Career Albion Rovers - from the bottom to the top, completed!

[Madferit25]

Great read mate and we'll done so far, great job! 

I went to school in Coatbridge, just down the road from Rovers ground and one year me and my mate got a season ticket for rovers for £20 each 😆! It was painful viewing and we used to spend most games more interested in listening to the Celtic games on the radio, there was even an old steward who used to give out to us for being too rowdy 'cheering on' Rovers🤣!

Anyways I started a new save as unemployed and unknown rep as I was getting bored with the usual saves, wanted to 'earn' a top job I guess and got the rovers job preseason as they start managerless! Had successive promotions to the SPL, and about to enter preseason for my debut SPL campaign, not much cash but made a little from selling on my stars at the end of each season. 

I have been applying for bigger jobs throughout and have been offered a lot of English League 2 jobs but wanted a decent sized club, so still at rovers! 

My stadium is still at 1500 odd capacity and wondering if it will be upgraded as I enter SPL preseason, has yours? I'm sure you need a minimum 10k odd attendance stadium for SPL entry?

I still have Gracie at the club, he comes on and scores now and again! Had one decent youngster promoted the whole time, I will give him some game time in the SPL this season! What stage have you managed to get your facilities upgraded to? I found that a struggle

 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Madferit25
Added content

[Mr Tree]

Cheers @Madferit25! We were 8.5k capacity when we entered the SPL - don't think the game is sophisticated enough to be dealing with minimum ground requirements etc

After a couple of upgrades this season (now that I'm in Europe and some cash is flowing), I'm now 12k capacity with Good/Average facilities.

 

So how's the Europa League going?Rather bloody well...

Spoiler

Game 1 was the easiest, and the Bosnians were swept aside:

 

And then I had to go to Russia... And a disgraceful refereeing decision threatened to derail me (I've had loads more red cards this year, god knows why!), but the lads responded heroically for a famous win:

 

Stadio Olimipico for Game 3, and I'd have been happy to take the draw - but in the last minute of injury time, we cleared to the halfway line and our Brazilian right-winger wriggled free to drive forward and put a cross in - it was cleared, but Watters slammed in a brilliant shot to send the Scottish contingent potty!

 

So we were sitting pretty, and we went on to demolish Roma at home too:

 

Securing qualification with plenty to spare:

 

So we took the chance to look at some promising youngsters in the last two games... They enjoyed their opportunity in Bosnia:

 

Before finally dropping points in the last game:

Unacceptable! 20 push ups for all squad members!

 

Final table:

 

And next round:

Obviously, after beating Roma home and away, we're not fearful - but to be fair, that's a decent team, and might well be a bridge too far for us. Still, it's been a phenomenal run so far...

 

Meanwhile domestically, this is the league table as at the end of the Europa League group stage:

Spoiler

 

And we survived a gruelling semi-final in the BetFred Cup to have our first chance of major silverware:

Spoiler

 

And we did it!!

 

I'll be back soon to report on the second half of the season, including the rest of the European campaign... Thanks for reading

Edited February 24, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

SEASON 6 REVIEW

A little back-to-front here, let's start with the League.

This is how it finished:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Same again, really. I almost inserted myself into the title race around February, but then had a bit of a slump and couldn't keep pace.But for the third-last game of the season, I lost at home to Rangers, and then for the second-last game I went to Celtic and did this:

Spoiler

 

 

 

That coupled with a Rangers win gave the Gers their first title since (ages ago).Some other fun games and moments from the league season:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

League total goals and assists:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Scottish Cup

After grabbing the Betfred, we had dreams of doubling up on the domestic silverware... Even somehow beating bogey club Hearts after some late drama:

Spoiler

 

But in the semi-final, Motherwell waited 120 minutes before registering a shot on target, but they made sure it was a good un:

 

 

 

Europa League

My boys had already played 14 games before reaching the knockout stage, but as noted above, we were absolutely buzzing by the time it came round. Don't think anyone would've predicted this though:

Our next game in the league ended up like this, by the way:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Obviously the second leg was a formality, so... The last 16, exciting!!

