The SAF Challenge

Great stuff, it seems Bannon is doing great in England, and your doing great at Southampton.

Bannon is doing really well and still has a lot of potential! He's always reliable to score a goal.

Thanks for the comment mate, appreciated

Completely missed this comment, sorry!

Cheers, was a good group and qualified well!

ha ha no worries !

Great season Jambo, Your doing brilliantly with Southampton, ill continue following

Cheers mate, really enjoying this season! Good to know you're reading

A good month again - 3 wins from 3 in the league and we progressed in the Europa League and the FA Cup. We weren't good enough in the Capital One Cup final and our midfield didn't create enough.

Here's a full overview on the final:



The first half was very boring with barely any chances. I tried to push forward in the last 10 minutes but nothing came of it.

Here's the table after February:



Very tight at the top and also looks very interesting at the bottom. Gonna be an interesting end to the season!

I finally got my first manager of the month award with Southampton and Tommy Paynter won player of the month after a very strong showing.

Perfect month in all competitions. Charlie Austin has really stepped up well, scoring some very important goals. 10 goals scored and just 2 conceded shows that we have a really good squad.

We got past Valencia rather easily and next up:



You couldn't make it up! Back against the team that I single-handedly took to the top of Scottish football.

Here's the league table:



Still very close between the top 4. The Premier League trophy hasn't been outside Manchester for the past 6 seasons but ourselves and Everton have a great chance to take it. Our game against Everton on the last day of the season could be vital. Our last four league games are against Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal and Everton so a really difficult run through but hoping we can hold out.

A mixed month really, hoping our form doesn't drop down suddenly at the most vital part of the season.We were lucky in the quarter final of the Europa League that we won 4-1 in the 1st leg because we were absolutely shocking in the 2nd leg. We were also crapp against Newcastle in the Semi Final of the FA Cup and in the Semi Final of the Europa League against Arsenal.

Hoping for our league form to stay and hopefully get three vital wins in our remaining three games against Man Utd, Arsenal and Everton.

Here's the table:



Man City have slipped up a bit and it looks like a three way race now. I'll do the three next matches as game by game updates highlighting the results of the top four teams.

Shite performance from us puts us 3 points away from top. Luckily, Everton lost as well so we remain 1 point ahead of them in 2nd.

very close good luck mate !

So close mate! Had to be up against Utd for the title.

Cheers pal, can see us falling away at the last stage this season but hoping to give it another go next season!



I know, couldn't be any other team!

Another awful performance from us. Starting to fall away from it just where we didn't want to unfortunately.



Can't win the title now but can push to finish above Everton if we beat them in our final game of the season. We've finished in the top four which makes it a good season I guess.

Another draw means we end the season in quite a bad run.



Man Utd won the league and we finished in 4th. We're in the Champions League for next season but we're not in the group stage straight away which is unfortunate.

In Scotland, my successor Simon Grayson led Cowdenbeath to their second SPL championship, meaning I'm not the only manager to do so for them. Celtic seemed to have a shocking season as they finished 4th, behind Dundee United and Rangers.

Onto next season!

This one is gonna be a big update so prepare for it!

I'll start by going through players who have joined and left the club:



Short list of players who have joined the club, including my newest signing Páez.

As always I'll go through each player individually:

Matuschak: A player I signed for Cowdenbeath and he became one of the stars of my team that won the SPL. Hoping he can perform like he did under me at Cowdenbeath as he was a rock in defence then.

Abdurrahman Durak: Should be a leading striker in the future. The nineteen year old from Dortmund has a strange mullet/pony tail hair style:



Strange looking!

Causevic: Seventeen year old German who can play all across the defence. I paid a little more than I wanted for him but pleased I got my man who should have a big future.

Robinson: A top class Welsh defender who forced his way out of Swansea after they were relegated. I'd been looking at him for a while and when I saw that he wanted out of Swansea I offered for him immediately. At just 22, he is already first choice and still will improve.

Pjanic: Delighted to get this man on a free transfer. He's 31 now but brings bags of experience and is a top class centre midfielder who should add plenty of competition to an already strong centre of midfield.

