Feliks Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Introduction The challenge I will be is quite well-known and unoriginal, but nonetheless, I have always wanted to achieve it on Football Manager. On FIFA, it took me about 8 years with an OP youth recruitment and training regiment. In FM, I anticipate it will take a bit longer. The Lisbon Lions were the 1967 Celtic side that won the European Cup against Internazionale in, you guessed it, Lisbon. The remarkable thing about this side was that every member of the side was born within 30 miles of Glasgow. It was the most comprehensive homegrown side in football's history. And thus my challenge is to recreate their glory, taking Celtic to a Champions League triumph with a team comprised of players born within 30 miles of the club. Rules - only players born within 30 miles of Glasgow can be signed - the same rule applies for youth candidates - if a reasonable offer comes in for a player that doesn't meet these qualifications, it must be accepted Guidelines - the original Lions were famed for their attacking play, so playing attacking free-flowing football is advised - always prioritise European football over domestic football I've had a couple of cracks at this, so let's hope I can finish it off this FM. Hope you guys enjoy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 26, 2017 Author Share Posted December 26, 2017 Season 1: 2017/18 Results It was a successful season all up with a domestic treble being added to the trophy cabinet. We ended up finishing 3rd in our Champions League group and did well to reach the Round of 16 in the Europa League. To score over 150 goals was a huge plus as well in keeping with my desire to play an attacking brand of football. Transfers We signed a lot of players from around Glasgow in varying roles. John McGinn, Charlie Mulgrew, Stephen Kingsley and Jamie Murphy are all definitely in the picture for selection each week, with Murray Wallace, Jai Quitongo, Greg Docherty and Lewis Morgan not far off. Zander Clark is a cheap goalkeeper backup, whilst Harry Cochrane, James Scott and Tony Gallacher are all high potential youngsters. We paid for this (and more) by a number of big sales that totalled £68 million. Kieran Tierney for 25m was the biggest but none of the players deemed irreplaceable and we managed to fund new youth facilities with the money as well. Youth Intake I was only really impressed with 1 youngster in a bit of a disappointing youth intake. Scott McDonald is a Glaswegian who impressed me with his great physical ability. It means I can focus exclusively on those **** technicals. Having 19 determination will no doubt help though. Better Players Scott Sinclair was an absolute superstar and it's really a shame he's a Pom. He topped the team and league in goals and assists from a left wing, and teamed up brilliantly with Leigh Griffiths - another player who's born outside of the radius. Patrick Roberts, Tom Rogic and Craig Gordon all also had stellar seasons, but in terms of actual Lisbon Lions, we had strong performances from Liam Henderson, Charlie Mulgrew and young Anthony Ralston, who came from nowhere to play 35 games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Season 2: 2018/19 Results It was a slightly more disappointing season but we still pick up 2 trophies and win the league comfortably. There were a few horror results in there, including a 6-2 loss to Rangers and a 5-1 cup-ending loss to Aberdeen, but some of them were racked up to my assistant manager while I holidayed. We did well to make the Europa League again but got a horror draw in Bayern and inevitably dropped out. Transfers There were so many transfers out I couldn't fit them all, although most of them were loans. We continued to slowly remove non-Lisbon Lions with the sales of Ryan Christie and Kouassi Eboue, and then PSG came knocking for Kristoffer Ajer and paid out his release clause. In January, we lost a couple of attacking midfielders in Tom Rogic and Stuart Armstrong and at the end of the season we released Scott Brown, Cristian Gamboa, Nadir Ciftci and Dedryck Boyata, leaving us with just 5 non-Lisbon Lions. In terms of transfers in, I'll start with the youth. I scoured Scotland in search of top quality regens to sign and came up with a few. The most promising so far seems to be Gary Jack, a young striker from Alloa Athletic who cost just £3k. Jimmy Marsh was the most expensive at £130k but for good reason, considering in his loan spell he played a full season at Premiership level for Falkirk. His teammate Robbie McLean also signed for us, as did St Mirren's John O'Keefe and Aberdeen's Ian Maguire, and I looked to rectify a poor youth intake last season. I picked up a couple of free backup options to bolster the squad. Tony Watt returned to the club for the first time since 2013 to deputise for Leigh Griffiths, whilst Ali Crawford has been a solid contributor at Hamilton for many seasons. David Marshall was transfer-listed at Hull, which spurred me to sign him, and after the departure of Ajer I was light on centre backs, which saw me pick up Jordan McGhee. Then, at the end of the deadline day, I finally bagged my main transfer target, Liam Lindsay. Yes, that's an exorbitant price, but he is literally the only good centre back option I don't already have. Youth Intake I was a lot happier with