GrayMatter

What's he called? I might have to check him out. I can't remember if you do because I uploaded an earlier save but I courted a Serbian newgen defender who ended up at Man United (my whole transfer policy was mostly Eastern Europeans) and went on loan to Cardiff on my save called Markovic, check him out. I'd check out George Young from Portsmouth too, he came through my academy, really promising.

As I said initially though, I feel like those top PA players may get missed every now and then because of such large discrepancies between attributes relative to existing players in your squad. I am merely hypothesizing myself by suggesting that but I do feel as though it's a logical explanation.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/65gsrgvmf30apxd/Cardiff+Tycoon+2.fm/file Saw that they had a Tycoon takeover in the second season of a Brighton save I've been running, was just about to sell Jakub Moder to them so by all means cancel the deal!

In many ways, I feel like scouting is often hit and miss regardless. I don't think any system will necessarily be fool-proof and I think that adds to the realism, scouts can get it wrong in real life. There is never a guarantee with scouting - I actually find that less and less players even fulfill their potential on this years game.

I think ultimately the star system is respective of your current star players and how they compare in certain attributes. Say for example, you're PSG and have Mbappe, Messi and Neymar, any player coming through in their position would struggle to be close to 5 stars because they all have alien attributes in certain areas that most newgen players will never reach.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/8392sh7s7e55z4s/Cardiff_Tycoon.fm/file There we are, gents. I had an earlier save too so it gives you a good chunk of the summer transfer window still.

They have one in my Portsmouth save if you'd like me to upload? Fourth season. I have rinsed them for a bit of their money.

Season 2 - 2023/24 We recruited shrewdly after promotion from League 1 as ourselves and Ipswich secured back-to-back promotions. New Recruits We brought in lots of new faces, essentially reshaping the whole squad, ready to push for promotion. Tom Bayliss was particularly impressive as a mezzala, while Timo Bornemann scored 28 goals in the Championship and Nikola Iliev once again showed his quality by scooping the Championship Young Player of the Year award. Promising Players Uros Kabic Played on the right or the left wing fuss-free and had a hand in 17 goal contributions. Diego Moreira Similarly versatile to Kabic, Moreira was my biggest purchase after offloading £2.7m worth of deadwood. Although not as consistent as Kabic, Moreira's transfer value is an interesting prospect should teams look to pinch him from us. Star Loanees Nikola Iliev Improving tenfold throughout the season, Iliev's 15 goals and 11 assists as a shadow striker dragged us into contention for the automatic promotion spots. Jan-Carlo Simic Of Serbian descent, unfortunately, Simic is now a Borussia Dortmund player and decided against playing for us in the Premier League. However, his 7.04 average rating in the Championship was massively in ensuring Pompey were back in the big time. Commitment to Eastern Europe/Balkan Countries Gabrijel Rukavina (loan) - 2022/23 & 2023/24 Nikola Iliev (loan) - 2022/23 & 2023/24 Milan Majstorovic (loan) - 2023/24 Uros Kabic - 2023/24 Semih Kılıçsoy (loan) - 2023/24 Jan-Carlo Simic (loan) - 2023/24 Marko Milovanovic (loan) - 2023/24 Benjamin Tahirovic (loan) - 2023/24

I've not played that save for a while not but I did manage to make it into the Premier League myself. Here are some of my star men: Missed out on him on a free when his contract at Bayern expired, he then went to Championship West Brom for some reason before I snapped him up from them after I won promotion to the Premier League. He had a torrid first season in the Premier League but he improved so much over the season. Enes Sali is one of the main reasons that would bring me back to this save now, he's developed so well on this particular save. I actually signed him while I was still in the Championship. LOVE this guy, came through the academy, 6"6, shoots with power and a driven personality. He's absolutely absurd considering that I can't imagine his potential being that high for a player that came through my academy when I was in League One. 25 league goals in his first season in the Premier League by the way at 17 as he's just turned 18... he's crazy. Retrained Guler to be a right-winger, such a lovely little player cutting inside.

At £13m release clause, Arsen Zakharyan is great but probably not considered cheap enough to be a bargain.

Just downloaded this one, it's crazy how much the reputation shoots up after a takeover.

Some really good signings here, Sutalo and Le Fee have been good squad players on my Everton save and Beljo is a dependable 'meta' forward on the game.

