(FM24) Scotland Club and Country

[TheLutterworthFox]

2033/34 - Mid-Season Update

 

Transfers

I was really hoping for a quiet Winter window and it looked to be heading that way, I decided to left LW Ilie leave, he is now 30 and has fallen down the pecking order, £15.75m is a good deal, for me that was it, then came the last week of the window!!! Both CB Vergara and ST Nando has their release clauses activated (yes I forgot about them!) and it was too late to entice them to stay, two huge losses and with Nando it was even too late to find a replacement.

I decided to bring two players in, both experienced England internationals.

 

Ben Chilwell - Left Back - £1.6m from Galatasaray

With me only really having Wiles as a decent LWB I needed to bring a new player in, I struggled to find someone to be happy to be back-up so went for Chilwell, a cheap fee and good experience.

Ben White - Central Defender - £1.5m from Wolves

My short-term replacement for Vergara, it was a real struggle to find a decent CB for a cheap fee and with me having a couple of decent players out on loan who could come in next season I went for another experienced player to plug the gap.

League Cup

Once again it was a good campaign in the League Cup

I did mix the team about and we struggled to break teams down, both Motherwell and Dundee United were beaten in extra time.

 

To the final and we faced Celtic where we absolutely hammered them!

A 5-1 win in a game we utterly dominated, we certainly have the number of Celtic at the moment.

 

Scottish Cup

We faced Rangers at Ibrox in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup and with a raft of injuries and the fact the game was in-between a couple of huge Champions League games I had to play a rotated side, we took a late lead but the legs tired and Rangers scored twice late on to knock us out. Not happy!

Premiership

As you'd expect we have absolutely dominated the league with some insane wins!

Loads of goals and if you look above you will see we have beaten Celtic 6-0!!!!

Still unbeaten and with 14 games to go we sit 16 points clear. A fifth straight title is pretty much tied up.

 

Champions League

We had a decent set of fixtures in the League Phase and did OK but we fell to a couple of defeats against the bigger teams.

I can take those defeats, we did play but they were too good. The big one was the win over Barca, a stunning 3-0 win. We did go into the game against Crvena zvezda knowing a win would see us into the Last 16, bypassing the playoff round but we drew the match and did not play well.

This means we go into the playoff round where we face Porto.

 

Scottish Teams in Europe

As you'll see above Celtic also managed to seal a playoff spot, they will face Napoli

In the Europe League Rangers ended 5th sealing a Last 16 spot, Dundee United got a playoff spot and will face Villarreal.

In the Conference League Falkirk got a playoff spot and will face Fehervar.

 

So all 5 teams that got into the League Phases of their respective competitions have qualified for at least the playoffs, that's pretty good.

Our co-efficient for this season currently sits at 16.000, the joint third highest, it keeps us in 6th in the overall ranking a couple of points ahead of Portugal and 2 points behind Germany.

 

Other News

A couple of pieces of awards news for my boys!

Jon-Paul Tait, who has just come back from his broken leg, won the FIFA Best U21 Mens Player award.

And Jay MacLeod ended the year as the European Golden Boy, these lads are good!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2033/34 - End of Season Review

700 Up

This save has been utterly incredible and towards the end of the season I managed by 700th game over my time at Queen's Park and my brief stint as the Scotland Manager.

Some amazing stats, a 69% win percentage and a whopping 1,681 goals!!! That's 11 seasons at Queen's Park and we've managed to win all that!

 

Champions League

We had to play in the playoff round and were handed a winnable tie against FC Porto, we went to their place in the first leg and sealed a stunning 3-1 win. Then in the home leg we did not defend well but managed a 3-3 draw to go through 6-4 on aggregate.

Then we got the last 16 draw and as an un-seeded team we always knew we were going to get a tough tie and we got exactly that as we faced PSG!

 

The first leg was at home and we didn't show up, PSG did what they had to do and won the game 2-0.

We then went to the Parc de Princes and came away with a stunning win, unfortunately it wasn't enough and we went out 3-2 on aggregate. It was nice though to see us go toe-to-toe with such a big team.

So an early exit from the Champions League and with us out of the Scottish Cup all we had to focus on was the Premiership.

 

Premiership

When I left you from the last update we were once again miles clear at the top of the League, so it will come as no surprise that we won the League AGAIN!

The one thing I wanted was the unbeaten season but we failed at that as we lost to Celtic away, this game was sandwiched in-between the two PSG games so I had to rest players, I'll put that down to why we lost.

We won the League with 6 games to spare and after that I mixed the team around a lot and played some of the kids, results did suffer slightly but it was a good experiment to see who were up for the task!

Another dominant season!

 

Key Players

Fans Player of the Season goes to wide-man Connor Smith, he was by far our best and most consistent player this season, scoring 16 and getting 19 assists in 38 starts, he also ends as the young player of the season and with the most assists, most POTMs and highest average rating at the club!

 

Academy star Jay MacLeod ends as the clubs top goal scorer with 17 goals in 43 starts, a solid season for him but for him to be our top scorer is pretty poor, what it does show though is we shared the goals around a lot more!

Another academy star Craig Wiles had an amazing season, he's only 18 and already has 25 Ireland caps and 91 league appearances for us. This lad is going to an absolute superstar and I fully expect the big clubs to come calling soon.

He also won the NxGN award, the third straight season a Queen's Park academy player won the award.

And here is our Best XI for the season.

Scottish Clubs in Europe

It wasn't as good as last season I'll be honest.

Both us and Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League in the Last 16 with Celtic losing to Liverpool

In the Europa League Dundee United were knocked out in the playoff round to Villarreal, Rangers got to the Quarter finals beating Fiorentina in the Last 16 before losing to Spurs.

