Ozza1996

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - November Welcome to November of our second season at Borussia Dortmund, where we are currently second in the table, having only lost 1 game in the league. Unfortunately our last game was a 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the DFB-Pokal Second Round, but could that help us at least focus on the league and Europe and maybe we suffer less injuries? Let's wait and see. We do have a mix of games we should be winning and Bayern Munich this month. We also have some massive Champions League matches coming up, if we are wanting to stay in the top 8 in the league phase. We have both Genk and Napoli in Champions League ties this month. Let's take a look at all our other games. November Fixtures: As we get into the middle third of the season, we take on last season's Bundesliga runners-up, Eintracht Frankfurt, away from home in a big game at the top. They've been less good this season and are clinging onto a top 4 spot right now. Then we take on Belgian side, Genk at home in the Champions League. We then have a home game against relegation-threatened Fortuna Dusseldorf as they try and settle into the Bundesliga, but they're finding it extremely tough at the bottom. After the international break, we travel to Bochum, who are having a decent start to the season. Then we travel to Italian side, Napoli in our second European match of the month. And then, assuming we do well, which we may not, we are at home to Bayern Munich in a big title tussle. Saturday 2nd November 2024: Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did say this would be a tough game as they ended second last season, but with Bayern Munich losing before the start of this season, we've just blown a massive chance to go top and set the authority at the top of the Bundesliga, with a terrible performance away from home. The first goal was a corner where the defence didn't look like they'd ever played together before. A corner bobbled around in the box, we couldn't clear it, and a shot comes in which Brandt deflected into his own net for 1-0. A Mario Gotze corner was cleared back out to him, which he played to the edge of the box, with no defenders either closing him or the striker down. Marmoush hit it first time and hit the bar and went in for 2-0. Gotze got the third goal himself. Play down the right found Gotze in the box, with again no one near him, and he fired into the roof of the net for 3-0. So frustrated, we could have gone top. Joris Chotard Injured: We've gone a little while since a serious injury, I suppose, but how in god's name does a professional footballer get a broken jaw in training? Joris Chotard has been sent to a specialist so he can get it sorted out properly, but he's out until we hit the Christmas period unfortunately. Tuesday 5th November 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Genk (UEFA Champions League League Phase) They always say, it doesn't matter how many you win by, as long as you do. But we very nearly didn't win this game. It took an absolute cracker of an 89th minute effort to beat the Belgian champions, who were incredible defensively. We hit the post twice before we actually did score. Our goal came from a short corner to the edge of the box for Moukoko who I thought was going to hit it first. But he passed it across the D to Adeyemi, who took a touch and fired it into the bottom corner from 20 yards out. A great goal, a good win and we are now joint top of the Champions League League Phase. Saturday 9th November 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Fortuna Dusseldorf (Bundesliga) Another game where we missed so many chances in this one, including a goal ruled out for offside, but we did continue our 100% record at home, by defeating lowly Fortuna Dusseldorf 1-0. It was a corner that broke their defence. Giovanni Reyna took one of his famous near post corners, and he found the head of Sebastian Haller, who nodded in the near post, leaving the keeper no chance. Haller has had an unbelievable season so far. Niclas Fullkrug is made of Glass: And that headline is correct. He's either made of glass or poppadoms as he has pulled his knee ligaments. He's not been involved as much this season as Haller mainly because Haller has been on fire. But you have to be fit to get into the team and he's not fit a lot of the time. I hope he's back soon. Saturday 23rd November 2024: Bochum 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It seems to be at the moment, that we are unspectacular but winning, and that's what you need to potentially stay in a title race. If anything, I'm keeping Bayern Munich there where I need them, within reach. Two goals in the second half gave us our second away league win of the season. We were fortunate with the opener, in that the pass was poor from Julian Brandt. But a lapse in defensive concentration allowed Marco Reus to latch onto it, and finish coolly past the keeper. For the second, a corner was cleared but only as far as Moukoko. He played the ball in deep towards the back post where Marius Wolf was to double our advantage to 2-0. We played the game out for a great three points. Tuesday 26th November 2024: Napoli 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Path) We are still unbeaten in the Champions League, just about, as we take away a 1-1 draw from Napoli. The Italians took the lead with 18 minutes to go, when a free kick from near the half-way line turned into a pass into Osimhen, who in turn found Elmas running into the area, and he ran with the ball before hitting a powerful shot into the left hand corner for 1-0. We got a lucky penalty with 10 minutes to go when Haller was pushed, and he stepped up and brushed himself down to level the scores nicely into the bottom corner. Still a good result, and still no defeats in the Champions League. Youssoufa Moukoko Injured: It's started again, it's started AGAIN! Borussia Dortmund Injury Crisis, it's started again! Alright, maybe not quite a crisis yet, but Moukoko is going to be out for about a month after turning sharply and knackering his ankle! (I'm trying to find new ways of saying got injured) Saturday 30th November 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga) A point is more than good enough against Bayern Munich, and we've still not lost at home to them with me in charge, but our dominance of the first half really should have led to victory. Bayern Munich's goal was given to them inside 4 minutes. A cross from the left was intercepted at the back, but Reus thought waiting for a bus was a good idea. Diaby tackled him, and Goretzka cut inside and gave Bayern a 1-0 lead. We equalised 7 minutes from half time. The corner came in from Rothe and Kiwior was there in the middle to nod home and make sure we got a share of the spoils. November Results: So a bumper load of results. Going back through them, we followed that DFB-Pokal exit with a 3-0 reverse at Eintracht Frankfurt, which if we'd won that game, we'd have gone top on goal difference. We had multiple chances for more goals against Genk and Fortuna Dusseldorf, but both games ended with a 1-0 victory. We then won for the second time away from home this season, beating Bochum 2-0. We then ended the month with two fairly impressive results, two 1-1 draws against Napoli and Bayern Munich. Bundesliga Table Update: After most teams have played 13 games, it's Bayern Munich at the top of the league with 30 points. We're second just three points behind and worrying them a little bit I reckon. Eintracht Frankfurt are third on 23, with Hoffenheim a further point back in 4th, but they have a game in hand for later in the weekend. RB Leipzig are having a resurgence, now being in 5th on 20 points, followed by Stuttgart on 19, and 4 teams are tied on 18 points. In fact, there's only 5 points between RB Leipzig in 5th, and Mainz in 15th. At the bottom, Hamburg are struggling along with 6 points, with Fortuna Dusseldorf also in the automatic relegation spots on 8. FC Koln are in the play off place on 11 points. UEFA Champions League Update: Inter, Real Madrid and Fenerbahce all have 13 points at the top of the League Phase, with one more matchday in 2024. Milan are a further point behind on 12 points. The rest of the top eight are made up of Chelsea, us, Porto and Newcastle United. Celtic are still only just outside the top 8. At the moment, both RB Leipzig in 25th and Bayern Munich in 27th would miss out on knockout football after January. Final Word: We still have a fighting chance in the remaining two competitions we're competing in heading to December. We're currently second in the Bundesliga, and still in the top 8 of the Champions League, which makes me think, we're not quite perfect, but we're getting somewhere with this squad. But having not won a Bundesliga for what will be 13 years in 2025, will the boys have what it takes to get this club over the line, or even keep us in the title hunt? When it comes to the Champions League, can we get at least a quarter-final? If we end top 8, that's what I'll be aiming for, knowing we don't have the stress of an extra knock-out match. And also, we are hurtling towards the transfer window at top speed. What do we need? Who should I be looking at? I'll be working it out in December. Thank you for the support I've received recently. And I've personally had some good praise from three wonderful YouTubers in FM GNG, Load FM! and FM RUSS. They've all got some brilliant stuff going on at the moment, so give them some love as well. I will see you for the next update, where we go through the Christmas period.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - October Welcome back to the journey where we try and become the best manager we possibly can be, by winning all the big trophies on the continent of Europe. In our first season, we started with Borussia Dortmund, and we're still there. I get the feeling this season has started fairly well. We only have one defeat from 6 in the league, we've won our only game in the Champions League so far. Now it's time to get going when it comes to scoring goals away from home. Our only win away from home was in the first round of the DFB-Pokal against a fourth-tier side, and if we want to be anywhere near the top, the away form must improve. Even a goal could get us kicked off. Now, let's have a look at this month's fixtures. The league looks ok. But look at our games in other competitions. October Fixtures: We start this month in the French capital, taking on French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc de Princes. Our game the following weekend is at home to Mainz, where we are still unbeaten all season. Our first away win should, SHOULD, come away at bottom placed side Hamburg, followed by a home game against Rangers in the Champions League. Following that is a game at home to Augsburg, and finally, it's the first Der Klassiker of the season, away at Bayern Munich in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, where a giant will be knocked out early on. Wednesday 2nd October 2024: Paris Saint-Germain 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Alright, I was complaining about the 0-0 draws in the league away from home, but this is a good point in the Champions League. Paris is always a tough place to go to, so to escape with a 0-0 draw is a quality result. PSG had several chances in the last few minutes to win and we also hit the bar. For me, Kobel was my man of the match but the whole defence played their part and we escape with a valuable point that leaves us unbeaten. Sunday 6th October 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Mainz (Bundesliga) It was the Sebastian Haller show in this game, as his 4-goal haul led us to a 5-1 win at home against Mainz. We have also scored 10 goals in two consecutive home league games. Haller opened his account this evening from the penalty spot. Wolf lofted a ball over to Haller who had the freedom of Dortmund, and he fired in off the near post for 2-0. Haller rose like a salmon for the third goal, and his hat-trick. A short throw in from Bensebaini was played back to him by Brandt. He swung the ball into the box, and Haller rose at the back post to connect with the header for 3-0. We scored our fourth after 36 minutes, and this time, it was an unfortunate own goal from Stefan Bell for 4-0. Haller got his 4th after half time. A Julian Brandt corner found him at the far post, for his second headed goal of the afternoon. Mainz got a goal back with two minutes to go. A throw in was played back to Krauss, who played the ball in towards Weiper, who slotted it under Kobel for 5-1. We climb to third, only three points off the top. Team of the Week Matchweek 7: We have three players in the team of the week for match week 7, which isn't a surprise as we killed Mainz. This week, it's a big congratulations to Marius Wolf, Julian Brandt and Sebastian Haller. Friday 18th October 2024: Hamburg 1-4 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I thought this might be the case before the game, but we won for the first time away from home this season away at bottom side Hamburg, who are facing a tough season back in the top flight. Julian Brandt had a free-kick on the right which found an unmarked Okoli, who nodded home his first goal for the club since arriving from Atalanta. Emre Can then had a brain fart as he tried to pass back to Kobel, but Glatzel ran onto it, one-on-one with the keeper, and the bottom club were level. Julian Brandt was involved in the second goal after half time, he played it short to Can, who crossed it in for Fullkrug and he scored only his second goal of the season, although I haven't given him a lot of chances. He certainly took one there though. It was 3-1 just 6 minutes later. A deep cross from Wolf found Brandt volleying in at the far post, and he got his well-deserved goal. He made it 4-1 with three minutes to go, Brandt starting the move again, playing it to Adeyemi who ran it to the area. He laid it off to Brandt running on the outside and he smacked it into the roof of the net. For one night at least, we go to the top of the table. Team of the Week: 22nd October 2024: Two players are in the team of the week this time around, as Marius Wolf and Julian Brandt have been our star performers according to the Bundesliga this week. Tuesday 22nd October 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Rangers (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We picked up our second win of the league phase on my birthday in game, as we nearly threw away a three-goal lead against Rangers of Scotland, but three points is three points. Quick, short passing set up the first goal, with Haller playing the ball to the right to Malen, who ran inside and got the first goal after 15 minutes. A stunning volley gave us a 2-0 lead, when a lofted ball from Julian Brandt from the left found Sabitzer who struck it first time through the ball. Malen returned the favour to Haller from earlier, finding the onrushing forward with a dinked ball from the right side of the area near the by-line, Haller with a storming header for 3-0. A ball from the right from Tavernier found Messias at the far post, and the keeper couldn't quite get near it, leaving Messias with virtually an open goal with the header. It was 3-2 just a minute later, when Rangers couldn't quite steer the ball towards goal, with several shots being blocked, and Cifuentes eventually fired home for 3-2. We held on, and we move into the automatic qualification places in the league phase. Emil Breivik Injured: Emil Breivik has pulled his calf muscle unfortunately after sprinting in a game for the second team. He'll be out for at least the next 2-3 weeks, and hopefully, he will be ready to make the step back into the first team. Friday 25th October 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Augsburg (Bundesliga) We returned to the top of the Bundesliga at the start of this game weekend, as we defeated Augsburg 3-0. It could have been more, as Sebastian Haller had his 9th minute penalty saved. He made amends for that in the 20th minute. A looping cross from Adeyemi on the left landed on the head of Haller in the centre of the box for him to score his 10th goal of the season so far. Adeyemi turned scorer 14 minutes later. A passing move found Adeyemi, who hit a tame effort first, but then hit an effort with a nice bit of curl into the bottom right hand corner for 2-0. We made it 3-0, when a Brandt corner hit the first defender. Sule returned it to the corner taker, who ran into the area himself, cutting inside, and then firing the ball through the keeper who found it too tough to handle for 3-0. Team of the Week 29th October 2024: Niclas Sule makes the team of the week at centre-back. Tuesday 29th October 2024: Bayern Munich 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (after extra time) (DFB-Pokal Second Round) We were doing OK in this game. We literally kept a clean sheet in the 90 minutes of the match. We just couldn't find a counter-attack to nick the game. That's fine. We chucked it away in the first few seconds of extra time. A ball forward by Bayern, which was heading towards Wolf. You've got two decisions you can go for. Head it back to the keeper, or head it towards England's top international scorer ever? What one would you do? Yep, in came an onrushing Harry Kane to the terrible header, and I felt like a turkey who had Bernard Matthews grinning at him. It was 2-0 in the second half of extra time. A throw in went back to De Ligt, who played a defence splitting ball through to Diaby, who fired into the bottom corner, which means we will have to go another year to try and win the cup here. October Results: Our final results across October, and to be fair, it's been a pretty decent month, with 3 wins from 3 in the league and we're still unbeaten in the Champions League, including a strong showing away at PSG, which we could have nicked as well. Even in the DFB-Pokal, even though we're out, if we could have broken forward in the 90 minutes, we probably could have taken that as well. I can't be mad with the team this month, they've been better than they have been in my time at the club. Bundesliga Table Update: After last season's weird season, it's business as usual, with Bayern Munich leading the way after 9 games, still unbeaten. They have a 3 point lead ahead of us and Hoffenheim, but we are the biggest scorers in the league which shows just how much Haller has improved as a player this season. Eintracht Frankfurt have fallen off this month, but still in the top 4 on 16 points. Freiburg are sat on 15 points in 5th, and Bayer Leverkusen are 6th currently. Sat behind them are Bochum and Union Berlin on goal difference. At the bottom, Fortuna Dusseldorf have slipped to rock bottom on 4 points, as Hamburg won their first game at the tenth attempt this season. FC Koln are a point ahead of them in 16th, but then there's a massive 5 point gap to safety, including the champions RB Leipzig after a horrendous start. UEFA Champions League Update: As we know, the top 8 will qualify for the last 16 automatically and as it stands, we are in it in 8th place, after an unbeaten start. In fact, the whole top 9 are still unbeaten, with Celtic in 9th on goals scored. Inter and Chelsea lead the way at the top. Final Word: I've been really impressed this month. We're in a title race at the moment, challenging Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga. We've only lost 1 game so far in the league, and 2 in all competitions. We're not going to win the DFB-Pokal this season, and if we don't win it next season, I will go further afield and then come back to Germany later on in the save, as we will have to get moving in the next couple of years. It could even be an idea we move on at the end of this season, and then come back to Germany towards the end. But for now, I'm probably going to go towards the end of my contract next season, and hope we have a strong season this time around. But we really have to win the league this season in my opinion. Let's wait and see. I'll see you in November, when we do play against Bayern at home in the league. Last season, we thrashed them 3-0. But they're much better now, with a decent manager. I'll see you then.