Spoiler

 

 

First leg at home, Dortmund were all over me in the first half... But somehow we held them off, then got them with the late sucker-punch:

And we played superbly in the second leg, never giving them a sniff, and young Irish winger Robinson popped up to seal the deal:

 

Somehow we were in the last eight... And as it goes, Borussia Moenchengladbach isn't the worst draw you can get at this stage.

Another sensational performance was capped by young Portuguese striker Brazzer's fantastic finish to send the travelling fans barmy:

And again, the second leg was comfortably managed:

 

We kept the flag flying for Brexitland as the remaining islanders "crashed out":

 

Porto in the semi-final though - surely the end of the line...

No. Dreamland!

 

When they sliced through me within 3 minutes of the second leg, I thought I'd finally met my match. Two sensational finishes from Allan put me back in control, but Jesus Christ the jitters were real when they scored late on (another goal would've put me out).

But we hung on!!

 

The Final was at Hampden Park, a right touch. Our 23rd game of the tournament. Lyon the opponents...

Keillor-Dunn crashed home a 30-yard free-kick to have us 3 up at the break!! The Frenchies showed their ability after the break, but we held them off for a glorious victory!

 

 

My boys! Although trouble approaches (see that top line in the last screenshot) - how on earth am I going to keep this squad together?! Celtic and Stoke offered 12m apiece, I told them where to stick it. Here's the lad, plus a couple other of my most valuable players, for reference:

And here's the squad stats, taken before the EURO Final so that I excluded all my loaned-out players:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

So, Champions League next year now, I believe. Plus breaking into the top two would be nice.

Thanks for reading

Edited March 6, 2019 by Mr Tree

[danovic78]

What a career! Great effort so far and bringing European glory was sensational. Top two is definitely achievable. 

[Mr Tree]

Thanks! By the way, just thought to check - five teenagers in that final lineup. The others were aged 21,22,23,25,25 and 26.

[Gerechtigaids]

Could we have an update on the Manager Profile?

[Mr Tree]

7 minutes ago, Gerechtigaids said:

Could we have an update on the Manager Profile?

Indeed! All this with a million-pound profit

 

[mikeedwilson]

Wow fantastic season! Hopefully the lure of the champions league will let you keep the wolves at bay for your best players. Good luck in season 7!

[Ran7777]

Jonny Naylor is 19 and he is already a beast 🔝🔝🔝

Good season👏👏

 

[Rob]

Not entirely sure how I missed all this, but I’ve just caught up. Great thread. Good luck next season.

[FuddledFox]

Another good season mate and with that sweet sweet champions league money I’m sure you can push the Auld Firm a bit more next year.

[Ian]

Great that you could win the Euro Cup and I did say earlier that soon you’ll have them in the Champions League and now you have so well done! 😀

Fantastic young squad you’ve built! 

[Mr Tree]

Thank you all for the comments and support! Had a couple of slow days, real life getting in the way, but two bits of news:

1) I managed to convince Robinson to sign a new contract (after he was unhappy with me for turning down bids) for 8k a week, down from his initial demand of 14k! And now (a few weeks into the season) he's worth 13m and I've just turned down some bids of 20m! Might cash in on him in due course to give me more money to play with in general, we'll see...

 

2) apparently the Europa League winner goes direct to the Champs League group stage, so no stress there. And my group will be... Chelsea... PSG... and Apoel Nicosia.

 

Back with more soon!

[Gerechtigaids]

On 20/02/2019 at 16:51, Mr Tree said:

Indeed! All this with a million-pound profit

 

Hate it when you get so far with a bad team, get a continental rep, expect to be on the HOF. Then get pipped by Big Bill from your nearby six-a-side team as soon as he retires.

[Mr Tree]

Some quick odds and sods...

We ended up with the top two young players in the awards:

 

Spoiler

Last year's transfers:

Spoiler

Sad to see McLear go, but felt bad keeping him around as a bit-part player too

 

 

Going into the new season, I had good striker options... So it was time to say goodbye to Hardie too, after 97 goals in 168 games:

 

Spoiler

 

He joined our Rover exchange program:

Spoiler

 

 

Also, the European Championship caused some interesting movement:

 

Spoiler

 

11 (!!) days later...

Spoiler

 

Unfortunately they got a pretty tasty replacement, but there are better things to look at on the below...

Spoiler

 

But pride comes before a fall....... Little did I realise, as I smugly grabbed that screenshot, what lay above in my newsfeed...