Falkirk got to the Quarter final of the Conference League, they beat Fehervar in the playoff round, then AEK in the Last 16 but lost to Man United in the Last 8.

 

Still a solid season overall and we end on 19.400 points, this keeps us in 6th place but we are catching Germany up in fifth!

Another good run next season and we could well be over-taking Germany to fifth, that would give us a seventh European spot and a fourth in the Champions League!

 

Youth Intake

For the first time in a while we had a pretty average intake with no elite talents and four top talents, two of which look relatively decent, are they world-beaters? No, but they could do a decent job in the years to come with the right training, mentoring and game-time out on loan.

Both look pretty decent but only time will tell if they improve enough for a first-team spot.

 

Next Season

Now we look forward to another season and we have to contunue to try and improve to get further in the Champions League, the one thing that screwed us this season was the sales in the Winter window, losing Nando, Vergara and Ilie without really replacing them meant we had to blood some of the kids, especially with so many injuries and fitness issues. I need to improve the squad overall and look to replace those players we lost in the Winter. We will also be losing Chilwell and White, both signed in the Winter and have decided to retire.

As you can we have some whopping budgets!! A bit odd seeing as our bank balance is only £65m! There's no way I'm going to spend so much that we go into the red so my budget will be my bank balance, players will be sold, players will join, my aim this Summer is to improve the options at Wingback and also in defence whilst bring in players to replacement Ilie (LW) and Nando (RW). It should be a busy Summer!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2034/35 - Summer Transfers

 This will be just a transfer update, no results, will just go through who's left and who's come in as there is a lot of business!

 

Transfers Out

Bloody release clauses have done us again, we say goodbye to both Tsunoi and Alcaraz who's clauses got activated, Alcaraz was the most gutting one, Liverpool came in with literally 2 hours of the window left, I had no time to find a replacement. We also say goodbye to Lygaard (RW), Takahashi (RB), Buksrud (GK) and Jashari (DM), all were on the fringes and with the academy players doing so well I could sell them, most for a decent profit and still not lose any quality in the squad. 

So £97m of out's, let's see who came in!

 

Transfers In

Firstly is two signing I made last season who went straight out on loan, for this season they're back and they're going into the first-team

 

Ecio Hasicic - Goalkeeper - £3.4m from Rijeka

An amazing looking young keeper who, with Buksrud leaving, with provide back-up to Ilharco. He'll be getting game-time in the cup competitions.

Da Silva - Centre Back - £6.75m from Flamengo

Another top quality looking young lad, he'll provide back-up in defence this season but will get his chance in the cup games.

Kelby Neilson - Right Back - £3.9m from St Mirren

The first of two signings for the future, I wanted to a) send some money to other Scottish teams and b) build for the seasons ahead. Neilson is a quality, young RB and will spend this season on loan to our parent club Raith Rovers

Danny Kiely - Left Back - £4.2m from Falkirk

And here is the second of those “for the future" signings, another decent looking full back, Kiely will also spend the season on loan at Raith.

Sol Wark - Left Back/Centre Back - £10.75m from Celtic

A lad I'd looked at a few seasons ago, I decided against a bid and he went to Celtic, I needed a player to provide back-up to Wiles at LWB and also Murillo as LCB, Wark can do both and looks really good.

Ognjen Stojanovic - Centre Back/Defensive Midfield - £7m from Crvena zvezda

I took a bit of a punt on this lad, he looks absolutely amazing but for a defender he is short, can he fit into a back three as a Libero? That's my hope and if not he can play as my DM instead.

Titouan Berger - Central Defender - £23m from Monaco
The biggest deal of the Summer and what a player! With Ben White retiring I needed a new right-footed CB, this lad can play either BPD on the right or the Libero in the middle with ease, I am so excited as to how he will fit in and think he can take this side to a new level.

Roosevelt - Right Wing/Central Midfield - £5m from Sao Paulo

A last minute signing due to Lygaard leaving, offers versatility as he can play naturally in three different positions, another young signing who I think can be a superstar in the coming years.

Dwayne Keizer - Left Wing - £6.25m from Aston Villa

Another punt, he looks really good attribute wise to me but he isn't rated very highly, he won't get his chance this season as he'll spend the season on loan at Huddersfield, an exciting prospect in my eyes.

Ryan McArthur - Right Wing-back/Central Midfield - Free Transfer

Remember this lad? Yes he was the academy star who wanted to move to Man United, well three seasons later he hasn't played a game and left on a free!! So I brought him back! He will provide back-up in either midfield or at right wing-back. Let's hope he's learnt his lesson and won't leave again!

Ferran Torres - Winger/Striker - Free Transfer

We needed a bit of experience in our squad and Torres fits the bill, a top quality forward who can play anywhere along the forward line.

A very busy Summer, I do feel the squad is a lot better now, the loss of Alcaraz though has really hurt our midfield and we will now have to rely on the kids to fill the gap, at least until the Winter window.

[TheLutterworthFox]

2034/35 Season Review

Welcome back, I've decided seeing as I'm playing quite quickly, to shrink to one post a season (with a possible Summer transfer update on the side), this means the posts will be less frequent. Also I'm going to focus the posts more on Europe and the players, less on the domestic side, mainly because it's pretty obvious, bar a miracle, that we won't dominate in the League at least. Europe is the main goal, not only for us, but also the other Scottish Teams

Firstly, transfers and in the Winter I sold and signed two players….

We say goodbye to two stalwarts of the save, both have fell out of favour and wanted a move, it's good money for players who I saw as back-up at best.

