mpm2342

Second game of the season against the main challengers, Europa FC went better than the first one and we won comfortably. We now sit 10 points up with 5 games left. UEFA Europa League Game 8: Final game is against Sarajevo from the Bosnian Premier League. Bosnia and Herzegovina is 35th in the Nation Club rankings and Sarajevo is 338th in the European club coefficient rankings. This game looks more like one we should have a chance in. Alas, it was not to be as we went down a man at the 60th minute mark up by a goal and proceeded to concede 3 goals the rest of the way for the loss. Happy to have made the Europa League, but was hoping for a result or two.

4 more league games and 4 wins. Lynx out played us, so we were fortunate to come away with the victory there. I mixed that lineup up too much I think. UEFA Europa League Game 7: Next up is RC Lens from the Ligue 1 Uber Eats . France is 7th in the Nation Club rankings and RC Lens is 194th in the European club coefficient rankings (that is going to take a big jump after what they have done this year). RC Lens is top of the table in the Europa League, so will try and play more defensive and see what happens. Not sure we are going to stand a chance in this one either way. The game was closer than I thought it would be as it took 2 late goals for them to win. Alonso got sick before the game, so we started the backup keeper.. probably didn't make a difference, but a couple of their goals looked savable. That result gives me confidence that maybe we are not that far away from being able to win a few in the Europa League.

Gibraltar is a lot of fun. Getting to the top of the league is not too difficult, but Europe is proving to be a significant challenge as expected. Have to be patient to develop homegrown players and play homegrown players so they develop which means don't bring in too many stars / important foreigners. That is one thing I have to adjust. Glad you have enjoyed the thread.

UEFA Europa League Game 6: Next up is Trabzonspor from the Turkish Super League. Turkey is 8th in the Nation Club rankings and Trabzonspor is 97th in the European club coefficient rankings. Not sure we are going to stand a chance in this one either. Nope, going down a man at the 7 min mark certainly would not have helped the team at all. No chance left of making the next stage, so have to hope for a result in the final games, though the next one is against RC Lens who is top of the table. We have had a tough draw so far.

Two more wins brings us to the half way point in the Gibraltar League regular season. We are controlling all the league games except for the Europa FC game we lost. Six points clear of the rest of the field at halfway is a nice lead, hopefully we can stretch that out further before the championship round. Looking at the players whose ratings improved the most from the beginning of the season Jay Key: +2.5 as AP(A) and +3.1 as DLP (S) Oscar Marcos: +2.5 as AP(A) and +2.9 as DLP(S) Michael Negrette: +1.6 as W(S) Aaron Alonso: +1.2 SK(S) Alex Morata: +1 CD(D) No major declines from any of the starters. The only change I am going to make is to switch Key and Marcos so Key is playing the DLP position. Taking a look at the half way stats and the starters are performing well, so the lineups are in good shape. Will report on the ratings and stats in detail at the end of the season.

Two more wins in the Gibraltar league has us sitting on the top of the table. UEFA Europa League Game 5: Next up is LASK from the Austrian Premier League. Austria is 10th in the Nation Club rankings and LASK is 42th in the European club coefficient rankings. The voters don't give them a chance..... 83% win likelihood for us, that is crazy. I thought the polls were interesting, but this one feels so far off to not make it worth paying attention to. And sure enough, they dominated us on the pitch. not much to say about the game other than we scored.

A couple more league games including our first defeat of the season to Europa FC. We bounced back with a good showing against Man 62. Juggling the need to have 5 players who are homegrown with the rest of the playing time commitments is hard. There are 3 legit homegrown starters and the rest are backups. The problem I am running into is the better players I signed are expecting to start more and when one of the 3 get injured, it becomes tough. I think I need to slow down picking up good foreign players until I can develop the homegrown talent more.... interesting dilemma. UEFA Europa League Game 4: Next up is Stuttgart from the Bundaslige. Germany is 4th in the Nation Club rankings and Stuttgard is 72th in the European club coefficient rankings. The voters actually give us a chance, but I don't. We are not ready for the top flight teams yet. I am happy we scored 3 and satisfied we kept it somewhat close. Our next game is not any easier, but we close the Europa league with 3 games we could potentially see points from.

