Hell of a season and plenty to build on!
#127 - Seven more chances
01/08/2043 -- I made an important decision. I mentioned it earlier before, in the year 2050 Spartans will exist precisely 100 years. That’s the year of my retirement as well. Currently I’m 65 years old. In 2050 I’m 72 and then the time is right to enjoy the last years of my life without football. Maybe still as the owner of Spartans, but definitely not in daily charge anymore and certainly not as a manager. So, that means seven more seasons to achieve something with Spartans. Seven more chances to become either the Scottish Champion (my most desired wish of course), or otherwise winning some other major silverwork like the Scottish Cup or to a lesser extent the Scottish League Cup. When I started this Spartans job I had some kind of a rough planning and I think I can say now we are already two years ahead of that plan! Especially taking last season in account. Maybe we are facing some kind of a downfall the upcoming season because last year was just exceptional, but for the long term I think it might be realistic to dream about silverwork at some point. The most perfect moment for winning the league will be 2050 itself of course!
But until then there is still a lot of work to do. Moneywise the club is really growing right now. Last season we received around £6,000,000 thanks to our fifth spot in the league, which is huge for us! Most likely we are not buying many players, especially not for big money, so I decide to invest some money from it to expand our stadium and upgrade both the training and youth facilities. All of these will be finished at the end of next season. Our stadium capacity will be increased with around 3,000 seats from 5,820 nowadays till 8,960 next season. Still not really big, but at least not the smallest in the league anymore. Last season we filled our stadium for around 80% and I expect some more growth next season because of our good performances last year. So the season there after we need this upgrade for sure. The expansion is partly financed by myself as the owner of this club, so no extra financial injection of around £1,000,000 this summer! Underneath I have shown our current financial situation.
But the most important fact will be the quality of the players. They have to bring us silverwork at some point, not those bricks or stones. I already can reveal that we managed to extend the loan contracts of David Griffiths-Trevor and Mike Williamson for another season. They are absolutely brilliant, especially Williamson is banging in goals for fun! Also centre back Eddie Jamieson is joining us one season more. He is a very good centre back who took care for eleven goals last season! That’s an huge amount for a defensive player for sure.
Those three players are forming a very solid axes all over the pitch already. Also Italian goalkeeper Lorenzo Cannella is staying for sure. He is probably one of the best performing goalkeepers in my entire career so far in terms of his average rating. Probably not the best goalkeeper in the league but definitely one of the best five or six I think. I’m not buying another goalkeeper as a back-up. In the last youth intake we had some kind of a talented young goalkeeper who is at least tall enough (1,92 meter) and has some decent figures for the key attributes already. If Cannella is not getting heavily injured it should be enough with this kid, so I can spend my money elsewhere.
At the back I’m still satisfied with Beckley as a centre back and Jamie Gray did slightly better this season, especially in the second half of the season. But all the others are replaceable. Our new signing last season, Joseph Meekings performed very disappointingly and I also expected more from the guys on loan, King and Gibbs. Both are returning for sure. Although Mike Kelly-Evans did slightly better this season I’m not very convinced about him either. But next season I will change my tactic anyway and that’s especially affecting the last line. I am going to play with a 5-5-2 system. 3 centre backs, 2 wing-backs, 1 half-back, two central midfielders and two guys up front. We already have the players for it, except two wing-backs. Gray can play over there (most likely as a back-up) but we need three new players for those positions for sure. That will be our main target this transfer-window, together with the search for at least two more centre backs to create enough squad depth.
We already have a very talented player (Kerr) who can play as a half-back perfectly, but we need another player for this position as well. We already have one guy on sight, but maybe he is just a little bit to far out of our range, but I will try everything we possible could for signing him (and he is Scottish, which is a huge benefit as well). He seems a really good player who’s contract is expiring at his current club (Dundee United). The role for the central midfielders will be pretty much the same. Last season signing Monaghan together with Griffiths-Trevor performed really well and together with Craddock as a very decent back-up player these positions are pretty much secured. Although I’m always in a search for better players if available of course! Hamilton has left the club, his contract expired and he wasn’t good enough anymore.
Also no big changes up front. Williamson is a star player in the league already and together with Walker-Nightingale, who is still developing himself, they can easily score forty goals if they both kept fit. Finn Watt has left the club and talented youngster Adam Murdoch will stay as a back-up striker. I will search for a fourth striker, but only if he really is an upgrade who can compete with Williamson and Walker-Nightingale. The positions who become superfluous in my new tactic are the attacking wingers. Hinchcliffe and Thomas did a good job last season, but they are not playing much anymore next season because they don’t fit in the new tactic. If a solid bid is coming in they can leave, otherwise I will keep them and make use of them in a case of an emergency if we need to change our tactic halfway a match to go more attacking (with wingers) or such. The other wingers, Toual and Murray are not good enough anymore and are leaving us. Both their contracts are expiring. That’s some kind of special moment, because Barry Murray was the only player left who became a Spartan since I joined the club when in the Championship, now four years ago. We wish him all the best in his future career.
