[FM 18][Closed] Gibberish call to arms

[rodesire]

This is my second attempt at a Gibraltar save.  This time, I will be using SI official update + I have enabled relegation out of the second division.  I have also enabled players in continental competitions which makes European games a loooot more challenging.

The plan is to holiday a season, take the newly promoted side and see how far a Gibraltar-only policy can bring us.  Gibraltar has the lowest youth rating in Europe at 15, so this will be an interesting adventure, I hope.

2017/18 season turned out to be uneventful domestically, with Red Imps dominating Gibraltar to a double.  Man City waltzed to a maiden Champions League win against Atletico. However, in Europa League there were a couple interesting plotlines with Sparta Praha reaching semifinal and Shakhtar winning it on pens against AC Milan.  England won the 2018 World Cup defeating Uruguay 2-1 whilst Spain got the bronze beating Germany by the same scoreline.

Meanwhile, Gib Reg got promoted into the second division and turned semi-professional, so I have to take them as my team.  Their facilities are rubbish but at least we're not sharing the Victoria stadium.  Myself, no qualificiations except a resemblance to that man from Kretinga taking youth-only Lithuanians to semi-final of Europa League.

Team's not amazing but has some decent depth on the wings but only two CMs and a single GK!  That's something I'll try to address ASAP.

Finances are standard for a newly promoted club at 30k but our semi-professional status means we'll start losing money very fast and indeed 5 teams in Gibraltar already have insecure financial status.

Edited December 29, 2019 by rodesire

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Summer 2018

First off, I needed to get a couple fresh faces to plug the gaps at GK, ST and MC positions and I just couldn't get anyone decent to join me except for these two guys.

The friendlies went okay as we mostly played top division teams getting acquainted with my squad. We even managed a couple wins, so I am cautiously optimistic about this season.

Edited October 19, 2019 by rodesire
missing screenshot

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Autumn 2018

The funny thing about Gibraltar's second division is they have only 14 games a season, so it goes really fast!  For us it also went really well as we're top of the table and still in both cups.

It was also a very successful period for me as a manager, landing two manager of the month awards and getting my first badges done.

Finally, a tiny little insignificant issue called Brexit.  We got a hard Brexit with foreigner limits.  More importantly for Gibraltar, these limits also apply and the work permits are based on Premier League rules, meaning it will be nearly impossible to get anyone from outside UK and Ireland to come to Gibraltar.  Not that it matters for my team directly, but it will certainly increase the pressure on other teams to keep their best Gibraltarians.  It will also mean that improving the nation will be particularly painful with almost no pool of eligible candidates for other teams.

[Sheriff7]

Good luck mate.I love Gibraltarian saves.They are the only micronation who has important in  game importance..

[rodesire]

8 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Good luck mate.I love Gibraltarian saves.They are the only micronation who has important in  game importance..

Yep, that could be an interesting test whether importance of game will override the youth rating

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Youth intake-ish 2019

There are only 6 more games to go in the league in 5 months, so here's a little diversion to other moderately important things.

We got our first upgrades of the save, YC and YF only so far but it's better than nothing.  Both are now up to at least basic from poor.

Myself, managed to finish the National B badges and started the National A badges, not bad for a single season in what's arguably the lowest rated playable league in Europe.  I also snagged a contract extension and reduced my wages by 300pw because it's much better spent on other things.

As a team, we managed to get stronger as I have snatched a striker I have been following since I joined Reg.  He's been released by Gladys and I hope he can make them pay very very soon.

Finally, the youth intake itself was beyond meh.  I have fired every single player as none of them had even 3* PA.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Spring 2019

Well, this season didn't last long and yet it was very successful.  League title? Check. League Cup? Check.  Hall of fame entry in first season? Checkity check.

On the high from winning two titles I cheekily asked my board to purchase our stadium..  And they did. Even though we only had 30k in the bank...

That's when I had a look at the finances and realised just how much damage I have done..

For the record, this season's total income was 79k including 11k of prize money.

Anyways...  The run-in was fairly easy as we only lost 3 games, 2 of those resting first 11 for the Cup ties.  We won the league by 7 points in the end, having lost to P2 on penultimate matchday. Europa Point was surprisingly relegated and I hope to raid them as they had some very good footballers for this level.

Even though it was a short season, I still rotated a fair bit but two players, Gary Hill and Liam Muscat really stood out, averaging almost an assist and just over a goal a game respectively.

As for the awards, we smashed it, having 8 guys in team of the season, also winning best player, top goalscorer and manager of the season.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Summer 2019

Having secured promotion at the first attempt, my main goal for the summer was to keep the key players and hopefully refresh most of the team to a higher standard.  Whilst I managed to land a bunch of players only one could really be described as a coup and that's left-back Rovegno, who at 29 should have a couple great seasons in him.

The other good news comes from the fact I misread the Brexit rules as they don't seem to apply to Gibraltar and we're still free to get whoever we want from abroad which is gonna be crucial to progress the rest of the league.  Speaking of the rest, the above replacements meant we are now fourth favourites to win the title, so I expect a tilt at the third European spot behind College Europa and Red Imps.  College Europa might be beatable next season if their recruitment strategy does not improve but Red Imps are probably 3-5 seasons away from being toppled (their excellent manager did resign in the summer, so there may be a chance for us).

Due to the insane debt and aggressive expansion the board has set out a much lower budget for me this year, down to 960pw from 3.2kpw.  It looks like I'll need lots of non-contract and amateur contracts to fill out my team as the expectations are fairly high for the first season in top flight.

Finally, the friendlies were plentiful as we played top division sides before wrapping it up with second division teams.  A lot of wins, got spanked by Red Imps; and new joiners did contribute a fair bit.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Autumn 2019

Gibraltar only has 27 league games and the cups won't start till next year, so it takes almost no time to get through months and months.

We have started superbly, still unbeaten in the league after 9 games with some very fortunate draws and our fitness clearly showing as we salvaged at least 10 points thanks to late goals.

As expected, Red Imps are rampant but this year one of their strikers has already scored 12 goals, so they're even more dominant than usual.  College Europa managed to drop a few points, we'll enjoy it whileit lasts. 

The other exciting piece of news is Gibraltar scoring its first ever points in Euro Qualifiers!  Having gone 0-0-6 in Nations League, this tiny nation managed to snatch points against both Estonia and Ukraine!

