The History Bhoys - From the Lisbon Lions to ____?

[mjaferrie]

A scalp indeed!  Just not really what we were looking for...



Yep, that's U.C.D.  The same U.C.D., in fact, that are currently rock bottom of the 2nd tier, and 8 points off their nearest rivals.  

I'm starting to see what you mean about having to tweak these strikerless efforts a lot depending on who you're playing @ManUtd1.  Against teams who should wallop us, we're solid and absorbing the pressure, but U.C.D. didn't set up to have a go at us... work to be done...

[ManUtd1]

Nicely done in Europe!  Yeah, playing a weaker side who will pack the back can be brutal.  It's a really fun style of play, but man...the growing pains can be tough.

[argento]

Just caught up, the move to Ireland will be interesting.  Looking forward to seeing what gems you uncover.  How have Celtic fared since you departed>

[mjaferrie]

12 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Nicely done in Europe!  Yeah, playing a weaker side who will pack the back can be brutal.  It's a really fun style of play, but man...the growing pains can be tough.

I'm going to stick with it for the playoff 2nd leg, it's been doing us well in Europe so far.  I'm expecting Setubal to come out quickly and then try to protect their lead, if they score I think we're basically done.

10 hours ago, argento said:

Just caught up, the move to Ireland will be interesting.  Looking forward to seeing what gems you uncover.  How have Celtic fared since you departed>

Celtic have won the 6 league titles; 4 Scottish Cups (Aberdeen and Kilmarnock lifted the other two); 5 League Cups (Hearts lifting the 6th); and 4 Glasgow Cups with Rangers and Partick Thistle the other two.
In Europe it's been mixed - they reached the Champions League semi final 1 year after I left, the 1st Knockout Round twice and the 1st Knockout round of the Europa League twice after coming 3rd in the CL Groups.  There was one year they didn't qualify for Europe at all, and I'm not sure what happened there as they'd won the league and Scottish Cup... They should have been straight into the Group Stage but not even a qualifier was played, weird.
Kris Commons is still the manager, and now 34 year old Kristoffer Ajer is still captain.  They've also spent about £330m on transfers in the 6 years since I left - I'm not sure where the money is coming from because the league is still only at £5m for lifting the title, and the European progress hasn't been too great.  Scotland are still in 7th in the coefficients, but they're losing points rapidly so that might take a bit of a tumble.  

[mjaferrie]

So, after a narrow 3-2 defeat, we have to beat Setubal by one goal and stop them scoring 2 if we want to progress.  A mighty task against a team with 12 players valued over £1m, most of whom are between £7m and £10.5m, compared to our highest at £110k...

The lineups are announced!  We're sticking with the strikerless formation, will we get the thumping we absolutely deserve, or will we qualify for the Europa League Group Stage for the first time in 21 years?  

[Damian_Rusling]

Brillant thread.  Loved reading about your Celtic career. It's hard enough to win the CL with Celtic (closest I have got is semi final) with no transfer restrictions (apart from money/willingness to come to the SPL) but to do it with all Scottish players is a remarkable feat.

Any tips ?

 

[mjaferrie]

28th minute...

It's Gareth Wright on the right hand side, with an outswinging corner for Shamrock Rovers.  He whips it in!...  No! Willy Priso in the Setubal goal punches it clear.  But only as far as James McLoughlin!  HE SHOOTS!!! Oooohhhh it's blocked!  Richie Nealon-Thornton picks it up, he's unmarked just outside the 6 yard box!  It's a beautiful left foot strike, and it's a GOAL FOR SHAMROCK ROVERS!!!



3-3 on aggregate!  

[mjaferrie]

12 minutes ago, Damian_Rusling said:

Brillant thread.  Loved reading about your Celtic career. It's hard enough to win the CL with Celtic (closest I have got is semi final) with no transfer restrictions (apart from money/willingness to come to the SPL) but to do it with all Scottish players is a remarkable feat.

Any tips ?

 

Cheers man!

I just wrote a whole reply to this and then the battery ran out and I lost it.  So starting over! 

The biggest thing for me was not starving the other "big" clubs of talent.  I couldn't sign from Edinburgh or Aberdeen, which meant Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen were able to hang on to their better prospects, and the same went for Rangers as I usually couldn't get anyone from them because of the rivalry.  It might sound trivial, as they'd usually end up in England anyway, but normally in a Celtic save I'd snap them up as quickly as possible and they'd end up rotting in the reserves while I played the better players I'd signed from abroad.  The other clubs being able to hold onto them for an extra couple of years before they did end up moving on, meant that they had more quality for the European qualifiers, which meant that the coefficient shot up pretty quickly.  This in turn meant that the league reputation increased.
The problem for me wasn't really attracting players to the SPL, as I wasn't signing anyone from abroad anyway, but rather keeping them there.  In the first few seasons I lost most of my best players, and I'm pretty amazed Kristoffer Ajer ended up staying there for the rest of his career (although he was consistently the highest paid player).  The league reputation boost I described before meant that players were happier to stay at the club in later years.  All of this was also helped by the total freak Europa League win in only the 2nd season though, which was just absurd really.

