The Long Haul (Everton FC)

Hello everyone! It is my first FM save in close to 5 years (the last version I played was in 2014). I've got a bit of time now for football in general and have always loved the careers sections so here's mine. Note that I've already played through the first five seasons of this career - they will be rather brief as they're written retrospectively.



We'll be managing Everton, a club I used to support very closely during the Moyes/Martinez days. Looks like I missed out on a new owner (what's Bill up to these days?) and a stint with Big Sam Allardayce (thank goodness for that). And the shocking loss of Ross and Lukaku (surely thought of as the spine of the team for many years to come??).

The goal is quite simple here: to be a better football club than the guys across the river. With Liverpool in a return to their golden days, that might take awhile, but we'll try.

The manager, an American by the name of Forrest Gump. Great motivating skills if a bit unsophisticated. His one potential strength is his savvy as a business operator from his years of success in the shrimp trade.

Gump's 5 Rules for Merseyside Domination

1. Get rich. Wheel, deal, and profit from the transfer market (double your offer and we can put it on a three year installment plan!)
2. Keep it simple stupid. No need to muck around with fancy tactical shifts and half time instruction changes. We're just as likely to screw things up anyway.
3. Keep the players happy and tie them down to long term contracts. Motivate, rotate, and develop the assets!
4. Invest in infrastructure - the best coaching, scouting, recruitment, facilities, medical, the works. With a backroom team the size of the Starship Enterprise, surely we can't lose?
5. We're in it for the long haul. Everyone decision made needs to build towards the future of the club.


Tactical approach

Based on the squad strengths, I've gone with a wide 4-3-3 with three central mids and left and right attacking wingers/inverted wingers. There's not quite enough quality here to play a patient possession-based game, so I've chosen a high tempo, pressing tactic so we can get lucky.


Training approach

Again, development takes the focus - Only the biggest matches will receive dedicated match prep sessions. I believe the style of football I am asking for best suits intelligent, hardworking players who can work well as a team and will try to train accordingly.


That's enough of an introduction. We'll recap Season 1 next, stay tuned.

SEASON 1 - 2019/20

Pre-season notes


A "best of the rest" expectation and QFs in the local cups is what the board asked of me - I reckon a top half finish would be decent with all things considered. We will try our best to hold firm in the league against a Big 6 which seem simply too strong to play against at this stage.

Transfers

The previous manager has brought in 7 players for the first team and the squad is pretty bloated with players who I didn't think could cut the mustard.

Immediately, Cenk Tosun, Beni Baningime and Oumar Niasse were deemed unworthy and shuffled on. Yerry Mina would have been a first team starter and young enough, but a decent fee, and a suitable replacement in Alessandro Bastoni allowed me to flip him for a profit.

Zlatan is available from his MLS club, and with room in the wage budget I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have him on my team. Nathan Ferguson and Dominik Szoboszlai the scouts reckon were good young prospects for the squad.

In hindsight one big regret was allowing Moise Kean to go out on loan in the January window, I believe this stopped him from gaining home-grown status. It was a productive loan and helped his progress but an amateur mistake.



League



A 10th place finish in our first season is just about where I expected. We had started strongly, making it to December with just one loss, but a run of tough away losses broke our confidence in the New Year and we went on a bad losing streak.
Board not impressed, wanted to sack me in March after dropping into bottom half. Hung on to job by skin of teeth - a few critical wins keeping us away from a 14th placed finish.

Cups



Carabao Cup was kind to us, with relatively easy draws into the final. The team played bravely but lost on penalties to Man Utd in the final, a bit of a disappointment as our first real chance at silverware.

The FA Cup was embarrassing, losing to Wigan in our first match (3rd round).


Squad Review






Here was the season's best eleven, note how I broke my own rule #2 and moved my central MC (Gylfi) into an AMC position to try and get more attacking impetus in the second half of season.

My new signings were a mixed bag, with Bastoni solidifying his place as our best centre-back, and Szoboszlai already a solid squad player at 18. Zlatan was disappointing - just not the right fit for the tactic I'm applying. Ferguson didn't feature much.

Much improving to be done, a busy summer for our scouts.

Interesting first season there, could've been so different with an extra few wins and some luck in the EFL Cup final. Zlatan was worth a punt.