[rodesire]

Gig Reg - Winter 2019/20

The season is 2/3 through in Gibraltar and we've definitely picked up the pace.  The board did their part sending me to even more courses and even running a fan day as our attendances plateaued at 50% stadium capacity despite a promotion.  Unfortunately, the youth intake was really bad and not a single player was signed.

The players did their part as we won all 9 games this round, including a nervy second string win against College Europa before we crushed them in Cup 3 days later and a marvelous 3-1 win against Red Imps juggernaut.  The latter was architected by my centre-mid channeling his inner Iniesta with 3 assists from open play. 

Unsurpsingly, this earned me a manager of the month title, first in this division.

Slightly less expected was the fact we hit the top of the table with a 4 point cushion to boot.  I am sure, we still won't win the title as Red Imps and College Europa signed some really good players for this level but we're almost guaranteed European football except for an utter catastrophe.

[bigmattb28]

I don't know why, but I've always had a soft spot for Gibraltar in FM, I did 1 season at Hound Dogs on a journeyman in FM17 and it was tough, good luck, definitely following.

[rodesire]

8 hours ago, bigmattb28 said:

I don't know why, but I've always had a soft spot for Gibraltar in FM, I did 1 season at Hound Dogs on a journeyman in FM17 and it was tough, good luck, definitely following.

Thanks mate, I did a couple seasons with hound dogs too but found it frustrating as I couldn't get professional easily.

This time I am going with a long term mindset, so I hope that'll offset the frustrations on the way

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2019/20 Spring

Welcome back to another update for Gib Reg. I have continued my education this time round, earning Continental C badges and going for Bs with my board's blessing.

Unfortunately, the team bottled hard, suddenly unable to string anything together. We lost to a second division side in the cup, and lost to Red Imps in a massive clash for the title.

But nothing could have prepared me for bottling on the final day when I needed a win at relegation threatened side to take the title I did not deserve. So so disappointing as we missed 3 one-on-ones to lose the title on goal difference.

In the end it should have been even close as Red Imps were truly smashing everyone the whole season as evidenced by the season 11.  At least my efforts were rewarded with a manager of the season award.

Overall, the team was propelled mostly by my left back playing on the right, wingers and Lavagna who turned out to be awesome.

Overall, we're still making amazing progress and the next couple of seasons will be massive for this save, our rep is just a bit too low to attract the best Gibraltarians, so we may get stuck at dethroning the Red Imps and fall back behind College Europa, as they're a professional side.

[Sheriff7]

Excellent work mate.Finish higher from Europa so soon and be challenging against Imps is a great achievement in Gibraltar..

[rodesire]

2 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Excellent work mate.Finish higher from Europa so soon and be challenging against Imps is a great achievement in Gibraltar..

Cheers, I just don't think we'll be able to make any progress any time soon as our rep is low.  I have also loaded all players playing in CL/EL, so it's nigh impossible for a Gibraltar team to get through qualifying for next 3-5 seasons.

Gib Reg 2020 Summer

So. Many. Signings.  I was a tad worried when I couldn't convince anyone decent to join us after the end of the season but with a bit of patience I managed to land some really good deals. The three senior players should slot right into the starting 11.  I'll be looking to loan out Kieran this season and keep Sean in reserves to hopefully speed him up a bit.

In my universe Ukrainian football revolution is truly on.  Two seasons after Shakhtar lifted the Europa League, Ukraine wins Euro 2020 against Spain having defeated world champions England along the way.

Our own Euro adventure didn't last long as we got outclassed by Qarabag.  despite almost FM'ing them in return leg we were still soundly beaten on aggregate.

Other than that, the pre-season went well, we conceded very few goals, so that bodes well for the season ahead as we would often concede stupid blunders.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Autumn 2020/21

Having been almost injury free for 2 seasons we suddenly caught the bug as everyone kept injuring themselves in a bad way.  I lost two of my starters for half a season and a couple more for a month or more

All of these injuries meant it was a rather slow start to the season with us dropping points at newly promoted Boca and getting thrashed at home by Gibraltar before finding ourselves 0-5 down at HT at Red Imps.  We managed to stem the bleeding somewhat with solid wins against Olympique and College Europa but I still feel we're a little too brittle at the back.

The league situation is not terrible as we are in a two-tier league after 9 games.  Top 5 have pulled a bit of a gap already and one or even two of these teams will not make the European spots.  Olympique has been a pleasant surprise of the season punching way above their weight.

 

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Winter 2020/21

First huge thing was signing an actually decent Gibraltarian kid who I have been tracking for a year.  I have high hopes for him and with some tutoring he should slot into our midfield for a decade.

I have also made tactical changes once everyone came back from injury and stiffened at the back whilst reducing the attacking intent.  Not sure if it does what I wanted but we got 8 wins and a draw against Red Imps that we should have won. A massive improvement on first third which means we're only 3 points behind Red Imps who had a number of draws whilst Olympique remains the surprise package of the season in third.

Finally, the youth intake.  Despite last season's improvements, the youth intake is still rather rubbish, Ethan looks decent but other than that it's an empty intake once more.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2020/21 - Spring

New year, new coaching courses for me! Gunning for continental A badges now which is almost ridiculous given I am still on a semi-pro contract.  I think I'll hold off getting the Continental Pro badges until we become a pro side.

In terms of transfers I managed to snatch a Gibraltar star who was released back in June and only just finally agreed to join us, say hello to Liam Walker.  He may only have a year or so in him but hopefully he can be a useful tutor *narrator: he wasn't*

We continued our outrageous form in the league winning all remaining 9 fixtures in the league and only going down in Cup seminfinals to Red Imps as I played my mostly second string focusing on the league.

The least win in particular was a smash and grab, I guess sometimes you can FM the AI too..

It won't be a surprise then to see us having topped the league when the dust settled.  A magnificent campaign capped off by a 17 win 1 draw run that saw us gain 11 points on Red Imps and prevent them from having an invincible season.  We only led the league for about a week but I'll take it, thank you very much.  The financial and rep impact of this will be huge as it will surely save us at around 3-5 of development with a massive league prize pot ~500k and a CL run that will generate at least 400k too.

In terms of players, Warwick was a colossus in goal, playing every single game and sending the highly promising Jordan on loan where he in turn played every single game in second division. Dean Edge was magnificent chipping in with 11 assists whilst Parker had 10.  Up front, Muscat started strongly before injuries disrupted his streak but it was Chamberlain who came out of nowhere, shouldn't have been anywhere near that good but scored 22 goals form just 12 starts. He's been an awesome super sub and saved us so much.

