Tetradeca-gone (in sixty years) - The Ballad of Steven Smith

Cardiff City Stadium
9:30pm
October 12th, 2012

The crowd was silent for a moment as the ball flew towards the goal, but it soon erupted as the Welsh fans inside Cardiff's second stadium celebrated what had seemed an unlikely win not one hour ago. As the Welsh celebrated, the Scottish fans inside the stadium both in the away end, and indeed dotted in and around the home fans too, hung their heads. A defeat had seemed unthinkable before the game, not to a Welsh team who, on paper, seemed far inferior. Stephen Smith turned to his friend beside him and leaned in to be heard above the noise. "This is the bottom," he said simply while applauding what he had to admit was a fantastic solo goal. It was going to be a long night on the streets of Cardiff.

Cardiff City Center
1:00am
October 13th, 2012

"He has to go," the large man in the Glengarry hat said simply, leaning back in his chair and draining a sizeable amount of his pint.
"But who have we got to replace him?" Stephen shrugged. He had no idea what the man's name was, having only met him an hour earlier on the streets of Cardiff. He and a friend had joined Stephen and Pete for a few drinks, and the conversation had very quickly turned dour and negative.
"I couldnae care!" the large man's pal replied animatedly, looking like he hadn't been a stranger to a few mind-altering substances earlier in the night, "Any **** wid dae! All ah know is we're gaun tae Belgium on Tuesday and we're gonnae get pumped!"
The table nodded in silence, they knew he was right about what would happen in Brussels midweek, especially with a performance like they had seen earlier that evening. As another pint was drained, Stephen and Pete got up to get their round, avoiding any celebrating Welshmen like the plague.
"What do you think will happen to Levein?" Pete asked, signalling for the same again.
"Probably nothing. The SFA won't sack him tonight - he'll have at least until Belgium, and probably beyond," Stephen shook his head, "I tell you, the guy over there had a point: I could do better than Levein with all my Football Manager expertise!"
Pete shook his head and gave a rueful smile. He had never quite "got" the appeal of the game Stephen called a drug, despite being a fan of football. He knew the ins and outs of his friend's careers over the years though - his exploits with Man United; his managing of Stockport County from Conference to Champions League winners and everything in-between; and his determination to win the World Cup with Scotland. He felt like he'd been there with him, but he suspected that there was a big difference between Football Manager and real life.
"Aye, you do that, pal," Pete said, patting him sarcastically on the back, "And while you're at it, buy a lottery ticket for tomorrow night, you'll need it for all that managerial globe-trotting you'll be doing!"
As they shuffled back to the table with their round, they had no idea that within a few days, they would get to see just how different.

Cardiff International Airport
9:00am
October 14th, 2012

Stephen felt rough. Like really rough. He wasn't sure what the Welsh put in their drinks, but after two days of pretty much solid drinking, he was willing to bet that whatever it was, it should be banned. He had stupidly booked a return flight to Glasgow for 11:00am, which was far too early considering they hadn't made it home until 6:00am the previous night. His head pounded and his stomach churned, but he thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't catching a high-speed train home - that journey would have probably ended him. As a man with a briefcase brushed past him, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He winced and squeezed it tenderly, feeling like there was a ring of bruising right around it. He took a moment to think where that had come from, and then remembered his ill-advised battle with a bouncer the night before. On trying to defend a fair lady from being thrown out, he himself had been, rather more roughly than she had. He thought at least he'd get lucky for his act of chivalry, but alas no. He chuckled to himself. It had been a fantastic night, making him forget all about the terrible result of Friday night.

As he thought back to that game, he started to recall some of his later boastings of how he could be the greatest manager of all time, and that all other managers - including Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson - were all idiots and completely useless. He had drunkenly put on a lottery ticket with a series of themed numbers, starting with the number 1, which was where he claimed he was destined for. Of course it was bravado, but as he stared up at the departures board awaiting his flight, he couldn't help but let his mind wander. Being a football manager would certainly be more exciting than his day job, and he would get to see parts of the World he had no chance of otherwise seeing. It would certainly be some life.

The buzzing of his mobile phone shook him from his daydreams. As he pulled it out, he imagined it was Pete reminding him of several heinous things he had done the night before. He was half right.

The message simply stated " 1 - 8 - 9 - 19 - 28 - 29 ". His numbers.

He checked the Lotto website with trembling hands, and couldn't quite believe his eyes when it was confirmed. He had won. Alcoholic boasting had paid off. He was probably now a millionaire. Millions of thoughts raced through his head, but in the end, one single thought pushed its way to the foreground.

He signed off a quick message to Pete telling him to meet him at the airport and then glanced back up at the departures board. This was the first day of the rest of his life - his life as a football manager.

So as you can see from the first part of the blog, this is going to be the story of one Stephen Smith, based around a couple of the Tartan Army I met in Cardiff last weekend.

So who is Stephen Smith?



This guy. Look at that shiny head, that sneer. How could this guy not become one of the greatest managers of all time? He'll have to be, because his task is the Tetradecagon, the challenge I put together towards the end of FM12's life. His task will be to win the following competitions.

UEFA Champions League
Asian Champions League
African Champions League
CONCACAF Champions League
Copa Libertadores
FIFA Club World Championship
Gold Cup
Copa America
African Cup of Nations
Oceania Nations Cup
Asian Nations Cup
FIFA World Cup
FIFA Confederations Cup
UEFA European Championships

I managed six of them last time out - how far will Stephen make it?

My game was started with these leagues loaded, giving us the option to start in one of the three corners of the Pentagon. I would say that adding England and a South American nation (probably Brazil) to that would give me the final two, but given they're the ones that will slow the game down, I'll be adding them at a later date.

Here's Stephen Smith's profile. Pretty bare at the moment, but hilariously, it looks like Roberto Mancini has turned into a massive dick (turned into...yeah...har har). Despite Smith only being present in the game for one day, he is already hated by the scarfed Italian. Weird.

When the game started, these jobs were available and safe to say none really got me excited. I applied for them all of course, but the finances ranged from average to awful, and none of them really screamed at me as the job for me. I think Mamodeli Sundowns will end up being my choice in Africa after my fun there in FM12, but that's another story for another day, as after six months or so of trying, the perfect job arose.

Central Coast Mariners, a team I had never really considered (ever) came in with what could only be described as an amazing offer. For a manager with sunday league rep with no previous employment, this job was a big one, especially considering the Mariners had won the A-League the previous season, giving them immediate Champions League qualification.

I negotiated using the fun little tool that will probably have zero impact to the game to tell them I would be playing attacking football. They were fine with that, funnily enough, and the job was mine.

The new manager of Central Coast Mariners. Bring it on.