These two have been really good squad players on my save, Thorsby is technically a bit off but I've managed to get his key playmaking attributes to a respectable Premier League level. The pair of them have really good personalities too which helps a lot for influencing the wider squad.

Growing up I really enjoyed watching him, he didn't seem to get many opportunities playing for Serbia at international level but he was always a solid mid-table Premier League defender.

Season 1 - 2022/23 I have a lot of experience in winning promotions from League One and I find it is simply just a case of navigating the loan market well and rotating frequently. All other cup competitions were low priority and we bowed out of them early, so unfortunately no other silverware for us. Promising Players Ntazana Mayembe Brought in as a youngster to play sparingly across the season, due to Dane Scarlett's fitness issues, Mayembe actually ending up playing 25 games and scored 13 goals which is a respectable tally for a free transfer. Zak Swanson Swanson is really versatile and did a good job slotting in at either left-back or right-back all season. Star Loanees Nikola Iliev When I save that Iliev was available (and for a pittance per week), I couldn't help but bring him in. I'm aiming for players to replicate roles within Portsmouth's history and Iliev very much replicated the success of his countryman Svetoslav Todorov who was mercurial in Portsmouth's promotion campaign into the Premier League. Iliev scored 17 in 34 in the league with a 7.22 average rating, the Bulgarian was deployed as a shadow striker for most of the season but had some spells as a striker too. I will be looking to acquire Iliev permanently at some point but now we remain patient to see if Inter Milan will allow us to keep him for the Championship. Patryck Lanza Lanza was simply far too good for League One. Playing as an attacking wing-back, he finished the season with 8 assists. Notable Mentions Stan Mills from Everton played well when called upon, as did Akinkunmi Amoo when we loaned him in from FC Copenhagen in January. Gabrijel Rukavina, Omari Hutchinson and Christian Mosquera were other loanees who came in and made an impact. Mosquera is out of contract in the summer but has chosen to join Manchester United. We were never in the running to feasibly sign him but we will be asking ten Hag about his availability upon his arrival in Manchester. Backroom Staff Overhaul Commitment to Eastern Europe/Balkan Countries Gabrijel Rukavina (loan) - 2022/23 Nikola Iliev (loan) - 2022/23 The main issue has been attaining work permits for certain players so far and a lack of interest given that we've only just become a Championship side. As soon as cement ourselves as a Championship team or when we are a Premier League outfit, that is when I'll really start to overhaul the team and opt for Eastern European/Balkan signings.

Who is the boss? Dejan Stefanović had a fruitful playing career at Portsmouth between 2003 and 2007, captaining the side during their 7-year-spell in the Premier League. Arguably this stretch of time was the pinnacle of Pompey's history, Harry Redknapp led the South-Coast outfit to an 8th placed finish, a year after Stefanović's final year at the club. Stefanović was looked upon as somewhat of a cult hero during his spell at Portsmouth, proving to be dependable under Redknapp's as well as controversially speaking out against manager Alain Perrin inbetween Redknapp's tenures in charge. The Serb was a favourite of then owner Milan Mandarić and was part of what was something of an Eastern European revolution at the club at the time. The 48-year-old has since spoke of his desire to one day manage Portsmouth and even ended his career at non-league outfit Havant and Waterlooville, close to his home in Portsmouth at the time. Key Principles Propel Portsmouth back to the Premier League. Recruit Eastern European talent. Replicate Stefanović's on-field leadership with another Serbian defender. Produce Eastern European/Balkan players through the youth system via staff members of Eastern European/Balkan nationalities as well as creating affiliations with Eastern European clubs. Surpass the league high finish of 8th in the Premier League. Look to become Serbia manager as well as Portsmouth boss.

