JLAB

AFC Telford United - Season 4 After last season, I knew that we had the potential to reach the playoffs in the league, and our performance this season proved me correct. We equalled our best-ever season in the points tally with 77 points, and we had a tough task ahead of us. So when we reached the playoff final, beating Marine and King's Lynn Town along the way, I was excited by our chances. It turns out we were terrific, but unfortunately, we just ran out of steam towards the end, with Kettering Town beating us 4-2 after extra time in the playoff final. Maybe next season, we can take the next step towards our progression of going up the football leagues. I completed my Continental A Licence. After this last step, I am finally studying for my Continental Pro Licence to complete my coaching qualifications. Our latest youth intake was kinder than last season's, so I am optimistic about the future. Sean Owens is the first of two 5-star potential ability goalkeepers but is highly inconsistent. Paddy Smyth is the latest of a list of exciting young strikers to come through my academy. If we can improve his determination, I will have no complaints. Emanuel Tavares is the player I am most excited about, for he can slot straight into my first team upon his arrival. He might be inconsistent, but his ability and personality more than makeup for it. Jordan Gazey is another midfielder who helps strengthen my core. He is useful in many ways. He gives me more of a playmaker vibe than anything else, but he also needs to improve before he can be considered for the first team. Philip O'Connor is the last goalkeeper I am pleased with. He has a better personality and consistency, so there is plenty of reason to believe he will succeed. I received a job interview offer from Scottish Premiership side Kilmarnock this season, so it was interesting to receive this approach as an English sixth-tier manager. I've played 200 games in charge of Telford United, and I consider this my most successful season yet. My board is realistic about where we should aim, and my players are slowly developing. Can we aim for the playoffs again next season? JLAB's YAC with Telford United - Season 4

Just had my favourite ever victory. It's not often you can win 3-0 despite only having a single shot on target.

AFC Telford United - Season 3 After a tricky start to the season, when we picked up just 1 point from our opening eight games, I decided to change my formation partway through the season, and it worked. It's an improvement from last season, and we only missed out on the playoffs by three points and a three-goal difference. The changes weren't even that dramatic in all irony. The only things that changed were the formation and some player roles. Some of the players in the starting lineup I will introduce you to later. I completed my Continental B Licence this season. I am studying for my Continental A Licence. The latest youth intake happened, and I was super excited. Until I saw all of the players' personalities coming through, and my excitement died like a balloon that was being burst. My backroom staff is most excited about Julle Mayele, but unfortunately, he lacks belief in himself despite his ability. He feels like a project that we can work on. Denis Malone-Slevin is a player that excites me. He can be the playmaker I have been after for a while, which for our new formation is essential for the cause. Nathan Sadler adds to the strength we are building in the left-winger role. His good physical ability perfectly matches the role he will play for my team. If Denis Malone-Slevin was the playmaker I wanted, then Abel Lukman was the mezzala I wanted. Yes, his game has a few flaws, but we can help him develop in those areas. If only he weren't so inconsistent. Junior Etim is a fantastic player to have. Playing on both wings in the defensive third is very useful for this level, and I hope he can thrive under my wing. Dan Atkinson is the best right-back on the team. Which is a concerning sentence to write out, but at the same time, I am excited. His consistency needs work, and I'd like more ambition, but he works hard and has good attributes across the board. Ìlyas Tosun is a goalkeeper that can take us to the top. He had competition for his spot, but if we can iron out his flaws, we have an outstanding talent for this level. I convinced the board to increase our junior coaching. Arbroath approached me at the beginning of the season for a job interview. Later in the season, Dundee United approached me for a job interview. I've been in charge of Telford United for over 150 games now. We're slowly getting worse in the FA Trophy, but we always do well in the FA Cup. Our defence was worse than last season, but I realised that we needed to change formation to suit the team's players. Can we challenge for the playoffs again next season? JLAB's YAC with Telford United - Season 3

