KibworthBull

August 2038 I am now an Angolan Icon... To celebrate I've signed a raft of foreigners that I can tick off. From Chad, Right Winger, Noa Djibrine. Not the greatest. But he plays in a position that does well in the nations. From the Central African Republic, a Striker, Felix Bongotoutet. A finishing attribute and physicals to ensure that he should do what he needs to do against the right opponents. From Uganda, James Sentamu, another Striker, should have no issues doing what is required. We've had similar and they did it. Finally, for now, a Moroccan Winger, this one is actually to get into our side on merit. Hicham El Boukhary We are now at our foreign limit, so these will be our options for nations this season unless the movement is out. An early benchmark was put down in the Angolan Super Cup. A 4-0 win, the usual suspects with the goals. A potentially tricky opening month in the league was negotiated in fine style until the easy one at the end of the month!

June 2038 African Champions League Final - 2 legs, 2 reserve sides. Thanks to the World Cup. Muana Limbombe is on his way out of the club, back to his native DR Congo, this hat-trick could have been his swansong. A brilliant result from 1-3 after 60 minutes. In Egypt, it was our turn for a fast start, before things got scary. We just about hung on. The Best XI according to me and my coaching staff. The front 3 of Kamian, Fofana and Diedhiou are all want a way - Oil money likely to move them on. I have Angolan options on the bench that can help fill the void. My summer focus is to find options to help tick off these nations. I've got options from Chad and Central African Republic who will attempt it but neither are that good.

April and May 2038 A routine victory to finish of the group stages before we faced Angolan opponents in the quarter-finals. Fofana grabs a late goal to give us a slender advantage before we power through to the Semi-Finals. Wydad Casablanca are a cut above the rest of Africa and we had to settle for a 1-1 draw. Even though we've won the Champions League, so that particular objective is out of the way, back to back trophies will help me on my step towards Legendary status. Another 1-1 draw and the dreaded penalty shoot out followed. Step forward Burkino Faso's Marius Damiba who kept out the final spot kick to see us into the final. And he got the Man of the Match award. The final is in the middle of the World Cup - which is nice, our Egyptian opponents are going to be affected just as we are. Burkino Faso

March 2038 The champagne got popped. A nice 7-0 win away at the old boys. We only won the league by 5 points. Kudos to Benfica for getting so close. We closely followed this with another Angolan Cup. And seamless progression in the Champions League A good month. At the end of it we say goodbye to a number of squad players. It's time to cull and rebuild with a host of new foreigners. Whilst trying to retain our Champions League.

February 2038 It's the business end of the season. 1st v 2nd. Benfica's big chance to land a big blow. A point a piece, they will only have 2 more games which means 5 points from our last 4 matches gives us our 3rd title in a row. We have now drawn our last two. #crisis Our old foes, the Kaiser Chiefs met us in the Champions League Group's - we weren't great but had enough. 3 league draws in a row. It's almost getting tight. The perfect response? 10-0 win. Our remaining games are against 15th and 16th.

January 2038 Away to the side bottom of table is the perfect opportunity to tick off a nation. Even better that it's against the club we signed him from. Sao Tome & Principle is in the bag. I'm not sure a victory over ourselves should be celebrated too much. But the cup draw put the 1st team and the 2nd team at loggerheads. The "1st" team, it wasn't, won the day, and it was a fantastic day for our new Burundi Left Winger, Yussuf Sindaharaye who ticked off another nation. 262 people bothered to turn up. We are in danger of having our worst domestic season. A 2nd draw. This one was a barnstorming thriller - 3-3. The league is actually quite tight in comparison to last year, 4 clear with a game in hand. Sao Tome & Principle Burundi

December 2037 Burkina Faso, Libya, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principle, and Tanzania. Not a list of holiday destinations for 2037, but the list of active nations we are trying to tick off. Most of them are good enough for this level so it shouldn't be tricky. But no, it's proving elusive. We can also add Gabon to that list now. Obambou-Ebane has joined from Interclube, a few days before we play them in the league. He can't be registered for a few weeks, but Fofana is back, and back with a hat-trick to move onto 95 goals for the club. We became the first team to beat Benfica - they've had a fantastic season to date. Libya were on the naughty step. Not now they are. Siraj Al-Zuway ticks it off with a man-of-the-match performance against Desportivo da Lunda Sul. Fofana 96* Bravo to Bravos de Maquis, they almost snatched a draw off us. Fofana 98* and a couple from the eternal reserve - Emilio Antonio. A pre-Christmas double for Fofana gives him the 100 goals for a player from the continent of Africa. 91 games it took him. Slouch. We signed a Kenyan on the 30th of December. He ticked off Kenya on the 30th of December. That's more like it. Our best month for ticking nations off in AGES.

