Welcome to my FM24 where, as the title suggests, I will trying to make Scotland the best nation in the World both internationally and domestically.

In this save there are four main aims:

INTERNATIONAL

Win the World Cup

Top the FIFA World Rankings

DOMESTIC

Win the Champions League

Take Scotland to the top of the UEFA Nation co-efficient

To do this I will be starting as manager of the Scotland National team and alongside that I will be taking charge of Queen's Park, who currently reside in the Championship.

Why Queen's Park? Well they are a Glasgow-based team and it would be a nice extra challenge to topple the big two (Celtic and Rangers) who are both Glasgow-based as well

So wish me luck!

Updates will be monthly or bi-monthly depending on how much stuff has happened, there will also be a pre-season preview and a post season review.

Your careers are always good reads mate! I'm looking forward to this one, as Scotland saves are always fun. 

Let's topple the Glasgow Giants!

2023/24 Season Preview

This update will look specifically at Queen's Park. Internationally I will only really update when qualifying for a competition ends or when a major tournament comes about.

THE CLUB

Formed in 1867, the Glasgow-based club are the oldest football club in Scotland, they currently play at Hampden Park, the home of the National side, the stadium holds just over 51k, a nice capacity to aim at but for now we will be lucky to get 4-5k each game (and even that's probably optimistic!)

The club have only really risen away from the bottom tier of the SPFL in the past couple of season, winning successive promotions in 2020-21 and 2021-22 and in the 2022-23 season narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premiership, losing in the playoffs. Their rise up the leagues has coincided with the decision to become professional in 2019, removing the amateur status the club has held for 152 years.

So a club on the up with a huge ground, a great base and an exciting future.

FACILITIES

Overall it looks pretty good, compared to the rest of the Scottish Championship our training and youth facilities are near the top end, we also have half-decent junior coaching and youth recruitment but to bring through those top quality kids through the academy this needs improving.

I do like to get those intake stars coming into the first-team, this will also hopefully help the national side as we progress through the save, so getting these increased is key moving forward.

THE FINANCES

It actually looks better than I expected but, as you will see, it maybe isn't as good as you'd think.

£3m in the bank, fantastic, but……

Projections shows big losses over the coming seasons, promotion to the Premiership is key but even then money won't come easy, the best way to make money is to qualify for Europe, that is a must. It will be tough but shouldn't take more than 4 or 5 seasons tops.

It's also not brilliant budget wise with only £80k to spend in transfer money and literally no spare wage budget left in what we have.

So promotion is huge to get the finances moving the right way and this season we have to be really savvy in how we build the squad in readiness for a promotion challenge.

THE PLAYERS

After an initial look it has become evidently clear we have virtually no defenders, when I looked we had one right back and two centre backs. I've had to bring in some kids from the youth teams to just bolster the defensive ranks. So that is the number one aim before the season starts, we need defenders.

Other than that we have strength in depth in all areas, plenty of midfielders and way too many wingers, up front we are a little light in decent natural strikers but the kids may get their chance!

KEY MEN

The highest rated player at the club is wide-man Stuart McKinstry, at only 20-years old he could be a huge players moving forward.

Left back Tommy Robson also looks like a really good player for this level, a decent attacking full back.

I am really excited by this lad, goalkeeper Callan McKenna is a 16-year old who has already been capped at U17 and U18 level for Scotland, could he be a potential star for the national side in the years to come?

One thing that is evident is how young our squad is, we have 8 players over 22-years old and only 1 player over 30. In the squad we have 13 teenagers! It's time for them to become men and take this club to the Premiership!!!!

SEASON PREVIEW AND EXPECTATIONS

So how are we expected to do? Well the media have us as playoff challengers but more than likely to end mid-table.

The board also agree as they expect us to end mid-table and to do our best in the cup competitions

The interesting thing is, the board expect us to win promotion next season! High expectations!!!

My next update will be at the end of August when the transfer window slams shut, let's hope we can bring in some better defenders and start the season well!

Having a young squad is a blessing in my eyes! Definitely something to build on. McKinstrey looks like a great player at that level, and should be key going forward.

Think you’re right to be excited about McKenna, watched a bit of him IRL this season as he’s been first choice and he looks a nice talent. Hopefully you can develop these youngsters for a promotion push over the next two seasons!

