My FM21 save with GAIS came to the end. The calendar year 2029 brought the domestic league dominance again as we didn’t progress in the Europa League to the late stage as in previous seasons. That means all key players were available to play in the league and we were much stronger in comparison with the previous years when we used the younger side for the domestic competitions.
If I’m boring in terms of incoming transfers, it was even more boring before the last season. I wanted to play with my current squad and I wanted to give a chance to some young players rather than signing new players as I knew it’s my last season of the save.
The example of Kristofer Armenteros’ development is one of the best ones.
I signed only one player - Axel Jonasson from AIK for €2.5M. I wanted to sign him already last season when AIK was relegated but they wanted too much money. But I needed a new wing-back for the right side as Victor Blixt was injured again and I need a cover. It didn’t go well, he played only 10 matches for us and he became frustrated not playing in the starting XI. That means I sold him to AS Roma in the summer for the same amount we bought him.
Other outgoing transfers were mostly loans. But there is always Bayern München and their strategy to buy our best young players and place them to their reserve squad. That means our key central defender Ludwig Lindén and central midfielder prospect Mattias Nilsson joined München’s giant because they were immediately decided they want to join them. Nilsson didn’t make a single Allsvenskan appearance in the starting XI. Only seven appearances as a sub and once in the domestic cup in the starting XI. Never mind, it opened doors for other players.
Experienced striker Astrit Selmani joined our Norwegian affiliate Sogndal as he was useless in every match I let him play. He scored one league goal in 19 appearances for us. He scored once in 9 league matches for Sogndal before the season ended. It wasn’t a coincidence probably. A huge disappointment.
Transfers within the 2029 calendar year.
Same as in the previous seasons within this save I divided the first team to two squads. The main one for the Europa League, the younger for domestic cup. How they did? It went very well and we won the group stage with 7 points after a win, draw and win.
Flamarion sent us through to the semi final with the only goal against Malmö and we beat IK Sirius after penalties in the semi final. The final was played almost at the end of May and that meant most of key players were available. I mixed the starting XI and Oscar Aga scored the winning goal against Hammarby seven minutes before the end of the match.
It was our seventh Svenska Cupen win in a row in our eighth final appearance in a row.
We won the Europa League in 2026/2027 & 2027/2028 after we beat Fiorentina and Valencia respectively. It really was not my aim or goal to be so successful in this European competition but it was tempting to win it for the third time in a row. The same as Sevilla FC did between 2014 and 2016 when they beat Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool.
But we were unable to imitate their success. We got Rangers in the 1st knockout round, we won 2:1 at home and drew 3:3 in Glasgow so we were through to the 2nd round.
We got Tottenham with, still with Harry Kane who retired in summer 2029 at the age of 35. We scored straight after the 2nd half kick-off but they scored twice within five minutes thanks to some Czech newgen who is something between Croatian Spiderman and Serbian Superman and we were able only equalised.
The second leg in London started great as we took the lead through Oscar Aga after three minutes, they equalised but Tom Strannegard gave us the lead back. It lasted until the 81st minute when Ugur Kilic equalised and Franco Tongya scored the winning goal in the extra time second half. And we were knocked out.
Each negative has some positive. The last Allsvenskan campaign of this save is the right example. As I already said, thanks/due to the early end in the Europa League, we have the complete squad available for the domestic league and I didn’t have to rest Aga, O’Riley, Snibb and more for the matches in the Europa League.
The league started on the first April day and we won the local derby against BK Häcken 2:0 thanks to a brace by Oscar Aga. “Oh, yes, the last season will be great for Oscar,” I said to myself. And as always, Oscar didn’t score in the next two matches.
#MythMike 🔮
The first three months were filled only by green circles 🟢 and we were comfortably top of the league. The difference between playing with the youngsters + backup players in comparison with the best possible squad was really big.
And I enjoyed it because the winning feeling is so nice. We lost first points in July after draws with Hammarby and Djurgardens. But we were still unbeaten. The league title was secured six matches before the end of the campaign and it looked like we will be able to finish unbeaten. But we lost 1:2 to Malmö in the penultimate round before we beat Djurgardens 4:2 at home while Oscar Aga scored his last two goals of this save 🎯.
It was our third season within this save we lost only once in the league. We managed the same also in 2024 and 2026. One thing took my eye at the end of the season when I was looking through the stats and I found that my wing-backs Anton Snibb and Victor Blixt were both most fouled players from all in the league with 77 and 67 fouls. (But should I trust the stats in FM21?)
This season was the best one in terms of the winning matches - 26 wins is the new league record. Same as 81 points in a season. We also scored 70 goals. That’s not a new league record but it’s most goals we scored within this save in a season.
We still hold the record of matches lost in a row as GAIS lost 18 matches between 19th May 1959 and 4th October 1959. But we won’t beat it, at least not in this save…
It was our last Champions League group stage within the save and we got Anderlecht, Hertha and Manchester City. We earned only one point for a home 3:3 draw with Anderlecht as we lost both away matches against Hertha and City.
But we drew with the English side at home, we beat Anderlecht away 5:1 including two goals by young Kristofer Armenteros from a free-kick and corner kick. And we also beat Hertha 3:1 at home thanks to the hat-trick by Oscar Aga who scored 8 goals in his 6 Champions League appearances in this group.
If I mentioned the development of Kristofer Armenteros in the previous post, I thought I would mention also this another newgen. It’s striker Christer Börjesson. It was his first season with the first team and he was also the reason why I had no problem offloading experienced Slimani. Börjesson scored 30 goals for U19 and Reserve squad combined and I decided to use him as a cover for DLF(S) role.
He turned 18 years old in November 2029. His two goals in the Champions League group stage is perfect and his performance was very well whenever he got his chance to play. He is also part of the Swedish U21 team already. If the save would continue, he would be my first choice for sure.
His development within two years speaks for itself and his progress within physical attributes is massive. The training was focused mainly on Strenght but his technical and mental attributes improved too. And it would be even better in the future. We can only dream…
As always, thanks for reading. Two more posts are planned to end this FM21 save.