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

[PaulHartman71]

November

Two very nice wins as Shakhtar especially really weren't anywhere near as good as I feared they might be.

Roma slipped up so if we do manage to beat them in Rome we can qualify by topping the group.

A very strong month including a massive 4-2 win against Sevilla, which saw a dramatic late winner and then a further goal to confirm it. We once again slipped up against Eibar who appear to be something of a bogey team for us.

We've managed to close the gap to just 4 points on Sevilla. Real Madrid are hot on our tails, with Barcelona about too.

[PaulHartman71]

December

We struggled in Albacete, but we absolutely humiliated them at home. We've got Real Madrid in the next round - far from an easy tie, but we'll give it our best shot. We have proven we can beat them from time to time in recent years.

A really really bad loss. We had a few injuries but no excuses. It was really poor.

We'll have to make do with being unseeded in the Champions League draw.

Just two matches in La Liga this month, but we won both of them quite convincingly.

Sevilla still hold onto 1st place, with a 4 point gap, which is the same amount of points that separate us from Real Madrid in 3rd.

[PaulHartman71]

I think I forgot to mention that Kabongo managed to snag a job at Chesterfield who were relegated from the Championship last season.

He didn't last long...

[sherwinriga]

I think Kabongo has coaching problems because of sacks. Well, I guess he will probably coach a lower league team soon. Who's the new coach of Chesterfield?

[PaulHartman71]

I think Kabongo has coaching problems because of sacks. Well, I guess he will probably coach a lower league team soon. Who's the new coach of Chesterfield?

A regen called Mark Cunningham.

[PaulHartman71]

January

There were no transfers in January.

I wasn't too pleased when we drew Real Madrid, even less so when we failed to secure an away goal. But we didn't let that stop us and won the return leg 2-1 to progress to the Quarter Final, where we managed to get past Atletico Madrid, but only on penalties after two 1-1 draws.

We gave it our best shot in Barcelona but couldn't quite beat them. We did manage to pull off a fantastic 1-0 win against Real Madrid a week later though - and also won at home to Valencia too. We could only draw at Elche, despite taking a 2-0 lead within 16 minutes.

Sevilla are now 5 points ahead of us in 1st, with Barcelona 4 behind and Real Madrid 5 behind.

[deltablue]

Still keeping it (Villa)real

[PaulHartman71]

February

I was quite worried when we didn't get an away goal in Seville, but it didn't really matter as we smashed them 4-1 in the home leg. I'm really hoping this result can spur the team on to defeat Sevilla in the league. Also hoping for the Spanish Cup win too Although we have Barcelona in the final.

A decent first leg win against Benfica, but those 2 away goals are clearly a bit of a concern.

Not the best month really as 5 points dropped - Bilbao away isn't an easy game and we had a few players tired from the midweek Cup game. We also dropped points at Recreativo, few players were tired from the midweek CL game but we should've still won it.

If we hadn't dropped those 5 points we'd be ahead of Sevilla on results against them. We're at least still 2nd and ahead of Real Madrid.

[PaulHartman71]

March

We got lucky. Really really lucky. We managed to get 3 goals in Portugal which completely cancelled out Benfica's away goal advantage, so despite stupidly conceding 4 goals to them we still managed to sneak through on away goals. We really got away with this one. We face Roma in the Quarter Final - which if we go by how we faired against them in the Group Stage, will probably mean we're as good as out

A pretty solid month in the league this month. We did fail to score at Rayo, but otherwise we we did very well to win as many games as we did, especially in a quite crowded month.

Unfortunately for us, despite only dropping 2 points this month, it still meant we fell behind Sevilla as they didn't drop points at all. It really does look like they'll do it this season you know. Fair play to them I guess - they deserve it tbf. Our next league game is actually against Sevilla - it's do or die really. If we don't win that it's pretty much game over, especially as our final two games of the season are Real Madrid away and Barcelona at home. Not great is it?