I thought they were still playing at Lesser Hampden. Having the huge stadium in place should hopefully help with growth once you get to the top league

I was discussing this with someone last night. Apparently this season they are back at Hampden whilst Lower Hampden gets refurbished, they should be going back there from the 24/25 season but as far as I can see it's not planned in the game

2023/24 Season - July & August

Here we go, the season has begun and I've got to the end of August, before I go through the results let's take a look at the new signings.

Because of our restricted wage budget I've had to keep costs down by cheap loans and freebies, there were a few more than I planned but all brought in for a reason.

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan - Striker - Season loan from Reading

Say this name when you're drunk!!! A decent looking, young forward who started the season well but then got injured for 6-8 weeks. We were very short of decent strikers so he was massively needed, a shame he got injured so quickly

Phil Bardsley - Right Back - Free Transfer

Experience which is really needed in this young squad, at 38 though Phil still looks top quality.

Tyler Bindon - Central Defender - Season loan from Reading

We are hugely short in defence so Bindon was needed, a really decent, tall, strong centre back.

Ryan Astley - Central Defender - Season loan from Everton

A second CB to come in, his attributes are really well-rounded and he will prove to be a quality player at this level

Aiden Denholm - Central Midfield - Season loan from Hearts

What I found in the opening games was we really didn't have a decent, attacking-minded midfielder, one who can get forward and be a threat in the box, Denholm looks like he can fill that gap.

Will Lankshear - Striker - Season loan from Spurs

After losing my other loanee Striker for a few months I needed another lad to come in as we are very short up top. Lankshear offers good pace and decent finishing, he should be really good

So six new signings, no money spent and wages kept down to a minimum, the squad looks much better now, even if it still looks very young.

Now to the results and the season starts the with Premier Sports Cup (League Cup), it opens with a group stage and it went really well.

Four games, three wins and our only defeat was on penalties in the final game. Our best result was the first game where we beat Premiership side St Mirren. A really good start.

After the group stage of the League Cup the Championship season began, it didn't start well with a poor defeat to Inverness but we recovered to beat Arbroath 3-0, our third league game was another defeat away to Partick but they are a much better team than us and we did play pretty well. 

Sandwiched in between those final two league games was the Second round of the League Cup where we went to Premiership side Livingston and came away with a 2-1 win!

So while the league season hasn't started amazingly our run in the League Cup has been brilliant, in the Quarters we face Celtic at home!

Only three points so far but we have had a couple of tough away games, defensively we seem to struggle and we have also been hampered with fitness issues, hopefully as the season continues, the players will begin to get their sharpness up.

Finally, a quick look at the tactics I'm trying to employ. I have two tactics, both 41221 with different styles of play dependant on who we're facing.

If I want to dominate the ball and push higher up forcing mistakes then I will play with the gegenpress tactic. This worked really well in the League Cup but when we faced away games in the League it seemed to get ripped apart, hence why I had a second tactic, one which sat a bit deeper and play more counter-attacking.

For the gegenpress tactic though the roles are pretty basic with a couple of changes to base roles. 

Below is the second tactic, again 41221 with some tweaks to roles. I hope the CM(a) will get forward to join in the attacks, it worked well in the win away to Livingston where Denholm scored the winner from that CM(a) position. I've also tried a different style back four with the LB more attacking, the RB is playing at the new IFB role who, when the LB attacks, should tuck in and create a back three, let's hope it works!

2023/24 Season - September

It's been a pretty decent month overall

The draw away to Raith was really pleasing, a team expected to end above us, we scored after 18 seconds and although they grabbed a second half leveller, we did well to hold on for a point. After that it was really good in the league, we gave Celtic a run for their money in the League Cup and then fluked a penalty shootout win with our reserves playing in the Challenge Cup

We played really well against Celtic, had a few chances but in the end they just had too much.

It's really tight in the league, as expected really, it's a ridiculously tough league with lots of good teams, 4th is good and we're only two points off the top.