So, all summarized we are going further with between 14 and 16 of the current players. Slightly more than last season, which is a good sign because of the level of the players is stabilizing a little bit right now. The differences between them are definitely decreasing. But we need some new players for sure, especially at the back. I hope my new tactic is helping us with conceding way less goals. The amount of against goals over the last two seasons is just insane, although the terrible set-pieces settings weren’t helping us either I think, which seems partly solved after I made some tweaks again a couple of months ago. We already signed some new players at this point, I will present them to you next time when the transfer window is closed. In the meantime our pre-season run has ended yet, the results were a bit doubtful, mainly because I could only make use of around 14 players because of the small squad size and some international duties.
Note: You are probably right Justice, maybe I'm expecting a little bit to much already. We are only four seasons on our way and did a stunning job so far. Realised myself that now. Hope so TheLFCFan, although much will depent on which new players we can attract with still limited financial possibilities. We go for it Scott, we have to wipe out this outcome for sure. It was a heavy rollercoaster ride for sure Griffo! However, I prefer to have some kind of a 'less excited' season next year. That will be our goal now Zed!
Good to see the club is in a financial position to now expand the stadium which in the long run will help to bring in some extra income.
Lots of good things happening at the club, the build and hard work often is the best part of the adventure in hindsight
#128 - It’s never going to change, isn’t it?
02/12/2043 -- All those late winning goals I mean… Out of the first thirteen matches we are robbed from five points already because of 90th minute goals in three matches… And myself? You shouldn’t ask, because we are never scoring late goals remember, certainly not for taking a draw or a win. Despite the fact we should have a few points more right now I’m quite satisfied how things are going. The few minor tweaks I made in our tactics and in our set-pieces instructions are making a huge different in terms of goals we concede, although the downside is that we are also scoring less goals. That harms Mike Williamson the most currently, he doesn’t play that great anymore and is even overtaken now by a new guy I signed, called Lombard.
After some very solid results over the last two months we are seventh in the league currently, but it’s hard to give it any weight because over the last two years a few clubs are messing around with the historical order the Scottish Premiership always had before. Last season we settled us between the big clubs, two years ago Motherwell and Kilmarnock did and this year it’s even more surprising with Partick Thistle of all places and Dunfermline are performing brilliantly until now. Again Celtic and Rangers are very disappointingly, although they are still far above everyone else in terms of yearly wage money spending. They should definitely do better… It’s also devastating for the European coefficient-list points which will be important for us as well. Last year Scotland collected only 6.500 points, wherefor we lost the coveted sixth place. A very important place, which means two Champions League group stage tickets are secured, one more qualifying ticket for the most important European tournament as well, a secured group stage ticket for the Europe League and two tickets for the European Conference League. Hopefully this year will be better, but yeah, what can a Championship club (Airdrieonians) possibly do between all those rich clubs from all over Europe…
Transfers
Well, last summer was probably one of our toughest transfer periods ever. Let me say first that I have to take my words back about our new tactic I talked about last time. That is not going to happen sadly. There was no possibility at all to sign a couple of decent wing-backs and because of that I decide to stick with my current 4-4-2 system. But that’s a problem as well! There was barely a good player available this summer we could afford us and at the end we even panicked a little bit on the very last day of the transfer window when we spend £2,150,000 for only two players, for which we broke all previous clubs records. My scouts have letting me down for the first time, they found just nobody… But I can’t sack them obvious, that is the most worse idea you could possible do I have learned a long while ago when I managed this club in my first period.
So, as you can see above at the end we only signed five new players, and therefor our squad size for this season counts only 21 players. That means not every position is doubled and that can be very tricky… Our left-back position is filled in by Jamie Gray and Jamie Gray only. If he gets injured we have some serious problems. Nobody of the other players can play at this position, not even for a tiny bit. I was hoping to loan in a guy on the very last day of the transfer window, but because of the other two transfers at closing day we didn’t kept enough money in the bank to complete the deal and so we missed that interesting guy from Arsenal. Although I’m a bit disappointed about those fuckers that they wanted me to pay his £3,300 wage money… That’s just pocket money for a club like Arsenal, isn’t it?
