It's a Sky Blue World

[vivu]

League Close

We hit form at the right time. A niggle to Greenwood after the first leg against Lyon made me opt for the youngster I had brought in from Argentinian second division. He has been coming on mostly as sub/insignificant matches and was sitting on 3 goals till then. He was sensational through the final few fixtures and lighted up the league with 5 goals in 3 matches including 4 in the final fixture as RBL lost out on a UCL spot in a 3 way fight between them, us and Bayern.

The run of form has left with me a big head ache before the big final against the Gunners, which 2 of the 4 strikers to start with? Greenwood and Ndlovu are our main guys and are in ok form. The previously misfiring Austrian have been our standout performer in Europe this season. But its an interesting choice and one that I would prefer over missing out on any of those options.

That's massive for our finances.

Next up, it's a trip to King Baudouin Stadium in Belgium .

[vivu]

[vivu]

It was heart break at Belgium after a pulsating match. We fought back twice and missed an injury time penalty. Then late into extra time the player who conceded the penalty scored the winner. I am really proud how my team fought, but the penalty miss will haunt us for some time

[vivu]

End of season awards, season summary and expectations.

And was offered this for the first time

[vivu]

More goodies from the board. I am liking the new chairman who won the election for the first time this year.

[vivu]

Bloody Hell

And the nebie in there will be covered in my transfer update

We have been making some improvements

[vivu]

Summer Transfer Update

We smashed our record for a youngster had just broken into Atletico Madrid side last season. Had to pay out his clause, but my scouts were recommending him from last two seasons and he had stepped up to Atletico's main team admirably. The other major signing was a German ball playing defender from Sassuolo who will help in squad registration for UCL. Outgoings were mostly loan, except for two youngsters who came up in last youth intake and were rated to be decent Bundesliga players by PA, but I doubt if they will make the grade. 10 mil + 50% future transfer is pretty awesome deal.

[vivu]

Incoming

We got the youngster for compensation and he slots into our u19 squad. Have bags of potential, but needs plenty of work to be ready for 1st team

Another youngster who we picked up from 2. Bundesliga for a decent fee. All the German big guns were interested and we moved quickly to bring him in. Will be a while for him to be ready for first team.

He is young, German and available at a decent coast (His price dropped from 40 mil+ from last season to 15 mil when I made the move). He is going to be an important signing as we have lots of matches in the horizon.

Another youngster our scouting team was really impressed with and we moved quickly as his release clause was low. He is really close to first team level and moves out on loan to gain experience.

And the star turn. The release clause was low enough for us to afford him and he was beginning to raise interest from PSG and Premier League top 6. We hd been tracking him from the time he was on loan at Nantes and I decided to splash out our record trasfer fee. His start so far has justified the huge outlay

[vivu]

Outgoings:

Apart from the young Brazilian defender posted in previous post, the following players moved out to get more minutes

Two youngsters who need plenty of experience before they can challenge for 1st team

These two were on the fringes of the first team, but I wanted them to get some minutes in as it would be difficult to come by with us.

This was the difficult choice. He did brilliantly in Europa League last season, but was pretty bad in the league. He is already listed as a key player for Wolves in the second division. With Saura coming in I needed to move someone on. He was not attracting any decent transfer bidm so I moved him on for a loan.

Both the youngsters came up in last youth intake and my coaches don't rate them too high. The Eritrean was a decent Bundesliga prospect and Cameroonian was expected to be 2.Bliga star. So I was surprised by the deadline day  bids for them. I rejected he early ones around 5 mil with add ons, then decided to put a 10 mil + 50% which they accepted. I hope my coaches were right and we haven't lost out on world class players.

[vivu]

Aug '25

A decent start to the season where our new striker has slotted in well.

[vivu]

Sep '25

Huge month for us. We are becoming the bogey team for Dortmund and the score was an absolute travesty on them as it was apretty even match till final 20 mins. Later in the month we had our biggest ever win, at Bayern and a shut out to boot.

Golden Boot race

My ex player is in control leading RBL to the top, but Saura is looking like a big game player. He popped up with a 92 min winner in UCL fixture against Sporting and scored 2 against Bayern

[vivu]

I love this board

[vivu]

Huge result for us. Gives us a glimmer of hope

[vivu]

Oct & Nov '25

Missed out on taking screenshot by Oct end, hence the 2 month update. The team was absolutely splendid in Europe and very tight in League. Had the biggest set of results against PSG. We absolutely FMed them away from home and they self destructed in the home leg as they pressed hard for the win and we hit them on the break effectively and marched on from the group

Golden Boot Race

Team rotation meant RBL man has built up a decent lead.