The second part was how do you counter the fact that Scottish players are relatively pretty *****?  I had a few wonderkids - it might be that guys like Oliver Burke in real life have maybe resulted in a small increase for the Scottish intake stats? I have no idea - and I had a couple of world class players in the Champions League winning squad (like Darren Duncan and Christopher Norris) but the reality is that guys like Ryan Christie and Daniel Church were nowhere near that level!  Church ended up scoring the winning goal, if I remember correctly, which is just mental considering how gash he was.  

So, on the whole, I only signed players with minimum 15 determination, and a positive personality.  This meant that their chances of reaching their potential were much higher.  I did occasionally sign players with less desirable personalities, or poor determination, but only if I had appropriate tutors to compensate for it and try and improve them before they hit 24/25, and to be honest most of them didn't get very far.  The determination level of the players, plus Resolute, Professional, Model Pro, etc personalities, meant that their performance level considerably flattered their level of ability.

Other than that man, I don't really know what to say.  Get the tactics right, get the right attitude of players in, and usually you can compensate for a lack of ability.  Most of my players had awesome mental and physical stats, but horrific technicals.  

[mjaferrie]

Anyway!  After that spiel, back to the Europa League - it's been sat at half time for the last half an hour, so here we go!  The score still sits at 1-0, if we can hang on to our lead we're going to the Group Stage!

[mjaferrie]

50th minute... 1-0

60th minute... 1-0

70th minute... 1-0

80th minute... 1-0

90th minute... 1-0

Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh! 4 minutes of stoppage time! We're almost there!!!

[mjaferrie]

You beauty!



We've got GROUP STAGE EUROPEAN FOOTBALL!!!

[mjaferrie]

This is huge for us!

[mjaferrie]

Aha.  Ahaaahhaa.......  aahahaaahahaaa! *Rocks gently in the corner*



@ManUtd1 Game on!

 

[Bedese]

That's just ridiculous  

Congratulations you magician!

[mjaferrie]

59 minutes ago, Jupjamie said:

That's just ridiculous  

Congratulations you magician!

Haha, odds on topping the group? see if we score a single goal I'll be jumping hoops

[clarkehwbu]

that group draw was pretty fair to you! Just read through all this, keep it up!

[BoxToBox]

Magnificent!

[mjaferrie]

59 minutes ago, clarkehwbu said:

that group draw was pretty fair to you! Just read through all this, keep it up!

 

22 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Magnificent!

Cheers lads!

Summer Transfer Window

In all the excitement of the Europa League qualifiers, I completely forgot about the transfer window being open rookie error!!!  I did manage to make one signing right at the beginning, but otherwise no players joined or left us due to me being a tool - I think I need some of those mythical able-to-count staff you were on about @Jupjamie...  So, the only player joining us is Kevin Healy SP16c - a 20 year old born in Dublin who I picked up for £46k from Cabinteely.  He's already our first choice AMC, and has 20 determination and a resolute personality - which means high professionalism too.  A massive find for us at £46k!
Unfortunately, our first choice keeper Ian Johnson won't sign a new deal, and has just agreed a Bosman move to Cheltenham at the end of the season.  He's still here for the Europa Groups, which is great, but we will need to replace him for next season.

[mjaferrie]

Youth Intake Day! 



The second youth intake during my Irish reign brings us Maltese madness on the left wing!







It would seem that the Irish are not very creative when it comes to naming their children.  The name's O'Connor.  Conor O'Connor.

[ManUtd1]

Woohoo! Congrats on making the group stage! Nicely done!

[BoxToBox]

Con O'Connor, good lad.

[mjaferrie]

Splashing some of our European cash! 

[argento]

well done on qualifying! Good to see the money going to good use!

[mjaferrie]

13 hours ago, argento said:

well done on qualifying! Good to see the money going to good use!

Cheers man! 

Here's how the table looks going into the last league game of the season, with 4 teams aiming to win the title on the final day.



We play 11th place Athlone Town, Dundalk face off against Cork, and Derry City have got a home tie against Drogheda.  I'm confident of a win, and I think Derry would be as well, so it looks like the title is going to the north.  For us to win the title we're going to need a draw in Cork and at best a draw for Derry with us getting a win over Athlone Town... It's ticht at the top!

[mjaferrie]

FINAL DAY - 24th October 2032

31st minute...  SHANE WALSH OPENS THE SCORING!  It's Cork City 0 - 1 Dundalk.

34th minute...  We have another goal in Cork!  Luke Brennan makes it TWO for the Dundalk men!

37th minute...  MARK MILLER pulls one back for the Rebel Army!  Cork City 1 - 2 Dundalk.