Finally, another Manager of the Year award for me, 3 years on a bounce now!

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by rodesire

[Sheriff7]

Great job mate!Congratulations for winning league title so soon.And signing Gibraltars (propably) best player ever,an artist with excellent technicque will change your level.

[rodesire]

50 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Great job mate!Congratulations for winning league title so soon.And signing Gibraltars (propably) best player ever,an artist with excellent technicque will change your level.

Cheers, I mean, he did propel me to title in all honesty but his decline over the summer has been huge, lost 2 pts in every physical category and he was sub-10 already.  He's a super-sub this new season.

Gib Reg 2021 Summer (part 1)

The one thing that FM always struggles with (or at least old versions) is Man Utd dominance but my save is remarkably bad.  Mourinho has now pulled a Zidane winning 3 in a row which is outrageous.

Meanwhile in Gibraltar, the league seems to have done well, mostly thanks to Red Imps getting through a round of competition. Our own coefficient got a tiny bump thanks to that lucky draw in Baku.  It's not a lot but every little helps this far down.

Winning the league meant we had plenty of money to splash, so I convinced my board to upgrade training facilities (we don't have youth, so it's doubly important) and both junior coaching and youth rec.  Hopefully, we'll start producing some decent regens soon and be able to develop them as currently there are only 2 sides (Red Imps and Gibraltar Utd) who produce division 1 quality Gibraltarian regens.

In terms of transfers, it's been a huge window as our rep jumped up and dual nationals became interested in us.  I signed the lot, yet to figure out who'll be my starting 11 but the depth will be staggering this season. 

James is a striker who lit up both second and first division and it's easy to see why.  Quite pacy, tall, able to jump and head in, he's a solid targetman, this may prove useful against more stubborn defences.

Stephen is a regen I've tracked for a year and was able to snatch from Gibraltar Utd.  With 33 games already at barely 17 years, he's got the mentals to mix with anyone in this league and should become my key centreback in years to come.

German has been scoring bucketloads for Phoenix and I got a bit panicky that my forwards would start declining (all over 27 now), so I jumped at him as a one season option.

Louis is a project player.  Excellent at key technicals (for Gibraltar) he's got okay mentals and poor physicals.  I am betting that he can improve those enough to become enough of a menace to take over from Jamie Adams in 3-4 seasons time.

Jaydon is a huge signing from Red Imps, he's a quality winger full of tricks and ready to impress.  We're his 5th different professional team, so I am very happy I signed him for 2 years.

Chris should slot right into our midfield, my scouts were high on his potential and with Walker and Rodriguez 33 and 31 already he should have a fantastic chance to cement the starting berth.

We've struggled at rightback last year, so in comes Dmitro.  He looks good but having spent last 3 years at Lynx and suffered back to back relegation I am not sure if he's strong enough mentally.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2021/22 - Europe and pre-season

This year we've started our adventure in the Champions League for the first time in club's history.  Facing us in the first round.. Hungarian champions Videoton, 3* rep professional side whose every single player earns more than my whole squad and staff combined.  Anyway, we gave it our best shot and even scored a goal whilst keeping things reasonably tight at the back.  My only regret was not getting the fitness right as most of the players were sent out with their condition in the 70-80s in game 1 and low 80s in game 2.

Thus, we swiftly drop into the Europa league second qualy round. There we got matched with Maltese champions Hibernians.  An excellent draw to say the least, 1* rep team, semi-pro and also kinda tired. I went for high pressing line in game one and we delivered our first European win away from home.  I was able to play a mixed second team in the return leg, giving a fair few debuts as we finished the job.

In the third qualifying round it was the old foes, Videoton.  We were a lot more prepared this time round.  Or so I say given the results.  They absolutely smashed us at home but a combination of poor finishing and superb keeping gave us a draw.  At home, however, the ref decided to take the matters into his hands and awarded two first-half penalties to the Magyars.  We never came back from that although on a different day we could have maybe snatched a draw, it was a much closer match overall.

The rest of the preseason was mainly about keeping cashflow positive and getting some match fitness.

The Euro campaign provided us with another 700k bank, but the board still won't turn us professional.  We're at 1.2M with 350k debt, so we may need another 500-700k to reach the magical 1.5M net threshold for professional eligibility.  Winning the league again would be the fastest way there but Red Imps are even more favoured this year by the bookies with our odds improving slightly to leapfrog Mons Caipe.

In other random assortment of news, Gibraltar collected their first ever competitive victory over Armenia, so I won't be taking over that job for a while  An Icelandic team managed to sneak into Europa League group stage, the first time that happened this save.  Finally, all the investment in coaches and, soon, facilities seems to be paying off at last as we got the first ever improvement training notification for a player.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2021/22 Autumn

We opened the season with a Super Cup match against Red Imps, surprisingly, it was an easy one and despite having less of the ball and fewer chances, all 5 of our shots came from CCCs, so Red Imps will feel lucky to only have lost 2-0 to give us our first ever Pepe Reyes Super Cup

Straight after I cheekily asked the chairman to turn professional and got a yes!  That's massive and will go in effect next off-season, hopefully a huge springboard in terms of attracting and developing Gibraltarian talent and actually challenging Red Imps consistently.  Here's the financial situation in case anyone cares (wages used is incorrect as total wages+staff wages are just 1.3kpw)

Later in November our training facilities also got an upgrade taking us to basic level.  Hopefully with professional coaches I'll be able to give our players just about enough to fulfill their often limited potential.

The first third of the league was a tale of two periods, we smashed first seven games, then got destroyed by Red Imps and couldn't roll over Mons Caipe straight after.

Normally I'd expect us to be right up there vying for the lead but Red Imps just cannot stop winning, they conceded only 3 goals so far and their attack has gelled incredibly well with everyone scoring freely.

Olympique and Lions are the early surprise packages going for a European push with College Europa floundering once more early on.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2021/22 Winter

We opened the winter third with two signings we had agreed all the way back in October.  Nick is one of the best young strikers in Gibraltar and I am chuffed that he wanted to join us from Red Imps where he was only getting international caps instead of league games.  Carl is a classic Bayern signing - weaken your opponents and make yourself better. He's 17 and could become Gibraltar's top3 defender in 2-3 years time.