Our good month has also been noticed as I have won the Championship Manager of the Month

And my on loan midfielder Denholm wins the Young Player of the Month

October 2023

What an amazing month….bar one result

6 leagues games, 5 wins including a last-gaps 1-0 win away to Dundee United, overall I am delighted, we have really hit some form, there is one result that didn't go our way, I've never witnessed a game like it, my players just didn't show up, they ran us ragged and we got hammered by Airdrie!

15 points out of a possible 18 though, absolutely brilliant and that means…..

We're top by 4 points!!! Still a long way to go but we're doing so well.

A quick word on Winger Stuart McKinstry who's had a sensational month, 5 games, 4 goals and 3 assists, he ends as the Championship Player and Young Player of the Month

What a play that McKinstry is! Chipping in with goals and assists! Leading by example that's for sure!

Well played on reaching that top spot. Now it's time to kick and cement yourself there!

November 2023 + Euro Qualifying

What an amazing month it's been. In the League we have won all three of our games, conceding none along the way.

That final game against Dunfermline was huge, they are second and we produced a fantastic defensive display to grab a 1-0 win. It was made even better as I cocked up, I called both GK McKenna and Winger McKinstry to the Scotland not realising that we had that game during the international window!!!

7 points clear at the top now, still a long way to go but things are going so much better than I expected!

Now for the Euro 2024 Qualifying, it has just finished so what better time than to show you how things went.

Firstly, the crap part. In true FM style they decided not to include the actual real-life results, 3 games were played before the save started and unlike real-life where Scotland won all 3 of their matches, in FM they only won 1!

A poor start but I love to produce miracles!!!

In the September games we were absolutely incredible, grabbing a fantastic win against Haaland-less Norway and then a solid point at home to Spain.

Only a single game in the October break where we hammered Cyprus.

That meant we went into the November games with qualification in our own hands, we faced Georgia at home and Norway away, we knew if we beat Georgia we would only need a point in the final match. The only issue was Haaland was back!

Well we battered Georgia in an amazing second half display.

A draw was all what was needed but I knew it was going to be tough, half time came and we were 1-0 down, Haaland with the goal and within 6 minutes of the second half starting it was all but over, Odegaard and Solbakken with the goals to put Norway 3-0 up. Then came the come back, an own goal and a Gilmour penalty got it back to 3-2 but as we went for that massive third goal Norway caught us on the break, scoring a 4th and nabbing that final qualification spot from us.

Absolutely gutting!

But then the good news, we grabbed ourself a playoff spot!!!

Slovakia in the semis and then either Ukraine or Northern Ireland in the final for a Euro 2024 spot.

It does look like I am going to have to get through as the board are already unhappy!

Not sure why, apart from the Norway game we actually did really well, the main bad results came before I joined!

In other news 29-year old Andy Robertson and Scotland captain has retired from international football!

You're loss fella!!!

The win against Dunfermline could be huge come the end of season.

Can you talk Robertson out of retirement?

I tried and he said he will get back to me! We shall see

Will be great to follow another Scottish journey! Queens Park battering teams in the top flight will be so satisfying when it comes around. Like previously mentioned, strange that Hampden and Lesser Hampden aren’t coded into the game; thought it was well documented at the time to be included! Not that you will be complaining, a nice big stadium in place for when you are an established Glasgow giant 😉 
 

McKinstry is going to be huge for you getting to the top-flight, here’s to many more years (hopefully!)

International stage will come, the Norway result is a real sore one, but I have faith you can prevail in the play-offs! 

December 2023

The end of the year is here and although there's been a couple of iffy results this month things are still looking rosy

4 games in the league, we dropped our first points at home but still managed 7 points. Weirdly all of our games in December were at Hampden!

We also progressed in two cups, the big one was the Challenge Cup where we beat rivals Clyde easily

So we still sit top of the league even if our lead has shrunk by a point. 16 games left, a playoff spot looks nailed on but we want that automatic promotion spot!

One thing we have struggled with in the past few games is goals, only 2 goals in the last 3 games isn't great and both my loanee Strikers Lankshear and Ehibhatiomhan have struggled to find the net consistently. This may be something I look at sorting out in January, either by a signing or a switch in formation.

I did do my usual cock-up as well when I signed players on loan and forgot to look at the preferred position the players club wanted them to play at so both Strikers and midfielder Denholm may all get recalled, I have switched roles in my tactic to try and help but their managers are not happy!