November 2037 We are on Fofana watch now. 89* at the start of the month. A visit from the old side and he sits on 92* and he will stay on 92 for the next 6-8 weeks. Injured. It looked a bad one but thankfully not too serious. On the 21st of November, we finally got to the top of the table. We play Benfica next month. For the cup tie against 3rd tier Petro Huambo we had all of the nations we needed to tick off as high up the pitch as possible. And it worked. My god it worked. Marco Aloenouvo from Togo becomes our 50th nation. It only took him 102 games! I also fancy our chances in the next round... The full results from the month...

October 2037 In a desperate attempt to tick off some nations I play my Togoese Centre Half up front in the Cup - he scores a hattrick but is usurped by a guy who got 3 assists. What luck! In the African Champs League, we travel to Guinea and Horoya AC, we have 17 on international duty for the first league. After 30 seconds and we were 1-0 down there was a flicker of worry, but we rallied and had enough to see it home with a bit to spare. The only game in the season I worry about is Petro de Luanda - the city derby. We played this one with ten men for 89 minutes - would take a draw. Realistically they will need to beat us twice to win the league, so this draw does us more good than them. Fofana continues to blast them in - 21 for the season. 90 for the club. Next month he should complete the challenge for Africa 100 goals.

Massive congratulations on finishing an epic challenge.

September 2037 After a quick international break we travelled to Equatorial Guinea to start our defence of the African Champions League - we started 5 players who can tick off a nation. An Angolan stole the show but a 9-2 win has meant we progress before the 2nd leg. It took 2 goals in the last five minutes of the return leg, but Houngué Koudjo has ticked off our 49th nation, Benin. I can add the African Super Cup to my list of trophies, but my word, we made hard work of it. Sneaking through 4-3 in the end. The league doesn't really need mentioning. 5 from 5. Fofana on fire. Usual stuff. #49 Benin

August 2037 Another new nationality to get behind. 18-year-old Beninese Striker Houngué Koudjo has joined. I scouted the entire country and struggled to find anyone amazing (shock...) - this lad is quick, determined and can finish. Koudjo scores on his debut in the Angolan Super Cup, but Fofana gets a treble. On paper Interclube away is a tough start. This isn't paper. Want away (to the Middle East) Daouda Kamian with a 4. Fofana has 5 for the season already.

2037/38 Goals: 32 more for Fofana and then he has 100 and ticks off the African Player to get 100 goals Continue to tick off the African Nations - 24 are complete, with 33 still to go Become a Legend at the club - they see me as a Favoured Person right now New Signings: Daniel Yakubu is a Nigerian Centre Back and improves that position for us, so will be our first choice, the other three are in the Angolan U21s and provide decent cover, now that we've won the Champions League I no longer have the pressure to build a fabulous squad so fully expect the oil money to tempt our stars away, buy buying local players, these will give me a solid base to dominate domestically and become ever more loved. This is the picture after 17 seasons: With the exception of Fofana everything else is just slowly building.

Before I move on with the save. Spare a thought for Sundowns. They could only field 4 senior players, 2 greyed-out players and then kids. Their keeper (not in view) is in their U19 squad.

June and July 2037 So of course the African Cup of Nations kicks off at the same time as the 2 legged final. Yep - because that would ACTUALLY HAPPEN 19 players have been called up. I am yet to see how badly it will affect us. Hopefully, Sundowns are equally destroyed. They weren't . God help us in return without any of our recognised gods.. The second leg has been pushed back as Sundowns are currently in the Club World Cup. It falls on the 1st July - the last day of the group stages of the African Cup of Nations. No luck. I can't even fill the bench... 3 empty spaces. No words.... They were absolutely thread bare. Far worse than we were.

