Ozza1996

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig and Spain - 2026-27 Season - August We are back for season 4 of this save, and this time we have two jobs!!!! The Spain job will become relevant as we get closer to September, but for now, we are back in the Bundesliga as a manager with our second club in Germany. RB Leipzig are probably the most hated club in Germany due to how they've risen up the leagues in real life, never mind now in game they have won the Bundesliga a couple of seasons ago. They made the Europa League final last season as we all know, and were a couple of penalty kicks away from being a Champions League club this season, and us not being interested. But, we do now have a Conference League to play for, which Napoli and Athletic Bilbao are both in. It will be tougher to win than what we may have thought, but we will have a look at this month's fixtures, without yet knowing who we will play in the Conference League qualifying round. August Fixtures: We begin our season away at Eintracht Stadtallendorf of the fifth-tier in the First Round of the DFB-Pokal, a match we really ought to win. Our first game back in the Bundesliga is away at Eintracht Frankfurt, a team I hate playing away from home. We then face our first leg in the Qualifying Round of the Conference League away from home, as we will face the winner of HJK Helsinki vs Slovan Bratislava. Then we're at home to newly-promoted FC Koln, followed by the second leg in Europe at home. Last but not least, we are away at the other promoted club, Schalke 04, in what is a reasonably nice start to the season. New First Team Player: I've decided to use our DFB-Pokal First Round match to give a debut to someone who we bought from the Indiana Fire in America, Patrick Villegas makes his senior debut for RB Leipzig in this match. We're not expected to be tested so I thought I'd give him the chance. His greens are impressive, as he has 18 aggression, 17 for determination and 16 for leadership, teamwork and stamina. Good tackling and technique is what you need from a defender just starting out. His acceleration and pace are also acceptable as well. It'll be interesting to see how he does. Saturday 8th August 2026: Eintracht Stadtallendorf 0-8 RB Leipzig (DFB-Pokal First Round) My first game in charge of RB Leipzig was as easy as I thought it would be, thrashing our fifth tier opposition 8-0 to book our place in the second round. We opened the scoring inside 8 minutes. Villegas had the ball in the left back position and lumped it clear for Openda to get onto on the left side of the area, and he lobbed it over the keeper to give us the early advantage. Openda then made it 2-0 from the penalty spot 10 minutes later. We made it 3-0 on the half hour. Perea played it to Booth in front of him, who found Holmgren Pedersen overlapping him on the right, and he played it into the six-yard box, for Openda to complete his hat trick after 30 minutes. Seiwald took a short corner to debutant Jashari, and they played it back and forth between each other, before Jashari played it left to Dani Olmo in the box, and he powered home at the keeper's near post for 4-0 before half time. The fifth was another passing play which found it's way to Olmo on the right side of the box, he squared it across the six yard box for Openda to grab his fourth. Stadtallendorf tried to clear the ball ahead of our sixth, but Villegas won a header finding Baumgartner, and he found Openda in the area, and he fired into the right hand corner for our sixth just after the hour. Seiwald had a corner from the right which the opposition failed to clear, and Baumgartner headed on to Openda, who completed his double hat-trick virtually on the line for 7-0. Dragusin had a goal ruled out for offside from a corner, but we would get our eighth through who else? Openda. Perea's long ball forward was misjudged by their keeper, the ball went past him, and Openda had the easiest tap in from 18 yards out for 8-0. Lois Openda wants to leave, but with scoring displays like that against lower teams, hopefully his happiness and confidence is up. Taylor Booth moves to Feyenoord: Taylor Booth has played his last match for RB Leipzig, the 25 year old American winger is moving to the Netherlands and to Feyenoord for £26,500,000. He's only spent one full season at the club after moving from PSG to RB Leipzig for £25,000,000 so we have made a little bit of profit on him. He only scored 5 goals and made 2 assists in 35 appearances, but 22 of those were off the bench. I thought with Feyenoord flirting around him, it'd be good for him to get that guaranteed first team football at the age he is, because with the talent we have, that wasn't necessarily going to happen. He was fantastic during pre-season though, and I wish him all the luck, and hoping this doesn't come back to bite me. UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round Draw: We now know who we will start our European campaign against this season, and we will face Finnish league leaders HJK Helsinki, with the first leg being away from home as we are the seeded team. We should be able to get through this tie fairly easily, and we should aim to start to prepare for life in the League Phase for this season. But, we can't get carried away. This team have already shown me they can be professional in simple games, and hopefully they can prove it again in this tie. The first leg will be after the first league match with Eintracht Frankfurt. DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw: Our second round tie in the DFB-Pokal is an all Bundesliga clash as we travel to Freiburg in what is a repeat of the 2022 final, and hopefully, we can get a similar result to that final, as RB Leipzig won it back then. The game will be played at the end of October. Saturday 15th August 2026: Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) Our first game back in the Bundesliga was the same old story back at Eintracht Frankfurt, as we lost 2-1 in what was a dismal second half performance, after an inspiring performance in the first half. Guerreiro took a corner from the right inswinging for Frankfurt, and the good ball was rewarded with a decent header from Gila as he put the home side 1-0 up after 15 minutes. We equalised less than ten minutes later, Facundo Torres had the ball down the left by the byline, and he played it into the area where Timo Werner managed to flick it beyond the keeper for 1-1 and his first of the season. A poor defensive mistake allowed Frankfurt to score what would prove to be the winner. Zirkzee had the ball in the middle of the park, and Baldanzi managed to break the offside trap, going off like a steam engine ahead of the defence, and he slotted home to give Frankfurt the lead after 53 minutes. They had the chance to make it more comfortable late on, but Cordano saved the spot kick from Karabec in added time. A poor start to the Bundesliga, but now the chance to take a bit of a breather, and maybe try something new. Thursday 20th August 2026: HJK Helsinki 1-4 RB Leipzig (UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round First Leg) We started our European season earlier than all the other German sides, as you have to actually go through qualifying in the Conference League to book your place in the League Phase, and we didn't waste time in this game, winning away at the Finnish leaders 4-1. Timo Werner opened the scoring from the penalty spot inside 6 minutes. From a Simakan throw-in, both he and Kouame played a couple of one-twos, before the latter made a run into the area from the right wing, advanced on goal, and fired the ball into the left hand corner for 2-0. Lois Openda picked up a serious looking injury before half time, which meant we had to bring Dani Olmo on, and he played a part in the third goal. His outswinging corner from the right, came off a HJK head, and Dragusin steered it home to give us a 3-0 lead, and breathing space. HJK got a goal back just 4 minutes later, Ollila had the ball on the left and swung it into the box, which Tanko brought down, and fired home past Cordano who had no chance for 3-1. We secured the first leg win once and for all in the 77th minute. Haidara had the ball down the right before playing forward to Seiwald in the area. He played a square ball into the box, and Dani Olmo fired home to pick up his second goal of the season, and ensure we come back to Germany with a handsome advantage. Lois Openda Injured: Lois Openda is now out for up to 4 weeks, which could result in him staying at the club for now, after he injured it sprinting during the game. If he does stick around, I really hope this doesn't lead to him causing trouble in the squad. That'll be something I keep an eye on. Oscar Perea to Werder Bremen on Loan: Obviously, I don't show off too many loans now as it is mainly to do with the youngsters, but I felt like I had to show this one as I want him to get match time in the Bundesliga, and unfortunately, Oscar Perea is a little way behind the others in his position, especially the way the wingers have started the season. He's going to Werder Bremen on loan, and they have also got an option to buy as well, in case he impresses them during the season. Julian Aude in from Red Bull Salzburg: The good thing about being part of a franchise when you're managing a team like RB Leipzig, is you can sign some decent youngsters like this from the other clubs. We've signed young Argentinian left-back Julian Aude from Red Bull Salzburg for £9,000,000. His determination is outstanding with a rating of 18. His agility is up at 16. He's also got a strong first touch at 15. He's got yellows across the board, he does seem to be a player with an even spread of attributes. Now it's time to see if we can ease him into the squad. Kacper Tobiasz from PSG: Kacper Tobiasz could be about to become our new number 1 here at RB Leipzig, we've signed the young Polish stopper from PSG for an initial £5,500,000. He made 5 appearances in Ligue 1 last season for the French champions, but is a little down the pecking order in the French capital, Gianluigi Donnarumma will be their keeper for a little while. A player like this can't go unnoticed. Just look at his stats. First of all, he can play the ball from the back and is your typical sweeper keeper. His kicking and passing stand out when you look at him, and his tendency to rush out can be scary, but I believe he can stand up to opposition strikers and be effective in those situations. His jumping reach is in the green, and so is his work rate, which is an 18 in his stats. I'm buzzing with this new signing. Sunday 23rd August 2026: RB Leipzig 1-0 FC Koln (Bundesliga) We took our first win in the Bundesliga this season, a 1-0 home win against newly-promoted FC Koln. The only goal came on the stroke of half time, Raum received the ball back from Baumgartner from his throw in, before releasing Facundo Torres in the box from the left, and Torres slotted home across the goalkeeper to make it 1-0, and to take our first win at home this season. We didn't really look like throwing it away, and we do now have a way of making the 4-3-3 work at the moment. Mario Wolf to make his debut: We've got another youth team player making the team today, as we have a 4-1 lead over HJK Helsinki and are very unlikely to lose it today. Mario Wolf is a young left back, who plays for the under 19s at the moment, but I've brought him up to the first team to try him out. He's strong with his tackling with a rating of 15. He's got a few 13s across the board as well. This is a good use of easier matches in European competition. As you don't have to register Under-21 players, you can use as many as you want, so if you have a problem with maybe home grown players or anything like that, you can use your youngsters to complete the team, or just to give them a chance. Thursday 27th August 2026: RB Leipzig 3-3 HJK Helsinki (RB Leipzig win 7-4 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round Second Leg) We made it through despite a topsy turvy game in the second leg, where I think we just became complacent. They took the lead after 22 minutes, Keskinen's shot in hit Dragusin as it was going wide and that diverted it in for 1-0. We equalised a few minutes later. A neat, sharp passing move meant Olmo could play it right to Torres, who cut inside and fired into the top left corner for 1-1. We took the lead after half-time, as a Holmgren Pedersen cross from the right was met on the head by Timo Werner at the far post for 2-1. A goal kick for them led to Kodes winning the ball in the air, and Tanko got his head to the ball about 20 yards out, but Cordano was miles off his line and the ball went rolling in for 2-2. Timo Werner then put us back in front from the penalty spot, before they equalised with five minutes to go. Ollila's cross from the left was nodded in at the far post by Kouassivi-Benissan, and we were pegged back once again. We did put the ball in the net in the 93rd minute, but Werner was denied his hat trick by running offside in the build up. Either way, we're through, and we're now going to see who we're playing in the league phase. UEFA Europa Conference League League Phase Draw: So in the Europa Conference League, you play 6 matches rather than 8, so they're all done by Christmas which is great to see. Our hardest game in my opinion, comes first, travelling to Dinamo Zagreb, who are normally in the other two competitions. We then have a home game against Finnish side FC Haka. In November, we'll play Neftci Baku of Azerbaijan, and Spartak Trnava or Slovakia both away from home. And finally in December, we finish with two home matches, against Royal Antwerp of Belgium, and Samsunspor of Turkey. Sunday 30th August 2026: Schalke 04 2-3 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) This game was unbelievable. We dominated the entire game, but 5 minutes of madness before half time left us 2-0 down to Schalke. Kevin Volland gave Schalke the lead after 37 minutes with his first goal for the club, putting us 1-0 down. As we had dominated the game up to this point, I thought we would have taken it in our stride and gone on to equalise. But to my surprise, the Gelsenkirchen based side went 2-0 up, five minutes later. Coulibaly ran the ball down the left hand side, sprinting to the byline, near the corner flag. He swung the ball into the area, and there was Pieringer at the back post to double the home side's advantage, and to put us in turmoil. Ouedraogo then got injured right at the start of the second half, which meant we brought Dani Olmo on later in the game. Thank the lord I did. Dani Olmo had a free-kick on the right wing, he swung it in and found Yuri Alberto at the far post, who nodded over the keeper to make it 2-1. We equalised just a minute later, Simakan ran down the right with Holmgren Pedersen on the underlap. He played it to him, and the right-back played the ball across the box, and it evaded everyone to fall to Kouame who fired home on the line to make it 2-2. We won the game with a minute of normal time to go. Timo Werner came on with 6 minutes to go, and received the ball on the halfway line from Olmo. He ran past 3 defenders, evading challenges until he ran into the area, and fired home into the top left hand corner to send our fans wild. What an important goal, and a great comeback this early in the season. Assan Ouedraogo injured: As for Assan Ouedraogo, unfortunately he is out for 3-4 weeks after twisting his ankle during the game, but he's been a real smart player so far at this club, and I'm sure he will be back stronger and fitter. Benjamin Sesko has signed a brand new contract, worth £135,000 a week for the next five years. He is currently out injured with a damaged achilles tendon, but he should be back for the middle of October, and I can't wait to start putting him in that side, for me he's probably better than Timo Werner and he's years younger as well. Being 23 years old, I'm hoping that he doesn't keep on getting injured and ruining his chances of a decent career. August Results: We've scored in every game this month as we've made a fairly decent start to the season. We thumped Eintracht Stadtallendorf 8-0, the fifth tier side being nowhere near us in this game. Openda scored 7 goals in this one. We lost our first Bundesliga game of the season to Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1, where we just weren't good enough. I made the system slightly more attacking, and the following game, we thrashed HJK Helsinki 4-1 in the Conference League. We defeated FC Koln 1-0, but dominated the game throughout, and then we drew against HJK Helsinki 3-3, to put us into the league phase. In the final game this month, we came from 2-0 down to defeat Schalke 3-2 away from home. Bundesliga Table Update: Our first look at the table this season, after the opening matches in August, and the champions Bayern Munich are the only team with a 100% record after three matches. Union Berlin sit second on 7 points, with Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig both starting really well, on 6 points apiece. There's a whole host of teams on 5 points, with Borussia Dortmund, Mainz, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt all having a win and 2 draws. At the bottom, Hamburg and Hoffenheim have both lost their opening 3 matches at the start of this season, with Hertha Berlin sat on 1 point, Schalke on 2, and Augsburg, Freiburg and Werder Bremen all on 3 points. Final Word: It's been a satisfying start to the season in my time as RB Leipzig manager, 4th in the table after three games, not much oomph needed in the DFB-Pokal and we confirmed our place in the Conference League fairly easily as well. I can't complain with any results this month, apart from when we were 2-0 down to Schalke and I wondered what was going on, so I changed the personnel up slightly. I know we're not in it to win the Bundesliga, as we've already done it with Dortmund, but we've got to get that winning mentality going this season otherwise we could be in trouble. Our first games as an international manager comes up soon as we kick off our Nations League campaign. Obviously it's not very important, but if we can do well in a group of Germany, Poland and Scotland, I'll be buzzing. We've got to aim to get second at least in that one. That brings us to the end of August, I hope you're enjoying the save. I'll see you soon.

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig - 2026-27 Season - Pre-Season Here we are then, our fourth pre-season in Germany, as we only spent half a season over in England to pick up the UEFA Europa League. Now I'm hoping the fans and the players have forgiven me this season, as I try and revive RB Leipzig after what was a dreadful season last season for the club. A couple of changes. I will announce new signings, but only when I know they will be first team players for the new season. I won't be providing full details of pre-season friendlies as well. Before the season starts, I will post the results and just give a brief account of what we did, like we do when we do the round-up at the end of every month. Here we go then. Season 4. Let's take a look at the season preview ahead of the new Bundesliga season. Season Preview: Bayern Munich won the title last season after a long barren spell, and they are the favourites obviously this season, at 4-9. Our former club, Borussia Dortmund are second favourites with us being third favourites for the title. Both the promoted clubs are actually expected to survive comfortably this season, with Schalke 04 being 15th, and FC Koln being 13th. The favourites to go down are Hertha Berlin, and Bochum automatically, with Hamburg favourites to be in the relegation play-off. We have two players in the dream XI which is great to see. Nicolas Seiwald is a tenacious defensive midfielder, which when you use that word, always sounds epic and hopefully he can be. And Dani Olmo is sat on the left hand side in that attacking position, but unfortunately, we haven't got the best striker. Apparently he's some joker from England called Henry Kane.... Oh sorry, Harry Kane. Friendly Fixtures: Right, someone in my backroom team are having a laugh. They've obviously said that they want to go to England. They couldn't have given us a game we're guaranteed to win though could they? We face four Premier League teams starting against the team we lost the Europa League final to, Aston Villa. We also have friendlies at Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool. I'm looking forward to playing these and I'll provide the updates later on. Xaver Schlager moves to Real Madrid: My first piece of business as RB Leipzig manager was to try and work out which first team players I could make some money on, just to boost up my transfer budget. Real Madrid had been circling around Austrian midfielder, Xaver Schlager, who's reaching the prime of his career, and had already spent four seasons at RB Leipzig, since moving from Wolfsburg in 2022. He had a strong season last season, averaging a 6.97 overall, with a 7.02 in the league. Real Madrid paid us £52,000,000 for him, with £30,000,000 of that going into our transfer budget. Willi Orban moves to Al-Qadsiah: Willi Orban has become the latest first team player to move on from RB Leipzig. I'm not the kind of person to move older players on all the time, like most other content creators, but I would say Willi Orban will be on the way down now after what has been a great career at RB Leipzig, as we do want to try and put a younger outlook on this squad. He's moved to his new club for £5,000,000, and he's been a wonderful servant to this football club. New International Job: We have managed to grab the Spain job after the World Cup, as they got knocked out in the quarter-final by Colombia which wasn't deemed acceptable. I feel like out of the offers I was given, this is the one that I feel we can win the international tournaments with. It's a great international job to kick my international career off with, and we will take a proper look at the team when the international break comes about. But we've now got our foot in when it comes to international experience. DFB-Pokal First Round Draw: Our first round tie in the DFB-Pokal this season should be a fairly easy task, against fifth-tier Eintracht Stadtallendorf. It's always difficult at a smaller stadium, but personally, we couldn't have hoped for a better start to the DFB-Pokal this season. Maarten Vandevoordt to Wolfsburg: I'm a little bit disappointed in the end this has happened, as I did try to keep Maarten around, purely for the fact I do now need to get a new number one goalkeeper. But he came from Genk in 2024, and properly had his first season last season in the league it looks like, as he only made 5 appearances in his first season. We've made over five times the amount on him than when the club bought him, earning us £24,000,000 from this sale, more than enough to buy a decent replacement for him. Ardon Jashiri in from Marseille: My first signing as RB Leipzig manager for the first team is 23-year-old Swiss midfielder, Ardon Jashiri, who has joined for £16,500,000 from Marseille after one season with the French club. He had a fairly decent season in France last season, averaging just short of 7.00. His determination, balance and strength are his strongest attributes at 16. His stamina is at a 15, but he's got several at 14 including crossing, dribbling, first touch and passing, all the stuff you need for a central midfielder. He's definitely someone I'm delighted to have around the squad, and we'll see what he's made of in the league this season. El Chadaille Bitshiabu to AZ Alkmaar: One player I was confused by when I arrived, El Chadaille Bitshiabu has left for AZ Alkmaar in Netherlands. He has played a handful of games for the first team, but I took a closer look at him and he struggled at Darmstadt on loan last season. It was better for us to sell up, and he's gone to AZ for £8,000,000. Justin Diehl Injured: One player who will be in and around the first team squad this season, Justin Diehl is the first player out with a serious injury, as he's twisted his ankle while turning, and will be out for about a month. It does look like he's been a squad player in recent years, but he is still only young, and I could bring him off the bench in several games this season. I hope it's not too detrimental to him. Elias Jelert Injured: Elias Jelert pulled his calf muscle in the pre-season match against Liverpool, which isn't great for him for the next 3 weeks, as Manchester City are keen on signing him and he's waiting for a work permit. Assuming that he's yet to have his medical with City, will that stop him from leaving immediately? We'll wait and see. Elias Jelert to Manchester City: It turns out it doesn't effect him at all, and Elias Jelert has moved to Manchester City for £20,500,000. At only 23 years old, he could morph into a decent quality right-back, and he can also play at left-back. I'm quite happy to let him go to City for that money, and also he could be useful to me down the line as he matures as well. We never know. UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round Draw: This is the only European competition where we would have to qualify for the tournament through the final qualifying round, and we will face a fairly straightforward tie against either HJK Helsinki or Slovan Bratislava. New Contracts Through The Summer: Mohamed Simakan was the first player to sign a new contract under my watch, as he signed a brand new five-year contract, earning £215,000 a week. Ever since the save started, his average rating hasn't gone below a 7.00 every season, and has grown into a strong centre-back in the league, giving the best a run for their money, and he's only 26. A few days later, Nicolas Seiwald signed a new contract lasting until 2031. He will earn £115,000 a week, and like Simakan above, he has grown into a consistent performer since arriving from sister club Red Bull Salzburg in 2023. Friendly Results: Our first match of pre-season was a repeat of the Europa League final against Aston Villa, and this time, I was on the other side of the dugout. We took the lead through Lois Openda in the 55th minute, but Saelemaekers equalised 7 minutes from time, for it to be another stalemate between the two sides. I added another friendly to the schedule as we hosted Espanyol, and we thrashed them 4-1, including a fantastic hat-trick from Taylor Booth. Oscar Perea added a fourth, and Espanyol got one back in added time at the end of the game. We followed that up with a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal. All the goals came in the first half of this one, Arsenal taking the early lead through Gabriel Jesus, but we levelled up a minute later through Oscar Perea. The Gunners won the match through Jesus, but we put in a top performance, and no shame in this defeat. In our penultimate friendly, we came back twice to beat Everton 3-2. Onana and James Garner from the penalty spot, sandwiched by a goal from Dragusin made it 2-1 to the Premier League side at half time. But in the second half, Facundo Torres and Baumgartner managed to get us over the line. Our final friendly of the Summer was at Anfield, as we travelled to Liverpool to lose 3-1. Goals in the first half from Diogo Jota and Trincao put Liverpool in the ascendancy before half time. Brahim Diaz then scored an own goal seconds into the second half in this one. We got one back from a mazy run and a great finish by Christian Kouame, but that's not the result we wanted to end proceedings in the Summer. Final Word: Pre-season is now officially over, and across the friendlies, we've had mixed results, and we've not had the most entertaining transfer window either. Ardon Jashiri is the only first team player we've brought in, but he does look like he will be a good fit in the squad. We've not lost players that will break the squad I suppose, obviously losing our first choice keeper wasn't great and we also lost Xaver Schlager to Real Madrid who I would have preferred to have kept around. But I'm not going to stop players from achieving their dreams. The start of the season will be shown tomorrow, as we attempt to win two trophies this season with RB Leipzig. Thank you for the support.

