Zebramanii - Comments

December 2040

We've just entered the winter break now and we are still top of the league, exactly where I hoped we would be. I'm happy to report that we are as yet undefeated in the league but unfortunately our winning run came to an end with draws against Betis and Sevilla, those games ending 1-1 and 2-2 respectively.
 

The highlights of the season so far, in the league, have been a 5-0 demolition of Atlético and a 5-2 victory over Real Madrid, and in the Europa League, the Ajax match which I mentioned in my previous update.

In terms of my aims here at Barcelona, I am expecting to win something this season, naturally the league is a must, the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España would be nice as well, though the board only expect us to reach the semi-final of the former and they don't care about the latter, regardless, I will make sure we will give both our best effort and then that just leaves the Europa League, again we will give it a shot but I think this season, as long as we manage to reach at least the quarter-final I will be reasonably satisfied, though maybe reaching the semi-final or even the final itself is the real goal. A team with Barcelona's history should really be aiming to win the tournament but Spanish football is not exactly where it once was, though this team does still have an excellent reputation, the league is now ranked 4th behind England, Germany and Italy, maybe if I stick around long enough, we might see a reversal but I'm not one for spending a long time at a team but who knows.

I think the plan going forward will be a brief update once the winter break and the January transfer window are out of the way, provided we make any noteworthy changes to the side, after that it will be an end of season update where I will hopefully be talking about all the silverware we managed to secure, fingers crossed. 

October 2040

After ten games in the league, we maintain a 100% record, though we have yet to face last years champions Sevilla or the runners-up Real Sociedad, nor have we taken on perennial challengers Real Madrid or Atlético yet so you could say we've had and easy run so far, with the closest game being against newly promoted Córdoba, who actually came close to ending our run when they went two goals up in the first half and then even when we managed to level the scores, they got a third, leaving us to give everything we had to not only claw our way back into contention, but to come out of it at the end with the win and we did thanks to a last minute from Salah Samir.
 

As you can see from the fixtures, we also managed to pick up three wins out of three in the Europa League. We started out by absolutely battering Ajax 7-2 but then we had a much closer game with Borussia Mönchengladbach before facing Sampdoria, a team I was fairly confident we would beat, though that said, with it being 2040, they could quite well have given us a nasty surprise. In many ways, my knowledge of teams in Europe is still somewhat out of date, especially with having spent such a long time in Africa, I'm still thinking it's the 2020s so I could well end up going into matches thinking we have an easy win, only to be left embarrassed, luckily, so far that hasn't happened and it is my intention to try and make use of our scouts to get me up to date on both the Spanish leagues and Europe as a whole.

August 2040

It's been a busy pre-season since I joined Barcelona but it has come to an end now, we played a bunch of friendly matches, which went well, and we've done some fairly good deals, I feel I've strengthened the side slightly or at the very least, I've not made it any worse.

My focus for improving the squad has been two fold, players for this season that are at or about the standard to play first team football for us, but with the potential to improve, and players for the future, perhaps a year or two from now.

I've only included screenshots of those that are likely to be relevant this season, as you can see, we've not really spent big on any one player.
 

Hopefully things go well as we kick off the season and perhaps either at one quarter distance or maybe the half-way point, that'll be when I do the next update revealing how we faired in those first competitive games under my leadership.

June 2040

A tough decision, remain at Wolves and continue what I started last season, playing in the Champions League and building to perhaps challenge for the Premier League title within the next couple of seasons, or take the Barcelona job and only play in the Europa League this season, but with a squad and the finances in place to challenge for the Spanish title right away.

As much as I have enjoyed my time at Wolves, the decision wasn't all that hard.

Replacing Xavi as the new Barcelona manager, the plan this season is to correct his mistakes and put the team back at the top of the table.

Despite only having been in the job a matter of hours, I've already identified a few areas in the first team that can be improved and in my next update you will see who I managed to bring in.

June 2040

Now there's an offer that's hard to turn down.

May 2040

And just like that, the 2039/2040 season is done and what a season it was.
 

Having made the move from Portugal to England at the end of last season, after being headhunted by Championship winners Wolves, I've gone and taken a team that has very much been a yoyo club for the last decade, to qualifying for the Champions League and playing at Wembley twice in the same year, coming runners-up in the FA Cup and lifting the Carabao Cup.

