Previously on SuperClub Diaries, we did it™.
Intro
I spent an excessive amount of time as to whether this post belonged in the ‘Volume 2’ or ‘Volume 3’ collection of posts. Alas, I’ve positioned it with my new club but referenced the title (100 Club) to my previous employers: Liverpool.
In total, I managed 100 games for Liverpool. Winners of the Champions League against PSG in 2028 and a Supercup triumph the following season in a local-ish derby against Leeds United. Even though the two 2nd placed league finishes had me wanting more, overall I think my time at Liverpool has been a success. However I’m holding myself to high standards this year in FM24 SuperClub Diaries. The start of the third season had not really hit the heights previously, and with a 10 point gap already established in December 2028 between myself and league leaders Arsenal (and a 3-0 drubbing against the vengeful PSG in the Champions League)…it was time to resign.
High standards from me as the player of the video game, I might add. The virtual Board still deemed my status as ‘secure’, despite my 100th game ending in defeat away at Chelsea. It was time to leave for pastures new.
Where did it go [a bit] wrong?
Before anybody cyber bullies me online, I want to be clear that I managed 69 Liverpool games more than Roy Hodgson did at Liverpool. That’s got to count for something. But if I had to place the reasons for my struggles in season 3 with Liverpool, I would say it was the finances. This is pretty laughable considering I am in one of the richest leagues in the world, but for the first time in this save I had to be more transfer fee conscious. Instead of BIG signings like the Alexander Isak and João Neves deals that came before this season, I had to ‘make do’ with a combined €42m spend for Target Forward Toluwalase Arokodare and Centre-Back Willian Pacho. They’re decent players, but perhaps not the elite I am used to in this save. The results between August and October were mixed, but it was November where my mind was made up. I left Liverpool in 7th in the league, still with a decent shot at a top 8 placing in the revised Champions League league phase, but desperately adrift of mounting a serious title challenge.
Honestly, cancel the save if you lose 0-3 to Tottenham tbqfh 🤮
Old Lady Calling
Damn, perhaps that would have been a better title than ‘100 Club’. Anyway, it’s the Old Lady’s open and vacant position that was the most attractive place for me to thrust myself back into football management. Juventus had not won a Serie A for ages, and financially have to be a bit prudent now the AI has mismanaged their finances into near ruin. This is a different challenge to what’s come before it in SuperClub Diaries, but I feel ready. I was Juventus’ Christmas present, arriving a week or so before the festivities and also the revised Italian Supercup (which now has four teams…showing me it’s a long time since I’ve been in FM Italy).
Here is a list of all major honours Juventus have won in the previous five seasons within this FM24 Universe:
Nothing. They’ve won nothing.
From the onset, my tactical identity for Juventus is calcio-based. I want to use a Libero, mainly because the role got such an overhaul in FM24’s development cycle, and also wanted to make good use of some good press-hungry attacking left wing backs (Defensive Winger). I have solid workhorses in central midfield (Defensive Midfielder and Segundo Volante), who look like ‘jacks of all trade’ and I have some nice flair in the No.10 slots (Attacking Midfielder). I am therefore going to set up in a lop-sided 433. The sole striker, with a No.10 and attacking Inside Forward running in behind him, drops which suits the style of 29-year-old Dušan Vlahović who remains at the club. In possession is becomes a 3-2-4-1 / 3-2-5.
Through the process of trial-and-error, the below tactic is the one that I ended up using for the remainder of the 2028/29 season. My impact on results is not as drastic as some rebuild jobs elsewhere in the FM Community. I arrived with Juventus in 5th position in the league…and we ‘only’ secured 4th (and thus UCL qualification) on the final day of the season. I also decided to not use the January Transfer Window too, instead opting to see what the squad could do. Give everybody a chance and I may be surprised, I thought. That mindset was tested with Bayern’s €80m bid for Matías Soulé, but the decision was vindicated with the Inside Forward’s end of season form (3 goals and 3 assists in those final four wins to secure 4th). At the age of 26-years-old, the Argentine is definitely somebody to build around…
2029 Champions League
The AI had already humiliated Juventus in the 2029 edition of the UCL, with no win in the first three rounds of fixtures in the league phase. This also included a 7-1 defeat against Barcelona. But the ship was eventually steadied, and I can take the credit for a credible draw Vs Manchester United at home before four points from matches against Ajax and Leeds.
