[FM15] The Hart Chronicles - Volume I: Paul Hart's Alphabet Career

[PaulHartman71]

Typical, you wait ages for Bet-PH71 and two come along in a week I was out of action

They're like buses

[PaulHartman71]

Some disappointing news as Luigi Fiorillo has been sold to Benfica for £9M. There's been a lot of interest in him since the season begun which unsettled him greatly as he wanted to desperately move to a bigger club. I did hope to keep him until the end of the season but with his contract expiring in 18 months I thought it was probably best to cash in whilst we still could. I will have to look to the transfer market to hopefully get someone in to replace him with the £9M we've received for him. He leaves us in January.

[PaulHartman71]

I'm not sure what the **** just happened :D

[PaulHartman71]

December

An absolutely unbelievable performance and result against PSG in the Coupe de la Ligue. I have no idea where it came from. This result did come straight after finally settling the Luigi Fiorillo transfer drama that had been causing a lot of issues from both him and many other members of the squad, so maybe that was partially part of it, but it was still unreal to be 3-0 up at half-time against PSG who as you can see from the table below are running away with the league...

I think they may have rested a few key players and played some squad players but even so to put 7 past them is unbelievable. What makes it more crazy is that within 20 minutes of the second half they'd dragged it back to 3-3, so I thought it would be another predictable loss in a game we were at one point leading. But Luigi Fiorillio was having none of it as almost instantaneously he put us ahead again to make it 4-3 and get him his hat-trick, we held on for the rest of the game until the 80th minute when PSG really really started to go for it. We managed to catch them on the counter 3 times late on, with Ismael Keskin popping up two more times to get a late hat-trick and even Matthais Marchal got in on the action. A truly crazy result.

It was a good month in Ligue 1 too. The Nice loss was frustrating as it was yet another game we once lead and threw it away but we comfortably dispatched Lille 3-0 and then managed to pull off a heroic late double to sink Lyon. This game actually caused the Lyon boss to be sacked. It's worth noting too that I said whilst managing Spain that one of my strikers, Mohamed Saidi, only scores against crap teams, he actually now plays for Lyon so us keeping him at bay surely proves we're not crap

The table is actually looking quite good now, we're 5 points off of 18th and have a game in hand!

[PaulHartman71]

Not sure if I've just not noticed it before but pretty cool to see that World Cup performances do get taken into account for the World Player awards (as they should imo). This is also a fantastic opportunity to gloat that we put 7 past PSG whilst they (and I've gone back and checked this) had the official 3 best players in the world playing for them :D

[Orikoru]

Ha, what a ridiculous result!

[PaulHartman71]

January Transfers

So as previously stated we've lost Luigi Fiorillo. We will also be losing Turkish right winger Ismail Keskin at the end of January for £7M to Russian club Sakhalin. I'm not sure how much they've offered him in wages but it must be a fair amount as he said he left to help his family out financially. He's not as big a loss as Fiorillo but he's played quite well this season and got a hat-trick against PSG so the 27 year old definitely needed to be replaced. Thankfully I got £16M from selling those two which gave me a fair amount to get two replacements in.

When I was in Scotland the best place to get value for money for players was to raid France. Now that I'm in France it is a lot harder to get value for money from other French teams. I've discovered that Belgium is the best place to raid smaller sides than us for good young players who will also not demand too high wages since they're paid a pittance in comparison at the top Belgian clubs.

Unsal Serbest is our new striker and the 22 year old looks like a fair spot by our scouts who were all absolutely raving about him. He's a good replacement for Fiorillo as he's a fairly similar player, the main difference and improvement is that he's actually a bit pacier and looks like a very quick player. He's decent in the air and has good dribbling and finishing stats, he's not the best technically and not great mentally apart from his off the ball abilities but my scouts believe there's still room for him to improve so hopefully he will do just that.

Omar Yousfi is pretty much a like for like replacement for Keskin except he's pretty much slightly better at everything. He's lightning fast, even quicker than Serbest, if those two can combine together well we could rip apart a lot of teams on the counter even more than we do now. Omar is far from a perfect winger, but he has a few good stats like his first touch and has pretty good dribbling, technique and composure. He doesn't look like he's thaaat good at crossing which is a slight concern as that's one of Keskin's best qualities but I'm hoping for decent things from Yousfi.

[PaulHartman71]

January

Yeah so we're out of the French Cup. Marseille bossed us on the day, the score flatters them as I went all out attack and got down on the counter a few times, but we deserved to lose.

Meanwhile much better news in the Coupe de la Ligue as we drew Ligue 2 side Nancy Lorraine and comfortably beat them 3-0 to reach the Semi Final, with new boy Unsal Serbest getting a brace. Fantastic all round.

A pretty good month overall. We beat relegation battling Stade Rennais 1-0 thanks to another later winner. We had another relegation 6 pointer with Valenciennes who we managed to get a score draw out of. We then beat Montpellier 2-0, they're also right down there so this was another important win. We couldn't get anything from the Lens game though and they were much the better team.

We're now 9 points clear of 18th which puts us into a good position. We've got some tricky games left though so I'm not getting too carried away just yet.

[DavidBeckham]

Unbelievable work so far mate! ..and you will definitely survive comfortably in the end

[PaulHartman71]

February

A huge result. I didn't expect much from this when we got drawn away from home against a fairly good Metz side. We were 1-0 down at half-time so I thought we might as well go for it, in some games that costs us and we end up getting spanked like in the Marseille game, but it paid off this time as we equalised through new boy Unsai Serbest and then he won a penalty late on which Paul Liri thumped home to put us into the final at Stade de France. A huge achievement for the team and it would be amazing to win it. We've got Montpellier in the final who are a fellow relegation team so we could well have a shot at winning the thing - I'm cautious though as they have beaten us this season before, but we have also beaten them so should be an open game.