Now the two in's

Firstly is Defensive Midfielder Roger Machorro, we were really short in this area due to the late departure of Alcaraz in the Summer window. He joins for £8.25m from Monterray. A top quality player who is a huge upgrade on anyone we have at the club

Secondly is a player I didn't really need but when I saw him and the fact he had a £2.5m release clause it was a no-brainer, Julio Medel is an absolutely incredible talent and will fit seamlessly into our team as an AM behind the two striker.

I said I wouldn't speak too much about domestic stuff so here are screenshots of how it went and as expected we dominated!

Easy as ever! We had the title wrapped up with six games to go and lost three of our matches towards the end when I played rotated sides.

 

Now to Europe and what a season it's been, not just for us but also for some of the other Scottish Clubs!

Let's start with ourselves and we had a decent run in the League Phase ending with 14 points, we went into that final match against Leverksuen knowing a win would seal a top 8 spot, we lost and did not play well meaning a spot in the playoffs.

Where we faced Villarreal and we eased past them with a 2-0 away win followed by a 2-1 win at home. Medel with 3 of those goals

It then got tougher as we faced Arsenal in the Last 16, I had no expectations of winning the game but we ended up winning the first leg at home 2-0 in a fantastic display. We then went to The Emirates and played our flat back 5 defensive formation which worked a treat as we drew 0-0 sealing a spot in the Quarter finals!

We managed to miss the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea and AC Milan, all whom had won it in the previous few seasons, instead we faced Inter Milan. We went to their place in the first leg, deployed the 5 at the back tactic and came from 1-0 down to seal a 2-1 victory courtesy of a late Pajoy goal. We had the advantage going into the home leg but Inter scored mid-way through the second half which sent the game to extra-time. Usually in previous season we have ran out of legs in this period of the game but it was total opposite, Inter fell apart, we scored twice, both goal by Jon-Paul Tait, a 4-2 win on aggregate and for the second time in two season we were into the semi's!

Where we faced Barcelona, once again the first leg was away and Barca grabbed an early goal, MacLeod then drew the game level just before half-time and after that it looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw, that was until the 93rd minute when Roque scored his second of the game and gave Barca a 2-1 win.

I still felt we had a chance though going into the home leg, our form at The Malkay MacKay Stadium had been really good this season so I expected us to push for a win. Kier Hamilton scored mid-way through the first half to level the tie on aggregate but Yamal scored for Barca only 8 minutes later, we immediately went for a second goal and grabbed it courtesy of Medel and at half-time the tie was level at 3-3. As we pushed for the winner we were caught on the break and Barca grabbed what was to be the decisive goal, we couldn't find a way back and as the whistle blew we had lost the tie 4-3.

Another incredible run though and I really feel we are challenging the big boys much more than we were in the previous couple of seasons. We need to go that one step further now and reach a final!

 

As for the other Scottish team well it went pretty well..

Celtic - They qualified for the League Phase of the Champions League by beating Anderlecht and Ajax, they then gained 12 points in the League Phase to end 22nd and seal a playoff spot where they lost to Barcelona

Rangers - Automatically qualified for the League Phase of the Champions League and gained 12 points ending 21st. They beat Rennes in the play off before losing to Liverpool in the Last 16 3-0 on aggregate

Dundee United - Automatically qualified for the League Phase of the Europa League and ended 11th gaining 16 points sealing a playoff spot, they lost in that round Hoffenheim 3-2 on aggregate

Aberdeen - Won two round of Europa League Qualifying before losing to Kairat in the 3rd round. They then beat Pafos in the Conference League final qualifying round sealing a League Phase spot. They did amazingly to end 5th in the table gaining 13 points from 6 games meaning they bypassed the playoff round. They then beat Steaua Bucharest on the Last 16 and Vitoria de Guimaraes in the Quarters. They then beat Austria Wien in the Semi sealing a spot in the final!

Ross County- They beat Dnipro, Sligo Rovers and CSKA Sofia in qualifying to seal a spot in the League Phase of the Conference League where they got 11 points from their 6 games ending 11th in the table meaning a playoff spot. They then beat Levski Sofia in that round before beating Konyaspor in the Last 16, Servette in the Quarters and Nice in the Semis

 

Meaning…………

A Ross County v Aberdeen Conference League final!!!!!!! Absolutely mental

Aberdeen win the Conference League AND get relegated to the Scottish Championship! This gives them a Europa League spot next season and that means we'll have 7 teams in the Europe next season!

 

Now for the even bigger news! These good performances this season means we are projected to jump from 6th in the co-efficient rankings to 4th and this is huge!! 4th gives us 4 automatic League Phase Champions League spots and 2 automatic League Phase Europa League spots, so for the 36/37 season we'll have 6 guaranteed teams in the League Phases, this is going to massively bump up our co-efficient in the coming season, more than already is!

If you look on the far right column our co-efficient for next seaosn is 96.467, the 4th highest and only 5 points behind Italy in the 3rd! Amazing!

I'll keep you updated when the ranking for next season comes out as to if we have claimed 4th spot.

 

Key Men

The only place to start is with Jay MacLeod, this lad is just so good. He ends as the clubs players of the season and the Premiership player of the season. 43 starts, 17 goals and 14 assists. Amazing!

Jon-Paul Tait also had an incredible season, he ends as the club young player of the season and the top scorer at the club with 27 goals in 30 starts. He had a few niggle injuries through the season which kept him out but when he played he was incredible.

Finally I want to speak about Goalkeeper Efraim Ilharco, he nearly left in the Summer but I turned down £40m for him, I was so glad I could keep him about as he had an amazing season playing 54 times and keeping 26 clean sheets with an average rating of 7.28

Here is the Best XI

And here is the whole squad.