AFC Telford United - Season 2 Having finished 7th last season, dropping to 14th place could be considered a disappointment, but ultimately, we were never in danger of being dragged into a relegation fight. I finished my National A Licence this season. I'm studying for my Continental C Licence this season. The youth intake provided me with some exciting players. I'll post the link to the video where I go over the season in much more detail than this. Chris Bell is the player that I am the most excited about. He has many attributes that I want in a player and a good personality. Aron Hibbert is one of those players who has a lot of potential but doesn't seem to know what he wants to become. Johnny McNally is my first proper right-back so far, and I hope we can help him become our best right-back on the team. John Musselwhite is a player that I like the look of, even if he feels more like a wide player than a central one. However, Csaba Kiss is the player I'm the most excited about. While I had a Hungarian come through my youth intake, I don't know, but I can't complain when he's as useful-looking as this. I also managed to convince the board to improve our training facilities after we had an amazing FA Cup run, which took us to the 3rd round of the competition. We also improved our youth recruitment. We also improved our junior coaching. I was named the favourite for the Blackpool job, but no interview came after I refused to consider the League One job in the media. I was also linked with the MK Dons job, another League One team. Suddenly, my work at Telford United seems to be attracting press attention. We've now had over 100 games in charge of Telford. Our goals have slowed down a little bit, but we are a very average team these days. Getting our training facilities back to Good and seeing our junior coaching and youth recruitment get to average is also helpful. JLAB's YAC with Telford United - Season 2

AFC Telford United - Season 1 I finished my first season at Telford United in 7th place. We had a lovely first season and easily avoided relegation from the 6th tier. However, we were defeated at the first hurdle of the playoffs by Spennymoor. I completed the National C Licence. I'm studying for my National B Licence. The first intake was quite lovely. I went over all the players in more detail in a video I will link below. Michael Rimmer had the best current ability of the intake players. As did James Mitchell. Milan Lazarov is probably the most essential player since he gives me more depth of strength on the right wing that I need in the role I will be using for him. Bailee-James Lodge has the most potential stars but needs work to make my first team plans. While Matei is the player that my backroom staff are most excited about. The club was taken over partway through the season, and the new chairman immediately gave me a new contract, which was nice. We scored almost 100 goals in our 53 games this season. I need to improve some of the facilities at some point. After I took this screenshot, our training facilities dropped in how they were viewed by the world. JLAB's YAC with Telford United - Season 1

They have an affiliate club in both League 1 (Shrewsbury) and Championship (West Brom), but neither will stop Telford from getting promoted

We are back. I will be taking my time and not rushing this. We will see how this goes. I plan on doing yearly updates.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Our First Premier League Opponents! Our campaign continues to go from strength to strength, and we only lost 1-0 to Juventus and beat Bodø/Glimt 1-0 despite being down to 10 men for the last 38 minutes of the game. Our league form looks solid, and we're progressing in the cup, too. We even beat Antwerp to get to the Europa League Round of 16. Despite only dropping two points, we saw our lead cut to six points. We should still control the league, but it was something to note. We finished in 10th place in the Europa League, and after beating Antwerp 1-0 over two legs, we can make some progress in the European competition. Perhaps our biggest win of the season so far was the 2-0 over Newcastle United at home. We weren't amazing, but we took our chances towards the end of the game and made sure that we kept a clean sheet. It was a massive boost to our confidence. Unfortunately, we couldn't defend a 2-0 lead in Newcastle, but we did manage to keep it competitive in England, making Newcastle work hard for this win. We lost 5-2 on the night, but we only lost 5-4 over two legs against one of the favourites for the Europa League.