Outgoings - 2024/25 Lots of development loans here for some new signings as well as shifting on high earners. Anthony Rouault was signed well in advance but was declined a work-permit, Norwich came in to loan him and he magically got one... Completely baffled me but he's a player I'm looking to integrate once he returns. As anticipated; Gueye, Iwobi, Gomes and Doucoure departed, Doucoure is out of contract so is very much not my problem anymore after agreeing to a loan at Sunderland. Reece Welch was a great sale considering he'd never be a starter and technically he is still very deficient in his game. Brentford giving us over £16m for both him and Dobbin over two seasons has been daylight robbery given they'll probably never be starters there either. Incomings - 2024/25 The first four signings were made as reserve squad players, rationale behind this was the fact our quality in that side was pretty poor after releasing a few players in the same summer. Irvine came in as a promising left-back, plucked from AFC Wimbledon who got a healthy sum for him. Asllani and Tahirovic add depth into our midfield with Asllani likely to contend for a midfield berth after Enzo Lo-Fee's disappointing debut campaign with us - which resulted in him being turfed to Crystal Palace on loan. Zefi and Bica again come in to bulk out the reserve side with Gray and Smith coming in as mentors for reserve team player. Brennan Johnson arrived after Nottm Forest didn't get back in the Premier League, he arrives as a signing similar to that of Dwight McNeil and I'm quite excited by his versatility in forward positions. Kacurri, Breckin, Soule, Hal Hal, Trilli and Perez all came in as players I am looking to develop with loans and sell on for profit. It seems to be a viable way to get some of these debts repaid that the club has accumulated (not to mention my installment purchases). Sali, Overhof, Vazquez and Popov have good potential according to my scouts. I've had Sali on a previous save and he can become an excellent player so I'm quite excited by this quartet. Ben Yedder was brought in to almost replace Falcao over the next couple of years. Gray, Zabarnyi, Slonina and Amey ate into a lot of my transfer budget for this season and the following seasons to come but I was pleased to sign these as Slonina will be our keeper for the next decade at least while Zabarnyi is a very consistent performer whose progress has been stunted at Bournemouth, so I'm hoping to reinvigorate him. Gray will likely be pairing with Scott for ourselves and England for years to come. Meanwhile, Amey arrived just after his 19th birthday but he will become trained at our club which is what I intended with his signing. Bischof was also someone we'd been looking at for a while but we couldn't afford the £19m release clause so decided to loan him in with the intention of him honing a few areas in his game that he's lacking by using our training facilities and playing for the reserve squad.

I had a rumoured one as Everton but it never came into fruition, sadly.

This guy looks a talent, fairly obscure too.

Tycoon? Now, this could make things interesting...