January 2024

It's been a busy transfer window, firstly we lost Lankshear (ST) and Denholm (CM) who both got recalled to their parent clubs and then we lost one of our key men.

Left Winger Dom Thomas got his head turned by St Johnstone and left for £325k, a decent fee but it also includes 50% of the next sale, let's hope he goes for a decent fee!

Because of this we needed some new recruits, cheap deals and really cheap loans (and remembering to remove preferred position!!!!)

So please welcome…

Michael Okeke - Central Midfield - Season loan from Man City

A fantastic looking player who is technically gifted, much needed in our midfield that seems really short of that kind of quality.

Nathan Lowe - Striker - Season loan from Stoke

I said in the last post we were struggling for goals and I needed a quality striker, well I think I've found my man in Nathan Lowe, those physicals are immense for an 18-year old!!! He looks so good and hopefully will fire us to the Premiership

Toby Collyer - Central Midfield - Season loan from Man United

Another midfielder joins, I really felt this is where we were lacking, we needed better players to get the ball and do things with it and I hope that alongside Okeke, these two can do the job.

Scott Sinclair - Winger - £4.4k from Bristol Rovers

My replacement for Dom Thomas and what a player to bring in. Even at 34 he still looks really good and offers versatility being able to play anywhere along the attacking midfield or upfront, or even as a wing back!

Some really good signings, a definite improvement to the squad.

We've also had some other pieces of good news, the board have agreed to improve the Junior Coaching (Good) and Youth Recruitment (Above Average). Hopefully this will help in being able to bring our own academy players through

Now to the results and overall it's been a really good month.

Ok it didn't start well but Partick were a tough opponent, after that though it only went one way! I went back to my original gegenpress 41221 formation and it worked a treat. 4 straight wins, 2 in the league and progression in both the Scottish Cup and the Challenge Cup where we are into the semis and face League One Hamilton.

Those 2 league wins out of the 3 games mean we still sit top but our lead is now down to 5 points, a good gap to 3rd though with 14 games left.

As you can see in the results we owed our Scottish Cup win to Scott Sinclair who, in his first game for the club, scored twice including a 25-yard free kick!1

The month ends with an award for Winger Ruari Paton who wins the Championship Young Player of the Month

A good month for the lad who only came in as a stop-gap when Thomas left, prior to Sinclair coming in!

Looking good so far. That money could be very good especially with the sell on clause and you’ve strengthened really well in the window. Can smell the title already!

What a great transfer window replacing those that had left! Sinclair is going to tear the Championship up, and gives you the valuable experience as a potential promoted side, be that through play-offs or going straight up.

Will you keep Paton around to help with the aging Sinclair and rotation? He looks to be a very solid option to have around the squad!

Thanks mate, yeah Paton will stick around. McKinstry and Sinclair are my main two but Paton is a great rotation option

February 2024

The Championship title charge is well and truly gaining momentum!

4 league games, 10 points, this is going so well!

10 games left, 8 points clear!!

The league is going well but so is our cup runs, firstly we have got ourselves into the Challenge Cup final where we will face Falkirk

We then produced a huge shock in the Scottish Cup but knocking out Premiership Hibs with a last gasp goal!

And we more than deserved it.

That puts us into the Quarter finals where we have a home tie against Premiership St Mirren, a huge chance of getting to the semis!

We end the month with more awards as on-loan Striker Nathan Lowe wins both the Championship Player and Young Player of the Month! What a start for the lad!

March 2024 + Euro 2024 Playoffs & Youth Intake

It's been a very busy month overall but let's start with Scotland.

After narrowly missing out on automatic qualification for the Euros we were given a reprieve with a playoff spot. Slovakia in the Semi Final

It was a tough game, but we played well and scraped a 1-0 win, lots of disallowed goals along the way and Che Adams was fantastic.

We then faced Ukraine in the final, we were away and half my squad were knackered as the game came 4 days after the Slovakia match. We did our best, we weren't great in the first half but somehow we took the lead with just under 20 mins to go. We tried to hang on but the players were dead on their feet, Ukraine equalised soon after our goals, the game went to extra time and we fell apart, 2 goals in the first half of extra time saw Ukraine take a 3-1 lead, there was no way back and we were out. Gutted

The only good news is the Scottish FA let me keep my job….just!