Glory Hunter - New Team - 2025-26 Season - June You join me this time as I look for a brand new club that I can take to Europa Conference League glory to try and get through this challenge. I'm hoping RB Leipzig will accept my application, and I will also apply for Lens. If we go to RB Leipzig, we can also complete Germany by potentially winning the DFB-Pokal which I have yet to win. There won't be too many updates on this one, as we shall fast forward before I get an interview. Let's see where we go to. Lens Interview: It's taken a little over two weeks, but our first interview is with the team that in game a couple of seasons ago, won the Ligue 1 title above PSG so they're a good side, but will be spending next season playing in the Conference League. Hopefully it's a good interview. You'll find out soon. RB Leipzig Interview: And the one that I really want so I can actually complete Germany, RB Leipzig will be the ones I reckon I can pick the Cup up with. Let's see how this one goes. As it stands Lens have come in for me so I am definitely getting a job, but let's see if I can get the one I want. We're Back in Germany!!!!! That's right. A month after beating them in the UEFA Europa League final, we are the brand new manager of RB Leipzig as we attempt to go and get the DFB-Pokal, and the UEFA Europa Conference League. They took my Aston Villa team close and I'm absolutely buzzing to be given the chance to put RB Leipzig back into the Champions League spots, and get our name on a couple of trophies, especially the one that keeps evading me, the DFB-Pokal. I am expecting this to be my only season in charge of RB Leipzig, as I intend to win the Cup and the Conference League this season, just to make sure they're both done early on, and so we can go all out for the bigger clubs, the giants so to speak, so we can win every league that's left. The next job now will be to try and get an international job. History: As you can see, during this save, RB Leipzig have won the Bundesliga, which was in our first season as Borussia Dortmund manager, they've twice won the DFB-Pokal in their history, and obviously narrowly missed out on the Europa League last season, losing out to Aston Villa on penalties at the end of last season. Best XI: As we join the club, this is my strongest XI and my strongest formation is apparently a 4-2-3-1, a formation we used at Aston Villa. The players should be familiar to us, as we have obviously been in this league already. Benjamin Sesko will be the man that we lean on to make sure we get the goals going this season, Dani Olmo is the main playmaker to be setting up those chances and goals. I will show you the full squad planner as we get into the club, and we can then see where we need to possibly make upgrades. Board Expectation: The board want us to play attacking, high-press football, which I have been accustomed to at both the clubs I've managed so far. Signing players under the age of 23 for the first team is also something I've really succeeded on at both Villa and Dortmund. They want us to challenge for the UEFA Europa Conference League, which I think we should be aiming to win. They want us to make the later stages of the DFB-Pokal and finally, they want us to qualify for the Champions League through the Bundesliga. Supporter Expectations: They're very much the same when it comes to the type of football they want the team to play, which is that high-tempo, attacking style. They also want us to play possession football, and if you look back, we're very good at clocking up the possession stats, win, lose or draw. Making the most of set pieces is a good one as well, I'd like to see us score more corners than what we already have done previously, which sounds crazy but it's very much true. Financial Update: We start off with just over £10,000,000 in the transfer budget so I can assure you now, we may have to make some moves on the out side of things. We also have just over £2,500,000 in the weekly wage budget as well, but the one thing that could happen is we get more in the next few weeks as contracts end, and that is what's going to happen. There will obviously be some loans coming back, but let's wait and see what happens with that. Squad Planner: This is a look at the squad planner and this is how the control possession looks. For me, we're going for a 4-2-4 anyway, so for now, I hope Sesko and Openda can help each other out up top, but failing that, we're going to need to look at more strikers. I wouldn't say we're struggling in numbers anywhere really, and it'll be the case to see where we can improve, and how we can improve the side. Does anyone need selling? If someone does need selling, who do I get rid of? Let's wait and see. Final Word: So that is my new team. We're back in the Bundesliga this season, with RB Leipzig, but this for me is my strongest case in winning the Europa Conference League. I'm not sure who's qualified from England, if anyone at all because no one did last season. I'm confident I can do something special this season with RB Leipzig. We maybe haven't got a completely household name side, and that may be something we work on. But I don't personally think they're a seventh place side from last season, and I think we can break back into the top 4, and potentially do something special in something. Thank you for the support, and join us in pre-season for season 4, as we attempt to do something incredible at RB Leipzig.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - May Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it to the end of Season 3 in the Glory Hunter Challenge and we have one trophy still to play for this season in the UEFA Europa League. We lead Benfica 4-3 on aggregate after an enthralling first leg in which both sides didn't hold up and they weren't backwards in going forwards. The second leg will be already one of the most important matches in this save as we try to take this side through to a second European final in 2 seasons, after winning the Conference League last season. We also have to wrap up the Premier League season, and it will be interesting to see where we end up as the season reaches a conclusion. May Fixtures: Our final matches of the season are almost an exact replica of my first few matches in this job. We travel to Newcastle United in the first of these matches, followed by our second leg of the Europa League semi final against Benfica, a match where we are leading 4-3 on aggregate, and this time, we will have home advantage. Brighton & Hove Albion is our next match after that, before we face West Ham United at the London Stadium. If we make the Europa League final, it will be the game between West Ham and Bournemouth, before we end up playing against Bournemouth on the final day of the season. Sunday 3rd May 2026: Newcastle United 2-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) Never revert to the three at the back after you're so used to playing four at the back. I learned that quickly in this game as we were nowhere near playing well in this one, and we lost 2-0 to Zinedine Zidane's Newcastle United. Chalobah had the ball in the middle of the park, before he found Brais Mendez on the right hand side of the box. His ball in found Alexander Isak and he nodded in at the near post for 1-0. Sandro Tonali was instrumental in the second goal, as we were put to the sword. His original corner went back to him, played a one-two with Isak, ran into the area, found Bruno Guimaraes on the edge of the box, and he fired in off the bar just outside the area for the second goal of the game. We're going back to four at the back after this one, which we just didn't show up in. Thursday 7th May 2026: Aston Villa 3-3 Benfica (after extra time) (Aston Villa win 7-6 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg) That one goal from the first leg that proved to be the difference in Lisbon, proved the difference here as we drew the game on the night, and won on aggregate 7-6 to set up a final date with RB Leipzig at Celtic Park. A Mings throw in to Kamara found Saelemaekers on the left side of the area. He turned and shot from 20 yards out into the top corner to give us the lead on the night. The equaliser came just before half time when David Neres played the ball into the box from the right, and Musa tapped in inside the six-yard box for 1-1. They then levelled the tie up on aggregate, Bah running down the right again, the ball being partially cleared to Neymar who slammed home inside the box to make it 2-1 to Benfica. We thought we'd won the tie on 78 minutes. Douglas Luiz's corner was headed home by Ezri Konsa at the near post for 2-2 on the night. But Benfica had different ideas, and took it to extra time. Neymar's corner found Silva at the far post to make it 3-2 to the Portuguese giants on the night, and making it 6-6 on aggregate. The final twist in this game came just before half time in extra time. Leon Bailey made a run down the right with the ball, running into the box, where he squared it to Diop, who from 8 yards out, slotted home into the corner, to give Aston Villa a second consecutive European final, and gave me my first in this save. UEFA Europa League Final: Confirmation that we will face a familiar foe in Glasgow on the 20th May, as we face RB Leipzig in the Europa League final, both teams looking for their first ever title in this competition. Leo Saca Making his Debut! I've decided to change up the team as obviously we went through extra-time against Benfica and it would have taken a toll on all the men out there. We've got a home game against Brighton, and young Moldovan international, Leo Saca, who we signed from Barcelona, is due to make his debut against Brighton & Hove Albion. Let's see how he does. Sunday 10th May 2026: Aston Villa 2-3 Brighton & Hove Albion (Premier League) Another defeat in the league makes it back to back this month after our second team mainly played this game, losing 3-2 at home to Brighton. After it ended 0-0 in the first half, we took the lead not long after half time. Philippe Coutinho set up the first goal, playing the ball through the defence, where Boniface beat the offside trap and fired into the top right corner for 1-0. Brighton scored a clever equaliser from a Christian Eriksen corner. He played the ball to the edge of the area where Joao Pedro was unmarked, and he fired home from the edge of the box to level it up. They took the lead just moments later, as Tete's cross was only partially cleared, Eriksen took it down, turned and shot into the top right corner to give the Seagulls the lead. We equalised with 20 minutes to go. Diop's ball from the left was played into Coutinho. His shot clattered into Ollie Watkins, and the ball bounced in off the latter to get us a fortunate equaliser. Brighton won it in the 79th minute. Julio Enciso ran with the ball down the right, and his ball into the box was saved by Scherpen, but it bounced in off Joao Pedro and they made it a double against us this season. Tyrone Mings has signed a new contract before we take on West Ham United this weekend, as he will stay for a further two years. Saturday 16th May 2026: West Ham United 3-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) This was an awful performance from start to finish, as West Ham United ripped us apart in the first 37 minutes, in our final game before the Europa League final. The first goal was an unfortunate own goal, as Jarrod Bowen's volley from the edge of the area, caught Ezri Konsa on the way through and the keeper was left stranded as it bounced off the bar and went in. Jarrod Bowen set up the second from a corner on the left, as Mavropanos rose highest for his first goal of the season. Samuel Edozie sent the ball out left to Zehnter, who's cross into the box was perfectly hit for Stamenic to run in and secure West Ham the three points before half time. We had our moments, hitting the post twice, but I'm worried ahead of Wednesday's Europa League final. We're going to be nowhere near RB Leipzig at this rate. Wednesday 20th May 2026: RB Leipzig 0-0 Aston Villa (after extra time) (Aston Villa win 5-3 on penalties) (UEFA Europa League Final) We picked up our first piece of European silverware in this save as we have won the UEFA Europa League with Aston Villa, winning on penalties after a hard fought 0-0 draw with RB Leipzig. We worked the subs and the penalty takers to our advantage, and both teams had great chances to win the game in 120 minutes. Martinez saved Yuri Alberto's penalty after every penalty was perfect, before up stepped the nervous Leon Bailey. He didn't seem very nervous as he converted, which means Aston Villa complete the set, and I get my first European trophy of the save. Finances for Transfer Window: After doing my job here, Aston Villa now have £64,000,000 in the transfer budget, and nearly £3,000,000 in wage budget. I don't like Aston Villa in real life, and this win may come back to bite me when I face them further down the line, but we absolutely deserved this. UEFA Europa League Player of the Season: A clean sweep of Aston Villa players in the player of the season for the Europa League. Jacob Ramsey won it with 6 goals and 6 assists in 13 matches, and he's joined by Alexis Saelemaekers in 2nd place, and Douglas Luiz in third place. UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 7 players make the Europa League team of the season as well, with Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Juan David Mosquera, Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara, Alexis Saelemaekers, and Jacob Ramsey making it for Aston Villa. We absolutely dominated it this season, and I couldn't be happier. Sunday 24th May 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 AFC Bournemouth (Premier League) The final game of the season, and the final game for me as Aston Villa manager was a thumping 3-1 win over Bournemouth. Diop set up the first goal by bombing down the left and finding Boniface in the middle of the box for him to sweep home and to make it 1-0. Boniface scored the second with a thumping finish inside the box as he received the through ball from Tielemans perfectly, which left their keeper with no chance. Philippe Coutinho got his final goal before retirement as we made it 3-0. Mosquera, on the right, found Coutinho just outside the box, and he ran through the defence onto the left hand side of the box, before thumping it into the top corner at the near post to make it 3-0. In a game of great goals, Bournemouth got one right at the end. Kluivert, on the left side of the box, played it to the edge to Dasilva, and he played it across to Alex Scott, who took a touch into the area, and then fired it into the top right corner to get Bournemouth a consolation. May Results: We had a poor month until right at the very end, when we got two wins in a row technically. We lost 2-0 to Newcastle United at the start of the month, before we managed to get through Benfica after a 3-3 draw after extra time, which led us to win 7-6 on aggregate. We lost at home to Brighton 3-2, before losing 3-0 to West Ham the week of the Europa League final. But what a game for us that was. We drew 0-0 after extra time against RB Leipzig, and then won the final on a penalty shoot out, scoring all our penalties to win the Europa League. In our last game as the manager of this club, we beat Bournemouth 3-1 at Villa Park. Premier League Final Table: Manchester City won their sixth Premier League title in a row, beating out Liverpool by 5 points. Arsenal and Newcastle United ended up in the top 4 after brilliant seasons for them both. Tottenham Hotspur also won the FA Cup this season, although it looks like they'll be in the Champions League next season anyway. Manchester United were 6th this season, and Chelsea ended up 7th this season. Brighton may still get European football when all is said and done. And Europa League champions Aston Villa ended 9th, and they will be in the Champions League next season. All three teams that came up last season went straight back down, as Luton Town, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion had dismal seasons, and they return to the Championship. Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham and Southampton replace them for next season. Final Word: First of all, what a crazy season that was as we won the Europa League after a pretty average season across Borussia Dortmund and Aston Villa. The plan now is that I've resigned as Aston Villa manager, and I'm looking for a team that are currently in the Europa Conference League ahead of next season. RB Leipzig and Lens are the two teams looking for managers who are definitely in that competition at the moment, though if I find out they've been promoted up, I will leave them alone. But the aim now is to win the Europa Conference League and to get an international job so I can start that as soon as I possibly can. I'm absolutely buzzing to have won the Europa League, and now we go again with someone new next season. Who will that be? You'll find out in the next update, as we move onto Season 4.

I'm brand new to this so absolutely I will take this into account. I'm trying to iron out the problems before I start my own website for FM25, which I hope people will follow. Thank you for the feedback.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - April We're now at the point in the season where we know roughly where everyone is going to finish this season, with us annoyingly enough being in 9th place, only a few points off a confirmed European spot. We have a tough start to this month, facing the top two in the Premier League, and obviously we will have both legs of our Europa League Quarter Final match-up. We know we need to have a better month than last month in the league although it will be a tough ask. Let's take a look at those fixtures. April Fixtures: We start things off this month with an away game at league leaders Manchester City, who are on their way to winning their sixth consecutive Premier League title. Any way to try and make the league not a farmer's league would be much appreciated, but it will be tough to grab a victory at the Etihad unfortunately. We go to Florence after that for the first leg of our tie in the Europa League at Fiorentina, before following that up with a home match against second-placed Liverpool, so it doesn't get any easier. We then will have a rocking Villa Park for that second leg against Fiorentina, before ending the month with a Monday night match across the Midlands to Nottingham Forest, and a home game against Brentford as we attempt to get a winning end to the month. Saturday 4th April 2026: Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa (Premier League) After a similar match in the FA Cup Third Round, we lost in the very last stages of the match at the Etihad in another 2-1 defeat to the league leaders. Mosquera's throw in on the right was given back to him by Leon Bailey, but his pass into the box was poor, but so was the attempted clearance, as the players worked themselves into a passing move that ended with Boniface in the box, and he lashed into the top right corner to give us the lead. City equalised after 19 minutes, the poorest of passes and moves fell to Rodri in midfield, and his ball through the middle found Erling Haaland, who obviously fired home for 1-1. We lost the game in the 93rd minute. A Bernardo Silva run down the right ended up in a crossing position, and he played it across goal for Erling Haaland to fire home on the goal line, and cruelly steal a point away from us. Let's clear our minds, and hopefully go into the game with Fiorentina with some form of confidence for our performance. Boubacar Kamara Injured: Boubacar Kamara will miss the first leg against Fiorentina, and maybe also the Liverpool game next weekend as he picked up a twisted knee away at Manchester City. I'm glad it's not too long out at least. Thursday 9th April 2026: Fiorentina 0-0 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League Quarter Final First Leg) Fiorentina were the better team on the night, but a fantastic defensive performance means we come back to Villa Park next week with a 0-0 draw. Fiorentina hit the post twice in this one, and did find the net through Beltran, but it was ruled out for offside. We held on despite loads of pressure from the Italian side, and Leon Bailey nearly won it at the death, but their keeper produced a stunning save to keep the scores level. Winner takes all in the second leg then, as we aim to make a first European semi final of the save. Sunday 12th April 2026: Aston Villa 3-2 Liverpool (Premier League) We came from behind to shock Liverpool here at Villa Park, beating the title challengers 3-2. A loose pass back from Diop found Darwin Nunez running through, rounding Martinez and rolling it home from the edge of the box for 1-0. To my surprise though, we equalised. Jacob Ramsey cleared the ball to the right to find McGinn on a counter attack, and he released Watkins who beat Liverpool's high line, and he didn't fluff the one-on-one, slotting it home to level the game up. Two minutes later, we took the lead. Ramsey again had the ball down the right, went to the byline where he played it back to Mosquera. His ball in the box found McGinn, who played it across to Diop and his deflected effort found the bottom right corner. McGinn effectively set up the third as well. He ran down the right, before playing it back to Douglas Luiz. I'm yet to make my mind up if it was a lofted pass or a shot, but Watkins got his head on it on the line for his second, and our third goal of the game. Mo Salah had a goal ruled out for offside, before Florian Wirtz got a late goal back for Liverpool. Darwin Nunez rolled it alongside him to Salah, who's deflected pass found Wirtz, and he fired it into the near post for 3-2. We held on though, and both McGinn and Watkins were incredible in this game. Premier League Team of the Week: 14th April 2026: Personally, I would have included John McGinn in the team of the week, but Ollie Watkins deserves his place after picking up two goals against Liverpool. Thursday 16th April 2026: Aston Villa 3-0 Fiorentina (Aston Villa win 3-0 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Quarter Final Second Leg) We booked our place in the UEFA Europa League Semi Final as we defeated Fiorentina 3-0 in the second leg. Ezri Konsa got the ball for Villa for the first, before playing it ahead of him to the right flank for Mosquera. He ran into the area, and his cross was saved, but the keeper's touch deflected onto Jacob Ramsey's shin and the ball rolled in to give us the lead for the first time in the tie. Pobega was sent off with a rash and dangerous foul from behind on Tyrone Mings, which made it almost impossible for the Italian side to get back into it. Diego Carlos had the ball in the middle of the Fiorentina half, before playing it out wide for Matty Cash. His cross was scrambled in the area, where Saelemaekers stuck out a leg to push it beyond the keeper, and to put the tie beyond all doubt for 2-0. Jacob Ramsey won a tackle in the middle for the final goal, and Ollie Watkins was just given clear space like he was against Liverpool, and for the second time in two games, he converted comfortably from that situation to move us into the semi final and make my first European semi final in game. UEFA Europa League Semi Final Draw: Our last game of the month will now be the first leg of our Europa League semi final, where we will travel to the Estadio de Luz in Lisbon, to face Benfica in what will be a tough tie. Coefficient Rankings: We could take advantage of this if we don't win the Europa League this season, as England is top of the coefficient ranking for the third season in a row. Spain replace Italy in the top two this season. Filip Marschall Injured: Our back-up goalkeeper is now out with a twisted ankle and will miss most of the rest of the season, after turning sharply in training. He was fairly decent while Martinez was out, and here's hoping he'll be back soon enough to potentially run in goal should we need him. Monday 20th April 2026: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa (Premier League) We were only able to take a point away from the City Ground as we drew with Nottingham Forest 1-1 after being reduced to ten men towards the start of the second half. John McGinn played a ball into the box from the right at the start of the second half, but the keeper only parried it away as far as Kamara, who took a couple of touches to the left, and then struck it with his left foot into the top right corner, leaving their keeper grasping at thin air. John McGinn was sent off for a second yellow card, after I think handling the ball in the attacking penalty area. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold on until the end despite us having numerous chances to get the second. Their goal came from one of our corners which they managed to clear. Barcola ran down the left, got to the left flank near the area, played it into the box, and Awoniyi struck it home first time to level the game for Forest. Annoyed about the result and the red card, but we carry on. Saturday 25th April 2026: Aston Villa 0-0 Brentford (Premier League) This was just a boring game. We did go attacking in this one, but Brentford went defensive and the only time the ball hit the net was when Ollie Watkins struck in the first half, but he was about two yards offside. Unfortunately nothing much happened, and we only took a point for this one. We're dropping points here and there now, we've got to see what happens after the Europa League for me. If we win it, do I get a bigger job? Matty Cash Injured: Matty Cash has suffered a pulled groin during training unfortunately, which rules him out of the Semi Final First Leg away at Benfica, a vital player who we may have needed to get a result. We've got to hope the team aren't suffering so much as we head into this game. Thursday 30th April 2026: Benfica 3-4 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League Semi Final First Leg) There was an absolute goal fest in Lisbon this evening, as both sides forgot about defending as we won this game 4-3. We took the lead early on. They had a throw in at the back but basically tossed it away, as a clearance fell to Douglas Luiz, who found Watkins in the box. He turned and shot into the right hand corner to give us the lead inside 6 minutes. 12 minutes later, Jacob Ramsey went on a run towards the area, before laying it off to Douglas Luiz, who played it into John McGinn. He turned his man, and shot into the left hand corner this time for 2-0. After 26 minutes, Benfica took a foot hold in this game. Neymar took a corner from the left, and Silva nodded home at the near post for 2-1. In the second half, the goalscoring didn't let up. We restored the two goal gap a few minutes after the restart. Saelemaekers went on a run down the left, and he played it back to Diego Carlos who had run into the area, took a touch, and fired into the right side of the goal superbly to make it 3-1. Douglas Luiz played a free-kick from the right into Jacob Ramsey, who saw Ollie Watkins running towards the area, and he slid it into the bottom right hand corner to make it 4-1. Then Benfica had a resurgence in the last half an hour. Angelino's cross from the left found Musa in the middle of the box, and he rose highest to make it 4-2. Bah then had the ball on the right with 6 minutes to go, he played it across to Musa, who found Angelino unmarked on the left side of the box, and he fired it home for 4-3. Musa did put the ball in the net late on to try and equalise for Benfica, but it was ruled offside, and we held on despite the late onslaught. John McGinn Injured: Unfortunately, John McGinn picked up an injury during the game in Portugal, and will be out for a month, and miss the second leg and most of the run in this season after twisting his ankle while sprinting. April Results: Here's a round up of this month's results then. We nearly took something from the Etihad after taking the lead there, but unfortunately ended up losing to an Erling Haaland brace, losing 2-1 away from home, but that was our only defeat of the month. We drew 0-0 with Fiorentina away from home in the Europa League Quarter Final. We then came back from behind against Liverpool to beat City's closest challengers 3-2 and pick up what should have been a massive league victory. We carried the form on into the next match with a 3-0 home win against Fiorentina to book our ticket to the semi final. Then followed a couple of annoying draws. We drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest away from home after being reduced to 10 men, and then we drew 0-0 at home to Brentford in what was a nothing match. But the best game of the month was undoubtedly that 4-3 victory away at Benfica, to bring us a step closer to the Europa League final in Glasgow. Premier League Table Update: The gap at the top heading into the final month of the season is still one point, Manchester City on 77 to Liverpool's 76. Both Arsenal and Newcastle United are sitting on 71 points in those Champions League spots, with Manchester United only 3 points behind on 68 points. Chelsea sit sixth on 65 points, ahead of Tottenham on goal difference. We're 9th on 54 points. At the bottom, all three teams have gone down to the Championship, in what were the weakest three teams ever in Premier League football. Luton Town are on 10 points, Middlesbrough on 16 points, and West Brom on 17. The closest team to the drop zone, Leeds United, are a full 15 points above 18th. Final Word: Again, a bit of an indifferent month in the league season, as we have probably chucked away a decent chance of Europa League football through the league. We are one match away from the Europa League final, and you can see if we can do that in the next update as Benfica were properly coming back into it. When it comes to the Summer, it'll be a case of seeing if anyone comes in for us, maybe a bigger team perhaps, especially if we win the Europa League this season, as that will boost my profile up an unspeakable amount. Losing John McGinn for the last bit of the season is rather annoying, but he could be back for the Europa League final should we get there. It's been a dream European run though, and let's see what happens in May as we end the Premier League season, and see if we can get our first European trophy on the board. Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you next time.