StePratt

Just started a Deportivo save and found this guy. Looks a solid player. Edited to say he has really low determination!

My fourth season as Barnsley manager has drawn to a close. Mixed bag of a season. The average age of my squad is just 22, with the oldest player being 28 year old Callum Brittain, who was at the club in League One when I took over. Callum Styles is the only other Barnsley original left. Godwin-Malife joined from League One Forest Green after promotion to the Championship. The squad is smattered with some incredible regens and a few classic wonderkids who hadn't moved to bigger clubs. We had a terrible run during December and January, losing 8-3 (Chelsea away) and 6-1 (Man City away), whilst also getting knocked out of the FA Cup by League One Plymouth. I was hanging on to my job through this spell, picking up 3 points from the 27 available. However, we made it to the Carabao Cup semis, getting knocked out by Man City, 5-3 on aggregate after losing the first leg 4-0. Our away performance all season. Let's take a look at the competition overview and see where we finished up. Oh yes, Euro Cup Finalists! Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. What a run though. We played and beat some absolute monsters of Europe, past and present. We just didn't turn up against West Ham in the final. After the Milan result I was confident we would pick up our first major piece of silverwear. Squad overview from the end of the season. It's looking like a big summer of recruitment, whilst only signing players under 22, with only Kik Piere and Labrovic being exceptions. Omadiagbe is going to be my number 1 next season. Alexander Velez had a breakout season and will become one of the best in the league if he keeps improving. Andro Arrue will be my first choice CB this season as I phase out Kovacevic and use Dorrington and Scalvini in rotation. The club has had several takeover rumours and we are in the process of expanding Oakwell to make the most of our recent success.

Barnsley 2024/25 Since my last post bemoaning the lack of realism our form at Barnsley plummeted. We only won 7 games in the 2025 portion of the season. Due to our early season form we managed to finish 5th. City won the league and then signed Mbappe. Riiight. My standout player was Lorenzo Lucca who we had signed on loan. Despite many efforts to try and sign him permanently we couldn't reach a deal with Spurs. He eventually left to join RB Leipzig. Tidy profit for the North London side, as he fired us above his parent club. With European football on the horizon at Oakwell moves were made to upgrade both the training and youth facilities, we also purchased Oakwell back from the local council. Great moves to secure the future of the club. We were handed a modest budget for the summer and I have put a new restriction on signing loan players, unless I can agree a fee to buy. Three major signings have been completed already this summer with Andreas Schelderup, Roony Bardghji and some lad called Sesko joining us. Hopefully they can replicate the goals that Lucca scored last season. Aims for the summer are to target a centre back to challenge Mai and Kovacevic. Godwin-Malife is good but could be better. I also have this Chilean newgen to train and introduce to the squad this season. I'm thinking he can be a big player for us over the next 5 seasons, unless bigger clubs come knocking.

January 1st 2025. Think this Barnsley save might have run it's course. Just one example of how ridiculous it has become. Another one. It's taken the realistic feel out of the save. Not sure what to do. I've made some signings to come in at the end of the season with a view to changing shape and going towards a winger formation, to add a bit of intrigue. This is my current first team squad. Helik is going to Trabzonspor when the Turkish window opens, Jang Sang-Bin is going back to Wolves due to lack of game time. It's a similar story for Matteo Lovato. These players will be replaced by a number of wonderkids found by my scouts. In my two and a half seasons, I have spent around £18m and recouped £40m, before Helik's departure. Like I say, I feel that some realism is missing. This is my first season in the Premier League. For context, Bournemouth and Sheffield United were promoted alongside me.