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - September Hello and welcome to September in Season 2 of my Glory Hunter save, and for once, we've started a season unbeaten. Albeit, it's only been 3 games but unbeaten nonetheless. We may begin the month in third place as Eintracht Frankfurt have to play their third game, and then we've got a two week break due to the Nations League starting. I did apply for several international jobs, but unfortunately, we're obviously not big enough to be considered for those jobs yet. Before we go into this month properly, it is Transfer Deadline Day around the corner. Will we add to our few signings so far, or have we got the team we need? We also have to submit our Champions League squad for the league phase as well. But before we do that, these are our fixtures coming up in September. September Fixtures: We begin our September fixtures away at slow starting Union Berlin, who are currently in 17th. We then have our first game in the new League Phase of the UEFA Champions League, as we face Juventus, who we did draw 1-1 in pre-season just last month. Then we have a home match against Freiburg, followed by a match against Stuttgart away from home. All in the league are winnable, and we should be able to do something against Juventus as well. Raul Konig out on Loan: Raul Konig played for us in one match last season when we had the injury crisis, which is why his loan is being documented here. He's gone out to French Ligue 2 side, Quevilly-Rouen. Let's hope he can get a few goals for them shall we? Joris Chotard from Montpellier: I've decided to sign Joris Chotard from Montpellier for £21,500,000, and I think I've done some shrewd business here. He's going to be someone we can add to our holding midfield department which is great for the formations we use in our matches. His teamwork and work rate are in the green on 16 each. He's definitely stronger at the ball winning side of things, but I'm sure he can also distribute the ball from that pocket in a triangle expertly as well. He's become a well-established member of the team for Montpellier, and I'm excited to have him in the squad. Team of the Week Matchweek 3: Giovanni Reyna has done it again. He's probably our top performer so far this season, and for the second time this season, he will be in the team of the week. Julian Ryerson New Contract: Julian Ryerson is going to be staying for another 5 years, as the 26-year-old full-back is staying until 2029, on £58,000 a week. He's very much a staple in the team now, and he needed something to reflect it. So here it is. Saturday 14th September 2024: Union Berlin 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Well, this was unacceptable and made me think that we haven't turned that much of a corner after last season because we were god awful. It's not even that Union Berlin were good. We were just terrible. The first goal came because we just couldn't close down for some reason. Tousart played it to the left, and with the freedom of Berlin, Gosens fired into the top corner for 1-0. The second goal came from a corner. Trimmel played in to the near post, and Leite got his head to it to double the advantage for the team. We must improve! Simple as that. Gregor Kobel Out Again!!!!!!! This is just what we needed before we play a big Champions League tie as we try and avoid defeat. Thank you Miles, cheers mate! He had a poor game on Saturday anyway, maybe it's time to see what the reserve keeper can do. I just didn't want him to play in this next game. How are so many players picking up so many injuries? Tuesday 17th September 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Juventus (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We started our Champions League journey with a really tight game against Juventus, in which we won by the odd goal in 3. Marius Wolf played a one-two with Sabitzer down the right. He then continued his run to the by-line, and played it across for Haller to steam in at the near post and fire home from point blank range. It was 1-1 with 7 minutes remaining. Sanches' pass was lucky to get through to Vlahovic after a challenge by one of our defenders, but Vlahovic kept going and slotted it home just inside the box for 1-1. We won it just 2 minutes later after the awarding of a penalty. Haller stepped up and rifled it down the middle to make sure we got the perfect start to our Champions League journey. Saturday 21st September 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) Our 100% home record continued with an impressive 5-0 win at home to Freiburg. Within the first 20 minutes, three of our backline had already had a goal. Bensebaini converted from the penalty spot after 4 minutes. Marco Reus delivered a corner that fell perfectly on the head of Sule for 2-0. After 19 minutes, Bundgaard played a free-kick into the area and Kiwior made use of his neck muscles for an amazing 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. It was 4-0 around 10 minutes later, when a beautiful passing move found it's way through to Moukoko, who was unmarked and he managed to fire it into the right hand corner. Bundgaard got a well-deserved goal right at the end. Sabitzer played it wide right to Reus, who played the ball over the top to Bundgaard, and he did the rest, hitting the bar as it dropped in. 5 different scorers, clean sheet, 3 points. Team of the Week Matchweek 5: A high so far for this season, as Sule, Kiwior and Reus made the Bundesliga Team of the Week. Saturday 28th September 2024: Stuttgart 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Very, very little to say about this match. Both teams had chances but they didn't really develop into vital chances and both teams seemed happy with a 0-0 draw unfortunately. It does mean we've only lost one game so far, but we haven't scored a single goal away from home yet, drawing 0-0 twice. September Results: So, our September was very much mixed. We lost 2-0 away at Union Berlin, a game I really feel we should have performed better in. But then, we played two back to back home games with two wins, the first one in the Champions League, stealing a 2-1 win against Juventus. And then, we absolutely dominated Freiburg in a 5-0 win. A 0-0 draw away at Stuttgart means the table looks a little like this. Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt lead the way by a point on 15, followed by Bayern Munich who are the only unbeaten team left. Hoffenheim sit third with Borussia Dortmund in 4th on 11. RB Leipzig are starting to gain traction in 5th, followed by Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg, only behind them on goal difference. At the bottom, Hamburg are having a torrid time returning to the Bundesliga with only 1 point from 7 matches. Fortuna Dusseldorf are level on points with Werder Bremen, and FC Koln, who are all on 4 points so far. UEFA Champions League Update: Not much to see here, there's only been one game week. But we are currently in 12th place after our opening win over Juventus. Final Word: I'm a little bit annoyed about the away form. Something's not going right with something that has worked at home this season. That's for me to work out in the coming days. But we are in the top 4 in the Bundesliga, we've won our first game in the Champions League. There's a positive atmosphere around the football club at the moment, and the board like me. It just remains to see what we can do next. We're winning all our home games, which we will need for a title challenge. But the away form must improve, that's the first and foremost. To see if it does, join me next time. I'll see you then.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - August Ladies and gentlemen, happy new season and welcome to the official 2024-25 season beginning today for our Borussia Dortmund side in the Glory Hunter challenge. This team is coming together nicely, we're making the right signings, it's just all about finding the right way to play with them. We've got our final friendly coming up shortly, at home to Juventus. Let's take a look at the rest of our fixtures for this month. August Fixtures: So here are the fixtures for the first competitive month of the season. Last month, we agreed a final pre-season friendly, which will be at home to Italian giants Juventus, who we could face in the Champions League this season. We start our DFB-Pokal journey this season away at fourth-tier side VfB Auerbach, and a game which I hope we can flex the muscles a little, before we start our league season at home to local rivals, newly-promoted Schalke 04. We then travel to Wolfsburg, before our final game of this month is a big test, at home to RB Leipzig, now managed by Julian Nagelsmann. Saturday 3rd August 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Juventus (Pre-Season Friendly) It's always good when you play a big team in pre-season to at least get a draw and that's what we did. But we did have two penalties in the process and could have won it by half time. Our first penalty, I didn't think was a penalty, but Reyna put the ball down. He stepped up and had it saved to the goalkeeper's left, it bounced off the post and fortunately fell back to him and he fired it in on the volley for 1-0. We got another penalty a few minutes later. Moukoko stepped up this time, and again their keeper makes a diving save this time to his right, and it went out for a corner to keep it at 1-0. Juventus equalised just before half time. A great passing move finished with Miretti finding Vlahovic on the edge of the box, and he smashed it first time for a perfect finish into the top left corner for 1-1. Both teams had a couple of chances in the second half, but all in all, I'm quite happy with this performance. Nico Adamczyk Injured: It's sad when a young player gets a serious injury like this one, but here's hoping the young Polish defender, Nico Adamczyk, can come back stronger. He's torn his hamstring and is out for 2-3 months. Saturday 10th August 2024: Auerbach 1-3 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal First Round) Our first competitive match of the season was fairly straightforward, with a 3-1 win away at fourth-tier Auerbach, although we really should have scored at least 3 or 4 more. We did put the ball in the net twice before we actually scored, with Bundgaard and Sessegnon missing out on opening their accounts this season. Reyna floated a free-kick into the area for the first goal, with Relvas using his neck muscles to power past the keeper, and get his first goal for the club amazingly. It was 2-0 after 58 minutes, Reyna running down the right, finding Bundgaard about 2 yards out and being able to tap in. Auerbach did get a goal back, a throw in was worked down the right to Salin, who crossed it in and found Tarhan in the middle of the goal to tap in for 2-1. But our third goal was a carbon copy of our second. Reyna down the right, but this time it was Moukoko in the middle for the tap in to put us into the second round. Abdoulaye Kamara to Hoffenheim: I've not really used this young man, I put the feelers out there, and Hoffenheim came in for him for £2,300,000. He may get football there, as they ended in a similar position last season. I'd like to see him do well, definitely. Flavius Daniliuc Signing: We've decided to go into the market for a right-back and I signed Flavius Daniliuc from Salernitana for £4,200,000. I previously had him on a save in FM23 with Newcastle United and he was quality, could run down the wing like a bomb, so I thought I'd go back in for him when he came up. He's quite quick, strong with his passsing, tackling and technique. Decent first touch as well. We're definitely sorting out this defensive line though as I don't want to be caught out again this season. Sunday 18th August 2024: Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Schalke 04 (Bundesliga) Our first game of the league season was the massive derby at home to Schalke, who were promoted from the 2. Bundesliga last season, and we made them realise it would be a baptism of fire as they returned back to the top flight. We dominated from the off and thrashed them 4-1. After Schalke attempted to clear the ball, Bensebaini nodded down to Reyna, who cut inside to the middle of the area and poked it into the bottom corner for 1-0. We went 2-0 up before half time. A play from the back led to a ball over the top by Can to Moukoko, who took two touches to take it down and slide it into the corner. He doubled his tally and gave us our third after 53 minutes, following a really good build up play which resulted in Brandt releasing him again one-on-one. He slotted in at the near post. Our only blot on the touch paper today was an unfortunate own goal. A tame cross deflected off Okoli, making his league debut for the club. We secured the three points in the 91st minute. Play down the right meant the ball was laid off to Sule, who played it into the middle. Rothe took a giant touch which rolled into the area, but he caught up with it and fired home to complete the thrashing. Team of the Week Matchweek 1: From now on, I'm going to be praising all of my team's achievements, even if it means this takes longer to make, because although we won nothing last season, we had some incredible performances. Giovanni Reyna is the first of our players in the team of the week this season. Marcel Lotka New Contract: I have decided to give Marcel Lotka a brand new contract at the football club, to keep him here for the next 4 years. If you need a back up goalkeeper in your saves, get someone like this, or get this guy. He's brilliant when he steps in. He's nowhere near as good as Kobel, but he could be decent for a mid-table Premier League club. He will help us when we need him, and that's good enough for me. Marco Reus Injury News: Marco Reus is now out for the next 2 weeks with a pulled hamstring and will miss the match against the champions the weekend after this one. Just to let you know, his contract extension will be achieved if he plays at least 15 league matches this season. He's gonna miss the next two. Julien Duranville to Strasbourg: He recently came back from injury, and he will go to Strasbourg on loan until the end of the season for vital first team football. He didn't disappoint last season, but obviously there's no place in the team at the moment. Hopefully when he comes back, he'll be ready to make more of an impact. Saturday 24th August 2024: Wolfsburg 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) There wasn't really too much to say about this match other than this. A point away from home and a clean sheet is not a bad result at any point in the season. Wolfsburg are a tough team to play and it's a tough place to go, and although our best shot was only a Ryan Sessegnon speculative effort, the defence was on it today. Last season, we may have lost this game. But, we take the point. DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw: I nearly forgot about the DFB-Pokal second round draw we were given, and it could be tough to win this competition this season. We're gonna have to give it our best shot when we face Bayern Munich away from home in late October. Donyell Malen New Contract: The latest player to extend his stay for another 4 years is Donyell Malen, who like Lotka earlier, comes into the team and performs every time. Glad we've kept him for now. UEFA Champions League Fixtures Revealed: Our fixtures have been drawn for the first ever league phase of the UEFA Champions League. In case you're not sure of what's coming, there are now 36 teams in the Champions League, and we will face 8 of them in the league phase; two from each pot, 4 at home, 4 away. We begin at home to Juventus, who we faced in pre-season. We then travel to PSG away, before a double header at home against Rangers and Genk. We then travel to face Napoli, before a home tie against 6-time champions Liverpool. We then go away against Shakhtar Donetsk before our final game in Greece away at Olympiakos. Felix Nmecha Injured: Another week, another injury to another player. Felix Nmecha has pulled knee ligaments after turning sharply in training. He will be out for the next 3 weeks at most. Saturday 31st August 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) 2 wins from 2 home games, and this one came against the defending champions RB Leipzig. A ball from the left to the right found Reyna, he laid it off to Sabitzer whose shot was blocked, but only as far as Reyna who fired home the rebound for 1-0. Haller carried the ball forward from the centre circle before playing it out left to Reyna. He ran it to the byline, played it across goal, where Haller had completed the run and tapped in on the line for 2-0. A Dani Olmo corner found Dragusin at the far post who headed home for 2-1, and give them a lifeline. They did put the ball in the net again, but Timo Werner was offside when he went for his header. We secured the winner in the 92nd minute. Adeyemi's corner from the right found Haller at the far post and he powered a header home for 3-1. 