Career Scottish Domination - Elgin

[Shector]

It's been a while since I really got into FMM 23 and after my last Elgin City save was lost when I had to factory reset my phone (tried to transfer my save but it didn't work), I've decided to start again. 

 

The plan is to start again with Elgin City from the bottom of a Scottish Football and look to build the club based solely on Scottish players with the goal of managing Scotland team and bringing the a Scottish Premier League to the top of world football. 

 

I'm not setting a time limit for this but just wanted somewhere to document my journey so stay tuned for a start of season overview 😁

[Shector]

Here's how we line up for the season. Alway seem to settle for a 4-1-2-2-1 when creating a tactic regardless of the tier I'm playing in. Thankfully the majority of the squad are already Scottish however the players that weren't were some of my best players. 

Thomas McHale

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Ross Draper

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Kane Hester

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Transfers

Quite a bit of money spent for the club (£35k) with no transfers out as no one wanted my 3 non-Scottish players. We managed to get through the first 2 rounds of the SPFL Trust Trophy with the board providing us £45k funds into the transfer pot! 

Starting to build some momentum now with the team starting to gel sitting 4th in the league 

S1 firmly underway...I'll maybe update after January will just see how it goes and how busy the transfer window is 😁

[BakaSotong]

Looks interesting mate, keep it up! Am curious to see how you progress.

Would be interesting to see how Scotland does internationally as well throughout the years, since you'll be running a full Scottish side a la Bilbao with Basque. Maybe it'll be fun to manage them and try to win the WC, who knows.

[Shector]

5 hours ago, BakaSotong said:

Looks interesting mate, keep it up! Am curious to see how you progress.

Would be interesting to see how Scotland does internationally as well throughout the years, since you'll be running a full Scottish side a la Bilbao with Basque. Maybe it'll be fun to manage them and try to win the WC, who knows.

Thanks buddy, yeah it will be interesting. I've done loads of saves with Elgin before but never focussed on homegrown talent. 

 

The Scotland job will be the ultimate goal but there will be no rush! 

[Shector]

JANUARY UPDATE

Not too much to say or shout about...our Cup runs came to abrupt disappointing ends but we can now focus our efforts on the league. 

Struggled with consistency in the league for a while, tinkering with the team instructions and struggling with a lot of injuries. Seem to have settled into a bit of form now and with an almost clena bill of health hopefully we can solidate our position for the remainder of the season. 

[Shector]

Season 1 Summary

With a game to spare, we wrapped up the title against 2nd placed Dumbarton with a late goal at home to grab a draw.  Not the second half of the season I'd hoped for as we weren't really able to kick on however no team was consistent enough to topple us.

End of Season Awards

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As a club the only award we picked up was a Manager of the Season by myself.

One player in the TOTY which was quite disappointing.

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POTY

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My own personal pick for POTY has got to be our ST, Kyle Connell.  One of my signings and top GS tying for the league GS also.

Not the most outstanding or impressive S1 however promotion achieved and we move on.  A fair bit of improvements needed for next season and maybe a tactic tweak also to try and be more productive in front of goal.

Thanks for tuning in 😁

[leedsunited87]

Good effort that mate, well done 

[Shector]

Season 2 Preview

 

Plenty of movement with loads of players released, no big transfers with funds a bit short. Robbie Ure on a bowman is a good steal with him doing the business for me in previous saves all the way to the SPL.

Banner will slot into DM and the board seem excited a about Michael O'Halloran on a free so we'll see how he gets on going straight into Left IF of the starting 11.

Not got high hopes for the season ahead but a comfortable mid table finish, maybe trying to sneak into the playoffs would be a good result.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Shector

[Shector]

And yes Tyler Mykata is Scottish 😅

[Shector]

Season 2 Summary

Well the less said about the end of this season the better. Was going well till after Xmas where we were keeping pace with Ayr (despite not beating them all season) and then we capitulated! Scraping 4th with a draw on the last day of the season before losing to a last minute goal in the first round of the playoffs.

Had we somehow stole promotion it would have been a massive jump up to the championship. Here's hoping after solidifying our status here we can now push on in season 3!