An 18th placed finish meant a nervy Play Off draw, but I luckily avoided the likes of Arsenal, Dortmund and Real Madrid and instead bested Leverkusen 5-3 on aggregate. Barcelona were a step up from that though, we should have beaten them at home…but there was only one side deserving of going through after that second leg and it wasn’t Juventus. If I could go back and do things differently, I’d have chosen to try and mark Lamine Yamal out of the game…perhaps dropping my Defensive Winger to Wing Back and doubling up on him with my Wide Centre-Back. Hat-trick man Yamal was simply in too much space, and a constant thorn in our side throughout the 90 minutes.
The UCL Challenge
Selling to buy is going to be a necessity here at Juventus. The club’s finances remain in the red (€-55m) after the conclusion of the 2028/29 season, so any SuperClub Diaries success in the UCL may take a little longer that it did with PSG and Liverpool. But luckily, now that I am 5-6 years into FM24, it’s officially Newgen season. I will aim to adopt a transfer policy where I favour the recruitment of sub-25 year olds. But before I do that, let me have a little fun with Benjamin Pavard on a Bosman; who returns to Italian football after a season away in Manchester.
New Libero, quite a famous player.
England
Liverpool drop out of next year’s Champions League with a disappointing 5th place finish. New Italian Manager Alessio Dionisi has a lot of work to do to convince Liverpool fans he is the man, after €40m January signing Arsen Zakharyan failed to live up to the hype with just 1 starting appearance. Antonio Conte’s Manchester City win the FA Cup and finish in a credible 3rd placed league finish, after missing out on Champions League football last season. City almost qualified outright by winning the Europa League, but painfully lost on penalties to fellow SuperClub Atlético de Madrid. Chelsea finish in 4th, but continue to splash the cash with a €101m fee paid to Benfica for João Veloso. It’s perhaps Manchester United that have the most interesting season: a disappointing 7th placed league finish means they scrape into the Europa League. But Eddie Howe’s side have a magical Champions League run to the final beating Real Madrid, Tottenham and Barcelona before facing Premier League winners Arsenal. The match in the drizzly Stade de France was a bit of a damp squib, 0-0 AET before Aaron Ramsdale saved Valentín Barco sudden death penalty to see Arsenal win their first ever UCL title (and to do it on the pitch they lost the 2006 final on is extra special too).
France
PSG’s Kylian Mbappé won his 12th Ligue 1 title, as he entered his 30s as the top scorer in France once again. Pep Guardiola is shown up in the Champions League for another season, losing to eventual winner Arsenal in the Last 16 stage. Will the Qatari owners continue to patient with the Spaniard’s lack of pedigree in the UCL with the Paris club?
Germany
The Harry Kane era is over in Munich. The English striker leaves Bayern for Al-Nassr Football Club, who I am led to believe play in Saudi Arabia. It doesn’t stop the sexy Fußball flowing tough, Bayern romp once again to the Bundesliga title and seem to have Roberto De Zerbi getting the best out of Jamal Musiala; who is winning a lot of personal accolades this season.
Italy
Juventus have to wait until the final day of the season to secure Champions League football with.a 4th place finish. The two Milanese Super Clubs finish higher in Serie A: Inter in 3rd, who juggled the budget well to make credible loan signings in Brahim Díaz from Real Madrid and Ismaël Bennacer from cross-city rivals AC Milan. I Rossoneri will not mind too much though, a third Serie A title in a row matching the iconic Milan side of the early 90s.
Spain
The 2028/29 season ends with Barcelona in 1st and Real Madrid in 2nd, the same outcome as the two previous seasons too. Xavi is still rocking the 433 with good effect in Catalonia, and new signings Gabriel (€69 from Arsenal), Matteo Ruggeri (€52 from Man City) and Warren Zaïre-Emery (€59m from PSG) slot right into the 1st team nicely. There is some improvement for Real Madrid’s Jürgen Klopp though, instead of the 21 point gap between their arch rivals last year…it was only 3 points this time around. Will this be enough to keep the German in post? Kudos to the often forgotten Super Club in Spain: Atlético de Madrid. The Colchoneros surprised everybody in the Europa League this year and beat Manchester City on penalties. After a three year absence from the Champions League, Atléti will once again mix with the big boys in the 2029/30 edition.
Season 6 was a whirlwind. From Liverpool to Turin, there now appears to be a newly found purpose to the save: use Juventus’ resources strategically and get them back alongside the European elite and competing for Champions League honours. Whilst La Liga or the Bundesliga could have been an attractive onward move from Liverpool, the challenge within a competitive Serie A, and all the nostalgia ‘Calcio’ brings, is what I think I needed to breathe new life into the save.
Thanks for reading/sharing and caring.
Tony / FM Grasshopper