SaintsFCFan7498

Good Play Results in a Fight for the Playoffs We're playing well in the league and part of me hopes we do get the year to rebuild key areas of the squad. If we get promoted to the Premier League, we'll be killed but the money would be incredible no matter how we do. In terms of results, we're playing well and I did a new tactic because I wanted to do something else here. The more games we play, the more I realise how good the loan signings are at this team. Without them, we'd be so much worse off and we'd be a defensive disaster. With players like Jessup at DM and Davison-Marsh at CB, it helps build a solid defensive line where they don't get anywhere near as many chances. They shouldn't be at a team like Chesterfield. We have had some unfortunate results but they're expected for our team. Middlesbrough were equally good as were Brentford and Sheffield United. Watford were our only league loss and they were better. They're midtable and it shows how the Championship is. Our strength is turning into beating teams we should beat at this stage meaning we didn't mess up against Charlton, Wycombe and Ipswich. On paper, it's a simple win for Man United and that's how it was in the game. However, we did take the lead in the 18th minute when we had a chance but Snedker decided to slide tackle the ball into his own net. I was stunned for most of the rest of the first half until they scored in the 38th minute. They showed their quality when they got the ball to their striker on 53 minutes so they could score. I can't complain. If anything, I'd rather have this game at Old Trafford for the shared ticket income and we normally fill our stadium anyway.

Unusually Good Start Highlighted by Emphatic FA Cup Wins I can't really explain how the start has gone. Part of me thinks we've played easier teams but we've also played well when we should have won. Peterborough reminded us how badly a demoralised team can be. We didn't deserve to win 4-0 but they were hopeless. Swansea showed why they were in the Premier League a few years ago. Forest are the typical lower league side in the league and haven't had any form this season and the same case is for Hull and Stoke. Burton frustrated me as they just scored everything they touched. As the song goes, all that glitters is gold. They were better but they weren't 6-1 better. Oxford have been solid this season and they were another team I kept my eye on to take to the Premier League and showed why we were 7th. I'd take the Premier League any day but I feel like it's unrealistic. Even if we do, the squad needs a massive overhaul for it. We're level on points with Reading for the last playoff spot. If we're in the playoffs, it wouldn't be surprised if we fell at the first hurdle of that. We did well in our games in the FA Cup. Overperforming with a 4-0 win against Premier League relegation fighters Norwich and a 5-1 win against Sheffield United. We didn't deserve to win so emphatically but it feels like those results were just preparing us for a massive return to Earth. Man United are going to kill us. The FA Cup run is over. I'll return for the FA Cup game where we'll have a bad game and lose comfortably.

I'm In Two Minds About This Squad. Admittedly, our midfield isn't fantastic. However, the club have our three best central midfielders our on loan. All three. They're not a significant upgrade, I'll admit but why would you do that? They're not the best and you should be able to get better at this level and I understand that. But how can you do that and expect to avoid relegation? How are you 10th? Did the last manager forget central midfielders exist? Did he do the Ring of Fire? It boggles the mind. Rant over. The rest of the squad actually look passable. They'd be on par with my Anyang FC side and I'd say that would finish in the playoffs in this league. Annoyingly, we do have a couple of loans but they're not bad players at all. There are definitely positions that need refreshing and that's the short term plan. Players like Cowen and Pattison should either be moved on or retiring soon. We do have a reasonable striker at the club but, as you've guessed by now, he's out on loan to another club. Since Pattison isn't the fittest, I'd have looked at giving him some game time. Fortunately, the club is competent in the loan market as they've brought in an equally good striker to operate as a backup. I have no issues with using loan players since the club brought in competent players and I generally use them the same way I did for Brian Funes where we used him until the end of his contract to get him on a free.

Yes. I know. Chesterfield. Chesterfield is the unique opportunity to do something exciting in England. Everybody knows England and English clubs. However, what isn't known is the rise of Chesterfield in this save game. In real life, they are a National League side who finished 7th in the league. In this save, they went back to back to back promotions from the National League to the Championship from 2026/27 to 2029/30 in the Championship where they were immediately relegated. A few teams went from the National League to League 1 and that's not unheard of but what Chesterfield have done is fascinating and I've followed them for a while. Southend did a similar thing but they didn't do it with consecutive promotions. This is why I took the Chesterfield job very quickly after Anyang as they'd be an exciting team to manage and complete the journey from the National League to the Premier League. They're currently 10th in the Championship so you're right in thinking that their manager wasn't sacked because he was poached by struggling Championship side Sheffield United. As a bigger club, I get that but I want to make him think he made a mistake by leaving them despite it not being likely he'd take them to the Premier League. Checking the Wikipedia page, there's a reason for Chesterfield to regard them as a rival club. Though Sheffield United have bigger fish to fry in terms of rivalries, that's where we are. The aim of the club is to stay in the Championship and I can't really blame them. They've been a yo-yo club in the league for a while and the finances make it understandable. At the moment, we've got £85k to do something with but I think that's unlikely for January. Especially as we have nothing to do with it. If any dead wood want to leave, I'll look at making that a possibility if an obvious target comes up. The plan for the short term is to hold position in the league, survive and then make moves in the summer to push for playoffs or promotion next season.