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - March Hello and welcome back to Aston Villa, where we have had a decent start to 2026. We've played 10 matches in all competitions so far this calendar year, and we've won 8 of them, which is a turnaround from where the club was before I joined. This month, we have our Europa League Round of 16 tie in a battle of Britain against Rangers, and a big game coming up as we try to get some form of European football through the league. I can't have both, so for example, I can't win the Europa League this season with Villa, and then win the Conference League with them next season as if we did the first one this year, we'd be in next season's Champions League. Let's see how it all goes down, and then see what happens after that. Here are the fixtures for this month. March Fixtures: Our matches this month kick off with the Monday night football against Middlesbrough at home, a match we really ought to win if we are to be taken seriously for Europe this season. Then it's a huge game in North London, as we take on Tottenham Hotspur in a European six-pointer (and yes, they're a thing). We then travel to Scotland for our European first leg against Rangers, before facing West Bromwich Albion at home in the Premier League. Finally, we will face Rangers at home in the second leg of that tie, before the final international break of the season. Premier League Manager of the Month for February: I came third in manager of the month to be featured in the top three for the first time. I trailed behind Mikel Arteta in first, and Jurgen Klopp in second, not bad company to be around if you ask me. Monday 2nd March 2026: Aston Villa 2-1 Middlesbrough (Premier League) We got back to winning ways this week, as we took a nice 3 points against relegation-threatened Middlesbrough. A Leon Bailey corner from the left found Pau Torres in the box, and his header from a couple of yards out gave us a 1-0 lead inside 17 minutes. Mosquera has the ball down the right after 68 minutes, and after a one-two with John McGinn, found a slide rule pass into the box for Watkins to sweep home and double our advantage. Middlesbrough got one back when McGree had the ball down the left. He swung it in, and Forss hit a superb left foot volley that Scherpen had no chance with for 2-1. We held on though, and went only a couple of points behind Tottenham. Premier League Team of the Week: 3rd February 2026: Juan David Mosquera gets into the team of the week after his performance the night before against Middlesbrough, mainly getting that assist for Watkins to settle the score. Saturday 7th March 2026: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Aston Villa (Premier League) At the moment, it looks like we're going to have to win the Europa League to have a chance of being in Europe next season. We took the lead early on before losing 3-1 to Spurs. Leon Bailey intercepted a Tottenham clearance for our goal. He bombed it down the left flank before finding Watkins in the middle of the box, and he swept home past the keeper for 1-0. Tottenham equalised just after the half hour mark. Conor Gallagher found Schjelderup on the left, who played the ball inside the area towards Son, who held it up and passed it beyond Martinez for 1-1. Van de Ven had a corner for Tottenham in the 69th minute, which was cleared back towards him. He played it infield to Schjeldrup who ran into the area and his deflected pass across goal found Kulusevski at the far post to give the home side the lead. Van de Ven set up the third, with a ball in from the left which found Kulusevski leaping like a salmon for his second goal of the game and Tottenham's third. That damages any hopes of a higher finish in the Premier League than what was expected, and now we have to keep going against West Brom next week. But next, we turn our attentions to Europe. Ollie Watkins Injured: It just gets worse after that Tottenham game, as our main talisman, Ollie Watkins is going to be out injured for the next month or so with a twisted ankle picked up in training. It's not the most bruising end to the month, but we would have needed him to finish those games off I feel at this point. Thursday 12th March 2026: Rangers 1-5 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League Round of 16 First Leg) We ripped Rangers apart at Ibrox after a slight scare before half time, as we swept aside the Scottish side 5-1. A corner opened up the scoring for us this evening, as one from the right was difficult for Rangers to deal with. We got into a game of head tennis, before Jacob Ramsey hit a volley from just inside the area into the right hand corner to give us the lead. Rangers got a corner themselves taken by Matondo, which again, we failed to clear. It fell to Matondo again, and Dujon Sterling hit it first time when given to him in the left hand corner for 1-1. We blew them apart after half time, by scoring again on the 54th minute. Leon Bailey ran down the right before playing a low cross into the box, which evaded everyone but Saelemaekers at the far post, and he tapped it home for 2-1. It was a third for us just moments later. Mings brought in a cross from the left which was cleared to the right for Mosquera, who swung it back into the box, and Connor Goldson virtually volleyed past his own keeper for 3-1. Ramsey had the ball on the left hand side, as Saelemaekers made his way into the box for the ball back, and he duly obliged when he did get the ball for 4-1, sweeping it into the right hand corner. Bailey had the ball again on the left hand side after a free kick was cleared. He found Ezri Konsa running through the middle of their half, and he took the ball, took a touch and scored a smashing goal from just outside the box which went straight through their sub keeper for 5-1. I think we can say we're through, but don' t think I'll be taking the second leg easily. Youth Intake: Again, they said excellent for youth intake this season. Unfortunately, FM lies again haha. We have top talents for the Under 18s potentially, what I've decided to do is not cover the youth teams so much about signings and stuff as it's not that sort of save for me. But if they come into the first team, you will meet them. Bjorn Fridriksson, Jonathan Doona, Adam Pilkington and Aron Bridge-Wilkinson have been recognised as the best players from the youth intake. Will they be used in the future? We will find out in due course. Sunday 15th March 2026: Aston Villa 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League) Out of another game we dominated, we were only able to pick up a 1-1 draw against local rivals West Bromwich Albion. A Philippe Coutinho corner found Ezri Konsa at the far post to nod home for 1-0. We gave away a penalty with 8 minutes remaining, and Jed Wallace stepped up to equalise for the Baggies. Dropping two points here is not the one I'm afraid. The players need to learn how to score in the league again. Premier League Team of the Week: 17th March 2026: Both Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa made their way into the team of the week this time around. Konsa scored our goal against West Brom, and Matty Cash was quite strong at the back against the Baggies. One thing that is ok to see, is Zach Steffen, the West Brom goalkeeper, in the team of the week, meaning he must have had a good game. Thursday 19th March 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 Rangers (Aston Villa win 8-2 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg) We completed our Round of 16 tie against Rangers very convincingly, as we won 3-1 on the night, which resulted in an 8-2 aggregate scoreline. With it being over from the first leg, we came out all guns blazing in the second leg. We scored our first from a fantastic counter attack, a ball forward to Saelemaekers when he was in the area, he laid it off to Jacob Ramsey, who ran through and fired home for 1-0 on the night. Boniface sent the ball wide right to Matty Cash, who cut it back to Boniface and he fired home into the bottom left corner from just inside the area for 2-0. Boniface turned provider for 3-0. He ran into the area, ran round the sides of the defence, got to the byline, and cut it across for Saelemaekers who got a well deserved goal on the line for 3-0. It then turned quiet until Matty Cash picked up an injury, which we will check the severity of in a moment. Rangers got a consolation 4 minutes from time. Rabbi Matondo took a corner from the left, and Carrillo got to it at the far post for 3-1. We're through to the quarter finals of the Europa League. Matty Cash Injured: Matty Cash picked up a groin strain during the Rangers second leg and will be out of action for both Poland and Aston Villa for a month. Gutted for him, but we must carry on. New Gate Receipts Record: Our Europa League quarter final match meant we got our highest gate receipts in game, beating a Leicester City FA Cup tie from earlier in the save game. We earned £825,000 from this match, which is great to see, it means more fans are turning up. UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final Opponents: We have been drawn out against Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final, and the second leg will be at home which gives us that slight advantage at least. Let's take a look at who we would face if we get through, and we will then officially have a passage to the final. We will face either Newcastle United or Benfica in the semi-finals of the Europa League, which means there's no chance of an all-English final. John McGinn New Contract: John McGinn has been fantastic so far in my time at the club, and his contract was due to run out this Summer, so we've signed the Scottish international on a brand new two-year contract which will last until the 2027-28 season. I'm very excited to see what he can do in the future. NXGN winner and Aston Villa Player in top 50: Lamine Yamal won the NXGN award this season with his team mate Darvich in second and Duranville took third place, one of our former players at Borussia Dortmund. We did have a player in there, although currently out on loan, as Omar Khedr was 37th place. March Results: So starting from the beginning of the month, we defeated Middlesbrough 2-1 at home in the Premier League, followed by a gutting 3-1 defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur. We won 5-1 at Rangers in the Europa League Round of 16 First Leg which virtually confirmed us as being through already. We then dropped points at home to local rivals West Bromwich Albion by giving a needless penalty in a 1-1 draw. Finally, we managed to beat Rangers 3-1 to confirm an 8-2 aggregate victory. Premier League Table Update: Manchester City have taken the lead at the top of the Premier League table, now one point clear of Liverpool who are second on 67 points. Arsenal and Manchester United complete the top four, but Newcastle United are only outside the Champions League spots on goal difference. Chelsea sit on 55 points, and Tottenham are 6 points off the top four on 53 points. We currently sit in 9th place on 49 points. Luton Town are now a massive 16 points off safety on 9 points with 8 matches to go. West Brom and Middlesbrough look down as well, on 14 and 15 points respectively. Final Word: We got to the Europa League quarter finals, after thrashing Rangers in that battle of Britiain clash, but in the league we decided to crash and burn after only picking up 4 points from three matches, despite the fact we held the lead in all three, including against Tottenham Hotspur away. I would say our main hope this season is to be to try and win the Europa League to get back into Europe, unless the European places are enough to drop down to 9th, which does happen. Here's hoping we can have a good run to the end of the season, but next month we do face the top 2 in the Premier League which could dent a chance of a top half finish. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Until next time, I hope you've enjoyed this month.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - February Welcome back to the Glory Hunter Challenge. Keeping tabs on it, it is club 2, and season 3 of the save. We had a great January. We won 3 out of 3 in the Premier League, and we confirmed our last 16 place in the Europa League, which means we don't have to worry about any extra games this month. We were knocked out of the FA Cup, but I will add, it's no disgrace to lose to City. The aim is to do something special while in England, as we have three different titles to play for in this country. Whether it comes with Aston Villa or not remains to be seen. This month, two things happen off the bat. We have a game against Luton Town on February 1st to kick this month off, which we must be winning. Then on the back of that, we have Transfer Deadline Day, which obviously I'll play through, but nothing much is expected to happen. Let's take a look at this month's fixture list. February Fixtures: All our matches this month come from the Premier League, a good way of preserving a lot of our energy this month. We start off against rock-bottom Luton Town, who are seriously struggling after returning to the top flight after a year back in the Championship. We then face a big game in our bid to qualify for Europe through the league, as we head to Stamford Bridge and we take on 6th-placed Chelsea, also wanting a top four place this season. We then face 15th-placed Crystal Palace, who are probably safe from relegation already, and there will be nothing too much ambitious about them for the rest of the season. We finish the month with a trip to Elland Road, to play Leeds United, who despite their 17th spot at the moment, have a nice gap to the bottom three at the beginning of the month. Hugo Alba from Barcelona: We have a new young striker, a good young Spanish striker who has come through the ranks at Barcelona. He's only 19 years old, but has played twice for the Barcelona first team which showed they had some faith in him. We've decided to bring him to Aston Villa, and for now he will play for the Under 21s. We only signed him for £140,000 which could rise by an extra £40,000 which if he works out for the club, could be a shrewd move, and provide him with a future in England. I'm excited about this player. Sunday 1st February 2026: Aston Villa 4-1 Luton Town (Premier League) Our winning run in the Premier League continues as we made it 6-in-a-row, thrashing Luton Town 4-1, in a game where Emiliano Martinez sustained a broken finger. The opening goal didn't arrive until the start of the second half. Boniface picked up the ball down the left, but was tackled as the ball rolled to Moreno. He played it into Saelemaekers on the left side of the box, who rolled it into the middle for Leon Bailey, and the Jamaican tucked it into the corner to make it 1-0. Luton equalised five minutes later. Doughty picked up the ball in the middle of our half, and just kept on running, round the defence, into the box and to the byline. He pulled it back for Strefezza, and the Brazilian had the easy job of tapping it in for 1-1. Leon Bailey in effect, set up the second goal. His corner from the left was only partially cleared to Kamara, who's initial header was saved by Kaminski, but he managed to volley from the tightest of angles to make it 2-1. Matty Cash received the ball on the right hand side, and found Ollie Watkins running into the box, who managed to put it into the left corner for 3-1. We finished it off completely in the 98th minute. Diop was on left corner duties this time. He swung it in, and it was cleared to Diego Carlos who headed back to Moreno, who produced the strangest header of the football, so much so, it looped over everyone, and nestled into the bottom corner for 4-1. Our goal difference is back to 0, and we are now in the top half. Emiliano Martinez Injured: Emiliano Martinez was able to continue the game as he said he felt ok, but unfortunately, he will now be out for up to 6 weeks after sustaining that broken finger against Luton Town. I just hope our second choice keeper is up for the challenge. Trai-Varn Mulley to Wealdstone: One of our decent young prospects according to the coaching team, Trai-Varn Mulley is going to play for Wealdstone until the end of the season, and they see him as an important player for their side. They're currently 10th in the National League with the chance to go into the play-offs this season. He could be a good signing for the London-based outfit. Brodi Hughes to Grimsby Town: Another youngster who seems like he could make a difference for a team lower down the ladder, Brodi Hughes is going to League Two leaders Grimsby Town, to become most likely, their resident right-back for the rest of the season. It could be good for him to pick up a medal as long as Grimsby Town sustain their lead at the top of the fourth tier. Gabriel Moscardo to Borussia Dortmund: Our former club helping us out, while we help our former club out as well. Gabriel Moscardo has left Aston Villa, and will play for defending Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund. They've paid £28,000,000 for him as well, which helps out our finances out a treat as well, as we now have just over £35,000,000 to play with on Deadline Day, and potentially getting players sorted out for the Summer. He's been really strong for us, and I hope he enjoys it at Borussia Dortmund, like we did most of the time. Leo Saca from Barcelona: Leo Saca has joined the club from Barcelona. Another player we've taken from the Barcelona academy, who's decided he wants to come and live in Birmingham. He will turn out for the Under 21 side, and with him being a Moldovan full international, he has that quality that we need at the club. Iker Villar from Sevilla: Villar comes to Villa! OK, that was terrible, but this young striker doesn't seem to be. His composure and his off the ball rating at 20 years old is clear to see he's quality in tough matches. His dribbling, finishing and heading are also what you want for a striker of his age. His jumping reach isn't the best but I'm sure we can train him up on that. He's come in from Sevilla, where he has played a game for the first team. He also cost us £8,000,000 which may seem like a gamble, but again, we will watch how he progresses. Triston Rowe to Morecambe: Triston Rowe has gone to Morecambe on loan until the next transfer window. He's going to be a strong and important player at League Two level, and Morecambe are chasing a play-off place at the moment. Luka Lynch to Sutton United: Another young player from the lower age teams is off to League Two to get some experience in the first team. Sutton United have come in for Luka Lynch, a young central midfielder, and Sutton are placed precariously above the relegation places, so hopefully he can be the man to galvanise that team. Leonidas Stergiou from St Gallen: A player that we played against only last week, Leonidas Stergiou impressed me at the back for St Gallen, so I thought I would sign him from the Swiss outfit for £11,000,000. He's got decent physical attributes for a centre-back. His mentals are strong as well. His tackling is at a 14, and his first touch, marking and heading are strong and can only get better. I'm looking forward to having him about in my squad. Landry Farre from Barcelona: Another young defender who has come from the youth ranks at Barcelona, Landry Farre has come in for just £235,000. He's an exciting young talent, with loads of potential to improve as he develops further with us. His physicals and mentals are all respectable so far, and his technical attributes could be something we work on as well, with 11s and 12s across the board at the moment. Omar Khedr to Brest: Omar Khedr had people coming after him all over the place, and he's decided to move to Brest in France on loan until the end of the season. I'm not sure he'll get as many games as he could have done in the Championship, where there was also interest, but let's see how this helps his development. Lebo Mothiba to Vizela: The South African striker, Lebo Mothiba, is going out on loan to Vizela for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, he's not someone we need in the squad, but this could be the way forward for him to get a permanent transfer in the Summer, as Vizela have an option to buy, and they do have him as an important player. Landry Farre to Hull City: He has just arrived at the club from Barcelona, and he won't be getting any first team football with us for the rest of the season, but he will spend his opening months in England, in the Championship at Hull City. Players In: Just for clarification, these are all the players we got in during our first transfer window at the football club, including a new centre-back who will get a few games for the rest of the season in Leondias Stergiou from St Gallen. We also have brought in several players to be used in future Villa squads in seasons to come. Players Out: In return, here are the players we've sent away from the club. Three first team players who have had appearances this season, including Saud Abdulhamid, Felix Nmecha and Gabriel Moscardo leaving the club, the initial two on loan, and Moscardo off to Borussia Dortmund for £28,000,000. Premier League Team of the Week: 3rd February 2026: Alex Moreno gets into the team of the week this time around, after his top performance against Luton Town, topping it off with a goal at the death. Ezri Konsa New Contract: Ezri Konsa has signed a new four-year deal, keeping him at the football club until 2030. He scored my first goal as manager of Aston Villa in that match against Newcastle United, and he's definitely an important player in this team, he plays more often than not. He's worth £90,000 a week now, and I hope he goes on to prove that he deserves this contract. Saturday 7th February 2026: Chelsea 2-4 Aston Villa (Premier League) Our winning run in the Premier League continues as I stuck with the attacking formation against Chelsea, and managed to beat them 4-2. Mosquera helped open the scoring by taking the ball down the right and running into their half. He found Boniface who played a through ball through to John McGinn, who went one-on-one with Kobel, who used to play for my Borussia Dortmund side, and he curved it home around him for a 1-0 lead. They equalised through poor defensive decisions at the back for us. Ezri Konsa tried to play the ball back to Scherpen, who's deputising for Martinez while he's out, and Romelu Lukaku slotted home for an easy finish. We maintained our grip on the game as we approached half time. Douglas Luiz's ball for the second goal was intercepted at the back, but was rolled onto Jacob Ramsey, who fired it into the corner to give us a 2-1 lead. We doubled it before half-time. Douglas Luiz played a straightforward free-kick to McGinn, who was all on his own. He played it across goal, and Ezri Konsa ran in at the back post to tap home for 3-1. Chelsea got one back after 51 minutes. Paez ran down the left, before finding Joao Gomes in the box, who took a first time shot into the bottom right corner to give them hope. Despite the fact they kept going for that equaliser, we finished them off once and for all with 3 minutes to go of normal time. McGinn played the ball to Boniface and made a run, while Boniface found him with a ball over the top at the end of that run. He managed to slot it into the bottom corner to take home the victory and make it seven wins in a row in the league. Premier League Team of the Week: 10th February 2026 Both John McGinn and Victor Boniface are in the team of the week after their great individual performances against Chelsea, a game which helped us to have a decent crack at European football. Kjell Scherpen Injured: Kjell Scherpen, who replaced Emiliano Martinez after injury against Chelsea, is now out injured himself for up to two weeks after picking up a pulled thigh. Fortunately, he will be back sooner rather than later, but now it means that for a unprecedented occasion for me, my third choice goalkeeper, Filip Marschall, will play against Crystal Palace. Monday 16th February 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League) We made it eight Premier League victories in a row with a 3-1 defeat of Crystal Palace. A beautiful passing move from us allowed us to hurt Palace, all ending up with a scoop over the top from Ramsey to Ollie Watkins, who brought it down, and fired past Henderson for 1-0. Odsonne Edouard equalised from the penalty spot, sending Marschall the wrong way for 1-1. Douglas Luiz played the ball from the middle to the right towards Matty Cash, who held on to it for a second, but played it back to Douglas Luiz who tried the shot, saved by Henderson, but Ramsey was there to slot it away and give us the lead again for 2-1. We sealed the deal on 70 minutes, a floating ball from out left by Jacob Ramsey, found Ollie Watkins at the back post with the header and it went in off the post for 3-1. Ollie Watkins and Jacob Ramsey were incredible today, and we keep up the pressure on the top 7. Premier League Team of the Week: 17th February 2026 And both of those players make the team of the week, after pulling apart Crystal Palace at home. What a result, what a team since I've taken over. UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Draw: After obviously not having to play in the Europa League playoff round, we get a tie against Rangers in the Round of 16. The Scottish side overcame St Gallen 4-3 on aggregate, but now I see us cruising through this tie to be honest, unless the Scottish sides are now overpowered. Saturday 21st February 2026: Leeds United 1-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) We were very much nowhere near our normal selves in this game, as we fell to a 1-0 defeat against lowly Leeds United. The only goal came from a cross from the left by Sinisterra and Retegui was virtually on the line when he nodded it in for the only goal of the game to send Elland Road into raptures. We had a couple of chances throughout the game, but we were very much away from our usual standards, and it's a dent in our push for Europe. Our first defeat in nine matches, 1-0 to Leeds at full time. February Results: We had another good month with only one defeat again. We actually went on to get 8 league victories in a row before losing at the end of the month. We started the month by beating Luton Town 4-1, before humiliating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge 4-2. We followed that up with a 3-1 home win against Crystal Palace, before being humbled 1-0 away at Leeds United. Let's take a look at how that leaves us in the table. Premier League Table Update: Liverpool lead the way with 63 points, to Manchester City's 62 in what will be a fantastic title race. Arsenal aren't out of it either really, though they would need a miracle to get into the title race on 57 points. Newcastle United are in the final Champions League spot for now on 55 points. A further two points back are Manchester United, with Chelsea another two points back on 51 points, but are already in Europe next season after winning the Carabao Cup Final against Leicester City. Tottenham Hotspur have 50 points, with Brighton just behind them on 48. At the bottom of the table, Luton Town are on 9 points, and are dangerously close to breaking the Premier League record of 11 points unless they can improve. West Brom have 12 points, and Middlesbrough sit on 15, a massive 9 points behind Leeds United, who are closer to securing their survival. Final Word: Another good month on the pitch sits us in the top half, as we found out who we're playing in the Europa League as well. I aim to give Stergiou his debut at centre-back when we take on Middlesbrough in our next game, a match we must win to get over our previous defeat. We also face Tottenham next month away, but there's no reason we can't get a result after doing what we did to Chelsea. I'm confident we will end up in Europe next season, whether it's through the league, or by winning the Europa League. It's also in my plan to see which managers get sacked after the World Cup internationally, as we try to take our first job on that front. Thank you for sticking with me so far, and I'll see you for the March update.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - January Welcome back to the save and it's now a brand new year as we welcome in 2026, and we have settled into the job here at Villa Park. We ended 2025 with 2 vital wins against both West Ham United and AFC Bournemouth, and left us within touching distance of the top half of the table. Can we extend that winning run to 3 or more in the league? We will find out very shortly as we do have a game being played on New Year's Day. We also start an FA Cup run at the weekend, and also we've got the UEFA Europa League continuing this month, as we try to confirm a top 8 place, and a place automatically in the Round of 16. Let's take a look at the fixtures as we open 2026. January Fixtures: We start things off at the brand new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium, as we play Everton, in what I believe is Villa's first match ever at this stadium. We then travel to Manchester City in the FA Cup, in what I'm sure won't be a cup run this season. But again, you never know. We then have two back-to-back home matches in the Premier League, against Manchester United, and then a must-win match against Leicester City if we're going to be anywhere near Europe, as Leicester are chasing those places down as well. We then play two games away from home in the Premier League to finish the month, against Bodo/Glimt and St Gallen. Thursday 1st January 2026: Everton 2-3 Aston Villa (Premier League) We're gonna score one more than you! Well that's the way it feels anyway, as we won for the first time at Everton's new stadium, 3-2. Mosquera set the first goal up by sending a cross into the middle of the box. Jacob Ramsey headed the ball on, and found Tammy Abraham who managed to squeeze the ball under the keeper to give us a first-minute lead. Everton equalised after 12 minutes. A free kick on the left by Arthur Gudmundsson found Jarrad Branthwaite at the far post and he nodded it home for 1-1. We retook the lead after 19 minutes, when Kamara ran down the wing, his ball eventually found it's way to Douglas Luiz. His brilliant shot was deflected by Tammy Abraham, and it deceived the goalkeeper who put his weight the wrong side of the goal to make it 2-1. We doubled the advantage in the second half, with good football between Mosquera and Nmecha (who we have rejoined since selling him to Villa). Mosquera found McGinn, who in turn played it to Jacob Ramsey in the middle of the box, and his first time finish found the bottom corner, for a well-deserved goal for him. Everton got another one back with just 12 minutes remaining. Nakamura made a run down the left, beating three defenders as he ran to the byline and into the area, he played it across goal, and De Arrascaeta was there in the middle to give the Toffees some hope. But it wasn't to be, and we held on for our third win in a row. Sunday 4th January 2026: Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa (The Emirates FA Cup Third Round) This game was a sickener. We stayed in it until the very last minute, but unfortunately the league leaders nicked it at the Etihad, and Manchester City go through to the Fourth Round. We took the lead in the 6th minute. Leon Bailey swung in the corner from the left, and Diego Carlos got to the ball at the far post to nod home for 1-0. We held the lead for 22 minutes, before City equalised. Gvardiol threw the ball into play, had it played back to him, and he found the cross into Alvarez, who rose above everyone to nod home for 1-1. It looked like we were going to take them back to Villa Park, until Jeremy Doku found a running Jack Grealish on the left, and played a lofted ball through to him, one-on-one with Martinez, and he chipped it over him to grab the last minute winner, and send us packing from this competition. Youri Tielemans Returns to the Club: Youri Tielemans was out on loan at Atletico Madrid and had only made 10 appearances for them. I decided he could be really good for the team at the moment, if we are pushing to make top four, and we ended his loan now for him to integrate back into the team. Philippe Coutinho Retires: Philippe Coutinho has decided to announce his retirement at the end of the season, those dates look like after the World Cup in America. He hasn't played for the club this season, and was more recently in Qatar playing for Al-Duhail. He was one of the great players back in the day, but he will retire with a bit of a lull at the end of his career. Premier League Team of the Week: 6th January 2026 Both Mosquera and Tammy Abraham make the team of the week after a great performance away at Everton in the Premier League, a result which gives us so much momentum heading into the next stage of the Premier League season. Marlon Blake from Minneapolis City: A young American forward has come to the club with a decent future. His natural fitness is at a 16, with his agility and his pace at a 15. His dribbling, finishing and technique also stands out at 14 which is great to see from a striker. They reckon he will be a decent Championship forward at the moment. Josh Feeney to QPR: Young centre-back Josh Feeney is moving to League One side, QPR until the end of the season, to get some decent first team football. He's been on loan at Plymouth and Coventry fairly recently, but will drop down a level from where he was playing for the London side. Tim Iroegbunam to Bristol City: Another young player going out on loan is 22-year-old midfielder, Tim Iroegbunam, as he has joined Bristol City, who currently ply their trade in Sky Bet Championship, and not only that, but they are currently in 7th place, and pushing for a play off place. I'd like to see Tim use this experience to try and be successful and get Bristol City over the line this season. Saturday 10th January 2026: Aston Villa 2-0 Manchester United (Premier League) A very dull game went our way as the only thing that made this game interesting was the final ten minutes, as we defeated Manchester United 2-0. A Douglas Luiz free kick from the right with 10 minutes to go found Pau Torres at the far post, and the centre-half got his first goal of the season. We then doubled the advantage with about a minute to go of normal time, as United failed to clear a Douglas Luiz corner. Tammy Abraham shot into the ground, but it was deflected onto the head of Pau Torres who nodded it home to win the game at Villa Park. Our second Premier League win of the new year, and hopefully the form can continue as we face Leicester City next. Rory Wilson to Leyton Orient: Our young Scottish striker, Rory Wilson, has agreed a loan deal with Leyton Orient of League One, as they fight their relegation battle. They say he will be a squad player, but for me, he should be expecting to start some games as he may be better than some of the strikers they've got. Premier League Team of the Week: 13th January 2026 Pau Torres put on a match winning performance against Manchester United, as he got 2 goals and kept Simeone's side out. Saturday 17th January 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 Leicester City (Premier League) Our third league win of the month came at home as West Midlands met East Midlands, with us defeating Leicester City 3-1. Poor play at the back from Leicester City allowed Tammy Abraham to intercept a back pass, and he put the ball into the corner from a narrow angle for 1-0. Leicester equalised in the 4th minute, as a ball over the top from Kristiansen found Soumare in the box, and he half-volleyed home to make it 1-1. Jacob Ramsey set up the second goal straight after half time. His first pass was blocked, but he tried again, and this time Abraham ran onto it, and he slotted into the bottom right corner to make it 2-1 to us. John McGinn sealed all three points just after the hour. An Alex Moreno free-kick was played straight to Kamara in the middle, who played it forward to McGinn. He cut inside, turned his man, ran into the area through the middle, and he slotted past the keeper to score an insane goal to make it 3-1. Five Wins In A Row: This is always great to see, and our attacking power is really being shown off at the moment, as we have now won 5 consecutive games both sides of the New Year. It seems to be the team are saying we're gonna score one more than you, and it seems to be working. Tammy Abraham Moves to Real Madrid: I tried to resist, but Abraham wasn't too happy I turned the first offer down. He has signed off with a flourish here at Aston Villa, as Real Madrid have paid £53,000,000 for the English forward, and we are going to take a look at our finances in a moment. This will mean Boniface and Watkins will probably be our forward two for now. Tammy deserves this move as he starts to hit his prime and he is a big loss for us. Hopefully we can bring someone decent in, and bring the squad together while they are left behind. Finances at the Club: Even after selling Tammy Abraham, we haven't got all the money in the world to get a decent replacement as I had to make an adjustment for the wage budget to not be in the red. We have £13,000,000 in the transfer budget, but our wage budget is now up to £2,800,000 after making a slight adjustment. Ben Broggio to Harrogate Town: We've sent another player out on loan until the end of the season, with our promising winger Ben Broggio, heading to League Two side Harrogate Town on loan until the end of the season. Premier League Team of the Week: 20th January 2026 Tammy Abraham's final performance for us gets him into the team of the week after his performance and two goals against Leicester City. Thank you Tammy. Ewan Simpson to Swindon Town: Ewan Simpson will spend the rest of his season in the Vanarama National League, as he moves to Swindon Town on loan in the middle of an intriguing promotion battle back into the EFL. Calum Moreland to Boreham Wood: Another youngster going off to the Vanarama National League, although at the moment, not a very exciting young player. Calum Moreland is going to Boreham Wood on loan until the end of the season. Sofiane Diop Injured: Sofiane Diop hasn't played much for me off the bench, but he is impactful off