Central Coast Mariners then. The current Champions of Australia sacked their manager after a disappointing result against rivals Wellington Pheonix, leaving me to take charge of the final seven games of the season. That's not a typo by the way, there really was only seven games left in the season. The Mariners were riding high in the league, and barring a complete collapse would be in the play-offs. The perfect opportunity really.

My first act was to have a look at the finances and see what was going on there, given my massive transfer budget. The balance sheet looked good, but it was the wages that worried me. We are waaaay above the recommended, to the tune of 15k. Surprisingly though, it wasn't dragging us too far down. It will be the one thing that needs to be looked at come the end of the season, but we can't risk losing the quality we have in the squad.

So about the squad. Here it is. A selection of good players, but we have quite a few weak points. From memory of Australia though, a weak squad can still go far, so a few key signings would probably see us through and give us that key first Champions League. Any league titles along the way would just be gravy.

End of Season Results

Hyundai A-League



As you can see, some very good results, starting off with a fantastic 4-0 win in my very first career game against Melbourne Heart. The Wellington Pheonix game before that was the one that ended the last manager, but until the untimely final defeat, we remained unbeaten in the league to take the regular season title and give me my first trophy. To be honest, with the squad and team I was left with, it would've been a massive failure not to end up winning this. Unfortunately, we couldn't follow it up with any kind of success in the play-offs, as Brisbane roar deservedly beat us to progress to the final. Disappointing, but to be honest, the Champions League is all that really matters. There are only 14 competitions I have to win, and this isn't one of them. Onwards and upwards.



AFC Champions League



A wonderful start to life in the continental competitions. Once again we went up against Chinese, Japanese and Korean opposition, which seems like it's written in the stars from previous experience. Further to that, we were up against Pohang Steelers, a club I spent all of three weeks with in FM12, winning a trophy in the process before leaving for Melbourne. I pegged them as the team to beat, so when we beat them 3-1 in Korea in the opening game, I thought we were on for a very successful run. We followed that up with two home wins against Fuli of China and the fantastically named Funabashi Bandits of Japan, but then hit a blip with a poor home defeat against Pohang and an uninspiring draw in Japan. However, with that result, we had done enough to go through, leaving it to the last game to secure top spot in the group. We did so in style with a 4-1 win in China, giving us the chance of a favourable draw in the second round.

That arrived in the form of Nagoya Stoltz. Favourable didn't quite cover it though, as we took until the 115th minute of the second leg to secure a place in the quarter final draw. We deserved it on the balance of things, but we certainly made heavy weather of it in Japan.

The quarter final draw does not happen until August, along with the draw for the semis. It will be interesting to see who we manage to draw. Three clubs from the Middle East join one each from Korea, Japan and China, along with the only remaining Australian representative - us.

Next Season

So what are my aims for next season? It's a difficult question to answer, but at the same time it's quite easy. The best option will be to win the Champions League at the first time of asking, and then I'll be off. But if we don't, then I'll need to start bringing through a squad that can win it the next time.

To cover both bases, I plan to bring in some quality and youth in the off-season (which will only be six weeks long. Nice feature - although the squad may hate me) which will hopefully win me the Champions League. Even if it does, I'd like to cross off the A-League Major Finals title before I leave, but we'll see about that.

Pre-Season 2013

My first pre-season with the Mariners, and I intended to make the most of it. I appointed a new Director of Football, hoping that he can take some of the less fun tasks off my hands at the club. Say hello to Ian Crook, who will hopefully not live up to his name. I'll be using him to negotiate deals for the players I really can't be bothered negotiating deals for. I fully expect him to screw up and not get some of them, so if that happens I'll step in to make them.

Talking of transfers, my summer was pretty much unspectacular. My remit at the club was to sign high profile players, but it was a struggle. I also think the A-:League is bugged in terms of offering contracts at times, especially with Marquee players. I still managed a satisfactory haul, but crucially, most of them were signed too late to be registered for my remaining matches in the Champions League...would that cause trouble?

Anyway, here are the transfers in full, and then the players individually.

Jamal Mrad - DC - 16 years old
Khaled Kanj - DM - 16 years old
Wayne Liddall - S/AML - 17 years old
Milad Zeneyedpour - AML - 27 years old
Richard Porta - SC - 30 years old
Hao Junmin - AMR - 26 years old
Ludovica Marengo - DR - 16 years old

As you can see, the focus was on some highly rated youths that can hopefully take advantage of our great facilities. Above them though, are three new attacking signings which will hopefully spearhead my formation. Zeneyedpour on the left, Hao on the right, and new marquee signing Richard Porta up top. I have high hopes for those three, but unfortunately, only one (the former) will be available for the Champions League.

Friendly results were very mixed. We started off slowly, which was worrying given our CL matches fell in between these. But we did improve, and ended strongly once my team got up to proper fitness.

We had a couple of league fixtures early on, but there's only one thing we're really interested in...

The Asian Champions League

We were drawn against Al-Ain in the quarter finals, which worried me. Historically, and in other FM stories, Australian sides have struggled against Middle Eastern opposition. We just can't compete with the money there, or often the quality of players.

Could we do it this time?


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League Results

Full results are here.

Can you take a guess as to when my 9-0 defeat in the Champions League happened? Yep, right before the Wellington game. From there, it looked as though we would struggle to qualify again for next season, let alone mount a challenge for the title. Fortunately for us though, we managed to stop feeling sorry for ourselves for long enough to put together quite a run. From the moment we trudged off the pitch away from home at Newcastle Jets after a disappointing draw, we only dropped 13 points in the remaining 21 games. As you can imagine with that kind of record, we pretty much strolled the league, securing a play-off place early on, and then securing the title by a massive 11 points. But that was almost to be expected - there was still one more title we wanted - the Grand Finals trophy.

And we did. An easy passage to the title too, with two 2-0 wins giving us the trophy I've demanded since our defeat the previous season. That win took me into the Australian hall of fame - hopefully the first of many admissions Worldwide.

Champions League Results

But let's face it, as long as we qualify for the Champions League, it doesn't really matter what we do in the league. This is our target, and after the horrorshow of that night in Qatar the previous season, we're desperate to right the wrongs.

Our results were pretty poor though, and we didn't rise to the occasion. It took until the final day to ensure qualification, thanks to Guangzhou destroying Osaka. Our 2-0 home win was by no means certain, but we did it when it mattered, even after only winning 2 points in the first three games. We. Got. Lucky.

Luckily, we decided to perform a little better in the knockout stages by dispatching Okayama FC over two legs. They equalised our away goal in the second leg, but we hit back two giving them too tough a task to get back. We were in the quarter finals again, and in with a shot of the title.