April & May 2037 We cannot do it against the Ghanaian sides. They do the double over us. Thankfully they are knocked out so we don't have to worry about them. ASEC Mimosas are the place for regens—the amount of Ivorians I've had over the years. Dramane Fofana was taken from them at the start of last season. A fantastic late showing - 3 goals in the last 10 minutes turned a bad away trip into a good one. Although the aforementioned Fofana will play no further part in the tie, maybe even the season. Up to a month of football he shall miss. Despite going behind, we did enough to get into the Semi's Algerian opponents and we travel away in the first leg. Another late show. 2-1 down with 20 to go. A 4-2 victory. No need for a late show in the home leg. Done and dusted after 30 minutes. Was great to have Fofana back. A few days wait until we find out who it'll be in the final. Zamalek or Sundowns. Zamalek won 4-2 in the first leg so I am fairly certain I know the answer to that one.

March 2037 The league campaign is done and dusted. Just the two points dropped across the whole season. The challenge is what's to come next—the Champions League. We are well-placed after 3 games Victory over Hilal puts us into the Quarters unless something terrible happens in the final two matches. I signed an Algerian on loan in January but couldn't register him in the league, he's played the odd cup match and Champions League tie, and done nothing, until the 39th, 69th and 70th minute of the Kaiser Chiefs match, the hat-trick ticks off our 47th nation. It was the last game of his loan spell. We qualify with a game to go. Algeria

February 2037 Focus shifts from domestic to continental. A couple of low key league games and progress in the Angolan Cup, before the RIOT. Kaiser Chiefs. 3-0 after 30 minutes, 3-3 after 89 minutes. 5-3 win. Mayhem in South Africa Also retention of the Angolan Cup. The last game of the month... failure to compute... we've been FM'ed. First time in FM24 it's happened to me, so you could argue it's about time.

January 2037 We now know what February will look like. The draw has been fairly kind. Kaiser Chiefs will predict a riot, but I think we'll have enough to get through. On the pitch, business as usual really. The retention of the league is closing in. It is a doozy of the last 3 days of the month where we play two of our challengers. As it turned out we needed a point from the Interclube game to be Champions with 4 left. We don't do points.. we do trophies

December 2036 I just can't compute. What the heck is a draw? We recover well to beat Caala 9-0 again and confirm it's a blip by seeing out the year in style. 96 goals in the league so far. The highlight in the cup is our 46th nation - South Africa, thanks to winger Vela Ntsele

November 2036 Our toughest test, away to Interclube (2nd). Two quick goals just before half-time turned a tough game into a relaxing and entertaining victory. There follows a routine month before our next top vs 2nd match at the end of the month. Victory puts us 9 points clear of 2nd, 12 clear of 3rd. It's just about the halfway stage of the season. My focus is on trying to identify nations we haven't ticked off and tick off the ones in the current squad, it's proving harder than the actual games are.

October 2036 Fofana get's us up and running with a double, and his 44th and 45th goals for the club, before the biggie. Top vs 2nd. Petro de Luanda are in town. A very tight and nervy 75 minutes before we clicked into gear and ended up winning with ease. Something we didn't bargain for, a difficult trip to Tunisia for the Champions League. ES Tunis are decent. And we have 15 players on International duty. The reserves did us proud on foreign soil, and the first team finished the job back in Angola. Not the stress we needed. We definitely didn't have any stress in the Angolan Cup, but we did tick off our #46 nation - Guinea A goal and 4 assists for Diallo against Benfica de Cabinda. Guinea!

September 2036 After the international break, we started our Champions League campaign at Dragon - it was a trip to Equatorial Guinea, but I suspect you all knew that. You also knew it would be a walk in the park - this round normally is. Dramane Fofana has moved through the gears and has now reached 40 goals for the club - making him the leading goalscorer from Africa. It shouldn't be too long before he gets his 50. Another month or two. I am trying to make this club a continental monster, so we need to strive for the best of everything. We are spending some of the received Oil money.

August 2036 Our nation's search continues. Additions from across Africa. 50% of the continent has appeared for me so far. Guinea - we've had 1 player so far from this country, but they never scored or got the MoTM Burkino Faso Libya Guinea-Bissau A mixture of talent. The Middle East is hoovering up our players. 6 players have moved on but the cash is decent. All the new players make their debut in the Angolan Super Cup. A Fofana hat-trick gave me another trophy before we started the league campaign. 9 of the best against CR Caala, but the best bit - Guinea-Bissau is ticked off. Pedro Mendes with a double and MoTM. #45

May 2036 A lot to do. 3 goals were needed, with none conceded. I can't even begin to try and explain what the hell happened. A picture speaks more than 1000 words or whatever the phrase is. At 4-1 in Semi First Leg, everyone was happy. 4-3 and it's game still on And so it proved... Casablanca proved too good, and we bowed out in the Semi-Finals.