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

[PaulHartman71]

February

Lazio probably not the hardest side we could have drawn but they're still one of Italy's best teams and by no means an easy side to play. Our substitute striker Roman Kingler came off the bench to score a big brace as we kept a clean sheet and put us in a great position to qualify for the Quarter Final.

Meh. Two good wins but then two poor losses. Barcelona are a good side of course, but to lose 3-0 at home in the way we lost was very disappointing, especially after losing 3-0 at Valencia, who have struggled this season.

We remain in 4th, but now Sevilla are 3 points ahead. Barca are now 6 points ahead and Real Madrid are out of sight. We're at least 6 points ahead of Bilbao in 5th.

[PaulHartman71]

March

We lost 4-2 in Lazio, but thankfully this didn't matter as we went through to the Quarter Final on away goals. We got an absolute dream draw in the Quarter Final...

This means for the first time ever I will get to play a competitive match at the stadium named after me...Hart Arena here we come :cool:

A pretty good month, we did drop points against Granada, but apart from that it was a positive month full of reassuring victories for the most part.

We're still down in 4th, but we're only behind Sevilla on goal difference. Barcelona are 5 points ahead in 2nd. We're at least 12 points ahead of Bilbao so 4th place at the very least looks sewn up.

[PaulHartman71]

April

3 wins from 3 this month, including an absolutely massive win at Sevilla which will almost certainly see us finish above them now. It looked like it was going to be just a point, which tbf I was happy with, but I went wild for Ludovico Mapelli's last gasp winner! It is only 3rd place I suppose but I don't want to finish 4th as it would be a step down but also we'd have a CL playoff next season to stress about.

Barca aren't completely out of sight in 2nd, but we do still have Real Madrid play so you'd at least expect us to drop some points there.

The big action this month was a Champions League Quarter Final against my old side Toulouse though. We lost at home 2-1, with my old side getting two big away goals. The pressure was on, but I was hoping and praying that luck would be on my side during my first ever match at the Hart Arena. I was absolutely over the moon to take a 3-0 lead within half hour, despite Toulouse getting a goal back, we hung on for a priceless victory at the stadium named in my honour. I was crazy excited just to have won at my own stadium, let alone qualify for a Champions League Semi Final

Ross Scott, Justin Nabab, Pascual, Francis Pierre and coach Adam Hart seen celebrating the win from the Hart Arena big screen

[PaulHartman71]

May

I was interested to see how we'd do against my old side as they're a pretty good side, but in fairness I'd say they were at least on par with Toulouse so I did think we maybe had an outside chance of pulling off a win. We did win in the first leg, we probably wouldn't had it not been for the penalty, but we weren't complaining. They did get an away goal which was unfortunate, but I was confident we could go to Old Trafford and get a goal. We did through Francis Pierre, with his goal helping to drag the tie to extra-time, and inevitably...penalties. It was really really **** to be just a penalty kick away from a Champions League final in a year where I didn't really expect us to get past the Quarter Finals at the start of the season, but what can you do. We still did very well to get as far as we did and as close to the final as we did.

A decent end to the season. We didn't trouble Real Madrid and drew with Bilbao, but we had nothing to play for in that game anyway.

3rd again this season, we did finish above Sevilla this season which is progress but of course Barcelona improved themselves which meant we stay in 3rd. We're still someway off Real Madrid who had a very strong season, if we are to succeed we could do with them having a poor year. We mainly need to cut down on poor losses, such as Elche at home and Eibar and Real Zaragoza away this season - if we'd instead won those games we'd have been 2nd above Barca.

[PaulHartman71]

Season 38 (V)illarreal

Despite finishing 3rd yet again we have at least shown some potential this season. We won the Super Cup which was a massive way to start the season and we also ended up just a penalty shoot-out away from the Champions League final. We probably wouldn't have beaten PSG in the final though tbf as look at how prolific they are -

They've missed just 2 of the last 8 finals, having won 4 of them, including 3 in a row. Madness.

Squad pt 1,pt 2

GK - Emmanuel Herbaut stayed again this season. He was reliable as ever.

DR - Bill Barnett continued on as RB and tbf I thought he was better than last year after settling into Spanish football.

DL - Jesse Reichert didn't look all that convincing this season and I'm looking at a couple of lads from the 'B' team who could possibly replace him next season.

DC - Sam Lawrence settled in straight away in his first season and was absolutely fantastic, Oscar Lopez beside him did well too, but it was Lawrence who was the main man.

DM - Justin Nabab had a very good second season at the club and was an integral part of our game.

MC - Leon Wolf looks to be an absolute bargain at the £850K or whatever we paid for him. A solid midfielder who did well at CM this season.