[PaulHartman71]

April

Roma troubled us in the groups, but here it was a different story. They were still clearly a strong side but their defence has gone to ****. The home leg was baffling as we were 4-0 up within half an hour and I really didn't know what was happening - Roma did get 2 goals back which was slightly worrying, but I needn't have worried as we scored 3 in Rome and got through 7-4 on aggregate in the end.

We very very nearly lost to Sevilla which would've meant curtains for our hopes of retaining the title. Olaf Steinmetz popped up with a last gasp equaliser to give us some hope at least. We won our other 3 matches this month - they were quite narrow wins though as all 3 were 1 goal margins.

We've actually gained points on Sevilla as they dropped points in a draw with Real Madrid. With 4 games left and two of them being Real Madrid and Barcelona, it really doesn't seem like we're going to do it, but on merit Sevilla probably deserve it anyway. I'm hoping we can at least hang onto 2nd place.

I was slightly worried when we drew Man City in the CL draw as I know they're a top side. We've been without our best striker, Ryan Garner, after he broke his leg in February, whilst young Academy graduate, Rodrigo, has done well enough he hasn't amazing - until now. Rodrigo popped up with a massive brace in the home leg against Man City, with his 111st minute goal sending us into the Champions League final. A massive achievement and I'm really hoping we can beat Lazio in the final!

On the subject of finals - we beat Barcelona to win the Spanish Cup, with that man Rodrigo popping up with another hugely important winner! We really deserve the win this season as we've had to beat Barcelona, Sevilla and Real Madrid to win it and I'm really happy we've managed to do it in the end.

[Jabba]

Looks like its going to be a really exciting end to the year

[PaulHartman71]

May

A decent end to the season in the sense that we won away to Real Madrid, but we ultimately failed as we lost 3-1 to Barcelona which handed Sevilla the title on the last day. I was pleased we dragged it to the last day though.

We were actually very briefly top of the league for about 10 minutes on the last day. We went 1-0 up early at home to Barcelona, as did Bilbao at home to Sevilla - I couldn't believe it and thought we were somehow going to pull off another last day miracle. But Sevilla bounced back quickly from Bilbao's goal and ended up 3-1 up at half-time. It was 1-1 for us at half-time and whilst I didn't expect Bilbao to pull off the 4-3 victory we would have needed them to have done to win the title - I still went for it in the second half as we had nothing to lose. It's not often wise to leave yourself so open against a side like Barcelona and they punished us as they won 3-1 in the end. It didn't matter though as Sevilla put just a few more goals past Bilbao...

When it got to 4-1 early in the second half I closed the "latest scores" tab as knew that was it, but I was still pretty shocked when I saw it ended 8-1 ffs

But moving on from that, how did we do in the Champions League final?

It was a huge chance for me to further stamp my legacy as a Villarreal hero as whilst I have won the Champions League before, it was Villarreal's first ever final so I was really hoping I could bring the trophy home for them after having secured them their first ever La Liga last year, and first ever Spanish Cup earlier in the season. I didn't really expect to get to the Champions League final this year as whilst we have a good team I didn't think it was as elite as some of the other teams are, but we'd got to the final through hard work and determination and that's sometimes enough.

Lazio are a team that we knocked out in the Champions League either last year or the year before in the 1st Knockout Round, but it was a close affair and we only went through on away goals. So I knew it would be a tough game.

It was a tough game and Lazio proved tricky opponents, which was proved when their striker, Giuseppe Di Canio went through and struck a brilliant shot to put them 1-0 up in the 25th minute. We had a few half chances but none that were that good before half-time and so we went in at 0-0.

We looked more positive in the second half and managed to win a penalty in the 56th minute, which was calmly converted by Sergio Checa to equalise. The rest of normal time was very end to end stuff, we had chances to score with Rodrigo having a few shots from outside the box, but it was Lazio who had the best chance. Their best chance fell to Dylan Nifiore, a former Toulouse Academy player who I knew would be a great player one day but I could just never get him any game time (partly through needing to win matches, partly through blatant nepotism and using Adam as a sub instead ). He run through in the 85th minute and was 1-on-1 with our keeper, Rolland Millet, and I thought for sure that was the end of the game and he would seal a win against me as a big "**** you for never playing me" moment, but it was saved by Millet who had put one hell of a shift in throughout the match.