And here is the quarter final draw. We'll return to China to face Shandong after the long summer break, but the real story is that after the rest of the draw was made, we are potentially on target to face old foes Lekhiwa in the final. Could it happen?

Key Players

Luke DeVere - Our Australian Marquee player and absolute rock at the back. He complained earlier in the season and I promised him a Champions League win, so if we don't do it this year, we might have a struggle to keep him at the club.
Ibrahima Niass - One of our best performers, and someone I brought to the club myself. After moving to a plain old 4-4-2, he has made the right midfield spot his own. Very important player for us.
Richard Porta - Our second marquee player, and another Australian, and probably our best chance for goals.

Next Season

The most obvious one is the conclusion of our Champions League campaign. Four games to make or break our season. Intae them!

Champions League Results

CL QF - 1st Leg - Central Coast Mariners 2 vs 2 Shandong
CL QF - 2nd Leg - Shandong 1 vs 3 Central Coast Mariners

We fought for this one, and completely deserved our place in the semis. After the first leg, I was worried. We would have to go to China and score, otherwise we would be out, and that's never the best position to be in. When Shandong went ahead in the 3rd minute of the second leg, I feared the worst, but we fought back with three unanswered goals to take the victory and the tie.

CL SF - 1st Leg - Osaka AC 3 vs 2 Central Coast Mariners
CL SF - 2nd Leg - Central Coast Mariners 2 vs 0 Osaka AC

We went back to Japan to play a team we had already faced twice that season in the group stages. It also didn't bode well, with them having beaten us on aggregate. The first leg did not go well, and we left Japan with a defeat. We did, however, claim two away goals, which would end up being very important as we got a fantastic 2-0 win back at the Bluetongue stadium to put us into the final.

A Champions League final...what could make it better? This draw. We would be playing Lekhwiya again, just over a year after they humbled us 9-0. A chance for revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge.



You have to say, they've had the far better run. They've beaten three middle eastern sides, including the double holders, who they absolutely routed. We've experienced that team first hand, and I do not want to experience it again. Madjid Bougherra will play his final game for the club against us, and the legendary Algerian will want to finish on a high...let's see if we can spoil his evening, shall we?

So after completing the first part of the tetradecagon, it was the time to leave the sunny coast of New South Wales for pastures new.

The job situation was as follows. I would have liked a national job to start towards crossing off some of those, but unfortunately no-one will have me. Seems a lot harder to get them in this game, which I suppose is more realistic. Anyway, it's looking like South Africa may be the best option, although I would love to get back to the MLS. I'll take whatever's going.

I had a couple of offers, one from Bay Utd in the National First Division in South Africa, but as you can see the offer wasn't exactly the greatest. Over-budget in terms of wages and nothing for transfers. It would be quite a battle, and one I'm not fancying at this stage. Then there was a second offer, and one that suited me much better. Bidvest Wits, a club from Braamfontein in Johannesburg. They allowed me a modest transfer budget, but more importantly, a lot of space in the wage budget. They're also a Premiership team.

There's only one decision really. Johannesburg here I come.

So here we are, in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, ready to take on the next challenge. This time we don't have such a benefit of instant Champions League qualification, and we certainly won't have the same budget we enjoyed at Central Coast Mariners. However, the restrictions on squad building are mostly lifted, leaving behind only one rule - no more than five foreigners. I think I can deal with that.



In terms of history, we don't really have any. We've never won the Premiership, and can only boast a handful of cup trophies, and one first division title. I intend to change that. The finances are worrying. I didn't initially look at them, but when I did, it's clear that for the past two years we've been hemorrhaging money. We're now about to head into the red, so a journey to the Champions League could end up being essential. I'm already looking forward to the off-season when I can start to steady the ship and get back some of that money.

The previous manager could only manage these results in the opening part of the season, and it seems that the 0-0 draw with Amazulu was the final straw. I'm actually surprised he wasn't given the chop earlier given that he could only manage two wins and twelve points.

It's not as if there isn't a talented squad here.



I would say from that, we have a good team, but probably not a great squad. We need improvement, but we should be able to do something with the resources at our disposal.

Results

If you take my first 9 games in charge, it started to look like we might turn everything around. After those games, we were a mere five points off the top spot, and I held a triumphant team meeting, telling them how well they were playing. They were all either neutral or positive in the aftermath, but it seems there was some hidden effect, as in the very next game Kaizer Chiefs absolutely ragged us. My assistant seemed to think we were unlucky, but all I saw was a team getting torn to shreds. I tried to write it off, but from then on we went on a month-long run of awful results. Three (goalless) draws and one defeat in the league, and then crashing out of the cup to my old team Mamodeli Sundowns. When we finally turned it around with a fighting win against Milano, and it looked like we'd have a late surge. Unfortunately, the team disagreed, only managing one revenge win against Sundowns.

League Table

10th was a respectable finish for us. It's a tight league, with the top teams only pulling away in the final few rounds. We finished 19 ahead of Sundowns, who came through their relegation play-off and stay in the Premier League

Key Players

Top scorer - Terror Fanteni - Our main striker, and was always going to end up our top scorer. He's 31, so ideally he'll be around for the next couple of seasons to fire me to Champions League glory.

3 Top Rated
Asive Langwe - Was an ever-present "in-the-hole" in the 4-1-2-1-2 formation we sported in the latter part of the season, and one of our best performers. Only 21 so a good lot of improvement is expected from him
Tinashe Nengomasha - If Langwe was the tip of the spear in our midfield, Nengomasha was the base. A lot of experience in this 32 year old, and similar to Fanteni, I hope for a couple of seasons more from him.
Jabulani Shongwe - Shongwe sat right in the middle of the park, and made sure our midfield remained solid. He's 25, so plenty more years left in him to form a key part of our team.

The Disappointments
Mor Diouf - I picked him up on a free transfer but with the form of Langwe, he didn't really get much chance of a game. He then proceeded to bitch and moan about it, demanding first team football. When I did give him some, he didn't exactly set the world on fire. Big mistake in signing him it seems.

Board Confidence

The season ended with a nice message from the board saying they were happy with my performance. Of course, they didn't exactly have high expectations, not caring what happened in the cups, and only wanting mid-table in the league. I managed that, and the board are pretty happy. Hopefully we can surpass those expectations next season.

Board Expectations:
South African Premiership:- Respectable Position
South African Knockout Cup:- Not important
South African FA Cup:- Not important

My Expectations:
South African Premiership:- Top half, worry the top teams
South African Knockout Cup:- Make an impact - I doubt we'll win it, but quarters/semis at least
South African FA Cup:- Make an impact - I doubt we'll win it, but quarters/semis at least

Budgets:
Transfer:- £0
Wage:- £34,000 (spending £27,312)

Squad:

Remarkably thin. We have a squad that can challenge, but as you can see from the finances, we're in a bit of trouble. I have no idea what has happened to the club before I arrived, as we've been bleeding money for years. We have no transfer budget, and although there's a bit of room in wages, we don't really have the money to push those limits. I may have to sell to buy, but do we really have the squad to be able to do that?

