Career Wilky's building a nation challenge

[Wilky1878]

BUILDING A NATION - SCOTLAND 

A challenge which caught my eye was building a nation. bringing a countries coefficient up enough to make them a top nation. I decided my country of choice would be my country of residence,  Scotland.

 

The club I would begin with was an obvious choice for me, there was only really one club that could bring any sort of European success in my first season.

 

I will post my journey in here as I try to make Scotland a European super nation over a career.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by Wilky1878

[Dar J]

Would you be managing only Celtic?

[kts365]

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[Wilky1878]

Season 1

Beginning Co-efficient 

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Transfers

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Meet the players

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Scott Sinclair:

A player who's career was at risk of stalling. Given a chance to come North of the border to revitalise his career and prove his doubters wrong.

Moussa Dembele:

The young striker showed his potential last season with struggling Fulham catching the eyes of many from the premier league. Dembele, however seen his future elsewhere and chose Glasgow as the venue to push his career to the next level.

Leigh Griffiths:

The man who scored over 40 goals for the club last year is now having to prove himself after the signing of Dembele but is determined not to be shut out by the young striker.

Patrick Roberts:

On loan from Manchester City, Roberts proved he has what it takes in the first year of his two year loan at Celtic.  Looking to continue his development with Celtic this season so he can break into City's first team.

Kieran Tierney:

Made his breakthrough last season and had a dream start to his career. So much he was capped at international level. A genuine prospect and a Celtic boy since childhood.

Kolo Toure:

Brought in to be the experienced head of the back line Kolo has been there and done it all. Taking man of the match in a European cup final last season Kolo has come north of the border to write the new chapter of his already lucrative career.

 

Domestic Competition

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League:

A slow start for Celtic due to a congested fixture list, a growing list of injuries and slightly wrong tactics had left Celtic chasing the pack from the start. Fortunately for Celtic things ironed themselves out fairly quickly and by the time the winter break arrived we were now top of the table and building a fairly decent gap between us and our competitors. 

I forgot to screenshot it but in January we signed Jason Cummings from Hibs whilst also letting Gary Mackay Stevens leave to join Reading. 

 

After the winter break Celtic started where they left off cementing themselves as the dominant force of Scottish football and making a statement to anyone who thought otherwise.

Player achievements:

 

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Betfred Cup:

Scotlands revamped league cup featuring group stages and bringing the final back to November kicked off this year and Celtic received a bye past the group stages along with the other three clubs participating in European qualifiers.

 

Early silverware for Celtic was to follow after defeating championship side Falkirk 2-0 in the final. 

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Scottish Cup:

The treble wasn't to be in my first season of this challenge as Celtic came crashing out of the cup early. a 4th round replay defeat (the round celtic come in) to the hands of Dundee knocking us out of the competition. 

European Competition 

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European competition is where thus challenge succeeds or fails. It also relies on other Scottish clubs performing well on the European stage.

Qualifiers

In the Champions league qualifiers Celtic found themselves performing well and securing themselves a place in the group stages putting out fellow Brits TNS in the second qualifying round to kickstart the qualifying and Red Bull Salzburg to guarantee a CL spot.

Unfortunately no other club could make there ways past the qualifiers from Scotland so Celtic would be the only club to fly the saltire in Europe this season.

Group Stages

A difficult group for Celtic in the champions league this season.

But one we could see at least a chance of third in. 

 

It was third that Celtic eventually finished in meaning that they would be heading into the Europa League knockout stages.

 

Europa League Knockouts

First up, Leicester City. Last year's Premier League champions weren't doing to well domestically at the point of our game against them, sitting just above a relegation spot. They would still prove to be a difficult test despite this. 

Away goals sending Celtic into the next round following two draws.

 

This time it would be French side AS Monaco to overcome in the Europa League. A side that was once tipped to knock PSG's dominance out of French football never quite reached their expectations but are a strong side none the less.

Another victory for Celtic this time 2-1 on aggregate meant a European quarter final for the Scottish side.

 

German side Mainz would be the quarter final opponents for Celtic.

