***The Official Football Manager Thread***

[Zac]

Hmmm...






I don't think you understand how money works Mr. Chairman.

[Suntan Superman]

So I ended up at Wolfsburg, just outside the relegation playout spot. Thankfully the squad seems good enough that I didn't have to do much re-tooling, though I did make some additions in January(I joined in December), most were young player. I wasn't able to get a good ball winner for midfield though, now I know I just have to wait two years...

[jasontoddwhitt]

You can forget about that ten in a row Celtic. Brendan Rodgers left Celtic to take the job at Dortmund and they hired.....Jack Ross of St. Mirren????

But even before Rodgers left, the sour taste that was in our mouths after losing the title the way we did last season had us come out strong with a 3-0 victory over Celtic on opening day and we never looked back. It's hard to win the title Celtic if you never beat us



Even having to sell Alfredo Morales in January didn't stop us ($14.5M with futures to $21M to Red Bull Leipzig), as I found another South American striker in Walter Gonzalez to step in. Not quite the goal scoring threat that Morales was (63 goals in 67 appearances), but he got 7 goals in 11 appearances down the stretch. Also brought in Harry Wilson from Liverpool on loan and he added another ten goals in 15 appearances.

Only lost three matches in Scotland....a 0-1 defeat to Hibernian...an inexplicable 1-3 loss to Kilmarnock...and then we crashed out of the Scottish Cup in our first match 0-1 to Airdrie (typical FM gods smash and grab).

So next season...back in Champions League...a lot of Caixinha's horrible high dollar signings are gone now (thank you Cruz Azul for paying $2.2M for Carlos Pena)...and I'm setting this club up to dominate Scotland.

[jasontoddwhitt]

I said that I was prepping for Rangers to take over Scotland. Unfortunately for me, Celtic didn't take it lightly that I broke their streak of winning in Scotland. Celtic ended up investing $58 million into their squad, compared to our investment of just over $3 million. Needless to say, we were not going to walk away with the league to the tune of 17 points.



I feel like I caught a break in the Champions League by drawing Sparta Praha in the Playoffs, but oh boy did the group draw more than makeup for it. Still, for our first Champions League football as a club since the 2011-12 season, I felt overall we did great, especially getting a victory over Valencia in group play.

The Betfred Cup went fairly easy, as Raith, Kilmarnock, and Inverness CT offered up token opposition as we shut out all three teams. The final would see the Old Firm visit Hampden Park and it went down as an instant classic. Rangers would strike first in the 25th minute on a Walter Gonzalez strike, but Celtic would answer back in the 33rd minute. The match would go into extra time where a header by Ross McCrorie in the 111th minute sealed Rangers' 29th league cup title.

The William Hill Scottish Cup proved just as easy, with the only competition really coming in the semifinals, when Rangers defeated Aberdeen 1-0. Rangers would win their 34th Scottish Cup title with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Raith.

As for the league...it was neck and neck for the whole season. After the split, Rangers and Celtic were tied on points. We promptly dropped our first game 0-1 to St. Mirren, which found us down three points to Celtic, with no margin for error. A 2-0 victory over Celtic at Ibrox would bring us back into the title race and on the final day of the season....we defeated St. Johnstone 3-0....Celtic....



Thank you Hearts.

And for the first time since 2003....a domestic treble!

[Zac]

Started a new save. Went on holiday until today's date to see what interesting jobs would be open. Nothing interesting was open so I continued a couple more weeks. Spurs ended up firing Poch for finishing 6th. Spurs then hired Rafa. So I applied for the Newcastle job. They finished 7th. So into the Europa League. No idea why AI Rafa would make such a dumb move, but whatever.



Proceeded to sign Ante Rebic (20M), Helder Costa (8M), Ben Davies (8M) and Donny van de Beek (12M) for a total of 48M. Want to sign more but ran out of money. Still need depth in certain spots and upgrades in a couple as well. And no one wants any of the other players I'd like to move on. But I did sell Atsu, Perez and Saivet for 20M. However I only got 8M in transfer from the sales. Probably save that to see what I can get in Jan if something is needed.



This should be interesting.

[jasontoddwhitt]

I told myself that I would stick with Rangers on this save, but I keep getting interview offers from Premier League teams.

Then my squad got aggravated with me because I sold Jordan Rossiter to Huddersfield for $6.75 million ($8.75 in futures). Come on guys, one...he's injury prone. Last season was really the first season that he stayed relatively healthy. Hell, I was able to add an injury clause to his contract when I signed him to an extension. So when Huddersfield made that offer, hell yes I accepted it. Two...Jamie Barjonas has had two good loan spells in the Scottish top flight with Partick Thistle and Aberdeen and I feel he's ready to contribute to the first team.

But I promised the guys I would strengthen the midfield, even though I feel it's perfectly fine. Struck out on a couple of signings and found myself scrambling on deadline day to bring in someone on loan. With eight hours to go, we had an agreement with Chelsea, however, the player must've been really stumped on what to do because the deadline passed without an agreement from the player. Which then brought several players to my doorstep. Luckily I was able to talk them down.

But I feel like I strengthened the team. After spending 18 months on loan with us (and scoring 19 goals and assisting 20 more), when Liverpool transfer listed Harry Wilson, I lept at the opportunity and was able to fight off a couple of Championship sides and signed him for $3.9M. I went back to the Liverpool well and signed Sheyi Ojo on a free. I also managed to sign Cameron Bothwick-Jackson on a free from Manchester United.

Celtic meanwhile fired Jack Ross after 525 days in charge and failing to win a single trophy. Celtic promoted coach John Kennedy to the head role, I guess hoping to strike as they did with Neil Lennon (hell I'm sure they could've pried Lennon away from Killie). Celtic invested $19.5 million into the first team, so they outspent me again.

And they definitely outspent me in the name department...signing Nottingham Forest regen Elvis Sithole.

[Zac]

Really? You're upset I didn't fine your teammate?






Well guess who's getting a fine for being a unprofessional.

[Kobalt]

Poor guy, still need him though.