HALF TIME

So at the break, where do we stand?  It's 0-0 each between ourselves and Athlone Town, while Derry City and Drogheda Utd come into the break with the same scoreline. Combined with Dundalk's 2-1 lead over Cork City, we have a bit of a shake up in the table!

1st - Dundalk, 63 points.
2nd - Derry City, 62.
3rd - Cork City, 61.
4th - Shamrock Rovers, 61. 

We're behind Cork on goal difference, and it's still all to play for heading into the second half!

[mjaferrie]

SECOND HALF

63rd minute...  IT'S MARK MILLER AGAIN FOR CORK!  THEY'RE BACK LEVEL, 2-2!

69th minute... GOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!! Shane Brennan opens the scoring for Shamrock Rovers!  It's Shamrock Rovers 1-0 Athlone Town at Tallaght Stadium.

82nd minute... TRISTIAN FITZGERALD!  Drogheda United have finally broken the deadlock in Derry!  It's Derry City 0 - 1 Drogheda United.

90th minute...

We've reached the end of normal time!!!  As things stand:

1st - Shamrock Rovers, 63 points
2nd - Cork City, 62
3rd - Dundalk, 61
4th - Derry City, 61

Aaaaaaagghh!  If we can scrape through injury time, we're going to win the title!  Derry City have plummeted from 1st to 4th, and they need 2 goals to win the title after going behind against Drogheda.  I can't take this!

[mjaferrie]

90th minute!

IT'S A GOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!

... for Dundalk.

The Lilywhites claim the title for the 13th season in a row, completing a remarkable turnaround for them this year!  They were I think 8 points off the pace at one stage, but have won the title in dramatic fashion with an injury time goal from Anthony Cronin.

As they say here in Ireland: Ah ya bastard. 



Cork losing the game late on means they move down to 4th place, with Derry clinching the 2nd Europa League spot.  The Senior Challenge Cup final is in 6 days, between Sligo Rovers and Dundalk, which means that Cork will only gain a European spot if Dundalk can win the cup and league double.  

[mjaferrie]

Europa League Roundup and Season Review

Well... that went about as well as we could have expected



6 losses from 6 games, but we didn't go down without a fight!  Pretty close games against Udinese, both home and away, and we scored 3 goals at home against ASSE!  We played all our home games at the Aviva Stadium, so hopefully someday we'll be able to buy Tallaght and expand the stadium to play our home games at home.  Overall, I'm delighted with our first outing in European competition!  Qualifying at all for the group stage was a huge overachievement, and we played some really tight games in the groups (as well as a couple of hammerings...).  We've got more than £2m in the bank now, so onwards and upwards!

Not much to say regarding a season review, as I've already covered the end of the league and we exited all cup competitions early in the season, but here's a look at our season's top performers!

Top 5 Young Players of the Season (Players 21 and under at the beginning of the season)
Kevin Healy SP16c - Age 20, Appearances: 25; Goals: 9; Assists: 10; Av. Rating: 7.28
Paul Fegan YP15k - Age 18, Appearances: 3; Goals: 0; Assists: 1; Av. Rating: 7.27
Simon Brennan - Age 20, Appearances: 16(23); Goals: 15; Assists: 6; Av. Rating: 7.11
Gareth Wright SP15b - Age 20, Appearances: 36(3); Goals: 8; Assists: 11; Av. Rating: 7.09
Darren Brown SP16a - Age 17, Appearances: 12(15); Goals: 6; Assists: 5; Av. Rating: 7.05

Notable Mentions
David Brennan YP15b
Alex Mitchell
Joey Connor SP15c
Ryan Bolger SP15a
Alan Murphy YP15g

Performances were not up to the same standards as last year, despite almost winning the title on the final day.  Poor ratings from European competition and the cups probably brought our averages down over the course of the year.
 

Season  |          Club           |     Nation    |         League         |   Position  | Other  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup, Scottish Cup
2017/18 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | League Cup, Europa League
2018/19 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup
2019/20 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup
2020/21 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup
2021/22 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, Scottish Cup, Europa League
2022/23 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup, Scottish Cup
2023/24 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | n.a.
2024/25 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | League Cup, Scottish Cup
2025/26 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup, Champions League
2026/27 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Club World Championship, resigned
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2026/27 |    Nottingham Forest    |    England    |  Sky Bet Championship  |     14th    | (joined with 10 games remaining)
2027/28 |    Nottingham Forest    |    England    |  Sky Bet Championship  |     1st     | n.a.
2028/29 | Nottingham Forest/Wales |    England    | English Premier League |     13th    | n.a.
2029/30 | Nottingham Forest/Wales |    England    | English Premier League |     16th    | n.a.
2030/31 | Nottingham Forest/Wales |    England    | English Premier League |     n.a.    | resigned mid-season
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031    |  Shamrock Rovers/Wales  |    Ireland    | Irish Premier Division |     2nd     | Leinster Senior Cup, Irish Senior Challenge Cup
2032    |  Shamrock Rovers/Wales  |    Ireland    | Irish Premier Division |     2nd     | President's Cup

 

[mjaferrie]

Our reputation is up to 2nd in Ireland (just behind Dundalk) and we've upgraded our Junior Coaching again - alright!

