DanWarnock

Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ February 2027 February Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | LB Leipzig (A) World class players are a problem. Todays one was Lois Openda. It was a better showing than the 6-1 drubbing we took at home earlier in the season but the Belgian striker had put us to the sword by half time in this one with a hat trick. Dani Olmo ran the midfield and we didn't get close. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Borussia Monchengladbach (H) We were under pressure the whole game in this one and hardly had a sniff of a chance ourselves but managed to keep the visitors at bay. Ronning performed heroics (and a man of the match display) to keep out Frigan and Dietz to ensure we got a point from this one. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Gruether Furth (A) Another point but should have and could have been more. We were under pressure again throughout and Ronning (again man of the match) kept the scores level right up until the 82nd minute when Fabiano cut in off the left flank and fired one into the top corner to put us ahead. Five minutes later though we conceded a penalty when Petrovic brought down Hrgota and Schmidt sent Ronning the wrong way to see us walk away with a point. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Mainz (H) Huge win against the mid table side. van Persie put us ahead with a snap shot from 12 yards after being found by Fabiano. We were looking in control but then on 40 minutes Samardzic threw an elbow at Richter whilst defending an aerial ball and we were down to ten men. Despite this, just before half time we scored a crucial second. Petrovic carried the ball forward just inside the Mainz half on the left hand side and found Fabiano, he shifted the ball to Zeroli and the Italian blasted the ball in from 18 yards. Ronning again put in a huge performance in goal to keep them from scoring and we'd picked up our first win in over three months. ___________________________________________________________________ February Results Overview Excellent set of results here, topped off by that brilliant win against Mainz. ___________________________________________________________________ February Table We finished the month two clear of the automatic relegation spots. As we'd thought end of Jan, it was definitely a case of the battle for 16th place now as we were 8 points adrift of guaranteed safety in 15th. ___________________________________________________________________ March 2027 March Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Borussia Dortmund (A) Yeah we'll take a point! SvP put us ahead; crashing one in off the bar from an Osho cross on 7 minutes to stun the home side. Tim Ronning had continued to play like Thomas Ravelli reborn and we went in at half time ahead. But this was Dortmund and they did finally break us down on 51 minutes; Hugo Larsson dragging home a Ryerson cutback. Then on 65 mins an Adeyemi corner was met by a bullet header from Schlotterbeck to give the home side the lead. They pressed on for a third but with fifteen minutes left a loose pass from Ozcan was picked up by Persson; he shifted the ball through to the edge of the box where Bentaleb found van Persie and the Dutchman swept the ball past Kobel and we were level! ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Koln (H) The four game run was over and despite Koln flying high in the league it felt disappointing to lose this. Moreira had one disallowed early on for a marginal offside but the visitors went ahead on 20 minutes. Zeroli equalised on the half hour with another trademark effort from 18 yards and we went in level at the break. Despite looking the better side throughout, we conceeded just after the restart when a long throw was flicked on and Selke headed home from close range. As we tried to step on to get the equaliser, Koln grabbed the crucial third through Ajorque on the hour. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Bayer Leverkusen (A) Didn't expect to get anything from this one but it was another huge performance away from home and we came so close. We packed men behind the ball and really stifled their attacking intent in this one and the breakthrough came in the 74th minute when Wirtz danced across our 18 yard box and swept the ball past Ronning. We then stunned the home side by pulling level on 86 mins, a front post corner from Bergvall was headed down past Verbruggen by Arrey-Mbi to level things up. But just as we crept into injury time, Candelaria fouled Gnonto inside the box and Boniface hammered the spot kick down the middle to given Leverkusen the win. ___________________________________________________________________ March Results Overview I mean this was a hard set of games, no points could have been quite a realistic eventuality so a point somehow from the most difficult one of them all is acceptable! ___________________________________________________________________ March Table We'd slipped into 17th on goal difference with Bochum picking up a win against Hoffenheim. Our first fixture of April is home to Bochum as well. Big one that. ___________________________________________________________________ Up Next April and May.

Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ January 2027 Transfers The raid of Serbia continues. New bodies in all over the pitch, not as many as I'd like but hopefully this would help us battle against the drop. Players out - Delaney hadn't really done it for us (I should learn from the Kouyate / Mangala incidents) and Turkmen wasn't going to get up to standard. Permanent Deals Nikola Petrovic (£625k) looked absolutely first class. With plenty of room for development as well, already walks into our starting eleven as a DLP. Noah Katterbach (£750k) from Kiel would provide us with a bit of depth and quality at left back. He's not quite the player he was in FM22 but he'd do a job. Facundo Gonzalez (£3m) was a strong option for centre back, given that our defence was rather busy at the best of times he looked like a reliable type. Loan Deals Petar Stojanovic was a bit of a punt to get a right back in, he was again a decent option but not a preferred transfer by any means. Tyrese Campbell was a deadline day punt; taking a chance he can supplement some goals and help us get some points on the board. Again not the player we ideally wanted but it was competition. January Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Wolfsburg (A) We battled hard in this one but came to nothing. Solid performance and defensively held up well for the first half but game was sealed on the hour when Jonas Wind headed home a cross from Archie Brown. We go again. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Eintracht Frankfurt (H) This was a hard one to take, we started so well; Justo picking up a ball from emergency right back Katterbach before driving into the box and slotting across Trapp. We performed well as a unit throughout but it was just that lack of quality throughout; the penalty was sloppy for their equaliser and then a minute later Petrovic lost possession on the middle of the pitch and Abada ran straight into the box and powered the visitors ahead. We toiled in the second half and the game was done when Ljubicic got the third. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Hamburg (A) Under par. No real threat and the home side took the lead early on through Benes. It was hard to work attacking opportunities when we've not quite got the cutting edge or quality (other than the likes of Bergvall, Justo and Zeroli). Another loss. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Bayern (H) A superb showing but on paper it's zero points and another loss. They went ahead through Tel on the half hour and when Sane got the second on the hour we changed it up to press on and have a go. Moriera gave us hope after a long crossfield ball from Fabiano found him, a jink to the right and he smashed home from 18 yards. Then with ten minutes to go, Fabiano picked the ball up from Zeroli and beat three men coming in off the left flank before flicking it past Peretz! Alas, minutes later Sane and Musiala combined for a quick one two after we'd failed to clear our lines from a corner and the latter smashed in from close range. ___________________________________________________________________ January Results Overview Despite a heroic effort against Bayern, it was four wins and four losses. ___________________________________________________________________ January Table The gap to safety was now six points and I doubt our goal difference would improve dramatically either over the teams above us. Looks like we're battling for 16th place at best and we'd have to really try and win the crunch games between now and the season end. ___________________________________________________________________ Other News Staff updates Three top class international quality staff have joined! Robin van Persie has joined for two reasons; firstly he's class and secondly I want him to encourage his son that he has a future at Unterhaching. Fellow Dutchman Michael Reiziger joined and Kolo (Kolo Kolo... Kolo Kolo... Kolo Ko-lo) Toure adds his experience and quality to the backroom staff. ___________________________________________________________________ Up Next February and March.

Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ November 2026 November Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Bochum (A) What a win this was. Justo put us ahead and then the home side looked to have got a point with a soft penalty. But up popped Milos Samardzic with two minutes to go to seal a crucial three points. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Union Berlin (H) Back to back wins and an absolute rout against Union. Jovanovic was on fire in this one and got a 10, curling in a cracking opener and laying on goals for Moriera and Zeroli. Justo again popped up with a goal as well and we were absolutely brilliant throughout. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Freiburg (A) Back to earth with a thud. The home side were sat in second place and absolutely destroyed us. Arrey-Mbi got sent off late on and generally a bad day at the office and a reality check after the two wins. ___________________________________________________________________ November Results Overview I asked for one win, we get two! Back to back and huge wins against teams in and amongst the relegation candidates. ___________________________________________________________________ November Table A couple of wins and suddenly everything feels a lot better. We're in 16th with dire goal difference but we'd got two big wins and that would hopefully give a bit of belief. ___________________________________________________________________ December 2026 December Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Kiel (H) We should have and needed to win this one really. Zeroli put us ahead early doors but they equalised minutes later. A few underwhelming performances from the likes of Samardzic, Justo and Jovanovic didn’t help here at all and after the positivity of November this one felt like a return to the form we had in October. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Stuttgart (A) Well beaten. There was a moment in the second half after van Persies goal to give us hope but as we stepped on to try and get the leveller we were caught on the counter. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Hoffenheim (H) Hoffenheim were flying high but I fancied us going into this one and set up to attack them. This was rewarded by going 2-0 down within ten minutes and we were up against it from there! Bergvall pulled one back late on and despite getting a lot of shots on target we didn’t show enough here. ___________________________________________________________________ December Results Overview Well it was fun whilst it lasted. Should have got a win against Kiel here, that felt like a huge missed opportunity. ___________________________________________________________________ December Table Well we were still in 16th but a further four points adrift from safety. Luckily Bochum and Kiel were in absolutely rancid form which meant we had a couple of teams worse than us at the moment in the division. ___________________________________________________________________ Other News Christmas gifts Manni. What have you done! The chairman has boosted the transfer budget by £4.7m! It wasn't a lot but it was something and hopefully we could get a few loans / permanent deals in to bolster the side in the window. I had no real targets in mind as it's still so hand to mouth with who we actually get in; it's throwing bodies into the squad more than it is targeting specific players. ___________________________________________________________________ Up Next January. Results and transfer news.

Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ September 2026 September Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Leipzig (H) The first ten minutes of this one we pushed on, had an early chance and then won a penalty that Jovanovic dispatched to put us ahead. This was about as good as it got. Leipzig cut through us every time they came forward and it was a massacre. Defensively we’re just nowhere near good enough against the top teams but given the budget constraints we can’t do too much to resolve that. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Borussia Monchengladbach (A) We were dominated again in this one, tried to set them up to soak up pressure but conceding two by the 12th minute ended any hopes of the pre match strategy. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Greuther Furth (H) A deserved win but was a bit sketchy late on. Samardzic gave us the lead after a Bergvall cutback and we had further chances to put it to bed but van Persie and Dordevic missed good chances. Samardzic went from hero to villain when he picked up a second yellow card on 75 mins but we held out well. ___________________________________________________________________ September Results Overview First league win of the season in a game we should have won; the other two games went pretty much to script. ___________________________________________________________________ September Table Early doors but we're in touch still. Goal difference absolutely torn asunder by Leipzig though. ___________________________________________________________________ October 2026 October Results ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Mainz (A) We put in a good performance overall in this one despite the loss. Valencia headed his first for the club after coming on as a sub and Jovanovic could have levelled it late on but his header came back off the crossbar. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Dortmund (H) Dortmund absolutely outclassed us and again defensively we’re just not good enough against these kind of teams. Reyna and Malen ran the show and we couldn’t do anything. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Koln (A) Argh. We were brilliant in this one but switched off late on. Dordevic put us ahead and then they levelled up before half time. Persson and Justo linked up well to put us ahead and we tried put men behind the ball to see the game out but conceded two 90th minute strikers to end up with nothing. The winner was a shot going well wide until it hit Bentaleb and flew in to the corner. Heartbreak. ___________________________________________________________________ DFB-Pokal Second Round | Eintracht Frankfurt (H) Outclassed in the first half and Pepi was unplayable. He had a hat trick by half time and it was game over. Arrey-Mbi pulled one back second half but we were comfortably second best throughout this one. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Bayer Leverkusen (H) We gave a good account of ourselves throughout but it was a silly penalty to give away. Unfortunately you get nothing for a decent performance and it was the final game of a dire month of results. ___________________________________________________________________ October Results Overview Dire. Four league losses and a comprehensive defeat in the cup game. ___________________________________________________________________ October Table This was going to be a long and difficult season. I mean I knew that anyway but October was evidence of it. That goal difference... ___________________________________________________________________ Up Next November and December. A win would be nice, I'll take one!

Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ August 2026 Predictions This might be a step too far for this team at the moment. We have the smallest budget in the league and Kiel and Greuther look like they'll struggle as much as we will based on their operating budgets. I'd take the 16th place relegation playoff in a heartbeat! My Prediction: 16th Place Media Prediction: 18th Place ___________________________________________________________________ August Results Ahead of the Bundesliga season opener we had the first round of the cup against minnows Auerbach - which was good as we didn't even have a full squad to field with the transfer efforts still in full flow! ___________________________________________________________________ DFB-Pokal First Round | Auerbach (A) Absolutely tore the non-league side apart and it was a good thing the gulf in class was so great as we were still filling our the squad desperately before the season opener. van Persie opened the scoring and then Dordevic tucked away two quality efforts before an Arrey-Mbi header sealed it 4-0 ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Hamburg (H) Our starting eleven and squad looked like this ahead of the opener. We'd be trying to stay competitive in games as much as possible this season with a bit of a direct game. Given most of the division would absolutely have more quality than us it would be counter attacking and caution most of the time but for the opener against Hamburg I did fancy our chances. We too a hammering in this one with a bit of a makeshift defense; Hamburg took the lead just before the half hour with a deserved opener. We made a few changes at half time and the introduction of Justo was pivotal. He allowed us to press on with a more attacking approach and after receiving the ball from Bergvall fired home under the keeper from just outside the box. They’d definitely been the better side but a draw on opening day was a great result. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | Eintracht Frankfurt (A) Absolute game of two halves. They absolutely tore us apart first half and we only had a Dordevic reply to their four first half strikes. We steadied it second half and Jovanovic scored on debut to make it 4-2 and Bergvall (who had set up out two earlier goals) struck a stunning third to make the last twenty minutes interesting. We pushed on but to no avail, still needed a bit of cover in the squad but the board weren’t keen on splashing the cash. ___________________________________________________________________ Bundesliga | FC Bayern (A) Welcome to the top flight. This one was fairly academic against our bigger city neighbours. We didn’t register a shot on target and the home side were absolutely dominant. Defensively we do need reinforcements but the budget still isn’t there frustratingly. On the positive side we did limit them to only 29 shots on goal. ___________________________________________________________________ Results Overview Hamburg and Eintracht were promising performances. Bayern - I mean what can you do. ___________________________________________________________________ Table ___________________________________________________________________ Remaining Transfers - August More Serbian kids, a half decent centre mid on a free and two dross keepers on loan. We really needed to be using some of the £35m that was sat in the bank right now but there wasn't a penny more to be spent at this stage. Permanent Deals Milos Samardzic (£625k) was our second Serbian youngster (again from Napredak) and looked like a future superstar but would be a first team starter here for sure. Jovan Jovanovic (£850k) was the final Serbian youngster we picked up in this window and similar to the other two looked to have loads of potential. He could play either as a right sided IF or as the lone striker. Lamine Camara (free) was the last permanent signing of the summer window and looked an extremely versatile and quality centre mid. Loan Deals Arnas Voitinovičius was simply a cheap loan to give us extra cover between the sticks. He was 3rd choice and hopefully we wouldn't need to call on him. Marvin Hubel (loan) was another panicked goalkeeper to come in and cover between the sticks. Not great but marginally 2nd choice. ___________________________________________________________________ End of the window - finances So much in the bank – we could have done with having a bit more of a bold strategy in the window. The commercial income comparison in the division showed the gap on where we just weren't at the level. Not sure it's really an 'interesting' report Manni. Equally the salary spend chart painted a painful picture: ___________________________________________________________________ Funny squad Given things weren't already difficult enough, the players decided to approach me kicking off about the lack of depth. Definitely a question for Manni, not me. ___________________________________________________________________ Up Next September and October.

Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ June 2026 Finances Overall Balance £12,323,000 Transfer Budget £230,000 Wage Budget £120,000 The finances were looking absolutely in the best shape they'd ever been, which was obviously great. However, we were now in the top flight of German football facing off against Dortmund, Leverkusen and Bayern and had a squad and wage budget that made the season ahead already look distinctly impossible. On the plus side we'd also now completely wiped out the net debt. Selling the crown jewels | Building a better budget The successes of the previous season brought with it significant interest in a few of our top players and we were not in a position to turn down big money offers given the state of the budget. We stepped into July with some huge deals agreed for the departure of Jeanuel Belocian, last years star man Faustino Anjorin and Belocian's defensive partner Nathaniel Phillips. This boosted the coffers to near £40m and gave us a bit of a chance of doing something. We negotiated up Belocian's deal to £11.5m and Anjorin I actually drummed up interest in after seeing the interest of Al-Ittihad and knew that they'd be able to pay a handsome fee for him. Phillips was a case of a lot of interest and then offering him out as well. Koubek was the last gasp hero against Kiel in the final game of last season but he wouldn't be at the level for top flight football so was allowed to leave the club and joined Cadiz on a free. Player In! We did get one player signed up and took advantage of an incredibly reasonable minimum release fee. Fabiano had been on loan and although was competing with Moriera for a place on the flank was too good to turn down at that price and his loan was made permanent. Loan Renewals Kevin Zeroli had been with us since the start and Milan agreed to a fourth consecutive loan spell for the midfielder. I would absolutely buy him when we had the money, until then we'd take the loans. Shaqueel van Persie was another big renewal; despite an underwhelming spell last year we had to go for him again and he wanted another year with us. Samuel Justo and Afonso Moriera were absolutely huge and getting them both back from Sporting for another season would give us some much needed quality in whatever happened this season. Date Person From Fee 01/07/2026 Kevin Zeroli AC Milan Loan 01/07/2026 Shaqueel van Persie Feyenoord Loan 01/07/2026 Afonso Moriera Sporting Loan 01/07/2026 Samuel Justo Sporting Loan ___________________________________________________________________ July - August 2026 Squad (as of 1st July) Four loan renewals and three permanent members of the squad (one of which we'd just signed, one of which we're looking to move on and another who has just returned from loan and also wasn't in our future plans). It would be a another busy summer but that's pretty much been standard stuff since starting at Unterhaching. Another one out! Lewis Bate left to join Augsburg for £5m. He'd been great for us last season but that was huge money for a player who we'd easily be able to backfill. ___________________________________________________________________ Transfers (July - August) A lot to report on here as we'd had to rebuild the whole team. Below signings ahead of the Bundesliga opener against Hamburg. Permanent Deals Fabiano (£210k) as outlined in the June update was a steal for what we were getting. A known quantity after his loan spell with plenty of room for development. Nabil Bentaleb (free) looked class and he was coming in on big money (£22k a week!) but again, this was the top flight. Hopefully he'd be able to help dictate play going forward and was an experienced head. Bright Arrey-Mbi (£4.9m). That is not a typo. £4.9m spent on a player. Given the money we'd brought in we had to be splashing the cash and Bright fitted the bill as a young German player and high quality centre back to boot. Slobodan Dordevic (£750k) was a gem our scouting team unearthed in Serbia; the striker signing from Napredak for a bargain price of £750k. Hopefully he could step up and hit the ground running. Domagoj Bukvic (£2m) could play on either flank and again he was a bit of a punt but for the price felt like a gamble worth taking. Tim Ronning (£1.6m) provided us with an upgrade in goal and although he'd have his work cut out looked like he'd be able to hold his own at this level. Jayden Candelaria (£85k) was another one that was too good to turn down at the price. He didn't seem quite at the level for Bundesliga football but he had scope for big improvement and we'd need to be taking our chances on a few players like this. Gabriel Osho (free) had been released by Luton and gave us options at centre and right back. I say options, I'd much rather another player of Arrey-Mbi's quality but again we needed bodies and needed to get some bodies in that we'd hope could do a job. Thomas Delaney (free) was another experienced head with a bit of quality about him who would give us depth in the midfield. Noah Persson (£675k) could play either left back or left mid and gave us depth and options on that side of the pitch. Enner Valencia (free) at 36 years old definitely was a sign of some of the punts we were taking but hopefully when called upon he'd be able to put a shift in up top. Loan Deals Charlie Patino (loan) was a punt on a player who hadn't quite developed but I knew had potential. Didn't look the strongest piece of work on reflection. Lucas Bergvall (loan) was a massive coup. He looked total quality and hopefully could replace the hole that Anjorin had left. Squad (as of 15th August) Short of a few more deals as and where we could get them done, this was about it! ___________________________________________________________________ Next Up August - results and remaining transfers.

