TheLutterworthFox

Thanks for replying. I had a feeling it was something along those lines. I did something very rough myself a few years back but it was basically me finding the average attributes for each area (defence, midfield, attack, goalkeeper) in the comparison area in squad planner and then creating search filters to find players at that level. I'll take a look at the WhiteCat and Jennas sheets and see what it is

I'm sure you have prob posted about it before but cannot see it. How do you go about calculating the player role % score? Is there a spreadsheet you use?

Part #44 - March 2037 The business end of the season! Firstly the Champions League and Man Utd stand in our way, a tough game....or so I expected! First leg at Old Trafford and my word we were incredible. A 3-1 win and one foot in the Quarters! Then they came to The Emirates and we went one better! A 4-1 win and 7-2 on aggregate! I was really worried about this tie but I had no need to be concerned! Into the Last 8 and we have another tough test ahead of us. Spanish giants Real Madrid, really tough but you'd expect every game to be hard now, I know we have the squad to win the whole thing, we just have to go out and do it! It's continued to go really well domestically. We went to Spurs in the FA Cup and won the tie 3-1, that wasn't the whole story though, Spurs missed two penalties towards the end of the game!! Only two games in the Premier League and two routine wins. Spurs slipped up again meaning the gap is now 5 with 7 games to go. Finally some awards news, we have 4 players in the NxGN Top 50, 3 of those in the top 5!!! Summer signing Sonniksen is No. 1, well deserves, this lad is something else!

Part #43 - February 2037 Another really busy month, no European matches, a full program of domestic action. But first the Champions League last 16 draw. One of the tougher games we could've had. Man U are languishing in 6th in the league this season but they are last season PL champs and we will have to play very well over the two legs if we are to beat them! The month overall has been decent, we have had so many games that fitness issues have been rife, some of our backup players really aren't up to standard but I've had to rely on them, either in the team or off the bench. Luckily, bar one result, it's been a decent month. Some fantastic wins, including going to Anfield and beating Liverpool. We saw our EFL Cup run come to end, even though we beat Man City 1-0 in the return leg, we went out 2-1 on aggregate. In the FA Cup we beat tycoon-owned Leicester City to seal a spot in the Quarters where we have a tricky tie away to Spurs. In the League, bar that defeat to Bournemouth where the reserves didn't show up, we have done really well with 15 points from a possible 18. Still top, the Bournemouth defeat didn't do too much damage as Spurs have slipped up as well, 9 games left, 3 points clear! Here are our final games in the PL. Some tough matches including Spurs at home right near the end. That could be a title-deciding match. Luckily though the sheer number of League games has slowed down, just in time for the Champions League to start. That is the most important thing, the League matters, especially as it's us v Spurs but this save is all about winning the Champions League so if needed I will have to rest players in the League games.

Part #42 - January 2037 A new year and a stupidly busy month! 10 games in all but let's start with the main one, the Champions League. The final two gams of the League Phase, both away and both were comfortable wins! The first game was away to Nice and we were stunning, a 5-0 win and that was enough to guarantee us a top 8 finish. The final match of the League Phase was away to Copenhagen, with qualification guaranteed I rotated but we still eased to a 4-0 win. A fantastic 8 games with only a single slipup away to Napoli. Barcelona definitely the team to beat this year but we have proved we can mix it, I have high hopes we can go deep into the competition this year, can we win it? There's no reason why not! Domestically, it's been really good as ever with only one major loss. We did rotate in the EFL Cup semi final against Man City, we have bigger fish to fry this season so I wasn't too fussed with the loss but the back-up players really didn't perform anywhere near at the level I thought they were. The only other poor result was in the FA Cup away to Mansfield but I played a full team of kids and backups, again they weren't good enough but we eased through to the next round in the replay and then beat Man City in the 4th round, Sonniksen the man once again! The League has once again been a great month, 3 wins from 3, all relatively easy games in the end, Middlesbrough was a great result, a 5-0 win against one of the up and coming teams in the League, tycoon-owned and pushing the Champions League spots. Nicely top of the league, 2 clear of Spurs and way clear of the rest. I mentioned in the previous post that there may be some transfer business this month but as the window slammed shut we did no business whatsoever, no bids came in for any of my players, I was more than happy with that, the squad is solid and settled, could it be improved? Yes, but we need to continue to stabilise the finances and, as I said previously, the Champions League and Premier League squads are max'ed out.

