Mandy42

All the games in pre season were of two halves. Obviously that's the format of the fixtures, but you know what I mean. Personally I don't mind, the point is rotation, get everyone fit, get a good look at different players and combinations. One very clear trend emerged, we seriously struggle in the later periods of games. Either blowing a 3 - 0 lead against Lyon to draw 3 - 3. Or having to rely on a 96th minute mistake from the Stade Reims defense to sneak a 2 - 2 draw. We had control of the Lens game after a Noni Madueke wonder strike put us ahead before halftime. But then another growing trend bit us in the ass, sloppy play. I'm hoping its the fact the players are learning the formation, tactics and playing alongside each other. Or rather, it better be that, because if the silly mistakes, cheap turn overs in possession and poor passing doesn't improve, then its going to be a long uphill slog of a season. Lens capitalized on this on the hour mark and held us to a 1 - 1 draw. Basaksehir, our last friendly opponent in Turkey, took the lead from such a mistake. Defenders stepping up to make a clearing header straight to an opponent, who then exploited the clearing defenders poor positioning (and the lack of anticipation in the rest of the defensive unit) to put someone through on goal with a single direct pass. Not acceptable, it took two impressive long range efforts, one from Noni Madueke and the other Moises Caicedo to give us our first win of the pre season. I'm exceptionally pessimistic of how we will go in competitive fixtures, Everton, Luton and Burnley are our August league fixtures. Not too many moons ago they would have seemed like games ripe for an upset but otherwise straight forward. Now though, a draw in any but the Luton game seems to me an expected or in fact acceptable result. Off the pitch, and the focus seems to be on player development for improvement and or profit. Malang Sarr, Ian Maatsen and Malo Gusto, who all play at wingback, have been loaned out in the last month, leaving us feeling decidedly bare in the first team at that position. One saving grace is the fact we only have domestic football this season, though, hopefully not a "luxury" we want to have for too long.

Only been here a week and I think someone is spying on me, so be careful with any comments you might leave on this post.... I spoke about the relative ages of the squad, and that Thiago Silva was our only player over 30. In the space of the next week, we (I say we, really its they, as I have no say) have put bids in for Axel Witsel from Atletico and Dani Parejo from Villareal. Both midfielders, both 34. Now maybe it's just my outdated thinking, but I never liked players over 30, they tended to expect higher wages at the end of their career, to not be able to play out a full game, and generally not be worth it. Though, for the short term, perhaps with the amount of youth in the squad, a few players more long in the tooth might be just what we need to find some kind of balance. I might have to ban things like Tik Tok etc so as not to magnify the generation gap between some of the players! Another group of players that bothers me more than the old bunch, is the injured bunch: Wesley Fofana, so long he's not ever registered for a squad number this season..... Christopher Nkunku, 4 -5 months Trevor Chalobah 7 weeks to 3 months Benoit Badiashile, 3 - 6 weeks I wouldn't mind if it didn't seem to be a tactic by the board to go in for these players, whether they think they can argue for a discount due to them not likely to play for X amount of time. Case in point they are showing interest in Ivan Toney, who is suspended until next season.... On the pitch, we go to Singapore for pre season training camp, play some team I've never heard of, then fly home to face Lyon and Stade Reims almost back to back. Where's the gin....

I'm not convinced I'm going to enjoy this.... But then a big part of me coming back is the chance to manage my favourite team, but in a more challenging situation, so maybe that makes me some what of a sadist. Either way, if I had any doubts that the dominant era at Chelsea had ended, I only had to endure my meeting with the board regarding their expectations for the season. Sitting there nursing a rather spectacularly bad cup of tea (note to self bring Yorkshire tea from now on), I was glad I hadn't taken a swig at the decisive moment. EUROPA LEAGUE! That's all you want, qualify for the Europa league this season, and be "best of the rest" in 5 years time? I almost headbutted the desk in resignation and walked out then. But, sadist? The reality is, even the Europa League might be shooting too high. The squad is woefully young, we only have one player over 30, although that's Thiago Silva at 38. Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling are the only two above 25, literally everyone is 25 or younger. I don't doubt their potential, but potential doesn't guarantee points, definitely not straight away. I quickly scribbled my signature on the bottom of the documents before me. Picking the match squad, dealing with the tactics, talking to the media, yep that will do donkey, that will do. All of the other responsibilities, picking the fuel and stoking the flames of this inevitable dumpster fire, they could be someone else's problem. Now, retreat to my office and make the first tough decision, is it too early in the day for a gin or not?

