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Ilkeston Town - Season 14 – Sky Bet League 1– 6th Lost Playoff Semi-Final Transfers -- Squad -- League Some more outgoings this season Lefteris Ioannou 10 I was looking to sell Ioannou this season as last January when we rejected bids he proceded to be absent for 2 matchdays and we have a decent roster of fullbacks. Unfortunately though, the board prevented me from getting as much as I otherwise would for him as they just accepted an offer from under me, it was still a healthy £1.7m (and we cashed in an additional £1.4m from buying sellons) but this season the board have tried selling so many players from under me. Scott Wild 11 Another player which was sold because the board just accepted an offer. It was a good amount - £2.4m – for a player who had not really developed that much, but it is still frustrating not having control of the transfer offers. It was a weird season as we started out ok, but just weren’t really matching our results to performances with the majority of the season we were well under our expected goals and points floating around in upper mid-table. We did tweak our formation a little bit which did start to improve our fortunes a little. Eventually though, we were looking very underwhelming a lot of the time, keeping a lot of the ball but barely even having shots – thankfully though we did often enough over the course of games do enough to win ultimately finishing in 6th and the playoffs. We again did not have a good playoff campaign, in the first leg, we were arguably the second best team but equalised in the 89th minute to enter the second leg level. The second leg we were second best from the off conceding inside 15 minutes and didn’t have a single look in until they went down to 10 in the 52nd minute and then we got a 74th minute penalty. After that we created disappointingly little against 10 men and the tie ultimately ended on penalties where we lost. Youth Intake I was underwhelmed with this intake, the preview suggested ‘A’ rated players in 4 or 5 positions, and we didn’t really get that. I immediately sacked my HoYD after this intake as his past few have not been great. Alex Ingram 14 – Our best striker through – an area we have very few prospects – he has some ok attributes, but nothing that suggests he will be our answer up top. He can probably develop enough to end up a more supporting striker but not so convinced. Benjamin Abdul 14 – Central midfield option but needs to improve on his attributes to have much chance of making a first team impact. A good personality will hopefully mean he will develop nicely though. Overview We are currently improving both our Youth and Training Facilities so hopefully that will bring some improvement to the playing squad in the coming years. There were no takeover murmurings this season, though I would welcome a new chairman who doesn’t try sell everyone. At the end of his contract, leading appearance maker Timmy Browne 1 who made 595 appearances (529 league), has decided to leave, which whilst it is a shame, he is not really of the quality that we need to go to the next level. I do worry for next season actually, I’m not really convinced that we’ll be able to manage playoffs next term as we have not often looked convincing this season. I may need to do some tactical tweaks to try and improve our productivity. Key Players Josh Buckley 7 – Solid enough performer for us at the back he and Ojo are pretty much our starting centre back partnership now, especially as Browne is moving to pastures new. Gary Joyce 10 – Joyce last season played on the wing, this season he played as our out and out striker managing 34 league goals which is a great showing, unfortunately, he often puts in terrible performances when he’s not amongst the goals and we don’t have any real back up. Dalton Sergeant 10 – Sergeant put in some good performances this season managing to score 4 and assist 9 and is developing pretty well. He’s improved performances year on year so I’m hopeful he can do the same next time out.

Ilkeston Town - Season 13 – Sky Bet League 1– 4th Lost Playoff Final Transfers -- Squad -- League I started the season with a formation change which I thought might get the best out of my squad. We were getting ok results with it, but largely we were not really playing well in those games even if we won them so ultimately I switched back to the formation that has served us well so far despite lack of depth to play it. It worked almost immediately as we started to push upwards towards the playoffs however, it wasn’t without it’s inconsistencies that we had seen in seasons prior with us just going on some runs where we looked just awful. However, there was more good games than bad and we were actually challenging to get automatic promotion but we did have a shaky end to the season which saw us qualify only for the playoffs. We lost in the first leg of the semi-final before a good performance in the 2nd leg secured us a spot at Wembley and a chance for promotion. The final was pretty one sided with Hull having all of the chances until we took the lead and inexplicably doubled our lead shortly into the second half. Unfortunately Hull fought back with a goal and just as it looked as though we’d held on a 90+3 minute direct freekick took the game to extra time. Hull had the chances in extra time and even got a penalty in the first half which we saved before conceding from the resultant corner. 8 playoffs we have played now, not a single success. Youth Intake I’m a bit disappointed with the intake this time out, we did get a couple players who maybe will have some potential, but largely not fantastic. Aaron Lee Clarridge 13 – We do lack a lot of depth up front with so I am hopeful that Clarridge can develop to be a good option for us up front. Technically and physically he’s fairly strong but does need to develop his mentals. Reco O’Dea 13 – O’Dea perhaps will develop into a good midfielder he does have some good attributes in the correct areas though will need to develop physically to make an impact on the first team. Shane McKenzie 13 - Similar somewhat to O’Dea, he does have some ok attributes, but he will need to develop a lot to be an option for us in midfield. Overview Nothing has really changed on the club infrastructure side, though there has been some murmurings of a board takeover which so far haven’t been forthcoming. Next season, I guess we have to aim for the top 2 positions in the league, we’ve shown that we are comfortable competing towards the top end of the table but I do not have confidence in my teams consistency if we had to face the playoffs again. Key Players Gary Joyce 10 – A fantastic season from Joyce 16 goals and 16 assists in the league and developing nicely. We have been receiving multiple transfer offers for him and I anticipate this to continue so hopefully the board don’t decide to accept any from under me. Darren Kerr 7 – Kerr again has had another great season for the club which is good because we still lack any sort of back up in the goalkeeping position. He did concede more than the season prior but not by many and that’s not really his fault per se. Josh Buckley 7 – Buckley maintained his position as one of our starting centre backs and had another solid season. His heading is still a big question mark over his overall longevity in the team but for now he is performing fairly well.

Ilkeston Town - Season 12 – Sky Bet League 1– 7th Transfers -- Squad -- League This season we had our first two major sales. Orhan Cetinkaya 7 In the summer we got a bit of a bidding war for Cetinkaya as eventually we accepted a £3.4m offer from Leeds with 50% of next sale. Physically he was a very good player, but technically he was lacking a bit so I was happy enough with the fee we brought in. Ethan Humphries 10 Our best player, but as soon as the January window came about he was demanding a move so again I started a bidding war. Unfortunately, my board do not understand bidding wars as they decided to accept several offers that were ‘too good to turn down’ before I managed to attract offers of twice what we ultimately sold him for. £6.25m in the end was his fee, but with a 50% of next fee included and he’s already worth over £30m so this could be fruitful. Our first game was away against one of the promotion favourites but it seems we did not get the memo as we won 5-0. It seems it was a bit flash in the pan as we 4 of the next 6 (6 of 8 in all competitions). But streaky it seems we were as we ended our poor form with a 6-1 victory. We did eventually go on some fairly good form as we were flirting with the top 6 for pretty much the entire season never really falling out of the 6-9th position in the league. Towards the end of the season we unfortunately laboured to draws in games that we were comfortably the better team and whilst on the last game of the season after 14 minutes we went 6th in the live league table as we took the league, we again drew on the final day – though it wouldn’t have mattered as 6th place team won their final game in the end. The big disappointment this season was that per the xG table we should have scored an additional 10 goals this season. Youth Intake Not the most sold on this intake, but there are players that look to have some potential, but mainly at full back where we have a fair amount of strength. Paul Smith 12 – An ok looking left back though his dribbling I think is a big weakness for him to be that effective there. I think he could end up in the midfield as he doesn’t shape up too badly with his attributes there. Jared Carline 12 – A good prospect in central defense he’s already our centre back with the 2nd best heading. He has good base attributes though so I can see him becoming an important player for us in the future. Patrick Elnar 12 - Another fullback again with not fantastic dribbling and again who could end up in the midfield. Per the intake news item Elnar was considered the best player of the intake and he his mental attributes are certainly pretty strong. Overview With our big sales this season we have managed to get both Youth Facilities upgraded, and training facilities in the process of being upgraded. We have announced also that we will be building a new 10,000 capacity stadium which will be completed in a year. Next season, I am contemplating changing my formation which, considering the success outr current formation has brought us is a bit risky, but I feel with the increased number of defensive players that are coming through it may be time to move to a 3 at the back formation. Key Players Josh Buckley 7 – The first season that Timmy Browne 1 has not been our stand out defender. Buckley this season has cemented himself as our best defender playing pretty consistently well. His lack of heading ability does sometimes cause us a bit of an issue but ultimately a good season. Darren Kerr 7 – Kerr over the past season has developed very well and had a good season despite conceding 61 he managed 13 clean sheets . We were fielding bids for him in the summer and January, but he is irreplaceable right now as there is no real strong back up. DeAndre Reid 8 – When he wasn’t suspended which was unfortunately more than I would hope, Reid had a great season from right back. 7 assists is a good showing, but I think next season he may have less as if we change formation he might end up moving to play as centre back.

