KibworthBull

June 2059 12 months of waiting and finally I have a job R.I.S.C. Takers FC have taken a risk. Well not really. They've had a shocker of a season and sit in the Relegation Play-Off Those games will be next month and I don't know what would happen if we were to lose them.

June 2058 I think it's time to move on. I've made some signings which feel a little bit like peeing on my friends. In has come Siriky Cornet from ASEC Mimosas - a striker that we don't in any way need, and Ibrahim Al-Jwair who is a Centre Half - we needed one so this one makes a bit more sense. But to do it I've had to unregister 2 players who have won the NACL with us, and sold a couple of squad players It's all about Saeed Al-Basawi now. 97 goals for the club. 3 more then I can go. He has 2 goals in 12 this season, so it's fair to say he is not in brilliant form. Nothing to see from the victory over Ottawa. Sweet 99... da da da... so good so good. A double against Cavalry and we are nearly there. He went off injured in the 68th minute but should be okay for the next one. 15 minutes off the bench against Edmonton - he wasn't quite ready. New boy Cornet steals the show with a hattrick away at HFX. AND just like that. In the 9th minute of the final game of the month, he pops up and makes it 2-0, goal 100 and goal 101 didn't wait too long before it arrived. 4 of this top 5 were part of the Canadian journey. Torrico and Al-Balawi were 1 club men, Bell and Salva came with me. In appearances, Craig Heard was inherited and remained the whole journey. The first player to reach 300 games for the club. I doubt I will be able to entice any of these to my next destination, but then again, that's not the point of the next club - whoever that may be. York has been my longest journey, both in games (371) and seasons (10 - 2 of them partial) Thanks for the love Abbie... 13 people follow me out the door Now it's the waiting game...

The nation of Saint Martin appears to have 0 restrictions on foreigners in the league, and it's Amateur. Sounds like the perfect combination to find the missing 14 before going to Asia.

May 2058 How do you recover from that? I'm gonna need a sit down for a while. FC Edmonton knock us down a peg with a last gasp equaliser - Saeed Al-Balawi got goal No.97 for the club. Steve Bradley gets his first league goal for the club as we beat Pacific. We've met the criteria of 2,000 minutes in 7 matches. Never done it so fast. Two draws in the month. Ah well. I'm taking my time to work out the exit strategy as there is still 14 nations to tick off (have a player play, score and get MoTM) in North America before that is considered done. Saeed Al-Balawi also needs 3 more goals to tick another thing off.

April 2058 We will never have a better chance of reaching the final. We are missing 4 key players. What an odd game of football. Everything seemed to go in the goal. We have a league match against Forge in between - not the team I wanted to face first up - but we did enough to get through. Then it's all eyes on the 2nd leg. All we need is a 2-0 win. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi is soooo injury-prone. He scored twice as we crushed Kansas - take that Dorothy! We have a FINAL. Al-Ghamdi misses it. 3 league games to play before the biggie. Victory over Valour - Al-Balawi gets his 96th club goal in the 96th minute. Ottawa beat us for our first defeat in AGES. I barely care. I can't focus on anything but the final. Cavalry - 5 goals knock them off top spot and put us on it. There are no words to describe the emotion of the final. It was tense, we got plenty of bookings, then Yves Kone scored and we thought get to half time 1 up, enter Drazen Pudic with two in stoppage time. The game was won. Pachuca had nothing to give. Steve Bradley finished it in the end, he's 16. Home advantage massively helped I've gotta rename the thread now!

March 2058 Away in the first leg. Always a worry. These Mexicans are rather good at football. A 2-1 defeat is okay. We are still in the tie. Tom Perez will sit out of the 2nd leg due to suspension. We gambled on Mohammed Al-Ghamdi being fit enough to get through a game and he got the vital goal. Through on the away goals rule. Love it And we got a favourable draw in the Semi Final We beat Sporting Kansas in the Group Stage.