Just before Christmas I hit 100 game mark for the Gib Reg, 4 trophies so far, nothing to scoff at!

Fixture-wise it was a bit bizarre, we struggled after the winter break, losing to Lions (again!) before hitting 4 goals past 4 teams in a row, including Red Imps who had only conceded 5 the whole season till then.

Normally, you'd expect us atop the league table having dropped 8 points in 18 games but it's Red Imps who are 3pts ahead with a much superior goal difference.  I do not see us catching up to them unless they slip more than once and that's not going to happen.  We have secured P2 though as the rest of the pack is falling behind.  Gibraltar Utd are once more in deep trouble despite their amazing youth prospects.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2021/22 Spring

There genuinely isn't very much to say about the run-in.  We did our best but did drop points against Man 62 and then got obliterated on the final day by Red Imps, they also denied us a maiden Cup win though it was a much closer affair that we should have won.

Red Imps just won't slip up as they dropped only 5 points all year, leaving us 8 behind.  College Europa snatched P3 on the final match day as Olympique's European challenge disintegrated over the last fortnight.   At the foot of the table, Gibraltar Utd survived the relegation playoff yet again but they shouldn't really be in this situation, especially since their regen keeper is probably the best in the league at 16 years of age.

Anyways, we didn't win any accolades this year (not even manager of the season) and only two players made it to the team of the year.

We were pointed out as the biggest overachievers in Europa League which is nice but owed mostly to the lucky draw we got.

I was about to head off for a summer holiday when the dominoes started falling very suddenly and very quickly.

Chairman deciding to go part-time seemed sensible and players all over the league do that a lot but then I realised we were about to turn professional.

I didn't have very much time to guess what that meant as the next news item explained it

Now getting takeover talks just before a crucial transfer window is never great but I was curious how this was going to play out.  The very same day I got this:

And woke up next morning to see this happen:

That must have been the fastest takeover I'd been a part of, taking only 1 day from start to finish. We'll see if the new chairman is any good.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2022 Summer break

We started the summer (still with old chairman) and good news regarding increase of sponsorship income.  This is something that we have lacked for a while and every little helps with European income still quite uncertain

Now that I have a new chairman I decided to ask him for a few things and boy did he deliver - upgrades to training facilities, junior coaching and youth rec! We're going to have the best facilities in the country midway next season, so the pressure is not on me to deliver.  I have also been granted permission to do my continental Pro badges.

Speaking of continental, we've gone up a fair bit in the rankings with our great performance last year.  One more year of that and we'll become seeded in the first qualifying round!

However, with all these improvements the board is now expecting near miracles - going through in europa league, top3 in the league and final of the cup. We should deliver the last two but the first could be hard.

Conveniently, I have been offered a bunch of jobs in second Spanish division this summer, looks like my rep is hitting the right heights. i'll see if I can use that to negotiate more fun stuff from the board.

There was also a small matter of a world cup and what a world cup it was.  Having been taken away from Qatar, Morocco was the sole host.  Defending champions England bombed out at the group stage in their greatest embarrassment since, well, pre-save times. No less than 5 African countries made the second round with hosts Morocco and Senegal going all the way to the semifinal.  Sweden also recorded a famous victory over Brazil in what was a scintillating World Cup.  In the end, it was Mauro Icardi's extra time winner that brought the trophy to Argentina over Belgium's golden generation.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2022/23 Europe/Super Cup

Welcome back to season 5 to the Gibraltarian adventure.  We were second best domestically last season, so could we make it one better and take fight to Red Imps?

I wasn't so sure, so I had a look at the Gibraltarian national team.  Only players in it can really strenghten me and I really struggled to get any to agree terms, as a result, I'm focusing of youth this and next year with the hope that in 2024 we challenge Red Imps with somewhat homegrown team.

To supplement the current aging squad, I snatched a few promising kids from all around the tiny nation:

Christian turned up at our feeder club and it was a mystery why they didn't play him last season.  I wasn't going to let him go to waste and signed him up.  He looks awesome for a Gibraltarian and hopefully with some pace improvements as he ages could become a deadly force.  David is a defender I have been tracking for a while before convincing Red Imps to part ways with him.  I expect to loan him out for a season to see how he performs against grown men before integrating him into the first team.  Last but not least Callum, a Gib regen from England, refusing to sign up for Gibraltar but a great player for this level.  He addresses a big hole at left mid and should be a key player with his dead ball prowess.

In Europe, we got matched against Polish Cup winners which was a very dodgy draw and we lost twice, unfrotunately.  A very short European adventure this year, I am afraid.

Remember the Spanish second division offers I got at the beginning of the season?  Well, Red Imps manager has gotten them too and jumped the ship to become the first manager who jumped from Gibraltar anywhere else.  Kudos to him.

Intriguingly, he was replaced by the national team coach which meant the job was open for me.  I applied and...

They chose a regen with no experience instead of me. He also has less rep, so I guess it's a nationality thing that prevented me from landing the big job?

In the Super Cup we met with Red Imps and once again they defeated us.  A spirited display from us though and on a better day we could have won it in regular time. Alas.

Overall, I tinkered with the tactics a lot this pre-season causing several poor results, so I am not too sure what to expect this year beyond European qualification of sorts.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2022/23 Squad

I realised I never ever did any squad reviews, so here's one to get you more acquainted with my team.

There are 3 GKs at the club.  Duarte is mostly kept for his determination and ambitiousness.  Despite AssMan's high rating I don't think his ceiling is that high. In fact, I think Jordan is the golden ticket to glory.  He spent two years at a second division club as their number one and I will be promoting him to no.1 at Gib Reg. Warwick will be demoted to the bench and injury cover and should be an excellent backup at that.

I really am blessed with defenders in Gibraltar.  On the right, Platonenko is my starting rightback with plenty of pace in him, Hunter should be his backup with Sadler probably getting released soon.  On the left, Chipolina is one of Gibraltar's finest with Nichol and Thorne vying for the backup spot.  In the centre, Gracia and Hutchinson are starters with Millward and Stevenson providing backup. Ford got sent on loan to another top division club to get as much match experience as possible.

Midfield is even more crowded.  On the right, Drakes is the man with Parker his deputy and Dowling/Edge providing injury cover.  On the left, Hill should be starring with Vinet a really good backup and Kinnear as a youth prospect.  Down the middle, Clayton and Middleton are the workhorses I expect to play 70-80% of the matches with Croll providing backup.  Rodriguez is here just for tutoring and Stephens providing mentals to reserves.