An average season league wise, but I'm sure you'll be happy with the Carabao Cup run even though you did lose on penalties!

Best of luck for the new season!

Thank you for reading @r96Skinner. Zlatan paid for his transfer fee in merchandising income, but would have probably been more suitable for someone playing two up front.

Cheers @tongey Yeah hopefully we can keep getting draws like that !

SEASON 2 - 2020/21

Pre-season notes

No change in board expectations - a best of the rest finish and QFs in the domestic cups.

My main focus, the league. The board and fans would not tolerate a 10th place finish again, let alone a string of bad runs.

I didn't spend enough time in my first season tracking the U23s and players on loan, so when a good many loanees returned I was taken a bit by surprise.



Transfers


So a big cull followed in a busy transfer window. A total of 10 new first team players and 9 departures this year.

A number of first team players to depart including Bastoni, Gomes, Bernard and Calvert-Lewin, underscoring the "everyone has their price" approach to my restructuring efforts.

One departure I regret in hindsight is Lucas Digne, unsettled by Arsenal and European football, I let him go. I would later learn how difficult he is to replace.

But it was good to get Schneiderlin, Walcott, Bolasie, Besic off the payroll and "liquidate the bad assets" as they say.


On the incoming side, we have Pablo Maffeo in at right back, the young norwegian Duo - Kristoffer Ajer and Sander Berge will go straight into the first XI at centre mid and back. Exequiel Palacios is a hell of a bargain midfield playmaker at 5.25m. Tsimikas and Borna Sosa both left backs to hopefully fill the void left by Digne, Aleix Garcia and Jesus Vallejo are two young spanish footballers good enough for the squad and at a good price.

Oh, and Cavani on a "free" transfer (you should have seen the signing bonus). A bit of experience, and a ton of star power... Maybe I'm just nostalgic but here's attempt #2 at the aging superstar striker!



League




That's a bit better now! A proper "best of the rest" finish and a chance to elevate ourselves in the EURO Cup next year.

We had a pretty decent league campaign, started poorly with our first win only coming after 5 games and slowly climbing the table with a good 8 game unbeaten streak between March and April. Strong finish.

Main criticism our defence was rather leaky, only 6 clean sheets this league season.

Cups




Not a lot in the League Cup...



Not any more in the FA Cup either.

Squad Review





So here is the best 18, Sigurdsson again the stand out performer. Cavani had a decent season, but wasn't quite as prolific for us as I'd hoped.

At this stage at least half of the players in the above 18 are under the age of 23, so there has been a lot of game time going out to keep these young talents developing. I'm hoping this pays off with some crazy player progression.

SEASON 3 - 2021/22

Pre-season notes

The board are quite happy with last year's European qualification and expect more of the same as well as QFs in the cups.

I expect a bit more from the cup competitions, I think the EURO/FA/EFL Cups are our only real chance at silverware for the foreseeable couple seasons.


Transfers


A little bit more measured approach this year as I start to find some sense and structure in this squad.

Outgoing first teamers, we have Alex Iwobi, Sandro, Lamela, Gbamin, and Delph were all on relatively high wages, I'm happy to move them on to keep up the positive cashflow. Another cull of U23 deadweight. Sander Berge left for a hefty 63 m, he is a great player with a very good future but Bayern were a much bigger club than us and he wanted to go. 45 m profit after a season and a half is tempting, and with Dominik Szoboszlai improving drastically and almost as good in the same role, I decided to cash in.

On the incoming side, Two free transfers join - Alexander Schlager, an Austrian international keeper comes in to play backup to Picks; and Julian Draxler, a classy playmaker on the wing. Nikola Milenkovic was our big purchase, a young but dominant Serbian centre-back. Adam Hlozek and Emilio Vilches are two young talents with potential.





League



How about that for an improvement? 17 unbeaten games between October and February with just three games drawn. It was a fantastic run of form that saw us overtake both Man City and Spurs. 84 league goals for made some really entertaining matches to watch (e.g. 6-3 win against West Ham, 3-4 loss against Utd, 5-1 win against Tottenham) . We clocked our first ever Merseyside derby win, beating them 3-2 at Anfield was a joy (Cavani x 2, Kean x 1), and then again at home 3-2, (Kean x 2, Cavani x 1).