Robbie Ure was our silver lining of the season scoring 20 goals

[Shector]

Season 3 Preview

Some more movement in the transfer market as big improvements were needed from last year. Basically the whole spine of the team has been changed knocking off our chemistry.

No money coming in unfortunately with a lot of the squad still remaining at the club. Some decent purchases though the majority going straight into the starting 11 and here's how we line up for the season ahead...

After making the playoffs last year that's our goal again this year but hoping to fight for the title at the same time.

Also with the majority of our funds going into the squad/starting 11, we haven't managed to free up anything to upgrade our facilities which we'll need to start looking at to bring through our own talent which will be vital if my ultimate goals are to be completed.  As well as the staff at the club which need to be improved.

[Shector]

Season 3 (Mid Update)

As you can see we're keeping pace with QOTS and it's a good battle between the top 1-5 really! Still no consistency in the team, really struggling to create consistent chances and score which is frustrating.

[Shector]

Season 3 Summary

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With 3 games left of the season and 6 points behind QOTS, it was always going to be a tough however they (almost) bottled it! They lost the first 2 games meaning we were tied going into the final game and at half time we were winning 1-0 and they were losing 0-1 with a sending off!  We didn't quite have enough, only managing to draw meaning they pipped us to the title by a single point!

Playoff's

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First up the Semi-Final against Queens Park.  Chances missed in the first leg meant with a solitary one goal lead the 2nd leg was a nervy affair, holding out for a draw and sealing our place in the final.

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A very similar story in the final, holding a 1-0 lead going into the 2nd leg with an abundance of chances to seal the tie we just couldn't take them.  A 2 goal (agg) lead just before half time felt comfortable before they pegged one back meaning a nervy finally where we held on!

Awards

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A well deserved manager of the season I would say, receiving job offers left right and centre so I must be doing something right.

Two representatives in the TOTS which would have undoubtedly been more had we settled into our stride earlier in the season.

A large contribution to our late season form was the acquisition of Alfie Steward coming in on loan in January. The right IF picking up POTS testament to this and a look at the kind of players we want to start producing/bringing into the club.

Finally a notable mention to Kyle O'Connell who wrestled back and forth for the ST position within the squad and grabbing runner up GS for the league with 14 goals.

All in all a great season in the end and where we deserve to be after the squad settling.  It would have been tough missing out on promotion this year.  Finally something I want to include in the seasons going forward is mention of my youth prospects that come through the development squad.  Our first player coming through the ranks that looks incredibly promising 

Ashley Goodfellow with excellent Leadership and Teamwork I think it would be great fun to see him develop into a key member of the team becoming a future captain!

Bring on Season 4!

Edited June 12, 2023 by Shector
Delete unintended picture

[Shector]

Season 4

No mid season update this season so here's how we got on...

League Table

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With a goal set for the season to finish mid-table it was easily accomplished! We struggled again at the beginning of the year for consistency however building some form during the second half of the season we pushed Raith all the way finishing 5th.

Awards

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Just the one player in this season's TOTS which is a bit disappointing but probably relevant compared to how consistent we were over the beginning of the season.

Robbie Ure had a brilliant 2nd half of the season really hitting some form, we just need it across the whole year!

Youth Prospects

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This year we had Jonathan Adams who was a 5* youth prospects from our academy. He was poached however by Aberdeen and we received 200k compensation and were then able to re-sign him on a bowman 😅

 

[Shector]

Season 5

Since I didn't provide a mid season update last season and we've reached our 5th season, I figured as well as a usual preview, I'll give you a general overview of our starting 11 as the squad begins to form a consistency amongst them.

Here's how we line up for the season ahead, after much tweaking the tactic seems settled and as you can see the chemistry is all but there!

Transfers - In

Out

A lot of movement in this transfer window with loads of free and bosman transfers, the majority of them players for the future with good potential.

Starting 11

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GK - Jacques Heraghty

Been with us a couple of seasons now and has been a mainstay I'm between the sticks since. As you can see from his AVG rating, he's a consistent performer however has been making noises about moving on so we'll see what happens.

RB - Jordan Houston

One of our signings this season slotting straight into the team at right back. A position we have struggled with he should be good enough for the season ahead.

