Breaking The Unbreakable: The Death of 2026 for fmadventure

I’m doing it. Much like the PA System at your local airport or a middle aged divorcee on facebook - I’m announcing my departure. FM26 is just shit. It’s irredeemable

I do hope this isn’t a full divorce from FM as a series, maybe just some time spent apart so we can both work on ourselves. They have somehow managed to take a game that induced the hardest of addictions - late night through bottle feeds, early mornings before work, middays while WFH… They have taken that game and broken it. How does that even happen?

My FM26 Save and What’s Gone Wrong?

I’m hugely frustrated not to be enjoying this game. I was so looking forward to managing FC Kobenhavn - something totally different from what I usually do in FM. I’m not even doing poorly - having finished 2nd in my first season but winning a domestic cup then leading the league after the first 4 months of play in my second season. So why am I complaining? It’s just an absolute slog. Your hobby should never feel like a chore and that’s what FM26 is right now.

There’s been too much change - a UI overhaul, new tactical system with new instructions and new roles. In-game, I am just struggling to understand what’s going on - the visual representation of players who look like they’ve never stepped foot onto a pitch before. I keep getting advice from my dugout but with absolutely zero context behind it - “add work ball into box”, alright but why?

Even down to the simple inconsequential things - the commentary lines are just stupid. Who wrote them? I’d rather go and sit in attendance for An Evening With Eni Aluko. At least 10% of the time (roughly 1 time every 20 occasions) she makes sense.

I know Miles is hunkered down in SI’s version of the Fuhrer Bunker, enthusiastically telling himself this is the greatest game ever made but if anyone manages to catch a glimpse of him tell him he’s well and truly fucked it here.

I’ve not played the game consistently because it’s been so bad but every time I’ve picked it up again there appears to have been a new patch. It’s like playing a new game every time I load up. And every time it is so, so shit.

There isn’t really a point to this post. It’s just cathartic to vent. Maybe I go back to FM24 for a while. Maybe I keep trying to batter through with this game in the deepest hope that things will get better. A bit like staying together for the kids.

FCK 25/26 Part 2: First Season Nerves

Heading into the final ten league games of the season just 3 points off top wasn’t the worst position to be in but clearly at a club of this level the expectation was higher than just being within reach for the closing stages.

As mentioned in the previous post, our record against our fellow Championship Group sides wasn’t exactly one of domination, we’d also have a Danish Cup final in the midst of this run-in.

As I guide you through the conclusion of my first season at Copenhagen, the title of the first post of FM26 comes to mind again… What the FCK?

An Early Title Decider?

The challenge to retain our Superliga title got off to a good start with wins over Brondby and Vejle. Defender Oliver Provstgaard scoring the only goal of a 1-0 win in the first game before he scored again in a 4-2 win away to Vejle - Andreas Cornelius, Rodrigo Huescas and Viktor Bjarki Dadson (“The Daddy”) scoring the others in that game.

Then the arse fell out of it, a 2-0 loss away to Midtjylland letting the title slip that bit further from our grasp - a brace from former Bournemouth “meh” player Philip Billing. Laboured draws with AGF (0-0) and Silkeborg (1-1, Dadason the scorer) followed before an emphatic bounce back win against Velje as a Moukouko double, Dadason and Cornelius all contributed to the 4-0 scoreline. Brondby away was a chance for one more big game to get our tails up before the league action broke for the Danish Cup Final… a 0-0 draw was what followed with their Goalkeeper picked out as Player of the Match.

The Parken Neutrals - Danish Cup Final

The Parken Stadion was the “neutral” venue for the domestic cup showpiece: FC Copenhagen v Silkeborg IF.

We were obviously favourites for this tie, despite previous results this season not giving much away: a win, a draw and a loss for either side. We beat them 2-1 at home, they beat us 2-0 away and we drew 1-1 away again after the league split - we would be due to play Silkeborg once more in the league at home on the final day of the season.

We were cut apart in the 25th minute of play as Silkeborg played the ball in behind our defence on their right wing and a low cross into the area was touched home by the advancing Tonni Adamsen from the edge of the 6 yard box. 0-1.

Copenhagen pressed forward relentlessly in pursuit of an equalising goal, a pursuit that paid off in added time at the end of the first half. Rodrigo Huescas’ freekick from a wide area was knocked down by Marcos Lopez and on hand was Thomas Delaney to fire past a helpless Silkeborg goalkeeper on the half volley. Game on. 1-1.

Into the second half and we benefit from the second ball from a freekick again as Ivan Ilic put a high ball into the box from a freekick around the halfway mark. Lukas Lerager nodded the ball on toward the back post and in came defender Gabriel Pereira to apply the finishing touch. 2-1.

With 75 minutes gone, Copenhagen extended their lead to seal the victory. An overhit cross was chased down by Oliver Provstgaard on the opposite side of the box, he won the ball off the feet of the defender and put a low searching ball in to the near post - Youssoufa Moukouko appearing unmarked to toe poke the ball into the back of the net. 3-1.

FC Copenhagen are Danish Cup Champions 2026.

I know that I should probably be much more joyful than this but honestly a Thursday night Danish Cup Final with a 7.30pm kick off really feels like a bit of a distraction from the true task at hand. Neither the board nor the fans seem to really have a lot of expectation for the cup competition. They want the league win and we have a further 3 games to try and do something about that.

FRUSTRATION!

No, not the popular board game that we’ll all be playing with our families on Boxing Day. The feeling when you know you should have done better but also you’re secretly not absolutely devastated.

It starts with Midtjylland at home - hoping to avenge our 2-0 defeat just 5 games earlier. Jordan Larsson put us ahead 16 minutes in but Midtjylland equalise in the 33rd minute. Youssoufa restored our lead on 50 minutes but Midtjylland hit back just 4 minutes later. Despite throwing absolutely everything at it in the final 15 minutes of the game, we just couldn’t find that third goal and it ended in a 2-2 draw.

We were firmly up against it now, facing an away trip to AGF who we had beaten once and lost once to during the first phase of the league before drawing with them in the Championship Group phase. Once again, it was an opposition goalkeeper who was Player of the Match, we out xG’d them (shoutout to the xG nerds) and with 3 minutes of normal time remaining they delivered the ultimate sucker punch as stand-in goalkeeper (and former Gooner bastard) Runar Alex Runarsson came out to collect a high delivery from a wide freekick but missed, allowing Janni Serra the easiest of nods into the back of an unguarded net.

FC Midtjylland’s 1-1 draw at home to Brondby in gameweek 31 meant they had already secured the title regardless of the outcome of the final round of matches. They went out in the last week and lost 1-0 to AGF. Playing Silkeborg for the fifth time this season, it was goals from two players who quite possibly won’t be at the club next season who secured a 2-1 victory. Back up left wing back Birger Meling found the bottom corner after a neat lay off from Youssoufa Moukoko. Silkeborg got themselves level when Tonni Adamsen (that man again) got on the end of a hopeful lump forward which our 3-man defence all seemed to entirely misjudge. Keen to end the season on a relative high, we fought back with some route one football of our own - Dominik Kotarski’s kick out of his hands beating the entire Silkeborg outfield players and Andreas Cornelius nipped in behind the defence to finish the chance.

A point behind eventual winners Midtjylland: if we’d just hung on for the win against them when we were leading 2-1, if we’d not conceded that 87th minute loser against AGF. Midtjylland’s end of season form of a loss, 4 draws and a loss is especially frustrating.

Solid Foundations but Underpinning Required

I still feel like this squad is a really solid base, it just needs some serious rounding - without a doubt some need offloaded and we need one or two first team ready players and the bulk out the squad with better rotation options.

Gabriel Pereira made a start in every single one of our 55 competitive matches this season. He scored once and set one up with an average rating of 7.09

Leading the scoring charts were our front two partnership of Youssoufa Moukoko (22) and Jordan Larsson (16).

The assist chart was topped by left wing back Marcos Lopez with 11, with right wing back Rodrigo Huescas and Mohamed Elyounoussi joint on 9. It’s a decent return from Elyounoussi in just 23 starts and 12 sub appearances along with his 3 goals - I just have never really been convinced by him despite this output. He doesn’t really seem to shine from a flat midfield two or maybe I am expecting a little too much and not appreciating the donkey work he is doing.

Dominik Kotarski made 46 appearances, conceding 39 goals and keeping 22 clean sheets. He has seemed a bit erratic at times (FM playing true to life as I witnessed when Copenhagen faltered against Spurs) but those stats show a goalkeeper and defence who are tough opponents.

I’ve started to integrate youth although my focus on the first year was definitely just in getting myself some security in the job (something I may have failed on anyway).

Oliver Provstgaard has been a great loan signing and we have the option to sign permanently although the agreed price of £9.25m might be a bit steep for me at this stage, it could warrant some negotiation though Celesti (whoever they are) may disagree.

William Clem at DM is only 21 and has the potential to be a mid-longer term replacement for Delaney when the time comes. Oliver Hojer has 2 assists in his 6 appearances from the bench however the standout rookie (discounting Moukoko as an established first teamer) is without a doubt Viktor Bjarki Dadason who scored 4 goals in his 12 appearances (4 start / 8 sub).

With a few loan players due to return (Robert, Daramy, Chiaka) this should help to add bulk and value to the squad.

The Aussie Goodbye?

You may be familiar with what is known as an “Irish Goodbye”, however this season has left me wondering whether I will be given “The Aussie Goodbye”.

Much like my good old Mate, Ange Postecoglou, I haven’t really delivered in the league what the fans and board would have expected. Although, I did bring some silverware - although I agree there is stark contrast to the fortunes of Spurs and Copenhagen in cups over the years, there is also a fair difference between winning a Danish Cup and a Europa League. Also, in my defence, Ange Postecoglou didn’t have to deal with many dips and changes to the Match Engine so…

In-game, the season has only ended a mere few days. There hasn’t been any talk about my future as manager just yet but I can’t imagine it will slip by without at least some remark or demands for next season.

Hopefully I’ll be back to update you on the start to season two shortly. If not, can someone let the Forest boss know I’m open to negotiation?

FCK 25/26 Part 1: Tac-Tic-Tow?

The first pre-season of a new save is most definitely the slowest of any season in a save. There are so many different processes and decisions that are inter-woven or involve a level of repetition: assessing the squad, deciding on a tactical style, looking at the transfer market, reassessing the squad, tweaking the tactic, dumping the deadwood, etc.

So at this point, I’ve already picked out the key players in my squad that I feel will play a big part in the first season. Now I needed to try and get my head around this new Tactics screen.

Tactics By Serendipity

I never really enter into a new save with a clear vision of how I want my team to play. It’s usually something that just comes about through a long process of trial and error. I started this new career immediately following Copenhagen’s loss to Spurs and decided I would go with a simple 4-2-4 (IP) / 4-2DM-2-1-1 (OOP). It was very much ‘no frills’ - mentality as balanced and no Team Instructions to begin with.

The early signs were satisfactory. The clichéd struggling win in a first pre-season friendly against a local side but then we pulled off a superb 1-1 draw with Real Madrid. We followed that up with a 3-3 draw with Monaco. After 6 competitive games, I felt it just wasn’t what I wanted. Enter serendipity.

I remembered seeing how Monaco lined up against us - 3 at the back. 1 DM with 2 wingbacks. 2 central midfielders and 2 in attack. I liked how it looked. I’m not 100% sure on why, or what I wanted from it but I had to try it. We switched - again, starting off bland with a balanced mentality and no TIs - allowing a chance to watch play unfold before eventually deciding to make minor tweaks: low crosses, quick GK distribution, stop short GK distribution, high press and press more often.

It worked! Then it didn’t. Then it worked again!

Essentially we play three bog standard Centre-Backs s in front of a bog standard Goalkeeper. A simple defensive midfielder holds his position in front of the defence, allowing two Attacking Wing Backs to stream forward. A jack of all traders Central Midfielder partners with a creative Midfield Playmaker. A Deep Lying Forward links play alongside the busy Channel Forward making runs and getting into dangerous positions. The same basic shape is retained in an Out Of Possession shape. I’m calling it a 3-5-2.

Trialist 7 - SIGNED

I think this is probably the first FM in a long time that the free agent market has looked so attractive. While plenty were well out of my reach at FC Copenhagen, I took a number of players in on trial: Andrea Consigli, Rick Karsdorp, Mattia Caldara, Sergio Reguilon, Miralem Pjanic, Lucas Andersen and Diego Costa.

I would have happily brought Reguilon and Pjanic in, if it weren’t for their exorbitant wage demands for this level. Lucas Andersen really caught my attention - misty eyed memories of Andersen, Eriksen and Fischer in their breakout seasons at Ajax - but sadly he just wasn’t up to the standard.

The only signing made from the group was 36 year old Diego Costa. “Fresh” from a couple of seasons in Brazil’s First Division, the aggressive, controversy courting striker is the sort of player I wanted to batter his way through the Danish league - spoiler alert: 7 goals in 15 games before moving back to Brazil with Santos for £275k just 6 months after joining… profit is profit.

Oliver Provstgaard was a summer deadline day signing on loan from Celeste (apparently Lazio..?) with a £9.25m option to buy. It’s a steep price but the 22 year old Danish Centre-Back has the potential to be a buy player in this team and not least of all because he is 6 foot 4.

Tanguy Ndombele was the next signing. A free transfer secured on 11/11/25 (LWF). I thought long about signing him pre-season but his wage demands were too steep. In the end, I splashed out on his £26k per week pocket money anyway. He’s ex-Spurs and needs a redemption arc. I couldn’t turn it down.

One January signing was made - Ivan Illic. Just £6m from Torino - which was a Copenhagen record fee - it felt like a bargain to complete the ultimate midfield pairing with the aforementioned Frenchman.

There were outgoings too. In the summer, Oliver Hojer and Abdul Daramy were sent out on loan to Halmstads (6 month) and AC Horsens (full season) respectively. Come January, I cashed in on Diego Costa as mentioned, along with a further £275k for Viktor Claesson to go to Al-Riyadh.

Talented attackers Robert and Elias Achouri just weren’t fitting into my side right now and both go on loan. Robert with FC Union Berlin and Achouri to Crystal Palace - Achouri’s deal also including a mandatory £20m (£10m up front and £10m in installments) should Palace avoid the drop, which at the moment they are lingering dangerously close to.

Patchy Spells but Patches to Blame?

I’m told it’s not SI’s fault. It’s in my head. But the moment a patch came out, it seemed my form went to the dogs. Maybe it’s coincidence and I’m just paranoid, maybe it’s the planes filling the air with chemicals and the 5G masts making us all ill. Who knows. There are metals in the water for sure. Also, I make an apology on SI’s behalf for not including a screenshot of results - that page is hideously formatted.

Anyway, despite being Champions we still have to qualify for the Champions League. Thanks UEFA. We entered in the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions Path. We did what Linfield couldn’t (twice) and knocked Shelbourne out 3-0 on aggregate. Lech Poznan were denied their silly hug-looking-away-from-the-pitch celebration as we beat them 9-1. Steaua Bucuresti were our final obstacle in the Play Off round and our 4-0 first leg victory was enough to see us through, even as we fell in defeat in the second leg, 4-1 to us over two legs.

Our Champions League group fixtures were never going to be easy but we gave a really good account of ourselves. Lost 2-1 to Liverpool and Napoli (Parthenope?), we were well beaten by Galatasaray 4-0 before an audacious 4-2 victory over Benfica. Belgian side Union SG claimed a 1-0 victory at their ground before we beat real life by drawing 1-1 with Spurs in Denmark. Proving it wasn’t a fluke, we went out to Germany and pulled off another superb 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich. Into the last game of the group phase and there was still an outside chance of progression - Atlético Madrid standing in our way. Unbelievably we were a goal ahead by half time. A second and third followed soon into the second half and we had secured a place in the Knock Out Play Off Round!

Our foes in the Champions League Knock Out Play Off Round were Bergamo - former fmadventure team Atalanta! In the Parken Stadium it was a goalless draw, Copenhagen definitely seemed like the more likely to go on and grab a winner in the game but it wasn’t to be. In the second leg, Copenhagen picked up where they left off, Rodrigo Huescas finally opening the scoring in the tie to give us the lead. It looked like we might hold out but then Gianluca Scamacca equalised on 40 minutes. Nicola Zalewski put Atalanta ahead on 45+1 and Scamacca extended the lead on 45+2. Any hopes of a resurgent second half were stopped dead just 3 minutes into the second half when Gianluca Scamacca completed his hattrick and it finished 4-1 to Atalanta over the two legs. A valiant effort from us.

In amongst the excitement of Europe, there was a Danish 3F Superliga campaign to be fought. A win, loss and a draw started the league against Viborg, Velje and FC Fredericia. At this point we switched tactic to our 3-5-2 and went on to win the next 7 league games scoring 24 goals and conceding just twice. Going into October and November we hit indifferent form - losing to title challengers Midtjylland as well as mid tablers Silkeborg and AGF. Wins over Viborg and FC Fredericia were brief highlights but poorly fought draws against Vejle and Brondby raised questions over the tactics, players and whether I - a 35 year old Civil Servant from Belfast - was truly the right man to lead FC Copenhagen to glory.