[BoxToBox]

So bloody close!

[mjaferrie]

24 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

So bloody close!

So frustrating!  Especially when our record against them last year was Pl4, W2, D2.

[mjaferrie]

Wales Round Up 2032

So after our disappointing Euro 2032 campaign, which saw us come bottom of our group with only 1 point, we had the European International League to look forward to.  After our promotion last time we are now in Division B, and we were drawn in Group 3 alongside Norway and our great rivals England.  A Scottish guy managing an Irish club and the Welsh national team... too much pressure on these England results!  We were absolutely hammered, 4-1 at Wembley, but we held them to a 0-0 draw back at the Millenium Stadium.  Meanwhile, a home 1-0 win and an away 2-0 loss to Norway means England are promoted to Division A with 10 points, we survive the drop with 4, and Norway are relegated with 3 points.

[mjaferrie]

Season Preview 2033

No President's Cup for us this year, on account of Dundalk winning the league and Sligo Rovers lifting the Challenge Cup, so the trophy was won on penalties by Dundalk after a 2-2 draw.  We did have a Leinster Cup 4th round game against Shelbourne to contend with before the season proper, and we were comfortable 3-1 victors.  Here's all the ins and outs, and a look at the squad heading into my third season in Ireland.

IN

Sam Andrews SP17a (21), born in Dublin - Free from Cabinteely
Eoghan Beattie SP17b (20), born in Dublin - Free from St. Pat's Athletic
Dave Devaney SP17c (18), born in Dublin - £70k from St. Pat's Athletic
Kyle Lyons SP17d (19), born in Dublin - Free from Cabinteely
Michael Murphy SP17e (21), born in Dublin - £81k from Shelbourne
Jason Rowe SP17f (17), born in Dublin - £200k from Dundalk
Reece Ward SP17g (20), born in Celbridge - £300k from Dundalk

Giving some of our league rivals a taste of their own player-poaching medicine, with 3 joining us for free and 2 for a compensation fee.  Dundalk are the only professional team in the league, all the rest are semi-pro, so both lads from up the road joined for reasonable transfer fees.

OUT

Ian Johnson - Free to Cheltenham

The long awaited departure of our number 1 'keeper, as he had agreed a pre contract agreement with them in the summer.

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

Goalkeepers

Barry Moran SP15e IRL (23) - our new number 1 after Johnson's departure.
Nigel O'Brien IRL (21) - After saying I'd play him in the cups for the last 2 seasons, I ended up giving the game time to Alex Mitchell instead, and O'Brien hasn't actually played a single match since more than a year before I even arrived.  He'll be allowed to move on.
Alex Mitchell IRL (18) - the youngster came through our youth ranks a year or two before my arrival, and has been getting increasing game time over the years.  He really is our number 2! 
Verdict:  Solid, surprisingly.  I was worried about Johnson's departure, but Moran is not too far off his standard and should improve in the first team role.

Right Back

Will Thomas IRL (28)
Alan Sexton YP15a (18)
Verdict:  No change here.

Left Back

Mark Frahill IRL (23) - 4CA, 5PA.  He cancelled his transfer request, and is happy at the club for the time being.
James McLoughlin SP16b (18) - 2CA, 5PA.  Coming along, would like to see a bit more development.
Verdict:  No change here either, Carney and Connolly can both drop in here from DC, while new signing Michael Murphy can jump in at right back.

Centre Back

Mark Carney IRL (26) - 2.5CA/PA.  Pushed out by Murphy.
Roberto Connolly IRL (23) - 4CA/PA.  Captain.
Michael Murphy SP17e IRL (21) - 4CA/PA.  The £81k signing is straight into the starting lineup.
Paul Fegan YP16k IRL (18) - Only 2PA, but comes in as cover as we were seriously understrength here.
Verdict:  We have the numbers now to switch back to our usual back 3.  

Right Midfielders/Wingers

Darren Brown SP16a IRL (16) - 5PA.  Straight into the first team.
Alan Murphy YP15g IRL (16) - 2.5PA, not much potential, but comes in for cover.
Verdict:  Will Thomas comes in here if we play with a back 3, or Darren Brown if Thomas is in at right back.

Left Midfielders/Wingers

Chris Murray IRL (23) - 3PA, nothing happening here.  Is still at 1.5CA, and isn't developing at all.  Will be moved on.
Jon Mulcahy YP16e IRL (16) - 2.5CA, 5PA.  The youngster is straight into the first team.
Jonathan Buttigieg YP16a MLT (17) - 1.5CA, 5PA.  Another of last years intake to come straight into the first team.  These guys mean bad news for Murray.
Verdict:  Mulcahy and Buttigieg's quality relegates Graham Davis YP15e to the youth team, but with Murray likely on the way out he will be back in and about the first team squad pretty soon.  We're seriously strong in this position after this years intake!