7 points from 3 games is a great start, and only Bayern Munich have started better. August Results: So, the summary of our August looks like this. We completed pre-season with a well played 1-1 draw against Juventus. We then climbed over a potential banana skin in the DFB-Pokal First Round beating fourth-tier Auerbach 3-1. We then killed Schalke in our derby 4-1 on their first game back in the top flight. We then drew 0-0 away at Wolfsburg, before finishing the month just now, convincingly beating RB Leipzig 3-1. Bundesliga Table Update: First monthly table update of the season, and Bayern Munich lead the way on goal difference ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim, all 3 on 7 points from their first three. Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and Schalke are all tied on 6 points, but Eintracht Frankfurt can take the lead when they win their game later in the weekend. At the bottom, it's another promoted team that are struggling, with Hamburg bottom after losing each of their games 1-0. Union Berlin and Bochum both have 1 point so far, with Wolfsburg on 2. But it's early days. Final Word: We've had a really strong start to the season this month, getting really good results, especially in the derby and against the defending champions. If we can be better defensively, I can see us battling for the title. It may be early days, but the early indications are strong for a good season. It's always good to find out who will be your opponents in the Champions League, and I can't wait to get into them. They'll start next time. We've managed to secure new contracts for several decent players, and our back line appears to be in tip-top condition, and that was the plan at the start of the window. Next time, we'll just look to continue it. We start next month against Union Berlin, so another chance to get some decent points. Until then, thanks for keeping up to date with this, and I'll see you again soon.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - July Hello and welcome to Season 2 of the Glory Hunter save. I know I've been away for a couple of days but I've been working, and had loads of different things to do. But here we are, we're going to go through pre-season in this update, we also have the transfer window open in Germany and across Europe, as well as introducing some new players to the club off the bat. I'm also going to be looking at some international jobs across Europe as the Euros end this month, and I will be applying for them if certain decent ones crop up, ahead of the new Nations League and World Cup campaigns. As you know, part of the challenge is to win the Euros and the World Cup. Pre-Season Fixtures: Obviously there's not any competitive matches this month, but we do play 4 pre-season matches that I will expect us to win and for me, we should be winning all of them. Arminia Bielefeld ended 6th in the 3. Liga last season, Paderborn were 6th in the 2. Bundesliga, and both Oberhausen and Lotte play in the non-playable leagues so we should be aiming for four wins from four in those matches. New Signings: We have a whole host of players joining the team on the 1st July 2024, and as we are now there, let's meet the players who we spent parts of last season sorting deals for and sending them contracts. We start off with one for the future. Daniel Lloyd: Daniel Lloyd is an American centre-back who will be spending his season with the U19s, but I am also a person to bring these guys in for the occasional appearance, and I can almost guarantee he will be used in the pre-season friendlies. His work rate and teamwork are both at 15, which is great for such a young player, and he is sure to develop these in the future. His jumping reach is also at the same level. Decision making is also high for an 18-year-old. Ryan Sessegnon: My best signing I made for the start of this season was 24-year-old English left-back Ryan Sessegnon. We signed him from Tottenham Hotspur as you will remember, and we got him for a free at the end of his contract, where he is earning £67,000 a week. He's obviously the latest in a crop of English talent that will attempt to make it in Germany as he's done OK for Tottenham, but last season, he did only make 4 appearances at an average of 6.75. He has played in the Bundesliga in the past, playing for our top 4 rivals from last season, Hoffenheim, so he does have what it takes to play over here. Can he make an impact down that left side? Players Leaving: We do have a number of players that have left the club on 1st July as well, I think the main one being Mats Hummels, who was causing trouble for me at one point last season, so it was time for him to depart. He's going to Newcastle United in the Premier League. We also had Danylo Krevsun going to Hamburg, Franz Pfanne has gone to Karlsruhe, which is more his level for me. Antonios Papadopoulos goes to Nurnberg. A couple of those played for me in a number of games last season. I do thank them all for their service. New Affiliate Club: We have agreed a new deal with Sandhausen to be our new affiliate club. They have just been promoted up from the 3. Liga to the 2. Bundesliga, and it's definitely an opportunity for our younger players to play decent level football. A good choice. Karim Adeyemi New Contract: Karim Adeyemi had a horrible season last season when it comes to injuries, as did a lot of the team last season. But he's an absolute cracker of a player, and I'm buzzing we've managed to keep him around as I'm sure a lot of the Dortmund supporters will be this season. They get to keep him for five years, with a release clause of £91,000,000. Hopefully this will be the year he comes alive in this new look team, and fire us to a better season than last season. We saw last season that Bayern can be beaten, but it will be tougher this time around, and we need players like him to keep us firing. I think we've got the makings of a good squad this year. Saturday 13th July 2024: Arminia Bielefeld 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) Our first pre-season friendly was quite a dull game, with us only getting a 1-1 draw against third-tier Arminia Bielefeld. They actually took the lead as new signing Sessegnon gave away a penalty, which Oppie converted despite Kobel getting something on it. It was straight at him but far too powerful. Our corner routines worked again in this game though, as Adeyemi took it from the right and Haller found the header at the far post for 1-1. Both teams had a couple of chances afterwards, but this is what friendlies are for. As we now have the system, we want to be tighter at the back this season, and use the wing-backs effectively. Hopefully, this could be the way forward. Ramy Bensebaini New Deal: He came to me earlier this month for a brand new contract, and he's always been solid without being spectacular so I was more than happy to do it. He is staying for another 4 years, on £99,000 a week. I'm more than happy to keep him around cause we're going to need to rebuild this defence now we haven't got Hummels. He could really make that centre-back/left-back position his own this season. Prince Aning Out on Loan: We've got a real special talent in Prince Aning, and the 20-year-old full back is going to Hertha Berlin for the season on loan. There's a chance they'll be in a promotion push from the 2. Bundesliga and I hope he will feel better for that this season. Kjell Watjen to Holstein Kiel: Another one of our youth players has actually dropped down to play potential first team football with second tier Holstein Kiel, who we played last season in the DFB-Pokal. I believe this team are on the way up after the last few seasons and here's hoping he can become the better player he knows he can be. Wednesday 17th July 2024: Paderborn 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) There were absolutely no highlights in the first half but we did manage to nick a 1-0 win from another dire game really, but if we can win the dire games, it may mean we throw away less leads this season. A mistake at the back from the second-tier side gave Moukoko the chance to finish off a one-on-one, and he absolutely did. He fired it home to give us the narrow win. Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Almeria: I did try to bring Bynoe-Gittens in for the last pre-season friendly but this is what was going on. He's going to Spanish La Liga side Almeria on loan for the season. He's such an exciting talent and I'm sure he will only go on and develop even further for a team further down the table in their country. Saturday 20th July 2024: Rot-Weiss Oberhausen 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) Our first defeat of pre-season will see us say goodbye to this formation as it's not exciting, it's not working, and we've only got one win from three this pre-season. We had several chances to score against our lower league opposition, but unfortunately, a cross from Kleinsorge in the second half went through our backline, with a slight deflection, which left a completely unmarked Marz at the back post to give the shock win to Oberhausen. If you're gonna lose to these teams, do it in pre-season. Caleb Okoli from Atalanta: Our third signing for the new season, and our first of this window, Caleb Okoli, the Italian centre-back, has joined from Atalanta. He spent last season on loan at Frosinone and was clearly surplus to requirements over in Italy. He only cost £7,500,000 which could rise to £10,000,000, but I'm very pleased with this acquisition and it could prove to be a bargain. He definitely appears to be the towering centre-back we need at 6'2". His heading, marking and tackling are in the high yellows, and he's got green scores when it comes to his physicals as well. He does look like he could be a regular starter this season, and potentially the filler we need to move on from Hummels moving to England. First Injury of the Season! An abdominal strain has put paid to Emre Can for the next 4 weeks. It messes up his training schedule before we start the season. At least it's just the one real one for now, but hopefully it gets nothing like last season. Saturday 27th July 2024: Lotte 0-4 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) We picked up our second win of pre-season by bringing back the 4-2-4 Gegenpress, and we were angry and on fire as we beat Lotte 4-0. Moukoko converted a Breivik cross from the right for 1-0. It was 2-0 when Steinbauer, who has come up from the Under-19s, set himself and struck from 25 yards out a screamer into the top right hand corner, beating the keeper all ends up. Moukoko then made it 3-0 not long after the break with a great goal from out wide left which struck the post before going in. Relvas finished off the game with a nice header from a recycled free-kick. This is the flexing of the muscles we needed to end the month. Unfortunately, there was an injury picked up. Duranville Injured: Unfortunately Julien Duranville went down with a calf strain which leaves him out for up to 4 weeks. Donyell Malen Injury: I'm not highlighting this because of the length of time he's out, because he's only out for a week. But how does a professional footballer get injured kicking the ball? Answers on a postcard please. Malen has pulled his groin and is out for a week. Pre-Season Results: So we reach the end of July, and these were the results of our second pre-season in charge. The first three matches had the flat back 7, which clearly doesn't work. In the fourth game, I let the attack go for it, and they thanked me with 4 goals against Lotte. Transfer Window So Far: We needed the left-back and to shore up the defence, and I would say we've done it so far. Getting Ryan Sessegnon in on a free from Spurs really provides me with what we needed at left-back and I think he will play quite well. Caleb Okoli coming in from Atalanta is another young player that will start a number of games when it comes to the league and cup. He really could be vital and I think, a nice bit of work so far. When it comes to outs, OK so we haven't made an awful lot of money, but these were really the dead wood, obviously apart from Hummels. Final Word: That brings us to the end of July. We've played some good football, tight at the back, we have the Gegenpress back as well, which I'm looking forward to. The season obviously starts in August, and don't forget, that first game is against Schalke, which the fans will be desperate for a win. That will come after we've played our first round game in the DFB-Pokal which I've just realised I forgot to show after the draw. We will see it tomorrow. Until then, I hope you're enjoying this so far, and I'll see you soon when the season begins.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - Pre-Season for Season 2 - June 2024 Hi guys, I thought I'd include June 2024 as there is a lot that goes on this month. Obviously the Euros are under way this time around, and the fixtures will come out this month. This could be the longest update so far, or the shortest as well depending on signings. We do have some new players coming in during July as you know, including signings from the Premier League but let's give this month the update it deserves, and when anything happens, I'll let you know. New Contract: First new contract of the Summer excluding staff (I've practically kept all but one of them), Bjarne Pudel is a 23-year-old German centre-back, who looks like he could potentially benefit from loans, but don't forget that there can be such a thing as late developers on this game now that we never had before so it'll be interesting to see how he goes. Only got yellows across the board though. Injury for Haller: Well, that no injuries at the club lasted 2 weeks at least. Unfortunately, Sebastian Haller has pulled up with a hamstring strain for Ivory Coast, but he may be back just in time for pre-season training. At least I hope he is. He was our top scorer last season, and hopefully he can get a few more this season coming up. Giovanni Reyna Stays: A certain American winger is not going anywhere. A huge member of this wonderful squad is staying at the football club in Giovanni Reyna and I, for one, am absolutely buzzing. He was top assist maker last season for us, he was one of the main focal points as we remained a Champions League club for next season. The main aim of keeping these players around is to make sure we can challenge RB Leipzig again at the top. I would say we can close that gap. European Rankings: I always find looking at these rather interesting, basically so you know how well you're looking when it comes to you and others in Europe. It's never good to see your league drop down though. The Bundesliga drops to 4th place in Europe, with Serie A actually climbing above us. Inter made the Champions League semi-finals, and AC Milan won the Europa League final against Liverpool. We drop a few places in the club co-efficient but that's hardly a shock really after this season. The two nations to get the extra Champions League spot were England with Chelsea, and Italy with Inter. Bundesliga Fixtures: The new Bundesliga fixtures for the new season have been announced. And we start against our fiercest local rivals, newly-promoted Schalke, who return to the top flight after a year away. Our first away game is against Wolfsburg. We then end August with a home game against the new league champions, RB Leipzig, and hopefully it'll be a better showing against them this season. We then travel to a team that majorly underperformed last season in Union Berlin. We end September with a home game against Freiburg and an away match with Stuttgart. Julien Duranville New Contract: I'm not sure if you guys know, but Duranville has played a couple of first team games, with three league appearances last season, including 1 start, and a game in the DFB-Pokal as well. He'll definitely be one to keep an eye on in the future. Final Word: Yeah, so I didn't realise that the transfer window in Germany opens on 1st July. But we have found out our opponents in the order we will face them this season. Schalke first day! If we win that, and we should, that could be the tonic for the Yellow Wall this season. Next month, we will find out our DFB-Pokal First Round opponents, and also see what we can do in terms of transfers. We do have some new signings tomorrow! Wait and see who they are when they arrive. See you then!

