[FM18] The very best of the second best. The almost nearly men.

[Makoto Nakamura]

2023/24 1st half of the season/ 1st month in charge.

A great first month for us as we move into the playoff zone and only drop points against Crystal Palace! A lot of players want to leave us though so January could become very troubling.

[oriole01]

LET'S DO THIS!!!!

[VillaSmith]

Congratulations on the Europa League 

Good luck with Wolves, a great start so far. And I'm loving those names on the Manager of the Month shortlist, always interesting to see which ex-players do well as managers.

[Makoto Nakamura]

25 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

LET'S DO THIS!!!!

Couldn't agree more!

11 minutes ago, VillaSmith said:

Congratulations on the Europa League 

Good luck with Wolves, a great start so far. And I'm loving those names on the Manager of the Month shortlist, always interesting to see which ex-players do well as managers.

Thanks VillaSmith! Fulham is Defoe's first proper managerial job after spending a couple of seasons with West Brom U23's.

[Makoto Nakamura]

January Transfer Window

 

Just the one permanent signing, a 32 year old Shane Duffy with 6 players leaving permanently for a combined total of £64,000,000 potentially rising to £77,000,000!

[Makoto Nakamura]

A terrible intake on the whole, Josh could be amazing but we don't play with wingers.

[jackyb1989]

A striker named Marcus Sheldon, that's got a lot of living up to after the legend in Box to Box's Bradford Park Avenue thread...

[Makoto Nakamura]

20 minutes ago, jackyb1989 said:

A striker named Marcus Sheldon, that's got a lot of living up to after the legend in Box to Box's Bradford Park Avenue thread...

I'd forgotten about him! He's done great for us on his loan spell/

[Makoto Nakamura]

End of Season 7 - 2023/24 - Wolverhampton Wanderers

We only lost one game and that was away to Manchester City in the FA Cup Quarter Final! Wolves are back in the big time, again!

2023/24 Best XI

Jiri Pavlenka

Tommy Smith - Keigo Yûki - Jack Hill

Adam Smith                                                                 Josh McCafferty

Séko Fofana - Ross Barkley

 

Yoshinori Mutô - Neil Beckwith - Martín Alegre

 

 

Europa League Review

Dortmund come close to winning the Europa League but instead Hoffenheim win it at the first attempt.  

[Makoto Nakamura]

Hungary!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2024/25 Pre-Season

Perfect pre-season.  

Oh dear, board want mid-table.

A very busy transfer window where I even made 2 of the signings! (Ramiro and Miroslav)

[Makoto Nakamura]

Croatia came close but they become runners up for the first time as an independent nation, and third time runners up since they were part of Yugoslavia.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Bit of a harsh sacking, isn't it?!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2024/25 1st half of the season

Some massive wins and some big losses but we have scored the 5th most amount of goals at the half way point. We're through to the League Cup Semi Final against Everton which is winnable.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Winter Transfer Window

No players left but we add to the Czech contingent who seem to be having a golden generation and we get first dibs!

We also have a young Czech striker joining us at the start of next season!

[Makoto Nakamura]

Oh Mourinho.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Our facilities are maxed out now and we got a generational talent!

Two 5* players and the generational talent isn't even the best by PA! We could have a very exciting front line in the next few seasons!

Almost Identical!

[Makoto Nakamura]

End of Season 8 - 2024/25 - Wolverhampton Wanderers

Disappointing to get to the FA Cup Quarter Final by beating both Man Utd away from home and Tottenham away from home, only to lose to Swansea at home...despite this we've finished in 7th and qualified for the Europa League with a great set of wins and scoring over 100 goals!

2024/25 Best XI

Ramiro

Axel Tuanzebe - Mason Holgate - Bradley Stuart

Adam Smith                                                                 Alessandro Pedretti

Séko Fofana - Ross Barkley

 

Eddie Nketiah - Miroslav Vodicka - Bob West

 

Europa League Review

A London derby sees Tottenham win the Europa League again, with Arsenal being runners up for the 3rd time in 4 seasons!

[oriole01]

Great season with Wolves, you're already built for success in Europe with this team, although I do wish there was at least one familiar face still at the club!

How'd Videoton get on in the Champions League?

[Makoto Nakamura]

3 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

Great season with Wolves, you're already built for success in Europe with this team, although I do wish there was at least one familiar face still at the club!

How'd Videoton get on in the Champions League?

Thanks Oriole! The only players still at the team from the first season are a handful that came through in the first youth intake.  Matheus Pereira is the longest serving player, having joined in the 2nd season but he'll most likely be leaving in the summer.

Videoton had the easiest group but I was just happy they got Spring European football!

They're still winning the league easily as well.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Eddie Nketiah getting 3rd in the European Golden Shoe! 

[Makoto Nakamura]

2025 Summer Transfer Window

Expectations are higher and we should make at least the last 16 of the Europa League.

Some really good, young players coming in!

 

[Timetxu]

Really loving the guys you brought in! Surely you'll win the Europa League this season? (You heard it here first, called it, etc.)

[Makoto Nakamura]

11 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

Really loving the guys you brought in! Surely you'll win the Europa League this season? (You heard it here first, called it, etc.)