it. Unfortunately, his upper leg has taken an impact of a more horrible kind as he leaves training with a gashed leg. Thursday 22nd January 2026: Bodo/Glimt 1-4 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League League Phase) My good start continues with a 4-1 win away at Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt. Bodo/Glimt's season starts in March, so obviously they didn't have a lot of match sharpness and that showed from as early as the 5th minute. Leon Bailey took the ball down the right wing for the first goal. He played it back to Ezri Konsa, who ran into the box, but was dispossessed. The ball rolled to Matty Cash, who took a touch, and hit the shot from inside the D and it hit the post and went in for 1-0. We doubled the advantage just 3 minutes later. Matty Cash started the move this time, playing it to Douglas Luiz, who played it on to Boniface. He turned his man from the middle, and managed to head out wide left. He played it back into the area, and in the middle to steer it home was Ollie Watkins, who slid it in for 2-0. Another passing move went from right to the middle. All resulting in Jacob Ramsey being found in the area, and he slotted it in for us to be 3-0 up inside 16 minutes. Bodo/Glimt got one back four minutes later. Bjorkan played a one-two from a throw-in, and when he played the cross from the left, up rose Ricardinho to power past the keeper, and to make it 3-1. The final goal was the perfect touch. Leon Bailey played a long scooped ball over the top of the defence, into Boniface who was in the box. He didn't need a second touch, as he slotted past the onrushing keeper first time, and we qualify for the Round of 16 with a game to spare. Diego Carlos to Palmeiras in the Summer: Diego Carlos' contract runs out in the Summer, so Brazilian club Palmeiras have decided to sign him at the end of his contract. He's done his job so far this season since I've been here, and if he wants to go back to Brazil, I'm not going to deny him the move home. The other offer was from Flamengo, so he was always going back to Brazil. Let's enjoy the last few months with him in the team. Thursday 29th January 2026: St Gallen 2-4 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League League Phase) We completed our UEFA Europa League League Phase journey with a 4-2 win away at St Gallen of Switzerland, which left us second in the entire competition, and comfortably through to the last 16. St Gallen took a shock lead after 8 minutes. Witzig started the move down the left, playing a one-two with Okoroji, and he ran at the defence down the left, one-on-one with Martinez, and he slotted it into the far post for 1-0. We equalised 10 minutes later. Mings played the ball to Douglas Luiz, who played a nice tight pass ahead of him into Jacob Ramsey. Ramsey played it across the six-yard box and McGinn tucked it away at the right post for 1-1. We scored two goals in three minutes to take the game away from them. A Douglas Luiz corner from the right found Boniface at the near post, who headed straight at the keeper, but he couldn't keep it out and we made it 2-1. Two minutes later, McGinn sort of turned provider after a nice passing move found it's way to him, but he was barged off the ball. In came Mosquera from the right, and he slotted it into the far corner for 3-1. It was 3-2 after 50 minutes. Gortler played it wide right to von Moos, who played it back to him in the area. He took a touch to lose his man, and then fired past Martinez for 3-2. Mings and Ramsey then swapped passes before Ramsey hung a cross in the air from the left, and Leon Bailey found himself under it at the far post, to run out 4-2 winners and another strong forward performance. Saud Abdulhamid to Marseille: Our Saudi right back, Saud Abdulhamid has just completed a loan with the option to buy to Marseille in Ligue 1, after I couldn't find a place for him in the squad really for the rest of the season so it just frees it up a little bit. He's going there on loan until the end of the season, with Marseille potentially paying £10,000,000 in the Summer to have him full time. Felix Nmecha to Anderlecht: We've moved Felix Nmecha on again in this career mode, he must think I hate him. But he goes to Anderlecht until the end of the season, and again, the Belgian giants have the option to buy him in the Summer for £13,250,000. I do rate him, he's a quality player. But like at Dortmund, I just don't find him good enough as it stands to have him in the side. January Results: Our first full month as Aston Villa manager, and it was very impressive from this team. We started the month winning 3-2 away at Everton, before travelling to Manchester City and taking an early lead, but ultimately losing 2-1 to City in the FA Cup. We played Manchester United a week later at home, and beat them 2-0 with two late goals. We then beat Leicester 3-1 at home, before our run of two consecutive Europa League away games began with a 4-1 win at Bodo/Glimt, and then a week later, we won 4-2 away at St Gallen. Premier League Table Update: Liverpool have taken over the lead at the top of the Premier League on 54 points, a point clear of second-placed Manchester City. Both Newcastle and Arsenal have dropped off a little at the top, and they both sit on 45 points, with Manchester United and Chelsea both on 44 outside the top 4. Tottenham sit seventh on 40 points, although there are 5 teams within 4 points of them, in Brighton, Bournemouth, Leicester, Brentford and Aston Villa chasing down that final European spot. The bottom 3 are still cut adrift, with Luton on 8 points, West Brom on 10 and Middlesbrough on 12 points, with the Boro being 8 points adrift of safety. UEFA Europa League Update: The top 8 teams to qualify for the last 16 are as follows: Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Bayer Leverkusen, Lazio, Benfica, Nice, Fiorentina and Ajax. Those teams will have to wait and see who they'll get in the last 16, as all teams from 9th to 24th will be drawn together in the next few days. Spare a thought for Mura, as they end bottom of the league phase after losing all 8 games. Final Word: I've had a really good first full month at this club, and I never thought I'd say that as a Coventry City fan. Our only defeat was at the Etihad, which really is no disgrace, and we made it very easy for ourselves in the Europa League and the Premier League. The FA Cup will have to wait for next season. In terms of transfers done so far, we've not brought anyone major in, but Tammy Abraham moved to Real Madrid for over £50,000,000 but most of it has been brought in to sort out debts for the rest of the season. I don't think we will be bringing players in on deadline day, or first team players anyway, but we shall see. I will see you for the next update, as we find out who we will face in the last 16 of the Europa League, and we try and get closer to those European places in the Premier League. I hope you're enjoying it. Thank you for the support. I'll see you in February.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - December Hello and welcome to the latest update. We haven't moved forwards any dates just yet, but our first game is coming up as Villa manager. As you know, we are currently sat in 13th place, but we're only 5 points off Europe with the places they've currently got, and we're only 6 points off 5th. I would say the top four may be out of reach, but we can certainly get back into Europe for next season. The other thing I can think that may be positive is if we weren't to get the Europa League this season, we could qualify for the Conference League and try and get the club's hands back on that for next season. But first things first, we must take a look and see who we have in our first few games, in the West Midlands. December Fixtures: So we have joined after the Ajax game, so far this month, we've beaten Nottingham Forest 3-1, won away at Brentford 2-0, and won 3-1 at home to Ajax in a result which has left Aston Villa in 4th in the Europa League League Phase. We have some tough matches coming up this month, as we start our tenure with a home game against third placed Newcastle United, followed by a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal. We then go to Brighton, before the Christmas period features a game against West Ham on Boxing Day, followed by an away match at Bournemouth. Sunday 14th December 2025: Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle United (Premier League) My first game as a manager in the Premier League and we had the lead for 67 minutes, but as Newcastle grew into this game, I just knew it wasn't going to be a first game win. The first goal for Villa under my management was from a corner, like so many were as manager of Borussia Dortmund. Douglas Luiz's corner was defended awfully by Newcastle, Lewis Miley seemingly nodding on to Ezri Konsa, who got my first goal back in England. Alexander Isak thought he'd equalised for Newcastle United but it was ruled out for offside. Unfortunately, that's where our good luck would dry up. Three minutes from time, Joe Willock found a reverse ball over his right shoulder to the left for Bruno Guimaraes to chest down, take a touch to cut inside, and his deflected effort deceived Martinez and made it 1-1. Premier League Team of the Week 16th December 2025: The team of the week is graced by one of my players for the first time in the Premier League, as Ezri Konsa scored the only goal for us against Newcastle United. He gets into the team of the week for this one. Wednesday 17th December 2025: Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) The Emirates is a very tough place to get a result and it showed here as we were outplayed by Arsenal 3-0. The game was killed stone dead in two first half minutes. An Arsenal play from the middle found it's way to Odegaard, who found a pinpoint pass through to an on-running Bakayo Saka on the right, and he fired in off the post cutting in for 1-0. A minute later, we gave the ball away stupidly, and Kai Havertz played it short to Martinelli running forward on the left, and he fired it in off the right hand post for 2-0, leaving Martinez no chance. The final goal was a first goal for the club from Lucas Paqueta, hit from 25 yards out along the floor, and Martinez couldn't get there. 3-0 was the full time result. Saturday 20th December 2025: Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2 Aston Villa (Premier League) We lost our second game in our opening three games as Aston Villa manager, after we had an absolutely useless first half and lost 3-2 to Brighton. They were given a penalty for god knows what early on, and Joao Pedro fired home for 1-0. Their second goal came from a Christian Eriksen corner and he found Van Hecke rising at the near post for 2-0. They scored just after half time to really wrap the game up. Eriksen found Baleba, who saw Mitoma running through, untracked and unmarked, and he slotted into the bottom right hand corner for 3-0. Then Tammy Abraham started scoring. The first goal back came from a Mings cross into the box from the left, Bailey hit the post, and a Van Hecke clearance hit Abraham in the chest and it rebounded in for 3-1. We then made it 3-2 by scoring an absolute worldie. Tammy Abraham fired into the top left corner from 20 yards out and it was game on. A Jacob Ramsey equaliser was ruled out for offside though it really didn't look like it. We need to start picking results up though, so this decision doesn't backfire. Friday 26th December 2025: Aston Villa 4-2 West Ham United (Premier League) Our first win in our fourth game as Aston Villa manager, as we overcame a West Ham United side who have just sacked David Moyes, 4-2. Tyrone Mings was racing down the left hand side for the first goal. As his cross was blocked, Saelemaekers played the ball into the middle of the box, and John McGinn's shot was heavily deflected past the keeper for 1-0. Saelemaekers got on the score sheet himself next, Mosquera's throw in was played to Kamara on the right, who lofted it to the back post, and the aforementioned Saelemaekers found the bottom corner from the head for 2-0. We passed West Ham to death as we hit the third goal. The final ball ending with John McGinn, moving slightly forward to Ollie Watkins, and he fired into the roof of the net for 3-0. Watkins turned provider in the 56th minute, his scoop ball over the top went to Saelemaekers on the left who ran inside and fired into the bottom right hand corner for number four. West Ham got back into the game somewhat after 63 minutes. A free-kick near the half way line from Alvarez found Bergwijn on the left, who took the ball down and fired into the corner for 4-1. It was 4-2 with an unfortunate Alex Moreno own goal from a Luis Suarez (not that one) volley. Monday 29th December 2025: AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Aston Villa (Premier League) We picked up a vital three points away at Bournemouth, who are having a decent season sat in the top half. A goalless first half wasn't the perfect start to the game for either team, but it came alive in the second half. Leon Bailey swung a free-kick into the mixer which Mings got to. The first header was saved, but his second header found the back of the net, past the keeper for 1-0. A poor clearance from Bournemouth led to the second. Ramsey had it on the left and he swung it in low, where Victor Boniface met it on the volley and scored his fourth of the season for a 2-0 lead. Kerkez got one back for them with 9 minutes to go. Bournemouth started playing it in triangles before Kerkez received the ball 25 yards out, turned and shot across the ground into the bottom right hand corner to give them a chance. We held on though, and we've had a strong end to 2025. Gabriel Moscardo Injured: Unfortunately, Gabriel Moscardo twisted his ankle during the Bournemouth game, and is out for around the next 4 weeks. Premier League Team of the Week 30th December 2025: The final team of the week of the calendar year sees John McGinn and Alexis Saelemaekers get into the team of the week, after a very impressive Christmas period. North American XI 2025: Leon Bailey gets onto the left hand side of the North American team of the year. Another Award: Omar Khedr has won the African Young Footballer of the Year, and it's great to see the youngsters get the awards as well. December Results: So from when we've joined, our form has been inconsistent to say the least. We started off with that 1-1 draw against Newcastle United, before we fell to a crushing 3-0 defeat against Arsenal. We nearly secured a great comeback but fell short at Brighton, losing 3-2. We then took out that anger on West Ham, by beating them 4-2 after going 4-0 up early in the second half. And then, we picked up our first away win at the club, winning 2-1 away at Bournemouth. Premier League Table Update: Manchester City still lead the way on 43 points, but Newcastle United are keeping up the pressure on 40. Liverpool are a further point behind in 3rd, and then it's tight for the final top four spot, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all on 38 points. Tottenham are in 7th on 37 points, only one point off the Champions League spots. Leicester are falling off in terms of the European spots. We're in 12th on 27 points. At the bottom, it's looking dire for the bottom 3. Both West Bromwich Albion and Luton Town are on 7 points, a full 10 points from safety. Middlesbrough are on 9, picking up their first win this month. Leeds look relatively safe at the moment. Final Word: I believe we've found an attacking system that works, but it leaves us exposed at the back and that's something I'm going to need to work on. Picking up two wins over the Christmas weekend really helped our chances of hopefully hanging on to a European place should we fail to win the Europa League. Speaking of that, we go back into that next month. As for me, I've not appeared in that competition since Season 1, and that was an abysmal showing. Two years later, can I go for the title? We've got Manchester City in the FA Cup Third Round, so I'm almost sort of treating it as if we're already out. I don't see us getting anything at the Etihad. It's been a decent first few weeks at Aston Villa. I'll be back for the January update as we move into 2026.

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, you will see I have changed the club name in my header for this save, and that's because in the last update, we left Germany and Borussia Dortmund after two and a half season following being knocked out by FC Koln in the DFB-Pokal. I looked across Europe for a new job. I was looking for a team who may be able to win a smaller European competition like the Europa League or the Conference League to get things started. I've found them. We're moving to England to manage the 1982 European Cup winners. Welcome to Aston Villa: We have been confirmed the new Aston Villa manager on a 2 and a half year deal until the end of the 2027-28 season. They are the current Europa Conference League holders, and are currently playing in the UEFA Europa League. If we can win that this season, Aston Villa will have won the three main current European trophies, and I'll get my first in this save. Best XI: One thing to take straight away is that we have Tammy Abraham at the club, in front of Nmecha who we sold to Villa last season, so I'm looking forward to being reunited with him. With Ramsey and McGinn on the wings, we have some familiar faces from the first season. Martinez is still the number one at Villa, so I don't see how they're struggling in the league so much. Saying that, they are on a recent winning run, so we do have something to hold on to and run on with. Board Expectations: Above are the board objectives in our first season and as we carry on at the club. They would like to do really well in both Europe and the FA Cup, and to finish mid-table in the Premier League. We will look at the Premier League table shortly, cause I think we could be able to do more than that. The club are currently 13th. Supporter Expectations: The fans want us to play attacking, entertaining football, which I think they can be rightly expecting, and that's what I will be going for. West Brom are bottom of the Premier League I believe, and both Birmingham and Wolves are in the Championship, so we should be better than our rivals. I do find the objective to become an established Premier League team a strange one, as they won't have been relegated in this save, and will have been in the Premier League and doing rather well in it since 2019. Youth Intake Preview: Aston Villa are well known for their youth academy, more recently players like Jack Grealish have come through it. We've apparently got a 5-star Youth Intake coming later in the season, with the best ones being central midfielders and strikers, so it's well worth having a look at them when they come through. Meet the Squad: I've sorted these in terms of star rating, because I would be here all day going through each individual member in the squad, and I do have work at 12pm in real life (This is being written at 9:40am). I'll show you the squad planner, and where we could be likely to improve. Squad Planner: To be honest, I would say I'll try and get another one in to cover at left-back, but all-in-all, we have a really decent team. Martinez obviously has the place in goal over anyone else, and will be my number one. We have three old men at left-back, so maybe during the January transfer window, and in the Summer as well, we may sign someone younger who could run down the wings, send players on the overlap. Tammy Abraham is also a great first choice striker to have, with Ollie Watkins just behind him and Vincent Boniface. Premier League Table: Manchester City currently lead the way at the top on 36 points, with Liverpool and Newcastle United chasing them on 33 points apiece. Manchester United sit fourth on 31 points. There's a tight race for 5th I guess, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City all within a point of each other. The three teams at the bottom seem to be getting cut adrift already, as West Brom, Middlesbrough and Luton Town are all struggling on 4, 5 and 6 points respectively. Final Word: We have made it over to England and I'm looking forward to being part of the future of Aston Villa. I do apologise it's so short, but I thought I would give an update as to what is going on. I hope you enjoy the move, and the action will start in the next update released tomorrow. I'll see you then.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - December I am back after a day away in terms of being with my family, so let's do this. We are hurtling towards the Winter break, and we go into this month on the back of an unreal month, in which we were almost perfect with 5 wins from 6, our only failure to win being a draw against Wolfsburg. We actually start this month in the DFB-Pokal, and don't forget, that's the one we're really chasing this season. We've got to make sure we stay in that past New Year, make sure we're in the top four for the winter break, and last but by no means least, make sure we go into January, not sweating so much in the Champions League. Shall we see who we're playing? December Fixtures: We start with a home tie against second-tier FC Koln in the DFB-Pokal Third Round, as we aim to really knuckle down our stance on this competition, and it's the only thing missing from my cabinet in Germany. Our first league match of the month is against mid-table Bayer Leverkusen, a team we've got a fairly decent record against in our time in charge of this great club. In the Champions League, we play Inter Milan, after just recently dispatching of their main rivals in our last game in this competition. We play Mainz, who are having a great first half to the season being in third. And then finally, we round things off away at Hamburg. Wednesday 3rd December 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-1 FC Koln (DFB-Pokal Third Round) We are now out of the DFB-Pokal after losing 1-0 at home to second-tier FC Koln, which has led me to make a decision about my future within this save as I need to start winning more things. We did hit the bar three times in this one, we just couldn't finish our dinner today. Janitzek picked up the ball on the left hand side, he swung it into the box, and Luquinha was there in the middle with the header, to allow them to qualify for the next round. This does end our hopes of winning the DFB-Pokal this season, which does mean I've actually applied for a new job. It remains to see whether I get it. Here's what I've gone for. Aston Villa Job Application: Being a Coventry City fan in real life, it's absolute sacrilege to even attempt to go for the Villa job. They're in 16th in the Premier League after a dire start to the season, but they are currently in the Europa League, which with this club should be a winnable competition depending on who's in it, and they haven't yet started the FA Cup obviously, so although it would be sooner than I thought, we could be heading over to England. I'll let you know if we get the interview. Saturday 6th December 2025: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We probably had the best chance in this game, but unfortunately, we drew 0-0 away at Bayer Leverkusen, and there wasn't too much to write home about, despite some chances for both teams. We hit the bar again in this game, which leads me to think again we can't finish our dinner unfortunately. Something has to change for me. Youth Intake Preview: We do have an excellent intake apparently coming up, but don't forget, we had this last season, and I believe it only ended up being a good one. We will wait and see if indeed we are still here. Filipe Relvas Injured: Our injury record is getting slightly better at least, but Filipe Relvas gets the first bad one for a little while. He's managed to pull abdominal muscles while turning sharply in a training session, and unfortunately for him, he will be out for about two weeks. Julian Ryerson in Norwegian Team of the Year: Julian Ryerson has been recognised for his good work in defence in 2025, as he makes the players' team of the year in his homeland of Norway. Wednesday 10th December 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Inter Milan (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We lost our second consecutive game at home in all competitions by a single goal to nil, this time we couldn't complete the Milanese double. The only goal came from a free-kick. Dimarco's free kick hit the bar but Marcus Thuram headed the ball into the far corner to give Inter a massive win for them, and a very disappointing defeat for us. Cameron Archer Injured: Cameron Archer has now got injured unfortunately. He's only made one appearance so far this season with only a 6.40 rating, and now he's pulled his hamstring and won't be available for two weeks. December Results: It's been a shorter than expected month at Borussia Dortmund, as we lost 1-0 to FC Koln in the DFB-Pokal Third Round, followed by a 0-0 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. We then lost 1-0 at home to Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League. There's a reason why I've done this. We are leaving Borussia Dortmund. Aston Villa have approached me: Yes, we are moving to England, as we will become the new manager of Aston Villa on a 3-year deal, although I very much doubt we will be there that long. For me, this is a bit of a stop gap while we try and win the Europa League in this save. But, if I do get them to qualify for the Europa Conference League, we will participate in that to kill two birds with one stone. But it means we're saying goodbye to our first club. And what a ride it's been. Borussia Dortmund Final Stats: We managed 118 games at Borussia Dortmund, and we won one League title, in the second season. We won 53% of our games which is a good record. Let's look at how we leave them. Bundesliga Table As We Leave: As we finish our first spell in Germany, as we will have to come back later down the line, we do leave Borussia Dortmund in 7th after 14 games, on 23 points. I've taken this club as far as I can, and we won the Bundesliga, so to have that under my belt is incredible. Eintracht Frankfurt look like they're about to run away with it. Final Word as Borussia Dortmund Manager: My first ever club in this save has been a success. In our first season, we ended in the top four and we qualified for the Champions League. In the second season, we won a dream Bundesliga title in just my second season as a manager, and then I'm obviously leaving them in a European qualifying spot. But more recently, it's not happening unfortunately, and I think I was starting to lose the players. I'm thanking the players for their efforts, they've been incredible. The fans love the club, and so do I. They do have a special place in my heart. But we are moving to the city of Birmingham, and to the Premier League for the first time as we try to win every trophy across Europe. I will take a look and see how I can do with them, as there are three domestic trophies in England. This could be a longer stay in the country, not necessarily at the club. I'll see you next time, when we move to Aston Villa.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - November Welcome to November 2025, in the Glory Hunter Challenge Season 3. The last time you saw us, the only games we lost were both our Champions League matches against both Liverpool and Arsenal, we went unbeaten in the league albeit with 2 draws from those 3 matches, and we managed to dispatch of Schalke in the DFB-Pokal Second Round, while some of our top domestic rivals were knocked out. Let's have a look at the fixtures of this month, starting off with one of those bigger teams that were knocked out this midweek, followed by a winnable Champions League match we must take advantage of. November Fixtures: We have a complete opposite of last month, where we face 5 home matches out of the 6 altogether we play in November. We start things off with a home game against RB Leipzig, a game we must win to stand any chance of potentially making the Champions League next season at this early stage. That is followed up by the visit of Scottish champions Celtic, a game we have to win to make sure we qualify through the league phase of this year's Champions League. Our final game before the international break is away at Wolfsburg, before we face Greuther Furth for the first time in this save. A home game against 7-time Champions of Europe, AC Milan, is another game we need to take advantage of. Before we end November with the visit to Signal Iduna Park of Werder Bremen, a game we surely have to win. DFB-Pokal Third Round Draw: We have another home game to kick off December with, which will come later this week, as we face a home tie against 2. Bundesliga side, FC Koln, a team we're used to playing in league action, but they were relegated from the top flight last season. It'll be a game we ought to win, but will it be that straightforward? Saturday 1st November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) Our dominance in this game was obvious in the second half, as three fairly simple goals won us the game 3-0 against RB Leipzig. A passing move started with Atubolu for the first goal, and ended up with Giovanni Reyna, running with the ball down the right, finding the space to cross into the box and on the head of Karim Adeyemi at the far post, who had a simple header for 1-0. Adeyemi then turned provider from his corner on the right, and Sebastian Haller needed the neck muscles to head over the keeper and into the corner for 2-0. Timo Werner put the ball in the net late on, but it was ruled out for offside. The third stemmed from a Bensebaini throw in on the left. He then eventually found Wolf on the byline in the box, saw Sabitzer running in, rolled it virtually along the goal line, and Sabitzer will never have an easier finish from a yard out. A huge 3 points, and all of a sudden, we have a massive boost up the table. Bundesliga Team of the Week: 4th November 2025 Karim Adeyemi got a goal and an assist against RB Leipzig, and that will easily slot him into the team of the week this time around. Tuesday 4th November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Celtic (UEFA Champions League League Path) We picked up a messy 1-0 win against Celtic to pick up our first win in the Champions League this season. It wasn't the best of games and there weren't that many chances in the first half, before we were given a penalty shortly before half time. Sebastian Haller took the ball, and fired into the top right corner to pick up his 5th goal of the season, a goal which would see off the Scottish side. We did hit the post in the second half, but that was the closest we came to a second. An important result, and the confidence is booming after 3 wins in a row. Saturday 8th November 2025: Wolfsburg 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We had the chances early on in this game, but it only ended up as a 1-1 draw which we really should have won to close the gap on the top four. They scored with a free-kick we just couldn't clear. It ended up with Zesiger running into the right hand side of the area, spotting Nmecha in the middle of the box, and he tapped home unmarked basically for 1-0. The equaliser was a major mistake from their keeper. Engels played an incredible ball over the top, which Moukoko picked up with a great chance, went round the keeper 25 yards out, and slotted the ball into the empty net for 1-1. It leaves us 5 points off the top four heading into the international break. Niclas Fullkrug Injured: Niclas Fullkrug, despite not playing much in the first team, has got injured again after picking up a damaged shoulder from probably showing off in the gym, and he will be out for 3 weeks. Saturday 22nd November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Greuther Furth (Bundesliga) This game was relatively straightforward, as we beat relegation-threatened Greuther Furth 3-0. For the first goal, Haller had the ball in the middle of the attacking half. Finding Moukoko on the left, he found new signing Cristian Medina in the middle of the box and he swept home into the bottom left corner for his first goal for the club. Sebastian Haller converted a penalty for 2-0, to make the game safe. For the final goal, there was a game of pinball in the box, Kiwior going for a shot just outside the area. That's blocked, only as far as Moukoko on the left, who's cross box ball is saved by the keeper, but it leaves Medina a simple tap in for 3-0. Bundesliga Team of the Week: 25th November 2025 Cristian Medina goes into the team of the week for the first time, with his two goals putting him in the central attacking midfield position in the team. Wednesday 26th November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 AC Milan (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Against the run of play in this whole game, we overcame a good AC Milan side 1-0 at home. Karim Adeyemi was instrumental in the move that won us the match. He played a one-two with Joris Chotard, ran into the area from the left, ran towards the D before playing it forward to Julian Brandt. He turned past the defender, dropped his shoulder, and rolled it into the bottom right corner to win the game for us as we managed to hold on, and continue our hopes for a Champions League knockout place. Filip Bundgaard New Contract: He's not currently at the football club, but Filip Bundgaard now has a brand new contract, keeping him around until 2029. He will stay as a breakthrough prospect which I'm looking forward to seeing how he does. I want him to grow as a footballer, if anything so I can take him further down the line. Saturday 29th November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga) We took another win and that means we've won all our games this month as we climbed into the top 4 immediately after this game, defeating mid-table Werder Bremen 3-0. The first goal came from a corner that Bremen failed to clear, falling to Engels 4 yards out with the keeper nowhere to be seen. He turned and shot high into the roof of the net to give us the lead just before half time. We got the second goal after 52 minutes. Sabitzer found Moukoko on the right side of the area. He ran through, and fired home into the top left corner to make it 2-0. We finished it off after 66 minutes. A Sabitzer free-kick set up that third goal, with a Moukoko header hitting the bar, before falling back out to him perfectly, and he was able to rifle home for 3-0. November Results: This was my best month for a long time as we got motoring in our home matches, keeping 5 clean sheets in 5 home games. We started off with a thumping 3-0 win over RB Leipzig, before getting a 1-0 win over Celtic in the Champions League. We followed that up with a 1-1 draw away at Wolfsburg, with the only goal we've conceded all month. Greuther Furth were our next opponents, and we got a convincing 3-0 win over them, to give us the confidence to go and beat AC Milan 1-0 in the Champions League. We rounded off the month by beating Werder Bremen 3-0. A really strong month on the pitch. Let's look at those tables, starting with the Bundesliga. Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt still lead the way, and have now moved onto 29 points, 5 points clear of the next best team, Augsburg, who sit on 24 points. Mainz have had a resurgence in form and sit 3rd on 23 points, ahead on goals scored of Bayern Munich also on 23. We've also had a massive resurgence recently, and we sit in fifth on 22 points, ahead on goal difference of RB Leipzig and one point clear of Wolfsburg in 7th on 21 points, but it's so tight at the moment, with Hoffenheim breathing down their necks. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach are already cut adrift on 3 points, 7 points away from Greuther Furth who are second bottom on 10 points. Union Berlin currently occupy the relegation playoff place, with local rivals Hertha a point clear of them. UEFA Champions League Update: We're back on track in the Champions League, currently sitting in 15th after two 1-0 wins this month moving us up into at least a playoff place. Chelsea and Barcelona have at least confirmed a playoff place with 5 wins out of 5 so far in the league phase, and both sit at the top on 15 points. Final Word: What a great month that was. 5 home wins, 5 home clean sheets. OK, so we didn't win our only away game of the month, but we still got a point from that. Progress in the league as we knock on the door of the Champions League spots again. And progress in the Champions League itself as we may just have saved our European season. Not much else to go on. I will take this moment to say I won't be around on this save for a couple of days as me and my wife have family things to see to but I will be back on Wednesday to see if we can go into the winter break with progress in the DFB-Pokal and get results in everything else. Thanks for the support. I'll see you next time.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - October I'm still recovering from the roughest month I've had in a Football Manager career mode, and I've managed teams that have been in relegation battles. It's season 3, and we are really struggling in mid-table, and at a club like this, we've got to be aiming for Champions League football. I do want this to be my final season at Borussia Dortmund, but I don't want it to be through a sacking. Where do we go from here? How can we improve? We have a run of Champions League games coming up with some nicer Bundesliga matches, but I'm almost not looking forward to my next game, which will be played almost immediately. Let's take a look at those fixtures. October Fixtures: We have 6 games coming up this month, with five being away from home. We travel to Liverpool in the Champions League first of all, on a big night at Anfield, where we're going to try and keep the score respectable. Our first Bundesliga game of the month is away at Hertha Berlin, as we need to pick up maximum points this month in the league. We face a home game against Augsburg straight after the international break, followed by a trip to the Emirates that midweek. We then go to Borussia Monchengladbach, before finishing off with a DFB-Pokal Second Round fixture against Schalke. Wednesday 1st October 2025: Liverpool 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Our first defeat of the Champions League League Phase came in our second matchday, as two goals from Konate gave Liverpool a 2-0 win in this one. Both goals came from set pieces. Szoboszlai set them both up, the first one striking a free-kick from the right into the left side of the box. Konate rose highest, and it looped over Atubolu, and it gave the 6-time European Champions a first half lead. With just over 20 minutes to go, an outswinging corner from the Hungarian, found Konate at the near post this time. Same corner of the net, same result. It means we've come away from a slow start, and we drop outside the qualification spots. Saturday 4th October 2025: Hertha Berlin 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We picked up a 1-1 draw away from home against Hertha Berlin in this game, coming back from a 1-0 deficit, by scoring a goal of the season contender with Giovanni Reyna. Dardai made a run down the left with Reese in attendance near him for the first. He played it into Reese, who crossed it into the box from near the byline. It evaded Dardai, but Azmoun was there to fire home into the roof of the net for 1-0. We equalised with an absolutely unbelievable goal from near enough 40 yards out. Moukoko played it short to Reyna in the middle of the park. He went on a small run, shifted it on to his right foot, spotted the keeper off his line, and then hit a 40 yard thunderbolt to level the game up for us, just his second of the season. It's not a win, but we avoided defeat at least. Bundesliga Team of The Week: 7th October 2025 Giovanni Reyna's unbelievable goal means he's got a very much well deserved team of the week place for this week, and our first appearance in the team since the 4-0 win over Stuttgart. That feels a long time ago. Samuel Bamba New Contract: Seen as an exciting young prospect, DR Congolese midfielder Samuel Bamba has signed a brand new four-year contract on £15,500 a week. I would say he's got slightly above average rating when it comes to his attributes, with his agility being his highest rated at 15. Flair and decisions are also good numbers for him, but if he can slightly improve on his passing, crossing, and his first touch, it would move him up the order in his position. Saturday 18th October 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Augsburg (Bundesliga) Our 100% record against Augsburg continues, as we defeated the third-placed side 1-0 thanks to a horrific mistake from their keeper. Cameron Archer played his first game for the club, but he didn't make much impact. The only goal was a major mistake by their goalkeeper as Augsburg passed it around at the back, but he gave it straight to Donyell Malen who was 25 yards from goal. With no-one guarding the net, it gave him the easiest finish possible, as we took three points for the first time since August. We climb into 7th place. Marius Wolf Injured: Marius Wolf picked up an injury during this game. It was only a pulled thigh, but he is now at least the only injury we've got at the club. He'll be out for just over a week. Tuesday 21st October 2025: Arsenal 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We had our second successive Champions League defeat in England as we lost 2-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. We couldn't get near Arsenal for most of the game. Every time we got the ball, they would bully us off it, which isn't good enough. The first goal came from Arsenal being patient, and organised. The ball came to Martinelli in the box, who had Nketiah to the right of him. He found him and Nketiah steered it home into the bottom left hand corner. Declan Rice basically set up the second goal, as he played it into Odegaard, with a fantastic reverse pass through to Martintelli. He had eyes for goal, and thumped it home for 2-0. We got a consolation with just under 15 minutes to go. A simple ball from the left from Ryerson found Malen at the far post, running in, jumping highest, and nodding it home for 2-1. But unfortunately, it wasn't to be enough. Saturday 25th October 2025: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) This was an annoying game as we could only get a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Monchengladbach. Sebastian Haller saw his penalty turned past the post in the first half as his recent drought goes on. The home side took the lead just before the hour mark in this one. Honorat picked up the ball down the right and ran past a couple of men, before his opportunity to cross, where in the middle, it was met in the 6-yard box by Cvancara and Borussia Monchengladbach took the lead. We equalised in the 92nd minute, when Fleck, who I promoted from the Under 19s for this game, played the ball through to Moukoko. He hit the bar, but in came Julian Brandt to fire home on the rebound on the volley for 1-1. Another poor result. We need to batter Schalke in the week. Bundesliga Team of the Week 28th October 2025: Julian Brandt saved our skin away at Borussia Monchengladbach, so he gets in the team of the week. Tuesday 28th October 2025: Schalke 04 1-3 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal Second Round) We went away to Schalke and won our local derby 3-1 to progress to the Third Round of the DFB-Pokal, the final tournament we need to win in Germany. Kiwior and Rothe exchanged passes down the left, leaving Rothe to whip it into the box, and Malen nodded it home to give us the early advantage. We made it 2-0 on 27 minutes, a Rothe corner from the right was nodded high into the air and played back by Relvas, back to Malen on the edge of the box, and he fired home, near the D for 2-0. Schalke got a consolation on 54 minutes. Sessa's ball through was deflected through to Yan Couto, who slid the ball into the bottom right corner for 2-1. We finished the game off as the game approached 90 minutes. Rothe's low ball in hit the defender, but a poor first touch allowed Haller to pounce and volley it in from close range for 3-1. Bayern Munich have been knocked out as well, so if we're going to win this competition so I can get out of Germany, it's got to be this year. October Results: We started October with a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in the Champions League, followed by a 1-1 draw away at Hertha Berlin in the league. A 1-0 win over Augsburg was a good result for our only home match of the month. We lost 2-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates, followed by a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Monchengladbach. But we ended the month with a fantastic, bruising 3-1 win over Schalke in the local derby. Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt still hold the lead with 20 points from 9 matches this season. Bayern Munich are chasing them down on 19 points. In third are Augsburg with 18 points, followed by Wolfsburg sat in fourth on 17 points. RB Leipzig are only a point off them in 5th place, and then there's a three-way tie for 14 points, with Bayer Leverkusen, Mainz and Hamburg separated by goal difference. Borussia Monchengladbach sit bottom on 3 points, with both Berlin sides just ahead of them. Union have 6 points, and Hertha are in the relegation playoff spot on 8 points, behind on goal difference, Bochum and Greuther Furth. UEFA Champions League Update: We currently sit 28th in the Champions League at the moment, but with 5 matches to improve, and Celtic coming next, there is the opportunity for us to move up the table. The big 8 consist of Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester United, Red Bull Salzburg, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain. Final Word: We're showing little signs of improvement at the moment, with a little unbeaten run in the Bundesliga. Our Champions League form needs to improve, but with two home games in there next month, there's the chance we can start moving up the table. That needs to happen when it comes to the league as well, at least get into the top four. I think we can win the Cup now, especially with some big sides being knocked out, in Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. Eintracht Frankfurt are still in, but I'd like to see us get another decent draw in the third round before we get another challenging team. I hope you've enjoyed it, and hopefully we can improve enough to recover our season.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - September Welcome to September 2025, and we will jump straight in with Transfer Deadline Day. This window has been decent, we didn't really need to change too much in terms of personnel. We had to get a new goalkeeper, which we ended up getting a very good guy in Atubolu, and a decent second choice goalkeeper, but he is yet to make his debut. This month, we begin our very difficult Champions League run at home to Monaco, in a league phase where we must win all of our home games. We also have Der Klassiker after losing our first league match of the season, a game where we need to get revenge for the defeat at home in the Supercup, and also we must take full advantage of a slight tweak in the system which I'm using for the Bayern game in a 4-2-3-1. We will see how that works out. But here are the fixtures for this month. September Fixtures: There's only four matches this month coming up, but don't forget that at the start of this month, we have an international break for the World Cup qualifiers. We start the month on the 13th, like I said, at home against Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker, the first league meeting this season, and a game where we need to push on and put the Eintracht Frankfurt defeat behind us. Monaco then visit Signal Iduna Park in our first Champions League match of the season, and can we progress to the quarter finals again, or even further? We then travel to Union Berlin, before finishing the month at home to Freiburg. Flavius Daniliuc to Celta Vigo on Loan: Flavius Daniliuc only arrived last season, but he's only played 3 games for the team, and he's not going to get into it any time soon, because he's tenth on the list of centre-backs at the team to fit into the squad. At least at Celta Vigo, he can play top flight European football, and get some decent game time for the first time since leaving Roma. I hope I use him later on in FM24, because he was great in my Newcastle team in FM23, trying to get them to the top, especially in my early years. But he doesn't fit in the team for now, so he's off to Spain. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens New Contract: I do like Jamie Bynoe-Gittens as a concept in this football club, and he will rise up the ranks soon enough. I've seen no reason to doubt him and you never know what could happen with these players. I think it was only safe to give the young Englishman a new 5-year deal, worth £49,500 a week, with him staying until the end of the 2029-30 season. He seems to be happy enough with the promise of just being a squad player for now, so we'll keep it that way. But he will not be spending the rest of the season with us. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Valencia on Loan: As well as signing the new contract, he is going back out on loan to get some more first team football, playing in La Liga for Valencia. I will be keeping up to date with how he does for the team, and should it go well, I've put it in that he can be recalled should I need him. Warmed Omari to Freiburg on Loan with the potential to move: We've also sent Warmed Omari out on loan to fellow Bundesliga side, Freiburg. As a 25-year-old centre-back not getting into the team, we're not using him regularly and I'm quite happy that he has this potential move on the cards. With the potential future fee, overall we will make a profit having paid £9 million for him. We'll be getting £6.75 million straight off the bat, with two instalments of £9 million for one a year over two years. Transfers In Summary: Now the transfer window has reached the end, here are a full round-up of our signings ahead of this new season. We brought in two goalkeepers to make that not so much a problem now, in Noah Atubolu as our number one, and Mario De Luis as your typical bench warmer. Cameron Archer came in as an impact sub from Sheffield United for £16.5 million. Alexandre Penetra came in as our new right-back for just shy of £40 million, and finally we signed a new central midfielder from Boca Juniors, Cristian Medina coming in for £8.75 million. All in all, we spent a total of £90 million sorting out our team. Transfers Out Summary: So many players left the club this Summer, either on loan or permanently, and most of that was the dead wood that probably won't see the team this season. Overall, we said goodbye to three members of the team that won the title last season, to opportunities elsewhere in Europe. Gregor Kobel moved to Chelsea for £69 million, Felix Nmecha left for Aston Villa, and Salih Ozcan went back to his homeland to play for Galatasaray. When it comes to loans, Flavius Daniliuc, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Julien Duranville and so many more have gone to play top-flight football across Europe, some of them even in European competition to take in the experience for their future at the football club. Marcel Lotka goes to Braga on Loan: Marcel Lotka has secured himself a loan move now he's gone down the pecking order at the football club, and he has gone to join Braga with an option to buy him at the end of the loan. He looks like he will be an important player for them, possibly their number one in their Liga NOS campaign. Good luck to him, he's not a bad keeper, but was nowhere near being a number one for this team unfortunately. Oliwer Blaszczyk to Darmstadt: One of our youth team centre-backs is off to Darmstadt for £75,000, as he drops down a level to try and make it into the first team there in the near future. 2. Bundesliga seems like his level looking back over his report. Donyell Malen New Contract: Donyell Malen has had his contract extended through until 2030, picking up £99,000 a week, and I'm happy we've been able to retain him. In my first two seasons in charge, he had the same numbers with 8 goals and 2 assists, and it was his goals towards the end of last season that confirmed we would finish ahead of Bayern Munich at the top of the tree, especially with 5 goals in 3 games in the final month of the season. He is a match winner, a goalscorer and a team player, and he's the kind of influence we need around the club for this season and beyond. Cristian Medina Injury: Cristian Medina has got injured on international duty for Argentina, before he's even had the chance to play a match for us, in their World Cup qualifier against Venezuela. He will be out with sprained knee ligaments for the next 6-7 weeks. First Milestone: We've reached our 100th game of this save as Borussia Dortmund manager. In 100 games, we've been Champions League quarter-finalists, Bundesliga Champions, and we seem to be more attacking than ever before more often than not. I'm proud of the achievements thus far. Saturday 13th September 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-2 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga) Our first home defeat of the season, and Bayern Munich have bragging rights again in this rivalry, as last season now appears to be an overachievement, and Bayern Munich are wanting to win the title for the first time in what for them is a barren spell. An extended spell of possession after half time, resulted in us giving the ball away which turned into Bayern Munich keeping the ball. Harry Kane had the ball through to Leon Goretzka, who in turn found Diaby and he managed to poke the ball past Atubolu to give them the lead. They then went 2-0. A Diaby ball in the box was cleared away only as far as Laimer on the edge of the box, outside the D, and he hit it first time into the bottom right hand corner. Two defeats in a row. I don't think we're going to be in a title race this season, but as the board have changed their expectations to Champions League qualification, we aim for that instead. Tom Rothe New Contract: Tom Rothe has signed a new contract, that keeps him at the club until at least 2030, with the option of another year. His wages have gone up to £36,000 a week and he's a squad player in his contract, but his corner taking has been unreal when he has been playing. He's great when it comes to set pieces, bombing up and down the wing. He's only 20 years old. I'm super happy he's decided to stay on. Tuesday 16th September 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Monaco (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We threw this game away, conceding a goal 6 minutes from time, as we were only able to settle for a point in our first Champions League match this season. Tom Rothe took a corner from the right, inswinging towards Relvas, whose initial header was saved, but he got his foot on the ball just and diverted it towards goal to give us the lead. Caio Henrique's initial corner for Monaco hit the first man ahead of the equaliser, but was only cleared as far as Minamino, who gave it back to the corner taker in the area, he took a touch and fired into the top corner to give the Ligue 1 side a precious point. Caleb Okoli Injured: Caleb Okoli has made 2 appearances this season, but he's not going to be playing in the next few weeks, as he's twisted his ankle turning sharply in training, which is horrid for him. Hopefully, he can recover from it fairly soon. Saturday 20th September 2025: Union Berlin 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We've lost for the third league game in a row, which brings a lot of doubt into some of the players in this team. How can we go to this bad in just a few months? I knew I probably should have gone while my stock was as high as it was. Union Berlin took the lead from a corner, Schafer's corner finding Doekhi at the near post for his first goal of the season. Sebastian Haller was given an equaliser just before half-time, a Khedira back-pass was far too short, and Haller slotted it into the corner for 1-1. They found the winner on the hour mark. We cleared the first ball away but only as far as their midfield. Gosens had the ball on the left wing, before he crossed it in for Leweling at the back post, whose header hit the post and took an age to spin over the line for 2-1. I've not gone a month without winning a game yet in this save, I'm very worried about our poor form. Tom Rothe Injured: Tom Rothe got injured during this game, as he twisted his ankle while sprinting and is out for around the next month. Not happy at the moment at all. Saturday 27th September 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) September has been a dire month, the worst month in my time in charge of Borussia Dortmund, as we drew 0-0 against Freiburg. There were two highlights for this game, and that was it, although we had the chance in both. Only a boring 0-0 draw to cap an awful month on the pitch. September Results: How quickly football can do you dirty. Just months ago, we were Bundesliga champions. This month, we've forgotten how to win. We lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in the first game of the month, and we didn't know how badly this could go, it just got worse. We then drew 1-1 against Monaco in the Champions League, which wasn't a bad result. But then we lost 2-1 away to Union Berlin, before picking up a dud 0-0 draw against Freiburg. Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt lead the way after 6 matches, sitting on 15 points. Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg are only two points behind them, with Augsburg sat in fourth on 12 points. Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen both have 10 points apiece, with RB Leipzig sat in 7th on 9 points. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach are already starting to fall adrift on 1 point. Hertha Berlin are 2nd bottom on 4 points, and both Greuther Furth and Union Berlin have 5 points, with Freiburg on 6 points. Champions League Update: We are currently sat in 24th place, but we have only played 1 game, which we managed to draw against Monaco. Final Word: It's been tough, so tough and it could be a thing to jump before I'm pushed to be honest. In the next few months, it may cross my mind to look through the other leagues and see if there are any big teams struggling, because I don't see us winning anything this season at this rate, and I never want to waste a season. If things don't improve in the next month, it will be a case in point of having that look. If you don't think I should, and that I should stick this season out, let me know, but this is a worse start than ever before. I hope you enjoyed my suffering, and I will be back next time.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - August Here we are, August 2025, and a brand new season, and a season where we will probably have everyone wanting to get us being champions. We have a new goalkeeper, we have a new back-up goalkeeper, but now we have to do without Marco Reus in the middle galvanising the team and pulling us forward. Where do we go from here? We must take the DFB-Pokal more seriously, and that's where some of the signings and the try-outs in pre-season have come from. Julien Duranville has definitely put himself forward into contention after scoring 3 goals in 2 pre-season games, which normally wouldn't count for a lot, but considering one of those games was against Porto, and he got two goals in that particular game, so it definitely brought my attention to him that little bit more. August Fixtures: We have six fixtures to kick off 2025-26, with 5 matches being competitive. We start away in Italy, against Bologna in our final pre-season friendly, and try and continue our 100% pre-season record. We then face the DFB-Pokal winners, Bayern Munich, in the traditional curtain-raiser between the League Champions and the Cup Winners, and yes, I will milk it every time. We then travel to Sandhausen of the third-tier, our affiliate club, but it doesn't matter who you have to play in the Cup, you must beat every single one. In our fourth game of the month, we finally begin our Bundesliga title defence away at Hoffenheim, before carrying on against Stuttgart, and finally, we finish at Eintracht Frankfurt, in what definitely could be a tough start to the season. Alexandre Penetra from AZ Alkmaar: We have a brand new starting right-back to kick this month off, as Alexandre Penetra signs from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar for £39.5 million, on a 5 year contract until the end of the 2029-30 season. He's better off playing in the full-back role in this team which is fine by me. He actually won the Eredivisie title with AZ Alkmaar just two seasons ago, a shock title win which took the Netherlands by storm. He's also got 2 caps for Portugal, where he started his career, coming from the Benfica academy. He's a strong leader, with both leadership and concentration up at 16. He can also play centre-back and will win balls in the box. His crossing is strong, and his acceleration, agility and just his physicals just in general are pretty good. I'm looking forward to putting him in the team. Saturday 2nd August 2025: Bologna 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) A game that really only had the goals and not much else, despite our efforts on goal, ended up in a 2-1 away defeat in Bologna in our final pre-season match. Gulliksen and Ferguson exchanged passes, which led to the former running into the area. He hit the shot, but Lotka saved it, but unfortunately, Karlsson was lurking and popped it into an open goal. A Tom Rothe corner from the right found Filipe Relvas in the box in the 90th minute, and his header made it 1-1. Unfortunately, we didn't come out of pre-season unbeaten. Gulliksen set up the winner in the 92nd minute. An initial cross from the right was blocked, but he then rolled it along the floor into the box, picking up Duelund. He took a touch and swivelled it into the top corner to win the game 2-1. Two Injuries: A couple of injuries to update you with. Soumaila Coulibaly, who still hasn't played for me in three seasons, I noticed, is out for about two weeks with a pulled abdominal muscle. Our other injury is Mario De Luis being out for up to 4 weeks, although not our number 1 goalkeeper, I did plan on making him my number 2, which means Lotka will be on the bench for the next few weeks. CONCACAF Gold Cup Team of the Tournament: So obviously there was some sort of glitch, but for some reason, despite Giovanni Reyna having that injury that would have kept him out for the start of the season, and should have brought him home from this tournament, he still played in every game for USA, with the team making the final, but losing to Jamaica 2-1 in extra time. Giovanni Reyna made it into the team of the tournament, and hopefully will be on it when he comes back. Ryan Sessegnon on loan to Clermont Foot: I did sign him last season from Tottenham on a free, but he hasn't been good enough really to play for us regularly, and I decided he should be sent out on loan to keep him going. Clermont from France came in with the offer, and he will be playing there until the end of the season. Saturday 9th August 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-3 Bayern Munich (DFL-Supercup) Our first competitive game, and it's clear we need to improve in defence after this result. We actually played really well... for the first five minutes. Tom Rothe set up the first goal of the game with a corner from the right, Sule rising up quickest to get the club's first goal of the season. Chotard gave Bayern Munich their equaliser, his pass back to Atubolu was short and Mathys Tel got his first of the game, by dinking the ball over our new keeper for 1-1. Bayern Munich took the lead just 6 minutes later. The ball was only cleared as far as Goretzka. He played the ball forward to Diaby, who ran through past the defence on the right, despite our best efforts, and he fired through the keeper's legs for 2-1. Diaby played a long ball from the right through to the middle of the area, and again Tel ran through with his man losing him, and he fired home effortlessly, to give Bayern a 3-1 lead at our place. That's how it finished, and it's clear we've got more to worry about than what we thought we did. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is recalled: He could be important for the team going forward now, with his appearances for Wolfsburg helping him out at this level, so I'm going to see if he's ready for the first team squad, and see if he can do anything for the team as we look to defend our title and win everything we enter. Julian Rijkhoff to Mainz 05: One of our young strikers has gone to a fellow Bundesliga side in Mainz 05, and he should be able to get minutes there. It's literally just a case with most of these transfers and loans that they won't be playing for us in the first team, so I send them off/out to get first team football. Good luck to Julian. Wednesday 13th August 2025: Sandhausen 0-4 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal First Round) An injury to Sandhausen's goalkeeper must have stumped their confidence as we went on to score four unanswered goals in the second half, to complete a comprehensive victory, which sends us through to the second round. The first two goals were carbon copies of each other. Two passing moves of many passes just inside the Sandhausen half, both times found Duranville on the left, who slid it across both times, and on both those occasions, Steinbauer, a wonderful U19 striker, tapped it home into the bottom right hand corner for both 1-0 and 2-0. Bynoe-Gittens set up the third goal, running down the right, and keeping hold of the ball, until he found the head of Steinbauer and he nodded home to complete a hat-trick on his first team debut. Tom Rothe set up the fourth from a corner from the right, and at the near post was Filipe Relvas, who sealed the passage through to the second round. Almugera Kabar to Dordrecht on Loan: Another player classed as a decent young prospect, Almugera Kabar, is going out on loan to Dordrecht of the Netherlands for the rest of the season. Gustav Aabro to Sandhausen on Loan: I believe this is the first time we've sent someone to Sandhausen this season. Gustav Aabro is another decent young goalkeeper, but with two young goalkeepers already in our squad that have just joined the club, we might be ok for a few years now. DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw: And just when you thought we'd seen the back of this rivalry. Our second round match will be a tie away to local rivals, but now second-tier team, Schalke 04. I'll be looking forward to this match. Season Preview: So, the day has come where the season is about to get under way. But let's take a look and see where the media now think the teams will end. It's still Bayern Munich who are favourites to win the title for the first time since the 2022-23 season. We're expected to be in second place this season, but we were meant to be there last season and look what happened. RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen are favourites to get the two other Champions League spots, with Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg expected to make the Europa League spots, and Freiburg are predicted in 7th. Greuther Furth and Hertha Berlin are now the two favourites to get automatically relegated, and for the second season in a row, Bochum are down there, but again, as I said in the June update, look what happened last season. Sunday 17th August 2025: Hoffenheim 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We started our title defence with a hard fought defensive performance at Hoffenheim, and we held on for a much earned win away from home against a really tough team to beat. It was a neat passing move starting with Adeyemi, who played it to his right to Julian Brandt, and Giovanni Reyna was set free inside the area, and he slotted home into the left hand corner for 1-0. That was after 11 minutes and for the rest of the game, Atubolu earned his stripes as he made some top saves to keep us in the lead. We got away with a potential Hoffenheim equaliser, but Beier was miles offside for the goal. We held on, and we get the opening day 3 points. A Couple off to Sandhausen: Two youngsters are going to ply their trade in the 3rd tier this season at our affiliate club, with both Nick Cherny and Charles Herrmann going to Sandhausen for the rest of the season. Soheil Lobe to Sandhausen on Loan: Another promising player is off to Sandhausen, Soheil Lobe going to the third-tier side. Fourth Player to Sandhausen: It's like they're going to have an entire team there at this rate, Tyler Meiser going out on loan to Sandhausen for the rest of the season. Arne Engels Injured: Little bit gutted about this one. I do allow my players to play in reserve matches if they need the fitness, and Arne Engels has picked up a torn hamstring, which will leave him out for 2 months after sprinting during one of these games. That's the risk footballers take, but a little bit gutted it's happened to a player I'm giving more of a chance this season. Salih Ozcan to Galatasaray: Salih Ozcan put in a transfer request with it looking like he wanted a return to Turkey as both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce came in for the Turkish international. In the end, it was Galatasaray taking him after paying £11,500,000 for his services. He will be missed but he goes back home with a Bundesliga title medal so hopefully he can build on that in the Turkish Super League. Saturday 23rd August 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Stuttgart (Bundesliga) Our first home game of the Bundesliga season sends us back on top of the league for now, as we thrashed Stuttgart 4-0 at Signal Iduna Park. Tom Rothe's delivery from the corner on the right was perfect again as he found Niclas Sule at the back post to get us on the mark in this game. Joris Chotard got his first goal for the club, after a move from the left led to Kiwior playing it in to Chotard, who turned, and shot low from the edge of the box for 2-0. Sebastian Haller opened his account for the season from the penalty spot, sending the keeper the wrong way as he powered into the top left corner. The final goal was a thing of beauty. Malen ran down the right but had nowhere to go, so played it back to Chotard. He saw Emre Can in the box, so lifted it up and Can caught it sweetly, first time, on the right foot volley as we took all three points in our first home league match of the season. Julien Duranville to Marseille on Loan: He was great in pre-season and it seemed like I was going to use him in the first team this season. But I looked back through my squad, and I really couldn't guarantee anything this season. I've sent him across to Ligue 1 though this time, so as not to humiliate us should we play him, and he will play for the French giants until the end of the season. Cristian Medina from Boca Juniors: For the first time in this save, we have signed someone from Argentina, and more specifically Boca Juniors. Cristian Medina is a 23-year-old centre midfielder, who can play as a playmaker of some form basically which is good to see. His vision is quality at a 16, and his physicals are strong with 16s for agility, natural fitness, and stamina. He's got the long shots going for him, his first touch is at a 14 as well to name but a few. He could definitely fill a hole in midfield, but saying that, we've got a lot of strong midfielders at the football club. But it gives me a good headache at least. Nicolas Steinbauer to WSG Tirol: He scored that great hat-trick on his professional debut for Borussia Dortmund, so obviously can score when he needs to. I've sent him out to WSG Tirol in Austria on loan until the end of the season, where he will try and score loads of goals in the Austrian Bundesliga. Bundesliga Team of the Week: 26th August 2025: We have players in the team of the week for the first time this season, with Atubolu, Sule, Chotard and Kiwior getting into it this week after being our best performers in that handsome 4-0 win against Stuttgart. UEFA Champions League League Phase Fixtures: I'm not being funny, that is a horrible set of fixtures in the Champions League. I know we're Champions of Germany, but you're literally meant to get easier teams aren't you? Or was I just dreaming? We start at home to Monaco which looks quite winnable compared to what we've got coming up. We have a double header in England, as we travel to both Liverpool and Arsenal back to back. We then face three games at home, as we kick off that run against Celtic, and then both Milan clubs are coming to Signal Iduna Park, as we face AC Milan first, and then finalists from last season, Inter Milan will come to Germany. We will then travel to San Sebastian to face Real Sociedad, and we finish things off against Shakhtar Donetsk away. Saturday 30th August 2025: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did sort of say this would be the toughest of our opening three games this season, but it is always disappointing to lose a game with few highlights and few chances for both teams. It was a free-kick that undid us in the end. Guerreiro played the free-kick, and he very much floated it (it stayed in the air for eternity) but as the ball came down, Ahmedhodzic looped the ball over Atubolu with his head and that would end up winning the game for Frankfurt. Our first defeat of the season, and something we will have to get over quick. August Results: So we started this month with a 2-1 friendly defeat away at Bologna, before losing the Super Cup 3-1 to Bayern Munich after going 1-0 up. We just couldn't deal with Mathys Tel that day. We followed that up by comfortably getting through our DFB-Pokal First Round tie 4-0 against Sandhausen. Then, we started our Bundesliga title defence with back-to-back wins, starting with a 1-0 win at Hoffenheim, and a 4-0 home win over Stuttgart. We lost our final game of the month 1-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt. Here's the early table. Bundesliga Table Update: And in fact, it is Eintracht Frankfurt that have won their first three matches of the season, and are the only team to as well. Both Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten and both sit on 7 points. We lead a trio of teams early on with 6 points, alongside Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, but ahead on goal difference. Greuther Furth are not enjoying their first season back at the top level so far, having lost their opening three. Borussia Monchengladbach are struggling as well, with 1 point from three matches, and already conceding 12 goals in the process. Both RB Leipzig and Union Berlin have 2 points. Final Word: That's it for the month of August then, and on the pitch, we've had a mixed start. Bayern Munich drew first blood against us, but we've made a reasonable start to the league season, and also made light work of the DFB-Pokal First Round. We must win that tournament to complete the German leg of the save. I'm happy with the signings we've made and it may be the end of my purchases, but we do have deadline day on the next update, coming out tomorrow, so never say never. Salih Ozcan leaving was a blow for us, but there was no point in trying to keep him around as he was causing trouble. But I would say, we've had a good Summer. When we come back, we have Bayern Munich in the league, and we also begin those tricky looking Champions League matches. I don't think we'll be top eight this season, but as long as we get at least 24th this time, it'll do me. See if we can do it this season. Thank you for the support. I'll see you next time.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - July Happy new season, and happy new transfer window as well, as we have to respond to life after both Kobel and Reus this month, and we also have to improve our squad to compete in everything as we enter what will probably be my final season with Borussia Dortmund, and where do we go from here? We have to try and win the DFB-Pokal this time around, otherwise we will have some decisions for the save to make. We have to be in for a brand new number one goalkeeper, to see if we can replace Kobel that way. Let's have a look at our July schedule, and at the minute, it's only a short one, but it's for a reason. July Fixtures: I know the fixtures so far are very late into the month, but there is a reason for this. I had started to arrange pre-season friendlies for our training camp coming up in Japan, but I hadn't thought that Japan would still be in their season, so it didn't really work. We will face 3rd tier Arminia Bielefeld, like we did last season during pre-season, and a home friendly against FC Porto, at Signal Iduna Park to end the month. Otherwise we will sort out our squad for this season, and see what we can do. Laurin Ulrich to FC Liefering: One of our more exciting talents has left the club at the age of 20, getting the first team action that he has been craving. I'm sure he will become a stronger player and good luck to him. He drops to the Austrian second tier. Louceny Camara Pre-Contract Agreement: A young player called Louceny Camara is the latest player to sign a pre-contract agreement, which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2027-28 season. He doesn't look great at the moment, but he is a young centre-half with great tackling, and solid bravery. But I will say again, he is only 16 years old so let's see if that lasts if he picks up injuries. Felix Nmecha to Aston Villa: Our second actual sale of this transfer window is Felix Nmecha moving to the Premier League to go and play for Aston Villa, after not much success in getting into the first team at Borussia Dortmund. He only made 9 appearances under my guidance, scoring 1 goal. It's only because we had players ahead of him and he was purely that unlucky to be in that strong a squad. He will play in the Europa League this season for Aston Villa, and the chance for him to win a European trophy. They paid us £26,000,000 which puts our budgets even further up this season. New Record Set: £106,000,000 is the club's biggest fee made across one transfer window. We're only in July. Noah Atubolu from Freiburg: I think I've just signed our new number one. German U21 international Noah Atubolu has arrived from Freiburg, who ended up qualifying for the Champions League ahead of this season. It's a good start to see the 16 on his reflexes, and there are 15s across the board as well, when it comes to one-on-ones, aerial reach, rushing out. I've just noticed the 16 for Determination which is great to see. He definitely looks a solid keeper to buy and take that number one jersey, and his stats from last season backs it up with a total of 12 clean sheets in all competitions. He averaged a complete 7.00 in the Bundesliga as well, making him one of the top young goalkeepers at this level. I'm very excited to be using him this season. Mario De Luis from Real Madrid: We've also signed a new back-up keeper, potentially moving Lotka down the pecking order. He looks semi-decent, and has spent most of this save in the Castilla team at the Spanish giants. He will most likely be spending the season on the bench, but he's great and ready to come into the team should he need to. His highest rating is a 15, all for aerial reach, kicking, and reflexes which is great for a goalkeeper. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Wolfsburg on Loan: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens will be spending his season in the Bundesliga this time around, picking up the experience in this league at Wolfsburg. This'll be the season that'll probably decide if he can play at this level, despite his wonderkid rating. Sebastian Haller New Contract: We've kept our top goalscorer from last season on the books for this season and the next one as well. He now earns £115,000 a week, which at the start of last season, I was worried I wouldn't want him at the club. He absolutely is one of my top players at the club now, and deserves this brand new contract. He was unreal last season. Leonardo Garcia Posadas remains at KSC Lokeren-Temse: This was a player who played for Honduras at the recent Gold Cup, so his form at his club on loan has obviously impressed international quarters. He's not good enough for our squad at the moment, so why break up the partnership with his loan club? Leonardo Garcia Posadas stays in Belgium for another season. Jonathan Timmins Pre-Contract Agreement: We have a great young prospect who played for the Australia U20 team at the FIFA U20 World Cup. Jonathan Timmins is only 16 years old, yet he seems like an absolute grafter in midfield. His dribbling is amazing for a player his age. His teamwork is one of the best probably at the club, never mind just for the Under-19s. He seems unreal, and if Australia are picking him at that high a level already, if they believe in him, we're going to give him a contract when he turns 17. He will stay until 2028. Julien Duranville Contract Extension: One of our wonderkids has had his contract extended to stay until 2029, which could promote him to the first team proper at some point. Look at his estimated value already at 19. This kid can play. Daniel Lloyd to FCV Denker on Loan: Our young American centre-back, who played in the U20 World Cup earlier this year, goes to FCV Denker on loan, in the Belgian second tier, for the entire season. Prince Aning to Darmstadt on Loan: Another one of our quality youngsters, Prince Aning, is going to drop into the 2. Bundesliga to play for Darmstadt this season, to pick up more first team football, before the next manager after me potentially takes a chance on him as he is that good. Dustin Ploger to Augsburg: This time, we've sold one of our young players, after what was quite the battle between several Bundesliga sides for their U19 teams. Dustin Ploger has chosen to go to Augsburg to continue his development, and I wish him the best of luck. Niclas Fullkrug Injured: I'm used to writing this headline now. Niclas Fullkrug spent so much time outside the team last season suffering from serious injury, and now he's out potentially until October with torn knee ligaments. He has gone off to see a specialist, but I can't imagine him being the impact player he was in my first season here again. Julien Duranville New Contract: Julien Duranville, a player who was out on loan last season at Strasbourg, but he does seem absolutely ace, and could be important to us this season, has signed a new contract, and is now contracted until 2030, and will become an important player for us after a strong season in France last season. He will earn £51,000 a week. Now can he repay my faith in him? Giovanni Reyna Injured: Duranville could become more important now in that forward line, as Giovanni Reyna has picked up a twisted knee during the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and will unfortunately miss the start of the season, but should be back around the middle of next month. Cameron Archer from Sheffield United: You might wonder if I'm going mad. A player that has only really shown his worth in the Sky Bet Championship in England? Signing for the German Champions? Well yes, I agree this could be a rather risky signing. But I think with Fullkrug's injury, and the fact that Cameron Archer has got that finishing stat of 17, I think he will be a quality player to bring off the bench in some games this season, and could appear against the weaker teams in the Bundesliga. Cameron Archer, the latest English player at Borussia Dortmund. Saturday 26th July 2025: Arminia Bielefeld 1-5 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) We started our delayed pre-season with a thrashing of third-tier Arminia Bielefeld, winning 5-1. It looks like wing play this season, like last season, will be the way to break down teams as we created a lot of chances and scored most of our goals from the side lines. Bakayoko received the ball down the left, and then played a through ball through their defence, where Moukoko ran into the area to meet it, and fired into the bottom right corner for 1-0. We got our second from a corner. A short corner played inbetween Engels and Bakayoko, allowed the former to make a run while Bakayoko held it up, he passed it around the corner, Engels then played a short pass in the area to Rothe, who swept it home into the bottom right corner for 2-0. Duranville got on the scoresheet five minutes later, running in from the right after a through ball by Engels, one-on-one with the keeper, and he steered it into the bottom left corner for 3-0. Arminia Bielefeld actually got a decent goal back. Smajlovic started and ended the move with a run from the left, as Belkahia found him running in, and he fired into the top right corner to make it 3-1. We didn't score again until the 80th minute, when we got a penalty from a mistake by their keeper, and Emre Can sent him the wrong way to get our fourth. Chotard, who came on in the second half, played the ball from the right to the middle of the park to Sule, who found Moukoko in the box, who held it up for Bakayoko to fire it home just inside the box. Five goals, five different scorers, 5-1. Great start to pre-season. DFB-Pokal First Round Draw: Our first round tie in the DFB-Pokal this season has been confirmed, and we will play our affiliate club, third-tier Sandhausen, on the Wednesday after the DFL-Supercup. It should be a game that shouldn't cause too much trouble, but it would just be my luck if any former player, or a player on loan there, scores the winner to knock us out. But I'm expecting a win in this tie. Raul Konig to Huddersfield Town on Loan: We've sent Raul Konig to the Championship this season, to try and get some goals scored for Huddersfield Town, where he will get the starting places, in a proper competitive league. I'm looking forward to checking his reports. Wednesday 30th July 2025: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 FC Porto (Pre-Season Friendly) The champions of Germany and Portugal took each other on in this pre-season friendly, and Julien Duranville got both goals to separate both teams in this one, as we won 2-0, fairly comfortably. Sessegnon played his part in the first goal. He won the ball in the final third, played the ball back to Rothe, who via Salih Ozcan, the ball made it's way to Duranville, who turned his defender inside out, before firing home a deflected shot which wrong-footed the keeper to make it 1-0 in the first half. We scored after 69 minutes to round off this comfortable game. Sabitzer played a short free-kick to Duranville, who found Rothe in space down the right. He gave it back to Duranville in the middle of the box, who shot first time and it was deflected in again for 2-0. July Results: Two very simple pre-season friendly wins then in the summary, thrashing Arminia Bielefeld 5-1 away from home, and then beating Portuguese champions Porto 2-0 quite comfortably as well. July Transfers in and out: When it comes to transfers, we've obviously lost Kobel, Breivik and Nmecha through transfers to Chelsea, Copenhagen and Aston Villa respectively, and we've gained £108,000,000 through them. We've signed a new number one in Noah Atubolu who we've yet to see in action in pre-season, but he will probably come out to play at some point against Bologna in our final friendly. Mario De Luis as a back up option in goal was signed on the same day for free. And then we signed Cameron Archer from Sheffield United for an initial £16,500,000 to help us should we need him as well. Gaining well over £60,000,000 in transfer funds is definitely a good move. Final Word: As we can see, I think it's been a fairly decent month building up for the start of the season, and in terms of signings, I'm trying to get more in as we speak. They will become apparent in August. We have one more pre-season friendly remaining as we play Bologna away from home, before we play in the DFL-Supercup against Bayern Munich the following weekend at home. I'm looking forward to just getting started and I hope you guys stick around to watch how the opening month goes down.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - June Hello and welcome to pre-season ahead of the new 2025-26 season, and we go into this one as the new Bundesliga Champions, Champions League Quarter-Finalists, and a season where I believe this should be my last one as I think I have my tactics to a tee. I aim to win the DFB-Pokal this season, and then we will start looking for brand new teams across Europe as I'm very wary that we could run out of time if I stay at one club too long. I think three seasons at the first club is absolutely acceptable. Plus after next season, I will start looking again at international jobs, as my reputation is now at 3.5 stars and I should be getting taken on if it grows across the next season. Youssoufa Moukoko New Contract: I gave him it as he's a fantastic wonderkid and really helped in our run to the title last season, scoring 11 goals in the Bundesliga and 12 across all competitions, with 7 assists in all competitions as well. We've made his minimum release clause a little higher than what it was to £92,000,000 and giving him £70,000 a week is worthy of his performance as an impact player. He will be more of a regular player next season and I can't wait for him to flex his muscles more. Gustav Aabro New Contract: As there won't be much coverage of much else, I will take you through new contracts whether it's first team or otherwise. This is 18-year-old Danish keeper Gustav Aabro who spent the season at Sandhausen. He won't be anywhere near the first team anytime soon, and we will probably send him back there as they are an affiliate club. Raul Konig New Contract: Now this guy is more exciting and we've given him a new contract until 2029. I did use him in the first team once but he spent a season at Quevilly-Rouen just to see what he could do in Ligue 2. For his position, he's had an ok season, scoring 9 goals and assisting 7. Again, he probably will go back out next season, or we'll leave him playing 3. Liga football with the second team. Franz Roggow New Contract: We've given one of those reserve team members a new contract. He doesn't appear to be anything that special, but he didn't have the worst season in the 3. Liga this season. He will stay for two years, probably more involved at that level. Marius Wolf New Contract: Here's one player who needs no introduction. Marius Wolf has signed a new 2-year contract after our title win last season, with a wage of £58,000. With an average rating last season of 7.37 in all competitions, he was one of our outstanding performers, always running down the right wing and swinging the ball in for a header on a regular occurrence. He deserves to stay on. Emre Can New Contract: Another title winner gets a new contract, with Emre Can signing a two-year contract also. He is going to be on £92,000 a week. He wasn't the most effective player with an average rating of 6.90, but I can't say we had a bad player this season. Everyone deserves a new contract really. Ramy Bensebaini Frustration: I received the top one immediately as we went on to the next day, and we received the bottom one as we finished it. Got to love the game's logic sometimes. He may be out up until the start of the season now unfortunately. Commercial Summary for the end of 2024-25: Our updated commercial summary for the last season just completed. We've had our best season in a very long time after winning the Bundesliga. Competition Prize Money went up to £156,000,000 last season. The shirt sales aren't that surprising, with Marco Reus's name being bought more than any other. Felix Irorere New Contract: We've given one of the second team's decent players a new contract, which is probably just where he belongs unfortunately. I've given him a new two-year contract, but may be nowhere near the first team. Caleb Okoli New Contract: I managed to get Caleb Okoli to put pen to paper on a new contract until 2030, at £39,000 a week just to deter some interest we were getting for him as he's a good squad player. He got a 7.01 for an average rating for last season. It was his first season at the club, and he made an impression which I'm glad I was proved right for at least. Bundesliga Remain In 4th: The top 5 in Europe remain the same with England leading, followed by La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. The Turkish League climbs above Scotland into the top 10 leagues. Club Rankings: We've moved up one spot in the European Club Rankings, as we go up to 17th place after winning the title in Germany. Manchester City are still classed as the best team in Europe. Extra Champions League Spots: For the second season in a row, England and Italy both get the extra Champions League spot with both Portugal and Germany missing out. Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus get in through the back door. Oliver Bradaric Pre-Contract Deal: We have a decent young goalkeeper on our books. At only 15, Oliver Bradaric is 16 for punching, 14 for Reflexes and Positioning and Yellows elsewhere on the board. He's 6 foot 2 and can still grow obviously. He's played well in recent matches so hopefully, he can progress into a decent goalkeeper on this save. DFL-Supercup Match Confirmed: As German Champions, we obviously must play the team that won the cup, and it will be a home game against Bayern Munich to kick things off this season, and hopefully we can assert our authority once again, as we did when we took them on before the end of the season. It will be the first chance to win a piece of silverware not on the list, but can definitely give us a level of confidence. Bundesliga Fixtures Announced: We will start our season in the league away at Hoffenheim this time around, before a home game against Stuttgart starts off our home league campaign this season. We then travel to Eintracht Frankfurt before the international break, before we come back from it with a great meeting against Bayern Munich at home. Union Berlin will be up next before we finish September in the league against Freiburg at home. With the added fixture against Bayern Munich in the Supercup, and a DFB-Pokal fixture to fit in, along with the Champions League, it'll be a slightly busier start to the season. Bring it on! Bundesliga Preview: At the start of pre-season, Bayern Munich are favourites to take their first title in 3 years, but we are second favourites at 5-1 to retain the league. At the bottom, newly-promoted Greuther Furth and European bound Bochum are favourites to be automatically relegated, with Hertha Berlin just ahead of them. The strongest XI in the league features two Dortmund players at the moment. Gregor Kobel is apparently the best goalkeeper in the league, with Neuer possibly on the way out soon, and Giovanni Reyna also makes the Dream XI before any transfers are done. Gregor Kobel to Chelsea: The first player out this Summer, and as much as I didn't want him to leave, he wanted to go and get a new challenge in England. Gregor Kobel, our fantastic goalkeeper, has gone to Chelsea for £69,000,000, in a deal that could rise to £84,000,000. In a season where we went on to win the title, he was THE man in our goal, keeping 12 clean sheets in the Bundesliga, and genuinely not letting us down a lot at all. He will be tough to replace, but we will try our best when it comes to finding a new first choice. I don't think Lotka has warranted being the first choice goalkeeper, so when July 1st hits, I'll be straight on it. But a round of applause for Gregor Kobel, a well deserved move in the prime of his career, and we now have to move on as a club. I'm not complaining about the fee. Tiago Estevao New Contract: Tiago Estevao is one of our young players who may not make it to be honest. He's obviously got the determination, but I'm going to assume he uses it in the wrong way as he hasn't developed much more than just being a second team regular. But it's always important to keep these players around at your club so you do have the numbers and the development being used properly. Moses Otuali New Contract: Another player that may not be much better than the second team, and he isn't that great in the second team either, but he's good when it comes to his heading, technique, and he's a good dribbler, finisher and strong with his first touch. I hope he can improve but we will wait and see. Marco Reus Retires a Champion: Marco Reus has retired at 36, after a strong end to his career at Borussia Dortmund. Across his career, he has scored 162 goals in 449 appearances. He must be one of our legends of all time, and the fact in his final season, he won his first Bundesliga medal, I'm absolutely buzzing for him. Hopefully he goes on to have a successful coaching career, and one day he could come back to us. But Marco, enjoy your retirement, and thank you. Emil Breivik Moves to FC Copenhagen: I signed him in the first season, but he did lose his place in the team last season, so we sent him out on loan, and FC Copenhagen met his release clause, of £11.27 million. We made just under £9,000,000 on him so that's one of our objectives finally being met. Playing for us, he made 35 appearances for the first team, scoring 2 goals and making 4 assists, with an average rating over two seasons of 6.93, having a great season in the league first time round. It didn't work last season, and I hope he can improve in Denmark. Serhat Salman Pre-Contract Agreement: We've sorted out the future at the club for another 15 year old, he is Serhat Salman, and he is a player who our coaches are excited for. I will say that for a striker from a top academy, he doesn't really excite me too much just yet. Final Word: It's always great to get through the June stage of the pre-season, where we find out who we play in the Bundesliga in what order for the upcoming season, and where we find out what we need to replace and buy for the upcoming season. A month where we said goodbye to two of our great performers last season, Gregor Kobel to Chelsea, and Marco Reus retiring, and we wish them luck in their future endeavours. The first thing to do is to get a new goalkeeper so my scouts are on that straightaway. Let's see what happens next month, and I hope you will join me for that. Thank you for enjoying the latest update, and I will see you soon.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - May Part 2 Sebastian Haller Awards: Sebastian Haller has had the most unbelievable season for us, and he has won the African Football of the Year, beaten Victor Osimhen to the African Striker of the Year, and got into the African Team of the Year. Absolutely buzzing for him. Competition Awards: I think we've had a great season, and so does everyone else. I will quickly run through them. First of all, Sebastian Haller came second in the Players' Player of the Year Award, missing out to Jeremie Frimpong of Bayer Leverkusen. We know Haller was third in the goalscoring charts anyway but it's great to see. Joris Chotard was voted the best newcomer to the German league, but Caleb Okoli was also a close second which I'm proud of, and meant our transfer activity was basically the best in the league. I won the Players' Manager of the Year award, which is great recognition from players from across the league. In both the Team of the Year and the Players' Team of the Year, we had Kobel in goal, Kiwior at centre-half and Reyna on the left wing. All in all, a great year to be recognised for our achievements. This is Pretty Cool: This is the first time I've won a top flight title in this year's FM24, and this is great to see, showing off all the main stats for this season and how well we've done. Bundesliga Final Standings: So for the first time in 13 years, and just the 9th time in the club's history, Borussia Dortmund have won the Bundesliga, winning it on the final day ahead of Bayern Munich, who have sacked Mauricio Sarri after one season. Eintracht Frankfurt ended third on 63 points, and Freiburg got the final Champions League spot after all on 61. Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig will have to settle for the UEFA Europa League next season, while Bochum take 7th and a place in the Europa Conference League. Schalke and Fortuna Dusseldorf return to the 2. Bundesliga after 1 season each back in the top flight, and FC Koln lost the relegation playoff to Greuther Furth, so they will be replaced for next season. 2. Bundesliga Promoted Teams: Alongside Greuther Furth winning the play-offs, Hertha Berlin return to the top flight, as do Borussia Monchengladbach after a year away. UEFA Champions League: Chelsea have become European champions for the third time in their history, coming back from behind to beat Inter Milan 2-1 in the Champions League final in Munich. A huge shout out to Fenerbahce this season, who got to the semi-final, but lost to Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate at that stage. DFB-Pokal: Bayern Munich didn't go trophyless this season, thrashing Mainz 4-0 in the DFB-Pokal final. May Results: The season ended in a dream scenario for us. Like I said, we could afford dropping points in one game, and after drawing Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 away from home, I didn't feel like we'd lose the title. Scoring 10 goals in our last 2 games helped, and with the performances of Donyell Malen in the last 2 games, it made sure that we won the title quite comfortably in the end, with the goal difference acting like an extra point. Final Word: We have reached the end of the 2024-25 season, and it was a season in which I came into my own as a manager, winning my first league title by three points and nearly now completing Germany, and finishing off our first country seems not so far away. I think if we can keep the systems working, keep the formations on it, and make sure every player has it drilled into them, there's no reason we can't win the DFB-Pokal this time around. I've got to say a massive thank you to all my players for doing their bit, and now we have a well-earned break, and I will do a June update, because of the fixtures, but our transfer window doesn't open until July so it won't be a long one. Next time the season returns, we will be the champions, and be there to be shot at. Thank you for the support I've received, and let's take a look at what we can do over the Summer.