Confirmation of European Football - Europa Conference League City beat West Ham in the FA Cup final to secure our passage into the Europa Conference League, they also won the Champions League which resulted in a £1.5m fee paid to us as a clause in the John Stones deal. We've also been enjoying sporadic payments from Spurs and Newcastle respectively for Richarlison and Anthony Gordon. This money did all seem to be tot up and given I'm an installment merchant on the transfers, we were only given £49m transfer budget. It was a bit disappointing given that I'd arranged sales of two players prior to the budget announcement. Outgoings - 2023/24 I previously mentioned about my intentions of selling Pickford and despite a massive improvement in the latter half of the season, my mind was already made up. Norwich paying us £25m up-front was a bit of a masterstroke given he'd already told us that he was considering his options at the end of his deal. We managed to squeeze £16m up-front from Fulham for Tarkowski with the rest paid in December which was good business for a player we brought in on a free - I really like him in real life but he is chronically held back by his low professionalism on the game. Maupay and Townsend were the aforementioned pre-arranged deals, I'd resigned the latter to another year extension earlier in the season to maximise what fee we could get for him. Maupay was £11m up-front and £5m in December. Previously I'd talked about rejecting a £10m bid for Gray from Lens and I was left with some regret here given that they only offered us a non-negotiable £6m but as interest was low, I thought it was best to swiftly shift him on. I was also pleased to get money up-front for Dobbin and Virginia who although both progressed while out on loan, still fell short of being in with a chance of making the match-day squad. In an alternate universe, I did consider keeping hold of Virginia as his attributes were coming along quite nicely but he's opted to play second fiddle at Hertha instead. I was flabbergasted to see Virginia's countryman Gomes actually had any loan interest to which we instantly accepted as Gomes is usually very difficult to move on with his £120k p/w wages. He'll leave on a free in the summer. The other loans are all very much developmental loans with a view to make some money in the future. Onana hadn't really progressed at Brighton which is quite a common theme so we've dropped him down a tier to start every week at Wolves. Ben Godfrey has also joined him but I've cut his name off the image as Wolves aren't paying any of his wages (yikes). Incomings - 2023/24 It was a busy summer! I had a plan in motion though, just like in the first season where I focused on a mixture of youth and experience, I had the same mantra this summer. The trusty installment payments were also capitalised on in order to actually get all of these players in. Stansfield was an interesting coup, the scouts managed to pick him up just after the first round of intakes and he had quite a nice attribute spread, since his arrival I discovered that as a centre-half, he only has 6 jumping reach. I've started to retrain him to play central-midfield as a result. He has a lot of work to do so chances are he'll be loaned out frequently once he hits 18. Tobiasz will be my keeper for cups and Europe, a very solid acquisition and now has a work-permit. Kilman, Ahmedhodzic and Pavlovic have all come in with good quality already and can actively still improve. I particularly like Kilman and Pavlovic given that they are left-footers. My options at CB are now reliably solid and won't be outdone by through balls over the top constantly like the now retired Dante. Ekdal came in to somewhat fill in that backup/rotational gap left by Dante. My biggest transfers were Neto, Fornals, Swedberg and Livramento. Neto is amazing on the game given his versatile coming off-of both flanks, while Fornals is a model citizen with the ability to play virtually anywhere in midfield. Swedberg is a personal favourite of mine and will likely be Fornals' long-term successor. Livramento came in as a deadline-day signing, we paid £20m up-front and the rest in installments. I may well have overpaid here as I've seen him go for cheaper in a second season but usually when Southampton have been relegated - it was a toss-up between him and Zabarnyi but Bournemouth priced us out of a move for the Ukrainian. I think with Livramento though we've arguably got ourselves one of the best young RBs in world football and that's a transfer fee you only need to pay once in a bluemoon, think Kyle Walker for Man City, we are set for years with him and Patterson now. Livakovic came in as our new number 1, found it quite amusing that he was happy to sign with us labelled as a 'cup goalkeeper' too. Cooper and Ruddy both arrived as further backup and to fulfill squad registration rules should we need to call upon them. Le Fee I see as a better alternative to Iwobi long-term while Thorsby essentially arrives as my Gueye replacement as the ball-winning midfielder. Pinyaev and Veloso are ones for the future but I'd imagine the former will play a lot in Europe. Galvez was already pre-arranged given his loan agreement and this was an absolute steal, I actually feel as though he'll be my starting left-back in the third season, all going well. Ait-Nouri was loaned as a bit of a reaction to Wolves taking Godfrey from us, I really like him but potentially with Garcia, Mykolenko and himself, it might be tricky to give him enough game-time. Long-term I'd like to see Galvez and Ait-Nouri as my options. You may notice that Doucoure, Iwobi and Gueye are still knocking around the club but we will be looking to shift these on - I'm in the process of re-signing Gueye onto a year extension worth half of his current weekly wage while Doucoure already agreed to that in season one. Iwobi's demands are still enormous so he may have to be moved on in January. Friendlies Not much to be said about these fixtures, we tried to just bed in our usual starting eleven that will look something like this: Fixtures - August A last gasp Fran Garcia free-kick to equalise against Brighton (gave me Leighton Baines nostalgia) and holding onto a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge following an Ekdal red-card was lovely to see. Joao Pedro was really building on his first season with us by netting three goals across the month. Fixtures - September With all transfer business done, we entered the month full of optimism at the Etihad, our optimism paid off as Sutalo and DCL netted headers in what was a game of set piece goals. Despite the latter and Pedro proving to be our penetrating forces in front of goal, we slumped against Spurs as Yves Bissouma netted a brace to end our unbeaten run. Fixtures - October Two braces for DCL against Servette and Anderlecht respectively showed how much the injury-prone forward was rekindling his form. Sutalo again proved potent from set-plays with a headed winner against Man Utd in the 90th minute, gone are the days of Fergie time. Though we lost graciously against Newcastle, the way we are responding to losses is much more positive than last season. Fixtures - November I must start with the Southampton win - Patterson was sent-off in the 83rd minute but our very own super-sub Pedro snatched victory in the 88th. The glaring fixture in November was the drubbing at Anfield; I was devastated, the fans were devastated, extremely poor day at the office. Though most of our goals were coming from DCL or Pedro throughout the season, youngster Hayden Towey netted the second against Servette in his substitute appearance. I am however quite sad to see that his personality has dropped from 'perfectionist' to 'fairly determined' after signing his first professional contract. He is young enough to turn that around though. Fixtures - December Sensational form throughout the month has led us into 2024 in 2nd place behind the cyborg-led Man City. I really enjoyed how we've become such a defensively solid side this season, the 1-0s are pleasing to see. Livakovic's strength in one-on-ones is really not to be sniffed at, he's stopping so many breakaways where we'd have conceded last season. Star Man - 17 goals in 14 (17) He's really stepped up when I've needed him most and hopefully long may this continue. I do need to get him to sign a new deal though or else I may have to cash in on him in the summer. Outgoings A very quiet month for us overall for those leaving the club. I was pleased to see McAllister, Cannon and Nagalo go out for some game time. Ronning and Whitaker took early holidays in preparation for their inevitable summer selfie with Wayne Lineker. Wayne must have secured Ronning a work permit while over there though so happy days. Meanwhile, Gbamin's move was the interesting of all; earning £75k p/w, I decided to offer him out, showing a willingness to pay £37.5k p/w until the end of his deal (end of the season) and MK Dons came in for him. Low and behold, he earns £350 p/w at MK Dons and has an injury release clause, genius. So, I managed to get rid of £37.5k off the wage bill and League 1 MK Dons gained a quality played for that level. Incomings Curtis and Perea finally arrived after being arranged for a year. Both will become homegrown at the club so I'd imagine both will be pivotal for improving the fortunes of our u21 setup which for a change, I am looking at maximising our success there too. Oliver Arblaster came in to aid that endeavour, nothing to do with his fantastic surname. If anything, he'll be a player we can develop, loan out and sell on for a bit of profit later down the line. Pergelov arrived in a similar vein, we have a wealth of left-backs to choose from and he's very much at the bottom of the pile but he's determined and has room to improve. Paylor was someone the scouts found while out in Scotland, a 15-year old starting doesn't go unnnoticed. Again, very young, raw and will take years to get anywhere near the first-team setup. The two most exciting signings were Roony and Mudryk, the former has everything in his game to one day becoming a Premier League star although he has had a few injury issues while at Copenhagen. I had every intention of signing him as soon as he turned 18 so I kept just enough money in the transfer budget to complete this after the summer window closed. Mudryk was a deadline day loan and the deal we managed to secure was outrageous, we're only paying £30k p/w of his wages with no monthly fee. Chelsea stipulated a £125m optional purchase fee which we were happy to agree to, with absolutely no intention of activating. Considering I'd been switching McNeil with Pinyaev for the vast majority of the season, Mudryk was a significant upgrade from the left-wing. Fixtures - January Liverpool proved yet again just how difficult they are to get anything against at Anfield, we've won at the Etihad, we've won at Old Trafford and we've won at The Emirates but by lord, we do not turn up there. It was pleasing to bounce back swiftly from that defeat and Calvert-Lewin's brace in the return leg was exquisite but we still fell short. Fixtures - February February provided us with some pitfalls while on our travels, we have developed a more defensively-solid system to play away from home but it also sometimes struggles to create enough in front of goal. As the team continues to improve, we will tinker with the prospect of implementing our more offensive setup away against teams that on paper we 'should' be able to defeat. Youth Intake - 2023/24 Alex Barkley Brother of Ross by any chance?! Johnson Jimoh This lad looks as though he's completely ambidextrous, in the same ilk as Ousmane Dembele. Fixtures - March I was licking my lips at the Astana draw, arguably the worst side to make the round of 16 and 10 goals scored without conceding was exactly what I envisaged. DCL scored 5 of those across both legs as we cruised to the quarter-finals. We limped to defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool with the fixture congestion getting the better of us. In fairness, I did rotate almost entirely between the fixtures but this may well have created these disjointed performances. We had our chances in both games but couldn't bypass Ramsdale and Kelleher respectively. The absolutely comedy was that was one of only two league appearances for Kelleher. Fixtures - April Mudryk opened his account for us against Southampton, putting on a dazzling display at St Mary's. Pavlovic obliged similarly against AZ with his first of the season but then misplaced a pass for AZ's equaliser in Amsterdam. DCL's double ensured AZ's opener at Goodison was fruitless. We rounded out the month with a friendly against PSG due to fair while without a fixture, I wanted to keep my European eleven as match fit as possible. Hakon Arnar Haraldsson royally showed Messi how it was done playing as a number 10. Fixtures - May Though Sporting proved to be much tougher opposition to face man-to-man, Joao Pedro proved to be the hungriest on the field across both of the semi-final legs, netting in both. Disappointingly, the Brentford fixture cost us a 2nd place finish as victory in that game would have taken us above Liverpool. Champions elect Man City gave us a good game to say goodbye to Goodison Park as we embark on life at Bramley-Moore Dock for the 2024/25 season. League Table - 2023/24 Four titles in a row for Man City, Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland (only 45 league goals this time... perhaps he's on the decline?!) are the men to topple on this save as they also won back-to-back Champions League trophies. They've only actually added Grimaldo, Rodrygo, Kimmich and De Paul, it is going to be extremely interesting to see how they recruit over the course of this summer as they are getting a bit out of hand. I was extremely proud of getting a top four finish, although 2nd was within touching distance, a jump from 7th to 3rd is massive progress. UEFA Europa Conference League Final Joao Pedro continued to be the man built for big moments... And there we have it, our first trophy, ending the barren run of 29 years without one. Comfortable throughout as it never seemed to be in doubt that we'd walk away from Bilbao (San Mames stadium) as winners. Capped off by DCL who returned from injury after a month on the sidelines. His untouchable starting berth in Europe may well transition to the Premier League as Falcao's ageing legs are catching up with him. However, that hinges on whether the Sheffield-born forward will commit his future to the club... UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season What does the future hold? I don't anticipate that it'll be a massive summer of spending as I am quite content with my squad, however I will be looking at freeing up the wage bill somewhat and recruiting more frugally for younger players. Gueye, Doucoure and Iwobi all may find themselves shifted on to make room for new blood for the Champions League.