Transfers:

Prince Arko and Brilliant Khuzwayo join us during a quiet summer. Prince and Brilliant - what a pair of first names - will take up positions on opposite ends of the pitch, goalkeeper and striker. The former was brought in because of a couple of sales.

As you can see from the transfers, we've made 270k back on player sales, which will realistically not even make a dent in our debts. It's a start though.

Key Player(s):
Asive Langwe - Was an ever-present "in-the-hole" in the 4-1-2-1-2 formation we sported in the latter part of the season, and one of our best performers. Only 21 so a good lot of improvement is expected from him
Tinashe Nengomasha - If Langwe was the tip of the spear in our midfield, Nengomasha was the base. A lot of experience in this 32 year old, and similar to Fanteni, I hope for a couple of seasons more from him.
Jabulani Shongwe - Shongwe sat right in the middle of the park, and made sure our midfield remained solid. He's 25, so plenty more years left in him to form a key part of our team.

What can I say apart from ****?

Alright, we started off well. Very well actually. Until we met Kaizer Chiefs. They romped home 3-0, but even then we bounced back with a hard fought win against Milano. After that we floundered a little, picking up some good wins, but also some terrible results. We even managed to progress in the cup with a 3-2 thriller against Golden Arrows. But then we travelled to Piermaritzburg for the first of a double header, and the wheels well and truly flew off. After being pumped 3-0 in the league, they completed the double by beating us 1-0 at home in the cup. We then only managed to pick up 2 points in the next 4 games as we plummeted down the table.

Nothing seems to be going right, and from a lofty position, we're now 10th, only 8 points off the relegation spots.



I'm starting to worry a little about this team. We're losing around £1.5 million a season, and I dread to think what our budgets may be like next time around. I'm wondering whether or not this is a team I can realistically hit the Champions League with. Of course, given time I could, but at this stage, I'm wanting to knock out as many of the competitions as possible. I'll see out the season, then we'll need to rethink.

We finished off our season with some pretty changable results. We couldn't string more than two wins together before dropping some more points, but we did have a markedly better second half of the season, granted. Prince Arko was a high point though - his performances got him nine goals in this period, including a fantastic hat-trick against Black Leopards. As one of my signings, I'm quite happy with that.



So we found ourselves the very epitome of mid-table, finishing in 8th. It's sad that that can be considered an achievement, but our first half really was dreadful. A distance three points behind Blackburn in 7th, and a massive twenty-five off the top spot. In the end though, I was just going through the motions.

The board were happy with the season, but I wasn't. I wasn't enjoying the club, and by the looks of our finances I couldn't see that changing in the next season. There was only one choice to make.

So I found myself unemployed for the first time since my short break before the Bidvest job. Got to say, this is actually one of my most favourite parts of the game - the excitement of trying to find that perfect job. Thanks to my exploits in Australia and, strangely enough, my "achievements" in South Africa, I was a wanted man. To be honest though, I really wanted a job in the MLS. In a similar way to my FM12 game, I had fallen out of love with South Africa, and fancied a change before going back to it later.

I was still searching for the perfect club job when this happened upon my inbox.



Craig Levein, one time pride of Scotland, later social pariah, had finally relinquished his icy grip on the Scotland manager's post after a remarkable run to the final of Euro 2016 where they were beaten in extra time by Germany. I know, I can't believe it either. However, he'd had enough, clearly thinking he could never be as lucky again. I also thought I couldn't be so lucky, but fired in an application anyway.

All I can say is thank God for national bias...



I was Scotland manager once again, and this time I am determined to get at least one International Competition crossed off with the mighty Tartan Army at my back. Alba gu brath.

So, Scotland. If you don't believe that this motley crew of awful Scottish footballers really got to a major tournament, let alone a final, here's the proof. They really should have actually won it to be honest - it was a fantastic performance by the side, and something I hope to build on for the World Cup Qualifying. I will take my place in Qatar.

Here's a rundown of the situation in the nation as I speak. We're now 18th in the World, which is madness, but even more mad is that Christophe Berra is the most famous player in the country. Wit?!

Talking of World Cup Qualifying, here's the group we will face. I'm actually very happy with it, but it could go several ways. Holland are not the team they once were, and are only a few places ahead of us in the rankings. Sweden are only a few below us. One worry may be that we don't really have a diddy team in the group - Armenia will be the weakest, but there's no Faroe Islands or Liechenstein in there. We should be able to get second, which is what the SFA want, so here's hoping.

We ended up having a friendly against Canada only a couple of weeks after I joined, so this would be a time to take stock and see where we are as a team. Just a calm, run-of-the-mill friendly.

A run-of-the-mill friendly we absolutely dominated. We could've done better actually, as when the subs came in at half-time, we lost a bit of our rhythm. I'm under no illusions, of course, I'm well aware that we will face much tougher sides than Canada in our quest for qualification, but it's a fantastic start to my career.

My job hunting wasn't exactly over though. No sooner had I begun looking for coaches to help guide me to Qatar, a club job I had applied for a while earlier finally came back to me.

Kaizer Chiefs are a big deal in South Africa, that's undeniable, and their offer was one that really appealed. I mean look at it - all that money after being starved at Bidvest. It wasn't my chosen destination, but it would certainly do in the meantime, so I absolutely snapped it up.



Unfortunately though, any chance of a long pre-season to mould the team in my image went out of the window with only one week until our opening game. I rushed through some signings to try and improve the team (emphasis on the rush), so here's an overview...

Transfers

Out

The outbox is mainly uncontroversial, apart from the one signing that was decided before I arrived. Eric Mathoho would never have been allowed to leave if I had my way, being comfortably the best defender in an inexperienced back-line. However, you can't really sniff at 2 million, and like I say, I had absolutely no say in the deal. The rest were all pretty uninspiring, with a few squad players being let go.

In

Erwin Isaacs - Another deal carried out before I arrived, but I certainly won't turn him down.
Tinashe Nengomasha - A player I brought in from my old club for probably way over the odds. I wanted some steel and experience in my midfield though, so Tinashe will provide us with that. His mental stats are fantastic, so hopefully he can be a good addition. Just don't ask him to run anywhere.
Asive Langwe - Another buy from Bidvest, and this one had more of an air of panic about it. I thought I needed some central midfielders as other deals didn't go our way, so Asive was brought in. He can be a backup on the right.
Toriq Losper - Another signing, and another midfielder. This one is more defensively minded, and has better stats for playing in the middle which we need.
Nicholas Sibeko - Now this is the one I wanted. The others were purchased because Nicholas did not want to join the club, but after some gentle coaxing, as well as telling his manager he was an absolute cretin who didn't deserve a player like that (pretty much, a nice new interaction option), he changed his mind and decided to join us. He's already the best midfielder at the club, and at 18 he'll improve massively. 2 million may be a high price, but I think I'll get way more back if we ever sell him.