The source of my success with Wolves comes from a number of areas, to begin with, the tactics I use have been proven time and again, through various countries in Africa, Portugal and now in England, after that, I strengthened the side in the pre-season and again slightly in the January window but it was as much about the players I kept as it was the ones I brought in. I've always had a strong commitment to forging and developing the bonds between both myself and the players and the players and each other, maintaining a harmonious locker room and ensuring that we go into each and every game with the belief in ourselves that we can go out there and win, and as this season proved, we did just that, playing well above the expectations of the media, the board or the fans and while we didn't win the league, we still put ourselves up there with the top teams and never shied away when facing them home or away.

Now that the season is over, the next step is to take stock of where the team is now and look to build for the next season. With some of our key players on loan from other teams, we are going to have to look to their replacements, should we not be able to secure a permanent transfer, and given our performance, I suspect other teams may well become interested in a number of our stars, so keeping them around could be a challenge but with qualification for the Champions League secured, we should be in a position to attract a better standard of player this time around hopefully.

Below is a look at our results and transfers this season…

As far as next season goes, the plan right now is to stick around and try and improve things here at Wolves, if the right job comes up, I could be tempted to move on, but it's going to have to be a really big team or a really good offer for me to consider it.

December 2039
 

We're half way through the 2039/2040 season in the Premier League and my recently promoted Wolves side are doing well, currently sitting in 4th place and hoping to secure a place in Europe at the end of the season.

We are yet to play in the FA Cup but we will shortly be facing Preston in the third round. In the Carabao Cup, we have managed to reach the semi-final and will take on Man City, we did beat them in the league but they are a much stronger team on paper and I'm not fully convinced we can do a repeat. 

If things remain as they are, this will have been a very successful arrival into England after leaving Portugal at the end of last season and after having worked my way through a variety of African nations.

November 2039

Twelve games into the 39/40 season now with recently promoted Wolves and we're still doing well, currently sitting in eighth place but we're close enough to some of the teams above that we could move into contention for a place in European competition next season should results fall right for us.

The highlights of the season so far have to be a 5-0 thrashing of Aston Villa, winning 4-2 against Liverpool and beating both Manchester sides at their own grounds.
 

Hopefully we can continue on like this for some time yet, it would certainly be nice to be pushing for Europe come the end of the season, rather than battling relegation as was predicted by the media.

September 2039

Competitive football has begun and we are now fives games into the Premier League and have survived two rounds of Carabao Cup action.

I'm pleased with the start we have made so far, though we lost 3-2 to Tottenham and 2-1 to Arsenal, we've put together some decent wins as well, such as 4-1 against Brighton, 4-2 against Liverpool, and 5-0 away to Aston Villa. As of right now, we find ourselves in sixth place, it would be nice to up there come the end of the season but there is a very long way to go yet, still, if we can continue on as we started, there's no reason we can't have a good year.

In the Carabao Cup we knocked Oldham out in the second round, beating them comfortably 4-1. For the third round we faced off against Watford, the team I could quite easily have joined, had Wolves not invited me to an interview on the same day that Watford did. When it came to the Watford game, things were a little closer, we only won 2-0 but watching the game, I felt confident that we were the only likely victors as they never really threatened us all that much.
 

In my last update, we had just reached the end of pre-season, now however, we have reached and passed the transfer deadline day, as such, I can reveal the final signings we made during the window and those departing. As we allowed our first choice attacking central midfielder to depart, we needed to find a new one, thanks to having scouts that are on the ball, they found us Lars-Erik Arnesen, a young and highly capable player, and one that did not cost us an arm and a leg. Kevin Brown joins us from Burnley, he should slot in nicely as an improvement to our left wing, while Fabricio Álvarez joins us as an additional striker. We didn't really need another striker, but with how much potential he could have, we just had to make a move for him, should he realise that potential, we could be on for a nice little earner, though I do hope he can help us bring success to the club as well. Finally, Connor Kinsella arrives at the team as a hot prospect, he is a fair way off first team football, though within a few years, he might turn out good, provided we can support his development.
 

Having bolstered the squad somewhat in this window, I'm conscious that we need to keep a close eye on the financial side of things, we did offload a bunch of players, but most of our departing players were on loans with either optional or mandatory fees, because of this, we might be alright, but it's also possible that I've overdone it a little, something that happens when you're more used to buying players for free and paying them £5 a week lol.

August 2039

The 2039/2040 pre-season has come to a close, though I've not been at Wolves for all that long, I have begun to make my mark on the side, bringing in a selection of new players and allowing a few to leave, either on loan or permanently.

