[FM24] [EN] LLM - The Oldest Club in the World - A Carlos Dolbeth Adventure

February 2nd, 2035 - Not Safe Yet

It was the 23rd of December but believe it or not, there were still 3 matches to be played and at home against Peterborough the team did what was expected of them by the fans and the bookies by winning with some comfort against the visitors. Christmas came and went in a heartbeat and just a day after the traditional codfish and roupa velha, Dolbeth went down to London for a boring draw at one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of London. There wasn’t even time to pack as 3 days later in the same city the boys closed the year with a terrific performance that made them winter champions by defeating Queens Park Rangers with a spectacular 4-0 result. Could not have asked for more and again back in Sheffield the first game of 2035 was another good win over Stoke City for the pleasure of the 9,300 fans that almost filled the Home of Football in a very could winter day where most people were still drunk from the celebrations of the previous night.

But despite the results not all was good. Inside the team there were a few players that demanded more playing time and although unknown to the fans, discontent was visible in the Stoke game where some of the bench players kicked a few bottles. This is what led to the winter market changes. Already in a record-breaking transfer season, Sheffield was almost forced to sell 4 players, namely Harry Evans which was the main disruptor and the one that had less transfer value and then Bruno Goncalves, with only 9 games this season and Edgar Gonzalez who had 17 appearances but had not featured recently. The biggest loss is nevertheless Sanusi, which was a regular start that decided to support this small revolt. Together with the pre-announced sale of Hoyos to Fulham the club had made 60 million Euros and needed to get some reinforcements to finish the season strong. 5 new faces with central defender Evans being initially the most important arrival…until already way past mid-month when a fan favorite, loaned two seasons ago from Boavista was brought back! Everyone was excited for the return of Virgilio Moniz!

The FA Cup was not kind to Sheffield…playing Newcastle without even having the receipt of the home ticket sales was not ideal but in an almost full St. James Park, Carlos showed the true colors of the team. Facing this mid-table EPL team, the game was completely even, so even though it had to go into extra time and then penalties to be resolved. Unfortunately, that lottery was lost this time, but the FA Cup had never really been an objective. The final two games of January were a win over WBA and for the second time this season a loss of points against Wednesday, quite unfair in the case anyone asks. Deserved was the draw home against Bristol to start February, a month where Sheffield will face, 3 teams in the top 6, Norwich, Sunderland and Brighton…for now it’s the first spot, but this month may change that!

Cronica Leonina!

Epá finalmente boas notícias. O Natal e o Ano Novo pareciam trazer mais um ano horribilis para o Sporting, mas do nada e depois de uma entrada em 2035 com uma derrota com o Moreirense, 5 vitorias e um empate. Na Europa estamos bem depois de vencermos os bascos e empatarmos com os camones, ficamos em primeiro na fase de grupos, na taca da liga estamos lançados depois de finalmente comermos os lampiões…o campeonato…nesse estamos em segundo, mas a 14 pontos do Porto. Que ganhemos pelo menos um caneco!

March 19th, 2035 - We can almost taste it

The first place was not secure but the difference to the third place was already significant, making it more and more likely that Sheffield would clinch promotion this year and be in the English Premier League for the first time in his long life. That said, there were still 16 games to be played, and February would be crucial. 3 games against 3 of the 5 teams sitting between 2nd and 6th place, the places of promotion and playoff spots. All of these in a row in a timeline of only 8 days, a good performance would almost guarantee the promotion, while loses all around would probably put the team back in some playoff hell. It did not start well with a visit to Brighton which proved to be as difficult as always. Very few chances on both sides, with Brighton only managing to shoot 3 times on target…scoring 2 while our boys despite 4 shots on target only managing to make one count. It was not the best performance by Myrvold, and a defeat here raised some doubts of a possible pile under pressure.