Here's the team report following all these signings. We look strong everywhere but in defence, so I'm happy enough with how it's gone.

Season Preview

Board Expectations
South African Premiership - Win it
African Champions League - Reach the Group Stage
Super 8 Cup - Not Important
FA Cup - Not Important
League Cup - Not Important

My Expectations
South African Premiership - Win it
African Champions League - Reach the knockouts and then see what happens
Super 8 Cup - Enjoy it, but not really important
FA Cup - Enjoy it, but not really important
League Cup - Enjoy it, but not really important

Finances

Hmm...this is looking ominous. We have a healthy balance certainly, but we are projected to lose 7 million pounds this season. At that rate, in four seasons we'll be in the red. It's Bidvest all over again, albeit on a larger scale.

Been pretty busy recently, so it's time for 2 seasons of bumper double updates from Kaizer Chiefs and then Scotland in another post.

Season 2016/17

Competitions

South African Super 8 Cup

Results

Hardly the greatest start to my tenure as Kaizer Chiefs boss. I had only left Bidvest Wits a few months earlier, so for them to beat us in my first competitive game was not what I had planned. They battered us too, suggesting that maybe I was wrong to leave them so soon. Tough times.

South African Knockout Cup

Results

Again, I'm not exactly setting the world alight here, am I? Another first hurdle defeat, this time to Supersport United, with legendary South African Siphile Tshabalala the only bright spot. Lucky I don't particularly care about these ancillary competitions, isn't it?

South African Cup

Results

We got one stage further, but the end result was the same. Our ageing squad ended up running out of steam in extra time against my old pals Sundowns, meaning that we would be without a cup trophy this season. I'm really selling myself to this board, amen't I?

South African Premiership

Results | Table

Here it is, my bread and butter. Unfortunately, that bread was slightly mouldy. However, we did just enough, and grabbed a qualification spot for the 2018 Champions League if we needed it, which we probably would if this season's form was anything to go by. The season really came down to one match, against eventual Champions Orlando Pirates. As you can see, we lost 3-2. As you can also see, we ended up four points behind them after they eased off. Who knows what would have happened if we beat them, but what I do know is that that would have given a six point swing, and we might have been champions. Shoulda, woulda, coulda really. Apart from that, our season was really derailed by a run of five draws early on, preceded by a defeat at Tuks. We dropped 13 points in those six games, and if we'd converted some of those bitterly disappointing results into wins, we would've been a lot closer. There was also of course our 15 day collapse in January where we only scored 3 goals in 5 games, netting only 2 points, but afterwards our form really picked up, and we clawed our way back up there. 2nd is a great achievement when you take it in isolation.

African Champions League

Results

Well, we've done the "hard" bit. The way the African Champions League is structured, you usually have to go through three qualifying rounds before you get a sniff of the group phase. Luckily, we negotiated them without too much trouble. Anse Reunion were brushed aside after a fantastic away performance (and then a worryingly leaky home performance) with Vita Club going in the same direction but with opposite results. By the time ES Serif arrived for the second leg of our 3rd round battle, we had begun to feel like we were going to stroll into the next round.

How wrong we were.

It took a very, very last minute goal to secure a second leg draw, and stop Serif winning the tie on away goals. Nicolas Sebeko got the goal, the player who has done nothing but moan since he arrived at the club, but who will have a bright future once he gets some games under his belt. I've got to say, it was looking very likely that we would be going home for large periods of that game. Luckily though, we didn't falter, and now we were in the group stage, which also doubles as the last eight, given there are only two groups. A potential 10 matches from the title, and ASEC, Zamalek and Africa Sports will stand in our way. Bring 'em on.

Summer finished early for us, as is the way with some of those exotic climates, when the Champions League returned before our domestic season could get under way. We really had one objective, and one alone for this year, and that was to win the Champions League. If we did, that would be polished off by mid-November 2017, leaving me around a six month void. If we win it, and that's by no means certain, then I plan to see out the season and hopefully bring the league title to the club again, and hopefully a few cups. I'll also get a shot at the World Club Championship in December.

But then I'll probably get papped out of the competition and have to start again...

Competitions

South African Super 8 Cup

Results

We improved in the season's first trophy, but still didn't do enough to bring it home. We came a cropper against Swallows, who absolutely brutalised us in the second leg, eventually taking a 6-4 aggregated victory, despite being 2-1 down after the first leg.

I don't think I'll ever win a domestic cup...

South African Knockout Cup

Results

I stand very much corrected! This is much better as we bulldoze our way to the South African Knockout Cup title. It was a tense affair in the final, but we eventually overcame Ajax CT in the final after extra-time with a single goal. The first trophy of my Kaizer Chiefs career, and indeed my South African career. Hopefully, here's to many more.

South African Premiership

Results | Table

Whether or not we win the Champions League this season, we've failed elsewhere. Once more, I can only come in in second place in the league, this time behind the Dutchmen of South Africa, Ajax CT. Once again, we didn't deserve to be much higher, and it seems this team just can't bring themselves to be successful domestically apart from that solitary cup win. Bunch of sell-outs. Once again though, if results against Ajax had gone our way, instead of two draws, we may have been looking at a different result. We choked though, as usual. The question is, though, would we get another shot at it, or would the Champions League dream come true?

South African Cup

Results

We couldn't do a domestic double in the end, going down on penalties after a dull, drab, awful, painful, horrific (I could keep going) 0-0 draw in the final. It was Aces High (I could write for the Sun if i hated myself enough) as they triumphed 5-4, but I wasn't too disheartened. We may have lost the league, but there was something else brewing in Kaizer town...

African Champions League

Group Stage

Results | Table

We put the horror of that near-elimination in the qualifiers behind us and strolled through the group stages with a perfect record. We didn't really have it all our own way though. There were a few pretty hairy games. The two games against ASEC were predictably close, but we triumphed 3-2 home and away. Africa Sports were supposed to be the weakest team in the group, but that 5-4 win away was a nightmare, and we ended up lucky to get out of that with the points. We rounded things off with six points against Zamalek, not conceding home or away. Proud of the team, and that puts us in the best possible position going into the two legged semi.