Up front, it's a battle of two generations.  Lavagna and Muscat are capable backups but I will be shunting them off in favour of Rowe and Budhrani. Both of the kids look like they could be special, so I'll take a punt on them with a view of targeting title in 23/24.  The main strikeforce will be Adams and Gonzalez.  Adams should provide pacy aerial threat with Gonzalez pulling the strings and involving everyone around him.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2022/23 Autumn

Having failed to land the Gibraltar job I was very happy to see that the U21 job was available and I even managed to get the nod. It's a small step in the right direction and I hope I'll be able to get the main job fairly soon. I only played a single friendly with U21s this year, a 4-2 against Luxembourg, so not much to report there.

In the league, it was a familiar story, we're ripping through everyone but big boys.  Red Imps hit us for 4 and College Europa was desperately unlucky not to score 2 or 3 against us.  The rest were wins as usual.

What is unexpected, however, is that Red Imps have been abysmal, averaging less than 2 pts a game and 6 pts behind us.  They have dropped more pts than whole last season and are in danger of missing out on automatic European qualification to Gibraltar Utd. College Europa have also had a strong start as they're the only unbeaten side in the league.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2022/23 Winter

I'll be starting this part with a quick glance at the national side.  The main reason for that is they've been doing exceptionally well.  Some of you may remember me fuming at their decision to hire a certain nobody as the coach but it turned out to be a masterstroke, as they only lost one game in Nations League and briefly hit no.99 rating in the world! My man Gonzalez has been the top scorer with 3 goals to his name, 6 in 16 appearances at a tender age of 20.

Under-21s found out what their European Qualification group is gonna look like and it's not pretty. Every other side in the group is way stronger than us and it'll be an uphill struggle to get anything out of this group.

Back at Gib Reg, I secured yet another one year contract extension.  I wonder how long it is before they start offering me multi-year deals, we're a pro-side after all.

In terms of transfers, only a single prospect in this window.  I'd followed Lewis for almost a year and agreed to sign him last summer but his broken leg meant the deal had to be rearranged 6 months later.  He's still quite promising and I hope he can become a good player if not for us, then for Gibraltar.

The team is finally firing on all cylinders in the league as we had an unbeaten round with only draw courtesy of getting FMed (missing injury time penalty and hitting the post 5 times for good measure)

Naturally, this extended our lead atop even further.  Red Imps are now 11 behind us in second with College Europa continuing their strong campaign. Gibraltar Utd (a great academy) finally getting the results they should whilst Magpies enjoyed a three-win run that lifted them out of relegation zone. For now.

 

Last, but not least, youth intake!  This year, we had our first ever golden generation at the club courtesy of new Youth Rec/Junior Coaching.  I'll be keeping a whole lot of youngsters this time round and there a few I am excited about.

Pratt looks like a very capable backup keeper for this level and with a good personality too!.  Mustoe is yet another solid centreback for Gibraltar.  This country seems to be producing 4-5 of these every season and barely a single decent midfielder or striker.  Milton breaks this trend and more importantly, I don't think my assman's rec of 3silver/2.5gold stars PA/CA is accurate for him.  With a bit of composure he should terrorise defenses for years.

[Jimbokav1971]

I love a (GIB) save. 

I've played a Youth Only version of this and I think, (haven't bothered to check), that I got out of the Group Stages of the Champions League once, (but not positive).

I have a feeling that there was a bug with the developing prize money for the Rock Cup, (although I didn't experience it I think many did), and I hope that you don't encounter it because I know it spoiled the game for some. 

Don't worry about the finances. As soon as you start to make headway in Europe money will cease to be an issue. 

I know he's only a youngster and I'm not positive that he is in the FM18 game, but Louie Annesley was at Barnet in 2018 and has gone on to make his senior (GIB) debut as a teenager since then. He's now at Blackburn and if you can get him while he is at Barnet you are laughing, (although maybe he wasn't researched accurately back in FM18). 

Anyway, good luck. My only advice is...... it's a marathon not a sprint. 

[rodesire]

4 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I love a (GIB) save. 

I've played a Youth Only version of this and I think, (haven't bothered to check), that I got out of the Group Stages of the Champions League once, (but not positive).

I have a feeling that there was a bug with the developing prize money for the Rock Cup, (although I didn't experience it I think many did), and I hope that you don't encounter it because I know it spoiled the game for some. 

Don't worry about the finances. As soon as you start to make headway in Europe money will cease to be an issue. 

I know he's only a youngster and I'm not positive that he is in the FM18 game, but Louie Annesley was at Barnet in 2018 and has gone on to make his senior (GIB) debut as a teenager since then. He's now at Blackburn and if you can get him while he is at Barnet you are laughing, (although maybe he wasn't researched accurately back in FM18). 

Anyway, good luck. My only advice is...... it's a marathon not a sprint. 

Thanks Jimbo!

I don't think Annesley is in my game, I didn't bother loading all players based in England at the beginning  

My prize money is developing nicely, if you exclude the ridiculous prize for first place in top division.  It's 550k for 1* league vs 56k for P2, and will probably become even more of a difference going forward.  I should have had a look in the editor before starting and reduced it to smth like 70k vs 56k, with CL+EL, the difference is more like 1mil+

Rock Cup is also scaling ok, only the winners get prize money, so it's not that much of an issue, luckily.

As for the youth only, I reckon if I keep improving my facilities, going Gibraltar only will equate to youth-only 

Gib Reg 2022/23 - Spring

The last third started rather poorly as my leftback pretty much died, considering he'll be 30 on non-contract when he comes back, I should start looking for replacements.

I wanted to do a full preview of the league, but we were so far ahead and with a potential title decider against Red Imps, I had to post this separately. Winning title against your rivals in early April, it doesn't get much better than that.

Having won second top division title, I was expecting to become at least a club icon but I am still listed as favourite personnel only.  At least the club rep popped to 1*, so that should help retaining players and getting better youth intakes as well as stealing other good Gibraltarian players.

 

In the league, it was another unbeaten run, with only 2 draws.  Red Imps were so poor this year, they didn't even make to the Cup final, first time in a decade.  We would face Gibraltar Utd there.

It was a nervy affair but we lifted the cup and thus, our first domestic double!  James Adams has really turned up in the last 10 games, single handedly carrying us to trophies.