Part #41 - December 2036 Probably our toughest month of the season so far, some absolutely huge games during December! Firstly the Champions League, we only had one match and it was a massive one, home to French giants PSG and my word did we pull of one hell of a performance and result! An absolutely stunning 4-1 win which, with two games left, puts us in pole position for a top eight finish. Domestically we've had some big matches and whilst performances have been good, we have slipped up a few times with some iffy draws. Draws against Chelsea, Spurs and Sunderland have set us back but that win over Man City was the biggest game of the season in league so far, they say top with us second, the win put us back to the summit. And even after the Sunderland draw we still ended the year top of the pile, on goal difference to Man City with a game in-hand. Now we enter the Winter window and this could be a busy month. We have £89m to spend but I don't really need to improve the squad in any areas currently, the Champions League and Premier League squads are max'ed out so anyone coming in couldn't be registered, however, we have numerous players wanted by other clubs and if any bid exceeds their valuation I will more than likely sell them on, that's if they aren't a key man, the likes or Ben Ashby, Irondino and a few other key first-teamers won't be going anywhere!

Part #40 - November 2036 An absolutely massive month! Firstly the Champions League, two games this month, both at home and both winnable. First up was Young Boys and we dispatched them with ease. A 3-0 win, I have been testing out a new tactic, a narrow 41212, we have good options upfront and felt it a good idea to try something new, I'll put more about that in another update. The second game was home to Ajax and although I felt we could've played better we eased to a 3-1 win. Two solid wins which puts us in pole-position to end in the top 8 qualifiers in the League Phase. Three games to go and to be honest we probably should be winning all three. PSG will be tough but if we are to win this competition they are the games we need to win. Domestically it's gone fantastically well, four games, four wins. That takes us to seven straight wins. And with that we go to the top of the table, let's keep this going! Our good form in November has also been noticed as we dominated the Young Player of the Month award. All three are my signings, with Federico Ferreira, a Winter signing last season, having an amazing month. 4 games, 2 goals, 2 assists, not bad seeing as he's played all month in central midfield as a BWM(s)!

Part #39 - October 2036 A really quiet month, mainly because the international break last all the way until mid-October! Only one Champions League match this month, away to Napoli and their goalkeeper inspired them to a 1-0 win, an undeserved victory where they only had one shot on goal! Only three games domestically, two wins from two in the League and a win the EFL Cup where the reserves scraped over the line against Fulham. Spurs have slipped up this month and we have closed the gap right down, now sitting second on goal difference.

A quick update! Something I totally forgot to mention at the end of last season, the Nearly Men List has had a couple of changes and all because of the 2036 Champions League final Atletico Madrid won their first ever Champions League, meaning they are now removed off the list. However they have been replaced by Lazio who for to their first ever final but lost. Another Italian side to add to the list.

Part #38 - September 2036 What an absolutely stunning month!! Let's start with the Champions League games, two matches this month to open the League Phase, firstly was a comfy win over AEK Athens at The Emirates. And secondly was probably our toughest tie of the League Phase, away to Bayern Munich, it was a pretty even match which started likes a train, two early goals, one for each side but after that the game became scrappy with few chances for either side. It looked to be heading for a draw until our Summer signing, wonderkid Andreas Sonniksen scored to seal a 2-1 win! Domestically it's been amazing, OK we're still conceding way too many goals but when you score this many it doesn't really matter if you concede a couple!! That 9-1 win over Palace was incredible, I even played a few of the reserves in that game, the likes of Oliver Jones (AM) making his mark with a brace. Into second in the league but Spurs currently running away with it! Also interesting to see three teams at the bottom, all without a point! We now go into a 4-week international break (don't ask me why!). It's currently September 22nd, next match is October 18th!