Semi Finals

Results

Ooh, nervy. We faced Etoile Sportive du Sahel, who are one of the teams I actually know the name of, and came through it with the smallest of margins. We literally battled to a 2-2 draw away, and probably could and should have won outright. However, we were pegged back, and things were finely poised going back to Johannesburg.

What followed was the tensest game I've had so far in this save. Try as we might, we just could not score, but luckily neither could they. We ended up scraping through on away goals, but that didn't matter. The main thing was that we made it.

Finals

We were drawn against ASEC Mimosas in the final, and that was a draw I liked a lot. We had already beaten them twice that season, and with the tie set to close in Johannesburg in the 2nd leg, we knew that one good win in the Ivory Coast would put us in a great position.

African Champions League Final 1st Leg: ASEC 0 - 4 Kaizer Chiefs

There's a saying in my country...

ROUND YE'!

We absolutely blitzed ASEC, and barely let them out of their blocks, leaving them staring down the barrel of a 4-0 deficit going into the second leg. Strangely, it took until the 44th minute to break the deadlock, but from then on we didn't look back. The stats were fairly even, but only one really matters - we scored four more goals.

The second leg therefore SHOULD have been a foregone conclusion. Not even I can **** this up, right?

African Champions League Final 2nd Leg: Kaizer Chiefs 1 - 0 ASEC

Right! I've got to say, there was a feeling of unease during this game, and something that suggested we might not have it all our own way. Thanks to ludicrous scheduling, pretty much all our best players were off on International Duty, leaving us with a threadbare side. Lucky we didn't quite need them, eventually winning an unremarkable match 1-0.

You hear that? We're Champions of Africa, and I make that 2 out of 14. Boom.

World Club Championships

Thanks to that win, we now had a place in the World Club Championships to see who would get the honour of being beasted by the European side in the final.

Results

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be us, and we fell at the semi-final stage to the Copa Libertadores winners C Cerro Porteno (yup, really) of Paraguay (yes. Really.). They outclassed us, but we did Africa proud in the 3rd placed playoff, beating Saitama of Japan comfortably. And of course, as you can see, we sneaked past Chivas of Mexico in the first round, which was no mean feat.

The Future

So with that fantastic season behind me, it was time to leave Johannesburg for pastures new. I would say I enjoyed my time in Africa, but to tell the truth I didn't. In FM12, I hated my time in both Asia and Africa, but can't really put my finger on why. I never really got into managing sides there, and FM13 has been no different. Bidvest Wits were too poor for my "talent" and Kaizer Chiefs were just missing...something. Not quite sure what, but whatever it was, I turned out not to need it. I leave the club with its trophy cabinets topped up, winner their first Champions League and African Super Cup trophies (the latter was a one-off game, like the UEFA Super cup. We won it, but it was too boring to give an update). Also, despite doing my usual and almost leading the club to financial ruin, my cutting spending in my second season seems to have steadied the ship, and we're projected to make only a modest loss next season. I make that progress.

But now, on I go. It's World Cup 2018 time, and my Scottish side need a manager...

Apologies, but for this update, I'm going to wind the clocks back to the day I took charge of Scotland.

2016

We arrived mid-way through 2016, just after Scotland had lost in the European Championship Final to Germany (!). We had a tough World Cup Qualifying Group, so we couldn't rest on our laurels.



Well, what a 2016. We started off playing a tough game against Canada, but all restraint was thrown out of the window as the rampant squad spanked them 6-1. Winning ways continued as we beat Armenia in our first competitive match, and then Chinese Taipei in a meaningless friendly. But then came the big one - Holland at Hampden. These were the matches we would need to get something from if we held any hope of getting top spot. Play-offs would be good, but top spot...that would be a dream.

We ended up with a hard-fought 1-1 draw, which suited us very well given how tight the group was ending up. Holland were level with us following this game, and four days later we kept up the pressure with a fantastic 3-0 win in a tricky away tie in Bosnia. We rounded off the year the way we hoped to do in 2018 - winning in Russia. 4-1 was a very good result, as I'm sure you can imagine.

2017

As 2017 rolled around, I was given a nice surprise. Thanks to Germany triumphing in Brazil in 2014, and then again in France in 2016 (against us) we qualified for the Confederations Cup. Normally I would have had no plans of even denting it, let alone winning it, but it's always nice to have the opportunity.



Not with friendly results like these though. Somehow, we conspired to lose to the Faroe Islands - a result which no doubt had the Tartan Army lighting their flaming torches and heading for Johannesburg. We also lost to Kazahkstan, Georgia and Iceland in a year to forget friendly-wise. We did manage to save some face with a win in the Middle East and then in Mexico, but nothing can take away from how poor the rest of the results were.

But that was nothing compared to what was to follow...

2017 Confederations Cup



Can you believe it? The Confederations Cup usually gives the host nation a chance of a dress rehearsal for the main event the following summer. The Tartan Army will now hope that this is also a dress rehearsal for them.

We started off with a fantastic 1-0 win against Brazil in a match we most definitely deserved to win. Matt Phillips scored the crucial cgoal in the 80th minute, sending the travelling fans into raptures. Brazil didn't exactly have their second string out either, with Neymar, Damaio, Oscar, Lucas, Marcelo and Dede amongst the starters. We certainly put out a statement of intent though.

It was a state of intent that faltered when we only managed a draw against Constant Kings of Oceania New Zealand. It certainly took us down to earth with a bump, but it was something we needed arguably after the euphoria of Brazil. We faced Japan in the final match hoping to win to top the group and give us the best chance in a potential semi. Two extremely late goals gave us the 3-1 win we craved, and suddenly we were two matches away from a title.



Two matches we only went out and won...

Russia probably expected the win in the semis with their partisan home crowd, but after a tense 74 minutes, we scored 3 in the remaining 15 to shock the Lenin Lovers and send us into a final against Japan. We had beaten them before, but it took yet another late, late show to beat them, with veteran Stephen Fletcher scoring in the 84th minute. We contained, we fought, and 10 minutes later the whistle was blown.

We were Confederation Cup Champions. Three out of Fourteen baby!

After disappointing in friendlies and then exceeding all expectations in the Confederations Cup, I would have been happy to just qualify with little incident for the World Cup.



And we did, in style.

There were a clear two matches that stood out as important, and that was our home match with Sweden, and our away match in Holland. Both we dominated, producing fantastic performances to get a so important 6 points from them. We kept up the pressure by beating Armenia and Bosnia in our other two games before securing our qualification before a ball was kicked in the final group match. I didn't care what happened there, as long as we stayed unbeaten. I would have liked to have finished with a win, but a 1-1 draw away in Sweden was a very good result, and one which wouldn't change the fact that we were group winners.