[vivu]

Greatest result update

Sh!tty blew their chances in a dull match. Only 3 highlights in the key highlights mode/

[vivu]

Dec '25

We closed out the CL in spectacular fashion by knocking out Sh!tty (who seemed to play for the draw) and had an absolute cracker to end the month against RBL.

We suffered on the hand of our ex stars against RBL with our record sale putting us behind with an early rocket and the emerging star I sold for whats looking like peanuts grabbing a late equalizer. The youngster has Chelsea and Barca circling now

[vivu]

Ndlovu wins the striker award and my ex-GK wins his category.

[vivu]

Transfers:

1 out and 1 in, with a like for like swap. Hopefully that will be the only change (though I am not hopeful).

Nilis was a squad rotation option who has come on quite well, but his agent wanted some unrealistic contract extension and player became unhappy. Lots of mid-table EPL teams came in with offers and he is moving to the Magpies for a decent price.

I quickly moved for Martinez from Lille and triggered his release clause. He is almost the same level of Nilis and similar potential as per my scouts, but he needs to work on the pace if he wants to play in the important games.

[vivu]

Bloody Hell...

He is probably the best player on the team at the moment and he is a genuine leader within the team. I am desperate to hold on to him (at least till the end of the season), but he is not willing to discuss new terms.

There is a young German striker who is unhappy at under-performing Dortmund who might be interested in coming over (for a small fortune) or I could recall the Austrian striker who is performing well in 2.Bundersliga.

[vivu]

And the star moves on

He has been the star around whom my team was built

And a really good scoring rate considering we have really fired in the goals in only 1 season during which he led our line.

I could have offered him more   I have offered more to the youngster from Dortmund.. He has not signed yet and Arsenal is circling around him atm. Not looking very promising.

[vivu]

And the replacement is in

He is young and a proven international (with 29 caps by 20 years of age). His skills not up to Ndlovu, and his scoring rate is not the greatest. But my scouts reckon he is as good as my ex-star and can improve a small bit. That contract has the potential to upset the squad and may have long term ramifications as the next highest paid player in my squad is Greenwood at 100k and Saura at 85k per week.

[vivu]

Thank you Arsenal

Arsenal came in with an enquiry and I quoted 80 mil, they offered 40+7.5 in clauses. I rejected and he agitated for a move. I agreed to lower price to 65mil, but he was not happy. Offered out for 90 and Everton and Gunners came back with negotiable bids. Finally settled with Everton and flatly refused Gunners for anything less than 65 million.

I certainly dont need the money, but I didn't want an unhappy player in the midst of a squad that definitely playing as a team. The fees was pretty decent and we made hug profit while moving on one of the highest earners at the club. Have couple of young Germans I am interested in, but with just the deadline day left, time is running out. Worst case scenario, the Austrian comes back early.

[vivu]

Deadline day deal. Unfortunately I didn't know that we couldn't register u17 players. He is rated to be 2 Bundesliga player and 5* PA. So he stays in u19 for now. Too late to recall my Austrian striker to be registered for UCL. So I let him continue on loan till I have an urgent requirement for the league.

[vivu]

Jan '26

Perfect month saw us topping the league. It was about this time last season that the wheels fell off for our title challenge. We are much well prepared in the back line and mid field, but the loss of 2 out of 3 senior strikers and inability to replace 1 does leave us a bit light up top. But majority of my team have played togather for close to 3 season now and I am cautiously optimistic.

Golden Boot Race

[vivu]

[vivu]

Look out... the wheels...

I think its bye-bye UCL ko.. Lyon should be a step too far with only 2 available strikers registered.

And the Austrian is recalled

Edit

And I can't register him

[vivu]

Feb '26

When it rains, it pours. After the deadline day misadventures, we had a really tough fixture list and the Hannover result gave brief respite. The Lyon result was the most disappointing as we had taken a lead and was in control before my CM picked up two yellows in 5 mins and we faded away to a defeat. The silver lining was the away goal from Saura

Golden Boot Race

The race is hotting up

[vivu]

March '26

Really bad defeat against Hoffenheim and a lase against Gladbach cost us 2 points. But we overcame Lyon and have a trip to Anfield to show for it. Also a trip to Bayern awaits in cup semis

Golden Boot Race

The Argentine ace has not scored for a while and I checked in and saw he was out injured for couple of months. He is back now and the final two months are going to be interesting as we are in the race to tie as well as golden boot.