A fantastic month. Our games this month weren't too hard and we really found form at a great time. We beat CS Serdan Ardennes 4-1, a really comfortable game which new boy Omar Yousfi really shined in and showed he's now a fully fledged contributor to the team. We then won at home again against (an admittedly quite hopeless) Bordeuax side, they staged a late fight back in the second half but we did well to hang on for all 3 points. Stade Malherbe Caen proved tricky opposition away from home and they held firm to hang onto a point, which tbf we weren't gonna stick our nose up at either. Perhaps our best win of the month was our 3-1 victory against FC Sochaux, they're a good side currently right up there fighting for the CL spaces so to go there and score 3 times was great - they came back into it and made it 2-2 at one point, but Johnatan Romana was having none of it, and he scored his 2nd, and our 3rd, to give us a memorable win.

A pretty crazy month has somehow seen us rise to 6th place I think we'll get a nose bleed being that high. We've gone from being worried about avoiding relegation to being just a point off of the Champions League places as due to France's rise in the coefficients 4th place gets CL. I'm not at all thinking about that though and I'm just pleased we've reached the famous 40 point total and are pretty much safe now. We can now 'enjoy' the rest of the season with relative comfort and not too much pressure to just see how we do. A top half finish would be pretty unreal but it's very tight, as we've shown if you have a good month or two you can really rise, a bad month can see you plummet though of course so we just have to see what happens.

[PaulHartman71]

March

It's been another crazy month at Toulouse! We fought SC Bastia in a match full of goals, we were 3-1 down at one point so to come back and win it 5-3 was absolutely amazing and showed the real spirit and fight that the team has at the moment. We're not so good at defending but when we really go for games we can punish teams quite efficiently. We went 2-0 up at Metz and then surrendered our lead to them, but Omar Yousfi was on a one man mission to prevent us from dropping points and it was his late brace that secured 3 more points for us. We got a decent point at home to Marseille, we were 2-0 up in that one too so it was almost unlike us in our recent form to drop points but a draw against them was still an okay result all things considered. We then traveled to ESTAC Troyes who are down in the relegation zone, we proved once and for all that we're far from a relegation zone in this current form as we smashed them 5-0 with braces for both the January new boys.

It really has been quite a Leicester City style run of form for us this season as we now against all odds somehow find ourselves in 3rd place, although a few teams below us do have games in hand. I'm not getting too excited as we have tough games to come still against PSG and Monaco, I don't think we will get top four and the Champions League football to come with it, but to get Europa League either by league position or winning the Coupe de la Ligue would make for an absolutely incredible season.

[PaulHartman71]

The draw for the Gold Cup Group Stage has been made...

It's not so bad really but I don't think any game will be a walkover as all the teams could potentially cause us problems.

Mexico for example certainly seem to have an easier group. Although it's worth noting that Canada are no mugs in the 2040's and they actually won the last Gold Cup.

[Orikoru]

I love those seasons where your form kicks in really late and propels you to somewhere you never expected to be.

[PaulHartman71]

I love those seasons where your form kicks in really late and propels you to somewhere you never expected to be.

Yeah it's been pretty crazy. I did think when we were right down there that a lot of the team was better than relegation battlers but didn't quite imagine we'd be able to go on a run of form to reach a cup final or be in touching distance of the Champions League places.

[sherwinriga]

Spain vs. USA is gonna be expected soon! Hope to see a Toulouse comeback in the final games!

[PaulHartman71]

Spain vs. USA is gonna be expected soon! Hope to see a Toulouse comeback in the final games!

I might have to sort out a USA Spain friendly if you insist

[sherwinriga]

I might have to sort out a USA Spain friendly if you insist

Maybe, but we'll see.

[Kuji]

Hey Paul, trying to reply to your msg but your inbox is full, bro

[PaulHartman71]

April

A huge disappointment as our fantastic cup run ends in defeat at the Stade de France. It was a wonderful run that saw us beat teams far better than Montpellier like PSG and Metz but on the day we just couldn't break down the very well set up and compact Montpellier defence. It's really disappointing to have got this far only to lose (nice Toulouse pun ) but overall Montpellier were the better side on the day so we can't have too many complaints, it doesn't make it any less disappointing though.

I encountered my old striker from Porto, Marcelao, who I actually sold to Monaco a few years ago in our first match of the month. It was Marcelao of course who scored Monaco's goal and for much of the game it looked like selling Monaco a striker a few years ago would cost us all 3 points. That was until super sub Enzio Rigters grabbed a goal right at the death. A huge point against a great side in Monaco. We couldn't repeat our heroics against PSG but we put up a fair fight and despite being 2-0 down we dragged it back to 2-1, we went for it late on which ultimately cost us another goal but we put up a good fight against the side who have already won Ligue 1. The AS Saint-Ettienne game was, well, perfect. We absolutely destroyed them, it was only 2-0 at half-time, they had a defender sent off early in the second half and this gave us a ridiculous amount of space which given the pace we possess was very very bad news for Saint-Ettienne as we ended up putting 8 past them - which was great news for our goal difference.

We're as high as 4th with just 4 games to go. To finish 4th and get a Champions League place would be unbelievable. Our remaining games are Lille (A), Nice (H), Bordeuax (A), LEMANS (H). Lille will be a very tough game and they're fighting for European places as well. Nice are 17th place and despite still being a decent team, have already avoided relegation so they have very little to play for, hopefully that will mean we can pick up a win. Bordeaux are rock bottom having won just 4 games all season, if you were going to hand pick an away fixture to have remaining it would be against them, but we cannot afford to be too sure of ourselves going into that one. LEMANS are not an easy side to beat and are a decent outfit but we have a good home record and I'm hoping we can get a win against them.

[PaulHartman71]

I've just had to sort out the preliminary squad for the U23's at the Copa America and my word we're in big big trouble. The U20's manager has already robbed and confirmed all of the talented prospects for the U20 World Cup so I can't use any of them. A lot of the better players (and even some of the worst ones I'd only be picking as a last resort) have for some reason rejected the idea of playing for the U23's, fair enough under normal circumstances but in some cases **** players that are 16 turning the chance down to play in the Copa America? Just bollocks. I'm regretting not giving this job to someone else as I can see Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay all absolutely pummeling these lads. There's very very little talent in this squad.