AMR - Francis Pierre had a fantastic first full season at the club, he was by far our best player and did so so well to end the season with 21 assists and 26 goals.

AML - Antonis Pozapaladis was signed in the summer for £4M and did a pretty good job here, despite not really bring particularly impressive returns in assists or goals. He was a bit injury prone too which wasn't great but overall he did okay.

CAM - Pascual wasn't hugely impressive this season really. He did okay and scored the odd important goal, but he's had better seasons. He may well be appointed captain next season though, so that might boost his performances.

ST - Ross Scott had a reasonabl second season, he did not score as many as he did last season, but he did play 9 less games. He still finished the season with 26 goals and 9 assists in 44 games which is a decent tally.

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           Premier League winners
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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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2040/41    Rangers             Scottish PL       3rd           Scottish Cup & 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
2043/44    Toulouse            Ligue 1           5th           Europa League semi finalists 
2044/45    Toulouse            Ligue 1           3rd           Europa League winners
2045/46    Toulouse            Ligue 1           3rd           Champions League & European Super Cup winners
2046/47    Toulouse            Ligue 1           3rd           World Club Cup, European Super Cup and Coupe de la Ligue winners
2047/48    Toulouse            Ligue 1           1st           Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2042       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A
2043       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           Gold Cup runners up
2044       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A 
2045       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           Gold Cup winners
2046       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           World Cup Group Stage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2043       U.S.A. Under 23s    N/A               N/A           Copa America Group Stage
2044       U.S.A. Under 23s    N/A               N/A           Olympic Games runners-up
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2048/49    Villarreal          La Liga           6th           Spanish Cup runners-up
2049/50    Villarreal          La Liga           3rd           Europa League winners
2050/51    Villarreal          La Liga           3rd           Spanish Cup runners up
2051/52    Villarreal          La Liga           3rd           Spanish Super Cup winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

World Cup                  x1 - 2022 (France)
Olympic Games Silver Medal x1 - 2044 (U.S.A. Under 23's)
African Cup of Nations     x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)
North American Gold Cup    x1 - 2045 (U.S.A.)
European Nations League    x1 - 2021 (France)

Champions League    x2 - 2029/30 (Juventus), 2045/46 (Toulouse)
Europa League       x4 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund), 2032/33 (Liverpool), 2044/45 (Toulouse), 2049/50 (Villarreal)
European Super Cup  x3 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund), 2045/46, 2046/47 (Toulouse) 
World Club Cup      x1 - 2046/47 (Toulouse)

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) 

Ligue 1           x1 - 2047/48 (Toulouse)
Coupe de la Ligue x2 - 2046/47, 2047/48 (Toulouse)

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)

Spanish Super Cup  x1 - 2051/52 (Villarreal)

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

[PaulHartman71]

Kabongo-Watch

Kabongo got sacked in late January from Portsmouth and has since been without a club

In somewhat related news though, his old side, Brighton, who won the league just 3 years ago, have already been relegated to the Championship

[PaulHartman71]

W-Watch

Wolfsburg finished 2nd this season, which was an improvement on last season, but their manager still left the club this summer.

It was quite cool to see my old Holland captain, Mulder, now take over the Holland job himself after replacing Daryll Janmaat.

I was heavily linked with the job and probably could've got it if I wanted, but I still want to win La Liga before I go, Evgeny Zykov of Zenit got the job. I wish I'd stuck some money on those 6-1 odds

Meanwhile...

Werder Bremen finished 16th in the Second Division, very narrowly avoiding relegation back down to being unplayable. I'm not sure if that job came up but it may well have done.

[PaulHartman71]

I've just noticed that Kabongo has been appointed the new Blackpool manager following their relegation from the Championship. He's been out of work since being sacked from Portsmouth in January for failing to get them promoted back to the Championship after relegating them - I'm not sure why this makes Blackpool think he can make it work for them, but I'm sure he'll give it his best.

[PaulHartman71]

Summer Transfers

Not much to shout about really as once I'd given bumper new contracts to hold onto a few of our key players I didn't really have any kind of budget to go out and buy anyone. We're still very much a club who needs to sell big to buy big it seems, which is unfortunate as our lengthy CL run has given us decent finances and increased commercial deals. I was hoping I'd get at least £20M or so to spend this summer, but I've been able to promote a few 'B' team players and our squad isn't that bad with a few younger guys who have improved in the last few years.

Our one signing of the summer was to bring in a new 2nd choice Goalkeeper as our one left on a free transfer. This guy usefully counts as a HG spot too which is always handy.

[PaulHartman71]

August

A pretty uneventful month tbh. We did get the season off to a winning start though, with a Ross Scott brace giving us a 2-0 away win at Betis.