I'd managed to improve Naylor's contract, but couldn't get rid of the minimum fee release clause. At least I got it up to 5m, but he never gave me a chance to offer improved terms again, and these awards prompted bids.

He turned down Celtic and Brighton for...... Kilmarnock?!?!

 

Robinson and Carmichael are both valued in eight figures now, and neither have a release clause, phew!

And wee Harvey has notched another huge milestone for the club - our first ever Scottish international!

 

And finally... That champs league group is proving to be HARD...

Edited March 6, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

SEASON 7 REVIEW

A lot to pack in here (I just uploaded 40 screenshots, gulp!), so...

CUPS

Spoiler

 

I'm afraid I'm one of those horrible modern managers who uses the cups just to have a look at the other players in the squad.

Of course first things first, we had the European Super Cup! Unfortunately, couldn't break down a stubborn Atleti defence:

Failed to defend the Betfred, out with a whimper...

And fell early in the Scottish Cup, with my old mate Greg bagging his first two goals of the season (in January 🙄), and my new CB signing missing the decisive penalty...

 

EUROPE

Alas, two heavy away defeats (mentioned above) did for me:

Spoiler

The other games were:

So back into the Europa League with dreams of another amazing run... swiftly dented by being drawn with mighty Benfica.And yet...

Spoiler

Although I almost paid the price for getting cocky and resting players in the return leg:

 

Dynamo Kyiv next, and of course I've enjoyed my trips to Ukraine so far... This was no different, although to be fair, it was closer than it looks at first glance, with three late goals settling any nerves:

 

The quarter-final with Milan saw another great away day followed by a nervy home leg:

Another goal would've put me out, but we hung on.

 

The semi-final saw us host Turkish team Fenerbahce in the first leg. We'd sold faithful servant Keillor-Dunn to them in January for a fairly modest fee (to be fair, part of the reason for selling him was that he wasn't really THAT good):

He was cup-tied, but when they smashed in a screamer to go 2-1 up, I couldn't really have anticipated the response that I would get...

 

 

The second leg was a formality (of course), so onto a "Battle of Britain" final against Liverpool.

Alas, late in the season, the game started really ****ing me hard with injuries. For example, my skipper on the eve of the final:

I had four regulars missing for the big match, and it was too much:

 

LEAGUE

Some notable matches:

Spoiler

Late equaliser:

Quickfire Allan hattrick against one of the big Glasgow clubs:

And three days later, a great comeback victory at the other:

Unfortunately in January, as mentioned above, I lost a fine young defender:

But fortunately, my first fixture of 2025 gave my fans a chance to boo the bastard - and it was a cathartic occasion:

Disallowed goals bonanza:

 

So it was all going pretty well, and then this huge victory...

...led to this:

A great advantage to have so late in the season. But we've collapsed before, and we were suffering with injuries...

Spoiler

The team did fantastically here to fight back from 2-0 and 3-1 down:

 

But still the injuries came. Yuill (reserve LB) just after the first-choice had come back; Robinson and Dicker both first-teamers...

 

But we had enough to hold on, and just needed one win from the last 3 games to secure the title - and we did it at the first attempt:

 

Final table:

 

Allan isn't even first-choice and the game still tells me he's only 2.5 stars

 

Lots of goals so lots of assists:

 

I guess you could call that a clean sweep:

 

And speaking of clean sweeps:

Plus we got every Young Player of the Month award during the season:

 

 

 

Manager profile at the end of the season:

 

So now, can we somehow get to world football's top table? Stay tuned

Thanks for reading!

 

AND FINALLY...

Spoiler

 

 

The idea caught me off-guard, so I didn't have a clever answer ready. So I took to the googles to seek inspiration. Of course I wanted to hook up with a local business because we're a community club, so...

 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Rob]

Well done on the league win 

[FuddledFox]

Bad luck in the Europa but it’s great to see you win the league.

New stadium as well is a nice bonus.

[danovic78]

Great league win and unlucky in the final! 👍

[Mr Tree]

Just a quick update to say that the last game at the old stadium was planned to be a friendly with Motherwell (?!), but that got cancelled and instead we had Barcelona, and it was a party occasion:

 

And then the first match at The Hollywood Megabowl was against Schalke (?!) and ended 0-0!