[PaulHartman71]

May

We tried our best at Lille but we couldn't break through their defence, which is a real credit to them as that's rare for us. In our final 3 games we scored 4 in all 3 with varying results. We beat Nice 4-2 at home, we were 3-0 up at half-time and they actually came back to 3-2 but Adam came on and scored his first ever Toulouse goal to confirm the 3 points. Bordeaux provided no problems at all, we comfortably beat them 4-0. LEMANS however would not go down without a fight. We went into this game desperate for 3 points to secure Champions League football. It was a mad match. LEMANS went 2-0 up within 5 minutes which was a terrible start for us, Unsal Serbest put it back to 2-1 in the 36th minute and then Bertrand Mauduit equalised minutes later. I thought we'd turned a corner but just a minute before half-time and LEMANS scored again to make it 3-2 at the break. Omar Yousfi equalised very early in the second half which I hoped would give us the momentum to go on and score again and win the game, Enzio Rigters stepped up to the plate in the 75th minute has he headed home to make it 4-3. But LEMANS would not go down and in the 80th minute they were level again and that was how it stayed. But was it enough to secure top 4 and the Champions League?!

It was! Incredible scenes as we pipped Stade Malherbe Caen, Lyon, Lille and Metz to 4th place and consequently will play Champions League football next season

[PaulHartman71]

Meanwhile absolutely gutting for Paterne Kabongo as he just misses out on going out with a bang and winning the Premier League with Fulham...

An amazing career for Kabongo though I counted up all of his appearances and goals in all competitions (including internationals) and it came to a whopping:

1,334 appearances & 914 goals

An absolute legend and no doubt the best player I have ever managed. He's all set to begin his non-playing career too. I'm not sure if he's going to be a manager or not, if not then I'll do my best to try and sign him. If he's gonna be a manager it will be cool to see how well he can do.

[PaulHartman71]

V-Watch

I don't want to leave Toulouse until I win Ligue 1 but it's still worth keeping an eye on what's happening in La Liga as the 3 'V' teams I'm targeting are Valencia, Villarreal and Valladolid. Valencia obviously the preference as there the team I'd have to do less with to turn into La Liga winners. The Valladolid boss is "very secure" whilst Valencia is "secure" and Villarreal "stable". I think the most likely chance to get one of these jobs would be a **** season for Valladolid or Villarreal and taking over one of those. Fingers crossed though that I get lucky and at the right time Valencia either **** up or their manager gets a bigger job.

[PaulHartman71]

Season 29 (T)oulouse

Squad pt 1, pt 2

An amazing season. The cup final loss was a disappointment of course but what a season full of ups and downs, primarily ups after spending a few months lingering in the relegation zone. We lost two key players in January but replaced them and bounced back, we were great going forward and those goals helped us to somehow fly up the top of the table and eventually finish 4th and get into the Champions League places. Arsene Wenger always says 4th place is like a trophy and in some ways, at least this season I have to agree with him. I hope this can be a catalyst for the club to push on next season but tbf we'd do well to finish 4th again.

GK - Gerben Vink is a 28 year old Dutch keeper. He had a pretty good season despite not being all that special stats wise, probably be one of the key positions to improve upon over the summer depending on how much money we get. I will add though that Vink does have an absolutely exceptional mohawk so there's always that.

DR - Philippe Longuemare is a 23 year old RB who came through the very good Academy here at Toulouse. He's been their main RB for 3 seasons now and I see no real need for that to change any time soon.

DL - I signed Locksley Nabab for just under £200K. I think it would be harsh to say "you get what you pay for" as a criticism as for what we paid he is a bargain. But he's not that great really and definitely someone I could do with replacing next season. There's a young 17 year old LB from the Academy called Joseph Boateng who looks like he is a decent prospect so I may be able to replace Locksley internally.

DC - Our CB pairing this season was mainly 28 year old Bertrand Maudit and 30 year old Renaldo Bonalair. Maudit has been at the club a while having signed 7 years ago, he's a decent player, whilst Bonalair was more playing out of convenience. He's okay but not great. 19 year old Melvin Bertrand, who spent last season on loan in Ligue 2, actually dispersed Bonalair for his first team place and Bertrand looks quite the player. He'll definitely start for most of next season.

DM - Paul Liri, a 22 year old Frenchman, is another one who has come through Toulouse's Academy. He spent most of last season on the bench but I gave him a chance at the start of the season mainly as there were limited options, but he did have high potential. He's begun to really fulfill this promise and became a man this season. He's quite injury prone, but in the 26 games he managed to start he was a real player and looked great. He could and should be a mainstay in the team next year, his main problem will be the injuries though.

MC - Prospero Boucaud, a 24 year old Frenchman, is yet another player from the Academy production line. He's spent the last two years as a squad player but due to necessity he was a starter for me this season. Much like Liri he really became a man this season and was a key part of our midfield. A great player who has the potential to get even better next season.

AMR - Ismail Keskin was obviously our RW for the first half of the season before moving on in January, he was a good player so I can't forget that. But his replacement, Omar Yousfi, what a signing he was. The 22 year old Belgian ended the season with 14 goals and 12 assists in 21 games, absolutely phenomenal stuff from him. My only niggling doubt with him is that he's labelled "the next Eden Hazard" - I hope he doesn't go missing next season

AML - Johnatan Romana was our 29 year old Colombian left winger. He's a good player and quite versatile too, he ended the season with 11 goals and 10 assists. I like him as a player but I don't think he's necessarily good enough for Champions League football. He may be displaced next season by Enzio Vigters. Vigters is a 23 year old Dutch striker that was signed by my predecessor last year from PSG, but he's also capable on the left wing and put in some good performances there late in the season. He's got plenty of potential too so he may be one to watch.