Cups






We may have trumped them in the league but Liverpool smacked us in the cups, knocking us out in our 2nd League Cup final and in the QFs of the FA Cup. Their squad is still disgustingly good with Mane and Salah are both absolutely world class.



We had a really good EURO Cup effort, topping our group and defeating the likes of Lazio, Juve, OM and Monaco with relative confidence, but FCP were just too strong in the final, despite drawing first blood we could not hold on to our lead. 3 cup finals to date as Everton manager, 3/3 capitulations.

But, not to be too sore - I am very happy with how we did in our first Europe campaign and take heart from our squad getting better season to season.

Squad Review






And here is our squad best eleven, lining up in a 3-5-2 that I’d used against tougher opposition.

Moise Kean exploded this year, 54 goals in 53 apps is mind boggling. His movement, aggression and power led to plenty of chances from balls over the top. I did not expect him to keep Cavani out of the team like he has.

My midfield trio of Sigurdsson/Palacios/Szoboszlai played very well with most of the creativity coming through the centre. As much as I like Tom Davies it is nice to not have him in my best XI, he is just not quite the calibre we need.

Mason Holgate broke into my first team with some good performances on rotation and Kostas/Sosa rotated effecticvely in the LB position.

Some heartbreak in there! Fulham-esque run in the Europa League. Strong season overall I'd say, though - narrowly missing Champions League football.

@r96Skinner heartbreaking indeed, but we don't lose hope!
@SirWerGaming thanks for reading mate and the kind words, bad luck will make the victory sweeter (that's what I tell myself...)
SEASON 4 - 2022/23

Pre-season notes

Last season was a good season for us, our third consecutive league improvement and we are looking to qualify again for Europe and hopefully do well in the cups.

Thanks to a strong league finish as well as excellent finances, there is a good atmosphere and I am able to convince club owner Moshiri to improve our training, youth and data facilities as well as improve our coaching and scouting teams.





Transfers


Despite three excellent seasons for me it was time to move Gylfi on as he was getting past his prime, likewise for club captain Seamus Coleman. Same story for Edinson Cavani (Kean has completely eclipsed him). Four squad players get moved on for a profit, Michael Keane, Julian Draxler, Jesus Vallejo and Aleix Garcia - they all fared pretty well for the club but we keep the cash flowing.

Young talent Emilio Vilches gave me a lesson in not keeping promises to players. I had originally thought I would loan him out, but being eligible for home-grown status and good enough to kick around the first team squad, I thought I'd keep him and offer him some decent gametime. Silly me, he completely lost trust in me and screamed his way out of the club. A 50% next transfer fee clause ensures I don't miss out if he improves like the coaching team reckons he will.

I was very active in the spring scouting and signing contracts with summertime free agents. Carles Alena (MC), Mohamed Fares (DL), Federico Chiesa (AMR/AML), and Jonathan David (AML/ST) all join the squad. Chiesa and Alena I expect to fight for a first team place from the get go.

Bruno Guimaraes (MC) and Svetozar Markovic (DC) add defensive intelligence to the team, and I think the Milenkovic-Markovic centre-back pairing will be very strong for both Everton and Serbia in the coming years.

Reiss Nelson (AML) was transfer listed by Arsenal and offered good value with versatility on both wings. A bit old at 23 to fulfill the potential my scouts think he has, but his English home-grown status adds to his appeal.

We had two young Eastern European newgens join, Gladyshev (DC) and Ivkovic (AMR), both have good potential but Ivkovic looks to be the better starting product.

One last signing to touch on is the striker Louie Barry that my Head of Youth Development picked up on the cheap from the Barcelona B team - moved there from West Brom in 2019 apparently. Decent technical ability, English, three years at Camp Nou, and a 4* potential... I like it!


League



It was a league campaign to forget. Plagued by patchy form we lost too many and couldn't find the net often enough.







Cups





Tough draws in the domestic cups, and we couldn't find an upset.



This was the highlight of season 4, we had a great EURO Cup run and took the trophy home on our second attempt. Fairly breezy draws saw us win straight to the semis, where a home 0-0 draw against OM set up a nervy second leg. But we had beaten OM over two legs last year as well, and a good away win saw us through to Wolfsburg in the final. It was to be the last match of the season, and we spent many training sessions dedicated to preparation for this match, rotating completely for the last EPL match of the season 3 days before the final (we beat Norwich 3-1 with a brace from Jonathan David), and we stormed the final with our full strength team. It was a convincing performance for a 3-1 win and our first taste of silverware.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS




Squad Review





Here is the best 18 of the 2022/23 side that won the EURO Cup.