Part #37 - August Results I wanted to separate this out from the transfer business as didn't want the posts to be too long. It's been a so-so start to the season, firstly we played in the Community Shield and face Champs Man United, we played really poorly but looked to be heading to a 1-0 win, that was until Man U scored in the 94th minute, it went to penalties and we lost! A crap way to start! We then started our Premier League games and the opening three games were fantastic, 3 wins including a cracking 3-0 win over Liverpool. We then faced tycoon-owned Leicester City, a club on the up and predicted to end this season one place behind us in 5th, they won 2-1, we didn't really show up. A solid start and we sit in 4th. # We've also had our Champions League fixtures and it's not a bad set of games. Some tough games but if we are to win this competition we should be winning most of these and getting a top 8 spot in the League Phase.

Part #36 - 2036/37 Summer Transfers Well it's been a very busy Summer, the main plan was to get rid of some of the high earners, then replace them with younger players on lower wages. My plans did slightly change after the board takeover and a huge bump up of the bank balance, as of the 31st August it now sits at £175m, a profit so far this Summer of £150m! Not bad at all! So plans did change a little, I spent a bit more than I planned to but with the sales we achieved I still ended making a transfer profit and got the wage budget down by nearly £1.8m p/wk. Firstly the out's £161m of player sales. Some big names but also earning way too much. The two big sales there are Mocanu (RB) and Guler (AM). Ciullo was a young RW but we had so many options in that position and he was way down the pecking order. Saliba and Timber were two big names to leave, they were getting on and declining quickly, also both earning above £300k p/wk. The rest were backups. We also lost Saka, Martinelli and Iroegbunam who left after their contracts expired and Rice who retired. All in all over £2.5m p/wk of wages removed from the squad. So with all those sales players were needed. I said in the last update my main aims were at least one CB, a LB and a DM. With Mocanu and Timber leaving we needed a new RB as well. I managed to achieve all of it! So please welcome.... Jack Hands - Central Defender - £48m from Middlesbrough The biggest transfer fee of the window, only 20 and looks really good, his physicals and mentals are brilliant for that age and still has time to grow. A big fee but a massive prospect. Louise Balsiger - Central Defender - £12.5m from Basel Another young defender, on a low wage and a small fee for someone who already looks decent for this level. He will be back-up to Hands for this season. Jari Bartels - Goalkeeper - Free from Ajax I didn't particularly need a GK but when I saw this lad out of contract I had to snap him up. Trubels is my No.1 GK but at 34 he may end up leaving in the next season or two, could this lad be a ready-made replacement? Oscar Hojlund - Defensive Midfield - Free from Sampdoria I just had to go back to my old club and bring a player in! Hojlund was a key man for me at Sampdoria and as he was out of contract I felt he was a perfect replacement for Declan Rice. Emmanuel Van de Blaak - Central Defender - Free from PSV Another CB but unlike the previous two Van de Blaak adds experience to the back-line. A cracking player on a free transfer and adds some good depth to the defence. Jumpei Chugo - Right Back/Right Wing - £26m from Bayer Leverkusen My replacement for Mocanu. He can play anywhere down the right-hand side but he will be playing predominantly as a RB. An amazing player for a relatively low fee. Michele Briganti - Central Midfield - £11.25m from Inter Milan Signed with a look to the future. He will be retrained as an AM over the next season or so. He looks really well rounded for 20 years old. Andreas Sonniksen - Striker - £12.5m from FC Midtjylland I didn't need a new Striker but when this lad was recommended to me there was no way I was going to say no. He looks utterly incredible and is only 18 years old! He'll have to settle to be a bit-part player this season but will get game-time in the cups and league games when I need to rest Ben Ashby for the important Champions league games. Overall a cracking window. We have lost a lot of experience but I've freshened the squad up with some really good-looking young players. £161m of transfer sales, £125m spent, a profit of £36m in transfers. The wage budget, as mentioned before has dropped from £5.2m p/wk last season to £3.4m p/wk as of August 31st. A saving of around £93m per season. That should really help out, the projection is now for us to lose about £40m over the season, seeing as we are paying back bank loans totally £2m per month that loss isn't too bad!