Fixtures - March I was licking my lips at the Astana draw, arguably the worst side to make the round of 16 and 10 goals scored without conceding was exactly what I envisaged. DCL scored 5 of those across both legs as we cruised to the quarter-finals. We limped to defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool with the fixture congestion getting the better of us. In fairness, I did rotate almost entirely between the fixtures but this may well have created these disjointed performances. We had our chances in both games but couldn't bypass Ramsdale and Kelleher respectively. The absolutely comedy was that was one of only two league appearances for Kelleher. Fixtures - April Mudryk opened his account for us against Southampton, putting on a dazzling display at St Mary's. Pavlovic obliged similarly against AZ with his first of the season but then misplaced a pass for AZ's equaliser in Amsterdam. DCL's double ensured AZ's opener at Goodison was fruitless. We rounded out the month with a friendly against PSG due to fair while without a fixture, I wanted to keep my European eleven as match fit as possible. Hakon Arnar Haraldsson royally showed Messi how it was done playing as a number 10. Fixtures - May Though Sporting proved to be much tougher opposition to face man-to-man, Joao Pedro proved to be the hungriest on the field across both of the semi-final legs, netting in both. Disappointingly, the Brentford fixture cost us a 2nd place finish as victory in that game would have taken us above Liverpool. Champions elect Man City gave us a good game to say goodbye to Goodison Park as we embark on life at Bramley-Moore Dock for the 2024/25 season. League Table - 2023/24 Four titles in a row for Man City, Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland (only 45 league goals this time... perhaps he's on the decline?!) are the men to topple on this save as they also won back-to-back Champions League trophies. They've only actually added Grimaldo, Rodrygo, Kimmich and De Paul, it is going to be extremely interesting to see how they recruit over the course of this summer as they are getting a bit out of hand. I was extremely proud of getting a top four finish, although 2nd was within touching distance, a jump from 7th to 3rd is massive progress. UEFA Europa Conference League Final Joao Pedro continued to be the man built for big moments... And there we have it, our first trophy, ending the barren run of 29 years without one. Comfortable throughout as it never seemed to be in doubt that we'd walk away from Bilbao (San Mames stadium) as winners. Capped off by DCL who returned from injury after a month on the sidelines. His untouchable starting berth in Europe may well transition to the Premier League as Falcao's ageing legs are catching up with him. However, that hinges on whether the Sheffield-born forward will commit his future to the club... UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season What does the future hold? I don't anticipate that it'll be a massive summer of spending as I am quite content with my squad, however I will be looking at freeing up the wage bill somewhat and recruiting more frugally for younger players. Gueye, Doucoure and Iwobi all may find themselves shifted on to make room for new blood for the Champions League.