September 2023 You know you're back underway when you suddenly find yourself playing six games across three competitions in one month. I've also managed to spectacularly lose my glasses (no idea where they are!) So its very likely the increased font size is here to stay! Sat, 2/9/2023 17:30 Man UFC true A 3 - 1 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (10, 45+2), Illia Zabarnyi (18) Premier League With all due respect to Villa and Brighton, our first true test of the season came at Old Trafford in our third game. Gabriele Milano, left Juventus to become the Man Utd manager at the beginning of last season. He's brought in a plethora of young talent: Roger Ibanez from Roma Dominik Szoboszlai from Red Bull Leipzig Darwin Nunez from Benfica Marcos Leonardo from Santos. All to compliment the raft of experienced world class players (Pogba, Ronaldo, Varane and De Gea) already at the club. They are likely to be a force going forward. Why I'm very happy with the result we got at their place. I was slightly worried about how Calvert - Lewin would take to being deployed as an inside forward. But he seems to be loving the role. A lot of his goals for us have been headers, and in this setup he thrives on ghosting in at the back post on the back of full back and just dominating in the air. Darwin Nunez got one back for the Red Devils on 17 minutes, a perfect Pogba through ball allowing the speedy Uruguayan to latch onto the pass in full stride, dispatching the ball past Ramsdale before he could properly set himself. Parity was short lived however, Illia Zabarnyi's header from a corner saw us back in front just a minute later. I only noticed a few days ago (when checking the board opinion and club vision) that we were being judged on maximising set pieces. I did wonder why we were spending so much time on them in training. Now I know, and now I understand looking back why we've been scoring more goals from dead ball situations! The benefits of having the staff take responsibility for the majority of the day to day workings at the club! Calvert-Lewin's second was almost a carbon copy of his first, drifting in to head home when the Man Utd team seemed to already have their heads in the locker room. It is interesting to see the difference between how Smith - Rowe and Calvert - Lewin play the same position. Smith - Rowe stays wider, driving into the box if he feels he can take the defender on, the wingback staying deeper in order to provide an easy pass. By comparison, Calvert - Lewin plays further infield, more in the channel than the wing, and the wingback overlaps him to create a 2v1 situation that facilitates either a cross, or a cut back inside the area.

after those scorelines, if you get called out for not playing "entertaining football" I'd resign on principle! Its a marathon not a sprint, don't give up until the end!

Just to clear something up before we go any further, the "false / true" entry is regarding whether the game was shown for TV or not. In case anyone was wondering. Moving into August and we had five games to play. Two friendlies, the Community Shield, and our first two Premier league games. August 2023 Sat, 5/8/2023 15:00 Venezia true A 3 - 0 Franck Kessié (pen 3), Bukayo Saka (46), Illia Zabarnyi (73) Friendly I've probably mentioned before, but the further through the preseason I get, the more action the first XI gets. Yes I need everyone as ready to go come matchday one as possible, but the first XI especially. Which is why Franck Kessie is back on penalty duty, and Maitland - Niles is on the bench. We looked sharp when we needed too, but realistically, we won this one at a canter. Wed, 9/8/2023 20:00 Villarreal H 7 - 0 Bukayo Saka (1), Emile Smith Rowe (9, 31), Franck Kessié (12), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (28, 30), Jude Bellingham (45+2) Friendly Returning home after almost a month playing away and what a statement. This wasn't against (with all due respect) some Chinese team, this was a Spanish outfit accustomed to going the distance in continental competition. Don't think I've ever seen a half of football quite like it! Sat, 12/8/2023 17:00 Man City true N 0 - 1 None Community Shield Which is what had me so fuming about our first duck of the season. Not only did we squander our first chance at silverware this campaign, but my undefeated record against Man City is gone. I can have no qualms about the goal we conceded. A penalty is a penalty regardless of when in the match it occurs. So when Serge Gnabry danced into the area just four minutes into the game. Smartly shifted the ball, Kieran Tierney missed the ball and caught the player. Haaland converted from spot and we found ourselves a goal down. Not the first time City have jumped on top of us, but unlike all the other times we didn't get back on level terms. A couple of times in the first half, their goal seemed to be leading a charmed existence, and during the second period they definitely made a conscious decision to hold onto what they had rather than risk anymore. I took some solace in the fact they created little to nothing in way of their own quality chances. If we hadn't given up the penalty it likely would have gone to penalties. Which bodes well for the coming season. Just frustrating to lose. Sun, 20/8/2023 14:00 Aston Villa true H 3 - 0 Jude Bellingham (37, 46), Yusuf Demir (59) Premier League No such trouble on opening day! I count the Community shield as a competitive fixture. But it seems the match engine doesn't. As it credited Jude Bellingham as scoring on his debut. Did for a while in the first half wonder if the goal was ever going to come. Would we regret going in at halftime being completely dominant and only a goal up? Thankfully no, as straight from kick off we secured the tie with a second, then finished it with a third as Villa tried come out a little and get themselves back into it. Sat, 26/8/2023 15:00 Brighton false A 2 - 0 Gabriel (34), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (87) Premier League Last game of the month and this one was frustrating. The whole game was played in the Brighton half, as they put everyone behind the ball and did their level best to keep us out. To my relief and eventual amusement, we scored both our goals from corners. Which was probably inevitable, the high number of blocked chances resulted in us having nearly 20 of the flaming things! Also relieved to get off to a perfect start in the Premier league, yes its only two games! But I'm always nervous that smashing preseason is setting me up for a reality check when the actual competitive fixtures start. While the Man City result was demoralizing for me. Seems it galvanized the players to get the job done. Sure there will be tougher tests to come, but for now we are off to a great start.