Anyang FC Win AFC Champions League and K League 1 Double Last season, it felt inconceivable that we'd be in this position. It felt like we were too far behind Jeonbuk but we turned some of those results around and dropped fewer points elsewhere. We did exactly that. We got a win against Jeonbuk and another draw as well as achieving the other aim of dropping fewer points. We were clearly second before but this season, our young squad continued to progress and won the league as Jeonbuk failed to win and we failed to lose on the final day. Our goals scored would have been enough to win the league as that's how South Korea is ordered. It was a little easier in the Asian Champions League. We were comfortable in our group including Melbourne Victory, Urawa Reds and Kunshan. We won every game bar one which rewarded us with a game against Vissel Kobe. We comfortably won that game for a Quarter Final draw against Seoul E-Land. They were tricky in the league and we won that. In the meantime, Jeonbuk lost to Daegu which handed us an easier game than anticipated. We won that and assured we'd be the South Korean team in the FInal against Al-Jazira. We were comfortable and took the lead and held until half time. They got a penalty in the 59th minute before we took the lead with a corner into Kim Jun-Sik. We held the lead until the end of the game to win our fourth continent of Champions Leagues. Thread Summary

ANYANG FC WIN THE AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Fortunately for us, we turned up and made no mistakes. Al Jazira just weren't on our level and I'm not surprised they weren't. We took the lead in the 29th minute and held it until half time. We gave away a penalty in the 59th minute but we showed we were better as central defender Kim Jun-Sik scored a header in the 61st minute. We continued on but scored nothing for the remainder of the game to win the AFC Champions League. So that is that for Asia and outside of Europe at club level. We've won Champions Leagues in Africa, South America, North America and now Asia. We've won titles and cups in South Africa, Argentina, Mexico and South Korea. The plan might be to go into International Management and do something there depending on the European options. It's nearly Christmas so there will be some good jobs available then leave at the end of a European season for an international job in the summer. In my mind, that makes more sense With that Champions League win, we've finally reached the Worldwide Hall of Fame. I'll update when we top the English Hall of Fame for Nationality. Depending on when I finish the challenge, I might look to going for the Hall of Fame. Annoyingly, Julian Nagelsmnan has been at Bayern forever winning the Bundesliga and a few Champions Leagues so that's a bit unrealistic.

Anyang FC WIN K LEAGUE 1 Well. We did it. At 2-0 down, I looked up the rules to make sure I wasn't going to be screwed by something unusual and it turned out to be goals scored which we were dominant in. Jeonbuk had to score about 15 goals when they had scored none. We made it 3-0 and Daegu added a consolation in injury time as they made it 3-1. Seoul E-Land paid us back for holding us in the last game to ensure we win the league title. We did well to win this title and I'm proud. A season ago, this was unfathomable. Now, we won by 2 points. In terms of the games since, we had a comfortable game against Jeonnam as Jeonbuk failed to win. That gave us the advantage heading to a crucial game. I was confused we were 5 points up as they led which was when I realised they dropped points. I was then happy with the draw we eventually got as Jeonbuk pegged us back twice. Then Seoul E-Land fought valiantly to secure a clean sheet and a draw which brought Jeonbuk back to level on points. Against Daegu, you know the story. Now we're at the end of the season, all that is left remains the AFC Champions League. A tie against a side from the UAE and the winner of the highest coefficient league in Asia should be fairly comfortable but I thought that in Mexico and you know what happened there.

I definitely didn't accidentally post a save update here...

