Spanky's 13 long termer....

Okay so this is a very delayed career but after going through to 2030 I thought I would share my story with you all.

So it began in 2012 with Liverpool.

Since it has been so long I will just put up my basic history and achievements etc etc.



So in my 6 seasons at Liverpool a pretty successful stint. I managed to turn Liverpool into a power house again and had players like Falcao leading the way. 3 Premier Leagues, 1 Capital One Cup, 1 F.A Cup, 2 Community Shields, 2 Champions Leagues, 1 Europa League, 1 Super Cup and one Club World Cup. After winning everything at least once I made the very tough decision to leave Liverpool.

After holidaying for just on 6 months the Valencia job opened up, now if I remember correctly Valencia were struggling in about 19th place when I took over, had an old average squad and well to be honest needed a lot of work. One of my best games was on FM06 with Valencia so I relished the chance to do well with them.

However I couldn't transfer my Liverpool success over and after just on 8 months I was sacked after finishing 9th in the league and being knocked out of the Europa League in the first knockout round.

5 days later Bristol City offered me a job, they were struggling in league one but with the squad they had should have been doing much better. I came in and just managed to scrape into 6th and go on to win promotion to the Championship, I failed to do anything of note in the cups.
Life in the Championship was miserable for me, wasn't enjoying it and was struggling for form, if I remember correctly we were languishing just above the relegation spots so when the job offer from Lyon came in I just couldn't say no.

Well as it turns out I should probably have taken a deeper look into Lyon, a rubbish squad with no money as it was squandered on useless players by the former manager(s) and struggling in the league.
I managed to qualify for the first knockout round of the Champions League however the board weren't happy with my form in the league and I was sacked 2 months and 13 days after getting the job.

4 months later and I was offered the Croatia job. I promptly accepted as I thought national management would help get me back into the game after my previous failures. Plus it was a chance to manage Luka Modric before he retired. I was swiftly back to winning ways, Croatia were the top ranked team in the world when I took over courtesy of having won the 2018 World Cup and I didn't disappoint the faithful when I made it back to back in 2022.
I beat Togo and the US in the group stages, finishing second to Switzerland who gave us a lesson in football when we played. I knocked off Spain 3-2, Colombia 3-2, Mexico on penalties and sealed it over Portugal also on penalties. Was a very tense finish to the World Cup.
I also added the Confed cup to my trophy cabinet beating the likes of Mexico and Morocco.

I resigned from Croatia after the World Cup with little interest in taking them to the European Championship as most of the current players were retiring as well. 5 months later and a trip across the world to the US took me to New England. In my 3 seasons there I took a New England side who finished last and had first draft picks into the Oakland A's of the football world, picking up frees and player exchanges I managed to snag the Eastern Conference and the MLS in 2024 and then the CONCACAF Champions League in 2026.

I left New England mid way through 2026 after some managers were facing the sack back in Europe. 2 and a bit months later Birmingham came calling, they have fallen a long way down the ladder and found themselves in League Two. This was going to be huge for me, take Birmingham back to the heights of the Premier league. We were favorites for promotion and I didn't fail my board finishing second and automatic promotion to league one. Birmingham were well ahead financially of the other teams in league one and I managed to finish 4th and win the play off final to head back into the Championship. Not bad back to back promotions, however in November of 2028 the job offers came rolling back in, first off was Lyon the club who sacked me 7 years earlier, they were still struggling and not getting over how they treated me when I was clearly building for next season I declined. Liverpool then came in with an offer, I went through the seasons and since I left Liverpool the previous managers had spent on average about 100m per season but still could not win the premier league and aside from the odd cup here and there not much else was happening. The decline had happened again, finances were a mess and the team were very ordinary. I accepted, I want to get them back to the dizzy heights I had them in the early to mid 2010's.



My history.



Next update will be my current season.

Interesting career so far. Will be following!

Great career so far good luck in the rest of it !