After reviewing the senior team, I noticed we appeared weakest at the left-back position, and in the centre of defence, we have a number of players just into their thirties now, with that all in mind, I signed a young new left-back on loan from Arsenal (Albi Zekiri) and a centre-back on loan (but with a future fee) from FC Basel (Danilo Scanu). To bolster the centre of midfield, I've brought in Ollie Griffiiths from Aberdeen. Up front, I have signed Junior Koné from ES Zarzis in Tunisia. Of these new signings for the senior team, only Koné is a player that I'm familiar with, while he played in Tunisia at the point of signing him, I know him from before when he played in the Ivory Coast, during my time there at Issia Wazi, we loaned him in from ASEC Mimosas and he scored sixteen goals in twenty games and helped us along the way to the league title.
 

While I've made additions to the senior team, I have also picked up a couple of young players that might feature for the team down the line, Diego Fornals we signed on a free transfer and Márcio Neto, one of the star players from my previous team Marítimo. I don't really know too much about Fornals beyond his stats so he is a little bit of a gamble, but not an expensive one. Neto on the other hand, I've seen play, he was great in the Portuguese third tier and he drew the attention of bigger clubs there, right now he's not quite ready to play in the Premier Leauge, but the plan is to try and build him up to that level through training and loan moves as necessary.

As you can see form the pre-season friendlies, we did alright, a nice win against Barcelona and a somewhat weird score line against Chartres, a non-league French team that managed to score five goals against us.
 

There are a handful of real players scattered about the league (for the most part they are NMI international players) but most teams have no players at all, you have to use the greyed out ones but you can offer them a contract and once a season or two has passed, most teams will have had youth intakes and the situation gets a bit better.

July 2039

Though I had my eye on the job market and I did apply for the vacant manager position at Alavés who had just been promoted to the top division in Spain, I was for the most part, expecting to kick off the 2039/2040 season still in Portugal. I had begun strengthening my side in preparation for the challenges ahead this season, and had already made several acquisitions, a combination of transfer and loans for the first team, both the starting XI and players for added depth, I was quite happy with the business I had managed to conduct and we had played our first couple of friendly matches.

Several weeks had passed since I applied for the Alavés job and I had heard nothing, I'm pretty sure they're still in a board meeting, trying to decide who to invite for job interviews, I have yet to get one, so I have to assume I'm not all that high on their shortlist, that said, it was then a rather big surprise, to wake up in the morning to representatives from both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford, looking to invite me for interviews for their vacant manager positions.

My goal along this journey has always been to reach the UK and last I checked, Wolverhampton and Watford are still in England. Naturally I hopped on an Easyjet flight to Gatwick, from there I headed to Vicarage Road to attend my first of two interviews. The interview seemed to go well and the board there seemed to have a well formed vision of the direction they wanted to take the club. Right now, Watford are an top-half Championship side, with a few improvements, I could see myself feasibly taking them them towards the playoffs within my first season there.

Once the Watford interview was out of the way, I headed north west, up to Wolverhampton, to see how things would go with their representatives. Once again, the interview went well and it was now a waiting game, which of the two teams, if either of them, would offer me a job. I knew that there would be a decision to make, firstly do I want to move on from Portugal? And secondly, which of the teams would I join, if they were both to make an offer?

In the end, both Watford and Wolves offered me a job. Given the difference in wages between what both teams were offering and what I was already on, it was a no-brainer to consider their offers, beyond the financial considerations, both teams were in higher-rated leagues, and finally, with my goal being to reach the UK, this was going to be my best chance to do so, without having to pass through Spain and France.

[Consulting the rules that I set for my save regarding moving without passing through a neighbouring country, this falls under the headhunting exception, the requirements that need to be met are that I have not applied for the job directly, both teams offered me the job, the wage is sufficient to cover the cost of the flight there, the club is professional and I have a continental license of some description, all these are met, so now it is just a case of whether I want to make the move or not].

When comparing Watford and Wolves at the present time, the decision is not too hard to make, while I have a fairly good opinion of both teams, Wolves are in the Premier League and Watford are in the Championship. While Wolves will need to avoid relegation, Watford will be looking for a top-half finish and eventually, a push for promotion. For most of my career, I have managed teams that didn't take much effort to turn into a competitive outfit at their level, managing Wolves, at least early on, would present an interesting challenge as I try to keep them in the Premier League, with that in mind, and if you are still reading this, you will now know that I have accepted the Wolves job (or if you are reading this on Facebook then you probably just saw the relevant screenshot to begin with lol).