Anyang FC Reach the AFC Champions League Final Al-Jazira is the team that keeps us from choosing to go to Europe and finish the non-European club story. We were the better team against Seoul E-Land with a 2-0 lead pegged back to 2-1 in the 90th minute. The more important fixture was the tie between Jeonbuk and Daegu. It's the difference between a massively tough game and something we should win. Fortunately, Daegu won 1-0. A few days later, we played Daegu for a spot in the AFC Champions League final. We were the better team and got a deserved win. A goal in the 60th minute was enough and Daegu weren't up to our level to deserve anything. Not many games played but they were key games. We lost to Ulsan with a fantastic goal before a tight 0-0 draw against Jeonbuk. We followed that up with comfortable wins against Seoul E-Land and Ulsan Hyundai. In that time, we've gained two more points to Jeonbuk. This is a tough title fight and we've been closing the gap slowly. Now we need to overcome the final points. One point would be enough with our goal difference but I'd rather have more than that. We play Jeonbuk soon and that will define our season. My next update will come at the end of the league season for that update. Hopefully, I can bring a title.

Anyang FC Progress in the AFC Champions League It was a relatively insecure win for us. We started slowly and went 1-0 down to Vissel Kobe but by half time, we turned it around to ensure we won. We were the better team after conceding and turned that into a win. They had a player sent off so it was a comfortable run. With that, we play Seoul E-Land to take our step to the top of the same group as Vissel Kobe. So far, we've played them twice with a 0-0 and a 2-2 draw being the case so I'll expect it to be a tight affair. Well. We're 3 points behind Jeonbuk and we play them in the next few games before the split. We've played well and drawn twice with the remaining being wins. Suwon was frustrating with them being 10th as was Pohang. We've been knocked out of the Korean FA Cup but a goalless draw with Jeonnam caused a loss on penalties. It's not a huge loss as it reduces the latter season fixture congestion with a title fight and an AFC Champions League run.

We're Playing Well and In A Title Race Yes. Your eyes aren't deceiving you. We're playing well and we're in a title race. We've won every game bar a quiet 0-0 against Ulsan Hyundai. Since they're in one of the top positions, I'll take that type of result. Especially considering Jeonbuk did the same against them. 7 games ago, we were 9 points behind with a game in hand so we'll call it 6. Without playing Jeonbuk, we've brought it back to 4 so I'm happy. In other competitions, I rotated the team against Pohang and they still brought home a win. In other news, we've got two (one new, one returning) players to the club. After completing his military service, Kim Jun-Sik returns to the team as our second best defender at the club and will start. Our other signing is a new, 21 year old striker named Bae Min. Bae Min will be our starting player for a while and the hope is for him to improve. He's only played the game against Jeonnam so far and signs are positive for him to do so. The Vissel Kobe game is before the 33rd game of the season so I'll return with an update after that. It should be a simple game considering they didn't top their group, aren't at home and are a Japanese team.

Anyang FC Comfortably Progress From AFC Champions League Group In the Second Round of the AFC Champions League, we play Vissel Kobe. We comfortably progressed from the Group with 16 points. Our only dropped points were in the opening game against Melbourne Victory. Vissel Kobe were second in their group and failed to beat Seoul E-Land in the opening game. I'm expecting this to be a relatively easy tie but it's in September so a long way until then. Fortunately, Jeonbuk aren't insurmountable this year and we're only 9 points off the top with a game in hand. We started the season slowly with two 0-0 draws as well as other draws against Suwon, Pohang and Seoul E-Land. We did have frustrating losses against Jeonbuk and Ulsan Hyundai but we've also recently beaten Jeonbuk 3-0. Hopefully, we can continue this positive league form and translate it into a league title as I'm not particularly interested in doing another season in Asia. The plan is to return either 22 games gone or when we've had our game in hand. Whichever comes latest. Hopefully, we've made more progress up the league table for a title in that time.

AFC Champions League Group Stage Draw The Champions League Group Stage starts before the league in South Korea as we already have the Group Stage draw and the first few fixtures before the season starts. We have an interesting group of teams at this stage with a Chinese Super League, Australian and a Japanese team. The Urawa Reds had to win the playoff against Western Sydney Wanderers to reach this stage. We should get through this stage fairly easily considering the gap in quality between the leagues and we're one of the better K League sides. In the unlikely occasion we don't win the group, we have to be one of the three best sides from Groups F through to J to progress. This shouldn't be an issue for us and I'd expect us to be in the Second Round.

Anyang FC Survive Goalkeeper Injury To Finish Second Through the last 5 games, it showed we don't have the quality to beat Jeonbuk yet. A dominant win against Ulsan Hyundai started the group off well but the injury to the goalkeeper was too much for the teams 1st and 3rd in the league. Fortunately, we recovered form against Seoul E-Land and Jeonnam to win the cup final. That's the main story from the season and we were able to hold second in the league. The gap is 17 points. That's 6 wins from our 11 losses and getting something against Jeonbuk in the 4 games we play would go a long way. If we turn that around alone, that's 24 points we overturn from 0 to 12 with them going the other way. Of course, we have to beat the teams we should more comfortably. I have some plans for improvement next season with the AFC Champions League run. Winning that and the K League 1 would be great.

