mannojunior

I’ve accepted that he’ll probably be gone in the summer. If I can keep him until then I’ll be happy. if he goes I’ll need a big replacement as he is the main man. I’ll take the advice and start scouting for a potential replacement!

The stars have aligned! Arsenal appear to be a force in this save so it’ll be tough. League is going well and has to be the priority now.

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition - November/December 2023 Results I'm starting to think that things might finally be clicking for us at Ajax. Two perfect months in domestic competitions and just the single defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in the Champions League. There are some huge performances in there with a 5-1 demolition of reigning champions FC Twente and a dramatic last minute winner at home to PSV. That PSV victory really did feel like a milestone for us as last season we would not have won the game from that position. Eredivisie Table This may well be our year in the Eredivisie. We are starting to separate from the rest of the pack and at this stage it looks like Feyenoord will be our only competition for that Eredivisie title. I won't get too ahead of myself as we do have half a season to go and the dreaded AFCON comes around in January which means that we lose both Kudus and Diawara for a considerable period of time. Champions League A final group stage game against Lazio was a big one in the context of the group. Avoiding defeat saw us through to the Round of 16 in a game that could have gone either way. A very professional performance on the night and we please the board with qualification for the knockout stages. Realistically, I don't think we will progress much further but it was imperative that we came through the group and put ourselves back on the map in terms of the Champions League and that's certainly what we've done. What would our reward be for progressing through in second position? A date with Arsenal. The current champions of England are our reward. In fairness, I don't think there was an 'easy' draw that we could have got. Make no mistakes, we will be up for the fight. Players Stats Remember when I said Abde might have been a waste of money? Yeah, I was wrong. Credit where credit is due, the young Spaniard has come out firing in the last two months and he now has an impressive 8 assists to his name. His versatility helps him massively as I've been able to deploy him both out on the left and right wing. He's naturally gifted with both feet which means he is incredibly important for us going forward. Majer will have to work his way back in now! Brekalo continues to have a standout season on the right wing as he's notched up 11 assists and 3 goals so far. It's the usual suspects lighting it up in front of goal for us, no surprises there. Chermiti continues to impress and improve with every game. He moves himself 7 goals clear of Kudus in second. Naci Unuvar has become a really important player for us as he offers us a rotation option for both Chermiti and Kudus. With 9 goals and 6 assists he will feel hard done by not to have played more at this stage. He does however have a huge role to play when Kudus goes of to AFCON. One of the key differences between this season so far and last season is how much better our defence is. Sutalo in the Libero role is absolutely crucial for us and he continues to back up his large price tag. I think we are going to be fending off interest in him over the January window and I am not sure whether he will stick with us or decide to jump ship if a big club come in for him. I should also say that it's not just Sutalo who's been impressive, but our summer recruit Hilgers has made the RCB role his own and he has put in some consistent performances so far. He's certainly justified the transfer and it is nice to have another Dutchman in the side. January will be an interesting period for us as I am bracing for some bids for players. I really need to keep this team together to fight for this Eredivisie title and I am not really open to January sales. However, in line with our principles I won't stand in the way of anybody's dream move if the right bid comes in. I do fear that Sutalo and Kudus may get some interest. In terms of incoming, I don't plan to spend unless I have to.

Things seem a lot more fluid than last season! Wingers are contributing more which is great. Just wish we could eradicate the small blips like the loss to Utrecht.