Defensive and Central Midfield

Colin Breen IRL (31) -  3CA/PA. Solid anchor man, but on the way out.
Timmy Keohane IRL (26) -  3CA/PA. Still around after a few bids in almost every transfer window so far.  Nothing worth considering.
Niall Liburd IRL (26) - 3CA/PA.
Ryan Bolger SP15a IRL (19) - 5PA.  Another guy who has retracted his transfer request.  Fickle wee bastard.
Verdict:  We're okay here for now, with Adam Farrell SP15d waiting on the sidelines.

Attacking Midfielders

Richie Nealon-Thornton IRL (23) - 3CA / 4PA, a drop in CA could mean that he still has room to improve, as I haven't noticed any major attribute drops.  That can only be good news, right?...
Gareth Wright SP15b IRL (20) - 3.5CA / 5PA, First choice when we're playing the 4-2-3-1 or the 3-5-1-1.  
Kevin Healy SP16c IRL (20) - 3CA / 4.5PA.
David Brennan YP15b IRL (19) - 2CA / 4.5PA.
Verdict:  With the move to a strikerless system following several injuries to strikers last season, we needed numbers here.  Brennan moved up from the U19s, and Healy was signed midseason to provide us with strength in depth, and we play with 3 AMCs, they get significant game time.

Strikers

John Heffernan IRL (29) - 3CA/PA, offered him out in the window, but nothing doing.
Steve Roberts IRL (23) - 3.5PA, only at 2CA and his low determination is preventing him from developing fully.
Simon Brennan IRL (20) - 4CA, 5PA, first choice.
Joey Connor SP15c IRL (20) - 4CA, 5PA, first choice.
Verdict:  I recalled Connor after the other 3 faced time out in the middle of last season, and with the quality of himself and Brennan, I'd be happy to let the other two leave.

[mjaferrie]

Mid Season Report

Form in the league has been pretty good and it puts us firmly as the 'best of the rest', in 2nd place, 3 points ahead of 3rd place Drogheda United.  Unfortunately, despite our own good form, Dundalk are so far unbeaten in the league, with 15 wins and 3 draws from their 18 games which puts them 14 points ahead of ourselves!  After last season's troubles, they are absolutely running away with the league and it looks like the best we can hope for there is a 2nd place finish for the 3rd season in a row.





A 2-1 loss to Bohemians in the League Cup puts us out at the 2nd round again this season.  We got our revenge against them by the same scoreline in an extra time win in the Leinster Cup Semi Final, before going on to lose 3-0 and watch Dundalk lift the trophy.  Stephen Kenny is becoming the bane of my existence here in Ireland!  He's been Dundalk's manager since 2012, after leaving Shamrock Rovers no less.

The transfer window opens in 2 days, but before that we're heading off to Bosnia for a game against FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo in the Europa League 1st Qualifying Round!

[mjaferrie]

Bloody hell!

[mjaferrie]

Finished the job in style.



And we're rewarded with a difficult tie in Poland!

[mjaferrie]

A much tighter round, but a win is a win!





On a side note, given that 3 of our best 11 players currently are Joey Connor, Simon Brennan and John Heffernan, all of whom are strikers, it doesn't make much sense to continue with the strikerless tactic for now.  In fact, it's one extreme to another, as we line up in what I can only describe as a 4-3-3 on speed.  I have completely abandoned any romantic notion of 'principle' when it comes to my tactics this season, and this is a case of a very deep defensive line, hoofing the ball up to our 3 or 4 front men.  It's ugly, it's terrible football, we concede 4 goals to Limerick with it, but then we score 12 in 2 legs against a Bosnian team in Europe... It's quite mental!

[BoxToBox]

Excellent work in Europe!

[mjaferrie]

Ouch.  I have a feeling that will be our European adventure over for this season.  These guys have qualified for the Champions League Groups frequently over the years, in fact they put Rangers out of the CL qualifiers a couple of years ago, but drop into the Europa League this season on account of FC Kobenhavn winning the Superliga...  Do we go gung ho with our war of attrition tactic, or do I play it a bit more sensibly and try and nick a win?

[mjaferrie]

3 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Excellent work in Europe!

Thanks man!  It's a great year for Irish football.  Dundalk are through to the Champions League 3rd qualifying round against Sparta Prague, we play Brondby who eliminated Northern Irish side Glentoran in the previous round, and Derry City are through to the 3rd round in the Europa with us, facing off against Besiktas!  Sligo Rovers made it through the first round but lost 1-0 in both games against Slavia Prague in the 2nd round.  The coefficient has seen some boost though!  As it stands Ireland are moving up 5 spots to 29th.