Ilkeston Town - Season 11 – Sky Bet League 2– 3rd Promoted Transfers -- Squad -- League We started life in professional football on fire, our opening 7 games saw us concede just 2 (two 1-1 draws) and win 5 which was beyond what we could have hoped for. Any hopes of walking away with the league were cut out before they could really be fostered however as we lost 4 of our next six. Our true form was somewhere in the middle of the two mentioned above as we won more often than not but did have a few losses and draws as we spent most of the season hovering around 3rd and 4th spot. As the season was reaching it’s conclusion however, we did go on some strong form and looked like we could even challenge for the title before 1 win from our next 6 instead threatened our automatic promotion position with us needing Wycombe to drop points from at least one of their last 2. In the end they dropped points from both as we returned to winning ways to secure promotion on the final day. Youth Intake Another pretty strong intake with a couple of midfielders which we have missed from many of the previous intakes. Matthew Taylor 11 – Taylor is comfortably the best midfielder we have come through the intake in maybe 4 seasons at least, perhaps longer. He does need some improvement in his physical attributes but he will be in and around the first team next season providing some much needed depth in the middle of the park. Scott Wild 11 – Another prospect in the striker position. He could probably do a job in the first team immediately, but we do have decent depth there so he will have time to improve. Again, he’s a little weak physically, I think he needs a bit more pace to be fully effective. Vernon Allard 11 - A decent looking right back, which is actually and area that we are pretty strong in, but Allard looks pretty well rounded to provide even more selection headaches there. It could ultimately allow for our current first choice right back to move to centre back which I think he can perform well at. Overview This season we got a board take over however it was just an internal takeover, though they have provided a couple of cash injections as we are losing money at quite a rapid rate. We did nearly make our first major sale this season as the board accepted a £500k rising to 900k offer for Cetinkaya which we couldn’t protest nor renegotiate so I offered him out and received a £1.3m offer. Cetinkaya then decided he didn’t want to leave and rejected both teams in for him. Next season, we have to aim for survival once more but I’m quietly confident that we will be able to survive fairly comfortably however, I am wary that the board might sell some of our players from under us. Key Players Ethan Humphries 10 – Only came in last intake and was considered the best player in League 2 this season by the media dream XI. He managed 23 goals and 7 assists this season which was enough for him to be 2nd top scorer in the league. I don’t expect to hold onto him for too long as he’s very good. Timmy Browne 1 – I fear that Browne’s days are numbered as our first choice centre back as we climb the leagues however, he still had a solid enough season for us. He has now also claimed the record for the most league appearances for the club reaching 424. Orhan Cetinkaya 7 – Cetinkaya had his most prolific season for the club with 16 goals and 8 assists in all competitions mostly from the left wing. I would be tempted to try him out at Striker should we lose Humphries although he has not the best finishing.

Ilkeston Town - Season 10 – Vanarama National League– 1st Champions Transfers -- Squad -- League This was a similar start in ways to last season, we were creating enough to win games but had to wait till the 6th game of the season to actually record a win. My striker was particularly poor to start the season massively underperforming his xG. After we got the win, we did start to pick up a head of steam with most of our games ending in wins as we pushed back up towards the playoff positions. Due to our poor start to the season, and Maidstone’s form matching up to ours largely it did look for large portions of the season that we may have to settle again for playoff football, but the key point of the season was our match against them as we ended their 12 game unbeaten run (15 for all competitions) which ended up causing a collapse in form for them as they won only 1 of their last 6 games. On the contrary, we won 5 of our last 6 to ultimately win the league by 6 points, but more than fortunate of a complete collapse by Maidstone. Regardless, we are now in the football league and professional. Youth Intake A good intake with one major stand out player. Generally a bit disappointed with some of the personalities, but you can’t complain too much when an intake looks like this. Ethan Humphries 10 – Wow, what a player this guy is. As soon as he signed the contract he was considered the best plater in the league and is it any wonder? The only negative I can think of is perhaps he lacks as an ariel presence but, he can’t have it all. He will of course be straight to starting, however, unsurprisingly he is already attracting interest from teams higher in the pyramid so I don’t even know if we will be able to keep him for that long. Gary Joyce 10 – Joyce looks to be a handy wide man, with most his attributes for that area being pretty decent. He does of course have a decent bit of room for improvement but he actually ended the season as first choice on the right (initially brought in to allow rest for players but performed well to not deserve to be dropped.) Lefteris Ioannou 10 - A versatile fullback capable of playing on both the left and right. He is a little slower than I’d have liked and his attacking attributes aren’t the best, but we were in need of fullback cover and he provides it well on both sides. Overview We have now improved our youth recruitment and junior coaching to exceptional which should aid in future intakes and are now going professional which should help in actually training up our players on a full term training schedule. Our squad is starting to get much better in terms of depth with me being happy enough with many areas of the team to rotate which hasn’t been the case previously. The one key area that is lacking is still central midfield, we are not blessed with players of much quality there so I am retraining a few players to see if I can pick up this shortfall. Next season, anywhere above the bottom 2 will do me. Since the start of the save, not a single team that has been promoted as Champions of the National League has been relegated straight back, with many actually completing back to back, so perhaps I am underestimating our chances by aiming 3rd bottom. We are actually in process of a board takeover. There have been murmurings all season, but it seems now we will be getting one which will not really change much unless they are intent in pumping money into the club. Another stadium expansion as well, this time a lot more pricey. Must be the laying of grass that's expensive Key Players Timmy Browne 1 – Browne was back to his best this season, managing 10 goals as well in the league. He has now passed the 400 overall appearances for the club and is on his way to getting to 400 league appearances too (he needs 408 to get the overall record for league appearances). He will be first choice for the next season, but we do have a promising youngster in defense which could see him eventually drop out. DeAndre Reid 8 – A great season from the right wing back. When he first came through I did think he would be a good centre back (still think he could perform there) but this season proved that he is a good fullback. 10 assists and a 7.25 average rating is good going for only his second full season. Alessio Raccagni 4 – This season was Raccagni’s most productive for us putting in 10 assists from central midfield. He missed only 1 game in the season as a whole, which in part is down to our lack of depth, but regardless he generally performs well for us.

Ilkeston Town - Season 9 – Vanarama National League– 2nd Lost Playoff Final Transfers -- Squad -- League We had an awful start in the league finding ourselves after 6 games without a win although we were generally the better team in those games. The 6th game in particular was very frustrating, we went 2-1 up in the 88th minute before conceding directly from kick-off before retaking the lead in 90+1 before conceding straight from kick off. Eventually we did start getting the results our performances did deserve and started flying up the league. We were generally comfortably dispatching teams as we pushed towards the title battle. We were always a step behind the eventual champions Leyton Orient, but actually, we perhaps could have won the league but for some frankly awful form to end the season – 4 losses on the bounce. This form was partly down to me having to rest pretty much the whole team over those 4 fixtures as 9 of the 11 starters we got the inbox item for them being jaded. Ultimately we did finish 2nd which is positive, but did mean a playoff battle to participate in. I thought it was going to be a completely frustrating exit at the semi-finals as we completely dominated against Newport County but found ourselves 1 down until a 86th minute penalty. We then managed to grab 2 more before the end of the game to secure a spot at Wembley. It was a game of not much quality with us gifting York the lead with a penalty. We were then just chasing the game to no avail and the task was made even more difficult as we were reduced to 10 eventually succumbing to a 1-0 loss. 7 playoffs without success. Youth Intake Not the best intake, but at least one player looks like he could be a valuable addition to the first team squad. Emmanual Ojo 9 – Ojo looks to be a very good prospect at centre back. I noticed this season when trying to sort set pieces that the highest ‘heading’ attribute in the team is 6, so at the very least he has that going for him. He did feature a little towards the end of the season for us. Leyton Dewberry 9 – A natural inverted wingback, but I don’t see his future as a fullback I don’t think, though he will probably be utilised as a versatile player in the back 4. I am retraining him to be a centre back as I think he could end up a solid player there. Kamen Print 9 - An ok looking goalkeeper, obviously a few areas lacking but I’m hopeful he can improve on them and capitilise on the areas where he is good. Overview This was the first season where my first choice team was completely filled with our youth players, there were a few left over players who acted as fringe players this season though I think they may leave this summer as they are all out of contract. I feel we are probably good enough to win the league next season and that has really got to be the aim. We are starting to get a bit more depth all over the pitch now reducing reliance on some players (though central midfield I would say is a bit of a weak spot). Key Players Timmy Browne 1 – Another solid season for Browne but I think he was relatively worse this season – his lowest average rating since the first season. He’s still comfortably first choice centre back but it is a little concerning that he performed worse in a better overall season for the club. Alessio Raccagni 4 – Raccagni missed most of our poor start as he picked up a month and half injury in our final pre-season fixture but again performed very well in the middle of the pitch. Unfortunately, we don’t really have anyone who can play his role in the event of injury, suspension or tiredness, but thankfully, aside from his injury at the start of the season he does not miss many games. Carlos Miguel 4 – Miguel had a great season from right midfield this season 18 goals and 8 assists in the league is a strong showing. He did score fairly consistently last season too so I hope he can keep it up again next time out as well.

