(FM13) Super Caley go ballistic or they are atrocious: a Scandinavian Shankly story

[withnail316]

With the title, the league cup and a place in the Scottish Cup final sewn up, as well as a slot in the CL semi, I've started thinking about my options if we happen to end the season with all four trophies.

The first of them is to stay, ask the board to build a new stadium and keep pressing on with becoming the biggest club in the world. That will mean when I finally do leave, the board appoint a proper manager who can maintain the club's status, who can keep hold of his best players, ensure Celtic can't simply retake their place at the top of Scottish football and continue to progress in Europe.

The second is to think I have no more empires to conquer in Scotland, to leave before the board build the stadium of their own accord, which will leave the new albeit slightly lesser manager with €50m in the bank to stay ahead of Celtic. In turn, that will give me a chance to find a "new Celtic" to target and take down. 

[withnail316]

UEFA Champions League
Semi finals

1st Leg: Bayern München 1-2 Inverness
This performance was a lot more dominant than the scoreline suggests, but we've put ourselves in an immense position to make the final. Struan Parratt opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 21 minutes, and then doubled our lead right on half time. We missed several chances to extend our advantage before Bayern pulled one back, but we travel home with a lead. I'd have taken that. 

2nd Leg: Inverness 2-0 Bayern München
Pretty much perfection, and revenge achieved for last year's defeat in the final. Struan Parratt once again grabbed a double, albeit both goals came in the last 20 minutes, and Bayern couldn't lay a glove on us. Parratt has now scored 13 times in the CL this season, and 46 in total. 

We'll meet Benfica in the final in Moscow. 

[withnail316]

Post-split fixtures

SPL: Hibernian 1-0 Inverness
I've given Hibs a bit of stick over the course of this save, but it was us who "Hibsed it" at our final trip to Easter Road this season. Not that it mattered too much, but it did bring a run of 13 successive league wins to an end. 

SPL: Inverness 1-0 Rangers
A disappointing display, but it was a team made up of second choice players as the game was played between the two meetings with Bayern. Franco Alba with the goal. 

SPL: Hearts 2-3 Inverness
With us two goals down at half time, I gave them the old Mike Bassett treatment, expecting a similar result to England's against Mexico. Thankfully, I also made all three changes, and it seemed to get the right reaction. Capobianco (2) and Martin Nilsson with the goals. 

SPL: Inverness 2-1 Aberdeen
A little bit sloppy as the season comes to an end, but a win is a win. Stephen Johnston and a last-second Nilsson strike did the damage. 

SPL: Inverness 1-1 Celtic
An even contest, and one we had to come from behind in. Garrinchinha levelled it up for us with 14 to play, in the first of two meetings in three days. The second was for the Cup...on a Wednesday night. What?!

Scottish Cup Final: Celtic 1-3 Inverness
A third Scottish Cup of my time is secured, and a third trophy of the season, but as the Champions League final took place three days later, it was our second XI who won the game. Stephen Johnston scored two more goals, taking him into double figures for the season, while Garrinchinha had scored the game's opener. Outstanding. 

 

[withnail316]

UEFA Champions League final
Saturday 22nd May 2021
Inverness Caledonian Thistle v SL Benfica
Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia

Route to the final -Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Route to the final - SL Benfica

And so this season of all seasons comes down to the final game, against one of the first European powerhouses, and a club desperate to end a wait for a European trophy which stretches all the way back to 1962. They had a chance to end the infamous old Guttman curse in 2018, but lost in the Europa League final to old rivals FC Porto. It's almost enough to make me feel sorry for them and take them over...but not quite. 

Unfortunately, we had a few issues to resolve on the day of the game. Alejandro Wilson picked up a knock in the Scottish Cup final against Celtic so I had to change things at left back, and Franco Alba was ill so he couldn't feature. Youngster Emiliano Fernandez got the nod for left back, while Xuxa pushed out to the right ahead of Geraldo, so Vasilev took the central midfield slot. Ryan Gauld, who has been captain for much of the season while Clifford couldn't get in the side, was still suspended after a vicious foul in the quarter final. 

1st half

I told the lads they were underdogs and to enjoy it without pressure, and I meant it (I think) and just like last year we started brightly. Vasilev picked out Nilsson in a wide left position, who found Capobianco in the box 12 yards out, but the Dutchman's effort was just wide. Five minutes later we should have been behind, as the usually reliable Jenks missed his kick with a pass back, but the effort was inexplicably wide with the goal gaping. Jenks made up for it soon after with a wonderful save after they sliced us wide open. Vasilev and Xuxa combined for the next chance as we started to get on top, and the Brazilian's 18 yard effort was tipped over the top. Then three minutes before half time we got on the score sheet. A terrible header back to Benfica's goalkeeper found Parratt with the goal gaping 10 yards out, and he rifled home goal number 47 of the season. 