After I took the screenshot, I did, yeah.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Signing A Superstar Goalkeeper? We started November with a defeat to Nice in the Europa League and ended December with our first league defeat. We won every other game, so we're finding our form at the right time. While we were picking up points, Ferecvárosi were dropping them. We have an eight-point lead and are already eleven points clear of 3rd and 4th. Progress has been made. The Europa League campaign has been going much better than expected. We've already secured a top-24 finish with two games to go, and with only Juventus and Bodø/Glimt being our last two opponents, we could manage to shock many people and get a top-eight finish. Unfortunately, our youth intake preview doesn't look amazing, but that's not the end of the world. What is happening, though, is securing the signature of Nikola Čavlina for just £220K with a contract where we are only paying him £4K p/w. An absolute steal as far as I am concerned.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Exceeding Expectations In Europe? We've been enjoying our time in the last two months and have only dropped two points in the league against Zalaegerszegi and in the Europa League against Beşiktaş. Being able to take points off Beşiktaş was a pleasant surprise. We've now built a two-point gap at the top of the OTP Bank Liga over Ferencvárosi after only dropping two points in the league. We want to retain the league title after securing the crown last season. After the first three games in the Europa League, we're currently in the top-eight, having overachieved. We still gave Nice and Juventus later down the line, but we're off to a good start.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Our European Opponents Are... I ended up making two more signings, and the first was Ivan Savić on loan from FK Partizan. He felt like a player that would help strengthen our defence and keep it youthful. Bjarki Bjarkason was my last signing of the summer transfer window, and he was brought in to help with the lack of squad depth at left wing. We needed more cover there, and I wasn't afraid to spend £160K to provide that after cover. In the end, despite our best attempts, we couldn't secure Champions League football, having been beaten 2-1 over two legs by Sparta Prague. Still, with victories over Flora Tallinn and Djurgårdens IF, we managed to get into the league phase of the Europa League. Our form in the league has been promising as well. We're currently sitting in 2nd place in the league, only behind on games won. I expect us to stop dropping so many points with draws and remember how to win consistently in the league sooner rather than later, especially given our need to retain the OTP Bank Liga. We also got given our Europa League draw, and we got given some very winnable games. The most challenging fixtures on paper are Juventus, Nice and Beşiktaş, but I truly believe that we have a great chance to secure a top-24 position at worst.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Our Champions League Debut It was the first transfer window after winning the league for the first time, and I decided I wanted to get some good business done. So when I convinced Michael Okeke to sign for me, I was very excited. He helps make our midfield incredibly stacked and gives me more options. I ended up selling my best goalkeeper to Lille for £1.3M, making him both my most expensive signing and sell. We still made a profit of £550K from this business, which gives me more flexibility to work in the transfer market. Not that it stopped me going for free signings and bargains. I brought Serge Aurier on a free transfer, and he became the biggest name to sign for the club. I also brought in a new left-back to join Serge Aurier on the list of new fullbacks. James Morris is a good player who can become a league star. I brought Roman Egan-Riley on loan from Tottenham to help strengthen my defence and provide some youth to help with the board's desire to see us develop some young talent. Jan Blaswich is Lubej Fink's replacement, and we only signed him for £95K. He might be on the older side, but he fits what I wanted as my goalkeeper, so I am content with this signing. The last person I brought in was Martin Cigánek on a compensation deal of £53K. He was Sparta Prague's key player, so I decided to go in and poach him from his club before we took them on in the Champions League. Not that it helped me beat them. We lost our Champions League debut match 1-0.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Our First Champions League Opponent Is... The new season has arrived, and before our loans have returned, we are predicted to finish in 2nd place, having secured our first league title. We were given a job interview offer from Freiburg after they sacked their manager of 14 years. I rejected the offer because of what I wanted to achieve here in Hungary. As for who we have been drawn against in the Champions League, being given a tie against the Czechia champions Sparta Prague will be an exciting challenge. I hope that we can do well next month.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Reviewing Our 3rd Season We needed to finish off our season, and we did that with a 3-1 victory over Haladás to end our season on a high. Not only did we win the league for the first time, but Ferencvárosi managed to drop down to 3rd place this season, with Fehérvár managing to pip them to 2nd spot. However, Ferencvárosi did end up winning the cup, so they are playing in the Europa League instead. The supporters have started flocking to the team after their outstanding performance in the league. Increasing our social media followers by 50% is always a good time. The board also seems to like what we have achieved and wants more of the same. Now that we've qualified for European competition, the board is demanding more of the same every season. We don't have much money to spend if we want to improve the team next season. We have impressed enough people that we're suddenly getting linked with Bundesliga side Freiburg of all teams, so that's a promising sign. I wonder what could be next in line for our future.