Outgoings A very quiet month for us overall for those leaving the club. I was pleased to see McAllister, Cannon and Nagalo go out for some game time. Ronning and Whitaker took early holidays in preparation for their inevitable summer selfie with Wayne Lineker. Wayne must have secured Ronning a work permit while over there though so happy days. Meanwhile, Gbamin's move was the interesting of all; earning £75k p/w, I decided to offer him out, showing a willingness to pay £37.5k p/w until the end of his deal (end of the season) and MK Dons came in for him. Low and behold, he earns £350 p/w at MK Dons and has an injury release clause, genius. So, I managed to get rid of £37.5k off the wage bill and League 1 MK Dons gained a quality played for that level. Incomings Curtis and Perea finally arrived after being arranged for a year. Both will become homegrown at the club so I'd imagine both will be pivotal for improving the fortunes of our u21 setup which for a change, I am looking at maximising our success there too. Oliver Arblaster came in to aid that endeavour, nothing to do with his fantastic surname. If anything, he'll be a player we can develop, loan out and sell on for a bit of profit later down the line. Pergelov arrived in a similar vein, we have a wealth of left-backs to choose from and he's very much at the bottom of the pile but he's determined and has room to improve. Paylor was someone the scouts found while out in Scotland, a 15-year old starting doesn't go unnnoticed. Again, very young, raw and will take years to get anywhere near the first-team setup. The two most exciting signings were Roony and Mudryk, the former has everything in his game to one day becoming a Premier League star although he has had a few injury issues while at Copenhagen. I had every intention of signing him as soon as he turned 18 so I kept just enough money in the transfer budget to complete this after the summer window closed. Mudryk was a deadline day loan and the deal we managed to secure was outrageous, we're only paying £30k p/w of his wages with no monthly fee. Chelsea stipulated a £125m optional purchase fee which we were happy to agree to, with absolutely no intention of activating. Considering I'd been switching McNeil with Pinyaev for the vast majority of the season, Mudryk was a significant upgrade from the left-wing. Fixtures - January Liverpool proved yet again just how difficult they are to get anything against at Anfield, we've won at the Etihad, we've won at Old Trafford and we've won at The Emirates but by lord, we do not turn up there. It was pleasing to bounce back swiftly from that defeat and Calvert-Lewin's brace in the return leg was exquisite but we still fell short. Fixtures - February February provided us with some pitfalls while on our travels, we have developed a more defensively-solid system to play away from home but it also sometimes struggles to create enough in front of goal. As the team continues to improve, we will tinker with the prospect of implementing our more offensive setup away against teams that on paper we 'should' be able to defeat. Youth Intake - 2023/24 Alex Barkley Brother of Ross by any chance?! Johnson Jimoh This lad looks as though he's completely ambidextrous, in the same ilk as Ousmane Dembele.