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - May Part 1 There are three games of the season to go, and we are in the perfect position. A position I didn't think we'd be in just a couple of months ago. We lead Bayern Munich by 5 points at the top of the Bundesliga. Our final away game is next. We face two games at Signal Iduna Park, and we are at most two wins away from the title, and the club's first title since 2012. But Bayern Munich didn't win the league last season. That was RB Leipzig. Despite having had chances to run away with it, they've stalled at vital times this season. One more stall from them, and a win from us, would crown the Yellow Army as Champions. Whatever happens now, it will be tough for us not to win it. But we bottled it in real life a couple of seasons ago. Shall we have a look at those final fixtures of this season? May Fixtures: Just the three games as we try and seal the title as soon as we possibly can. We start away at Bayer Leverkusen. Recently, they humiliated Bayern Munich but I think we are stronger than that. They are still looking for their Champions League spot next season, and will stop at nothing to make sure they can be at Europe's top table next season. We face a safe mid-table Werder Bremen at home which we should be getting a result from, and failing that, we face relegation threatened FC Koln on the final day, as they will bid to try and escape the drop completely, in a relegation battle that has seen no-one go down yet. Johan Bakayoko Injury: That is now Johan Bakayoko out injured for the rest of the season. He has picked up sprained ankle ligaments in training, while sprinting. Hopefully he gets more of a chance to impress next season, as he's missed a lot of football he could have played in while he's been out injured. Fingers crossed he shows his full impact next year. Saturday 3rd May 2025: Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It may have been a draw, but with a five-point lead, and two home games remaining this season, we were able to afford a draw. It was a topsy-turvy game. We did take the lead with this narrow formation, as the crossing still works. Amazingly, it was centre-half Kiwior who provided the cross from the left, and Karim Adeyemi got his head on it at the far post. They equalised on the half hour mark, with a similar move, this time it was Frimpong to Orkun Kokcu in the middle and he fired a header past Kobel. They took the lead 5 minutes before half-time. A short corner from Hofmann went to the edge of the box for goalscorer, Orkun Kokcu. His shot was deflected but only in the path of Tah, who got a slight touch with his head on it, and Leverkusen were 2-1 up at half time. It would be the 82nd minute when we levelled the game up again. Bayer Leverkusen lost the ball too easily playing it out from the back. Giovanni Reyna won the ball back, who played it to Moukoko, who played a ball through for Sebastian Haller, and if you put Haller in the area with just the keeper facing him this season, he only does one thing. It was his 24th goal of the season. Joris Chotard Injured: Joris Chotard is out for the final two games, but he's been one of the unsung heroes of the season. He's been very stable defensively and in that holding midfield role, I've been seriously impressed. Definitely a solid signing I made, I'll give myself credit for that as well as the scouts. Sunday 11th May 2025: Borussia Dortmund 6-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga) We basically secured the title because of our goal difference with a thumping 6-0 win over Werder Bremen, who went down to ten men with twenty minutes to go. Ryerson set up the first goal with a cross from the right corner of the area, and Reyna leapt like a salmon at the far post for 1-0. An Adeyemi corner from the left felt Relvas with a free header for 2-0 before half time. It was one of those runs down the left wing for 3-0 before the hour mark, but this time Reyna spotted an onrushing Sabitzer, who took control of the ball, ran into the area and slotted past the keeper into the bottom right corner. Werder Bremen went down to ten men around ten minutes later, Ducksch with a horrific tackle (assault) from behind on Emre Can, and he deserves his red card. We got three quickfire goals in the final 9 minutes, including added on time. Wolf and Sule exchanged passes down the right wing, and a through ball for Malen, who took a first-time shot and the keeper was left watching it fly past him for 4-0. We made scoring look easy late on. Sule set up the 5th on his own. A through-ball from the middle to the right of the area, and Malen took another first time shot into the far corner for 5-0. A last minute ball into the box after a throw in, got a slight touch from Malen, who turned provider as Moukoko turned and shot to the bottom left again, which wrong-footed the goalkeeper. We win 6-0, and for us to lose the title, there would have to be a 23-goal swing in favour of Bayern Munich. Team of the Week 13th May 2025: A magnificent seven have made the Bundesliga team of the week this week, which is great to see. At some point in some league, I aim to get the full XI. Gregor Kobel, Niklas Sule, Filipe Relvas, Marcel Sabitzer, Julian Ryerson, Donyell Malen and Giovanni Reyna are the contingent that dominate the Bundesliga Team of the Week. Tom Rothe Contract Extension: Tom Rothe has been great at left-back when he's come in this season, and the wonderkid is now officially staying for another season, his contract now running until June 2030. Caleb Okoli New contract: It's always great when the players you buy the previous season, decide to stay on for longer just the following season. Caleb Okoli was a great signing, a lynchpin at the back when he's been there, and he's another player who will be staying until 2030. German Football of the Year: Sebastian Haller has come second in the Football of the Year, Harry Kane winning it, I think purely based on the assist, because otherwise, Sebastian Haller has a better average rating across the year. But you could say that about Jeremie Frimpong, who's had a 7.51. Saturday 17th May 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 FC Koln (Bundesliga) A Donyell Malen brace inside the opening 10 minutes gave us the confidence to finish the job off and become Bundesliga champions after thrashing FC Koln 4-0 on the final day. FC Koln tried to keep the ball early on as they attempted to stay out of the Relegation Playoff place, but the keeper made a horrendous mistake early on, straight to Malen, who from 25 yards out, finished into an empty goal to give us the dream start. Adeyemi set up the second, finding Malen again on the right side of the box, and he slid it past the keeper into the bottom left corner for 2-0. Emre Can got the third, giving the keeper no chance, putting it into the top left corner from the penalty spot. The fourth and final goal of the game and the final one of the season was an own goal. Salih Ozcan took a shot from outside the box which was going well wide, until Araujo stuck out a boot and put his keeper on the floor and put the ball in the net for 4-0. CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!! CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!! There we are, one trophy down, many, many more to go. But it is our first league title of the save, and we've got 18 seasons to win the other four. The aim is to stay one more season, purely to attempt to win the DFB-Pokal, and failing that, we'll either stay for a fourth season, or come back later in the save and win it then. But what an unbelievable day for the Dortmund fans, our first league title in 13 years. Supporter Profile Update: We have a further 3 million fans going onto our social media which is great to see. The fans do now expect to win the Bundesliga next season. Board Update: As do the board, now we've got the first in over a decade for the club. But it's not going to be easy. Team of the Week 20th May 2025: The final team of the week this season includes Emre Can, Julian Brandt, and Donyell Malen. 10 goals in our final two home games gives me some hope for next season if we can keep the lads, and play with the same intensity. Season Review 2024-25: That is Borussia Dortmund's Season Review for this season after what was an insane season. Pipping Bayern Munich to the title, Champions League quarter-finalists, so much to be proud of this season. I will bring up the results and the final tables in a moment for both the Bundesliga, and we will also see who is joining us in Season 3. Top Scorers: Sebastian Haller ended third in the race for the golden boot, with it being won by Benjamin Sesko for RB Leipzig. Highest Average Ratings: Four of our players got into the top 6 in what was an incredible team effort. Yousouffa Moukoko ended top with 7.57, Sebastian Haller was 3rd, Marius Wolf 4th, and finally Giovanni Reyna in 6th. Golden Glove: Gregor Kobel came in third place in the race for the Golden Glove with 12 clean sheets. Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich and Manuel Riemann of Bochum were tied top on 14.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - April Welcome back to the save, and we have a tough run-in starting up. It's going to be interesting and exciting and a better position to be in at this stage of the season than what I thought we would be. We are fighting to win the club's first Bundesliga title in 13 years, being only a point off Bayern Munich at the top of the table. We have the biggest match of any season coming up this month away at the Allianz Arena. We also have a Champions League Quarter-Final, but we do have to attempt to get past the great Real Madrid, 14 time European Champions. This month will decide whether we have a chance of winning trophies, or whether we will have to give it our all in what will be the last year of our contract next season. I hope it's not the latter. Let's take a look at those all important fixtures. April Fixtures: We start this month with a game at relegation-threatened Fortuna Dusseldorf. The relegation battle is as tight as anything this season, and everyone down there still has a chance of being a Bundesliga side next season. As funny as watching Schalke go down again would be, we have to win away in this game, but their fans are going to be well up for it. We then go to the Bernabeu for the first time in this save, in our first leg against Real Madrid. Bochum will then visit us, in their bid to qualify for the Champions League, before we face Real Madrid in the second leg. That weekend, we will face Bayern Munich in the title decider. And if we can get anything in Der Klassiker, we go into the final game of the month with so much hope against Hoffenheim. Saturday 5th April 2025: Fortuna Dusseldorf 0-4 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We put pressure on Bayern Munich from the off this month, as we thrashed bottom of the table Fortuna Dusseldorf 4-0. An early loft over the keeper by Donyell Malen was ruled out for offside, but the opening goal would come just 10 minutes later. Haller had the ball in the right of midfield, but played it towards the centre for Kiwior. He played a through ball to Moukoko and a delightful chip into the right hand corner gave us a 1-0 lead. Giovanni Reyna turned into the flavour of the month, and netted a hat-trick in this game. The second goal was a nice passing move, Kiwior making his through ball a thing as he played it to Moukoko, but he took it quite wide, but found Reyna running into the 6-yard box behind him, and he swept home to double the advantage. In the second half, it got better. More play down the right allowed Wolf to run into a nice big area on the right wing, he slid it into the middle of the box, and again, Reyna swept home from 3 yards out for 3-0. The fourth came when Can got the ball from a clearance, he ran into the area on the left. He sent the ball into Reyna whose back was to the goal but fear not, he turned his man, and slotted into the corner to seal all three points. Team of the Week 8th April 2025: We have four players in the team of the week, our joint highest. We have Marius Wolf, Felipe Relvas, Jakub Kiwior and Giovanni Reyna, and also we lead Bayern Munich 4-3 in this team of the week, which is always good to see. Wednesday 9th April 2025: Real Madrid 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Quarter Final First Leg) There's no easy games at this stage of the UEFA Champions League, and to come away from the Bernabeu, where we really should have been thrashed but I thought I'd try something new, with only a 1 goal defeat, again, like against Atletico Madrid, we stand a chance of going through in the second leg. Real Madrid got their first goal from attacking from the left, Ferland Mendy playing a ball into the box, which evaded Vincius Junior, but found Rodrygo, who put the ball into the far corner beyond our keeper for 1-0. Jude Bellingham had the chance to strike against his former club, but Kobel kept his shot out at the near post, but the deflection fell to Rudiger, who shot through a load of bodies into an empty net for 2-0. We improved after the break, and scored from our only shot of the game. Ryerson crossed the ball in from the right and Reyna made it 4 goals in 2 games this month, to give us a fighting chance of going through. Karim Adeyemi Injury: Unfortunately Karim Adeyemi pulled his thigh in this game, so he will be out of the second leg, but he should be back for the Bayern Munich game. Johan Bakayoko Injury: I was going to start Bakayoko against Bochum to give him a bit more game time, but he's twisted his knee unfortunately, and it does mean that we have to play players we may have been resting ahead of the next week, which is annoying. Bochum will be tough opposition, but a doddle compared to our next games after this. Saturday 12th April 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Bochum (Bundesliga) A second half masterclass from the team put the finishing touches to an all round dominant display, as we thrashed Bochum 4-0. We had plenty of shots in the first half, but couldn't quite turn the ball home, but we punished a team fairly local to us in the second half. Our first goal came from, of course, a corner from the right by Reyna, which Haller got his head to at the near post, and it went in off the far post for 1-0. Marius Wolf recycled the ball for the second from a clearance, playing it to Chotard in the centre, and finding a completely unmarked Reyna on the left side of the area. He cut inside, and fired a laser shot into the bottom right hand corner for 2-0. Sebastian Haller then scored the 150th league goal of his career from the penalty spot to open up a 3-goal lead. But Moukoko left the best for last. A Sabitzer free-kick from the right was cleared away at the far post. Moukoko flicked the ball up, and half-volleyed it into the goal, hitting the post on it's way in, to score what I think is our goal of the season. Words don't do it justice. Julian Brandt Injured: Julian Brandt may miss the Bayern Munich game unfortunately, after picking up a twisted knee while sprinting today. Reyna picked up a smaller knock at the end of the game, but he should be OK to play against Real Madrid in mid-week. Results From Sunday: We are literally top heading into next week's game against Bayern Munich after they were humiliated 4-0 at Bayer Leverkusen. It's the first time we've led on points with Borussia Dortmund, and a draw will keep us top heading into the final four games. What a result! Team of the Week 15th April 2025: Our forward line took charge this week obviously, and that means that Giovanni Reyna and Sebastian Haller, got into the team of the week in the Bundesliga this time around. Tuesday 15th April 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Real Madrid (2-3 on aggregate) (UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg) A valiant effort in this match, but a draw against Real Madrid was obviously not enough to see us through to the semi-final. In what was a drab first hour, both teams cancelled each other out in this game. Real Madrid drew first blood after 65 minutes in a moment that probably killed the tie. Bryan made a darting run through the middle which our defenders couldn't get hold of. He played it into Rodrygo in the D, who played it off to Dani Ceballos, and he thundered home to give the record holders the lead. We equalised with 8 minutes to go, when Real Madrid's defence couldn't clear a cross into the box from Sule, who had come up front to try and find a way back into the game. Haller's first header was tame but Courtois thumped it up into the air, which Haller pounced on and got the simple touch on the line to make it game back on. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and we exit the Champions League in the quarter-final. But we're definitely getting better. Our First New Contract of the Save: We obviously won't be here for that long as we have all these trophies to try and win, although it does mean I'll probably have to resign when I'm ready to leave. But if we can make sure we win the DFB-Pokal in the next year, I'm sure I'll have some decent opportunities to win a lot of trophies with decent teams. That's assuming we can hold on to first place in the Bundesliga this season. European Coefficient Race: Again, for the second season in a row, it looks like it'll be England and Italy getting the extra Champions League spot, as Germany currently sit in 4th place. We were the last German team in the Champions League, and no German side made any European semi-final. Saturday 19th April 2025: Bayern Munich 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I said before the game, a draw here will do me. A boring 0-0 draw would do me, as I clearly didn't think we could win at the Allianz Arena. We've only gone and done it. Three mistakes in this game led to three goals, but Bayern Munich making one mistake more than us, meant a 91st minute winner, moves us 5 points clear with 4 games to go. Before half-time, both teams had chances but neither team managed to break through the defence, and we held on for 0-0 at half time. A lame pass from Kim Minjae after 64 minutes to Malen, allowed the Dutchman to slot home for 1-0 and silence the Allianz Arena. It was 1-1 after we failed playing out from the back, a Ryerson pass to Sule went to Harry Kane, and despite Kobel's best efforts to get near it, you're not stopping the England international from putting it into the bottom corner. I thought we'd have to settle for that, but fear not, the dreaded added time highlight happened. I was certain they'd win it as they had the ball. But they proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot. Laimer played the ball to De Ligt, who was tackled by Adeyemi, and he kept it cool and calm to fire into the bottom corner, and potentially kill Bayern Munich's dream stone dead. 5 points clear! Come on!!! New Finances: This is our new finances for the new season that have been handed to us by the board, and we've nearly doubled it from last season. Over £51.5 million has been handed to us for the Summer, and over £3,000,000 a week for wage budget as well, so we could have some decent players coming this Summer to finish the job here in Germany in three seasons. Team of the Week 22nd April 2025: The man who may have won us our first league title of the save, and our first league title for 13 years as a club, Karim Adeyemi, stands pride of place up front in the team of the week. Flavius Daniliuc Injured: Flavius Daniliuc hasn't played an awful lot since he joined the club, but he could have been one of those after we had the title confirmed, I could have played him a couple of times to confirm his medal. He's suffered a pulled hamstring unfortunately. Salih Ozcan Injured: Salih Ozcan is now out for the rest of the season, after twisting his ankle in training, and this one sounds serious. He's had a decent season when he's appeared, and I hope he's back stronger for our final season with the club. Saturday 26th April 2025: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Hoffenheim (Bundesliga) If we play our game, keep going and get positive results, we will be champions. We are five points in front. Technically speaking, we can lose one game, and not lose the lead. Hoffenheim took an early lead in this one. They had domination in the middle of the park, which resulted in Akpoguma playing a decent through ball to Beier, and unfortunately Kobel was beaten at his near post for 1-0. But, when you are becoming champions, you need to know how to get back into the game. And we do. And we did two minutes later. Sebastian Haller has been incredible this season, and he held the ball up and played it through to Adeyemi, one-on-one, and he sharply slotted it away into the bottom left hand corner for 1-1. We scored in the last minute of the first half what proved to be the winner. A short corner from Brandt to Reyna quickly turned into a one-two. Brandt slid it into the box, and there was Bensebaini with a rare goal and despite Hoffenheim coming back at us and nearly equalising in the second half, we did enough to hold on despite the stats. Ramy Bensebaini Injured: Ramy Bensebaini has ended his season in the most unfortunate and painful way possible. He obviously had a freak accident during training, and he's going to a specialist up until the next pre-season. It's an awful way for his season to finish, but he has been incredible and deserves his potential medal coming up. Team of the Week 29th April 2025: Ramy Bensebaini and Julian Brandt had great games against Hoffenheim, and both end up in the Bundesliga Team of the Week. Jakub Kiwior New Contract: Jakub Kiwior will stay at the club until at least 2030. I signed him during my first season, and he has been incredible since signing him, and has been a part of a team who may be about to win the title. He deserves this new contract. All my players deserve everything after this season. April Results: Our month started with a 4-0 away win at Fortuna Dusseldorf, which was semi expected. They are struggling at the bottom and we took our chances. We then lost the first leg away at Real Madrid 2-1 which was expected. Bochum were then tanked 4-0, which I assumed would be the same as last month, and give us the confidence to complete the comeback against Real Madrid. That didn't quite happen, but we went to the Allianz Arena, held our nerve, and won 2-1 against our title rivals Bayern Munich. We won our final game of the month, by coming back from 1-0 down to beat Hoffenheim 2-1. This was the most vital month of the save so far. Everything went right in the league. This is the table with 3 games to go. Bundesliga Table Update: We are now 5 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with three games to go, as Bayern Munich's chances have gone up in smoke in second place. It's not over yet as we've seen this season. Eintracht Frankfurt are third on 59 points, and Freiburg sit 4th on 54 points. Bayer Leverkusen are breathing down Freiburg's necks just two points behind. RB Leipzig are really gearing up steam before the end of the season, and they still have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League on 50 points. Bochum's season has sort of withered a little bit, but if you'd offered them 7th at the start of the season, they'd have snapped your hand off. Union Berlin are trying to get that final European spot on 45 points. At the bottom, 1 point separates the bottom 3. The three teams being Schalke on 25 points at the bottom, and Fortuna Dusseldorf and FC Koln are both on 26 points. Hamburg are just above the play off spot on 28 points. Final Word: Only one disappointment on the pitch. We're out of the Champions League, but we have many seasons left to win the European trophies. We are nearing our first league title of the save, and I aim to be done in Germany this time next year. The aim has to be winning the DFB-Pokal now. I would say if we don't, I'm going to leave Germany anyway despite the new contract, so next year will definitely be my last year, at least for now, in Germany and I'll dedicate a year or two at the end of the save to try and win it with a big team that will win it. For now, this season is my greatest achievement in a while. Bayern Munich will have wanted this title back, and it doesn't look like they're getting it. Just remain cool in May, and we will be German champions. Please return to see if we can do it. Thanks for following. I'll see you in May.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - March For me, March has always been the beginning of the run-in to the end of the season, and this season is no different. Although Bayern Munich have a game in hand which they will probably win, we are only 3 points off the lead of the Bundesliga, and we have a big tie against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16. We have fixtures coming up, and some big ones at that. Let's take a look at this month's matches. March Fixtures: We begin the month with the first leg of our Champions League tie away at Atletico Madrid, in which we will have to be on our A Game to get a result in Spain. Even a narrow defeat won't hurt in this one, as long as we remain competitive. We then take on bottom of the league Hamburg, but they have been unbelievable recently in their results. Then we have the second leg of our Champions League tie, this time at home. We will then travel to Augsburg in our final game before the international window, before returning refreshed and rejuvenated against Eintracht Frankfurt at home. Bayern got Ripped Apart!!!!! I don't normally show you Bayern's results, but when this came up, I realised you'd wonder where their goal difference went. They were smashed 6-0 the day after we beat Mainz, which means we've both played 24 matches, and we're only 3 points off them. Ramy Bensebaini Injured: The muscle strains and groin strains are straining my patience at the moment. We've got an injury list that's five-strong. Ramy Bensebaini is out for 4 weeks, as he has suffered a groin strain in training, and will now definitely miss out on the Champions League last 16 tie. Tuesday 4th March 2025: Atletico Madrid 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg) I did say that if we got a narrow defeat, without being humiliated in this game, I'd be somewhat happy, and to be honest, I am. We took the lead after 25 minutes, where Reyna's corner was cleared only as far as himself, so he took it upon himself to run into the area, cut inside and fire a beautiful shot in off the far post to give us the lead. They equalised before half time. A ball over the top to Llorente, which he nodded down to Morata for the first time shot into the corner was the perfect tonic for them. They won it in the 67th minute. A one-two between Depay and Lemar led to the former squirming through the defence and slotting home to give the Spanish side the slight advantage. Not the worst result for us though. Saturday 8th March 2025: Borussia Dortmund 6-0 Hamburg (Bundesliga) My biggest league victory as Borussia Dortmund manager, we humbled bottom-place Hamburg and hit them for six. It took a while to start it off, but Sebastian Haller duly obliged from the penalty spot for 1-0. 2 minutes later, Reus played a free-kick short from the right into Malen, who picked out Moukoko just outside the box on the edge of the area. He ran into the box unmarked, and left the keeper standing as he fired into the bottom right hand corner for 2-0. Another short free-kick, this time from the middle left, meant the last goalscorer Moukoko, got the ball on the right this time. He played the ball across the six-yard box and Malen rifled it home for 3-0 before half time. In the second half, Malen had another one ruled out for offside, before in the 69th minute, an Engels pass was played towards Moukoko, but taken away from him, but Haller hit it along the ground, 20 yards out, first time, inside the near post for 4-0. Engels scored his first goal for the club three minutes later. One of Brandt's free-kicks hit the post. The keeper wasn't quick enough, and Engels was quickest to react from 2 yards out for 5-0. Meffert was sent off for hacking down Moukoko in the 89th minute, but the action wasn't quite finished. Moukoko flicked a long ball on to Haller, who had the ball tackled off him by their defence, but they didn't know Moukoko was running in and met the ball beautifully, hitting it inside the box for an amazing 6-0 victory. Our goal difference is 12 better than Bayern after this game, and this is the confidence boost we need heading into the second leg of the tie with Atletico Madrid. Marco Reus Injured: Marco Reus has been ruled out until the end of the season with a broken foot after being tackled in the last game, but I was going to update you about Marco Reus anyway because... Reus is Retiring! Yes, at the age of 35, and with his injury now, that will be the last we see of Marco Reus as a player, who has decided to retire at the end of his contract. Can we make it the dream ending for him, and give him a Bundesliga winner's medal? I know he's played his last game, but the lads now must give him this dream end. Youth Intake Day: As always in March, you get your youth intake day, and although we were promised an excellent youth intake, we will have to settle for just good youth intake I'm afraid. Coming up are the four lads, who are seen as Top Talents. I'll leave their attributes on the screen and apparently we have bright futures for Oliver Bradaric, Miguel Silva, Louceny Camara, and Nathaniel Fosu-Mensah. Intake Top Talents: Some really good players here, not quite as good as last season's intake, but I'm sure we can make the most out of this lot, should they stay on at the club. Of course, when they actually get into the first team, I won't be here, but it's good to raise the talent nonetheless. Team of the Week 11th March 2025: Gregor Kobel, Caleb Okoli, Salih Ozcan and of course, Yousouffa Moukoko make the team of the week, after a great all round team performance. It's also great to see Bynoe-Gittens is getting the chances at Wolfsburg, and in a way, is our fifth player to make the team of the week this week. Wednesday 12th March 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Atletico Madrid (4-2 on aggregate) (UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg) I said, 2-1 down wouldn't be a bad result, and coming into this one on the back of a 6-0 home win, confidence was high and it showed, absolutely rollicking Atletico Madrid 3-0 to go through to the quarter-final. Adeyemi set up the opening goal really, his cross being headed by an Atletico defender, into the path of Haller, who continued his prolific season by heading home for 1-0. We had a second goal ruled out because Okoli got a touch on a fantastic strike by Engels, which was heading in without his intervention, so the Belgian has every right to feel aggrieved. We took the lead in the tie with 20 minutes to go. An Adeyemi run down the left for the second time broke Atletico Madrid, as he found Reyna at the far post to nod home for 2-0. It was 3-0 on the night and our quarter final spot confirmed in the very last minute. A Julian Brandt free kick hit the post and bounced to about 10 yards out to Reyna for his second goal of the night, and our passage into the last eight was complete for the first time in this save. Saturday 15th March 2025: Augsburg 1-3 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) An action packed game away from home, and almost failing against a team with ten men, but we managed to pick up a much deserved win away at Augsburg by 3-1, but it could and should have been more. We actually missed a penalty after 3 minutes, Haller shooting it just wide of the top right corner. Haller would put it in the net 8 minutes later, but it was ruled out for offside. We would gain the man advantage after 28 minutes, when Vargas went through the back of Malen when only running down the line. We couldn't take advantage at first and fell behind after 57 minutes. Gumny ran the ball down the right, finding Monchu near the box, and he laid it off to Okugawa, who struck from just outside the box in the middle, and Kobel had no chance as Augsburg took the lead. We levelled just 3 minutes later. Donyell Malen, take a bow son! From 30 yards out, he struck an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner for 1-1. Our second goal came from a Reyna corner, as he found the head of Relvas at the far post, and he made it 2-1. Our final goal came from another penalty. This time, with Haller off the pitch, Emre Can stood up for it, and he made no mistake, sending the keeper the wrong way for 3-1. Bochum defeated Bayern Munich, so we now sit top of the league with the same games played on goal difference! Felix Nmecha Injured: Felix Nmecha has picked up a sports hernia annoyingly, and he will be out for the next 5 weeks. Team of the Week 18th March 2025: Two players make it into the team of the week after that comeback win over Augsburg, and both of these players scored in that victory. Felipe Relvas and Donyell Malen make 2 players for us in the team of the week. UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Draw: For me, this is the toughest tie we could have got, but again, our second leg will be at home. We travel to 14-time Champions League winners, Real Madrid. The winner of this tie will face either Barcelona or Inter Milan in the semi-final. Listen, we've got to beat the best to be the best, and Real Madrid are the best. We'll wait and see what happens in the April update. Saturday 29th March 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga) An awful, awful attacking display and sloppy at the back allowed us to take our foot off the gas and lose to third placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Dina Ebimbe ran down the right for Frankfurt as he swung it into the box, and Kobel attempted to take it off the head of Marmoush, but it meant Kobel was nowhere to be seen, as he completely missed the ball, and Marmoush gave them the lead. Adeyemi had a goal ruled out for offside before we fell 2-0 down. A cleared ball from a cross fell to Ahmedhodzic, who played into Dina Ebimbe, who played the ball into the box for Gotze from the right who swung his foot and it went in for 2-0. We got a goal back late on, when Trapp made an almighty howler trying to roll to his defender, and Adeyemi was in there first time for 2-1, but I'm fuming with this performance, where we had the chance to go into April still top. NXGN Borussia Dortmund Players: It's great to see players enter the NXGN rankings, and especially if they're yours. Duranville, on loan at Strasbourg, was 6th, and Rejczyk is 31st. The winner was Endrick at Real Madrid. March Results: We started and ended the month with 2-1 defeats, but had a great run of form in between. We lost the first leg of the Champions League tie to Atletico Madrid 2-1. Then we absolutely demolished Hamburg 6-0, which gave us the confidence to beat Atletico 3-0 and go through 4-2 on aggregate. We then came back from 1-0 down to beat ten-man Augsburg 3-1. The annoyance was losing to Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at home, when we really should have been better defensively, and a rare off game for Kobel. Here comes the table. Bundesliga Table Update: This could be the best season in recent Bundesliga history since...last season. Bayern Munich have been awful in recent games, dropping from having an 8-point lead at one stage, to 1 point over us, and now we are officially fighting for the title. Eintracht Frankfurt's win gave them a slight chance I guess on 52 points. Bayer Leverkusen are 4th on 47, with Bochum just two points off the Champions League. Freiburg sit 6th on 44, and only 3 points off the top 4. Stuttgart are currently 7th, and in the final European spot. But everyone down to Hoffenheim has a chance of getting into at least the Conference League. At the bottom, it's going to the wire surely. Fortuna Dusseldorf are bottom on 21 points, with both Schalke and FC Koln a single point ahead on 22. Hamburg are outside the bottom 3 for the first time at the end of a month, and are up on 24 points. It's any 3 of those 4 in the bottom 3 for me. Final Word: This has been a crazy season. First, we may have been in the race. Then we definitely weren't. And now we are again, and ready to take it to Bayern as we end the season. We actually face them in April away from home, in a game that would surely be billed as a title decider. Are we getting our first title of the save here? We also have a big Champions League quarter final against Real Madrid. I don't think we will win the trophy this season, although how incredible would that be to achieve in just season 2 with Borussia Dortmund? I'm really enjoying this season, and I really hope you are too. I'll see you next time, as we aim to get the title now, and we aim to get into the last 4 of the Champions League.