This made the game at the Home of Football against the second placed Norwich City even more relevant and there, the fans had a big scare as the visitors scored first and despite dominance from Sheffield F.C., at half-time the boys were still 0-1 down. The second half was a massacre, and some relief came when Suclupe managed to get a goal to draw the game. Close to the end Rigg had a rare header and made it 2-1 for an explosion on the almost packed stadium, which opened a gap in the first spot on the league standings. The last big obstacle (at least for now) was Sunderland. Again, at home the game was completely one-sided with the visitors not able to have a single shot at goal, but besides 24 shots (8 at goal) from Carlos’ boys, only Bertrand already in the 51st minute managed to break the deadlock. 6 points in 9 games, Sheffield F.C. had survived arguably the most complicated series of the league and the title was now theirs to lose.

The month of January ended with 2 difficult wins over Plymouth and Huddersfield, once again showing how tight the league was, where small mistakes against theoretically weaker teams could easily transform the game into a troubling defeat. That was more than obvious as relying on a 10-point lead on top, Dolbeth did relax the team a bit, resulting in two 1-1 draws in the two first matches of March. The same result happened in the next game as despite once again being far superior Sheffield could not outscore Hull…that said, the draw was enough to secure a playoff spot and with 24 points to be played, Sheffield only needs to secure 8 in the next 8 matches to mathematically achieve promotion. The first spot thanks to the bad start of February is still pretty much open for contention but 7 points difference is something to build on as also for the first time after the much-needed upgrade, the academy of the club has two interesting prospects.

Cronica Leonina!

Epá a coisa na liga voltou a piorar…sem estar completamente perdido o segundo lugar, as derrotas contra uns super-tripeiros e sobretudo contra Estoris da vida não ajudam…, mas pelo menos esta época estamos a compensar nas tacas. Vencemos a Taca das caricas nacional…pelo menos isso, e na Europa já vamos para os quartos da Europa League onde ainda não sabemos que será o adversário. Bastante melhor do que em épocas recentes, mas ainda longe das glorias passadas deste grande clube!

May 6th, 2035 - Deserved

At this point, 8 points would be enough in the next 8 games to mathematically secure promotion. Probably not even that much, so it was considered by everyone that it was just a matter of time. That said the month of March had been by far the worst until now. No loses, but 3 straight draws had narrowed the gap to second placed Norwich which was now a sole 7 points away in the second spot and as Dolbeth put it “since we are here, we also want to grab the title”. It would not need to be a big wait for the team to go back to the winning ways it was used to this season. On the 20th of March the Home of Football received the mid table Watford and this time for the first time in the month did not need any excuses and won convincingly by 2-1 (only one goal difference but a total domination from start to finish). 3 days later a visit to Oxford gave Carlos and the team another 3 points that meant that a win over Welsh mid-table side Swansea, would be enough to automatically get the much-expected promotion.

It was not meant to be. Despite dominating and being in the lead for most of the game, the Swans managed to score already in extra time and grab a late draw that left the promotion celebration to the first game of April. Similar than the game against Swansea, it was clear that there was tension and nervousness’ within the team. They were still once again the dominant side but could not transform that in goals and when everyone was already getting prepared for another draw, on the 79th minute in a crowded filled, Sean Thomas scored, making it 1-2 and triggering an end of the game pitch invasion. The boys were in the Premiership! Still there were another 4 games to be played and 2 wins would be enough to also secure the title. It was not even that…on the following weekend, the Home of Football received last placed Reading and the boys gave the fans one of the best displays in the season which combine with the defeat of Norwich meant that a single point in the next 3 games would be enough to seal it.