[Mr Tree]

I was thinking to do "Meet the Squad" every 5 seasons or so... and the last one was 5 seasons ago... so i guess it's about that time....

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your 2025/26 Albion Rovers first team squad!!

 

Only four survive from our last session - goalkeeper Munro (who's listed), defenders Bowers and Edwards, and midfielder Bell.

Ages and appearance stats as at the start of season 8 (screenshots taken a couple of months in, hence the occasional mismatch in data)

 

GOALKEEPERS

Spoiler

 

Gavin Bazunu - Irish - age 23 - value £17m - signed from Shamrock Rovers for £95k - 141 appearances for the club

Niek el Hankouri - Dutch - age 22 - value £60k - signed from FC Twente for free - 3 appearances for the club

Ross Munro - Scottish - age 25 - value £26k - signed from Ross County for free - 206 appearances for the club

 

 

DEFENDERS

Spoiler

 

Elliott Townsend - CB - English - age 20 - value £18m - signed from Peterhead for £30k - 90 appearances for the club

Neil Edwards - CB - Welsh - age 24 - value £15.25m - signed from TNS for £3k - 124 appearances for the club - it's taken him a long while to get established, but he's doing fantastically now - and bizarrely, he's scored 5 in 12 at the start of season 8, as well as 6 in his 13 Welsh caps!

Joel Krafth - LB - Swedish - age 21 - value £11.75m - signed from IFK Goteborg for free - 45 appearances for the club - and 3 caps for Sweden

Santiago Vargas - RB - Argentinian - age 20 - value £5.5m - signed from Real San Sebastian for £200k - 15 appearances for the club

Shaun Bowers - RB - Scottish - age 26 - value £3.7m - signed from Elgin City for £2k - 292 appearances for the club - and 5 caps for Scotland

Jack Yuill - LB - English - age 18 - value £3.6m - signed from the scrapheap after Southampton released him - 48 appearances for the club

Alex Hernandez Hernandez - CB - Spanish - age 24 - value £425k - signed from Hibernian for £100k - 10 appearances for the club - potential beast, no?!

Tom Smallwood - CB - English - age 22 - value £250k - signed from the scrapheap after Spurs released him - 15 appearances for the club (in 2 years)

 

 

MIDFIELDERS

Spoiler

 

Harvery Carmichael - AP - Scottish - age 20 - value £18.75m - signed from Stranraer for £24k - 101 appearances for the club - and 9 for Scotland

Ruben Castanheira - AP/BBM - Portuguese - age 20 - value £14.25m - on loan from PSG for the season

Barrie Watters - BBM/BWM - Scottish - age 22 - value £5.75m - signed from Clyde for £9k - 161 appearances for the club - club captain - and just got his first Scottish cap

Aaron Dicker - BWM - Irish - age 23 - value £3.6m - signed from Limerick for £22k - 83 appearances for the club (in 3 years) - currently out with a damaged spine (10 months) - he could be such a good player for me, but gets injured so often!!

Owen Bell - BBM - Scottish - age 26 - value £2.6m - signed from Livingston for free - 265 appearances for the club (20 goals, 66 assists)

Manu Garcia - AP - Spanish - age 27 - value £2.6m - signed from Morton for £825k - 37 appearances for the club

Kyle Magennis - CM - Scottish - age 26 - value £2m - signed from Celtic for £800k this summer - jack of all trades, master of none, useful reserve basically

Elliott Sharp - BWM - English - age 20 - value £110k - signed from Notts Co for £140k - 19 appearances for the club - broke his leg in his first season

The two big injuries and the struggle to find just the right sort of player have left me a bit over-stocked here - i even have a couple more who aren't worth writing home (nor on here) about.