[mjaferrie]

Hey, it isn't mission impossible going into the 2nd leg back at home!  What an incredible result in Denmark!  A 2-0 loss to Dundalk sandwiched between the 0-0 draw to Lech and this game though, means that we haven't won for 3 matches and our morale has taken a hit... We've got a home game against St. Pat's before the return leg, so hopefully we can get a positive result heading into the game against Brondby...

[mjaferrie]

Despite going down to 10 men in the 35th minute, we scraped through a 2-1 win over St. Pat's Athletic and went into the Brondby game with a bit more confidence.  We needed to win by 2 goals, and in reality it was just too much to ask from the Tallaght lads.



We put up one hell of a fight over the 2 legs!  But it wasn't to be.  No playoffs this year, which means no group stage either, but with the incredible performances of other Irish teams this year our coefficient has seen a pretty might boost!  Dundalk and Derry City are both eliminated at this stage as well, but our performances have given us 3.000 points this year.  To put that in context, our run to the Group Stage last year only gave Ireland 2.375 points, and the highest in the 5 years before I'd taken over was 1.650.  Things are looking pretty good on the Emerald Isle!

[mjaferrie]

Big news, this will give us the opportunity to upgrade the stadium in the future and get more bums on seats.

[mjaferrie]

Youth Intake Day 2033

Not great, this year.  Hopefully it's more of a reflection of the increase in ability of the current squad, rather than these guys being overly sub-par.  Some cracking personalities though.

[mjaferrie]

Jaysis.  Dundalk have just won the title with 7 games left to play... Not quite the final day drama of last year!

[mjaferrie]

Season Review 2033

Well, with 7 games left to play, Dundalk claim the title by a staggering 22 points.  They certainly weren't messing about!  We were a solid 2nd place, with 10 points between us and Sligo Rovers, who edged the 3rd place from Derry City by 1 point.  Certainly not the exhilarating finish of last year, when only 2 points separated 1st and 4th.  This year, that gap is a massive 33 points!



We were in pretty poor form after the Europa League exit, with defeats against Dundalk, Limerick, Bohemians and Sligo Rovers in the league, and a defeat to Derry City in a replayed Quarter Final tie in the Challenge Cup.  No silverware at all this season, and still only 2nd place in the league, but we are slowly and surely improving.  We have the same points total as last year, albeit with more wins, and steady improvements across the board of the team this year.  We also went on an incredible run of form in the close season, with six wins from eight including a massive 4-1 final day victory over the Champions.  Nothing like raining on their parade!



End of Season Departures

Our midfield stalwarts, Timmy Keohane and Niall Liburd both move on, as they're at the end of their contracts and want a non-contract, 1.5k per game deal.  They're both first team regulars, so that would mean blowing around 15-20% of our budget on two players, both of whom are only 2.5CA/PA... That's not something we can afford at this stage, even without the quality to come in and replace them.  We're going to have to have a tactical rethink for next season, likely moving to a DM pair instead of the CM pair we're used to.  Darren Brown SP16a also leaves us on a free to Raith Rovers, which is a massive kick in the teeth as I only signed him a year ago for £105k.

Top 5 Young Players of the Season (Players 21 and under at the beginning of the season)
Simon Brennan - Age 21, Appearances: 38(2); Goals: 34; Assists: 9; Av. Rating: 7.55
Kevin Healy SP16c - Age 21, Appearances: 29(7); Goals: 14; Assists: 8; Av. Rating: 7.36
Joey Connor SP15c - Age 21, Appearances: 25(11); Goals: 23; Assists: 2; Av. Rating: 7.16
Michael Murphy SP17e - Age 22, Appearances: 37; Goals: 1; Assists: 1; Av. Rating: 7.14
Gareth Wright SP15b - Age 20, Appearances: 29(11); Goals: 5; Assists: 5; Av. Rating: 7.04

Notable Mentions
Alex Mitchell
Ryan Bolger SP15a
Kyle Lyons SP17d
James McLoughlin SP16b
Alan Sexton YP15a

Disappointed with the lack of our own players making waves so far, but hopefully that will change soon.  Some much better performances across the board though!
 

Season  |          Club           |     Nation    |         League         |   Position  | Other  
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2016/17 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup, Scottish Cup
2017/18 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | League Cup, Europa League
2018/19 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup
2019/20 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup
2020/21 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup
2021/22 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, Scottish Cup, Europa League
2022/23 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup, Scottish Cup
2023/24 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | n.a.
2024/25 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | League Cup, Scottish Cup
2025/26 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Glasgow Cup, League Cup, Champions League
2026/27 |         Celtic          |    Scotland   | Scottish Division One  |     1st     | Club World Championship, resigned
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2026/27 |    Nottingham Forest    |    England    |  Sky Bet Championship  |     14th    | (joined with 10 games remaining)
2027/28 |    Nottingham Forest    |    England    |  Sky Bet Championship  |     1st     | n.a.
2028/29 | Nottingham Forest/Wales |    England    | English Premier League |     13th    | n.a.
2029/30 | Nottingham Forest/Wales |    England    | English Premier League |     16th    | n.a.
2030/31 | Nottingham Forest/Wales |    England    | English Premier League |     n.a.    | resigned mid-season
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031    |  Shamrock Rovers/Wales  |    Ireland    | Irish Premier Division |     2nd     | Leinster Senior Cup, Irish Senior Challenge Cup
2032    |  Shamrock Rovers/Wales  |    Ireland    | Irish Premier Division |     2nd     | President's Cup
2033    |  Shamrock Rovers/Wales  |    Ireland    | Irish Premier Division |     2nd     | n.a.