And so it was, at Middlesborough while trailing the whole games, Sheffield once again in close to miracle-fashion, had Thomas score in the 92nd minute to clinch a draw…it again did not really matter as Norwich had also lost points so Carlos Dolbeth could celebrate the title, a very well deserved one after 3 seasons in the Championship. There were still two games to be played, and the boys could have gunned for 100 points, but Carlos wanted to rotate the team and against 3rd placed Derby County the team got their first defeat in 2 months and ended the season at Peterborough with a 1-1 result…Nobody cared! First place, the team with more goals score and less goals conceded, it was nothing short of a perfect season. Carlos could now relax with 2 months of pre-season while waiting to see who would be the 3rd team that would join Sheffield F.C. and Norwich in the EPL next season. Por the bottles of champaign and the music as this is not over!

Cronica Leonina!

Esta a ser o segundo melhor caminho possível. Com o campeonato perdido há muito ficava a Europa depois do caneco das caricas. Nice eliminado, alguma sorte no sorteio ditou umas meias-finais com o Estrela Vermelha e agora nas meias apesar da derrota em Espanha, 0-1 em casa pode ser facilmente remontado. Vamos acreditar. No campeonato pelo menos estamos na luta pelo segundo lugar!

June 24th, 2035 - Loads of Money

Promotion had been guaranteed but the league still went on with the playoffs to find the last club joining Sheffield and Norwich in the Premier League in 2035/36. Surprisingly in the end the final was between 5th placed Brighton and 6th placed Sunderland, resulting in the win 2-0 by Seagulls. For our boys the individual awards ceremony was almost exclusive with 3 of the 5 places for the average rating and one of Edgar Gonzalez who played half a season for Sheffield also. In the goal scorers a bit more equilibrium with Suculpe getting 4th place with 19 goals. Also a well-deserved mention to Myrvold at goal with an impressive 17 clean sheets, something that was not normal at the club even in winning years. The team was a more than fair winner being first in almost every team KPI possible. Overall, nobody could have expected an even better year for the team.

Now with this success, two things were coming for the first time to the club. One positive loads of money and one negative, a lot of interest in the best players of the club. That said Dolbeth, having signed another 2 years contract, had a lot of time to prepare for the Premier League. Well…Manchester United came with a 50 million bid for Rigg and there was no way the club could not accept it and lose that way one of the best midfield players that stayed for only a single season at the club. With the start of the market 3 players joined the team, with amounts between 11 and 3 million Euros each, these would mostly be players for the future…the bomb came from Portugal in mid-June as a discontent Porto player, left midfielder Manuel Costa, made the club splash 45 million Euros and beat other international giants to get the services for the player. Also, surprisingly a few days later in an unknown deal structure, it was time for Sheffield to receive a player from Man United, left back Eldar Rahimic…more faces are expected on the 30th of June with many players finishing their contracts.

Cronica Leonina!

Pois foi, decidimos apostar tudo na Europa, sobretudo depois de virarmos a eliminatória com os bascos e no final fodemo-nos, 3 jogos sem vencer no campeonato e caímos para um quarto lugar enquanto na final da Europa com o Newcastle apesar de termos dominado e até termos ido ao intervalo a vencer, ficou um sabor a outra final com o CSKA de Moscovo…o Newcastle virou o resultado. Apesar de tudo época muito melhor do que as que temos visto nos últimos anos.

August 19th, 2035 - The EPL

With so many chances still prior to the start of the season, it was known that the end of June would bring new faces to the club, but the focus would have to be in retaining also the best elements and avoid any others leaving the team. On that exact day, two new faces, young players that were hardly going to be part of the plans of the season, but for the first time a bet in the future by Dolbeth. That was clear when the club announced for the first time that it would become a parent club to another team, on August 11th it was announced that Portuguese First League minnows of Moreirense would be the first connection of the club in many seasons and one of the new arrivals made direct way to Portugal together with Imoberdorf. The other player, Stephane Vits, was also loaned out to Barrow from League One. The last arrival was Moroccan international central defender, Boutcha who seemed to be at least a valid choice for the bench if not a starter.