Lets see what the month of July had in store with regards fixtures and results. July 2023 Sat, 15/7/2023 20:00 Club Brugge true A 3 - 0 Martin Ødegaard (3), Gabriel Martinelli (55), Charlie Patino (89) Friendly While we are getting closer to the present day with regards catching up on old results. This is still long enough ago that it no longer lists the starting line ups for each squad. I can't remember if Fofana started this game, just a day after he completed his move to us. I vaguely remember Bellingham was nursing a niggling injury when he signed, so pretty sure he didn't play. A pretty solid performance against a team who had an outside chance of getting into the Champions league. Also a strong performance from Charlie Patino, who was amongst a number of young midfield players who needed to show they had it within themselves to step up and play. So they didn't get loaned out again come the start of the regular season. Sat, 22/7/2023 15:30 Nantong false A 7 - 2 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (8, 32), Albert Sambi Lokonga (15), Bukayo Saka (22, 41), Charlie Patino (74), Yusuf Demir (84) Friendly First problem, the schedule view doesn't show the scorers when other teams dare to put goals past you. Another reason to keep the number of occasions that happens too a minimum. In order to spread the love, this year I chose to take the squad to China for the pre season training camp. While it was unlikely to result in any meaningful competition. It allowed us to show off the club to a completely different selection of supporters. Playing at the Rugao Olympic Sports Centre. We were five goals to the good before Xie Ziran gave the home crowd a goal of their own to cheer about. Not that they hadn't been cheering our performance to that point! Good to see that Calvert - Lewin could score goals from his inside forward position, though I should probably hold out for more difficult opponents before making that conclusion definitively. Patino made it two in two. And Yusuf Demir, someone we signed in 2021, but only joined the club at the end of last season due to his loan deals, gets himself on the scoresheet. Thu, 27/7/2023 19:30 SH Shenhua true A 4 - 2 Martin Ødegaard (21), Emile Smith Rowe (25), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (pen 44), Gabriel Martinelli (55) Friendly Very different complexion to this game. Chang Shenlong had the Hongkou Football Stadium in a frenzy when he put the hosts ahead on 17 minutes. Even after Odegaard levelled some four minutes later, the hosts were back in front on 22 minutes with a Lautaro Rodriguez effort. We finally did get a handle on the game and ran away with it. But definitely more of a contest than I expected. Maitland - Niles, while still at the club, needed to keep his fitness up so got some time.