Starting at the top, Moise Kean, not quite as prolific as last season but still with a very respectable 28 goals. Jonathan David the pacy Canadian as his backup had a very respectable first season

Rico did well on the left wing, Chiesa on the right a bit quieter - his first season in England and still coming into his prime, I am not too disappointed. Reiss Nelson did a good job as backup winger, not a world beater but he made a few very important assists and scored a couple of crucial goals this season.

My midfield trio has really come into its own. Szoboszlai and Palacios are both creative workhorses chiming in with double digit assists. Guimaraes has done a very solid job in the defensive role. Alena and Davies both solid on rotation.

In defence, club captain Ajer and Serbian dominator Milenkovic formed a very solid pairing at the back, with Markovic 3rd choice still having a strong season. Jonjoe Kenny did well to be selected here on the right ahead of Maffeo, and Tsimikas / Sosa competed very well for the left back spot.

Champions League qualification can wreak havoc for some squads, but four seasons in now I feel we are developing some good strength in depth - we'll see next season how our team handles the challenge and intensity. Our league form suffered a bit this year for perhaps a bit too much rotation. Something I have to keep focus on in Season 5 as the challenges can pile up quickly.

Great work getting that Europa League trophy! Onwards to next season!

@r96Skinner Cheers man, they made us work for it didn't they!

SEASON 5 - 2023/24

Pre-season notes


On the back of a Europa League trophy last season and our first Champs Cup qualification, there is certainly an atmosphere of excitement about what we can do. I strike while the iron is hot and call for a board meeting to request a new stadium. Wouldn't this be a great time? Moshiri says nah, approves a 10,000 seater expansion instead. A little bit cowardly if you ask me. We'll have a reduced stadium capacity for 18 months. But progress nonetheless towards our long term goals, and I have no doubt we will sell out the added capacity quick.

Ok enough of the board room, Champions Cup awaits us and we better get ready.





Transfers


A word about release clauses - be careful of how you talk to your player about them. About 18 months ago, big clubs started becoming interested in our brightest midfield talent, Exequiel Palacios. I told him, you have a release clause in your contract, if they want you they'll have to engage it. "Ok I'll wait", he says. I've since spent 18 months trying to get him to renew his contract with us, but he wasn't having it. So this year, Chelsea finally coughed up the 93 m to meet it and farewell to our best creative midfielder. 18 months ago, that sum would have been fair value, but in current market he would've gone for 110+ if it wasn't for the clause. Oh well.

Also to depart: Jonathan David (good first season with us but the offer just too good to refuse); Alex Schlager (backup goalie, again, offer too good for his place int he team); Gladyshev didn't meet his potential; Fares surplus to requirements. Holgate is club home-grown but we have enough to meet quota this season so I move him on.

Incoming, Jamal Lewis for a hefty 43.5 m (release clause) - he isn't that good but would still be first choice left back. This transfer underscores my regret at selling Lucas Digne; Lewis despite being a few years younger is not as good, and I paid nearly as much for him as I received for Digne.

Another defender, Mathieu Fritsch, a French superstar newgen, only 18, will be world class. Cost 35 m, also release clause. I think I'm feeling vindictive after losing Palacios this way. Robert Binder, also 18 year old Austrian newgen, very solid striker with potential to be world class. These two will be important pieces in the first team squad and will become home-grown in three years. Efe Ikechukwu is also newgen, not quite as much potential and 20 years old already, but standing at 2 m tall with great physicals he could be grow to be unbeatable in the air and a very useful squad player.

To replace departing backup goalie Schlager, we brought in two young goalies, not as good but with a bit of potential for improvement. Nathan Bishop is English, and Pat-Sig-Gunarsson is Icelandic. Both can hopefully improve to become decent backup goalies one day.

Two free transfers in Marco Asensio and Joe Aribo - both 3* players in their mid 20s that will definitely add some quality in depth for us or at the very least turn a profit.