Gomez: 26 year old Spanish attacking midfielder who was previously a one club man with Villarreal. He should again provide good competition within the squad and to be honest what I was hoping for was a profit from a future transfer of him.

Donaghy: 23 year old left back from Northern Ireland who has never really settled down, with us being his 6th club in 10 seasons. He started his career at Linfield, moved south of the border to Shamrock Rovers, then joined Wigan for 2 seasons before signing for Newcastle for two seasons. He then has last season at Tottenham before moving here where I hope he can finally settle down. Hoping for a lot from him at left back.

Ekrem Baran: 19 year old left Turkish left midfielder who I'm hoping will go into the first team in the future. I've sent him to feeder club Doncaster Rovers for a season in the Championship for him to gain some experience and so he can learn English.

Páez: A 21 year old left midfielder who has some really impressive stats (crossing 18, determination 19, first touch 17, acceleration 16 being the main ones) who will be my long term replacement for current left midfielder Matt Phillips. He will also provide cover as previously I put left back Shay Carlin there if Phillips needed a rest.

Now for the much longer list of players who have left the club, although the majority are out on loan:



Stafford Screen was only ever used as back up and since I'd signed much better centre midfielders, I felt that he wasn't needed and he was the first of three of our players to join Championship side West Brom. Thibaud Paris never really got a place in the first team as he was kept out by better players and after I'd signed Charlie Austin he wasn't even getting on the bench so I thought I'd let him go to West Ham for £6m.

Neil Taylor had aged significantly during my time at the club and I didn't see it fit to renew his contract. He has since joined West Ham. Samba Diakite had put in some good performances but he was too old and had been replaced by better, younger players. Willi Biada's potential fell significantly and after poor performances out on loan to Doncaster and Ipswich, I thought I'd get rid. When I signed Dermot Lawless, I was hoping that he would be able to get into the first team but after many poor performances in the first team it was clear he wasn't good enough so I let him join Burnley.

Jake Stapleton wasn't showing enough potential to challenge for a first team place so I let him join West Brom. I was extremely surprised when Hull offered £10m for Ross Edwards as I don't think he's worth anywhere near that so I accepted straight away. Arjan Vangjeli joined purely as a back up player for £850k and I was delighted to get £10m for him.

The other transfers are younger players going out on loan to get experience in first team football and so they can come back as better players. Pepín has joined Valencia for a second time in order for him to get more first team football and so he can spend a season in his home country to increase his morale. We also get some good money from it so two birds one stone really!

Right, onto pre-season friendlies:



An unbeaten pre-season but too many draws for my liking. Great win over Barcelona, but they only brought Messi on for the last 15 minutes where he scored and hit the post so I can't imagine what the result would have been if he had played 90 minutes!

August update to come shortly.

A great start to the month, although I would have liked to have beaten Watford. Dropped points against much weaker opposition could come back to haunt us.

Brilliant win over two legs against Benfica, especially the second leg where Charlie Austin was on fire. Also a very nice Fergie time winner against Hull with a very dubious penalty in the 96th minute that Austin tucked away - typical Fergie!

Here's how the table looks at this early stage:



Can't tell much this early on.

Here's my Champions League group:



Quite a difficult group with Bayern Munich and Marseille who could cause us problems and stop us progressing. I'd like to see us beat Fenerbahce home and away.

Great stuff on qualifying for the CL, hopefully you can go on and win the league this season.

Cheers mate, hoping to be up near the top again! Want to be winning the league in about 2-3 seasons maximum, just need to build a squad good enough to do it and I think my current squad is pretty good. We're still classed as a mid-table team by the media so clearly after last season they don't know what they're on about!

Quite a mixed bag of a month, good form in the league with 3 wins from 3 but a loss in the Captial One Cup, albeit with a weaker side. We did well to beat Fenerbahce 3-0 but should have beaten 10-man Marseille and was very disappointed to lose where we should have won.

Here's the table:



Sitting in 3rd after 6 league games. Our form slumped a couple of times last season and I want to make sure that that doesn't happen again. We need to be consistent this season.

Here's the Champions League group:



Was hoping to beat Marseille and be 6 points clear but we were poor against Marseille.