Well, let’s set focus to the players we does have signed this transfer window. The only player we signed in advance on a free might be familiar to you already. I sold 16-year old Gerry Forrest in my first season at Spartans to generate some money. Off course he didn’t make it at Hibernian which I already expected, but nowadays he is a solid back-up player for me. He is very random without big strengths or weaknesses, and of course the fact he is Scottish does count as well. We will see how it sorts out, maybe I can sell him again someday, ha-ha!
Our next two signings are two guys on loan. One very decent centre back and the other one being a pacey striker who can compete with Williamson and Walker-Nightingale. I’m pretty pleased with those two guys, mainly because I’m not in the position yet to buy players like this. Aaron Parr from Bournemouth is our reserve centre back for next season, but if Beckley or Jamieson are playing terrible it’s not unthinkable Parr will become a starting player at some point. He is very tall, physically already brilliant and both mentally and technically quite decent I would say. Up front we are hiring Joel Lombard from Everton. A brilliant striker who already played a couple of matches in Everton’s main squad at Premier League level, but they might be thinking he is going to play way more when he is joining a club like Spartans. Well, they are probably right, but first he needs to prove himself. Walker-Nightingale together with Williamson are my starting players in the first place.
After those two guys came in nothing happened for a long time. I was getting frustrated more and more when time disappeared slowly. I tried to sign that guy from Dundee United I mentioned last time, but it was quite obvious that is not going to happen. He is really good and of course he hoped for something better then Spartans. Which I can’t argue. But that club wasn’t coming in… So as we speak he is still at Dundee United on a weekly contract. Of course Spartans is not a real upgrade for him in comparison with Dundee United, but at least I can still dream about that little glimmer of hope he will sign a contract with us someday if we are doing bits this season!
The last day of the transfer window has began and we still have a squad of only 19 players… There are not many interesting players available for loan so I shifted my focus for players we could possible buy. There’s no way out anymore now, we definitely need a bigger squad size, no matter what. So I raised the limited asking price to £1,300,000 and was fully focused to sign at least a left midfielder and another reserve centre back who can play as a left back in a case of emergency as well. But there was just nobody that drew my attention. I refuse to sign a player who isn’t going to bring us any further. In that case I prefer to shift one of my terrible youngsters into the main squad rather than waste money for a bad player.
So, at the end we signed a new centre back for around £1,100,000 but unfortunately he can’t play as a left full-back. He isn’t even left-footed either… We just have to deal with it this season I guess. Anyway, Thomas Chauvin isn’t that bad! This 25-year old French guy become superfluous at Belgium side Club Brugge and after we offered him the absolute maximum contract we possible could - which includes all the possible clauses you could even think of - he agreed! He is a very solid central defender and our first ball playing centre back as well. I think he can fight himself in the first eleven very soon at the expense of Beckley and maybe he can become the key for not conceding so many goals anymore. Actually I’m pretty happy with this signing to be honest, although it’s a little bit of a panic buy for sure!
Left midfielder Adin Valeri is our second panic acquisition. And also our fifth and last signing this year because all our money has drained away right now. Actually we are even way above our initial wage budget, so we should better be sure we are finishing on a respectable spot in the league again this season. But this guy from Switzerland is a very good player as well. Beside Hinchcliffe we needed a second player who can play as a left-midfielder properly and I think Valeri can do so. His physicals are okay, one very important mental skill (off the ball) is coloured green and his technical skills are decent enough for this level of football. Also Valeri will not be my starting player in the first place, but Hinchcliffe should be warned with this guy!
Not the best transfer window, but at the end I prefer to buy quality players instead of quantity. Our squad size might be a little bit to small, but the guys we signed are at least just as good as the players we already have and maybe some of them even better. The only thing I’m worried about is the left-back position. Nobody else can play there beside Jamie Gray, who is definitely not the best player in the squad either… I really hope he stays fit, otherwise everything can go horribly wrong this season. I will scrape every possible coin together out of this first half of the season to create the possibility for buying somebody in the winter, but right now that seems nearly impossible already…
Some decent results as of late. Lombard and Chauvin look to be two fantastic signings for you!
#129 - Wait, is this what you can call a league title battle?
02/03/2044 -- I think it is! We are performing absolutely brilliant currently and therefor we are definitely involved in a five horse race for the league title! And even six if you take Celtic into account who are two games behind everybody else. I’m truly surprised to be honest. Our squad is definitely not as good as many others, although those couple of players we are loaning in are really making a difference. Lombard is an amazing striker (although he got injured during the last two months) and together with Griffiths-Trevor and Williamson (who is slightly recovering himself after a somewhat doubtful first half of the season) they are definitely the key for our current successes. I mean, the best paid player at both Celtic and Rangers is earning almost as much as our whole squad together. Actually it’s a big shame those two clubs are not far above everybody else in the league.