In the end, it was 18 pts between us and Red Imps who failed to break 2pt/game barrier for the first time this save.  I hope they come back next year, as I would like some challenge in the league.  College Europa recovered from their horror show last season to clinch P3 with Gibraltar Utd a surprise fourth.  Hound Dogs were relegated as they never replaced Jamie Adams and Magpies sensationally went down, having been in midtable almost the whole season.

Gibraltar U21s played a couple friendlies, nothing too exciting, I did try out a 5-3-2 tactic as we only have one decent winger and 3 fullbacks available to me.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2022/23 final remarks

As the seasons progress I keep finding more and more stuff to post.  Having started with just 4 updates per year I feel like this could expand into 6 quite easily by next season.

Anyhow, let's start with the team that brought the double home.  Main stars being Callum Day, English-Gibraltarian with lethal set pieces and Nick Gonzalez, the lost prince of Red Imps with casual 8.00 league rating.

In terms of domestic awards we only failed to win the goal of the season.  Even the team of the season had 6 of us, including GK, DC, 3 mids and a striker. Outrageous.

Meanwhile, I picked a bunch of 17-19 yo kids for U21 squad for the next two years and boy did they have fun, 13 goals in two matches and I really need to fix my defence.

In the Champions League, it was Barcelona who denied Man Utd their 4th Champions League title in 5 years.  Man City crashed out at the group stage only to win Europa League.  Just City things..

And a quick save summary for those who care about the particulars of this save.

Edited November 22, 2019 by rodesire
forgot the summary

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2023 Summer

We started the summer with a bunch of club-level improvements, the board has been reacting extremely well to my suggestions, so I am getting tonnes of upgrades!

We do not have a youth team in Gibraltar, so it's only the training facilities that count, this improvement should put us on equal footing with Red Imps with everyone else trailing behind.

Improved Youth Rec and Junior Coaching means we're the best Gibraltar team in this area and I am expecting to start receiving the best players in the country quite soon.

This was slightly unexpected as the board had intended to spend around 800k on the stadium but ended up with a much cheaper 500 person standing area

Having given me so much support, the chairman still expects reasonable things, as only UCL target is way too ambitious.  To reach the rest, I dove into the transfer market. We're struggling a tiny bit in midfield with only 2 decent centre-mids, so I bought 2 more, Baio was a free agent and should provide solid cover for a couple years.  Ryan is a huge prospect and my scouts were raving about him, so I am willing to take a chance on him. I'll need to get his personality upped from casual asap tho.

Oh and Man Utd broke in-game transfer record on Leon Bailey this summer @Sheriff7 will be pleased  

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2023/24 Pre-season

What's that sound?  That's right, it's the Champions League anthem playing at Victoria stadium.  1st Qualifying round and once again I cocked up the fitness of my players.  I seriously do not understand how to get players fit on fm18 for first round of Europe  This was clearly an issue in first leg as we were chasing shadows losing 5-1 away at Rosenborg.  Home leg was much better, as we squeezed a draw thanks to some dodgy refereeing.  Still out at the first hurdle and into Europa League we go.

You should have seen my face when it was announced we would play Žalgiris in 2nd qualifying round.  Some of you may remember my Lithuanian save, where Žalgiris provided the perfect nemesis for almost 10 seasons, stealing my best players, importing stars in the making and being a general nuisance.  Well, it's time I meet them again in alternate universe.  We dominated the first leg at home, perhaps surprisingly as they are a 2* rep team after all.  2-0 score really flattered them as we should have had four or five and I was a bit worried for the return leg.  My fears proved unfounded as we dispatched Žalgiris once more with the same scoreline, the first time we won both legs of a European tie.

3rd qualifying round featured my new frenemies Rosenborg.  This time we were a lot fitter and it showed. A really even match ended in a 0-0 draw at home and I had some hope we could maybe snatch an early goal away and bow out gloriously.  My plan went out of the window as Rosenborg scored first and had a couple chances to really put the tie to bed.  Alas, Gracia popped an equaliser from the corner and the tie was truly on.  We had to weather 45 more minutes of onslaught but they could not get anything past Jordan, so into the 4th qualifying round we went (on away goals, booooo)!

There we faced a 3* rated Malmo, champions of Sweden. They showed their class in the first tie, well and truly dominating us.  3 early goals and I switched to a 4-4-2 from 5-3-2 I employed during the European run before. The rest of the match was still in Malmo's favour and I felt it was a bit undeserved we scored a 93rd minute consolation from a corner.  This gave us a glimmer of hope for the return leg.  Except, it was more of the same, early goal by Malmo as I stuck with 5-3-2.  Suddenly, we scored a goal on a counter against the run of play.  5 minutes later, a carbon copy as went into the break 2-1 up and 3-4 down on aggregate.  Not much happened for another 20 minutes, so I switched the team to more attacking 4-4-2 searching for an elusive winner.  Mind you, Malmo was still very much the dominant force, bombarding us with long shots all along.  With 10 minutes to go my left winger managed to score out of nowhere and it was a tie on aggregate.  To extra-time we went as Callum Day scored his second in yet another solo run to win it 4-1 on the day and 5-4 on aggregate.  Group stage it is for us, I am genuinely speechless as to how we we FM'ed Malmo quite like that.

The draw wasn't kind as we ended up with two active league teams in Villareal and Stoke, Olympiakos making up the group.  It will be a tough ask to get anything out of this group but we'll enjoy the ride!

We did receive almost 3 million for this run in total, so I got another Youth rec upgrade (second in 2 months!) and data facilities upgrade to boot.

After all this exhilarating journey through Europe, Super Cup was a disappointment.  I played my second team as Villareal tie was just 3 days later and we couldn't finish our chances before missing 46 pens in the shoot-out.

All in all, an 18 game pre-season with everyone very very fit already.

Gibraltar U21s are going to be a footnote, really.  We got outclassed twice already and I see more pain in the near future.  We really need more clubs than just Red Imps and Gib Reg able to grow the talents in Gibraltar. Doesn't look like it'll be the case for a little while tho.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2023/24 Autumn

We sensationally made the Europa League group stage this summer, so how did it go?

But surely it wasn't thaaaat bad?

That bad?  Yeah.  0 goals scored but at least we managed to snatch a draw at Olympiakos.  This really showed me far we have to go in this challenge and kinda encouraged me to leave current club to make more Gibraltarian clubs have better facilities.