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - February Hello and welcome to February 2025, and it is going to be a fairly quiet one this month, as we have qualified straight through to the Round of 16 in the Champions League, so this month is all about making sure we can return to the Bundesliga title race, and actually challenge Bayern Munich this season. Bayern Munich don't have to worry about Europe either this month. But that's because they are out of it. Yes, seriously. Stop sniggering at the back. Anyway, we carry on and here are the four matches that we play this month. I realise that on my previous entries that there have been random screenshots from that month appearing. I'm trying to make sure that's not a problem from now on. February Fixtures: We have some interesting games coming up this month. All our opponents sit in the top 10 of the Bundesliga, but not near the top 4 at the moment, so a chance we can pick some decent points up this month. We begin at last season's champions, RB Leipzig, who have been struggling this season, but do now stand a chance of qualifying for some form of Europe. We're then at home to Union Berlin, who was our first defeat earlier on in the season, so time to get revenge for that one. We then travel to Freiburg, before ending the month at home to Stuttgart. These are games we can win, but we need to make sure we're up for the challenge. Saturday 1st February 2025: RB Leipzig 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) For me, that's it. The title race is over. Bayern Munich only managed a draw away at Stuttgart today but we failed where we really should have been going for the jugular. Losing was not an option in this match and somehow we've managed it. The team didn't play. The team couldn't put meaningful passes or chances together and we've lost it without even trying. The goal wasn't even a good, worked out goal. Kobel gave it to Sule, who played a beautiful ball to Seiwald. He played it forward to Sesko, who despite some hesitation, fired home into the top corner for 1-0. Absolutely gutted. That's not even the phrase to use. Julian Brandt Injured: He's only out for a week or so, while he recovers from a pulled groin he instigated while tackling in the last game. Saturday 8th February 2025: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Union Berlin (Bundesliga) We got back to winning ways with this dominating performance at home to Union Berlin. Moukoko took the ball down the left for the first goal, playing it back to Bakayoko, who then played Reyna in from the right, and he fired at goal with the keeper getting a hand to it, but it was too powerful to keep out. The second goal came from a free-kick on the left, which Sabitzer played into the far post, where he found Kiwior to tap in a header for 2-0. Team of the Week 11th February 2025: A really strong defensive performances coupled with decent forward play means that Marius Wolf, Jakub Kiwior and Giovanni Reyna are in the Bundesliga team of the week. Tom Rothe Injured: He's not played a lot, but he has played well when he has appeared, and so it is a tough injury to take, although he won't be out for long. Tom Rothe is a good young talent, and the fact he has a pulled hamstring and he won't be able to be on the bench at all, is a waste we can't use him or we don't have the option to use him at the moment. Felix Nmecha Injured: Another player that we don't use an awful lot, but again Felix Nmecha is a good talent to have around, and he will be playing a lot more in the future under my watch. I hate the pulled hamstrings at the moment. Warmed Omari Injured: We've completed a hat-trick of injuries, and although Warmed Omari has only appeared once, he does occupy a really important role at the football club, and he's suffered a twisted ankle that will leave him out for another 4 weeks. Sunday 16th February 2025: Freiburg 2-1 Borussia Dortmun (Bundesliga) Not only did we lose, but so did Bayern Munich. This team is getting so frustrating to manage. They're a really good team that can't take chances and love bottling titles. It's getting ridiculous now. They got an early lead inside 3 minutes. Gunter crossed the ball into the area which Sule should have cleared, but decided to pass it straight to Gregoritsch, who struck home from close range for 1-0. We equalised with 12 minutes to go. Giovanni Reyna crossed the ball in from the right, which was partially cleared as far as Reus, who cut inside and fired into the far corner to level it up for 1-1. I thought we may punish Bayern for losing to Hamburg, but we conceded the winner just seconds later. We couldn't clear our lines, so Brobbey capitalised, and found Holer running through, who again fired home from close range. Our dreams have been crushed in a week Bayern failed to win. Fuming! Friday 21st February 2025: Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Stuttgart (Bundesliga) 4 goals in 8 first half minutes ensured we picked up all 3 points with a thumping thrashing of Stuttgart. Sebastian Haller scored a 5 minute hat trick. A Wolf throw in resulted in Brandt running down the wing, near to the byline, finding Haller who fired home within 12 yards for 1-0. It was 2-0, 2 minutes later. Sabitzer played it out wide to Wolf, who found Haller running on the inside. Haller took the touch and slid it into the bottom corner. Reyna set up the third goal. A corner from the right found Haller with a header at the back post for 3-0. We made it 4-0 just three minutes later, Reyna's shot being saved poorly by their keeper, and this time Moukoko was there to fire in from point blank range. Atakan Karazor got the consolation for Stuttgart, his header being initially saved and cleared, and then when he got the ball back, he fired in from 18 yards out. The running down the right got us the final goal of the game. Marius Wolf played the low ball in from the right and Moukoko was there in the 6-yard box for 5-1. Team of the Week 25th February 2025: Two players in the team of the week, I think it's criminal that Moukoko misses out I'm afraid. But Emre Can and Sebastian Haller with that quickfire hat-trick get into the team of the week. Johan Bakayoko Injured: He's played two games, and had two really good decent matches. But he's getting an injury for every game he's played. This is his second injury since he's been at the club, and this one is a thigh strain picked up in training. Marcel Sabitzer Injured: They don't happen once at a time do they? They do it constantly. At the same time. Marcel Sabitzer has had a decent if underwhelming season, and he's now injured for the next 4 weeks now he's picked up sprained ankle ligaments. Injured after turning sharply in training. UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Draw: We've been thrown up a difficult tie as you'd expect in the UEFA Champions League, playing Spanish La Liga giants in Atletico Madrid. The second leg will be played at home which I always believe gives us the slight advantage. But we do have a tough first leg at their place, and we must play that properly. Coming up now, we have our final game of the month as our first game of March was moved forward by 24 hours because of TV coverage. We have a game at Mainz. Friday 28th February 2025: Mainz 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We picked up two wins in a row for the first time in a month as we defeated Mainz 1-0 to reduce the gap to Bayern Munich to 3 points with a game in hand. Engels, finally making his debut, whipped a corner from the left into the area, and Nmecha, also back in the team for the first time since injury, nodded it home in the 6-yard box to give us some sort of a fighting chance now. We have to hope Bayern keep slipping up. Bundesliga Table Update: Bayern Munich still lead the way but they had a terrible February by their standards, and after our win on the Friday night, we are only 3 points behind them on 50 points. Bayer Leverkusen lead the way in 3rd on 42 points for the Champions League spots, and Bochum are really having their best season ever, as they sit in 4th on 41. Eintracht Frankfurt are in 5th on 40 points, and Freiburg are 6th on 38 points, 3 points off the Champions League spots. RB Leipzig are going to have to hope that 7th will be enough for Europe at this rate. From what seemed like a relegation battle that may have been all but over, the bottom 3 are the three that came up last season but there's two points separating the bottom 4. Hamburg have 19, Fortuna Dusseldorf have 20 points, and Schalke and FC Koln are both tied on 21 points. Mainz aren't out of it on 23 points, and realistically both Augsburg and Werder Bremen may also be in danger of relegation this season. Final Word: It's been a weird month because we had three chances to close the gap and I guess we have done, but it doesn't feel like it. I know I'm waiting for the Bayern game this weekend, but I don't know how to feel right now. Have we got a chance to win the league? Are we just here to keep 2nd warm? Do we have the chance to win the Champions League? I think we can beat Atletico Madrid. What happens next? It's a mystery. This season may not be a lost cause, and I can't wait to find out what's coming up in time for the back end of the season. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am right now, and we will see together in the coming months how our second season in Germany ends. I'll see you next time.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - January It's a brand new year in this FM save and the chance for us to try and make a strong start to the second half of our second season. We ended December with a 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen, which on the face of it is not a bad result, but when we've got for me, three seasons to try and win all these trophies, and we're already out of one, it's really a massive setback Bayern Munich opening up a 5-point lead at the top. This second half of the season, we can't drop many points at all. We need to use the Champions League as a confidence booster for the rest of the season as well, whether it's winning matches convincingly, or losing narrowly. Let's take a look at our month to begin 2025. We're currently on a training camp in Spain, and our month starts with a mid-season friendly. January Fixtures: There are very few home comforts this month, as we face one home game in the Bundesliga. We face Real Mallorca from the Spanish Second Division in a bid to get the goals flowing in the team that little bit more. We return to the Bundesliga as we face FC Koln who are struggling at the bottom of the table, sitting in the relegation playoff place. We then face a home game to Wolfsburg, in which we need to make the most of it as I said, this is our sole home game this month. We face three away matches in a row to end the month, and two are in the Champions League. We start with an away game against Shakhtar Donetsk. What I find hilarious about this game is that away games against Ukrainian teams, are being played in Ukraine at the moment. I find it quite comical if they're trying to be realistic but we carry on. We then face Schalke in the big local derby away from home, before the month finishes with a trip to Greece to face Olympiakos. Niclas Fullkrug gets no luck: The striker is out for two weeks because it's flu season, not what we needed, when we've got fixtures building up. Saturday 4th January 2025: Real Mallorca 3-1 Borussia Dortmund (Mid-Season Friendly) Thank god this was only a friendly. Real Mallorca weren't any good, we were god-damn awful. Lotka had a shocker in goal and has made me think twice about playing him at all. A throw-in from the left by Lato was played between him and Morlanes, who after a one-two between the initial two, rolled it through to Luna, who's tame effort slipped through Lotka's grasp and bounced into the net. Another goalkeeping howler made it 2-0. Pablo played the ball to Morlanes, who played it further back to Van der Heyden. He played it over the defence, and Pablo scooped a header over the keeper. Oh sorry, no keeper in goal. He had decided to run out and fly into the air and not go anywhere near the ball for 2-0. 3-0 came when Luna received the ball on the edge of the box, with no one closing him down, which allowed him to play a little ball through to Prats, who turned it home to make sure we were ultimately embarrassed in this one. We made it 3-1 from the penalty spot through Emre Can, but this was abysmal. Lots of players have lost their place in their team today. Johan Bakayoko from PSV Eindhoven: Our first signing this January is Belgian international winger, Johan Bakayoko, coming in from PSV Eindhoven. He joins a group which has a good list of attacking wingers in this team, and we paid £7,750,000 for him. He's very pacy and would lose wing-backs in a flash, which is good for what we need at the moment. His dribbling and passing is very strong as well, so he should be decent at putting strikers through. He may even cut inside to create those chances which is good to see. He only had 4 starts for PSV this season, so hopefully we can use him to his full potential and be able to see what he's all about. Any service to our strikers, is a step closer to hitting our targets. Gregor Kobel Injured: And I now wish I'd spent that money on a new back up goalkeeper because, as it stands, we're going to have to play Lotka in goal for the next few matches, as Gregor Kobel twisted his ankle in training. We have 4 weeks of hell coming up guys. Julien Duranville Back From Loan: I've decided to bring Duranville back from being on loan at Strasbourg, as he could be useful just to be included in the squad. If things change in the next few days and weeks, he may go back out on loan, but at the moment, we need more variety in this team to keep teams guessing. Sunday 12th January 2025: FC Koln 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A game in which we were good, but we were left frustrated after a 0-0 draw with 16th place FC Koln, which means we now drop 7 points back in the title race, and our chances of winning anything this season are being blown away now. It's like they can't take the pressure of being favourites to win games and that's more annoying than anything. We need an amazing rest of the season to have a chance of winning anything now. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens Returns: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens has been recalled from Almeria following his loan, in the hope he can be a really good squad player for the rest of this season. We do have some winnable Champions League matches coming up, so they could be important to our chances of doing well this season. Julien Duranville goes back to Strasbourg: He had made it clear to me in recent days that he'd enjoyed his time at Strasbourg and preferred to go back to continue his development, so I'm not going to deny him that, if he's enjoying the first team football we may not be able to give him. Filip Rejczyk from Legia Warsaw: We have signed a young Polish U21 international central midfielder to develop for the club. He's got several yellows across the board and made several first team appearances for Legia Warsaw, so he is definitely promising and could improve even while I'm still here. Filip Bundgaard to Getafe on Loan: Filip Bundgaard hasn't been getting as many minutes as last season, so he's going to go to Spain to play for Getafe until the end of the season. I will be keeping tabs on what he does, and hopefully he can play his part in helping them stay in La Liga. He's a really promising talent. Niclas Fullkrug needs to Retire: Niclas Fullkrug has got injured again. It's a shame as he could make a difference for us in the first team, never mind in the second team. While playing a third-tier match for the second team, he did his hip in after he was sprinting for the ball, and is now out for 3 months. Saturday 18th January 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Wolfsburg (Bundesliga) I put Bakayoko into the team for his debut, and I'm just left here wondering why he didn't play more from the start in the Eredivisie because it's hard to find a player who had a better debut in FM than what he had. He was instrumental in setting up the first goal, playing it forward to Moukoko, who played a dink ball to the far post, and Reyna ran in from the right to meet with the header, which went in off the post. A minute later, the second goal came from Marius Wolf making an unmarked run down the right. The cross came in and this time, Haller got his head to it and it looped over the keeper for 2-0. Wolfsburg spent too much time playing keep-ball at the back for goal number 3. Haller took advantage by tackling the ball in the direction of Moukoko, and from just outside the box, went for a beautiful lob over the keeper into the corner to make it 3-0. Reyna, who got the scoring going, finished it with 15 minutes to go. Malen played a diagonal ball to the left which Bakayoko got to. He brought the ball down, swung the ball into the far post, and Reyna was there with the header again. Three points, 4 goals, what a signing Bakayoko could prove to be. Team of the Week 21st January 2025: Giovanni Reyna got two goals against Wolfsburg, and thoroughly deserves his place in the team of the week for this week. Annoying to see Harry Kane up there, but he got 4 goals in their game this week. Wednesday 22nd January 2025: Shakhtar Donetsk 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We confirmed our place in at least the knockout playoff round of the Champions League, by defeating Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0. A Bensebaini free-kick was failed to be cleared by Shakhtar. Nmecha got the ball on the left, played it back to Adeyemi, and a deflected effort from him ended up in the net to claim his 10th goal of the season. We doubled the advantage just after the hour. A lovely passing move from the halfway line resulted in Sabitzer slide ruling it through to Haller, and he smacked it into the near post, which went into the net to make sure we will be playing Champions League football later this season. Tom Rothe New Contract: One of the best talents at this football club, Tom Rothe gets a new and improved contract now he's getting game time in the first team, now being paid £25,000 and staying until the Summer of 2029. Bakayoko Injured: It's not a big injury as he's out for a week, but I'm a little bit gutted as he had a great debut. At least we have the debut to remember for now, and hopefully he'll be back to show some more. Saturday 25th January 2025: Schalke 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We completed the double over our most local rivals, as we came from behind in the second half to win a tight match 2-1. The first half was full of sloppy defensive mistakes by us, and we were punished just 6 minutes from half time. Alario made the run down the right, we got a tackle in but it sloppily went straight to Seguin, who played it through to Leonardo Bittencourt, and he lifted it over Kobel to give the relegation strugglers the lead. We equalised just after half time, Brandt playing a huge diagonal over the top to the right for Reyna, who took one big touch into the box, and fired it along the ground to level up for 1-1 into the bottom left corner. We won it with 13 minutes remaining. Reyna won the ball back on the right, and found Adeyemi on the left. He took off on an amazing run, beating three men, through one on one and fired it home into the opposite corner across the keeper, to secure a massive victory. Team of the Week 28th January 2025: Both our wingers got into the team of the week this week, with both Karim Adeyemi and Giovanni Reyna being the men that won away at Schalke. They truly deserve it. Tuesday 28th January 2025: Olympiakos 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We may have confirmed our place in the Champions League Last 16 after we picked up a final 1-0 win away at Olympiakos, Malen being the man to give us the best chance of automatically qualifying. A throw-in from Ryerson meant a couple of passes exchanged between him and Nmecha, before the latter played it through to Malen, who turned his defender and he fired along the floor into the bottom corner to give us the three points away in Greece. Olympiakos are out. Bensebaini Out for Two Weeks: Ramy Bensebaini got tackled in the game away at Olympiakos and will be out for just two weeks after pulling ankle ligaments. At least it's not a long one, but hopefully it doesn't come back. Final UEFA Champions League Table: We've qualified for the last 16!!!!!!! We join Inter, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Fenerbahce, Liverpool, Manchester City and PSG in the last 16, and don't have to face an extra round. RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt have to play a knockout playoff round, while Bayern Munich are out of Europe completely. Laurin Ulrich to Red Bull Salzburg on Loan: A player I do want to make it work with eventually, Laurin Ulrich is moving to Red Bull Salzburg on loan until the end of the season, in the hope he can pick up experience at the top of the table. There's no reason that he shouldn't be part of a team fighting for a title, and I think if we were to be fighting next season, he could be in the squad to try his hardest at helping us crawl over the line next year. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens goes to Wolfsburg: My aim with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens was to keep him in the Bundesliga for his next loan move, and I've managed it, with Wolfsburg having him until the end of the season. I'll be keeping an eye on how he does while still playing in this league. Arne Engels From Augsburg: Potentially our final signing for the window, we've bought Arne Engels, the Belgian U21 international, in from Augsburg. He learnt his trade at Club NXT in Belgium, before moving to the Bundesliga 3 years ago. He's been a constant in the Augsburg team this season, and he is a ready made midfielder, hoping he continues his decent form in the league this season. He's a really good corner taker and passer, and he will be really good to make chances for our forwards. I'm looking forward to fitting him in the team. Emil Breivik to FC Copenhagen: Emil Breivik has had his moments in a Dortmund shirt, but more recently hasn't been able to find his place in the team. He is going back to the Nordic countries and he will be playing on loan at FC Copenhagen, until the end of the season. January Results: We started the month really slowly, losing that friendly I expected us to really go for, and then only drawing 0-0 with FC Koln despite having many chances to win, and really destroying the chance for a title. We would end the month with 4 wins in a row, 3 of them being away from home, and 3 of them being clean sheets too. We started with a comprehensive 4-0 win at home to Wolfsburg which really started a superb run. We then won away in the Champions League at Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0. A comeback 2-1 win over Schalke really made me believe in this team. And our final game of the month was a 1-0 win over Olympiakos, a game that meant we qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League automatically. Bundesliga Table Update: Bayern Munich have won all their games this month, extending their lead to 7 points over us, but we're very secure in the top four at least, and should only be trying to look up. Eintracht Frankfurt are in the box seat in third in the push for the top four. Bayer Leverkusen are 2 points clear of surprise challengers Bochum, a team that were favourites to be relegated. Freiburg are also up there, but with a much worse goal difference. At the bottom, Hamburg have improved, but are still only on 13 points, 6 adrift of safety, 5 adrift of the playoff spot. Fortuna Dusseldorf are a point ahead of them, and FC Koln are still in that relegation playoff place despite having a decent month. They are now only 1 point off Wolfsburg. Final Word: The team have had a decent month results wise, we didn't lose a competitive game at least and won the final 4 matches, including three on the spin away from home. We're through to the last 16 of the Champions League, which after last year's performance in this competition, we have been incredible to get into the top eight. The fact is Bayern Munich are out, which means that they will have the edge for the rest of the season domestically, but we are definitely not out of this, and it's still going to be a long season for us both. I'll see you for the February update, and we may also see who we get in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - December Christmas Time comes but once a year, and it's Yuletide in Germany as we head towards Christmas and the Winter break in 4 games time. We do currently sit in second and we face a team first up, who are battling for a top four place, but if we were to get a result against them, it would probably knock them out of the title race. We need someone this month to do us a favour against Bayern Munich who are currently tough to get rid of at the top of the table, even after drawing against them at home. We have 4 games this month, so let's take a look at our Christmas fixtures. December Fixtures: We play Hoffenheim away from home as they battle to be in the top 4 this season. Don't forget last season, we managed to escape them on the final day as we beat Darmstadt and they failed to win against Bayern Munich as we ended in the top 4. We then have a home match in the Champions League against Liverpool, as we attempt to keep our unbeaten home record in all competitions, and aim to keep our unbeaten European record this year alive. We then play at home against Bayer Leverkusen, and finally we will travel to Werder Bremen to end 2024. Team of the Week 3rd December 2024: We start the month with a new player in the team of the week, Kiwior is in this one after his cracking performance against Bayern Munich, as we held on for a precious point. Youth Intake Preview: We have A's in 4 of the positions that will be coming in. Goalkeepers, Centre-Backs, Defensive Midfielders and Attacking Midfielders could look quite good for us. For two seasons in a row, we will be getting a 5 star intake it looks like. Saturday 7th December 2024: Hoffenheim 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We started December with a strong away performance against Hoffenheim, defeating the team we denied Champions League football 2-0. The ball was played across field in short passes from Adeyemi, to Sabitzer, to Chotard and finally through to Malen cutting in from the right. Through on goal, it was the coolest finish to give us an important lead because they were starting to put us under the cosh. It was 2-0, with 2 minutes to go. Reus played a short free-kick to the edge of the D. Wolf picked up, turned and shot from the edge of the area to finish the game off. Team of the Week 10th December 2024: This week, it's a huge congratulations to Marius Wolf and Chotard for making the team of the week. Tuesday 10th December 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-4 Liverpool (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Our unbeaten run in the Champions League and at home was brutally beaten out of us by a Liverpool side determined to make a point. Diogo Jota set up the first goal by taking on Ryerson down the left. Ryerson did his best to win the ball, but Jota advanced and found Curtis Jones in space in the area, and scored his first goal of the season with a low first time finish for 1-0. It was 2-0 on 40 minutes, Jones picking up the ball further back, passing on to Salah, who played a perfect through ball to Nunez, who rifled home to double the Reds' advantage. We got one back just before half time. Konate dallied on the ball at the back, and Fullkrug went to chase after him, stealing the ball, being on his own, and firing into the top corner. That was as good as it got for us, as Liverpool didn't stop after half time. Diogo Jota provided a low cross into the box, which was only cleared as far as an onrushing Jones, who got his second goal of the game, sliding it home for 3-1. Mazraoui and Mac Allister combined to set Darwin Nunez through to give Liverpool a 4-1 lead, firing through Kobel's legs. Our first defeat in this competition means we're now really fighting for a top 8 spot. Sunday 15th December 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga) A game in which we were completely dominant ends up in a 1-0 win, which keeps us chasing down Bayern Munich at the top of the table. The winner came from a passing move which started in our own half, and resulted in Haller finding Adeyemi peeling away from the defence, and going through one-on-one which he finished with aplomb to give us the three points. We had several other chances but struggled to hit the target. Unfortunately, Bayer Leverkusen didn't really make a game of it. 1-0 was always going to be enough. Team of the Week 17th December 2024: Both Joris Chotard and Karim Adeyemi make the Bundesliga Team of the Week, and Adeyemi gets player of the week for his performance against Bayer Leverkusen. Saturday 21st December 2024: Werder Bremen 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I'm not best pleased with this result, we had the chances to win the game, plus a goal being ruled out for offside at the start of the match. Some simple build up from Werder Bremen allowed Stage to complete a one-two with Deman, which allowed the former to run into the area and fire in at the near post to give Bremen an first half lead. We took until the 90th minute to equalise, almost a carbon copy of their goal for the equaliser, this time from the left, and Sabitzer rolled it through to Adeyemi who fired home to steal a point. USA Young Player of the Year: Always great when one of your youngsters gets a big award like this. Well done to Giovanni Reyna, he certainly doesn't disappoint for us. December Results: Here are the results from this month altogether. We won that game away at Hoffenheim 2-0. Our only defeat came as Liverpool gave us a footballing lesson in the Champions League 4-1. We got a dominant 1-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen. Our last game before the Winter break was that disappointing 1-1 draw away at Werder Bremen. We have lost a little bit of ground in the title race. Here's the table. Bundesliga Table Update: As we enter 2025, Bayern Munich have a five point cushion at the top with us being in second on 34 points. Eintracht Frankfurt are third on 30 points, and a further four points back are both RB Leipzig and Stuttgart fighting neck and neck for that Champions League spot. Bochum, Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen are all within 2 points of the top 4. At the bottom, Hamburg have it all to do on 7 points from 16 games. Fortuna Dusseldorf sit second bottom, 5 points from safety. Three points above them are FC Koln who, most recently, have close that gap between them and safety. UEFA Champions League Update: 11 teams have qualified for at least a knockout playoff place, including the likes of Inter Milan, Fenerbahce and Chelsea. Of the German clubs, we're 11th, Eintracht Frankfurt sit in 17th, with RB Leipzig in 26th and Bayern Munich in 29th. Final Word: It could have been a worse month, but that draw away at Werder Bremen took it out of me unfortunately. The players weren't up for it, although there wasn't anything new going on. We're gonna really have to hope Bayern Munich have a bad day or two some time soon. It's going wrong in the Champions League for them, so we've got to hope we can keep winning. But nearly half way through the season, it's been a top season. Second in the table, only two defeats, going great guns in the Champions League. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this season goes. That's it for this update. Hope you enjoyed it, and I'll be back soon for the January update.