UEFA Europa League Game 3: Next up is Tottenham from the Premier League. England is 1st in the Nation Club rankings and Tottenham is 58th in the European club coefficient rankings. The voters don't give us much chance and I don't either. This one was embarrassing with 2 send offs. How are we supposed to hold them off two men down .. sheesh. On to the next one with hopefully better results. We weren't going to win anyways, but that was a beat down.

We played a couple more league games winning both. Still mixing up the lineups a lot to manage fitness for the Europa League, injuries and homegrown. Fortunately we have a lot of depth this season to the point that I think our second team could win the Gibraltar league.

UEFA Europa League Game 2: Next up is Lazio from the Italian Series A. Italy is 2nd in the Nation Club rankings and Lazio is 26th in the European club coefficient rankings. We shouild have no chance in this game. Best bet is to try and keep the score down for score differential purposes. I don't know who they polled for the votes, but 18% think the Lions can win? They are crazy. We lost, but managed to keep it relatively close. We are just holding onto a spot in the playoff, so in a position to have a shot at it. Unfortunately, Jay Key got injured for 4 weeks. That one will hurt.

The regular league season has started and the Lions are off to a flying start with 2 dominate victories. Mixing the squad up to maintain the 5 homegrown players, deal with injuries and try to balance playing time expectations... going to be a challenge for this season, next season we get a number of players who become homegrown which will definitely help.

UEFA Europa League Game 1: First up is Rosenborg from the Norwegian Premier Division. Norway is 11th in the Nation Club rankings and Rosenburg is 130th in the European club coefficient rankings. Their average salary is "only" £879 p/w, more than us for sure, but way less than the £10K that Kobenhavn spends. The poll seems to think we have an outside shot. Kawe got hurt and is going to miss a few games, so time for the youngster to step up again. Well, we came away with a draw, which at least gives us some points. We edged them on XG, but they dominated possession which rarely happens to us, so I think we are fortunate to get a result. As a bonus, we got £180K for the draw.

Pepe Reyes Cup Two days off and the Gibraltar season kicks off with the Pepe Reyes Cup. Decided to give the main squad a day off and the backups and homegrown players some match time. It went well. We won the match, not as comfortable as with the full squad, but good to see the rest of the team step up. Once again Yenpariye shows that he is very capable as our attacker. We have a couple of weeks off and then the Europa league and regular season gets rolling. I love watching the highlights with him as he is 6'3" and 211lbs, so looks much bigger than the rest of the players.

EUFA Champions League Champions Path Fourth Qualifying Round The fourth round has us facing Kobenhavn from the 3F Superliga in Denmark. Denmark is 12th in the nation club rankings and Kobenhavn is 35th in the European club rankings. We should not have a chance here. The vote says otherwise though and gives us a glimmer of hope. First leg at home is in the books and we managed to force a draw with a late goal. Overall we were out played and out chanced, so not hoping for much when we go to their stadium Second leg and an emphatic exit from the competition. Kobenhavn is just too much for the Lions at this stage in the development of the club. Fantastic showing for the club in the Champions League give us £4.28M to spend on upgrading the club along with another £2.91M for qualifying for the UEFA Europa League League Phase. Our schedule was revealed and it looks pretty tough. We might be able to grab 3 wins from the list if things go our way and that might be barely enough to get a playoff game... either way potential for some more money and boosts to the rankings.

EUFA Champions League Champions Path Third Qualifying Round The third round has us facing Ferencvarosi from the Hungarian Division 1. Hungary is 24th in the nation club rankings and Ferencvarosi is 69th in the European club rankings. We should not have a chance in this, but the squad has played together for a while and is in good form, so maybe we have a chance? First leg away from home and we won! Amazing result in a game that was level on XG but we had the edge in shots and possession. Alonso got player of the match as he stepped up his game amidst rumours of us bringing in a GK on loan to challenge for his spot. We come back home with a one goal lead and a definite chance to pull this one out. Back home and we did it !!! Astounded that we managed to pull out the victory and move on to the next round. Kawe delivered and it looks overall like we had more shots and better chances with a significant edge in XG. Some celebration on the Rock after this one. We brought in two more players. An 18yr old GK on loan who I will try and sign after as he can become homegrown and he is almost as good as Alonso with a lot of potential. We also signed Jamie Coombes as a backup winger / midfielder. He is an important depth player who is homegrown. I love his consistency.

