussels. In what was billed as a close match-up, we romped to a remarkable 4-0 win to get one foot into the World Cup Finals. In a nervy match against Serbia, we knew any victory would take us through as long as the Czechs didn't get a cricket score against Armenia. They won 5-0, but courtesy of a 69th minute goal, we did our part and secured automatic qualification for Mexico 2024. On a side note, our 32 goals meant we were the third top scorers of the campaign behind Portugal and Germany.

Key Players

Mohammad Benali - Devilish good, world-class striker, now with Sampdoria. However I was devastated when he did his shoulder in in the match against Slovenia and had to sit out the crucial matches against the Czechs and the Serbs. Luckily, we didn't need him.

Romelu Lukaku - A great goalscoring record for his country. Still an outstanding player at 32, but the 2024 World Cup will surely be his swansong at this level. He scored twelve goals this campaign, no more valuable was his hat-trick against the Czech Republic.

Jan Boonen - Our best defender, but only a bit-part player for his club side Arsenal.

Team of the Year

Overall Best XI

And here's the World Cup draw.

We've been drawn alongside holders France, Morocco and Honduras. France will be a tough test, and Morocco are one place above us in the world rankings, but I'm hoping Hondurus will be a three-point-banker (they're ranked 35th). I've cunningly arranged a pre-World Cup friendly against the Moroccan's to see what they're all about before we have to face them competitively in which will be our do or die group match.

[Raware]

You should finish second behind France in that group. I wouldn't want to be in group H though, quite a tricky group.

[PaUlHuNtInGtOnLuFcBoY]

Wow just read through all this and frankly its amazing! Love your layout to the update thread as many have said before and its just so interesting and easy to follow. KUTGW and I wish you all the luck in the future!

P.s. I thought you had moved to a Spanish club at first when I looked at that post with the faces and the links.

Some takeover news...

This happened.

Then this happened.

Followed by this...

...and then this. Phew!!

Meet the new Spanish board!

EDIT: Just noticed they've pumped £131m into the club. Whoah!

At first I thought, oh God the takeovers happened and theres a possibility of you leaving.

Then I thought jeez they had got rid of you.

Next I thought a big club had offered you a job anyways.

Then I thought that they had nice players or somet.

Finally I gathered you may have joined a Spanish team.

Then I looked at the links and it all made sense !

[AK22]

You should finish second behind France in that group. I wouldn't want to be in group H though, quite a tricky group.

Yeah, I agree. I'd be disappointed if we don't. The board's expectations are that we reach the second round.

Group E looks a bit tasty too!

[AK22]

Wow just read through all this and frankly its amazing! Love your layout to the update thread as many have said before and its just so interesting and easy to follow. KUTGW and I wish you all the luck in the future!

P.s. I thought you had moved to a Spanish club at first when I looked at that post with the faces and the links.

At first I thought, oh God the takeovers happened and theres a possibility of you leaving.

Then I thought jeez they had got rid of you.

Next I thought a big club had offered you a job anyways.

Then I thought that they had nice players or somet.

Finally I gathered you may have joined a Spanish team.

Then I looked at the links and it all made sense !

Haha! Thanks for reading, and I'm glad it all just about makes sense

There were several takeover attempts over a period of about a year, but this one with the Spanish consortium went through incredibly quickly in the space of a couple of days. I'm just glad they saw the sense to keep me in the job!

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Winter 2025/26 Update

Well, as soon as I mentioned our unbeaten league record, we went and put in a turgid performance against second-bottom Cagliari. Even though we won't match the 98 points we got last season, I'm extremely pleased with our form in the league, especially the fact that we've only conceded seven goals in the 27 games so far. No doubt the floodgates will now open! The league itself is pretty competitive, with Sampdoria, Roma and Fiorentina all on our tails, and with eleven games to go, it is all definitely still to play for. I've also gone completely mad in the January window, spending £43m on Barcelona's Fouad Afkir. He's started well too, nine goals and eight assists from his first eleven games. Value for money?!

The Coppa Italia has proven a sterner test this season with Inter Milan taking my kids to penalties in the quarter-finals. However, a great performance in the derby against Roma in the first leg of the semis has put us in a great position to reach another final. We'll need a decent performance back in Rome against Man City in the second leg of our Champions League tie to progress any further in this competition. We're quite evenly matched, so hopefully we can turn up and claw back our one goal deficit. I'm totally sick of teams from Manchester now though!

I've also been offered several new international jobs, all of which I've declined. The pick of them being Russia and Turkey, who both failed to qualify for the World Cup. However, I'm totally commited to my Belgium side, and why on earth would I give up an opportunity to manage a World Cup side?!

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Spring 2026 Update

Going into the final day of the season it was still mathematically possible that Roma, Sampdoria and ourselves could all win Serie A. We should have had it all sown up with a game to go, but a 91st minute goal for Livorno in the penultimate match of the season put a very small spanner in the works. That being said, as long as we avoided defeat against Sampdoria, the Scudetto would be ours for the fourth time in my regime. The troops rallied round to put on a great performance, we were 3-0 by half time, which guarenteed us another title for us. Our defensive record is something we should be really proud of too, only 12 goals conceded in the league and 27 clean sheets. Tidy!

I'm disappointed to go out on penalties in the Champions League. After a spirited performance in Rome, where both sides had chances to win it in extra time, the tie had to be decided by a shootout. Man City went on to win 5-4 after scoring all their penalties, with my defender Alex Voorintholt missing the crucial spotkick to see us crash out. I'm extremely frustrated that we didn't make the impact in Europe we were capable of, this really is a great side. Aside from the Europa League final in my first season, we never got any further than the quarter-finals in the Champions League. On a more positive note, the Coppa Italia final was a cracker! I knew it was going to be a high scoring game after we went 1-0 up after 40 seconds, only for Sampdoria to equalise 2 minutes later. Two goals either side of half time in extra time was enough to win the match and put another trophy in the cabinet.