Upon taking the job at Wolves, I have announced my resignation as manager of the Cape Verde Islands, instead, at least for the time being, I will be focussing solely on club football.

There is one by ©Timo© on the Steam workshop, the one I'm using is based on his database but from a couple of years back and modified slightly.

May 2039

After dominating the league in the first phase, finishing eighteen points ahead of the second place team, we went into the final weeks hopeful of a successful promotion push. What I don't like about the Liga 3 in Portugal, is that a team can finish in third place in one of the two divisions, be ranked fifth overall for points and yet still come away as champions, fortunately that did not happen on this occasion, the Liga 3 winners, were in my somewhat biased yet correct opinion, that the team that deserved to be champions, lifted the trophy on the final day.

Having easily reached the promotion group phase, we managed to continue our good form, winning five out of the six games and drawing the other one, ending up top of our promotion group.. For the final, we faced off against the team that won the other group, which also happened to be the team that finished third in my division during the first phase. Having beaten Sertanense twice in the league in the first phase, I was confident of a repeat performance in the final, my players did not disappoint,. Though our promotion was already confirmed by topping our promotion group, winning the final gives us the bragging rights as champions.

By winning the league, it marks my third promotion since starting out on my journey, the others coming in the second tiers of Mozambique and Angola, it also gives me my first trophy in Europe, having only managed in Africa previously. A side effect of our promotion is the activation of a clause in my contract that extends it for another year, that means I should be here for another year as the team attempts to stay up in the second tier, and push for higher accolades.

For the time being, I plan to stick around and begin strengthening the side, as I do, I will also be checking the job market frequently, ideally I will be looking for a job in Spain, either of the top two tiers will do, but alternatively, I could be willing to move to a bigger team here in Portugal, in that case, it would need to be from the top tier to really make it worth moving. One final option that I have thought about is a move to Morocco, for that to be worthwhile though, I would only consider one of the absolute top teams, maybe Wydad or Raja Casablanca.

My next update will either be an end of pre-season update with friendly results and transfers, or a new job announcement should I end up leaving before the season starts.
 

Our transfers for the season, we focussed on bringing in talent without breaking the bank, relying heavily on loan players.

Our results throughout the season…

May 2039

The first phase of the Portuguese Liga 3 has finished, we came top of Série B with an eighteen point lead over second place Académica. Because of the way this league works, the top four teams from the two Liga 3 divisions will go through to the promotion playoffs group stage. For the promotion stage, we face Leiria, Leixões and Vianense. I'm hoping we can keep up our good from throughout the first phase and come out on top once more.

While I would like to come away from this season as Liga 3 champions, at the very least we need to go up, this team should really not be in the third tier. Given how well we have performed so far this season, I believe we should be able to top our group but if we fail, we should still have a chance of promotion as three teams go up, it'll just mean having to play more matches. Should we fail to secure promotion altogether, I think I may have to look to the job market once more, either I'll try and get a job at a higher league team here in Portugal, or possibly move on to Spain, rather than having to spend another year in the third tier.

February 2039

Africa Cup of Nations 2039 -  Cape Verde

Final

Taking on and beating the likes of Morocco, Tunisia and Cameroon to reach the final, I knew we must have a chance against Mali, even if we were weaker on paper. There was a little fatigue for a couple of players but by and large, the team had made it this far without suffering any injuries and without losing anybody too important to suspension. Fielding nearly a full strength side, I went into the match, keeping everything the same as before, tactically speaking. This new system I implemented initially in the Ghana match and then tweaked for the Morocco game seemed to be working wonders, allowing us to beat teams that we probably should have lost against normally.

The key to the current tactical system is simple, our best players are up front and on the wings and the rest of the midfield are plenty competent, defensively we are at our weakest, so the solution was simple, get the ball up as quickly as possible to the front lines and let them lead the way. The system works and because of that, we reached our first ever Cup of Nations final.

With everything much as it was before, we went into the final hopeful of success, 1-0 turned to 2-0 and then to 3-0, it was looking to be a great win for us, though later in the game, Mali started to find gaps in our defence and we made mistakes, they pulled two back, one thanks to a penalty and the other a close-range header.

The final moments were nervy as I thought Mali might get a third, they didn't however, and as a result, my Cape Verde side were crowned Champions of Africa.