The game went to extra-time and the additional 30 minutes played out similar to the latter stages of the second half. We had a few chances but failed to take them, with Lazio having the better chances but thanks to Millet and the rest of our defence, we held firm and did not concede. This took the game to penalties.

Benali stepped up to take our first penalty and scored to make it 1-0, with their 1st taker also converting to make it 1-1. Checa, the man who equalised for us through a penalty earlier in the game, stood up to take his 2nd penalty of the night and he smashed it home just like the first one to make it 2-1. Their next taker's shot was saved by Rolland Millet, a huge save, which made it 2-1 to us. Our utility defender Parra was next and had the chance to make it 3-1, he blew his penalty wide though to keep it at 2-1. Their next taker then made it 2-2 and we were back to level pegging - advantage gone. Our big money LB, Zinke, stepped up next and he did not fail to make it 3-2 to us. Their next man scored to - 3-3. Olaf Steinmetz was next for us and he made it 4-3, if Lazio's next taker missed we would be Champions of Europe. Di Canio, the man who scored the opening goal, did not miss - 4-4. Sudden death. Up stepped Luduvico Mapelli, a winger who I have had a love-hate relationship with for years, as he's very inconsistent and you don't really know what Mapelli will turn up on the day. He fluffed his lines on this occasion, with the keeper having an easy save and putting Lazio in the poll position. If they scored the next penalty they would win and we would lose. I saw who was coming next and knew that we'd lost - it was Dylan Nifiore, of course it would be him, he missed his chance to win it for Lazio earlier, but this time he did not.

I did feel a bittersweet happiness for Nifiore as I always liked the look of him and felt bad for never playing him - I hoped he'd go on and have a good career and do well for himself, but it just so happened his career highlight to date, at 25 years old, happened to be massively at my expense...

[PaulHartman71]

Kabongo-Watch

Kabongo was sacked by Chesterfield in December. In the off season he has managed to blag himself the manager's job at Gillingham, who finished 8th in League 1, after their manager took a job at Championship side Barnsley.

[PaulHartman71]

It's the end of another season which means it's the beginning of another BET-PH71!

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)

Wolfsburg - 3/1

Still at Villarreal - 3/1

Werder Bremen - 12/1

[nie jem frytek]

Who's Sevilla manager? And when did they last win the title?

As for bets. Just a quid on Villarreal.

[PaulHartman71]

Who's Sevilla manager? And when did they last win the title?

As for bets. Just a quid on Villarreal.

It was by a Spanish regen called Miguel Buades, who left in the summer to take over the Spanish National Team job. Sevilla last won the league in 2041/42, they also won back to back titles from 2036-38, and won 3 in a row from 2031-34.

[Wavelberry]

£7 on Wolfsburg

[DodgeeD]

2.50 on Wolfsburg

[SounessTash]

£6 Bremen please

[sherwinriga]

Noooooooooooo! But still expected to see what happened to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid during your career in Villareal. Is Spain won in the Euros and also a World Cup as well?

[LeedsUnitedFan2]

£104 on Werder

[andychar]

£1 on Wolfsburg...its all I have!

[ExeChris]

£2 on Villareal please.

[PaulHartman71]

Noooooooooooo! But still expected to see what happened to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid during your career in Villareal. Is Spain won in the Euros and also a World Cup as well?

Euros:

World Cup:

[Koetzer]

£10 on Wolfsburg this time

[deltablue]

£5 on Wolfsburg, about time you moved on.

[PaulHartman71]

Congratulations to Wavelberry, DodgeeD, andychar, Koetzer and deltablue who all correctly guessed Wolfsburg!