Great career so far good luck in the rest of it !

Wow, certainly a very varied career so far. I like the ups and downs along the way as being successful all the time gets boring!

Good luck, i'll be following this one.

Cheers fellas, update will be coming soon, another mixed season to say the least.

Alrighty so on to season 2029/2030.

First off transfers. Now I had to let go of a lot of deadwood at the end of 2029 season, they just weren't good enough, wages were too high and the club was leaking money. But on the other hand I also had to strengthen so I spent our entire transfer budget on the hope we could finish in the European spots and start bringing the cash in again.



Now while I spent a large amount on players there is only one over the age of 22. Obviously a look toward the future but at a skill level to still help us compete and work back the money spent.

Some of the key players:


New starting goalkeeper after the departures of Dahl and Ewing. Managed to clinch the golden gloves with 16 clean sheets in his first season.


Slotted in nicely in my 3 man midfield and had a solid season averaging over 7.


Only 17 years old but found a spot in the starting line up towards the end of the season, very solid season for someone so young.


Kid already looks the goods at only 16, didn't play a game in the firsts due to his age and Luke Shaw being my starting left back but will get some games next season as I am not renewing Shaw's contract due to age and size of wages.


Pretty sure this kid will be my player of the season and go close to winning the league player of the year. 9 MoM, over 7.5 rating for the season and will be England's center back for a long time. I spunked a huge amount on him but money well spent, I will get 10 plus years out of him and I feel he will be genuine world class.

I'll show some other key players for the squad now.


Young's partner and also had a great season. They picked him up 4 years ago from Inter.


Unfortunately I will only get to manage this guy for another season as he is getting on. Absolute rock in the center mid breaking up plays and unloading onto our version of Xavi to do his magic.


Here he is, my own Xavi. The previous manager spent 27m on him the season before and what can I say? Thrilled I get to manage someone like him. Beaten only by Young in the ratings but even though the assists column doesn't show it if we scored a goal it was more or less because of him.


Doesn't have the attributes of a world class striker but boy can he find the net. Always popped up with the goal when we needed it. Managed to get him his debut for Holland because of his form and his goal scoring continued there.


My squad as of the end of the season.


How we lined up. Originally I was playing a controlled game with my three center mids being as good as they are I thought that was the best option, however my wide men and to an extent my striker weren't good enough to control or capitalize on when we did control the ball. I soon realized a counter option was probably best, use the 3 center mids to hold off and break up the attacks then hit my wide men and striker who are all very pacey, it worked to an extent.

Great pre season, 16 goals for and only 2 against. Not the best of opposition but was mainly just so the team could gel a little bit.


Disgusting League Cup fixture and I made it known to the team I wasn't happy. My second string side played but stll should have been good enough to win.


Forgot to mention I won the FA Cup last season. Can't say I'm disappointed at this result after all it is Man City.


Couldn't replicate last season, the loss to Tottenham was very hard to take. It was a flogging but at one point Tottenham were a chance of winning the premier league so ah well.


Very good group stage scoring for fun in all bar the loss to Las Palmas. We topped the group by a point and went through fairly easily against Dinamo. However Tottenham were at it again, just too good a squad for my youngsters and we bundled out.




Pretty good start to the season with wins over Man Utd and Chelsea, thought I was on course for something special but as always those games where you lose and you shouldn't happen, Millwall, Charlton, Newcastle and Blackburn just to name a few. It didn't help when Man Utd and Chelsea got revenge later on. After the Norwich game I was a chance at stealing a champions league spot but a horrifying run of 6 games without a win put an end to that. A draw with Charlton again a loss to 18th place Leeds really did leave me angered.

So how did we finish up? My position was insecure for a while and I thought after the Tottenham loss I was going to be fired but I hung in there.



