Previously on SuperClub Diaries, Juventus disappointed with a Round 16 exit in the Champions League.
Intro
Let’s face it, the FM25 delay to March 2025 is disappointing for a lot of us. I positioned these SuperClub Diaries™ blogs to be lighter in touch in order to allow myself to have a little re-charge after 8-9 years of blogging, before launching into a new shiny FM25-era save. I genuinely had no idea if the save would feel ‘over’ after a couple of months OR span the length of the cycle. A normal cycle. Well, it has. SuperClub Diaries has taken me to three clubs, across 9 seasons and whilst not a standout FMG classic save, it has provided genuine moments of enjoyment and amazingly for the whole traditional annual cycle. But, I think this is where I stop.
I have seen a number of Community posts around finding a save to fill the unavoidable gap of those 4-5 months without a new Football Manager title. People stuck about what to do etc and ‘get the love back’. Whilst I know there is plenty to achieve in this save (because quite frankly I’ve not won enough). Personally, I know it is time to pause and take a definite break from the game. Luckily my income is not tied up with producing Football Manager content, and for that reason I won’t need to ‘react’ or provide any further content on FM24 (unless I wanted to of course). Often the term jealousy has been applied to writers like me, about perceived jealousy towards some of those earning a wage out of the game. Well at the time of writing, in October 2024, my jealousy is almost non-existent. Those poor bastards, if you can support them, in any small way* then please do.
*Four example ways you can support: (1) leave a Twitch browser tab open on mute when they stream, (2) watch their previous YT content and let the ads run whilst you head to work, (3) subscribe to their monthly Patreon and (4) use their affiliate link when pre-ordering the game.
Apologies for the tangent, this was a long and rambled way to simply say that this is my final SuperClub Diaries save update within the FM24 title. The narrative may resurface one day in the FM25-era…or be reserved to FM Grasshopper Coffeehouse archives. But for now, let’s head back to Turin…
2032 Champions League
The oil riches of the Middle East once again proved to be an impenetrable opponent for my Juventus side. Like PSG last year…Manchester City were just too strong in the Last 16 tie. Haaland is in his 30s now, but he doesn’t look any slower or any less capable than becoming ‘clutch’ in the key moments of big games. A shame really, the UCL campaign got off to a really good start for us, A couple of defeats away at Braga and Arsenal were quickly forgotten about when we went away to AC Milan and won.
Annoyingly, it’s the Milan outfit that went on to win the 2032 Champions League with a penalty shootout win Vs Barcelona.
Love you Swiss Models xoxo
Serie A winning signings…
I shouldn’t really celebrate any domestic success in this save, but it is nice to have [finally] won Serie A in this save after three 4th placed finishes in a row with Juventus. Whilst not a lavish Summer transfer window, Ball Playing Defender Lorenzo Pirola arrived on a Free Transfer from Arsenal and my Segundo Volante of dreams, Manu Koné, arrived on loan from AC Milan. Both feel very ‘Serie A-like’ to me, especially the latter. Manu’s move between rival clubs is reminiscent of previous Serie A deals like Andrea Pirlo or Clarence Seedorf.
30 wins, 5 draws and 3 defeats. +75 GD. Bene!
Two players who you’d want to have by your side when going to war.
Hands down the best Newgen I’ve had in recent FMs…
I mentioned Kağan Köksal a couple of blog posts ago who has become a top Inverted Full Back role in my Juve back four. But the best Newgen I’ve signed (probably in any FM save) is Estanislao Gomez from Olympique Lyonnais. The deal was fairly complex: €10m upfront, rising to €58m through a lot of player performance add-ons...but it could one day end up costing Juventus €119m should we win the top prizes of club football (lol).
He’s taken a full 12-months to come good, including a fairly slow start to 2031/32 season. However, something happened since January 2032 and he is now rated 5* in CA/PA, a natural ‘in the hole’ and loving life in Italy. His surges into the box have won us penalties, he’s assisted many through the eye of a duck’s anus to Dusan Vlahovic and his quick shooting has seen him reach double figures for goals. Sometimes a Newgen is that good you want to continue the save in order to see how they end up doing through a whole career…
Oofff.
Which SuperClub has performed the best over the 9 season save…?
Previously, I’ve given a country-by-country overview on how the 12 SuperClubs have fared in the season I’m blogging about. This provided more context on the save universe as a whole, and kept me abreast of which jobs could conceivably be available in the next 6-12 months. I have also had a few readers message to say how they have enjoyed reading this section of the SuperClub Diaries posts. However, after 8-9 years in it become a bit stale OR a challenge to keep the reader engaged; especially when Newgens (who only I know) enter the Save Universe and start to do well at the top end of European Club Football.
So, today’s ‘Elsewhere in SuperClub Diaries’ is a little different. Instead of a lookback on the current season just passed…I will instead recap UCL performance and league wins over the past 9 seasons per country, before announcing in my view who was the greatest SuperClub in SuperClub Diaries save.