Now we come to domestic action and unlike with Scotland things are going VERY well. I've changed tactics, I wanted more goals and changing to a 4231 has worked amazingly.

Goals have been flying in!

100% in the league, the title is so close now but the big one was the Scottish Cup Quarter final where we came from behind to see of Premiership St Mirren.

Its amazing to think but we are in the Semi finals of the main cup competition in Scotland but it's about to get very tough as we face Rangers!!

Like I said before, the league is all but over. We have 6 games left and sit 13 clear of 2nd, although they do have a game in-hand

There was one game left in the month and that was the Challenge Cup final against Falkirk. We were huge favourites but with lots of niggles and fitness issues it ended up being a very tight game.

Falkirk took an early lead well against the run of play, we absolutely battered them, chance after chance and it looked like it wasn't going to be our day, then, with 10 mins left, we eventually grabbed the leveller courtesy of Winger Paton. It went to extra time but 5 mins in we were given a penalty for a push in the box, Ehibhatiomham stepped up….and scored! 2-1, now we just had to hang on….AND WE DID!

CHALLENGE CUP WINNERS!!!

What an achievement in my first season in charge, now let's finish it off and win the Championship!

Finally, we had the annual youth intake, we were promised a “golden generation” in the preview and when it popped up I confused!

A “poor intake” but 1 elite talent and 4 top talents! Strange, so let's check them out!

The best “prospect”, yeah he isn't great!

I'm definitely gonna need some “patience” with this lad. Not great!

He looks angry but actually his attributes aren't too bad. 

And the final one, physically not good but actually not too bad.

So it could've been better, not the best first intake but there is something to work with

April/May 2024 & End of Season Review

March ended with one trophy and it wasn't long before another was sealed!

We beat Ayr United 2-1 before a 1-0 win at home to Dundee United sealed the Championship title with 4 games to spare. I never ever expected it to be this season!

After that I mixed the team around but we continued to pick up points even if we did lose a game.

We also had the Scottish Cup Semi Final against Rangers, as expected they were just too good, we did however manage to pull back 2 goals to only lose the game 4-2. An amazing run in that competition and that semi final gave us another £450k in gate receipts!

Another quality month (and a game in May), some brilliant results including smashing 2nd placed Inverness 6-2!

I'm not sure I could have wished for a better season, Challenge Cup Winners, Championship Winners and the Semi's of the Scottish Cup!

We end 16 points clear of the rest, absolutely incredible. I was expecting a playoff spot but never to dominate how we did!

Now for the key men, firstly here is the whole squad…

Some brilliant performances but there was one stand out man and that was Winger Stuart McKinstry.

By far our best performer, most goals, highest average rating, clubs player and young player of the year and also the Championship Player of the Season!

The only thing McKinstry didn't end top of was the most assists and that went to Right Winger Ruari Paton.

14 goals and 13 assists, not bad for a player who only starting 28 games!

Here is the clubs best XI from the season review.

It shows the 41221 formation but our form really kicked on when we switched to the 4231. Some fantastic performances, special note for my boy, young 'keeper Callan McKenna, this lad is going to be an absolute star!

A quick word on the finances. If you remember back to my first post, we had £3m in the bank but the projection was for us to lost around £2.5m over the season. Well our amazing cup runs combined with the gate receipts from the Celtic League Cup game and the Scottish Cup Semi against Rangers, also the £325k from the Dom Thomson deal means we actually end the season at £2.5m!

This has however took a hit as the board made me aware the training facilities had been downgraded, I immediately asked for them to be improved and they agreed.

£1.8m though so a massive hit on the balance BUT the board then chucked £3m into the coffers meaning our balance ends even higher than when we started the season!

So a good season on the pitch and a brilliant one off it. Now we really need to look at improving this squad ready to challenge in Scotland's top tier. It's going to be very tough and even tougher when you see the budgets!

A £10k p/wk increase in wages and just over £400k in transfer budget. After all the loanees leave we are left with around £14k p/wk in wages to spend, that's more than enough but we will once again have to rely on cheap loans and free transfers.

Here's hoping we can get in what we need to get this squad ready for what should be a very tough season, staying up is the key, can we do it? I think we can!