Season 2025 / 26 - 2. Bundesliga ___________________________________________________________________ End of Season Review My Prediction: 6th Place Media Prediction: 14th Place Actual Finish: 2nd Place Unbelievable season. Went to the wire but promoted to the top tier. Next seasons budget is absolutely dismal but the money we'll get even if we come straight back down will really set the club up. It'll be a shot to nothing and we're there now anyway. ___________________________________________________________________ Summary ___________________________________________________________________ Best Eleven ___________________________________________________________________ Player of the Season - Faustino Anjorin His contribution in so many games was integral to the push for promotion. Special mentions to Zeroli, Justo and Moriera for their input as well. ___________________________________________________________________ Top Scorer - Faustino Anjorin - 12 League Goals Player of the season and top scorer. Our run was superb considering we struggled to land on a proper goalscorer. ___________________________________________________________________ Youth Intake - 2026 Awful again. It's still only Esmaray worth a bolt out of the class of 2024 and the other two (Heidinger and Turkman) won't be anywhere near the first team. ___________________________________________________________________ Next Up Season 2026 / 27 - Bundesliga!

Mega content dump. I had tried queuing all these up as I'm on holiday for a week but turns out I can't unhide posts once I've hidden them. Checked with mods and they unhid them as was easiest way. Don't read it all at once! Next update will be little over a week away.

Football Manager 2024 2024-05-31 01-43-21.mp4 The Ouattara own goal against Darmstadt. We'd just gone one up and I'd just told them to keep it calm and nothing too silly.