January/February 2039

Africa Cup of Nations 2039 -  Cape Verde

Quarter-Final & Semi Final

Beating Morocco in their own tournament 6-1 came as a massive shock, and although we had beaten Ghana in the game before, I wasn't really expecting too much in the next game against Tunisia. We ended up beating Tunisia 3-0 and I started to wonder if the tactical changes I had instigated in the Ghana game and adjusted slightly for Morocco were going to give us the edge we needed to compete with the bigger teams.

While I kept the tactics exactly the same from the Morocco game onwards, I rotated the squad as needed to avoid losing anybody completely to fatigue, for the semi-final, we had Cameroon to contend with, yet another stronger team, though having beaten the teams we had to get here, I wondered if we could do it all again and we did, 3-1 this time, taking us through to our first ever Africa Cup of Nations final.

January 2039

Africa Cup of Nations 2039 -  Cape Verde

Group Stage & Second Round

After failing to beat Tanzania and then losing to Egypt, I thought my Cape Verde side would be going home at the end of the group stage, even after our surprise victory over Ghana, I still thought that we were done until I realised that four of the third place teams also progress to the next round and that we would be one of them.
 

Next up we faced Morocco, I didn't expect us to win the game but I went into it with a similar plan to our game against Ghana, fast-paced, direct, counter-attacking football, where last time I went with an attacking mentality, this time it was balanced and my god did we get a result, 6-1 against the current champions and hosts.
 

In the quarter finals we are due to face Tunisia, who just beat South Africa in their second round match. On paper, we are a weaker team than Tunisia but then again, we were much weaker than Morocco as well and we saw how that one turned out, I'm not expecting a win here as before, but as the previous games proves, anything is possible.

January 2039

Africa Cup of Nations 2039 -  Cape Verde

Host Nation: Morocco
Holders: Morocco

Prediction: 3rd or 4th in Group Stage

Having both Egypt and Ghana in our group, qualifying is going to be tough and then with Tanzania as well, the last team to play Cape Verde before I joined as manager where they won 5-0 in the World Cup Qualifying, I'm not terribly hopeful of coming away with much in this tournament.

Aim: 3rd  

Finishing above fourth place is going to be tough but if we can sneak a win somewhere or a couple of draws, it's possible that we can avoid coming last. I'm not overly hopeful of getting a result against Egypt but we only narrowly lost our last game against Ghana so there is hope there, and while Tanzania thrashed us under the previous manager I have taken a look at their squad and from the stats I can see, they're not vastly superior to us and only rank two places above us in the African nation rankings. I think we need to try and beat Tanzania, maybe grab a draw against Ghana and keep things respectable against Egypt and we could hold our heads high, even if we don't qualify for the next round.

Having won back to back to back titles in the Northern Mariana Islands and two Marianas Football Cups in three years, I decided it was time to move on, as much as I loved seeing my players running around dressed like Lion-O, Panthro and occasionally as Cheetara, I have plans now for the neighbouring island of Guam.

Taking up the role at the only job going, I have become the manager of Wild Bill's II, which I would guess is related to the Wild Bill's team in Northern Mariana Islands.

Though we are currently in the second tier of football in Guam, I have plans to push for promotion straight away, I know I am capable of putting together a team that can challenge and I will be working hard to make it happen, that said my plans for this team are entirely dependent on whether or not the job at the University of Guam becomes available, should it, I will almost certainly be applying for it as they are a specific team that I want to manage, other than them, I might consider a top division job if offered this season or before the start of the next season, provided I feel as though I would be better off in the long run.

November 2038

We've had a good start to the season, winning eight out of nine games and drawing the game we didn't manage to win. I am hopeful of a good promotion push this season and I would rather not have to remain at this level for long.
 

Should we manage to gain promotion this season, I am planning to stick around for a second season here, though as my goal is to reach the UK, I don't have long term plans in this or any particular country, should a suitable position come available in Spain, I will be putting serious consideration into moving on, though I would not be against moving to a bigger team in Portugal as well, should the chance arrive.
 

While I am managing at club level in Europe, I have kept ties to Africa for the time being by remaining as the manager of Cabo Verde. During my time as manager of the nation, we have done quite well, reaching the quarter final of the WAFU Cup of Nations (West Africa) and we have just qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations. 
 

With Cabo Verde, my plans are to remain at least until after AFCON, beyond that, my remaining will largely depend on how well we did in that tournament and whether there are any other international positions available that might offer me a new challenge.

Good luck with this save, sounds like it could be a very interesting journey. I actually managed in Thailand on FM21 and really enjoyed it, did one season with Inter Pattaya, two seasons with Samut Sakhon and then two with Muangthong Utd, it was a great country to manage in and it seemed like there was a lot of potential there.