[vivu]

Apr '26

A month were we took charge of the Title race and reached another cup final (against a Stuttgart). The disappointing part was the surrender against Liverpool who lost the home leg and we led by a single goal till the 70th minute in the return leg. Then they scored thrice in 15 mins

Golden Boot Race

Saura has it to lose

Title run in

Us :  

RBL :

[vivu]

End of Season

A fantastic end to the season as we completed the double (although nearly blew the cup finals threw an abject second half).

I'm a club icon now

And the prize money is huge

[vivu]

Golden Boot Race

The 2 month injury for the Argentine made all the difference. Saura has the vultures circling with Sh!tty and Gunners shown as interested.

[vivu]

End of season Awards & Records

The demands for next season have gone up

[vivu]

Bonilla has been a key player for us and so this had to happen

[vivu]

 

 

The youngster out on loan is impressing.

 

 

[vivu]

 

The underachievement cost Setien the Bayern job

[vivu]

My contract is up in 10 days time, but no thanks

 

[vivu]

Contracts Up

Not decided on next destination. Will wait until an opportunity I like and not rush in.

The support was awesome

 

[SRL88]

Any decent jobs up at the moment?

[vivu]

World Cup ongoing. Some good ones become available then. Red Star looks interesting

[vivu]

Babelsberg is truly revived

That's a spectacular appointment...

...and its led to this

I'm not interested though.

[vivu]

This has opened up a very interesting opening. I have applied and awaiting to see if I get a call

[vivu]

Another interesting opportunity. I am not applying, but will attend interview if they call on me

[vivu]

And that's that...

[vivu]

Almost an year off the grid. Very little interesting opportunities, but close of the year has brought pressure on Liverpool and Arsenal, but there is an interesting challenge in League 1 to which I had expressed interest a while back. Then this popped up in my inbox few months on

[vivu]

Have taken up the challenge to lead Sky Blue back to the top

Expectations are realistic for a club of their size.

First order of the day was clearing out 26 players who had their contracts up and didn't want to renew/ not good enough as per the staff. This is going to be a big rebuild.

 

[vivu]

We badly need reinforcements down both flanks. And this is going to help big time

[vivu]

July & Aug '27

I had forgotten just how brutal the fixture congestion is in English leagues   We are somehow predicted to top the league, not sure why. Had a brutal transfer run in where the club released about half of their playing squad and I did a lot of wheeling and dealing in the window. I prefer not to make large scale changes, bit there was a domino effect here as I had to move some key players on because some wanted new challenges and rest became pissed when I moved them on. All considering, the team was brillinat, espaecially as I had brought in 20 players .

Golden Boot Race

My home grown 18 yo Left winger is joint top

Transfer

There are too many transfers, as plenty of them have gone into reserve squads. So I will be focusing on the key ones

 

[vivu]

Out:

Lovett was home grown youngster who was on last year of his contract and was unwilling to negotiate. So I offered him out for 3mil + 40% future and only Toronto came back with 2 mil + 40% future. He was a pretty decent performer and it was a shame he wasn't willing to negotiate a new deal.

Pask was a leader in the squad and was the lynchpin in defence for long. There was a huge rush for his signature as soon as I listed him after he came in wanting a new challenge. Another one I really didn't want to lose.

Pask's move pissed off Jodi who didn't calm down despite a long talk with me and he too goes off to pastures new. He too was a long term stalwart in the squad and would have been a useful option as he can play down both flanks

Rest of the departures were fringe players that would have struggled to find a starting spot.

[vivu]

In:

Key players were:

Defence

Nika was my 3rd choice GK at Babelsberg who got 0 starts there for me. He is more than capable for this level and I snapped him up as he was floating around on a free.

Marwan was a youngster my scouts picked up from Spanish lower leagues ad will provide back up in GK.

Those two were picked up from Barca B and Tottenham reserves as their contract expired. Edin cost a packet due to compensation and became the costliest player I signed.

Arjan was a youngster first flagged by my Babelsberg scouts as a 15 yo. He was available on a pittance, though I first took him on loan with a pretty easy clause in which I triggered soon after.

 

 

[vivu]

Midfield and Attack

Ex PSG youngster was picked up on a free.

This little gem was plying his trade in Brazilian lower leagues. I was tracking him for Babelsberg, and saw he was willing to join us in League 1 and snapped him up for his release clause.

Most expensive among the forward line was picked up from Egypt. He too was in my shortlist as I considered moving for him during my final season in Germany.

Inge was spotted by my Scandinavian scout plying his trade for AIK.

But it is this fella who has impressed me the most. So far he has been among the top performers in training for most weeks and he can play in a variety of positions.