 

 

WINGERS

Spoiler

 

Dylan Robinson - AM RLC - Irish - age 19 - value £16m - signed from Waterford for £20k - 132 appearances for the club - plus 19 caps for Ireland

Antonio Paciencia - AM RL - Portuguese - age 23 - value £13m - signed from FC Inter for £140k - 26 appearances for the club - one of those where i couldn't resist his stats despite lukewarm appraisals from the scouts

Juan Calderon - M R - Colombian - age 20 - value £12.5m - signed from Junior for £4m this summer

Diego Castro - AM RL - Spanish - age 19 - value £85k - signed from Zamora for £120k this summer

 

 

STRIKERS

Spoiler

 

Norberto Braz (aka Nobby Brazzers) - Portuguese - age 20 - value £14.75m - signed from P.Ferreira for £160k - 48 appearances for the club (in 2 seasons) - gets injured too often

Calum Allan - Scottish - age 22 - value £2.6m - youth academy graduate - 98 appearances for the club (88 goals)

Alan Thompson - English - age 22 - value £1.5m - signed from Ayr for £90k - 18 appearances for the club (in 3 years) - stats look good, but can never get him going

 

 

As ever, thanks for reading

Edited March 6, 2019 by Mr Tree

[georgeapushd7]

£2.6m for Allan?!

Need to see his stats please!

Unbelievable career btw, just caught up!

[Mr Tree]

11 hours ago, georgeapushd7 said:

£2.6m for Allan?!

Need to see his stats please!

Unbelievable career btw, just caught up!

Cheers! Here ya go:

Coach Report has him as a 1.5-star player at the moment!

[RPA123456]

Oooo I like this idea of meet the squad. 

Since I have my 10 year anniversary coming up, mind if I steal this little idea for myself? 

Also, I'll have to admit I am a little jealous seeing all the replies you have, I wish someone would comment on my post too...

Edited February 28, 2019 by RPA123456

[Mr Tree]

It's a free world mate

i think the primary thing is to always enjoy the save for yourself. Comments etc are just a bonus. But I think if you show authentic enthusiasm for your game and your team, that will generate authentic good feedback 👍

[Mr Tree]

SEASON 8 REVIEW

A slightly transitionary season as the momentum with which we'd hit the top ran out and the squad churned a bit.

Rangers had a stonking season to reclaim the SPL (crisis on the green side of Glasgow, who are without a title in 3 years now), and while we had our best ever CL run, it ended in frustration at the last 16 stage.

 

TRANSFERS

I had high hopes for Vargas, my new right-back, so it was a bit of a pisser when he got nabbed for 4.5m as I realised (too late!) that he still had a release clause.

And Townsend, my star centre-back, started agitating for a move (in the first week of February) and set his wage demands just above what the board would allow me to offer (classic FMM, I still had a huge amount of wage budget to use). I tried two or three times then got pissed off with him and listed him and offered him to clubs immediately, setting up a 25m move to Lyon. I hoped he would at least play well after that but he was still being a dick so I put him in the reserves for the rest of the season. When the new season started, I pulled out of the Lyon move and offered him a new contract and he accepted. But still, unideal.

In better news, picked up a quality young Swedish striker who quickly became my new star, although of course he then got injured before my title showdown with Rangers 🙄

 

CUPS

Spoiler

 

Played my reserves throughout the Betfred, literally picking the team based on least appearances during the season...

...stayed true to it for the final, but it was a bridge too far:

 

Put my first XI out by accident in the Scottish Cup (didn't realise, thought it was a league game), and then got thoroughly FMM'd:

 

EUROPE

Had to suffer the indignity of playing qualifiers to reach the group stage, but survived:

 

Spoiler

 

 

Man City, Porto and CSKA Moscow in the group stage:

Spoiler

That inability to squeeze ahead of City proved crucial, as the tricky last 16 draw was too much for me to overcome, with Liverpool taking me down again.

Spoiler

 

It was looking so good after 25mins of the home leg...

But really, two missed penalties away from home were an absolute kick in the balls:

Carmichael has been removed from PK duties now

 

 

LEAGUE

Spoiler

 

Hmm - I must've taken this screenshot thinking "fantastic, what a great win", not realising that FMM planned for St Johnstone to later get revenge (that I neglected to capture) - they scored two late goals including a long clearance in injury time that my keeper seemed to miss, giving the striker an open goal 😭

 

Always nice to smash Hearts and see Allan flying.

 

I mentioned Rangers had a stormer - the below was their 22nd game (i.e. last of the second round of matches), and their record was 18-3-0 at this point. So, nice to hand them their first loss. But the main thing here is look at that bloody attendance! I asked the board for an expansion and they said "how about from 20k to 44k?" - alright then!