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Winning the OTP Bank Liga? In a twist of fate that I didn't see coming, we had a chance to take on one of our biggest rivals with a chance to win the OTP Bank Liga for the first time as the manager of Budapest Honvéd. After being knocked out of the Magyar Kupa by Ferencvárosi TC, we secured the win against Vasas that would bring us to our incredible journey's next step. We lifted the OTP Bank Liga in Vasas' ground as I secured the club's 15th league title, but I was still somewhere off my target. Just two years after securing promotion from the Hungarian 2nd tier, this has been my fastest rise to the top title and one that I can't believe that I've been able to achieve thus far. However, we are still some way off from being the best in the country. Ferencvárosi TC, MTK Budapest and Újpest are still ahead of us regarding title wins, which I want to overhaul as I help Hungarian football become the best in the world. It was also an emotional send-off for Albin Ekdal, who decided that he wanted to retire at the end of the season, so to be able to retire, having helped us win the title, is the best send-off I can give him.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - An Exciting Youth Intake? We always benefit from returning from the winter break, and for the first time, we've beaten Ferencvárosi in the league. We felt unstoppable for February, but the only game of March before the youth intake arrived was the only points we dropped since the end of the winter break. Thanks to our strong return, we're back at the summit of the OTP Bank Liga, and it looks like we might want to stay there for the rest of the season. The league has felt competitive this season, and it's nice to see teams starting to make things challenging. We had our youth intake, and only two players had more than four stars of potential ability. I am excited about them. Bence Kónya looks like a decent attacking midfielder, but I plan on making him a central midfielder because his tackling is wasted further forward. I can see him being a mezzala in the future. The player that I am most excited about is Norbert Bognár, who is already a player that could be replacing the deadwood of my team if I decide to go down that route. It's exciting to have a talent of this quality coming through my academy just three seasons into the reign.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - My First Newgen Signing Having gone into September at the top of the table, I wanted to ensure we continued our great start to the season. I didn't expect us to pick up a single point in September and to cause us issues suddenly. Thankfully, despite our poor start after the summer transfer window ended, we only dropped ten points in the next ten matches. Unfortunately, our terrible September has caused us to drop down to 2nd place and to find ourselves four points behind Ferencvárosi. We take on the dominant side in our next league game, so I hope we can turn things around next time. Our youth intake preview has arrived, and we might have reason to be excited. I will be delighted if we get the striker we are promised. Still, we have moved into the transfer market, and Slavomir Kucera has been signed for £40K. He will go back out on loan to Spartak Myjava until the end of the season to get more first-team football, but I am excited by how well he could develop while we finish off the season. István Barna also managed to reach 100 games in charge of Budapest Honvéd, and hopefully, this is a sign of things to come in the future.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Breaking Our Transfer Record on a Goalkeeper After our triumph against FCSB in the Europa League, I was confident that things would continue to go smoothly for the team and me as we raced towards transfer deadline day in Hungary, but there was a turn that I didn't see coming. We managed to stumble at the next hurdle against Derry City on penalties. It wasn't ideal, but it meant that we dropped down into the Europa Conference League, where we would beat Kilmarnock but eventually fall to Real Betis, which, to be fair, was expected. Still, despite our woes in Europe and not making it to the league phase of any competition, we were performing well in domestic competition. We are doing so well that we're currently at the top after five matches. This time last year, we had four points to our name and looked over our shoulder at the relegation zone. To see us perform this well in the league so far is a continuation of last season's end-of-year performance, where we won 12 of the previous 14 league games. The fact we've continued that run of form to claim a further 4 wins from 5 means that for the calendar year of 2025, we've won 16 out of 19 league games, drawn twice, and lost just once. Yet, despite our domestic performances, I still wanted to bring more strength to the side. I ended up signing Ibrahima Cissé on loan from Sheffield United. They just bought Cissé from Schalke for £550K and were willing to loan him to us in the same summer. With his 6'5" frame, 18 jumping reach, 16 strength, and 14 heading, he will be a handy weapon from set pieces to aim for. Perhaps my most significant move was for Bravo's Gal Lubej Fink, the goalkeeper whom I brought the club's transfer record. We are paying £750K for his services but only £150K up front. Over the next 24 months, we will pay off £150K every six months to finish paying off his fee. I know it's a risk to make this move, especially with a release clause of £1.1M to other domestic clubs, but I felt like this was a risk I wanted to take. Can we keep this up and challenge for the league title?