EUFA Champions League Champions Path Second Qualifying Round The second round was a very positive surprise. We won 6-0 at home and then took the away leg as well. Did not expect that at all. Yenpariye got 4 goals in the 2 games and is playing himself into some more starts with the way he has filled in for Kawe

7th is fantastic. You are already 15 point clear of relegation, so hopefully can focus on the Europe spots without worrying about that. The team seems to be benefiting from playing together for a few years.

In other news, we signed 3 more players who were 18 at the time of signing, so will become homegrown at club for the European adventures. Had to spend more than I wanted to but both CD players have great ratings (Morata 55.4, Sofikitis 54) which is almost as good as our current starters, so they will get lots of playing time and hopefully grow to their 5 star potential. Tamargo is more of a depth player depending on how well he grows into his 4 star potential. I moved transfer budget to wage budget to afford these signings.

EUFA Champions League Champions Path Second Qualifying Round The second round has us facing SK Slovan Bratslava from the Slovak First Division. Slovakia is 26th in the nation club rankings and Slovan Bratislava is 102 in the European club rankings. This is going to be a tough one to get past.

EUFA Champions League Champions Path First Qualifying Round Iceland is ranked 31st in the European Nation Club rankings, a big move up from 43rd last season. Vikingur R is ranked 222 another big move up from 391last season. They had a very successful European campaign last year... just checked their bank balance and they have 15.6M sitting there. Game one in their lovely stadium (pic in last season's storyline) is in the books and we come out with a victory and a goal up - different score, but same situation as last season. Great game by Kawe, but unfortunately he got hurt and is out for 4 weeks. Time to see how the young Yenpariye can do. Game two and we won! We dominated the game and should have won by more than one goal, but I will take it for sure. In other Gibraltar club news, Europa FC won their UEFA Europa Conf. League Path First Round against Bala and Magpies also won against Hibernians... great to see them collecting some cash and improving Gibraltar's ranking. So far we have earned 2.000 points which is a great start.

July has arrived and so have a few players and an update on where we stand. The nation club coefficients went up nicely, but so did a lot of the nations right around us, so Gibraltar is back to 50 in the nation club ranking, positioned well for a jump this season if we (and Europa FC and Magpies) can win a few games in Europe. The club turned professional and got a nice reputation boost along with an increase in value. The money we made last season in Europe made significant improvement in the clubs facilities and infrastructure... looking for that to start delivering rewards. We signed some players in the month: Ganet is a very strong BWM and will play in the European games always and start some league games if we can balance the homegrown numbers. Cortinhas and Pinto are futures with good potential who will train with the team, get some spot starts and develop(hopefully) as they start the 3 year journey to become homegrown. The draw for the first round of the champions path resulted in a rematch with Vikingur R. who we met up with last season in the UEFA Europa League competition where they knock us out. Their overview hasn't changed much other than their value increasing by 10.6M! Still semi-pro and hopefully we can defeat them with us having a stronger squad this time.