As you can see the tactic has changed from what I've been using in the previous couple of season, the 424 has gone, we no longer play Wingers, instead we're rocking a 352 formation and it's working a treat!

The roles suit the players and do change dependant on who's playing there. I've also kept a Libero! It's the first time as well that I've kept automatic duties on my Wingbacks, this just helps when changing mentality throughout the games.

 

So another brilliant season down, we are getting closer to that elusive Champions League title and it was brilliant to see another Scottish team lift European silverware, especially against another Scottish team! Getting to 4th in the ranking is an amazing feat but we can't stop there, we have to keep improving, not only ourselves but also the other Scottish sides.

Next season we go again, I don't foresee many changes, it really depends who leaves the club. We have £112m to spend if we need it so I may go big on one, maybe two players if the right option comes up. The bank balance is only at £72m so I really can't go spending all that money!

[Sizeman21]

Wow, total progression since I last checked in to your thread! I forsaw your Queens Park team winning the Scottish League at some point but you make it look easy! Just gotta crack that last bit of Europe and you are golden, Fox! 

[mannojunior]

Wow, that’s one hell of a season mate! That UCL final is surely on the cards very soon!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2035/26 - Summer Transfers + Co-efficient News

 

Transfers Out

I expected a quiet Summer and all in all it was relatively peaceful. We did however lose a few players, one of those was a big loss!

I'm sure you can pick the big one out and that's academy star, Left Back Craig Wiles who moves to Manchester City for an initial fee of £36.5m, rising to £47.5m with add-ons, a big loss but he clearly wanted the move. The other notable loss was defender Barrientos who got his head turned by Saudi Arabia! The other players to leave were all back-ups.

 

Transfers In

Alessandro Colonna - Left Back - £24m from Stuttgart

My replacement for Wiles, he's just about as good and at only 21 he has time to improve.

Stian Gudevang - Defensive Midfield - £10m from Molde

I didn't exactly need this lad but there's no way I could not bring him in once he got recommended to me, he looks an absolute superstar and is only 19!

Denis Yeremenko - Right Back - £21.5m from Shakhtar

With Barrientos and MacArthur leaving I was light on players who could play RWB so I went big and got this lad in. Another incredible player.

Marius Hansen - Central Defence - £8.5m from Bodo/Glimt

I needed an extra resource to play at CB, another young lad who will only improve and can play anywhere along the back-line

Co-efficient News

I said in the previous post I expected us to move up to 4th in the co-efficient rankings and now we've had it confirmed. This is huge!

A guaranteed 4 Champions League proper spots for next season and 2 in the Europa League!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2035/36 - Europe Review

This is going to focus solely on the Champions League and the other teams in Europe, as expected we dominated domestically and it's Europe that matters in this save!!

 

Scottish Clubs In Europe

Celtic - Champions League

They had a brilliant season overall, they qualified for the playoff round ending 17th in the League Phase, they then beat AC Milan in a crazy 2-legged game to reach the Last 16 where they beat Atletico Madrid before losing the Spurs in the Quarters

St Mirren - Champions League

As expected they struggled in parts but did just enough in the League Phase to scrape the final playoff spot where they lost a tight 2-legged game to Dortmund

Rangers - Europa League

What an absolutely incredible run it was for Rangers, they had to win the playoff game to get into the League Phase where they did enough for a knockout playoff spot, from there they went mad beating Genk, Arsenal, Wolves and Nice to get to the final but unfortunately they lost to Benfica.

Aberdeen - Europa League

The did enough to claim a playoff spot but lost to fellow Scottish side Ross County. A repeat of last season Conference League final!

Ross County - Europa League

After beating Aberdeen in the playoff round they then lost to Wolves in the Last 16.

Kilmarnock - Europa Conference League

A really good run for Kilmarnock, they had to get through two qualifying round to seal a spot in the League Phase where they ended 5th, bypassing the playoff round. They then beat APOEL in the Last 16 before losing to Lyon in the Quarters.

 

Overall a really good season for all the Scottish teams but now we have to see how I did, strap yourselves in!!!!

 

Queen's Park in the Champions League

We had our best League Phase yet, ending unbeaten, winning 6 and drawing 2, some great wins along the way as well including smashing Leipzig and beating AC Milan

Top of the pile as well!!!!

This meant we bypassed the playoff round and went straight into the Last 16 and this is where it went crazy!!!

 

Last 16 v Liverpool

A tough ask but we came out the first leg at Anfield with a solid 1-1 draw even if they utterly dominated the game, our goal was scored by winter signing, defender Barry Rai grabbing the goal meaning we went back to our place with high hopes of getting through.

Liverpool once again has most of the chances but their shooting was way off, academy star Jay MacLeod scored twice in the first half to seal a stunning 2-0 win and a place in the Quarters.

 

Quarter Final v Manchester City

Another English side and this was probably the toughest!!! The first leg was at home, Man City played well and took a deserved lead on the hour mark, we made a few changes and the game turned, Kier Hamilton, our longest serving player after coming through the 2024 intake scored with 15 minutes to go, then with nearly the last kick of the game pounced after a shot was saved to smash home and seal a stunning 2-1 win!

We still had to go to the Etihad though and see the tie out, we really didn't play well, we struggled to keep hold of the ball and our defending at times was farcical, Man City took the lead mid-way through the first half but we immediately levelled courtesy of Tait, Haaland then scored before we levelled again in first half injury time. Man City took the lead for a third time and the game looked to be heading to extra time, that was until the 85 minute when Jon-Paul Tait nodded home to make it 3-3 and 5-4 on aggregate, we're into the semi's!!!