Europa league again. Just managed to sneak it but the added income will be surely needed, the other good thing is that with Shaw and Ararat leaving it frees up a combined £345k per week on wages. No idea what the previous manager was thinking but Ararat is not worth 80l per week let alone 195k.

Now onto season 2030/2031.

Was right about Young being our player of the year.

Bullshit he didn't win any other individual awards though, didn't even make the team of the year despite playing better then the other CB's.

Vera won young player of the year though so not all was lost.

I love a good comeback. Amazed by the talent in that squad, everyone else must have stunning players if you're only coming Euro Cup places.

Edit: Having said that I'm currently managing Hungary so I'm not really used to talent!!

Man City went on a spending spree buying up every bit of young talent I bought when I first started at Liverpool. I think at last count they had 7 or 8 starters who I had bought in. Tottenham had bought a couple too, in fact their top scorer was a striker I bought in for only a couple million. Going to be tough to get into Champions league spots but I'm trying to weave my magic in the transfer market atm.

Generally happy with my dealings, probably over paid on a couple but really needed the players and could probably have snagged a couple million more from transfers out but needed those players gone. £16 odd million spent net on transfers is not a bad window.


This kid was picked up by my youth development officer, 14 years old and look at those attributes. Will play in the reserves, eventually go out on loan and I'll look to play him when he's about 17 or 18 if I'm still at Liverpool.


Picked this bloke up on a pre contract in January and will eventually be first choice keeper. 20 reflexes I don't see very often in games and has great command of area.


Another freeby. Very pacey striker will play off the bench and eventually succeed Cairo. Just needs to work on his finishing and composure.


The third of the freebies I picked up on pre contracts. Good first touch, good dribbler and pacey. Can cause some dramas on the flanks off the bench.


After Young and Forskett I don't really have anyone at center back. So in comes this kid. Long term replacement for Forskett.


Great crosser and dribbler, will get some games off the bench.


Hard working pacey striker, will be third choice.


One of the ones I over spent on but better now then when he is world class. Will be rotating with my current second string right back in cup games for now.


Another one I probably over spent on and wages are a little higher then I would like but with Shaw gone I needed some quality at left back and he fits the bill perfectly.

That's it for now.

I have my eye on a young center back to make a world class pairing with Young but will cost me about £40m and another right winger who will cost about the same. Will be keeping an eye on contract status as I've already made them unhappy with the current employers

A small but disappointing pre season. I put this down to the large amount of ins and outs though.

Done the home leg easily and dominated the away leg just as much but couldn't find the net. We saved a penalty to deny them a late winner also.



Metalist finished 3rd in the Ukraine league last season, they have a pacey striker but apart from that shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
Bologna have been a mid table side since about 2017, finishing as high as 4th on a few occasions too. One of those solid squads with no real standouts. Could be tricky going to Italy.
Videoton have won 18 of the last 20 league titles in Hungary and finished runners up the other two. Only have the one real player as it's not a playable league and he is a goalkeeper. Expecting 6 points from them.

Deadline day signing, desperately needed cover for the flanks and my original target would have broke the bank.

Proved tougher then I anticipated. Currently sitting behind Metalist by a point in 3rd and play them last. Need the win. Bologna proved to be a very well organised strong pressing team. I just couldn't find any space.


Very difficult draw when I am in a struggling team and need a solid cup run to hold off the board.


Stoke proved a bit of a scare but Blackburn and Southampton weren't too much to worry about for my second string side. We drew Man Utd in the semi final.


Well what can I say that the image doesn't already. 10 games without a win and some of those games I literally had my jaw on the desk, could not believe how we could lose them. The loss to West Ham was the final straw and I was sacked.

My vision for the future didn't work, my youngsters just couldn't cut it in the premier league and I failed them all.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though.


I accepted straight away, have not managed in the A-League yet in this career, the ground work has already been laid and it isn't to difficult to win the A-League. Hopefully this provides some stability as the last couple of years have been rough. I'll look to turn them into an Asian force and then move on.