The only real silver lining is getting my data facilities improved and a few more staff in, they have lots to crunch to make better.

Unfortunately, European campaign impacted our league form as we went all over the place around the time of 0-7 hammering and never really recovered from that.

Unsurprisingly, we're not top of the league with a 5-2-2 record. Red Imps are rampant having sorted out their defense and already 5 points clear at the top.  It's good to see College Europa back in the mix and Mons Caipe are definitely on fire, averaging two points a game.  Newly promoted Europa point are already 7 clear of the drop zone too, yet somehow their manager is in danger of getting the sack..

Gibraltar U21s were similarly mediocre but we did manage to snatch a win against Lithuania who didn't turn up at all and then battled 10 men Belarus for a half before they scored a late winner to break our hearts.  We're still not bottom of the group, so I am secretly pleased with that.  I do not see a lot of chances to improve though, so might leave the post after the qualifiers finish.

[Sheriff7]

Great campaign in Europe mate!Now you are going to have good fitness level in your first official game because you are going to start from second quilifier next years.. Great win against young Lithuania too.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Sheriff7

[SRL88]

Enjoyed reading through this. Keep it up 

[rodesire]

7 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Great campaign in Europe mate!Now you are going to have good fitness level in your first official game because you are going to start from second quilifier next years.. Great win against young Lithuania too.

Actually, it's more likely i'll be starting from pre-qualifying since other teams have been beyond awful.

7 hours ago, SRL88 said:

Enjoyed reading through this. Keep it up 

Cheers, mate!

Gib Reg 2023/24 Winter

Having finished our European campaign I had high hopes to get our league challenge back on track.  Being outside the European places and 6 pts off the top was kinda expected given the extra matches and lack of morale but I wasn't sure how likely it was I'd overcome that.

I needn't have worried, we went unbeaten this round, only dropping points against Gibraltar Utd and delivering a complete performance against both Red Imps and College Europa.  Neither team had a shot on target and it was a freak goal that gave Red Imps a glimmer of hope.  In terms of league position this actually put us on top on goal difference! College Europa is all over the place and in danger of missing out on Europe as Gibraltar Utd and Mons Caipe are both having strong campaigns.  It's a two-tier league at this point with Lions 10pts behind P5.

I know that improving youth facilities usually means a poor intake the first year but the text still implied a golden generation.

I wouldn't believe that though as the top4 prospects are all rather lackluster and I cannot see them being more than backups. I fired most of the intake, including a promising centreback as I have way too many in first team already.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - 2023/24 Spring

Before we get into the club side of the save, a little view into Gibraltar U21s.  I saw that Belarus U21 job was available, applied and even got an offer but I in the end I didn't really feel like going into a country that doesn't help me with this save.

The spring friendlies went largely as expected, we crushed the two minnows and no injuries in either games, easy peasy.

Yet, somehow I didn't feel like this role was getting me anywhere, so I resigned.  I really wish I could take charge of the national side that's falling in the rankings once more but I don't think that'll happen any time soon.

Back at Gib Reg, we finally got back to our stadium three games before the close of the season.  We did have a small expansion but still no seats for some reason.

In terms of fixtures we kept on going and going and winning until we secured the title. That's when it all went wrong as we lost to Red Imps in what proved to be a huge match for them.  At least we avenged that with a Cup Final win, that's a double double for us.

Having 7 trophies is what it took me to become an icon at this club, a bit ridiculous if you ask me, but I hope I won't need another 7 to become a legend.

The final league table was surprisingly tight as we overcame our early struggles and powered home.  However, it was Red Imps who almost missed out on the second place if only we hadn't lost to them.  Gibraltar Utd with a very impressive chase at the business end of the season powered by their super goalkeeper who I am rather keen on.  I don't want to steal him as it might relegate Utd, he's by far the most important player on that team.  Lynx FC got relegated and Europa Point survived the playoff easily to struggle for another year.

Slightly sadder squad overview this year.  We played 45+ games in season for the first time in this save, so everyone got loads of game time.  It did impact the ratings as we kept getting destroyed in Europe, still Adams, Gonzalez and Day providing the spark up front.  Callum unfortunately refused to extend his contract, so he will be leaving that left mid position wide-open.

Overall, it's been a great 6 seasons at this club.  We've won everything domestically and our finances got a major boost due to our European adventure.  This is damaging the league though as the other teams are losing rep and not buying new good players.  League rep has dropped two straight seasons now and I might be reaching a point where I either need to pull the whole league on my back and accept walking the league every year. Otherwise I could try max this club out for a couple more seasons before switching to a new project and hopefully building a new stadium for a new club and achieving everything there.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2023/24 Awards/Europe review

We received surprisingly little praise this season domestically as the European fatigue and early poor form left us with no voting awards.  We did have two highest goalscorers and 5 players in team of the year but should have had more.  I also got my fourth manager of the year award as I reached top of Gibraltar's Hall of Fame.

In Europe, we had a rather uneventful UCL year with PSG defeating Man Utd in extra time in the final with low scoring affairs in most games resulting in Mbappe snatching the top goalscorer on barely 7 goals. Meanwhile, in Europa League the old guard of Ukraine and Portugal got swept away as Inter beat Stoke in the final to land Champions League group spot for next year. Capone hit us for 9 goals, I think over two games and ended the campaign with 20 in Europe.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg - Summer 2024

Last season was truly spectacular as I had expected us to take a step back to develop youngsters.  Instead we got a domestic double and a Europa League group stage. We became the most reputable club in the country and the one to beat.  One can only hope Red Imps remain a force as their finances are still listed as secure.  This off-season I tried raiding Red Imps for their best players causing them to actually sign their finest to a professional contract.  I ended up signing their key centremid and a rising star attacking mid that I knew from U21s.  I also signed a versatile 16 year old from Gibraltar Utd, I hope I can develop him enough to crack the first team in a year or two.

Our board keeps being awesome, as we got yet another improvement to both Junior coaching and Youth Recruitment (now costing 18k a month, up from 6-7k)

We also got a major training facilities upgrade and a stadium upgrade. Once done, we'll have the biggest stadium in the country, albeit with standing space only.

Despite all these upgrades we still ended the year way in positive, so a tax bill it is.  30k a month for a season shouldn't sink us but sure isn't nice.

Our exploits helped us rise in Europe dramatically, only getting through the group stage could give us another sizeable boost like that.