Semi Final v Chelsea

ANOTHER ENGLISH TEAM!!! Chelsea stood in our way for a first ever Champions League final and I had high hopes, the first leg was at home and we absolutely dominated, Chelsea never got going, we absolutely battered them, the forward line of Medel and Tait proving the difference as we smashed them 4-0!!!!

We went to Stamford Bridge in the second leg knowing we just had to see the game out, Chelsea scored just before the half hour mark but we never looked in danger of capitulating. Then in the second half the academy boys did what they do, Tait and MacLeod scoring to seal a 2-1 win, 6-1 on aggregate and a spot in the final!!!!

Final v Tottenham

Yes ANOTHER ENGLISH TEAM!!! Four round, four teams from South of the border! Spurs had ended the Premier league season in 5th but has put Manchester United out the semi's on penalties. It was going to be a tough game but they boys had been given a good rest prior to the match as the League was wrapped up weeks ago!

The first half was cagey, very few chances and hardly any highlights, at half time it was 0-0, we were doing OK though, restricting Spurs to only a few half chances. 

The game then went crazy in a bonkers 4 minutes, firstly, we took the lead in the 52nd minute, a corner by Hamilton was flicked on by MacLeod and Tait was at the back post to tap home!! We then went for the kill and scored a second goal two minutes later, Machorro and Yeremenko combined down the right, Machorros cross came in and was met my MacLeod to put us two up!

Spurs had to come out and they scored two minutes after our second goal, de Jong hitting a lovely shot from the edge of the box. Now we had to stem the tide!

As Spurs pushed forward we held firm and tried to hit them on the break and we scored a third goal with just under a quarter of an hour to go, a Spurs corner was cleared, Colonna ran down the left, he played it to Tait, Tait layed it back to Colonna who smashes it home! 3-1!!! NOW JUST SEE IT OUT!!!

Time ticked on, the fans were biting their nails, I was pacing my kitchen, then the whistle blew.

 

QUEEN'S PARK ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely incredible, I have no more words, this is my greatest achievement on any FM ever!! What a crazy journey!!

 

Co-efficient Update

And that win, combined with how well the other Scottish teams cements Scotland place near the top of the rankings, we are currently in the 4th but the forecast is for us to move up to 2nd!!! The big issue is how far England are ahead!!! I don't think we'll ever be able to catch them!

They sit 30 points clear of us, there is no way we can catch them alone, we have to hope for either a) the English teams to capitulate or b) the AI to make the Scottish teams better and win competitions. I don't see either happening unfortunately! I'm not stopping though, I'll at least see how close we can get to them and review it in a few seasons time. 

 

Key Men

Below is the Best XI for the season, it's great to see 4 academy players in there.

There really is only one player to start with and that Jon-Paul Tait, he had his best season so far and dominated the awards, not only at the club but in Scotland and in the Champions League. He won nearly every award!! 45 goals scored in 38 starts, this guy is an absolute superstar!

Summer signing Alessandro Colonna was one of the big reasons why we did so well, when I lost Craig Wiles in the Summer I was worried but this lad has stepped in and been incredible. An assist machine from LWB, he's also chipped in with 9 goals including the final goal in the Champions League final.

Julio Medel, signed last season had a great season, he had to rotate with Jay MacLeod but always performed when called upon, he ends with 27 goals in 30 starts. Incredible!

Another academy star impressed this season, RWB Michael McKinlay didn't play loads, he was used in domestic action more than anything but when he played he was brilliant and ended as the Premiership Young Player of the Season.

Finally is my favourite player and that Kier Hamilton, he came through the 2024 intake and is now our longest serving player, he isn't highly rated but this lad is solid, playing as the AM behind the front two he is a constant threat, whether that's from his set pieces or his shots from the edge of the box. He had his best season to date scoring 10 goals and grabbing 14 assists in 29 starts.

And here is the whole CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNING squad!!

What an absolutely incredible season it's been, we are European Champions!!!! How on earth do I top this? I honestly don't know but we will dust ourselves down and go again for another Champions League win next season! What we need now though is the other Scottish clubs to use our win as motivation to start progressing in Europe as well, it's the only way we're going to take down the English!!!

[mannojunior]

What can I say?! You’ve absolutely smashed it mate. A thoroughly deserved UCL title and pride of Scotland! Been a magnificent story to follow and look forward to seeing how you can progress and try and close that gap with England!

Any chance of the Scotland job again? 

[TheLutterworthFox]

47 minutes ago, mannojunior said:

What can I say?! You’ve absolutely smashed it mate. A thoroughly deserved UCL title and pride of Scotland! Been a magnificent story to follow and look forward to seeing how you can progress and try and close that gap with England!

Any chance of the Scotland job again? 

Thanks mate, really appreciate you following along and commenting. The interaction makes it all the more worthwhile

So the Scotland job is insecure and I declared interest but when I did the Queen's Park board went mad and called me to a meeting, luckily they saw how well I'm doing and I kept my job!! Seems FM this year doesn't like you dual running a club and international job at the same time!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2036//37 - Summer Transfers

There is one bad thing that comes about winning the Champions League in shock fashion and that's the fact that all your players decide their too good for you!! This Summer has been really really hard, so many players have wanted to leave, we've managed to hold on to a few but unfortunately we say goodbye to some big players

Our squad has been absolutely hammered!!! Some big names leave including Stojanovic (CB), Medel (ST), Colonna (LWB) and Gudevang (DM), all four were key men in our success last season, unfortunately the fees were their release clauses and I couldn't entice them to stay. We also lose young star Hansen (CB) and Gaghan (RB). Every single one has been sold for a huge profit, I think I paid around £55m for the six lads so we've quadrupled our money!

A lot of money in though but now some gaping holes!