Half time: Inverness 1-0 Benfica

2nd half

A horrendous error from Dirley Rodrigo had the Portuguese giants level almost straight from kick off. Another woeful defensive header left Nainggolan with a tap in, and we were all square. The game largely deteriorated into a midfield battle from there, but luckily we found a bit of magic with 12 to play. Parratt played a give and go with Xuxa, who broke into the area and was sent sprawling in the box...and the referee pointed to the spot. Parratt stepped up and thumped home his second. Benfica panicked and went for broke, and Martin Nilsson should have punished them with a third, but he somehow missed an open goal in the dying embers of the game...but we'd done enough. The trophy was ours!

Final score: Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1 SL Benfica

[withnail316]

[Rikulec]

[rodesire]

WOW, mad Inverness lads.  You couldn't script it better with Parratt scoring the winning brace

[withnail316]

So the question now is do I leave, knowing the quadruple is as good as it gets, or do I keep pressing on with this ridiculous team...

[withnail316]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Season summary 2020/2021

League (SPL)
Media prediction: 1st
Finished: champions

Cups
Scottish Cup: winners
League Cup: winners

Europe
Champions League: winners
Europa League: won by Arsenal

Top scorers
Struan Parratt: 51 appearances (48 starts): 48 goals (28 in the league)
Martin Nilsson: 40 appearances (34 starts): 34 goals (25 in the league)
Garrinchinha: 44 appearances (26 starts): 29 goals (12 in the league)
Stephen Johnston: 22 appearances (9 starts): 10 goals (6 in the league)

Top assists
Struan Parratt: 19 in all competitions
Xuxa: 13 in all competitions
Garrinchinha: 12 in all competitions
Martin Nilsson: 11 in all competitions

Positives
Is it too easy to just say everything? A magnificent season domestically brings us a seventh league title, and also our first treble. We can hold our own against anybody in Europe, even with a squad with an average age of 21, and the board are building us a new home, which we absolutely need if we're to become an "elite" club, rather than this just be a successful patch for us. The squad is so strong that I'd feel confident about a couple of sales without even having the need to replace those players, too. All in all, life is great. 

Concerns & disappointments
Absolutely no disappointments, but the wage bill is going up and up, and will continue to grow this summer to ensure I can keep hold of a few of a better players. While we have no real issues financially (there's still €25m in the bank even after paying for the new ground) I'll need to sell an established player to pay for any transfer activity this summer. 

Ambitions
While I may have a little look at the job market, I suspect I'll be around to lead the club into the new stadium. 

Player of the season
48 goals and 19 assists for Struan Parratt. It could only be him. 

Attendances
Lowest attendance: 18,584 (v Inter in the CL)
Highest attendance: 20,000 (capacity crowd) v several sides - 21 sell-outs this season
Average attendance: 19,290 (19,377 in the league)

Finances
€25m

 

[rodesire]

You've got to stay to play at least a game in a stadium named after you.

[withnail316]

5 minutes ago, rodesire said:

You've got to stay to play at least a game in a stadium named after you.

In theory yes, but we'll see. Part of me would like to stay until that new stadium is fully expanded, and we're pulling in bigger crowds than Celtic. 

Part of me wants to find a new Celtic to take down, though. 

[rodesire]

1 minute ago, withnail316 said:

In theory yes, but we'll see. Part of me would like to stay until that new stadium is fully expanded, and we're pulling in bigger crowds than Celtic. 

Part of me wants to find a new Celtic to take down, though. 

Why not Dortmund then?  Has FC Hollywood not been winning every single title ever?

[withnail316]

18 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Why not Dortmund then?  Has FC Hollywood not been winning every single title ever?

They haven't actually, Schalke won it this season and Dortmund won it recently I think (will confirm in an hour when I get on the game). 

I'm just not convinced it's the job for me, tbh. They are too big a club for me to go to, I like to build a club up to that elite level rather than start right up there.

That said, there are two exceptions to that rule, and if either one of them comes calling I always struggle to turn them down. OK, I really need to add Italy tonight!

[withnail316]

1 hour ago, rodesire said:

Why not Dortmund then?  Has FC Hollywood not been winning every single title ever?

Dortmund have won it three times since my career started, Schalke once. 

[withnail316]

Ooof. If there's one position I don't need to strengthen, it's up front. However, my scout has offered me a bargain for just €1.6m thanks to a relegation clause. I'm incredibly tempted, but I'd have to sell one of my four strikers - and they aren't going anywhere! 

[rodesire]

Buy and loan out?

[withnail316]

10 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Buy and loan out?

He is 23 and a full international, so not really an option. Nope, I only have two feet, I don't need 300 pairs of shoes. He signed for Monaco, who are paying him €60,000p/w anyway. Odds are he would have chosen them even if I bid.