We were going to Russia. Tartan Army hooooooooooooooo!

| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Russia       |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 8     | -3    | 6     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Colombia     |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 7     | 3     | +4    | 4     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Saudi Arabia |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 6     | 6     | 0     | 4     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Ireland      |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 3     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team         |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Argentina    |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 9     | 3     | +6    | 6     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Austria      |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 8     | 5     | +3    | 6     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | U.S.A.       |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 7     | -4    | 3     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | South Africa |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 2     | 7     | -5    | 3     | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Scotland  |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 8     | 2     | +6    | 9     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Holland   |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 4     | +1    | 6     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Australia |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 4     | 7     | -3    | 1     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Guinea    |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 5     | 9     | -4    | 1     | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |           |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Spain       |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 7     | 1     | +6    | 9     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Chile       |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | South Korea |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 5     | 7     | -2    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Denmark     |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 1     | 6     | -5    | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team    |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Belgium |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 1     | +2    | 5     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | France  |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 3     | -1    | 4     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Jamaica |       | 3     | 0     | 3     | 0     | 1     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Algeria |       | 3     | 0     | 2     | 1     | 1     | 2     | -1    | 2     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |         |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team    |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | England |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 8     | 3     | +5    | 7     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Brazil  |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 4     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Japan   |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 4     | -3    | 4     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Norway  |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 2     | 5     | -3    | 1     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |         |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team              |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Switzerland       |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 6     | 0     | +6    | 7     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Germany           |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 6     | 1     | +5    | 7     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Trinidad & Tobago |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 2     | 8     | -6    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Gabon             |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 0     | 5     | -5    | 0     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |                   |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 


| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Ivory Coast |       | 3     | 2     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 4     | 0     | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Q     | Mexico      |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 1     | +2    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Uruguay     |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Greece      |       | 3     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 4     | 7     | -3    | 1     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|       |       |             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Did I expect to win it? No. Did I think there was a chance? God yes.

Put simply, in that Argentina game, we were nowhere near good enough. They went 3-0 up before we even really knew where we were. Cristophe Berra rose highest to get a goal back, but it was one of those games where nothing happens on key highlights just when you want something to. The clock ticked from 70 minutes right to 90 with not one highlight. Argentina shitfested it, knowing they had done enough to win. To be fair to them, we didn't do enough not to get beat, and we fell at the quarter finals - one stage further than the board expected. Before that though, we had some fantastic memories. Chile fell at the second round after a hard-fought 2-1 victory, and we qualified from our group with another 100% record, once again showing Holland that they can have history, but they're still not going to beat us.

I'm so proud of the team, and it took the eventual Champions to stop us, just like it did in the Euros. We now have a qualifying campaign for the next European Championship to look forward to, and a tournament that we have a very, very good chance of winning.

So after leaving Africa extremely quickly, and taking time out to fight it out in Russia for the World Cup, I found myself at somewhat of a loose end. The next place I wanted to go was over in the Americas, either North or South, but to be honest I wasn't entirely caring which one. If I had to choose, it would've been the MLS, because for some reason I love managing there, but we shall see.

What didn't interest me, however, was taking over in the MLS straight away - I would much rather take over at the end of a season and give myself the best chance of progress. That meant waiting until December, which gave me the opportunity to start my European Qualification campaign with Scotland.



And start it we did. We wobbled massively in our first game after the World Cup, drawing 2-2 with Albania, and then followed it up with a disappointing goalless draw against Ecuador. Not the best preparation, as I'm sure you can understand, but as soon as we started our campaign proper, it seemed those slip-ups were all forgotten. We played three qualifiers in 2018, and won all three, scoring seven and conceding none. Granted two of the games were against weaker sides, but historically those are never winnable for Scotland.



Looking at the table, it's clear where the crunch game is going to be. We visit Austria in June 2019, with the draw being the crunch final match at Hampden in October. Hopefully we've wrapped it up by then, but both ourselves and Austria are looking like the group favourites. Two go through from each group, so it's not critical to get top spot, but I don't care - we are good enough to get the top, so that's what we'll do.

On the club side of things, I eventually settled on taking over a new club following the close of the 2018 MLS season...



We're off to Toronto to put Canada on the map...

So I joined Toronto aiming to pick up the 3rd side of the Pentagon. Days after taking the job, there was a draw for the quarter finals of the Champions League which apparently we were in. A possible 6 games away from completing what I had come to do. That just wouldn't do, as I intend to stay with Toronto for at least the next few seasons to try and build something.



And that is why I want to build something. Toronto FC are a fairly new club, but even so, they have pretty much no history. The Canadian Championship a few times and a handful of Trillium Cups. Hardly anything to write home about. I'm going to make sure I leave this club with history.

Team Report






The squad is pretty good, but I imagine you're being drawn to one particular midfielder...

Samir Nasri joined the club as a designated player and ended up being one of the better players the previous season, but he is on a massive 87k a week. A clear 70k more than the second highest earner, so there may have to be a decision to be made about whether we renew his contract for the next season.

Elsewhere, we have a pretty decent squad, but it certainly has more potential than it does ability. Our goalkeepers will be good in a few years, but a little weak at the moment. It's a similar story up front with a lot of potential there. Two problems though - our midfield will look a little light on numbers and quality if we get rid of Nasri, and our defence is just not good enough. I'll be looking to improve it in the off-season

Board Expectations

MLS - Mid-table
Canadian Championship - Reach the final
Trillium Cup - Not important
Champions League - Won't be judged

My Expectations

MLS - Reach the play-offs
Canadian Championship - Win it and secure our Champions League place for next season
Trillium Cup - Win it, even though I have no idea what it is
Champions League - As always, aim to win

Transfers



Well there you have it, Samir Nasri is no longer a Toronto player. My first action as boss was to decide which players would stay on, and in the end most of the ones whose contracts were expiring ended up leaving, including Nasri. The financial situation at the club just couldn't sustain the amount of money he was on - around 4.5 million per year. That's far and away more than the rest of the squad put together. I stand by my decision.

Ins

Tiago Gomes


Matthew Turnbull


Franck Sanogo


Christian Paredes


Assael Rodriguez


Ashtone Morgan


Antonio Rios


A selection of youth and experience, with Turnbull in particular exciting. We haven't really strengthened the defence though, or replaced the considerable talents of Samir Nasri. Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite us.

So here we stand, our first season in charge of Toronto now over, and let's just say things haven't exactly gone to plan.

Competitions

We started off with the stakes already super high, with our first competitive game coming in the Champions League.



It was not what I had planned. We contested a close 3-2 defeat in the first leg, scoring what could be a vital second in the 94th minute. However, in the second leg the arse fell out of the team, and we slumped to a 5-2 defeat, capping an 8-4 aggregate loss. It was not my finest moment, put it that way. But no matter, in a way I would feel like I had cheated if we won the Champions League so early on. I want to put my stamp on a team in America, and I wouldn't do that in such a short period of time. So really I'm not too bothered about getting put out. Not at all. *weeps*

Our next battle was to try and win the Canadian Championship, and assure ourselves qualification for next season's Champions League. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas.




