The SAF Challenge

Some more good results. A 1-1 draw with Chelsea where our squad were suffering heavily from fatigue was quite a good result. We then progressed into the semi final of the Champions League after a superb 5-3 win at the Etihad Stadium, including a Charlie Austin hat-trick. We then beat a relegation-threatened Wigan squad with a second-string squad which saw 17 year old wonderkid Leeroy Turner score his first goal for the club. A 0-0 draw with fellow title contenders Everton was a bore draw with barely any chances but I was happy with it. We then got through to the FA Cup Final after beating Arsenal 3-2 thanks to the master of late goals, Marcel Derwall. We then overcame Tottenham 2-0 in a match which we dominated. Youngster Cameron Pryce then gave us a great win against Burnley where near-enough a full second-string squad overcame the relegation strugglers because a certain Champions League Semi Final which I will go into more detail about took it out of a lot of players.

Before I get onto that Champions League tie, here's the league table:



Second place, one point behind Man United - the team who we play next. Big final two games of the season.

So, here's the Semi Final first leg:



A poor performance meant we had lost 2-0 away to Valencia. We weren't good enough and didn't put up a good enough fight. It gave us a very big job to do in the second leg at the St Mary's Stadium...



Tommy Paynter came third in player of the month, Adrian Symes came third in young player of the month and I came second in manager of the month.

A good month!

The league has gone to Man Utd for the 4th season in a row, but we've given it a really good shot and we need 1 point to secure 2nd which I consider a success. We now need to go on to the FA Cup Final and of course the Champions League Final to try and salvage some silverware from this season.

A brilliant performance in extra time means we beat Man City 3-1 to claim the FA Cup, which is my first piece of silverware in England. I'm delighted with this win and hoping to go on to give it a real good go against Real Madrid in the Champions League Final.

So, a disappointing end to the league season means we finish in 3rd place. Still an improvement on last season though so that's encouraging.

Here's the league table:




Happy with 3rd place. Hoping for even higher next season, along with more silverware!

We didn't make any chances in this game and Real Madrid scored an early penalty to put us out of the game. It's a pity really because we were quite close. Onto next season now!

another great season mate ! Really unlucky not too win the champions league !

Had a few days off Football Manager but I'm back now to continue into the new season with the Saints.

Here's the pre-season friendlies:



Thought I'd do a Portugal pre-season tour and won 2 of these 3 games. The 8-5 loss against Porto put a bit of a downer on the tour but a good tour overall. Disappointed to lose to Celtic but we made up for it with a great win against Barcelona.

A lot of big signings this year, and some big players leaving the club too. I'll start with the players leaving the club:



A huge list. A lot of fringe players leaving who aren't needed leaving the club.

Gavin Gunning was signed on a free transfer to provide back up and we now have players better so he won't really play much. Forster had lost his GK starting spot to academy star Adrian Symes and left the club after 8 seasons here. A lot of young players who weren't good enough have been released on free transfers. Lawrence Riley and Russell Bartlett weren't good enough either so they left the club. Lavezzini and Jordi weren't getting first team football and were complaining about a lack of first team football so I decided to let them go. Kyle Walker came to me and asked for a transfer as he believed his future lied elsewhere so I let him go to Liverpool for £3m. Finally, Bernard Addy went to Schalke for £8m which was a hard one to accept but I'd signed a few strikers who were a lot better than Addy and I couldn't see him making many first team appearances this year.

Here's the players who have joined the club:



Hoyle: 21 year old central midfielder with a big future ahead of him and I was delighted to get him for so cheap. He's a future England star.

Ianello: A 22 year old versatile defender from Inter's academy who will fit into the first team straight away and will only get better with age.

Atangana: A 19 year old right back who will be big in the future. I tried to loan him out for the season but nothing has come of it yet.

Deniz Guner: Delighted to sign this young Turk. He's already a quality striker at the age of 18 with incredible pace and he's going to be a star in the future.

Dufour: Patrice Dufour is a young right midfielder from PSG's academy who I believe can be big in the future. He's been loaned out to feeder club Doncaster for the season to build on his potential and to learn the language.

Díaz: 20 year old centre back who should be huge in the future. Already has some great stats (heading 17, marking 16, tackling 16, bravery 19, work rate 17, jumping 18, determination 16, natural fitness 16, stamina 16)

Douglas: A young defender who should be good in future. Has been loaned out to Hearts for the season.