I don't think so, I'll be happy with 2nd Knockout Round but obviously I do hope we'll win it!

Here's the group, could be quite tricky but we should make it through.

[Makoto Nakamura]

2025/26 1st half of the season

An absolutely unbelievable first half of the season sees us qualify for the Europa League 1st Knockout Round with ease and also sees us 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League table! Cracks are starting to appear though so now the question is whether we can hold off the competition.

We get a good draw in Krasnodar, Videoton finished 3rd in their Champions League group behind Manchester City and Real Madrid but ahead of Anderlecht, they probably won't beat Marseille though and I also doubt Ujpest can beat Hoffenheim.

 

[Makoto Nakamura]

Winter Transfer Window

 

3 new faces and 4 players leave as we try and strengthen our Premier League title challenge.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Our first Europa League knockout match.

Ross Barkley gives us an early away goal!

Jean-Philippe equalises with a belter from outside the box.

It stays 1-1 at half time with Krasnodar scoring with their only shot so far.

Bob West scores his 43rd goal of the season!

We finish 2-1 and spent 30 minutes down to 10 men.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Oh dear.

And just 12 minutes later we've equalised.

We really should be scoring more of our shots on target.

Pribyl scores his 2nd to put us ahead.

Then Pribyl with the assist to put us 5-2 up on aggregate.

We're definitely through now.  

And we completely outplayed them!

[Makoto Nakamura]

Some high scoring ties but both Ujpest and Videoton are out.  

I think it's safe to say we got an easy tie.

[Makoto Nakamura]

An early away goal.  

Mohamed with a 2nd!

Charleroi score as the ball goes in off of Ramiro's knee.

Vodicka puts us 2 goals ahead again.  

[Makoto Nakamura]

Mohamed puts us 3 goals ahead early on!

We miss a penalty but are still doing really well.

And it's 5-1!

And another one with almost the last kick of the game!

Quarter Finals here we come! I don't think there'll be any easy games now.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Benfica. They had a goal difference of +32 in the group stage, they may have faced easy teams but this won't be easy.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Not doing the goal by goal updates but we destroyed Benfica!  

[Makoto Nakamura]

Not a single highlight in the first 45 minutes but 5 goals in the second half sees us into the semi final!

[Makoto Nakamura]

Everton, very happy with that.

[Makoto Nakamura]

A poor game all-round.

[Makoto Nakamura]

We were behind at half-time but we turned it up a few notches and ended up winning easily!

[Makoto Nakamura]

[Makoto Nakamura]

[Makoto Nakamura]

Miroslav Vodicka writes his name into the Wolves history book!

[Makoto Nakamura]

End of season 9 - 2025/26 - Wolverhampton Wanderers

And just like that Wolves is complete, we didn't win any cups but we scored 114 goals to win the Premier League just 1 points ahead of Man Utd whilst Arsenal finish down in 8th and Milwall concede 104 goals!

2025/26 Best XI

Ramiro

Petr Jezdik - Louis van Gelderen - Unai Núñez

Raoul Bellanova                                                                 Ben Chillwell

Séko Fofana - Ross Barkley

 

Mohamed - Miroslav Vodicka - Bob West

 

 

Europa League Review

30 clubs still remain!

[Makoto Nakamura]

Imagine Mourinho, Deschamps or Marco Silva rocking up to manage at the Molineux!

No eligible teams are free, contracts expire in 30 days and it's a World Cup year, Man City could be available very soon but do I want back-to-back jobs in England?

[Makoto Nakamura]

2024 European Championship Finalists but knocked out of the World Cup in the group stage, can I give them that extra push? 

I'll still be on the look out for a club job, both Marseille and Benfica jobs became available but they'd both qualified for the Champions and it would probably be easier taking on a club that had under performed and getting them back up to the Europa League instead of risk being sacked early on for dropping down to the Europa League.

[Timetxu]

23 hours ago, Timetxu said:

Really loving the guys you brought in! Surely you'll win the Europa League this season? (You heard it here first, called it, etc.)

Bump.

[oriole01]

1 hour ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

I had to pinch myself a couple times all throughout this tenure. Pretty sure only Makoto can take Wolves from the Championship to the Europa League and PL title in three seasons. Amazing!

(Also, pretty sure my life would be complete if any result like this were to happen irl)

[Makoto Nakamura]

1 minute ago, oriole01 said:

I had to pinch myself a couple times all throughout this tenure. Pretty sure only Makoto can take Wolves from the Championship to the Europa League and PL title in three seasons. Amazing!

(Also, pretty sure my life would be complete if any result like this were to happen irl)

Pretty sure @BoxToBox could do it too  Hopefully Wolves stay as at least a solid mid-table side now I've left.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Croatia end of 2026 update

A perfect start to my Croatian tenure although we haven't played any tough sides yet.

We won't beat Spain but we should qualify in 2nd.

I've also had an interview with Roma who are currently in 11th after 18 games, definitely a good project there!

[Makoto Nakamura]

A side always fighting for a Europa League spot but are having a poor season, great news for me!

[Makoto Nakamura]

Winter Transfer Window

 

One permanent signing in and two players leave us.

[Makoto Nakamura]

One more big exit!