Finally, in Scotland news, we have had our Nations League draw, we are in Division B and we've been given a really tough group.

Some really tough sides in there, let's just not get relegated to Div. C!

24/25 Season Preview

I won't lie, this is bloody worrying, I full expected to be forecast to end bottom….by a long way. The media don't even think we're going to end in the relegation playoff!!

The board expectation are a little bit lower than what the media think.

• Premiership - Avoid Relegation
• Scottish Cup - Quarter Final
• League Cup - Quarter Final

I personally think that's doable but the cup runs will obviously depend on the draw!

Pre-season has been pretty good however, loads and loads of goals!

Now to the signings….

First in is CB Paul Hanlon on a free from Hibs, I needed some experience in defence and this guy has it

With me switching between a 4231 and a 41221 I needed another AM just in case, Connor Smith joins on a free from Hearts

Bolstering the midfield was really important, Louis Reed joins on a free from Mansfield

The rest of the in's were season long loans, the big news was I managed to keep Nathan Lowe (ST) and Michael Okeke (CM) for another season

Here's the rest

I'm really excited by Rocco Vata, he had an amazing season with Celtic B last season and I very nearly put him in my Scotland squad.

So the squad is now looking pretty decent

2 options in every position bar a midfielder but I have those AMs who can drop in if I play the 41221. 

There's still plenty of time before the window closes, I do have a few of my key men wanted by other clubs, here's hoping they stay away!

The good news is that, even though we have totally maxed out our wage budget (and more as I move all the transfer budget over as well!) the financial projections are for us to make money this season, staying up and making a profit, that would be an incredibly good season.

Congratulations on the league title! What a first season for you in charge of Queens Park, will be great to brush shoulders with the big boys; already shown you can do it on you day!

Some good signings in there as well which will no doubt help, promising to see the media rank you ahead of a few teams!

24/25 Season - July & August

It's been a busy couple of months, it started so well but we are already showing that we in for a massive struggle this season.

In July it's the League Cup and we did really well, it was expected, all 4 teams were in divisions below us but our attacking football and general performances were brilliant

A great start, August then came about and that meant Premiership action and it proved to be very tough!

One really good win but bar that it wasn't fun, St Mirren we were 2-0 up and threw it away and in the final 2 games we were so far off it.

What made it even more infuriating was, prior to the Hibs game we faced Rangers in the League Cup….at Ibrox….and did this!

An incredible result, I went with an all out defensive 532 and we came out with a ridiculous win.

I really thought that would propel our performances but it went the opposite way!

The only good news is we're not in the relegation places!

In other news we signed ourselves another Striker as Nathan Lowe got injured for a month, a good backup and Lee Erwin actually chipping in with a few important goals so far

24/25 Season - September & October

I am actually really pleased with how it's gone, one defeat and that was away to Celtic, we've had some really good results over the last two month including decent draws to Aberdeen and Rangers and some quality wins against teams that we expect to in and around that bottom area of the league.

My one big issue is we just cannot hold on to a lead. Hearts….conceded right at the end, Dundee…..we were 2-0 up, Aberdeen…..conceded right at the end. We seem to be mentally fragile at the worst possible time.

However I cannot complain, 7 league games, 10 points, if we get a point a game all season we should stay up.

And we have more than that currently, really pleasing.

As you can also see from the results we beat St Johnstone in the League Cup quarters, we now have Celtic in the semi's, a very tough ask!

I am delighted with how it's going, take away the late goals and the conceding when ahead and overall the performances have been great, the players look up for it and going forward we are amazing to watch. Defensively we are a joke but we will gloss over that!

Finally, we have dominated the October Premiership Young Player of the Month!

All three players are from Queen's Park with on-loan midfielder Michael Okeke taking the award.

His upturn in form has co-incided with me moving him to an advanced playmaker role as a CM, he has excelled!

24/25 Season - November, December and Nations League

Firstly lets look over Scotland campaign in the Nations League.

The group itself looked really tough and I'll be honest, I would've been happy to just not end bottom but what we did was beyond anything I imagined!

4 wins, 2 defeats, we were really really good and that meant…..

We ended top of the group and with that promotion to Division A, the big boys await!