Ilkeston Town - Season 8 – Vanarama National League– 7th Lost Playoff Semi-Final Transfers -- Squad -- League A very weird season for us where our success largely depended on how well our forward players played with us fairly consistently conceding en masse. The season actually started incredibly well with a 7-1 victory over one of the teams relegated from league 2 in Leyton Orient. It was a little bit of a false dawn as we went on to win only 1 of the next seven games. This was a similar trend that we did follow over the season, period of good wins before failing to win for a period of games. The second half of the season our goals had dried up somewhat, with Purple who was ultimately our top scorer this season only scoring 3 goals in his last 20 games of the season. Thankfully we ended the season strong which coincided with Leyton Orient ending the season horrendously 5 losses and a draw from their last 6 games which saw us snatch the final playoff spot on goal difference. Our playoff campaign got off to a great start with our opponents gifting us a penalty in the 4th minute which also saw them reduced to 10 men. We scored the penalty, but the rest of the game there was not much happening so only a 1-0 win, but progression nonetheless. In the semi-final however, we were comprehensively outclassed down 1 goal in the opening minute and not looking likely to get back into it at all in a 4-0 defeat – the 100% failure rate in the playoffs from 6 attempts, though I wasn’t expecting us to get too far in this one. Youth Intake A solid enough intake, a few players in more needed areas that aren’t actually too far from the respective first choices in those positions. DeAndre Reid 8– Reid looks to be a very good versatile defender who will next season fill in all along the back line, he is lacking in his marking and heading, but they are not really much lower than what we have as first choice. His physical attributes do make me think he will be a good option though. Joby Signey 8 – Whilst naturally a striker I don’t see his long term future up front as he is lacking a bit both physically and in terms of finishing so I am retraining him to play in attacking midfield as I think he could develop into a good player there. Sean Stephen 8 - A great personality on Stephen, and has the makings of a pretty decent winger as well. I’m hopeful that he will be able to develop nicely over the next few seasons as he is unlikely to play in the first team till then as we do have some depth in that area. Overview I was not sure what to expect from this season, but I probably wasn’t expecting to be challenging for the playoffs. I think next season I may look to remove the remaining players from the start of the save out of the team, with 2 remaining currently as first choice – goalkeeper and right back. I would be happy next season with a midtable position I think to give new players time to develop especially if I am throwing in an untested goalkeeper. For the first time it looks like we may be going into the red which means any board requests we make are likely to be declined as we can’t really afford them. Key Players Timmy Browne 1 – Browne continued to be a very good player for us in a league higher. He did pick up a lot of yellow cards this season however which saw him miss 9 league games with our back up in central defense not being the greatest. He’s closing in on 300 league appearances for the club which is a great showing. Alessio Raccagni 4 – Like Browne, Raccagni took the step up well missing just one game in central midfield as he got 5 goals and 6 assists this season. He’s continuing to develop nicely the main worry being his fairly short contract which could force us to sell him if we’re not promoted in a few seasons. Montel Gibson – One of the last few original players, he did end the season not as first choice, but in his games this season he performed pretty well with 12 goals and 14 assists to show for the season. He is out of contract this season and I don’t really know if it’s worth his wage demands to keep him around for another season as he is starting to decline.

Ilkeston Town - Season 7 – Vanarama National League North – 1st Champions Transfers -- Squad -- League I had a slight worry early on in the season that in reverting our tactic back to a tweak what we had used every season bar last was not going to bear rewards as we had to wait until the 4th game to pick up a win (1 draw 2 losses) but, as soon as we had got that win, we just went from strength to strength. We were winning games with not many losses amongst them however, Stevenage had an even better start to the season and were 8 points better off in the first half of the season. Thankfully, we started the second half of the season with an away win at Stevenage to bring them closer and for the rest of the season it was a two horse race between the two of us for the title. It looked as though a poor run in March for us had actually (W2, D1, L3) might cause us falter in our title bid, but Stevenage through the same month did only get 4 points better than us which meant we were still in touch at 5 points behind heading into the final 7 games. Our April was phenomenal as we won all our 6 games and Stevenage drew 4 of theirs so heading into the final game of the season we were 3 points ahead meaning we only needed to not lose against already relegated Basford and we were up. We smashed Basford 8-2 to secure our automatic promotion, you have to feel a little sort for Stevenage as they amassed 102 points to not be promoted automatically. Youth Intake The intake preview had suggested that the best player would be a centre back which I was looking forward to, but the intake that we got didn’t really live up to that, but still some good prospects. Orhan Cetinkaya 7– A fairly speedy winger, but he can’t really cross or dribble so will have some overall limitations, but still looks a good option for us. Darren Kerr 7 – A goalkeeper who could find himself our first choice in the not too distant future as he looks to be a good prospect there. Our long term first choice will keep his spot for now but Kerr will become our cup goalkeeper next season at least and will hopefully develop. Gethin Jones 7 - We haven’t had many players through in the way of midfielders so I’m hopeful that Jones can build on his fairly decent playmaking attributes to fight his way through to the first team for years to come. Josh Buckley 7 – The supposed good centre back per the intake preview, he’s not awful, but underwhelming in the main, not very fast and not very technically gifted. He did score a brace on his debut so there is that at least. Overview A fantastic season on the pitch, though not much change off the pitch with no further upgrades to any of our facilities. I’m not too sure what to expect from next season but I’m hopeful that we will be able to avoid relegation at least. Our under 18s won their league this season which is promising for the future with Mark Hanson 5 scoring 48 goals along the way. We have managed to get a few players out on loan this season with Carlos Miguel 4 spending time in his native Angola developing incredibly well for the season so will hopefully bring that into our first team next time out. --edit-- I should know to continue a couple times before I complete my write up. We are having a Stadium expansion this offseason that is relatively cheap considering. Key Players Charlie Wakefield – Wakefield was a man possessed this season, 21 goals and 8 assists in 27 appearances this season. Unfortunately, it was only 27 appearances as he picked up a 4 month injury mid-season so I don’t know how many more goal contributions he might have got if he was fit for the full season. He also marked his return from his injury with an assist and a chipped penalty. Timmy Browne 1 – Browne is consistently one of our best players through the season another 9 goals for the centre back he played a big role in our promotion. Alessio Raccagni 4 – Wakefield’s central midfield partner he developed a lot in his first two seasons but not so much this one however, he played well this season as the more defensive of our central midfield pair. He still amassed 4 goals and 8 assists in his best season for us so far.