During the last fifteen league matches we only lost twice. One against Rangers away, which isn’t a shame of course, and the other one against Saint Johnstone, who are fighting against relegation. We should win this kind of games if we want to battle for the league title any longer, but throughout a season you always face two or three games like this. Although I hope it isn’t going to happen again during the last ten league matches, otherwise we are left behind with nothing in our hands again, just like last season. Anyway, I think I should be pleased already! The fifth place from last season was already a stunning achievement and I didn’t expect we can do even better this season. But now we are pretty close to the amount of points we scored last season, so I think it might be possible for us to qualify ourselves for European football next season. Although we need to stay cautious, all clubs on top are pretty close to each other and when we are finishing sixth we kept behind with empty hands again…
But there might be another way through for gaining European football. The Scottish Cup for instance. We have reached into the quarter finals for the very first time in club history and the semi’s are pretty close in front of us as well! After many years we didn’t face a big club so far early on, although it seems like we always have to play an away game… But as long we kept winning I’m not complaining. Actually we should have won the Dunfermline game already until they scored a very late equalizer in the additional time. So we need to play a return game now in front of our own crowd. I have some really good expectations we can make it and so playing at Hampden Park a few weeks later on!
Very impressive! It's close at the top but you are certainly well in the mix. The cup run looks decent too and hopefully an appearance in the semi-finals can be achieved with victory in the replay. A great season so far.
Very impressive form in the league, six wins in a row and in the top four, keep it up!
#130 - We’re on top now!
30/04/2044 -- Oh. My. Lord. Is this really happening? Is the 2016 Leicester City story going to be re-written in Scotland? It seems so. With two more playing rounds till the end of the season we are first in the league currently. Could you believe? We are performing absolutely amazing this second half of the season and it hasn’t stopped until now. After the 34th playing round in which we beat Saint Mirren with 3-0 we reached the top spot for the very first time this season, and even for the very first time in clubs history. I just had to make a screenshot, I couldn’t resist it!
This is probably going to be an historical end of the season. Five clubs within six points with only four more playing rounds to go. European football is pretty much secured now, but that shouldn’t be our main target anymore, we can become the fucking champions! And it’s even in our own hands more or less! I think the only real threat is Celtic, who are on absolute fire currently and with a game in hand they can overtake us if they win that game. As you probably know the results against each other are dominating prior to the goal difference. We have a positive balance against Partick Thistle and Hearts, but not with Celtic after we lost against them in the 33rd playing round. But they have to play against Rangers once more, for which I’m hoping they will drop some points. If so, we only have to make sure we are winning our own matches, although we have some tough games in front of us as well.
The first one is the away game against Kilmarnock. Who said it was tough? 0-9. 0-9!! Looks that tough to you? I really don’t know what is going on! This team looks so smooth right now! And I only attract five new players before this season, from which two of them are not really a starting player all the time as well. I’m remembering now the days I was talking about changing my tactic and playing with wing-backs. I am so glad I couldn’t find those players. Stick with this 4-4-2 tactic was the best choice ever, although my full-backs in this squad are still by far the most worse players. Anyway, we are one game closer to the league title and after Celtic played a draw with Rangers we only have to make sure we are winning those last three matches!
The next game is against Dundee United at our own place. After a terrible first half we were 0-1 behind and I decided to go fully attacking in the second half. After sixty minutes Mike Williamson scored the equalizer and soon afterwards Lombard did the same with his 22nd goal of the season in just as many games. How many would he have scored if he didn’t get injured for 2 months! That must be insane. Again our two guys on loan saved us with scoring some goals, I wish I could sign those two guys next season ourselves instead of loaning them in. Anyway, we brought this wonky result over the 90th minute whistle and are one game closer again to the league title!
In the meantime we also reached the Scotch Cup Final. Yep, this is a glorious season for sure! In the return game against Dunfermline we beat them with 3-0 and in the semi-final we needed two legs as well for beating Dundee United. So we can prepare ourselves now for a magical end of the season in the league and the Scotch Cup Final against Rangers. I couldn’t wish anything more. It’s an absolutely stunning season already, but at the end I want to win at least one prize to make sure nobody is never going to forget this season anymore. Stay tuned, in the next update we'll find out!
I could never have predicted that you would be in this position with two games left to play. The footballing world is behind you! A domestic double could be achieved too. It's astonishing beyond belief! 
WOW! What a turnaround and now the league title is certainly a possibility! Lombard is quite the talent aswell, hopefully you can get him on loan at the very least again next season. Looking forward to seeing if the double happens!
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