We're still 2nd seeds so this was probably one of the best groups we could hope for really.

I mean look at this one ffs :

What a horrendous group that is!

[PaulHartman71]

September

A really crap start to the Champions League. We barely even got a draw against Slovan Bratislava who are actually one of our feeder clubs. Wolf's 85th minute goal was just about enough to get a point from a game we should have easily won.

It would've been hard to top this group as it was, but this gives City a huge advantage on us that I'm not sure we can make up.

A great month in the league as we won 4 of our 5 games, you'd like to ideally win pretty much all of those 4 games but it doesn't always happen. We did drop points at Bilbao but they're a tough side and it's not the end of the world when you've had such a good start to the league anyway.

We're top of the league :cool:

[PaulHartman71]

October

A nice easy win against Kobenhavn before a slightly disappointing loss at City.

City certainly look like they'll top the group now, but we look like we're in a reasonable position for 2nd. Although if we lose our next game at home to City and Bratislava win against Kobenhavn, we could put a bit of pressure on ourselves.

Another successful month in the league, which included a dramatic late win away to Granada. We should really have won at home to Recreativo too but they equalised quite late on.

We're still top of the league! Barcelona are just 3 points behind though and will be coming for us no doubt. We have a trip to Barcelona soon and then Real Madrid at home not longer, so that's when we'll really see what we can do this season.

[PaulHartman71]

Oh dear. Kabongo is sacked once again as he looked closer to getting Blackpool relegated again than he did in getting them back up to the Championship first time.

[PaulHartman71]

November

A last minute Jesse Reichert equaliser gave us a point against City, which isn't too bad. A hat-trick from Ross Scott gave us a comfortable win at home to Bratislava.

We're confirmed as through but are 2nd in the group, which means we could get given a difficult tie in the 1st Knockout Round. Let's hope not.

We started the month well with two good wins against Atletico and Malaga, but despite taking a first-half lead at the Nou Camp, we have now suffered our first league loss of the season. Barcelona were ultimately too strong for us away from home and we couldn't even hang on for a point.

We are still top of the league though, with Barcelona recently losing at Valencia which was a real set back for them in catching us up. Real Madrid are now 6 points behind us - we have a home game with them soon though, so they will be looking to cut that down to at least just 3 points.

[Mark Heath]

great start to the season, hopefully you can keep out in front

[PaulHartman71]

Well this certainly makes up for the lack of funds in the summer

[PaulHartman71]

Thanks Mark. I'm really hoping we can hang on, but I'm convinced it will all go wrong at some point

December

A comfortable win against lower league side in the Spanish Cup.

I put a second string side out as this match didn't matter, it was nice to see young Academy striker, Rodrigo, grab a brace.

Just the confirmation that we came 2nd.

What a month! We smashed Levante 6-0 and then went into the Real Madrid game on a real buzz, but even in my wildest dreams I could not have predicted or expected us to win it the way we did. It was a very close game and I was pretty happy at 0-0 to be honest, but Ross Scott had other ideas! He smashed home an opener in the 72nd minute, before getting another one 7 minutes later. I shut up shop at that point and played very defensively but still he managed to pop up and grab another one late on to claim his hat-trick. This is an absolutely massive win and puts us into a fantastic position at the end of the year. We followed that match up with a nice 2-1 victory at Sporting, before suffering a loss at Real Zaragoza. A real disappointing end to the calendar year, but Zaragoza have been quite decent this season so going there was always going to be tough.

We're now 7 points clear at the top of the table with Valencia and Barcelona trailing, whilst we're now an incredible 9 points ahead of Real Madrid. I'm really hoping we can hold on but there's still a very long way to go.

[PaulHartman71]

January

So unlike during the summer there was some action to be had in the January window. Our only departure was forced as Lazio met star CB Sam Lawrence's release clause. I was gutted to lose him as he's so good but at least he didn't go to Real Madrid who have shown interest in him before.

We did get £35.5M which is pretty good going for a CB anyway.

Our big money signing to replace Lawrence was German CB, Olaf Steinmetz, who my scouts were impressed by and has impressed in Russia for the last few seasons. I signed another CB in Sergio Checa, who despite playing for Boca Juniors is Spanish through a second nationality. I'm cautious about buying players from South America but hopefully he can settle well. I also signed a RB in Rainer Grob, a German, this was mainly because we've been having issues at RB this season so far. My final transfer was Abdelghani Benali from Lens, he's a 22 year old French central midfielder who is pretty good and will add depth to our midfield.