League



Our fifth season in charge was one in which Arsenal and Man City found themselves about 10 points behind 4th place by the end of the first half. We were very consistent to December, losing only to Man Utd away, Liverpool (4-0 at home, bitter), and Man City away, and winning every other league game. 1-0 losses to Palace and West Brom around Christmas didn't do us any favours to Champs League qualification. Crystal Palace beat us again 2-0 at Goodison, they were our bogey team this season. Other than that I must say we've earned some excellent results and shown ourselves to have a bit of cutting edge by finding the winners in those close really close away games against "smaller" sides.






Cups



Great way to start the season. At least the fans had a good time.




Done in the league cup by Chelsea, wasn't any fun as we'd put ourselves in the lead three times only for them to find equalizer. They've bought Jadon Sancho, what a beast of a player he is.



Knocked out by Liverpool in the FA Cup. Seems familiar now.




Here was our Champions Cup run. Despite a poor start, we had some really amazing performances in there:

- Bob Binder coming off the bench to score two for extra humiliation points
- Reiss Nelson's late goals in both legs of the Man City match, the second one absolutely critical to stop them winning on away goals
- Moise Kean's staggering 13 competition goals

Funny how we drew English teams from the QFs onwards, and losing in the final to Liverpool is just about par for the course these days. We've come a long way for sure but they are still just so damn good when you play against them.

Squad Review





Here is the best 18 of the 2023/24 Champions Cup runners-up team.

At the top, Moise Kean with yet another explosive goal tally.

On the wings, Chiesa finding his form this year, and RIcharlison with another solid 10+ goal season. Reiss Nelson has been a solid impact player off the bench, and Ivkovic is deadly with assists from the right wing. Marco Asensio also featured and contributed some very entertaining football this year.

In midfield, Palacios keeps a spot on the bench despite only playing half a season. Carles Alena fills the void he left and has stepped up beautifully. Guimaraes and Szoboszlai both did very well, the latter setting a record assist tally this year. Joe Aribo was a very reliable squad player.

In defence, Jonjoe Kenny again is selected in the best eleven ahead of Pablo Maffeo at right back despite fewer apps and lower average rating. Ajer and Milenkovic a mature and solid central pairing, backed up by Markovic.

Jordan Pickford with 59 starts, that's a lot.


It's back to the Europa League next year but I am feeling very good about our chances now. We are in a position where we can start really spending on the squad if we want to, and we have nearly enough quality in depth to really build a winning mentality.



As mentioned in the beginning, I'd played five seasons before I started posting this career, so all of this to date has been retrospective. Moving forward each post will cover a shorter duration of time so I can go into a bit more detail as we play through the season.

Thanks for following this far - next post will be a full squad preview with current screenshots of every player. You'll finally get to see some of these newgens I've been writing about and how my youngsters have developed.

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! After a bit of a break from the game we resume our adventure with The Toffees. Glad to see them secure Ancelotti in the real life - hopefully he can do as good as me here


SEASON 6 PT 1 – June 2024 – Sep 2024


Pre-season notes

I think this may be the season where everything comes together for us. I have not abandoned my rules of long-term development, but I feel as if the seeds I have planted are beginning to fruit. Our club has really elevated itself, our coaching capability is as good as it can be:





Later in this entry you will see the squad we have got this season, which I believe has real quality in depth for every position.

Transfers



On the outgoing side we have Richarlison to Tottenham for huge bucks, as well as Marco Asensio turning over for a hefty profit after just 1 season. Borna Sosa was 3rd choice left back and leaves for a decent fee. And as Jude Bellingham has earned his club-grown status this season, Tom Davies is allowed to leave as well for a decent fee. That's it for first team leavers.

Towards the end of last year we managed to secure a player who I hope will be as good at the club as the departed Exequiel Palacios. We shelled out 92 m record fee on his release clause, just 1 m less than we received for Palacios. Alex Nubel is an excellent goalie on a free, as good as Pickford in ability, they will rotate very often this coming season. Dodo and Agustin Urzi were highly rated by our scouts. Dodo should challenge Pablo Maffeo well, and Urzi will compete with Chiesa and Nelson on the wings.