On the way out, two deals had already been agreed beforehand, as Maquet and Donovan made their way to other clubs. The exists from Kouda and Dudziak were not unexpected as they were part of the players that were not in Carlos’ plans, but the big upset came when the board accepted a bid by Al-Nassr for English wonderkid Ross Flood. But at least for now this was really the only player that left outside of the initial management team plan. The pre-season could not have gone better, in 7 games, the club managed to win 6, including a very well received presentation game against Leipzig with a goal galore win and only a single loss with West Ham United, but the bookies were all in agreement that this would be a very complicated season for the club who was more likely than not to be in the relegation battle from the start…

The start itself was in the Tottenham Hotspur stadium completely packed with 63000 fans and with Dolbeth and some of the older players and supporters of the club were seen in very emotional displays, close to tears in their eyer. The game itself was far from a dream for the club as with 18 minutes gone, the Spurs were already 2-0 up. Sheffield did manage to even things a bit but close to half-time the home team made it 3-0 leaving little doubt as to the result of the game. The second half was more Sheffield than Tottenham and Blasko even managed to reduce to 3-1…still the home team was much better in front of goal and managed to score a 4th, out of 5 shots on target while Dolbeth’s boys were not competent in front of goal. Better the display than the result in a first slap of reality for Sheffield F.C.

Cronica Leonina!

Depois de uma época do quase no ano passado há esperanças de que este ano consigamos canecos. Alias pelo menos e já não me lembrava de uma pré-época assim, conseguimos manter os melhores jogadores na equipa e contratar bem. Mantem-se o treinador, temos Europa para jogar e penso que finalmente podemos destronar ou pelo menos competir para que os morcões (que no ano passado ficaram também perto de uma final da Champions) não cheguem a 12 títulos seguidos!

November 2nd, 2035 - Closer to heaven than hell

The start in the EPL had been as expected with Tottenham cruising, mostly in the result than on the field against our first timers in this division. That said, against teams outside of the Top6/8 the club was expected to do a bit more, so in the second game of the season in a refurbished Home of Football, now having around 1000 seats more, the team showed a completely different face against Leicester City which was also supposed to be in the fight against relegation. It was the first home game in this league and at the same time, the first win ever for the club. Emotions once again ran high with this 3-0 win. At least it was clear that the team could win against the non-European competition teams. A much harder time was expected at Old Trafford 5 days later, United had been a mid-table team in the last seasons, but it did not change the difference in budgets and category. Even that way and on a very tight game, Sheffield scored first and surprised the packed ground…it was not enough as the Red Devils managed to draw a few minutes later, leaving the oldest club in the world with a historic draw.

August ended with a battle in the Carabao Cup. As always playing with a half strong side, nowadays even the bench players seemed to have a winning chance on this one and away in Nottingham the team managed to get Forrest all the way till the penalties after a 2-2 regular time draw. Unfortunately, most would say, luck was not on Dolbeth’s side, and it was an early exit for Sheffield. September started with another two challenging games, a visit from Newcastle that quickly turned into a fair win for the Magpies, by 2-0, and a very cagey 0-0 draw at Anfield in another good result. After 5 matches, Sheffield played against 4 of the top 6, so the sole 5 points were not unexpected, but against Crystal Palace a better result was needed to get away from the relegation spots and again in another very tight match, a single penalty was decisive for Carlos to grab the 2 points. What was a bit unexpected was the goal galore in the last game of the month as the visit to Burnley yelled a 7-3 win.

The league paused for international action for a total of 29 games, something that Dolbeth hated and won the team in good form, people were afraid that this would be bad for the boys. It did not feel like it with Brentford visiting another sell-out Home of Football resulting in the 3rd win in a row. Here 2-1 was an unfair result as Sheffield did good enough to get at least a 2-goal cushion. The month ended with a visit to London where for the first time in 4 games, Carlos could not get the better out of the Hammers struggling in the relegation spots. No fan could have asked for better…9 games gone, 15 games and surprisingly the first spot of the league was just 4 points away, while relegation was 7…it was a good start but let’s not celebrate already!