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - May Hello and welcome to May at the end of our first season in the Glory Hunter Challenge and our first season in charge of Borussia Dortmund as we try and qualify for the UEFA Champions League. It hasn't been the best season for us, being knocked out of the DFB-Pokal in the quarter finals, knocked out of the groups in the Champions League and beaten straight away in the Europa League but now we have the chance to end this season on a high. If we win every game, we will qualify for next season's elite tier of European football. This will also be the first year with the league phase rather than the group stage, so there's every chance we could get a nice fixture list. But, I don't want to look ahead too much. Let's have a look at this month's fixtures. May Fixtures: Let's do this then. We start with what should be a decent game against Augsburg, a game we should be targeting for maximum points. Then we travel to Europe-chasing Mainz, who need results to go their way to at least be in the Conference League. And then finally, we will be at home against already-relegated Darmstadt, who could be out to try and cause an upset, seeing as they are playing without pressure. Fullkrug Injured: An injury to Niclas Fullkrug threatens to hurt the end to our season. After turning sharply in training, he suffered a twisted ankle and will miss the remainder of our season. I was hoping he could be the man that we needed to make life a little more bearable. as we struggle to end in that top 4. Friday 3rd May 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Augsburg (Bundesliga) Four goals in 21 minutes, including a hat-trick for Donyell Malen, meant that we started the Bundesliga weekend with a 5-1 hammering of sorry Augsburg. Malen finished off some simple chances from good balls in the first and sixth minutes. A Reyna cross into the box found Haller for number three. Haller then turned provider for Malen to complete his hat-trick after 21 minutes. Rexhbecaj found a neat little ball into Vargas, who ran past 2 defenders, and fired from close range into the top corner for their consolation. But Adeyemi left the best goal until last. He picked the ball up 30 yards out, took a touch and then fired into the top corner to leave their keeper no chance. A great start to the month for us. Is it a sign of more to come? Saturday 11th May 2024: Mainz 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A game in which I thought the diamond might work, seemed to backfire especially given we had the better chances, as Mainz helped their European push with a 1-0 win over us. Barkok got the winner after 15 minutes, finishing a nice passing move our defence got nowhere near. It annoyed me as I felt we had the better chances, we could have finished them off on another day, and also Bayern and Hoffenheim won their games this weekend, which puts us onto the back foot. Karim Adeyemi Injured: Karim Adeyemi has reached the end of his season for us, as he has pulled ankle ligaments after our last defeat. I hope he returns stronger for next season, especially with our new look team. But we have to power on. It's time to look at those final day fixtures. And I'm sure you'll be looking for a certain one. Final Day Fixtures: That's right. The final day of the season includes Hoffenheim taking on Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich are already confirmed in third place, and that means we need to win with Hoffenheim failing to beat the Bavarian giants. That is the only way we qualify for the Champions League. Will the record champions do us a favour? Or will they ruin our plans for a second consecutive year including last season in real life? Saturday 18th May 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Darmstadt (Bundesliga) We did our bit of the bargain with a convincing 3-0 win over already-relegated Darmstadt! Sebastian Haller scored two decent balls from Reus and Brandt for both goals. Marius Wolf finished it off in style by cutting in from the right and banging it past the keeper for all 3 points. But would those three points be enough? Or is my job in jeopardy? Here are the results followed by the final table of the 2023-24 Bundesliga season. Final Day Results: Hoffenheim could only draw 0-0 at home to Bayern Munich. Which means......!!!! WE'RE IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!!!!! I don't know how we've managed it, we've been awful for a lot of the season, but this is the final Bundesliga table. RB Leipzig win their first ever top flight title by 8 points from Eintracht Frankfurt. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund (on the final day) have both confirmed their top 4 spots this season. Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen will play in the Europa League, and Mainz get the Conference League spot. Darmstadt and Borussia Monchengladbach both got relegated, Gladbach going down on the final day, and not the relegation I was expecting. Heidenheim will play in the relegation/promotion play off this season. Budgets for Next Season: I was hoping for a little more transfer budget, but you can only work with what you've got. We have nearly £25,000,000 in the transfer budget, and then nearly £3,000,000 a week in Wages to spend as well. We will take a look in the Summer transfer window and see what we've got to work with properly. 2. Bundesliga Final Table: Hamburg have been promoted up to the top flight after winning the title by four points. Schalke narrowly got promoted on the final day, after their draw meant they were a little worried about Fortuna Dusseldorf. In fact, it means the latter team face Heidenheim in the play off. Supporter Profile for Next Season: This is what the fans are after for next season. More of the same, but as Schalke got promoted up to the top flight this season, and they are one of our rivals, they want us to finish above them. I also love the fact we have another 2 million fans on social media. Board Vision: They've given me the target of making the top four again next season, and they also want us to make it out of the league phase into the knockout rounds next season in the Champions League. We need to start signing domestic players, and we will see where we are when it comes to it next season. Paris Brunner New Contract: A player I'm hoping to try out in the DFB-Pokal next season is Paris Brunner, and we've extended his contract until 2028. He made five appearances for the B team this season, scoring 1 goal. He also scored a goal in the Cup this season, in our first competitive match as manager. He could be a player we come back for later in the save as well. Youth Facilities Work: If you want to succeed in German football, in my opinion, youth is the way forward. The Germans built an amazing young team at the end of the 2000s, which went on to win the World Cup in 2014. I want to be sure that Borussia Dortmund will carry it on. Promotion Playoff Result: Heidenheim played Fortuna Dusseldorf for the final Bundesliga spot next season, and it was the team that spent the season in the 2. Bundesliga this season that will take part. Fortuna Dusseldorf scored two second half goals in the second leg to become an opponent for next season. Zero Injuries: I don't normally post when they get back to training but this caught my eye. No injuries whatsoever at the football club now Karim Adeyemi has healed from his latest one. Definitely something to make me happy as I go into the Summer. Final Word of the Season: This brings us to the end of our first season in this challenge, and although no trophies have been won in our first season, I would like to think we can challenge for more in season 2. We were unfortunate in some aspects. I may have been naive in others. Maybe when it comes to cups, I don't need to use as many reserve players as what I did this season. It'll be for me to work out before we go into season 2. But thank you for the support for Season 1, my next update will be done over the next 24 hours, and I hope you've enjoyed the content. I'll see you for Season 2.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - April Hello everyone, I am back as we head towards the end of season 1 in this year's Glory Hunter challenge. Borussia Dortmund finally seem somewhat stable as we sit in the top 4 of the Bundesliga table, and if you told me we'd be ahead of Bayern Munich by this point, I'd have been delighted. But now, we have to finally make the top 4 ours, and not have to sweat too much when it comes to May. Let's take a look at today's fixtures. April Fixtures: We begin things this month with a game at home to mid-table Stuttgart, a game we should be going for three points in. Then we travel to Borussia Monchengladbach, a team in resurgence after winning 3 in 4 in March in their bid to stay up, so we have to be careful away from home. Bayer Leverkusen are wanting a European spot, and still have an outside chance of getting into the Champions League, so we will want to beat them just for peace of mind. And finally, we will face an away game at RB Leipzig, the team who by this point, may be Champions-Elect. Some huge games coming up. Niclas Fullkrug Injured: Another injury in the squad, and another injury we didn't need. Niclas Fullkrug has been incredible when we've needed him. Although it hasn't been often, it's been enough to have an impact, especially when Haller was at the AFCON. He'll be out with a hamstring strain for a few weeks. Saturday 6th April 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Stuttgart (Bundesliga) We managed to get our first win of April quite convincingly, going back to a positive formation with the 4-2-4, as we beat Stuttgart 3-1. Ryerson set up the first goal, for Marius Wolf to take it round the defence, down the right, into the area for Reus to meet it at the far post for a tap in. It was 2-0 just 10 minutes later, the ball cleared as far as Can, who played the ball through the middle finding Haller, who found the corner for his first league goal since his winner in the AFCON final. A cross from the right from a deep position fell perfectly on the right foot of Guirassy who volleyed it home, something you can't defend when he hits it sweetly like that. Julian Brandt made it more comfortable with 20 minutes to go. A corner failed to be cleared by Stuttgart, and Brandt wrapped his foot around it on the half volley for a sweet strike. It keeps us above Bayern after this weekend. Saturday 13th April 2024: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did say that Gladbach were getting better and although we took the lead, we only got away with a point. Reyna ran down the right side, and swung the ball in towards the far post, where Julian Brandt met the header to give us the lead after 16 minutes. They equalised just after the half hour mark. A diagonal ball from the left found Honorat on the right wing, he crossed it first time and Jordan slid in at the far post for 1-1. We did put the ball in the net in the 95th minute, but Reyna was a country mile offside. We'd better hope Bayern drop points on Sunday. Coefficient Ranking: Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Germany will get that fifth Champions League spot, which means it's top 4 or nothing. Sunday 21st April 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga) Another important win today that put us back into 3rd following Bayern Munich's draw away at Union Berlin. A passing move at the back fell to Sabitzer. He lifted the ball over the top and Haller went for the first time finish which found the bottom corner for 1-0. It was 2-0 after 33 minutes. This time, Reus won the ball back before Bayer could start an attack, played it square left to Malen, who found Brandt, who found a still running Reus who slid it under the keeper for 2-0. In the second half, Leverkusen got a goal back. Jeremie Frimpong had the ball on the right, ran inside and his slightly deflected effort beat Kobel for 2-1. But we secured the victory with 7 minutes to go. Again, a nice passing move found Malen running through the middle, and he fired through the keeper for 3-1. Injury for Bundgaard: Our Danish youngster misses the next 3 weeks due to him showing off in the gym, and trying to lift weights that were too much for him. It does mean he will be out while we end the season, and although he hasn't featured a lot, it's been nice to have him available, and I could have used him for more experience when we get into May for some kinder fixtures to finish our first season. Saturday 27th April 2024: RB Leipzig 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did say last time we played RB Leipzig, we've just been thumped by the champions of Germany, and the same happened in this game. We didn't need to shoot ourselves in the foot though so many times. We tried to play it out from the back a couple of times in the first half, and both times, RB Leipzig returned the ball to sender as quickly as we got rid of it. The first goal had a horrible bit of keeping as well, as Sesko hit a tame shot from the edge of the area and it went straight through Kobel's gloves for 1-0. A ball over the top from Olmo found Sesko on the left hand side of the area and he fired home from a narrow angle for 2-0. The final goal came from a corner we failed to clear, Carvalho headed down for Raum, and he steered home from the edge of the box for 3-0 with 8 minutes to go. Also, you'll notice the injury for the departing Hummels. Let's have a look. Has he played his last game for the club? Mats Hummels Injury: The answer is, yes that was his final game. He got a groin strain while tackling and so he doesn't get a hero's send off. He will leave to Newcastle United at the end of June. April Results: In what was a semi-decent month, we won both our home games, but the failure to win either one of our away games means this has happened to the table. Bundesliga Table Update: 4 points will seal RB Leipzig's first ever Bundesliga title, and they should be able to secure it next month. Eintracht Frankfurt still have a slight chance of winning it, with Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim now completing the Champions League spots. We sit 5th, just two points off the top 4. Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg fill the other European places, but Freiburg aren't far behind. At the bottom, Darmstadt have returned from whence they came as they have been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. Borussia Monchengladbach have dropped into the bottom 2 now, as Heidenheim had a brilliant month, and are actually level on points with Werder Bremen, who have been dragged into this relegation battle after a poor run of form. Final Word: I didn't think we had as terrible a month as we clearly have, but we are now in severe danger of missing out on Champions League football. Hoffenheim have come into it and could take it away from us. We just need to keep our cool and hopefully we have the performances that prove we belong back in the Champions League. I'm not entirely sure what to expect should we miss out on Champions League because we've not had the best year when it's coming to hitting our targets. It's all about the game and how you play it I suppose. May could be make or break in this first season. See you next time.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - March Welcome to March 2024, and we are heading towards the end of the season. I would say it's going to be an interesting end to the season, but all we are doing is challenging for top 4 in the Bundesliga. We are out of the DFB-Pokal and the Europa League so I'm hoping that we can actually gain some momentum on everyone who still have to play in all the other competitions. We start against Union Berlin away from home this month, in the hope we can consolidate top four in at least the first two games of this month before we play Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich. Sunday 3rd March 2024: Union Berlin 1-4 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Our first game of March was an absolute hammering of Union Berlin, thrashing them 4-1. Their manager was sacked straight after this game, I do hate it when a manager is sacked but hey ho! That's the world we are all in. Two corners produced two goals in the first half. First of all, after a bit of head tennis in the box, Giovanni Reyna turned it home for 1-0. 