LB - Joe Spencer

A rotational player last year, looks to solidify his position this season. Prefer my full backs to have better crossing but again another solid option.

CB - Euan East

Arrived last season and has found himself jumping into the starting 11, few games played in pre-season and looks like he'll be a great inclusion

CB - Jordan Armstrong

Jordan has been with the club now for a number of seasons and has found himself one of the first names on the team sheet.  Extremely consistent performer although does love cheeky OG once in a while 🙈

DM (DLP) - MacKenzie Carse

Dropping down the leagues from Celtics youth set up 2 seasons ago he's found a regular starting place and his presence is missed when not in the squad.  I like my deep DLP to have good tackling so he fits perfectly.

CM (BWM) - Chris Hamilton

Again, arriving at the club a couple of seasons ago (initially on loan) is one of the first names on the team sheet with great mental attributes and solid technicals. Massively undervalued!

CM (AP) - Alex Fairlie

Another player that's been at the club a couple of seasons however has found playing time inconsistent battling for his starting position.  However he has developed into a great player with some lovely passing/decision/movement stats and has become more consistent of late.

RIF - Connor Duthie

Connor has also been at the club for a couple of seasons (I believe also starting out as a loanee). With solid technicals, he could use some work in the mental attributes. He does a job however does find himself rotated frequently.

LIF - Adam Emslie

The star of the show Adam Emslie. I don't need to say too much, look at the attributes and AVG rating.  He's a top consistent performer and one we need to hold onto!

ST - Robbie Ure

Finally our talisman!  Fought for his place over the last few seasons having been signed from Rangers youth set up.  He's finally developed into a top striker for us and will be a loss when he eventually moves on, which he has already started making a noise about.

Hopefully you enjoyed the read.  If there is anything you'd like to see within the save or see me try to do, drop a comment and I'll see what I can do 👍

 

Bring on promotion 💯

Edited June 13, 2023 by Shector

[DoneHisCruciate]

I like the idea behind this one. I’d like to do something similar at some point. Find a terrible international country and build up the clubs so that they produce players good enough to win the world cup! 
 

I also used to have a flatmate from Elgin so it’s good to see them climbing up the table 😁

[Shector]

8 hours ago, DoneHisCruciate said:

I like the idea behind this one. I’d like to do something similar at some point. Find a terrible international country and build up the clubs so that they produce players good enough to win the world cup! 
 

I also used to have a flatmate from Elgin so it’s good to see them climbing up the table 😁

Thanks for checking in and glad you're enjoying the idea. Not easy (well short, by any means), however there are definitely more difficult nations to do it with!

[Shector]

Season 5 Mid Update

Sitting pretty at the top of the league with a 6 point lead albeit with a game on hand.  Much more consistent with results but could easily have skipped away with the league of we could avoid the sloppy goals conceded meaning plenty of dropped points.

Couple of big games against Scottish Premiership sides meaning we're through to the Scottish Cup Semi-Final with a glamour tie against Celtic.

We've also got ourselves a cup final to play in soon which we will be favourites to pick up our first piece of silverware!

January transfer window was quiet for us however we did lose 2 huge squad players in Kyle Connell and Adam King.  Kyle almost came back to bite us in the bottom scoring twice against us in the SPL Trust Semi-Final!

Big second half of the season for us with hopefully promotion to the Scottish Premiership wrapped up as early as possible!

[Shector]

Season 5 Summary

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We did it!

League Champions and promotion to Scotland's top division 🎊

Probably just deserved, even if not as comfortable as we'd have liked 🙈 the second half of the season we just didn't kick on and it was a scrappy battle.  It went all the way down to the final day of the season where we needed to match Falkirks final result which we did however only with a draw!

SPFL Trust Trophy

After bigging ourselves up in the mid season update, we ended up losing 1-0 in the final which was incredibly frustrating.

Scottish Cup

We were unable to continue our fine form here either losing (as expected) to Scottish Champions Celtic in the Quarter-Final 3-1.

Awards

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A well deserved manager of the season for myself with some great cup runs and the league title to go with it 💪

TOTY

Adam Emslie being our only inclusion again for the 2nd year in a row. Testament to his own ability and the lack of consistency in the rest of the squad.