Cronica Leonina!

Até me sinto ridículo de ter dado tantos elogios a esta equipa…depois de uma boa pré-época, o início do campeonato foi desastroso. 1 ponto em 5 jogos, com derrotas contra tudo e todos…e depois do nada parece que a equipa começou a jogar a bola, sem contar duas derrotas para a Champions, vamos em 9 vitorias seguidas…, mas com o início que foi, duvido que consigamos lutar pelo campeonato

December 31st, 2035 - Hanging On

It was difficult once again to demand more from Dolbeth and our boys, 9 games played, and the relegation battle was far far away. Well, that was until November came with just 3 games which resulted in 3 defeats, by the same exact result 2-1. While the visit to London where a visit to the Blues ending in 3 three points was nothing short of a mirage, the two home games against two teams which were common adversaries from the Championship, Brighton and Norwich a bit more, were expected. The first game was a very poor start from Sheffield F.C. in the first half where Brighton could easily have scored 3 or 4 goals. Ironic is that in a completely unfair fashion, the boys managed to get a draw, Betrand once again turned the game around completely in the second 45 minutes, where Sheffield seemed to be the only team on the field, only suffering a goal in the only shot from Brighton in the second half. Against Norwich it was exactly the first poor first half and a recovery in the second 45 minutes, but in this game the two goal advantage from the Canaries in the first half was enough to take the win.

The situation was not really critical but 1 point in the last 12 possible was not a good sign, so in the first game of a packed December, the boys could have used a revenge against Forest following the elimination from the Carabao Cup…well not a good result either, a 4-0 trashing. Surprisingly the team managed to get a point against Arsenal at home but returned to the defeat on a visit to Wolverhampton and a few days later in the visit from Man City to the Home of Football, although in this case in a very difficult matched where Carlos did manage to even things almost till the end against the billionaires. At this point with 15 games played, with only 2 points in the last 8 matches, Sheffield dropped to the relegation spots. There was already noise from the necessity to get some players in the winter break and the bad run even made this more a focal point. For now, the only name announced was a young Congolese goalkeeper but more is expected.

Somehow despite the crisis and getting close to year end, the boys got an unexpected win home against Liverpool in a heavy scoring a game which seemed to be the tonic to get back on track as the next match was an uncontested win at Southampton and despite a defeat on boxing day, curiously with the same result as the other game with the team from the same city, prior to the close of 2035, another important win over Aston Villa made the team climb back to a relatively safe mid table position with half of the league played. That said the table is ultra packed as always and anything is possible!

Cronica Leonina!

Depois de um início de merda e uma recuperação quase milagrosa, voltamos a apatia do costume. Novembro com jogos miseráveis contra o Estrela e Vizela, sendo que ainda perdemos na Champions contra uns trolhas da romena, mas depois vencemos o Ajax e empatamos com o Bayern. Alias Dezembro foi mais um mês daltónico em que perdemos com o Gil Vicente antes de empatar a 1 com o Boavista da Alemanha.

February 29th, 2036 - Stealing some good players

Once again, it’s always good to remind everyone how unimaginable this climb would have seemed 10 years ago, or even 5 despite the climb to the professional leagues. Sheffield F.C. had made in the last 5 months, the first round ever in the English Premier League and for now was safe mid-table despite a bit of slope in the month of November. But the job of Dolbeth to get the team to safety once again was not yet complete, so another 18 games needed to be played in 2026. And the year started out well as a visit to Leicester was a nice 3-1 away win on an extremely cold day. Could this be a positive Omen for the team? We must wait and see as the next game was with Nottingham Forest, who had been for now the nemesis of our boys. Big defeat in the League, elimination in the Carabao Cup and now in a streak of bad luck, the northerners were once again in the first round that Sheffield F.C. was participating in the FA Cup.