We had an absolute disaster in the Spanish Cup as we went out to Eibar on away goals. Our new CB pairing struggled to gel in the home leg against Eibar as they were both awful together which lead to Eibar getting 4 away goals which is shameful. I knew that would come back to bite us in the second leg, and despite Ross Scott scoring 6 goals in 2 games we still couldn't go through.

A great month in the league. We beat Sevilla 4-2 which was a big win considering they're a strong side. We also got some revenge against Eibar, putting 4 past them again but this time they only managed the 1 goal. We also got a good away win against Murcia, before slipping up at home to Real Betis.

We're now 8 points clear of Valencia and Barca, with Real Madrid still 9 points behind us. It's looking good, but we do still have Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevila and Zarogoza all to play again so plenty of opportunities for us to drop points.

[sherwinriga]

I believed that your team, Villareal, is most likely win three championships (La Liga, UEFA Champions League and Copa del Rey) and then you will go to a "W" nation. I hope you keep up the good work!

For Kabongo, I think he will end his higher league football coaching, then going to his lowest reputation, I think. Then, how Kabongo's former teams doing and is Blackpool found themselves a better head coach?

[PaulHartman71]

February

We were drawn against Chelsea in the Champions League - not the most difficult tie, but not the easiest either. They did knock us out of the Europa League a few years back, but we're a stronger side now. We got a 1-1 draw at home which whilst not being a bad result, was really poor in the sense Chelsea grabbed a very very late equaliser - let's hope that away goal doesn't come back to bite us in the away leg.

We started the month of terribly with a 4-3 loss at home to Bilbao, which saw our defence in poor form again. We then could only muster up a point away to Valencia, but we got back on track by winning comfortably at home to Espanyol and away to Elche. We have since only managed to get a point against Rayo. We dropped 7 points this month, which is not great or title winning form, but are we still top of the table?

We are just about still top of the table, but Real Madrid have caught us up a lot, as they're 5 points behind us with a game in hand. It's going to be tight - and don't forget, we still have Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla still to play again.

[PaulHartman71]

March

Well this went well. We got off to a promising start as we scored early to cancel out their away goal, but Chelsea fought back aggressively and were too much for us on the night. A very disappointing result and it sucks to go out so early - the only positive I can take from this is that being out of the CL and the Spanish Cup will keep us fresher for the La Liga title run in.

A pretty good month overall, with only Cartagena giving us any problems to the point of droppings points. We did only narrowly beat Atletico Madrid though, with Ross Scott scoring a very late winner to ensure all 3 points.

There's 7 games to go and we're 3 points ahead of Real Madrid with equal goal difference, although the league sorting actually goes on results against, so in theory with our 3-0 win we should be covered even if we lose to them - although knowing our luck we'll lose 3-0 to them now Our next game is Barcelona which is a massive game, we then have Levante away before the big one - Real Madrid away. It's going to be a massive massive month.

[PaulHartman71]

April

We got the month off to an absolutely amazing start, with a fantastic 4-1 drubbing of Barcelona. It was absolutely amazing. Pascual put in the shift of his life. I couldn't believe we beat them so comfortably. We then beat Levante 3-2, which put us into the Real Madrid match in great form. But we lost. We lost 3-0 which was the exact same result as before, which meant that we'd be equal on results, and that the league sorting rules would go to goal difference...

It looks like we may well have lost it. It would be a heartbreaking way to miss out on our first La Liga win after such an amazing season, especially with results like the 3-0 win against Real Madrid and the 4-1 against Barcelona. We do still have Sevilla away too, which is a very tough game and one I'd usually be pleased to draw - but we can't afford that this time. We have Zaragoza at home too, which is far from a dead cert win, as well as Eibar - who we've had some problems with this season too.

Real Madrid have easier games in 11th placed Recreativo, 12th place Cartagena, coincidentally they also play the 13th place team - but that one is a big one for them, as it is Atletico Madrid. If anyone in the league will up their game to prevent Real Madrid from winning their 5th La Liga in a row, surely it will be their local rivals Atletico Madrid. Fingers crossed for any kind of favour from them.

[PaulHartman71]

May

It was not an easy run of games, but we managed to win all 3 of our final games in the title run in. But was it enough to win the league, or did Real Madrid hang on to claim their 5th title in a row at our expense?

Atletico Madrid held them to a 0-0 draw on the last day of the season

This is not just my first La Liga win, but also Villarreal's first one too. What a way to do it!

[PaulHartman71]

Kabongo-Watch

Kabongo has remained unemployed since his firing from Blackpool.

[PaulHartman71]

As I have now completed my La Liga win BET-PH71 returns!

BET-PH71:

Rules:

• Every poster starts this thread with £10 to spend on BET-PH71.
  
• You can only make one bet in each round.
  
• You can use this money to bet on each different BET-PH71 when I move to a new club.
  