CAM - Kemal Celik, a 29 year old Belgian was our makeshift left winger. He's been at the club 5 years. He had a good season really with 7 goals and 17 assists to his name. The other CAM was 34 year old Recep Yildiz who signed in the summer for just under £500K. He was a bargain acquisition for what we paid but he's not thaaat great really. His experience did help at times though even if he was quite injury prone.

ST - Luigi Fiorillo was our striker in the first half of the season and all credit to him he did very well with 14 goals and 5 assists in 18 games. But his replacement, the 22 year old Belgian, Unsal Serbest, was a fine striker to have. He ended the season with 14 goals and 9 assists in 20 appearances. I am looking forward to see what he can do in his first full season and how he fairs in the Champions League as he still has potential to get better than he is at the moment.

History

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Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
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2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
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2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
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2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
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2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
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2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners & Champions League runners up
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2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
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2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           Qualified for Europa League
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
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2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2024       Holland             N/A               N/A           European Championship runners up
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2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  
2024/25    Ipswich Town        Premier League    13th          N/A
2025/26    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A
2026/27    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A
2027/28    Ipswich Town        Premier League    1st           Premier League & FA Cup winners
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2028/29    Juventus            Serie A           1st           Serie A, Italian Cup & Super Cup winners 
2029/30    Juventus            Serie A           1st           Serie A, Champions League, Italian Cup & Super Cup winners
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2030/31    Kuban               Russian PL        6th           Qualified for Europa League
2031/32    Kuban               Russian PL        7th           Left in November
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2031/32    Liverpool           Premier League    6th           Joined in November. FA Cup winners.
2032/33    Liverpool           Premier League    2nd           Europa League & Community Shield winners
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2033/34    Man United          Premier League    1st           Premier League, League Cup & Community Shield winners
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2034/35    NAC Breda           Eredivisie        3rd           Qualified for Europa League
2035/36    NAC Breda           Eredivisie        7th           Left in December
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2035/36    Olympiakos          Greek SL          3rd           Joined in December. Greek Cup winners & Qualified for CL.
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2036/37    Porto               Portuguese PL     1st           Portuguese PL & League Cup
2037/38    Porto               Portuguese PL     1st           Portuguese PL, FA Cup & Super Cup
2038/39    Porto               Portuguese PL     4th           Super Cup winners. Left in April. 
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2038/39    Q.P.R.              Premier League    19th          Relegated
2039/40    Q.P.R.              Championship      2nd           Promoted 
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2040/41    Rangers             Scottish PL       3rd           Scottish Cup and League Cup winners
2041/42    Rangers             Scottish PL       1st           Scottish PL winners 
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2040       Spain               N/A               N/A           N/A 
2041       Spain               N/A               N/A           N/A
2042       Spain               N/A               N/A           World Cup quarter finalists. Sacked. 
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2042/43    Toulouse            Ligue 1           4th           Qualified for Champions League
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2042       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A
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Trophy Cabinet

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)
European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)


Champions League    x1 - 2029/30 (Juventus)
Europa League       x2 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund), 2032/33 (Liverpool) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)


Premier League    x3 - 2015/16 (Arsenal), 2027/28 (Ipswich), 2033/34 (Man United)
FA Cup            x2 - 2027/28 (Ipswich), 2031/32 (Liverpool) 
League Cup        x3 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton), 2033/34 (Man United)
Community Shield  x2 - 2032/33 (Liverpool), 2033/34 (Man United)   
Championship      x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

Greek Cup   x1 - 2035/36 (Olympiakos)

Serie A           x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Cup       x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Super Cup x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus) 


Portuguese PL          x2 - 2036/37, 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese Cup         x1 - 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese League Cup  x1 - 3036/37 (Porto)
Portuguese Super Cup   x2 - 2037/38 (Porto), 2038/39 (Porto)

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

Scottish PL         x1 - 2041/42 (Rangers)
Scottish Cup        x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)
Scottish League Cup x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)

[PaulHartman71]

Adam is 33 now and has gotten a little worse but he is still an okay player and made some decent contributions coming off of the bench this season. He wasn't used as a substitute all the time as we had a lot of tricky games where I couldn't afford to put him on, but at times he was genuinely the best option on the bench to bring on which probably says more about the depth and injury crises at CAM we occasionally suffered this season than anything else. But he did break the 400 career appearances mile-stone which is great, it would be awesome to get him to 500 before he retires but I'm not sure how likely that is.

Adam Portman Hart, MC/CAM/AML

December 2028 Profile

End of 2028/29 Profile

End of 2029/30 Profile

End of 2030/31 Profile

Mid Season 2031/32 Profile

End of 2031/32 Profile

End of 2032/33 Profile

End of 2033/34 Profile

End of 2034/35 Profile

Mid Season 2035/36 Profile

End of Season 2035/36 Profile

End of Season 3036/37 Profile

End of Season 2037/38 Profile

Mid Season 2038/39 Profile

End of Season 2038/39 Profile

End of Season 2039/40 Profile

End of Season 2040/41 Profile

End of Season 2041/42 Profile

End of Season 2042/43 Profile

Season    Club                   Division             Apps  Assists   Goals   MOTM  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025-28   Ipswich Town           Premier League        0       0        0      0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2028-30   Juventus               Serie A              17       2        3      1 
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2030-32   Kuban                  Russian PL           21       1        1      0
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2031-33   Liverpool              Premier League        0       0        0      0
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2031-32   Grimsby  (on loan)     League 2             18       2        2      0
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2032-33   Coventry (on loan)     League 2             17       2        1      0
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2033-34   Man United             Premier League       25       4        6      1
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2034-36   NAC Breda              Eredivisie           57       6        7      1
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2035-36   Olympiakos             Greek SL             25       3        2      0
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2036-39   Porto                  Portuguese PL        92       9        5      0
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2038-39   Atletico CP (on loan)  Portuguese 3rd Div   16       3        0      2 
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2039-40   Q.P.R.                 Championship         28       2        2      0     
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2040-42   Rangers                Scottish PL          72       8        7      0
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2042/43   Toulouse               Ligue 1              23       1        1      0
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Career Total                                         411      43       37      5   