 

[mjaferrie]

Wales 2033 Round Up

This year it was all about the World Cup qualifiers, and we were drawn in Group 2, with Holland, Austria, Macedonia, Faroe Islands and Liechtenstein.  Unfortunately, despite only 2 losses throughout the whole campaign, our 2nd place spot wasn't enough to qualify.  We ended up with 20 points, which put us down in 8th with 14 points in the 2nd place table.







So no international tournament for us next summer, but we'll hopefully be ready for the Euros in a couple of years!

[mjaferrie]

Season Preview 2034

For some reason this season, the domestic league has started around 3 weeks later than normal, so before we kick off against Bohemians we had the Leinster Cup and League Cup to contend with.  A classy 2-0 victory over Dundalk in the 4th round of the Leinster Cup set up a Quarter Final clash against Bray Wanderers, who we dispatched 5-2.  Meanwhile, though, the league cup continues to be our kryptonite, as we crash out at the first round 3-2 against Longford.  It's the only available cup I haven't won with Shamrock Rovers (I'll need to take over another club in Ireland to have a crack at the Munster Cup) and it's frustrating to keep falling at the first hurdles.  Anyway, we're through to the Semis in the Leinster Cup where we'll play Shelbourne.



There has come a point at every club I've managed so far where I felt the need to wield the axe and get rid of some of the dead wood in our squad.  At Shamrock Rovers, we don't have the numbers that we had at Celtic or Nottingham, so I need to be a bit more careful about how liberal I get when it comes to moving players on, but with Liburd and Keohane leaving us at the end of last season, it felt like now was the right time.   In terms of players coming the other way, only 1 joins us in central midfield to replace the 2 we lose.

IN

Ian Harker SP18a (19), born in Wicklow - £77k from Derby



Looks like he could develop into a class act!

OUT

Paul Fegan YP15k - end of contract
Chris Murray - Released
Nigel O'Brien - Released
Steve Roberts - Released

Doesn't look like much of an exodus really, does it?  But when you add Liburd and Keohane into the mix, this represents 20% of our squad heading for the exit door.  I tried to shift John Heffernan as well, but a loan deal to Chester was the only offer and he rejected the contract.  He'll leave us at the end of the season when his contract expires.  He's one of our best players, but we have another 2 strikers who are better and he's 31, so we can afford to lose him.

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

Goalkeepers

Barry Moran SP15e IRL (24) - after a year of 1st team football, he's developing into a monster between the sticks.  4CA, 4.5PA.
Alex Mitchell IRL (19) - 4PA, plenty of room to develop and is a consistent performer when he gets his chance.
Verdict:  Happy with this, and there are plenty of years ahead for these lads.

Right Back

Will Thomas IRL (29) - 3CA/PA.
Alan Sexton YP15a (19) - 1CA, 3PA.  Not really developing due to a lack of game time.
Verdict:  No change again.

Left Back

Mark Frahill IRL (25) - 4CA/PA.  Probably the best player at the club.
James McLoughlin SP16b (19) - 2CA, 4.5PA.  Would like to see more from him this season after not really progressing last year.
Verdict:  No change here either.  Will need someone in to replace Thomas at RB eventually.

Centre Back

Mark Carney IRL (27) - 3CA/PA.  A bit of a rogue, plays extremely well, or extremely poorly.
Roberto Connolly IRL (24) - 3CA, 3.5PA. A sharp decline in CA for some reason, despite not showing it in his attributes.
Michael Murphy SP17e IRL (22) - 4CA/PA. First choice.
Ken Lynch-Clarke YP17g IRL (16) - 2.5PA, in as backup.
Verdict:  We're pretty solid here.  Would prefer to have a more reliable backup than L-C though.

Right Midfielders/Wingers

Verdict:  We lost Darren Brown to Raith Rovers and Alan Murphy was released at the beginning of last season meaning it's a ghost town in this area of the park.  Will Thomas drops in at right midfield, meaning Alan Sexton will get much more game time at right back.  Meanwhile, Eoghan Beattie SP17b and Jonathan Buttigieg YP16a can deputise from the left wing.