Things picked up just before the Winter break with a 4-1 win against Sonderjyske. When the league started back in February, the players showed a renewed endeavour claiming four wins in the next four games including revenge against Midtjylland thanks to a Youssouff Moukoko freekick.

The Danish 3F Superliga now heads into a Championship / Relegation Split with a match against the rest of the top half home and away to play.

Well placed for a title push despite some of our earlier falls

We entered the Danish Cup in the Third Round, facing Amateur side Roskilde KFUM, making short work of them as expected with six different scorers in a 6-0 win. An 82nd minute Andreas Cornelius goal pushed us to victory in the Fourth Round against Velje. We knocked out second tier side Kolding IF in a two legged Quarter Final - 2-0 away and 5-0 at home. All the work was done in the first leg of the Semi Final against Viborg FF with a 4-1 victory away meaning the 1-1 draw at home was enough to set us up for a Danish Cup Final against Silkeborg come May!

Mou Than A Feeling!

Former Dortmund Wünderkid Yousouffa Moukoko leads the scoring charts with 18 goals in just 25 appearances (22 starts, 3 as sub). A fantastic return for a player who has missed 37% of the season so far through injury - including a stress fracture of the foot. Unsurprisingly Moukouko is also the highest average rated player this season with 7.52. Strike partner Jordan Larsson is second on 15 goals in 31 appearances (26 starts, 5 as sub).

Three players are joint on 8 assists - Wing Backs Marcos Lopez and Rodrigo Huescas along with Mohamed Elyounoussi who has all but lost his place to Ivan Illic since his January signing.

Goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski has conceded 33 goals in his 38 appearances, keeping 18 clean sheets.

Grandstand Finish - I Can Hardly Cope-nhagen

In a league of 12 teams, we play each other twice (home and away) for a total of 22 games before the league splits. The top half is the Championship Group and competes for European places while the bottom half is the Relegation Group - who compete to… not be relegated, obviously.

In the Championship Group, we now face the other 5 teams home and away once more to decide the fate of the league title and the various European places.

In our games against our fellow Championship Group teams, the results have gone as follows:


Midtjylland: home loss, away win

Vejle: home loss, away draw

Brondby: home draw, away win

AGF: home win, away loss

Silkeborg: home win, away loss

Just four wins and two draws in those ten games probably doesn’t instil a great amount of hope however I feel we have slowly picked up momentum as the league campaign has trotted along. We are very much still a favourite for the title and with a Danish Cup final to come, it’s an exciting end to the season for us…

What the FCK?

FM26, better late than never?

The above is such a well used cliché. Is it better that we got the game when we did as opposed to not at all? The jury is very much out on that one.

It would be almost impossible to launch into my new FM save without first giving my 2 cents about the new game. When I first loaded it up, the title of this blog post was my immediate reaction. I don’t want to labour too much as every VFMer and their dog have given their reaction videos on their YouTube Channels (and their dogs’ YouTube channels). To summarise, there have been 3 things over the last few months that have really made me acknowledge the pace at which I am aging: my eldest child starting secondary school, my youngest child starting primary school and this new FM UI.

I will grow to tolerate it, maybe even love it, but from the off there’s a lot I just don’t like initially. I’m not sure how better to describe it other than to say that everything feels very “busy”. There’s a lot going on: menus, drop menus, pop out applets. There’s just so much information presented that I’m not sure whether I’m loading up a game for fun or compiling reams of complex data to present to my boss at work. FM is fast becoming what is commonly known as a “busman’s holiday”.

I’m now 34 years old with 3 children and a fairly demanding job. Maybe it’s not the game. Maybe it’s me. Maybe FM just isn’t built for people like me anymore. My ideal Friday Night is loading up my latest save game and having a few beers while talking to a few likeminded FMers. I’m honestly not sure my mind could cope with trying to work out what screen to go to next after even just a tin of Harp - the golden nectar of Ulster.

Regardless, I am happy to have a new FM in my life. I’ll try to assimilate as best I can. Maybe before 2025 dawns on us, I will be waxing lyrical about how SI have done it again. Either that or FM26 will be uninstalled and I’ll be spending my Friday nights down t’local Social Club having Ale and chatting with t’other clientele.

Chapman’s Heaven

Time for your Wikipedia history lesson. The name København (or Copenhagen to the English tongue) translates, through various progressions, back to Chapman’s Heaven in English. A translation (of various translations) derives the name from the term Køpmannæhafn meaning “merchant’s harbour” or “buyers haven”. Copenhagen (from herein because I can’t be bothered with the funny ‘o’) has been a great exporter of many delights: Danish pastries, Carlsberg and of course the works of fish-woman Fantasist: Hans Christian Andersen (not born in Copenhagen but having lived there from his teen years).

Copenhagen has also had its impact on the footballing world. John Dahl Tomasson, Dennis Rommedahl adn the great Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg having come from the great Viking Stronghold.

Starting a new save with Copenhagen continues a transition I started in FM24 - taking over at a club that has an immediate expectation of success. I took a lot of time to think about where to go in FM26… I had a spare year, didn’t I? FCK were an attractive option - well set in terms of facilities and a starting squad that included a lot of players that I felt would create a good long term save.

A Good Launching Pad

Copenhagen were the 2024/25 Danish Superliga and Danish Cup winners, this is a high platform to start from with just a few qualifying rounds separating the club from Champions League proper football.

My cliché at this stage is to talk about the spine of the team. In goals, new signing Dominik Kotarski is a solid shot stopper, if a little gung-ho in rushing out. Brazillian Gabriel Pereira is what you expect in a modern centre-back being solid defensively while also confident in bringing the ball out and a competent passer of the ball. Thomas Delaney, back at the club he started with, is the link from the defence to the midfield and beyond. Another new signing, Yousouffa Moukoko is a player who will surely outgrow the club very quickly - but initially my hopes will be pinned on the young German to lead the scoring charts.

There’s plenty to look at in depth of the squad - even beyond the first team. Copenhagen is recognised as a well established Youth Academy, Oliver Hojer is a highly rated midfielder who is the son of another former Copenhagen player turned staff member. Daramy is a name many FMers will be familiar - Abdul Daramy is the younger brother of Mo Daramy and appears to be stocked with a similar level of potential. Viktor Bjarki Dadason has been making waves in the Champions League this season - the Icelandic 17-year-old with 2 goals in his 3 European Appearances this year so far.

One element of the squad that really interests me is the amount of relatively high profile Scandinavian/Nordic Nation players. Players like the aforementioned Delaney along with Jordan Larsson (son of Henrik), Mohamed Elyounoussi, Viktor Claesson and Andreas Cornelius. I won’t make it a specific objective but it would be nice to be able to bring more Scandi-Nordic players of a similar stature to Copenhagen as the seasons go by. I’ve already mentioned Hojbjerg, haven’t I…?

Aims and Objectives

So what do I actually hope to achieve in this save?

Every FM save starts out the same for me - just try not to get sacked.

Beyond that, we should probably expect to win the league most seasons and at least be challenging intently where we don’t.

A few domestic cup wins would be a minimum and to be competitive in European Football - aiming to progress beyond the group phase of the Champions League within the first 3-4 seasons.

Outside of competitions focus, I hope to get to grips with the new UI, learn how the match engine and tactical elements work. Develop young players and see them integrate into the first team or move onto much greater things.

I think these are all quite manageable ad realistic aims. For now.

Olympics 2024: Argie-Bargie turns to Lethargy

If I have learnt anything from the last decade of FM content it’s that whenever you find a good idea you need to repeat it over and over again until you’ve sapped every last morsel of goodness from it. So here FM Grasshopper and I are, back at it again, implementing our own rules at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

If you read the last instalment, you’ll know that I disappointed with Spain at the Euros while FMG brought it home with England. If you haven’t read it yet - I urge you to do so now. The premise this time around at the Olympics is more or less the same although we have to tweak slightly to account for the differences in the competitions.

New and Improved Rules

As with the Euro 2024 competition, we have implemented Rule 1: each player is only allowed to make a maximum of 3 appearances from the Group Stage through to the Semi Final - the appearances are reset for the Final (if you make it).

While the Olympics has one round fewer than the Euros it also dictates that teams have a significantly smaller squad - with only 18 allowed, all of whom must be Under 23 years old with the exception of 3 overage players allowed. With a smaller squad, it would be impossible to go with the sole rule of 3 max. appearances but 4 would make it too easy. which leads to Rule 2: each squad nominates 4 ‘Designated Players’ who can make unlimited appearances - these players must be U23.

The Argentine Heroes in Waiting

We have gone with the real life squads again, in order to give ourselves the best challenge.

10 of the 18 man squad ply their trade in their native Argentina, real life manager Javier Mascherano has made full use of the allowed 23 Overage Players.

Geronimo Rulli, Nicolas Otamendi and Julian Alvarez are the three overage players selected - all fresh into the squad from Argentina’s Copa America success the day before the Olympics Squad had to be announced.

Giuliano Simeone, Lucas Beltran and Thiago Almada are the standouts of the U23 contingent. Giuliano hoping to go one better than father Diego who achieved a silver medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. (Six Degrees of Separation coming up…) That year Argentina were beaten by a delightful Nigerian side, the winning goal in the gold meal match scored by Emmanuel Amunike whose brother Kevin Amuneke briefly played for Linfield in the NI Premiership before his retirement.

Group D

At the group stages I was given the chance to exact revenge on Spain for our Euro 2024 failures, a Spain squad that included a now ancient (17 year old) Lamine Yamal.

First up, though, it would be New Zealand, followed by Spain and then Egypt to finish the group.

Argentina 5-0 New Zealand

Being a bit uncertain of what to expect, I didn’t trust starting off with a fully back up starting XI so while Rulli and Beltran were rested it was pretty much an otherwise strong starting team that included Otamendi, Almada and Alvarez. I need not have worried though as Almada (pen), Simeone (x2), Di Cesare and Alvarez ensured a successful start to the campaign. Spain beat Egypt 3-1.

Argentina 0-0 Spain

None of the pre-match hype (in my head) about this grudge match managed to materialise on the pitch as we played out a boring scoreless draw. Golden Boy Yamal didn’t even make it off the bench and if there was any highlight in the 90 minutes, I simply don’t remember it happening. New Zealand beat Egypt 3-2.

Argentina 5-0 Egypt

Assured of a spot in the Quarter Final, the only job was to go out and get 3 points to try and assure ourselves of the top spot in the group. With places decided by goal difference we had the edge but needed to be sure of it. All while making the decision to rest our 3 overage players along with Simeone. Lucas Beltran made his impact with a hattrick, Luciano Gondou and Bruno Amione the other scorers - when the bell hits the net and you’re topping the set… that’s Amione!

Knockout Rounds

The draw - bafflingly done - pits us on a collision course with Spain in the Semi Final should we overcome Ukraine in the Quarter Final. All meaning that the potential for an France-Argentina final is very much on the cards.

Quarter Final: Argentina 5-0 Ukraine

I didn’t expect it to be this easy especially as we’d gone with rotation again in the hope of progressing to meet Spain. Thiago Almada opened the scoring but it was Beltran who stole the show with 4 incredible goals. With Kevin Zenon tiring and the game all but done I made the sleazy decision to bring sub goalkeeper Leandro Brey on at left back. In retrospect it was a change I should have waited as Cristian Medina ended up picking up an injury and we had to replace him with Claudio Echeverri for the final 9 minutes. At the end of the game it meant that Brey and Echeverri along with Bruno Amione and Luciano Gondou would be ruled out for selection for the Semi-Final.

INJURY CRISIS

With Cristian Medina ruled out for the remainder of the tournament with a groin injury we were presented with the option of calling up a replacement. This wasn’t something we had planned for pre-tournament. After some quick Whatsapp Discussions with FM Grasshopper, we agreed that a replacement could be called up from the 4 alternate players listed on the Squads List on Wikipedia - enter Federico Redondo Solari. The 21 year old son of legendary Fernando Redondo (and relation of Jorge and Santiago Solari on his mother’s side) is plucked away from Inter Miami for a potential NARRATIVE creation.

Semi Final: Argentina 3-2 Spain

Once again Lamine Yamal was glued to the bench for this one but Spain weren’t short of talent with Pau Torres, Yeremy Pino, Pablo Torre and Gabri Veiga playing some part. It seemed as if things weren’t going to go to plan again when Spain opened the scoring after just 14 minutes thanks to an abhorrent error from Geronimo Rulli. Less than 10 minutes later, Kevin Zenon found the equaliser when it seemed absolutely nobody else wanted to take the shot. Julian Alvarez put us ahead into the second half connecting with an Almada cross before an 80th minute wonder goal from Spain brought the tie level. Calm heads prevail though as we stuck to the game plan and in the 84th minute Thiago Alamda once more found Alvarez with the cross and the Man City man scored the goal to guarantee his country an Olympic Medal.

Gold Medal Match: Argentina 0-1 France

With just six minutes on the clock, Argentina were gifted an opportunity to open the scoring when the referee gave a debatable penalty in our favour. Up stepped Thiago Almada who put it at just the right height for France stopper Restes to save. Both sides played some great free flowing football, producing fantastic movement in the final third but it was Arsenal reject Alexandre Lacazette who scored the only goal of the game as he latched onto Michael Olise’s sidewards pass across the box. The xG was in Argentina’s favour but sadly on the big occasion our big players like Alvarez, Beltran and Almada just didn’t turn up - Almada throwing in a brutal 5.9 performance thanks in part to his early penalty miss.

The Latin 4-4-2

As with the Euros, I didn’t set out to complete a full on tactical replication of what Argentina do in real life. I read a bit about how they play at senior level and took parts from that which I felt suited my skill level. Messi dropping in to create space in behind for a midfield runner. Pressing hard to win the ball back quickly. These are all things I like.

What I went with wasn’t too complex and proves that sometimes there can be success in simplicity. A solid back four with the left back attacking the space afforded by an inverted left winger. A basic winger on the right to get down the flank and cross for the forward or the advancing b2b midfielder exploiting the space created by the drifting DLF.

Unfinished Business

Clearly I still have something to prove. Having made it to the final, largely because of how well I managed the squad rotation and in a small way thanks to how kind the draw had been to us, I couldn’t overcome the French Resistance.

We will go again though… what’s next up on the international calendar?

MEGA2024: Making Euros Great Again

Scroll on social media sites like Facebook or X, listen to football podcasts or spend five minutes in your local public ale house and the message is the same: Euro 2024? YAWNFEST.

For whatever reason, this summer’s competition just doesn’t seem to have hit the sweet spot. So, as I sat messaging my good friend FM Grasshopper one evening we stumbled upon a wondrous idea to reinvent the wheel and breathe life back into Euro 2024. An idea we would trial through a FM24 network save.

How do we do it?

One simple rule: each player is limited to a maximum of three appearances from the Group Stage through to the Semi Final - this includes starts and sub appearances. The appearances reset for the final… should you make it.

As someone who has once sampled a little known exotic dish called paella (pah-AY-yə), it was natural I would take on the task of managing Spain. FMG, by way of birth right, would manage England in an effort to “bring it home”. We’d both be managing using the 26 man squad selected by our real life counterparts which would make the challenge all the more interesting.

In order to keep a track of the players we had used, and to ensure complete transparency, appearances by round were marked down on a shared Google Sheets which counted down how many appearances any given player had left.

Aleksander Čeferin, if you’re reading this, give me a call and we’ll set something up.

Selección Española de Fútbol

For those that need reminding of the squad that Spain took to Germany, it was as follows:

Little to complain about between the sticks as I’d be happy to rotate between Raya, Remiro and Simón as required.

Defensively it probably looks a bit weaker in central defence than I’d like but plenty of room to rotate on the full backs with a young Jesús Navas looking to really burst onto the international scene as Spain’s true wonderkid.

It’s across the midfield where this squad really shines bright. Rodri - yet to ever taste defeat in his entire career - and PSG’s Fabián Ruiz as the two central midfielders behing an exciting trio of Nico Williams (who opted for Spain over Wales apparently), Pedri and the infantile Lamine Yamal who I have heard rumoured is apparently only 16 at the outset of this tournament - they kept that quiet. Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimend, Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal (copy & paste) are among the more than capable rotational options with Ferranando Torres returning to the Spanish international fold for one last dance.

Up top it’s Morata or Joselu to fill a shirt.

Am I confident? You could say that.

We’ll line up in a 4-2-3-1 that focuses on possession - both retention and regaining. The first choice XI looks as such:

Group B

Using a database downloaded by FMG, we are pitted with our real life opponents however the fixtures are not as in real life and potentially fall kindly for us. Italy in the opener before Albania then Croatia to finish us off. My strategy was clear - full strength v Italy, full rotation v Albania then assess the scene before deciding what is required against Croatia.

