jambowambo - Comments

A very good performance in the second leg, but sadly we're out. At least we won every single home game in the Europa League.

Now we can focus on the league and trying to claim top spot...

Celtic beat St Mirren but remain 6 points behind us as we managed to beat Dundee United 3-1.

Here's the table with 4 games to go:



Looking good to win the league!

I have signed Radebe for my backroom staff many times, I know he may not be the best statistically but he's Lucas Radebe!

It's going to be very difficult to turn it around now. Adam Chicksen has been terrible for most of the season and I'm probably going to offload him at the end of the season.

Sign The Chief to be part of the club as a coach or any job!

I thought I'd do an update before the league split and then do it game by game on mine and Celtic's results as the race for the title concludes.

Here's my three league results:



Players are tiring out rapidly and the games against Hamilton and Aberdeen show that - a lot of players either had to be rested or play through tiredness to try and get anything from the games.

Here's how our Europa League quarter final went:



Yet again we win at home which is good enough to send us through to the semi final on away goals! We face Hamburg in the semi final and could face either Newcastle or Bayern Munich in the final. It would be absolutely brilliant to do the double!

Here's the league table with 5 games remaining:



Celtic's recent form has been awful and their new boss Owen Coyle has been under a lot of pressure. I really really really hope we can hold on and win the SPL, which would be superb!

Good luck with this.

I've had a go with Telford before and got them all the way up to the Championship before all my players started demanding wages I couldn't afford and they all left.

I'm not sure really, need to make it different to the other succession game though!

I think the German league is always difficult to be successful in so could give that a go?

I'm so surprised at how well I'm doing! I knew my young squad would come good eventually but I didn't think it would be this sudden and this soon.

Have also taken the club from being on the brink of administration to have £9m in the bank, which is mainly down to the sale of Sergen Budak and my Europa League run.

The next few updates are gonna be interesting...

My new Turkish signing Emre Can is unfortunately having problems settling in, so I've given him a period of leave.

I keep saying Turkish but Google says otherwise...

A brilliant month, getting past Roma to reach the quarter final of the Europa League against Lille and three wins out of three in the league. Was delighted to get the win against Celtic in the league to get our revenge from the cup final. We have some brilliant young players who are starting to really shine in all competitions.

Here's the table:



Top of the table! There's eight games to go and I know we'll have to play Celtic again, so it will be extremely tough to hold onto it but you never know!



No player awards this month but I won manager of the month again!

I'd be interested

What team are we thinking?

We faced Celtic in the Scottish League Cup final and were seen as huge underdogs going into the game. Being my first big final, I would love to start off with a win.

First of all, I thought I'd start by naming some more new signings that have been brought in:

24 year old Turkish central midfielder Emre Can has joined on a free transfer. Emre, who had been at Bayern Munich for nine years before his contract expired, is here to add to the squad depth and to try and add competition to the central midfield role.

21 year old Scottish goalkeeper Ciaran Wright has signed for Cowdenbeath and will join the club from Aberdeen in June. Wright has played for the Scottish u21 side 19 times and cost Cowdenbeath £950k.



Thought I'd add the second leg of the Galatasaray tie on to February and I am delighted to be through to face Roma.

Mixed results in the league but Celtic's form seems to have really dipped so I'm still quite close to them.

Here's the table:



Just 4 points short of Celtic with 11 games to go. Hoping we can give them a close run to the end!

Good luck in any of your future management roles, try ad conquer Germany!

A bit of a mixed month - great wins against Dundee United and Aberdeen but disappointed to lose to St Johnstone and draw with Motherwell and St Mirren.

Here's the table:



Hoping to stay with Celtic more than I have in past seasons and hoping to stay clear of Rangers.

Dustin Matuschak won player of the month and Elliot Bannon won young player of the month so looking good in the awards - I only managed third in manager of the month.

Transfers

A lot of transfer news to tell you about:

Experienced Swedish international striker James Keene has joined the club on a free transfer. Keene, 32, was born in Bristol but switched allegiances after qualifying under residency for the Scandinavian side.

20 year old Jamaican defender Devon Stewart has joined from Jamaican side Harbour View on a free transfer. Stewart, who has already experienced his side at the highest level 26 times, joins an already young side who are challenging for silverware in Scotland.

Welsh goalkeeper Jonathan Bond has signed from Watford for £8k. Bond, 24, arrives with a slight injury so will be highly unlikely to feature until after the League Cup semi final against St Johnstone.

Jonny Hayes has signed a pre-contract agreement and will join the club in June. Hayes, 30, is looking to provide cover on both wings and should be able to hold down a first team place next season.

In big transfer news, Sergen Budak has left the club and joined Valencia for £7.5m. The German u-21 international centre back joined on a free transfer in June 2015 and was a key player in the rise to the top of Scottish football for Cowdenbeath. The fans are said to be disappointed about the sale, but happy about the funding that has come into the club because of it - the £7.5m transfer fee smashed the previous club record of just £150k when Lewis Milne moved to Leeds.

A replacement for Sergen Budak was signed almost immediately when fellow German Werner Bönig signed for the club four days later on a free transfer. Bönig and Budak both came through Bayern Munich's academy system and 20 year old Werner will be excited at the challenge of replacing Sergen.

