Very tidy finish in 13th overall and beating Arsenal on the final day to hand City the title is the most Arsenal thing ever

Good first season, also taking big part of who the champions will be! You need a couple of good signings and hope you can attack European football next season!

A brilliant season really, exemplified by that win over Arsenal to see out the year. Brilliant work and now it's time to build on and stake a claim for a European place!

Solid season, exactly what the doctor ordered, now to look to push up the table to the best of your ability

Haberer just could not be stopped! Brilliant season for Leeds, how high can they go next season?

And that's how you do it. A fantastic finish in your return to the Premiership. Now it's time to kick on!

Here it is. The big summer update...





















IN




















OUT

















From left to right (or top to bottom, I don't see ahead of time how the pics come out) are our new home, away and third kits. After five years, our deal with 32Red is up, so we will now don Jet2 on our shirts, a British flights operator with offices at Manchester and Leeds/Bradford airport. The first kit needs no introduction: a traditional all white with yellow and blue trim. The away kit is inspired by the away kit from the 1999/00 season, where a young Leeds side commandeered by O'Leary qualified for the Champions League. The third kit remains yellow, this time with a cleaner look, without pinstripes.


Quick note: This is just a quick run-down as this update has taken long enough to write up (I've been at this for about five hours!). I may come back and edit later, but no promises. Normal service will resume during the season








David Davis 5


Troy Parrott 14
Troy Parrott 25
Troy Parrott 55
Steve Bergwijn 74

You had a busy transfer time I see, let the money flow right? I sold Roofe like 2 minutes before you showed your update. I won't advice you to buy him back haha

My word that is a large amount of turnover in the squad even with a few of them being mainly for the youth sides. It will be interesting to see how that translates to results come the start of the season. A great update, nice work.

A lot of incomings and outgoings. It was inevitable that not every signing made last summer would work out. This window proved that. Steffan, Harrison and McTominay stand out for me as fantastic additions. I'm sure there's bound to be more talent in the likes of Xadas and Cherki especially.

Harrison's back! Let's just hope McTominay has that Strachan-esque touch coming from Scum...

Lots of movement in and out of the squad, I haven't seen Jack Harrison used this FM edition so I will be following him closely

Wolf: The money's there, be rude not to spend it!

TheLFCFan: The revolving door has needed more than its fair share of WD40 over the summer

ScottT: A lot of newcomers, but as you say most of them are young prospects. Looking forward to seeing what the senior ones can do for us in the short term

Jack: You can't play as Leeds and not ruffle a few feathers over the Pennines

Griffo: He's a quality player, both on FM and IRL. One to watch for sure


Ebere Eze 4
Alfie McCalmont 80


The opening day saw us face off against Brighton, who played some brilliant football under Graham Potter last season (too brilliant at times!), but fell away from the European places in the latter stages of the season. They beat us twice with a 5-2-3 set up last year (back fives being my kryptonite), so I was keen to get revenge. All eyes were on Elland Road as our game became the focus of the season's first Monday Night Football as we kicked off our second season back...and it's live!

We got off to an absolute flyer, opening the scoring within the first four minutes. It was a lovely dinked ball from Razvan Marin from the edge of the box, which found Eze at the far post, who picked up where he left off last season by firing a volley into the bottom corner. After dominating the rest of the game, we finished them off with ten minutes to go. After a fluid passing move in Brighton's half, Harrison cut inside from the right, picked a hole between Brighton's centre backs and played a through ball for McCalmont, who buried it first time one-on-one with the keeper. It was a game that saw us on top from start to finish, a great result and a maginificent performance to match.


Carlos Vinicius pen 32
Isaac Hayden 75


We'd got off to a great start with an opening day win on the Monday, but now we were tasked with a trip to St James' Park on the Saturday, leaving a five-day turnaround. Newcastle had also got off to a winning start, shocking Chelsea with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.

We were on the back foot for much of the game and handed Newcastle the opportunity to take the lead on a silver platter after half an hour, when they were awarded a penalty for a Scott McTominay trip on Miguel Almiron in the box. Carlos Vinicius stepped up and slammed home the penalty to Zack Steffen's right. We continued second best and were killed off with 15 minutes remaining. After we failed to clear a free kick, Paul Dummet sent over a cross from the left, which Isaac Hayden headed home at the near post. I can accept being beaten by a better side, however we shipped two avoidable goals and didn't ever look like we;d get going. Just poor and a long way off good enough. Disappointing after the opening day win.




We were on the road again, faced with our first trip to one of the three newcomers this season. Stoke had shown a marked improvement when Lee Bowyer took charge midway through last season, taking a team that had narrowly survived relegation the year before and were stuck down that end again and took them up the Championship. They reached the playoffs a beat West Brom in the final, securing a promotion that seemed highly unlikely just a few months before. Bowyer left for West Ham in the summer and was replaced by Chris Powell.