[u][b]Trophies/Awards:[/b][/u]


Premier League        x1 - 2033/34 (Man United) 
League Cup            x1 - 2033/34 (Man United)
Community Shield      x1 - 2033/34 (Man United)

Serie A               x1 - 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Cup           x2 - 2028/2029, 2029/30 (Juventus) 
Italian Super Cup     x1 - 2029/30 (Juventus) 

Greek Cup             x1 - 2035/36 (Olympiakos)

Portuguese PL         x3 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39 (Porto)  
Portuguese League Cup x1 - 2036/37 (Porto)
Portuguese Cup        x1 - 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese Super Cup  x2 - 2037/38, 2038/39 (Porto)

Scottish PL           x1 - 2041/42 (Rangers)
Scottish Cup          x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)
Scottish League Cup   x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)

[PaulHartman71]

Just noticed I've got a friendly against Cameroon for the U.S first team in Washington, then the very next day we have our opening group match in Peru with the U23's.

Not sure about that Quite the trek!

Oh wait my bad I've just noticed it's the other way round. Which makes it even worse. Having to fly all the way back to Washington for a friendly game then ****ing off back to Peru Should really just get the assistant to manage it.

[PaulHartman71]

A big development here as it would appear that finishing top four next season will not be enough for the Champions League, due to Germany overtaking us in the coefficient points

[PaulHartman71]

Copa America Group Stage

My hastily put together team of misfits, geeks and weirdos lost 3-0 to Uruguay. To be fair when you look at the teams I would say this was a pretty good result. With the exception of our LB Jason Galindo who is pretty decent, there's nobody in this side who should be playing full international football. Our GK David Morris, CB Ryan Vecchio, CM Kofi Tetteth, LW Ryan Williams and ST Tom Antoniuk all have the potential to one day play for the full team but at the moment they're not ready at all. Ryan Fuentes who is our second choice CM could also one day make the grade but he too looks very green at the moment. The rest of the squad and team are just pretty poor really. 2 of them are free agents who are retiring after the tournament because nobody will take them.

[PaulHartman71]

Gold Cup Warm Up Friendly

A very solid performance against the nation I used to manage all those years ago. We were much the better side before and after Jack Johnson's strike put us 1-0 up. Cameroon actually only equalised in the 90th minute through a penalty, which whilst disappointing, ultimately doesn't mean too much in the bigger picture and I'm happy enough with the performance from the team.

[PaulHartman71]

Copa America

Well it was an improvement on the Uruguay game! Argentina put 3 past us just like Uruguay did but we actually got a goal in this one, with Tom Antoniuk popping up late on to get a consolation. He actually had another golden chance just minutes later which he should've scored tbf.

I'm not really sure what happened in this game. I think maybe Colombia had some injuries and suspensions and general fitness problems, as I can't see how else we somehow managed to win this game. To be fair both of our goals came from corners, whilst my players may not be that great we do have some height and players who can head the ball, which got us two goals in this game to which Colombia had no reply for. They did have chances to score but our keeper made some decent saves and their attacking players made some pretty bad misses.

In pretty hilarious fashion we actually only went out of the tournament on goal difference. If we'd somehow scored a 3rd against Colombia we actually would've gone through against all the odds

[PaulHartman71]

Season 29 (U)SA Under 23s

Obviously you never like losing and going out of a tournament, but tbf when you consider the fact that most of the good youngsters were at the U20 World Cup and a load of players refused their call ups - I don't think we did too bad really. We got beaten comfortably by Uruguay and Argentina but we did beat Colombia somehow. I think if we'd had an easier group we could well have been more competitive. At least I can cross the Copa America off my list

Jason Galindo, Kofi Tetteh, Tom Antoniuk and Ryan Fuentes are all potentially ones to watch out for as they could possibly make the full USA squad one day.

History

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners & Champions League runners up
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           Qualified for Europa League
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2024       Holland             N/A               N/A           European Championship runners up
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  
2024/25    Ipswich Town        Premier League    13th          N/A
2025/26    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A
2026/27    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A
2027/28    Ipswich Town        Premier League    1st           Premier League & FA Cup winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2028/29    Juventus            Serie A           1st           Serie A, Italian Cup & Super Cup winners 
2029/30    Juventus            Serie A           1st           Serie A, Champions League, Italian Cup & Super Cup winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030/31    Kuban               Russian PL        6th           Qualified for Europa League
2031/32    Kuban               Russian PL        7th           Left in November
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031/32    Liverpool           Premier League    6th           Joined in November. FA Cup winners.
2032/33    Liverpool           Premier League    2nd           Europa League & Community Shield winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2033/34    Man United          Premier League    1st           Premier League, League Cup & Community Shield winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2034/35    NAC Breda           Eredivisie        3rd           Qualified for Europa League
2035/36    NAC Breda           Eredivisie        7th           Left in December
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2035/36    Olympiakos          Greek SL          3rd           Joined in December. Greek Cup winners & Qualified for CL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2036/37    Porto               Portuguese PL     1st           Portuguese PL & League Cup
2037/38    Porto               Portuguese PL     1st           Portuguese PL, FA Cup & Super Cup
2038/39    Porto               Portuguese PL     4th           Super Cup winners. Left in April. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2038/39    Q.P.R.              Premier League    19th          Relegated
2039/40    Q.P.R.              Championship      2nd           Promoted 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2040/41    Rangers             Scottish PL       3rd           Scottish Cup and League Cup winners
2041/42    Rangers             Scottish PL       1st           Scottish PL winners 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2040       Spain               N/A               N/A           N/A 
2041       Spain               N/A               N/A           N/A
2042       Spain               N/A               N/A           World Cup quarter finalists. Sacked. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2042/43    Toulouse            Ligue 1           4th           Qualified for Champions League
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2042       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2043       U.S.A. Under 23s    N/A               N/A           Copa America Group Stage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)
European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)