Here comes the new season, and the movement of players was only just getting started! Out 1/7/2023 Rafael Garcia Real Irún Free 1/7/2023 Jordan McEneff Bohemians Free 1/7/2023 Boubacar Kamara Sevilla £25M 1/7/2023 Matt Turner OL £3.6M 6/7/2023 Omar Rekik VfL Bochum Loan - £1.1M Total Fee 6/7/2023 James Olayinka Fleetwood £115K (£160K) 6/7/2023 Tyreece John-Jules Blackburn Loan 7/7/2023 Zak Swanson Reading £600K 9/7/2023 Marcelo Flores Barnsley Loan - £45K Total Fee 10/7/2023 Marc Roca AS Monaco £20M 11/7/2023 Folarin Balogun SV Werder Loan - £1.1M Total Fee 14/7/2023 Reiss Nelson Leicester P/Ex 15/7/2023 Jamie Bynoe-Gittens FC Augsburg Loan - £1.2M Total Fee 19/7/2023 Mika Biereth Nottm Forest Loan 27/7/2023 Mirko Čulina SV Werder Loan - £1.1M Total Fee 31/7/2023 Jack Henry-Francis St. Pat's Athletic Loan - £2.2K Total Fee Its amazing what you can achieve when you workout how to print from the in game engine to a webpage and then copy the table over! Though it prints the transfer history page in chronological order, so the empty lines are where I've had to manually remove the incoming players. So I can then put them in the "IN" section. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to get attached to certain players, and in certain saves I don't get rid of them, or sulk when I do! There was a little of that in this window, but not as much as I expected. I moved on Boubacar Kamara and Marc Roca, players I'd bought. Which usually makes me feel I made a mistake, as they've not stayed at the club long at all. Though in the case of the Kamara transfer, I picked him up on a free, so 25m of profit is definitely a nice piece of business! The loans of Jamie Bynoe - Gittens, Mika Biereth and Folarin Balogun were a different story. This was the consequence of the formation shift. I was going strikerless, meaning that those two talented youngsters had no real place in the current setup. So they were loaned out. I had no idea whether I was trying to increase their value before selling them, or if they'd be back after a season with the formation change having been a failure. Bynoe - Gittens went on loan for a similar reason. Calvert - Lewin could play as an inside forward on the left side. Meaning Jamie went to third choice in that position and thus would benefit from development elsewhere. In So who exactly did we bring in? 3/7/2023 Jude Bellingham Arsenal £101M If your going to go big on making yourself tougher to beat, then you can't go wrong with signing arguably the best young defensive midfielder in the world. I like to think that me letting Reyna go back to them on a one final year loan helped develop the good will that saw this deal done. On top of everything else, he's homegrown! Was over the moon when he decided to sign. 14/7/2023 Wesley Fofana Arsenal £50M - P/Ex I didn't think I'd get a defender of his calibre. Basically there wasn't enough money for both him and Bellingham in the pot. But we wheeled and dealed back and forth with Leicester before settling on a fee and Reiss Nelson in part exchange. I half expected Nelson to reject his contract and thus torpedo the deal. But we got this one over the line as well and I began to feel pretty darn hyped about the increase in our defensive quality. 19/7/2023 Mirko Čulina Arsenal £3.4M (£3.9M) Again the observant amongst you will see this gentleman's name appearing in the out section of the transfer list. He came to us from Dynamo. He's an 18 year old Croatian phenome who can play pretty much anywhere in our half of the pitch. He's very much a purchase for the future, so he went out on loan just a week after signing for the club. 27/7/2023 Charlie Sayers Free Transfer Free Not sure why some players are showing up on the "from" list, while some are only showing up on the "to" list. But guess I can look at that going forward to accurately show the transfers a bit better. Either way, must admit that Sayers was a bit of a panic acquisition. On reflection he might never be good enough for the first team. The problem I had at this point in the window is, Ainsley - Maitland Niles wants to leave to improve his chances of getting in the England squad, and Nuno Tavares wants a new contract. The first I'm not opposed too, but Man Utd don't make an offer worthy of not being laughed at. The second, Tavares has plenty of time on his current deal and isn't worth what he is asking in his new one. All in all, my wing back prospects are not as rosy as they were. Hence Sayers. 2/8/2023 Miguel Gutiérrez R. Madrid £19.5M Slightly more thought out here, but for pretty much the same reason as the Sayers buy. Miguel is an accomplished left wing back, and at 22 fits the mould of being young and full of potential. I feel slightly better about my back line options than I did a week or so ago. 31/8/2023 Christian Marques Free Transfer Free 31/8/2023 David Button Fulham £115K Bit more panic here. Always wanting to have an argument with me. Gabriel stormed into my office and demanded that I give Nuno a new contract. I refused, but we did compromise on me promising to treat the players better in future. I see this as a no win situation, as in my mind, I treated Nuno as well as he could expect to be treated. I mean I didn't laugh in his face. So its only a matter of time until I fail this promise and have to look to replace Gabriel. Marques is not that replacement, not even close. I mean he could be, he's 20, Swiss and full of potential, and he's free. But he's not ready right now. As for David Button, ever since I managed to shift Matt Turner my DoF has been stomping around trying to sign any person willing to put on a pair of goalie gloves. A long time ago I made sure I had the power to make final signing decisions on any incoming transfers. So I basically get to veto all the useless dross that attempts to be signed. While Button is pretty useless, he's the least awful prospect that we went in for. And as he's only going to see action if Aaron Ramsdale literally dies, then I guess I can live with him being in the squad.