Ilkeston Town - Season 6 – 4th – Lost playoff first round Transfers -- Squad -- League I changed up the formation this season with the hope that it would bring us greater success and for the first half of the season we were actually up challenging for automatic promotion. Unfortunately this season we were much worse defensively and the second half of the season saw us drop off the pace. Fortunately we were still picking up points here and there and ultimately finished the season 4th. However, we did our usual performance in the 1st round of the playoffs and contrived to lose despite being comfortable with 10 minutes to go, two quick fire goals continued our woeful playoff record. 5 playoff campaigns unsuccessful. Youth Intake An ok intake, but lacking in the areas we mostly need as majority of the better players were again attacking players which we have better depth in. Most have come with unfavourable personalities too so I am debating switching out my HoYD George Collins 6 – A decent looking forward, but does have some capabilities of playing in multiple forward positions. I may end up using him as an attacking midfielder as he does have pretty good passing. Keith Barron 6 – Another forward option, he looks fairly well rounded mentally with most attributes for his position not the worst. We have plenty options at striker so he could have a bit of a wait to get into the team. Jai Laing 6 - A prospect that isn’t a striker. He looks to be a decent option at left back with a bit of pace which could help us out there as our current player there is not so fast. Overview Our new formation did sort of work, but I had switched to a 3 defender formation and really, we don’t have 3 defenders who are quite good enough yet so I think I will be changing back to a 4 defender system for next season. Key Players Montel Gibson – As we were now playing 2 up top, Gibson got a chance to shine in his preferred position and took it, 34 goals and 13 assists in the league this season which is a great return. Gary O’Brien 5 – Alongside Gibson, O’Brien was also prolific up front. 31 goals and 8 assists for him in the league also great showing, especially as he is still only 16. He will (and Gibson too actually) probably find himself not up front next season though as he will likely find himself on the wing as we change up our formation again. Timmy Browne 1 – Another solid season for Browne, this time alongside two rookies. He has no interest in renewing his contract but has a fairly long time left on his so hopefully we can get to a position where he would want to renew however, there is interest in him currently.

Ilkeston Town - Season 5 – 9th Transfers -- Squad -- League Quickfire season this one. It looked like it was going to be yet another season where we were not quite good enough for challenging for the league but comfortably made the playoffs. However, we suffered some awful form in February which saw us drop right out of contention. Eventually, in the last month we sort of forgot how to win with us drawing our opening 3 games in the month despite being good value to win in each of them. Our playoff hopes this season were ended on the penultimate game when Darlington came to our patch to win the league. Youth Intake A very good intake with a few players who will surely be first choice players in the coming season. Gary O’Brien 5 – O’Brien immediately went into the first team to play on the right wing though his future could well be at Striker but we did have 2 other strikers come through. Physically he looks very strong for the level and all round elsewhere he is good. Nico Purple 5 – The first of the other strikers, decent physically and great finishing I’m hopeful he can come in and usurp Campbell from his striking spot. Mark Hanson 5 - The other of the strikers in the intake, a tall player but not quite as fast at getting up to speed. He as well has good finishing and looks like he could again be a good option for us. Thom Strzyzewski 5 – A natural midfielder who I am immediately retraining as a central defender as I feel he can contribute effectively there. He will actually start the new season as first choice as one of my starters has agreed a pre-contract to go back to his native Latvia at the end of his contract with us. Overview An incredibly frustrating season all told, we really should have been competing again for the playoffs but we underperformed. I am tempted to change up the formation next season given we have 3 good striking prospects coming through and yet only play the solitary striker up front. Next season, we need to aim to be back to playoff contenders next year, but I think I will be phasing out some of the regulars who remain from the start of the save. Key Players Jack Thomas – Thomas was really good for us this season 10 goals and 11 assists in 30 appearances. He only made 30 appearances however, as he broke his ankle in the middle of the season which ruled him out for the rest. It was not long after his injury actually that we fell off a cliff form wise. Timmy Browne 1 – Browne consistently our best player, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he attracted some bids this summer. He actually managed to score a hattrick in one game this season from centre back. He will lose long standing partner in defense Wells next season Charlie Wakefield – Wakefield has had his best season yet, 24 assists in all competitions (19 in the league) is a very strong showing. He was ever present for us this season too which is a big positive to our midfield.

Ilkeston Town - Season 4 – 6nd – Lost playoff first round Transfers -- Squad -- League I hate the playoffs. We were a bit worse than last season this time out, we were still generally good, but there was a lot more variation in our form this season. There was times where we were just winning for fun, and then others where we would lose 3 or 4 in a row. We ended the season in one of these poor spells of form with our eventual playoff opponent being the team that beat us in the penultimate game of the season. The playoff game itself it was a bit of a end to end affair with both us and Altrincham scoring in second half stoppage time as it ended 3-3 at full time. In extra time they won it and it made it 3 straight playoff campaigns where we failed to progress. Youth Intake The intake was much better this season with a few players who already went into consideration for the first team squad. Shay Cook 4 – Cook looks a good option on the left wing. He could end up featuring for us at left back too as he isn’t awful as a more attack minded fullback. Not the best personality and determination is low so definitely needs to improve there but has already scored and assisted in the first team since the intake. Nehemiah Liburd-Hines 4 – Whilst naturally a right winger, I’m immediately training him to be a right back as he looks well suited to playing there though could still provide an option further forward. Another with low determination however. Alessio Raccagni 4 - A decent looking midfielder, who, whilst has a fair few low attributes, may find himself as a first choice player next season. He is inflicted with the general low pace of intakes prior but that can improve. Andrew Brown 4 – Brown is considered by the game to be our hot prospect and physically he looks very strong for this level. He will find himself as a squad player next season I think. Overview This season was worse than the last with us not really at our fluid best, but we’ve yet again finished in the top 7 which means we are at least challenging for promotion each season. We’ve just got to try again next season, though I dread another playoff campaign. We have upgraded our youth recruitment and junior coaching this season again which will hopefully see us continue to bring through good youth prospects. Key Players Timmy Browne 1 – Browne yet again was our best performer this season though did not score as many as he had last season but has continued to impress in general at the heart of defense. He is now wanted by a few league clubs, but he does have a long contract so we shouldn’t need to sell him. Charlie Wakefield – Another great season for Wakefield with another 15 assists from midfield. He’s still relatively young so has a good few years where he can feature whilst youngsters come up to speed. Montel Gibson – A fantastic return from Gibson on the left wing with 17 goals and 10 assists for the season. As we now have a new prospect in this position it might be that Gibson might end up playing more games in his preferred central striking position though Campbell was still his prolific inconsistent self this season.

Ilkeston Town - Season 3 – 2nd – Lost playoff Final Transfers -- Squad -- League Last season Remaye Campbell started the season horrendously, this season he started a man possessed, 13 goals in the opening 8 games saw us off to a fantastic start. The team as a whole were good again this season and on the whole we’re improving season on season with this season us arguably getting enough points that might have otherwise won the league, but Darlington had other ideas walking away with it so it was a 3rd consecutive playoff campaign for us to navigate. This time we were into the semi-finals straight away due to our final league position and we made the home advantage count as we secured a narrow 1 goal win to send us to within 1 game of promotion. Unfortunately, we started poorly and found ourselves 1-0 down in the first half with us creating nothing. After some tactical tweaks we were much better in the second half but we only managed to draw the game level, not find a winner and ultimately the game went to extra time and then penalties. We missed 2 penalties in a row in the middle of the shootout and Banbury scored all of theirs so we found ourselves 0 for 3 in playoffs so far. Youth Intake Again we improved our youth recruitment and junior coaching but the intake was a little disappointing in terms of the starting quality of the players. Charlie Beardmore 3 – Beardmore is the pick of the bunch in terms of players who are closest to being in the first team reckoning. Like most of our youth players so far, he is lacking a lot physically but next season, especially with us failing to get promoted, I may be tempted to just play him in midfield in place of one of our aging centre mids. James Doyle-Hayes 3 – He will ultimately end up being trained as a centre back for us as does have ok attributes for there heading aside. He does have some work to do but thankfully defense is currently one of our strongest areas. Overview To be honest, I think we’ve got to aim to win the league next season, we’ve improved season on season and all of our first team players are contracted to another season at least which means with developing youngsters we had aught to be a stronger team still next season. Key Players Timmy Browne 1 – Browne is developing well and both this and last season he has been first choice centre back. He’s developed quite a lot though still is weak on his heading though he still managed 7 goals over the season. Charlie Wakefield – Wakefield has been very solid for us in the middle of the park. 15 assists in the league is a great return. He was ever present for us this season. Remaye Campbell – Campbell was the same player that he has been in every season, he either is good for a goal or two or will play pure awfully. Thankfully this season was more of the former than the latter as he fired in 49 goals over the season, but unfortunately, the playoff final was one of the latter.