August 2038

Having recently made my long awaited move into Europe, taking on the reigns as manager of Marítimo in the Portuguese third tier, I have begun the process of getting this team ready for the new season and my goals of getting this once top division side back on track and heading in an upward direction.

Over the course of the pre-season, we lost our best striker, Tiago Graça to Belenenses in the top division, there wasn't much we could do to keep him here and it a case of either selling him now and making some money, or keeping him around against his will only to lose him at the end of the season on a free and having to spend that season with him being a grumpy goose the whole time and possibly disrupting the moral of the team. In selling him, I ended up annoying the team anyway, but I made a promise to replace him and we did that three times over, bringing in Siriky Traoré from my old team Issia Wazi, Paulo Conceição from our local rivals Nacional da Madeira and Danny from Cruizeiro, all of which were loans so as to limit our spending.

Aside from bolstering our strike force, I also loaned two players from Inter, Domenico Antonicelli [DC/DR] and Nicolas Vita [MC], Jean Dago, another player from the Ivory Coast where I had just been managing before this job, he will play as a central-midfielder, strengthening us in the middle, an area I Identified as a weak point when reviewing the squad.

With our transfer dealings out of the way for this window, the only thing we had to deal with then was getting match fit, that was achieved with a nice selection of friendly matches, mostly against lower or non-league sides, though we did face off against one team from the top division and one from the second tier and we won all our games except the one against Amora, which was the top division side. As we now go into the first few games of the season, I am confident we can get off to a winning start and it is my hope we can push for promotion this season.

Right now, the media see us as the third best team at our level (that's including teams from the other group - we're in group B of which we are meant to be the second best), I believe we have enough about us to be involved in the promotion stage later in the season and I will certainly be disappointed if we end up in the relegation zone. For the opening stage, I am looking for a top two finish but top four at the least would keep us in with a chance, once the promotion stage begins, we need to be looking to win to gain automatic promotion but coming second would see us through to a match, I assume against the other group's runner up and then if we can win that, a playoff match against a team from the league above.

For the short-term, my plans are to remain at Marítimo for a season or two, hopefully I can raise their profile a little along with my own. As far as my journey goes, the next obvious move would be to Spain but there is the possibility that I could remain in Portugal and try and reach the top here, should I boost my own reputation enough, it may well be possible that an English club becomes interested in my services and provided they approach me, I could well end up skipping Spain and France altogether, for now though, such thoughts need to be pushed to the back of my mind as I have a job to do here.

The next update will likely be at around half way through the opening stage, that should be followed by another at the end of the stage and then finally at the end of the season once any playoffs have been settled.

June 2038

After sixteen seasons managing in Africa while trying to make it back home to the UK (from the starting point of Eswatini), I have today taken a big step in my journey, I have been appointed as manager of Marítimo in the Portuguese Liga 3.

For most of last two seasons, I had operated under the mindset that I would likely move on to Mali once a suitable job came up, but then I managed to become the manager of the Cape Verde Islands and that presented me with another viable option (based on the rules that I'm playing by, I can move to Portugal from the Cape Verde Islands).

For the immediate future, I will remain as the national manager of the Cape Verde Islands and it is my intention to at least see out the qualifying stage of the CAF Cup of Nations along with the tournament proper should we manage to qualify, and as well the 2038 WAFU Cup of Nations. 

June 2038

The sun has set on the 2037/2038 and what a year we had, securing the quadruple and a clean sweep of all the domestic trophies on offer this season, not only that but it was a year that saw us reach the semi-final of the CAF Champions League, a marvellous achievement for a team of our stature.

Over the last three years, I have taken this team from a fairly capable mid-table outfit, to being the biggest team in the Ivory Coast and now three times winners of the MTN Ligue 1. While I like to keep things tight at the back, and we did very well defensively, it was our offence that really shone this year, slicing through the opposition like a hot knife through butter. We have five players in our squad that managed to score into double figures, three of them were into the twenties and one, our captain Adama Cissé, scored forty across all competitions.
 

As you can see from our fixtures and results, we picked up some big wins along the way, 11-1 in the league, 10-0 and 10-1 in the cup, and then we had plenty of impressive results that were not quite so embarrassing for the opposition. Aside from our one loss in the league, the only other matches we lost were in the CAF Champions League and there we were facing tougher opponents that we have in the league.
 