Season 2025 / 26 - 2. Bundesliga May 2026 Big month. This one seemed relevant again. Hertha. Home. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Hertha Berlin (H) Hertha next and despite the visitors sitting in 12th their squad was absolute quality. This was going to be a difficult one. We started with a positive setup but fell behind just after the twenty minute mark. Anjorin put us level with a cool finish to go in level at the break. van Hooijdonk put the visitors ahead just after half time and then the leveller came again on 56 for us with Kanga heading home a majestic cross from Zeroli. We did push and press towards the end but in the circumstances a point would do. Kiel hammered Heidenheim to go top with us sitting second: Away to Darmstadt next (who were actually in great form). We simply had to win. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Darmstadt (A) We threw it away in gutwrenching style and collapsed with tired legs in the second half. We forged ahead well with an early Anjorin goal but then proceeded to concede the most ridiculous own goal I’ve seen in FM. Top bins. I'll upload a video of it if I can work out how. Ramsak headed us ahead however on the quarter hour and then an Anjorin penalty looked to have given us a decent cushion. However the home side countered on the hour to pull one back and then we fell apart for the remainder of the game. Smajic equalised on 78 and the almost inevitable winner came on 85 mins for the home team. This put the title out of reach and automatic promotion out of our hands. Last game was against top side Kiel as well. We needed a win and to hope that Paderborn failed to win at Schalke. ___________________________________________________________________ Ahead of the big game They were already up. We needed to beat them and hope Schalke did us a favour. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Kiel (H) The visitors were in rude form and we absolutely have to be on it to win this one. Not only did we need to win for an outside chance of an automatic berth but failing to win would almost certainly knock us out of playoff contention. Kanga sprung us into an early lead with a great finish from a Justo centre. But despite dominating the early stages our fragility showed as we conceded a soft goal on the half hour. Kiel then hit a post just before half time when it looked easier to score and it was all getting a bit too much. The way things were we were out of the playoff hunt and finishing 4th. Half Time: Unterhaching 1-1 Kiel We kicked off the second half and within 20 seconds had been gifted a crucial goal to put us 2-1 up! Kanga overhit a long ball through towards Ravaglioli and their keeper came out to claim. But on the edge of his box he seemed to only be able to try and chest the ball clear and it fell straight to the Italian striker to tuck into an unguarded net! As it stood, Schalke and Paderborn were level which meant we were looking good. We carried on battling through and then big news at Schalke! Goal at Schalke – 84th minute Schalke 1-0 Paderborn! We just needed to stay ahead. But absolute drama in the 95th minute as a deep Katterbach ball found Sterner at the back post. He steadied himself and the whole season felt like it came down to this. Koubek stood tall. A wonder save! We stayed ahead! Schalke stayed ahead! We were going up! ___________________________________________________________________ Results ___________________________________________________________________ Final Table ___________________________________________________________________ Another title celebration on our pitch Kiel celebrated the title; didn't mind too much as we'd got second place and that was unreal. ___________________________________________________________________ PROMOTED TO THE BUNDESLIGA Prize Money £14.2m! Absolutely huge! 26/27 Transfer Budget Right Manni. How many million we got to throw at this. £15m budget would be ideal. £250k a week wages. Erm. Manni lad. I don't think that's going to work do you!? Christ. Well. Again that’s next seasons problem. For now we were up and by getting automatic had avoided an awful looking tie against last years Bundesliga 2. Champions Werder Bremen. That said, Greuther Furth beat them over two legs and were also promoted! Other News Jumped straight into asking about improving training facilities and to be fair Manni stepped up. I mean I say to be fair. I'm still thinking about the transfer and wage budgets for the Bundeliga. Remember the £3k lad? Still doesn't want to know and bigger boys are coming in now. A striker for £3k suddenly seems like a necessity but he ended up going to Nice. Up Next June and July. Bundesliga prep. Hopefully Manni will have a look down the back of the sofa in the interim.

Season 2025 / 26 - 2. Bundesliga April 2026 Another Injury I mean he wasn't really getting a game but classic Welbeck. out for 4-5 months and retiring end of the season. I took out the injury release clause from his contract as I thought it might sour the deal! April - Results in detail Simply a huge month and starting it off home to Verl would hopefully give us an opportunity for another three points. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Verl (H) Another attacking masterclass, whilst we couldn’t play Zeroli and Justo in a midfield two for every game in the ones we knew we were going to be pressing forward and dominating play they were the basis for destroying teams. Zeroli’s goals and consistency had been huge again this season and the whole team in this one were on it. Anjorin had a quieter game by his standards but he’d been irrepressible throughout the season so far. Up next a massive game against Greuther; a win and we’d be 6 clear of them in 3rd place. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Greuther Furth (A) We played a bit more of a defensive setup against the in form side in the division but behind early to a well worked goal. They were definitely up the top of the table on merit but we got into it more in the second half and missed a few good chances (Kanga and van Persie both missing headers when they should have at least hit the target). Despite the late pressure it was a crucial victory for the home side. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Nurnberg (H) Home to lowly Nurnberg next and we could play with the choke off again. It was similar results to the Verl game. Utter dominance, Justo was now undroppable and the first name on the teamsheet. We had a bit of a mare giving away two penalties to go in at half time 4-3 but Moriera and Bate sealed it second half. St Pauli beat Greuther Furth which gave us a three point cushion again as well which was a huge boost going into the final four games. ___________________________________________________________________ The Promotion Run In Dresden away would be tough and despite hugely underperforming in the league Hertha had an incredible squad. Darmstadt arguably would be the easiest of the remaining games and then Kiel at home could easily be anything from a title to playoff clinching game given how tight the league was. Ahead of the Dresden game we lost van Persie to a hernia; other than a couple of glimpses he hadn’t delivered to the level I’d expected but it was still a blow. We also lost Modebe to food poisoning just before the game, meaning Ramsak would be leading the line in a season where we just hadn’t got a rhythm out of a striker. Every game was crucial now and ahead of our game these two results couldn’t have been better for us at the top: Every game was crucial now and ahead of our game these two results couldn’t have been better for us at the top: ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Bundesliga | Dynamo Dresden (A) We were solid, compact and broke well but just couldn’t break the deadlock. Justo had one disallowed on 67 that must have been marginal but we were much the better side throughout. Happy with a point though as that put us top of the pile! ___________________________________________________________________ Results Table Bloody hell. Run in was looking tough and it's unbelievably tight up there. One game at a time and it was Hertha at home first game of May. Up Next May. Big scary May.