my youth intake this season, picking up 4 quality youth players. The most exciting are a potential strike partnership for years to come in Andy Munro and Alan McGowan. They're both uncannily similar in terms of attributes and most importantly both of them can bag a goal or two, so I'm very excited to see them develop. I also picked up a midfielder in Ewan McKenzie, who can I see becoming a great box-to-box midfielder in the future, and a goalkeeper in Craig WIlson. Better Players Scott Sinclair was again our best player and by far and I'm not looking forward to seeing how we go without him. Anthony Ralston and Stephen Kingsley were ever present on the flanks, whilst Johnny Hayes had an improved season as a right winger. Good to see 5 Lisbon Lions in that XI this season (Mulgrew, Ralston, Lindsay, Kingsley, McGinn), up from 2 last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Season 3: 2019/20 Results Another title win but in terms of our performance we seem to be heading backwards. This is almost certainly down to 2 factors: one, the quality of players will take a dip in between losing our good foreigners and developing our gun youngsters; two, I've been holidaying a lot to get through the save quickly. I think next season I'll manage more games to avoid situations like losing the Cup final and being bundled out 9-3 on aggregrate to Lazio in the Europa League. Transfers We continue our sale of foreigners and non-Glaswegians and lose two of our better servants across the save in Israeli Nir Bitton and our star striker, Leigh Griffiths of Edinburgh. Ntcham is someone I've been wanting to offload for a while, and not included are about 15 loans out to give some players more experience. Now, the transfers in, and by far the one I was most excited about was Brad McLean. Look at those stats for that age! At 16, he came in for a pittance and instantly replaced Leigh Griffiths. He could easily become a club legend and captain the side to a Champions League trophy if he sticks around long enough. I also picked up another couple of youngsters in Scott Johnston and Steven Robertson, both from Livingston, to add to my bevy of future stars. Finally, I picked up Motherwell's Chris Cadden, a youngish right back to replace the outgoing Cristian Gamboa. Youth Intake It was another solid but not spectacular youth intake for the club. Callum Malin has been labelled the best prospect, a hard working and pacy left winger, but there's also promising signs in striker Greig Docherty and attacking midfielder Liam Kenneth. Better Players Scott Sinclair swept the awards for the third year in a row, winning Player of the Year for both the league and the club as well as being our top scorer. Brad MacLean had a terrific season as well, bagging 32 goals at the age of 16, whilst Ali Crawford continued his meteoric rise to Celtic stardom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Like this!! Young Maclean looks unreal!!! How’s cochrane done? I’m currently hearts and he has looked bright so far! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 17 hours ago, SixPointer said: Like this!! Young Maclean looks unreal!!! How’s cochrane done? I’m currently hearts and he has looked bright so far! Yeah MacLean looks amazing! That work rate is brilliant too. Cochrane has been developing nicely in the Under-20s and this year I'll get to see how he goes in the senior squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 30, 2017 Author Share Posted December 30, 2017 Season 4: 2020/21 Results A mixed bag of results but ultimately we have another two trophies under our belt. In the league, we had a poor start but finished with our best points tally since the first season, when we had our best squad. Rangers pushed us hard, and for once, we went into the Champions Phase without being champions but I don't think it was ever in doubt and those 102 goals are a testament to our increased attacking power. We got knocked out of continental competition at the UCL Group Stage, but considering we had a group of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Roma, I think it was a brilliant effort to finish 4th with 2 wins. League Cup was an easy trophy, but it was a bit disappointing to get knocked out of the Scottish Cup. Nevertheless, another positive season. Transfers It was a very uneventful transfer window compared to recent seasons with Scott Sinclair being our only non-Lisbon Lion in the squad. Billy Gilmour is a very talented young Scot from Chelsea that I want to loan in in order to make him like the club more for a potential move down the track, while Robert Snodgrass brings some experience to the right wing and should comfortably see out his career at Celtic Park (note that his screenshot was taken at the end of this season, his pace wasn't that bad when I signed him). On the out were James Scott and Mikey Johnston, a couple of youngsters who just didn't quite make it into the squad but should definitely be good enough for a club like Hibernian. Youth Intake This season we picked up just the two hot prospects. Ross Thomson looms as a solid ball-winning midfielder, although that determination is a big worry, and Dylan Leyden adds to our impressive stock of goalkeepers. Better Players Scott Sinclair has won our Player of the Year for the fourth time in four seasons and is a bona fide Celtic legend. This season was the first in which he was outscored though, with young Brad McLean registering his second consecutive 30 goal season at just 17. Anthony Ralston had a great season at right back, as well as John McGinn and Chris Cadden through the midfielder. Jimmy Marsh was the interesting one, coming into the first team as an 18 year old goalkeeper and doing solidly if not spectacularly. With the exception of Scott Sinclair, that is a squad born within 30 miles of Celtic Park. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajcardall Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Good luck with this, enjoyed the story so far. That last Champions League group was murder, that was unlucky! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Gilmour looks insane. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Interesting save. I love the idea Couple questions 1) As someone not in Scotland, what regions are considered 30 miles from Glasgow. 2) Supposing a player from your intake is not from the region, does that still count Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 17 minutes ago, kidthekid said: Interesting save. I love the idea Couple questions 1) As someone not in Scotland, what regions are considered 30 miles from Glasgow. 2) Supposing a player from your intake is not from the region, does that still count http://obeattie.github.io/gmaps-radius/?lat=55.850667&lng=-4.206111&z=9&u=mi&r=30 EDIT: That link didn't work too well.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 19 hours ago, ajcardall said: Good luck with this, enjoyed the story so far. That last Champions League group was murder, that was unlucky! Cheers mate! Yeah, really put us at a disadvantage but to pick up wins against Real and P$G was good to see. 18 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Gilmour looks insane. Definitely! One of the better Scottish prospects, and even though he does look great, I'm hoping he's marginally not good enough for the Chelsea squad and joins us. 2 hours ago, kidthekid said: Interesting save. I love the idea Couple questions 1) As someone not in Scotland, what regions are considered 30 miles from Glasgow. 2) Supposing a player from your intake is not from the region, does that still count As you've already seen, BoxToBox has cleared it up. Just basically a 30 mile radius. I check their place of birth and if it's within that radius, they can stay. If they're a regen in my intake not born within the radius, I can't sign them. Luckily most of them are, but still. 2 hours ago, BoxToBox said: http://obeattie.github.io/gmaps-radius/?lat=55.850667&lng=-4.206111&z=9&u=mi&r=30 EDIT: That link didn't work too well.... Cheers man! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Glad to help! I set the centre point at Celtic Park too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Season 5: 2021/22 Results All things considering, it was probably our most disappointing all-round season, winning just the league this time around. We were embarrassed 4-1 by Rangers in the League Cup final and were bundled out of the Scottish Cup for the second season in a row by Partick Thistle. We came 3rd in a UCL group of Juventus, Atletico and Porto, which is a huge plus, yet were soundly defeated 5-1 over 2 legs by Everton. Without the distractions, we romped to another league title by 28 points which was good but I want to see us take that next step in terms of continental achievement. Believe me, if I wasn't doing a Lisbon Lions save I could probably buy a Champions League trophy. But, we soldier on. Transfers As usual, I poached the smaller club's better players made investments in the smaller Scottish clubs and picked up a few gun youngsters. No but seriously, I don't even negotiate past the clubs' initial offer and I'm actually doing them a favour . Neil Kirkwood adds to my harem of strikers and looks pretty well-rounded with a bit more height than the other players. Craig Wilson, much like Brad MacLean before him, comes in and immediately slots into the first team at just 17, a great accomplishment for a goalkeeper. Grant Murdoch is a bit of a raw prospect for a centre back, but we'll need them in the next few seasons, as is Billy Gemmell from Falkirk, who actually played in the senior squad for most of the season. No one left on a transfer, but we did have David Marshall retire and a number of players released. Conor Hazard retired after not finding a club, Kundai Benyu went to MK Dons, Jordan McGhee went to Birmingham and Calvin Miller went to Partick Thistle. Youth Intake There were no players inducted this time around, with the two decent prospects being a goalkeeper (of which I have too many) and a gun centre mid born 6 miles outside of my radius. Better Players I consistently bend the rules of this save by not releasing Scott Sinclair, and I refuse to until he retires. For the fifth consecutive season, Sinclair won the club's Player of the Year and also too back his mantle of top scorer. At 33, he continues to excel and it will be a sad day when he finally hangs up the boots. Other players that impressed me this season were Liam Henderson, who at 26 finally had his breakout season, Murray Wallace, who stood up and became a great first team centre back, and Tony Gallacher, who has matured into a reliable and dependable backup who this season