Finally a league top Goalscorer for Robbie Ure who as you can see from the image has been called up to the Ukrainian national squad (never noticed it was his 2nd nationality). With 24 goals in the league and 35 for the season, definitely our standout performer.

Also a notable 3rd place in POTY for Robbie Ure perhaps a tad unlucky not to win here also.

 

[Shector]

Season 6 Preview

Our first season in with the big boys this year as we look to stay up and fight for a mid table finish which has been the set objective.

Quite a busy transfer window however more notably on the going out side of things as we lose both Robbie Ure and Chris Hamilton from the starting 11.  A tasty transfer fee for Robbie Ure however means we have some money in the bank to develop the club and a decent enough squad for the season ahead.

Certainly not expecting wonders this year. However with some new young faces it will be interesting to see how we fair!

CB - Conner Halliday

Our first new face into the starting lineup is this fella. 18yo with good mental attributes and a good baseline for the role attributes we desire, he takes the place of Armstrong for the season with a look into the future.

CM (BWM) - Lloyd Lisle

Another 18yo straight into the starting 11 (you will be beginning to see the theme here...) replacing Hamilton who left the club.  No green stats however solid throughout and someone who I think will develop well given game time and the development of the club.

CM (AP) - Ashley Goodfellow

Our starlet and new captain! Straight in at the deep end for this young lad. One season on load after coming in from the academy last year and he finished top Goalscorer in L2! Will be looking to bring in a tutor to improve that stamina, otherwise he's a real gem.

ST - Alan Healy

Last but not least our new man leading the line! With the departure of Robbie Ure we have put the weight of the club on young shoulders however with plenty of talent coming through young Healy I'm confident will fill the void.

 

Exciting season ahead as we look to cement ourselves up in the top division and really push on.

[leedsunited87]

Brilliant few seasons mate, youngsters look mint. We'll done on the cup run. Will be interesting to see how you do in the big league 

[Shector]

Season 6

We're flying through the seasons right now I just don't have the time to pause and do mid season updates 😄 so let's see what Season 6 had in store for us...

League

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Blew all of my predictions out of the water! A 4th place finish even pushing Hearts and you could say Celtic all the way to at least the pre split fixtures.  We were fighting with Aberdeen most of the season back and forth managing to pip them in the end.

Cups

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Given our league table position, these results aren't actually that impressive but nonetheless a cup run to the Scottish Cup Semi-Final where we eventually were beaten by Celtic again.  I believe that's 2 seasons in a row they have ended our dreams of this silverware.

The SPFL Trust Trophy the less said about the better, we didn't even make it out of the group stages!

Awards

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Another well deserved manager of the season, fresh promotion to European football next season.  Couldn't have asked for much more!

Our AP and Captain was selected to play for Scotland at the European champs so a big achievement and hopefully plenty more going forward!

One of our loan youngsters won L2 POTY so it will be interesting to see what he looks like and if he can make an impact next season.

Tactic

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Finally I figured I better mention the tactic...having done my own thing since the beginning I decided mid season to try a tactic belonging to DK Falcon.  It feels like cheating as it really did push my team to new heights from fighting for 5th/6th to pushing onto 4th place.  It's very similar in shape to what I was playing, bar a rejig of the front 3 and some roles so it was easy to transition to.  The biggest change in results was the amount of goals I'm now scoring which has always really been my problem. I'm excited to see how I make the players/club adapt to this new tactic.

Onwards to Season 7 and European football!

Edited June 16, 2023 by Shector

[DoneHisCruciate]

How big is Elgin’s stadium? The thought of them hosting Real Madrid or Juventus is appealing 😁

[Shector]

1 hour ago, DoneHisCruciate said:

How big is Elgin’s stadium? The thought of them hosting Real Madrid or Juventus is appealing 😁

Haha IRL or in game? 🙈🤣

[Shector]

there's our only seated stand...

[Shector]

Season 7

A huge season for the club going forward so let's see how we got on...

So at the beginning of the season we're sitting as a 2.5* club with decent enough facilities which we managed to improve throughout this season and are competing in the qualifiers of the UEFA Europa Conference League. The goals for the season we're to qualify for the UCL meaning we had to finish 2nd and separate Scotland's 2 biggest clubs Celtic and Rangers.