If the Champions League was a dissappointment, this was a travesty. FC Edmonton should not have put up much of a fight, but after a good 2-1 win in the first leg, we decided to throw it all away by putting in an absolute joke of a performance. We lost 3-0, and with it went our greatest hope of Champions League qualification. We can still do it through our MLS performance, but if we can't beat a small side like Edmonton, then I don't hold out much hope of finishing high enough to qualify that way.

Talking of the MLS...



It all started off so well. We won 3 on the bounce, and I started to dream of the other times I've managed in the MLS and absolutely blitzed it. We then got a bit of revenge on Canada by thumping Montreal Impact 4-1. Then the backlash came. It all started with a frustrating 0-0 draw against Chivas, but then got so much worse as we slipped to a run that only yielded 1 point from a possible 18, culminating in a 6-2 capitulation at the hands of New England. I would describe the rest of the season, but it was far too average to waste words. Every time we seemed to go on a run, we were knocked back down. Come the end of August it started to seem like we might be an outside bet for the play-offs, but any lingering hopes were almost extinguished with a poor end of season run-in, yielding only 6 points from 24. However, we still managed to sneak into the Wild Card positions...




For how badly we had played at times, 8th position is pretty good. It's not good enough though - I wanted Champions League qualification, and we have now ended up with a worse record than the manager who left Toronto before me. That's not a good thing.

Anyway, the Wild-cards...



Well that was short-lived. Sporting Kansas City never gave us a sniff, even though the scoreline suggested they did. We had no chance in the end, and our season ended abruptly with nothing to show. Bitterly disappointing, but not unexpected.

Once again I have to ask myself with the limited budget, is it possible to do what I want to do with Toronto?

And now an update on my Scotland career, and my quest for the European Championship.

2019 was a good year for Scotland, as we managed to secure our place at the European Championships fairly comfortably. It could have been better though, and we were made to sweat a little with some poor results.



After a perfect record in 2018, we started in 2019 by winning our very first Four Association Championship.



Not a massive competition to win, but a win nonetheless, and puts us in at least 2nd position in the UK. We're still better than England though...definitely.

When we returned to qualification, we did so with a bang, thumping our nearest rivals for the group Austria 3-0 in Vienna. I pinpointed this as the most important game in the group, so to win it was a big boost. And with two games against Kazakhstan and Armenia next up, I could dream of pretty much securing qualification after that. Unfortunately, fate once again had other ideas, as we stuttered against the Khazakh's and then fell at home against Armenia. It was a listless performance, and we didn't deserve anything out of the game in the end. We went into the last two games a little nervous after that, and a 0-0 draw with outsiders Bulgaria didn't exactly help either. Luckily, that result was just enough to secure our place in Turkey. Another victory against Austria sealed the top spot I craved, and our panic was over. We once again made heavy weather of it, but a win is a win. We could now focus on the next summer adventure.

So this is the squad I'm taking with me to Turkey. Some familiar names in there, but as you can see, a lot of them are nearing their final hurrahs. Russel Martin, who had been captain for some time, will retire after the tournament, as will long-serving goalkeeper David Marshall. Steven Fletcher and Jordan Rhodes are getting on, along with Charlie Adam, James McArthur, Lee Wallace, Grant Hanley...to put it simply, our team is ageing, and we don't really have the replacements coming in. And it's because of that, that I gathered the reporters once again, this time at Hampden Park, to have a wee chat.



There is something more than restlessness behind this decision though. I hung on for too long on my FM12 save in the Scotland job. For most international jobs, there are only 2 competitions you can win, and if there is little chance of winning them with the side you're at, then you can't let sentimentality get in the way. I've won one tournament with Scotland, which is one more than last time, and now I have one more to aim to win. If I don't, or even if I do, it's time to move on. Our squad is ageing fast, and there is no-one stepping up to replace the quality. I could see us qualifying for tournaments for the foreseeable future, but any chance of winning them is a long time away. I'm not going to settle for an outside chance of winning the Euros every four years.

But anyway, on with the tournament.

Our pre-season friendlies went fairly well. I deliberately chose these three - Germany because they were top of the rankings, Bulgaria because they represent a similar team to Belarus (one of the teams in our group) and then Palestine as a confidence booster. We won two of the games, and put up a good fight against Germany. I was in good spirits.




After the group stages, we were in a pretty good position. We faced France first up, and took an extremely important 1-0 victory thanks to an 87th minute penalty. We then faced Sweden, who gave us quite a game before we ended up winning 4-3. With two games gone, we were through, with only one more game left to secure the top spot in the group against Belarus. Unfortunately, we could only manage a point. Fortunately, so could France, when they drew with Sweden, meaning we won the group.



Unfortunately again, we only managed one more round before eventually falling, spectacularly so.

We won a hard-fought second round victory against Belgium, who still had a number of their star players in their ranks - Fellaini, Hazard, Courtois etc. When we were drawn against Holland in the next round, I feared the worst, and I was proved right as they dismantled us. They were 3-0 up within half an hour, and even when we got a goal back, they were assured and lethal in attack, going 5-1 up soon after. We got one goal back, but it was far too late.

My Scotland career ended in an awful defeat. Not the way I wanted it to end.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for my international career to continue...



I wanted out of Europe to take a shot at some of the other continental tournaments. I applied for several roles, amongst them Italy, Jamaica, Canada, Ivory Coast etc, but none of them wanted me, most just laughing off the application. Luckily, one took pity, and it was La Celeste, who had fallen down the rankings considerably after their purple patch. They managed a runners-up spot in the 2014 World Cup, but since then there has been little to cheer about. They have plummeted down the rankings in the past two years, and are now in danger of missing out on qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And that's where I come in!

And talking of employment, after knocking back several offers in the UK, both Scotland and England, aiming for somewhere in the USA or Brazil, I was given a pretty good offer...



The Galaxy. Just the name of the team brings memories of teams absolutely strewn with stars. Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Robbie Keane...and then the plethora of other lesser stars that turned this side into something great. In the first year of this crazy FM universe, they won the Champions League and went to the final of the World Club Championships only to be beaten by Man City.

Let's face it, despite the small allocation fund (which is fixed by the league) this side is clearly never going to ever struggle for money. They are rich in a league where it's almost impossible to become rich. In other words, they're probably one of the safest bets not to befall the same problems as have struck the other teams I've managed so far.

And of course, since this is an alternate universe, I'm going to tell myself that the Governator is still in charge of California. Bitchin'.