More of a reason to win the A-League this year

The previous manager left for the Western Sydney Wanderers. I have no idea why though, they are currently 9th and have a squad full of New Zealanders who are largely average.

Some key players.



This guy doesn't have the physical attributes to be a defensive midfielder except for his tackling attribute. His first touch, passing and technique are unbelievable for a player in this league, if his creativity was a bit higher I would be creaming myself. He will slot into a deep lying role where he can utilize that tackling technique to break up plays then start his own.



Composure isn't where I would like to be but he still bangs them in in this league. Has 9 in 11 for the previous manager.


Now this bloke is a striker. Has 15 or higher in pretty much every attribute I look for in a striker. Has played second fiddle to Lopez but no more.


Will use Gadea to hit this bloke for him to drill his crosses into the box. Great attributes for a winger.


The overall squad. Pretty solid and I won't be making any changes until after the season, see how everyone get's on.


Very strong position. Hopefully I can continue on from here. Will be good to get back to winning ways.

An indifferent start to my Brisbane Roar career sees us 3 points off the pace. The AI seems to have definitely caught onto my tactics over the years as I am pretty stubborn and usually won't change from a certain style or formation. This might change with Brisbane and hopefully the last game is a sign of things to come.

Chance to add some silverware very early on here. It's either Guangzhou ir Beijing that wins that respective league and Muangthong doesn't actually have a division which is interesting. So I will hopefully play them lol.

Interesting career, keep it up mate. I love the Uruguayan CM that you've got for Brisbane, I bet his pass completion ratio is class.

Thanks mate. I'll check tonight what his ratio is. Had a very interesting end to the season, I haven't had much game time due to commitments but I went on a run of I think 5 wins in a row at the end of the season, 4 of which I believe were in the league the other in the champions league. I managed to finish third in the A-league and met Newcastle who thumped me last time I played them. Now just before I went on my run I had been tinkering with tactics and realizing I had really only one class striker and one very young striker I changed to a 5 strong midfield which obviously seemed to work, I went on to beat Newcastle 3-1 I believe it was. Next up was Sydney in the Semi Final. A tough fought match where my superstar striker missed an open net finished with not many other opportunities and ended 0-0.

As penalties always go it was like this:

Sydney : Goal, goal, goal, goal, miss.
Brisbane: Goal, goal, goal, goal and my best finisher fucking misses.

Luckily Sydney missed the next shot and we slotted home to book our place in the Grand final against the Central Coast.

Bit of history, CCM have won the A-League grand final 7 times, Brisbane 6.
I haven't played this game yet as I went to a mates but screenies and the rest will come probably tonight or tomorrow,

In the Champions league I was on course to qualify from the groups however a few shocking results have left me 3rd on goal difference with 2 to play.

Okay so just a quick update on this game. I have been very busy and with the succession game going so well I have not played much of this save. I'll get some screenies up when I get a chance but here is what has happened.

So I finally got around to playing the grand final I won. As it was a while ago I can't remember in what fashion I won in. Might have been a 1-0 I think.
My champions league was hanging in the balance but I managed to pick up either 3 or 4 points from my final two games and qualified. Now this is where my interest waned in the A-league. While I like the A-League this was a squad I had inherited so when it came time for player contract renewals there wasn't much I wanted to keep around but it was enough that would have sent my champions league journey spiraling downhill. I decided to resign.

I might head back one day but I want a full pre season to make the squad my own and avoid situations like the above.

Anyways Montpellier approached me. After my failed stint in Lyon I was pretty quick to accept this job offer. They were a reasonable squad finishing 6th last season, I had Europa league to look forward to and a full pre season to work some transfer magic. I was given a healthy £13.5m transfer budget and just on £1m wages I think it was. Only downside was after my budgets were given the chairmen pumped 17m into the club to bring me to 12m in the black, so I was anxious about spending the transfer budget.

More updates to follow when I get home.