Another signing has been confirmed for Cowdenbeath, who now have a lot of money to spend due to their recent record transfer. Dylan McGeouch, 25, has joined from Scottish rivals Celtic for £900k. McGeouch, who is a utility player and can play right midfield and centre midfield, breaks the other transfer record and becomes the club's biggest spend in their history.

French left midfielder Nicolas Audren has joined the club on a free transfer. Audren, 20, is a product of Paris Saint-Germain's youth system but only represented the French Club on three occasions. Nicolas did play for PSG's reserve side five times, neting three goals for them.

Also, 35 year old Joey Barton has had his contract terminated and has left the club with immediate effect. Barton had started just 10 games and appeared off the bench in eight others in his two years at the club since joining in December 2016. Barton's departure meant that Audren's arrival could be completed.

A very busy month but we've done well. Elliot Bannon has scored in each of his last five games and has scored ten goals in his last nine games in all competitions so he is really in form at the moment. Good to see Zach Clough and Bob McHugh getting a few goals as well. Disappointed to lose to Celtic, especially as we were 1-0 up on 80 minutes. Those are the kinds of leads we need to start holding on to.

Here's how the league table looks:



Starting to pull away from Rangers but I fear Celtic are going to run away with it again. Hopefully next season with a better bank balance we can start to challenge them a bit more.

I came second in manager of the month and Elliot Bannon came second in player of the month and third in young player of the month.

I thought I'd do a Europa League update after I have finished my group matches:



Those are our results. Delighted with the way the group has gone, only one loss away to Sporting and 3 wins from 3 at home so I'm delighted with that.

Here's how the group table finished:



Absolutely brilliant! Was worried against Fiorentina in the last match where we had to win to go through because Sporting were 4-0 up against Standard at the time, but we managed to pull through in the end!

I've got scummy Galatasaray in the first knockout round which is a big rivalry for me, and the chance to play Stuttgart or Roma in the round after.

Neil Lennon has left his post as manager of Celtic to become boss at Reading. Celtic are now interested in making me their manager, but I will be turning them down.

Chelsea's manager Frank de Boer has left the club and guess who the press are rumouring to replace him... ME!

Unfortunately I still have unfinished business in Scotland so I won't be applying for the job, but it's always nice to be talked about so highly!

A really good month. Delighted with the win at home to Sporting because we really did deserve the three points. Great wins in the league against St Mirren, Rangers and Motherwell. Ilias has unfortunately been ruled out with injury for at least three months which is a real shame because he had a great start to his career at Cowdenbeath. Elliot Bannon replaced Ilias in the game against Rangers and ended up scoring a hat-trick on his return from injury. Starting to pick up more points in the league now which was needed, as well as getting some wins in the Europa League group.

Here's the table:



Looking a lot better now, hoping we don't let Celtic run away again.

Here's the Europa League table:



Would be so so so happy if we finish second in the group!



Budak and Matuschak have been brilliant at the back.



A very good month!

I'm hoping the money raised from the Europa League this season can raise some much needed funds to have a better overall season next year! Although hoping I can still challenge for a top three finish.

And no it isn't, makes my job harder! Haha

Delighted with the draw away to Fiorentina - we were 2-0 down at half time but managed to pull it back and get the draw. The loss to Dundee United was mainly due to fatigue, a lot of players had to miss out through being knackered. Was very happy to pull back from 2-1 down against Hearts and win 3-2 and was good to see new boy Ilias (who can't play in the Europa League because he isn't registered) to get his first two goals for the club. Also happy to be in the Semi Final of the Scottish League Cup, hoping we can progress to the final! The loss to Sporting was expected but I hope to get a result at home.

Here's the SPL table:



Hoping Rangers don't come back and bring back the dominance of the two Scottish giants.

Europa League group:



Good results at home to Fiorentina and/or Sporting and a win against Standard might make us contenders for qualification.

No awards again, except Ilias winning goal of the month!

I love how you present this, so realistic. Can't wait for future updates.

Forgot to add about my new signing:

Greek/German Ilias Athanasopoulous has joined on a free transfer after his contract with Dortmund ran out. Ilias (which is what I will call him to stop me losing patience with his surname!) is a 23 year old striker who played 13 times in the Bundesliga as well as scoring 81 goals in 145 games for Dortmund II, including one season where he scored 36 goals in 45 games! He joins with bags of potential and should be a good addition to the squad.

A very good, unbeaten month. Delighted with the game against Celtic in to be honest we were unlucky not to win having dominated. A great win against Standard in our first Europa League group game that's put us in a good position. Was disappointed to go to extra time with Falkirk in the League Cup but I did rest a lot of key players, including Bannon who came on at 90 minutes to win the tie for us.

Here's how the table looks:



Hoping the draws don't start to count against us. Also hoping we can stick to Celtic and not let them run away.

Surprisingly nothing in the awards this month, just me getting third in manager of the month.

Have they all kept the same players? And the same funding and everything?

Yeah hopefully, although the game against Standard still had over 3,000 empty seats!

Using it to try and raise some money and get the bank balance up, then we might be able to challenge more next season.