Spain 3-1 Italy

The decision to go full strength pays off early. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring before Nicolo Zaniolo latched onto a hoof forward from Donnarumma to equalise. No worries though as in the second half Dani Carvajal and Fabián Ruiz seal the win. No subs used meaning no appearances wasted. Albania beat Croatia 2-1.

Spain 2-1 Albania

Disaster strikes as I was caught out by a known issue where the game auto played on a matchday that I left the game. My AI assistant ignored my pre-selected XI and played his own team which included second appearances for Carvajal, Nacho, Cucurella, Fabián Ruiz, Rodri, Pedri and Nico Williams. They also used the full complement of five subs as an own goal from Djimsiti and one from Dani Olmo won the game which would also ensure us of top spot in the group thanks to the group sorting rules. Italy defeated Croatia 2-1.

Spain 0-1 Croatia

With progression secured it was as much rotation as could be given to keep our best players available for the knockout rounds. Croatia manage their first win of the tournament though. Italy and Albania play out a 0-0 draw which allows Albania to take 2nd place and Italy qualify as one of the best placed 3rd teams.

Knockout Rounds

The results in the group stages work in our favour and we are given what can only be described as a kind route to the final - one that also sets up the perfect narrative for a Spain-England finale.

Round of 16: Spain 3-1 Romania

With all due respect to Romania, I wasn’t too worried about them and was happy to move with a partially rotated squad. Alex Grimaldo, Aymeric Laporte, Joselu and Mikel Oyarzabal (copy & paste) play their third and final game for the tournament. Joselu scores a brace and Oyarzabal gets the third before boarding an Easyjet flight home immediately upon full time. Romania grab one back through Puscas prompting the only reaction I can think of in GIF form - I was sure he was Hungarian too.

“I thought you was dead”

Quarter Final: Spain 2-3(aet) Serbia

Hampered by the errors of my AI AssMan, I keep a semi-rotated team for this game with an eye on the potential semi final. Unai Simón, Rodri, Pedri and Nico Williams are benched in favour of Raya, Merino, Olmo and Ferranando Torres.

An 8th minute Morata penalty has the confidence growing but in the second half Serbia hit us with wave after wave of attack. They haven’t rocked a German crowd this much since the infamous actions of Gavrilo Princip. Dusan Tadic’s 62 minute equaliser hits me and I go into a state of shock. An underperforming Torres is replaced by Ayoze Perez in the 78th minute but Perez goes on to replicate the performance of the man he replaces by giving the ball away at every opportunity.

Into extra time - an additional 30 minutes is not what’s needed with red hearts across the squad already. Filip Duricic’s goal in added time of the first half of extra time forces my hand and I bring in Rodri, Pedri and Nico Williams - none of whom will be able to play the semi final if we make it. Their introduction pays immediate dividends as Morata is played through and we equalise… VAR check… AWARDED!

With minutes ticking by, I start to think about the dread of penalties when Nemanja Maksimovic makes his way into the box and wrong foots David Raya to break Spanish hearts. We’re all going home.

Serbia: The Ultimate Underdogs?

No one saw the Serbian challenge coming, not least of all me after watching FMG’s England dismantle them 3-1 with a rotated England. Serbia go on to push through another 120 minutes as they send Austria-Hungary on that long journey home after the drama of penalties.

I baulked at the idea of a Balkan nation making it this far and paid the price. Serbia in the final of Euro 2024… how would that go? Over to FM Grasshopper to find out…

Did we Make Euros Great Again?

I can’t lie, I really enjoyed the restrictions here. Trying to manage the squad and making difficult decisions definitely heightened the drama. If Serbia were to be under the same restrictions, would the outcome have been any different?

A great short save, thanks to my good friend FM Grasshopper for the highs and lows we played out via our Whatsapp Chat. I don’t think this is the last time we’ll experiment with this idea… Who’s in for next time?

[FM24] Linfield FC 2025/26: A Bolt From The Blues

My second season at Linfield yielded a run in Europe (Conference League Knock Out Play Off), defeat in the quarter finals of the County Antrim Shield and NIFL League Cup and a narrow loss in the semi-final of the SPFL Trust Trophy alongside an Irish Cup win! Oh, and a second consecutive NIFL Premiership title.

With serious investment being made to training and youth facilities, I had invested all the prize money wisely. I was conscious of not destroying my own experience by going out and splashing my £8.7m bank balance on extravagant transfers on exorbitant wages. I even resisted the urge to bring in an ageing Willian on a free transfer…

My Third Season at Linfield was worthy of its own Netflix Special - or at the very least a 3-part feature on BBC iPlayer. Highs, Lows and a dramatic finale? Read on to indulge yourself in the greatest plot twist since [REDACTED DUE TO MAJOR FILM AND/OR TV SPOILER].

SUMMER 2025

Getting business done early is always a positive sign from a club. By 1st July 2025 I had already secured six new signings.

Shaun Mavididi was the first - a season long loan from Newcastle. He’d spent the previous year on loan at Larne (what’s your death row meal?) and impressed against me so I made the move. Sadly it didn’t last long as Newcastle recalled him in January for being played out of his agreed position.

NI U21 internationals Aaron Donnelly and Jamie McDonnell were both free agent signings after leaving Nottingham Forest. Donnelly had previously been in the Dungannon academy while McDonnell was previously in the youth set up at Big Two rivals Glentoran.

George Abbott and Rio Kyerematen were brought in on their release from Tottenham. Abbott with a view to being a starter at BWM while Rio adds depth to the midfield. Paddy Kelly returned to the club after his release by West Ham, having previously spent half of the first season on loan with us. Leo Cardoso was a free signing from Chelsea - an exciting attacking midfielder who can also play on both wings.

We bolstered the defensive ranks with the signings of Tivonge Rushesha and Harry Lynch. Rushesha is predominantly a right back but can also play centrally and in midfield while Lynch has plenty of potential as a versatile player who can play all the way across the defensive line.

JANUARY 2026

Just one signing in January and it was a reactive signing. First choice right back Dan Finlayson suffered a season ending leg break in November and we moved to bring in Nathan Ferguson who had somehow remained a free agent since his release by Crystal Palace in the summer.

On deadline day we lost Sean McAllister to Sunderland in a £500k deal. 14 goals and 13 assists in 40 league games in his season and a half since signing with us was a big risk to lose however the fee was far too high to turn down.

We start this season’s review with the domestic cup competitions. For the first time in this save, we won the County Antrim Shield. A first round victory over third tier Distillery led us to a fixture against fellow Premiership side Carrick. We met Larne in the semi-final and managed a 3-2 win despite going a goal down after 2 minutes. A straight forward 2-0 win in the final over Cliftonville secured the big plate.

The NIFL League Cup Final was next with high scoring wins over Ballinamallard, Warrenpoint and Annagh Utd before putting Cliftonville aside in the semi-final. Sadly Craig Levein’s Glentoran (yes!!) managed to win a very cagey final with their 14th minute goal the difference.

We were unable to retain the Irish Cup with Cliftonville getting their retribution for the Co. Antrim Shield. It all seemed to be going so wrong when Cliftonville scored a first half goal and doubled their lead soon after half time. Aron Solvi Robertsson’s cameo from the bench brought two late goals to take the game to extra time. It was Cliftonville who prospered on penalties though as Jamie McDonnell’s missed spot kick gave them the win.

We became the first Irish side in history to win the SPFL Trust Trophy. Having beaten Larne in the first round we then set Hibs Reserves aside before a 2-0 victory over Welsh team Newtown. An emphatic 5-0 victory over Ross County in the semi final set up a tie against Partick Thistle int he final. We twice fought back from a goal down before midfielder Alfie Lewis scored the 73rd minute winner.

It was hard to think of how we could realistically surpass last season’s European heroics… and yet we did!

Beating Zalgiris, Dinamo Minsk and TNS in the qualifying rounds we then registered 13 points in the group stage - a tally that was enough to see us qualify directly from the group to the Round of 16.

After the first leg in Tel-Aviv we looked like we were dead and buried - Leo Cardoso’s brace added to Robertsson’s first half goal ensured passage through to the Quarter Final!

Kobenhavn would be a step too far as they won the tie 5-1 on aggregate but that couldn’t dampen our spirits as we performed incredibly above expectations.

Another incredible league campaign for Linfield to secure a third consecutive title. Not only that but we broke our own records of games won and points secured, losing just 4 times over the course of the season.

THE CRUCIAL NUMBERS

Joel Cooper was our top scorer on 29 goals with young Icelandic prospect Aron Solvi Robertsson behind on 24 and Leo Cardoso third on 23.

Aodhan Doherty was the main creator with 26 assists, ahead of Joel Cooper on 22 and Alfie Lewis on 19.

Teddy Sharman-Lowe was once again our undisputed number 1 playing 66 games and keeping 23 clean sheets, conceding 68 goals. Aaron Maguire was limited to the cup appearances and played 7 times, conceding 9 and keeping just 2 clean sheets.

Aodhan Dohery’s 26 assists and 15 goals had him as our highest rated player on 7.66. Joel Cooper was next on 7.39 and Alfie Lewis on 7.35.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Ever keen to improve the facilities at the clubs, I continued to urge them to invest in training and youth. Most were accepted however the board refused to improve the youth coaching funding - after some discussion they made me agree to give significant playing time to two young players…. but for some reason the game never specified which players that was?!

As the season neared its end, I noticed the above in the promises tab and knew the end was nigh. Despite delivering three league titles, an Irish Cup, County Antrim Shield, SPFL Trust Trophy, two European runs and well over £15million I was SACKED!

So, what’s next? Time to sit back and review what jobs are out there… My short love affair with Linfield is well and truly over. FTB.

[FM24] Linfield FC 2024/25: Playing The Long Game

At the end of last season, my biggest challenges were to look at how I replace my first choice goalkeeper, top goalscorer and one of my most consistent midfielders as all three of Chris Johns, Chris McKee and Kyle McClean made clear their intentions to consider their options at the end of their contract. As it turns out, all three ended up staying for my second season - Chris Johns (2 years) and Kyle McClean (1 year) both agreeing to new deals while Chris McKee failed to agree a move away and has stayed with the club on a month to month rolling deal.

Having secured a league title in my first season but performing so poorly in the cup competitions, I was keen to ensure we went one further this year. We’d need to retain the league but also get ourselves at least one cup final. Europe is considered an added bonus for any NI clubs… or so we usually believe.

PRE-PRE-SEASON SIGNINGS

Before the players had even broken for their summer break, I had already agreed to the signings of two players for the season ahead - players at very different ends of their careers.

Centre back Luke Kenny (St Mirren) impressed on loan at Cliftonville last season and with his contract at The Buddies due to expire, I made a swift move to bring him in on an initial 18 month contract.

Shane Long (Reading) was also available on a free as his current contract was winding down. At 37 years old, he’s not likely to be outpacing players in the way that he did much of his career but when Shane Long becomes available, you sign Shane Long!

SUMMER 2024

It was a busy summer window for the Blues with no fewer than six senior players leaving he club at the end of their contracts: Kirk Millar, Jordan Stewart, Jamie Mulgrew (retired), Max Haygarth, Robbie McDaid and Euan East. Added to that was the departure of Chris Shields to LOI side St Pat’s Athletic for £9.5k having agitated all summer for a move.

With seven players out the door, seven players came in to take their spots.

Goalkeepers Aaron Maguire (Tottenham Hotspur) and Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Chelsea) were free signings having been released by their previous clubs - Maguire being sent straight out on loan to Welsh side TNS for first team football.

Jamie Doran (Glenavon) became the first player I’ve paid a fee for, £6k was a reasonable sum for a young player who will add depth to the squad. Sean McAllister (Everton) was another free signing, a Northern Ireland U21international with bags of potential who spent last season on loan at Glentoran - probably a player we will only keep for a season before he moves on.

Three loans to finish off our summer dealing with the signings of defender Patrick Gamble (Blackburn Rovers), midfielder Baba Adeeko (Wigan Athletic) and striker Dale Taylor (Nottingham Forest). Dale Taylor becoming the latest Linfield Academy product to come back on loan from his new club.

Europe is supposed to just be a quick fire way to increase the club’s coffers. Irish clubs aren’t supposed to compete. So it seemed when we exited the Champions League in the First Qualifying Round in a 6-2 defeat to FC Honka of Finland - I was particularly delighted at getting that 2-2 draw in the second leg.

The benefit for clubs in the Champions League Qualifying Path is that defeat means a second chance in the Europa Conference League. A chance we grabbed with both hands - overcoming Albania’s KF Tirana 8-2 in the Third Qualifying Round before a classic against Latvian side RFS in the Fourth and final Qualifying Round. A draw in the first leg had us nicely set for a big occasion at home in the second leg, neither side able to find the breakthrough in 90 mins, it was RFS who scored first in extra time. Dan Finlayson came off the bench to be the hero in the 112th minute with an equaliser to send the tie to penalties where Linfield made history becoming the first Northern Irish side to qualify for a European group stage!

It’s at this point that you expect to just enjoy the ride - six group games with a chance to bring in some big gate receipts. We performed so well in the group stage with a narrow defeat to FC Twente, holding out for draws against Dnipro and Cluj before Villarreal took us apart as expected. What was not expected was to claim two wins in the final two games against Adana and Neftci.

It’s worth noting that £429k for a win (and even £142k for a draw) is an incredible prize for clubs at this level. Two wins covered our entire playing wage bill for the season!

Those two wins were enough to drag us up into a play off position for the knock out rounds! Ultimately, AEK Athens would eb a bridge too far and the glorious adventure ended in February with defeat in the AEK Arena.

Onto the ‘domestic’ cup competitions and time to tick off the first objective of the season! I say ‘domestic’ as we would also compete in the SPFL Trust Trophy…

It felt like we were on our way to another year of disappointment with exiting the Co. Antrim Shield first to Larne on penalties in the Quarter Final. Larne were our nemesis again in the Quarter Final of the League Cup.

An unexpected SPFL Trust Trophy run ended with defeat to Livingston in the Semi Final but it was the Irish Cup that we really wanted anyway - the showpiece of football in Northern Ireland.

I went into the game against Coleraine slightly nervous as we’ve made a habit of falling on our arses in cup competitions but I need not have worried as the game was dead and buried by half time with two further second half goals sealing the cup for Linfield.

JANUARY 2025

Just one signing in the Winter window and it was my second fee paid and I honestly can’t think of a signing that typifies my FM playing more. 6’6” Elkan Baggot (Ipswich Town) cost just £13k. A 22 year old Indonesian international who would slot into that Libero spot just perfectly.

The League was an absolute cake walk once again. 3 points shorter than last season but the title was wrapped up with plenty of time remaining. As you can see, from the moment the league started, we move into pole position and couldn’t be dislodged despite the ridiculous number of games we had to play across all competitions.

One loss less than last season although we won two games fewer also. However more goals scored, less conceded. Not much more to say than it was an another absolutely delight of a league campaign.

STATS AND THAT

Dale Taylor led the scoring charts with 29 in all competitions - 3 less than Chris McKee’s total from last season. Joel Cooper finished the season with 27 goals (4 more than last season’s tally) while Chris McKee got himself on the scoresheet 14 times - tied level with midfielder Alfie Lewis (a freekick maestro).

Joel Cooper registered 14 assists with Darragh McBrien, Sean McAllister and Alfie Lewis behind on 13. Rhys Annett, Matthew Clarke and Stephen Fallon each had 12 assists.

Goalkeeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe made 55 appearances across all competitions with back-up ‘keeper Chris Johns making 11 appearances himself. Sharman-Lowe conceded 59 goals and kept 19 clean sheets. Johns conceded 18 and kept 1 clean sheet.

Joel Cooper’s 23 goals and 14 assists contributed to him attaining the highest average rating across the squad with 7.40. Sean McAllister was on 7.30 and Alfie Lewis just behind on 7.26

A THIRD SEASON AT WINDSOR?

Go on, then. Why not?

We’re facing the same problems again with Joel Cooper now wanting to explore his options - although I hold out some hope of keeping him based on what happened with other last year. Left back Matthew Clarke has confirmed he is leaving on a free transfer, although he has mostly played back up to Ryan McKay this year. Chris McKee continues to assess his options although remains on that month to month contract.

Last Season we had an income of £9.2m with £4.1m of this alone coming from the Europa Conference League prize money. A further £2.9m in gate receipts. Added to this, I cashed in a transfer clause of 25% potential profit on the deal involved with Trai Hume going to Sunderland in 2022 - the buyout value of that deal being an incredible £4.42m.

Having used a good deal of the above money to invest in Training facilities, Youth facilities, Youth coaching and recruitment - our current balance sits at a very healthy £8.7m.

