ToMexico!!

End of Season Review - 2026/27 An indifferent end to the season. Four wins from eight was not enough to see us finish in the playoffs but I feel that's a blessing in disguise. Kaufmann went something like 15 games without scoring before netting a hat trick against Forest Green. Without him and Redmond, we would have struggled big-time this season. League 1 - 8th - we've defied expectations by just staying in the division, the board expected to stave off relegation whilst the media predicted us in 18th. FA Cup - 3rd Round - Dulwich Hamlet and Tamworth defeated before a narrow loss to Aston Villa. Carabao Cup - 1st Round - a straightforward loss to Bristol City. EFL Trophy - Southern Section 3rd Round - We advanced from our group, beat Crawley in the 2nd Round before losing to Portsmouth. Transfers IN & Transfers OUT - one further player joined in January and we sold Pinnington for what we paid plus 25% profit of the next sale. Top Scorer - Nathan Redmond (23) - the experienced winger outscored his xG of 13.07 Most Assists - Juan Manual Gutierrez (12) - the on-loan Uruguayan had a good season but we won't be spending the £1.5m to sign him permanently. U21 Hero - Fraser Harper - signed for free from Wolves, suited to player further up the pitch but the youngster slotted into CM. He played the 5th most minutes, scored five times and made seven assists. The loan repayments are killing us here.

March 2027 A fourth player to be poached this time by Premier League giants Liverpool.

February 2026 Another poor month as we struggle with a consistent side due to fitness. To be fair we have played 1st, 2nd and 5th this month. We finally got a win over 23rd-placed Shrewsbury. We drop another place to 8th.

January 2027 A poor month for us. Just two wins over Bolton and Blackpool and just a point elsewhere. The tie against Aston Villa was closer than we imagined although our goal was a consolation at best. We drop out of the playoffs.

Barco definitely not, every man and his dog who needs a LB is signing him up due to a £8m release clause at the start of the game. He's at Real Madrid in my save.

December 2026 A comfortable 2nd Round win in the FA Cup to kick the month off, we now face Aston Villa in the 3rd Round at Villa Park. Kaufmann continued his goalscoring exploits with goals against Wigan, Crawley and Colchester. A rotated side managed a narrow win over MK Dons before a Christmas blip, with no win in three before a big win over a mid-tabled Fleetwood. We remain in the playoff picture but Portsmouth and Bristol Rovers both have games in hand above us.

It's probably along the lines of that the AI can see what you're doing with Envigado with limited funding, imagine what you could do with £12m/bank balance at Boca. I guess they've sold most of their promising players by now, like Barco and Ezequiel Fernandez.

Big job offer there from the biggest(?) club in Argentina

December 2026

November 2026 A mixed month. A big win over Barnsley was followed by a solid draw against Bristol Rovers. EFL Trophy defeat but we still qualify for the 2nd Round. A rare defeat in the league to Shrewsbury before back-to-back wins over Charlton and MK Dons. 5th place with a game in hand on Bristol Rovers.

October 2026 Wow, what a month. Solid performances throughout the month with Redmond and the on-loan German Tino Kaufmann scoring 5 & 7 goals apiece. We continue to defy expectations.

September 2026 A great month. A rotated side defeated fellow League One side Bristol Rovers in the EFL Trophy including two goals from winger Redmond. He then scored the only goal as we beat last season's League Two winners Mansfield and then got a draw against bottom side Blackpool. Jack Marriott scored twice and Redmond once more as we beat Buton 4-1 at the Pirelli Stadium, a huge win. We end the month with a 1-0 defeat to Welsh side Wrexham. 7th at the moment, it does include one result from October though.

September 2026

September 2026 One major transfer out with Jamie Birmingham joined Watford for £1.4m + 35% profit clause. He immediately rejoins us on loan. The remainder of the players out, all leave on loan. Two early signings in Montague for Chelsea and former Chelsea midfielder Chalobah, both of free transfers. Notable signings are Teden Mengi who was formerly at Luton and Juan Manuel Gutierrez on loan from Swansea.

A good first season in domestic management!

August 2026 The new season started really well, with an opening-day win over Wycombe. It was all downhill from there for the remainder of the month. Out of the Carabao at the first hurdle again, this time to Bristol City. An away point with Forest Green and a very good home point against Huddersfield. Two narrow losses followed. 17th, which I would have taken before the start of the month but it could have been better.

June 2026 A second poaching in quick succession. This time a little poorer in quality going to fellow promoted side MK Dons.

The well and truly FM'd name of Steve Tilson Stadium...I wish there was a bit more input from the player of the save to have options for names.

April 2026 The new stadium goes ahead. Smaller capacity than Roots Hall £9.75m loan £115k per month repayable.

End of Season Review - 2025/26 I included the Salford result in the previous monthly update. We needed to get another six points to gain automatic promotion. We beat both Newport and Stevenage to achieve just that. An unlikely achievement for us at the beginning of the season. We finished the season with an away draw at Chesterfield and then beat Swindon at Roots Hall. League 2 - 3rd - media expectations were that we could finish mid-table in 10th place, but the board wanted us to just survive relegation. To finish 3rd is huge, we were play-off bound pretty much all season, hovering between 3rd and 5th. FA Cup - 3rd Round - Horsham defeated easily, we needed a replay to beat Forest Green. Premier League Chelsea were far too strong for us. Carabao Cup - 1st Round - out at the first hurdle against fellow East Anglian side Norwich EFL Trophy - Southern Section 3rd Round - We won our group with relative ease despite using it as a rotation competition. Brentford U21s were disaptched by League Ones Derby County ending our run. Transfers IN & Transfers OUT - we rightly or wrongly cashed in on Adam Berry (2 goals/1 assist for Wrexham) for upwards of £500k whilst replacing him with Premier League proven Nathan Redmond. We also spent the first money of the save, Sharman-Lowe and Nevett stepping up a division from their respective previous employers. Top Scorer - Jack Marriott (16) - came in to lead the line with his experience, we should have got more goals from him in all honesty. Most Assists - Harry Brooke (13) - he switched between MC and DM with relative ease, maybe if we had a consistent DM he could have got more. Unsung Hero - Collin Andeng-Ndi - the young goalkeeper is on the verge of a national team call-up. 48 appearances this season even with a month out with a broken finger, he conceded 47 goals and made 20 clean sheets. He helped us to concede the least goals in the league at just 44. We end the season with a healthy balance before season ticket and sponsorship monies are added over the summer.

April 2026 Our first player to be poached in the save and on FM24.

March 2026 An unbeaten month that saw us confirm a play-off place. Dubem Eze struck twice against Tranmere, he's done well through the course of the season, playing in a deeper role for us. A good draw against table-topping Mc'Dons, with two defenders scoring the goals. The table contains a game from April but promotion is in our hands. There are four games remaining for us; we play 23rd, 22nd, 15th and 8th placed teams.

March 2026 Just one elite talent through the intake this season. Damien Martin is almost identical looking to when Jamie Birmingham came through the first intake. Poor technically, some key attributes mentally and average physically. We do have a couple of GK's with some ability to nurse into football.

February 2026 Two wins kick February off before Donny brings us back down to earth. We then smash 2nd placed Mansfield at Roots Hall. Another loss, this time to Forest Green. Harrogate came to Southend and returned north after a pasting. Marriott ended a barren spell in front of goal in a 2-2 draw to end the month. We still cling on to 3rd by the barest of margins, a win over Wimbledon would have been ideal.

February 2025 25 minutes into his debut....