I couldn't replace them all, I do have a large squad and felt it was time to let some of youngsters get their chance. I also decided to move away from the 352 for this season and go back to the 424 meaning I needed to look at Wide men!

 

Gustavo Malheiro - Left Back - £25m from Sporting Lisbon

My replacement for Colonna at Left Back, he is just as good as his predecessor and I am excited to see how he will do. 

Mark Palmer - Winger/Striker - £20m from Rangers

I have had my eye on this lad for a while and decided this Summer was the time to bring him in, a quality young player, he also helps with the homegrown rule and can play in a multitude of positions.

Iran Tapia - Right Wing - £17m from CF Pachuca

Another player I'd had my eye on a few seasons ago, as I'd moved away from wide-men I decided against bringing him in, now I'm going back to the 424 he was first port of call, an absolutely amazing looking player.

Only three players in, I did want another defensive midfielder but there was no one good enough for a low enough fee to bring in.

The Summer could've been worse, we had bids for Ilharco (GK), Macorro (DM), Wark (CB) and the biggest one, a £60m+ bid from Spurs for Jon-Paul Tait, this one came with 5 hours of the window shutting and I just couldn't let him go that late. Me and Tait have now fallen out which has annoyed me as he is my favourite player, hopefully we can turn our relationship around and he can continue to smash the goals in!

Here is the squad for the upcoming season.

Have we improved? No, we have lost way too many key men but I've done my best to bolster the ranks and also give myself more options, now is the time for some of the academy lads to step-up, I am going to be giving Lowry and Coult, both centre backs more game-time and I also play on playing RB Hodge more often, he is one of my star kids and after a few seasons away on loan and a Scotland debut I feel he deserves his chance.

Finally, co-efficient news, we have been confirmed as 2nd in the rankings now but you can see how far behind England we are.

They're also ahead of us in every single season moving forward so trying to overtake them will be virtually impossible!

[Lestri]

Looks like it'll be one of your toughest seasons yet with those huge outs and player disharmony! Look forward to see how it goes!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2036/37 Season 

Once again we'll gloss over the domestic stuff, yes we won the League, that's now 8 in a row, 2 short of the elusive 10 in a row!!!! We lost the League Cup final to Celtic and beat Rangers to win the Scottish Cup, another season of dominance!

We did amazingly in the League, another 100 point season and 24 clear of Celtic!

But in this save it's all about Europe  and this season we are reigning European champs!!! The big question is, can we retain it?

Before I say how we've done let's look at the other Scottish teams, we really need the others teams to start doing better if we are to catch England at the top of the co-efficient ranking but it's not gone well!

 

Celtic - Champions League

They did really well claiming a playoff spot in the League Phase, they beat Feyenoord in the playoff round before losing to Bayern 3-2 in the Last 16

 

Rangers - Champions League

A really poor campaign for Rangers as they only gained 8 points from their 8 games and ended 26th, missing out on a playoff spot.

 

Dundee United - Champions League

9 points from their 8 games meant they scraped a playoff round spot where the lost to PSG

 

Ross County - Europa League

A really good run once again for Ross as they ended 5th in the League Phase meaning automatic qualification to the Last 16, in that round they bear Pacos de Ferreira, they then beat Atalanta in the Quarters before losing to Lyon in the Semis.

 

Hibernian - Europa League

Hibs ended 14th in the League Phase with 13 points, they then had an awful playoff round, losing to Dinamo Zagreb

 

Falkirk - Conference League

Terrible!

 

So only Ross County really getting deep into a European competition, co-efficient wise it was the nations worst performance for six season but could we salvage some pride?

We certainly did!!! A 100% record in the League Phase with some memorable wins against some big English teams!

Chelsea, Spurs and Man United all beaten as we ended top of the League Phase!

Straight into the Last 16 we go where we were drawn against Porto, we got a solid draw in the away leg before battering them 4-0 at home, that win set a new Champions League record of 26 games unbeaten!!!

Into the Quarters where we faced AC Milan and we eventually lost a game, 2-1 away, we did play well but didn't have our shooting boots on, a narrow defeat though and I knew we could turn it around in the home leg.

And we did exactly that as we smashed them 3-0 sealing a semi final spot.

Bayern Munich stood in our way of a place in the final, a tough ask but I had hope. 

The first leg was once again away and Bayern played very well, it was an open match, lots and lots of chance but two first half Bayern goals and a goal for Yeremenko meant Bayern won the game 2-1. Like Milan though it was a narrow loss and I knew we could beat them at home.

The game was terrible, there were very few highlights but I felt we had the better of it, we took the lead in the second half courtesy of MacLeod but after that we struggled to break Bayern down, the game ended and went to extra time and in that 30 minutes there wasn't a single highlight, the game went to penalties.

And we failed, missed from Miley and Palmer meant Bayern sealed a 4-3 win and we were out.

Another really good run though but we just didn't do enough this time around to retain our title.

As I mentioned before, the poor performances from most of the teams this season means our co-efficient has been damaged, luckily we're still in second.

Just look how far England are ahead!!

Now to the players and firstly I did make two signings in the Winter, two big signings in defensive midfield!!

 

Santiago Suarez - Defensive Midfield - £14m from Boca Juniors

What an incredible signing for such a low fee and already 5* rated!! This is the lad, he is going be huge going forward BUT I need to remove his £31.5m release clause!

 

Cesare Casadei - Defensive Midfield - £12m from Aston Villa

Yes he's getting on in age but he still looks absolutely incredible. The DM area I was really short in after the losses in the Summer so to get two amazing looking players is massive and really pushed us on during the second half of the season.