Ilkeston Town - Season 2 - Vanarama National League North - 4th Transfers -- Squad -- League On the transfers out front, as I had anticipated Jadel Musahnu left this summer (just before league reset so missing from transfer screenshot). We did get £10.5k compensation for him, but it did leave us way down quality wise at centre back. Our second season started off reasonably well we were unbeaten in our opening 7 games, but we were lacking quite a lot on the goal front. Remaye Campbell having an awful start to the year. Following that we were quite patchy, we looked fairly strong but then just went on losing streaks where we looked awful 4-0 loss, 5-1 loss both just around wins and draws. The second half of the season however, we did pick up some consistency, in fact, we had the joint best record for the second half of the league as we started to score a few more goals and cut out the heavy defeats we had been on the end of. In the end we ended up with more points than we had last season to secure a playoff position. Our 4th placed position you could argue was deserved as it aligned completely with the xG table. Our second season successively in the playoffs ended at the same stage though. This time we conceded a 90+4 equaliser in the playoffs before losing our on penalties, a poor end to an otherwise great season. Youth Intake We had managed to upgrade on youth recruitment and junior coaching this season and our youth intake on the whole was more impressive than last season. Conor Miller 2 – Miller went straight into the first team as a squad player but in truth he is not far from being a regular starter. We had confirmed our playoff place quite early so he was going to get some starts but picked up an injury. He looks very well rounded though so whilst he will start off as a back up midfielder, I probably expect that by the end of next season he will be first choice. Zack Overson 2 – Overson is in similar vein to Miller, he comes into the first team as a back up but should look to force himself to be first choice by the end of next season. He has some work to do physically, but for a left back at this level his technicals look like he could be a very strong fullback for us. Albert Cotton 2 – Cotton lacks in pace, but he does look to be a pretty decent option up front. I will be hoping he gets faster but he will be now back up in the strikers position next season. Unlike the two above, I don’t really expect him to claim the first choice spot for his own nect season. Overview In the off season, the board of their own volition increased our youth level, to level 4. This meant we got an under 18s team which was helpful and allowed us to move players there who were better suited. I thought the loss of Musahnu would be key in preventing us repeating last season and reaching the playoffs, but we got there regardless. Next season I’ve got to aim for the same again, I am not anticipating any of our best players to leave which means our squad will be at least as strong as this year. Key Players Charlie Wakefield – We had a tough time in the summer trying to retain him, but eventually he agreed to stay on and had a great season for us. 11 assists in the league was a large contributor to our great season yet again. Montel Gibson – Whilst Campbell was incredibly inconsistent (6.74 rating despite 25 league goals) Gibson played consistently well on the left wing. Arguably I should be playing him as striker but he contributed well with 17 goals and 9 assists. Josh Wells – Picking up the mantle as our best defender Wells had a good season for us. Consistent throughout the season alongside a rookie centre back partner in Browne 1.

Ilkeston Town - Season 1 Transfers -- Squad -- League I’ve completed a first season with Ilkeston generally, a pretty strong season with us managing to even get into the playoffs on the last game of the season. Unfortunately we bowed out in the first match up in the playoffs which, in itself was a massive overachievement but we were the better team in the tie so should aught to have at least gone one stage further. My starting squad was pretty well balanced every position we managed to at least have a player who could act as back up. From the starting squad the stand out player was Jadel Musanhu who I was fortunate to have as his contract expired a week after I took charge and he won’t sign a new one. Rhys Davies was a helpful player to start off with as well, a pretty decent goalkeeper for the level and one who eventually agreed to a new contract. Youth Intake Since taking charge the board has not granted me any requests so I wasn’t really expecting anything much from this intake other than bodies to add depth to the squad. It was a decent spread of players in position terms with a few players who look decent enough. Per Van Der Molen 1 – Technically he is not that bad, great handling and reflexes with one on ones not terribly low but he does have some areas to work on. A good personality is a bonus, he’ll start in the cups next season and hopefully will develop nicely. Timmy Brown 1 – On technical attributes Brown is lacking quite a lot but he has ok mentals and physicals I think. Despite only 4 heading and 5 marking I am actually retraining him to be a centre back and, should Musanhu leave this summer as I suspect he will actually go into the season as first choice there. Lewis Rodon 1 – Rodon is the only player from the intake to already have a taste of first team football, he’s got reasonable pace which is the main reason I’ve been happy enough to throw him in for some minutes. Overview We do not have a under 18s team nor an under 21s so my first team squad will be quite bloated with players until I can get one sorted. Next season will hinge largely on if I can get my better players to agree to another year at the club. I do not think we will get the playoffs again next season, I do think it was more of just gathering momentum than anything else but we shall see. Key Players Jadel Musanhu – Fantastic for us this season a 7.49 rating over the season at centre back and a key proponent to our successful season, there was some interest from league clubs through the season but none actually offered him a contract thankfully, but I doubt that will stay the same way. Remaye Campbell – Whilst Musanhu played well even when we lost, it was generally because Campbell played poorly that we lost because he was our main goal threat but, as expected for a lower league striker, he was inconsistent. Still he scored 42 in the league which is very good. Jared Bird – A well rounded midfielder, Bird contributed well with 8 assists to his name and a couple of goals. If we can keep the 3 players here at the club next season will be much easier.

I was playing a 4-2-3-1 system but with the players that I had ended up signing meant that I didn't really have much depth on the wings and I had lots of depth at both centre back and striker so decided to swap to a 3 defender 2 striker formation. When I was building in my right back was much more attacking in attribute terms so figured I'd push him up - and is why the right sided defender I'd put as wide centre back. On the left, as we didn't have as much support from the left back I had hoped that complete forward on support would fill into the space on the left wing to provide width there whilst also providing attacking threat. Generally, I wanted more players in attack but also more players in defense and I think this gave us a good balance. Yeah, this is a big struggle especially early on in the top league, it is why I almost exclusively signed foreign players only if they were 18 at the time of arrival. Hopefully you can at least salvage survival again this season get some additional money into the coffers

Thanks @corinthiano, @jmarchand Figured I might as well give the top 10s for a few stats over the save as a whole Deninho the clear candidate for player of the save with 303 goals and 75 assists in 395 appearances - not far shy of an average 1 goal contribution per game which is a fantastic return. Average rating top is technically Deninho too as Szabo only played 1 game for us. On the goalkeeping front Ene was a long serving goalkeeper for us so kept a lot of clean sheets but I think Ottolini was well on track to become our best goalkeeper in terms of clean sheets should the save have continued. That's a good showing in the Europa League all the same, especially when considering you got pretty much the worst possible knockout draws, 4th, 2nd and 1st in the Quarters through to the final and Ajax had only lost 1 in the group stages themselves. Should be a nice reputation bump and a decent enough chunk of money which should help.

Hogaborgs BK Season 16 (Europe Only) - Challenge Complete! Overview Transfer Window: Very quiet in the offseason transfer window both incoming and outgoing. Outgoings: Oliver Fager (DC) - £600k Fager was one of those young prospects that we had brought in in the hopes that they would develop into a good player for us, unfortunately he didn’t fill those hopes. He was coming towards the end of his contract so I sold him, for a small loss actually. Celcisio Timane (DC) - £300k Pretty much the exact same story as Fager, the difference only that we got a small profit on him. He is an ok player but not a player good enough for our team. Incomings: Shoichi Miyazaki (MC) - £2.3m Technically and mentally Miyazaki looks like he could become a very good midfielder. His physicals do need some improvement with his pace very much on the low side. Branco Mirosevic (DC/R) - £5m Right back is an area of the pitch that I’m pretty content with our options, but Mirosevic looked a good option in that area. He comes in as 3rd choice on the right so not the most of game time. It is a bit frustrating that a week after I bought him other teams were coming in and offering to buy him for less than half of what I paid literally 7 days earlier. Europe: End of league phase – We left off before the new season just outside the top 8 in the league phase and after the first game back we pretty much waved goodbye to it as we lost 4-0 to Roma despite us actually having the better of the game. We did win the last game to give a small hope of the top 8, but we finished 1 point shy and had to enter the knockout playoffs. Knockouts – Our first opponent was Real Madrid a team we had comfortably beaten in the league phase but it was still a tough draw. The first leg they were the better team fairly comfortably however, we held on to only lose the game 2-1. The second leg saw us score in 90+2 to take the tie to extra time before scoring a winner just before it went to penalties. Another repeat team next, Liverpool, the first leg was similar to Real Madrid just the opposite way round, we were fairly comfortably better but only took a 3-2 lead into the second leg. I was fearing another extra time game in the second leg as Liverpool drew the tie level with 9 minutes to go in the second leg before we snatched an on the night equaliser and tie winner just 3 minutes later. I don’t think it is possible for us to play any other team than Dortmund in the Champions League Quarter Final. This is our 3rd season we’ve reached the quarter-finals and each time it was Dortmund we faced. It seemed to be bogey team continued as after the first leg which was at home we found ourselves behind 2-1. It’s a season of late goals as we were 1-1 in the second leg before an own goal in the 88th minute took the tie to extra time. In extra time we just appeared to cope much better than them scoring 3 times in the first 15 minutes to take the tie beyond Dortmund. Newcastle, one of the top teams in England in the save game were our semi-final opponents and we comfortably beat them in the first leg 3-1 and in the second leg we raced into a 2 goal lead to give us 4 goals lead in the tie. Newcastle didn’t give up though and by half time it was 2-2 on the night to make the second half a lot tougher. In the 85th minute they went ahead on the night which could have made for a nervy ending, but we extended the aggregate lead in second half stoppage time to secure our final appearance. Tottenham the team we would face, a team who had beaten us 4-1 in this very Champions League campaign but I felt we performed poorly in the league phase and since then we’d just been pretty solid. I did increase our passing directness and dropped the defensive line a little and it seemed to at least nullify them, however, we were also not creating anything before in the 83rd minute we got a very nothing penalty which I think resulted in only our second shot on target in the game but it was a goal and we were 7 minutes away from Champions League glory. We did add a late second from a corner to win the match 2-0, in truth it was far from a classic not that I’m complaining. League: We’re well on track to win the league again though we aren’t going unbeaten as we played poorly in one game to lose 2-1, outside of that game the other 9 has seen us win them all scoring 28 conceding just 2, safe to say we’re a bit too good for the league now. Cup: We were knocked out of the cup but are still on the record games without losing. The first two games took place between the Real Madrid ties so the cups were heavily rotated not even playing first back ups in many cases. Team for the Final Alessandro Ottolini – Goalkeeper Denis Mocanu – Right Centre Back Jure Peric – Centre Back Carlos Alberto – Left Centre Back Laquan Thompson – Left Back Casper Eriksson - Right Back (Youth Prospect) Catalin Lacatus – Central Midfield Kwon Won-Sub – Central Midfield Hwang Joan-Hoan – Attacking Midfield Deninho – Striker Sebastian Monea – Striker Subs used – Varga, Zwane, Mirosevic, Jae-Hun, Miyazaki Overview A fantastic run to win the Champions League, I was a bit frustrated after our poor showing in the league phase as I did feel we really should be getting top 8 fairly comfortably by now. Regardless, we battled well in the knockouts and in the end got a deserved trophy for our efforts. I guess I would continue the save to try and win the Club World Cup however, it is not for another 3 years so I think I will probably end this save here for now. I look forward to seeing how every one else's saves progress!