In terms of transfers, we did some good business this year, raking in £275k while only spending £10. We did technically lose two key players in Doumbia and Akindes but in the case of Akindes, we did at least get to loan him back for the remainder of the season. For the incoming players, we saw a big improvement to the strength of our senior side, but as well as that, we did manage to pick up a number of talented youngsters that might well break into the senior side in the coming years.

While things have gone well for us this season and I could build on it next year, after three years at the club, I feel as though it is probably time to move on and continue my journey back to the UK. Over the coming post-season period, I will be keeping a close eye on the job market, searching for a new role that can bring me closer to my goal. (Based on the rules I'm following, I will be looking in a few different directions to see what options are available to me, one possibility might be Mali as they directly border the Ivory Coast to the north, I could try a lateral move to say Nigeria or Cameroon and then work my way north from there, or I could go around to Senegal and then Mali but as I am also the manager of the Cape Verde Islands, I have the option of trying to reach Portugal and my reputation might well be high enough now to get a job there, unlike when I applied while managing at club level in Cape Verde.

The next few months are going to be an interesting time, my contract is days from expiring so while I could renew it, and there is certainly interest from my board for me to do that, I am at present more likely to leave, provided the right opportunity arises. My next update is likely to be upon me getting a new job, though if I do stay, it will more likely be at the point the pre-season ends and we're ready to kick of the new season.

April/May 2038

We exceeded expectations this season in reaching the group stage of the CAF Champions League, facing off against Zamalek, SuperSport and Young Africans, I didn't really think we would be winning our group, but I did think we could probably come third or maybe second with a little luck, we ended up topping the group and facing a quarter-final tie against one of the strongest teams in Africa, Wydad Casablanca of Morocco.

Seeing how we performed in the group stage, I felt that even though we were weaker on paper than our opposition, there was a chance that we might be able to progress. The hope was try and keep the scoreline low in the away game and then see what we could do in front of our home fans and maybe there would be that chance. When it came to the first leg in Morocco, we lost, but we did so with a 3-2 scoreline, a narrow loss and two away goals. The home game was just as close, but we manage to win 2-1, meaning we won the tie on the away goals rule.

Our next challenge was the semi-final, there we came up against Ismaily from Egypt, another really good team, this time one that we were unable to overcome. Though we managed to win the home leg 1-0, we would go on to lose by two at their ground, sending us out of the competition.
 

April 2038

For the CAF Champions League group stage, we were drawn against Zamalek of Egypt, SuperSport Utd of South Africa and Young Africans from Tanzania. By reputation alone, we were the smallest team in our group, though in terms of player quality, I would say we are more l like the third best team.

I figured we could probably finish in third place but I hoped that we might be able to sneak into second if a one or two results went our way, I did not however, expect us to comfortably win the group. We managed to win all three of our home games and then the away game against SuperSport, the draw was against Young Africans and the loss was against Zamalek, though that was a very close game that we could have even won on another day.

For the quarter final we have been drawn against Wydad Casablanca, we should in theory lose to them, they are the bigger and better team on paper, though the results of the group stage prove that we do have a reasonable chance, the same applies all the way to the final, should we manage to get beyond Wydad. My prediction for the match is that we either draw or narrowly win the home game but then lose the away game by enough that Wydad will progress, but I am not counting my boys out of this, we will hit them with everything we have and maybe it'll be enough, maybe it won't, either way, we have already exceeded any expectations and the prize money we've earned so far, has gone a long way to helping us out, financially speaking, I think we might well make a tidy profit this year, which would be nice as I'm not sure if I'll be remaining at the team beyond the end of the season so it will be good to leave the team in such a state that the next manager has a plenty to work with to keep this team at the top of Ivorian football.

Now I didn't bother with a mid-season update but as far as the domestic side of things go, we're top of the league right now and looking good for our third league title in a row, we've also reached the final of both the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire and the Coupe de la LPF, for both finals we face ASEC Mimosas, a team I know we can beat if we play well, but as they're one of the top sides in the country and the team that had won the league four times in a row before we came along to spoil things, they are a team that could just as easily lift one or both trophies. If recent history is anything to go by, I'm not looking forward to the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire final, we were runner up in the last two years and in the Coupe de la LPF, we never even made it to the final under my management.

November 2037

While our Cup of Nations qualifying doesn't start for a few months yet, it didn't take long before we had to play our first friendly match, taking on Réunion.

I reviewed the already established national pool and spent a moment scouting to see if there were any dual nationals that might be of interest to us, once I decided on an initial squad, I called them up.