February 2058 Very little movement in the transfer window. We have all the foreign slots filled and the wage budget hasn't got much room. We've signed Harley Lowe who is a 16-year-old DMC from Forge - it felt like a good deal at the time but less convinced now he has signed. £50k straight up, £300k over the next 3 years. In the out tray are a number of youngsters who've gone past 21 - Jack Addison and Rafael Bento both need first team football and that's not something we can offer. We managed to avoid Mexican opposition in the NACL and host Portmore United, from Jamaica Plenty of goals and a 3 goal lead as we travel over their. Gary Lynch and Craig Heard both with two. Tom Perez scored in the first minute and we never looked back. Into the Quarters. And the Mexicans. Monterrey - we beat them in the group, but this is a different fish.

October and November 2057 There are a few Mexican sides that scare me. Monterrey is one of them. But we still smile as we welcome them to Canada. Drazen Pudić is a beautiful man. A double and we beat them to qualify for the next phase. HUGE. HUGE win An own goal sneaks us past Forge. Jon Beere-Wharton gets MoTM in goal for us. There is definitely a gap between the MLS and ourselves now. 8 goals put past Vancouver. International Call-Ups (9 of them), Suspensions (3) and Injuries (2) meant we had to field 2 keepers at HFX and no subs. Nathan Grainger got injured during the first half so we had 10 finish. Still won. An Unbeaten Season is secured, our first in Canada, and my first since 2046/47 in Puerto Rico. Our 3rd team lose to Vancouver on the night but go through overall. The first leg of the League Play-Offs negotiated. Convincing 2-0 win. An 100% record in the group stage of the NACL was secured by beating Pumas. Hopefully this means we avoid the biggest and scariest Mexicans in the next round. Our date with Forge is secured. They are the one side that worry me domestically. Defeat in the first leg against Toronto - ex lag Bonilla scores in injury time - they had 3 former players playing. My eyes were firmly on Forge and the League. It takes us to bloody extra time to kill off Forge but it's another league title in the end. Saeed Al-Balawi gets No.31 for the season. Joint third now Toronto never stood a chance... they had international call ups... we withdrew all 14 of our Canadians from the squad. 39 seasons into the challenge now Next Season should see Saeed Al-Balawi hit 100 goals for an Asian Player and that's probably the only thing that realistically could happen. Then there is the NACL - it's going to happen one day. Why not this year?

September 2057 At least the 3rd month that starts with Pacific - the pitfalls of only 8 teams in the league. Our 2nd string win 4-1 with Mitchell Cox getting the final goal and 3 assists from Right Back. One of our own doing very well. I have a new boss to impress He's cleared the debt, and we now have £190k in the bank - that'll be gone by October. We start with Pacific and end with a double Pacific. We do the job in the away leg and the youth team see us through the 2nd leg. Steve Bradley is 15 and just arrived in the intake and scores on his debut.

August 2057 A routine win of HFX before Toronto FINALLY hit Daniel Brindley's release clause - they have been bidding for him for over 6 months and it's been a steady stream of rejections, but finally they have found the cash. We go into the NACL with the expectation (from my side) of qualifying from the group in the top 2 again. Craig Heard scoring twice to see us past Sporting Kansas - he's now played a record equalling 267 times for me. A lot of rotation and we fly past Cavalry. Left Winger/Left Back Kyle Davis had to play Right Wing against Vancouver (Inside Forward so should be okay with that) - he complained but scored twice and we won. 2 from 2 in the NACL. We've now reached 50 games unbeaten in the league. The top 4 has a familiar feel about it

July 2057 Pacific is first up. Just like June. This time they come to our house. We leave it incredibly late, but get the W. Saeed Al-Balawi scoring with seconds left. Al-Balawi makes it 78 goals with two more against Atletico Ottawa, before we go back to back against Forge. We lose the winning streak at 10, but the unbeaten run is in the 40s now. 45. Play-Offs are secured after match week 18, and the 5-1 win at Edmonton. 9 goal thriller at Cavalry. This has the potential to mean nothing, or everything, or something in between