Part #35 - 2035/36 End of Season Review What a brilliant half a season it's been at The Emirates, Champions League aside that is where we exited way too early. The two aims in the final months were to firstly win the FA Cup and secondly, get into the top 4 to qualify for the Champions League. Well we managed to achieve the second of those goals with relative ease. Loads of goals, some cracking performances including beating this seasons Champions Man United and arch-rivals Spurs. And that meant we leapt all the way to second in the table! A fantastic end to the season, in my 18 games we managed to win 15 and lose only 1. Gaining 47 points from a possible 54, not bad indeed!! As you can see in the results above we demolished my boys Leicester City to get into the FA Cup final, where we faced Man United! Would it be a cup double for us or a league/cup double for United? And in a stunning performance we pulled off an incredible 4-2 win courtesy of two late De Potter goals! So domestically it's been a bloody brilliant season, two cups and a top 4 finish! Now to look at who the key men have been, firstly a look at the whole first-team playing squad. A stacked squad, some of whom we'll be saying goodbye to over the Summer. Player of the goes to one of those players leaving, Bukayo Saka, an Arsenal legend and even at 34 still a top quality player. He ends this season with 10 goals and 13 assists from 42 starts. He will now leave the club in the Summer as he's out of contract, with the finances in such a shambles I cannot afford £425k p/wk, I tried to negotiate but he wouldn't budge. Saka leaves as the record Arsenal league goalscorer with 184 goals. Young player of season goes to forward Tevez. A bit-part player before I joined but I made sure he got some game-time either as a Striker or on the Right Wing. He ends with 18 goals from 20 starts and 14 sub appearances, with Saka going he has the chance to cement himself on the Right Wing. Ben Ashby ends as the clubs top scorer for the season, 27 scored in 44 starts. He will be a key man moving forward although he is on a massive wage. And finally, Left Winger Kendry Paez ends with the most assists, 14 in 26 starts with 16 sub appearances, not bad seeing as his xA was under 10. Another player who will be key moving forward. And here is the seasons best XI. But as I mentioned we will be saying goodbye to numerous players over the Summer, Saka I've mentioned, we'll also be losing Declan Rice who is retiring, Gabriel Martinelli and Tim Iroegbunam who are out of contract and both William Saliba (£8.75m to Al-Ittihad) and Arda Guler (£54m to Barcelona). Some big shoes to fill but what it does is save me over £1m p/wk in wages. We are well in the wage budget but it needs to be brought down more to balance the books. The wage budget is currently at £4.8m p/wk, it need to be below £3m p/wk, that will save me around £90m a season. What has happened though in the week after the season ended is we have had a board takeover!! On the face it it's brilliant! I looked at the bank balance and suddenly is +£40m!!! The reason? The new chairman has pumped £243m into the coffers!! What a legend....until you check the debts!!! He's took out a bank loan for the whole £243m with us paying £1.2m per month!!!! At least it clears the bank balance and gives me a chance to sign a few players, on lower wages than who is leaving! Talking of budgets, prior to the takeover the chairman gave me some pretty mad money to spend! The new chairman hasn't changed this. No way will I go near that wage budget but I may look at spending some of that transfer kitty. So where do I need to improve the squad for next season? Well I've put the first-team squad into my squad builder spreadsheet with the players who will be here next season to see the gaps. Even with so many players leaving it's not too bad. Obviously this could change is people leave, if I get a bid for a player that exceeds their value I will more than likely accept, just to make sure the bank balance heads in the right direction. The glaring gaps are in the defence, which is clear from our results, too many goals conceded over the season. With Saliba leaving we need a new first-choice CB. We also need at least one back-up CB, we have been short ever since I arrived. We are also short at LB, Irondino is incredible but that's it bar academy player Vasilelou who only came through this season intake. Finally a new DM is needed to replace the outgoing Declan Rice. It's going to be an interesting Summer, it's clear where we need to improve but I also need to make sure we aren't sending the club into the same financial mess from the previous few seasons.

