AM23

What a result against Inter! You have definitely manage to change the tide at Rosenborg. It's not every year that a Norwegian club reaches the main draw of the Champions League, so to go a step further and get to the play-off is truly a special achievement. It must be tough to have all these big games in the middle of your season preparation though. Hard to keep match fitness up.

Such a good start to the season! If you can just keep winning those 'easy' games you're already a long way. Will be interesting how the squad handles the next few months with midweek European fixtures.

Thanks for the comment! Great to hear you are liking the thread so far. Using the Mustermann skin has definitely taken some time to get used to, and to be honest I am still learning as I go. I do really feel that it helps me focus more on the actual match performances of players instead of being fixated on attributes so much. Good luck with Messina! Hopefully I will meet them next season in this save. I will be sure to check out your thread.

December 2023 After 13 games in the previous two months, December looks very relaxing. We finish the first half of the season with a relatively easy schedule, as we meet 17th, 13th and 18th in the table respectively, before a big game against Reggio Calabria. Matchday 14-16 Gioiese (H) - Five losses in a row had not given our opposition much confidence judging by the one way traffic in this match. There was one part we lacked in though, as we saw almost all of our shots miss the target. The score was finally opened when Andrea Cristini headed home from a corner with our 21st shot of the game. It was a great alround performance by him, as he also lead our defence which only gave up one shot. Portici (A) - At the foot of the Vesuvius we encountered a dangerous combination of a compact defence and quick counters. Chances were scarce and the 1-1 scoreline after an hour wasn't unfair. Only after we decided on a more direct playing style making use of the counter ourselves did we start getting in front of their goal regularly. In the end Mauro Bollino underlined his status as a supersub on the wing, scoring a late winner for the second time this season. Sancataldese (H) - Our first point loss at home comes unexpectedly. Initially we had no real trouble as Andrea Cocco got us the lead scoring for the 4th league match in a row, but after that we failed to capitalise on our chances. A direct red saw us perplexed for a moment leading to the equaliser shortly after. Reggio Calabria (A) A very important game close to the end of the year. With three wins in a row the phoenix club of Reggina is now only three points away from us, meaning they could take over first place with a win here. They play in a 5-3-2 system, so once again we will mirror that formation since that worked out well last time. Did we deserve the win? Probably not. I won't let it bother me though, as this is a huge result with respect to the battle for first place. It took us some time to find our footing in this match, but after Reggio Calabria had been the best team for most of the first half, it was us who went into the break with the lead thanks to two goals in quick succession. We reacted swiftly after their equaliser in the second half, scoring another two goals. The game was far from over however, as Reggio Calabria piled on the chances in the last fifteen minutes. Luckily they were unable to finish any of them. Some mismanagement by me saw us with not enough U20 players on the bench, which meant I was unable to take off some very tired youngsters. When the 2-2 was scored I was sure it was over for us. In the end I got saved by two perfect Oliver Kragl corners. Sicilian Players In one of the first posts of this thread I layed out the philosophy for this save. One of the goals I formulated was to not only build a succesful Sicilian club, but also for there to come more talent from the island. Therefore I thought it would be interesting to look at the current state. I recently finished my Sicilian player search filter and thus am now able to see were all players with roots on the island are active. I have to say the distribution is even worse than I expected. With Sicily holding more than 8% of the population of Italy, you would expect more than the following: Serie A holds just 2 senior Sicilian players (0.4% assuming 25 players per squad): Emmanuel Gyasi (29, Empoli) and Antonino Gallo (23, Lecce). Of these two only the latter is actually getting game time too. Gallo is however one of the few positives in a struggling Lecce squad, and even leads Serie A with his 6 assists so far. 13 more players are active within the youth teams of Serie A clubs. In other European top leagues Mario Balotelli is the only active player born on the island, though he did move to the north of the country not long after his birth. The numbers in Serie B are better, with 14 senior players coming from Sicily. This is still only about 2.8% of all players in the league though. In Serie C the number lies around 60. With the same amount of teams active at this level that means about 4% of players. Clearly, there is many room for improvements. I am curious to see if it would be possible to get these numbers up by building a world class youth academy on the island, although I might be getting ahead of myself here. League table Despite the very disappointing draw against Sancataldese, I can only really call this a succesful month. Losing that last game against Reggio Calabria would have meant a three way tie at the top. Instead, we are the lone leaders with the advantage of having won against both Vibonese and Reggio Calabria already, which could be crucial given that head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker in Italy.

Oh it really does. Makes it all the more rewarding if you do come out on top. Have fun with Bologna! A very interesting project and of course a great season in real life. Still tight at the top of the table indeed.

It has been a good run for us so far, so I am quite surprised there are still four teams close to us. As for Ragusa, they should have been in 7th according to the xG table, so I expect them to rise up the table later in the season. Good luck with your own save! Hope you find yourself the right Italian club to start with.