I've had five recent contract offers from the Lazio board, they are desperate for me to stay. Part of me was tempted to sign on for another year to see if we could win that elusive Champions League trophy, especially with the fact that Afkir will be available for selection in next year's competition. My minds made up though, and as much as I've enjoyed my spell in Rome, I feel it's time to move on and let someone else have a go at managing this great club.

[AK22]

Chapter 4 - Only Mad Dogs and Englishmen... Go To Rome

Season 2025/26 Review

Serie A - 1st

League Table Position Graph Season Summary

Champions League -

Last-16

Coppa Italia TIM -

Winners

Supercoppa di Lega TIM - Winners

Finances - Sh*t loads of cash. The next manager should be able to bring in some great players with this level of money.

Average Attendance - 61380 (up 260)

Transfer Summary - Only Afkir joined us in January, and what a player he is!

Key Players

Giuseppe Lucarelli - A fairly decent season with 25 goals for our lead marksman. I don't expect him to stay at Lazio for too much longer as he's grumbling for a new challenge.

Matteo Zanotti - Another solid season in the middle of the park, a couple more goals this year too.

Gonzalo Castro - This guy is a class act. 26 assists was an amazing return considering he doesn't take set-pieces. He's 26 now and still improving.

Fouad Afkir - Since joining us in January, he has blown the rest of Serie A away with his performances. 16 goals and 19 assists in 24 games was a terrific return, maybe £43m was a bargain!

Andrezinho - Special mention for our 'keeper this year. 30 clean sheets contributed to our great defensive record.

Salvatore Intagliata - Our best defender. He came through the ranks here at Lazio, and has been first pick since I arrived at the club. This has been his best season thus far, and I've had to knock back £40m bids from Barcelona.

Team of the Year - Bit odd this season, Cuca and Galano weren't first choice.

Overall Best XI - No changes this season. Offerman should break the record next year.

Fans Player of the Year - Gonzalo Castro.

Review of Season Objectives

- Win the Champions League. My contract with Lazio is up at the end of the season, and I'm likely to move on to pastures new next season. The Champions League is the only trophy I have not won with Lazio, so this will be our number one priority. We've been drawn in a group alongside Marseille, Panathinaikos and Zilina (Slovakia) so should comfortably get through the group again. The odds of 11-1 proves that we've got half a shout of success. Group G looks like a bit of tough one for rivals Roma (ha ha!).

Not achieved. Disappointed not to have done better, but once again a team from Manchester would be our undoing. The Champions League is the one trophy I will be determined to win with my next European club. It wouldn't surprise me if Lazio won it next season, I don't think I got my tactics quite right for the big European ties.

- Look for a new club. Purely a selfish objective but I want to keep my eye out for a decent opportunity to take when I've finished my time with Lazio. I will see out the whole of the season in Rome, so the new job will need to start in July 2026 at the very earliest.

Not achieved. I've had a bit of a look around, but I'm still not decided where I'm going to go. I'm pretty certain it'll be a non-European club but I want to complete my World Cup campaign with Belgium before settling on a new club.

Previous club watch:

Thurrock - Mid-table mediocrity. 14th in League One.

Nottm Forest - A much better season, finishing 6th in League One. Lost the playoff semi-final to Watford.

Southampton - Relegated from the Premier League, four points away from safety.

Season     Team             League    Finish    Cups            
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Thurrock F.C.    BSS       15th      N/A             
2011/12    Thurrock F.C.    BSS       2nd       FA Cup 2nd Rd, FA Trophy 1st Rd
2012/13    Thurrock F.C.    BSP       1st       FA Cup 1st Rd, FA Trophy 3rd Rd
2013/14    Thurrock F.C.    League 2  5th       FA Cup 1st Rd, Carling Cup 2nd Rd, JPT 2nd Rd
2014/15    Thurrock F.C     League 2  6th       FA Cup 3rd Rd, Carling Cup 3rd Rd, JPT 2nd Rd
2015/16    Thurrock F.C     League 2  6th       FA Cup 3rd Rd, Carling Cup 4th Rd, JPT 1st Rd
2016/17    Nottm Forest     League 1  3rd       FA Cup 3rd Rd
2017/18    Nottm Forest     League 1  1st       FA Cup 2nd Rd, Carling Cup 2nd Rd, JPT 2nd Rd
2018/19    Southampton      Ch'ship   5th       FA Cup 3rd Rd
2019/20    Southampton      Ch'ship   4th       FA Cup 5th Rd, Carling Cup 3rd Rd
2020/21    Southampton      Prem Lg   7th       FA Cup 6th Rd, Carling Cup 4th Rd
2021/22    Southampton      Prem Lg   8th       FA Cup Semi-Final, Carling Cup 3rd
2022/23    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Europa League RU, Coppa Italia TIM SF
2023/24    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Chmps League Last 16, Coppa Italia TIM RU
2024/25    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Chmps League QF, Coppa Italia TIM Winner
2025/26    Lazio            Serie A   1st       Chmps League Last 16, Coppa Italia TIM Winner

[AK22]

And so, it's official now.

I've achieved a lot with this great club and will leave with some fond memories. In my time with Lazio, I've established them as the biggest club in Italy, dominating Serie A for four consecutive seasons and enjoying some good battles with Sampdoria and Roma. We also added two Coppa Italia and four Supercoppa trophies, and were Europa League finalists.