Thank you so much for your comments mate. Really appreciate the support. Hopefully won't be at Arsenal long ;-)

Part #34 - March 2036 Well our Champions League run ended very prematurely, in the Last 16 we were drawn against Inter Milan and in the first leg we got utterly destroyed! A shocking performance, an xG against of over 5, that is really poor and just shows how poor defensively we are. An area that really needs looking at in the Summer. Well we did claw back some creditability in the second leg, we nearly produced a great comeback but in the end it wasn't enough. A 4-2 win, a 6-5 loss on aggregate, really not what I expected to happen Now we just have domestic competitions to focus on, the EFL Cup has been won and we are still in the FA Cup after a quarter final win over Crystal Palace. In the Semis we will face my supported team Leicester City, a game we really should be winning. We are also closing down the top 4 places with some good wins over the month 10 points from 4 games, the only dropped points was the game we really needed to win but a draw at Anfield was solid enough. The good news is Liverpool's form has dropped right off and with 7 games to go we are now only 1 point behind them. As for qualifying for the Champions League in 5th, well it all depends on the co-efficient and it's actually not as good as I expected. England are currently third in the rankings, for 5th to qualify in the Premier League we need England to be in the top 2 and that may not happen. In the Champions League - Only Man City are through to the Quarters, Italy and Spain have 3 teams In the Europa League - England have 2 teams, Italy and Spain have 1 In the Conference League - We all have 1 team. Really and truly England need to at least qualify for the final of all 3 competitions and possibly win them to overtake Italy into second.

Part #33 - February 2036 The good start continues, bar one result! Some really good wins there even if all the games were against teams way down the table. 10-2 over Bristol City was absolutely insane!!! But that was followed by a shocker of a defeat to Norwich. The first defeat in my reign at Arsenal. The month ended with two cup games, firstly was the EFL Cup final against arch-rivals Tottenham. The game was an utter riot, two red cards, one for each side, numerous yellow, it was a scrappy, dirty game. Spurs scored early and when Briand was sent off it looked like we would head to defeat. The, in the second half, Spurs had a man sent off and we capitalised, two goals in the space of a minute put us 2-1 up and we held on for victory! I just love beating Spurs in finals!!! The other was an FA Cup tie against Championship side Everton, I played the reserves and we very nearly screwed up. A 3-2 win! The EFL Cup win means we have already guaranteed European football for next season but we desperately need to get into the Champions League football, just to keep the revenue coming in. Currently 5th, with the England sitting top of the co-efficient that should be enough for Champions League football but we could really do with closing down Liverpool and Spurs in the top 4. Financially we're still in a state, the balance now sits at -£180m, a £15m loss over the month! The big loss this month was bonuses, £3m paid out for winning the EFL Cup and another £7m in other bonuses, the previous manager really did screw us over! Player wages did drop a bit due to player sales but it was still £15m over the month, with gate receipts and TV revenue only adding up to £12m we really need to lower the wages and the bonuses next season. I'm not sure player sales alone will make up how low the bank balance is!

Thanks so much for your reply and your questions. I would love to sign some players from Sampdoria, Strikers Accardi and Milosevic would be good signings, as would Clayton in defence, Unfortunately with the finances in such a state that may be tough to do. As for youth players the academy is really poor at the moment, the highest rated (PA) player is 3*, we have a couple of lads from the academy in the first team that are half decent, world-beaters? Definitely not. Here they are? They can both do a job as backups but whether they make the grade is another story. As for the finances, the Premier League is really odd at the moment, out of the 20 teams only Chelsea have a positive bank balance, Manchester City have a balance of -£432m! Most teams are over -£100m. It's really bad, I'm not sure how it's happened but it's having an affect on the transfers, this season the biggest Premier League signing was £51m!