November 2023 A busy month with two midweek games coming up. No big travel times though, as we only meet Sicilian teams. Our trip to Licata is the most important one. They currently sit in second place, and have so far been the only team to keep us at a draw after 90 minutes, albeit in the cup. Matchday 9-10 And our perfect league run comes to an end. Just in the last post I was bragging about how good my tactical decisions in defense were, only for us to concede four goals in two matches to start this month. Igea Virtus (A) - A trip to the northwest of the island brought us to the beautifully named town of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, where we sadly suffered our first point loss. It only took Igea Virtus two shots in all of the first half to score as many goals. It was Francisco Sartore who made sure the scores where still even at the break, as the left winger built forward upon two assist in the last outing with a brace. Taking the lead back after an hour of play gave some relief, but we gave away control which led to a deserved equaliser. Despite not being in attack much, Igea Virtus still almost matched our xG (1.31 - 1.42) as our defence was unable to stop them when they did go forward. Ragusa (H) - We barely escape another draw in what should have been an easy home win. Oliver Kragl displays his amazing technique to save us, but I can't say it was deserved. In fact, Ragusa are the first team this season to have a better xG than us (1.18 - 1.20), while they kept us from our preferred style of slow build ups by pressing high up the pitch. Licata (A) While we struggled so far in this month, the four teams still relatively close to us all won their two matches. This means Licata could overtake us at the top of the table if they manage to beat us. Licata overtake us as they hand us our first loss of the season. After Licata had capitalised on a good start to the game, we seemed paralysed until the break. Slowly but surely we started to find our footing after that, resulting in more and more attacks, and at last the equaliser we were longing for. We couldn't really enjoy it though, as Licata quickly took back the lead with their only shot after opening the scoring. I am torn between two thoughts after this match. On the one hand we showed resilience in the second half, not giving up on the equaliser despite some missed chances. On the other hand, it was too easy to score for Licata the two times they felt the need to. Serie D Cup & Matchday 12-13 Siracusa (A) - Our second trip to Syracuse of the season gets us another positive result, although it was nowhere near as convincing as our 4-0 victory earlier in the year. We fielded an almost fully rotated side, which did actually not lead to a bad performance. We actually completely outplayed Siracusa and finished the match with 28 shots, opposed to their 6. However, we did fall 2-0 behind, and still relied on two first XI subs scoring to get it to penalties. There we emerged victorious for the second time this season, courtesy two saves by young goalkeeper Enis Ujkaj. Acireale (H) - Since we recently struggled against teams playing a 5-3-2, which Acireale does as well, I decided to mirror that formation for this match. This meant a less dominant showing than in our usual formation (only 49% possession), but did give us some more strength in defense. Moreover, Emiliano Pino was able to play in his best position as a complete wing back, which paid off as quickly. Città di Sant'Agata (A) - Back to our 4-3-3 we were dominant as ever, with 64% possession and a passing accuracy of 93%. Originally Oliver Kragl was our main man with a brace to get us in the lead twice. A flurry of goals in the last quarter of the game meant a big result in the end, although we do concede two goals yet again. Tau (A) - Serie D Cup (RO16) Our win against Siracusa has given us another midweek game to end this month. We're in the round of 16, and thus we have gotten a non-regional draw for the first time. An away draw means we travel to Altopascio in Tuscany, close to the famous city of Pisa. Tau Calcio are currently sitting mid table in their division, so I feel like we should be able to get past them. No third penalty shootout win for us. We've been riding our luck all tournament and it ends here. Such an unnecessary loss though, as we were in full control in the first half with a comfortable lead too. The dynamics of the game completely changed after the break to send us back home disappointed. Financial situation The main premise of this save is to break the trend of financial problems that have been haunting Sicilian clubs. The idea to this is by taking no unnecessary risks in spending so that the balance remains healthy. Therefore it is interesting to look into the current situation. We started out the save with €1.5 million in the bank, and have only been losing around €40k per month since then, which seems decent. Of course, a possible promotion would lead to the club turning professional and thus an increase in expenditures, but at least we have a bit of a buffer. What might stand out in the graph above is the negative spike in the most recent month. Luckily, this is not due to some unexpected reason, but actually a sign of the first improvements being made within the club. Namely, we are in the process of upgrading our youth facilities. All in all, things on the background are going well so far. League table We're back in first place as Licata dropped points twice immediately after beating us. Vibonese look like our biggest threat right now. In fact, after we beat them at the start of October, they have accumulated 9 league wins in a row.

I don't see why not Cocco really has been a blessing. Massively outperforming his xG and scoring more than one goal a game so far.

Great introduction! I've always felt that the US could develop a very interesting open league system given how many big cities there are. Also looking forward to see how many foreign players of those nations you will be able to attract. A very nice home kit too. Looks like it's inspired by SC Heerenveen from the Netherlands.

October 2023 We will meet some tougher opposition in October. Definitely an exciting month though, as we travel to two of our rivals in Akragas and Siracusa, the latter of which is predicted to finish 3rd. Additionaly, we have fixtures coming up against Vibonese and Locri, who have both gotten of to a good start in the league. I expect this month to be a lot more challenging than our season start, so it will be interesting to see how the team handles that. Vibonese (A) We travel to the mainland for the second time this season, where we will play one of the better teams in the league. After a narrow loss to Licata, who we beat on penalties in the cup, Vibonese have showed their worth with two convincing wins. Although results have been good last month, I do feel like we conceded too easily. Most of the chances our opponents got looked to result from a lack of pressure, so I have changed things up slightly by changing my central defenders to play as a stopper and a cover, with the idea that the stopper will close down opposing attackers early. What a great win this is! Only 5 minutes after coming onto the pitch right winger Mauro Bollino heads home the only goal of the match. Although we were in control for most of this game, we had a difficult time creating chances. I would have been happy with the draw too to be honest, given that we were away from home against a good opponent. Matchday 5-6 & Serie D Cup Akragas (A) - Agrigento, the city where seven magnificent Greek temples (500 BC) stand tall in the Valle dei Templi. Besides this UNESCO World Heritage site, the city is also home to a football club which carries the Greek name of the city, Akragas. The first rival we meet in this save does not have the quality to stop Andrea Cocco, who gets his second hattrick of the season to extend our winning run. Real Casalnuovo (H) - Our third clean sheet on the bounce and yet another win. Real Casalnuovo turned up playing a good old catenaccio system which gave us plenty to think about. We could not create any real chances no matter what tactical changes I made (xG 0.62 - 0.35), and were lucky Roberto Convitto chose today to score an absolute sreamer from distance. The left winger got into the starting XI for the first time last match and had already payed back trust with an assist too. In the end we are a bit lucky to come away with a 1-0 for the secont time this month. Canicattì (A) - A very rotated sides gets us through to the next round. Although it almost came down to penalties again, I am very happy with the way our back-ups played. They dominated Canicattì all the way throughout this game with 63% possession and an xG of 0.23 - 1.82. Siracusa (A) Next stop: Syracuse. The 4th biggest city on Sicily with 125,000 inhabitants, located on the southeast coast of the island. It is the place where the famous scientist Archimedes lived his whole life and designed machines that are still used to this day. The local football club is the Sicilian team to have played most seasons in Serie B besides the big three of Palermo, Catania and Messina. Their seven years there ended long ago though. Right now they are our biggest rivals in this league and also one of the main contenders for promotion. They have already fallen behind a bit, with a loss against Reggio Calabria last month and more recently a very disappointing home loss against last place Castrovillari. This means that we have the chance to put them at a distance early on in the season here. A truly special performance to humiliate our rivals! I don't think the first half today can be topped in the rest of this season. Siracusa had absolutely no say before the break, as we made four goals within 20 minutes to put the game far beyond their reach. They will have a chance to get revenge next month as we have been drawn against them in the third round of the Serie D Cup. Locri (H) Another very interesting game to finish the month. Locri have been surprising so far and are unbeaten in 3rd place. They only dropped points in two draws, and are the second best attacking team in the league behind us. It will be exciting to see our defence, that hasn't conceded a single goal in the last 4 league matches, going up against an attack that scored at least two goals in each of their seven league matches so far. Once more, we do have the chance to put a close rival at a distance in the table. Life is good right now. Yet another win to end the month. Francisco Sartore came on to the pitch as a left winger at the half and provided two assists that won us the game after a boring first half. He has had trouble performing early in the season losing his place in the starting XI, but today he showed what a valuable asset he is. Defensive performance At the start of this month I announced a small tactical change to our defence, where we are now playing with a stopper and a cover. Interestingly enough, this has worked out very well. There is a clear improvement in our performance defensively, which can be seen from these stats: Tactic: Previous system | Current sytem Matches: 4 | 6 Goals Against / 90: 1.5 | 0.33 xG Against / 90: 0.87 | 0.61 Blocked shots / 90: 0.5 | 1.17 It has to be noted that our opponents this month were on average better than those we met previous month. Therefore the improvements might be even better. We clearly concede much less and give away less chances, while blocking more shots. I attribute the higher amount of blocks to an increased pressure on opposition attackers, though I am not completely sure. Also, the sample size is quite small of course, so there is a chance that these stats are just a coincidence. Below are the two tactics (current on the right) and the players most used in them: The change is seemingly very small, but has also led to better individual performances. Andrea Cristini is the intended leader of our defence, but struggled a bit initially with an average rating of 6.75. In the matches after the change this has improved to an average 7.22. Young defensive midfielder Racine Ba has also increased his average rating from a 6.73 under the previous sytem to a 7.12 under the new system, which could be a result of having more back-up preventing shots. League table An exceptional month has kept us on top and with a loss for Licata in the last game we have also obtained some room for error now.