Hogaborgs BK Season 15 – Allsvenskan – 1st Transfers – Best XI – Squad – Key Player – Hot Prospect – Supporter Profile Overview Transfer Window: A much quieter season on the transfers with the outgoings being mainly fringe players. Outgoings: Matias Otero (DC) - £14m Otero is not a bad player, but in defense we have a lot of good quality players so Otero was beginning to get unhappy with his playing time. £14m is a good price for him and we do get 30% of profit so if he does get sold on we could reap some reward. Tarek Mahmoud (DC) - £9.25m Until this season Mahmoud was our record transfer signing when we bought him 3 seasons prior, but like Otero he was not towards the top of the defensive pecking order and he had announced his intention to explore his options at the end of his contract so I actively was looking to sell him. Unfortunately we didn’t get as much as I’d hoped but still made a small profit so happy enough. Xavier Ifill (LB) - £4.9m Ifill never made a single league appearance for us, but he was actually a player from our youth intake. He probably could have been an ok back up for us but I think that was all he would ever be for us. Sinval Keller (ST) - £3.1m A case of a player who had one good season for us before ultimately finding himself as a bit part player over the past few seasons. He was actually our vice captain so we did have a bit of risk selling him to upset the hierarchy of the squad but fortunately it didn’t. Giorgi Jiuti (ST) - £27k Jibuti hasn’t really been anywhere close to the first team for a long time now but he contributed over 130 goals for us during his time at the club. He’d agreed to sign for his new team on a pre-contract so I decided to bring in at least a little bit of money for him. Incomings: Allessandro Ottolini (GK) - £23.5m Our new record transfer, goalkeeper was an area we had an ok player but not a great player. With the money that we have at the club now I decided to splash out on a new goalkeeper. Since joining he’s earned 3 caps for Belgium too so is perhaps the first choice national team goalkeeper. Neizan Arbelo (DC) - £3.2m A young player for the future who looks like he could be good centre back. It is an area that we are pretty well set in so he does have time to develop before being thrusted into the first team fray. Aldair Salgado (MC) - £3.9m Similar to Arbelo another young player for the future who could develop into a good first team player for the future. Europe: Last Season – We ended our group stage with 2 strong victories that safely saw us qualify directly for the last 16 where we were drawn against Athletico Madrid. We were very solid in both legs in the round of 16 ultimately securing a 3-0 aggregate win to see us through to the Quarter Final. Here we faced off against Dortmund who were our previous Champions League Quarter final opponents when they beat us 10-3 on aggregate so revenge was definitely on the cards. Alas, we were outclassed again, not as comprehensively on the scoreline only 3-2 on aggregate, but we were second best in both legs. This season – The group stages are going fairly well for us so far though we have had 2 disappointing results in England as both Tottenham and Liverpool beat us. But, all of the other games we have won, including an impressive 4-0 victory over Real Madrid. We are touch and go whether we will reach the top 8 again this season however. League: We won the league again setting a new points total though we did not manage to complete an invincible season as we lost one match (we played poorly and deserved to lose). I’m hopeful next season we can record one though, we are comfortable in the league each season now. Cup: Another cup win to make it 3 in a row though the final took us till extra time though we did score 4 in extra time. Next Season/General We finally managed to get the board to improve our youth facilities for the first time in 5 years and hopefully they will let me improve them again next year as we have plenty money to do so. We did have some fairly long term injuries this season, unfortunately Gutierrez who the past 2 seasons had been great for us suffered 2 pretty bad ones, 5 months for one of them and 1.5months for another. In the Champions League I do hope to have another strong run through the latter stages but I feel we don’t have fantastic draw luck always seeming to play the same few teams when we get through rounds. Players of note Hwang Jong-Hoan – Another fantastic season from the South Korean. 25 goals and 7 assists in all competitions and consistently improving. I managed to secure him to a new 5 year contract amid interest from other sides so I’m hopeful for another good season next time out. Deninho – With our larger squad we had a lot more rotation which meant Deninho probably played his fewest amount of games for us this season but that didn’t stop him from generally performing well. He continues to do what he does best – scores goals. Carlos Alberto – Alberto had his best season to date for us. 10 goals in all competitions from centre back plus just generally consistently good performances even when not amongst the goals. Overview

I wonder if perhaps the new format might make it a little easier - the last 2 group games fall in January so should you get through to the KO stages you've already been back in training for 2-3 months rather than it falling right at the start of pre-season (no evidence to back it up as I've never managed in a European Jan-Dec League) Thanks, yeah, too much money to turn down and I'm pretty blessed on good young strikers.