 

This actually mattered for nothing at all, but still funny:

 

So the final table:

Celtic were responsible for the other Rangers loss, and that was after the title had been secured too to be fair.

 

Allan had lots of bad runs of form, but with Brazzers frequently injured and Thompson just rubbish, he was still my best:

 

Paciencia's done a cracking job since arriving. Fair play to Bell here too:

 

The people giving out the awards couldn't care less for Rangers:

 

 

 

The squad this season... (the second guy was a winger I got from PSG on loan, but then I signed others, so I just kept him as insurance as he wasn't costing me anything, but I preferred to use my players). Wallquist is the new Swedish striker. Dahlberg a good young keeper I picked up in January.

 

Spoiler

 

 

AND FINALLY...

The Summer of 2026 saw a crazy World Cup take place, and...

 

Spoiler

 

Edited March 6, 2019 by Mr Tree

[RPA123456]

12 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

SEASON 8 REVIEW

A slightly transitionary season as the momentum with which we'd hit the top ran out and the squad churned a bit.

Rangers had a stonking season to reclaim the SPL (crisis on the green side of Glasgow, who are without a title in 3 years now), and while we had our best ever CL run, it ended in frustration at the last 16 stage.

 

TRANSFERS

I had high hopes for Vargas, my new right-back, so it was a bit of a pisser when he got nabbed for 4.5m as I realised (too late!) that he still had a release clause.

And Townsend, my star centre-back, started agitating for a move (in the first week of February) and set his wage demands just above what the board would allow me to offer (classic FMM, I still had a huge amount of wage budget to use). I tried two or three times then got pissed off with him and listed him and offered him to clubs immediately, setting up a 25m move to Lyon. I hoped he would at least play well after that but he was still being a dick so I put him in the reserves for the rest of the season. When the new season started, I pulled out of the Lyon move and offered him a new contract and he accepted. But still, unideal.

In better news, picked up a quality young Swedish striker who quickly became my new star, although of course he then got injured before my title showdown with Rangers 🙄

 

CUPS

Played my reserves throughout the Betfred, literally picking the team based on least appearances during the season...

...stayed true to it for the final, but it was a bridge too far:

 

Put my first XI out by accident in the Scottish Cup (didn't realise, thought it was a league game), and then got thoroughly FMM'd:

 

EUROPE

Had to suffer the indignity of playing qualifiers to reach the group stage, but survived:

 

Man City, Porto and CSKA Moscow in the group stage:

  Reveal hidden contents

That inability to squeeze ahead of City proved crucial, as the tricky last 16 draw was too much for me to overcome, with Liverpool taking me down again.

It was looking so good after 25mins of the home leg...

But really, two missed penalties away from home were an absolute kick in the balls:

Carmichael has been removed from PK duties now

 

LEAGUE

Hmm - I must've taken this screenshot thinking "fantastic, what a great win", not realising that FMM planned for St Johnstone to later get revenge (that I neglected to capture) - they scored two late goals including a long clearance in injury time that my keeper seemed to miss, giving the striker an open goal 😭

 

Always nice to smash Hearts and see Allan flying.

 

I mentioned Rangers had a stormer - the below was their 22nd game (i.e. last of the second round of matches), and their record was 18-3-0 at this point. So, nice to hand them their first loss. But the main thing here is look at that bloody attendance! I asked the board for an expansion and they said "how about from 20k to 44k?" - alright then!

 

This actually mattered for nothing at all, but still funny:

 

So the final table:

Celtic were responsible for the other Rangers loss, and that was after the title had been secured too to be fair.

 

Allan had lots of bad runs of form, but with Brazzers frequently injured and Thompson just rubbish, he was still my best:

 

Paciencia's done a cracking job since arriving. Fair play to Bell here too:

 

The people giving out the awards couldn't care less for Rangers:

 

The squad this season... (the second guy was a winger I got from PSG on loan, but then I signed others, so I just kept him as insurance as he wasn't costing me anything, but I preferred to use my players). Wallquist is the new Swedish striker. Dahlberg a good young keeper I picked up in January.

 

AND FINALLY...

The Summer of 2026 saw a crazy World Cup take place, and...

Oof must be annoying to miss out on all the silverware. 