September 2023 For my first competitive match at the Provinciale we meet Licata in the Serie D Cup, where the first rounds seem to be drawn on a regional basis. In the league we have been assigned a relatively easy start, meeting three teams expected to finish in the bottom half. Licata (H) The first game of the save already throws up a nasty surprise, as it turns out there are quite strict rules on the use of youngsters in the Serie D (+ Cup). It turns out there are some rules for the amount of young players in the playing XI at all times: 4 U20, 3 U19, 1 U18. Admittedly, I would have known this had I taken the time to look into league rules. Anyways, the problem would have been the same since the summer transfer window was turned off. I did already have two young players in my intended first XI in right back Emiliano Pino (U19) and goalkeeper Enis Ujkaj (U19), while defensive midfielder Racine Ba (U20) is not a bad option. The U18 player gives us more trouble, as we only really have two left backs not quite ready for the first team as our options. An even bigger problem is that these restrictions stay in place during games, meaning that when taking one of these players off, another youngster needs to be subbed in, but we really miss some depth for that. Only 822 people turned up for this fixture I thought would be a cakewalk after a lucky second goal gave us a comfortable margin, but Licata only really needed two chances to get the game back even. Eventually we had to rely on penalties to get through to the next round, as we couldn't convert our chances in the second half. Despite the draw, we can look back on a good game, where we kept them at bay for almost all of the match. Matchday 1-3 We do what was expected of us and shoot into first place as the only team with a perfect record after three games. A very nice way to get the season going and it takes a bit of the pressure off. San Luca (H) - No better way for a striker to start the season than to do so with a hattrick. Andrea Cocco immediately shows how important he can be for this team after having already opened the scoring in the cup game too. We were in full control in this match with 78% possession and a passing accuracy of 91%. Once again it wasn't so much our defence being untrustworthy and giving two goals away, but more so their effectiveness, as San Luca scored both their shots on target. Castrovillari (A) - An incredible scoreline for an away game, but the result doesn't really tell the story of this match. Initially Castrovillari gave us a hard time as they were in no rush to take on our backline, opting for control instead which resulted in them having 64% of possession. For the first 60 minutes chances were scarce and we even fell behind for a short moment. Once we had scored the 2-1 though, their resistance stopped and the floodgates really opened. Our mezzala Federico Marigosu was the catalyst to our success, being seemingly at the center of every attack and contributing to three goals. Canicattì (H) - A game very similar to the first one, albeit with a few less goals. We were in control throughout with deep lying playmaker Marco Crimi completing no less than 134 passes. However, we needed a third penalty in as many matches to break the deadlock, and were unable to keep a clean sheet again. Not all is good though. Francesco Bova is our first big injury, which is not great since he is one of the few youngsters in the first team. Without him we have even less options for our necessery U20 players. League table

It's been a while since I have had an Italian save game, but so far I've been enjoying it. The lone striker has been working quite well actually in the first few matches, although that might also be because our striker is one of the league's best players.

Summer 2023 With the summer transfer window turned off July and August were mostly about getting familiar with the squad and deciding on a tactic. I also got the time to check out our Serie D group, which is made up for more than 50% by Sicilian teams. The most interesting opponent is however not one of the nine other teams from the island, but one just a 20 minute ferry ride away. LFA Reggio Calabria (Reggina) are the arch rivals of Messina, with whom they fight out the Derby dello Stretto. The first decade of this century saw them spend 9 seasons in Serie A, and in the 2022/23 season they came close to a return by reaching the Serie B play-offs. Instead of a return to Serie A, a bankruptcy has sent them down to Serie D, where they will be our main rivals for the single promotion spot. Expectations in Trapani are high as a return to the professional levels is the goal. The board seem to be ambitious overall, as they want to get back to Serie B within 4 years. Squad & Tactic The squad I inherited looks to be a good mix of talent and experience as players from all age ranges are present. Of course, we wouldn't be in Italy without some older players that are essential for the team. One such example is 33 year old German winger Oliver Kragl, who appears to be the star man. While he has some good technical stats and is known as a dead-ball specialist, he isn't the quickest anymore, which has led me to decide on giving the Raumdeuter role another try. On the right side in our 4-3-3, I have paired him with our biggest prospect Emiliano Pino, a complete wing back very suitable for storming the flank. To compensate for this attacking right back we will play with an inverted full back on the other side of the pitch. Our oldest player is the man who will spearhead our attack, Andrea Cocco. At 37 years old he still is one of our best players and he carries the experience of 9 Serie B seasons with him. The best word to explain our tactic is patience. Building up our attacks from the back is the plan, while we are in no rush to win possession with our lower line of engagement. Pre-season A total of six friendly games for us in August to get ready for the league season. We started out against a 5th tier side after which we met two of our division rivals from the island and three Serie C teams. Overall results were very positive, with especially the wins over Pro Vercelli and Juventus B-team giving confidence. In the end Perugia made sure we aren't flying too high going into the season.

Thanks! I'm excited to get started. I do believe that there should be enough quality players available to put together a good squad. It might get harder when going up the leagues but that should only make possible success more rewarding. As for improving the quality of Sicilian players I think that it will be more difficult to get them better, but having a great youth academy on the island should be helpful. My original idea was actually to go with Palermo before I decided to start a bit lower on the pyramid, so I'd say it's a good choice. They are an interesting team with some good results in recent history and a nice stadium.