Now to our key men for the season, here is our Best XI

There really is only one place to start and that's Jon-Paul Tait, he still wants to leave but if this is how he plays when he's unhappy he'll be unplayable if he ever cheers up! Another great season in front of goal with 41 scored in 46 start, 29 in the Premiership, will he be here next season? I'm not so sure!

Summer signing Iran Tapia ended with the clubs most assists, I said in the transfer update I planned to move to 424 but I actually stuck with the 532, Tapia has been retrained as an AM and has done really well. 13 goals and 20 assists from 35 starts.

The other player I want to speak about is CB Liall Coult, I was surprised to see him not in our best XI as I feel he was a key man throughout the season, this was his breakthrough campaign after coming through the 2033 intake. He made 38 starts and average over 7 and also made his Scotland debut!

And here is the whole squad.

So another good season, we now go again trying to make it 9 Premiership titles in a row, we want that 10!!! When I started this save I set myself two domestic goals, the first was to win the Champions League and that is now done, the second was to top the co-efficient rankings. I have to admit I never ever though it would be this tough to topple England but it's looking near on impossible, we are going to need all seven Scottish clubs to win all their League Phase games and go deep deep into the competitions BUT we also need the English clubs to capitulate and not win any games……for five seasons!!! Then we may have a chance, we all know though that is not going to happen, FM will not let it happen, the AI will not let it happen. 

So I'm going to attempt this 10 in a row in the League and try and win the Champions League again, if we do it in two seasons I will re-assess how we're going co-efficient wise, but it may be that the save ends there. I've had an amazing time but there's no point flogging a dead horse!!
So this Summer is huge, I'm expecting once again to have bids for all my key men meaning there may be big changes, I have been heavily backed by the board though who have given me insane budgets!!

A £700k per week rise in the wage budget and nearly £230m to spend on transfers! Let's get this squad ready for a Champions League challenge once again!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2037/38 - Summer Transfers

Well it's been a very busy Summer, we haven't lost too many players but we have brought in a shed load of players, this season we are taking this club to a new level!!

 

Transfers Out

As you can see there is one huge out and it was the expected one. We say goodbye to superstar Striker, academy graduate and goal machine Jon-Paul Tait. I'm gutted to see him go but he deserved the move and I've got a good amount of money for him.

A great career here where he's scored 110 League goals.

 

Transfers In

We may have spent rather a lot of money!!!!

 

Aitor Gutierrez - Central Defender - £55m from Real Sociedad

There was talk about Berger leaving so I brought this lad in as his replacement, well Berger and now my defence is stacked with quality!

Fabricio Ledesma - Attacking Midfield/Striker - £13m from Racing Club

We really needed to improve our AM options and with Tait leaving we needed more Striking possibilities, well Ledesma is one of those to come and full those areas. Top quality!

Cristian Obregon - Midfield - £24m from Boca Juniors

Another midifeld option comes in, he can play anywhere in that area so good versatility.

Julien Lucas - Defender - £45.5m from Lille

Another new defensive option which was much needed, he can also play as a DM. 

Mariano Pintos - Left Back - £11m from Talleres

We only have really have one player who can naturally play LWB so Pintos comes in to add a bit more depth.

Nico Lohkemper - Midfield - £56m from FC Koln

Another huge signing and I really like this lad, again he can play any midfield area and can play up top. Top top quality!

Emil Markovic - Attacking Midfield/Striker - £24.5m from Columbus Crew

My Tait replacement and my word he look so good! I have high hopes he can slot straight in and be that goal scoring machine we need.

Niklas Hedl - Goalkeeper - Free Transfer

I really struggled to find a decent keeper that actually wanted to join me that improved what I already had, with Ilharco leaving I needed a new GK, Hedl is a short-term replacement until I find that proper No. 1 for the right amount of money!

So what a window! We had a lot of money to spend and boy did we do that! £228m of players in with around £80m recouped, now we are properly set for a real crack at another Champions League run, the big question now is can the other Scottish teams also start to do better in Europe? I'm not confident!!!

[mannojunior]

Sad to see Tait go mate, what a hero he has been! But wow, Markovic looks like the real deal. Excited to see how he settles in!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2037/38 Season

 

Another season down, this season we need a good run in the Champions League again BUT we also need the other Scottish teams to join the party, it's going to take a miracle to catch England!!

 

Scottish Teams In Europe

 

St Johnstone - Europa Conference League

A decent run for our only participant in the ECL, they ended 5th in the League Phase bypassing the playoff round and got all the way to the Quarters before being knocked out by Lazio

Dundee - Europa League

A good run for the Dundee boys as they made it in the playoff spots in the League Phase…..just before losing to Newcastle in the Quarters.

Falkirk - Europa League

Rubbish, knocked out in the League Phase

Dundee United - Champions League

Even more rubbish, ended 32nd!

Rangers - Champions League

Not as rubbish as Dundee United but rubbish enough to end 25th and go out

Celtic - Champions League

INCREDIBLE!!!! Celtic ended in the playoff spots and went on a crazy run beating Monaco, Chelsea and Juventus before losing in the semi's to Dortmund, they won the first leg but fell apart in the away leg in extra time.

 

Queen's Park in Europe

 

Now to us and as expected it went very well, we did amazingly in the League Phase winning all 8 games ending top of the pile

And we did just as well in the knockouts, beating Arsenal in the Last 16 before two amazing wins over Real Madrid in the Quarters. We then faced Bayern in the Semi Final and put in one of the best performances of the save so far to beat them 6-0 in the first leg! Into our second every final, it was so close though to a Queen's Park v Celtic final!!

And in the final we faced Dortmund, we were hot favourites but for the first time in a long while we didn't show up, we were really poor but defended well, that was until extra time when we failed to deal with a corner and Dortmund scored. We couldn't come back and we lost. 