Sosa: At 23 he is already quite experienced in first team football and has scored goals for fun in previous seasons in Spain, scoring 15 goals in 22 games for Valencia and 11 goals in 22 games for Madrid. Hoping for some big performances from this Argentinian.

Luizao: Delighted to get this 18 year old left midfielder for so cheap. He had a minimum release fee and I matched that immediately. He's already a pretty good left midfielder and will be superb in the future.

Velandia: my big name signing for the season. At 23 years of age, the Colombian has already had big seasons for Colombian side Junior before signing for Brazilian Fluminense and then signed for Benfica.

Should be a good seasons with some big players if they can step up!

Thanks mate, was good to get to the final but was disappointing to come so close and lose!

Not the best start to the season. Disappointed to lose 1-0 to Man Utd in the Community Shield but that wasn't the end of the world. 2 draws to Stoke and Hull I'm disappointed with because they are games we really need to be winning. Jack Cork played well against Watford to bag us the 3 points there.



Still unbeaten but need to start winning games instead of drawing.

Adrian Symes won the young player of the month award for August after some good goalkeeping performances.

Really pleasing month in all competitions. Some good wins in the league. We dominated against Aston Villa and eventually David Toal managed to add the winner in the 81st minute. A superb 5-1 win against Liverpool followed, with Velandia scoring his first 2 league goals for the club as well as pleasing performances by other players on the pitch including Paynter, Phillips and Robinson. We followed that up with some tired legs against Swansea and managed to win 3-1 with 33 year old Jack Cork rolling back the years and scoring a double. In the Capital One Cup we had a brilliant 4-1 victory over Chelsea with a few players rested including Sosa, Velandia and Bannon leaving Guner to score twice. Finally, in the Champions League we had a good 3-1 victory over Schalke and I was happy to come back from the Bernabeu with a point against the side that beat us last season in the final.

Here's the league table:



Looking good at the moment but still a long way to go and many more games to play!

Here's the Champions League group so far:



We have Sparta Prague next next which should be a win and Schalke still have to face Madrid twice so we look good for qualifying for the next round.

Tommy Paynter won player of the month after a superb month and young Frenchman Thomas Atangana came third in young player of the month after some strong performances stepping in when Iannello picked up an injury.

Great read mate! Which logos are you using here? Look very crisp.

The logos I use are here:

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/club-competition-logos/106621-serbian-football-manager-13-logos-download.html

Glad you're enjoying it

You have done a great job with Southampton, are you still playing this save?

Just thought I'd add an update because I've been carrying on with this game but not updating it on here. I've been extremely successful for the past few seasons...

In the 2022/2023 season (the one I'd just started on the last few posts) I finished 2nd in the table, 1 point behind Man City. In the 2023/24 season, I won the league after losing just one game all season and in 2024/25 I had the best season I have ever had on any FM - an invincible season. 29 wins and 9 draws through the year meant that I won the league by an astonishing 13 points.

I won the Champions League in my 2022/23 season, beating Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in the final. In the 2023/24 season, I won it again by beating Real Madrid 3-2 in the final. In the 2024/25 season I couldn't make it three in a row, losing to Manchester City 1-0 in the final. Still, we're the first team since Real Madrid in 1960 to appear in 4 consecutive European Cup finals.

Further success has come in the Super Cup and the Club World Cup. In 2023 we beat PSG 2-0 in the Super Cup to win the competition for the first ever time for the club. This was followed by disappointment in the Club World Cup however, as we suffered a shock defeat to Corinthians on penalties in the final. The following season, we won the Super Cup again - This time beating AC Milan 5-2. We made up for the previous season's heartbreak by claiming the Club World Cup, however we left it late by beating Sao Paolo 4-2 in extra time in the final.

All this success still wasn't enough - In the 2023/24 season we managed to claim the FA Cup with a 3-2 victory over Man Utd in the final. We also won back to back Community Shields in 2024 and 2025, beating Man Utd 2-1 in 2024 and beating the same opposition 3-1 the following year.

I'm currently at the start of the 2025/26 season and am going strong so far with some impressive victories. Would an aim of back to back 'invincible' seasons be a big aim?

Christ. Incredible work mate