outperformed Stephen Kingsley when he was on the pitch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 The First 5 Years I figured now that I'm 5 seasons into the save I might as well have a bit of an overview of my time at the club and show you things I haven't shown you in my season updates. Finances and Facilities Large quantities of player sales, very small transfer outlays and consistent Champions League TV revenue have left us in an amazing financial position. We're one of the richest clubs in Britain, and like I said, if I wanted to I could easily build a CL winning squad in a couple of seasons. However, most of that money instead pours into our facilities, which now looks like this: We've increased Celtic Park's capacity from 60,000 to 75,000, and I want to continue expanding it rather than building a new stadium, due to the 135 year history of the place. We now have state-of-the-art training and youth facilities, which I think are the highest? We definitely have the best junior coaching and youth recruitment possible, and so I expect some top quality regens to start filtering through in the next few seasons. Player Performance Our overall best eleven has a grand total of 8 Lisbon Lions, which is great to see. You can see from the stats just how important Scott Sinclair has been to this club, being one of only 3 players to play over 200 games in the past 5 seasons (the others being John McGinn and Anthony Ralston). I think, despite my want for a Lisbon Lion overall best eleven, Sinclair will probably always be there. Here are the players that have become legends, icons or favoured personnel at the club: Legends: Scott SinclairIcons: NoneFavoured Personnel: Callum McGregor, John McGinn, Ali Crawford Manager History and Trophy Cabinet 298 games, 205 won. Not a bad record. And to have scored around 2.5 goals a game during that time is great to see as well, considering my desire to play fast paced attacking football. In my time at the club, I've won 5 consecutive league titles, 4 League Cups and 1 Scottish Cup, with the furthest European venture being the Europa League Round of 16 on 2 occasions. Tactics I've used this trusty 4-2-3-1 for the past 5 seasons but next season I'm changing it up. Robert Snodgrass and Jamie Murphy will be leaving the club, leaving me with only Scott Sinclair as an out and out winger. That, along with the fact I have a lot of strikers, means I will be trying out a 4-3-3 for season 2022/23. Internationals With the 2022 World Cup just around the corner, it was great to see a whopping 9 Celtic players make the final Scotland squad. Those players are Murray Wallace, Liam Lindsay, Stephen Kingsley, Anthony Ralston, Craig Wilson, Brad MacLean, John McGinn, Callum McGregor and Harry Cochrane and they continue a long history of dominating the Scottish national side. Here's a list of players and their caps for Scotland in my squad. Liam Lindsay (37), Anthony Ralston (36), John McGinn (35), Callum McGregor (31), James Forrest (25), Brad MacLean (23), Stephen Kingsley (17), Murray Wallace (16), Jai Quitongo (9), Harry Cochrane (8), Chris Cadden (6), Craig Wilson (5) Next update I'll give you an in-depth look at my squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellandroadhero Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 This is great. I hope you get a good CL run soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Season 6: 2022/23 Results Our new 3-striker tactic certainly brought the goals, with 100 scored on our way to another big league win, but we were also suspect at the back including an 8-2 loss to Benfica. We failed to make Europa League this season, lost the Scottish Cup and League Cup, and it turned out to be a pretty disappointing season. However, that firepower makes me optimistic, and with such a young and promising squad, I hope we can push forward in the next few seasons. Transfers We brought no players in this season, and the only player leaving was Jack Aitchison on a free, who just didn't quite cut it after a prolonged time in the youth squad. Youth Intake We picked up 2 quality youth prospects this season. Joseph Bull looks like a great centre mid/attacking mid prospect who already has great key stats, and Danny White is a ready-made centre back who could feature next season. Better Players As you can see, those 3 strikers worked very well with one another, especially Jai Quitongo, who became the first player other than Scott Sinclair to win Player of the Year. Harry Cochrane became a dominant force through midfield, whilst John McGinn had another strong season as well as centre back Murray Wallace. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Looks like the academy's finally paying off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 55 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: Looks like the academy's finally paying off. To be fair, we have poached a lot of youngsters from other clubs. Scott Johnston is from Livingston, Gary Jack from Alloa, Brad MacLean from St Johnstone etc. But hey, who said this was a youth academy challenge? If they're born within 30 miles, they're fair game. And when you're the richest club in Scotland by about 84m over Rangers and 107m over the rest, you can buy whoever you damn well please. I will take credit for the development of Quitongo, Cochrane and Ralston though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 2 minutes ago, Feliks said: To be fair, we have poached a lot of youngsters from other clubs. Scott Johnston is from Livingston, Gary Jack from Alloa, Brad MacLean from St Johnstone etc. But hey, who said this was a youth academy challenge? If they're born within 30 miles, they're fair game. And when you're the richest club in Scotland by about 84m over Rangers and 107m over the rest, you can buy whoever you damn well please. Oh! Definitely no problem there, I'm just saying the last Youth Intake looks like you got some real quality in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 6 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: Oh! Definitely no problem there, I'm just saying the last Youth Intake looks like you got some real quality in. Oh haha no worries. Yeah, definitely some good prospects continuing to come through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Season 7: 2023/24 Results We picked up our first treble in a long time but had one of more unconvincing league wins as well, getting pushed for a long time by Hibernian and scoring just 80 goals, 20 less than last season. Perhaps going far in the cups comes at the expense of a strong league campaign? We also failed to make the Europa League again, finishing bottom of our UCL group based on our record against 3rd placed Milan. We continue to pull out performances like a 5-1 thumping of Zenit and then back it up with performances like a 4-2 loss to Milan. Hopefully we can become a force to be reckoned with in the next few seasons. Transfers We made a few youth signings to bolster our prospects. Bobby Gill is another midfield option for the future, whilst David Hay adds to our centre back stocks. Steven Farrell is probably the most talented of the bunch but will need to become a striker if he's any chance of making it in the squad. The most exciting addition by far is Andrew Robertson, who is a lifelong Celtic fan and becomes one of the best players at the club. At 29, he's at the tail end of the peak of his career but coming from Liverpool, should still be a great player for the club. Not included in the image was the release of James Forrest, who was a brilliant servant to the club but just couldn't find a spot in the side any more. Forrest joined Dundee for the 2023/24 season. Youth Intake We signed just the one youth player this season in Ross Munro. He's an OK prospect with great passing but the determination worries me as well as that 'unambitious' personality. Better Players The fan's Best Eleven makes no sense, considering Jai Quitongo won back-to-back Player of the Year awards yet sits on the bench. Nonetheless, having four in-form strikers with Quitongo, MacLean, Jack and Munro is great to see, as well as Steven Robertson who is slowly working his way into the side. Andrew Robertson had the impressive season I was expecting, whilst John McGinn, Harry Cochrane and Anthony Ralston also did well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 Recently, in order to get through seasons quickly, I've made making deals, signing contracts and simming most of the season. This season, I'll see how I go managing every game and giving more regular updates. I think we have the squad to go further in the Champions League and I'm not gonna leave it to my assistant this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 It's a sad day for the football club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Robertson has the personality and fitness to be a key player and tutor well into his 30's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feliks Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 Season 8: 2024/25 Results We romped our way to another league title, which at this point is a formality, but lost the final of the Scottish Cup and were the whipping boys of our Champions League group again. Our 4-3-3 tactic ships too many goals yet is the best fit for the players we have, so I'm gonna have to rejig in order to be competitive in continental competition. Transfers We didn't sign anyone this season but lost a number of players on free transfers. Leaving of their own volition were backup goalkeeper Jimmy Marsh, who joined Hibernian, and hot prospect Billy Gemmill, who left us to join Hull. Released by the club were a number of failed youngsters, Liam Henderson and Ali Crawford. Youth Intake Disappointing youth intake and we didn't sign any youngsters. Better Players Brad MacLean won this season's Player of the Year after becoming a dominant force up top for the club. He scored over 30 league goals and 46 overall in his first massive season, despite being solid since the age of 16. His various striker partners in Jai Quitongo, Steven Robertson, Gary Jack and Andy Munro were all solid as well, and speaking of partners, the midfield trio of John McGinn, Scott Johnston and Harry Cochrane is looking very solid indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameuss Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Looks like Liam Lindsay got a considerable bump in ability from FM17 then. Think he was underrated last season when he was really good for us, but of course now he's in England, he must be much better Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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