Part #32 - January 2036 The first month at Arsenal and it's gone really well result-wise but there are some serious underlying issues here! The big issue is the finances, as you can see the bank balance is diabolical! It's now 2036 and Arsenal have had a balance in the red since mid-2032!!! Currently just short of -£170m!!! That is shocking and the projections are just as mad, End of this season? -£250m! Something needs to be done. The main issue is player wages. Saka is on £425k p/wk! In fact we have 9 players earning over £200k p/wk and another 8 over £100k p/wk. So the wage bill needs to come down and it's those high-earners that will need to go. The likes of Saka, Rice, Martinelli and Havertz are all ageing and all out of contract at the end of the season, they will either need to agree a paycut or leave, it will leave a big hole in the side but we can't progress and build the squad until the bank balance isn't in the red! Now to the results and it's been solid so far. Some really good results including a 2-legged win over Ipswich in the EFL Cup semi final, we will face either Liverpool or Spurs in the final. We've also had two good performances in the Champions League, Nice we didn't defend well but we deserved to win, Frankfurt we were stunning and that was enough to seal a spot in the Top 8, surely we can't win the Champions League in half a season at the club?! We've only played two games in the League but we got a solid point away to Man City, a game where we came from behind twice and a good win over basement battlers Leicester. Still in 8th but we have games in-hand over the teams directly above us. Transfer-wise I've tried to ship out a few players who wouldn't play to try and help the bank balance out and reduce the wages. Only two first-team players left adding £33m up front with the rest of the fee in instalments over the next 12 months. Although the bank balance is still -£165m even after those sales! Looking at the finances we had a wage bill last month £20m with only £4m of gate receipts! BIG ISSUE! I did sign one player though, I was hoping to get rid of Martinelli and brought this lad in to replace him, he didn't leave but will go at the end of the season. So please welcome my first signing Federico Ferreira, costing me £6.5m from Boca Juniors, top top quality! So a solid month so far, the finances are a concern but hopefully I have a plan to bring it back up, it will take time though!

Part #31 - A new club! It's taken until January 2036 for any kind of job to come up, it's always difficult when you only have a select few clubs to choose from but when I saw this come up I knew it was the right job. That's right, I'm going to England to manage the mighty Arsenal. I seem to have landed on my feet here, my predecessor Zinedine Zidane was sacked with Arsenal 8th in the Premier League but actually it's not to bad a situation to be in. 8th in the League but not too far off the teams above us. We are also already into the knockouts of the Champions League and into the semis of the League Cup! Surely we can't win everything in the first season?!! The squad also looks pretty good Although 34-year old Bukayo Saka is our best player, he looks great but the fact he is closing in retirement and he's our best player is a bit worrying. Left Back Irondino looks bloody brilliant though As does this lad, Striker Tevez looks incredible! I'll talk more about the players as I work through the rest of the season. Wish me luck!