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition - September/October 2023 Update Results It's been an impressive two months for Dennis Bergkamp, with the Ajax board slowly coming around to his managerial style. Last season's disappointment remains but the progress made so far this season will no doubt be noticed by the board. September was almost flawless in more ways than one. The defeat to Utrecht meant that our unbeaten start to the Eredivisie had gone and so had a month full of clean sheets. Disappointing but a huge upgrade on last year from a defensive point of view. October also saw just a single defeat at the hands of Real Madrid. We can be proud of how we battled in Madrid and in honesty, Real were lucky to come away with three points on the night. Other than those two defeats we have been flying. The Kudus and Chermiti partnership is in full flow with both heavily involved in our goal output. Our defence has amassed 5 clean sheets in the last 10 games and we have conceded just 5 goals in 10. Eredivisie Table Top of the pile after 9 games. PSV will likely be close behind with their game in hand to come. Bergkamp has overseen a substantial improvement in the defensive unit since the end of last season and that shows in the league table. A goal difference of 23 with just 4 goals conceded and a massive 27 goals scored. Although the Champions League is the trophy that everybody wants, Bergkamp's main focus is on regaining the Eredivisie title. There is still a long way to go in the season but the signs are positive. Champions League Group C Halfway through we sit just a point behind leaders Real Madrid. A huge win over Lazio saw us make the best possible start to the group stage and we can take huge positives from the draw away at Real. Celtic are resigned to being the basement boys of this group and we will need to ensure we take maximum points from them and at least a point at Lazio to ensure our progression to the knockout stages. Time for optimism in Amsterdam. Players Stats It's safe to say Bergkamp's men are dominating the Eredivisie. Kudus and Chermiti are joint top scorers with 7 so far. Basic and Unuvar trail Esgaio for assists. The surprise package this season has been the development of Lovro Majer. The Croatian was brought in last season to provide cover in the number 10 but this season he has made the left winger position his own. He's ousted the hugely disappointing Abde from the left and has made that position his own for the foreseeable. 1 goal and 3 assists in 8 starts along with a 7.23 average rating. The 25-year-old is even improving at this stage in his career. So impressive that Conceicao hasn't had a sniff. Chermiti leads the way for goals, with 12 in 13 starts in all competitions. Kudus is trailing by one and central midfielder Kenneth Taylor has hit 6 so far this season in what has been a mightily impressive start to the season for him. The returning Unuvar has found his game time limited with Kudus in such good form but he has managed 4 goals and 4 assists when he has played. Basic tops the assist charts from central midfield and is closely followed by Brekalo and Kudus. Brekalo has certainly found another gear since his permanent arrival at the club. I'm hoping his assists continue throughout the season. I'm running out of words to describe Kudus but he is the man. Is there anything he can't do?

Glad to see someone else enjoying the book and taking it into FM24! It's given me so many ideas and I'm sad I'm almost coming to the end of the book! Here's the final table. We outscored everyone by a distances but our defence was shaky. I think Rulli had a poor season and Nat Phillips was only ever going to be a stop gap. Livakovic is a big improvement from Rulli. Hilgers should help that defence as he comes from a Twente side that conceded just 19 goals last season! Not quite sure how they did it but definitely a freak season for them.

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition - 2023/2024 Season Preview Transfers Out A summer of building a war chest. But what did we spend it on? Transfers In We've been busy. Livakovic replaces Rulli in a transfer that may well prove to be one of the most significant signings of the summer. An area we desperately needed to strengthen and I think Livakovic solves a problem for us. Sanz, Johannesson and Gbamin all join on relatively cheap deals to give us some good squad depth ahead of a busy season. I've spent big on Ez Abde and it will be interesting to see whether he justifies the price tag. I think he looks good and I think he becomes our first choice left winger. I simply had to trigger the £3.3 million optional clause for Chermiti after the season he had last season. The same applies with Brekalo who returns on a permanent deal. Centre back was probably the hardest position to recruit for this summer and I've gone with a lad who had a good season for FC Twente last season and who arrives for a modest fee in the grand scheme of things. I think he has real potential and will slot in on the right hand side. Finally, I took a gamble on Diawara and I have probably overspent but I want competition for Tapia in that DM spot and I think Diawara can offer that. Champions League Qualification Pre-season included the Champions League qualification stages and we have managed to safely navigate our way to the Group Stage. Following the first leg away at Braga I did wonder whether we would falter in the second leg but I was wrong. Our reward. Some really exciting trips to look forward to and a group that we realistically have a chance at finishing second in. I don't think Real Madrid will finish anywhere other than top. August Eredivisie Results 6 points from 6. An outstanding opening day performance at home followed by a slightly below par 1-0 over Walalwijk. Two clean sheets, a big positive. Eredivisie Table Nothing to be drawn from the table at this stage. Two relatively straight forward games to kick things off on paper.