• You can bet as much or as little as you like on each one.
  
• If you select the winning club then you get the profit/winnings added to your overall total.
  
• Once you go bust that's it - you're out!
  

BET-PH71:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username       Bets Made      Bets Won     Bets Lost     Balance
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Koetzer            7              6            1         £99.00
SounessTash        8              5            3         £75.00
glennuk            4              2            2         £43.00
jim owen           6              3            3         £38.00
Wavelberry        11              4            7         £38.00
Dev'o              1              1            0         £34.00
DB08               6              3            3         £32.00
Sven.              1              1            0         £28.00
deltablue          9              5            4         £20.00
tastaiwan          4              2            2         £14.00
Orikoru            6              3            3         £11.00
apchivers         15              6            9         £10.00
sherwinriga        7              3            4         £13.00
ExeChris          11              4            7         £10.00
GDH38              1              0            1          £8.00
MDH2001            1              0            1          £8.00
ManUTactician247   2              0            2          £7.00
Bitner             7              1            6          £5.00
DodgeeD            6              1            5          £5.00
Lenzar             3              0            3          £5.00
Cougar2010         3              0            3          £5.00
grindline          1              0            1          £5.00
Hairyflump         1              0            1          £5.00
andychar           7              3            4          £4.00
Maaka              4              1            3          £4.00
RobAlridge4810     1              0            1          £1.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LeedsUnitedFan2   14              2           12        £804.00 (BANKRUPT)
Maw74             13              5            8        £300.00 (BANKRUPT)
Nobby_McDonald     4              1            3        £155.83 (BANKRUPT) 
nie jem frytek     6              3            3         £29.00 (BANKRUPT)
Mr Adam            1              0            1          £0.00 (BANKRUPT) 
RSJ                1              0            1          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
Northernpilgrim    2              2            0          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
dllu               2              0            2          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
nomorezen          2              0            2          £0.00 (BANKRUPT) 
Kalemlyco          7              0            7          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)

Wolfsburg - 3/1

Still at Villarreal* - 3/1

Werder Bremen - 8/1

I will only stay at Villarreal if the Wolfsburg job does not become available. I'm not sure if I'd take the Werder Bremen job, whilst they have now won promotion to the Bundesliga, it may still save me time if I was to wait a year or two to become Wolfsburg manager, as in theory winning the Bundesliga should be fairly easy with them.

[DodgeeD]

Great comeback from the Real defeat - was theır manager sacked at the end of the season?

[andychar]

Screw it £3 on Werder Bremen! He who dares! He who dares! This time next year I'll be a millionaire! (I may have been watching quite a bit of Only Fools and Horses recently).

[DodgeeD]

Prove this season was no fluke and have a crack at the Champions League - 2.50 on Villareal

[PaulHartman71]

Great comeback from the Real defeat - was theır manager sacked at the end of the season?

Surprisingly I actually don't think he was, or I don't recall seeing it happen at least. They did win the Spanish Cup and I don't think the Champions League final has happened yet, so they could very well be in that, but yeah does seem a bit mad that they wouldn't sack him haha.

[nie jem frytek]

9£ on Wolfsburg.

[Sven.]

Sven. : 20£ on Wolfsburg!

[sherwinriga]

Great job in winning the La Liga crown with Villareal! It's better that you made the right choice to win it. So, what's happening for Kabongo's former teams after Kabongo was fired by Blackpool?

[SounessTash]

£25 stay at Villareal

[Mark Heath]

congratulations! a hard earned title win. Looking forward to seeing where you go next

[Koetzer]

£15 on Villarreal

[BONGOinCoNGO]

Paul, I would like to start my first ever post by saying thank you.

I have played some form of FM ever since my cousin introduced me to Championship Manager 00/01 and I was hooked. I still have the game actually, although the disc no longer works (through overuse, not frustration you must understand - I could never get mad at Tim Flowers even if he did get sent off in the FA Cup final and cost me the game - especially as I didn't select a sub 'keeper in those days).

I have briefly browsed through these boards for hints of wonderkids and other such tactical information in recent years but never really stuck around to follow any threads or challenges - until yours. Today, I have read all 15 pages of your story thus far and have been absolutely captivated. Whether it be Roy Keane willing to uproot his family and follow you all over Europe or the rise and fall of King Kabonga, I have loved it. This weekend I intend to make a new save and have a crack at the Alphabet Challenge myself.

So that's it really, I just wanted to say thank you for uploading an awesome career to date and your Alphabet Challenge will probably take many hours from my social life in the coming months!

[BONGOinCoNGO]

BET-PH71

Almost forgot. £10 on Wolfsburg please.