So, having won four trophies last season, securing the FA cup and Premier league title double in my first full season in charge, which is important for the Ferguson challenge! Where do you go from there? Well obviously, you attempt to keep building on that success and become a consistent performer, then transition into a dominant force. Guess the more pertinent question is how. You see, when I finished that takeover season, I had a solid idea of who played well, who didn't and what we needed to do in order to improve. I suppose, when there are lots of areas to improve, then making some level of progress is easy. But after you've picked off the low lying fruit, its harder to firstly identify, and then acquire the required pieces of the puzzle which will continue to move you onward and upward. I sat and ruminated for quite a while, probably not as long as the gap between this entry and the last, but a fair while. Before I made the following decisions: I'd commit to the change in formation and tactics that I'd been building towards last season. This was partly down to me wanting to score more goals, but mainly due to me feeling that I couldn't rely on Calvert - Lewin to produce as an out an out single goal threat. I also decided that it was unlikely I'd ever outscore Man City with the players we both had at the current time. Meaning that if I ever wanted to be on the positive side of a goal difference battle with them. I needed to make the goals I did score, count for more. Meaning I would look to strengthen my defence before the upcoming season. So with that in mind, lets take a look at the business we did before the start of the 23/24 season: Out Amario Cozier - Duberry - Kings Lynn: Loan (23.5k fee) Nikolaj Moller - Bolton: Loan Zach Awe - Burton: 200k Harry Clarke - Burton: Free Tim Akinola - Cambridge: Free Giovanni Reyna - Borussia Dortmund: Loan Kaleel Green - Hereford: Free Brooke Norton - Cuffy - Aston Villa: 4.3m Alan Potter - Norwich: 92k Mazeed Ogungbo - Preston: 54k Nicolas Pepe - Barcelona: 41.5m (end of loan clause) Granit Xhaka - West Ham: 42m (end of loan clause) Khayon Edwards - Watford: 175k If you've been paying attention your like, hold on! Giovanni Reyna, where did he come from? Well we bought him from Dortmund at the end of the 22/23 season, with an agreement to loan him straight back to the Germans for one more season. In Giovanni Reyna - Borussia Dortmund 35m And that concludes the business June, and what I consider the end of the previous season. With friendlies starting in July, and the squad returning for the new campaign, I see the signings I make after this point as new season signings. Sounds daft? You're probably right. But it works in my mind.