June 2057 The month starts with a trip to the Pacific. Just two subs named due to International Call Ups. A professional job is done. The main focus right now is on Saeed Al-Balawi who has moved onto 75 goals for the club - only 27 needed to tick off Asian as a continent where we've had a player score 100 goals. Truth is he is a long way away still, but there is not much else going on - we win most of the games domestically. Erick Gómez has finally moved on - a fantastic player when we played with an attacking midfielder, sadly we don't anymore. £135k is small money for him but he was on £1k a week so one of the higher rollers. The reality this is just the warm-up for the NACL

May 2057 Rotation is the name of the game. Craig Heard enjoying himself in front of goal. To be fair everyone is, and the defenders are defending. 3 goals conceded in 8 games. 34 games unbeaten.

April 2057 As we had an early exit to the NACL we've had nearly 2 months between fixtures. Victory over Pacific was a very Saudi affair - a hattrick for Saeed Al-Balawi the highlight. After 3 very convincing victories, our first battle against Forge ended in a draw. We shall meet them in the Play-Off final in November no doubt. Just before the season started we signed Full Back Seydou Ouattara - he was wanted by PSG and came through at ASEC Mimosa - I've gambled that'll he will be a golden goose for us.

February 2057 I am legend. Thrice. In 2027 I became a legend of Fijian side Ba, in 2038 it was Club 1 de Agosto in Angola, and now in 2056, it's York United in Canada. A massive milestone in North America. Just need the NACL and I can move on. Just... Before we get into that. Let's introduce the new blood. Powerful Centre Back Tom Pérez is 20 years old and an American who was with Atlanta United last year. A very good prospect. He's joined by Abdullah Al-Rashoudi who is our 4th Saudi national, and he is 20 and a DMC. Another very good player. Not a transfer fee spent either Out the door go some squad players And we go back to the NACL. And the most terrifying opponent we could get. America. The side that beat us 5-0 in the Semi Final last year. We kept them out for over an hour but then the floodgates opened. 4-0 defeat. An improvement but still a massive challenge in the return leg. We managed to score 4 times in the return leg and win, but sadly they scored three times and we bail out early. The draw was very unkind on us.

October and November 2056 We've got 2 Saudi's on small wages and long contracts and it's lovely. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi scores a double and we overpower Vancouver. We now appear to be stronger than the MLS which is great. The Forge game was my 300th in charge at York. Comfortably more than anywhere else on this journey. We laid down a bloody marker. 7th heaven. We bought up 100 goals for the season for the first time as well. All of that means nowt, if we don't win the Play-Offs. We took a 4 goal lead from Vancouver and lost 5-1 !! Thankfully we won on penalties. Maybe I rotated a bit too much. Another milestone. The Pacific match was game No.1300 in my career. Not bad for 81. Late goals mean that Pacific still have a chance. 5-1 up with 5 left became 5-3. Drazen Pudić scoring twice We topped our NACL group as well Mohammed Al-Ghamdi power us past Pacific and then gets his leg broken. We wont see him until April next year. We will meet Forge again. But before that we have Toronto, and a professional display see's us go into the 2nd leg with a FLINT. Forge. Revenge! Although we have a long way to go yet We flirt with November ever so briefly for the 2nd leg of the Canadian Championship. Drazen Pudić makes it 25 goals from us 21 games with a hattrick and we do the double. Managerial Stats for the save

September 2056 Rotation is the buzzword for September. The squad is good enough and with the play-offs secured there is no reason not too. We've passed 6,000 minutes for our U21s - the minimal requirement was 2,000 Safe passage through the Canadian Championship - HFX are one of the worst sides in the league and have been for a while, Over the 2 legs, we give debuts to 3 academy graduates. All the focus is on the Atlanta United match at the end of the month, they sit top, we sit 2nd. Hassan Al-Abdan had a stormer, and we won. 3-0 Means we've qualified with a game to go as well.