Already with a new face in the team, Mik Akkermans, a central midfield arriving from Burnley, was in the bench but not used, and for the third time this year, Carlos could not do more than lose by a single goal against Forrest. A few days later came a bomb, as Matias Formosa, a Boca Juniors central defender that was being chased by many European giants, decided to join Sheffield, bringing more and more illusion to the fans. That said the fans would have to wait for February to see the new player in action, as the other two games for the league in January were still in the beginning of the month and even playing home, Tottenham challenging for the title came out with a good solid win and with the Red Devils, Sheffield only managed to squeeze a difficult point. 3 weeks of international break followed, and the winter market saw other changes. A few loans of youngsters were already expected and Myrvold with the arrival of Mayele, asked to leave, but the biggest bomb was when Newcastle formalized a bid of 26 million for Jordi Garcia which the club could not refuse.

When the whole thing seemed to be over, Dolbeth took a rabbit out of the hat and brought 33-year-old Portuguese defender Nuno Mendes. Clearly past its prime it can still be useful to lead a team that is still mostly composed of younger players. With all those players integrated, February was much better than January. Not the first game, as in London, the loss 4-0 against Palace was both unexpected and unfair, but the wins over Burnley and West Ham United, together with two draws, one of them a positive surprise, Sheffield manages to grab 8 points out of 15 during the month and with 10 games to play in the league maintains a good mid table spot, for now 7 points above water. Still there are no assurances in this league, but another 10 points should be enough to seal it!

Cronica Leonina!

Mais dois meses terríveis para o campeonato. Neste momento o Sporting esta a caminho do pior resultado de sempre! Derrotas com o Farense e Guimaraes, vários empates…um desastre. Vencemos mais uma vez a Taca das caricas e ainda podemos ir a final da taca, mas esta aposta da Europa acaba por ser infeliz porque apesar de termos vencido o Villareal em casa, f*demos nos penalties..

May 19th, 2036 - Death of an Icon

10 games to go and maintenance was close to being reality way ahead of time for Sheffield. The expectation was that 10 point in these 10 matches would be enough to get and March did start with a banger, in Brighton, a 4-4 result in a spectacular game that could have gone in either way, but the best was yet to come as in the first sunny afternoon of 2036, Chelsea, in the second place, and the major contender to expel Man City from the top, came to the Home of Football and was handed a 4-0 defeat. There have been good results this season, like the win over Liverpool or the two draws against Manchester United, but this game will make the history books with the caveat that all goals came in the second half. Single handedly Sheffield had almost made sure they would not get into the relegation battle and almost gave the title to Man City. The party was all night long and only Dolbeth, was nowhere to be seen.

Carlos was also not on the bench, so Pujdak took over, in the next game, a visit to Norwich, which ended up in a 1-1 draw and another important point. News from the club mentioned a small surgery that Carlos decided to do in his home city, Lisbon, and a few days later there was an interview and Dolbeth recovering from this unknown surgery seemed in good spirits. There was the 3-week international break, and he was back on the bench at home to get another good point at home in a 2-2 draw against Forrest but missed again the trip to London for a normal defeat with Arsenal and the following game against Wolves. Despite that loss, the game marked the mathematical safety that everyone was waiting for, still with 4 games to be played.

But that was not important if we knew about the news on May 3rd. Dolbeth had been taken to hospital on the night of May 2nd and in the early hours of the following day he was declared dead. Carlos had been battling liver cancer for more than a year and that was also the reason why he refused the offer from Sporting to take over the club of his heart…after that it was a dim end of the season for Sheffield. Not really due to the 4 defeats with every single club. It was just a sea of banners and a lot of the players crying…and end of an era, a man that brought Sheffield F.C. back to the top and that will never be forgotten!

Cronica Leonina!

Por respeito ao Carlos e com pena de não ter conseguido ver o Sporting campeão, pela primeira vez esta secção não vai ter um comentário aos jogos e final da época do Sporting