Few days after the confetti and fireworks had rained over our heads at the Emirates, I was sat in the back office looking back over the past season and taking it all in. Truth be told I also was spending quite a bit of time standing in front of our recently refilled trophy cabinet. Strange how you never really know in football. At just before the halfway point in the season, at the Qatar enforced break, we'd trailed City by four points. At that juncture they hadn't lost a game, and Haaland was already setting goal scoring records. I thought our best chance of taking a trophy would be, ironically, the one piece of silverware we failed to win, the Europa League. Probably because the domestic juggernaut that was City, scared me to death. After a dodgy draw in the tumult of Turkey against Galatasaray we managed to string home wins together against Saint - Etienne and Fiorentina. Then a defeat away in Italy put getting out of the group in jeopardy, we relied a little too heavily on other results going our way, needing a soft stoppage time penalty away in France to take all three points. Before securing the group in the last game with a 3 - 0 win over the Turks. We got Juventus in the knockout round, over a single leg due to fixture congestion. A 2 - 0 win saw us progress, with PSG being knocked out by Atlanta, we were beginning to look like one of the dominant forces in the competition. Unfortunately that is where our journey ended. Spurs saw us off over two legs, scoring twice at the Emirates and then frustrating us with their rear guard action back at theirs. We went out 2 - 1 on aggregate. Athletico Madrid ended up winning the competition, beating Atlanta 2 - 1 thanks to goals from Riyad Mahrez and Luis Suarez. Moving on from the trophy we failed to win, to the thankfully longer list of ones we did. The community shield saw us come from behind against Man City, with new signing Dominic Calvert - Lewin scoring just a minute after Ruben Dias had given the Northern club the lead. We'd run out 5 - 3 winners on penalties. Across the five games of the Carabao cup, we scored 12, conceded four, in a competition where I generally played the kids and or second XI. The only deviation from that theme was the quarter final against Man City, which came just three days before we played them in the league. The Premier league title still felt like a mountain to climb, so I wanted to give our best showing in the cup competition. Our other opponents in order were Doncaster, Newcastle, Everton and then the final against Brighton. Similarly in the FA cup I played mostly the second XI, here we also scored 12, conceded just twice. With us not conceding a goal until the quarter final against Aston Villa where they took us to extra time. By that point, Cambridge, Crystal Palace and Leeds had already fallen by the wayside. The semi final against Liverpool and the final versus Man City I brought in the first XI. Liverpool surprised me by being bowled over 3 - 0, Man City we beat by our signature score of 2 - 1. Coming to the league, at the break in November, I said if we were going to challenge we would need to be nigh on perfect. We didn't lose another game in the 23 league fixtures after the world cup ended. City on the other hand lost four times, twice to us, the other two coming against Man Utd and Norwich. Even then, counting just our own efforts we would have come up short, once again failing to get the pivotal goal past Spurs, as their 10 man rear guard held us to a draw in the penultimate game of the season. It took an Odsonne Edouard goal at St James park in the 87th minute to hold City to just a point. Sending us into the final day with an advantage we wouldn't give up. Calvert - Lewin scored 19 goals for us in his debut season, less than the 25 he scored for Everton which is what enticed me to go out and spend £57 million to sign him. Haaland unsurprisingly took the golden boot scoring a ridiculous 52 Premier league goals for City. Enough reminiscing now, time to build towards the new season.

Game day 38, and we play Wolves at the Emirates. On paper, not the hardest game we could be given, or is it. This is the fourth time we'd play Wolves under my tenure, and we were yet to record a win. Having only scored a single Alexis Sanchez penalty in the previous three attempts. Oh dear. By comparison, City were away at Bournemouth, who were in the process of yo-yoing their way back down the championship. They'd been newly promoted at the beginning of this season, and already 19th on the final day, needed a miracle to stay up. Having been 259 minutes of play since our last goal against Wolves, it was a relief in every possible way to be a goal up just three minutes into this tie. Illia Zabarnyi's goal in the FA cup final eight days earlier must have left its mark on him. As he scored pretty much a carbon copy from our first corner of the game. We were on our way! Who else but Erling Haaland scored for City on the 10 minute mark in their game. Franck Kessie put more than just one hand on the trophy for us with a penalty conversion in the 25th minute. Then with Wolves still reeling, Bukayo Saka wiggled his way through their disjointed defence to put the icing on our champions cake just three minutes later. We were 3 - 0 up with just 28 minutes played. City got a second through Raheem Sterling on 51 minutes in their game, but realistically, they could score as many as they liked, if we didn't lose our game it didn't matter. Its a wonderful position to be in, when the main factor behind making substitutions is getting players who you feel deserve to soak up the atmosphere of becoming champions, onto the pitch with the result well in hand. Most of the first team were on the pitch, so I sent in Marc Roca and Reiss Nelson, who I felt wouldn't likely be here next season, so should at least get to revel in their success now. Finally Jamie Bynoe - Gittens was sent in late on, not just because wherever Nelson went he went, but because he'd been the standout player for me in the second XI, and had been a significant factor in our ability to continue to produce the required results. The final whistle came as both a joyous and bitter sweet moment. In that we were now champions, but at the same time, if you'd offered me the chance to stay a little longer, on the cusp, being champions in all but name, I wouldn't have said no. The reality was, it wouldn't be long until we would be being judged on achieving new targets, and this success would be shrugged off.