Thank you mate, really appreciate you following along

Part #30 - Goodbye Sampdoria - 2034/35 Season Review I literally can't believe that happened earlier! Sampdoria are no longer nearly men!!! It was a great run in the Champions League, some memorable victories but that isn't all that happened this season! I didn't even realise this but we didn't lose a Champions League game at all over the whole season, not even in the League Phase. That run will live long in the memory and the final was stunning! We also dominated domestically, we won the Supercoppa Italia earlier in the season and also won our first Coppa Italia of the save, a comfy 4-2 win over our nearest challengers Napoli. We made it a domestic treble and quadruple overall with an easy retain of Serie A, our third title in a row. 101 points, 10 clear of the rest, easy as that! But now it's time to say goodbye to Sampdoria but before I do that I want to go through my best XI of this Champions League winning season. GOALKEEPER - ELIA CAPRILE This lad was one of the main reasons for our successful campaign. Signed in the Summer on a free transfer but on a hefty wage he was utterly stunning all year, including POTM performances in both semi final legs against PSG. RIGHT BACK - CLAYTON It was a toss up between Clayton and Sandnes but Clayton was the man that played in the final and was the more consistent over the season. Signed from Botafogo for £12.5m in 2033 he was a bit part player over the previous seasons but came in this year and was solid. LEFT BACK - HARRY AMASS Again it was a tough choice at LB with Winter signing Mele playing in the final but I went for Amass as he played more over the season and has been a key player the past couple of years. He joined in 2033 from Frosinone for £8.5m. He's averaged well over 7 in his 3 seasons at the club. CENTRAL DEFENDER - BEN NELSON A lad who's been around since 2027, one of my first signings when we got back into Serie A. An absolute steal at £2.3m, Nelson has made 282 league appearances over is 8 years at the club and has been an integral part of our success. CENTRAL DEFENDER - NATHAN ZEZE I could have easily gone for Bastoni here but he only joined in the Winter and although he scored in the Champions League final I had to go for Zeze, he joined in 2031 for £5m and alongside Ben Nelson have proved to be a solid partnership. CENTRAL MIDFIELD - OSCAR HOJLUND Signed last season for £6.75m from LA Galaxy, Hojlund has been an incredible signing and is one of the big reasons we have done so well over the past 24 months. CENTRAL MIDFIELD - IGOR SEMAN Probably my favourite signing of the save so far, signed from Slovan Bratislava in 2031 for £1.6m he has progressed so well and is now one of my key and of the most talented youngsters in Europe. Now at 22 he valued at between £77m and £88m, what a player! CENTRAL MIDFIELD - MASSIMILIANO MORETTO What can I say about this lad?! Signed last Summer for a whopping £50m, it was a big risk spending that much on a player but it was well worth it. It was such a shame that his season was cut short and he missed the final two months of the season but he was one of the reasons we did so well up to then. RIGHT WING - GIOVANNI MOSCARDINI One of our own! The only player in the squad to have been here before me, the academy graduate came through the 2024 intake and has been an integral part of the side ever since. He broke through in 2027 and never looked back. He didn't play loads this season but with injuries towards the end he made more appearances and was really good. I leave with him making 265 league appearances and 327 appearances in total. A player I will massively miss when I'm gone. LEFT WING - MALIK TILLMAN Another signing from last Summer, signed on free from Manchester City and he was a key player all season. STRIKER - JOVAN MILOSEVIC A goalscoring machine! Jovan was signed in 2030 from Hammarby for £4.2m, he has gone on to 140 goals in 188 games for the club including 33 in 45 this season. An absolute legend of this save! I wish I show more but unfortunately for this post I have exceeded the max total size for pictures!!! It's been an incredible journey! 9 seasons 1 Serie B title 3 Serie A titles 1 Coppa Italia 3 Supercoppa Italia 1 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE! I leave a club legend!!! Where to next? We shall see!

Part #29 - 2034/35 Champions League Final v Tottenham Hotspur Here we go! We arrive at the NSC Olympiyskiy in Kiev for a shot at history, Sampdoria play Tottenham, both teams have lost a final before in Europe's premier competition, one will come away with a first ever win in the Champions League (let's hope it's Sampdoria!!) The line-ups are in and the big news for Sampdoria is Left Back Mateo Mele is fit after a 4 week layoff, it's lucky though as fellow Left Back Harry Amass got injured in training the day before the final. Jeremy Doku is also injured after an knock in the final league game. 8 mins - OH MY WORD WHAT A START FOR SAMPDORIA!!!! A corner is swung in by Tilman, it's met by Milosevic who's header hits the post, it bounces to Bastoni on the line who taps home! 1-0 to Sampdoria! 18 mins - THIS IS MADNESS! Its 2-0 to Sampdoria! Moscardini pick it up on the right, he lays it to Hojlund who charges forward, Sarr gets a tackle in but it bounces to Milosevic who is clear on goal and he smashes home! 38 mins - IS IT GAME OVER ALREADY?!?!!? It's 3-0!!! Another Tilman corner comes in, Spurs head it but it only goes to Bastoni who nods it across the goal for fellow central defender Ben Nelson to nod home!!!!!! And that's half-time. BREATH!!!! 52 mins - A first Spurs chance as Sarr hits a rifle from the edge of the box but Caprile tips it over 59 mins - Spurs really getting control now, another chance but Brennans shot is blocked by Bastoni 77 mins - Tilman with a 30-year free-kick, goes just over the bar ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!! I thought we had a chance but I never expected this!!!! What an achievement. I will post a proper end of season review later but my time at Sampdoria is now up. They are no longer Nearly Men!!! It's taken nine seasons, nine seasons of hard-work, blood, sweat and tears but it all paid off, what a journey!