August 2056 The business end of the season. The next 3 months are where it matters. League Play-Offs, Canadian Championship and NACL A decent start in the NACL became a brilliant start thanks to a double in stoppage time from Saeed Al-Balawi. A draw away at Toluca is a good result as well. Win your home games, and draw your away ones. Great news for our dependable Ivorian Centre Back The last league game of August is always decimated by International call ups - yet we are never able to postpone - despite postponing others. FM logic. 2 subs named. 6 goals scored. Drazen Pudić finding his feet nicely. Bubbling nicely.

July 2056 A striker was needed. A striker was found. American Drazen Pudić. He's alright, not as good as Torrico but should do okay domestically. He can't play until the 3rd game this month. Nathan Grainger scores a brace from left wing to see off HFX. We rotated heavily. Saeed Al-Balawi has moved past 50 goals for the club, with 2 late ones at Pacific. The new boy debuts against Cavalry. We play out a goalless draw. We get back on the horse away at Ottawa before the new boy shows his class with 4 at Edmonton. A victory that secures our place in the play-offs. Another sale - Dylan Richardson was never able to force himself into the squad and play well enough to keep him around. We signed him on a free and sold for a decent-ish amount within 18 months. Our standard sort of deal.

June 2056 Pacific, at home, time for revenge. And then some... 7 of the best, trousers down. Craig Heard enjoyed himself with a couple of goals. We are very much in that sweet spot of being better than our peers domestically - we just need to ensure we get the job done in October and November. Saeed Al-Balawi the next to score a double. Next up though, is 2nd and 3rd. Ottawa are swept aside. Honours even against Forge. A shame. Pavle Kojić, a 16 year old Canadian makes his league debut in Edmonton, gets MoTM and scores. We gift Valour a late own goal which means we end the month with a draw. Unfortunately, Saudi money talks. 145 goals in 218 games. The release clause was met.

May 2056 FC Edmonton are beaten at the start of the month. No dodgy refs for us, unlike Forge. Jorge Torrico, our Bolivian boy scores a hat-trick and Forge are beaten. A perfect month We should finish top again

April 2056 Can the incredible happen? No. But we can dream Or is it a nightmare? Without our 2 DMs we are over-ran and get a stuffing. We take our frustrations out on Valour. 9 of the best. Daniel Brindley and Craig Heard both get hat-tricks. We get some pride and some cash from the home game against America - furthest we've ever got. Hope for the future. I forgot that Lin Ziheng was on penalties - he scored in the HFX victory, before Pacific knocked us down a peg. When we get it right (see Cavalry at home) we are ruthless. Another superb victory. Saeed Al-Balawi with a treble. The hope is real, and it's what gets you in the end!

March 2056 All my strikers are fitness concerns and we have Tigres. Sigh. We may live to regret the fact we only scored 1 Nervy. Tough. Daniel Brindley gave us the chance to breathe. A late leveller on the night not enough. We progress. Officially the furthest we've gotten in the competition now.

February 2056 CS Herediano are from Costa Rica and our 2nd round challenge. Despite going a goal down early, a dominate display puts us 1/3 into the Quarters. Kayne Morgan getting two from the DMC position Job complete in Costa Rica. The only problem now is we HAVE to beat a Mexican side in the Quarters (and beyond)

2056 Season 10th February is when the transfer window opens. We had a busy day. We've gone hell for leather, and to hell with the ramifications. We may not be able to register anyone, but that's not a concern until after the NACL is done. Landry Diallo is a keeper and a cut above what we had last season - the £425k is across 6 payments so lessens the blow Hassan Al-Abdan is a Saudi Left Back or Centre Half and alongside Mohammed Al-Ghamdi (Right Winger) adds some real quality to that position Gary Lynch is a Canadian International Striker and will provide some depth. He's been out of football for over a year, and at 25 is drinking in the last chance saloon Graeme Wiseman and Myles Julienne are youngster who add depth to the defense. To help, naively try, and balance the books. We've given Forge our backup keeper and released some squad depth.