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            9              8            1        £174.00
SounessTash       10              6            4        £144.00
Wavelberry        12              5            7         £59.00
glennuk            4              2            2         £43.00
jim owen           6              3            3         £38.00
deltablue         10              6            4         £35.00
Dev'o              1              1            0         £34.00
DB08               6              3            3         £32.00
DodgeeD            8              3            5         £20.00
tastaiwan          4              2            2         £14.00
sherwinriga        7              3            4         £13.00
Orikoru            6              3            3         £11.00
apchivers         15              6            9         £10.00
ExeChris          12              4            8          £8.00
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
Maaka              4              1            3          £4.00
andychar           9              4            5          £4.00
RobAlridge4810     1              0            1          £1.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LeedsUnitedFan2   14              2           12        £700.00 (BANKRUPT)
Maw74             13              5            8        £300.00 (BANKRUPT)
Nobby_McDonald     4              1            3        £155.83 (BANKRUPT) 
nie jem frytek     8              3            5         £19.00 (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]

Wolfsburg finished 2nd in the Bundesliga last season so at first it looked like I would be staying at Villarreal once again. Since I'd missed out on the title and had made the Champions League final I wasn't massively disheartened, especially as the board showed some ambition by expanding the Senna Arena.

However, we once again have the trigger happy board at Real Madrid to thank for securing a new job. Real Madrid finished 4th last year, which tbf is actually the worst finish for them in 20 years, so it really didn't look all that good for Tin Jedvaj. Real Madrid needed a new man and that new man was none other than...

Evgeny Zykov of Wolfsburg.

This was pretty convenient for me and was actually a relief as just a week earlier Zykov had been favorite to take on the PSG job when they too sacked their manager, but he didn't end up getting the job, so at that point I really did think it was another season at Villarreal.

I would add too that I was actually offered my Wolfsburg interview just 3 days before the Champions League final so I went into that match fully aware it would be my last ever Villarreal game, which made it even sadder when we lost.

But it's onwards and upwards from here on as I look to bring Wolfsburg back to Bundesliga glory. Villarreal did quite well out of this too as they managed to bag £7.5M compensation for losing me

I hope that won't come out of my Wolfsburg transfer budget

[PaulHartman71]

Season 40 (V)illarreal

I'd say it was a pretty successful swansong at Villarreal as we finally won the Spanish Cup, which we fully deserved after beating Sevilla, Real Madrid and Barcelona in order to do so. It was disappointing not to retain the title, but Sevilla had a fantastic season and we couldn't quite catch them in the end. It was obviously pretty gutting to lose out on another Champions League win on penalties, but we did well to get to the final and we were just unlucky on the day.

Squad pt 1,pt 2

GK - Roland Millet joined in the summer after Herbaut was finally sold after years of not that loyal service. Millet did very well, including a MOTM performance in the Champions League final where we ultimately came up short.

DR - Bill Barnett was first choice RB this year, with new RB signing, Rainer GroB, spending much of the season injured. Barnett did well though and kept his place in the team when GroB did return near to the end of the season.

DL - Nils Zinke returned to us this season and the German had a good first season back at the club.

DC - Sergio Checa kept his place in the side and had a fantastic season, forming a strong partnership with Olaf Steinmetz this season. Oscar Lopez featured occasionally as a reliable back-up option.

DM - Justin Nabab stayed at the club and continued his impressive performances at DM.

MC - Abdelghani Benali managed to make the CM position his own this season, with Leon Wolf his reliable understudy.

AMR - Francis Pierre was one of our best, if not the best player of the season. 16 assists and 18 goals, which don't tell the full story about just how effective he was.

AML - Our new signing and Pierre's compatriot, Ewen Bourhis, did very well and started an incredible 62 games all season. He pulled off 20 assists and 21 goals and always looked to create.

CAM - Pascual was not as good as he has been in previous years, but he still had an okay season at CAM this year.