We've also had out WC2026 Qualifying Group, we were seeded 2nd and have been handed a relatively decent draw,

 Only really Holland to worry about, we need to end top though to automatically qualify or hope to be one of the best 2nd placed teams. I have high hopes!

Now to domestic action and boy have things turned around.

The loss to Celtic in the cup was so tough to take, we ran them so close only to bottle the penalty shootout, then came a shocking defeat to Motherwell, we were 4-3 up, that's where I knew things had to change. I went back to basics, put the 41221 tactic back in, yes I tried to make us more defensively solid, that didn't really work but the little switch seems to work as after that Motherwell game we went on an amazing run.

4 straight wins, goals galore, some amazing results and even after a little blip we came back and ended December absolutely smashing St. Johnstone in their own park.

Going forward we look utterly incredible. The defending isn't great but I have plans in place to sort that out.

And that amazing run has propelled us all the way up to 5th place, Hearts do have a game in-hand but id we manage to end in that Championship group after the split I will be absolutely buzzing!

In other news, I have managed to persuade the board to do numerous upgrades. The finances are currently looking really good, we've had a couple of games where gate receipts have been insane, the Celtic game gave us £450k and the Rangers game in October gave us nearly £1m. 

Because of this and the bank balance stabilising I asked the board for numerous things.

Getting those budgets up is massive and means I can improve our problem area and that's in defence. Getting the Junior Coaching (up to Excellent) and Youth Recruitment (Good) is also key to bringing through and improving those intake players.

Talking of intakes, the preview looks really good.

Two forwards and a CM that are classed a “A”. We shall see if it really materialises!

Finally, I have made 3 signings in December, 1 joined immediately, 2 will join on Jan 1st.

The player who joined was CM Gavin Kilkenny, I played I had shortlisted and was shockingly released by Bournemouth, he joins on a free

The other two players will join on Jan 1st and are coming in to upgrade our defence.

First is Central Defender Liam Morrison who joins from Bayern Munich for £50k, rising to £150k with addons. A really low fee for a young, Scottish defender.

A new Left Back will also join as Tayo Adaramola comes in from Crystal Palace for £100k, rising to £300k with addons. I have been told he is one of Palace's hottest prospects so it'll be interesting to see how he develops

24/25 Season - January and February

Let's talk about loans, I must MUST remind myself when getting a player in on loan to look at the preferred role their parent clubs wants them to play in. I screwed up so many times on FM23 with regard to this and stupidly I've done it again.

Because of my incompetence I lost Carrington (RB) and Okeke (CM) for not playing them in their right role! We also lost Devine (RB) who's loan expired. This meant we had one big gaping hole on the right side of defence which needed to be rectified…cheaply.

So in comes 34-year old Romain Metanire on a free transfer and a cheap wage. This was the best I could do at the time, a short-term solution.

That was my only business in the January window, budgets are tight even if I did get the board to give me extra money prior to the window opening!

Result wise it's been a mixed bag but we have had some tough games.

7 league games, 2 wins and 9 points, good enough to keep our top 6 challenge up, we only lost 2 league games, both of those to Celtic…I can take that!

A quick word on the Scottish Cup loss to Rangers, what an absolute gutter, we lead, right until injury time, when a Danilo shot was fumbled by McKenna in goal, it fell to Hagi who tapped in. After that we did well to hold on but then bottled the penalty shootout. The only good news was the gate receipts, just over 47,000 and just over £700k in the bank!

Finally, the mad bit, I don't know what really came over me, I'd been chatting to few people in a Discord server and they all kept raving about playing double-Liberos, seeing as were shipping goals I really wanted to play 5 at the back, I add 2 and 2 and came back with 400 and decided upon this……

Total chaos but I have to admit, in the main it's half working, seeing as we aren't supposed to be that good, the attacking play from this tactic is utterly insane, as you can see from the results, the big issue is defensively and more importantly, holding on to leads. The latter I cannot put down to the tactic, that is a mentality issue in the squad, something that will get better as we start to progress and the players get more confidence, if they don't then new players will come in. I have to say though, when we attack and pass it around it looks absolutely glorious!

Glad to see you're using the tactic we've been discussing and it's going so well for you Great results around the board!