League

In the excitement of the season I forgot to screenshot the league table 😅 however we achieved our goal managing to split Celtic and Rangers with the latter winning the league and Celtic finishing behind us by around 5 points I believe.  We struggled with squad rotation competing on multiple fronts 🤫

Domestic Cups

We lost fairly early on in the League Cup, can't remember who against but as mentioned previously we struggled with the squad fitness and we just don't have the strength in depth due to the majority of the squad being youngsters!

A brilliant win in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final against league Champions Rangers. Two penalties from our superstar and Captain Ashley Goodfellow either side of a Lambir goal ensured a comfortable win.  This was treated as our Cup final with Rangers having already knocked out Celtic in the previous round.

Going into the final as massive favourites we just couldn't put the game to bed and conceded a late penalty to send the game to extra time 🙈 eventually decided on penalties we won 3-0 two seal our first cup trophy.

Europa Conference League

Now onto the real excitement...our first venture into European football and opportunity to grow the Scottish reputation and test ourselves.  Firstly we had to go through 2 qualifying rounds first up against Bayer Leverkusen!

Two comfortable legs however and our first big scalp! 4-1 on agg leading to a playoff tie against Viktoria Plzen

After a 1-0 win at home in the first leg, it meant the 2nd leg was set up for a nervy affair.  However the team stepped up, coming back from a goal down to score 3 in the 2nd half and book our spot in the competition.

No photo of the league stages but we only lost 1 game meaning we qualified straight into the knockout stages, avoiding the playoffs and being drawn against FC Lorient

An absolute goal fest over the 2 legs securing a 5-3 agg victory after a 2-2 draw in the first leg. Next up was Feherver

Another step as we continued our great form in all competitions by this point with a comprehensive 3-0 win at home in the second leg (4-0 agg). Onwards to the Semi-Finals against APOEL

A fair tighter tie, with two solitary 1-0 wins we booked our place in our first European final at the Johan Crujiff Arena against Dynamo Kyiv.

By this point we were feeling invincible having pipped Celtic to 2nd in the league and sealed UCL football for next season, as well as the Scottish Cup we had the chance at a Cup double and our first European title!

Which we done! Our other young AP Duncan Klimionek with the double 😁

Awards

No Manager of the season award for us this year despite our achievements however we were in the running!

What a season this young man had! Our very own sideshow Bob picking up

Europa Conference Young POTY

Scottish Players Young POTY

Cinch Premiership POTY

Finally he also found himself featured in the TOTS alongside backup CB Seamus McFayden 🤔 

Misc

A couple of other small pieces of news...

We finally declared our interest in the Scotland job with the club being a bit peeved off it didn't come to anything but at least they know we're here now

Also the club decided it was time to build a new stadium

A measley 30k seats which has been named 'Paradise' and hopefully a place we can have much success at over the next few years.

[Shector]

Season 8

Well after last season's phenomenal Europa Conference League win and into the UCL Qualification Rounds from finishing 2nd in the league, we have our first season trying to compete with the big boys of the UCL.  Let's see how we got on...

League

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Let's start off with the league...after a long slog of a season we managed to replicate last season's efforts finishing 2nd again only this time it was Celtic who finished above us.  As you can see, way too many draws this time round meaning we couldn't quite topple Celtic who were also remarkably consistent throughout the season.

Domestic Cups

Spoiler

I think I missed a round here in the Premier Sports Cup however an early trophy in the bag was a great boost in confidence for the lads especially beating Rangers in the Semi-Final.

An early tough tie in the Scottish Cup however we narrowly beat Celtic on Penalties to reach the QF.

Not sure if we played a game before this however check out those stats.  This really was taking the biscuit, I mean 27 shots needing a 120th minute winner to reach the Semi-Finals of the Scottish Cup.

Then in the cup SF, it was another story of plenty chances which we just could not take or even find the target with the majority! Meaning we whimpered out at the hands of Motherwell!

Finally...European Football

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As we know, UCL Qualification this season however we had to play 3 ROUNDS OF QUALIFICATION!

First up was Panathinaikos...