ST - Our new signing, Ryan Garner, did well but was often injured - he managed 15 goals and 10 assists in the 27 games he featured in. This actually meant that Academy player, Rodrigo, was thrust into the first team at just 22. He ended the season with 14 assists and 16 goals and did as well as you could expect for a young fairly inexperienced lad filling in, including some very memorable goals in the Champions League and Spanish Cup.

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 
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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 
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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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
2053/54    Villarreal          La Liga           2nd           Spanish Cup winners
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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 Cup        x1 - 2053/54 (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

Ruzicic was a very good defensive midfielder, but he was keen to leave for Real Madrid and £40M seemed crazy money and too good to turn down so he went. The same applies to Vezirovic, he was a very good striker but he wanted to go and Montpellier randomly offered him a **** load of money so it was bye bye.

Curjuric joined from Benfica to fill in the striker gap. Vera filled the gap at DM. I also raided my old side Villarreal for some depth - with Justin Nabab, Abdelghani Benali and Rainer GroB all joining me. I also signed CB's Scott Caldwell and Sergio Barraza.

[Plumber]

I have just joined these forums and noticed this challenge. I am in the midst of doing something similar to this. I may post it. Anyway well done pal, good luck in Germany

[PaulHartman71]

August

I didn't really go into this match with any expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised we managed to beat Bayern Munich for the German Super Cup. Hopefully a good omen for the rest of the season.

We smashed Braunschweig 6-1 in the 1st round of the German Cup, with Curjuric picking up a fantastic hat-trick.

Our first match of the season seemed quite fitting, as it was against my former club, Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund actually took the lead in the first half and for a while I feared I'd get off to a losing start, but two comeback goals in quick succession meant 3 points in my first match - great stuff. The next match away to Paderborn... not so great. We were 2-0 up at half-time and I was delighted - "This German football isn't so hard" I thought. I thought wrong. Paderborn raged back at us in the second half in front of their home crowd and managed to get 3 goals back to defeat us - shocking stuff and a blow back to reality.

Not much can be garnered from 2 games of course, but Bayern for now at least, have a 3 point lead /o\

[PaulHartman71]

I have just joined these forums and noticed this challenge. I am in the midst of doing something similar to this. I may post it. Anyway well done pal, good luck in Germany

Thanks Plumber, would be cool to see what you've been getting up to in your game!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Damnit I was going to bet on Wolfsburg myself. Never got the chance.

[PaulHartman71]

September

We got given a very tough group in the Champions League, of last year's winners, Lazio, who beat my Villarreal side in the final - as well as Aston Villa who recently won the Premier League. We lost both of our opening matches 2-1, which is really not a promising start.

We should at least comfortably beat Goteborg twice though.

A fantastic month in the league though, several absolute hammerings, including an absolutely mental 7-2 at home to Schalke.

We're up to 2nd and just behind Bayern.

[PaulHartman71]

October

It was far from an easy game but we have beaten Hoffenheim to progress in the German Cup.

We won 3-1 in Goteburg to get our Champions League campaign back on track.

We will still need to beat at least one of Lazio and Villa if we want to get through though.

A very disappointing month in the league as we suffer losses to Hoffenheim and Frankfurt.

We're down to 3rd now One positive is that we're only 5 points behind Bayern despite dropping 6 points this month.

[PaulHartman71]

November

An absolute disaster. We almost lost at home to Goteburg ffs The loss to Lazio confirmed us as being eliminated from the Champions League.

Europa League here we come...

A disappointing away loss to Bayern, but we did at least win our other games of the month.

Despite the loss to Bayern, we're still only 5 points behind.

[PaulHartman71]

Kabongo-Watch

Gillingham, who sit in the relegation zone of League 1, have sacked Kabongo. The guy really can't catch a break

[Nobby_McDonald]

Fancy losing out to Aston Villa.

[PaulHartman71]

December

This Group Stage has been an absolute disaster really.

I'm just glad it's over and we at least have the Europa League to still play in.