Hogaborgs BK Season 14 – Allsvenskan – 1st Transfers – Best XI – Squad – Key Player – Hot Prospect – Supporter Profile Overview Transfer Window: Another season with a major outgoing, the incomings mostly being future prospects. Outgoings: Mike Moke (ST) - £70m With prices like that we can’t justify saying no. Moke had only been at the club a season and a half but Southampton were willing to pay £70m to secure his services and actually, I think he had a pretty slow start to the season. He is likely to develop into a top player but again, £70m no chance we are turning it down. Stephen Penn (MC) - £4.6m In the last few seasons Penn had found himself more on the outskirts of the team having previously being a fairly regular player for us. He was a good player for us, but the influx of players with higher ceilings meant his days were always going to be numbered when they improved to surpass where his quality level. Luiz (LB) - £2.9m Luiz was one of our early free signings from Brazil who was only really ever a squad player for us. I had actually signed him on to a longer contract in the offseason, but he was getting a bit unhappy with his playtime and £2.9m represented good value for his quality. Rolando Cuenca (AMR) - £2.5m Cuenca for me was a player who never really developed after looking to be a really shrewd pick up. His first full season for us consisted of nearly 20 goal contributions in the league from 29 appearances (only 16 starts) but that was as good as he ever was for us. Frantisek Zvara (DC) - £1.9m Another we had high hopes for when we first brought him. At the time he was a similar level player to our now first choice centre back Carlos Alberto who joined in the same window but where Alberto improved Zvara didn’t do as well. He also was the one player who always sided with other players if they were upset I didn’t sell them for peanuts so I was quite happy for him to go all told. Incomings: Romania… Zoltan Horvath (MC) - £2.8m Our biggest outlay of the summer and a player that I had only brought in to be a future prospect for us. He looks like he could develop into a good player and hopefully he will to pay off our investment. Karoly Szabo (MC/AMC) - £2.2m If I’m honest, I could copy and paste exactly what I’ve written for Horvarth for Szabo, main difference between the two is that one is more attack minded. Andrei Necula (AMC/L/R) - £1.2m There is a bit of a theme here, another player more for the future than now. I think he can develop into a really strong attacking midfielder for us given time. Denis Mocanu (DC) - £1.1m Mocanu is probably unlucky to be considered another in the future players for us when he was brought in this summer as he looks to have great attributes to be a very good centre back in the years to come. Whilst he featured sparingly this season, I think next season he will play a more prominent role. Sebatian Monea (ST) - £775k Monea looks like he will be an incredible striker, but we had sent him on loan this season due to payers in front of him in the pecking order taking up his game time. Following Moke’s sale he was recalled, but as he’d played for 2 teams in one season we couldn’t actually play him. Alin Draghita (GK) - £750k What I feel we’ve missed since selling Ene is a homegrown goalkeeper so I brought in some young goalkeepers with the hope that they may ultimately end up being a very good long term option for us in goal. It means our top 6 transfers this season were all Romanian. (Incidentally, I did have an offer accepted to bring Ene another Romanian back to the club for £4.4m but he wanted £80k per week which is about £70k per week more than anyone else in the team) Robert Kiss (GK) - £650k Pretty much the same reasoning as Draghita, not too expensive and our scout felt that he had some potential to be a good player for our team. Both Kiss and Draghita need to develop a fair bit before being considered first team ready but both have good base attributes to start from. Laquan Thompson (LB) - £0 I felt we were lacking a bit at left back in terms of overall quality and, was actually contemplating splashing the cash to get a significant upgrade in that area. However, Thompson was a player that came through the scouting that I thought was a no brainer for a free transfer and improved our team. Europe: Last Season – We had a terrible time of it so far in the group stages, no win in our first 6 matches. This meant I decided to change my formation from a 4231 to now an assymetic 343 type formation which I’d hope would improve us defensively by having more players back and improve us attacking wise by having more players forward. It worked a treat, we won our remaining 2 group stage matches 2-0 to sneak into 22nd spot and progress to the knockouts. We didn’t progress past the next round as we did battle against Inter Milan. In truth both games were close fought battles, but following extra time in the second leg we eventually fell to a 3-2 aggregate loss. An admirable effort especially considering our poor start to the campaign. This season – A much better initial showing in the group stages this season for us as from the 6 games we have a won 4, drawn 1 lost 1 record and I fell we’ve had a fairly tough draw all considered. Juventus, Roma (who we seem to play every season), Manchester City and Farense were our wins with a draw against Liverpool and a loss against Arsenal. Weird to me that we’ve had to play 2 Italian teams and 3 English teams in our 6 games so far. Next January we have Besiktas and Ajax to play, two games which I think we are in good stead to win which should see us automatically progress to the last 16 which is my aim. League: Another easy league win for us, though, I am a little disappointed as I feel we are good enough to go invincible. The two games we lost, one was last game of the season where I had rotated as we were already champions and we had an important Champions League fixture upcoming and the other was a game where we dominated without scoring before a 89th minute screamer from nowhere secured our fate. The only other blemish on the season was a 0-0 draw in which we did not see a single highlight for the entire match. Cup: Back to back cup finals, domestically we are the best team so by now it would be more of an upset if we were not to retain the cup, though we did open with a disappointing draw to lower league opposition. Next Season/General Honestly, I think we have a chance of going deep into the Champions League and maybe even so far as to win it. We’ve coped well in general across our fixtures so far so would be a bit disappointed should we not have a good run after Christmas. We are still unable to request improved youth facilities which is a shame as it would help us to produce our own homegrown players. Players of note Hwang Jong-Hoan – Jong-Hoan benefited from our formation change playing much of the season as a Shadow Striker. He managed 22 goals and 8 assists all in which is a big improvement from the season prior. Wilmar Gutierrez – Gutierrez went from strength to strength this season. 20 league goals from 19 starts is good going and Gutierrez added goals and assists in other competitions to boot always performing at a high level. Stanislav Ballis – Fullbacks I have not previously managed to get the best out of, but this season Balis had a new role and had moved forward to Wing back rather than Full back position. 23 assists in all competitions including 14 of those in the league is a definite improvement from his 1 assist in the league last term. Overview

Hogaborgs BK Season 13 – Allsvenskan – 1st Transfers – Best XI – Squad – Key Player – Hot Prospect – Supporter Profile Overview Transfer Window: Our first real major outgoings this seasons with a couple starters leaving us. Outgoings: Adrian Ene (GK) - £37m Ene has been our first choice goalkeeper for 3 seasons since we brought him to the club and I didn’t really have any intention of letting him leave. Burnley put in a bid for him and I countered with an amount that I didn’t think they would agree to but they did, and so he was sold. He is on his way to being relegated from the premier league if so, I could go back to try and sign him though he would want a mega wage. Maksym Ivanchenko (AMC) - £42.5m I liked Ivanchenko, but he was often overshadowed by Paulo Vitor so wasn’t guaranteed to be a regular started at least on the short term. He also, for reasons unknown to me, was not on track to be homegrown at the club despite being here since he was 18. So when we got an offer of £42.5m for him it was way too good to turn down. Incomings: Hwang Jong-Hoan (AMC/R/L) - £1.1m A player our scouts came up who wasn’t previously on my radar, but gave us a good versatile depth option whilst also hopefully giving us a good long term upgrade to our first team. Mike Moke (ST) - £215k We were after a striker, and Moke looked to be an absolute bargain. He just looks to be a very good striker with attributes in all the areas that you’d want. Such a low price for what his quality would suggest. Bradley Zwame (ST) - £575k Another Striker, another fairly cheap player with a good set of attributes. I did send him out on loan as with Moke’s addition he would get less football then would be best for his development. Martin Rodriguez (ST) - £2m A theme is brewing, another striker, this time much more pricey. He got injured fairly early on in his time here so like Zwame headed out on loan. Another player who looks like he could have a good future with us upfront as we look to future proof ourself. Ha Joon-Jae (DC) - £1.2m Taking a break from all the strikers Joon-Jae looks to be a promising defender. He’s lacking a little on his mental attributes currently, but I think he will prove a useful addition. Luka Gordic (GK) - £2.5m With Ene leaving us I needed a new first choice goalkeeper and Gordic was the player for the job. Obviously not as good as Ene, but looked to be a pretty good goalkeeper for the money. He’s not really convinced me this season so there are questions on his long term future with us. Kwon Won-Sub (DM/MC) - £2.1m A new midfield prospect it is an area that we had a bit of weakness in terms of our depth so Won-Sub was a decent addition. He is certainly not a playmaking midfielder but as a ball winner he looks to be a good prospect. Fernardo Riquelme (MC) - £1m When we sold Ivanchenko, and Lacatus getting a fairly lengthy injury, I needed another midfield player for the squad. I had to promise him a squad role higher than what his current ability otherwise he wouldn’t join. He was at a good price and I think he will eventually be an important player for us. Europe: Last Season – The league phase of the Europa ended emphatically for us with two wins which propelled us to the top 8 and straight through to the final 16. We drew Red Bull Salzburg who we outclassed, 10-2 on aggregate an easy victory. Roma, who were top of Serie A were our quarter final opponents and we managed to take a 1-1 draw from Rome. In the home game we were incredible, securing a 6-1 win on the night to sail through to the Semi-Final. It was another Italian side in Lazio that awaited us in the semi-final and really both legs were close encounters but we managed to win both 2-1 to advance to the final. The final was against Sevilla, where we raced off to a good start with us taking the lead in the first 10 minutes. However, Sevilla hit back and by half time we were down 2-1 and we were not creating a huge amount. Eventually, late in the second half we did manage to grab an equaliser which took us to extra time and ultimately penalties. I’ve already posted the snapshot of us lifting the trophy so no guesses how penalties went. This season – Following from our Europa League success I was hopeful that we could give a good showing in the Champions League this season but a 3-0 loss to Tottenham in the Super Cup was a foreshadowing if there ever was one. After 6 games we have yet to win a game losing to Real Madrid, Rosenberg and Roma in what can only be described as a disastrous campaign. We have a slim chance of reaching the next round if we win the final but, if we play as we have done so far I do not rate our chances. League: It was another pretty comfortable league win for us again this season though Djurgadens did keep us honest (They actually won the Conference League the week after our Europa League win). Despite the general ease in which we won the league, I was a bit disappointed with how we were playing. At times we were just not really creating anything at others being wasteful in front of goal. Cup: We finally won the cup, though it took us till extra time to make our way through the quarter-final. The final was against our title rivals in Djurgardens who we comfortably dispatched 3-0 to win our first cup game. Next Season/General I am going to need a tactical rethink in the offseason both the league and more importantly the Champions League are far from what I feel our potential should be with the players at our disposal. I might even revert back to playing a diamond which served us well in the early years but I need to evaluate what will best suit our players. Our stadium is now maxed out capacity wise which ends all the upgrades we can request – we still are unable to upgrade our youth facilities which I don’t understand. Next season we basically need to hope for a better showing in Europe. Players of note Jure Peric – Peric has had a good season for us in the league though like most the team is not doing so great in the Champions League. We did actually end up rejecting offers of over £40m for him this season. He becomes homegrown this season which is a positive. Deninho – He had a worse season this time out but that’s because he didn’t play as much due to an early injury which saw him take some time to get back into the team. 28 goals is still a good showing considering he was more rotational. Wilmar Gutierrez – Gutierrez had a great start to the season, and his best season since he joined us, even managed to get his first Colombia caps. 21 goals in all competitions is perhaps lower than I would hope but still a useful return. Overview