Left Midfielders/Wingers

Jon Mulcahy YP16e IRL (17) - 2.5CA, 5PA.  Subject to multiple bids during the window but nothing worth accepting.  Signed a new contract so will hopefully be here for a while.
Jonathan Buttigieg YP16a MLT (17) - 1.5CA, 5PA.  Will get much more game time following Murray's release.
Verdict:  These guys are solid, and we have Graham Davis and Eoghan Beattie waiting for their chance.

Defensive and Central Midfield

Colin Breen IRL (32) -  2.5CA/PA.  This ol' man's on the way out.
Ryan Bolger SP15a IRL (20) - 5PA.  We're pretty lucky this guy's still around.
Ian Harker SP18a IRL (19) - 5PA.  Straight into the first team after joining from Derby.
David Brennan YP15b IRL (19) - 4.5PA.  Drops into central midfield from AMC.
Verdict:  Lost 2 big players here, so the youngsters need to step up.  We also have Adam Farrell SP15d and Dave Devaney SP17c lurking, so we're not short in numbers.

Attacking Midfielders

Richie Nealon-Thornton IRL (24) - 2.5CA / 3.5PA, another concerning drop in both CA and PA...
Gareth Wright SP15b IRL (21) - 3CA / 5PA, solid choice.
Kevin Healy SP16c IRL (21) - 3.5CA / 4.5PA.  First choice now when we only play with 1 in this position.
Verdict:  We're pretty strong here, with David Brennan a regular in this position too.

Strikers

John Heffernan IRL (31) - 3CA/PA, offered him out in the window, but nothing doing.
Simon Brennan IRL (21) - 4CA/PA, first choice.
Joey Connor SP15c IRL (21) - 4CA, 5PA, first choice.
Verdict:  Steve Roberts' release is the only change here.  Heffernan will leave at the end of the season to make way for Reece Ward SP17g, Kyle Lyons SP17d or Paul Clarke YP17h.  As it is, Lyons and Ward have been playing the cup games.

So that's where we stand heading into the new year!  Hopefully we can bounce back from our early League Cup exit and do well in the other competitions.  A 2-0 win over Dundalk in the first game of the season will hopefully set them off on a slow start in the league as well, a 22 point lead for them is all a bit underwhelming for everyone else innit?  (says the Celtic fan.....)

[mjaferrie]

Mid Season Report

We're not quite at the Europa League qualifiers yet, which has been my traditional mid season break point for the last couple of years, but we have the small matter of a Leinster Cup Final against St. Pat's Athletic to contend with first!  We have been absolutely lethal so far this season!  It's now two years since we switched to strikerless football, and in that time Joey Connor and Simon Brennan have been successfully retrained in the AMC position (both were fairly decent anyway).  We had a break from it last season due to our strength in depth in the forward area, but with these two lads now competent in attacking midfield, and Heffernan being released at the end of the season, I felt like it was time to reinstate it this year.  After reading a lot of @ManUtd1's story, and therefore delving in depth to the Strikerless blog as well, I feel a bit more confident with making the changes according to our own strengths, and adapting according to the opposition's set up.

So, we keep the same 'formation', but with the following changes:

• Dropped the enganche for a straight up Attacking Midfielder on support duty.  He takes the role of a sort of 'target man' in game, and in fact our keeper is set to distribute straight to him.
• The CM with defend duty is replaced with a Ball Winning Midfielder on Support + the inverted wing backs are instead a DFB on the left and a FB(S) on the right.  Previously, the inverted wing backs drifted inside as auxiliary central midfielders, which allowed the defensive central midfielder to drop deep and sit in between the midfield and defensive lines.  Keeping the full backs out wide, means the sweeper often occupies that space instead, which in turns means we don't need the central midfielder to drop as deep as before.  
• The libero is reverted to a straight up Sweeper, as the only sweepers I have available are Roberto Connolly and Mark Carney who are both retrained centre backs with pretty uncreative stats.  

In terms of player instructions, I've gone back to having a Higher defensive line as with our other tactics unless we're playing much stronger opposition.  So far, the only real challenge for us has been Dundalk, who we'd already defeated 2-0 in the league.  Our match at home against them in the league finished as a 4-3 win - while we dropped deeper they were still finding too much space and we're going to have to have a much more serious look at it in the run up to the European qualifiers.  The only other change is to ease off how narrow we were playing, as with the full backs now looking for space out on the flanks rather than through the middle of the park I want to make as much use of the width as possible. 



It's not quite perfect yet, but I think it's the best system I've had so far at Shamrock Rovers in terms of suiting the players we have available, and man it's been effective!



We've only been beaten once in the league so far (as opposed to 4 times at this stage last season) in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Shelbourne, who are right up in 3rd place this season.  It's been a pretty mental year so far, with regular top 5ers Cork City and Derry City in the bottom 3, and Cork City in fact bottom of the table.  



So next up is the Leinster Cup final and then into the Europa League qualifiers.  The draw isn't until after the LC final, so I don't know where we're headed just yet.

[mjaferrie]

Oh yeah!



Oh ****!