The save It probably does not come as a big surprise after the introduction that I will be taking charge of one of the Sicilian teams. The goal of the save is to build up the club in a sustainable way, but more on that later. As for the club I will be managing, I have chosen Trapani. There really is not a special reason that I have chosen them over the other teams, just that their project excited me most. I mostly like the starting point they give me, being one of the favourites to earn promotion from the Serie D. I am using this database to activate Serie D. Furthermore I am going to be using the Mustermann skin, which will take some getting used to as I have not used it before. As for the save, I plan on taking things a little bit slow, unlike my previous FM24 save where I went through the seasons relatively quickly. The club Trapani is a small port city located on the west coast of Sicily, where Africa is geographically closer than mainland Italy. Inhabited by almost 70,000 people, Trapani is the 8th largest city on the island in terms of population. The local football club plays at the Stadio Provinciale, which holds 7,787 people. Throughout its history, Trapani spent most time in the 3rd, 4th and 5th tiers of Italian football. Some financial problems in the early 2000's had even led to the club spending a few seasons at the 6th tier, but their fortunes changed following a promotion in 2007/08. Five seasons and two more promotions later Trapani achieved the biggest success in its history, by winning their Serie C division, thus getting promoted to the Serie B for the very first time. Their quick rise continued with 14th, 11th and 3rd place finishes. That third season saw Trapani come very close to the Serie A, but ultimately falling at the final hurdle of the promotion play-offs to Pescara. They got relegated a year later and a second Serie B spell starting in 2019 did not last longer than one season. The year after Trapani was declared bankrupt. So far the Serie D restart has led to a 12th and 3rd place finish, and in the current 2023/24 season an unbeaten championship, but that will not count for me in this save. For the stadium atmosphere, see the highlights of their recent championship match. The philosophy I have identified two problems with Sicilian football. The first one, bankruptcies, is the most obvious. The second is that there are not a lot of players from Sicily that reach the Serie A. Using these problems I have formulated the following rules/objectives for the save: I will only allow myself to sign players from lower divisions than the one I am in (so if we reach Serie A, only players from Serie B and lower can be signed). In practice this should result in paying less money in transfer sums and wages for established players, using the big talent pool of the Italian lower levels instead. Free transfers are another story. Since they do not require transfer sums, they will be allowed. This will be especially handy for signing more experienced players of sufficient quality, as they are obviously more difficult to find at lower levels. There is one more exception for the signing policy. Namely, that I will always be allowed to sign players born on Sicily. The region is underpresented in Italian football, so I should give them the chance if possible. As a consequence of the restrictive transfer policy, the youth academy will play an important role in this save. Focus on the academy should be useful on two fronts: giving the club another supply of talent and producing Sicilian footballers. All in all, the restrictive transfer policy is in place to stay out of financial troubles and build sustainable success instead, while creating a good youth academy will hopefully make Trapani a talent hub for Sicilian players. The road The exact process of building up the club will of course form itself during the save, but I have made the following road map for some general directions: Quick promotion: getting back into the Serie C has to happen as fast as possible, preferably in the first season. Building up the club: start improving the academy and set up a network of scouts to get a good overview of the Italian lower leagues. Slow improvement: maintain an upward trajectory working towards promotion to the Serie B and establishing the club there. Talent hub: become one of the leading Italian academies and produce some Sicilian talents. Historic promotion: continuing the path of steady progress should eventually lead to Trapani reaching the Serie A for the first time. Sicilian Success: establish the club in the Serie A and work towards winning Sicily's first ever major trophy (Serie A or Coppa Italia)

Thanks! At least I've got the luck that FM doesn't have bankruptcies in the game. Should make things a bit easier.

Introduction Sicily, the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea, the 'football' that is being kicked by the boot of mainland Italy. Sicily is where the sun burns and where Mount Etna rumbles. It is also where the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Vandals, the Arabs and the Normans all set foot and left their marks, resulting in a real melting pot of cultures. Moreover, Sicily is home to cities like Syracuse, which was once one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean, and Messina, where the Black Death first arrived in Western Europe. All in all, this beautiful island that is populated by around five million people has a very rich history. Nowadays, Sicily is just another part of the relatively poor south of Italy. This is shown in its football clubs too, as they simply do not have the resources to battle it out with clubs from the richer north of the country. Even the football club of Palermo, the fifth biggest city in Italy, has only played 29 seasons in Serie A since the inception of professional football in Italy in 1929. The only other teams from the island to have even reached the Serie A are Catania (17 seasons) and Messina (5 seasons). Another four teams have reached as high as Serie B at some point: Siracusa (7 seasons, 1946-53), Licata (2 seasons, 1988-90), Acireale (2 seasons, 1993-95) and Trapani (5 seasons, 2013-17 19-20). Of these clubs Trapani came closest to becoming the fourth Siclian team to reach the Serie A with a 3rd place finish in 2015/16, after which they lost the play-off final to Pescara. While bankruptcies have sadly been commonplace in Italian football for a long time now, they seem to happen especially often on Sicily. During the '90s, when Serie A was the best competition in the world, some of these bankruptcies and bad results had led to Sicily being without a club in the top two tiers of Italian football for the first time ever. Surprisingly though, the big three of Sicily (Palermo, Catania and Messina) all recovered quickly, which actually turned into the most successful period of Sicilian football. In the 2006/07 season the island had three Serie A teams at the same time for the first and so far only time ever. It was also the period in which the biggest Sicilian club, Palermo, achieved its best league finishes. Six top half Serie A finishes in 7 years got Palermo into the UEFA Cup / Europa League five times, while they also reached their third Coppa Italia final in 2011, though they failed to win it for the third time as well. However, we all know good times do not last forever. Things went in a downward spiral quickly again, and in 2017 Palermo was the last Sicilian club to be relegated from the Serie A. Following on from that finances started to play a role again, with the clubs from the island playing in the top three professional divisions going bankrupt one by one: Messina (2017), Siracusa (2019), Palermo (2019), Trapani (2020), Catania (2022). This meant a restart in the Serie D, outside of the professional leagues, for all teams. As a result, from 2020-22 again no club from Sicily played in the top two tiers of Italian Football. For the current 2023/24 season the distribution is as follows: Serie B Serie C Serie D