Part #28 - 2034/25 Champions League Semi Final v PSG For the second season in a row we're into the last four of Europe's premier competition. Last season it was Barcelona who stopped us getting into the final, this year we face French giants PSG, can we go one step further?! Well the first leg is at home, we need to win if we are to stand a chance, we have our star man Moretto missing from the midfield due to a season ending injury but bar that the squad is fully fit. It was a cagey game, we tried to get control of the match but struggled to make an impact, PSG would dominate possession but we defended stoutly to stop PSG from any real chances, then, just before half time a lovely throughball from Igor Seman saw Jovan Milosevic run clear of the PSG defence, the keeper came to meet him but Milosevic rolled it home to put us 1-0 up. PSG tried to get through us but my word did we defend well, their xG of 0.49 and only 3 shots on target showed how much we nullified them, with Endrick up front I was concerned but he put in a woeful performance. The whistle blew and we had secured a massive 1-0 win in the opening leg So here we go, 90 minutes stand between us and a second ever final in the main competition in Europe. We arrive at the Parc de Princes with another two more injured players, we lose Left Back Mateo Mele and back-up midfielder Stefano Cossa who were both injured in training and miss the rest of the season, Cossa I can deal with, Mele is a big loss. Just like the first leg the game was really cagey, PSG looked out of sorts with numerous misplaced passes but we were just as bad. The whistle blew for the first half with only two highlights, neither of them coming to everything. I gave the team talk of my life at half-time, told the guy I had faith that we could win and my word did they take it on! 7 minutes into the second 45 Oscar Hojlund popped up on the edge of box to rifle home from a Faticanti pass, 1-0 up and 2-0 on aggregate, now all we to do was defend well, like we had all season. PSG had chances but Caprile in goal was unbeatable. Once again PSGs attack just didn't click and when they did find a way through our superstar GK was there. The whistle then blew and we had done it! A 1-0 win away to PSG and we were into the Champions League final!! Where we will face Tottenham. We have played them four times in the past 3 seasons, most recently a quarter final win in the previous Champions League where we beat them 5-3 on aggregate. We have a massive chance here!

Part #27 - April 2035 This has been an absolutely brilliant season so far, but just how many trophies can we win?! The main one is the Champions League, we're into the Quarters and our opponents are fellow Italian side Napoli, first leg away and just like the previous round we secured a 1-1 draw, we really should've won though, the game overall was really poor. Into the second leg, home advantage and we made it pay. A 3-1 win, again though the game was pretty poor, we had the more chances but spurned numerous opportunities, we did enough though to secure the win and we're into the Champions League semis for the second season in a row. Where we'll face French giants PSG, a tough game, we played them in the League Phase and drew 1-1 at home, we will need do better than that if we are to secure a spot in the final. Now to domestic action and as expected it's gone well. We've had some really tough games including Napoli, Inter and two legs against Lazio in the semi's of the Coppa Italia but we came out the other side with progression to the Coppa Italia final, where we'll face Napoli and 10 points from the 4 league games. The win over Inter Milan put us 15 clear of them with 5 to play, we knew anything other than a defeat against Udinese would mean Serie A champs once again we did just that! Absolutely stunning, the league won for a third successive season and with 4 games to spare, now to break the 100-point barrier! Now to win the Champions League!

Part #26 - March 2035 The Champions League returns as we go straight into the Last 16, our opponents? Bayern bloody Munich!! Not sure if could be much tougher but I know this squad is good enough to match anyone on their day. The first leg was away and we did amazingly to come out with a 1-1 draw. Overall it was a pretty even game, we had more possession, Bayern had more chances, a draw was probably the right result. Now we go into the second leg, at home and my word did we put in a shift. Bayern did score early but just before half-time we grabbed a leveller and after that we were amazing, we utterly dominated, scoring twice more, Bayern scored right at the end to make things a little nervy but as they pushed for a goal we broke and sealed a 4-2 win, 5-3 on aggregate! In the Quarters we've been given what I saw as a favourable draw. We will face Napoli, a team we've beat twice this season already. And if we get through that it'll be PSG or Brighton in the semis. Domestically it's also gone well, I've mixed the team around to keep players fresh but whoever has come in has done a great job. 4 out of 4, that's 9 wins in a row, a third successive Serie A title is all but done. 8 games left, 14 points clear. We do have some tough games to come though and combined with the Champions League games I can see a few slip-ups coming, still we are so far clear we afford that.