[PaulHartman71]

Great job in winning the La Liga crown with Villareal! It's better that you made the right choice to win it. So, what's happening for Kabongo's former teams after Kabongo was fired by Blackpool?

Brighton lost in the Championship playoffs this season after finishing 6th. Fulham finished 9th in the Championship. Middlesbrough finished 12th in the Championship. Peterborough came 7th in League 1. Rotherham finished 14th in the Championship. Portsmouth came 9th in League 1. Blackpool finished 10th in League 1.

[PaulHartman71]

Paul, I would like to start my first ever post by saying thank you.

I have played some form of FM ever since my cousin introduced me to Championship Manager 00/01 and I was hooked. I still have the game actually, although the disc no longer works (through overuse, not frustration you must understand - I could never get mad at Tim Flowers even if he did get sent off in the FA Cup final and cost me the game - especially as I didn't select a sub 'keeper in those days).

I have briefly browsed through these boards for hints of wonderkids and other such tactical information in recent years but never really stuck around to follow any threads or challenges - until yours. Today, I have read all 15 pages of your story thus far and have been absolutely captivated. Whether it be Roy Keane willing to uproot his family and follow you all over Europe or the rise and fall of King Kabonga, I have loved it. This weekend I intend to make a new save and have a crack at the Alphabet Challenge myself.

So that's it really, I just wanted to say thank you for uploading an awesome career to date and your Alphabet Challenge will probably take many hours from my social life in the coming months!

Just seen this. Great to hear. Good luck with your Alphabet challenge, it's not too hard a challenge really especially if you don't have any dead set goals like I did early on, it just requires a lot of patience and game-time It's quite cool seeing the game gradually change and new teams becoming big, your old players moving around and becoming managers etc.

[PaulHartman71]

Congratulations to DodgeeD, Koetzer and SounessTash who all correctly guessed that I would remain at Villarreal. Koetzer and SounessTash saw massive gains and have both now smashed the £100 mark. SounessTash bet slightly more than Koetzer and in doing so has usurped him from the top of the table...for now at least.

BET-PH71:

Rules:

• Every poster starts this thread with £10 to spend on BET-PH71.
  
• You can only make one bet in each round.
  
• You can use this money to bet on each different BET-PH71 when I move to a new club.
  
• You can bet as much or as little as you like on each one.
  
• If you select the winning club then you get the profit/winnings added to your overall total.
  
• Once you go bust that's it - you're out!
  

BET-PH71:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Username       Bets Made      Bets Won     Bets Lost     Balance
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SounessTash        9              6            3         £150.00
Koetzer            8              7            1         £144.00
glennuk            4              2            2         £43.00
jim owen           6              3            3         £38.00
Wavelberry        11              4            7         £38.00
Dev'o              1              1            0         £34.00
DB08               6              3            3         £32.00
deltablue          9              5            4         £20.00
tastaiwan          4              2            2         £14.00
Orikoru            6              3            3         £11.00
apchivers         15              6            9         £10.00
sherwinriga        7              3            4         £13.00
DodgeeD            7              2            5         £12.50
ExeChris          11              4            7         £10.00
Sven.              2              1            1          £8.00
GDH38              1              0            1          £8.00
MDH2001            1              0            1          £8.00
ManUTactician247   2              0            2          £7.00
Bitner             7              1            6          £5.00
Lenzar             3              0            3          £5.00
Cougar2010         3              0            3          £5.00
grindline          1              0            1          £5.00
Hairyflump         1              0            1          £5.00
andychar           8              3            5          £1.00
Maaka              4              1            3          £4.00
RobAlridge4810     1              0            1          £1.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LeedsUnitedFan2   14              2           12        £804.00 (BANKRUPT)
Maw74             13              5            8        £300.00 (BANKRUPT)
Nobby_McDonald     4              1            3        £155.83 (BANKRUPT) 
nie jem frytek     7              3            4         £20.00 (BANKRUPT)
BONGOinCONGO       1              0            1          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
Mr Adam            1              0            1          £0.00 (BANKRUPT) 
RSJ                1              0            1          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
Northernpilgrim    2              2            0          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
dllu               2              0            2          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)
nomorezen          2              0            2          £0.00 (BANKRUPT) 
Kalemlyco          7              0            7          £0.00 (BANKRUPT)

[PaulHartman71]

W-Watch

So essentially what happened was Wolfsburg finished 2nd in their new Russian manager's debut season. This was enough of an improvement from the last few finishes of 3rd and 4th for the Wolfsburg board to keep him on - it's perhaps worth adding that they didn't even sack the guy who came 4th last season, he left them for the Holland job. This is perhaps not great news as Wolfsburg poached Evgeny Zykov from Zenit, since they're by far and away the best Russian side you wouldn't have thought he'd leave them for a job in Russia. Perhaps he would jump at the chance to manage the Russian national side. He's never managed outside of Russia (or now Germany) but who knows - maybe a Real Madrid or a Barcelona etc will come in for him and tempt him away too.

