petermiller36

End of Season (3) Review - Gibraltar The Squad There are a couple of new additions to the squad! Marco Rosa became naturalised during the season. He started the game with Lincoln Red Imps and is an AML who provides depth and could start if needed. That pesky young lad Joachim Ostheider at the start of the game who declared himself for Germany has now has had a change of heart and is now with us. He's not actually that good sadly but he's only 18 so maybe he'll be a late developer. Again, he'll be in most squads. There's a 16yo new-gen who is at Newcastle United called Mark Gill. He's not up to first team standard yet, but I gave him a cap in a friendly to avoid him thinking he could make it with England. I also have Anouar Attouchi at left back. He's a regen at Lincoln Red Imps and looks quality at left back. He's also been given his debut cap. The Results The end of 2025 saw us get the expected wins against Faroe Islands and Armenia, but loses against the others. Some nice ranking points to hopefully give us a slightly easier group in the future. The start of 2026 gave us no competitive fixtures so I arranged some friendlies. The opposition were teams chosen as they were higher ranked but very beatable, as the image shows. Kye Livingstone is another young lad who plays AMR and knows where the net is! Ranking We're moving on up! Slowly but surely. We're now up to 161st in the world!

End of Season (3) Review - Magpies The Squad Having had a good season last time out, it was a case of more of the same and hoping for some higher quality loans. Callum Marshall had done decent for us on loan and has now signed permanently. Sadly he's capped for Northern Ireland so he won't be turning out for Gibraltar. Monlouis signed after being loaned by Arsenal. Come August though, we were struggling in the Champions League qualifiers and I realised this may be because of the very young age of the squad, so I brought in Corozo, Pradas and Iru to bring some experience and hopefully get us through. They're not likely to be starters but I may add in a couple of them. The Results - League and Cup It's got to the stage now where the domestic treble is pretty much guaranteed. To win the league with 20 wins out of 20 is a nice achievement. The Pepe Reyes Cup and Rock Cup also followed. The Results - Europe Now this is where the focus is at. We started off with a huge win over Riteriai but then laboured to a first leg defeat against Slavia Prague, which then prompted me to bring in some experience. But for the second leg those new signings couldn't be registered, so I put some of the old Gibraltarian hands in for the second leg and it paid off big time with a 5-0 win. Sadly, the next round saw us fall to a 3-1 aggregate defeat against Bodo/Glimt. I was surprised at the loss, but it's difficult when you're playing two clubs at the same time ;). The Europa League Playoff saw us have a tough tie against AEK Athens but we ended up sweeping past them. This then meant we qualified for the Europa League Group Stage, one level higher than last season. On to the Group Stage! The fixtures gave us a very winnable opener against Derry which thankfully we JUST pinched a 1-0 win. A superb 5-2 win over FC Twente had me dreaming of the knockout stages but there were tough fixtures ahead. Three losses against Man Utd, Galatasaray and Genk hit our hopes but we turned it on against Olympiacos with a 3-1 win. Ephraim Yeboah on loan banging in the goals. Two losses after that saw us sweating but nine points was just enough to squeeze in the knockout playoff. That saw us against the might of Newcastle. I could not believe that we won the first leg 1-0 at home. We tried to hold on in the away league but ended up losing 5-2. It was another good season but next year I really want the Champions League Group Stage and the huge money that brings.

End of Season (2) Review - Gibraltar Squad No changes again. It will take a while to get anyone naturalised from my Magpies squad. Results We're now holding our own in Division C of the Nations League. Two wins over Montenegro, two draws against Estonia and two losses against Finland. That saw us finish 2nd in the group. I'm confident we won't be at risk of relegation from Div C now, and maybe a more favourable draw could see us get promoted. 2025 saw the start of a WCQ campaign. We were in the bottom pot for seedings which was annoying, but getting the Faroe Islands helps. I was expecting to beat them and did with a nice 3-1 win. The Belgium result was no surprise, but to then destroy Armenia 6-1 is magnificent. We followed that up three days later with a very close 2-3 loss to Ukraine. It's been a decent year! Ranking We've now climbed up to 167th in the world, a great climb from where we were.