Champions League    x1 - 2029/30 (Juventus)
Europa League       x2 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund), 2032/33 (Liverpool) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)


Premier League    x3 - 2015/16 (Arsenal), 2027/28 (Ipswich), 2033/34 (Man United)
FA Cup            x2 - 2027/28 (Ipswich), 2031/32 (Liverpool) 
League Cup        x3 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton), 2033/34 (Man United)
Community Shield  x2 - 2032/33 (Liverpool), 2033/34 (Man United)   
Championship      x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

Greek Cup   x1 - 2035/36 (Olympiakos)

Serie A           x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Cup       x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Super Cup x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus) 


Portuguese PL          x2 - 2036/37, 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese Cup         x1 - 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese League Cup  x1 - 3036/37 (Porto)
Portuguese Super Cup   x2 - 2037/38 (Porto), 2038/39 (Porto)

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

Scottish PL         x1 - 2041/42 (Rangers)
Scottish Cup        x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)
Scottish League Cup x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)

[PaulHartman71]

Gold Cup Warm Up Friendly

I thought it would be nice to have a friendly against an MLS club whilst we were preparing for the Gold Cup. I wasn't actually expecting them to beat us I'm gonna blame this on the fact that the MLS is currently in progress so obviously all of their players are going to be fully match fit (even if their players are primarily American so should be worse than my team if they haven't been called up). Jack Johnson got another goal though so it's good to see he's in form at least!

[PaulHartman71]

I finally have some good news Whilst Kabongo's primary goal is to be a manager he was happy to accept a coaching role at Toulouse as long as we agreed to waive the right for compensation for a managerial role. I hope he can pass off some good experience before getting a manager job. It's also cool to see that Adam has huge respect for him just like his dad

I tell you what he looks like he could well be as good a manager as he was a player. He's already got himself a Continental Pro License and he's got some pretty good stats tbf to him.

[Carninho]

Now that Adam is 33, have you asked if he wants to be a coach yet??

[Koetzer]

And after reaching Z start a new run for Adam

[PaulHartman71]

Now that Adam is 33, have you asked if he wants to be a coach yet??

He's expressed no interest in any form of non-footballing activity so far. That isn't to say he's not interested, but the 'Plans' bit in his information for both short term and long term are empty. He doesn't seem to be very good at planning for the future. I'm sure he gets that from me

[PaulHartman71]

And after reaching Z start a new run for Adam

I have something quite good and interesting planned for Adam once my career is over which includes quite a funny death scene for me in-game. I'm not sure whether I will carry on with this save with Adam or start a save with him on FM17. I think starting a new save with him on FM17 is my preference but if it doesn't come out until November I'm not sure what I will do in the mean time if I finish this save months before the new release. We shall have to see.

[PaulHartman71]

Gold Cup Group Stage

Not the most promising of open games. Jamaica took an early lead against us and looked the better side for much of the game, it wasn't until the 86th minute when Jack Johnson popped up to equalise against a pretty strong Jamaica side.

I'm not sure if we finally found our form or Guatemala are just a poor side. Probably a mix of both. We were 2-0 up within 5 minutes and never really in any danger of surrendering our lead in this one. They did get a goal back late on but we'd been 3-0 up since half-time and there was no way they were gonna get 2 more goals so we never had to come out of second gear in the second half.

Oh dear. Not the best result. I would say that we actually deserved to win this game but we just threw it away with silly mistakes. We went 1-0 up through Junior Sankoh and looked quite comfortable for a while, before Honduras made it 1-1 just before half-time. They took an early lead in the second half to make it 2-1 but we fought back and Steve Morton equalised in the 77th minute. Perhaps it was my desire to attack and having spent a season with a very capable attacking side in Toulouse, but I went all out for the win as I assumed we needed to win to go through or top the group and avoid a Mexico or someone like that in the Quarter Final. This cost us as Honduras managed to catch us on the break late on to snatch the winning goal.

Thankfully 3 teams go through anyway so we still went through quite comfortably in the end. We will play Trinidad and Tobago in the Quarter Final.

[PaulHartman71]

Gold Cup Quarter Final

We beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 thanks to a brace from Jack Johnson. It was a pretty dull game save for the two goals. I'd say we deserved the win though. We've done well to avoid Mexico and Jamaica in the Semi Final and instead will face Costa Rica - they are a good side though and we can't afford to write them off or under-estimate them even if they are the weakest side in the draw.

[PaulHartman71]

Gold Cup Semi Final

We just about managed to beat Costa Rica to reach the final. They were a good side and we actually went 1-0 down in the first half but Omar Hernandez equalised just before half-time. We then won a penalty in the second half which Matt Kolb calmly converted. We've got Mexico in the final who are a very good side - their U23 side also took part in the Copa America and they managed to finish 3rd ffs

[PaulHartman71]

Gold Cup Final

A big disappointment to lose of course. Mexico were much the better side and were leading us for most of the game, we hung in there though and equalised late in the second half through a Junior Sankoh goal. The way we went out was really gutting because we held on to extra-time and it looked like it was going to penalties, but in the 121st minute a Mexican player shot from outside the box and it flew into the goal. It was very hard to take as it looked like penalties for sure but we gave a decent account of ourselves and at this moment Mexico are a better team than us so we have to accept this and try and bounce back in the World Cup Qualifiers.

[PaulHartman71]

Season 29 (U)SA

I think we did well to get to the final. Not really in terms of us playing well, but managing to get to the final despite never really clicking as a cohesive unit. We could barely avoid defeat against Jamaica in the Group Stage and of course lost to Honduras. We did get a reasonably favourable draw to get to the final. Costa Rica are no mugs of course but they aren't Mexico, Jamaica or Honduras. I didn't expect to beat Mexico in the final as they're a much stronger team but we very nearly took them to penalties. I'm hoping that after a reasonably successful World Cup qualifying campaign we can bring through some younger players, improved some of the ones we already have like Jack Johnson who is just 25 so has his best years ahead of him. Tim Lovitz, Junior Sankoh and Seth Cortes are all ones to watch out for too. I hope that in the next Gold Cup we will be stronger and can hopefully win it.