November 2034 In my first month I will be introduced to all of our three competitions immediately. My tenure starts with an away game to National League side Worthing in the FA Cup. Starting off with a win there will be very difficult. In the league Braintree are four points above us, while both Radcliffe and Marine are below us in the table. Especially the game against Marine should result in a win. Worthing - Blyth Spartans (FA Cup) xG: 1.42 - 0.95; Shots: 9(5) - 11(3); Possession: 68% - 32% Definitely not how I hoped to start here. Still, Worthing are playing a tier higher and were also flattered by the score a bit. Having to play our back-up goalkeeper didn't help our cause really. A well played out attack saw Worthing grab the lead, which was doubled just before halftime when we didn't react adequately enough to a corner. In the second half we went on the front foot a little bit more and finally got to creating some chances, but it was a Worthing free kick that put the scoreline at 3-0. Braintree - Blyth Spartans xG: 0.03 - 1.91; Shots: 1(0) - 9(4); Possession: 47% - 53% We do keep the league winning streak intact! What a performance this was really, as we only saw them able to attempt one shot from a free kick. The lead was thrown into our lap when Simon Baker was fouled with the ball ten meters away from him. He converted the penalty himself. Our second goal was assisted by inverted left wing back Rees Hodgin, who found himself back all the way on the right wing from where he pulled off a perfect low cross. Blyth Spartans - Radcliffe xG: 0.78 - 1.27; Shots: 10(4) - 14(4); Possession: 46% - 54% My first game at Croft Park ends undecided. A fair result too as Radcliffe gave us a lot more trouble than Braintree did a few days earlier. We did get the lead through an incredible solo by Shawn Glover, but just before the break a shot that hit two players on its way to the goal got the scores back level. In the second half Radcliffe missed a huge chance at the lead, while we were mostly holding on to the draw due to tiredness. The lack of squad depth already became obvious. FA Trophy up next. We will host Bradford PA there. They are in the relegation spots of our league, so should be a win for us. Blyth Spartans - Bradford PA (FA Trophy) xG: 0.20 - 0.76; Shots: 4(2) - 8(5); Possession: 47% - 53% That was quite appalling really. To be honest it felt like no team really deserved a goal in this game, but things changed after we got reduced to ten men. To late set pieces were headed home by a center back that scored just four goals in his previous more than 200 career appearances and that was that. I'm not too bothered about going out of this cup early given our small squad, although the way we played does worry me a bit. Marine - Blyth Spartans xG: 0.66 - 0.88; Shots: 6(3) - 15(5); Possession: 41% - 59% We had no business losing this one. Another set piece hurt us as they scored the only goal of the match through a direct free kick. We were unable to create real chances and couldn't score the headers and long distance shots we took. It hasn't been smooth sailing so far. Especially those last two losses have been a wake up call for me.

Blyth Spartans 34/35 So after almost 18 months without a job, I'm finally back into management again. Something that has made me very happy in the meantime is the fact that Warrenpoint Town managed to defy expectations and stay up in the Premiership, albeit by winning a penalty shootout in the promotion/relegation playoff. When I applied at the Blyth Spartans job I expected this to be a season of rebuilding, after which a title challenge should be possible next year. However, with the team suddenly going on a rampage under the caretaker manager, it suddenly feels like a lot more is possible already. The playoffs are only four points away, and although first place is still at quite a distance with an 11 point gap between us, it doesn't feel like that is impossible to overcome. Besides the league, we also still have two cups to play in. Thanks to some relatively good draws, the club has reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the fifth time in the twelve seasons since the start of this save. In the FA Trophy our campaign is yet to get started. Finances This is a big step up from what I'm used to. It has to be said that we are the 4th highest spenders in the league, but it is definitely way more than the budgets I had in Wales and Northern Ireland. Apparently life in this league is good financially. The balance has been slowly increasing as long as I can look back. A good opportunity to get some work done at the club's facilities. Squad Immediately after taking a look here I am left wondering who was in charge of the squad building here. There are only really 18 players that seem good enough for the first team, which seems like way too little for a 46 game league. I will need to find some more squad balance in the winter transfer window. David Bennett is a great goalkeeper, but is injury prone and currently also out for two weeks. Behind him the options are a lot less good. This team is as imbalanced as you will ever see. The players above are all able to play in defence, although two or three might be better in midfield. There is an abundance of center backs, but they are either very small, or unable to head the ball. Things are looking better on the sides where Sierra Leonean international Augustine Sanusie and Rees Hodgin look like good options. And this is the rest of the players... A lot more quality, but no depth at all in midfield and attack. Darren Robinson looks like a player that can be very important for the balance of the team. We have two incredibly fast wingers with Shawn Glover and Tom Ferry, but there just isn't much behind them. Table This is how it starts for me. Five games ago the situation was dire for the club, now things aren't looking all that bad. Getting to the playoffs was probably the pre-season goal, and that is still very achievable. Also, just look at how far Northampton have fallen.

I did look into that a little bit as well, but with the second tier as the highest playable level and its reputation still quite a bit higher than the Cymru North/South and Vanarama North/South I thought I'd leave that for later.

Job hunt Well, things didn't really go to plan here. As I said, I was mostly looking around for a job in Wales with the Cymru North/South still the lowest league in reputation, but I didn't really find a job that interested me. In the summer there were vacant jobs at the predicted top 3 of the Cymru South, but none of those teams really appealed to me, so I decided to holiday through the season and look at what jobs came free. I can now safely say that this was even less of a success, as barely any jobs became vacant in Wales, and the ones that did were all teams in relegation trouble. Now, I was not feeling like building up a club there again so short after my Llanidloes period, so didn't try to get any of those jobs either. In the end I had holidayed a full season without applying for any jobs, and when there were even less teams in Wales without a manager in the summer, I decided to widen my focus. Since the Vanarama North/South is currently only one place above the Welsh second tier in reputation, this is where I started looking too, even though my initial plan was to steer clear of England for now. In the summer I did apply for the Swansea Uni job in the Cymru South, but it seemed as if they had already decided on another manager when I did so, as he was hired just a few days after. For the rest no interesting jobs in either country were vacant, so once again I holidayed a few months. Then at the start of October finally there was a manager fired by a team that interested me. The most northern based team in the English six highest tiers to be exact. Blyth Spartans are currently playing in the Vanarama North for their 18th season in a row. In this time though, they have grown from a team fighting relegation to one of the best teams in the league. In the last seven years they got into the playoffs six times, although they never even reached the final. This season getting to the playoffs was once again expected of them with a 4th place prediction, but the first two months of the season did not go well at all. After 11 matches the team found itself in 20th place, just one point above the relegation spots, with only 8 points accumulated. Their manager was fired after only 106 days in the job and I applied. It took some time, but in the end I got a job interview, though after that another two weeks went by. I was quite irritated by this, as almost a month had passed from the moment I applied for the job until I was finally hired at the start of November. However, something very interesting had happened in that time. Under the caretaker manager, the club had notched up five straight league wins and is now already back in the top half, close to the playoff spots. Inbetween the league games, they also qualified for the first round of the FA Cup. So despite the awful position they were in, I am not taking over at a very bad time at all now. The Club Founded in 1899, the club is of course based in Blyth, a town of 37,000 not far north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Obviously, Blyth Spartans is named after the Spartan Army, which is also shown in their badge. They play their home games at Croft Park, with a capacity of 4,435. In most of its history, the club played in regional leagues. They enjoyed an especially succesful time in the Northern League, where they won the title no less than ten times between 1964 and 1994. In that time they also got the club's most famous achievement. In the 1977/78 season Blyth Spartans went all the way to the fifth round of the FA Cup, by beating Second Division Stoke City among others. They were eventually halted by Wrexham after a replay. After two consecutive promotions in the 1990's, the club found itself back in the 6th tier of English football playing in the Norther Premier League Premier Division. Due to changes in the league structure, this eventually became the 7th tier, but in 2005/06 Blyth Spartans won the title and thus got promoted to the Conference North. A 7th place in their first Conference North season turned out to be their best finish in a six year spell that ended with a relegation in the 2011/12 season. Things went from bad to worse as they only finished 16th in the Northern Premier League Premier Division the next season. The club turned their fortunes around again though, and won the league title for the second time in 2016/17 to get back to the 6th tier. Two top half seasons there followed, including one where they made the playoffs, but since then the club has been fighting relegation for the past four seasons. With that we get to the start of this save. Since then the club has made gradual improvements. After four years of mid table finishes, they achieved the playoffs in 27/28. Though the next season saw them a little bit lower again, the five seasons after where all finished in the playoff spots, with a 4th place as the highest. In those six attempts, the club never managed to get to Wembley, getting knocked out in the first round and semi final three times each.