Season 2025 / 26 - 2. Bundesliga February 2026 Results Against the backdrop of the previous two months and that result against Rostock this was a bit of a fall from grace but still only one loss. The Magdeburg game - bloody hell. No idea how it wasn't a win. As above. Magdeburg. Absolutely shredded them and missed a truckload of chances. I think we hit the goal frame six times. Yeah funny enough it was frustrating. Followed this up with a good win against Wehen. Anjorin. Haven't really spoken much about him but he'd been superb for us this year and this game was no exception. Nilsen-Modebe grabbed his first for the club in injury time to secure the win. Huge game against Heidenheim. The visitors were top of the league and we were in second. There was a flurry of goals around the half hour with them going ahead, a comical own goal levelling it but then Mladenovic scored his second a minute later to restore the lead. Raschl then put the visitors 3-1 up before half time. We fought back with a Kanga goal and piled loads of pressure on in the last 15 mins but couldn’t get the goal. This gave them breathing space at the top and we'd missed a chance to go top! Table The Heidenheim game was a biggy at the end of the month there. We'd have gone top with a game in hand which would have been huge! Still. 2nd place was unreal. We were still amongst it. March 2026 Results Huge set of results here. Schalke was a big point, Ingolstadt was a shocker but the other two wins were class. Hard fought and good point against Schalke. An Anjorin pen put us ahead but the home side equalised on the half hour. We kept disciplined and battled; thought we’d won it in injury time but Modebe had strayed offside. Koubek went off injured with ten mins left and he'd broken an arm. Klanac would need to step up; the 18 year old loanee (not that being a loanee in this team is unique) would have a key role to fill. Ingolstadt – battered them but couldn't score. 18 shots and dominant, just couldn’t finish and somehow that lack of a goalscorer was still an issue despite the 8-1 win against Rostock in January! St Pauli was a huge win and Anjorin was again the match winner. After the St.Pauli game we had this inbox item pop up: Justo (2 days), Kanga (2 days), Anjorin (2 weeks) and Ravaglioli (1 month). Not ideal prep ahead of Elversberg. But Elversberg was a huge win and van Persie finally showed what he was capable of with four in the 5-2 win. Table One point off the top. Ye gads. Other news - found a gem. Saman Bye Nesselquist. He looked absolutely unreal and scouts were telling me to do everything I could to get him. He also has a £3k (yes that's £3,000) release clause. But he doesn't want to join as he doesn't think it will be good for his development. I have no idea what he's on about. We're a team with average training facilities and a squad almost entirely built up of loans. What's not to like!? Really wanted him and would be keeping a close eye.

Season 2025 / 26 - 2. Bundesliga January 2026 Transfers Another really strong transfer window and we'd really built out a squad now that... nope, not saying it. Will take each game as it comes. All loans but the likes of van Persie, Justo, Ramsak, Hoffmann, Hannibal all joining would hugely strengthen the starting eleven and overall depth. Arrivals - Loans Shaqueel van Persie. Well I know his dad was pretty good and he's also one of the best young talents in world football so we'll take him all day. Samuel Justo had absolutely everything and would walk into the midfield. Robert Ramsak was another instance of us using the Leverkusen link to pick up a top quality player with no fee or wage to pay. All rounder who would strengthen the striking options no end. Tim Hoffmann. Ol' Reliable. Another loan spell for the defender who is the kind of player I'd like to sign to build a defence around if we had money! Koen Jansen gave us depth at left back - deadline day was a busy one. Madi Monamay. Leverkusen loanee. No fee. No wage. Quality. Centre back. Hannibal. Big hair. Big game player. Big signing. Harrison Ashby was a very last minute one to get cover in at right back. Helped round off and balance the squad. Leon Klanac gave us a bit of cover in goal; we'd only had Turkman as cover and he wasn't anywhere near the level really to step in if needed. Sean Nilsen-Modebe I was really happy to get in. I'd had a journeyman save in the recent past where he helped me take Leicester to the title and was absolutely lethal. Fingers crossed for more of the same. Results A great month and one of these games definitely stands out. Couldn't avoid the fact now that this team had a serious chance of getting promoted. Augsburg. We didn't create chances and it was a bit of a nothing game. They're mid table but much better than their bare form. The Portuguese pair of Justo and Moriera ran this game for us against Paderborn; we went two up and controlled it. Home side pulled one back late on. Errrrrrm. Hansa Rostock. Stop it. They were dire but we were absolutely unstoppable. Everything just worked. Three up within fifteen minutes, they pulled one back on 18 mins but than van Persie scored with a move from our kick off. The goals didn't stop and yeah. 8-1. This game told me it's a promotion challenge now. Table One point off the top. Goal difference somewhat boosted by absolutely killing Rostock 8-1. More of this and the season would definitely be interesting! Budgets Lowest budget in the league; vastly overachieving. I mean the freebee loans from Leverkusen and general abuse / use of the loan market are massively aiding this but we're in with every chance of a promotion tilt to the Bundesliga on a shoestring. I'm not quite sure what happens if we get there. Actually. No. Let's not worry about that for now. Too much season to go! Up Next Feb / March