A successful second season with a good run in Europe has happened to me before with Freiburg. That time, the third season was an absolute disaster - surely the same won’t come for me at Linfield?

[FM24] Linfield FC 2023/24: "I'd like to consider my options"

This has to be one of my most hated conversations in FM. A player who wants to consider their options at the end of their contract. I hate it because I feel like it gives me a false sense of hope that they’ll decide to stay when it almost always ends up with that player walking out the door.

Within weeks of the season started I was met with this notification from no fewer than three first team players. So from the off, it was a matter of planning ahead and looking at replacements.

SUMMER 2023

The only summer outgoings were loans for Rhys Annett and Aodhan Doherty to a third tier Northern Irish side Warrenpoint. The only aim was to ensure they got consistent senior appearances.

Coming in, I spotted Ryan Astley available on loan from Everton with no wages or loan fee to be paid. He’s more than capable of that Libero role at this level and for zero financial impact it was worth the move. I also couldn’t resist the temptation to bring Callum Marshall back in on loan from West Ham, though he would set us back £800 per week in wages (when used).

The cups were not kind to us this season, starting as ever with Europe. Thanks to UEFA’s efforts to try and kill off the smaller nations in Europe, 2nd place in the league was only good enough to have Linfield playing Europa Conference League football.

It started with an 8-1 demolition of Montenegrin side Arsenal (not to be confused with that other lot from Woolwich). A 9-3 win over Hungary’s Kecskeméti followed but Gent was a step too far and the European Adventure ended at the Third Qualifying Round.

It’s always a good sign when the screen is not wide enough to fit all the goalscorers on in full!

We were stopped in the first round of the SPFL Trust Trophy (Scottish Challenge Cup) on penalties by Inverness. It was also penalties that ended our County Antrim Shield run in the Quarter Final thanks to Cliftonville. We went one better in the League Cup but were beaten 2-1 by Championship side Ballinamallard despite taking the lead just 2 minutes in.

Four competitions down, no joy.

JANUARY 2024

A few more loans out in January with senior fringe players Jordan Stewart, Kirk Millar (both Cove Rangers) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (Crusaders) heading out in the hopes of earning a permanent move away.

The League of Ireland operating a summer football schedule means they are always a happy hunting ground for free transfers come January. Alfie Lewis comes on board after leaving Dundalk while experienced defender Roberto Lopes leaves Shamrock Rovers for Windsor Park. The last signing of the season is to bring young Patrick Kelly back to the Irish League for 6 months on a loan from West Ham - costing the princely sum of £50 per week.

The aim this year was simply to enjoy some attacking football. It might be an absolute horror show for some but this is what I’ve landed on.

The Libero and Wing Back (left) pushing forward in attack while the Inverted Full Back (right) tucks in to join the Central Defender.

The Trequartista simply there to be an absolute genius in attack while very little is expected of him when we are without the ball. Every team needs someone like this.

The league was an undeniable success. Last season Larne broke a four year run of League titles for Linfield as they won their first ever NIFL Premiership title. This year, we blew the rest of the challengers away from early on.

Never falling lower than 4th place, we regained top spot on Matchday 12 and could not be dislodged for the remainder of the season - breaking records in the process. Highest points tally and most league wins in a season.

All but two of our outfield players (Ryan McKay - LB, Max Haygarth - AMC) bagged themselves a goal at some point. Chris McKee led the scoring charts with 32 goals in 45 appearances (all competitions) from the striker position. Trequartista Joel Cooper (23), Right Winger Stephen Fallon (20) and Inside Forwards Callum Marshall (14) and Darragh McBrien (13) were next in the list.

Stephen Fallon was the lead in assists (23) with Joel Cooper not far behind (20). B2B midfielder Alfie Lewis (9) was next with his assists mostly from corners and Ryan McKay (7) just behind despite 21 of his 40 appearances being from the bench.

Goalkeeper Chris Johns made 48 appearances, conceding 50 goals and keeping 21 clean sheets. Back up David Walsh had 6 appearances with 11 goals conceded and 1 clean sheet.

With 43 goal contributions, it’s no surprise that Stephen Fallon was the highest rated player (7.62) though Joel Cooper (7.49) and Chris McKee (7.26) weren’t far behind.

LOOKING AHEAD

With Champions League football secured (Qualifying Stages) thanks to the league win, we should look forward to a significant financial windfall. Our transfer budget is currently £67k with the wage budget £22.9k per week (we have currently committed to spending £16k per week so plenty of room to manoeuvre).

The signings of Roberto Lopes and Alfie Lewis already sew up two key positions ahead of next season. With Goalkeeper Chris Johns and top scorer Chris McKee already looking to run out their contracts at the end of the season, we will need to work quickly to secure replacements there.

The loans of Paddy Kelly, Ryan Astley and Callum Marshall currently look set to end as West Ham and Everton are keen to test them in a different environment.

Aims for next season - retaining the league is an absolute must. A strong challenge in the Irish Cup would be a personal requirement but I’ll again be using the County Antrim and League Cup to give minutes to younger/fringe players.

I’m still not quite sure I’m comfortable referring to Linfield as “we” but the save continues for now…

[FM24] Linfield FC: Behind Enemy Lines

I’m currently having a bit of a huff with “Top 5 League” Football.

As a verified armchair Spurs fan, I’ve endured the last few years - Nuno (didn’t do us proud), Mourinho (if I speak) and then Conte (the situation cannot change). Now Big Ange is in and Spurs are playing football that I actually enjoy watching.

Sadly, though, no amount of cool dad vibes from everyone’s Aussie MATE can take away from the fact that modern top level football is an absolute horror show. VAR, the system brought in to reduce clear and obvious errors, reduces us all to watching a referee watching a part of a match that we’ve just watched - and they still don’t always get it right. State-owned clubs getting away with murder (some say literally). Financial doping (115 guesses who…) Roy Keane and Big Meeks. UEFA looking after their own. World Cup hosting going to the countries with the biggest backhanders. Twitter reduced to being dominated by absolute weirdos paying for a free app, throwing outrageous hot takes just to drive their own engagement. Football is well and truly fucked.

So, my own catharsis for now is to bin off this level of football in FM24. I’m going back to where I started and managing in Northern Ireland. It might last a season, it might last ten. All I know is there won’t be a video review in sight (unless I somehow make it to the big time in Europe…)

AUDACES FORTUNA JUVAT

I’ve done my stint with Glentoran (many times) and this year I’ve done the unthinkable and crossed the Big Two divide to start a save with Linfield. Why? Well for genuinely good reasons, I’ve gone against a lifelong rule and been to a lot of Linfield games this season in the home end. They’ve got a number of really promising young players and I want to give things a go with them and see how they can develop.

Northern Ireland offers so many opportunities for trophy success.

First and foremost, there’s the league (NIFL Premiership) which consists of 12 teams. They play each other 3 times before the league splits in two and the top half play each other once more as does the bottom half to account for a sum total of 38 league games.

The Irish Cup is the next most prestigious competition, offering an additional route to European football (that we shouldn’t really need). ~128 teams are whittled down in a standard knockout format that culminates in a glorious day out in the May sunshine.

The NIFL League Cup and County Antrim Shield (whose participants extend beyond the county’s boundaries) are a good opportunity to blood in some of the youngsters.

Northern now has a few entries in the Scottish Challenge Cup and NI has it’s own Charity Shield - though the importance of both should be considered way down the list.

At Reserve and Youth Level there are the Steel and Sons Cup and Harry Cavan Youth Cup amongst other competitions - though I won’t be going as far as managing those squads.

Linfield are the most successful team in the League, Irish Cup, League Cup, County Antrim Shield and Charity Shield. No big pressure.

THE STATE OF NORTHERN IRISH FOOTBALL

I could go into another rant here about how badly things are run by the Irish FA but I don’t think we have the webspace for that much complaining.

Northern Irish football is generally in a promising position. Linfield will always be a force to be reckoned with. Larne have had significant investment through Kenny Bruce who made his millions from Purple Bricks. Glentoran have had significant investment (though paltry returns) from Welsh-Iranian businessman Ali Pour. Carrick Rangers have now been acquired by an American Tech Leader who aims to raise the club’s profile significantly. Coleraine have now approved a takeover which will see them benefit from £2m into the club by two natives of the town.

More clubs are moving toward a full time model of football which has been both praised and lambasted as it widens the gap between top and bottom of the table as the smaller sides will struggle to keep apace.

The Irish League has provided a number of quality players in cross-channel moves. Gareth McAuley, Stuart Dallas, Liam Boyce, Paul Smyth, Trai Hume and more all made their names initially at Irish League clubs. With post-Brexit work permit issues, interest in Irish League players continues to grow with Patrick Kelly (Coleraine to West Ham), Calum Marshall (Linfield to West Ham), Liam McStravick (Linfield to Airdrieonians) having made the move recently and others like Braiden Graham (Linfield) and George Feeney (Glentoran) drawing scouts from further Premier League clubs.

THE YOUNG BLUES

As I’ve already mentioned, Linfield are no strangers to the development of young talent. The current squad is packed with potential with players like Daniel Finlayson and Chris McKee as established first team members. Further to that, the Blues have so much more on the fringes of the first team with a mix of their own academy graduates and players they have brought in: Aodhan Doherty and Josh Archer are highly thought of at the club while Ryan McKay and Rhys Annett (previously NIFL Championship side Dundela) were signed in January 2023 after much interest from NIFL Premiership Clubs and others further afield.

MY PLANS FOR FM24

I haven’t set my sights further than just enjoying a start with Linfield. I’ll be looking to make use of the new Inverted Full Back role and the tweaked Libero that complements it. Where this save goes, if anywhere, is anybody’s guess.

FM23 [3 to 16]: Home From Rome

One, two, skip a few has never been so apt. It’s been a while since I’ve updated with my progress at Freiburg but I’ve been plodding along in the background creating a comeback story that Disney+ would snaffle up the rights to within mere seconds of the pitch.

My second season ended so strangely. The loss of Kevin Schade hit hard but we pressed on securing a DFB Pokal final and an appearance in the UEFA Europa Conference League final. Having finished the Bundesliga season a disappointing 7th (meaning no league based qualification for Europe for the next season), the deflation continued with an embarrassing 6-0 loss to Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal and a disappointing 1-0 loss to Southampton in Europe.

No Europe for Season Three but reaching two finals would surely be an incredible springboard for success. Or not..

A £60m transfer outlay on Gabriel Vidovic (£30m), Lovro Zvonarek (£11.5m), Bright Arrey-Mbi (£700k), Sergio Busquets (£240k), Odin Thiago Holm (loan fee £900k), Dan-Axel Zagadou (£11m) and Juan Sorriano (£5.75m) promised a lot but delivered too little. After 20 games which accounted for just 5 wins, 4 draws and 11 losses leaving Freiburg in 13th - I was sacked on 31st January 2025. A curious time to sack a manager, I feel.

Where did it go wrong?

The players for a start. I’d signed Matteo Ruggeri in a previous season and added Vidovic and Zvonarek - all players who had done well for me on FM22. It’s not a solid scouting strategy to be relied on. While they were all very capable players - they just weren’t what I needed.

The tactics. I just couldn’t find what I wanted. I aimlessly switched and swapped between 4-3-3DM WIDE, 4-2-3-1 DM AM WIDE and 4-2-3-1 WIDE. I didn’t know how I wanted to play or how I aimed to control a game. I was desperately hoping for something to click and it didn’t.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

I bided my time. Started a new save playing with my local club and enjoyed taking them up a few levels of the amateur footballing pyramid. The call to redeem myself was too loud though and I loaded back up from being sacked by Freiburg. I waited it out until the summer when the perfect job came calling - Capitoline. That is AS Roma to those of a real name fixing persuasion.

Without going into a season by season run down, I went back to basics. What I, and most other FM players, love best - I bought low and sold high. I scouted and spent wisely on young players with high potential. Developing them while they pushed the club to higher levels.

I was almost sacked again and given the ultimatum of reaching a seemingly unachievable points tally in my next five games which spanned the end of one season and beginning of another - surviving by scrapping the exact number of points needed in the final of the five games.

And then… JUST LIKE THAT (shoutout to the Carrie Bradshaws of the world), it clicked. I found it. The way I wanted to play. The tactic that suited exactly the way I want FM (and football in general) to be! A positive 4-4-1-1, heavily dependent on creating chances for a capable striker. Football would be played at a fast paced frenzy, defending was seemingly optional but it mattered little as long as I outscored the opposition - channelling my inner Kevin Keegan.

The biggest problem I encountered was that my striker would be great for a season or two - scoring 20-30 goals a campaign - before hitting a wall. And so, started a routine of replacing the striker every other season with someone who would hit even higher hits culminating in a Dutch regen by the name of Ronald Stam who scored 32, 49 then 51 league goals in three successive seasons.

Two Italian Cups, An Italian Super Cup and a Serie A win in 13 seasons may not be considered an incredible success by most but that’s exactly how I saw it. Three German Manager of the Year awards in my last four seasons confirmed my right to be happy.

I was enjoying the save so much that I added in a second manager who took over Stade Lavallois - a junior affiliate of my Capitoline side. Utilising the limited loans available, I brought in some youth players I knew would be capable and played them in my same 4-4-1-1 tactic to great effect. Managing to win the league (French National) in the first season and narrowly missing out on a playoff promotion play from Ligue 2 in my second season.

DIFFICULT DECISIONS

What to do next was the big decision… go again with Roma and Laval, hoping to win a second Serie A title and taste European success with Roma while returning the French side to the top tier for the first time since the late 1980s?

Then the perfect opportunity presented itself. SC Freiburg had been relegated to Bundesliga 2 for the second time in three seasons (having won promotion by finishing 2nd in between). The manager had been relieved of his duties. I had a conversation with Tony (FMGrasshopper). What if I could take everything I had learned at Roma and make a glorious return to Freiburg and earn redemption? It had to be attempted. 2038 - the return to Freiburg.

The squad I inherited had potential but was also fraught with issues. They were an aging squad and, owing to their relegation, plenty wanted to leave.

The best player, Yuji Yoshida, had his release clause activated and moved on to Wolves for £12m. The club had already signed a 31 Spanish striker by the name of Miguel Angel from Dusseldorf for £2.6m - at 6’5” and relatively athletic he was the perfect choice to lead the line of my 4-4-1-1. He required a capable supporting cast and so I returned to Roma to reap what I could from the youth I had bought and brought through the academy. Wide players Fabio Cerezo and Giordano Turra, wing back Marco Rossi, central midfielders Francesco Pala and Cedric Mpondo were brought in on loan. A promising playmaker Gerald Laurence was my next loan acquisition from Lyon. Young goalkeeper Robert Niechial was my first permanent signing (£1.1m from Wisla Krakow) followed by William Haro, a 25 year old Mexican striker (£875k from At. Madrid).

With my summer transfer business done, it was time to begin the season. Not quite the start I’d hoped for as we picked up just 2 points from our opening 5 fixtures separated by a 5-1 win over lower league opposition in the DFB Pokal. It was a disaster and we were rooted to the bottom of the league having been billed as title contenders at the season’s start.

As we entered September, it happened again. Things just clicked. The months of September and October were unbeaten for Freiburg including a DFB Pokal Second Round win over fellow Bundesliga 2 side Greuther Furth. November yielded our last loss of the calendar year despite Miguel Angel’s brace. Two wins in December took us to the winter break, finishing off in style with a five-goal victory over Heidenhem.

January always gives a chance to strengthen the squad but first we had to put up with a Gennaro Gattuso strop. The Italian hardman was my successor at Roma but was constantly in my inbox about the lack of game time for Giordano Turra and Cedric Mpondo along with the fact I wasn’t playing Francesco Pala in the role he insisted I should. Gattuso made the decision to recall all through - Turra and Mpondo I wasn’t overly concerned about but Pala had become an important player for me with 4 goals and 7 assists in his 16 games. I set to work instantly and agreed a fee of £12m for Pala to become a permanent Freiburg signing. After selling a few fringe and 2nd team players we added £3m to our available transfer funds and used that toward the signing of another young prospect in Kosovan midfielder Idriz Munishi (£3.5m from Wolfsberger AC). The last signing of the window was to bring in Vladimir Lukov on loan (£900k loan fee from PSG) - I couldn’t resist a move for the labelled Wonderkid when he appeared on my radar.

We opened January with a win the DFB Pokal against another fellow Bundesliga 2 side Mainz - William Haro’s 93rd minute winner the difference. Disappointingly we let a 3-0 lead slip against Braunschweig in the next game before Mainz exacted their revenge on us with a 2-0 win. Three wins from the next four games set us up for our DFB Pokal Quarter Final against top-tier Borussia Monchengladbach but we were unable to successfully overturn their two early goals. In our next league game we gave up a one goal lead to draw with Kaiserslautern after going down to 10 men.

