SuperClub Diaries (Vol.3) - The End, for now #FM24

 
 

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

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.3) - Zebre FM #FM24

 
 

Intro

I was six in-game minutes from calling it a day with Juventus, seeing my side drop out of the Champions League qualifying places in 5th. The thought of managing in the Europa League within the SuperClub Diaries save would have been an abject failure…especially with this being my third season with The Old Lady. Sports Interactive declared that “Progress Never Stops'“ in FM24, yet I seem to be doing my utmost to counter that claim.

Thankfully though, my first real big signing from two years ago, €41m Ibrahima Bamba, chipped in with an 84th minute winner to see my Juventus side leapfrog Roma into 4th on ‘head-to-head’ superiority. Wow, it felt good…but it showed the non-SuperClub levels I am currently finding myself within this save.

Three seasons, three top four finishes.

 

If Carlsberg did final day drama (which they do not btw), they'd probably do something like this because it's a shite pilsner.

 

What does this mean for the save? Well, the Juve Board in their wisdom have given me a four year contract a few weeks after a Champions League Last 16 exit against Paris Saint-Germain. Desperate for any kind of attention, I hastily I accepted but I would have left my position at the end of the season if not for Bamba’s 84th thunderbastard.

So, It’s time to go again. Perhaps one last season to see if I can get this Juventus side back to the top of Serie A and challenging for Champions League glory once again…

2031 Champions League

I have already spoilt my performance in the Champions League, but I will share below the up and down campaign for my own posterity…

Away from home something was clearly not gelling, a likely indicator that my 4231 tactic isn’t as all conquering as the ones I could probably download from FM Scout 😩. However, I was confident going into the PSG game with a new narrow 442. Later season form was good and deep into Extra Time my side had chances to get a goal and win it. But it was Federico Valverde, a €78m Parisian signing from yours truly, who scored with a couple of minutes before potential penalties. Unlike the Serie A campaign, a Last 16 UCL exit is much more disappointing for last year’s Semi Finalists.

2031/32 would have to be better.

Going Narrow, but keeping back line the same(ish)

Another season, another bloody tactic. With the FM24 embers slowly dying away, this may well be my last tactic of the cycle. It’s a narrow 442 and very similar to what I did with France U23s with Matt (FM Adventure) in a network save. Go read up on that Olympic success story here (if you want to).

Defence - in defence though I am very similar to the 4231 before it. There’s an Inverted Full Back at right back to form a back three giving a carte blanche to the left sided Full Back to do what he wants. He is essentially our wide attacker, with nobody in front of him. For that reason the Complete Wing Back is perfect for him in this formation, he can roam and simply find the spaces to be effective. Ahead of the back three, we have a Deep Lying Playmaker. I am perhaps a little conservative here, and dependant on the opposition I face I will likely give the DLP a support duty. International Football Association Board rules also mean I have to field a Goalkeeper.

Midfield - higher up the pitch we have the engine room. The left sided has a Box to Box midfielder. As we know, this role shuttles vertically up and down the pitch and will provide good support in both the build up and also some attacks too. On his right we have an attacking Mezzala, particularly essential to this tactic given the Mezzala's ability to drift into wide areas in order to stretch opposing defenses. ‘In the hole’ we have a bog standard Attacking Midfielder. Given the runners behind him (and also ahead, which I will get to in a sec), my feeling is that he doesn’t necessarily need to be running channels, or bombing ahead as an auxiliary striker.

Attack - I’m at my best in FM with two central strikers. Putting them both on attack duty is that extra sprinkling of salt to get the justices flowing. 31-year-old Dusan Vlahovic’s remaining years will be spent as an attacking Target Forward. Now that his more advanced years are upon him, Vlahovic will keep his Jumping Reach and Strength (as well as his good mentals) to play the Target Forward much longer than his Acceleration and Pace he’d need to play as the Advanced Forward. That pacier role is left for much faster Newgens now breaking into the First Team squad.