It really is always interesting to see what's going on in all different leagues. I thought I'd do an update on it since I found some interesting things in there. I still hope I will eventually return to Llanidloes and win the league with them, but for now I don't have the patience for that yet. Finding a new job took some time but I have just signed a contract!

Game world - 10 years As that last season marked the 10th year of this save, I thougt it would be a nice addition to the thread to do an update on the game world. I always like to look around at what is happening at other clubs myself, so below here I'll give a little overview. I am mostly going to focus on the British and Irish leagues, as those are of course relevant to the challenge. National teams World Cup No surprising winners here. Argentina became the first country to retain their title since Brazil did so in 1962, after which France became the world's best for the third time in 2030. In 2026: The expanded 48 team tournament saw four teams make their debuts: Thailand, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan and Suriname. Not unsurprisingly, all teams came from the less succesful federations which had seen a significant increase in their participants. Of those debutants, Suriname were the only team to get to the knockout stage, which they did in style. In their final group game they got their second win of the tournament over no other than Brazil. It meant they finished in second place, with the latter only going through as a best placed third. China made their second ever appearance, but got the exact same result. Just like in 2002, they were sent back without scoring while conceding 9 goals in a group with Uruguay, Belgium and Costa Rica. All three North American hosts got through their respective groups. The second round saw Mexico take on the USA at the Azteca and beating them 3-1. Beating the Netherlands in the next round, Mexico got to the quarter final for the first time since 1986 and the third time in total, after having lost 7 consecutive round of 16 fixtures in previous tournaments. All of their three quarter final runs have come in home world cups. The third host became the surprise package of the tournament. After topping a fairly easy group, Canada consecutively beat Saudi Arabia, Portugal and Spain to reach all the way to the semi final, where eventual winners Argentina beat them 1-0. Japan famously beat England in the second round, but were harshly dumped out of the tournament with a 5-0 loss to Italy, who finally returned to the biggest stage of world football after 12 years. The final was decided in extra time, with all three goals being scored there and Argentina beating Germany 2-1. In 2030: Both two debutants came from Africa, as Guinea and Burkina Faso got into the tournament. Another team that got through qualification for the first time was Qatar, but they have of course made their first appearance in 2022. Guinea even got through their group in second place, but were beaten in the next round by Colombia. Host Türkiye left the tournament in disappointment. They only got through in third place with 4 points in a relatively easy group with Switzerland, Algeria and Jamaica, and were beaten by Spain in the second round. Despite a lack of surprises in the group stage, the tournament turned out to be real eventful on that front. Two German speaking countries got into the quarter final, but Germany were not one of them. The 2026 finalists were knocked out after penalties in the second round by Australia, who also beat Italy in the round of 16. They were eventually sent home in the quarter final by Switzerland, who had shocked everyone by beating Argentina the round before. The final was once again decided in extra time, after 1-1 was the score at the 90 minute mark. Randall Kolo Muani finally freed himself of his 2022 world cup nightmare by scoring a 118th minute winner to keep England from their second ever title. Euros England finally ended their trophy drought in 2024 by winning their first ever Euros. In the next edition Norway used their golden generation to their advantage, while Portugal win the most recent tournament. The Dutch were left disappointed twice in this time. In 2024: Both Estonia and Israel made their debut in Germany. The latter left without scoring a goal, but Estonia managed to sneak through as a third placed team thanks to a win against Romania. They then proceeded to shock Italy with a 2-1 win, before being beaten by the Netherlands in the quarter final. Hosts Germany had a tournament to forget. They got through a group of death with France, the Netherlands and poor Iceland in third place, but were knocked out by England in the round of 16. Austria beat France in the round of 16, but in the quarter final they too were knocked out by England. In a huge rivalry Croatia got the better of Serbia after penalties in the round of 16. The finalists knocked out the Iberian countries in their respective semi finals, after which England came out on top in the final with a 3-1 victory. In 2028: Georgia were the only debutants. They proved their value to the tournament by getting through their group over Poland and Austria, before Germany beat them in the round of 16. Türkiye hosted their first of two consecutive big tournaments, but were left disappointed here too. They got through their group in second place, only to be knocked out by the Netherlands in the next round. To everyone's surprise, the group of death containing England, Portugal and the Netherlands was topped by Slovenia. Title holders England left the tournament winless in 4th place in this group. Norway got their first tournament win by easing past Switzerland in the second round, before two very close 1-0 wins over Spain and Italy. In the final Erling Haaland was the big man with a brace, as they won 3-0 against Portugal to lift the title. In 2032: Kosovo participated for the first time and got through their group with 4 points, which included a draw against eventual winners Portugal. Hosts Spain topped a group were world cup bronze winners Switzerland were knocked out off, but lost in the second round to France. Ireland participated for the first time since 2016 and reached all the way to the quarter final. Denmark was the surprise package as they knocked out the last two winners. England was sent home in the round of 16 with a 2-1 and Norway found the same faith in the quarter final. In the end Portugal was too good for them in the semi final. The Netherlands had overcome France on pens in the semi final after a scoreless draw, but lost another final by two goals as it ended in 4-2. Copa America In 2024 hosts USA got two shock wins in a row by knocking out both Brazil and Argentina, before being heavily beaten by Uruguay in the final. Bolivia also surprised in this tournament, as they got to the semi final. In 2028 the USA got to the final again, but Brazil got their revenge there. In 2032 Ecuador made their nation proud, as they won their very first Copa America. AFCON No surprise winners in the African cup of nations so far. Ivory Coast have been very good recently, while Angola and Mali look like the most surprising finalists. Asian Cup Nothing special in the Asian Cup either. China got to the semi final in the most recent edition, which seems like a good sign for them. International Club Competitions Club World Cup Don't really know what to make of this competition so far, but it's clear that the European teams are dominant. If I'm correct 12 teams from Europe qualify every time, and only three times has a team not made it out of the group stages. In 2025 Argentinian rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors reached the quarter final, with the latter even going a round further, but after that no non-European team came past the round of 16. Champions League No big surprises in Europe's biggest club competition. The first two years of the save did see to new teams win it in Arsenal and PSG. Bayer Leverkusen looks to be the biggest shock in the final, while Juventus recently found there way back there too. Even in the semi final no real special teams have made it. Most notable there is Aston Villa in 27/28. Europa League Tottenham the only team to win it twice, while Sevilla didn't even manage a final somehow. Two French teams winning it looks like a nice bit of variety. Feyenoord getting to the final twice as the only team from outside the big five leagues. LaLiga and Bundesliga teams are awfully scarce here, with only Valencia having reached the final once. Conference League A good amount of variety in the conference league. AZ might have been the most surprising winners, but look at Pafos from Cyprus and Adana Demirspor from Turkey making the final! Great to see. England Premier League No surprising champions in England were Man City have continued being the dominant team. Arsenal have also established themselves well in this save. For the rest here are some things that caught my eye in English football: Premier League Manchester United only got into the top 3 once, although they were pretty stable just in or out of the UCL spots. Tottenham have become more of a lower top half side with 5th place as their highest finish, while also having ended their