Seven points from nine in the month of March had been thinking for the first time about a possible title challenge - completely unthinkable after our start to the league season. A mostly successful April propelled us to the top of league, just two games from glory - the draw against Hannover secured a top two finish and automatic promotion back to the Bundesliga.

Idriz Munishi’s hattrick against Cottbus meant that a win from our final game was all that was required. Goalless at half time, I was starting to get a bit concerned before Francesco Pala’s opener had one hand on the title for us. Within 7 minutes Heidenheim had us pinned back to level pegging - Heidenheim needing a win to stand any chance of avoiding automatic relegation. Almost instantly after Heidenheim’s equaliser, the update came through that Ingolstadt (another relegation battler) had equalised against Paderborn! Ever-cautious, I still wouldn’t feel safe until we had secured the result we needed and lo and behold up popped William Haro with a winning goal on the 85th minute!

Freiburg were Bundesliga 2 champions!

Vindication to some degree. I have now returned Freiburg to the top flight and started the process of creating a young, attacking team with lots of potential.

FM24 is almost knocking on the door, I may or may not get another season played with Freiburg but even if I don’t… I feel like I have tied things up nicely after such a promising start to this save.

FM23 [2-3]: Always The Bridesmaid

As I entered the January Transfer Window in the second season, I honestly would not have anticipated what would happen in the second half of this season. The title of this blog should give some hint as to what the outcome of the season was. Happy but disappointed would probably sum it up.

A DEEPER SCHADE OF BLUE

The above Steps song comes to mind when I think about how the January transfer window began for us. I had already anticipated Kevin Schade’s departure when I started to see the list of interested teams grow. It was Atlético Madrid that triggered his £20.5m release clause and left me feeling so blue. He left for Diego Simeone’s Atléti having scored 19 goals in 22 games this season (15 in 16 apps in the Bundesliga).

Knowing this would be an inevitability rather than a possibility, I had already earmarked an ideal replacement. Gabriel Vidović came in on loan from Bayern Munich just two days after Schade’s departure. It was a loan until the end of the season but with a £30m option to buy attached. Vidović was a shining star for my Mallorca side of FM22 and I was keen to see if he would be just as capable this year.

Vidović was joined on loan by a fellow Bayern II and Mallorca FM22 player in Lovro Zvonarek. Zvonarek did not spend just as much time with me in FM22 so I was hoping to see more of him this time around. He would merely be an option to begin with, competing with Röhl and Nico for a midfield slot, but Bayern’s surprisingly low option to buy of just £11.5m meant that I was looking further ahead than just this season.

I felt my business was done but the new Freiburg president was keen for me to spend more of my original transfer budget. With that in mind, I pounced for another future star who I had been keeping tabs on for the last six months. You will be shocked to know that they were not with me in FM22… but they did come from our Bavarian friends. Arijon Ibrahimovic has plenty to offer already at just 18 years old but he will begin his Freiburg career with out II team in the 3.Liga. £6m feels like an absolute steal for the young Ibra (no relation to the obvious, as far as I can tell).

We’ll begin with the DFB Pokal. There was no repeat of our Third Round dip last season as Union Berlin were swept aside with ease. Bochum was as easy as it should have been before we fought hard to overcome Hoffenheim and send ourselves through to the DFB Pokal final! I think me reaching a final so quickly in FM is quite unheard of…

And what? You thought the fairytales were going to stop there?!

AEK twice took the lead in our first leg before Vidović’s hattrick in the second leg provided easy pass through to the Quarter Final. I was actually delighted to even still be in the tie after the first leg away to Sevilla, Vidović’s solitary goal in the second leg sending us through to the Semi Final.

It was at this point I got complacent. I thought Ferencváros would be an absolute gift. We did well to come away at 1-1 in the first leg. Things went much more as I expected in the second leg as we steam rolled our way to a second final of the season!

Do fairytales come in threes? No but they say that bad luck does.

January in the league got off to an awful start with just one point from a possible nine. Vidović had not yet found his feet as you’ve seen above and I was starting to wonder if he’d be up to the task. February started not much better before a Vidović double against Leipzig finally set him off.

In March, I got to read the very much not-sought-after “stars count cost of refund” inbox item after a complete collapse against Bayern. It was a return to the consistency of inconsistency that we’re used to as draw after win after loss occurred.

To finish the season with just 5 wins from the final 17 games feels like an absolute disaster. Thus the slip began.

The Olympiastadion (Berlin) was the setting for our first final of the save - the 2024 DFB Pokal Final. What followed was absolute torture.

For the vast majority of the first half Freiburg were actually the better side. Creating plenty of chances but just not getting the vital touch at the end. Lukas Nmecha’s opener came on the cusp of half time but I did not at all feel like the game was slipping from us. How wrong I was.

Wolfsburg were dominant from the off in the second half and when Patrick Wimmer put them 3-0 up I simply made the decision to start resting my first choice key players. With five changes made, the rhythm was well and truly gone from us and Wolfsburg struck a further three times in the final 10 minutes to hand us our second 6-0 defeat of the season - to which the stars did indeed count the cost of the refund again.

There was no time to sulk as just four days later we made the trip from Berlin to Vienna where the Ernst-Happel-Stadion was the setting for Freiburg’s first ever European final - the UEFA Europa Conference League. Southampton would be the opposition - The Saints, having avoided relegation from England’s top flight by 2 points, hoping to put some shine on an otherwise lacklustre season.

Wout Weghorst was the top goalscorer in the competition to date and he would be my undoing in the final also. His 19th minute goal coming thanks to an error at the back by full back Killian Sildillia. Wout Weghorst and his 6’6” frame are every bit of the sort of player I love to sign - a pure physical behemoth.

I’d love to say we fought back with all we had but in all honesty we offered very little over the 90 minutes, the only real positive from this game being that we didn’t lose 6-0.

Three bites at the cherry to secure European football for the next season and three times we came up short - always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

STILL TALKING ABOUT SCHADE

Despite leaving in January, Kevin Schade was our top league goalscorer with 15 goals in his 16 league appearances. Gabriel Vidović ended the season as our top goalscorer overall with 21 goals in his 25 appearances (8 Bundesliga, 4 DFB Pokal, 9 Europe) - 2 more than the man he replaced.

Merlin Röhl was the most creative player in the side as he continues to develop within the midfield two. He registered 12 assists along with his 12 goals in all competitions. That’s two more assists than the next highest of Woo-yeong Jeong.

Mark Flekken continued to be our first choice between the sticks (sorry, I know, I hate that saying too). He made 49 appearances, conceding 57 goals but keeping 18 clean sheets. He even managed to grab himself an assist this season! Felix Gebhardt made 6 appearances as back up, conceding 6 goals and keeping 2 clean sheets.

HAVE WE PEAKED ALREADY?

I certainly hope not! There will be no European football next season which means I can concentrate on the league and cup, the reverse of that is that we won’t have as much lead to swing when it comes to attracting new players.

An indicative transfer budget of £47m and around £150k/week wiggle room in the wage budgets means that we have plenty of bank to use if we box smart. The loans of Vidović (£30m), Zvonarek (£11.5m) and Nico (£22.5m) are due to end and decisions need to be made on their option to buy clauses If I work things right we can stretch to signing two of them but certainly not all three.

Season Three incoming - dare I say it could be the best one yet..?

FM23 [2-2]: The Case of Vincenzo Grifo v Unconscious Bias

Today I want to explore something that I have never really thought too deeply about before. When making squad selections or even reviewing whether or not to keep a player, we make assessments as to that player’s value to the team. I have never really considered my thinking beyond the surface level of “is player x better than player y” - and that’s because that is essentially what everything boils down to. What I want to do is to think a bit more forensically about the steps that lead me to the end decision: what makes this player a more attractive option? Are they really a better player (technically speaking) right now or is there something more subconscious at play in my decision making?

WHAT IS ‘UNCONSCIOUS BIAS’?

Being a public sector worker, I have naturally completed my own ‘unconscious bias’ training and am very familiar with what is a very hot topic in spheres of performance and people management. The University of Edinburgh’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion resources define unconscious bias as:

“The tendency of us as humans to act in ways that are prompted by a range of assumptions and biases that we are not aware of. This can include decisions or actions that we are not consciously aware of, as well as hidden influences on decisions and actions that we believe are rational and based on objective un-biased evidence and experience.”
— https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/students/unconscious-bias

This is mad, right? Why am I talking about the ethics of equality, diversity & inclusion when I’m playing with the glorified spreadsheet? Well, this is simply because when I stopped to compare Vincenzo Grifo (the subject of this post) with his replacement, I wasn’t totally convinced that I had made the right decision but I couldn’t understand why.

Unconscious bias is often used in conjunction with the term ‘stereotyping’ - however it is important to note the key difference is that unconscious bias explicitly references using assumptions that we are not aware that we are using. I should be clear here and explain that I am not talking about biases towards any real life characteristics of Vincenzo Grifo - if I am totally honest, I had not even heard of him prior to starting this save. I am talking about biases borne out of the way that I play the game and things I see within the game itself.

VINCENZO GRIFO V DATRO FOFANA

It will help to begin by looking at the two players in question. On the left is Vincenzo Grifo and on the right is his replacement, Datro Fofana. I have highlighted the attributes relevant to the role that they are expected to play - Winger (Attack).

Immediately, you can see why I am beginning to question myself. While Fofana certainly has the physical advantage in terms of pace and acceleration, there are a number of trade-offs in the mental aspects of the game where an argument could be made for either player. However, Grifo would appear to be the much superior player technically in addition to being able to offer the advantage of being well rounded in set pieces.

HEADLINE STATS

Beyond the attributes, the next place to look is naturally at those headline stats. As Fofana hasn’t taken much part in any of the cup competitions, I will look solely at the performance in league games.

Grifo has played a few additional games, though largely as a substitute. By virtue of having played less games it is Fofana who has the better Goals/Assists per 90 mins record so far - although with one goal and one assist each it is hardly anything to write home about.

Fofana’s pass completion % is higher but Grifo records a higher number of Key Passes per 90 minutes. It should be noted that Grifo is a set piece taker (corner and freekick) which would likely account for this increase.

Grifo does get more of his shots on target however given they both have the same number of goals, this feels slightly irrelevant.

Both have 87% tackle completion but it is Fofana who leads the way on pure number of tackles won per 90 minutes.

The differences in distance run and average rating are negligible.

ADDITIONAL STATS

Of course, football (and by direct relation FM itself) is no longer simply about counting goals and assists. There is an absolute wealth of data to look at and draw conclusions from.

For the purposes of this exercise, I have chosen to look at the possession related statistics, as they appear to be most relevant to the role selected. Below you will see Vincenzo Grifo’s stats to the left and Datro Fofana’s to the right. Sadly, this area does not allow for filtering by competition so these statistics are based on all competitions.

Fofana leads the way on Chances Created per 90 minutes, Pass completion %, Dribbles per 90 minutes and Progressive Passes per 90 minutes.

Grifo records a higher number of Expected Assists per 90, Cross Completion %, Open Play Key Passes per 90 and Assists per 90.

A proper 50/50 split on who is better here. A few of these stats could be argued as heavily dependent on the team mates around you. The keys to look at for me are Open Play Key Passes (Grifo). Dribbles and Progressive Passes (Fofana).

SO WHERE’S THE BIAS?

We’ve looked at attributes - Grifo is better technically but Fofana has the edge physically. We’ve looked at match based statistics - it was more or less even across those.

In terms of other basic information, both players are exactly the same height (5’11”) with only a few lb of a difference in weight. Both are predominantly right footed with Grifo rated as weak on the left while Fofana is reasonable with his left. I tend to favour players who are both footed - is this the first area of bias?

Both players are capable of playing on either wing or, if required, up front. Grifo has three player traits (Places Shots, Curls Ball, Tries Long Range Free Kicks) while Fofana has two (Moves Into Channels, Like To Beat Opponent Repeatedly). None of this traits are something I go out of my way to look for.

Vincenzo Grifo is in the latter stages of his career at age 30 while Fofana is just 21. I tend to favour younger players as I can plan more long term with them. Is this bias number 2?

Perhaps the biggest bias of all is that Grifo was at the club when I started the save while Fofana is a signing of mine (£3.2m from Molde). It’s only natural to favour your own signings, isn’t it?

WAS I RIGHT TO FAVOUR FOFANA?

My own answer to this is obviously going to be yes. I think the fact that Fofana still has so much time to develop but they are neck and neck in terms of their matchday contributions is proof of this. I always have more of a focus on the long term development. I could sign 5-6 experienced players and do well for a season or two (theoretically, in reality I’m not that good at FM) but I would rather bring in players with potential and build a team that could do even better in a few years time.

FM23 [2-1]: Opening the Transfer Floodgates

Austerity is a bit of a UK buzzword these days and there were certainly elements of it in my first season’s transfer dealings. By these levels, the summer of 2023 was a relative land of milk and honey for SC Freiburg where transfers are concerned. A massive 7 (SEVEN, for some reason seven is the number we start exclaiming by writing the numbers in brackets) players arrived at the doors of Europa-Park Stadion.

That’s right, it’s mass screenshot time!

The first confirmed signing was confirming the option to purchase Matteo Ruggeri from Atalanta for the agreed price of £2.7m. Ruggeri is Christian Günter’s obvious successor when the time eventually comes. He made a total of 37 appearances last season on loan - although only 9 of them from a starting berth. It felt obvious that I would enact the agreed future fee clause.

Following Ruggeri into the fold in a double opening day of the window swoop were Matteo Gabbia (Milan, £2.4m) and - seemingly FM23’s answer to Anel Ahmedhodzic since everyone seems to be signing him on the cheap - Isshaku Abdul Fatawu (Sporting CP, £1.5m). Gabbia is another of my signings from a previous save and Fatawu’s potential for that price simply couldn’t be ignored.

Barcelona’s young midfield talent Nico was a loan that I simply couldn’t believe we were able to make happen. He’s costing £1.6m for the loan and £11k per week in wages. An optional future fee of £22.5m has been agreed although the biggest stumbling block on that will potentially be whether or not he feels we are at his level for a permanent move.

Roberto Gagliardini was a free signing following his release from Inter Milan. I have to be honest in showing my ignorance here but I had no idea who he was and couldn’t believe he’d amassed so many Inter appearances… Regardless, he fits in very nicely to the Half Back DM slot, showing excellent ratings in some of my favoured Mental attributes (Determination, Teamwork and Work Rate).

I closed out the summer window with two deadline day signings. 21 year old Felix Gebhardt (Basel, £1m) was brought in to be a backup to Mark Flekken with the bonus that signing a German national pleased the fans. Alexandre Azevedo (VfB Stuttgart) was loaned due to Matteo Ruggeri picking up an early season injury - don’t expect to hear too much about him though as Stuttgart recalled him in November due to his lack of game time.

From the first team, there were three players released at the end of last season when their contracts expired: Lukas Kübler, Benjamin Uphoff and Nicolas Höfler. Kübler suffered a cruciate ligament injury last year and his 7 months out never really gave him the chance to break into my squad. Uphoff wasn’t content at renewing his contract to be a back up goalkeeper. Höfler never really impressed me last season and when he asked for triple his current wages on renewal, I was more than happy to ship him out.

On top of this, there were three first team departures during the window. Young midfielder Yannik Keitel left for Watford (£1.2m), Lucas Höler went to moneybags Hoffenheim (£4M) but without doubt the biggest name to go was Maximillian Eggestein. West Ham’s offer (£17m) was too good for me to turn down and Maxi was keen to go. I think I’ve replaced him well with Nico for this season at least.

As ever, we start with the briefest of pre-season updates. Five games played including a tour to USA. Three wins, a loss and a draw. Nine goals scored, three conceded, three clean sheets.

We were in Europa Conference League action this season and put Gil Vicente aside in the fourth qualifying round for the group stage. A 3-1 win in the first leg should have meant the tie was done and dusted, even moreso when we took a 2-0 lead into half time of the second leg. Gil Vicente came roaring back with goals in the 80th, 82nd and 89th minutes to set up a nervy finish with us narrowly leading the tie on aggregate (5-4) before Daniel-Kofi Kyereh’s 90+4 minute goal sealed progression.

Paired with Sion, Shkëndija and SK Rapid Vienna in the group stage, we made light work of the table as expected. Eight different goalscorers showed we are no slouches at creating chances (ignoring the strength of the opposition) as we eased to five straight wins before a heavily rotated side lost to Sion in what was a dead rubber for us. Topping the group, we await the news of who we face in the Round of 16.

We’ve made it through to the third round of the DFB-Pokal after a simple away win over lower league opposition Bayern Hof and an impressive 2-0 victory against Bayer Leverkusen. We’ll play Union Berlin in the next round in February - it was Union’s city rivals Hertha Berlin that knocked us out at the same stage last season.