Season 2025 / 26 - 2. Bundesliga November 2025 Results Top drawer set of results. I'm not getting carried away and saying anything but... errrm, this all looks very promising. We're 4th! Nurnberg to start the month. Set us up to be a bit more defensive and cautious. Instead the players put in a performance full of flow, creativity and attacking flair and destroyed the home side. Anjorin scored two and laid on two for our first 10.0 performance of the Warnock reign. He was looking class and I’d already begun to get nervous about the £6.5m release clause. Dresden next and Danny Welbeck scored the only goal of the game in the first minute, latching onto a ball across the box from Moreira. They pressed throughout the game and had chances but we were the better side and won it on merit. We finished this one three points off top spot. Ahead of the Dresden game I was asked on my thoughts about Dane Scarlett as he was up top for them. Given his inauspicious spell with us last season I answered politely and clearly in the press conference. I was right, he was awful in the game btw. Big game away to Hertha who had underperformed and sacked their manager, we were facing them for Dirk Kuyts first game in charge. They are decent and went ahead, we really pushed on and levelled it late through a Zeroli header but the home side scored the eventual winner one minute later and it was probably a fair scorline for how the game went. We finished the month with a superb 1-0 victory at home to Darmstadt. The general approach play was class but lack of a goalscorer up top was still hurting (Welbeck got injured before this one) and it took a late Anjorin penalty to secure the win. This put us 4th. Depending on what kind of budget we could get use of in January it felt like we had every chance of mounting a challenge on a top six finish. Table Other News The fans and board love Warnock so thought we'd see if we could sweet talk Manni and it worked: Also had a bit of transfer news that would boost the coffers in January: He’d not got game time and started making noises about a loan move and I felt it best to just take it on the chin and move him on. Getting £1.5m for a player we’d just picked up on a free months before cannot be baulked at though! December 2025 Results As per last season, one game before the winter break and we put Kiel to the sword. Kiel away. Superb performance, another Anjorin penalty to open things and then Moreira got the second after good work up top from Ravaglioli up top. He had a decent game but again scoring was beyond him; he missed a sitter at 2-0 from a couple of yards that was blazed over. If this team had a finisher it definitely had the chance to do something. Scouts lobbed on high priority striker search! Table Forgot screenshot. We're three points off the top. Job Offers We were attracting interest: Obviously rejected without question but nice to know we were getting a bit of respect for the way we were playing football. What the actual... Whilst having a look around on the striker search this bang average, low potential forward popped up as an option and thought we'd give him a punt: How on earth has he joined. Why does he want to join. I have no idea but I hope he does the things I've seen him do on other saves (I've never had him before but surely he's the one to fire the goals in. The Shortlist We'd got some more scouts in now we’re in a position to have a bit of a scouting budget and set them off looking across Central Europe for sizing up targets. Long term targets for players to get in off the back of our work as below: Rigg, van Persie and Zvonarek were high on the radar but all of them would cost money we don't have right now. I'd be hoping soon to be in a position where we can pick and sign the players we want though if the finances keep improving. Up Next January window and results.

Ah thankyou mate, glad you're enjoying it. It's already up there as one of my favourite saves in recent years and glad I chose this to start the blog / story journey. This season is looking promising so far (albeit with a squad full of loans but hey... it's still a squad). Xabi actually left Leverkusen in the summer of 2024 after finishing 5th place in the previous season to join Inter. Sergio Conceicao took over and they won the Bundesliga in 24/25! He however then left and moved on to... Udinese! Which when I just checked makes sense at they have a Tycoon in charge as of May 2025. Leverkusen look to have hit a sticky patch by the looks and would be hard pressed to defend their title.