Squad Preview


JORDAN PICKFORD - GK // Club vice captain and England national goalie, I think he'll be good for quite a few years yet
ALEXANDER NUBEL - GK // New goalie, good enough to be a first choice keeper. Will rotate 50/50 with picks
DODO - DR // Attacking wing back, new signing, coaches reckon he's got the goods. We shall see
PABLO MAFFEO - DR // A bit more defensive minded compared to Dodo, fifth season here, will rotate 50/50.
JONJOE KENNY - DR // Backup fullback, club home-grown. Almost surplus to requirements; training as left back to provide cover
KRISTOFFER AJER - DC or MC // Club captain, not the greatest defender but is a leader and has good versatility to a deep defensive playmaker role.
NIKOLA MILENKOVIC - DC // Beast of a defender and first choice central defender
SVETOZAR MARKOVIC - DC // Solid backup in the centre
MATHIEU FRITSCH - DC or DR // Signed this past Jan, is a world class ball playing defender. Am retraining to play as a right back to abuse his natural speed.
EFE IKECHUKWU - DC // Young 4th choice centre-back, great in the air.
JAMAL LEWIS - DL // Our best left back
KOSTAS TSIMIKAS - DL // Second choice left back, great attacking option
DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI - MC // Already a club favourite, a creative workhorse that's topped our assist tallies for the past couple seasons
BRUNO GUIMARAES - MC // First choice defensive playmaker
JUDE BELLINGHAM - MC // Young understudy to Szoboszlai, has developed well over the past 3 years.
CARLES ALENA - MC // Creative attacking playmaker and set piece taker
ILAIX MORIBA - MC // Big bucks replacement for Exequiel Palacios. Looks like the real deal, being so good in the air is just a bonus. If he improves at all he will be quite a player.
JOE ARIBO - MC // New free transfer, good all round ability and versatile across my midfield roles.
SEAN HURFORD-LOCKETT - MC // Young prospect, probably the only good player out of my first few youth recruitment seasons. He's in the team to meet home-grown requirements.
REISS NELSON - AMR or AML // Good squad winger who had a very respectable first season, will be looking for good performances from him on rotation.
FEDERICO CHIESA - AMR or AML // First choice winger, very dangerous on counter
IVAN IVKOVIC - AMR // Young creative prospect. Been with us two years now and developing steadily
AGUSTIN URZI - AML // Took a punt on this Argentine winger from River this season, the scouts reckon he is the bees knees. We shall see
MOISE KEAN - ST // The man himself, what a prolific goalscorer
ROBERT BINDER - ST // Understudy to Kean, could be a star.
LOUIE BARRY - ST // Young prospect, might get a few minutes this season.


My current selection:

A Team: Pickford / Maffeo / Ajer / Milenkovic / Lewis / Guimaraes / Moriba / Szoboszlai / Chiesa / Urzi / Kean
B Team : Nubel / Dodo / Markovic / Ikechukwu / Tsimikas / Aribo / Alena / Bellingham / Ivkovic / Nelson / Binder
Backups: Kenny / Hurford-Lockett / Barry


Results



We played a very busy friendly schedule, two games a week for all of July. Together with a heavy training program the entire squad was ready in the beginning of August with just about every player at 100% match sharpness.

Starting 5-0 at home against Boro was a huge boost to morale and important for the winning mentality and standard we want to set this season. Followed by Moise Kean scoring a late winner at Leicester, goalless draw at Old Trafford and then dismantling Arsenal at home in a very pleasing win that saw two of our youngsters - Binder and Ivkovic - score excellent goals. This month I almost wanted more games this month to keep our players busy.

September the squad really began to show its strength with a bit more chance to rotate, Binder, Nelson, Bellingham and Joe Aribo all finding themselves with excellent performances. It is a great feeling as a coach when you have complete faith in your "B" string to perform, and there was lots of that this month.

And in October, we recorded our first loss of the season, away at Nott Forest. Agustin Urzi found his first goals for the club but our ex-backup goalie Alex Schlager punished us with 10 saves. At least we had a good recovery against Tottenham in the next game. Two strong wins away in the EURO Cup sets us up well to top our group. Here's how we're standing:

Flying start! Let's hope it can continue.

Thanks mate. Continue alright!


SEASON 6 PT 2 – Oct 2024 - Feb 2025


Results




We continued into November with our winning mentality. Kean in unstoppable form helping us clinch a late winner against Brighton, then again vs Zenit. Reiss Nelson showed up for us against Aston Villa, and is proving to be a very handy squad player. Our defenders put the point on their excellent month with two goals against Palace and a lovely strike from Binder the only goal to continue our winning European streak.