Werder Bremen have been promoted back to the Bundesliga, which obviously saw their manager keep his job, he wasn't poached by any other clubs either so he remains in charge. As I said before I'm still not sure I'd take the Bremen job anyway as I think I'd be better off waiting for the Wolfsburg job, but if Bremen establish themselves as a decent side again and Zykov doesn't look like moving, maybe I'll change my mind.

[PaulHartman71]

Elsewhere

For anyone keeping tabs - the Champions League was won by a French side for the 6th year in a row. This time it was Monaco. PSG were knocked out in the Semi's by Krasnodar to prevent an all-French final. Krasnodar are no mugs fwiw and have established themselves as the 2nd biggest side in Russia for quite a while now and they're a side good enough to regularly make the Knockout Stages and not look too out of place in Quarter Finals.

The big news in England is that Aston Villa have won their first league title in over 70 years. In the past 20 years or so they've established themselves as a side who finish in the top 4 every now and then and have won a couple of FA Cups, but this is the first time they've managed to win the big one. Amir Natkho, former manager of Napoli, Man United, Zenit and a World Cup winning England side was the man who did it for them.

[nie jem frytek]

I have £20, not 38.

[SounessTash]

Close at the top now, like it. What about Wales for W, how are they doing?

[PaulHartman71]

Close at the top now, like it. What about Wales for W, how are they doing?

Not too good, they haven't made a World Cup since 2018, where they reached the Quarter Final. They make the odd Euros but haven't got past the Group Stages very often.

[PaulHartman71]

Season 39 (V)illarreal

A brilliant season. I wasn't expecting to win the league just yet going into this season, but we have a strong squad and I was delighted to be proved wrong and win the league. We did make hard work of it and in the end we were quite lucky that Atletico Madrid managed to take points off Real Madrid on the final day, but who cares, we'll take it Obviously a bit poor to go out to Eibar in the Spanish Cup and I would've liked to have done better in the Champions League, but who knows, if we'd gone further in those competitions maybe we wouldn't have been able to keep up in the La Liga games. I have no regrets certainly as we've finally won the big one.

Squad pt 1,pt 2

GK - Emmanuel Herbaut had another good season in goal. Now that we've won the league I will let him have the move back to France he's desperately craved for the last 3 or 4 seasons.

DR - Due to a fair few injuries at RB this season, it was last season's LB, Jesse Reichert who ended up starting the most games at RB. He weren't great there but he was out of position tbf.

DL - Salvador Parra, a youth Academy graduate, managed to get the most appearances at LB, with Soufiane Tran, another graduate, and Reichert sometimes playing there too.

DC - Oscar Lopez was paired with Sam Lawrence for the first half of the season, with Lawrence impressing as always and getting a move away in January. He was replaced by Sergio Checa who did reasonably well there.

DM - Justin Nabab had another very strong season and is attracting interest from all sorts of clubs.

MC - Leon Wolf had a solid season at CM, but he gained competition in January when we signed Abelghani Benali, who also did pretty well when called upon.

AMR - Francis Pierre had another very good season at RW, with 17 goals and 19 assists.

AML - Ludovico Mapelli managed to gain back his spot as first choice LW and did pretty well, with 8 goals and 16 assists. I'll still be looking to get a new better LW in during the summer though as he's far from reliable year in year out.

CAM - Pascual, newly appointed club captain, had a better season than last season, as his 12 goals and 16 assists helped us on our way to the title.

ST - Ross Scott had an unbelievable season, with an incredible 46 goals and 13 assists in 49 games. He was truly unstoppable this year and without him we couldn't have won the league. He seems dead set on a move back to England, with a lot of the big clubs expressing interest, since he's helped us win the league I'm more than happy to let him have the move he wants - he deserves it!