So, while I'm as happy as a pig in the poop at being Chelsea manager, this isn't really the point of this tale. So lets focus on Callum for September. Shows how little I know about injuries, while still in his rehabilitation period, Callum was selected for his first Chelsea U18's game. I hoped he didn't reinjure himself. The team ran out 5 - 1 winners against Brighton U18s with Callum converting a penalty on 10 minutes, and bagging his second just after the half hour. Good to see he's still the go too penalty taker even though he's changed clubs. Speaking of injuries, a week later, with a crisis on the wings in the senior team, I had little choice but to bring the 16 year old onto the bench for our home game against Newcastle. After 2 goals from Erling Haaland in the first half. It seemed safe to introduce him for 30 minutes in the second half. Give the first team wingers a rest. When he came on the pitch, he became the youngest player to kick a ball for the Chelsea first team, at the ripe ole age of 16 years and 133 days. Replacing previous record holder Ian Hamilton, who had been 16 years and 135 days old when he took the record on March 18th 1967. With orders to Marina Granovskaia to get us an emergency loan at the winger position, Callum went back to the U18s. A fortnight after his first appearance he was back in the goals. Scoring his first hattrick in an 11 - 0 demolition of Bristol City U18s. Once again he converted from the penalty spot, then scored on the 34th and 84th minute. Five goals in six appearances is his current tally, with 100% conversion of his penalties. He's also provided four assists. He's currently valued by the club at between 55 and 72 million pounds.

I don't have many dreams, which, when your 4ft 5, and gifted with all the athletic prowess of a barrel, kinda comes with the territory. But being a football manager, well they come in all shapes and sizes. But now at the age of 47, I feel that even this last holdout is going to be washed away by the harsh facts of reality. I don't have much managerial experience, and nobody seems to want to take the punt on me to give me the experience. Without a job I'm willing to admit too, still living in my parents basement, its getting to the point (lets be honest we are well past it!) that I need to give up on it. I've made myself a written agreement that if I'm still not a football manager by the time I'm 50, well then that's it. Plus I might actually move out. So why, you might ask, do I feel I can make it in football? Because I know everything, about everything, more or less and eidetic memory when it comes to all things football. Let me blow your mind. Did you know that the "Uncle" of Italian football, Giuseppe Bergomi played in four world cups for his country, but he never ever played in a qualifying game. Of course you didn't. What about the fact that Manchester United legend Matt Busby played for both Man City and Liverpool (to the tune of 300 total appearances) before he came to United. Try this one on for size, Portsmouth are the team who have held the FA cup for the longest consecutive period, which is seven years. You can argue that amongst yourselves while I go look for a job, and we'll pick that up later. Bohemians and Bray Wanderers in Ireland came back with "too English" so that's a no. Bohemians by the way end up appointing Marc Bircham, a Canadian, so at least they stuck to their guns. Buckley Town had their manager Dan Moore fired a week or so later. I was feeling the heat at home! My parents had stopped respecting the labelling system for food in the kitchen. My pop tarts were being demolished at an alarming rate! I went for the interview, tried hold out for a coaching course as part of me joining. But realistically, with them being bottom of the JD Cymru North and semi professional, it was always going to be a tall order. They did however come back and offer me the position at £120 a week. At least for eight months, if the team goes down, then I get the boot. But for now, I can move straight into the office / shack in the corner of the Globe Way stadium. Least my pop tarts will be safe! Now, Portsmouth, the won the FA cup in 1939, and as there was no professional football during the war years, that one final victory allowed them to hold the cup for seven years.