season in 9th (2x), 10th and 12th in recent years. Crystal Palace had an amazing season in 31/32 and got 4th place and a UCL ticket to show for it. No real interesting things have happened on the lower side of the table. Bristol City probably the least expected regular participant in the league, though they have been yoyoing with 3 promotions and 2 relegations. Championship Oxford United have become a regular here after a promotion in 27/28, though they have been very close to relegation for all of their 5 seasons with an 18th place as their highest finish. Both Wrexham and MK Dons got promoted from League Two in 24/25, quickly became stable in League One and both got promoted to the Championship in 31/32. However, neither of them managed to stay up in the previous season. League One Stockport County have done really well after their promotion to the Football League in 21/22, and after yoyoing between League One and League Two for a while have just gotten themselves up to the Championship by winning the 32/33 League One title. QPR have experienced an eventful decade with Championship relegations in 24/25 and 27/28. Things got even worse with a relegation from League One in 29/30, but they went straight back up and even got automatic promotion back to the Championship in the previous season. The third promoted team in 32/33 is the real surprise story of the save so far. Bromley won promotion to the Football League in the first season of the save and went up to League One in 27/28. Despite a relegation in 30/31, they have now gotten back-to-back promotions which means they will be making an appearance in the Championship next season. League Two Sheffield Wednesday fell all the way back to League Two in 28/29, and even finish 21st in their first season there. They have just won the title after 4 years of struggles to go back up to League One. A tycoon takeover at Tamworth helped them get up into the Football League with back-to-back promotions in 27/28 and 28/29. Although funding was withdrawn right after, the club have been steady in League Two for 4 years even reaching the playoff final once. Bristol Rovers had some slow growth in early years of this season getting close to promotion to the Championship a few times, but things went downhill quickly for them. Two relegations in three years mean they find themselves back in the National League next season. National League The Bury phoenix club played their first season in the National League North in 27/28, got promoted three years later and have continued a steady rise. They only missed out on promotion to the Football League by two points last season. All of Northampton Town, Cheltenham Town and Cambridge United quickly went down from League One to the National League and have been stuk there for several years now. National League North/South Crawley Town continued their slow downfall that started with a League One relegation in 15/16 and now find themselves towards the lower end of the Vanarama South table. The league positions graph of Newport County is a continuously downward sloping line with only one exception. They too are playing in the bottom half of the Vanarama South now. Scotland The Scottish Premiership is, unsurprisingly, still dominated by the Old Firm. The battle for third place has been as exciting as ever though. Falkirk started the save in League One, won back-to-back promotions to get to the Premiership, and in the remaining 8 years went up and down thrice. They will start their 4th Premiership spell in a short timespan next season. The famous Queen's Park of Glasgow continued their rise since turning professional and won promotion to the Premiership in 25/26. Two years later a 4th place finish saw them achieve European football for the first time in the club's long history. In that same season they also won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 135 years. After that they have remained steady in the bottom half of the league. In 10 years only two teams have been relegated from the Football League through the relegation playoffs. One of the teams promoted is Brora Rangers, who have gotten themselves up to League One by winning the League Two title twice. Northern Ireland After winning their first ever Premiership title in 22/23, Larne quickly became dominant in this save with 7 championships in the next 8 years. Their streak has been halted after I arrived in Northern Ireland, though I did not have anything to do with that of course. Record champions Linfield have had a hard time winning only one title, while also finishing outside of the top 3 regularly. North Belfast Derby side Crusaders won three titles in four years between 14/15 and 17/18, but showed decline in this save. They even spent the 26/27 season in the Championship, and have been a bottom half team since their Premiership return. Annagh United won promotion to the Premiership in 27/28 and had some very succesful times. Two top 3 placements followed quickly for them. Ballymacash Rangers provided a big shock by beating Larne in the Irish Cup final in 29/30 and thus winning it while playing in the Championship. Warrenpoint Town are of course the biggest risers since the save started as they are now back in the Premiership. Knockbreda started out in the Championship, but did not have a great time. Twice they even got relegated from the Intermediate League, although they are back in there now. Ireland Incredible how much variation there has been in the champions here. The 2026 season was just crazy. Drogheda United won their second ever title, only three years after having suffered a relegation. They won it on goal difference over Waterford, who had just bounced back from a 2024 relegation in the previous season. 7th placed Cork City finished the season only 7 points behind the champions. Drogheda United didn't build on their success, but got relegated in the next season instead. They ended 2027 one place below, of course, Waterford. In that 2026 something else happened. Dundalk, who won 5 titles in six years in the 2010's, were relegated and are yet to find their way back into the Premier Division. In the First Division, Bray Wanderers managed to finish second five times in six years, before finally winning the title in 2031. Also, Kerry FC have finishid bottom of that First Division in eight of the ten seasons. Often by quite a margin as well. Wales Yeah... Complete dominance from TNS. They did 'only' win the Welsh Cup five times though. It has proved very hard for promoted teams to establish themselves in the Cymru Premier. Colwyn Bay has been the only team to really do it, after their 23/24 relegation was followed by a dominant Cymru North win in 25/26. They also won the Welsh Cup twice. Six teams have remained in the Cymru Premier every season, and together with Colwyn Bay a mix of them almost always forms the top half. Haverfordwest turned professional as the second team in Wales in 2028, but it didn't make them any better and they have since gone back to being a semi-professional club. Penybont finished 5th in 23/24, but slowly declined since then and have now spent five years in the Cymru South. European Top Leagues Spain Real Madrid dominates with Barcelona behind them. No surprise to see that. Atletico have slowly declined and have now got a 7th place as their best finish in the past four seasons. For the rest things have remained similar to how they were in Spain. Germany The giants from Munich still hold a strong grip on German football, although they have been halted a few times. RB Leipzig won their first title in 31/32, even though they have only finished in the top 3 four times in this save. Bayer Leverkusen finished in that top 3 nine out of ten seasons, but they keep their 'Neverkusen' nickname. Four times runners-up in the league, once in the cup, once in the UCL and twice in the Supercup. Their infamous 2002 season still haunts them, as their last silverware is still the 1993 DFB Pokal. Both HSV and Schalke 04 have found their way back to the Bundesliga. The latter even reached the Champions League in 31/32. Italy The Serie A is as exciting as ever with five different champions in the past decade. Lazio is the most surprising of them all of course. AS Roma are the obvious absentee in the top 3. They have really fallen off and failed to get into European competitions in half of the seasons. Udinese saw a 34 year period in the Serie A end with a relegation in 29/30. France PSG are easing through the league almost every season. A 4 point gap was the smallest margin back in 30/31. Still, French football has been improving with multiple clubs doing well in European competitions. Lorient have seen themselves rise towards being regular contenders in Europe in this save. Portugal The big two teams still battling it out here. Sporting haven't been very good in this save and finished below Braga in the majority of seasons. The biggest surprise here is a third tier club in AVS SAD winning the Portuguese Cup in 30/31. Netherlands A healthy mix of champions here. AZ have been very good to get up to six titles in total. PSV have fallen off quickly and missed out on European football multiple times. 09/10 champions FC Twente suffered a relegation in 27/28 and haven't returned to the Eredivisie since then.