5 minutes later, Sule got his head onto a Reus corner for 2-0. Emre Can made it 3-0 from the penalty spot, before Becker pulled one back for Union Berlin with 16 minutes to go. Sabitzer then scored from 30 yards out into the top corner to round off the thumping victory. Saturday 9th March 2024: Werder Bremen 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Two wins from two in those first games is what I asked for before we go into the final games of this month, and we managed it with a 2-0 win away at Werder Bremen. A Breivik through ball found it's way into Adeyemi, who went through on goal and chipped the keeper to open the scoring for us. It then became 2-0 from our traditional corner routines, as a Brandt corner found Hummels' head and he doubled the advantage. A great win away from home. This is what we needed. Youth Intake: We got a five-star intake which is great to see and these are the top two talents from it supposedly. The first one is a German left winger, Benedict Bothe. His determination is his highest attribute, and also sticking out is his passing, technique and virtually all of his physicals which is what I like to see. The second elite talent is Austrian forward Nicolas Steinbauer, who's bravery is in the green already. His finishing is already in the yellow which is what I like to see already at 15. When you're yellow across the board as a youngster, it's great to see. Let's see if they come back in the second decade of the save. Saturday 16th March 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga) We were the king of dead-ball situations in this match as both our goals came from corner kicks from the left, as we won this top of the table clash and, I think, got us into a sort of title race now sitting 6 points off RB Leipzig with 8 matches to go. A Reyna corner found the head of Sule at the near post for the centre-back's third goal of the season and to give us the lead midway through the first half. We secured the win with 7 minutes to go. Frankfurt failed to clear the corner effectively, and it fell to Malen, who volleyed into the bottom corner for a cool finish, and for us to be more relaxed at the end. It's a win that takes us 1 point behind our opponents. Papadopoulos to Nurnberg: Now, I've been having trouble with this guy. He's been off the transfer list and on it. He wanted a new contract. I offered it. He declined it despite so many negotiations going on. He accused me of not offering him one. He's now going to Nurnberg next season. If you need to get rid of anyone, get rid of the troublemakers. Sabitzer Injured: This is not what we needed. I'm looking forward to being an international manager in some aspects, but I don't get the meaningless friendlies in years of a tournament. Especially when your first team starts getting injured. Marcel Sabitzer is out injured until next month. Saturday 30th March 2024: Bayern Munich 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) That title battle lasted for one week. Bayern Munich dominated the entire first half to beat us 2-0 at the Allianz Arena to make sure we're definitely only going to be a top 4 team. A cross from the left by Leroy Sane found Harry Kane in the middle of the 6-yard box and he slotted home for 1-0. Then an unfortunate Mats Hummels deflection from a cross from the right made sure Bayern took all 3 points for 2-0. We had a couple of chances in the second half to get back into it but we weren't quite lucky enough. Karim Adeyemi picked up an injury in this game as well, that could leave him out for the run in. Let's have a look at it. Karim Adeyemi injured: He'll be out for April at least as we try to consolidate that top 4 spot. For some reason, our players are getting injured while sprinting. I wonder, if it's the tactic or the training, or just a genuine problem with each individual player. I am going to miss his teamwork for the next month. NXGN Awards 2024: Three of our players got into the top 50 which is always a good sign for the club. Evan Ferguson won it for Brighton, he might be worth taking a look at as should a lot of the players be. But with Duranville being in 6th, maybe I use him in the team at some point to see what he's all about. Moukoko and my new signing Bundgaard also got into the top 50. Bundesliga Table Update: As we reach the end of March, with 7 games of the season to go, RB Leipzig are propelling themselves towards their first ever league title, leading on 59 points, 5 points clear of second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are sat on 50 points, and both look like they are the frontrunners to take the Champions League spots. Hoffenheim are closest positioned to rob a top 4 place from the big two traditionally in Germany. The other European positions have Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg in them, but anyone in the top half including Freiburg and Mainz could realistically get Europe as well. At the bottom, the automatic relegation spots are filled by the two that came up last season, in Darmstadt and Heidenheim. Gladbach have been better, and are now sat in 16th place on 22 points, 4 points clear of the automatic drop. Final Word: Results wise, we had a good month, winning 3 games before losing Der Klassiker in the Allianz Arena. Sat in third, unless we severely mess up, we should be favourites to hold out for a top 4 place in the run in. It's also worth a look at Bayern Munich, although they are rivals because I don't think their manager sticks around if they don't miraculously win the title from here. Although this is Germany, so you never know. We start next month against Stuttgart and Borussia Monchengladbach, two games we need to win to keep our heads above water in the top 4. Join us next time for that. The aim is to try and end the season before the start of 2024, so we start the new year in a new season. Which means you get two uploads over the next 24 hours. Enjoy the rest of your day, and I'll see you for the run in.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - February Hello and welcome to February in Season 1 of the Glory Hunter Challenge and it has been that recently: a challenge. We're doing ok in the league now, I've managed to stop that from going wrong more recently. But then we've been knocked out of the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League, albeit we have dropped into the UEFA Europa League which we have to win anyway as part of this challenge. When we get to the end of this first season, I will be staying at Dortmund assuming everything stays the same now. But I will be looking for an international job after the Euros as I want to get on that almost immediately. We go into the first game of February against the same opposition we've just played. Hopefully we get a better result this time. Saturday 3rd February 2024: Heidenheim 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We went back to the scene of the crime in the last match, and this time came out on top by the odd goal in three. We took the lead after 4 minutes, Wolf had the ball down the right after a passing move and slid it into the box, Fullkrug converting at the near post. A free kick from Bundgaard gave us a 2-0 lead, he found Bensebaini, this time at the far post and he headed home. Late on, a lame pass by Wolf found Kleindienst, who scored the winner against us in midweek, and he hit a first time shot from way outside the area into the bottom corner for 2-1. We held on, and the momentum in the league continues. Julian Brandt: You've got to love the players that extend their contracts by a long time. I've managed to confirm a brand new contract for Julian Brandt, who will stay at the club in theory for at least another 4 years. Sunday 11th February 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) In a match where at the start of the weekend it was 4th vs 5th, we completely obliterated Freiburg 5-0 as we moved up to third in the Bundesliga table. A run down the left from Malen, played it across to Fullkrug, who found Reyna in the box. He completed a neat turn and fired home for 1-0. 2-0 came after the keeper made an absolute howler from a Bensebaini cross, Reyna played it across to Reus who tapped into an empty net. We killed the game in the last 15 minutes. A Reus pass into the box from the left was deflected into the path of Can running into the box to spank home for 3-0. A ball into the box found Fullkrug for 4-0, as he hit the post first before tapping into an empty net. The final goal came from a Reus corner from the left, which got to the head of Sule at the far post to complete the rout. Our biggest win of the season by far, and now we drop into the Europa League with all the momentum in the world. Thursday 15th February 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-4 Olympiakos (UEFA Europa League Knockout Playoff Round First Leg) I almost can't believe what I've just witnessed. This game knows how to chew you up, screw with you and then spit you out. Our opening goal came from a terrible back pass that Malen jumped on to, rounded the keeper, and slotted home for 1-0. I thought it would be a sign of things to come as we had dominated the whole half, but then Olympiakos equalised against the run of play. A Fortounis free-kick found Freire unmarked at the back post for 1-1. They then took the lead 4 minutes later, a loose ball was won by Guruzeta, who played it back to the edge of the box, and Solbakken fired home from the edge of the box. The equaliser came from the right when Wolf slid the ball into the box for Haller who lifted over the keeper for 2-2. The reason we lost were two handballs in the box from Kiwior. Gustavo Scarpa slotted home both penalties, which means we need to win by 3 in Greece to go through. Sunday 18th February 2024: Wolfsburg 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It's mad to think this was only our fourth defeat in the Bundesliga this season. A passing move found Geovanni Reyna on the left and he took it out wide left before lifting it over the keeper to go 1-0 up. But again we threw the game away. The lead lasted only 2 minutes before Alvarado got his first of two goals this match. A corner was worked to the edge of the box before he fired home off the post to give them the equaliser. A deep cross from Kaminski found Alvarado in the six yard box to make it 2-1 just before half time. And that is how it remained despite us scoring a goal what I thought was clearly onside, even after they ruled it out. But we drop to fourth in the table. Thursday 22nd February 2024: Olympiakos 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Olympiakos win 5-3 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Knockout Playoff Round Second Leg) We are officially out of Europe after another dominant performance where we could and should have scored about 10 but we ended up drawing 1-1, against ten men, and it does mean that we have virtually no chance of winning anything in this first season, which does feel like a season wasted. Marco Reus broke through to give us the lead after an hour to give us a little chance of getting back into it, but Daniel Podence levelled it all up to knock us out and really frustrate me and work out what we need to do to better our chances next season in knockout competition. The other option could be if Bayern want a new manager after their appalling season. Sunday 25th February 2024: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Hoffenheim (Bundesliga) You can say what you want about chopping and changing and everything, but when you dominate and you can't score, it's just not happening. A goalless draw at home to Hoffenheim is not exactly what the doctor ordered and it could see us drop out of the top four by the end of the month. It'll be worth having a look at that table shortly to see what we need to do to keep hold of that fourth spot. Luckily for us, we have no other competitions to contend with now, which for the challenge isn't great, but for the good of our fitness, it's the best thing that could have happened. Bundesliga Table Update: With eleven games to go for the rest of the season, RB Leipzig still retain that two point lead at the top, sat there with 50 points. Eintracht Frankfurt are keeping up their chance of winning just their second title, and their first one since 1959. RB Leipzig have never won it. Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen are holding on to their Champions League spots on 41 points each. It's still tight in the places behind them, with Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich, Mainz, Freiburg and Hoffenheim all harbouring hopes of European football next season. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach lost all their matches and sit on 13 points, after their resurgence massively slowed down. The bottom three do seem now to be cut adrift, with Heidenheim second bottom on 15, and Darmstadt in the playoff place on 17 points. Final Word: I've not had a more indifferent month so far in this save. Two wins, two defeats and two draws in that order. I'm still aiming to be fighting for our Champions League spot, and now we're out of Europe, we can just focus on qualifying for Europe next season while the others have other interests. Also, am I waiting for the Bayern job to become available? Do I apply for it before we get into season two, just to win the Germany leg? These are things I've got to work out. I hope you've enjoyed it and I'll see you as we run in until the end of the season.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - January Happy New Year in game, and welcome to 2024 in Football Manager 2024. It's our first season of the Glory Hunter and our first season at Borussia Dortmund. The Winter transfer window will open up this month so we can potentially make some new signings. We haven't got the biggest pot at the moment though, so please don't be expecting too much. We do have what should be a favourable month to kick the new year off, as we start the second half of the season away at Darmstadt, but that's not until the 13th January. We also have our DFB-Pokal Quarter Final away at Heidenheim in a bid to try and achieve our first trophy this season. That one does seem to be the one we will have to win to be successful on that front. At the start of the season, I wanted a title, but RB Leipzig are gonna run away with it I think. Top four should be our aim. Let's get into it, and see what we've got going on. Financial Update: So this is what we have to work with for the transfer window. Unfortunately, we will probably have to sell to buy, but we have a couple of players on the transfer list we could get some decent money for. I will show that in a second. We haven't got an awful lot of wage budget and we only have just shy of £2,000,000 in the transfer kitty. Other than that, we've been brilliant with our money and budgets for the entire season and we seem to be passing FFP regulations quickly and easily. It turns out I can't find my transfer listed players in a simple list. I will let you know if any go though. Contract Extension: It's great to see our new club captain extend his contract for another year as he heads closer to retirement. Marco Reus will stay until the end of next season as he aims to win a title before he retires. He was one of those I was worried would want to leave but he's happy and loves the club so I'm very happy with that. It's always important to retain your team leaders. Schlotterbeck Sold to Real Madrid: Nico Schlotterbeck is the first player we've decided to sell to make sure we have the funds for this transfer window. When Real Madrid come in, it's normally a good offer, and I felt £55,000,000 was a good sale for a player of his calibre. He'll be getting Champions League football, battling at the top of La Liga, and obviously we can't always promise him that game time which is crucial especially with the Euros this Summer. He's been strong at the back so good luck to him. Moukoko to Freiburg (Loan): Youssoufa Moukoko hasn't really had a look in so far this season, as he's behind Adeyemi and Haller in the pecking order so I've sent him out on loan to Freiburg until the end of the season. He will be playing for a team we're challenging for top 4, but they can virtually guarantee him game time, which I can't. Pfanne to Karlsruhe at End of Season: One player we barely ever used, will be dropping down to Karlsruhe in the Summer. Franz Pfanne doesn't really have what other players in his position have got so I'm not too disappointed to be taking him off the books. Ryan Sessegnon Signed from Tottenham: Our first signing of this transfer window is Ryan Sessegnon from Tottenham Hotspur. The Englishman will join us from the end of his contract in North London, and he is a player I'm genuinely excited about in real life, so I'm happy to add him to the team. Mats Hummels Leaving for Newcastle United: Mats Hummels handed in a transfer request earlier this season for a new challenge, and that challenge will start at the beginning of next season, as he travels to Newcastle United. That's a good signing for them, and someone who can give them the experience they need to progress further into European competition. Illnesses At the Club: This is really not what I needed after setting my squad up for the Darmstadt game. Both Julian Ryerson and Julian Brandt have picked up the flu and a virus respectively which is not what we needed as we return to competitive action this month. What you will notice is that Felix Nmecha will be back in the next couple of months after that horrific injury at the start of the season which is great to see. Saturday 13th January 2024: Darmstadt 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It was important that we didn't start throwing stupid points away, but Darmstadt were solid defensively and kept us at 0-0 for well over an hour. In the end, our opening goal after 67 minutes actually came from a Darmstadt chance at the other end which we intercepted. Reyna then ran from his own half with the ball before playing a beautiful slide-rule pass through to Fullkrug who came off the bench early on, and he fired into the bottom corner for 1-0. It was sealed in injury time as a Reyna shot was headed home by Fullkrug for his second of the game. With both Haller and Bensebaini at the AFCON, this is the chance for the other players to make their mark and to see what they can do before they get back. A great three points against a team fighting to stay up. The injuries for Reus and Adeyemi in this game is nothing to write home about, no longer than a week for either of them. Mateu Morey to Malaga on Loan: Mateu Morey is a player we don't play at all really, so he's gone to Spanish third tier side Malaga on loan until the end of the season. Maybe he can be used more next season as back up, but it's time to see how he does at Malaga. New Young Signing: Now this lad has some potential. His name is Laurin Ulrich, he is 18 years old, and we signed him from Stuttgart where he has already made some league appearances this season. He is rated really highly in game, and the club are delighted to have him on the books. He's a very skillful young player, and he does the basics well as well. I'm interested to give him some chances this season, and see if he is as good as Stuttgart say he is. One for the future. Saturday 20th January 2024: FC Koln 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) If you can't win, don't lose. That's the rule. Fullkrug is really taking his chance, we brought him on in the last game and he scored a brace. I decided to start him this time, and he's done it again. He gave us the lead inside 24 minutes in our first attack of the game to make it 1-0. FC Koln turned it around in the second half with goals from Selke and Thielmann to make it 2-1. With them taking the lead in the 87th minute, I really thought it was over. But when you've got a forward like Fullkrug, there is no need to accept defeat. A ball from Reyna found Fullkrug in the middle of the box and he fired home for 2-2. Great result. Gregor Kobel Injured: Sometimes this game loves to punish you, it wants to make it harder for you. When your number one goalkeeper is going to be out for 6 weeks due to a lower back stress fracture, it's like Miles has just given you a kick to the nuts personally. I want Kobel to come back in the same vein of form he has been in recently. A lot of clean sheets, we're gonna need him back for the run in without a doubt. Thomas Meunier to Ferencvarosi TC: Thomas Meunier has gone out on loan to Ferencvarosi TC in Hungary until the end of the season, purely because he wasn't getting any playing time, nowhere near as good as he used to be, so this could be a decent level for him. Saturday 27th January 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Bochum (Bundesliga) We broke into the top 4 in our final game in the league for this month, as we defeated a mid-table Bochum side 2-0. We took the lead in first half stoppage time when Malen countered down the right and found Fullkrug in the middle, who slotted home his fifth goal in 3 matches to become what I think is the most in form striker in the league at the moment. It was 2-0 with a wonderful free-kick from Marco Reus, easily 30 yards out and he slammed it into the top left hand corner to take all 3 points. Probably my best goal my team has scored in FM24 this year in all my saves. Warmed Omari in from Rennes: Our first signing of transfer deadline day is French U21 international defender Warmed Omari, who spent 8 years at Rennes. He has more recently become a starter for them and has played in the Europa League which is great to see. He definitely has a great future and many people at the club seem to agree as well. He will be good to have in the squad for Europe. Jakub Kiwior from Arsenal: Our second signing of deadline day is Jakub Kiwior from Arsenal, the Polish international who also plays at centre back. These signings do have replacing Mats Hummels in mind and just next season in general. I feel like Kiwior is another who could step up and we will be trialling it this season. I paid £26.5 million for him with add ons later so hopefully he proves me right. Filip Bundgaard from Randers: We have a new Danish centre-forward who has joined the U19s for just over £3 million. He is an U21 international for Denmark but has been struggling for his home town team. It will be interesting to see how he progresses. Wednesday 31st January 2024: Heidenheim 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal Quarter Final) Not the best defeat, especially in a challenge like this. It basically means we must stay in Germany for another season but I was always planning for that anyway. I decided to start two of my new signings, and one of them got a goal on his debut. It was Bundgaard, the Danish youngster. He tapped in an Adeyemi cross on the line for 1-0. Heidenheim came back at us and really punished us on the counter attack. First of all, it was Kleindienst who found the equaliser from a breakaway. And then Gimber slotted home with 6 minutes of the 90 left. Then the second scorer was sent off in the 92nd minute which gave us a glimmer of hope. That glimmer of hope turned into a cauldron of hope as we got a penalty to take it to extra time. For the first time this season, Emre Can fired it wide of the post to knock us out in the quarter final stage. Bundesliga Table Update: At the end of January, RB Leipzig's lead has been cut to 2 points. They're still top on 40 with only one defeat, but Eintracht Frankfurt are making a fight for the title on 38 points. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund round out the top 4, with Freiburg, Bayern Munich and three teams on 30 points all chasing down European spots for next season. The relegation battle has got tighter with Borussia Monchengladbach winning twice this month to close the gap to the teams above them to a point, them now being on 13, and Darmstadt and Heidenheim on 14 points. The gap to 15th has grown to 5 points with Werder Bremen pulling away from relegation danger. Final Word: I would say in terms of improving in the league, and in the transfer window we had a good month. First of all, seeing our name in the top 4 after a while is really amazing to see. I do want to be chasing down for positions higher in the table. Who knows what can happen with still 15 matches in the league to go? My only disappointment was the quarter final exit in the DFB-Pokal. It was definitely a trophy I wanted to win and we couldn't quite do it. I need to learn to stop underestimating teams and next season, I'll go all guns blazing. In Germany, it's just league matches all the way, but next month, we play our first Europa League match of our career, the two legged knockout playoff against Olympiakos of Greece. If you wanna know how we'll do in that, come back next time. Thanks for reading. See you soon.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - December IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the December update and we had a great month to lead us up to this point. Our only defeat all month was a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Champions League. We were 100% in the league and in the cup, we managed to get through to the third round which is where we will start today. When it comes to international jobs, the qualifiers are over and I have been looking for teams that didn't qualify, but it does feel like every team that's half decent in the continent has made it to the tournament. I will wait to the end of the Euros just to see if any decent jobs turn up. Hopefully, England could have a terrible tournament and I save them from Southgate. As for now, let's crack on with the most wonderful time of the year. Wednesday 6th December 2023: Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal Third Round) In our toughest game of the cup run so far, we have qualified for our first Quarter Final in this save. The only goal came from a corner that Leverkusen failed to clear away, it fell to Bensebaini who played it down the line to Adeyemi. He ran into the area from the right, and fired through the keeper to the left hand side of the goal. We had chances without really scaring them, and Kobel was incredible with some of his saves which were more like goals than anything else. I'm just glad there was no extra time in this one. We go into the last 8. DFB-Pokal Quarter Final Draw: We will travel to Heidenheim in the DFB-Pokal Quarter Final. They've been improving quite a lot so could be a potential banana skin. I'm fairly confident we can go through though. Saturday 9th December 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-5 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) We took on the league leaders and Kobel had an absolute nightmare in goal, as we shipped 5 to RB Leipzig. It was a lively match and Benjamin Sesko scored either side of a Sebastian Haller equaliser. In the second half, Simons, Poulsen and a terrible attempted save from Olmo, whose shot went straight through Kobel put us to the sword. The good news for our youth setup is Bynoe-Gittens got his first goal of the season after he came on during the second half. We also lost Malen through injury in the 28th minute. We'll find out together what's up with him. But I really think we've played the best team in the league at the moment. Donyell Malen Injury Update: It turns out he twisted his ankle during the day, and he will be out for the next 3 weeks. Tuesday 12th December 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Barcelona (UEFA Champions League Group B) Our first run in the Champions League as a manager has ended with dropping into the Europa League following another three-goal home defeat this week, this time to Barcelona. A draw would have been enough as Newcastle thrashed Shakhtar 6-1, but our hopes were dashed with a poor defensive performance. De Jong scored a sickener before half time, before Lewandowski and Joao Felix sealed the deal in the second half to send us to Europe's secondary tournament, and see Barcelona and Newcastle go through as the top two. The final table will be beneath. UEFA Champions League Group B Final Table: It was a very tight group, but we definitely let ourselves down. We have to perform better in the Europa League. Friday 15th December 2023: Augsburg 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We got back to winning ways as we defeated Augsburg 2-0 away from home. Two set piece goals were the way forward in this one. Sebastian Haller scored the first in the first five minutes from the penalty spot. A well-worked free kick in the second half from Sabitzer provided the second as he chipped over the wall to find Adeyemi who chested down and fired into the inside of the post for 2-0. For now, it leaves us 7th. UEFA Europa League Play-Off Round Draw: As we got knocked out of our Champions League group in third place, it does at least mean we have the chance to go for our first Europa League campaign of the save. There were 4 German clubs in the draw, including Bayern Munich dropping down from the Champions League as well. We were drawn out for a tie with Greek side Olympiakos. The tie will be played in February, and hopefully we can make a mark after failure in the big trophy. Wednesday 20th December 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Mainz (Bundesliga) The final week of the first half of the season involves two big matches, both against teams that are fighting for European football. The first match was at home to Mainz, and we managed to get a simple 2-0 win against them, helped by Onisiwo destroying Reus in a challenge from behind. Emil Breivik showed his importance to the team by scoring both of our goals. A pass from Reus through to Breivik allowed the latter to open the scoring. Then a great free-kick routine fell to Breivik who slid in off the near post to seal all three points. It leaves us right in the mix for the Champions League spots. Saturday 23rd December 2023: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Our final game of the first half of the season was another clean sheet away at Bayer Leverkusen, this time being a 0-0 draw. We defended really well, I wouldn't say it was backs against the wall as we were unlucky not to win as we had stuck the ball in the net, but it does mean we head into the league after the Winter break, only one point outside the Champions League places, on 27 points with several other teams. Bundesliga Table (Winter Break): We head into the Winter break with RB Leipzig holding the lead with 35 points, 3 points clear of second placed Eintracht Frankfurt. The race for the top four is on as the difference in points between 3rd and 8th is only one point. Bayern Munich are spectacularly underperforming alongside us as they sit 6th, in an attempt to defend their title. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach sit bottom on 7 points, but they are unbeaten in 2 with both being draws as they try to find a way of staying in the top flight. Both Heidenheim and Darmstadt are level on 13 points, with Werder Bremen just 3 points ahead of them on 16 points. Final Word: We've reached the end of 2023 in game and so far, so dodgy for our season. The players have gone for their Christmas breaks and now we are prepared to attack the top 4. There is also a trophy we didn't really want to be playing for left, but we are in the Europa League and it must be treated with respect. Personally I'm looking forward to managing in it and seeing how far we can get though it won't be straight forward. I will see you for the January update.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - November Hello and welcome to the latest update of this Football Manager 2024 journey, as we try to achieve the ultimate goal by winning all of Europe's top 5 domestic leagues, their cups, the three major European trophies, and the two big international honours of the Euros and the World Cup. We go into this month having failed to score in each of our last 3 games across all competitions, which culminated in a thumping 4-0 defeat away at Eintracht Frankfurt. The board are surely to talk to me soon as we slipped into the bottom half of the table. But our first game of this update will be the second round tie in the DFB-Pokal at home to 2. Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel. Wednesday 1st November 2023: Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Holstein Kiel (DFB-Pokal Second Round) We started this month very convincingly against lower league opposition, defeating Holstein Kiel 4-2 despite the 2. Bundesliga side absolutely going for it in the second half. We were 3-0 up by the 13th minute, with early goals from Salih Ozcan, Yousouffa Moukoko, and Geovanni Reyna effectively ensuring our passage to the Third Round early on. We were pegged back a little in the second half, as both Johansson and Skrzybski scoring from Rothe crosses down the left hand side. Schlotterbeck scored a goal from an Aning corner to ensure our spot without any real sweats in this game. Time to see who we will face in the next round. DFB-Pokal Third Round Draw: A tough test is on the cards as we enter the third round of the DFB-Pokal as we travel away to Bayer Leverkusen, who have been decent in the league this season without being spectacular. That game will be featured in the December update. Saturday 4th November 2023: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga) We needed this win! Oh boy, did we need it! Before the start of the Bayern Munich match, we had dropped to 13th after the results of earlier on Saturday, and I felt as if I needed to switch something up. I decided to go back to the 4-3-3 as it was clear the diamond maybe needed some work. What a decision! Neuer got injured early on which was a bitter blow for Bayern, and we took advantage. An Adeyemi cross from the left was put through his own goal by Kim Min-Jae. Sebastian Haller made it 2-0 from a Marco Reus corner he got his head on. And Adeyemi completed a strong performance after Alphonso Davies was sent off in the first half. The away side ended with 9 men after Sane was injured after using all their subs. All in all, a strong performance, the fans are happy. Tuesday 7th November 2023: Newcastle United 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Group B) Our first defeat in the Champions League this season came in the North East of England, as we were dominated by a strong Newcastle United side 2-0. The combination of Almiron to Isak worked twice and it felt tough to take, especially as I was sure the second goal was slightly offside. This result leaves Newcastle top of the group with two matchdays to go, and us in second, only ahead of Barcelona on the head to head record after our win in Catalonia earlier this season. Saturday 11th November 2023: Stuttgart 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A game in which we deserved the win but probably deserved more goals. We were unable to hit the target on a few occasions but the only goal came from the penalty spot as Emre Can sent the keeper the wrong way for his first goal of the season. As entertaining as some of my games have been, these are the ones I prefer. Nice, simple and it moves us just a point off Champions League qualification. Could this be more defensively stable? We'll wait and see after the international break. Injury News: You can never be without an injury during the international break, and unfortunately it's happened to our Norwegian international, Julian Ryerson, who will be out for 4 weeks after twisting his ankle in training. It'd almost make it easier if he had done it during an international match but the fact that both his games had been and gone, and then he decides to get injured. Still we have to crack on. Sunday 26th November 2023: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Borussia Monchengladbach (Bundesliga) We took on the team at the very bottom of the table in Monchengladbach in this rivalry match, and played them off the park winning 3-0. A smashing pass from Reus found Reyna on the left and he fired into the top right corner for 1-0. A shocking defensive mistake at the back meant the ball ended up with Reus again and he scored his first of the season. Malen secured the three points, and we barely broke sweat again. No goals conceded since changing to 4-2-3-1 just yet, and a huge win which leaves us only 6 points off RB Leipzig. Wednesday 29th November 2023: Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Group B) We managed to win our second away game in this group as we travelled to play against Shakhtar Donetsk. If Shakhtar lost, they would be out of the Champions League so they were defending with all their might and in the first half, there were literally no chances as the Ukrainians neutralised the game. The winning goal came from a short corner routine that fell back to Reyna, who cut into the area, and fired into the top corner for 1-0, and to really give us hope heading into our final game at home to Barcelona. Barcelona managed to beat Newcastle 4-0 at home, so when we look at the table in a moment, be prepared for how tight the group is. Bundesliga Table Update: As we head into the Christmas period, RB Leipzig still retain the lead at the top of the table, by two points ahead of champions Bayern Munich, the team from the east still unbeaten. Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg complete the top 4 both on 23 points, a point clear of Eintracht Frankfurt and two clear of Borussia Dortmund after 12 games. Borussia Monchengladbach did pick up their first win this month, but are now 7 points adrift of the relegation play off spot. Heidenheim are starting to find their feet, as they are also 5 points clear of Darmstadt. UEFA Champions League Group Update: Three into two doesn't go, which means that one of Newcastle United, Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund will miss out on a last 16 spot. Our final game is at Signal Iduna Park, which we haven't won at yet in the group, drawing both games there, where we have to beat Barcelona on the final day to stand a chance of progressing to the second round. Newcastle United will probably end top as they face Shakhtar on the final day. I will take you through the nailbiting final day on the next update. Final Word: A really strong month all in all, no draws and 5 wins out of 6, our only defeat coming to Newcastle in the Champions League. I'm looking forward to that final game already. We've already secured 3 clean sheets in a row since changing for the first time this season to the 4-2-3-1, which works in both attacking and balanced mentalities as well. The Bundesliga title race seems wide open this season. Bayern Munich are not having it all their own way, and the way we dismantled them in front of the Yellow Wall buys me more time at the football club. Unbeaten in the league makes me proudest of all as that is the bread and butter obviously. As we head to December, we will start with our third round match in the DFB-Pokal where hopefully we can make the latter stages, but Bayer Leverkusen will be a tough test. It will be another vital month, and I hope you stick around to see how it goes.