A great month in the Bundesliga though as win all 4 of our matches relatively convincingly.

We still trail Bayern by 5 points at the now half-way stage of the league season.

[PaulHartman71]

January

Krasnodar paid krazy money for Gutzeit so he left.

He was replaced by Lucas Fabozzi.

We failed to win away at Dortmund, but a successful month save for that loss.

We're still just 5 points behind Bayern as they slipped up this month too - shame we couldn't capitalise really.

[PaulHartman71]

February/March

Not sure how I managed to forget to save February but I did so here's a bumper update.

a

An unfortunate loss in the German Cup as we go out to Gladbach. A real shame as it was a competition we could've and should've done better in.

I was absolutely delighted to draw Toulouse as it meant yet another competitive return to the Hart Arena. This time my trip was not quite so successful, we went out after losing 3-2 in the away leg, which was really annoying especially as all 3 of my old side's goals came from penalties ffs

A pretty solid couple of months, with no losses and just 4 points dropped from 7 games. It was very frustrating to smash Gladbach like we did as it just goes to show how we should definitely have beaten them in the German Cup.

We've gained a point on Bayern, with our next game being a crucial home game against them. If we beat them we have a real shot at the title - if not, then not so much.

The board were really unhappy at going out of the Europa League and German Cup and had a meeting with me to discuss my future...

I was pretty annoyed about this, whilst I did under-perform in those competitions I stand by that we've had some difficult draws and I'm still competing for the title. Ungrateful swines!

[PaulHartman71]

April

An absolutely huge win against Bayern Munich started the month, with two other vital 1-0 wins massively boosting our bid for the Bundesliga.

We're 1 point behind with 4 points to go. Come on!!!

[PaulHartman71]

May

We picked up 8 points from 12 in our final 4 games of the season, not bad, but when you're 1 point behind the leaders you need better than that. We just couldn't get it done away to Dusseldorf or Hamburg. But was it enough to topple Bayern?!

Nope. But if we hadn't dropped the 4 points we would have won the league, which is very frustrating.

The board requested a meeting at the end of the season to discuss my future as they weren't too happy with the season. I convinced them to let me stay though so all is good, for now at least...

[PaulHartman71]

Kabongo-Watch

Kabongo was sacked by Gillingham in December, as the mid-table League 1 side looked like they were on the verge of relegation to League 2. It looks like Kabongo's failings have finally caught up to him as I'm at the end of the summer now and he has still not found himself a new job - it looks like for the first time he could well go over 12 months without getting a new job

[sherwinriga]

I hope you come up on getting your job stable, even you have your chance was proven, but still trailing on Bayern Munich would be more dangerous on them. However, will you make things strong in the next season?

For Kabongo, I don't think he will retire from coaching because of his reputation got bad, but he said that he would hate gutting. Who will be the new head coach of Gillingham?

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done coming second.

[PaulHartman71]

I hope you come up on getting your job stable, even you have your chance was proven, but still trailing on Bayern Munich would be more dangerous on them. However, will you make things strong in the next season?

For Kabongo, I don't think he will retire from coaching because of his reputation got bad, but he said that he would hate gutting. Who will be the new head coach of Gillingham?

It looks like I'll get a pretty big transfer budget over the summer so we should be in a good position next season. A regen called Geoff Young is the new Gillingham manager.

Well done coming second.

Thanks Nobby. Fingers crossed for 1st next year!

[PaulHartman71]

Just noticed it's exactly a year to the day since I started this thread. Crazy to think how far we've come. Thanks for being a part of this journey across Europe and the Alphabet guys. 22 letters down, 4 to go (if you include the Wolfsburg Bundesliga win)

[Mark Heath]

Great first season at Wolfsburg, hopefully you can go one better next year. And well done for getting so far through this challenge. I've followed many alphabet challenges on this forum over the years, but I can't recall anyone ever completing it - but I'm starting to believe you're going to see this one right through . KUTGW