How we line up. Ignore the ass man's role and duty columns as he's not the greatest at judging players.



My transfer dealings. I didn't really want to spend all the money but being short across the back I had to fork out on Alberto on one of the last days of the transfer window.


Bayern released this kid and I snapped him up. Since I moved to a 5 man midfield he's started every game and while not setting the world alight I have every faith he will soon embrace the role.


Dangerously short on goalkeepers this guy has great command, communication, aerial and reflexes which is what I largely look at when buying goalkeepers. Again not setting the world alight but that can be attributed to the poor start we had when I was still working out the team and tactics.


Another youngster but great physical attributes. Not much game time but that will come over the next season or two.


Got this kid off loan but great poacher attributes. A goal every two games but also had some injuries to dampen his time here. If I can will probably get him on a permanent.


One of my better performers this season, can play right across the back but mainly brought for right back. Will def be a key player for years to come.

Now I'll show you some of the superstars I inherited.




Some real gems in defence, it baffles as to why we concede the way we do. I can only put that down to age. Hopefully with a few more years leading the defence they will become rocks.




These two are absolute quality, the problem is they are very similar players. I also believe this has a bearing on us conceding so many goals. Without anyone else of note in the center mid I just have to make do. They are too good to bench either though so whoever I bring in has to be real quality.

How the league is going so far. As I said real struggle street the first few games what with learning players and tactics. Didn't help that we came up against the champions first up.

Once we started to put the gameplan together the wins started, whilst we dominate possession it's more about working the ball, not a lot of big scores because we don't just shoot at every opportunity.

Had the hickup against 3 of the big 4 but all three games ending 2-1, 2 of those games away, conceding a penalty in one and an own goal in another.

Should never have lost to Arles, we got a penalty missed they went up the other end and scored. We had 13 shots on target but couldn't find an equalizer let alone a winner.



Two bullshit draws in the cups see us exit in the first round of each.


Done the Europa easy so far, minus the loss at home to Shalke. Which we avenged the very next game.


If we cut out the silly losses to teams well below us I have no doubt we will be in Europa league again next season. Going to be tough to challenge for top 4 from here but hopefully next season with the right buys I get it right.

My next fixture is the first leg in Europa knockout round. Wish me luck.

Did it tough at home. Lucky to get the equalizer. We put it together in the next game though beating Troyes 5-1 with Paco grabbing 4. I was very confident.


It was much easier then the scoreboard actually shows. That man Paco is on fire, 6 goals in two games. Hopefully keeps the run going.

We've drawn Juventus in the next leg, to top that off Paco misses the first leg due to yellow card accumulation. First leg is away though so that's comforting.

Had it not been for Gil it could have been 5 or 6-0 down. On the other hand if I had Paco instead of Marty we could have scored between 2 and 3. Some positive signs for the home leg.

Fuck I hate this game sometimes. Both goals were gifts, kicked straight to the player by my defender and they bury it. FUCK FUCK FUCK. We've also slipped up in the league losing to 8th placed Evian and 12th placed Arles. Arles have done the double over us when they had no right to. I'm disgusted right now.

How we look with 6 games to go. Possibly another 12 points we should have taken but weren't clinical or were too complacent. Either way we need Europa or I'm sacked.


SHOULD get 9 points from the next three games. Couldn't have asked for a worse finish though playing 3, 2 and 1 to round out the season.
Be happy with a sneaky win from one of those 3 and maybe a draw.

Dominated this game but was one of those days where they put it on target and it went in. Not looking good for the run home.



Dominated again this time we put the ball in the back of the net and restricted them to only 1 shot off target all game.



As soon as Diallo went off we really struggled and were quite frankly lucky to hold on to the draw.



HUGGGGE win this. Gives us 7 points with 2 games remaining. Lyon are 4 points ahead in 4th. Race for champions league is still on but I have to play second placed PSG and first placed Marseille.