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - October Hello and welcome to your latest monthly update of the Glory Hunter save, the save where we have to win it all across Europe for both club and country. Before I left the save to celebrate the Christmas weekend, things weren't feeling quite right. Sure, we've only lost once all season, picked up a point in the Champions League and managed to make the second round of the Cup, but apart from the one game against Heidenheim, we really haven't looked convincing. Hopefully a couple of days of my laptop getting the rest it needs generates brand new results. We start this month playing our second Champions League tie this season, and this time, we face a team that have a history of success in this competition, most of which comes with a player who for me, is the greatest of all time. Wednesday 4th October 2023: Barcelona 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Group B) Could this prove to be that result we needed to help us move forward as a team and start turning those draws into wins because this was incredible? The defence were on top of their game, Mats Hummels really making a difference in this one and being man of the match. Barcelona kept on huffing and puffing and really couldn't break us down. Karim Adeyemi made his first start of the season after being out with injuries and illness. His corner found Hummels at the far post for 1-0. De Jong fed Pedri to allow the Spanish league leaders to equalise. I'd have been happy with that, but an Adeyemi shot was saved and fell to the feet of Julian Brandt, who fired into an empty net, and that is a result that puts us top of the group, ahead on goals scored of Newcastle United, who won at Shakhtar. Huge win! Come on! Injury News: We don't get away with injuries ever. It's got to the point I'm not even showing all the little 1-2 days injuries and I'm still getting at least one per update. Unfortunately, our match winner in Barcelona has a torn abdominal muscle and will be out until just before the mid-season break. Julian Brandt has made a slow start to the season, but he hasn't been bad at all recently, and I just wanted him to improve as the season went on. For now, we will have to make do without him. Saturday 7th October 2023: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Union Berlin (Bundesliga) Yet another league game where we only have ourselves to blame. We absolutely played Union Berlin off the park, could have scored 4 or 5, and again we've only come away with a point after a 91st minute equaliser. Thomas Meunier played one of the best balls I've seen on FM24, thumping a curling ball forward which Malen only had to chest down and fire past the keeper for 1-0. It looked like that would be enough to hold on, and surely the worst couldn't happen again... could it? Well, unfortunately, the ball was left well alone and Aaronson had the freedom of Dortmund to fire home at the far post from a right wing cross. This is really not how we wanted to enter the international break. New Contract: We've managed to agree a new deal with Marius Wolf, keeping him at Dortmund until the end of the 2025-26 season, as we aim to keep as many of this team together while we go for those major honours. Injury News: Just after Marius Wolf has come back from his injury, in goes another man into the treatment room, where Niclas Fullkrug will spend the next 5 weeks following a twisted ankle. Friday 20th October 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga) Our third league draw in a row came after I was forced to change our tactic after 9 minutes due to a stupid red card by Salih Ozcan going through a Bremen midfielder. Kobel wasn't tested all that much but this surely made the away side the favourites. We did put the ball in the net fairly late on, but Moukoko was denied his first of the season by the offside flag. A draw I had to take, but still only one league defeat all season. I'm still in favour with the board at the moment, but how long will they keep their cool with us being outside the top 4? Wednesday 25th October 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Newcastle United (UEFA Champions League Group B) I must admit, this was a very boring match. You can say tight and tense, but neither side really seemed set to attempt to win it, probably too worried to lose their top two place in the group. There was only one highlight I viewed, and literally I don't know what made it a key highlight. Newcastle are going well in the Premier League, but they showed nothing but cagey football all night. That being said, both us and Newcastle complete the top two in Group B, with Barcelona a further point behind. This could be an interesting end to the group. Sunday 29th October 2023: Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A sobering defeat today as we drop into the bottom half and Eintracht Frankfurt will end the month in second place in the table. Goals from Marmoush, Max, Koch and Ngankam meant that we left Frankfurt seriously licking our wounds and left me seriously wondering if I have what it takes to make this team any good. Kobel was awful, I actually took him off for damage limitation. I do feel like my job could be on the line here and I'll have to do something quickly. Bundesliga Table Update: RB Leipzig are still the surprise league leaders heading into November, as they remain the only unbeaten side after 9 matches. Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich are the closest challengers on 18 points, with Freiburg in that final Champions League spot at the moment. Bayer Leverkusen are making things interesting for that top 4 spot on 16 points, with another 4 points separating Mainz in 6th, and Union Berlin in 14th. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach are in serious danger of being cut adrift. They're already 5 points adrift of 17th placed Darmstadt, and 6 adrift of both Heidenheim and Bochum. UEFA Champions League Group Update: We lead the group ahead of Newcastle United because of the alphabet half way through. Both teams have 5 points, with our only win being a memorable night in Barcelona. They're currently in third, a point behind the top 2. Shakhtar Donetsk are quickly being cut out of the race to be in Europe after Christmas. Final Word: If this continues, may we have to think about resigning? About attempting to move somewhere else? I'm determined to stick things out. We're really not a bad team. But now is the time to really knuckle down, for my players to learn the offside rule, and to assert ourselves on teams. Our second game of November is Der Klassiker against Bayern and it would be a dream if we could secure something in that. Also next month, it could be an idea to see if any decent European nations are missing out on the Euros, and putting the feelers out there for future international management. With that, I'd love to eventually manage my home nation of England. But first things first, we must start actually winning with this club who should be doing much better than this. Shooting training is a must with 3 matches without scoring. Can we achieve the dream? Let's wait and see. I'll see you next time, as we continue a potential run into Glory Hunter territory.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - September Update I'm getting really excited for this save despite the way it's started. We are back for the September update of this year's Glory Hunter in Season 1. August could have gone better. We haven't lost yet, but a lucky penalty shootout win away at Osnabruck of the 2. Bundesliga got me worried. That was followed by two draws to kick start our league season, especially in the final game when we were actually 2-0 up away at Bochum. We should have held on for that win. Ultimately, I can't believe these lads threw that away. But onwards and upwards, we need to get our season properly going now. We have the chance to rubber stamp ourselves on this year's German title race, plus get to make a mark in the Champions League. But before all of that, I'm going to endure transfer deadline day. I will let you know if anything major happens. New Signing: Emil Breivik - DM, CM/RB - 23 years old - Norway This is our first signing of Deadline Day. Nothing too much, someone who will definitely only be a squad player. We spent £2.8 million on him with the option of a further million to Molde. You may be confused but if worked out correctly, this could be one of the players who the club sell on for a profit if he plays his cards right. He has already played in the Champions League this year as well, so is experienced at the top level. I doubt I'll use him too much this season though. And the Window Slams Shut!!!! Not a very busy transfer window makes it quite boring if you're viewing from afar, but we didn't have bags and bags of money. We've bought two decent squad players, and apart from injuries, we've lost no huge players either which I'm very pleased about. Arsenal did go in for a deal for Mats Hummels last minute but fortunately, he wanted to stay so we survived that. I'm not complaining. All in all, I'm a very content manager. It is also match day in the Bundesliga for us, where we face a home match to newly-promoted Heidenheim, who are suffering in their first season ever in the Bundesliga. Friday 1st September 2023: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Heidenheim (Bundesliga) For the first time this season, after the 70th minute, I was putting my feet up after a very comfortable 4-0 win over Heidenheim who stay rooted to the bottom of the table. Wolf opened the scoring by slotting the ball home with his left foot from the corner of the area. Malen scored the scrappiest goal to give us a second. Goals from Brandt and Fullkrug from the spot, ensured that we showed what we really can do when we put our minds to it. To say I was buzzing when we got the third without struggling is an understatement. 4 goals, three points and a clean sheet is just what the doctor ordered. Now into the international break. Unless something big happens with injuries, I'll see you for the next game. Saturday 16th September 2023: Freiburg 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) As you can see from the stats, Freiburg were on fire in the first half and we were absolutely nowhere near it for my first loss as manager of Borussia Dortmund. Unfortunately, I felt all 3 of the goals were soft, especially when Haller played a defence-splitting pass through our defence. I'm afraid Haller has been nowhere near the level I thought he could be at this season, and he could be one of the first to leave the club in January. The second goal was just Kobel saving the ball and putting it in the wrong place at the wrong time for Holer to nod it home. Holer grabbed a third from a lack of concentration in our defence. We definitely fell apart and am thinking of not using this tactic in the near future as it doesn't work for us. A 3-0 hammering may be just what we needed. Tuesday 19th September 2023: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Shakhtar Donetsk (UEFA Champions League Group B) It wasn't a very special start to the Champions League this season. I won't say we were bad enough to lose, but we weren't good enough to beat the Ukrainian champions in our first Group B match. I decided to move to a diamond after that heavy defeat, and it seemed to work well from the start, scoring a goal inside a minute, albeit it was about half a yard offside. A Marco Reus free kick found Hummels at the far post to take us off the mark. Another set piece goal let Shakhtar equalise in this one and after that we were both cancelling each other out. With it being a 2-2 draw between Newcastle and Barcelona, we all have a point each. Could be tight this season. Saturday 23rd September 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Wolfsburg (Bundesliga) Our second win of the season, and our second home win of the season came in a hard fought win over Wolfsburg, and has restored my faith in changing to the diamond. Schlotterbeck got his first goal of the season, as did Geovanni Reyna as we moved up the table to the cusp of the Champions League places. I must admit, I started to get nervous when Zesiger got one back for Wolfsburg, but the defence stayed on top, despite Wolfsburg continually attacking us all game, and we took the win which was desperately needed after last week's thrashing at Freiburg. Injury: It has been a quiet month in terms of injuries but Marius Wolf will be out for about a month after picking up a hamstring strain. He has been an unsung hero at right-back and will be a loss to the team but hopefully we can power on. Injury: Another injury in our back line unfortunately. Filipe Relvas has had a couple of appearances this season and has been quite effective. I do like the fact he was brought to my attention. Unfortunately, he will be out for up to 5 weeks with damaged knee cartilage. Sounds quite painful tbh after what I've been through in real life but hopefully he comes back in the same vein of form. Friday 29th September 2023: Hoffenheim 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) That was honestly the worst defensive performance of the season. Despite what the stats say, we went 2-0 up, I took a chance by playing Lotka in goal for example and it backfired. It was going far, far too well in the first half as Haller and Hummels scored goals in the first 33 minutes which gave us a really strong lead despite Hoffenheim being all over us. Unfortunately Beier got one back before half time for Hoffenheim with the sloppiest back pass I've ever seen. And then sloppy, stupid passing again allowed Kramaric to feed in Kaderabek which earned Hoffenheim a point and a point they probably deserved, but none of these players are getting rests from training as they were that awful at the back. League Table Update: As we hit the end of September, RB Leipzig have a 1 point lead at the top, with Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen making the title race more interesting at the moment. We're currently 4 points off the top 4, which we have ruined with shocking defending, giving away simple goals, and picking up far too many draws. This has to change. At the bottom, Borrusia Monchengladbach have been awful with only 1 point from their opening 6 games, with the promoted duo just above them, albeit Heidenheim picked up their first win of the season at home to Werder Bremen. Champions League Update: Only been one game so far in the group stage in the Champions League, but currently it's 1 point apiece. Never good to be bottom of the group, but definitely not the worst position to be in when everyone is doing the same at the moment. Join me next time: Yes, next time we do return immediately to Champions League football. We've got Barcelona to kick things off in the month of October. When that will be I'm not sure as obviously we all have family stuff to do over Christmas. It may even be after Boxing Day, potentially closer to the start of the New Year. Thank you for the support, and let me know what I'm doing wrong defensively. Am I not training them enough? Am I switching tactics too often? Let me know below, and I will see you soon as we aim to win every big trophy across Europe, in 20 seasons.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - August Update Hello and welcome to part 3 of this Glory Hunter save and without further ado, we do carry on with what should have been in the last update. Let's go!!!! Tuesday 8th August 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Fiorentina (Pre-Season Friendly) Our final pre-season game was against Italian giants Fiorentina, and we took them to the cleaners in this match with a solid 2-0 win using that 4-3-3 I threatened I'd use and the one that I used away in Bologna. Giovanni Reyna and Marcel Sabitzer both got on the scoresheet as we made defending and taking our chances look very simple. Reyna got his customary belter, this time it was a volley from just inside the area. Get a few of them in the league, and goal of the season is ours. Transfer Bid I have decided to make a bid for Luka Sucic from Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg. The scouts sent me his report and they reckon he could be someone Dortmund could use in the future. He could also be someone for my benefit because if he becomes absolute mega, he could be someone I use at any one of my future clubs. Let's see if he will come in and then we can see what he's all about. Saturday 12th August 2023: VfL Osnabruck 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (aet; Borussia Dortmund win 5-4 on penalties) (DFB-Pokal First Round) I'm angry! Angry beyond belief we were taken that close by a second tier side who have lost their first two league matches. On the other hand, Osnabruck were incredible defensively, and took us to penalties after grabbing an early equaliser to our opener, which was well worked by us. A short free-kick by Marco Reus found Paris Brunner on the edge of the box, and a shot from the edge of the D found the post before rolling in for 1-0. They equalised with a cross from the right finding Conteh unmarked and making it 1-1. No matter how much we tried to break them down, it just wasn't happening until we found the net from a corner in the 120th minute. It was ruled out for something, FM didn't tell me. I thought the shootout was lost when Haller missed the first, but two important saves by Lotka meant Brandt could confirm our place in the Second Round. We got lucky though! Sucic Deal Off: Unfortunately Luka Sucic has said no to joining us as he has just signed a new contract with Red Bull Salzburg. Karim Adeyemi is back in full training which is great to see. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do now he's got a new lease of life in him. DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw It's another 2. Bundesliga side in the second round of the DFB-Pokal. This time Holstein Kiel will provide the challenge. They've obviously started the season well, being in 6th in their league. Hopefully it should be far more straightforward. But that will be for the November update after Christmas. Now, we enter the league. Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich on night one. So let's see what we can do and see if we can go a win clear of the Bavarian side. Saturday 19th August 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 FC Koln (Bundesliga) The most annoying opening day ever! We should have scored chance after chance after chance but we couldn't break their defence down again. We had the trouble against Osnabruck, but we got through it. The defence had the best game ever, but the strikers need to get firing. Not much more to say here unfortunately. 0-0 draw. Things can only get better. Injuries are hard, they're hard to take. When it effectively rules out Felix Nmecha for the majority of the season, that hurts. I cannot believe our lack of luck with injuries. He played a number of games in the last update in the pre-season matches. Hopefully he will be half decent when he comes back but I'm not entirely sure. Saturday 26th August 2023: VfL Bochum 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Can I stop drawing in normal time please? Especially after taking a 2-0 lead in this match, I genuinely thought we were gonna be ok when it came to holding on to this lead, especially how decent we were at the back last weekend. An opening goal from Sabitzer after storming into the area, followed by a penalty from Haller made it 2-0 fairly quickly. Second half, we just fell apart. Goals from Schlotterbeck and Ordets gave Bochum a fighting chance of potentially even snatching a win. We missed a guilt-edged chance right at the end but it went narrowly over and that was that. I said in pre-season I was worried we'd fall asleep at the back. So despite having what looked like a straightforward 6 points, we only have the 2. 2-2 at full time. For the final time, there is a UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw. We can definitely nab at least 2nd place in this group. I reckon it'll be us behind Barcelona, Newcastle third and Shakhtar 4th but it will be a tight group. It's not easy in the slightest. This is the league table at the end of August 2023. Mainz and Werder Bremen have had 100% starts at the top of the league with FC Koln, RB Leipzig, Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen also unbeaten on 4 points. The newly promoted pair, Heidenheim and Darmstadt, have both started life in the top flight poorly with 0 points for either as well as Borussia Monchengladbach at the bottom of the league. We're still unbeaten at least, but we currently sit in 13th. I'm sure it'll all turn around soon, but it's been a poor start really. We have made it to the end of the month. Thank you for being interested at least. And tell me who you think I should sign on deadline day. I will be back tomorrow with transfer deadline day (despite the fact I've only bought one player). Thank you for joining and I'll see you soon.