End of Season (2) Review - Magpies The Squad In total, during the season I have brought in TWENTY-SIX players. These include some of the best Gibraltarian talent to boost the quality of my home-grown players for the next league campaign. On top of them, and with Europe in mind, I brought in a lot of young players on loan from England. Where possible, some of these are two-season long loans. It is a lot of players, so it was a question of trying to get them to bond as a squad. The Results - Europe Our first Champions League campaign was pretty successful! We smashed out way past Dudelange from Luxembourg and knew that just one more win would guarantee a minimum of Europa Conference League group stage football. As it was, we stormed past AEK Athens in the next round with a superb 5-0 second leg win. The next stage was one too far, falling to a 3-1 defeat against a strong Lech side. That meant dropping down to the Europa League Playoff round. A tough draw gave us Qarabag and we came SO close to an upset. In the end it was a 8-7 defeat. I wasn't too bothered by that as it meant the easier Europa Conference League Group Stage. The Group Stage of the Conf went swimmingly well! The 4-3 win against Malmo was a good highlight and to go unbeaten was quite an achievement. Despite not losing in the group stage, we ended in the playoff rather than getting a bye. That saw us drawn against CSKA Sofia but we breezed past them 9-5 on aggregate. Up next was Villarreal from Spain. It was a daunting task and one step too far, but to go down 7-4 is pretty good. It was a great European campaign which earns us a decent chunk of money and good co-efficiency points. The Results - Domestic The season started with a 3-1 Pepe Reyes Cup win against Lincoln and finished with a 7-3 Rock Cup Final won over Lions. So that's the double. The treble was pretty easy with a lot of resting of players ahead of the European games. We lost one game and drew one. This will likely be how things go moving forward.

End of Season (1) Review - Gibraltar Squad No changes to the squad really. There is a useful winger in the academy at Derby County called Carlos Richards. He's getting game time when I can, but we are relatively blessed at AMR. Results Now THAT is how to do it! I wasn't expecting to beat Lithuania (141st) and knew that losing would mean being in the lower tier of the Nations League which I didn't have a problem with. But we smashed them 7-2 on aggregate. That keeps us in League C and boosts our world ranking. We were 200th in the rankings before the games and after we jumped up to 191st, the nation's highest ever ranking. I then arranged a confidence boosting couple of friendlies against similarly ranked opposition. San Marino (211th) are the lowest ranked side in the world, but I wasn't expecting a 13-1 win! Kelvin Morgan bagging FIVE goals and becoming the leading goalscorer in the nation's young history with nine goals in total. Malta (172nd) should have been a tougher challenge, but again we swept past them. Wins against these two lifted us up to 187th. It will be a slow climb up the rankings but we're moving in the right direction. Next Challenge We've been drawn against Finland, Montenegro and Estonia in the Nations League. I'm hoping for a couple of wins and to finish third there.

End of Season (1) Review - Magpies The Squad As I hoped, young English players were keen to come over to the rock. Matty Longstaff plugs a hole in DM and we've then boosted all over the park with talent that improves what we had. The issue this season will be the home-grown rule, but I've got these loans in with a view to next season's European campaign. Marshall and Alcaina are both strikers and are here on 18 month deals. The Results - League CHAMPIONS!! That's how you do it! Only the one loss all season and the first Bruno's Magpies title brought home!! Back to the bar to fill it with booze and celebrate. That win of course also means Champions League qualification. Gilsenan got 6 goals and 10 assists in 21 games. I need him back next season. The new strikers did okay, but the goals were shared across the pitch. The Results - Cups Just the Rock Cup for us in the new year, and we choked. A 3-0 loss to Lincoln Red Imps in the Quarter Final. That's annoying when you consider how much we smashed the league. Ah well. Overall Now it's time to build the squad ahead of the European campaign for next season. The format of qualifying means that if I can get a win in the 1st qualifying round then I then get three chances at group football. That's the aim is to get to Europa Conference League group stage football as a minimum. Let's see.

Outstanding achievement!!!

Mid-Season 1 Review - Gibraltar The Squad I inherited some decent players, notably Liam Walker, Jayce Olivero and Tjay de Barr, but the squad is thin in depth. There is one good young lad called Joachim Ostheider who is playing in the Cadiz youth ranks in Spain and is eligible for Gibraltar. Sadly, in October, he declared himself for Germany despite having no chance of playing for them. I'll keep trying to pester the lad into playing for the rock. One of the aims for the national side is to develop the youth but also draw in some talent from overseas who could then become eligible for Gibraltar. That may not be the purists way of managing the national side, but I'll take what I can get. Results Talk about starting with a bang. A day after starting the save, we were up against France . In the end it was a 5-0 loss. I took the comfort in the fact that in real life (FM is real life isn't it?!) France walloped Gibraltar 14-0. After that, three more blanks up front made me question my 4-2-2-2 tactic, but I stuck with knowing these Euro/WC qualifiers are often a hiding to nothing. I then picked a home friendly against Northern Mariana Islands. They're just become AFC members are likely on a par with Gibraltar. We beat them 3-0 and that seemed to be the little boost we needed to start performing better. A 4-1 loss away to France and then a couple of goals against Ireland saw the year end on a slightly better note. Rankings Nothing to show here really. We started 201st and are still 201st. The match against NMI doesn't count to ranking points as they're not FIFA members. Let's hope 2024 brings an improvement.