History

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                Division          Position      Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15    Arsenal             Premier League    2nd           League Cup winners 
2015/16    Arsenal             Premier League    1st           Premier League winners
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 & 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
2043/44    Toulouse            Ligue 1           5th           Europa League semi finalists 
2044/45    Toulouse            Ligue 1           3rd           Europa League winners
2045/46    Toulouse            Ligue 1           3rd           Champions League & European Super Cup winners
2046/47    Toulouse            Ligue 1           3rd           World Club Cup, European Super Cup and Coupe de la Ligue winners
2047/48    Toulouse            Ligue 1           1st           Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2042       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A
2043       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           Gold Cup runners up
2044       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           N/A 
2045       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           Gold Cup winners
2046       U.S.A.              N/A               N/A           World Cup Group Stage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2043       U.S.A. Under 23s    N/A               N/A           Copa America Group Stage
2044       U.S.A. Under 23s    N/A               N/A           Olympic Games runners-up
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2048/49    Villarreal          La Liga           6th           Spanish Cup runners-up
2049/50    Villarreal          La Liga           3rd           Europa League winners
2050/51    Villarreal          La Liga           3rd           Spanish Cup runners up
2051/52    Villarreal          La Liga           3rd           Spanish Super Cup winners
2052/53    Villarreal          La Liga           1st           La Liga winners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trophy Cabinet

World Cup                  x1 - 2022 (France)
Olympic Games Silver Medal x1 - 2044 (U.S.A. Under 23's)
African Cup of Nations     x1 - 2019 (Cameroon)
North American Gold Cup    x1 - 2045 (U.S.A.)
European Nations League    x1 - 2021 (France)

Champions League    x2 - 2029/30 (Juventus), 2045/46 (Toulouse)
Europa League       x4 - 2016/17 (Borussia Dortmund), 2032/33 (Liverpool), 2044/45 (Toulouse), 2049/50 (Villarreal)
European Super Cup  x3 - 2017/18 (Borussia Dortmund), 2045/46, 2046/47 (Toulouse) 
World Club Cup      x1 - 2046/47 (Toulouse)

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) 

La Liga            x1 - 2052/53 (Villarreal) 
Spanish Super Cup  x1 - 2051/52 (Villarreal)

Ligue 1           x1 - 2047/48 (Toulouse)
Coupe de la Ligue x2 - 2046/47, 2047/48 (Toulouse)

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]

Summer Transfers

Ross Scott wanted to return to England so I let him when my old side, Man United, put up the £25M asking price. Antonis Pozapaldis was only a back-up player last season so when Napoli offered me £10M I wasn't gonna turn it down. Emmanuel Herbaut finally got his move, although after 4 years of wanting to move to French clubs he decided to opt for Roma instead.

Nils Zinke, who actually left us four years ago, will return as first choice LB after finding himself stuck on Bayern's bench for the last year or so. I have replaced Ross Scott with another Englishman - Ryan Garner banged in 20 goals in the Premier League last season, which unfortunately for Sunderland wasn't enough to keep them up, but fortunately for us meant we could get him at a cut price fee. Ewen Bourhis is another great player we'll be signing on a cut price free, he's an absolutely class LW, but after being unhappy at lack of game time at PSG, they've decided to cash in as he had just 1 year left on his contract. Marat Simonenko joins as a back-up RW, whilst Roland Millet will be our new first choice GK.

[PaulHartman71]

August

Well this was certainly an interesting set of games. I'm really not sure what happened in the first game but it was possibly one of the most open game I've ever seen on FM. It's really not great to concede 7 in any game, but I suppose scoring 4 softened the blow somewhat. I don't know. I think I'm just gonna have to write it off as an utterly mental one off. We did manage to beat Barcelona in the home match but we didn't get the 3 goals we needed, just the 1.

A fantastic start in the league, we had two somewhat tricky away games, but we managed to win both of them against Valencia and Atletico. Elche got utterly smashed as Ewen Bourhis grabbed 4 goals in our 6-1 win.

Top of the league still

[PaulHartman71]

September

This was our first year as a 1st seed in the Champions League and we've got a far worse group than we ever did as 2nd seeds. We have Roma and Shakhtar to deal with, whilst Maccabi Tel-Aviv shouldn't be too much of a problem. We at least started off well with a 3-2 win in Ukraine. We failed to beat a strong Roma side at home which could well be the nail in the coffin of topping the group already.

We'll give it a good go though and hopefully we can do enough to finish top of the group.

A really poor month as we suffer two terrible losses at home to Bilbao and away at Sporting. A real blow to our title credentials and it's only September. We at least beat Recreativo and Real Betis.

We've dropped down to 2nd place, with Sevilla starting very strongly.

[PaulHartman71]

October

A big win against a very poor Tel-Aviv side. Marat Simonenko managed an impressive hat-trick.

Roma still top the group. We'll have to beat them if we are to top the group.

Another somewhat sketchy month. A good start of course, but we can't be losing to Espanyol or dropping points at Levante. Olaf Steinmetz goal gave us a 3-2 lead late on so it was incredibly frustrating to throw 2 points away when Levante equalised.

We're still 2nd thankfully, but Sevilla are blitzing it and are now 10 points clear at the top of the table! They're certainly one to watch this season and may well have taken inspiration from our title win last year.