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - Pre-Season Update Hello and welcome back to your first update of this save, the first one with any significant movement in it. Today we are going to go through our first transfer window, and our first few games as the manager of Borussia Dortmund. We have aims and ambitions for this season, especially when it comes to fighting for the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. We have to prepare for a long season. First of all, we are going to go through where we are predicted to finish, and what we've got to spend this Summer. This season, we are expected to finish in the same position as the club did in real life last season of 2nd, with Bayern Munich being quite comfortably the favourites to retain their crown for the 12th consecutive season. The entire League Strongest XI is nearly full to bursting with Bayern Munich talent, the one player from us being our goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, the 25-year-old from Switzerland. In a moment we will go through our top 5 players at the start of the game, with their attributes, and then take another look at our strongest XI. It's a very healthy overall balance with over £53,000,000 in the club itself, with over £8,000,000 in transfer budget available. My thinking will be looking at particular players we may not need for the future, and we need players who will be strong enough to carry us over the line this season. We've still got just over £100,000 a week to be able to spend on new contracts which may be a good idea for us at some point. Borussia Dortmund Top 5 Players According to Football Manager Star Ratings Gregor Kobel - Goalkeeper - 25 years old - Switzerland' He is the best goalkeeper in the league according to the season preview screen. All we need is a goalkeeper that can stop the ball from flying past him and with reflexes of 17, one on ones being 16, and many greens and yellows across the board, he can just about do anything. What I do like as well is a goalkeeper who can play out from the back, and with passing of 13, I believe he is the man who can keep us safe between the sticks. Nico Schlotterbeck - Centre Back/Left Back - 23 years old - Germany Our second best player according to my management team is Nico Schlotterbeck, and he's someone who can attempt to keep us solid at the back. I do like a team that gets stuck in and his tackling stats make for good reading. He's going to be strong going into the headers with his jumping reach of 16. His determination and work rate is going to be a help to the team as well as we attempt to mount a challenge at the top. Julian Brandt - Centre Midfield - 27 years old - Germany Julian Brandt! JAAAAAAAAAAAA! That's the last I'm going to mention it unless he scores a worldie. But his stats definitely look strong for one of our veterans of our team - seriously. His passing and technique are the first things I noticed looking at this. He obviously likes to show off in terms of flair, and his vision will lead to great chances created for the team. Hopefully he can be what we're looking for when it comes to setting up the chances, and maybe finishing a few off himself. Niklas Sule - Centre Defender - 27 years old - Germany The good thing to see with Sule's stats are that he's at his prime when it comes to his physicals. 17 in balance and jumping reach, a 16 for pace and 18 for strength. He's another one who can keep us solid at the back, and get a few goals from set pieces. Marco Reus - Centre-Midfield - 34 years old - Germany I've got a feeling this could be one of his last seasons when it comes to actually playing for the Black and Yellow here in Germany. But he's still got the ability to be in the top five players at the club. He needs little introduction to any football fans. Hopefully he can still unlock a defence. Strongest XI This is our strongest XI with the formation I believe I will use the most. Although all that could change before we start the new season. First injury of the save and one that I do find annoying, especially when in our pre-season tour of Austria, we'll be going all out to get a few goals past our opposition. Karim Adeyemi is set to miss the start of the season after picking up a hamstring strain during a friendly for the second team. Just to let you know, I have started attempting to sign players by this point. He will become a squad player with the promise he will be a regular starter by his second season, should he join the club. He's someone my scouts wanted to go for straight away so hopefully we will get this through. Wednesday 26th July 2023: SVG Reichenau 1-5 Borussia Dortmund (Friendly) I mean, if we hadn't scored a few goals in this game, I would have been worried. An easy 5-1 win against Austrian lower-league opposition with 5 different goalscorers. It all started off with a beautiful Sabitzer free-kick and Moukoko volleying home a second. Further goals from Malen, Nmecha and Julian Brandt made sure we weren't left red-faced, even as Hubmann got one back for the underdogs. A strong start to pre-season. Friday 28th July 2023: SK Vorwarts Steyr 1-5 Borussia Dortmund (Friendly) The Austrian pre-season tour continued with another dominant display against lower-league opponents. My top performers in this one were Marco Reus for being involved in a couple of the goals, and a run out for the youngster Paris Brunner, who came up from the youth teams to be involved in this one, and was rightly named player of the match. Geovanni Reyna scored a screamer from distance to make it 2-0 in this game, and Mats Hummels got onto the end of a corner for 3-0. Brunner rifled home for 4, and Fullkrug tapped in a simple cross for 5-1. Their goal came from a lapse of concentration in our defence, which although we've won these comfortably, I wanna just be more assertive at the back before the season starts. But again, no complaints from me, everyone is getting game time and goals. Unfortunately, the weekend after our second win of pre-season, this report came in after Mats Hummels suffered a twisted knee in training. Thankfully he's only out for just over a week and he will be back before we play our DFB-Pokal First Round tie. I don't yet know who that will be against but it's normally a very simple tie. Almost as if I knew the first round draw was coming up isn't it? We've got a tie away at VfL Osnabruck of the 2. Bundesliga. It should be a fairly simple passage through as they're predicted to be 16th in the second tier but surprises do always happen. Look at Saarbrucken in real life in this competition. We've got to go into this game professionally. New Signing - Filipe Relvas - Defender (Left, Centre) - 23 years old - Portugal Our first signing as Borussia Dortmund manager. Definitely not a fanfare signing but he will do a job when he's coming on during a game at the back. Filipe Relvas has come from Portimonense, he's 23 years old. His work rate and heading are to be admired, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to make him available for the second team right now. But he's definitely in my plans as a sub. Monday 31st July 2023: Siegen 2-3 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) It wasn't our best performance, especially at the back, but 3 from 3 in pre-season is never a bad thing. My worry again is our defence, 2 goals conceded against a team who's league isn't in the game when we came home to Germany. We were 1-0 down at half time, Pistor giving the underdogs the lead. We did turn it around with 3 unanswered goals, Reyna, Haller and Malen scoring decent strikes to secure the win. Filipzik got a goal back for Siegen but we managed to hold on for an almost embarrassing result. Wednesday 2nd August 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Borussia Dortmund Second XI (Pre-Season Friendly) Our first failure to win came at a few costs although you will see what I mean in just a moment. A 2-2 draw against our own second XI should mean I'm happier because it means our lads are all good at the football club, but I got disappointed after I took most of my first team off early on during the game. Fullkrug scored a double before being taken off, and then our defence fell asleep again, with 2 goals from Konig earning the reserves a great result. But more news was to come and it would be bad. Yousouffa Moukoko was due to have started coming off the bench, and then starting against easier clubs to beat, but the fact is he is now out for the next couple of months after picking up sprained knee ligaments, which has put my plans into tatters when it comes to using him. And yet more injuries. Franz Pfanne is going to be out with a groin strain and he will be out for 3-4 weeks. I'm not overly involved with training, leaving the coaches to do what they do, but if you have any serious experience with training and injuries, I'll throw it out there. What would you do to slow the injuries down? I'm actually going to be decimated at this rate, and we can't win a title with everyone picking up injuries. Saturday 5th August 2023: Bologna 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) Our first friendly which I thought might cause us problem definitely did, but we picked up a huge result away at Serie A side Bologna. We gave away a penalty in the first half which van Hooijdonk scored to give the home side the lead. A Sabitzer shot from 25 yards out proved too hot to handle for their goalkeeper and he spilled it over the line for 1-1. We then scored a winner late on, as a Ryerson cross from the right found Brandt running in and he volleyed into the roof of the net to salvage a wonderful win which showed this team has character. I was going to include my final pre-season friendly in this update but I've actually ran out of allowed space in this particular update for screenshots so our final update for the day will be coming up next. It wasn't planned so I will see you in a minute.

Ladies and gentlemen, one and all, it's got to that time of year. I've played my initial FM24 saves and now I've worked the game out, I'm going to play out my Glory Hunter for Football Manager 2024. It's one of the most ultimate challenges in the Football Manager community and this would be my first year actually completing it. If you know what it's all about, then you won't need an explanation. But just in case you're brand new, whether this is your first game or not, or if you're coming back to the franchise after many years away, this is how this particular challenge works. The Rules: In Europe, there are a group of leagues known as the top 5 major leagues. They are the top leagues of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain (Premier League, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga). In those countries lie 6 domestic cups as well. England is the outlier with two, being the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. Most people don't play the Glory Hunter with the Carabao Cup, but I will be to complete this challenge. The other cups are the Coupe de France, DFB-Pokal, Coppa Italia and the Copa Del Rey. As well as winning those, I must also win the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the UEFA Europa Conference League. There is also an international side to this challenge for it to be completed. I must manage a nation to the Euro title, and last but by no means least, the FIFA World Cup. It's not going to be an easy challenge, despite the fact I'll be managing some amazing clubs. I have to beat the other top clubs, and also don't forget, I have to win the smaller European trophies, which means a journey to the teams that ended 7th in their respective leagues. The other side to this challenge? All these trophies must be won in 20 seasons. It won't be easy, but it will be fun and I hope you enjoy the journey with me. For now though, shall we find out who we're managing? Deciding my Team: I have decided to pick from 8 different clubs from across Europe. I have placed all these clubs into a wheel, and the wheel will knock them out one by one until we know which team we will be heading to in our first season. Don't forget the aim is to win trophies, so for me, all these are capable of winning some form of title in the first season. Let's look at our potential candidates. All these sides have hit some hard times recently. It's now time to spin the wheel, and in the click of my fingers, we will see which club we are managing. I've decided not to put on the team badges because I'm not that bothered. If you don't like it, then that's a you thing. We have a team!!!!!!!!! Here we go, below you will see the team the wheel has picked. This club are one-time Champions League winners, with a lot of trophies in their home country. They did have Paul Lambert in their Champions League winning team, but in more recent years, there's been one other team dominating the trophies in their country. Did you guess who it was before you scrolled down? If so, well done. If not, well wait no longer. Yes, we are starting our brand new save at Signal Iduna Park, as we try to please the yellow wall, and take Borussia Dortmund back to the top of the Bundesliga. With a Bayern Munich side that stole the title in the very last match of last season, we are going to be wanting to have a shot at claiming back the crown that this club hasn't had since 2012. It looks like we only have a modest transfer budget of £8,000,000. But we do also have the chance to sell and buy at this level, but I will only do realistic buys and I never use the player search screen. At the start of the next update, we will go through everything properly financially. I'd also love to know if 11 runners-up slots in the Bundesliga is the most for that particular league. 4-3-3 has been my go-to tactic in FM24 to begin a save, and it's always good to see in the preview screens that our squad can potentially play it. We've still got the lynchpins in the team of Mats Hummels, Julian Brandt (Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! If you know, you know), and Marco Reus. Sebastian Haller also leads the line. Emre Can being in this time gives me that anchor that I need to break up the defence and the midfield, he will get himself a few assists this season. I'd love Jude Bellingham to still have been at Borussia Dortmund for the purposes of this save but that's ok. We have to deal with it. I don't see us being at Borussia Dortmund for more than a couple of years and that is when they want the Bundesliga title by. I think we can win it by the end of the 2 years. The Champions League would be a major bonus but we will wait and see what will happen with that. In the first year, it's all about who we can get in the group and hopefully, UEFA are generous to us. Attacking football is definitely the way forward to play proper football, and I'm very much the kind of manager to score one more goal than you basically. Signing German players seems to be the way forward in the Bundesliga anyway so that's no surprise for me. And then, finally make sure the players we sign are sold for a profit. I don't know about you, but I will be playing just for the next couple of years, I can't be here for any longer than that. If we sign really big players, then that'll be the one I'm afraid. The fans are very much the same as the board, wanting us to be right up there, and obviously battering Schalke as well. That is your brief introduction into this challenge, the beginning of 20 seasons of hope and dreams hopefully coming true. Thank you for enjoying the first part of my Glory Hunter save. I am planning a second part later today, as we begin our title push in the Bundesliga and hopefully today, we reach the end of the transfer window. That'll be out either this evening or tomorrow morning. Until then, best of luck in your saves, and if you're attempting this challenge, let me know who you're starting with. Until then, goodbye.

Thank you for showing off this challenge. First time I've done it and the club closest to me at Level 10 is Wellingborough Whitworth of the Spartan South Midland League Division One. Let's do this.