Mid-Season 1 Review - Magpies The Squad Just four transfers to begin my time at Magpies. Mateo gave some improvement to the goalkeeper ranks and Edenilson was an experienced head in defensive midfield. Having managed minor nation clubs before, I knew that the loan market would be my main pool to fish from. Jay Haddow at right bank was a decent boost to a weak defence and Zak Gilsenan was an AMR who was quality. Both loans were for season long and zero wages. I also had one eye on Gilsenan staying in the country for two years and becoming eligible for the national side, but that's a while away and a bonus if it happens. The Results - Europe The early qualifying rounds for Europe always come very early, especially when trying to use the transfer market. The draw was favourable as we faced Faroese opposition. A 5-4 loss in the first leg gave me encouragement, so to then see us smash them 4-0 at home and progress was a huge bonus. That win alone earned us about £200k - huge money when part time. The second round saw us given a formidable tie against Steaua Bucharest. We went down with a very creditable 5-3 agg loss. Gibraltarian player Jamie Coombes being a real star of the team on AML. The Results - League Words failed me with how well we did in the league. I expected regular winners Lincoln to run away with it due to having a good squad and being full time. But as you can see, we went on an incredible run, only losing one game right on the last day of the calendar league. That puts us in a great position to push a title win. The Results - Cups Due to winning the Rock Cup last season before I got there, Magpies were in the Pepe Reyes Cup against League Champions, Lincoln Red Imps. It was an unexpected bonus to win it 3-0! Overall The finances are looking better thanks to the £400k from Europe, but no improvement to club facilities or budgets at this stage. It already looks like more young (English) Premier League players are interested in a loan in the sun, so hopefully I can get a couple more to boost the ranks. I need to keep in mind the league rules of always having five home grown players on the pitch. I have raised it with the developers of FM24 that this rule needs updating as the real GFA have now lowered it to four home-grown players. They've also increased the subs allowed in a match to five, whereas FM24 only allows three. I'm hoping that when FM24 is updated, the updated rules will be applied to save games as well as that will make it easier. An exciting end to the season is in prospect with a faster growth of the club than I expected...

Here's my first ever story thread, despite playing CM/FM for over 20 years! So be gentle... The Save Outside of FM, I have a soft spot for Gibraltar having seen them playing in the Island Games for years whilst trying to get UEFA/FIFA membership. That included seeing them play in front of 62 people in 2011 in a 5th/6th playoff against Saaremaa. Not long after in 2013, they got accepted into UEFA/FIFA. I've then seen them play away at Ireland, Scotland and Wales and love their journey and what it means to represent the rock. Club wise, I have no affiliation, so on this occasion I've chosen to manage (Bruno's) Magpies. The reason for managing them is purely for the fact that they were created by a group of mates who drank at Bruno's Bar in Gibraltar. What better journey to the top could there be?! As Magpies hopefully develop, I am also taking charge of the National team. I hope that Magpies will improve stature and facilities and that will see better young Gibraltar players come through. There will also be a focus on bringing young British talent to Magpies, hoping that they will stay for the minimum two years that could see them became eligible to play for Gibraltar. Squad and Early Days The Magpies squad has a couple of decent players who also play for the national side. To add to this, I'll see if there are free transfers and any English based loans at zero wages. Magpies will have a bit of money coming from competing in the early qualifying rounds of the Europa Conference League. I don't expect to win any games in that. The aim for the league will be to finish in the top 3 and get into Europe again next season. The national side has some good players but lacks depth. The side are half way through a Euro Qualifying campaign but also have a relegation playoff in the Nations League to play. Losing that wouldn't be a disaster as it would then mean playing in Division D with other minnows and getting some wins.

Thank you for the offer. That's very kind. I'll leave this thread as it is as it's great and you're clearly heavily invested in it. I'll start a new one (my first every story thread). Looking forward to reading yours as it continues!

Loved reading this thread. Currently in the second season of a save with Magpies and in the Group Stage of the Europa Conference. This story has encouraged me as to where I could take it. I'm also managing the national side to see how the club development aids the national setup. Just to note that I've raised it on the bug threads that the Gibraltar league has actually changed to FOUR home grown players in league games, and not five. So that may well change in the next FM24 update.