[withnail316]

Club legend with a new stadium named after me I may be, but it appears the fans aren't enjoying this transfer window:

In fairness, those three players had made 909 appearances for the club between them, but their time was up...

******************************************************************

Edited January 1, 2019 by withnail316

[Nobby_McDonald]

Now to emmulate your Inverness success in Rome.

[Tajerio]

1 hour ago, withnail316 said:

Oh, and one little daft error I spotted: AC Milan's San Siro has been expanded to 92,000, while Inter are still playing at the 80,000 Guiseppe Meazza...

*slow hand clap*

Milan paid for the 12,000 extra seats, so only they get to use them.

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 06/11/2018 at 13:32, withnail316 said:

I do need to get to work trimming this huge squad down, though. We have six strikers in the first team squad. Six!  

Useful if you want to play 2-3-5.

[Nobby_McDonald]

You've started very well.

[Rikulec]

Pretty good.

[Nobby_McDonald]

If Cartagena beat you one day you'll have to take it on the Chin.

[withnail316]

1 hour ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

If Cartagena beat you one day you'll have to take it on the Chin.

I see what you did there...

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'm sure there will be more before you've finished.

[kidthekid]

Just caught up. Amazing UCL result with Inverness. Roma seemed to have started well also

[withnail316]

11 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Just caught up. Amazing UCL result with Inverness. Roma seemed to have started well also

Thanks mate.

[deltablue]

Looks like a tough race. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Good luck in the finals.

[Nobby_McDonald]

A very good season last season.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Maybe find your way back to the right path?

[Nobby_McDonald]

Think... or there is?

[withnail316]

This thread is about to go through a major facelift, but it is coming back to life. It does look like I'll get to play at the new stadium Inverness named in my honour after all, however. 

I shall explain more when I'm done. Cheers. 

[withnail316]

*********************************************

OK, so here's the promised explanation for the changes to the thread. As mentioned in the edit to the first post of the thread, and indeed on the general discussion page at the top of FMCU, getting a new laptop made me think I was done with FM13. I'd got FM15 on my old laptop but couldn't run it, then I got FM16 from Santa and had planned to play that on the new machine. However, what I didn't reckon with was time. With two kids under five, I'm really struggling to find the three or four hour block I'd need to get through the first pre-season on a new version of the game unless I wait potentially weeks to play. I don't want to do that, I need a fix of FM, so I'll pick up an old career instead, even if it means I'm not playing the version I'd wanted to. 

Unfortunately, I'd decided to delete the old Roma file when I ran out of steam in November, and the brief time I spent at Alta for another thread I wrote here never made the transfer to the new laptop. That means picking things up again at Inverness on the day I originally left for Roma. 

Update to come this afternoon. Cheers. 

[withnail316]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle
SPL season preview 2021/22 

Media expectation: 1st
Board expectation: win the title/ make the last 16 of the Champions League/ win the Scottish Cup

Transfer budget (remaining): €61m
Wage budget: €670,000p/w (€205,000p/w under budget)

And so here we are, then. Very unexpected, but I'd left an outstanding squad so it's a long way from being a burden to pick them up again. The board's expectations are very reasonable this year considering we won the Champions League last season, so they could have ramped up their demands for this season, too. I'd like to arrange for an upgrade in our training facilities, but with the new ground currently being built which will open next summer, I don't want to push the finances too much, especially as I have given out some substantial pay rises this summer. 

The biggest issue I can see us having this season is keeping all my players happy. The squad is probably just a little too big, but we do have lots of games to play, so I'll rotate as much as I can get away with, and hopefully that will be enough. The squad also has enough young players for us to be unaffected by the league requirement of having three u21 players in each match day squad. 

In terms of transfers, it's been a busy window for the club although most deals were done prior to me picking the save up once again. We've brought in over €40m this summer, with the headline deal being the €18m that Valencia have spent on winger Gelson Geraldo. Alejandro Wilson joined Dynamo Kyiv for €10m, Liam Polworth went to Watford for €4.4m, Conor Clifford is off to Middlesbrough for €3m, and Mickey Boer is off to Austria Wien for €3.5m. The fans weren't happy with either Clifford or Polworth leaving, but they were furious at Luke James being allowed to leave on a free. He's off to Newcastle. Highly rated youth prospects Eammon McGhee and Kevin Cheyne have joined Hearts and Kilmarnock respectively on loan for the rest of the season.

 In terms of players in, we've spent €19.5m but only two of the signings are for the first team. Winger Emil Tambwe joins us from Beerschot AC for €5.75m, while I've also converted the loan for midfielder Erik Goossens into a permanent deal for €7.25m from Manchester City. To allow McGhee to go out on loan, I needed a fifth centre back to come in as an emergency back-up. That man was Manolo Barrufet, who arrives from Atletico Madrid for the rest of the season. Our youth ranks were bolstered by a 15 year old and a 16 year old, costing us almost €7m between them. Mainz really didn't want to sell striker Ugo Ezeugo but let him go for €6m, while Serbian Miroslav Panovic picked us ahead of Spurs. He joins for €850,000 from Middlesbrough. 