England
The Premier League title has been shared between the two Manchester SuperClubs with non-SuperClub Arsenal winning a hat-trick of titles between them during 2028-2030. That Arsenal team also won two UCL titles too in 2029 and 2031, but there has only ever been one English SuperClub winning the UCL, and that was my 2028 Liverpool side. YNWA…
Chelsea
UEFA Champions League: 2026 (runner up)
Liverpool
UEFA Champions League (x1): 2025 (runner up) and 2028 (winner)
Manchester City
UEFA Champions League: 2024 (runner up) and 2030 (runner up)
Premier League (x5): 2024, 2025, 2026, 2031 and 2032
Manchester United
UEFA Champions League: 2029 (runner up)
Premier League (x1): 2027
FMG Manager observation: After my stint in charge, Liverpool are yet to win silverware with Alessio Dionisi and Simone Inzaghi getting yearly stints at the job with current Manager Enrico Maaßen in charge.
France
There is only one SuperClub in France, and there is no surprise they have won Ligue 1 in all nine seasons of the save so far. The Parisians have also won the big UCL prize too, back when I won the 2026 UCL in Volume 1.
PSG
UEFA Champions League (x1): 2026 (winner) and 2028 (runner up)
Ligue 1 (x9): 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031 and 2032
FMG Manager observation: After my three years in charge, PSG had Pep Guardiola for almost five years before hiring Arne Slot in 2031.
Germany
Fußball-Club Bayern München Ja. They’re really good at football in Germany and represent the only Germanic SuperClub in this save. I never got to manage them, but I always figured they’d be a similar challenge to PSG anyway (which is where I started the save).
Bayern Munich
UEFA Champions League: 2027 (runner up)
Bundesliga (x6): 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031
FMG Manager observation: Bayern Munich re-hired both Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann during this save.
Italy
I’ve loved a bit of CalcioFM in FM24. It’s been the country where I have spent the most FMing in this year and Juventus were ‘close but no cigar’ in the 2030 UCL. But there is one club that has reigned supreme in Italia…
AC Milan
UEFA Champions League (x1): 2032 (winner)
Serie A (x5): 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030
Juventus
Serie A (x1): 2032
Inter Milan
Serie A (x1): 2031
FMG Manager observation: Evergreen Stefano Pioli is the longest serving SuperClub manager in this save. He has been at AC Milan for 12 years and 241 days.
Spain
Virtual LaLiga has continued to be a borefest with Barcelona and Real Madrid taking turns to win the domestic crown. No wonder Sports Interactive ditched that licence! Barcelona win SuperClub Diaries bragging rights.
Club Atlético de Madrid
lol
Barcelona
UEFA Champions League (x1): 2025 (winner), 2031 (runner up) and 2032 (runner up)
La Liga (x5): 2024, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2032
Real Madrid
UEFA Champions League (x1): 2027 (winner)
La Liga (x4): 2025, 2026, 2030 and 2031
FMG Manager observation: Zinedine Zidane finally returned to Real Madrid in 2031, but he remains trophyless in his 2nd stint as Manager.
Tl;dr…Who is the Greatest SuperClub?
It’s good to see five of the twelve SuperClub diaries win the UCL, although none of them went on to win it twice. If we took a club from each country, based on UCL performance, we’d have to say Liverpool, PSG, Bayern, AC Milan and Barcelona are the best performers. It is the latter that has to be considered the overall best performer though, given that they had two Runner Up medals in 2031 and 2032.
I’d like to personally congratulate Barcelona on this achievement, proving once again they are més que un SuperClub 👏
Vol. 1 (PSG 2024-2026), Vol. 2 (Liverpool 2026-2028) and Vol.3 (Juventus 2029-2032). Available to read in its entirety from this landing page: coffeehousefm.com/fmgrasshopper
Going underground, for now
Does anybody now look at ‘X’ and just think it’s pretty disgusting? Today, not even joking, I saw a dildo on there be tossed up in the air before it landed in an Olympic Dancer’s vagina. This wasn’t found via a search either, it just appeared as an auto-play video. This is actually awful, even if AI generated...it was incredibly life-like. I worry for any young adults and vulnerable people on that platform, and how all this type of stuff could affect their concepts of women…and Olympic events in general. For other reasons: like the constant dull adverts, bots (lots of them), farming of monetised interactions with nonsense etc. I just don’t think it is a social media app that holds my attention like it used to. I will not go FM nuclear on it by deleting it, but it’s used less and less nowadays; perhaps in the future to simply post my blogs…which is a real shame 😢
As such, I do not know where my online presence belongs outside of the ☕🏠 website. I love chatting FM, particularly with some of your readers over on X, and I am fortunate enough to also have FM Slack too. Feel free to join with this link. When I do appear with more FM content in the future, Slack is a place I am more likely to be found. Unless another new social media app can make headway in the coming months. I hope you can understand.
As always, thank you for reading/sharing and caring.
Tony / FM Grasshopper