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition - End of Season Review So there we have it, a funny old season comes to an end. We finish 4 points behind surprise champions FC Twente and fair play to them. I'm not too disheartened as I can think of so many league games where we lost by small margins or just lost concentration at the wrong time. I really do think that if we can have a strong summer transfer window we will be able to play at the peak of our powers next season. We take second spot and this gives us a spot in the Champions League for next season. The Europa League semi-final is where we ender our European run. I have to say the manner in which we lost that second leg was embarrassing and hopefully we won't have a result like that again in the future. Disappointing that we couldn't put up more of a fight in Italy and more regret about not making the most of our dominant home leg. Napoli went on to beat Inter 3-2 in the Final so I guess there is some light at the end of the tunnel? It wasn't hard to guess who would be taking home most of the awards at the end of this first season. Mohammed Kudus has had an exceptional season and he has flourished in his shadow striker role. He notched 28 goals and 14 assists in all competitions. Top scorer goes to Youssef Chermiti who has had a breakout season aged just 19. 33 goals is a fantastic return for a player who joined the club in the summer aged 18. There is a special talent in that lad. Keeping hold of both will be key moving into the summer transfer window. Kudus is attracting a lot of interest which is no surprise but we should be able to lock down Chermiti on a permanent deal. The budgets have been set for the summer. We are going to have to sell a few players to bump up the transfer budget as we will need to spend to improve this squad enough to challenge in the Champions League next season. Before diving into the transfer market I've had some time to assess the areas of concern. We desperately need a new keeper to replace Rulli and this will be number one priority. I'd also like to bring in a new central defender with a bit of pace to provide competition to Nat Phillips and play on the right hand side. I think I may also need to assess options out wide as I would have expected a lot more assists from both wingers.

Might be a stupid question but I’m looking to do a create a club save in FM24. Are there any drawbacks to using the ‘create a club’ feature? I want to be able to add in my own custom graphics etc

Hi All I’ve decided that my main FM24 save will be creating a new club. I think I’m going to place them in the Vanarama National League South. I just wanted to see which way would be the best to do it. Do people prefer the ‘create a club’ option or is it better to use the in game editor? I’m having customer logos and kits created to use with this. Any help much appreciated!

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition Unbeaten for the month but 2 points dropped against Vitesse. When we win we win big but sometimes we look so far off the pace. Chermiti had a good start to the month before fading away. Kudus with another outstanding month and he is rightly attracting interest from abroad. Lovro Majer has proved a very valuable addition allowing me to remove Chermiti if he is having a poor game. What a way to end the month with an 8-1 victory. We sailed through the quarter final, although the 0-0 away leg was not one for the ages. We face Inter Milan in the semi final. At least we have avoided Liverpool I suppose. Time to see what we are made of in Europe. With four games to go it is almost certain that we are playing for second place. All eyes turn to the Europa League now. Chermiti and Kudus lead the way with goals. Both have put in unbelievable shifts this season and I hope I can keep hold of both going into next season. Basic and Kudus topping the assist charts. Basic has had an outstanding first season at the club and looks an absolute steal. Taylor is also showing his class and is one to watch next season.

Love saves like this. Really good intro and looking forward to following this

It's advantage us as we head to Greece. Another game without a clean sheet. We have a full week to recover and train as we don't have a league game at the weekend which is rather helpful.

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition It doesn't get any more frustrating than this. Losses to FC Twente and Feyenoord in the league mean we are going to have to do it the hard way if we want to win the title. Good results mixed in between with a win and a draw against Leverkusen which puts us into the quarter finals. Big wins over Utrecht and AZ show that we can be dominant but we are so inconsistent and don't show up against our title rivals. A poor month I think it's fair to say. It's not over just yet, but Twente have a game in hand and will be looking to extend their advantage to seven points. Realistically we are now playing for second place. A kind draw in the Europa League quarter final as we take on AEK Athens. Liverpool, Napoli and Inter Milan all remain in the competition.