History

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Champions
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        3rd           German Cup & Europa League winners
2017/18    Borussia Dortmund   Bundesliga        2nd           Euro Super Cup & German Super Cup winners
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           Confederations Cup runners up 
2018       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           N/A
2019       Cameroon            N/A               N/A           African Cup of Nations winners 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Dinamo Moscow       Russian PL        2nd           Russian Cup winners
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Everton             Premier League    2nd           N/A
2020/21    Everton             Premier League    7th           League Cup winners & Champions League runners up
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020       France              N/A               N/A           N/A
2021       France              N/A               N/A           European Nations League winner
2022       France              N/A               N/A           World Cup winner
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Getafe              La Liga           5th           Qualified for Europa League
2022/23    Getafe              La Liga           9th           Europa League semi finalists 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2023       Holland             N/A               N/A           N/A
2024       Holland             N/A               N/A           European Championship runners up
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Ipswich Town        Championship      1st           Promoted as Champions  
2024/25    Ipswich Town        Premier League    13th          N/A
2025/26    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A
2026/27    Ipswich Town        Premier League    4th           N/A
2027/28    Ipswich Town        Premier League    1st           Premier League & FA Cup winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2028/29    Juventus            Serie A           1st           Serie A, Italian Cup & Super Cup winners 
2029/30    Juventus            Serie A           1st           Serie A, Champions League, Italian Cup & Super Cup winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030/31    Kuban               Russian PL        6th           Qualified for Europa League
2031/32    Kuban               Russian PL        7th           Left in November
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031/32    Liverpool           Premier League    6th           Joined in November. FA Cup winners.
2032/33    Liverpool           Premier League    2nd           Europa League & Community Shield winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2033/34    Man United          Premier League    1st           Premier League, League Cup & Community Shield winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2034/35    NAC Breda           Eredivisie        3rd           Qualified for Europa League
2035/36    NAC Breda           Eredivisie        7th           Left in December
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2035/36    Olympiakos          Greek SL          3rd           Joined in December. Greek Cup winners & Qualified for CL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2036/37    Porto               Portuguese PL     1st           Portuguese PL & League Cup
2037/38    Porto               Portuguese PL     1st           Portuguese PL, FA Cup & Super Cup
2038/39    Porto               Portuguese PL     4th           Super Cup winners. Left in April. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2038/39    Q.P.R.              Premier League    19th          Relegated
2039/40    Q.P.R.              Championship      2nd           Promoted 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2040/41    Rangers             Scottish PL       3rd           Scottish Cup and League Cup winners
2041/42    Rangers             Scottish PL       1st           Scottish PL winners 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2040       Spain               N/A               N/A           N/A 
2041       Spain               N/A               N/A           N/A
2042       Spain               N/A               N/A           World Cup quarter finalists. Sacked. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2042/43    Toulouse            Ligue 1           4th           Qualified for Champions League
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2042       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A
2043       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           Gold Cup runners up
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2043       U.S.A. Under 23s    N/A               N/A           Copa America Group Stage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

World Cup               x1 - 2022 (France)
African Cup of Nations  x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)
European Nations League x1 - 2021 (France)


Champions League    x1 - 2029/30 (Juventus)
Europa League       x2 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund), 2032/33 (Liverpool) 
European Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)


Premier League    x3 - 2015/16 (Arsenal), 2027/28 (Ipswich), 2033/34 (Man United)
FA Cup            x2 - 2027/28 (Ipswich), 2031/32 (Liverpool) 
League Cup        x3 - 2014/15 (Arsenal), 2020/21 (Everton), 2033/34 (Man United)
Community Shield  x2 - 2032/33 (Liverpool), 2033/34 (Man United)   
Championship      x1 - 2023/24 (Ipswich) 

German Cup        x1 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund)
German Super Cup  x1 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund)

Greek Cup   x1 - 2035/36 (Olympiakos)

Serie A           x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Cup       x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus)
Italian Super Cup x2 - 2028/29, 2029/30 (Juventus) 


Portuguese PL          x2 - 2036/37, 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese Cup         x1 - 2037/38 (Porto)
Portuguese League Cup  x1 - 3036/37 (Porto)
Portuguese Super Cup   x2 - 2037/38 (Porto), 2038/39 (Porto)

Russian Cup x1 - 2018/19 (Dinamo Moscow)

Scottish PL         x1 - 2041/42 (Rangers)
Scottish Cup        x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)
Scottish League Cup x1 - 2040/41 (Rangers)

[PaulHartman71]

July

A pretty uneventful pre-season in all honesty. The board decided to keep the vast majority of the Champions League money to itself to clear off the debts and financial issues the club were facing - which is fair enough I guess, although it will be annoying if this is a regular thing. I'm quite lucky that there's a fair amount of young talent coming through the ranks. I'm still not happy with my goalkeeper though as he's just not a Champions League quality player. He did well last season but I'm not sure if that was just a one off, hopefully he can repeat his form. I did get about £2M to spend but after I'd resigned players to contracts and others had automatic wage rises and such forth it didn't leave me with much really. Some bad news as Omar Yousfi picked up an injury in pre-season that will see him most most of August - could he be living up to his Eden Hazard name tag? Let's hope he doesn't spend the season injured and out of form

[deltablue]

Yay Mexico!

[PaulHartman71]

August

We weren't seeded for the Playoff game so we were always gonna get a tricky side, but tbf Inter Milan weren't one of the better sides. They're still a decent side obviously but there were some much more impressive names on offer. Inter nonetheless provided a tough set of ties. We couldn't break them down in Milan. I took a huge risk in going all out attack late on in order to get an away goal, we managed to do this when substitute Enzio Rigters broke away and slotted home in the 82nd minute to give us a 1-0 lead and a crucial away goal going into the home leg.