A busy December but the squad handled it with relative ease. A toothless performance at Cardiff with Kean rested, but he had the edge we needed to beat Man City at home, perhaps a far more important fixture with us challenging the title. Away at West Ham should not have been this easy, but again with a talismanic performance and hat-trick to our best player, and making way for Louie Barry to come off the bench to score his first goal for Everton. The rotated squad continue to do well in the EURO cup, Binder and Urzi finding goals again, and Moriba with his first goals for the club, the latter a winner against West Brom. Bournemouth dispatched in the League Cup QFs, and Chiesa with an outstanding hat trick against Watford; Binder impressing again with a goal off the bench against a defeated side. Liverpool at Anfield was the one to win, but with Sadio Mane drawing first blood early on, and a hard tackle into in-form Moriba causing a bad groin strain, it seemed like we had the fear in us and couldn't change the inevitable outcome - a Liverpool missed penalty in the 2nd half hiding the outperformance. Better from the 2nd string at home against Soton two days later.




A quick break for transfers!

Transfers



Outgoing we had Joe Aribo to Shanghai for 69 m, tidy profit after joining on a free 18 months ago, and Pablo Maffeo wanting out. Maffeo was already a top earner and being greedy with his new contract but no longer as the best right-back for the club he makes way. Nathan Ferguson, one of my very first transfers into the club, was a failure and leaves for 3.2 m.




We splashed the cash this window.

The highlight of the incoming transfers is superstar forward Nils Creemers, coming in for record 106 m from Atletico Madrid. He is just so good at such a young age, incredible technicals and intelligence, not quite as physically dominant as Moise Kean but offers something different with his passing and vision. I am really excited to see him pair up with Kean, if he settles well he could lead the line and push Kean out to the left wing.

We also have Claudio Brignone joining the team for a sizeable 39.5 m fee. At 20 he is already a decent Premier League defender, with lots of room to improve he displaces Ikechukwu as our 4th-best centre back (Ike goes out on loan).

Fermnin and Paul McIntosh will both join the youth team, Fermin in particular looks a really interesting player, great potential and an extremely intelligent player. Exciting to see how he will develop.

NEW PLAYERS:




Results



We continue into the New Year dropping points against Nott Forest (Schlager, again!). But Creemers gets off the mark in his first half hour for the club, a great start for him. Bournemouth was dispatched with ease, a goal from each of our forwards stamping out the game. Same treatment for Newcastle in the League Cup Semis. Chelsea away should have been challenging but again Creemers scored early to set the stage for an excellent team performance. A scrappy 1-0 win away at Spurs thanks to the ever clinical Kean precedes our revenge against Liverpool. How about that for a spanking? Creemers hat-trick, Kean brace, Markovic with salt in the wound. This is really vindication. Blackburn and Newcastle in the domestic cups were quite effortless, and Leicester at home couldn't match our form.





Here's the league. I expected to do well this season, but winning the damn thing was not really on the cards for me. But we have a solid lead now, so just have to make sure we don't blow it.



Another EURO Cup trophy would be nice too!

Just read through the thread, how the hell did you get Cavani to join?!? Anyway well done on the progress,, won't be long before you win that Premier League

Thanks for reading. His contract actually expired and he walked around as a free agent for a couple of days before he agreed to sign on. Of course, I was paying him big bucks. I guess the calculation for a career professional is that every day that he spends officially "unemployed", is costing him big money. FM allows for this and unemployed players (true free agents) much more willing to join any club that will pay them. I could've signed David Silva that season as well for the same reason but opted not to - he was a bit slow!

SEASON 6 PT 3 – Feb 2025 - May 2025


RESULTS




Our winning form carried through the light month of February, Nils Creemers has settled in nicely. A light month of fixtures and we cruised through.





March was much busier, eight games in three weeks, but we started with an outstanding team performance against Chelsea to win 4-2 in extra time of the League Cup Final. That one felt good.

High on the victory, we were confident against Shakhtar in both legs of the EURO Cup, with the B-team performing well in a solid home win against West Ham. A Moise Kean hat-trick away at Man City kept our winning run going. Creemers off the bench to score two winning goals against West Brom in the Quarter Final was another highlight of things just going right for us this month.