It was a rocky start to the league season with the opening day win against Leverkusen followed by a draw with Union Berlin then a heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund. An excellent recovery against Hoffenheim preceded a bounce back to solid earth away to Leipzig. We closed out the month of September with back to back wins against Gladbach and Frankfurt respectively. Kevin Schade was already showing signs of that form that made him my undisputable first choice striker in the later part of last season.

October and November was a return to poor form, the Wolfsburg result was respectable and we’d have taken a point against Bayern if it hadn’t been for throwing away an early two-goal lead. What followed was three successive blanks drawn in very, very poor performances.

A return to positives coincided well with Kevin Schade’s return to the scoresheet. His seven goals in the next four games helping to secure a vital 12 points for Freiburg. 2023 ended with a hard battling win over Hamburg with the winning goal from a sweetly struck Fatawu volley from 20 yards.

At the halfway point of the season, Freiburg occupy 5th place in the Bundesliga - level on points with Dortmund but dropping a spot due to scoring three goals fewer than Der BVB.

Since the start of this save, I’ve had two training ground upgrades completed (taking us to a maximum rated State of the art set up) and one to the youth facilities (now graded as Excellent). The board are now denying any further youth facility upgrades so the next step for me will be to pursue upgrades to the Junior Coaching (currently: Excellent) and Youth Recruitment (currently: Good).

At the end of November the Freiburg presidential elections were completed. Armin Rahb was the winner and came in with no big changes to how we operate aside from one change to board objectives - Spend the original transfer budget. We spent just over £9m in the summer and the original budget was £20.3m so it’s far from an unrealistic target to reach. The current budget is actually closed to the £32m mark currently, although I’d rather alter things and potentially put more of that into the wage budget.

With the above in mind, there will be plenty to think about in January. Things are starting to click with the side I have, so I don’t want to tinker too much. The problem is that my hand may be forced at some point with transfer interest in several first team players, including Matthias Ginter, Phillip Lienhart (both West Ham), Woo-yeong Jeong (RB Leipzig) and Kevin Schade who has 19 goals in 22 appearances so far this season (11 clubs including Real Madrid and Juventus).

I have one or two targets in mind, although I’m not sure I will be able to convince them to make the permanent move just yet so we may look towards a loan or two - you can almost certainly bet they’ll have been involved in a fmadventure save previously too :)

FM23 [1-2]: Tactical Hokey Cokey

I waved goodbye to 2022 with an element of hope about the near future. Lucas Höler signed off the year with a hattrick against Union Berlin and I rewarded him by allowing him to sign off on a two-year contract extension with a reasonable pay bump. It was only his sixth league appearance of the season, and they were his only goals thus far - I knew it was a wild decision. Naturally, it backfired. A broken lower leg in training on 26th December ruled the striker out for a period estimated up to 5 months - the vast majority of the remainder of the season.

THE GLORIOUS BASTERD

The January transfer window was another relatively quiet one. Two first team departures - young right wing back Hugo Siquet went out to Fortuna Düsseldorf on loan (he only made 8 appearances… great) and veteran French wideman Jonathan Schmid left for Schalke 04 in a deal worth £100k (and about £10k a week saved in wages).

With Höler’s injury in mind, I made my first permanent signing of the save - an Ivorian Wonderkid. It was Molde of Norway who were bidding “Au revoir, Fofana” as we exchanged a sum of £3m for the pacy winger-come-striker Datro Fofana.

If I was looking for any immediate comfort in the first month after the Winter Break, I wouldn’t have thought I’d find it in fixtures against Bayern, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt - three sides who were battling it out for the top spot in the league at this point. Surprisingly, we came away with six points from the possible nine here with a further three added from our game against Augsburg. January did come to a sorrowful end as Hertha ended our DFB Pokal run in just the third round of the competition.

February and March were difficult months that yielded just one win and one draw from our seven Bundesliga fixtures. Add to this, our exit from the Europa League in the Round of 16 - although we can still have some pride in our efforts. A 3-0 first leg defeat away to Sporting left me with little hope in this tie but Kevin Schade’s second half brace in the second leg provided some excitement, even if it was fleeting. A third couldn’t be found and we left the European competition with a 3-2 aggregate defeat.

It was around the end of March/beginning of April that I reverted back to a 4-3-3 DM-Wide formation with a few minor role alterations from previously. A move that brought an unbeaten month of April before the season fizzled out in May with our final position having already been determined as we entered the final few games.

A 7th place finish secures European football for next season, albeit we’re now down into the Europa Conference League Playoff rather than Europa League Group Stage.

It’s an outcome that exceeds the board expectation of avoiding relegation. An expectation that may seem slightly absurd given Freiburg’s real-life finish of 6th last season, however, the squad really isn’t that great. This is something that is probably best reflected in the fact Freiburg have the second lowest wage bill in the league - half that of the 9th highest wage bill in the league and an incredible 7% of that afforded by Bayern.

BACK TO 4-3-3 (DM-WIDE)

I just couldn’t really get the 4-4-2 to stick for me. Part of it was my own mental block, because it’s not how I wanted to set up. I went back to the 4-3-3 DM-Wide but tweaked the roles.

I started with my three better players: Jeong, Eggestein and Ginter. I looked at their most suited roles and placed them in, the rest of the tactic more-or-less remaining the same except for the striker who changed from DLF(S) to AF.

PLAYER FOCUS

Mark Flekken was my number 1 for the vast majority of the season. He kept 10 clean sheets in 40 appearances, conceding 34 goals in the remaining games. Benjamin Uphoff made 5 appearances with just 1 clean sheet and conceded 9 goals. Gregor Kobel of Dortmund kept the most clean sheets in the Bundesliga, he played 41 games in all competitions conceding 36 goals and keeping 16 clean sheets.

Kevin Schade was my top goalscorer with 14 goals in 20 appearances (16 starts/4 sub apps)- he ended the season as my Advanced Forward. Lukas Nmecha and Timo Werner tied the Bundesliga scoring charts with 21 goals each. Nmecha scored 22 in 35 appearances across all competitions (33 starts / 2 sub apps) while Werner bagged 30 goals in 47 appearances (46 starts / 1 sub app).

Christian Günter was by far my most creative player with 13 assists in 41 appearances (36 starts / 5 sub). Joshua Kimmich was the highest assister in the league, in all competitions he assisted 14 goals in his 46 appearances.

The focus for the season ahead will definitely be on refining this squad a lot more. The squad needs to be condensed in size which should free up enough room in the wage bill to make significant improvements to the first team. With league prize money earned totalling £52m, I’m hoping there will be some boosting of the transfer kitty.

Moderate aims for next season? Qualifying for Europe (in some form) again, a better showing in the DFB Pokal and reaching the knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League. I’ll be happy with that.

FM23 [1-1]: First Steps at Freiburg

Over the last number of FM editions, I have aligned myself with a specific club from some of the major European nations (in no small part down to the fact that I keep going back to the same clubs when things go wrong). In Spain it is RCD Mallorca, in France it is SC Bastia, in Netherlands it is FC Groningen.

Strangely, until now I haven’t found myself strongly inclined to managing any Bundesliga club. I’ve been to Germany a number of times for holidays, educational trips and football matches, although during that time I’ve never gained any strong feelings for any particular club there. In making my decision for FM23 I looked through the squads of the current Bundesliga sides - SC Freiburg stood out simply for the presence of two players I have managed in recent FMs (Woo-yeong Jeong and Ritsu Doan).

When starting any save game, I always like to start by picking out the four players I feel could be key in my first season. This is based on nothing other than a quick glance at their attributes and player traits.

The first player will always be the goalkeeper. Mark Flekken is a solid goalkeeper, not massively impressive but he’ll do the job for now. He’s comfortable with the ball at his feet, aerially competent and he still has a fair bit of time left on his contract. I always find goalkeeper the hardest player to replace so the simple answer is that if I don’t have to then I won’t.

Matthias Ginter is the highest paid player in the squad, a full £22.5k per week more than the next highest paid player. Freiburg born and a product of the youth academy, he’s back after spells with Dortmund and Gladbach. Reasonably strong attributes will mean I hope/expect him to stick around for a few years but that personality should make for a really good mentor to the younger players.

Maxi Eggestein may not be the most technical player but his work rate and teamwork are a massive win in my books. It’ll be interesting to see how that ‘plays one twos’ works out in the middle of the pitch.

Woo-yeong Jeong can play on either flank, strong with both feet and is relatively quick off the mark. At 22 years old, there’s still plenty of time for improvement under the right training conditions.

SUMMER 2022 TRANSFER WINDOW

I don’t like to do too much business in the first transfer window but I also don’t like to disable the first window. Sometimes this works against me, as it has done in this instance, but that is football.

Straight from the off, Roland Sallai was attracting interesting from England. After turning down the first bid, I had Sallai complaining which was quickly followed by his teammates encouraging me to let the player leave. I asked him to give me time, which was met with resistance. And so Sallai couldn’t wait. £13m upfront fee from Leeds United meant that I could let him leave and not look back in anger on the decision.

Carles Aleña and Borja Mayoral are part of an elite fmadventure club of players that I routinely look to sign every year. Matteo Ruggeri of Atalanta has just joined that club. A one-year loan agreed with a £350k upfront fee and the option to make it permanent for just £2.7m. An option that I will almost certainly be taking up.

Pre-season summed up: we drew in the intra-squad friendly before winning four games against lower league German clubs and a final victory at home to Anderlecht. 13 goals were scored and just 1 conceded.

The season began with a Freiberg-Freiburg (cue Spidermen meme) DFB Pokal game hosted by the Stuttgart based club. One defeat in the opening twelve games had us sitting up in the Champions League qualification spots but we really weren’t convincing enough in any of those games despite some of the big scalps (Dortmund, Leverkusen, Rangers).

My fears were found to have some substance to them as we then went on to only record two wins in the next nine games - with none of them coming in the Bundesliga! A change of tactic (to be discussed) managed to shake things up and we blew Union Berlin out of the water in a comprehensive win before elite club football breaks for a certain Qatar 2022 tournament.

Rookie mistake… I forgot to take a picture of the table as it was at this point. I was 7th though…

MY STRUGGLE WITH TACTICS

We weren’t playing terribly but then again; we weren’t quite playing well enough for me to suggest that I was happy with how things were going.

This season I planned to use largely the same tactic that I ended FM22 with - focusing on using a Raumdeuter from the AML position. I feel like I’ve perhaps jumped too soon to this one, when I don’t have all the right players yet to make it work. I will go back to it at some point.

In the few games immediately before the World Cup break, I began to look at a few other tactical set ups and styles using the presets. There was a fluid counterattack 5-3-2 and a gegenpress 4-2-4. Neither really clicked for me (and I don’t really enjoy the TI heavy presets anyway). A quick review of the squad and I settled on my final solution for now - a simple 4-4-2.

Solid at the back, runners from the middle and a TF/AF combination up top. The dividends were paid immediately as Höler grabbed a hattrick from AF, Peterson got one as the TF and Ritsu Dôan grabbed a brace as the IW from the right side of midfield in the 6-0 win over Union. Beautiful.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup happened and was won by Netherlands. Our players involved were Matthias Ginter (Germany), Woo-yeong Jeong (South Korea) and Mark Flekken (Netherlands).

On the other side of the Winter/World Cup break I will have a look at the positions in my squad that I feel could be immediately improved upon. I have £11m in transfer funds and £25k/week in wages to spend. There may be a few that leave just to try and reduce down our currently bloated first team squad - we currently have 25 first team players when I would ideally be working with no more than 20.

For the immediate future I think I will stick with the 4-4-2 but switching back to the Raumdeuter 4-3-3 in future will definitely be on my mind and in my consideration of any transfer business.

RCDM: Osiris, Bennu and Rebirth On The Wing

I begin this article, likely my last of FM22, with a tenuous link between an Egyptian Newgen and two Ancient Egyptian Deities.

The first link is clear - they are both of Egyptian origin. The second is where some creative leap is required: Mostafa Gabr has been trained to play on the wing - Bennu is the ancient Egyptian deity symbolised in the form of a grey heron - a winged animal. The third link is where things begin to tie together as Bennu was a symbol of rebirth, closely associated with Osiris who was the god of resurrection among many other things (and the father of Horus, the falcon headed but I’ll not try and stretch a further link in here).

In the summary of my last season, I mentioned finding the key in Gio Reyna. One player who was also vital in the successes of that campaign was loaned wideman Pedro Camara. His contribution of 13 goals and 11 assists from his Winger-Attack role was undeniably so crucial to the way the team played.

Alas, loans can never truly be relied on, and Pedro Camara returned to his parent club (Man UFC) before being sold on to Newcastle United.

A replacement was needed but with little of great interest on the transfer market, I turned to a player who had thus far failed to really meet expectations since his signing. I didn’t initially have him marked down for a wide playing role but he could just fit the bill. Could it be time for a rebirth for Mostafa Gabr? (Tenuous link justified)

Pedro Camara was a pretty good winger for me at the level Mallorca were at. He was fast enough, could dribble and cross. While his finishing attribute was hardly anything to write home about, his other attributes meant that he was usually in the right place at the right time to have a decent chance at goal. Not to mention the loan deal we had him on was an absolute steal with £2.9k per week wages!

In my eighth season he finished with 13 goals and 11 assists in 39(4 apperances across all competitions.

I signed Mostafa Gabr in my sixth season as a 19-year-old with lots of promise. Initially I imagine that he would slot into a central midfield role for me but he just never seemed to get going in that position. 6 goals and 2 assists in his 16 appearances in Season Six sounds good but was heavily inflated by early fixtures against lower league opposition in the Spanish Cup. In the Seventh Season it was a return of 2 goals and 3 assists in 38 appearances. By January of the Eighth Season he had 3 goals and 3 assists in 16 appearances but was more often than not a substitute for me.

I allowed Gabr to leave on a sixth month loan to Feyenoord where he amassed 8 goals and 5 assists in 21 appearances as he recorded a 7.4 average rating while helping them to a Europa Conference League Final victory.

As pre-season for Season Nine came round, I had a choice to make with regards to replacing Pedro Camara. So, I turned to Mostafa Gabr. Having all the right attributes in the right places I decided he should be given one last go at it - and he repaid my faith in abundance.

Gabr took to his new role really well as he finished the season with 19 goals and 13 assists in 45 appearances - surpassing the standards set by Pedro Camara last season. This is despite suffering a calf strain in the early part of the season that was to see him sidelined for almost the entire month of September.

There were only two first team signings over the whole season for Mallorca and they were both reactive to departures.

Bulgarian behemoth centre back Yasen Dimitrov left for Manchester City in a £27.5m deal - two years after signing from Ludogorets for £4.2m. Osvaldo Katiavala sadly couldn’t follow the same redemption arc as Gabr and he left for Fenerbahce in a £27m move - significant profit on the £1.6m paid to Pacos Ferreira in 2025. Goalkeeper Sergio Rico moved on to Al-Wahda (UAE) for £2m and Frank Priso’s £7m relause clause was activated by SC Freiburg after two and half seasons with us.

A special mention goes to Danilo Cataldi who returned to Italy with Venezia at the age of 35. Cataldi cost just £2.2m back in 2022 and paid that back and more with his goals and assists from set pieces. 200 league appearances for Mallorca and he leaves the club as favoured personnel.

Coming in was Vilmos Jakab - a Hungarian wonderkid - for a joint equal club record fee of £21m from Zebre (soon to be Juventus again). Jakab is 6’5” and can play centrally or on the right of defence and also in that defensive midfield role. Jakab finished the season with 45 appearances - 5 goals and 2 assists.

Also coming in was Strahinja Bojovic for £6.25m from Red Star (Belgrade). An exciting Serbian prospect (now our third young Serbian in the squad) at centre back who is very capable of the ball playing defender role. He managed 22 appearances with 2 goals this season.

We dominated our group in the Europa League, winning 5 of the 6 games before heavily rotating in the last with qualification already secured. We came up against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Second Knockout Round and carried a decent result out of the first leg. The game plan unravelled within 10 minutes of the second leg as we found ourselves three goals down. Gio Reyna pulled one back but despite our best efforts the result was gone from us and it finished 4-2 on aggregate to Frankfurt.

An edgy result against Navalcarnero and a solid performance against Celta Vigo led us into a Spanish Cup quarter final with Barcelona. It was a dominant performance to sweep Barcelona aside 2-0.

We struggled against an in-form Sevilla in the first leg of the semi-final then almost threw it away immediately in the second leg by going two goals down after 7 minutes! Mostafa Gabr led the fight back with an incredible hattrick to put us close. Gabr was almost the fairy tale hero with a fourth, but it was ruled out by VAR for offside. Out on away goals - which are apparently still a thing in Spain.

Spanish Super Cup Champions! Amazing! Sociedad (San Sebastian) were battling for the title all season but put-up little fight as we blitzed by them in the semi-final.

Barcelona in the final seemed like a tough ask but we were the better side over 90 minutes despite it ending goalless. Martin Piro’s 93rd minute lead was cancelled out in the 109th minute leading us into penalties. It went all the way to sudden death before Mallorca won it 6-5 on penalties! Vamos!