So, let’s think about what we have got in defence/midfield:

  1. Back three. Let’s field big lads here so we’re menacing.

  2. Holding DM, who can ping a ball or just keep things ticking over.

  3. Strong midfield presence. An AM and a Mez who will press quite high up.

In attack we have:

  1. A complete Wing Back being a nuisance crossing to a Target Forward.

  2. A Mezzala taking the ball out wide, finding pockets of space to be effective.

  3. An Advanced Forward pushing back opposition CB’s with forward runs.

Team instructions - I think we suit a fluid counter attack in the big games. But Vs lower reputation sides in Serie A/Copa Italia we will probably need to be more aggressive/controlling. I’m liking it, ‘on paper’. Let’s see how we do and what I end up with during pre-season and a few new signings.

The last FM24 tactic, +maybe

England

Man City’s five year wait for a Premier League title ended, but last year’s Champions League runners up could only get to the Semi Final stage this time out. The 0-2 FA Cup final defeat to cross-city rivals Manchester United will also hurt Antonio Conte’s men and take the Charlie Sheen off a successful season. Manchester United incidentally are the only other English Superclub to qualify for next year’s Champions League. But they also experienced cup heartache to fellow Superclub Chelsea, who despite finishing outside of European places managed to enter the Europa Conference League with their League Cup win. Simone Inzaghi did not last too long in the Liverpool hot seat this season, sacked in January 2031…his replacement, Enrico Maaßen, improved the form and scrapped into the Europa League with a 7th placed finish.

France

For the first time in this save, PSG did not win the league ‘at a canter’/’petit galop’. Pep Guardiola’s men had to thank their lucky stars after dropping points on their final day of the season…only to see their bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille do exactly the same at home to OGC Nice. PSG win the league on goal difference, and by just the one goal too! The Qatari owners also seem to continue their frugality by operating a sell-to-buy policy. €300m was made in transfer sales, whilst €200m was invested back into the squad. Raheem Sterling’s Parisian stay was limited to 12 months in the end, as he became a Summer Deadline Day signing for Tottenham Hotspur.

Germany

In Germany, Thomas Tuchel wins back-to-back Bundesliga titles for his Bayern Munich side and added a DFB-Pokal win to his name. A disappointing Champions League Play-Off exit against AC Milan will add some pressure though. One other noteworthy item is the Bavarian side raising almost €60m in loan fees for the season, an incredible period of business management from new Director of Football Pablo Longoria.

Italy

Inter’s 96 point haul sees them win the Scudetto, the highest points tally of the save so far. There was no success in the Champions League, going out on penalties against Manchester United in the Last 16. So, there was no record 5th title for AC Milan in the end; and like Inter they also crashed out of the Champions League to Spanish Superclub Real Madrid. Juventus make do with a Coppa Italia win and a 4th placed finish.

Spain

Real Madrid’s Jürgen Klopp celebrated his seventh year in charge with a 4th career La Liga title, amassing a cool 100 point season in the process. However, it was 2nd place Barcelona who were their cup nemesis this season. The Catalans knocked out Madrid in the Semi Final stage of both the Lana Del Rey (and went on to win it) and the Champions League. 34-year-old Dutch legendary midfielder Frenkie de Jong had his best ever season too: 18 goals and 12 assists (all comps). But it wasn’t enough in the Champions League, as de Jong’s Barca was beaten on penalties by Arsenal after drawing 1-1. After a little dip in this save, Atlético de Madrid go three seasons on the bounce and qualify for the Champions League with a 3rd placed finish.

That’s the 8th season of this FM save universe summarised for your reading pleasure. Tl;dr…Three drab 4th place finishes in a row and a Champions League Semi so far for Juventus, I’ll await my invitation to next year’s FIFA e-sport comp 😀

Thanks for reading/sharing and caring.

Tony / FM Grasshopper