ANYANG FC WIN THE KOREAN FA CUP We came second in the league in our first season in the K League 1 but Jeonbuk were a mile away. With no other competitions and qualifying for the AFC Champions League being reasonably simple, the focus was on this. I'm glad I don't have to worry about this for the rest of my time with the team and use it to rest players. Our first game was a simple tie against lower league opposition in Yangju FC. We dispatched of them comfortably with a 6-0 win. In the next round, we were drawn against Gimcheon of the K League 1 where we won 4-0. Daegu was up next in the Quarter Final and was easily the tightest game of the run which we edged to a 1-0 win. A win against Ulsan Hyundai and we were through to the final. We did after going 2-0 up and losing that lead before scoring again to win it. The final was fairly simple. We won 2-0 away at Suwon Bluewings to take an advantage to our home stadium. We took the lead before they pegged us back. We then repeated the feat but beyond that, it wasn't an issue. We were never at risk of losing the tie so that's #11. Thread Summary

ANYANG FC WIN THE KOREAN FA CUP! It was a comfortable FA Cup Final for us. In the first leg, we won 2-0 away at Suwon's stadium and showed why we beat them in the league table and fixtures. It wasn't the most thrilling nor was it the most topsy-turvy final you'll see. Goals from Yoon Soo-Min and Seol Young-Jin in the 35th and 74th minute meant we ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. In the second leg, it was a tighter affair but we took the lead, and made it 3-0 on aggregate, in the 51st minute where Seol Young-Jin scored. They pinned us back in the 57th but we retook the lead in the 66th minute through Lee Tae-Won. They pegged us back again in the game in the 88th minute but it didn't matter. We won 4-2. We are Korean FA Cup winners. That's #11.

ANYANG FC REACH THE KOREAN CUP FINAL Fortunately, we avoided Jeonbuk in the final as Suwon beat them 3-1 in the Semi Final. Unlike every other cup final, this is a two legged affair at the end of the season. To reach this stage, we beat Daegu 1-0 in the Quarter Final. It was tight but we were comfortable before a 3-2 classic against Ulsan Hyundai. We've been better when we played them in the league but this was a classic cup game. Yoon Soo-Min gave us the lead on 9 minutes before we made it 2-0 on the brink of half time with a goal from Lee Dong-Ho. With goals in the 58th and 72nd minute, Ulsan Hyundai came back to scare us of a comeback but we kept calm and returned to dominant fashion to win 3-2. A goal in the 85th minute through Seol Young-Jin made sure we were in the final. A few days later, we played a warmup game for the cup final against Suwon where we won 2-0 at their stadium. It won't be the same but we should go into the game as favourites. As the main stage of the season ends, Jeonbuk have a 14 point lead with superior goal difference. If we were to win the league, it would dwarf any other league comeback in football whether real or in game. We're comfortably second as we progress through in Group A. The rules of the league are that we play every single team in our group once with the original points. As far as Asian Champions League qualification, I think we're certain even if we lose the Korean FA Cup with our form and general ability. We've done well this season to get to where we have and I can't see us falling down now.

Anyang FC Remain Second As They Progress in the Korean FA Cup We remain second in the league through the second run of fixtures. We continue to be the better team in most games but we dropped clear points to Daegu, Jeonnam, Seoul E-Land and Suwon. Outside of Jeonbuk, we weren't the worse team in any game and it was frustrating but it's not going to close the gap enough to Jeonbuk to win the title this season. The focus is the FA Cup since that's the only theoretically feasible competition we could win. On the topic of the FA Cup, it was a comfortable win against Gimcheon and we're into the Quarter Final where we play Daegu. Our record against them is one win and one draw. The winner will play the winner will play one of Ulsan or Ansan for a final spot. Jeonbuk are still in the competition so we'll probably have to beat them in the final.

Anyang FC Sit Second As Jeonbuk Win Every Game We started the season impressively against Busan IPark with a 4-0 win and we were comfortable. In most games, we've been the better team and shown we have the potential to kick on to be one of the best teams in the division. The game against Jeonbuk was a case of the best team in the league continuing to win. It's one of the two especially tough games of the season. The other will be the other away game against Jeonbuk. We did have a few off the boil games where we just couldn't get into the game or show our advantage. Ulsan Hyundai was a case of us not being good enough but Incheon got lucky with us having an off day in front of goal then they sucker punched us with a late goal then a penalty. The cup game came at the right time for us and lower league opposition in Yangju meant we could be comfortable in front of goal again and we then carried that into the Suwon Bluewings game. Overall, we are doing well in the league but Jeonbuk winning every game means that they have an 11 point lead already and have pretty much sorted the title. In the next round, we play Gimcheon who are definitely beatable and all we can do is continue to assure ourselves of a good league result and a cup run.