The La Liga title fight was the closest it has been during this save with just 6 points separating 1st and 5th.

It was a rollercoaster start to the season for us, beginning with a 7-2 demolition of Espanyol before being immediately humbled by Sociedad. Over the next month Valencia and Zaragoza also took maximum points from us.

That kick us into an incredible run of 21 league games without a loss! The cycle was broken by consecutive losses to Barcelona and Bilbao before finishing the season with six wins from the final eight games.

We finished as the highest scorers in the league with 97 goals and 38 goals conceded made us the fifth best team defensively.

23 year old goalkeeper Nikola Simic made the most appearances with 52 across the season. 49 goals conceded and 23 clean sheets.

Gio Reyna finished with the most assists on 21, Mostafa Gabr (as mentioned) got 13 and Johnathan Frohlich set up 12 for his teammates.

Johnathan Frohlich was our top scorer with 25 goals, Mostafa Gabr was the next highest scorer with 19 goals and Sebastian Banguera had 17 goals despite playing second fiddle to Frohlich and Vidovic.

Below is how we lined up for this season - with my chosen Best XI. It is the basis for how I plan to play in FM23 with a lot of focus on the Raumdeuter getting into those dangerous positions and being clinical in front of goal.

With 9 seasons gone, it’s time to call an end to this save. With two Spanish Cups and a Spanish Super Cup, how does this rate among my millions of Mallorca saves down the year? Pretty high, honestly. I’ve been more successful in previous editions, but I feel like I really got a good feel for this tactic rather than just having a fumble and falling into something that works.

I always feel that my saves tend to end just as I get a really exciting team together. We have an average age of 22 years old with 14 current internationals in the squad. I’d love to see how this side would do over the next 4-5 years as they develop. Could they break the Barcelona/Madrid dominance in La Liga? Probably not under my leadership in fairness…

Now, it’s time to take a break and think about getting ready for FM23!

RCDM: Finding The Key 🗝️

As my Seasons 6 and 7 update explained, I had Mallorca on a real upward trajectory. European football had come to the shores of Mallorca once again - first it was the UEFA Europa Conference League, then the Europa League itself. For my eighth season in charge, Mallorca would be playing in the UEFA Champions League.

I was building a young squad that could grow into a team capable of maintaining the challenge at the top end of the league. A squad filled with potential is not to be knocked but I felt that I needed someone who was already at that next level. A key to unlocking the potential around him.

Step forward Giovanni Alejandro Reyna…

My best attempt at one of those god-awful garish new signing graphics

It wasn’t a long-planned signing. More of a chance occurrence that I happened to actually be paying attention to a scout report that popped up in my inbox to say that Gio Reyna was transfer listed and available for the very reasonable price of £18.25m. For some odd reason, the American had never really managed to become a nailed-on starter for Borussia Dortmund in this save - which is very surprising when I look at Dortmund’s current midfield and wouldn’t consider either of them to be anywhere near as good.

Reyna came in midway through August and was registered in time for the second league game of the season. The impact was instantaneous with a goal and four assists in a 6-0 rout of Zaragoza. A further two assists followed in the next game (2-1 win over Granada) before a goal and an assist in the 2-1 win away to Atlético Madrid. Two goals and seven assists in his first three games in a Mallorca shirt was a great sign of what was to come. A final tally of 18 assists and 9 goals in 46 appearances across all competitions was a great return - added to his average rating of 7.52 which was the highest ever average rating for any Mallorca player across this save.

Gio Reyna played the role of Mezzala in a three-man midfield. The ability to pick and play those top-quality passes in addition to carrying the ball through the midfield area was a quite clear step up in terms of quality from what I’ve had so far in this save. The value of the player traits, particularly playing on-twos, was evident on so many occasions as the quick passing and movement created so much space and so many chances for us over the course of the season.

As for how the season went generally, I will begin with the Spanish Super Cup. For the second season running we fell at the first hurdle in a competition that I continue to struggle gathering any interest in as shown by the goal scorer being Danilo Cataldi in one of his four starts of the season.

Champions League football for the first time in this save! Or Champions Cup as my game is now calling it - my name-fix needs updated and I truthfully can’t be bothered to do it, sorry but no fox given here. Despite just two wins, we managed to squeeze through in second place in the group thanks to our head-to-head record over Benfica. The final group game was honestly a great watch - all I needed was a draw to ensure a 3rd place finish and a spot in the Europa League, which I was more than happy to take. Sebastian Banguera had other ideas as he popped up in the 93rd minute with a winner to grant us 2nd place.

Facing Liverpool in the first knockout round I didn’t expect much, particularly as they had that T-1000 replica Erling Haaland leading the line. What I got was almost the comeback of a lifetime in the second leg. As the clocked ticked over into the 83rd minute of play we were trailing 4-1 on aggregate. 6 foot 6 inch monster centre back Yasen Dimitrov stepped up twice from corners to head us into an unthinkable position of just needing one more goal to push us through to extra time and then this happened…

With our Champions League campaign ending in an unexpected disappointment, the boys bounced back in style the very next month by securing the second Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) win under my tenure.

With Gio leading the charge as I mentioned earlier, we came firing out of the starting blocks and finished the months of August and September with a tally of 19 points from a possible 21. October, November and December were sobering months as before we long we went from counting one loss in eight games to the flip side of just three wins in eleven - football can be a cruel game.

We returned from the Winter break in hot form, as we seem to do often. It wasn’t until Sociedad in March that we suffered our first league defeat of 2029 before an April disaster derailed the train somewhat. 1 point from a possible 12 coincided with that defeat to Liverpool and the Spanish Cup victory. The players mustn’t have known if they were commiserating or celebrating.

Resurgent in May, we rounded out the season with a fruitful month in front of goal, but it wasn’t enough to stop a serving of humble pie as we ended the season in 6th place - dropping down to the Europa League for the next season to come.

Sociedad (or Real San Sebastián to the lazy man) were the surprise package of the season. They led the league from Matchday 8 right through to their defeat to eventual champions Barcelona on Matchday 33.

Real Madrid started the season so poorly but managed to turn things around under the tutelage of Zinedine “Third Time Lucky” Zidane. Zidane taking over from Stefano Pioli who lasted just 137 days before being sacked. What really is unbelievable is that I turned down the Madrid job in the summer before they brought in Pioli… oh what could have been!

Ins, Outs and Wage Cap Blunders!

Yes, it’s not only the unfortunate Cules who run into wage cap problems. FM is always a game for learning, and sometimes the things you learn seem so simple that you probably should have thought of them before! I knew that I had to be careful when recruiting new players that I wouldn’t overspend - the wage cap can be ever so slightly restrictive when trying to grow a club. What didn’t occur to me is that one of my biggest problems would be the wage % increased inserted into player contracts! With that in mind I ended up using the January transfer window to loan out two higher earners that weren’t really deserving of their spots in the team - Mostafa Gabr (Egyptian wonderkid) and Osvaldo Katiavala (Portuguese beanpole) saved me a combined total of £59k on the wage bill.

Continuing on the path of bringing in young players to grow into my first team, this season I signed 22 year old Serbian goalkeeper Nikola Simic (£3.7m from Red Star), 18 year old Colombian midfield Jean Henao (£1.1m from Atlético Nacional) and 20 year old Kenyan defender Timothy Juma (£1,3m from Benfica B). All three would be in the first team but available for my B/U19 team to ensure they go the game time they needed.

The three young signings I am most excited about are the following. Martin Piro - discovered by chance on looking at my current right back Sebastian Piro, his brother who also played at River Plate - £5.5m feels like a reasonable fee. Srdan Sreckovic cost just £6.25m from Red Star - already noted as a wonderkid, the 20 year old is versatile but moost often operates in the DM slot for me as a half back. Emmanuel Akuguru was a £3m signing from Bayer Leverkusen, at 5 foot 9 inches he’s not the usual tall leading forward I hope to sign but is developing a nice turn of pace to provide an alternative option in behind.

Winning two Spanish Cups makes me the most successful Mallorca manager in the modern era. Maybe this would be a good time to call an end to the save… or is there a chance we can mount an epic finale?

With Europa League football to play, I feel like this band of potential stars might just come of age in time to push for another European campaign or even a trio of Spanish Cup wins?

RCDM: The Pitfalls of Success

Once again, it’s been a while since I’ve updated on this save. To turn Ian Malcolm’s (Jurassic Park) quote on its head: “life gets in the way”. Playing time has taken a severe hit over the last few months because work has become so busy - but that’s not something I’ll ever complain about.

This post is a bumper double season update. I’ve become so accustomed to the struggles of my FM saves that once I seem to crack the code, the game somehow becomes less desirable to write about. Blogs about successful FM saves are very much in their abundance in the FMsphere that it becomes boring to read about yet another trophy laden story. In the same vein, it’s hard to work up a lot of enthusiasm in writing about them too, at least it is for me. However, this doesn’t for one second mean that I’ve stopped enjoying playing my game.

SEASON SIX - 2026/27

The previous season’s 7th place finish granted me a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League. For a club on our trajectory, this wasn’t something to be sniffed at, unlike how some bigger clubs or fans may view it in real life. We entered in the League Path Fourth Qualifying Round and faced Brondby IF of Denmark. a 6-1 aggregate win propelled Mallorca into Group B along with LASK (Austria), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) and AEK Larnacas (Cyprus).

It wasn’t the easy ride that I expected it to be: a 1-1 draw at home to LASK set us off on an uneven footing. Slavia made us work to claim a 3-2 away win before we finally found a comfortable victory 2-0 at home to Larnacas. Our return fixtures were 0-0, 2-2 and 1-1 draws against Larnacas, Slavia Prague and LASK respectively. It was hard going but we qualified as second place in our group with LASK taking top spot.

In the first knockout round Portuguese side Estrela da Amadora SAD (their name, not a comment on my feelings towards them) held us to a scoreless draw in the first leg with a first minute Christian Vergara goal the deciding factor in the second leg. We were drawn with old pals LASK in the second knockout round and it was a much improved performance as Mallorca went through with an 8-1 aggregate win. Antwerp arrived at the Quarter Final stage and were duly sent on their way as we progressed 3-1 over two legs.

Yes, the draws had perhaps been kind to us, however, I still rejoiced at making a semi-final of a European competition at the first time of asking! Sadly, Aston Villa were too strong for us over two legs. Rafa Mir may not have set the English Premier League alight, but he was inspired in this tie as his two goals helped the Villains to a 3-1 aggregate score line to see them through to the Final. A final they went on to win at a canter with a 3-0 win over Spartak Moscow.

We’d been on the cusp of glory before in the Copa del Rey but 2027 was finally the year we brought the Cup back to Palma - 24 years on before the club’s first Spanish Cup victory.

Again, I am happy to concede that the draw was kind to us up to the point of our progression to the semi final. Faced with Barcelona, I was ready to just accept this as another good cup run. Barcelona’s 4-2 at the Son Moix in the first leg didn’t do us any many favours.

The team bounced back in incredible fashion, recording a 4-0 victory over Barcelona in their own grounds. I couldn’t believe it as I sat and watched goal after goal fire in!

Real Madrid were the masters of our destiny in last year’s Copa final. And, of course, their cup win was the very reason we ended up in European competition this season. You rarely go into a match against Real confident of getting anything. With 23 minutes gone we were 2-0 up and I still didn’t feel in any way comfortable, Alexander Juhl’s goal for Madrid on the half hour mark could have been the beginning of a massive comeback but we held out resolutely in our defence. Yerry Mina and a late, late showing from 1Gabriel Vidovic putting the cherry on top of the cake… 4-1 to Mallorca, Copa del Rey Champions 2026/27!

All I can say is, thank goodness for the Copa del Rey success! We finished 7 points worse off than last season which led to an 8th place finish. The CdR success being secured our European football for the following season.

Things started promisingly with back-to-back wins before we went on a three-game losing streak. Another two wins to round off September gave me some false hope before we went two whole months without a win - 2 draws and 6 defeats through October and November.

A switch to 4-1-4-1 DM saw a revival of form with 3 wins from 3 in December before a rollercoaster January that yielded 8 points from a potential 15. The bad form returned as we again embarked on a winless run that stretched to seven games. Another tactical switch back to our 4-2-3-1 helped us return to winning ways against Bilbao and Real Madrid. Sevilla, Barcelona and Levante took maximum points from us before we rounded off the season with wins over Tenerife, Cádiz and Valladolid.

Truthfully, I was just glad to get this season over as we flipped from sublime to ridiculous at the drop of a hat.

In keeping with the brief update, I’ll restrict the transfer update for this season. Pre-season we lost Nnamdi Collins to Real Madrid for £16.75m - he had been signed for just £1.1m from Dortmund and started to break into the first team in the second half of the season before. We also sold long term first choice goalkeeper Dominik Grief to Espanyol for £2m.Pietro Pellegri departed for Osasuna (Atlético Pamplona) for £5m having never really made the grade for us. We made just two signings in the summer with Pedro Camara coming in on loan from Manchester United while Sergio Rico was signed for £3.5m from Valencia.

In January, promising youngster Alejandro Reina was sold to Rosario Central for £5.75m - a move we were pushed to allow happen as he threatened to run down his contract because I decided to try and give him a run in the first team rather than loan him out to a fourth division side… Joshua Zirkzee moved on to Eintracht Frankfurt for £4m and another promising academy graduate Adama Sabally moved to Newcastle for £6m. Coming in was Shola Shoretire - another winger on loan from Manchester United. We also went back to our unofficial parent club Bayern to bring in Emmanuel Awono - a solid ball player in the midfield. The two permanent signings were at opposite ends of the spectrum: the experience of Diego Carlos was a shrewd short-term signing for £200k while Mostafa Gabr is most definitely a player I can see developing over the longer term.

SEASON SEVEN - 2027/28

We were granted a place in the Spanish Supercopa mini tournament thanks to our Copa del Rey victory last season. We were promptly turfed out following a 3-0 defeat to Valencia in our semi-final fixture. Moving on…

Speaking of the Copa del Rey - we made it to the Semi-Final once again but after a first leg defeat to Barcelona, we couldn’t repeat our heroics of the previous season.

I was very disappointed with our showing the the Europa League group stage. While I expected Leicester to be too strong for us, I did anticipate getting a lot more from Estrela da Amadora and Vitesse than the 6 points we ended the group with. A third-place finish resigned us to a drop down to the Europa Conference League knockout stages.

It was in the Europa Conference League that we finally found our form. Once again, you might say the draw was somewhat kind to us. Turkish Superlig Goztepe and League of Ireland side Shamrock Rovers were both set aside despite our poor second leg showings in each tie.

We progressed past Braga of Portugal thanks to penalties after 1-0 home victories for either side. Chelsea proved that one step too far as they struck us down 6-3 over two legs - I’ve now faced three English teams over six legs losing 100% of those games.

And so, with the morale boost of having reached three semi-finals through the season (the Supercopa counts…) we go on with the update of the league.

We suffered defeat just four times in the league before the winter break - Getafe, Barcelona, Valencia and Villarreal the victors in those occasions. We, largely, did what was necessary against the smaller teams but most importantly we managed to take significant points from those who would be challenging around us - with draws against the likes of Sevilla, Sociedad and Atlético Madrid.

If the first half of the season went well then, the second half went very well indeed. We only succumbed to defeat three times as the remainder of the season played out - again bested by Barcelona but strangely this time also by Zaragoza and Almería. Draws for the second time this season with Real Madrid, Sevilla and Atlético Madrid along with those important wins against “lower” sides helped us to exceed our expectations for the season.

An incredible third place finish will see Mallorca play Champions League football next season!

One significant departure this season as Yerry Mina becomes the latest Mallorca player to threaten to run down their contract, as such he leaves for Sassuolo in a deal worth £2.8m - It may be a net transfer loss of £7.2m but I definitely think we got our worth out of him with those 102 league appearances over three seasons on the island.

Feeling that the club is on solid ground in the immediate term, I’ve started to look towards the future and signing some good potential. Sebastián Piro is more than able with both feet and can play anywhere along the back. He’s also in the 6foot+ club so gets a massive tick on my defensive criteria list. £6m was the fee from River Plate - he also benefits from being a dual Italian national so will be counted as EU for registration purposes. Yasen Dimitrov is a 6-foot 6-inch behemoth centre back and well worth the £4.2m paid to Ludogorets.

Adrián Sosa is the second River Plate signing and also cost £6m. Flair, First Touch, Technique… he has massive potential to become an absolute dreamboat in the midfield for us. Sebastián Banguera is the last signing of the season, the Colombian forward was just £1.4m from América de Cali (Hi Mike!) but due to our 3 non-EU limit he was loaned out to Kawasaki Frontale in Japan for the season - 15 goals in 12 appearances there!