So this just happened...

This is by far the most frustrating thing in these saves. Especially when it ends up on the lines of me buying a player and 6-12 months later a bigger team bids less than half as much as I purchased for and the player gets unsettled. Hopefully Karabec doesn't fall to the same fate as he looks like he could really help to lift the team up the table next season.

Hogaborgs BK Season 12 – Allsvenskan – 1st Transfers – Best XI – Squad – Key Player – Hot Prospect – Supporter Profile Overview Transfer Window: I’m just going to cover the incomings that represent a fairly large transfer outlay or are first team candidates. Incomings: Stanislav Ballis (RB) - £1.1m Right back is a position where I’m happy with my starter, but Ballis represented an upgrade on our current back up and has the potential to eventually surpass our current starter. Actually he was my fallback option this offseason but our first choice cost closer to £5m and we would have been fighting with a lot of the bigger clubs and I don’t think he was that much better than Ballis. Jordi (AMC/AMR) - £975k A fairly sizeable outlay for someone even when I put the bid in for him I knew he wasn’t really first team ready. He does have a nice spread of attributes but didn’t really shine out on loan in the second tier this season. I’m hopeful he can at least end up being a strong squad player for us. Jure Peric (DC) - £1.3m I was very happy with this deal, Peric pretty much straight into the first team in central defense and a full Slovenian international when he joined. He’s developing well and looks well set to be a long term defender for us. Robin Weberg (GK) - £500k I needed to strengthen my goalkeeping back up and Weberg present us with a homegrown option who did just that. He looks to be a pretty decent goalkeeper so I was very happy to bring him in to be a back up goalkeeper. Andres Diaz (GK) - £475k A case of De Ja Vu, Diaz is another to strengthen our goalkeeping depth. With his arrival it means that we now just have really good depth in the goalkeeper position in case of any injuries. I probably didn’t need him, but I felt it seemed a reasonable fee. Oliver Fager (DC/DR) - £700k Central defenders I seem drawn to bringing them into the club. Fager was brought in as a prospect for the future at centre back. However, his attributes do also suggest that he could be a pretty strong fullback and may ultimately end up playing there instead. Yoni Shemesh (MC) - £850k Central midfield is one of the areas of the pitch that we are lacking most in terms of squad depth. Shemesh comes with a very good personality and whilst he has a few areas of his game like positioning and concentration he looks like he could be good option for us in the centre in the future. Our coaches do have questions about his overall potential. Tarek Mahmoud (DC) - £7.75m I overpaid for Mahmoud, both in transfer fee and wages – I think he comes in as our highest earner and he’s come in as a squad player. I signed him at a time where I was worried that Carlos Alberto might end up being sold (we were fielding offers closing in on £20m which is a very tempting offer). He does look to be a good prospect and does overall strengthen our defensive department but very much overpaid for. Outgoings: Finn Collingwood (AMC/MC) - £1.4m A player who was finding himself drop down the pecking order and, as non-homegrown, not the most ideal player to be a back up in the squad so I decided to cash in on him. He was sold to another Swedish club which will hopefully mean that we are strengthening the league as a whole which is a positive. Silvio (DC) - £875k Silvio was barely at the club. He was one of the contingent of Brazilian’s we’d snatched from Santa Cruz last season. Following two loan spells out the club he wasn’t really developing as fast as I would like so I sold him back to Brazil with a 850k profit in a year. Yehor Borysenko (ST) - £2.4m Borysenko never lived up to the hype that I had for him when we first signed him. But when we sold him, he’d managed 2 league goals in 2 seasons which whichever way you look at it, is not good at all. £2.4m is very good amount of money to get for him and, like Collingwood, stays in Sweden. Marko Ljubsic (DC) - £2m Ljubsic has been a very good defender for us over the years however following new defensive signings he was now back towards being a squad player which he wasn’t so happy with so I agreed to sell him. The best offer we received was the one we took and off he went. 7 and half seasons for a free transfer to ultimately sell him for £2m is business I am happy with. League: I’m not going to focus too much on the league portion going forward as I feel pretty comfortable that we’ll be in and around winning the title each year. This season we started with 8 wins 1 draw and 1 loss from our opening 10, with the 1 loss being a game where we were the better team just couldn’t score. The next 10 we went slightly better with 9 wins and the 1 loss (again the loss we battered our opponents but contrived to lose). The final 10, another 9 wins and 1 draw, we were just very good this season ultimately securing the title with 3 games remaining. Cup: We fired our way through to the Semi-Final but a poor performance saw us lose 2-1 as the wait for a cup victory goes on another season. As expected, we’ve eased through to the group stage for next season. Europe: Last Season - We ended the Champions League Group stage with a loss to Barcelona and a draw against Newcastle which was enough to see us finish 7th in the group and progress straight to the round of 16 where we drew Benfica. The first leg here we were the team looking most likely before disastrously we conceded a 86th minute sucker punch as they took a lead to the second leg. Back at home we managed to rectify this with Deninho scoring in the early on the way to his hattrick as we won the match 3-1 to progress. The quarter final was as far as we made it as we faced eventual champions Dortmund. The home leg we were battered, they were by far the better team and ended up taking a 3-1 lead to Dortmund. The second leg was a very disappointing scoreline for us. In my mind we played really well in terms of chance creation/limitation for them, but somehow ended up losing 7-2 on the night. This Season - As we didn’t win the league last season we had to go through qualifiers this season which we managed to get to comfortably navigate our way to the playoff. Here we absolutely battered PSV in our home leg to secure a 0-0 draw, I couldn’t believe we’d managed to not take a lead away to The Netherlands. Second leg, we were again comfortably the better team so of course, we lost 2-1 and dropped to the Europa League. In the group stages so far we have won 4, drawn 1 lost 1 which currently isn’t actually good enough for the top 8, but we have 2 more winnable fixtures in January so hopefully we can achieve immediate qualification for the last 16. Next Season/General We’re really taking shape on the whole although there are some positions that I want to add better strength in depth to, namely, central midfield, striker and left back but actually I would be happy to play next season with the first team squad as it is currently. We have expanded our stadium, but before we played any games in it, I got the board to agree to expand it once more which should now be to full capacity. I’m not sure why, but we cannot improve our youth facilities, not even request it, but our Training facilities are now completely maxed out. I think we will probably win the league again next season, and for automatic Champions League Group qualification it should obviously be a huge aim for us. Within Europe, I’m hoping for this campaign to reach the latter stages of the Europa League and with some good draw luck I think we could actually go pretty far. Players of note Deninho – Deninho again being a consistent goal scorer for us, I’m really happy with Deninho, but whilst he’s a good player for us, in terms of European standing he’s probably not quite good enough, so he isn’t completely nailed on to keep his spot. He has now reached 200 goals in all competitions for the club Adam Gustafsson – Considering Gustafsson was originally brought in to only be a squad depth player he’s turned out to be a fantastic purchase, he hit 12 goals and 11 assists in all competitions which is a strong showing. Maksym Ivanchenko – Ivanchenko hasn’t actually been a nailed on first choice player this season but considering his output for us this time out perhaps he should be, 9 goals and 14 assists for the season across central and attacking midfield. Overview