Strange to see Rangers doing well here as they've gone to shit in my version, although interestingly Hibernian have become a force to be reckoned with. 

Decent season you've had! 

Also, England winning the World Cup? This is what we mean when we say FM is unrealistic! SORT IT OUT SI! 

[Rob]

Another solid season. Every season your squad is getting better. Keep it up and you’ll soon clean sweep.

[Ian]

Horribly unlucky in the second leg against Liverpool there. It looks like you are really close now to dominating.

[Mr Tree]

SEASON 9 REVIEW

A fantastic domestic season, a tantalising European campaign, and some significant squad churn. Let's start there:

TRANSFERS

As mentioned elsewhere, despite fantastic finances, my board decided they couldn't stretch to the 600k signing-on bonuses that some of my quality young players were looking for. And I couldn't tolerate the spoilt crybabies, so we said goodbye to Carmichael (for a decent profit):

 

So this was the transfer picture overall:

 

 

Hanley, Garcia and Chaves Guedes have swiftly become my new first-choice midfield trio.

It doesn't end there though - centre-back Townsend started agitating again, and goalkeeper Bazunu made some ridiculous demands, so I tried a couple of times and then listed them and arranged moves. Tried playing them for a couple more games but couldn't be arsed so stuck them in the reserves till the summer:

I hope they're very happy together 😬

 

LEAGUE

I drew 4 of the first 9 games, including this impressive 10-man performance at Celtic:

 

But I soon got rolling...

 

...and with 26 wins from my next 27 league games, the only dropped points coming in a 3-3 draw at Celtic when they equalised on 90+5, we secured the title with games to spare:

 

With no Europe to worry about, I rested some of my first XI after the title was secured and played some of my exciting youngsters (with six teenagers starting in some games), but kept the winning run going (just about):

 

But then in the second-last game against Celtic.... I bottled it, and brought my first XI back in. And they lost, of course! So then I reverted to the rookies for the last game and beat Rangers 3-0

So the final table ended up as:

 

And obviously, we did well with rankings and awards:

 

 

CUPS

Again I played the reserves throughout the Betfred, and this time dominated the final against Celtic, although I needed penalties to win it. A great experience for all.

The Scottish Cup remained the holy grail, but we eventually squeaked past Dundee Utd in the semi to reach our first ever final:

 

A kind draw gave me a lower-league club in the final, and I learned my lesson from the end of the league campaign and trusted my in-form reserves, who came up trumps:

So a domestic treble, but what went wrong in Europe?

 

EUROPE

From automatic entry to the group stage two years ago to one qualifying round last year - this year we had TWO qualifying rounds! Oh the indignity!

Fortunately, I still own the Ukraine:

Btw, a quick aside: his name's popped up a bit, but who he, this frickin' Delgado?

Well I'm glad you (probably) asked that - he's not on the transfer update, but he wasn't in last year's meet the squad 🤔

Well that's because he was out on loan at Hibernian, wasn't he? And he had a great season and came back all guns blazing, following the above with a hat-trick in the SPL to sit on 8 goals after 2 games. Alas, he couldn't quite maintain that 4 GPG average, but he still had a phenomenal break-through season.

 

The final qualifier paired me with old friends Fenerbahce, who were still smarting after I whooped them in the Europa League semis a couple of seasons ago. Revenge was.... not forthcoming:

 

So through to the group stage and drawn together with... Real Madrid, Benfica, and Spartak Moscow.

Unfortunately, I left a couple of wins on the table here, with Benfica's late late equaliser proving particularly costly:

 

So the last group game was at home to Real Madrid and a win would have put me through at their expense.... And their finishing was just too hot, as they quickly went 2-0 up

We put in a Herculean effort in the second half, and we nearly made it...

As a small consolation, we at least took them down with us, though Spartak's win over Benfica also ensured that we missed out on the Europa League

 

So, a great season with only two losses - away to Madrid in the UCL, and home to Celtic in the 37th SPL game of the season.

Look at poor Calum... Brazzers will return from a developmental loan season so I'll have 3 quality strikers for next year, so Calum will be listed, bless him.

 

And finally, the manager profile (taken before the two big-money sales to Roma):

 

As always, thanks for reading. Next year's target is Champions League quarter-final for the first time!

Edited March 7, 2019 by Mr Tree