Season review 32/33 What a season it was in the end! Back-to-back promotions really is something special, even if I couldn't get a trophy of the list this year. We lived up to the high pre-season expectations of us immediately settling in the top half, and just got better and better as the season went on. Sadly we couldn't hold on to first place after the league split, but in the second leg of the play-offs we gave it everything for one last time to get this season the ending it deserved. It also meant the end to my very succesful spell at the club. I hope they can do well in the Premiership next season without me, though it will be difficult as the wage budget of Larne for example is 12x bigger. Competitions This graph really shows how we slowly worked our way towards the top. We started our stay in the Championship perfectly with a 3-0 home win, but failed to win any of our next 4 matches, which meant we were mid table after the start of the season. We then went on a very good run with 16 points from 6 matches, after which we hit a wall again failing to win the next 6 games. Halfway through November we were also halfway through the 'normal' phase of the league, and found ourselves in 5th place. From that point onwards things really started clicking, and to be honest I'm only noticing just how good our form from there was now. From next 16 matches we won 13 and only lost 2. At the end of that series the league was split, with us just having overtaken first place and already being 5 points clear at the top. But things had started changing already. Our defence wasn't as solid anymore as in the first 28 games of the season, and we felt that in the last five matches. We only got three points, all from draws, and gave away the title on the last matchday, while conceding 16 in those 5 matches. In the end, we still got the promotion we deserved via the play-offs. A great away win in the Irish Cup first round was followed up by a disappointing performance against Loughgall. No spectacular run this year. We got a very unlucky draw in the League Cup, although we were close to surprising Glenavon again. We missed a chance to double our lead from the spot and were made to pay for it. We first knocked out Premiership side Dungannon Swifts here, before once again failing to get the win we deserved against Glenavon in normal time. Nothing special in the cups this season really. Squad Colin Armstrong: Was a solid goalkeeper for most of the season, but he did have a bad run of form when it mattered the most, making some mistakes that might have cost us the title in the end. Aaron Paul: Another spectacular season from the right back, who filled an important role in my tactic. Being involved in a goal every three matches on average is very good for a defender of course. Raymond Caldwell: A solid season for the new central defender. He showed that he was a boost for the squad in quality. Curtis Nimick: Found his way back into the starting XI after initially being dropped with Matthew Carmichael being favoured. Not a bad season from him. Brian Quinn: A new left back with a decent season. Didn't really stand out. Andrejs Piedels: The defensive midfielder hasn't been talked about a lot, but has been very important for us as he started almost every match. Oliver Jefferies: He was the star signing we needed to really be able to battle at the top. Lots of goals and assists from midfield for him. A real shame for the club that Larne has snatched him away now. Lyndon Kane: The 36 year old kept his first XI spot in favour of Matt Connolly, although a long injury for the latter didn't help his cause. What a decision it has been to sign this man two years ago though. Eoin O'Reilly: Our best winger this season. Jack Kehoe was even more underwhelming than last year, but barely found his way into the team at the end of the season due to O'Reilly's goal scoring qualities. Aodhan Doherty: Another season where the captain was important with goals and assists. Ben Magee: Not as good a season for him as last year, but he fought his way back in the team after being dropped for a while, and still got a very respectable amount of goals. Progress Previous Clubs Llanidloes had a good start to their season, but fell far back and ended well below the media prediction of 5th place. On a positive note, they did manage to win some silverware in the Tier 2 League Cup.

Great to hear! My plan for the save is to keep the career path at least a little bit realistic, so I want to work my way up the leagues based on league reputation more or less. With the Cymru North/South still having the lowest reputation there is a good chance that I will be returning to Wales. The Vanarama North/South is low down too, so that might be an option, but I am looking to steer clear of England for now. As of now, I'm not eyeing any specific jobs. I'm also fidgeting with the idea of staying without a club until halfway through next season and take over somewhere then to change things up a little bit. Your career sounds great so far! Impressive that you immediately managed to topple TNS in Wales. They have won the league every single season in my save. Good luck with St Pats or elsewhere in Ireland, St Pats have actually been very succesful in my save winning the league three times so far.