We were the much better side, creating a bucket load of chances that we couldn't finish. We finally got what we deserved in stoppage time, when Xadas' corner was headed home by McCalmont, who had burst in to the box unmarked. We defended well, limiting their attacks and as I mentioned before, were very creative. I would've just liked to have seen us be more clinical and settle it earlier than we ultimately did though. An important three points nonetheless.


After a decent start in the league, it was time for a change of pace and a chance to get some more players involved as we got going in the Carabao Cup. Rayan Cherki's arrival had been delayed until after the Newcastle game, as he couldn't move until his 18th birthday. He was now available to include in the selection.

As you can probably guess, it was all Leeds, all game. We huffed and we puffed, but we could just not break their parked bus down. It ended 0-0 after 90 minutes so we went to penalties. Kiko Casilla was an absolute star, saving three penalties to deny Scunthorpe, giving us a 3-1 win in the shootout.


Lutsharel Geertruida 88


With the international break on the horizon, I was keen for us to record another three points. Momentum is an important currency in this game and if we can take some into the break, we can use that to our advantage with the time we get on the training ground. Against a side that had already recorded two defeats from their opening three fixtures, it was a chance to turn a decent start into a good start.

In similar fashion to the Stoke game, we dominated the match but it took us a while to break through and find a winner. It came from Lutsharel Geertruida, who had come off the bench to replace Ayling around 15 minutes earlier. After a patient build-up, Eze picked up Geertruida on the overlap, who smashed his effort into the far corner, with the ball hitting the underside of the bar on its way in. I was impressed with how we'd played off the park and rather than a case of wasteful shooting, we were just unlucky to not have won by more. Another richly deserved win.


I don't pay a lot of attention to where we are at the end of August, but there is something quite beautiful about seeing us at this en of the table. In both of the seasons prior, we'd recorded just five points from our opening four games, so to have nearly double that this time around is pleasing. We play Chelsea and Arsenal back-to-back after the break, so it's important we don't drop too many points or get disheartened if we do, as I'm hoping to keep this good form going and make this a season to remember.


With the club having spent just shy of £30m on bringing Razvan Marin and Scott McTominay to the club, to even get on the starting XI is an achievement for a player in the central midfield role. Nonetheless, Alfie McCalmont has fully earned his placed and made a blistering start to the season, scoring twice from the midfield and running the game for us at times. The awards panel seem to agree that he's had a great start, naming him Premier League Young Player of the Month for August.


I won't go into great detail about transfers elsewhere, so I'll just mention that Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus and Mo Salah have shattered the £100m mark with moves to Real Madrid, Chelsea and Real Madrid respectively. The rest are detailed in .
As for us, we've had a couple of extra moves since the season kicked off. Patrick Bamford has joined Gjanni Alioski in a move to Dinamo Moscow for £7.5m. After struggling to impress last season and with his contract up at the end of this season, it was mutually decided that this would be the end of the road for Bamford at Leeds. We spent the summer trying to move him on with no luck until Dinamo Moscow came calling a few days before deadline day.

Mateusz Bogusz has gone back out on loan, this time to FK Austria Vienna. I wanted to have Bogusz for the first team initially, but when McTominay became available, it was an opportunity I couldn't refuse. He wasn't too happy about it, insisting that he was being forced out of the team. He's been sent out on loan to get the first team action he craves (and deserves) to help clear his head.

We've completed the signing of 16-year-old centre back Gawain Smith from Everton, for £1.8m. Smith is a regen, a screenshot of his attributes is linked here. He's another one we're looking to develop for the future. In bigger news, we brought in Real Madrid centre back Nacho Fernandez on deadline day, for just £12.5m. Nacho brings a wealth of top level experiences and was a mainstay in the Real Madrid side of the mid 2010s, that won four Champions League titles amongst many other titles. His experience and winning mentality will be crucial for our back line. We tried sending Luke Woolfenden out on loan to keep the number of centre-backs at four, but it was too late to get a deal done.

In the Carabao Cup, we've been handed an away tie against Middlesbrough in the third round. There have been no particularly notable results so far.


That's all from me for today. Hope you've enjoyed it and I look forward to bringing you September's update!

A strong start to the season, even with the Newcastle loss, with a much-improved defence. The signing of Nacho will only further improve things. Smith looks a tidy prospect also.

One thing I did note was that Leeds have suddenly stolen Scunthorpe's logo.

2020-05-27 13:58#272383 ScottT : A strong start to the season, even with the Newcastle loss, with a much-improved defence. The signing of Nacho will only further improve things. Smith looks a tidy prospect also.

One thing I did note was that Leeds have suddenly stolen Scunthorpe's logo.

D'oh! Sorted