It's interesting to note that all but one of our players are based in Europe and in fact, our only African-based player is also the only one to have ever played in the Cape Verde leagues and he is the only one that doesn't really belong here based on ability, if you look at the screenshot below, you might spot him with his half a star rating.

António Monteiro's position in the squad is not so much based on his ability level but simply because I like the guy, though it has been a few years now, he played for me when I was the manager of four different teams, Guelson in Angola where I remember fondly the four goals he scored in one cup game, I remember when he came with me to Sporting São Tomé and was the top goal scorer two seasons in a row, he joined me again at Botafogo and then at Académica do Mindelo, in his time at those two clubs, he was the top scorer three years in a row in the Liga Cabo Verde, and for Académica, he was also the top scorer in the Liga São Vicente. Because he helped me to multiple league titles and cup wins, I felt it was only right to show my gratitude by giving him a run out for a national team.

Monteiro's stats might not look like much to a lot of people but his first tough and finishing skills were almost god-like in the amateur/semi-pro levels of the Angolan Second Division and the leagues of Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.

When viewing Monteiro's career stats, it's important to note that for Cape Verde, only the stats from the island leagues are shown, the nationwide competition is classed as a cup so only shows when you click on the individual seasons and therefore the numbers visible are a fair bit lower than the reality.

October 2037

After all these years of club football in Africa, I have finally been given my first taste of international football, it might be tough at first, having to commute from Issia in the Ivory Coast for international matches in Praia, Cape Verde, but I am looking forward to this new challenge, hopefully my prior experience from managing in Cape Verde will come in hand, at the very least, I should have some knowledge of some of the better local players, though I have a feeling that we might well be relying on players plying their trade in Portugal and other European nations.

As I join, the country has fairly recently failed to qualify for the 2038 World Cup, finishing bottom of their qualifying group, next up we have a single friendly, but after that, we face qualifying for the Cup of Nations, in that we have a group consisting of Comoros, Guinea-Bissau and South Sudan. I am reasonably confident we have a chance at progressing but only time will tell and I have plenty of time to think about my tactics and possible squads as the matches are not for a good five months.

Away from the Cape Verde isles, back in the Ivory Coast, I can give a brief update regarding our latest season. At the very start of the season we won the Coupe Houphouët-Boigny, right now we are five games into the league and we sit at the top, having won five out of five games, we are also still in both the Coupe de Côte d'Ivoire and the Coupe de la LPF (neither of which we won in my last two seasons here) and finally, we are at present, waiting to find out the teams we will face in the group stage of the CAF Champions League, having knocked out Génération Foot and Zesco in the preliminary and first rounds respectively.

And that's it, we're officially done with the 2025/2026 season, not only are we champions of the M.League - Division 1, but we also got to lift the trophy high in the final of the Marianas Cup once more, our second time doing so since I became manager of the Thundercats.

Starting at the bottom of the Northern Mariana Islands footballing pyramid with no players on the books, we have now won back to back promotions, winning both Divisions 3 and 2, then on our first attempt, we have won the highest division, a marvellous achievement when you also take into consideration that we are still unbeaten in the league after three years.

The game that saw us crowned champions of the Northern Mariana Islands, we were losing the game 2-0 at one point but a strong fight back saw us not only go level, but we even managed to take the lead for a while, only to end the match 3-3 thanks to a late equaliser from Paire FC.

Just like in our first year under my management, the final of the Marianas Cup saw us facing off against a team from Division 3. I had ever confidence that we would manage to beat Bangladesh Youth but they actually managed to take the lead in the second half, luckily my team are not easy pushovers and after communicating my displeasure and making a few alterations, we came back strong, scoring four goals in reply.

There were a few times during the season where I thought we might pick up our first loss, perhaps because of skill and determination and more than our fare share of luck, we managed to pull back to a draw or even win the matches were the opposition scored first.

The question now… what next. If I stay another year, we have the AFC Cup to content with, I don't expect to get very far in that competition but even entering it, will make for an interesting challenge. Alternatively, I could look to move onto a new challenge and that is perhaps the option I am most considering at the moment. Naturally, a move on to Guam would be of interest to me, but failing that, I could either try my hand elsewhere in Asia or look to move back to Europe, given the reputation I no doubt have from managing in such a low ranked league/nation, I can't imagine I'll be in huge demand, but I might be able to pick up a job in say Wales or Ireland, whatever happens, right now it's a case of looking to see what comes up in the job market over the post-season period.