POSITIONAL REVIEW GK Robba had better statistics than Alonso, but Alonso played the tougher matches. I think GK is a position to maintain a homegrown player as the difference in performance doesn't seem to affect the game. This position is up in the air for me at the moment. CD Hastings performs well statistically, but his physicals deteriorated over the year and I will be letting him go. Nothing really jumps out at me from the rest... Edwards and Thompson are loan players and will be leaving. Diaz and Rojas will be starters. I am going to try and get a homegrown CD in the mix to give flexibility and hopefully someone with growth. FB Roman played the majority of the games on the right and did very well. Galliano started the year at LFB, but was replaced by Britto. Britto out performed Galliano, so will be the starter. Rumbo was a sub and got lots of minutes at RFB and did very well. Olmos played only at RFB and also did well. Either one of them is still a decent cheap backup option. BWM Cottrell played alreight from the match summaries, so I think my measurements are not suited to the way the BWM plays in this tactic. Overall happy with his play, but will grab a homegrown or 18 and under upgrade if I can find one. DLP All three of the DLP were very good. Parker is captain and homegrown, Key is homegrown, but mostly played AM and Marcos will be homegrown in 2 more season. Parker is older and not growing, so will phase him out in favour of the other two depending on where Key plays. Key will start either here or at AM because of his growth potential. Marcos has 4* potential, so will get some playing time, starts if we can. AM Marcos and Barber are not homegrown and Marcos outplayed Barber, so gets the nod for when Key plays DLP. We are in good shape with these 4 players for the 2 spots Winger Negrette was great and homegrown. De Stefano deserves to start. McClafferty will become homegrown in one year and will be a great backup/league starter ST was able to resign Kawe, so he is the guy. We have Yenpariye developing who will move into the main squad and get starts and playing time as he will become homegrown in two years and I love his physicals - he has a 53 rating as a TF (S).. could be an interesting twist to the tactic to play with. Summary of needs / wants: homegrown or 18&U GK to backup or start homegrown or 18&U CD to backup or start depth at right FB (Rojas is alright there, but looking for an upgrade) homegrown BWM homegrown anywhere 18&U anywhere Same routine as last season: check national teams and go after Gibraltar players 18&U players with expiring contracts in Spain, Portugal and France... allowing myself to go a bit broader since we played in Europe last season and the board gave me enough budget to scout western Europe. Get the scouts looking for 18&U and looking for homegrown players across our scouting area GM recommendations, keep asking and keep looking at the 18&U. Will wait to do loans until July and use them to fill holes.

End of Season Analysis: Team average ranking on my spreadsheet ratings improved from 51.1 to 55.2. As you can see below, we are now in the same calibre as VNN/S and VNN. Central midfielders and fullback are lower than the rest compared to the leagues above us. Good starting point for the in depth positional review looking at player progression, statistical performance and position needs The ending squad looked different than the squad that played most of the season because of the three Argentinians who came on board in the new year. They will all be starters for cup matches and maybe league depending on homegrown numbers. Major positive changes in Ratings: Jay Key + 4.1 as DLP and +3.6 as AP from the end of last season. Frankie Edwards +4 from signing - he is 19 and can become homegrown in 2 more seasons if I go get him. Time to spend some transfer cash and see if I can land him... (update) Colchester want 500K for him... too rich for this stage. Aaron Alonso +2.1 from signing I can't wait to see what growth I can get from them after training full time. Major drops: Yome -3.5 Bosio -3.2 Parker has stayed the same for the past 2 seasons - great player, but will become a useful backup next season. A deep dive into the attribute progression for Key and Edwards: For Key, he has really developed his physicals - I had him on endurance and then agility individual training to help. You can see the two year growth below. Key has 5* potential, so still room to grow. Edwards grew well across the board and has potential to still grow (5*)

End of season awards had the Lions well represented again: We officially turned professional on May 25th and the board set the budget: Salary budget jumped up a tiny bit, but holy cow, £716K transfer budget? I don't expect to need to use much, if any transfer spending to improve the team, so that money will get moved to scouting to let us start scouting parts of Europe and to wage budget if needed. Nice to have the funds there though if I can find a young star worth chasing. We have also gotten room to hire more coaches and a sports scientist, so I have put ads out for those. Haven't been showing the coaching hires / fires as every year there is a fair bit of turnover as our reputation improves. As an example, I am getting applicants for a fitness coach role with 2 and 3 rating in fitness... they will only stay for one season and then a new one will come in, so am not getting attached to the coaches. The season rolled over and Kawe is now willing to talk to us, so I have offered him a contract as BRA didn't want any money for the transfer. Some more cash came in £90.67K from Europa Conf. League TV money £30.25K from coefficient ranking pool money

Youth intake yield a few prospects who are unlikely to make the team, but I am hoping they may grow enough to benefit other teams in the league. The ones I signed are: Couple of GK with solid ratings for reflexes and handling. If their other attributes can develop, they may turn out ok. Nothing much to get excited about with the next batch other than Parkinson having strong technicals, which seems to be the hardest thing to develop, so will keep an eye on him