he'll change his tune when you give him the Ronaldo baby oil bill

All set to deal with the final game of the league campaign. See if we would be able to take advantage of the surprising situation we found ourselves in. Top of the table, more by luck than better judgement, with a two point advantage on Man City. They still had a superior goal difference, so if we drew and they won, then they'd best us. But if we matched their result, then we'd be champions in my first full season in charge! However, rudely, the league season showdown would have to take a slight Wembley detour as we were due to play the FA cup final. Who are our opponents you might ask? Well fittingly, we play Man City. To say it was a strange atmosphere, is a bit of an understatement. I doubt there are many factors where two sets of opposing supporters would "get on", but this wasn't a rivalry born of years of needing to come out victorious for bragging rights, like the North London derby. This was a forced rivalry simply from this being the eighth time we would face each other, all in domestic competitions, in a span of 15 months. That's an average of once every eight weeks. This would also be the fourth of those occasions where silverware was riding on the result. In the previous three meetings where the winner hoisted a trophy at the end, City had come up short. Then when we weren't playing for a trophy, City had one point out of a possible 12 against us over that time period. Safe to say they didn't like us very much, and frankly that we didn't care. Where it got weird, was the timing. The league was due to be resolved some eight days later, and while we had one hand on that trophy as well. It was anything but a foregone conclusion. Both sets of fans, who usually have plenty to say to each other, and have come up with some new simply yet witty specific chant for the occasion, were keeping it very civilised. They weren't subdued, this was still the FA cup, the greatest domestic cup competition in the world. It just seemed that everyone was looking to enjoy a day out at Wembley in the English summer sunshine, and if they appeased the football gods with some good behaviour, perhaps they'd get to cash that favour in come the final day of the league. The first half had an air of inevitability about it. City were cautious in possession, and even more so without the ball. They'd lost the last six against us on the bounce, the last three by a 2 - 1 score line. In those six losses, they'd only scored first twice, so I could understand them not wanting to fall behind and repeat the same pattern once more. From our side of things, I don't think we'd ever gone into any of those six games (I certainly hadn't) thinking we were automatically going to win. But today we did, or it seemed like it from our play. We went about or business professionally, but there was no rush, panic or annoyance to our play when we didn't instantly get a reward. This wasn't a puzzle we'd failed to solve in the past (like scoring enough goals against Spurs....) as long as we kept going it would, as it always had, come up in our favour. Which is why it only took a small chink in the City armour for us to break through. With the first half drawing to a close, they seemed to take a collective sigh of relief that they'd made it this far. Raheem Sterling got caught in possession in his own half, and in trying to win the ball back gave away a free kick in a promising position. From that free kick, it was the story of the season so far, Dominic Calvert - Lewin header, goal, 1 - 0 to us with 43 minutes played. You can never underestimate the power of moments like that in games. I'd had two halftime team talks in my head, when that goal went it, there wasn't a question which one I was going to deliver. "Keep working, like you have in the last three games against this lot, you've done it before and you're about to do it again. You worked hard in those previous matches, and you got your reward. You'll score again in the second half, they'll likely score, they're a quality side and its unlikely we can keep them off the scoresheet for the full 90. But its going to be 2 - 1, just like it has been the last three times. As long as you work to make it happen, you take it for granted for one second and they'll rip that trophy out of your hands before you can blink." And with that, I sent them back out. In the other dressing room, Jurgen Klopp was having to find a way to tell his players to scale a mountain they'd been unable to climb over in the last six attempts. I didn't envy him. Mainly because he's German, not for the situation him and his players found themselves in. The second period was much more disjointed and clumsy from both sides. Neither team knew whether to stick or twist. They say the most dangerous score line is a 1 - 0 and I can believe it. We couldn't relax into our lead, nor could we justify going all out to get another if it meant presenting City an opportunity to level. Likewise, they wanted to get back into the game, but not at the expense of leaving the door wide open for us to steal another from the hen house. In the end, another header turned the tie. On 72 minutes, from a corner, Illia Zabarnyi put us 2 - 0 up. The moment was almost too much for him, its one thing to know you're playing in a cup final, another to be told by the homegrown players how much this competition means in this country. But playing in your first edition, at only 19 years of age, as he wheeled away to celebrate his goal. The exultation coming off the roiling mass of Arsenal supporters struck him like a physical force. His arms dropped limply to his sides and he allowed himself to be mobbed by his teammates. And that was the game, well almost. Raheem Sterling scored for City very late on. It wasn't quite like Geoff Hurst in 66, but it ultimately had the same effect on the result, nothing at all. Aaron Ramsdale joked with me after that he'd only let the goal in to ensure my half time team talk had come mostly true. He was just as quick to inform me that, technically, as Sterling's goal came in the 92nd minute, we had managed to keep them off the scoresheet for the full 90. That was one of many things that put a smile on my face that day, as we retained our FA cup trophy.