We also had EURO2024 this summer.  Back to single country format, it delivered a fair bit of drama as Serbia reached semis with Scotland and Denmark making QF.  In the end it was Italy who won it all in extra time.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2024/25 - Preseason

It's time for another European adventure in Gibraltar.  Last season we sensationally made the Europa League group stage, so this season I am aiming for at least a 3rd qualifying round and if the draw allows, maybe even a repeat of the group stage but we'll see.

I started the pre-season with a 4 team league, all playing in Europe in order to build up everyone's fitness.  That was a bad idea, as our fitness was terrible for the first game as we lost to Icelandic champions away.  The rest of Gibraltar were promptly swept in Europe, so I won't be doing this bootcamp again.  However, with a bit of luck in the second leg and a cheeky 82nd minute injury we won 3-0 in return leg, winning our first Champions League tie ever!

The draw wasn't kind though, as we were matched against Celtic who tore us to shreds in both games, a home draw really flattering us as we created nothing of value in 180 minutes.  Notably, it was the largest attendance we ever played in front during the first leg in Glasgow.

Alas, into Europa League we go.  Playing Anderlecht at home first we somehow drew nil-nil as both teams had plenty of chances there.  The second leg was a smash-and-grab for us as my right winger who has injured no fewer than 4 opponents already scored an entirely undeserved brace to send us through to the final qualifying round.

Guess who was waiting for us there? Malmo, our old friend from last year.  This time round we played home leg first and everything that could have gone right, did go right as we raced to the most dangerous lead in football 3-0.  Away leg was less good as we conceded a first half own goal and were facing a penalty early in second.  Luckily my keeper saved it before we scored on a counter to send us through to Europa League group stage once more!

And what a draw it is! We got the easiest second and third seed I could have asked for and there may be a real chance for us to qualify out of this group in second which is absolutely incredible.

These exploits made me a club legend which wasn't the case at the close of the season, now all I need is a new stadium named after me at Gib Reg.

The Super Cup also went our way, as our second squad raced to a 3-0 lead before third team almost squandered it. Either way, one more piece of silverware to our growing collection!

[Sheriff7]

Great results against Anderlecht and Malmö.

[rodesire]

3 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Great results against Anderlecht and Malmö.

Thanks, I feel like the team finally starting to have the personnel to run counters which is devastating at this stage in Europe.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2024/25 Autumn

I haven't had a lot of time to play recently, so a bit of a quicker update this time even though we're hitting a huge point for this club.  This was the second year in a row we qualified for the Europa League group stage and this time we had a very very kind draw, so could we take advantage of that?

Oh yes, we could!  Some huge huge results, beating both BATE and Steaua by 3 goals at home, draws away and not getting destroyed by Villareal for once.  More of the same in the league, where we hadn't conceded until gameweek 5 with Milton providing 9 goals in first 9 games to keep us on track domestically.

All this means we are top of the league, though Imps are in impecable form too and I wouldn't bet against them winning the league against us.  The rest of the league is quite tight with Manchester 62, Olympique and Gib Utd vying for European places whilst College Europa is having a shocking start to the season.  We also managed to get through the EL group for the first time ever and our prize for getting through was..

 

Oh...

[kidthekid]

Incredible Europa league run

[rodesire]

20 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

Incredible Europa league run

Thanks, we did get incredibly lucky with BATE as second seed and Steaua as third.  Still should we get to the group stages next year, we'd be a third seed, so we should be able to keep our coefficient up a bit.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2024/25 Winter

It was the night before Christmas, so I asked the chairman for more youth upgrades and having negotiated for a while we ended up maxing out youth facilities and junior rec. It took us only 5.5 seasons to max them out and the new board was responsible for most of it.  It does mean we need to get through at least a couple European qualifying rounds or win the league every year as we spend 35k a month on youth.

It was the new year's day as it was announced that Mboopi has now won 4 Ballon d'Ors in a row, at only 26 years of age he could end up breaking Messi's record of 6 in this universe.

Surprise, surprise, we were still in Europe after new year! Roma was our opponent and we were quite unlucky not to get anything at home as we matched Roma for a very long time against their ridiculous narrow formation. It was a completely different story in Italy as we got smashed yet ended up conceding less.

Somehow this counted as a humiliating defeat worth a fan refund as my board was quite livid with this showing.  Really not sure what this is all about, frankly.

Domestically it's been a stroll as a mixture of my first and second team has been roflcopting all over everyone.  Even Red Imps got smacked 4-1, they also managed to lose in second round of the cup.  I wonder if there is any chance their manager might leave.. But it's unlikely, we're just 6 pts atop the league but the rest of pack is dogfighting.  College Europa has recovered to third but it's all fine margins there. Mons Caipe and Europa Point are both professional clubs, so I really hope they stay up.

One last thing, you may have noticed we had a 2250 attendance in our last match - we moved back to our expanded stadium! Still, terraces only but it's now the biggest in the country.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2025 Youth intake

Having expanded the youth facilities I usually get crap youth intakes and this year was no different. Golden generation you say?

Well, not really. There a 5* potential player and 2 4.5* but I don't like their personalities or skills.

[rodesire]

Gib Reg 2024/25 Spring

We're down to the last 9 games in the league and a domestic cup to think about, so how did we do?

We went 8-1-0 in the league once more, conceding only 2 goals, just about surviving the cup semifinal before lifting the trophy after a 5-0 thrashing.  This also meant we finished the season unbeaten in what is a first such feat in Gibraltar.

The final league table tells quite a story as we were excellent on both ends of the pitch averaging more than 3.5 goals for and less than .5 against.  College Europa recovered to take an assured third on only 33 points with Mons Caipe and Europa Point sensationally relegated.  That's a major surprise and it'll be a huge challenge for Europa Point as they're deeply in debt overpaying their staff massively.

Almost forgot, the league and cup win meant we achieved a domestic treble, a first for us and first ever unbeaten treble in Gibraltar. Having European football in February only added to the special feeling this season.

Squad-wise we had so many astonishing performers.  Youth players staking claim all over the pitch with Spooner producing 17 assists and absurd 7.99 rating, Milton scoring 24 and assisting 12 in 18 starts and Mustoe becoming arguably best Gibraltar player overall at ripe old age of 18.  Every striker scored at least 17 goals this season and Jordan had not conceded more than a goal a match in the league whole season.