You’re right, this season was always going to be a transition period. Hoping I can reshape the squad over the summer. Unuvar will be a huge help. It’s also been nice to see the style of play works in FM and hopefully a few tweaks and personnel changes will get it better. Wingers have been a huge challenge!

Nice to see that we have two of the top 3 in the NXGN ratings. Chermiti has been in fine form this season and has netted 25 times in 26 starts in all competitions. We also have Naci Unuvar who was already loaned out to FC Twente when I took over and he has been having a sensational season. He is going to be coming back at the end of the season and I will be putting him straight into the first team.

Such a horrible second half to watch unfold and one where you feel powerless to stop it.

What the actual **** was that? Dumped out of the Dutch Cup courtesy of a second half battering.

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition A very good month ended on a low note. Some cracking performances in the League and an impressive victory to see us through to the Semi-Final of the Dutch Cup. I had my eye on the PSV fixture as it was always going to be crucial. We played poorly and to be fair, a draw was probably the fair result. Unfortunately Solet made a mistake at the back with 10 minutes to go and gave PSV their goal. A poor end to an impressive month otherwise. Kudus is back in the goals, as it Chermiti which is good news. It's just not going to be our year is it? I'm not quite sure how FC Twente are top but they are now 6 points clear. We've been so impressive the last two months but that defeat to PSV has really dented our chances at the title. Who's up next? FC Twente... Not good news for us. Phillips out for two months and Rensch has his time to shine. Hato will also get a change.

It's been a great turn in form. Clean sheets have been huge but also we've started winning by bigger margins and therefore decreasing the risk of losing that one goal lead. You're right, there is often limited space between Sutalo and Tapia and I have thought about giving Tapia a more advanced role but things are working at the moment (touch wood)!

The draw for the Last 16 of the Europa League has been done and we will take on Bayer Leverkusen. The German club are currently 9th in the Bundesliga and came second in their Europa League group behind Real Betis. A decent draw for us.

Good news after a rather underwhelming youth intake preview.

Glad you are enjoying it!

Voetbal - Bergkamp Edition An almost perfect month. Exactly what we needed following our inconsistent November. The lads appear to have come back more determined and refreshed following the World Cup. Some big wins which is pleasing, inlcuding the 4-0 over Excelsior and the 7-0 thrashing of Almere City. Kudus has returned to form and in the game against Almere City I made the bold move to play him as the 9 and well, it worked. A pleasing month. Maybe the title race isn't over. Just over half of the season gone and a 5 point gap to close. Vitesse and PSV are by no means out of it either. We will need to remain consistent to catch FC Twente. Following the departures of Berghuis and Medic we had some money to spend. Oumar Solet comes in for £12 million and slots straight in at CB. A huge signing for us and he has been impressive so far. Josip Brekalo arrives on loan with an option to buy at the end of the season for around £2 million. He becomes our first choice winger on the right hand side. A really pleasing deal to get done. Finally, I've brought in Lovro Majer from Rennes for £6.25 million. The Croatian boasts versatility across the front line and has a lot of quality to offer. With the additions made above, I would now consider this my best starting eleven. Kudus has had initial success in the 9 with Majer impressive in the 10 which means Chermiti drops to the bench but he will get plenty of minutes. Rensch drops out for Solet but there will be plenty of rotation in that backline. Finally, Bergwijn makes way for Brekalo who has been solid out on the right hand side.

It was bound to happen. Although, United are way off the pace with their bid which has been rejected. I would need at least £50 million up front before I consider. As a result of the interested from United and Liverpool, Kudus is not willing to renew his contract which has 2 years to run. In line with our philosophy, I won't stand in the way of his departure but the overall package will need to be roughly £60 million before I sell. Let's see how January goes.