Fixtures - November I must start with the Southampton win - Patterson was sent-off in the 83rd minute but our very own super-sub Pedro snatched victory in the 88th. The glaring fixture in November was the drubbing at Anfield; I was devastated, the fans were devastated, extremely poor day at the office. Though most of our goals were coming from DCL or Pedro throughout the season, youngster Hayden Towey netted the second against Servette in his substitute appearance. I am however quite sad to see that his personality has dropped from 'perfectionist' to 'fairly determined' after signing his first professional contract. He is young enough to turn that around though. Fixtures - December Sensational form throughout the month has led us into 2024 in 2nd place behind the cyborg-led Man City. I really enjoyed how we've become such a defensively solid side this season, the 1-0s are pleasing to see. Livakovic's strength in one-on-ones is really not to be sniffed at, he's stopping so many breakaways where we'd have conceded last season. Star Man - 17 goals in 14 (17) He's really stepped up when I've needed him most and hopefully long may this continue. I do need to get him to sign a new deal though or else I may have to cash in on him in the summer.

Friendlies Not much to be said about these fixtures, we tried to just bed in our usual starting eleven that will look something like this: Fixtures - August A last gasp Fran Garcia free-kick to equalise against Brighton (gave me Leighton Baines nostalgia) and holding onto a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge following an Ekdal red-card was lovely to see. Joao Pedro was really building on his first season with us by netting three goals across the month. Fixtures - September With all transfer business done, we entered the month full of optimism at the Etihad, our optimism paid off as Sutalo and DCL netted headers in what was a game of set piece goals. Despite the latter and Pedro proving to be our penetrating forces in front of goal, we slumped against Spurs as Yves Bissouma netted a brace to end our unbeaten run. Fixtures - October Two braces for DCL against Servette and Anderlecht respectively showed how much the injury-prone forward was rekindling his form. Sutalo again proved potent from set-plays with a headed winner against Man Utd in the 90th minute, gone are the days of Fergie time. Though we lost graciously against Newcastle, the way we are responding to losses is much more positive than last season.