Edited January 1, 2019 by withnail316

[withnail316]

August/September

So it would seem that this new laptop is even quicker than I realised, as I've absolutely flown through the first couple of months of the season. Our form has been exceptional, culminating in the victory over Arsenal in the Super Cup. Perfect in the league, and we also have one foot in the Champions League knock out rounds after two games. We do meet Inter next in Europe, who you may recall we also met at this stage of the competition last season. 

[withnail316]

I can see a couple of big sales in January. Midfielder Xuxa has been pushing for a new contract, but he wants a ridiculous buy-out added. Considering his current clause is €20m, I won't offer him a clause below €25m if I'm going to give him a healthy pay rise, yet he wants one for €8m. If he carries on, I'll take advantage of the interest in him and move him on.

I also have too much cover on the flanks, so Iranian winger Banaei might leave too. 

[withnail316]

October/November

Absolute perfection domestically, while we've only suffered one defeat in Europe to Inter, but progression to the last 16 is assured. Struan Parratt is having another ridiculous season, having scored 25 goals already. It's not even Christmas yet! 

In other news, winger Houshang Banaei won't be an Inverness player come January. He's off to Inter for €13m. I've tentatively enquired about the Athletic Club job too, but they haven't sacked their manager yet. He's just under intense pressure. 

[withnail316]

Since I put my name down for the Athletic job, they've gone five games unbeaten, including four wins in a row! Guess I'm not going there any time soon...

[Nobby_McDonald]

Let's do the timewarp again.

[withnail316]

Changes are afoot in our defence. Brazilian defender Dirley Rodrigo has been on the Bayern radar since the start of the season, and his head has now been turned. He has told me he wants to move on, and as he's a bit error prone, I don't mind letting him go. I thought I'd ask for just under three times his €5.5m valuation (€16.25m) and a sell-on. It's fair to say he is in demand:

At the same time, Murray Wallace has been declining on the training pitch, and after several warnings about his lack of effort, I finally snapped. He's off to Wigan for €5m. 

That meant I needed a new centre back, as while youngster Ratello is an outstanding back up, he isn't ready to step into the team as a starter in big games just yet. Nor for that matter is Eammon McGhee, who is out on loan at Hearts, although neither are too far away. 

Luckily, my scouts have been tracking Chinedu Okoro from his time in Norway. I'd opted against paying €4m for him a year ago as we had so much defensive cover, but his contract has a clause for €8.25m at Braga. That's a record fee, but I'm comfortable with it considering we're bringing in €34m in fees next month.

 

[withnail316]

December

Another month, another trophy - but we were very nearly beaten in the semi finals of the club world cup. It took a 93rd minute Stephen Johnston goal to take it to extra time, while we were behind in the final early on too. Our perfect record has gone domestically, but 12 points is a great lead at this stage. 

We'll meet Valencia in the last 16 of the CL, which is a tricky tie but not the worst, so hopefully we can squeeze through. 

[withnail316]

One new arrival on a Bosman for next season:

He'll cost us €50,000p/w in wages, but look at him! He requested a buy-out in the transfer negotiations, but at €42m! I can live with that...

I'd also put in a Bosman offer for a Welsh striker from Swansea, but he turned us down to stay where he was. I may go back for him if he's available at a reasonable price, but even if he's not, I may move Garrinchinha on so Johnston gets more game time. Youngster Ezeugo is already good enough to use as an emergency back up, even at 15.  

[rodesire]

holy hell, i forgot how cheap players were in earlier editions  miss those days

[withnail316]

39 minutes ago, rodesire said:

holy hell, i forgot how cheap players were in earlier editions  miss those days

Yeah, not quite the insane prices of today, but it does depend on where you do your shopping, and being in Scotland reduces my spending too. I had a look at Real Madrid's third choice right back - they wanted €34m. 

[withnail316]

January

Another good month, despite the poor display away at Hearts. We're safely into another cup final, we have one hand on the league title and we're into the last 16 in Europe. Lovely stuff.  

I also made a decision to bring in a new player with all that lovely money we brought in over the winter window. We're a touch short in the centre of midfield, so young Brazilian Gabriel has come in from Fluminense for a record €8.75m. That's €37m we've spent this season, and €75m has come in. 

[withnail316]

Oh, hello...

[withnail316]

31 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

Oh, hello...

I'm sleeping on a decision, but I'm 75% sure I'll take it. 

[withnail316]

Oh, and if I do take it, my very first game 24 hours after getting in the door is against...Barcelona. Lovely.