We scored early in the first half from a corner in the home tie which put us 2-0 up on aggregate. We unfortunately had young CB Melvin Bertrand sent off for a stupid 2nd yellow card in the 32nd minute, which meant we would have to play over an hour with just 10 men. I went all out defence which is something I haven't really done with Toulouse before. It was a real test as we've always been good attacking but never that great defensively. I went with two defensive midfielders for the first time in my Toulouse career and even brought the winger back to midfield and played with no striker. It was a massive risk as we're not great defensively at least based on last year, but we did keep a clean sheet in Milan so I thought we could maybe do it. Inter scored in the 70th minute which meant the last 20 minutes were very tense but we managed to hold on thankfully to make the Group Stage.

We were 4th seeds which means we were given an absolute ******* of a group in my old side Manchester United, Napoli and Galatasaray. A real tough group but I'm hoping we can at least finish 3rd so we can have a go in the Europa League as I've always liked that competition and played in a lot during this save.

In our first game of the season we were away to AS Saint-Ettiene and it was a special occasion. This was to be the first match played in AS Saint Ettiene's brand spanking new stadium. Their fans must have been dreading opening their new stadium to a side who beat them 8-1 at the end of the last season, but they had nothing to be worried about really. I'm not sure if they had lots of injuries in the last game or they signed loads of new players, perhaps they were really up for the big day in their new stadium, but we were awful. We offered nothing really and they were far the better team and deserved the 3-0 win amid the festivities in their new ground.

We had little time to bounce back from that disappointment as we faced Marseille just 3 days later. We weren't that convincing going forward in this match either to be honest but we did win courtesy of a Recep Yildiz penalty early in the second half. We won this match more as a result of how poor Marseille were, they've lost all 5 of their opening games of the season which probably tells you all you really need to know. Our performance against LEMANS was actually quite positive and we looked dangerous - two guys on the brink of the first team, Enzio Rigters and Leandre Hernandez provided the goals to get us a good win.

The Monaco game was our first real test of the season and to be fair I thought we did pretty well. We weren't helped at all when Unsal Serbest managed to stupidly get himself sent off on the hour mark for a second bookable offense - which came as a result of him diving in the penalty area. I was really disappointed with this as it could have costed us a point, he's not helped by the fact he's yet to score this season. A point against Monaco with 10 men for half hour is not a bad result at all and to keep a clean sheet, which also marked 3 clean sheets in a row (unheard of for us) was pretty good I felt. We then beat CS Serdan Ardennes 3-1 away from home - a decent result which saw Omar Yousfi make his much anticipated return. He looked lively and provided 2 assists in his first game back.

There is one concern though and that is Unsal Serbest. I'm not sure what's going on with him but he's not scoring. He's started 6 games this season and scored in none of them, he does have 2 assists but I really need some goals from him. Enzio Rigters has looked more exciting than him this season and I may have to start him and drop Serbest if Serbest can't get back to his best.

Early days yet. PSG looking strong though.

[PaulHartman71]

[PaulHartman71]

It's squeaky bum time lads. Might be looking at another BET-PH71 a lot sooner than I was expecting

To quote Jose Mourinho - "if they sack me, they sack the best manager this club has ever had"

[PaulHartman71]

September

We were easily beaten by my old side at Old Trafford. I'd dropped Serbest for this game in favour of Rigters but Rigters picked up an injury 20 minutes into the game which has actually put him out for 3 weeks, which gave Serbest an in back into the team. But it didn't matter really as United played us off the park. We were utterly outclassed. They still have many of the players that were part of my title winning side, including Oliveira (now 35 still going strong), Oriol Gomez (34) who was my captain with Spain, Lorenzo Fedele (also 35) and Mick Egan who is now 31. Oliveira, Gomez and Fedele scored a goal each to put us down. Pretty crazy how good all of them still are even at that age.

The Napoli game was a huge disappointment purely because we were 2-0 up at half-time and looked quite comfortable. We gave away a stupid goal from a corner and then a penalty in the second half which allowed the Italian side that once rejected me to get back into the game. This is a massive 3 points dropped as Napoli are the side who will rival us for 2nd place in the group. I'm happy enough with Europa League and 3rd place but it's annoying since this was a game we easily could have won.

We very nearly lost at home to Montpellier in our first game of the month but a late goal from Kemal Celik saved some blushes. This game was made worse by an injury to Paul Liri, our DM, which put him out for the rest of the month, as well as a big injury to CB Bertrand Mauduit who will miss around 3 months. We bounced back from this frustration with a monster win at Bastia though, we won 6-2 with absolute easy and this was also a perfect place for Unsal Serbest to finally break his goal drought. A great game and felt like a real return to the form of last season.

The AS Nancy Lorraine game was quite poor, it was also the first game since the new Chairman said he was watching me closely to see whether he was going to replace me. I was keen to win this as I thought a draw probably wouldn't look good, but we just couldn't score, this wasn't helped by Unsal Serbest, who had just found his goal scoring form again, getting injured in the 4th minute which puts him out for like 3 weeks. We also lost Kemal Celik who has been good again this season, he'll be out for 2 weeks. We then went to PSG and lost 3-0 without really putting up too much fight, a pity really when you consider the last time we went there we put 7 past them

I'm not sure what's going to happen with this new chairman. I'm still "very secure" in the jobs list but since he arrived and said he's monitoring me we've drawn twice and lost once. I'd justify that by saying a pretty good CL club in Napoli and the best team in the league in PSG, away from home, are two results we shouldn't expect to win anyway - but we'll see...

[PaulHartman71]

You can all breathe a sigh of relief as thankfully common sense has prevailed and Mr Lacroix has decided it's best to let me stay. Merci mate.

[PaulHartman71]

We're really not doing good with injuries at the moment