Tommy Paynter got 3rd place in young player of the month and Cowdenbeath's new manager Steve McLaren won manager of the month up in Scotland. Grayson left Cowdenbeath to join Celtic despite winning the league with Cowdenbeath last season.

A bit of a mixed month. Good wins over Man City and Stoke and a good draw with Bayern, but poor performances against Arsenal and Aston Villa mean it's not a very good month.

Here's the table:



4 points away from Everton but 4 points clear of Chelsea. Looking for a secure top 4 finish. My aim each season is to improve on the last one so hoping to finish above 4th.

Here's the Champions League group:



Hoping we can go through into the knockout stages from this group.

Quite a good month, except for a heavy defeat to Bayern and throwing away a 2-0 lead to Chelsea. Dragged out a win against Reading and a good win against Wigan followed by a win to keep us in contention for the Champions League knockout stages. Hoping to beat Marseille in our final group game to get through.

Here's the table:



Everton have broken away but still a long way to go. I play them next in the league so hoping to give them their first defeat of the season.

Here's the CL group:



The winner between us and Marseille will join Bayern Munich in the next round of the Champions League.

amazing to see Everton doing so well, who is their manager?

Their current manager is Andre Villas-Boas, but he's only been in charge for 6 months after Bielsa retired. Martin Jol was before him and I think all 3 of those have contributed to turning Everton into title contenders.

Too many draws in the league for my liking but some of them were very difficult games that we could have lost so a point is better than nothing, especially against Everton, Man Utd and away to Newcastle. A brilliant 6-1 against Marseille means we're through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Need to start turning draws into wins in the league to have any chance of challenging for the title.

Here's the table:



Down in 5th at the moment behind surprise package Watford but I'm confident that we can fight our way back up after a very difficult month.

Tommy Paynter came second in young player of the month and my Ivan, out on loan at Doncaster, came 2nd in the Championship young player of the month.

great month mate !

A perfect month. Superb wins in all competitions means we're into the 5th round of the FA Cup to face Fulham and we're also up to 2nd in the league which I'm delighted about. Some players have really stepped up this month including Elliot Bannon (who got injured in the game against Fulham for up to 4 weeks, just my luck) and Marcel Derwall. Delighted with this month, although more bigger tests are coming in the coming weeks and months with the return of Champions League football where we play Atletico Madrid.

Also another Fergie Time winner against Derby, where we scored in the 5th minute of the 3 minutes that were added on!

Here's the table:



Up to 2nd and looking good to challenge again this season.

Manager of the month:



Delighted to get another manager of the month award after going so long without it.

Now on to the next month. Hope it's as good as the last.

Cheers, form is stepping up just when we need it to! Hoping not to drop off!

Brilliant win against Liverpool, followed up by another win against Arsenal. A lot of players were rested in the 5th round match with Fulham where we got a draw but we managed to overcome them in the replay to face Leeds in the 6th round.

Drawing to Atletico Madrid at home could make it difficult in the 2nd leg, especially when we missed an 88th minute penalty.

Was also disappointed to lose to fellow title contenders Man City 3-2, with them scoring within the last 5 minutes.

Here's the league table:



3 points away from the top but still confident we can do well and keep challenging for the title.

Tommy Paynter won young player of the month after some strong performances

A very good month in all competitions. The draw against Stoke was a game we could and should have won but it wasn't to be. Glad we managed to beat Atletico Madrid in the away leg to progress to the next round where we were drawn against Man City. A weakened team were able to beat Aston Villa 3-2, where young midfielder Cameron Pryce scored his first goal for the club. We dominated Reading in the next match and looked good for a 3-0 win, and then we progressed to the FA Cup semi final where we will play Arsenal at Wembley. An uninspired performance against Leeds but we got the job done. Elliot Bannon was then the star for our next two games, scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Newcastle and scoring twice in the 1st leg of the Champions League Quarter Final where we beat Man City 2-1.

Here's the table:



Looking good to compete for the title again and I'm hoping to give it a really good go - I still have to face Man Utd and Everton in the league though.

Nineteen year old academy star goalkeeper Adrian Symes came third in young player of the month and I came third in manager of the month.