Absolutely gutting especially with how poorly we played.

 

Domestic Action

A very brief show of the Premiership table.

We're now up to 9 titles in a row, one more for that elusive 10 in a row!!!

 

Key Men

Here is the Best XI for the season.

The star man this season was Jon-Paul Tait's replacement Emil Markovic who dominated the awards and everything else. He ends with 30 goals in 40 starts, a stunning camapign for the lad, he also won the clubs player of the season and the Premiership player of the season.

Iran Tapia ended with the most assists, he benefited most to our switch to 41221 mid-way through the season and did really well on the right hand side.

And here is the whole squad.

What Next?

 

That's the big question isn't it. I think you can all tell by the update and my lack of words I'm struggling to keep my motivation up with this save. The big aim, after winning the Champions League a few seasons back was to try and overtake England at the top of the co-efficient and as you can see below that is going to be near-on impossible.

Even with Celtic getting to the CL semis and ourselves ending runners-up we have our worst co-efficient season for a long while. Only 16 points and we drop even further behind England and down to 4th in the total rankings from next season. England still managed all those points even though all their teams went out in the Last 16 of the Champions League. We really need the other Scottish clubs to step up and unfortunately that isn't going to happen without a miracle.

 

So next season will more than likely be my last in the save, I think ending with 10 titles in a row will be a brilliant way to end the save and hopefully we can add a second Champions League title as well.

 

I have another save up my sleeve which maybe, just maybe include a return to blogging! We will see though!

[TheLutterworthFox]

2038/39 Season

 

Welcome back to what it likely to be the final season in the save. We've won the Champions League, been sacked as Scotland manager way too early in the save and the co-efficient ranking with the aim to top it is, well let's be frank, truly impossible!

 

So now there's two things left I want to do, firstly, win the Premiership for an unprecedented 10th time in a row and secondly, end the league season unbeaten.

 

Firstly though lets discuss transfers, as ever it was a busy Summer and Winter window as we lost a couple of key players.

In the Summer both forward Ledesma and Winger Tapia left, Tapia especially was a key man in the first XI, then in the Winter defenders Pintos and Gutierrez left, both asking to leave after falling out of favour and the bids were too good to say no to. The Winter sales didn't affect us and I signed no one in that window, I did however bring a few players in over the Summer, I won't go through all of them as there were a lot but here are the key ones.

 

Ben Doak - Winger - £12.75m from Liverpool

 

Homegrown and quality even at 32. A stunning signing!

 

Ekaitz Clemente - Midfielder - £39m from Eibar

 

A good option to add to my midfield ranks, Clemente can also play LB which is a position were slightly light in.

 

Giorgio Scalvini - Defender - Free from Liverpool

A huge, big name signing, Scalvini had been on my radar for a while and when I saw him on a free he had to come in, good experience as well to add to a young back-line.

Kiechi Takahashi - Right Back - Free from Al-Ittihad

A former player returns and it's a big one, sold for £15m, signed for nothing. I lost Yeremenko in the Summer after he didn't renew his contract, what a signing!

Fynn Barz - Left Back- £55m from Leipzig

A late Summer signing to add some depth to Left Back, Barz can also play LW and RB, good versatility!

Some really good signings and now we're set for a run at all competitions this season!

 

So the first aim was, can we end the Premiership season unbeaten?

 

Well no we didn't, we did go 28 games of the season without loss before a ridiculous 1-0 defeat away to Hibs, a game in which we absolutely dominated and couldn't hit the target, gutting!

 

So, after failing the first aim, can we win a 10th Premiership title in a row?

 

OF COURSE WE DID!!

In fact it was so easy we'd wrapped it up with 5 games to go, we did lose 4 games but in those last few games I played the kids to see what they're made of, we lost 3 of the final games to end up with 4 losses! Not the unbeaten season I hoped for but 10 IN A ROW!!!

 

We also dominated the domestic cup comps winning both and beating Celtic in both finals!

Another domestic treble!

 

So that caps off a pretty good final season, we did the 10 in a row which was amazing!

 

Now we come to Europe, I would have loved to have claimed a second Champions League title but unfortunately we fell WELL short!

Once again we did well in the League Phase, ending unbeaten with 18 points and ending in the top 8, if you look down though you can see how terribly the Scottish teams did, I'll say no more!

 

So we'd made it into the Last 16 and we were handed a rather ironic draw, we were given Dortmund, the team that had beaten us in last seasons Champions League final, was revenge on the cards?

 

Well no, it wasn't, we were truly awful, losing the first leg 1-0 and then failing to score in the second leg which ended 0-0! A rather drab way to end our final European campaign!!

So that's it! The save is over, it's been an amazing journey, 16 seasons, 10 league titles and funnily enough the final game of the save, the Scottish Cup win over Celtic marked my 1,000th game of the save, surely that's the right place to end it?!

What an amazing 1,000 games it's been!

In 16 seasons we've managed all that! 10 title, 1 Champions league, 1 Super Cup, 8 League Cups, 10 Scottish Cups and 1 Scottish Championship!! Incredible!!!!

 

Before I show some more screenshots of the save, here is the seasons Best XI and the whole squad.

Some names I'll never forget!!!

 

I just want to thank everyone for following along, it's been a great journey but I know deep down this is the right place to end, the save was becoming a drag and frustrating due to the co-efficient rankings and the other Scottish teams failing at every turn (Scotland actually dropped to 5th after this seasons disaster show!). Another save is in the pipeline which will be on the blog that I do. I hope everyone follows along, but for now here are a couple of excel sheets of the journey!

Thanks for following along!

[Lestri]

Magnificient effort!