Thankfully after a 5-0 win away in the first leg the damage was done as we succumb to a horrendous 3-0 defeat at home (5-3agg win)

Next up was Standard Liege of Belgium...A far more comfortable tie this round keeping 2 clean sheets and dealing with the Belgium team in a professional manner which could have been more.

Finally, to qualify we had to get past ASK (can't remember the actually team name...

I was extremely confident going into the tie given who we could have played however after a nervy goalless first leg there was all to play for in the 2nd leg, thankfully we had home advantage and managed to get the job done.

Now onto the UCL group stages where we were given a mixed bag of teams to play and got a mixed bag of results!

Some extremely tough games, disappointingly drawing with Besiktas in the opening match however then beating Dortmund!  A goal fest with Liverpool, staying in the tie till the 89th minute! Going into the last game, we needed a win to creep into the L16 playoff round which we blew away RB Salzberg at home!

Onto the L16 playoffs where we drew Real San Sabastien a tough tie but one I believed we could get past nonetheless!Losing the first leg at home we didn't make the job easy for ourselves, however, a brilliant 3-1 win in Spain meant we were through to the KO stages of the competition!

Now @DoneHisCruciatejoked about Real Madrid coming to little old Elgin's ground...it was only fitting that is who we drew!

For some reason I can't find the screenshot of the first leg which ended 1-0 to Madrid at home and I really had belief that we were still in the tie and could beat them if we played our best.  It just wasn't to be 🥲 we were the better team on paper for the 2nd leg but just couldn't score in which was a scrappy tie with very little chances.

 

 

Awards

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Another fantastic season for the squad competing on multiple fronts and it goes to show in the awards won throughout the team and the bids I was receiving for my stars throughout the campaign!

Scottish Players POTY

Scottish Players Young POTY

FW Young POTY

All for Mackenzie Souter our Left IF.  Notable mentions for Goodfellow, Lambie and Ritchie who were named alongside Souter for the awards showing just how strong a team we have.

Goodfellow also found himself in the running for league POTY and FW POTY finishing 3rd in both.

Finally TOTS

With 4 mentions throughout its our best season so far.

Next seasons goal is to improve the facilities further in order to prevent teams poaching our best players because of the facilities.  Also we need to continue competing in the UCL which we will have to qualify for again unfortunately and hopefully with the league for the first time!

Edited June 21, 2023 by Shector

[Shector]

Season 9

League

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After 2 seasons separating the Old Firm, we finally toppled them.  Last day of the season Rangers beat Celtic to leap frog them into 2nd place meaning we had to win steal the title which we were able to do.

Domestic Trophies

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This season we sealed the treble for the first time! Two close finals however.

European Football

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We qualified for the Champions League again this season coming through another 2 qualifying rounds!  I won't bore you with all of the matches this time

We unfortunately drew our other Scottish European representative Celtic in the playoffs! After losing the first leg away we rallied at home and fought through to Penalties where we came out on top.  Giving us a L16 tie against Valencia to match last season's progress

After a 2-2 draw at home in the first game from being two goals down we fought back and then completed the job in the 2nd leg away with an impressive performance.

One stage further than last season however we were up against Barcelona!  It wasn't to be, losing 3-0 in the first leg and winning 1-0 in the second it was just one step too far for us.

 

Awards

Spoiler

The same names keep appearing but another solid year for Souter picking up a number of awards with Graeme Lambie breaking through also.

Finally we declared our interest in the Scotland job once again and with current manager (Damien Duff) getting the boot, we took our shot...

Picked up 4 points from our 2 games in the nation's league group which were primarily treated as a warmup and not prioritised by the board. A great start in the European Champ Qualifying group saw us picking up 3 wins to top the group prior to the end of the season

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Shector

[DoneHisCruciate]

Nicely on track. Can Scotland scoop the Euros this time?

I’ve started mucking around with the Kiwis to see if we can do something similar. How are your youth academy players shaping up?

[Shector]

29 minutes ago, DoneHisCruciate said:

Nicely on track. Can Scotland scoop the Euros this time?

I’ve started mucking around with the Kiwis to see if we can do something similar. How are your youth academy players shaping up?

Here's hoping! 

 

Interesting, do a thread 😁

The last season I had a 5* player however the academy seemed 5o disappear mid season...not sure what happened!