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Our First European Games Signing Uroš Lazić as my backup right-back was the first move I made after it was confirmed we'd be taking on FCSB in the first qualifying round of the Europa League. He's agreed to be a squad player and will be a backup for Kane Wilson this season. It gives us the strength in depth at right-back that we desperately needed. Lenny Joseph is the last player that I've brought in. He feels like an upgrade on what we have up front, and I hope he will score some goals. He's just gone to the Gold Cup to pay for Haiti, so he missed our opening Europa League games against FCSB. The first leg ended up being a 1-1 draw. We came from behind, and I felt this game was there for the taking. Thankfully, we bounced back from that disappointment to secure a 2-1 win in the 2nd leg to win 3-2 on aggregate. We managed to secure a win in our first game in Europe as a manager, and I couldn't be more delighted.

Fair enough, it might be a different icon for "Help", but I'm happy you might have found a solution. I also appreciate the kind words.

You have the ? at the top of the skin? Click on "Set to Experienced" and it should sort it out for you?

Budapest Honvéd - Build A Nation - Preparing For Europe! With a transfer budget of over £500K and a weekly wage budget of £75K, I had to prepare my side for the Europa League for the first time in my career. I had managed to guide the team to finish in 2nd place last season after spending just £300K, so this could be something I could pull off given the squad we already have at our disposal. We are now considered the 5th biggest team in Hungary based on our reputation, which is vital for our rise in one day helping make Hungarian football the best in the world. In a bit of news that I felt was important and I wanted to share, my former player who became my under-19s coach last season, Ivan Lovric, was given the job of the new MTK Budapest manager for this upcoming season. They finished bottom and got relegated to the 2nd tier, so he'll try to guide one of our local rivals back to the top flight of Hungarian football. The first person I signed for Budapest Honvéd was Kane Wilson, a right-back who covered the position we desperately needed to strengthen. The right-backs for last season were either released or finished their loans, so he is a critical piece of the puzzle we're trying to fit in place. Speaking of loans, Iker Kortajarena has returned to the club for a 2nd spell, and this time permanently. After his loan spell last season, I discovered I could get Kortajarena to sign for us on just £1.2K p/w, a chance I couldn't pass up on. However, Ante Palaversa will be our starting central midfielder, bumping Kortajarena down to a squad player role. Palaversa played the role I desired in midfield, and he made sure that I promised him that he would play as a box-to-box midfielder during his time at the club. Given that's what I signed him for, I could easily make that promise. I've signed Michal Pinter to help our defensive depth. He's an experienced head I can trust to keep things organised. Even if he has some glaring weaknesses in his game, his decision-making makes up for some weaknesses. His consistency is also essential for what I want from him. That said, I still signed another centre-back in the form of Dávid Bobál, who, if I was desperate enough, could also play as a left-back, so he's a useful squad player for the side. His consistency and enjoyment of big games make him someone I rely on for the big occasion. Still, we've been given our first draw of the Europa League campaign and were drawn against Fotball Club FCSB in the first qualifying round. If we can get past them, we will be given a draw against either Derry City or FC Midtjylland in the 2nd qualifying round. It would be nice to win.

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - We Found A Hungarian Wonderkid Goalkeeper! After our youth intake and March, we enjoyed our best run of form to date. We only dropped two points in nine games and won our last seven games. We only conceded three goals in the previous nine games, and keeping seven clean sheets tells you how much our defence secured our run of form. To my surprise, we secured a 2nd place finish and Europa League football. My aim for the season was just survival, so to finish in the top two and qualify for the Europa League was a massive shock to me. Especially when we lost four of our first six games of the season, it wasn't something I had planned for. As I got- some end-of-season awards, I came across Attila Nyári as one of the season's best rookies. So imagine my surprise when I saw just how good he was at just the age of 16. I aim to one day become the manager of the Hungarian National Team, so I know that one day, I will try to manage Nyári domestically or internationally. How will we prepare for European football?

Budapest Honvéd - Building A Nation - Was Our Intake Good? We had our second intake of my time at the club, and we only had two players to be excited about, and even then, that's being rather generous. Nobert Balogh is the first of two players I can say have some promise about them, but his poor personality and inconsistency are holding him down. Richárd Köpf is the other player that I think has good potential. He's also inconsistent, but his jovial personality isn't the worst in the world. In the meantime, while we were waiting for the youth intake, I made two more loan signings. Nolan Mbemba was brought in on loan from Coventry City. He might be 30 now, but he has plenty of good attributes that I felt fit our side, and given how many positions he could cover, he was the perfect squad player. The last player I brought in on loan was Godfried Roemeratoe from RKC Waalwijk. He could cover three positions where I needed more in-depth strength, just like Mbemba could. It was the perfect signing for what I needed at the time. We also only had seven games since the last post, winning five of them. Unfortunately, we were knocked out of the Magyar Kupa, but we continued our strong run in the league, with only Ferencvárosi beating us. They always beat us when we meet, sadly. Our strong form in the league now means that we're firmly in the hunt for European football, something that I didn't think I would be able to say in my first season. It would be a massive overachievement if we pull this off. Long may it continue.