Qualifying for the Champions League is a very ‘make us or break us’ moment. I’ve switched the focus largely toward getting a young team who can grow and develop into something special, and I just hope that the Champions League qualification isn’t a step too soon because a bad campaign could seriously knock morale and throw the rest of the season off course.

I reckon I’ve probably got another two (maybe three at a push) seasons left in this save. With a solitary Copa del Rey win in the cabinet thus far, I’d at least like to see us add in another one before we’re knocking at the door of FM23.

Oh, Canada? #RunningFromFM

July 2022 sees the second year of #RunningFromFM. FMGrasshopper, FM Rensie and I began this last July with a one season save in Poland, managing Wisla Krakow. The premise is very simple - we run a set distance based on the result of the match relevant to that day. A win is a 1km run, a draw is a 2km run and a loss is a 3km run. It has the potential to go disastrously bad if you get a bad run of form, but we really enjoyed motivating each other on a daily basis when keeping up to date with our runs.

FMG has decided to go it alone this year by doing a season with Hertha Berlin of Germany. In turn, I made the decision to do my own quick season. The hope would be to pick a league with as close to 31 games as possible - and that’s when I discovered Canada’s top tier league was in FM… did anyone else know this?!

With just 8 teams to choose from, I did my research (reading Wikipedia) and the choice became clear almost immediately - Atlético Ottawa. The team created by their Madrid namesakes would employ a similar style of play, using the tactic as interpreted by FM Grasshopper during the FM21 Beta.

Last year, Running From FM was all about trying to better myself each time and setting Personal Bests at each of the distances. This year, things are slightly different. I’ve been so much busier with work that I just want to enjoy taking the time to get active. I'll stick as closely to the original idea as possible but do plan to deviate to keep things fun.

Here’s how it is going/has gone depending on when you choose to read this…

Friday 1st July - Atlético Ottawa 3-0 Cavalry FC

The 2021 Canadian Premier League season kicks off with a win for Ottawa thanks to a 20th minute penalty from Vlad Moragrega and a second half goal each from Ollie Bassett and Miguel Acosta.

A 1km dash to get me started for the month and, given that we are in the midst of summer holidays, I have my son Harry along for the run. We figured out that it’s exactly 1km from home to our nearest McDonalds. It’s a happy meal for him and a McPlant meal for me… I did make sure to get a bottle of water and some cucumber slices to try and keep it as healthy as possible :)

Saturday 2nd July - Pacific FC 2-3 Atlético Ottawa

It’s another win for Ottawa. Somewhat less comfortable this time though. Maxim Tissot opened the scoring in the first half with Pacific drawing level before the break. Second half goals again from Ollie Bassett and Miguel Acosta gave us the win despite a late push back from the home team.

Another 1km but this time I’ve swapped the kids around and it’s my daughter Ruby that comes along. We decide to keep pushing and stretch it out to 1.89km in the end. She complains that it’s far too warm and declares that she won’t be out running again this month.

Monday 4th July - Atlético Ottawa 2-0 FC Edmonton, HFX Wanderers 3-1 Atlético Ottawa

It’s a catch-up day as we round up two results. Ollie Basset is on the scoresheet again along with Keven Alemán to give us the victory over Edmonton. HFX bring the 100% start to an abrupt end by defeating us 3-1, Marc Jankovic our goal scorer - a 6-foot 7-inch behemoth centre back that I signed for defensive cover.

I’ve got Harry back with me today and he declares that he wants to go to the park for a kickabout instead, naturally I am more than happy to oblige. 30 minutes kicking the ball about before we do a walk around the park to spot some squirrels.

Squirrel on the left on the tree, child on the right (obviously)

Tuesday 5th July - Atlético Ottawa 0-3 Valour FC

Two defeats on the bounce now and the honeymoon is most definitely over. There wasn’t an Ottawa performance worth of mention in this game as we ship 3 goals in consecutive matches.

I need to go and collect the car from town, so I bring along the oldest child - 10-year-old Springer Spaniel Archie. It’s just over a 3km walk down through the famous Titanic Quarter of Belfast. I have to stop to clean up after Archie four times. I only brought four bags… it was a tense final leg of that walk.

Thursday 7th July - York United FC 0-2 Atlético Ottawa, Atletico Ottawa 1-0 Forge FC

It’s another double day. Miguel Acosta and Ollie Bassett again the heroes as we defeat York United to go top of the league before Ollie Bassett strikes again to knock down Forge FC.

I’ve just spent the morning in three-hour meeting via MS Teams so the 2km run feels like a very welcome release. Lone running for the first time this month, the heat has really started to pick up and it reminds me of last summer’s crazy July heatwave.

Friday 8th July - Cavalry FC 2-2 Atlético Ottawa

Having completed the first round of games, we’re back to Cavalry again. Ballou Tabla is the man of the match as he strikes twice to give us the lead on two occasions, only to be pegged back by Cavalry each time. Ballou has two caps for Canada and was previously on the books of Barcelona for two years before returning to Canda.

It’s 2km, it’s warm but it’s almost time to put work away for the week. I thoroughly enjoy my lunchtime run today. The kids have now abandoned me and decided to spend their days off school up at my parents’ house, who doesn’t love the sound of silence?!

Sunday 10th July - Atlético Ottawa 3-1 Pacific FC, FC Edmonton 1-1 Atlético Ottawa

Pacific FC made us work for the points on our own turf. We were 1-0 down after 55 minutes after giving away a penalty but THAT MAN Ollie Bassett knocked in the equaliser before a Vlad Moragrega penalty gave us the lead. Vice-Captain Drew Beckie secured the points with a third in the final moments. We travelled to bottom of the league FC Edmonton for what should have been a guaranteed 3 points however found ourselves a goal down and heading for defeat when Ollie Bassett came up with the goods once again - a 94th minute equaliser! Ollie Bassett’s 7th goal in 10 appearances.

After doubling up again I was due for a moderate 3km. Instead, we took a drive out to the Castle Ward estate and walked for just under 9km. Castle Ward is the setting for parts of Game of Thrones and Bloodlands. No Starks or James Nesbitt out today though, thankfully…

Monday 11th July - Atlético Ottawa 0-1 HFX Wanderers FC

HFX were the first side to take points from us this season and they’ve gone and done it again by inflicting our third defeat of the season so far. We won the pointless xG battle but the scoreline is a poor one, especially at home.

It was back to normal straight out running today and the temperature is really beginning to pick up. It’s the last working day before two days of public holidays in Northern Ireland so it’s nice to get a break from the computer even if it is an absolute cauldron! (By relative terms… you must remember that 20 degrees is almost equivalent to boiling point in Belfast terms!)

Wednesday 13th July - Valour FC 0-2 Atlético Ottawa, Atlético Ottawa 2-0 York United FC

Consecutive 2-0 victories see me through the public holidays. It was a brace from substitute Brian Wright to give us the win away to Valour before a double from Vlad Moragrega secured the points at home to 2nd place York United. We remain top after 13 games.

A rare double day off gave me the chance to do some much needed work in the back garden. So, after numerous trips to the local recycling centre and two hours of power washing, I didn’t feel in the mood for a run!

Thursday 14th July - Forge FC 2-2 Atlético Ottawa

Four first half goals in this game as I twice had to come from behind to leave Ontario with a point. Keven Alemán equalised first before 19-year-old midfielder Zakaria Bahous equalised for the second time with a long-range thumper! It’s the sixth of eight games in the month of June and it’s starting to show on the players as we have to rotate in the spirit of fitness and match condition.

Back to work today and the decision was to go back to a lunchtime kickabout. 30 minutes of me showing how good I am in comparison to a 7-year-old. Too easy…

Friday 15th July - Atlético Ottawa 1-1 Pacific FC

It was a disappointing draw at home to a side we’ve already been twice this season so far. Brian Wright came off the bench to give Ottawa the lead before Pacific hit back 17 minutes later.

A trip to the barbers to have number 2’s hair cut on our lunch. Usually, we’d take the car for ease, but we decided to walk the 1.5km each way there and back which is a full kilometre more than we even needed for this result. Ice cream for him and a coffee for me on the way back.

Monday 18th July - Atlético Ottawa 2-0 Cavalry FC, Pacific FC 1-4 Atlético Ottawa, Atlético Ottawa 3-1 FC Edmonton

It’s a triple header today and three wins on the bounce for Ottawa. Ballou Tabla and Miguel Acosta secure the points against Cavalry. Ten-man Pacific were all at sea when Ottawa sailed home to a 4-1 win thanks to a Tabla double and one each from Vlad Moragrega and Giuliano Simeone (yes!). This day is rounded off with a win over bottom of the league Edmonton - a first goal of the season for midfield engine Abdou Sissoko and two for Moragrega. Fun fact: Abdou Sissoko is the brother of former Liverpool man Mohamed Sissoko.

It’s the first day of a full week’s annual leave from work for me. Mrs fmadventure is still working so I have all three children at home today. I like to keep my weekends quite relaxed, particularly a Saturday, so i’ve saved up the weekend’s activity for today. It was a 2.5km walk to the park and the 2.5km back home again. The youngest got his go on the swings in between naps and we stopped for ice cream on the way back in this ridiculous 30°C heat.

18-month-old enjoying the physics of a pendulum

Tuesday 19th July - HFX Wanderers FC 2-1 Atlético Ottawa

HFX continue to be thorn in my side this season as we lose our third game in three against them. Vlad Moregrega put us ahead on 22 minutes but just nine minutes into the second half HFX equalised. On 28 minutes our right back, Carl Haworth, picked up a second yellow card and was subsequently sent off. Straight from the resulting free kick, HFX grabbed a winner to rub salt into the wounds.

It’s my wedding anniversary today and we’ve gone for a night away up to the North Coast of Northern Ireland. This loss means I should be looking at a 3km run. Instead I’ve subbed in a walk around the Giant’s Causeway that marked up as just short of 10km. I commiserated (this result, not my marriage) with a few pints of Guinness, a great meal and watching the sun set from Portstewart harbour.

Wednesday 20th July - Atlético Ottawa 2-1 Valour FC

It was a much-needed response although for a long period of time it didn’t look like it was coming! Valour took a first half lead, and it wasn’t until the 48th minute that Ollie Bassett generated our first response with a fine equaliser. On 71 minutes it was Bassett again who found the net after a superb cross from Miguel Acosta. Ottawa takes all three points on home territory!

On our journey home from the North Coast we stop by at Carrick-a-Rede, famous for its rope bridge across to the island. Thankfully, the winds weren’t too bad but that didn’t prevent a nervy shuffle across the bridge. The bridge itself can just about be seen in the middle of this fancy pano shot below. Also, bottom right: Mrs fmadventure’s right hand.

Thursday 21st July - York United FC 4-1 Atlético Ottawa

York United are one of two sides (HFX the other) who are in direct competition with us for top spot. We’ve had the upper hand on them until now as they inflict our heaviest defeat of the season. Midfielder Chris Manella’s 72nd minute goal gave us hope to reduce the scoreline to 2-1 but York registered goals again in the 86th and 88th minutes to secure a comprehensive victory. One they were worthy of every point for. Our gap at the top of table has now been reduced to just 2 points.

I felt the weight of this loss very heavily on my shoulders. Not least of all as I carried an 18-month-old around Island Hill in scorching July heat. I swear, this is not a paid advertisement blog for Tourism Ireland. Island Hill is a lovely spot though, only accessible by path during low tides. We can all be thankful that we made it back across before the high tide returned.

Glorious freshly shaven head glistening in the fair Irish sunshine

Friday 22nd July - Atlético Ottawa 1-0 Forge FC

Victory returns to Ottawa in an Ontario derby. It was Mexican loanee Vlad Moragrega with the solitary goal to seal the points at TD Place.

Unashamedly I’ve skipped a run again today. It really is a cheek to call this #RunningFromFM. Instead, we went on a trip to a farm. Not a normal farm but one of those places that calls themselves a farm but has Alpacas, Deer, Tortoises and Snakes. Great day out, all the same. It amounted to a 2.7km walk so that feels a bit less shameful considering the run would only need to be 1km.

Saturday 23rd July - Atlético Ottawa 1-1 Cavalry FC

A real off day for Ottawa after going 1 down in the 73rd minute to Cavalry. Luckily after going down to 10 men, the visitors also conceded a penalty which Vlad Moragrega converted to ensure a share of the points.

In preparation for what I have ahead of me at the end of next week, I’ve swapped the walking/running/sauntering for the bike. Tripling up on distances, it’s a 6km cycle into Titanic Quarter on a breezy Saturday morning.

Sunday 24th July - Pacific FC 3-1 Atlético Ottawa (Canadian Championship Qualifying Round)

It’s time for the domestic cup competition in Canada and my participation has ended almost as quickly as it started, going out to Pacific FC. Brian Wright’s 92nd minute goal did little to provide consolation.

My under 8’s football team made their return to training this morning after a few weeks of a summer break. An hour spent coaching the next generation of aggressive wing backs followed by a gruelling 9km in the near blistering summer sun for my troubles.

Monday 25th July - FC Edmonton 2-0 Atlético Ottawa

It’s all gone wrong! Three games without a win, which makes it our worst run of the season. FC Edmonton knock two goals past us without reply. Oh dear.

To make matters worse, I’ve returned to work today after my week off. I lift out the static bike and do 9km in my living room while catching up on 250 emails received while I was off.

Tuesday 26th July - Atlético Ottawa 3-1 HFX Wanderers FC

A win! At last! Although we were made to work for it. HFX took the lead after just 90 seconds before an Ollie Bassett ensured we were level at the break. Vlad Moragrega’s 84th and 88th minute goals grabbed the points late on.

3km on the bike today and it honestly feels like daylight robbery when I think back about that game. I will absolutely take that though.

Wednesday 27th July - Valour FC 2-3 Atlético Ottawa

Another uneasy one here. It was a very unlikely hero of the day as right back Carl Haworth completed a first half hattrick despite Valour’s valiant efforts.

Two wins in a row and I’d be hesitant to say we are back - we’re bumbling to the end of this season. Having already secured a playoff place, the players look like they’re coasting already. 3km cycle and I give myself a serious pep talk on the way.

Thursday 28th July - Atlético Ottawa 0-1 York United FC

The pep talk didn’t work. An embarrassing result and we’re lucky the early part of the season has seen us through here.

9km cycle through the local park and I accept every metre of it. Lovely day, though.

Friday 29th July - Forge FC 1-1 Altético Ottawa

It’s the last game of the normal league season and Ollie Bassett’s early second half goal looked like it was going to get us back on track but Forge equalised with 8 minutes to go. Have we simply ran out of steam at the finishing line?

It’s 6km on the bike, it’s been a great month and the end is in sight.

Saturday 30th July - Atlético Ottawa 2-2 Pacific FC (4-5 after penalties) Canadian Premier League Playoff Semi Final

The team that put me out of the cup has now ended my season on the penultimate step! The league splits to a playoff semi final (1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd) after a 28 game season. I’m paired with 4th placed Pacific and have home advantage thanks to me finishing the league in first place - 3 points clear of York United FC.

Vlad Moragrega opens the scoring with a 7th minute penalty and Miguel Acosta doubles the lead on 22 minutes as we look to go sailing into the final! Pacific strike back to level terms with goals in the 30th and 45th minute. A scoreless second half leaves us with penalties to play and we fall short in the end.

I should mention that we were missing three vital players - Abdou Sissoko was suspended, Maxim Tissot and Ballou Tabla were unbelievably on International Duty with Canada. Playoff games scheduled during an international break is madness.

l count this one as a full loss and take my 9km on the chin. It’s a slow and steady 9km though with what lies ahead in the morning.

Sunday 31st July - THE BIG MATCH

I’m all done with Ottawa in FM22. Pacific FC have gone on to win the play off final - is that any consolation to me? No, no it is not.

Every year in July, I take part in a football match to raise some money for charity. The charity we raise money for is Cardiac Risk in the Young – Young Sudden Cardiac Death – Cardiac Risk in the Young (c-r-y.org.uk). I’d encourage everyone to have a look at the great work that they do and donate if you can.

I managed 50 minutes of play as my team ran out winners of what we call “Junior Day” in memory of a friend that passed away in 2016. More importantly we raised a lot of money that will go towards the fantastic services that CRY provide.

This year’s Running From FM has been a real journey. Not so much running but plenty of fun. Football at lunch, spending time with the family and doing things I generally love doing. On a side note I discovered a love for the Canadian League on FM after not even knowing it existed!

Here’s the key facts and figures:

28 regular league games played - 15 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses. 47 goals scored and 33 goals conceded.

Goals scored: Vlad Moragrega - 13, Ollie Bassett - 11, Miguel Acosta and Ballou Tabla - 5

Assists: Miguel Acosta - 9, Maxim Tissot - 7, Carl Haworth - 5

Running FRom Fm22

Canadian Premier League - 1st Place

Canadian Premier League Play Off - Semi Final

Canadian Championship (Cup) - Qualifying Round