Unfortunately though the quarter final proved to be the final destination in our first season with Mainz proving to be too much for Celtic. The comfortable 3-0 victory would go on to be knocked out by eventual winners Manchester United in the semi final. 

 

54 minutes ago, Dar J said:

Would you be managing only Celtic?

Will wait and see how the career progresses and decide further in.

[Wilky1878]

Season 2

Coefficient 

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A rise from 23rd to 18th for Scotland after my first season shows a good start for Scotland in this challenge.

Transfers

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Meet the players

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Jai Quitongo was signed from Morton in season 1 and following a season in the reserves was now promoted to the first team. Hoping to continue his development in the coming season and make attempt to break into the first team.

Souttar joined Celtic this season from MK Dons with a high reputation. At 20 years old the centre half has plenty of years to be a stalwart in the Scottish champions defence and become a top class defender.

Janew Forrest was a consistent performer for Celtic in season 1. However, in pre season for season 2 Forrest suffered an ankle break that would rule him out for most of the season.  The wide man wI'll be hoping there will still be a place in the team when he recovers from his injury. 

Sviatchenko was the unsung hero in season 1. Consistently performing at a high level but rarely getting the recognition he deserved. Looking for another strong season this year the player has found himself vice captain to Scott Brown this year.

Celtics captain of many years no longer has age on his side but does have the experience. With a very strong midfield the captain may see less game time this season but will still be an influential figure with lots to offer to the club over the course of the season. 

Domestic Competition

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League

Celtic were looking for a second successful title under Wilky1878 in as many years and did look a lot stronger than all if their opposition. A stronger start than the previous season meant that Celtic were almost always on top of the league for the whole first half of the season. In January Celtic held a comfortable lead at the top of the table but had competition for their star man, Moussa Dembele. After rejecting bids from both Roma and Tottenham Dembele expressed his dissapointment at being made to stay. This left Celtic in a regretful position of having to sell the striker.

 

Having a strong strike force no new strikers were needed to replace the French man so instead Celtic decided to bolster their defence in January signing Ozturk from Hearts.

The second half of the season was just as strong for Celtic who wrapped the league up and secured another league title.

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Current Betfred cup holders Celtic again got a bye past the group stages for their participation in European Competition. Another piece of silverware to add to the trophy cabinet.

 

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Scottish Cup

A poor scottish cup for Celtic last season, going out in the 4th round meant that Celtic were desperate to prove themselves this year in the competition. DOMESTIC TREBLE!

European Competition

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A quarter final in the Europa League last season meant that Celtic had a tough season to follow.

Champions League group stages again for the Scottish champions. 

Following a very difficult group last season we were again dealt with a strong group in this season's competition but we took it in our stride by the end of the 6 European games the group looked like this:

Celtic had won the group and made it into the champions league last 16 where they would stand up against Sevilla.

Victory over the two legs with a 3-1 aggregate score sent Celtic into this year's quarter final where Machester United would be the competition.  England had brought success for Celtic in season 1 with victories over both Leicester and Tottenham. 

Unfortunately, despite a 2-0 win at home Celtic still left the competition on an aggregate score of 3-2 to Manchester United.

 

Unfortunately, for the second Easton running no other Scottish club made the European group stages.

 

[Fish18ish]

Keep up the good work 

[HotspurAl]

Love it. Will keep following your progress. Great idea for a challenge. 

[Alari]

Can't wait to see somebody actually improve the coefficient enough to get more places, let me know if anyone else has managed this so far! As I think Jack mentioned he got Wales up to 5th in testing but it took the full 30 years..

[Jens]

9 hours ago, Alari said:

Can't wait to see somebody actually improve the coefficient enough to get more places, let me know if anyone else has managed this so far! As I think Jack mentioned he got Wales up to 5th in testing but it took the full 30 years..

Did it with Ireland last year, not that that's really a challenge (in terms of getting extra spots I mean since it's easy to go from nothing to something). Doing it with Scotland though is a whole different ball game.

Good luck with this.