April started with another close win against Aston Villa, followed by a 1-1 draw at Man Utd thanks to a goal off a corner. Carles Alena scored off a defensive error to secure victory against Brighton, while Creemers showed up with a perfect hat trick in the return leg of the EURO Cup semis.

Nottm Forest and Crystal Palace were both dispatched easily in good team performances, while we had club captain Ajer to score off a corner against Arsenal to secure a win (no thanks to a Kean missed penalty)



May is when the excitement happened. We played our best team against Man City in the EURO Cup semis. We lost the away leg first, but not too large a deficit. The Sunday match against Man Utd had to be a second string team, and they did me proud, with Reiss Nelson and Jude Bellingham enjoying their day.



With that win against Man Utd, we lifted the Premier League trophy. The next leg against Man City at home we showed much better football and put the tie to rest.

The next three league games were not so important to us, so we use them to rotate and keep our best XI rested and fit. Happily, we win all of them relatively comfortably.



Our second last game of the season was the FA Cup final against Tottenham, and despite Areola having an excellent day against our forwards, the team managed to break through in the second half. Bob Binder coming off the bench in the 84th to score one and set up another is really good work from young forward.



The EURO Cup final against Paris SG we unfortunately could not win despite having the better of the chances. Excellent goalkeeping once again thwarted our strikers. At the other end we had Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, two truly world class players converting beautiful goals against us.

You can't win everything, but we've certainly tried this year! A wonderful season that sees us record a domestic "treble" and our 4th bit of silverware for the club.




SQUAD REVIEW



Here's a look at the treble winning team and their performances this season.

GK: Pickford and Nubel were hard to distinguish, the younger German playing 6 more games and recording 3 more shutouts than the England goalie.

DR: Dodo played well here but was sidelined for several months with a broken wrist and his ability has dropped significantly. Mathieu Fritsch played about half his games there in my retraining effort, with an excellent 8 assists. Jonjoe Kenny did well when called upon, putting in quite a few important tackles.

DC: Milenkovic and captain Ajer were the outstanding pairing here, defending well together and always threatening at set pieces. 5 goals from a centre-back is a good season. Markovic did very well rotating here, while the young new addition Claudio Brignone has made a good start establishing himself in the team.

DL: Jamal Lewis and Kostas Tsimikas rotated very well this season, not breaking a step. Lewis with a better defensive record but Tsimikas excellent in chance creation with 9 assists.

MC: In the advanced playmaker role, Ilaix Moriba and Carles Alena both had great seasons. While I consider Moriba to be the better player, the experienced Alena outperformed him in his debut season - granted Alena is excellent behind the set pieces and adds a lot of assists from that position. In the Mezzala role, Dominik Szoboszlai appeared the most this season, consistently performing well and creating a lot of chances. Bellingham in rotation with him has improved a lot this season, and his excellent shooting ability makes him quite dangerous in front of goal. 9 goals from each of these two central midfielders is very respectable! Further back in the deep lying playmaker role we had Bruno Guimaraes with a very good defensive performance and an important figure in recycling possession creatively and quickly to suit our high tempo play. Ajer provided some rotation with him and played several games in midfield this season, while the young Hurford-Lockett played well when given the chance, confidently scoring his first goals for the club.

AMR: On the right Chiesa had a solid season with 10+ goals and assists. Backed up by Reiss Nelson who was in excellent goalscoring form this year. Both these two players are versatile across both wings and both feet, able to play up front if needed also, and I am pleased with their consistent performances. Ivan Ivkovic is more of a pure winger with excellent crossing ability, he's turning into quite the assist machine often finding Moise Kean in goalscoring positions on the left.

AML: I've opted to start retraining Moise Kean to this position to make room for Creemers up front. Still not sure if this is the right choice; Kean is a monster with his goalscoring ability, almost breaking 50 goals again, but Creemers has a bit more sophistication with his football. Either way, they both had great seasons. Urzi in rotation seemed to find his feet later on in the season but overall I was not very impressed with his play.

ST: Creemers, as mentioned, 20 goals since joining at the end of January. Very happy with him. Binder has impressed this year, 13 goals from him is a great contribution. I hope he continues to improve and fulfills his potential.