Season Preview For The K League 1 Debut We're predicted to be last at 350-1 and the board just expect us to Fight Bravely. Honestly, I can't see how we shouldn't get into the Top Half Group at the split. For those unaware, the league works with three fixtures against every team in the league. The league is then split into two with the Top 6 teams in one group and the Bottom 6 in the other. My aim for the season is to get into the Top Half. Hopefully, we can make good progress in the Korean FA Cup and win that to remove that from the priorities for next season. The team is slightly changed. We have three incomings into the first team with Cho Jae-Min. Frustratingly, Kim Jun-Sik was called up to National Service (playing for Gimcheon) so we'll lose him for the next season and a half. That meant we needed a replacement since he was a starter and Cho Jae-Min turned up in the South Korean youth national team and looks to be at first team quality already. I aim to avoid putting Under 18 players in the first team but I think he should be a starter. I felt that left back was a weakness in the team last season and I wanted to improve that position. It wasn't a clear priority but it was part of the longer term plan. We got a Chinese scout onboard and they were sent to scout every single player like we did with South Korea. Fortunately, Yan Heng was a significant upgrade and available on a free so we signed him up. The Box to Box role felt like it needed more quality at depth and signing a first team option felt necessary. So the signing of Kim Dong-Won will hopefully solidify the midfield further and show me how to properly dominate a midfield and ensure it's a crucial part in chance creation. Not as much spent this year as some targets just didn't want to join but this team should get Top 5/6 and show positive signs of beating Jeonbuk long term.

We Have to Beat Them. This isn't a joke. They have Barcelona sniffing around their players. They've won every title since 2032 when Ulsan Hyundai won. What does help them is that the good players in Asia aren't relieved like they are in Europe and Africa for some countries. That way, Asian players are competing with South Americans to be the players that are picked out for the Squad Registration. To put it simply, great. We have to close the chasm between us and Jeonbuk. What makes it worse is their wage bill is 10x ours. Our wage bill is £5m. Theirs is £50m.

Anyang FC End Season Slowly After Winning the Title Until we won the title, we were fantastic. We were unbeaten in this round of fixtures and showed why we deserved to win the title. Ansan gave us a mild scare when they kept up with our scoring but it wasn't really an issue. After we won the title, I think the team had no interest in the matches to win and that's how they were lost. We were the better team in both games but the end product and chance creation just wasn't there as opposed to the end of the season. Having a look at the team after the season, we are losing Kim Jun-Sik to military service. This was the issue I was concerned about earlier with buying such young players. We have replaced him but the replacement also could be involved in military service. I'll review the team at the start of next season when we should make new signings.

World Update - Uruguay Win The World Cup It can't be argued that Uruguay had an especially easy run to the World Cup. Nor were they absolutely dominant. However, they topped a group involving the Ivory Coast with two wins before beating Morocco 1-0 in the Second Round followed by Turkey in the Third Round. A Quarter Final beckoned which they won through a 41st minute penalty. They needed penalties to beat Confederation rivals Argentina after taking the lead in the 13th minute before a tight World Cup final against Italy. They took the lead in the 69th minute to win their first World Cup in 88 years and 108 years after their first. This tournament is their first since the 2024 Copa America. They never scored more than one goal in every game but defensively, they were stellar having conceded one goal all tournament. The 32nd minute Matias Callejo goal from Argentina is the only to break the rock solid Uruguayan defence down.

ANYANG FC ARE K LEAGUE 2 CHAMPIONS After 33 games, we did it. We've won the title. We still have 3 more games to beat the record of 79 points set in 2017 by Gyeongnam. With 77 points, we are only two behind that with three games to go. One win should be easily doable to essentially make that unbeatable.

Anyang FC Hold 7 Point Lead With 9 To Go We've continued our good run of form in the K League 2. The results haven't been emphatic as the second quarter of the season as teams become more defensive against us. The first game of the quarter was thrown away with a bizarre own goal. Our only other disappointing loss in this part of the season was against Gyeongnam. We went 2-0 down on the edge of half time and immediately got a goal back in the 47th. We were the better team but got nothing out of it. It feels inevitable we're going to win the league barring a collapse. We have 9 to go and I'll update when we've won it. Being promoted is more simple than anywhere since Polokwane has been.